#LIKE. does anyone else think this! i genuinely believe its like one of the major

[time-is-restored]

btw not to make everything about My Fucking Guy but i honestly think one of the things that seperates q!phil out from the other islanders is the approach he takes to dealing with the lack of agency + control all the islanders have over whatever the fuck the federation's doing.

it shows up most prominently whenever tubbo is excitedly telling him about the 'progress' he's made with cucurucho or various investigations (ie: trapping him into a corner with the 'do you have free will' questions), and phil always shoots it down w an immediate 'that doesn't mean anything. curucuho will say anything to mess with you. you can't take anything he says as true.'

and it's not that phil is... a paticularly pessimistic character? he's just EXTREMELY practical. like, he's yet to give up on anyone EVER finding ANY answers (he was the one who initially gave the federation that one week ultimatum w the cage for a cage stream), he just doesn't trust the idea that curucuho is ever going to voluntarily give them. they're uncontrollable + senseless - you might as well argue with the weather.

and like, if that's how he sees the one (1) and only point of contact the islanders HAD with the federation for months, it explains a lot abt his characters lifestyle! ofc he sits on the wall all day, talking to his kids, and keeping his head down. he believes that the federation wants nothing more than to drag the islanders into sick games + tasks just so they can fuck with their head (ie: curucuho revealing he was the one cellbit gathered all that information for). and while he can't totally PREVENT any of that from ever impacting him, he can make sure his kids are well fed, well protected, and as happy + comfortable as he can manage. this is objectively not a perfect situation, there is a guaranteed amount of suffering + fear that he can't mitigate, but he can at least account for it.

like, he REFUSES to engage. whenever curucho shows up, he treats them with total ambivalence. he's not going to get riled up by anything they do, he's not going to get super attached to the guy, he's just gonna laugh it off and irish goodbye it when things drag on. the ONLY time he's strayed from that general guiding principle has been since he's lost his eggs, and can no longer afford to let the federation's fuckery go: those are his fucking kids.

hence the completely unprecedented levels of outward rage and sadness and terror he shows throughout the birdcage streams - almost all directed directly to cucurucho. it's all a completely fair + proportional response to the horror the islanders are being subjected to, but it feels so different bc until now, q!phil has been so dedicated to not reacting, and not giving the federation any sign that they're actually getting to him.

#qsmp #q!phil #LIKE. does anyone else think this! i genuinely believe its like one of the major #traits of his character i feel like u can trace it through Everything. #the man lives with the constant knowledge that sometimes all it takes is a tempting ravine and a badly timed creeper to end a life #whether that life belongs to a stranger or someone you love more than anything else in the world #you COULD rage against that. you could scream and shout and tear your hair out and grieve for the futility of it all #but what does that change? the days march on. death waits either way #and that's not to say he's a laizesfair kind of guy. anyone who's seen him stress out abt chayanne's risk taking + freak out #whenever his kids don't have enough autofeed grist can see that he cares DEEPLY. which resolves into his very distinctive #defensive + protective playstyle. the goal is not to win the fight the goal is to *survive* the fight etc #but the only way that mindset doesn't spill out into unchecked paranoia + complete agoraphobia is with acceptance #'shit happens: the philza minecraft story' #i also think it even manifests in the nightmare sequence w his last words to chayanne? 'they didn't want us to live. we were never supposed #to survive' or whatever the exact wording was #he is FURIOUS and deeply hurt and sad abt the deaths he says so explicitly later #but at the time the first thing he reaches for is. exhausted acceptance. it wasn't their fault. it wasn't his fault. they did their best. #they could only do so much in the face of the federation's Overwhelming Hostility. y'know? #mine

[uravitypng]

Hope you’re doing great!! I’m obsessed with your writing. What do you think Bully!Tsukishima would act if someone else tries to bully his crybaby?

~ Anon ❄️

i'm good thank you!! i hope you're well too! i hope you enjoy how bully tsukki reacts <3

it never even crossed his mind that someone else might try and bully you and if it did it was fleetingly and on occasions when he heard someone laugh at something he did to you, the thought didn't bother him. in his eyes it doesn't matter, if someone did start teasing you then that's your problem, it doesn't affect him.

although it really does.

when it actually does happen properly and he realises someone is genuinely bothering you it then becomes a reality and he has to deal with it.

you never hid that someone else was upsetting you and teasing you, tsukishima would never care about it anyway. coincidentally he found you one day taking deep breaths and sniffling as you're trying to breathe correctly after being tormented by someone who has started bullying you and they were crueller than anyone you've ever met before.

tsukki never thought he'd see the day where he would see you cry and not take some amount of pleasure in it but seeing you desperately try to calm down from something he didn't know about filled him with serious dread. something he has never felt so strongly before.

he crouches down to your level to where you were sitting and you jump not realising he was there in the first place. he frowns and tilts your head up so he can look at you and wipe the tears off of your face with his thumb but the tears just keep coming. "talk to me princess," he says gruffly.

you shake your head vehemently.

tsukishima clenches his jaw at what he believes is your ridiculous behaviour. "don't be a baby, talk to me."

"you won't care," you reply quietly.

"won't care about what?" if you were anyone else he'd likely have lost interest in trying to help someone so stubborn by now but you're you. if people don't want to accept his help and keep refusing to cooperate with him the majority of the time he stops trying to help, the only real exemptions are his brother and yamaguchi but even they know better than to test tsukishima's patience on this kind of thing.

"someone's being mean to me," you say while trying to stop crying.

tsukishima scoffs. "so what?" he pauses for a second before continuing, "is this why you're in here hiding away? so what if someone is being mean taking away your pen and you cry your eyes out."

you shake your head again but meekly this time, "they're being really mean tsukishima." he doesn't say anything and just looks at you. because of his gaze on you you feel his scrutiny so you come clean completely and tell him, "they're bullying me."

tsukishima just goes completely still because no one else can treat you like that. no one else can make you cry, at least not over something so serious, not over something that really upsets and affects you. not if that person or persons are bullying you. you're his, only he is allowed to do that to you. no one should make you cry. he can accept you crying if you thought someone looked at you funny or took a belonging of yours or teased you a little because you cry all the time, but this? he's not having this.

he wets his lips and looks up, taking a deep breath and trying to stop his anger from rising to the top. he's not an angry person, no one ever would assume he was an angry person and they'd be right, he's not and he never thought he would be but the idea of someone bullying you, the idea that someone is being really mean to you, that pisses him off because its not like before when he thought you where overreacting like the crybaby you are about someone mildly teasing you on one occasion, this is serious. "who?"

"does it really matter?" you fiddle with your fingers, finally calming down a bit and having less tears flowing down your chubby cheeks.

"yes, it matters."

you tell him their name and tsukishima notes it to memory.

tsukishima kisses your forehead and lifts you up, resisting the urge to kneed your soft wide hips as you stand up. "come on, lets get you something to eat and drink." it's extremely rare that tsukishima ever is seen with you in public alone but he takes you to a vending machine outside in campus.

you think he did this because it's quieter out here so there's less people and less people to recognise the two of you together but in actuality it was the closet place from where you were and he wanted you to drink something as soon as possible with how much you were crying. he's never seen you cry that much and that's saying something, the man who gets off on seeing you and making you cry not ever able to make you cry as you just have been... (yet)

that person never bothers you again. not once. why? you don't know but you're guessing tsukishima had something to do with it.

the thing with tsukishima is that he is actually very popular and is friends with people that are also popular so one bad word about someone spreads like wildfire. there are so many rumours about him in just one day it's crazy, that's when tsukishima decides to have his own private conversation with them. "your social life is a wreck your club is thinking about kicking you off the team because of all those allegations. they might be fake but really who would they believe out of the two of us? you bother my girl again, i'll make it worse. if you even talk to her or look at her i'll make sure these rumours follow you for the rest of your life."

no one talks to your bully any more but tsukishima kept his promise to not make even more extreme rumours. after he was kicked off his basketball team he was content. he'd never done anything like this before because it's not like him at all it's not in his character. so he doubts he'll ever do it again... that is unless someone else tries to bully you. they need to learn their place after all. don't touch things that aren't yours to touch.

#tsukishima x reader #tsukishima x chubby reader #tsukishima x reader smut #tsukishima smut #kei tsukishima #haikyuu x reader #haikyuu x chubby reader #bully tsukki -p6 <33 #haikyuu x reader smut #hq x reader smut #hq x chubby reader #♡ mine / writing #♡ tsukki #❄️ anon #hq smut #haikyuu smut #tsukishima x chubby reader smut #hq tsukishima #♡ lana's letters

[crustaceousfaggot]

So I've been thinking a lot about the setting of Disco Elysium. Specifically it being set in late winter/early spring. It's not something I've really seen anyone else bring up.

I mean, the symbolism seems pretty obvious right? Spring is the time of new beginnings, winter is ending and we're entering a time of potential and rebirth. Definitely nothing new. But I think it goes beyond that.

I live in one of the coldest major cities in the world. Not *the* coldest, but you'll be hard-pressed to find a city with over 1,000,000 inhabitants that gets colder than it gets here. Winters are long and brutal and difficult, and when the soil itself is frozen and covered in a foot of packed snow it's really hard to believe that the world could look any other way.

And don't get me wrong, winter is beautiful. The world is quiet and picturesque. There's none of the usual dirt and debris in the streets because it's all buried under the snow. The way that fresh snow sparkles under street lights at night is one of the most breathtakingly gorgeous things I've ever seen.

It's early April right now, and the snow is melting. It's not all gone, but it's getting there. When the air starts to warm up there's this feeling of excitement and anticipation in the air. Spring is here, and any second now the world will be bursting with new life and beautiful greenery.

But it's not. Not yet.

For about a month and a half after the snow starts to melt, the world is grey. No glittering snow, no budding flowers, no swirling red leaves, just puddles of brown water and lawns of brown grass. It's like winter had ended, but the world has yet to realize that it's supposed to be spring. Until it remembers, we're all trapped in a world where there is no season at all.

Sometimes it snows, but the snow never sticks around. Sometimes it rains, but the rain never brings flowers in its wake.

That last month of winter, that first month of spring, whatever you want to call it, is my least favourite time of year. I heard it described once as "the long-preserved corpse of autumn, finally allowed to rot", and that phrase stuck with me. There are eight month old leaves on the ground, skeletal and bleached grey by a winter trapped under the ice. Without the snow to cover it, you can't ignore just how much we've let our city go to shit. The trees are bare and skeletal, and even the evergreens look washed out and grey when they're not contrasted against the snow. Most of the birds aren't back yet, so the only sound outside my window is the ever-present hum of traffic.

It's impossible to ignore the movement and the sounds of humanity, but at the same time the world has never felt so stagnant.

I think there are all sorts of comparisons you could draw here, some of which hold up better than others. The one that first comes to mind for me is sobriety- the line "Full recovery will take years, though. It’ll be depressing. And it’ll be boring. Don’t expect any further rewards or handclaps." from the "Waste Land Of Reality"o thought is one which really stuck with me on my first playthrough, and one which feels especially appropriate here. But that's just one angle.

How much of this was intentional? I don't know. Probably not most of it. Part of me just wanted to go on a little tangent about the seasonal purgatory I'm trapped in once again. But I genuinely don't think there could be a better time of year to set a game like Disco Elysium. That bleak dusty shoulder season, where all the ugliest and most honest parts of nature and civilization are on display. The time of year where I've gone through the ringer and come out the other side, but everything still looks and feels like shit. It's just a different kind of shit.

Spring isn't here. Not yet. And when it does come, it won't fix anything. There will still be garbage on the ground and pollution in the air, there will still be class inequality and senseless violence and I will still be mentally ill.

But still.

For the first time in months, I can feel the wind against my skin without it hurting.

Whatever that's worth.

#I don't know what this is you guys #don't take it too seriously #i just had a thought and then I had to get all 'ooOoh this is very profound' about it #disco elysium #de #harry du bois #hdb #disco elysium meta #1k

[uranium-city]

as an aspiring storyteller & writer i find analyzing what works & what doesn’t work in media to be incredibly important. not only does it help us realize where we may have made mistakes in our writing & how to improve going forward, but it also helps understand why certain stories work so well. it helps us realize why critically acclaimed media is so critically acclaimed & appreciate the thought, care, & intelligence that went into making it so special. without criticism- all that thought loses its meaning. bland stories become indistinct from the incredible ones & all the deeply well thought out plot points & messages wash away into a sea of poor &/or lazy writing. we need criticism to appreciate strong writing. being critical of your interests- whether it be a highly acclaimed film or a weaker piece of media that you hold deadly despite its flaws- shows maturity, media literacy, & overall the beauty of how different stories resonate so deeply with people regardless of its issues. that’s why the way Vivziepop responds to criticism irks me on such a strong level. Helluva Boss is a very poorly written show (in my humble opinion, at least). Season 2 has retconned a ridiculous amount of things established season 1 (most notably Stolas’ entire character), has a massive problem with maintaining tone, jumps around from plot to plot by introducing new threat after new threat only to abandoned that threat by introducing a new one the next episode, struggles with developing its own main & supporting characters, & perhaps most offensively of all often comes off as downright fetish-y of gay men. These are all valid criticisms, all of which Vivziepop tries to dismiss as “baseless & unfair”. She claims she respects fair criticism yet never makes a distinction between what is fair & unfair, treating everything as the latter, going on twitter rampages where she attempts to defend her writing decisions & ridicules anyone who dare challenge them. If Vivziepop believes she’s writing the show in the optimal way, fine. If she doesn’t want to listen to criticism & continues to take Helluva Boss in the direction it’s currently going, fine. so be it. She’s in such a unique position where she’s so close to her audience & actively listening to their criticisms, I personally don’t understand why one wouldn’t try to take advantage of that to better their show, but at the same time I can understand having a set story in mind & wanting to take it your way despite what anyone else says. It can be frustrating to have everyone telling you you’re doing your passion project wrong- i get that. but in that case- just continue writing the show how you want, ignore the criticism, & stop having hissy fits on twitter calling people homophobic for not liking your writing (seriously what the fuck? that’s laughable of her to saying given how she writes her gay characters, just saying). Your writing should speak for itself, you shouldn’t have to defend it by crying on twitter. Dismissing all criticism & trying to paint the narrative that you’re nothing more than a victim with a hatedom out to get you is BAFFLINGLY immature ESPECIALLY as someone in their 30s. It only bothers me so much because she’s actively fostering an environment that dismisses criticism which i think is genuinely harmful. & as much as Helluva tries to be an adult show, let’s be real here, a majority of its audience are teenagers who look up to Viv & if THIS is the mindset they end up developing surrounding criticism I think it could genuinely be a problem in regards to their media literacy in the future. People can like Helluva Boss, people can ignore its flaws, but that kind of relationship with criticism is not healthy. at all.

#let me be clear I don’t think Vivziepop is gonna cause the death of media literacy or anything. that’d be ridiculous #but as an aspiring writing myself & someone who dreams of creating an indie internet show like her it really is disheartening to see #also if you disagree with what i said or enjoy Helluva then cool. enjoy yourself /gen #I’m not trying to start fights or drama with this post. it’s just my personal opinions & i wanted to put my thoughts somewhere #helluva critical #vivziepop critical

[lullabyshark]

gender in the mars house

this isnt very long & is mostly haphazard and off the cuff but i had to put down some of my thoughts as a nonbinary person on the way gender is portrayed in this book. spoilers obviously

i know as a long-time fan of miss pulley to not take the things she puts in her work at face value. obviously, i think thats true for basically anything not written for children, and even many things that are written for children. something else has to be going on, right? i found myself constantly thinking "whats the catch?"

it feels strange for the love interest to say literal terf rhetoric and imply that bioessentialism is part of the world building. because on one hand this is the love interest, a person that comes across as a charming, awkward nerd in the majority of the text, and theyre saying something completely hideous. not necessarily what they personally believe, but a truth about why things are the way they are on mars.

and because then i look at all these people who were assigned they/them at birth and wonder if any of them ever feel gender euphoria. if you are gender neutral because society says so and you were genetically modified, is there any joy in it? is there any real freedom in it? what about binary trans people? what about people like myself who use neopronouns? is this just neo-cisgenderism? this society is much less widespread gender equality and more of a rigid absence of diversity. otherwise wouldnt we see more genders instead of less?

most of the time everything is very normal. i know so many people who use they/them that it feels very comfortable and homey to see it used so much. but sometimes it feels off. its definitely a cis persons imagining of gender neutrality. because when you create a world where the reason these people are "nonbinary" is bioessentialism and not because they genuinely feel that way, it feels like the gender neutrality is... bad? wrong? misguided?

it makes me feel crazy. on mars gender is no more bc men historically have power over women and kill their wives? women are the victims of biology so now everyone is assigned they/them at birth? it leaves a very odd taste in my mouth. gale only ever addresses it once after this, admitting that actually abolishing gender didnt stop anyone getting killed, it was changing marriage law that did. so where does that leave us

i love a morally gray pulley love interest--if mori was real i would forgive him for all the murders then bat my eyelashes and say anything you want beautiful LMAO. but i think that mystery, when we're dealing with something like systematic oppression, thats a very different thing. i was waiting the whole book for them to say that it was a lie and gender was abolished for a different reason, or that they only said that for the optics.

i wonder what other trans & nb ppl think about it. is there something im not getting? do you like this mono-gender mars? do you think im completely off the mark? if anyone actually reads this i genuinely want to know 😭

natasha i love your work queen but theres a lot in this book that fails to convey what i think you were trying to convey. obv this is just one issue, there are plenty of others that i dont feel nearly as equipped to discuss, in this and her other books. and while i will always enjoy her prose and try to go in w good faith, certainly no one is infallible.

#the mars house #poasting this & hoping i dont get idk eaten by tigers #yes i gave this book 4 stars. yes i have many issues with it #sharkie txt

[anoteofcalcium]

Someone get this poor frog boy transferred to Naranja / Uva and away from the overly competitive nature of Blueberry Academy please-

>HC "'"Elaboration'"" and minor spoilers (for Kieran's Indigo Disk Team, mostly, but some plot points) below;

*And for Christ's sake give him his furret back GameFreak!!

*Unrelated, but does anyone else find Kieran's team going from Poliwrath -> Politoed to be adorable? Like, First big team has Poliwrath - a not quite full frog - and Second definitive team has full froggy Politoad?? Love that Kieran is not only designed frog-like, but gets emphasized with them, A+ character design choices, very *chef's kiss* 🤌🤌

*Anyway so...

• "<player> has everything I've ever wanted!...She’s/He’s got strong Pokémon! She/He can go anywhere she/he wants, and she/he can be friends with anyone!...I loved Ogerpon since forever ago! But even Ogerpon chose her/him over me!...Even YOU, Sis! You were being all nasty toward her/him at first, but then boom! You were like best friends in no time

...The kid obviously has insecurity issues strengthened by an abrasive relationship with his sister, minimal positive outlets to let himself flourish in a healthier way, and an inferiority complex he falsely believes strength will compensate for,, like, a school (Blueberry) whose main (whole? tbh) shtick is to make their trainers good at battling and centers the majority of its social AND curricular (that the player as an exchange student can observe, anyway) interactions around competitive Pokémon battles is NOT helping to do anything but strengthen any unhealthy thoughts and feelings about such concepts he has

•Note: when confronted with the reality that he's not as strong as he *perceives* he should be / earned the right to be (i.e. player beats him despite him being the "top" trainer at Blueberry), the cognitive dissonance it creates sends him into a panic attack....and the Blueberry kids just. scoff?? Immediately throw out their favor?? Very healthy mindsets and social hierarchy at Blueberry Academy, perfectly conducive to friendly and healthy competition, clearly (/sarcasm)

•Compare it to the variety of tracks of Naranja / Uva (2 of which - STEM and Humanities - have nothing to do with battling) and the Treasure Hunt, which encourages *independent* study into a variety of topics: i.e., allowing one to explore and experience a variety of things of personal interest in order to learn about one's self at one's own pace, bound by nothing but their own personalized limits...can you imagine how much that atmosphere would improve and expand Kieran's mental framework and ideas?? He can get everything he his desire "to be like [player] so, so badly" emphasized in his quote above - Strong Pokemon, going anywhere [he] wants, being friends with anyone (Carmine included)...and probably whatever attracted Ogerpon, for that matter - by being like the player and going to the Academy that the game emphasizes as being what gave the player opportunity and experience to have BECOME what Kieran admires / envies.

•Also, him transfering would give him some freedom / independence from Carmine - and nothing against her (...much), but I genuinely think Kieran would benefit a lot in an environment where he didn't have (to be forced) to rely on and compare himself to his sister's ideals and prowess...which Kieran very much mimics and absorbs when "stronger"...not a coincidence - they're seem pretty co-dependent in the Teal Mask at times, if not have a very neglect / enable type feedback aspect to their relationship. BUT that's a story for another post never

*Sprigatito would be Kieran's starter choice (or more like it would choose him, tbh) - and not just because it makes sense in my cannon (i.e. Florian w/ Quaxly, Juliana w/ Fuecoco) lol; sprigatitio is legitimately perfect for him:

•It desires attention and companionship, to the point it's first description was how it's, "capricious and attention-seeking, and it tends to sulk if ignored by people" and the trait continues all the way throughout it's evolution (/i.e. growth "phases"), with Meowscarada being described as, "sensitive and prone to jealousy. It can often be very attached to its Trainer, and it will become upset if its Trainer gives attention to other Pokémon". Sounds like Kieran towards both the player and Ogerpon, lol (Kieran: . Somewhat unrelated, but Florgato's being the edgy teenager (as Carmine referred to Kieran's "mood swings") phase of Sprigatito's line involved it's *mood* effecting its "edge" / "hardness" ...of it's fur, but still - Kierans a "moody teen", right? Anyway, imagine Kieran with a Pokémon that would be as obsessed with him as he was with Ogerpon, lol (/jk)

•It's a grass type, which tend to suit Kieran, and he seems to have an affinity for (Ogerpon, Dipplin line, Shiftry, etc.). It developing a dark type as it evolves reflects Kieran's arc - it's final evolution is also both MASKED (reflecting Ogerpan hyperfixation and Kieran's family's history), and Jester / Mardi Gras themed, which goes along with the festival theme Kieran exhibited during the Teal Mask DLC ( like with his Dipplin). Both Kieran and Meowscarada have those cute droopy eyes too, which is a fun design element to connect the too, if nothing else, lol

•Getting further out with the idea, though: It's lines shiny is, fubckin' oURPLE!! Purple cat for the ourple boy, thank you,, (and how shiny!Meowscarada has a purple cuff and an invisible "leash" [its flower bud] around its neck is vaguely similar to the purple chain of the Loyal three...okay I'm really reaching now but still. teehee... ). Hey, anyone notice how purple is a complementary color for yellow, which happens to be Kieran's eye and main acccesory (headband / bag) color and -- I'm going anywhere with this, I just think its neat 👍

•Honestly just replace his current cat (Incineroar) with Meowscarada - Incineroar suits Carmine a lot better imo...which is why it's my theory it's on his final team, but that's. Also a different post I'll probably never make :^)

•Like, I get why they wouldn't have given Kieran a Paldaen starter for his team (for a variety of reasons, honestly), but,, Think about it •Sprigatito using its kneading on Kieran's (fluffy, sowwy ponytail!Kieran fans) hair for impromptu aromatherapy would probably be good for this kids anxiety tbh

*IMAGINE Kieran picking up mask-making in Hassel's art class - IMAGINE the positive energy and outlet art (not battling) and a professor like Hassel would provide this kid!!

TL;DR: DLC where Kieran transfers to Naranja / Uva Academy when GameFreak.

Thanks for coming to my TED Talk. The more you know 🌈

#Pokemon #Pokemon Kieran #Trainer Kieran #Kieran #what is his tag rrr #Sprigatito #Furret #Politoed #Elite Four Hassel #Hassel my beloved (grandpa) and yet I scribbled you rip #Pokémon #Art (Mine) #trying to get back to finger doodles in Samsung Notes #but I can only manage during work apparently teehee #tryin to find a balance between Poké design and my art style for Kieran was a pain and I'm still not satisfied but w/e its a doodle wah #Indigo Disk Spoilers #All #links lead...to Bulbapedia #Long Post #I ramble ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[eviltothecore13]

...Did I just see someone, in 2023, claiming that the Wesker project was "a CSA allegory"?

I mean, at least they're not claiming that it's definitively canon that he was actually sexually abused, but...

*Why?*

Like. The thing the Wesker project is most obviously an allegory for is the various kinds of indoctrination that bigoted groups use to convince their members they're superior/entitled to greatness/etc because of their race or nationalitity or anything else (not that I'm saying Umbrella or Wesker work along racial lines at all, because we know they don't, but *as an allegory*). I can't find *anything* explicitly stated in canon that is about sexual abuse, but I can find a lot about indoctrination and raising him to believe he was superior--and a lot about him being incredibly privileged all his life with phrases like "the best education money can buy."

There's no *need* for anything remotely resembling sexual (or physical) abuse to take place in Wesker's backstory. (Or emotional abuse of the "you're worthless, you're pathetic" etc kind I sometimes see depicted in fics--again, the point of the project is to convince him he's *superior!* And its canon result was someone described in official materials as "confident", who genuinely believes he's superior and is never shown to doubt himself! I do think his upbringing was emotionally *distant*/not focussed on emotions because it was only concerned with success and power and that he wasn't close to anyone except Alex and later Will--but the idea of him being constantly berated and mocked and bullied just goes against both the goals of the project, and the effect we see it's had on him. Being mocked and insulted throughout your childhood does not generally *improve* someone's confidence or their opinion of themselves!)

The goals of the project are to create someone who is physically strong and capable (note, it does NOT say anywhere in canon that he was exposed to any of the viruses, or physically experimented on in any way, until 1998--it says there were "tests of endurance" which Alex according to the English translation viewed as "hellish", though in the Japanese files it's more like "rigorous training to improve their mental and physical abilities". Either way suggests more an elite/extremely challenging and difficult perhaps military-esque physical training program, rather than "strapped to an operating table and injected with stuff". Prior to 1998 there is *zero* canon indication that he was anything other than human with a lot of training physically.), highly intelligent, academically successful, ruthless, ambitious, a good leader, and fully convinced of the ideology that they are superior beings and the majority of people are inferior etc.

Starving someone, beating them, sexually abusing them, keeping them *so* isolated that realistically they would panic in a social setting/struggle to hold a conversation rather than being a highly charismatic and confident master manipulator who's very skilled at figuring people out and getting them on his side (like, I don't think he was around people enough to *form close relationships* with anyone other than Alex as a child, but he needs to have had a reasonable amount of interaction with a variety of people to develop the skills at leadership and at manipulating people, deceiving them, gaining their trust, getting them to like him, etc that he canonically has to a high degree! he is not going to acquire those skills if he is locked up in a cell in an underground lab), are all either unnecessary or outright counterproductive to these goals.

We know that, on average, even though only 13 of the hundreds got past the final stage of selection (and yes, it is confirmed to be multiple stages of selection and not "they're the only ones who survived to adulthood" as I've seen some people claim) to be given the virus, the Wesker children were generally more successful than the average person. (We can tell this just because 13 out of a few hundred were considered just as good as Wesker--who got a PhD at 17. That is more people, in the space of a short time, getting a PhD at 17 than IRL achieved that through *the entire 20th century*. And the people who did that IRL weren't doing intense physical training on top of that... or for that matter learning to become leaders or master manipulators. The project wasn't successful at creating loyalty or obedience to Spencer, but it *was* successful at seemingly everything else.)

Sexual and physical abuse *do not* make the victims more successful on average than people who were not abused. They tend to lead to children doing *less* well academically (very hard to learn when under stress and even more so if also in physical pain, difficulty concentrating, memory issues--trauma can lead not just to memory issues *about the trauma* but memory issues about all kinds of day-to-day things...), being physically weaker and less healthy (chronic pain etc from injuries, stress affecting the immune system, shorter and skinnier if they didn't get enough food or if stress affected their appetite etc--note that both Weskers we see are above average height, in Albert's case above average height and muscular even pre-virus, in Alex's case the virus only slowed the progression of her illness and didn't give her superpowers so likely also didn't make her taller, so she is naturally 5ft10 despite having been chronically ill for much of her life... not exactly looking like childhood malnourishment here...), being less confident, socially awkward or anxious or struggling to interact with people (Wesker spent most of his life in leadership positions and was able to get everyone at STARS, without exception--and including people like Chris who generally have problems with authority--to like him and place absolute trust in him), and often burning out/not achieving much later in life because they lack motivation that isn't based on fear of punishment (Wesker is certainly motivated, and has had an extremely successful career and is then very successful with most of his evil plans once he gets into the whole supervillainy thing).

Sexual and physical abuse do not make people stronger. They do not make people more confident. They do not make people more successful. The Wesker Project *did* succeed at doing all these things.

(Yes, some real-life educational/training programs with the stated goal of making people more successful or stronger have had incidents of sexual abuse, because predators join the organisation and exploit their position... but it isn't *beneficial to the program's stated goals*--all other things being equal someone who was abused will generally struggle more to be successful than someone who wasn't--it's a failure of the program, not a case of the program working as intended... the Wesker Project was scientifically designed to set these kids up for success and power and we know *it worked*, not simply in the sense of success in a narrow area like a sport at the expense of a lot of other things, but in terms of being extremely skilled and successful at a huge variety of things and extremely adaptable and fast-learning.)

If you want a villain whose primary purpose in the plot is to be someone you're meant to feel sorry for, or who hates themself, or is depressed, etc... there are so many others in various works of fiction. Wesker is not that character and twisting him into it just seems to be making him into a different character entirely from the one canon portrays.

I know some people just don't care about canon-compliance--not just because of things like people saying "his confidence is fake and would collapse at the slightest challenge" when the official RE4 book (not a noncanon novelisation like SD Perry's nonsense, official canon content) calls him "a confident man" who likes a challenge (and it's not from his POV but from a factual/unbiased narrator), but because I've encountered some *really odd* canon-breaking things in fics that weren't tagged as AU at all. (One of the most nonsensical-seeming to me, and I wish I could spoiler this like on Discord because it does need a tw but uh... tw self-harm... had Wesker portrayed as having frequently cut himself throughout his life, including frequently doing so at STARS, including only a few weeks before the Mansion Incident, explicitly described as cuts on his wrists and forearms... even though *his sleeves are rolled up in RE1* and *you can see there are no scars there*... those kinds of scars can take years to fade, and again, Wesker was physically human at this point, they are not going to vanish in a few weeks.) But I do wish stories portraying Wesker as some kind of angsty victim had a single clear AU tag on AO3 so they could all easily be filtered out when I'm trying to find canon-compliant fics.

This is why most of my Wesker fics have been delayed for a while, I just find this fandom so frustrating at times because half the Wesker fans seem to be fans of a very different character... it's exhausting and makes me feel as if no-one actually appreciates the character I love, as he is depicted canonically in the games I love...

#tw abuse #tw csa mention #tw self-harm #tw fictional abuse #tw fictional child abuse #not every good villain story has to be a story of trauma and abuse #sometimes an interesting and complex character can be made #from a story about entitlement and privilege and arrogance and power #even if the resulting character is less palatable #less 'sympathetic' in a conventional 'oh poor thing needs a hug' sense #resident evil #wesker #albert wesker

[i-need-some-advice-on]

I have a sweet friend whom I love very much. But as the years go by I'm becoming less and less sure that our morals and politics align. I'm scared of losing them but I'm also worried about the resentment that I'm slowly developing for them. Does anyone know how to deal with this kind of thing?

For context, my friend is studying to become a psychologist. In the past, I used to have the same opinions about therapy that most people in the majority demographic do - that "Therapy is good and psychiatry is a good and altruistic field, and if a bad therapist hurts someone then it's just that individual practitioner being a bad apple."

But I have a PD diagnosis, I've had previous (bad, as you can imagine) experiences with therapy. And I mean EXTREMELY bad, it threatened my safety in an abusive household and I was also in risk of forced institutionalisation once (That one was related to depression a lot more than any PD just to be clear.)

And as I educate myself more and talk to other people who were in similar situations, i get more and more anti-psych with time. It's not really a Few Bad Apples situation if the therapist(s) who hurt us were technically doing their exact job description and were actually adhering to their regulations. I have developed a huge mistrust for psychologists and therapists and like 50% of it is a knee-jerk personal trauma reaction and the other 50% is genuinely getting more socially conscious and knowing that I'd be treated even worse in a whiter country (which my friend is.)

They also tell me things about their actual psychology classes and every fact I learn unsettles me more. Their classes, teachers and entry level career paths are ALARMINGLY blasé, unprofessional and unethical than what you'd expect from such a serious profession.

My friend is a good person btw I am fully sure they're trying so hard to stay ethical and genuine even when their classes/grades literally inventivize them not to be. I know they're that one person in class who goes all in to make an original presentation while everyone who copied off the internet gets an A. But I just feel sad about how far this can really go, it's like seeing someone genuinely try to be a good cop.

I have known this person for a few years and I see them as a LIFELONG friend, I want to hang out with them when we're old and boring. But I just don't know if I will ever be okay with their education and future career, sometimes I'm actively scared of what their psychiatry books must have told them about people like me. Again, my friend has repeatedly reassured me that they're one of the good ones that don't hate or discrimate against certain disorders but I still believe it's a systematic issue. I'm scared of watching them turn into something else but at the same time I don't want to lose them. I also don't think I have any right to tell them what to do with their own life.

All my opinions about psychology here were purely to give you an exact idea of what I'm talking about! I don't want to start any discourse about the anti psych movement on this blog because that's not its purpose (thanks for this space btw op <3) I just didn't want people to assume that my friend was a right winger or something, and that's the only thing it sounds like if I leave it in vague terms. What do I do? Has anyone ever been in this kind of situations with a friend's beliefs and what did you do about it?

.

[thewitcheslibrary]

Basic history of paganism

Please note: I am pagan and I am writing this as neutral as I can. But I'm giving facts and history. This does not mean I don't respect other beliefs and religions, because I absolutely respect them! and think everyones faith is unique and beautiful in they're own ways.

What the word Paganism means and why it was used-

Paganism is a Christian phrase that refers to faiths that do not worship the God of Abraham, who is essential to Christianity as well as other Abrahamic religions such as Judaism and Islam. Christians have used the labels paganism and pagan, which have negative connotations, to distinguish themselves from others who they think worship false gods.

Throughout much of Christianity's history, few, if any, of those labelled heathen have accepted this term for themselves. However, since at least the first part of the twentieth century, the term has been reappropriated as a self-description by a group of similar new faiths. They are sometimes referred to as modern Pagan or Neo-Pagan organisations and are influenced by religions from Europe, North Africa, and West Asia that became extinct as a result of the advent of Christianity and other Abrahamic faiths.

The history-

Christianity appeared in the Roman Empire in the first century CE. As a monotheistic religion, it held that there was only one genuine God, whom it identified as the God of Abraham, a divinity also revered in Judaism. The majority of the empire's traditions were polytheistic, with several gods and goddesses. For Christians, polytheistic cultures were idolatrous, with deities who were actually devils. This perspective made it difficult for many Christians to seek peaceful coexistence with non-Abrahamic religions.

One hypothesis is that the word pagani, which means "people of the place," came to apply to individuals who continued to worship the traditional deities of their area, whereas Christians came to be referred to as alieni, meaning "people from elsewhere." A second hypothesis stems from an other meaning of the name paganus, "civilian," which became clear by the late second or third century. This second meaning of the phrase was most likely originated by Roman troops stationed in rural areas far from Rome. Early Christians identified as miles Christi, or "soldiers of Christ," and may have borrowed the term "civilian" for anyone who had not joined their religious movement.

In addition to Latin, Christians employed additional names that were basically synonymous. Greek was extensively spoken in eastern regions of the empire, and the labels ethnē and ethnikoi, "foreigners," had a similar purpose. By the early 4th century, the term Hellēnes, "Greeks," had fully supplanted the former. During the 4th century, Christian bishop Ulfilas (c. 311-82) translated the Gospel of Mark from Greek to Gothic and coined the phrase haiþno, which translates to "gentile woman." Variants of haiþno became extensively used in various Germanic languages, including the Old English hǣþen, whence derives the Modern English term heathen.

One often cited theory is that this phrase refers to things that are "of the heath"—it is conceivable that Ulfilas was intentionally invoking the notion of rurality that he felt was contained in the Latin term pagan. The Latin term gentilis (Modern English: "gentile") also occurred in Christian texts to characterise persons who did not worship the God of Abraham, which is separate from the term's now recognised sense of "non-Jewish."

Terms like heathen aimed to create a clear binary separation between Christians, who viewed themselves as holding doctrinal truth, and everyone else, who they believed lived in mistake. Nonetheless, while the label paganism was largely applied to individuals who did not worship the God of Abraham, its use may be wide. For example, the word was employed in the context of sectarian war among Christians. Following the Reformation in the sixteenth century, many Protestants accused the Roman Catholic Church of being pagan due to its devotion of saints and complex rites.

Between the 15th and 19th centuries, Christian Europeans expanded into new territories in the Americas, Asia, Africa, and Australasia. In these nations, they found a wide range of religious traditions that were not dedicated to the God of Abraham and were frequently labelled as pagan or heathen. The many traditions of the Indian subcontinent, now commonly known as Hinduism, were formerly labelled "Hindoo paganism" by 19th-century British authors. Christian missionary initiatives were frequently attempted over the world to convert non-Abrahamic peoples, with different degrees of success.

Changes were visible by the second part of the twentieth century. Growing worries about Eurocentrism and racial discrimination, combined with the promotion of ecumenism and the interfaith movement, have led to a decline in the usage of the labels paganism and pagan by many Christians. However, it has not completely faded from the Christian language. These phrases are still used by certain Christian organisations who have little interest for amicable connections with non-Abrahamic religions.

#pagan witch #witch #witchblr #witchcore #witchcraft #beginner witch friendly #paganism

[noisytenant]

"hot allostatic load" is very much a work worth reading and discussing, and it's shameful how the harrowing experiences described can be found unchanged these 9 years later. it highlights so many intersecting dynamics and consequences of the transmisogyny, ableism, and racism that are perpetuated within ostensibly "inclusive" spaces.

that being said, i feel like it still kind of reifies the victim/aggressor dichotomy and maintains "abuser" as a meaningful ontological class of malicious actors, and i'm skeptical of that part of the argument.

mostly i feel like messaging is mixed; between nominal challenges to the moral hierarchy and innocence/guilt paradigm, there are a number of lines that assert the innocence and good intent of victims, while taking as fact the malice and wanton destruction of aggressors.

lines like "abusers don't spend years disabled by those thoughts [of being sociopathic, crazy, or abusive] because they don't care if they hurt other people" have me raising my eyebrows. i feel that this line of thinking leaps over all of the little social and mental tricks that enable abuse--the minimization of consequences, the willful and selective ignorance of power dynamics, the magical thinking of intent trumping impact.

it has been my experience that a great deal of abusive individuals think they care deeply about hurting others, and do at times ruminate about the morality of their actions, but inevitably fall back on various justifications to maintain their behavior. i worry that the reassurance, essentially, "an abusive person wouldn't worry about being abusive" can terminate necessary reflection and growth.

it is an important part of the healing process to first realize that it wasn't all your fault, and that you are not uniquely evil or irredeemable. but i think it's an important part of being a political actor to challenge framing issues in terms of blame and ontological badness entirely. sometimes you are the one who fucked up, badly, and the question of handling that situation is fundamental to anticarceral politics.

the essay seems to believe in a type of genuinely "bad person", but it offers little in the way of how to identify them and what to do about them. how does one distinguish confused and righteous people from "pathological liars"? how does one distinguish the airing of personal grievances privately and without a major callout from the weaponization of whisper networks and silent ostracization? what punishments would be appropriate for the "bad people" who avoid them through privilege? if someone fucks up, what does it look like for them to actually atone and change things for the better?

i agree with the concluding sentiment that "there is no kind of justice that resembles hundreds of people ganging up on one person, or tangible lifelong damage being inflicted on someone for failing the rituals of purification that have no connection to real life". we should carefully consider what tools and methods we use in a quest for a more just world, because some of them have grave consequences. but this alone feels imprecise when paired with the whole of the article's wobbly stance on victimhood and abuse, and general lack of suggestions for how marginalized people can be heard and believed.

i guess my feeling is that i'd like to view the piece as a snapshot of this kind of abuse and its effects on all levels, but i personally think many of the core arguments are better discussed elsewhere. it just isn't very precise and honed, and i think a sharp argument is required to cut through the muck of cognitive dissonance and self-justification that perpetuate the abuses we're trying to stop.

anyways, that's just my two cents. hope it resonates with others; if you see the article differently, i'd love to hear a different perspective on it too. i worry if i'm misreading somehow, or overly critical due to unexamined bias. but i can't really know if that's the case if i don't share my thoughts with anyone else. so, here i am with my thoughts. Heart

#indexed post #In particular I think the 'purity' point is kind of underdiscussed/developed #and when it is one of the main elements of the prescribed anti-criminal-justice solution it feels necessary to clarify... #I have a great deal of my own thoughts about moral purity complexes #but i think it's hard to recognize that it's happening when you're in the thick of it #So I think you really need to cut through it and expose it clearly... #perhaps i'm just asking for another essay. idk.

[symbioticsimplicity]

@taddy-cat

You asked for the essay, you get the essay.

First and foremost, the premise of the show is that anyone, no matter how awful, can be redeemed. Based on that alone, there's already room for Alastor to make the cut. He would absolutely take the longest and I believe he'd be the last of the original cast to have done so, but I think its not only possible but plausible. From a writing perspective it would be brilliant should they carry it off.

But that's the Doylist answer, we're interested in the Watsonian one.

The first thing that makes me think so, is that we've already seen him change, in small ways, but its change nonetheless.

Turning away Mimzy, which while was most likely because he was trying to make Lucifer swallow the narrative that he was constructing, still showed him prioritizing the hotel.

Lending Charlie his Mic. THAT was a trust exercise. It didn't take place during one of the scheduled times, but make no mistake he placed a SHITTON of trust in Charlie then, he just didn't tell her. It was on his own terms, but like I said SMALL changes.

Threatening Husk. That sounds contradictory because how could threatening someone indicate a GOOD change? Because we very much have heard about Alastor being the type of person you don't fuck around with. People do everything they can to avoid him so much as NOTICING them. He's absolutely the type to kill without warning but he DIDN'T. He threatened because he LIKES Husk.

And of course him mentioning "One could become accustomed" to the rest of the Hazbin cast. First of all, that was right before a major battle, he could very well lose any of these people the next day. That's such a fond thing to say under those circumstances, especially for someone like him. (This is pure speculation, but remember what Mimzy said about him becoming a kitten after a drink or two?? What better time to drink than the eve before a major battle??? Alcohol loosens the tongue, ergo Alastor is an affectionate drunk. Honestly??? That would be fucking hilarious, and would explain why hes not visibly drunk around any of them despite liking alcohol)

Also!!! Rosie!!!! The fact that he DOES have the capacity for genuine friendship, however twisted, shows that he has the potential to cultivate even more relationships like those, perhaps in a healthier manner even.

That said, it will be HARD.

He will fight TOOTH AND NAIL. He is the embodiment of it gets worse before it gets better. He's gonna fuck up SO MUCH MORE before that even becomes a possibility. Because in order to get him to actually consciously make the decision to become better, he has to have remorse to work with. Right now Alastor feels none guilt about just about anything hes done up until this point. He's a monster and he knows and loves that about himself. He DOES have a moral code in there somewhere, its just wildly different than anyobody else's and he hasn't broken THAT once. He needs to be put in a position where he DOES.

Because for someone like him, redemption can't be an accident the way it was with Pentious. It needs to be an intentional goal that he has to work towards with the same kind of intensity he's put toward evil. And given the set up they have for him to betray the Hotel, I genuinely hope that's the catalyst. I hope its right after Charlie goes out of her way to do something genuinely meaningful for him (Like passing him a message from his Mother, because she sought her out while she was in Heaven. She knows how much he cares about her at that point, and made the effort to make contact and see if she could get smuggle a letter down for him. Maybe it even causes her some trouble too just to add fuel to the fire.)

But if that remorse were to begin, I think it would eat him alive. In the same way pain feels magnified when its not a frequent thing, Alastor has never felt guilt before so its crushing to him.

Alastor is also not the type of person to sit around and mope so after figuring out what the fuck is happening to him, he would be the type to force himself through whatever he thought necessary to deal with it. And the way to deal with it is to put himself through Charlie’s program.

He has to see his Mom, and he has to make things right.

And that fucker is driven.

#hazbin hotel #hazbin alastor #i posted this before i meant to

[abbatoirablaze]

Surrogate Luna, Chapter 6

Word Count: 1.5k

Warnings: threats, mentions of impending violence, jealousy, manipulation.

“This is-“

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Wanda finished, a smile plastering itself across her features as she finished what Cinna was thinking.  Cinna couldn’t help but smile and nod as she looked at the little lake. While it wasn’t a large space, there was a delicate balance to it all that made her feel both calm and at peace.  On top of that, it looked like the girls had taken time to make it decorative, hanging paper lanterns that were lit with candles, and spreading petals around the entrance and cleared spots.  She could also make out a few small altars, and her heart swelled, as she knew that it was offerings from the pack filled with food, oils, and scents to welcome her into their fold “we love coming here when we want to be free of-“

“The pack den-“

“Oh, yeah.  We know,” Sarah admitted, with a small smile of her own, “only trusted female wolves of our pack are aware of where the pack den is in relation to our lake…but I want to caution you, Luna, do not speak of the pack den around anyone other than us.  It’s not safe.  A few trusted she-wolves brought up the gifts from the rest of the pack’s females and they were all checked to ensure your safety.”

“Wh-why not?” she asked cautiously, “wh-why does everyone not know where the den is?”

“The Carter pack know not of its location,” she pointed out, “they know that the lake exists, but not that our pack den is nearby.”

“But the Carter and Rogers pack-“

“We each have our own secrets,” Maria admitted gently, as she placed a hand on Cinna’s shoulder, “some more important than others.  This one is not one that they can know about!”

“Oh…”

“While Steve and Sharon had combined packs, Steve doesn’t and hasn’t ever fully trusted her.  Not since she originally turned down the request to mark her.  Therefore, he chose to keep some of our pack’s more important things a secret,” Wanda admitted, “while he trusts those who he accepted into the pack, like me, we consider ourselves members of the Rogers pack, not to Sharon and hers…they aren’t….aren’t good people.  Well, a majority of them.  And I think our alpha knows enough of that to know that none of them are welcome to know the pack den’s relation to the lake.”

“So, none of them really know?”

“No,” Sarah said with a shake of her head, “but this is not about the Carter pack or anyone else other than you and our alpha…and the miracle that now is inside of you!”

“O-our pup…”

“The heir to the Rogers pack, whoever they may be,” Wanda offered, gently placing her hand over Cinna’s stomach, “do you remember the rituals of the Potts pack for when a pup is announced?”

Cinna nodded, “my mother made sure to teach us them…that’s why you brought me to the lake, isn’t it?  You are the three that are the gate keepers to the Rogers pack…you are an example of the she wolves of the pack…accepting me into the fold and blessing our pup…aren’t you?”

“We are…” Maria admitted, “for strength.”

“For health!” Wanda proclaimed.

“For wisdom!” Sarah finished. 

Cinna felt the tears pricking at the corners of her eyes.  She knew that she was going into the program and would be used as a birthing tool for the packs, but she never expected the traditions of old to be followed.  She hadn’t expected Steve to treat her like she was anything more than a breeding tool, and had expected even less of the pack that he’d controlled.

She was genuinely touched to be in the position she found herself in.

“Luna…”

Cinna looked away from the rising moon to the three women. 

She was shocked.

They’d all been wearing the ceremonial robes.  Each of them were holding scented oils that she knew would be used to anoint her, “Wh-when did you-“

“You went into a trance!” Maria told her softly, “didn’t you?”

She bit her lip and nodded, “I-I think so…I don’t remember the three of you being in robes.”

“You have a glow about you, Luna,” Sarah smiled as she neared Cinna, “I believe the gods of old have blessed your union with our alpha…”

“Come…let us get started,” Wanda smiled, “we have to do this quickly, as you have to be at the feast in a few hours.  Steve’s going to announce it to the rest of the pack that you are with child, and while we have accepted you as our own already, you must be presented to the rest of the pack.”

“And you believe that it will be a boy?” Steve asked in disbelief.  His eyes were wide as he looked to Wanda, “my pup?  The pup in her belly?  Our heir.  An alpha male?”

“And he will be strong, alpha!” Sarah reminded Steve as he smiled at Cinna, putting his hand over her stomach, “and wise.  And compassionate.  During the ritual we saw it…the Luna went into a trance before we started, and we felt a connection with the gods of old when we anointed her with the oils.  WE saw it.  He will be a just ruler over the pack.”

“It was transcendent, alpha Rogers,” Wanda admitted tearfully, “I-I never thought I would see the day when I was actually pulled into a vision like that!  Our pack’s future is ensured through your pup, and the gods of old bless the union between the two of you!”

Steve couldn’t stop the pride that swelled in his chest as he looked to his omega, “Our pup…”

“Yes alpha.”

A rumble started deep in his chest, making a fresh wave of slick between her thighs.  Steve’s rumble got louder as he caught the scent and his eyes lit up, “I don’t know how I’m going to keep my hands off of you at this rate, omega…”

His eyes closed as he leaned down and pressed a kiss to her temple, catching the slightest bit of her scent and rubbing his cheek against it so that he was making her scent him as her own.  A contented noise rose from her chest, and she caught herself doing the same to him.

“Steve!”

The happiness soured, and Steve could smell the nervous tinge to Cinna as she immediately backed away and behind Steve.  His eyes flickered open and he saw Sharon with Brock at her side.

He growled.

Her jaw twitched, and she looked at Cinna, “Congratulations on your bastard.”

Steve growled again, this time not breaking eye contact as he pulled Cinna close and then scented her in plain sight of Sharon. 

This time, Sharon growled. 

Maria, Sarah, and Wanda were quick to close ranks around the couple, Sam filling in the gap as he placed himself between the two sets of alpha and omegas.

“What…can’t stand to have anyone near your precious new little family?” she taunted, “you are my mate, and-“

“Sharon…” Steve warned firmly.

“You still belong to me, Steve…”

“And we can’t produce a pup,” he reminded her, “my omega can.”

“I’m going to my pack’s den…” she said firmly, growling at Steve once again “I’m contesting the rule of your pup as I plan on making one with Brock….because of our status, I feel like you have a right to know.”

Steve growled even more, “the pack is mine, Sharon…and when I pass, it will belong to my pup.  Not yours.  If you want to end the relationship between our packs, you’re welcome to.”

“No, Steve…we’re mated.  We’re not dissolving our relationship,” she hissed, “but if you get to make a pup…so do I.”

“And if I challenge your omega?” he growled, pushing the boundaries, “if we’re mated and you are trying to have a pup to overthrow mine it’s well within my rights to challenge and kill your omega…”

“Then you kill Brock,” she said with a shrug of her shoulder, “but then I’ll kill your omega.  And your pup before it even takes a breath!”

Steve growled again, this time baring his teeth at Sharon, “are you threatening the future of this pack, Sharon?”

“I’m just telling you what will happen, Steve!  It’s not a threat.  So long as my omega remains alive, so does yours…and so does your bastard!” she replied, before taking her leave of the couple. 

Steve and the rest of his pack watched as the Carter pack followed behind Sharon and Brock. 

“Wh-what does all of this mean?” Cinna asked gently, looking at Steve.  

“It means that you are going to be under our care indefinitely, Luna,” Maria answered for Steve, looking to the other women.   Her eyes were watching for any signs of the remaining members of the Carter pack, “but either way…if she’s going to her den to create a pup and leaving the rest of her pack here…we’re going to be in a field full of poisonous snakes…and it’s not safe to leave you alone.”

Steve frowned when he heard the whimper from Cinna.

“It will be okay, Luna….like I said…no one will harm you or our pup…”

“I-I don’t think I want to celebrate anymore tonight,” Cinna said gently, “Can we go upstairs, Steve?”

“Of course, omega…”

Chapter 7

Tag List:  @lohnes16, @prokey16, @tenaciousperfectionunknown, @teambarnes72

#surrogate luna #a/b/o fanfic #a/b/o fic #a/b/o #marvel #marvel au #the avengers #steve rogers #captain america

[callmemrskenway]

Strong spider with scorpion queen was so cute and I can see them ending up together , now I’m wondering what about poly Macaque x GN reader x Chang’e HCs their both would vibe well together that and I love the Moon theme their got going on (her goddess of the moon , his shadow theme just 😘)

A REQUEST WITH CHANG'E!? YES OF COURSE-

- THE SHADOW EDGE LORD IS SO SOFT FOR THE BOTH OF YOU. LIKE, YOU GUYS ARE ABSOLUTELY THE ONLY GOOD THINGS IN HIS LIFE HONESTLY.

- You and Chang'e were in a relationship first and since you both follow the adventures of Monkey King and MK, you guys both definetly know of Macaque and fawn over him together.

- So how you guys meet officially is up to you but he's very surprised and shocked to see you, a very good looking person, and your girlfriend, a beautiful goddess of the moon, excited to meet him and that you both are low-key crushing on him.

- He somehow ends up in the relationship and he doesn't know how but he's not complaining at all because you two are absolutely the best things to have ever happened in his life and he adores the both of you for it.

- WILL HAVE THE ABSOLUTE BEST MEALS. Like you and Chang'e will make him little lunches and stuff and he's surprised when it's all of his favorite foods.

- AND PLS, HE LOVES THE LIL NOTES THAT YOU GUYS PUT IN HIS LUNCHES AND STUFF, LIKE WHAT!? THAT IS LITERALLY SO SWEET!? They were your idea and Chang'e absolutely loved it and by the way Macaque is very protective of the notes and sometimes carries them with him, its obvious he likes them too. Especially when you add your lil doodles to them, it makes the meal 100x more better and precious.

- Sometimes he does feel like he's intruding on the relationship, like you and Chang'e will be cuddled up together or she takes a selfie of the both of you and he feels a bit bad because he's not as happy as you too or he doesn't show it as well but then you both grab him and have him pose with you both because, um, DUH! HE'S BOTH YOUR BOYFRIEND. And he's shocked at first but he doesn't mind as he makes himself comfortable between the two of you or as he just gives a big smile for Chang'e's social media.

- Couple fights don't really happen but a majority of the time, Chang'e is the peacemaker and manages to bring you all together with food. She knows when to stand her ground though and isn't a pushover so you and Macaque really have to help think of ways to make it up to her. A simple genuine apology is usually enough but sometimes you guys add something a bit extra to it and Chang'e can't help but cave in because you two are literally so adorable!

- All of you are very protective of each other. Chang'e and Macaque try to keep you away from Celestial being stuff because they know from firsthand experience when it can get messy. You and Chang'e are willing to advocate for Macaque's redemption, even if no one else will believe in him, because you two know that yeah he's a bit mischievous and shady but he's also such a sweetheart below all those shadows. If ANYONE, AND I MEAN ANYONE, SLANDERS CHANG'E ONLINE, YOU AND MACAQUE ARE REPLYING AND DEFENDING HER WITH YOUR LIVES and while Chang'e appreciates it, she does urge you two to calm down.

- Chang'e and Macaque overall have different personalities and energies and you do a good job of matching those energies. But also, they are drastically different and while they do like each other, it's hard to understand each other so you help them learn how to appreciate each other.

- Overall, you three make a good couple that balances each other out and ya'll are really cute about it too not gonna lie.

#lmk x reader #macaque x reader #chang'e x reader #lmk chang'e x reader #lmk chang'e #lmk macaque x reader

[ninadove]

number 11 for feligami (you know this is an excuse to warm my heart)

I am more than happy to warm your heart! 💜

11. What was their first impression of each other?

The thing with these two is, we actually got many different “first impression” scenes, so prepare for a looong post:

Gabriel Agreste (S4 E9):

Obviously, this little staring contest was building up to something, but we weren’t sure what that was at the time (and I don’t think the writing team knew either).

We don’t get much from this scene except that Kagami immediately sees right through Felix’s bullshit - she doesn’t know what it is about him, but it sure is something. Later in Pretention, we see that she is not afraid to call him out on said bullshit, which we always love.

More interestingly, there’s a form of curiosity in the way she holds his gaze and only breaks eye contact when Chloé starts yelling (as she does), continuing to observe him as he gets up to conduct very important plot business. He might be dangerous at this point in the story, but that doesn’t make him any less fascinating.

As for Felix's side: this encounter reads like a “first draft” of the reaction we get from him in Emotion. Even without knowing that Kagami is a Sentibeing, he senses something familiar in her, which reads a lot like this feeling of shared otherness queer people and abuse survivors often get very early on with each other.

But ultimately, at this point in the story, he is on a mission that takes precedence over everything else in his life. Which leads us to their actual first meeting, as in the actually plot relevant one that has been living in my head rent free since Christmas (what a beautiful gift):

Emotion (S5 E18):

Where do I even start with this one. Well I guess we need to start with the beginning.

Emotion is the continuation of Felix’s arc towards regaining his freedom and safety, and so far he hasn’t cared much about throwing people (including and especially his cousin/twin/clone) under the bus to further its advancement. He has an objective and he knows exactly how he will get to it.

Which is why it is so interesting and fun to see him deviate from his plan, out of to sheer concentrated annoyance (Chloé) or romantic interest (Kagami):

Kagami herself said it best: the kiss was a little too much. There was no reason for Adrien to do that. So what motive could Felix potentially have to go so overboard with his displays of affection? Well it’s simple, really: Kagami has the most gorgeous hazel eyes and the cutest nose and freckles like stardust on her cheeks. Flirting with this pretty girl he had already noticed months ago might be part of the plan, but he’s genuinely having the time of his life doing it.

Then of course he notices the ring.

And suddenly it’s not just about Kagami being the cutest girl he’s ever seen anymore. It’s a confirmation of the ✨ vibes ✨ both of them were picking up on in Gabriel Agreste. Of course, the in-universe implication is that they are both Sentibeings, but it’s not actually about that: it is about Felix recognising the horrifying abuse he’s been subjected to in another person, and desperately wanting to reach out to her.

WHICH BRINGS ME TO:

The Diamond Dance breaks my heart into a billion tiny pieces and puts it back together multiple times a day. I am so normal.

Felix is flirting so hard, because of course he is, and it hurts. Kagami cannot see that he is being sincere, and it’s not just because of Adrien: Perfection and Protection have shown us that she has repeatedly felt like an afterthought not only as a love interest, but also as a friend. Her self-esteem has taken a major hit and she cannot believe that anyone could be interested in her romantically at this point.

Which is utter bullshit because look at this boy:

Getting more and more enamored as he discovers that not only does she understand what he’s been through, she’s also brave, intelligent, honest, and considerate in ways that are completely foreign to him.

The best thing about this scene is how Felix « I lie for fun » Graham de Vanily progressively lets his mask slip around her, letting out more and more truths that cannot just be written off as Adrien getting bolder. Until finally he says the most Felix thing ever:

And this is when we get Kagami’s real first impression of him. When so much honesty from her leads him to take his own mask off. When the plans for rebellion and revenge are quickly abandoned for something more important. When he asks her to run away with him.

Obviously, she likes what she sees.

#miraculous ladybug #felix graham de vanily #kagami tsurugi #feligami #mlb spoilers #ml spoilers #mlb gabriel agreste #ml gabriel agreste #mlb emotion #ml emotion #mlb perfection #ml perfection #mlb protection #ml protection #sentimonster theory #ask games #random ramblings #And I haven’t even delved into Pretention here!

[deafeninggardenerpanda]

Sorry if this is more of a redundant question or related to one that you already did, but what is your opinion on people claiming that ships with little evidence or up to interpretation are "canon"?

I believe you mentioned this somewhat with FranFlam, but what about with other ships that you like where this seems to be common with like Metadede? Or is it the case of "it's fine as long as they aren't attacking people who think otherwise"?

under the cut! nah totally valid q anon i love talking about stuff like this:

tbh i think kirby is just a series that should not have romance in it at all. innocent things like ribbon and kirby in 64 is like fine because i personally dont take kid relationships too seriously but like anything else i just dont think its the place for it. for metadede in particular, ofc i love shipping and i like to scream with other shippers and pick out things and see it in a shippy context but i absolutely dont think metadede is canon, will ever be canon, or even particularly Should be canon actually. im just gonna stick to metadede and franflam like your examples for this because you dont really see people trying to claim any particular (fanon) m/f ship as canon in this fandom but hey even tho i think a lot of us can agree nintendo makes some great games, nintendo is also a big soulless corporation that does not care about us. if youre someone desperate to find a cake in the crumbs on the floor in terms of canon main/major character queer rep, anything nintendo is absolutely not the place for that

to answer your question, that sums up how i feel about other people who try to make canon ship claims too. i try to think the best of people because the lines get really blurred when a lot of people just like making jokes about ships being canon vs Actually genuinely thinking that, but for anyone who legitimately does try to push their ship as canon its just kinda like Mmmm. that gets a thumbs down from me... its not like problematic in of itself (unless you try to claim that people who dont like the ship are homophobic by default or something. youre getting thrown in the grain silo and you probably need to go outside) so like technically i guess i dont care, but i sure do think its obnoxious as hell and also absolutely REEKS of "FRIENDS dont DO that!! people who arent dating dont DO that!!!!! so they must be dating!!!!" and then the thing in question is the two characters like holding hands sometimes. of course theres something to be said about Writer intent but cmon this is a series where people kiss each other on the lips platonically all the time i cannot take canon ship claims seriously. why is so much of peoples worth in a ship staked in whether its "canon" anyways? it just comes off as wanting a reason to lord over others why a certain ship is better than everyone elses. unless two characters make out in a cutscene complete with blushing afterwards prefaced by a lot of romantic tension through the entire game previously its not canon. thats my hot take lol. we have a rare series where canon romance isnt in your face and shoved down your throat every moment and yet some bad folks in the fandom will try to do that for you still. unbelievable

#asks #anonymous #ask to tag

[2n2n]

why do people keep reading a manga they genuinely can't enjoy 😭😭😭 being delusional is one thing, but being bitter and constantly complaining about every chapter is damaging no one else but you

You understand how I think it's just a kind of performance, an obligatory puppetshow for purely social reasons. Hating any one single event is fine... but it does get as absurd as, hating every single major story climax, hating the entire Far Shore arc, hating the way every single pairing comes to pass ... allegedly. It's a very captivating story though, with intense romances-- the entire point of this manga is its dynamics, its romances. It's really funny to pretend you hate every single kiss, when every kiss is the point of everything that came before it...

This really is not.... like a typical shounen, where you can hate the hetship but not deal with it for 300 chapters while we fight The Legion, or faff off in a boat with asides for over a year.

Comparatively ... if something is bothersome, more than anything, it gets totally boring, right? It just has to be exciting on some level, haha, there has to be a, "but where IS it going?" .... I've dropped manga 100ch in, just deciding "you know what... I don't want to do this anymore" out of more banal emotions. Did this with Mob Psycho ... ! Extremely Boring Not For Me. Not even offensive! Just sorta trite. I guess I could sorta understand reading something boring, but..

The idea of claiming something as intense as 'genuine' repulsion or disgust is kind of absurd, isn't it? Like, whoa! Is it that bad? It kind of can't be, right? I don't believe it, haha ... it's like someone saying, "I'm so aracnophobic, I just fall to pieces over a spider being anywhere near me! Really, I'll cry and scream!" while they hold a tarantula in their hands, hahahahah! When I try reading something, and it's, say, unrelentingly misogynistic (happened fairly recently...), in a "this author absolutely appalls me... what reprehensible views, what disgusting story themes to repetitively write! I don't want to get into the head of the kind of person who thinks this is worth writing!" way... if I kept reading anyway, that would do some real damage to me, haha, like, it would really bog me DOWN... ! I'd have to be contending with the inner skull of a misogynist and get deeper and deeper into that awful psyche! And even if I liked some girl in it... I'd be so sad she is trapped in this world which can only degrade her. She's gonna fall into that miserable worldview's design...!

I really don't believe people ... it's a bit too maudlin haha! The actions don't match the words. It's too silly, I can't pity anyone hahahahaha... see you next month, guys!! It's exciting, it really is! It's impossible to not be hooked, right? It's delicious! It's intoxicating... ! ♥

#avvy's JSHK