#and i fully agree: if you can't be polite when commenting then just go do something else

[pastafossa]

So I posted the other day about a blog post that came across as, 'don't read if you don't comment'. I'd seen posts like that before and it was kinda the straw that broke the camel's back, especially since I've had readers who apologized and felt guilty for not commenting or reblogging, and I'd wanted to talk about that for a while now. So I told my readers that it was fine to read without commenting, and that I knew all the reasons you might not comment or reblog. It got a bit of traction and the original OP saw it, and they apologized and clarified they were referring to rude readers whose only comments were either them being cruel or them being entitled and demanding updates. Basically, 'if you're just going to be rude, don't bother reading'. Which makes a ton more sense.

I've added an edit/update to that post clarifying the OPs intent, which I'm leaving up for now so that part can be seen, and because there are unfortunately people out there who really do believe that you shouldn't read if you don't comment. Just know the OP absolutely agrees that you should absolutely be able to read fic even if you're not in the right place or headspace to comment or reblog.

#pasta speaks #thank you to OP for clarifying! #and i fully agree: if you can't be polite when commenting then just go do something else #you don't need to comment but if you do it's good to remember writers are human

[cursedvibes]

I went on @epickiya722 blog and ranted all about how I think that the womanizer characterisation of Gojo by the fandom does not make sense. The points I gave to why this man can not even be in one relationship were:

Trust issues. Gojo does not trust a lot of people due to being the target of assassination attempt since his birth.

Self isolation. He does not feel like others truly understand him or can relate to him. So, he does not truly give himself the opportunity to be close to anyone.

I could go in more detail but I already saturated, the previous blogger ask and I do not want to trigger a hypefixation that will make me write a 2000 words essay on " Gojo got no hoes: this man has a negative rizz".

Also, I'm new to the fandom, so my interpretation could be lacking a lot of elements from the manga.

What do you think? (This is a bait for you to write a loooooooooooooooooooong answer)

I forgot to add. I don't think that most Jujutsu Sorcerers are in the mental headspace to be in a relationship with all the things they have to deal with. Maybe if it is for politics, as in getting married to someone because of their abilities and how it can be beneficial for your clan.

Well, I wouldn't really say I'm an expert on Gojo, but he's definitely not a womanizer. The only reason this is even such a popular perception of his character is because of some misinterpretation of a comment Gege made before Hidden Inventory started, where they said Gojo wears sunglasses when meeting girls/a girl (Riko). And I guess fans assume because they think Gojo is hot, he must be swimming in pussy. In canon, most people seemed to be turned off by his personality and status though. Yuuta (guy who still runs around with the replica of the girl who made a pinky swear with him in elementary school) even teases him about how ridiculous him having a significant other is. Gege said that at least when they were teenagers, Geto was the more popular one. Can't say I understand that because the guy seemed like an absolute bore and always looked down on the people he considers weak just like Gojo. Gojo was being straight-forward about it and not pretending he's a nicer person than he actually is, which I can respect much more than Geto's slimy attitude.

I agree that a big problem for Gojo is the self-isolation he puts on himself that comes with being considered The Strongest. People might be intimidated, but fundamentally there is nothing keeping him from forming close relationships with others once he knows them better. He sees himself as entirely removed from others and not even having/being the same existence.

He is the one who put himself up there and who thinks that only someone on a similar pedestal like Sukuna or previously Geto could understand him because he considers them separate from other humans and closer to himself. The label "The Strongest" is a necessity for him to think he could ever form a truly equal relationship with someone. That way he is very similar to Kashimo and Yorozu, also people who tried to teach Sukuna about love and desperately tried to relate to him because they thought he was the only person who could understand them (he doesn't and he isn't) and that way they only managed to close themselves off to people who could've actually helped them.

Vulnerability also plays into it to an extent because it's no coincidence that Gojo has his Limitless on almost constantly. The thing is, to form a real personal bond with others and have a close relationship with them, he needs to make himself vulnerable and also step down from the pedestal he put himself on to meet them at eye-level. You see that very well with how Takaba and Kenjaku's fight ended. Kenjaku also used to separate themselves from others for safety reasons, suspicion and just general habit. They craved friendship, but had trouble forming the truly equal relationship friendship requires for them. In the end, Kenjaku allowed themselves to fully engage with and get involved with Takaba and that vulnerability led to their death, but it also made them happy and as they said, was one of the best moments in their long life because it fulfilled the base wish/desire that was behind all the wild experiments and merging of people and curses and whatnot.

You could say Gojo is similar and had a similar death in that he was made vulnerable, but it wasn't so much that he stepped down from his pedestal to connect with the people who were already trying to reach him and cared about him, instead he made himself vulnerable by antagonizing someone who also stands on a different pedestal. He doesn't lower his guard, he seeks out someone who could overcome it by force. Unfortunately, that person doesn't actually care about him. If he had tried to connect more with the people already next to him, he might've been happier or more emotionally fulfilled, even if that means he would have to give up his strength or lower his defence. Instead of making children into weapons in hopes of some of them also climbing on that pedestal, he could've left his. There is pressure for him to be in that high position, no question, but he is the one who separates his existence and status as a living being from others. He would've needed to unlearn that thinking first.

All in all, the last thing you said in the second ask is most important. Sorcerers, especially the ones at Jujutsu Tech, generally just don't have romantic relationships or close relationships in general. Not the type the "womanizer Gojo" people are thinking about at least. Gege avoids talking about couples, but the only sorcerers who might be in a relationship are Kirara and Hakari and they aren't part of Jujutsu Tech anymore. Yaga is divorced and we don't know anything about the others except that most of them are very lonely and depressed. Some sorcerers, particularly those in the big clans, are married, but they don't seem that happy. Maki's parents don't look like they love each other or have any joy in their life really. So if we go by canon, no sorcerer is in a committed and/or loving relationship as far as we know (like I said even Hakari & Kirara are up in the air), which makes sense because most of them will soon die anyway. Maybe some of them have sex on the side, but probably more as coping mechanism. With how hung-up Gojo is on Geto aka the closest relationship he had in his life, I don't see Gojo being one of them. Not saying he's crying into his pillow 24/7, but getting close enough for sex with others seems difficult. Plus, ideally the other person also has to like him enough to agree to do it with him and finding someone like that isn't easy either.

tldr: I agree "Gojo got no hoes: this man has negative rizz"

#asks #jjk spoilers

[beetsandskzreads]

chan and his falling in love with you shenanigans

this is how I see it going down:

at first doesn't know how to act around you so he's very shy and polite

can barely look you in the eye like the way he acts around older people and people he respects (I just imagine his eyes looking around and a lot of tugging his ear)

laughs a lot

in conversations often reaches out to touch the side of your upper arm or your shoulder to try to reassure you but otherwise very respectful with personal space

letting you walk in the room first, not in a romantic attempt but in a respectful and polite way

let's be honest he'd be falling in love and the boy wouldn't realize what hit him

when his heart starts to feel a little more than just tingly when around you or thinking about you, boy can't sleep

if he couldn't sleep before imagine him trying to figure out what went over his head to be feeling this way

sleepless nights with his head spinning with thoughts

I don't think this would be easy on him at first

like he'd be fully wondering not only if you feel the same way

but he'd be damn worried because you work at the company

dude starts thinking this is gonna distract him, affect him, affect your job, that there's no way he can enter a relationship

how were the kids gonna react? does this affect their group dinamic, would they feel weird if he started dating?

did HE want to start dating?

did you???

6am again, how'd he get here, he's got a lot to do tomorrow (or today lol) how's he gonna function

wait he might SEE YOU??? omg what if he see's you in the company ahh why's he like this, his ears are getting red and he buries his head below his blanket

has he fallen in love? he quite literally can't even fall asleep

but when he finally does he dreams about you ;)

he genuinely thinks he isn't okay, he doesn't know how to deal, eventually gets up and washes his face with cold water to get some "sense back into himself"

we all know how that story goes, love is a very obvious feeling chan, you just need to figure out how to fit it into your life

which he spends the rest of his nights for weeks or even months trying to do

meanwhile I think he'd act a bit more serious and "professional" around you, although still soft and polite as always

he's trying to keep his composure, the kids are counting on him to make responsible decisions

gets very awkward and blushy and starts tucking his ear again when the members mention your name and they start to think it's sus

when they finally get it out of him to tell them how he feels about you, they start a journey, collectively, to force him to confess to you

and boy was it hard, chan was really pondering his odds and how this would affect everything

but after the kids begged for weeks

he realized with their support,.,., maybe it could work

so he finally started to ease up around you gradually

and eventually started to purposefully try to hang out with you more

and only then, after a few peaceful evenings together talking about random work things and other personal things that started popping into the conversation, as he realized you seemed to like being around him as well

he very subtly and softly confessed

not like I'm in love with you

but something about him really liking to hang out with you and he'd like to get closer to you if that's okay with you, knowing he doesn't want to jump into anything because he knows relationships with idols can be a bit scary, but if you'll agree he'll make sure to respect your pace and to-

and he's being kissed by you

his ears are on fire, his brain running thousands of miles per hour until a few seconds later he's all no thoughts just feeling like he entered heaven and that everything will be okay

will blush and be giggly forever when around you

with time becomes confident enough to make flirty comments and to compliment you boldly and after he starts he just keeps going

careful there he's a charmer

seriously tho he'd be an unexplainable mix of shy+blushy and bold+smirks

the things he was worried about slowly disappear as you two get through new stages of your relationship together

now all that keeps him awake at night besides all nighters at work is thinking about his moments with you and trying to text you to see if maybe you're awake

bc if you are you guys just text and blush at your phones for hours

#bang chan fluff #bang chan imagine #bang chan oneshot #bang chan scenarios #chan fluff #bangchan fluff #chan oneshot #chan imagines #skz x reader #stray kids fluff #stray kids oneshot #straykids imagines #chan x reader #skz fluff

[sasusakucoded]

"Just relax a bit, Sasuke-kun. Everything will be fine," Sakura assured as she stroked his hair. Sasuke was avoiding this day as much as he could. He made so many excuses in the past just so it wouldn't push through. But on that day, it had been decided— he was set to meet her parents.

It was not his first time to see them, of course. He had been civil with them when he was still a genin. But, many things happened in the past and he knew they were aware that he had been tagged as an international criminal. Sakura told him many times that she had explained everything to them and he had nothing to worry about. Still, the thought of talking to them made him uncomfortable. The only reason he agreed was because he knew this meeting was unavoidable and it would be unfair for Sakura if he wouldn't do this.

They were about to enter her house when a messenger called her attention. She went to him and he relayed the message. Sasuke's focus was on how he would greet her parents. He had practiced it several times in his head but he still felt he would mess up.

"Can't it wait? There's an important event tonight.." she asked. "I'm afraid it can't. But, the earlier you check the patient, maybe you'll finish sooner too." The messenger left instantly. Sakura rushed to Sasuke and told him the situation. "But Sakura?" he pleaded. "Sasuke-kun, I'll be back as soon as I can. I promise," she said.

"How about.. Let's postpone this?"

"Postpone again? My parents prepared for this day too, my dear.."

"But Sakura.. You know what, fine. Just try to be quick, okay?"

"I will. I'm sorry.. I know you're not fully comfortable to do this but—"

"It's fine. You don't have to be sorry. This should've happened a long time ago anyway."

Sakura entered their house and introduced Sasuke to her parents. She explained about the emergency and told them she'd be back in no time. She pulled her mom and told her, "please be nice to him. Don't let him feel uneasy. Don't let Dad make unnecessary comments please." Her mom assured her and told her to leave already. She glanced one last time to Sasuke before leaving.

---

"I hope you'll like all these food. My wife prepared all of them," Kizashi said.

"Hai. Arigato," Sasuke thanked them profusely while looking at the spread in front of him. They all looked tasty.. until he realized.. "Wait, are these.." The more he inspected the food, the more it became clear to him what they were made of. "This is.. unbelievable" was all he could mutter to himself.

There was natto avocado rice bowl.. Natto soup with miso.. Natto with enoki mushrooms.. Natto rolls.. Natto udon.. Everything was natto-based.

His stomach turned. Sasuke hated natto to the core. He had never been this scared to eat something.

"Is everything alright?" Mebuki inquired seeing he hadn't started yet.

"Y-Yes, ma'am.. I'm just thinking about Sakura. Shall we wait for her?" he answered politely, masking it also to delay his demise.

"Ah, don't bother and go ahead. We prepared these for you and I'm sure she'll be happy if you're almost full when she comes back," Kizashi said while Mebuki served Sasuke some of the food.

The two were watching him intently. "Which one has the least amount of natto?" he thought. He took the rice bowl and carefully picked the rice with his chopsticks, leaving the natto out.

"Mebuki, please add natto to his rice. I don't think it's enough."

Sakura's mom glady put more natto on his rice. She smiled at him and he had no choice but to have another bite full of natto. He wanted to vomit. Its texture and its taste were horrible to him. He forced himself to swallow it. "You're an Uchiha. This is nothing," he cheered himself on.

He continued eating while the two of them had questions left and right. Although they had lots to ask, especially about the welfare of their daughter, he didn't feel unconfortable and was even confident with his answers.

He was almost done with his meal when Sakura came back. "Sorry, it took me a while to finish.. How are you, Sasuke-kun? Did you like—," she realized it immediately. "Mom! Why is the food— Why are there natto all over? I thought I made it clear to Dad—"

"Calm down, Sakura. What's the problem here?" Mebuki asked worriedly.

"I told Dad.. Sasuke doesn't eat natto. I told him to tell you to prepare lots of tomatoes because it's his favorite."

"Oh, is that the case? Maybe I interchanged the two.. I'm so sorry."

"Kizashi!" scolds Mebuki. "I'm sorry, Sasuke. You should've told us."

"It's fine. You cooked them well and I thank you for the dinner.. Sakura, it's okay. Come, let's eat."

"Sasuke-kun.."

"I liked it. Come sit now."

---

On their way to Sasuke's inn..

"Sasuke-kun, I'm really sorry. This meet-up was a failure." Sakura was really guilty for the whole ordeal. She thought maybe he was right after all, that it would've been better if they postponed it.

"Sakura.. Don't be upset about it. Now, I know your parents a little bit more.. And probably they've learned something about me too. So, it's all good."

"Sasuke-kun.. Thank you! I know your tired, I will massage your back.. Then tomorrow I'll make you a good breakfast."

They held hands and continued on their way.

---

"Dear, what can you say about Sasuke?" asked Mebuki. "I can see why Sakura likes him so much."

"That Uchiha boy, I like him too," Kizashi announced. "He's polite.. He's well mannered.. He's handome like me.." he laughed. "And oh, I gave you the wrong info on purpose. I knew he hates natto."

"What? You're crazy, Kizashi. You saw how mad your daughter was!"

"Yeah. Our daughter was mad.. In fact , she has been madly in love with that guy for a very long time. I don't want Sakura to be with someone who doesn't love her back. And love is sacrifice.. He ate the food without complaining because he cared about what Sakura would feel. That boy has a good heart. Now I can die in peace knowing she's in good hands."

"You make sense sometimes.."

"But don't tell Sakura I did that on purpose! She'd kill me and I'd die sooner!"

#sasusaku #sasusaku headcanon #ss headcanon #uchihas #harunos #sscoded no 78

[dearweirdme]

Hello! I was looking for some chill Taekook blogs and I stumbled upon yours. I saw your response too an ask about Taennie and found your response very mature, well spoken and open to different opinions. Then read through your blog and really liked the chill vibe you got.

Tbh I'm not sold on Taennie either lol Not because it gets in the way of my ship (I'm a jikooker, it literally can't get in the way), neither because I'm a parasocial Tae biased fan who can't accept him being taken (my bias is actually Hobi and I would be thrilled to find out he is happy and in love), I just find the whole thing weird and suspicious.

Anyways, the reason why I came here is because I love maknae line's bond! But I think the whole Taekook vs Jikook war made both sides very bitter about the other ship's interaction and consequently created a lot of unnecessary hate toward Taehyung and Jimin. I'm mostly on the Jikook side of the internet so I can't speak for Taekook, but I often find Jikookers having a hard time appreciating sweet Taekook moments because they're afraid of toxic Taekookers invading their space with hate, so they just don't talk about it and some even grow a bitter taste with Taekook's bond. So I imagine Taekookers might go through the same because of toxic Jikookers.

And I really hate that.

I love Taekook's bond, they clearly love and care for each other so much, and they have so many cute and funny moments together. And since it's such a popular ship I wanna know more about them and understand different perspectives. So I came here because I'm genuinely curious and open to hear your opinion on Taekook!

What are moments that made you go "Huh? There's no hetero explanation for this"?

If Jikook is just fanservice what makes Taekook moments different?

Please don't take this as a toxic Jikooker invading your space, I am genuinely curious. I fully respect Taekookers opinion!

Borahae 💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜

Hi anon! You are very welcome here, I don't mind different opinions, I think they are valuable. What's important to me is that someone comes to me in a polite way, and you are doing just that. You will at times read some snippy comments about Jkkrs on my blog I'm afraid. Some do come to me with less polite manners, and well.. my patience only goes this far. I think you and I are a bit alike, only from different sides. I also really enjoy Jimin and Jk interactions, and vminkook all the more. It is definitely sad that with those interactions automatically comes a sense of dread, because these days I just know when to expect drama in my inbox... and it's very often TKkrs in distress whenever something Jkk happens, or Jkkrs angry or gloating whenever something Tkk or Jkk happens. It's a wild situation. I wish it weres different, but at the same time... I know not to expect change.

I think many can see Taennie is not real, or at least sus. You don't even need to be part of any ship to see that. It's so obviously used for promotional purposes and severely lacking on the 'real relationship' side. My tag for it is Taennope or Taennie, and you might want to look at Gurumi as well if you are interested.

We are on actual opposing sides. If my ship is true yours cannot be, and vice versa. There's no compromising to be done. The most we can do is stay on our own sides a bit. While you are very nice, I also know we are not going to agree, but it's a nice change to see a Jkkr with a good opinion of Tae and who at least sees Tae and Jk are close. While Jkkrs often say Tkkrs hate Jimin (and to be fair there are definitely Tkkrs who talk about him wrongly) I feel this goes both ways.

To me it is not an either/or situation. If it ever turns out that Jk and Tae are not together, I wont believe Jimin and Jk are. That is just not how I see them. I understand why Jkkrs do, but... I just think you are mistaken in how you view their interactions. To me Jk and Jimin are just best friends. Super close, very playfull, flirty at times sure, but definitely platonic. If I were to compare the two. I feel with Jk and Jimin there's always a definite moment where they are "done" with each other. Like, they'll be playfull and bantery and touchy, but it's always just a moment with the purpuse of being funny, comforting, or friendly. It's not an underlying connection like Tae and JK have. Those two are constantly aware of each other, and that is not true for Jimin and Jk. You'll see many times where Jk and Jimin just don;t care what the other is up to, completely unaware.. and that is different with Tae and Jk. My taekook tag is way too full to go through, but I'll link some specific posts that contain most of my thoughts on Tae and Jk's bond at the end of this post.

I think one very important thing to be able to understand Tkkrs is that you have to be able to see that Tae and Jk never grew apart, like so many believe. It is such an accepted view throughout fandom that they grew apart somewhere inbetweeen 2016 and 2020 and that they became awkward. I absolutely do not think that is true. There is definitely less footage of them during a part of that time, and sure some awkward moments, but when you actually look at the footage that does exist, you can see a bond and a comfort that has not changed. If you are able to see that, you will also be able to see how Tae and Jk have been deliberately separated, even visibly on footage. Moments where they were close and touchy, they notice something off camera, they separate, and there's an emotional reaction to it. That does not happen with any of the other members, inculding Jk and Jimin. This is a post I made about the 2016-2020 period.

This post contains some thoughts I have on Taekook in general:

You can also find a lot of my thoughts on both Jikook and Taekook in these tags: Taekook analysis Ship analysis and there's my straws tag, but that one might also contain some snippy comments, so you might not enjoy 😶.

Thoughts on Jk and thoughts on Tae .

In general I don't think Jk and Jimin's interactions are fanservice. I think they have a genuine strong bond. Do they at times play it up for the camera's, Yes. But all members do that. While Jk and Jimin's interactions have never been avoided in official footage, Jk and Tae's have... and that's where imo the screwed vision of respective bonds comes from.

I've given much to go through, but it's too complicated for me to explain in just one post (though I have tried before 🙈).

#did I just organize my tags a bit #yes i did #gonna pin this post #i am quite chaotic though #so my tags are probably very incomplete #taekook #pinned post

[grungeyemochristian]

Christianity in today's world

With social media being at the forefront of today's world, and everyone being on social media and sharing all of their opinions, whether those opinions are popular or not, sharing their religious views, whether thats Christianity or any other religion as there lots of other religions, I'm here to speak on Christianity in today's world and my view on how it's portrayed in social media. I've been around on social media since the days of myspace, yup I'm a millennial, figures right? Anyway the internet being in everyones hand is both a good and bad thing, I can grab my phone, post a bible verse of the day on any platform, and go back to either scrolling aimlessly and filling my friends or family's inboxes with videos of cute babies doing silly things, or puppies,or kittens, or videos from other christians. We forget that we have the ability to have the bible right in our hand 24/7 whether its a physical bible or an app, or a book you bought on apple book store or google play book store, we have the ability to fully live in God's word, and some of scroll online, or we're out there commenting and not acting Christ like at all, not acting how Christians should behave according to God's word, now this isnt a Christianity call out post, I'm merely speaking on what I've seen. Christianity is one of, if not the most hated group of people on this planet, we're persecuted, mocked, ridiculed, daily, not that we didn't get told this was going to happen, I definitely see lots of people taking it personally, I've even fallen in and taken it personally a couple times.

Being a christian has its challenges in the world, it's definitely something to note, that we as Christians have prayed for so many people, whether that's out of love or not, I can't speak for everyone, but for myself it's definitely out of love. One of the ways Christians have been divided in today's world is when it comes to politics, I've seen Christians call other Christians fake, solely because they didn't want speak politically, but as children of God we're not meant to be divided in any way, we're meant to help each other, lift each other up, pray for others, be one body.

With Christians being on the most popular platforms a lot of us try to post wholesome content, bible verse of the day videos, offer prayer and just be loving, people sometimes seem to forget we're people too and we stumble, we mess up, we make mistakes, BUT we're forgiven we're covered, redeemed, made new, made free. And that's amazing, we have experienced a love so big, so deep, so much more than our human brains can even fathom, that's why we talk the way we do, and preach the gospel, I've seen so many times people talking about how we're forcing our religion down their throats, when that's far from it for most people, I want deny there are definitely people who can be more abrasive than others, and we know church hurt is a very real thing, and again I can only speak for myself when I say this, I'm sorry those people did or said things that were wrong, I don't agree or support their opinion, I do however hope you don't hold onto the way they made you feel that you rise above and show everyone just how amazing you are, and never forget you're fearfully and wonderfully made, you're loved, and those people shouldn't be holding you back from experincing the greatest love you can ever have. You're wonderful, and as Christians in todays world we just keep trying to preach the gospel and walk in love, and show you just how loved you are, and I hope you feel that love every day.

#active christian blog #active blog #born again christian #christian blog post #christian blog #christian #christianity #jesus christ #jesussaves #faith in jesus #jesus saves #jesus is king

[iviarellereads]

System Collapse, Chapter 2

(Curious what I'm doing here? Read this post! For the link index and a primer on The Murderbot Diaries, read this one! Like what you see? Send me a Ko-Fi.)

In which the legal complexities are a bit overwhelming.

When they're out of sight of the B-Es, Murderbot takes its weight off Ratthi, and he asks if it's alright. It says it is, but Iris suggests it stay with them for the last router. MB agrees, and Art recalls its shuttle. MB hopes this might encourage the B-Es to believe they've left.

The original B-E team told Art's team that the new ship was a scheduled arrival, not in response to the beacon. Seth thought that was a lie, so they've been operating under the assumption that B-E have more reinforcements waiting at a nearby wormhole. Unfortunately, no support ship from Art's university has been as forthcoming.

"Phase I of Plan A: Get the Hell Out of Here" involved getting decontamination routines into the locals' MedUnits, so they can decontam themselves of the alien remnants. Everything was proprietary and antiquated, so it took longer than expected. At least everyone's level of paranoia about contamination was up to MB's standards, so they didn't have as much trouble as they might have.

Phase II is the legal case for independence, which Pin-Lee is also working on. To summarize without the technical details, B-E has to make a case that the contamination can be effectively sealed to colonize it, and if they can't, the old colonists become salvage. So, the next step is to ask the colonists what they want, but it's unclear who to ask as they've split into even more factions. MB recounts a conversation between Thiago, Karime, and Mensah about how the colonists have been dealing with what they did to each other. MB thinks they should first get somewhere they won't be corporate slave labour THEN deal with their feelings.(1)

The last router isn't too far, and by the time they get there, the other operation, that MB would have been monitoring security for before the redacted incident,(2) is in progress. Karime, with Three, have arrived at the second colony site, where the colonists went after they discovered the pre-Rim site's contamination. MB monitors things from afar.

Iris and Tarik start on fixing the router. MB thinks about how, if the shuttle failed, the humans could walk in the direction of the space elevator until Art's drones found them and it sent down another shuttle. Meanwhile, MB could walk in the other direction and… it tags the rest of that thought for deletion.(3)

MB notices that Three's body language is a little too stiff, and asks if it's running the human gait code. Three says it is, but makes some adjustments, and says it's difficult. MB says it's doing great. It thinks how they don't want the colonists to know Three is a SecUnit, because they'll still remember how intense Art was about bombing the planet to get its SecUnit back.

Art is monitoring everything, because it's still unhappy with its humans being on this planet at all. (MB shares a transcript of a conversation demonstrating how intense it was about it when planning all this. It then adds some context, describing how Iris explained its behaviour: Art has just been through a trauma, and will act out verbally until it's fully processed. In response, Thiago said Art just enjoys terrifying people, and Iris smiled politely and ignored the comment so they didn't have to fight about it. This makes MB realize in realtime that Iris is Art's Ratthi.(4) MB then clarifies that Thiago wasn't quite right: Art doesn't enjoy terrifying people, but it does enjoy getting its way, and terrifying people is one of many tools it uses to do so. But, Iris is correct that Art is still processing, and MB would worry about the fact that Art had such great success with arming its pathfinders, but it's got a lot on its plate right now.)

It's difficult to watch Karime go into this meeting, and it's almost as difficult to watch Three being so awkward, trying to be human. MB knows it must have been that awkward at some point as well, but that doesn't make it easier. They're meeting with Bellagaia, who leads Faction One who want to cooperate, and Danis and Variset, who lead Faction Two who don't know what they want or who to trust. Karime was the best candidate, not only as Art's best negotiator, but also as one of the least threatening-looking.

As the meeting gets underway and the nicenesses observed, Tarik is carrying the tools back to the shuttle, while Iris tunes into the team feed to watch the meeting, and Ratthi watches Tarik walking.(5)

At the meeting, Bellagaia tells Karime there's another colony here. After some confusion, she clarifies that she means another colony site at the pole, where there's some terraforming still going on. Art cusses, and when Karime clarifies privately, Art suggests maybe Bellagaia is intoxicated. They debate whether their imaging could have revealed it, but they didn't expand much past the terraforming equipment, so likely never would have seen it.

Bellagaia continues that they split when the contamination first became obvious. The equipment blocks some comm signals, so they haven't been in regular contact in some time. Then when the latest outbreak started, they worried about spreading it to a community that was never infected. Danis mutters that they only think the pole colony was never infected, and they could be dead by now.

Karime says they can go to the pole and ask them what's going on and warn them about B-E, but asks if B-E knows about them yet. Danis says Faction Two would never tell them, though Variset is less confident in that, and even Danis acknowledges subfactions might have done so.

Another human points out that the colony site wouldn't have been on the charter, because it wasn't meant to be a secondary site. On Art, Seth groans, and it takes MB a moment to figure out why: this means another revamp of the forged charter, while they're already running out of time.

More debate in the feed about how they missed the site.(6) The unnamed human is named, Corian, who uses vi/vir pronouns, and is the local historian and record-keeper. When Karime asks if there's anything else to know about the other colony site, Corian says contact ended twenty years ago, and there have been reports of attempted connections, but no verified contact since. The group was separatist already, so the lack of communication isn't so surprising. And, vi has no records of where the official site was set up. There were only rumours that it was in a cave system.

This leaves Karime a little visibly sunken, and the rest of the team visibly shaken as well. Karime asks if vi thinks it's another contaminated site, and Corian says either way, the problem is obvious.

Mensah taps MB in the feed, so MB loops her in as well. Some of the other colonists are protesting that there's no evidence of another contaminated site, but Bellagaia looks exhausted, and Karime's still just listening intently to Corian, though vi has little more to add.

Mensah had had time to review the feed video. She muttered, “Oh, you have to be kidding me.” Yeah.

=====

(1) A truly noble goal. Though, I'm not sure we'd be better off if more humans were able to detach/compartmentalize enough to do that. (2) Surely this can't last all book right? We have to get an answer eventually? (3) Even aside from its old traumas, Murderbot is dealing with such big fresh ones. It's so much. My poor blorbo. (4) This is one of the little quotes I was spoiled for, and I'm so pleased to find it in its original context. And, we haven't spent a lot of time with Iris, but I can see it. But, this also indicates a little bit of... Well, Ratthi's always been there, but Mensah's always been MB's focus-human. It's interesting that it considers Ratthi its primary human, since that seems to be Art's dynamic with Iris. (5) Another bit I was spoiled for, and WHO CAN BLAME THE GOOD PEOPLE OF TUMBLR?! (6) This is a little bit wearing on me, I feel like they're just repeating over and over to confuse and add tension? Also I don't remember mentions of air bubbles in Network Effect over the settlements… It's all just a bit odd to me.

#the murderbot diaries #murderbot diaries #system collapse #murderbot #secunit #ratthi #tarik (murderbot) #iris (murderbot) #seth (murderbot) #martyn (murderbot) #art (murderbot) #thiago #karime (murderbot) #ayda mensah #corian (murderbot) #bellagaia (murderbot) #danis (murderbot) #variset (murderbot) #three (murderbot)

[sparring-spirals]

hi! um what're your thoughts on fcg not letting laudna hug them after their talk? bc he seemed fine with hugging imogen. and fcg seemed put off by laudna a lot compared to the others. i kind of have a feeling that fcg subconsciously views laudna as lower rung in the hierarchy of soul touched beings in their mind bc being a hollow one she technically doesn't have a soul. what do you think?

i only ask bc i've read your laudna/fcg meta you wrote previously and you touched on their views of personhood and being alive. and this may be just in my head but it feels like fcg is not only projecting about his own perception of being (and wanting to be) Alive onto laudna's troubles, but also it felt kind of like he had a harder time to empathise with laudna. and it might possibly be bc he's still learning but it also feels a little like he doesn't fully view laudna as a full on soul-touched person. their immediate nope when laudna tried to hug them felt indicative of something but i can't quite place what it was. saw some comments saying that that was sam not wanting to hug marisha but i feel like that wasn't it. it was an in character reaction as fcg instead of sam the player. anyway sorry for the ramblings but i really wanted to have the insight of someone with a clearer thought process. cheers mate!

(the meta in question)

I think this was sent before episode 26 aired, so my bad for that. That said:

I DO think the subconscious ranking is a thing. I'm almost certain about it. It makes sense with what we know of F.C.G's worldview and tracks with the comments they make.

That said, I do think this specific little "no." moment from last episode was maybe 60% Sam doing it for comedic effect to 30% F.C.G turning down Laudna personally. I think it does fit in well with how F.C.G seems to handle Laudna generally, but tonally I read it as more of a "cast members following the humor of the moment + Laudna is goopy + F.C.G is kind of hilariously abrupt at times" than F.C.G's more general deal with Laudna.

But: I definitely agree about F.C.G viewing Laudna differently and also projecting a bit onto her. Like. 10000% (And, as we found out this past ep, that goes both ways). I think an important distinction is that F.C.G doesn't seem to dislike Laudna, its more that he has less of a careful regard for her- much like himself. He's a little more willing to be rude, less careful about pleasantries and kindness. Which can be very jarring compared to how he talks to the other, properly soul touched folks! Its not even that F.C.G is super polite all the time, I think its more that you can tell how hard they try to be, and how much care they normally take. Which means the callous remarks towards Laudna, the casual way F.C.G insults himself and his self worth- all hit a little harder in comparison.

Anyway these two looking at each other and going "hmmm yes unalive companion" is something though, isn't it.

#im pretty confident in fcg having a little tier of humanness. it makes sense. perfect sense. #critical role #fcg #laudna #character meta #speculation #unalive buddies #to answer your initial question though; i absolutely agree with your overall assessment but i did think that was 50/50 joke and character #spar speaks #ask away! #my meta

[limeade-l3sbian]

i found a movie on letterboxd a few days ago called "daisies" and everyone in the reviews was calling it genius and feminist. i tried watching it. it's about two hyperfeminine teenage girls "trying to be as spoiled as the world" by doing things like dating older men to "trick them" into giving them free food and then abandoning the men at the train stop or cutting "phallic shaped foods" with scissors. i thought this was strange. masses of people were suggesting that things like prostituting yourself (to some degree), performing entirely hollow gestures in the confines of your own room, or even just simply happening to be female were all feminist actions. there were even several comments suggesting that the characters' indulgence in femininity is "feminist," as well. it all struck me as familiar. relevant, even. so i decided to dig a little deeper.

the director said she wasn't a feminist and neither was the film, and that "individualist" fit her (and the film) better. male critics of the past deemed her film feminist, though. the reviews were conflicting on whether the film was anti-capitalist or anti-communist, clearly entirely depending on the political beliefs held by the person writing on it. i will have to agree with the director, however; her film does come across as extremely individualistic to me.

revisiting the reviews on letterboxd, it became incredibly clear to me that there were droves of people using the term "feminist" in a way that was completely removed from actual feminism. they were using it in the libfem way. when they said "feminist" they explicitly mean "i believe women and girls should be able to choose whether they hate the shackles of their oppression, or fully embrace them," rather than "i believe women and girls should not be shackled." there is no actual criticism of the powers that be. it is a hopeless ideology that seems to believe that the only freedom female people will ever have over their oppression is the "freedom" to choose between participating in it or complaining about it (to no avail, since "isn't it unfair to stop other people from indulging in it if they like it?").

this was solidified to me when i delved deeper into the reviews and spotted one particularly honest one amidst reviews celebrating the "boldness" and "feminism" of two teenage girls "taking advantage of creepy old men" (though surely such predatory men do deserve to be hurt, it's naïve and perhaps even misogynistic in of itself to suggest that teenage girls have the power to meaningfully take from men by giving them exactly what they want). it claimed something along the lines of "this is a feminist film" then clarified "but not a film for those man-hating "feminists"."

to tell the truth, i can't say i found the film to be all that politically intelligent, unless i am to believe "it is bad when other people are selfish and indulgent, but it is good when i or the people i like are selfish and indulgent (though we have to be careful, because other people simply won't understand that we are good people no matter what we do)" to be well-informed praxis. but that's precisely how many "leftists" think, isn't it? at least as of late. everyone for themselves. feelings above reality. if you're not having fun, that's your fault. and, really, aren't you just killing the mood for everyone else? that's a more unforgivable crime than anything else.

but i'll have to admit this is all a bit beyond my reach. i'm rambling because i don't feel i have total clarity on all this. that's why i'm reaching out. it probably won't go anywhere, but i hope it does.

You claim not to have total clarity but just perfectly made an example of the issue with choice feminism. Don't undercut yourself, anon. There's genuinely nothing for me to add because you said it perfectly.

#ask

[acourtofthought]

I read the comments that you and the el*riel stan shared..

The person says they did not mean what gwynriels think they meant. The problem is that other el/riel stans also don't know what the person meant. The whole "Gwynriel can't be endgame because gwyn is a sa victim" crap will be widely spread again and plenty of el/riels will disrespect SA and mean exactly what they mean.

You know, my husband and I get into this disagreement a lot.

He struggles with saying what he means at times and it causes confusion because I respond to what I think he's saying and it leads to me being frustrated. When he stops and takes the time to explain himself differently, sometimes it makes more sense.

But he's a finance major with ADHD so his brain works differently. And grew up playing video games and not really socializing (especially beyond what it requires to talk about sports and video games).

He hasn't really learned to think about why he's feeling a certain way and what's causing him to respond the way he does.

So maybe they really didn't mean what we all think they said but again..... If you're going to claim something is a professional opinion, you're going to want to make sure your message is clear and as you intended.

I personally don't know how to read the post any other way than how I took it and I think the same goes for a lot of Gwynriel's and E/riels which is why it does come off as harmful to one side of the fandom and a leg to stand on for the other.

Because we're not just talking about a fictional character with that post (if we were than realism should not even come into play). The post was from someone in a very real profession with real SA survivors as clients who made a blanket statement that if SJM wants to do realistic justice to a characters healing, than Gwyn shouldn't end up with Az, that it wouldn't be right to SA survivors otherwise 🤔

There was also the bit that Gwyn is childish and naive.

I'm not saying it's wrong for someone to think that about a character, others have said the same for Elain (I don't agree but if that's what they think 🤷).

Regardless of what they believe about Gwyn's personality, she is (and confirmed by the author) a fully grown female. As long as she's of age, it doesn't matter how "childish" they think she is. She's still entitled to find love.

And I love how people like to act like Azriel is some mature, collected Male in comparison to Gwyn's "childish" ways 😂

Yes, maybe Gwyn was sheltered but so what?

Az has been living his life for 500+ years and grew up quick because of what happened to him as a child. Yet he still starts fights during important political meetings, he's still so desperate to be the hero he stupidly runs headfirst into every dangerous situation he can, he still tries to disobey commands, he still plots out snowball fight victories for a year. Man is not the epitome of grown up right now.

I think we all eventually settle down and mature especially when we find ourselves in a committed relationship. In my twenties we were out at the bar every weekend, swimming at 3 in the morning, some of my friends got themselves into drunken fights. Now all anyone wants to do is dinner with a drink or two then head home to bed by 9 pm 😂

It doesn't matter how the character starts their book, it's where they are by the end of it. And yes, 800+ pages is enough for ANY author to take whatever Gwyn is currently experiencing and respectfully turn it around in a way that does justice to a SA survivor who is still uneasy of leaving the library.

Feyre started her book engaged to another man (and was sexually active with him) yet SJM was able to write a fairly believable arc of her letting go of her feelings for Tamlin and moving past what both the author and character herself considered DV, in order to have a sexually healthy and non fearful relationship with another man (who months earlier was SA for 50 years) she loved by the end of it (I don't see anyone claiming that didn't do justice to DV survivors. If anything there's more concern over how SJM did Tamlin dirty 🤦). As for Az being kinky, when it comes to sex, SA survivors can be just as kinky as the next person. All that matters is finding a person they trust which we already have proof of in SF.

So let's not start the crusade about what's "healthy" and "right" for SA survivors now (and only being addressed by people who prefer E/riel) when obviously in these books these sensitive topics in general are not expected to meet someone's very specific idea as to what recovery should look like.

#pro gwynriel

[bonesandthebees]

Okay, I’m splitting this interaction into how Wilbur views it and how Quackity views it. Wilbur first. Wilbur needs Quackity to do this. He needs to get out with Tommy because both of them are going insane. He needs to get out because it’s the crawlspace all over again. Jack he can trust, Quackity he can convince with the right bargain. And he picked a good one. Something Quackity can’t resist. And when he points out it’s dangerous, Wilbur turns that offer into a threat.

A threat he can make do on, as he has double the political power to back it up. He knows Quackity has been more afraid of him since the coat and the personal wing. He’s using every card he has. Wilbur pointing out that Ranboo also can’t know hurts. It holds no meaning to Quackity, but he still has to point it out.

[“Because motivations are a tricky thing to discern, Quackity,” Wilbur explained. “And trust… well, if you don’t know what someone’s motivations are, how can you trust them?”] This is a big part of why Wilbur struggles to fully trust Phil. He still doesn’t get Phil’s motivations, doesn’t understand it’s possible for them to change and if so, why? It’s not so much that he doesn’t believe what Phil told him and more that the Ranboo reveal implies that there are more motivations than Wilbur thought there were still at play.

[”If you don’t give out your trust, how did it get broken?”]-Quackity. See, Tommy did give out his trust and that trust got betrayed, which does still affect Wilbur. It’s not a direct betrayal, not really, but it atill feels like one. But Wilbur doesn’t trust Quackity enough to tell him Ranboo is a spy like he did with Jack. The deal is not in the bag, so instead, he redirects it back to what he needs Quackity to do. He’s kind of flying by the seat of his pants, so how he’s going to lie to Phil is a problem for future Wilbur. In that moment, he just needs Quackity to agree to do it.

Then Quackity brings up what a stupid idea it is and how he does not want to get Wilbur killed out of self-preservation. Which I feel is a part Wilbur is trying not to think about. So he tries to get Quackity to just act like he didn’t know. Part of it is by referencing his job and compliments like saying he capable. But that doesn’t work. So Wilbur does what he always does when in distress and turns to Phil. Except he can’t actually talk to Phil so he just asks himself what Phil would do.

Then he proceeds to intimidate Quackity quite effectively. Like father, like son, or something like that. He picks the one part of the invasion he can talk about without the risk off it sounding unbelievable when negating the Voice, which also happens to be the part he currently feels he’s reliving: the crawlspace. He sets the tone and leaves everything else up to Quackity’s imagination because he can’t reveal his Voice.

Last bit for Wilbur, because this is getting long as hell, but he’s finally learned to use his anger. He is now part of the waves. He’s directing his anger at his situation into intimidating Quackity. That’s something Phil told him to do. Using his anger and turning it into something else. And he’s doing it. And I love the metaphors!

(2/3)

-🎄

quackity being intimidated by wilbur because of the sway he holds over phil thanks to the coat is something I was so excited to use. quackity KNOWS that wilbur is in a really good place power-wise. he can make a lot of shit happen if he wants, especially if it involves blaziphane.

exactly! he still doesn't understand phil's motivations, so he can't trust him. he thought he finally got an understanding of what his motives were but then the ranboo reveal happened, and the rug was pulled out from under him. that's why he has to leave. he can't trust anything or anyone besides tommy because he doesn't understand their motives.

while not wanting to tell quackity about ranboo is right, there's another reason wilbur didn't give quackity a response when he made the comment about trust. and that's because again, wilbur wanted to trust phil, and honestly? he actually did. not fully, but he started to trust phil. and he can't admit that. not to himself, and especially not to quackity.

the apple doesn't fall far from the tree :) wilbur really channeled his pseudo-father figure right there and it worked great. he can't reveal the Voice, but he can let quackity's imagination fill in the blanks.

he's learning to use his anger!! after all this time phil's lessons are starting to shine through. he's part of the waves!! such a fun way to tie into the metaphors after all this time

#ask #spruce anon #the stars and their children

[padmeandaloysupremacy]

Spoilers for Queen's Hope

FYI: I didn't fully read the book, as I got bored halfway through so a lot of what I'm saying is interpreted by what I saw

I just got and read Queen's Hope, which I was pretty excited about since this is the first canon Padmé novel I got my hands on and was going to read. Also the fact that Anidala was going to be in there was going to be a plus. I'm not going to comment on the representations of various groups or identities as I seen others already have or how Ek Johnston chose to represent things, since I'm not someone who should be talking on that as I have no real foothold or knowledge within the respective subjects.

But from a story standpoint, I found the book was pretty lackluster, the Anidala scenes were pretty quick and dull. Anakin honestly felt too much like TCW Anakin so I don't like that at all, since I hate how TCW characterized him and Padme. For the most part I didn't mind Padme at all, I thought her mission was boring, and was unneccessarily built up. Johnston seemed to be moving from place to place, scenario to scenario, that it didn't feel like a story, more like a combination of possible clips of a singular clone wars episode or something along that sorts.

One of the things I absolutely love was Saché and Yané and there relationship and the children refuggees they were housing and I wish to see more of them together, they are so cute and sweet that it reminds me of how Anidala is and should be.

Dorme is probably my favorite handmaiden, I have no idea why, but I just really like her for some reason. Sabe used to be my favorite but how she is written is now just a turn off for me. I like that her traits mirror Padmé's but on a stronger level, but I feel like her whole character is solely based on Padme, that if you took Padme away, Sabe wouldn't be a character. I wish they did more with her. She can still be Padmé's best friend while also making something for herself. She helps free the slaves on Tatooine because first Padme asked her to help free Shmi Skywalker for her, than after awhile she continued it on because she felt it was right. It just seems everything Sabe does revolves around Padme.

Anakin was inherently obssessed with Padme and he still had his own personality and choices and a life outside of her. Sabe just felt written to be an Anakin-esque love interest for Padme who shares a deep friendship and bond and would do anything for her. She is basically written to be a better love interest to Padme than Anakin in my eyes when I read through the book.

Lots of people complained about Padme being reduced to just Anakin's wife, even though she did do things that made her standout. I feel the same sort of treatment was done to Sabe. She really just lives under Padme Shadow, which I mean can work in tandem because she is known as the Queen's shadow, I just think she is too good of a character to not evolve away from that. If Padme was able to go against her convinctions and marry Anakin and do something for herself once in her life, than I think the same should happen to Sabe whether that be she starts a slave revolt on Tatooine or she becomes a bounty hunter or literally anything. Then you can have it work with the Vader comics, all the other handmaidens made something of themselves and in the end all came together to solve Padmé's death and avenge her. I just think Sabe could of used Padmé's sort of shadow, Queen Shadow, to make something of herself. Spread her beliefs of politics or help free and solve slavery which she wanted to do.

I know a lot of people won't agree with me on this and thats fine, I'm just not the person who likes to ship everything, I usually follow canon relationships or something along that sort, not saying we can't have non-canon relationships, I'm all for it but I just want to see more platonic relationships within Star Wars. It seems everyone is so hellbent on matchmaking others with others that we can't let people just be friends anymore.

#anakin skywalker #anidala #padme amidala #queens hope #sabe #i really would've liked this book #but just dont

[ladyinbooks]

I have returned to ch1 of IB! It turns out Samiel did get to teach Jay some basic salzon skills on Mas-Hein. I can't remember exactly the circumstances/decisions that began the murders after 4 months, but now my imagination wants to see Jay and Samiel get longer before things turn bad. I think Deneira planned it to be a slaughter from the beginning ? right? BUT - what if she gets convinced to let the cohabitation last a while longer? Or maybe political unrest/shenanigans on Lenia force the 4 months time-table to be delayed. I have no idea how Samiel and Jay would find enough privacy to initiate meshala since there's no way the other severne would let them out of eye shot.

BUT! My mind is still inventing scenarios for salzon-master!Jay, so the story beat would probably run similar to most-exalteds!AU where after a year of bonding on Mas-Hein the emotional water would be muddled enough for a relationship to happen. I can't remember but what was the context of ambassador Lault betraying Jay? Could Jay somehow find out about it while on Mas-Hein? I should just reread all of IB for the sake of all my AU headcanons. ANYway, Jay would feel betrayed by humanity facilitated by Samiel absolutely lavishing him with attention and promises about a relationship between them. End result is consort!Jay and decime!Samiel though idk how that would follow war crimes on Mas-Hein. Hmm, I clearly need to workshop this more. On that note, how do you feel about fanwork of this series? I have no idea how to write, but lord am I tempted by this pairing to start. You have infected me with Jay-Samiel delirium 🤣

I intended to comment this on our chain but it seemed a bit too spoiler heavy for that so here I am!

Ahh, the things that could have been, if Mas-Hain had turned out differently. 😭 It was Lault who organised the murders, but if someone had stopped him, the potential was definitely there for Samiel to start training Jay properly. (And I have visions of poor Palek having to call up Deneira and explain to her that her nephew had gone off and decided to woo a human by using swordplay. 🤣)

I also agree with you that the rest of the Severne wouldn't have let the pair of them out of sight, when they worked out what was going on. The scandal! The horror! One of their best colleagues and a human?! (Although I like to think given more time on Mas-Hain, they all ease up eventually, and everyone starts to get along. I have a fond little headcanon from a previous ask, that if they'd had a few extra months, Lault's plan wouldn't have worked, and the whole bunch of them would have refused orders and ended up careening around the galaxy as a team of vigilantes together...)

I think Jay wouldn't have worked out it was Lault if given more time on Mas-Hain, but in terms of his relationship with Samiel, I don't think he'd have needed to. If Lault tried to pull his evil plan when Samiel and Jay had had enough time to engage in *ahem* 'cultural exchange', I honestly think Jay would have straight up picked Samiel up, thrown him over his shoulder, and run away with him as fast as possible. (And let's be honest, Samiel would have thought it was the best thing ever.) Although... that could lead to an interesting scenario where they think Deneira might be able to help them... 🤔(And yes, could absolutely lead to consort!Jay and Decime!Samiel, perhaps with the added bonus of Jay and Deneira cordially eyeing one another up like a pair of snakes, both fully prepared to take the other out.)

How do I feel about fanfic of my works?

Honestly? I THINK IT'S AMAZING! ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ I am so honoured if people want to write something because of my daft little fics. Seriously, the only warning I have is to be prepared for me sobbing hysterically with joy in the comments. 😊 (And I'm honoured you would like to do something like that!)

You are not alone in the Samiel/Jay delirium. I'm currently drafting the university!AU (and your salzon fic), and pretty much just going 'My boys! My sweet, disturbed boys! I have missed you!' 😅

#lady replies #Samiel Tremark #Jason Lane #Icarus Burning

[bansheeoftheforest]

More fish, Jekffin time

He finds out that Jekyll is a selkie in the most ridiculous way; he walks in on his cat sleeping on top of a fucking seal. He thinks it's Helsby's weird new pet at first until it wakes up, not noticing him, and just.. turns into Dr. Jekyll. Sets Griffin's cat on a cushion nearby. Stands up. And screams when he sees Griffin. He swears Griffin to secrecy and Griffin pulls the whole 'only if you give me cool ocean facts in return so I can piss off Helsby' card. Through interacting more, they find they have alot in common, and grow closer and closer until Henry let's Griffin touch his coat. Griffin comments that he's surprisingly soft, lifts his head, and wow they are Very Close wait Henry's eyes are closing are they about to kiss??

Also I like to imagine Griffin gets cold easily and when he does he shoves his face into Jekyll's seal belly and just lays on the floor while Henry huffs and puffs because he has paperwork, Jack, he can't just be a seal pillow.

HEHEHEHEHeHEHEHEHEHEH!!!!

Ok but i can imagine that so well. Like, Griffin notices that his cat suddenly went missing, he decides to go on a scavenger hunt trying to find him. And where does he find his bastard of a cat? Either in Dr. Jekyll's office on top of a fucking seal. Like a whole ass seal. His cat is using a seal (huh, that seal is quite thin for a seal, Griffin does notice) as a pillow and the seal doesn't even notice him. Griffin is just staring by the open door as the seal suddenly moves, and he watches in a mix of shock and horror as said seal seems to shed its skin, suddenly it turns into HENRY. Like, either just Henry with clothes on or Henry that is very much naked, depending on how the coat works. Henry continues to have the coat wrapped around him as he places the cat on a cushion, he is about to turn around to go to his bedroom and get clothes but he sees Griffin and screams. Griffin immediately pushes the door close so that Henry's screams won't alert other Lodgers and Henry immediately panics, begging Griffin to not tell anyone, and Griffin is just... So chill about it?? Like his boss is wrapped in a whole ass seal coat, he just turned into a seal, and yet he doesn't even bat an eye at it?? Just tells him to tell him cool facts about the ocean specifically so he can piss of Helsby. Henry repeats that Griffin is swearing he won't tell anyone, Griffin agrees that he won't, Henry calms down and Griffin immediately asks him about all possible selkie questions; is it true that he is married to whoever has his coat? Did he grow up as a selkie or did he grow up like a human but with a selkie coat? Does he have to be naked when he transforms into a seal since he can wear it as an actual coat otherwise? (Henry blushes at the last one). Henry does his best to answer any and all questions Griffin has, and then politely asks him to get out of his office so he can get clothes on <3

Griffin is trusted with a huge secret of Henry's so both just get more and more enticed and curious about the other. Griffin starts coming around for ocean facts (it really does a good job at pissing off Helsby) but he can't help but feel that he is really starting to like Henry's company. One day Henry just suggests that he feels the actual coat, and Griffin couldn't have said no even if he would have wanted to because he is just so curious to feel it. It's still wrapped around Henry and he strokes a hand over the soft fur, Griffin almost feels like he gets pulled into it. Suddenly they are closer and Griffin looks up, their noses brush together, Griffin's breath hitches as Henry closes his eyes and leans forward. Henry feels that he really trusts Griffin because trust is a huge part of selkie culture, and he just starts melting into him even more when Griffin doesn't try to move or remove the seal coat, but instead keeps his hands on Henry's actual body or his face as they smooch <3

I just... I really want to imagine no one else in the society knowing that there even is a seal bc Henry manages to keep it so well hidden, until one day a lodger breaks into Griffin's lab only to see Griffin cuddled up with a straight up seal. Or just him fully buried into Jekyll's fur coat bc it's cold and Henry has other things to do but trusts Griffin with his coat. Just... Cuddles pls <3

#I'm imagining Henry with one of those coats that almost has a train to them #like it would essentially just look like a skinned seal but i have seen art where it looks an actual fur coat #like fashion fur coats #and i keep imagining the coats of arctic seals when i imagine selkie coats and???? they are so soft???? #at least the bbys they are so fluffy #Henry with a fluffy coat my beloved <3 #ask #thejeksburyguy #banshees au #selkie au #jekffin #jekyll x griffin #banshees faves

[supertunanana]

Saw this in the Jikook tag and thought I'd add what I have seen. What I've seen isn't that people think they're fighting or broken up even though I'm sure there's a lot of that going on but for some they now believe Jikook were never a couple and are just close friends and they feel foolish for buying into blogs that have their own theories that Jimin and Jungkook are an actual romantic couple. Not entirely sure why this NY trip and middle half of 2021 in general have people changing their minds but I guess only they know. It happens every so often but this time I've seen people make permanent changes to their accounts whether it's on here or another sm platform. I just know some are comparing those blogs to the one who shall not be named in the other toxic shipper base. It's not that they see Jikooker blogs as toxic and horrible as that other person but that these Jikook blogs offer their own brand of manipulation only this time using facts instead of lies. No idea if that made any sense lmao How do I put it? Like taking events that have happened and making them out to be a bigger deal than they actually are which in turn gets other people to go "Really? I didn't see it that way but these people are older and wiser and maybe see things clearer than I do" then gifs or clips are usually provided and it all becomes pretty convincing. The thing is no one knows if they're a couple. Could they be? Yeah sure. Could they just be close friends with their own set of personal boundaries? Absolutely. When someone tries to offer up that suggestion to many Jikook blogs, they don't want to discuss that most of the time. Personally I've seen anons suggest a close friendship and are met with comments that that anon must not be experienced enough or anyone who can't see that Jimin and Jungkook are in a relationship must be blind or are choosing to ignore what's right in front of them. That's messed up. That's acting as if the opinion that they're dating is no longer just an opinion. I can see how that can be a mild form of toxicity in itself. Nobody has the right to belittle somebody because they share a different opinion. Even after this NY trip, I've seen many Jikook blogs erupt in anger, calling anons stupid and ridiculous for having doubts or changing their minds and coming to their own conclusions that Jikook aren't a couple but close friends. It's odd to see "Why does no longer car sharing convince you they're not dating?" When actually we've never known if they are to begin with so someone changing their minds over something that's never been confirmed in the first place isn't a problem or "stupid". Maybe the reasons for changing their minds might seem a bit hasty but they're still allowed to change their minds. So yeah I see people are feeling foolish for believing these blogs who hold the opinion they're dating and I think in time the negative feelings will fade away and I have already seen some move on from those types of Jikook blogs and make changes. Perhaps they'll be able to enjoy BTS content without worrying about Jikook's status? As for me, I've never believed they were a romantic couple to begin with but their relationship whatever it is in reality has me aww'ing so that's why I follow Jikook tag. Their interactions are very cute. Sorry for rambling on so much!

You're good, Anon. And I agree with most everything you've said! However, I'm not so convinced they aren't a romantic couple, but then again, I'm not convinced they are. As I told a friend, I'm pretty agnostic about this (and as an actual Agnostic in the religious sense, that's on brand, lol). I'm pretty bad about seeing things in black and white. I used to, but then law school happened, and I've mellowed out a lot (which is ironic, because I think most of my fellows only got stronger in their opinions, lol! IDK I think my ENTJ is slowly dying into an ENTP; the world has beaten me down into seeing the gray). But I don't really worry too much about it. I did at one point, simply because I think it's human nature to want absolutes, to want labels and definitions especially when something is "other" or "unusual", but I got over it. Do I think they do some suspicious things that make me raise an eyebrow and question them? Yes. Does this definitively make them a couple? No. Will my world fall apart if they are just friends with weird boundaries? No. I understand those blogs that are CONVINCED seem a bit dismissive of doubts, and I envy their conviction. I think they feel they are seeing a truth and supporting/defending a truth that is screaming to break free. That Jikook ARE IN FACT a couple, desperate to be seen as such, but muted by their careers and the socio-political climate of where they live. And I am sympathetic to that. It's why I cannot simply dismiss Jikook as NOT being a couple or forcing heteronormative expectations on them. If they are, I do indeed see signs, and I support them if it's true. BUT, that often leads to looking at a lot of what they do with confirmation bias. That is, you believe your hypothesis "they are a couple hiding in plain sight", so everything they do or say supports this hypothesis, and I find that equally faulty. I see some Jikookers who get just as silly about Jimin and JK being near each other or looking at each other as Taekookers. Sure, they'll spin a more eloquent web using those odd and unusual things that make me side-eye ("SE") to support this, but it often boils down to the same thing. Not everything Jimin and Jungkook do equates to some magical, romantic relationship! I get that they are often trying to cite patterns of behavior (eg JK gravitates towards Jimin) which could be seen as innocuous and BFF stuff and then couple it with "SE" stuff (eg JK sucks on Jimin's ear) to give more meaning to the former as being more romantic and legit than a Taekooker possibly citing similar, but it's not. Not fully. I know the BEST romantic relationships have partners who are BFFs, but that doesn't mean that BFF behavior equates to a romantic relationship. Or even the "SE" behavior equates to a romantic relationship (as you said, it could be BFF's with weird boundaries - I've made out with a few of my friends and I was in no way attracted to them physically or romantically). It's not the transitive property of relationships here. So, that's where I see more wiggle room, that's where I think a lot of people question or have doubts, but that's where these blogs are so convinced. I don't necessarily think they're trying to be rude (but they can be and that sucks), but I think they're just stuck in their confirmation bias loop. They are convinced and they use the strength of that conviction to put emphasis on a lot of things. I don't think they're trying to manipulate anyone, because they genuinely believe it, and that's where they can be dismissive when questioned. And again, I don't think they're inherently wrong, but I also don't think they're inherently right, either. I will say, that if ANY pairing in BTS were to be legit, Jikook have the strongest argument, but it doesn't mean they are (but it also doesn't mean they aren't). And that's ok, to me at least. I'm fine living in the gray and seeing Jikook as each other's person, regardless of what that fully entails. They have a beautiful relationship, they make each other better people, and as my double biases (Jin is my bias wrecker - my chaos trio!), that makes me happy.

#ask #this is me #jikook

[luna-rainbow]

the general cop out of TFATWS

Saw this fantastic thread pop up today but since this post would be talking about everything else apart from Bucky, I thought I'd start another post.

TFATWS brings up very complex issues and some very dark themes. Unlike Black Widow which by and large does it well, TFATWS does not give these issues the complexity they deserve. It wants to be a political show, but it shirks away from actually giving those issues the gravity and depth they deserve.

1) Racial injustice

My particular issue with the racial injustice theme is that the MCU does not actually align with the real world. I mean half the world has just come out of non-existence, that messes up the social psyche in major ways - so this is not the same as the post-Floyd US we know in the real world. Especially to people living outside the US, we're going to need a little more than a bank and a police scene to show us exactly how racial injustice pervades the MCU America to the point that Sam/Sarah denounces the country multiple times, particularly as it had never been established as an issue before this series (again, only lightly touched on in Black Panther). It is also a missed opportunity to actually educate people outside of the US why racial injustice in the US is a problem that needs the world community's support. Go hard and go deep. Make it without a doubt that Sam could've gotten a loan if he was white - just need a passing comment that someone else in the same situation easily got a loan. Make it clear that in the MCU world, there are also unjust deaths in custody which preferentially affects BIPOC, and this problem has become bigger because the lack of resources has driven up petty crime. Talk about BIPOC being passed over for opportunities, which are going to be massively limited in the post-Blip world. Talk about how people can't get jobs, can't go to college, can't go to school because the colour of their skin pushes them down the list of priorities. Which brings me to...

2) Post-Blip mess

This is criminally glossed over in the series, with a lot of handwaving lines about "the GRC" and "things were better before the Blip". Again, show/tell us the horrors. There won't be enough food and water. There won't be enough housing or accommodation. Don't show us refugees living in clean European mansions. Show us overcrowded, poorly constructed, unhygienic refugee camps (see below picture from Syria). The world's population doubled overnight with no increase in infrastructure. You're going to have a LOT of displaced people literally on the streets. Crime will soar, deaths and illness will soar, and overall dissent will soar.

3) Resource allocation

Even in a world that hasn't had to deal with half the population disappearing then returning within a short time frame, we are having issues with vaccine inequity. Here's a recent JAMA article about this very issue:

Approximately 1.2% of the global vaccine supply has been received by low-income countries and just 14% by lower-middle-income countries, which account for nearly 40% of the world’s population. In contrast, more than half the US adult population is fully vaccinated (...)

Vaccine inequity is driven by insufficient supply and unfair allocation. Powerful high-income countries prepurchased sufficient doses for their entire populations, sometimes twice the number needed. In contrast, COVAX, a global initiative to procure and equitably allocate vaccines, failed to secure enough doses even for its modest goal of covering 20% of lower-income country populations this year. Pfizer, for example, agreed to sell COVAX only 40 million doses, and had delivered just over 1 million by mid-May.

Now extrapolate this across all resources, including food, fuel, medicines, materials, manufacturing machinery etc. For example, recently parts of northern Chinese cities went dark for days in the middle of a freezing winter because the power grid didn't have enough coal to run. This is going to be made so much worse when the population had suddenly doubled. Greedy corporations will want to capitalise on the sudden surge in demand. Large numbers of people will be dying from all of these reasons, and if the GRC is driving the inequity by unfair allocation of resources, people are within their rights to protest or push for change.

4) Police/Government corruption

It's a fine line that separates a terrorist from a revolutionary, and TFATWS shied away from portraying the gritty reality that would have made Karli a real heroine in this post-apocalyptic world. This is a particularly missed opportunity because Karli's story isn't even set in America, and even as someone who doesn't keep up much with world news I know there are ongoing issues of military/government driven brutality going on throughout the world, which would be many times worse post-Blip because the population will become more expendable.

For anyone interested, here's China's forcing sterilisation/contraception in Uighurs. Here's Myanmar military shooting young people posting Tiktoks of pro-democracy songs. Here's China (again) arresting staff at a pro-democracy newspaper in Hong Kong and driving it into closure.

Get into the dark side. Tell us how the GRC is colluding with corrupt governments. Tell us about the slavery that has shot through the roof because human labour is now so cheap. Tell us how governments are banning their own people from having children because of overcrowding concerns, and how the GRC plays into that propaganda. Tell us how corrupt powers try to censor these issues from getting to the media, and how the GRC's musclemen (like Walker) are unknowingly or intentionally used to silence people who are trying to fight for their right to live.

5) "I believe we can do better"

Maybe because I'm more a doer than a talker, but I'm still trying to recover from the cringe caused by that speech. Again, I don't blame Sam for either this speech or his talk with Bucky in episode 5, I can only lay the blame at the writers who clearly weren't interested in any of the practical ramifications of what they're writing.

Firstly, establish what they were doing wrong (see above, and there's lots more that could be added with just a cursive research into world affairs). Second, "The only power I have is that I believe we can do better" is a terribly avoidant reply when someone is pointing out rightfully that the issues are complex. This is a time when people want solutions, not just nebulous ideas. I mean, who doesn't want things to be "better"?? But you haven't established the why or what and now you're just handwaving about the how.

Point out what they're doing wrong. Talk about equity in resource and opportunity allocation. Tell them how their policies are driving crime and death and corruption in lower income countries. Offer to be on the Council as a representative for the layperson. Sure, committees might not seem very superhero-like, but other heroes have sat in on international meetings with politicians with success - Nat, Tony, T'Challa to name a few.

I know it's easy to use the excuse that "they tried to pack too much so they can't address all this" and I agree to an extent. But by taking the handwaving cop-out route with these heavy issues, it undermined several scenes that should have held more emotional weight.

#tfatws critical #tfatws meta #rants #tfatws #the falcon and the winter soldier