#btw i’m like 90% sure that fact is not true

[joshuas]

every time i cry i think of that fact that’s like your tears help w breakouts due to stress or smth and i rmb how much i need help w that and keep crying

#in reality this is not. the truth #i just cry #but thinking ab it afterwards it’ll help w my acne 😭 #that being said my skin has been pretty clear #i’m just having a breakdown over everything recently and it’s not slay 💗 #negativity tw #aria.txt #delete later #btw i’m like 90% sure that fact is not true

[jeannereames]

Do you see memes and shitposts about Alexander and his time? If yes, do you like them, you hate them? Would you change something about these memes?

I’m sorry. I’m just really curious about what a professor thinks about this. Do you perhaps have a favorite Alexander meme?

Well, for me there’s a big difference between memes and shitposts. The former can be rather entertaining, the latter are just trolling. Don’t feed the trolls. I realize I’m perhaps defining shitposting more narrowly than some, but there’s enough of the narrow sort out there I don’t want to confuse it with memes.

Meme are great. I have two favorites, although not about Alexander, ironically. I’ve shared them below. Both show up in my class Power-points, btw! Many of my colleagues also enjoy clever memes. My buddy Borja Antela was trying to collect some on Alexander last year. For a while, I followed Alexandergoatmemes on Instagram, but finally left because about 85/90% of them seemed to be about Alexander naming cities after himself. Sure, it’s funny maybe the first 20 times, but at 100+?

So memes are great. Shitposting and ignorant-posting, however, are annoying.

I’m deliberately creating that third category. Shitposters know they’re posting shit; ignorant-posters (usually) don’t. The latter put up videos, tweets, or blog entries about (in this case) Alexander that perpetuate a lie, a false quote, or an oversimplified-and-mostly-wrong factoid. Some ignorant-posters are just reposting what they heard because they don’t know any better and may receive correction well enough—especially if offered politely. Yet others get upset (sometimes disproportionately so) when their errors or distortions are pointed out.

This can be about controversial matters, such as Alexander’s putative “sexuality” or it can be something surprising. I once had a fellow fly off the handle when he posted that Alexander was left-handed and I (gently) corrected him.* You’d have thought I’d called his mother a whore. It seemed quite silly…except that left-handedness used to be considered a Very Bad Thing. So being able to claim famous people as lefties was apparently more for him than just leftie pride.

Aside from oddities, most of the ignorant-posting I’ve seen comes in three main types.

First, we have the religious/spiritual/life-coach sorts who usurp Alexander for a moral lesson—not unlike the orators of the (Roman-era) Second Sophistic, or both Muslims and Christians in some of the Alexander Romances. Alexander has ALWAYS been a malleable figure for lecturing. Ergo, he pops up in homilies/sermons as a parable, like his supposed Last Three Wishes. It is, of course, total bullshit, but there’s quite a lot of stuff like it out there. People read it, go “Aww,” and reblog without bothering to check if it’s correct. It has “the authority of hearsay.” These can be either Alexander-positive or Alexander-negative parables, btw.

See also: quotes attributed to famous celebrities that they never, in fact, said. Alexander gets these too. The ¡Inspirational! “Army of Sheep Led by a Lion” is especially egregious, as it’s a general proverb that appeared well after Alexander (no, he didn’t say it). It seems to be currently popular, along with, “There is nothing impossible to him who will try” (also not ATG). Yet these make great quotes for those damn “Inspirational Posters.” Here’s a whole page of them, lion quote right at the top, suitable for a Power-point!...with no attempt to verify their authenticity or say where they got them. But the image with the quote below is especially funny as they even put a date on their fictional quote. If it has a date, it must be true! Netflix, btw, used that bloody quote even though I told them not to; it was fake. Didn’t matter.

Second, we have the alt-right/white supremacist groups, or hangers-on who might reject the label (coyly or not) but embrace much of its Eurocentric thinking. These folks present Alexander as spreading good [white] Western values to the poor benighted East [brown people]. It’s essentially warmed-over Plutarch with a dash of Curtius and some Arrian. Their Alexander even sometimes has longish flowing (blond) locks and is oddly tall.** Like Thor. I stay the hell away from them but have occasionally stumbled over them on Tik-Tok.

Anyway, the alt-right crowd may have read some about Alexander, written by other alt-right guys who take material from a carefully curated set of “accepted” histories: Arrian and Plutarch, and not just Plutarch’s Life of Alexander, but his double-essay from the Moralia, “On the Fate or Fortune of Alexander.” They tend to be war/conquest-approving and see the Greco-Roman past as some pure Aryan utopia from which we’ve fallen into our “wretched age of iron.”*** Of late, a lot of their associated images are AI generated, btw. A couple examples below.

Last, and on the opposite end of the spectrum are the Alexander-was-Queer-AND-Wonderful, and oh, boy, some of them also don’t want a single bad thing said about their hero. They may know relatively little about his life aside from his putative gayness, but are just as resistant to/resentful of being corrected in their errors and romantic oversimplifications.

And that is what all of these categories share: oversimplification for the sake of a particular social and/or political agenda.****

Isn’t it, then, also shitposting? No. Because shitposters intend to stir the pot. They may or may not believe what they say, but they’re saying it TO get a reaction. Like the Tweet Heard Round the Alexander-verse after the Netflix thing (below). THAT was a shitpost. His entire goal was to go viral, and he succeeded.

By contrast, ignorant-posters usually aim for a particular audience and rarely expect to go viral outside their circle. Nor do they expect to be corrected. When they are, they react with surprise and anger. (Again, there are exceptions.)

I tend to observe these things, but rarely engage—although I did engage more when I was a young grad student. Now if I reply, it’s general (as here), not to the original post/tweet itself. TBH, I have books and articles to write, classes to teach, and papers to grade. 😉 I don’t have time for flamewars.

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

* Yes, I made Alexander left-handed in Dancing with the Lion, partly for the hell of it. But there’s zero evidence one way or the other—which I point out in my Author’s Note at the end of book 2, Rise.

** BTW, there’s a Whole Thing out there online about Alexander as tall, even Super Tall, claiming evidence which they don’t actually cite (correctly). Note the “many stories suggest….” Oh, really? These are? Anyway, I don’t think the author of that blog entry is alt-right—which is why I put it as a footnote—but dig the wacko AI white-haired Nordic Alexander at the top! And I’m still chuckling at a 7-foot-tall Alexander. Good Lord, how tall would that make Hephaistion?

*** Yeah, that’s a little bow to Hesiod’s theory of the Ages of Man.

**** Note that I didn’t include Greek Nationalists. While some of them also swing right (Golden Dawn, Front Line, National Reform Party, etc.), many are more moderate. Alexander is a Greek hero, and if what’s presented about him by some is also oversimplified to fit a national narrative, it doesn’t spring from ignorance so much as deliberate choice and what they learned in school/at home. Think about what the average (white) American knows about George Washington or Thomas Jefferson, or for that matter, the average native person about Tecumseh or Crazy Horse.

#asks #alexander the great #ancient greece #ancient macedonia #classics #ancient history memes #alexander the great memes #alexander's supposed three wishes #alexander never said to fear an army of sheep led by a lion #alexander also didn't say everything is possible to him who will try #tagamemnon #alexander shitposting

[bisou-doux]

I am Jewish, by the way. I don’t feel like arguing with you. I’m just saying that. I’ve also done research. there’s loads of writing out there on the inequality between Ashkenazi Jews and other Jews in Israel. Why don’t you look it up yourself? It’s interesting reading. anyways, at any rate even if there wasn’t any inequality you should definitely do research on their apartheid and colonialism towards Palestinians. Even if it’s not towards other jews, and if i got bad info I’ll delete that post, they’re still horribly racist.

I mentioned in my response that I’m aware there is a history of racism by ashkenazi Jews towards sephardi and MENA Jews, and that I by no means think israel is perfect in terms of social equality. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t deserve to exist as a country. By that metric, I can’t name a single country that would deserve to exist. Social inequity =/= apartheid. On a day to day basis you will never see examples of virulent racism, nor is it something that would ever be tolerated by the average person. Under the law, ALL Israeli citizens (including those of palestinian descent- bc yes, palestinian israelis exist) are equal under the law. When people cite “apartheid” practices, they’re either not true, or are things that are only happening in the west bank (which btw I absolutely disagree with the israeli settler and military occupation of the west bank). The biggest issues for Palestinians being the roads built by the IDF, the checkpoints and resulting abuse of power, and the fact that they are subject to Israeli military law while Jewish settlers are subject to regular Israeli law. Settlers in the west bank are comprised entirely of religious (and some nationalist) extremists who believe in Jewish (/Israeli) supremacy. They are not at all representative of Israeli society as a whole, which is largely secular (not including bibi and ben gvir and the morons in the Likud who are absolutely DESPISED by nearly all Israelis rn). Many Israelis refuse to serve their mandatory military service on the basis of their opposition to the military occupation of the west bank. So yes, the situation in the west bank is horrendous, but it cannot and does not serve as “proof” that Israel is an apartheid state. IF Palestinians in the west bank were Israeli citizens and were still subject to military law, THEN it would be apartheid. But they are under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority, and like I said, it’s the checkpoints and road systems (built by the IDF for settlers) that create daily issues.

As for “colonialism”, Jews are indigenous to the land of Israel. There has been a continuous Jewish presence there for over 3,000 years. You can’t colonize a land that you’re indigenous to. Palestinians, even though they have a centuries long history living in the land, are not indigenous to it. They speak Arabic, they practice Islam- a language and a religion that originated in the Arabian Peninsula. Prior to Israel’s establishment (and really up until the 1960s) there was no Palestinian national identity as we know it today- JEWS living there were called Palestinians, Arabs living there considered themselves Arab, not Palestinian. (And no, I’m not saying that because they’re not indigenous to the land that they should leave or that they have no right to be there- they do, just as much as Jews do).

Lastly, Ashkenazi Jews are not all horrible racists. That’s a harmful and completely false generalization. Do they exist? sure, but they are in the minority. You also have to consider that Jews in the diaspora were/are naturally going to be influenced by the cultural norms and attitudes of the countries they live in- especially during the mid 20th century. But let’s not forget about Operation Solomon- a covert Israeli military operation in the 90s that airlifted over 14,000 Ethiopian Jews out of Ethiopia in 36 hours so they could make Aliyah. There were opponents, sure, but they were ignored and the operation went ahead anyway. Ethiopians coming off the plane were greeted by thousands of cheering Israelis. Doesn’t sound very racist to me. And if you wanna talk about racism, why not talk about the fact that the Arab slave trade still exists? But does that mean that every single Arab person is racist towards black people? NO!

(this isn’t as eloquent as I wanted it to be but I hope I got my point across. If you want me to clarify anything I said don’t hesitate to ask)

#I/p #i/p conflict #israel #judaism #jumblr

[centrally-unplanned]

I do think comparisons between Iraq & Ukraine are pretty silly tbf. There are comparisons to be made, and the US invasion of Iraq was monstrous, but they are different wars, bad for different reasons. Ill take it from the perspective of “challenging the international order”, the idea that Iraq is just as much of a challenge to the “don’t invade countries” liberal order that Ukraine is, and it happened first to boot, so that order is dead already anyway.

This idea both removes context and misunderstands the ‘order’. Saddam in 2003 was absolutely a pariah state, second only to North Korea but without any powerful backers. The 1991 Gulf War against Iraq was a joint partnership by both the US *and the USSR* amoung many many other partners, they had NO friends. In the intervening years his regime probably killed over 200,000 people in repressions & ethnic cleansing campaigns, particularly against Kurds. The country was heavily sanctioned, isolated, and loathed - many did think in 1991 Saddam should have been removed. These reasons are all part of why Iraq was invaded in 2003 to begin with, it was the acceptable target and a task leftover from the ‘weaker’ era of the 90′s. In late 2002 the UN Security Council voted unanimously in resolution 1441 that Iraq was in violation of its ceasefire agreements relating to the development of WMD’s and issued it a series of ultimatums. Russia & China voted for this resolution. The world agreed Iraq was a problem - for a lot of wrong reasons btw, but its what they thought - they just disagreed on how to deal with it.

All of this is to say that while international governments objected to the Iraq war, no one, like, really objected. Seriously, you may have wished they did, and of course there were some behind the scenes little projects scrapped here or there, but no one sanctioned the US or it allies over anything, no one backed Saddam, no one pulled out of NATO or anything like that. The US Coalition of the Willing - worst possible name ever btw like jesus christ read any book, Bush -  was 49 countries, including the United Kingdom, Japan, Australia, Italy, Spain, and hey, Ukraine! France threw a huge fuss and then we all invaded Libya together not even a decade later. No one cared! Many opposed it, the majority of countries opposed it. But that is very different from caring enough to do anything about it.

(People sometimes have the very funny idea that if the US invaded like Canada that the response would have been the same, like we are just too strong everyone would bow down! People would just grumble and move on. That is extremely not true, the US invading Canada would be a political revolution. The fact that it was Iraq is very relevant to how tepid the response was)  

Now two objections are gonna come up here. First, “But the UN!” The UN condemned the war! Well, no, it didn’t, it couldn’t because the US has veto power, but Kofi Annan said that it did in a speech. But, and this is very very important - the UN is virtually irrelevant. The UN was *never* a lynchpin of the international order, it never did fuck all. During the entire Cold War it was just a dueling ground for US/USSR vetos, it never seriously guided policy. I’m exaggerating a bit for effect here, it helped build norms and it was a diplomatic staging ground, it has peacekeepers and aid budgets, sure. But the UN is overall a failure, government has stayed national, the US and to a lesser extent Europe have always been the absolute foundation of the modern liberal order - and half of them fought in Iraq. 

Btw the reason you *think* the UN is part of the international order is that you grew up in the 90′s/2000′s - after the fall of the USSR there was this “UN Moment” where we thought liberalism would be triumphant and a new international system could be built. This led to projects like the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia, the 1991 UN full occupation via peacekeepers of the country to build a new, liberal government to replace the Vietnamese puppet regime previously ruling the place. It completely failed in every way, Cambodia is a dictatorship today. All of these projects failed, the Rwandan Genocide happened under the nose of the UN, Saudi Arabia sat on their Human Rights Council, they failed because the UN is structurally a joke and cannot succeed. But in the 90′s there was a zeitgeist of the UN As The Future, and you think that was an already-achieved dream as opposed to a branding exercise that was scrapped but you had already stopped attending Model UN conferences at that point and didn’t get the memo where all the cool kids pivoted to NatSec Council Crisis Committees so they could do actual politics.

The second is ‘but morally, it was wrong, it set the tone!’ and I, look that's sweet, really, but I can’t bring to myself to care. The International Order is not morality. Maybe it should be, you know fine it totally should be, but it isnt, and it never has been. The liberal international order is an order built by states for states - liberal, democratic states. It is whatever they say it is. Now, if what they are saying it is radically changes, even if its the same states, then its totally fair to point out that it radically changed and its a new order now. But *being hypocrites* is not a change, god is it not a change. Just look at the list of military operations by the US during the Cold War, its fucking endless. If the Vietnam War and the Sandinistas and the Suez Crisis and the Sudan Bombings and the Somalia interventions didn’t doom the world order, Iraq wasn’t going to. 

Because the order has *never ever* been no war. Its been no wars for territorial conquest, no wars against democratic liberal states. And whatever other sins the US has committed, during the Cold War we did not wage war for territorial expansion. Once the empires of Europe collapsed they got on that boat too, and it has stuck. The reason that the governments of Europe, despite loathing the Iraq war, just moved on, is that they knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that the US was not going to annex Iraq, or genocide ethnicities, or anything like that. We would set up a government that was democratic, liberal, and leave. Or ya know try and fall flat on our faces, but same difference. With financial interests locked in and military bases and yadda yadda sure sure, but we always did that, France does that too. That’s the Order. 

Funnily enough, the Iraq war *was* an attempt to change the liberal order - to make it MORE itself, more liberal, more democratic. Rumsfeld and co envisioned wars after Iraq, a world where state by state democracy would be imposed, and no more would liberalism be held back by tepid penny-pinchers and peaceniks. No more genocide, no more autocracy (unless you had nukes or were named Saudi Arabia ofc!), a creeping wave of democracy doing to the rest of the world what had so, so successfully been done to the former USSR. That dream is buried in blood and sand in Iraq - and with its death the liberal order was reinforced, the Iraq war proved the *strength* of the current international order, that it existed the way it did for a reason.

Russia’s war in Ukraine began as the opposite of that in every way. Russia after 2014 was itself a form of pariah state, aggressively nationalistic, autocratic, anti-western. It openly mocks and denigrates the western international order as hypocritical nonsense. Maybe Russia is right (it isn’t) but who cares, it still opposes it, that is what *makes* it a challenge, Russia explicitly *states* that it is. The war is not only for territory, but to send a message to other states on Russia’s border that the international order doesn’t apply to them, in Russia’s land wars of conquest are good to go. In almost every way it is the opposite of Iraq.

But as irony demands, as their shockingly-pathetic army flounders from defeat to defeat, as the Russian people flee the country in droves, as nearly every ally abandons them, the outcome might be the same as in Iraq. I can’t think of a more resounding reinforcement of the power of the liberal international order than the global military apparatus of that order uniting to defeat one of their strongest opponents in the field of battle. Bush’s liberalism is dead, but Biden’s might be ascendant. 

Assuming we all don’t get nuked of course.

#russia-ukraine war

[mooifyourecows]

Ok I'm dead curious and I'm a thirsty nerd, please don't spare me of details. How much did you really research for Hard Times and how much did you made up? Anything from experience? Any surprises while looking up? SHOW US THE RING!!

Also, I just wanna add to the amazing and very true points Suga made the latest chapter, if you don't mind me using the spotlight: Always make sure to purchase from actual locals while travelling. My country has a huge touristic income and, just to use as an example, big events like the football world cup thay happened a few years ago should have injected a stupid amount of money in our local economies because the amount of tourists was really hitting record numbers. Only it didn't, not even one bit. Because all foreign very expensive and very valuable currency was being spent inside hotels and on international touristic companies, not even bothering to buy a snack from actual locals. This kind of exploratory business happens specially at in development places, because the local business are not considered enough to bring international costumers to (or they just can't afford to agree with the tourism companies conditions).

Good points Mel! Tourists should definitely try to support the locals over any international corporations! If you can't afford to pay the slightly higher price for local goods and food then you can't afford to vacation in those countries 🤷‍♂️

As for your research question, i do lots of research on all of my stories. It's one of the ways I acquire new interests, actually. Like for Drop in the Ocean (idk if you read it, it's daisuga + sharks) I acquired an interest and love for fish because of all the research I did for that fic. I watched hours of fish and aquarium videos on youtube and looked up fun facts and what not so that I could accurately depict a Suga who was absolutely in love with aquatic creatures. Now i love fish so much I want to get a big huge fish tank and fill it with the little bastards. if i ever want to get really into something, all i gotta do is make it an interest for one of my characters and bam, i’m a fish person now

For Hard Times specifically, I did lots of research on cruises, since I've never been on one before. I also looked up a lot about Ocho Rios and its attractions, even though I didn't wind up using much of it. I have aphantasia (the inability to visualize) and therefore need lots of visual references, so I looked up penthouse apartments and fancy cruise ship suite layouts/blueprints as well as interior decor and clothes and yada yada

I scrolled through pages and pages of Rolex watches until deciding which one Suga stole from Daichi. This is it btw (blurry pic because it’s from my old phone and has journeyed through discord and what not shhh):

And here's the ring I had in mind for the most recent chapter:

I honestly don't like making things up when it's based on a real thing, you know? Like if i'm trying to make a character seem well versed about italy, i'm gonsta read several wikipedia pages, you can count on that. I might not use nearly 90% of whatever i research but hey, at least i will know which countries eat horse and which ones don't in case such a thing happens to come up in casual conversation.

as for the catholic stuff... uhhhh that’s based on my own experiences. not ALL of it, ofc. I didn’t go to a fancy catholic school, but i was raised catholic. Suga’s story about keeping the priest at that convention for so long is partially true. not the neck exercises/stain on vestments part. but i did go to a catholic convention thing (Steubenville Youth Conference) in Washington state when I was a teenager and it was very weird but very amusing. and i was required to go to confession in these little tented off cubes inside this big event center and my confession took like triple the amount of time as everyone else’s because i am a silly goofy little scamp who loves to lie and just made stuff up until the priest was finally like “alright, next”. he was a nice guy though. he was very enthusiastic about giving me advice for all my confessions which was mainly why i was in there for so long. and then when i came out, the person I had been hanging out with the whole conference was like “you were in there for so long hOW MANY SINS DO YOU HAVE?” and honestly, good question because i stopped believing in god when i was like 7 and never told a priest a single truth in my life so babey we are still counting!

the research part of writing a story is honestly really fun for me. I like filling my little notes app with things i might want to incorporate somehow because it’s interesting or could potentially fit really well with the themes and what not. i’m well aware that my world experience is pretty limited. i don’t want my characters to exist only in those limitations though. thinking of a new mental disorder or cultural background to give my characters is SO FUN and EXCITING and i can’t help but dive right into all the possibilities.

but uhhh yeah the end thanks for the question babe 🖤

[overplannedbutunnamednpc]

top 5 DND moments?

Please note that I didn't actually double-check some of these scenes to make sure that my memory was 100% accurate. this is Vibes Only, babes, and it's girl soup in here.

In no particular order, and for this game specifically:

GD and Legacy sleeping together and confessing feelings for each other. So first off has GOTTA be this one. There's a twofold reason for it. One: it was a very sweet scene (beyond being horny Right Beforehand with both of them being freshly fucked and all, and leg being Naked) and I think the vibes were so nice of like. "let's talk about some things, and then let's fall asleep next to each other, both comforted by the other's presence." Two: something SO fucking funny about the fact that after that session me and bal were like "so whats up with THIS" and we BOTH found out that the other thought our characters were confessing feelings for each other (ish) when in reality the things that were being said were: gd: just so you know I'm a runner and if you're in love with me, uh. I can't guarantee I won't run from you too. legacy: i'm glad you like me maybe-romantically but right now I just want you to know that I care about you, whatever way that ends up being at the end of things. like. god. miscommunication in dnd is so fun sometimes. even more fun if you as players clarify the miscommunication. and your characters Never Ever Do.

Cardea being told she should kill Frey for being cursed. this one is just like. I remember SO CLEARLY the image of this npc that Didn’t Fucking Talk just making a Kill Them motion across the throat at frey. And Cardea who had like JUST started getting comfortable!!!! having to just SEE THIS!!!! and she didn’t have to make the decision because we WERE able to remove the curse but like!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AGH!!!!!!!!!!! and!!! I’m 90% sure this revelation came BEFORE cardea found out that the temple lied to her about the eidolon! so like!!!!! imagine if she DID make a decision about killing frey and then found out. AFTER! many brain thoughts. about this. not many of them are coherent.

Tristan's sleeping beauty curse. MASTERFUL setup. killing me. they are in love, we KNOW they’re in love, we’ve been joking about it for MONTHS now. we take care of the medveds. same NIGHT aris dad dies THEN. TRISTAN TAKES THE BIG HIT. and we don’t even know what it IS for so long, and then we figure out the sleeping beauty curse and gd says “in fairy tales-” and NO HESITATION ari tries true loves kiss. because they’re in love. and they know it. and it DOESNT WORK. and EVERYTHING IS BAD. UGH! it was just. masterful. so fucking good. npcs we care about plots we care about, to me this was the briarwoods dinner with less combat and I mean that as a HUGE compliment.

Frey and Legacy's pvp + wing reveal. this one’s here because it was really funny to me. we are girls we are drunk we are biting each other. oh also legacy has wings now btw. biting you biting you biting you. the WEASEL. the failed lightning bolt being the ONLY thing that made legacy win against a MOON DRUID of all things. literally chefs kiss. it was so good. the party should bite each other more often. lily give us more friendly pvp opportunities i wanna see if i could win in a fight against cardea. i think i could win against gd but she HAS to be allowed to use the most fucked up bard spells she possibly can no holds barred. and honestly. might not be able to win then.

GD and Cardea polymorph body switching. the fact that this was because cardea LIED about being able to JUGGLE. the fact that this was all happening in the span of like one hour because it was happening during a dinner with legacy’s PARENTS. the fact that armor and clothes came off and legacy thought they fucked TWICE in the span of this dinner (bless low insight <3) the fact that the juggling didn’t even go WELL. comedy gold. legacy’s parents Love you guys.

#legacy #these Are ranked but not best to worst just more coherent as to why i love them to less

[idkimnotreal]

me being angry at random people on the internet on my tumblr again, but...

i once saw an american on twitter, a libertarian/conservative shitposter, who made fun of the fact that brics chose a brazilian (former president dilma) to be the president of their bank. he quoted some random fact about them using us dollars to pay for their debt trying to create a new currency for brics (which is unheard of in brazil btw, what’s actually going on is a planned new mercosur currency) and that it’s doomed to fail because a brazilian leads them.

i’m sure he meant that we have failed to attain hegemon status under capitalism like the us did or something. so we must be dumb. i considered actually replying to him that this wasn’t factually true (i didn’t because i know he’s a shitposter), that we have failed mostly due to the lack of a cohesive long term project our elite agrees for the country, rather than some inability in regards to individuals’ skills or that we’re collectively less capable than americans.

brazil is the only country in latin america without skyrocketing inflation (i mean there’s chile. but anyway is it a country?). that was achieved with plano real in the mid 90s. a dollar was worthy about 1.75 real until whereabouts 2013, when that aforementioned economic elite fabricated an economic and political crisis to achieve their own short term goals (such as en masse privatizations and corroding of worker rights pending for almost a century). the brazilian elite is shortsighted and will agree to see the country burn as long as they can keep their positions (which allowing the country to get richer probably wouldn’t do, since the us has before backed a coup in brazil to benefit themselves, when president goulart sanctioned a law to limit profits of foreign companies leaving brazil, like 2 years later i think, he was couped by the us).

and other than that banks in brazil are the only institutions that will always get richer no matter what, and brazilian private banks are amongst the richest in the world, so it’s definitely not our banking system that’s at fault here. i believe in brazilian science and ingenuity and that most of what binds us to poverty as a nation is the national project the elites have for the country, which is roughly the same since colonial times. a tiny portuguese elite ruling over everyone else, and damn the rest. there have been tries to make the country democratic, and for sure there are several things going on politically in the country. we have a solid democratic foundation in our institutions and in our constitution, yet the elites managed to break through for a while in 2016-2022. and they wrecked a lot of havoc in the process. the economy was in shambles before lula took over (he is sometimes aligned with the economic elites, but not always; dilma was not and was impeached, bolsonaro was but was impossible to control and was discarded; the elites cheered with lula’s election, because he plays the same game as them though in opposite sides so to speak), and all signs point to them being back again in 2026.

now, i understand shitposting because it’s good to be american and live in the imperial capitol (the contiguous us). but i think it takes a level of being shitty to blame other, “lesser” countries’ failings on a supposed inherent inferiority. it’s just one of those things that’s so unfair it makes me angry. but there’s a lot of that going on, i’m an angry person.

[makeste]

some meta about Izuku, Katsuki, and trust

and choosing to trust is the real bridge that goes to accepting that person as a part of your live again and what the offender has to earn. I think the interesting aspect of Deku and Bakugou's relationship is that Deku has always trusted Bakugou, and I would say more than he had forgiven him at the start of the story (where he does show more frustration and resentment towards Bakugou's behaviour and see him as a jerk) but despite that he can always trust Bakugou to him himself, attested to

the fact that Deku feels very confident about how Bakugou will act or what Bakugou's true motives are and probably the reason why he always sees Bakugou as a hero despite his hurtful behaviour is because Deku 100% trusts Bakugou even if he's doing something disagreeable or that will hurt him. Knowing someone and trusting is not exactly the same and I see it as trust because of Deku willingness to be co-operative. On Bakugou's side he is mistrustful of Deku and thats where the communication

breaks down and there has been plenty of meta exploring why Bakugou has deep rooted problems around Deku and his journey is him taking accountability of that and changing to be a better person. While understanding and miscommunication get their fair due I think trust and mistrust are the true bedrocks of the bkdk river bed because that allows for how they can still be so connected despite the miscommunication (with Bakugou mistrust is mixed with some trust) because of knowing.

anon I really enjoyed this, thank you for sharing your thoughts! I concur with just about all of this, and this ask got me thinking a lot about the nature of trust, and how it applies to Izuku and Katsuki’s relationship.

I think a lot of people’s reactions to reading the sentence “Bakugou and Deku have always trusted each other” would pretty much be, “???” and “lol what.” like, yeah, sure. they trusted each other so much that Bakugou decided that throwing a tantrum for ten years would be an appropriate reaction to Deku trying to hold his hand. classic Trust, right there!!

lol but I honestly think this is true, though. it’s just that there are different... levels?? types?? of trust. let’s go with types. there are different types of trust, and what makes Izuku and Katsuki’s relationship so interesting to me is that it’s kind of the opposite of what these fictional rival-type relationships usually are. it’s basically the difference between knowing, and understanding.

okay so first of all let’s back up here to make sure we’re all on the same page. we’re defining trust as “firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of someone”, which is the Oxford Language definition and which works pretty well for me. you’ll note, btw, that the current relationship between Katsuki and Izuku more or less meets all four of these criteria.

reliability - both boys regard each other as dependable and are willing to rely on each other in a pinch (although Izuku is currently having some difficulty with that, but that’s another topic for another day).

truth - both are honest with each other, though not completely honest (this is the aspect that Katsuki still needs to work on, as he’s currently hiding his desire to atone).

ability - neither of them have any difficulty with this. Izuku admires Katsuki’s ability so much that he’s made it his own gold standard since childhood, and Katsuki respects Izuku’s ability enough that he made him his main rival, and never doubted that Izuku was qualified to receive OFA and become All Might’s heir.

strength - as with ability, this is another aspect of trust that neither of them has ever struggled with. in fact, a lot of their relationship struggles happened specifically because Katsuki never doubted Izuku’s strength, but feared it because he didn’t understand it.

so yeah. there’s a lot more trust between them than most people realize, I think. but the thing is that the type of trust they have is based more on knowing than understanding, and that’s where so much of their conflict stems from.

when I say knowing, I’m talking about the kind of awareness that comes from familiarity and experience. this is the type of trust that’s difficult to take shortcuts with, because it mostly just has to be accumulated over time. this is all about learning what someone is like through observing them and being around them. and it’s just as much about being known as well, because at the same time that you’re learning who the other person is, they’re learning about who you are. and that’s where trust starts to work its way in. it’s the slow unveiling of who you are, and laying it on the table piece by piece over time. and every time another little piece of you is revealed and accepted, and every time you accept one more piece of who the other person is in turn, that trust increases a little bit more. this type of trust takes a long, long time to build up, but in exchange the foundation it creates is pretty much rock-solid and nigh-indestructible.

understanding, on the other hand, to me is more instinctual. it’s about empathy and insight. and the interesting thing is that it’s possible to know someone for years upon years, and yet never truly understand them. and on the flip side, it’s also possible to understand someone within minutes of meeting them, even if you know almost nothing about them. if “knowing” is about learning who someone is, I would say that “understanding” is about learning why they are who they are. this type of trust isn’t necessarily always mutual, but it does necessitate forming a connection with someone. because empathy is such a critical component of it, it’s basically impossible to understand someone and not form an emotional connection to them in some way. this type of trust can be far more powerful and intense than the “knowing” type of trust, but the flip side is that it can sometimes be less stable and easier to break.

I think that the majority of fictional relationships, especially the ones that become really popular ships, are based more around the latter type of trust because of its intensity and unpredictability and potential for story development. the thing is, both of these types of trust are necessary for a good ship (and when I say “ship”, I’m talking about both romantic and platonic relationships just fyi). if neither type of trust is present on at least some level, then there’s really no foundation to start building up the relationship. so most of the time a ship will start out with one or the other, and then over the course of the story they'll work on building up whichever one was lacking.

and because of how stories work, the majority of the time we’re going to be dealing with characters who at first don’t know each other all that well. and so the relationships we get are ones where the characters first form some kind of emotional connection that builds understanding, and then over time they start to learn more about each other and build up that kind of trust as well. I feel like 90% of ships have this kind of dynamic. it’s the basis for things like enemies-to-lovers, fake dating AUs, and basically any kind of trope in which the characters get stuck somewhere and are forced to spend a lot of time together. it’s good, and it works.

but the fascinating thing about the relationship between Izuku and Katsuki, though, is that it’s actually the exact opposite of this. the premise of Izuku and Katsuki's story is that these are two people who’ve known each other their entire lives, but have almost no understanding of each other whatsoever. they know almost every little detail about each other, so much that they hardly even think about it. but all of their conflict is based on the fact that understanding between them is basically nonexistent.

and to me this is such an intriguing dynamic. the two of them know each other like the back of their hand. they’re familiar with the smallest habits. they can predict each other’s actions. they know how the other person thinks. and they have the kind of trust that comes with having seen the other at both their best and their worst. Katsuki is capable of letting his guard down around Izuku in a way he doesn’t do around anyone else. he cries in front of him on multiple occasions. he lets Izuku call him “Kacchan” long after their other childhood friends have stopped doing so. and even though he fears and resents Izuku’s strength early on, he also subconsciously acknowledges it in ways that even he doesn’t realize (e.g. “don’t you dare get into U.A.,” rather than “you can’t get in” or “you won’t get in”). he knows Izuku.

but he doesn’t understand Izuku. he knows who he is, but he doesn’t understand why. he knows that Izuku is strong, but he can't wrap his head around the nature of that strength. and because he lacks that understanding, this vital aspect of the trust between them is lacking, and is all too easily broken when Katsuki falls into the creek and Izuku tries to offer his help. Katsuki knows that Izuku is a good person, but he doesn’t understand that goodness, that selflessness, and so he’s mistrustful of it.

on the flip side of the coin, however, Izuku has the utmost faith in Katsuki. to him, Katsuki is the strongest, smartest, most capable and most amazing person in the world (aside from All Might). and Izuku, unlike Katsuki, actually does understand his childhood friend at least a little bit. he understands Katsuki’s reasons for wanting to be a hero. he understands that Katsuki is not just mindlessly pursuing strength. he understands that Katsuki’s motivation is about overcoming obstacles and beating challenges. and most importantly, he understands that Katsuki, in spite of everything he’s said and done to Izuku over the years, is fundamentally a good person.

and this is crucial. because, along with the bond of familiarity they’ve built up together over the years, it’s this other, one-sided bond of understanding that is responsible for their relationship enduring for as long as it did despite everything. as you put it, anon, Izuku’s trust is ultimately what becomes the bridge between them. on some level, he trusts in Katsuki’s innate goodness. he believes in it in spite of all of Katsuki’s attempts to persuade him otherwise. e.g. when Katsuki suggests that he go jump off the roof, Izuku is hurt by the words, but he never once takes them to heart, because he knows on some instinctive level that Katsuki doesn’t mean them. and so he grumbles to himself about Katsuki needing to think before he speaks, but aside from that he never gives the words another thought.

Katsuki would no doubt consider this yet another example of Izuku not caring enough about himself or taking himself into account. but it really is more than that. the reason the words don’t cut deep in spite of them being vicious and well-targeted is simply because Izuku knows that Katsuki isn't truly that cruel. and he knows that on a level so deep that Katsuki is never able to break it despite his best efforts. he can’t break it, because there’s nothing to break, because it’s true. the reason the relationship endures in spite of everything is because deep down Katsuki is fundamentally a good person, and so Izuku’s trust, in the end, is based on truth. and so it never fully breaks, and eventually, it becomes reciprocated.

and that’s what their story is all about. it’s two people that have known each other their entire lives, but have to work in order to build their understanding of each other. unlike many ships, they start off already having that foundation of knowing and being known, and so their story instead is about forging that connection of empathy and insight. and it doesn’t come easily to them at all. but they keep at it.

anyway, so thank you again for sharing your thoughts on this, anon. I didn’t even get into the topic of forgiveness, but I agree with you about it being a process of letting go of negative feelings and resentment. I also agree that forgiveness is a separate thing from trust, but I do think trust plays a big part in one’s decision to forgive or not forgive. it's a lot easier to forgive if you have an understanding of the other person’s actions. and it’s also far, far easier to forgive if the offender’s actions are long in the past. and because the latter is now true in Katsuki’s case, that shows a pattern of him learning from his mistakes and not repeating them. which further builds trust, especially in the “reliability” department. and so even though forgiveness and trust are two separate things, they’re still connected. and in many ways, by working to rebuild the understanding between him and Izuku, Katsuki is also working towards earning Izuku’s forgiveness, even though that’s ultimately something that can never truly be earned, but can only be granted.

I’m not sure if I’m really making my point very clear here lol, but basically what I’m trying to say is that while the relationship may have once been one-sided in this aspect, it’s not anymore. it’s mutual, and they’re both putting the work in. and Katsuki is also doing his part without any guarantee or expectation of forgiveness on Izuku’s end. it’s unconditional. he’s doing it because he wants to atone. and he’ll continue to do it whether he’s forgiven or not. and that’s important. it’s important because it shows that the relationship has value to both of them. and it’s important because neither of them wants to lose it. they want to fix it; they want to make it stronger.

and ultimately what that means is that the relationship will continue to endure, despite their ups and downs. because even though it may have started out as something incidental -- two boys who just happened to become friends because they spent a lot of time together as children -- it’s not, anymore. it’s no longer just something that happened, something that just accidentally came together. it’s something that they’re both working to build. they want to trust each other. they want to understand one another. their relationship is no longer something that simply withstood and persisted -- it’s something that is now being nurtured. and you love to see it.

so let's see, how do I even begin to tl;dr this post lol. something something blah blah blah trust, understanding, childhood friends, knowing someone, having faith in someone, being the recipient of that faith, and working to become worthy of it. they're very confused, but they care about each other a lot, and they are good boys.

#midoriya izuku #bakugou katsuki #bakudeku #bnha meta #bakugou meta #deku meta #bnha #boku no hero academia #bnha spoilers #mha spoilers #bnha manga spoilers #makeste reads bnha #asks #anon asks

[daverygalskisbff]

Pidge & Lance friendship/sibling dynamic headcanons?

hi! thank you sm for asking this!! i didn't think I'd be able to come up with anything but it was surprisingly super fun to do, I really liked writing this. I'm sorry it took so long to get out tho, I've had to spend like 90% of my time on the yearbook recently and i couldnt really do much else :/. but the yearbook is now finished and so is this hc list! i hope you enjoy it :)

let us begin 

Lance and Pidge! 

they didn't actually become friends until after the whole voltron debacle started 

we saw that lance had tried to befriend pidge back at the garrison, but (obviously) she had never been interested

like, at all 

so lance just kind of assumed she didn't like him and gave up after a while 

they're mostly, like, acquaintances, for the first few weeks of joining voltron - it takes pidge a little while to warm up to lance bc she thinks he's just an annoying party-boy, and lance thinks pidge is kind of full of herself

once they realise how much they have in common, though… 

all hell breaks loose. more or less. 

they play a lot of video games together

at first they only have killbot phantasm one, so they give themselves new rules and "multitask levels" to make it more interesting after they both inevitably master the game 

this usually involves having to defeat levels by themselves while the other person throws things at them 

the two of them also make sure to spend at least an hour every space mall-visit searching for new games, and pidge likes to code things for them to play when they run out  

lance has a list of nicknames for all of their teammates, but he makes a point to have some variety in his pidge names for the different occasions that he uses them in 

this list includes but is not limited to: pidgey/pidgeon (self explanatory), pea (short joke and green joke wrapped in one), birdie (for when he's trying to be nice), and stripe (after the evil gremlin in the movie gremlins)

pidge isn't a big fan of music, but she hates to work in silence, so lance will come hang out with her while she works and just talk about whatever

she doesn't fully listen most of the time, but lance doesn't mind because he never really talks about anything important 

their other teammates aren't exactly used to this dynamic, tho 

keith, staring at lance as he explains in detail the "sith lord jar jar binks" theory: how do you… focus? with him doing this? 

pidge: it's kinda like a white noise machine. I just tune him out

lance: first of all, racist, second of all- 

pidge also uses lance as her main source of ideas for low-stakes projects to work on on the side 

she even lets him help her make them, a privilege gifted to absolutely no one else (except hunk, but lance maintains that he doesn't count bc he's an engineer and makes stuff anyways) 

so far, they have made a (semi) functioning hoverboard, lightsabers (they can't hurt people, tho, much to pidge's disappointment), and a grappling hook

their most recent project is trying to figure out how to recreate spider-man's web shooters 

lance: i need to be spider-man, pidge. i was born to be spider-man. i can feel it. 

pidge: y'know lance that's actually super interesting, because I distinctly remember that spider-man actually made his own web shooters, he didn't just sit on the counter and watch as his friend did all the work 

lance: …

pidge's laptop has a bunch of kinds of entertainment downloaded onto it - music, movies, like three tv shows - and once lance learns this he refuses to let it go until he gets her to agree to watch something with him

one of the shows she has just so happens to be criminal minds. lance clings to this like his life depends on it 

lance, over comms: hey baby girl i need you to work me some magic 

pidge, trying to hack into a galra base: leandro martin mcclain I swear to god I am going to release your location to every sentry on this ship and I am going to watch them kill you over these security cameras and I am going to laugh 

needless to say, they make fun of eachother a lot 

every day. about everything. 

lance, dropping a spoon on the floor at breakfast: :/

pidge: lmao look at you. outstanding coordination. they really should've taught you how to juggle at clown school 

lance: first of all fuck you, second of all it was called performer's camp and i bet they wouldn't even let you in

in true sibling fashion, they never let eachother forget anything embarrassing. no matter what. 

pidge: (is quiet for more than three minutes) 

lance: hey remember that time at the garrison when a pretty girl asked if she could borrow a pencil and you panicked and said you didn't have any because you can't spell

pidge: I'm telling shiro on you that was one time- 

however, despite all of their teasing, they really do care about each other a lot

pidge is the first to hug lance when he steps out of the healing pods, and lance will bend over backwards to cheer pidge up on a bad day 

sometimes literally. never tell your found family siblings that you're a trained acrobat, kids.

lance organises little sleepovers with allura for days when pidge is feeling particularly dysphoric, so they can do traditionally "girly" things like paint their nails and put on makeup 

pidge doesn't usually do that sort of thing on a regular day, so it's kind of like a nice reminder that she's allowed to be feminine if she wants to be

originally a rule of these sleepovers was that everyone had to do one thing that pidge asked for before the night ended, but they had to scrap that rule after… complications, in one of lance's dares 

(in defense of allura, it had been over 10,000 years since she had her ears pierced, and it's not like she could see what the (professional) beautician was doing at the time, so really the fact lance ended up in a healing pod with an ear infection wasn't even her fault. the piercings do suit him, tho, so she maintains she did a very good job regardless)

the three of them usually end up cuddling in a little pile when they finally go to sleep 

lance has a sixth sense about knowing which bodily function pidge is neglecting at any given time 

he calls it his Big Brother Eye, and only realised he had inadvertently made a book reference when shiro praised him for his culture 

lance: big brother sees everything, pidgeon

shiro: oh, you've read 1984, lance? 

lance: um. is that like an album or something. 

anyways, lance tends to make frequent stops to pidge's room and/or lab to remind her to eat, drink, sleep, etc. sometimes all three at once but only in emergencies. 

pidge rarely actually wants to take a break, tho, so lance channels his best "my sister had kids when i was ten and i have been bargaining with small children for almost a decade" voice to convince her to leave 

lance: okay birdie, i know the coffee tastes good, but y'know what would taste even better? a sandwich. maybe even some ice cream. you feel like ice cream today kiddo? 

pidge, hopped up on three days of no sleep and expired space coffee coran thought it would be safe to give her: (stares directly into lance's eyes) where are you

lance and pidge both get the most homesick out of the team, so sometimes they'll just chill together in silence for a while. lance reminds pidge of her brother, and pidge reminds lance of one of his sisters, so their company is like an extra bit of comfort. they help each other a lot when it gets really difficult 

my askbox is still very much open for requests, btw, so if anyone has any ideas feel free to send them in!

#vld lance #vld pidge #vld team #vld shiro #vld allura #vld keith #pippa.post #pippa.canon #pippa.ask

[alwaysfeelingsaintlike]

Driving Me Mad [G.W] - Part 1

Series Description: You and George come up with a plan to help each other out by pretending to date each other. But what happens when you actually start to catch feelings...

Pairing: George Weasley x Gryffindor fem!reader 

Word Count: 2.2k

Description: You reconnect with George during a friendly game of spin the bottle.

A/N: This concept was inspired by one of my favorite 90s teen movies, Drive Me Crazy (which everyone should watch btw). I wrote this a few years ago and recently re-worked. This is part 1 of 8! Enjoy :)

                                                         X

“1…2…3…4…” you heard Fred calling. You took off at a run to find your spot. You were playing hide and seek, like you always did at these reunions. The Burrow was the best venue for hide and seek because there were so many great hiding spots, both inside and out. Fred and George seemed to be the best at this game, but you had one secret spot where no one could ever find you. You ran down the stairs quickly, hoping you wouldn’t be heard or spotted. Your parents were in the sitting room with Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, waiting for the roast to finish and you tip-toed to the one area where you shouldn’t have been, the kitchen. It was an unspoken rule that the kitchen was off limits when Mrs. Weasley was preparing dinner, but you were never one to follow rules. You heard the adults talking in the other room and knew you had a very limited window to get situated. You opened the cabinet under the sink and went to climb in when you realized there was already someone in there.

“Hey! This is my spot!” you whispered, still trying to keep your cover.

“Well too bad, I was here first,” he spat back. 

“READY OR NOT, HERE I COME!” Fred called. Your eyes went wide in panic and you shoved yourself into the cabinet.

“Slide…over…” you said as you dug your elbow into George’s side. You knocked over stacks of bowls and pans and you quickly shut the cabinet door hoping to muffle the noise.

“I can’t believe you took my spot,” you grumbled.

“Your spot? I don’t see your name on it,” he teased. You smacked him and he winced. “Now, that wasn’t very nice.”

“Shh…you’ll give our position away.” You heard footsteps coming across the tile floor and held your breath. 

You sat there for what seemed like hours, whispering insults back and forth and laughing about stupid things. The hardest part about sitting there was that dinner was starting to smell amazing. It was torturous. That was the downside to having a great hiding place; you were stuck there until you got found.

“Okay, I give up. You guys win. Just come out now,” you heard Fred calling.

“Should we?” you asked George.

“Nah. It’s more fun this way.”

By this point all of the kids were looking for you both, and maybe even the adults. It was hard to tell for sure, considering you were curled up in a cabinet, but you could hear lots of footsteps and your names being called repeatedly.

“Kids, come for dinner!” Mrs. Weasley called.

“What about now?” you asked George, thinking that the seekers would stop looking for you the minute their eyes caught sight of the meal. 

George shook his head no and you trusted he knew what he was doing. “Just wait for it…” he whispered.

As if on cue, both the cabinet doors suddenly flew open. You had been caught. You then realized, it was Mrs. Weasley who had caught you and she had yet to notice two children were in place of her kitchen supplies. She was turned and was calling for the older boys to come and set the table. 

Slowly, very slowly, she turned around and bent down to tend to the cabinet. George’s face broke into a warm smile, knowing what was coming next.

“AAAH!” she shrieked upon seeing your childish figures cramped into such a small space.  You and George erupted into laughter at her reaction as everyone else scurried in to see what had happened. Mrs. Weasley was leaning against the counter, clutching her heart before she essentially beat you with a dishtowel to get you to come out.

“George! Y/N! What on earth were you thinking? You nearly gave me a heart attack!”

“I’m sorry, Mrs. Weasley! We didn’t mean to. We were just playing hide and seek,” you spoke, innocently enough. Her mood completely changed and it was as if nothing was wrong.

“Well…alright. Go wash up for dinner,” she said. 

Fred approached the two of us, “That was brilliant. Couldn’t have done it better myself,” he said, giving you both high fives. 

Dinner was full of laughs and merriment as the two families conversed over a lovely meal. George sat across from you at the table and every now and then he would kick your shins and give you that evil grin of his. This was your relationship. You were essentially the second Weasley girl, and according to the twins you were more fun to torment because you could dish it back.

Dinner drew to a close, which meant you could continue playing again. The adults stayed and talked more over tea as you all made up imaginary games, pretending to be people you weren’t. Then, soon, your parents would call you and give you the twenty-minute warning, which always meant you were leaving in an hour. You would say your goodbyes like it was no big deal, but once you started heading home you grew infinitely sadder knowing you’d be playing alone until your next trip to the Burrow.

                                                              X

A lot of time had passed since the hide and seek days. Now, hide and seek was used when you were playing hard to get, which happened quite often now that you were a 5th year. You also didn’t see as much of the Weasleys as you used to. When you were younger, you would go over to the Burrow all the time. But now you only really saw them in passing at Hogwarts. You were still friendly, of course, but you had found yourself in a different friend group. 

Recently, you’d been spending a lot more time with the Ravenclaw’s largely because you were dating Roger Davies. You had started dating towards the end of your fourth year and things had been going great. You were particularly excited for the upcoming school year because they had announced the Triwizard Tournament.

The champions had just been announced and you were in  Room of Requirement, sipping a butterbeer and celebrating with a majority of the Hogwarts population.

“Here ye, here ye!” someone called out. Your attention shifted to the center of the room where the Weasley twins were making an announcement.

“As you all know, we are here for two reasons. One: to celebrate the success of our fellow Hogwartsians,” one of them spoke. The crowd cheered. Cedric’s friends clapped him on the back while Harry stood awkwardly in the corner with a handful of Gryffindors from his year. 

“And two is to have a bloody good time!” the other twin shouted. That statement was followed by even more applause. People clinked their butterbeer bottles together as the twins made a few more remarks to the group.

You mingled around the party for a bit, keeping your eye out for Roger who hadn’t seemed to arrive yet. After a few butterbeers, you stopped worrying so much about your boyfriend’s whereabouts. 

“Who wants to play spin the bottle?” you heard someone call. That certainly caught your attention. All the participants sat in a circle on the floor.

“What rules are we playing tonight?” Cho asked. 

Fred spoke next, “Spinner gets one spin. Whoever the bottle lands on can decide if they want one kiss in front of everyone or five minutes in the closet. You only get a re-spin if the bottle lands on yourself. And all wands in the middle of the circle. We don’t need any interference. Sound good?” Everyone nodded in agreement and the festivities ensued.

Since Cedric was the champion, everyone agreed to let him spin first. His bottle landed on Lavender Brown and she chose to enter the closet with Cedric. Cho looked pissed, as she had her eye on Cedric this year. The two emerged from the closet minutes later, Cedric looking sheepish and surprised and Lavender trying to hide the grin creeping up her face. 

You waited and waited for your turn, and you found yourself getting bored. You were about to leave the game and head to bed but then you heard your name.

“You’re up.” 

The bottle slid over to you and you decided you would leave after your turn was up. You held the glass bottle for a moment before placing it in the middle of the circle and giving it a good spin. The bottle was almost mesmerizing as it completed rotation after rotation before finally slowing down to land on someone. You slowly looked up to see who was at the receiving end of your spin and you internally cringed to see that familiar smile. 

“Alright Y/L/N, I will see you in the closet,” he said. Everyone ‘oohed’ like you were preteens as he stood up and made his way to the closet. You reluctantly followed, knowing this was your ticket out of here.

“Well if it isn’t my first girlfriend,” he smiled as you made your way through the door.

“You wish, George. We were six…it didn’t count.”

“That’s what you think.” You rolled your eyes at his comment.

“Just so you know, nothing is happening in here. I have a boyfriend.”

“Ah of course. Well how are things?”

“Things are going great between us. We’ve been dating almost-“

He cut you off, “I wasn’t asking about Roger. I was asking about you. We haven’t talked in a while.”

“We run in different circles, George. We aren’t kids anymore. We’re barely even friends.”

He clenched his heart, “Ouch. That hurts.”

“Well it’s true!”

“Just because we don’t hang out or talk doesn’t mean we’re not friends.”

“Yeah, whatever,” you mumbled. 

“I bet I know more about you than your so-called friends, Cho and Marietta. In fact, I think I know more about you than Roger.”

You raised an eyebrow at him, “Is that so? Prove it.”

“Well, I know that your favorite color is purple, your best subject is Charms, and you hate the cold but you love Christmas.”

“That is not that impressive. Roger knows all of that.”

George took a step closer to you, “Does he know that you secretly love watching Muggle movies, you’re ticklish on your left knee and that there’s a little star shaped mole just behind your ear.” He gently tucked your hair behind your ear and ran his finger right over the hidden mole. You looked up into his eyes and felt an unusual feeling that you weren’t sure how to define. For a moment, you thought you saw him leaning in towards you. He was going to kiss you and for some odd reason, you were going to let him. Just as your lips were about to touch he turned away as there was a series of knocks on the door. 

“I think our time is up,” you spoke softly. You slid from under his gaze and opened the closet door. “They all bolted…” you stated. The room was full of discarded cups and empty bottles, but no familiar faces to be seen.

“Filch or someone must’ve come by,” he said, “The knock was a warning.” You shrugged and without talking you made your way out of the room. “Heading back to Gryffindor tower?” he asked you. You had briefly thought about going to Ravenclaw tower to check in on Roger, but you decided against it.

The journey was silent, for the most part. Neither of you felt the need to talk. Just as you were about to turn a corner, George grabbed your wrist and pulled you back. You turned back at him confused and he said, “Not that way, we’ll get caught. Filch is usually patrolling that corridor.” You gave him an unamused look, thinking he was just trying to make things difficult when he added, “Trust me.” 

You weren’t sure why, but you did trust him. You followed him down a dark hall that you’d never been down before. You hoped he knew where he was going. It was dark and you couldn’t see very well but you didn’t want to give away your position by using Lumos. Out of nowhere, George took your hand and helped guide you down the hallway. You didn’t really understand why he was being so nice to you. You had barely talked over the years, aside from the occasional family gathering. 

Your thoughts were interrupted by a sudden pop of light. You looked up and the two of you were face to face with Professor McGonagall. 

“Professor,” he spoke.

“Mr. Weasley…Ms. Y/L/N. Is there a reason you two are out of bed past curfew?” she asked you sternly.

“Yes, but it’s not a very good one,” you said. You were toast. If it had been Flitwick or Moody you could’ve talked your way out of it, but McGonagall was too strict. You only hoped your punishment wasn’t too severe.

“Ten points will be taken from Gryffindor. Each. And you will report for detention later this week.”

“Yes ma’am,” George spoke.

“Now back to bed, both of you!” You scurried past her as you realized how close you were to the common room.

“So much for not getting caught,” you muttered.

“Hey, lay off it. I was trying to help,” he snapped. “Sometimes you can be such a bitch,” he added under his breath.  You weren’t expecting that, but you admittedly deserved it.

You reached the common room and you went in and immediately went up to your room. You curled up in bed and tried to sleep as best I could.

#george weasley #george weasley x reader #george weasley x you #weasley twins #fred weasley #fred and george wealey #george weasley fanfic #george weasley x fem!reader #george weasley x gryffindor!reader #hp fanfic #george weasley one shot #drive me crazy #weasley twins fanfic

[personasintro]

Hello, I’m not trying to defend rude people coming to you asking you to hurry the story lol but I’m going to tell you something that might help as advice as a writer, maybe? Just please don’t take it the wrong way bc I’m not trying to tell you how to do your thing!

I think what frustrates readers the most is that the story escalated SO QUICKLY from the beginning, like since the “deal” to all the fluff, the “””””fake””””” dating, the sex, the (very obvious) romantic moments that were completely brushed off, not to mention all the confusing things Jungkook says to Y/N and viceversa, etc. AND THEN.. the whole story goes back to (in a sense) zero: Jungkook is back with Kiko, the person that hurted him so deeply on him, Y/N and Jungkook are still friends even after they spended all those weeks being basically like boyfriend and girlfriend and that there’s clearly something there that ALL of us can see (unless you didn’t want us to believe that and we’re all not reading the same story).

And I’m not saying that it’s bad or that you’re doing things the wrong way but IT IS very confusing to us bc its starting to feel like there’s no real character development and everything’s going backwards instead of forward.

Again, I’m not saying this is how you should do this but, as a reader myself, the lack of development, in terms of character and not as a “this is how I want the story to end” type of thing, it’s very frustrating and dryning for some people.

What I’m trying to say is that maybe the people on your ask box aren’t just being obnoxious and trying to tell you how they want the story to end. Maybe they’re mad at the fact that after everything that’s happened between Y/N and Jungkook, they’re still with the same mindset. I mean, even the whole “mutual help” agreement is over and they’re still the same characters when the story began. It makes you wonder if maybe that’s everything there is to their story 🤧

My point it’s that: if the story’s plot it’s based on that “mutual help” they had, isn’t it supposed to bring some noticeable change to the character’s life after instead of just passing by, almost uneventfully?

Anyway, I hope I don’t make you feel mad or sad with my whole ass analysis lol that really isn’t the point of it, I’m just seriously very confused with the way the story is progressing, and maybe clarifying some things, without spoiling anything, may help us readers understand where is this story going. Btw, none of this means that the story or the plot or the characters are bad AT ALL, I would say it’s the complete opposite, we are all SO immersed in it that we’ve got to the point were we’re just desperate for more! But yeah, thank you for your beautiful story! I’ll still check every update even if you decide to complete ignore this question lol ❤️❤️

As much as I appreciate you trying to justify all those asks, it doesn't change the fact how I feel about this whole thing. Frustrated, sad and overwhelmed, that's how I've been feeling for a few weeks now (maybe even months) because some people on this app are too much sometimes. It's one of the reasons why I disabled my asks.

If any of the readers have any problem with how the story is going, I've said too many times they don't have to read it. Them getting all frustrated over how I write my OWN story is ridiculous. People trying to tell me how to write my story is ridiculous. If you guys read my answers to every ask, you probably know by now what makes me frustrated and what bothers me the most. It doesn't take a genius to figure that out and I ask... how the hell people are still being so pushy with their own preferences? I've explained countless things so many times and honestly, I'm exhausted because of it. I feel like nobody listens to me what I'm saying and that puts a little disrespect in my opinion.

+ I get the feeling people don't read MH thoroughly and forget all the things that have been discussed there. I don't get the feeling as if the story went back to zero, I'm sorry that you do but well, I respect your opinion but obviously are opinions about this are very different. I can't believe I've to explain this all over again but well... here we go! y/n and Jungkook being still friends doesn't mean there are things that haven't slightly changed (whether they acknowledge it or not). Them acting like a girlfriend and a boyfriend has been explained by THEM, why they acted like that and even admitted it felt nice. There is an obvious attraction and their deal hasn't helped with that.

+ I know very well what I'm doing with my story [SLOW BURN STORY] and I asked readers many times to just trust me. I'm so freaking frustrated because if people are getting so frustrated over my story too, why the hell are they still reading it? I'm not asking for people to tell me what to do, directly or indirectly because I'm sorry but that's the vibe I'm getting from all those asks. They're not normal and typical asks of "oh I wish they were together" but the length those people are willing to go just to push their own preference is ridiculous.

+ If you think there's no character development (just because y/n x jk aren't together and jk x kiko are) then I'm sorry but MH isn't probably your kind of story. And I'm not going to point out what those characters development are because if you read the story thoroughly and with some sort of understanding, you could easily tell what it is and you wouldn't have to question me about it.

+ Again, if anyone finds this story so frustrating and draining (that's what you probably meant) just don't read it. I really appreciate everyone who does read it, but ONCE AGAIN... I'm not sure what to do with it? I'm not going to change the story and even though I do read those opinions, 90% of time I don't even know how to respond. And people willing to take some of their time to be frustrated in my inbox when you can probably tell that it is as much frustrating for me, is blowing my mind and not in the good sense.

+ Maybe they’re mad at the fact that after everything that’s happened between Y/N and Jungkook, they’re still with the same mindset. This fucking blew my mind all over again. As much as I'm aware a story can evoke a lot of feelings (one of the reasons why writing and reading stories is so amazing), this is different than just people being casually mad about something. And that's exactly it, people are mad and then they come into my inbox and spread negativity and even bigger distaste to writing for me. If anyone is so mad because of how story is going and it's hard for them to process it (now I'm going to be the one giving you an advice) just don't read it. And I don't mean this in any rude way, I genuinely think people shouldn't read it if them being so mad means they'll show their anger and frustration to me. Because newsflash but I'm a person behind this screen, I can get mad and frustrated too. Do you guys think these kinds of asks aren't hurting me to a certain extent?

+ You think this story is confusing? Alright, what am I supposed to do with it? Like, I'm genuinely curious what you guys expect me to do. I told you to trust me, it didn't help. I told you this story is a slow burn one, it didn't help. I told you there are things that are changing and if you read the story properly and with some understanding, you'd be able to notice it (even if it's not something big and eye-catching), that didn't help too.

+ It's not my responsibility to explain and clarify every thing people are confused about but still, I've always tried to explain everything but you know what? I don't feel like doing it again. Because every time people are confused about something, it always has something to do with the future of the story and people indirectly asking me about spoilers – whether you think it's true or not, I've been here long enough to know when people are trying to get answers out of me. Plus, it's very hard almost impossible to explain some things without spoiling anything. That's why I always told you guys to trust me and you'll get your answers at the right time.

I really hate explaining my thoughts like this because it makes me feel like a douchebag but I'm so sick of some people thinking like I owe them something. At the end of the day, I'm here to write a story and me interacting with all of my readers is my choice. I could easily just post a chapter and not care what people think, and I do think some people are using this fact over me thinking they can be impolite, rude, pushy and frustrating. I've been patient enough about this, but the more this keeps happening the more I'm questioning my presence here.

There... here are my thoughts and I know people will take from it whatever they want (or more like won't take anything from it) but honestly, I'm so exhausted if you couldn't tell by now. I'm so done with always justifying myself. These thoughts have been bubbling inside of me for so long and I always told myself to just close the app, breathe it out and come back positive... but I realized that every time I think about this, I feel exactly the same and I know that it's not my fault because that's how some of you make me feel.

All I ask if for mutual understanding because I've always been trying to be respectful and understanding, that's one of the things I've been very careful about.

#ask: anon

[itsonlystrange]

So, after reading @hawkinsschoolcounselor latest post, I went into the comments and, boy- they were, well. They were not great. I mean I guess I laid this onto myself but, anyways, I’m going to be answering this comment right here:

This is ALL for fun! It’s all a bunch of light hearted love, but this comment REALLY ticked me the wrong way.

For starters: There’s always been this trope in media of “one is enough.” Or “we have enough representation!” And it’s VERY prevelant in tv shows. The theory that “oh! There’s already one gay character, that’s enough for you, right?” Is sh!tty. It’s horrible.

Think of it this way: if there are 200 white sheep in a room, and then the shepherd brings in one black sheep, do you think that would suffice the other black sheep from the other herds? Do you think that would ‘hold them over’? I mean imagine being a black sheep in a crowd of 200 other white sheep, you’d feel alone. Okay, so now pretend there is a tv show, and this black sheep is watching that tv show, and of course, all the actors in the tv show are WHITE SHEEP. So then, in season 3 of Sheeper Things, they FINALLY introduce a black sheep, and of course the black sheep is happy, but still, they can’t help but realize that all of the white sheep are still there and overcome that small black sheep by a LOT!

I’m assuming that comment was made by someone straight, as they clearly don’t grip representation. Also, I’m assuming that person is slightly homophobic, just by the way they phrased it. It seems odd, I mean, what’s the issue with having one more gay character?

Well apparently, in their minds, Will being able to overcome his childhood is much more effective then Will being gay- so.

Let me lay it out for you:

Surprise! You can be gay AND want to hold onto your childhood! And, there are already so many other characters that could have a lovely arc of learning to accept themselves and learning to be their true selves away from societies norms *cough* mike *cough* Lucas *cough* but of course, they want to make WILL the one who gets this arc because if Will was gay that means he has a better chance of getting with Mike! (This was under a Mileven video btw) so they want him to be canonically straight so there is no chance Mike and Will can be endgame!

Now second: 90% of the comments under this video are people saying they think he’s asexual.

1. You can be gay AND asexual

2. Asexuality is the feeling of not being sexually attracted to anyone. YOU CAN BE ROMANTICALLY ATTRACTED TO PEOPLE IF YOURE ASEXUAL.

3. Will is fourteen! And if we’re using the logic of “oh he hasn’t wanted to kiss anyone so he’s asexual!” Then shouldn’t Dustin be asexual too?-

4. WILL IS FOURTEEN! Just because he doesn’t want to get down and dirty at that (very young age!) DOESNT mean that he doesn’t like sexual attraction at all. It’s kind of insane how people are seriously making these assumptions over a 14 year old child, some people like to wait, and that’s fine!

5. If the people in the comments meant aromantic, there really isn’t anything in the show that proves that he doesn’t like anyone, period. I think partially it’s heteronormativity and people not wanting to see the fact that Will clearly has a crush on mike, or had one in the past. The script even went as far as saying “But his eyes aren’t on the cute girl, they’re on - - Mike.”

Why do you think the script would put that in if there wasn’t something there, unrequited or not? Personally, I think that a lot of people don’t want to accept the fact that Will could have a crush on Mike as that would destruct their heteronormative bubble. They don’t want the main boy in the show to be gay because it disrupts the balance in their life. And it makes the chances of mike and Will ending up together being strong.

6. Saying “you have one gay character, that’s enough representation!” Is BULL. SH!T. There will NEVER be enough representation in the media for the lgbtq+ community. Ever. Even when we keep trying, there will always be something. Whether the show being cancelled or the one gay character dying, representation in the media for minorities are slim, but ESPECIALLY for the lgbtq+ community.

We are all VERY proud of Maya and Robin. We love Robin, but that doesn’t mean the Duffers just get to sit back and be like “oh, we already have one gay character, we don’t need more.” Like, what? That’s not how this works. Representation doesn’t just get to stop after the heterosexuals deem us to have “enough gay characters” or “if you add too many gay characters it’d get unrealistic” no. We’ve (me being a bisexual) have went through YEARS AND YEARS of ZERO representation. ZERO. While the hets always got their happily ever after love story, we WAITED.

We love Robin, but that doesn’t mean they can just halt Will’s arc since season one because you deem the representation to be enough.

This isn’t apples and oranges. Will can be gay AND not want to grow up. It isn’t always just black and white.

Maybe it’s the people who refuse to see the way Will looks at Mike, and just takes that as “2 bros looking at bros”, but there is very clearly something under the surface there.

since season ONE they have built Will up to be gay. Since the first episode.

Put it this way. Joyce used the term “f*g” in episode one. Why do you think they would use a slur like that If it weren’t going to go somewhere. What was the point of using a slur to describe Will in season one, or to Troy and James literally tormenting the Party for Will being gay almost all of season one. What was the point of that if that wasn’t going to go anywhere?

I can GUARANTEE that If Mike promised El that he’d go crazy together with HER instead of Will, the milevens would eat that up and call it “romantic!” However, because it’s just two boys, it’s totally platonic, right? It’s totally just two bros being bros.

If Mike held el’s hand like that and said “we won’t let him.” To el instead of Will, milevens would EAT THAT UP. They’d say that was the most romantic sh!t in the show.

If Mike told El that meeting her was the best thing he’d ever done, MILEVENS WOULD EAT THAT UP. They’d call it the most romantic thing of the century. It’d be on ever fan accounts Instagram pages. It’d be in all of the bios. But of course, because it’s two boys, it HAS to be platonic.

A lot of times milevens excuses for things are “well mike said he loved her so it’s end game”

Stancy, anyone?

Or Mike said “you’re the most important thing in the world to me.”

In the most DRY way possible. If Mike said that to Will in that way, EVEN I WOULDNT BELIEVE HE WAS TELLING THE TRUTH.

I mean the way Mike said that line clearly shows that el isn’t the most important thing in the world to him. There’s something underlying there. Like I said, that line was DRY. There was no emotion behind it. He was just saying that to get El to shut up, to get El to forgive him, so they could move on.

If Mike had said “you’re the most important thing in the world to me” to WILL like that instead of El, I wouldn’t have believed it either. And I bet that If that was the case the milevens would say “Mike doesn’t really love Will! That line was so dry!” But because it’s El and Mike, they say that’s the cutest thing since sliced bread.

Again, I have zero issues with Milevens, it’s only the toxic ones like the comment above that get to me.

Will has been set up to be gay from DAY ONE. The duffers have studied film for YEARS. Do you seriously think they’d let these all be coincidences? Do you seriously think that after writing season two NOBODY said, “hey, that’s a little gay.”

One scene is fine. If we only had gotten crazy together, yeah, I don’t think I would have thought it to be canon. But it’s the fact that they wrote in OVER 10 QUEER CODED ROMANTIC SCENES BETWEEN MIKE IN WILL, JUST IN SEASON TWO.

You can’t make that up! That cannot be an accident!

They’ve said over and over that everything they do, every song they play, every outfit the characters wear, is intentional. It’s all there for a reason.

Finn and Noah had to read these scripts, rehearse them, and then spent hours filming them. Do you seriously think it wouldn’t have cross their minds that “Hey! That’s a little weird Mr Duffer.”

That’s mostly because Finn and Noah probably already know where the show is headed.

If your only source of Mileven evidence is that Millie has said that they should get married and that they kissed in the end, then, I have some news to break.

Obviously, if anything were to happen in season 4 with Mileven not being end game, Millie couldn’t just say that. Finn couldn’t just say that. It’s their jobs to keep the fans intrigued and on their toes.

David knew he wasn’t really dead but he still had to pretend in interview after interview that Hopper was indeed dead. And he played it off pretty well.

Millie knew El wasn’t really dead after the season one finale yet she still had to play it off like El was.

So obviously, they can’t just outright say “Mileven isn’t end game!”

I mean,,, I’m sure they’d get fired for it.

So, we really shouldn’t pay attention to what the cast says in interviews, and we shouldn’t take that as canon, either. Their job is to subvert our expectations for the show, and they’re doing it well.

TL;DR:

Will can be gay and also have an arc where he doesn’t want to grow up and where he can learn to be his authentic self. The interviews the ST cast do should not be taken as canon as their jobs as actors are to keep us on our toes and subvert our expectations. Byler has a lot of proof and has a large chance of being canon, and most milevens don’t want to believe Will is gay because that means Will would have a larger chance of getting with Mike. The lgbtq+ community still need representation regardless of Robin and just because we got one lesbian does not mean the duffers can sit back and go back to their only heterosexual couples and ideas.

Byler is end game :)

@kaypeace21 @strangertheory @stranger-analysis @willthecleric (opinions?)

#stranger things #byler #mike wheeler #stranger things 4 #st4 #will byers #byler theory

[djemsostylist]

The Great Dizi List, Part 3b (The Alperen Dizis)

Okay, so allow me to start by saying that I've finished Son Yaz, and as as result I may have fallen the tiniest bit in love with Alperen Duymaz and thus have embarked on the journey of watching all his dizis. He has this sad, earnest puppy vibe combined with an incredible amount of BDE in all his roles, plus he's just so damn pretty. Anyway. And by all I mean just two others bc I like him beardy and his teen one is a little young for me.

Son Yaz

This one will actually get its own post, because it deserves its own post. Tbqh it deserves sonnets written to its beauty, bc this is one of those shows that I watched all the way through in like, 3 days, and then immediately wanted to go back and watch again. It was that good. The main quartet are a delight, and honestly I haven't loved a ship like AkMur in far too long. (okay technically Edser but that ended in disaster and in retrospect I kind of think they were awful and I'm not even really sure what I loved about them tbh they kind of sucked.) They are one of those ships you can believe in, where you know they are going to work out no matter what and you want them to. The way they are together--they make my heart happy.

Zemheri

This show I actually started to watch back in September of last year, when I had just started watching Turkish dizis. Back then I was entirely on my own and I got about 40 min in and then freaked out. I read some reviews, freaked out some more and bailed. But I'm a dizi pro now, and with this being a combined Alperen AND Ayça dizi I basically couldn't resist. It helped that it was only 10 episodes and that meant it couldn't get too crazy. Both Alperen and Ayça were amazing, of course, and they are just so damn beautiful together. Their chemistry was electric and since they spent about 90% of this dizi crying at each other (and let me tell you that these two may be the best dizi criers I've seen) it was incredibly well done. They are so pretty when they cry. There is one story line which didn't make a whole ton of sense and kind of pissed me off, but honestly it gets so little screen time as to render it easy to dismiss or headcanon. (Hint: It should have been a hysterical pregnancy). But the acting was great, the ending was intensely satisfying, and honestly if you want to watch Alperen with curls and turtlenecks and peacoats (his curls, btw, may or may not have caused a few minor breakdownsif they give Akgun curls I won't make it) cry at Ayça beautifully while she cries beautifully back for 20 hours or so, then I highly recommend.

Çarpişma

Okay, so I've watched several mafia/crime dizis. They're probably my favorite kind tbh. Usually they feature super smart main characters who are always a step ahead (you think they are in trouble but they always had a plan) and a bad guy with infuriating but understandable motives who usually lives too long, and at least one minor henchman guy who gets what he deserves. And usually our mains live happily ever after. Usually.

This show was not that. I should preface this by saying that my brand of humor is what you might call "dark"--I laughed more at the Americans than I ever have a comedy, lets put it that way. Anyway, this show featured 4 of the stupidest people ever to exist in a tv show, and I do mean that, and was also technically I guess kind of horrible what with the death and killing but tbh I laughed a lot. Now, I should say that the cast was excellent, and the acting was excellent and I loved every single one of those stupid idiots. But they were, in fact, extraordinarily stupid. These people got kidnapped like, and I'm not joking, at least once an episode. Sometimes twice. There actually came a point where they were getting kidnapped from their kidnappers by other kidnappers. And then literally every episode they'd get saved (and by they I mean the women, the two dudes never got kidnapped really) and then literally like, go right back to life as normal. Neither dude ever made sure their respective girlfriend got back in the house at night, neither girl ever believed in calling their respective boyfriend to, idk, buddy walk anywhere, they never checked before opening doors, they drove away without looking, got in cars without looking. It may sound like I'm exaggerating but I swear I'm not. And mind you, this dizi started with the main characters family getting blown up, and the other one being kidnapped and forced to shoot her husband in the face to save her kidnapped daughter. Spoilers I guess. So you'd think they'd be a little cautious but nope. Not even a little. Just out there, living their lives. The main villain of the first half of the dizi actually got redeemed and tbh by the final episode I was rooting for him to live his best life an co-parent with Kadir. At least he had a reasonable motivation, and he also did try and make up for the atrocities he committed. And really, what's a little murder now and again. The other bad guy's motivation was, and I swear this is true, "my son hates me for blowing up his family bc I didn't know it was his family, so bc he hates me I'm going to kill the rest of his family." That was literally it. The thing is, while the constant dying and torture would make you say "Djem, wtf is wrong with you, how did you get glee out of this show?" let me tell you that by the 945th kidnapping, you too will be like "can't even feel sorry for you really" and the just settle into this state of low level amusement and glee. Like, literally 90% of these kidnappings and deaths could have been prevented by like, idk, actually having police protection, or staying inside the house, or not opening the door for strangers, or watching to make sure the love of your life got inside safely, or not walking alone at night, or not GOING TO THE PARK TWO DAYS AFTER YOUR BESTIE WAS KIDNAPPED AND HAD A BOMB STRAPPED TO HER. So like, I mean, not to victim blame. But. Let's say by the end, while I loved the fuck outta the mains, I honestly was more emotional over Veli. Bc they were just so fucking stupid. Like, kidnapped, from a kidnapper. You really can't make it up. They make Akgun and Soner look like geniuses. And that's saying something. Anyway it was great and if you ff through most of the boring shit, I highly recommend. The acting is superb, the foursome is hilarious, and tbh Veli is a great villain that I loved. It was the stupidest dizi I've seen (that's a lie I watched parts of two Ayşe dizis) but tbh it was enjoyable as hell, so that's saying something I guess.

And that is BITTI for the Alperen dizis. For now. Son Yaz will be back soon and I can't wait!

Next up is Kuzey Guney, bc I made promises.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

#djem watches dizis #dizis #son yaz #zemheri #Çarpişma

[theyarebothgunshot]

(1) anon again! thanks a lot for your answer. :) multi-ask incoming! i suppose i took his tone of 'and there are people who think this is real' as a pretty forward implication of it... well, not being real. this, and the explanation of the clothes. (if you find the receipts, i'd love to see them! it's very cute either way.) i suppose you are entirely right about the fact that they have pointedly never denied this outright, but i also feel like that's some classic trolling by misha? (...)

this got kind of long so i am putting the rest of your asks and my answers under the cut! 

(2) like sooo many people i see in this fandom, i have never shipped rpf - and honestly, with cockles, still don't? i just watch some of their interactions and my brain goes ding-ding-ding-ding and i go - what? what is it??? and i can't figure out if i am projecting or seeing things i WANT to see. equally... they are real people and i don't want to be a creep about this. my problem with a lot that i've seen is that some gifs take interactions out of context (...)

(3) i would say probably the biggest problem i have with it is that while some things i genuinely cannot find a het/platonic explanation for, but there are a lot of gifs which have slowed down movements/cherry-picked moments/taken things out of contexts, and feels less flirty when you watch the actual full video(s). so what, out of all this, would you say is the most damning evidence that cockles is an Actual True thing, if you had to pick some select things? :)

(4) okay, last ask! sorry for rambling. on your point of waking up together - i'm not sure of the context, and i don't want to speculate too much on information that we don't have, but if they are staying at a hotel in a city abroad/elsewhere, i figure it wouldn't be too far-fetched for them to share a room with cast mates? so waking up together doesn't necessarily have Those implications? i don't know. thanks for bearing with me!

so first things first: i kind of feel like in the end, if you have seen and read everything there is to see and read when it comes to cockles, and still are not sure about any of it or are inclined to think that it’s not something more than a close friendship, then i’m probably not going to be able to ‘sway’ you. sometimes it is just a matter of difference of perspectives, and that’s fine! however, seeing as you asked this in a way that makes it clear that you are genuinely curious, i obviously will respond. 

you are right that what misha said could be implying that it’s not real, but then again: he never outright denied it. neither of them have. i think that a lot of the time misha is very tongue in cheek about it. that doesn’t mean that it’s not real, though. 

i understand never shipping real people, and not wanting to feel like a creep. the thing is though: this goes for about 90% of the cockles fandom, too. most of us never shipped irl people before, and we certainly don’t wanna be creeps about it. being creeps about it would be going up to jensen and misha or their loved ones and confronting them with anything cockles related. but the decent people in this corner of the fandom know not to do that, and we merely talk about it with each other online. i personally don’t feel like a creep (not saying that you are implying this btw!) for observing what they put in front of us, time and time again, which they do with the full knowledge that people do in fact ship them.

i see what you mean about some things getting taken out of context, and i’ve seen that too. i agree with you that sometimes people can read into things a bit too much. as to the slowed down gifs, for me personally the faster versions don’t take away what i see in those gifs: it’s intimate body language, whatever way i look at it. 

you asked me to pick some moments or facts that make me think that they are actually together, and honestly that is very hard to do. for me, what it comes down to is that, if you take any of these things as a standalone fact, you might be able to explain it away. but when you combine all of it together - and trust me, it’s a lot. just ask my best friend who has had to listen to me talk about them for two full nights - i can’t see the picture that it paints as anything other than: they have (or at the very least have had in the past) an intimate relationship with each other. 

that being said, these are the things that stand out the most for me: 

the way they look at each other, but especially the way jensen looks at misha at any given time. that is the look of a man who adores the person he is looking at. the way that nobody else can make him laugh like misha, for the stupidest fucking shit. when they think about each other/talk about each other, they get this soft look on their faces that honestly is nothing like how i talk about any of my close friends. i once saw a comparison vid of jensen talking about danneel and jensen talking about misha and he had the same look on his face. the fact that jensen flirted with danneel by making her laugh on set, making kissy faces, which is something that he also did with misha. the fact that jensen gave him his ring. i literally for the life of me cannot think of a platonic reasoning for this. 

the fact that they remembered and went back to a restaurant they were at 10 years ago, sat at the exact same table, and took selfies both of those times, and then posted it at a random date as a throwback to ‘10 years ago’ even though at the moment the first picture was taken, they had already known each other for a year and a half. so clearly, that night was special for them. special enough to remember the exact same table, special enough that they felt the need to go back there, and to share it with us. the background of those pictures is the same background as the picture jensen posted of him and danneel on their first holiday together. clearly both of those occasions were very important to him. important enough to post about. 

something that i know might seem kinda shady and not totally trustworthy, is the fact that i’ve seen multiple people mention that they have information that they would never share online (because they don’t want to put jensen and misha in a compromising position) but the information in question confirmed it for them. obviously people could be lying or could be jumping to conclusions, without said information we can never know for sure, but i can’t help but feel like there probably is a truth to it. 

and i know this is a very recent one, but: ‘mish. dee.’ the two most important people in his life, who i am sure he would have addressed as mish & dee if he could have. obviously i could mention a lot more things, but i think these are some of the things that stand out to me the most. 

as for the hotel situation at cons: i honestly have no clue, but i kind of feel like they are big enough stars to have their own hotel rooms. but like i said, i do not know at all. i guess it’s possible that they have to share. who knows! 

sorry this got so long lmao but i hope that it made some sense. i don’t have any receipts unfortunately because i kept deleting things i already shared with my best friend in order not to get confused sjdfhs but you’ll have to believe me that i found all of this information on tumblr. anyways feel free to drop by any time! 

#cockles #cockles meta #Anonymous

[obsessivelollipoplalala]

To be fair, there are allegations that John called Robbie Williams “rubbish” and said he “ruined Freddie’s song” when he recorded “We Will Rock You “ for a Knight’s Tale” and both Phoebe and Ratty said John didn’t want to go on with Freddie and took his death very badly. Roger also said John was “traumatized”. Also Brian and John fought intensely while mixing Made in Heaven and the rumors are they never reconciled. So these views people have of John didn’t come out of thin air, ofc I don’t know

how fair these views are

——————-

I don’t think any of this, even if true, supports a view that John is the only “honorable” one who took Freddie’s death the hardest and retired solely out of respect for him. Let’s unpack this. First: I heard about the WWRY thing before but a) he could’ve just disliked that specific cover and b) it’s Brian’s song, anyway lol.

Second: John so was not the only one traumatized by Freddie’s death. I don’t doubt the severity of his grief but I kind of can’t stand people acting like his grief must be the worst because of a couple quotes and his retirement. I’m not saying you’re doing this, but others online certainly do. Grief isn’t a competition, but also, Brian is literally right there lol. Roger is much more private about it, which is absolutely fine, but Brian has been mourning on main for 30 years, which is why I don’t think people’s assertion that John respects and misses Freddie the Most is valid. It takes only a little bit of digging to see how shockingly vulnerable Brian has been about his grief, but a lot of Queen fans just act like none of that exists and grasp onto a few quotes about John. It’s like a weird double standard.

Third: this relates to the grief topic. I don’t know how true it is that Brian and John fought intensely during MIH, but we know for sure that Brian was struggling a lot during that time. He talked about having to go take walks during studio time because he couldn’t bear hearing Freddie’s voice coming out of the speakers. He also didn’t want Roger or John to touch “Mother Love”, the last song he ever worked on with Freddie. I bring this up because if they did argue, it was probably partly influenced by the fact that they were not okay, but I’m certain some people will see it as “evidence” Brian is just an asshole and uwu poor John. Brian also speaks very highly of John, publicly wishes him happy birthday every year, hints regret at the situation, and still has his Deacy amp, so I have no idea how true it is that they never made up. I don’t think Brian has held any grudge, but if John has, we’ll never know.

I’m directing all of this at the general fandom attitude towards John, btw, not you lol. I’m just explaining why I think people are still full of nonsense for their projections onto post-90s John, who’s basically a blank slate, even if everything stated above is true.

#Queen #replies #Anonymous

[hollowisthyname]

🖊 Rhys!

Rhys!! Rhys my beloved!!!!! definitely one of my favorites (yes I will say this abt all of them, yes it is always true), I have the clearest like.... picture of them in my mind I guess? though I'm thinking of making all of them look less human and that'd def change their design some so. ANYWAY LET'S GO

[infodump under the cut]

so! Rhys Myers, some sort of water spirit and best friend/protector of Cory!! it's kinda hard to know where to start with them.... I have so much and yet so little. but when all else fails, physical descriptions are a good starting point :D

Rhys is fairly tall (currently I have them at 5'8 but I think they're gonna end up taller), and very, very, blue. bc water spirit. basically; their skin is light blue, their eyes are dark/navy blue, and their hair is like medium blue? but it's shimmery and has a lot of different shades of blue in it (I'll find the actual colors for all of these later, idk how to do it on a phone). their hair is basically a waterfall. it's long, nearly down to their feet,and while I haven't yet decided whether it's a real (magical) waterfall or an illusion of one, that's certainly what it looks like. they wear light-colored ripped jeans and a black shirt that's kinda like a tank top but no sleeves and made out of a cooler material? not sure what it's called. they don't wear shoes, and don't particularly like clothes in general.

Rhys themself is.... an interesting character, I think. they're very sarcastic and witty, and they get defensive p easily, but they also make a point not to show any real emotion to people they don't know well. the way they act isn't reserved exactly, but they're closed off. in general they're very playful, and while some of their pranks can be kind of mean they don't hurt people who they don't think deserve it. but they have a very strong sense of right and wrong which can lead them to do some bad things to people they're angry at. (it's kinda hard for me to describe their personality, I have a very vivid picture in my mind but I can never find the words :( hopefully this made sense!!)

their backstory- which still isn't fully worked out yet btw, some of it doesn't make total sense so I'm probably going to change a lot of it later- is basically that their parents were..... neglectful? and they were given a lot more responsibility than they could really handle since they were little. namely, being the primary caretaker of six or so little siblings for most of their life (not all six since the whole time, they were born a year or two ahead of some and then they also have half-siblings they take care of that came along later) they met Cory when they were eight and he was six when his parents hired them as his babysitter (their parents made them apply for the position for the money, they're tall and they lied about their age plus they acted v mature for their age so it was convincing. also Cory's parents didn't really care) the two of them didn't really get along at first. Cory was wary of anyone who his parents had chosen to take care of him so while he was sweet as usual he was also pretty distant and didn't trust Rhys much. Rhys was just pissed to have to take care of another child, and maybe a little bit jealous of Cory (bc the way his family was they were like the "perfect family" on the outside but when you look into it more it falls apart y'know). but they got to like each other from like interacting a bunch and realizing they're not bad people and also probably some more specific stuff I have to come up with. the two of them run away together after a few years (why are all my characters exiles/runaways. why is this a thing I do) and meet up with everyone else over a period of a couple years maybe? I really don't know how that's gonna happen but I'm trying not to rush it asdfgfds

various other facts about Rhys: they're nonverbal (and also deaf maybe haven't decided), and talk w sign language they're aro/ace!! I associate the song Can't Sleep Love with them a lot as like their thought process before they knew abt queer stuff and were confused as to why they weren't attracted to anyone. I have like a whole animatic planned out in my head but I'll prolly never make it bc I can't animate :( they'd admit this over their dead body but they cry a lot at movies and shows and stuff. if someone finds out they claim it's bc water and stuff but really they just have a lot of emotions (/lh, I am exactly the same way) strong sense of right and wrong =/= refusal to do like. illegal shit. they have and will break many laws and hurt people who r assholes to them or their friends. their moral compass is not at all in line with the law and I love that about them

I'm sure I have more stuff abt them somewhere but I can't think of it off the top of my head and also this is really long now so I'm gonna stop here!! sry this took so long I've been working on it for nearly a week and I just did like 90% of it within the last few hours?? I do not know how to write things hope you like this and it makes sense and stuff!!!! I love this character sm ashgfd

#ranger rambles #icarus infodumps #oc infodumps #i *will* have a personal tag for every one of my names #/hj #ranger is stolen directly from yttd 😌 #also im gonna keep answering ur asks i promise!! #just takes me a while #bc my motivation is shit #but i love talking abt them :D