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#but like i feel like the way people who dislike her view her sometimes is so weird
princeblue · 6 days
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Sometimes I think about how the fandom has this perception of Giyuu as someone who is mercilessly bullied by the Hashira and can’t defend himself when that is literally not true, like. Giyuu continuously digs a hole for himself when he is around them, he uses these words like “im not like you guys” after he decides he’s going to walk out of the Hashira meeting because he thinks he can’t unlock the demon slayer mark.
And who wouldn’t look at Giyuu, a stoic man who hardly interacts with the other Hashira and uses words in a monotone voice saying he’s different from everyone else and not think “this guy thinks he’s above us” which is literally what Sanemi thinks when he sees Giyuu and Giyuu’s behavior.
Sanemi grew up a poor child in a poor town with people who did look down on him for his very existence, why would he not challenge and provoke someone who, in sanemi’s eyes, is saying he’s better/different than everyone else without no real proof?
And again, Giyuu is given two opportunities to explain himself, to actually say what he thinks about himself and his status of a Hashira. But he does not, and when he’s given the second opportunity (sanemi asking him “what do you mean by that”) he instead brushes off his fellow Hashira and continues to walk away, once again affirming this ideal of a person who thinks himself higher above the others.
At most the majority of the Hashira think of Giyuu with either curiosity or nothing at all, Sanemi and Obanai are the only ones who really don’t like him and voice their opinions on him which is always with contempt and Shinobu is the only one who is generally kind to him because she wants to be, and even then she has her moments of frustration and cruelty (“nobody likes you” in the mountains) which is what I assume is from how Giyuu holds himself and possibly her having the same ideal as Sanemi/Obanai but because of the persona she’s garnered for herself she’s not outright cruel and merely more passive aggressive but again, also curious. Which is where their friendship is sparked.
And this isn’t to say that Giyuu should spill his hearts and guts out to the Hashira, he doesn’t have to if he doesn’t want to. Depression affects people in many ways and there’s no denying he’s someone with an extreme amount of self hatred and depression, but he’s also a Hashira who held his own against an Akaza who was legitimately trying to harm him and unlocked his demon slayer mark, he is capable of defending himself, he is capable of saying “shut the fuck up.” When someone says something about him that is meant to harm his feelings, he’s not some uwu precious bean and if Giyuu had expanded what he meant, “im not like you guys, im weaker.” The Hashira; specifically Obanai and Sanemi, would have regarded him differently and might not have been as cruel.
All in all, it’s very justifiable that Obanai and Sanemi held contempt for him, again Giyuu only continued to make himself look worse in their eyes, but he’s not mercilessly bullied by everyone he comes into contact with, because while we’re at it he’s also a snarky asshole (“why don’t you go train more” when he ties up Inosuke, calling sanemi a simpleton when he says he can’t wait to unlock the demon slayer mark, calling Tanjirou weak/stupid when he’s a traumatized child who just saw his entire family dead and now this strange man is trying to kill his sister)
And it really really fucking bothers me when people hate on Sanemi and Obanai for this, Obanai is a little bit more harder to dive into for me personally, but I feel like his dislike is garnered by being a supposed special person above others and it only brought him pain and death. To him there’s nothing special about being special so why would he like someone who “claims” they are?
Again this isn’t to say that Giyuu owes everyone an explanation, but he’s not owed any kindness or comradeship when he appears as someone who is indifferent or views themselves as simply being higher than others.
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danmeiconfession · 2 months
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No. I think Shen Yuan never really see these people as people even at the ends of the book. My dude really condemned Shen Jiu a modern man really gave no shit or felt any sorrow towards his enslavement and abuse. I read a fully grown man with modern sensibilities and values watch a child being horrifically abused. A child that was ENSLAVED, restrained, beaten, TORTURED by another man, an OWNER. And I read SY's thoughts on the matter. Read him condemning the child and feeling no horror or disgust at the act of child abuse. He felt nothing regarding the immorality and cruelty of slavery. Hell, When ZZL murdered GYX who was only ever just, kind, and helpful in all his interactions and to SY himself, I was upset SY seemed to feel nothing and felt no censure towards ZZL or sadness or guilt towards GYX who was trying to save him. But I excused it as him having other things to do because maybe for SY, it's easier for him to just push aside feelings over someone's death to focus on other things (though I was unnerved that he never seemed to think of it again or care).
SY intentionally condoned the murder of dozens of individuals to save his own skin, and never wrestled with his conscience over it. While SJ's self-hatred is detrimental to himself and those around him, at least he struggles emotionally and morally with his decisions. He still does them, but at least he doesn't excuse them or not even feel guilt or shame. SY however is completely shameless in doing whatever it takes to live. I honestly find characters like this interesting, but I found SY's character to be lacking because the author wanted him to be a self-centered survivalist while also a sweet, holy mother/mentor figure to LBH. That's a BL trope I usually find tedious and boring, especially because authors never have said overly kind, overly forgiving characters be kind to anyone accept a handful of characters who are plot relevant (sometimes even only the ML or villain) while they treat every other character as air or cardboard.
I was so convinced of SY's point of view on the original characters and novel, that I kept making excuses as SVSS unfolded. When he recounted the scheming and murdering of Sha Hauling in PIDW while fanboying over how excited he was to see her, I excused it as him not realizing the gravity of her crimes when they're committed against living people. And once he decided she wasn't that great and LBH deserved better, I was assured, even though he seemed to only do so because she was rude to himself. When he celebrated O!LBH's torture and mutilation of SJ for bullying him in his teen years and even called for SJ's castration, I excused it because who doesn't want to see an evil pedophile get what they deserve, and fans can get overly enthusiastic sometimes, even if calling for slow, multi-year mutilation and torture is a bit extreme even if LBH is your favorite characte
It seems a lot SJ haters like to excuse LBH's behavior the way they claim SJ fans excuse SJ's. LBH was the poor kid and bullied by kids in the neighborhood, then singled out and bullied at his school, before being treated to the abyss where he utilized the training he received at CQ and his innate demon heritage to establish himself. In PIDW, he proceeds to commit large scale mass murder, borderline genocide, destroy the human realms sects and defenses against spiritual and demonic threats, all why gruesomely maiming, torturing, dismembering, disemboweling, and feeding alive anyone he disliked. Uhhhh... disproportionate, much. Bitch slap and shame people if you want, but O!LBH is a monstrous, self-centered, sadistic freak show. He goes far beyond a victim of abuse reacting with anger and defensiveness. He controls the lives and wellbeing of all the people in the realms, and repeatedly makes time to find enjoyment in the torture, pain, and suffering of others on a scale he had never experienced himself. Meanwhile, SVSS!LBH still decided to start widespread violent capture of cultivators to date Xin Mo while SY was out of the picture only sparing CQ because he knew once SY was brought back, SY would be upset with him if he did. He shows no care for anyone else, human or demon, in the world of SVSS besides SY. His only regards for others are as useful allies and subordinates, enemies, and people he knows SY would lightly scold and admonish him for killing. LBH is fucked up in every universe, whether he gets bullied at school, or his teacher turns him into a live in homemaker.
At best, I could excuse this as SY not seeing other people as actual people. Maybe because he read about them as fictional characters first, he can't fully perceive them as humans, just characters, not as real people like him and SQH. Maybe he made an exception for LBH because LBH is his favorite character. But that care and regard clearly don't extend to anyone else.
I have no idea where people get the idea he sees them as real he doesn't. I couldn't care about a protagonist who didn't react with shock or horror or even just resigned sadness to child slavery. I couldn't give a shit about his romance anymore. I stopped reading. To be clear, I don't hate SY, or even his type of character. I'm just disappointed because I went into SVSS thinking I'd be getting a cute, sweet, slightly stupid, modern nerd flailing though a comedic romance full of ridiculous misunderstandings and pitfalls. It turned out, I got a self-centered, apathetic fanboy simultaneously stalking while trying to avoid and stay on the good side of his mentally unstable, over powered idol. Which I've actually read before too, but at least the author wasn't forcing every other character to remark on how sweet, kind, and good the fanboy who cared about nothing but his favorite character was.
Clearly, his anti-abuse philosophy only extended to LBH and no other child. He felt nothing regarding the immorality and cruelty of slavery." The hypocrisy displayed by SY is astonishing. It's fascinating how SY condemns child abuse, expressing concern for Binghe's mistreatment, yet dismisses Binghe's daily killings over five years to control Xin Mo as a consequence of past abuse. There's an apparent double standard. Moreover, in the same breath, witnessing SJ's appalling abuse, SY downplays its impact, suggesting that SJ's mistreatment doesn't excuse his transformation into a reprehensible individual. SY seems to overlook the scumbag-like behavior, focusing instead on SJ's skills, status, beauty, hard work, and wealth.
Why do people like this character lol?
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Why I Dislike Rhysand, Part 1: Not a Martyr Like You Think
So. . this rant has been a long time coming. I finally came to the conclusion that it would be too much to include all in one post. There are so many different things I feel the need to touch on and include that I decided I’m going to be breaking it up. Enjoy Part 1. 
I also feel the need to start off by saying that I’ve been an SJM reader for nearly ten years now. I remember when ACOTAR first came out. I remember reading ACOMAF upon its release and nearly being blown over by my intense disgust and dislike for how a story was handled. ACOMAF was released in 2016, so I’ve been holding on to a lot of this for the better part of seven years. I don’t know how many of you were a part of the ACOTAR or SJM community here on Tumblr back in those days but let me tell you. . .it was something else. The fevered Rhysand obsession and worship was WILD. The fans were CUT THROAT and had no mercy. If you even HINTED at the fact that you felt like Rhys was not All That, they came for you and they came hard. I have never been one to engage in ridiculous arguments with strangers on the internet so I kept most of my feelings to myself. It’s giving me immense satisfaction and validation to see so many people begin to express things that are so like minded with how I feel. Keep fighting the good fight!
SO! We’re going to dive deep with this and go back to before the series chronologically even started. 
A huge part of why I so strongly dislike Rhysand is that I find it very hard to sympathize with him regarding his time UTM. 
Yes, you read that correctly.
Now, I realize that that sentence alone is enough to cause a lot of people to click away from this in disgust immediately. I challenge those people to keep reading and to hear me out. I try and make it a point to back everything I have to say with canon facts and logical sense. One of the fatal (or perhaps not so fatal) flaws I have as a reader is that 99% of the time, I am not able to just let things go and absorb them at face value for the sake of an entertaining story. You can sell me just about anything and I’ll be able to find some enjoyment in it. . .if it makes sense. If something exists in a scenario that is contradictory or just plain illogical, I tend to fixate on it and not be able to let it go (I call this the Ravenclaw in me). Sometimes I almost resent that I’m like this because I feel like it prevents me from just having a good time with literature, but for better or worse, this is the kind of reader I am. 
Unfortunately, the ACOTAR series, specifically many things that have to do with Rhys and the Inner Circle, are riddled with things like this. Now, it’s no secret to any SJM reader that Sarah J Maas is OBSESSED with Rhys and the Inner Circle. Like. . .OBSESSED. I’ve truly never seen anything like it from an author. She so plainly and clearly holds these characters on pedestals and believes them to be the best of the best. She also so plainly and clearly works very hard to try and get the readers to feel the same way. This is why I say that SJM is one of the most confusing and frustrating authors I’ve ever read about. She clearly feels this way and wants US to feel this way. So you’d think, if that was her end goal, that she would simply just write characters who really ARE the best of the best and deserve to be on pedestals. Easy, right? She has total control over the actions, thoughts, and words of these characters, every other character, the plot, the narrative, the direction of the entire story. So just. . .write them as being perfect saintly beings, as you so clearly view them as?? You have the power to do this?
But here’s where the confusing and frustrating part comes in: She doesn’t.
Instead of giving us these characters who truly ARE as virtuous and amazing and wonderful as she thinks they are, she instead gives us characters who do horrific, selfish, and highly questionable things across the span of the series and then gaslights her readers by continuing to hold these characters on pedestals and laud them as being The Best In Every Way. . .while their atrocious deeds are sitting RIGHT THERE on the page being completely ignored in every way. It’s one of the most unaware and bizarre things I’ve ever witnessed from an author and honestly, from a group of readers. The amount of people who just blindly accept anything SJM says as Gospel is wild to me. I really don’t understand how people just swallow this stuff and can’t see it for what it is. Open your mind to just an ounce of critical thinking and I really do believe you’ll begin to see things in a new way. 
So. . .my point in all that being: SJM clearly wanted us to have a ton of sympathy for Rhys from his ordeal with Amarantha and his time UTM. The scene is set perfectly! Valiant and selfless Rhysand volunteers himself to play Amarantha’s whore in order to keep her attention from the city and the people Rhys loves so much. He lives for 50 years having to “service” a psychotic evil woman who actively tries to bring destruction to his entire country. Horrible, right??? Unthinkable. What he went through!!! What he had to do!!! No one has a selfless heart like he does!!!!
The only problem is. . .this entire scenario has a million holes in it. Let’s explore some of them. 
So, when Amarantha returns to Prythian, Rhys heads to her little party without any backup from the IC. He plans to kill Amarantha himself but of course, she tricks all the High Lords and captures their power before this can happen. 
Sidenote: This is another thing I can’t stand about Rhysand’s power: We are told over and over and over that he is THE MOST powerful High Lord not just of the seven current High Lords, but in all of Prythian’s HISTORY. In the High Lord’s meeting during ACOWAR (top contender for my least favorite scene of the entire series), Feyre says: 
The others, who had been watching with disdain and amusement and boredom, now turned to my mate. Now possessed a shadow of fear in their eyes as they realized who and what, exactly, sat amongst them. 
Brethren, and yet not. Tamlin was a High Lord, as powerful as any of them.
Except for the ones at my side. Rhys was as different from them as humans were to Fae. 
Okay, first of all:
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Second of all. . .once again, we are faced with SJM’s convenient Whatever-I-Need-To-Happen-Will-Happen story telling. She claims that Rhys is as different from all the other High Lords as humans are to fae. And despite this, he still gets tricked and overtaken by Amarantha, the exact same as all the rest of them. His powers were ripped away by that spell just the same as all the others. Being the so-called “Most Powerful High Lord in Prythian’s History” didn’t mean anything in that situation. He’s the mOSt POwerfUL HiGH LOrd iN HiSTORy, but was able to be totally overtaken by Amarantha just like everyone else. Looks like that title really should have gone to HER!
Anyway. . .as Rhys feels his powers being ripped away, we are told that in desperation, he “threw the shield around Velaris”, binding it to my friends so that they had to remain or risk that protection collapsing and used the last dregs to tell them mind to mind what was happening and to stay away”. 
What a noble sacrifice right??
INCONSISTENCY ALERT: There were ALREADY spells and protections hiding Velaris and there had been for years!!!!!! 
The first time I read Rhys’s explanation of this, I was super confused. SJM tells it like he was the one who created Velaris’s shield and protection right there in this moment. That this act was the only thing that kept it hidden and safe from Amarantha. But like. . .this is not the case!!!! 
Don’t believe me??
“Did you even think for one moment,” I said, my voice like gravel, “to extend that luck to anywhere else? Anyone else?”
“Other cities,” he said calmly, “are known to the world. Velaris has remained secret beyond the borders of these lands for millenia. Amarantha did not touch it because she did not know it existed. None of her beasts did. No one in the other courts knows of its existence, either.”
“How?”
“Spells and wards and my ruthless, ruthless ancestors, who were willing to do anything to preserve a piece of goodness in our wretched world.”
(ACOMAF, page 144)
The Velaris Wiki page states:
To preserve it, an ancient High Lord kept Velaris a secret, and so did his descendants. There are many spells on the city itself—laid by him, and his heirs, that make those who trade here unable to say anything about the city and possess the skill to convincingly lie in order to keep the origin of their goods and ships, hidden from the rest of the world. Rumor has it that an ancient High Lord doused his blood upon the stones and river to keep that spell eternal. 
And then in ACOMAF, we get:
“I used the remainder of my power to shield them all from sight and sound. I had only enough for one city--one place. I chose the one that had been hidden from history already. I chose, and now must live with the consequences of knowing there were more left outside who suffered. But for those here. . .anyone flying or traveling near Velaris would see nothing but barren rock, and if they tried to walk through it, they’d find themselves suddenly deciding otherwise. And because my powers were focused on shielding them all, Feyre, I had very little to use against Amarantha.”
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So, which is it?? Did your ancestors shield and protect Velaris or did you?? 
Do you see the contradictory writing here? 
Again, in ACOMAF:
“You are safe here, and safe anywhere in this city, for that matter. Velaris’s walls are well protected and have not been breached in 5,000 years.”
According to what Sarah J Maas herself has written, the city of Velaris already had extensive wards and protection on it for millennia. The city had been a safe haven from the rest of the world and a complete secret for 5,000 years. So I was very confused as to why it was being made out to be that Rhys made this Grand Ultimate Sacrifice to shield the city and its inhabitants from Amarantha, when this was already the case before this. She wouldn't have touched it because she didn’t know about it. . .words from Rhys’s own mouth!!!! 
I’m sure in Sarah’s mind, she just needed to make a way for the IC to not come after Rhys and try and help him, so this is what she came up with. Regardless. . .Velaris already had protection on it that did not rely on Cassian, Azriel, Mor, and Amren. You’re saying that with the last shreds of his power, Rhysand undid centuries old ancient blood protection of his ancestors, created an entirely NEW foolproof protection plan, and bound it to the Inner Circle?? 
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I’d also like to point out that Kallias, High Lord of Winter, did essentially the same thing with Viviane and the Winter Court. 
And in those last moments, when his power was ripped from him by that spell. . .Kallias had flung out the remnants to warn her. To tell Viviane he loved her. And then he begged her to protect their people.
So she had. 
As Mor and my friends had protected Velaris, Viviane had veiled and guarded the small city under her watch, offering safe harbor to those who made it. 
(ACOWAR, pages 410-411)
These situations are exact parallels of each other. Kallias and Rhysand couldn’t protect their entire courts, but they were able to throw shields and protections around the one city where their loved ones were. The Winter Court was ravaged by Amarantha’s troops, we know this from the story. But evidently, this one city where Viviane was remained protected. And in this situation, I have infinitely more respect for Kallias than I do for Rhysand.
Rhysand claimed he became Amarantha’s whore in order to keep enemies from looking too closely at who he really was and who he loved. He serviced her in bed and committed atrocious deeds in her name for 50 years. All this, he claimed, to protect Velaris and his loved ones. 
So please explain to me how Kallias was able to do the same thing. . .WITHOUT doing Amarantha’s dirty work. 
As I said, I know fully well that the Winter Court in general was not spared by Amarantha. We all read about the children who had their minds wiped (conveniently by some OTHER daemati who we never learn about or hear about ever again). It sounds like Amarantha tried her hardest to destroy the Court in general. But remember. . .the Night Court is not exclusively Velaris. If you look at the map of Prythian, the Night Court is huge! It’s the largest of all the Courts. We have no idea what happened to the rest of the Night Court that was outside of Velaris’s protection. Since it’s such a big deal that Velaris is such a whole, untouched city, I’m willing to go out on a limb and say that it probably wasn’t spared any more than the rest of Prythian was. So it stands to reason that both the Night Court and the Winter Court had one city that remained protected while the rest of their Court was destroyed.
Even further than that. . .it is specifically stated that Viviane offered shelter and protection to anyone who made it to that protected city where she was. Kallias begged her to protect their people and she did. It was a city of safe haven for any refugees who could make it there. (Viviane was Prythian’s first High Lady and that’s the tea). 
Rhysand KNEW what was happening all throughout Prythian during this time. . .he helped partake in it!!! Did he think to offer the same protection for innocent refugees in Velaris during this time??
We all know the answer.
I’m not saying that Rhys was obligated to do this. In a horrible situation like that, I’m sure many people would enter survival mode and adapt an “every man for himself” mindset. It’s an extremely Slytherin move to make, and I don’t really mean that in a bad way. But at the end of the day, Rhysand prioritized his friend group over every innocent citizen of Prythian. 
Kallias and Viviane didn’t do that. 
Again, I don’t entirely blame Rhysand for this!! I think a lot of people would have made the same decision!! But just. . .don’t ask me to act like Rhys’s decision was some grand ultimate sacrifice that was more than any other High Lord made. It’s not. SJM, if you want Rhys to be my fave, why are you putting characters in here like K and V who do the more noble and honorable thing?? 
Kallias didn’t have mind powers where he was able to erase the knowledge of Viviane from every one UTM who knew about her as Rhys did with the Inner Circle. There weren’t already extensive, centuries-old shields and protection guarding the city that she was in. And despite this, he STILL asked her to protect their people, and she kept the city open for refugees who could make it there. AND he remained true to his cause and didn’t do Amarantha’s dirty work for her to “keep people from looking too closely”. 
And yet Feyre and everyone else tell us constantly that “no one sacrificed as much” as Rhys. Yeah, no. My respect for Kallias and Viviane is 10000000x greater than Rhysand. Sorry, not sorry. 
And this leads me to my next point. 
One of the biggest issues I have with Rhys’s time UTM in general, is that his actions are treated by the narrative and the other characters as the MOST sacrificial out of all the High Lords. 
As I’ve expressed above, I do not buy this for one second. And I actually find it pretty insulting on behalf of all the other High Lords!!
Rhysand’s choices and actions were entirely self-serving. He did nothing to fight against Amarantha or protect citizens of Prythian in general. It was entirely about his city and his friends. Again, I’m not saying I condemn him for this! It was a horrible situation and this was what he chose to do. People do crazy things for the people they love. But that’s my point. . .it was a CHOICE. He CHOSE to “service” Amarantha. He CHOSE to do her dirty work and commit atrocious deeds in her name. And every choice he made protected no one but the people who were important to HIM. So I’m just not really sure how/why I’m expected to feel the greatest amount of sympathy for HIM, over the other High Lords, many of whom stayed in open rebellion and never aided Amarantha. How easy would it have been for any of the other High Lords to attempt the same thing he did, and pretend to sympathize with Amarantha? Maybe not “servicing” her as Rhys did, but pretending to deflect to her side, doing dirty work for her, in order to attempt to spare their Courts and THEIR loved ones??? Did anyone else do this??? NO.
Rhys says he bows for no one but that isn’t true. He bowed for Amarantha. The other High Lords did not. 
The High Lords of Summer, Day, and Winter lost their lives by refusing to submit to Amarantha. (ACOTAR, page 284). 
And I’m supposed to have the greatest amount of sympathy for Rhysand??
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People talk about how horrible it was for Rhys during those 50 years Under the Mountain. I’m not here to say his life was pleasant. But what I AM here to say is that in comparison to what the other High Lords’ lives were like. . .I find it hard to have MORE sympathy for him than the others. 
“If that was what she wanted, then that was what she would get. I made her beg, and scream, and used my lingering powers to make it so good for her that she wanted more. Craved more.”
“For fifty years--whenever I was inside her, I’d think about killing her. She had no idea. None. Because I was so good at my job that she thought I enjoyed it too. So she began to trust me--more than the others. Especially when I proved what I could do to her enemies.”
Rhys is “so good at his job” of killing Amarantha’s enemies (and one assumes that Amarantha’s enemies are, you know, PEOPLE FIGHTING FOR PRYTHIAN AND AGAINST HER OPPRESSION) and so thorough in their sexual acts, that Amarantha begins to trust him. He is allowed certain freedoms that no one else has. He is not trapped for 50 straight years Under the Mountain. In ACOTAR alone, we see him visit the Spring Court three different times. Do you think any of those other High Lords saw daylight even once during those 50 years?? 
He is clearly allowed to move about as he wants to Under the Mountain. He visits Feyre in her cell several times, seemingly without Amarantha knowing. She is a prisoner of Amarantha, but he’s allowed to do whatever he wants to and with her. 
Essentially. . .Rhys lived as a member of Amarantha’s court UTM. He served as her fuck buddy and one of her main attack dogs. To our knowledge he wasn’t tortured, starved, or forced to watch, powerless, as someone or something he loved was dangled over him. High Lords were losing their lives living in open rebellion against Amarantha, while Rhys lived with a level of security that no one else had. I am NOT saying that servicing Amarantha was pleasant for him, obviously it wasn’t. But at the end of the day. . .this was a choice he made. Everyone makes choices and has consequences of those choices. Rhys chose to serve Amarantha in bed and was given a position of power and security that no one else had. The other High Lords chose to openly oppose and resist her and subsequently had to suffer and live in terror with none of the freedom or choices Rhys was given. I honestly fail to see how Rhys’s decision was more valiant than all the rest. 
Again, this is NOT me trying to say that Rhys did not suffer at all UTM. I completely acknowledge that he suffered his own type of torment. I just get very sick and tired of him being treated as if he is the Greatest, Most Suffering, and Only Martyr in all of Prythian. 
I often say that Sarah writes all of these characters and this entire story in a way that elevates and favors Rhysand, even if in doing so she has people saying and doing things that make absolutely no logical sense. Everything that happens after UTM is a prime example of this. 
The fact that the other Courts and High Lords are so quick to trust Rhysand and work so closely with him after the events of UTM is downright ridiculous and makes absolutely no sense. All of them have EVERY reason to be extremely mistrustful, if not openly hostile to him, after what they witnessed for 50 years. I myself do not understand most of his actions during ACOTAR. Let’s dive into all of THAT.
I made a post separately on this, but I’ll still comment on it here. Rhys claims that he “thought” about killing Amarantha the entire time he worked for her. However, he claims:
“I couldn’t use my powers to harm her, and she had shielded herself against physical attacks”.
There’s nothing I hate more than contrived convenient story-telling. To me, this is on the same level as Feyre not being able to have a C-section in ACOSF. We need it to be true, so we’re just going to say it’s true. . .no matter how little sense it makes in this context. 
Rhys says that he, the most powerful High Lord ever born, had his power ripped away by Amarantha. On page 520 of ACOMAF he says, “Within a few seconds, my power belonged wholly to Amarantha”. 
But does it??? Let’s take a look at all the things Rhys is able to do with his power during his time under Amarantha, without her knowledge or consent:
Uses it to enhance the sexual experience between him and Amarantha, making her beg and scream, and crave him (ACOMAF, page 520)
Broke into the minds of the three fae who cornered Feyre on Calanmai, reshaped their lives, their histories, and then made them confess to Amarantha that they were rebels (ACOMAF, page 523)
“Against my violation, my body straightened, every muscle going taut, my bones straining. Magic, but deeper than that. Power that seized everything inside me and took control: even my blood flowed where he willed it.” (ACOTAR, page 239)
“I couldn’t move. An invisible, talon-tipped hand scraped against my mind. And I knew--one push, one swipe of those mental claws, and who I was would cease to exist.” (ACOTAR, page 239)
Broke into Clare Beddor’s mind when she was captured and took away her pain, told her to scream when she was expected to, then finally slipped into her mind and ended her life (ACOMAF, page 524)
Visits Feyre in her cell UTM and heals her shattered arm completely (where was this power to save her from a C-Section???)
Mentally controls and commands the guards to stay out of Feyre’s cell and not touch her. “If you do, you’re to take your own daggers and gut yourselves. Understood?” Dazed, numb nods, then they blinked and straightened. I hid my trembling. Glamour, mind control--whatever it was he had done, it worked. They beckoned--but didn’t dare touch me. (ACOTAR, page 344)
Enters Feyre’s mind to influence and help her during her second task
Convenient storytelling at its finest. He may not have total control over the full extent of his power, but it is abundantly clear that he definitely has control of some of it! And yet we’re told that Rhys is completely unable to do anything to harm or kill Amarantha, because she holds all his power!! It belonged “wholly to her” as he said! But he’s able to do all of this stuff without her knowledge???
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Forget killing her with his power!!! Lysandra killed Arobynn Hamel by slitting his throat in the middle of the night! I’m sorry, I do not find it believable that the Most Powerful High Lord in Prythian’s HISTORY was completely unable to find a way to end this bitch’s life in 50 years, ESPECIALLY when it’s explicitly stated that she allows him certain freedoms and he does things without her knowledge. I just don’t!!!! 
So if I’M thinking that. . .what do you think the rest of the people UTM were thinking??? Can you see how they might be very suspicious of him??
In addition to this. . .his actions regarding Tamlin, and eventually Feyre, make zero logical sense in the context of their situation. Let’s take a look at THAT mess.
So Rhysand is suffering in this horrible awful torment, having to play Amarantha’s whore and do evil things for her. He hates every minute of it, he grows to hate himself, he claims. 
And in this giant mess, there is only ONE road to freedom for not just him, but for everyone. And that’s Tamlin.
“Then she cursed Tamlin. And my other great enemy became the one loophole that might free us all.”
Rhys knows about the curse. He knows the stipulations and what Tamlin must accomplish. He knows that doing so will free them all.
Wouldn't you then think that he would do everything in his power to attempt to aid and assist Tamlin during the course of those 50 years?????
I know he hates Tamlin by that point anyway, due to the rivalry between their families. But, my God. . .would that really matter at this point?? If me and my entire country were stuck in the position Prythian was in, I don’t really think I’d give a shit who our freedom depended on. It could be my greatest mortal enemy and I’m pretty sure I’d still be like Okay Buddy, let’s do this. I wouldn't say I’d LIKE it. But I’d use whoever I could to get me and everyone else out of that situation. 
If Rhysand, the Inner Circle, Velaris, and every other High Fae in Prythian’s lives and futures depended on Tamlin getting a human girl to fall in love with him, I would think Rhysand would be doing whatever he possibly could to further this along and make it happen. Don’t try and say that he couldn’t do it because Amarantha would find out. Rhys WAS able to keep secrets from her and do things she didn’t know about (see my big list up there! ^^) Don’t try and say that he wouldn't risk dropping his Bad Guy Mask because it would make people look “too closely” at him and possibly target Velaris and the IC (I would have a million comebacks to that. As I’ve already said, there were ALREADY extensive shields and protections guarding Velaris and had been for years. Rhys had wiped the knowledge of the IC from the minds of everyone who knew about them. And wouldn't the safer, better option for the IC be that the curse was broken??? So if he really wanted to protect them, this was the #1 thing he should be doing!!!!)
When it became clear to us all in ACOMAF that Rhys was not in fact, really a bad guy, the very first thing I immediately wondered was, “If this were the case, why was he not trying to HELP Tamlin all those years???” If that was their one loophole and their one shot at freedom and ending the nightmare they were in, why on EARTH did Rhys spend 50 years bullying, manipulating, and tormenting the ONE PERSON who had a shot at freeing them??!?!?!? 
Rhys tells Feyre in Chapter 54 of ACOMAF:
“I didn’t know. That you were with Tamlin. That you were staying at the Spring Court. Amarantha sent me that day after the Summer Solstice because I’d been so successful on Calanmai. I was prepared to mock him, maybe pick a fight.”
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Again, do not tell me that Rhys was a slave to Amarantha so there wasn’t anything he could do. That is NONSENSE. After Calanmai he crafts an entire fabricated story to tell her and brings people he’s mind manipulated into validating what he’s saying. 
Instead of offering Tamlin support, or at the very least, leaving him alone, he chooses to terrorize him and his people. He leaves severed heads on the manor house grounds, taunts Tamlin about the curse, and taunts Lucien about his mother and his dead lover. Listen to what he says to Tamlin and Lucien, before he knows Feyre is there: 
“What a pity that you must endure the brunt of it, Tamlin--and an even greater pity that you’re so resigned to your fate. You might be stubborn, but this is pathetic.”
“Little Lucien. You certainly gave them something to talk about when you switched to Spring. Such a sad thing, to see your lovely mother in perpetual mourning over losing you.”
“She’s already preparing for you. Given your current state, I think I can safely report that you’ve already been broken and will reconsider her offer.”
This is flat out disgusting behavior. This is the man you want me to have sympathy for, to view as the “better man”. Tamlin and Lucien were even greater victims at this point than Rhys was himself. They were running out of time after desperately fighting a losing battle, with the entire weight of Prythian on their shoulders. Rhys’s actions do not make sense. He is digging his own grave by behaving this way. If he wanted himself and everyone to be free so badly, I’m really not sure why he’s going out of his way to mock Tamlin, make his life difficult, and taunt him about not breaking the curse. 
But things don’t stop there! They get even MORE illogical when Feyre enters the picture!!
So once Rhys discovers Feyre’s presence, he immediately picks up on the emotional connection between her and Tamlin. In this situation, I would expect his first reaction to be glee. He didn’t know who Feyre was at that point, other than a girl he’d been dreaming about (and he later reveals that he first believed these dreams meant that she would be the one to save them all). Did anyone really expect Tamlin to break that curse?? Did anyone really expect him to find a human girl with hate in her heart for the Fae and have her fall in love with him?? I don’t think for a minute Amarantha actually believed there was even the slightest chance of this happening, just like she didn’t really believe Feyre had any chance of winning all three of her trials. It’s a mind game, nothing more. But here Tamlin is, on the very brink of meeting the very specific standards set by Amarantha. 
But what does Rhys do? Amp up the dramatics to scare Tamlin into sending Feyre back across the wall, therefore ensuring that the curse will never be broken. 
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His reasoning, he tells us in ACOMAF, is:
“I made Tamlin beg--as Amarantha had made me beg, to show him how powerless he was to save you. And I prayed my performance was enough to get him to send you away. Back to the human realm, away from Amarantha. Because she was going to find you. If you broke that curse, she was going to find you and kill you.”
Um. . .if Feyre breaks the curse, that means that Tamlin gets his powers back. If Tamlin gets his powers back, Amarantha is dead. If Tamlin didn’t do it, certainly one of the other High Lords would have. If you’ll recall, Feyre DOES break the curse and when that happens, Amarantha is dead in literally seconds. Her power isn’t brute strength, it’s trickery. She is no match for Tamlin whatsoever. She literally backs away in fear and pleads for her life. It’s not even a close competition!!! She doesn’t get a single scratch on him! 
Now, I will fully admit. . .this was also something I always found kind of dumb on Tamlin’s part as well. It’s seen as this grand act of love that he sends her away and puts her safety before all of Prythian’s but I’ve always been like. . .dude. You were literally A DAY away from getting out of this thing. Tamlin, as a High Lord with his full power returned, really couldn’t shield and protect Feyre in the time it would take him to kill Amarantha? Yes, he wouldn't be able to properly protect her under their current circumstances without any of his real power, but that was the whole point of the curse. . .if Feyre told Tamlin she loved him and meant it, his power would be returned. The way in which he would be able to protect her would not be the same. You’d think at the point they were at, both Tamlin AND Rhysand would be bouncing around like the singing candlestick and clock from Beauty and the Beast trying to woo a confession out of Feyre. Kallias was able to shield Viviane for 50 years while his Court was under direct attack, I have to believe Tamlin could shield Feyre for the very short time it would take him, or any other High Lord, to end Amarantha. 
Rhys later says:
“If there was a shot of freeing us from Amarantha, you were it. I thought. . .I thought the Cauldron had been sending me these dreams to tell me that you would be the one to save us. Save my people.”
So. . .if this were the case, wouldn't it make more sense to just get a happy little “I love you” out of her before the 50 years were up? Tamlin and the High Lord’s powers would return and Amarantha would be “bloody ribbons”, as SJM likes to say, in seconds. Which is exactly what happened. All the struggle and strife of her trials UTM totally avoided!! 
What I’m essentially trying to say here is that most of Rhys’s actions during this time were in direct contradiction to what he claimed he really wanted. If Tamlin was Prythian’s only shot at freedom for all those years, you’d think he would be trying to secretly aid him in some way, or at the very least, not go out of his way to torment him. If Feyre was in Tamlin’s house, clearly in love with him, and the Curse was expiring in one day, you’d think he’d go back to Amarantha and be like “Nope, sorry, nothing to report” and pray the two of them would get it together for the sake of Prythian. 
Essentially, what I’m trying to say here is that I struggle to have a ton of sympathy for Rhys during this time because I feel as if the explanations that are given for his behavior and actions are flimsy and don’t hold up against most arguments. He felt as if he HAD to become Amarantha’s lover and lapdog in order to keep her from figuring things out about his friends and trying to hurt them. . .who were concealed in a city that hadn’t been breached for 5,000 years and the knowledge of them had been wiped from every person who knew them UTM. He “couldn’t” kill or hurt Amarantha because his power belonged “wholly” to her. . .but he was able to use his powers in ways that worked against her without her knowledge or consent about tons of other things. He was so tormented and miserable in his time UTM that he. . .mocked and tormented the one person who had a shot at freeing them all. When he saw that Tamlin was right on the brink of actually breaking the curse he. . .manipulated him into ensuring that it would never be broken. All the while being surrounded by other leaders who did not have the luxury of shielding their loved ones in an anciently protected city, who worked to help all innocent citizens of Prythian, and who were losing their lives over their refusal to submit to an evil tyrant. I have a vastly larger degree of sympathy and respect for these other High Lords than I do with Rhysand. I find Rhys to be either very self-serving, or doing things that seem to directly contradict what he claims he wants. I do not blame any of the High Lords for being wary and mistrustful of him after UTM--it makes perfect sense that they would (but that’s a topic for another section of this rant!). This is a prime example of SJM self-sacrificing through her writing. I can guarantee you I wouldn't feel as strongly about this as I do after hearing it beaten into my head over and over what a noble, selfless, honorable hero Rhys was during this time. I’m sorry, it doesn’t add up to me. Too many holes, too many contradictions. Which, unfortunately, is pretty standard fare when it comes to Rhys.
Remember, this was only Part 1!! Part 2--Why Rhys is actually a terrible High Lord--coming soon! 
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mushangaa · 2 months
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Metal
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2024/02 (full view) Water | Earth | Metal
Frida, the oldest, her element is Metal and boy does she know how to use it in combat. But instead of cold grey I went with a more loving interpretation. And Bismuth vibes. Iridescent Bismuth has all them colours of her sibs in it too. I talked a bit about her element in relation to Raphaels element (fire) in this post.
And I shall ramble some more in general under the cut.
I just love Frida, or rather the Frida I cooked up in my head since we never got her properly in rottmnt. She is rather mature and responsible, she has a lot of things to keep on top of on the farm and is very business about it, thankfully she shares that load with Raphael, the other oldest sibling TM. But beneath all that she is also a bit of a gremlin like the rest of the fam, she just grew up a little too fast in some ways, but she has not let go of all of that and beneath her mature ways and responsible behaviour there is still a mischievous lil girl that sometimes will engage with the pranks of the youngest or get into some shit with the twins or convince Raph to shenanigans if she feels he has been wound up to tight lately - or full on brawl with him with reckless abandon since those two can't hurt each other that easily since they are matched in strength so Raph can let go a lil of his control and so can she. And like I dunno how to properly explain it in English but Bismuth gains it's fancy colours when it is subjected to moist air (just like silver turns black after a while and so on) and normally it is just grey and I like to relate that to Frida who is a very dark bluegreen black hue and likes simple clothes and muted colours but on the inside she is just as colourful as the rest of them you just gotta give her room to get out of her shell so to speak and be a little less restrained just like you have to dig up Bismuth for it to become colourful. She also normally does not do dresses, she gets one in her family portrait here but usually she tries to not be too femme on clothes, for one she does not like skirts and dresses too much she has a lot of farm work and loves riding, neither of those make dresses practical to her and she'd hate for her father to buy her fancy stuff only to soil or rip it needlessly. She also kinda really dislikes how she gets treated if she does go with more femme clothing - see she is the oldest daughter and a great deal of their yokai neighbours and those in town have a lot of opinions about that. Like how she is approaching the age of needing to be wed and settle down. Or how she is a bit too headstrong and opinionated for a female. Or how she needs a strong hand to reign her in obviously since her poor wifeless dad obviously raised her too much like his boys and yadda yadda and if she does then lean more into her femininity they are all over that since now that.. that is more proper isn't it? Isn't it better like this? She looks so pretty. Anyway so like Frida does not reject her femininity in general but she totally rejects how people around her define it for her and there have been some hands thrown in the past with neighbour boys who tried to court her and on one beautiful occasion Splinter roundhouse kicked a neighbour through the east wall (which the whole family happily repaired together) of their farmhouse after he made some implications about her biological clock ticking and whatnot and maybe wedding her to one of his sons before nobody wants her no more. That all is to say, Frida doesn't exactly do dressed but she does this dress. She calls it her "dress I own for your funeral if you don't mind ya business"-dress. It has magpie colours and shimmers a bit in light, the bottom part has some white flowing feather like applications in there. She fell in love with that one so Splinter got it for her for the special occasions. Frida also is the only one of her siblings who inherited her dads eyecolour.
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starastrologyy · 1 year
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Astrology Observations♟
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Please do not repost any of my work on other social media platforms 🤍
Edit: please note that I’m attempting to be very neutral and I have not stated my personal opinions on her. However, Nicki Minaj is the PERFECT example of the effects of having a Scorpio Midheaven! People are obsessed with her. For better or for worse. The ‘Barbz’ have literally stabbed people, and beat up someone’s mother over her. Whilst, many musicians, and people in general cannot stand her, because they feel like she’s a bully. She is someone who is extremely polarizing. People become unhinged trying to defend her , whilst others enjoy the fact that there are large groups of people who strongly dislike her. This is the result of having a Scorpio Midheaven in a nutshell.
Whilst having Venus conjunct the Ascendant is often associated with “good looks” I actually think that it really helps with your reputation, and how people perceive you. I will use celebrity examples! Selena Gomez has an Aries Moon (this isn’t shade to Aries moons) and her mercury makes very difficult aspects (squares Pluto/ opposes Saturn) Thus, one would assume she’d be controversial or well known for her temper/outbursts & tendency to attract conflict. But the opposite is actually true, anyone who is perceived to be “shading” her immediately gets attacked, as most people think she’s very kind and genuine. Whilst she has admitted that her relationship with Justin was mutually toxic, most people just can’t seem to see her as the aggressor. Her Venus makes a conjunction to her Ascendant. Beyoncé, Rihanna, Anna Nicole Smith,Angelina Jolie are more celebrities with this placement. What I’m essentially trying to say is, people tend to give you more grace when your Venus makes a conjunction to your natal Ascendant.
It’s common to see people who have the ruler of their 5th house placed in the 10th monetize a creative hobby. Their career often involves making use of one of their creative/artistic skills. Working in the entertainment industries is very common with this placement. Working with children in some way, is also a possibility.
Libra on the 9th house cusp can suggest you studied law, political science, or anything that involves diplomacy at college. Alternatively, you could have trained to become an esthetician or a cosmetologist.
Chiron, Pluto, Mars & Saturn in the 11th house culture is rarely feeling as if your ‘friends’ have your best interests at heart. Having any of these planets in the 11th house can be extremely isolating! It can cause you to feel alone, or perhaps as if you struggle to find a group of people that you resonate with (on a friendship level).
A solar return year in which you have many 8th house placements, will be a year in which you experience many “life changing” moments. Most people fear having planets in the 8th house in their solar return, so they opt to travel to a different location on their birthday. However, I feel like this isn’t necessary! Change and transformation doesn’t always have to be viewed as bad! Sometimes we need change to elevate us in life.
A while ago, an Astrologer on YouTube stated that whenever she sees a Gemini rising, or Gemini placements in a composite chart, she automatically thinks there is cheating involved. I don’t know how I feel about this sentiment. She explained that because of the Dual nature of of the Sign Gemini; it more often than not represents a third party, or external influences that are influencing the relationship. I see where she’s coming from, but I don’t necessarily think it’s wise to always interpret it like that. I personally believe the aspects that are being made in the composite chart will tell you a lot more about what it’s likely to occur in the relationship. If there are tons of squares to Mercury, Venus, Neptune, Saturn & the chart ruler, I’m more inclined to believe that there is the potential for deception.
People with Juno in the 12th or a Pisces Descendent, often have a subconscious “savior complex”. They are usually highly compassionate, and might find that they have a tendency to attract people who have been wounded by life or those who lack boundaries.
A solar return year, in which you have planets in the 2nd,8th, & 11th houses, also known as the “money houses” can suggest that you will earn or receive a large amount of money that year. Alternatively, you may experience a significant change in your financial situation. You want to look at the aspects of course! (Trines & sextiles are more likely to manifest positively, whereas the conjunction can go either way).
When transit Uranus makes a square to your Natal Ascendant or Midheaven, those around you may view your newfound behavior as being strange or erratic. You are likely to go through many unpredictable changes during this transit consequently, you will start to experience changes in your personality, which will impact your relationships. You may find that you no longer resonate with the people around you, and abruptly decide to move, or make a change in your friendship circle. This is a very unpredictable time in your life, and your behavior will reflect this.
Trigger Warning: Eating Disorders (please don’t continue reading if topics like this make you uncomfortable. My intention is never to harm anyone or make anyone feel uncomfortable 🤍)
I’ve noticed that any kind of Saturnian influence over the 1st, 2nd & 6th house can bring about poor body image or restrictive tendencies when it comes to food. For example, having Saturn in the 1st, 2nd or 6th house! Or perhaps Saturn is negatively aspecting planets in those houses. Capricorn over these houses can also bring about a food complex. Obviously not everyone with Saturn in these houses will have a restrictive eating disorder, it’s just an observation so please don’t make it apply if it doesn’t 🤍
On the other hand, a Jupiterian influence on the 1st. 2nd, and 6th house can manifest as binge eating or turning to food as a coping mechanism. This can be having Jupiter in the 1st, 2nd, or 6th house. Alternatively, this dynamic can also occur when Sagittarius is over one of those houses.
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you're trans, right? how did you come out to your parents? how did it go? how would you recommend someone go about doing it if they aren't sure how their parents are going to react? (positive to other people's kids being trans, dislike trans women in sports, generally vote democratic). i'm ftm.
sorry if this is too personal or already been answered or something
-- aar
Lee says:
As a matter of fact, I am indeed trans! I specifically identify as genderqueer, non-binary, transmasculine, transgender, and transsexual, although that's neither here nor there.
I actually didn't come out to my parents-- I came out to my friends, and then more publicly to my classmates at school. Then one of my classmates told her parents about me being trans, and that parent met my parents at a party and mentioned that I was trans. Unfortunately it just so happened that while they were at the party and out of the house, I took the opportunity to cut my hair short at home. Yikes!
Anyway, I would fully recommend actually coming out over being outed, if you have the choice, because then you have some control over the start of the conversation and can initially let them know whatever you want them to know.
As always, safety comes first. Do not come out if you do not think you will be safe. If there's any risk of harm or severe negative consequences, you should wait to come out until you're in a more secure position, like being 18 or older, financially independent, not living at home, or at the very least, having a support system in place like a trusted therapist who can help you deal with the repercussions of coming out.
There's a difference between being genuinely unsafe and feeling uncomfortable. Most people will feel their fight-or-flight anxiety response kick in when they have a really scary and stressful conversation, especially when they're talking with someone who means a lot to them and has a lot of authority in their life. But being anxious about their reaction might make something feel unsafe, emotionally, even if you logically know that you are safe and they will not kick you out, abuse you, etc.
That doesn't mean that your feelings aren't real feelings though. If you think that you would not be able to cope if your parents don't immediately and fully accept and support you, then maybe it isn't the right time to come out either. Your emotional well being is important, and if you would be unsafe as a result of mental illness/extreme distress after coming out (if your parent's reaction isn't what you had hoped it would be) then you should consider that to be just as important as if you were physically in danger from an external source. After you've had some time and therapy and got re-stabilized then you can reconsider coming out.
Let's say that you've decided to proceed with coming out. The next step is to continue to gauge their attitudes. You've already observed some of their views. This can be a good starting point to understand how they might react. Remember, though, that parents' reactions to their own child can sometimes be different from their general opinions. So they might be fine with your trans friends, but not be fine with you being trans yourself.
You can't fully predict what will happen, but making sure you have a sense of what they currently think might help a little-- if the topic hasn't come up in over a year and you're working off of what you remember them saying far in the past, it's possible their views have changed by now.
But either way, you'll never really know what will happen after you come out, so if you want to do it, you just gotta go for it.
Now it's time to prepare. You may want to have resources ready for your parents, so looking to find those resources should be your next step. Are there local support groups for parents of trans kids and do you know of any peers whose parents have attended? They might have questions or misconceptions about being a trans man, so be ready to share some basic 101 information with them and don't assume they understand what it really means to be trans. Websites, books, or even contact information for a knowledgeable counselor can be helpful.
Think about what you want to say beforehand. What's the point of coming out? Do you want something to change, like having them call you a different name, use different pronouns, buy you different clothes? Do you want them to understand the nuances of your identity and know the right terms and words to use and what terms and words are offensive? Think about all of your goals, and then write down the key points you want to get down.
This is the time to consider your answers to the questions they might ask you, like "how long have you felt this way," "do you plan on medically transitioning," "what does this mean for your sexual orientation," etc. Even if you don't know all the answers yet and are still figuring yourself out, you want to have an idea of what you'll tell them, even if it's just "I don't know yet, I'm still figuring it out".
I'm personally not a fan of gimmicky/"cute" ways of coming out when you aren't sure whether your family will be accepting. So I would recommend just using a letter to initially come out if you're worried about getting overwhelmed or forgetting important details, and being prepared to follow that up by having a sit-down conversation.
Have a support system in place. This could be friends, other family members, teachers, counselors, or online communities who understand and support your identity. I always recommend scheduling an event with friends either for directly after you come out so you have an excuse to leave the conversation and go, or at least for the next day so you can decompress and discuss it with people who support you.
When you're as ready as you can be, choose the right moment. Find a time when your parents are likely to be calm and not preoccupied with other stressors (so not on their birthday, a major holiday, etc) and either leave the letter for them or ask them if they are available to have an important conversation.
This might not always be possible, but a peaceful environment can facilitate a better conversation. Choose a time and place where you feel safe and where you won't be interrupted. This could be at home during a quiet weekend afternoon, an evening after dinner, or during a walk together, depending on your family dynamics.
Finally, it's time to have the conversation. You should be clear and direct. Tell them "I'm transgender and that means I feel I am a man," or whatever language you feel comfortable with. Don't hint at it because they might not know what you're trying to tell them, just tell them exactly what you want to say.
It’s okay to admit if you don’t have all the answers yet. Transitioning is a journey, and it's fine to be figuring things out as you go.
But if that isn't the case for you, and you are sure, then you should be ready to stand up for yourself and tell them that. They might react positively, negatively, or be unsure, but their feelings are not your fault/your responsibility because you're living true to yourself. It's okay if they need time to process the information, but don't back down and let them railroad you into saying that you're not sure or didn't mean it if you are sure and do mean it.
Finally, be prepared for the long haul. Understand that your parents might need time to fully grasp and accept your identity. Patience can be challenging but is often necessary since it can take several months to years before they come around and truly support you. That means that one conversation is usually not enough. Be open to ongoing discussions and expect them to be sometimes awkward.
We have a coming out page with more info, although some of the links are old and broke (I promise I'll get to fixing it some day!)
Followers, any advice for anon?
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maleyanderecafe · 1 month
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Opinions on Yandere cheaters?
I saw a discussion on reddit about this trope, and I immidiatly went straight to your blog lolol. I dont know if you already have this question answered or if you ban this type of question but I am a bit curious! What specific scenerios would make a yan cheat? If they were somewhat redeemable, what actions would they do to be redeemable?
Straight to my blog? i'm honored, haha. I wouldn't ban a question like that because I generally am pretty open about how yandere can be like and it's always very cool when you think about what kind of things that yanderes can expand into that might be unconventional.
I can see why people don't really like the concept of yandere cheaters. One of the biggest appeals of yanderes is their undying loyalty and persistence, so having a yandere do something completely opposite to that basically turns people off from them. The joke is always, I can accept murder, confinement, amputation and obsession but I draw the line at cheating in the yandere community. Some people will not accept a character as a yandere if they cheat.
However, I personally do think there are some ways that yanderes can cheat and still become a yandere.
One way is to use it as a manipulation tactic. Even if the two are actually married or otherwise together, I can see a yandere cheating with someone else as a way to get them to react a certain way or to pay attention to them more. An example off the top of my head is from the machine translated mobile game Yandere Boyfriend Leo, where while Leo is in love with the main character, ends up dating her friend Grace as a way to get her jealous and eventually to give her so much stress that she loses her memory. I feel like a yandere can do this as a way to get their lover to do something, whether again, it is something relating to them getting attention, or simply a plan to get them to be confined for instance. The main thing is generally that the yandere is basically using them and has no interest in actually being together with them, since they only have eyes for their love. You can also see this in the Lifetime movie, Hush Little Baby, where the yandere, Owen, sleeps with another girl despite being in love with the main character Lauren as a way to make it seem like her husband is cheating and sew chaos in the family. Yes, it's a pretty awful way to get with their love interest, but I think people forget that yanderes are kind of supposed to be awful people a lot of times, and you liking them or disliking them doesn't always disqualify them from being a yandere.
Another way is basically their perception of love and sex and how that's handled. For a lot of people, having sex with another person while in a relationship is considered cheating, but it can differ from person to person. For instance, Kirishima from Raise wa tanin ga ii is kind of an example of this because while he does exhibit a lot of yandere actions like obsessiveness, tracking Yoshino on his phone, stalking her etc, he does spend a lot of beginning simply just sleeping with other women, despite the fact that he confesses his love towards her. This is one of the things that put a lot of people off of him because while the two of them are not dating or engaged, we generally don't see yanderes as someone who will sleep with others when they have someone that they're obsessed with. Still, we do see that Kirishima views sex and love pretty differently, as he mostly uses it for pleasure and doesn't have any romantic interest with any of the other girls he sleeps with, even talking to them about how much he loves and adores Yoshino after sleeping with them. I'm not the best analysist on this topic since I am kind of behind on the manga, but this reddit post does a pretty good job of explaining it.
Similar to above, sometimes the situation or time they are in forces them to be with someone else instead of the person they love. This is more of "this is for the sake of someone I love or care about " and less of the fact that they want to have more than one person by their side. One example of this is Dekiai Yakuza ni wa Amayakasarenai!, a manga about a body guard who is obsessed with the person that he's protecting. Despite this, we do see in the manga that he does sleep with another woman, though we also see that he does so reluctantly. This can be considered "cheating" in a sense like I stated before, but considering he's likely doing this for the sake of the person he loves, and doesn't enjoy it at all in the slightest. There is also The Little Princess and Her Monster Prince, specifically in the backstory of their reincarnation with Liontel and Phillip. Phillip was originally engaged to another girl named Ser but used her power so that he could be the emperor. He ends up not only causing Ser's husband to die, but also cages her and keep her locked up for the sake of protecting her. To maintain the idea that she's dead and to keep his status, he does actually marry another woman and had a child with her, but ultimately does so out of obligation as the king, as well as the fact that he very clearly doesn't love her. In these cases, the yandere is more or less forced into consequences where they don't really have control over what they want, and thus have to either sleep with or be married to someone else despite having someone that they love. This is another way I feel like a yandere can technically cheat without actually losing their status as a yandere. In a similar vein, if the yandere believes they can never be with their lover, they might try to get with others, but only has their lover at heart. Kylar for instance from DOL is considered a yandere, but based on the players actions, can sleep around and even date other players. This doesn't necessarily disqualify Kylar as a yandere, but rather the circumstances of the game (aka, not allowing murder) don't allow him to go all out, probably to make sure the player themselves is not locked in a choice when it comes to this kind of game.
I think that certain developments that lead to a yandere becoming a yandere can also be something that's explored. The easiest one of course is that they originally were cheating with other people but slowly develops feelings and obsessions for one person and gives up on his life of being a player, or even just using it more as a way to try to forget, or even maintain status, but their heart is always with the person that they love. There is also the fact that the yandere can be the one that the lover is cheating on with, like in Casual Flowers, if for some reason they can't get rid of their spouse or lover, sometimes that's the only way they can experience being with the other person. If they were possibly a redeemed yandere, where they go from yandere back to another person, they might end up with someone else entirely.
Personally, I think that it would be really funny if the yandere lost the person they loved and then forcibly projected them onto another person. Then they realized that their original love was actually alive. That would be both really funny and a hilarious situation with the yandere. If they're really delusional, they might not even recognize their original love or they could just abandon the other person that they loved instead.
It also depends on what you consider cheating. Are threesomes considered cheating? Is it cheating if their love is split into a bunch of different people and the person has to gather them all? Is it cheating if the yandere is immortal and keeps losing his memory so he keeps falling in love with different people? Is having a reverse harem considered cheating?
I'm sure there are other ways to have a yandere cheater in the story, but I can't really think of them. I'm not sure if you would consider this cheating since in most of these scenarios, the yandere and the lover aren't actually dating, so they still can be more fluid with their actions. Still, I think its a very fun thing to consider when writing yanderes.
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awful-little-goose · 4 months
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Some more doodles with Buzz!
Buzz (or Buzzbuzz) kinda plays the role of the “teacher” character, sorta like Dora y’know? Of course, it comes from a play on “spelling bee”. They don’t- control it, and sorta just blurt out facts, lessons, or questions to the camera- which greatly confuses both the other humans and Buzz themselves.
Now for how they feel about other characters!
They like Kinger well enough! He’s the only one who doesn’t complain about the bees that spontaneously spawn near Buzz, so they like to give him some bees every now and then since he likes insects. He sometimes calls them “Their Majesty Bee”, as a variant for “queen bee”, no one knows if he’s purposely making a joke or just- being odd. Overall they view him as a sort of slightly crazy but still nice uncle
They really do not like Jax. Since Buzz is HEAVILY influenced by cartoon logic, any accident they may suffer may result in an extremely amusing (yet still unpleasant) visual…so that means it’s twice as more funny to cause them harm for Jax
Buzz has a lot of sympathy for Gangle. As a pretty laid back and somewhat optimistic person, they always try to cheer up Gangle when they’re stuck with their tragedy mask, by trying to shine another light on the situation at hand or performing tricks
They’re not too fond of Zooble (who- is personally my favorite character LSKSKSK I love them so much). Again, as someone who’s rather laid back and onboard with doing lots of activities, they don’t really vibe with a person’s whose whole stitch is “fuck off, leave me alone”. Still, they know that Zooble is far from being an ass like Jax is, and the two of them get along from time to time
Buzz gets along with Raggs pretty well. Since Buzz’s room is basically a garden, they like to take her there to garden together- they’re fully aware of how stressed out she really is, so they try to help out in their own way. It’s their way of thanking her for being such a positive force around
They’re…conflicted when it comes to Caine. On one hand, they don’t hate being there at the Digital Circus, and they appreciate how invested he seems to be in keeping them active and stimulated. Yet, they can’t help but feel uneasy around him…their wings will start buzzing and their ears/antennas will get all twisted
They…don’t dislike Pomni, but her concerning attitude and obsession with that so called “exit” make them wary around her. They’d also just like her to relax- sure, the transition from one world to another is tough, but how can she be sure she actually had a life before all that? She can’t even remember her name, can she? So, that means there probably isn’t anything to return to, so she should just accept it and chill ouuut…or else she’s gonna abstract REAL SOON, and they are NOT sticking around for that
They REALLY don’t like Bubble, just because it’s so- unpredictable. Fortunately, their bees (who they have no direct control over whatsoever) seem to feel that, and are always around to pop that nuisance away
And as a bonus…Kofmo! Who I didn’t draw! All I can say is that they were really fond of his puns, they like plays on words the best, but they did not care for how upset he’d get over people no reacting properly or sincerely enough to his jokes
Concerning their severe case of “cartoon logic”, that’s something they’re also somewhat a bit mad at Caine about: their cartoon experiences tend to be really unpleasant, but they also have to put themselves back to normal on their own! They’d just like him to at LEAST ensure that they get back to normal automatically, that’d be the bare minimum
Also bonus Zooble because they ALWAYS get forgotten in arts, and I get it they’re super complex and hard to draw, but I LOVE them, I LOVE their design, and I LOVE their personality- please love my geometric baby
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trolagygirl2022 · 4 months
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Synastry with a girl I dislike
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Been a while since I made these type of posts, why not try studying more synastry with my real life experiences?
Her Mars conjunct my ascendant
My 8th house stellium makes me a fan of staying alone and being more reserved meanwhile she would be quite rowdy and loud. She would be quite touchy and it really got on my nerves man. I'm not the type of person that likes physical touch unless it's with specific people but even that it can be subjective (I barely hug my friends which shows how reserved I am). I always thought of her as reckless and too much for me.
My Saturn Square her Venus
My views on love and hers were very different. I'm more traditional and quite old school meanwhile she goes around and leads guys on (I'm trying to write this in the least offensive way possible but I really despised how she was acting). I thought she was being "immodest" and I did not like that. She openly admitted to doing all these things and I secretly really resented her for it.
Her Sun opposite my Mercury
This girl was quite reckless, on top of her behavior she would do dr*gs, vape and have unprotected sex and just act quite immaturely in general. That pissed me off, as I'm someone who can be quite serious. She even called me boring (atleast I don't do drugs!!). That really was against my views and beliefs and being with her made me feel like I was "too serious" and childish (which is crazy because I'm older then her).
Her Mercury opposite my Mercury
Again we were quite different in our views and I though it was easy for us to talk I coulnd't help but feel a sense of "awkwardness" talking to her attimes. Like we didn't get each other. I would even find her quite loud and annoying (her mercury is in leo soooo)
My Saturn opposite her Uranus
Did I say I was quite the traditional type? Yeah attimes I would feel like I'm a mum watching my daughter go through a rebillious phase. She would say how I'm quite boring and the sort.
Mars Opposite Mars
Ok Ok confession time, we kinda were fighting over a guy. Before yall point fingers let me explain! So I had a crush on this guy and he went to her school right? We would only really meet on the bus and he would do things that made me believe he had a crush on me (since I would be a bit obvious attimes). Whether he liked me or not idk but the mf kinda lead me on (pretty happy it happened since it opened my eyes of what a trashy person he is). THEN the girl went and started getting all close and cuddly with him a DAY later, like tf?? (Not to mention that she was leading two other guys on JUST THAT DAY, TWO!!). Anyways she would piss me off quite a lot and sometimes I would feel some competitiveness with her.
My Mercury opposite her Jupiter
It was logic vs intuition right here ahaha. I tend to be quite logical and reasonable meanwhile she was all over the place and it got on my nerves. Sometimes I would wish she'd stop the antics and actually think for a second.
Anyways I think I'll leave it at there, thank you for your time :)
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kubrickscube · 10 months
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Life as a Pisces Rising
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I saw this post by crystalsenergy explaining the houses of each rising sign in full detail. I thought of making my own version of this but since the post follows Hellenistic astrology, I'll just put my own experience living as one.
I'll base everything that I put here on crystalsenergy's post. So I suggest that you read the linked post first before reading mine. Also, I will be talking about my natal chart (placements, aspects, and whatnot), which means most of the stuff written here will most likely not resonate with you (it might if you're a pisces rising as well).
This is the closest that you can get in regard to my natal chart.
Ascendant in Pisces - my other half and I went on vacation last week (I started this in April btw, and I'm now posting this in June LMAO), and every tour guide that we had would always happily converse with me when the other guests are enjoying themselves. Of course, it is their job to entertain tourists, but a tour guide opened up to me about a previous tourist who humiliated her for the reason the tourists did it themselves.
Aries in the 2nd House - my clothes and the way I look speak for me about how I feel every day. I never look at brands or the price of every item that I purchase, as long as I like it, I must have it. I agree with the impulsive part, but I also know when to stop spending and start saving my resources.
Taurus in the 3rd House - when faced with someone I dislike, I'm great with spewing bullshit. People had to wait 10 seconds before they hear me answer their questions. I am a slow talker, I admit. I'm also a visual learner, it just makes sense to see what you have to do before you do it yourself.
Gemini in the 4th House - my parents would always say to me that I have to adapt to my surroundings, and I've followed that advice ever since. I found out that my mind would change quickly when it comes to decisions and opinions, not so much on the emotional side.
Cancer in the 5th House - children stick to me, no matter if they only just met me today, to the point where they try and imitate what I'm doing. When drinking, I would also become the mom of the group; no matter how drunk I am I will make sure they get to their homes safe and sound.
Leo in the 6th House - you're damn right if you think that I take pride in my work when it comes to the corporate world. I take great offense when someone tells me my work isn't up to standard when I know I've been busting my ass for 10 hours straight. Please don't let your jobs overwork you, I only do this thing just so I can take my sweet sweet vacation after.
Virgo in the 7th House - 70% of my friends are Virgos. No matter where I go, I would always end up meeting a Virgo. I like being with the mutable swiffers, even though the conversations that I would always have with them would consist of roasting whatever the other is doing.
Libra in the 8th House - as much as I hate people being nosy when it comes to my financial matters, I sometimes take their advice just so I don't spend it on a day.
Scorpio in the 9th House - I'd say this part caused me too many ego deaths in one lifetime. I can also safely say that I hate people who do not share the same belief that I have. I won't force my views on them, but I won't get into theirs either.
Sagittarius in the 10th House: I dreamt of becoming an archaeologist when I was young. I still do. The fact that some people get to excavate some shit and discover key points in our history makes me furious and jealous. I would give up my book collection just so I can go on one of their expeditions.
Capricorn in the 11th House: The only time that I ever cut off long-time friends was when I was going through my second 12th profection year. Only one person that I consider my friend knows my birth date and has met my family. I may be welcoming, but you wouldn't know what my favorite color is or my favorite dish.
Aquarius in the 12th House: It might be my Sun in Aries talking, but nothing good happens if you let your current predicament drag you down, might as well take it in stride. I know my emotions, I know what I believe in, and I know that there's still a lot to learn in life.
I compared my life experiences with two other Pisces rising. The first one told me that while he opened up quickly, he found it easy to open up to those older than him compared to those around his age range. And while he's fine with other people knowing how much he makes, he absolutely hates it when someone tries to ask for something that he owns, even touching it despite telling that person no would send him into a furious rage.
The second one, while we have similar experiences with Gemini in the 4th, majority of their childhood consisted of living with their extended family, making them close to their family. And while I like to travel for knowledge, they are content in staying here in the country, although I noticed that the career they took was focused on introducing our culture to foreigners (no, I do not know as I forgot the specific name for it).
Thank you for taking the time to read this! Comments are welcomed here in this household, though I may not be able to reply immediately.... because.... reasons... Nah, I started to play Stardew Valley and I am i m m e r s e d. Team Harvey all the way!
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mamawasatesttube · 23 days
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Kon-El questions 3, 7 and 16
3. Least favorite canon thing about this character?
hmmm. how do i put this. it's like... the way karl kesel treated him as a self-insert for his own teenage fantasy self or whatever sometimes. obviously this comes out in the way he gets preyed on by adult women and this is played off as cool and chill, but it also comes out in the way a) kesel writes his flirting. sometimes it's very endearing and cringefail, and other times he's kissing women without consent, and that's played off as chill and fine because kesel thinks it should be and the women in question almost always are fine with that, but also b) he writes off concerns about indigenous hawaiians in kon's narrative (like silver sword or ...man i'm forgetting that kid who gets jealous of him and has powers about it for a minute, but that narrative). and like. yeah. white man in the 90s wrote this for SURE. i don't think it's like, written in the absolute poorest taste imaginable, because there's a lot of ways where it seems almost like they were trying to be respectful of native hawaiian culture, but then there's shit that's so far off the mark it's like. dude. and it's very evident that it just reflects karl kesel's own views much more than any character in-narrative.
7. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you like?
lmaooo that's a toughie!!!! fanon kon at large is just. straight up not my boy. however there's a subset of fandom who leans into him being genderqueer/gnc/trans a lot more than canon ever has and i looove that. trans kon truthers lets go ♥
16. What's your least favorite ship for this character?
LORD. tim/ber/kon is the one that makes me roll my eyes hardest, alongside the rarer but no less irksome ber/kon. it's like... this is 100% not about kon as a character. this is about tim. ber/kon is almost funny in that it's entirely about tim but with tim himself cut out of the picture. but tim/ber/kon is just "let's take tim's most popular two fanon love interests and just shove all of them together!" and i have yet to see Anything even remotely try to convince me why kon and bernard should give a shit about each other. like, MAYBE you could sell it as a loooong slow burn, but i just. i don't see it man. putting the rest under a cut bc i AM gonna ramble about why i dislike it, so if you like tim/ber/kon or tim/ber and don't wanna see that, keep scrolling here👍!!
this is also partly bc i just... man i really wanted to like bernard and tim/ber but there's nothing there. i knew i didn't like rebirth tim characterization going in when i read tdr but i was hoping i'd at least find some crumbs. it's all just ... like there's no substance to it. there's no conflict, no character flaws, no "why do they even like each other???", no particular way they seem to help each other grow. it's just tropey "told, not shown" fluff where megfitz insists they are SO in love and perfect for each other, over and over, without backing that up really at all, and it just holds absolutely no appeal to me. and when it's just tim/ber i'm like yeah ok sure it's not my thing but whatever. but when people start trying to shove kon into there i'm like NO!!!!!! sdjkfhkd like im just SO unconvinced and it feels like such a great steaming heap of Nothing.
the main reason that is is that to me a relationship needs to have an arc. it can't just be stagnant. if there's no conflict, if there's no room for growth, if there's no development, it falls apart in my eyes. it doesn't feel like a real story about actual people. and as far as the tim/ber dynamic established in tdr, there's just. nothing. even the fact that bernard apparently somehow knows that tim is robin, which should be a HUGE source of conflict, is completely glossed over. it never comes up in any way.
like, we know that tim wants to tell people, but holds back out of a sense of duty. in robin '93, he agonizes about this with steph. but when bruce tells her his identity without his consent - which steph tells him bruce did immediately - he flips the fuck out!!!! he panics and runs away and he's furious with them both!!! so you'd ostensibly think that bernard knowing, and then not telling him he knows, would be sowing the seeds for an explosive conflict later down the line. especially because bernard now knows that tim is just. lying to him. all the time. shamelessly and blatantly lying through his teeth. and sure, it's for a good cause. right? but you'd think that in a relationship that's only just been established, just for a few months, that would also be offputting!! you'd think he'd start getting more and more unhappy that tim is just constantly lying to him and he knows it!! because he knows it about the robin secret, but what else might tim be lying to him about??? he knows now that tim has no qualms just lying to his face all the goddamn time, and he's... FINE with that???? there's this giant secret they're both dancing around and it's set up that there's just. N O T H I N G done with that. it drives me up the wall. i found this absolutely infuriating to read. both of them just being so one-dimensionally "oh we're in looooove so nothing else matters" that it erodes not only tim's specific characterization but bernard's ability to react like . idk. a human being? it just feels like running into dead end after dead end.
so yeah adding kon into that mix makes me want to tear my hair out bc it just feels SO surface-level. it's like... how much of him are you gonna shave off to fit him into this soulless, conflictless mold? it's like how i get annoyed when tim/kon fics ignore kon being genuinely really upset tim didn't share his identity with the team in yj98, but worse. because identity shit REALLY matters to kon. kon has never dated anyone who didn't know he was superboy. all of his civilian friends in sb11 know he's superboy. like, he does Not get close to people if he can't share that. it would be!!! a source!!! of conflict!!! but i've never seen Any ship content for tim/ber/kon that isn't just either completely declawed fluff that's just oh hehe tim has two boyfriends, or "kon angsting over tim dating someone else uwu" bullshit, which occasionally leads into completely declawed "tim has two boyfriends" fluff. it just does such a disservice to every character involved imo.
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mpregnateyourocs · 8 months
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My Problem With Countess Strahd
I know I'm going to get flack on the lesbian vampire website for disliking the lesbian vampire, but the truth is I don't dislike genderbending Strahd, what I dislike is the way she is implemented, partly this is because there is a very popular fan supplement that does exactly what I DON'T want to see in a female Strahd.
Spoilers below the cut, and also bitching
I understand why some DMs want to genderbend Strahd. Maybe the themes of abuse that come with the story are more palatable when it's a woman doing the abuse. Maybe bisexual vampire lady sexy. Maybe the DM can't do male voices. As I said, nothing wrong with wanting Countess Strahd, the problem comes in how she's portrayed.
Strahd's character is fairly well known. A powerful and intelligent general, he turned to dark powers out of a fear of his own mortality. Right off the bat, that's a great villain, regardless of gender. But so many people who want "female Strahd" don't settle for "male Strahd but with different pronouns, they want to make her...A Woman.
The DMs who genderbend Strahd always feel compelled to change major aspects of her character and backstory. And THAT is where I start to have problems.
When it comes to the personality, rather than play him as the arrogant, commanding, lawful evil monster he is, female Strahd tends to be a seductress who manipulates her way to the top of the pile, using her looks and Feminine Wiles to get what she wants. Gone is the commanding and deadly attitude, now she's someone who lurks in the shadows, often lying to the party and claiming she's much less dangerous than she really is.
Which ties back into the backstory changes. Strahd was the firstborn son, raised to be a king and a general, spending his entire life at war. Female Strahd never gets to be a general or a king. The story is always changed so she is forced to marry a man (usually abusive) and all she wants is to be taken seriously for her big brain. Her resentment toward Sergei is changed so that, rather than being jealous that he had an easy life and she had to fight, he gets to be king and she is passed over.
"This makes sense" a DM says, "that a woman in ye olde timese would want to be king but couldn't." Except it only makes sense because you decided that Strahd's homeland was a patriarchal society. Except we know almost nothing about Strahd's homeland and what little we do know does not suggest a firstborn daughter couldn't rule. You're literally making up sexism where it doesn't exist. All in the name of making Strahd a grrrlboss struggling to Fight The Patriarchy!
Usually this leads to problems, when you make a female Strahd with a more sympathetic backstory than male Strahd, 9/10 times the DM goes running to the CoS DM subreddit crying 'my players want to redeem Strahd what do I doooo???'
The handling of Ireena and Tatyana is perhaps the most varied change with a female Strahd. Some just have her be bisexual and chasing after a female Ireena, some have her be bisexual and chasing after a male Ireena or Ismark. If Tatyana is a woman a DM will often make it so either Strahd couldn't confess because "that's forbidden love!" or she and Tatyana were having an affair but that mean Sergei forced Tatyana to marry him (once again back to the "I've made female Strahd more sympathetic than male Strahd" problem). Sometimes things get...weird like changing it so Strahd is actually Tatyana's abusive mother, which is an oddly common thing. A female villain MUST be a mother, because that's a plot for Women.
Incidentally, this is similar to the reason why most Villain Tatyana leave a bad taste in my mouth. Tatyana is a character we get no unbiased information about, what little there is about her in Official Books is written from the point of view of Strahd who, being in love with her, is the most biased a person can get. What we do know of her is that she was ultimately a victim, of Strahd, of Sergei, and of the games cosmic forces played with their lives. She is strong, yes, breaking free of a vampire and throwing herself off a cliff rather than just 'giving in' takes strength. But ultimately she was the victim, she was the one who suffered the most. So taking a victim and going "oh she's evil now she wants to do bad things and now you have to kill her" is maybe the most distasteful interpretation of the Tatyana story that exists.
Anyway, there is no real conclusion other than if you're going to give Strahd (bigger) boobs she should still be Strahd and not Sexy Vampiress.
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pidges-lost-robot · 4 months
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No one:...
Me: I have this idea on how to kind of improve the storyline of Pidge being picked on while adding a bit of a more complex type of relationship into the background of the plot cause she strikes me as a character that would fight back with viscious verbal responses. Basically one of the people that is mean to Pidge also has a parent on the kerberos mission (obviously with the result of there being more crew members) who dislikes her because she's sometimes a bit smug about doing so well on tests and it rubs this person the wrong way cause they're insecure about their struggling on tests and are mean to pidge as a result. But also pidge is the sort to really poke the bear when it comes to that, very much being quick to immediately zone in on this person's insecurity whenever they're mean to her andthis often results in things like being shoved or having her phone smashed.
No one still:....
Me: which ends up changing the conversation between pidge and her brother after a scene of this as a flashback where instead of being like "having brain is the best thing ever nerds will run the world" is actually the one to highlight the way pidge is quick to antagonise people especially by means of viewing her intelligence as making her better than them and suggesting that maybe there is another way to deal with this. Which is an example of bullying that can be underrepresented cause ultimately it is bad what this student is doing, but also shows the ways people can sometimes develop an unhealthy way to cope with it. We then see that Pidge, after really picking on this kid back and antagonising him about struggling to pass tests resulting in them getting angry and shoving her phone to ground and smashing, decides to apologise for what she said. The kid points out that they will never be friends and pidge says she knows, but that them being an asshole didn't justify her being an asshole in a different way.
No one:
Me: later when pidges brother and dad go missing in the mission she is left without much to focus on at school. Calls from the ship to families were prohibited from being stored or recorded. But one day from a random number she is sent some.pictures of a birthday of one of the crew members taken on a concealed phone. The bully's mums birthday. The bully when she asks about it in private denies sending her anything but it's clear that they did. They're still not friends but there's a begrudging respect there. And these pictures (I haven't thought of how cause I'm a hack) somehow lead to pidges theory that the garrison are covering something up
Still no one:
Me: now this goes further cause they find the bully's parent on their search for pidges family she's one of the only other crew members that survived but she unfortunately passes giving something yo pidge to give back to her kid if she makes it back to earth and when they eventually do, pidge decides to be the person to.give them the news about what really happened to their parent. She goes and they initially don't believe her but she gives them the message and the keepsake she gave her. They ask her why she bothered with how they were to her in school (it's been a few years since then obviously) and she reminds them of the photos they gave her that they sent her, tells them how it lead her to realise that garrison had been lying and thanked them for it and that it was only fair and right that she did this for them and how she's sorry about their mom. The bully tells her that this still doesn't make them friends and she nods. She leaves and Keith finds her on her way back, really upset and feeling like she should've done more and Keith assures her that there wasn't much more she couldve done. I just thought this could be a bit more interesting and true to her character than just getting called a nerd once and crying about it
No one: ..... what?
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peskytimeswithscar · 2 months
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ok it's headcanon time for.... grian!!!!
in regards to identity i view him as being aro-spec, while i could find a specific label i feel like c!grian wouldn't care much into finding that label, i think he'd prefer to just identify as being on the spectrum but he wouldn't really put in the time or effort into researching it
he also is asexual!! however im just asexual myself so all my blorbos must be asexual bc it feels. weird if not
and he's gay!!! gay man, gay gay homo (but actually this is mainly just because of yhs where he says hes "no im into dudes", plus i just cannot see c!grian with a woman that man is gay)
i also see him as being on the asensual (sensual attraction is the desire to touch others in a non-sexual way, e.g. cuddling, kissing, etc) spectrum !! mainly demi-asenflux because i feel like he would only like touch from people he's close + sometimes really doesn't want to be touched, but sometimes/alot of the time he really wants to and is the clingiest
he also gives off vibes of being on the aplatonic spectrum but i cannot think of anything in specific, maybe demiplatonic and cupioplatonic? i just feel like smth is up w this man's platonic orientation,, he def wants to have friends and is willing to do so but he only really feels platonic attraction whenever he's actually close to a person
i could probably go more into detail but those are the primary ones in my head for his sexuality so lets (finally) go onto GENDER!!!!
this man is definitely transgenderism!!! he identifies as a trans-man tho i do feel like his standards of being a man definitely differ to society's, he's most definitely gender non-conforming and he mainly wears androgynous or feminine clothing most of the time (though he only really wears skirts or dresses if hes cross-dressing as ariana griande)
he also probably is somewhere on the non-binary spectrum he just doesn't really identify with it
i feel like he primarily uses it/he pronouns? he definitely feels less than human due to his watcher roots so it got used to being called it/its, he also only is called she/her when he's cross-dressing as ariana griande, and if i had to give him some neoprns i feel like he'd enjoy chirp/chirp's? or some sort of parrot themed neopronouns
i also think he wouldn't get top surgery! it's easier for him not to since he only gets dysphoric over the shape they cause (which can easily be solved via a binder) instead of the actual chest itself
ok gender part over now it's time for some other headcanons
this man is definitely 100% neurodivergent, i feel like in particular he has adhd (this man cannot finish the back of his bases and gets distracted off tasks like a dog seeing a squrriel) and autism!!! i feel like he sometimes goes non-verbal (though i feel, as a parrot hybrid, when he's non-verbal he just ends up copying what other people are saying to him, so maybe that could be considered semi-verbal?), i think he would stim ALOT using his wings, he's happy and suddenly u have feathers everywhere because he flapped them alongside his hands
i think he would also have really bad rejection sensitive dysphoria, he definitely dislikes getting rejected from things which leads to him bottling alot of things up and causing plenty of the scarian miscommunication we're all too familiar with
he also stims with bird noises alot! he likes to chirp and squawk when he's happy, tho that may also just be because he's a parrot hybrid
he definitely changes hyperfixations like the wind, one week he likes this one thing and another he likes this other thing, and i feel like he would only really have 1 or 2 special interests that actually stick around (one of them likely being architecture/building, the other probably being birds and such)
he tends to have a very changing routine and schedule due to his adhd HOWEVER he has some routines (mainly with scar in them, who prefers to have very set routines cause that man also has autism) which never change or both of them get stressed out (e.g. morning/night routine, a routine that started in the desert and then followed them onto hermitcraft - they both get very stressed out on the life series since it disrupts their routines)
this was.... alot more text than i was expecting to write but anyway!!! expect a scar one at some point
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arcadiabaytornado · 4 months
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How do you feel about those who have rather strong oppositions towards Rachel? It seemed as if she gets more hate compared to the people that did her wrong like Frank, Jefferson, and Nathan.
I have SO many opinions about the way people view Rachel because I think she's treated so unfairly by some of the fandom.
While Rachel wasn't the perfect angel Chloe thought she was, it does feel like some people shoved their fingers in their ears and went "LALALA" anytime anything even slightly positive was brought up about Rachel. I mean, people were MAD when "Before The Storm" came out and Rachel was shown as nuanced instead of evil. There were some people that acted she should have had a scene where she threatened to drop Chloe over a tank of piranhas. It was a rough time.
However, certain frustrations aside, I do think there are a lot of reasons people dislike Rachel. Some are very valid. Some...I have thoughts on. Some people judge her overly harshly because she's a woman and she's....brace yourself...flawed. As we all know, if a women has a single flaw some people in fandom will decide that she deserves death.
But misogyny isn't the only reason people take issue with Rachel. As for the complex reasons, I get some of them. A big point I hear a lot from the "Rachel sucks" camp is that she cheated on Chloe or at least wasn't honest with her. I understand why that would be too much for some people, and cheating is one of the quickest ways to make an audience dislike a character because a lot of people have experienced cheating firsthand. Some people are also uncomfortable with how Rachel lies and manipulates, which is fair. Some people just don't like her vibes, and that's also fine because sometimes a character just rubs you the wrong way.
I do think there are more reasons she's judged super harshly. A lot of her character is up to interpretation, and we never get to hear her side of the negative parts of the story. Then there's also the rabid Pricefield fans that will look at her with most critical eye possible, because they think if she or her relationship with Chloe was good in any way then that somehow undermines their OTP.
So my overall thought is that she is judged way to harshly, but also I can understand why some people take issue her character. I just wish people spent as much time analyzing her character as they do with Nathan because some people really think drugging and kidnapping women is more forgivable than maybe cheating on your situationship or getting in the way of a ship.
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an-architect-of-words · 9 months
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My head is hurting after Secret History inner ramblings.
I think the one thing that’s difficult about this book is that EVERYTHING is a little true and a little false at the same time? It’s weird because sometimes I go to make a statement on something or post a thought, and I just can’t get the nuance right ever. All my opinions have a bit of a “but here’s where that thought ends” aspect to them. Here’s what I mean:
1. Henry and Camilla: I think someone kind of disliked something I said once when I said I was skeptical about Henry’s relationship with Camilla. And I tbh had strongly worded my thoughts. But here’s the deal. Henry, based on what we know of him, likely doesn’t have a good concept of love. And Camilla feels safe with Henry. Due to this, I think Henry views Camilla as something to protect. He sees her as aesthetic and wants to pursue her because he has clearly been taught by Julian and his own long history with many books and few human interactions that what’s important is what is ethereal and arcane and pretty. Camilla is going through a lot with Charles and she knows all the other guys are, in varying ways, terrified of Henry. Bunny was a jerk but his obsessive attitude toward Henry was indicative of his fear and his needing to know what Henry is up to, an attitude which makes increasing sense as the novel progresses. Richard has slips about Henry all the time but the most memorable to me is when he almost says “What if it’s Henry” instead of “What if it’s the cops?” when Charles knocks. Charles is so blatantly frightened of Henry and for good reason: Charles never seemed to want to kill Bunny, was was pulled into the murder (but it was still his choice), not taken seriously when he tried to lament Bunny, and then put into a situation where he had to just keep talking about it while minding his every word. Then there were strong indications Henry was trying to kill him. Camilla isn’t dumb. I’m sure she sees things that the guys see. She’s certainly disturbed when Henry made her douse herself in pig blood. But she allows Henry to have what he wants so she can be safe. 
Now, I don’t even think Camilla is wrong to make this choice. In fact, Richard’s attitude towards her decision was uncalled for. That said, we now have a relationship built on a man who is buried in fanciful ideas about things and a woman who is fully aware of everything wrong with him and just goes with it because she’s scared. But it’s weird because saying that this relationship is entirely destructive isn’t perfectly true either. It’s true for the above reasons. But I also see Henry and Camilla do having some semblance of a positive relationship too. He does treat her kindly and, whatever the reason, he does help her when she’s struggling with Charles. We’ve seen signs of Henry looking out for Camilla throughout the whole book. And, you know what? We even get tiny indications that she really believes in some of his nonsense. But, by the end of the novel, I was so skeptical of anything Henry did and so wary of how emotionless he’d gotten that I couldn’t really believe he wouldn’t ever hurt her (my goodness, this guy could read some ancient myth arguing that some random, toxic action is somehow akin to love and he’d take it seriously). But bottom line is that this isn’t an easy thing for me to voice my opinion on without immediately disagreeing with my own wording. 
2. Francis being untruthful about Charles. When I say Francis’s story about Charles isn’t correct, I mean that there are indications Francis is twisting facts. I’m saying it makes too much sense that he bore blame too, based on what we know of Francis. But what I’m not saying is that he spoke nothing but lies. This book is about illusions and things hidden in plain sight. Francis saying that Charles and Camilla being pretty makes it hard to see that they aren’t good does ring very true. It’s similar to Richard’s statement that he has a tendency to view interesting people as good (he says this about Julian). I do believe Francis when he says that Charles, even Camilla in a more subtle or different way, is jealous and manipulative— and the twins have been that way for a long time. We can pick that up ourselves throughout the novel. And he’s probably right that the bacchanal brought the worst of it to light. He definitely tries to tell Richard about something awful Charles did that night and can’t bring himself to. 
That said, Francis is also clearly framed as being illusionary himself. He’s compared twice to a fox in this scene. His reason for why Charles won’t admit to having been with him is flimsy. It’s an odd understanding of Charles who won’t speak of his drinking when personal details aren’t involved. And alcohol was involved every time Francis and Charles hooked up (in the story about the first time it happened, when they left Richard’s room, and at the funeral). Francis even admits that was a driving factor in their relationship. At the Corcorans’, we also see Charles say Francis attempted to coerce him into something only for Francis to cut him off. So it’s just that, knowing alcohol was involved, knowing Francis has tried to take advantage of an inebriated Richard, and knowing that he’s trying to cover up truths… it just doesn’t give us a picture of a Francis who was entirely innocent in the matter and who didn’t at all take advantage of his friend. 
A few things can exist at once because I think Francis’s big deal is being something of a doormat. He balks in the face of anything scary from doctor visits to certain social interactions; he goes along with others. He can be sharp-tongued and he does have strong desires, but he is often scared back into place. He clearly wants something with Richard (he goes for it twice) but won’t attempt to push when Richard is lucid. He asks permission, is denied, and accepts it (good!). But when Richard is vulnerable, Francis is more aggressive (fair point to Francis: this is not all the time. He’s seen Richard drunk and sleeping and been normal about it). Francis does get pushed back into place by Charles as well. Camilla states this when she tells Richard why she can’t move in with Francis rather than Henry. We also see Francis mock Richard’s speech patterns then immediately become really meek and apologetic when he sees that Richard is actually angry. And I’m kind of wondering if Francis knew all about Henry potentially setting up Richard and kept his mouth shut while Charles perhaps attempted to save Richard by taking him to the bar the night the police came. I say this because Charles says he knows Francis would betray him to Henry. And this moment seems more that just drunken rambles, based on Francis’s reaction. Francis’s suicide note even apologizes for NOT doing things. This fear does seem likely to cause him to merely take advantage of people when they’re vulnerable, to push until bitten back. (By the way, I think the alcohol he has during the funeral bathroom moment was purchased by Charles when he went out since it was in the glove compartment? The rest is vague but, to me, Francis is taking advantage of a weakness. To be honest, I like to think even Francis realized this. He payed Charles’s rehab bill. I think he knew that, in encouraging the drinking or, at least not stopping it, that he’d failed Charles— and Camilla who was directly affected.) 
This is a lot of things. So I think me having moments of “OK FRANCIS WAS CLEARLY MANIPULATIVE HERE” is not the same as me saying he was totally wrong. Just like me saying he’s likely right about Charles is not me saying Charles wasn’t a vulnerable and mistreated party too. 
3. Bunny being more morally aware than others. This one is the TRICKIEST. Because Bunny is really bad too. He’s such an awful friend. But my big-hard-to-capture-thought is that I do not believe Henry when he says Bunny’s reaction to the farmer-slaying was purely feelings of being left out. And I think Bunny was aware of and disturbed by the things going on in the group in a way the others largely weren’t. Richard says Bunny was a bloodhound for insecurities and that’s true. But I also got the sense that he was actually seeing his friends flaws and going, in some deep part of himself, “wait, this is really bad.” Julian mistakes Bunny’s behavior for a possible religious conversion. I think that’s very close— it was a moral crisis, I believe. But Julian is onto the same principle which doesn’t align with what Henry said (that it wasn’t at all moral). Furthermore, I think Henry (and Francis) was wrong about Bunny’s feelings of jealousy and hatred towards Richard. Again, this line between partially true and partially false is light because maybe Henry did note real feelings of inferiority (Bunny did harass Richard despite him not being at the bacchanal and there’s that mean moment where he tells Charles to give Richard a drink without washing the cup). But this is all thrown in to question with Bunny’s letter to Julian which doesn’t mention Richard at all. I just wonder if Bunny, despite all his rampant -isms and blatant mistreatment of his friends, was the first to wake up. And he was killed for it. Similarly, Charles starts to wake up in ways. He, in the midst of all his own crimes, was getting impacted by having helped take a life. And Henry’s reaction repeated itself; he went to silence this person who, within all his madness, was right about something. AND YET AGAIN. This is only true in some manners because Henry was also thinking of Camilla.
Revisiting my whole thesis: It’s like anything I could possibly say about this book has limits and other considerations. Many things are true to a point and false at a level. So I look back at every post I make and am like “well I still think I was right, but I wish I could shine a flashlight on every little detail and exception.” I just want to be fair about everything all the time!
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