#the propaganda doesn't work as well when you don't follow through!

[essektheylyss]

It is actually buckwild to learn that the Prime Consector is straight up one of three heads of government, and the Trust has been effectively using the role as an easy scapegoat. They've been playing games with Company Valor earnings, and they're publicizing every moment of their time on the job and then some. This is the Trust's most effective tool for putting action behind the ideals they want to push, and they're shooting themselves in the foot.

On one hand, a cult of this kind will of course be more effective if its leadership has drank its own Kool-aid, but on the other hand, the quantified tangibility of their ideals and the way the Upper Trust fabricates public opinion and manipulates those in debt means that it's hard to believe they aren't at least somewhat aware of this. So it's astounding to me how much trust they have in the general populace's belief in the Valor system.

The Company is probably the most visible group of individuals outside of literal media personalities. If the Upper Trust committed to making it just a little easier for Company members to break even than for the general public, they would have no issue with control. The Company, after all, are taking on personal risk to themselves in their line of work, and in theory what they're doing is all for the good of the Trust. This is a job that could easily be accounted as worthy of higher rates of Valor, allowing Company members to accrue and break even more quickly, and showcase the societal commitment to upward mobility.

Of course, as in real life, high-control cults do fall victim to their own messaging, and have blind spots which often lead to their demise. This is not to say that it's unbelievable that the Trust has hampered their efforts in this way.

But it is fascinating to consider that, as they're pinning the blame for the devaluation of Valor on their Prime Consector, the routine procedure of this blame game is in fact a cornerstone of the erosion of the Valor system's credibility and by extension effectiveness, and it's been a very long time coming.

#midst podcast #midst spoilers #midst meta #like look the US military is WAY more effective when they're actually helping vets get the benefits they're promised #the propaganda doesn't work as well when you don't follow through!

[matan4il]

That CUPE poster is fake. I don't know why someone would try to frame a Canadian workers union like that, but that is NOT the kind of thing they post, ever. They are in support of minorities and deal with Canadian issues and working conditions, not international conflict. And they would absolutely NEVER make a horrific poster like that. See for yourself: instagram . com/cupeontario/ and instagram . com/cupe_scfp/ and they're on Twitter and stuff too. The pixelatedness of that poster speaks to how fake it is too, none of their other material looks anything like that. And while Fred Hahn has posted/retweeted some stuff about the conflict on his twitter, he has never posted anything inflammatory like that and the reply of his that is in the screenshot is replying to something completely different.

Hi Anon,

I'm gonna reply to you and to the following ask together.

https://www.tumblr.com/matan4il/742531713829404672 This is a faked image; CUPE may have problematic opinions, but it doesn't help anyone to falsify atrocious posters when the reality should be more than enough.

Here's the post in question, showing a poster with the photo of Shani Lock's stripped, raped and murdered body being kidnapped into Gaza. The poster has CUPE's logo, as well as a text that legitimizes the Oct 7 massacre. CUPE, as mentioned above, is a Candian workers union.

Here are the links to the two IG accounts of CUPE from the first ask. To fthe first anon, you're right that the poster in question does not currently appear on either, you're wrong that they don't touch upon international conflict, they def weighed in on this one (more on that later in my reply).

The poster does use the pink filter and the CUPE logo with the right font, but it's true that someone skilled enough with photoshop can fake that. At the same time, if that person was good enough to be able to copy that well CUPE's visuals, I doubt they would be "exposed" through pixelation, so rather than proof of photoshopping, the pixelation seems to be a result of zooming in on the poster to show just a part of Shani's body along with the text. That would make the pic appear pixelated, and then a screenshot was taken that way.

So far, I would say nothing's conclusive one way or another. The poster isn't on the IG accounts, but it could have been there and deleted, or could have been posted on another social media site to begin with, the visuals being the right ones doesn't prove anything, and neither does the pixelation. BUT since I noticed the dialogue about the poster seemed to have taken place on Twitter, I went to have a look there.

I found the post where someone quote retweeted Fred Hahn, asking him about that Oct 7 poster, along with Hahn's reply that CUPE had nothing to do with it, and then he added the false accusation of genocide, telling people to "focus" (because apparently Jewish pain is never the main focus, not even when we talk about the Holocaust, which is the term for the genocide of the Jews at the hands of the Nazis... there's a reason I mention this, I'll get back to it later). I will keep my mouth shut about how many ignorant, antisemitic, anti-Israel tweets I had to see as I was scrolling in order to get to the relevant one, I'll just say that workers unions that want to be safe for Jewish workers as well should do better than that, including when the heads of these unions post on their "personal" accounts (since they're not posting as a private person, they're posting as the head of said union). Here's the exchange, dated Feb 14:

But the person who challenged Fred Hahn did mention where this poster was supposedly originally shared:

Apparently, CUPE has local branches, with numbers, and each has their own Twitter account, so I went to CUPE 3906, and went all the way back to their tweets around Oct 7. Needless to say, this official account is full of anti-Israel, antisemitic propaganda, too. Now around the relevant date, what does their timeline look like? There's one last pre-war tweet on Oct 6, a general anti-colonial one re-tweeted on Oct 7 (even though the timing makes the context obvious, the wording doesn't explicitly mention either Israel or Gaza), and then the next, VERY interesting tweet is on Oct 11. Here's the relevant segment (obviously the tweets appear with the latest at the top, older below):

Here is that Oct 11 tweet, which is a statement made in response to backlash they got for a tweet that they say was "made in solidarity with Palestinians."

Only the first paragraph is truly relevant, but the last one is also telling. "As the death toll rises," they said, just a day after Israel's counter action started, and while Israel was still counting its dead from the deadliest day in the history of this conflict, and the biggest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. Still, the more important part is that if there had been nothing wrong with the tweet they refer to in the 1st paragraph, it should have still been up on their account, but it's not. Something was there and deleted, because there's now NO TWEET between Oct 6 and this statement, that could explain getting backlash... Deleting the tweet indicates they KNOW something was wrong with it, and they no longer wish to be publicly associated with it. But what was it? Have a look at this tweet, replying to CUPE 3906 on Oct 11:

It explicitly mentions rape. If the above poster was a fake, photoshopped and shared online in February 2024, how did someone posting in October 2023 know to mention rape specifically, and not just CUPE 3906's general justification of the massacre?

I can't prove anything one way or another regarding a deleted tweet, and with the progress of fake images, no one else can either. But I feel like the general progression of events indicates to me that it's more likely the poster is real, CUPE 3906 realized they won't get away with it, deleted it, and then they all closed ranks, claiming the screenshot is fake. Again, whatever they posted in the deleted tweet had to be real bad for even people as one-sided as they are (with all of the anti-Israel and antisemitic stuff they do proudly still have up on their accounts), that they were compelled to delete it. And justifying not just the massacre, but the rape specifically, might just do that.

Now let me get back to the IG accounts that the first ask pointed to, because even though they post less frequently than the multiple Twitter CUPE accounts, they're still very clear regarding this union's bias, and I'll also get back to that Holocaust mention, as promised.

I did not find a single post of solidarity with or compassion for Jews on either IG account following the Hamas massacre. I did find, on the Ontario account (and cross posted to Twitter, too) shared on Oct 10 a post that states they stand with the colonized over the colonizer, while the image (as well as their anti-Israel tweets) makes it clear they're erasing Jewish history and native rights in the Land of Isral and Jerusalem. The image could have been inclusive, show both mosques and the Western Wall, but nope. Jews are excluded from this image of our holy city and historical capital.

I also found a post about Holocaust Remembrance Day, which presents the Holocaust as including Jews. To make it clear, as someone who works in the field of studying this: "The Holocaust" is a term which is meant to reflect the Nazi intention to fully annihilate the Jews, something that didn't characterize their policy with other minorities. This is why we distinguish the Holocaust, the genocide of the Jews, from the persecution of other minorities by the Nazis. BOTH matter, and we talk about and educate against both, but they do have different characteristics, and so these are events, which are related, but CANNOT be reduced into one framing term. It is so problematic, talking about an event that was specifically about the Jews, as 'including Jews.' But let's say maybe that was ignorance, a lot of people don't get this distinction. CUPE's text doesn't mention antisemitism once, in a post about the most extreme antisemitic event in history, at a time when antisemitism is reaching its peak since WWII. When CUPE posted nothing else about this rise in Jew hatred, this text is just NOT good enough.

And what makes it even more obvious that CUPE is not treating Jews as it does other minorities, is that the same account DOES include posts that are specific to other communities, and does center the term for their hatred and persecution. They shared a post about a mosque attack that occurred in 2017, and in the text, they don't hesitate standing in solidarity specifically with Muslims, and against Islamophobia. So, to CUPE, 6 murdered Muslims are worthy of centering in the post about them (rightly so), but at least 6 million murdered Jews are not. Worse, the post then goes on to repeat the false claim about a genocide in Gaza. It also mentions the rise in Islamophobia following the war, even though they posted NOTHING, on NONE of the accounts I looked at, which recognizes the much greater rise in antisemitism we've seen over the same period of time, and which was launched by an attack on Jews.

The bilingual account, which I guess is a national one, didn't even mention Holocaust Remembrance Day. But on the very same date (Jan 27), it did mention the 2017 mosque attack, as well as Islamophobia, anti-Palestinians, but not a word on antisemitism.

All of this together is so upsetting, shows such a deep lack of concern for the well being of Jews, such a strong bias against the Jewish state and Jewish identity, that I honestly wonder whether that one poster is truly an issue. If it was posted by CUPE 3906, as I tend to believe by all signs I've seen, it seems to be a continuation of everything CUPE is completely unashamed of. And if they didn't share that poster, well... I guess there's a certain amount of poetic justice about being accused of something you didn't do, and no one listening to you protesting against the lie, eh CUPE?

You're welcome to do with this what you will.

(for all of my updates and ask replies regarding Israel, click here)

#israel #antisemitism #israeli #israel news #israel under attack #israel under fire #terrorism #anti terrorism #hamas #antisemitic #antisemites #jews #jew #judaism #jumblr #frumblr #jewish #israelunderattack #ask #anon ask

[sorrinslays]

Gepard's role in the story

(crack theory territory)

So, I'm sure I'm not the only one that noticed, but Gepard is extremely underused in the story, which is such a shame?

Like, I counted the times we see him in the main story and it's disappointing. We (Astrall Express Crew) see him at the start after Sampo ditches us, where he takes us to Cocolia and all, then we see him again at the end of the story when he's trying to stop us because he believes we are trying to harm the Supreme guardian and he fights us and his Sister and that's it. We don't see him again.

Then, when Topaz comes to Jarillo VI he is there for two scenes again. One where he tries to stop Topaz and gets ambushed and one at the end where he stops a woman from getting crushed to death.

Even in 'his' (Serval's) companion quest, he takes the backseat. Sure, the story was about Serval and her getting over Cocolia and Gepard's role was him just trying to show Serval that she is still needed in Belobog, but honestly they could've done more with him.

I think people forget that he doesn't know the truth of what really happened to Cocolia? (as far as I'm aware at least). Can you imagine if he learned the truth? The mental breakdown that he'll experience?

This man has been serving her for the better part of a decade. He was spoon-fed propaganda like that Underworlders are 'wild' (an item description mentions that he had to fight 'wild Underworlders' I'm pretty sure) and blindly following the Supreme Guardian's orders for years. How is he supposed to react when he learns that those 'necessary sacrifices' of his fellow guards was just an excuse to get rid of more Belobogians for the 'dream' the Stellaron promised Cocolia.

Don't forget, he knew those people. They were friends, comrades, people he saw everyday. And all of them were dying on the daily and he was powerless to do anything.

And when he learns the truth, how is he gonna react to Bronya's decision to cover it up? Were the deaths of his friends in vain? Do their families not deserve to know the truth as to why their loved ones died? How much blood does the late Supreme Guardian have on her hands? How much of it has transferred to Bronya? How much blood does Gepard have on his hands because he never questioned his orders?

Point is, he is so important to Belobog, he's the Goddamn Captain of the only military service they have there, obviously he is needed! So why underuse him so much?

Well, this is where we move more into theory territory. I think it ties in with a future Belobog quest that Black Swan's companion quest hinted at (at the end during Sampo's and Sparkle's conversation).

Since Gepard has been on the backburner, we have yet to see Sampo and Gepard interacting and the fact Sampo still doesn't have a companion quest even though he is an important lore character I think all of that will happen in the future.

I think it would work best as a quest without the Astral Express Crew, like the new POV mechanic or the cut aways used in the Loufu for Dan Heng. We could play as Gepard or Sampo as they are forced to work together for whatever reason.

We could play as Gepard as something big happens in the restricted zone (AKA the catastrophe Sparkle teased Sampo about). Maybe he gets informed about it (maybe we get a new 4* character that's a guard that informs Gepard) and when he makes it there, Sampo is already here, as if expecting it.

Maybe Bronya calls Gepard to her office after an anonymous tip was sent to her warning the Silvermane Guards of a catastrophe coming to Belobog. Maybe he is tasked with finding who sent the note as well as prepering for said catastrophe, which is how he runs into Sampo, having the two working together.

Maybe we play as Sampo, leaving clues for the Silvermane guards until we reveal ourselves, getting that 5* version. Maybe we are the one pushing the puzzle pieces so they fit on their own or maybe all through the quest we keep cutting back to a game of chess between Aha and Sampo, showing the unpredictable nature of the catastrophe as it was orchestrated by Aha just for shits and giggles.

Either way, this works great as a pathway to seeing:

a) the dynamic between Sampo (arguably the most mysterious character to come from Belobog) and Gepard (resident bbg)

b) 5* Sampo

c) (and this is mostly me playing around with concepts) Gepard becoming an emanator, becoming the first on screen character to be turned into an emanator

d) a great end to Sampo's character arc by becoming a part of Belobog (maybe he even becomes part of the Silvermanes as a detective)

e) more Geppie screen time and exploration of his character

(a few extra ramblings from my demented as a treat)

I think it's criminal that Gepard doesn't have his own companion quest and he's practically shoved in his sister's, and considering that Sampo doesn't have his own......................

I think it would be fair to have these two in a companion quest of their own.

I'm thinking of a quest where Sampo becomes a Silvermane guard (a detective to be more precise) and Gepard learns the truth about Cocolia.

I can imagine that during some investigation that Gepard is having a hard time with due to the Underworlders not trusting the Silvermane guards, he is forced to seek Sampo's help. So through Natasha, he gets ahold of Sampo and the two work together where Gepard, through investing a shady group learns what actually happened to Cocolia as well as all the lies he's been getting spooned-fed for years.

One mental breakdown and emotional conversation between the two later, they catch the criminals and Gepard takes it upon himself to make Sampo part of the Silvermane guards because of how helpful he's actually been recently (main story + new quest with the catastrophe + the companion quest + helping the Underworld in general).

The companion quest ends with Sampo becoming a detective (Heizou from Genshin Impact style) where he wants to prevent crimes from happening before they even committed. His reason being 'criminal to detective is pretty stereotypical and Aha might blow up the planet' so he challenges himself to stop crime before it's committed to keep Aha entertained enough that they don't blow up the planet but uninterested enough that they don't actively observe.

I think it would be a great end to both character arcs.

Gepard gets more screentime and learns to question orders (it'd be nice to see his friendship with Bronya damaged, cause technically he is her uncle (Cocolia adopted Bronya while she was still in a relationship with Serval, making him an uncle)). Maybe he also reaches the conclusion of still being a Silvermane Guard for the sake of protecting the people but not actively following the Supreme Guardian because he lost faith in her.

Sampo gains a home and (gasp) love (platonic, romantic, doesn't matter). He'll feel like he belongs somewhere, a permanent home. Not matter if he leaves the planet for a day or a year, he'll still be welcome. His reputation improves and his skill is used for the betterment of Belobog. His mask is allowed to slip, even just a little.

#the last part is mostly ideas for my own fanfic #can you tell? #don't expect anything soon though #I'm still struggling with exams and other projects #plus one of the protagonists is Seele and I hate writing her #anyway Gepard and Sampo my bbgs #Gepard needs more screentime #although the post derailed quickly to Sampo #sampo my beloved #I want these two to interact so bad #I just know it's gonna be the funniest shit ever #Sampo would be the biggest menace ever #and Gepard would just suffer #Gepard would be this close to strangling Sampo #real talk tho #I think there's a conversation to be had between these two #like they are so different yet so similar? #at least in their goal of protecting Belobog #after all #Gepard protects Belobog because it's his home #and Sampo does the same because it makes him happy #they both find elation in preserving Belobog #just in different ways #some more questionable from others #sampo koski #gepard landau #sampo hsr #hsr gepard #character analysis #honkai star rail

[ensorcellingdevilries]

Magical paths:

When choosing magical paths there are some things to keep in mind. First off do your research!!! This is one of the most important things in choosing, is to know what your choosing. You should know rules and regulations if they apply. You should know who practices this, what they practice, where they practice, when they practice, and why they practice the path they do. Then you should ask yourself if you can answer the same questions the same way. This is not to say you have no chance to individualize your practice it is just knowing what you are in for. The second step is following your intuition. If you have a feeling something is right or wrong it usually is. Follow your feelings and they will guide you. And the third thing is in time your path will find and choose you, you may change it multiple times in your life and it may or may not work out. You are not bound to something that doesn't work for you so don't get frustrated when one way doesn't work. Some if not most people choose to be Eclectic, which means they take from anything they want to use and discard what they don't to build a path for themselves. In the end it Is up to you to choose where you begin and where you will end up. What is out there in terms of magical paths? Here are just a few I have come across in my time. There are so many more then I could ever name, but here we go.

Wiccan: belief in the god and goddess. Have many sabbats and holidays for different times of the year. Believe in empowerment through magick with the help of the deity they worship. Believe in harm none and do as you will.

Shamanic path- believes in the power of nature, involves working with the spirits of animals and plants, a healer of souls that risks their well being to cure others, a healer of the body who uses herbs to cure illness, goes on vision quests for advice or healing.

Hedge witch- uses all forms of nature, plants, animals, rivers, earth in magick.

Kitchen witch- magick in cooking and housework, proficient in potions and home blessings.

Traditional witchcraft- can be more brutal at times it is not always light and dark. It is not a religious form of magical path. This involves healing and hexing both, and is usually for gain of the self.

Draconic magick - works with dragons in magick. This can be harsh if not prepared, it takes total dedication, honesty, and knowing of oneself before you begin. You can be made to face yourself or do things you may not be comfortable with in order to grow.

Astral witch- one who does all their work outside the physical realm. In the astral realm they create their own universes, their own "life forms", they are their own gods in their own little world of limitless possibility. They can control time and space in their world. They can also travel parallel to the physical plane for remote viewing. They can have an effect on the physical realm almost akin to a ghost.

Fairy magick- work with the face they harness the magick of faeries and are under fae protection.

Left hand path is the path that is not all about worship and religion, and while it may still be included this path is all about building yourself and your own personal power. It is about balance.

The fact is that most of these paths were originally meant to be individualized but from people writing books and getting famous off the concept, people tend to follow the famous as absolute. Just like wicca these paths is being diluted by mainstream propaganda and concepts turning the individual into a codependent based on what they program themselves to think by over authenticating practices.

Necromancy- magic of working with the dead, death magick, communications with the dead, work with psychopomps, some even believe in resurrections and zombie magick.

Demonolatry- one who worships demons and uses demonic magick.

Luciferian - worship and/or viewing of Lucifer and Lilith as teachers. This path can be darker than some others with the use of balance between light and dark instead of all light all the time.

Satanist (theistic)- worships Satan as deity calls on him in their magick work if they choose to use magick.

Satanist (atheistic)- chooses to worship or better the self. Does not worship Satan as deity. Uses the term "Satan" which means adversary to describe the self or the path.

Draconian- to work with deity and spirits such as Lucifer, Lilith, Tiamat, Belial, Arachne and Asmoday to gain equality to them in the current of Dragon energy to become the dragon energy incarnate. A brutal path you must constantly live by. You will be tested, you will be burned by the fire of the dragon current, until you become one with the current, and become the dragon. This path requires a lot of possibly forced changes in your life. It will remove all that is holding you back and the only way to get anywhere is to keep moving forward until you achieve complete balance between dark and light and with the inner and outer current and you have achieved your goal.

#witchblr #wiccalife #pagan witch #wicca #witchcraft #baby witch #beginner witch #left hand path #paganism #pagan #satanism #luciferian #luciferian witchcraft

[reflections-in-a-critical-eye]

For some reason the whole Taylor Swift mania thing has made me reconsider the way I look at celebrities and stan culture… I’m a huge fan of bts, especially jungkook, sometimes even to the point of obsession. But I see these people losing their minds over Taylor, following her every move, worshipping even the small actions she does, defending her like their life depends on it and it’s like? You don’t know her? She doesn’t care ab you, not to say she doesn’t care ab her fans but to her, you’ll always just be an indistinguishable “fan” no matter how much of your life you dedicate to her. She’ll just keep getting richer and richer.

It made me realize how I do a lot of these same things for bts, especially Jungkook, and has really made me rethink my behavior and how stan culture has kind of warped my thinking. Like yes, Jungkook is incredibly attractive and talented and kind, but he’s still a person. And it’s such a fine line in stanning spaces between admiration and straight up worship. stan culture seems to be getting more and more unhinged and it’s so strange to watch from another perspective. Just my rambling thoughts, haha

Yes, you're absolutely right, but it's also very easy to fall into the trap. It's not just the individual fan's fault, but a myriad of reasons that lead to it, including from the artist side. I recently listened to someone explaining one of Swift's methods of keeping her fans so attached and interested and it was presumably because she stopped giving promotional interviews and in order to have that gap filled, fans turn to her lyrics in order to find clues about her life. Her dating life is mediated and very public, but she creates a distance by lack of more candid or intimate appearances (in depth interviews and so on). It's easy to create this cult-like image and to have a fandom that moves like that. The bigger it is, the more unhinged the behavior gets. See Army as well or other Kpop fandoms. The Swarm tv series was definitely inspired by the beyhive. When the artist turns into this larger than life figure, this phenomenon is to be expected.

Can we keep ourselves in check? Yes, sure. But not always and it's not easy. Stan behavior is complex and its levels of craziness are on a scale. I see myself falling into the trap. But just because I have awareness, it doesn't mean I stop, you know. Often I have this issue with "babying" some of these men which is ridiculous because I have never done that and I still don't do it with others, except for JM and JK. More in the sense that I see them through rose-tinted glasses sometimes, I can find justifications, they're two babygirls and can do no harm and so on. You know how easy it is for me to check myself? I only have to apply the same way of thinking to other idols and guess what? It doesn't work. I don't see it. In some cases I find some of it completely ridiculous. But this says something about me, not the idol in question. It's the result of being biased and it's difficult to step away from that, but I do try to find a balance.

Another thing that happens when we spend a lot of times in fandom spaces is that we might tend to forget that celebrating achievements and the way we write about these people can turn ridiculous very fast. And if you like the person, it's harder to notice. Writing about an idol through this perspective of them being extraordinary, every minor or mundane aspect has to be praised, etc., gets very close to sounding like propaganda texts. Again, I notice it better when I read stuff about people that I'm not really into. Ten minutes scrolling through Club Chalamet's twitter page and it's like getting a cold shower.

#m thoughts #fandom behaviour #stan behavior

[battle-of-the-jrwi-aus]

POKETIDE AU!

Creator: @burning-sol

Links: au tag, animation

Summary!

Riptide x Pokemon but *I* have the most based takes about it. Girl don't look at those other AUs, I have the best iteration.

Additional Propaganda

Okay so you can check the #jrwi poketide <- that tag if you wanna see shit. It's not fully developed but like here are some of my fav bits.

I have pokeball lore!!! It's actually pretty different to canon pokemon, so I just wanna shout it out. Jay Ferin has traditional pokeballs that grow and shrink and have the symbol of her family because they're custom made for the Ferins. Chip has older pokeballs he recieved as hand downs that do NOT work that good and don't adjust in size <- this is like a cheaper and more common pokeball, they're made from acorns. Gillion has undersea pokeballs that can hold multiple pokemon and are based on like shells? Which helps explain his much larger team of pokemon. And you should totally check out this underrated lil' video of mine that shows off how they look when used. (https://burning-sol.tumblr.com/post/695164166727663616) But yeah, basically they got some greater implications to themz.

ALSO FUCK STANDARD POKEMON TEAMZ. I don't wanna be rude but this is a bracket so I just wanna say, these bitches teams reflect something about them down to just how many pokemon they use. Jay has less pokemon because she's more rigid and deathly unsure about what she's meant to do with herself. Chip has a ragtag found family team, a lot of them very silly additions. Gillion has WAY too many pokemon, and he doesn't rlly follow the unspoken "6 pokemon battle" rule because he is a bad bitch!! Let Gillion have like 4 corsola btw, I think he's allowed to be high key obsessed with them and looking after them. (BTW pokemon fight alongside their trainers they arent separate battlez, just want you to know)

Pokemon highlights:

Jay and Eevee "Eevee was a pokemon she inhereted from her family. She was given a firestone to eventually evolve them into a Flareon but she hasn't done it on her journey yet. Jay thought that she was just procrastinating at first but as time goes on she's starting to realise she hasn't followed through because that's not what she wants for her Eevee or for her." And I have considered drawing a custom evolution for Eevee because that'd be so cool.

Chip and Bonsley "Chip stole this house plant. I mean house plant I mean house plant I mean house plant I mean-" He accidentally took a pokemon he mistook for a houseplant.

Chip and Sableye "Chip is so distressed that Gillion is throwing all their money away just wait until he realises his pokemon is eating it too. He genuinely has no fucking clue what this thing is."

Gillion and many magikarp "Gillion has a collection of Magikarp (all on the smaller side) he looks after so that one day they will evolve into big strong Gyarados. :) Jay and Chip did not understand why Gillion was collecting these Pokemon until one of them evolved on the journey with them and they're just, "WAIT THAT'S WHAT THEY EVOLVE INTO??" Gillion thought they knew."

...and Chip spinoff of above story "Funny side story, you remember Gillion and all those Magikarp? Well Gillion suggested that Chip help look after them and Chip found a Magikarp he fucking ADORED. He was feeding them! He was chatting with them! They were BESTIES!!! And then the Magikarp evolved but it didn't want to go back into the sea, they wanted to stay with Chip. Chip has a Gyarados because Gillion convinced him to look after a Magikarp and Chip decided they were the best Magikarp ever. I hope that makes you happy."

Gillion and Seadra "gillion has basically had kingdra since he was really really small, and it was regarded as one of the few times as a child where he really managed to step up and sort of embody what he's meant to be? but the kingdra actually was just a pokemon who looked at the tiny not very well treated child and adopted him. kingdra is older than gillion and i didnt quite realise HOW big kingdra was, but searching it up for drawing... kingdra is 5'11″ (180cm), which makes it even TALLER than gillion at his tallest. and that's a height i dont use so gillion is like 5'1" (154cm). kingdra rlly does just look like gillion's poke parent, its so silly." Seadra adopted gillion you guys.

Gillion and honedge "gillion STILL has a honedge when he joins the story, and they evolve into doublade episode 15 which coincicides with gillion's growth as he develops a better understanding of the world (also there was a sword fight like yeah its fitting). HOWEVER, to evolve into an aegislash you need a dusk stone. ... i propose that doublade evolves episode *73* in tandem with when gillion makes the oath of vengence... i feel like its such a noteworthy moment for gillion AND the magical effects charlie describes are as follows "..and you see as the sparkles around him- this funny, zanny, quirky pixie dust starts to turn into almost a charcoalish colour-" <- that seems like adequate dusk stone vibes to me."

also gillion has an Omanyte and Kabuto that he was given as a child that hate him because they think he's a disappointment i love when pokemon trauma <3

so that's a lot anyways MY pokemon au is the MOST fucking based PLEASE believe me

#poketide au #au propaganda

[propaganda-inc]

Tw: Depression Propaganda

I don't want, nor expect this to go anywhere. Actually, I kinda don't even know if this is a good idea to post this on here. But I have nothing to do, and it's better to put my thoughts on here rather than keep them in, or so people say.

I'm homeless. I'm not going to go into detail as to how this happened, because it's the Internet.

But it's hell. I feel like I've been dumped out on the world without a clue how things really work, and expected to fit in like the last puzzle piece everyone's looking for. I didn't realize, even during college, that my main goal was to survive, not live. Everyday since I've graduated high school, since I've graduated college, was to try and follow a road and path that was not for me. And every step I've taken since then has been on the wrong way. I thought doing an entry level job in my field would help me figure out where I needed to go. It just made me a drunk, a cynic, and more depressed than I ever thought I could be. I thought moving might help, and put me in a place where I could help others in a better way. That just made me even more stressed out, and even drunker. After all this, I know I'm damn lucky. I'm homeless, but I'm safe. I can get the basic stuff I need. I'm even in a training program. I have some friends in real life I can talk to. But I'm empty. Totally hollow. When I'm not at work, all i do when I get home is the exact damn thing- watch TV, go on my phone. Nothing gives me joy anymore. I can't even play video games anymore, because I just don't have the urge. The past week has been me taking melatonin just so I can sleep during the day so I don't have to go through the whole day awake. I can't get myself to get a hobby, because I don't have the energy or urge to do anything anymore. Interests aren't acted on. The only time I feel like I have emotion is when I have to fake it for others. Hell, I have an idea for a video that I'd love to make. But like everything, I think that "yeah, I have no experience nor any idea what I'm doing." Then the urge vanishes. Everytime. Just like everything else.

I've started to be called a Doomer. I see it, I get it. When you think that the world has 20-30 years of normalcy before all hell breaks loose because we can't agree on whether or not plastic in the ocean isn't a really good idea, some people don't particularly want to be told that.

But what the hell do you want me to think when I've spent time learning just how little of a fuck most people do/can give about a world that is quite literally burning before our eyes?

Look, I'm trying to do the things that people say are going to make things better. I've set therapy appointments. I'm trying to take care of my body. I'm trying to take care of my head. But having no money makes some of that hard. Getting appointments rescheduled the day before because your healthcare system is dogshit doesn't help that. Neither does living in a world where you question your existence as much as others like to deny it. Ah, oh well.

[slothsaresleepy]

It's incredibly difficult to find meaningful friendships - especially with other men. When you grow older, I think you also know exactly what you like or dislike. You know what you're looking for in others. What's the problem? You have no time anymore. You need to work, you need to raise a family, you need to (oftentimes) handle bills, healthcare, etc.

There's a real cost/benefit analysis later in life. Do I want to potentially WASTE my time searching for connection with other guys to make meaningful friendships when, 1) we might not even like each other that much, or 2) all the work that goes into meeting people now (online?)

This is something that caused me to take a glimpse internally. Why have so many of my most meaningful friendships been with women? Why do I seek out the attention and friendship of women instead of other men? Am I THAT emotionally needy? Hah!

Well, thinking about earlier - there's a niche of what I'm interested in and it's pretty much any article that's about "top ten ways to make new friends as a guy" doesn't include what I want to be doing. I spent a lot of time chasing women and dating, though - I'm good at talking to women (or so I think!) Going back to the cost/benefit - I know how to talk to women, I know where to find them, and I am more comfortable talking about the things I'm interested in with them. I don't give a duck about a football lol

I love the work I do, for the most part. I do have some connections with guys from work. The problem, though? There's that extra layer of WORK! It's my livelihood and I'm the sole provider for my family. What I can't do anymore is shit where I eat - or risk souring my professional opportunities because of bad friendships or experiences at work.

This is a cautionary tale. I know I'm in the risk category despite never thinking about it. There are highs and lows we all go through - I think back at the peak when I was the most social. It was exhausting - it took up pretty much all of my time to grow and maintain a broad network of friends (both male and female). What man in their 30s/40s between work and family has the kind of time to build new relationships let alone maintain existing? I get it!

There's this saying with old military buddies that they can go for years without speaking to one another and then pick-up right where they left off as if nothing changed years later. Is that a good thing? I feel like part of it speaks to guys knowing everything sucks and just be happy someone remembers your name, but what scares me is ... how have you not changed!? I feel like I'm almost a completely different person every 3-5 years. Do people stay the same? I don't want to stay the same - I want to always find ways to grow and change.

My big fear. Your partner should want to be your best friend, lover, caretaker - but what if that want becomes a need? Is there a corresponding increase in codependency, BPD, and NPD that follows the decrease in male friendships? We really set ourselves up for disaster in this society!

The difference between "want" and "need" to me is like the difference when someone asks you to do something versus telling you to do something. I tie this in with the patriotic American exceptionalism propaganda non-sense we're all filled with as kids. "Freedom! Independence! You don't need anyone's help. Live free or die. Lead, follow, or get out of the way. Pick yourself up by your bootstraps." aka don't do anything anyone tells you!

I've absolutely found myself in a situation where I've been told to do something, I know it's the right thing to do, I know I need to do it, I was even PLANNING on doing it, but the simple act of being told makes me hate doing it. Why are we like that? I hope I'm never a burden!

I guess I have to put in the work to make everyone happy - even me!

Well, that's it.

https://www.latimes.com/lifestyle/newsletter/2023-10-10/more-than-1-in-7-men-have-no-close-friends-the-way-we-socialize-boys-is-to-blame-group-therapy

#memes #meme #sad kinda tho #men #relatable

[azhdakha]

I don't know if I'll have enough energy for collecting materials on this topic, so I'll start with just voicing my thoughts.

I think that a lot of misunderstanding and conflict between Eastern Europeans & West Asians come from the half-ass knowledge about the history of communism in these countries. Before the revolution in russian empire indiegnous people and ethnic minorities were oppressed, that's a fact. Stripped off their culture, religion and land, treated as inferior to the colonized ethno-religious community, raped, murdered, genocided. Economic and social inequality and opression also did exist and played a serious role in that. Naturally there were quite a lot of people among russians as well as indigenous people that saw the revolution of 1917 as a way to get rid of this opression, to change the society. Communists' ideology of equality including racial and ethnic was attractive to them. It was a political ideology that got into a lot of nations and peoples including through communist propaganda using the inequality to attract followers and supporters. That's a fact. That's why I'm always baffled when people say as if communism was something exclusively foreign and brought by russians from Moscow and there wasn't any communists among indigenous popualtion. Communists policiy included so-called Korenization in the first two decades of USSR. In some regions communists brought emancipation for women which is seen as colonial by some conservative activists. And tankies know that too and naturally see it as good.

Now what they seem to not understand in their utopian idealized and sanitized version of communists regimes is that if something works in theory it doesn't mean it's gonna work in practice. Yes, ideologically communists were supposed to bring ethnic equality, land back, equal rights, economic equality, eradicate opression etc. In reality it turned into a certain cruel, radical and bloody extermination and opression of not only everyone who doesn't agree and blindly support communism and worship their leaders, but everyone who's life and whole existence was on the way of communist plans. It was as insane as it sounds, whether you like it or not. People were taken away their last food supplies and means to survive. People were repressed for the most marasmatic reasons or even without reason. It was a civil war and it was violent. It wasn't just a fight against the oppressors. It was a war against everyone who was in the wag of communists holding the power. Often between the members of the communist party. And there is plenty, PLENTY of materials about it. Eventually after the Civil War the red army veterans and active communists were repressed themselves during purges. The politics of korenization didn't last during the whole period of USSR, it existed only a couple of first decades. The traditional cultures were replaced by a surrogate, comfortable for the regime. The casual racism, chauvinism and xenophobia didn't go anywhere. Some would say that for that period of history it was very progressive nevertheless. But we do criticize the societies of western countries of the past despite they also strived for equality in some way, don't we? We criticise early white feminists and white abolitionists. Why can't we criticize the communist states of past then? This is a question for tankies. For some reason you assume that everyone criticizing communism or everyone repressed is a bourgeois and deserved it. Meanwhile everyone from Eastern Europe and West Asia will say that this isn't true even if they are communists themselves.

World isn't divided on black and white, it's complicated. Yes, communists promised equality, indigenous rights, eradication of opression, and yes, a lot of indigenous people joined them hoping to get rid of the imperial regime. But in reality it turned into a bloody war and cruel repressions. Most of its time since late 30s to its end USSR was just as imperialist as the west, simply under the slogan of "we've come to free you from western imperialism". Both can coexist without a hypocrite silencing of one.

#khan bika

[serenity-songbird]

JUst here to remind to always take care of yourself. eat well, sleep well, take some vitamins, etc. have a good day!

I just wanna tell you guys how grateful I am for you. I haven't been on Tumblr for quite a while and I finally decided to check on it again.

Reading all of these messages brought happy tears to my eyes.

Not only that but I have 720 followers!?!?!?

What!?!?!?

Where'd you all come from???

These are literally my reactions!!!

Thank you so much for your support, love, and advice. I'm currently working in the hospital on a Sunday and I was bummed, but reading your messages made my day. I am truly, sincerely grateful. (And I will say that a million times more).

Warning: Sensitive Topics and unloading of emotions.

And I also apologize for such a long hiatus... I'm going to be honest...I haven't been alright.

I feel like I'm falling apart and I'm so anxious to the point when I'm shaking... I try to do my best to get through it, but it is sooo hard. And when I think I'm doing better one day, the next I have a complete meltdown...And it's really discouraging.

I also haven't been eating healthy because I'm in such a sour mood, I don't feel like cooking. I either order fast food or don't eat at all. I started taking prenatal vitamins just so I can get the vital nutrients my body needs.

In order to try and get better, I've turned to God. I've been studying the Bible and going to church. I pray for his help and when my anxiety is really bad, the holy spirit flows through me and gives me peace. Thanks to him, I'm getting through it better.

Now I know religion is a sensitive topic, but please know I'm not trying to flood the pages with Christian propaganda. And regardless of what religion you are, I will not judge you and I still love all of you. Just because we believe in different things, doesn't mean we can't be friends. I just wanted to state a coping mechanism that works for me.

And there is good news too! I've started getting ideas for some of the stories and requests I've seen!!! It's been so long since I've written anything and the fact that I suddenly have ideas means that I'm slowly recovering a bit.

Yay!!! Progress!!!

I might drop a new chapter of the Hetalia multiverse series today and one request.

Stay tuned!!!

#healing #anxeity #depression #coping #getting better #getting stronger #stress eating

[lunarsilkscreen]

Art and Statement

So after dragging people through the mud...

When people make art, they write statements, even in journalism they're doing a multitude of things.

1) they recording observations

2) they're revealing their interpretation of those observations

3) they sometimes includes other observations and interpretations from alternate perspectives.

In journalism; the authors try to ground that in objective fact. Removing fluff pieces and statements. Like "I think they meant [x]" and sticking to "They said [x]. One observer believed it meant [y]"

That taking objective observation out of context can give the whole spin on the pieces a different perspective. And some media personalities do this on purpose. Some are to "look like a dunce" who interpreted the situation incorrectly, some are to intentionally add bias to the subject, and some do outright fabrications.

And sometimes this is for comedic effect, and other times; it's not so clear.

This is sometimes blamed on the viewer or listener, as some artists or pundits will outright say "You interpreted it that way, I didn't mean it that way." Which then turns into this whole cancel culture "They won't apologize for being racists" shtick.

But a good art piece, a real piece of work;

Will not only put other observations together with their own; they'll add a multitude of interpretation: as if several voices are coming together to make a single piece.

This doesn't remove bias, it includes bias from multiple perspectives on purpose. Depending on the listener, could give a very real and different interpretation to an observer.

And it's the viewers, like patrons at an art gallery to discuss what they're viewing, like Oprah's Book Club, Rotten Tomatoes, or MetaCritic. And yes; even reddit. In order to understand all the angles that they're not getting.

In recent years, a lot of angles were being blatantly dismissed, ignored, or called "fringe" just because, or "it doesn't match our view of the world", a statement commonly reserved for opinions you think are "bat shit crazy". And it's only recently, very recently, that we're seeing outlets begin to pick up on these voices.

TBF; some media outlets curate their output so they don't accidentally cause a Jan 6 moment. Or in the case of Mohammed literally sending in death threats to Comedy Central headquarters over a cartoon whose premise is "make fun of anything not nailed down. And sometimes even him."

"It wasn't literally Mohammed" you're saying; "It was his ardent followers who believe in the words peace through blowing up a cartoon studio."

What's the difference? Jesus Christ takes the blame for his fringe southern white supremacist KKK members who live in the northern states.

Although... Who's to say they were Muslims at all and not just saying it to say it?

To leave out one perspective, because the other side doesn't deserve one is the anti-thesis to art. And while I agree; Somebody who would prefer the murder of their opposition instead of letting them speak probably doesn't deserve to be heard further.

It's just as easy to put those words and that sentiment into the mouth of somebody you don't like through rumor and media.

If an art piece shows one perspective, it should be displayed across from its opposite bias. But a third and fourth neutral perspective should be allowed to give their observations on the matter as well.

Propaganda, by definition, suggests that the neutral perspectives and opposing perspectives have no place. And that's how we get to one of the government types like fascism and authoritarianism; where dissent is subject to forfeiture of the right to speak.

[chubbydino]

something I've noticed as fool's gold goes on is the increased anti-lewis, pro-max stance you've taken, with lewis implied to be a villain and by choosing to make the silverstone incident much more severe than it was in reality. I know you take creative liberties with the actual events of the season, but it's starting to make me feel uncomfortable that the only black man in the sport is becoming more villainized in your story while other people's characterization hasn't changed. You mentioned you weren't a huge lewis fan, but your fanfic really does seem to be playing into the theories that lewis tried to "kill" max and the other red bull propaganda that was so racially targeted at the time. I still really like fool's gold and will continue to read it but i wanted to let you know how your work may be coming off to fans

i figured i would get an ask like this sooner or later. see under the cut please!

here are a few points to keep in mind:

limited narrators. we only get the POV of drivers who are ultimately closer to max, so they're automatically more inclined to see him in a better light (well...except george). none of our POVs except george are involved with lewis at all, and even george is still very much outside lewis's day to day.

i absolutely play into theories that lewis is a villain, but so are max and so is seb depending on who you're looking at. lewis has a bigger spotlight because he's a x7 world champion. i purposely chose to feed into the red bull narratives for silverstone because that's what happened in real life--people accused lewis of trying to kill max, came after him with racist abuse, and everyone jumped to max's defense, it was definitely a scary time for a few minutes there don't get me wrong, but i never believed lewis would ever purposely try to hurt max. but no news outlet wants to listen to mercedes say "lewis would never" when they can listen to RBR say "lewis tried to murder our top driver!!!!" max made it very obvious recently that he still believes lewis did try to hit him - they even talked about that crash today like 4 times during the race. so max in FG is not going to shake his hand and be done with it.

yes, i amped up the drama with max in the crash, because i wanted the threat of harm to be real to get the story where i wanted it. we still have monza and a lot of other shenanigans to get through. silverstone is basically step 1.

fool's gold was started in part because the industry i work in (film) plays with people's minds so much with PR. people who are absolute douchebags are reveled as gods. everything you think is "real" PR is predetermined and scripted. i remember watching a PR event on set that was supposedly "live" only to find out the entire thing was completely scripted. even i believed it was at least partly live and i was wrong. we are SO malleable as a population, it's scary.

for example, i love carlos to death but i would not be surprised if he is a complete shitbag in real life. i don't want to think he is, but i don't know the guy.

for the record, i'm not a max or lewis fan. my faves are carlos and ferrari. i have a lot more respect for lewis after diving deep into his history in researching FG, and in my opinion he is without a doubt the best driver on the grid, but i thought that before FG. i have a lot better of an understanding of max as well since starting FG. but again, for both of them we only see what's being shown to us and F1 PR is still in baby stages compared to film, imo.

FG follows parallel to the real season, and max and lewis fans became a league of their own in shittiness after silverstone. my experience is that lewis was indeed villainized and yes, it of course had racial undertones. in FG, i'm also projecting that "vibe" but the universe is different so it obviously doesn't come across the same way (for example skysports is part of the FIA in FG, they represent the FIA media sector etc). i will admitted i'm sidestepping the racism conversation a bit because i'm not about to be a white chick trying to write about how a black man should respond to racist criticism. but it does exist in FG and lewis has talked about it before (chp 36 and others). my personal opinions on lewis's treatment could be a fic in themselves, but again, i have no idea what actually went down in lewis's life nor how it actually affected him and i'm not about to whitewash that.

in FG lewis is the most powerful person in all of the empires, which automatically makes him a villain in the eyes of many, because he represents the FIA in FG. he's front and center where other characters get to hide away with their secrets etc.

in terms of characterization changes, i'm not entirely sure what you mean. we've become closer to lewis's character because he's closer to george. but i feel like every character has changed a lot in FG since the beginning. as readers, you only see what i show you, so thinking certain characters are "good" and others "bad" is subjective because i'm influencing you through POVs--for the story. but the truth will come out, that's why we read.

for example, sebastian vettel is one of my favorite drivers/people on the grid irl but in FG everyone hates his guts. i personally think seb is a little shit (affectionate) and took liberties with that in FG--much more than lewis, imo. people have said his characterization is nothing like real life and while i agree kind of, my experience with seb outside of PR must be different because i think he's a cold cut bitch a lot of the time and absolutely aware of what's going on with the grid drama LOL.

all of that is to say i have been conscious of lewis's portrayal in FG as the only black driver/prince. he is in no way the only "villain," and honestly hasn't admitted to or done anything major in the current season of FG to earn the title of villain except being powerful and the best (so...like real life lol). but being powerful makes him dangerous to younger/newer princes so he's automatically a threat and treated like a villain.

not to mention we're only in silverstone, so things have only just started cooking up on the lewis/max front.

more to come, i hope that clarifies some things.

#asks #i do appreciate the concern #i don't take it lightly #but lewis is literally villainized irl so i'm not going to ignore that in a fic that plays parallel to real life #and honestly no one is innocent in FG and lewis will not be an exception to that #irl and in FG you don't become a WDC without pissing people off #fools gold

[yamaoni]

The Second Great War of Remnant has begun. Once more, Vale and Mantle are embroiled in a massive conflict, only this time, they are on the same side against Atlas.

I don't think it was a coincidence that so many people drew parallels with the last episode and WWI. We've never seen people fight that way in RWBY. Grimm don't use projectile weapons the way humans do, so the benefits of the trench are diminished; especially if you compare it to the drawbacks.

Now, I understand not everyone in the Atlas military has their aura unlocked and the squishy soldiers need some cover, but if The Long Memory didn't nuke every grimm on Atlas, the lines would have been overrun and then there would have been nowhere for them to retreat to.

You think the very real hand to hand struggles in the trenches of WWI were bad, imagine being trapped in a narrow trench with a bear. Or having this thing explode out of the ground under you.

I refuse to believe no-one in Atlas ever thought, "if we put the dirt from the trench in a box, no only can we give our soldiers cover, we can also give them an elevated position to fire from."

The top of a wall has been the primary defensive position for the people of Remnant for a long time. You can see them in the establishing shots of most settled places the team has visited. So why are we seeing a trench now?

Simple.

Show, don't tell.

RWBY has done a pretty great job, especially in the last few seasons, of showing the audience what it is trying to convey without explicitly telling them. They especially like drawing from well known folk lore to give insight into the future of the show.

Only difference here, instead of drawing the parallel between characters, they're drawing parallels between worlds.

Remnant's first Great War started with Mantle suppressing freedom of expression, the destruction of Art and Color. Ironwood always has little in the way of color, but in his first broadcast since everything started hitting the fan, he has none.

That broadcast also included evacuation ships being blown up by fighter-bombers, Dunkirk. It threatend to level a city if they didn't surrender, Battle of Brittan. All delivered by a dictator trying to scare his opponents into submission through careful use of film.

Theories

If the rest of the season is WWII, I have several theories on plot direction. Considering how well they did keeping up with both ends of the battlefield it wouldn't surprise me if they followed all of them at the same time.

Operation Dunkirk

Or, the evacuation of Mantle.

Players: Penny, Nora, Ren, Happy Huntresses

The Happy Huntresses involvement is a given. Not only has saving Mantle been their goal the whole time, they're also stuck in the middle of it right now.

Penny is the Protector of Mantle. It would be a shining moment for her character to fully throw off the virus Watts implanted and overcome Ironwood's threats to do so. Just crossing my fingers that it doesn't end like the Iron Giant.

Nora is currently Penny's tether to sanity, so she has to go with, and I doubt they would separate Ren from her for the next arc so he's going too.

Surprise twist for this plot I'm betting will be the Starwars "they aren't warships, just people" scene everyone loves to rag on. After all, the broadcast went out that they needed help and, at least at Dunkirk, it was fishing boats and pleasure crafts that retrieved the 338,000 surrounded on all sides.

Why We Fight

Or, countering Ironwoods propaganda.

Players: Robyn and Qrow

For one, these two are unaccounted for and in the heart of Atlas' military machine. If anyone has means to do so, it's them.

The film, Why We Fight, also countered the dramatic cinematography of Goebbels propaganda by painting it as ridiculous and making a folksy call to action much like Robyn has done in the past.

Operation Fortitude

Or, the deception of Ironwood.

Players: Emerald, Jaune, Oscar

This is the mission to make Ironwood think the team is going after the relic. This theory is why I actually thought of and wrote out this whole thing. Thanks @maxiemumdamage, I had things I was supposed to do tonight.

https://maxiemumdamage.tumblr.com/post/644291955872890880/willing-to-bet-my-own-soul-that-emerald-uses-her

Only difference in my theory and their's, is Jaune is going to be playing the part of Penny.

I say this for two reasons. One, Joan of Arc pretended to be a man. While we've gotten both Jaune pretending to be something he's not and him in a dress, this would pose the first time in the story he could do both. Two, it would put him on a direct collision path with Cinder. It needs to happen at some point to bring his arc to a conclusion, but man I hope we're not about to watch him burn.

With Ozpin active again, Oscar has to go along to direct them to the vault. He's also one of two backing the idea of Emerald joining the team and Jaune wouldn't be willing to work with her without him.

Operation Overlord

Or, busting down the doors of Atlas Acadamy.

Players: Ruby, Blake, Weiss, Yang

Where Operation Fortitude was the faint, Operation Overlord was the real deal. For those that aren't history buffs, this is D-Day.

I think this is the reason we've only seen the main team fighting together once since their split from Beacon. And even then, that fight was at most pairs of fighters and not all four of them supporting one another.

RWBY tricked us into thinking season 4 was the post-timeskip level up we come to expect from anime when really we ended up watching the training flashbacks as they happened instead.

We've seen hints of it with the various team ups and combinations, but are we really ready for how much ass kicking they are about to do?

I'm hoping for a One Piece level of badass entrance that can give me shivers whenever I go to watch it again like the walk to Arlong Park still does to this day.

(Aside: if you try telling me RWBY isn't anime, I'm just going to ignore you. Anime is an art movement. If you don't understand what that means, watch this video. https://youtu.be/uFtfDK39ZhI)

Now last and certainly not least

Operation Valkyrie

Or, the death of Ironwood.

Players: Winter and Marrow

The long awaited defection. Plenty of speculation has already floated around about if and when these two where going to cave to their morals and jump ship. I don't know how many of us were expecting the straw to break the camel's back to be a nuke held over Mantle, but I certainly wasn't.

What worries me, is Operation Valkyrie failed and all its conspirators were executed. As if there weren't enough death flags for Winter before.

Even if it's not Winter that kills him. I don't see Ironwood surviving this season. Even if it means he goes out like another hated dictator. It's not like it would be the first time RT had a fallen hero chose to use his own sword.

Wildcards

Or, Murphy will have his due.

Players: Cinder, Watts, Neo, Tyrian, Mercury, Clover

These players can go any which way. Three we know for sure are going to be active in the coming episodes and I wouldn't be surprised if the other three play a part as well.

Oscar made a hell of a light show for Tyrian and Mercury to see behind them. Not to mention, Salem will still need a ride home when she pulls herself back together.

Clover keeps getting mentioned even though he's hospitalized. If he was truly out of commission for the rest of the season, they would have made us think he's dead before bringing him back like they did with Penny.

Up to now, what we've seen is a three way conflict. But one of the hallmarks of Remnant's First Great War, was making temporary alliances to fight off grimm.

The grimm might be gone, but the wild cards can't complete their own objectives if they are dead. The question is who's goals better align with their own.

Two surprise twists I can see here. One, Mercury stabbing Tyrian on his way to defection. He was raised by an assassin and has not going to get a better chance than that. Two, Clover joining Operation Valkyrie. He might have accepted that sacrifice is a necessary evil to ensure Atlas' survival, but might go Schindler's List on us and find horror in what Ironwood plans to do.

TLDR

I spent way too long writing this out. All the WWI imagery means we're getting a WWII movie with RWBY characters. Major death flags for Penny, Jaune, and Winter.

Also I finally figured out how to do a readmore. Apparently it's just been a long time since I updated.

Note: kept seeing things talking about clovers death and I kind of went ???? Isn't he barely alive in medical? Went back and watched that scene and though I am 90% sure he is dead still kind of weird that they have him in his own room instead of a morgue and the initial framing made my mind instantly think he was propped up on a hospital bed. I mean, I guess we needed to have all the ACEOPs there for their reaction to Ironwood... but it definitely made me think he was alive. That and they have a bandage on his chest wound... when he's supposedly dead. Also have a phantom memory of Harriet saying something about him being in critical but I think that's my memory playing tricks on me.

Having his face exposed instead of covered by the sheet and seeing him in the same frame as Winter being treated also didn't help my gut reaction of "Oh Shit! He's alive? How?!" If I'd followed up more on the "how" might not have made the blunder of writing his return as the final twist in my theory. Oops

#rwby #rwby spoilers #rwby speculation #rwby spoiler tag #ruby rose #blake bellodona #weiss schnee #yang xiao long #jaune arc #nora valkyrie #oscar pine #lie ren #qrow branwen #robyn hill #penny polendina #emerald sustrai #arthur watts #cinder fall #neo politan #winter schnee #marrow amin #cl*ver ebi #i did purposely mess up that last one so that my final idea could be a twist

[justanotherghostwriter]

ooh SaL Life for the WIP ask game!! love Sleeping at Last i'm so curious

You spoil me. Thank you. <3

I'm going to try and not spoil the whole fic in this ask. ETA: I realised after posting that I just had real delusions of grandeur. Like the handful of people who follow me would count spoilers for a fic that may never be written as an actual thing. So. I added a lot of detail to the end of the original answer lol.

One day, I was innocently listening to Life while... cleaning, I think. Anyway, for some reason, on that particular day, the lines "I saw the future unfold like silver and gold and I'm already proud" slapped even harder than usual. My brain went, 'gold, like Fire Nation eyes. Silver, like Water Tribe clothes and jewellery.' And, before I knew it, a whole fic had spawned.

It should really be called Momtara and Dadko: the fanfic because it... really is just them being parents.

So the teaser is this: the Gaang loses the war. The Earth Kingdom isn't decimated, but everything else just doesn't go their way. Everybody has to go and hide so Ozai and Azula don't find them. Katara takes an injured-because-he-took-lightning-for-her Zuko to the closest colony they can reach before she can't Waterbend them any further (Appa flew away to find Aang when the Spiritbending lights went wonky in the sky. He just... knew something was up.) They get only one hawk from the White Lotus: stay hidden. Do what you can for the war where you are but stay hidden.

And no other communication comes. They try to send out encoded messages in so many ways, but there's just... radio silence. They don't know where people are, who is still alive... Randomly moving around is too dangerous for either of them, even in disguise, because the FN has air patrols everywhere and navy patrols and they aren't letting up. And so Katara, who is very practical about knowing when a fight isn't worth it, convinces reckless Zuko to just stay put. For now. They settle down on the colony island, and do what they can. Stop crime. Open a healer hut. Zuko teaches basic defence and helps out with construction and farming. (He's... very good with the animals.)

And, before they know it... Well. They don't forget about the war, of course, but... life goes on. They stop waiting quite so tensely for the Order or the Gaang to show up and give them instructions. Work instead on their own underground movement that spreads through the colonies. Zuko starts teaching night classes in secret about the Fire Nation's real history. With Katara's help, he starts exposing the propaganda. And people listen. And people spread it. And the masses start thinking.

Before they know it, eight years have passed. They've made a life for themselves. Never forgetting the war but... life goes on, you know? Even in the midst of war, life just... finds ways to carry on.

One day, Katara is at the market grabbing some bandages when somebody touches her elbow and it's Sokka. She hugs him, cries, and then starts yelling. He apologises, explains that they only just realised they had a traitor in the mix stopping their communication and he's so, so sorry. Turns out they're all there - Hakoda, Suki, Toph, Iroh, Pakku, Piandao, Bato, Aang. Aang and Toph are twenty. It's... so weird. But so good to see them. Katara can see that Aang has only just started to get over the guilt of failing. It's there in his eyes.

Pakku says they shouldn't linger on the street, because anybody could report them, Katara invites them back to her clinic and then says, "But there are some important things you need to know, up front." Pakku says not now, not now and Katara gets irritated at him and says fine. Find out in the worst ways, then.

The rest all sit in the clinic's waiting room, introduced to the other two staff members as special medical cases Katara will deal with after closing. There's a cute little girl who goes around the waiting room very solemnly asking how people are, and if she can get them a glass of water or a blanket or something. Iroh, especially, is charmed by her. She reaches the Gaang and goes through her spiel, gold eyes very earnest in her tanned face, and Iroh offers her candy. She says she can't eat candy without asking her mom, first, and then yells across the room at Katara, just finished with her third-last patient, asking permission. Katara distractedly gives it and, while the Gaang are already reeling, proudly introduces herself: "I'm Kya. I'm four."

Everybody thus has to quickly come to terms with the fact that Zuko and Katara are married. And had a kid. And they missed it. And then we have these two as parents helping to end the war by still being very good parents. Kya does not end up the only kid in this fic, is the only thing I'll say about that. :P

Two things I obsessively think about often:

- Kya having nightmares and her 'safe space' to go back to sleep being on Zuko. Whether he's asleep, or still awake. So one of the reoccurring scenes is Zuko working on something and Kya being asleep on his lap. Or Zuko meditating early in the morning and Kya wanting to do the same and then falling asleep on his lap. xD Nothing profound. I'm just a sap.

- Kya being a Firebender. I realise this is super contentious, and I'm hoping I can handle this as delicately as possible. I've just spoken to so many inter-racial or inter-tribal couples who have said the same thing: without wanting to put this huge pressure on their kids for being metaphors of the change!!!! they have seen how much healing happens in families (and even in the parents themselves) when a """mixed kid"""" is born and shows attributes of both cultures. They've been super interesting conversations like you won't believe. Full of recounts of so much pain. And so much love and hope, even in the continuous bitterness of how reality can be. And I just... there's something in me that can't let go of Katara and Zuko seeing that "making a difference in the world" is sometimes a "small thing". I have this half-formed line of, "We're not the Avatar. But we can all bring balance in our own way." And just Kya asking her mother whether Gran-Gran Kya would be sad that her namesake is a Firebender when bad Firebenders took her away. And Katara kissing her daughter all over and reminding her that there can be good Firebenders, too. And Kya is one of them. And her mom would probably have been proud that her name was given to one of the people reversing the cycle of Fire only destroying and taking away. Zuko needs to see that he can give life. And, thanks to LOK, we know that Firebending healers exist so...

Yeah. As I said. A sticky line to walk. But, if this fic comes to be, I wanna walk it, maybe.

(ALSO the lines: "as she drew her first breath, I learned what love meant. And my heart reconciled all the darkness and light inside my chest" for both Zuko and Katara is so, so, so, so, so powerful. I'm going to have to go listen to the song again now.)

#This got very long whoooops #I've thought about this AU for almost two years now sorry that you opened this can of worms lmao #Askbox Answers #About My Writing #A Bolt From Blue

[cumbercookiebatchs]

When she threw open the apartment door and hollered out in her usual manner, "Papa, the people in my class are fools who spew bourgeois propaganda and I don't know how to—" she didn't expect she would be hastily shushed by a voice she knew for sure didn't belong to her Papa, but to another man who usually didn't appear at their home without their knowledge. Or, well, at least, her knowledge; there was still the matter of that time she had invited the art gallery curator over for dinner without first telling her Papa, which resulted in her very flustered and embarassed Papa opening up the door unpreparedly to a fully suited Grantaire while he himself was clad in his kitten-pajamas, an incident for which her Papa still hasn't forgiven her for. Marianne doesn't really see why; clearly Grantaire was completely enamoured by the whole look, if anything.

But dragging her attention back to the present situation, she watched as her Papa's boyfriend (and wasn't that a bit odd to think about—it wasn't as if she was opposed to him dating, or opposed at all to him dating the gallery curator, considering it was her who pulled the two together—it was just a bit of a jolt to see him hold another's hand or smile when talking of someone romantically—he was her father, so she supposed it had something to do with that, though another part of her suspected it was just the way she still held that little bit of concern from his separation from his dick-of-an-ex all those years ago while she was still a baby—a girl's going to fret a little for her father, right?) ease himself back against the cushions of the couch without waking her slumbering Papa slumped on his chest and perched on his lap (which—once again—was a bit odd to see, considering for many years it was her who had fallen asleep in her Papa's lap, and with a very different kind of love behind the action.) She raised an eyebrow.

"Not that I'm discouraging you from coming over or telling you to stay away or anything, but what are you doing here?" she whispered, mindful of her Papa's sleeping state.

Grantaire glanced down and carded a gentle hand through her Papa's golden curls. "He had a...bit of a day," he replied, equally as quiet.

Marianne frowned. "But he was working from home today." When she realized what must have happened, she swore, and it was a testament to how much she liked Grantaire when he didn't even bat an eye. "I didn't think the work at the firm was getting to be this bad."

Grantaire looked grave. "Bad enough if it warranted the kind of anxiety attack he had when he called me over." He peered down, mouth turning down to a concerned frown for a moment before he pressed a kiss to the top of her Papa's head, something which made her smile, though she dared not do it too largely. She still had the part to play of the daughter disgusted with parental PDA, after all.

One matter, however... "Wait, how did you even get off of work to get here?"

His eyes flashed up to her's. "Renovations, remember? Gallery's closed for three weeks cause of it."

Oh right, the renovations. The memory of having been told of it did come to mind, and even if it didn't, she should have been able to figure it our based on the hoodie and sweatpants the man donned, so opposite the sharp suits he would usually wear for his job. Honestly, how very convenient. Though, she didn't doubt the fact that even if he wasn't off work right now—or at least, off work at the actual gallery, considering she had spent one too many of his infamous rambles listening to him complain of all the work he has to get done at home—he still would have rushed to help her Papa.

Which, at the end of the day, is truly what wins her over once and for all. Smiling, she thinks a little before saying, "You're a good guy, Grantaire."

The upturn of Grantaire's mouth was bright especially in the evening light. He moved to sit up on the edge of the seat, but that was the moment her Papa endeavoured to shift on Grantaire's lap, letting a little sniffle and burrowing deeper into the man's chest, prompting him to freeze and recline back on the couch oncemore instead.

"So," he whispered once he made sure her Papa was settled once more, "I have the approval of the hard-to-win-over-child, then?"

She rolled her eyes. "I never disapproved of you. In fact, I approved of you way before. I'm the one who called you for dinner."

Grantaire smirked. "Maybe. But you kind of have this intense stare to you—kind of like your dad here."

She rolled her eyes once more; her Papa fanboyed over her Uncle Feuilly, there wasn't much fierceness there. "Whatever."

They both fell in a comfortable silence, punctuated at times only by their breaths and what sounded like her Papa's sighs as he would shift and cling closer to Grantaire every so often, a soft look gracing Grantaire's features as he did so. Now, she thought, was fit to proceed into her own room and leave Grantaire and her Papa be, but before she could do so, Grantaire cleared his throat, calling for her attention. With the utmost tried casualty, he said, "I was thinking of taking your father to the Pont des Arts and maybe getting a bit of coffee and..." he trailed off.

She raised an eyebrow. "Are you asking me for permission?"

He looked a bit sheepish. "No. Yes. I don't know, I've never done this before."

"Did you miss the fact that I was the one who asked you over to dinner? I have no problems."

The relief on Grantaire's face was evident.

"That is," she continued. "If he says yes. His word is more important here."

Grantaire nodded hastily. "Yeah, right, of course."

She smirked. "Just have him back by ten." The words caused a rush of adrenaline through her. Damn, she never thought she would ever get to say that about her father.

Chuckling, Grantaire gave her as best a salute he could with his arms wrapped around her Papa and repiled "Yes, ma'am."

Turning, she moved to head to her room at last before one more thought struck her and she turned once more with a devious smile. "By the way, do you think I should clear out for the night?"

Grantaire blinked. "What?"

"I mean I could head over to Uncle Combeferre and Uncle Courf's place, they always let me sleep over if I want."

"I don't know what you're asking," Grantaire said, but the faint blush on his stubbled cheeks knew that that wasn't truly the case.

Her smile grew even more wicked. "Yes you do, I'm asking whether or not you're going to have sex tomorrow."

At this, Grantaire thoroughly coloured red, and he sputtered so badly he didn't notice the man on his lap shifting until he opened his eyes.

"Is that anyway to talk about your Papa?" her Papa asked drowsily as he yawned and craned his head to look at her.

"Oh please," she said, "I'm quite disgusted, but I've gotta know, don't I? I don't wanna be here for it."

"Well in that case," her Papa yawned once more and turned his head to burrow back into Grantaire's chest, "head over to Bahorel's place, Ferre and Courf are at an exhibit at the museum."

Grantaire looked down at her Papa in alarm. "Enjolras."

He peered up at him sleepily. "What?" He stretched up a bit to give him a quick peck on the lips, to which Marianne let out a slight noise of disgust. "Did I say something wrong?"

The red in Grantaire's face simply would not fade away. "Well, I, uh..."

Her Papa hummed. "I didn't think so either." The kiss he delivered now was no quick peck--slow and deep, her Papa winding his arms around Grantaire's neck as his boyfriend pulled him closer—and certainly not anything she needed to see either.

"Papa, no, shit you can't wait for me to leave. What, do you want me to leave for tonight as well?"

Her Papa only broke off to say, "Watch your language." He delivered one kiss more before saying, "No, Grantaire was just about to leave anyways, and I have to help you with your discussion skills to help your class understand that they're spreading bourgeois propaganda and how to prevent that, isn't that right, Grantaire?"

Now, Marianna personally would have been offended if someone were trying to kick her out like that, but perhaps in this moment, it was more of a bail-out for Grantaire rather than a boot-out considering how flustered he seemed at the moment with the two.

"Right, I'll, uh, I'll just." He walked over to the door, her Papa following close behind. "I'll just—"

Her Papa stretched up on his toes to give him a soft kiss on the cheek. "Bye, Grantaire."

Grantaire looked down at him, a grin spreading across his face as he, unaware, reached a hand to his cheeks where her Papa's lips had brushed only a moment ago. "Yeah, bye."

Marianne groaned. "Gosh, save it for tomorrow!"

THEY'RE SO CUTE!!!!

#screams into the void #THANK YOU I LOVED THIS #❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ #PERFECT #MORE PLEASE #Amazing #Enjoltaire #Lovely anon #Enjoltaire fic #I loooooooove

[normal-thoughts-official]

Someone just wrote a fic about Magnus abusing Alec and Magnus being a alcoholic and I don't know how to feel about it because Magnus being abusive doesn't sound right but I do think he is addicted to alcohol and I want your opinion on it

oh yikes on bikes, not that shit again

i mean personally i don’t consider him an alcoholic, not because oh no being alcoholic is so bad uwu but because like... alcoholism is specifically linked to the inability to stop or have temperance, and while magnus drinks frequently, we’ve only seen him drunk once. and he had just gone through one of the most dramatic experiences of his life, so like... i think classifying him as an alcoholic because of that is a little, idk, hasty?

and even then, he decided that he was going to quit drinking the next day basically and he didn’t seem to be distressed or think that would be particularly hard (and like one of the symptons of alcoholism is distress when not being drunk/drinking) so i don’t think he’s An Alcoholic. i do think that he has an unhealthy relationship with alcohol, as he does have a tendency to turn to it when he’s in distress, and that that’s something he has to work with cuz that bitch is self medicating with a highly addictive and complicated substance lol and he knows that too, which is why i think he said he would take a break - he knew that he was toeing the edge then, going way over his limit and even being late for a date for like the first time ever, and turning to it when he couldn’t deal with his pain. so like unhealthy tendencies for sure, but idk if id call it addiction. reading the criteria for alcoholism, i don’t think that any that is something that we’ve seen with magnus except for literally one scene

but either way i don’t think it’s like A Problem or Invalid to hc him as an alcoholic, but i do wish people would stop thinking that being an alcoholic = being abusive. while there is a correlation between domestic abusers and drinking (drinking specifically, not necessarily Abusing Alcohol, at least not in the statistics i’ve found), alcoholism doesn’t turn someone into an abuser, means that someone is an abuser, or trigger abusive episodes (same source), because correlation does not equal causation. it’s important to take note that the studies on this are usually “is this domestic abuser an alcoholic?” and not, “is this alcoholic a domestic abuser?”. finding that domestic abusers usually drink doesn’t mean finding that people who drink or abuse alcohol are usually domestic abusers. also, finding that domestic abusers drink doesn’t..... mean a lot. most people drink, for starters. the one statistic i found regarding domestic violence and alcohol abuse actually shows that abuse victims are more likely to abuse alcohol

and i find that important to say because the stereotypes on alcoholism and drug abuse are fabricated by anti-drugs propaganda, which are historically directly related to the need for increasing police state and control over marginalized people, especially people of color (here’s Nixon’s very own aide admitting that they made up most of what are today’s stereotypes on heroin and weed use with the explicit intent of incarcerating black people and the anti-war movement, and here’s a review of a book on the war on alcohol that goes, among other things, into how the prohibition was strictly linked to lynchings and repression of black and immigrant communities). uncritically buying into stereotypes like this, especially when there is implied to be a direct causation between drug abuse and violence, is very dangerous and serves to further marginalize and stigmatize people with substance abuse, as well as justify mass incarceration and policing, which has been talked about plenty of times (if you know little about this and would like to start, i’d recommend watching the documentary The 13th Amendment. it’s on netflix. also, follow and read BLM activists, who have been saying this since forever. do read and watch Angela Davis, one of the most brilliant scholars on the subject and member of the Black Panther Party) 

that is my own personal opinion, but i find it way more likely that alcoholism and alcohol abuse are correlated not by causation, but because alcoholism is born out of a person’s frustrations/suffering, and that, paired with toxic masculinity in certain specific environments and a tendency for violence, also causes domestic violence. i don’t have any data to prove this so this is my own personal hypothesis born out of what i know about addiction (here’s a list of articles by an expert that talks about how addiction has biopsychosocial causes, with an emphasis on social) and also about abuse and domestic violence. i find it way more likely that they are correlated, not that alcoholism causes domestic violence. but i’m far from an expert and this is an ongoing debate among those who are

and either way, even if there is a possible causational relation, not every substance abuser is abusive and that’s just a fact. which i know because i have plenty of friends who struggle or struggled with substance abuse, including alcoholics and crack/coke addicts. obviously it’s a terrible situation that raises many issues, but it doesn’t mean that everyone who struggles with substance abuse or alcoholism is abusive. and magnus has never shown to be abusive, so even if you hc him as an alcoholic (which i honestly don’t necessarily see a problem with, even if i disagree) that doesn’t mean he would abuse alec. magnus has never been shown to be anything remotely close to abusive towards alec, or anyone else for that matter. on the contrary, he is extremely compassionate, kind, and caring, to the point of self sacrifice. so if you want to write about magnus struggling with his issues and with his unhealthy relationship with alcohol, i’m genuinely all for that. we deserve more in-depth analysis of magnus and his issues and its consequences. but don’t turn him into something that he’s not, and stop fucking thinking that everyone who struggles with substance abuse is an abuser, because that is, frankly, just a spit in the face of abuse victims who have turned to drugs to cope with that (the case of literally all of my friends who struggle or have struggled with substance abuse) and just people with addiction in general who are already villainized for something that hurts them first and foremost more than enough

so yeah, that’s my opinion. you can 100% headcanon magnus as an alcoholic and still don’t think he would abuse or be violent because of that - in fact, i encourage you to, because we need to start talking about addiction with more empathy and less villainizing, and that absolutely does include fiction

#im sorry if i sound mad im not angry at you but this always makes my blood boil. #if you want an alec is abused uwu fic so bad write about his actual canon abusers lmao don't turn magnus into something he's not #and definitely don't do it while feeding into gross stereotypes for those with addiction that already primarely target communities of color #discourse #salt #addiction tw #ask to tag #abuse tw #domestic violence tw #racism tw #sh #societal issues