#this is ofc a broader issue I have where like

[scintillatingshortgirl19]

i'm struggling to even put into words how i feel about these two scenes.

i honestly wonder how much of house's facial expressions in these moments were hugh laurie's choice and maybe weren't necessarily scripted, because the episode doesn't really offer any kind of conclusion on how jealous and, more importantly, how deeply fucking sad house looks after realizing wilson has been talking to amber.

first off - this happens a lot in this show, but this is one of those huge instances of "oh, how differently this situation would look if one of these characters was a woman." if that were the case, this whole thing would really be quite simple. if house was a proper Opposite Sex Love Interest, him standing at the door hearing the proof that his unrequited crush isn't over his last girlfriend...well, that would make perfect sense. The level of hurt and jealousy house seems to feel about wilson still being in love with amber is. well. it's Something.

so anyway - house gets that genuinely hurt look at three separate points: #1 is when he realizes wilson is talking to amber (and this moment is especially fascinating bc house's main emotion should arguably be relief at the knowledge he hasn't been hallucinating...but that appears to be taking a backseat to his jealousy for a woman who isn't even alive anymore)

#2 is when wilson tells amber that he wasn't able to go for a run tonight because house is having issues. now, this speaks to the broader problem that - even though house knows wilson feeds off neediness - house is still worried about being a burden to wilson and that eventually wilson will not want him anymore.

Then #3 - when wilson says to house's face that talking to amber makes him feel better when he misses her, and house doesn't. This moment is so painful and interesting to me because house inviting wilson to confide in him feels like a pretty big step in terms of growth! So for wilson to say he'd rather talk to his dead girlfriend than house...well, judging by house's face, the remark cuts pretty deep. (disclaimer: ofc wilson is completely valid for talking to amber; it just also makes sense that house would be hurt by this, especially in the context of him already feeling like a burden and trying so hard to be a better person)

anyway idk where else to go with this . . . i just feel like the episode sort of started to delve into this issue and then never really went deep enough or concluded this aspect - hence my theory that house's level of hurt may not have been scripted and it was just hugh laurie choosing to Do That with his face.

#if anyone has thoughts on this please share them #like he looks like he's in so much pain! it is so painful for him to know that wilson would rather talk to his dead gf instead of him!! #my boys need to be in couples therapy #nolan needs to sit them down and make them talk to each other #house md #hilson #house season 6 #house 6x6 #house meta #op

[piosplayhouse]

This didn’t quite fit into my response to the mpreg survey, but I’ve been thinking about it and wanted to mention it to you somewhere— I’ve noticed that a lot of mpreg content has a passive or even overtly pro-life stance. The most dramatic outliers are what stick with me ofc (I once read a fic where Shen Jiu said he wouldn’t get an abortion because “he’s not a child murderer”. The irony.) but for they most part it’s just a subtle slant. Do you think this is caused by the fact that, by the plot’s necessity, they gotta force their blorbo to have that baby (inserting moral objections to abortion like a horror movie inserts reasons for cell phones not to work)? Do you think that people with that belief set are more likely to have a pregnancy kink? Do you have other ideas for causes I’m not considering?

Ok I can only speak to things I've read and other responses I've seen (that fic sounds so ?????) so I do have to say the majority of things I've read (esp in scum villain) are mostly pro choice leaning where if a character gets pregnant they're given the chance to abort and usually don't take it (insert sy voice binghe I would never abort you) (however I do remember reading a wangxian fic where lwj drives his coworker wwx to a clinic to get an abortion (pre wangxian relationship) because lwj wanted to support wwx in his decision bc lwj was horrified that his mother was never given a choice on whether or not she wanted to be a mother and suffered a lot because of that, which was a really interesting subversion on the topic I think)

There is a trend I've seen in the responses to the poll where some people appreciate mpreg as a genre that takes bodily autonomy to a sort of emphasized issue, particularly outside of omegaverse/transfic (responses on whether or not people see trans pregnancies as mpreg were actually pretty even from all demographic groups) where there's this heightened sense of unexpectedness and urgency to the idea of pregnancy. As far as I know, there are a nonzero amount of people who use this framework to work through their own issues with a sense of detachment-- for example, many people mentioned having pro-life family members in real life who are pressuring them to get pregnant, and they like mpreg that either subverts that idea (what if a character was given the space to get pregnant on their own terms with full family support) or portrays it to an extreme (what if a character was being forced to not abort) but from the safe distance of fiction where they can just pull away whenever things get too real. It gives them a sense of agency and control over a situation that in real life they don't have control over, similar to how a lot of trauma kinks work.

Of course, there are equal numbers of people who are vehemently uncomfortable with that as well, so that should be considered too. On a broader demographic level, since much of fandom skews (unfortunately) American, there's also of course the probability that a lot of people have just grown up with heavy evangelical pro-life beliefs/influences, and this either consciously or subconsciously affects the way they view pregnancy as a topic. In terms of the actual heavy pro-life evangelicals, I think the majority of them would be opposed to mpreg on the basis of lgbt topics (lol) but it has been long speculated that quiverfull movement and adjacent adherent people do have some form of pregnancy kink that unfortunately they work out in real life on real children rather than in fiction, based on how they treat their coming baby/themselves while pregnant versus how they actually treat their children when they come out (unfortunately very poorly in most cases)

Anywayy that's all kind of speculation, but I hope that helps a little bit. There are always people with a billion different reasons for everything, and it would be impossible to capture those all in the span of a Tumblr ask response, but I hope this gives you something to chew on! If anyone else would like to add things to this feel free to reply or reblog or send another ask with your thoughts, it would be much appreciated :)

#tw mpreg #mpreg #tw abortion #abortion #long post #long posts

[cookii-moon]

I think post DOTD Cole still deserves to be at least a tiny bit affected by his time as a ghost yk

Explanations!!

Ngl the fact that Cole literally defied life and death and we never talk about it makes me sad like cmon it’s so interesting we give Lloyd Oni dragon features and Nya water features but we NEVER talk about when Cole literally transcended the barrier of ACTUAL DEATH. He should get more than a scar that vanishes afterwards and some cool powers SO IM GIVING HIM IT because this fandom has a criminal lack of ghost Cole content

So yeah here’s my explanations for each thingy plus my headcanons slash fanon

You can find the exact lines and contents in the ID if you can’t read my messy handwriting or tell what my messy sketches are supposed to be dndfjhgfdhgi know I know it’s very bad anyways

first one is self explanatory, Kai’s worried about Cole because the guy was dead and came back to life, Cole denies it (no it’s not ship but idm if ur a lavashipper and want it to be ship you can tag it if you wanna) because he’s Cole ofc he’s gonna deny it he’s an idiot. Meanwhile we go on to list alll the ways it’s most definitely 100% affecting him.

first one. the Cole vision. BASICALLY I follow the theory ghosts have different eyes, and when designing those eye, I take inspiration from lizard eyes. A lot of lizards, particularly nocturnal ones, not only have good night vision but can also see many more colors than humans, so I applied that to ghost eyes as well, essentially sight is one of their few senses that aren’t muted. They have night vision and can also see a much broader spectrum of color than humans can.

Since Cole has his scar on the left side, he also gets a ghost eye on the left side, which still has all the advantages he did as a ghost. On the other hand, his right eye is back to usual, meaning it doesn’t get those advantages and he’s still red/green colorblind in it. That means his left and right vision is pretty different now, which takes quite a lot of getting used to. Obviously this would be easier to show with a colored thing but it was. Hard to color for obvious reasons (you can’t demonstrate someone being able to see more colors than humans because we will always interpret it as a color we can see due to how we filter it) the ghost eye stays his entire life and there’s not really anything he can do about it.

Onto the arm - the markings are essentially burn marks / scars from his lava arms, and his nails are claws. I see ghosts as getting less and less human as time goes on because they forget who they were and what they looked like, therefore being incapable of mimicking a human form. Because Cole was around the ninja he never got far, but he did end up with some intrinsic ghost traits that carried over, like the claws. He has tried cutting them but it basically requires a massive claw clipper and even then they grow back very quickly and you can still see that they’re claws, they’re just less obnoxiously sharp. He usually opts to hide them with gloves a lot of the time. The claws are also permanent, but he can regularly trim them to be less obvious and also less annoying and more manageable.

The one where he’s scared of water is. Self explanatory. Obviously he has a big fear of water after coming back from the dead. Even just a few drops can send him into a panic attack. It gets better eventually with exposure therapy, though it may still cause him to be anxious around it at times.

most people have already done the “Cole runs into doors and walls after coming back from being a ghost lol” but like. It makes sense. So.

Right. Onto the ANGSTTTT.

“Everything is too much” refers to his sensory issues. Now obviously Cole is autistic /lh so he’s always had some sensory issues, but oh boy. Getting the ability to feel literally everything instantly after so long of not having it whatsoever?? Yikes. Pretty much everything is obnoxiously and incredibly overwhelming to him. it goes back to the usual after a lot of help from his family, though! :)

“But also”. Aka the image of him looking out at the stars. Lot more vague. Interpret it as you wish. There’s a few intended meanings to it but go ahead and figure them out for yourself. I will say that going with the idea that it’s dissociation related, he has a tendency to dissociate a lot after coming back (which is strange since he used to be pretty grounded). It never really goes away.

”Too little” ok so this one DEFINITELY needs explanation. I talked about how he’s overwhelmed. Well. Sometimes he’ll have bouts where it’s the exact opposite. He’ll suddenly feel a cold chill followed by a spreading numbness. Sometimes it’s just his hand, or his arm, other times it’s his entire body. It’s basically a psychological thing, sort of like phantom limbs except instead of a feeling where there is an absence, it’s more of an absence where there should be a feeling. Of course it’s absolutely terrifying for him, but the others eventually learn how to help ground him when it happens. Over time It gets less frequent but it doesn’t go away.

Anyways yeah that’s all I just. Think there should not only be more ghost Cole content but also. More post ghost Cole. He’s gotta be impacted SOMEHOW. Right.

Anyways yeah this is that so like

#ninjago #ninjago cole #cole ninjago #lego ninjago #ghost cole #art #digital artist #digital sketch #sketch #cookie’s thoughts #cookie’s art #ninjago headcanons #headcanon #ninjago thoughts #ninjago theory #ninjago kai #kai ninjago #kai smith #kai jiang

[ladamedusoif]

Hi! I've just read 20/20 and it's so good👓

May I just say that I admire the way you write not only in general, but also that you write Pedro characters fanfiction without massive age gap? I like those too, but god, there are tons of it and it became sooo hard to find Joel (bc 80% of age gap fics is about Joel) being happy with a woman of his age.

I happen to think more and more lately that older women seem more real, thus more interesting to read - young girls are all pretty with their sexy young bodies, etc., and the older you get, the more insecurities you have, and you believe somebody like Joel or Ben has plenty of options when in fact they probably want somebody to feel comfortable with, somebody who they can laugh with *looks at Lydia*

I guess, sometimes young reader is too perfect. How could real person like me ever compete with that? Imperfect characters are comforting and real (they suffer to make us feel better, they're our heros) and they evoke real feelings, you care about them. That's why I love to read non-age gap work when I see one.

Anyway, sorry for rambling, thank you!!🤍

*throws hearts at you and running away*

First, thank you so much for the lovely words about my writing! Here are some hearts in return: 💜💜💜

Honestly, this kind of ask means the world. I’m so grateful and so honoured.

A warning: this will be a long answer. Sorry!

I genuinely felt emotional when I read your words about my decision to write in a way that is either no/minimal age gap or where the reader’s age isn’t specified (because this is possible, and is arguably far more inclusive for reader insert). I particularly like that you’ve chosen to focus on why older OFCs/reader characters are more interesting, rather than on the extreme age gap trope.

I can’t deny that the age gap trope is the dominant one in this fandom’s fic at the moment - most obviously for Joel, but also for other characters. And I sometimes wonder if Visiting would have more notes and engagement if Lydia was a student, not Ben’s contemporary and perfect equal - intellectually, emotionally, in every way.

But as you say: Lydia has a life, has lived, and is imperfect physically and emotionally, like us all. She’s interesting for all those reasons, and more. That’s why Ben is drawn to her, and she to him. (I sometimes wonder how people would feel if the age gap trope was reversed, with a much older OFC paired with a younger P boy…)

This is also why characters like @fuckyeahdindjarin’s Cee and Sugar, in Seams and Palomino respectively, or @lunapascal’s Andie in Curls, or @julesonrecord’s Eva in Shots, or @iamskyereads Beatrice in Compulsion, or the many other no age gap/no age specified characters and reader inserts in the fanfic are so gorgeously engaging. You get it - they’re real.

They’re not all thin, pert, visions of youth as beauty and beauty as youth. Ageing is a privilege, and it hurts me, really and truly, to see the implication that only youth is attractive in so much of the fanfic in a fandom dedicated to a man who has aged so beautifully.

I know people who have been subjected to anonymous abuse over this issue, which insists they’re just angry old women because “hot celebs won’t fuck you”.

I’m passionate about this for all sorts of reasons. I am more than a little unsettled by the vision of Joel, in particular, as exclusively attracted to much, much younger girls. I sometimes feel that some of the explanations for why age gap is good or better are somewhat problematic (that’s just my opinion, before anyone yells at me, but it’s rooted in experience and the fact that I work with many college-aged people and know the consequences of the age gap fantasy when it hits reality). And there are broader implications for the message being sent to younger readers about ageing, attraction, and female sexuality, which my feminist brain is furious about.

Finally, I am struck by the fact that we often see posts about how the fic world is a broad tent, and that there’s room for everything. Yet when people ask for more fic that doesn’t repeat the age gap trope, or some of us write fics that explicitly avoid that, there’s a reaction against that.

Sigh. You see why you didn’t need to apologise for rambling, for I am a rambling Rose, and endlessly grateful for your kind words and wonderful support. Here’s to a more diverse menu of fic on the dash - the tide does seem to be turning. You may have seen the post that’s been doing the rounds where @tessa-quayle has very helpfully compiled a list of fic that doesn’t involve an age gap or DBF/daddy thing - it’s really good on the need for more diverse reading.

PS: a more general query for the dash: is this such a massive trope in other 40-something male actor fandoms??

#I’m really passionate about this topic #as you can tell #if there’s room for all kinds then there’s room for all kinds #including work that just doesn’t mention an age #or explicitly shows the OFC/reader insert as older than the 20-something norm #just struck by people going on the defensive as soon as anyone does some posts compiling no age gap/no age fic #hmmmmm #writing thoughts #support your local fanfic writer

[anthropologist-on-the-loose]

What is your stance on writing ethnographies involving illegal activites, in particular squatters and city squats? i have a great interest in them yet i cant help but think no paper can ever be written if my findings are 90% incriminating stuff. ofc i can go the no name no address but that is definitely not enough.

Oh I love this question. I think ethnographies involving illegal activities are fantastic and fascinating and important; how do people on the fringes or who are disenfranchised from mainstream society go about their lives? Why are they disenfranchised, and what kind of communities do they form? Why are their activities illegal? Should they be decriminalized? How would decriminalization affect individuals in these communities? And a whole host of other questions. I've seen some great ethnographic pieces involving less-than-legal activities so they're definitely possible (in fact I just read an anthropological article about common resources that had a whole section on squatting, DM me and I can send a PDF). The question is how to go about it, and how reasonable it would be to ethically make an ethnography about a specific community.

Like you said, there's some difficult ethics involved, the biggest one being the potential to put your ethnographic cooperators at risk of harm (legal or otherwise). We've all read those types of journalistic ethnographies where someone interviews a few individuals for an article titled something like, "This is what it's like to be a professional sex worker" or "A former drug addict talks about the world of drug deals", but creating a full-blown ethnography has a higher chance of disrupting a whole community than a conversation with a single individual.

There's a few key things to keep in mind when doing ethnographic work with illegal communities. The first and most important part of any ethnography is to include the people you're working with in all parts of the process. There's been a movement to make anthropological work in general a cooperative endeavor with groups of people rather than about groups of people.*

One of the best ways to ensure the safety of ethnographic participants is quite simply to ask them how to best maintain their safety. People who are involved in illicit activities or communities usually already know the best ways to stay safe, and they are almost certainly going to know better than an outside researcher. Maybe anonymity is enough, maybe it's not. Discuss these things with participants, ask them what would or would not be comfortable with being public knowledge. Let people know that not everything needs to be in the final product, and that they have a say in how it turns out.

Of course, as the researcher you also have to be aware of potential issues and ensure that they are talked about. Sometimes the opinion of what is safe from one individual does not reflect the opinions of the broader community, and it is important to take that into account. There's also a degree of using your own best judgement about what kind of information it is ethical to publish; the same is true for any scientific field.

Another important aspect is asking yourself is what kind of information you need to focus on a particular research question, and how that specific information might incriminate people. Let's use your topic of squatters as an example. You could probably include discussions of peoples' opinions on squatting and some of their lived realities without incriminating anyone. Someone sharing that they believe housing should be free, or how they ended up in their particular situation would probably be fine. Including which neighborhoods are the best for squatting would probably be dangerous unless that's an already widely known fact in that city. Maybe you can include most of someone's story, but have to exclude bits where they talk about visiting a specific nearby spot. There's lots of things that can be done to increase anonymity while still sharing meaningful information. Oftentimes, you won't know exactly how it will until you jump in.

I got a bit rambly and more incoherent towards the end there, but to summarize: I think ethnographies involving illegal activities are great and can be done ethically, keeping in mind that it might take more effort (and editing) to ensure the safety of all participants and their communities.

*A bit of probably unnecessary history of anthropology, but anthropology has a long and bad history of taking some of the worst parts of Western scientific thought and applying it to the study of people - particularly the faulty idea of "objectivity". The idea was that people can't view themselves objectively because they are too enmeshed in their own culture to be able to observe it, so we needed "unbiased" Western-trained scientists to be able to identify the true meanings behind a culture's idiosyncrasies. Obviously the idea that Western research academics are unbiased is utter bullshit, but the assumption that only an outsider can view a culture objectively has unfortunately stuck around. A huge problem that arises from this paternalistic mindset is the notion that academics and outside authorities know what is best for a community rather than listening to the people who are part of that community.

#this got very long and i'm not sorry #i'm also not double checking it or reading it over so their might be issues with the writing but meh whatever #anon #ask #in which i say things #the anthro life #anthropology #ethnography

[the-owl-tree]

when I read avos it was after my aunt kicked me out and the argument the apprentices had where the old cats were like “you HAVE to respect us!!” and the apprentices responded they wouldn’t do that without getting respect themselves was almost identical to the argument we had and it kind of stuck with me. I know needle and her crew were little shits but like. this series could have been about how people in positions of power equate respect with total submission and won’t treat you like a person if you don’t treat them like an authority and sometimes your refusal to see yourself in the wrong will harm your community much more than defiant children ever will. the apprentices didn’t destroy shadowclan and really I doubt they would have if the old people who don’t think children are human worthy of respect were in the writer’s room, you know? they were just angry kids who wanted better. not innocent ofc but surely there’s a problem if an entire generation would rather take their chances surviving on their own than with you. it’s been a while since I read avos and I do admit I MAY have misremembered or misunderstood things, so I apologize if I’m completely wrong lol.

The core conflict is just...a mess. The apprentice group really was just the strawman "we hate chores and the elderly!!" and the ultimate lesson learned is that uuuhh Rowanstar should have been STRICTER with them (despite not being shown to be uh....any less strict than other leader.....) which, imo, has a really conservative undertone to it.

I wish they had more sympathy to the apprentice group, like you wrote, but the end message is the complete opposite when I read it. Which I guess leads into a broader issue of how youth are perceived by the general public, ya know? It feels very poorly thought out and written.

#deer rambles

[dhampiravidi]

here's my favorite HCs for Jason Todd

6'2" = 1.8796 m (apparently). in other words, he IS just the teeniest bit TALLER than Bruce Wayne, his dad. & it's even better when they're both in costume, because his boots add a teeny bit MORE (ofc it's offset by Bruce's Batman boots, but stfu). he's a big boy who Alfred insists is "still growing" & therefore he deserves lots of food. specifically, bread, which he's always had a fondness for. that, hot dogs & spicy noodles (pad thai, Nona's* spaghetti, Alfred's secret recipe chicken noodle soup)!!

he's half Latino & half Italian. yes, I know that "Todd" & "Haywood" are names of English origin. I am aware. & I don't care. he speaks Spanish as a second language & Italian as a speaking-only third (since some of the families in the neighborhood know some Italian). yeah, he was born with auburn (reddish-brown) hair, but he dyes it black. no one knows why & no one asks. and ofc there's the white streak, which almost magically pops back up every time he tries to dye it.

his eyes were more blue, maybe a glassy hazel when he was Robin. after the Pit, dark green leaked into his irises, even more so when he gets incredibly angry/upset.

his butt is toned, duh, but his thighs and pecs are the stuff of legend. he just naturally has a broader chest and thicc thighs (that can crush watermelons--and they will, if you're close with him and you ask nicely, promising a gift of cookies or cuddles in return). he's actually kind of self-conscious about his thighs, because they're so big.

he's always had a soft spot for innocent creatures, to the point where he's unfazed that they're attracted to his presence. strays try to follow him home when he patrols, to the point where he keeps a bag of cat food in each of his hideouts. one, out of the many reasons why he has a motorcycle is to outrun the strays. when he visits Selina, he plans to stay for at least two hours because they're all gonna lie on him, and who is he to move?? also, babies calm down as soon as he makes noise (speaking normally, singing a lullaby, goo-go-gah lingo, etc.).

he's pansexual, but demisexual and demiromantic. I mean, the guy had a rough childhood home, he was ratted out by his biological mom, and he still has issues with most of his family. ironically, he tends to put his heart into everything he sees as worth doing, even when that comes to people he doesn't know. that's why he takes being a vigilante so seriously. he wants other Gothamites to have a better city than he had growing up, even if it'll never be free of crime.

you bet your ass he likes the classics, namely The Prince, Hamlet, some Jane Austen, and The Catcher in the Rye. do not ask him if he has read Moby Dick or Ulysses. he has (at least, partially) and he hates them both.

he respects women, and with the exception of Alfred, he tends to prefer them to men when it comes to working and doing platonic activities. is being a BIG Wonder Woman fan related to this? no. but he is one.

he saw Barbie. he read about Oppenheimer before the movie came out, and he wasn't amused.

Jason can't do horror movies, especially ones like Saw, or anything that has to do with psychological scares or torturing characters. considering how he died, plus the times he's been hit with fear gas...yeah, he'd much rather watch some action-suspense, a good book adaptation (he gets so fucking unhinged when they don't follow the books), or a witty historical romance.

he actually respects all of his siblings for the most part, and he'll help them with whatever if it's serious. he just feels uncomfortable regularly associating with them because they still have some kind of allegiance to Bruce, who he refuses to treat as a superior/leader of his. he and Bruce do talk one-on-one when Alfred guilts him into coming home for a meal, or when the world's almost ended (for the 59,211,948th time) and they want to say "I'm glad you're not dead" without really saying it. he loves Bruce but he doesn't fully trust him with his heart, if that makes sense.

he mentally separates the Gotham Rogues into those he'll let off with a warning, and those who are scum. the first kind only gets confronted and fought if they're actually hurting people (physically or socioemotionally).

yes, he still uses guns and knives.

#rant tw #tw: rant #just in case #jason todd #red hood #pretty man #I love him shh #admin #dc comics

[jeonqkooks]

I missed you too!!! 🫶 haha I bet. It was the universe bringing us back together again 😌 I've been alright, nothing out of ordinary happened lately so that's cool. Working (except for today and tomorrow cause I had a few days off), been spending some time with my little nephew- he's 3 and such a cutie 🥰 I almost got baby fever but then I came back to my senses lmao.. but yeah, that's what I've been doing, ohh and I also have to move out of the place where I live now, in march 🥲 it is what it is..

Idk what's been happening with your blog or the people around here but my best advice is to just ignore them.. not sure if you're aware but we're kind of a mess rn, everywhere you look on sm, in this fandom, someone's always fighting 😶 Maybe do what you think it's best for you. I don't like it either when someone's trying to control my every move like "you gotta do this, you gotta like that, you cannot! say stuff like this" , ofc interactions wouldn't even be fun anymore so what's the point of having this place dedicated to something you like if *some* people are acting up.... If you feel the need to step away from it for some time I wouldn't blame you. And you can still enjoy whatever content you like without someone always breathing down your neck, you know. See now I started rambling and I don't even know the context of your anger 🤣🤣 but my advice is still the same> just ignore them..

But what does it mean "someone from inside the house"?? There's more tea??? 👀 *drags the chair closer*

Also, just so you know, anger issues aren't any better even if you're 5'6..... I'm the type of person to try to be calm and hold it together for as long as possible and then one day I just explode and almost bite everyone's head off 😮‍💨 that's on unexpected tmi 🤪

- 🎃

“but then i came back to my senses” PUMPKIN 🤣🤣 you’re too real for that lmao. you’re moving out in march? how’s the apartment hunting going?

yeah tbh lately i’ve been pretty quiet on this blog so not a lot is happening in terms of broader fandom interactions so thankfully no one’s fighting on the blog as of late (knock on wood, knock on wood, knock on wood). so yeah things have been simmering elsewhere (starts with obs and ends with something that rhymes with “murder” lmao) for A While and honestly i had unresolved feelings about that that i’ve just been trying to brush off (bc it’s literally over the stupidest thing) but smth just really set me off this past week lol. then i found out even more things to be mad about

you build a house with rooms for everyone to cater to their own shit. then you renovate another room for you to do your niche lil thing and people demonize you and burn your fucking house down and scurry off to another house that they built god knows when (god does know when) and still question why you’re not making more effort to put out the dumpster fire.

saurrr yeah, that’s been my past few days :D (and if we’re being honest, since october 23, 2023 too lmao)

#🎃 anon #answered

[marley-manson]

Saying Mulcahy does no good at all in Korea isn't quite true. His work at the orphanage is extensive, never mind the acts of heroism he partakes in throughout the series. Of all the very valid criticisms, that is about the only one that doesnt hold, because on a purely personal level he simply does do good. You can argue he isn't doing good in the right ways even, and ofc talk about how he is willingly a part of a harmful societal and other broader harmful structures, but on an individual level he does significant good. This is one of the reasons he is both a more problematic and more interesting character and is at the heart of a lot of the issues with MASH as a social critique.

I don't exactly disagree but I think this is a semantics thing wrt how we understand the concept of doing good. Feeding hungry children is good, but in my opinion that good is obliterated because it's a Catholic orphanage doing it. The harm caused by missionary work and cultural imperialism in general is much greater than the good caused by saving some lives. I'm speaking purely from my own point of view ofc, not the narrative's, which does consider Catholic missionary work largely and uncomplicatedly good.

Add the military volunteer thing and the harm Mulcahy cosigns, represents, and actively supports vastly vastly outweighs the good, even just speaking in terms of civilian lives saved vs lost. Heck, even just in the context of the show, rather than real life, where the U.S. army was still responsible for at least one destroyed village.

Like yeah on an individual level he does some good, but I don't consider that worth anything myself. The post you're responding to was a little off the cuff and written hurriedly, if I'd sat on it a little longer my point might've been a little more nuanced. But I do stand by the fact that by my standards it's accurate to say he does no good in his capacity as a military priest. It doesn't make him a bad person, he clearly wants to do good, he attempts to do good, he, like you said, technically does good on an individual level, but he doesn't have a net positive impact. He does more harm than good by a wildly vast margin, which to me = no good.

The funny thing to me is that the show does almost understand this - but only when it comes to Hawkeye's character lol. He wrestles with the fact that even if he's saving lives, he's not doing good because he's only saving lives as part of the war machine. Even the conclusion of Letters, where saving an innocent life rather than a soldier is what keeps him from succumbing to despair, is negated by GFA and ultimately (if maybe unintentionally?) shown to be naive.

Meanwhile Mulcahy's out feeding children in exchange for being able to indoctrinate them, telling soldiers that wanting to desert is wrong, and hankering for a promotion within the same army that drives Hawkeye insane because of the harm it forces him to do as an involuntary draftee, but the narrative has no interest in exploring Mulcahy's complicity in the war machine, almost solely painting him as a great guy who's in Korea to do good and successfully achieves that.

Idk if it's exactly a double standard since Hawkeye's narrative reflects Hawkeye's perspective which is clearly closer to my own, and it does make sense that he's the only character in the cast who thinks about this, but it sure feels hypocritical lol.

Anyway yeah tl;dr ia that he does some good on an individual level, and ia that there's a potentially interesting tension between that and the way he cheerfully represents like two of the most harmful structures in the world (and boy I wish the show had explored that at all), but it's not much of a factor in terms of my own moral assessment.

#marley on mash #mulcahy mash #hawkeye mash #hawkeye even goes to mulcahy to talk about it in letters but the narrative just doesn't want to apply the same principle to him #sorry anon honestly that contrast between hawk and mulcahy is kind of beside your point but idk it feels relevant to point out that #the show has a similar take on morality to mine but only in select cases lol

[kidflashimpulse]

ridiculous that we have to jump through hoops like this (low animation budget my beloathed. also his official s3 design drawn by Phil Bourassa REALLY annoys me. why is he such a TWIG, Phil???) but you know how Bart was drawn/animated in s2? not ripped but clearly muscular? broader shoulders, definition in his arms and legs? i like to just translate that into an older Bart in my head (with thick thighs, duh). he's canonically strong enough to EASILY carry another teen by s3, let him LOOK LIKE IT

“with thick thighs duh” ah yes, the holiest of words, amen to that.

Hes definitely speedster built in S2 and I don't think he was incredibly twig skinny then either, though I do think that due to limited resources in his timeline he was on the skinnier side of things and that his suit then and even now in S3/S4 has padding that makes him look stronger (which I think is just standard hero suiting). Now that he's in a comfortable environment he can afford to train and get stronger to the point he can run to carry ppl, a speedster essential lol. 

BUT YES its kinda terrible how we need to jump through those hoops, I really don't enjoy it. This topic actually kinda ties in to my post on the YJ renewal and to its animation in general. Because usually YJ animation woes are popularly tied to budget constraints, when I don't think this is as much the case (Greg has mentioned they've been given decent budget, though ofc with the woes of animation industry, no matter what they're given honestly they could always do with way more), buts its more of a time and staffing issue. Both Seasons 3 and 4 were created on an individual basis and seemingly rushed (not so much the right word, but they sure sped thru it to keep up with either ig u could call it the expectations or demands, don't know if they were given a set time frame for how long they could work). This means for each season post invasion, the creators had to from scratch re-assemble and re-organise a complete team of staff as well as studio to collaborate with. I feel like ppl don't rlly understand how incredibly difficult this is managerially, especially for season 3 where they went for years their separate ways. Between each season, including airing-time, they were out of work (well specifically for YJ) and the teams behind the show weren't maintained, needing to build all this up as well as actually get the work into motion is incredibly time consuming and not easy and I think this reflects on the animation side of things which is essentially rushed more than anything, rather than low-budget.  

An easy fix to this would've been that when they got renewed in the first place, they should've been renewed for three seasons in one go. This would've given them the time and space to set up something with the vision of doing things for the long run without the need of rushing things. Ultimately, its about animated shows like YJ being given the right type of support so that they can achieve their full potential. But oh well, for now we need to work with what we got.

#YJ asks #young justice phantoms #young justice outsiders #young justice animated #young justice #yj #dc #bart allen #kid flash #impulse

[lilyhoshikawa]

Remember when there were blogs around like “ur fave is homophobic!” and “ur fave is transphobic!” and we just let that happen bc we convinced ourselves homophobia was a funny joke now and not a real issue

#that’s what I think of every time I see one of those ‘‘ur fave is’’ blogs #this is ofc a broader issue I have where like #a large number of ppl seem to think it’s actually funny to joke abt being homophobic or whatever #and then terfs and alt-right weirdos just do it unironically and we all assume they’re in on the joke #it happened fucking constantly and every time I brought it up to someone they’d be like ‘‘lol but im gay what’s the problem’’ #not that even that is an excuse when like. hi hello. I was in conversion therapy I’ve met plenty of homophobic gays #ppl who have internalized their homophobia and act out violently abt it due to that abuse #and that’s like. not to mention gays who r transphobic (there’s a lot of those) #anyway tldr don’t make homophobia into a meme pls and thanks #rambles #ask to tag

[angelicallyblack]

I'm gonna try really hard to trim this down but I tend to be super wordy when I write so I apologise in advance if this is practically an essay, and I seriously will not blame you if you're like "this is long as hell I'm not reading that". But do you have any advice for overcoming envy? I experience it in relation to a lot of different things, but the main one is beauty. It's kind of confusing because I've had people walk up to me on the streets and tell me that I'm gorgeous, I've been told I could be a model, things like that, but I look at myself in the mirror and I KNOW I'm ugly so my guess is that people just pity me. I also know because growing up I was always treated as "ugly" by my classmates. Not as much in high school, but in middle school it was really bad. People assume that you're stupid, they laugh at everything you do, etc. Even teachers treat you differently. I've always been extremely insecure about my looks and have had points where I've been too ashamed to even leave the house or considered suicide over it.

I'm almost 20 and I feel bad because I know I should see beautiful women and be happy for them, but I just get extremely depressed and bitter. I don't take it out on them ofc. It's not their problem that I have issues. But I still have a sense of resentment towards them because I know that even at my absolute best I'll never be as good as them at their worst. People sometimes say that it's actually harder to be attractive, but I don't quite buy that. I read an article once about how much harder life is as a beautiful woman, and the writer talked about sexual harassment. Of course that's awful, but I grew up being harassed regularly and have been assaulted multiple times, so I don't think that's just a "pretty girl" problem.

It just feels like every time I see a pretty girl I'm reminded of how inferior I am, and I spiral. I feel that my insecurity is extremely obvious and can be very annoying and unattractive. I feel the need to apologise for all of my flaws because I'm terrified of people thinking that I consider myself attractive. I constantly talk about all the things I need to change about myself. I'm underweight so I've been trying to weight train and build curves, but I can only work out at home because I'm scared people will laugh at me. I can't go on dates because I feel like I'm subjecting them to some kind of torture by making them look at me. I literally cried in public once scrolling through Instagram. I don't think I'll ever stop hating myself but I just want to stop having a borderline meltdown every single time I see someone who's better than me.

Ok. A few things.

1. People don't tend to tell someone they're pretty if they're not. Especially strangers on the street? I'm asking you to think about that logically for a second and wonder what a stranger could possibly get out of telling you that if it wasn't true.

2. Beauty is subjective. I know that you feel like you're ugly, but other people clearly don't agree. That's the thing about beauty. Everyone can have different opinions on it, and that's okay. Just because you see yourself as unattractive it doesn't mean other people do because they don't have your brain nor your opinions so there's nothing to be confused about. They think you're pretty, so believe that that's their honest opinion.

3. Just because you were perceived as ugly as a child, it doesn't mean that's the case now. Take it from someone who lived that. Obviously my family thought I was pretty, but in school, I felt like I was ugly because of how boys reacted to me vs other girls. People would tell me I was pretty (even had a classmate tell me I was the prettiest black girl he'd ever met) but the actions just weren't lining up with the words. Of course now as an adult, I look back and realize I wasn't ugly I just wasn't white 💀 Naturally that didn't click at the time because I was a teenager, but interacting with a broader audience definitely helped.

4. I wouldn't say that being attractive is harder but it does come with its negativity. People apply narratives to you that can be harmful. There's pressure to continue looking a certain way. There's jealousy (as you well know) and while you're not one of those people who takes it out on others, plenty do. Don't think that just because someone is attractive that they have it relatively easy.

Honestly, you just have extreme self esteem issues. I'm not saying that to be mean, but stating what seems to be true. People tell you that you're pretty, and you don't believe them or you think they're lying despite the fact that they'd have no reason to do so. You literally feel the need to apologize for your appearance and don't want to "burden" people with it. Ain't nobody in the world that ugly. I don't throw terms like this around loosely, but Id even go so far as to say you have body dysmorphia. You don't see yourself clearly, at all.

That's something that needs to be unpacked. You need to figure out why you see yourself that way. You need to think about the things you don't like about yourself and ask yourself why you view those characteristics as ugly. I'm sure there are so many people out there who look like you who you probably think are gorgeous. You mentioned that you're underweight and while I support you trying to get to a healthier weight, don't think that you need to have curves to be attractive. If that's something that will make you feel better and improve your way of life, then I support it, but skinny doesn't inherently equal unattractive just like curves don't inherently mean attractive.

I mentioned that a broader and more diverse community helped improve my self esteem and how I saw myself. The more I saw gorgeous women who looked like me, the better I felt. My logic was that she's pretty and she has my nose so my nose must look pretty on me too. Or she has my body type and she looks amazing so the same must be said for me. This is one of those instances where social media can be a blessing, but truthfully, unless you're at a place where you're improving your mental health and how you see yourself, I wouldn't recommend it.

In your case, I would step back from social media. The only way to stop being envious is to be at a place where you're secure with yourself. You can't be envious of someone else's job when you love yours. You can't be envious of someone else's house when yours is literally your dream. And you can't be envious of someone else's looks when you're pleased with how you look. You need to work on building your confidence and being happy with how you look, and I don't think scrolling on social media will help with that. So many people edit their photos and fabricate their lives and it's just not healthy to consume so much from random people on the internet.

Make a list of the things you want to change. I have no issue with people doing things to improve their appearance if it will make them happy. If you think you'll look better with a specific hairstyle, then get it done. If you want to start doing your makeup a certain way that you believe will suit you better, then hop on YouTube and find products and reviews and tutorials. If you think certain clothes will compliment your figure better, then revamp your closet. Do things that will make you feel better about yourself. I promise you that no one at the gym is going to laugh at you. You're all there for the same thing and that's to improve your bodies. Everyday you need to start complimenting something about yourself. I don't care if you don't believe it, you keep repeating it until you do. You need to start wearing things that will make you feel good. Even if it's just a small change in how you see yourself that day, something is better than nothing.

Lingering on your insecurities while doing nothing about it isn't helpful. Even when I struggled with my insecurities constantly, I was still looking at makeup tutorials and fashion videos and things I could do to improve upon what I was working with to make myself feel better. I was determined to be pretty. Like I said before, I did my best to take advice and inspiration from girls who looked like me. It made it seem more attainable even when I thought I was the ugliest thing to grace this earth. I just got to a point where I was sick of feeling "ugly" and unhappy with how I looked. Like you, I was tired of looking at other girls and wishing I looked as good as them or wishing I got the attention they got. That can literally be you. You can literally be one of those women. All it takes is effort and a change in mindset.

#answered

[blackwoolncrown]

I have a strange request: Stop saying ‘platonic’ and ‘romantic’

So

I absolutely refuse the language of platonic/romantic love at this point.

Why? Because ‘Romantic’ has its roots in identifying Rome as the height of culture and narrative and ‘Platonic’ doesn’t  mean today what it used to mean in fact it’s kind of the opposite.

Platonic love (wiki):

“Pausanias, in Plato's Symposium (181b–182a), defines two types of the love known as "Eros": vulgar Eros, or earthly love, and divine Eros, or divine love. Pausanias defines vulgar Eros as material attraction towards a person's beauty for the purposes of physical pleasure and reproduction, and divine Eros as starting from physical attraction but transcending gradually to love for supreme beauty, placed on a similar level to the divine. This concept of divine Eros was later transformed into the term "platonic love". Vulgar Eros and divine Eros were both considered to be connected, and part of the same continuous process of pursuing perfection of one's being,[4] with the purpose of mending one's human nature and eventually reaching a point of unity where there is no longer an aspiration or need to change.[5] “

again: starting from physical attraction but transcending  gradually to love for supreme beauty,

“Though Plato's discussions of love originally centered on relationships which were sexual between members of the same sex, scholar Todd Reeser studies how the meaning of platonic love in Plato's original sense underwent a transformation during the Renaissance, leading to the contemporary sense of nonsexual heterosexual love.[8]“ -- we are not using the term as intended. In situations like this I believe words can be slowly retired.

Platonic love was an entire philosphical ideal based on the process of physical attraction leading to spiritual partnership and connection with divinity. Plato’s (male only ofc) students fucked each other all the time and in the process of their philosophical learning these relationships deepened beyond just the physical counterpart to a shared knowing of divine concepts and self evolution.

In short ‘Platonic love is when two people love each other but are not physically attracted’ is f a l s e. Ok. That’s not what was going on in the least. Use a different word!

Platonic love is when you meet someone you’re physically attracted to and that attraction begins to morph into an eros  through which you know each other as an extension of the divine, first physically, sexually, then on deeper and deeper less and less physical levels. It’s WAY more like what a lot of ppl call romantic love in that it was started by physical attraction then evolves into something that transcends the physical body but by no means does this mean it becomes explicitly nonsexual as sexuality itself is included as a way of accessing and sharing divinity.

I’ve already talked about ‘Romantic’ but the word literally means ‘relating to/like a Roman-style (or French depending on the version) theatrical narrative or poem’. That is...not a realistic foundation for an actual human relationship. This is why ‘romances’ make popular films and books that real life can never mirror for longer than the honeymoon period. It’s literallly based on made up shit.

Also just like...fuck Rome honestly? I feel like we can stop referencing that shit as much. Society has progressed beyond the need for Roman ideals.

May I offer instead “Companionate love��  and “Passionate love” and “Consumate love” (from the triangular theory of love)

Companionate love is what y’all are calling platonic love. It’s the intimate, non physical type of love between friends with a deep connection. They are your companion. This relationship involves shared planning and compromise, so it’s more than common friendship. This is the ‘BFF 4 life’ type energy.

Passionate love is one where passions extending into physical attraction and shared sexuality exist. It can involve waves of powerful attraction for the other person, and a lot of chemical reactivity aka chemistry. This alone tends to be shorter lived, either maturing into a deeper form of love or fizzling off when a stronger foundation is not possible.

Consumate love is a blend of these, where you are both intimate friends and sharing the energy of your passions, physically and non. This combination leads to a desire a logn term commitment that then involves higher levels of compromise, co-planning and intention.

When people say ‘platonic’ love they tend to mean Companionate love.

When people say ‘Romantic’ love-- and another issue with this is that it’s spoken of as either/or when it really is a ‘this AND’ situation- they tend to mean either a relationship with a heavy physical attraction (the notable difference from Companionate love) or a love that is broader (not deeper!) than the love we have for friends.

Personally, IMO, passionate love isn’t love it’s just attachment/fixation but in the triangular theory of love it is signified as its own form of love and it does have its place in the triad of love components (someone you like to be with, someone you’re physically aattracted to, someone you are committed to).

#platonic #romantic #asexual #love #language #fuck rome!

[arlingtonpark]

SNK 134 Review

Thank you. Thank you so much. This means so much to me.

(Ofc this chapter is called “In the Depths of Despair.”)

Sigh.

So, I guess I have to have an opinion on this chapter now.

For a while there, it looked like SNK had made the right choice.

Eren was the asshole. He was insubordinate, ungrateful, uncooperative, and above all else, a fucking sociopath. Cool, got it. One and done.

But then his friends started talking about how it was really their fault he’s doing this.

Ok, that’s fine. They’re desperate to stop him, so they’re just saying whatever they think will ingratiate themselves with Eren and help talk him down. Dynamics like that are very common in abusive relationships.

Now we arrive at this chapter, where even random people are saying Eren is a victim *as he is murdering them!*

It is patently absurd that Eren is having a warranted or natural or reasonable reaction to what he’s been through.

If Eren were a better person, he would have known that mass murder against the Eldians was wrong because mass murder is wrong. Unfortunately, Eren is a fundamentally amoral person. The only moral compass he has to guide him is a childish belief in “you hit me, so I get to hit you.”

He’s said as much on multiple occasions. He has said, “If someone tries to take my freedom away, I will take their freedom away.”

Instead of being the better man and ending the killing, his solution was to kill more people than them, faster and on a larger scale.

I think the clearest picture of Eren’s worldview was given when he spoke to Historia. He said the only way to end the cycle of violence was to destroy the whole world.

That is Eren’s deeply felt belief: there can be no peace or coexistence; the only way to win is to be the last man standing.

This mindset is so natural to him that he will even kill his friends for opposing him.

He told them that they were free to oppose him, and he was free to fight back. That’s how he justifies killing them to himself. They have the choice to oppose him, so if he fights back and kills them, it’s their fault they died, not his, because they could have made the choice to flee and live, but decided to stand and die.

In reality, the alliance is fulfilling a moral duty to protect life, while Eren is an asshole who has killed billions.

The series wasn’t kind to Eren about that. He was depicted as a cheering child as he murdered everyone. The Rumbling was not white washed either. The take away was obviously that Eren’s decision was not the product of a sound mind.

And yet.

Now I have to wonder if the series is seriously trying to say the Rumbling embodies some form of justice.

There are multiple layers to this issue, so let’s start at the surface level.

So in what is obviously a ham-fisted attempt by Isayama to lecture the audience about morality, a Random Commander Guy filibusters about the ills cast by the Marleyans on the Eldians and how this has rebounded back at them.

It is generally considered good writing for characters to get their just desserts. If someone sells drugs to kids, you expect something bad to happen to them. If someone helps a kid cross the street, you expect something good to happen to them.

What’s different between a generic case of just desserts in a story and this chapter in SNK is that the dessert is typically delivered through some nebulous, karmic force, rather than a vengeful twerp with God-like powers.

When the drug dealer’s car blows up, it’s karmic fate, not revenge.

The car doesn’t blow up because one of the kids devoted his life to exacting revenge, it’s because the car just blows up for no reason, or because something completely unrelated to the dealer causes a bomb to be planted in the car, or the dealer brought it on themselves by getting caught up with terrorists.

People may or may not deserve to suffer, but it’s fine to show people suffering if you’re just trying to make a point about how people should act.

Eren’s a different case. For several reasons.

To help untangle why, let’s think about the death penalty.

The death penalty is an example of retributive justice. Put simply, it’s the idea that retribution can be morally just.

The Rumbling is immoral precisely because it is something a supporter of retributive justice would emphatically NOT support.

Most supporters of the death penalty would justify it as an act by a legitimate societal authority. Eren is not that.

Eren is not an authority figure. He does not speak for the Eldian people and has no right to exact this genocide on their behalf. No one made him King of the Eldians. It’s not his place to decide what’s in the Eldian’s best interest.

Also, killing people because “it’s what the scumbag deserves” is usually justified because it’s a sentence for a crime handed down in a legal process.

Rights can be taken away, but not arbitrarily. Transparency is an important part of this. Acts that are a crime are public knowledge, as well as the prescribed punishments. The criminal law is also supposed to apply to everyone equally, not selectively. To say nothing of the law itself being duly enacted by a legitimate governmental authority.

The same principles apply to the process by which a right is taken away. The process must be laid out in a law that was duly enacted by a legitimate government authority, applies to everyone, and is publicly known.

Eren’s process, of *fucking* course, is nothing like this. Eren has no legitimate authority. He’s a Guy With an Opinion who bumbled into attaining absolute power, and now he’s acting on that Opinion.

He not the government punishing a convict. He’s a guy with a gun shooting people he doesn’t like. The Rumbling is not just retribution, it’s just murder.

Commander Guy says that if they knew this would happen, they would have acted differently.

That’s a good point.

Why the fuck do they deserve to die, then?

To some extent, everyone’s worse impulses are kept in check by the knowledge that there will be consequences if they act rashly.

But it’s not just that.

Laws are public knowledge for a reason: it’s fair. If you know your act is a crime and that performing said act will result in a certain punishment, then by committing the act anyway you have tacitly accepted whatever punishment will be meted out.

The moral onus is placed on you.

This is why knowledge that you are committing a crime is necessary to be convicted of a crime.

In principle, the case with the Marleyans is the same. Is it fair to punish someone for an act they did not know would carry that punishment? No.

They may know the act was immoral, but that is not the same thing as knowing it will lead directly to their death.

And needless to say, but you only deserve to be punished for an act if you deserve to be punished for that act. The Marleyans do not deserve to be punished for that act.

There are multiple ways a wrong can be righted. There are punitive ways, in which the perpetrator is harmed outright. There are also restorative ways, in which the victim is compensated for the harm done to them, usually at the expense of the perpetrator.

I have already explained why Eren lacks the authority to pass judgement on the world, and that the process by which he made his decision was completely illegitimate, but it needs to be said that this punishment is totally improper in itself.

Wiping out humanity is purely punitive. To use the obvious analogy, I don’t think any sane person would argue white people deserve to be punished for racism. Supporters of racial justice usually talk about restorative, rather than punitive, forms of justice, like reparations.

The Rumbling does not make the Eldians whole again. It does not restore their trampled dignity. It is purely an act of vengeance.

Casting it as some kind of deserving retribution is crazy.

Oh, and, you know, suffering is bad, so retributive justice is wrong even disregarding everything I just said.

You could theoretically believe life is a miracle, but that people forfeit that right if they act wrongly…it’s not something many people would support.

If Dino!Eren had been depicted as a random force of nature that visited ruination upon humanity, we could have potentially gotten a good story about how hatred leads to no good outcomes. Like how Godzilla is a metaphor for the ills of nuclear weapons.

Instead we get a nihilistic tale about two sides punching each other until one keels over dead. And somehow the one that keels over deserved it.

What makes it nihilistic is that you could easily reverse it. What if right before Eren destroys Fort Salta, aliens invade the Earth and help the Marleyans.

Now the Eldians are on the verge of annihilation and *Eldian* Commander Guy gets his turn to say “Woe is us who surrendered to hate. We deserve this.”

There is no right side or wrong side. No deserving side or innocent side. The Eldians were cheering for genocide the same as the Marleyans. The difference is the Eldians had a God on their side.

The morality of this series is just all over the place.

The Alliance and Eren are equally sinful, but now Eren is an agent of karmic destiny and his victims “deserve it.”

There isn’t much to talk about this chapter besides that.

Armin still hopes to take Eren alive, but good luck with that.

Eren can manifest other titans from his body, which is cool I guess, though it’s pretty clear this power only exists to give the Alliance things to fight.

There were a lot of allusions to parenthood this chapter. The baby and the cliff. Reiner’s mom realizing how shitty she’s been. Historia’s pregnancy. The Commander Guy saying it’s the fault of “us adults.” The numerous shots emphasizing the kids at Fort Salta.

Child abuse is a common theme of SNK. And not just parental abuse, but societal abuse, too. Children are the victims of individual foibles and broader social ills, like racism and police brutality.

The cycle of violence at the heart of the series’ conflict is bad for everyone, but the story emphasizes that it is bad for children in particular. It harms them, and leads to a world that is worse off for them.

If there’s one takeaway from SNK, it’s that we should think of the children. Adults shouldn’t just take care of their kids, they should fix broader social issues, if not for themselves then for the children’s sake.

It’s a fucking insult.

Historia’s pregnancy is all but confirmed here. There’s no way it’s fake. There may have been motive to fake being pregnant, but there is no fucking way she’d have a reason to fake *birth*.

I always leaned towards the pregnancy being real, so that didn’t get to me. What gets me is that Historia is just…there. On Paradis. On the sidelines.

Not only was Historia, who is the only likable female character in this show now, impregnated, she’s also been MIA most the last two story arcs.

I had thought Isayama was saving her for the finale. Surely, Isayama understands that if you sideline a major character for no reason, they have to come into play at some point, I thought. Surely.

Characters are tools; they exist to be used. So use them.

But no, it seems Historia is legit not going to be a thing in this final battle. My dreams of the domineering boss saving the day are dashed.

But what really messes with me is how shafted Historia has been since basically the end of the Uprising Arc.

Historia’s only contribution to the plot after Uprising, but before the pregnancy was making the disastrous decision to make the truth of the world public, which paved the way for Paradis society to become radicalized and back Eren’s coup.

She has done nothing other than that.

Obviously her pregnancy will have thematic importance, but at this point the best Historia stans can hope for is that she’s the main character in the epilogue.

I’ve always assumed the pregnancy was the product of a loving relationship. For all his incompetence with Historia, I was willing to assume Isayama would not force her to carry a forcibly impregnated child to term.

And you know that even if the child is the product of rape, Historia will still have to say she loves and accepts them as her child and will raise them lovingly, with no regard or acknowledgement of the trauma of having to raise a child born out of her being raped.

Because the theme of the story.

All life is a miracle.

All children deserve to be loved.

Even if it was rape.

Except it’s more complicated than that, and I’m terrified to think that Isayama may not understand that.

So for now, I choose to presume that Historia is pregnant because she loves someone, decided to have a family with them, and we’re being led to believe she was raped for shock value.

But arguably more important is what this means for the queer audience.

Historia’s first love interest was another woman.

She’s queer. A lesbian. A dyke. What have you.

Now you’re telling me she either loves a man, or was not only raped, but has to love and accept the child that results from that trauma?

And for what?

So we can end the manga on a speech by Historia moralizing about the value of posterity?

Historia stands at the nexus of two subjects in this manga: the value of posterity and the denigration of queer people.

It is very homophobic of this series to pair a queer character with a dude to affirm a message about the value of children and motherhood.

As if queer people can’t have children.

We seem to be headed down that path.

It didn’t have to be like this.

Queer people can have children through artificial insemination. And artificial insemination is conceivable with Paradis’ current level of technological development.

Isayama is choosing to do this because queer people are not a part of his vision of a world where people, especially children, are able to live free.

That’s very sad, because it shows how empty SNK’s morals are.

So who’s the slave here?

Who here is truly free?

The ones who are free are the ones who aren’t reading Attack on Titan anymore.

#attack on titan #shingeki no kyojin #snk 134 #snk chapter 134 #spoilers

[unicornbitchface]

Raat ki Rani

Pairing: Henry x OFC

Summary: The plot moves ahead. 

No warnings yet.

Beta’d by the lovely @madbaddic7ed​ !

.............................................................................................

Chapter 2

That’s it. 

She was so over it. 

How was it even allowed? 

There had to be some decorum, some sanctity to the institution. Someone had to make it right, and it will have to be her. Enough was enough. 

Bursting through the carved door of the zenana mahal, her eyes searched for the culprit. Today she would make it clear what goes where, and she is not to be trifled with. 

She kept her head low in front of her father, but Damini deserved to be hit for how she talked to their father! What was so wrong about what he said? Rajputana women are to serve their janmabhoomi (motherland) and later her husband’s jaagir (feudal estate). 

And everyone knows, with that tongue no Kunwar would take that disgrace. 

The only use for her is to make sure Father keeps his gold. How is that so bad? 

Worse than wearing men’s clothes to Meena Bazaar? 

Kite flying with locals like an imbecile? 

Running around like a bloody camel in the palace?

Pranks on the Generals, priests and the guests without a care for her stature?

Surely not.

There she was, giggling with the kids, up to no good as always!

“Damu!” Revati roared. 

The mischief in those almond eyes could not be hidden, not that Damini would ever try to. Their eyes met, and she walked to her elder sister with a poise that would put peacocks to shame. 

“Khamba Ghani bai sa! How can I help you?” 

Smack.

Head to the side, Damini’s insides fumed at the atrocious insult. Fire consumed her when she looked back at her sister. But before she could say anything, Revati had her hands on her ear as she dragged her to the chambers.

“Bai sa! It hurts, ow, stop!”

Revati was silent until they reached her room and spun Damini around making her fall near the bed.

“What is wrong with you, Damu? Why are you so hell-bent on soiling your father's name and reputation all the time? Are you not his ward? Do you not love him? If not any of that, please tell me you at least hold remorse!”

“Remorse for what, Bai sa? Of course, I love him but he clearly doesn’t love me” A lone tear escaped the lioness, her heart squeezing in waste, for a relationship that won’t exist beyond a mention in history books. 

“What was so wrong about what he said? You get to save the maan of our ancestors! You get to maintain your old life while helping Father! You should consider this an honour and-”

Damini stood up and walked to her sister, “I spit on such honour. If it’s so glorious, why don’t you warm his bed? I am sure you don’t miss your husband anyway!”

Revati stood there, speechless. She had no words for the indecency her sister had unfolded without hesitation. 

“Do you know what you are saying? I cannot. I am bound to my husband. I have taken vows, and I shall not bring shame to his name. Never.”

Smirking and raising an eyebrow, Damini shot another crude arrow towards Revati, “Cannot? Shall not? So you mean to say you would if you could?” 

The silence and red cheeks gave her what she needed to know. 

“You haven’t seen him. You are lucky to have a specimen like that in your bed. He has blue eyes, Damu and looks like a foreign God, here to ravish and ravage. He is a Lord you know? That means he is almost in our ranks. He must have lands, and his pockets must be overflowing with gold!” Hands to her chest, Revati’s breaths were close to being shallow and her eyes were dazed/had a faraway look to them.

Damini never understood this weird fawning that women did over certain men. She has seen women literally drool over their choli and panting like parched animals. 

Weird. 

“Brown hair, those curls! When he looks at you, oh those ice cold eyes! Time freezes and you feel a strange fire consume you, pooling in your gut, giving you these ideas that would put apsaras to shame. I haven’t seen him smile yet, but it will be brighter than the sunrise on the highest hills of our kingdom! I’m sure of it! And those muscles Damu! His angrezi trousers barely fit him and oh how the mighty muscles might rip it to shreds. Hmm, and you have to see his shoulders ! Broader than my husband’s best swords, imagine-”

Damini cleared her throat loudly, and said, “Look, I have no interest in that buffoon even if he had 3 eyes, 4 limbs and walked on bloody water! Just leave me alone, and you can continue with your weird fantasy in private, thank you!”

As Damini was leaving,  Revati grabbed her. 

“You will have to bend over for the bright future of Junagarh, little sister. Save the fire and use it in his bed because Father is not going to let this go. You know his penchant for gold Damu. We need that to keep the God at our doorstep satisfied. Think of yourself as a sacrifice! Don’t we sacrifice goats in Dussera? This is not much different. Appease him Damu, and he will shower blessings on our kingdom. You know we need it! 

 Do it by your own will, or you shall be delivered, hands and legs bound. You’re a smart girl, I’m sure you know what is the better option, hm?”

Smart girl?

Smarter than you think sister. 

**************************************

Meanwhile, Lord Cavill was ready to rip his hair out. How has this country survived for so long? You call these jokers ministers? Oh, dear God.

After the first meeting, the Maharaja had insisted that the British envoy must meet and greet with the ministers to get a better understanding of their system. The Lord had reluctantly agreed, after all, he was sent here to keep an eye on the state and its keeper.

While a few tried to speak in English, most of the meeting was held via translation services offered by Mount General, Kulwant Singh. Honestly, Cavill would never get the measure of this odd human. He surely was not intimidated, but this man left him uncomfortable.

Cavill was busy analysing this giant’s diet and lifestyle, wondering how he became what he is. It was a result of mere boredom and not due to any frivolous intrigue. Just as Cavill hid a yawn about to escape, a voice grabbed his attention.

“Long live Cavill Saab, I, Bikram Rajawat, minister of the esteemed court, have a few proposals to put forth. May I?”

Cavill waved him to continue.

“As My Lord must be aware, our lands are arid causing water shortages. The lands beyond the capital need wells, sir. It is hard to-”

Cavill, leaned forward on the cushioned chair, eyes darting to the familiar voice of the Maharaja as he spoke.

“Rajawat! That is enough. I am sure Cavill Saab does not need to be bothered with trivial issues. He must focus on the bigger picture, am I right, sir?” Ganga asked meekly.

“And by bigger, do you mean the palace you want the money for, Mr Singh?”

Chuckling awkwardly, the Maharaja replied, “I am a representative of the subjects my lord! My standard of living reflects on their prosperity. The palace would function as an object of pride for every citizen of my raj.”

“Not your raj, The British Raj.”

Everyone stood up faster than the lightning, swords drawn, ready to get bloody.

“EXCUSE ME?”

Cavill looked around the room and took a breath. These ignorant fools have no idea what they signed up for.

He chuckled at the thought of their possible reactions to his heavy-handed revelations.

“Have you read the treaty, Maharaja Ganga Singh? Have you truly read it?”

Furious by his tone, Bikram yelled, “You are talking to a King, Lord Cavill. I suggest you watch your tone. An insult to him is an insult to the entire court!”

“Respectfully minister, he might be your king and you are allowed to feel so, but I am not talking to a King. When I stand here as an officer from the company, I talk to the WARD of Britain. Not a King, not a Maharaja.”

There was pin-drop silence as Cavill rose from his seat. It was time to show them how things are going to work from now on.

“I suggest you take your seats, honourable ministers and you too Mr Singh. I must clarify that I do not intend to hurl any sort of an insult at anybody. I am merely stating the facts.” Looking at Kulwant, he could only hope for a fair translation. The language was another thing he had to master if he was going to stay here.

His face contorted in distaste as he thought of learning this primitive language, an utter waste of his time.

He pushed those thoughts aside and continued once the ministers had sat back down.

“The British are paying for all of this to be maintained as it were. We are supportive of your lifestyle and would like to see you flourish. However, this is not a charity. The use of our resources need to be monitored, and we are here to provide advice and guidance you all will only benefit further from.” 

The Maharaja nodded and agreed with the envoy. However, he still felt discomfort at his earlier tone. He somehow needed this buffoon under his control, and his only ticket seemed to be Damini. 

That wretched fool. He had a lot of work to do. 

Ganga looked at the Lord and wondered if stoking lust would fetch him anything. There was certainly no harm in trying. 

“Ahem, I would like to extend an invitation to you, good sir. I would like to hold a feast in your honour in the evening. It would be an honour to have you present! This way you get to meet my family and my successor Maan Singh as well.”

A native party? Really? Lord Cavill groaned internally at the thought of fake pleasantries yet responded, “I don’t engage in a lot of social commitments Mr Singh, but I suppose I cannot say no to a feast organised in my honour. I shall be there.”

“So, now that we know what our roles are, I would like to see your proposal for the wells Bikram Singh. I think it will benefit the people and help our taxes in return. There are a few other proposals I would like to work on, so I am requesting you to be prepared with your plans. Include expenditure, time, labour and other needs in detail. Take notes from your Maharaja, as his notes were flawless for the palace plan.”

The court missed his cheekiness and was genuinely impressed by the king’s efforts.

Ganga Singh puffed his chest in pride and got lost in the praise.

Interesting. The king was not hard to read, and Cavill knew what had to be done now.

Ha! A piece of cake.

Previous chapter

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Hindi terms:

Khamba Ghani: Rajasthani salutation and a way to say hello. 

Apsara: celestial nymphs 

Angrezi: English, used commonly to describe any kind of foreign objects, beliefs etc, but mostly rooted in British connotation. 

Maharaja: King 

Dussera: A festival celebrated in India, to honor the various forms of Hindu goddesses. It goes on for 10 days, each day for a particular goddess, and on the 8th day, Goddess Kali is worshiped. Some followers believe in sacrificing animals as a tribute to please her. 

Tags:

@madbaddic7ed @henrythickcavill @toomanyfandomsshreya @inana999 @maximumninjavoid @mistress-of-ward

#henry cavill #henry cavill fanfiction #henry thoughts #colonialstyle #india #british raj #raat ki rani

[illnessfaker]

[ cw: f-slur, rape mention ]

no reblogs pls. this is a long vent.

haha not to be a hysterical faggot crippled shut-in freak or anything but the way ppl talk abt the defensiveness around the f-slur that some gay/bi male users (and some transfem users) on here as if it's some kind superiority pissing contest thing and not primarily about...respecting the boundaries and experiences of those gay/bi male (and transfem) users. like...being on this site as a fag-adjacent person (i say that half-jokingly because it sounds silly on one hand but on the other that's the most accurate descriptor of my gender identity, lol) is becoming increasingly draining and upsetting with how "progressive" homophobia against gay/bi men is apparently becoming, like, a meme among lgbtq people and that's acceptable somehow bc lgbtq people aren't cishets or because it's "only online" and therefore doesn't matter.

like idgaf abt ppl who aren't gay/bi men (or transfem) using the f-slur in every single context possible. if they're affectionately referring to their gay/bi male (or transfem) friends with that word (so long as said friends are comfortable with it) that's one thing. who cares. i even rb'd something where a cis butch (iirc) lesbian was talking about a gay man she knew who she was affectionatly calling a faggot and the things she said warmed my heart. if they're throwing it around at every opportunity or using it as an edgy insult against random strangers on the internet, that's another. the users on here who do the latter also regularly display behavior that like...shows a pretty clear disdain for gay/bi men (or transfem ppl) not apart of their online or "irl" circlejerks and echo chambers, and that is in no way disconnected from their love of using the f-slur, lol.

the "it's only online and so it's unimportant uwu go outside" thing also really feels like such a spit in the face as someone who both lives in a rural area full of cishet white men with guns that might try to kill me if i walked out of the house in drag (not to mention i live with my bf and his family and his parents are homophobes themselves i'm sure), and is also someone with health issues that usually keep me at home and in bed when i'm not working. i didn't always live here but even in my hometown the only "lgbtq space" i had was the high school GSA which didn't do shit other than the day of silence and was attended by people i did not feel safe around (e.g. my ex-friend who was very emotionally manipulative and ended up raping someone.) i don't have any other lgbtq spaces to go to other than online ones. if i never joined tumblr i might still be a self-hating cishet girl, or i might be dead, who knows. like, i've accepted at this point that personhood isn't something i'm allowed in (outside of my whiteness) so fuck me i guess if we need to but the idea that other young, impressionable, and/or traumatized lgbtq people who only can meet other lgbtq people and learn about lgbtq things online for whatever reason don't deserve to have us make an effort on cultivating internet spaces that are as accessible and safe for them as possible, or that their experiences and feelings are somehow unimportant is just...vile. like ofc not everyone needs to "pander" to "logged on" disabled fags like myself maybe but if you have any kind of large following on social media maybe consider that the things you say and do on said social media have like...an actual effect on other people instead of pretending that it's "just online" and therefore consequences for your actions either don't matter enough (to you personally) or somehow don't exist.

but going back to the fag thing, most popular lgbtq tumblr users on my dash i see nowadays just...simply do not give a shit whatsoever about gay/bi men, to the point they're normalizing "progressive" and "acceptable" homphobia against us bc they've convinced themselves due to the bigotry some gay/bi men (often cis, white, and wealthy mind you) exhibit we are "the cishets of the lgbtq community," despite horrific violence still being committed against us every day and despite other lgbtq people being capable of engaging in that violence themselves. ppl make thinly veiled jokes and memes where the punchline is men having sex with each other or effeminacy as if those things aren't primary avenues for gay/bi men being abused, assaulted, and killed (including acts of abuse and assault of a sexually-driven nature), as if said jokes and memes don't serve to normalize the mentalities that drive homophobic hate crimes. it's not like...a coincidence that most lgbtq people who makes these jokes aren't gay/bi men (or transfem). this doesn't even get into how things like homophobia and anti-effeminacy can pretty much boot certain gay/bi men from manhood...or womanhood...or any place in gender altogether.

call me exlusionary if you want but i think it's fair to say that the chances of people who aren't gay/bi men (or transfem*) facing the repurcussions of those mentalities in any meaningful way, the chances of these people actually having lived as or going to live as "faggots" is any meaningful sense is slim to none, and that's why they're so comfortable participating in this shit, and that's why i'm triggered(tm) by them "reclaiming" faggot (which doesn't really involve reclamation bc calling random strangers on the internet or gay/bi men you hate a slur isn't reclamation you morons), because frankly if you're not apart of either of those groups, you're just not a fucking faggot. it's not your word just because some rando on overwatch called you it for picking hanzo in comp. period. end of story. it's also just extremely absurd to try and claim faggotry as something you experience while...readily and happily engaging in homophobia and fag-hate (which isn't synonymous with the former term but i'm talking abt ppl who probably seldom ever engage which discussions and theory surrounding how homophobia instrumentates itself in society - or at least that which doesn't conform to their worldview). within the gay/bi male community there's plentu of masc "straight-acting" gays who weaponize this shit against fem gays and they (should) get held accountable in the same way. you're not special.

and god, being told my gendered experiences as a fag-adjacent person where (white) cafab women are fully capable of engaging in social forms of "oppression" against me and other fags in undeniably gendered ways is somehow an outlier and therefore not reflective of broader social by (white) masc urbanite tbros with definitively more social standing than i'll ever have in my life, as if i somehow developed this understanding of gendered violence just based off my own life and not...the reported and sometimes even recorded experiences of countless other fags who get mocked and silenced because anything that deviates from a watered down, shoddy cis feminist take on gender is fake news(tm) or bordering on saying misandry exists (like no it doesn't exist but acting as if homophobic shit like anti-sodomy laws, for example, has zero to do with gay/bi men's manhood is just nonsensical). convos on here abt gender being mostly dominated by (white) cafab women or sometimes (white) masc trans guys is such a mistake lmao.

anyway i'm tired and stressed and pretty done with having "acceptable" homophobic shit shoved in my face on a daily basis both online and offline but nevertheless i must persist because i'm not lucky enough to have anywhere else to go, really. just...think critically abt ur actions regarding gay/bi male sexuality and gender-stuff pretty please. please.

( *disclaimer just in case that i definitely don't see transfems as some "type" of gay/bi men. there are transfems who identify with gay/bi manhood and/or faggotry. there are transfems who don't. that's entirely up to them. thank u. )

#op #🌙 #homophobia #gender #site culture #no reblogs -