#{AESTHETIC ~ it doesn't have to be perfect}

[thyglere]

A very long analysis on Caitlyn if you care to read:

Act 1 of season 2 of arcane just dropped on our collective brains like one of Jinx's bombs and just about everyone is losing their minds over it.

I've seen it happen especially over Caitlyn's actions which is... understandable.

What miffed me, however, is how the discourse has strayed to absolutes: Caitlyn is either absolute and irredeemably evil or completely justified in her actions.

Neither is true, of course, arcane is not interested in that sort of thing.

Caitlyn begins the act on the worst low of her life, her mother is dead over an attack that happened some feet away from her, its perpetrator on the other side of her gun some moments before it. Her father appears almost catatonic, incapable to see anything in front of him, he doesn’t offer Caitlyn true comfort, just more responsibility.

Caitlyn has never dealt with loss her whole life, she had the privilege of living in a rich estate, with a whole family and no need ever unmet. Now she is offered empty platitudes that do not quench her growing guilt and rage. We can see Jinx dominating her head, and what begins with the belief that Jinx, and only Jinx, is a monster quickly changes after the attack on the memorial.

Before it was easy to hate only one, Caitlyn knew her name and knew her face, but now she doesn't- too many people, too many faces, and she will probably never know any of her names, just a indeterminate mob of people that act like monsters and even look like monsters. They are easy to dehumanize and, in Caitlyn's head, the actions of the few are turning into the image of the all.

In episode 2 and 3 Caitlyn and her strike force steamroll over Zaun, weaponizing the Grey and extorting information with force- Caitlyn wants Jinx and she will get Jinx as fast as she can physically get. We can empathize with her loss, with her grief and rage, with her guilt and the trauma that came with seeing Jinx do what she did.

But if you want to argue empathy then it has to work both ways. The people of Zaun are not complicit in any of it, and I've seen people arguing that "the people they went after are criminals anyway!", "they are using the Grey tactically!", and "It is justified!". No, no, and no, the deployment of a chemical weapon and overwhelming police brutally are never justifiable, the leveraging of chemical weapons against human beings is a literal war crime, and while the montage is aesthetically breathtaking, the way Caitlyn's face is rendered against the backdrop of Jinx's wanted posters is very indicative of the nature of what she is doing.

Because what she is doing is not just going after Jinx, she is tormenting and terrifying the people of Zaun. Imagine that you worked at a clinic or healing center and suddenly people started flooding in because of chemical warfare near of your neighborhood; imagine if you heard that cops have started to gass people were you live; imagine that the air you breath was becoming contaminated, because chemical weapons cannot be tactically deployed, they spread and in the underground they will stay there.

When we read news about police brutality, when we see body footage of the use of excessive force and twitchy trigger fingers, our reaction is not sympathy for the traumatized or "stressed" cop- it's the understanding that this person should not hold the power they have, they shouldn't have a gun or a way to indiscriminately beat or arrest people.

We didn't emphasize with the actions of the enforcers in act 1 of season 1, they weren’t justifiable, and its mirror image also isn't.

This culminates in what happens in the fight with Jinx, and the behavior that Caitlyn displays. Caitlyn can rationalize her actions to herself, that she "had the shot" and that she "wouldn’t miss", neither are true. Caitlyn is a great shot, but she is not a "perfect" shot, no one is. Earlier in the fight she blew Jinx's finger off, and, if anything, that proves it all the more- it didn’t incapacitate Jinx, didn't stop her (that was Vi), and the place were Caitlyn wants to desperately put a bullet in is Jinx's skull. She can't guarantee that she wouldn't miss with all the flailing about that Jinx and Isha were doing, that is simply an impossibility. This refusal to see the harm she can do, that she is doing, either to poor Vi or the people that she thoroughly vilifying in her pursuit of revenge is truly what sets Caitlyn as a new antagonistic force.

Now Caitlyn has all the power in her hands and the devil on her shoulder, the next arc will probably be her descent until it all comes crashing around her. Because Caitlyn will be redeemed, I'm absolutely confident about that. There will come a moment of revelation that she will think: "What am I doing? What have I done?"

Perhaps then we will see the reforming agent that Caitlyn wanted to be inside the enforcers, someone that wanted to truly and genuinely help people, to see the humanity in everyone, not as an idealist, but as a more well-rounded person that understands the circumstances of life and what strife all go though. Not as someone that sees us-versus-them, not as someone that sees good versus evil, not as a cop that bashes through people's lives with government endorsed brutality, not as a cop that doesn't see the fault in her twitchy trigger finger and has no problem leveraging a chemical weapon against civilians.

Because, right now, Caitlyn is just acting like a cop, and all cops are bastards.

[justanothercanuck]

Okay over and over and over I see posts on here and other social media sites that allege to be Bob Marley quotes. And they never are.

First off, Bob Marley was Jamaican and spoke with a heavy Jamaican accent. Which has it's own speech patterns and phrasing and wording. And none of these quotes ever match the rhythm and sound of a man from the village of Nine Mile in the country who then moved to Trenchtown, the most poverty stricken slum in Kingston. It just sounds all off. Or does he suddenly take an white European affectations and speak the King's English just for profound statments. Secondly, Bob Marley is not a man who would say something this flowery and aesthetic about women. He was Rastafarian and held strongly to the belief that women should be modest and covered up. There are numerous women who spoke of having to put on more modest clothing and remove make up and jewelry before meeting with Marley. Or he would become angry and even in a couple recorded instants violently wiped their faces and berated them. Marley was a misogynist. He cheated on his wife so much so that he had numerous children outside of his marriage because again Rastafarianism does not allow the use of birth control. He often was physically aggressive and hit women when he was upset. He also was known to demand sex whether his partner wanted it as well or not. Rape. He saw little value in women outside the home or in his case as backing singers. They were his possessions to be used when and how he wanted. He would not have sat in an interview saying this quote. There is no known location, recording or printing of this quote until Facebook came along. Zero attribution. Don't get me wrong. Marley was a brilliant man. And incredible songwriter and musician. But he was also other things. And just like other men of great talent, he is often given traits and words that are simply out of synch with their truth. Johnny Cash, John Lennon, Pablo Picasso, Ludwig Van Beethoven, Albert Einstein and etc. Have all become these beacons of light on the internet. Or they are attributed words and actions that don't mesh with their truth. It doesn't take from their talents and what they put in the world. But it isn't real. And if we are going to support women and feminism and support change, even passive misogyny needs to be confronted and that is what this is, this is a sort of quiet misogyny that allows some men to be terrible to women as long as they give you pleasure or art or meaning. And that can't work in an fair and equal world.

Here is the Snopes page on this quote - https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/perfect-woman-bob-marley/

Thought for today

Bob Marley was once asked if there was a perfect woman. He replies :

Who cares about perfection?

Even the moon is not perfect, it is full of craters.

The sea is incredibly beautiful, but salty and dark in the depths.

The sky is always infinite, but often cloudy.

So, everything that is beautiful isn't perfect, it's special.

Therefore, every woman can be special to someone.

Stop being "perfect", but try to be free and live, doing what you love, not wanting to impress others!

[scificrows]

The feed ID doesn’t need to say anything other than what everyone else’s says, just name, gender, and…” She trailed off. She was looking at me and I was looking at her. - Martha Wells, Fugitive Telemetry (The Murderbot art I used is the official cover art from the French edition of ASR)

[elizabethrobertajones]

I could be your angle... or yuor devil..,

[thetriangletattoo]

I wanna be in California

[haunting-hufflepuffs-basement]

You know what? You're right! Sorry, I'mma hijack your post. Have some headcanons for The Valkyries, my loves!

Marlene:

Suuuuper physical and athletic. Enjoys getting up close and personal. Obviously this means she's a quidditch beater, but she also learned about roller derby from Lily and Mary and became obsessed. Every summer she drags them to do roller derby at least once, and she's on a muggle team.

Marlene's default response to any negative emotion is FIGHT. You know how some people will cry when they're angry or tired or overwhelmed? Marlene starts swinging, both physically and verbally at the sign of any bad feeling: physical discomfort, sadness, just being really stressed---she's got a short temper.

Marlene is an extrovert. She requires interaction with other people to function. Isolating causes her to get too into her own head and wear herself out trying to keep up with her own thoughts (and also she gets bored easily). Being around others relaxes her. This is unfortunate, because she's not too fond of many other people.

Marlene is omnisexual with a heavy preference toward women. Her parents are homophobic. This does take a toll on her. She's in heavy denial for a lot of her school years, despite gravitating toward other queer people, and she stays closeted for even longer. When she did come out, it put a lot of strain in the relationship, but the war made it so that both sides did their best to look past it and not bring things up. They died defending each other.

She's demiromantic, but allosexual. She'll one-night stand her friends, but a healthy romantic relationship for her does mean sex first.

Her best subjects are transfiguration, herbology, and defense against the dark arts, but her favorite is actually muggle studies. She gets average to below average marks and dislikes all her other classes. She's also dyslexic.

She's VERY scottish, and has a super thick accent (thanks @oneluckygoose)

Marlene's got a baby brother that she dotes on and adores, but he's like 5 years younger than her and in a different house, so he doesn't interact with her school-friends much. They do go out of their way to send each other rude mail at breakfast and everybody else has learned to sit several seats away before either McKinnon opens a package.

She's punk as all get out. In dress, interests, attitude, whatever. She's a punk.

She's the best of the group at apparating. She took to it like a frog to water, and will pull a Fred and George and apparate really short distances just to show off.

Mary:

Is a user of weaponized kindness. Her motto is the one that goes "Always forgive your enemies. Nothing annoys them so much." As someone who experiences untold bigotry as a black queer muggleborn woman from both the wizarding world and the muggle one, she's got the art of making YOU feel like the asshole perfected. When people say rude things to her, she usually smiles and responds by asking them how their day has been and why they're so angry right now. She'll listen genuinely and try to respond with kindness because it makes that person feel like the bigoted dick they are. The ruder they are to her, the calmer and more polite she gets.

But she's not a doormat. She's the kind of girl who could go into politics with how she's capable of proving you wrong and defusing a situation in one sentence. She won't let people take advantage of her or be needlessly mean, but she's not going to stoop to their level and be rude right back. She's also capable of really subtle insults that go straight over their heads

She's a lesbian trans girl! She's also fat and hot af.

She loves fashion, but not trends. She likes to look hot, and that frequently means DENYING trends. She loves thrifting and retouching and sewing shit herself. She also makes an effort to make sure her materials are ethically sourced. Her aesthetic is basically "regal elegant princess if she decided to wear casual wear that day." She's also really great at dressing other people and loves to do so. Give her a list of what you like and a solid week, and she'll have at least 5 good outfits put together.

She doesn't play quidditch because she's afraid of heights, but she does enjoy the strategy behind the game and is quite good at muggle soccer/football.

She's a pianist. She's been taking lessons since she was like 7.

She's VERY good at networking. Her genuine care and affection for the human population, her gentleness, and her sweet voice all make her very approachable. She's the one who first made friends with kids in other houses, and she did a lot for fusing the groups.

She's seen as one of the big teachers of muggle culture at school. People feel like they can go to her with their questions, and she does a lot to help close the gap between the two worlds with the students she's close to.

Despite both these things, she's introverted, and dislikes large crowds of people she doesn't know well.

Her best subjects are charms, astronomy, and history of magic (she doesn't let binns stop her. She learns everything from textbooks).

Lily

While Marlene is the most likely to start a fistfight, Lily is the most likely to start a verbal spar. She is VERY opinionated and unafraid to make those opinions known. If you say something she thinks is wrong, she'll call you out on it immediately. Which one of them is most likely to start a magic duel is a toss-up, depending on their moods that day.

Lily takes it upon herself to watch over and take care of other people. Lost first year? Congratulations, you're adopted now. She'll give you directions, draw you a map of the school, show you all the secret passages and periodically check up on you at meals. Desk-partner who's struggling in potions? You won't be struggling for long because you've just gained a personal tutor. Crying in the bathroom? She's comforting you, helping with your problem, inviting you to girls night, and getting ice cream with you every hogsmeade weekend.

While this is something she loves doing and is a natural inclination of hers, it also exhausts her and leaves her very little energy for people she DOESN'T like.

She relies very heavily on her first impressions and gut instincts. While they're usually right, she does have some difficulty reexamining when people have changed. On the other hand, it makes her great at split second decisions, especially in tense situations.

She's a champ at wizard's chess, to a degree that frightens people. She got her own set as a gift from Alice (who taught her how to play) in second year.

Her favorite flowers are petunias. Always have been and always will be. She always keeps a pot of them in her dorm and later her house, and sends her sister a pressed one for her birthday every year, even after Petunia stopped responding.

She's an academic over achiever who LOVES school. Like genuinely adores it. She likes being in school. She also attends muggle summer school, and has an impressive command of classical literature, math, and physics.

She's a sucker for animals, and loves being outdoors in general. She's the closest of the group to Hagrid, and helps him out with stuff like taking care of the owls in the winter.

She's demisexual and panromantic, and also absolutely oblivious to romance. She hates romance novels and romcoms, can't tell when her friends are crushing on each other unless they make it ridiculously obvious (James Potter levels obvious), and even then she thinks it's sarcasm a lot. This all makes her eventual feelingd for James even more annoying to her.

She excels at every subject except transfiguration, which she's average at (this annoys her to no end and she stubbornly studies the shit out of it). The only reason she's not getting 12 OWLs is because she sees no need for Muggle Studies and doesn't like Divination. She has a particular knack for Potions and Charms though, with a special focus on Potions. She just GETS the theory and is able to translate it on an instinctual level.

Lily makes a point of not swearing in front of teachers or younger students, but she swears pretty regularly when in a relaxed casual setting, and is even worse than Marlene when she's pissed (she gets really creative).

She wanted to go to university and become a professional potioneer. She never got the chance.

While I do think Alice is part of their friend group, I also think she's a year above them, so I don't include her in my "valkyries" stuff. I do think she was a really big mentor/big sister figure for all three valkyries as they got their feet under them, and found herself pleasantly shocked when they started mentoring HER in their own ways. I also think she and Frank are the token straights.

it hurt me deeply when i see the marauders get such deep and complex personalities while the girls simply get 'loves to play w { insert one of the marauders'} hair.

the girls of the marauders era deserve to have ten times as much headcanons as the boys do.

to all the devil's advocates out there that may misconstruct my words, i understand that the boys have way more canon info to go off of but if we are always trying to develop more headcanons/make up new headcanons for these characters why couldn't we do it for the girls as well!?

NOW pls do not take what i say next as a personal and direct attack because it simply is not! I love every single character and everyone's collective developments to expand on each. it is really amazing!

from what i seen, we mostly have developed new characters like barty and evan and whoever to have such deep personalities as well and i literally do not see the same for any of our lovely ladies. (i do enjoy all the new characters we have added to the era!)

so what i'm trying to say is can we show some love for our girlies in the marauders era!!?

i'm just yapping sozzzzz

[lgorstheme]

twister - 1996

[reddogcollar]

"what's a griffin" you can't ask that pinkie

[freshmangojuice]

Favourite Cat Outfits 3/10

Imitation of a Regency period British light infantry officer's uniform. It is a red coat with a stiff yellow collar and cuffs, white trim, a gold and red tasseled sash around the waist, gold epaulettes, and cream trousers. A tan cape with a fur collar hangs off his right shoulder and he wears black and brown knee-length cuffed boots. He carries a black helmet with him, embellished with a braided gold band, pale horse hair, and a metallic head badge. His hair is done in an early-Georgian style updo that towers above his head with a small ponytail at the back tied with ribbon. Designer unknown (rented costume) Costuming credit: Howard Burden & Gill Shaw

[illithilit]

Someone: how have you avoided Vlaakith for so long?

Amis: it is simple, really; she sends her chosen to hunt me, I send them back to her as severed heads. :|

[seenthisepisode]

.

[chronosbled]

{ Totally forgot about my headcanon that Dickson, after being freed from his grandfather’s control and learning he’s free to do and have things he never could before, became a pretty hardcore gamer in his spare time (which isn’t much to be honest). He loves all sorts of games, doesn’t matter what genre it is, but his favorites are those old time games that have a retro feel to them (even if they’re not actually old games but still feel retro). For example, one of the main games he’d probably play in his spare time is a game called River City Girls because of it’s retro feel and action packed beat em up style.

His main fighter for sure would be Kyoko due to the fact she reminds him of his wife, Victoria, with her sweet and bubbly nature (along with the total fact she’s a bimbo). Probably has all her moves unlocked and can pull off every combo by heart, totally remembers all her lines, capped all her levels/stats too, and loves the fact she’s so devoted to her boyfriend (since he can relate with the whole so devoted that you’ll kick anyone and everyone’s ass for them aspect). But after clearing the game and unlocking Misako and Kyoko’s boyfriends, he would likely have Riki (Kyoko’s boyfriend) as a secondary main instead of Kunio (Misako’s boyfriend) despite the fact Kunio’s personality matches better to Dickson’s. Much like Kyoko, he would totally have Riki maxed out in all his levels and stats too, it would just take him a little bit longer to do since he’s too busy admiring his cool nature. }

[gameofthronedd]

There seems to be a disconnect when it comes to the whole Daemyra situation and discourse and contemporary versus medieval morals.

Like some of the same people who detest feudal patriarchal society and wholeheartedly support Rhaenyra as Queen, don't see an issue with her having bastard children & premarital sex etc. Are also the ones who see Daemon grooming Rhaenyra and go "but child marriage was acceptable back then", "she was of marrying age" and "it's not grooming, he loves her" etc.

It's obviously only a select few but that's so weird to me. Like screw the patriarchy, yeehaw girlboss, men suck, Criston is an incel etc. But Daemon grooming Rhaenyra is perfectly normal 💀

[vulpinesaint]

hate following the lovecore and valentinecore tags and then someone will post about like. actual love. girl that's not what i'm here for show me a cool valentine's day card with the fun glitter animations over the letters

[zorkaya-moved]

you ever wonder about the truth of zarina? the winter, the ice elemental, the death in winter.  why she is lament? why the chains are so important? why she is isolation and loneliness at her core?  this art of hamel is the perfect representation of zarina’s core, her longing for love / warmth and her being chained away as a beast in beauty. as beautiful as she is, her touch bring death akin to morana. the solemn and sad look, the inability to reach the destined ending for she (post-metamorphosis) may not even reach that ending. 

[biggest-gaudiest-patronuses]

#that washing machine was more emotionally present in my childhood than my actual parents

"smart appliances" fuck u i want them dumb as a brick and incidentally as sturdy and enduring