#' i hate when people highlight the problem and not realize its a problem :( '

[rebuke-me]

sometimes i wish people would just Stop

[takaraphoenix]

I hate how much heteronormative storytelling links romance and sexuality together, because I just know that that’s why it took me so many years to figure out that I’m ace.

And yes, I’m specifying heternormative storytelling, because that’s the thing we get force-fed in media pretty much from the day we first get put in front of a screen.

Once we move past the fluffy Disney movie stage of life and enter the teenage years, where sexuality becomes a part of the storytelling to varying degrees of explicitness, we hit the real problem zone. *

(* For this particular issue. The forced romantic narrative in every single children’s movie is its own problem zone when we’re talking about aromanticism.)

A thing I complain about quite frequently is the lack of m/f friendships, the way whenever A Guy and A Gal are friends, the heteronormativity kicks in. Unless they’re both in explicit other (stable! not ‘this ship is meant to be broken up for The Main Romance’) romantic relationships, it’s virtually impossible for the straights to just... keep them friends. There have to be some kind of romantic feelings involved. No other possible reason why A Guy might like A Gal or vice versa. The notion of pure, actual friendship goes over these writers’ heads.

Anyway. To the point of the post. Once The Gal and The Guy realize that they aren’t ~just friends~ but really have romantic feelings for each other and once the will they/won’t they stops and they actually will... More often than not do the writers forget to actually include any romance at all.

I mean, genuinely. Their relationship continues the exact same way it was before they got together. But now they have sex. The only discernible difference between “friendship” and “romance” in pretty much every TV show or movie I grew up on was that they now fucked and kissed.

Very often highlighted even more by the fact that they’re portrayed as so fucking horny, they barely got the confession out before immediately stumbling into the bedroom to get it on. Not a single date. Not even a full conversation wasted there. Just going at it like Noah just herded them onto a big ship.

And if you grow up watching these things during your formative years of what constitutes a relationship and they influence you during your “what the fuck’s going on with my own identity” phase, they paint an incredibly conflated image of romance and sex.

Namely, that romance not only doesn’t work without sex, but even more so also a notion that the only real difference between friendship and romance is sexual intercourse.

So, even if the term “asexual” somehow crossed your path at any point prior to the “what the fuck’s going on with my own identity” phase, that gets immediately dismissed as even vaguely being a possibility if you do experience romantic attraction. **

(** And also if you experience aesthetic attraction, seeing as absolutely nobody and nothing really prepared 90s kids for the difference between aesthetic and sexual attraction. Kids nowadays have more resources more readily available thanks to the internet and I’m genuinely so glad for them.)

Clearly, I can’t be asexual because I find people pretty and finding people pretty means wanting to have sex with them and having sex is the requirement for romance and I do want romance in my life. So, I guess I’m a “late bloomer”?

So. Yeah. My two cents on how heteronormative storytelling has harmed not just homosexual kids figuring themselves out but also asexual kids, because of the ways in which heterosexual relationships have been and still are being framed in media.

[violetganache42]

Highlights from tonight's watch party filled with framing, whodunnits, and mystery galore (Sorry about your laptop problems and all our lag complaints, WriteBackAtYa):

"No":

Scrooge and the triplets making an appearance

Mortimer's voice

Mickey being a people pleaser

WriteBackAtYa commenting how we love saying our favorite characters' names whenever they appear onscreen

Me: "PLUS INTEREST?!"

"Duckman of Aquatraz":

Story Blossom: "Would've been awesome if Webby kissed a shark in the new series" spamtoon: "its okay because huey kissed a worm"

ACAB!!!

Even in the original series, Louie is always trying to talk his way out of shit

The idea of Glomgold walking into court blasting Queen's "We Are The Champions" in a similar vein as the "All I Do Is Win" scene

"WHY, BEAKLEY?!"

Duckburg's court and its judge fucking suck

"NOT THE PAINTING!"

Scrooge effortlessly defeating the prisoners in arm wrestling

MORE SCROOGE AND WEBBY MOMENTS 😭💖

Mad Dog being a mama's boy

This whole episode showcasing how prisoners are people too

melcat33: "Mad Dog was like 'this is my comfort millionaire'"

The Scrooge x Mad Dog ship setting sail

This episode also reminding us on why the legal system sucks

Glomgold taking the time to hang up a painting of Scrooge

"McMystery at McDuck McManor!":

Donald fleeing to his car like:

"Literally the oldest person he knows?"

The entire table read of this episode from Disney Channel Fan Fest 2018

Scrooge being a sulking Grumpy Gills. XD

DJ Daft Duck

Godfrey and I being on the same wavelength yet again (To quote Godfrey, "Insert 'Perception Check' by Tom Cardy")

Scrooge being SO against celebrating his birthday that he straight up lagged and froze the Discord stream (Dude, WTF?)

THE BUTLER DID IT

Mist Opportunity

"I hate this already."/"OH, YEAH. :)"/"You can't get that helmet off, can you?"/"OH, NO. :'("

Black Arts Beagle is best Beagle Boy

DT-87

The stream lagging on the part where Scrooge walks into a sliding glass door 😭 (I know it's because of WriteBackAtYa's laptop, but for the sake of levity, let's say it was Scrooge's doing again and he did it because that part fucking embarrasses him.)

Mark saying Glomgold sucks at the whole "trying to kill Scrooge" thing (Rare Mark Beaks W)

THE DUKE IS BACK

"Since when did I have to become the adult in the room? I'M NOT CUT OUT TO BE THE ADULT!"

Huey doing a Scrooge impression

"Don't kill me! I barely lived! #YOLO #FOMO #AHHH"

Duckworth's reaction to seeing the axe fall down to the floor

Duckworth and Beakley's beef with each other

"Clock Cleaners":

Snoozer male stork

Learning A New Hope was paired with "Duck Dodgers in the 24th 1/2 Century" for its screenings

Realizing we were watching the edited version of the short where Donald says "Aw, nuts."

The return of Max's real mother

The Great Mouse Detective:

Me sharing which DT/DWD character would be who in a GMD-themed AU way before the movie started

Us getting excited at hearing Alan Young's voice

Cheerful music playing right after a sad moment (Hiram getting kidnapped) = Last Crash ending vibes

A new server emoji of Mark Beaks getting shot point blank for dabbing

Tokuvivor: "The world's smallest violin" Caroline: "Let me play you a song on the world's smallest violin" Me: "Basil, this is serious."

Learning Vincent Price is in this movie

Sharing a GMD Lorcana card during "The World's Greatest Criminal Mind"

"Flaversham."/"Whatever."

teleportzz: "literally every man in this is so gay so far" puffywuffy8904: "or are they just european" Story Blossom: "Or are they gay AND european?"

Basil's face when Toby sat on Olivia's command

OLIVIA SAYING UNCLE BASIL 😭💖

Hiram and Olivia reminding Puffy and I of Scrooge and Webby (I AM GETTING FUCKING EMOTIONAL ABOUT IT AS WE SPEAK.)

Ratigan upon learning Fidget's list is missing:

Basil x Dawson being the movie's equivalent of DWD91!Drakepad

Story Blossom pointing out how Miss Kitty is basically Goldie

The bar fight scene in a nutshell:

"There is no Queen of England."

Ratigan's royalty drip

WriteBackAtYa: "He's supreme like a taco from Taco Bell"

Basil trying to imprison Ratigan: "Officer, arrest that man!"

The entire Big Ben scene and how well the 2D and CGI animations blended together

Learning that the ballroom scene from Beauty and the Beast was the first Disney and Pixar collaboration

According to melcat33, Basil not skipping leg day saved his life

puffywuffy8904: "and they were roomates" Me: "Oh, my God. They were roommates."

Ratigan's "Goodbye So Soon" diddy playing during the end credits

[yzafre]

I am sorry I have no clue what the Gibbs slap is but whatever that’s not really what I am here to ask about. You talked quite bit about Mikey Donnie and Leo. So I am curious what is your opinion on Raph? /gen question

Oh, man, comments that make you realize you're aging. So the specific post I was talking about was this one, and the Gibb's slap... I'm referencing a(n extremely) recurring gag in NCIS. Probably has a better name, but this is how it was referred to in my social circles growing up.

Now obviously NCIS didn't invent the idea of slapping someone upside the head, but I have a suspicion that it widely popularized it, given how popular I remember NCIS being through the 2000s.

As for Raph: this is re: my post on 2003, I'm guessing?

So, a thought that I'd had and forgot to add to my big post is how. Okay so there's a common fandom vibe that Raph is extremely hot tempered and constantly fighting with Leo, and that's.

Okay so he does have a temper, but as things go one he's more grumpy and impatient? Made more obvious that when everyone gets flattened in S6 the grumpiness is his main thing - "I hate the future grump grump", ect

And while he does argue with Leo, the only time it was really explosive was the City at War arc, which was..... a pressure cooker, and also the best showing of why Raph makes such a good Lancer for Leo in this series.

Leo has a lot of.... Noble idealism? Which is nice in theory but gets him in trouble sometimes - see city at war, and I also mentioned in the "thoughts" post I thought it contributed to his breakdown arc.

Raph, on the other hand, is immensely practical and has an insular, "just our little world" protectiveness (sort of, put a pin in this).

Neither of these things are good in isolation, but they balance each other out! And Raph really does care! See: him still following Leo everywhere even as he yells at him thought city at war.

This attitude is also what makes episodes like Lone Raph and Cub or the one with the old woman so interesting! Because his "others aren't my problem" thing only really holds up as long as the "other" remains faceless. Once there's an identity attached to it, his empathy kicks in, which prompts him to act where idealism wouldn't.

Also! Raph has a strong understanding of handling a working through negative emotions - from his own experience - and also has the presence of mind to apply that understanding to other people (mostly Leo, admittedly).

Another of my favorite Raph moments was... Both the S1 farmhouse episodes? The one where he helps Leo make the swords is a showing of the above about handling negative emotions. The "waking Leo from a coma" episode, on the other hand, highlighted his internal conflict between how deeply he feels things, and his (un)willingness to admit to or show it. Great stuff.

As for the... A couple tags on the "thoughts" post have described it as "meanness" related to my comments on the writing changing in the later seasons - even if I don't really like it, I also don't tend to hold it against the character, since I understand (and experienced, and participated in!) the cultural context that writing came from. Especially when there's obvious affection showed in the same seasons - as much as S6 was a mixed bag, I consistently enjoyed its depictions of them roughhousing and playing around.

While I personally connect to him less than the other characters, I do like Raph and his writing, flaws included (...when the writing is good).

Thanks for the ask!

[realfinemood]

Template by raysoffrost

Just a whole lot of babbling about my girl and her violent traumatized friends! Spoilers for the game, specifically the ending and a whole lot about Lae'zel's story and Astarion's romance, and also a bit about a squid.

[Did I romance Astarion this playthrough? Yes. Was it Brecca's most important relationship? Absolutely not.]

Lae'zel - Lae'zel was Brecca's best friend in game from the start, even if that start was having a sword pointed at her. But given the situation it was the objectively correct reaction to her so she didn't mind. Not only was Lae'zel a great fighter but seemed to already know a solution for the exact problem they were having? Perfect, sign her up. Even later on, when they seemed about to turn and Lae'zel came to kill her, Brecca was just impressed at her thought out plan, even if she's glad she convinced her to wait the night just in case.

(They've decided to never talk about how the second day knowing each other, Lae'zel went on about wanting to taste Brecca's sweat.)

Brecca had zero knowledge of Githyanki before meeting Lae'zel. But she trusted Lae'zel and went along with it, despite hating everything about the creche once they got there and agreeing with Astarion that the "cure" was absolutely going to be something like getting their heads cut off. [Getting a nat20 to beat the DC30 persuasion roll to convince Lae'zel to get out of the machine before it killed her was honestly the highlight of dice rolls the whole game.]

Brecca would've been wholely supportive of Lae'zel's new mission to take down Vlaakith on its own, but finding out they had been using a captured person's power this whole time made it her 100% on board the Free Orpheus plan. When it turned out they needed someone to turn into a mindflayer, Brecca was terrified Lae'zel would hate her for refusing to make that sacrifice herself - thankfully she didn't seem to blame her. Nothing could be more satisfying than Lae'zel killing the Emperor while Brecca was busy getting Orpheus to the brain. She hopes that when Lae'zel takes down Vlaakith, she takes what she learned traveling with them with her.

Wyll - For someone who has recently decided to be a better person but isn't 100% sure how to do that, Wyll was a shining beacon of How To Be A Good Person. In the beginning, Brecca definitely had him on a pedestal. But the more time she spent with him, the more she saw how being a hero meant sacrificing himself in ways that just weren't fair. She refused to let him chain himself to another pact to save his dad when there was clearly another way, and surprised that everyone else seemed to see it differently. When they went to find Ansur, she let Wyll take the lead as she certainly couldn't claim to be the hero when he was right there, and fully supported his decision to be the Blade of Avernus and help people on his own terms.

Astarion - Despite Astarion bitching and complaining about all her goodie goodie choices in the beginning, Brecca liked him in a "best friend who also annoys the hell out of you" way. She liked him because he's funny and good at shit she's not and yeah he's an asshole but still fought and had her back anyways and that was the important thing.

[The gnome slave comments were almost breakup material admittedly - my characters are either big gnome fans or gnomes themselves, take your racist nonsense elsewhere my guy.]

As for the romance itself, she's 2/2 on not realizing she was attracted until she was hit over the head with it. His lines are terrible, but they're at least so obvious even she can tell it's flirting. She definitely doesn't believe he liked her from the start, unless headbutting someone trying to slit your throat is romantic. She felt like something was off, and didn't like the implication that he was paying her back, but believed when he said it was just an excuse. When he finally explained that he was doing it for protection, the one thing she'd promised to do from the start, she didn't feel betrayed or manipulated. Just upset that he'd thought he had to pay with something she could've done without for something she was always going to do anyways.

When they finally confronted Cazador (something she kept putting off the more Astarion seemed interested in doing the ritual himself) he convinced him he could be the better person and set the 7000 free. She definitely didn't fail to persuade him and pissed him off by refusing to help, causing him to leave the party saying he hopes she dies screaming. After the world is saved, they (and Shadowheart) join them in the Underdark to help get them started in their new lives. And once that's started, they're off to find a way to let him walk in the sun again.

Shadowheart - Brecca took a long time to warm up to Shadowheart. The constant digs at Lae'zel in the beginning and the refusal to share anything about herself was a huge hurdle. But once they started going in the Shadowlands it made sense to bring her, and she started finding the actual person under there. Her amazingly terrible powers of persuasion failed her when they found the Nightsong, so she was extremely proud when Shadowheart decided on her own to not kill her. They grew closer after that and while Brecca doesn't know if she agrees with her choice to end her parents suffering, she plans on helping her start her new life and is welcome to stay with her and Astarion as long as she needs. [Shadowheart and Astarion both died during each other's final important fight and I like to believe they're close friends. As she never spoke up in the ending, I chose to believe she ran after Astarion while Brecca handled Karlach.]

Karlach - In another life, they don't get sick from almost transforming the night Karlach wants to talk at the fire. Or Karlach asks her to spend the night at the party before Astarion gets a chance to. It's probably for the best, as Brecca doesn't take not being able to fix her engine well, and takes Karlach's acceptance of dying even worse. She's beyond grateful that Wyll stepped up at the end and convinced her to go to Avernus with him, because helplessly watching Karlach die would've broken her.

Jaheira - They got off to a rough start, Brecca super not a fan of being told to go somewhere for safety and being restrained the first step in. But she got over it and Jaheira appreciated her jokes about her age (she wasn't actually trying! She's a halfling, a century is really long time!) and decisions that apparently reminded her of Minsc. Now she's happy to have a new elf grandma.

Gale - Poor Gale was in a different story from the start. Brecca smiled and nodded through his magic talk and long speeches, gave him shoes to eat when needed without complaint, and was down to fight Mystra for him because what the hell. What was intended as friendship apparently meant way more to Gale, resulting in an extremely awkward and confusing conversation about not telling him about Astarion. In the end, he left to find the crown with a confusing offer to let her be his Chosen if she ever came around to the Become a God plan. Because nothing says Chosen of the god of magic like a barbarian who knows one spell.

Halsin - Brecca genuinely isn't sure why Halsin apparently likes her so much. He's been a kidnapped damsel in distress twice and both times she's taken probably way longer than she should've to come get him. Also sure she likes tall people but he's like three times her size how would that even work.

Minsc - Brecca met Minsc way too late to have any real opinion on Jaheira's weird friend, other than confusion that he keeps insisting his hamster is talking even though she can speak with animals.

Emperor - [I the player made the Dream Visitor look like Brecca's d&d fiance. Brecca the bg3 character has not met said fiance, so has no emotional attachment to this form.]

Brecca was highly suspect of having a random person talking in their heads, telling them to eat the tadpoles when they were trying to get rid of the one they already had. But they at least seemed to be helping at the moment so she tolerated it right up until the moment she learned who they really were.

It wasn't even that he was a mindflayer - she likes Omeluum! It was he was using a captured person's power. It was the constant "I've never lied to you" while actively hiding information. It was that she was always supposed to trust without questioning, meanwhile the one time she tried to keep something private he forcibly went through her mind to find it. Nothing he showed her about Stelmane was a shock, and when he couldn't wait two seconds to see if Orpheus would help them and instead immediately turned to join the brain, she couldn't say she was surprised. Just glad that she never has to hear his voice in her head again.

[fiapple]

Look, as someone who’s struggled with substance abuse myself, there are a fuck ton of problems with the Venom storyline in Legends of the Dark Knight. I could complain about things such as how the drugs/steroids impact Bruce is under-explored/overly simplistic, or the way his recovery is a flaming dumpster fire from the moment he smashes through the wall of the phone booth, for ages. It is very, very clearly a story about addiction by someone who had never been an addict themself.

(Particularly his recovery, I hate you panel where Bruce has holes torn in the gloves & feet of his costume & is foaming at the mouth like a rabid animal in spite of them being too cowardly to even depict the vomiting part of withdrawal, i hate you so much.)

That being said, it’s really fucking annoying when people take the infamous “I hate junkies” panel out of context. I do think it’s an example of poor writing in so far as, again, being overly simplistic, however internalized stigma is a real-life phenomena that deserves to be addressed &, moreover, the dramatic irony utilized to display it is beyond obvious. Additionally, it highlights the position Bruce is in as a hyper-privileged addict & how that makes his experience of it different, and how rich addicts will often separate themselves from the working class ones as a means of maintaining power through reinforcing harmful rhetoric about drug problems within working class communities. Another real life issue that is important to discuss.

The point they’re trying to make is a) he’s been pushed to a point by his substance abuse that the symptom of aggression has entirely robbed him of compassion (another part of the plot I don’t think is handled with anywhere near enough care, yet for some reason that’s never the point people make when bringing up the panel in question) & b) to the point where he is so inconsiderate of his own behaviour that he does not even realize he is saying it as an addict himself (aka the denial stage of addiction, a stage he does not stay in.)

Again, I’m not trying to claim that it’s particularly good writing, or well-done social commentary, or a moment where the storyline respects its subject matter- as stated I think that, though certain political elements they attempt to explore are important, it is severely lacking in how it maintains the integrity of those elements. What I am saying is that the point it’s trying to make is obvious, & trying to use it as proof of a genuine hatred of addicts on the part of Bruce’s character is willfully misleading if not a display of ignorance of the text.

Venom is a storyline that, though conceptually interesting with certain salient political themes, merits a lot of criticism for its handling of addiction & recovery. So it is frustrating to see people try to make a false claim about a fictional character’s worldview for whatever reason instead of addressing the real-life-with-real-world-impact issues within the storyline’s mishandlings instead.

But hey, this is the DC fandom we’re talking about, it’d be unrealistic to expect people not to miss the forest for the fucking trees. Most don't care to address the sociopolitical elements of comics or the accountability on part of the writer thereof, because that would mean analyzing how it does/does not line up with your own world view. And that’s scary for fuckers who don’t wanna risk feeling incorrect or uncomfortable, or who are afraid opinions considered normative may be harmful.

Instead they wanna blame dudes made of paper for flaws that aren’t even genuinely aspects of their character, or at least not aspects in so far as how they’re presented in fan spaces.

[neko-naruto]

Spindles

Summary: His wings are missing feathers, not up to the size they should be for a hero of his caliber, eventually, Hyrule interrogates him about this, he hoped someone else would badger him about it instead.

Warnings: Self hatred, depression, non sexual intimacy, light blood, check tags for further warnings.

Authors Note: Found this amazing post again and just had to write something about it again because its so damn good, and if anyone reading this is going through a hard patch, reach out, I know its hard, but believe me, it gets better. Hope you enjoy the fic, reblogs are always appreciated!

His wings have never been as full as they were supposed to be.

The sheer hatred those had for him, the genuine sincerity people had for him, it all caused his wings to fluctuate frequently.

He's never been airborne once in his life of his own volition.

He spends every night grooming his wings, watching as feathers come loose; he fluffs them up in the morning to make it look like he's fine. Nobody else needs to know he's been starved of affection for the entirety of his life, and he can hide the only way it shows, so why should he tell anyone? It's not like they would start treating him differently anyways.

Questions have been asked whenever a slash causes a few to fall off in sparring, more than normal, he deflects, says he's fine and to focus on the problem at hand. He knows his armor is supposed to look angelic paired with the wings of The Hero of Time, they were supposed to huge, supposed to be a symbol, they weren't. Instead his violence was a symbol, his journey was a symbol, his weapons were symbols, his friends were symbols, but they weren't supposed to be the symbols he left behind.

He knows that.

And he knows he could've prevented that if he tried just a little bit harder to make people love him.

He hates himself for that.

It shows.

---

He was alerted at the sound of someone knocking on his bedroom door, he made no sound in response, didn't move either, maybe they would go away if he did nothing. Even if he wasn't lost in the void, emotionally and mentally, he wouldn't let them in, his room was covered in cloudy gray feathers, a gooses; protective, powerful, not to be trifled with, he was all of those. He didn't ever get why the heroes feathers would be like a gooses, no one likes geese, they fear geese, maybe that's why no one wanted to love him.

Another knock, he pulled himself up, more feathers fell off of his wings, they were almost spindles now, no ones seen him in days anyways. Trudging through a mess of everything on the ground (blankets, clothing, feathers, blood), he tries to reach the door, he pauses halfway through. Glancing at his closet, the sliding doors are shut and covered in mirror panes, they make him look fractured and broken, but he knows it isn't a fun house mirror, and he really does look that lost. His bones are highlighted, lips are cracked, eyes have bags, wings are crooked, posture is hunched, he tries to straighten it, make himself presentable, he fails.

He murmurs a quaint prayer to The Goddess Din, begging for power to deal with whoever was sent to help him.

He cracks open the door slowly, a bit shocked when they didn't try to rush in, then he realized who it was, he slammed the door shut afterwards. Of course, of course they sent Hyrule, the only one he listens to frequently, he understood why, but he also understood the concept of a low blow.

"Time, please open the door, I brought orange juice," Hyrule said softly, his voice muffled by the door, normally when barged in on for a schemed mental health check up, they were loud and brutal.

He reopened the door, allowing Hyrule to enter, taking the orange juice in one hand while turning on a lamp with the other, Hyrule took a seat at his desk. Time simply propped himself on his bed, slowly sipping away at the glass of orange juice, it was tangy and sweet, stung his cracked lips, but he relished it compared to bathroom sink water he had been living off of for a while.

"Who sent you to check in on me?" Time asked, Hyrule raised a brow at the question, a little confused.

"No one did, I was just, getting worried, you haven't really been out of the house in a week, haven't left your room much either," Hyrule explained, his wings shifted in place, a yellow bellied sapsucker, beige and black feathers filled out his wings, just the right size to let himself be airborne, jealousy sparks, "everyone is worried."

"They don't do a good job showing it, barging in and just ruining my day," Time said bitterly, he was lying, he knew they meant it to be viewed as caring, but it didn't come across as caring, it came across as controlling instead.

"They mean well, you know that right?" Hyrule asked, spinning the chair back and forth ever so slightly.

"Yeah I know, of course I know, I don't need anyone to worry about me though, I'm perfectly fine," Time said, his words came out rapid fire and he clamped the spindles he called wings closer to his back, feathers fell out of place.

"Can I please see your wings? They haven't been looking as full as usual," Hyrule asked gently, adding a prompt explanation that gave Time a heart arrhythmia, now he really was screwed, he didn't have any time to groom his wings back into looking presentable.

"No," a short answer, one that had Hyrule scowling a bit, Time had to look away so he wouldn't feel tempted to let someone help him out of a rough patch, he crumbled, "fine."

Time unfurled his wings slowly, trying to prevent feathers from falling off to no avail, Hyrules eyes widened a bit at the sheer lack of feathers, worry for Time spiking. He slowly removed himself from his chair, wings tight and unmoving against his back, he hopped onto Times bed, kneeling behind the warrior. He ran fingers through the feathers, they fell out, leaving bloody holes in place, some bled worse than others, they stung enough to make Time flinch sometimes. Hyrule tried to find some that were firmly anchored in place, most of them fell out and Time hated it so much, he hated it, he hated himself, the feathers fell faster as tears started to well up, he was a failure.

"Breath," Hyrule instructed softly, Time listened and breathed slowly, his breathes spaced evenly and deliberate, "say something nice about yourself."

"Theres nothing to say," Times response was quick and made Hyrules very soul ache, it was worse than he thought it was going to be.

"I'll do it for you then, your hair looks nice," Hyrule said, he didn't know as much about Time as he wanted to, but he watched as goosebumps formed on featherless spindles, feathers ready to burst.

"Yeah, I guess it looks okay," Time said, reassuring the simple statement, he startled at the sensation of feathers growing in rapidly, it prickled and he didn't mind the sensation.

"Your a good mentor," Hyrule said, Time nodded along gently at the statement, pinfeathers grew a little bit thicker, more of the minuscule feathers started to grow in at the base, "you know that right?"

"I know, none of you have gotten yourselves hurt yet because of my training," Time said, he squirmed as the bone and muscle structure of his wings changed, changed into a shape that could potentially lift him off the ground with more feathers.

"You're just great in general Time," Hyrule said, running his fingers through the wings still damp, small rivulets of blood where larger feathers burst through, almost unnoticeable.

"But I'm not," Time said, his tone wavered, he was being honest with himself, but lying to Hyrule, he knew he wasn't, but Hyrule knew he was, one of them was blind, neither knew which.

"You're the only one who thinks that Time, you're the only one holding yourself back," Hyrule said softly, placing his hands flat upon Times back, he could almost feel his heartbeat, he could feel Times wings twitch as the warriors form shuddered a bit, fingers digging into the blankets and sheets.

"You're lying Hyrule, everyone hates me, haven't you seen the way they look at me? Pity, disdain, shame, no one wants to keep me around anymore," Time sobbed out, his voice cracking and the feathers on his wings coming loose as he stood up, fists balled, vision blurred, tears gathering but he refused to be weak in front of anyone, people don't like weakness, so he can't be weak.

And he won't be weak.

He storms out of his room in a huff, leaving a trail of feathers as he does so, Hyrule doesn't try to rush after him, aware it would be useless to try and calm him down and let him see. Everyone knew that if they tried to talk to Time about this, this problem of his, he would clam up and leave, this was the closest anyone has gotten by far.

Times hands are held at his sides, his wings are open, held behind him, the small trickle of blood from falling feathers drips to the ground and down his back. Tears are sliding down his scarred face but he ignores them as he brushes off Legend who asked if he was feeling alright, shoving the Hylian away forcibly as he made way for the door. No one could stop him, not Four, not Twilight, none of them could put a dent in his plan to go be in pain all alone, because hurting somewhere no one can see him is better than letting people know he's suffering; they might think he's weak, they won't like him if he's weak.

Only Fierce can get him to pause, but it doesn't last for very long, he tries to push past Fierce, failing to do so. Fierce blocks the door and refuses to move even as Time starts to beg and plead with him to move so he can go, voice breaking away from calm and collected to the verge of screaming. Fierce doesn't move an inch, doesn't say much either, waiting for Time to wear himself out, everyone has a limit on how much they can handle until they run out of steam.

His throat hurts, his eyes sting, his body shakes and he just wants no one to have to see him like this because they all hate when he's vulnerable, when he's a liability. He's lightheaded, he's such a shame, a useless hero, he collapses into Fierces waiting arms, he's still awake, but his limbs don't want to listen anymore. His breathing is heavy, his heart is racing, he feels so weak, he feels so useless, he feels, he feels... He feels safe, just being not okay around someone.

He's hoisted up with ease, his wings, bleeding, are filling out again, slowly, he doesn't seem to notice as he's placed on the couch to shake and sob. He does notice when Twilight sits beside him and wraps an arm around his shaking form, holding him close and headbutting him gently. He does notice when Wind offers him a water bottle, helps him undo the lid and places it on the small table for him. He does notice when Warriors throws a blanket over him and wraps it around his shaking shoulders, clasps his hands until they stop quaking as much. He does notice that people care about him, that everyone he was afraid didn't need him anymore care about him more than he could imagine.

It hits him like a train, with the agony to match as his wings finally, finally reach the size they should be, pushing Twilight away and flinging off the blanket. His breathing is still ragged and his body aching, more so due to the sudden weight resting behind him, its new and different; he's drowning in euphoria. He can fly, he can fly after all these years, and the sobbing goes from sorrow to joy, much like the shaking does.

He's an idiot and he's a fool.

But now he can see he has so many people there to back him up.

[erin-bo-berin]

I’m sorry this is a long one but I feel like I need clarity - is there any evidence/substantial rumour that Maika ever did anything particularly harmful/toxic during her relationship with Joe? Because some of the asks you receive suggest people have a HUGE problem with the possibility that they’re even still in contact with each other, let alone anything more. Is the negativity towards her fuelled by something she actually did, or is it literally just because she dated their celebrity crush? For example people saying ‘he doesn’t want her ass?’ Its very hateful language IMO and seems like a really strong dislike towards her?

I only ask because I remember from my teen years how male celebrity’s fan bases can be quite vicious towards the people they date, and how easy it is to get desensitised to unkind and unfair online commentary, particularly towards women. And now I’m in my 20s I really don’t want to be exposed to anyone’s jealousy towards Maika and/or unhealthy obsession towards Joe. It just makes me uncomfortable.

This in no way is meant to be directed at you, I get that you’re just responding to asks, you’re blog is your space to do with what you please, and I enjoy the updates you share on Joe’s professional projects. But in the interest of taking responsibility for my own content consumption, I’m concerned that a lot of what I’m seeing on the subject is becoming increasingly toxic, and dare I say even anti-feminist. So I’m just seeking clarity on what’s prompted it?

Just as a heads up, I respect everyone’s opinions on her and regardless my opinion on her or others, I really do try to be as kind as possible since we don’t know what actually happened. I just want this to be as positive of a space for everyone.

I’d just like to say since I came around so late, I personally don’t know much other than what other fans who’ve been around longer have told me. I don’t know what’s true or what’s speculation.

I will add that there was some speculation (basing off of Joe’s lyrics alone) that there might have been something going on with her and her costar Karl Glusman. They had hung out as friends back during summer 2021 and were spotted together by a fan in an actual video where the guy yelled a hello to Joe and Joe waved to said fan. Karl was with him and Maika at the time. Not even a month later, he and Maika broke up for the first time. There was actual evidence of that because they were never spotted together for 2-3 months. Around September-November-ish. Also there was an old video on one of Maika’s friends’ highlights where they were in Paris and you can hear them talking in the background and you hear her say “yeah we’re taking a break” and the friend asking M if she was okay and M being like “oh yeah.”

Granted, I know that break up could’ve been about ANYTHING. It doesn’t prove that there was cheating. Just giving you some backstory. By November ‘21 they seemed to be back together again as they were spotted twice in NYC together. Once that month and once again in December. Then we enter 2022 and they were together up until about summertime and that’s when they broke up for good in what we assume is mid to late August. A few weeks later in September she was spotted making out with Karl. Could be a coincidence, could not. I know this isn’t solid proof, this is just what I was told/what I saw happen around the time I came around.

Anyways, I know that’s not much and could be anything, but just filling you in. I’m sure some of the distaste some people have for her could be jealousy, but it might not be either. I personally don’t fully believe in the cheating rumors on either side—it honestly could’ve been that they just realized their relationship wasn’t working out as they obviously want two different things out of life. You can tell this by the way they’ve been post breakup. She’s happier living in LA, going to events and parties, enjoying the glitz and the glam of Hollywood. He’s more lowkey, seems to enjoy NY so much more in comparison to LA and he doesn’t seem as wild about the events and parties of LA.

I will say, though I don’t know her personally, it has raised my brow at some of the company she keeps/people she’s friends with lately Examples: Jared Leto, G-Eazy (who she hooked up with and was spotted being pretty cozy with for a while at the end of last year I believe?) and most concerningly, at least I think, Bella Thorne. I know that doesn’t have any relation to Joe, but I wanted to throw this in because it may not make her a bad person, but it does say a lot about a person I think in the choice of company they keep and I do hope she’s smarter than that.

I do have to say, I have been unironically rooting for her and Karl cause just from snippets I’ve seen, they do seem to have a lot of chemistry after doing not one but now two films together. I’ve always wondered, at least now if there’s something there—if maybe on his end.

Anyways, I hope this was somewhat helpful. I do try to stay neutral on the topic no matter what the person’s opinion is. For me, personally, Joe’s lyrics—especially from Decide—is the main reason I wouldn’t be as enthusiastic about them reuniting is because it seemed the relationship struggled badly at the end. It just seems they wanted two different things out of life and sometimes things like that will make or break a relationship.

Regardless, at the end of the day I just wish Joe all the happiness in the world and I have no ill intentions against her either.

I also apologize for the essay and hope this helped as I have a tendency to ramble 😅

[sunsrefuge]

1, 4, and 8 for Liifa!

1. a song lyric that makes you think of them.

I am the reason I suffer, But I am worth fighting for.

Anchor by Roland Faunte

This is one of those that just… it hit me so hard when I first heard it, that I had to put it to someone! There’s a lot of themes in the song that hit so well for Liifa, so it ultimately ended up on his playlist and now it’s very integral to his relationship with the Binding <3

4. a song lyric to describe their personality.

The problem ain't "they're never good," The problem's power taints the mind. A heart of gold will turn to stone, The throne's where good men go to die.

Suffocate by Nathan Wagner

Okay, finding a lyric for this was actually really hard. I know him on such a deep level at this point that condensing his personality into one lyric was really difficult, especially because he's one of those people who acts entirely differently based on who he's with! And based on stuff like if he feels safe with those around him at that moment or not.

I decided to go with a line that highlights how he feels about those with power: he's seen it corrupt more good people than he can count anymore, and that also ties into his fears for himself when dealing with Ipos and the Binding. Anyone who gets to know him well enough will eventually learn that the Binding scares him, deeply. It can offer you so much power, so much opportunity, but how would you ever know when to stop? When to be content with what you already have?

Instant access is a flame, That I don’t think I can control. Don't let this ember enter in, If I’m not worthy of its load.

Don't wanna hurt the ones I love, Don’t wanna let everyone down.

Hold on to me, don't give up on me, If I start to sink, would you reach for me? I get so afraid, break down, suffocate. Would you help me breathe? Help me breathe!

This song always gets SO FAR AWAY FROM ME... but it just FITS for him and the Binding so much! He watched power corrupt his father's point of view. He's watched it corrupt countless leaders over the years, no matter how big or small their organization was. He's made deals on the behalf of the Binding that specifically preyed on this factor. At his core he's so so scared that that could just as easily be him one day, and he hates it so much.

8. a song lyric that would make them feel Seen.

But the blood on my hands scares me to death. Maybe I’m waking up today.

I’ll Be Good by Jaymes Young

Oof. this,,, I'm just now realizing that this ties directly into the above themes as well! I'll Be Good is about his conscious decision to turn away from how cynical and jaded he's become over the last two and a half centuries. Hearing something like this would unmistakably make him emotional too, definitely to the point of tears.

[gun-witch]

Venting about “Acceptable Targets” and Bigotry.

Fair warning, this is me just speaking my mind with no real concern for formatting or making any kind of coherent point. I’m just venting.

And a TLDR if you don’t wanna read it all: There’s a problem in Leftist spaces with deciding certain bigotries are okay, I used antitheists going from attacking genuinely harmful kinds of Christian faith to attacking all Christians to attacking marginalized religions as a way to explain the issue, but this happens in many other ways.

I’ve been trying to reduce my time on twitter lately for mental health reasons. It’s the kind of site that just highlights the worst kind of people imaginable. When I made the account I currently use, I did my best to block liberally and curate things as much as I could, because I know twitter is just an awful website full of awful people.

For a while, it really seemed to work. The times politics came up on my feed, it was like it is here, curated, people having reasonable reactions to the horrible things that happen in the world. Yeah I also got into the occasional argument with right wingers, but honestly, it’s easy to disengage when you know they’re just not operating in a worldview that remotely resembles reality.

A conservative promoting racism, transphobia, homophobia, etc. is really easy to disregard because they’re so ridiculous, that any sensible person isn’t going to take them seriously. You can just post information on why they’re wrong and move on, it’s very easy to disregard what they think about you.

But, more recently, I’ve noticed bigotry creeping its way into leftist spaces (online, I’ve yet to see anything of this outside of the internet). Sometimes it’s the familiar, TERF talking points dressed up as progressive. I’m sure you all know the type, people who wanted to exclude nonbinary people when that was “new”, people who want to exclude neopronouns or xenogenders, or otherkin or whatever else. They’re usually really obvious, and having been one of these people in the past I know exactly what to say, I just tell them what made me realize the harm in gatekeeping and exclusionist thought. Usually, people ignore them, because Leftists usually know better.

Usually.

If you know me outside of tumblr (which most of you do, I’m not exactly big on this site, and I don’t want to be either), you know that antitheism is THE bigotry that pisses me off. Not because it affects me, I can write off transphobia, acephobia, etc. pretty easily even when they’re actively making my life harder, I’m just good at not letting things get to me emotionally. The real reason antitheism gets under my skin is that it’s just different enough from the big “isms” that a lot of genuinely good and well meaning people fall for it.

See, when I inevitably check the profile of someone being nasty over religion on twitter, saying that because I’m a priestess I’m the same as a Christian priest and therefore naturally evil, I often have a lot of mutuals with them, and they’re otherwise an outspoken leftist.

Antitheism is something that a well meaning atheist who sees the very real harm done by the biggest religions in the world can fall for. On the surface of it, it makes sense. A surface level reading of the Bible, the Torah, the Quran, the “big 3″ religious texts in the eyes of many activists, would have you believe they promote some really nasty stuff. If you don’t know that the Bible was written as a compilation of conflicting beliefs, and that cherry picking is a feature and not a bug, you could be forgiven for thinking Christianity is evil by default.

And on top of that, you experience hate and violence from Catholicism, American Protestantism, and so many other sects. Eventually that violence just becomes “Christianity” to you.

Then it becomes “Abrahamic” religions, because to the uneducated, Abrahamic means Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, and as far as you know, these religions are identical. You haven’t done the research to know how ridiculous this idea is, and you won’t because nobody has prompted you to.

Then, because the only preachers you hear are from Christianity (which you’ve already decided represents two other completely different faiths), and you never talk religion with someone who isn’t trying to convert you (really, why would you?), that violence you experienced becomes “religion”.

Religion becomes synonymous with conservativism, fascism, and every other political ideology that we rightfully write off as harmful. So then when you meet a Gnostic, a Jew, a Pagan, a Satanist, a Native American who believes in the religion that’s intrinsically tied to their culture? You look at them and you see a Nazi.

The very important aversion to hateful ideologies is hijacked, you begin to hate marginalized groups in the name of opposing bigotry.

It gets worse though, because from there, antitheism becomes a gateway bigotry of sorts. I’m sure everyone’s heard the statement “religion is a mental illness” at this point. The antitheist becomes so attached to their bigotry, that when they realize a religion isn’t harmful directly, ableism comes in to save them from introspection.

This happened on a large scale a few years ago, in the mid 2010s we saw a lot of youtube channels and social media pages dedicated to opposing religion turn their sights on “social justice warriors”. I remember these channels promoting this hip and new thing called “the alternative right”, what they described as a secular form of fascism, a “good” fascism, because they were so deep into hating religion that they forgot why religion was bad to begin with.

This isn’t unique to antitheism by any means, like I said before it happens with exclusionary movements like transmedicalism, anti-mspec crap, and one could even argue it’s got something to do with how transphobic “feminism” rose to prominence.

I think more people should be aware of how radicalization happens, more critical of what we consider “acceptable targets”. Racism isn’t bad because of the race aspect, race is bad because prejudice itself is wrong, attacking groups of people who lack social power is wrong.

Because it isn’t the big corrupt churches you hurt when you label all religion evil. It’s the marginalized faiths. The Pagans, the Jews, the Muslims, the sects of Christianity which do genuinely preach love and compassion. Focus your criticisms on groups in power, not people who seem similar at a glance.

And this applies everywhere, transphobia and exclusionism toward transmasc people also come from a fundamental misunderstanding of what male privilege is. I’m really only using religion and antitheism as a vehicle to talk about a more general issue because it’s the one that’s on my mind.

[alicent-vi-britannia]

Jeremiah's Enneatype

I have been wondering what Jeremiah's enneatype was for a long time (by enneatype is understood as personality type, this is one of the concepts that emerges from the enneagram, which is a system of personalities that studies the motivations behind the behaviors of the individuals). At first, I had thought he might be an Eight since Britannia builds its model citizen on this type of personality (only taken to an extreme) and Jeremiah had soaked up Britannia's ideologie like a sponge. But, after subjecting it to careful inspection, I found nothing in it that would lead me to qualify him as such. Instead, I realized that Jeremiah is an enneatype 1 like Suzaku "crazy kicks" Kururugi (which explains why I got confused earlier: Ones and Eights are pretty similar). And do you know what the two factors were that determined that he was a enneatype one?

1. Their tendency to correction Type Ones, also known as "Perfectionists" or "Reformers", perceive that there is something intrinsically wrong, either in themselves or in the world around them, which is why they are driven by an urgent need to correct their imperfections for the sake of satisfying the demands of his inner picky little judge.

Both Suzaku and Jeremiah invest their efforts in correcting what they judge to be "wrong". For Suzaku, of course, it’s the supremacist system of Britannia and the war-torn world. For Jeremiah, it was the system of honorary citizenship (don't forget that Jeremiah was the leader of a political and military faction that was fervently opposed to colonists joining the Britannian army and society). But, if we delve into the roots of these problems, we will discover that these characters are actually trying to correct themselves through "their service to the community." Suzaku wants to atone for his sins (to name a few: the murder of his father, the failure of his duty as princess Euphemia's knight, the massacre of the Tokyo settlement...), while Jeremiah wants to make amends for not having protected the Empress Marianne, that is, for failing to do his duty. Because of this, I think that Jeremiah and Suzaku are self-preservation subtypes (the subtypes or instincts are the different ways of satisfying the motivations that I had said at the beginning; in the case of the One self-preservation subtypes, they want to perfect themselves).

2. Loyalty Ones are fairly loyal, though they don't surpass Sixes who bear the title of being the most loyal Enneagram personality type. And in fact, Ones and Sixes share a strong sense of duty and responsibility (to give you an idea, Ohgi, Rolo and Tohdoh are Sixes and each a different subtype). But why aren't the Ones as loyal as the Six? Because Ones are loyal to their ideals and Sixes are loyal to the people they love/respect and the organizations they belong to. Hence, Suzaku and Jeremiah don’t find it difficult to betray one to follow another.

Yes, Jeremiah joined Lelouch, but his decision meant betraying Britannia, the empire he has served for most of his life, and he didn't care because, in his judgment, he did the right thing adhere to his principles. The same reasoning was held by Suzaku when he betrayed Lelouch (though, he didn't exactly do it for Britannia) and later when he betrayed Britannia by subservient to Emperor Lelouch, who was a usurper. What's funny is that this fandom hates Suzaku and loves Jeremiah for the same reason. Interesting, right?

Perhaps we could trace more similarities between the Orange Boy and the White Grim Reaper, but I wanted to highlight these because they are the most striking. Now, to draw differences between the two, we have the MBTI Type: Suzaku is an ISFJ (like Ohgi) and Jeremiah is an ESFP (like Kallen). I think that's why I didn't figure out so soon that the Orange Boy is a Reformer (it's not common for ESFPs to be type Ones; instead, there are more ESFP type Eights, Kallen herself is an example).

[bulgariastreets]

The Complex Conflict in the Balkans

Christian-on-Christian Violence

Many English Christians might not realize that most of the current violence in the Balkans involves Christians fighting other Christians. Various Christian “bands” roam the region, terrorizing villages and forcing them to switch from the Greek Church to the Bulgarian Church or vice versa, often using brutal force. Turkish soldiers occasionally pursue these bands and swiftly deal with them when caught, resulting in more killings.

Deep-Rooted Hatreds

The situation in the Balkans has changed over time. While Christians still harbor hatred towards the Turks, they now hate each other even more. During a visit to a village near Koritza, close to the border of Macedonia and Albania, I asked an innkeeper about his allegiance. He replied, “I find it best to be a Greek,” because a Greek band was active in the nearby hills. This highlights the fear and pragmatic decisions villagers make based on which band is currently in power.

The Real Problem

The real issue for those who care about the Balkan people is not just addressing Turkish incompetence but finding a way to stop the civil war raging between rival Christian churches. The atrocities committed by these church factions against each other are as terrible and inhuman as any perpetrated by the Turks. Meanwhile, the Turks watch and laugh, seeing no need to kill Christians when they are so intent on killing each other Tours Bulgaria.

A Confused Kettle of Fish

The Balkans is a confusing and tangled situation. The average person knows it’s too complex to fully understand and often wonders why the Great Powers don’t just agree to remove the Turks from Europe. However, the Powers cannot agree on this because the real question is: Who will control the Balkans once the Turks are gone?

Interests of the Great Powers

Russia and Austria have their own interests in the region. Russia aims for Constantinople, and Austria covets Salonika. Russia liberated Bulgaria from the Turks, intending to use Bulgaria as a stepping-stone to the Bosphorus. Austria has used Serbia to prepare a route to an Austrian port on the Aegean Sea. Both Russia and Austria were surprised and disappointed when Bulgaria and Serbia, instead of being grateful and compliant, started to assert themselves and dream of expanding their territories without interference from their northern neighbors.

Balkan Ambitions

At the same time, the Greeks began to remember their historical claims to large parts of the Balkan region. Romania, situated on the other side of the Danube, also shocked everyone with its bold claim that the Balkans were really Romanian territory. Each nation in the Balkans began to assert its ambitions, further complicating the situation.

The Balkans remain a complex and volatile region, with deep-rooted hatreds and conflicting ambitions among various Christian factions and neighboring powers. The challenge is not just to remove Turkish rule but to manage the intense rivalries and civil strife among the Balkan peoples themselves. Only by addressing these internal conflicts can there be hope for lasting peace and stability in the region.

[bulgariabalkan]

The Complex Conflict in the Balkans

Christian-on-Christian Violence

Many English Christians might not realize that most of the current violence in the Balkans involves Christians fighting other Christians. Various Christian “bands” roam the region, terrorizing villages and forcing them to switch from the Greek Church to the Bulgarian Church or vice versa, often using brutal force. Turkish soldiers occasionally pursue these bands and swiftly deal with them when caught, resulting in more killings.

Deep-Rooted Hatreds

The situation in the Balkans has changed over time. While Christians still harbor hatred towards the Turks, they now hate each other even more. During a visit to a village near Koritza, close to the border of Macedonia and Albania, I asked an innkeeper about his allegiance. He replied, “I find it best to be a Greek,” because a Greek band was active in the nearby hills. This highlights the fear and pragmatic decisions villagers make based on which band is currently in power.

The Real Problem

The real issue for those who care about the Balkan people is not just addressing Turkish incompetence but finding a way to stop the civil war raging between rival Christian churches. The atrocities committed by these church factions against each other are as terrible and inhuman as any perpetrated by the Turks. Meanwhile, the Turks watch and laugh, seeing no need to kill Christians when they are so intent on killing each other Tours Bulgaria.

A Confused Kettle of Fish

The Balkans is a confusing and tangled situation. The average person knows it’s too complex to fully understand and often wonders why the Great Powers don’t just agree to remove the Turks from Europe. However, the Powers cannot agree on this because the real question is: Who will control the Balkans once the Turks are gone?

Interests of the Great Powers

Russia and Austria have their own interests in the region. Russia aims for Constantinople, and Austria covets Salonika. Russia liberated Bulgaria from the Turks, intending to use Bulgaria as a stepping-stone to the Bosphorus. Austria has used Serbia to prepare a route to an Austrian port on the Aegean Sea. Both Russia and Austria were surprised and disappointed when Bulgaria and Serbia, instead of being grateful and compliant, started to assert themselves and dream of expanding their territories without interference from their northern neighbors.

Balkan Ambitions

At the same time, the Greeks began to remember their historical claims to large parts of the Balkan region. Romania, situated on the other side of the Danube, also shocked everyone with its bold claim that the Balkans were really Romanian territory. Each nation in the Balkans began to assert its ambitions, further complicating the situation.

The Balkans remain a complex and volatile region, with deep-rooted hatreds and conflicting ambitions among various Christian factions and neighboring powers. The challenge is not just to remove Turkish rule but to manage the intense rivalries and civil strife among the Balkan peoples themselves. Only by addressing these internal conflicts can there be hope for lasting peace and stability in the region.

[hotbulgaria]

The Complex Conflict in the Balkans

Christian-on-Christian Violence

Many English Christians might not realize that most of the current violence in the Balkans involves Christians fighting other Christians. Various Christian “bands” roam the region, terrorizing villages and forcing them to switch from the Greek Church to the Bulgarian Church or vice versa, often using brutal force. Turkish soldiers occasionally pursue these bands and swiftly deal with them when caught, resulting in more killings.

Deep-Rooted Hatreds

The situation in the Balkans has changed over time. While Christians still harbor hatred towards the Turks, they now hate each other even more. During a visit to a village near Koritza, close to the border of Macedonia and Albania, I asked an innkeeper about his allegiance. He replied, “I find it best to be a Greek,” because a Greek band was active in the nearby hills. This highlights the fear and pragmatic decisions villagers make based on which band is currently in power.

The Real Problem

The real issue for those who care about the Balkan people is not just addressing Turkish incompetence but finding a way to stop the civil war raging between rival Christian churches. The atrocities committed by these church factions against each other are as terrible and inhuman as any perpetrated by the Turks. Meanwhile, the Turks watch and laugh, seeing no need to kill Christians when they are so intent on killing each other Tours Bulgaria.

A Confused Kettle of Fish

The Balkans is a confusing and tangled situation. The average person knows it’s too complex to fully understand and often wonders why the Great Powers don’t just agree to remove the Turks from Europe. However, the Powers cannot agree on this because the real question is: Who will control the Balkans once the Turks are gone?

Interests of the Great Powers

Russia and Austria have their own interests in the region. Russia aims for Constantinople, and Austria covets Salonika. Russia liberated Bulgaria from the Turks, intending to use Bulgaria as a stepping-stone to the Bosphorus. Austria has used Serbia to prepare a route to an Austrian port on the Aegean Sea. Both Russia and Austria were surprised and disappointed when Bulgaria and Serbia, instead of being grateful and compliant, started to assert themselves and dream of expanding their territories without interference from their northern neighbors.

Balkan Ambitions

At the same time, the Greeks began to remember their historical claims to large parts of the Balkan region. Romania, situated on the other side of the Danube, also shocked everyone with its bold claim that the Balkans were really Romanian territory. Each nation in the Balkans began to assert its ambitions, further complicating the situation.

The Balkans remain a complex and volatile region, with deep-rooted hatreds and conflicting ambitions among various Christian factions and neighboring powers. The challenge is not just to remove Turkish rule but to manage the intense rivalries and civil strife among the Balkan peoples themselves. Only by addressing these internal conflicts can there be hope for lasting peace and stability in the region.

[blgrll]

The Complex Conflict in the Balkans

Christian-on-Christian Violence

Many English Christians might not realize that most of the current violence in the Balkans involves Christians fighting other Christians. Various Christian “bands” roam the region, terrorizing villages and forcing them to switch from the Greek Church to the Bulgarian Church or vice versa, often using brutal force. Turkish soldiers occasionally pursue these bands and swiftly deal with them when caught, resulting in more killings.

Deep-Rooted Hatreds

The situation in the Balkans has changed over time. While Christians still harbor hatred towards the Turks, they now hate each other even more. During a visit to a village near Koritza, close to the border of Macedonia and Albania, I asked an innkeeper about his allegiance. He replied, “I find it best to be a Greek,” because a Greek band was active in the nearby hills. This highlights the fear and pragmatic decisions villagers make based on which band is currently in power.

The Real Problem

The real issue for those who care about the Balkan people is not just addressing Turkish incompetence but finding a way to stop the civil war raging between rival Christian churches. The atrocities committed by these church factions against each other are as terrible and inhuman as any perpetrated by the Turks. Meanwhile, the Turks watch and laugh, seeing no need to kill Christians when they are so intent on killing each other Tours Bulgaria.

A Confused Kettle of Fish

The Balkans is a confusing and tangled situation. The average person knows it’s too complex to fully understand and often wonders why the Great Powers don’t just agree to remove the Turks from Europe. However, the Powers cannot agree on this because the real question is: Who will control the Balkans once the Turks are gone?

Interests of the Great Powers

Russia and Austria have their own interests in the region. Russia aims for Constantinople, and Austria covets Salonika. Russia liberated Bulgaria from the Turks, intending to use Bulgaria as a stepping-stone to the Bosphorus. Austria has used Serbia to prepare a route to an Austrian port on the Aegean Sea. Both Russia and Austria were surprised and disappointed when Bulgaria and Serbia, instead of being grateful and compliant, started to assert themselves and dream of expanding their territories without interference from their northern neighbors.

Balkan Ambitions

At the same time, the Greeks began to remember their historical claims to large parts of the Balkan region. Romania, situated on the other side of the Danube, also shocked everyone with its bold claim that the Balkans were really Romanian territory. Each nation in the Balkans began to assert its ambitions, further complicating the situation.

The Balkans remain a complex and volatile region, with deep-rooted hatreds and conflicting ambitions among various Christian factions and neighboring powers. The challenge is not just to remove Turkish rule but to manage the intense rivalries and civil strife among the Balkan peoples themselves. Only by addressing these internal conflicts can there be hope for lasting peace and stability in the region.

[bulgariafestivals]

The Complex Conflict in the Balkans

Christian-on-Christian Violence

Many English Christians might not realize that most of the current violence in the Balkans involves Christians fighting other Christians. Various Christian “bands” roam the region, terrorizing villages and forcing them to switch from the Greek Church to the Bulgarian Church or vice versa, often using brutal force. Turkish soldiers occasionally pursue these bands and swiftly deal with them when caught, resulting in more killings.

Deep-Rooted Hatreds

The situation in the Balkans has changed over time. While Christians still harbor hatred towards the Turks, they now hate each other even more. During a visit to a village near Koritza, close to the border of Macedonia and Albania, I asked an innkeeper about his allegiance. He replied, “I find it best to be a Greek,” because a Greek band was active in the nearby hills. This highlights the fear and pragmatic decisions villagers make based on which band is currently in power.

The Real Problem

The real issue for those who care about the Balkan people is not just addressing Turkish incompetence but finding a way to stop the civil war raging between rival Christian churches. The atrocities committed by these church factions against each other are as terrible and inhuman as any perpetrated by the Turks. Meanwhile, the Turks watch and laugh, seeing no need to kill Christians when they are so intent on killing each other Tours Bulgaria.

A Confused Kettle of Fish

The Balkans is a confusing and tangled situation. The average person knows it’s too complex to fully understand and often wonders why the Great Powers don’t just agree to remove the Turks from Europe. However, the Powers cannot agree on this because the real question is: Who will control the Balkans once the Turks are gone?

Interests of the Great Powers

Russia and Austria have their own interests in the region. Russia aims for Constantinople, and Austria covets Salonika. Russia liberated Bulgaria from the Turks, intending to use Bulgaria as a stepping-stone to the Bosphorus. Austria has used Serbia to prepare a route to an Austrian port on the Aegean Sea. Both Russia and Austria were surprised and disappointed when Bulgaria and Serbia, instead of being grateful and compliant, started to assert themselves and dream of expanding their territories without interference from their northern neighbors.

Balkan Ambitions

At the same time, the Greeks began to remember their historical claims to large parts of the Balkan region. Romania, situated on the other side of the Danube, also shocked everyone with its bold claim that the Balkans were really Romanian territory. Each nation in the Balkans began to assert its ambitions, further complicating the situation.

The Balkans remain a complex and volatile region, with deep-rooted hatreds and conflicting ambitions among various Christian factions and neighboring powers. The challenge is not just to remove Turkish rule but to manage the intense rivalries and civil strife among the Balkan peoples themselves. Only by addressing these internal conflicts can there be hope for lasting peace and stability in the region.