#2 of those may have been post crisis actually | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

cinnamonest · 23 days ago

Text

I assume this is because I criticized Kamala Harris in my last post.

I want to address this because it's important to me and frustrations currently consuming my life, and I'm very emotionally unwell right now. I want to share my experiences and make a point I feel is important at this time.

Once again, this is very unfitting of the smut fanfiction blog and will be deleted later, even though I'm sure this is a huge follower-losing post, but whatever.

Forgive me for rambling so much, but I encourage you and people who think like this to read in entirety.

I realize things are tense right now in the US.

Part of the reason for my inactivity the past while (besides multiple hospitalizations) is that I'm glued to my screen every night now because I'm very scared. I've been spending all my time researching, watching videos from economists, etc.

(Preemptively, sources for everything I'm about to say: the FEMA Privacy Act Statement itself, the official CPB database, Helene People Finder, United States Council of Foreign Relations, Samaritan's Purse, NYC.gov, Starlink, Politico, ABC, CNBC, georgia.gov, nc.gov, tn.gov, my own life)

The US is an extremely high-tension, polarized political climate, largely due to the bipartisan system.

However, no one should be immune from criticism.

All politicians should be criticized when they do harm. I am allowed to criticize her, and I will.

Criticizing one candidate is not the same thing as endorsing/supporting their opposition.

3,000+ Appalachians are missing. The current death toll makes this the deadliest single event in the US since 1862. A higher death toll than Hurricane Katrina, a higher death toll than the events of 9/11/2001, a higher death toll than any mass shooting.

However, it is largely going completely ignored, and mainstream news media has barely acknowledged it, in part due to elections, but largely because the people who live in Appalachia are poor, rural people. And the harsh reality is that poor people's lives are not treated with the same value as people of higher classes.

FEMA continues to do nothing, and the feds are now threatening to take children away from homeless parents... yet they blocked donations of trailers and campers from nearby areas that would help those people to, you know, not be homeless. A kind group of Amish have come down from Pennsylvania to build shelters, and FEMA may tear them down too since they don't have "permits."

Harris had the opportunity to do something, and has the authority to order FEMA agents to act differently, but she chose to exploit the situation for publicity, then leave and otherwise ignore them. She then went on to pay Beyonce $10,000,000 to speak for 5 minutes.

That deserves to be criticized.

Her campaign continues to claim a good economy and job market, when inflation and cost of living has peaked, and just this month, their policies actually have officially led to one of the worst employment outcomes the United States has seen since the Great Depression, disproportionately affecting low-income workers.

That deserves to be criticized.

She has a bad track record during her time in the judicial system for the way her actions harshly affected underprivileged people, especially Jamal Trulove, who was terribly wronged.

That deserves to be criticized.

Furthermore, the reason FEMA/the government does not have money for Appalachia is for a few reasons, all of which were ordered, facilitated or allowed by the current administration:

1) we've sent over $100 BILLION to the IDF so they can keep blowing up hospitals and kindergartens,

2) we sent $175 BILLION to Zelensky so he can keep sending young men into violent deaths even if its against their will,

3) we just sent $100+ million to Lebanon even after the hurricane crisis, meaning the federal government explicitly chose to prioritize foreign aid over its own people,

4) money was taken directly from FEMA reserves for crises like ours, and used as part of a whopping $150,000,000,000 spent on mass migration — including free flights, a $20 million welcome center with a free-use "game room" with dozens of Xboxes plus free food/lodging, and in NY, an average of $1400 prepaid debit card per individual each month.

Meanwhile, Appalachians get a one-time $750 per family, and if you have insurance to cover anything, it's a LOAN you have to pay back (many "fact-checkers" are claiming this is false when its literally in the FEMA eligibility statement). Many of the independent line workers FEMA hired for repairs are reporting they have not been paid AT ALL since starting.

In other words, the money that was specifically reserved for saving lives in times of crisis was spent on video games and free money handouts.

That, holy hell, deserves to be criticized.

Secondly, I want to address the message itself.

I realize that a lot of the american tumblr userbase is 1) people young enough that they're still partially financially dependent on parents and/or 2) are, like most of the US statistically, earning middle-class incomes, and live in fairly population-dense environments.

Most people outside the US, on the other hand, are getting their perceptions of life, politics, etc in the US from the posts/narratives of people within the aforementioned groups, popular culture, and their own local media, so their perspective is often quite limited, to no fault of their own. I'm sure my perspective of life in other countries is also very limited.

Most of you live in places other than where I live, and live very different lives from mine. As humans, we are naturally prone to subconsciously assuming the lives of others are not too different from our own, and do not naturally stop to consider how various factors might affect people's lives and decisions.

We are social beings, prone to adopting the beliefs of others who have the same experiences and thereby the same limited perspectives as us, especially in ideologically homogenous environments.

However, I have just as much of a voice as anyone else.

My hope is that I can use my words and experience to foster empathy for one another between different people in a very polarized climate at a very tense time.

I'm originally from a fairly rural community of about 8,000 people, largely low-income, low-education, evangelical blue-collar workers and farmers, in the Bible Belt.

It is well-known that this demographic overwhelmingly voted for Trump. I don't deny that. I visit home a lot, I see the yard signs everywhere, flags hanging from pickup trucks and farm fenceposts, lots of red hats.

There is a reason for that.

The administration of the past four years has utterly destroyed many rural, low-income communities.

It caused a huge spike in job layoffs, leading to homelessness, drug abuse, hunger and poverty for many already low-income people, and for select communities, violent crime.

I'm fortunate enough to have had parents better off than most of the community, but I'm self-sufficient now, and I am in the bottom 20% of incomes in the US, even with a degree. I could write endless paragraphs on how hard it is to get by, but to summarize for the sake of shortening — it's very, very rough.

Everything has become drastically more expensive, very rapidly over the course of a few years. Groceries are 3x their 2021 prices. I had to get a guarantor for a one-bedroom apartment.

Many rural families resort to drastic measures to get by. Small farmers are being financially strangled out of their way of life.

The actions of the Biden-Harris administration is the reason a huge portion of my extended family was laid off and now face total destitution, as there are simply no jobs left available.

The Biden-Harris border and crime policies are responsible for the brutal rape of a significant number of women and girls in this geographic region. Statistically, these rapes have quadrupled compared to the previous administration.

A woman was raped and stabbed to death about a mile from where I live.

Our nearby neighbor, a cow farmer back home, was attacked on his own property.

I have personally faced multiple instances of sexual harassment and aggression, some of which were very frightening. I know other girls nearby experienced the same or worse.

Alcoholism and hard drugs due to the spike in unemployment and poverty has ruined many lives, and help is often hard to access in rural regions.

A woman my mom was acquainted with ended her own life in 2023 because her children were taken from her due to her drug addiction and poverty. People I played with on the church playground as kids are now unemployed heroin addicts.

I've watched my mom driven to tears after realizing how drastically her income tax increased, and how little she has left after them despite working around the clock.

All of these can be traced back to the policies and actions of the current administration, and the current Harris-Walz platform's proposals will drastically increase it all — largely voted for by people who live in economic situations and locations as such that they are fairly unaffected by these consequences, so they may not understand how it affects these people.

I could write endless paragraphs of all the people I know who have been at best negatively affected, at worst utterly ruined, by the current administration.

Since I have the unique background of understanding these people whilst having more liberal values as an individual, with a broad range of people I interact with now, I have tried to have discussions on this over the last year or so, in real life and virtually. I believed that raising awareness would make people on the left-leaning side empathize with them, and inspire dialogue to work to implement ways to account for the concerns and needs of the rural poor, and incorporate that into their existing proposals.

I was incorrect. I've been very polite and respectful in how I address others in these discussions. In the vast majority of interactions, I was not given the same in return.

A few were receptive, which I appreciate, but in most of my experiences, the same group that is known for encouraging empathy, apparently doesn't apply that philosophy to people they dislike — no matter how I presented it, they immediately rushed to demonize, censor, humiliate, shame and gaslight me, and expressed callous apathy at best, if not active contempt, for my people.

They say "that doesn't happen," and I think they genuinely believe that due to limited perspective — but the reality is that they're simply in a position of privilege as such that it isn't happening to them.

Similarly, what you have to understand is that from the perspective of many rural people in red areas, their experience is that more privileged people inflicted this suffering on them by voting for it, then silence and shame them for speaking out about it.

Likewise, they also have a limited perspective — for them, the issue I see is that they adamantly believe the "other side" is already well-aware of the effects their choices have on others. I don't think this is true, I think many on the other end are unaware of these issues.

This dual lack of understanding creates mutual resentment and bitterness, which fuels tension.

I will say that trying to explain how girls in my community were assaulted or my own harassment, only to have it spammed with replies along the lines of "don't care" or "deserved" or calling me a liar, seeing posts mocking or wishing harm on people like my family accumulate tens of thousands of likes, having people I care about referred to as "trailer trash," passive-aggressive statements implying I'm too unattractive for a man to harass — this, along with other distasteful actions I've seen, has pushed me away from the left as a community, and I don't think that's unreasonable.

Similarly, labeling people you know nothing about as bad people, without making any effort to understand their circumstances or what they actually believe and why, will drive people away and make them resentful.

My community is multiracial, women are highly valued in southern culture for various reasons, and they themselves are marginalized and underprivileged. They're kind people who have been good to me.

I haven't really met any people who are hateful, nor is hate the reason for their votes — they're all voting as they do because they are scared, exhausted, grieving and desperate. A lot of people in the area never voted before, but are now registering to vote in droves because they feel their backs are against the wall, so to speak.

Moreover, Orange Man himself redirected $14 million dollars to Appalachia, continues to raise awareness for them in speeches, and Musk, who is associated with him, has a team working to help Appalachians. He's also the only noteworthy figure that has acknowledged certain issues affecting them.

They realize that the situation in Appalachia could just as easily be them in the future, that they'd be given the same treatment.

This has resulted in a lot of rural poor people feeling that he cares more for their lives, compared to Biden/Harris who more or less neglected them. Which, considering that, is a fairly reasonable conclusion on their end.

Finally, it is true that blue voters tend to be in favor of abolishing or ruining crucial aspects of our way of life that, I say this politely, they do not fully understand, while the people here want to preserve their way of life.

So, while I have more liberal values that differ from most people back home, I don't believe they are bad people. They are reacting very reasonably to the circumstances they're in.

All I ask of others is to consider, no matter where you are or what beliefs you align with, and no matter what happens tomorrow, that the "other side" to your own may not be the evil people you have been led to believe they are, but are humans whose lives are simply different from yours, and they are acting in accordance to their experiences, circumstances, and fears.

The growing trend of demonizing political opposition with no attempt at empathy, only creates more pain in the world. I hope this has helped to foster better understanding, and that people can be kind to one another.

That is all I wanted to say.

84 notes · View notes

werepuppy-steve · 2 months ago

Text

like june, august was also a rough month. work has been kicking my ass more and more lately, leaving me little to no time to enjoy my hobbies. i've been playing video games more recently to get my brain to relax and unwind more than i've been reading, admittedly. but we're trying our best.

something new this time: a gen rec section where i rec any non stranger things/steddie fics i read for the month!

<- july fic rec • more fic recs • my ao3

you were warm when everything was cold - G, 5.4k, complete @lesbianrobin

tags: lumax, background steddie, established relationship, masculinity crisis, lucas centric

There’s something about watching Steve and Eddie that makes his chest ache, just a little bit. Something that feels like it’s just out of reach, like if he could just jump an inch higher he could grasp it and know what it is, have a name for it, figure out what feels like it’s missing with Max. He never felt like something was missing with Max before. She was perfect. She is perfect! Like, sure, not actually perfect, because nobody’s actually perfect, but she’s perfect for him just like he hopes he’s perfect for her, and they’re perfect together. Maybe Lucas is overcompensating.

Sweet Boy - E, 2/2, complete Ghost_ing_Temptations

tags: dom/sub, puppy play, accidental subspace, good boy steve harrington

Steve is used to it by now, the teasing 'good dog's thrown his way, the occasional 'fetch.' He's not sure when the idea of him as the Party's resident guard dog started, but he's gotten over the swirling feeling in his stomach at those words... pretty much. Regardless, Robin is capable of convincing him of anything. So here he is hosting a Halloween get together dressed in ears, a tail and the real kicker - a collar. What could go wrong?

Horny for Horsepower - E, 2.5k, complete Oralmystery

tags: crackfic, transformers au, masturbation

Steve is a transformer and Eddie is the mechanic in love with him. Dustin accidentally spills soda all over Steve’s backseat and Eddie has to clean it up. In spite of Eddie's best efforts the sticky situation only gets stickier.

future in your hand (signed, sealed, delivered) - T, 10.3k, complete formous_iniquis

tags: no upside down au, penpals, childhood friends to lovers, appalachian eddie, road trips

Dear Eddie, Mrs. Simpson says I’m supposed to thank you for volunteering to be my partner even though you’re a fifth grader. I don’t know why I should though since now I actually have to do this stupid pen pal project. I know she only paired me with an older kid cause she thinks I’m dumb. But thanks for the extra work I guess. Sincerely (cause we aren’t friends), Steve Harrington --- Assigned to be pen pals elementary school, Steve and Eddie find themselves growing closer than they could have imagined as children. Sending letters where they become confidants, friends, and more over the years they write to one another. Nearly a decade after they start an incident sends Steve himself to Eddie. The two leave Hawkins and road trip together to their Happily Ever After.

Burnin' for You - T, 7.1k, complete @soaringornithopter

tags: no upside down au, modern au, t4t steddie, mutual pining, getting together

During a record breaking heatwave, the residents of Hawkins are forced to endure rolling blackouts. Eddie learns he can't handle the unbearable heat and takes steps to try to improve his situation. While on the hunt for work, he repeatedly crosses paths with Steve, who decides to invite Eddie over to take a break from the weather by enjoying the Harrington's pool and reliable central air conditioning. It may take a few visits before they finally get what they both want.

crush notes - T, 4/4, complete @steddiecameraroll

tags: post-s2, secret admirer, getting together

“So, you’re getting love letters?” “Well, I wouldn’t call them love letters, more like crush notes…” Eddie Munson has a secret admirer. He has no idea who it could be, but maybe his new friendship with the one and only Steve Harrington can come in handy.

honeysuckle - E, 2.4k, complete (ao3) @hawkinsbnbg

tags: dom/sub, breeding kink, cock cages, face slapping, daddy kink, good boy steve harrington, overstimulation, prostate milking

Eddie didn't look upset per se. He looked— Amused. Like he knew exactly why Steve acted that way and was more than ready to make it worse.

hidden lace - E, 2.8k, complete (ao3) @steddieas-shegoes

tags: lingerie, secret relationship, car sex, public sex, top eddie, bottom steve

Steve is pissed at Eddie. Like, genuinely pissed. Not that cute, haha my boyfriend was being annoying but I love him, pissed. The kind where if he saw him right now, he’d do something really stupid, like yell or break up with him. And he knew he didn’t actually want to do that.

Bark At The Moon - T, WIP @evillittleguy

tags: pre-series, canon rewrite, werewolf steve, pining

He just wants to go home. He doesn’t even know what home is anymore. He rolls onto his butt and sits in the dirt. Alone in the woods he lets himself cry. After the worst of it is over and he’s sniffling away the snot and the tears- wiping with his sleeve- he realizes he’s being watched and freezes. In front of him only a few feet away a small honey-brown wolf is poorly hidden in the underbrush.

Coming home to you - E, 1.3k, complete @just-my-latest-hyperfixation

tags: established relationship, post series, fluff and smut, soft dom eddie, sub steve, dry humping

Eddie is halfway through composing an absolutely sick riff when the front door slams shut. The sound rattles the walls of the apartment and sends one of their framed photos askew. Eddie blinks, pulling off his headphones and taking a few moments to get his bearings. It’s starting to turn dark outside and his stomach is rumbling. Shit, for how long was he out? “Stevie? You home?” he calls, but the apartment stays quiet, bar for the creak of the bedroom door and the thud of a body hitting the mattress. Eddie frowns, setting the guitar aside and padding across the hallway.

don't' want to move on - E, 3.1k, complete (ao3) @steddieas-shegoes

tags: modern au, exes to lovers, frottage

If Steve knows one thing, it’s that Eddie knows how to get under his skin and in his bed. Ever since their breakup, a disaster of epic proportions for the entire friend group, Steve’s kept his distance from every possible interaction with Eddie. He’s made sure to find reasons to miss group outings and put himself on the schedule at work on the nights when he knew Eddie would be at movie nights or dinner. He purposely scheduled pool parties for days and times he knew Eddie would be busy. But he couldn’t get out of this one. And now he has Eddie’s eyes on him from across the room, staring into his soul, reading his mind probably.

Heartache to Heartache - E, 1.7k, complete (ao3) @steddie-island | kintsugi_kid

tags: established relationship, make up sex, top eddie, bottom steve

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" Eddie had asked. His hands shook with his anger, his frustration, with the desire to grab this stupid beautiful boy by the shoulders. "What the fuck, Steve?" "I was helping," Steve said, clearly confused. "I just wanted to help—" "No, you were just using Daddy's money to make problems go away again." Steve had winced at that, but then he'd straightened his spine. "Yeah, I used my dad's money. So what? Why does it matter how it got paid for?" or Steve and Eddie have a fight. And then they get to make up about it.

Do it for him - T, 1.5k, complete (ao3) @steddie-island | kintsugi_kid

tags: established relationship, medical trauma, hurt/comfort

"I'm worried about you," Eddie had whispered in bed one morning, when Steve was in that soft space between sleep and wakefulness. "I know your hearing is getting worse, and you need glasses… I know you didn't get looked at after everything, and I get why, but…" He'd kissed Steve's hair, his temple, his cheek. "I can't lose you. Please, Stevie. For me?" That was all it had taken for Steve to finally give in. or Eddie helps Steve face his fears and get himself checked out.

Safe With You - E, 4.8k, complete (ao3) @hotluncheddie

tags: established relationship, daddy kink, under-negotiated kink, hurt/comfort, soft dom eddie, sub steve

‘Tell me something.’ Eddie says between kisses, quiet and deep and Steve feels like there’s whisky in his belly, thrumming through his veins. Drunk on Eddie Munson. ‘Tell me what you like, show me. Let me help baby.’ His hooded eyes pull Steve in, fingers stroking hairs away from his forehead and lips pressing kisses to his cheekbones. Steve doesn’t know how to answer, how to ask for something he wants. ‘No, I. Te-tell me what you like.’ He says, pulling Eddie’s shirt up and off, giving himself a moment away from eye contact, away from the vulnerability Eddie draws out of him. Eddie lets his T-shirt be tossed away, pulling Steve close and swaying them again gently. Slowing the moment once more. ‘Mmm, I like lots of things. Like making pretty boys feel good, for one.’ He ponders, hand soothing up and down Steve’s back. ‘And you, honey, are the prettiest guy I’ve ever seen.’ He smiles, teeth glinting in the soft lamplight. Steve ducks his head as his cheeks flush, smiling, hiding in Eddie’s shoulder. (Or Steve and Eddie try something new, it doesn't quite go to plan, but they talk it through.)

Beautiful Decline - M/E, series, WIP Izzy_Grinch | @troublemakingrebel

tags: assassin's creed valhalla, ceolvarr, rough sex, age difference, secret relationship, good boy ceolbert, falling in love, fix it fic

On a celebration that takes place the night after his father has been crowned a new King of Mercia, Ceolbert feels unwisely bold and seeks Ivarr's company.

Of Dandelions and Nettles - E, 22.3k, complete Izzy_Grinch | @troublemakingrebel

tags: assassin's creed valhalla, ceolvarr, friends to lovers, age difference, first time, ivarr lets ceol-baby get away with so much and everyone is shocked, drunk sex, morning after, flower language

Even when Ceolbert messes up Ivarr's game of Orlog, his plans to pass out drinking and his intentions to wake up alone, Ivarr lets him, as he lets his own hands wander into Ceolbert's hair and down his pliable skin.

Hay Fever - E, 5/5, complete Izzy_Grinch | @troublemakingrebel

tags: assassin's creed valhalla, ceolvarr, age difference, friends to lovers, not so secret relationship, time skips, sexual tension,they fuck in so many stables yall

All it takes is a snap of the last straw. Over the course of five chapters, Ceolbert walks a path from his father's son to a Prince, to an Ealdorman, to a King, each milestone celebrated with Ivarr by his side in the questionable privacy of the local stables.

The Skillful Hunter - M, 5/5, complete hapaxlegomena

tags: assassin's creed valhalla, ceolvarr + ubba, age difference, impotence

Ivarr and Ceolbert pass a year together. Hunting, learning the art of war, and other things a man has to know.

#cj talks #fic rec #steddie #steddie fic rec #stranger things #ac valhalla #ceolvarr #assassin's creed valhalla

53 notes · View notes

herefortheclout19 · 1 month ago

Text

A rambling analysis about Aaravos as a whole

Post Season 6, the enigma that is Aaravos FINALLY got a deeper dive into his character and backstory and we finally know three important things, (in my opinion) that are critical when creating a character in any form of media:

1. Motivations

2. Goal(s)

3. What’s keeping those goals from being fulfilled

1. motivations

it’s obvious that his motivation to everything he does is his love for Leola, and how he’s coping with being bereaved of his child. In addition, I’d also like to address that his second motivation is for a world unlike the one the Cosmic Order and the Archdragons desire. Obviously, what I mean is the cycle of violence itself- and yes, Aaravos continues the cycle, but he’s also trying to break it with his startouch ability of prophetic visions, or how season 6 puts it, “becoming time blind.”

Due to this ability, I think Aaravos instigated the Battle of the Storm Spire and manipulated Viren to make it happen because he wanted to force the elves and humans to unite under one cause. On the other hand, it can be argued that “actually Aaravos is only causing harm, just look at Lux Aurea,” and of course that seems like the easiest explanation for his actions, but I think I can refute that claim.

By corrupting Lux Aurea, he knew that by doing so, it would be enough to motivate the elves into a confrontation with Viren and the rest of the human kingdoms + their armies. Yes, Aaravos did say, “do you want to conquer Xadia?” To Viren, but I believe that that was merely a way to goad him into conflict, and it shouldn’t be taken seriously because that’s not one of Aaravos’s intentions or legitimate goals.

2. Goal(s)

Like I said before, Aaravos isn’t planning on conquering Xadia, he’s obviously planning on avenging his deceased daughter, by killing (presumably) everyone who approved of Leola’s execution. Sol Regem was killed, and now as season 7 approaches, the Cosmic Order is next. Knowing that only a startouch elf can kill another startouch elf- according to the TDP Wikia page, it’s obvious that this is what he’s planning on accomplishing.

The season 7 summary states that he’s planning on, “inverting life and death,” which to me seems like he’s attempting to revive Leola in some incredible feat of magic. Deep magic?

Putting his personal issues aside, when it comes to Xadia itself, Aaravos is planning on restoring the solidarity between East and West Xadia, and mending the continent as a whole, and he’s doing it through people like Janai.

As a character who is merciful, Janai is a revolutionary figure who struggles with also healing the old wounds between the dragon and elven part of Xadia and the human part of Xadia. Her perception of peace and mercy is why I believe that Aaravos is in a tandem mindset with her and wishes to keep her as a reigning monarch in Lux Aurea, or she would’ve been dead by now.

The Sunfire monarchs are influential historical figures- look to Sol Regem, whose hatred for humanity no doubt influenced the outcome of segregating humans into the west. And Aditi, whose voice was enough to motivate the succession conflict from tearing Xadia apart.

When Aaravos haunts Janai in her dreams, it’s a threat, but it’s also a warning. It’s him challenging her to either become her grandmother, “your just like your grandmother,” and also to beware of her fate, lest it become Janai’s as well, “I swallowed her,” S5EP9. Because Aaravos disapproved of Aditi’s actions and influence, he’s trying to use fear to control Janai and keep her from becoming her grandmother before her. By that, Aditi may have been a “wise and trusted leader,” according to Zubeia, but I think she was also a cruel leader who had a skewed perception of mercy, (just look to Kim’Dael.)Yes, Aditi wanted to restore peace, but one act of benevolence (ending the succession crisis,) isn’t enough to justify one act of “mercy.” (Kim’Dael’s Mercy Debt)

3. What’s keeping those goals from being fulfilled:

I’ll keep this one short, but it’s clear that The Cosmic Order itself is keeping him from accomplishing this goal. During the trial, Aaravos couldn’t stand up alone to them with his actions and thus resorted to verbal confrontation in order to convince the council to let Leola go. This didn’t work, and despite how powerful he is, Aaravos couldn’t forcefully use magic to prevent the council from killing Leola. With season 7 coming up, I think he’ll try to get The Merciful One to ally with him against the other members of the council. As much as he hates them for having Leola killed, perhaps Aaravos can convince TMO into regretting their decision in condemning Leola and to help stand up to the rest of the Cosmic Council, since TMO is the only one to have approached Aaravos post trial, probably due to a now shattered friendship.

That’s all for now! I might make a part two going more into depth, but this is it, thanks to anyone for reading my unintelligent yapping :)

#the dragon prince #aaravos #give us the saga #tdp season 6 #tdp janai #queen aditi

33 notes · View notes

gorogues · 2 months ago

Note

1. What’s the most accurate/canon depiction of The Rogues relationship with each other for both pre-New 52 and post-New 52 comics? (eg what Mark is to Lisa and vice versa, what Digger is to Sam and vice versa, Len and Mick, etc until you’re done listing how everyone’s relationship with everyone else is like)

You can add others (Owen, Axel, Evan, etc) if you want, but this question is mostly aimed at the main Rogues.

2. I swear I saw a post from someone on this platform, I don’t know if it was you or somebody else, but they basically said something along the lines of: “You’d think that it would be out of character for Barry to leave his villains in Iron Heights, knowing how unethical the prison is and all. But the more I thought about it, the more I agreed that no, it isn’t actually that out of character for Barry.”

That thought has been stuck in my head ever since, and as someone who doesn’t really know Barry’s characterisation all that much (a crying shame, I know), I just wanted your opinion.

Is this statement true? I’d like to hear your reasoning for if you agree or disagree.

I didn’t know if I should keep these two questions on separate asks or not, so I just combined them both onto one. Hope you don’t mind all that much. I know it will probably take awhile to answer my questions, if you decide you want to that is. If you do then no pressure, take as much time as you want. If you decide you won’t answer, that’s also completely fine with me. Either way, hope your happy and safe wherever you are and have a good day/night.

Buckle up, because this is a long ride. To start, I'm leaving out stuff like when a Rogue was mind-controlled into doing something, or when they weren't in control of their actions due to being puppeted by Neron or Nekron (although the Black Lanterns were speaking from their victims' memories and thus may have had relevant things to say. It wasn't that person committing evil acts, however). That stuff wasn't voluntary, though of course the people harmed by them during those periods might not see it that way.

--Pre-Flashpoint--

Lisa and Len: Their relationship has varied depending on the era. In the Bronze Age they were often indifferent and sometimes hostile to each other (she didn't seem upset about Len's purported death), but occasionally got along well. After Crisis they frequently worked together and were generally friendly, but tensions built and things turned bad -- originally, Lisa was intended to have murdered her brother for his cold gun, but that was nixed in favour of her just stealing it. By the Johns era she was dead and Len was overtly mourning her, and we'd see in retconned flashbacks that they were very close due to their shared traumatic upbringing. One flashback showed her saying she'd become a criminal to be like her big brother, although Bronze Age comics were quite clear that she did it to avenge her dead boyfriend.

Lisa and Mark: They didn't interact much (just a few issues), but she poisoned him in one story to get him to do her bidding. It doesn't seem like they were close.

Lisa and Digger: Again, they didn't interact much, but she poisoned him in one story to get him to do her bidding. After she died, the tabloids claimed that she and Digger had a secret love-child -- which wasn't true -- but maybe they had more interactions that we never saw. Or maybe the tabloids just assumed Lisa was the mother because she was the only female Rogue in those days.

Lisa and Sam: They never interacted with each other back in the day, but in a later retcon Lisa wanted to be introduced to him because he was "cute".

Lisa and Roscoe: They were dating, and were very close. Eventually death separated them several times and they didn't get back together for unknown reasons.

Lisa and Mick: She and Len once tried to kill Mick in the Bronze Age, but he doesn't seem to have held a grudge; the three of them got along fine after Crisis, and they worked and socialized together. In the Johns era we saw an early flashback of Mick being exceptionally rude to Len about Lisa, so maybe their early relations weren't always great.

Lisa and Hartley: They only appeared in a few stories together, and in one (Blue Devil #30) they didn't interact much but seemed friendly. In DC Retro-Active: The Flash: 1980s they got along quite well, and seemed to get along when the heroes were rescuing Wally from the Turtle Man. Overall they were civil and friendly with each other.

Lisa and James: They co-existed well enough at Len's party, but she later poisoned him to get him to do her bidding. And the relationship between James and the Rogues (including her) was rather sour in Blue Devil. They seemed terse with each other at best.

Len and Mark: Len's been kind and supportive to Mark over the years, especially since taking over the team's dad role, but interestingly he didn't list Mark amongst the Rogues he liked. (There was also a panel in which Len listed Mark amongst three Rogues who were his "real family", but that was right after saying he was glad Lisa was dead -- it was from Johns' first arc and he quickly retconned his own work). Mark seems to like him, and trusted him enough to confess to Clyde's killing. The two had a good relationship of mutual support in Rogues' Revenge, which was probably the best they've ever had and the closest they've been.

Len and Digger: In Len's spotlight issue, he claimed Digger was one of the few Rogues he liked. They did get along well, including working together outside of the Rogues/Central City, though Len didn't treat Digger very kindly near the end of his life. Len was also cool-to-hostile to him after he returned from the dead and wanted to rejoin the Rogues, and actually beat the shit out of him (admittedly Digger had just done something stupid). That said, Len wistfully said "what are friends for, eh, Digger?" when Digger was dead and told Owen that Digger "was one of…my friends", so it seems Len always did retain a soft spot for him even despite his growling. He was probably taking a tough-love approach, even if he was a jerk about it.

Len and Sam: They got along fine before Sam was killed, and even liked each other enough to work together outside of the Rogues/Central City. They didn't seem close or anything, but Sam was one of the few Rogues Len said he liked in his spotlight issue.

Len and Roscoe: They seemed to get along okay or were mostly indifferent to each other before Roscoe died, but after his death Len made it very clear he didn't miss him (although interestingly, Len seemed sad at his funeral). This may be because Roscoe had recently tried to kill the other Rogues if they messed with his plan after he'd died (which they did), but the fact that Roscoe dated Len's sister surely didn't help. By the Johns era the two of them hated each other, and Len opted not to treat Roscoe like he did most Rogues -- leaving him to languish in prison and not helping him when he clearly needed it. Things eventually devolved to Roscoe threatening to mind-control the other Rogues to make them fall in line, and Len killed him. Afterwards, we learned that at some point in earlier history Len had turned the other Rogues against Roscoe to become the group's leader, but unfortunately we don't know the details of what happened.

Len and Mick: A very complicated relationship, which goes from friendly to openly hostile and back again…sometimes within the same issue. Mick said he got along with all the Rogues but Len, which is basically true, and Len was a major reason Mick spent long periods estranged from the Rogues. In the Bronze Age, Len (and Lisa) tried to kill Mick, and previously Len had tried to traumatize Mick by manipulating him into killing an innocent person. Len's been openly insulting to Mick at times, who'd then retaliate in kind, but Len has also been supportive and helpful with Mick's many psychological issues. Sometimes Len watched out for his well-being in ways nobody else did. The end result is a complicated and not very healthy frenemy relationship between them, though they generally work well together with their complementary tech.

Len and Hartley: They seemed to get along okay until Hartley reformed (though there was a flashback to Len being callous to him in the early days), but Len's been low-key hostile to him ever since. There must be an underlying reason for it, because Len didn't really treat other reformed Rogues that way (even if he wasn't always thrilled with them) and I think he just doesn't like Hartley.

Len and James: In Len's spotlight issue, he said James was one of the few Rogues he liked. Which is interesting because I've never seen a particular bond between the two of them, but Len did accept James back quite readily after a long period of reform (which even involved fighting against the Rogues as part of the FBI). James doesn't seem to have much fondness for Len though, and has cheerfully tricked and pranked him a few times.

Mark and Sam: They seem to have gotten along okay, though they didn't interact much.

Mark and Digger: They were generally quite friendly to each other, though Mark didn't have the nicest things to say about Digger after he'd died. The Rogues can be like that with each other, however, so it might not really mean anything.

Mark and Mick: They didn't interact much but got along well when they were on the same side. However, the two of them have frequently been on opposing sides (or at least one was reformed and one wasn't), so there may have been ongoing tension between them from the time of Mick's first stint with reform. But things were fine between them when Mick rejoined the Rogues after that, so it seems like there was no lingering grudge.

Mark and Roscoe: They didn't interact much but seemed to get along okay. In Blackest Night, Roscoe's zombie (which wasn't actually him, but had his memories) spoke flatteringly to Mark and reminded him that at some unspecified point they'd once planned to take out Len and run the Rogues together, which was a bombshell never addressed again. They probably would have turned on each other if the plan ever came to fruition, but there was either mutual respect or some intended backstabbing going on there.

Mark and Hartley: They seemed to get along reasonably well back in the day, though many Rogues were frosty to Hartley after he reformed and Mark was probably no different. Hartley didn't seem as though he had fond feelings for Mark after reforming, as he was pretty apathetic when he saw Mark distressed in Iron Heights and potentially exposed to a lethal virus, and Hartley was as cold to the Rogues when he 'returned' undercover as they were to him. It's not clear whether Hartley knew Mark was part of the Rogues who'd killed his parents and framed him for it, or if he'd even blame Mark for that since Mark wasn't directly involved in the scheme. But it's fair to say that they didn't get along well from at least the Johns era until Flashpoint.

Mark and James: They got along well before Crisis, and socialized in a friendly manner up into the Waid era. But things had probably changed by the time James joined the FBI, in which he was working to take down the Rogues (including Mark). James rejoined the Rogues in the aftermath of Rogue War and interacted civilly with them, though he was openly contemptuous of their behaviour in Countdown and we later learned that he was there undercover. I think it's likely James didn't have particularly warm feelings for Mark or most of the others, and perhaps there was just too much bad blood before James was killed and the universe soon rebooted.

Roscoe and Mick: They didn't interact much but seemed to get along okay; they looked cheery when chatting during a flashback in Mick's spotlight issue. However, Mick's narration stated that he got along with Roscoe even though Roscoe talked over everyone's heads, so it seems probable that Mick tolerated him more than liked him.

Roscoe and Digger: They got along well before Crisis, but haven't been shown interacting since. Both have done personality 180s since Crisis, and I can't imagine either of their newer personalities would like or even tolerate the other, so they probably wouldn't get along and likely avoided each other. Roscoe did attend Digger's funeral, though.

Roscoe and James: In the Silver/Bronze Ages they never actually interacted with each other on panel, though they must have met behind the scenes because James was at Roscoe's funeral and complained about his sense of humour. (We've also seen a flashback of them together from a comic published later.) And James spoke dismissively of him after his death, calling him the least of the Rogues. It's difficult to say what their relationship was, though James clearly wasn't impressed by him, and probably wasn't thrilled with Roscoe when his mind-whammy was undone…and Roscoe died soon after, so they never spoke again before the universe was rebooted. It doesn't seem to have been a good relationship, but we've seen so little of their interactions.

Roscoe and Hartley: They seemed to get along okay before Roscoe died, but things took an ugly turn after he'd returned and Hartley had reformed. Roscoe tried to goad Hartley into killing a presidential candidate and then tried to frame him for it, and did so by being a homophobic asshole to him and Hartley understandably thought he was a monster. My opinion, based on what Roscoe said in the issue, is that he was trying to seriously rile up Hartley to accomplish his plan and might not have actually believed the stuff he said…but it doesn't change that he said and did it, and was in fact acting like a monster. What's interesting is that later (in the Johns era) Hartley was lamenting having no living family left, and Roscoe told him "You still have family. Me for one." Which was probably cold comfort and Hartley wouldn't agree, but it's still very interesting that Roscoe would say that.

Roscoe and Sam: Roscoe was generally quite friendly to Sam, but Sam tricked him into losing a million dollar bet and left him to die in a booby-trapped prison, so Roscoe resentfully helped Barry ruin Sam's plan. Roscoe secretly swore to get payback, but never seems to have acted on it and Sam screwed him over again by later stealing his loot. For whatever reason, Sam was the Rogue that Roscoe chose to inform of his death, though he also had a scheme to blow up the Rogues if they messed with his revenge plan (which they did). They had a weird relationship, but I think Roscoe liked Sam more than the other Rogues.

Sam and Digger: They were generally great pals, despite some hiccups here and there -- Digger was a dick to Sam in Gotham and then tried to hypnotize him into doing his dirty work. Sam was pissed enough that he tried to get a cop to shoot Digger dead. But otherwise they got along quite well and worked/socialized together even outside the Rogues and Central City, and after Sam died his costume and tech ended up in Digger's hands and he used them to commit incognito crimes. The other Rogues were furious (not knowing who was doing it), but Digger thought Sam would appreciate the joke, and he was probably right.

Sam and James: They mostly got along okay, although Sam robbed James of his loot once, and all the Rogues of the late Bronze Age tended to snarl at each other for some reason.

Sam and Hartley: Their relationship didn't seem particularly notable until Hartley was hospitalized for a nervous breakdown, and then Sam and Digger went in disguise to free him. Both were somewhat dismissive of Hartley, claiming he wasn't a great pal or anything, but the Rogues sometimes do that to downplay their feelings (perhaps to seem like tough guys?) and they went to a fair bit of effort to spring someone they didn't really care about. They obviously cared.

Sam and Mick: They seemed to get along well before Mick had a traumatic experience and left the Rogues. We don't know what Sam thought about Mick's reform.

Digger and James: They generally got along in a friendly jocular manner before Crisis, though one time Digger disapproved of James trying to unmask an apparently-deceased Flash and kicked him for it…they ended up squabbling and yelling at each other. After Crisis, Digger turned his back and suggested that the Rogues should let James fall to his death. Later, after Digger had been away from the Rogues a long time and James had reformed, Digger repeatedly begged him for money and James completely cut him off, calling him a "mooch". So perhaps relations soured after their time apart.

Digger and Hartley: As noted above, Digger and Sam went to some trouble to free Hartley from lock-up. That aside, they didn't have a good relationship; Digger criticized Hartley's battle tactics and Hartley thought poorly of Digger's intelligence even before Crisis, and we know that Digger made a lot of shitty comments/jokes about Hartley's sexuality. And Digger was openly hostile when he saw Hartley at Linda Park's funeral. Post-Crisis' Digger's personality is obnoxious enough that he'd definitely get on Hartley's nerves (and vice versa, to be honest), so it's no surprise they don't get along.

Digger and Mick: They seemed to get along well, though as noted above Mick could get along with almost everyone. Digger may not have appreciated Mick's stints of reform, but he still accepted the situation when Mick sometimes returned to hang out with the guys, so maybe it didn't even bother him. And Mick was willing to lend him money (likely knowing he wouldn't get it back) after James cut him off, with a bit of gentle chiding about getting his shit together. They appear to have had a good relationship.

James and Hartley: Best friends, at least when they're being written properly; we'll leave Countdown out of this because we all know how OOC it was. James was friendly with Hartley when they were both Rogues (it's not known whether he knew Hartley's sexuality then, but he might have), and he accepted Hartley once Hart had reformed and become a pariah to the Rogues and was openly gay. Later Hartley was accused of murdering his parents and James refused to help him when he was on the lam, but it's very possible that was due to the general mind control James was under, so it's debatable whether that was really his fault. Ditto for James basically press-ganging Hartley and Mick into the FBI. Either way, all those shenanigans aside, they're very good friends who like, accept, and trust each other. James also left his will and data for taking down the Rogues to Hartley, and told him that the information was hidden from everyone else by invisible ink.

James and Mick: They've never seemed particularly close, but later in life developed the commonality of reform or semi-reform and both are quite easy to get along with. As stated above, James drafted Mick and Hartley into the FBI and that may not have been their choice, but James was supportive of Mick's mental health and ensured he received plenty of psychological support…which was definitely necessary. He also encouraged Mick to train and remain physically healthy, so overall he was very considerate of his needs and well-being. They weren't close after the two of them went back to the Rogues, but that may have been because Mick sincerely wanted to return and James was (apparently) undercover. Overall they had a friendly and supportive relationship, despite some occasional bumps.

Hartley and Mick: Their relationship before Crisis wasn't particularly notable one way or another, but in the Johns era they were firm friends and allies during a time when most of the Rogues neither liked nor accepted Hartley. Hartley was a fugitive at the time, and Mick was the only person willing to help him with no questions asked. They later worked well together at the FBI, but weren't close when Mick rejoined the Rogues.

--Post-Flashpoint--

Digger and all other Rogues: Only Digger and Len have had significant interactions, and that story inexplicably depicted them as not knowing each other. However, a later issue showed Len offering Digger a place with the Rogues via text message.

Roscoe and all other Rogues: He's only interacted with them in passing, although Len tried to kill him again so it seems their relationship hasn't improved :>

James and all the other Rogues: He's only interacted with them in passing (aside from Axel), and he mind-controlled them into doing his bidding so there's probably no love between them and him. A past version of him also worked on the Legion of Zoom with the Snarts, but they were cool towards each other.

Lisa and Len: For a while she blamed and hated him for giving the Rogues metahuman powers, which left her seriously injured/ill and her boyfriend trapped in the Mirrorverse, but those problems are over now and the two are fairly close despite occasional differences. She opposed his regime during "Year of the Villain", but still cared about his safety and his conscience, and she broke him out of custody after his defeat. For his part, Len made a lot of mistakes during the New 52 and was selfish at times, but he went to great lengths to keep her safe and healthy during her illness.

Lisa and Sam: They almost got married and were very close through many struggles, but eventually broke up and she's been cool towards him since. He reacted by becoming a sullen hedonist, and their breakup is probably a big part of why he's not been with the Rogues for a while.

Lisa and Marco: He admired and respected her and wanted her to be team leader before seemingly falling back towards Len's leadership. They treat each other with mutual respect, though he put her life at risk in Rogues Rebellion when he'd had enough of the ongoing shenanigans. He later returned to do the right thing and help her and the others.

Lisa and Mick: He's frequently been surly towards her as he is with everyone else, but clearly cares about her and treats her with about as much respect as he has for anyone.

Lisa and Hartley: The first time they interacted on panel, Lisa got revenge on him for being a "traitor", but later that was forgotten and he went to a fair bit of trouble to keep her safe from danger. His narration stated that she'd supported him and helped him come out to the other Rogues before the New 52 began, indicating that they'd been good friends, so I don't know if they ever reconciled the 'traitor' thing or he simply let it go.

Len and Sam: They had/have something of an uneasy relationship because Sam was dating Len's sister, and Len was responsible for tearing them apart and nearly getting her killed…and after getting through all that, Lisa and Sam broke up and left Len somewhat in the middle. But Len has much better relations with Sam than he had with Roscoe before Flashpoint, and they mostly treat each other with friendliness and respect. But there's obviously anger and tension at times too.

Len and Mick: An extremely hostile relationship throughout most of the New 52, though Mick calmed down somewhat in Rebirth. All the meta Rogues were angry at Len, but Mick took it to another level of resentment and bitter violence. That's mostly behind them now, but Mick's still somewhat surly and it's probably a legacy of what happened to him. Len, on the other hand, didn't really take much responsibility for what he did to the other Rogues who weren't Lisa, and it's not surprising his relationship with Mick wasn't good. However, when the Sage Force was sorting out Mick's trauma it (or his mind) conjured up 'Len' to talk sense to him and calm him down, and by "Year of the Villain" Mick proclaimed that Len was his best friend, so obviously the situation significantly improved over time.

Len and Marco: They formerly had a terse relationship due to resentment about metahuman powers, though they seem to be on good terms now that it's behind them. Marco can be moody though, so that's probably a challenge at times.

Len and Hartley: They haven't interacted much, though Hartley saved Len from dying in an accident and Len seemed happy to see him -- but he also wanted Hartley to let him go, so maybe he was just buttering him up. Hartley was working as a hero at the time, so he wouldn't budge even for old times' sake.

Marco and Sam: Their relations have ranged from friendly to antagonistic during times of stress, but overall they treat each other with respect and have a brotherly relationship. They seem like actual friends.

Marco and Mick: Mick's intense anger issues and Marco's brooding moodiness was kind of a match made in hell and probably why they've never been close. They seem to get along okay now that Mick has mellowed a lot.

Marco and Hartley: They haven't interacted much.

Mick and Hartley: They haven't interacted much.

Mick and Sam: Mick was surly to everyone for most of the New 52, though his relationship with Sam in Rogues Rebellion was surprisingly positive and friendly. Sam tried to talk sense and the brotherhood of Rogues to Mick, who mostly dismissed him but still sacrificed himself to save the others, showing that Sam had gotten through to him. Mick later turned up alive, and was afterwards restored psychologically and physically by the Sage Force, which calmed him down significantly. But Sam turned into a jerk after he broke up with Lisa, and Mick yelled at him for it and finally got through to him somewhat, indicating that both of them listen to the other and are the better for it. Their relationship has never been warm and fuzzy, but it seems like there's enough respect to get the other guy to be better, and for both to accept advice.

Sam and Hartley: They were friendly during their interactions, which makes sense because Hartley was helping to save Lisa.

Question 2: I swear I saw a post from someone on this platform, I don’t know if it was you or somebody else, but they basically said something along the lines of: “You’d think that it would be out of character for Barry to leave his villains in Iron Heights, knowing how unethical the prison is and all. But the more I thought about it, the more I agreed that no, it isn’t actually that out of character for Barry.” That thought has been stuck in my head ever since, and as someone who doesn’t really know Barry’s characterisation all that much (a crying shame, I know), I just wanted your opinion. Is this statement true? I’d like to hear your reasoning for if you agree or disagree.

This is a bit of a tricky question, because Iron Heights was introduced and got most of its panel time when Barry was dead, so he wasn't around for the 'heyday' of its development when Ashley Zolomon and Wally West grappled with what was going on inside. We don't know what his position would have been before Flashpoint, though I don't think he would have liked it. Classic Barry was very much a law and order type (a cop, obviously), but that was in the days when prison brutality generally wasn't addressed in comics. We do know he was horrified by what was done to Clive Yorkin, which was an experimental and arguably cruel treatment of a prisoner.

But there's no question that Iron Heights has been around since Barry came back, that there's been abuse shown on-panel since then, and he hasn't really done anything about it. He was shocked by what happened to Axel in solitary and seemed like he was going to rescue him, but that just kind of petered out and it was Kristen Kramer and David Singh who did the work to stop Wolfe. I do think that's out of character….to a point. There's no question he's a cop and someone who follows the rules more often than, say, Wally. But that can also work both ways, and overt cruelty and harsh punishment isn't following the rule of law either. I think Barry wouldn't lose sleep if Wolfe took away prisoners' material comforts and privileges, even if we think that's wrong, but IMO he should find a beaten prisoner or a prisoner with his prosthetic arm removed unacceptable and take action. He's a person who has shown mercy towards reformed and even completely unrepentant villains before, and he's not perfect, but nobody is.

TL;DR I don't agree with how Barry's Iron Heights plot was handled.

#ucrh #Captain Cold #Golden Glider #Captain Boomerang #Mirror Master #Pied Piper #the Trickster #Weather Wizard #Heat Wave #the Top #the Flash #words #the more you know

29 notes · View notes

kali-chaotic-neutral · 9 months ago

Text

Advice

Pick a cat and get some much needed advice

This will include:

~Advice you might need ~Something you have to hear ~Insight on something

Disclaimer: this is just for entertainment purposes, and as a pick-a-card reading it may not resonate for everyone. Take what you resonate with, leave what you don't.

Please do not hesitate to suggest a few PAC reading topics as I am struggling with these type of posts.

Cat 1:

I feel as though you may be in a sort of identity crisis. Maybe you're going through a time of major change, and it is causing some crisis of sorts. You're worldview has been shaken and you're brain chemistry has been altered dramatically. Additionally, this could be some drastic change in your spirituality or maybe you're leaving a religion for another or just leaving religion entirely and being hounded by your community for doing so. I know it's stressful, I know you're probably extremely critical of yourself, picking and panicking over every little mistake you make. I want you to take a deep breath and know that this isn't the end of the world. Take the energy you use to criticise yourself to maybe journal, do some shadow work or gratitude journalling. You don't have to write paragraphs after paragraphs. Even one bullet point can make a difference. Let out your thoughts on paper so you don't end up blowing up on someone. and regretting it. Let it out, clear your head and do some damage control before evaluating what steps you have to take to get yourself out of this pit.

Try to reconnect with your inner child, let that child within you have their moment. Do something simple and childish, colour a book, draw. Do something you've always wanted to do, surround yourself with people you love and your friends, let them help you. Trust that those who care about you have your back. Do not let this temporary setback make you lose sight of what you want. This stressful and dark time you are going through is coming to an end. The only reason this moment seems endless to you, is because it is YOU that is unintentionally dragging this moment. Maybe you're stretching on an argument, or clinging onto a grudge, or just simply holding onto bad habits. You are hurting yourself at this point, and there is no one else to blame but yourself. Accept this pain, let go of this grudge or actually try to stop repeating bad habits. And it's not easy. I have a smoking habit myself, but I am taking steps. I haven't smoked for a month now and it has taken too many failed attempts for me to get here. Do not prolong this situation, because when you fall it will hurt even more. Try stepping out of your comfort zone, baby steps is perfectly fine. For me, getting out of my comfort zone meant wearing more form fitting outfits. I started with crop tops and a jacket over, then moved onto just crop tops and jeans. Then only recently have I gotten the confidence to get out of the house in flared leggings. Very simple, yet so effective in telling you: "Hey, it's okay. See, You're fine. You look so beautiful when you're confidently wearing what you want.". Everyone's journey is different, take your time, but taking the steps is what matters.

Cat 2:

There is someone (or was someone) in your life that absolutely changed your life for the best, someone that was there for you in your hardest time. You might be feeling a bit guilty in the sense that they are always there for you, that whatever you give them (or want to give them) seems inadequate, or maybe this person is not in your life anymore and you feel guilt for not expressing your gratitude while they were there. The guilt is weighing you down, and might be leading to insecurities as well. Just know that even a simple acknowledgement and thanks is a gift, while not the most extravagant, it does hold meaning. Open your heart, let them know how grateful you are. And if you struggle with this, a small simple, meaningful gift will always send the message. A gift is a gift, it's the thought that matters. Let this person know, that you appreciate them for more than the comfort they bring you. And if they aren't in your life anymore and it feels like it's too late, it can be as simple as a journal entry addressed to this person. Pour out your heart and write the letter as though you would send it to them if they were present. Or maybe you went through a rocky split up (romantic, platonic) and you want to reach out but you're unsure whether or not you should. Give it a shot. If the other person doesn't respond or responds very harshly, let it go. At least you tried. Or maybe things just fell apart. Me and a few of my high school friends went to different colleges and just stopped chatting with each other. And even now, it's so awkward to try and chat with them, but also so awkward to unfollow them.

Take some time off if you can, maybe during a special occasion. If you're celebrating something with this person, let it be more intimate. Maybe with close friends/family or even just you and this person. Make time for this person, like they do for you. Or maybe it's a day that reminds you of them, honour them by doing something they enjoyed. One thing my grandmother enjoyed doing when she was alive was travelling to sacred, religious places where I live. Every year, my family and I go to these places, pray for her and have fun because she would have wanted that for us. If you've had a split up with this person with so many unsaid things, reach out. Get your closure, clear the air of misunderstandings if there are. If it's with someone you've gradually lost touch with and the awkwardness has stopped you from reaching out. Don't. Reply to their story, send them messages or posts online. let them know that you want to rekindle the friendship. Let them know, that you are also wanting to have this relationship (platonic, romantic). I've said to try and rekindle the relationships/reach out so many times and here I am saying it again: MEND THE RELATIONSHIP!!! BUILD BACK THE FUCKING BRIDGE! Forgive them, but also most importantly, forgive YOURSELF!! It's normal being hard on yourself. This however, what you're saying/doing to yourself is not it bbg. You need love right now, sweet summer child, not criticism. Put your inner critic on the back seat, let your inner healer take control. Do some self care. Face masks, spa, massage, manicure/pedicure. Take care of yourself.

Cat 3:

You're in a crisis. You have conflicting emotions that are fluctuating so fast it's giving you whiplash. Maybe you're facing a choice where you have to leave what you have known. Maybe you're home for further studies or maybe you're planning on moving homes or cutting off contact with family or friends you've known for a long time. It's difficult, because you are potentially leaving what you've always known, what your comfortable with/or people who you've known for a long time. There will always be people who will not support your decision, especially if you're cutting off contact with close family members or friends who you used to always be with. This crisis/conflicting emotions are more so due to you not wanting to deal with criticism from people you've grown up with and less to do with whether you want to do it or not. Because you do. You know it is what you want, but the potential of people's reaction is what's stopping you. If you always walk on eggshells when making decisions, to appease the people around you, you won't make it far. Stop caring about the opinion of people who don't have your best interests at heart.

Maybe what you are pursuing (If it is further studies/a job) is something that you've always wanted to pursue but have been discouraged to do so because it: "Won't put a roof over your hear head and feed you". A creative job/study. Art, music, dance, literally anything that requires creativity. Don't let these people have you give up on your dreams and instead have you slave away at a stressful office job/"prestigious" job. Don't be afraid to splurge on yourself once in a while. Treat yourself to a nice dinner in a fancy restaurant, or buy yourself something you've always wanted. Or even simpler, take a self care day. Take your time bathing, put on a face mask, dress yourself up (even if it is just to go get groceries) If you want to see change, you must initiate it. Don't be a sheep that follows people around mindlessly, take control/the reins if you have to. Assert yourself. Let your opinions stand out, true and strong.

Cat 4:

You're stretching out something tense, maybe an argument, maybe something that really angered you. And i'm not saying that you're anger is not justified. It is, what's not justified is how you're dragging this out. Blowing this situation out of proportion, making a mountain out a molehill. You are getting on the defensive, feeling the strong urge to prove that you are correct or that you didn't do something (or perhaps did) But at this point you're arguing at the wall honey. Know when to stop your battles, get yourself in check before the universe slaps you in the face. The other party has already dropped out, not wanting to spend their time arguing an age old issue. Come to terms with what happened, and try to calmly speak your mind. If you can't, journal it. let it go.

This conflict has you shaken and feeling unsure. What I'm getting is to make sure you're not biased, make sure to listen to the other person's side as well. Just listen and make your decision then. Because if you make a decision right now, it will only be more chaotic. Don't make a decision yet, wait, give yourself some space to clear your head because you're mind is not in the right space to make important decisions right now. Maybe this conflict is between you and a friend or a sibling/family member. I'm feeling that this conflict could be solved if you were to communicate, but there is such a clear lack of it that I am quite speechless. Talk things out, calmly and clearly, let them know how they hurt you and let them apologize/talk as well. Forgive if you can. Enforce boundaries with this person, maybe they overstepped despite your warnings and it was what caused this conflict. Remember, forgiving is good but it's not necessary to heal. If this person has been constantly overstepping your boundaries, firmly set them and cut off contact if you must. Or just be very firm and strict with your boundaries, you might have a habit of caving in to this person walking all over you. Not anymore.

#pac tarot #tarot pac #free tarot #free tarot reading #tarot community #tarot spreads #tarot cards #tarot reading #tarotblr #witchy #pac reading #pick a photo #pagan witch #witchblr #baby witch #witchy vibes #witchcraft

79 notes · View notes

extralively · 7 months ago

Text

Satoru's apartment (Part 2)

We're back! After Part 1 covered the living room area and kitchen, we'll take a look at the bedrooms this time around!

This is Satoru's apartment that I built in TS4 based on my fic series Under the Cover of Shadows, and it's essentially what I imagine what Satoru's apartment would be like!

As a refresher, this is the layout of the place:

Let's go take a look at Satoru's own bedroom now, shall we?

This is it! It's pretty open and spacious (I struggled a lot making it, and I'm not sure I'm 100% satisfied with it even now lmao), and following the same idea that I mentioned in Part 1, that Satoru in general doesn't populate his place with a lot of personal items, it's much of the same here. There are a few every day items scattered around, like slippers, wallet, phone, tablet and whatnot, but most of his precious keepsakes are kept secure and out of sight.

(The photo strips he took with Yura during that one summer vacation are kept in his bedside table drawer. He likes to look at it every now and then.)

(Also Yura tends to sleep on the left side of the bed and Satoru on the right, and as you may notice, it's her side that has an alarm clock on it lol)

Here is Satoru's bathroom, and you can see it was actually built like a western-style one instead of the Japanese-style bathrooms he grew up with in the Gojo Estate. I guess Satoru just wanted something different for once ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

(This is also the biggest bathtub I could find to put in there, but I still imagined it even bigger ʘ‿ʘ✿)

Nowadays, there's a lot of Yura's stuff scattered in his bathroom, and while Satoru wasn't too used to sharing a space with someone else at first, he actually got used to it pretty quickly.

And this is Satoru's closet! Just imagine there are a lot more clothes in there lmao, all of it designer stuff because of course.

Those rack/shelves on the right are essentially all Yura's stuff now. She used to bring in an overnight bag when they got started with their "arrangement", but then she slowly started leaving more and more stuff behind so now she doesn't really need an overnight bag anymore. She could comfortably spend several days in his place without needing to go back to her own apartment lol

Now on to the guest bedroom!

This is where Yura stayed in a couple of times, in particular before and after her trip to New York. Not a lot of people have stayed in this bedroom, to be honest. Satoru doesn't usually have people over aside from Yura, Shoko, or the Fushiguros.

(I hadn't initially envisioned the desk there, but actually building it made that area feel so empty lol. So I thought it fit nicely!)

And finally, the guest bathroom. There was a particular scene in chapter 23 (The Aftermath p 1) of Out of the Shadows that has Yura having an emotional crisis in this very bathroom, and I think this must have been the first room of Satoru's apartment that I properly envisioned along with the guest bedroom! We only got to "see" his own bedroom much later, so I also didn't think it up until then.

Alright, there are still a few rooms left for me to post, but this is generally it! And boy oh boy did this entire apartment give so much trouble lmao and I'm not even done with it yet. It was really hard making things look somewhat closer to the picture I had in my head while working within the constraints of The Sims lol. I think this was especially daunting because it's supposed to be a ~luxury~ apartment, so I had try extra hard to make things look ~fancy~, but I was having a lot of fun! And I also downloaded SO MUCH stuff that my game looks completely different now lmao my inner architect was happy.

#gojo satoru #the sims 4 #jjk #satoyura #this took me way too long but listen #fun was had #i have no regrets

17 notes · View notes

triflesandparsnips · 1 year ago

Text

Good Omens Book Club

So I have, in other fandoms, talked about the importance of what an audience can actually see on the screen. Specifically: When a constrained format (like, say, between 45 to 56 minutes of a single visual/audio input) is telling a constrained story (like, say, something that must start, climax, and resolve within some kind of structure), it's useful for the audience to pay attention to what gets given the valuable real estate of camera/story time.

So when time is given and effort made to show the actual titles of actual books... well.

Figure 1. Local bookshelf weighted down by an over-abundance of literary allusions.

This is a screenshot from episode 3 of Good Omens's second season, as Jim is reshelving all the books in Aziraphale's book shop by the first letter of their first sentences. He's about to shelve Jane Austens's Pride and Prejudice ("It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.") and the red sideways book, that he is about to pick up, is Good Omens itself ("It was a nice day.").

But, unusually, we can see the title of almost every other book on the shelf. Several of them appeared in the advertising poster, too, as I outlined previously (if you click that link, be advised that I am very proud of several bits of that essay and also let's not talk about how my go-to for musical references is Middle English folk rather than, say, Buddy Holly). Anyway-- with this in mind, and the understanding that time, effort, and celluloid have been spent on getting this shot to the audience, it would behoove us, I think, to actually look at these books.

Figure 2. A pair of showrunners providing not-so-subtle ancillary notation suggesting the same thing, so really, this is a no-brainer in terms of meta fodder.

Okay, Trifles, so what about the book club

Technically, this isn't my idea. It's Neil's and Douglas's, so jot that down.

What I figure is, I can provide a list of the books shown, their first lines, and a VERY brief summary of each. Those are below. And as I rewatch the show, I may reblog this post with additions, but also...

I've read some of these, but not all of them, and not recently -- with at least one of them, though, I remember enough to know that the first line and summary do nothing to showcase the heartrending possibilities the book may be alluding to for the overall Good Omens narrative.

And further-- as I collected these summaries and first lines, I started noticing some compelling commonalities. Which I, for one, would like to confirm and dig into more deeply.

So while I'm going to start reading these, it might be a Nice Idea for other folks to do so as well. The more write-ups we can get, the greater the concordance of Interesting Insights might be available. (And if you tag me in your write up, or otherwise draw my attention, I will gladly link your essay up here for the edification of others omfg.)

ANYWAY

The "Jim Shelving" Book List

From right to left (which feels odd, but it's the actual alphabetical-by-letter arrangement), and summaries from various internet sources:

Herzog, by Saul Bellows

"If I am out of my mind, it's all right with me, thought Moses Herzog."

"Herzog is a 1964 novel by Saul Bellow, composed in part of letters from the protagonist [...] The novel follows five days in the life of Moses E. Herzog who, at the age of forty-seven, is having a midlife crisis following his second divorce."

A Series of Unfortunate Events, (series) by Lemony Snicket

"If you are interested in happy endings, you would be better off reading some other book."

The first book in the series, The Bad Beginning, "tells the story of three children, Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire, who become orphans following a fire and are sent to live with Count Olaf, who attempts to steal their inheritance."

The Catcher in the Rye, by J. D. Salinger

"If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don’t feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth."

"The novel details two days in the life of 16-year-old Holden Caulfield after he has been expelled from prep school. [...] From what is implied to be a sanatorium, Holden, the narrator and protagonist, tells the story of his adventures before the previous Christmas."

The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald

"In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I’ve been turning over in my mind ever since."

"Set in the Jazz Age on Long Island, near New York City, the novel depicts first-person narrator Nick Carraway's interactions with mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby and Gatsby's obsession to reunite with his former lover, Daisy Buchanan."

The Bible, (anthology) by God et al.

"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth."

"25 And the Lord spake unto the Angel that guarded the eastern gate, saying 'Where is the flaming sword that was given unto thee?'

26 And the Angel said, 'I had it here only a moment ago, I must have put it down some where, forget my own head next.'

27 And the Lord did not ask him again."

The Big Sleep, by Raymond Chandler

"It was about eleven o’clock in the morning, mid October, with the sun not shining and a look of hard wet rain in the clearness of the foothills."

"Private investigator Philip Marlowe is hired by wealthy General Sternwood to stop a blackmailer. Marlowe suspects that the old General is merely testing his caliber before trusting him with a bigger job, one involving Sternwood's two amoral daughters."

Nineteen Eighty-Four, by George Orwell

"It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen."

"In George Orwell's iconic and prophetic masterpiece, 1984, a haunting vision of a dystopian future unfolds. Set in a world dominated by the all-seeing eye of Big Brother, the story follows Winston Smith, a lowly Party member whose very thoughts are scrutinized. As the Party manipulates history and suppresses truth, Winston's yearning for individuality and connection pushes him into a daring dance on the edge of rebellion."

[A title I cannot, unfortunately, read-- if anyone who HAPPENS to be familiar with the show and HAPPENS to perhaps also be on tumblr just HAPPENS to say what this book might be, that would be Very Much Appreciated]

"????"

[WOW I WISH I WAS A SUMMARY OH WELL]

Catch-22, by Joseph Heller

"It was love at first sight."

"Set in the closing months of World War II in an American bomber squadron off the coast of Italy, Catch-22 is the story of a bombardier named Yossarian who is frantic and furious because thousands of people he has never even met keep trying to kill him. Joseph Heller's bestselling novel is a hilarious and tragic satire on military madness, and the tale of one man's efforts to survive it."

Love in the Time of Cholera, by Gabriel García Márquez

"It was inevitable: the scent of bitter almonds always reminded him of the fate of unrequited love."

"The story, which treats the themes of love, aging, and death, takes place between the late 1870s and the early 1930s in a South American community troubled by wars and outbreaks of cholera. It is a tale of two lovers, artistic Florentino Ariza and wealthy Fermina Daza, who reunite after a lifetime apart."

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, by Mark Haddon

"It was seven minutes after midnight."

"The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is a 2003 mystery novel by British writer Mark Haddon. [...] The novel is narrated in the first-person perspective by Christopher John Francis Boone, a 15-year-old boy who is described as "a mathematician with some behavioural difficulties" living in Swindon, Wiltshire. [...] Christopher sets out to solve the murder [of a neighbor's dog] in the style of his favourite (logical) detective, Sherlock Holmes."

The Crow Road, by Iain Banks

"It was the day my grandmother exploded."

A Scottish family drama about a perfect murder against the backdrop of the 1990s Gulf War. "This Bildungsroman is set in the fictional Argyll town of Gallanach, the real village of Lochgair, and in Glasgow, where the adult Prentice McHoan lives. Prentice's uncle Rory disappeared eight years previously while writing a book called The Crow Road. Prentice becomes obsessed with papers his uncle left behind and sets out to solve the mystery. Along the way he must cope with estrangement from his father, unrequited love, sibling rivalry, and failure at his studies."

No Woman No Cry: My Life with Bob Marley, by Rita Marley with Hettie James

"I was an ambitious girl child."

"Fans of reggae legend Bob Marley will welcome this no-nonsense biography from his wife, Rita, who was also his band member, business partner, musical collaborator and the only person to have witnessed firsthand his development from local Jamaican singer to international superstar."

I Capture the Castle, by Dodie Smith

"I write this sitting in the kitchen sink."

"I Capture the Castle tells the story of seventeen-year-old Cassandra and her family, who live in not-so-genteel poverty in a ramshackle old English castle. Here she strives, over six turbulent months, to hone her writing skills. She fills three notebooks with sharply funny yet poignant entries. Her journals candidly chronicle the great changes that take place within the castle's walls, and her own first descent into love."

...and because I happen to know and love this book, I'm aware of the devastating last lines...

"Only the margin left to write on now. I love you, I love you, I love you."

#good omens #good omens s2 #good omens book club

57 notes · View notes

chibimui · 2 months ago

Text

The Apothecary Diaries LN2 Thoughts - Part 2 (ch6-ch7)

[Part 1]

Hello! I'm back from touching grass, or uh... rocks mostly as I was exploring the Southwestern United States~.

Continuing my thoughts on LN2 of The Apothecary Diaries, we're getting to the part of the novel where thing start ramping up a bit as more character lore is dropped and important pieces of information start getting revealed. Because of all that's revealed I'm probably going to cover less chapters each post from now on - it really just depends on how much I have to say and for these upcoming chapters I have quite a bit.

Let's jump into it!

(Warning: These thoughts may contain spoilers from later light novels all the way up until LN15.)

These next two chapters are incredibly JinMao heavy, and again, some of my most favourite moments from the anime. This is when Jinshi asks Maomao to give him a makeover so that he can visit the city without being recognized.

There are so many things I could talk about regarding the makeover chapter - which is also why I am only covering two chapters this time - but of course, I have to start with this moment:

The anime toned it down a bit with having Maomao take a delicate sniff of Jinshi, but I love in the novel they describe it as Maomao "shoving" her face into Jinshi's sleeve, Suiren and Gaoshun both leaving instead of - you know - trying to get Maomao off him like they should be doing, and the detail of Jinshi's voice about to crack.

Honestly, I loved all the little details of Jinshi clearly having a mild life crisis as Maomao touches him, and gets incredibly close to him while he's half-naked and she just thinks it's because maybe she's being too rough.

Onto a more serious note about why I like this part though - I love how clearly it outlines the differences between a commoner and an noble and how far those differences extend to. It's the way you carry yourself, the way you smell, the way your body is built, etc. etc. Maomao's makeover isn't just about changing Jinshi's face with some makeup, she goes out of her way to make sure all the details are covered. It also just speaks a lot to Maomao as a person and how thorough she is when put to a task, and her attention to physical details also makes sense given her profession as a healer. You have to be observant to know what is wrong with your patient.

In fact, during this chapter we get more details that obviously hint to the fact that Jinshi probably isn't a eunuch, but of course, Maomao chooses to just gloss over these details as if they mean nothing.

*SHAKES MAOMAO* GIRL PLEASE. (We'll get there in LN3, but I do understand why Jinshi got so frustrated with her in the cave because honestly). I know it literally gives the reason that Maomao keeps glossing over these details, because she, currently, doesn't care and also knows if she knows too much it won't be good, but PLEASE MAOMAO. *SHAKES HER HARDER*.

Gaoshun and Suirun colluding to get Jinshi and Maomao to spend time together is also hilarious. Suiren has obviously been on the JInMao ship since day 1, probably literally the day Jinshi told her about Maomao's existence because he probably couldn't keep the hearts out of his eyes, but Gaoshun only really changed his mind at the end of LN1. I'm low-key just imagining them celebrating with a little toast after Jinshi and Maomao leave and patting themselves on the back for a job well done at nudging their relationship along.

And you know what? They deserve the pat on the back because I do genuinely think that the time Jinshi and Maomao spend in the town together is actually pretty significant for their relationship. It's the first time Jinshi has actually been able to interact with Maomao on "her level" (so to speak), and he's so excited about it while Maomao is, as per usual, much more reticent about their changing of roles.

The thing is - I actually felt genuinely bad for Jinshi during this moment. It's so clear that Jinshi probably see's this outing as an opportunity to get to know Maomao better on a more personal level, but he still doesn't know how. All their interactions up until this point usually have a specific purpose or come with a side of teasing. He's never really had to initiate a casual conversation with Maomao, and unfortunately she's not one to initiate either. Still, he tries his best, but I imagine her reply feels very much like a rejection. He's so curious about her and Maomao basically implies she has no interest in him.

Of course, this isn't really true. Maomao is just taking Jinshi at face value in this moment and how she is acting is basically her putting down her walls. She just allows herself to get lost in her thoughts because conversing with others isn't important to her, and she has been given express permission to not see Jinshi as her boss so she doesn't need to give him her attention.

Maomao notices her blunder though and we get another moment that really reveals her kindness, even if it is a bit awkward. Her action of buying skewers for them come off as really sweet to me because she didn't have to. She could have just found his reaction annoying and moved on, but she appears to notice that he's hurt--even if she doesn't really know why, and goes out of her way to bridge the gap between them. The skewers also opens the doors to allow them to have some simple small talk and a chance for Jinshi to actually share a personal part of himself.

Side tangent - the novel uses the word "bivouac" to refer to what the anime translated at "training camps" and that threw me off so much because that is... definitely a choice to use that word instead of going with something a bit simpler.

Anyway, back to the chapter. Jinshi gets to share a small tidbit of himself (which Maomao chooses to gloss over, again) and soon after, Maomao also gets to share something about herself which catches Jinshi off guard for multiple reasons: 1) he's never seen Maomao talk so passionately about another person and 2) he learns about Luomen.

I'm going to address the first bit because Maomao (and us readers) already know about Luomen's connection to the rear palace, but I found Jinshi's reaction interesting in this passage:

Unbeknownst to Maomao, I think Jinshi's inferiority complex is popping up a bit here. Jinshi basically implies this to Maomao a few paragraphs earlier, but up until this point I think Jinshi probably consoled himself about Maomao's coldness to him by telling himself that she probably just didn't care about other people in general. The moment she talks about Luomen though, Jinshi gets proof that this is not true. Maomao actually does have the capacity to care deeply for people--one of them being her father, Luomen, who also happens to be a very accomplished individual, something Jinshi does not believe he is.

I'm skipping ahead, but Maomao comparing Jinshi to Luomen in future LN's is so significant and telling of her feelings towards him later on. The only person Maomao speaks about with such adoration is Luomen - in fact her adoration is so palpable it genuinely shocks Jinshi in this particular moment.

And so their outing eventually ends as they arrive at Jinshi's destination. I have heard that in the Sunday GX manga it shows that Jinshi is actually meeting Ah-Duo and I love this detail. In my thoughts for LN1 I brought up the question of how often Jinshi gets to talk to Ah-Duo after she leaves the rear palace and the manga gives us the possibility of her arranging a secret rendezvous to chat with him. I just think that's so sweet. I really wish we could see more of Jinshi and Ah-Duo's relationship/private interactions because it's clear she's actually made quite a bit of effort to get close to him despite hiding the fact she is his actual mother.

More adaptation changes - in the anime they combined the end of this outing chapter with the moment Jinshi asks Maomao about how you lower a concubine's price. In the novel this conversation happens after Maomao returns from home two chapters later. The anime and novel use this conversation to serve very different purposes in the story - in the anime it enforces Maomao's disappointment of Jinshi at the end of the outing because she thinks he's going to a brothel for funsies, but in the novel the conversation serves more as a unsettling reminder of her mother whom she has just spent time with. I think both work and serve their purpose, it's just rare to see such an obvious change to an otherwise basically 1 to 1 adaptation.

As I mentioned, I'm actually going to end this post here. I have a lot to say about the next two chapters as well given how much they reveal about Maomao's parentage and past and I don't want this to get too long, so... until next time!

[ch8-9]

#the apothecary diaries #chibi reads knh

12 notes · View notes

fuckterfs-deactivated20221212 · 6 months ago

Text

Hello fellow tumblrinas of all genders or lack thereof, unless I messed something up with the post scheduling today is the third of june.

It is not often that I make serious posts myself, if something is serious and important I usually don't have the necessary know-how nor the time to make my own posts and just reblog posts about those topics, like recently the palestinian genocide or the fact that deserts shouldn't be turned into green forests or lawns, or anything to do with USanian politics. Some of you may have seen one or two of my posts about german politics such as the new Selbstbestimmungsgesetz that will allow trans people like me to change their legal name and gender without a million gates to get past first.

All this to say, this post is not about the most important thing in the world, but it is about something I know about and that is important to me.

About sixteen, soon seventeen years ago, VALVe released a class-based team shooter with a cartoony style that they not much later made free to play. Anyone, so long as they have a steam account, can download this game named Team Fortress 2, and start playing. In it, you can buy clothes, weapon skins, weapon sidegrades and silly dances for real money, and making any purchase enables voice chat and normal chat as well as fundamental game mechanics like calling for a medic. The nine classes are interesting to play and play against, and along with the unlockable sidegrade weapons this game provides lots of variety when it comes to play styles.

But in its current state I can't recommend you to try it.

There are two(ish) ways to play the main game modes:

Casual matchmaking, which is free, the option at the top of the menu and managed by VALVe on their game servers as well as "protected by VAC"

(competitive matchmaking, which if I recall correctly costs money and is mainly people who are pretty good at the game and not those playing for the first time)

Community servers, which are further down the list of ways to play and only accessible through a very unintuitive community server browser, they are usually moderated by real human moderators using a functional anti cheat

(there's also "Training" but it's not against other real players and tbh sucks)

If you start up the game you're most definitely going to start queueing into a casual match, let's say Capture the Flag, because it's on top of the list of gamemodes, but it doesn't really matter what game mode you choose.

And maybe half the time you're going to join a Double Cross match full of other players from all over the world, containing queer people, actual racists, trolls, and one or two people only typing in Cyrillic. These games are fun, you'll learn stuff about the game, about the classes, about how annoying snipers and spies can be, about how much fun it is to airblast an enemy into the abyss, about good spots to put a sentry and about bad spots to do so.

The rest of the time you will join a 2fort match where most people are named something like ESCAPETHEMATRIX, and you will learn about how free to play players can still hear their distorted voice chat music on loop, about how it feels to get headshot by a slow moving sniper who doesn't even look at you every time you leave spawn, about getting vote kicked by five bots and not being able to do anything about it.

Sometimes you're lucky. Sometimes the real players outnumber the bots and you can vote them out one by one.

But until that is done, unless that is done, the game is unplayable.

There are many problems with TF2. Two years ago, during the first #SAVETF2 event a lot of those problems were voiced. But that was part of the reason that attempt failed. There was too much focus on updates lacking content, weapon balance being less than perfect in some places, free to plays not being able to use core features of the game, so that most important problem, the bot crisis, hasn't been in focus enough. It's okay that the game is not getting update-sized updates like Minecraft or Fortnite are. It's okay that some unlockable weapons are pretty much always better than stock. Those are imperfections, but they don't make the game unplayable. Maybe the problem started with the name.

#FIXTF2

That's the name this time. And it's true, TF2 doesn't need saving, it's already broken. We demand that VALVe fix the biggest issue with TF2.

We want a functional anti cheat.

VAC aka VALVe Anti Cheat is supposed to prevent cheaters and bots from ruining the game. It has not done that for many years, and is, according to people with more technical knowledge than me, merely a suggestion, and not a real anti cheat software. Community servers have found ways to eliminate cheating and bots entirely in their games, without the funding of a billions-of-dollars company that makes a lot of money off of TF2.

Creators like Megascatterbomb have made efforts against the bot problem, compiling lists of bot accounts and publishing them, and while VALVe profits off the bot hosters, these bot hosters have harassed, doxxed and even framed him at local authorities for domestic terrorism. This man wanted to help keep his favorite game playable and instead he got investigated by the police for allegedly planning to bomb a university.

How do I know that VALVe profits off of those bot hosters? Well the bots use voice and text chat, meaning they have to have made a purchase for each account.

Some of you reading this might already know about all of this, some of you might have made your own post today, but others may not even know TF2 exists or thought the problems got solved two years ago because VALVe made one (1) twitter post.

If you haven't already, please sign the petition at https://save.tf/ , maybe get more info at https://fixtf2.tf/ where you can also find links to more informative youtube videos. The petition will be delivered to VALVe HQ along with the tens, possibly even hundreds of thousands of names belonging to people who signed.

Thank you for reading. It would be nice if you reblogged this, the only way we can get TF2 fixed and stop it from being abandoned is if lots of people know about this.

#fixtf2 #savetf2

12 notes · View notes

art-that-fucks-you-up-tournament · 1 year ago

Text

Stats Part 3

Now that Round 3 is over, we're down to 32 (well, 33) remaining artworks which feels about time to check in on how our statistics are doing!

And if you're not interested in statistics, I (Mod Salix) wanted to talk about the polls. You may have noticed that I've been trying to keep to 4 polls a day, which would mean that Round 4 is only going to be 4 days, and Round 5 would post everything in two days. Starting in Round 6, we'll probably re-institute week long polls. Hopefully none of us will lose track of what day to post the next round!

We have 20 artworks by male artists, 10 by female artists, and 4 by groups or unknowable entities! And of those, one person is Black, two are Aboriginal (one of whom is Mestizo and Kichwa, the other of whom is Aboriginal Australian), one is Asian-American (and two are Chinese living in China as opposed to living somewhere they're a minority), and one is Indian-British. And also three are left from gay men about the AIDS crisis, in addition to the AIDS memorial quilt, and one lesbian comic.

There are six American artists (including the Asian-American mentioned above), and three Chinese artists (including the Asian-American mentioned above), as well as three Russians (including Ilya Repin, who was born in the future Ukraine and lived near St. Petersburg), technically two different pieces by the same Dutch artist (hi van Gogh), and one each from Argentina, Serbia, Ecuador, Colombia, Canada, Italy, Northern Ireland, Poland, Australia, Finland, Germany, France, and Britain. And one artist I have listed as Denmark/Germany/France, because August Friedrich Schenck was born in a place that was Denmark at the time, Germany now, and worked mostly in France.

Of the pieces with known locations, eight are in the United States (four specifically in New York), two each in Australia and Russia, and one each in Argentina, Finland, Italy, Ireland, the Netherlands, Poland and one in a private collection.

There are two archaic pieces of art, Judith is our last standing piece from anything between archaic and 1843, 8 pieces of art from the 1800s, although five are from 1878 to 1896, one from 1903, two from the 70s or 80s, 5 from the 90s, four from the 00s, four from the span of 2014 to 2016, and three from the last two years. And two unknown dates and the AIDS memorial quilt which is still being added to.

There are 15 paintings, 7 installation arts, one comic, one photograph, one cave art, one sketch, one tattoo, and one fiber art slash installation. And the most common subject of the art are five queer related art pieces, although I have four each I summed up as either horror or grief/anguish.

And, lastly, someone sent in an ask in like Round 1 asking about statistics regarding whether being in first or second place in the poll biased anything. I'm not actually a statistician, so I can't answer that question, but I did compile the numbers of how many first-positioned vs second-positioned arts won! Surprisingly, Round 1 had 64 firsts to 63 seconds (and one tie), Round 2 had 29 to 35, and Round 3 had 15 to 17. Technically speaking that's not a large enough sample size to determine bias but it's... interesting?.

I was going to make a scatterplot featuring the number of votes in each poll to track engagement, but I haven't actually figured out how to do one in Google Sheets yet so maybe at the end of the bracket.

#definitely not inspired by a tag i saw on a poll spawning me to check ratio of men to women artists remaining #stats for nerds #mod salix #announcement #the most baffling poll is marat vs dusseldorf museum kunst palast somehow only had 146 votes? that can't be right #edit: if that one WAS hidden we had no way of telling :( it was finally beaten though #second edit: i included oswaldo guayasamin in the stats even though he was knocked out by keith haring :( sorry

41 notes · View notes

bumblingest-bee · 1 year ago

Note

hi i’m sorry what the FUCK is the mermaid hamilton rpf what hello

oh my GOD where do i start. this whole incident is my roman empire. i think about it constantly. now the thing is the mermaid rpf isn't even the biggest part of the drama. the big thing was the hivliving scandal. so buckle up and keep your arms inside the vehicle at all times bc this is going to be a ride.

back in like 2016 when the hamilton fandom was at its peak, there was a popular fanfiction author in the fandom named israa. she was kind of known for harassing other people in the fandom and being annoying and self-righteous, but she was mostly known for having written a fic called "to scale the blue sky," which was (and im so sorry you have to read these words) a high school au fic set in the 1980s in which alexander hamilton contracts hiv.

now you may be thinking "why did nobody point out that was deranged on so many levels?" well 1. because it was the hamilton fandom in 2016, and 2. because israa was an activist for hiv+ people and also ran a decently well-known blog called hivliving where she talked about her own experiences as a lesbian woman of color and sex trafficking survivor living with hiv in india.

here's the thing. israa was not actually any of those things. she was secretly a wealthy white teenage college student named alix who very much did not have hiv. she had made up at least two other fake identities (her alleged wife, and her co-mod of hivliving respectively) to basically dodge any criticism of the fact that she was WRITING FANFICTION ABOUT THE HIV CRISIS. oh yeah, and she was receiving donations from her followers to allegedly cover for medical expenses. this wasn't just insane fandom drama, she was literally scamming people out of money.

so NOW you might be wondering "wait, wasn't this meant to be about cannibal mermaid rpf?" well, that's where digoxin-purpurea comes in. they noticed that the money transfer service that "israa" was using to get donations didn't work in india, where israa/alix claimed to be living. from there they unraveled this whole web of lies and confronted alix in tumblr dms, who eventually broke down and admitted to everything (but not before trying to get out of it with more increasingly outlandish excuses). and then digoxin-purpurea, who could have been the hero of the whole story, ruined it by publicly doxxing alix and generally turning out to be kind of a dick.

so the cherry on top of this utterly batshit flaming garbage pile that somehow manages to perfectly encapsulate what being in the hamilton fandom was like in 2016? digoxin-purpurea then got exposed for having written fucking. cannibal mermaid rpf about the cast of hamilton. hence the reference i made in the tags of that other post. and now you have to live with this knowledge forever. im so sorry.

#ask #bee posts nonsense #fandom history #theatre #it has been SO long since this happened so i might have got some details wrong #god that was a time and i do not miss it one bit

25 notes · View notes

raointean · 1 year ago

Text

"Hellfire" is way too relatable to young, queer Christians (or former Christians)

I'll elaborate

Fair warning, I'll be discussing the relationship between queerness (specifically sexuality), religion, and faith, homophobia, internalized homophobia, and misdirected blame.

I'll start this off by saying I was raised in a fairly conservative church from the age of 2 onward. I learned that homosexuality was a horrible sin, but that queer people needed love and support without acceptance. Basically, hate the sin, love the sinner.

And then I figured out I liked girls and proceeded to have a months-long crisis of faith that I couldn't talk to anyone about. "Hellfire" from The Hunchback of Notre Dame was actually a super helpful song in that time because, at its core, it is a song about sexuality and religion coming into conflict. (There's also a solid dose of racism and misogyny in that song, but that's a different post)

Beata Maria

You know I am a righteous man

Of my virtue I am justly proud

As a protestant, I prayed to God instead of Mary, but here, he's talking about the pride he takes in his status within the church. He's ashamed of his feelings, so he's puffing himself up defensively. He may also be trying to show Mary, "Hey, look at all I've done for you! I've done everything you asked! Why are you cursing me with this horrid disease?"

What he doesn't understand is that it's not a disease. He's just experiencing normal, human attraction and panicking because he's been taught that those feelings absolutely cannot co-exist with his position/faith.

Beata Maria

You know I'm so much purer than

The common, vulgar, weak, licentious crowd

Again, beefing himself up here. Also revealing his pridefulness.

Then tell me, Maria

Why I see her dancing there

Why her smold'ring eyes still scorch my soul

I feel her, I see her

The sun caught in her raven hair

Is blazing in me out of all control

Women, dude. Women are gorgeous. Here, he's expressing his frustration at his own inability to control his "bad" feelings. He also seems to be asking Mary why God is punishing him with a temptation he's ill-equipped to handle. (God generally allows Christians to be tempted by such things so that we recognize how much we need Him, for anyone who's curious about the theology there).

Like fire

Hellfire

This fire in my skin

This burning

Desire

Is turning me to sin

Jesus says in Matthew 5 that thinking about sin (lust/adultery in this particular case) is just as bad as committing the sin itself in God's eyes. As I said above, God is probably trying to show Frollo that he's a sinful person just like everyone else, and shouldn't hold himself above everyone else. Unfortunately, Frollo didn't learn that lesson and, well, the rest of the movie happened.

In relation to queerness, since homosexuality is taught to be a sin, thinking about someone of the same sex as you in a romantic light is seen as just as bad as actually dating them. I use the romantic example instead of the attraction example because lust is a sin, but loving and wanting a relationship with someone is not! Young, queer people may have been taught that it is, however, which makes that last line particularly devastating.

It's not my fault

I'm not to blame

It is the g*psy girl

The witch who sent this flame

Now, he's trying to blame the person he's attracted to for his own feelings and absolve himself of blame. Unfortunately, for Christians who are discovering their attraction to fellow men or women, the guilt can be crushing! We're often taught about non-heterosexuality as one of the most taboo of sins! When you find out that you are "one of those heathen, godless gays" a lot of people will do everything in their power to get out from under the blame. Surely, it can't be their own fault! It must be the fault of the person they're attracted to, or that episode of glee they saw, or even God Himself for tempting them!

Obviously, this blame is misplaced. Queerness isn't caused. It just is. And like all of the other diversities God created, it has a place and a purpose.

It's not my fault

If in God's plan

He made the devil so much

Stronger than a man

Mood. Frollo has switched from blaming Esmeralda for his attraction to blaming God. (Also, if this were sung by a woman, that "made the devil so much stronger than a man" line takes on an entirely different meaning)

Protect me, Maria

Don't let the siren cast her spell

Don't let her fire sear my flesh and bone

Here, he's begging for protection and relief. He wants things to go back to the way they were. He wants to be free of the moral conflict instead of walking through it. It's a very relatable sentiment! Finding out that you're The Other your community has warned you about your whole life flips your world on its head!

In order to reconcile your sexuality and your faith, you cannot shy away from the conflict, no matter how painful it is! You have to do your own research. You have to think your own thoughts. You have to question everything you've been taught. But I promise, you will come out better for it.

Destroy Esmeralda

And let her taste the fires of Hell!

Or else let her be mine and mine alone

This goes deeper into the "free me from this moral conflict" point. There are really only a few ways that can be done. You can abandon your faith, repress your sexuality, or force the two to get along. Abandoning one's faith is the most common reaction in the queer community because faith, unlike sexuality, is a lifestyle you can choose. However, for a lot of people, their faith is too important to lose.

That only leaves two options. Repressing one's sexuality is usually very damaging to one's mental health. Bottling up all the guilt and shame however, is sometimes easier than doing the research and reevaluating one's worldview.

The "or else let her be mine and mine alone" is Frollo pleading with Mary to give him a way to express his sexuality in a religiously acceptable way. Luckily, that's pretty easy for queer Christians! The Bible gives a lot of tips and expectations for marriages. They are generally framed for hetero couples (because they're the most common), but they apply to homosexual couples as well. You just need to read between the lines.

Paul says in Corinthians 7 that some people should not be married at all (and I think he also implies that he's ace?). That means that ace/aro people and those in queerplatonic relationships are also still in line with the Bible! No conflict there.

Hellfire

Dark fire

Now gypsy, it's your turn

Choose me or

Your pyre

Be mine or you will burn

This is 100% Frollo making Esmeralda responsible for his feelings and not taking accountability for his actions. For the record, that is something you should definitely not do!

God have mercy on her

God have mercy on me

But she will be mine

Or she will burn!

Okay, the first two lines are nice. He's asking for clemency on Esmeralda's behalf for her (imagined) sin of seduction. Then, he asks for clemency for his own (not imagined) sin of lust (but alas, not his pride). The last two lines are a false dichotomy he's created by believing his lust is Esmeralda's fault.

In summary, this song was way too relatable to little 14-year-old me. If you are going through the same thing, don't abandon your faith and don't ignore your feelings. There's a middle ground, I promise. You just need to do your own research and think your own thoughts, as hard as that may be in practice.

Also, be careful who you ask questions to. Remember that your pastors at your conservative church, well-meaning as they may be, have a vested interest in keeping you ignorant of the queer community. Try to find both sides of the story and, if you can do so safely, talk to other queer Christians.

42 notes · View notes

andiwriteordie · 2 years ago

Note

OH OH for the prompt thing after vol 2 will stays at the wheelers and mike has to lend him some clothes. will with his hair still wet wearing mike’s hellfire shirt. mike has a huge sexuality crisis lol

NIC oh my god this prompt. thank you for making me write this, thank you thank you THANK YOU I LOVE IT. you know i love my post s4 pining mike wheeler.

—

you look so good it hurts (in my favorite t-shirt)

The end of the world is really weird.

Honestly, it’s nothing like Mike would’ve expected. When he imagined the end of the world, he always imagined it would happen… a lot faster than it’s happening right now. He imagined that the world would just suddenly explode or there would be some disease that would suddenly wipe out half the world’s population or there would be fire and brimstone and monsters that led to the fall of humanity.

The end of the world is nothing like Mike imagined.

Most people don’t actually realize that the world is ending, including Mike’s dad and the majority of people in Hawkins. The government creates some bullshit lie to explain the gaping fissures in the ground (an earthquake? Seriously?) and the storms from the Upside Down that have been periodically happening over the past couple weeks. Though many people flee Hawkins, many people stay, reserving their front row seats to the end of the world like a bunch of idiots.

…

Mike and his family are among the idiots staying for the end of the world. He can’t leave, after all. He’s been involved with the Upside Down for as long as it started breaking through to the real world, and when this all finally comes to blows, Mike has to be there. Maybe he doesn’t have much to offer, but he has to be here. He’s not leaving Hawkins.

…

He’s not leaving Will.

And that’s exactly what Mike tells his mom when he and Nancy finally sit her down and explain everything. It’s a difficult conversation, but it’s a necessary one. With the Byers and Argyle staying at their house for the time being and with the bright red target on Will’s back, there’s no way to avoid telling Mike’s mom about the situation. She has to know, so Mike and Nancy can stay in Hawkins and join the fight when it comes.

She takes it surprisingly well and welcomes Joyce, Jonathan, Will, and Argyle into their home with open arms. It’s… nice having his mom on their side now, and it’s nice not having to hide this from her. Maybe Mike’s relationship with his family isn’t the best, but over the past couple weeks, he… hasn’t felt as alone.

(It’s a feeling he’d almost forgotten.)

So yeah, now there are nine people living in Mike’s house, all waiting in nervous anticipation for the end of the fucking world.

It’s great. Really, really great.

There’s not a lot that any of them can do right now with the world ending and with the governor’s recent stay-at-home order issues for Hawkins and its neighboring towns. They’re literally not allowed to go anywhere, so Mike spends most of his time reading the books he’d been putting off for several months, playing video games with Jonathan, Will, and Argyle, or simply staying up and talking to Will.

It’s… nice.

It’s nice being so damn close to Will again, after a year of feeling far away from him. Their friendship still isn’t quite what it used to be, and maybe it will never go back to what it used to be. Maybe the harsh words Mike had spat at his childhood best friend had simply damaged their relationship past the point of full repair, and maybe he’ll spend the rest of his life regretting that day and everything that led them to that place.

But… the world’s ending, and Will is close. And they’re friends again… best friends even. Their friendship may not be what it used to be, but it’s still good. It’s still really, really nice having Will so close to him, and God, Mike feels more at home amidst the end of the world than he has in a year.

(He tries not to think about the implications of those feelings, because that… that’s not something Mike wants to think about. He can’t let himself think about that.)

With a soft sigh, Mike tosses his old hacky sack up in the air, catching it absentmindedly. He and Will had found the old thing down in the basement a few days ago, and ever since then, they’d been attempting—keyword: attempting—to play with it, the way they used to as kids. And um, yeah, they weren’t really good at kicking the hacky sack back and forth when they were seven, but they’re really bad now. It’s fine though, because Mike had tripped and fallen, and Will had laughed and laughed and laughed, and…

And Mike had missed that—Will’s laugh.

He’d missed Will, more than he even realized.

Someone knocks on Mike’s bedroom door, and Mike’s brow furrows. “Come in!” he calls, turning towards the door.

To Mike’s surprise, the door opens, revealing none other than Will himself, and Mike’s breath catches.

Oh.

Will’s dressed in an old pair of pajama pants that Mike had grown out of a year or so ago, and he’s also wearing Mike’s Hellfire Club t-shirt. His hair is still wet from the shower, and there’s a tentative smile on his face as he walks into the room.

He… he looks good. Like really, really good, and for some weird reason, Mike’s stomach suddenly feels like there are dozens of little butterflies flying around in it. His cheeks feel really, really warm, and no matter how hard he tries, Mike can’t look away from Will.

He looks so good.

“Hey,” Will greets, his voice soft.

Mike swallows the lump in his throat, and he blinks, sitting up. “H-hey,” he stammers, offering Will a smile. “Um… you know you don’t have to knock, right? This… this is your room too now.”

A rosy blush spreads across Will’s cheeks, and he sits down, where the little yellow sleeping bag that’s been designated as Will’s for so long is spread out on the floor. “Sorry,” he says with a little shrug. “I guess I’m still getting used to all of this, you know? It’s, um… it’s all still a little weird.”

“Yeah… I know what you mean,” Mike agrees softly, absently fiddling with the hacky sack in his hands. His heart still pounds inside his chest, and his stomach still feels like it has butterflies in it, but Mike can’t look away from Will. He just can’t.

It’s just… Will looks really, really nice. The pajama pants Mike had grown out of fit him pretty well, but Mike’s Hellfire shirt is a little too big for him. It’s… kind of adorable actually, and when Will rolls his sleeves up to reveal his California, sun-kissed tan skin, Mike feels the lump in the back of his throat grow.

Shit. What the hell is wrong with him? This is Will. This is Will, and… and Mike… Mike can’t be thinking about him like this. Especially when Mike still has a girlfriend, even if El hasn’t spoken to him in two weeks.

But even without El, this is Will. It’s Will, and…

And what? a voice in the back of his mind questions. What’s wrong with Will?

Nothing, Mike thinks immediately. Nothing’s wrong with Will.

… Okay, then what’s wrong with you?

(Isn’t that the million dollar question?)

“Um… are you okay if I shut the overhead lights off?” Will asks softly, and Mike blinks, looking down at his best friend. There’s an uncertain look on Will’s face, and he quietly adds, “I didn’t sleep very well last night, so I think I’m, um… gonna try to sleep early tonight. If you’re still planning on staying up though, we can leave them on.”

“No, no, we can turn them off,” Mike reassures quickly. Immediately, Will visibly relaxes, and Mike offers him a shy grin. “What’s the likelihood I can turn them off with the hacky sack?”

Will scoffs. “Unlikely.”

“Okay, rude.” Mike makes a face at his best friend, and he narrows his eyes at the light switch across the room. “I bet if I just aim and get it right, I totally could knock them off…”

Mike’s voice trails off, and he tosses the hacky sack across the room.

He misses spectacularly.

Will bursts into laughter, and he offers Mike a crooked little grin. “Told you so,” he deadpans, standing up and switching the lights off. “You’ve got terrible aim, Mike.”

“Shut up, Will.”

Once again, Will just laughs, and he climbs into his sleeping bag, pulling his blankets close. Thanks to the dim glow of the Star Wars night light that Mike has in his room, it’s easy to see the softness in Will’s eyes and the redness still on his cheeks as he looks at Mike.

“Goodnight, Mike,” Will whispers.

Mike swallows the lump in his throat. The butterflies in his stomach feel relentless, and his own cheeks feel warm. Everything inside of him just wants to keep looking at Will and wants to keep him as close as humanly possible, and… and that’s… that’s not normal, right? That’s not how people are supposed to feel about their best friends.

God. What is wrong with him?

Finally, Mike manages to give Will a tiny smile. “Night, Will,” he whispers back, and with one last smile, Will rolls back over onto his side and goes quiet, trying to fall asleep.

Mike doesn’t sleep for another few hours that night, and though he’d never tell anyone, he finds himself stealing glances at Will throughout the night.

(And look… if Will ends up waking up from a nightmare that night, and Mike pulls him up into his own bed, and they both end up holding each other through the darkest hours of the night, that’s only for the two of them to know.)

#andi's asks #byler #byler ficlets #andi writes not dies

137 notes · View notes

akria23 · 10 months ago

Text

I wanted to simplify how I posted my Suspect Theories so I’ve taken away the charts which has my questions and thoughts. Instead I’ve put the original sus list and if they’re still active, disproven, or yet to be explored in the series. Some them I’ve shelved & others I’m considering on a small scale.

NUTH ❓ Still active

- Originally the series was building a case against Nuth - he seemed like an obsessive, possibly violent, and possessive individual who was attached to & influencing Nant’s life. I felt he could be a major red herring, however when the narrative shifted to paint Nant as the possible h violent one while victimizing Nuth, I felt there were a few threads left unanswered & a possibility that Nuth might not be a reliable narrator/source.

NOBODY

Theory A: Suicide ❌ Possibly disproven

- Theory built on the idea that Nant may have been struggling with unhappiness & his circumstances to the point of self harming.

- This theory was explored in episode 7 & 8 wherein Nuth claims Nant committed suicide due to pressures of his debtors but Prom & the Baddies feel the suicide video was just a set up video by Nant to fake his death because the clip was sent to Nuth, his laptop was found elsewhere & there was no body found.

Theory B: Split Personality 🔆 Unexplored

- Theory built on the idea that Nont/a ant ks actually one person who struggles with split personality or an identity crisis.

- Theory has yet to be explored within the story.

Theory C: Debt Collector❗️Currently Exploring

- Theory was built on the idea that the debtors Prom mentioned when he first met Nont likely wasn’t Soong cause he would just said his name (and Soong admitted that Nant has paid him back). This idea branched off into 3 mini theories of what could’ve happened to Nant if he was indebted to drug dealers…

- Hiding: Self explanatory. This is the theory that the series is currently exploring but may be disproven if the clip at the end of episode 8 was really Nant’s corpse.

- Coma: Again this one was self explanatory. If Nant owed a large sum of money they may not have minded harming him if he couldn’t pay up. This would’ve explained the lack of a body & communication on Nant’s side of things. Again this may be disproven soon as well if the clip at the end of episode 8 was really Nant’s corpse.

- Drug overdose: This one didn’t really have much to do with the debtors other than it being drug related. The theory is built on the concept that Nant may have had a bad reaction or an accidental overdose on drugs he was either using or unknowingly took & those around him either left him for dead or got rid of his body afterwards. This particular theory is still possible given the state of the possible corpse, which seem no have no visible markings that would lead to is thinking he was stabbed, choked, shot or any such methods).

Shelving: 🛑

- Prom: I’m finally taking Prom of the suspect list and putting him on the self for no, I might regret this the minute the next episode (9) comes on but him just being mysterious & having sis vibes is not enough for him to be on the sus list. His mysterious nature really could just be down to Nont & trying to keep him in his tangled web as he tries to find Nant or replace him.

- Porsche: Like Prom, he was on the list for unfair reasons. A vibe or not liking a character is not enough of a reason. Even tho Porsche stay doing shit he shouldn’t be doing there really no markers or clues that he’s done anything to actually harm Nant.

Possibly adding later: ⁉️

- Keen: Keen should I all already be on the list given he did have the dog mask and he admits to being at this party Nuth had where the clip could’ve been filmed but there’s three reasons I think he’s still not it

1. Nuth did come to him & told him to keep what he’d given him secret which could be the mask or could be something else.

2. Keen seems genuinely confused about why anyone would e asking about mask…granted he could be a phenomenal faker 😅

3. Even if he is the Mask Dog (which he really could be given he has the mask & the physic from the clip is most similar to his & Prom) I don’t think the dog murdered Nant, the Dog had a knife and if we really were allowed to see the corpse stabbing didn’t seem to be the method. As well as getting a bloody body out of a party and a hotel might’ve been more difficult. I think the Mask Dog is another red herring.

- Porsche Daddy: Look Porsche daddy guilty of something - I don’t know what yet but I’m betting something.

Interesting Aspects:

- Reoccurring imagery:

* Wine: I admit to having an obsession with wine since since the episode it was verbalized because really it just seems to keep popping back up when it comes to Nont/Prom/Nant. I’m sure it’s entirely coincidental but it fascinates me…

* When Prom first met Nont he gave him a glass a wine (he himself had brown liquor)

* After Nont found out from the Baddies that Nant supposedly only likes beer Prom poured them both glasses of wine with the excuse that he thought Nont/Nant had changed enough for wine now (despite the fact that this was the 2nd time he’d given Nont wine the first being when they met the first time)

* I believe “wine” was in one of the titles but don’t quote me on that one cause I cannot find a list of the titles now.

* When we get the flash back in ep8 of Nant & Prom having sex it includes wine - Wine is also mentioned in the song that’s playing

* It’s always red wine…which is so trippy to me cause apparently Nant didn’t drink the stuff & Prom seems to favor brown liquor yet he always has red wine (which is actually Nont’s preference) on hand.

* TVs: Damn near every room in the Baddies home has a tv but they’re never actually playing anything. There’s the rare time of Nont own image being shown but majority of the time it’s SMPTE color bars. In Proms room the tv had a picture one time and that was the first night they spent there but after the reveal of Nant being Nont the tv in that room has been static white noise ever since - leaving me to wonder if the static is more in relation to how Prom feels rather than Nont.

* Reflections: When the series first started we were getting several shots of Nont’s reflection / image everywhere def when he was alone. Sometimes those reflections would be used to communicate with his twin but that story in the second half of the stories both of those things seem to have disappeared…Why?

* Flowers: Usually presented with isolated characters and shots.

- Things I still wonder about…

* Does Zouey identify as Demisexual, Placiosexual or something else?

* What is the handprint at Nuth’s house all about if he didn’t murder anyone?!

* Why did they cut the ZoueyTeena scene…Because I don’t know my brain keeps thinking maybe ZT are lying for some reason.

* 2/3 projects I’ve seen from the writer (this being the 3rd) there’s usually atleast 1 pairing that does not make it…will that trend carry into Playboyy? And if so which pairing not making it (I think about this a lot actually).

#thai bl #playboyy #playboyy the series #theories

12 notes · View notes