#Also I just hate the way suicide prevention groups talk about suicide

[ioletia]

Suicide is a failure of society not a personal failure and continuing to treat the issue like a manifestation of a mental health disorder is doing more harm than good. There. I said it.

You don't want people killing themselves? Give them a society worth living for. When you make existence a tax to which you have to pay, and necessities of life luxuries only the rich can afford, of course you're going to see a wave of people literally leaving life behind.

Once society is framed around the health and well-being of the people that exist within it, only then should you treat suicide as a personal mental health crisis.

[damnfandomproblems]

respond to a reply on this post: https://www.tumblr.com/damnfandomproblems/758279107941466112/fandom-problem-5461-cishet-being-used-to?source=share

"are you seriously equating making fun of a marginalized group to making fun of like, idk gender reveal parties or whatever people in your fandom make fun of cishets for doing? Like I don't mock people based on their sexuality but tell me that you do understand the difference between someone making fun of a marginalized group with a high suicide rate and someone poking fun at straight people.(Also, for the folks making racism comparisons: I'm white and when people make white people jokes about like, white people love avocado toast! White people love yoga and saying buddy! or whatever, 1) I don't mind 2) that's much different than a white person making fun of say, Black people.)"

As a poc, and specifically a queer (cisbi) native american (tlingit) who grew up around cishet white people, when it comes to online and fannish spaces I have noticed that people tend to cross the line from making harmless fun to just straight up expressing and encouraging hatred

While this is definitely a minority of people who believe and act out on these beliefs, there is a problem of people truly believing that cishet white people are all genuinely evil and inherently evil at that, and that the only way to "fix" (cleanse) the world of all problems would to be committed genocide in fandom spaces. They immediately assume the worse and dehumanize and rejected similarities they may share with cishet white people. It's absolutely prejudice and need to not only be called out, but utterly tossed in the bin

I get feeling uncomfortable or even wary of people who appart of the same kind of people who have oppressed you because you are not sure if they too have been indoctrinated into the bigotry, but we live in the modern era, more often then not you'll find that most cishet white people just don't care about poc and queer stuff

Cishet whites aren't responsible for crimes they weren't even alive for, that their ancestors committed. They are far more often ignorant because the education system is shit and has a lot racism/ableism/etc baked into foundation ontop of not really being how to do own research, then they are intentionally malicious and bigoted, and the best way to prevent them from being indoctrinated into bigotry is to just, expose them queers and poc who are chill with them and are willing to educate. Insulting them and assuming they want to hurt minorities just because they're cishet whites is the best way to push them into radical hands that will instead pain queers and poc as the ones who just want to hurt others for being cishet whites, because "obviously" why else would they immediately assume you want hurt them unless they want to hurt you?

Hating anyone for things they cannot control (race, gender, sexuality, etcetera) only breeds more hate. Yeah, don't tolerating bigots, but if genuinely can't stand a certain demographic of people ignore them rather then going out of your way to hate them. Educate if you can, or shut up when talking to people who haven't don't anything to you beyond offend your sensibly for committing the crime of being born a certain way, because otherwise you're just feeding into the genuinely malicious and bigoted peoples hands and making it easier for them to take the ignorant and make them malicious too

Hatred at the end of the day is hatred, sure, it might not be the racist or homophobic flavor of hatred, but it's still hatered. And no one should hate anyone, at least not for the things they can't control (because fuck pedos/rape-philies in general and murders and genuine racists of course, they can all go get shot, don't get me wrong and twist my words like I know some of y'all are just dying to do)

Posting as a response to a previous problem.

[anamericangirl]

“What I think the point was is that while the entire demographic isn’t responsible for the shooting, the increasingly hateful and violent rhetoric is.”

Yeah, anti trans rhetoric and hate against trans people caused this tragedy.

“for anyone from that community to push back against the ideology in any meaningful way.”

Can you explain what ideology you are talking about?

“I mean we are at the point where if you don’t want kids exposed to porn or attending adult entertainment you’re a transphobe.”

No, just no. Completely wrong. That’s not what’s happening at all. No one is against preventing kids from seeing sexual drag. The problem is that you people think all drag is sexual, so you want to ban all drag, or prevent any drag performance from taking place in public. Family friendly drag exists. Sexualized drag exists. Kids should only see the the former.

“We are at the point where if you play a video game you are erasing the existence of trans people.”

JKR gets payed royalties from every sale of HL, and JKR donates to anti trans charities and groups. Which makes buying HL a roundabout way to support anti trans charities and groups. Also JKR believes that the reason she makes money from HP is because people support her views. Every time you buy HP products, JKR takes that as a show of support for her being anti trans. So if you buy HL or any HP product you’re indirectly harming trans people.

“We are at the point where bills are “trans genocide””

I mean if you’re passing legislation that will cause more trans kids to commit suicide, you’re evil and committing an act of genocide against people with gender dysphoria. That’s a no brainer. Trans genocide is a real thing.

Imagine if they passed legislation that would increase the suicide rate of any other minority group.

“and it has led several people within those communities to think anyone who doesn’t actively support everything they do is a hateful transphobic bigot who wants them dead.”

These people don’t think that everyone wants them dead. But there are people out there that genuinely do want them dead. Some of which are in positions of power and are passing legislation that actively harms them.

“The headlines are blaming everyone but the shooter.”

Provide one.

“They are telling us that it’s the fault of christians and maybe if we didn’t hate trans people this wouldn’t have happened.”

It’s the fault of the bigoted politicians in office. Don’t elect evil people into positions of authority and stuff like this won’t happen again. That’s not a threat or a promise, it’s an observation.

“They are fueling the narrative that led to this shooting instead of trying to dismantle it.”

There was no narrative that led to this shooting. There are politicians passing bills that harm the trans community. There are politicians that want trans people dead. That doesn’t justify what Hale did, but the issues that led to this shooting are real, and a school shooting wasn’t going to fix them.

“The ideology is the problem and we need people in the community to push back against it before this happens again.”

1. Again, what ideology?

2. Stuff like this won’t happen again if politicians stoped passing bills that harm the trans community. Once again, not a threat or a promise, just an observation.

“Yeah, anti trans rhetoric and hate against trans people caused this tragedy”

No you guys decided that’s not how it works. If anyone who is even remotely right wing commits a shooting it’s our “rhetoric” and our fault but when someone who shares your ideology commits a shooting it’s still “our rhetoric” and our fault? You can’t have it both ways.

And as much as you wish there were, there is hardly any hate towards trans people in this country so blaming that is preposterous. It’s the hateful rhetoric of the trans community the trans community that bears some responsibility. The trans community is constantly tell trans individuals that we hate them and want them to die and are committing a trans “genocide” which is a blatant lie and it’s stirring up hate from trans towards everyone else. Your rhetoric is the hateful one so be consistent, acknowledge reality or get out.

“Can you explain what ideology you are talking about?”

Yeah the political trans ideology which tells boys if they ever put on a dress or like dolls they’re a girl and girls that they’re boys if they are a tomboy.

The ideology that tries to convince trans people that we hate them and are out to get to them and are committing a trans genocide.

The ideology that tells people if anyone thinks boys can’t become girls and girls can’t become boys then they hate you.

“No, just no. Completely wrong. That’s not what’s happening at all. No one is against preventing kids from seeing sexual drag. The problem is that you people think all drag is sexual, so you want to ban all drag, or prevent any drag performance from taking place in public. Family friendly drag exists. Sexualized drag exists. Kids should only see the the former.”

It’s not wrong at all. We were called transphobes for wanting books with pornographic material and graphic sex descriptions removed from elementary and middle schools.

And sorry to be the breaker of bad news for you but there are a lot of people who got mad that we wanted to prevent kids from seeing sexual drag. You are part of the problem actually because you’re advocating for kids to be exposed to drag when drag is inherently sexual. There is no reason for a child to be exposed to drag in any capacity.

You are repeating lies because no one has said we want to ban all drag. You’re just getting brainwashed by propaganda. There is no such thing as “family friendly” drag and you are an idiot if you think there is and want kids exposed to it.

You have no self awareness. You say no one wants to expose kids to sexual drag as you advocate for exposing kids to sexual drag because all drag is sexual and no amount of denial from you will change that.

“I mean if you’re passing legislation that will cause more trans kids to commit suicide, you’re evil and committing an act of genocide against people with gender dysphoria. That’s a no brainer. Trans genocide is a real thing.”

Trans genocide is not a thing. Look up the word genocide and then explain to me how this is happening to trans people.

Name a piece of legislation that will cause people to commit suicide and explain how it will do so.

“These people don’t think that everyone wants them dead. But there are people out there that genuinely do want them dead. Some of which are in positions of power and are passing legislation that actively harms them.”

Wow so you just don’t live in reality, do you? How can you be so dumb that you simultaneously believe there is a “trans genocide” and that they don’t believe everyone wants them dead? You do understand how that’s contradictory, right?

Who wants trans people dead? I want names and when you heard them say they want them dead.

“Provide one.”

Ok. I mean I don’t know how you haven’t seen them since you just blamed anti-trans rhetoric for the shooting instead of the shooter and I know you wouldn’t be repeating that if you hadn’t seen it in a headline somewhere since headlines are where you get your news, apparently.

And if you search about this shooting it’s fucking disgusting how the majority of headlines are talking about how much “hate” the trans community might have received after this shooting or fears of violence targeting the trans community instead of reporting on and worrying about the fact that innocent children were slaughtered.

“It’s the fault of the bigoted politicians in office. Don’t elect evil people into positions of authority and stuff like this won’t happen again. That’s not a threat or a promise, it’s an observation.”

“Prove people are blaming anti-trans rhetoric and politicians!!!!!” You say as you do just that.

Saying don’t elect people I don’t like and this won’t happen again is the definition of a threat you disgusting school shooter apologist.

[dragonmistressivy]

I hate how one of the only things i want to do on this tour is will be too exhausted to go see. It being the colosseum. We are seeing the Vatican in the morning then exploring rome and then see the colosseum in the afternoon. My legs are still in pain for yesterday and will be in more pain tomorrow. Also people kept deadnaming and misgendering me today so much. Also at dinner(they actually had something i would eat) two girls were talking about home and one was sad about not seeing her boyfriend and her family. Somehow the topic of walking in on someone having sex at school came up in their conversation. It is was uncomfortable. Also why can’t i have a bf or a gf. Also they were both so pretty. My dysphoria was hitting me like s truck so hard. I will never have a cis girl’s life or even any sort of childhood or teen years. I have burned my life away. If only i had known that i was a trans girl at 11. I had even realized i wasn’t a guy but i didn’t hate myself yet or know what life is wanted instead. I buried those thoughts until late march last year and i hate it. I could have had a girl teen years and actually gone to school dances, had sleepovers(tho probably not because of my stupid failing body), actually felt rigjt in my skin, wear cute clothes, wear makeup, learn how to be a girl as i grow up, have a closer to what i want body. I will never have that all because i didn’t realize i could do anything about it. I was literally going to a children’s hospital for my cerebral palsy and the area for like trans health was like 15-20 feet away. I was literally in walking distance away from a decent life. I will never have a decent life nor a life at all. I want to die it all tight now but can’t. I would be destroying other peoples’ lives and making everyone’s trip miserable. I am a selfish bitch i just want to die. Why can’t i have been normal and average. I literally wish i was the most average girl in existence. I can’t stand being unique. It brings me so much mental pain. I will never be happy. I just can’t i am far past the point of being happy. I was only happy as a child because i knpwn nothing and my body hadn’t been turned into a monster by puberty. Why can’t i just be a kid forever. I need it. I don’t want to turn 18 in a few months. It would be so so ironic to commit on my birthday for multiple reasons. One because that is the day i came into this world(against my will and without my consent). And another because that week is national suicide prevention week and that month is national suicide prevention month. I probably will not commit on that day but it would be so ironic if i did. Also a girl who was in our group for free time today told me how i am strong for being life because a lot of people “unfortunately die young”. I think she clocked me immediately. Also it is sort of obvious that she has an eating disorder and is very depressed. Apparently she was in my calculus class. I did not know that. I should have talked to her at some point during the school year. She is friendly. I wish i could change my past in so many ways. All i see are my failures and mistakes and flaws. I don’t see positive stuff in my life i know there is some but i can’t physically care because of all the overwhelming problems and flaws. I am a failure of a human. I wish i had died in the womb or at least was a designer baby which either would have been nice. I hate existence. I hate my existence. It is pain and misery and only suffering. I can’t be happy. I wish i could just take someone’s life. Preferably someone who is like 11 or 12 so i could just make up the years i could have easily had if only i had just known. Also i want to be cured of cerebral palsy but that isn’t possible unfortunately and probably won’t be in my lifetime. Also how the fuck are girls do hairless. I hate having body hair how the fuck do they have literally none. I have tried multiple things to get rid of it and they are either way too painful and don’t get rid of all the hair or don’t work. It also doesn’t help i can barely use my right side.

I hate being disabled and trans. Please just end my misery. I want to be euthanized so i can die peacefully and not painfully knowing i will 100% die, not alone, and knowing it will be less destructive to everyone around me but unfortunately in the state i life i would have to be terminally ill and they probably still won’t because “i am young and have a life ahead of me”. I am literally in pain 24/7, suffer from so many issues that can’t be fixed, am literally unable to be happy in my life, and will just end myself one day so i would rather it be by a doctor’s hands who know what they are doing than my own hands where i might just disable myself even more. If only my bio mom never did drugs. If only. I would not be suffering. Everything wrong with me is all because of her doing drugs because that led to all the bad things happening. I want out i didn’t consent to suffer 24/7. My legs feel like they will fall off from the pain, my back feels like it is going to break from all the pain, my right arm is so fucking sore, my eyes hurt, my nose hurts(probably from so many people smoking and vaping), my ears are ringing(have had tinnitus for years), i have a massive headache which feels like my head will implode, and i feels most of those 24/7 and Tylenol only helps so much and i can’t take it 24/7 and i didn’t bring any with me because i didn’t think it would be so much more painful than usual. I want to go home but can’t unless i get very hurt or get very sick which i don’t want either. Even if i go home now my mom will have to come home too which will ruin the trip for her. I don’t want to have wasted like 16k. I am a waste. I only waste, waste, and waste. I am the definition of wasteful and useless. My life is a joke. Actually it isn’t because jokes have meaning. My life has no meaning. I exist just to suffer. Why do i have to suffer 24/7. I only don’t suffer when i am asleep and only sometimes. I sleep so light and i am exhausted all the time and the few dreams i have are just so weird and bring me pain from how boring my life is. I hate my existence.

Please just end me whoever or whatever is out there. I will do anything for it and i mean anything

[tyrannuspitch]

thor meta directory

hello and welcome, i'm lucian and i've been analysing mcu thor in excruciating detail since march 2022. this directory is intended to help me and anyone else interested to navigate my backlog of thor posts, which were all initially grouped under one umbrella tag.

a few notes:

my main focus is on the asgardian royal family, and my favourite portrayals of them come from 2011-2013. i have a bit of a loki-centric bias, but i do my best to be self-aware. i think all members of the family are terrible people and i love them for it <3

older posts should be taken with a pinch of salt. my opinions have developed a lot since i first started posting, but i've left pretty much everything up for archival purposes.

sometimes my opinions are strong, but they're never personal, even when i express them in hyperbolic ways. i promise i don't really hate you because of a marvel movie :3

to prevent clutter, source, character, relationship and theme tags are only applied to posts that also qualify for a meta or concrit tag.

some of the theme tags overlap a lot, but i'm doing my best.

most of the theme tags don't have an immediately obvious "thesis" post, but hopefully you'll get a sense of them by scrolling through. i'm also happy to answer any questions on this!

at the point when i organised this archive, it contained 1600 posts, so please excuse any tagging mistakes or typos, and let me know so i can fix them :D

finally: my inbox is open and i love talking about thor! comments, questions, suggestions, discussion, and lighthearted/friendly debate are all very welcome :D also, if you send me music associations or fanart, i'll love you forever - i probably haven't seen it, since i hardly follow anyone in this fandom. (just please no th-rki - i'm firmly in the familial relationship camp.)

okay that's all. have fun! 💚💙💜

main tag (completely unfiltered: 1600+ posts, including liveblogging, thinking aloud, silly jokes, complaints, and just about every other thought i've ever had)

by post type:

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note: tumblr has a link limit! i've had to remove the links to supporting characters' tags to stay within it, but the format is: /tagged/ch:%20laufey, /tagged/ch:%20hela, etc.

by relationship:

thor: frigga - loki - odin - sif - w3 - jane - erik - avengers - fury

loki: frigga - odin - laufey - sif - w3 - thanos - the other - sylvie -mobius - kang - erik - jane - avengers

odin: frigga - laufey - hela - kang - fury - bor

house of odin (for when it's really the entire family at once - not an umbrella tag)

by theme/topic:

abuse + empire - fate + hierarchy - suicide + sacrifice - imprisonment + exile - devotion + treachery - honour + villainy - cycles + scapegoats - manipulation + mind control - order + chaos - war + apocalypse - undeath + afterlife - the threefold death - trickster loki - jester loki - servant prince

childhood + immortality - gender + sexuality - ergi - sorcery - prophecy - disability - ethnicity - godhood - monsterhood - playing the monster - mirrors + masks - eye motif

expressions of love - love as horror - neck/throat motif - grief - codependence - odinsons as twins - redemption - mjolnir - saint thor - thor's sinister side

worldbuilding - modern psychiatry - etymology - mimesis

and finally, my ao3 is here. i'm not as active as i'd like to be, but i'm working on it!

[nickelkeep]

Can you explain your tag and the connection between dee snider and Pepperidge farm if you have the spoons? My curiosity is so piqued.

Sure! So both you and @thefirsthogokage asked me about this.

First, the Pepperidge Farm tag is in reference to the old Family Guy joke:

As for Dee Snider, in 1985, the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC going forward) was founded by Tipper Gore, amongst others, in order to force more censures on music. While there's always been satanic panic, etc., involving the music scene, this was possibly one of (if not THE) biggest pushes against music. (Also - as a side note, this is one of the largest reasons I hate Mike Love from the Beach Boys because he helped fund the PMRC.)

So, as I mentioned, upon their founding, they decided to try and demonize music and made a list of songs known as the filthy 15:

Yeah. I just put on She Bop to listen along to as I write this. (Source and more info on Wiki HERE)

Anyway, later that year, Parental Advisory Logos were introduced. Before that, they held a Congressional Meeting.

They had three witnesses testify that songs like these glorified sex, drugs, violence, suicide, murder, name your choice of an ill in society, etc. They also accused music of dumbing down our society (another side note. One of the 'pro' witnesses called Elvis Prestley innocent. YEAH.)

The three contesting witnesses were Frank Zappa, Dee Snider, and John Denver. Talk about a group, amirite? What they didn't expect was how well-spoken and educated these three men are/were. By letting those three in, they thought that they had a surefire case to force MORE censures on the music industry.

Needless to say? It backfired.

This is Dee Snider's full thirty-minute testimony in front of the PMRC. If you don't have that kind of time, just google Dee Snider Senate Hearing.

Yes, he came in full glory. Bright blonde permed hair flowing loose, sleeveless shirt, jewelry, painted nails, tattoos showing. The only thing that could have been more over the top was if he came in stagewear.

John Denver and Frank Zappa also stood their ground and provided well-thought-out speeches, answered their questions, etc. But Dee Snider stole the show. He prevented so many censures that the PMRC wanted to place on the music industry. Because people doubted him because of the way he looked.

He always has and always will fight against so-called 'traditional values' because one person's values do not equate to everyone else's.

[the-firebird69]

Today I got really angry at this idiot John remillard and decided to do something and I start to have him hit quite literally having him beat up and meet up good and he will not stop laughing all right this guy is a huge blabber and she's insane the amorous and humorous and he will talk and yeah until his head falls off and then he starts up again and I'm sick of it I don't want to hear from this douchebag p**** so start getting real mad today I mean angry and I started to say 2 hours do not let him do this do not have him talk to me part of it was the camper thing and yeah the idiot had a bad reaction okay and he's trying to sell it and he failed to sell it they don't want it and he kept doing it and he got beat up pretty bad too and they are after him for what he was saying. Pretty vehement stuff was coming out of the max and him today about his role and they started getting real mad at the end of the day our son said he knows what the code is with Grandma and that's Stormy Daniels and they said you're having people attack us and it's illegal and then the kid knows they already talked about it and he starts yelling and screaming kicking his feet like little pig and the max started to hit his people cuz they don't hear from this idiot and the hit quite a few around here it's starting to figure out something that they're not afraid of them and that they don't have a great reaction so they started to dig in here in punta Gorda and all over Florida they start to dig in and grab this guy's idiots and in any order and it was chaos they're trying to leave and they're screwing around with people and they're messing around with the pseudo empire and they lost information and that information is valuable and they lost it to us too because they're sick and tired of hearing their little Jew bag screaming and yelling at us and yeah he knows the plan too and you're all going to die because You're pitiful losers and sick people in the wrong situation now this guy ratted on you today tons of times and he's been saying it out loud and is in court and he is going to be prosecuted he found out that you're using him for the code and have him think that he's doing it because he's a youngster and he's the guy who's going to take the price and bear the weight and BG is also in trouble and he was telling Trump but Trump just opens his mouth and it's a waste of time he's a juvenile delinquent and a moron so that was going on today the max are up in arms they're going to attack him and take him down and they said it too we don't need this little Beaver gnawing away at us and they plan to anyways but they said we're going to accelerate this thing everyone's having a lot of trouble getting by and is this idiot too Tommy f and I hate them cuz they're so dumb and they said they hate them they're so dumb and it was the max and they're very stupid and annoying and they're trying to hurt people all the time so we don't like them they're trying to commit suicide too lots of times and we are not in the mood for their s*** so we heard this story about how messing around with our son and we said for people to go ahead and stop them and it is happening and it's happening that the group of his is being slaughtered.

And they're having a fight with the Mac proper for what they've been doing they have a little fight going on and it's mirroring the big one and it looks very suspicious in the max sent out for people to figure it out and they did in regardless of their threats on our son to prevent that information from getting out and by the way and it got to us because you're stupid but with your threats and we're big and we understand it so you got both sides of the covered right

-it began leaving after hearing the argument it was around 3:00 p.m. and our son started to rest and they're idiots and they did leave in droves they did evacuate three additional percent today and so it went down from actually 18% to 15%. However there's probably 5% up looking for a way out looking for a place to go and create these villages of mobile homes as a base

It is a huge Exodus trucks of All sorts have come down more trucks are coming

Send a huge ones in and he started working on it it's a guy from NCIS you figured out something it gets them going and he says like last time and then coming back for some reason he says really doing this plan it's organized in time and it's right to do stuff the guy next door is a.... Alcoholic

There's a whole bunch of idiot s*** about that less Harmon and stuff less heart man I get that too and Stan studied this code said this Guy's in a lot of trouble what trouble than I ever seen and he tried to get help and those guys started helping then they started fighting these idiots but really today went badly for them being down to that number is not good and 4% got up okay some are thinking about it but it's going to spread it takes more than a few days but really at 4% leave that's half and it's going to spread fast I'd say that 1/3 of the mobile homes will be out of here by Thursday and one half of the campers that are here now and you know there's one half again on order and the rest of them are being taken out of here if they're not people are coming up and asking if they're for sale are you leaving and say you're not selling it and you're not leaving and you need to go find a house to anybody and they're offering a lot of money we are Garth sold one and it's for a lot of money you went and bought a new one. There's a lot of people doing that but really people want the camper now and it's a particular size I didn't want a big one they did not want a big one in it works for them. We're moving out right now this area is a mess the people are a mess and the pseudo empire is moving in not out they're under attack in the Western hemisphere they're taking heavy hits and heavy fire and it's going all the way up there to the northern New England area Nova Scotia BC and there's a huge attack on the upper Midwest and it's going to be a lot of casualties the warlock are losing people in Macklemore lock off Island or at a lower percentage than they used to be they're down to probably about 8.5% off Island and their islands are being attacked and the pseudo empire is 6%, they're planning a large scale attack that's the morlock on Florida and people don't want to be in the way their photo has not left the flotilla has not left and their troops are not amassing yet but they're getting out of the way and they say they plan to move our son but they don't they try they plan to try and take over the Earth with military force in order to get a son out and to force themselves too and you're trying to tell John remillard to get out of here and he says I'm part of the rear crew and it sort of is a bja as well but that number is going to go down tonight 1% we think which is Big it's a really big loss that's more than most nice to 7.5% and they're becoming weak over the course of this week it's Easter so there's going to lose a lot of people a lot and people are attacking them still but the rate went down it's going to go up shortly but it is related to a bunch of them moving and dying and it's happened we're taking over big areas tonight we're going after 50 miles more of the two rivers and similar things are happening elsewhere and Brazil it is a huge area we're taking over for real and putting up a wall. And there are people saying all sorts of stuff you can't be there in things like that and we go after them. So the rivers are about 150 MI distance from the wall up north including the little bump down which we shouldn't include it's about 120 miles we're going up another 50 MI as we said leaving only about the same distance to the bump down there area and that's going to shrink by probably 20 miles in width and 10 miles in depth and it will be fairly small at that point only about 80 miles by 30 miles and we're taking a huge factories this go around some of the factories are four miles wide by four miles they're huge. I do have a job now Trump because of you and I have a great job I work for my people because of you you're a failure and you're a huge loser and you're losing tons and tons of your area and I don't feel bad for you in any way Hera says.

We are more to announce and there's some good news too

Thor Freya

Olympus

There's a lot of work as a pain in the ass lot of people can't stand it lots of times I can't but today was worth it and finally some people have seen a seed that it's going to suck they're seeing it and it he's going to be stuck here and they're not really paying attention and they're all yelling at each other and it doesn't do anything good and then start to see that and we helped organize them to get them the hell out of here so they're seeing it more rapidly and it's helpful they said because they're not really following this thing with open eyes and it really doesn't help them and the max know about their treachery inside now and the inside and out and they don't need it said to them but boy they mean to these people and really these people are fairly mean but they are forced into a lot of the stuff so we're getting going on a lot of things and it's going to help

Hera

[musical-chick-13]

Okay, since nuance is apparently dead, here is something you all need to internalize:

Artists and creators do not owe you anything. They don’t owe you the ship you like being endgame, they don’t owe you a certain sound or a certain genre (for musicians), they don’t owe you a particular plot or idea, they don’t even owe you a good story.

You can get outraged at the message something sends (God knows I do). You can be disappointed that something went in a direction you didn’t want. You can argue that a character deserved better or that this pairing would have made more sense or that this artist was more effective during a certain era, or say that you wish actors/musicians had been presented with a vehicle that was better written. All of these are completely fine. (Also, because I know how y’all are: yes, if the making of the art involves harm/mistreatment of the people involved, that is also bad and should not happen. Plagiarizing someone’s writing is never okay. People should not be assaulted when making a movie or recording an album. Putting a white person in blackface to portray a black person instead of casting  a black person is unforgivable. Children should not be abused for the sake of creating TV. I am solely talking about what you, as an audience member, personally take away from a finished piece of art that you choose to engage with.)

But you do not get to say that you as a media viewer/reader/listener are “owed” anything. You do not get to say that a creator is singlehandedly responsible for you and your well-being or sense of self.

I shouldn’t have to explain why that’s dangerous or why it doesn’t ever stop with just the things widely considered to be objectively bad. The goalposts always end up being moved. Feeling “owed” something artistically is how you end up with creators getting sent death threats for having the “wrong” characters kiss, artists having their friendships and personal lives invaded because they aren’t dating the person you want them to date, people suicide-baiting musicians for switching genres, people harassing actors for playing a character they don’t like, queer authors feeling forced to disclose their identities against their will to prevent life-ruining backlash, and creators of all kinds self-harming or attempting suicide because they don’t feel like they can handle the pressure of everything their fanbase (or hatedom) is violently, vitriolically demanding of them.

“But that’s not what I mean! I would never do that!” You say. And maybe that’s true. (I certainly hope it is, not acting like that should be the default state of every person.) But you don’t get to perpetuate a general attitude that in many cases directly leads to actions that harm real people and then say you are not in any way part of the problem. No one person or group or ideology should have the power to make all the artistic demands. No one person or group or ideology should have the power to determine what ending or ship or genre or artistic statement or sound or aesthetic or story idea is “good enough.” When you concentrate power like that in respect to art, when you advocate for the censoring or policing of art, you put yourself dangerously close to, if not already on, the path to fascism.

Art that is not created by you is not for you. You are not entitled to any artistic decision by any creator. You do not ever have the right to issue death or rape threats, engage in suicide-baiting, doxx people, out their queer identity, slander them with baseless accusations that could prevent them from working (or try to get them arrested as a direct result of this slander, which, yes, I actually have seen happen), sexually harass them, or threaten their family. No, not even if you hate their art.

If you hate a piece of art to the point where it causes trauma or successive nervous breakdowns, makes you hate yourself, inspires an impulse to self-harm, or enrages you to the point where you think harming other people is okay, you need to walk away from that piece of art. If there’s a fandom, you need to not interact with it. You need to get off social media. You need to stop creating content in response to whatever the piece of art is. Take it from someone who has personally been in that position before. There is not a single person alive who can take care of everyone who tangentially interacts with them or the things they create (especially when they don’t even personally know 99% of the people who do so). To suggest that anyone can do that, or that it should be their responsibility to do that is a fundamental misunderstanding of how humans work. No one should be faced with that pressure. And the existence of that pressure is how we get people refusing to create at all. Even the “““good””” creators. Because at a certain point, people are going to see what’s expected of other artists and decide that it isn’t worth it.*

*I certainly didn’t. If you’ve followed me during the last few years, you know that I used to be a singer professionally. I don’t sing anymore.

When you issue universal ultimatums, when you try to control the creative process, when you start conflating art with a sense of personal entitlement, it never only affects the “““bad””” artists. And the sooner we realize this, the better.

[marigoldwitch]

Hey, don’t follow Teal Swan.

TW : mentions of suicide and abuse

xx = source links

She has no actual educational background in mental health. — yet she gives mental health “advice” and speaks with an authority on the matter. — The source is her entire online presence lol

She claims to be the reincarnation of Indian guru Sai Baba of Shirdi. — what is up with white spiritual bullshitters claiming to be reincarnations of POC!? xx

She claims to be an alien. — I couldn't find a reliable source for this but I remember her mentioning it in a few of her videos in the past but I'm not about to sift through all that garbage to find it.

She claimed to have been the victim of ritualistic abuse by a satanic cult. — further feeding into the satanic panic narrative. I found a reddit post talking about it but everything directly linked to Teal seems to have been deleted from the internet. xx I also found this video "exposing" Teal xx And this blog post about it as well where they mention her deleting her own posts about it xx

She has said (and repeatedly says) that suicide is a "rest button" and encourages her followers to imagine their suicides, as a form of "healing" and she claims this prevents suicide; despite 2 of her followers committing suicide and experts speaking out against these methods, calling them dangerous xx

I actually used to watch her on YT before her career as a "spiritual guru" really took off and it took me a minute to spot the bullshit, but once I did it didn't take very long for others to spot it too. I hadn't even thought about her for years until I saw this racist woman on FB use a screenshot of one of her tweets. This racist woman claims that her husband is psychic and then processed to leave racist comments on someone's FB post. I was made aware of this in a private group on FB so I won't link it but I took a screenshot of the Teal Swan post she shared.

oh and I have no issue sharing the link to the racist's profile either because, honestly, fuck racist assholes xx

Firstly, I wasn't surprised at all that Teal has acquired a following of racist white "spiritualist" bullshitters (“Birds of a feather flock together”); But this happening reminded me of her and made me wonder if she's been "canceled" herself.

side note: cancel culture is an appropriation of AAVE and Lindsay Ellis talks briefly about it in her most recent video examining her own "cancelation" xx

Secondly, since it seems nothing much as changed and her following as gotten even bigger since the last I heard about her I thought it was appropriate I make this post. Because I noticed that some of her casual followers aren't aware of these things and don't know who their giving their time, energy and, possibly money to.

Lastly, I just want this be a learning opportunity for anyone who may be following her influence or "advice" to be cautious of who you allow to play such an important role in your life. We might not think about it that way but we're giving strangers online permission to enter into our headspace and take up our time and energy (and sometimes money too), so you should really look into who you're allowing to do this and what they're about. Make sure their core values actually align with yours and they aren't just surface level.

Disclaimer: If you follow her advice and allow her to influence your life, and still choose to follow her after reading this than that is your decision. You do not need to tell me in the replies or reblogs. This isn't me opening up a discussion about her or her teachings. I am not interested in her perspective and I do not support her "methods." I am a part of the witch community online and that often times overlaps with the "spiritual guru" community and I know there are a lot of young impressionable people in the witch community looking for guidance and someone to give them answers. I want them to know who they're allowing into their space and let them make their own educated decisions on that. Please do not message me or send in anon asks about this, I will ignore them. Again, because if I'm not crystal clear on this I know I'll get a bunch of "hate," I am not interested in discussing this or debating it with anyone.

[chidoroki]

Norman - 22194

March 21st is here and it’s time for yet another birthday post. I already rambled on about Emma and Ray on their special days, so now it’s finally time to complete this full-score tradition with Norman. It might not be as detailed or long as the other two, since he was absent for a good chunk of the story, but it doesn’t make him any less important! I’ll be honest now, the boy isn’t my favorite character (he doesn’t place anywhere in my top ten for this series either) so I probably missed some moments worth mentioning but I did my best to praise this child anyway!

(spoilers for the entirety of The Promised Neverland, so if you haven’t read/completed the manga yet, consider this your first warning, because I’m once again going from start to finish with this.)

Since I want to stay consistent with the other two posts, this will focus on the manga timeline, as season 2 is, well.. it’s own thing. I’ll mention some things but don’t count on much. With that, let’s go.

- He achieves a perfect score on Grace Field’s daily tests, alongside Emma and Ray.

- He is, without a doubt, the smartest kid the house has ever seen, as he passes each test flawlessly and has maintained a 300 average.

- He’s a complete strategist who is capable of achieving victory (even in something simple as tag) by observing his opponents moves and analyzing their weaknesses in order to counter.

- Knows how to pick locks. The scene from ch1 was left out but we see him doing so later on in ep02.

- Stays relatively positive and calm after learning about the truth of the farm.

- Even going as far as giving Emma a reassuring smile, which I think is impressive given the literal nightmare fuel they’ve just witnessed. 

- I’m giving him half credit for suggesting the idea of there being tracking devices, since anime has him reveal this possibility while in manga it’s Emma.

- Both of them realize what determines the shipping order and that the demons favor their brains.

- This silly panel that I love dearly.

- Made sure to do a sweep of the entire house beforehand to make sure their escape planning doesn’t get pick up on.

- Figures out that Isabella only knows the children’s locations when she checks the tracker and that it can’t identify who is who.

- Has the nerve to lie right to Isabella’s face.. not that she believes it, but still gutsy nonetheless.

- Knowing the house probably wouldn’t have any rope, it was his idea to use the spare tablecloths.

- Had a feeling that Ray would reveal the harsh reality of how dangerous it would be to escape with all the children, which turns out to be correct.

- His laugh in ep02 is so precious.

- This statement being 100% accurate.

- Manages to convince the logical Ray, who we know now has spent many years coming up with a solid, safer escape plan, to join in and assist with their crazy and reckless plan instead. Having Ray on their side also grants them many advantages.

- Absolutely hates to lose, which is a good mentality to have in a world where your life is a stake and your time is limited, which eventually leads him to consider every possible opportunity to stay ahead of his enemies throughout the remainder of the story.

- Realizes that the trackers must only send out a signal upon being broken, which we found out to be true in Ray’s one-shot chapter.

- - Him looking completely terrified in this panel.

- He managed to catch all the Grace Field kids in a game of tag even after they received advice from Ray about how to survive longer.

- The goddamn intimidating energy he gives off here is fantastic.

- Despite his body being physically weak, he manages to survive and win against Krone during their game of tag.

- Just like Ray some couple chapters ago, Norman is completely serious about this idea.

- Suspects there’s a traitor among the kids and swiftly comes up with a plan to lure them out.

- This panel of him “dead” from the first side story.

- He has a feeling the spy is Ray, so he moves up the day of the escape to catch him off guard and send him into a panic.

- Even though the anime didn’t include it, he managed to throw off Krone as well with some fake footprints to keep her off their backs.

- Was honestly considering on leaving the spy behind while the rest of them escaped, though he doesn’t seem real happy about the idea, considering the traitor is Ray.

- His plan on fishing out the spy was flawless as he finally calls Ray out by revealing that the information he gave about the ropes and where he hid them were fake locations.

- Not only was Ray the first one Norman suspected, but he caught onto him way back when Krone first came to the house. All the information Ray was feeding them helped Norman come to this conclusion as well.

- Along with Emma’s words about believing that no one in their family is truly bad, Norman refrains from cutting Ray off to allow him to become their trump card. This was a risky move itself, knowing Ray could sell both him & Emma out at any time. Norman tends to prioritize victory, so while staying alive is absolutely necessary and that could’ve been achieved without Ray (as he could’ve just used Ray then ditch him later), he still decides to make the offer as realizes that in order defeat Isabella, Ray’s full cooperation is essential.

- Realizes that it was Ray who hid Little Bunny in the first place and lead Norman and Emma to investigate the gate that night, which leads him to believe that Ray isn’t really an enemy.

- He’s also left handed. Yes, that’s important. Not only for later in the story but because we’re superior. I’m sorry y’all had to find out this way. 

- This stupid, little face he makes.

- Suspects that Ray doesn’t actually plan on escaping at all and intends to kill himself.

- Just like Emma and Ray, Norman also recognizes and understands morse code.

- Look at this precious child, not even angry after getting punched and knocked over. (because i certainly would be)

- Finds Ray’s hidden supply of oil which confirms the method for his future suicide. This also helps Norman later on when he comes up with a refined escape plan by using the fire Ray plans to start.

- Figures out Krone’s true intention about why she wants to join forces with the kids in the first place. 

- He ends up accepting Krone’s offer anyway, because despite the large risk, any information that can snag out of her would benefit them.

- You mad lad, look at you, taunting the bringer of death yet again while a smile on your face.

- And he still manages to find some strength to smile while upon death’s door.

- Not for long though, as once he’s given the chance to be alone, he finally breaks down. Having the cup overflow with water really helps demonstrate how impactful the thought of dying hit him as Norman was overcome with so many emotions that he didn’t even have the strength to hold onto the cup or his facade. It’s then he starts to feel scared and sorry for himself but away from Emma and Ray’s eyes as to not worry them.

- His entire internal monologue as he comes to terms with his unfortunate situation and flips back to his determined “I can’t lose” attitude to help everyone else escape. Also, his theme ‘22194’ hits especially hard.

- For someone with weak, physical abilities, he manages to climb the wall on his own.

- Though the cliff stopped his escape, he used that opportunity to survey the surrounding area of the entire farm to rely his findings to the duo and provide them a safer escape route.

- Completely adamant about his decision to accept his shipment in order to give the rest of his family a chance to escape. (hell, id’ be terrified right now)

- This hug that is sure to break everyone’s hearts.

- Quick to react to Emma’s last ditch effort and prevented her from slamming her already busted up leg into the ground.

- Not only did he predict that Ray would start a fire to distract Isabella and on which day, he also left behind the pen and key he received from Krone along with a new, detailed plan (which he managed to come up with in only a few hours by the way) that would allow the kids to cross over the cliff.

(post season one spoilers below. again, focusing on the manga timeline, so any new season 2 events will be mentioned sparingly.)

- Like Ray, Norman was able to figure out how the pen worked well enough to see Minerva’s message regarding B06-32.

- Since he doesn’t show up again for quite some time post-escape, there isn’t much to talk about.. but at least I can make fun of him thanks to extra pages, like how he wouldn’t have enough strength to use a bow.

- But hey, props to s2ep10 for actually giving us Norman shooting an arrow. He was pretty decent with it too, as he hit his target on the first try behind a darn smokescreen. The manga did show him holding a bow in ch161, but that’s it.

- Not relevant to the actual story at all, but his smarts certainly make anything possible.

- I’m sorry but these tiny failures of his bring me great joy.

- Though the tests at Lambda are harder than those at Grace Field, Norman still managed to get every question correct. Every single day he was there. Even when the facility manages to increase the difficulty of the tests, he continues to pass each one with flying colors.

- Since he noticed someone who’s right handed also takes the same tests he does, he makes an attempt to communicate with them via a Rubik’s cube. He waits patiently for five months until he finally gets a response from Vincent around Christmas 2046. 

- Dealt with the experiments/drugs that were forced onto him and the seizures that resulted from them.

- Even with the tight security and surveillance, he somehow acquired explosives and successfully blow up Lambda and escapes with the survivors.

- Again, not significant to the story, but seriously dude? You just fainted and yet you still get this crazy question right effortlessly?

(post time-skip)

- Contacts Lucas moments before the B06-32 shelter gets blown up and gives him the numeric code that eventually leads Emma’s group to the “Jaw of Lion.”

- Destroyed numerous mass production farms since his escape from Lambda.

- As well as save countless children from other farms and used the Paradise shelter found by Smee’s network to give them a sense of safety and taste of a normal life.

- The darn glow-up he receives, like sweet lord child, are you sure you’re still 13??

- - His cute, squishy cheeks though!

- He may look like he’s in his thirties, but still has the strength of a child. (see anime? this is how strong ray’s slap should have been!)

- Learned a great deal of demon history and gave that lengthy lesson about the demon’s genetics and how they inherit the characteristics of whatever they eat and evolve accordingly. 

- With Emma’s wish about saving everyone and lively happily still on his mind, he thought of a safe and certain method in order to create such a future for all the children raised as food.. which ends up being complete extermination of all the demons caused by a civil war. His plan also includes ending the Ratri clan as well. How cheerful.

- Are you surprised to learn that Norman getting tackled by the younger kids is my favorite panel of him?

- You weak, little bean, I’m sorry I enjoy making fun of you so much.

- Successfully forms an alliance with Lord Geelan and his clan by offering revenge on the royal family, the five regent houses, as well as the Ratri clan, thus putting Geelan in full control. In return, it would grant Norman the full release of farm children, permission to self-govern and some much needed power in terms of demon strength.

- He knows full well that the entire alliance is a lie and both parties are only using each other, though in works in his favor, as it will send the demons to destroy each other without the lose of any human lives.

- This absolute powerful panel that the anime decided “nah, we’re gonna change this too” because they’re cowards.

- Narrowed down possible locations on where to find Sonju and Mujika. Sure it was with the intention of killing our demon friends but his map was accurate.

- Survived who knows long with his seizures at level 4, and because of his severe condition, he’s completely set on following through his plan and succeeding before his time runs out.

- Seems to enjoy blowing stuff up, such as the imperial city’s bridges to send the place into a panic and trap all the citizens.

- Advised the Lambda crew on how to effectively fight against the queen by attacking relentlessly.

- Let loose a poison that causes not only normal demons to degenerate, but the royal family as well, such as the five regent heads and the queen who’s name is too long and complicated for me to ever remember, who all have the cursed blood. (at least that’s how effective it was in manga, in anime it did absolutely nothing to vylk)

- He somehow managed to learn, speak and understand the demon language, which, according to Shirai (vol16 author notes), is actually an uncommon language nowadays. (and we’ll unfortunately never know how this language actually sounds, thank anime..)

- Do I even praise him for killing a demon and well.. all this? Sure in the anime he tried killing Vylk, but old demon was fair more innocent compared to the royal family, so I have no idea.

- I will give season 2 some credit and say I prefer their take on the “right now you look like a small child, shaking with fear” panel.

- But not too much credit, as they didn’t give us the full trio hug as the manga did!

- Then again the anime did have him about to apologize to Vylk and Demon Emma for his actions, which is something, I suppose? since in ch154 he says he didn’t regret killing the queen and royals, which I guess is justified because they were the bigger problem, but oh well.

- Might have apologized to Ayshe for killing her father? Can’t be sure but that’s the unanimous consensus in the fandom right?

- Instantly comes up with counter moves and directions for the entire group upon hearing the enemies locations from Vincent during the GF raid.

- I honestly can’t look at this panel anymore and not laugh about it.. because reasons.

- He just keeps on winning. (also he looks real good here, i’ll give him that.)

- He and everyone else are skeptical about there being no “reward,” and for rightfully so.

- Upon learning that Emma is missing after everyone crossed over to the human world, they all adopt her optimistic attitude and swear to find her no matter where she might be.

- After a stressful two year search, the kids finally find Emma and Norman is so overcome with emotion that he busts out into tears of joy, despite finding out that she lost her memories due to the reward. All that matters to him is that Emma was safe and happy and he accepts her just the way she is.

And I guess.. that’s it. I’m sorry again, I know this is truly the weakest post out of the trio and I have no doubt I glanced over a whole bunch of great moments but it still had to be done! Making fun of him probably wasn’t the best thing to do on his special day either, but I assure you this child is very powerful. Who else do you know that is capable of sending an entire fandom into a panic and rage furiously by just simply showing up?

Ah ha okay, now I’m done. In all seriousness though, this lad is great and through everything he has endured, he definitely deserves to be celebrated today, so happy birthday to our boy Norman!

[spongebobafettywap]

So I guess I had a major age anxiety attack at the start of 2021 I had realised that 2020 had been taken away as a result of the Pandemic so I couldn't do all that I wanted to do in that year as I wanted to such as making my album, performing live and making music videos and other videos and going to more social events and hanging out with people I met online basically with the latter i wanted to expand my journey of my early 20s when I was getting out more. I wanted to do all of this at 24 but I just couldn't so I squeezed as much as I could into doing that at the tail end of being 24, the positive of 2020 admist all the death and hate was I had a large group of online friends, a community that I felt a part of and that I could just talk to about anything I loved talking to these people I really did.

But 2021 and turning 25 it seemed like I was gonna have to do all that I wanted a year later but unfortunately due to certain events my community of friends broke apart and a lot of them turned against me into some really hateful people who tried to harass me. It was a hard thing to go through as I was setting out to do all that I wanted but without the people I wanted by my side to do it with, and I've been betrayed by people before, but this was worse because it was way more of an active presence against me. I felt all the time that I wanted to go back to 2020 and being 24 I wanted to feel safe again but the irony is that being 24 wasn't 100% a good time for me either I was stuck at home for most of it and I had to deal with being ghosted and blocked by my ex after my first real relationship and emotionally that feeling stagnated a lot due to the lack of ability to go out and not clear answers as to why it happened but my friends in 2020 were a glimmer of light in a bleak time. I guess in the end I just miss those people even if most of them turned out to be awful people looking for any reason to stab me in the back I felt before that we were on the same wavelenght and I felt like I belonged for once, there’s still some i used to speak to that i just don’t anymore and it wasn’t out of malice it just felt like we had got to different points in life and it was time to move on maybe with those people I’ll one day get to see and speak to them again.

There was also a lot of other personal tragedies between 2020 and 2021 a few of my distant relatives in Bangladesh were dying from Covid, and one of my childhood friends lost her mother to it too in 2021 and I had a distant relative being murdered and knowing a friend of mine from work committed suicide around 2020 it was all so senseless and felt like I was seeing a lot of people were going before their time and all of this could have been prevented had we lived in a world were we had people who cared about us in charge. 

I feel more at peace being 26 and getting over the personal hell that was 2021 sadly its come with its own problems due to certain personal issues that happened to my friends right now, it feels as though this is a time where i can do more than I could do in 2021 and I don’t have as much age anxiety as I did at 25 and I don’t compare myself to others as much.

[way2manyusernamez]

confusing post and i have a lot of issues with it

the ages are either inaccurate or stated in a way that is misleading. (or vriska has been pulling some elaborate lie) as far as i can remember vriska turned 18 recently, and in 2023 they would have been 17. it seems kinda misleading to say “this person is a groomer, they’re 18 and their victim is 15” when they were both under 18 at the time. 17/14 (if that was indeed their ages at the time) is still a big difference in age though

vriska was NOT dating a 15 year old at 18, vriska broke up with this person by the time they(vriska) were 17. it could still be a large age gap, but it would not be an adult in a relationship with a minor younger than them, which is what someone might assume from your post.

about that screenshot about threatening self harm - is vriska trying to prevent a suicide??? this drastically changes the context. trying to manipulate someone into doing something via harming oneself is obviously bad; but someone breaking down and desperately trying to stop their partner from killing themself is far far far more understandable. it's probably not the best course of action but it's a lot more understandable. i think most people would act irrationally and destructively if their partner's life was in peril

(vriska giving someone the pros and cons of suicide methods while desperately trying to stop them from dying is such a strange juxtaposition, like damn pick a struggle. i don't agree with them doing that)

so many things here seem a tiny bit misleading or like a stretch, it’s hard to trust any of this when so much seems like a little exaggeration

this is why i can’t trust you when you write that vriska threatened to ‘kill her animals’ - the only context are two screenshots of two sentences. why is vriska even talking about ‘kill[ing] them first so they don’t have to suffer’? what is any of this conversation? i have no context so i can't make an informed conclusion

i agree with this - vriska publicly venting anger in the form of violent fantasies about someone specific, who is literally also on the same social media platform, with friends who are also literally on the same platform - is such an odd (and poor) choice on their part. i really think something like that should just be kept to a diary or a more private group.

do you think sending anonymous hate mail is going to fix anything? the only thing you really criticize in that ask is vriska’s art style. this could have been your chance to tell vriska literally anything else - criticize their behavior, tell them to be better, anything. but instead you call them a cunt and say their line art is shit, and then post proudly about it in a callout as if you’re helping the situation at all. it’s obviously not helpful.

about the possible SA threatening allegations? i unfortunately could not find any archives but i do remember vaguely seeing this post. i couldn't figure out what the post was saying at the time - i definitely didn't think it was threatening SA but i didn't reread it to figure out what i really said before it got deleted.

i'm not sure that i understand the racism allegation. your colorpick looks really off from mine. but it could also be a monitor/technical issue.. i'm not sure what's going on. i think the image has been through a lot of color filters as a result of compression and it's messing with the character's skin tone. here’s an image where i tried to figure it out:

what’s even the allegation here? vriska can’t draw color dark skin well yet?? i apologize if i’m missing something but this is genuinely really confusing. yeah, learning artists without experience often don't know how to realistically color dark skin? this point specifically doesn't really warrant a 'call out', i think it could have been fixed with a more constructive "hey artist, try coloring your skins [warmer / more saturated / less muddy / etc]".

i think this post could have benefitted from a lot more context. some of the points seem like a stretch or somewhat misleading. it's confusing and hard to trust

WARNING: This post contains grooming, guilt tripping, suicide attempts, talks of Self Harm, threats of SA to a minor, and mentions of animal death

Hello, if any of you are reading this, then I’m here to say that I highly recommend blocking this cunt on Twitter

To those who are wondering, this deplorable bitch has groomed my friend @cagneyblooms (Vriska is 18 and Cagney is 15) and Vriska has guilt tripped Cagney by threatening to send her cutting pictures

(The pink/purple text is my friend Cagney)

Vriska has also encouraged her to commit suicide by listing methods Cagney could do

Vriska has also threatened to kill her own perfectly healthy animals and told Cagney it

Vriska has also talked about murdering her on one of her many termed Tumblr accounts

However, me and some of Cagney’s friends weren’t going to let this bitch keep doing this to Cagney, so we sent her anonymous hate mail (I couldn’t screenshot theirs, but here’s one of mine)

(Also I do not give a shit if you give me smack for this, Vriska is a fucking terrible person)

Cagney has also informed me that after this, Vriska had tried to threaten me with SA before her account got termed

All I have to say is that how fucking pathetic are you to the point of threatening to send one of your “friends” after me. Keep in mind, I am a minor and I’m the same age as Cagney (15)

Vriska is also extremely racist because look at this shit she made

This speaks for itself, and something that also makes it worse is the shade of color she specifically used for the skin

It’s fucking dark muddy orange/yellow

So to conclude this, fuck Vriska, I hope she gets terminated and eventually sent to jail. If you or any of your friends see any account of hers. Block and report it

As a bonus, here’s my response to her on her brand new Twitter account before I blocked her

[jaydelynn1967]

I truly believe that if schools made kids write about what they think about a situation every every year at the end of the school year, it would benefit our society and the way students of this generation look at situations involving the ones discussed.

The situation's wouldn't be simple as 'the girl couldn't reach her glass. Write your thoughts.'

No. It would be deep issues that have been apart of society from the beginning. About every day issues: racism, sexism, heterosexism - any type of oppression in society, drug abuse- any abuse, metal health, disabilities and their prejudice...

Basically anything wrong with our history and society's views on things. This would be discussed from kindergarten. Of course, as students age, the situations and topics discussed would get more in serious and in depth.

For small children from Kindergarten to Second grade would have the situations read out to them and they would have to write - or talk one-on-one to the teacher so they could write in their stead- 3 sentences about it.

In third grade the students will read the situations by themselves unless they have a disability. The classes would discuss the topic/situation together until 4th grade where they would work in groups after they went over the topic which the situation is based off of. When they reach 7th grade, students should be used to doing these types of problems so they will discuss it as a class under a teachers supervision. The teacher shouldn't interfere unless it gets off track or out of hand. They will do their TDA's by themselves.

Eventually students would write TDA's and do multiple of these at the last 3 weeks of school.

The school district would keep all the students' responses so that when students graduate, for a final project, they can look back at all your responses to the topics and write a final essay on every topic discussed.

If some topics are uncomfortable or triggering due to past experiences or just in general to them, then they can do a different topic than the rest of the class. Or if more than 5 are uncomfortable, the while class can do a different topic. And we could take precautions at the beginning of each of the 3 weeks where they fill out a sheet of possible topics and check off any subjects that they are uncomfortable to talk about or triggering to them because of any reason. This would also be good to make sure that homelife is alright and that other things are alright.

I think it would be a huge benefit to our society and bringing awareness to things that most of us don't think about most of the time.

As the students grow up, they will know more about these topics and how to prevent some of them from happening or how to stop a situation from getting worse.

We could also extend this into mental, disability, sexual, and many other types awarenesses.

Adding to this, this could be a whole class once we get to have electives. And the students in this class can come to schools in their district and discuss a situation with a class student-to-student with an adult with them in case things get out of hand.

Teacher's should be given basic training in body language so that while they are discussing these topics with the students, they can look for give aways with anything wrong.

Of course, not everyone will agree to doing this. Some might find it inappropriate to such young children. Might find it wrong to teach the students of this generation these things, but I'll have to tell you something that you might not know:

This generation is so, so very different than yours. We have access to the internet and therefore things we shouldn't see. Kids these days are losing their innocence by the time they are in third grade if not sooner depending on their situation. Everyone is different. Kids know how to do things even some adults don't know how to do. The world is changing and it's not a good change. We are more violent because we don't know anything else that'll make adults who think they are better than kids because they think just because they were our age once, they lived the same things, think the same way...

Well, hate to break it to you, but you don't. Adults think "protecting" us will let is have a childhood a little bit longer so they are strict. They force us to have good grades and to wear certain things that's not "appropriate" to wear in public, to watch out attitude, to have a certain amount of phone time or taking away our phone as punishment... What you are really doing by "protecting" us by being strict is teaching us how to lie better to avoid getting caught, to avoid the only thing that gives them dopamine taken away, to have to be forced to wear what you consider appropriate. And yeah, I agree a bit for the clothing, something's just aren't comfortable seeing in public but that's life. It's uncomfortable. But I'm talking about not tank tops a certain strap size because our shoulders are 'distracting'. Others should control themselves.

It's just making everything worse because we aren't a compliant generation. We are rebels because throughout history, there has been too much expectations of how people should act and how we should do this or that. We are done doing that. Too much has happened for us to be submissive and follow compliantly.

Going back to the main point of this, we should be taught the hardships humanity has gone through and is still going through. We should learn how woman are just as good as men and vice versa, how certain historical figures were gay or part of the LGBTQ+ community, or how Albert Einstein married his first cousin Elsa and cheated on her with over 10 other women, how women know as the Night Witches bombed Nazis on barely functional planes and had to turn the engine off in the air to avoid detection. Facts that are out there, but you have to search for them.

Society wouldn't get to utopia state, but I bet they'll be just a bit less violence, a bit less violent, and a bit less judgemental and less suicides.

Psychology and mental check-up's should be necessary because imagine how many kids are acting out because of home life or how many kids just don't do their work because they are afraid of getting judged about their work being bad or how many students work themselves so hard to get good grades because they are terrified of failure or not focusing in class because they are trying to control their anxiety.

It would help, if others were made more aware of the symptoms and paid closer attention to students and their patterns.

I've gotten so off track, I apologise. I have nothing else that I can think of to add to my main point of this whole thing, but if you have ideas, I would love to talk to you.

Let me know what you think, and as I've said before, I'd love to have a discussion with you all about this.

[thelastyetfabolousmidwestmadman]

Dark Side Of The Rising Sun Part 1

Yo what’s up!

After the success of my previous post, I’ve decided to bring a follow up where I talk about the many dysfunctions and issues facing Japan that I’ve learned in my research. Detective Conan often shows the criminal justice system of Japan in a positive light while in reality it has many issues due to the culture.

Now let me make this clear: Japan has many great things about itself that should never be ignored. However, these are real flaws that have or need to be addressed with many Japanese also recognizing them as problems.

Now I had to split this into parts as this is rather ungainly to put it all at once. If you have any questions please ask and I’ll do my best to answer them.

 Suicide

Japan has one of the highest suicide rates in the world with about 15.2 deaths per 100,000 people.

This is due to many factors such as Suicide not being considered a sin as well as historical connotations of it being a honorable way to go.

It is also considered a act of revenge, apology, and protest.

It is mostly caused today by factors such as unemployment, alienation and intense social pressure.

Japanese society is overall tolerant of Suicide but this is changing in recent times.

Another factor is the need for acceptance over individuality.

People with mental illness are often discriminated against, stopping potential help.

Internet Suicide Clubs where anonymous people make/plan suicide pacts and commit group suicide are a major issue.

If you kill yourself via Shinkansen, your family will be fined heavily. It is also the cause of half of the train delays and referred to as a human incident.

Tall buildings have mandatory suicide fences to prevent people from jumping off. When they succeed, they take off their shoes before hand.

It is common for suicidal people to take insurance policies and wait a year or two to go through with it so their families would be okay.

Ikka Shinju or family suicides are when the entire family kills themselves together due to Asian views of the family. When the parents kill their children before themselves, this is called Muri-Shinju or murder suicides.

Oyaku Shinju or parent-child suicide are where a single parent kill their children along with themselves.

Drownings, overdoses, hangings, and jumping off places are the most common form of suicide.

Judiciary

Traditionally, the judge is hated more then the lawyer is in the west as the Judge is often viewed as a symbol of the Japanese nobility judging the common man.

If you are sent to trial, you are certain to be convicted regardless of innocence due to the countries 99% conviction rate. (Really makes Eri’s work more awesome and badass doesn’t it?)

The Japanese supreme court is one of the most conservative in the world, rarely ruling against issues that are blatantly unconstitutional and anti human rights. As a result, one of the more positive proposals for amendments of the Constitution is the creation of a separate Constitutional Court.

If you are sent to death row, you will never be told in advance when you are going to die.

Culturally, once arrested the person is automatically considered guilty.

Police are often reluctant to overturn convictions as they insist that only guilty are arrested and convicted.

The law when a child is considered criminally responsible is 14.

Judges are often pressured into making convictions as their careers are negatively affected by a not guilty verdict.

Prosecutors are given the choice not to pursue a case regardless of sufficient evidence.

Prisoners in Japan, while somewhat treated better then much of the world due to it’s focus on rehabilitation instead of punishment, have to follow strict military style regulations from minor things such as being forced to fold the bed, or to wash your face to more draconian measures such being beaten if you don’t march or sit the wrong way.

In turn, many have inadequate access to medical care as they don’t have many options for their healthcare.

It can take months or years before you are tried, meaning that a right to a speedy trial is completely nonexistent.

“Periods of reflection” where inmates are forced to be handcuffed, gagged and placed in solitary, are often not recorded by the warden.

Foreigners are forced to speak and write in Japanese.

Drug Use

It is considered vastly socially unacceptable to do narcotics in Japan.

Most drug addicts are even considered to be not human.

If a celebrity is caught doing drugs, his career is automatically fucked and he is blacklisted from the industry, as well as erased from current projects.

The most commonly sold drug is methamphetamine. This started after World War II due to Meth being legal for soldiers to consume in order to stay up late on petrol as well as from occupying Americans. After the was, it became a huge epidemic for 12 years.

Marijuana use has risen among youth. Despite it having little danger as well as medicinal uses, it is widely considered evil, with the law having no tolerance.

Overall, Japan has little drug use compared to the rest of the world due to the cultural taboo and strict laws. However, there are signs that it is being vastly under counted,

Most illicit drugs are imported from Taiwan and South Korea due to it being near impossible to grow it natively but it is becoming increasingly hard to do so.

Drugs overdoses are criminally under diagnosed.

Epidemics often occur due to low periods of economic growth and recessions. (Examples include the postwar period, the 70′s, and the Lost Decade after the Bubble Economy burst in 1989)

It is common for your family or doctor to call the police once you admit there is a problem. Then you are forced to take a urine sample and if it tests positive you are immediately arrested.

A lot of doctors open pharmacies to add to their income. As a result, many oversubscribe prescription drugs.

Hypocritically, Alcoholism is completely tolerated and not treated as a addiction due to alcohol being considering purifying in Shinto, a cure, and Japan having a intense drinking culture.

Child Abuse

For the most part, physical child abuse is considered a private issue and often ignored. While things are slowly getting better, Japan still has a long way to go. (Imagine if Kogoro did what he did to Conan in the west. Child services would be on him like a fly swatter.)

Child services often return the children to their parents even if they say their abusing them as the counseling centers need the parents to admit to their abuse.

It is a complete myth that Japan’s age of consent is 13. That is only the lowest one could set it. Most prefectures are set at 16 or higher. In turn, child molestation of those under 12 is heavily punished. However while vaginal rape of children is illegal, basically just about everything else as long as it’s statutory is basically alright.

Enjo Kosai or compensated dating is the practice of Teenage Girls to go on dates with older men in exchange for money and gifts. While not necessarily always leading to prostitution is treated as such and the girls are often blamed if they are hurt in the process.

Child sex trafficking of migrants is a serious issue and they are often treated as criminals and sent home without counseling.

Adoption of children is rare and frowned upon so many of them have to gro up in centers.

Children of unmarried couples are discriminated against due to the violation of the traditional Ie system and do not have the same protections or privileges of married couples because of its Koseki system.

Men are not obligated to pay child support and it’s near impossible to get them to legally as they can simply hide their finances by not telling them. Plus only one person can be named on the custody sheet.

Child Pornography was effectively decriminalized until 2014. No seriously.

Sexual Harassment/Assault

Domestic violence victims are disabused from coming forward due to the idea of bringing shame to their family.

Stalking cases are rarely taken seriously by the police

OH THERE”S WAY MORE BUT THIS LIST IS DARK ENOUGH SO LET”S SAVE THIS FOR A LATER DATE.

Working Conditions

Idols are heavily exploited and forced to follow strict rules such as having no social life, banned from having a boyfriend, etc. This is because they are supposed to sell a image of innocence and be there exclusively for their fans.

Anime creators are often forced to work long hours with little pay. This has resulted in a slump in the industry with very few new hires so they are forced to rely on the older animators whose health may fail sooner rather then later.

Funds are rarely given to films with artistic intent or that are political in nature, resulting the film industry suffering compared to the more internationally regarded South Korea.

Police Corruption

Until recently, Japanese police would work with organized crime to lower crime. The only reason they stopped was not out of concern for the everyday citizen but because they were embarrassed by the Yakuza when they began to show up more publically.

The media is often laughably compliant to the police, with they rarely offering a critical lens.

Police have undue influence on the Pachiko industry, with many retired officers being hired as muscle and for advice.

It is quite common for officers to embezzle from their slush funds.

In a effort to cover up crime, police often refuse to investigate mysterious or suspicious deaths, preferring to label them as accidents or suicide.

Police are often anti migrant and sexist to a fault.

It is neigh impossible to get a wiretap going due to rigid privacy laws.

Even the police can’t fire weapons as you need approval to even loose your gun so many officers have never fired a bullet.

Government Incompetence/Corruption

Voter Apathy is super high, with many elections having hilariously low turnout.

Many politicians have Yakuza connections, with the gang members serving as bodyguards and canvassing for votes.

Votes in the countryside are worth two compared to urban ones.

A lot of politicians are completely out of touch and constantly have to resign for gaffes (racism, sexism, historical revisionism, etc.)

Political acts are based on group consensus so it can take a long time to get meaningful reform done.

Criticism and debate is ironically frowned upon, with open criticism within a party being effectively banned.

Cronyism is common. While for the most part Japanese politics is based on expertise, many politicians are awarded ministries based on their support for the leader.

The NHK (Japanese version of the BBC) is largely neutral and free but the current Japanese government can dictate what it is to focus on temporarily.

Press Clubs are often given exclusive access to interviews and information from the government, so they get biased preferential treatment.

Okay I guess the point of this list is to bring attention to these issues and expand the opportunities of where to go when it comes to dark DC fanfiction. Don’t worry, here’s a cute Conan to make you smile!

[falafel14]

The PTSD Theme and Queering Richie Tozier in IT: Chapter 2.

So I wanted to write about IT2′s decision to make Richie canonically queer and how it offers so much more than pandering to Reddie shippers. It’s clear that IT1 was about a group of kids experiencing childhood trauma while IT2 is about the same group as adults reliving and trying to recover from their childhood trauma. For Bill it’s his survivor’s guilt after Georgie’s death, for Bev it’s sexual abuse at the hands of her father, for Eddie it’s his mom’s brainwashing with munchausen by proxy, for Mike it is losing his parents to a fire and for Ben it’s being bullied and assaulted by Bowers while Stan’s trauma lies in his emotionally repressive religious family leading him to be the loser most vulnerable to being devoured by Pennywise. The only loser who’s childhood fear and trauma is ill-defined in IT1 is Richie. When his friends asked Richie what he was most afraid of Richie told them it was “clowns”. IT2 reveals that this was a lie.  

We now know Richie’s biggest fear was people finding out he was gay. But for Richie to answer “clowns” is an interesting half-truth. Richie is the clown of the group who grows up to be a professional comedian. Richie has always used his (often sexually crude) jokes as a front to prevent others from seeing who he really is. In his IT2 flashback, Richie has a brief moment of being openly friendly with a boy that he likes. Bowers immediately pounces on this and calls Richie a fairy. The fear that this induces in Richie allows Pennywise to make an attack on him. So knowing how easily any honest show of affection towards another boy could be perceived as gay, it’s clear why Richie has taken to persistently teasing Eddie. It’s the only way Richie can have a relationship with his childhood crush without his secret being exposed. But his true feelings still slip out in moments of peril when Richie’s first instinct is to reach for Eddie. 

I wanted to say I loved how the theme of Richie’s mask slipping was symbolized through his glasses. There are two key moments when Richie’s glasses come off (at least which I can remember from only one viewing of IT2*). First as kids when Eddie flicks Richie’s glasses off with his foot. This comes in a scene when Richie and Eddie are sharing a hammock and their physical intimacy must be making Richie feel close to exposure. The second moment is of course when the surviving losers are swimming in the quarry after Eddie’s death. Richie, who is usually the one constantly talking, is sitting in silence with his glasses off. Then instead of saying anything Richie bursts into tears. I can’t help but consider this Richie’s coming out scene. The other losers saw how devastated he was when Eddie was killed. They all loved Eddie, but Richie doesn’t hide that his personal heartbreak is over something more than friendship. The others understand this and rather than saying anything, they all just embrace him. 

* Thanks to yer-a-workin-boy-now who pointed out that young Richie also loses his glasses during the Paul Bunyan scene, which fits the theme of them coming off when Richie feels his sexuality might be exposed. 

IT2 shows all the losers struggling to overcome their PTSD throughout the film. Whether it’s Stan succumbing to suicide, Bev falling prey to abusive boyfriends, or Ben’s continued body dysmorphic disorder. For Eddie, his mother’s years of psychological abuse have conditioned him into believing that he is weak and helpless. When Pennywise strikes, Eddie’s instinctive reaction is to freeze up. It’s Richie who recognizes that Eddie needs reassurance that he can be strong, something nobody else gives him. It is Richie who enables Eddie to overcome his own childhood fears and be the first to wound Pennywise, even if he dies in the process. And the fact that Eddie was prepared to risk his life to save Richie - the friend who saw him as his true braver self and not the sickly weakling his mother tried to make him - shows that Eddie did love and value Richie in return, whether you choose to read Eddie is queer or not. 

And while there’s no happy ending for Richie/Eddie beyond fix it fanfics, there was a real bitter-sweetness in Richie carving their initials on the kissing bridge. Obviously the film begins with a gay couple being beaten up by homophobic thugs and one guy is forced to watch as his lover is killed in front of him. While there has been a lot of debate over whether this horrific hate crime should have been included in the film at all, I’d say it’s hugely important to Richie’s arc. This scene shows that Derry is not a safe place to be LGBT and Richie had every reason to fear for his life if anyone found out about his sexuality. It shows why Richie had to use his trashy humor as a defense mechanism growing up to push people (even his friends) away so they’d never learn his secret. A secret that got buried so deep he was still in the closet at age forty. And while Richie has to go through a similar trauma as Adrian’s boyfriend, it leads to the first expression of his true feelings and the first time he is accepted by people he loves, the losers being the only family that we ever see Richie with. And more importantly the film ends with Richie’s self acceptance, carving over a memorial to his first love with Stan’s voiceover urging him to “be proud” from now on.         

[jewelserket]

So I decided to write a bit about my D&d character’s backstory. I’m pretty proud of it so I thought I’d pop it onto here. I will say that the intended audience was my fellow players and not tumblr, however I’m a busy student and don’t have a ton of time to edit it. So, without further ado, I present to you:

Dreams of Doran, P1/?

TW: Depictions of murder, child murder, gore, fire, loose depiction of PTSD and vomit.

Doran shifted awkwardly in the poorly padded seat. His father’s desk chairs were always frustratingly uncomfortable and hardly fit Doran’s hulking frame. Silence stretched over the room as he awaited his father’s arrival into the study. His gaze danced upwards to the three massive paints along the wall. They depicted the three generations of his family, each man’s stone gaze boring into Doran’s flesh. Silence shattered with the sound of the door swinging open. Doran peered back at the man who entered, his father. He watched the man stride over to the opposite side of the desk. Once his father was situated in front of him, Doran spoke up, “Hello, Lord Reaver. Glad to see you didn’t die on the way here.”

Reaver narrowed his eyes at his son, “Glad to see you're actually early for once.”

“Oh, I’m always on time.” Doran suppressed a roll of his eyes.

A low growl slid out of Reaver. One that made Doran stiffen and drop his gaze. His father meant business. Reaver ended his growl with a snarl, “If you’re done being an ass, I have a mission for you.”

Doran nodded. The weight of his father’s gaze crushed the air from his lungs. He could feel his father’s snarl relax into a satisfied smirk. Before Doran could force out a response, Reaver continued, “Good. Pull out the map.”

The son did as told. He tugged an old, yellowing map of the region from a small basket near by and rolled it out along the desk. Then he sat back in the uncomfortable chair, and watched his father pull out small, wooden figurines. He placed one on the mountain city they resided in, then several others out on enemy fields. Doran stared at them, a frown crossing his face. Reaver inspected his own work for a moment, then continued, “These are enemy encampments. You are to gather troops and go burn them down.”

Doran was silent for a moment. Then, without meeting his father’s eye, he glared down at the table, “What you’re suggesting is—“

“Is important to keeping this land safe. If we drive them out, they’ll be weaker.”

“It’s also incredibly wrong and dishonorable.”

Reaver shot to his feet, towering over his son, “You want to talk dishonorable? Their men have already destroyed our homes, murdered our families. They’ve slaughtered more than we have by the hundreds. What you’re doing is protecting our god damn people. Unless you really are too much of a worthless little worm to do even that.”

Doran’s words dried up on his tongue. Whatever fight was in him had been dashed away by his father. He nodded, small and heavy. Reaver smirked. An air of satisfaction floated about him as he continued, “I’ve already gathered your Generals. You will leave at nightfall. Do not let any of their scouts escape, or you’ll lose your surprise advantage. You’ll take them out starting closest to the mountains, and end with this camp here. Any further in is too well established in their territory. It would be a suicide mission.”

Doran nodded, then rose to his feet, “You are always the bearer of bad news, aren’t you, father.”

“Consider it an honor to be assisting our country in this way. Now get out of my sight. I have shit to do and you’re very distracting.”

Doran could only respond with a curt nod. He strode to the door, pausing for a second with his hand on the handle. His gaze shot back to his father. Reaver was staring down at the battle map, ignoring his son. Doran’s grip tightened on the handle for a moment, then he swung the door open and slipped out. The door slammed shut behind him, but Doran found himself frozen in place just outside. A shaking sigh escaped his throat. His father was right. He was doing what was needed for those in the mountains and beyond. That didn’t fix the wrong feeling that gnawed at his stomach. He did his best to push the squirming discomfort away. He had preparations to take care of, and the first step was checking on Zulius.

Smoke clogged Doran’s nose and stained his body with its scent. The heat of flame roared in front of him, but his gaze was on the night sky. They still had several hours before the sun rose, which gave Doran some uneasy relief. Under him, Zulius shifted with discomfort. He snorted and shook out his striped mane. Doran sighed, sliding an armored hand up and down the Zebra’s neck. He hated to admit that it was for his own comfort as well as the zebra’s. Around him, his men were gathering up the few survivors to prevent them from running. Doran bit his lip and led his steed over to the small crowd of soldiers.

One of his men looked up at him, “There weren’t as many in this camp, General.”

Doran rolled his shoulders back. His face was dark, intimidating, as he growled out, “I told you this twice now and I’ll tell you again. We cannot risk them escaping. Kill them.”

The man nodded and moved back to the group. Doran turned away from them, not wanting to see what he was causing. That did not stop the screams of pain from reaching his ears. The smell of blood quickly overpowered that of the smoke. A sickness rolled in his stomach that he had to force down. He trotted Zulius over to the one commander not surrounding the enemy, his marshal, and growled out, “How close is the next camp? We have only a few hours till day break.”

The marshal was curt, “One hour, Captain, give or take.”

“Then we best head out. The more ground we cover, the better. There is only one camp left, correct?”

The marshal nodded. Doran narrowed his eyes, silent for a moment. Then he spun Zulius around. He watched as his men approached him. Blood had stained up their weapons and splattered across their faces. Doran boomed his next command out to them, “Gather the soldiers. We head out now.”

Before any of them could respond, Doran marched Zulius off in the direction of their next destination. His marshal stuck close behind and, a moment later, the rest of the warriors were in tow. There was a silence about them that was only broken by the shifting of armor. Doran lifted his head a bit higher. The gaze of his subordinates dug into his back, looking for his leadership. Doran could feel the weight of their nerves and the bloodied sin of their actions. He took a deep breath and rose himself a tad bit higher. He could not afford to be weak, for their sake if not for his.

Yet, as the cold of the night time forest surrounded him, Doran felt a sickening feeling in his stomach. The urge to vomit chewed at the back of his mind. He wrote the feeling off as the weight from his actions, but something deep down whispered that something was going to go wrong.

“Fire!!”

The roar of flame coated arrows filled the air. Doran stared out at the camp which was now thoroughly surrounded by his officers. His marshal stood nearby, watching as the archers nocked their arrows. Doran’s eyes were locked on the camp itself as the first light of fire licked at the buildings. That word was what bothered Doran: Buildings. Not one or two, as would be custom for a large camp. Many house-like buildings. Flame spread across their thatch roofs at lightning speed.

“Fire!!”

Doran jumped at his marshal’s voice beside him. The lieutenant was too focused on the second volley of arrows to notice Doran’s reaction. Archers prepared their next volley as the surrounding soldiers prepared to stop any escapees. As the second volley landed, the first screams erupted into the air. Something about them was wrong. They were too high pitched, too young. Doran’s eyes widened.

“Fire!!”

From the houses poured out soldiers, yes, but more notably was the unarmored others. His eyes locked onto a mother, scorch marks crawling up her face. In her arms was a howling baby that clutched at her shirt. The mother screamed, running towards the trees. Her line of escape was stopped with a spray of blood, a sword through her chest. Others followed her, creating a panicked circle at the center of the camp. A child clung to his mother’s skirt, his legs scorched. Blood ran down the face of someone who was perhaps only thirteen, but her focus was only on that of the two children at her side. Surrounding the bubbling mass of screaming children were what few soldiers were there to protect the camp.

“Fire!!”

Doran opened his mouth to stop his marshal but he was far too late. Screams erupted into the air. Fire lit up among the crowd. Bodies dropped to the ground, dead from the first hit. Those that survived screeched in pain. The sounds rung in Doran’s ears as he watched one of the children be consumed with flame. By the end of that volley, few were left moving. The marshal opened his mouth to start the final volley, but Doran grabbed his shoulder, “No.”

The marshal looked back at him, “There’s still—“

“I’m aware. We go in and… and pick them off.”

The lieutenant rolled his eyes but called off the volley. He moved to bark an order again, but Doran stopped him again, “I’ll do it. Make sure the soldiers pick off any runners.”

The marshal started to talk back but Doran cut him off with a growl. Doran’s dark gaze forced the man to look down. Zulius let out a frustrated winnie as Doran led him towards the flames. He skirted the edges of the crumbling settlement, watching the flames lick away at the remains. His eyes caught on a particular house, where a burnt corpse had never made it out of the door before it had collapsed. They couldn’t have been older than fifteen before the wooden frame had impaled them. The look of horrified pain that stretched across the corpse’s face burned itself into the back of Doran’s mind. His hands started to shake but he forced a deep breath down his throat. The smell of burnt human flesh slithered its way up his nose, one that he was painfully accustomed to.

He continued his trot around, pausing as the fire died down enough to pass into the remains of the camp. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a runner. Their sprint was abruptly ended at the edge of the camp. An axe cleaved clean through their body. Doran suppressed a grimace. His steely gaze stayed locked on the center of the camp. Finally, he came to a stop. The smell of burnt skin clung to his senses. Bile rose up in his chest. Before him was what could only be described as a pile of flesh and bones. There were some faces in the mass, varying in age and race. Their empty eye sockets burned the image into his brain. For a moment, Doran stared. All was stillness, silence. Whatever flames remained seemed almost frozen in time. They roared louder than the pounding of his heart and burned more than the tears that threatened to break through his steeled gaze. Something moved in the pile that caught his gaze. Out pushed a kid covered in burnt viscera. He could not have been older than nine. The kid was relatively unharmed, though he was shaking. Tears cut lines through the viscera on his face. There was a grunt as a larger figure pushed out behind him. Doran’s stomach sank.

The one who pushed out behind him was a member of the opposing army. He was young, maybe sixteen, and went by the name of Riot. He was well known for going on a frenzy and slicing like a maniac through Doran’s family’s armies. Yet, in this moment was a crushing hopelessness that the kid failed to hide behind the rage in his eyes. He glared up at Doran. Doran had seen him fight in the past, watched him slice through his men. Yet, in that moment, he seemed so… small. Doran’s grip tightened around his lance.

“I thought you were taking care of it, General,” The hiss of his marshal made Doran jump.

He looked down at the marshal who stared up at him with crossed arms. There was a smirk on that bastard’s face. Doran growled, “I am. Go back to the men.”

“I’d rather watch this. Wouldn’t want to have to report a failure to your father.”

Doran’s fists turned white under his gauntlet from the strength of his grip, “So be it.”

His gaze turned back to the children before him. He lifted his lance, though sickness filled his stomach. Riot marched towards him, dragging a great sword behind him. Doran led Zulius back a few steps, then took a deep breath. He kicked Zulius into a charge, aiming his weapon. He felt it plunge into flesh far easier than it should have. Doran’s heart froze as Zulius took several steps before he slowed to a stop. His gaze slid to the end of his lance. There was the boy, the child who had crawled out of the meat pile. Doran’s hand began to shake as he tilted the lance down. Some part of him begged for the boy to breath, to not be bleeding out through his stomach. His face was set into a frozen, dark eyed gaze. Below him, the child was still, his eyes glazed over.

Doran slid his gaze back to Riot, who stared in shock. He had been pushed away by the kid. Doran instinctively lifted his lance as Riot sprinted towards him. Before the General could react, though, Riot had pushed past him. He fell to his knees beside the child, shaking him, “W-Wait! Wait no! Wake up!”

Doran led Zulius a step backwards, then turned to his lieutenant. The marshal smirked up at him, a gesture which Doran returned as a glare. He growled, “That’s enough. We’ve done enough.”

“What about-“

Doran pointed his lance at the marshal, “No. Call off the troops. We’re going back.”

The marshal snarled but turned around and stormed away. Doran’s lance grip loosened as the sick feeling welled up in his stomach. He turned back to Riot, who sat frozen over the body. For a moment, he just stared at the boy. Then he wrenched Zulius around and led him out of the camp. As he exited the camp, he felt vomit rise up and…

Doran lurched upwards. His eyes were wide and sweat slicked his brow. He half dragged, half stumbled himself over to the edge of the water. His entire body shook violent as vomit poured out of him and into the water. The smell of burnt flesh clung to his nose as he stared down at his reflection. The ink that stained his face seemed almost to be blood. Tears streaked down his face, mixing with the sweat. He squeezed his eyes shut, but the only image in his mind was the face of the child on his lance.

“Deep breath..” he whispered to himself, pushing against the rising panic in his chest. His breath was cut off as another bubble of puke tumbled out of him.

Doran sucked as deep a breath as he could. His gaze shot around the cove. Around him was the tents of Antione and Anawe. Out at the entrance of the cove was Mirka, staring out at the ocean. He clung to the edge of the rock, grateful that Mirka had not heard him awake. Another deep breath brought him enough strength to wipe the sweat from his face. He pulled his hand away, wincing at the sight of the ink. Given the darkness, it still appeared to be blood. Doran shook his head, then reached down to the water. Some part of him was thankful for its icy cold. He splashed it across his face, which helped reduce his shaking. Again, he splashed himself. Then a third time, causing his upper body to be thoroughly soaked.

He stumbled to his feet, gazing back at the sleeping form of Zulius. He sighed. There was no way in all the hells that he was going back to sleep. Doran forced himself to take one last deep breath. A smile plastered its way onto his face. He slid over to Mirka, hands hidden behind him due to their shaking. The massive man stopped beside Mirka, smiling, “H-Hey.”

Doran winced as his voice broke. He coughed a bit, then whispered again, “Hey. I’ll take watch now.”

Mirka gazed over, “Oh hey, thanks.”

The two exchanged a smile and Mirka tiptoed back inside. Doran watched them go back inside, then leaned on the wall. He slid down to sit, leaning his head back. His gaze stared up into the sky, watching the stars. It would be daylight within three or so hours, it seemed. The starlight seemed almost sickeningly familiar. He sighed and rubbed his face. It was going to be a long night.