#I disagree with some of the other examples of the kids immediately knowing something is a trap but THIS ISNT ONE OF THEM.

[counting-stars-gayly]

This might be a hot take, but I actually like that Percy figured out Luke was the traitor at the last minute. There were A LOT of clues that would’ve been hard to ignore, and he ignored them for as long as he could. And it’s clear that even after accusing Luke, he’s still surprised and heartbroken at Luke’s confirmation of his suspicions. He was holding out hope, guys!!

Also, the Betrayal Scene flows better as an exchange of dialogue and a swordfight than it did, in the books, as a monologue and a scorpion sting. This also leaves a bigger impact on the viewers and characters because it’s more emotional.

[matan4il]

@anon-e-has-a-tmblr asked regarding this post (that briefly referred to the UN's International Court of Justice's ruling):

Wait didnt the ICJ ruled FOR israel?? I dont understand any of this

That's a very good question. The answer is complex. On the surface, they ruled against Israel. The first part of their decision says Israel must immediately halt its military operations in Rafah, and since most people only read this first part, it was taken as a win by the Israel hating crowd. I don't follow every international news outlet out there, but from what I understand, that's pretty much how it was initially reported across the board. Here's an example from the BBC:

Then, the legal opinions of five of the trial's judges were published, including Aharon Barak's (the globally esteemed judge, former president of Israel's Supreme Court of Justice, and a kid Holocaust survivor... Someone who truly understands what a genocide is because he lived an actual one). Four of the five judges indicated that the ruling actually has a second part, where they mention that the military operations that that Israel must stop immediately in Rafah are limited to the ones which might lead to a genocide (the only judge to publish their opinion and disagree with this interpretation is the South African one. Pretend to be surprised).

In other words, the court didn't say, "Israel IS doing this thing, and therefore must stop," instead it said, "Israel must stop IF what it's doing could cause this thing." What the court ended up ruling is still kind of ambiguous when you try to translate it into practical rules on what is and isn't allowed, but it's probably the best that we could hope for, because it does allow military action in Rafah.

In other words, this is NOT the provisional measure South Africa was asking for, they wanted an immediate junction against any and ALL Israeli military operations in Rafah, and even in Gaza overall (they got neither), not a reference to this, but with an asterisk that allows Israel to continue operating there under certain conditions (though having to be even more cautious with any action that might be misinterpreted as contradicting said conditions). Given how politically biased against Israel the ICJ is, this absolutely can be taken as a win.

The issue is two fold.

First, since Israel is already pretty much already doing more than any other army to aid the civilian population under the rule of the enemy, if this is limiting us even more in having to demonstrate the crimes we're not committing (and think of how hard that actually is... how do you legally prove in-existence? If you had to prove you've never murdered anyone or had an intent to murder anyone, and had to do something beyond showing an arrest record clear of murder charges, how would you do that?) then how much military operational room do we have left to root out Hamas, and will it be enough to achieve our goals of destroying it and bringing back all of our hostages?

Second, and this is arguably the bigger one, is the optics of it. Because so many will only refer to the first part, and act as if the second part doesn't exist, that Israel's military operation in Rafah (you know, the city that Hamas just yesterday used to fire rockets from at central Israel, including Tel Aviv, in what was probably the first massive Hamas rocket attack since January on that area) does have to stop completely, and if we don't halt, then we're criminals. Just like some people used being Israel being to court as if it proves our fault (rather than wait for the required conviction to claim we're guilty), some will use the very fact this new provisional measure was issued to claim it's proof of our crimes, even though it's not.

In fact, I've already seen headlines reflecting how notoriously anti-Israel European Union senior Josep Borell is using this misinterpretation to pretend that Israel has to stop completely, or it's not complying with the court's ruling.

A full win for Israel would have been if the ICJ had ruled that there's no room for new provisional measures.

That was never going to happen with this biased court. Instead, the ICJ used the claim that things are deteriorating in Gaza to rule against Israel, even though it never found that it was Israel's fault that the situation is becoming worse (not to mention that they're basing the estimate of how the humanitarian, rather than military, situation is in Gaza is deteriorating on what Hamas is reporting. You know, the terrorists who are the actual culprits in using the Gazans as human shields, making things worse on purpose, for example through Hamas stealing the aid allowed in, and selling some of it back to Gazans at impossible prices).

So I hope this explains why, even though all things considered Israel got the best result it could at a biased court, it's still seen as a ruling against us, when everyone knows how it will be used (including the judges themselves. Listen to the American ICJ judge on this case, a month ago, already having to explain that the previous provisional measures were not a finding against Israel)...

(for all of my updates and ask replies regarding Israel, click here)

[crazylittlejester]

I'd absolutely love to hear what you have to say about Time 🙃 /gen

And, I hope you are feeling well. I think you said you were dizzy? I hope that gets better 🫶

I’m feeling much better, thank you!! I hope you’re going good as well :)

Sorry this took me a whole day to type out, but I finished!! I got it!!

I have a lot more thoughts, I had to cut a lot for the sake of making it readable and not obnoxiously long so I really hope I still get my points across well 😭 , but here we go:

An Abridged Version of My Thoughts on Time (I’m Insane I’m Sorry):

Okay so I’m starting off this whole thing by saying that 100% of this is my opinion and the research I did was done specifically to back my stance (which does not make it canonical fact. You can do research to back any point. You can do research to argue against my point, even). This doesn’t make my perspective or interpretation of a character the correct one by any means, and this definitely leans towards how I personally characterize and view him and is biased in that way because I’m the one who wrote it. All of you are entitled to your own opinions, you don’t have to agree with or listen to a single thing I say. In fact if you do disagree I encourage you to reblog and share your OWN thoughts so I can read YOUR perspective! I like seeing opinions people have and I love to see how differently all of us can view the same character /gen. I just that ask if you do do this, that you be kind and respectful to myself and others :)

This entire yap, analysis, whatever you wanna call it, is my perspective on Time and my thoughts behind why I believe he acts the way he does. At some point in all this I’m specifically going to focus on how he’s acting at the end of the Dawn arc and in the more recent updates. However in order to talk about that I wanna go to the beginning and talk about his past, the environment he grew up in, his relationships with others, and how I believe that has shaped the way he functions as an adult. My apologies now for being insane, unfortunately I have no life and also a lot of thoughts, and full access to a college library full of case studies- My professors would be so proud… Hope y’all enjoy lmao

Loneliness and Isolation:

One of the first things I noticed when I started playing OOT was this divide between Link and the Kokiri. Despite the fact that none of them know he’s actually a hylian, the bullying and teasing and the way they treat him for not having a fairy feels as though they’re making him to be different from them. Even Saria and the Great Deku Tree speak to/about him in ways that make it seem that, even though they care about him, they do see him as different from the others. (Granted, Saria’s treatment of Link is likely fully an unintentional thing. She doesn’t mean to be cruel when she makes her comment about how after Link got his fairy he could be a real Kokiri because she is a child and probably didn’t think about how that would come off to a kid who’s been arguably treated as less than for not having a fairy this entire time. She’s probably aware of how upset he’s been, but they’re children and I doubt she realized her attempt at comfort potentially made Time feel worse. The Great Deku Tree, on the other hand, referring to him as ‘the boy without a fairy’ immediately makes it clear to us as the player that Link is different from the Kokiri. He knows Link is hylian, which is something the player, Link, and the Kokiri do not know at this point)

Not having a fairy like the others certainly separates Time from the Kokiri because having a fairy companion appears to be a huge deal, something everyone has in common except for him. While it isn’t really on the same scale, I imagine this feeling of not having something your friends do could be, to an extent, comparable to how it would feel if all your peers had cell phones or social media access and you did not. (BAD EXAMPLE I KNOW BUT HEAR ME OUT.) The ability to consume media at such a fast pace and share jokes and trends with peers has become something to bond over, and being outside of that ‘world’ would leave someone to feel like they’re missing out on something they couldn’t possibly understand unless they get it for themselves. When your friends all have phones and you don’t, you have to sit there awkwardly when they all pull them out to text people or look things up, even if you’re doing something that doesn’t even require being on your phone, like going to the mall or hanging out. Sure they might show you a meme or two, but you can’t show them your memes, or share things and exist in the online world the way they do. Time could see and interact with the others’ fairies but he didn’t have that for himself, and I imagine it was probably hard for him to bond with the Kokiri because of it. Even if they were just playing a game or messing around and he wasn’t even being teased for not having a fairy of his own, those other fairies were right there as a constant reminder that Time didn’t have his own companion because he was, for a reason he couldn’t understand, different

Having played Skyward Sword and the beginning of Twilight Princess and seeing how both of those Links are treated by the people around them in comparison to how the Kokiri interact with Time, it feels safe to say there’s a good possibility he felt out of place and a little isolated by his own community. The way he was seemingly blamed for the death of the Great Deku Tree after finding out the life altering information that he is different probably did nothing but cause further divide between himself and the Kokiri in his mind, if not completely sever the connection he had between himself and that community

Do I think the Kokiri completely excluded him and intentionally tried to isolate him? No, I do not. However it’s clear that Saria was his best friend and the others weren’t always the nicest to him. It’s not too far a stretch to say he probably felt very lonely at times in his childhood, more so than the average kid

The theme of isolation and loneliness continues when the timeline shenanigans happen at the end of OOT and Time is now the only one who knows what happened to him. He has absolutely nothing to show for what he physically just went through and he can tell people about it all he wants but they’ll never understand because for them it simply never happened. Once again Time is isolated from this community he finds himself a part of because he’s different from them in a way they cannot relate to, driving a wedge between him and the rest of society. And Malon and Zelda are not people who would intentionally drive him further from feeling like he can belong, but they will forever be different from him in a way none of them now have the power to control. He formed relationships with them and with other people that were then erased. He knows a version of them that doesn’t exist anymore (in the timeline he continued to live in), and he’s alone in that. There IS no fix to that problem

Attachment Styles and Development

Relationships are crucial to child development and the connections formed when we’re young impact the way we create and view our relationships in adulthood. Peer relationships are just as important as parental ones because they play a different role. While your friends are the ones who have more of an impact on things like your music tastes, interests, and sense of identity/role within your group of peers, it’s your parents/caregivers who teach you right from wrong (often religion plays a part in that as well though not always), are responsible for feeding you and helping you learn new skills as a young child. Having a secure attachment and good relationship to caregivers when you’re young really impacts how you seek comfort as an adult and how you form relationships with others. Children whose parents or caregivers responded to their distress in unpredictable ways (by offering comfort sometimes and being unable to other at times, for an example) are less likely to seek out those figures for comfort or be soothed by them when the comfort is offered. I have no idea exactly how old Time was when he was placed with the Kokiri or what his mother was like, but I feel it’s fair to say the Great Deku Tree was probably the closest thing to a parental figure/caregiver (while he was living with the Kokiri) that he has any memory of. And I also feel it’s fair to say that as the stationary tree guardian of a bunch of immortal children, it was pretty impossible for him to support all of those kids’ emotional needs

Making this assumption based solely on Navi’s role in the story and what she does for us as players of the game: I feel like the fairy companions might almost be more of a parental/caregiver like figure to the Kokiri children than the Great Deku Tree is, simply because they’re able to be around them more. Navi helps Time (and the player) find things, gives clues, and helps the player with the game controls, so inside the actual game I think it’d be fair to say she (and other fairies) have more of a hands on role in guiding these children than the Great Deku Tree. And again, Time didn’t have that, not until his adventure started. He didn’t have a fairy companion while his friends and peers did, he was on his own. He wasn’t getting that potential comfort from a reliable caregiver the others were, which I believe can be partly responsible for how determined he is to solve his own issues. (Of course personality also has a play in things like this, and as we all know the hero’s spirit is incredibly fucking stubborn.) He was taught through the failures of the ‘adult’ figures in his life that the only one who’d be there to really comfort him was him

Identity and Relationships

Apart from feeling alone and not having the same types of companionship his peers did, I firmly believe Time seriously struggled with identity issues as well. Being told he wasn’t enough for the Master Sword yet, just to then be suddenly physically several years older and expected to operate as an adult despite having less than a decade of life experience, back to being shoved into the body of a child after living through horrors and accumulating scars that are now just gone doesn’t real make for the most confident, mentally stable of people. The message he most likely took from that was “You’re not enough as you are.”

He was a hero who saved a kingdom, then forgotten when everything was set back, and then abandoned by the one person (fairy) who went through it all with him after it was all done. If he’d felt alone or isolated in his youth before all that happened, I can’t imagine how overwhelming all those emotions were after all that. He needed Navi because she’s the only one who can really validate what he went through, she was the only one who could have understood him. She was a guardian and a friend and he couldn’t figure out why she left him, which must’ve just been absolutely devastating.

He was still just a kid, with no one to talk to about these issues. (Though he sort of works through some of them on his own through helping others in Majora’s Mask. Granted that left him with new issues even if it may have helped him work through a few old ones. I think there are quite a lot of similarities between Link and Skull Kid, but that’s a yap for another day.) I can imagine that both his identity and what he was supposed to do with himself were things he questioned constantly, and building relationships with people was probably very difficult for him when he hadn’t fully worked out himself. And he didn’t really have someone to comfort him or help him figure all that out

At a certain point, I think the feeling of being alone became almost a comfort to him. It was the most reliable thing he had, he could handle things on his own and that was something he knew for fact. He learned how to deal with his emotions and issues (maybe not in the healthiest of ways in his youth), and instead of being so suffocating, the isolation became something he could CONTROL. With all the instability throughout his childhood, the fact that he could reliably be on his own without dealing with the unpredictability of others was probably a relief. He didn’t have to worry about people leaving or getting hurt because he couldn’t protect them, but that didn’t really replace the feeling of loneliness so much as sloppily cover it up

Malon and the ranch are things that have been able to give him something he hadn’t had in years, which was stability and companionship. He’s been alone and isolated or dealing with loss his entire life, but she’s able to provide him with something steady, something safe to come back to. That’s been absolutely huge for him in regards to the healing process, because not only is it said in LU that she believes him completely, she’s literally his biggest supporter. And having a sturdy location and person to come back to at the end of whatever little trips he probably continued to go off to gave him comfort while still allowing him to keep that feeling of control over himself and his life. Sure not everything is perfect all the time and relationships are things that you have to put time, effort, and patience into, but he’s allowed to have his support and his much needed feeling of control over his life at the same time while living in that scenario. She loves him, she loves him very much and I have no doubt they worked together to get him to the place of comfort he’s at now. The panels from any of the ‘Malon’ posts are really the most relaxed we’ve seen Time for long stretches of time, it’s clear he’s been able to make a safe space for himself there

And now here’s the part where I actually talk about the recent comic update(s)!!!!!!!! (Yippee!!!)

Time is a very quiet, stoic character in LU especially when compared to the others, which are qualities that pull a lot from the hero’s shade. He’s the unofficial official leader, and he’s at a point in his life where he’s been able to work on himself and form healthy relationships (not perfect ones, but healthy ones built on communication which is clearly a struggle for him still but I cannot afford to get into that this post because that’s way too much. If y’all want a yap about that, ask me later). He puts a lot of stress and pressure onto himself, because he feels as though he’s responsible for these younger heroes, even though some of them have far more experience than he does

But in addition to this, he’s absolutely terrified of caring about people, and he’s not used to working with other people in this area of his life. Because no one sticks around, and if they do, what’s stopping the timeline from resetting somehow and taking their memory of him away? He no longer has the stability and comfort that comes with being alone because he’s forced to work with other people, other heroes who are equal to him in that regard, and people are unpredictable. And with unpredictability comes loss of control

Anger is an easier emotion for a child to process, and express themself through. This is why depression in children often manifests itself as anger. Children dealing with depression have a harder time managing and controlling their anger and can come off as snappier, inattentive, and reckless (obviously this is not the same case for every single child). While he certainly isn’t a child anymore in LU, I think Time is still someone who when overwhelmed is quick to anger, but this does not mean that he’s not kind. He’s incredibly kind and caring, and you can tell he loves everyone around him so deeply even though he’s probably a bit angry at himself for letting them all worm their way into his heart because he’s going to have to let them go some day. But still, some of that snappiness comes through even in his adult years and he’s a lot harsher with the others than I believe he intends to be. He’s not genuinely angry at them, he’s mad at the situation they’re in right now because he’s no longer responsible for just himself. He doesn’t have control anymore, and he’s probably back to feeling like a scared child who might be about to lose everyone again and he hates that

Twilight got hurt and he blames himself for it. He’s in an unfamiliar situation with people he cares a lot about who are all just as reckless and determined as he is, and he has absolutely no idea what to do with himself because in his mind if he lets something happen to one of these boys, that’s on him and he should’ve done better

Ough (A Continuation of ‘Isolation’)

In a way Time exists on a different level of the timeline. He retained memories of things that no longer exist, and he’s witnessed the rewritting of time over and over again. The timeline he was born in may no longer be the one he exists in, though it certainly branched from that original one. He has knowledge and memories of relationships that are real to only him in the timeline where he lives, and I would argue that because of this, he lives outside of society

Now this genuinely has nothing to do with anything I just wanna yap about something because The Voices, and it’s gonna be a fucking reach but if you’ve stayed this long you must find something appealing about my incoherent rambling so allow me to draw a genuinely insane comparison between Time and his existence in society and ‘The Lady of Shallot’, written in 1832 by a poet by the name of Alfred Tennyson. If you have no idea what this is, it’s incredibly short and easy to find with a quick google search, and I encourage you to read it. But for those of you who didn’t sign up for a poetry assignment today I’ll summarize

The Lady of Shallot is cursed to stay in a tower away from the rest of society and she’s unable to look upon Camelot with her own eyes, because something bad will happen if she does though she has no idea what. Day after day she creates these tapestries of what she sees of the society behind her through a mirror. She’s unable to look at it with her own eyes so what she creates is unable to perfectly reflect what it is the world has to offer. And she’s absolutely sick of it, she sees happy people wandering down below, knights riding through, she sees through her mirror what life is like for those within society and she wants to join them. She sees a beautiful man one day (Lancelot) and decides the curse is worth it, just for a chance to leave her tower, so she turns around and sees Camelot with her own eyes. She leaves her tower and goes to join society but by the time she gets there she’s dead

Now one of the meanings hidden within this is how artists are almost outside of society and that is how they are able to so accurately depict it, and that joining society and being ‘normal’ would make them unable to keep their unique perspective that isolation provides. But I’m going to be crazy here and draw parallels to a video game character because I CAN

Time exists outside of society and is isolated from every community he tries to be a part of because the differences between him and the Kokiri/normal hylian are so significant he feels like he doesn’t belong there. Despite having built his sense of identity back up, he still, to an extent, feels like an outsider. The things he’s been through separate him from being able to just be a normal guy, and he craves so badly to be part of a community he’s almost convinced himself he CANNOT join. The chain (and Malon, but mainly the other heroes) help him have something to connect to, because while they may not have the exact same experience they understand him more than anyone else ever could. He then tries to join society, something happens, and he dies a warrior full of regrets

Is it a reach? Yeah. But I like the poem and I can’t stop thinking about the parallels (that I’ve probably completely fucking made up at this point) every time I think too long about Time and it makes me claw at the dry wall and scream. I’m so normal…

Anyways, *weak cough* thanks for reading, if you did. It means a lot that you’ve supported my insanity. I hope this is coherent-

Thanks Emmie for reading through this for me 😭, and special shoutout to every single one of you who sent me asks yesterday to remind me to write this I love you all sm actually:

@trash-aged-like-fine-wine @rebornofstars @blueskybehindtheclouds @captainn-hook @ghosttoasts

[prodigal-explorer]

i dont exactly consider myself a pro-shipper but i am VERY anti-censorship. i hate all censorship. absolutely nothing in media should be censored whatsoever, the only exception being media that is marketed towards children because it should be up to parents/guardians/trusted adults to decide what media children are ready to consume.

but when it comes to adults? hell no.

“but but but it’s a problematic ship!!! 🥺”

there are problematic romances in real life. there are abusive relationships and sexual assaults in real life. we cope with these things by reading and writing about them and realizing that we are not alone, we are not crazy, we are going through something real. media is meant to connect people, and with the influx of social media, people don’t connect with each other anymore and censoring stories about sensitive topics purely because they’re problematic is severing that connection even more.

“but but but it’s pedophilia! 🥺”

i am a victim of pedophilia. i know many people who are also victims. again, if we don’t tell these stories, then there will be kids who have nothing to connect to who think that what they’re going through is normal or that it’s something only they will understand. it doesn’t normalize anything. if you read about pedophilia and your first thought is “okay great, now i can be a pedo because i read about pedophilia!” then it’s not the story or the author’s fault. it’s the pedo’s fault because they’ve always been a pedo. they were just looking for something to twist into justifying their actions.

and also the example i just described is something that absolutely NEVER happens. it’s something that antis made up so they could spread their censorship bullshit.

we should read stuff we disagree with. we should read stuff that is disgusting and messy and horrible if we want to. because those are all stories about the human experience. and if we censor one thing, what’s to stop people from censoring everything?

do you antis know about the wales padlock act? in america in the 1920’s until i believe the 50’s or 60’s, there was a LAW that stated that people could be ARRESTED if the media they created had any form of “obscenity” in it including nudity, pedophilia, and oh, you know what else? homosexuality. transgender characters. in fact, a play called god of vengeance by sholem asch was forcibly closed down and all actors and producers were arrested for “obscenity” because it described a beautiful and loving homosexual relationship between two young women.

do you see now? do you get why censorship sucks? you can’t just have some censorship. anybody can view anything as obscenity. bigots will turn ANYTHING into obscenity and lump it in with all the “problematic” stuff y’all want to censor. lgbtq+, interracial romance, etc. it could all be lumped in there and censored too.

i would rather have a few stories in the world that i disagree with or a few stories that make me uncomfortable than absolutely no stories that depict the human experience in a raw, unfiltered, uncensored way because when you censor art, it immediately severs all human connection that could have been formed from it.

so yeah. antis get the fuck off my page unless you want to change. i hate you and all the censorship bullshit you stand for.

[millie-mar]

think i’m in love with you

part 1

in which Eddie believes that gay men can be friends with straight guys without there being any subtext to their relationship. duh he’s got a friendship like that! well, had. guess he was proven wrong.

| 1k words | modern!steddie | bestfriends!steddie |

A lot of people believe that women and men cannot be friends. And before you disagree, let me give you this example.

It was my last year of highschool, and I became really good friends with Chrissy. Average height, blonde, on the thinner side as most cheerleaders are, but she stood out from them. She wasn’t homophobic for one, but there was an aura around her, that compelled you to be friends with her. She invited me over to watch Brokeback Mountain; she had a huge crush on Jake Gyllenhaal while I was jacking off to Heath Ledger almost every night. I’m not anymore. That afternoon, we went to hers straight away. She was still wearing the school’s cheerleading outfit, the green and white suited her nicely. She opened the front door which wasn’t even locked and to my surprise I heard voices inside.

“Your parents are here?” I whispered to her, stopping at the entrance.

“Yeah, but it’s fine. Don’t worry Eds.” She closed the door behind us with a loud thud.

“Chrissy? Honey is that you?” a female voice erupted from within the house, Chrissy’s mum, my guess was.

“Yeah. Eddie’s here, we’re gonna go upstairs,” Chrissy shouted back, grabbing my hand and taking me towards the stairs.

“Keep the door open at all times,” a male voice exclaimed, weary clear in his voice.

“He’s gay dad!” Chrissy sighed, rolling her eyes.

“Yeah, heard that before,” his tone shifted, this time he sounded tired.

Chrissy rolled her eyes once again, mumbling something under her breath.

However, with how the world’s started to progress now, and how people started to accept the queer community, this has changed a bit. Now, every time a gay guy befriends a man, people immediately assume they’re going out. And with the media internationally making stories about straight men ‘turning’ gay, let’s say some like to butt their noses into others business. But gay men can be friends with straight guys without any kind of subtext to their relationship.

“I think I’m in love with you!” are the first words I hear from my best friend, Steve Harrington, the straightest man I know. And I think to myself.

“Fuck.”

“What?” Steve’s puppy eyes catch me off guard. Shit I said that out loud.

“Uhh what are you saying Harrington.” I let him in and just now I realise the guy is drenched, the rain chasing him as I close the door behind him.

“I- I’ve been doing a lot of thinking, and that was just… I think I’m in love with you.” he stutters horribly, which is unusual for Steve. I squint my eyes at him.

“Man, we’ve been friends for the twenty hears that we’ve been alive. You’ve seen my dick more times than any guy I’ve been with. If you were in love with me I would have realised.” I laugh it off, not meeting his gaze as I pick up a pillow off the floor and throw it on the couch. But I can feel his eyes boring into my head.

“Eddie, I’m not kidding.” His voice is stern, confident all of a sudden. I turn to look at him and fuck, am I in trouble. I have to admit, I have always thought Steve is beautiful, hot and everything in between, but nothing more than that. Never really had the hots for him. But fuck me, the way his eyes have darkened, brows slightly furrowed, his pinkish lips closed in a tight line. He’s angry and I’ll be lying if I said that wasn’t turning me on. What the fuck?

I grab his hand and pull him towards the door with a ‘you come in you’re dead’ sign, the door to my room. I push him in, slamming the door behind us and leaning on its surface, my head down, curls covering my vision.

“Prove it,” I say, my voice cracking slightly at the words that escaped my mouth. What am I saying?

I can’t see Steve’s face, but I’m waiting for him to tell me it’s some stupid joke, so we can laugh about it in ten years time when he’s happily married with little Harringtons running around and screaming. He’d have some high position job at a company, maybe he’d be a CEO, and we’ll keep in touch, barely but we will. He’ll tell me about another happy year with his wife, while I’ll tell him about another couple week relationship of mine that failed because the guy was either secretly married or fucking other people.

I’m so focused on my own spiralling thoughts that I just now come to my senses when I feel huge hands cupping my cheeks. Steve is now standing right in front of me, the tips of his white sneakers touching with the tips of my black combat boots. He brings my face up to meet him eye to eye. The brown of his eyes so much lighter than earlier in the apartment’s living area. So warm, the intensity of his stare is making me feel all giddy inside. His eyes shift between mine and my lips, he flutters them closed and kisses me. The softness of his lips is reflected in how softly he’s pressed them to mine. A little reluctant, or maybe just affectionate. I wouldn’t know, all the guys always kissed me with such fervour, this is a nice change. The initial shock passes and I fist his yellow shirt to bring him closer to me, our chests closer together. My lips move on their own, returning the kiss before I can think about it further, as if on instinct. Usually I’m more composed, I don’t let the moment get to me, so why? Why today? And why with him?

Part 2 ->

[waeirfaahl]

An attractive replica, but it pales to the original

There always was something wrong with how 5 season shows the scenes from the original seasons. In this case I'll discuss about how 5 season butchered the scene from the classic seasons. Specifically, from 1 episode of 1 season. It is the embodiment of how the authors have no idea, what made the original so good, as well as this moment demonstrates total absence of any respect to the original. From the authors, who many years ago worked on the original...

Just compare the "You might have beaten me now, but I'll destroy you in the future!" sequence — the classic show "made for kids" presented the scene more serious, logical and with tension and atmosphere, the presentation of the scene and the animation are much better, stylish and rich. Not to mention awesome voice performances by Phil LaMarr and Mako, who nailed both the emotions and the otherworldly nature. You feel confidence of Jack and how he's ready to make the final blow, to pierce Aku in his chest. You feel Aku and how he is exhausted and weak and in danger of either death or imprisoning, and how he still holds his ground and doesn't show any fear or panick, Aku stays calm, fierce and magnificent even being defeated, he already despises "the son of the fool, who brought him into this world, but rejected and imprisoned", but still stays with some kind of dignity. Also the sound design, the music (not only the vibration, but also the sound, similar to either bell or clock mechanism), ambient and various sounds like the wind and (presumably Aku's) heart-beating and silence. This sequence is nailed as adult and seriously with respect. In the "show for kids", how Tartakovsky claims.

In 5 season, i.e. in "the show for adults" this same sequence looks like an insulting parody, which tries to replicate the "pathos and simple show for kids". I mean, it looks painful for eyes due to extremely bright colors, claustrophobic presentation, cheap image and animation. Poor and more comedy-like sound design, no nuances, no interesting and elegant animation, and very bad voice acting. You don't feel that the threat, you don't feel the characters, it seems that they play on the stage, not live. They also sound as some old friends, who know each other many years and just make "fight for fun" (what makes zero sense, because that happens in the beginning and their first encounter).

And, well, the version of 5 season not only shows no respect toward the classic seasons, but also makes things dumber. The brightest example is "I disagree!" scene, because it unintentionally raises questions. First of all, look at Aku, his mannerisms, his facial expressions and how he uses the spell for opening the time portal. In the classic episode Aku, despite wounds and exhaust and the threat of either death or imprisoning, seems to accept his fate and at the same time he stays calm and magnificent and he waits for the right moment, when he can make the sudden and unexpected attack,

Aku is unpredictable and smart creature, he doesn't show to Jack even a tiny bit of some cunning idea that came to his mind. The same thing with Jack and his reaction at Aku's spell — the white rings fly to Jack pretty quickly and at the same time (i.e. all together), Jack focuses on them, Jack wasn't able to figure anything out in time, so that's why Aku's trick worked and saved him from Jack and the sword.

What in 5 season? Aku literally smiles to Jack and cunningly looks at him during this line. Like, then why Jack didn't realize immediately that Aku prepares for him some trick?!

Moreover, in 5 season these white rings fly very slow and one by one. So, why Jack didn't dodge them?! He could jump away from them and attack Aku again!

It is astounding to me, how in their "adult sequel" the authors ignore subtle yet important details that make the characters and the events with them great in "old show for kids"!

[vorecommunitywoes]

if tinysuzy didnt block me u guys would have seen this earlier lol

more under the cut

pineapple, the red paste comment was literally on something u posted tht she reblogged. this is violent rhetoric that should never be encouraged. if you have a friend who talks about how they want to harm people who disagree with them, that is dangerous. you know those posts that talk about how you should never talk negatively about yourself because then you become more negative in general and hurt your self worth, especially if youre prone to things like depression and anxiety? thats the same logic here. if you express violent thoughts without any thought or care, or with a tone of genuinely wanting to do it, you are one step closer to being a violent person.

the admitting to reblogging blogs with nsfw on them (THE PERSON TINYSUZY IS TALKING ABOUT PROMOTES THEIR NSFW ON THEIR BLOG WITH MULTIPLE POSTS) because "minors can tell the difference between sfw and nsfw vore" when the line for kinks like vore are blurry. just bcuz theres no dicks in the art or other stuff doesnt mean that its ok for a minor to see. maybe the op intended it to be sexual and just isnt tagging it as nsfw because of the lack of genitals. if you post nsfw fetishes, and then post ab them with no mentions of genitals, that doesnt mean its immediately sfw.

and i am not "accusing things out of your control", suzy. YOU control what you post. YOU control what you reblog. YOU control your ability to do the bare minimum of checking if youre talking to someone who DOESNT WANT YOU TO TALK TO THEM because their content is SEXUAL. and they dont want your CHILDREN FOLLOWING to see their porn. THIS IS INHERENTLY ENDANGERING MINORS YOU SO WISH TO "PROTECT". that should NOT be the baseline of a "well respected person" in a fetish community.

would someone who posts about their feet fetish, or diapers, or pee or masochism/sadism fetishes to minors be ok if it was completely nonsexual? and if they reblog from ppl who post both sexual and nonsexual feet/pee/diaper posts for kids to see be ok? think about it. ppl can experience those kinks nonsexually, would it be ok for them to talk about minors to it? why or why not?

also i literally have evidence of her reblogging from nsfw ppl who didnt want their stuff to be seen to minors, its in my first post. there are screenshots and an archive link. her ignoring these ppls sexual boundaries is DANGEROUS. if you just took a look you would see it , and there are multiple ppl who agree with the ARCHIVED LINKS THAT CANT BE DELETED BY HER. (if u dont know what archiving links are, it means preserving a page forever and even if someone deletes the post it will still be on the internet and searchable). i dont know if you accidentally missed the "read more" part of the post, but you can click on that and it shows:

an archive link of the post (a screenshot that a bot takes and uploads what it sees when the page is loaded. i couldnt archive the page as a webpage for some reason but this is the second best thing)

and a screenshot of the person she reblogged from either saying their content is sexual or they dont want minors seeing it.

also like. cmon. thats an ableist comment, pineapple. dont do that, insulting people based off of characteristics they cant change (like someones intelligence, appearance, gender identity, race, or stuff like calling someone ugly or a slur, etc) hurts your friends more than it will ever hurt the person ur insulting. dont internalize behavior like that, criticize the actions, not the traits a person has.

and to clarify i dont blame anyone for not getting involved in this. i just wanted to spread a message about a very clear example of how easy it can be to expose minors to porn in this community, even if you dont intent it IT STILL HAPPENS.

[aaaaamorphous-entity]

You when you see something representative of a larger problem in politics: damn it's just like those bitches who refuse to jork it to incest

Wow this is laughably Reddit-toned. Anyways I doubt you're the kind of person to engage in good faith, but I'm going to piggy back off your ask to clarify for anyone who might listen:

I assume you mean my tags on this post, which. First of all, I am the exact person those brain-rotted 'anti-woke' people would despise in a game. I'm queer in a variety of flavors, so I'm not someone detached from the 'larger problem in politics' that you're implying I'm not aware of or concerned with.

Secondly, claiming being pro-ship is just 'people who jork it to incest' is entirely reductive, untrue, and flat. It's boiling people you disagree with down to one morally objectionable tagline so you can quickly and easily categorize them as 'those bad people we can shun'.

I wonder where we've seen that move before. (Conservatives. It's how conservatives talk about queer people.)

Pro-ship is more primarily anti-censorship. It's 'live and let live', or 'your kink is not my kink/your ship is not my ship', and so on. And I know some are immediately jumping to argue that shipping incest or writing kids in sexual situations and so on is morally reprehensible and indefensible.

This is a conversation that can be had, and has been had by many people in much more eloquent ways than me. But that is not the conversation of this post.

The conversation of this post is the implication that likening antis to conservative queerphobic rhetoric is nonsensical, when, as I just pointed out a couple paragraphs ago, they use the same playbook.

They start with something that most people can nod to. "Incest is bad", for example*. Then they move the goalposts. Skipping a few steps for brevity, it goes from "Incest is bad (fandom)" to "Problematic ships are bad" or irl, "incest is bad" to "the gays are incestuous and thus, bad".

Noting that a 'problematic ship' might not even include incest, but someone might spin it with a tone of outrage that it's ~incest adjacent~ enough to be 'bad' (I'm looking at you, ppl who clutch their pearls about HS Jane/Jake). And of course with the irl example, it always starts with 'X morally objectionable thing is bad. This group of people we're biased against Tootaally does X morally objectionable thing, trust us, so THEY'RE all bad too'.

(*although fictional incest frankly harms no one and this also ties into the conservative talking points of 'if you read about something morally objectionable, you'll think it's okay in real life'. Which, if you're that easy to sway into doing deplorable acts, it really is not the fiction that's the problem.)

All of this to say: When I said that antis have the same tone as the anti-woke brainrotted people who make lists about 'woke' games that you can't touch because it contains ~woke~ (or in anti language, ~problematic~) content, I meant it.

Y'all sound the exact same, except one crowd is overt and the other hides behind much more pretty language and obfuscated talking points.

Because antis don't just go 'I don't like ppl who write incest' and shit, they start going "if you write unhealthy relationships between people of any age, you're a bad person", and then "if you write kink, you're a pervert and a bad person", and then "you shouldn't write anything with queer people", and then it's "we shouldn't allow any of this on our platforms", and then LiveJournal gets Thanos-snapped and guess what? All of the content on those sites, whether you consider it 'good' or 'bad', vanishes and everybody loses.

It all circles back around to puritanical policing of other people, because so often anti spaces will escalate from what sounds reasonable (even though again: writing fucked up things in fiction is NOT actually harmful to anyone in the real world), towards more and more controlling and harmful narratives that feel justified when you're immersed in it.

And then you end up in a queer person's inbox implying they aren't aware of how bad anti-queer conservative politics are 🙃

[warrioreowynofrohan]

literally going to hell for this but whatever, i've just finished reading silmarillion last week and honestly, you've put into words what ive been thinking about finwe and his actions. i remember going 'what' everytime i see people's posts and fics about indis and her children because its such a far cry from the books themselves. like did the fandom also suffer from the fanon vs canon thingy?

Hi! Welcome to the fandom!

I don’t think you’re at all alone in your reaction to Finwë - I think he rubs most people the wrong way for a whole gamut of reasons. He seems to ge trying to have things both ways, and as a consequence ends up failing everyone - both sides of his family, and his people as well.

It’s a big fandom and there are plenty of different perspectives, but yes, on the whole, large parts of both both tumblr and AO3 have some serious issues distinguishing between fanon and canon when it comes to the Fëanoreans, and any characters who dare disagree with, oppose, or be harmed by the Fëanoreans. The former will be treated as justified in everything; the latter will be villainized. Elwing was a major target in the past, but that’s abated to a degree; Thingol still is, to the point where I’ve seen people say they hate him for [insert things that are made up entirely and the opposite of his canon actions] and largely ignore his canon portrayal, and act as if the text is behind them. (Guys, he’s got enough of his own flaws, there’s no need to invent new ones out of thin air!) Beren, Lúthien, Dior, Nimloth, Elwing, Eärendil - people will act like they’re in the wrong for having been subjected, variously, to attempted murder, attempted rape, and actual murder by the Fëanoreans. I haven’t run into a lot of stuff villainizing Indis and her children, but I have seen a few fanfics of that sort and they always make me hit the back button immediately.

For these reasons, I’ve ended up as pretty selective about what fanfic I read, because the character distortion in a large part of it is extreme. Apparently it used to be worse in the past; Elwing-hatred is a minority now on tumblr, it seems like, whereas years ago it was pervasive. There are still piles of older fanfics (and some new ones too) that treat Elwing as being obviously to blame for the Fëanoreans choosing to massacre her people, take her sons captive, and drive her to suicidal despair - and, worse, treat Elrond has having this perspective.

I suspect that some of this is coming from some very big, very popular older fanfics that created an image of the story and characters that is frequently confused with canon, and that a lot of people used as a jumping-off point.

Another element in fanon vs canon question is that there’s also a pile of in-between stuff: material that comes from Tolkien’s marginalia and other drafts that isn’t in the Silmarillion. Some very popular fandom stuff - though not the non-Fëanorean-character bashing - comes from there. (For example, Maedhros’ hair being red and him being attractive, and literally having a name that means ‘good-looking’, are some of the most widely-known things in fandom despite never being mentioned in the Silm, as some of Tolkien’s notes mentioned them. The main characters’ Quenya names - Maitimo or Nelyafinwë or Russandol rather than Maedhros, Makalaurë rather than Maglor, etc - are also from there, and you’ll see them all over the place. I wasn’t aware of any of that before I joined the fandom, but but within fandom it’s everywhere.) So it’s hard, sometimes, to know whether something is a widespread piece of fanon, or something from other books. This also plays into the Finwë situation, because one of the things that vary between versions is whether he remarried almost right away, while Fëanor was still a kid, or whether he remarried when Fëanor was an adult. Christopher Tolkien chose the material for the Silmarillion in order to have a coherent story - so, for example, some characters (for example, two daughters of Finwë and Indis) who existed in parts of some drafts but not in others are left out of the Silm, because it wouldn’t work to have them disappearing halfway through the story.

So that all adds into the issues because if people want to villainize one character or build up another one, they’ll go to different drafts and pull out all the most negative things about one character and all the positive things they can find about another.

There’s still a lot of good stuff in fandom, and a lot of good fic, and on the whole I’ve enjoyed things hugely (I started reading fanfic around 2018-2019 and joined tumblr fandom in 2020, so I’m comparatively new). And there is a lot of interesting stuff about the Fëanoreans - but it can sometimes tend to drown out - or at worst, shout down - fan material on other characters.

[kira-quartz]

7, 19 and 30 for carryshipping? 💖

OTP Questions

*distant squeeing*

CARRYSHIPPING LET’S GOOO

Thank you! 😁😁

7: Which one constantly wears the other’s clothes?

Well, they all borrow things from each other, but Joey definitely does it the most. He’ll casually steal pretty much any item of clothing Tristan leaves lying around, and sometimes when he wakes up in the morning and his brain hasn’t quite activated yet, he’ll just grab something and not even notice whose it is at first. Tristan pretends to be mildly annoyed, but he doesn’t actually mind.

Speaking of Tristan, he’ll sometimes wear one of Joey’s t-shirts if he doesn’t plan to leave the house that day. They more or less fit, since Joey usually buys a size or two larger than he needs - partly because it’s comfortable, partly because when he was younger (this is all post-canon), he needed to make sure any new clothes he bought would last a few years before he outgrew them, and it just stuck.

And Ryo, as the smallest of the three, has no shortage of big, comfy jackets and hoodies to borrow in colder weather. That green hoodie Tristan wears in a few S2/S4 episodes is a favourite of his.

19: How good would your OTP/3 be at parenting?

Hmm. 🤔 Pretty good, I think. All three of them have parental issues of some kind - Ryo with his distant father* (which wasn’t really his fault, but it still hurt), Tristan with his stern one, and Joey with his whole situation - so they’d make a conscious effort to do better with their kids.

*I HC that he survived the Ring incident, because look what happened to the last cornflake who tried it on.

(More below the cut - I really had to think about this one, so it might be messy, sorry. ^^;)

Joey would be kind of anxious at first - making a mistake in a Duel is one thing, but this is a small human he’s dealing with - but while might not always know exactly what to do, he has a pretty good idea of what not to do, and he slowly gets the hang of it. He’d join in with their games whenever he gets the chance, take their feelings seriously and be open about how much he loves them and how proud he is of them. Even with the effort he’ll have put into learning to control himself, he might still occasionally say things without thinking, but will always, always make sure to clear things up and apologise when he needs to.

(Oh, and I forgot to mention the dad jokes. So many dad jokes.)

After spending most of his childhood taking care of himself and most of his immediate family, he wouldn’t want to give the kids too many responsibilities too early. He wouldn’t even make a big deal about chores getting done (that’s Tristan’s department), at least until someone, for example, nearly breaks their neck tripping over a toy or something that was left lying around. He would want them to make an effort at school, but he wouldn’t punish them for not doing well, especially considering how much he used to struggle with his schoolwork.

Tristan would have the firmest approach to parenting, but still a bit more relaxed than his own parents. He’s still on okay terms with them (especially his mum), so he’d at least take their advice into consideration. This means he and Joey might disagree on the best course of action when a problem comes up, but they’d do their best to work something out; in another room, if they have to, often with Ryo offering his opinion too, since all three of them would have promised not to fight in front of the kids (Joey’s idea). But it does NOT mean he wouldn’t get all emotional over certain milestones - I mean, we saw him crying at his high school graduation, imagine him at theirs. 🥹

He still remembers how his parents used to act towards Joey years ago - admittedly, he was a pretty bad influence back then, but he had his reasons - so while he’d naturally be protective of his kids (sometimes slightly overprotective), he wouldn’t be as quick to judge any friends they invite over in case they’re in a similar situation, and if that does turn out to be the case, he, Joey and Ryo will let them come over whenever they need to, giving them a safe place to go and three more adults they can trust.

He’d *want* to encourage them to follow their dreams instead of trying to pressure them into a specific career like his dad did. Some choices might put that to the test, but he’d still try to support them as long as they’ve thought about it properly - if they made any big impulsive decisions that they could theoretically act on in the near future, he’d intervene.

Ryo would be so gentle and patient with the kids, rarely (if ever) raising his voice towards them unless it’s absolutely necessary. Not wanting them to feel neglected like he did, he’d give them heaps of attention, to the point where Joey and Tristan would occasionally need to reassure him that it’s okay to make time for himself sometimes. He gets better about this over time, though, and he’ll understand if they want to be left alone for a while. I think he’s a pretty understanding cornflake in general. ^-^

I can see him wanting to shelter them a little bit too much as they get older, partly as an extension of his unfortunate habit of not telling people things to keep them from worrying, and partly out of fear of losing anyone else; BUT I can also see him wanting them to be prepared in case something actually does happen, and explaining difficult topics to them in a really sensitive way. I’ll have to think about it. 🤔

He’d look forward to seeing his kids discover who they are, and it’d be important to him that they don’t feel pressured to hide or change their interests and values as long as they’re not hurting anyone.

As for 30, I said I couldn’t really answer that one (too much research involved, ^^;), so you can pick another one if you want. I think Tristan would take the most photos though, mostly because Sim!Tristan somehow ended up with the highest photography skill. XD

Sorry for the wait! My dad gave me his old computer for Simming (it has four times as much memory, and it’s worked wonders for my loading times, not to mention how smoothly it actually runs! 😁), so I’ve been redownloading all my CC, since I heard that you can’t transfer mod files directly from a Mac to a PC without corruption. Now I’m just checking for stuff I’ve missed (as far as I know, none of my YGO Sims made it to the new computer with all their CC except Valon, XD), and I’m pretty sure I’ve got most of the important stuff, so my game’s pretty much ready to play. :D

Thanks again for asking!

[angeltreasure]

Cecilia here, got a bit of a of a funk going on lately. I'm exhausted as of late no matter how I sleep, I've been able to follow my Lent fasting/abstaining but I'm getting irritable, joints and back aching from my job, choir practice didn't go well tonight and someone was making jokes about me singing badly when they were the one talking and thus I couldn't hear my section, weird distractions during Mass the other day where I kept getting intrusive thoughts about if my brother and his gf had a kid I'd adopt it since I'm sure they'd have an abortion otherwise, and my period hasn't come yet (It's late by like half a week) I don't know if Satan's trying to mess with my vocation searching or if I'm doing something wrong or if I'm just not handling this Lent well, but I just feel like I'm in a bit of a haze this whole week. I know I'm making good progress cause I'm doing what I can and praying about it, but at the same time it feels like roadblocks are getting in the way and I'm not sure if it'd be God Satan or just myself. Sorry if I'm rambling or infodumping, it's just been rough as of late. Pray for me please. Hope you're doing well and God Bless.

I know exactly what you mean. When I feel stressed, no matter how much sleep I get I can feel exhausted and painful. Then my insomnia kicks in with racing thoughts and restlessness. Our minds as humans have a tendency to be very vivid especially as problem solvers. It may explain the intrusive thoughts to some degree, but with practice you can immediately switch the thought you don’t want, to something good and true. Satan freely walks this earth as it’s prince and as the former most powerful angel he was very smart so he knows just what little words to say that can upset you and even horrible intrusive thoughts that we would never want to imagine. Some here may disagree with me, but the spiritual battle is real no matter what vocation we are in and that’s a fact. The closer we grow towards God, the more the enemy attacks. We can fight the battle in our mind as well as with prayer and fasting (I always picture the Eucharist Adoration monstrance and host close up). Although it is of course not good to obsess over every intrusive thought, gently observe now and then the content. God can reveal things to us in our thoughts too. He can reveal something that will happen and even let you read the heart of a person. It may be a good to look into pro life resources and how your state or country does for adoption, that way if that scenario does happen, you will at least be bit informed. “Pray, hope, and don’t worry.”- my favorite by St. Padre Pio. There will be good days and bad. Take each day as a little baby step. Sometimes the bad days we have are teaching moments we can look back on and improve ourselves from like oh okay I’m not going to do that next time or, I felt better when I did this instead of that. Offer up any worry you have to God as part of your Lenten penance. I will pray for you! No worries this is what I’m here for. Thank you may God bless you as well. Remember thar onI’m going to teach you what my priest said at the last mass.

When you have negative intrusive thoughts about yourself or a situation, pray for example: “In the name of Jesus, I reject the idea that I am not worthy as a singer…” immediately after, pray: “In the name of Jesus, I claim the fact that I am beloved child of God and that my gift from God to sing helps bring people closer to Him.”

[lorddeathofmurdermountain]

This is really interesting.

In Croatian, it's also customary to say hi. When I enter a store, for instance, I'll toss out a "Good morning / day / evening" to the clerk without even consciously realizing it, and unless they're really busy (and sometimes even then) they'll return it. Obviously, you're not gonna always say hi to everyone, and it depends on how physically close you are, but if you're passing right next to someone so long as it isn't just random people on the street it's normal to greet them. Nobody is gonna be cross with you if you don't but in some cases it might be seen as weird or mildly unpleasant... Maybe. I've literally never actually not greeted someone when it's expected of me to.

As a kid I even used to greet EVERYONE I came across, since our town was small enough for it usually. This stemmed from the idea that it's considered polite to greet certain types of people, such as those sufficiently older than yourself, or the clergy - but even then it varies greatly from my small home town in the north and the big city further south, along the coast, where I now live, where people sometimes look at me funny if I just randomly greet them in the street; even a nun looked at me strangely when I said "Hvaljen Isus" (shortform for "Hvaljen Isus i Marija", or "Hail Jesus and Mary", the proper way to greet the clergy)! I was so fuckin shocked. People... didn't like me being polite???

Another funny thing I've recalled thanks to the Polish example is about asking stuff. I don't really ever come across people being roundabout in asking things. I don't know if it would be rude, so much as just... Stupid. A simple "Sorry, where is-" is fine. Maybe even "Sorry, tell me, where is-" but going "Sorry, could you please tell me" is excessive and frankly a mouthful. Sounds a bit weird when I literally translate it. "Oprostite, biste li mi molim vas mogli reći"... Yeah. Totally unwieldy. Yuck. You could also address the other person with a third person plural "you", which is seen as polite, though trying to put that into perspective for an English speaking person is a bit tough. It's... Kind of like using "sir" or "madam", but nothing quite as serious, since we do have our own equivalents in "gospodine" and "gospođo". Germans would be much more familiar with the idea considering their use of the word Sie, which is usually a third person singular for female things, which is when capitalized used as a formal "you" instead, actually kind of like how you could send a letter with a capitalized You for respect but with this you can also verbally convey the idea without resorting to words like sir or madam out of necessity.

Ugh. That was a bit too rambly. But yeah, there's all sorts of examples. Like how Italians as well as people living on the coast here, and Slovenians too, like to kiss cheeks as a greeting, which feels much too intimate for me personally but I put up with it. Or how in certain areas, primarily rural ones back home (and likely here too) as well as smaller towns, it's seen as polite to offer alcohol to guests immediately - preferably home make and preferably either wine or something strong like rakija (aka schnapps aka a sort of brandy). Big city folk don't seem to like the idea as much and prefer to offer coffee and juice instead.

Hell, there's even funny examples like how Bosnians will absolutely insist that a burek is only burek if it has cheese filling, calling everything else a pie. They get angry if you order a "meat burek" despite the fact that literally everyone else, including the people they got the food from originally, the Turks, disagrees and sees it as strange, in a "How did you even come to think that" sort of way. Well, it's more of a stereotype than something ALL Bosnians believe in, but it exists for a reason, no?

Natalie Portman being confused by the fact that you have to say “hi” to someone before starting a conversation in France got me like ?????

[thanakite]

I honestly have a fairly good memory all things considered, especially my long term memory, something which I do my best not to lord over others, but I do run into one issue that tends to be extremely frustrating

My family acknowledges that my memory is the best in the immediate family and gets compared to the other more distant family members who also have good memories, except when they disagree with me, then suddenly they are really on me about how you can't trust memory and they don't acknowledge my memory is typically correct, and will keep picking at me over this, which then requires that I find some way to defend myself (looking it up if possible, but otherwise I only can confirm what I remember with someone else who was there, which isn't always easy)

A fairly easy example of this was my younger sister's second grade teacher

Now, to be clear this teacher also taught my older sister and I for second grade too, so to me there's already some pretty firm info I have in my head about her

The problem? My younger and older sister and I were talking about that one day and they BOTH were utterly insistent that my younger sister actually had this teacher for third grade not second

Now this probably could have just been some small blow off thing, but they kept insisting they were right and when I tried to defend myself they acted like I was the problem there for not just shutting up and taking it

Finally, I got a chance to check with our mom who was a stay at home mom when we were kids and was pretty involved, plus her memory might not be amazing but it's better than my dad and younger sister

As I of course expected, I was right, she had this teacher for second grade, but when I then let them know that I had checked with mom it became all about how "[I] always have to be right!" Which I don't think is a fair assessment, as if I had been wrong I would have said sorry and likely would have spent time trying to figure out why I misremembered that, but because I wanted to confirm what I remembered and then let them know somehow I was the bad guy

Now, things like this aren't exactly common but they also aren't exactly uncommon either, and it is always very frustrating to me, because to me my memory is typically pretty clear and when it isn't I say as much, so to have these clear memories questioned is relatively stressful because it makes me worry about the accuracy of what I consider clear memories, and while I know memory is fallible I also admit when I even think that might be the case so to have something I'm pretty confident about questioned makes it harder to trust my memory when I NEED to do so at times

[glorioustidalwavedefendor]

someone disagreed with me and then deleted the comment ... but since I alredy crafted an answer ...

The courting rituals of pigeons (…) tend to repeat the same patterns

I have to say that a limited vocabulary will not keep you from making your wishes known if people are willing to listen …

Doesn‘t mean you‘ll get what you want … but not because no one knows … Dream big you little feather ball, one day you‘ll get what you want … XD

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/style/wp/2018/07/23/feature/the-crane-who-fell-in-love-with-a-human/

the social hierarchies of other primates tend to repeat the same patterns. Their rules are unspoken because they don't need to discuss the exact details of their own specific, unique situations.

O contrair my friend

They are very much not unspoken, they are very much learned

O.K. fine they don‘t teach it with words, but they do have to teach their kids

I still remember this lecture on … neurology? The professors speciality was primates, baboons to be exact. And he used them as examples

One examples was where this tiny little baboon toddler, was starting to crawl towards that other little baboon toddler and her mom immediately pulled her back.

Because, no, not that one, you do not speak to that one unless spoken to, that is the daughter of the alpha

Or have you ever seen a calve play with a kid (as in Baby goat)?

How the kid will run full force at the calve (because bumping heads is fun for kids) and then stop an inch before the calve and so so gently bump it‘s head n to the calve?

And the calve bumps back. Despite the fact that for a calve that is not really play behavior?

Trust me, there was some negotiation going down before that.

Yes animals don't speak, but they do communicate rather complex ideas via body language …

Or how a cat can get a whole household of grown ups to go to bed at 9 o‘clock in the evening, through suborn negotiation …

It‘s not just stubborn mechanical repetition

working/living together in an infinitely complex world needs communication … because no amount of rigorous weeding via evolution not taking prisoners will prepare a bee for a screw cap …

Show me a chimpanzee riding another chimpanzee like a dressage horse.

I will not even attempt that XD

because:

a) not sure where to get that, google will not even show you dolphin nipples …

b) not sure what counts as „riding like a dressage horse“ in your book. Like is it only proof if they wear tiny little harnesses? Then I will definitely not be able to provide XD

c) relatively sure now that I think about it that you can see something like that behind a paywall …

d) also even if I did find something it would 1) ruin my search history and 2) I couldn‘t post it because tumblr is very boring about certain things …

But I do know that Bonobos understand enough about reproduction to have more queer then straight sex, to minimize offspring … not out of the question that they also have kinks …

[lonely-lost-soul]

Poff Poff

(Platonic C!Schlatt x Niece Reader)

Request 7: Can I request an Uncle Jschlatt and Niece reader? (Platonic ye) maybe Jschlatt could be out taking his niece to a late-night convenience store so they could late-night snack because both he and his niece had a bad day?

Requested by: Anonymous

AU where Puffy is Schlatt’s sister :)

~~~

Schlatt had, had a rough day, to say the least. He once again almost got banned for another scheme gone wrong. His election plans were set in motion but due to the statistics, it looked like he was losing and he was pissed off beyond belief. He had no plans for the rest of the day, all he wanted to do was relax with a drink and a cigarette, maybe watch a movie, just something to help him through the rest of this shitty ass day.

So, When Puffy had shown up on his doorstep and dropped you off to watch you while she went out his immediate response was no. He already smells like cigarette smoke and whiskey he shouldn’t be anywhere near a child. But one harsh glare from his sister made him shut his trap, he looked down at you and you looked just as unhappy to be there.

“Mom do I have to stay here, I’m old enough to stay on my own. Or even with Dream?” The angsty teen groaned tilting her head to the side, her little horns hitting her on the shoulder. Puffy let out a pinched huff pressing her fingers to her nose,

“You know Dreams out with George and Sapnap, plus you’re still too young to be left alone. So you’re staying with Uncle Schlatt until I get back from my date with Niki.”

“But-”

“Hush no butts. Now you.” She pointed a finger at Schlatt, “no smoking or drinking in front of my little Poff got it?” Schlatt rolled his eyes snarling over at his sister,

“Have a little faith in me, sis.” She shot him a look, and he wilted a little bit,

“Be good.”

“I will.” You groaned,

“Not talking to you.”

“I will.” The goat-man grumbled under his breath, finally seeming satisfied his sister departed leaving her equally hotheaded daughter by his side. “So...you smoke?”

“No Uncle Schlatt I don’t smoke,” You sighed a frown on your face usually that comment got a least a snort.

Oh no, not teenage angst.

You walked past him into his humble abode and plopped down on his couch, it also smelled like smoke, “How’s Quackity?”

“You mean Flatty Patty?” He smirked plopping down beside you scratching at his ear absentmindedly. You snickered, there it was,

“No I don’t, you know he hates when you call him that.” You nudged him gently, Schlatt ruffled your hair minding your horns. You huffed at him moving to fix your tousled hair,

“Alright, kid you got me. Now, what’s up with you?”

“Nothings wrong.” You muttered crossing your arms over your chest defensively, he shrugged his shoulders not bothering to push you. “Okay fine!” You blurted throwing your hands in the air, the man raised an eyebrow.

“I didn’t say anything-”

“It’s just Dream’s not been home lately and Mom’s not taking it well. Instead of trying to watch out for him n’ shit, she’s going on dates with Niki.” You groaned falling back against the couch, “When he does come home it’s just for food and to pet, his cat then leave. He barely even says hi to us anymore...we used to be so close. Now he just doesn’t care.” Your face fell and he frowned, Schlatt winced a little he was never known to be very good with comforting people let alone comforting women. He placed a hand on your shoulder and squeezed,

“He’ll come around kid, family’s, family you know?” He watched you shrug sadly and he rubbed his chin with his other hand.

He needed another cigarette right now.

You looked up at him and saw him tense, “You can smoke I don’t care.” You gave a little shrug, “either way I’m leaving here smelling like smoke Mom won’t be able to tell the difference.”

“Heh.” He chuckled roughly rubbing the back of his neck, “thank’s kid, I owe you one.” You nodded and watched as Schlatt pulled out his package of cigarettes and frowned seeing it was empty, “Ah fuck me.”

“You out?”

“Yeah. Would you be opposed to a quick drugstore run?” You shrugged your shoulders, indifferent.

“Sure could be fun. Could I get a snack?”

“You could get whatever you want, not payin’ for it.” You snorted loudly covering your mouth to hide your snort. “What? If you can steal it you can get whatever you want.”

“I’m not stealing anything Uncle Schlatt, that’s wrong.”

“Ugh. What’s my goody-two-shoes sister been teaching you?” His nose scrunched up in displeasure. “As long as you don’t get caught anything is legal kid. Stick with me and you’ll learn way more tips than that. I'm a professional.”

“Right cause doing that hasn’t gotten banned before.” You smirked and he glared at you pulling on your horn. The movement caused you to yelp in pain. “Joke! I was joking! Ow!” He muttered a ‘you better be’ before standing up from his couch. You followed him from the couch as he made his way to the door, he held it open for you and you snickered “What a gentlemen.”

“Don’t slander my name like that again.” He scoffed, “Follow me, don’t wander off.” Schlatt commanded as you followed him down to the nearest convenience store, “Go get something you like.” He shooed you off and requested the pack of cigarettes he needed making small talk with the store clerk while you wandered around. “Hurry up kid or you get nothing!”

“I’m coming!” You yelled back in your arms was a pack of sour patch watermelons, a chocolate bar, and some chips, “I got you chips.” Schlatt tried to bite back a smile but it came through anyway and it only made you smile in tandem. He paid for your goodies and you both headed out to go sit outside on a nearby bench. As you sat down you turned to stare at him dead in the eyes, he felt a little unsettled and watched as you slowly pulled out a little bag of popcorn. “I stole it.”

“Holy fuck kid you did it!” He burst into laughter ruffling your hair once again, “I’m proud of you.” You beamed brightly sitting up straighter on the bench, you opened the bag and popped a piece into your mouth. Schlatt reached forward and stole a handful from you, you ripped the bag away defensively and he snickered.

“Soo…” You trailed off softly and he raised an eyebrow at you, “You seemed to have a bad day too. You wanna talk about it?” His eyes widened in surprise, he didn’t take you to be so observant, then again you were Puffy’s child.

“Alright Poff,” he clicked his tongue distastefully and began to recount his woes to his child niece. Halfway through he pulled out a freshly bought cigarette and stuck it between his teeth. He pulled out a lighter flicking it a few times before lighting the cancer stick in his mouth and taking a long drag. You nodded your head in response and seemed to be listening intently to him, as he talked he felt his facade crumbling. The goat man slumped across the bench and was openly ranting to you at this point. “So yeah, that’s how my days going. Guess we both are doing pretty shitily huh?” You pursed your lips,

“Why don’t you ask Quackity to combine both of your votes the day of the election?” He looked at you with a raised eyebrow, you flushed nervously under his stern gaze. “Then you can be the President and he can be your Vice President or something...that way you both win in a way, ya know?”

“Kid…” Schlatt murmured thoughtfully rubbing his chin, “you’re a genius!” He wrapped you up in a hug, “this kid! I love ya! You’re too smart for your good!” You beamed letting out a happy laugh in response, “I’m contacting him immediately. Wilbur and Tommy don’t stand a fucking chance against me now.”

“I’m glad I can make you happy.” You snuggled into his arms but recoiled a little bit at the overwhelming scent of fresh smoke on his clothes, “you deserve it.” Schlatt felt his heart shutter a little at the inclination that he deserves to be happy, he was about to respond with a joke but you started talking again. “You’re a good guy Uncle. You don’t let people see it often but you’re an okay dude,” he watched you fiddle with your fingers as his eyebrows furrowed. He chuckled a little,

“Most people would disagree with you kid.”

“Well most people don’t know like mom and I do,” You pointed out, “Plus if you weren’t a nice guy you wouldn’t have tried to cheer me up.”

“I needed smokes.” He pointed out motioning to the stick in his mouth and you frowned a little.

Good, things were getting too mushy for his liking.

He was about to smirk in triumph but you turned towards him a determined look on your face. “My point still stands, for example, if you weren’t that great of a guy you wouldn’t have watched me today. You would’ve shut the door in Puffy’s face or you wouldn’t have listened and tried to comfort me. Therefore, my point still stands,” You shoved your finger in his face and he grumbled in displeasure. You smirked instead of him, getting the signature family smirk on your face it only made him frown deeper.

“Alright fine, but you tell anyone I’m slightly nice you’re cut off.”

“Cut off from what? You’re inheritance? You’re broke as shit.”

“You’re way too much like your mother.”

“Aw, you think so?” You flushed fondly, “Thanks!” You chirped proudly, puffing out your chest a little bit. He scoffed tugging on your horns once more and smirked as you yelped, “Would you stop doing that!”

“Nah I don’t think I will. Especially because I know it’s bothering you.”

“Asshole.”

“That’s more like it.”

You leaned back against the back of the bench with a loud groan throwing some popcorn at him. He snickered loudly, watching you closely all in all Schlatt did enjoy today. He kissed his teeth a little, you were way smarter than everyone seemingly gave you credit for, especially Dream. When Schlatt wins this election maybe he’d give you a position in his cabinet. He thinks you would like that, finally being able to show people who’s boss and what you’re capable of, yeah that’s what he’ll do. Reluctantly Schlatt pulled you close so your head rested against his shoulder, you smiled up at him softly, all in all, it was a good end to his day.

[opinated-user]

Now that I think about it what's hilariously crazy is the fact Lily hates Hunter but considers Zuko a good character. Don't get me wrong when all is said and done Zuko is technically better due to the sheer amount of screentime he got but what's crazy that Lily fails to realize is between Hunter and Zuko, Hunter has more reason to be doing the bad shit he does than Zuko does. As great of a character as Zuko is he literally had a wise mentor giving him advice, saw first hand the damage the fire nation was doing, even as a kid disagreed with their practices and since he's banished if he really wanted to he could've tried to start over anytime. The point is Zuko's perception was warped but there was still enough for him to see the fire nation was in the wrong at any time and again had a wise mentor giving him advice the whole time. Hunter on the other hand like everyone else on the boiling Isles is just raised from the start to believe this is the way the world is with no reason to believe otherwise until he learns the truth and that truth was buried by Belos to the point Hunter wouldn't have even known the horrific details if Luz hadn't bumped into him. The point is I don't care which one people like more, they are both good characters. The problem with Lily however is the weird "angsty boy helping a fascist is taking too long to figure it out" attitude while praising Zuko when between the two of them Hunter has more reason to be blind to Belos true horrific nature than Zuko does for the fire nation. Hell according to Lily's attitude Zuko should've figured it all out the moment Ozai burned his sons face. Meanwhile Belos IS abusive to Hunter but Belos is careful to know when and when not to strike and to show some level of kindness in order to manipulate Hunter into believing he's truly a loving caring uncle that "only strikes because you did something wrong" when most people know a real loving guardian would never strike or threaten to strike as a form of punishment.

Hell according to Lily's attitude Zuko should've figured it all out the moment Ozai burned his sons face

another example of LO believing that victims of abuse should recognize it immediately, get away from it and dennounce it as quickly as possible or else they're lazy complacent martyrs who must enjoy the suffering. zuko was also raised believing not only on his father, but also on the "glory of the fire nation", just like Hunter grew up believing that the way of Belos was ultimately what was keeping everyone safe and things in order. they're were both children raised by fascist father figures and literally had no contact with anyone from the outside until their worlds fell appart in front of their eyes, seeing the "glory/order" for what it really was. when they finally started breaking away from that mindset it wasn't just accept they were abused (already a hard thing to do), but that the worldview that they believed in all their life was wrong and they were mere instruments of not just an awful man but an awful system that never caused anything else but pain and suffering for the rest of the world. considering how difficult is for full grown adults to unlearn so many things taught by society, then it's no surprising that two teens won't have an easier time either.