#I don't know if I make sense

[ultimate-marysue]

Something I like a lot about Nora's writing is that, despite the intensity of the romance in her books, the main ship isn't completely isolated. Let me explain.

It would be so easy to have Neil be the only one that understands Andrew, have them be everything to each other. It's such a cliche. How much more important romance is over any other kind of relationship, how your partner is the only one that sees you... except that's not how it goes in aftg. Sure, Neil is one of the people that understands Andrew the best. He also has it easier getting him to agree with him because Andrew loves him. But he isn't the only one.

Despite the very Neil focused pov, we know Andrew cares about a lot of people. Not only that, but we know there's people that understand him truly, even if not to Neil's degree. His friendship with Renee, His relationship with both Bee and Whymack. He has other people that he will listen to even if he acts difficult about it. Like the way Whymack offers him alcohol for playing both halves despite both of them knowing he would do it regardless. The only tangible difference is that Neil has the leverage lack of survival instincts and fresh outlook to expedite fixing Andrew's life.

TSC is even more obvious because we spend so much of the book on friendship. Not only are Jean and Jeremy spending a significant amount of their pov talking about their relationship with cat and Laila, but it goes both ways. After aftg Cat and Laila were just girlfriends, but after tac they are their own people with fulfilling friendships outside their romance.

Maybe it's the Ace-Aro in me, but understanding that you're gonna have important people in your life that understand and love you outside romantic partners is so important to me.

[kilfeur]

Je vois pas mal de posts parler du fait qu'Adrien pourrait avoir un villain arc après avoir apprit la vérité. Mais perso je le vois pas, est ce qu'il serait en colère que Ladybug et les autres lui ont caché la vérité ? Oui, c'est clair, peu importe comment il va découvrir la vérité, ça va être un énorme bordel. Mais je pencherai plus sur l'idée qu'il fugue, dans le sens, qu'il a besoin d'être seul pour digérer toutes ces informations.

I see quite a few posts talking about Adrien having a villain arc after learning the truth. But I don't see it, would he be angry that Ladybug and the others kept the truth from him? Yes, it's clear, no matter how he finds out the truth, it's going to be a huge mess. But I'd lean more towards the idea that he might want to run away, in the sense that he needs to be alone to digest all this information.

[befooremoonrisee]

what do you think is the importance of weirwood trees in hotd and with rhaenyra's and alicent's relationship in particular?

the weirwoods are used as a "knowledge" and "nature" motif in asoiaf and neither rhaenyra nor alicent can be associated to that themes.

the idea of being watched is also present with the weirwoods, and all about their relationship can be interpreted as the fear of being watched. the weirwood is their safe place, but they're still watched there. their roles are their curses and they can never escape them, even when they think they're alone.

also, we have criston's suicide attempt inthe godswood. weirwoods are associated with blood magic and alicent took a sacrifice away from them. that may have angried the old gods, but we don't really know if they work that way. we still don't know enough about them to say.

it's interesting how the dagger who killed the night king in got is also a dagger heavily associated with rhaenyra and alicent. their relationship and connection to the old gods is fortified that way, but i really don't get why.

mostly, i think, the weirwood represent their love for each other. we know the weirwood is cut sometime before the current timeline and the most dramatic sense would be if it was cut during the dance of dragons. the weirwood being cut represents alicent and rhaenyra's relationship being damaged beyond the point of no return. and cutting a weirwood tree is sacrilege, it's a crime towards the old gods, whoever orders its cutting will be punished. because in the end, the biggest crime was destroying a beautiful bond because of male hubris and greed.

[weirdthoughtsandideas]

Some time I want to make an SL fic where Blake is a boarding school. But I have no idea what the plot would be - just them being at the boarding school doing stuff.

I mean, in my SL asoue au they will go to a boarding school, as it's part of the Austere Academy arc, but that will also follow a certain plot as it's basically "what happened in TAA but with Soy Luna characters instead". Ok, because it's SL characters, the plot will be a bit different to fit them, but the key themes are still there.

And maybe if I ever wanna do a blake boarding school story I might begin by pitching an AU of something and go from there.

So I'd take something like Revolutionary Girl Utena, that takes place at a Boarding School, and make an SL AU of it. But I couldn't do an exact "the plot word for word but change the names to SL characters", I'd have to change the plot a lot to fit for SL characters. So it's more just "inspired" by RGU but very different and it'd get me an excuse to get me into a "Blake South College is a boarding school" setting.

[rainingmbappe]

The thing is we can't even have hot takes anymore without having the nuance of a 18th century russian philosopher

[samaspic31]

im so fucking mad about capitalism's devaluation of manual labor (especially financial, hi raise the fucking wages) and expectation to outsource labor, leading to dire exploitation (everyone is exploited, but manual workers especially AND don't get compensated for the toll on their body AND get looked down on unlike white collar workers, all that because making intellectual products is worth 10 times more money i fucking guess). The average person used to have so many more practicak skills and we used to know how make so much more stuff, having people cook, clean, take care of your children and sew for you was the height of luxury for a wealthy woman, depending so much on buying to substain your lifestyle was reserved to the extremely wealthy. People were expected to hold more basic skills outside of a hyperspecific field of their career like today and were allowed to spend time on broad and practical knowledge, and today schools do not even out the playing field because it's still mostly theoric regurgitation (which great, but give all the youngsters a cooking, crafting and sewing class and teach them accounting im begging) making people into highly specific tools relying on buying most of what they don't even think they can make, because disempowered. (this is linked to capitalist shaming of perceived failure and beginners and imperfection but that's a whole other can of worms)

Like for example it was just a given painters made their own paint (or started by making it for their mentor, any way they were taught how), it was considered a necessary first step, a way to understand your medium, and a way no to depend on anyone else or a corporation, and i think a lot of artists are missing that step of having to spend effort on the medium itself. I don't know how my graphic tablet works and i can't make acrylic paint and that's a shame

Like it was always normal for the already rich to leave all physical work to exploited workers but today it's everyone else's case too (at least in the economic north), making your own stuff is a counterculture thing, and even poverty or being an exploited worker eats so much of time that it makes it so buying is necessary and stuff made with exploited labor the only affordable option, fucking vicious cycle

there were deep inequalities with how the teaching of those skills were segregated, which was for which gender and social class, im not saying it was universally good, and women were expected to accumulate way more skills just to do all the managing of a household AND get that labor devalued, just, urgh, it was considered important to know at least i guess

also the birth of packaging and the rise of single use plastic+ worldwide transport of goods is heavily linked to this and a consequence of a global economic boom but it's still a fucking disaster-

anyways buy a s little new shit in as little packaging as you can and fuck corporations

[butchfalin]

the funniest meltdown ive ever had was in college when i got so overstimulated that i could Not speak, including over text. one of my friends was trying to talk me through it but i was solely using emojis because they were easier than trying to come up with words so he started using primarily emojis as well just to make things feel balanced. this was not the Most effective strategy... until. he tried to ask me "you okay?" but the way he chose to do that was by sending "👉🏼👌🏼❓" and i was so shocked by suddenly being asked if i was dtf that i was like WHAT???? WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY TO ME?????????? and thus was verbal again

[egophiliac]

still ruminating over Lost In the Book With Spooky Skeletons Part 1, so here's a selection of some of my favorite little bits! (...some more loosely paraphrased than others) (I just feel like Idia has no room to criticize in general, okay)

anyway, I'm sure we're just going to have a fun time celebrating Halloween and nothing bad is going to happen whatsoever! :)

[antivancathedral]

(continues to be insane) I can’t get over the fact that Spite asks for help.

Spite is often treated childishly by several characters—Taash, for example, and even Lucanis depending on your dialogue choices—but I actually…don’t think Spite is all that childish. He’s been put into a situation he’s never experienced before, in a place where reality doesn’t work like it should, and been put through torture that he feels doubly through Lucanis on top of it all. Any person would through a “tantrum” under these circumstances. Spite’s behavior is reasonable.

He never tries to hurt Lucanis’s companions, not once. He only ever tries to leave, as Lucanis promised him he would be able to. Even Lucanis, he only hurts once outside of the Ossuary, when he must have felt unbelievably confused. Calivan is dead and Lucanis has gone home, has allies, and yet to Spite, he simply refuses to leave the Ossuary. And still, he asks. He could wrestle control from Lucanis, but instead he asks (or demands) to talk to Rook. And all he wants to say is that he wants to be free.

All and all, Lucanis does not reach out to anyone to ask for help with his depression or PSTD. Spite is his problem, he says, and says often. His burden. He never intended to let anyone in, even though he admits that he doesn’t know how to start healing. He asks for Rook’s help against Zara, against Illario, but no one is privy to his mental and emotional struggles.

Spite, on the other hand, asks immediately. Or he wants to ask. And finally, when Lucanis is in the middle of a spiral, it's Spite that says "Help us." Not demanding, just asking. Pleading. And still only to Rook. While I think at first, Spite wants Rook specifically because he knows Lucanis will listen, I think that has grown into something more by the time Inner Demons comes around.

"Help us," he says. Not just 'make him listen' or 'help Lucanis'. Us.

This is all to say I think that while Spite may not understand or feel romance (yet) he most certainly feels love. He loves Lucanis, whose image he takes ("They wouldn't dare, Lucanis is mine.") and he loves Rook ("Rook is my favorite." "Smells like...Rook." "Help us." The WINGS.) And that's all trust is, isn't it? A kind of love? Showing vulnerability to someone close to you?

When Spite is finally allowed to communicate, he shows plenty of maturity. He gives Lucanis space, he asks Emmrich to teach him fire, he's willing to try new things, and he loves.

Determination is a kind of love too, when you think about it.

[gay-otlc]

A very strange feeling that comes from being a trans man is like. I am fundamentally the same person after coming out that I was before coming out. There are some differences (I'm happier and more comfortable in my own skin, for instance, and everyone changes a little bit over time) but overall I still have the same personality traits, same values and morals, etc etc. But after I came out, people who thought I was a perfectly okay and decent person switched to thinking I'm dangerous and untrustworthy, even when nothing about me had changed except the gender label they know me as.

[schemelin]

non-verbal "I Hate It In Here" Lone Wanderer just wants her dad back.

[hamsternamedmarinette]

Don't ask how it got into his room

[katsinspats]

Tragic: Guy you based your entire villain backstory on doesn't even remember you

[mythicalcoolkid]

You don't wish your disability was worse or more visible, you wish your disability was taken seriously. Please stop confusing the two, I guarantee you would not get the support you need JUST by being more severe or more visible. Please listen to visibly disabled people when we tell you it isn't better on our side

[violent138]

Duke: "Bad news guys, he managed to give me the slip."

Tim: "How? Okay, who's got eyes on him?"

Damian: "He's just... gone."

Tim: "Hood?"

Jason, eating takeout: "Stop hacking my comms for this, I'm not even there!" *leaves the channel*

Steph: "Negative from me, I've been tailing some whole other guy."

Tim: "Nightwing?"

Dick, in a whole other city, on the computer, barely listening: "I already told Alfred I left the keys in the--"

Tim: "Thanks anyways. Orphan?"

Cass:

Tim: "Well shit. Everyone, we need to find him now."

Kate, spotting Bruce holding someone's black-haired baby at the Gala and immediately taking the baby from him: "No."

Kate, pressing a hand to her earpiece: "I got him just in time. Don't give me those puppy dog eyes Bruce, you can't even keep all your kids' names straight anymore."

Tim: "Phew, crisis averted everyone, good work. But remain vigilant."

Jason: "Tim, I swear to God--"

[cannibalspicnic]

What cracks me up about Don't Be Afraid, Just Start the Tape is that aside from the vampirism, Daniel's just having such a typical cocaine experience.

He goes home with a guy because he has coke, then ends up listening to the guy rant and bitch about his ex until dawn, then witnesses an implosion between the guy and his current partner, then is forced to answer the question, "Am I boring?" from said partner while trying to figure out the best way to leave.

This is just a regular night on cocaine.