#THE HOPELESSNESS OF IT ALL

[whumpshaped]

i love. all powerful whumpers. i know i talk about this a lot but i just really absolutely love when a whumper controls every aspect of whumpee's life. not even as a human, but more as a god. a being so far above whumpee that they genuinely have no chance of fighting back.

maybe whumper literally created whumpee, and is now playing with them like a puppet. and whumpee is forced to bump into the invisible walls of their confined world over and over again, realising again and again that they can only ever go as far as whumper allows.

and maybe... sometimes... whumpee thinks they have outwitted whumper. they find a little loophole, a glitch in the matrix, a tear in the fabric of their artificial reality. they take the opportunity immediately, thinking they're about to be free... only to end up as a pawn in whumper's game yet again. the opening was put there on purpose, specifically for whumpee to find. and where it led was entirely controlled. and whumper enjoyed every second of this delightful little show of whumpee feeling some hope, only for it to be violently ripped away.

again.

[hussyknee]

Trying to explain what the fuck just happened in Lankan politics today.

The leftist party has won 159 seats out of 218 in the Parliamentary elections. The single biggest landslide win since we broke from the British and achieved universal franchise in 1948.

Any party achieving a super majority in the executive and legislative is, objectively speaking, bad. It disables checks and balances, which is a catastrophic thing for any democracy, and the only two other times it's happened for us has irrevocably eroded the fabric of civic rights and democratic freedom. Also, the reason the NPP won the North and East is that the colonized, genocided and subjugated people there have no faith in electoralism anymore. The way this government has engaged minority issues has been utterly abysmal and now they've been rewarded for it.

On the other hand:

The winners. Are all. Grassroots. Candidates.¹

We have voted out every single career criminal that's been barnacled into the Lankan political arena since before I've been alive. The fascist party has only three seats.² The other fascists didn't win a single seat. The neoliberal legacy party won none. There are only forty people in Parliament that represent any sort of dynastic political legacy. After 76 solid years of nothing but political dynasties.

This is barely five years after the Rajapaksas swept in and absolutely glutted the Parliament with their family members and cronies end to end.

This is the illegitimate interim government we had for most of the last 18 months. We literally, physically, chased the Rajapaksas out of the country and this fucking demon set up a puppet government just so he could finally sit in that goddamn chair and be the despot he'd always dreamed of in exchange for letting them all come back. He's now gone. His entire circle is gone.

THEY ARE ALL FUCKING GONE.

In US terms, just imagine that, five years from now, when Trump's GOP has control of everything, the entire GOP and the worst of the Dems are all purged from Congress and Senate, the Green Party in control of all three branches of government under a pro-union left-wing President and an unmarried female LGBT rights activist Vice President, and the Dems reduced to barely 20% of the House.

This is my anthropology professor. She joined politics from the small nascent leftist coalition to help keep the government accountable. She's now the Prime Minister and the most popular Parliamentary candidate in the nation's history. (Edit: She was knocked off first place by a dude in the final result. Boo.)

(On the other hand— the woman who helped make me a radical anarchist and literally helped write a book on political dissent and resistance...now is the state. Uh.)

But there are so many women in Parliament! We had the lowest female representation in a South Asian Parliament and some of them were from the list of seats reserved for parties rather than elected ones. Most were either anti-feminist conservative embarrassments, widows and daughters of elite politicians and neoliberal shills. It's still only an increase of a few percentage points (Edit: from the previous 5% to 10% in the final result!) but now we have elected academics, feminist advocates, activists! There Is a representative for Malaiyaha Tamils in the Central Province for the first time in history and it's a young woman! (Edit: now it's two female Malaiyaha MPS!!) This is the plantation community that still live in conditions closest to the slavery the British forced upon them two hundred years ago!

I'm like. Completely mindfucked. To be very very clear, the NPP coalition formed around the nucleus of the JVP that used to be communist but haven't been in 30 years, they're now just social democrats who are left of places like the US and UK, whose "left" is now center-right. They're only threatening to the Western mainstream media for some reason who can't stop bleating about how we have a "Marxist" government now. In reality, the actual chances for radical reform are still quite low, and the opportunity for further erosion is quite high with a super majority government regardless of affiliation.

On the other hand:

What the fuck.

Sometimes living through historical events is really damn amazing.

---

¹ Well, nearly. There are a few career politicians and a nepo baby but they aren't so bad either.

² Goddamn it, Baby Rajapaksa and Sri Lanka's answer to JD Vance have wormed their way in using the list of Constitutionally reserved party seats for non-elected members. FUCK the National List.

[asoulwithadream]

sun sets on a swallowed, rocky marshlands bark ribs caging the ballooning disease, as the sheltered scream through the mud— vexed by the gentle touch lost to the cicadas. while tears can not fall any longer, the heart still weeps blood and tears.

[xinganhao]

🍻 svt reacts to your drunk texts.

@hopeless-foolery → "how would the members react to you cutely drunk texting them?"

⌗ ┆i too would be drunk texting svt about how much i adore them... ⁽⁽ଘ( ˊωˋ )ଓ⁾⁾

‧₊˚✩彡 includes: drunk!reader (mentions of alcohol), intentional typos, established relationship, pet names, fluff!!! yipee, slight crack, cussing, [short] headcanons under the cut.

🍻 headcanons .ᐟ

— would make fun of you ✩ jeonghan, junhui, soonyoung, mingyu, seungkwan.

svt have had their fair share of seeing each other drunk, so it should come as little/no surprise that they've got a little bit of a teasing streak when it comes to a drunk you. soonyoung beats them all out by a mile in the sense that he will demand to be drinking with you. he can't have you being the only one having all the fun! if he can, he'll roll up and drink with you until you're both drunkenly blabbering to each other. mingyu uses the opportunity to ask drunk you a bunch of the silliest questions. he'll be very serious as he tries to get you to answer the perilla leaf debate, for instance, because he thinks you're most likely to be a little more honest (and very cute) when you've got a little bit of alcohol in you. as for jeonghan, his exploitation is a lot more light hearted; he's quick to seize the chance to fish for compliments. he thinks it's amusing, how you'll get all flustered in the morning. "no take backs!" he'll claim as he basks in all your sweet words. junhui is similar in the sense that he's already taken dozens of screenshots of your drunk texts. as leverage, of course, but also for him to look back on a rainy day. one of his favorite things is finding ways to surprise you when you're drunk, because he knows you'll get emotional over a random call— or, if he can manage, a surprise visit. seungkwan teeters the line of making fun/taking care, though he often does start with an exasperated kind of joking. ultimately, he'll never be able to resist the urge to make sure you're okay. (think: the famous instance of seungkwan taking care of a drunk wonwoo.) he'll dish out all his jokes before going to find you and make sure you're all good.

— would take care of you ✩ seungcheol, joshua, seokmin, minghao, vernon.

seungcheol would be the caretaker. the moment he gets those drunk texts, he's already gearing up to take you home. he's the gentle hand at the small of your back, keeping you steady. best believe that he already has everything you need in his car's glove compartment. he loves your drunk texts, sure, but he loves looking after you so much more. vernon's more of a the-day-after type of care. he'll show up at your doorstep with a small smirk, teasing something along the lines of "you went hard again, huh?" but he also has aspirin, gatorade, takeout soup. you name it. he won't mention your sappy drunk texts, though he's also secretly taken screenshots just in case you take it back. joshua, seokmin, and minghao all have that similar instinct to make sure you're okay, no matter how happy they might be to see your cute messages. joshua will indulge your drunken babbles while 'subtly' trying you to care for yourself. if necessary, he'll coax you over video call to drink less, using the most honeyed voice ever to get you to cave. conversely, seokmin will stay up until you get home. he prefers being able to pick you up, sure, but when he can't? he'll battle off his drowsiness and will only crash when he gets that 'i'm home' text. minghao, no matter what time you catch him, will be on his feet at any sign of you having drunk one too many. it's the way he loves, after all— to love is to be burdened, but to not think of it that way.

— would be endeared by you ✩ wonwoo, jihoon, chan.

wonwoo may be a little confused, but he's got the spirit! he'll probably sigh to himself when he sees your drunken rambles. (although, if you squint, there's a hint of a fond smile on his face. a warm gleam in his eyes.) he'll let you have your fun and will occasionally shoot you well-meaning reminders, all the while keeping your words in the back of his mind. jihoon would take your words seriously. he's the kind who believe that alcohol can lower inhibitions, can incite sincerity, so he'll be more than a little overwhelmed with your sheer affection. the mere thought of you wanting to take it back would make his heart lurch. like seokmin, he's the text-me-when-you're-home type, except he stays awake for much longer just contemplating your texts and how they make him feel. and chan will try to tease, will attempt to be like his hyungs— prompting compliments, fishing for praise— but when the words sink in? when he realizes that you actually might mean what you're saying? he's so far gone, it's not even funny. he'd do anything to hear more of it. (preferably in person, which is why he's rushing to where you are asap.)

[csswingandeasy]

I finally finished reading Madame Bovary and not to be dramatic but holy fuck

[nancywheeeler]

hopeless time loop. the way out isn’t to save everyone. the way out isn’t to save even one person. the way out isn’t to change anything. the way out is accepting how it happened the first time is how it always will be. that’s how you acted, that’s how they acted, that’s how you would have acted every time if you weren’t given the curse of hindsight. the way out is accepting you can’t fix the past; you can only forgive yourself for it.

[suratan-zir]

For the past month, russia has been bombing Ukraine with shahed drones every single night, probably detecting the location of our air defense in preparation for a large missile attack on our power grid. Or just because. And it usually lasts all night too. Air defense shoots most of them down, but, obviously, it's still scary if it's close to you. I sleep with earplugs, so I rarely hear the drones flying by or getting shot down, only when they're super close to our house. But I know whether the night was loud or not by the way my dog crawls on half-bent legs in the morning or tries to fit under the couch at night.

idk where I'm going with this. fuck russia.

[fumifooms]

People should talk about Yaad and Thistle more. Weird granduncle that killed your dad in a petty impulsive punitive act, leaving you very scared of him as you live under his control for centuries. Imagine growing up hearing stories of the King’s brother, the kind, clever, collected and calm advisor and right hand man. But only knowing him by how warped he’s become, violent and erratic. He punishes you, too, robbing you of any agency by putting you inside of a doll. And then despite, he becomes catatonic and you’re left to take care of him in his brother’s body while he thinks you’re him. And then you see those slivers of that nice caring person you heard so much about in your childhood a millenium ago, and as he babbles about Delgal thinking he’s you, recalling memories and old habits, you wonder about how things must have used to be, before, and how they’ve changed irreparably. Today is melancholic again.

Yaad being like, Thistle’s sort of great-nephew who’s lived most of his life seeing him as being out of his mind and only a mirage of the noble attentive person he once was, now having to take care of him, someone who was an older familial figure to him… Seeing him gentle, soft and unhurried after all this time spent in an emotional anxious paranoid frenzy... Yaad and Thistle post-canon is so special

[riddlerosehearts]

i feel like a lot of people seem to forget that during idia's overblot flashback scene he says his life has been set in stone since he was born, and that it hurt how other kids would get asked what they want to be when they grow up but nobody would ever ask him that. and he says he always just wanted to be a normal kid, he just wanted to be a hero and go on adventures, he essentially just wanted to be free to be like everyone else. his trauma doesn't only come from ortho's death, it also comes from feeling completely and utterly trapped by STYX and the expectations his family's curse has placed on him for all of his life. from feeling like the things that he enjoys, the things he dreams of for his future, do not matter and never have. like he's all but completely alone in the world and the fictional media he loves is his only escape from it all. he literally wanted to go with the original ortho, to die, and his response upon being told that he loves the world too much to give up on it was along the lines of "who would ever love this rotten world?". ortho had to tell him that he still had a future ahead of him, because a very significant part of his issue is that he feels like he doesn't, or at least like he doesn't have the freedom to choose a future that he'll enjoy. with or without ortho, he's spent his whole life just feeling hopeless.

[mochinomnoms]

EXPAND ON SOMNO WITH MAL.

*slides in and poses* kay

Malleus just thinks you look so wonderful and peaceful, asleep in his bed. Most of the world fears him, even the ones that say they don't still dislike him, hate at worst. But you? You have no bias to influence your perception of him. You feel warm, safe, and content in his arms. How lucky is he to have such a sweet human as his beloved?

So...he can't help but watch you as you sleep. The rise of your chest, the furrow of your brows, even the snores you let out have him enthralled with you. He's just so in love with you and your entire being, so he can't help but let wandering hands, well, wander. After all, you told him he could if he ever wanted to.

His hands are ghosting over your skin, fingertips tracing down as he watches the goosebumps grown from his touch. Malleus, dressed in loose clothing and previously prepared to fall asleep next to you, takes his place by your side to lean down and press a chaste kiss to your forehead.

Then another to the tip of your nose, then two on each of your cheeks. Then under your chin. Then he's kissing down your neck, nuzzling in as he gingerly scrapes his teeth against the pulse point, reveling in your shudder. His hands are once again wandering, slipping under your clothes to massage and grope. As he pushes your shirt up so he can continue fluttering kisses down your chest, abdomen, on your stomach, bellybutton.

Malleus watches as you whimper and murmur unintelligible whispers, though he thinks he can make out his name among those, as he leaves gentle hickies along your hips. He thinks your sleepy gasps as his hands and mouth work you for his dicks are the cutest things. And, the moan that leaves your mouth, eyelids fluttering open and closed, as if you can really bring yourself to fully wake up, as he moves his length in you, gentle still as to not disturb you too badly.

Unfortunately (or fortunately perhaps) for you, you do wake up to the image of a flushed, open-mouthed Malleus looking at you reverently as he fucks you with so much love and tenderness, that you can't help but reach your arms for him so that he clutch you against him. It's like he wants your skin to meld with his, to become one with him, to never leave him without the feeling of you.

When you're both finished, you're even more exhausted than before, but a smile on your lips as you two fall asleep in each other's arms. Though, he's still in you as you do, so take that as you will.

[jeeaark]

Let the latest patches add whatever new dialogue they write in, but Patch 0 gave me free range to ✨interpret✨ and this will forever be Greygold's canon, HA

For all intents, I did the hell heist as the last-last quest before the finale (So as to be fully prepared and supportive "finishing" babe's personal quest) AND BECAUSE OF THIS, I was tired. Greygold was tired. I was ready to beat the game. I was rushing. STEALING FROM RAPHAEL WAS STRESSING ME OUT. and I dared not go back. So even though Greygold did not want to go through with Haarlep's "game", I couldn't have picked a worse time to forget about their "always another way" philosophy Poor Half-orc was so determined not to fail Lae'zel's personal quest that, for once, ignored companion disapproval. And apparently, with Lae'zel not disapproving nakey Greygy, it looked like Babe was willing to retrieve that hammer no matter the cost either! Until Haarlep said they wanted nakey Greygy to play a "game" with them.

Babe disapproved that time. Babe, who's been cranky all this time, thought not even this way was worth getting the hammer for. Babe still cared about what happened to Greygold.

So by the gods, I happily reloaded and thankfully found a different way, HUAH. Thank you, Babe. Found out later that apparently going the Haarlep way would've suuuuucked. Saved by the babe. Thus I concluded why Babe was so cranky and can't kiss to save her life (I'm looking at you patch 6). And why Greygold's never had another hrm- pleasant conversation with Emps since the last time.

Poor sleep-deprived Lae'zel was bugged as hell killer coconut not because she was mad at Greyg, but because she'd been burning through all of her energy and affection by trying to protect Greygold from any further illithidry influence.

[itwouldeatyoualive]

ford's expression and the way he shakes as he erases stan's memory guts me to the core. just imagine. you've been apart from your brother for decades. he used to be your best friend. you spent years hating him and years missing him. you were going to spend the rest of your lives together. you don't get along anymore. you used to know each other like the back of your hands. but even after so long apart, he can still fake your voice and mannerisms like it's nothing. and then you have to erase everything. there are no more second chances. you don't get to fix this. he got you back, but if you do this, you'll never get your brother back.

[lezzian]

something i really liked about TV Glow that i don't see expressed as much: it is not a cautionary tale. this film is not saying "you better watch out, you don't want to end up like isabel". this film is saying: "isabel can still be happy". which means that there is still time for you, too. isabel rejects transition because she still wants to believe that if she just ignores it, it will go away. she lives her life feeling empty inside, because she is afraid of who she is. but the story doesn't end there. she opens herself up and accepts what's inside. when you've lived your life in static there is not an amount of time that can pass at which point it's no longer "worth it" to confront who you are and start living the way you need to, to feel like a person. it is literally the final message of the film: there is still time. i don't think that's cautionary at all, i think that's hopeful

[megafart1]

Fiddauthor doodles

*leaves this politely on the floor and scurries away*

yeah. enjoy ^_^

[bigfatbreak]

more ff7/first soldier ranting. laughing my ass off that sephiroth's little dream sequence of his perfect reality involves his mommy loving him and making him his favorite food, because my poor son. wants family more than anything else. and thats it

and then Angeal has a fantasy of being in Genesis' shoes and everypony loving hiiiim and complimenting hiiiim and he's the one that invents banora white juice and he's the one that's well-read and ambitious and everyone's sooo proud of him

and im laughing my ass off bc he's had such a complex about Genesis since CHILDHOOD and has just been taking constant potshots at him struggling to find a way to knock him down a peg because of his blinding envy. yeah here's your unconditional hero everyone. mhm. yup he's the most honorable guy here. the stupid fuck who fantasizes about doing everything genesis has ever done while constantly putting him beneath himself because his pride is incandescent in spite of not earning any of the accolades Genesis worked for. yup. total team mom there

[ossidae-passeridae]

Why Acolyte doesn't feel like a Star Wars story

Here it is: Star Wars is, at its core, a story about hope. And Acolyte doesn't have hope.

An explainer:

Star Wars has been around long enough now, and spawned enough media, that it can be classed as its own genre of work. Like any genre, this means it has conventions that authors/creators need to follow and be aware of in order for their works to fit within the genre. And the core conventions of the Star Wars genre are pretty simple!

a) There is a mystical power known as the Force, which some people can use, and

b) There are two factions - light and dark, good and evil - which are constantly fighting each other, and

c) Even in incredible darkness and overwhelming odds there's always hope for a better future.

(Obviously, like any genre, there's more specific tropes as well - there's a cute droid sidekick who's probably mostly Warcrimes by volume, somehow you're on Tatooine again, if you're in a cantina you're about to get into a fight, etcetcetc)

Within those conventions, there's an enormity of stories one can tell. Bildungsromans, war stories (both gritty and otherwise), romances, there's no shortage of options.

But you've got to keep to those conventions above. If you don't use these genre conventions when you're making your Star Wars story then... you're making something else. And that fine! But at that point it's not a Star Wars story anymore and people will be disappointed because they expected a meiloorun and you gave them an orange.

Andor is the obvious comparison to Acolyte, being a "gritty" series or whatever, but if you watch it it's clear from the outset that it's unambiguously a story about hope. It's drenched in it. The entire story is working towards a victory, and the sacrifices needed to get there are rendered worthwhile by the force of that light. We understand why it's important that the characters keep trying despite their suffering, because of the hope for a better future.

Acolyte doesn't have that.

As @intermundia put it here:

it was such an angry show, resentful and accusatory, full of liars and hypocrites, showing hope to be false and trust to be foolish

It doesn't even subvert the genre; that sort of narrative would build up hope only to crush it at the last minute. It simply doesn't seem to understand the world it's in. And for an Officially Produced Show, that's... certainly a choice.