#That being said I cant claim to be above it like for example I think we should all do everything we can to encourage elon musk to

[prolibytherium]

I don't think anyone who frequently tells people to kill themselves or launches into foaming at the mouth "fucking freak bitch cunt freak" etc insult tirades over online arguments or minor slights warrants respect. I think its very often an indicator that their politics and opinions, no matter how good, are motivated more to feed the ego and to vent pent up aggression and feelings of inadequacy and less out of compassion or practical desire to improve the lives of others. I do think it is actually that deep

[saintmeghanmarkle]

The irony that Labour UK and Hugh Grant wants laws to restrict negative opinions on Meghan Markle across social media & media by u/Negative_Difference4

The irony that Labour UK and Hugh Grant wants laws to restrict negative opinions on Meghan Markle across social media & media If the looney tunes ever dare accuse us of being racist, this post is your clapback and highlights what we can expect in the future. We always knew there was a double standard here but now it is so blatant every where. The whole post references politics and is political. Labour (opposition) is likely to win the UK election. Please skip this post to avoid politics. Saying that, I will be moderating the post for arguments about political parties. (For example, I don't want discussions about which political party has pledged to fix the potholes, try to stick to the scope, this a lenghty post) 6th Dec 2022 Chris Bryant Labour MP with Hugh Grant at University of WestminsterReferencing Christopher Bouzy's Bot Sentinel analysis of hate on social media and the media. https://ift.tt/pxXOQ6N source: https://youtu.be/QECZY1Eh_w4 Labour MP, Chris Bryant and Hugh Grant (Hacked Off) proposals when Labour come into power Credit: Jon Danzig The same Labour got into trouble today for encouraging racist, sexist abuse towards a British black female politician Kemi Badenoch (ruling UK party - Conservatives)https://ift.tt/tuUsnCW - David Tennant ((Dr Who) said Kemi should shut up and not exist. Watch full video here. Dawn Butler, Labour MP (opposition MP) came out in full support of this. https://ift.tt/onS9cF0 people who cant remember, here is a selection of Dawn Butler's tweets in support of Meghan in the past. She is batshit crazy. https://ift.tt/c2pBPj9 course she has ties with Shouty Shola. I believe that there is a picture of them with Ngozi too.https://ift.tt/nmr0aOH you haven't already, watch TRG's (The Royal Grift's) video on how Meghan Markle claimed in the media that she put her sister, Samatha Markle on the fixated persons list. She did this to critical youtubers - Yankee Wally, Murky Meg and According to Taz too. This video has the clip above of Chris Bryant calling out all these Youtubers for hate and baseless negative opinions on Meghan Markle. Seriously, good video and worth the watchMeghan Markle's Legal Headache Is About To Get BIGGER!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UGyizs0Al0TRG gets a lot of heat here for her views ... but it is shocking to see an MP soft launching this agenda at a UK universities. For those thinking, so what? Well this is how most policies are launched... initially in closed member meetings, then universities and then the public. I haven't heard Labour say anything about online protection / censorship laws during any discussions. And now they are literally telling a black british woman to shut up and "not exist". The whole double standard makes me sick. P.S. I tried tweeting this on twitter and it was an awful experience. The stress of the character limit. post link: https://ift.tt/eErngjx author: Negative_Difference4 submitted: June 26, 2024 at 11:44PM via SaintMeghanMarkle on Reddit disclaimer: all views + opinions expressed by the author of this post, as well as any comments and reblogs, are solely the author's own; they do not necessarily reflect the views of the administrator of this Tumblr blog. For entertainment only.

[mwagneto]

the more i watch it, the more confused i am by ppl saying palermo was ooc or not fierce enough this season like;; it seems like a really natural progression to me? like sorry for overanalysing shitty men again but that's what we do on tumble.hell, his whole ~mean asshole who doesn't form attachments~ thing was very clearly a defense mechanism after everything he went through with andrés, and i think losing nairobi and seeing how much pain and loss he caused and the conversation with helsinki were huuge turning points for him like. before this he really did (claim to) only care about the plan but like whether he likes it or not he also cared about the team (most obvious example is him being stopped from leaving by helsinki who he cant bring himself to hurt) and i think the above mentioned events made him snap out of the cycle of repression and detachment he's been in for years. like he outright tells helsinki that his whole unattached asshole persona is an act he puts on because he doesn't know any other way to be thanks andrés but now that he's realised that and said it out loud and made himself vulnerable (which is HUGE) it makes sense for him to be way more open and less "aggressive" or whatever, like i really liked how he was this season, im glad he's letting go of his shitty behaviours and moving on and becoming a better person :)) post over i just think he's neat

[percabeth4life]

Sorry to just jump in here and drop this on you, but i saw a blog once call percabeth an abusive relationship???? and i was like ?????? but none of my friends read pjo so i cant ask them for thoughts, how about you?

Oh boy anon so this is a thing.

Percabeth is abusive is a common thing those that hate percabeth or ship something else and want to validate it say, and why I have the “anti-percabeth” tag blocked.

I’ve seen people say Annabeth just giving him a dirty look was abuse, people will reach for anything done between them that isn’t perfect, usually to justify why their ship is better.

Honestly, I’m open to most ships. Percabeth is my main but if you ship things that’s totally fine, even if I don’t like it I won’t say you shouldn’t ship it. I read non-Percabeth ships, but a lot of people feel a strong need to insist a ship is abusive if they don’t like it.

It’s fine to just not like a ship.

First off lets preface all of this with a warning that I’ll be discussing abuse here so if that’s upsetting skip it.

It got long, like very long (word count is nearly 3k), so it’s all under the Read More, there’s a TLDR at the very bottom.

Now then, what is abuse?

There are two definitions that pop up with a quick google search

Use (something) to bad effect or for a bad purpose; misuse. 

Treat (a person or an animal) with cruelty or violence, especially regularly or repeatedly.

If you look up the legal definition (law.cornell) used to define abuse there are more options, but I’m leaving out 2, 3, and 4 cause 3 and 4 def have nothing to do with this and definition 2 is in regards to child abuse.

Abuse, generally: physically, sexually, or mentally injuring a person.

Now if we want to go deeper in lets define physical and mental abuse. I’ll be leaving out sexual as that has no bearing on this particular situation.

Physical abuse is defined by healthyplace.com as

Non-accidental use of force that results in bodily injury, pain, or impairment. This includes, but is not limited to, being slapped, burned, cut, bruised or improperly physically restrained.

Now lets expand on this.

Something that is pointed to specifically is the mentioned intent. “Non-accidental”. It must be purposeful harm.

Now, I will also point out that Physical abuse doesn’t necessarily say the intent needs to be abuse, but as my lawyer parents state it simply needs to be “intent to harm” and it gets labeled abuse. The legal definition (given above) agrees, it is simply that it needs to be purposeful harm. But then we need to define this harm, especially the bodily injury, pain, or impairment.

Bodily injury is defined by Merriam Webster as

any damage to a person's physical condition including pain or illness

Now what is damage?

loss or harm resulting from injury to person, property, or reputation

So then harm is defined as... damage, so the definition I prescribe to (and I asked my lawyer parents to confirm, unfortunately I have no link for that).

Causes pain (pain defined as suffering)

Pain is defined by Merriam Webster as

a localized or generalized unpleasant bodily sensation or complex of sensations that causes mild to severe physical discomfort and emotional distress and typically results from bodily disorder (such as injury or disease)

a basic bodily sensation that is induced by a noxious stimulus, is received by naked nerve endings, is associated with actual or potential tissue damage, is characterized by physical discomfort (such as pricking, throbbing, or aching), and typically leads to evasive action

mental or emotional distress or suffering

Finally impairment is

diminishment or loss of function or ability

(all of the above definitions except harm are pulled from Merriam Webster linked with Bodily Injury)

Okay, so now lets consider it, physical abuse needs to cause damage to someone, it must be purposeful damage though the intent to abuse does not necessarily need to be the intent. So if your actions do not intend physical harm then it is not physical abuse.

So then, do Percy and Annabeth have a physically abusive relationship?

Lets start with the classic one that everyone likes to bring up, the Judo Flip.

First off, do Judo Flips hurt? [sourcing (1) (2) (3)]

They CAN hurt if done with that intent, but if your intent is to not harm and you are trained properly, No Judo should not hurt. Anyone properly trained in Judo should know how to prevent harm. (1, 2)

On top of that, the first thing anyone learning Judo is taught is how to fall.

All judoka learn to fall safely, by rolling and breaking their fall with Ukemi. This breakfall absorbs the impact of the throw. (3)

Percy should have the basics of this down seeing how he was already in matches (mentioned in book one prior him being claimed) in his first summer at camp, after four years he’s definitely got the basics down.

Therefore, the Judo flip did not intend to cause harm, nor did it appear to. Despite that it was on stone, and Annabeth had him pinned, Percy didn’t even show discomfort. He laughed.

On top of that, when Annabeth last saw Percy he had the Curse of Achilles. As far as she was aware, he still had it. A requirement of Physical Abuse is the intent to cause harm, every factor here shows that there was no intent to cause harm.

This scene was not physical abuse, it was just bad writing.

I can think of other scenes, only a few, before they were actually in a relationship. In book three Annabeth punched Percy in the stomach when he didn’t catch her hint that he should ask her to dance

She punched me in the gut. ‘Me, Seaweed Brain.’

‘Oh. Oh, right.’ (TTC, chapter 1, page 8 of book on my copy)

There doesn’t seem to have been any harm done as he doesn’t even mention it hurting, not even a pause, just went “oh yeah her”. So it was likely a light punch, the kind friends do that don’t hurt just catch attention. Annabeth has been trained since she was 7, she should know how to throw a punch without actually causing harm.

If anyone wants to bring up other examples, feel free, I’m not combing the books right now for examples but I will reply to them (preferably in asks so this post doesn’t get super long...)

I cannot think of any examples of Percy hitting/punching Annabeth nor any other kind of physical interaction, if someone wishes to bring one of those up feel free.

Does this mean that I think they should be hitting each other despite the fact that it’s clear there is no intent to harm?

No, I don’t really think they should be hitting each other.

But! An important thing there is their own boundaries, not mine. I would not be up for being hit but I do share friendly punches with my friends, which is similar in intent. It’s simply that they’ve been trained to fight and have to a lot to survive so their boundaries for what is “harmful” are different.

But that’s a whole different issue and a different academic essay :)

I don’t believe there is any physical abuse in Percabeth.

Moving on, Emotional abuse (which Psychological and Verbal added as they all connect).

Emotional abuse is defined by helathyplace.com as

Any act including confinement, isolation, verbal assault, humiliation, intimidation, infantilization, or any other treatment which may diminish the sense of identity, dignity, and self-worth.

It also covers Psychological abuse and verbal abuse. Psychological abuse does not have a definition available on the site I’m using but it does have a description. If you’d like to read the description go (here). I will add a detail of how it works though

Psychological abuse signs and symptoms may start small at first as the abuser "tests the waters" to see what the other person will accept, but before long the psychological abuse builds into something that can be frightening and threatening.

Verbal abuse definition defined by healthyplace.com is

Any language or behavior that seeks to coerce its victim to doubt their perceptions or their abilities and subjugate themselves to the abuser.

So considering that, we note another important factor here, they also have intent involved. “Test the waters” and “seek to coerce” for Psychological and Verbal abuse.

Emotional abuse is different in that it does not specify intent, except every item mentioned is purposeful. If you’re confining someone then you’re doing that on purpose, you cannot easily accidentally do most of that. Those actions carry intent, even if the intent is not abuse.

Now then, is percabeth emotionally abusive?

Once again I’ll start with the big thing people point out, the Judo Flip.

I’ve seen it point out that it could be seen as humiliation.

Annabeth grabbed his wrist and flipped him over her shoulder. He slammed into the stone pavement. Romans cried out. Some surged forward, but Reyna shouted, “Hold! Stand down!”

Annabeth put her knee on Percy’s chest. She pushed her forearm against his throat. She didn’t care what the Romans thought. A white-hot lump of anger expanded in her chest—a tumor of worry and bitterness that she’d been carrying around since last autumn.

“If you ever leave me again,” she said, her eyes stinging, “I swear to all the gods—”

Percy had the nerve to laugh. Suddenly the lump of heated emotions melted inside Annabeth.

“Consider me warned,” Percy said. “I missed you, too.” (MOA, chapter 2, page 19 of my copy)

If you look at the scene itself you’ll see that Annabeth is very emotional right then, she just got her boyfriend back, she’s exhausted from months of worrying, she’s emotionally very strained, and she judo flips him as all her pain just fills her.

A lot of people with anxiety or high stress or similar issues have times when the anxiety doesn’t affect them during the time they’re stressed, but right after the stressors are gone.

It’s clear that’s what happened here, all her feelings that she’d been burying to work just filled her.

And Percy smiles up at her and says he missed her.

It’s clear from her own comment that she didn’t care what the Romans thought (said right after they almost attacked her) that her thoughts were not on how this looked for Percy, but for her. She knew it looked bad for her to attack him.

She wasn’t trying to embarrass or humiliate Percy, she was trying to get all that pain and stress and anger out. I don’t like how it was done, but it did not physically harm him (nor did she expect it to) and it clearly did not humiliate him.

He smiled and said he missed her.

He understood what she was going through, and made it clear he loved her.

I still think it was bad writing, but it’s not humiliation, nor is it emotional abuse.

Another thing I’ve seen pointed out is Annabeth’s nickname for Percy.

Seaweed Brain.

I will start this with a reminder that both of their nicknames for each other were originally meant as insults.

Wise Girl was first used by Clarisse and it clearly upset Annabeth, it is used twice by Clarisse actually.

Once in TLT, when she and Percy first meet, and once in SOM when they’re attacking Charybdis.

Percy in comparison uses Wise Girl twice as well, both in TLT, once when he was mocking her at her coming along on the quest and once when they were saying goodbye. It’s also used once in HOO, in BOO.

Honestly it’s not much a nickname... only used by Percy 3 times in all the (main) books. There are like 3 other cases in all the side stories and MCGA combined.

Annabeth uses seaweed brain a total of 41 times in all the books combined, in PJO it’s used 25 times, 22 by Annabeth, and HOO it’s used outloud 9 times, all by Annabeth. On top of this, while the PJO cases were all outloud, the HOO cases were not, with 2 (making the total 11) used only in Annabeth’s thoughts.

Seaweed brain is used in TLT 6 times, 5 times by Annabeth.

The first time is when Annabeth is joining the quest, then when he says things are going fine so far when they start the quest, then when at the Ride of Love, then when Annabeth calls him her friend, then when they’re saying goodbye.

If you watch the progression of it it’s the same as with Wise Girl, though used more often. It starts as an insult, and then becomes fond and a term for her friend by the end of it.

I don’t particularly want to label every single instance, but a quick overview of all the PJO books is that it’s used by Annabeth in annoyance a total of 4 times, in fondness/exasperation/worry 18 times. Those times of annoyance were all in books 1 and 2, the time of exasperation (1 of the 18) was in book 2.

The vast majority were done out of worry, and the rest when she was being soft.

It’s not meant to diminish his intelligence, nor is intended as an insult beyond book 1 and 1 instance of book 2. It is rarely used because he’s being ignorant either. You can make an argument for the first case in book 3 being done because he wasn’t catching her hint to dance and thus was mocking his inability to catch a hint, but it was mixed with fondness from my read.

Overall the nickname is not intended as an insult anymore, it has become a friendly name for Percy that shows how fond Annabeth is of him. She does not have nicknames for anyone else.

In HOO all the cases were relatively fond, with one that she didn’t say outloud being used when she was cheering Hazel up by telling stories about Percy (ah the benefits of long time friendships, you get to tell all the good stories).

In the end I think that it’s cute that they have a nickname for each other, and though there could be more flattering ones, the intent that Percy understands from it and the intent Annabeth uses it with clearly show that it is meant in fondness and was a gradual change from a name that was meant to poke at him. It’s meaning is is fond and loving and it was only used 3 times prior with any other (negative) intent.

Also friends give each other nicknames, and commonly they are meant to be teasing.

There is one other thing I’ve seen brought up, being Annabeth thinking that she needs to keep Percy on his toes (specifically about Rachel in this case) when they’re in Tartarus.

‘Rachel?’ Percy asked. ‘You mean our Rachel? Oracle of Delphi Rachel?’

‘That’s the one.’ Annabeth suppressed a smile.

Whenever she brought up Rachel’s name, Percy got nervous. At one point, Rachel had been interested in dating Percy. That was ancient history. Rachel and Annabeth were good friends now. But Annabeth didn’t mind making Percy a little uneasy. You had to keep your boyfriend on his toes. (HOH, didn’t bother to check chapter number, page 109 of my copy)

So here we see that Annabeth is “keeping him on his toes” but in context, they’re sending a note to Rachel through the Hermes temple in Tartarus. It was not Annabeth bringing it up to mess with him, it was her smiling at the little moment where he was thrown off about Rachel.

Frankly, in general Annabeth doesn’t do anything like that. She occasionally teases Percy but he always teases back. After the Rachel stuff in book 5 things were chill with all of them. We’ve seen no evidence of Percy being uncomfortable with Rachel being brought up, nor Annabeth thinking that it should be brought up for that purpose.

If anything Annabeth has shown some serious abandonment issues in fearing that Percy would leave her over other girls (she needs some therapy after that mess of a childhood but Khiron apparenlty doesn’t think so).

I see this as a case of bad writing with nothing else supporting it, including the scene it happens in.

Even had it actually been something supported by other instances, in the context she says it in it seems more like teasing over an ex where the break was amicable and everyone is still friends, which isn’t abusive or manipulative.

It’s just that Rick is tasteless.

So is Percabeth emotionally/psychologically/verbally abusive? No.

If someone wishes to bring up other instances shoot me an ask.

So in conclusion,

I do not see how it is abusive. There are elements I do not like, and some parts that in my own relationship I wouldn’t be okay with. But in Percy and Annabeth’s relationship they have clear boundaries, they are both more than capable of stopping the other if they do something that upsets them. They have both shown fondness towards the others actions even if it is something that we don’t approve of in our relationships.

If Percy showed upset at her actions that would be different. But we literally see into his mind and he shows no upset at her words or actions. He is fond, he is understanding, and he responds to each instance of teasing with teasing of his own.

Notably I never see people saying Percy is abusive, only Annabeth.

I get a feel that people ask for flawed characters then crucify them if they’re not flawed in easily likeable ways. Annabeth is not a perfect character, I don’t like everything she does, but she is a realistic character and should not be demonized.

TDLR: Annabeth has never purposefully harmed Percy, and Percy has never purposefully harmed her. Neither have verbally/emotionally/psychological taken actions with the intent of harming the other when in their relationship or since becoming friends. There have been instances of upsetting the other but they talked and it clearly was not meant to hurt the other but because they themselves were hurting

Percabeth is not abusive

[foulserpent]

SHORT HORROR WRITING TIPS?

i got a couple people asking what my horror tips are bc i mentioned having what i think is a pretty good perspective on this, so here you go.

make note that i am not claiming any of these to always be better than other options, or that my way is the only way to write a good story. and also am not claiming that my own writing is phenomenal lol. these are just things to think about

the less descriptive is sometimes the better. the monster that the reader imagines in their head will always be scarier than anything you can describe, so just avoid exhaustive detail when describing the horror elements. play with describing just enough to get your point across, but not enough to limit the readers imagination too much.

this not only goes for the detail of the writing itself, but also limiting how much you explain. YOU should know whats going on, but explaining the events or providing any one obvious solution that ties everything together makes it less impactful. 

heres an example of a good VERY minimal description (from search and rescue woods)

here they dont say like “before snapping in half at the waist with a sudden jerking motion, and leaping off the peak. They fell, intestines dragging behind them like streamers, and the young man didn’t see where they landed.”. while it would still be a scary scenario to imagine, it leaves you with fewer questions than the limited description does.

not everything has to be as minimalist as that and not describing Enough can cause problems too. also please dont do “my mind couldnt comprehend it” to cheat your way out of describing things lol

experiment with surreality and things that verge on humorous. a lot of the times, the scares that stay with you longest are things that would be funny in other contexts. both horror and humor often rely on a sense of wrongness, and utilizing that rather than being afraid to step outside the bounds of Exclusively Scary can make for more interesting stories.

this is a good example of a semi-humorous situation. a guy back flipping through the woods could be really funny, but the context places you in the shoes of the witness where it becomes pretty alarming. someone backflipping towards you is not an obvious and immediate threat in the way a killer holding a knife or a scary monster with sharp teeth is, but it is so utterly Wrong in this context that it is far more unsettling than either of those

(the above is also a great example of writing a person telling the story in a naturalistic way.) 

if your story exists in the form of dialogue (ie one character recounting a mysterious event to another verbally), please actually write it like dialogue. the voice of this dialogue should be the characters voice, not the same level of descriptiveness as a 3rd person narration. i am strongly biased towards naturalistic dialogue in general but i think it is near-VITAL in horror, unless the point is using unnatural dialogue AS something intentionally unnatural and frightening.

like in the above, if the guy speaking instead said “There was a man approaching me, but he was back-flipping. He moved in a series of uncannily graceful whirls in one continuous motion, dancing effortlessly over every log and bush in his path” that would be fucking weird bc no one talks like that. it completely destroys the readers immersion if they consciously make note of it. it sounds especially weird being narrated (please read all your dialogue out loud lol)

dialogue has unique strengths, in the case of horror adding a lot of legitimacy to the story when used naturalistically. like an element of immersion. taking the tool of dialogue and using it in the same way you use narration is like taking a screwdriver and trying to use it as a hammer. if your INTENTION is to do that, then by all means do, but if its not then youre killing your effectiveness.

this also goes for anything else other than narration. like if you choose to include a newspaper article, WRITE IT LIKE A NEWSPAPER ARTICLE!! it adds a feeling of legitimacy and the dry and basic writing of an article can actually add to the creepy factor due to its unique formar and perspective if you choose to include a note someone wrote as fast as they could before getting kiled, WRITE IT LIKE THAT! if you want to use lots of adjectives and rich description then why the hell are you choosing to use plot vehicles entirely counterproductive to that?????

for a bonus heres tropes i hate and that always bother me and they absolutely CAN be done well but theyre usually bad and i cant stand them

-having a premise that your character is hurriedly writing this story with the threat of death closing in at any second. this kills all believability. especially if they begin with like “i dont have much time” and then the story is the most long winded purple prose-y shit ever

-fakeout endings where the story is pretty well wrapped up but then you end with “but lately.. ive been hearing scratching on my door again” implying oooooh its going to happen all over again, which like. idk it kind of nerfs any impact of the ending and tends to be frustrating instead of horrifying

-using the phrase “unnaturally wide” “unnaturally long” etc to describe your fucked up rake knockoff’s body . enough with the unnaturally wide smiles they arent scary

-the focus on smiling in of itself (even when not ‘unnaturally wide’) annoys me bc a lot of the time it ruins any tension by humanizing its monster. like if a creature has been stalking the narrator the whole time and then you describe it making an evil grin or whatever then its just like POOF all ambiguity gone its basically just an evil serial killer who likes inflicting pain. its TOO human. theres no mystery

-in general, your protagonist being stuck in a situation that can only happen from them being stupid and getting unusually involved in shit that doesnt concern them makes things less compelling for me. 

like i just listened to some creepy pasa reading that starts out like “oh i wonder what would have happened if i had simply turned right and not left” and it makes you think the story is going to be about pure coincidental horror that comes from being at the wrong place at the wrong time but then the scary event happens because the narrator 1) stops to investigate a random car stopped on a dark country road 2) gets out of their car to investigate 3) goes over to the car and looks into the car and around it 4) sees a stuffed toy on the ground near the stopped car and decides that means a child must have left it there and must still be out there 5) decides its up to them to help, doesnt even attempt to call anyone about it 6) decides to go into the FUCKING WOODS

like thats not a coincidence or a “what if i had only just turned right” thing thats you going out of your way to get killed

[akookminsupporter]

Heya! I know you probably get a lot of asks about people ranting and stuff. But what is something that makes you want to rant about this fandom? What is something that makes you amazed at the stupidity of some people? And what is something you have seen passed around in this fandom as "solid" evidence to something (ex:meaning behind JK's tattoos) but it really isn't? What is one unpopular opinion you have about KM and KMers? And about other shippers?

Sorry if this is long! I just like seeing your perspective on things! Keep up the great work😊

What is one theory about KM that absolutely melts your heart? What is one theory about KM that pisses you off? And what is one theory about KM that doesn't make sense to you?

I received these two asks a couple of days ago. I don't know if they were sent by the same person but as the idea of the questions are the same I will merge them to answer them in one post. If the questions were sent by different people I hope you don't mind that I have merged them into one.

1. what is something that makes you want to rant about this fandom?

The bloody hypocrisy of fandom in general and of the shipping community.

What happened yesterday is a clear example of what I mean. What's been going on with Jimin and Jungkook and jikook for a long time is the clearest example of what I mean.

This fandom in general likes to tout that they are united, that they are willing to do anything for BTS, for its members but when Jimin is attacked almost every day only the same people come out to defend him, when Jungkook is attacked, only the same people come out to defend them. When jikook is attacked only jikookers come out to defend them.

The fandom claims to be OT7 or nothing but I'm still waiting to see that when it comes to Jimin in particular. Jimin has had horrible things said about him but a lot of people say nothing. Worst of all, it's the fandom itself that throws hate at the two of them. This is not an exaggeration. All the members get hate, but the hate that Jimin and Jungkook get, especially Jimin is another level.

The ship community is basically rotten. Yesterday Jimin was attacked to the hilt and the shippers of the other ships he is a part of didn't come out to defend him. They didn't say anything. Their damn ships are more important than the individuals that make them up.

Those who prefer to remain silent when a member is being attacked with the excuse that it's shipwar, it has nothing to do with my ship etc., are just as well part of the problem, the silence of those people allows the haters to continue to spew hate.

2. What is something that makes you amazed at the stupidity of some people?

That there are people who actually believe that BHM hides the interactions between some members. I don't believe that BHM shows us everything but to hide ALL interactions between two members is ridiculous.

That there are people who still believe that Taekook cant use the same car. Coincidentally, two days ago I was watching Bring the Soul: The Movie and Jungkook and Tae used the same car several times.

That there are people who actually believe that Jungkook is uncomfortable with the things that Jimin does, that it bothers him that Jimin is close to him.

Note: It's funny that the above points are about Tkkrs' stupidity.

3. what is something you have seen passed around in this fandom as "solid" evidence to something (ex:meaning behind JK's tattoos) but it really isn't?

Honestly, the ring theory. I don't dismiss the possibility of it being true but jikookers by all accounts do take it as basically irrefutable fact.

4. What is one unpopular opinion you have about KM and KMers? And about other shippers?

About KM...none I think. About KMers that they turn every single thing Jimin and Jungkook do about the ship; some not all, seem to reject or forget the idea that Jimin and Jungkook are individuals too and that often what they do and say has nothing to do with each other.

About other shippers.

I don't like tkkrs at all. Although honestly, that's not an unpopular opinion. About other shippers I don't have a general opinion about them, neither good nor bad because I'm not very attentive to what they say or do.

5. What is one theory about KM that absolutely melts your heart?

That their families are close. I don't know if that's considered a theory but I love to believe it's true. I was so happy to know that when Jimin and Jungkook were leaving for Tokyo, Jimin's dad and Jungkook's brother accompanied them to the airport. That once, possibly several times, when Jimin and Jungkook went to Busan, Jimin's dad picked them up.

That supposedly when BTS had a concert in London, Jimin and Jungkook's families got together to celebrate Jimin's birthday.

6.What is one theory about KM that pisses you off?

It's not exactly a theory, it's more of a narrative. But I hate that many people still believe and keep repeating that Jungkook didn't like Jimin when they were younger.

7. And what is one theory about KM that doesn't make sense to you?

Honestly I tried to think of one but I couldn't think of anything aahahaah.

[lucidpantone]

You seem to be talking about chemistry between the characters when I think most people are talking about chemistry between the actors. Which is two separate things IMO. Of course Evak is written in a certain way but it’s up to the actors to sell it. And yeah, I’ve tried to say before that I don’t think the Willems have has much chemistry as most people claim and I got eaten alive by the fandom. I find that childish 🤷🏼‍♀️

opposition anon: I think the Evaks with the most chemistry are Evak (Tarjei and Henrik we’re off the charts), Sobbe (no further explaination needed) and Crisana (they aren’t mentioned enough but their chemistry was out of this world)

Ok so here are two anons in somewhat opposition with one another and I think this a perfect example of each person has their own taste but also acknowledging an overall consensus. I am gonna start by siding with my original comment all the evaks have chemistry and I think all the actors have played them well.If we measure chemistry on a scale of 1-10 I would start all their depictions at 5 (and them move them around due to personal taste). I cant think of one evak couple that I don’t believe on screen. I believe all of them. Also I have commented on this before there is such a thing as the actors who play isak as standalone actors and the evens as standalone actors and then the pair of actors together depicting the evak love story as well as culture nuances in each remake and topical issues. Its okay to say you don't think one or more of these couples don't have chemistry Irene & Rizha, Fede & Rocco, Lukas & Michi, Willem x2, Axel & Maxence and Tarjei & Henrik because it is your opinion and we are all entitled to an opinion. Gotta admit anon the Willems not having chemistry is not something I hear often. Usually the issue isn't that the actors don't have chemistry its wtfock’s approach to their depiction being to oversexualized but them not having chemistry is a pretty rare opinion but once again your entitled to it and am entitled to disagree to it. 

I will say this I don't think the Willems radiate sobbe energy in s4 as strongly but its also because we never got to see them concurrently we saw them for a clip and then would go weeks not seeing them so it almost felt like we lost their special flare but s4 is traumatic all around so I kinda write off the entire season off at this point. From the remakes I agree with opposition anon. OG evak are like my no.1 and remake wise its goes Sobbe and Crisana. However if I am talking about acting then Isak wise I think Michi takes the cake followed by Herbots and Even wise I think Willem DS and Rizha are so neck and neck they literally edge each other out by milliseconds. Actors depicting Evak I think Sobbe feels the most youthful and giddy like they are so excited to be drunk in love. Where Crisana I think they are more tender(but not the most tender thats davenzi 1000%) because Cris is so loud and obnoxious what I cherish about them is when they get together they can be so soft but also they are both super fiery they have this intense duality and its nice they don't lose that about themselves either. Like they are still indeed joana and cris as individuals and are disorganized, loud and immature because thats also who they are also I think Irene and Rizha have good chemistry. Anyways like I said to me everyone starts above average and then its personal where you place the evaks. They are all different but all good imo and the actors all do greats jobs with them.

[thewebcomicsreview]

Oh shit, Homestuck 2 is back! Looks like the art team problems are getting worse, but maybe the writing’s good? Quick, recap of the story so far, since there was a hiatus

Previously, on Homestuck 2:  DIRK: I’m evil now and we’re on a new planet where we shall create our own lifeforms and rule them as gods ROSE: I’m making memes and vaginas DIRK: NOOOOO ROSE: Jade got me preganté and we named our kid Yiffy and I kept it a secret from everyone this whole time, including my wife but inexplicably not the dictator I’ve trying to overthrow, who kidnapped her JOHN: NOOOOO CALLIOPE: I’m in ur bod drinking ur juice JADE: NOOOOO CALLIOPE: Oh, like you’re not used to having weird people inside you, skank JADE: Wow, rude, I’m kicking you out of my brain for that  CALLIOPE: NOOOOO JOHN: Man, I love how my son tells me everything and keeps no secrets  KARKAT: John! Vriska’s alive and she murdered the clown pope and your son is hiding her because he and his friends are wanted for treason  JOHN: ...... KARKAT: You’re supposed to say “NOOOOO” John: Why would I? That fucking rules!  We now return to Homestuck 2

Yay, we’re finally seeing Davebot, Aradia, and Calliope. Fun fact: In a comic with like ten billion retcons and timeline splits, this Aradia is still the definitive “real” Aradia in a way no other character can claim to be (except Sollux), which is a fun endgame for a character who was introduced has having hundreds of thousands of duplicates.  I can not wait to see how the HS2 writers ruin her. (Also, where did they get a rocket ship?)

Also it it me, or is there something a little off about this art?

DAVEBOT: beep boop ARADIA: i have told you several times that i was a robot before and i know for a fact you dont have to say beep boop DAVEBOT: hm that sounds fake does not compute ARADIA: david DAVEBOT: mom

“David”? 

This is the first indication in the entire series that any of these kids’ names are short for anything, something Hussie explicitly said wasn’t the case but which was never actually addressed in the comic proper so I guess it’s not a plot hole. Still, it feels a little....wrong? 

ARADIA: well we are both an infinite number of years old living countless lifetimes at once but thats no reason to waste any of our...

Wait, what?! Aradia is Ultimate, too? When did that happen?! Why does she not need a robot body? 

DAVEBOT: time DAVEBOT: say time ARADIA: ... DAVEBOT: time then make a weird face

There’s a fine line between “callback” and straight up recycling a joke. 

ARADIA: would you say you are hung up on leaving your wife and friends behind DAVEBOT: are you ARADIA: am i hung up about leaving your wife and friends behind ARADIA: i do not think that i am no DAVEBOT: arent you even a little guilty about ditching your boyfriend ARADIA: what ARADIA: oh fuck

I do like the implication here that Aradia flat forgot about Sollux. Poor dude can’t catch a break. .

Ooh, an [S]. An extremely basic one, but still. Also, from this scene in the epilogues:

The distant sounds of war travel above the canopy of a forest. The artillery fire fades to a series of muted knocks and thuds as the sound waves cross beyond a thinning patch of the forest and arrive in a clearing of grass and shrubbery. Above, the sky is dramatic, colorful, menacing. The way it looks when a storm is coming. The clouds are wild, whipped into a sort of spatial frenzy, as if they know what’s imminent is no earthly phenomena. Aradia stands in the field, her mouth gaping wide. But not at the sky.

Probably the starkest example of how the epilogues presented Earth C has falling about and doomed and stormy and scary like the system crash in Reboot and Homestuck 2 has it all sunny and bright. I kind of wish HS2 kept the semi-apocalyptic feel of the epilogues, even if it made Aradia’s spurious decision to leave Sollux behind way more dickish. 

Oh hey, God’s back, and back in the body of the OG pre-Retcon Jade Harley. There’s something very Shoujo about this posing.

DAVEBOT: thanks JADE: They sit in each other's presence, the silence between them as meaningful as any words they could exchange. DAVEBOT: its always really cool to hear how meaningful my silences are DAVEBOT: especially while DAVEBOT: CALCULATING DAVEBOT: CALCULATING DAVEBOT: especially while i am attempting to experience them

I think Calliope, and possibly Aradia, is shipping Dave/Aradia right now, which is a pairing that has some comedic appeal were it not for Dave’s gayness.

ARADIA: i think she looks quite lovely covered in the viscera of the all-powerful enemy she consumed ARADIA: floating lifelessly in our periphery

We just established that this is months after they left Candyland. Has Jade’s body been covered in the blood and guts of Lord English this entire time? Take a goddamn shower, Jesus. 

Oh, there we go. Much better. Also, the one thing I heard about this upd8 was all the discussion of jorts, and then Dave references jorts, but no one is actually wearing them, unless Aradia’s got a pair on under her cultist robes? (Also, is Calliope’s Jade body healed from the shard of reality that killed it originally, or is there just a huge hole under her shirt)?

JADE: As a point of curiosity- ARADIA: oh shit!!!!

The dead Cherub possessing the body of an equally deceased Goddess of Space pauses at the interruption. Were she to voice her opinion, it would be that --actually-- it is not unusual for those whose primary concern is The Grander Scheme to have a passing curiosity about the insignificant. So when one really thinks about it, any annoyance with the attendant’s small mindedness is both understandable and warranted.

ARADIA: :(

Given how much time was spent on how Terezi can sense Dirk’s narration, I like how Calliope’s narration is literally just her talking out loud and everyone can clearly hear it and just assumes it’s like a troll quirk.

ARADIA: in this form our bodies stop aging once we reach maturity i think ARADIA: the god tier keeps our physical form locked in a state of undying ARADIA: even in death the bodies do not decay ARADIA: only lay dormant DAVEBOT: no thats boring DAVEBOT: like how long have you been alive JADE: yes, that one.

One of the things I don’t fully get about Calliope is why there’s stuff like this she doesn’t know. Another thing I don’t get: How come John and Jake are visibly middle-aged? They’re gods, too. 

ARADIA: you were there too i threw your air conditioner into the sun DAVEBOT: wow thats fucked up DAVEBOT: thats not where that goes at all JADE: these events are not-canonical. ARADIA: rude

I believe this is a reference to Pesterquest?

DAVEBOT: is that the trope of being hundreds of years old but looking young forever patently sucks ass DAVEBOT: a plot device an asshole would write ARADIA: :( JADE: that is not what i am trying to say at all. DAVEBOT: hmm wow yeah thatd really be a sort of pot/kettle situation i guess DAVEBOT: i cant believe im the only woke one here DAVEBOT: its hard being such a visionary AND such a fine metallic specimen

What the fuck is David even talking about? What? 

DAVEBOT: but can she see why kids love the sweet cinnamon taste of cinnamon toast crunch JADE: i do not know, or care, what that means. ARADIA: neither do i :)

I like the “Best Narrator” mug, and with this sudden headache to interrupt the laughter comes the end of the chapter and presumably a lead in to the next one when we’ll learn what’s blowing Calliope’s mind 

[zuffer-weird-girl]

What about an scenario about Kai thinking on proposing and struggling with how to do it, cuz he wants it be perfect

Of course!

"No. Horrific." He shook his head at his mind daring to think on such a terrible idea as he threw the paper on the nearby trash can on his office.

If he knew that preparing to proposing to someone was that hard, he would've had started to think about the issue right when he started to date you, because hole hell. It was harder then he thought.

And he was struggling with this shit for at least three weeks.

For something, or better yet, someone to get his attention and respect was extremely rare. And only one case in his all twenty something years of life was the special kind, the one who he had allowed to open up about his past and didn't judged him, the one who could atture and even came to love him for exactly what he was, despite having all his radical thoughts and issues like his mysophobia and... mental problems if you could even call it like that?

An angel that came from above to give his life some light and what he never thought he would have wanted neither need it at some point. Love and care.

You, a quirkless person who he always insisted that you were pure. An example for this sick society to follow, not to exclude like you were the wrong here.

He despised those type of people. How could they not see it that you were the original and right type of human? The one that wasn't sick like the others?

Ignoring all of that. After some years of knowing eachother, passing through good and bad, he had came to an thought some months ago that it wasn't leaving his head, no matter how hard he tried... until one day he simply gave up, and accepted it.

"I want (Y/n) to be mine. For life."

He remember those words he said to himself clear as the bright day outside. The realization took some time, but it hitted him like a train would. He truly loved you, only having you as a partner wasn't "enough", no. He felt the urge to have something, to prove to you and the world that you were his...

And for the first time in his life, he would say without a problem that he belonged to someone as well, even having his possessive habbits.

You were just like the moon and the clear night sky filled with stars for him. Despite the darkest and the most cold that the night can bring, they were always there to lead the human kind to safety directions.

... see? He thought on all of that. But he couldn't say it out loud. And that shit sounded way too cliche to propose to someone.

"Night sky? Fucking pathetic." He burried his face in his hands to growl freely on them before sighing and laying back on his chair.

Worst. The worst were the hardest, yes. But how the fuck should he do it in the first place? Just kneel on some dirty ground and say shit? On where? When?

He felt like he was going insane. He was always so serious and intelligent, always quick to make decisions. But this time? He felt for once pathetic.

He cant even think on where or how to propose to his loved one, what the actual hell?

"Sorry for the news boss. But those papers are from the other... you good?" He heard Kurono and Irinaka's voices and he grunted before standing up.

"Those are from rivals or allies?" He asked nonchantly as he grabbed the papers and read them cautiously with eyes full of disinterest and boredom.

"Allies." Kurono answered back before looking at the trash can filled with what was once papers "You were working on something?"

"None of your interest." He sighed and gave the papers back to Mimic "Return them to their owners, this doesn't have my interest and I have no time to waste on filth garbage like those."

Mimic nodded and left... but Kurono remained on the room. Catching a glimpse of what the messy papers were written and catching immediately what was going on.

And he felt nostalgia. Back to those days where he teased Kai freely. He could die that he wouldn't care, this was gold.

Chisaki looked at him with a arched eyebrow as he took of his mask and showed a smirk to him, the young head of the Shie Hassaikai already not liking one bit that face that smug bastard was doing it.

"Never took you to be the type of wanting to get married."

"... you son of a-"

"Relax! Relax!" Kurono dodged one attack of Kai and sighed in relief at not being killed by that spike Chisaki had just created. Bit still was chuckling "Is just surprinsing to see a guy who always claimed taht love didn't existed and DESPISE even the concept of touch wanting to get married."

"This has nothing of your interest, get out of my sign before I-"

"And you seem troublesome with that, judging by the amount of discarded papers, which by the way are not-" in one second he was overhauled and came back to look at a very infuriated Kai right in front of him.

"One more word that I will kill you for real and dont return back." He growled as Kurono smirked.

"Right, I will stop." Chisaki scoffed and went back to sitting on his desk with a huff but only burried his head on his gloved hands again as he stared at the blank paper in front of him.

"... If this is about (Y/n) accepting or not, they are crazy for you Kai. The least they could say is to wait a bit, but surely will accept." He tried to say something as Kai only sighed and pointed at no where while pinching the bridge of his nose.

"I have no idea why I am talking with out of all people this, but this is one of many of my issues about this."

"So there is more?"

"Much. First is that I have no fucking idea how to do it."

It was silence for a bit until Chisaki noticed how Kurono's eyes were wide open in shock, he arched an eyebrow as a silent question for him to explain his reaction.

"You? The most rational and strategist around here? Doesn't have a plan to propose?" He send a dark glare at Kurono as the man winced and rubbed the back of his head "Man, than the situation is critical."

"I apreciate the words Chronostasis. Really." He said in venom sarcasm before sighing again.

"You really dont have any ideas? Like, at all?" He shook his head and Kurono brought his hand to his chin in thought before snapping his fingers "Thought about asking advice to Pops?"

"You're kidding?" He glared at Kurono "The old man won't never leave down this one, and probably will be sappy shit."

"... doesn't you and (Y/n) do 'sappy shit' all the time?" He lifted his hand sup in surrender at Kai's death glare "No offense, but ever heard of 'the thought that it counts'? (Y/n) is not a person that is difficult to impress and enjoy the simple things. You know that better than anyone else in here dude."

"Of course I do, who do you take me for?" He asked in anger before sighing and looking down with a frown at the blank paper "... but they are not simple. (Y/n) made a drastic change in my life... so no one can't blame me for wanting and craving a unforgettable and memorable moment. I... I simply want to give (Y/n)-" Kurono widen his eyes at the way his cold childhood friend softened his usual murderous golden eyes at the mention of your name "The best. The best proposal, the best life, the best memories... I want this to be flawless, something that they can't look back and say 'it could have been-'. I want that neither os us have any regrets on this decision. Like the nowadays, where I dont have any regrets o entering on a relationship for the first time."

He lifted his head and found Hari looking at him with a smirk and he immediately scowled at it.

"Then I guess asking for some advice from the old man, despite hearing the no endless teasing would be worth it?" He tilted his head as Chisaki seemed in deep in thought "You got the help and service of all the yakusa, so you just need a plan. If you may allow, we will offer assistance and follow your orders."

He hated to admit that the blockhead was right. Absolutely despised it.

"... I guess."

Soon the door opened and the said so old man arched an eyebrow at the boys he raised in the same room and looking so serious but yet... like it wasn't a meeting neither business issue?

"Mind the both telling me what is going on?"

"Chisaki is thinking on proposing to (Y/n)." Kurono said nonchantly and dodged another attack of Kai.

"You disgusting piece of fucking-!"

"You are?" The elder asked in a certain serious tone, looking straight at Chisaki soul, catching him completely out of guard by his look.

"Is it a issue?" He remained his composture and uncaring look, but his nerves were starting to grow a bit at the thought that his mentor didn't approve it.

The man looked up and down at Chisaki before speaking in the same serious tone.

"Marriage is not only about claiming someone as yours Chisaki. Is about to care and vow even yourself for your partner. Protection, trust, respect are always the main pillars of having on a relationship and marriage." He turned hsi whole body to be in front of Chisaki as he spoke eyes to eye with him "Cases of the person who had their firts relationship and marriages are rare, but not impossible. Those are the ones we have to be extremely careful with. Now... knowing you in the way I do, answer me with pure bold honesty like you always did-"

The room went silent and even Kurono seemed uncomfortable at Pops seriousness, really considering on tip toeing out of the room.

"Do you really want this? What exactly brought you to this decision?"

Chisaki stared nonchantly at his mentor before sighing.

"What brought me for this decision was how and only (Y/n) makes me feel. The only thoughts I have before them were merely focused on rage towards my disgusting past, my hatred towards the heroes and how should I pay you for such kindness for taking me in.... with (Y/n) although I did not felt like a empty shell, I felt... I feel alive."

The elder hummed and asked one more last question.

"And you love (Y/n)? Enough to spend the rest of your life with them?"

"... I would crawl to hell and get back to earth if it meant I can see that smile and joy on my angel's face."

The elder chuckled lowly before patting Chisaki's shoulder, surprising the said man.

"Then you have my back Chisaki. And my blessing." He patted his head harshly out of sudden, causing Chisaki to growl and scoot away "And I heard you are struggling, I will give you some advice."

"I didn't ask for any of-"

"Bullshit." Chisaki deadpanned at the old man's vulgar vocabulary "If you're going to propose them you're doing it right."

He was in hell... why couldn't he had avoided all of this by merely thinking of something? Curse him and his brain.

"Am I interrupting something?" That voice right now was the last one he needed to hear.

"Angel, is actually-"

"(Y/N) my dear. Mind accompanying Kurono to grab some groceries?" Pops said suddenly and uncaringly "We are out of those. And I need to have a word with Chisaki."

"We are? Oh." Kurono muttered before going to the door frame "Yeah we are."

"But-"

"I will own you one my dear, dont be late."

"Pops I swear to god-" Chisaaki started to growl but the sound of Chrono closing the door caused his eye to twitch in irritation.

"So. Any ideas that crossed your mind?" The order spoke and chisaki only deadpanned at him "Cleary not apparently."

Someone, any divine creature... free him from his hell hole. Please.

[usernamesuggestionsarefunny]

I hadnt really noticed that about the fancasts. for example I've seen Charlotte hope be used in gifsets that I know are done by Sansa antis, but Charlotte is far from ugly or plain. But you probs have a point. I have noticed before with some arya stans who've tried arguing sansa really isn't that pretty and it's dumb and creepy

I dont think Charlotte is ugly. From certain angles she can look quite beautiful, and I didnt want to mention her name so blatantly at first because it would be quite unkind, but when I say "plain", I mean in comparison to more conventionally attractive actresses. I mean plain as in "normal" looking in my personal and subjective opinion. I consider myself average as well, because I am am not ugly, and can be considered pretty by some, but I am not stunning.

I simply have noticed that Sansa stans tend to either leave Sophie Turner, or fancast actresses like Rachel Hurd-Wood, Isolda Dychauk, Elle Fanning, Brooke Shields or even Mackenzie Foy (As Alayne). Many of those mentioned above are celebrated beauties. Isolda, at least, has an "innocent" look. And I find it so... how can I put it?

"Aha! Of course!" <<< I find the reason as to why so few Arya stans use those fancasts obvious, at least now.

Maybe some genuine Sansa stans do fancast Charlotte, and honestly good for them, because beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I cant claim to have visited every single Stark sisters' blog, and as I said, she is not ugly (Either way, the best thing about Sansa is her personality). At the beggining I thought I was being blinded by my own subjective standards of beauty, but at the same time, I know those standards came from somewhere: society, the media, etc., and it was starting to become way too weird and suspicious that 8 out of 10 times I found one of those Arya stan blogs that blatantly hate on Sansa without without any sort of subtlety, the fancast for Sansa was Charlotte, and the one for Arya was Millie. Well, maybe they follow each other and the fancasts "stuck" (That is actually a posibility I hadn't thought about before, it could very well be).

But I also know that at least some Arya stans are obsessed with Arya surpassing Sansa in beauty, so much so that what I hope is a minority theorizes about Sansa becoming disfigured. And that would also explain the fancasts even without the constant reblogging between mutuals in their circles (Maybe the answer is somewhere in the middle), it just fits their overall mentality.

In my opinion, Charlotte seems like a safe fancast for them, because she is pretty as Sansa is supposed to be in the book (I don't think Charlotte has incredibly high cheekbones but I guess that is subjective as well), but without ruining their headcanon about Arya becoming prettier, or at least, Charlotte makes Sansa beautiful in a non threatening way, because it allows room for their fave to be even more so, which is fine really, as some people are very visual. I am more mad about them saying Sansa is evil, wanting her to be disfigured, marry a pedophile, or have an irrelevant ending.

The post was made more tongue in cheek than anything, but was indeed based on what I have observed visiting those blogs.

[wanna-b-poet31]

Hastur’s Brutal Honesty (A  Good Omens Meta?)

So Like, This is me just drafting my bigger idea that Hastur as the perfect literary mirror to Aziraphale...but the closer I look at him, the more...honest??? he seems.  Which, considering how Crowley chooses to lie, leads me to an interesting conclusion about the role of dis/honesty in the series. Namely, how his words (when compared to Aziraphale, Crowley, Heaven and Hell) intersects with loyalty, cruelty, and kindness. 

>Plan on hearing more about Hastur and Aziraphale in the future...but in the meantime, some observations<

First, as I discuss in Part 3 of my Lying/Honesty series: I identify instances where Angel’s lie (with Aziraphale being a good example of a poor liar) but also I made a passing comment that there is an inexplicable honest streak among the demons. 

It got me thinking about WHY? Especially because their honesty doesn’t make them any less cruel or abusive. So I go to thinking...(a dangerous pastime, I know)  

Yes, the demons are more aware of other’s ability to deceive them, like Beelzebub’s jab at Michael that “it’s not that we don’t trust you, but we don’t trust you” and further, TESTING the water before subjecting “Crowley” to it. But...do we see them honestly, lie? And, is that indicative of something bigger?

I will note, they clearly say they don’t trust each other:

>GIF of Ligur asking Hastur if he trusts Crowley. Hastur replies “no”<  But do their actions match their words? I would argue not.

Case in point: Hastur.

I find Hastur’s behavior particularly interesting because I’ve recently re-watched the series and noticed, the closest he gets to a lie is when he knocks on Crowley’s door and Ligur say’s they just want to talk to him. However, this feels more like a threat, with ironic intent, rather than a flat lie. 

He is also particularly gullible, similar to the naiveite we see Aziraphale exhibit. Yes, he’s clearly more malicious than Aziraphae (as we see him burn down the church, threaten Crowley, and kill another demon without remorse) but we also see him willingly ask questions, and easily believe Crowley’s deceptions.

For example, we see him openly and honestly communicate with Ligur while they’re sulking, waiting for Crowley to show up. Sure, he’s wrong about what “Caio” means, but is it a lie? It seems more like his arrogance of Italian, transliterating it to an English word than an actual lie.  

Even when he’s greeting Warlock’s family, we don’t see him lie. He’s simply too preoccupied with the coming of his master to care about what anyone else thinks. I’m also hesitant to classify “threats” with “lies” because while they may not come to fruition, he certainly intends for them to be true. The closest lie I can think about is when he’s disguised himself to capture Crowley. He doesn’t even lie when he’s reading out Crowley’s crimes to the audience.

Instead, we actually see that he’s actually surprised by Crowley’s lies. As much as he claims not to trust other Demons, when he’s actively pursuing Crowley and Ligur is killed, for a split second, Hastur looks like he believes Crowley’s lie that “the Dark Council” is testing him.

This scene seems to highlight the fundamental difference between Crowley and Hastur: honesty vs. cruelty.

Hastur is unspeakably cruel, where Crowley is kind and Hastur is oddly honest where Crowley freely lies. They are foils for sure (stay tuned for that meta sometime soon) and I think this nuance matters. 

Like, in this scene Hastur also genuinely believes, however briefly, that Crowley is calling the Dark Council. This is AFTER Crowley lied about the anti-christ, lied (by omission) that he befriended an Angel, just wrote Ligur (Hastur’s bestie) out of reality, and lied about putting holy water into the water mister. 

By all accounts, there is no reason Hastur should trust Crowley at this moment, but he still does. The above Gif doesn’t do justice to the tone of voice that Hastur gives when he asks if Crowley is calling the dark council. It’s almost downright hopeful. It doesn’t occur to him until Crowley says “so long sucka” that Crowley’s lied to him. 

Sure, Crowley is the most convincing liar in the series, and his performance is top-notch, but at this point, Hastur still demonstrates trust. I think both because it doesn’t dawn on him that he’d be the recipient of an unkind lie AND because Crowley still hasn’t shown the unbriddled cruelty Hastur himself would demonstrate. Crowley’s only acted out of self-defense. It’s not until Hastur has time to fully process the loss of Ligur (in answering-machine land) he realizes Crowley’s no longer on his side. 

In reality, Crowley never was. Crowley has ever only been loyal to Aziraphale, and Hastur has only been loyal to Hell.

And I think the motivating reason is the brutal cruelty Hastur, and other demons, display. Ligur and Hastur both waste no time shoving a poor Eric into the Hellhound’s pit and kill 2 more Eric’s at the “traditional” end of the world cite. They do these acts of cruelty without a second thought.  Hastur laughs with glee as nuns are screaming for their lives and the satanic church is burned.

It truly mirrors the way Heaven/God is fine killing everyone except for Noah and his family. There is no remorse.

The only time we see the sliver of cruelty in Crowley is in the above scene. When Ligur is destroyed, Anthony “you can’t kill the kids” Crowley is directly responsible. But, this is self-defense and Ligur is clearly a vehicle for abuse. And, it is clearly framed differently from how Hastur’s several acts of cruelty are. 

For the show he puts on, Crowley is not cruel, not even to his enemies. Crowley does not relish killing, opting to give Nazis a choice to leave while still not condoning their behavior. Unlike Hastur who is downright gleeful that the nuns who have helped him are running for his life, Crowley adds no emphasis to killing. He is not nice, but he is not unkind nor does things out of purely malicious intent.  

Meanwhile, Hastur goes above and beyond to be cruel. When he kills the demon at trial (his 4th!! demon murder!!) he still is not lying but he’s certainly not being kind. This tells me that honesty is not intrinsically “kind” nor is it intrinsically “bad” in the series. Rather, it is but one weapon in the arsenal choice.

If I bring my train of thought to the ineffable husbands, it gives so much more meaning to Crowley’s active choice NOT to lie to Aziraphale. I’ve said it before, that this show is dependent on choice. He chooses the kinder of the two options. Crowley could lie, he has the imagination for it, and he wields it against their adversaries (Hell) well. However, he doesn’t. he only ever points out what Aziraphale is unable or sometimes unwilling to acknowledge as truth. 

Hastur. meanwhile, he chooses to be cruel beyond belief and chooses to be honest. He does not make the same grand show to lie to his enemies. For him, the truth behind his threats and his impulse to act in the moment are greater tools for harm. 

Aziraphale, thinks he’s choosing the kinder option to lie to Crowley at the Bandstand. He certainly is saying “true” words, but neither believe it at this point, and both are harmed by it. We also know he thinks lying can be unkind, but he uses it primarily as a defensive tool, not an offensive one. It is not until he realizes how much abuse he’s internalized that he realizes who deserves his kind honesty: Crowley. 

This also brings greater emphasis to the way honesty and dishonesty can be manipulated. Crowley and Aziraphale lie self-defense. Neither relish lying, but will because the kind of honesty they are being fed by their respective sides is cruel, and nothing like the unspoken, unnamed truth between the two of them. 

Hell is unkind, unloving, and unspeakably cruel. Heaven is cold, unfeeling, and cruel. Crowley is the victim of clear and specific abuse at the hands of hell and does not need to feel sorry for lying to his abuser.  Aziraphale has been belittled and gaslighted by Heaven and both lie for protection. 

However, Hastur is honest only as a means to be cruel. When Crowley chooses, to be honest, it is explicitly to be kind and to be loving. 

So I bring myself back to my initial observation. Why do Demons have an honest streak? I think it is because for them (and for Heaven) lying and honesty is neither good nor bad. Instead, they add “weight to the moral argument” they’re making. They are much more concerned with outcome (which is always an offensive mechanism) than the means. It just so happens Demons bully and intimidate for what they want without especially needing to lie.

TLDR: Yes, Hastur chooses to be honest, but the outcome is still cruelty. Yes, Crowley chooses to lie, but the outcome is protection. Lying is not intrinsically bad, honesty is not intrinsically good. Demons cant still be super abusive even if they don’t lie about it.

Thanks for coming to my tedtalk

[gender-chaotic]

Oh boy b**tleba*bes talking about stuff they have no clue about lmao

Warning talk mentions of b**tleb*bes, over sexualization of minors, and a bit of adult stuff.

Im goldenbeetle shipper whos been here a while now and is a proud drinker of loving barbara maitland juice not gonna deny our community has some issues mostly in the past with leaving babs out of fics and art and focus more on adam and beej as well as more adult content. But this is something myslef and many people IN OUR OWN COMMUNITY has been speaking out about for a long ass time now you can search the tags for posts adressing leaving Barbara out including by myself so jot that down, so we dont need b**tleb*bes who barley know anything about our community telling us about our content especially when some of y'all openly mock our ship and made it clear you do not care about it, thanks. many of us especially more recently add barbara in, ive seen so much goldenbeetle content that includes babs including again my own content, ive purposefully drawn solo babs and beej so if you're saying there no content that includes her or just beej and her you're very VERY wrong, come to me or most shippers we can provide lots of golden beetle content with babs and even just babs and beetlejuice. Not to mention a few of your own b**tleb*bes have made beetlejuice and adam content and usually leaves Barbara out and focuses just on adam and beej but go off i guess lol.

Many people draw barbara also draw her based off her actresses' who are both women who don't have very large breasts on top of that gena davis' dress for Barbara did not reveal much, kerry's showing a bit more with a deep neckline still covered alot of her body. Many people arent drawing babs with big knockers and sexy clothes because were trying to repress her sexuality and make her dress like she's in the handmaids tale, shame women for being sexy, its because barbara and adam are canonically a white bred suburban couple who are "vanilla" its their personailty, i drew babs with smaller breasts and more "canon compliant" for a while before i changed it up. Obviously you CAN draw barabra and even adam as sexy and babs with big tiddies, i draw barbara with larger breasts now, and show her cleavage and I've been doing this for a while and i have draw PLENTY of sexy and pin up style babs as well adult content with her beetlejuice, and adam, I've also posted it on here so again y'all dont know what you're talking about. I know others who have drawn sexy barbara and barbara with larger breasts just because its not common and YOU haven't seen it doesn't mean its not out there.

Have y'all seen art of anyone oc's like including self ship oc's with beej?? many of them are sexy and/or have pretty bug breasts (not complaini g btw yall are doing gr8 i love your oc's) or other adult female characters in the show I've seen of art thats sexy of miss Argentina and delia as well as art of them with larger breasts and dressed more "sexy" because that's their character, dress more revealing and prefer to be "sexy". Ive also never been attacked or seen any other "anti" attack a creator for making sexy art or big breasted versions of female characters that are canonically adults in beetlejuice, this includes myself who has openly posted suggestive content of babs even on here infact Ive seen people actually like that stuff they just don't make it themselves so claiming "no one is allowed" to draw barbara sexy or adult content of her is also a huge load.

Not to get too personal but speaking from experience as a person who developed at a very early age i got my first real bra at 7 or 8, had D-DDD breasts throughout middle school and highschool, currently has g-h cup breasts, has been overly sexualized my entire life by people of all ages because of this, and also deals with ALOT of dysphoria because of It am A-ok with representation of women with larger breasts, including suggestive/sexual art of them, women of all body types including their breasts but that's the thing i highly doubt y'all care about large breasted women I've seen the argument when talking about the over sexualiztion of large breasts

"well you dont care about women with big breasts we exist too!"

"Dont erase our body breasts!"

I get it! But its pretty clear this argument is usually only being presented to tokenize us and then someone will draw a big tiddied lady with wide as birthing hips, a dumpster truck ass, back that looks like it son the verge of breaking, and a waist that varies from size skinny to "holy sh*t did all your organs get sucked out???" If yall really care about women with big breasts draw women of differing body types with big breasts, draw them chubby, fat, ACTUALLY curvy, give them stretch marks, a double chin, ect. You fucking cowards say were mysoginists for "not giving barbara big tiddies"

Most of b**tleb*abe adult lydia art looks like a mix of jessica rabbit, elvira, and morticia addams with the same 2 or 3 body types over and over again, infact ive run into plenty of b**tleb*bes art where lydia has either has big tits or like a B-ish cup ("aged up" lydia thats looks almost exactly like her teenage self canon(s)) not really an inbetween but you "totally care about women with large breasts" its not tat you only care about adult lydia to make her ooc, project onto her and make her to sexy goth queen many of us wanted to be when we were young and watched beetlejuice, ship her with beej so she can be his big tiddy goth gf its TOTALLY about ""feminism"" uh huh....

And where has YOUR sexy barbara art been hmm? b**tleb*bes draw so little art of barbara or either maitlands other than to be in the background and react to beej and lyida's shenanigans, or scold them because babes portray the maitlands or way more protective and prude than in canon, and the little art I've seen babes draw of her isn't sexy big tiddy babs. I have at most seen a handful of deetzland fics with adult content including barbara and that's it. Its very clear many of yall care mostly about lydia and beej especially boinking be honest now. So dont bring up our ship or barbara as a "gotcha antis".

And lastly Lydia, i dont think any of us are saying she cant grow up, we literally just think its gross to sexualize a character who is a minor in canon and age her up solely to be with a canon adult. Ive seen "antis" draw adult lydia in a tasteful way and develop her as she grows up because they're interested in her charcter and no one has taken issue with it at all. Lydia in all canons doesnt have big honkers in any canon either, yes minors can have breasts, even larger ones. I mentioned above that was me, and you can have a character who is a minor who looks more developed than others where its not gross and sexualized (jackie lynn thomas from svtfoe is an example, mami from madoka isnt really sexualized in canon from my memory) i think representaion of all body types abd breast sizes is important for young women but lydia isnt one of those characters even in canons where shes 15-17 and going through puberty.

Let lydia be a child jfc, stop being creepy and getting pissy when people draw lyida with the same breast cup in canon and make her look like the average teen/tween she is, that isnt misogyny its treating a character who is a minor appropriately.

The ACTUAL misogyny is over sexualizing and aging up a tween/teen character soley to do the horizontal monster mash with a adult charcter, write her so that she really only cares about said adult character and the spawn that pop out of her from him, she dies young but parents and friends who cares shes got beetlejuice!, Forget the entire life she leaving behind too, and giving her the body of a pixar mom or h*ntai protagonist a majority of the time.

Your performative white feminism is showing.

[narutsuart]

Updated Three Houses Top 10 Females List:

Just in time for International Women’s Day! I’ve been working on revising my list as much as possible in light of revisiting Three Houses, playing Ashen Wolves, and rethinking my love for each female character I put on my last list. I will this time do the my list from Tenth place to First place. Just a heads up my # 1 one spot has not changed so don’t expect some crazy surprise there.

Disclaimer: please don’t flame me or comment about how “WRONG” I am it’s just my personal opinion or preference. BE NICE! and maybe reblog or comment your favorite list if you’d like?

#10: Shamir:

My opinion Shamir literally has not changed. She is just a cool character, I love how despite her debt to Rhea she isn’t kissing Rhea’s ass like Catherine or Ciril. Did I mention I really don’t like them lol? She’s badass and she has an excellent character design. Perfect blend of sexy and badass.

#9. Bernadetta:

Bernie dropped another spot going from 8th to 9th. I still have an abundance of love for Bernie, and I want to protect her at all cost. I still hold the opinion that while she’s an absolutely hilarious character, she can still get repetitive and stale pretty fast upon replays. That being said when I was thinking of characters that might potentially drop to below my top ten I couldn’t reasonably see myself dropping her out of my top 10, as Bernie is still a genuinely enjoyable character, and I do have a soft spot for her.

#8. Sothis:

Unfortunately Sothis dropped down a bit no fault of her own, simply because I enjoy the ladies above her more. That being said I really do enjoy Sothis. Even though our time is brief with her, I really do love the snarky little goddess. It’s funny, last time I made this list I had gotten her Christmas altand expressed my excitement, but I didn’t have her Mythic version(aka original version). I just recently I finally got lucky, and pulled her Mythic version!

#7 Dorothea:

AHHH THE PITCH FORKS!! I’M SO SORRY!! I know! I know! WTF?! I honestly any think of a perfectly justifiable reason as to why Dorothea has dropped so low on my list. She went from 4th place to 7th place for those that don’t remember. I honestly feel disgusting for putting her so low....I absolutely adore her character, her design is absolutely stunning, and I still enjoy most of her supports, but honestly I can’t justify putting her any higher than the women above her on this list. Like many who have dropped lower in placement it’s of no fault of her own. I just happened to realize I love the women above her more. I still believe deserves all the happiness, love and care that she desires!

#6. Hapi:

Hapi is such a fucking gem, I don’t know if it’s just the dub but Hapi’s dialogue is just so ahead of its time period and I love it so much lol. She has some of the funniest quotes and her habit for nicknaming everyone is hilarious. I’m aware that it’s not a trait unique to her, but I’m of the opinion that her nicknames far surpasses Dorothea’s nicknames. Now if we we’re talking strictly design Hapi would place 4th out of entire female cast for me, and that’s impressive feat since Three Houses has an abundance of amazing designs. In fact if I was strictly talking design a lot of the placements on this list would actually change. For example Hapi would actually rank above Constance for me in terms of design, but is trumped by Constance in terms of character. I might do a separate list for “best” designs in the near future.

#5. Rhea:

I KNOW ITS BLASPHEMY I STILL have both Edelgard and Rhea in my top 5?!! As those who saw my last list can see Rhea’s placement has not changed. I love Rhea so much is because she’s the perfect foil to Edelgard. Rhea is an excellenty written character with a lot of emotional depth. She acts as a perfect foil for Edelgard’s character they are so similar yet so different. It also makes sense that she and Edelgard’s ideals would come to clash. I’m of the opinion that if Edelgard and Rhea just talked about their views it still would still not end well. Rhea sage guarded her fabricated history of Fódlan for a thousand years and would not just tell the truth because Edelgard called her out. She would’ve branded Edelgard a heretic and have her executed. That type of tranquil furry is honestly unsettling and I LOVE it. Btw the only reason she tells the truth in CS and VW is because in CS she doesn’t think she has much time left, and in VW she doesn’t have much time left and chaos is marching on Fódlan’s door. Likewise Edelgard would sympathize with Rhea’s past if she told the truth, but would insist that Rhea step down from power or tell the truth to the world which would still lead to conflict. I personally agree with Edelgard vision for Fodlan more, and personally think Rhea is unstable, and worst SOLE leader for Fodlan, but neither are evil people and I can empathize with their motives and reasons for doing the morally grey things they do. Neither of them “do nothing wrong” like people claim and in fact do a LOT wrong. It’s those wrong things they do that makes them intriguing characters, and more relatable. They also both have the potential to do so many good things for Fódlan depending on the route.

#4. Constance:

GOOD LORD Costance is truly a one of a kind. I was pro Constance since her design was first revealed in the Cindered Shadows DLC trailer. That being said never did I envision loving her THIS much! Her motivations are easily understandable, and her fall from grace makes even more sad when you realize that haughty attitude that she almost always has on display is due to her compensating for her lack of status. Constance is one of the funniest characters in the game to me and she came out AFTER the game lol. She’s an incredibly intelligent prodigy when it comes to all things magic yet she has this naivety that people are able to exploit like Yuri with the “bootlicking nobles” phrase. She takes it so literal that she tries it out for her self, and tries to make a way for the boots to taste better making it easier to lick their boots......I CANT EVEN!!... honestly Constance could top this list if it weren’t for her split personality..... don’t get me wrong her split personality when in sunlight can be funny every now and then, but honestly it does more harm to her character then helps it in my opinion. Her change in personality when in sunlight is implied that to be because of the trauma of the fall of House Nuevelle, but we never get any real explanation for it or anything implying she can overcome it. Its not expanded upon, and never treated seriously. In fact it’s played for laughs and it’s something people just accept as Constance just being Constance. I honestly felt Constance C rank support with Ferdinand was done so well. She calls him out for his usually insensitive comments about status and makes him regret his words immediately. I had so much respect for her in that moment, come the b-rank support she acts all submissive and praises the ground he walks on....which ruined the c-rank support for me tbh. That being said, as you can see based off her placement this trait of hers doesn’t ruin the character for me, just keeps her from being higher.

#3. Petra:

On a much lighter note, Petra is my 3rd favorite! If you notice she has dropped down from my second favorite spot. This is due to no fault of her own I, just happened to realize that I loved my number 2 spot more. With that being said Petra has still gotten the victory! Like I mentioned in my first list, Petra is just a delight. I love how she’s so dedicated, and always willing to learn. Funnily enough my initial expectation for Petra’s character pre-release was vastly different then what her actual character ended up being. She’s one of those character’s who’s design got revealed MUCH earlier than any details about her personality and her design gave me the impression that she was the aloof, intimidating, and serious type that doesn’t have time for making friends or fun. I don’t know if anyone else got this impression, but obviously I was wrong! Petra truly does remind me a lot of Starfire from the original 2003 Teen Titans tv show and kinda re-awakens that childhood cartoon crush in me lol. Petra is just awesome there’s not a single support I don’t like of her.

#2. Marianne

Now if you saw my old list you probably noticed that Marianne moved up a bit. Naturally I still love her design(I’m a sucker for light blue hair I think lol), but upon revisiting Three Houses I realized that leaving Marianne at 3rd place somehow didn’t feel adequate. Funnily enough she was technically the first person I S-ranked in Three Houses due to locking myself out of the Crimson Flower Route on accident. Honestly she has become my favorite character to S-rank in Three Houses even more so than my number one spot! Anyway my love for Marianne is very different for most character’s as she is one I feel can really relate to on very personal and emotional level. I’m gonna get real for a minute. I honestly I had been in bad place in my life recently. I had been feeling like the world has been crashing down on me. I have plenty of things to be happy for yet I often felt depressed. I’d often had “friends” call me out, saying I have no reason to be depressed, or that I have been blessed with so many things, and while I agree I’m very blessed, they couldn’t understand how I felt, as all they could provide was the view of an outsider looking in. While the action of suicide was something I never considered, I’d had been contemplating the value of my life or if it was really worth living. First want to clarify that I’m in MUCH better headspace than I was then. I definitely feel like I’m getting better. I have my ups and downs, but I’m currently making better friendships, I’m actively getting the help I need! I’ve always sympathized with Marianne, but now I can say that I really empathize with Marianne. When we take things at face value she seemingly had everything going for her, being brought up into the nobility, trained for success, and even having an extremely rare crest. By all means to an outsider looking in she had every reason to be happy. Of course while all these things sound nice especially in the context of the story they are in actuality a source for her depression. In her C-rank support with Ferdinand we see his confusion as to why Marianne dislikes being a part of the nobility. This support is one of the few times she expresses real anger, and is when expresses she never got to have what she saw as a normal life, she never wanted to be a part of the nobility and the weight and the expectations of being nobility was crushing her, as she had to adhere to standards of those around her. She was also taught to fear her crest as curse, so the blessing many commoners would be estatic to receive was thing she deemed as a curse. Over the course of the story and through her supports, Marianne begins to learn how to be more accepting of herself and gain more self-confidence. Naturally her timeskip appearance reflects this. She looks well-rested, expressive, and she genuinely seems more happy. I will never forget In her A-support with Byleth, that over the course of 5 years she had abandoned her depression and suicidal thoughts thanks to the genuine and long lasting friendship‘s she’s made and that she managed to uncover the truth of her heritage, and overcome the fear and hatred of her Crest. Her character arc is a very powerful thing to me, and is also example of what makes the 5 year timeskip so great. In addition to her character arc Marianne is just so cute, don’t get me stated on how adorable her habit of talking to animals is! Marianne is a fucking fantastic character and I love her so much.

EDIT: So I wanted to clarify that if I’m being honest Marianne and #1 spot are technically both tied as #1 me, and are so for very different reasons. For the sake of creating a Top 10 and to avoid a cop out list I chose to put her at second. To me Marianne is “BEST GIRL”. She’s my favorite female character to marry, she’s most endearing to me, she has like my third favorite female character design in all of Fire Emblem, and I relate to her on an emotional level. That being said this next character is “BEST CHARACTER” I like more for her role in the story, how her character is written, and how she was designed. Despite this I do not marry her NEARLY as often as Marianne. While I ship her with F! Byleth(OTP!) she’s not someone I personally would persue romantically. In other words Marianne is more my type and I tend to be biased with her while this next character is female character that I feel is the BEST WRITTEN and the female character I respect the most out of the cast.

#1. Edelgard:

Upon revisiting Fire Emblem Three Houses story as well as playing the Cindered Shadows DLC, nothing has changed, in fact my love and resolve for Edelgard has only been strengthened. I made a huge in depth posts for Edelgard a while back explaining her past, motives, and reasons for what she does. The posts had spanned multiple reblogs of details and clarification and I went over the typing limit in every single one. I won’t divulge further into all that. Like I mentioned last time I created my top ten list, aside from her being IN MY OPINION one of the best written female protagonists in Fire Emblem history, I absolutely love her design, its probably one of my favorite designs in all of Fire Emblem. That being said, If I had to say while she’s definitely close, she doesn’t have my all time number one favorite design, that spot goes to Azura from Fire Emblem Fates. Edelgard will always be my favorite Three Houses female character no matter what and I’m so happy she was brought into existence!

Well that’s my revised list, I had a lot of fun writing this list and I hope it was enjoyable for you guys to read as well! I would really love it if you guys comment or reblog with your own list of favorite Three House females! Y’know what?! Comment or reblog with your list of favorite females in the entire Fire Emblem franchise if you’d like! I’m very interested in seeing your lists Happy International Women’s Day!

[aprilwritesabook]

I appolgize in advance for this long ass post haha.

Alright, so here's the deal. This post is gonna be part rant, part confessional, and part inspirational speech. So if your following this blog purely for the updates on my books you can skip it haha.

I know a currently published author. I used to kinda be friends with them in highschool, but it was more like a friend of a friend type deal. But I digress. Point is. They recently released there second book on Amazon. And I really wanna be happy and proud of them, and to see it as an inspirational thing, buuuuut I'm almost 100 sure they are actually a fraud?

And that's not me being bitter. I really really really wish this wasn't the case. But I have the evidence to back this theory up.

1- they claimed that there first book sold out multiple times. And to be fair this one might be at least partially true. Its rated pretty high on amazon, But then again they only have 4 people rate it and three of those people are the editor formattor and artist for the book. Soooo. Yeah I sure hope they rated it well.

2- they are constantly posting stories to there social media that are far fetched at best. They work in a bookstore. And almost every other week its a slightly diffrent story about a customer who "didn't even know" he was the author who would "burst into tears" the second he told them what the book was about because they were just Soooo touched by the message that they wept to a total stranger??? If that had happened even once it would have been an odd occurance. And this is something that apparently happens alllll the time to them. (I hate to drudge up old memes like this, but)

3- this person has recently made a tick tock and a youtube channel. And like, the content isssss questionable? And that's not necessarily a crime or anything. But they give updates about it on social media as if they are speaking to a mass of adoring fans and like...you can see how many subs and views a person has. We know he dosn't have a big fan base. And I know that sounds harsh. But like, some more gullible people have asked him for advise on how to be "successful" and "gain a following", and he answers them with authority. Like he has the answers even though he clearly dosn't? And that feels really... disingenuous at best?

4- along the same vein as 3. They recently made a post on twitter about how they are "overwhelmed by the amount of love and support they have found on the site" and how they get "some many heartfelt messages." Annnd again. I clicked the account. They literally have 5 followers. And not a SINGLE person has EVER liked, retweeted, or commented on a SINGLE tweet of theirs. Not one. Soooo like not only are you pretending to have a huge fan base that dosn't exist your also making up there engagement with you? Which this alone I feel brings validate to my doubts about the other things. Clearly they arn't above blatant lying and extreme over exaggeration. And also they either don't realize we can all seeeee these facts. Or they don't think anyone will actually check and call them on it ?????

Now there's a lot of other examples I could give. But my point isn't to put this ONE person on blast. I'm not trying to start beef or cause damage to their reputation or anything. Which is why I won't say their name or what there books are. The only way you'd know who I'm talking is if you also knew them in real life. In which case you either already know all this, or you should, so you don't fall victim to their lies.

The reason I'm saying any of this at all is because I think I know why they are doing it. And why so many indie authors or would be media mogels feel the need to do this.

The issue with trying to "build an audience" and "self market" yourself, is that you really only have 2 ways of guaranteed sucess.

You either need to have a pre established audience based on success you've already had in the past. (IE youtubers and movie stars writing successful books cause there fans will buy anything of there's reguardless.)

Or you need to buy your way in. Be it by quitting your day job to make social media your full time job, buying ads, hiring a social media person,or hiring a team of people with their own audiences (audio book narrators, cover artists, managers, ect)

And if you don't ALREADY have an audience, and you don't have the funds to BUY your way in, then your just gonna have to get real lucky.

You can be lucky for knowing somebody with an "in". They work in publishing, or advertising, or they're your rich uncle. Just someone who you can go to to get that boost one way or another to get one of the first two methods going for you.

You can get lucky by commenting the right thing on the right post and gaining followers that way. Or by being in the right place at the right time to meet somebody important.

You can be lucky by having lots of supportive friends and family who will promote you and your work FOR you.

Or lastly (and this is in the realm of being a one in a million case here. So it basically never happens without one of the other things I mentioned also being true.)

You can be lucky by working REALLY hard, and being REALLY talented, and having the world actually NOTICE YOU somehow? Just one person with influence who can find you in your dark hole of insignificance and shine a light on you so now the world can actually seee you.

And that sucks.

You could write the greatest book in the whole world. Truly a masterpiece. But if nobody buys it or reads it because they don't know who you are??? Then it dosen't matter does it?

It sucks Soooo hard.

Because untill you get those people with influence to shine a light on you, theres nothing you can do. And the market is soooooo drenched in new indie authors that the odds of the right people finding and liking your book are slim to none.

Its super unfair.

The people who have the influence arn't gonna buy a book with 0 reviews and no social media following.

Why? Because THEIR brand depends on only recommending the good shit. And they need to find that good shit NOW. If they read every book written by nobody's online, they'd have to wade through ALOT of garbage. wasting all their valuable time and money till they found something worthy. And honestly, from a business stand point, you cant really fault them for that

This is where the lies come from.

So basically no matter how you look at it, or what your strategy is, In order to get fans, you need to ALREADY HAVE THEM.

When your just starting out. And I mean truly at square one. It really feels like the only way to "make it" is to "fake it"

If you PRETEND to have a big following. And you PRETEND your books are selling really well already. And you PRETEND that people care deeply about you and your work... Then there is a chance that nobody will do the homework to find out its all a lie.

And if they think your successful already, then it sends a message to the consumers brains of "well they must be good. Everybody loves it/them".

It sucks that so many people who have found real success did so with lies, cash, and being already well connected.

And then they buy it, and they follow you, and the confirmation bias sets in, and eventually you'll dupe enough people into liking you that you don't HAVE to lie anymore.

Those of us with no cash and too high a conscious to lie our way to the top are left with virtually no chance of succeeding no matter how hard we work or how good our content is.

And I'm not claiming to be "better than" or "more worthy" than anyone else. I wanna make it clear that of your in the portion of having it fake it so you can follow your dreams then more power to you. Its a valid strategy. I hate that it works and I hate that its the only option sometimes. But I don't hate the people as creators for "doing what it takes." I get it. Really I do.

And it suckks major ass that so many people feel like this is the only way.

My whole point here. Is that we have slowly built a system where this is our reality. And honestly? End of the day? There's not a damn thing we can do to change it at this point.

In a perfect world made of unicorns and puppies. I could say "hey lets all go ready books by completely unknown authors. Be the change you wanna see in the world." But at the end of the day, especially in the unfiltered world of self publishing, It would be a complete shot in the dark to spend your resources on something completely unknown. We rely on word of mouth, and "best sellers" and high following to do the work of filtering out the bad stuff for us and it would be unrealistic if not impossible to go back on it now. Even if we wanted to there algorithms and shit built into the code. You'll never find the books that Amazon dosnt want you to find unless you search for it directly.

Now comes the confession/inspirational bit

I know all of the above to be true...But I'm choosing not to care

I'm not gonna lie my way to the top. I'm not gonna hide my struggles out of fear of seeming inferior. So here goes

I struggle a lot with depression and anxiety. I've been working on it, and I've gotten so much better in recent years. But there are always gonna be times when I slip up and my mental illnesses take over

When I was writing my first book I felt really empowered and good about myself for finally getting past all my own barriers and following my dreams.

And then once I was done writting and editing and I was ready to show the world and get feedback. I flopped.

I couldn't find anyone willing to beta read. Those who said they would do it (even people who claimed they "couldn't wait") ghosted me after I actually sent it to them

I was hoping to get 20 people. I really wanted it to be the best it could be. Only 11 actully signed up. Of that 11, 5 people actually read it: My spouse, my brother, my best friend, and 2 others. Those two others read the first bit I sent them, took a few weeks to get back to me, said they loved it, but then Neeeeeeeeever got back to me when I sent them the next chunk.

Now you can look at all that and come to the conclusion that it sucks. I know I sure did.

The struggles at each step made me doubt myself more and more to the point that I almost gave up writing all together.

And I didn't want to take about it or how it was making me feel, even though it was having a serious impact on me. I wanted to bottle it all up and let it consume me. Allllll because I didn't want people online to write me off as a failure before even giving me the chance.

I wasn't lying about being successful. I was just trying to hide the fact that I wasn't.

And that's almost as bad. Because then all the new authors just feel worse about themselves and their journey because they think they are the only ones.

Your not alone.

Everyone is struggling.

We just aren't talking about it.

I haven't written a word in over a week because I've been so afraid my second book will be dead on arrival like my first.

And I KNOW somewhere out there is someone just like me whose thinking of giving up.

Don't.

Just keep going.

Do your best. And then come find another struggling writer and share with each other. The world outside might not understand your struggle. But another author might.

We can't change the market. We can't change the way social media works, or how people decide if they will buy things

But what we CAN change, is whether those of us within the community want to be honest about our struggles and frustrations. Or if we want to hide them away and lie about them for the sake of making more sales

I think by being honest with one another we can create a better network.

That way the next time you feel like garbage for not being an "instant celebrity" like everyone else. you can look at the community and realize that you were never the problem

If we just keep making new writing friends our collective reach will eventually take hold in the outside world. Don't wait for a random influencer to notice you. Just make one friend at a time. Be known amongst your peers and maybe the rest will follow

And if your a writer desperate for feedback, or just a friend to share your troubles with. Hit me up. My inbox is always open.

[keeperofsparks]

Toxic Twitter/The disturbing cult like mind set of the far left

So after joining the great migration to Twitter due to the NSFW ban, I’ve decided to crawl back here due to how toxic, hypocritical, and self righteous, cult like mindset the far left on Twitter has. Due to how dismal the site was I’m writing this post as a warning to any young liberals, LGBTQ, POC, and in general any one else who comes across this post, please be careful with who you group your self with. This is going to be a fairly sizable and do keep in mind this isn’t a “Well being a conservative is better” post, cause those people got some issues as well.

To begin with, let’s talk about how many of the far left Twitter users get people to join their cause and how they keep people from leaving due to differing ideas. During my time there I saw a lot of vulnerable people joining due in part to how vocal the far left can be. There was always a post or thread about how certain groups are persecuted due to a variety of reasons. The vocal group will then sugar coat their approach and make it seem like they wouldn’t do those types of things and would protect them if the individual joins them. It might sound like a safe haven, but the person has now ended up in an abusive relationship and the once warm embrace will inevitably grow cold if they don’t agree with the vocal group. Yes, these vocal groups encourage some very deplorable thing and encourage these newbies to do the same. They’ll then use those same tactics on an individual in their group if they disagree with and they use that fear of being turned on as way to keep these newer people and to silence them in the process. It’s a very hypocritical approach even though the shout how they are a safe place and the world is out to get them.

Now speaking of hypocrisy, in the two or so years that’s I was actively on Twitter, there was plenty of it along with double thought. These individuals state how righteous they are but will find a excuse or shield to get away with doing what their “enemies” are doing. Caught stealing? It’s a trans issue. Drive a person to suicide? That’s a gender issue. They consider them self morally supior and insist that they should not be held held accountable for their actions. If you bring up that’s some of the same tactics used by overly religious folk and hate groups, they’ll attempt to tear you limb from limb. They have no issue with using what ever or who ever as long as it can push them forward.

Probably the most used group to push their agenda is anyone who is a minority, though specifically the majority minority. The most sickening thing I saw on twitter was that the far left basically had a tier list for races and will use it if said minority does agree. “Your voice doesn’t count, cause your Asian there for one of the smallest minorities.” “Well you’re mixed ethnicity, so of course you’d agree with that idea because your half white.” Those were some of the common sentence spoken when it came to minorities disagreeing with the far left. There even were a few articles written to try and say “Asians are actually whites” as for what ever reason despite the far left claiming they support racial equality but at the same time not a too subtle beef with people of Asian decent. Now the black community might have it the worse as they are sort of seen as a meal ticket. They’ll constantly act like any black success story is a fluke, they act like the black community doesn’t have a voice so they must speak for them, they fetishise the black community to the point where they stereotype them. I’ve seen several of these people say stuff like “They don’t sound black enough.” “If you use anything other than curly hair or afro like styles then your racist.” “Black people cant have these body features.” On top of it they’ll go after cultures that don’t share similar histories to America and call those cultures backwards, Japan is usually the one constantly getting the most heat. A bit more disturbing is they view that any race with darker skin must be black. These people are pretty much race profiteers, as long as they can use the suffering of others they’ll still be relevant. Though the past examples are very hair raising, I think it’s the lack of solidarity is what is the scariest.

The past month after the death of George Floyd is where I saw many of the above issues played their hardest and they only way I can explain why all these things are happening is due to a lack of a solidarity. As the protests moved forward “We” became “Me” and they still argued that it was a “We” issue. The issue of police brutality quickly spiraled into a bunch of smaller issues and diluting the large issue. There were so many tweets stating that we should cancel voice acting, how it actually a trans issue, oh it’s a go sign to start creating anarchy and look stores, let’s look at how problematic other people are, fuck every white person, people and organization can’t change, let’s STAN these companies and their thinly veiled use of this tragedy to boost profits or to get in the spot light again, the list goes on and on and on and it goes back to my first point, if you don’t agree with all of these you’ll be torn apart. It’s this sad sort of mentality of “We’re making the world a better place while not putting in a lot of effort. Please ignore the trail of bodies that we made.”

Now I can go into more details like how the character limit prevents expressing complex ideas and make it easier for cancel culture to thrive or how they bend fiction into fact, but I honestly think that the above points are why people should avoid Twitter altogether. It brutal if you don’t agree with them and if you do agree with them you’re bound to loose a limb when you do disagree with them or completely loose individual thought and become a puppet. What scares me even more if that what I saw was probably just the surface level toxicity and it’s even worse the deeper you go in. Please be safe out there and be careful of those who say “Everything will be fine once you join us, we’ll take care of you.”

[zenosanalytic]

Great Beasts of Legend: Centaurs, Sirens and Chimaera: The Greeks and th...

I know I’ve posted this lecture by Dr. Jeremy McInerney before, but I was watching it again(third time; really love this one uwu) and at 41:55 he starts a discussion of a boundaries-based reading of Centaurs(good target for that given the melding/muddying of boundary btw animal and man Centaurs represent[1]), beginning with the Herakles, Deianira, Nessos Myth that I feel he doesn’t quite hit though he makes/brings up other great points and it made me want to write a short little thing about why this myth, specifically, is really open to such a reading:

Ok so the basic outline: Herakles and Deianira are traveling, they come to the river Evinos where Nessos[2], the Centaur, is selling his services as a living ferry(ppl sit on him and he carries them across). Herakles, of course, decides to swim across and pays Nessos to carry Deianira across. While doing so, Nessos attempts to rape her, Deianira calls for help, and Herakles whips out his bow and arrows dipped in Hydra’s blood, and shoots Nessos dead. As he dies but before Herakles reaches them, Nessos tells Deianira to take a vial of his blood(sometimes blood mixed with his semen). The story splits interestingly here, so remember this point for later. Years down the road, Herakles is off in some part of Greece partying in celebration of yet another city he’s plundered, and he sends a train of new slaves taken from said city-plundering back home, along with a messenger with an off-hand request to Deianira that she send his favorite cloak along cuz he plans to keep partying for quite a long while. This is another point of ambiguity in the story and its retellings so remember it, too. She steeps his cloak in water mixed with the vial of Nessos’s blood, sends it along and, while the poison doesnt kill Herakles cuz he’s part god and Hydra’s poisonous blood isn’t powerful enough to do that, it DOES cause him such enormous, unending pain that he builds his own funeral pyre and burns himself alive, apotheosizing into a god in the process.

So, regarding Boundaries:

Nessos, obvsl, is a physical manifestation of the close and ever-present boundary between humans and beasts; btw self-control and indulgence; btw “civilized” behavior and “uncivilized”, as discussed above, and particularly of the threat of rape Greek men present to Greek women.

This story involves a River, a physical boundary

Rivers are ALSO what separate the world of the living from the world of the dead to the Greeks, and this is a story ABOUT TWO DEATHS, both tied directly TO a River(one taking place in it, during the act of crossing it; the other a long-term effect of that event[but also Herakles’s hubris, though most versions, being written for men, don’t emphasize that totally obvs aspect of it]).

Not only that, it’s LITERALLY the story of Herakles’s apotheosis: of how he comes to finally transcend the boundary between God and Mortal which he has straddled his whole life.

Herakles is celebrating the sack of a city, ie, his violation&destruction of the Boundaries defining said city, when he dies. Greek cities are often protected by female divinities(Athena usually), so it’s yet another symbol of rape.

So Split 1: In most versions, the reason Nessos gives for why she should take his blood is that it is a powerful love potion that will ensure Herakles remains faithful to her if his eye ever strays. BUT, also in most versions, this is a lie and he’s secretly trying to poison Herakles, though how would he know Herakles’ arrows are poisoned with Hydra-blood? I remember reading a version where he presents it to her AS POISON, explaining about the Hydra, but I cant find any mention of it online, so maybe my brain’s just making it up(or maybe this was the Hercules TV Show version X|).

Split 2: BUT BUT, while in most version Deianira sends the cloak out of desperation to keep him faithful(and of course there’s a particular slave girl in the train she’s warned about just so all of this can be EXTRA the fault of women, rather than Herakles for being a giant asshole like he always is), in other versions she sends it OUT OF VENGEANCE, TO FUCK HIM UP because Herakles is being a giant asshole, wrecking up Greece, partying as much as he likes, flaunting his rapes and his victims in her face(this is VERY RELEVANT given the nature of other versions of this story), and leaving her to run his household alone while ordering her around like she’s a slave rather than his Wife.

These are mutually exclusive: she cannot be both seeking to punish him, and trying, in anguished desperation, to keep him faithful to her[3].

Herakles in this story, as is ALWAYS THE CASE IN ALL HIS STORIES, is flaunting the boundaries of Proper Behavior, in this case those defining a happy and successful marriage(IE Hera’s Domain; which you’d THINK would be kind of relevant, given the deep narrative connection between Hera and Herakles and her quickness to anger regarding marriage violations, yet it somehow perennially goes unmentioned), and getting punished for it.

Now here’s an ADDED kicker. There’s a version of this story were Herakles initiates the conflict. one day he visits the house of Deianira’s father, Dexamenus, and while a guest, rapes her. Dexamenus can’t fight Herakles, of course, but he demands by the gods and tradition that Herakles marry Deianira to “repair” the injury(WE LIVE IN HELL!), and Herakles agrees. After he leaves to prepare for the wedding, a local Centaur, Eurytion(name meaning “Widely Honored”) visits Dexamenus and proposes to marry Deianira himeself(you know: without the whole BEING HER RAPIST thing), and Dexamenus complies. Herakles arrives a few days later, kills Eurytion, and sees that their marriage is carried out. Presumably in this version, the blood poisoning the cloak would be Eurytion’s.

What I’ve tried to get across here is that, among other things, there are readings of this myth were Herakles is the bad guy and Deianira the agent of divine punishment, if not the actual Protagonist. And those readings suggest certain ideas we would be prone to consider “modern” about the agency of women, consent, personal and social boundaries, morality, Greek ~Heroic Masculinity~, and yes even Centaurs, might not have been so alien and “anachronistic” to the ancient Greek mind as we tend to think.

But anyway, even if you think that particular part of my little argument here is total Bunk, I hope I’ve managed to get across that Deianira and the Cloak is a myth Absolutely LOUSY with the theme of Boundaries, what they mean, what it means to Cross them, and the Consequences for which you Cross, when, how, and plain just choosing to cross them in the first place. It’s a really great example for him to suggest for this particular topic, and it really inspired me quite a lot today, and I just wish there was a lecture online where he developed it further uwu

[1]And not only that, but of course owning horses was a common sign of aristocratic status, and trading horses a common aristocratic activity(this is one way you know Hesiod’s claims of poverty are a put-on; his family breeds and sells horses). I feel like it’s pretty well understood that Centaurs are in someway a commentary and meditation upon the nature of Greek masculinity, on the capacity for violent cruelty and wanton appetite Greeks inculcated men into beside all the talk of civilized society, but I also feel it’s less well understood how open they also are to a similar reading regarding the appetites and barbaric capacities specifically of the upper classes of Greek society.

[2]In some versions Nessos and Herakles actually have a history, and the whole incident is Nessos’s attempt at vengeance. There is another story, where Herakles visits a centaur who is his friend named Pholos, and a gang of nearby Centaurs(I like to think they were Rowdy Teens myself u_u) smell the wine they’re drinking and crash the party to share some. Herakles, being Herakles, of course immediately begins killing them for the perceived insult, which inevitably leads NOT ONLY to Pholos dying(cuz Herakles isn’t careful and shoots him too, or in other vers bcuz he refuses to so much as retrieve his arrows from the bodies due to concerns with “pollution” from the corpses, and Pholos cuts himself on one of the arrows), but ALSO the poisoning, and eventual death, of Chiron, who was one of Pholos’s neighbors and who Herakles accidentally knicked while wildly chasing down and shooting the interlopers. Nessos is one of these Centaur teens, and the only centaur in the whole situation to survive (:T

[3]Which, btw, the whole “faithful” thing doesnt make much sense(even though it pops up regularly in Greek Myth), because her “competitor” in these versions is a slave. These next sentences are going to be gross and awful, but in the society which told these stories male slave-owners already had unrestricted sexual access to their slaves and, beyond that, I’ve never read a single example in Greek or Roman sources of a slave being legitimized and married as a wife(which doesnt mean such examples dont exist; I’m an amateur). So the idea that a slave could threaten Deianira’s position as Herakles’s wife seems very dubious to me(as does the general trope of slave women as threats to wives in Greek stories). Again: this is all super-awful, but it’s something complicating the traditional presentation of the myth, which is rarely addressed because most academics writing for a general audience are super-loath to deal with classical slavery as the awful, body and soul crushing institution which it was.