#They were basically invalidating that too but it’s par for the course for people like this

[stuckinapril]

Literally annoying as shit *someone makes a good point about how big events like award shows are used to distract from a violent attack* *random person on the internet * “oh so you’re saying I shouldn’t SLEEP now?! I’m not allowed to eat and take CARE of myself? How DARE you!” I am banging my head against a brick wall as we speak, I can’t.

Betting my MONEY on that person being American bc the relatability factor always has been & continues to be such a major issue here. Americans do literally think in terms of “I’m not Palestinian so why should I care” “I’m not Arab so this isn’t really my concern” “ok but do you expect me to just STOP MY LIFE???” and this entitlement ends up breeding actual disbelief for the idea that others could care about other people despite not suffering the same problems or hailing from the same backgrounds. Their recourse is either to shame you for it or get defensive for their own indifference. Its such a tired pattern

(Also worthy to add that it’s not just rooted in relatability and hyperindividualism and a lot of these people are in fact simply anti Arab racist lmao)

[ariays]

My thoughts on Rowoon leaving SF9 as someone who stans them since 2019:

Firstly, those of you who are not even a fan, who does not even follow Rowoon throughout his idol career and are here purely for the bandwagon, please kindly take a step back.

There has always been a reason why some fans knew this was coming and it's not because of the so called 'acting disease' which ya'll seem to assume. There's an unspoken reason which only true fans would know. He has been suffering from a herniated disc since 2020. Before that, he has been really involved with group activities but ever since the injury he sustained, he has not been able to fully participate due to the intense choreographies which he obviously wouldn't be able to do anymore.

Herniated disc is no joke and it doesn't just go away like any other minor injuries. Being put into acting projects is a more manageable and sustainable route for him to contribute to the company as well as his group's brand. Participating in multiple performances would just take a toll on his health because it's not just a one time performance, it's basically hours of practices and rehearsals which would be a sh*tty thing to do to yourself if you have a long ongoing back issues. His problem was so bad at one point that he couldn't even walk without the help of crutches.

It's a damned if you do and damned if you don't situation when it comes to Rowoon because when he priotises his health by not participating and doing other things to contribute instead, people get mad saying that it doesn't feel like he's part of the group then when he tries to participate like the latest comeback, people still get mad because of his dancing and bashed him for his lack of energy and passion. The man is still struggling with a herniated disc, of course he's not going to be able to dance as intensely as he used to. Unless you want him to break his back and paralyze himself in the future maybe.

To be honest, I can see why he may have felt slightly upset about the fans because of the bashing he received due to issues he has no control over. So before anyone mentions Eunwoo or Junho or whatever other actor idols out there who manages to juggle just fine, do they have any underlying health issues that could prevent them from performing choreo? Their situation is completely different so you can't really compare.

Sure, he can stick with doing the bare minimum choreo while aggravating his condition to become worse while also taking in all the bashing comments about his lack of energy for dancing but why should he? It will only make him feel guilty for bringing the group down because he would never be able to perform on par with them and he will only stick out like a sore thumb for all their upcoming performances.

So honestly, this is a right decision he made for himself as well as for his group members. Fans will just have to accept it whether they like it or not. I don't think he owes the fans any proper or detailed explanation for his decision because only real fans would know the truth from the start. If he were to state anything and reveal his vulnerabilities, it would just sound like an excuse to some people anyway so it's best that he does not mention it at all.

I expected Fantasies to be more understanding about his situation to be honest but I fully understand that the disappointment/anger felt are completely valid. I am too. I am disappointed that he's no longer SF9's Rowoon. But as a fan, I also could understand his struggles and the decision he made with him and his group members in mind. It is for the best. It's time for us to just move on and continue to support them as a group and support Rowoon on his new path as well.

If you find it difficult to support him after all this, then fine. You do you. But please don't invalidate the times where he has been nothing but an amazing member of SF9 who have contributed a lot to the group during their beginnings. Who has always been sweet, caring, and loving towards his members and fans. When they first started out, he was literally the PR of the group, going to various shows to promote the group as a rookie. When he started acting, and when he goes on shows, he would introduce himself as SF9 Rowoon while emphasizing on SF9. When he started gaining popularity and goes on shows with his group members, he would literally try to put the attention away from him and let the other members shine more because they deserve the attention as much he does. Please don't forget that Rowoon. Just as Rowoon is going on his new path, I hope that you'll erase all the negativity you might have felt and go on your own path as well.

[marshieee]

Different

Asahi x gn! Reader

Warning: angst to fluff

Requested by: @redbabydoll “I have no clue how to use tumblr so I’m sorry if this is not the right place to do a request 🥲 but if you’re willing to do it could you please do like an angst to fluff with Aone or Asahi or even Yaku? I feel like they’re so underrated and I struggle to find content about them. Anywho have a great day!!!!! 🙃🙃”

A/N: AHHHH MY FIRST REQUEST 😭❤️, oh no worries darling I’ve been there! It’s understandable, you could request in my asks though so yep i do hope that i made it angsty for you. A special thanks for proofreading and beta reading this @reallifemoana labyu bitch😘🥰❤️

It was a surprise when you accepted Asahi’s feelings, he was ready to get rejected yet you held his hands and said yes, he changed his mind he was ready to marry you.

To be fair everyone was shocked when they got the news about you and Asahi dating, The volleyball club was happy for him and was enthusiastic yet other students didn’t like it.

You were popular at school, some would say you were on par with Kiyoko Shimizu. People like you and are always around you that’s why Asahi thought how could someone like YOU, basically a celebrity at school, notice HIM of all people?

Nevertheless you two were having a pretty steady relationship… but not until people started to get restless and irritated. This was when your once steady and stable relationship started becoming a rocky and bumpy road.

“So are you dating anyone?”

You looked at the random guy who just came to flirt with you, confused as to why he even bothered asking that. Everyone in the whole school KNEW that you’re dating someone so why is he still asking this?

“Yes i am”

“Ah… you mean that volleyball dude?”

“He has a name you know and yes I am still dating him”

“Aw damn! And here I thought you two would have already broken up”

“Excuse me? Why’d you say that?”

“I mean come on, look at him! You’re seriously gonna keep on dating him?”

“Compared to your sorry ass, yes, yes I am”

Of course this wouldn’t go unheard about with boyfriend as he was their main target. Getting a lot of whispers and murmurs, a lot of back handed compliments even though the team and you encourage him to not let any of that get to him, it still does.

It became his biggest insecurities, he started doubting himself. He’d constantly question himself if he was he even worthy to call himself your boyfriend? Maybe not.

Because of that he started to avoid you as much as possible, short text, short calls, whenever you two would go home together the walk remained silent and awkward even if you tried making conversation he would reply with short and curt answers.

This continued for two weeks until you finally had enough. Asking for the volleyball team to lend you a hand, since Asahi wasn’t doing well at practices either and it started pissing coach Ukai off.

“Make sure that Asahi is in tip top shape tomorrow y/n or else I’m gonna make hinata our new ace”

“Don’t worry Ukai-san leave it to me”

Asahi looked confused when he got kicked out of the gym, i mean sure he was off his game lately but that’s why he’s practicing right?

“Don’t come back here not until you talk to them”

Daichi said in a stern tone with his arms crossed, while Suga was ready to ‘negativity begone’ Asahi’s ass in the background.

But before Asahi could answer they immediately slammed the door in his face, leaving him dumbfounded.

“Talk to who?” he asked himself…

“Hey babe”

Asahi tensed up as he heard your voice, slowly turning around to see you standing there with a smile.

“Can you come with me for a sec?” you asked

He reluctantly followed you to the schools’ garden and avoided making eye contact with you as much as he could. Once you both arrived at the garden you turned to look at him with your arms crossed over your chest.

“Why are you avoiding me?” you asked him with a stony face.

He looked at you but then looked away right after , he doesn’t want to answer that, not to you at least. Pursing your lips together you took a deep breath.

“Asahi why are you avoiding me?”

“I’m not”

“Yes you are! You can’t even look at me”

You were getting frustrated, he wasn’t making any sense and all you wanted to know is why is he was being so distant.

“Y/N look I’m not avoiding you ok? Now I need to go back to practice”

He was about to walk past you when you grabbed his hand. He’s not getting away, not until he explains himself.

“Asahi please” you pleaded

“Y/N not now”

“It’s because of me isn’t it?”

He turned to look at you just to meet those sad eyes, no it wasn’t because of you, it was because of… him.

“No”

“Then why?”

He sighed as he stood in front of you debating whether he should tell you or not.

“It’s… it’s because of me, Ok?”

“What? What do you mean” Confusion evident on your face.

“Y/N look I- I’ve been thinking....is it really ok for me to be your boyfriend?”

That question shocked you but it also pissed you off.

“What the hell Asahi?! What kind of question is that??? Of course it’s Ok!”

“No”

“What do you mean no?”

“No it’s not ok”

You were confused as to why he was saying those things, why does he think it’s not? Is he dumb?

“Y/N you know people says that too right?”

“Asahi how many times—“

“Look y/n i know that I’m not the best person for you-”

“Babe—“

“And i know! That someday you’ll leave me because you’ll find someone better than me ok?!”

You just stood there, his words slowly sinking in. What the hell is he saying?! Find someone better?! Leave him?!

“What the hell are you saying? I won’t leave you, ok? I won’t leave you because I LOVE you”

“You’ll break up with me eventually”

“No I won’t, that’s not true”

“Yes it is y/n”

You’re starting to get dejected with every passing seconds, he looked away not wanting to meet your eyes.

“I’m no good for you”

“How can you say that as if it’s a fact?!”

“BECAUSE IT IS A FACT!”

The sudden raise of his voice surprised you, his eyes still reflects frustration and it looked like he doesn’t have any plans on cooling down.

“HOW CAN YOU! YOU Y/N! HOW CAN YOU EVEN LIKE ME?! WHY?!”

“BECAUSE YOU’RE KIND!”

Asahi snapped out of his thoughts as he watched those frustrated tears drip down your face non-stop and now it was your turn to glare at him.

“BECAUSE YOU’RE KIND, AND YOU’RE SWEET, YOU’RE A GENTLEMAN”

You were trying to keep your voice sturdy, wishing that your words would at least get through his head.

“AND I’VE SEEN YOU PLAY AND I CAN TELL HOW PASSIONATE YOU ARE AND I LIKE THAT! NO I LOVE THAT! I LOVE HOW HARDWORKING YOU ARE, OK?!”

Standing there speechless, Asahi let your words sink into his mind and heart.

“I LIKE YOU FOR YOU ASAHI!! HOW CAN YOU NOT SEE THAT?!”

Asahi was about to say something but he decided to let you express all your pent up feelings, he wanted you to tell him how you really feel, he wants to hear you.

“SO WHY?..WHY ARE YOU LETTING THEIR WORDS GET TO YOU INSTEAD OF MINE?! WHY WOULD YOU DOUBT YOURSELF?! WHY WOULD YOU THINK THAT YOU’RE NOT ENOUGH FOR ME WHEN IN FACT YOU’RE MORE THAN ENOUGH! YOU’RE MORE THAN I COULD EVER ASK FOR”

You were starting to hiccup furiously as tears continuously streamed down your face which made Asahi panic, slipping his hand out of yours he ran to his bag he got his water bottle out to give to you. As you finally calmed down Asahi just stood there, he wanted to hug you but he didn’t deserve that right now. So instead he let his chin rest on the top of your head.

“Why can’t you just believe me when I say I love you?”

“I do”

“Then why did you have to say stuff like that?” You asked sniffling.

Asahi sighed, his reasons were very invalid, he knew that, and he new they were just insecurities caused by what others would say about your relationship.

“Because...because you’re different than me, I think that you’re on a different level than I am..that’s why I said those things”

He kissed the top of your head then let his cheek rest atop your head.

“I’m sorry” He said with a frown on his face.

“You’re not forgiven”

Asahi quickly pulled away, that’s when he really started to panic, you looked so serious he started stuttering on his words.

“E-eh? Huh? W-why? I’m so sorry that I said those things- um- um I’ll make sure to not say those again! I PROMISE! S-so uh- can you please please PLEASE forgive me? I really am sorry” He asked pleadingly.

“No Asahi”

“N-no?”

“If you’re gonna make promise, do it properly”

“How?”

You held his large hands in yours, gently squeezing them, in which he squeezed back, slowly intertwining your hands with his.

“Promise me that you’ll never doubt yourself”

You looked into his eyes silently telling him that you were dead serious.

“Promise me that you won’t let their words get to you, because all the things they say about you...about us is nothing but bullshit”

“Y-Y/N! Language”

“Oh hush, just promise me that ok? Because you’re already the best person for me”

“Really?”

“YEAH! NOT ONLY YOU’RE THE ACE OF THE COURT BUT YOU’RE ALSO THE ACE OF MY HEART!!”!”

Asahi blushed furiously and laughed, this was you’re Asahi, the Asahi that you love.

“Y/N that was so cheesy”

“Hehehe really?”

He smiled at you and gave you a soft gentle kiss on the cheek.

“Yeah”

“So do you promise?”

He slowly nodded in agreement.

“Yeah”

You both giggled.

“ARE YOU TWO OK NOW?”

You both turned around and saw the whole team approaching the two of you. Hinata noticed your face and immediately gasped.

“ASAHI-SAN MADE Y/N CRY!”

They all turned to glare at Asahi and for the third time he started to panic, holding his hands up he started to think of excuse.

“N-No! Well you see...the thing is! Um..haha”

“A-SA-HI”

As soon as they all reached you two, Suga instantly hit Asahi on the head.

“ACCCK”

“HOW DARE YOU!”

“NO WAIT LET ME EXPLAIN!”

You noticed coach Ukai approaching you all and you gave him a smirk.

“I told you I’d return him in tip top shape”

“Heh, good to have our ace back”

You smiled as you watch the team scold Asahi for making you cry.

“Yeah”

“By the way that was so cheesy”

You blushed and looked at him with a surprised face.

“YOU WERE LISTENING?!”

“I accidentally heard it calm down”

“WHAT THE HELL UKAI-SAN?!”

“HEY KID LANGUAGE!”

[sometimesrosy]

i love how in your least fav tropes you basically described clxa bc it is also one of my least fav tropes and probably the reason why I never got on board with them or understand the appeal bc it was just straight up toxic to me

Well perhaps I chose that one because CL made it clear to me that I did not like the trope, because it reminded me of a dynamic in my own marriage that WAS like that and was painful and toxic and harmful. And also because I put up with it because of that trope, because of the romantic stories of men taking women away from their problems and gifting them with lovely things while taking away their freedom and agency. That whole ‘treating them like a princess’ thing, while being domineering and making them do what they wanted all along. The idea that a big, passionate love could cure the powerful man of his pain and make him a better, kinder person is a whole lotta claptrap and it makes people put up with a lot of mistreatment because their love is so “special” and powerful and can change the dangerous partner. 

I’m trying to say that my issues with CL are not part of a shipwar. I’m not trying to invalidate CL or make Bellarke superior. They are the reaction of a person who got out of an abusive relationship with similarities to CL. It’s not because CL is wlw that doesn’t enter into the equation. I like wlw romances, I’m bi myself although with a preference for men. It’s because I saw myself in Clarke’s place and it threw me back into my abusive relationship. I do understand why people ship CL and there’s nothing wrong with shipping CL. Because people get to ship whatever they want and also, if you look at it from a different perspective, it is beautiful, glorious, powerful, epic and that is all just as true as the seductive, political, manipulative and toxic perspective that I see it from.

It’s interesting because I have been watching other people, outside of the shipwars, start interpreting it from my same perspective, and I won’t take part in that discussion, because of my experience with fandom when I spoke out about it before. As typical for when a woman speaks up about abuse, she is demonized and blamed and vilified for daring to say someone so wonderful could possibly be a bad guy. People don’t WANT to think that their heroes might not be 100% the good guy. 

I caught wind of a controversy within the CL fandom that had some people speaking about this, and people turning on the lgbt community. And IDK I thought it was interesting. The farther people get from the whirlwind romance of first discovering L and CL the more they start to see some sinister aspects to the way the romance was portrayed. I say sinister because the show is a dark show not because the writers were intending to portray wlw relationships as sinister. I don’t think they were though they were careless and thoughtless about what negative tropes they fell into. I actually think they were trying to avoid the predatory lesbian trope and instead fell into this psychologically abusive relationship that is closer to a m/f romantic trope.

Being wlw does not make anyone proof from being abusive or being abused. Men are not the only abusers. Women can also be abusers and it’s more likely for psychologically abusive partners to be women compared to physically abusive partners. And it just so happen that it’s harder for us to recognize a psychologically abusive relationship than a physically abusive relationship. In part because they can look so beautiful and romantic from the outside. Just a princess and her powerful and glamorous warrior queen falling in love, yo. 

Anyway. I saw someone say “if i a lesbian tells you you’re being lesbophobic, you’re being lesbophobic.” And if that’s true, then the following should also be true. “if an abuse survivor tells you it’s abusive, then it’s abusive.”

Sigh. But abusers are NEVER going to agree with that kind of definition. And the people they con into supporting them are going to think they’re the one who is being unfairly attacked. Par for the course. That’s the way it works. “Poor warrior queen. People always lie about her because she is too amazing and they want to cut her down.” nah, that ain’t it. 

[theorynexus]

We now begin 51, which will likely take us to an entirely different perspective. Thanks, Monty Python!

On a random note, though... 

Man, this is fricking crazy, from a dramatic irony perspective. I do appreciate that Homestuck is written such that that spreads from not only the author’s possession, but to that of the audience via rereads.  As... macabre as this particular example is.

Finally, Dorothy is gone, and all that is left is the Witch (and her little dog too)?

Well, maybe not even that. Certainly, Bec’s powers are muted, and I wouldn’t be too terribly surprised if his instincts are too; on the other hand,they could be strongly contributing to this. This sequence strongly reminds me of the sequence wherein Jade’s destiny to become fused with him was first alluded to. “You eat a weird bug, and don’t even care,” and whatnot.  Certainly, 

Words slough from the busy mind like a useless dead membrane as a more visceral sapience takes over. Something simpler is in charge now, a force untouched by the concerns and burdens of the upright, that farcical yoke the bipedal tow. It now drives you through the midnight brush ...  as you and your new friend must claim the night with piercing howls moonward.

seems reminiscent to me of all of her thoughts of her former existence fading as she is beckoned by the call-- not of a moon, but of another reflection of the light of the sun: the Void-y remains that come with its demise. Obviously her “new friend” in this case would seem to refer both to Bec (who is a part of her, now, thus explaining the uniform motion) and through allusion, to the Alt!Calliope that her other version of herself had already befriended, who would be the one beckoning in the first place. It should also be said that shoes could be taken as a symbol of civilization, in this case, beyond just the obvious symbolism that is being pointed out to the viewer.  Regardless, whether this similarity was intended or not doesn’t actually matter. It’s just that this scene vaguely made me think of that.

What irony, considering this is coming from the one who just bewitched the Seer (which, I would just like to say, is honestly some nice narrative symmetry, considering this is almost exactly like what Doc Scratch did before him [not that I don’t still feel disgust toward him, even if this might turn out in Rose’s favor, in the long run]).                    Oh, yes, and by the way... very nice confirmation of the fact that the Green Sun Black Hole is Void-oriented. I appreciate that coming from an in-story source. (Even if you don’t connect emptiness with Void, which you should, the fact that the Ocean is connected with it is almost indisputable. That’s part of the reason why Rose’s quest was to bring life to the dead ocean by Playing the Rain. It was about using her inner Light to counteract her tendencies toward its equal opposite.)

Which is part of the reason why Alt!Calliope and Jade get along so well, and why there’s a connection between them, I’m sure. (Both of their lifestyles/life histories emphasized thematically their inner Space orientation. [This may also be why Kanaya lived in them middle of a desert, with no one but her Virgin Mother Grub to directly keep he company.])

Yes, way to downplay one of the core Aspects of reality just because it doesn’t necessarily always function in the way that perception would suggest it does. This doesn’t make it illusory, nor does it invalidate the continuum aspect of it:  that it is intrinsically relevant to how life persists and interacts with the world itself demonstrates the importance of this part of Time. It’s like suggesting an iceberg is an illusion just because you can’t see the depths hidden away below the surface (Void hides it from your eyes [read: Light is blocked]).   Gah, you are so bloody irksome and pride-projecting in your demeanor just because you managed to pick something up that the Trolls basically illuminated to the Beta Kids way back when they were all 13.  Congratulations.

Fool. (Oh, and I would argue that time continuing to be relevant conceptually, despite its non-linearity, helps to emphasize its importance as a pillar of reality. That it is an existence persisting independent of its consequent internal signifiers [entropy, {temporal} causality, direction] allows for it to play the very important role of acting as a medium for general interaction and consequence; particularly, it allows for the persistence and simultaneous activity of all possible states of being within its domain [e.g.: reality or the meta-narrative Existence within the context of MSPA, or whatever set of other works which would necessarily include all relevantly connected miscellany] which are additionally allowed for via the logical intermingling it has with the other Aspects.            In other words: Time is one of the two necessary present architectonic forces that undergird the Narrative.   Your suggesting that it is given disproportionate attention and that loneliness is therefore an illusion is just the sort of insulting, crass, and perspective-locked claptrap that I’d expect from someone who’s so enthusiastically embraced a departure from humanity, and who thus has lost mooring in the solid, political existence which sapient, physically-connected beings dwell in by nature.   I suspect that your distraction and loss of perspective will eventually come back to haunt you.  ) Yes, I realize that the Ultimate Self is a timeless construct, but this does not mean time is irrelevant to it or the limited forms it girds itself with when connecting to physicality. (On a random note:  I do appreciate his decision to call Aspects ideas.)

Along with the creepiness with regards to Dirk pushing thoughts into Jade’s head (which is honestly par for the course in Homestuck, and at least he’s mostly trying to remind her of something he believes she already knows, so it’s somwhat benevolent), we get this interesting snippet.  Seems he wants to foreshadow difficulties between Dave, Jade, and Karkat in the future.   I suppose the only logical question is whether Jade will break their hearts in turn.   Love is hard. It’s hard and everybody (with actual experience) understands.

Ha ha, “How much of Homestuck was actually illusion seen in the perspective of the characters involved, a la the kids’ rooms before Gamzee’s Chucklevoodoo curses were disrupted,” ha ha. On a more important note:   I very much appreciate Dirk’s well-arranged metaphors relating to time, to Calliope’s Muse-inspired-powered Spatial-influential music. Dirk is indeed quite bad at distracting hyper-focused people with thoughts he thinks they will reasonably find seem similar to thoughts she might have.

Hey, man, don’t give up. Your breaking from the narrative of trying to help her is making it seem like your nervousness is throwing you off, meaning we won’t know if your attempts to help her had any chance to succeed in general! Way to go, “hero!”

“Time is an illusion,” you say?   Yet here’s your narration, there’s Jade.  Oh!  There she goes, persisting to fly off into the dead sun, just as linear time would demand of her!  What’s wrong?  Couldn’t make the time to properly put your thoughts together or try until you got it right?   Gasp!         My word!  It’s almost like Time is pretty fricking important to the narrative and reality of the story!

HEEHEEHAHAHAHA!!!        Serves you right, getting spooked like that, you incompetent, over-confident knave!

... Now, let’s see how the rest of this goes, now that I have a better handle on my humours.

You’re dealing with the Grim Reaper, inspirer of great woe and terror, as well as happy children drawings and stories everywhere.  Obviously, you were overmatched. Perhaps you should have tried focusing on Jade initially, rather than John?  That might have given you a little bit more time.   I am reminded of a group of trolls who didn’t properly think through their attempts to mock and cajole those they perceived to be the artificers of their downfall.  Perhaps this will turn out as well.

Demiourgos, your pride showeth. Your composure runneth down and streaketh thine face like free-flowing ichor. Hubris, doth it become thee?   Thou reflecteth thine flaws, and by thy own hand. Revealeth thou not the weakness of thine breast with Rage-filled uproar?   A lion in thine face we see, but at this flickering of that glamour, a snake in masquerade is spotted. Foul wretch, I pity thee:  for it is truly painful to behold the disheartening of the ambitious, and the glorious in the midst of downfall. What do you fear?  What compels such panic into one normally so serene?

I suppose I should have known. A mechanist always fears uncontrollable variables.    (I do wonder if his fear is truly warranted, though. Certainly, things aren’t as bad as they could be, but there is much to be depressed about in these outcomes as they have emerged so far, you know?)

And thus, a new star was born?   Well, we’ll see.   I certainly do appreciate the physics of black hole mechanics being involved, though I am not 100% sure that this is accurate to how such an ultra-massive construct would actually work. I know super-massive black holes effect objects differently than normal ones, when they approach the event horizon, so it seems rather reasonable to guess that one the mass of multiple universes would behave a bit differently from either.  I do not know, however.  ... All in all, a pretty great page, I guess.  It was nice to see the Narrator lose control so badly.  A bit sad that the consequences of that were as they were, but I knew that this would likely be the case, regardless. I wonder when John and Terezi will be back in focus~ ... P.S.:  I am pretty sure that subtle interference with the narrative is the normal role of a Muse, and that her Mastery over Jade in particular makes a great deal of sense, given who Jade is. I wonder what has compelled her to speak in such a manner that her voice is actually visible in the text, rather than subtly bending it to her will as presumably has been the case over the course of Homestuck, generally.  Could it be that she did this specifically to teach the Narrator a lesson?  Shall we ever find out?

[crystalelemental]

alphakuriboh replied to your post “It’s a great idea in theory but they don’t work like that, it’s too...”

I don’t think any +10 should be particularly easy, personally. Perhaps I’m just a bitch, but I’ve worked really hard on my merges, including a +10 GHB, a +10 Masked Marth, and as soon as I gather up the last few feathers I’ll have a +10 Picnic Leo that I gathered Grails for since he came out (I have all the copies, it’s just feathers).

It’s also not that much fun if EVERYONE +10’s the same units. Once you get to a point in the game where you have the resources to +10, odds are you should have more options than just the Grail units anyway?

I have a lot of thoughts on this, and I’ll try to stay coherent with it.

Personally, I don’t actually value the work I put into a video game.  Any amount of effort and work put into a game could easily have been allocated elsewhere.  If the internal sense of satisfaction isn’t there, then it was wasted effort.  If it is there, the actions of others means nothing.

Like, consider this: Bridal Cordelia.  She was, for a long time, the offensive standard for an archer.  People would aim to +10 her because she had an intense niche, and that required intense saving or spending to acquire.  Legendary Alm exists now.  At +0, he’s already better than her by such a wide margin that, from a meta niche perspective, she’s useless.  Is it fair that L!Alm came out and essentially invalidated all the work they had to put into Cordelia?

My answer would be of course not.  Because the work you put in still exists.  If that work was solely to top the meta charts, then you probably did it for the wrong reasons.  If you worked hard for your favorites, then the internal satisfaction should be there regardless of what others do.  Like, I adore Julia.  One of my top three favorites in the series.  I got her to +10 with the revival banners.  She’s not particularly great, but you can get her to work well in plenty of game modes regardless of that.  If she demotes, does that invalidate the work I did?  I don’t think so.  I’d be overjoyed if she demoted.  I’d be overjoyed if other units I didn’t care about demoted and made it easier for their fans.

Basically, simplification of the game is good for everyone, especially considering resources like grails.  If they become more common, not only does it not invalidate the merge projects everyone’s already had to make with the shitty system, but it makes things easier for new players to have an identified merge projects, AND makes it easier for long-time players to get invested in more projects.  Again, right now, grail merge projects are, by design, rare as hell.  You get so few grails that you really need to prioritize who you spend them on, and since there is no other way to get them, most of these units will languish as units which are never, ever used.  Because they can’t keep up.  With more grails, you can get your favorites done easier, and have excess to play around with other options.  More of these resources is good for everyone, and considering they’re not even resources you pay for, the developers lose absolutely nothing from including this.  Grails units are never as good as banner units.  Ever.  Some can come close, but it’s never to a degree that the best new unit is the free one.  So why be so stingy about it?  Make it easier for new players to plan out those merge projects with a unit they can identify and work directly toward, instead of relying on the random appearances of common units.

As for centralization...frankly, there’s two things there.  One is...how is that different from now?  Go do Arena Assault and count the number of Fallen Tiki you face.  The number of L!Alm and L!Azura on a Water/Earth blessing week.  If the answer is less than 6 you’re a liar.  The game is already completely centralized around those units, especially at higher tiers of play.  Grail units would only add variety there.  You know.  If any of them were on par with those monsters that rule the meta.  The other aspect is that I...don’t think it would cause overcentralization.  Sure, grail units that are actually good, like Naesala and Astram, would likely be the most common picks.  Especially Astram, who scores incredibly well for Arena and is free.  But there are enough options, and all of them can do well enough, that I think there’d be plenty of variance.

But again, the real rulers of the meta are the banner units, and with that being the case...who cares what happens with Grails?  The higher-tier defense teams you’re facing are all F!Tiki dragon emblem and L!Alm/L!Azura combos anyway.  Who cares if everyone decided Astram’s the best for Arena offense and +10′s him right away?  That’s one unit for a core of three in Arena, they still need to summon and likely have other projects there, and if they don’t care about Arena scoring, then all that’s changed is they focus on a favorite unit like Fallen Takumi or something.

I just...can’t see any downside, at all, to an increase in grail production, or the introduction of free copies of previous Tempest Trial units.  There’s effectively no loss to them, because they don’t make actual profit off grails.  There’s no loss to other players or metagame variety because the titans already rule the roost and are banner units.  And what players gain is the ability to actually have fun with more units, because now you have the ability to actually make them viable.  Yes, the system’s fine for someone who’s starting out and wants to just get their first copy F!Robin.  But once you’ve played a few months, you’re gonna realize the merges are important and you absolutely don’t have the resources to work with them anymore.  Or, if you choose to invest in them anyway, that you’re completely grail bankrupt now and any fun units that show up after are going to be a long, LONG ways out from being competitive.

[him-e]

Even as someone who dislikes Dany, it felt weird and umcomfortable to read a lot of biased metas who would tell awful things about her (of which some are partially true but if they are pointed out with ill intentions and out of hate instead of with argumentation it falls flat for me) in order to defend a ship but for what's worth from the outside it is pretty easy to distinguish the older and new jonsa shippers and I dont think people conflate the two groups This said keep enjoying the fandom :)

idk, from the point of view of someone who was not aware that a Jonsa fandom even existed before it exploded during season 6, I think it’s pretty normal to conflate the two groups. But I should clarify that I’m not concerned with being equated with “”””bad”””” shippers. The people I respect in this fandom are too clever to believe that all fans of (x) are a hivemind. I don’t care for everyone else.

My frustration comes from the fact that all this Dany hate is stifling the Jonsa discourse when it would have still so much to offer otherwise, with less divisive arguments. Instead it seems like Dany is the hill people are going to die on, when she shouldn’t have anything to do with the ship and there are plenty of ways to discuss a possible endgame scenario that don’t revolve around constantly shitting on her. I actually really enjoy reading jonsa meta, even of the “will be canon!” kind, but the constant villainization of Dany is ruining it for me, because I don’t consider it a valid or productive argument. Making villain!Dany the linchpin of your ship discourse invalidates the whole thought process, because a) she’s clearly not; b) insisting that she is has a counterproductive effect on neutral fans, as it alienates from jonsa more people than it attracts; c) it actually doesn’t prove anything. Even if Dany were a villain, that doesn’t mean Jon can’t fall in love with her or that his feelings must be insincere. Good people fall for villains all the time, and Jon is not necessarily a paragon of virtue himself. 

Anon #2, I had to edit your ask because I’m not going to address publicly that sort of accusations towards specific users, especially since I have zero first hand knowledge of what happened either way. But I wanted to discuss this:

I’m am so sick and tired of people thinking we don’t like Daenerys just because we ship Jonsa. There are A MILLION valid reasons not to like her that have nothing at all to do with shipping 😒

Of course there are plenty of good reasons to be critical of her. Her storyline and arc and narrative tropes are intentionally divisive and meant to inspire a discussion in the audience. And I certainly don’t think that being a shipper invalidates your perspective on things—hey, I’m a shipper too! 

But would you commit to write tons of meta on how Dany is a villain, if that weren’t inextricably connected to (your idea of) endgame jonsa? I only started to see floods of Dany-critical meta in this corner of the fandom after it became clear she would make Jon unavailable. Before that, non-Dany fans were pretty content ignoring her, or just throwing the occasional remark about how they didn’t like her. It’s pretty obvious that one thing is fueling the other.

In my experience, people— even on this hellsite—only go analytical on the stuff they hate if there’s an upside to it, be it to elevate your favourite ship/character/idea by contrast, defend your interpretation of the story, gain discourse points or bond over shared hatred for something. But it’s rarely “oh I really dislike (x) so I guess I’m going to spend hours and hours analyzing in depth how (x) is bad without this bearing any relevance whatsoever to the things I like, or consider right and wholesome”. It’s generally “put (x) down to prop (y) up”, even if the latter is not immediately transparent. I think it would be disingenuous to pretend that this link doesn’t exist.

Story time: in earlier fandom days of mine, there was a character I and some other fans really disliked, who was was incidentally the main obstacle to our otp happening. Long story short, we became really invested in a subset of theories about how he was actually a villain all along, and how the narrative would eventually expose him as such (sounds familiar?). There were tons of brilliant, researched, incredibly analytical meta about it. The idea was that eventually there would be a 180° perspective shift, corresponding to the heroine’s finally opening her eyes on his nature. This interpretation was hardly unfounded—the character was a liar, an emotional abuser, a canonical rapist and former slave owner, and there were a lot of shady aspects to the way he had initiated his relationship with the heroine. However, it was also painfully clear that he was “the” male lead and that the writers loved to romanticize him just as much as they liked playing with his darker aspects. Fast forward to the final season and we never had the big villain reveal we wanted—and boy did I feel like an idiot for even believing that could happen. 

The story I played in my mind was interesting—I still think it is—but ultimately it wasn’t the story the writers were telling. There were plenty of signs that it wasn’t. As it turned out, ~controversial but beloved hero is revealed to be a villain~ isn’t a very popular trope. Mainstream fiction is usually geared towards the exact opposite (see: redemption arcs). 

But also, in hindsight, now I understand that I fell down the rabbit hole with that theory because it allowed me to fantasize about a scenario in which the heroine would finally get over the *bad* character and fall in love with my fave instead. Did I have legitimate reason to be critical of that character? I can guarantee I had A LOT. But was shipping + viscerally disliking that character my main motivator in this? YES. 

My point is, you can absolutely hate a character JUST BECAUSE it gets in the way of your ship. Sometimes things are just that simple. It’s completely normal, it’s par for the course, I think we’ve all had that gut reaction at one point in our fandom life. But don’t dress it up as something deeper or more serious than that (don’t get so sucked into your rationalizations that you start to believe them), and don’t be surprised if it alienates other fans. Because it does! Back to my story, now that I’m older and wiser I can see how all our tinhatting and obsessing over our nemesis made the fandom toxic and alienated a lot of neutral fans, let alone fans of that character & relative ship, who were basically silenced since the get go. Which sucks.

Tinhatting is wonderful, it’s one of the reasons I do fandom the way I do, but tinhatting that consistently hinges on hatred and negativity against a specific character tends to get tiring and toxic, not to mention lose validity on a meta level. This is how I see it, but feel free to make of this what you like.

[blackwoolncrown]

So I slept on it. And then I read your post where you reduced every complaint I had about the utter lack of nuance in your response to me to 'oh so you're saying I was sexually assaulted?' Which, par for the course, I guess. Tell you what. Go back and read your initial response to me. The one that starts with, I have never ever met anyone... You find any mights and cans in the thicket of all and every and it is and it just means and I'll apologize for reading your blanket statements as such.

“And of course this was never about consent, or about arguing that I was literally aexually assaulted by practicing BDSM. But of course acknowledging that would force you to stop seeing me as some histrionic defender of the bdsm lifestyle.“

1. It’s really cool of you to have slept on it and very awesome for you to even say anything to me afterwards since I wouldn’t expect you to and you didn’t have to.

2. It’s a bit…odd to be like ‘hey I thought about it and maybe that didn’t go right so if you can find flaw in my argument I’ll apologize’. I’m…? Like what do you want here? I don’t mean as in, what does this say but do you want us to see eye to eye or do you want one of us to be right or what? Do you want closure or satisfaction from this interaction? These are 100% open and genuine questions. I kind of won’t interact with someone when their words and ‘motivation’ seem to be on two different levels. 

3. Here’s the thing. My response wasn’t to you personally. It was to ‘the post above me’ if that makes sense. When things are presented as arguments, I am viewing them as arguments posed, not aiming my response at the person who wrote it.

And beyond all that, here’s my main thing: Stop making this about YOU. You’re really twisted up over how I see you, and I get that, but it’s not functional. Your discomfort with being ‘seen’ the wrong way in this argument or figuratively or morally or however I can say it isn’t really….my  problem. If you can’t stand it when people misunderstand who you are or what you’re about idk what to tell you bc that will happen in the world all the time and you can’t fly off in a FUCK YOU FUCK YOU RAGE just because you think someone’s interpretation of you isn’t the ‘you’ you mean to be.I don’t think about you, personally. I don’t have a moral judgement on you or your lifestyle. I don’t know how many times I can say this but me talking about BDSM isn’t me saying all people who partake in it are bad. I partake in it. It’s my job. I used to have lots of BDSM related fetishes, too. I know people in it. And I know their struggles and issues related to it, and to talk about those is not to talk about them as people.

And that’s what you’re not getting. You really sound just like a white person cracking at discussion of privilege. “Oh so you’re saying I’M a bad person for having a house just because others don’t? You’re saying I’m racist/bad just for existing? Are you saying all my friends, my community, my family members are bad?”

No one’s saying that. The point is that BDSM cannot be removed from the society that it operates in. Just like anyone has perfect agency to decide that they like makeup, they also can’t remove themselves from the compulsory beauty standards that thereby give them the privilege of attractiveness and acceptance makeup offers. When we talk about how beauty standards are enforced, we’re not saying people who enjoy makeup or skincare aren’t consenting to their like, only that the market and how they view it is inherently affected by society.When we talk about sexuality within patriarchy and how it’s demanded of and controlled in women, and how capitalism and patriarchy basically creates a need for many women to go into sex work, no one’s saying those women aren’t consenting. My job is literally to use the very demands of patriarchy and capitalism, glamourize them, and sell them back to white men either physically or digitally. I consented to do so. But if society were different what I do (the specific fetishes and dynamics, not sex work) wouldn’t be as much of a ‘thing’ at all.

I also think, for the sake of clarity, that being ‘kinky’ and BDSM are two different things and we aren’t viewing them the same way. Kink overlaps, but BDSM- Bondage and Discipline, Domme/sub, Sadomasochism is a specific set whereas there are many things that are ‘just kinky’ that often don’t involve a power dynamic. I have a monster kink- that’s not BDSM. You can have a latex kink without D/s or sadomasochism. But BDSM is literally about power and control, pain and endurance of pain, and it’s just beyond ridiculous for you to have kept acting like the relationship between BDSM and social power dynamics was an unfair ‘pathology’ of BDSM. The original post never ever said ‘kinky’, it said sadomasochism and BDSM. This implies that Lourde was specifically speaking of sex with a D/s power dynamic and or sex that involved the application of suffering for sexual gratification. And the entire point there was that this is not an isolated phenomenon, that it says something about the society in which we life. And I find it classic cognitive dissonance that someone like you can elaborate on all the different ways in which our society’s sideways’ thinking manifests itself and how people need to face that and see how their preferences or habits of thought were born from that, but that reasoning shuts down when you so much as thought that the same rules could apply to your orgasms. I would almost venture to call this ‘orgasmic fragility’. Because over the years I have observed that people deep into debate and discourse will slip right into cognitive dissonance, and people who avoid discourse will launch angrily into it, if anyone dares critique the thing they get off to. And it really speaks to the critiques I’ve seen of our misguided sex positivity culture, in that it’s given people the idea that all sex is good, and that sex cannot be criticized, because to criticize someone’s sex is to criticize them, personally.

I think that it says a lot about you that you frequently said that my posts were ‘defining you as’ anything, when they were about BDSM, which implies that you identify as/with BDSM (or specifically kink) which is pretty much my entire problem with kinksters. They place so much of their identity in said kinks that all critique of them is taken as a personal attack.Basically, despite the amazing clarity of mind I followed you for, you jumped into this argument that possibly wasn’t even about you (kinks versus explicit BDSM) and started- and this is initial, before I ever responded- throwing around the idea that to critique BDSM is almost to say people involved in it have all been raped. Like…that level of reach is beneath you, it’s entirely un-nuanced, and it was the shaky grounds that you built the rest of your argument on even if you didn’t really mean to. You said it multiple times in different ways that to crit BDSM is to say its subjects are (re)-experiencing sexual assault, but now you’re claiming I’m ‘reducing’ your argument. As if I’m wrong for that. No, buddy. Sorry. Not how this works. You said it. 

Then you tried to drag me under the bus for talkign about ‘healing sex’ but like.. there literally are SA survivors who dealt with that through BDSM and I was just trying to explain that I was not invalidating their experience. That’s YOU reducing my argument. Me giving credence to SA survivor’s agency isn’t summoning the phantom of ‘healing sex uwu’.

Idk you were all over the place and now you’re here like ‘grade my essay and if it’s a C- I’ll apologize’. It’s disingenuous because for as much as you harp about nuance suddenly you’ll only apply it along grammatical lines. Like, which is neither good nor bad it’s just funny to me. It’s also in line with you cursing at me heavily in your posts (hey, fine, go ahead) but then turning around and patronizing with ‘if you want to do this without hurling insults’ or somesuch. Like?? Ok. Inconsistent but ok then!  Either you want to say sorry for how that went down or you don’t. Your choice, either way, I don’t care… I’ll be good and I’m sure you will, too.