#To Christians who are not normal. Yikes

[kjzx]

Merry Othodox Christian Christmas everybody

[melancholia00]

I’ll always be a Mizrak defender when Olrox saved him in the abbey. Yes it was sweet and romantic but wholly selfish on Olrox’s part because people forget that Olrox left Richter, Annette, Maria, and Tera to die in the abbey with an omnipotent vampire cat goddess. When they were yards away from the abbey Mizrak was still trying to save the others and struggling to break free from Olrox.

Olrox was manhandling him and Olrox being a vampire, Mizrak was in a huge disadvantage of strength and no matter how much he struggle Olrox would not let him go if Olrox didn’t want to. Even though Olrox saved Mizrak he is keeping Mizrak detained against his will. The first thing on Mizrak’s mind was the others that Maria and Richter are trapped and are in danger. Richter and Maria seem to be pretty familiar with Mizrak. They were causal acquaintances or even friends to say the least— especially the winky face Richter gave Mizrak after visiting the Abbot in ep 1.

Mizrak just has a guarded exterior, he’s like that with everyone else and with Olrox. It’s not personal. Though we do see him falter just a tiny bit in most intimate scenes with them together. It’s nothing personal with Olrox, it’s just Mizrak’s character.🗿 Mizrak is just a tough cookie to crack and Olrox is his glass of milk and he’s the only one that can soften him up and make him ooey gooey. 🍪🥛

Despite the harden exterior he cares for Richter and Maria and when he learned the truth about the Abbot he went against him and tried to save Maria from getting sacrificed! After Mizrak alerted the others he KILLED all the knight brothers because they were in his way to save Maria!

After Richter gets tossed around by the force field magic shit from Erzsebet, Mizrak charges up to avenge Richter but Olrox scoops him up and leaves everyone in the abbey to die.

What did people expect Mizrak to do? Should Mizrak twirl his hair? Kick his feet in the air because Prince Charming swooped down and saved him from certain peril? Olrox saved Mizrak but left everyone else to die! Mizrak felt he was the only one who can could protect Richter, Maria, and Tera from Erzsebet! Even thought he’s the only normal human with no magic he still throws himself into the fray. But Olrox took Mizrak away his first thought is who is going to protect them now?

Olrox now wants to talk about feelings and confess to each other while the world is ending? Time and place Olrox, time and place! The world is at peril and the people Mizrak cares about are getting brutalized! Mizrak called him “animal who lost his soul centuries ago.”

What he’s saying is that Olrox is selfish. He doesn’t have people he cares about or risks his life for but Mizrak does. Essentially calling him heartless because Olrox only saved him and deep down Mizrak feels like he isn’t even worth saving. But he’s able to save other people at least. Try to save the world or die trying.

People intrepid Mizrak being a racist to Olrox because he’s an indigenous man and indigenous people were called animals back then and think Mizrak is a white man. Which I don’t think that’s what Mizrak means that in any capacity.

Also, Mizrak is not white. He’s Middle Eastern/North African, and was probably called an animal too by the Christians since Christians or anyone who doesn’t follow the Abrahamic faith that was specifically theirs called anyone animals. Especially pagans. Yikes!

Not to mention Mizrak’s origin is Maltese and this is the time of Knights of St. John: 1530-1798 during the Knights Hospitaller. Where thousands of Muslim slaves were captured and taken to Malta. In mid-18th century there were around 9,000 Muslim slaves in Hospitaller-ruled Malta. So yea, Mizrak was most likely enslaved during sometime in his childhood and converted to Catholicism when he joined the Clergy of Knights.

So no, Mizrak is a not racist Christian calling Olrox an animal. Mizrak has also been effected by colonialism too. Just how Olrox spoke how he lost his people to due to colonialism kinda made Mizrak be beside himself too.

Almost forgetting about his own home and how he was enslaved to by the very same faith he fights with and that had also caused so much devastation to other parts of the world. Olrox and Mizrak are the same except Mizrak assimilated while Olrox resisted it.

Mizrak was probably a child when he was enslaved while Olrox was a grown adult man when the Europeans came on to his shores. Olrox was able to resist and fight back while Mizrak a child was impressionable and was converted. They have the same backstories but different circumstances.

I went on a tangent here, but Mizrak calling Olrox an animal is because animals are easily spooked and run away from danger and to him he views animals as heartless and only caring for their own survival.

Mizrak chews Olrox out of anger the same way Annette called Richter a “useless fuck,” because he ran away from the cellar.

Mizrak and Annette are very much alike. Both are hot headed and stubborn and not afraid to charge into danger, idealistic and not afraid to get killed. They both share the same philosophy of Anti-Running Away From A Fight

Olrox and Richter are alike in many ways too. They are both are cautious planners and are a more grounded than their partners. They take time to think before they make up a plan— not charge headfirst. And also they both retreated. Richter when he had a panic attack when Olrox spooks him. Olrox pulling Mizrak away from a fight and leaving everyone behind.

Mizrak has every right to be pissed and angry. To put it bluntly he doesn’t have time to deal with whatever this is going on between Olrox and Mizrak right now! This isn’t the time for confessions— they aren’t in the safety of the inn when they are the only two people that matter inside the walls. They are in a middle of a battle and the people Mizrak cares about are trapped with a malicious cat GOD bringing in the destruction of humanity. He doesn’t have time to think of this right now and what he said was out of anger, hurt, and the heat of the moment. He lashed out at Olrox, nothing more.

After he leaves Olrox he runs back to battle yards away to find his friends to see if they survived.

Olrox remains behind because he doesn’t have attachment to those people but Mizrak does he has people he cares about.

Back at the inn Mizrak asked if Olrox was going to turn Mizrak into a vampire he said no because he doesn’t love him. Olrox turned his lover into a vampire because he wanted him to be with him forever. Mizrak was wondering if this— one night stand or anything was something Olrox had planned to do or this is what vampires do when they fancy somebody. When Olrox coldly says he doesn’t love him, and Mizrak thinks Olrox doesn't even care about him . Remember Olrox rejected Mizrak first when he said he didn’t love him.

It’s way too early if Olrox and Mizrak love each other or not. It started out as a one night stand and slowly began to catch feelings for each other. Who knows what we are going to see in season 2 and I don’t think Mizrak hates Olrox he’s just pissed and felt betrayed at the moment. I hope these two can reconcile and worked together to defeat Erzsebet!

[imustbenuts]

Do u have any personal Kiran headcanons for your own Kiran?

:x... uhhh......

okay. get ready.

my hc is that kiran is, objectively speaking, a demigod of sorts.

if you ever watched re:creators or read some stuff about the gnostics or even some christian studies level of stuff then it might make sense immediately what im talking about.

basically: kiran isn't human in the same way that everyone else in the FE verse is. i hc they're really just a regular everyday person, who happens to be a FE nerd with a good head on their shoulders whisked away into a the FEverse.

but kiran isn't really a god. in shorthand, they're similar to an angel or a deva. they dont partake in the creation of the FEverse (thats intsys' job), but they partake in the indulgence side of it all. and they might be interested enough that it becomes a media they happily consume. and that consumption of the media by the audience in turn supports the cycle of creation for more FE and thus FEverse gets expanded like that

very meta. and like in gnosticsm or even christianity the God that spawns creation and fate is unknowable. they are so unknowable that the creation they spawn doesnt even know if they are god or a creation capable of further creation, and creates more unknowing of the fact that these creation becomes actualized in some form out there in the vast infinity of whatever

so you know like. when we like blorbo/s so much we kinda. put them in situations. because. drama is fun. watching the blorbos struggle is fun. watching them overcoming stuff is fun.

and although i mention we partake as audiences, our combined taste does have influence over the process of creation. for example, awakening wouldnt exist if intsys didnt get desperate and shoved everything they think might appeal to audiences into the game, and thereby gain our approval, effectively granting the right for the rest of FE to exist.

so combine the two above and. isekai. oops.

kiran now looks like a psychopathic admirer of the FE heroes who gets their rocks off watching actual people struggle. woah! the bigger the struggle, the more entertaining it is, the better the payoff, and so it gets really difficult to be even normal about the heroes.

maybe kiran doesnt see FE characters as actualized people in the beginning. maybe they negotiate with themselves about the dissonance of it all. maybe at some point they realize, "this is fucked up, actually. i can't be gleeful about hearing these people talk about their troubles and worries while knowing what fates are in store for them."

but in some parts, that gleefulness doesnt ever go away. the fact that they know doesnt go away. the knowing in itself becomes a curse, and the distance is permanent. even if they like them, bc hey, the reason why they know all these info is bc kiran loves the blorbos enough to read up on all of them!

combined that with them being capable of summoning multiple copies of the same heroes. what does that mean for the relationship they might form? they know every marth, but does every marth know them? can the marths even begin to form a proper understanding or relationship? what if another marth comes? what then?

multiply that by like. 500. yikes.

the only exception to all of these are the Heroes natives ofc. alfonse and sharena is their strongest anchor because they can be normal with them. but, the siblings are not at all immune to the FEverse MC tropey fates that awaits, and so kiran's brain runs on predictive mode trying to avoid this and that.

but despite their best efforts, they cant prevent fate. they cant prevent gustav from dying and protect one of the few people they care about from getting hurt.

so they try even harder. bc their prev world has drilled in the idea of meritocracy so much, the idea of productivity at all cost under capitalism, and gave them the skillset to learn on the fly that failure is not an option.

kiran might have been a person with their life barely beginning back home.

in that world before, their identity was built up over 2 decades by the people surrounding them, blood or otherwise. and everything they interacted with there defined their identity. they can share and talk about things they encountered in games normally. there is normalcy here. logic here.

but once in the world of FEheroes, all that built up in 20 years becomes nothing and twisted. their identity folds into itself. their knowledge is a curse. their friendships are the weight of entire suns. there is insanity here, and indulgence and people with delicious dramatic stories to consume and hear at every corner if they so politely asked. in return, they would offer knowledge and counsel. (they wouldnt, ofc. so no heroes really gets to know them in full. look directly into the sun and be blinded, its kinda shitty like that)

and breidablik gives them power. to control, to contract, to plant suggestions. the heroes know, the specifics of the contract ofc, bc thats ethical. being morally upright to the heroic universe they love so much was never in question. so they play the part of the friendly summoner, let the heroes believe in their goodwill, bc the other option is to be truthful and get close and consume.

alfonse and sharena becomes their everything. jailer, god, summoner, champion, curse, blessing, friends, to protect at all cost, to give themselves to for whatever they desire. their reason for existing and continuing.

and if kiran fails, if alfonse or sharena gets twisted, then, well. the identity of evreyone's friendly cheerful summoner would have to get redefined, wouldnt it?

[livlepretre]

AMAZING CHAPTER I loved it so so much

I detest Rebekah more than I have ever done right now. Letting Elena spend christmas on her own without a call or even a message, letting her almost DROWN in that pool only to “make it up to her” the next day by sex (I’m assuming) like be for real. She didn’t change one bit and will keep shitting on Elena for as long as she lets her to. I truly feel so bad for Elena right now, I can sense the loneliness she’s going through and really hope things start going her way.

I’m wondering why she didn’t just ask Rebekah about Jeremy, is their relationship THAT fucked (I can sense it only going downhill from now on)? Even if Rebekah wasn’t present when Damon and the others came she surely could’ve gotten some answers about it from Klaus or Stefan for Elena’s sake if she really wanted to (she could’ve just compelled Stefan)

Also absolutely LOVED the scene when Elena and Klaus were smoking in silence despite the fact that I feel that Klaus is starting to distance himself from her and show less concern for her health and well-being (hoping he was the one to pull her out of the pool). Maybe he’s just hiding his feelings for her really well, but I think right now his attention is on trying to rebuild his “relationship” with Stefan.

Anyways, absolutely banging chapter, will spend the rest of the day rereading and trying to decipher small clues. Praying for my girl Elena❤️

ahhhh poor Bex! to be fair, I think that Rebekah is so outside of normal time/life that something like Christmas, or New Years, or any other holiday, is nice to celebrate, but also not that big of a deal. It's like how she doesn't remember the last time she celebrated a birthday. Holidays are part of mortal life and she is just removed from it. (and-- she's a medieval person! even assuming she's a Christian (I do head canon them as Christian, but, YIKES! do they predate the split between the Orthodox and the Catholic church?) are we really prepared to think about how she would observe holidays like christmas, if she even still believes? certainly the holiday would be much more explicitly religious in her eyes-- and she missed the whole 20th century where traditions around the holiday shifted pretty greatly.) So I give her a pass on this.

As for the pool thing, she doesn't know Elena almost drowned! She left before that happened. but if you were to ask her what she was up to, she would swear up and down that she was doing what was best for Elena and best for their future together.

I'm not sure their relationship is actually that fucked up so much as Elena views it that way. Which says a lot, but as the anon I answered yesterday pointed out, Elena is not about to leave Rebekah because she is not about to give up this one chance at happiness. Who else could she be with? She wants a romantic partner. Her options are beyond slim. She's willing to put up with a lot because of that. Also, maybe in the back of her mind she remembers that time Rebekah compelled her to think that rando was Jeremy and killed him to mess with her. Could make her not want to actually cross the two.

Love your analysis of where Klaus is at. Would say that is spot on. But also possible his hands got wet this chapter.

thanks for commenting 💙💙💙💙

[hamliet]

Bro-

https://twitter.com/NemoEntropy/status/1534151366515560449?t=S09VNfCVUM2DKKvl7HodRg&s=19

I remember that. It ain't great and isn't even including the yikes comments about Asian queer media (I think those were made at another time).

It's all very immature, black/white thinking complete with the "thought crime" indictments reminiscent of purity culture in evangelical Christianity. It's also incredibly... irresponsible/cruel to essentially imply to someone who, for all the author knows, could well be a queer teenage boy, that they should not only feel shame for having questions about the sex life of characters they love, but fear that they might be a predator for having extremely normal questions/thoughts. I hope the anon got a hug from someone after this.

Listen, I think the writer has said they are asexual, and for all I know maybe these types of questions are particularly repulsive to them, and it's okay to set that boundary and even get angry if people keep pressing. We're all human. I don't know their context, and they're a young person, so hopefully they'll grow and learn. I don't think that they are inherently a bad person who can never change; they just need to expand their worldview beyond "me." Which frankly is something every 20-something is on a journey to learn how to do, but in the meantime, it's oh-so-very-familiar for me to see these types of comments from them because boy oh boy did I get enough of these lectures as a teen growing up in fundie land.

[kfeinf-29jcdei]

I figured out a thing and now I just feel like dora the explorer. No real accomplishment but my own dance with my own backpack THAT I MADE DANCE WITH ME and a fox who steals enough to have a felony. Congratulations, you sing your own songs now too. No help unless we click on your destination for you. Kinda racist, isn't it? Why can't she have a friend with no criminal activity regularly and one more friend that's a person or animal and not her own possessions. YIKES that's evil. That's an only child too, man she's gotta have a shitty home life where is her mother and shit?

Anyway. It's a weird thing I had to like look up the entirety without finishing or going too far into detail to preserve time, world war 2 and then the cold war a little bit. I had no idea Stalin was so horrible he just killed anyone even like the men he used to kill like he wasn't even Hitler, he just gave less than the fucks Hitler had from his drugs and shit. That's my personal opinion people are BAT SHIT on a mission with continuous use of less than he did regularly or can be anyway. So, how is it Christianity and THE VATICAN BEING PUT AWAY ALONE AS A LITERAL LIKE SEPARATE ENTITY. OUT OF COUNTRY ANYONE OF THEM. JUST A FUCKING. ONLY. A. RELIGIOUS. ENTITY.

THOSE CREEPY CREEPS DID STUFF BACK THEN AND LEMME TELL YOU. I know a person who knows how those people operate with like secret secrets secretly hidden in the place that was forgotten by God and remembered by a dead guy who personally knew Jesus. Just by not talking about it. Over time, yes, they're men who wanted their way. With what he told me, I went hold on Stalin separated the Vatican and all. So LOOK AT US. MURICA, MAKE THEM BABIES CUZ POOR PEOPLE HAVE BEEN POOR OVER AND OVER WOOHOO THE RIGHT KIND OF (this is too inflammatory and opinionated but I think most minorities) THAT DIDN'T HAVE A VICTUM MIND SET MY DADDY DON'T LIKE ARE RAISIN BABIES AND FUCKIN LIKE RABBITS YEEEEEHOOOOO.

Like....if it made no sense to keep demonizing the people who aren't like so called church approved gay trans native what have you, why not figure out what God says? NOT ONE SINGLE PERSON HAS BEEN TOLD BY GOD GAYS TRANSGENDERS AND ALL THE REST aren't accepted at the human level. When is it anywhere? I mean, I always hoped and wished I'd see this in person. Because "Wait, you didn't hear the good news about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ?" Virgin birth or not, um he ended a lot of people's involvement with Judaism IDC if he was human or an immortal being whatever. They listened to him teach and preserved the message.

Here's what I was made to understand, personally. sodom and gomorrah, the wrath of the divine being we know as God wasn't men having sex with adult men. Men who were raised into homophobic lives went batshit crazy, and it was normal to have children work and what not. Guess what happened? They were somehow (the ones committing pedophilia of course) being overcome with the whatever it is that causes men to rape as a result of a power trip. Then they went well this is a small human, and I have this now and it's better than what they did have or could have. Children in sexual servitude? Oh level the city to the ground and turn who looks at it into useless BS that has no value and won't even stay standing. So how did we get away from that? Idk the Catholics have the methods of prayer the most spot on of them and Christianity idk about Judaism at all. The rest are close in their own ways, but ITS OLD MEN KEEPIN OLD MENS SECRETS AND THEY MIGHT NOT KNOW. THEY PROBABLY BELIEVE REALLY REALLY HARD IN STUFF.

If there's a God just fucking put whatever telepathy everyone found out about in all the nationalism funded research that all of the big countries I believe had something of. We had MK ultra! We still have shit tons of regular people just regular ole people who can do that shit just once in a while boom I did this drug I see you and sucks cause I'm getting all that info out somewhere. God bless who has the ability to communicate it. IM PRAYING FOR THE GROUP OF LITERAL PSYCHOPATHIC DEAD MENS BULLSHIT COMING OFF OF THE RELATIONSHIP THAT THE WORLD HAS WITH RELIGION. I know America is big and loud with these abortion restrictions. If I get pregnant fuck it idgaf who it was he fucking raped me, and I was going through torture. Jail time? Good, keep me with their dicks in jail instead anyway. Look at my logic there, with a few people on my side out loud I'd have instant ignorant support. If women literally just got the ability to restrict access to sexual intercourse like as a sudden attack we could mind fucks them into their own hell or prison after prison.

Maybe if religious bullshit is talked about....maybe this will have nothing to hurt the perpetuating politicians and officials and the whole supreme court at least who went yeah we can do this evil thing...dun dun, or just a little. Let it fizzle out and give up or till the bitter endz make history and be remembered as a random power money and more power hungry asshole with no repercussions or accountability. We will see! Oh, it only keeps going the way you want so long. We get away with a lot with our own people from any government level. It's like a unintentional motivation I think. They're gonna have these people either missing from history or another "THIS WAS ALMOST ANOTHER SLAVERY. FOR A LITTLE BIT IT WAS. LOOK AT THE AFFECTED PEOPLE! SHAME SHAME SHAME DONT SPEAK THEIR NAMES OUT LOUD EW."

I can only repeat it so many times. Maybe God will help, never know. Good big giant clear cut in all languages maybe even sign anyone and anything can see and go "oh good people are all people." Could happen. It'd be cool without the prophet going through the whole entire Bible type thing. I mean why was all of the old testament like....Noah had something to do with Jesus right? I don't remember. What was that? Why? It was a sadists story. God did a thing he never does too like wow ok, kill the girl children, you didn't! Good, I was wrong. UM NO. God made all the breathing things and the plants. No capacity for it. Who else was in there talking? Wtf? They didn't even keep a dinosaur that was small. So we have no mention anyhow. Like I have more opinions but they're too much of a thing you wanna stab a bigger version of church.

Also, if witchcraft is not good what are the Catholics doing on TV? Look up Norse pagans, find the deity Freya okay. Animals, she loves the animals it's tame and you can't deny it! Find me a simple little bit of a cleansing routine with one. Thing. To. Cleanse. With. Compare it to all the smoking shit and the hand motions and the oils and all of it. Sir, you're wearing stuff women were burned for dancing in around fire in Salem and doing LESS. What. Is. This. Shit.

[mayisgoingnuts]

Thought up of some random sruff for Opposite Lux and Zane

Zane is like- the most boring straight guy to ever exist- he’s got a normal job and everything- he’s also religious- kinda like the crazy lady who runs the bookstore religious (yikes- no hate to anyone like Christian :3)

Lux is literally a demon trying to murk all the kids but is very very stopid when it comes to it’s job- most of the time they miss or they get close and by some dumb luck the kid will duck or sm- they hate music of any kind- and hate kids (*especially* Skid)

You gave Zane his privileges back :c /j

Also Lux KDHEJWDJ,, I love this sort of trope sm, I bet that Skid would love them still

[v-r-i-s-vris-v-r-i-s]

I LOVE BAD ART

hiii im thyme (ze/zir/they/them), one of the 4 ppl w accces to this acct, and sry for spelling, im dysgraphic + actualy typing and not using speach-to-text like normal

ANYWAYS

i LOVE bad art, and i HATE when ppl get upset i say that!

i grew up w a lot of pressuer on me to be good, definetly in general, but also absolutly w art!! my mom was an artist, and i grew up VERY christian. everything i did reflected on god, and more importantly to my mom, on her.

she was so exited to have a kid who LOVED art and stuff like her, but i was never good enough. she would always tell everyone how good i was, how i was gifted by god, and how much i took after her. (she was v self centered and would majorly talk up anything that made her look good, yikes i know)

so ppl would be naturaly interested and exited to see! and then i would be forced to show them some art, which, keep in mind, was verry age appropriate and full of the generally goofy stuff i loved, and 9/10 they would be dissapointed. even if they werent my mom decided to constantly pressure me to do better.

this was really stressful obv, and i stopped drawing for the first time. when i got into middle school, i started again, this time not really ttelling my mom. i was happier, but had already had it impressed down onto me that my art had to be good to warrant existing or taking my time. i was v stressed by it, and as i slowly started to get more comfortable i was imedietly bombarded with competition.

i struggled to get better in the ways that seemed easy for anyone else, PDA kicked in as soon as i felt something NEEDED to be done, and i was compaird to everyone my age and younger and told how much better theye were.

i never wanted to make it a competition, i just wanted to have fun. i wanted to do something hands on that could express me better than my words ever could (undiagnosed autism at the time made me feel verry weird and thuroughly broken, and explaining that wo imedietly getting invalidating and patronizing answers simply did not happen)

i stoped drawing again. i changed schools and had a better art teacher. she wasnt a dick bout my art, but definetly acted overly suportev(possibly im anxiose and projecting past art trauma onto her lmao and she was just being normal, she was cool af tho). i starded drawing more, on and offf, and got REALLY depressed and burnt out. one of the ways it manifested was being unable to be creative.

but things did get better!!! got an autism diagnosis and educated myself more on my dysgraphia diagnosis(got in elementry school), came out, made freinds who brought me to queer music and caberet shows(tysm phoenix), and was able to move out!

as im now on my own, my art drive has rissen signifigantly, especily as im surounded by other art enjoying weirdos(complementary). but i still hate when someone says that my art is good or bad. constructive advice and support is always valued, but there are so many mediums and people and styles, how on earth do we judge that?? having to be good enough for everyone to warent my own existance and hobbies almost killed me, and sucked all of the joy out of my life.

ive seen people who got so happy to doodle, only to stop forever when someone makes a remark on skill with their age. ive seen family stop bc someone joked abt their stick figures or car drawings, because even if the joker didnt mean it outside of a goofy remark, the joke was meanspirited and ment to put the artist down. I HATE THIS??!?!

WHO DECIDES WHATS GOOD ENOUGH TO EXIST??? capitilism? christianity? the example of two dead ppl from history???

obviosly i dont fuck w that.

art is something made to express something, how are you going to take such a broad catagory and shove it into your biased and sad binary?

so i proudly call my art bad. as an ongoing rebelion against everyone who thought and thinks that something has to fit their binary of goodto exist. i say bd to help myself unlearn the shitty things that were pushed onto me, and as a way of saying i dont have to be anyone's good to warent my own joy.

some ppl will cut in here, theyll tell me not to talk badly about myself (im not). theyl say even if i dont mean it bad, my brain will internalize it as a negative(i dont think that applies here?) or theyll spew some capitlistic bs (HUH, GUESS HOW I FEEL ABOUT THAT.)

no hate to others reclaiming their art and love for it in different ways,this is just how it works for me. in in my art vocabulary, bad means not locking itself into the harsh expectations of good, and i find that incredibly freeing :)

[thaylepo]

What's great about the Satanic Temple is partly that they do this kind of thing to expose the very real christian religious biases in american politics and legislature to the cold light of day, but also to be a figurative meat shield for any non-christian religions to actually take advantage of these policies of religious freedom.

There is a definite and very vocal demographic of the american population that would lose their holy shit over a public Kwanzaa display or a Menorah at the capital building, and make it everybody's fucking problem so hard that it becomes easier to just say NO ONE gets to display their holidays except for the so-widely familiar christmas stuff that christians legit believe is secular because it's just so normal and common to them.

This vocal demographic of shitheads is now too preoccupied with the presence of a literal Satanic display and has been neatly routed into publicly and loudly losing their holy shit about their own imaginary boogeyman coming to eat America's souls. Not only are they now distracted from protesting about candles and vegetable altars, their whole platform of fearmongering loses any rational credibility they've tried to give it when it is exposed as "the scary red man who lives underground is coming for our children".

The Satanic Temple has done so much for religious freedom in that country, just by literally propping up a giant strawman with horns and a pitchfork and letting the christian extremists go so absolutely fucking apeshit over it that anyone with an ounce of common sense goes "yikes" and wants to distance themselves from the whole lot of it XD

Also has the added bonus delight of watching conservatives have meltdowns over religious freedom

Iowa Republicans voted to allow religious holiday displays in the capital building...so the Satanic Temple applied for and received permission to put theirs up. And now certain people are losing their minds about it. It's fantastic.

I respect Satanic Temple's habit of poking that boundary - people with no empathy have a hard time with hypothetical questions like "how would you feel if someone else did the same thing to you as you are doing to them?" so it's nice that they'll politely demonstrate in practice instead. People who can't imagine how they would feel if someone else put their own religion all over places that they can't avoid dealing with, so the most efficient way to tell them that they wouldn't like that is to show them.

[neonphoenix]

Ngl when nonreligious people say they're ok with religion as long as it's practiced respectfully, and then their definition of respectfully means "where they can't see it," I kind of feel it's the same as when homophobic people say they're ok with someone being gay as long as they don't see it.

[heathersproship]

Candy Store is ✨Problematic✨ Part 2!!!

Happy Halloween!

Before anyone gets on my ass about “UGH you’re reading too much into this! It’s just a song, it’s not that serious!” You’re right! Straight up, you are absolutely right! It is just a song. It is not that serious. I can enjoy this song for what it is. BUT I can also acknowledge it promotes bad behavior on the part of those fictional characters. And as we all know, promoting bad behavior is notoriously a no-no with antis, who are all about protecting the sweet innocent little immensely impressionable baby childrens from the big bad moral wickedness and impurities of this fucked-up world we live in by exterminating everything they subjectively deem Badwrong. Which includes listening to songs about it. ROCK MUSIC IS THE DEVIL, ONLY GOOD CHRISTIAN MUSIC IN THIS HOUSEHOLD! JESUS!

I’m doing antis’ job for them. They have a laundry list of reasons why J.D. sucks and JDronica is toxic and you shouldn’t ship them when there’s (lmfao) “many less problematic and more interesting wlw ships”. And yet. Yet these same people ship Chansaw, or Dukesaw, or Mcnamawyer, or Poly!Heathers+Veronica. What’s the difference between Heathers and J.D.? Canonically, none of the Heathers ships are Healthy and Unproblematic, not even Mcnamawyer. Hmm... what is different indeed... I guess we’ll never know, it’ll always be a mistery.

Anyway, let’s lick our way to the center of the Tootsie Pop that is Candy Store and break down why it’s ✨problematique✨. Section by section, line by problematic line, hand in unlovable hand. Buckle up, corn nuts. This is going to get long.

Are we gonna have a problem? You got a bone to pick? You’ve come so far, why now are you pulling on my dick? I’d normally slap your face off And everyone here could watch But I’m feeling nice Here's some advice Listen up biotch!

Starting off strong, we clearly do have a problem! This entire 3-minute song is Chandler’s response to Veronica expressly refusing to go along with her plans. The point of this song is to put pressure on Veronica in order to get her to go along with what Chandler wants: pranking Martha Dunnstock by writing her a fake love note signed by the boy Martha adores so much. Why does Chandler want to do this to Martha? Because she found out about the kiss on the kickball field in kindergarten. Something that happened over 10 years ago for them. The first thing she does with a new tidbit of information is to use it to hurt the person it’s about. GENIUS!! WOW!!!!

“I’d normally slap your face off / And everyone here could watch,” ah, yes, because assault is an appropriate response to being told “no.” You know who does that? Spoiled brats. Normally. She regularly assaults people? Her go-to response when people tell her no is to slap them? Normally? Normalizing? Normalizing violence? In this fictional universe? Right in front of my salad? Yikes. Stay classy, Heather, you’re beautiful.

(I like) Lookin’ hot Buying stuff They can not (I like) Drinking hard Maxing dad’s credit card (I like) Skippin’ gym Scarin’ her Screwin’ him (I like) Killer clothes Kickin’ nerds in the nose!

Brag, brag, brag, brag, BRAG!

“Drinking hard,” Um, Heather? You’re 17. Drinking underage? Illegal. The drinking age in 1989 Ohio may’ve been 19, but girl. GIRL. You’re not even 18. You know, 18? The age where one is considered an adult? Which means you’re a minor. A minor drinking alcohol is illegal. That’s illegal, Heather. Heather? That’s illegal, you shouldn’t be doing that. HEATHER UNDERAGE DRINKING IS PROBLEMATIC! HEATHER!!! IF MINORS DRINK THE ADULT GRAPE JUICE IT’S BAD HEATHER STOP GLORIFYING UNDERAGE DRINKING!!!

Okay, seriously, that’s a problem. Problematic, if you will. She shouldn’t be drinking PERIOD, much less drinking HARD. Alcohol can be addictive, and addiction is not something to strive for (and I know everyone else drinks and smokes and all that jazz in Big Fun, but we’re not talking about Big Fun right now). I’m not going to say she gets blackout drunk every time she drinks, but the way she’s going, it wouldn’t surprise me if, in a world where she makes it out of Westerburg alive and becomes an adult instead of playing at being one, she suffers from alcoholism. The younger you start, the easier it is to get entangled, right? Drinking hard, smdh.

“Maxing Dad’s credit card.” I mean, she’s got a sports car, 3 TVs, a shitton of other material things listed in that forged suicide note, and she clearly doesn’t have a paying job to get all that. Of course she can “buy stuff they cannot” when all she’s doing is spending Daddy’s money. We don’t know what the Heathers’ relationships with their parents are like, so “poor sad neglected daddy issues Chandler uwu” is no more canon than “doting father oblivious to his child’s spoiled rotten bitchy nature Chandler,” or even “the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree Chandler.” If you ask me, the latter are much more interesting than the former. If J.D.’s mommy issues don’t give him a pass for his actions (and they don’t), giving Chandler daddy issues can’t either. Sorry, that’s just how it works. Even playing field.

And “kicking nerds in the nose.” Come on. It’s just a power trip, we all know this. There is no good reason for this unless stepping on other people makes you feel good. That doesn’t make you a good person, or even a likable person. And yet? Chandler’s more loved in this fandom than she is in her own actual fictional universe. Hey antis, how does that work if she’s the embodiment of problematic? If she makes bad things look cool, that’s glorifying. If she makes it look bad, that’s okay because she’s making bad things look wrong as they should be, but she’s not. She’s doing the exact opposite. She LIKES all these things. Help a girl out, where’s the logic? Why are you agreeing with this? None of this is good!

If you lack the balls You can go play dolls Let your mommy fix you a snack (whoa!) Or you could come smoke Pound some rum and coke In my Porsche with the quarterback (whoa, whoa, whoa!)

The dichotomy here. It’s one or the other. If you’re not this, you’re that. If you’re not smoking and drinking and engaging in destructive yet hardcore Adult activities, you’re a little Baby playing @barbieswithbettyfinn (heyy girl!) who needs Mommy to take care of you. There’s no middle ground in Chandler’s mind, no such thing as nuance. It’s black or white, not both. You’re cool or you’re not. You’re in or you’re out. Up or down. You’re either with us or a square, Veronica! I can see why antis like this song, ironic as that is. It validates their need for absolutes.

“Or you could come smoke / pound some rum and coke,” Wow, more drinking! Wooo! Still bad! And now smoking too! Another adult thing she should not have access to! Both have the potential to be addictive, and as I said earlier, addiction is NOT GOOD. Alcohol destroys the liver, smoking blackens your lungs and could give you cancer. Heather Chandler is, again, 17. She should not be engaging in, much less encouraging, these behaviors. Yet here she is, framing it as the better of the only two options she presents. THIS SHOULD NOT BE SEEN AS COOL. A lot of teens don’t drink or smoke but they also don’t play with actual dolls. There’s not just two ways to be, but according to Chandler, it’s either her way or the highway. You’re either a Big Kid or you’re a Baby.

Honey, whatchu waitin’ for? Welcome to my candy store! Time for you to prove you’re not a loser anymore! And step into my candy store!

Oh look, we got to the thesis statement.

Reiterating what I said before, this song is meant to peer pressure Veronica into doing what the Heathers (specifically Chandler) wants. This reinforces the dichotomy from the previous section: you’re either cool or you’re a loser, so which is it? They’re giving her a test while presenting it as a choice: there’s only one right answer and it’s not the one Veronica wants. This song is also pulling double duty as propping up the Heathers on a pedestal. Look at how cool they are! Look at all the cool things they brag about doing or being able to do, like smoking and drinking and bullying the fat girl just because they can! They make it look sooooo fun to be assholes! Is that not GLORIFYING problematic and toxic behavior?

Guys fall At your feet Pay the check Help you cheat! All you Have to do Say goodbye To Shamu! That freak’s Not your friend I can tell in the end! If she Had your shot She would leave You to rot!

Chandler built the foundation, now McNamara and Duke are adding onto it. Oh boy.

“Pay the check,” Guys treating them and paying on their dates isn’t that bad, but we have to remember the Heathers are established to be pretty well-off financially. It might’ve been okay for the times, and simps gonna simp especially if they’re trying to get something out of it, but nowadays... chalk that up to values dissonance. There might also be something to have Duke say this line since she’s the one with the bout of bulimia. In which case, that just makes it worse. A guy didn’t pay for you to throw it all up, Heather.

“Help you cheat!” I don’t think I need to explain why cheating in school is bad. Schools are always discouraging it (yet they don’t exactly make it so there’s less incentive not to do it). This line also plants the seed in our heads that McNamara is the dumbest of the Heathers since she’s not learning anything or thinking for herself. She just copies what everyone else does, which fits with her character perfectly.

“All you have to do / Say goodbye to Shamu!” Attempt to control who Veronica hangs out with. All Veronica has to do to win big in boys, booze, and the last year of her high school career is just abandon her old best friend (which she’s already done, or close to it) AND while she’s at it, plant false hope in said best friend that the boy she knows does not like her back might possibly actually like her back! Time to pick a side, Ronnie! Shiny new cool friends or dull old loser friends? Also, casual fatphobia? Shamu was a killer whale. Comparing a fat person to a whale? I know it rhymed though, but still. Susie Q could’ve fit too.

“That freak’s / not your friend / I can tell in the end,” McNamara can’t tell shit. At this point she’s been copying answers off the other two Heathers for so long she doesn’t know what a genuine friend is until she tries to kill herself. And more juvenile name-calling.

“If she / had your shot / she would leave you to rot!” Would she, though? First, the first thing we find out about Martha is she’s been Veronica’s best friend since diapers. They’re seniors in high school now—that’s their entire lives. It takes a lot of work to maintain a friendship for that long, and the fact that Veronica still considers Martha her best friend shows it’s genuine and not because they’re each other’s only option. When Veronica trades up, the one line she repeatedly refuses to cross is hurting Martha. Although she feels a bit neglected, Martha is very supportive of Veronica’s new status as a Heather, even calling it “exciting,” and she doesn’t hold Veronica flaking out on movie night against her. When Martha suspects J.D. of killing Kurt and Ram, she doesn’t suspect Veronica, even though she knows about Veronica’s penchant for forgery. There’s an extraordinary amount of mutual loyalty there. Martha’s unwavering faith in Veronica is only shaken when Veronica reveals the truth about the love note in another moment of desperation, and Veronica regrets hurting her immediately afterwards.

Second, this line shows us what the Heathers think friendship is: when opportunity comes knocking, it’s every girl out for herself. Chandler keeps the clique on a very tight leash, consistently being verbally abusive to Duke and controlling to Veronica, but not to McNamara because McNamara never questions or undermines her authority. Duke, meanwhile, resents Chandler to hell and back, and lashes out at both Veronica and McNamara at opportune moments (after the date and during the assembly respectively). McNamara didn’t get a lot to do, but Lifeboat shows us she’s very aware of the opportunistic approach when it comes to social relations with her peers: she never once mentions the word friends, only “people I know” and perhaps most prominently, “if I say the wrong thing / or I wear the wrong outfit / they’ll throw me right over the side!”

The point is, the Heathers don’t know Martha at all and they don’t care to. But they’re not above casting doubt in Veronica’s mind to manipulate her into turning against Martha even more than she already has. All they have to do is make her THINK Martha would betray her as easily as she betrayed Martha, and let that guilt fester into vindictiveness.

Course, if you don’t care Fine, go braid her hair Maybe Sesame Street is on! (whoa!) Or forget that creep And get in my jeep Let’s go tear up someone’s lawn! (whoa, whoa, whoa!)

Here we see more of the child/adult dichotomy. Braiding hair and Sesame Street OR...

“Let’s go tear up someone’s lawn!” Oh, Chandler. People work hard on their lawns and that’s not for you guys to tear it up with your wheels. The disrespect. Truly we stan some QUEENS here.

Honey, whatchu waitin’ for? Welcome to my candy store! You just gotta prove you’re not a pussy anymore! And step into my candy store!

Wow, such big girls! They upped the ante on the name calling! Don’t be a pussy, Veronica! That’s a vulgar word. Classy.

You can join the team (or you can bitch and moan) You can live the dream (or you can die alone) You can fly with eagles Or if you prefer Keep on testing me And end up like her!

Again, you’re either with us OR not. And if you’re with us, you must leave everything of your former life behind because that’s not good enough anymore. You’re better than that now. You can have it all, or you can have nothing.

“Keep on testing me / and end up like her!” That’s a threat. If you keep disagreeing with me, fuck around and find out bitch! Boy, canon Chansaw is so healthy. Just relationship goals asf! No wonder people ship them, love having a controlling partner who’s not afraid to keep threatening to pull the rug from under you, mmm! Healthy shit!

“Veronica, look! Ram invited me to his homecoming party! This proves he's been thinking about me!” “...Color me stoked!” “I’m so happy!”

With the Heathers hounding her for two-thirds of the song, Veronica folds. She’s still desperate to cling to her newfound security blanket of popularity so she puts up with the Heathers’ (mainly Chandler’s, let’s be real) bullshit. We know this will have drastic consequences later, but for now, she still thinks it’s worth the price she paid to make it there. People who pressure you into doing something you’ve made it very clear you’re uncomfortable with and don’t want to do? Not people you want to be around. Toxic and problematic. But I guess we can ignore that because who cares, they’re pretty! That doesn’t hold up for Kurt and Ram and J.D. though, just the Heathers. Double standards much? Sure, schoolyard bullying isn’t as drastic as rape and murder, but that doesn’t take away from the fact it’s still NOT GOOD HEALTHY MORAL BEHAVIOR.

For now the Heathers win the battle. Veronica keeps her mouth shut about the prank.

Honey whatchu waitin’ for? Shut up, Heather! Step into my candy store! (Time for you to prove you’re not a lameass anymore!) And step into my candy store It’s my candy store It’s my candy It’s my candy store It’s my candy It’s my candy store It’s my candy store!

Remember when I said Chandler’s adamant this is her song? This is, what, the third “Shut up, Heather!” we’ve gotten so far? And I don’t think I need to say pushing people is just rude (and more assault?). Especially to take back the spotlight for yourself—Chandler’s so desperate to be the center of attention, she can’t share it even with the girls who are supposed to be her friends. In fact, she doesn’t even seem to like any of them: she ignores McNamara for the most part (which ironically plays into why people think she likes her more), bullies the fuck out of Duke (bully x victim ship mmmmm! Not “problematic” at all!), and only lets Veronica in based on what Veronica could do for her (totally healthy to base your relationship on what your partner can do for you (this part applies to both parties btw) and threaten to take away her status every time her pesky morals get in the way of your fun! Totally not toxic or abusive whatsoever!).

If “everyone here could watch” Chandler slap Veronica had she done that, then they’re certainly out here watching her push Duke, her fellow Heather, and she gets away with it because she’s the leading Heather, and she really doesn’t give a shit what people think of her. They know she’s awful, and yet they still want her favor because she’s this rich bitch who will pitch the ultimate fit if she doesn’t get what she wants. The one she’s throwing right now makes for a great song.

The title is called Candy Store due to the simile “like a kid in a candy store.” Kids like candy, so to be in a store full of it is like a dream. But this is Heathers, so the candy isn’t sugar, spice, and everything nice, and the dream comes at a very high cost, one Veronica is clearly starting to regret investing in. With “coworkers” like Chandler around, could you blame her? Toxic work environment as fuck. It’s more like Veronica’s only coworkers with Duke and McNamara. You don’t work with Chandler, you work for her. You are not her equal and she won’t hesitate to let you know it. She’s the bitchiest boss and no one actually likes her. Except McNamara because, as stated before, Chandler ignores her for the most part. She leaves her alone. It’s not much, but it’s enough for one person to be believably sad about Chandler’s death later on. See what happens when you’re not a cunt to absolutely everyone?

So, in conclusion, this song is problematic as fuck. It slaps, but the Heathers are explicitly leveraging all the things they’re able to get away with as a means to entice Veronica into agreeing to hurt her best friend. They’re trying so hard to get her to cross the one boundary she has, and this is just the first time.

Why?

Because Heather Chandler just wants to bully the fat girl, who has done nothing to her ever. Because why not? Because fuck Martha. No one else will, right?

[hamliet]

Do you want to watch Heartstopper, hamliet?

Er... not really. At some point, maybe. But the author and cast have made some really icky statements that have dampened my enthusiasm--actually, that have outright been triggers. This isn’t to cancel them or to cancel the story either, please don't misunderstand me, but instead to say that they touched on very specific triggers that alarm me, and hence I prefer to focus on other media for the time being even though the story itself is probably lovely.

I also wholly support anyone enjoying the story! Really not intending to cancel or imply a morality game besides saying that I found the author/cast's statements morally troubling, but I can say that about a lot of stories I enjoy to an even greater extent, so there is no high ground here. It's just me being sour because it hit a trigger in my life and the marketing dug into said trigger, which kind of turned me off to the story.

The author of Heartstopper, Alice Oseman, made a frankly racist comment about how her story was superior to "boy's love" from Asia which she said was primarily written by cishet women who "fetishize" MLM. Except... she's clearly drawing on yaoi influences, and she's a white woman in Britain, where she's a lot freer to be open about her sexuality than people who are, y'know, actually getting thrown in prison for writing about it like Chinese danmei authors. To be clear, I don't actually think Oseman is being malicious--I know nothing about her--but instead ignorant (I once shared that ignorance, tbh), and I hope she reconsiders that it's maybe a biiiiit easier to work out your own sexuality when you live a privileged life in her society. Whether or not an author is part of the community or not isn't easy to say, because there are also cultural issues that discourage exploration and where coming out is pretty much impossible. And frankly, it's also no one's damn business.

The second thing she said that really irked me, and the thing that triggered me, was that she implied it would be wrong to show teenagers having sex. I'm sorry, but a lot, maybe even most, teenagers do have sex or are at least curious. But, it's very normal not to--actually, I think it's good that there is representation of teenagers not having sex as well, not just for more ace rep, but also because teenagers aren't always ready despite the fact that media insists they should be. So the fact that Heartstopper doesn't have sex is not the problem.

The problem is that the idea that praising HS specifically for not having sex in it ignores that there is a a whole long, long, long history of this rhetoric being used in LGBT+ spaces to justify hate. "You can exist, as long as you don't actually do it" etc.

It also comes uncomfortably close to mimicking the purity culture rhetoric of evangelical true love waits rings and purity balls. It treats sexuality of any sort as something to be shoved in a closet. Not only that, but did you know? Did you know that there's a whole movement in Christian circles called "Side B" sexuality where gay and lesbian people acknowledge they can't change their sexuality but believe it's not a sin unless they engage in the act of sex? The idea that depicting the act of sex is inherently fetishizing, or that it inherently dirties a story or makes it less valuable, sends off major alarm bells in my mind, because I grew up in this culture.

Of course, it's good to have fluffy, sweet stories without sex. Plus, there should be more ace rep. Some prefer sexless innocent stories and that is fine! I like them too sometimes! People have different needs! But the fact that this is distinctly held up as a virtue and that some creators imply depicting sex is inherently degrading or fetishizing or whatever is A Major Yikes, mimics conservative religious rhetoric, and oversimplifies the concept of sexuality that leads to at best concerning and at worst dangerous results. Ask me how I know (actually don't, but just saying I have some very real history here and Stories).

[will-o-the-witch]

(not-a-messianic-i-promise anon) thank u, very helpful. i think my wording a bit clumsy sry lol. i think its just that my personal values line up more with the way jewish people act than most christians. when i said "kosher" i was actually talking about the dress requirements, not food, because i like modesty dress (i was worried about similar issue with islam/hijab, but youre not muslim). relieved to know that these are not inherently jewish things & im not doin a Yikes by just looking similar

Yay I'm glad! Yeah no worries you sound like you're good in that case. Like if I was talking with a Christian pal and they said something like "yeah it honestly makes sense to me to wrestle/argue with God, that's how it is for me at least" I'd be like "yeah rock on dude same" lol.

And yeah tznuit dress is pretty open. Like it's just a certain standard of modesty, most of the time you'd look at an outfit that fits the requirements and not really think much of it because it's just a normal outfit. People who drest modestly do so for a wide range of reasons!

[rowanthestrange]

Canonically she thinks she’s a Bad Muslim. (Probably not for being gay, I actually think she’d be very strongly against that, at least when it comes to other people, definitely vibes like someone who has mouthed off about this to someone being shitty at the mosque). But we know for a fact she thinks she’s going to hell. Got zapped to a mysterious realm and that was her first thought. Also WWTDD - What Would The Doctor Do - obviously a christian Jesus thing (not common in the UK either it’s a deliberate insertion), she knows she’s taking idol worship to the point of idol worship and she ain’t stopping herself.

Given what we saw of her travels for three years in the 1900’s and seems to have lost track of time in general, doesn’t seem to suggest she’s fasted during that period - travelling is a reason you’re allowed to not fast and given everything I think she’s using that loophole (even if when with the Doctor she could choose to go home for that month.)

[Note: a good imam etc. which she’d probably have given her family’s vibe and the fact they do Fridays (kinda like going to church on Sundays), would absolutely say that having an eating disorder would prevent one from being able to safely fast, same as being diabetic. If this helps your worldbuilding etc.]

We never see or hear anything about her praying, beside obligatory Fridays, she doesn’t ever use any subhanallah’s, mashallah’s, or inshallah’s. And when she says “oh my God” she does so colloquially, no Allah’s etc. I feel like praying’s the sort of thing she’d have a thought that she should, then realise the complexity of the process, what’s the time, where’s earth, should probably bathe first, and instead of just ignoring the uncontrollables and hoping the spirit of the thing gets across, would give up instead. (Also if it’s been a while of ghosting God feels like the awkward equivalent of going ‘hey bestie sorry i didn’t respond to any of your messages five times a day for the last…513 days, yikes’.)

In …you can’t really say Islam, too much cultural variation, so I’m gonna say Quranically as ‘what is in the text’: There is no ‘Accept Jesus Into Your Heart And You’re Saved Forever. Everything you do is being recorded, good and bad, you need to do more good than bad, apologise and repent to people and God if you fail at that, and if you do any of the super big bads - murder, cheating on a spouse, reject God and its one-aloneness as singular power (in your heart not just in words, that can be done to save your life) then that gets you divinely cancelled. No deliberate evil, you have to do good deeds.

From this we can guess she either considers herself a murderer (perfectly possible), hasn’t done enough good (feels unlikely) or not really a ‘believer’ in God etc. Potentially also to do with having attempted suicide, but if one has felt appreciative of having not done that, eh, feels less strong than the others, but it’s possible. (You’re not supposed to harm yourself. Some take this to what you’d think of as the classical Christian stance on suicide, but many don’t and are normal, and there’s no ‘you’re explicitly damned if you do this’ passage. However if to a certain extent she’s continuing to harm herself, she could have that guilt gnawing away at her).

Critically for you, eating human blood (as well as pork) by choice, ie. not by necessity or to save your life, is not permitted. Same with alcohol and usually extended to drugs in general. How strict people take this is, as you can imagine, variable. No bacon, but you’ll find people quibbling over marshmallows and jelly. Sonia’s definitely out partying.

Not being excessive, being middle path (if you know your buddhism you get this) is seen as desirable. Neither glut yourself or starve yourself. Give plenty but also not so much you become impoverished. Do good deeds because they’re good for you, but also you do need to sleep. Therefore the Doctor/Master as very much ‘excesses’ play well into the feeling of doing something wrong.

And again while I doubt she’d feel guilt about the gay part of having sex with them (a sense of ‘even if it’s wrong then God would be wrong’ that I think would prevail where the other thoughts would cause doubt in her views), she might also have a bit of ‘well you’ve not married them have you’ eating at her too, even if she doesn’t ‘believe’ that so to speak.

Don’t mean you need to include any of this, just for your underlying vibes.

yazs faith in my fic mostly amounts to no alcohol and vegetarian jelly babies and vague religious anxiety on occasion, partially bc i dont know a lot about islam so i dont really have a lot to work with and partially because the show doesnt really give us a whole lot to work with either

but i do kinda like how, especially in this current fic where i give her a sort of explicit eating disorder past, that like, the main ways that god ends up playing a role in her daily life this way is through what she puts in her mouth or not

if the doctor is restrictive, emotionally psychologically nutritionally, and the master is excessive, yaz sort of hovers in the middle, pulled at from both sides

seduced by restriction vs seduced by excess. swallowing your anger vs spitting it out. desire and consumption and the way the human and the holy meet in the fallible body. you can become the doctor by acting like the doctor. you can make yourself holy by Doing The Right Actions

[kaypeace21]

Are you normal or are you just thinking about this trailer clip probably being foreshadowing?

Like ... we see the obvious pattern. Blank spaces 3+5 =8 (kali) and 5+6=11 (el). We have a red 8 ball (kali) and the 7 +4 balls add up to 11 (el)too. Tbh this seems obvious to me and I predicted the 2 would face brenner again as a team (before the trailer released).

But ,let's focus on one scene in particular: the whole sinister music ,clock ticking, builds up . The kid drops the red ball - than we see a magic 8 (kali) ball say "all signs point to yes" a kid put blocks together (they really stretch the scene to build up suspense before we see where that 1 single red ball falls. And what number slot does it fall into...

...7 . Now is it a coincidence that for Will 7s are usually associated with being k*dnapped ( " it was a 7 the demogrogan it got me")? Possibly - but it could be a hint that all 3 will be captured by Brenner- maybe by the end of the season. s1 brenner showed interest in Will. And Mike initially assumed and said " what if the same bad men took Will"? In s2 Hawkins lab monitor his brain waves and record him on video (like el), etc.Even his b day march 22 (3+2+2 =7).

And if you think its a stretch with numbers-this trailer shows the clock read 3am for the "witching hour".

ps witches,  Mages (mike called el this) , and wizards (Will) are all considered interchangeable terms.”In the Western Christian tradition, the hour between 3 and 4 a.m. was considered a period of peak supernatural activity – this time is also referred to as the "Devil's hour" due to it being a mocking inversion of the time in which Jesus supposedly died, which was at 3 pm.” So i also think it’s a a little nod/eastergg to the whole 80s christian satanic panic/possible easter holiday in s4 too. People who were part of the ‘satanic panic’ would not think powers are cool- but demonic like most people involved in witch hunts historically (who said withches were in league with the devil- like the carrie film/book too -that is st inspo) . Kali even warned el- most people would think they’re monsters for their powers.

So the climatic build up to 7 seems significant. Why build up to 7 if not Will related ? to make the numbers add to 11 in both the blank spots and for the red spheres -like kali? For sure very possible! But could there be more than 1 reason?

In the trailer before we enter the corridor with the "11" designation. In a different hallway we first pass by 9, and 10. So who is the door next to el's if not 10... ... 12? Than who would be 12... Will?I'd recommend watching the trailer again to see the numbers on the doors i’m referring to ( I can't get a good visual).

Also as far as the 12 thing... remember how brenner's actor (Matthew modine) posted this...

Like in s2- we had 11s show up as eastereggs (for and around el) and 8s around kali . But in s2 we also saw 12s show up around Will too- talked about it here.

Plus,  The Will comic- referenced ‘house of stairs’ (Will throws that book at the demogorgan) .It involved a gay male teen (in love with his childhood bff) and a gal with buzzcut -being kidnapped and thrown in the facility by an evil psychiatrist who is trying to make the teens into weapons for the government. And the “into the fire” st comic had a fire wielding character  with mental health issues (cough Will the wise- having fire powers/ penthurst being a psych facility) . She was stuck in Brenner’s facility- and escapes using her fire powers. So I think it’s pretty likely Will is there too.

Also let's say this is a flashback and or nightmare of El? I still wouldn't put it past the duffers to throw in easterggs that are foreshadowing in said flashback/dream.

I think Will may escape earlier, while el and kali stay and team up to face brenner once and for all in s5... maybe.

We also know the male teen in the trailer and bts looked suspiciously like Noah (Will). But we just have to wait and see...

whether just el & kali-or all 3 . Yikes

[sukunas-play-thing]

Fun story

I looked at Zack headcanons not bc I was horny (I can’t simp for that man he’s my son-) but bc I wanted to see how far off from the actual canon personality they’d be and—

There was this one where someone said Zack would enjoy wax play and burning his partner and literally was all like Christian from motherfucking fifty shades of Gray and. I know people can headcanon what they want but that sent me orbiting—

I personally been thinking about making a personality post for him. Because he's my fav and there's some things that needs to he taken into account with writing out canon characters. I inadvertently cringe everytime I read something that is clearly OOC for canon characters.

And as far as the whole HC debacle. I would never ever make someone feel like they cannot make their own HCs etc. I always embrace any and all works because they deserve the appreciation and love and support from us that the creators had put into it.

That aside. You said you seen someone make a HC. About zack with wax play and.. Burning his s/o?... Big yikes 😬..

Let's take into account Zack were to find an s/o. (NO NOT A MAGIC PUSSY TROPE AND NOT RACHEL) but a human being that sees him. As Him. Isaac Zack Foster. Who had hopes and dreams and Fears just like everyone else before they were taken from him. Ruthlessly, tragically and horrendously taken from him at a young age. And when kids get hurt traumatically it seriously debilitates their chances of living normal and healthy lives in the future. And ruins future relationshipa. Zack would never. EVER hurt his baby. Granted he treats them the same as everyone else. But there's a softness to it, how he looks at her and smiles. A genuine smile, his s/o would be his first with everything and they'd teach him things he should've been taught growing up. And given the love he missed out as a child.

Zack was traumatized by getting nearly burned alive. And people throwing that HC in there is. Wow again I try to support creators and allow peeps to have fun bec who o to dictate what someone can or can't do in a fandom? I don't. But fetishizing something that deeply ruined Zack (he has a fucking fear of fire and the pain that came from it) you really think he'd get off to hurting his s/o the way he was hurt?. He may kill just cuz it's fun but when it comes to his other half there are other plays to include than the one damn thing he's deathly terrified of. And even then that's a stretch. So I agree with you Nonnie. That is a big yikes 😬 let's not fetishize our canon characters fears and phobias. It ain't cute nor a turn on in the slightest.