#Vote for the guy who will protect me and people like me even though he's supporting and funding the fascists killing your family

[aingeal98]

The part of the Zionists rhetoric I've seen online especially here on tumblr that really... not so much confuses or disturbs me because every part of supporting racism and genocide is disturbing, but the part that makes me nauseous in a very specific way, is how many of these people claim to be leftists. Not the Israeli government or the majority of Zionists obviously, they're proud racist right wingers. But here on tumblr you have people who believe in feminism and queer rights and would agree easily enough with surface level takes on how racism in America is bad. And when it comes to conservatives and red fascists they can easily tell when a right wing racist or homophobe is arguing in bad faith, they can make long posts explaining the harm behind terf rhetoric and how it differs from the actual fight for women's liberation. They can look at the Russia and Ukraine conflict and use critical thinking to call out bad actors with ease.

But then with Israel and Palestine they just... Flip. All the bad faith arguments they criticised before is now their modus operandi. They ignore the ongoing genocide and the Palestinians talking about it and focus on the oppressors, only reblogging the same one or two Palestinian voices once every now and then that say everything they want to hear and nothing more.

I think the most striking example is that "antisemitism bingo" someone made where the ongoing genocide was something to be laughed at and the blog made fun of Palestinian civilians being tortured. And yet when a blocklist went around of people who interacted with that ghoulish blog, clearly explaining why we should avoid them, (Hijt:The racism and dehumanisation of Palestinians) these "leftist zionists" immediately were like "Oh its a block list of Jewish blogs! It's only blocking us because we're Jewish!"

Like it's the most bad faith easily disproven illogical argument that every random 4chan troll can make. It's not my actions it's because I'm white! It's not my homophobic remarks it's because I'm straight!

I still struggle to understand how they're able to flip so easily from intelligent historical and societal discussions of oppression and intersectionality to denial of the Nakba, denial of the apartheid and racism that has ruled the Israeli state since its conception, denial of the Israeli terrorism and colonisation ongoing in the West Bank that Palestinians have been speaking up about for years (The save Sheikh Jarrah campaign and the murder of peaceful Palestinian activists predates October 7th by quite a bit and yet received far, far less coverage by western media) and denial of everything the government and soldiers and many citizens are currently doing to murder as many Palestinians as possible. How do you go from pointing out cult tactics to a Maga style tribalism enthusiast just because it's Palestinians being oppressed and not another group?

The only reason I can think of is that unlike say, white people or straight people, zionists DO have an understandable, real fear that they can use to promote their racist cult. Antisemitism exists worldwide and is a problem in every single country. Unlike ridiculous concepts like "white genocide" or misandry, there is grounded, factual and understandable reasons for Jewish people to want a community where they can feel safe. And anyone who truly cares about equality for all must be committed to stamping out and dismantling antisemitism in every country and neighbourhood, because Zionists sure as hell aren't. The more antisemitism exists the greater their fuel for justifying and promoting Israel as the One True answer to it all.

But the solution of Israel involved ethnic cleansing in order to built their majority Jewish state, and relies on racism and genocide to maintain it. Just like any other coloniser state, it's not sustainabile and is constantly spiralling towards fascism. (America currently contending for loudest spiral) And that is obvious to anyone who reads up on the history or just like. Talks to Palestinians for five seconds. Israel exists due to racism and dehumanisation of Palestinians, and anyone who considers that an acceptable sacrifice is blatantly morally bankrupt. But the tribalism is simply too strong for that sort of logic and understanding, and whatever reasons they may have for falling into Zionism, it's still unacceptable. If you're still on here talking about "demonising Israel and exaggerating genocide (for the woke agenda, is what they're two steps away from saying) then I have no sympathy or time for you. One day you will be forced to reckon with your cognitive dissonance and willful ignorance, and the self righteous racist narrative you cling to will no longer be enough to protect you from judgement. Normal people with their morals screwed on right don't support fascism and racism. Leftists sure as hell shouldn't support facism and racism. (And yes this goes for those who defend Russian and Chinese imperialism too.)

You talk about feeling isolated, about having no one but fellow zionists to rely on. No one else will accept how complicated the situation is, you say over the sound of ten thousand murdered children killed and celebrated by the fascists you're carrying water for. Everyone else is just too antisemitic! You say as the Israeli government and military celebrates Hannukah by bombing Palestinians and joking that they're lighting one of the candles.

I genuinely can't tell if these people are aware they're full of shit or just so scared that they've dived deep into cult mentality with zero critical thought allowed. But either way, there should be no more space for them in our community than a nazi, a homophobe or a Trump supporter. They may have parroted similar ideals of equality and justice for long enough, but when push came to shove and the issues began to hit too close to home, they decided that supporting facism is how they want to cope. So be it. Palestine will be free with or without them and I will mourn the intelligent principled people they could have been, but at the end of the day you have to draw the line somewhere. And supporting genocide is generally a solid line to go with.

[menlove]

hey can you please explain it to us? like how are we supposed to just understand? why would a large ethnic minority vote for an open racist who hates them? this is not intuitive

wasn't trying to imply you're just supposed to understand- sorry, it's just always a lil bit of a uh bitter inducing moment when this topic comes up bc it makes it really obvious that a lot of people just don't engage w the latine community

but basically, most latines are conservative christian. usually catholic (my family isn't catholic, though my grandmother was raised that way). a solid majority of them are one issue voters, usually on the issue of abortion because many catholics & conservative christians are one issue abortion voters.

there's also the immigration issue. a lot of these conservative latines do in fact care about better immigration reform, but a lot of them also have this attitude of "I did it legally, so why can't you?" so they don't even see themselves as a PART of the group being targeted. and if they do and they take issue with it, they tend to go "okay, but the republicans agree with me on everything else and I can't in good moral conscience vote for the other party who disagrees with everything I stand for as a moral christian"

and while many latines have voted blue over immigration in the past, harris leaned pretty heavily right on the immigration issue so it's like. to them. are you choosing the guy who agrees with you on everything but immigration, or the woman who disagrees with you on everything Including immigration?

and then you also have to get into the race of it all because race is beyond complicated in this case. non-black latines sit in a weird in between space with whiteness. to the right, we're white when we're Good. to the left, we're white when it's a Problem. whiteness is conditional. and this is the case for many demographics, but it's especially relevant here. when people sit on that edge of whiteness, they WILL throw each other and other minorities under the bus to earn the protection of whiteness. so you know. behave, vote red, show yourselves to be moral, legal citizens, and MAYBE you'll be granted the protection of being considered white in america. and we aren't. but that doesn't stop people from trying. even taking my dad as an example, I grew up with him talking about how much he hated white people. today, he's out here calling himself a proud white man who voted for trump. it's conditional. and people know whiteness is a protection. naturally, this leads to a lot of antiblackness in the community as well as just racism in general.

it just boils down to latines by and large being conservative christian/catholic and voting based on that rather than viewing themselves a minority race. and being way way more split on the immigration issue than people might imagine, because I've absolutely heard it parroted time and time again that "I got here legally, so can they"

[phyrestartr]

Vampire | Miguel x M!Reader

Vampire!Miguel x Reader W/C: 5.9k

#NSFW, vampires, blood, gore, violence, bottom!reader, top!Miguel, mentions of sex work, mentions of assault, it's kinda cute idk, posessive behaviour, questionable relationship, reader is morally grey, reader is lowkey a criminal though lol, Johnny Blaze = Nic Cage 5ever sorry not sorry

Note: I FINISHED IT! Lost steam with editing so some bits may be kinda weird and word-y, but I really enjoyed writing this honestly :clap: ty guys for voting for me to finish this o(--( I actually finished it so quickly wtf--

--

Vampires. Blood-sucking, man-killing, devil-calling creatures. Many feared them, even now, even after the legends of Dracula faded into obscurity and out of the minds of mortal men. But there were some who kept weary watch on the old castle looming before your meager town: older folks, the ones with bleached scars and haunted voices, with quivering hands and a phobia of the dark. 

You thought they all spun tales, convinced themselves of a time that never happened thanks to whatever their parents hushedly told them come the waning of the sun. “Don't leave the house after dark,” “be wary of the man you know not,” “pray to God for his protection,” is what you figured they'd been told. You couldn't blame them. Not really. Mass hysteria, mass lies told to the young had a penchant for warping their minds, destroying their futures. 

But still, you'd listen. Face alight with a smile, one ear turned their way as you poured drinks for whatever patron came bumbling your way that night. There was one man, one who claimed to have been touched by the devil himself, momentarily transformed into something wicked and unholy, who frequented the establishment. 

“Come on now, Johnny,” you chided with a laugh, “you don't really believe all that rubbish. Touched by the devil? You Americans really are the dramatic sort, aren't you?” 

“You don't need to believe all of it,” Johnny said mildly. “You just need to believe a sliver of it. It'll do you some good. Keep you safe.” 

You smiled to yourself as you busily made a drink for a new customer. “Yeah? Keep me safe from what, exactly?” Your eyes met his, then, and you found your blood stood in place for a moment. 

“You know what.” The devil. He'd said it too many times to count without uttering his name. “Just be smart.”

“I'm always smart,” you said with a phony laugh, the sort you used to lull women and men into some cheap sense of comfort. 

“Smart people do dumb things, too.” He took a swig of his drink before peering down at the amber pooling against crystal. “Like sneaking around old, unhallowed castles.” 

You pursed your lips. “I'm just curious, old man, you don't need to worry. I've not been inside, yeah? Just looked ‘round the outside of the old place.” That's probably filled with loads of goods. 

But Johnny only stared at you, calculating, thinking. It almost unnerved you. 

“Just be careful.” 

And in that moment, a man whose name you didn’t know, but whose body you knew too well, walked into the bar. His shoulders were impossibly broad, his frame unnaturally tall, and from the glimpses you were allowed of his face hidden away under the brim of that hat, you remembered strong lines and proud cheekbones. His eyes, a bizarre colour, always glimmered ruby in the firelight thanks to some strange disease you never quite remembered the name of, and his hair, a dark oaken hue, wisped like tendrils of shadow rolling off his strong neck. 

He didn’t look at you, but you couldn’t look away. Your gaze followed him to where he found a quiet seat off to the side by a small table. He wouldn’t order anything. He never did. He only ever waited for your shift to end. 

“Kid?” Johnny prodded, freeing you from your momentary curse.

You blinked and sputtered, nodding in earnest to whatever Johnny had said. “I–right. Careful. I’m always careful.” 

–

Just be careful.

But that was impossible with this otherworldly spirit around you, waiting for you every other night just for the sake of bedding you, and leaving before morning with nothing but a stack of bills (or sometimes some jewelry, if you were lucky) to remember him by. Your favourite client by far. Your only client, per his request.

Your fists twisted into the bedsheets as you gasped with every brutal crashing of the man’s hips against yours as he took you from behind. He was in a bad mood tonight, it seemed. Normally, he liked to take it slow, he liked to savour his meal, but for some reason–

His hand clasped over your mouth when his teeth tore into your neck again. The cry that left you was hoarse and tired, but not so surprised, no; the man had his kinks, and one just so happened to be biting. He did quite the number on you, too, always breaking skin and leaving scars and scabs in his wake. But it felt good. It felt right to be claimed. The greedy, ugly little part of your heart wanted people to know you were taken and owned by this strange, captivating man.

“Fuck, I–” You buried your face into the mattress as another orgasm hit, striking your dull nerves like hammer on hot iron thrust after thrust. Soon enough, you felt his body stutter against yours just before an uncanny, liquid gold filled your guts and seeped into your core–he was finally done. Finally. Though part of you wished it didn’t have to end. 

His teeth, the pointed, feral things, dislodged from your neck before he ran the flat of his tongue against the weeping wound. Somehow, that always staunched the bleeding. You didn’t quite understand it, but you weren’t exactly well-versed in medicine.

“Tired already?” He mocked in that smokey, American accent. “Thought the young had more than that to offer.” The purr of his voice soothed the pulsing start of a headache as you came down from your high. Yet another strange effect he had on you. 

You took a good handful of moments to catch your breath before you tried to hazard an answer. “I’m–you’re in some kind of mood, darling; can’t blame me for your brutality.” You turned your head to rest your cheek against the scratchy sheets, and the beast took the opportunity to leave nips and kisses along your jaw. 

“Tch. I’m just reminding you who you belong to. Where you belong.” Sharp teeth grazed your skin again, and you shuddered. “No one likes to see theirs fawning over another man.” 

You strained to look back at him. “You–you mean Johnny? He’s not–I wouldn’t let him bed me, are you mad?” A rough push of his hips against yours reprimanded you. “H-He’s a mate, love, that’s all.”

The man twitched. “A mate?” 

“A friend, you bloody idiot.”

He relaxed, but still sought confirmation. “A friend.”

“A friend, indeed. Father-figure, maybe.” With a bit of effort, you managed to wriggle free from the strength of the man pinning you in place, and laid on your back to gaze up at him. “I’m not interested in him, he’s not interested in men, so you needn’t worry a thing.” One of your worn hands reached up and smoothed over the curve of his sharp cheekbone, drawing a pleased hum from the chamber of the beast’s chest. 

“Fine.” He rested his weight on you, and you sighed, content and warmed. But that bony chin digging into your chest was a tad bit fucking irritating. “Then if he’s not trying to fuck you, what makes you listen to him for hours on end, hm?” Hah. Annoyed. Jealous. Quite endearing. 

“He has stories to tell,” you offered. “Words about the devil and the curse of the undead. About Dracula and that old castle.” 

The man’s brows raised in interest. “Oh? And you like ghost stories, is that it? Here I figured I'd be enough to keep your mind entertained,” he said with a taunting smirk, like he thought your suggested belief in those spooky tales was laughable. 

Heat washed over your face. “I–you–shut up, I just like me a good story, is that so wrong? Tch, stupid American.”

He laughed, a sound you adored to hell and back. “I’ll keep it in mind. Might have a few good stories up my sleeve, too.” His head tilted the slightest bit. “Maybe then your eyes won’t wander.”

“Terribly jealous one, aren’t you? I never would’ve guessed it.” You raked your hands through his hair and he sighed, deep and ancient. But your words were true–this man, your mysterious client-turned-lover, he captivated all wherever he traveled. With so many eyes on him, why did he want you to look nowhere else but to him? 

Greedy man. That’s what you decided. He wanted everything and more. 

“Other men don't get to look at what's mine,” he mumbled after a time of you pampering him with pets and scritches. “And you're mine, for the record.” 

“Hm. I quite like the sound of that.” 

“Then marry me.” 

“I'm not sure I can,” you lamented. “I find myself in trouble too often. It puts me on the run, jumping from town to city and back again.” 

“You'd never have to run again if you let me have you.” He picked himself up and loomed over you, brushing his nose against yours as he spoke against your lips. “You'd be safe, cared for, never want for anything. None of those sacks of shit would would lay a finger on you again.” His lips trailed down, brushing against the thick vein in your neck. “I think it's for the best if you agree.” 

You almost argued back, but the large hand engulfing your throat gave you pause. He didn't hurt you, no, but gave you a silent warning. The power that man held over you contradicted his weakness to your wants and desires, and twisted your thoughts into unorganized knots. 

“I'll think on it,” you breathed, not wanting to say yes but unwilling to say no. You didn't want marriage, but commitment was a tantalizing idea. You'd just never thought it'd happen to you. 

His eyes came back to yours again. Your heart fluttered at the glints of carmine shimmering in candle-lit eyes. God, he was beautiful. 

“I better like your answer.” 

–

You left. You hated doing it, you hated running from your problems and whatever seemed to haunt you day to day, but too much happened in too short a time. 

For one, the landlord demanded more and more rent money from you when he noticed your gifted jewelry and newly tailored coat, and then, when you didn't give it to him, he took to trying to get payment another way. You shot him, obviously. 

Which led to your second reason for leaving–you'd shot a man and fled the scene, unknowing if he was alive or not, and uncaring of the outcome, quite frankly. You figured the lowlife would be more pressed about the money than dying, anyway. 

And third, the bar you worked at found out you'd been swindling and stealing on the job, pocketing tips and taking home near-empty bottles to refill with something of your own design to sell on the streets. Admittedly, it was fine work, but you'd long abandoned that method of money-making once that stranger wandered into your life and offered you more cash than you could imagine.

But you liked that bar. You liked those patrons. No strings attached.

And that's why you were back. Not with the intention to stay, no; you were back to scout out the castle after getting confirmation from some university lads about how valuable the old place was. You figured you could find enough in there with the scoundrels you'd come with, and maybe you could pay the old owner back before leaving for good. 

You'd never have to run again if you'd let me have you. 

Maybe you should've just said yes.

– 

The castle stood beautifully, even with the screams of the slaughtered ringing through the halls. It was big, too, eagerly letting you get lost in its enchanting halls and inviting rooms as you tried in vain to remember the way out. 

That's when you crashed into one of the uni snobs you'd come with, Harry. He was a mess, clothes and hair out of place for once, with a spray of sticky blood coating his face and white shirt. Osborn must've seen their tormentor. 

He grabbed your shoulders as you grabbed his arms. “We have to go, we have to go–” he chanted, pulling and pushing you in undecided directions. 

“Osborn, where did you see it? Where–” Another scream gave you a hint. Your eyes snapped down the hallway, staring deep into the torchlit halls and finding nothing but the unknown staring back. 

Then, there were footsteps. Slow, methodical things that rung to a tune hidden in your memories.

“We have to go,” you whispered, like that'd help. “Osborn, we have to–” a splitting pain electrocuted your senses and sent you stumbling backwards. The world spun. Your head ached. Funeral bells shrieked. Worst of all, that dress shirt and that fancy jacket you loved so much were stained suddenly, a foul colour of darkness that reeked of pennies and iron. It took you too long to look back to the student, and to see the smoking pistol held out in his shaky hand. 

“I had to,” Osborn whispered, so, so haunted. “I had to. You understand.” And quite frankly, you did understand; wounding a lamb to leave behind for a wolf to indulge in was a sure way to let a farmer escape. 

Harry took off. You grasped your stomach and leaned hard against the wall, trying to pull yourself together to make some kind of run for it before those languid steps found you and cut your story short. But you felt so tired, so dizzy. The red weeping under your hand and the bewildered pants leaving you left you colder and colder. You wondered if Osborn had shot himself in the foot with this one (hah), killing the sacrificial lamb, rendering it useless to what was believed to be a vampire of all things. They devoured the living, not the dead. 

Clack, clack, clack. The haunting echo of fine shoes on wooden slats passed you by, then vanished all together. You collapsed to your knees and heaved in the burning air just as a deafening screech ricocheted through the halls with the echo of frantic gunfire, and the slosh of viscera. You fought back the burn of bile in your throat when you braved a look; there laid a body on the floor, and a corpse standing above it, illuminated just barely by torchlight. 

His shoulders were impossibly broad, his frame unnaturally tall–

“We could have avoided all of this,” the creature growled. 

–from the glimpses you were allowed of his face hidden in the swath of darkness around him, you remembered strong lines and proud cheekbones–

“But you didn’t listen.”

–his eyes, a bizarre colour, glimmered ruby in the firelight thanks to some strange disease you never quite remembered the name of– 

“Why couldn’t you just listen?”

–and his hair, a dark oaken hue, wisped like tendrils of shadows rolling off his strong neck.

He appeared beside you so suddenly, so soundlessly, you wouldn’t have known he approached if it weren’t for the strength of your fluttering eyelids seeking the truth. You stared hard at the tips of his leather shoes. Perhaps you should’ve known it was him all along. Perhaps you had known. 

He knelt before you and forced your chin up, making your eyes meet his as he stared down through you. Blood marred his face, matching the wine-red hue of his furious, gem-cut eyes; even like this, teeth bared, about to kill you, he was beautiful. 

“Look what you’ve done. This is your fault–”

But that beauty was wasted on such a foul-mouthed monster. 

“My fault?” You spat. “Fuck you.” You tore your chin from his grip, but his hand sought out your throat instead. “Don’t fucking touch me–”

He smiled, bitter but so wholly and infuriatingly amused before he chuckled, shaking his head. “I’ll do whatever I want with you.” And before you could lash out, before you could throw a fist at his stupid face, he yanked you in and bit.

A winter breeze rippled through you. Cold. Piercing. And you gradually froze like water dripping from the gutters, no longer able to fight back, too sluggishly slow to do anything about your fate. You breathed hard, feeling the hole in your stomach and ache of your heart weep and worsen with every shattering breath you took. Your hands, gentle in their weakness, pawed at his chest and sought a spot to dig in and hold on to for dear life as the waking world turned its back to you.

But despite the bitterness, and despite words exchanged, he held the side of your face as you faded in and out of consciousness. He called something, and a flurry of orange wisps appeared above you. 

–

You awoke to the echoes of a dream, one you hadn’t had for a while. A cloudless night where you’d been caught in bed by a taken woman’s man and beaten half to death; in return, you shredded through the man's chest with a knife from the kitchen while the wife watched on in silence. You'd been ready to kill her, too, slit her throat in one easy motion, but she never screamed, never looked at the wild animal with fear. 

Tell the police he attacked you, miss. 

Well, it wouldn't be the first time.

You fumbled through the alleys after leaving the scene, but others, foul things that roamed the streets where not even rats lingered, found you, threatened to use up the last of what you had to offer this pitiful world. It seemed as though they disappeared in the time it took you to blink, though, and a man was left, standing in their wake. He looked somewhat disheveled, like he’d just finished some grand task, but he was just so put together, too. You struggled to make sense of it, but you didn’t really care to. 

“Well, isn't that impressive,” you said with a breathless laugh. “Not a shred of blood on you. Are you the ripper the paper’s gone on and on about?”

The being glanced over his shoulder, eyes alight in curious mirth. He turned your way and stepped closer. You saw it then, the slightest bit of dark smears on his face.

“Is that what they're calling me?” He adjusted his cuffs, and rolled his shoulders. “Huh.” 

Adrenaline poured into your heart. “You're quite the dangerous man, aren't you, sir?” you swallowed thickly as you looked him over: fine shoes, expensive coat, luxurious rings. “And, ah, well-off. You wouldn't happen to be interested in spreading the wealth, hm?” 

His hand cupped your jaw, sticky with freezing blood, and he leaned in. The pungent scent of iron curled your gut as he breathed you in, making up his mind with what to do with you. Then, with the dry, warm back of his gloved hand, he caressed the side of your face and watched your eyelids flutter, devouring the simple gesture. 

“Let's see if you can convince me to.”

-

“I know you’re awake,” he mumbled.

Curiosity willed your eyes open, and you gazed down at the hollow tube connecting you to the walking corpse. You fought to ease the jump of your heart, but it became impossible when a dark red raced from the vampire's arm down into yours. 

“Is that going to make me like you?” You whispered, nerves twitching and burning with the bite of restless fire ants. 

Crimson eyes found yours and looked deep. “It won't. You can relax.” But you weren't convinced, and your lover could tell. “You'd have to drink my blood.” 

“Why're you giving me your blood, then?” 

“You'll die without it.” He pumped something, you now noticed, and realized it was what drew the blood from his veins and drained it into yours. 

Curious. “Were you a man of medicine?” 

He scoffed. “Still am.” He threw you a wary look, one brow raised. “How many more questions are you–” 

“Your name?” That was something you'd requested before, but always through a veil of uncertainty. You didn't like to ask much of him. He didn't ask much of you. But you didn't know him, yet he knew you. 

Your vampire frowned, unapproving. “What difference will it make?” 

“You asked me to fucking marry you,” you bit out. “And yet you keep so many secrets from me, still. I've given you more than I have, and you can't even–” 

“Miguel.” You both paused–him to gauge your reaction, and you out of shock. “Miguel O'hara.” 

The cracks in your chest mended, just slightly. Miguel O'hara. What a name that was. Formidable and wholly suiting the beast of a man you'd known and craved for far too many years. 

“Miguel O'hara,” you whispered, staring tiredly at the red thread connecting the two of you. The name felt good on your tongue. 

Nothing more was said, then. He must've still felt the tension in the air, or maybe the coil of apprehension in your body, for he worked on in silence, quietly saving your life for no reason. 

It was when he pulled free the needle that you found the will to break the silence on your own. 

“Why didn't you tell me?” It came out a pathetic whisper, sounding as broken as your mind felt. 

He paused before pulling the needle from his own arm. “Tell you what?” 

It was a good question. You didn't know what to ask him to elaborate on. You didn't know if you wanted him to elaborate on anything, actually, because it'd make it too real, too tangible. 

“Everything.” And when he stayed silent, you narrowed it down to just, “all of…you.” 

Miguel licked his thumb and stroked it soothingly against the pinprick of a wound while his brows furrowed and his lips twisted into something of a frown. “How could I?” You both watched the tiny dot of red cease weeping. “If you'd moved on and you knew, it could put everything at risk.” 

If I'd moved on. It felt wrong. It felt uncomfortable to know he felt that somewhere between his ribs and his heart. And for how long? How long had he not trusted you? Did he even trust you in that moment, knowing what and who he truly was? Or were you now doomed to this castle just as he was? 

“I'll let you rest,” Miguel said as he clasped his medical case shut and stood. “Lyla'll bring you food.” 

Thump, thump, thump, echoed his footsteps, those fine shoes muffled by old carpet; but the sharp clack, clack, clack in the hollow echoes of your memories, just before the truth revealed itself to you, swallowed up your thoughts.

“(Name),” Miguel said, and your eyes opened to find the tall, proud back of his silhouette stood at the door, one hand clutching the knob. “Don’t leave this room.” 

And he left you there, heart aching, mind melting, soul shattering. 

–

Solitude reminded you of what else happened. The lads you'd come here with, nothing more than acquaintances, were missing, or perhaps dead. It ate at your mind. Could you have done something different? Could you have convinced him to let them go?

More importantly, would Miguel let you leave? He claimed he wanted to marry you, but words were just words if not put to use with actions. Staying by his side would mean stomaching the fact he'd consume countless other people, wouldn't it? How were you expected to watch your partner(?), your groom-to-be(?), hold and pierce others the way he promised to you and only you?

But could you let him stay here alone, hunted and hated by believers, laughed at by the average skeptic? If you were not here, how many more would walk in on a dare, and meet a terrible end? They didn’t matter, no, but the legend of a vampire would turn more and more true, summoning devil-hunters to his doorstep, stake and flames in-hand.

The thoughts plagued you, filling your head with the terrible buzzing of bees. You couldn't fathom why you cared so much; most of your life you'd lived for your own sake, doing what needed to be done to get by, to have a better tomorrow. You hated other people. A few of them you'd personally buried six feet under, whether they were dead or lived still, and you never batted an eye. You had no patience for those who'd oppose you. 

You would have killed Osborn yourself if O’hara hadn't. And that was the truth. That'd been the truth the whole time, ever since you saw just how expensively he and the others lived; gold dripped from their tongues, silver ran through their veins, diamonds fell from their eyes. You wanted to claim a bit of that for yourself. 

And Miguel had shared his wealth with you, just in exchange for a bit of blood and your body for the night. Surely you could look past what he did to survive, even if it put your heart into a spiral. 

Lost in thought, you found your way to his chambers, freely disobeying his orders

He lounged in a clawfoot bath. Stuffy heat lulled you into a daze, something like a carefree summer evening wherein the sun took too long to vanish. Though when he noticed you approach, shedding clothes the entire way, the heat grew near unbearable.

Miguel's claws creaked against the enamel in anticipation when you stepped into the water. You watched him with the same delicate intrigue as prey investigating something that could be a threat as you found your place between his spread legs, getting close enough to feel the pounding of his undead heart. You'd only seen his body in dim candlelight or withering rays of the moon, never truly illuminated by the glow of floating chandeliers nor the collection of sconces arching from the wall.

Slowly, your fingertips dragged along muscle, warm and firm under your calloused touch. The scars littering your hands and knuckles shone so stark against his perfect complexion. He really did seem too perfect. It would have sparked jealousy in your gut if he didn't apparently belong to you, and you to him. No one else got to touch. No one else got to see. 

Now, you were built finely yourself, but the man before you was something entirely different. You didn't know if it was thanks to his supernatural existence, but his body was built in a near-animalistic way that screamed power and speed, not similar enough to a human. Though, looking back, you did always think his manners in bed were more beast than man. The growling, the clawing, the marks of claim on the nape of your neck, it all clicked and made sense in the whirlwind of your mind. 

“I think a werewolf would suit you better,” you admitted. “What with the claws and biting and general uncouth behaviour.” 

Miguel huffed. “You must be talking about yourself.” His voice rang low and quiet, too aware he might scare off his prized hare if he put too much into his words. “You're the one acting like a rabid animal.” 

“No, you.” 

“Don't think so.” 

“You're difficult.” 

“You're one to talk.” 

“How long have you been like this?” Your fingers combed through his hair, and his eyes fluttered shut. “A vampire. Or whatever you are.” 

“Lost track,” he said, sounding too honest. “I have records. Notes. From experiments. The dates on those are close to when it happened.” Experiments? Colour you intrigued.

“So you weren't exactly practicing white medicine?” You tilted your head in thought. “You were doing something more–” 

“It wasn't black magic,” Miguel scoffed. “It was science. Genetics. Studying how other organisms function, learning about them.” His expression darkened just the slightest bit. “Trying to…recreate them.” 

Your head spun a little trying to fill in the blanks. It wasn’t too hard, but it was hard to accept as reality. But if anyone were to unlock the damned secrets of immortality, of course it'd be this man. This cocky, genius, charming man. God really did have favourites, though they always did seem to disappoint him.

“I see. So you're telling me you're a genius who rebirthed vampires,” you summed up, letting your hands melt down his body, below the water's surface. “How is it you only get more and more impressive, Mr.O'hara?” 

A smug smirk bloomed across his lips. “It's just in my nature.” His head tilted back with a pleased sigh when your touch finally landed on that annoying thing prodding your thigh. “I have no choice but to succeed.” 

“Tch. Americans are so arrogant.” You hummed and leaned in, ghosting kisses along his vulnerable neck while your hand pleased him slowly, teasingly. His talons screeched against the tub again. “But maybe you have reason to be, hm? Given how accomplished you are.” 

A dark, scarlet haze like the sky of the blood moon illuminated Miguel's eyes in the few moments they slipped open to catch a glimpse of you. You wondered if he needed a reality check. Maybe he thought he was hallucinating, maybe he thought that you weren't really there despite being pressed up against him and murmuring useless quips into his skin. You'd be sure to leave an impression on him; your hand quickened, gripping tighter and pulling the way he directed you to far too many years ago, but his barbed hand caught your wrist. 

“Stop,” he gasped. His chest rose and fell with his light panting as he stared you down. Want radiated off of him like an animal starved. You knew what was rattling around in his mind before he even spoke. 

“You want to fuck me, is that it?” 

Miguel's breath hitched. 

–

You made him ravenous. You were the only thing he wanted to feast on, delicacies and sanguine temptations be damned. 

One of his large hands held your waist in a death grip while his other hand held your head down, forcing your incoherent ramblings into the soft, silken sheets as he rammed you from behind like a beast in heat. You took it well, too, not that you hadn't before–he always held back, appeared to you as human when he fucked you previously. But now that you knew the truth, now that you knew what lay hidden in the dark nooks of his bones’ marrow, he felt complete. And that meant he could completely lay claim to you, too. 

He matched the curve of your back with his chest when he leaned over you, burying his nose into your neck and shoulder to indulge in your scent. Your vampire's desire to breed slowed and steadied into deep, thoughtful rolls of his hips. Perhaps his mind had caught up with him and ushered him to slow down, to abandon some of that reckless excitement. 

Miguel heard the slightest mumble of his name on your lips and leaned down further to touch his own to your cheekbone. One arm looped underneath your throat in a benign chokehold of sorts, while his other hand threaded through your hair–if he wasn't fucking you like an animal before, this makeshift mating lock he had on you sealed the deal. 

“You feel good,” Miguel murmured, voice tickling the shell of your ear. 

“Hah. I, ah, always feel good,” you tried to quip back, but your expression betrayed the fraying threads of whatever self-control you still desperately clung to. “You’re, uh…unhinged, hey?” Miguel scoffed. “Like a…a wild beast.” 

“Oh?” A purr hummed through his chest, piercing your body and rattling through your own lungs in seismic pulses. “A wild beast? Flattering.”

“Really, darling, you don't have to be such a sarcastic asshole when you're–” a hard snap of his hips sent you spiraling for a moment, “--in my ass.” 

“Maybe you should watch your mouth,” he suggested. 

“Maybe you could watch it for me,” you countered. 

The warmth of his laugh sent chills scattering across your skin. He pulled out of you and turned you over, dragging your hips back against him before his powerful body engulfed yours again. Miguel liked this more. He liked the feeling of your hands grabbing and clawing at him, the way your thighs attached to his waist, how you bit your bottom lip while your eyes screwed shut from the overwhelming feeling of your partner destroying you.

And of course, his lips could meet yours like this. The sweet tang of copper and berries, a taste so familiar and so you, was shared between tongues, kept secret in the crevices of teeth. It amazed Miguel how much one little kiss could push him over the edge and make the bed creak and groan with you as he loved on you and made sure to send the message straight to your core. 

Your hands fisted in his hair when you came undone. That lovely voice of yours poured into Miguel's eager mouth, and you tightened, pulling him to the edge and pushing him over with the might of a wild stampede. Claws nipped your skin, fangs pierced deeper, yet his rutting hit deepest, and burned you alive with unbearable, liquid heat.

–

“Why me?” You asked into the stillness of the room. 

Calm silence answered you for a long moment. The sun bloomed beyond the thick curtains, you noticed in your wait, and you wondered if you would ever miss the sight. England never truly had bright, sunny days from what you recalled; stretches of smokey, grey overcast clouded the skies and your memories more often than not. Could your vampire walk amongst the living like this?

Miguel sighed, leaning into the hand carding through his hair. “Figured you’d understand.” 

“I’d understand what?”

“Killing to survive.” 

“How long have you known?” You wondered, unsurprised. 

“Blood tells stories,” he whispered. Long, dark eyelashes fluttered a moment before crimson eyes peered open the slightest bit. “Your story’s long. Complicated. You’re too young for it.” 

A smile twitched onto your face. You adjusted in the bed, getting more comfortable on your side in those pooling, satin sheets. “So you thought I’d be an easy target for sex, then? Desperate and young as I was.”

He found your eyes, his gaze earnest and bleeding. “I–you–fine, at first it was like you said. Maybe. But after enough time, I decided you weren’t like the rest. You’re as supernatural as I am.”

“Supernaturally handsome? I agree.”

“Stop.”

“You didn’t think I’d be afraid of you.”

“I’d hoped as much.” 

“And you still didn’t tell me.” Your fingertips danced along the arch of his cheekbone, leaving pleasant sparks against his skin in their wake, unbeknownst to you. “Were you scared?”

“I’d rather have you as a man for whatever time we had together than to lose you to a beast,” he explained, cryptic as one would expect an old legend to be. “I’ve lost too much already because of…this. Because of me. I didn’t want to lose more.” Miguel’s dark brows furrowed. “If you ended up fearing me to, I–”

You silenced him with a hand over his mouth. “Enough. I understand.” You palm smoothed back up to cup his face. “You needn’t be afraid of me–well, being afraid, I suppose. I’ll stay.” You took a deep breath and leaned in, pressing your forehead to his. “This bed’s too comfortable to give up, after all.”

His breath fanned against your skin as he chuckled, tired and perhaps tinted with disbelief. “Well, you can stay here as long as you want.”

“Brilliant. Would you even let me drink your blood?”

The rumble of a growl, or perhaps a purr, rolled through his chest into yours. You searched his eyes, wondering, hoping, and found mere slices of ruby peeking out from behind eclipsing pupils. 

“We’ll see.”

[redditreceipts]

This is actually a TIM explaining why it's legitimate to be anti-feminist because feminism has done nothing for TIMs/trans and has even been hostile towards them

https://www.tumblr.com/havenofcybele/744684220115566592/some-thoughts-on-feminism-from-a-trans-perspective?source=share

well feminism has given half of the trans population human rights, the right to vote, and legal recognition as a person lol. (of course you wouldn't bother to think about trans men, because you're a male and all you care about is yourself, but well)

it has admittedly not done anything done for trans women, because feminism is for women and trans women are not women lmao

yah, interesting thing to think about, right? That the people who stand in for women's rights continue to do so, even when those women don't identify as women anymore.

Also, the question is so stupid. Like, even if I thought that trans women are women, asking what feminists have done for trans people is like asking what anti-racist activists have done for disabled people. And when they struggle to find an answer, I then as a disabled person tell them that I won't be participating in anti-racist struggles anymore because they don't focus on ME (the most important person in the world)

also, I think it's kinda smart for those "trans feminists" (like Julia Serano) to act as if trans activism and feminism were compatible. you can of course come out and tell the world that you dislike feminism as a trans woman, because feminism is about protecting women and you as a man feel neglected, but it will really not help your cause in the public opinion lmao

I mean he's kinda right in his assessment though. Feminism is a movement to liberate women, and his bullshit ideology is not compatible with that. Feminism will always be about women, and as a man who wants to retain his privileges, being an anti-feminist is a logical conclusion. If you live in a patriarchy long enough, your privileges will appear to you as "rights", and taking away your privilege to define women as a man will seem to you as oppression. I guess it will be harder to convince your ftm brothers, because they actually know what it's like to live as a woman under patriarchy, but well, you're just proving the femininists' point by your post. Men as a class primarily care about retaining their privilege to oppress women, and this guy accurately recognised that and wants to stand in for men's rights instead. I guess normal people would have empathy for the struggle of a marginalised people that they're not a part of and not throw a tantrum when these people's emancipation means making themselves uncomfortable, but what do you expect of people socialised as male? this kind of rhetoric is like a plantation owner who lets their palm oil get picked by people in the global south and pays them $0.10 per hour, and then he turns around and says "What has the anti-imperialist movement ever done for plantation owners??? why should i support them when they want to take away my rights to exploit people?" like yeah, of course you shouldn't support them if all you care about is your own gain. but the people getting angry with you for not supporting a movement for the liberation of a marginalised people you are not a part of expect you to have the tiniest shred of empathy and not only care about yourself, but that's apparently too much asked of a man lol

[main-serendipity-sky]

The state of Jiminland today

Today I was pushed over the edge as I watched twitter implode so it took me about 12 hours to write my thoughts out.

It's disheartening to see a fanbase, 52Hz, openly being a Jimin anti but it's also disheartening to see people act shocked when Jimin lost 2 awards he almost had because a majority of Korean fans (not kpjms) didn't vote for him.

How can you be shocked at the way Jimin is treated if you are part of the problem?

52Hz has been called out ever since July but karmy and kjkkrs defended this fanbase even with proof presented. I tried asking them about it but I got blocked instead. I even remember reading some accounts here that were blaming pjms instead back in July.

It's not ignorance if you are informed and you choose to ignore it.

52Hz lied, blurred out Jimin from playlists, altered predictions to mislead fans and pushed them to vote for Jk only. They also did something similar last year for Hobi and Namjoon.

It's not only that 52Hz lied but people protected them and then followed like sheep.

The hate and indifference towards Jimin in this fandom runs so deep and is disguised as many things that may appear harmless:

•Not supporting him as an artist but speculating on his private life

•Using him for fan wars since because he is best weapon BTS has in all areas

•Using him for ship wars because "Jimin always gets hate" and if Jimin gets hate that means jikook is real

•Using him as a cheerleader/funny guy/flirty guy/cute guy/support guy for BTS but failing to see the complexity that Jimin is

•Ignoring, belittling, or attributing his accomplishments to anything/anyone other than Jimin himself

•Downplaying or excusing what the company has done to him because you want to maintain the ot7 illusion

•Not talking about the sabotage because you will be labeled a solo and get hate from other people but you still talk about things that bring Jimin hate like any of his ships

•Degrading his art to Jk's level because it's the cute shipper thing to do even though we all know quite well both things are not the same

•Putting Jimin and Jk on the same pedestal when Jimin is up there because of his hard work and fans who have worked endlessly to stream and buy while Jk's numbers have been inflated by Scooter's tactics

•Boycotting the jikook show because a hate filled account gave you that idea when you should be the fan that always supports him till the end

•Using Jimin for your sexual fantasies

•Not defending him

•Pushing a narrative where Jimin must be the sacrifice for BTS or jikook

We can call out 52Hz and kfans but then our own behavior is just as bad.

Jimin doesn't deserve this.

We are talking about Jimin.

The guy who is the most appreciative of his fans. The only one who came to weverse to thank fans for BTS' win in MAMA only after 40 minutes (he didn't thank for his individual win but for the group win!). The guy who wanted FACE to be free just so he could share it with us. The guy who did his entire documentary just so we could see that he had fun doing FACE.

If you don't appreciate and value Jimin,

If you won't fight and defend him,

If you care more about your pretty profiles filled with positivity and pretty pictures,

If you are only here to "support" jikook but have no intention to support Jimin as an actual artist,

If you downplay what he has gone through,

Don't call yourself his fan.

[thecarnivorousmuffinmeta]

I’m not sure if you’ve ever said anything about this, but the first time I read new moon, the vote chapter, there was one bit that really stuck out:

(from Bella’s point of view) Edward grabbed my face in his hand, forcing me to look at him. His other hand was out, palm toward Carlisle. Carlisle ignored that.

Bella later went on to say it was hard to talk clearly with how Edward was holding her jaw. I don’t know if I’ve misunderstood what exactly was happening, but why did the entire family watch that and do nothing? I’ve read the metas where you’ve said it’d take a lot for Carlisle to realise what Edward really is, but surely that’s a pretty massive indicator and Carlisle actively ignored it?

Anon, you're hilarious.

An Aside in Which I Say "Look in the Mirror"

I've been running this blog for a few years now (a terrifying thought) and I'm both a) one of the most critical of Edward in this space (which is not a bad thing, mind, people are free to do what they like) b) often get asks in which I am asked by anons to justify why I think poorly of Edward.

This is on top of the thousands of metas I've written pointing out various things from canon, where I've presented many arguments, and anons still will ask me to make more arguments.

This is fandom, anon, relatively objective observers who are privy to information the characters in the story don't have. We know Bella's exact thoughts, we know how Edward has interacted with her in private, and we even know Edward's private thoughts for at least the duration of Twilight because of Midnight Sun.

AND YET, I AM HERE.

And you ask this as if it should be obvious to the most casual observer.

Back to Your Ask

I've discussed this at length in posts I'm too lazy to look up at the moment but the crux of it is that

a) Edward's a beloved family member and it's deeply hard to think ill of those we love and we want to justify their actions

b) the family doesn't see most of what goes on with Bella and are only told things by Alice and Edward with Alice being firmly on Edward's side

c) Due to his having previously had a redemption arc in which Edward came back unprompted to the diet even though it must have been not only humiliating but terrifying, Edward comes across as one of the Cullens who best understands that human life is worth protecting and just why they're all doing the diet.

This particular moment though, I'd also give Edward a pass if I was present. To touch Bella at all, to move her like this, Edward has to be extraordinarily gentle and careful. If he was at all rough with her, at all, Bella would be dead or seriously injured (with her jaw crushed between Edward's fingers, her neck snapped, etc.) Basically, for Edward to do this at all, he's being incredibly mindful and the Cullens as vampires are very aware of that.

Add onto that that Bella can speak, when this is a guy who's hand is made of stone, he has to be holding her incredibly gently from his perspective for her to be able to speak at all (and not have a broken jaw).

Also from the outside perspective, where Bella and Edward are in this romantic relationship (even though they just got out of being broken up) and they all know Edward's deeply in love with Bella, this looks like an intimate gesture than it does a "LOOK AT ME" gesture. It's not something any of them would do, or a normal person would, but they're also not dating Bella/convinced they're soulmates with her.

Add into that that they're in the middle of a very intense day, in which Edward had just tried to kill himself and is very emotionally fragile, Bella's now asking to be turned directly, the Volturi barely pardoned them, and Edward is coming unglued with the idea that Bella's going to be turned and the Cullens aren't at the top of their game.

They're just trying to get through the conversation where they tell Edward (and Rosalie) that, yes, they actually do have to turn Bella.

This doesn't register as physical violence to them, and I don't blame them for this one.

[misrepresentedmorallygrey]

PROPAGANDA

John

This fella is Fascinating. just trust me on this he deserves to be here

He tried so hard to do the right thing, he feels bad and says things would be better if he was never born. He thinks he should've just stayed acting like a monster and continued to act threatening.

(LONG PROPAGANDA INCOMING)

John. Milgram. Here's a short description of the fortunes and misfortunes of the guy. It gets worse before it gets better (probably).

While MILGRAM is a prison that judges a bunch of sympathetic killers, it doesn't consider him to be one – it didn't even exactly know he existed until too little too late, when it got its grabby hands on the brain of prisoner 009, who claimed to not know anything about any murder he'd have committed. Then, footage from his brain was extracted, as MILGRAM does, into a music video, and… that was MeMe. Ninth prisoner, Kayano Mikoto, was revealed to have DID, and what obviously who do you think actually Killed Someone?

Enter John. Well. Mikoto is half deeply unaware half subconsciously scared of his existence, so the MV painted him in a rather. Deeply disturbing way, bathing in bloody baths and all that (not a blood bath though! easy mistake). Adding to that him showing up in the first Voice Drama for five seconds to punch the "protagonist" and yell for a bit, and the result wasn't. Assuring. The fandom proceeded to treat him like a cardboard cutout and variously dunk on MILGRAM for having a cliché "evil" character w/ DID despite the overall well handling of complex characters.

Two years time skip: second season ending. We get to prisoner 009 again. The protagonist Finally gets to chat with John: and voila, he's admitting to the crime, he's apparently "killed a bunch of people because they annoyed him", which means, as he's saying, Mikoto has nothing to do with the crime at all! And he, as per the judging system, should be forgiven, right! Well, he's so full of shit. The music video immediately reveals how protective he feels of Mikoto (and well, he definitely doesn't rebuke That one), that the events of murder were somehow tied in to Mikoto's job at a black company, his continuous overworking and him being mentally on the brink of breaking; that any committed violence was For The Sake of Mikoto and that John feels deeply horrible for messing up his life in any way. By making himself into the image of a "monster" he's trying to make Mikoto look good in comparison and be forgiven and all. He also mentioned if Mikoto is voted innocent he's gonna try to go dormant since he's The Issue, right, and the audience/protagonist hates him, Right, and Mikoto Also Hates him, Right?

I'm underselling the sheer devotion of this guy tbh.

Yeah, the fandom results were kinda mixed on that one. Lots of people immediately started to love him dearly and kinda forgot any people were maimed or killed with baseball bats; lots also got sold on him "messing up Mikoto's life" and actually voted Mikoto innocent Specifically because of John's promise to eventually "disappear". There's more of the babygirlifying kind in the English side of the fandom that I've seen, to be fair. And that's around where we are!

Dazai Osamu

He did bad things in the Mafia. He's trying to get better. He abused people but he also saved other people. Fans portraying him as an unforgivable abuser are WRONG. He perpetuated an abused cycle on Akutagawa thinking he was right to do that, because of trauma, before he could leave. But he left. He's still treating Akutagawa wrong because he's trying to be a better person but doesn't realize that it will not erase what he did and that he can't just ignore the past. Fans portraying him as a pure angel who didn't know what he was doing because he was sad are WRONG TOO. He abused Akutagawa. He was traumatized but it doesn't give him the right to traumatize innocent people. He's trying to be a better person but he can't keep ignoring Akutagawa. He needs to apologize. And even that won't erase what he did. Dazai is a complex character in a complex situation. He left the abuse cycle and tries to be a good person but did unforgivable things while he was still in this cycle and refuses to aknowledge them. He's not a monster but he's not innocent either.

Dazai used to be a mafia executive until his best friend (a former assassin who remained in the mafia but refused to kill) died. As the friend was dying he told him "I know you don't care about whether you're a good or bad person, so if it doesn't matter to you, be on the side that saves people." Despite that, I've seen countless people insisting that Dazai is a good person/trying his best to be a good person when he really only changed sides by joining a detective agency, while still continuing to do the same things he did while in the mafia (including but not limited to: harassing his coworkers for fun, manipulating people, killing people instead of just trying to incapacitate them, and even torturing an innocent man in one of the side stories). That being said, he's not evil either. Even when he does cruel things, it's not for the sake of being cruel (even when he harasses his coworkers he still has limits), it's just a means to an end. I think most of the confusion comes from a scene where he's talking to a young girl, another former mafia member, who asks if he thinks people can change and he assures her they can, but what the anime left out was that he was thinking about his former assassin friend during that discussion, not himself. The entire series is themed around gray morality, to the point where it's even reflected in the main protagonist and antagonist's designs (mainly white with a bit of black, and mainly black with a bit of white), so I feel like insisting that he's a good person now completely misses the point of the story.

[caracalsimp]

Montgomery Gator x Reader Headcanons

After everyone voted for Monty, here I go with Monty x Reader headcanons! Hope you guys will enjoy! (helps me cope with the fact that I can't draw FNAF stuff yet because artfight aaaa!)

Monty is probably the most protective of ALL the glamrocks with you (even more protective that Freddy is). You are his precious little thing, and will jealously keep you away from others if people try to get a bit too close to you (to his taste, which happens often... like, a lot often). He trusts you 100% of course, it's OTHERS he doesn't trust.

Monty doesn't like talking about how much he loves you (he think it's way too cheesy and dumb) but will definitely try his best to show it to you through actions, mostly through his protective instincts and will always fight for you if you need him.

Monty will ALWAYS display affection when you two are in public... in his own way. He wants to remember everyone who you belong to, and if people try to get you behind his back, he will throw their lifeless body into the trash compactor, where they belong. You find it cute in some way that he gets jealous and protective that much, but you're sometimes scared he will definitely crush somebody just for your sake (didn't happened yet, but you definitely know it could.)

Whenever Monty is experiencing really strong anger issues and his destructive instincts takes over, he just shuts down and isolates himself. It worries you when it's happening and you want to ease his mind, but he's just so afraid to hurt you by accident that he prefers not to be around you when he's in that state and struggle to calm down. Just the thought about accidentally hurting you would crush his soul into thousands of pieces.

Although, when he feels anger rises inside him and that you're around, he definitely reaches out to you. He likes to ask for pat pats on his head and will softly starts growling when he feels your touch, because it relaxes him deeply. However, he will only ask this when you two are alone. He doesn't assume really well when he becomes lovey-dovey that way, and will definitely kill the person who would make fun of him for this.

Monty is rather ambivert with you. Sometimes he wants to do activities outside with you by your side and will mostly let you choose which activities to do together, and sometimes he'd rather just stay with you and either play video games, watching some horror movies or simply cuddle on the couch while slowly asleep in your arms.

Monty hates whenever you're feeling any kind of negative emotion or when bad stuff happens to you. He doesn't know how to react when that occurs, and he will definitely hunt down whoever puts the only person who accepts him the way he his until he finds them and kill them. No one has the right to make you feel this way under his watch. NO ONE. And it's no use to keep to yourself the name of the person, Monty will find it no matter what. Even when you try to hide your negative feelings, Monty will sense it.

He doesn't show it at all but Monty has a hard time to understand how could someone like you could fall in love with him. He feels so grateful that there's finally a person out there that just doesn't see him as an angry alligator monster, and he feels pretty insecure about this, secretly being scared that you're one day gonna see him that way. He can sometimes hears from guests that you shouldn't date Monty because of his strong anger issues, and when that happens, he feels even more insecure. You tried multiple times to reassure him that you won't leave, but he still have his inner demon haunting him once in a while. He doesn't like talking about it for too long though, emotional conversations are not his thing at all.

Monty likes to rest his head on your neck, wrapping his arms around you from behind and keep you close to him while slightly growling. He also likes to softly nibble your neck, but his biting always remains gentle, he would never brutally bite you at full force... unless you ask him :))

You absolutely love stealing his sunglasses to wear them. And he absolutely love whenever you steal his glasses to wear them. You're the only person he allows that.

And that's pretty much it~

[arizonaconservativegal]

Hi, I'm Anon from the earlier ask- you can call me Matt, if that somehow makes me seem more authentic. (Not linking my Tumblr b/c the last time I used it was almost a decade ago and it's embarassing af.)

I'm just going to ask you to say what's going to stop the people who align with the right from getting their way at this point? Surely, you don't think this is going to be a normal presidency (and if you do, please explain!). With all three wings under the control of a pretty far right wing government, we don't really know what's going to happen. I know everyone is tired of hearing about it, but the overturning of Roe doesn't exactly portend well for Obergefell. And I don't think either of those decisions have/had been opposed without the overwhelming drive and support of the Christians you say don't matter.

I do know what GOP stands for and what that means. I don't understand how you're okay with some of the horrible people under that tent. And your side does attract more horrible people than ours. For every dumbass tankie, there's at least five people with reprehensible (and whether you accept it or not, racist/homophobic/bigoted) professed beliefs on your side. I don't understand you in this sense, and I don't think I'm going to be able to tonight. I appreciate you answering my earlier ask even though I was rude.

Okay Matt-the-Atheist

I'm just going to start by saying I think your idea that there are more bad people on the right than on the left is absurd. That's just patently ridiculous. I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and chalk that up to naivety rather than say you you think the horrible people on your side of the aisle are acceptable. Shitty people exist in roughly equal number across the board, with some minor variation for how we personally define 'shitty' people.

Okay that said.

I'm not that worried about our 'horrible' people because they're a pretty small group (as they are on the left) without much power because no one really likes them (not as much the case on the left - y'all seem to be afraid of yours for some reason). And I'm not worried about our Christians because there's nothing wrong with them by and large. I think you have conflated the two groups into one and deemed all conservative Christians 'problems' because you don't understand them.

I do think this will be a pretty normal presidency. The reason for that is that we just had four years of Trump so I feel pretty confident in my estimation of what the next four years will look like. I don't know why some people are acting like this has never happened before when it literally just happened.

Anyway.

There is really is not widespread support within the party for going after Obergefell. That is a media boogeyman, nothing more. Even if we did want to go after it, there wouldn't be much point since there is also an actual law on the books to protect same sex and interracial marriage (another thing no one is trying to overturn but the media likes to harp on anyway) which passed with more than enough Republicans voting for it that I can guarantee you will not see it overturned either. On top of that, you really mean to tell me that Trump, who hosted a gay wedding at his house, is gonna sign a bill to ban gay marriage? Really?

Which brings me to my final point.

Trump is many things but a traditional conservative Christian is not one of them. You don't have to like the guy but he's probably the last person I'd expect to try to usher in a theocracy.

I think we'll be fine.

[schrodingerscougar]

You'll be mine (John Price x reader x Tangerine)

Note: fem!reader, special appearance by John Price from CoD. I'll let you decide how it ends. Will Tan win her over? Fuck it, let's vote at the end.

--

“You asked your girlfriend to join us?” Tangerine asked the moment John finished his sentence, the grimace on his face making the man believe he was completely against the idea. 

So the soldier tilted his head to the side a little, his blue eyes examining the younger man’s expression as if he was trying to figure out why he wouldn’t want his girl to spend the evening with them. He was smitten with you, he would never deny it, but he couldn’t think of a reason why anyone would think you weren’t pleasant to be around. To him, you were the brightest star in the sky, the sunshine in his dark and cold life. 

After a minute or so of silence, John finally licked his lower lip and said, “We don’t have to spend the whole evening together, mate. She’ll be here soon and we’ll be out of your hair right away.” 

Even though he said that in a casual way, the captain wasn’t as cool about it as he might have sounded to the other two men. They were probably his only normal friends, he wanted them to get along with his girlfriend, and he wanted you to be friends with them too. Just like he always wanted you to get along with his family members. If anything happened to him, he would want you to have people to rely on. 

Little did he know that the problem wasn’t that Tangerine didn’t like you. No, quite the opposite and Lemon was fully aware of that. They were brothers, he knew it from the way he was looking at you, the way he talked about you, the little comments he dropped about how much better he would treat you. It was oh so obvious to him, but whenever he asked, he was just told it wasn’t like that. “She’s a nice gal, that’s all,” was all he said usually. 

And even now, Lemon saw the way Tangerine shifted in his seat the moment you entered the pub, he saw the way his brother’s eyes followed your every move like a hawk, and he even noticed a jealous glint crossing those same blue eyes when John sneaked a hand around your waist and pulled you into a kiss as a greeting. 

“My glass is empty, I’ll grab a drink. You want anything?” he asked John, seemingly ignoring you.

But he was only ignoring you because it was easier to deal with the pain of you not being his precious little doll. You seemed to be head over heels for John, a man whose taste in football teams was a lot, lot worse than his taste in women. The honorary military man, the good boy, the one who was complicated and perfectly capable of protecting you just like him.

John declined the offer before he returned his attention to you, but Lemon knew he should go with him to the bar. The two of them walked over there and occupied two empty chairs, and it was Tangerine who broke the silence, finally saying out loud what his brother had been aware of all along. 

“I want her. That girl is killing me,” he admitted with a sour face before he turned to the bartender to order another glass of whiskey. “I need to make her see that she should ditch John and be with me. I like the guy, don’t get me wrong, but she deserves better. I would treat her so much better…”

At this point, Lemon stopped listening to his brother and only shook his head as he also ordered something to drink. He needed more alcohol to handle Tangerine’s bad mood, even if he was keen to help him get over this stupid idea of his. You were taken, simple as that, and he was ready to use another Thomas & Friends reference to help him come to his senses despite knowing well enough it would only enrage him. 

And then his ears picked up a sentence he really, really wished he didn’t hear. “I’ll kidnap her. I’ll lock her in an apartment and spoil her rotten there,” Tangerine stated confidently before finishing his drink. 

“For fuck’s sake,” Lemon muttered under his breath. “All right, listen to me. You definitely cannot kidnap her. John and his friends from the SAS would quickly find you and I have no idea how far they would go to make you pay for kidnapping his girl. And if they dig a little deeper, they’ll find out what we do for a living. I like John, he’s like my only normal friend at the moment. I don’t want him to turn on me.”

Tangerine rolled his eyes at him. “Bollocks, you have a lot of friends.”

“Name one.”

“Thomas,” he replied with a shit-eating grin. 

Lemon took a deep breath to calm himself, but then he said, “Fuck you.”

Without saying another word, Tangerine stood up and made his way back to you and John, not bothering to check if his brother was following him. He immediately noticed you even in the crowd, as if there was a ray of light shining upon you, illuminating your lovely figure to stand out. But when he checked your surroundings, he didn’t see John anywhere. Did he leave you here all alone? What a bastard. Leaving such a pretty little thing on her own in such a place.

Well, that was good as he already had the whole kidnapping planned out. He would spike your drink when John wasn’t around using a drug an acquaintance of his would deliver to him, then he would take you to his secret rented apartment downtown. Once you wake up, he would give you a story about how you acted weird, and since John wasn’t around, he took it on himself to keep you safe. All because he was such a good friend.

“Where’s John?” he asked when he sat down across from you. 

You gave him a small smile, but when he looked into your eyes, he noticed they mirrored the sadness that was probably eating you from the inside. “He had to go. Work stuff,” you added quietly. 

He always had to leave for work, sometimes for weeks or months, leaving you behind all alone. Well, he wasn’t about to let a poor thing like you suffer, so he reached out to squeeze your hand. “And he left you here all alone? Why didn’t you come over to us, love?” he asked in a sickeningly sweet voice. 

Before you could answer, Lemon joined you at the table, sitting next to his brother then pushing a glass of mojito in front of you. When you gave him a questioning look, he flashed a smile at you. “Didn’t want you to dry out and miss the fun. Come on, it will help. And don’t look this sad, we’re here to entertain you,” he told you, looking over at Tangerine when he said the word we. 

The bright smile that appeared on your rosy lips made Tangerine happy, but this happiness disappeared the moment you shook his hand off of yours and reached for the glass. He could have strangled his brother at this moment. Why couldn’t he keep his distance and let him do what he wanted? Yes, he was against the kidnapping plan, but why not let him try another way to convince you? He could be a charmer if he wanted to. 

“I don’t like it when you look sad,” Tangerine noted with a small smile, having a hard time fighting the urge to reach out for your hand again. “Come on, tell me what you want to do tonight. Do you want to go out for dinner? Watch a movie? Or do you want to go clubbing?”

This made you let out a chuckle, but you raised the glass to your lips before saying anything in response. The poor man was way too impatient to sit in silence, but when he opened his mouth to tell you that he would be up for anything your heart desired, Lemon kicked him in the shin to stop him. He even glared at him as if he was ready to glue his lips together just to shut him up. So Tangerine gave up and kept smiling at you, doing his best to be patient. 

“I don’t really feel like going out. I only came here because John invited me. We were planning to go back to his place and watch a movie,” you finally explained to them. 

“That’s a great idea! Too bad Lemon has other plans and can’t stay for long,” Tangerine told you with a sigh, then looked over at his brother to silently tell him to play along. 

Apparently he got the message, because he turned to you and nodded with a sad look on his face. “Yeah, I have plans, but it’s nothing I can’t cancel,” he said. 

“Which is something you shouldn’t do. Would Thomas do that? Would he cancel plans?” 

You had already heard of Lemon and his Thomas & Friends obsession, so you couldn’t help but laugh when Tangerine brought it up. It was kind of cute, really, how the two of them were bickering so much. Lemon didn’t lie, they were truly ready to entertain you. “Okay, seriously, just go, I’ll be fine on my own. I’ll pour a glass of wine, sit on the couch, and watch some terrible reality show until I pass out,” you told them kindly. 

But Tangerine wasn’t about to give up. He leaned forward and hooked his index finger under your necklace to gently pull you closer over the table. “Not on my watch, sweetheart. Lemon can go wherever he wants, but we will have some fun together, okay?”

He would lay the groundwork with a night spent alone, showing you how much more fun life with him would be. Kidnapping you was now well behind him, he had changed his mind along the way and decided to change your mind in a more subtle way. If everything went according to his plan, you would have the best night of your life, and the two of you would plan more nights out like this while John was gone. By the time he returned, you would be ready to admit that your relationship with him was going nowhere, that with his hectic schedule and the dangers which came with his job your future was doomed. 

And then he would step forward, providing a shoulder for you to cry on, being your emotional support until you were ready to open up for new possibilities. He would be there like a loyal dog, always a phone call away, always caring, always listening. Slowly but surely you would see him as an option for a new boyfriend, and oh, he was so eager to impress you in every possible way. 

[hubristicassholefight]

Swordswoman Showdown Round 2 Part 2

Brienne of Tarth (A Song Of Ice and Fire) vs Urbosa (The Legend of Zelda)

(Better here in a "preferred character" sense, not "who would win in a fight")

Propaganda below cut

Brienne

gets gifted a sword made with the rarest metal ever because she’s THAT good; she’s simply the best

Brienne is one of the top sword users alive in her day. She's descended from a man who's catchphrase was "I'm better with a sword." Better than what? You. Jaime Lannister. Loras Tyrell. Any five given guys at once. She has a fantastic sword that might be magic or cursed and is named Oathkeeper because that's what she does; I love her

Beat like 20 guys in a tournament when she was 19. Was given a magic sword. Won a sword fight against the premier swordsman in the realm. Very swordly; Very tall and strong. Holds her sword in high esteem. Accomplished with other weapons as well!

She's defeated multiple of the top knights in the series in duels. One such knight gifts her the fabergé egg of swords and she uses it to defend orphans and stuff. Got out of a bad betrothal by dueling him and beating his ass so bad she broke multiple bones. Honestly there's so much more she is the swordswoman of all time. to me; She's buff and ugly and 6' 5" and so honorable and kind that she inspires the guy who fucks his sister to yknow. stop doing that. literally gets mauled for the sake of protecting a bunch of orphans (with her sword). also she's 20 she should be at the club ‼️

One of the best sword wielders in Westeros, the author says he would pick her to defend him. Has a cool sword called Oathkeeper. Manages to go up against 7 fighters and take out most of them,. The only true knight; First off, talking about book brienne, they massacred show brienne, the show runners simply didn’t understand what she’s about.“ She had no chance against seven, she knew. No chance, and no choice” brienne had plenty of choice but she couldn’t leave people to die. The chivalric paradigm is rotten and corrupted, but here is Brienne, the one true knight, who isn’t even a actual knight! “knights are for killing”, but here is a knight who risks her life again and again to protect innocents! Bri IS hope, she is the light in the dark that shows that things can be better, things must be better. Fundamentally an idealist: “Winter will never come for the likes of us. Should we die in battle, they will surely sing of us, and it's always summer in the songs. In the songs all knights are gallant, all maids are beautiful, and the sun is always shining”

Urbosa

She has a scimitar known as Scimitar of the Seven

Her signature weapon is the Scimitar of the Seven, a sword wielded by Gerudo heroes.She uses both it and lighting powers which fucks pretty hard

She’s pretty cool

#oooooh this one's hard#just tp zelda? we never get to see her fight with her sword (unpossessed)#however. in skyward sword. she's a student at the knight academy (almost certainly uses a sword)#and the reincarnation of a goddess who DEFINITELY used one (literally shown with it in the opening)#and her main weapon in hyrule warriors (non canon game like aoc) is a sword#impa is more of.... idk. knifeswoman? she never uses an actual sword i dont think#id say that urbosa is the best.#we actually see her use her sword and she's significantly older than any zelda and this specific version of impa#so yeah going STRICTLY off of 'who is the best' then that would be urbosa#im still voting for zelda though

#my psionic warriors!#vote urobosa#zelda might use a sword sometimes but face it when u imagine her she's either using light arrows...#...or magic in general#these are cool as hell but zelda isn't known for her sword#not like urobosa#and like others say impa is more of a knife lady

[oldbaton]

Here is something that happened to me that I think about a lot when I try to balance my relationship with voting for a party that fails us so often and the objective terror that would be unleashed by a second Trump (or any republican) term:

The day Roe was overturned I went to a massive protest in Washington Square Park in Greenwich village. If you have any idea of the geography of that park- I was by the arches which were some distance away from the central fountain which is where people were speaking. There was a lot of anger at the Dems in that rally. And it was justified! Even though yes this was a Republican project- we gave Dems power on the expectation that they could prevent something like this. And they sat on their hands for a long time on codifying it. I believe some of the protestors even showed up at Schumer's house or office. (I believe he has both in the city? I know he lives in Park Slope). And I'm for that. Democrats need to feel the heat when they fail to protect us. Because that is the bargain we have made with them to keep giving them power even though we yearn for better options.

But.

During the speeches a white guy came up and at a point said "we are not going to vote anymore" [paraphrasing but that is what he was saying]. A black woman near me took advantage of the silence and shouted from the arches to the center of the park: "NONE OF US WOULD BE STANDING HERE IF HILLARY WON IN 2016 WE CAN DO BOTH THE FUCK?". Which is. Also extremely true. (And if you're curious this guy lost control of the crowd pretty quickly and got off the megaphone). And while this isn't the first time anyone has made this argument, something about seeing it in person like that. Being in a massive throng of people and going "none of us would be standing here if we had more turnout in Michigan etc in 2016". Seeing it visualized like that really hit home for me and I've never been able to shake it. And, of course, the fact that the speaker was a white guy and the person who pushed back was a black woman was not lost on me either.

It really is worth it to vote.

[glitterpensupremacy]

Alright, you all voted (in spite of my prediction) and so I am more than happy to deliver!

Adrien MTS

His character notes are organized into four categories:

1. General info

2. Personality

3. Key relationships

4. Planned character growth

(This post may be a bit long, so the rest is under the cut)

1. General Info

I‘ll start with the biggest overall changes:

Adrien now has an equal importance to the story as Marinette (they are both the main protags of the show). This is because MTS has certain relevant plot lines that wouldn’t work with Marinette as the POV character. For example, the Agreste family backstory heavily impacts him and his life, so making Marinette the focus doesn’t work. This change was also made because duality and balance are major thematic motifs in the show, and having two MCs was one of the best ways we could implement this idea. (Also he’s just a fun character to write plots around!) On average he and Marinette would get equal screen time, but it fluctuates depending on the particular story (ex: he has a slightly smaller role in season 2 since he has less of a connection to Lila, a major antagonist in that season).

We are also not using the SentiAdrien plotline. This is due to it not being confirmed as canon at the time we began conceptualizing MTS, so we didn’t include it. And now the story doesn’t have room for it and all all the other aspects of the series that are more integral.

2. Personality

Adrien, while still trying to be nice to most of the people he meets, is a lot less mild mannered than his OG counterpart. A bit like the OG show’s S1 Adrien, only slightly more chaotic. He’s generally cheerful, enjoys making jokes (mainly as CN) and trying new things, and affectionate with his loved ones. Freedom is very important to Adrien, and he’ll often go to great lengths to try to hold on to it. Sometimes Chat Noir tries to put on a bit of a “tough guy persona”, but often melts at the first compliment or gesture from his partner.

Adrien does have the tendency to be very assertive and a tad brash (especially in the first season) because he worries that any sign of weakness will cause others to want to make decisions for him to “protect him”. Similarly, he hates being put on a pedestal, especially when it causes others to dismiss any part of him that doesn’t fit the image they have in their head (basically him being a famous model has greatly impacted how he wants to be perceived with others). He also can’t stand it when people close to him (mainly his father and initially his brother) hide things from him and try to control his actions and behavior.

3. Key Relationships

This is actually only a couple of his relevant relationships, seeing as there are a lot of them in MTS. If you want to know about a specific relationship I didn’t mention (or want more detail on a one I did mention, feel free to send me an ask!)

Marinette: The two start off with a casual friendship, as Marinette doesn’t really care that he’s a model. This actually makes Adrien more interested in hanging out with her, as she’s someone who sees Adrien as a person rather than a celebrity. He doesn’t really see her in a romantic light (or at least realize he does) until toward the end of the show, but still values her a lot. He also won’t be as oblivious as the OG Adrien about Mari’s feelings, and even though he doesn’t reciprocate them (consciously anyway), he appreciates that she actually likes him for who he is.

Ladybug: These two sort of get off on the wrong foot. Partially because of their Kwami’s influence (we may have given them some issues for the plot) and partially because Chat initially thinks Ladybug is a lot like his brother, the two don’t really work together, and often quarrel. He gets very paranoid about her wanting him to go along with her plans (due to his fear of being controlled) and thinks she’s bossy. After the midpoint of the S1 though, they get to know each other better. He learns that she is very different from who he thought she was. Realizing that she’s actually a vulnerable girl trying her best to be a hero and do right by others, causes him to become more concerned about her wellbeing. The two will also start to confide in each other about their insecurities, and near the end of S1, he finally falls in love with her. (He’ll be a lot less outspoken about it than the OG though, due to an incident that happened prior to this.) He wants to be the hero partner she deserves first and foremost.

Felix: The twins were very close growing up, especially the death of their mother and their father becoming more distant, but over the years, Felix began to change. He started to treat Adrien more like their father does, which caused Adrien to feel betrayed by his brother. Initially their relationship is cordial, with a bit of resentment on Adrien’s side, which grows until it reaches a breaking point. The two end up getting into a (somewhat one-sided) fight, that Adrien comes to regret. Fortunately the two end up getting a bit closer after this, before finally resolving their issues in the season finale (Felix learns Chat Noir’s identity, which changes how he perceives his brother, and Adrien realized that there’s been more going on with Felix than he thought after he gets akumatized into Calamity). From there the two regain their lost relationship, and do anything for each other.

Gabriel: Adrien’s feelings about his father are… complicated. On the one hand, he understands how hard things have been for his dad after losing the love of his life. In the other hand, Adrien can’t stand the way he’s acted for the past several years: isolating himself from everyone else, constantly trying to keep Adrien locked away and micromanaged, never just being there for his son, which is all Adrien really wants. On the other other hand, Adrien has a much harder time speaking up to him than he did with Felix (because well, it’s much easier to rebel against your twin sibling than your controlling father), and still wants to see the best in his dad (both because he cares about him and because Felix showed Adrien that change is possible). Throughout the third season, Adrien is able to learn a bit more about Gabriel and even confront him for how he’s treated Adrien (and Felix, but that’s another post). His father even seems like he’s starting to change after this, but… let’s just say something goes wrong.

Nino: Adrien is instantly charmed by his new “best bro”, who tries to teach him a bit more about normal kids work. Adrien tries to inspire Nino to apply himself a little more, at least when it comes to things that are clearly important to him. The fact that Nino likes his jokes definitely boosts his spirits. Adrien does start to worry about Nino after the Bubbler, as Nino’s extreme reaction (seeing as people usually can’t be akumatized unless it relates to a core issue that’s been festering for years) suggests that there may be more to his “cool dude” best friend than he thought.

Other notable Adrien/Chat Noir dynamics (for better or worse) include Plagg, Alya, Kagami, Luka, Chloe, Mylene (it’s a long story), Emilie, and Hawk Moth (he is their nemesis after all).

4. Character Growth

Ah yes, the bread and butter of storytelling. Adrien receives two major character arcs in the series. One principally taking place during season one, while the other is much longer. (He also gets minor, non-arc related growth, but I’m highlighting the most important details)

Arc #1: Adrien undergoes some pretty major changes in the first season. He starts off as the usual sweet, sophisticated, “perfect” Adrien who tries to smile through the loneliness and suffocating rules. When he meets Plagg, he gets a change to show how capable he can truly be, while getting the power to free himself from these confines. He especially loves using his Prime Ability, Wildcat (his equivalent to the Miraculous Ladybugs) to do so. It essentially turns him into an unbeatable fighting machine! Unfortunately, this power is more than a mortal being can handle, and slowly chips away at his sanity, amplifying his feelings of anger and determination to be free. Plagg also eggs him on, warning him that giving up on using Wildcats will make him “weak again”, which will cause him to go back to being helpless and submissive (MTS Plagg and Tikki are kinda jerks at first). He realizes that it’s too much for him to handle in the first midseason finale, and renounces the power. This causes his body to fall into a state of withdrawal and fatigue that takes multiple episodes to recover from. During this time, he learns the value of stability, responsibility, and that he can be empathetic while also not letting others control him. His arc culminates at the end of season 1, where he unlocks the power to purify akuma, understanding that destruction can be used for good when maintaining an inner balance.

Arc 2: The seeds of this arc are planted from the beginning, as using Wildcat caused him to unintentionally become destructive and dangerous, but the episode Copycat is what launches the arc. Facing someone who looks exactly like you, has all of your powers, who you (unintentionally) lead to get akumatized does a lot to a person’s self esteem. Even though he hasn’t fallen in love with Ladybug yet, he cares about their friendship, so fighting an imposter who completely obsessed with her causes him to fear becoming the same way. Naturally this causes him to panic when he does fall in love with her, making him take longer to even admit how he feels about her. (He also struggles after she rejects him, but is more worried about her potentially being afraid of him than the rejection itself.) The New York Special also deals with his insecurities, as he almost quits being a hero due to not wanting to hurt anyone else. Fortunately Felix (who he tried to give the ring to instead) talks him out of it. Finally he manages to overcome his fears in the final season, after he faces his nightmare in Sandboy (that being a Ladybug who believes he’s a monster), and acknowledges that he’ll never be that kind of person.

Conclusion:

Alright, that finishes a (general) overview of Adrien’s character in Miraculous: The Series. To anyone who actually had the patience to read all of this, thank you for listening to my ramble (believe it or not but there’s even more details I could have mentioned!)

Marinette is gonna be the next character I talk about (idk when I’ll actually write her notes out, but she is next) as a planned post. After that… I’ll probably either discuss the MTS love square, Tikki and Plagg’s changes, or one of the fabled Season One trio characters (Alya, Chloe, or Felix). As for now… stay miraculous!

[archivalofsins]

Huh, I haven't really seen any debate around voting Mikoto Innocent or Guilty. Even though his verdict has been steadily declining since the release of Double. It's really interesting. Mostly because I don't know if this is a common thing, even for those who are more active in the fandom tag than I am or if I'm just that disconnected from the discussion.

Either way here are some objective facts regarding his case that I feel may be going overlooked presently.

John stating that we can't punish them.

This is objectively false, and it's implied to be false during the second trial commencement notice by Jackalope who states,

Jackalope never says Milgram cannot punish the other. In fact, Jackalope alludes to the idea that the only reason the other has not been restrained as of now is because he's just not out currently. Something that would be rectified if Mikoto was voted Guilty again to John's own admission in the voice drama.

So, stating that since we can't punish him, we shouldn't punish Mikoto is just blatantly untrue. The implication since trial two started has been hey if you keep punishing this guy, we're going to have to do something about this other personality. We were unaware of it at first, which is a mistake on our part, but we'll do something about it after this according to what is necessary based on the judgements you've made.

Can't do anything about it now though. So, regardless of which of them one personally believes committed the murder they both can still be punished for it. Then under this framing voting Mikoto forgiven would technically be voting for this other personality to remain unrestrained the same as he was first trial. I don't think this fact has gone over consistent voters' heads.

Innocent for Mikoto would mean him being out more but there's no guarantee it would equate to John vanishing entirely. Because as John has consistently stated he would do anything to defend himself. If Milgram restrains him due to a second Guilty verdict, he will not be able to do anything to defend himself.

It's more beneficial for him to say it was him, but the rules here haven't accounted for them so right now Milgram is just wrongfully punishing a completely innocent individual for nothing. Because few people would want to punish a person for a crime they simply did not commit and again Innocent equates to him remaining unrestrained which allows him to continue to do what he wants to do anyhow which is protect himself by any means if necessary.

That is literally one of their shared motivations. Protecting themselves either from physical or mental harm or just defending their social reputation.

"Come to know me as an honest man, eat your words, gulp them down."

Unlike Mikoto who seems to be far more interested in not looking like the bad guy. John's entire focus is on doing whatever is necessary to keep Mikoto safe. Even if that means making themselves into the bad guy in a last-ditch effort to get an Innocent verdict. Based on an idea that the audience has been shown is not the case from the beginning of the second trial. That John cannot be punished and ergo finding Mikoto Guilty is pointless and cruel.

This is just simply not true and more attentive viewers would probably recognize that faster than casual observers would.

Yet that leads into problem two

One of them is still Innocent though regardless.

Regardless of if one of them committed genuine murder or not the other is still an uninvolved or unwilling party. This concept can be circumvented by claiming that both committed the murders together. However, this doesn't seem to be the case.

It's still difficult for people to justify finding someone guilty if that means a completely uninvolved party must go down with that individual. A lot of people wouldn't find that idea fair.

Most people don't want to kill a civilian just to take down one bad guy. It's a natural reflex/response to want to extend forgiveness or attempt to deescalate a situation when that sort of thing occurs.

The situation was just really bad all around.

Now, I'm going to put my pettiness at Amane's trial aside for a moment. I hear you work abuse is bad. Mikoto's boss was bad and probably still is bad.

However, we never see Mikoto or John kill their boss. Unlike some people who very much did kill the root cause of their problems-

Sorry, sorry- It was just right there. I'm so sorry I'll try to stop.

In fact the one person we see them attack in MeMe for certain is someone who looks to be around the same age as him and is a coworker at best,

Or at worse some random uninvolved fucking party. This could just be some fucking guy who happened to be walking here for all we fucking know. Because Double doesn't follow up on this. This guy was just here one trial and gone the next.

So, given everything that happened with Mu's trials. I feel like I personally have every reason to be cautious about this. Mu being framed as the bullied in After Pain to go to the bully in It's Not My Fault. Even though I want Mikoto to be Innocent this round-

I'd really like to avoid the whole After Pain to It's Not My Fault turnaround they're clearly setting him up to have trial three. Because trial three is an all or nothing game. You fuck up trial three and that could mean you're done, done. Even more so given that Mikoto would literally only have one innocent verdict and one guilty verdict unlike the prisoners that have been Innocent twice in a row.

So, maybe just maybe we should talk about this full ass other human being we see in his first trial music video. Because it's not John. Like the dude is clearly wearing different clothes from both Mikoto and John. So- who the hell is this?

Even if he were just dreaming about killing this guy. That still doesn't tell us who the hell this guy is!

Like wild- Who fucking is this?! He doesn't seem old enough to be the boss of anything let alone Mikoto's boss. Who is this person? The situation is still bad and if you hate abuse of any kind I can fully understand why you'd vote him innocent. Just be careful because Milgram has a habit of making people look like victims to simply turn around and show you how they've turned others into victims.

I'm just saying best to prepare for that possibility. Because this is what not preparing for it looks like,

Something that only gets funnier when you take into account they took down Amane's innocent verdict from the seventies day one to this,

Like girl nobody wanted to help you- That's fucking sad!

When she was on trial and this Guilty, I was like man there's really no way to turn a verdict around huh? But no, she was just that hated like daily for three months. There was a way to turn it around ya'll really could have.

Instead, thousands of people woke up daily for three months and chose violence. I am truly flabbergasted it is impressive it ended that high. Fuck Kotoko may not even be as Guilty as her.

Yes, the situation was bad. All the prisoners' situations were bad to some extent. Everyone's situation can be bad. However, a bad situation doesn't excuse worse choices. It's important that while recognizing someone's life is shit that one also takes into account, they did not have to make other people's lives shit in response. It's important to recognize showing empathy towards others, and extending forgiveness is not an endorsement of what those people do after or did before that moment.

It's recognizing they made a mistake and affording them the opportunity to make up for it at one's own discretion. Sometimes in order to be able to give someone true forgiveness someone has to recognize that person may never change, that person may never be the person you need them to be or want them to be and be okay with that. If your forgiveness comes with conditions, it's not forgiveness. It's just an agreement.

So, it's important to me personally that everyone at least tries to accept that regardless of verdict the prisoners may just get worse. Because to be blunt about it being nice to someone doesn't guarantee they'll be nice to you in return and not everyone meets cruelty with cruelty. People aren't defined by the words they speak but the choices and actions they commit to.

Pretty words only go so far. At the point someone is left to clean up the messes, pick up the pieces, and try to live in the wake of the destruction someone else caused they become well acquainted with the phrase actions speak louder than words.

Until someone has reached the point that they've said with complete sincerity,

"Sorry, you're sorry? What does that do for me?"

It's hard for me to believe people understand what an apology is for and who it hurts just as well as helps. This is why it's difficult for me to think others understand what they're saying when they say we're extending Forgiveness not trying to prove guilt or innocence. Because saying it that way can come off as claiming that forgiving someone is easier than condemning them for what they did, that it's less objective and based more on one's personal feelings than Guilty and Innocent is.

When it's so much heavier of a thing. Forgiveness is sometimes the only thing a person has left to choose when the world has been endlessly cruel to them. The only thing that people have personal agency over. The choice whether they forgive someone for how they have wronged them is treated as something easier than just objectively admitting someone's behavior is bad.

Forgiveness isn't meant to be easy it's not supposed to make you feel good. It's hard and even if you forgive someone it doesn't mean they're going to stop behaving in the way that hurt you before. Because giving someone forgiveness comes with recognizing that they may hurt you again, they may mess up again, and it could be worse than the last time simply because they're a person and that's what people do whether they intend to or not.

So, forgiveness simply based on the idea that the situation was bad, and they won't do it again now isn't forgiveness to me. Because it doesn't account for the fact that life will continue to be hard, things will probably get difficult again, these people may not know how to healthily cope, it discounts the idea that people will offend again they will make mistakes again and that doesn't make them any less deserving of forgiveness within reason than anyone else.

Because people are bundles of mistakes waiting to happen but that doesn't mean when those mistakes inevitably do happen it's okay to rub anyone's nose in it. Because the mistake of your enemy today can just as easily become your mistake tomorrow. Regardless of how good or bad your life is going.

All that to say Mikoto's situation is incredibly complicated for numerous reasons. Not all mentioned here. However, for the time being I'm glad his Innocent verdict is pretty secure despite its consistent decline.

[fictionadventurer]

Let's go for an obscure one...what can you tell us about Benjamin Harrison?

Benjamin Harrison was the grandson of William Henry Harrison, who got into politics partly to live up to the family legacy, and party out of a sense of duty to live a life of public service. By all accounts, he wasn't a natural politician--his handshake was compared to "a dead fish wrapped in brown paper", and his enemies said that talking to him was "like talking to a hitching post". Political cartoons at the time showed him as a little guy (he was 5'6") dwarfed by his grandfather's hat, and there was a general idea that he couldn't live up to his more famous ancestor's legacy.

But he was also a decent, upstanding guy who was friendly with people he knew well, and who loved kids and dogs. Stories were told about stray dogs that liked him so much that they would try to follow him into his law office.

Harrison was a precursor to some of the things that Teddy Roosevelt later became famous for. He signed the Sherman Anti-Trust Bill that fought against big business, and he was heavily involved in conservation. He created the national forests, and he was the first president who was involved in trying to make conservation laws to save a specific species. He tried (though unsuccessfully) to regulate hunting of fur seals in international waters.

Harrison is the president in the middle of the Grover Cleveland sandwich--his term sat between Cleveland's two separate terms--because the elections at that time were won by narrow margins, thanks to a pretty even split between the two parties and a bunch of newer parties eating into the votes. Both guys were pretty chill about the whole thing. Supposedly, when Cleveland and Harrison were riding together to Harrison's inauguration, Cleveland held his umbrella to protect his victorious opponent from the rain.

When Harrison ran for a second term, his wife died two weeks before the election. After he lost, people sent him condolences about the election and his wife, but Harrison said he barely noticed the election, because that loss was nothing compared to the loss of his wife of nearly forty years.

One last thing: after the Presidential episode about Harrison focused so heavily on him being this boring, upstanding, decent guy, I was very amused to find this speech from him after James Garfield was nominated as presidential candidate at the 1880 Republican Convention.

I am not in very good voice to address the convention. Indiana has been a little noisy within the last hour, and, though the Chairman of this delegation, I forgot myself so much as to abuse my voice. I should not have detained the convention to add any word to what has been said in a spirit of such commendable harmony over this nomination, if it had not been for the over partiality of my friends from Kentucky, which whom we have had a good deal of pleasant intercourse. They insist, sirs, as I am the only defeated candidate for the Presidency on the floor of this convention, having received one vote from some misguided friend from Pennsylvania, who, unfortunately for me, didn't have staying qualities, and dropped out on the next ballot. I want to say to the Ohio delegation that they may carry to their distinguished citizen who has received the nomination at the hands of this convention my encouraging support. I bear him no malice at all. But, Mr. Chairman, I will defer my speeches until the campaign is hot, and then, on every stump in Indiana, and wherever else my voice can help on this great Republican cause to victory I hope to be found.

Let's just say I did not expect Mr. Boring and Straight-Laced to show up with a speech that could be read as, "I lost my voice because I yelled so much at the guys from Kentucky."

[sequoiareachesforthesky]

I'm strongly against voting Amane guilty because :

1) I'm against voting any prisoner guilty in general. It's my human rights activist side taking over, sorry. I refuse to put anyone through any kind of psychological torture (constantly hearing voices putting you down and such), and I'm not even talking about restraints, this is just. No. Ever since trial 2 began and Jackalope explained what the guilty voting inflicted on prisoners, and implying that it will get worse as trials go on, I've been set on either abstaining or voting innocent. Just making sure that everyone is voted innocent (which has failed so far, as Haruka and Muu have been voted guilty.) But here it's even worse as Amane has been abused and tortured probably her entire life. I refuse to do the same things as her abusers. And that is enough of a reason for me to vote her innocent regardless of any other circumstances.

2) idc about the "what if she hurts Shidou" argument. Because if Kazui is voted inno, he probably will protect him and if he isn't, it's not like Kotoko's situation where she was the 2nd strongest prisoner. Amane can probably kill Shidou if she wants to, but only if no-one tries to stop her. This time, we're talking about one of the weakest prisoners. Shidou might not defend himself because Amane is a child and we know what he thinks of being put to death by a kid (his dream come true, in the end), but there are other prisoners who will definitely try to stop amane. Yuno for example. She won't let Amane get in the way of Mahiru's recovery. Mikoto's alter can't be restrained as of now (though Jackalope said he was working on it so who knows) so he might step up and defend other prisoners if voted inno (I would have said Haruka as well because he hates children and is the third strongest prisoner (according to the arm wrestling match results), but he'll be restrained and probably working on his suicide, so I'm guessing he won't be able to do anything).

But I get it. I get the argument. Shidou may be injured. But he can probably take care of himself and others still (he got voted 81% guilty he's basically the prison's god atp). And even if he's not able to patch himself up, I'm sure he can ask help from other prisoners (like Yuno). And really, right now, I'll be putting the child's well-being above Mal Practice's potential safety if you'll allow me. Oh and lastly, idc about Shidou the guy can die for all I care (this is a joke, but now you're aware of my own bias at least.)

Also this is a reminder to vote Kazui inno if it's the state of the prison you're worried about, because it's probably the best way to keep safe as many prisoners as possible. If you don't care about prisoners getting hurt, then don't bring up the Shidou argument for guilty Amane (although I haven't seen anyone making both the argument to vote Kazui guilty "for his own good" and Amane guilty "for Shidou's safety" yet. People have been fairly consistent with their arguments so far.)

Oh and did I mention that you have the opportunity to avoid putting the 12 year-old who was abused her entire childhood through even more torture? Yeah anyway. Vote however you want but for now I have laid out my main argument for inno Amane and counter argument to guilty Amane. Make what you will with that.