#World wars am I right

[chicago-geniza]

Once again thinking about Jacek Malczewski, Polonia II, 1914 // C.D. Batchelor, New York Daily News editorial cartoon, 1936

[eelo]

[mermaidslabyrinth]

It is with great honor and excitement that I present my OC, Rhagerys Targaryen (son of Daemon). Alongside his cousin/lover Aemond Targaryen.

This is all thanks to @elcoffin and their wonderful job at bringing my guy to life. I am forever grateful to them. They were so patient and kind in helping me create the picture and how Rhagerys was to look. I will be singing praises about @elcoffin and their wonderful talent for years to come. Because of them, I have a tangible image of my Rhagerys Targaryen. I am beyond appreciative.

Also a special shout out to @dr-aegon. If it wasn't for them I would have never known that @elcoffin's commissions were open. So, in a way you also helped me see my guy come into existence. Forever thanking you!

The power of reblogs is the reason this all happened.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Bingqiu ponies (Happy Birthday @Piosplayhouse!)

[ros3tl]

I love this duo. They're so silly

Anyways has anyone done this yet?

[bluespiritshonour]

Mai does figure into Zuko's redemption in a very subtle way by being neutral.

If she were actively prowar he wouldn't have felt comfortable voicing his turmoil in front of her and working it out loud. The fact that he still did it despite her being Azula’s bestfriend says he knows her views.

If she were antiwar... The effect would have been the same as what Iroh had on Zuko. Only he could change himself, no one else was gonna do it for him: hence it was important that he was separated from Iroh so he could forge his own path.

And without Mai being the only person he sought comfort from when his bad choices were catching up with him—he’d never really have processed it in a safe space.

I always like to think that in Ba Sing Se he was too much in survival mode—being given a chance to return home and then leaving it all behind was important because he needed to get down from survival mode and actually evaluate everything.

In The Beach he says that he should be happy that Ozai supposedly talks to him and thinks him a hero—except, his sour mood throughout the episode has to do with Ozai having gotten them out of the way. It wasn't that he had everything and realised it was hollow: it was more like he went back and realised what he was longing for didn't exist.

That explains him telling Sokka that his only regret was breaking up with Mai. He had to give up something to show that the right choice was the difficult choice and it sure wasn't Ozai’s love (which wasn't there. He comes to terms with the fact that it wasn't there). It was Mai’s.

[vaguely-concerned]

you know what I think I was kind of cooking with caterina/johanna hezenkoss as a concept actually. it's giving gilf andruil/ghilan'nain narrative echoes and also if hezenkoss teaches caterina to become a lich/become basically immortal by other and probably even more immoral means lucanis won't have to be first talon anymore and can focus on what he likes about the job (i.e. the actually killing people part not the admin work). everybody wins (*glados voice* ...except the ones who are dead. BUT THERE'S NO SENSE CRYING OVER EVERY MISTAKE --) . here's how toxic yuri can still save the day and also make it worse

[francesderwent]

it’s interesting to me how close songs like “Would’ve Could’ve Should’ve” or “The Manuscript” get to a robust ethics of love versus use. beyond simply the assertion that leaving is a betrayal of love which ought to be forever, these songs contain a pretty strong rejection, specifically of sex where it did not belong and had no business appearing. she can say, not just you leaving was cowardly, you ruined something real, but I regret you all the time—I wouldn’t do it all over again, any of it. not just you hurt me within the bounds of our love story, but this wasn’t above board at all. it wasn’t love. you took advantage. another way to say this: “Would’ve Could’ve Should’ve” and “The Manuscript” recognize that sometimes sex is a sin. not leaving afterwards, but sex itself. for the first time, we’re presented with a love story that couldn’t have been saved by an eleventh hour confession of love, by “don’t go” or “I want you for worse or for better” or “the worst thing that I ever did was what I did to you”. the whole thing is rejected as poisoned.

but these songs can only make such a strong statement because there’s the age gap to point to. to the modern mind, it’s easier to recognize use when there’s a clear power imbalance, but I think we’re getting the causation wrong, or at least oversimplifying it. the reason there shouldn’t be sexual relationships between people of drastically different ages isn’t that older people and younger people exist as such in relationships of imbalanced power. a healthy relationship between a mentor and a mentee or a teacher and a student is about guidance and education and protection and respect. these things aren’t “good” exercises of power or restrained power, they are not exercises of power at all.

power enters into the equation when one party decides to use the other. this choice transforms every difference in the relationship into an inequality, every imbalance into a threat. this wasn’t always secretly there under the relationship, it’s a totally transformed new kind of relationship now that use has entered into it. the more differences and asymmetries there are to start with, the more dramatically unequal the new relationship is—not because the relationship was bad inevitably and to begin with! but because these relationships are more vulnerable and so bringing use into them is a greater corruption, which magnifies the damage that is always there. even a perfectly “equal” relationship becomes a power struggle when use enters into it.

but the further step which is invisible to modern eyes is that sex, outside of marriage, does this all on its own. somebody who sleeps with you without marrying you is using you, full stop. and as much as I think this revelation is between the lines of Tortured Poets (and I do think that, it’s in the parallels between the two men!), she can’t face it head-on. there is no she thought about how he said since they loved each other, everything had been above board…she wasn’t sure. because modernity is so convinced that that has to be above board. so the closest thing we get to a song that speaks to that creeping feeling that she was used again is the mashup of Sweet Nothing and Hoax, and her derisive conclusion: all that you ever wanted from me was sweet nothing.

[marklikely]

no literally this is how its been the last couple weeks

[gxlden-angels]

I cannot express the anger I experience being unable to do anything about anything while Christians salivate over the idea of the Israel-Hamas conflict being a sign of the Rapture

[daebelly]

i simply do not understand the drive of some people to put down any attempts to improve, to get to a 'normal' level of kindness, productivity, healthiness, etc as "the bare minimum," which isn't 'worth praising.' humans respond positively to praise, and continue to do good things when it means good things are said to them or happen to them as a result. this is elementary shit, and it's why people do horrible shit--it benefits them, so they keep doing it. to ignore this simple mechanic in humans is completely asinine and will make just about every effort you make to improve things much harder. does a child learn to love reading if you huff at them and say that it's the bare minimum when they read their first book? does a teenager learn to respect themselves if taking care of themselves gets them seen as preening self-service? does a parent get to learn from their mishandling of their child raising strategies and figure out that they've improved things via positive feedback? or are all of those things 'the least they could do' and not worthy of praise? what a bizarrely cruel, shriveled mentality some people have.

i had initially replied this in response to someone being weirdly mean about someone fixing their parenting, but i figure it fits better as a post because quite frankly i find that mentality exhausting.

[fionnaskyborn]

People like this have made me terrified that I am mischaracterizing my favorite character by playing into his strengths and emphasizing them so much... That I'm making things "too anime", "too over-the-top", and by doing that straying away from the groundedness that made the character compelling in the first place... But I think it's better to be a fan who loves someone so much they're willing to step into goofy over-the-top showcases of strength and morals out of love than being a fake fan who only ever rags on what they proclaim is so dear to them. I dunno. I don't think I'm wrong in saying that. I'm hella insecure when it comes to my own writing, especially with this guy because I want to do him as much justice as I possibly can as a writer. But I have to convince myself that it's not too much.

[kinneydrugsoflc]

I am no longer concerned if Amsterdam is swallowed by the sea. You fuckers deserve it after doing a POGROM in the year of our Lord 2024. Not only are you hateful and stupid for not doing a damn thing to stop it, but also for riding that high of Jew hatred well into the next day. (Looking at your stupid fucking cabbies asking if there were more tourists that "look Jewish". NOT Israeli, but JEWISH). Like, what the fuck is that, Holland??? FOR REAL????

I'm not even going to touch on how the Dutch got this bad in the first place, but there's a reason you cowards folded in 5 days to the Fucks with red armbands. It's because you didn't give a shit that it was happening because it would happen to Jews. It's no different now, you're just taking a more enthusiastic approach. GFC or re-evaluate your behavior as a whole, ffs.

[vaguely-concerned]

do you think arranging the little veilguard tableaus of npcs standing around together was fun. I think it would be fun. I would make up soooo many dumb intricate little stories for all of them while I was placing them around the map and no one playing the game would ever know about it. but I'd know. I'd know their stories

[loverscrossmp3]

LIKE A RABID DOG. coming soon to an ao3 near you.

[wizardnuke]

i love dnd..i love playing heavy utility/support/backfield and i love having three to six attacks in a turn and an insane ac. at heart im a support player ill get my hands on whatever we're missing in a group