#a very specific negativity but there you go.

[thrashkink-coven]

anyways guys so the hot take of the week is that religious people are offended by demonolatry.

I can’t believe I have to say this but yes, Jews, Christians , Muslims, and all other people from organized monotheistic religions are probably going to be offended by you worshiping demons in general. Crazy concept but yes. Religious people get upset when they see people worshipping or working with demons they believe are evil. If you are concerned with the negative opinion of religious people, keep your practice a secret. It’s what we’ve been doing for centuries. The worship of these demons has never been popular or encouraged. That’s how demons work. They have specifically been demonized, working with them is more controversial than working with pagan Gods who have not been demonized. No it is not fair, that’s simply the way it is.

Regardless of who you are working with or where they come from, you will always be practicing an alternative form of spirituality if you are working with demons. You will always be subject to ridicule for it.

In the last couple posts I’ve made about this, people gotten so over consumed with the logistical claims I was making about the religions of Judaism, Christianity etc. that my main point was completely lost. It’s not my place to speak as a Jewish person, so I’m going to speak only as a demonolater and my experience. I’m still debating deleting that post because the point seems to have flown over everyone’s heads.

So I’m just going to be as direct as possible. Yes. Religious people have always and likely will always be offended by demonolatry regardless of what demon you’re working with.

If you’re using a name that was used by a religion to identify a negative spirit, you are very likely going to offend that religion by using that name and seeking them out. It’s up to you to decide if you care that your practice is offensive to others, because it always will be. The only way to work around actually appropriating any of these religions is to make these demons your own. Just as they encountered and documented these spirits, pagans and demonolaters can do the same, discover their own names, and use them to identify these spirits. In the very short conversation I had with (L*lit) on this subject, she was very excited about the idea. Many goetic demons don’t even use the names documented in the Lesser Key because they were recorded by people who did not respect them. Prince Cerberus never allows me to call him Naberius.

Of course these spirits don’t give the slightest bit of a shit whether your practice offends the church. Nor do they care if you use a Hebrew name. But humans care, and if a religion is asking us not to use the word they invented then okay. That’s easy to work around. We’re still going to be worshiping these demons.

Satanists, Luciferians, and all those who walk the left hand path have never been regarded positively by Christianity. They will never understand why we do what we do and how we benefit from it. This has always and likely will always be the case.

Lucifer isn’t going to abandon his cult because Catholics have a problem with his worship. Nor are the followers of Asmodeus going to stop worshiping him because Jews don’t like it. This is what demonolatry is.

At the end of the day, you will offend someone. That’s the reality of the left hand path. You will be hated and you will be used as a negative example. These energies have been demonized and so will you. If that’s too anxiety inducing for you, demonolatry might not be the path for you. This has never been a popular path for a reason. Demonolatry has never been about pleasing the church.

There’s 1000 other things that I do that are offensive to religious people. I find the accounts of ancient Christian magis and other religious people to be valuable because of the information they provided on these spirits. They were the only accounts of these spirits that have actually survived. But I have no interest in appeasing the beliefs of these magis, or really anyone else but myself.

So yeah. I can’t believe “demon worshippers are offensive to religious people regardless of which demon they are worshipping” was my most controversial take of 2025 so far, but yeah. It is what it is.

[maybeafrog-blog]

Leonardo and Autism

I am fascinated by the amount of autistic that 2012 Leo is, because unlike Donnie’s convenient tech savant situation, Leo’s autistic traits are solidly plot neutral to negative? He’s obsessed with rewatching one specific TV show (a cartoon with a repetitive and predictable plot), uses his favorite character to script his Leader Speeches to try to get his team to listen. He generally tries to plan every mission in detail and gets very frustrated when his brothers don’t go along with it/when plans have to be changed (at first- he gets more flexible over time). Leo also has an incredibly black and white understanding of morality and tends to take Splinter's teaching's as fact rather than advice, which can make him fairly gullible and easy to manipulate (the Karai situation), and he probably has the least social intelligence of his brothers.

It's interesting that the traits that make Leonardo such a paragon across most iterations have such autistic vibes. 2003 Leo is obsessed with honor but has a ridiculously hard time recognizing his own emotions (you kumquat!), and MM Leo's heroic personality can't be blamed on Splinter without that good Hamato ninja juice, so like, he's just like that. It sorta reminds me of anecdotes about undiagnosed autistic/adhd people thriving in the military-- "Ninja training" and all the rules that come with it probably works like crack on that neurodivergent turtle brain. Kinda makes me wonder about Rise Leonardo and his comparatively very lax upbringing-- obvi the guy would still be a lot more social and silly compared to most Leos, I think he's more ADHD than autistic, but how different would he be if he were trained in the structure of 2003 or 2012 Splinter?

Anyway, give me a Leo who trains everyday not just to get stronger, but because of how badly he needs that routine. How does he react when it's broken? How does he cope with being away from home during the farmhouse arc? Maybe a Leo with sensitive hearing that makes him great at noticing when they're being followed, but overwhelms him when he's too close to street level traffic? A Leo that tries to suppress his stims because that's not very cool stoic ninja of him? How would his brothers react to a Leo who's calm and focused in the midst of battle finally shutting or melting down over something seemingly small?

Also, 2012 Leo is very cute when he gets excited about his space show and it makes me want to squish his dumb turtle face. Give Leos More Hobbies (looking at you Mutant Mayhem, I'm glad he draws his silly lil comics in Tales but I'm concerned all his interests are gonna revolve around April or Ninja Responsibilities. My boy already has anxiety this shit is too much pressure for him.)

[rei-ismyname]

Nightcrawler on Krakoa - The Spark is not a religion.

During Dawn of X Nightcrawler felt uncomfortable with certain aspects of Krakoa, especially the cavalier attitude towards death. On the day of the first Crucible, Cyclops sought him out to talk through his own feelings on the matter and they discussed it at length. Kurt had no answers, only questions, though he did end the conversation with something definitive. 'I think I need to start a mutant religion.' Contrary to what I've seen many people say, he didn't actually start a religion. This is an exploration of The Spark, Kurt's very secular answer to the personal and societal questions he had.

Melody Guthrie chose to die and be reborn

Since I'm looking to prove a negative - 'The Spark is not a religion' - it would be helpful to have a definition of the term. Scholars, philosophers and theologians have been trying to agree on one for centuries with the mainstream having given up. I'll come back to this, but Kurt's own religious framework is Catholicism. Plenty to work with there.

Florilegium translates as 'book of flowers,' but its usage is the equivalent of 'zine' or 'scrapbook'

Kurt accepted that his feelings of discomfort were in part rooted in his faith, so that's where he began his examination. As shown above, he 'set aside metaphysics' quite quickly - he gave up on 'starting a mutant religion' for many reasons, not least because 'it's not for me to contest matters of faith.' His feelings, that something was missing from Krakoa, remained. An obvious religious marker is the 'The Book of Spark' and the biblic stylisation. As we'll see, it's just Kurt's diary and not a holy text. I speculate that some of Catholic trappings Kurt used during his quest tripped some people up, in the same way the call and response ritual after The Five resurrects someone felt 'culty' to some. I think Hickman was being deliberately provocative, but at the end of the day it's an affirmation of identity before the community and celebration of rebirth - an ad hoc element of Krakoa's nascent culture.

After some soul searching and 'self-distraction,' Kurt was about to give up on the project altogether. There were bigger problems on Krakoa, such as 'The Patchwork Man' (who ended up being Onslaught) and the aforementioned cavalier attitude towards dying. Chuck asked Kurt to investigate because he's better with people, starting with David Haller - Legion - son of Charles Xavier and Gabrielle Haller. After rescuing him from ORCHIS the two formed a friendship based on, among other things, a mutual concern about the sustainability of Krakoan culture.

Importantly, Legion was not a disciple of his father and his didn't take his promises at face value. His loyalty was to Kurt and to mutants in general. An outsider and an agitator, but with only good intentions. He advised Kurt to begin by interrogating the 3 laws, and along the way they met Krakoans who were similarly concerned that they were a nation but not yet a people. Having rejected the whole 'starting a religion' thing, the mission shifted to finding or establishing 'something that makes folks feel like they're all in the same story' - as Stacy X put it. Obviously the presence of Onslaught was a factor in the unrest, but he was feeding off what was already there.

'Murder no man' and 'make more mutants' certainly gave Kurt food for thought, but interrogating them didn't help much with his primary mission. 'Respect this sacred land' did, specifically reinterpreting it to include the people on it. He acknowledged that all the laws were flawed, but this one in particular set him on the path to the Spark. It seems simple in retrospect, obviously Krakoa needs to protect its citizens, but the Quiet Council kinda missed that. It's especially egregious when you consider the scope of the project - all mutants living side by side, including those that have hurt a lot of people and would continue to. Problems like that just don't go away, and with some of those mutants on the Quiet Council (cough* Sinister) people are going to feel unsafe and isolated.

That first line is important - 'this is not a mutant religion'

Needless to say, Onslaught was defeated. Defeated by the lesser known mutants as a large group, creating a mutant circuit inside Legion's head. Legion had the space and Kurt had the idea but the people chose to fight and love and live. They didn't listen to Kurt because of religious or political authority, they listened because they liked the idea.

The Spark is a philosophy, a way of living. It encourages choice, risk, individuality, and seeking happiness as a community and as a people. There's no worship, no reverence of a higher power, 'no prayer or veneration.' Zero exploration of eschatology. It's compatible with existing faith because there's no overlap, except for the community aspect. It's definitely not a bloody religion.

There is one alternate future where The Spark is turned into a religion/faith - the Sins of Sinister timeline. Mother Righteous hijacked it as a tool to control uneducated enslaved clones and drew on their faith and sacrifice to perform deeply harmful magic. Considering SoS was an exercise in perversion and abomination, in corrupting good things into their twisted dark opposites, The Spark as religion/tool of evil should tell us that the real thing is nothing of the sort.

Kurt does love the aesthetic of religion, as you'd expect, which explains why the communal holodeck in Legion's head is called The Altar. Altar is not a strictly religious term, though, and the altar is nothing like a church. Lost and Cortez (of all people) are telling people about it because it helped them with their own pain, given without reservation. You could ungenerously view it as evangelism, but if you do that then you've broadened the term to the point of meaninglessness.

Kurt didn't start a mutant religion, The Spark isn't a religion. Pass it on :)

[rekino2114]

I've got one for a reader who has burn scars like the character below with the danganronpa girls Kaede akamatsu, mahiru koizumi,,Ibuki mioda Tenko chabashira and Kirumi tojo and he's insecure about his relationship with them because of his burn scars causing them to reassure him of their love for him.

Kaede,mahiru,ibuki,tenko, and kirumi with a scarred reader

Kaede akamatsu

Kaede is an incredibly caring and sweet person, and even more as a girlfriend, she loves every part of you including your scars and burns

It genuinely doesn't bother her at all, and she actually thinks make you look even cuter than you already are

If you're OK with it she'd love to kiss your scars every night whenever you cuddle just to show you how much she loves them, she also makes sure she doesn't hug you too tightly just in case they still hurt

She can't understand why you would feel insecure about your relationship. She has already made it very clear that she loves your scars and will never leave you, but she will remind you how many times is necessary

"Baby, I already told you I love you so much and will never leave you. Your scars are a part of you that I love like all the others"

Mahiru koizumi

Mahiru also doesn't mind your scars at all. Sure, she was surprised when she saw them for the first time but she doesn't understand why you would be so self conscious about her

She genuinely thinks they're beautiful, she compliments them a lot and says how unique they make you look

Her main way of showing you how much she loves them is taking pictures of them, she'd love to just snap a lot of pictures of all your scars and burns and put them in a big album just for you two

If hiyoko ever says something about you or your scars, she will receive such a big earful from mahiru

"Y/n, listen to me, don't be embarrassed about your body it's beautiful, and I have hundreds of pictures to prove it"

Ibuki mioda

Ibuki thinks your scars are so cool. They genuinely might be her favorite part of your body, she says they make you look so badass

The first time she saw them, she gasped and asked if you got them fighting a dragon, and she kept that enthusiasm for all of your relationship. She genuinely can't stop complimenting them

She also loves to kiss your scars and draw patterns with her fingers on them while you cuddle. Sometimes, she specifically puts lipsticks to leave marks on them

She wrote a song about you (one of the many), and in the lyrics, she told you how she loved you and your scars were the coolest thing ever to her, she'd yell it to the entire world if you still felt insecure

"*gasp* what are you saying y/n? Ibuki thinks your scars are the most awesomazing thing in the whole world, you know you're super cool right? Cause I'll write another song about it if you don't"

Tenko chabashira

Tenko also thinks your scars are very cool they remind her of battle scars, and they make you look like a cool fighter to her

she constantly asks you if a degenerate male gave you those, and you always say no, but she still continues asking....she just wants to make sure that you're not lying and feel comfortable around her.....and also wants to go beat up the hypothetical guy who hurt you

Speaking of, she will absolutely beat the hell out of anyone who says anything even remotely negative about how you look, especially if it's a guy, if it's a girl she'll ask her to stop before acting but if it's a male then they should just say their prayers

Tenko loves you with or without scars. In fact, they just make you look cooler to her so she'd never leave you

"Y/n, what are you saying? Didn't I already say that your scars just make you so cool, I love them, and they're beautiful, and any degenerate male who says otherwise will have to face me!"

Kirumi tojo

Kirumi treats your scars simply like they're another completely normal part of you. She loves everything about you, and your scars are no different

She liked to tell you how cute and beautiful your scars are and how handsome they make you look, especially whenever she's washing you when you're bathing or showering together. She just really likes rubbing and caressing them

If anyone (kokichi) insults you for your body and scars she will simply scold them telling them that they shouldn't comment about people's appearances and then kiss you reminding you of how much she loves you and your scars

Whenever you're feeling down because of how you look, she's very quick to remind you that you're handsome the way you look and that she loves you so much also because of your scars not despite them

"Dear, please look at me, I love you, all of you scars, burns and all, I will always love you no matter what and your body will never make me change my mind"

[thebreakfastgenie]

Is it just me, or have liberals largely drained their poison of Bernie Sanders? I remember back in 2016’s aftermath you couldn’t throw a stone without hitting a dozen people saying he single-handedly got Trump elected. (Brainstatic even blamed him for personally ruining the Dems with young people)

I think we've just kind of moved on. There's still some anger at him, some for 2016 and some for 2020 and some for things he's done since then, but it's been years and we have bigger fish to fry. We can't re-litigate 2016 forever. I think some of the anger was exaggerated or misdirected because it was a very emotional time, so it's natural that this was recede over time. Some of it was also, in my opinion, kind of a tit-for-tat thing because people were so angry at Hillary Clinton and her supporters. I'd call that part not entirely reasonable, but very understandable. It is worth remembering, though, that most of it was based in very real grievances.

Bernie insisting on remaining in the primary after he'd been mathematically eliminated did contribute to the party being divided and by that point we could see how serious a threat Trump was going to be. A lot of the arguments people use against the Democratic Party "from the left" now, or just arguments the progressive wing uses against "establishment Democrats" originated with Bernie's rhetoric, even though in many cases he didn't use them quite as egregiously, he got the game of telephone started. Some of that I think he couldn't have reasonably seen coming, but some of it he could have. His complaints about superdelegates did give a lot of people an inaccurate understanding of the primary process in a way that eroded trust and created a false belief in corruption. That one I think he did knowingly to help him in the primary and I think it was wrong and had bad consequences. He introduced a whole new demographic into politics and specifically Democratic politics and I think he was very short-sighted about how he did it.

A lot of the worst stuff came from Bernie's supporters (really a vocal minority of them), not from Bernie directly, but he encouraged some of it to varying degrees. "Bernie or bust" was a real problem. I don't think there were many people who actually voted for Bernie and then declined to vote for Hillary Clinton, and I think of the ones who did, most of them would have simply not voted in the primary at all if Bernie hadn't run and would not have voted for Clinton anyway. However, the Bernie or bust rhetoric and the constant negativity about Hillary did hurt her campaign. And I think liberals were/are understandably angry regardless of material effect on the outcome, because that rhetoric shows a clear disregard for the threat Trump and Republicans hold. Partisan Democrats (and anecdotally I think a lot of liberals gained a stronger partisan identity particularly from 2016-21 in the process of organizing against Trump) are offended by Bernie being a Democrat when it benefits him and an Independent the rest of the time. Honestly that bothered me too, more so with his 2020 campaign than his 2016 one because he left the party in between, but it only bugs me slightly on principle, some people feel a lot more strongly.

There are liberals who dislike Bernie Sanders for other reasons besides Democratic Party infighting, too. The sexism issue is very real, though I have seen it exaggerated and used in bad faith. I remember when he called Planned Parenthood "the establishment" because they endorsed Hillary.

The other reason you're seeing less liberal anger at Bernie now is that he's just less relevant. Bernie and his followers, including progressive Democrats who were elected in the wake of his 2016 campaign, had a decent amount of influence from 2017 to 2024. It might not seem that way because leftist posters ignore or outright deny it, but it happened. The Biden/Harris administration got a lot of policy from the progressive wing, and they were just a bigger part of the national culture and conversation. The era of every corporate office adopting DEI and campuses doing land acknowledgments. 2024 put a pretty abrupt end to all that. The national mood has shifted to the right and the narrative about it coming out of both traditional and social media makes the shift out to be even stronger and more widespread than it actually is. Bernie's brand of leftish populism is no longer getting much attention or consideration, and won't for a while. I think a lot of liberals are also assuming the Democratic Party will pivot to the center, not necessarily because they want it to, but because historically that's what happens after this type of loss. Think Bill Clinton in 1992.

I'm going to add a little personal context about my opinion of Bernie Sanders because he's a very polarizing figure and I think I'm able to be a bit dispassionate about him in a way that's unusual online.

I was aware of Bernie Sanders before 2016 despite not living in Vermont. I have my issues with some of what he's done, but I still have an overall positive view of him for the most part. I supported him for a while in 2016 and stopped supporting him because I was dissatisfied with his campaign; I felt he was repeating the same talking points in every speech and he did nothing to convince he had a plan to actually accomplish any of his policy goals, most of which I supported. I already liked Hillary too (I adored her as a child before she even ran for president and rooted for her in the 2008 primary when I was 12) and throughout the campaign she came across to me as more prepared to do the job of president. In 2020, I voted for Joe Biden in the primary because by the Ohio primary Biden and Sanders were the only candidates left and I did not want to vote for Sanders. My priority in 2020 was beating Trump and I based my primary vote on that. I was angry at Bernie for running again under the circumstances, but I was angry at a lot of unserious candidates in 2020, it wasn't personal to him. My ultimate conclusion about Bernie Sanders is that I think he's a perfectly fine senator and I would feel fine voting for him if I lived in Vermont, but I do not believe he would be a good president. At this point, he's done some things, including recently, I dislike, but I don't hate the guy. I don't get mad at people who do, though, we all have our personal grudges. Mainly I'm unhappy that he ran for re-election this year when his state has a Republican governor. I think that was irresponsible.

I've definitely observed variation in how socially acceptable it is to speak negatively or positively about Bernie Sanders in liberal circles. Some of that is different periods of time, but some of it is just which liberals are in the room. The intense anger exists but it's never been universal among liberals. I think at various times people choose to stay quiet because arguing about Bernie Sanders won't accomplish anything so there's no reason to make people mad. I don't think it's a dangerous "you're not allowed to raise a dissenting opinion" thing, just people choosing their battles in social situations.

And, you know, maybe other liberals had the same experience I had of talking to normie Bernie supporters and remembering that most people who supported Sanders just liked him and happily voted for Hillary Clinton in the general and this whole feud mostly exists among people who are hyperengaged in politics. Very offline Bernie supporters are all over the place in New England and talking to them really helps me get a sense of perspective. There's more overlap between 2016 primary Sanders voters and resist libs than you would think if you spend all your time in online left-lib slap fights!

[asha-mage]

Could you do a snippet of Asahi from FFXIV for the prompt "voice"?

[Send me a fandom, character, or pairing and a one word prompt and I'll write a quick drabble for you!]

(CW: Child-abuse, victim blaming and general Garlean-Doma cultural problems.)

There are certain things that are not said in the Naeuri household.

Asahi's parents are very efficient at teaching him this lesson, without ever needing to put it into so many words. 'No' is the biggest taboo. His parents might occasionally phrase things as questions or requests, but the acceptable answer is always clear cut and obvious: ‘yes’, ‘at once’, ‘of course father’, ‘right away mother’. A negative answer is never expected or acceptable, even to rhetorical questions. If it ever seems like what they want is no, then what they really want is for him to stay quiet and express nothing.

On the rare occasion they actually want to know something specific- usually how his lessons on imperial etiquette or the Garlean tongue are going- they want a clean, concise report of what he has learned.

He’s long since mastered the art of giving his answers in a cool monotone, keeping a tight clamp on his emotions to prevent disappointment or excitement from showing. The best-case scenario is a sharp word and a reminder to stay on topic, the worst case well…

It had only needed to come to that once or twice.

Asahi knows that his opinions and feelings are of no consequence. His parents are only interested in his progress and the value it represents. His mother is tight fisted with their meager gil and every coin they pay to his tutor is spent with the hope of one day being repaid. Their questions are not made with the interest of parents in their son’s education, but stakeholders checking on an investment. Sentiment is for other people. People who don’t intend to rise above their circumstances.

Asahi’s parents are very aware of what they want- both from him and the world- and remarkably clear headed about how to get it. Asahi will learn to speak perfect Garlean, and master the manners and mores of the Empire. He will attend the military academy and find service with a high ranking legateus. He will make good connections and marry well. His parents will have comfort and wealth and never again have to toil in the dirt and crack their own fingernails. Anything that contradicts this plan is not to be considered or spoken of. To speak something is to threaten to make it real in their eyes- so doubt, reservation, and contradiction are ruthlessly and efficiently stamped out. And if it can not be stamped out, it is ignored.

It is this blindness that Asahi learns to manipulate early and often. If he leaves out a difficulty he is having in his lessons, or fails to bring up how a Garlean solider spat on him and called him a ‘filthy black eye’ then his parents will never learn of it on their own. They don’t want him to be struggling and so will accept his reports of success without question. As long as he keeps a tight grip on his emotions and tells them what they wish to hear, he has nothing to be afraid of.

It's something Yotsuyu has never managed to figure out. Yotsuyu presumes that, because something is true or right that it should matter. Yotsuyu thinks that because her anger is righteous, it deserves to be given voice, that because their situation is unjust and cruel, that is reason enough to speak about it. Her stubborn refusal to master her anger and outrage is the reason she ends sobbing and carrying heavy pails of water on a back striped with bloody welts so often, or else sent to the dark of the barn without supper or a blanket.

It’s her own fault, Asahi tells himself resolutely and frequently, every time mother seizes Yotsuyu by the hair or father hurtles a dish in her direction. It is not as if they have been unclear about the rules of the game with either of them. She acts as if her refusal to play at all is somehow noble. As if acknowledging that it’s wrong, all of it- the Empire, their parents, their society- will somehow change anything.

But Asahi knows better. Giving voice to such things is a useless exercise. The only way to change things is with power, and the only path to power is to play the game.

He tells her that one night as he’s helping clean and dress the cuts along her back and she laughs at him.

“You think if you get enough head pats and good marks and smiles you’ll have power?” She says through choked, ugly tears. “Real power? That if you bow and scrape and please enough, that it will matter somehow?”

Anger surges in him and he clamps it down before he can do more then press down the cloth a little to hard. Still Yotsuyu hisses and throws him a glare.

“I think it’s better then giving up.” He says quietly, instead of throwing down the cloth the way he wants too. He knows Yotsuyu hates him. He hates her a little bit too, for the strange cold feeling that blooms in his chest every time he has to watch her beaten, and for the voice that whispers do something do something do something in the back of his mind, even though there is nothing he can do.

Yotsuyu tries to scrub some of her tears away, but all she succeeds in doing is pushing the wet streaks of dirt around her cheek. “That’s exactly what you’ve done. I’m still fighting, but you…you refuse to admit theirs even a problem.”

Asahi clenches his fist. “You call this fighting?” He snaps, then forces a breath through his clenched teeth, and makes his shoulders relax. “Yotsuyu, please if you would just-“

“No.” She says firmly. “Never.”

“If you don’t bend they will keep going until you break.” He says, closing his eyes tight and only opening them when he’s sure that no tears will come out. He’s gotten very good at doing that over the years. When he does Yotsuyu has turned around to stare at him. Her eyes are cold and dark, like the ocean on a stormy night.

“Then I will break.” She says quietly. “But at least I’ll be able to live with myself till then. Will you?”

Asahi hates her so much in that moment. He hates the unspoken accusation of cowardice, of weakness. He hates that he knows it’s true.

He wants to tell her that he loves her, that’s she’s the only person who has ever understood him. That she’s wrong, that it isn’t her against him and their parents, but that it’s him and her together against their parents. He wants to tell her that he hates seeing her suffer and he just wants it to stop. He wants to tell her that he will find a way to make this right.

But there isn’t a point. She wont believe him, and he’s learned long ago that giving voice to something, even it’s true, is useless.

So instead, he lays the cloth aside and stands and says. “At least I will still be alive to regret.”

And then he leaves.

[witchiewitchie]

I would like to address an elephant in the room.

I've kind of reached my tipping point with the amount of slurs that people seem to feel completely comfortable using derogatorily in this fandom, so long as it's in the name of 'in-character' roleplaying.

I don't feel like calling anyone specific out, but these people will know who they are, and what's more, I'm sure that most people who are familiar with the plethora of It fandom tags that I've also used are unfortunately very familiar with these accounts.

Let me be clear: while personally, I do not have a strongly negative opinion of reclaiming slurs, there is a big difference between 'reclaiming', which overwhelmingly is seen as a process of taking back words and redefining them, and just straight up using a slur the exact same way a homophobic (or anything else) person would use them.

It is not okay to use the F slur, for example, as a derogatory term. This is a hard line that we must not cross, because no matter what, it is a term that has been used in the past and will continue to be used in the future as a way of discriminating against or otherwise insulting people.

Even if you want to defend yourself by saying that it is simply in-character roleplay, I would encourage you to take a step back and try to figure out why exactly perpetuating homophobia (which is what you're doing, for the record, if you use a slur derogatorily, no matter the context) is something that you must do, particularly in a public space, without any trigger warnings.

At the very least, trigger warnings are a must, particularly if you insist on using harmful words in public. I understand that in the current year most people are somewhat removed from such a thing as homophobic or otherwise LGBTphobic bullying and/or harassment -- which is a wonderful concept, to be sure! However, that does not mean that all of us are so lucky. Many people have trauma resulting from such kinds of bullying and/or harassment and would appreciate at least a tag that they can avoid, rather than having to walk on eggshells because of a lack of consideration by others.

I think this also holds true for any other slurs you might see people using, but I'm picking my battles where they need to be picked.

As a side note, I think that whether you as an individual feel comfortable reclaiming slurs or being around people who do so is entirely up to yourself, and no one can tell you what to feel or how to act about something that is so intensely personal.

Personally, I have participated in reclaiming slurs that have been used as insults for myself in the past, and to some extent do this even now, although much less often. However, I specifically do not use these slurs in public -- whether in real life or online -- because there is no guarantee that people who overhear or read your public message are not going to take it as A) you genuinely saying the slur as an insult or B) a go-ahead to use the slur as an insult.

I will again state though that it is ultimately your choice to reclaim or to not reclaim slurs, although I will reiterate that I believe that it is actively harmful to use these slurs derogatorily, and I do not think that it is a personal choice but instead a moral failing to use slurs derogatorily or to insult other people.

Sincerely, someone who was beaten up many, many times in school for being any number of slurs that people have now decided it is okay to use derogatorily even as part of those marginalised groups.

[nerdyfan1]

Carl vs Meeple

Ok I didn’t want to make a post like this cus I hate being negative but I always had this pet peeve of not liking when these two were compared together

Tho idk if Lawrie and Larry fans can (rightfully I may add) get frustrated by how ppl handled their characters I think I’m allowed to get frustrated by how this community portrayed Meeple dammit. Tho yeah I think the Carl and Meeple comparison are super skin deep. Ppl saw two “nerd” characters and just assumed that they were similar when in reality if you took the time to look into them they aren’t.

Carl is a nerd in the traditional sense. He is very book smart in nature and tends to be drive by curiosity. He will go out and look into things he doesn’t understand, like the purple crystals hence their mention in his bio. Carl is a guy who seems to stride for innovation and like most characters in this game a relatively nice, upstanding fellow. Chatty and excitable about his new discoveries. He wants to know everything he can about the gems and is always open to sharing his research. Fascinated by the mysterious and unexplained. Probably started his research around after watching what happened to Mike after his interaction with them. Even if their curiosity and stride to know more could be potentially dangerous it doesn’t stop him from pushing to learn more. Which to me makes him also seem either very determined or very stubborn. Maybe a mix of both.

Despite also being a nerd character Meeple couldn’t be any more different from this. Meeple is what you’d consider an internet nerd of sorts. They’re more knowledgeable on one specific topic, ie games especially boardgames, and yet lack more social awareness of situations. Meeple has tunnel vision and despite wanting friends fails to understand their own hypocrisy and how their cheating pushes ppl away from them. They immature too you get that very fast if you listen to their voice lines. Basically throwing tantrums when things don’t go their way. There is an air of egotism around Meeple’s character. Besides maybe Chester I can’t really see most other characters in this game staying around Meeple for long due to their more nastier attitude. It’s probably why they ended referencing Reddit in one of their voice lines. Meeple the embodiment of the stereotypical Reddit nerd. While not inherently evil Reddit users are typically associated with arrogance, pessimism and a constant need to complain about others while being the type of man child who hasn’t left their mother’s basement for too long.

These two personalities are just so drastically different from each other and I actually appreciate this cus it proves you can make different characters with own ideas and identities even if they are cut from the same general cloth. Not all nerd characters will be the same after all.

Post edit cus someone who actually knows how to English well pointed this out to me and it actually makes the Meeple vs Carl shit even funnier.

So um technically Meeple wouldn’t by definition even be a nerd. They be a geek. A nerd is smart in multiple fields and particularly book smart while a geek is like very knowledgeable in one area. Meeple is like super knowledgeable in games so they be a geek. Another difference between these two.

[kindheart525]

Shayleighlynne is absolutely desperate to be Kip and Dottie’s bestie. She practically follows them around town and constantly begs them to invite her into their friendship. She may not be able to tell you any personal facts about them despite watching them for so long, but she really wants someone to braid her hair and do makeovers and the whole works. Kip and Dottie reject her every time because honestly the way she goes about it is really creepy. However, rather than letting that stop her, Shayleighlynne finds a new way to get to the girls…

Through Kip’s workplace.

Pim is absolutely thrilled for his little girl and positive that this will be one of her most fun missions yet. He’s seen her interact with Shayleighlynne from afar and is convinced that they must be friends, and Kip hasn’t corrected him yet. She tends to not tell him when she doesn’t like somebody because she knows, more often than not, that it reflects badly on her. She doesn’t want to show her daddy such a mean side of herself. However, Shayleighlynne is one of the few cases in which Kip’s negative feelings are at least a little bit justified. Pim wouldn’t get it, though, so there’s nothing Kip can really do to avoid this.

Not that the company policy would let her, anyway.

It says so right on the plaque, Kip has to do anything her client asks. She swears Shayleighlynne knows this and is specifically taking advantage of that fact to make her hang out with her. She can’t get out of it like she can a regular encounter on the street.

At least she won’t be alone in this as Dottie is getting dragged along for the ride too. She may not be a Smiling Friend, but she can get roped into the company policy if Kip’s client specifically asks to invite her. While Dottie could have made up an excuse not to go (and she honestly considered it), ultimately she would not leave Kip to suffer by herself. She’s willing to be that social buffer. Anything to make her best friend’s life a little easier.

Thus begins a whole night of fun…for Shayleighlynne. For the other two ladies, it feels very strange. Everything they’re doing is stuff they very much enjoy when it’s just the two of them. Makeovers, movies, games, everything they’ve loved since childhood. At some points they start to wonder if they’ve been assholes by never including her; maybe she just needs a friend. But when they actually try, she makes no effort to learn anything about their interests and feelings even though they’re attempting to do that for her. She is ultra clingy yet somehow treats them like props at the same time, to create the illusion of an ideal friendship. It’s all a shallow performance. Kip and Dottie are willing to put up with it for a job, but that’s it.

Getting rid of her is harder than they thought.

It’s like a frilly pink prison in her apartment, but maybe they were a little rude to try to leave in the middle of the night like actual hostages. What’s one slightly unpleasant night? The least they could do is offer a proper goodbye in the morning. Maybe if they give Shayleighlynne the perfect night and do everything she’s been asking for ages, then she’ll finally be satisfied and leave them alone. Or so they think.

Unfortunately all it does is empower Shayleighlynne to come even more obsessive. She’s gotten a taste of what it feels like to be part of a friend group and she wants more. She craves it like an addiction. She could use that opportunity to go out and make her own friends, but there’s no way in hell of that happening. She wants Kip and Dottie. And Kip and Dottie only.

It might be time for that restraining order.

[nostalgia-tblr]

okay i sat on this take for years since people seem to go fucking batshit for that stuff but murray gold is by far the least weird doctor who incidental music composer and i mean that in a bad way.

[sysig]

For the last day of requestober, can you please draw something spooky/scary with Negative RGB? With all the cool lighting stuff you've been doing recently, I think it could be very dramatic, and I'd love to see him in your style!

Day 31 -Pl̷̼͙̯̼̟̈́͒̃̓͆e̵̢͔̞̤̯͗as̴̨͆̒̏e dö̸̧̢̝̳́͝ not̸̨̞͔̗͆̔͝ͅ ̶̦̋͒a̵̪͋̉̈́̒djus̶̪͔͎̘͈̍́̂̅̚t yö̶̙̺͎́͘u̷͚̙̿̓͆r sc̸̙͍͒rę̸̰̺̣̿̓͌̔̎en̴̏̈́͊ͅ

[icewindandboringhorror]

I've referenced before how I have a big google document to keep track of every media I've ever seen in my entire life (just for reference because I like to track everything possible lol… I am the Data Collector), but recently as I was updating it, I thought of actually evaluating them to find out random percentages (like for example, out of Total Shows Watched, what percentage did I finish vs. stop watching, what percentage did I like or dislike, etc.)...

Evaluating these things is made easier by the fact that I already place everything on each subsection of the list into 6 broad ranking categories, so I don't have to go back and guess to figure out how I feel about them or anything. The categories are: Ranking 5 - overall best* (despite some criticisms of course because I'm too much of an Analyzer to ever find anything Perfect lol) Ranking 4 - more positive than neutral, but not good enough to be 5 Ranking 3 - either the good + bad negate each other, OR it's just not memorable/interesting in any way enough to be ranked higher or lower (this is the Default category ALL things are placed in if no other rank applies) Ranking 2 - maybe a few redeemable elements but largely more negatives than positives Ranking 1 - So bad that it circles around to being fascinating to observe in some way (not necessarily Funny, or Good, but just interesting somehow) Ranking 0 - Bad in a genuinely frustrating or obnoxious manner

*("best" primarily defined here as most interesting, rather than most good in a technical sense, or some other measure. I tend to value more highly whether there's something novel or thoughtful about the worldbuilding, tone, writing, base premise, etc - than about whether it's actually executed perfectly.)

And here's the amount of shows that have so far been placed into each category -

TV shows ~ Rank 5 (highest) - 20 shows ~ Rank 4 (mid-high) - 28 shows ~ Rank 3 (neutral/default/meh) - 114 shows ~ Rank 2 (mid low) -33 shows ~ Rank 1 (low low but intriguingly so) - 14 shows ~ Rank 0 (iredeemably low) - 2 shows

This would make for a total of 211 TV shows overall. However, there are 57 shows within these list marked as "didn't finish" (typically meaning I quit on the very first or second episode - but log them still to keep a record that I at least had a brief view of them).

So my total of genuinely fully watched shows would be more 154. 211 Total, but a More Accurate Total of 154.

Counting them all and using the Total Number Of The List (211) -- that means roughly 9.5% of all total shows I have ever watched (or at least attempted to watch) have been Mostly Good, 13% have been Moderately Okay, 54% have been either entirely Forgettable or some mix of good + bad that lands them right in the Neutral Middle, 15.6% have been Mostly Bad, 6.6% have been Bad (but in an interesting way), and 0.9% have been Terribly Bad.

Additionally, I didn't even get past the first two episodes of about 27% of the total.

Sooo, discounting ones I didn't finish, my total TV shows ever watched in my life would be about 154 (maybe give or take a few, assuming I might have forgotten some from very long ago).

But instead of entire life, let's just say this is the total for 'About 20 Years' (so, not counting very early childhood when I likely wouldn't remember things I saw/have no detailed recollection of them (like for example, I'm sure at some point when I was like 4yrs old I must have seen an episode of Spongebob or something, but I have zero distinct memories of it, can't quote anything of it, and barely recall the premise - so I don't count it on the list, etc.)).

In that case, 154 divided by 20 would be roughly 7.7 shows a year.

Which is actually surprisingly low considering that I often have stuff on in the background for hours whilst I make sculptures and do costumes and stuff (maybe I should have also marked some distinction between 'things I fully paid attention to' and 'things I kind of half listened to whilst sculpting', but that would further split the categories too much probably lol), but I guess a lot of that is youtube videos or random documentaries, so .. eh.. maybe I get it being lower.

Now, doing the same thing for movies-

Movies ~ Rank 5 (highest) - 4 movies (3.4% of total) ~ Rank 4 (mid-high) - 12 movies (10.3% of total) ~ Rank 3 (neutral/default/meh) - 91 movies (78.4% of total) ~ Rank 2 (mid low) - 8 movies (6.8% of total) ~ Rank 1 (low but interesting) - 1 movie (0.8% of total) ~ Rank 0 (irredeemably low) - none in this category (0%)

That makes 116 for a Total (Actually Remembered) Movies Watched In Lifetime (Or At Least In 20 Years).

116 divided by 20 is roughly 5 or 6 movies a year (I feel this has probably been skewed though by adding everything since like elementary school onwards, as I remember a lot more movies from child/teen years.. Whereas, the past 3 years I feel like I've barely seen maybe even 5 movies?? lol). I also have "Didn't Finish" marked on 18 of them. Which means I quit halfway through about 15% of the total movies.

So, a for broader summary stuff..

I seem to be less forgiving to movies than tv shows, by far. Which makes sense to me, I guess, because I love elaboration and details, so "short form" things that only last an hour or two are often lost on me a bit. My biggest complaint with movies is indeed usually walking away just wishing there had been more exposition, more scenes where characters are doing nothing, more "mindless bantering" conversations, more Quiet Downtime and Lore Elaboration and so on lol, so... of course most 1-2hr films end up feeling a bit Not Enough To Draw My Interest/Nothingy to me.

If you count 5 and 4 as "like" and rankings 2 to 0 as "dislike", then for TV shows I at least somewhat liked 48 of them, and at least somewhat disliked 47 of them.. So it's almost exactly the same lol. I'm just about equally as likely to find something bad as I am to find something redeeming about it. But overall, the largest chance is that I just won't really care much for it at all and it will be tossed into the 'neutral' pile, forgotten forever. Movies have a bit better of a balance, "liking" 16 of them, and "disliking" only 9 of them. So I'm slightly more likely to enjoy a movie than to find it annoying - though still VASTLY more likely to just not find it anything in particular, possibly not even finishing it.

ANYWAY.. this is vague and literally pointless, but like I said, I just really find information fun. Like my document where I've rated every apple flavor I've ever tried (like 40 of them now?), or reviewed every oreo flavor (32?), or ranking data from my entire 10 years of Trying To Make Friends process (out of 100 people, roughly 8% chance of a moderate compatibility, 3% chance of high), or etc. etc.. I love to have random pointless things to analyze I suppose lol.

I doubt anyone tracks things in their life in this same exact way, but I'd be interested in hearing any at least somewhat similar data !!! (like, how many TV shows you watch a year on average, and what percentage of those you like vs. dislike (if you keep track of that sort of thing), etc.)). I guess it might be easier with movies, since I think some people use those websites where you curate a list of movies you've seen and you can rate them or something, so maybe the numbers are already available on those places. :0

[longagoitwastuesday]

Every day I am haunted by the fact JJK could be amazing but it will be just idk Bleach or something

[iliothermia]

It’s heartbreaking as a disabled artist to be reliant on always needing to make work and always needing to sell it. Always needing to sell everything you make to get by because there’s not other options for you. Not being able to plan bigger projects, not being able to hold onto anything. Not being able to take the time to work on things without feeling the timer ticking down because you need to finish something new to sell, so you don’t get the sleep you need.. And then when you do invest in future things you think are cool.. You will never be able to keep them. You can’t afford your own work, and owning art’s not a necessity and everyone around you is struggling, understandably.. most of them can’t either 

[bandsandwristbands]

Vent post

[steeltwigz]

Saw a post abt the Sonic movies that was like "plz filter negativity posts better" which is GOOD AND TRUE you should be doing that. Ok. But then they kept going to imply that the criticisms of the Sonic movies are all entirely Personal and Ignorable and not like. Usually abt the horrific copaganda, misogynistic writing, and Paramount's disgusting zionism.... Guys a lot of ppls problem w the Knuckles show wasn't JUST a bastardization of Knuckles' character or thinking Wade was annoying or whatever, but like was focused on the grotesque Zionist message from that one episode 😭😭😭 you can enjoy something and still recognize that it has intrinsic and huge glaring flaws and talk abt them. I think actually you Should be speaking up abt the misogyny, zionism and propaganda the SCU supports and discusses, ESPECIALLY if you like the movies! Its important to be able to recognize these things in media and admit that even media you personally enjoy can be deeply problematic, instead of hiding it away and pretending those HUGE FLAWS aren't issues actually....