#about how so much of what we do is driven by love

[skyscrapergods]

You probably have heard this a thousand times over but still, I adore your Skycraper God's au.

I particularly love what you did for Twilight and her ascension to God hood. For something that is more 'realistic' you gave her a destiny that feels far kinder than what she had in canon (or at least what they end up implying) and a better representation of her role as the princess of friendship. Idk I teared up a little bit when I read about her anyway your art and world building are real cool

I don't really consider skyscraper gods to be more realistic than Canon, just more fleshed out. More explored and concrete. I mean, Celestia is so massive she should have her own gravity. And anypony can supposedly become that through prayer?

Yeah. Not more realistic, simply more Explained.

Twilight's fate in the show really felt like "uhh we need more plot. I know, let's do this!" Rather than something that makes sense from a character driven perspective.

"Anyone have ideas for a bombastic finale?"

"Lots of shows have the MC become ruler so let's do that"

"Epic! She's totally queen now"

"Wait what about the current rulers?"

"Uhhh they just don't wanna rule anymore. Vacation time"

"Yeah that works. Film it"

Instead of considering what the characters do and want to do with their lives. Flurry heart sure does exist! They comment on how unusual it is for an alicorn to be born but nothing happens. She doesn't age. Doesn't even become a toddler because they didn't think beyond "baby alicorn for the toy sales"

So that's where the unkindness of canon comes from. Doing things for the hell of it and not considering if the characters would actually want it.

When I do that, and i force things upon characters that they don't want, I explore the suffering it entails. Then, I let the characters shape their destinies as much as they can, to relieve their suffering and find joy even in uncrollable circumstances. I don't just draw a smile on and say they are happy with their fates.

Happy endings don't exist. Endings in which people are happy do, but they take work, perspective, and forgiveness to achieve.

[theblackfemininesociety]

It’s a NEW YEAR besties,

We know you ladies are booked and busy with New Year resolutions, goals and plans to prosper (or we hope you are!) we just want to step in and remind you that BALANCE is the key to avoiding burnout and remain in your feminine energy.

Tip #1: Quiet Time With God

We will always encourage you to stay close to God and build a relationship with Him. Seek and you will find! Go to that quiet place and dwell in the Spirit of the Lord and the Word. The Bible teaches so much about life and even femininity! Here at BFS we know Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. We will do a deep dive on femininity and the Bible soon! So stay tuned for more!

Tip #2: Plan It Out!

January is the perfect time to start using a planner! We need you to become the kind of woman that is always taking a moment to write down and plan out her days, weeks and even hours to stay focused, productive and balanced !

Utilizing a planner not only keeps you organized but also establishes a routine that transforms you into the woman you've always envisioned. By planning, you can schedule meaningful moments of self-care, ensuring you prioritize your well-being and happiness.

Tip #3: Self-Care Days Are Mandatory!

This is a rule we hold all of the sisters of BFS to! You MUST have self-care days where you love on yourself and get away from life for a moment, a day, or even a weekend. This is key to remaining a soft woman in tune with her femininity as you balance life!

Prioritize your self-care in whatever way feels right for you, ignoring the consumer-driven videos on TikTok promoting an ideal skincare routine. Self-care days are unique to each woman. Concentrate on practices and rituals that acquire reflection, alleviate stress and anxiety, and promote relaxation ! This is a crucial part of you remaining in your feminine energy while balancing life.

You need some self lovin ME TIME! this non negotiable and make sure you romanticize this time. Spice it up a little, try a new recipe or plan a certain genre of music, put on some nice pj’s or even buy flowers.

Tip #4: Set Boundaries!

Assess Your Priorities! Regularly evaluate what’s important to you and learn to say NO to commitments that drain your energy or don’t align with your values.

Practice how to Communicate Clearly — Be honest with others about your needs. Clear communication encourages others to have respect for your boundaries. If they cannot do so, then you know they do not deserve to be in your life!

Tip #5: Seek Supportive Relationships (Don’t Be Afraid To Ask For Help)

Build Your Girl Gang — Surround yourself with friends who empower and support you. Engage in deep conversations and share experiences that nurture your spirit. We are so passionate to give Black Women a safe space so much so that we created “The Ladies Room” a Groupchat of like minded woman, ready to support, encourage and hold each other accountable! Click Here to Join

Tip #6: Balance Masculine and Feminine Energies

Take a moment to appreciate the good things in both sides of your personality. It’s important to be assertive when you need to, but don’t forget to be open and nurturing too. Know when to trust your gut and embrace your intuition, and when it’s time to take charge and be assertive. Finding this balance can really improve how you handle things overall!

Tip #7: Celebrate Your Femininity

Start by dressing for yourself! Wear clothes that make you feel beautiful, confident, and feminine, regardless of the occasion. Then, engage in Feminine Hobbies, explore activities traditionally associated with femininity, such as baking, sewing, or floral arranging, that resonate with you. This helps with not only tapping into your femininity but also giving you tools and outlets needed when you feel like life is too overwhelming!

Were basically besties now!

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[supervisormeero]

Happy Syril Appreciation Day! (Abbreviated as SAD, which... seems fitting.)

If you've been following me for any length of time, you know how I feel about Syril. I appreciate him. But even setting my personal feelings aside, I think Syril's worth acknowledging as a standout among Star Wars villains in that he fails early but doesn't die, which allows us to see who he is beyond the "bad guy" mission he failed to complete. Star Wars is frequently uninterested in delving into why its villains are villains; those types of character explorations are left off-screen to a tie-in novel or comic, or simply never explained. With Syril, because he has his gloriously terrible, horrendous, career-fracturing failure a quarter of the way through the season, viewers are then treated to (or forced to watch, I guess, if you hate him) an exploration of his home life. We see his mother, a fussy, backhanded-complimenting, generally disagreeable and dislikable woman who seems to measure Syril's importance by what he's accomplished. We see her gloomy apartment. We see the many insults and slights and painful cuts that never healed right — we see the few sickly seconds of sunlight that limp their way down to Syril's level on Coruscant. The elevator descending when he presses the button (with his sleeve! Ew, germs!) was a quiet standout moment in the first season; it brings so much of him into focus without a word. He's a villain and fascist, sure, but he's also a product of the pain, neglect, and immense sadness that created him. Sometimes, Star Wars forgets to show viewers that second part.

Does this absolve Syril of the general weirdness and creepiness he displays when he confronts Dedra? No — but it does give depth to it, and because we've sat with him for so long and felt the tension and dread in those scenes with his mother, his desperation doesn't seem far-fetched. It doesn't seem entirely out of character when he steps into Dedra's path and, in beautifully cringe fashion, thanks her for getting him promoted, sort of pleads with her to notice him, and maybe tries to tell her she's his whole reason for living. Read into that moment what you will. Denise Gough and Kyle Soller have incredible chemistry, regardless of whether you saw a spark or feel her reaction was one of untainted disgust. The point is that while Syril does a number of questionable things, the writing behind him is so impeccable that we, as viewers, understand what would drive him to do those things. Yeah, it's funny to watch him completely mess up what could've been an inspiring speech, or eat cereal as a 35-year-old man, or to hear him whine about his mom going through his private box (he has ways of knowing!). But Andor does more than simply make him pathetic: it gives him dimension and makes him real, by showing us both the uptight, harsh-yet-misguided deputy inspector at Pre-Mor, as well as the driven, desperate man who learned long ago that he's only valued based on the number of medals pinned to his chest, so to speak. His mother's love is contingent on how high up the ladder he climbs, so of course he learned to believe in the Empire. Tony Gilroy and his team make Syril Karn make sense.

Here I'll sneak in a paragraph about his relationship with Dedra, if anyone's still reading at this point. I've written about them at length in the past, but I both agree and disagree that their relationship isn't romantic. I agree in the sense that I could see nothing happening between them in canon, mostly because I think Dedra's too exiled from her own humanity to understand the concept of love. I disagree in the sense that I do think Syril, in his way, loves her — or he believes he does. After all, Kyle Soller has used the word "love" multiple times to characterize Syril's feelings. In interviews, he's clearly framed Syril saving Dedra's life as an act of love, rather than one motivated by determination to get into the ISB. No, Syril doesn't express that love in a healthy way, but... again, thanks to the writing, we're able to look at the sole example he ever had of love to draw from. (Doesn't make it okay — just offers an explanation for it, which is more than we get with most Star Wars villains.) Is he obsessed with Dedra? Yeah. Is that the foundation for a healthy relationship? No. But obsession and love can co-exist in a way, and I think his attitude toward her contains shades of both. I think he's in an obsessive kind of love, a self-destructive infatuation, and whether that matures to something deeper or ends up breaking him into a billion sad pieces in Season 2 remains to be seen. At his core, I think he's really looking for love: but he's looking for it within the Empire and/or with Dedra, and neither can give him what he needs.

I could go on. I could talk about how my personal percentage estimate on Syril getting a redemption arc is 50-50, and that if he does turn Rebel, it'll have something to do with what we've assumed is an arc spent on Ghorman before the massacre. I could talk about his flawless costuming, and how Michael Wilkinson's work adds many additional layers to his character beyond the writing. I do want to mention Kyle Soller's acting, because he takes a character who could've been tiring to watch and makes him captivating. Every lip-twitch, side-eye, and stare is played perfectly.

So, hooray for Syril! Love him or hate him, there's no denying he's a well-created character on a well-created show. And I, personally, love him.

Character Appreciation Friday - Syril Karn

Name: Syril Karn Played by: Kyle Soller Appearances: Kassa, That Would Be Me, Reckoning, Aldhani, The Axe Forgets, Announcement, Narkina 5, Nobody's Listening!, Daughter of Ferrix, Rix Road

Happy Friday, fam! We're really getting to the meat of it for Appreciation Friday from here on out, starting with our number one sad cereal boy, Syril Karn.

Love him or hate him, there's so much to appreciate about this little weasel of a character. So let me know what you think in a reblog, comment, or ask! (and remember, do not be an asshole if you don't like him. learn to say it in a respectful way or don't say it at all)

Next week: Kleya Marki

[sedumlineare]

STORIES WHERE LOVE IS THE CORE WHERE LOVE IS WHAT DRIVES PEOPLE IT’S LOVE IT’S LOVE IT’S ALWAYS LOVE

[howtodisappearcompletelyand]

20/10 stars little guy

[vv-ispy]

Ships that could have worked out if it wasn't for one (1) thing

[feline-evil]

Dick or no dick confirmation Pickles was always going to be trans to me anyways; if he's swingin' somethin that's phallo babes, if he's not then his t-dick fat. What's not to get.

[longagoitwastuesday]

I am liking Jujutsu Kaisen, way more than I imagined I would, but I foresee it will let me down and it's keeping me from enjoying this as much as I could haha

I think the characters and dynamics are well set, and I think many of them have an incredibly good and deep potential, but I would be willing to bet they'll not get a proper development, enough for them to really hit. A well assembled set of gears is not enough to make the movement go, you have to wind the clockwork.

I think Gojo and Megumi have a fascinating and very complex dynamic, but I doubt it will be given the time and care that imo it needs to actually work. And it is going well enough for now! One could see the intimacy between them was deeper than the one Gojo had with, say, Yuji and Nobara ever since the very first few episodes despite the fact Fushiguro too was a first year. But the pieces forming what they have are extremely complex, and it just wouldn't be realistic if it doesn't show, even if in a not showing way, or if it doesn't have consequences or implications.

It's one of those dynamics that shape one's life, the way one regards the world, the way one establishes or not relationships with other people. It's one of those dynamics that could be full of fondness, gratitude, resentment, admiration, trust, and that imply intimacy, the good kind or the bad, even if in just the knowledge of someone who's been a constant through your life. It could, and would, imply a myriad of feelings, and probably in such a mix it could imply contradictory feelings too. Even the nothingness would weight, even the nothingness would be significant and meaningful.

Gojo took Megumi and his sister under his wing, the son of a man who murdered him, because of both selfish and selfless reasons. Megumi looks like Toji. What does Gojo feel about this? How does Gojo deal with this? How does Gojo go about taking care of Megumi? Would he walk him to school? Make him breakfast? Celebrate his birthdays making him blow candles? Did he take him to the zoo? Does the relationship between them feel professional or is it something more? Gojo appreciates his students, but is Megumi to him just another student? When Gojo faces Sukuna in Megumi's body, did he see the kid he raised, or does he just see Sukuna in one of his students' body? Did he have one faint wavering instant? And how does Megumi feel about this? Is he resentful of him? Resentful of the situation? Of the selfishness behind his actions? Does he feel like a pawn? Is he grateful? Does he resent feeling grateful? Would he rather not? Does he love Gojo? Does he feel nothing about him other than what he could feel about a teacher that sort of annoys him but knows he's reliable in his strength? Does he think it unfair, cruel or unfeeling that Gojo is close, closer perhaps, with Yuuji or Yuta, considering their story? When Sukuna slices Gojo in two, does the remnants of Megumi's soul tremble?

And not just Megumi and Gojo. Yuuji and Nanami, Gojo and Nanami, Yuuji and Fushiguro, Nobara and the boys, or Nobara and Maki, Todo and Yuuji or Yuta, Gojo and Yuta, Megumi and his sister. Gojo and Geto, even! If the pieces are well set, the dynamics are intriguing, interesting, and have potential to be deep, but then the characters have like two plot relevant scenes that punch you hard, but little more, it's not nearly enough. Especially not nearly enough for the enormity that is shonen dynamics and situations. And the potential existing at all, and then not delivering, makes it all the more frustrating when you're left with something mediocre that could have been so good.

The development of dynamics through not only a few plot relevant gut wrenching moving scenes, but also the smallness of life, is important. The friend who recommended this to me said that those things were just unnecessary filler, but I disagree. I think there's a big difference between a large amount of anime-only filler episodes whose existence is based on the fact they had run out of manga chapters to animate, and moments of quietness. The low stakes character-driven moments of quietness can be so telling and so insightful, and they are so satisfactory when brought back later in higher stakes situations. My friend teased me there was no scene of Gojo making breakfast to Megumi, that it would be an idiotic idea, but it would be so telling. How he makes breakfast, what they eat, if he tries hard or if it's all mechanised, if they have personal bowls or if they use whatever, if he just buys them some pastry on the way to school, if the way they have breakfast changes through the years, or if he doesn't make them breakfast at all! All that would be very insightful on their dynamic and its evolution. All that would give a glimpse on how they regard each other and why, even in the present. All that could become meaningful in tense situations and high stakes scenes.

These moments also let the plot breath; if a lot is happening all the time, if every character is always experiencing trauma after trauma, the entire story is so emotionally draining that at some point you don't even care all that much. Besides, these nothing moments or low stakes plot arcs, besides deepening and developing dynamics, also let some in-world time pass, which would make the intimacy and bond between characters more believable imo; between Yuuji eating Sukuna's finger and their last confrontation in December how much time has passed? A few months? Am I truly to believe these characters are so everything to each other in only a few months?

Without some smallness, some repetition, some daily life, some low stakes not plot-centric development, the dynamics don't hit, they don't truly feel fleshed out, and dynamics as complex as the ones Megumi and Gojo have, or as supposedly meaningful as the one Megumi has with Yuuji or his sister, should be fleshed out if they're going to exist at all. Otherwise they'd risk making the writing feel awkward and fake. Besides, if the dynamics felt well fleshed out and realistic, they would shape the way the characters interact and act, and how they deal with situations, thus being plot relevant.

The shonen genre has so much happening all the time, the stakes are so high, the dynamics are so rooted in big events and the relationships carry enormous weight and implications. Yet they barely get developed, and it feels so stupid, so plain, the absence of something so important noticeable like a constant void, a shapeless nothingness present in every scene. It makes the characters feel like cardboard figures. Jujutsu Kaisen is already getting a better job than many, but I doubt it will do enough for what I've heard, and I fear I am bound to feel let down, and bound to feel unmoved.

After all, if not enough time and care has been given to develop a dynamic, I am not going to feel pressured by the high stakes; if not enough time and care has been given to develop the dynamic between Megumi and Yuuji, as good potential as it has I am bound to feel little for this last confrontation between Sukuna and Itadori, and his effort in getting Megumi back.

[benvoliotheorphan]

Me: Yeah I don’t think I can really ship Kratos with anyone. It’s just really hard for me to imagine him in any sort of romantic relationship. Yes I know he was married twice, but still-

God of War Ragnarok: Shows flashbacks of Kratos with Faye

Me, with tears in my eyes: Oh, okay, nevermind.

[badolmen]

“I don’t know why the op said this happened yesterday when this news is four months old”

This may shock you but it’s an election year in the US and even “the lesser evil” utilizes propaganda.

[pinkcadillaccas]

Anyone else feeling the relentless march of time on this Saturday night

[this-love-is-delicate]

Crying while reading the romance novel at 4am

[pastafossa]

I love this take, like YES. Both of them are motivated by these massive hearts, and the same empathy. They feel the same driving fire when seeing an innocent person's pain. If all crime suddenly ceased, they'd both hang up their batons guns kevlar devil suit tools most likely, and they would and have absolutely taken those bullets both physical and metaphorical for others. It's so important to realize that what they do is something they do in response to the suffering of others. It's not a decision they made in a vacuum, and it's not something you can just ask them to stop while that suffering continues (though we see them both try to walk away from it at least once). Because they can't. They can't stand to see that suffering, and so they both, in their own ways and driven by the pain of others, set about trying to prevent it, to save lives.

And ironically, the issue they have over how to do that is one of the oldest ethical debates around: do the ends justify the means?

One ethical side, Utilitarianism, says the ends absolutely justify the means. It's focused on consequences, on a formula: does this help more people than it hurts? If it does, then it's moral and you go through with it. That's where Frank stands. He kills a murderer not because he finds killing fun, but because he looks at the murderer and believes, 'I'll prevent more people being harmed by killing this one person.' And logically, it makes sense. If that man would go on to harm 20 other people, killing that one person seems moral. Cut the chain, and the line of suffering stops. He's preventing harm and suffering by taking out those who harm others, and the reputation he spreads discourages others from going after innocents because they know that the Punisher can't be reasoned with, can't be convinced, and he won't let them walk away. They'll just be dead.

The other side, the side Matt tends to follow, is deontology. In this category, the ends don't always justify the means. An action is judged not on potential consequences, but on whether the action itself is right or wrong. Matt will beat folks up in defense of others, send them to jail where their harm can be restrained, but all of those actions in and of themselves can be considered right. Murder, however, is always wrong to him, no matter what the potential future consequence is, because human life is inherently valuable. He clings tight to that, and to the chance for redemption - even a murderer might have a scrap of good in them, and that scrap of good is worth saving, worth giving a chance to grow. What he does is still about preventing suffering, but it's also about making sure there's always a door open for them to become good and help others. And it's just as much about preventing himself from crossing that line and potentially darkening the good inside of himself, becoming that which he fights every night.

They both see the suffering of others and refuse to accept it, which is one reason they're both so sympathetic, and why we can often find ourselves rooting for Matt and Frank regardless of the morality issue. They've both just come down on opposing sides of a long-standing ethical debate when it comes to preventing harm. But it is about preventing harm. And it is absolutely driven, openly, authentically, fully, by their massive hearts.

God I wish I could show my old college Ethics professor the scene of Frank and Matt arguing on the rooftop. He'd have a field day with it and I know for a fact that he'd show it every semester precisely to tie up students with, well they both care about people and want to prevent harm, who's right?

"You're one bad day away from being me." "The Punisher and Daredevil are two sides to the same coin." Blah blah blah.

You know what Matt and Frank's problem is? Their hearts are too big. They see pain - innocent people's pain. And they know they can't fix it, can't take it away. Can't change the past. But they can stop the source of the pain and prevent it from ever causing pain again. It's not about punishing - it's about prevention. Cause their damn hearts are too big. Because they both would happily take a bullet just to protect some child they'd never met. To protect normal people just living their lives even if they had no concept of who those people actually were.

Their hearts are just too damn big...

[aethersea]

another thing fantasy writers should keep track of is how much of their worldbuilding is aesthetic-based. it's not unlike the sci-fi hardness scale, which measures how closely a story holds to known, real principles of science. The Martian is extremely hard sci-fi, with nearly every detail being grounded in realistic fact as we know it; Star Trek is extremely soft sci-fi, with a vaguely plausible "space travel and no resource scarcity" premise used as a foundation for the wildest ideas the writers' room could come up with. and much as Star Trek fuckin rules, there's nothing wrong with aesthetic-based fantasy worldbuilding!

(sidenote we're not calling this 'soft fantasy' bc there's already a hard/soft divide in fantasy: hard magic follows consistent rules, like "earthbenders can always and only bend earth", and soft magic follows vague rules that often just ~feel right~, like the Force. this frankly kinda maps, but I'm not talking about just the magic, I'm talking about the worldbuilding as a whole.

actually for the purposes of this post we're calling it grounded vs airy fantasy, bc that's succinct and sounds cool.)

a great example of grounded fantasy is Dungeon Meshi: the dungeon ecosystem is meticulously thought out, the plot is driven by the very realistic need to eat well while adventuring, the story touches on both social and psychological effects of the whole 'no one dies forever down here' situation, the list goes on. the worldbuilding wants to be engaged with on a mechanical level and it rewards that engagement.

deliberately airy fantasy is less common, because in a funny way it's much harder to do. people tend to like explanations. it takes skill to pull off "the world is this way because I said so." Narnia manages: these kids fall into a magic world through the back of a wardrobe, befriend talking beavers who drink tea, get weapons from Santa Claus, dance with Bacchus and his maenads, and sail to the edge of the world, without ever breaking suspension of disbelief. it works because every new thing that happens fits the vibes. it's all just vibes! engaging with the worldbuilding on a mechanical level wouldn't just be futile, it'd be missing the point entirely.

the reason I started off calling this aesthetic-based is that an airy story will usually lean hard on an existing aesthetic, ideally one that's widely known by the target audience. Lewis was drawing on fables, fairy tales, myths, children's stories, and the vague idea of ~medieval europe~ that is to this day our most generic fantasy setting. when a prince falls in love with a fallen star, when there are giants who welcome lost children warmly and fatten them up for the feast, it all fits because these are things we'd expect to find in this story. none of this jars against what we've already seen.

and the point of it is to be wondrous and whimsical, to set the tone for the story Lewis wants to tell. and it does a great job! the airy worldbuilding serves the purposes of the story, and it's no less elegant than Ryōko Kui's elaborately grounded dungeon. neither kind of worldbuilding is better than the other.

however.

you do have to know which one you're doing.

the whole reason I'm writing this is that I saw yet another long, entertaining post dragging GRRM for absolute filth. asoiaf is a fun one because on some axes it's pretty grounded (political fuck-around-and-find-out, rumors spread farther than fact, fastest way to lose a war is to let your people starve, etc), but on others it's entirely airy (some people have magic Just Cause, the various peoples are each based on an aesthetic/stereotype/cliché with no real thought to how they influence each other as neighbors, the super-long seasons have no effect on ecology, etc).

and again! none of this is actually bad! (well ok some of those stereotypes are quite bigoted. but other than that this isn't bad.) there's nothing wrong with the season thing being there to highlight how the nobles are focused on short-sighted wars for power instead of storing up resources for the extremely dangerous and inevitable winter, that's a nice allegory, and the looming threat of many harsh years set the narrative tone. and you can always mix and match airy and grounded worldbuilding – everyone does it, frankly it's a necessity, because sooner or later the answer to every worldbuilding question is "because the author wanted it to be that way." the only completely grounded writing is nonfiction.

the problem is when you pretend that your entirely airy worldbuilding is actually super duper grounded. like, for instance, claiming that your vibes-based depiction of Medieval Europe (Gritty Edition) is completely historical, and then never even showing anyone spinning. or sniffing dismissively at Tolkien for not detailing Aragorn's tax policy, and then never addressing how a pre-industrial grain-based agricultural society is going years without harvesting any crops. (stored grain goes bad! you can't even mouse-proof your silos, how are you going to deal with mold?) and the list goes on.

the man went up on national television and invited us to engage with his worldbuilding mechanically, and then if you actually do that, it shatters like spun sugar under the pressure. doesn't he realize that's not the part of the story that's load-bearing! he should've directed our focus to the political machinations and extensive trope deconstruction, not the handwavey bit.

point is, as a fantasy writer there will always be some amount of your worldbuilding that boils down to 'because I said so,' and there's nothing wrong with that. nor is there anything wrong with making that your whole thing – airy worldbuilding can be beautiful and inspiring. but you have to be aware of what you're doing, because if you ask your readers to engage with the worldbuilding in gritty mechanical detail, you had better have some actual mechanics to show them.

[inkskinned]

no, actually, where is the whimsy?

my ex had a best friend named larry who asked me once: what do you think comes after irony?

we were at the bar where larry worked. it was a quiet night, and he'd hopped over to sit with us on the patron side. i swirled the lemon around my limoncello martini.

earnest positivity, i said, while my ex said, art self-destructs.

i stared at my ex. he stared at me.

his argument was the cinemasins argument: look how bad media is becoming! look at the loopholes and the dumb shit!

it was roughly 2011. galaxy print was still in. at the time, i had a favorite shirt that was a wolf howling at the moon. it got ripped in half in the wash and i honestly still mourn it. i dressed like effie stonem, because everyone did. and irony was the name of the thing. men liked MLP "ironically." the internet liked the kind of crass, "anti-mainstream" vibes of things like fuck romance, touch my butt and buy me pizza. we put cats in sunglasses everywhere, which was because we only liked things in irony.

and media had the same vibe in it: anti-hero white men would be "hard to love" and then storm off the scene. nobody was just earnestly trying to save the world: they were jaded, angry, unoriginal. mad you even asked them to try to help.

my ex ends up not being wrong. cinemasins becomes super popular. a lot of people start viewing media with this lens that is the cruelest, most jaded depiction. it's wrong for your character to have unexplained powers, even if the entire movie is about how strange it is she has unexplained powers - that is still considered a "loophole." characters make thoughtless, panicked choices? loophole. characters are actually kind people, despite hardship? loophole. features a woman doing literally anything without assistance? loophole. movies become hyper-aware of scrutiny, and now irony rules the media.

which means you go to a movie, and the character has to turn to the screen and say "beats me!!" or one of the side characters has to have some kind of quip like "are you seriously telling me that you think this is normal?" because nothing can happen in earnest. like a sitcom laugh track, we now anticipate the fourth-wall break: the moment that the media acknowledges it is telling a story. the media has to apologize for itself, or else someone like my ex rolls their eyes.

but here's the thing: i wasn't wrong either.

the difference might be that i am (and always have been) so soft-hearted that any crack in the light of this world will spear me into the ground. and i was the poet in the relationship. (he thought that was the same thing as being naïve and stupid). i was making things daily. i knew how all of us artists are driven by some strange desire to evolve. he notably liked to critique art, not to create it.

so yes, i've made things that are bitter and angry and even ironic. i've made long, sharp poems with all capital letters, and i've made poems about how the silence stretches out like a song. someone wrote once that we will spend our whole lives just circling the place we grew up. i think it's more that we spend our whole lives trying to remake a home. i think it's that as we age, it becomes less exciting to build the castle on the beach - we become aware of erosion, of windforce. we realize what we really want is to come home to our dog, castle or not.

and while art in the foreground is mired in white male violence and irony, and aggression, and not taking anything seriously - i don't think that's true of all art. i think more and more artists are leaning in to the things we love. the world has changed so much. they have taken so many things from us. the only thing we have left is love. at the bottom of the moving box - all we get is the faint sense that we have to appreciate what little we've got. i can't enjoy this stuff ironically anymore: what room do i have for irony? if it makes me happy, that is an amazing thing. there are so few happy places left for me. i want to be happy because of how leaves shiver beside each other like nestling birds. i want to be happy because of the color pink, and how magenta doesn't exist. i have spent so much of this life suffering, i have earned my right to a gentle ending. if nothing matters, i get to assign meaning to the nothing. i get to create meaning. i am an artist first and foremost, which means creation is my thing.

where is the whimsy? wherever i fucking put it. because if this is my last fucking chance to do any good in this world - i want to do it earnestly. i want to write things that make you happy. that make people feel heard and seen. what comes after irony has to be positivity.

it was close to my 21st birthday. in 7 years, i would end up writing a book about this relationship, which is hopefully coming out somewhere around May 2024. i come back to this bar scene in my memories a lot. i keep thinking of how pale my ex was. the look that crossed his face. how i looked back at him. how for a moment, both of us couldn't recognize the other person. like the gulf between us was a suddenly wide and cavernous thing. like we were alien to each other. he never took my opinion seriously, and he always seemed surprised whenever his manic-pixie-dream-girl ever broke free of the plot. like in the whole time we were together, i wasn't human enough.

this knowledge: where he said nothing comes after, my only instinct was what comes after is love.

[yandere-writer-momo]

Thinking about a yandere werewolf, but not just any werewolf… a bounty hunter. And he has it bad for his you. Cowboy Werewolf!

Yandere Shorts: Like I Love You

Yandere werewolf x fem reader

TW: obsession, delusional themes, abo dynamic, horror, gore (mentioned), death of characters, neglectful husband, betrayal, cheating husband, forced relationship, mention of baby trapping, and behavior that should not be romanticized

Rolfe was currently on a hunt… his target is a sickly preacher’s, one that should be easy enough. Her own husband had paid him quite the pretty penny to off her. Poor little lamb didn’t stand a chance in the wilderness of this world. Not when she had enemies close to her side such as an unfaithful husband and a conniving best friend. He almost felt sorry for his prey

He arrived a day later, his clawed fingers dragged through a lock of her hair as he inhaled her scent. She smelled… delicious. And she was so vulnerable too with her nape out that just begged for his teeth to be driven into…

Rolfe shook his head before he went back into a trance when she subconsciously leaned into his touch. His hand moved up and grazed her temple that felt as if it were ablaze. Poor woman had a fever…

“Darling? Did you finally come to me?” Her voice was a bit delirious with sickness as she kissed his hands. Each kiss made him feel as if he was her beloved. It took everything in him not to loudly whine like a dog. “I missed you so much James. I’m sorry I got sick again.”

Rolfe didn’t say a word before he continued to drag his rough palms through her hair. His heart hammered in his chest and his wolf clawed inside his brain to be released. It seemed this woman before him… was his fated mate.”

Rolfe bent down and buried his nose into the crook of her neck to deeply inhaled. Oh yes… this lassy was his for the takin.

Rolfe began to slowly nurse her back to health rather than off her. An action that made his employer question him. Why on earth would a monster nurse such a nuisance back to health? She was always near death’s door. What use was such a delicate woman in the Wild West?

“When are you going to off (your name)? She’s an easy target.”

“I have honor as a bounty hunter. It must be a hunt.” Rolfe snarled at (your name)’s husband, James, the man who dared to keep her sick due to his lack of care. Had that scrawny man have no pride as a man? The pastor made him sick.

“She’s easy to pick off right now. I’d really like this to be over and done with so I can marry Helen. This is why I hired a monster-“ Rolfe picked James up from the ground by his throat as James gasped for air.

“You are a foolish, greedy man. Are you sure you are truly a man of god?” Rolfe growled, showing his fangs. His dark, muscular form largely towered over James’s lithe frame. “You’re a pathetic man.”

Rolfe soon went back to the care of (your name). The werewolf rubbed his cheeks all over her bed and her body to scent her… he needed to get rid of James’s scent. Rolfe wouldn’t let another have her and hurt her again… he’d spirit her away.

Rolfe wondered how many pups she’d want. If they’d be pretty like her but strong like him… if she’d pepper him with nips and kisses everyday. If she’d beg him for his knot on the next full moon as he properly mated her?

“Darling?” (Your name) reached for his face and Rolfe was quick to put his face in them. A needy whine escaped his throat while he nuzzled her. She was his precious mate…

He snarled when he saw Helen enter. The woman scoffed at him in disgust.

“Ugh. James and I are tired of waiting. You have been here over a month! We want you gone beast. We’ll do it ourselves.”

“So you’re cancelling the contract?” He hummed while he continued to tenderly kiss (your name)‘a palms. “Are you sure? Did you read the fine print?”

“Yes. We don’t need your kind here, true love will prevail-“ Helen didn’t even have time to scream before a giant black wolf hybrid had dug it’s fangs into her throat and ripped it apart like wrapping paper. Blood splattered all over the floor and walls as Helen could only helplessly choke on her own blood.

“Yes… true love will prevail.” He muttered with a a satisfied hum. “My mate will be so happy.”

Meanwhile, James fled into the forest for dear life. That beast had gotten Helen! The two of them couldn’t believe the werewolf would turn on him.

James loudly leapt when he heard something large chase him through the underbrush on all fours. He could hear his heartbeat in his ears and feel his sweat pool down his back in puddles. He needed to get to the church! A demon such as the bounty hunter couldn’t possibly enter there-

But James was knocked to the ground as an agonized shriek fell from his lips. The werewolf began to shake and mangle his leg like the bloodthirsty beast it was…

“Let me go! Let me go! I didn’t do anything-“

Rolfe chuckled darkly. The black werewolf dropped his legs and glanced his beastly head at James. “Oh but she never did anything either… all she did was foolishly love you.”

“W-what do you mean? Are you talking about-“ James’s words were muffled by the paw like hand that covered his mouth. Rolfe shushed him.

“Shhh. You may have failed to pay me and cancel my contract but I had gotten something far more valuable from this transaction. Something most werewolves dream to find in their lifetimes… a fated mate!” Rolfe sighed dreamily. “You may have failed as a protector and provider, but I surely won’t! You have given me something more valuable than any coin could offer… yet you were neglectful to her. Such a shame really.”

“I… I’ll do anything! Just take her and let me live.”

“Ah but I can’t do that. Not when she still calls for you at night. No… you have to be eliminated. Destroyed, really. You can no longer exist on the same planet as her! You are in the way of my love!”

Loud screams of terror ringed out throughout the crisp night air and then it was silence.

Rolfe returned hours later scrubbed clean of blood while he crawled into the bed with his darling mate. He sighed in contentment when she cuddled him. Yes… it may take time to train her properly, but he was sure he could do it. He could make her love him. Just like he loved her.