#activism is about the real fucking world. about doing things within in. and that’s ESPECIALLY important for disabled ppl because +

[burst-of-iridescent]

Personally Kat.aang looks bad to me because Aang gave his most lightest skinned child special treatment 💀 there were air acolytes who weren’t air benders themselves but were still dedicated to keeping the culture alive so leaving Kya and Bumi out on account of them not being air benders is absolute bullsh*t. You don’t see Zutara shippers calling Kat.aang shippers racist because of it 🤔

yeah see this is one of those things that again ties back to bry.ke being totally oblivious about the implications of what they were writing because the optics of the kat.aang family are… troubling, to put it nicely.

the darker-skinned woman is a waterbender. the lighter-skinned man is an airbender. the nonbender is conveniently in-between. their clothing all correspond strictly to their individual elements (except bumi who gets chucked to red for the audacity of not being born an airbender — at least till he conveniently turns into one). if you knew nothing of these characters you’d never know they were biracial at all.

which is just… so disappointing. part of the reason i love zutara is how the fandom handles the incorporation of both cultures, and yet bry.ke couldn’t even be bothered to do the bare fucking minimum of at least having the kat.aang kids in blue and yellow clothes. if you’re going to claim that a significant aspect of this new, postwar world is the increased cultural exchange across nations then the kat.aang family of all people should be emblematic of that change! but no, instead of taking the opportunity to actually delve into and depict the intricacies of a blended household, we might as well just stick to the same shit we’ve been doing since atla because why think of something new, right?

it’s even more troubling that within the strange cultural division of the ka kids, it’s katara’s culture that gets the shaft. tenzin’s entire family might as well be air nomads through and through, and while bumi and kya seem to have been intentionally excluded from air nomad culture through no fault of their own, they don’t seem to know (or care) any more about their swt heritage either. the natural conclusion to draw from that is evidently that katara’s culture just doesn’t matter as much as aang’s in their family, and that paints a very disturbing picture of how aang views his wife’s heritage (especially with the worldbuilding of atla portraying the air nomads as ‘spiritually pure’ in comparison to everyone else).

i have no patience for the common ka defense that aang is a survivor of genocide so his culture should take more priority because a) katara is also a genocide survivor, as ka stans are so fond of pointing out until it doesn’t work in their favour and b) why are we acting like cultural integration is some sort of zero sum game? tenzin, kya and bumi aren’t going to run out of space for their air nomad traditions and practices just because they know more about their swt background as well. there’s no arbitrary limit on how much you can learn of your heritage.

yes, i know bry.ke didn’t intend for the ka family to come across this way. but whether the implications were purposeful or not, they still exist, and it’s fucking galling that the fandom will call zutara and zutara shippers racist all while defending the shitty writing choices of two american white men — and then pat themselves on the back for being progressive, as if genuine activism means harassing real poc in the name of fictional ones.

[uselessheretic]

ofmd fandom has a racefaking scandal which lol i mean lmao even if u will. anyways, two things i guess as someone who doesn't even go here anymore

a black guy named atticus should've been your first red flag like let's be so serious rn

and 2. this is indicative of how fandom, and ofmd especially, weaponizes identity within it for clout where they're incentivized to exaggerate or wholesale make shit up about themselves as a way of adding validity to their views. "listen to poc voices" has always been a useless statement that gives white people permission to not engage in critical thought and instead rely on poc labor to form an opinion. and it's hilarious that this is somehow the response white fans have to this situation because they are allergic to the idea of picking up a fucking book and actually learning about critical race theory and history instead of the 20 something year old faceless blogger writing meta.

it's telling how often white fans gravitate to these viewpoints where their "authentic" and "necessary" writing on race becomes some of the most cited and propped up examples because, even subconsciously, white fans prioritize whitewashed experiences of racialization that already fits their worldview on how they imagine a poc thinks.

white people are able to succeed in this type of grift because ofmd fandom gaslit itself into thinking that reading text posts counts as educating themselves. which basically means they're doing an activism by reading fanfic and making sure they have only the most correct and woke headcanons lol its been years and you bitches still haven't picked up and finished a single book about race! you have no idea how to critically examine race relations and apply that in a real world context without jumping to the next poc's blog and hoping they have the answer!

this is why these people, despite claiming their hobby is "activism" and that they're an educational resource, will almost never post about current events. even though they claim they're helping combat ignorance in fandom, they'll never provide a source. they'll never link an article they read. they'll never recommend a book for further reading. they'll never remind people of upcoming digital workshops. they'll never suggest a documentary. they'll never actually try to give people the tools to learn for themselves because they don't have them. they just have oomfs ~really good and sooo smart~ meta they wrote based off of vibes and a prayer.

ofmd fandom is locked in a state of permanent ignorance and it'll stay that way because it likes it that way.

[menaceanon]

hello. i humbly request... please talk more about diving and things u have seen when diving! :O i love to read about it. like what kind of different sharks have you seen? do they behave differently? how close do the barracudas get to your face, like are they almost touching your face? have you seen any cool jellyfish? or dangerous jellyfish?

I love that you’re enjoying my diving stories. Honestly, the tags people leave on that post are so wholesome.

So! Things I’ve seen! I mostly dive the Caribbean. It’s relatively easy for me to get to, plus it has warm water with great visibility and beautiful sea life.

Almost all of the sharks I’ve see have been Caribbean reef sharks. They’re not particularly big, as sharks go, but they’re also not, like… small, either. You usually only catch a glimpse of them—or worse, your buddy signals a shark but by the time you look there’s nothing but water.

Occasionally, however, you will shove your fins on, waddle to the edge of the boat, and leap into a gently twirling column of sharks.

You drift down through them to the ocean floor, and the world gets bluer and bluer, and the reef sharks—fucking get this—they shimmer. They are velvety purple and blue and silver and even have hints of gold.

Magic is real, and it’s sharks.

Reef sharks can also be really curious! They’re not as bad as barracuda, but I’ve had them come real damn close. And follow me, once, but that was my fault—I was both at the surface and actively moving away from them, which are both things that interest sharks. Nothing like getting laughed at by the boat’s crew while you’re trying to get your fins off with a shark tailgating your ass.

All the other sharks I’ve seen have been brown nurse sharks—and those DO get big, though they’re famously pretty chill. They’re bottom feeders, so they have a slightly flatter profile, extremely cute faces with itty bitty barbels, and tails like banners. The first time I met one was while I was snorkeling, actually, and she came right up within arm’s reach to take a good look before casually heading on her way. She was the first shark I met in open water, she was probably 7 feet long, and I thinks she stole my heart and never gave it back.

Once—supposedly—I juuuust missed seeing a hammerhead, but I’m willfully choosing to believe the DM was mistaken (🫠) and there’s no fomo to be had.

For my barracuda friends! They’re not inches away from your face, no. They are, in fact, usually behind you or above you lmao. They hover about 10-15 feet away, which may not seem super close, but distance feels a little different underwater, where everything is faster than you. Especially since the barracuda are grinning at you. Also, the brave ones will occasionally skootch up into what I would classify as “just out of arm’s reach.” The thing about them is that they’ll just… follow along. Keepin’ ya company. Seein’ whatcher doin’ in case it’s something they want in on. Maybe for the whole dive! They might vanish for a bit but then you’ll turn around and find them behind you again a few minutes later. Like I said: NOSY.

And for jellyfish, the most exciting one I’ve seen was a sea wasp. A Caribbean one—nooooot one of the absurdly fucking dangerous Pacific ones. They still hurt like hell, though, so I kept well clear. They’re also not very glamorous tbh—more like a see-through box with some brown prongs. That same dive, though, I found myself in a cloud of these teeny tiny little brown jellies, and those ones were chill dudes who I enjoyed hanging out with in the ol’ water column.

…and now I want to be back in the water.

[total-drama-brainrot]

Alenoah AU, where Noah says this in London instead:

Owen: "Why don't you like Al? He's great!"

Noah: "I like Alejandro and I agree that he's great, but I still don't trust the guy."

Owen: "Why?"

Noah: "I have my personal reasons... One of them being that I don't like how he treats you, Owen... So, please be careful from now on..."

Owen: "Okay, Noah... You do have a point."

How would Alejandro react to Noah liking him, but not truly trusting him? 😲

See your first mistake is assuming Noah would ever give up an oppertunity to shit-talk someone. /j

But for real, if Noah did clarify that he doesn't dislike Alejandro but does distrust him, I can't see things playing out too differently from canon - save for Alejandro being a bit less openly hostile towards him post-challenge. Noah would still be eliminated, because having a teammate who distrusts him doesn't align with Alejandro's game plan.

Especially if Noah divulges why he doesn't trust Alejandro. If Noah tries to out the fact that Alejandro isn't as altruistic as he wants to appear, that makes Noah himself a direct threat to Alejandro's plans and schemes. Again, he'd be eliminated as soon as possible.

Regardless of any potential feelings between the two, Alejandro can and would always prioritise the competition over any budding relationship he has with Noah... at least in London. Further on in the competition, if/when the two of them have gotten to know each other better (and when mutual feelings have had time to grow and develop) it's a different story.

It would, however, mean there's a lot less bad blood between the two post series. At least on Alejandro's end. If anything, he'd probably have a smidge of respect for Noah, since he's one of the few people who had caught on to Alejandro's false geniality pre-merge and/or pre-elimination.

Meanwhile Noah would still be justifyably salty that Alejandro got him eliminated, but I imagine he'd pin most of the blame on himself. After all, it was his big mouth that once again dropped him into hot water with his team. Plus, in this scenario, Noah admits that he does like Alejandro, so even considering his elimination I doubt Noah would be too upset with Alejandro himself.

So, in the case of this hypothetical AU, I'd suggest that the main meat of the story here would be post-World Tour, which plays out canonically (or as close to canonically as you'd like). Alejandro gets Drama Machine'd, and Noah - as one of the few people in the cast who doesn't actively hate Alejandro - questions his whereabouts when he fails to show up on the cruise boat the Gen 1 cast are seen on at the beginning of RotI.

He's likely the only person to do so since, barring Heather, Noah's one of the select few who Alejandro didn't royally fuck over. Not directly, at least. And Heather's too preoccupied with the loss of her million to think about Alejandro's wellbeing. And Chris tells him straight; the robot on the cruise ship? Alejandro's chilling in there, healing from the lava burns in almost complete isolation.

Noah is understandably horrified. He's even more horrified when Chris reveals that the Burromuertos signed over custodial rights for Alejandro and disowned him, so Chris is full within his legal rights to keep Alejandro in the Drama Machine for however long he deems fit. Unfortunately, he's also sworn to secrecy about the whole deal; Chris can't have Alejandro's situation reaching the press, it'd be bad for the show's publicity. (Add some legal jargon here, or something about non-disclosure agreements being in the casts' contracts, or whatever.)

But he can't just leave alejandro to suffer in an indefinite mechanical imprisonment. So Noah bargains his way back into his old position as a PA, if only to keep tabs on Alejandro's wellbeing.

Something something you end up with one of those Assistant Noah x Drama Machine Alejandro AUs, which eventually evolves into a "Noah works as an assistant on All-stars" AU, or whatever.

[satancopilotsmytardis]

Drabble-A-Thon 3 Prompt 6

Pairing: Shigadabi

Rating: Teen

Prompt: Vampire Dabi with Human Tomura and Tomura makes him beg for even a drop of blood, make Dabi cry

Content: Supernatural AU, Vampire!Dabi, Sub/Dom Undertones, Blood Drinking, Dacryphilia

Dabi is fucking starving. Ugh. It's his own damn fault too. He didn't want to let on to the group of freaks that he's working for now that he's not only not human, but a born vampire on top of that. He can pass as human well enough because he's a born fang, able to go outside in the sun, grow older though that may stop within the next five to ten years, and cast a reflection in mirrors. But he does have to drink blood. Toga also has to drink blood, though that, weirdly enough, is all her quirk because she is one hundred percent human. He thought that he would just be able to sneak around and sip at the blood that they stocked for her quirk, but she keeps it in her bedroom and he is absolutely not going to start sneaking into her room. Especially not after that little creep Mustard tried it. 

Fine. He can go out to get his meals. That's not too much of a problem and he already was coming and going anyway. 

"Dabi," He knows their creepy boss never sleeps, able to hear the other members of the League through the walls and the way that Shigaraki's fingers are usually tapping at his games late into the night. But normally that's an activity he takes up in his bedroom, he's not usually in the bar this late to bother Dabi as he tries to leave. 

"What?" He doesn't have to worry about eating every day like a mortal, though he usually does have some human food to keep the others from asking about his diet when they're doing this and that. 

"The summer camp job is only a month away. You're too recognizable. You're on lockdown until after the job." 

Dabi immediately opens his mouth to argue, but then he notices that the monitor set up towards the back of the bar is humming softly. The screen is black, but that hum screams that it is not only on, but that the even creepier teacher of his new boss is listening in as well. So he just huffs softly and turns to head back upstairs. "Whatever, hand job." 

He can last another week, he'll figure something out between now and then. 

///

Dabi was not starving last week, he amends belatedly. He was hungry last week, he is starving now. His stomach feels like it's nothing but a hollow pit inside of him, he can feel his bones grinding together, his skin and eyes hurt in the sunlight, it's hard to keep his fangs in his gums, and he is constantly having to keep himself from just grabbing one of the other League members and sinking his teeth into them and then glamouring them so that they forget it after the fact. But his desire to not let anyone know that the fire starter with blue eyes just so happens to also be a born vampire keeps winning out. He usually assumes people are too stupid to put two and two together, but unfortunately he thinks those three hints all together will have the rest of the world guessing who his father is unbearably quickly. He doesn't want to feed on someone here and risk getting caught by the mist man, Toga and her super nose, or Shigaraki, because Toga will absolutely tell everyone as she gleefully shares her stores of blood, and if Duster or Kurogiri find out, then AFO finds out and he does not trust that evil potato-looking motherfucker. 

So he is starving and any time he tries to get outside, he is stopped by one of the others or the mist man himself. But he is just going to have to tell Shigaraki to fuck off so he can go hunt or he's going to lose his mind. He grabs his old hoodie and goes downstairs. He can wear a hoodie and sunglasses, maybe a facemask too. If that's enough for Shigaraki to leave the place, then that should be enough for him too. 

It's pretty late, he realizes when no one else is in the bar still but his boss and his keeper, but that might be a good thing if they end up having a real fight about this or he ends up having to glamour either of them. "I'm sick of being cooped up. I'm going out." He snaps in their direction, reaching to pull up the face mask. 

Shigaraki waves Kurogiri off, the teleporter making himself scarce immediately, as his other hand fiddles with something against the bar. "I told you, you're not allowed out Dabi." 

"Yeah, but the thing is I don't give a fuck about what you--" Dabi has to stop speaking as he inhales sharply, his fangs nearly going through his tongue from how fast they drop. 

Shigaraki watches him with blood red eyes, not wearing his mask for once, as he pulls his index finger back from the edge of the razorblade that he had been fiddling with on the counter. The smell of his blood, like cold, and copper, and thunder, fills the whole room, blacking out Dabi's good sense, and in the space between heartbeats, he is standing right in front of the other man, ready to tear into his throat--

"Control yourself." Shigaraki sounds bored, he looks bored, or at least he's trying to, but his eyes are intense on him even though they're half-lidded. He holds his uninjured hand barely two centimeters from Dabi's face to keep him at bay as he lets his finger bleed. "Or better yet: Let me control you." His voice is even, assured, satisfied, and Dabi feels like his sanity is starting to fray apart. "Follow my orders and I'll make sure no one else finds out about this and I'll become your donor." 

"I don't give a shit about the others." He lies. 

"If you didn't then you wouldn't be trying so hard to sneak out to feed instead." 

"...You're already my boss, what else do you want?" 

"To start with?" Shigaraki's eyes flash, "I want you to kneel." 

"You're fucking joking." The flat look doesn't waver and Dabi considers just leaving. He can break down most doors with his strength alone, he could leave-- Shigaraki opens the wound on his finger deeper and sends more of the tantalizing scent of his blood into the air. Dabi's stomach feels like it might twist so tightly that it will tear him in half from the inside out. He's never known a vampire who didn't become a fucking idiot as soon as they got too hungry, and he is apparently not about to break that cycle. His knees hit the floor and he hates that he has to look up at Shigaraki as he holds his hand so that the blood doesn't drip all over the bar. 

"Now beg." 

Dabi is going to kill him. He is going to rip out his throat. Shigaraki must see the defiance on his face because he starts to reach across the bar for some napkins to wipe away--

"Please," his voice is hoarse and barely his own as he begs. "Fuck, please--" 

"Like a dog." Shigaraki's voice isn't even smug. He sounds too bored for that. His heartbeat is steady with his satisfaction behind his ribs. Dabi has gone hungry before, he's hurt before, debased himself to survive, he has suffered, but this feels like the worst indignity that he's ever had to endure because he's being made to choose this one for himself. It's frustration and humiliation that have the seams under his eyes beading up with blood to cry that he doesn't have to spare right now. Each one feels like sandpaper is being tugged from his eye. 

The pain only makes it easier for him to whimper softly as he looks up at the mortal man whose heartbeat goes a little faster, his blood a little hotter as he hears him and sees him start to cry. 

"No biting." Shigaraki tells him lazily as he brings his hand down and lets Dabi latch onto his bleeding finger. He can't help but let out a soft moan as he finally, finally gets some fresh blood behind his teeth. He's so hungry he barely notices it when Shigaraki's other hand goes to his hair, four fingers petting through the locks as he murmurs, "Good boy. I'm going to have so much fun with you." 

Thank you so much for reading! If you would like to participate in the event, consider checking out my Ko-Fi here!

[sporesgalaxy]

I’ve thought about it some more and I want to rephrase: the specific thing about the way Dungeon Meshi handles gender and autism that makes me bonkers is the blunt way the author states the differences between Laios and Falin’s treatment by the world. If Falin had been the one to try and carve out a space for the both of them, she would have been dismissed at best. But Laios was the one to try that, and for the crime of being a big autistic man, he was beaten for it. Many- most, even- aspects of this world and the real world favor men, when a gender or presentation is favored. Misogyny is extremely present in so many of our lives. But it is naive to pretend that there are no downsides to being seen as a man, especially one of color, or one that’s not neurotypical, or any number of things. Falin faces unique struggles as an autistic woman, usually internal, and usually to do with the social pressures placed on her to be seen as nothing but agreeable. But Laios faces unique struggles as an autistic man, like getting the shit kicked out of him or punched in the face or having people plot to kill him.

I’m super not trying to say that either has it better. Facing conflict because you are incapable of not presenting as exactly the kind of person you are isn’t inherently worse or better than being unable to present at all, trapped within yourself. But the way it’s presented in Dungeon Meshi is fascinating to me.

Ok so first of all I want you to know I GET IT. I HAVE SEEN HOW BAD IT CAN SUCK FOR AUTISTIC MEN IN A LOUD AND OPEN AND PHYSICAL WAY and how NO ONE FUCKING DOES ANYTHING ABOUT IT because Guys Are Supposed To Be Tough and You Should Just Stop Acting Weird And Having Feelings and all that bullshit!!!!!!! I watched that happen to someone very close to me over the course of My Whole Childhood. It's fucking dismal and it makes me really happy to see a character like Laios where those struggles are front and center.

BUT! I also want to point out that your wording here, altho it is not your intention to belittle Falin's suffering, makes it seem like her/typical autistic women's suffering is wholly immaterial. Which is NOT true. It's not that Falin's emotional suffering is equal to Laios' physical suffering, it's that their autism/neurodivergence makes them both vulnerable to physical AND emotional abuse, but in different ways because of gendered social dynamics.

•••

(Quick aside: non-autistic men and women both experience physical as well as emotional abuse because of their percieved gender as well, btw. Yes, men get priveleges, but patriarchy harms them, too. You know what, this video discussing the strengths and weaknesses of The Barbie Movie actually explains it really really well. Anyways, back to the main point.)

Due to the different gendered social expectations placed on men and women, yes, men are more likely to escalate social conflict to physically fighting each other. But the same way that doesn't mean that there's NO emotionally abusive aspect to men's social punishment for being too different, the fact that women are expected to use emotionally abusive tactics to address social conflict does NOT mean that there is no physically abusive aspect to the ways that autistic women are mistreated.

The same way Laios' inability to hide his autistic traits puts him at risk for both getting the shit beaten out of him AND being lied to for purely social reasons, Falin's coping strategy of being agreeable puts her at risk for being shunned emotionally AND enduring physical harassment.

If Falin had tried to actively & forcefully carve out a place for herself and Laios in the world, dismissal is NOT the worst that could have happened to her. What Falin's childhood experience being subjected to folk rituals by her mother and rejection from the town REALLY shows us is that, if Falin was TOO unnacceptable to the people around her it would have become someone else's responsibility to "fix" or "cure" her. Her parents', or a doctor's, or a betrothed.

I'll try to find it later, but in one of the bonus comics where we learn more about the Touden sibs' relationships to their parents, one of the things we learn is that their mother tried to "treat" Falin's magical abilities using a variety of ineffective folk cures. Their mother felt pressured to do this by the townspeople's very negative response to Falin's magical abilities, which along with their father seeking advice from a Gnome, proves that the threat against Falin was not completely in Laios' head.

Falin says she saw this as quality time with her mother, but...I mean, girls with unhealthy relationships to their bodies often see childhood dieting and clothes shopping with their mothers as quality time, even if that "quality time" instilled in them a deep-seated belief that they should mistreat their bodies and view themselves as objects to be consumed. Just because Falin thinks of it as quality time now does NOT mean that there was no damage done.

In a world where her social and fiscal autonomy are already highly limited, Falin's physical autonomy is threatened by her neurodivergence, just in a more roundabout way than Laios' is.

[remus-poopin]

im not sure what you’ve seen but the snape community has been fighting with marauder stans after that one super loud snape stan apparently said something racist about mary?

im not exactly sure what happened but I think that might have started the rest of the drama that i’ve seen

Oh lmao thanks for telling me I was extremely confused

Ok salty rant below be warned lol:

Ok so listen I have been willing and ready to call out the snapedom for racism, specifically for its anti blackness, which they have demonstrated quite a few times, but this is....

I gave a little look at the original poster’s blog (automatically knew who you were talking about lmao) so I could see what you were referring to and oh wow!

So apparently op was listing her marauder era headcanons (she is very vocally against the marauders and their fans so unsurprisingly the hcs were negative), in this list she said that Mary Macdonald was like a servant to Lily in their relationship dynamic, like she was her house elf. Certain marauder fans took issue with this and said that comparing a “black woman” to a slave is problematic (also I find it funny that they used aave while criticizing this apparent racism, I’m so tired). Then it seems like everyone lost their natural minds and just forgot how to act.

So here’s my thing: Op is apart of the snapedom and has very little ties to the marauder fandom (outside of attacking them) and has said that they, along with a lot of people who don’t run in marauders fanon circles, don’t even headcanon Mary as black, in fact she was relevantly unaware of this headcanon. This is not hard for me to believe at all. If marauders stans look outside their bubble for one sec they would realize that literally no one else in the wider hp fandom cares about Mary Macdonald. She is profoundly irrelevant to the plot, is only mentioned twice and has no actual lines. Many do not see her as a black woman. So op making a comment on how she views her relationship with Lily as servile does not carry any racial undertones because this character is not black to her or to her fandom. (I also want to point out that Mary being black is a relatively new thing, and op has stated that her Spanish hp fandom has only portrayed her as white, which also isn’t difficult to believe.)

So to take this statement and attribute racial malice to it is not only illogical but a stunning admission of self-importance.

People do not have to share your headcanons, if a headcanon is popular within your fandom space that doesn’t mean others outside of that space will be aware of it. People also do not have to change the way they construct character dynamics in their head to make it less problematic due to your own personal headcanon.

I think my biggest issue with this is that it’s once again an example of people using fandom as performative activism. Op was already deeply disliked by these people and they used this situation to malign her even further, while patting themselves on the back for “standing up against racism”. I really, really do not appreciate my people’s struggle, especially as it relates to fucking slavery to be used in a little game of moral superiority fandom wars. This is not about racism, using your brain for two seconds would tell you that this comment should not have blown up this way, this was about dunking on a fandom villain and using racism as the justification. And it genuinely pisses me off.

I’m really asking people to just stop for a second and reevaluate why you react the way you do when it comes to fandom issues. Would you really have thought this comment was offensive after using a bit of logic? Or were you not able to use logic in that moment as you just read a whole list of inflammatory headcanons against your faves? Next time could you stop for a moment and take a step back from the screen before you bring up real world issues to criticize the blogger you don’t like? Would you be able to interrogate your intentions if you do end up making these claims? If you interrogate your intentions, and they come up petty, would you be able and willing to recognize if your comment is then tone deaf? Would you do any one of these things instead of what happened here?

Also stop calling people pedos with no proof yall are fucking weird

[armouredgoblin]

In regards to my previous post about Fem Custodes

I have a few points to make If I made you mad. That's not my problem. I still hold the opinion that they should not be a thing due to 30+ years of lore stating that they have always been men. I have heard a few arguments.

"Its always been political"

Well yes but actually no. Internally it has its own set of politics depending on which faction you look at. You can have politics that are separate to the real world. A good example of that outside of the Warhammer Universe is Helldivers.

Helldivers developers Arrowhead decided that they would not put anything that would represent the real world beyond the fact that humans exist. They rejected putting things such as rainbow capes and country based capes because it would take away from the actual internal lore and would cause division in the community.

The people that want these things tend forced into the media/lore to be the people who wont actually play it because they never wanted it in the first place.

"Its just a small change what's the harm?"

Its a step. One small step towards creating female space marines. If you can make custodes gene seeds work in woman; then you can make the space marine ones work in them too because who cares any more?.

Its an active attempt at slowly moving the Warhammer universe and turning it into the grey sludge that only appeals to the "Modern Audience" filled with the political messages that only goes one way.

I wanted to enjoy the lore as an experience separate to my own existence. I want to use this as an escape of this work but I am seeing it slowly being infiltrated and ruining the immersion.

"There isn't enough representation in Warhammer40k"

Who the fuck wants to be represented in the universe that is basically one constant war. Were the standard imperial guardsmen (of which contain both genders) eat what is called "corpse starch".

To be fair in the spotlight there is mostly the Space Marines which is an all male team of genetically altered super humans (the Custodes are further up that chain and are seen as even more powerful than the average Space Marine). Space Marines are barely recognisable as humans due to the effect of the gene seed.

However if people actually looked they would find there is plenty of representation within Warhammer40k. There are many factions outside of the Space Marines that have both female and males on the frontlines of this eternal war.

Factions: Eldar (Male and Female) Dark Eldar (Male and female) Imperial Guardsmen (As mentioned before) Sisters of Battle (All female) Sisters of Silence (All female) Not sure about them: Tau: I know they take from many species and I am not so sure what they have on the male and female ratio.

Errm: Tyranids: Alien bug species, fuck knows what they have. Chaos: They will defiantly have both, Slannesh will torture fuck you all.

Speaking of Slannesh While often referred as male, he actually can be both and neither.

"GW can do what they wish with their IP"

Yes. There is not much to argue with there. They could even pull a Disney Star Wars and state that everything from the next codex is now the true canon and everything before it no longer exists. In my opinion this would be stupid.

"Warhammer40k is for everyone"

Is it tho? You seem to be ready to throw out many people who don't immediately agree with you.

No media in any form is for everyone. People have a preference and can not like things.

Using myself as an example. I don't like sports games. Therefore I don't play them as it's not for me. I am not demanding sports games change the entire premise and add things to attract me to the game.

In short if you don't like it, don't force yourself into it. If you are interested. Experience it before making decisions. and especially before you decide that you can change the entire hobby to fit you.

Make your own thing.

Chances are there will be an audience however small or large it may be.

For those of you on the frontlines of the Gatekeeping Hold the line.

[holyblanchett]

I have been called to post this, so buckle up folks. Im going to need everyone front and center right now. This is one of my more serious takes and it might piss some people off and it will be the last time I speak on this utter nonsense.

Unpopular Opinion: I've seen so much drama across multiple platforms today its actually insane. Especially between the lesbians and gays that stan Agatha and billy/Joe. Some of the stuff I'm reading is wild. Yall do know this shit isn't that deep right? Like there are other things we could be arguing about but being blatantly homophobic or lesbophobic is certainly a choice and over a TV show and fictional characters is crazy please seek help.

Both sides definitely have been feeding into toxicity and using slurs. I personally don't see twink or dyke as a slur. But if someone finds it offensive they have every right to feel the way that they do and you should respect that. Personally none of that shit bothers me, you become desensitized to it all living in America and being a black, non binary lesbian going by They/Them pronouns. We don't have the luxury of being offended by something lol.

What I've learned from irl and activism in my own state is that the lgbt+ community can be very toxic towards eachother on and off the internet. Outside of pride month, let's be real no one gets along. It's every man for themselves in the real world. I've hosted vigils for trans women that have been killed and had twenty people show up. I use the same promo for a pride event and hundreds do.

Which is so insane because we all kind of share the same struggle? To be seen and heard? Some demographics more so than others are forgotten and pushed to the side and that's just the truth. Regardless, we definitely lost a sense of community within the community and with trump about to be in office again I'm going to need yall to get a fucking grip on reality.

Anyways, I said my peace, go touch some grass, stop being weird. And protect trans women. It is November and the 20th is transgender day of remembrance. Attend a vigil, volunteer, do something in your community that actually matters instead of arguing on the internet and look out for eachother. There are so many people hurting rn.

[my-castles-crumbling]

Anon Advice Asks - July 3

teen angst anon, almost anon (new), dead name anon, long story short anon (new), midnights anon

teen angst anon

Hi! So I didn't copy/paste your update because, funnily enough, one of the places you're going- the second one?- I may be there at around the same time....I also have family who live there. Small world, right?

Anyway, it sounds like you're going to have a fun few weeks! I'm sorry about your phone, though. I had a similar thing happen where I dropped my phone in the rain and it SHATTERED. I had messages on it from some grandparents that had recently passed and it was really upsetting. I know how sad it can be to lose those things. Do you have an apple account? Sometimes you can get your text messages online and print them out!

I hope redoing your room goes well as well! <3

___

almost anon

hi!! Thanks for taking the time to read this :))

I like this person and I have for a while now? I feel like I can talk to them about almost anything and I really really feel safe with them, which is big for me. Like regardless of platonic or romantic feelings, I know that they're really important to me and I wanna be around them for as long as they'll have me y'know?

But the thing is the almost. The one thing that I feel scared to talk to them abt is this thing that happened somewhat recently.

There's an activity (im not gonna say what bc they're in the marauders fandom and idk if they follow you, but if they do I'm fucked) that is really important to me, and i try to do it with all of my friends. They've refused every time I've asked them, so I was like ok maybe they're just shy and that's fair. I jokingly asked them if they wanted to do it with me at a party and they were like you know what, why not! And that was super awesome until they didn't do it at all, so I thought oh maybe they were just joking and o misread it, which does happen so thats fair! But then they were doing it with our other friend. So i asked them a bit later and they gave me some excuse, which was like ok maybe its genuine. Within a minute (and im not exaggerating bc there was a song im really familiar with playing) the other person asked them and they were so enthusiastic.

like, I want to talk to them about it but i feel like I don't really mean a lot to them after that, especially because they know what that activity means to me, so it feels like im just begging them for attention that they don't want to give me

Sorry that's like so much but thanks for reading it and if you have any advice...?

Thanks again :) ❤️

Hi!

I definitely think you have a right to feel hurt, here. That would make me feel some type of way, too. Like it makes you feel less prioritized.

However, I do wonder like....what's the activity? If it's something physical, for example, like maybe kissing, I think consent is more important and you have a lot less of a right to demand equal of it from your friend, just because they do it with someone else. That's the type of thing where consent can be withdrawn at anytime, no matter how much it sucks. But if it's like...playing a game of cards, then I feel like that makes your friend a bit more of the asshole in this situation.

I hope I'm making sense, here? If you want to inbox me and tell me what the activity is, I can always respond without copying your ask!

___

dead name anon

Hey, It's dead name anon!

I do think it's similar. I came out to her when I was fifteen, and her first reaction (after telling me that it had time to change) was outing me to her family (cue a year of all of them debating my entire existence, basically). At the time I changed my pronouns and not my name, and they said that I would always be my assigned gender at birth, that I was annoying for all the labels that I have (three), that it wasn't real, that I just needed to find the right person etc.

Hey so this is queerphobic and transphobic. But we both know that.

I didn't really realise it was bad until friends got worried about it.

My father was pretty chill about it, I kind of just dropped it on him and left (just a text saying "hey, btw I'm [labels]). He didn't care much aside from trying to make a veiled threat that if he accepted me as I was, I should accept him as he is (a generally bad person).

WILD take. Not true, but absolutely wild. Did he vote for trump, perhaps?

A few years later I decided to change my name, and the only family members I told were my father and my half sister, they both genuinely made an effort (in front of me at least) and I asked them both to dead name me to my mother but not misgender me.

Cue last summer, my mother learned that I wanted to change my name legally and got angry that she didn't know it when my father did. Said that she had a right to know because she was my mother, that she wouldn't misgender me if I told her, that strangers (my father's girlfriends) knew it when she didn't, and why didn't I trust her etc.

Fuck that. Your mother doesn't have the right to know anything you don't want to tell her, as long as you're SAFE. Parents have the right to know safety info, medical info, etc. Things to take care of you. But if you don't want to come out, you don't have to.

At some point, my father and I got into an argument and we stopped talking. Next thing I know he's sending texts to my mother misgendering me and not dead naming me.

My mother basically demanded to use my name, and then outed it to her family (again). She then called me to tell me what she'd done and that most of them would still dead name me, and misgender me. The excuse being that they are too old and it's not from their generation (a lie but whatever), even though they're the kind of people that always say that one is never too old to learn and change.

This is a shit excuse. Age has nothing to do with ability to respect someone.

Last time we saw each other, I told my mother that my 'coming out' was not a good memory at all. That I did not appreciate how it all went down and that it was the main reason I didn't want to see her family (I live far away from all of them). I told her that ignorance does not excuse transphobia or queerphobia in general, and that she didn't even apologise. She said that that was how the family was, that I should accept it, that I could be worse, and that I was being dramatic. She then said that she's learned since and that her comments were not transphobic. That she thought it was a phase then, but now it's been a while so maybe it's not. And that she had nothing to apologise for because she researched it all ( not a single testimony from a queer person, and most of what she told me she read was treating queer people as lesser people).

"It could be worse" is so invalidating. She WAY being trans- and queerphobic, and her not acknowledging it just makes it so much worse.

This got really long, sorry 😅. All this to say that it probably does have something to do with my reaction. (And also that if your family doesn't accept you for who you are your friends definitely will)

I let comments throughout your ask because I have THOUGHTS ^^^

I'm glad you know you deserve respect <3 And I'm glad you have friends who respect you.

___

long story short anon

Long story short: I think I might be going crazy.

Short story long: My reflection doesn't belong to me. Or something like that. If I look at a mirror I know logically that that is my face but it never seems right. I am not making any sense sorry. Last night I was at my desk and I looked up at the window and I saw my reflection and had a moment of panic because my brain jumped to thinking there was some stranger looking through my window. It only lasted a second, reason kicked in a moment later. This isn't the first time this has happened either, this is the third in the past two months. Even when it's not as dramatic as that, just looking into the mirror is always an odd experience because I know that's me but it doesn't look like me and I don't even know what "me" looks like if it isn't that.

Sorry I'm rambling. I don't even know why I came to you for this. Anyway, thoughts?

Hi!

Well, I'm not a doctor or even close to an expert. I think it kind of depends where the feeling is coming from? Like my first thought was dysphoria or dysmorphia, but there are other things that can cause this feeling, too. Do you have a doctor, therapist, or psychiatrist you can talk to? I'm not at ALL saying you're crazy, that just sounds like a very unpleasant feeling and if a doctor can help you figure out the why, then they can help you figure out how to help!

Just know that you're not the first person to experience this, though. <3

___

midnights anon

Hi Cas, :]

It’s midnights anon again. Thank you for the kind words, it’s nice to know that I’m not crazy, you know? I always feel like I’m going crazy when my parents freak over things I do, like eating

The teen thing really spooked me so I went shopping with my mum. I was scared because it was basically just a ton of older teens who knew eachother/were related to eachother hanging out in a school gym… so I chickened out. I’m kind of disappointed in myself but my parents say they’re proud of me.

I went to the writers thing and wrote for over an hour straight, it was awesome! I really REALLY wanna show someone my progress and give me advice but I’ve asked like, 20 people and they never follow through. It’s kind of why I want to make new friends over this summer as well. Connections around shared interests and all that jazz

I found an app that shows all the cool local things happening in my area that I can head to and I’m really grateful for it. I never knew there was a watercolor get-together for anyone to show up to on Wednesdays, or poetry night on sundays!

I’ve been trying to follow your advice about not overthinking and stressing myself out with my existence over the summer. Trying not to force the idea of a “fixed ideal” version of me onto myself. And it’s hard, but I’m trying so I guess that counts?

I’ve been trying to be kinder, and do things that make me happy, and not just placated. And I think I’m doing good but it’s hard to feel when nobody else notices.

But I still feel so lonely. I’m kind of questioning if friendships just aren’t meant for me? I’m not gonna give up, but, I’m scared of myself because I’ve neve been myself around another person before. I’m scared Cas.

If I don’t know who I am yet then what if I don’t deserve love?

But yeah I know, it’s just the bad thoughts talking, and that it’s just my head messing with me and stuff…

Agh I don’t know what I’m saying really. I’m going crazy, I fear.

But I’ll be fine. One day I’ll be 25 years old and I’ll have an apartment, a found-family, a therapist, meds that will make the act of breathing less of a burden. I’ll be fine one day.

Thanks for reading my deranged ramblings. You’re a very welcoming person and your kindness shines through every answer to every ask people send you.

(P.S. I’m getting good at the guitar I told you about! I just ordered a capo and it’s coming soon. also, I’ve been watching Steven Universe and that show makes me feel a lot less bad about my meandering throughout my days. Steven just reads, or watches TV, or just goes out about in the world, he’s all silly and wholesome, and the show makes it a point to say that all of that is perfectly fine. Human being not human doing.

Bye bye!)

Hi!

It sounds like you're working really hard, and I'm so proud of you. You're absolutely right that someday, life will be different, and things will be better. Remember that there will be ups and downs, and to enjoy the ups, and ride out the downs.

You absolutely DO deserve love. I think it's just sometimes hard to make friends when sometimes people are very surface-level. It's hard to find people who like the same things, have the same values, want the same things...it sucks. But it IS possible, and it WILL happen.

I'm proud of you for working on the guitar and for your writing! If you ever want to send anything to me, feel free! I can't guarantee Ill be helpful, but I can be encouraging!

As far as the daydreaming from your second ask...yeah, I've been there. Could you use it to help your writing? Turn those daydreams into stories?

Sending love <3

[drbased]

I don't how to say this elegantly but this is like, the 'words website'. People on here are, by default, going to care more about the words you use not because we inherently believe they're more dangerous or impactful than real-world actions committed by you, or by men, but rather because they're the only meaningful thing within this space.

Moreover, by the very nature of this being the words website, this is also the space where you can just lie. For instance, I've actually been lying about being heterosexual, I've never even been within 1 mile of a man and I don't have to worry about being tainted by male essence because I was born of immaculate conception - wait, that was actually a lie. Yeah, turns out whatever shit I do in my private life doesn't actually matter because I can just make up an entire persona for myself.

I'm still not over the radfem who was asking if it was ok for her to not be entirely nice to a TIM who she felt had been creepy around her - I advised her that as a woman you don't need a reason to set boundaries - and then literally the next day she was saying incredulously 'I don't understand why a woman would want to be anywhere near a man!' I very nearly wrote some snarky remark, but thought better of it, especially because that kind of flip-flopping and posturing is exactly something a young person would do, and I'm not one for antagonising young people. But I do think it's emblematic of the inherent problem with these spaces - that you can perform dismissive incredulity towards other women's behaviour whilst making entirely private concessions for yourself. This whole posturing about who's the real feminist, or what anything on tumblr means for feminist theory/activism as a whole, is a huge waste of time for everybody involved, because you can just. say anything.

So with that in mind, with the idea that I could just posture myself as best feminist to have ever feminismed, the only way I can truly prove that without, idk, giving documented evidence and dox myself or magically beeming my memories into your brains, is in the words I say and how I use them. The blackpillers want to claim that they're just using colourful language to communicate hard truths, and that we should really be angry at the men and women who harm us irl, as if they somehow psychically know we're not doing that. This is, once again, the words website. If you truly respect this medium and the people who occupy in it, you'd understand that the words you use are how you communicate your feminist chops. This is not a space to be lazy with language and then turn around and use the supposed private life of all parties involved as proof you're actually the better feminist, as if the concept of being a better/true feminist means anything in a space where we don't even know eachother's fucking names. The only thing any of us can meaningfully contribute to this space is words (and art, which as the saying goes, conveys a thousand words), because this is the place where you write words. Not using misogynistic language and slurs in a feminist space on the words website should be the absolute bare minimum. Sure, it might not be fair, but that's the price we all pay to have such a privilege of being able to share our words anonymously with each other. I repeat:

Not using misogynistic language and slurs in a feminist space on the words website should be the absolute bare minimum.

[nyoomerr]

Tips for writing shizun-is a teacher I wish to fuck blorbo Shen Yuan and 300 women but only truly want one man blorbo Bingge? They are so tasty but I want to characterize them accurately 👌👌

they are indeed the tastiest 😌🍴 and i'm glad that you enjoy my characterization of them enough that you trust me to give advice on them!

that said, i'll go ahead and add my usual sort of disclaimer when giving writing advice -- this is how i interpret these characters, and it's highly unlikely that everyone will agree with all aspects of my understanding of them. feel free to take/leave whichever pieces of this advice suit you personally!

(after all, i don't even take my own advice to heart all the time. there are always exceptions, especially in fandom / fic, where the guiding principle should always just be "do whatever is most fun!")

⬇ ⬇ all advice under the cut to avoid clogging ppl's dashes ⬇ ⬇

for writing shen yuan,

he's an asshole! i often see sy portrayed as kind and innocent as a heavenly saint, but this is the same guy who delighted in harassing the writer of his (not) favorite book. he's argumentative and a bit mean, and he enjoys being those things, particularly when it makes him feel as if he's "won" something. to write this part of his character,

within his own narration, i'll include casual insults directed at anyone/thing that causes him a mild inconvenience

in conversations between him and someone he dislikes, i try to ensure he's never the one to disengage first unless something forces him to, instead writing him as always wanting to get the last word in.

whatever quips/insults/methods of revenge he enacts, i try to ensure that they match his own image of who he is. when he's sqq, his bitchiness doesn't "win" anything unless the way he enacts it fits within his image as an aloof immortal. even when he's a NEET in his original world, he has an image of himself that he wants to maintain (i.e. "winning" on the internet means "people believe you're right.")

he can be sweet, but it's an attitude reserved for people/things he likes very much. even then, it only reinforces his bitchiness; i try to always write him as most mean when someone is attacking something he likes.

he's conditionally oblivious, not completely so. although oblivious!sy is super fun, he's really only "oblivious" to things that would be inconvenient for him to know/understand, and even then, it's less that he doesn't notice and more that he doesn't want to notice. to write this part of his character,

i still have him notice whatever is happening, but within his own narration he'll complete whatever mental gymnastics are necessary to reach a more convenient conclusion than the obvious one.

i try to portray these mental gymnastics as increasingly frantic / borderline panicked depending on how big the jump is between "what is easy for sy to think" and "what the reality is." kinda as if sy can tell that his own excuses are falling apart in real time and is desperately trying to cover it up.

a lot of "what is easy for sy to think" lies in his comphet, but not all of it. it's also easy for him to think that he's right - so when he makes a reasonable assumption, and then he learns new information that disproves that assumption, i usually take that as a chance to throw in some mental gymnastics, too.

when he does finally allow himself to understand, it's often because he's reached the tipping point of "what is easy for me to think is now actively harmful to me or someone i care about." i'll often write sy doing his mental backflips for chapters on end without any sign of stopping, but then very suddenly come to a halt and recognize the truth when he's faced with irrefutable proof that his assumptions are making things Worse (i.e., binghe is crying).

for writing bingge,

his motivation for chasing after a sy of his own lies primarily in the emotion of "this isn't FAIR" as opposed to a genuine desire to have a happy life with sy specifically. it isn't fair that he got a cruel sqq while bingmei got one that grew to care for him, it isn't fair that bingmei is happier in his life than bingge is in his ""objectively"" more accomplished life, etc etc. to write this part of his character,

he'll expect sy to treat him just like sy!sqq treated bingmei right out the gate, because sy doing so would make things "fair" for bingge. when sy fails to meet these expectations, i'll write bingge experiencing the frustration of a child denied the treatment their sibling got, not the distress of a man being rejected by someone he loves.

he has to learn to want sy romantically, and learn how that's different from just vaguely wanting "whatever bingmei had that i didn't." when he reaches this point, i'll try to write some key change in the way he treats sy in order to show that his mental framing of the situation has changed. often, i change the way bingge addresses sy at this point (i.e. calling sy with a diminutive instead of by his name).

he has very firm ideas about what is "good," and very little of them actually match what he wants. by the time bingge reached a position of power, he'd spent a lot of time reinforcing particular ways of thinking and acting because they were what kept him alive during difficult times. to write this part of his character,

he'll lash out at anything that has the chance to hurt him, because striking first is how he's survived. bc of this, i'll write him as very quick to lash out at sy or run away from their relationship if he gets even the slightest hint that sy might have messed up somewhere... but only after bingge has grown to like sy enough that he's emotionally vulnerable to what sy might do to him.

before that point, i'll write him as just mildly frustrated that this nice new toy he found isn't playing with him correctly.

he was only respected and listened to after he became powerful and scary, so he'll resist showing any other side of himself. i'll often use this as a point of conflict, highlighting how 'what makes a good romantic partner' has very little overlap with 'what makes a scary emperor' and forcing bingge to hesitantly change his habits.

i also have tips i wrote specifically about the bingmei-ification process here, if you wanted to check those out :>

anyway, i hope these help a bit! thank you again for trusting me for advice, it's very sweet of you. good luck with your own writing adventures, i'm sure you're going to kill it!!! 😤💪

[sunnysidezblog]

I just saw the worst post comparing the donation drive of ao3 to donation campaigns for people in Gaza. The post basically boiled down to being angry that the ao3 fundraiser over-filled within a day but people won't pay to help people and Gaza with bullshit ass takes. Like they were guilt tripping you for spending YOUR money how YOU want to spend it. Incoming rant below, please read the whole thing if you're going to bash my ass in the comments.

I don't think these two are even comparable anyway. Like I'm not condoning doing nothing about genocide, but let people do what they fucking want man.

Donating to Ao3 isn't the same as all those charities for Gazan people anyway. Ao3 is a centralized, singular fundraiser for a nonprofit archive (very much like the internet archive) that was specifically founded to combat rampant censorship of fics (because of the fanfiction purges, especially on ff.net). This fundraiser happens every year, and they post where it will be allocated as well. The Gaza charities are thousands in number, and it's not guaranteed that these people are real or if the money will go to them. It is so much easier to see the impact on a singular fundraiser that happens yearly than it is to see on a million one-time go-fund-me's or PayPals. That's not even counting the scams that have made people wary.

Also, don't guilt trip people into donating. It's almost worse than not donating at all because you don't know people's situations. Things that make you feel good and human, like fanfiction, are a must in the current climate of the world. Otherwise all you will be is depressed and unable to help yourself, let alone other people. All work and no play will get you killed.

That's also to say that sometimes you have to worry about yourself before you can worry about other people. Making sure that you feel good, that you feel human, that you have something to cling to in a time of need where you might be in a depressing or in bad situation is a must. A hobby like writing, crafting, reading, etc is vital for the human spirit. Spending money on a fanfiction site like ao3, so that this site can continue being accessed for free so other people can share in the joy of creation and the joy of reading (a hobby that has become expensive lately) is not something that should be condemned. And because the archive is against censorship, many works that you wouldn't be able to post otherwise make it here. It contains things that could be illegal in some other countries, like being trans or gay, for example. It provides solace for people. Who are you to condemn that and take it away? Fanfiction has saved me in the darkest times of my life, and I will defend my right to have it until I don't even have breath in my lungs anymore. Who are you to tell me that I can't give back to something that has quite literally saved my life?

I'm from the US and that orange fuck in the white house I didn't vote for is making a dictatorship of my country and trying to take away MY RIGHTS as a Trans man and AFAB person. The SAVE act (the act that requires you to have the same name as whats on your birth cirtificate to vote) targets trans people AND married women and anyone else thats had a legal name change and it's already passed the house. Do you think I have time to worry about and donate to fundraisers overseas that aren't guaranteed to even reach the people in Gaza? I'd much rather spend 1 dollar on a nonprofit fanfiction site's optional fundraiser and then allocate my resources to other nonprofits in my country to try to help avoid ANOTHER genocide of people in MY OWN COUNTRY. You know, because the orange man is trying to deport citizens now, and it won't be long before my people and other minorities are massacred in the streets. Not like we haven't been already.

There are also other forms of activism other than charities and fundraisers. I could march in the streets of my country and write my legislators and send letters to my president repeatedly asking to stop support to Israel. I could fund reputable humanitarian aid programs rather than personal fundraisers. I could do on the ground work that you can't see with your guilt tripping eyes online. I could educate myself and others on what's happening. But again, doing this constantly isn't something that some people can afford to do. Whether it be their mental state, economic state, emotional state, etc. Don't assume you know everything about everybody and target people with shame for doing something to help themselves.

And because we live in a time where rapid censorship and hatred exists, it's all the more reason to keep nonprofits like ao3 alive. The phrases "dead dove: do not eat" and "don't like don't read" are very true there. If you read something that is properly tagged of your own volition then that is on YOU, dear reader. Ao3 has a sophisticated and extensive tagging system. You can filter out any tags or warnings you want to and they won't show up on your page. Learn how to use the tagging system.

The majority of works on ao3 are NOT sexist, are NOT child porn, are NOT zionist or racist or homophobic or transphobic or whatever other -ist or -phobe there is. The works on ao3 are the works of regular people who want to express their love for their favorite shows, or even to show off their own original works, and want to do so freely without fear of censorship.

I'm not condoning all those -ists or -phobes either. I too, agree child porn, racism, sexism, zionism, homophobia, transphobia, etc is bad. I don't think those works should have ever been written in my humble opinion. But I will always, and I mean always, defend people's rights to free speech. Especially in an age where censorship is rampant in the media and in the world. If you can strike down a work for say...explicit material? Then you can strike down a beautiful 100,000+ word fanfiction exploring the complex relationship between two adult age men simply because they held hands. And there's nothing you would be able to do about it because the website said you can't under the guise that you had "explicit material" in your work. Generalizing a group of people based on the minority is widely agreed to be bad, so why must you assume that all people that support ao3 support or condone child porn or racism or sexism or rape?

Free speech applies to everyone or it applies to no one. This is something that has been told to me and it rings true everywhere. I believe that free speech should be a given, and that everyone should have to right to this kind of speech even if they use it to say deplorable things.

Again, I'm not against donating to help gaza. I'm not against activism for a country going through one of the worst horrors imaginable. The genocide in Gaza is an horrific tragedy where cruelty is the whole point, and it shouldn't be happening. It should never happen to anyone ever. And I say this as someone who's country is very much starting to tip into that direction.

But again, I do not think that you can condemn people for not donating to those charities. There is nothing morally wrong about not donating to those millions of charities and choosing to donate something to an archive nonprofit instead. Especially if they are worrying about the state of their own government, if they are homeless and down on their luck in need of free entertainment, sick, or even doing other activism work other than just simply donating. Making sure that you are ok, even emotionally, before helping others is not morally wrong. Everyone needs something to cling to, and fanfiction could be that thing for some people. And that is not morally wrong.

(P.S. And even if they just don't want to donate to Gaza or be an activist, then that's fine too because it's *their* life. Guilt tripping them over something that they didn't feel compelled to do in the first place isn't going to make someone want to donate. All it's going to do is make them hate you and your cause. Anyone remember Jake Dolittle?? Case and point)

[chiisana-sukima]

also, your tag about the line in Bugs where John was stalking Sam - honestly, what an eye opener cause I was kind of neutral on the line, maybe if a little more positive towards it cause, aww, John cares. But framing it in the context of just how abnormal their entire family dynamic is does kind of make it chilling.

I think it highlights that within the framework of the show that what we consider normal and healthy cannot be translated 1:1 in the show. Of course there are things that even they are aware is unhealthy in terms of their relationship and we can judge the relationship from a standpoint of our own morality. But within the show, sometimes our morality is moot and has no bearing in a world where your brother was poisoned with demon blood and you watched your mother burn on the ceiling and you've died and come back to life how many times and you are both the vessels of archangels and God treats you as his personal play toys. Not to excuse anything or everything they've done, I actively participate in discussions about the power imbalance, manipulation and violence in the show but, ya know. Perspective is important as well. Okay, I'm done and will stop leaving rambling asks in your inbox! :)

Aw, it's fine; I love rambling asks!

R.e. the fuzziness of applying rl morality to the over the top circumstances in spn, I probably have a different perspective than most viewers. Trauma loves trauma, so coming from a pretty fucked up background myself, I went and got myself a series of jobs where I've had the dubious pleasure of seeing scads and scads of the most messed up, shitty things the world has to throw at people. So, to me, many of these situations where fans routinely say "well, this is nothing like rl so we can't possibly apply real world morality" seem very much like real life and honestly even pretty straightforward to me. (I was an EMT out of high school, became a nurse, went to law school, interned as a domestic violence advocate, and ultimately worked in neurosurgical nursing and then in acute and critical care for the rest of my career).

I find people's insistence that the demon blood detox isn't analogous to irl circumstances especially frustrating, in that 1) there's Word of God from Sera that real world analogy was exactly what she was going for, 2) Cas and Bobby both present alternative treatment options to Dean on screen, and 3) I've involuntarily detoxed soooo many people irl and it's... well, saying "it's not that hard" isn't true, because of course it's awful for the patient and none too pleasant for the caregiver either, but it's not esoteric. It doesnt take specialized lore. Most of detox treatment is what's called "supportive care", meaning "we can't fix the actual problem, so we just deal with complications, try to make the person comfortable, and wait". Lay people shouldn't do it, because they dont have a code cart if it goes wrong, but they certainly can and we all know they do. The idea that there are no resources in the world except guns and handcuffs is Kripke's. It's our choice whether we want to indulge that fantasy or not, and I don't.

Even the "being God's personal play toys", I mean, obviously that's not really true for anyone, but a lot of people have so many things go wrong in their lives that it might as well be true. I really do believe there are unfortunately plenty of people who never have much of a chance for a long, healthy life from straight out of the womb. And like, it's tragic, but given that it's reality, the next step is to say "well, if you can't save everyone, then how do you minimize harm and maximize happiness".

Which tbh is a big part of why I think it's a potentially rational decision on either of Sam or Dean's parts to want to stay together despite how fraught it sometimes is. There are definitely rl circumstances where people are damaged in ways where staying with another person who understands their damage is a compelling, and imo potentially valid, option even if it can also be harmful in other ways. I think acknowledging that we're not in a position to evaluate anyone else's choice to stay with someone who harms them is an important part of being both a care provider and a compassionate human being.

All that said, I also think it's important to call things by their real names, even though it makes fandom contentious sometimes. We're a fandom full of hurt people, and I'm not gonna lie, I find that complicated. I know perfectly well that a lot of these arguments are between people who have survived various kind of shit in their real lives, and it's not always clear whether it's better to let people believe what they need to in the moment, even when it's wrong (and sometimes pretty clearly bullshit too), or whether it's better to insist that life is hard and it's okay to love people who harm you without pretending that they don't.

[sawyer-is-eepy]

MaDD and plurality

okay so we're MaDD, right?? and we're also plural??

NOBODY talks about how freaking hard that makes communicating omg.

constantly i'll be trying to talk to someone and then i drift off and suddenly they are completely drowned out OR they're ALSO daydreaming!! it's so frustrating, because it means that to even semi-effectively communicate, i have to talk out loud. if i have to communicate something important and we're in a public place i just have to focus REALLY hard on internal communication and it sometimes STILL doesnt work.

on top of that, we have ADHD so it's even harder, and talking out loud still doesn't work that well because without another person physically here to snap me back to reality whenever i'm daydreaming, if i start daydreaming, i'm just stuck until i realize, which can be anywhere from within a minute to literally 20+ minutes. usually they're able to get my attention by that time, but it's hard because our communication is not easy for anyone but the host(me, who is ALWAYS fronting) to initiate, so unless i actively open myself to communicate with them, it's hard for them to get my attention. sometimes my daydreams even last hours, but that usually doesn't happen when i'm not actively deciding to daydream. so yeah, it's really difficult because i've already got issues focusing, and adding basically irresistable urges to daydream at random that get triggered way too easily on top of that, inner communication is SO HARD.

anyways, this makes making a tulpa really fucking difficult because forcing is really hard.

but here are my tips, for other MaDD, especially anyone making a headmate/alter/tulpa/parogen/whatever themself -

incorporate your daydreaming into the communicating/forcing. like daydream you and that alter hanging out and then communicate via that. this does not ensure that you won't start daydreaming about anything else, but it lessens the chances. if you try to force yourself to not daydream at ALL the urges are gonna be much harder to ignore, at least for me. if you're ALREADY daydreaming, and it gets interesting enough, minor distractions are gonna catch your attention less and less because you WANNA focus on this one daydream. it becomes much more enjoyable.

this kind of like the last one, but this is more specific to tulpa/parogen forcing. don't really view it as a chore, which i've accidentally been doing more and more. not a chore i dislike, but i've been viewing it like something i have to do every single day for x amount of time other wise it wont work and it'll fail horribly and everything will be ruined, when it shouldn't need to be that. it shouldn't be on a to-do list, unless that really works for you(which if that's the case that's freaking awesome and you should probably ignore this tip). idk about everyone else, but it's much easier for me to daydream if i'm treating something like something i need to do because it's so much more tempting to just go live somewhere else for a minute while i do things i need to do. i often daydream doing chores because it's not interesting enough to keep me grounded. so, to make sure it gets done, i drift off while i'm doing it, so i am doing it in the real world but to me i'm in another world or in one of my stories. but for forcing, to be able to do it, you HAVE to be constantly aware and present. if you view it like you're just having a fun little conversation with them, it becomes like whenever you're bored or lonely just like you would reach out to a friend, but instead you're getting some talking to your head friend in. even if it's not traditional forcing, it works and develops them more, even if it's just a bit here and there. idk about everyone else, but i think partially because of my ADHD and partially because of my MaDD, whenever i have a chore i need to do i kind of put it off if i'm already doing something. i don't really *want* to put it off, but i just can't get my body to move. especially when I'm daydreaming. because, why would i get up and do the boring thing when i can watch my story in my head ? it's so much easier to sit and do nothing. but as we all know, that ADHD paralysis is so so SO stress inducing, the best option is to always get up and try to force yourself to. idk if non-ADHD MaDD will relate at all though, because that paralysis is mostly exclusive to those with ADHD afaik, but for me, my MaDD makes it much worse. anyways, that probably didn't make much sense sorry

write down what everyone is saying. this makes it much easier to keep track of what they are saying and stay present, but it also documents the conversation as well. so even if you weren't that present during the conversation, or you're worried you'll forget something important, you'll have a record to read back on later if you need! and also with created alters/headmates, keeping track of their progress is always incredibly important!!

don't listen to music! this one might be a bit of a given but unless it's like instrumental music that you genuinely won't pay that much attention to but still helps you focus, DON'T listen to it. songs are an easy gateway into a daydream. ESPECIALLY songs with lyrics, even ones that you can't understand because they're in another language, which by the way for literally any other thing you need to focus on, that's a great tip, listening to music in other languages, because you can still focus with interesting music in the background but the lyrics arent grabbing you at all. anyways back to plural-related MaDD tips, yeah, don't listen to music. even if that song usually doesn't catch your attention. for me, if i'm talking, internally or externally, and there's music with lyrics playing, i reallyyy cannot focus on what i'm(or others, again, internally or externally) are saying. idk, might just be some sort of auditory processing issue related to my ADHD but i cannot focus on it, and because it's hard, i just need to pick one, and sometimes my brain picks the song and i just. stop talking. and start daydreaming.

idk what to do if you're not fronting and trying to communicate with whoever is fronting, because i've not switched(like i mentioned before, the host, who is me, has never not been the one fronting), but if anyone has any other tips either related to that or the ones i already have here, please feel free to let me know because i'd love to hear them and i'm sure others do too!! anyways, i hope i helped, idk this might be too specific to me.

[whatohitsonfirewelp]

People will look at that episode and be like isn’t not bad writing.

When it IS.

It’s astounding to me how many of you don’t understand how important it is for a show to follow the format that THEY create for themselves.

It’s also fucking insane how many of you are so casually racist. You don’t even REALIZE it.

Eddie not being there is HUGE. He’s been a main character for over five years, and he wasn’t there.

The fact that we might not even get to see him find out out is HUGE.

And not in a good way.

The bad writing isn’t new.

But to see some of you act like this isn’t actually bad is weird.

I saw a post that said they don’t watch this show for good writing, and that’s actually so fair. Because this show does have shitty writing.

But there comes a time when the writing is just and, and when it’s straight up harmful.

Erasing characters of color to make room for a white racist man is harmful. That’s no longer just bad writing.

It’s not normal for a show do to such a huge tone shift so late into its run. You know what that means?

It means they aren’t listening to their audience.

It means they felt that the shock appeal mattered more.

It means that we should expect more storylines like this.

I have no idea who first thought this was a good idea, but it isn’t.

911 is close to being around for a whole decade, and they’re actively losing viewers.

Keep in mind, at least people like us had an idea of what was coming. The general audience didn’t.

For them, a character they’ve seen since episode one was just killed off.

These are viewers who have stayed watching for the past seven seasons, who were always aware in some form that no matter what happened, these characters would come.

And this just changed that.

People who are saying they’re surprised this hasn’t happened soon, you’re right. It should have. It really really should have.

If they had a main character death early on, at the latest in season 3, this wouldn’t be so insane. But the waited until season 8.

You don’t do that

You don’t randomly change the shows format. That’s not how you keep people watching.

People like us, we’re more emotionally invested for one reason or another, but the general audience?

Who watch his show primarily because they know Peter and Angela’s name?

Who watch this show because it gives realism less in a medical and emergency sense but more in the how people deal with things sense?

But despite that realism, it was also just fictional and safe enough from the genuine real world that the main characters always made it home?

Because shows have significantly lost viewers before for deaths that fans just didn’t. Like. Hell, sometimes these weren’t even the first big deaths, but it crossed a line with fans because that was a character they cared more about.

Not only is Bobby the first main character to be killed, he’s played by a someone who had the name to bring people into this show in the first place, and he’s a fan favorite within the general audience.

I’m so serious when I say what they did was fuck themselves over. And they better get their shit together for season nine in how they handle things or else viewership will go down and at an alarmingly fast rate.

We have to remember too that at some point, fans, including the general audience, want their characters to be happy.

Bobby’s dead. There goes that.

Athena lost the love of her life AGAIN. At some point people are going to get tired of that. Of seeing Angela Bassett be broken hearted because they won’t let her character just be happy.

I don’t trust them to actually handle the story well of what happens. Especially because Tim can’t commit to anything. Can he really commit to the grief? Or will he be quick to shove something else in there before the audience is ready?

What happens when he decides Athena should find love again?