#also obligatory 'punishment' is not the same as 'consequences'

[besnouted]

NO wait this is my last point actually even though i’m on a tangent now. but i do think it is at least somewhat related to people’s inability to let go of punitive justice. like we could kill every bigot that means us harm in one fell swoop, and that still would not change anything. that would not do anything. the machine will just keep churning them out

you have to kill the machine or it doesn’t fucking matter

[fairielux]

here is another one:

bad omens - Like a villain mirrors xie lian ( xl) and jun wu's (jw) relationship throughout the story perfectly

a lyrical character analysis

⚠️this is your obligatory SPOILER warning⚠️

Look into my face, then look again/ We are not the same, we're different/ To tell your tales and fables, you couldn't wait - when we learn jun wu's true identity as the crown prince of wuyoung, we also learn that he specifically took interest in xie lian because he thought xl is the same as him. so jw paid close attention to xl, ascended him extremely early and sort of took him under his wing after, (telling his experiences and personal ideations to the young martial god)

You need a new clean slate without the dents/ A place to put your pain, your consequence/ When you look into the mirror, are you even there? - jw wiped his identity as the crown prince of wuyoung from existence with the previous heavenly dynasty. he needed to make sure no one was left alive who knew him as the failed young martial god. this way he could have complete control over all of heavens without living in the fear of being exposed. he also proceeded to escape from the long term consequences of his actions this way.

*I don't wanna know all your secrets 'cause I'll tell/ It's hard enough being alone with myself/ I don't know how long I'll be holding on - white no face pursuit of xie lian. wnf chose to be xl's living breathing tormentor when he was at his most vulnerable, while jw posed as a safe haven for xl, someone who swore to understand the young martial god. in reality jw was just playing with xl, attempting to find a grip on him to reshape him in jw's own image. he knew this was necessary, because if xl knew his true identity and his past he would have told heavens and humans alike

I know you tried your hardest, I know that you meant well/ But you pushed me to the edge and I slipped, and then I fell/ I don't know how long I'll be holding on - this bit is xl talking to jw after the confrontation. because he always sees the best in everyone, he wholeheartedly believes jw wanted to help him at first but cannot and will not forgive his tormentor for what hes done to him, for basically making people look down on him in those 800 years, for forcing his hands every step. its also a reflection of jw's effort to save his own kingdom, that has gone extremely wrong*

So write a brand-new page, then write again/ I know your act is staged yet you pretend /All while you're turning tables with missing legs - it was easy to see through all the scheming jw has done throught the time he's been sitting on the throne, he didnt cover his tracks as well as he thought he did. there were people alive who knew who he was and what he's done in his past after all.

I think you've overstayed your welcome in/ So go the fuck away, don't come again/ I'll see your face in the fire and burn it out - his punishment has come, and i think this is the closest we get to xl being truly and really angry. though i feel like it has more to do with him grieving the person he thought jw was, the time he never got to have because of jw (and wnf) and the loss of his loved ones and people.

**

Like a villain, I couldn't be/ I didn't need it, it needed me/ Like a villain, I couldn't be/ I didn't need it, it needed me

I didn't need it, it needed me

- i think jw and xl are polar opposites. jw is the villain that xl never turned into, jw is the wrath and pain xl never allowed to act with, jw is the embodiment of grief for xl. because in the end, xl never truly needed jw, but jw needed xl so badly that he turned xl into the catalyst of his downfall.

**

I didn't need it, it needed me

i know a lot of ppl (including me) say, that if one character deserved the chance to be a villain, to have his revenge for all the pain and trauma he's been put through it's xie lian. the fact that he never went down that road and wouldnt let the pain inflicted on him change him at his core is truly admirable. i adore him as a person, as a god, and as a character because he is undoubtedly the hope of humanity in his own world, and an example to learn from in ours.

[snakebites-and-ink]

Working Normally

I’m feeling ready to try my hand at posting whump series made of several chapters! I’m starting with one of the probably less-ambitious of my planned multi-part WIPs so I can smoothly ease myself into writing longer series.

Meet Asher, a pet who (with his master’s permission) holds a job as an IT guy. Set in the box boy universe.

The current plan is for me to post a new chapter about every two weeks, but whether I’m able to maintain this will be dependent on how much of a writing stockpile I can create during winter break ^^'

Masterlist - Chapter 2

CW: BBU, pet whump, dehumanization

“Did you try powering it off and turning it back on?

That was a question Asher always had to ask. At least half the time that was all it took to fix something, yet surprisingly few people tried it before calling for him.

“Do I look stupid to you?” The man asked.

Asher swallowed back a sigh. “Of course not. I just have to ask so I know what you’ve already tried.”

The answer seemed to mollify the man. “Yeah, I turned it off and back on. It’s still broken.”

Asher nodded and sat in front of the computer. “I’ll see what I can do.”

It was often a delicate balance, fixing people’s issues without offending them. Most people didn’t like the idea of a pet knowing better than them—at least when it came to anything beyond trained positions and how to beg nicely. Even when they had a totally different area of expertise than him.

Asher, at least, was good enough at staying polite and respectful that he could usually keep them appeased. Sometimes people were completely happy with him the whole time. More often, there was a subtle tension as they decided whether they thought he was being too presumptuous or not, which he was usually able to defuse with deference.

There was occasionally also a case where someone decided to escalate things, which could become quite unpleasant for Asher. As a pet, he simply wasn’t entitled to the same rights or the same basic decency as a human being. And if he fought back, he would face much larger consequences than they would. At least they couldn’t physically hurt him, though, without having to face his master’s wrath for damaging his property. Asher’s punishments were his master’s alone to dish out.

After spending a while troubleshooting, Asher was able to get the computer working normally again. The guy said “thank you,” which was more than some people did when Asher solved their problem. Asher responded with the obligatory “You’re welcome,” in the friendly voice that said he was always happy to help, and bade the man have a nice afternoon.

Only when he was in the hallway, out of earshot, did Asher let out a sigh. Being a pet who had a place in the world of people had its perks, but ease certainly wasn’t one of them. His collar marked him out as different, lesser even, and once someone saw that, he was treated as such. And being a pet did make him different in some ways, but it didn’t make him as far beneath everyone as most people seemed to think. Others cared less about what he was actually capable of than about the role they thought he ought to fill.

At least his owner was more open-minded. Asher didn’t know how he would have handled it if he’d ended up with someone who wasn’t willing to give him any amount of power over his own life. Asher was glad he belonged to someone who allowed him a fair level of independence, even if that did come with its difficulties.

[nothorses]

i agree with everything in your transandrophobia primer... and i understand that we're trying to appeal to a broad section of queer and feminist communities; but One thing, which i think we need to start talking about more in our communities, is that cismasculinity is also oppressed.

Not the same way (cis)femininity is, of course, not to the extent. Yes patriarchal power structures exist primarily to oppress women, but men get stuck in a box they can't violate or else (any emasculating or "feminine" behaviour is societally punished). men don't get the same amount of support cis women do. men are always assumed to be potentially dangerous, but also strong and self-sufficient and never in need of support. men are not generally seen as sexually desirable and desiring men is seen as gross amongst many feminists and queer people. etc etc etc etc. it's a different form of oppression for sure, and maybe not as violently coercive as misogyny, but it's also still plenty violent and plenty coercive, and it FUCKS MEN UP. like. not in a 2005 misandry no woman wants to sleep with me sense, but in a sense of most men are psychologically damaged in ways they can't express or seek help for, and this isn't something we can task individual men with solving. It has to be a societal shift, it doesn't mean send every man to obligatory therapy but it does mean change attitudes towards men, recognise men's unique oppression (as distinct and very different from misogyny, but still very much existent) and start the process of healing.

It's tough cus you can't really bring up that you think men have unique oppression under patriarchy without being called a MRA or incel, but we need to start talking about these things in earnest. it's the next step of feminism - in order to break down the oppressive forces of patriarchy, we simply cannot leave out like half the global population.

Yeah, I have talked about this before, but I don't know that I've called it "oppression". I don't think that's an "appeasement" choice, either; there's a tendency to think of oppression as implying the "opposite" group is privileged over that group, and there's also something very... distinctly different, imo, about the way patriarchy sees men vs. women, in contrast to the way any other oppressive system sees any two opposed groups.

The way men and women are positioned against each other is not the same as white people and people of color, for example; while white people do suffer certain drawbacks under white supremacy, those drawbacks are pretty much all directly related to the fact that belonging to an oppressor class comes with an inherent isolation from others. The way manhood is viewed- as dangerous, sexually aggressive, unfeeling, expendable- is very, very different from white people being incentivized to cut ourselves off from vital connections with people of color in order to maintain power and a sense of superiority.

But like, men do also have those same incentives to isolate, and similar rewards and consequences. Patriarchy as a system that positions men over women, as people who "deserve" power vs. people who are not to be trusted with it, is real and does exist.

But imo, that system is less about controlling or eradicating one group while universally uplifting the other, and more about controlling an entire population & fabricating reasons to get them to fight each other- instead of the minority of ultra-privileged, ultra-powerful men who are meaningfully controlling and benefiting from this system.

[yusuke-of-valla]

Ok so first of all, I kinda misspoke in the first part, it’s not how the morality system works because there is no morality system

Yeah. So according to the developers in this Kotaku article:

“Characters will react visually and audibly to seeing the player cast an Unforgivable, but we don’t have a morality system that punishes them for doing so – this would be too judgemental on the game maker’s part."

I’m just. I cannot put into words how stupid that is? Let’s break it into bullet points:

“We can’t judge another person’s actions” first of all, its not the developers judging the player, it’s the characters within the world? Are you just saying that everyone in this world has the same lax standard of morality???

It is 2023. Games like “BioShock,” which judge your actions, were coming out in 2007. It just makes the world less immersive to not have tangible consequences for the players’ actions, and also means there’s no real choice!

You can’t choose to be an evil wizard if people don’t give you shit for being evil! 

Hell games that didn’t necessarily judge you for something but still had consequences are older! I can pull up forum posts of people arguing over whether or not to kill a mama bird for a phoenix down in “Final Fantasy 7”. A game that came out 1997.

In that same article, the quoted developer calls it “the ultimate embodiment of role-playing” but not actually having consequences for your actions is the opposite of role-playing! It means choosing to do the different actions will have the same results! You don’t even need to punish the player, just give them a different fucking ending. Make playing an evil wizard feel different damn it!

They’re making all this hay about how side-quests will affect the main storyline, but how you go about those side quests won’t matter? Or do your actions matter only in clearly delineated side-quests but not when you’re just wandering around? How is this cohesive game design?

Seriously, how exciting can an open world game be if the developers can’t even be bothered to give you characters who feel like characters with their own goals, motivations, and opinions when you do shit like commit literal murder.

And yeah, I get it, morality systems are hard and some can be really basic! I haven’t played “Mass Effect” but I’ve seen the discourse. But if you don’t want to have a proper morality system, then maybe just don’t let the player go around and do shit that should matter but doesn’t because that causes a little problem called breaking the player’s immersion (or if you’re fancy, “ludo-narrative dissonance”)

I just, seriously what is this game?! What are they even trying to do?! Did they have a game in mind and then threw a Harry Potter skin on it to make it profitable? Is this the game equivalent of “Velma”? How do you do this if you want to give the player a realistic feeling of living in the Harry Pottter world?

*incoherent screaming*

Anyway, obligatory links to remind people about JKR’s bullshit and just how weirdly antisemetic this game is, on top of just a weirdly half-assed morality system.

I’m deeply sorry but we got clarification on how the morality system in the Wizard game works and I have. I have feelings from a game design perspective so in like an hour when I get out of class I’m going to bitch about this again I’m so sorry

[helpistolethesecharacters]

I'll Be Your Romeo If You'll Be My Juliet

Lucius Malfoy x Male Reader

Word Count: 1911

This was a request from an anon for a Lucius x male reader.

I hope this is everything you wanted from your request anon, if it isn't, feel free to send me another request!

---------

It was time for the annual Yule gathering. The Black family had the honor of hosting it this year, and they had taken every opportunity to remind everyone of that fact.

The heirs, the ones that mattered anyway, had been almost insufferable on the lead up to the yule break.

Lucius had mixed feelings on the whole subject, not that he could let that show to anyone.

Luckily, it looked like his betrothed was of a similar mind. The lovely Andromeda Black had been as quiet as he had been lately. If they had had even the smallest bit of interest in each other, they might have brought their concerns up.

Lucius thought fleetingly of a world where they could be in love. They would spirit themselves away to an abandoned classroom where they could talk uninterrupted about all of the things that were bothering them. They would take comfort in not being alone. It would bring them closer together and they could fall in love all over again.

But reality was a cruel mistress, and rarely allowed for such flights of fancy.

As it was, Lucius and Andromeda were just two teens who had been promised to each other from before they had even been born. There was nothing more between them.

Lucius sighed silently as he exited the floo into the receiving room at the Black Manor.

He barely registered an elf banishing the soot from his dress robes as he moved out of the room.

"Heir Malfoy, a pleasure to have you in our humble home this evening. And of course you as well Lord and Lady Malfoy!"

Lucius nodded at the welcome and stood obediently by his parents' side as he waited for the greetings to end. Sometimes he tired of all the stiff pureblood airs and graces.

After the obligatory back handed compliments they moved off into the party proper. With a last terse command to not embarrass the family name, courtesy of his father, Lucius moved away to see if he could find someone a little closer to his age.

He absently took a glass of sparkling cider from one of the floating trays that dotted the ballroom. The Blacks really had outdone themselves this year. The room was done in shades of white, sliver and blue. It really was stunning, but nothing seemed to be able to knock Lucius out of the numbness he had slipped into.

It had started at the start of that school year with the arrival of a transfer student. The other boy was their age, and the most enchanting creature that Lucius had ever laid eyes on. He had watched his sorting with longing, but the dratted hat had put Y/n into Ravenclaw. It wasn't really the end of the world, Lucius shuddered to think if he had been put into Gryffindor, or worse, Hufflepuff. Unfortunately, Lucius was already betrothed, but even if he wasn't, Abraxas Malfoy would never allow him to sully the Malfoy name with a male partner.

So Lucius had had to swallow his feelings as best he could. It hadn't worked very well, so he had allowed himself to pine from afar just a little.

He was jolted out of his daydream by the object of his thoughts. Lucius inhaled his mouthful of cider at the sight of Y/n.

He looked amazing in his dress robes, dressed up all fancy for the ball. Lucius thought to himself that if this was the cause of his death it would be worth it.

He was aware, once he managed to stop choking, of three things. One, everyone was looking at him, two, his face was probably red enough to shame a Weasley's hair, and lastly, that Y/n had the brightest e/c eyes possible.

He was struck with the awful thought that this was probably the first time that Y/n had known that Lucius existed.

'Well, that was a fantastic first impression,' Lucius thought to himself. He pointedly looked everyone who would meet his gaze straight in the eyes. As he had thought, it was enough to discomfort them into looking away.

Lucius raised his chin and moved off into a different area of the ballroom.

-------------

Ever since Y/n had realised that Lucius Malfoy was at the party as well, he had been jittery. The other boy was always looking at him. He had been the cause of enough distraction before this, when he was just someone who lurked at the fringes of his awareness while he studied in the school library. Now, Y/n was sure that he would never be getting rid of the image of Lucius in dress robes. How was he ever going to be able to concentrate again?

He shook himself slightly and tried to focus back in on whatever it was that the Greengrass heiress was talking about. He was supposed to be making connections here, maybe paving the way for a betrothal contract. As the first Pendragon to be seen in this and the previous generation, there was a lot of pressure to make the right political connections. A marriage to someone who was already politically powerful in this community would go a long way toward putting them back on the map in this magical community.

It was the Gods eternal joke that he was the only one that could do this. He only had one other relative, and his uncle wasn't exactly all there anymore. His parents had made it clear that this was their only chance to become the powerful family that they had once been.

Sure, potions had made it possible to have a male pregnancy, but it was still looked down on pretty harshly by most purebloods. Y/n had no idea how he was supposed to get his family back to its former glory, when to do it he would have to marry a girl. Why did he have to be gay?

------------

Lucius was slowly going out of his mind. He had moved around the party doing his best to ignore Y/n, but he couldn't get him out of his head. The other boy was still standing where he had first spotted him, entirely surrounded by everyone their age.

What was worse was that these were people Lucius had grown up with. He had known these people for his whole life, and it was this that allowed him to see what was happening.

They were all flirting with Y/n.

Lucius was almost certain that some of them, most notably his friends, were only doing it to irritate him and not because they were genuinely interested in Y/n.

He had been shooting furtive looks over at the group for the last half an hour, and still they kept it up. Lucius just didn't know what to do. Oh sure, he knew what he wanted to do, but he also knew that there was no way he could actually pull it off.

For one thing, if he showed his hand by going over there and making a fool of himself he would face serious consequences when he got home. He was sure he would already be in trouble for his incident earlier that night, but if his father heard even a hint of a whisper that his only heir was gay, well, Lucius wasn't sure he would survive that particular punishment.

He was pulled up short at the realisation of where he was. He was in a room with some of the biggest gossips in the magical world, all of which could just about smell weakness. He shot his eyes around the room and realised with a start that it was already too late.

He recognised the look in his fathers eyes when he met them. Someone must have said something about his preoccupation with his classmate to Abraxas. Lucius swallowed, noting his suddenly dry throat.

He looked away from his father, toward Y/n and his friends. There might be a way to salvage this, pretend to have been watching another of his friends. He would still be in trouble for lusting after someone who was not his betrothed, but much less than if it had been the very male Y/n.

There was a commotion over by one of the doors, but Lucius was too busy thinking. He was realising that he was done. He couldn't live like this anymore, and he was done pretending that he could.

He squared his shoulders and moved over to his friends.

"Excuse me, may I borrow Y/n for a moment. We won't be long."

He didn't even bother waiting for a response, just grabbed a hold of him and started off in a random direction. The only thing in his mind was getting as far away from other people so he could have this discussion in peace.

He pulled Y/n out of the ballroom and down hallway after hallway until he decided they were lost enough that only a house elf would be able to find them.

He turned back to the other boy after making sure that the area was empty. They were both panting a little after their impromptu jog.

Y/n was looking at Lucius cautiously.

Lucius surged forward and connected their lips.

They were gasping for breath again when he pulled back.

"You know we can't do this."

Lucius cut him off before he could continue.

"I'm done. I'm done being the perfect heir for parents that don't care to know the real me. I'm done pretending that I'm not head over heels for you. Most of all, I'm done holding back from the things I want just because society wants so badly to tell me no."

He pulled in a deep breath, still standing in Y/n personal space. Neither boy had moved back.

"I want you, Y/n, and I think you've known that for as long as I have. If I haven't missed my guess, you want me too. I'm certainly not alone in all the looks I've sent your way, and I would regret it for the rest of my life if I didn't at least find out if you could feel the same way as I do for you."

Y/n sighed and shifted back a step.

"Those are pretty words Lucius, easy to say them here, alone in a secluded corner of someone else's manor, but how will you feel walking into Hogwarts next week, and letting everyone see. How will you feel when your parents cut you off?"

"I'm not totally helpless Y/n, I'll find a way to survive. I know for sure that if I have you by my side there isn't anything that we can't face."

He softly took Y/n's hand and stroked the back with his thumb.

"So what do you say? Can you feel the same way I do?"

Y/n shut his eyes in resignation.

"You know I do."

They stood at the end of their silent hallway for some time, just holding each other.

"You know this will be the second scandal of the night?"

Lucius pulled back to look at Y/n.

"What do you mean?"

Y/n looked at Lucius, shocked.

"What do you mean, what do I mean? Didn't you hear, just before you pulled me out of there, one of the older Blacks ran in and caused quite the scene. By the looks of things Andromeda is missing. From what I managed to gather, she's run off with that muggleborn from Ravenclaw, you know, Tonks-something, or something-Tonks."

[queeranarchism]

A thing about corona laws

This post is more emotional that I usually get, but I need to get something off my chest. A thing about corona laws. Curfews. Obligatory masks. Bans on crowds of three or more. Bans on gatherings in private homes.

We’ve had them for half a year now and do you know what I see with every damn law? White people getting a polite warning and people of color getting beaten up, fined and thrown in jail. Undocumented people getting deported. Disabled people going through all sorts of abuse.

This is the only result laws like this ever have. EVER.

And we told you. We told you in March and in April and in May all the way to right now. So many people have been warning that this stuff would harm the marginalized because that is always the result of laws.

“But the lock down laws helped bring down..” No it didn’t.  If the law actually worked, corona-disbelievers would be following it. They’d be staying home and wearing masks. They’re clearly not. The people that are staying home and wearing masks aren’t motivated by the law, they do it because it’s the responsible thing to do. For a lot of people the law send an extra signal ‘oh shit, this corona thing is serious', but that signal could have been send in many ways that are not as harmful as laws.

Nothing about this pandemic got safer as the result of laws because white people can always do whatever the fuck they want and people of color - on top op all existing shit - now have to worry about police brutality for standing too close to someone or meeting in a group of three.

But so many of you who claim to care about marginalized people still supported corona laws anyway, because ‘we need it to keep us safe’. I saw you on my Tumblr and on every other social media. Some of you even identify as anarchists and still defended these laws.

Now I know you didn’t make these laws, I know you don’t have that power. My anger at the politicians and the cops is much bigger than my anger at you.

But seeing you drop your anti-authoritarianism and call for laws and punishments the moment your life got scary told me a lot about you and impacted my sense of safety around you. It makes me wonder how scared you’d have to be to be okay with calling the cops on someone. It makes me wonder under what conditions you’d snitch on me. It makes me wonder what injustices you’d accept to keep yourself and people close to you safe.

And I remember your ‘we need it to keep us safe’ every time another person of color gets arrested on their way to work and is sitting in a cell fearing for their life for 24 hours for doing the same small irresponsible actions that all of you also do because no one can keep up this lock down discipline consistently. But the consequences we face when we inevitably do a few irresponsible things are not the same.

If you supported any of these laws in March, fucking look around and learn. This is what laws do and this is what cops do. This is what laws and cops always do. This is why they’re never the answer to our problems and they never keep us safe. Learn that shit. Because you’re not a safe comrade until you do.

[deadfictionalcamel]

The nationalisation of industry, removing the workers from the hands of individual capitalists, delivered them to the yet more rapacious hands of a single ever-present capitalist boss, the state. The relations between the workers and this new boss are the same as earlier relations between labour and capital, with the sole difference that the Communist boss, the state, not only exploits the workers, but also punishes them himself, since both of these functions—exploitation and punishments—are combined in him. Wage labour has remained what it was before, expect that is has taken on the character of an obligation to the state. Trade unions lost all their natural rights and were transformed into organs of police surveillance of the working masses. The establishment of taxes, wage rates, the right to hire and fire workers, the general management of enterprises, their internal organisations, etc.—all this is the exclusive right of the Party, of its organs or of its agents. As for the role of trade unions in all fields of production, it is purely ceremonial: they must sign the decrees of the Party, which can neither be challenged nor changed.

It is clear that in all this we are dealing with a simple substitution of state capitalism for private capitalism. The Communist nationalisation of industry represents a new type of production relations in which economic slavery, the economic dependence of the working class, is concentrated in a single fist, the state. In essence this in no way improves the situation of the working class. Obligatory labour (for workers, naturally) and the militarisation of labour are the spirit of the nationalised factory. Let us give an example. In August 1918, the workers of the former Prokhorov factory in Moscow became agitated and threatened to rebel against the inadequate wages and the police regime in the factory. They organised several meetings in the factory itself, evicted the factory committee, which was merely a party cell, and took as their wages part of what they had produced. Members of the central administration of the textile workers' union declared, after the mass of workers refused to deal with them: the behaviour of the workers in the Prokhorov factory throws a shadow on the authority of Soviet power; all further action of these workers would defame Soviet power in the eyes of workers in other enterprises; this cannot be allowed, and consequently the Prokhorov factory must be closed, the workers must be send away, a commission should be created which will be able to establish a firm regime in the factory; after which it will be necessary to recruit a new staff of workers. And this was done. It can be asked: who were these people, these three or four men who so freely determined the destiny of thousands of workers? Were they placed in their posts by the masses? Did the people give them such enormous power? Not at all. It was the Party that appointed them, and this was their power. This example is one of thousands. This example, like a drop of water, reflects the true situation of the working class in a nationalised industry.

What remains to the workers and to their organisations? A very narrow berth—the right to elect this or that delegate to a soviet completely subservient to the Party.

— Peter Arshinov, History of the Makhnovist Movement (1918-1921)

[sistersblack]

tomjr replied to your post

“i’m in a ‘i am going to cause problems on purpose’ mood and it is...”

Do you have a post on why you like Lucius? As someone who, admittedly, isn't a massive fan, I'd love to read why! :)

okay.. i have to admit my reasons for loving lucius aren’t really as serious as my reasons for loving snape. his character hasn’t had any profound impact on me, i mostly just think he’s fun & has a lot of unexplored potential.

as a preface, i’m team ‘fictional preferences aren’t a reliable indicator of real-world morals.’ also this is probably going to be a bit of a mess. it got much longer than intended and turned into a more meta than anything else but anyway--

i’ve always been partial to villains (my fave hp character has been snape since i picked up the first book, and back then it was because he was such a bastard) so lucius being a bad guy doesn’t bother me. a lot of the criticisms of his character are variations of “but he’s a death eater!!!” which just makes me go …and? it’s like saying you can’t like bellatrix because she’s a voldy-fanatic or that you can’t like voldemort because he’s.. voldemort. i know people actually do say those things but to me it doesn’t make sense. a character being a de or in the order has no bearing on whether i like them or not.

i’m not going to argue against lucius being a bad guy, but i do think he’s kind of terrible at it, at least compared to his cohort. i don’t think he’s sadistic like other death eaters or as fanatic, either (which i think comes to light in his dh arc). to me, he’s the ‘order people around, then stand back and watch as they do your bidding’ kind of villain. i’d even argue that this line

“Lucius, my slippery friend,’ he whispered, halting before him. ‘I am told that you have not renounced the old ways, though to the world you present a respectable face. You are still ready to take the lead in a spot of Muggle-torture, I believe?” (GOF, ch. 33)

is a reference to it. he doesn’t delight or participate, he leads. i do think he’s killed and tortured (he probably got some kicks out of it, too) but i’ve always interpreted him as a character whose usefulness comes from his connections (and if we want to talk headcanons, i think he’s got a good strategic eye). we know the second war differs greatly from the first; from what little information we get about the first war, it seems that death eaters were making a much more controlled and effective effort that resulted in actual changes to wizarding society. (to digress a little, i think that’s what a lot of death eaters actually signed up for, not the killing/torture and harry potter business, otherwise voldemort’s numbers in the first war don’t really make sense.) but in that context, lucius is a valuable player to have because he’s got the connections, diplomacy, and resources to infiltrate places like the ministry and encourage the right parties to support voldemort’s plans. it might not exactly make him likable, but it’s something i like to think about.

the above quote touches on some other things that make me interested in him. while definitely a blood-supremacist, i’d argue that lucius’ loyalty to his family/to himself far outweighs his loyalty to voldemort. i’ll talk about the malfoys in a bit, but on the topic of choosing to become a death eater, i think he was swayed by what voldemort was selling—a society of only purebloods, where he’s promised glory. joining voldemort is perfectly aligned with his own goals, but when that’s no longer the case, he’s got no issue dropping voldy and claiming he was coerced; he doesn’t scream his loyalty like bella and willingly ruin his life (and his family’s life) to serve his lordship. as to why that makes me like him, i kind of just always like the self-preserving prick character. it’s a big part of why i love narcissa, too. (and why i think they’re perfectly matched, but more on that here).

also, what i mean when i say he’s fun is like… okay so lucius is the kind of person where if i met him irl, i’d spend every second in his presence thinking about how much i want to punch him in the face. he’s that rich, snooty asshole who knows he’s above the consequences us mere mortals have to worry about, but it makes him fun to write. he can do whatever he wants because he knows he can get away with it and i always have a good time when i write him in fic (even when I’m torturing him).  

the other thing is that i think lucius’ character is a bit like snape’s in the sense that it’s been warped by fanon (jason’s portrayal is part of it too, though i do love it). my biggest pet peeve about the discussion around lucius is how most of it revolves around draco, and how the people who want to defend/woobify/redeem draco immediately jump to ‘lucius was an abusive father.’ i always sort of want to ask why they think that, but i know it’s not really worth the effort.

(there’s the argument that raising a child with extremist views, even with good intentions, constitutes abuse on its own. but imo that’s a different conversation & not really relevant bc people don’t tend to use that as an example of lucius being a bad father, they jump right to him being verbally/physically/emotionally abusive.) 

anyway, my point is

“My father’s next door buying my books and mother’s up the street looking at wands. […] I think I’ll bully father into getting me one and I’ll smuggle it in somehow. […] Father says it’s a crime if I’m not picked to play for my house, and I must say, I agree.” PS, ch. 5.

that book!lucius  

“My Lord,” said a voice, desperate and cracked. He turned: there was Lucius Malfoy sitting in the darkest corner, ragged and still bearing the marks of the punishment he had received after the boy’s last escape. One of his eyes remained closed and puffy. “My Lord … please … my son …” DH, ch. 32.

doesn’t really

“Wouldn’t it be … forgive me … more prudent to call off this battle, enter the castle and seek him y – yourself?”

“Do not pretend, Lucius. You wish the battle to cease so that you can discover what has happened to your son.” DH, ch. 32.

support the fanon

“[…] Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy running through the crowd, not even attempting to fight, screaming for their son.” DH, ch. 36.

there’s a bunch of other little moments that give us an insight into the malfoy family dynamic (like the fact that lucius actually listens to draco’s rambling; eg. “… everyone thinks he’s so smart, wonderful potter with his scar and his broomstick —” / “you have told me this at least a dozen times already.” – or his reaction to buckbeak; “father’s not very happy about my injury- […] he’s complained to the school governors. and to the ministry of magic.” - or the fact that draco constantly defends him).  i don’t think it’s enough to suggest that the malfoys were a happy-go-lucky family, but everything put together paints a picture, and it’s not one of a cold, abusive household. i won’t bother pulling apart the ~lucius abused narcissa~ fanon, because i do that a bit on my narcissa post and it essentially boils down the same thing. 

basically i think lucius is unfairly lumped into the category of death eaters who are incapable of anything ‘good.’ like, yes, he’s terrible, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t or can’t love his family. to say so directly contradicts a lot of his canon material (looking @ you, cursed child).  but anyway, my interpretation of the malfoy family dynamic is a large part of why i love lucius as a whole (bad guy who loves one (1) thing is a good trope and that is a hill i will die on) and i think the way his loyalty to the cause™ battles with his loyalty to narcissa and draco creates some interesting scenarios to consider. overall i think there’s a lot of unexplored potential with him.

i’m ending it here bc i can feel my attention span starting to slip, but tl;dr 

also one last obligatory reason: he’s sexy (and i’m saying this as a lesbian)

[tawakkull]

ISLAM 101: Spirituality in Islam: Part 14

Raja (Hope or Expectation)

For a Sufi, hope means waiting for that which he or she wholeheartedly desires to come into existence, acceptance of good deeds, and forgiveness of sins. Hope or expectation, both based on the fact that the individual is solely responsible for his or her errors and sins and that all good is and originates from God’s Mercy, is seen in this way: To avoid being caught in vices and faults and ruined by self-conceit over good deeds and virtues, an initiate must advance toward God through the constant seeking of forgiveness, prayer, avoidance of evil, and pious acts. One’s life must be lived in constant awareness of God’s supervision, and one must knock tirelessly on His door with supplication and contrition. If an initiate successfully establishes such a balance between fear and hope, he or she will neither despair (of being a perfect, beloved servant of God) nor become proud of any personal virtues and thereby neglect his or her responsibilities.

True expectation, possessed by those who are sincerely loyal to the Almighty, means seeking God’s favor by avoiding sins. Such people undertake as many good deeds as possible, and then turn to God in expectation of His mercy. Others, however, have a false expectation. They spend their lives in sin, all the while expecting God’s favor and reward, even though they perform none of the obligatory duties. They seem to believe that God is obligated to admit everyone to Paradise. Not only is this a false expectation, it is a mark of disrespect for the All-Merciful, the All-Compassionate, for such an expectation reflects their (misplaced) hope that God would violate His very nature to protect them from the consequences of their sins.

For Sufis, hope or expectation are not the same as a wish. A wish is a desire that may or may not be fulfilled, whereas hope or expectation is an initiate’s active quest, through all lawful means, for the desired destination. So that God, in His Mercy, will help him or her, the initiate does everything possible, with an almost Prophetic insight and consciousness, to cause all the doors of Divine shelter to swing open. In other words, hope is the belief that like His Attributes of Knowledge, Will, and Power, God’s Mercy also encompasses all creation, and the expectation that he or she may be included in His special mercy: My Mercy embraces all things (7:156); and in a hadith qudsi, a Prophetic saying whose meaning was directly revealed by God, which reads: God’s Mercy exceeds His Wrath. Indifference to such Mercy, from which even devils hope to benefit in the Hereafter, and despairing of being enveloped by it, which amounts to denying it, is an unforgivable sin.

Hope means that an initiate seeks the ways to reach the Almighty in utmost reliance on His being the All-Munificent and the All-Loving. 

Be kind to me, O my Sovereign, do not abandon favoring the needy and destitute! Does it befit the All-Kind and Munificent to stop favoring His slaves?

Those who are honored by such Divine kindness can be considered as having found a limitless treasure especially at a time when a person has lost whatever he or she has, is exposed to misfortune, or feels in his or her conscience the pain of being unable to do anything good or to be saved from evil. In short, when there are no means left that can be resorted to, and all of the ways out end in the Producer of all causes and means, hope illumines the way, like a heavenly mount that carries one to peaks that normally are impossible to reach.

Here I cannot help but recall the hope expressed in the last words of Imam Shafi'i in Gaza:

When my heart was hardened and my ways were blocked, I made my hope a ladder to Your forgiveness; My sins are too great in my sight, but When I weigh them against Your forgiveness, Your forgiveness is much greater than them. [1]

It is advisable for one to feel fear in order to abandon sin and turn to God. One should cherish hope when falling into the pit of despair and the signs of death appear. Fear removes any feeling of security against God’s punishment, and hope saves the believer from being overwhelmed by despair. For this reason, one may be fearful even when all obligatory duties have been performed perfectly; one may be hopeful although he or she has been less than successful in doing good deeds. This is what is stated in the following supplication of Yahya ibn Mu'adh:

O God! The hope I feel in my heart when I indulge in sin is usually greater than the hope I feel after performing the most perfect deeds. This is because I am “impaired” with flaws and imperfections, and never sinless and infallible. When I am stained with sin, I rely on no deeds or actions but Your forgiveness. How should I not rely on Your forgiveness, seeing that You are the Generous One? [2]

According to many, hope is synonymous with cherishing a good opinion of the Divine Being. This is related in the following hadith qudsi: I treat My servant in the way he thinks of Me treating him. [3] A man once dreamed that Abu Sahl was enjoying indescribable bounties and blessings, and asked him how he had attained such degree of reward. Abu Sahl answered: By means of my good opinion of my Lord. [4] That is why we can say that if hope is a means for God’s manifestation of His infinitely profound Mercy, a believer should never relinquish it. Even if one always performs good deeds and preserves his or her sincerity and altruism, since these are the accomplishments of a finite being with limited capacities, they have little importance when compared with God’s forgiveness.

Fear and hope are two of the greatest gifts of God that He may implant in a believer’s heart. If there is a gift greater than these, it is that one should preserve the balance between fear and hope and then use them as two wings of light to reach God.

[1] Dhahabi, Siyar’ Alam al-Nubula’, 1.150. [2] Qushayri, al-Risala, 133. [3] Bukhari, Tawhid, 15; Muslim, Tawba, 1; Tirmidhi, Dawa'at, 132. [4] Qushayri, al-Risala, 134.

[ambidextrousarcher]

Sarcastic StarBharat Reviews-Episode 18: In which there’s a (completely unnecessary) rain of lotuses

This is the promised reuploaded review. Under the cut, not tagging anyone.

This episode begins with a shot of fireworks bursting over Hastina. “Let it be known throughout Kururashtra that Maharaj Pandu has won the Swayamvar of Kuntibhoj’s daughter,” announces Satyavati in the throne room. The courtiers all cheer Honey Boy’s name. Camera cuts to Drama Queen as Ms. Always Patnidharma makes an entry. “I’ve brought food,” she says. “Hmm. Keep it,” he replies curtly. She gestures to the servants, who do so. (Why are we paying so much attention to Drama Queen eating. Ms. Always Patnidharma seems tense, too, and she’s holding Sukhda’s hands. I can’t see anything apart from the fact that according to StarBharat, both Gandhari and Sukhda have manicured hands and long, buffed nails.) Drama Queen eats a morsel, looking thoughtful. He says, “The taste is different today,” Sukhda says “Kumari Gandhari has made it to the flavors of Gandhar,” Ugh. Must every other episode have a syrupy sweet scene? This isn’t Sasuraal Simar Ka or something, it’s supposed to be the Mahabharat! “If you don’t like it, I can tell them to bring something else,” says Ms. Always Patnidharma. “No,” says Drama Queen, “The flavor of Gandhar is good. Different, but good.” There’s sweeping melodic music, like this is some kind of grand love proposal, complete with smiles all round. I’m counting this canon fail #34 for good measure. “Will you not sit?” he asks. So help me, someone who actually does exist! She looks shocked. Sukhda nods at her and leads her to sit. “I see Gandhar’s kitchen has entered Hastina,” he says. “This is the first try,” replies Ms. Patnidharma shyly. “It’s a good try, unfortunately, it will not be appreciated here, only Kuntibhoj’s culture will have an impact here in Hastina.” Of course, Drama Queen, drag that into this too. “What is the harm if some of the food is from here, some from Gandhar and some from Kunti?” Wow, what a terrible analogy. He pushes the food away. “Do not seek to teach me! You have no right to advice me!” Dude, she’s your wife. Cease all this ott drama, will you? “I’m trying to calm you down. I can understand that you’re still tense,” she says. This is followed by an even more terrible temple analogy I can’t make sense of, which ends with “We must accept God’s will. It’s better to forget bitterness and welcome Pandu and Kunti…” she touches his shoulder. He, predictably, lashes out. “Do not touch me! I have not given you that right. Whenever I try to accept you as my wife, this is what stops me. You show me again and again how much myself being disrespected gladdens your heart. Neither will I welcome them, nor shall you. I am your husband. My orders are your limit. Whether you accept them or cross them, I leave that on you.” Ugh, dude, how terrible can you be??? Then comes the telltale peacock feather. Ugh, for the last two episodes, we were free of this guy and here he comes up again. Skip. Skip. Skip. This is about bonds of marriage, apparently. Scene changes to Kunti and Pandu bending to take Kuntibhoj’s blessings. He stops her and asks her to take blessings from her birth-father, Shurasena. I’m counting this as canon fail #35. No Yadava dad would be so terrible that he would not even say one word to his daughter if he were actually around during her marriage. Please correct me if Shurasena is actually this terrible, okay? Shurasena digresses, saying that the honor is that of the man who brought her up. Honey Boy agrees with Shurasena, saying that the person who gives up their child just after its birth will always have second place in the child’s life. Camera pans to Ms. Melodrama. Girl, I get it okay? You didn’t want to do what you did. I got that the first time. Also, hats off to the writers for dragging it this much. They take the blessings and Pandu leaves ahead. Kunti hugs Priyamvada. “Can you see how great my husband’s thoughts are?” Oh no. “I’ve become very lucky on marrying him,” Girl, this guy literally dies because he’s too horny to keep it in his pants, okay? That’s not my definition of wise. “Yes, Princess, I can see that. All I ask is that you do not do anything to jeopardize that luck.” Kunti looks askance at Priyamvada. “I cannot cheat my husband!” “Lying for advantage is called cheating. Hiding the truth to protect yourself is not cheating.” “Do not spin webs of lies, Priyamvada,” “The truth of the world is unknown to those who have lived their entire lives in palaces, Princess, yet this very same truth can turn into a weapon in the hands of an enemy.” She ties a black thread on Kunti’s wrist. “What are you doing?” Kunti asks. “This is a charm, Princess, for the happiness of you and your husband. Swear that you will not tell him about your past until this is tied on your hand,” You…do realize she can untie it anytime, don’t you? Ms. Melodrama goes off on a rant about the number of wrongs she did. Canon fail #36, I’d say. The Kunti of the Mahabharata is a pragmatic person, I think she felt guilty about Karn, sure, but not to this extent that she about stopped living her life and its joys. Besides, I think that, if she gets the choice, she’d choose her five sons. (I really want to yell Arjun’s name, but I desist.) There are servants standing right behind her all the while she’s bemoaning her child’s fate, you honestly want me to believe this wasn’t the servant’s gossip of the day and stayed secret in this show? (In canon, it does stay secret, but this isn’t canon) Cue first half of precap scene and then Mr. Glitterwash makes an entry, praying to his Godly dad (I don’t think he knows yet) There’s badass music I’m trying to tune out, because as far as I am concerned, that guy ain’t badass. “Help!” Someone yells. Ah, I see, this is where he turns into Batman. A really poor imitation of Batman. Canon fail #37. This guy isn’t nearly as heroic. In fact, in canon, his entire motivation in life is to kill Arjun. Seriously. He’s the King of Anga, the hotbed of sexual slavery and he does nothing to save anyone there. There’s a kid flailing on a chariot crying for help, everyone scatters in his wake, until enter Mr. Glitterwash, who runs behind the chariot. The chariot strikes a stone on a grassy cliff, the kid goes flying off the cliff and Mr. Glitterwash does his Batman gig. Hang on, isn’t this guy’s selling point the ‘fact’ that he had been ‘poor and downtrodden’ (which he never was)? The guy literally had gold everywhere on him! He’s freaking wearing golden-colored shoes! What the…?     Canon fail #38. Being born of God or not, Mr. Glitterwash is as human as anyone else, and he should have died after that stunt, as he lands on solid Earth. Now, if he’d landed on water, he might have survived. Instead, the Sun apparently gives him energy and he saves the other kid. “Son!” The other kid’s mama rushes to them. “Karn!” Oh, this is his adopted mom making an entry. “Radha,” says a random guy, “Your son is divine,” “Radha ma!” exclaims Glitterwash. She dunks a pot of water on him and breaks the pot. She drags him off protesting. I don’t know what the point of this is…until she asks him what the hell he was doing. Oh, so they are setting him up as heroic. I see. Anyone reading this, please don’t start thinking that this stuff is canon. IT’S COMPLETELY NON-CANON. “I was saving the child!” “Who’ll save you? Bhairav himself?” AARGH. This guy is not heroic! I’ll keep repeating it. She tells him that he’ll be punished. He asks her if she is angry. She tells him to stop making her angry and then ask this question like a wet cat. Speaking of wet cats, this guy seems to have dried up awfully fast from the drench he got like, 2 seconds ago? He’s like “I’m Adhirath’s son, it’s my duty to protect.” Huh? What? You know what, I can’t find it in myself to care. She replies that it’s her duty to protect him from his father. He says that his father is with the King in Kuntibhoj. She replies that they are coming back with the Queen and they should get ready for the Darshan. He goes “You mean they are going to see us?” “Why would they see us?” she asks. “We are neither criminals, nor brave warriors,” “You said that if a King looks at us, we will be very lucky.” “Or very unlucky. The gaze of great people have great consequences.” Okay, quit it with the melodrama foreshadowing already, will you? “Then they should definitely look at us.” “But how?” He gets an inward look in his eye. Uh-oh, I don’t like this at all. They’re gonna glitterwash him more, it’s obvious. Pandu and Kunti enter Hastina on a chariot to the sound of cheers. Priyamvada’s parting words about keeping her secret flash in Kunti’s mind. The chariot stops. “Why have you stopped, Adhirath?” asks Pandu. “The Mahamantri is here to welcome you, Maharaj,” he says. There is a round of the obligatory pranipaat’s. Vidur says that Satyavati has asked Pandu to visit Lord Rama’s temple before going home. Pandu asks if Vidur won’t welcome his Bhabhishree and Bhraata. Vidur smiles and says he’ll be their charioteer. He sends Adhirath home. Adhirath runs to Radha who tells him that their son has gone to prepare for the King’s welcome. Adhirath asks Radha why she didn’t stop him, as he might use the bow and arrow. (Okay, this…doesn’t seem believable to me.) Gilligan Cut to Mr. Glitterwash praying to Surya and drawing his bow and arrow. “You don’t understand the seriousness of this. I’ll have to stop him now, where is he?” asks Adhirath. Um, but excuse me, please. Karn is canonically Drona’s student. He canonically learnt weaponry from Dron, so what exactly is the issue? Oh, I know! The issue is canon fail #39. Considering Karna is Drona’s student, and that charioteers have to defend themselves often, it’s kind of ridiculous that Karn using a bow can cause such haha-huhu. Scene cuts to Karn who’s praying to Surya so that his objective is achieved without harming anyone. Canon fail #40. Nothing of this sort, which leads a rain of lotuses, ever happens in canon. And Karn is seriously not the sort to worry whether he hurt someone or not. Vidur takes the reins of the chariot in hand just as Karn shoots the arrow which strikes a bed of lotuses causing them to rain on Pandu and Kunti. Ms. Melodrama remembers the flowers from her stuffing them in a basket along with Glitterwash and promptly goes into mind-angst mode. She laments that the ‘light of her heart’ (who’ll want to kill her biologically youngest son later for the crime of being a better warrior) had been sent with these flowers. “Vidur, who caused this rain of flowers? Who exhibits such great archery” What the-? BTW, THIS IS NOT CANONICAL! Archery is not some divine gift that Glitterwash got. He worked towards it, as did other, better archers, heck Bheem is better than Glitterwash most of the time in canon. Ms. Melodrama holds the lotus close. The strains of the song “Suryadev Sogaye…” starts as Glitterwash comes forward. She’s anxiously looking for him as he is approaching from the back. She turns back, still looking for him. Episode ends. I suppose this is a catchphrase by now, but I am dreading the next episode. Precap: “I’m disturbed by what I heard in Kuntinagar,” says Ms. Melodrama to Ms. Always Patnidharma. She says something I don’t get and then says that a thorn in the garden of a new house is not a good omen. Ms. Always Patnidharma tells her that her elder brother loves Honey Boy a lot. Scene changes to Poseur and Drama Queen sitting at a board of dice. “Prince Pandu has defeated us handily, I have nothing but hate in my heart for him.” says Poseur. Drama Queen demonstrates his immense ocular muscle control as he strikes the board with a knife.

Wow, I got through this episode in one sitting! *Pats self on the back* Gosh, my tolerance levels are getting better for this wank.

[ill-will-editions]

WHAT THE VIRUS SAID

First published in Lundimatin, March 16, 2020

Translated by Robert Hurley

“I’ve come to shut down the machine whose emergency brake you couldn’t find.”

You’d do well, dear humans, to stop your ridiculous calls for war. Lower the vengeful looks you’re aiming at me. Extinguish the halo of terror in which you’ve enveloped my name. Since the bacterial genesis of the world, we viruses are the true continuum of life on Earth. Without us, you would never have seen the light of day, any more than the first cell would have come to exist.

We are your ancestors, just like the rocks and the seaweed, and much more than the apes. We are wherever you are and also where you aren’t. Too bad for you if you only see in the universe what is to your liking! But above all, quit saying that it is I who am killing you. You will not die from my action upon your tissues but from the lack of care of your fellow humans. If you had not been just as rapacious amongst yourselves as you were with all that lives on this planet, you would still have enough beds, nurses, and respirators to survive the damage I do in your lungs. If you didn’t pack your old people into nursing homes and your able-bodied into concrete hutches, you wouldn’t be in this predicament. If you hadn’t changed the whole expanse of the world, or worlds rather, that just yesterday were still luxuriant, chaotic, infinitely inhabited, into a vast desert for the monoculture of the Same and the More, I wouldn’t have been able to launch myself into the global conquest of your throats. If nearly all of you had not become, over the last century, redundant copies of a single, untenable form of life, you would not be preparing to die like flies abandoned in the water of your sugary civilization. If you had not made your environments so empty, so transparent, so abstract, you can be sure that I wouldn’t be moving at the speed of an aircraft. I only come to carry out the punishment that you have long pronounced against yourselves. Forgive me, but it’s you, after all, who invented the name “Anthropocene”. You have awarded yourselves the whole honor of the disaster; now that it is unfolding, it’s too late to decline it. The most honest among you know this very well: I have no other accomplice than your social organization, your folly of the “grand scale” and its economy, your fanatical belief in systems. Only systems are “vulnerable”. Everything else lives and dies. There’s no “vulnerability” except for what aims at control, at its extension and its improvement. Look at me closely: I am just the flip side of the prevailing Death.

So stop blaming me, accusing me, stalking me. Working yourselves into an anti-viral paralysis. All of that is childish. Let me propose a different perspective: there is an intelligence that is immanent to life. One doesn’t need to be a subject to make use of a memory and a strategy. One doesn’t have to be a sovereign to decide. Bacteria and viruses can also call the shots. See me, therefore, as your savior instead of your gravedigger. You’re free not to believe me, but I have come to shut down the machine whose emergency brake you couldn’t find. I have come in order to suspend the operation that held you hostage. I have come in order to demonstrate the aberration that “normality” constitutes. “Delegating to others our nutrition, our protection, our ability to care for our way of life was a madness”…“There is no budgetary limit, health has no price” : see how I redirect the language and spirit of your governing authorities! See how I bring them down for you to their real standing as miserable racketeers, and arrogant to boot! See how they suddenly denounce themselves not just as being superfluous, but as being harmful! For them you’re nothing but supports for the reproduction of their system – that is, less than slaves. Even the plankton are treated better than you.

But don’t waste your time reproaching them, pointing out their deficiencies. Accusing them of negligence is still to give them more credit than they deserve. Ask yourselves rather how you could find it so comfortable to let yourselves be governed. Praising the merits of the Chinese option compared to the British option, of the imperial-legist solution as against the Darwinist-liberal method is to understand nothing about the one or the other, the horror of one and the horror of the other. Since Quesnay, the “liberals” have always looked with envy at the Chinese empire ; and they still do. They are Siamese twins. The fact that one of them confines you in its interest and the other in the interest of “society” always amounts to suppressing the only non-nihilist conduct : taking care of oneself, of those one loves and of what one loves in those one doesn’t know. Don’t let those who’ve led you to the abyss claim to be saving you from it: they will prepare for you a more perfect hell, an even deeper grave. Someday when they’ll able, they’ll send the army to patrol the afterlife.

You ought to thank me, rather. Without me, for how much longer would those unquestionable things that are suddenly suspended have gone on being presented as necessary? Globalization, competitive exams, air traffic, budgetary limits, elections, sports spectacles, Disneyland, fitness gyms, most businesses, the National Assembly, school barracking, mass gatherings, most office jobs, all that automatic sociability that is nothing but the reverse of the anxious solitude of the metropolitan monads : all of that was rendered unnecessary, once the state of necessity asserted its presence. Thank me for the truth test of the coming weeks; you’re finally going to inhabit your own life, without the thousand escapes that, good year bad year, hold the untenable together. Without your realizing it, you had never taken up residence in your own existence. You were there among your boxes, and you didn’t know it. Now you will live with your kindreds. You will be at home. You will cease to be in transit towards death. Perhaps you will hate your husband. Maybe your children won’t be able to stand you. Maybe you will feel like blowing up the décor of your everyday life. The truth is that you were no longer in the world, in those metropolises of separation. Your world was no longer livable in any of its guises unless you were constantly fleeing. One had to make do with movement and distractions in the face of the hideousness that had taken hold. And the spectral that reigned between beings. Everything had become so efficient that nothing made any sense any longer. Thank me for all that, and welcome back to earth!

Thanks to me, for an indefinite time you will no longer work, your kids won’t go to school, and yet it will be the opposite of a vacation. Vacations are that space that must be filled up at all costs while waiting for the obligatory return to work. But now what is opening up in front of you, thanks to me, is not a delimited space but a gaping emptiness. I render you idle. There’s no guarantee that yesterday’s non-world will reappear. All of that profitable absurdity may cease. Not being paid oneself, what would be more natural than to stop paying one’s rent? Why would a person unable to work go on depositing their mortgage payments at the bank? Isn’t it suicidal, when you come down to it, to live where you can’t even cultivate a garden? Someone who doesn’t have any money left doesn’t stop eating as a consequence, and who has the iron has the bread. Thank me: I place you in front of the bifurcation that was tacitly structuring your existences: the economy or life. It’s your move, your turn to play. The stakes are historical. Either the governing authorities impose their state of exception on you, or you invent your own. Either you go with the truths that are coming to light, or you put your head on the chopping block. Either you use the time I’m giving you to envision the world of the aftermath in light of what you’ve learned from the collapse that’s underway, or the latter will go extreme. The disaster ends when the economy ends. The economy is the devastation. That was a theory before last month. Now it is a fact. No one can fail to sense what it will take in the way of police, propaganda, surveillance, logistics, and remote working to keep that fact under control.

As you deal with me, don’t succumb to panic or denial. Don’t give in to the biopolitical hysterias. The coming weeks will be terrible, oppressive, cruel. The gates of death will be wide open. I am the most devastating production of the devastation of production. I come to reduce the nihilists to nothingness. The injustice of this world will never be more outrageous. It’s a civilization, not you, that I come to bury. Those who desire to live will have to construct new habits, ones that are suitable for them. Avoiding me will be the occasion for this reinvention, this new art of distances. The art of greeting one another, which some were short-sighted enough to see as the very form of the institution, will soon not obey any etiquette. It will sign beings. Don’t do it “for the others”, for “the population” or for “society”, do it for your people. Take care of your friends and those you love. Rethink along with them, decisively, what a just form of life would be. Organize clusters of right living, expand them, and I won’t be able to do anything against you. I am calling for a massive return, not of discipline, but of attention. Not for the end of insouciance, but the end of all carelessness. What other way remained for me to remind you that salvation is in each gesture? That everything is in the tiniest thing.

I’ve had to face the facts: humanity only asks itself the questions it can no longer keep from asking.

[kreeborn]

                               MCU DISCORD RP SERVER

PLOT:

Endgame. Avengers versing Thanos. The final battle between good and bad, for the sake of the universe, but one mistake was enough for the Avengers to lose. The mistake was simple in itself - Stephen Strange told Tony what had to be done for the battle to be won. Proxima, being the closest in the madness on the battlefield, overheard them both. Once Tony had the Stones in his possession, it was easy for the trained warrior of the Black Order to cut off his arm with one swift motion and give the stones to Thanos. 

 With Thanos once more in the possession of the Infinity Stones, another Snap was inevitable. This time, however, there was no going back. There were no second chances, no battles anymore to be won and as if the acceptance of loss wasn’t enough, Thanos presented the Avengers with an ultimatum. In three days, he would destroy Earth completely, as a punishment for thinking they could stop him in his quest of bringing the universe to a balance. In Thanos’ eyes, however, that was also an act of mercy, as he didn’t kill any of them that weren’t dusted away once more, an act of mercy that contained them witnessing the aftermath of the Snap once more and live with the consequences for the rest of their lives.

During the battle against the Avengers, the Kree were among those who fought for Thanos’ side, thanks to the alliance forged between the now dead Ronan the Accuser and the mad titan. The Kree had hoped for protection against everything from Thanos yet suffered the same fate – half of the population was gone. Realizing they have done wrong in siding with the wrong person, the Kree government and Emperor decided to take in as many of the Terrans as they could, as a way of redeeming themselves in causing wrong in the final battle. 

With that offer on the table, which was taken by the Avengers after discussing their options, the Avengers were the first ones to step foot on Hala, the home capital planet of the Kree, followed by as many Terrans (and other intergalactic species living there) as they could save before Thanos destroyed Terra for good.  

Now in their new home, it’s up to the Avengers and Terrans to try and make a new living on their new home planet, with or without the help of the Kree.

HOW TO APPLY:

Send a message to either @mvspelheim, @ironxhero (who also made the amazing banner!) or me with the following:

Nickname: Age: Character you’re applying for: Short bio that fits the timeline of the plot:

RULES AND TAKEN CHARACTERS ARE UNDER THE CUT! Come and join us!

RULES:

1) First and foremost, the general tumblr etiquette applies here: no godmodding, meta-gaming or powerplay unless you discuss it first with the other person or mods.

2) OCs and crossovers are more than welcome! MCU verse is not obligatory for the blog, but has to be existing for applying here!

3) Respect others and their boundaries!

4)  Don't be afraid to talk to others or any of the mods! if it's about something that's happening in this server that makes you uncomfortable, or something that's happening outside of this server that you just wanna vent about, don't be shy to talk to us!

5) When starting new threads in channels where a thread has already taken place, please ask the people who were doing the original thread if you can do a thread there! due to work schedules, time zones, college and life in general, we can’t always reply immediately, but clarifying that it’s okay for you to start a new thread is a really easy way to avoid conflict and uncertainty!

6) Hate will not be tolerated, neither will drama.

7) You're more than welcome to take on as many OC characters as you want, as long as you'll be able to handle them!

8) At this moment there is a limit of two canon characters per person. You can only have one main canon character, adding to it one minor character. The specifics can be discussed upon application

9) No duplicates at the current time

10) Each character has to apply seperately! Each character has to have an about.

11) This is multiverse so go ham with threads!

12) Please write all threads in third person, past tense!

13) Threads do not have to be in a chronological order. You can have multiple threads at the same time. There is no official limit, but keep it manageable for yourself.

TAKEN CHARACTERS

Tony Stark Michelle ‘MJ’ Jones Valeera Surtursdottir (OC) Morgan Stark Wanda Maximoff Daisy Johnson Yon-Rogg Peter Parker Carol Danvers Eddie Brock/Venom Pash-Kel (OC) Pepper Potts Karter Kane (OC) Andrea Stark (OC)

[wisdomrays]

KEY CONCEPTS OF SPIRITUALITY IN ISLAM :Raja (Hope or Expectation)

For a Sufi, hope means waiting for that which he or she wholeheartedly desires to come into existence, acceptance of good deeds, and forgiveness of sins. 

Hope or expectation, both based on the fact that the individual is solely responsible for his or her errors and sins and that all good is and originates from God's Mercy, is seen in this way: To avoid being caught in vices and faults and ruined by self-conceit over good deeds and virtues, an initiate must advance toward God through the constant seeking of forgiveness, prayer, avoidance of evil, and pious acts.

One's life must be lived in constant awareness of God's supervision, and one must knock tirelessly on His door with supplication and contrition. 

If an initiate successfully establishes such a balance between fear and hope, he or she will neither despair (of being a perfect, beloved servant of God) nor become proud of any personal virtues and thereby neglect his or her responsibilities.

True expectation, possessed by those who are sincerely loyal to the Almighty, means seeking God's favor by avoiding sins. 

Such people undertake as many good deeds as possible, and then turn to God in expectation of His mercy. Others, however, have a false expectation. They spend their lives in sin, all the while expecting God's favor and reward, even though they perform none of the obligatory duties. They seem to believe that God is obligated to admit everyone to Paradise. Not only is this a false expectation, it is a mark of disrespect for the All-Merciful, the All-Compassionate, for such an expectation reflects their (misplaced) hope that God would violate His very nature to protect them from the consequences of their sins.

For Sufis, hope or expectation are not the same as a wish. A wish is a desire that may or may not be fulfilled, whereas hope or expectation is an initiate's active quest, through all lawful means, for the desired destination. 

So that God, in His Mercy, will help him or her, the initiate does everything possible, with an almost Prophetic insight and consciousness, to cause all the doors of Divine shelter to swing open. In other words, hope is the belief that like His Attributes of Knowledge, Will, and Power, God's Mercy also encompasses all creation, and the expectation that he or she may be included in His special mercy: 

My Mercy embraces all things (7:156); 

and in a hadith qudsi, a Prophetic saying whose meaning was directly revealed by God, which reads: 

God's Mercy exceeds His Wrath. Indifference to such Mercy, from which even devils hope to benefit in the Hereafter, and despairing of being enveloped by it, which amounts to denying it, is an unforgivable sin.

Hope means that an initiate seeks the ways to reach the Almighty in utmost reliance on His being the All-Munificent and the All-Loving. M. Lutfi Effendi expresses his hope as follows:

Be kind to me, O my Sovereign, do not abandon favoring the needy and destitute! Does it befit the All-Kind and Munificent to stop favoring His slaves?

Those who are honored by such Divine kindness can be considered as having found a limitless treasure especially at a time when a person has lost whatever he or she has, is exposed to misfortune, or feels in his or her conscience the pain of being unable to do anything good or to be saved from evil. In short, when there are no means left that can be resorted to, and all of the ways out end in the Producer of all causes and means, hope illumines the way, like a heavenly mount that carries one to peaks that normally are impossible to reach.

Here I cannot help but recall the hope expressed in the last words of Imam Shafi'i in Gaza:

When my heart was hardened and my ways were blocked, I made my hope a ladder to Your forgiveness; My sins are too great in my sight, but When I weigh them against Your forgiveness, Your forgiveness is much greater than them. 

It is advisable for one to feel fear in order to abandon sin and turn to God. 

One should cherish hope when falling into the pit of despair and the signs of death appear. Fear removes any feeling of security against God's punishment, and hope saves the believer from being overwhelmed by despair. For this reason, one may be fearful even when all obligatory duties have been performed perfectly; one may be hopeful although he or she has been less than successful in doing good deeds. This is what is stated in the following supplication of Yahya ibn Mu'adh:

O God! The hope I feel in my heart when I indulge in sin is usually greater than the hope I feel after performing the most perfect deeds. This is because I am "impaired" with flaws and imperfections, and never sinless and infallible. When I am stained with sin, I rely on no deeds or actions but Your forgiveness. How should I not rely on Your forgiveness, seeing that You are the Generous One? 

According to many, hope is synonymous with cherishing a good opinion of the Divine Being. 

This is related in the following hadith qudsi: I treat My servant in the way he thinks of Me treating him. 

A man once dreamed that Abu Sahl was enjoying indescribable bounties and blessings, and asked him how he had attained such degree of reward. Abu Sahl answered: By means of my good opinion of my Lord. 

That is why we can say that if hope is a means for God's manifestation of His infinitely profound Mercy, a believer should never relinquish it. Even if one always performs good deeds and preserves his or her sincerity and altruism, since these are the accomplishments of a finite being with limited capacities, they have little importance when compared with God's forgiveness.

Fear and hope are two of the greatest gifts of God that He may implant in a believer's heart. If there is a gift greater than these, it is that one should preserve the balance between fear and hope and then use them as two wings of light to reach God.

[etrrhome]

Children have an innate nature of being self-centered.

when all their needs are fulfilled, they are more naturally inclined to help. We want our children to grow up with self-discipline, morals, self-esteem and responsibility.

Taking on responsible roles at an early stage helps develop many qualities in children that will benefit them and the ummah in the future. From birth, start talking to them about Allah , tell them how much you love them and how you will do your best to ensure they grow up being responsible Muslims, within a framework that they can flourish and grow comprehensively.

Productive moms’ goals are greater than just getting our children to stick to a routine.

Our goals should be:

• To establish the oneness of Allah in their hearts

• To love the Prophet

• To teach them life skills and values that will see them into adulthood

But where do we start? Where Luqman [as] did! His main focus was to establish Allah in his son’s heart, by teaching him:

• that God (Allah) is One, and the Only: He has no partners or associates

• that Allah knows everything in the heavens and the earth and is aware of everything you do

• to have and develop clear goals in life

• to have a clear vision and focus of life

Let’s get started!

Here are some essential skills to raise great, productive Muslims in shaAllah:

1. The unique child

Understand that each child is born with individual, inherited personality traits that are beyond our control as parents. It’s for us as parents to identify the unique characteristics and behavior of our children. Also know that children cannot be molded or pushed in directions we like. When we understand this we will be able to provide them with the guidance, nurturing and support they need to fulfill the potential Allah has bestowed them with.

2. Embed the love and power of Allah in your children

Teach them to say “la-illaha illa Allah” (there is no god but Allah) as a start of establishing the love of Allah.

Allah says:

“O ye who believe, save yourself and your family from the fire.” [Qur’an: Chapter 6, Verse 66]

Instill in them the belief that all things happen by the will of Allah : if they ask you for something, ask them to pray two rakaahs with you and make du’aa to Allah to provide whatever they want. This way, you’re teaching your child that when we ask, we ask from Allah alone, and we rely on Allah for our provision.

Teach them to love Allah and follow His laws through your conversations with them. It’s absolutely crucial for our children to understand why we have to obey Allah and His laws – it’s the essence of our worship.

3. Establish the extreme importance of salah

The Prophet said: “Teach your children to pray when they are seven and punish them for neglecting it when they reach the age of ten.” [Abu Dawud]

Be punctual with your salah, get into the habit of praying at the earliest hour, teach this to your children, and they will be more than likely to be punctual in everything else they do. Make prayer times a family event: even if children are not of age, let them join in or sit quietly; so that when salah becomes obligatory upon them, they are firm and ready to speak to the King of kings with full concentration (khushu’).

4. Engage them in beneficial activities

Expose your children to Allah ’s creation and by taking them for walks in the parks, visiting the zoo, or watching the sunset – my children love it and they love watching the moon and the stars the most! Many of our Islamic activities are built upon the lunar system: teaching our kids to determine the times for salah through astronomy is an important skill. Let them understand the rising and setting of the moon and the sun – it reconnects them with Allah’s creation and Allah Himself.

Teach your children swimming, horse riding, famous proverbs and good poetry. Gardening is another great activity you can do with the kids – my children love growing their own food!

Cut the electronic baby sitter to a bare minimum – I mean the television. If you can do without it, the better. Enroll your kids in physical activities like karate, football and other games that will build their strength and stamina.

5. Family meetings and meal times

Have family meetings or councils (shura) to discuss any issues and the smooth running of the family home – let family members take turns to chair the meeting. Children will learn the importance of the family unit and will love being in charge!

Through such family meetings, we are teaching them to be leaders, to manage and be managed, presentation and speaking skills and how to resolve issues.

Have fun – play a family game together. In my meetings with my children, we say one thing we love about each other and if someone is upset we all come together for a “family hug” – it’s such a great feeling of security and warmth knowing your family is there for you.

Family meals together are another great time for bonding. A lot of important information is exchanged over meal times because everyone comes together to share their day, their plans and experiences.

If we can establish strong family ties, our children as the future members of the ummah will be able to build a strong community in shaAllah.

6. Make chores fun!

We know as Muslims that cleanliness is half of our faith. If being clean is a large part of us being Muslims, we need to cultivate in our children at an early age how to maintain their home and own space. In their development, we all must play an active part to keep both our internal and external environment clean.

A friend of mine who is a nanny taught the kids not to litter the ground; when she was asked why, she said: why litter the bed we will be sleeping in – i.e. the ground? I think this was beautifully put!

Let children participate in house chores. When you speak to them, rather than saying: “my home” or “my kitchen” say “our home” or “our kitchen”– this gives them a sense of belonging and responsibility. Make sure your kids have something to do consistently and make it fun!

7. Communication

This is one of the most vital skills a child will learn during his development. Speak to children according to their level of understanding. The Prophet spoke in a simple and clear way that everybody could understand.

Consciously make eye contact when speaking to your children so that they have your full undivided attention, even though you may be tempted to multi-task. Look for hidden messages: most of our communication and the meaning of what we say is conveyed through our body language.

Come down to their level: as parents, children know that we are in the authoritative position and they will have to listen – we need to exercise this power in a fair and consistent manner. I had a boss who was about 6.5 feet tall, and I must say it felt intimidating having someone tower over me, a total invasion of my bubble space!

I want you to imagine if I can feel this way, how will our children feel when we stand towering over them while talking to them? No wonder they seem to be oblivious to what we say. Our children will open a channel of communication when we talk to them at their level.

Try it out: next time your child comes to you, either kneel down to speak to them or get the child to sit next to you – more or less on the same level.

Now you are at the same level and your child will see you as part of their world and be more and receptive to what you want to say, with a sense of being valued and respected. Try this repeatedly with your children and see the results!

8. Discipline and boundaries

Discipline and self-restraint are important characteristics of a Muslim. We learn this through fasting and refraining from things Allah has told us to stay away from, like eating pork for instance.

Set clear and positive messages: make sure your boundaries and corresponding consequences are very clear. Identify what you want your child to do instead of what you don’t what them to do.

For example, the consequence of not coming to the dinner table when food is served, will be to eat it as it is!

When you are setting boundaries be clear, specific and remain positive.

Don’t write:

I want to stop Jasmine from watching TV.

I want to stop my mom from giving Faisal to many sweets.

I want Kulthum to memorize a portion of the Qur’an daily.

Instead, write:

Jasmine can watch TV for 30 minutes on a Saturday.

I want Faisal to start eating more fruit and vegetables.

I will arrange for Kulthum to stay awake after Fajr and memorize the Quran for 30 minutes.

Keeping to your boundaries is where the real challenge lies. It’s important to stand your ground.

do your promises, otherwise you will not be trusted! And learn to negotiate: children are the best negotiators I have come across – so be sensible! As you are leading by example, you will be teaching your little gems these skills too! Boundaries show that you care about your child and what they are doing. It also helps them know where they stand and makes them feel secure and valued.

9. Routines

We have many routines for our children including morning, school, homework and bedtime routines. How much emphasis do we put on Islamic routines? What should our primary focus be?

Take some time out to draw up an Islamic routine for your children that looks like the following:

Teach your children to stay awake after fajr (depending on the salah times during the year): the Prophet stayed back after fajr and had beneficial discussions with the sahabah (Companions).

Get them to read/memorize a portion of the Qur’an in the morning and/or evening.

Prioritize that they perform their salah on time.

Get them to reflect on a verse of the Qur’an or a hadith everyday.

Get them in the habit of reading the du’aas the Prophet read before going to bed, waking up from sleep, eating, etc.

Get your children to choose a hadith or du’aa once a week and stick it up on the wall with its meaning for the whole family to learn.

Don’t forget the rewards!

Teach them to be charitable by smiling as stated by the Prophet and helping their neighbors too.

With routines, children learn to be independent and consistent.

We need to teach them to learn to wait, help and be patient, thereby developing solid tolerance levels for patience.

10. Role models

Our Prophet Muhammad is the best of all role models. Read stories about him to your children so they follow his sunnah (path) with love. Read stories about the Prophets and the sahabah. Teach them from an early age about the sahabah and other great heroes of Islam.

If we develop in them a love for Islam and provide them with righteous examples for their heroes, they are less likely to go astray. As we see nowadays, children want to be like their heroes: if they admire the sahabah and sahabiyyat like Abu Bakr , Umar , Ibn Abbas and Aisha , they are more than likely to emulate them and remain steadfast upon their religion, in sha Allah.

11. Plan family fun trips

Visit the local masjid to teach children the etiquettes of the masjid – this will help them acquaint and familiarize themselves with the masjid, especially the boys. Visit historical Muslim cities such as Makkah, Madinah, Timbuktu etc. to give your children an understanding of their heritage as Muslims.

12. Make du’aa for them

As parents, it goes without saying that we need to constantly make du’aa for our children. It was the practice of the Prophets like Ibrahim [as] and Prophet Muhammad as well as pious men like Luqman .

One of the goals of Muslim parents is to have pious children that will pray for them once they have left this world – can you say your child will remember to make du’aa for you when you have gone?

We have to walk our talk and lead by example.

Practice what you preach: after the Prophet , the children see you as their next role model. They watch and mirror most of what you do – you have a direct impact on their lives.

You hold your child’s hand for a short while and their hearts forever. You are your child’s most powerful role model.

Ultimately, ask yourself: are you the mom you want to be? Reflect on the bigger picture. Do not treat your children like an item on your “to-do list” – when they need you, give them your full attention. Don’t wait to complete your daily chores before tending to the children.

You can be a productive mom and make it happen – by the will of Allah . No matter where you are, start now and carry on – be the change you want to see. It takes a strong energetic mom to nurture and nourish their children to grow with confidence and self-esteem.

Start NOW with this exercise:

What would you like your children to see in you?

What would you like to contribute to their lives?

What is one key life lesson that you really want your children to learn from you and carry in their heart always?

[kendrixtermina]

Baby Reacts to the Latest Steven Bomb

SPOILERS

So apparently we’re getting the obligatory beakup/ couples-first-argument storyline

It seems to me that Steven’s optimism and rose tinged glasses are being adressed as a character flaw... and let me tell ya, it IS, or at least can be no matter how  much our current society worships “positivity”. A person who wants to pretend their problems dont exist isnt always inclined to see yours, even if they are otherwise a generous and nice person. 

my mother has this particular flaw and while i love her to bits (after all there are no perfect humans),this has at times very frustrating for my sisters and I.

and ohhh political unrest!

MODERN political unrest as in how it is changed by internets & stuff

there were certainly some analyzeable lines in there

who knew granny pizza gave such good speeches?

a lesser show would just have pulled a new character out of their sleeves instead of grabbing a random sensible cast member wth some leadership ability 

aww steven not everything is your fault

thats one way to end the episode...

ep 2

im not surprised that Lapis wants to bail after all she’s been through but i expected more of a reaction from peridot like wasn’t she resolved to protect the earth join the rebellion and stick it to the diamonds? 

i mean i was never among the ones who claimed she had been sillyfied but if this doesn’t get mentioned later imma be upset this was THE opportunity for conflict/character nteraction/ serious content here

Ohh OHH I take it all back I see where this is going

She does actually want to help the rebellion, but her “follower” tendencies wouldn’t completely go away because shes in a new situation and she may have been a tad overwhelme finding herself caring for someone who was recovering from so much punishment so she’s walking on eggshells around lapis now

Onions Onions lol

So they’re playing off the expectation that they’re this comey duo now but subverting it

In the end they did stay true to Peridot’s character here like of COURSE she wants to stay and fight everything weve seen from her so far would suggest it

aww poor bby the thing with ddoing the right thing is there’s not always a reward

Is that a sort of relationship deconstruction, conclusion? I may need to rewatch things & see if there was always a tedency for ‘Dot to accomodate Lapis perhaps by acting all silly, i mean they were abvle to have at least silly arguments in “the crsytal temps”

I emphasize with Peridot here I mean when you’re less affected and the other person went through something you couldn’t imagine and someone ~should~ be there to help them your own concerns start looking insignificant

Also she may feel some residual guilt for kind of dragging Lapis into this...

Then again having ‘Dot in the temple may mean more screentme especially as the Diamond’s arrival drawn nearer

Again the contrast here is interesting - Peridot is much weaker in terms of powers but has a personality suitable to fighting whereas Lapis for all her power is just plain terrified

So far the eps have been meaty enouh compared to the long stretch of calm-before-the-storm town episodes we’ve had but they haven’t even talked-over the big developements of the last bomb or the very promising trailer clips with Greg, Pearl and the others. 

Indeed, distinct lack of Garnet, Amethyst and Peal so far wouln’t they have something to say about the Lapis situation?

Though mybe that is meant to emphasize this arc of Steven taking all responsibility onto himself instead of going to them like he would have earlier - it isn’t just Lapis, he hasn’t talked to them about the Connie Situation either

ep 3

It’s Greg! That at least seems like a promising sign 

Texting feels

Aww even around Greg he’s this worried about effing everything up

I like the narration of the texts

Likefinally a show that instead of being “you kids with your trinkets” explores the emotional dimensions these things have become involved with

Aaand of course Greg notices * sigh * if only there were more dads like Greg in this world

And he doesn’t even push it, just “do you want to talk about it” Oh Greg you wondrous human

The house! Haven’t seen it in ages

So Greg probably mobilized the gems into cheering Steven up. They DO notice & care

lol Garnet

They try and its precious after what felt like long empty eps in which its just Steven and his thoughts, playing the “responsible” role

“a projection of the self compared to the intended delivery of the writers” lol Best joke in ages and i dont even like meta jokes that much

Ronaldo has never been so relatable

“Cool Ranch”

Steven is RLY feeling those angsty teenage years atm not too long ago he would have been super excited about this

Same observation as with Roses’ scraps I guess

And its painful because its a logical consequence of what he’s been through but on the other hand the wonder and appreciation were always what we loved about Steven?

Now he’s even dismissing extra info 

PD and everyone else’s past selves just drooping as the explanation is cut off tho

I guess he’s trying hard to be mature about it and accept it; Demanding xplanations would contain a morself of curiosity or accusation

But II wanted to here, stevieboy

Its rly heartbreaking how different hes acting from... “his usual self”? IDK man maybe its jut the adult-er version of him which is not what I’d want it to be but it could nonetheless be true

OHH and now it gets RLY RL again

The parenting conversations, Greg being all out of his depht and yet very much worried for Steven’s wellbeing

Pearl continues to have some particular hangup about the PD situation

Pearl as the most rooted in homeworld society is surely not helping, portraying it as a “not that bad “ question & still believing in some of the mysticoism of their society even if she’s rejected the beliefs themselves

Now we KNOW there’s a secret there

But alas, Steven was dealing with a way more humany-teenagery problem there...

Baby’s first breakup

Human Dad to the rescue!

Aand at long last ther’s some adressing of the whole thing in a holistic way that separating it into “gem stuff and human stuff” would not have accomplished

And off COURSE it was ronaldo

the best ep so far

aww family cuddles

lets hope that was an actual shooting star and not the incomming diamonds

ep 4

lol dat grungey morning sequence esp the minimalistic ear

And using the kitchen sink b/c Dot lives in the bathroom now

The Amethyst approach to music

Aaand of course Zuke couldn’t help piling on the breakup aesthetic even though the last ep was going a different direction?? IDK man

But Dotty listening to sad music when sad is very relatable and yet more proof that wre long lost soul sisters

Was she holed up in there during the vacation tho? I guess those conversations happened offscrean to preserve the feeling of isolation in Steven’s Pov

“Uuuugh...” DAT Face too too memetastic not to laugh 

I think I would ignore this if the knowledge of the backstage drama and agenda pushing didn’t leave a bad taste in my mouth 

And I mean look at that relatable overdramatic grean bean the whole sequence is weirdly perf

“Whats the poooint...”

I felt compelled to admire this magnificence several times over

The unhelpful purple has now graduated to agressively tryng too hard purple 

I love how Amethyst wants to go revisit & reframe everything now that she’s gotten this different POv on it and feels better about herself

“You can make us feel dumb by telling us stuff we don’t know!” She knows Peridot well XD Such wholesome friendship

Dotty doesn’t even deny it

Gotta love Amethyst

Aww its that train from back then!

Even the musical allusion

“Very convenient Warp Pad”

My lil purple has come so far

So apparently “-”Dot” is canon now

Oh. OHHH

Right we saw that Dot was actually proud of her job but I guess this is also a reframing for HER something SHE now views differently. It used to be like the birds & bees for her, but now... 

Thank you , day saving flower

WH0000T I thought the plot had forgotten about Peridots “renewable energy” pland she mentioned to YD and how this could revolutionize the Gempire but it seems Dotty is going to DO SCIENCE again

You know shes down when not even the traktor RLy cheers her up

Steven & amethyst tho

This whole project holds a deep almost “spiritual” significance for all three of them when you think about it, a kind of purification

the shovel thing was so cute

Super soakers!

The Ame-Copter is back

Loving this ep

Stylish Garden flamingo

The hyping is already making me think it didn’t take; Dot was right that they should hve analyzed the flower first

Called it. 

Ohh... didnt see THAT coming tho

Its like a corrupted anglerfish

I wonder if that used to be an amethyst

Ohh its a surprise smokie ~<3

not an amethyst maybe but purplish enough to be another former resident

Of course it wasn’t going to work overnight nothing ever does

but hey, hugs~

and perhaps thats just the setup for an ongiong plot arch still this could have used more of a sciencey approach

ep 5

Well judging by the title sadie is prolly heartbroken too

She prolly is but shes holdig up well enough

And hey at least Steven seems to be feeling better

Perhaps hiring a new donut boy would not have been that bad of an idea

This is surprisingly real

The whole crappy american millenial job situation

Steven is... REALLY bad at this

Lets appreciate that Sadie had a surprisingly deep character arc just trickling there heding everyting away so her mom don’t hijack it, pining away after an asshat to an unhealthy degree until she eventually just stopped obsessing over it all and letting her own self shine?

Also nice treatise on the process of art

ep 6

Soo... Kevin’s back? That sounds... interesting... especially in the light of the whole breakup situation, he was usually Stevonnies designated rival but they`re unlikely to be in the ep

Is he gonna try to recruit Steven to dudebroism in his moment of weakness? That sounds interesting bc as much as pickup artists, MRM scum redpillers ETC are frightening evil, to stop them one has to understand how they spread and what they often do is prey on young men with low self esteem - young men who don’t feel very privileged, are desperatre unhappy youngsters etc so they make themselves sound reasonable at first (at least to those who dont recognize their sales pitch/ rhetoric) to exploint natural curiosity, skepticism and a tendency to support supressed truth to then feed a person all sort of bullshit untill they blame women for all their problem - actually racists and other hategroups are much the same

They offer group identity, recognition & confidence to those who dont have it - So when it comes to fighting them, “immunizing” young boys against their salespitches with information and knowledge is just as important as fighting its most malignant supporters if not more but that doesn’t rly get as much attention bc bashing obvious evil people is satisfying and people who have been hurt & traumatized and had real harm done to them may find it hard to sympathize with young men... clearly its not the victims who need to do the work but society and those who raise & educate boys at every step of the way if society could be arsed to care

Ehh I should probably stop ranting and watch the actual episode

Should you really be giving Kevil your number?

“my crush will be at the party” is such an old cliche so the question is how exactly theyll subvert it

Unknown faces all around, prolly the less friendly side of town god job at establising the uneasy ambiance

Is that a BREAKUP HAIRCUT?

Ohhh the music slowing down the background fading away

So steven is one of those ppl who just keeps texting the void and connie is one of those pp who don’t

And I’ve been in this situation and im with connie here like if the relationship is not working because of legitimate reasons, are those reasons going to go away just because you cave and text the person back? Why would anyone keep texting like the problems will magically go away, or text back, what could the result be other than causing you both more pain

Like I understand it ttheoretically in a “humans process feelings differently” kind of way and im not bashing on Steven here but ill never understand-understand it

Conclusion: again this show gets real 

Kevin is such a platonical ideal of an asshat, you almost gotta admire the purity of his asshattery

Case in point he cannot understand the friendship component

Meanwhile of course conny has been having her own private freakout

And they didnt go the cliched angle of forcing the fusion right then & there

So I suppose this made sense as a miniarc and had some pretty real moments & necessary explorations though I do want to get back to the plot now

Soo lets see whom the fandom has decided to hate and distort THIS time...