#and could be putting themselves in danger

[catcake24]

While I see your point, this is under the assumption that someone wanting to overthrow the system will be willing to listen to disabled voices - which is not always the case.

For example, people pushing for cars to be made illegal ignore how many physically disabled people use them to drive distances that healthier people could bike or walk to. Even in 15 minute cities, walking or biking 15 minutes might be too much for some people. Better transit can help, but what if they need to get to the hospital on their own in an emergency? These arguments are ignored because disabled people can’t always advocate for themselves like able bodied people can, and it leads to disabled people having to put up with it - even though it was done by activists. (This isn’t a very big problem right now of course, but I’m trying to illustrate my point of how some activists ignore disabled people if it’s inconvenient.)

Now imagine not being listened to or considered like that, but on a larger scale. What if the new system has some negative impact on disabled people that others can’t see? What if solutions just make the problem worse? Are there actually any plans for helping the disabled by the revolutionaries?

This isn’t even to mention that any revolution with violence will put disabled people in more danger than almost anyone else (areas they live in becoming unsafe and unable to evacuate, possible power outages to hospitals in conflict areas, medication supply chains being disrupted and leaving people with chronic conditions unmedicated, and so on), and being called a “necessary sacrifice” for a revolution to happen is very cold comfort.

I don’t think you’re advocating for these things, but I’m trying my best to explain the thought process of some people like me who rely on a lot of support. We can’t always be certain of our future already, but the idea of our whole lives being put into turbulence that we can’t control is terrifying.

[proshippers-against-censorship]

This is long and Idk how to put this, but antis seem to have this strange... obsession with fictional characters they can pretend are kids. They put this idea of innocence on a pedestal because they need to "white knight" them. But if they try that with kids and teens they'll be treated as weird and told to stay away from them or the kids/teens will act against their expectations, making them realize they're REAL and have their own personalities and wants that won't align with theirs and break the antis' delusions. But with characters they can make them helpless, force them to be helpless and more importantly, keep them that way, making them need antis to protect them. Antis can be their heroes and get praise and admiration from them. And they can force them to always be in danger, always need them. That's why they couldn't care less about people, even kids, but are so gung-ho about characters. And why they're only focused on sexual things. People are sadly used to violence these days, and the religious idea of "sex being a sin" is also commonplace imo, and these characters are used physical danger so they can save themselves. But sex is a "bad thing" and something they can pretend the characters aren't used to even if they're high schoolers, so antis can swoop in, saving them from a "traumatic experience" earning the characters' worship for however long they want. Being an anti is an ego thing, it's not about being a good person or about morals, it's purely and inherently a self-centered idea created solely to allow the person to feel special. Since most antis are teens, Idk if they're scared because they realized how uncaring the world can be and took the idea that you have to make your own meaning too far in the wrong direction, or, as the cynic in me believes, they grew up on social media which made them develop main character syndrome and have a severe lack of empathy for anyone but themselves. If all this makes sense. Idk, I'm just spit-balling because I don't understand how being an anti is the hot new trend among the youth even though proshipping is the standard and how things have always worked, and the world didn't end, murderers and pedos didn't increase in numbers, because again, the proshipping stance is how it's always been but antis are suddenly trying to create a problem where there's never been one and keep trying to force reality to conform to their fantasies. I just don't understand how people could look at the world and then genuinely believe the world works the opposite of how it actually does, like flat earthers. And Idk why so many kids would fall for this nonsense and why antis are so commonplace nowadays. Imo, antis just...really need therapy cause it feels like they have this debilitating NEED to be a modern fairy tale hero you know?

I sometimes wonder if being an anti is a final, desperate bid for control after a lot of them realize that life isn't exactly something that can be controlled to the extent they want it to be.

[what-even-is-thiss]

You know, like 65% of violent home break ins are done by a person the victim personally knows and violent home break-ins are only 7% of all home break ins every year. Owning a gun and not locking it up properly also severely increases the chances that a child or untrained adult will injure or kill themselves with it. At that point your gun is more of a danger to you than some random guy that wants to pawn your tv off for drug money or a teenager causing problems on purpose.

Many jurisdictions also do not have stand your ground laws and you are legally required in those places to try to get away from your attacker before resorting to self defense. You could go to jail for doing what you just described depending on where you live.

Just put a lock on your door and make it look like someone is home.

If someone really really wants to get in your house they will get in your house. A lock and any other security device is to deter people that are just trying doors to see if there’s any easy break-ins they can do with little effort. And there are people who do that.

Tbh I don’t think doorbell cams and security systems actually do much. Putting a fake “this house is protected by ADT” sign in front will probably be just as effective as getting an actual security system.

Because if someone really wants to break into your house they’re gonna do it security system be damned and they’re gonna have their face covered and the cops aren’t gonna help you because they never do. All that security stuff is just to deter people looking to do easy smash and grabs. And that doesn’t always work anyways. And if people in your area put cages over their windows or whatever local thieves are gonna be carrying around bolt cutters. Those won’t stop anything unless you’re the only person in your neighborhood with a cage over your window.

Best thing you can do to protect your stuff is to lock your door, make it hard to see what valuable stuff you have in your house, and don’t leave anything outside you aren’t prepared to lose.

[bibliophilesince2003]

The Bad Batch

Here's a little theory for you to mull over; I sincerely wonder whether I am alone in thinking this. I could also be heavily exhausted over and influenced by the papers I had to polish off for some of my college courses, or perhaps motivated by the fact that I am re-watching The Bad Batch because most modern shows these days, in my opinion, disappoint. At any rate, here it is.

Why do we like the Bad Batch so much? What makes them relatable and/or realistic?

Upon meeting Omega, most of the Bad Batch behave in a very dad-like manner. This is not surprising, no. Plenty of memes and incorrect quotes have stemmed from this simple observation. They don't have all the answers and they don't know what to do with Omega half the time. That's the thing about dads... usually, they're just "winging it" and trying to do their best. Moms come with a built-in instinct to nurture. Dads come with a built-in instinct to protect and lead. Sometimes, dads aren't quite sure what to do with a crying infant or a struggling teenager.

Let's not forget... Hunter and the others are soldiers. That isn't to say they can't be kind or gentle; even the toughest men have their weak points. As a military brat, though, I have noticed that such a profession can mold a man, and at times they forget to "turn off" their seriousness when at home after having dealt with extremely hard situations. I really appreciate that the producers of this show didn't change Hunter and the others just to make them more approachable from Omega's standpoint. If they do change, it's gradual.

Do Hunter and the others think about the consequences of bringing Omega into their lives? *eyeballs toothpick man* With exceptions, of course. Well, until season three. The answer? Absolutely not. They believe they have the strength and ability to keep her safe, as most dads would. They believe they will always have that strength and ability. Let me break it down for you and give you a look into the brain of a dad:

Dad: *involved in a dangerous situation*

Dad: I can do that.

Dad: *remembers their child is with them*

Dad: Oh. Well, I guess becomes a life lesson. I've got you, kid. Just... don't tell your mom.

Dad: *keeps an eye out for anything suspicious*

Kid: *perfectly content*

I've heard it said that dads don't say "I love you" but show they love you. I personally have experienced both, but given the seriousness of most dads... I can see how that would be the case. At the very least, their actions speak louder than words. The Bad Batch are very much this way towards Omega. They put their lives on the line. They want to make her happy. Wrecker assembles a spot for Omega to call her own on the Marauder. Tech grabs her before an explosion can reach them. Echo has hugged Omega the most. Hunter is usually within three feet of Omega at all times.

The subtle gestures of kindness captivated all our hearts, I know.

Why?

It's Star Wars, a fictional universe. It's not complete fiction, though. Hunter and the others represent a specific kind of love. Fathers may be cautious and unsure at first, but eventually they want the kid by their side for everything. We've all seen the videos of dads using infants as pretend machine guns or making them dance, the kid's neck rolling lazily. Gently, of course. If they can't protect the kid from everything, they use themselves as a shield, which extends to good mothers, too, though that's not what this post is about.

Hunter and the others may be soldiers, but they embody the very spirit of fatherhood. This was such a wonderful theme to see develop despite the grittiness and action.

Phew, I feel like there was more I wanted to say, but I'm tired, so you're spared from more rambling.

[callsign-relic]

dont look at me ive just been like fiending over the titan au for the past . 30 minutes just foaming at the maw about it

also my first anon here yay yay yay! yippee! but anyways onto BUSINESS.

ive mainly just been thinking about titan!megatron being a tiny bit . obsessed????? possessive? over a little human like sorry i just enjoy the difference in culture, language, and size especially TOO much.

something ive mainly been thinking about is just. this little human walking around in this strange, dangerously alien city thats absolutely massive, the buildings a cold steel, but the second they put their hands on anything the warmth from their hands just barely stir the nanites in the titan that makes whatever they touched bloom into a soft blue hue

colored footprints leave behind a trail that fade slowly over time, the blue hues melding into greens and yellows the longer the human lingers in an area as the surrounding area soaks in the warmth

meanwhile megatron has been keeping an eye on the little thing since minute one, shifting things around quietly to keep the human close and most importantly safe, one wrong move and the little guy would go kersplat if he didnt keep an eye on them

so he does, watching the human just taking in the alien cityscape with an awe in their eyes that megatron could barely understand

also something ive always like. not really disliked ?? more like. gotten enough of the “waah im a little human who knows nothing!! ):>” thing, like I KNOW ITS MOST TIMES SUPPOSED TO BE LIKE. A READER INSERT but idk! i just wanna see people flesh out the human more in these kinda things

like what if they were a architect before finding themselves in the depths of the titan? what if they studied everything interesting about the structures inside megatron, said titan watching them with curiosity as they quickly write down something in a notebook that they slowly fill over time the longer they spend inside him

or maybe a linguist! slowly deciphering the little bits of cybertronian that they can find to understand the alien language, over time learning that the walls were almost covered in poetry, maybe making some of their own in inspiration of the titans, maybe megatron would be elated to learn that someone else has the same interest? like i mean the guy is probably extremely lonely, even if its self imposed there would still be some kind of yearning to be understood if you catch my drift??

gahh SORRY FOR THESE THOUGHTS BEING SO JUMBLED i just had to write this stuff down or it’d never leave my head lol BUT I HOPE YOU ENJOY THESE? MAYBE?

Eeeee these are so cool thank you so much for sharing!!!

I love the idea of the human having some background to them. An architect or a linguist or anything, just something that gives them a purpose to be interested rather than just “ooo big alien”. I feel like once Megatron sees the human’s attempts to reach out and communicate, maybe he would try and reach out too.

This tiny creature, smaller than dust, yet he still tries to communicate with them, because of how interested they seem in him too…

[divineerdrick]

Homestuck: Beyond Canon Upd8 for November 11, 2024

*flops*

Don't mind me.

Just gonna lie here while I do the Homestuck liveblog thing.

I am going to give a heads up. If my next migraine treatment brings me a bit more back in line, I'll be doing VLogs again. I have a bigger video project planned, but it's not Homestuck related. I'll be posting the updates here though, so you'll still know when I blog an upd8. Then you'll all get to see my haggard and aged face.

We begin with the monthly news upd8 from James. Except no! It is in fact an upd8 from Miles! James fades into the background, and apparently Miles will be our flattering correspondent from now on.

It looks like Miles is putting potential spoilers in the news post, so I might have to be careful in the future. Of course these might be jokes. We'll have to see.

Work continues on the planned [S] page and more Beyond Canon merch. We won't be getting an upd8 for December, but they will be running the Patreon. The next upd8 looks like it might be as late as February.

That's all unfortunate. But I fully support if the team wants to take a well earned holiday.

Upd8

Tavvy has decided to join Yiffy on an adventure. This can't possibly end well. His attempts at being her lackey have so far landed him mostly in trouble. And there's a heap of trouble brewing on the soon to be battlefield.

Yeah that's not happening.

Heh! Harry brought the trail mix.

Oh wow. And oh no!

OH NO!!!

That can't possibly count as Heroic though. Getting sniped while performing a purely tactical role is not a hero's end. Still, Rose is probably glad the kids aren't seeing that.

And button.

Interesting view to cut to.

Again, I don't think this will count as Heroic for anyone. But a lot of people are about to die. And let's not forget, none of the trolls currently outside for the Plot Point are God Tiers. This is bad. This is really bad. This is the kind of moment that calls for an extreme, deus ex machina, like the Plot Point has the potential for.

But we're not getting to see it yet.

Edit: @vriedi reminded me that Meenah is a God Tier. Though this does make me wonder, what happens when a dead God Tier dies?

Orange curtains.

Okay! Legitimately fantastic Psyche Out. They actually got me pretty good there.

Okay, we have a new troll it I think.

gavageCunctation is messaging Vrissy. Though that doesn't necessarily tell us much, except that a new player may have entered the drama.

And they're "negging" Vrissy. So this troll clearly sees themselves as a "player" too.

We've got a "game" that's about to be played. A game being run by a TC. Now Gamzee is dead, but that doesn't mean he didn't setup something before Vriska killed him. Still, it's likely these are two completely new troll kids.

We've got a new AA too. So we might be seeing more troll descendants. After all, they used cloning to kick things off. This troll is typing in purple, but blood typing may not be universal anymore. I do find it interesting that we're continuing the nucleotide pairs though. They could have gone for a different motif. Maybe they're trying to symbolize that these are potential paradox clones for a new session?

AA is apparently our chronic auspistice for this group. And potentially our Seer, though we've had fake-outs on that before.

And our actual cliffhanger ending is this new GC's computer exploding.

So yeah. Something has to happen for a lot of our beloved characters to not bite it. I'm also curious how Rose's vision of future events can come true if Jane has unleashed her weapon. But I mentioned last time that Rose is playing a dangerous game here. I don't think any of our God Tiers are in trouble, and I'm pretty sure the Plot Point is fine.

I'm wondering if this is how Calliope ends up sacrificing themself, if Rose was even correct there. Either way, this a dark ending for the year on a community that's already seen some dark endings.

*Returns to flop*

[stardvstbby]

Wen Ning and Wen Qing went against their sect’s oppressive authoritative regime, putting themselves in danger, to protect Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian. As repayment Jiang Cheng contributed to the siege on their clan under the guise of sect leader duty.

The whole point is he’s a moral foil to Wei Wuxian; where Wei Wuxian saw the inhumane treatment of the Dafan Wen clan and sacrificed his societal status to protect them (not even to repay them for sticking their necks out for him, but because it’s Wrong and he had the ability to help), Jiang Cheng so prioritized how the cultivation world viewed him that he chose to genocide the very people who kept him safe during war because that’s what society wanted of him. He can’t even claim it as a trauma response against Wens because these people did nothing but help him when he needed it most.

Wei Wuxian’s position as the son of a servant that the Jiangs took in was a point of contention with the family throughout his childhood. I don’t believe he owes them a single thing - not only because it is not the child’s duty to repay his guardians for taking care of him once they’ve decided to take on that responsibility, but because his mistreatment by them would cancel out any debt regardless. It is wrong of Jiang Cheng to hold that over Wei Wuxian’s head.

This too comes back to Jiang Cheng’s prioritization on status; he didn’t view Wei Wuxian as his equal, contextualizing his actions with that Wei Wuxian owes him and his family. Because Jiang Cheng held status to a higher importance than upholding morals, he takes it as a betrayal when Wei Wuxian chooses the Dafan Wens, because how could the servant boy dare to choose the sect that harmed the very people who lowered themselves to take him from the streets and raise him?

I am not a “Jiang Cheng anti” in the sense where I despise him and seek ways to paint him in a negative light. He’s an incredibly complex character who let his flaws consume him and sabotage the good things he had despite the horrible things he went through. I love him for his flaws. He’s meant to be a lesson to the reader that prioritizing the way society views you will never lead to lasting satisfaction, because the people’s opinion is fickle. He’s meant to teach that your sense of identity and the reasoning for your actions should come from within because it’s unstable to base those things on another person.

tldr; Wei Wuxian chose morals over status, Jiang Cheng chose status over morals. Framing Wei Wuxian as needing to repay the Jiangs for raising him is an abusive mentality. Jiang Cheng is a great character because of his complex flaws.

So let me get this straight, JC antis fully expect him to risk and sacrifice everything—from his personal moral duty, to the entire Jiang Clan’s survival—to repay his debt to the Wen siblings. But when JC expects the same from Wwx, suddenly it's “wrong,” “selfish,” and “entitled” for JC to do so? Y'all antis love to ignore the fact that Wwx owes a huge debt to the Jiang Clan, who save him, take him in, and raise him to be a cultivator.

If JC is expected to sacrifice everything bc of a debt, then the same should be applied to Wwx, he should also be expected to give up everything, including his own high and mighty morals to repay the Jiang Clan for everything they did for him. But no, apparently when it’s Wwx, it’s okay for him to follow his personal principles and abandon his obligations.

And before y'all start whining about the golden core transfer, let’s take a moment to remember why Jiang Cheng lost his core in the first place. Oh, right—it's bc of Wwx. JC sacrificed himself when he didn’t owe Wwx a damn thing, he did it out of pure love and loyalty. So if you’re going to cry abt JC being ungrateful for not bending over backward to repay his debts, then guess what? Wei Wuxian is just as every bit as ungrateful, if not worse than JC for spitting on the debt he owed to the Jiangs.

[blu3-ja3]

Doctor O'Connor has a habit. She owns a butterfly knife and she's incredibly skilled with it. She has a dummy knife but she gave it to Roach so he could practice without cutting up his hands. At even given time you can find O'Connor whirling her knife around if she has an open hand to do so.

At first it scared the shit out of the sergeants and if Ghost was being honest it made him nervous. They would walk into Doc's office while she was doing paperwork and have to sit watching as she whipped the blame eerily close to her face. She'd never look up from her papers or from their face as she spoke to them.

Price was the only one unfazed by the habit and it made sense, O'Connor used to be a part of the captain's old squad when he was a lieutenant. He'd seen her flicking around a butterfly knife for years until she was moved off his squad. He was just happy to know she was no longer nicking herself constantly.

Now the team takes immense amusement watching O'Connor work with new recruits. Every time there's a recruit drill and O'Connor is leading the boys find the best seats just to watch all the newbies squirm as they watch the knife flutter around at her side.

Then O'Connor passed a private that jumped back as she walked past and it clicked,

"Did I cut you private?"

"No ma'am"

"Then get back into formation and trust that I, as your captain, will never intentionally put you into dangerous situations. I promise all of you that I will do everything in my power to get you back home to see your family"

It was her subtly teaching trust and it made sense why Price let her keep her blade on her. You can't force people to trust you. But if you see someone confidentiality doing something dangerous for hours on end not once hurt themselves or others then you'll start to relax, start to trust. Trust that they knew what they're doing. And as Price pointed out it's a bit of a comfort to know that the resident doctor was extremely skilled with both her hands. She was capable of doing intensive activities and is able to keep herself from being cut.

[heartofglass-mindofstone]

𝔚𝔞𝔶 𝔡𝔬𝔴𝔫 𝔴𝔢 𝔤𝔬.

New York, November 2024. - This year seemed to be one of the best since Anastasia came back home. After meeting Billy, the stubborn man with a temper as bad as hers, he gave her the comfort she was always trying to run away from. His strong will and the grip he has - by all means - around her, made her stay. Even though both could explode any given second it’s clear to everybody who sees them that this is a couple made in hell and meant to stay for ongoing chaos across the country. Even though both of them can’t see it themselves they would destroy anyone who would try to harm the other one. Their jobs, Anastasias secret little things, Billys joy being surrounded by danger and the suspicious white haired man around Ana all the time are the combo of chaos the world needs, they believe. As firmly as they believe in their immortality a terrible accident get them on another challenging way. Are Billy and Ana willing to face it? What’s this secret Anastasia is trying to hide? Will the world bring them down, or will it those two bring the world down? To be continued…

Special guest: @vergeltvng

I‘m on a writers block, but couldn’t wait putting this into pictures. I hope you enjoy. Let me see your art please, create, upload something you love and show me! @sonnenreich @a-neverending-story @ausgetrieben @hochmvt @vikasgarden @trauma-report @ertraeumte @thisis-elijah @arasanwar @caughtbetweenworlds and you! Pretty please.

[louisisalarrie]

no one fucking helped him and that keeps just repeating in my head

[moongothic]

You know I wasn't going to post about this, but the more I think about it the more it drives me up the walls

So when Luffy and co release Crocodile from jail, it's specifically under the threat that if Crocodile tries anything funny, well, Iva-chan has a trick up their sleeve to put Crocodile back in-line.

So what the fuck was that actually about? What is Crocodile's secret weakness? I'm specifically looking at the way this is phrased in the manga, because the anime's added dialogue kinda messes with what's implied here. But what Iva specifically says is that Ivankov in particular holds the key to one of Crocodile's weaknesses, but they'll stay quiet about it as long as Crocodile behaves himself ("Vataashi wa koitsu no yowami wo hitotsu nigitteru", a very clunky but literal translation could be "One of his weaknesses is within my grasp". The way Viz translated the line is a bit different so I'm not bothering with getting a cap of the panel, you wouldn't be able to tell how these lines were phrased in Japanese based on Viz's translations anyways) (The dialogue Toei added was Crocodile furiously shouting at Iva-chan, telling them to not say anything and Iva-chan reminding Croc to watch his tone or else they'll reveal Croc's past to everyone. A lot of people don't remember this was in-fact added by Toei, hence I wanted to clarify/remind what happened in this scene originally)

And now. Obviously. When Oda went out of his way to introduce a brand new character whose entire personality is being queer and their power is giving people magic HRT. And then like five chapters later re-introduces Crocodile. And tells us that these two have Secret Beef. And never proceeds to fucking tell us what the hell that was about. Yes, the natural conclusion one would come to would be that Crocodile is stealth trans. That is basic, good storytelling. You (re)introduce two characters, tell us they have beef, one has a very specific ability; you're supposed to connect these dots in your mind. So that now, if Oda revealed to us tomorrow that Crocodile was canonically trans, it would not surprise anyone because it's already been set-up in the story, by this very scene. It's a logical conclusion.

But. I'm becoming more and more convinced that Iva-chan's blackmail might actually not be about Crocodile being trans.

Like the general fandom assumption for the past 15 years has been that Crocodile's stealth trans, but we actually don't know he's stealth. He could be openly trans, and between that being a borderline requirement for Crocodad to be real (since he would've been a Shichibukai for years before Luffy was even born) and the possibility that his earring could specifically be a gay earring, like. Yeah. Crocodile could be openly trans. If Crocodile's perfectly happy to let the whole world know he's gay, then him being trans shouldn't have to be a secret either. We the readers could just be unaware of it because it wasn't relevant information to us, and his transition would be old ass news in-universe and not worth bringing up.

And thus, if Crocodile isn't stealth, then Iva-chan can't blackmail him by threatening to out him, becaus he can't be outted.

Now for a while I did considder that Iva-chan could've been actually threatening to detransition Crocodile if he tried anything funny. Surely he would hate that, so much so that he might not have wanted to even hear Ivankov suggest it. But thinking about it. Unless Iva-chan can use Armanent Haki or get Crocodile moisturized, they shouldn't be able to hit Crocodile actually. Like Croc's Logia makes him impossible to hit unless he specifically allowed himself to be touched. So even if Iva-chan tried to surprise attack Crocodile with Estrogen, Croc should just turn to sand automatically, the attack should not land.

Meaning Iva-chan shouldn't be able to detransition Crocodile against his will, at least not without Haki and we don't know if they can use it, so that can't be Crocodile's weakness either.

And so we have to ask the question. What the fuck is that weakness then that Ivankov mentioned?

All we really know is that Crocodile doesn't want this weakness to be brought up, it's a secret. And for all we know Iva-chan might be the only person in the world who knows about it.

And I just. Like.

There is one weakness, kind of a universal one that many people could have, one that has been brought up time-and-time again post-timeskip, one that has become more and more relevant in the story, especially now at the begining of the Final Saga.

A secret weakness.

If pregnancy is what cracked Crocodile's egg and he transitioned immidiately/soon after giving birth, then it's entirely plausible Iva-chan could know Crocodile had a secret child. And surely he'd want nothing more than for his child to be safe, not end up in trouble because of him. And Ivankov most certainly could put that child in danger, especially now that Crocodile was officially no longer on the World Government's side, there'd be no protection for the baby. All Ivankov had to do was leak the information out, that Sir Crocodile had a child, and anybody who had beef with him could get their revenge by attempting to find the child.

Like I'm just saying. This could line up nicely, actually

[richard-lengthenhancer]

Look at these creatures

They know how to chill out, unlike their kin up the road, who decided the best place to take a lil rest was the middle of the very busy road. Traffic was held up for over 20 minutes by three silly, dumb murder cows.

[thenixkat]

The average snake seeing a human, "Ohhh I'm not fucking with you..."

[fujii-draws]

(BREAKING THROUGH THE WALL) YOUR RECENT ART WITH DUSK AND BIBBONS ACTIVATED A WHOLE BUNCHA SPOTS IN MY HEAD AND IM GONNA TALK ABOUT IT TO YOU BECAUSE IT DID SOMETHING TO ME.

i think theres something about how the emotional journey that ribbons and dusk had to go on together as a reconciliation to what once was and what had unfortunately happened results in ribbons' ultimate act of trust in dusknoir, with the action of going head to head toe to toe with cresselia's idiot brother. how at first, she didn't even consider the IDEA of even looking at his direction and just throwing snide remarks at him when he tried to be more casual and stick around and now she trusts him with what is essentially the grandest point in their journey, and its both the amount of trust both of them have in each other that just speaks MULTITUDES. ribbons may had a rocky (and justified) path on the whole idea of trusting dusknoir, and yet she considered HIM to go with her on a mission that was equivalent to the world's weight on her shoulders. she chose HIM to be her support, and with just how much dusknoir doubted himself that he isnt worthy of such a pleasantry, it changed something within him. all his efforts, everything he strived for to ensure that the kids will stay safe away from the clutches of harm (and by some extent from himself), and all the guilt, shame and pain that resided in his heart from what he did.. this is the decisive battle that will decide if he is worthy of her respect, and to ensure his past will die a valiant death as he will look into the new future he is granted to.

Sinnoh I know sometimes my responses to ur tags/asks are short and oftentimes lackluster in comparison. But the reason for that is bc you quite literally take the words right out of my mouth.

[rambunctioustoons]

fic that's a pizzaplex style horror podcast. an employee under a fake name discussing the strange events surrounding their workplace. guest stars of ex-employees. friends and family of people that have seemingly vanished after working there.

reader/protagonist desperately curious they inadvertently succomb to the virus themselves.

[eisthenameofme]

"you are not immune to propaganda/cult indoctrination" is largely useful and the sort of shit it's used to point out as not making you immune (being "smart" or a certain degree of educated, etc) is worth pointing out and it never feels like the appropriate place to mention it, but a lot of people seem to be conflating "the things people think make them immune to this kind of thing doesn't because it doesn't work that way" along with "the same conditions that make people more vulnerable to indoctrination/conspiritorial thinking/etc can happen to anyone" with "everyone in the world is equally vulnerable to every kind of indoctrination under the same conditions" and i just don't think that's objectively true.

It may be true that someone started out holding one belief and flipped to hold the apparently opposite belief, but does that actually mean everyone who holds that belief is equally liable to change their mind? Why did they hold that belief in the first place? Is it consistent with their values and what they care about more broadly, and do they specically go out of their way to combat the potential for misinformation and propaganda? Are they prone to making their decisions based on what the people around or closest to them think instead of thinking for themselves? To what extent do they base their values and decsions on kneejerk emotional reactions? (these aren't the only factors obviously, just examples of other potential contributing factors) It is not a given that everyone will answer these questions in the same way, and this is part of why different people respond differently in similar situations. Also not everyone will respond positively to techniques that often work to draw people in (eg lovebombing is a common tactic that works on a lot of people, but may be actively offputting or ring alarm bells for others; different people have different tolerances for attempts at social control and some might nope out the moment they see it attempted regardless of any other factors).

"You Yes Even You" can be an important tactic to get people who wouldn't otherwise to legitimately consider why these tactics work on people and what might work on them and keep in mind that the people it Does happen to usually aren't aware of it and it's not always their fault the way it's often presented, but that is not objectively the same thing as "anyone can fall down any pipeline not matter what forever"

like maybe no one is literally "immune to propaganda" but if a type of propoganda is something that necessarily hinges on X mechanism and a person is notorious for both intellectually and instinctively being violently opposed to X. then yeah I think the propoganda that hinges on X is probably going to be a Very Difficult to Impossible sell, even potentially under coercion, especially if that person has already demonstrated that they are willing to put themeslves at risk/resist that kind of coercion about it. unless your argument is that there is scp level literal mind control happening.