#and i DID it . i was actually Successful in that

[weirdmageddon]

i was thinking about this since i posted earlier about us needing to address the trend of gen z men being pulled into alt-right pipelines might have contributed to the outcome of this election.

i think contrapoints is really smart, and from what i’ve seen, has been way more effective at getting people out of harmful ideological pipelines than i’ve seen from the majority of leftists online who instead berate and drive a greater wedge of antipathy (though i understand why! and it can be very hard to have empathy for the people who see you as a threat). that antipathy makes the right more radicalized because they don’t feel like they can talk about anything without the “crazy lefties” who won’t even engage with them. where did these issues come from?

what i’ve noticed, and i’m even guilty of this, is that people don’t interact with groups of people whom they refuse talk to, which makes realities more hypothetical in the minds of their opponent since they aren’t open to seeing reality from their perspective. this is true on both sides. from what i’ve observed, it seems to originate from hypothetical perception of the opponent, but when people treat those perceptions as though they are real, it becomes real with their actions, which then makes the antipathy justified to someone. again, on both sides.

what makes contrapoints so successful at breaking this down is that is that she creates these socratic dialogue skits that represent real people and ideologies, has a sense of humor, isn’t afraid to discuss these things, reframes how we see these things by introducing nuance to both sides. she’s a leftist, but she also knows how to engage without ripening division, of meeting someone halfway and being completely humble about it. she is able to soften extremes.

she is able to get into the mind of people who aren’t aligned with her views, understand the nuance and rationales from a realistic perspective, breaking down a big block of “this is all bad” into “ok, some of this makes sense…”, what this does is create a space for self-reflection that doesn’t feel ham-fisted (which could otherwise cause people to double down on their beliefs instead of opening up to other perspectives outside of their bubble). while also being entertaining and well-produced on top of it.

what she is doing is creating these scenarios and socratic discussions that SHOULD be happening in real life but aren’t in this polarized social climate.

i graduated from new college of florida this spring, the small liberal arts college that was in headlines across the country for ron desantis’s board of trustees hostile takeover and exodus of professors.

new students and student athletes from conservative walks of life were being basically incentivized to go there who were taught to fear the lgbt boogeyman growing up in their conservative communities. but once they actually interacted with lgbt students there, many of them they felt like they understood them, and they weren’t as bad as they were told they would be. new college of florida was also famous for getting derek black (child of the man who created stormfront, and godchild of the kkk grand wizard david duke) out of white nationalism. their peers at NCF called them out but also interacted with them, invited them to dinner. black wrote a book about it.

now of course some people are too far gone and you shouldn’t waste your time with them, like derek’s family for example. but i also think a lot of people who voted for trump are not informed, are operating off of emotion and knee-jerk mentality because it’s easier than thinking, and they are not seeing the discussions that need to be had to change their mind because fuckin…nobody is doing them.

and we feel this visceral disgust to people of the opposing party because of its associations. i just want to know how it happened and how we got to be like this. i think social media is partly to blame and also the algorithms that take people down dangerous pipelines and sharpen them, insulate them.

i myself understand the vitriol you might have for anyone that voted for trump. i feel so disappointed that half the people of this country voted against our collective benefit. and i’ve seen a lot of sentiment from the left today saying “every single person who voted for trump is dead to me. i disowned you”.

you can see the reality of trump’s demagoguery, and it’s so obvious, but what i want to know is: what do they see? why did they vote for him? emotion and entertainment travel faster and have more reach than reason. and it’s that’s why i think contrapoints’s videos are exemplary at tackling this ideological divide. this is something i’ve been thinking about for months before today and i thought now was a better time than ever to give my two cents on it.

[qqueenofhades]

I don’t have any words right now for what’s happened. Where in the fuck do we go from here?

I don't know. I really, truly don't know. We can't sugarcoat how bad things are going to get, and we can't pre-emptively give into it anyway. This is going to be an unprecedented time in American history (if, sadly, not world history) and the forces conspiring to make you obey will gain much of their power from you doing so in advance, without a struggle. It seems fair to say that America as it has always been historically constituted is over, and may not return in our lifetimes, but we also do not know that for a fact. If nothing else, the fascists will find it very hard to cancel competitive elections, and we cannot sit back, throw up our hands, conclude that voting is clearly meaningless, and let them do that. There are a lot of other things that we need to do, but that's one.

There are various postmortems to be written and nits to pick, but Harris was thrown into an impossible situation and did the best she could in 100 days. Even her critics agree she ran a pretty much flawless campaign. But this country simply decided that a well-qualified black woman could not be preferred over the most manifestly and flagrantly unfit degenerate to ever occupy the office. They decided this for many reasons, not least because large swathes of the country now live in curated misinformation bubbles that, under Government Czar Musk, will only get much, much worse. They were helped by the cowardice and complicity of the "mainstream media" that could have ended Trump's career exactly like they did to Biden after the first debate, but chose to preserve the profits of their billionaire oligarch owners and did not do so, giving Trump the benefit of the doubt and normalization at every turn. They also hounded Biden relentlessly over the four years of his presidency, never reported on the good things he did, and drove him to the historically bad approval ratings lows for a president who was by any metric, quite successful (and will quite possibly be our last ordinary American president for a very long time). Along with the searingly ingrained racism and misogyny and misinformation, Harris could not overcome that.

Democrats clearly had a messaging problem, but it's also true that the country, quite simply, does not care about "democracy" when the economy is perceived to be at stake. Not to over-egg the Hitler parallels, but yeah. This is how Hitler returned to power in 1933 -- on the backs of widespread economic collapse of the Weimar Republic; voters decided they just didn't care about the overtly fascist stuff, which he then proceeded to you know, do with genocidal vigor. Except the American economy in this case was actually doing well, which makes it even more baffling and indefensible. Enough people simply memory-holed Trump's crimes (aided at every turn by SCOTUS, Mitch McConnell not convicting him after January 6, Merrick Garland being far too slow and timid, the corporate media), liked the racist fascist behavior or felt that it wasn't a dealbreaker, and decided that in this election, he was the "change" candidate. It's insane by any metric, but that's what happened.

The country is deeply sick. We do not know what will happen. It's going to get bad. Barring a miracle, we will not have federalized abortion rights again in my lifetime, and there will be widespread attacks on public health, women's rights, immigrants, transgender people, and other vulnerable people. Even and especially the ones who voted for Trump. Never Thought Leopard Would Eat My Face, etc. Alito and Thomas will swiftly step down and allow their seats to be replaced by 40-year old wingnuts hand-selected from the worst the Federalist Society has to offer. SCOTUS is gone for the next generation at least. There is very little prospect of it being ever fixed in the foreseeable future.

Trump will never face a scintilla of consequences for his previous crimes; all the open federal cases will be closed as soon as he takes office and fires Jack Smith. The best we can hope for is that he dies in office, but then we get Vance and the cadre of alt-right techno billionaires ruled directly from the Kremlin. Putin is celebrating this morning and with good reason; he's gotten everything he wants. Trump will egg on Netanyahu in Gaza and abandon Ukraine. Democracy across the world will remain even more fragile and badly under threat. Authoritarians will be empowered and American withdrawal from international systems will percolate in very dangerous ways that cannot and will not be fixed in the short run. I really hope all the leftists who celebrate this as the "defeat of the genocide candidate" will enjoy all the genocide and suffering that's about to come. And yes, I do think the Israel-Palestine war fucked us in a large way. Jewish voters perceived the Democrats as insufficiently pro-Israel due to the presence of far-left antisemitism, even as the far left attacked the Democrats relentlessly and never targeted the Republicans. Arab voters abandoned them, possibly deservedly. What would have happened without the war? We don't know. You get the historical period that you get. Netanyahu and Trump can now do anything they want. Hope it was worth it.

As I said, I can't sugarcoat it. We are going to be paying for this in some form for the next decade, and probably longer. I'm not as absolutely shattered as I was in 2016, but I am much, much angrier. We all thought, we all hoped, America was better than this. It isn't. That, however, is something that has also happened before. What we decide to do next will shape how the next chapter unfolds.

This would be a great time to stock up on needed medicines, renew your passport online, and anything else you need to do in preparation for next year. Many of us simply do not have the wherewithal, whether financial or otherwise, to leave the country. I don't know what will happen with me. I don't know what will happen to any of us. This was utterly avoidable and yet, America didn't want to avoid it. At some point, there's nothing else you can do. You can point to media cronyism, Russian influence, etc etc., but the fact that two of the most qualified presidential candidates who happened to be women have now lost to Trump twice makes it unavoidable. The virulent rightward shift of young men (of all races) in particular paints a grim picture as to how the reactionary misogyny of the 21st century is going to essentially undo most of the progress for social and gender equality in the 20th. The patriarchy has been a problem for most of human history. Doesn't really seem like it's going to change.

The end result of this, however grim: we're still here. We are still living within our communities. If (and this is a big if) Democrats can retake the House, they can put some checks on the process for the next two years. At this point, we are in full-out buying-time, trying-to-prevent-the worst mode. We could have continued fixing things, but we won't be doing that. We will only be trying to preserve ourselves and our friends and our smaller spheres of influence. It sounds very trite to say that we have to have courage, but we do. There's not much else.

It's going to be an awful winter. We have two and a half months to see this coming and know how bad it's going to be, and... yeah. I don't know how soon the buyer's remorse will inevitably set in, but it will. Tough luck, people. You voted for him. You get the country that you decide to have. But the rest of us are also here, and what Gandalf says is still true. We wish the Ring had never come to us, we wish none of this had happened, but we still have to decide what to do with the time that is given to us.

I don't have a lot more. I'll probably be logging off for a while. I don't need to look at the internet for.... yeah, a long time. (Will I do it anyway? Probably.) I don't know what else to leave you with, aside from again:

Do not obey in advance. Do not act as if everything is foreordained and set in stone. Fascist regimes end. They always do. We are going to have to figure out how, and it will suck shit, but the alternative is worse.

Take care of yourselves. I love you.

[dostoyevsky-official]

Rather than losing by 78,000 votes, it now appears that Harris is set to lose by millions. This is a loss large enough that it would likely have happened even if many of the more marginal choices in this campaign season had been different.

[...] First: Harris did worse than Biden almost everywhere, in both Democratic and Republican areas. Although a few suburban areas bucked this trend by moving in the Democratic direction, the overall picture was disastrous, with Harris losing much of her margin even in Democratic strongholds like New York City. [...] Second, Harris underperformed Senate Democrats.

[...] The first fact above tells us that the entire country turned away from the Democratic ticket this year, and the second fact tells us that this frustration was focused more at the national Democratic ticket than it was at more local Democratic politicians. Can anyone think of something new in US politics since 2020 that has affected everyone across the country in a negative way, and which the average person tends to (wrongly) blame on the President?

The years 2021–2023 saw the highest inflation rate that the US has experienced since 1991. When inflation hit its peak of 8% in 2022, it was the highest level of inflation the US had experienced since 1981. The disruptions this caused to the American economy were significant, but the disruptions it caused to the American psyche were far larger.

That inflation has played such a large part in the thinking of American voters has greatly frustrated some of my fellow policy wonks who have been desperate to point out that 1) inflation was going to rise during the aftershock of the COVID-19 pandemic no matter what anyone did, 2) the US has experienced less inflation than most other wealthy economies, 3) average wages likely rose faster than inflation depending on how you measure it (even though this effect is unevenly distributed), 4) at least part of the high inflation can be easily justified when looking at record low unemployment and rapid low-end wage growth, and 5) inflation is basically back to normal now, even if it hasn’t meant prices declining as many hoped.

Watching the debate over this topic unfold was immensely frustrating, as both sides were generally talking past one another. The economists were correct that the US economy has actually done very well over the last few years, given the odd circumstances. But none of that changes the fact that people have noticed their cost of living rise, and this has had a large impact on both their wallets and their brains.

To state the obvious, the average person is not a perfectly rational economic calculator. This is especially true for inflation.

[...] I don’t think that many voters could describe the relevant differences in the candidates’ plans; they simply voted out the people in charge because bad things happened while they were in charge. Despite Harris’ half-hearted attempts to frame herself as an outsider this year, people knew she was the closest thing to an incumbent who was on the ballot. For many voters, this wasn’t a vote for a particular platform, but rather a referendum on the status quo (anyone else having 2016 flashbacks?)

The greatest tragedy of all is the effect that this will have on future responses to economic crises. [...] Biden’s administration learned from this [Obama's stimulus] failure and chose to go big. As a result, Biden’s recovery accomplished in five months what took Obama’s recovery years.

This is one of the greatest successes of Biden’s presidency, and he has been punished for it relentlessly. [...] Politicians will now be afraid to commit to countercyclical stimulus spending, even when it’s needed to stave off a depression.

Despite his commitment to a stimulus package far better than his predecessor’s, Joe Biden still holds a tremendous amount of blame for last evening’s results. His decision to run for re-election at all ran contrary to the hopes of many of his own voters that he would be a one-term transition out of Trumpism. The hubris of Biden’s decision became glaringly obvious during his debate with Trump, in which the entire American populace realized en masse that Biden was incapable of running a competent campaign. [...] However poorly Harris may have done in this election, we can be confident that Biden would have done far, far worse. Yet even still, Biden’s presence haunted Harris’ campaign.

[...] The Harris campaign did make a tremendous mistake in hiring many of Biden’s campaign officials for her own campaign. These Biden staffers reportedly tended to discourage Harris from pursuing some of the most successful talking points of her campaign — namely, the “weird” branding — and instead encouraged her to run a traditional Diet Republican campaign like Biden’s.

But if you can point to only one mistake that the Kamala Harris campaign made this year, it was her repeated refusal to explain how she would be different from Joe Biden.

[...] For all of the Democratic anxiety provoked by the notion of a spoiler candidate, this does not appear to have been a significant factor in this year’s election. [...] Not only did third party votes not decide this year’s election, but even in the one state in which they did matter, they were the result of the party’s own failures.

The Democratic Party cannot shame its potential supporters into voting for them. When a Democratic candidate fails, it is the fault of that candidate and the campaign they ran, not the fault of an insufficiently loyal electorate. If you want to minimize the risks of a third party spoiler, you should either expand your base to absorb them, reform our electoral system to eliminate the spoiler effect, or both. What you should not do is send Bill Clinton to Michigan to condescend to voters for caring about human life.

[...] Donald Trump — probably the most outwardly racist, xenophobic, and generally hateful Republican presidential candidate in modern history — has built a multiracial coalition. [...] Simply put, the “demography is destiny” theory has been completely debunked. But can the Party itself learn this?

[...] It is noteworthy that the Democratic Party ran to the right on immigration this year, and then lost many Latino voters to the party which is even further right on immigration. I would not interpret this as a general anti-immigrant sentiment among Latino voters; I would interpret it as Latino voters having enough other issues on their mind that immigration did not singularly decide their vote.

[...] An electoral approach towards communities of color which focuses on symbolic in-group gestures is not enough. The Democratic Party needs to speak to every community directly about the economic and social issues affecting them, rather than just scheduling a stop at Howard University and then calling it a day.

[...] The Never Trump movement has always been a mirage.

I have said it before, and I will say it again: the median voter theorem is dead. Appealing to the mythical “center” of US politics is a highly inefficient route towards national electoral victory in the 21st century, something which the Republican party seems to have realized under Trump. If they want to reverse their fortunes, Democrats should spend less time trying to appeal to Republicans and more time trying to appeal to the people who actually vote for them — including both registered Democrats and many independents. I don’t know how many failures it will take for them to learn this lesson, but I hope that they do so by the time I’m done pulling my hair out.

I know writers who take the time to edit their rants before publishing them, and they're all cowards. Fresh off the print, here's my longform view on some of the major takeaways from this presidential election

Shortened, my argument is:

Inflation is the primary explanation for Trump's victory

Joe Biden's initial insistence on running is also important

Third party and write-in voters did not decide this election

The Democrats should stop taking voters of color for granted

"Never Trump Republicans" are not a real voting bloc

[eddwardharrison]

WHAT DO U THINK ABT ECLIPSE BEING A SOFTIE TO JAKE AND ANDREW IN THE NEW EAPS EP??

I’M SCREAMING AND CRYING.

I JUST WATCHED IT / AM LITERALLY WATCHING AS I TYPE THIS. || ALL LOVE / NO HATE

I ALWAYS KNEW ECLIPSE WOULD BE A GOOD DAD. I ALWAYS FUCKING KNEW. MY OWN WRITING AND AU’S FORETOLD THIS. ECLIPSE IS SO FUCKING SWEET OH MY GOD.

I’VE COME TO A REALIZATION. ECLIPSE IS GOING THROUGH A METAPHORICAL SERIES OF TRIALS THAT IMPROVES HIMSELF AND THE LIVES OF OTHERS. AND ALL OF THEM DIRECTLY REFLECT HIMSELF AND HIS TRAUMA.

Level One Exposure Therapy.

He had to get Sun and Moon to stop fighting each other so they’d learn to share the body without having to split or suppress. It was successful, now they can switch in and out at will and are willingly giving each other their turns. They’re even learning more about themselves such as “hibernation”, or more accurately, dormancy.

Sun and Moon was the whole reason any Eclipse’s existed. Their willingness to work with each other and themselves dictate what will happen when an Eclipse is created. Because of the natural hatred and fear between the two, a negative Eclipse is always created. But, it seems, we are creating a Ruin. A Ruin would be FAR, FAR GREATER than an Eclipse. It’d be like…gaining a younger brother. Metaphorically.

Level Two Exposure Therapy

Andrew, the dead ghost child. The haunting one, to be specific. He’s like a little miniature version of Eclipse, being a little selfish prick that demands things while making fun of Eclipse as he does. Creating a body for him will allow him to finally interact with others, to gain real relationships and learn to live as the undead,

Level Three Exposure Therapy

Facing the two Andrew’s is like facing his literal inner child, if he had one. In reality’s case, it’d be called V0/V1 Eclipse. The Andrew stuck with Jake is just suffering as he once did and is developing that same anger and hate that Eclipse once had, and is trying to stop it before Jake becomes a monster as he would in the other universes.

On top of that, Jake didn’t deserve to die. Eclipse understood that far more than he realizes. Now, he’s trying to break the laws of life and death to give Jake AND ANDREW another chance to be happy.

He knows it’s possible to give them both a moderate and healthy control, because he did this once before— with Sun and Moon.

ALSO THE CONVERSATIONS GOING ON BETWEEN ECLIPSE AND MONTY?! CAN WE DISCUSS THIS?!

“The Eclipse I knew never would’ve stepped in, if anything, he probably would’ve probably egged me on to smack his head off. So what’s happening with you, then? Making you change and all this…well, malarky?”

“I just…didn’t want you to hurt ‘em.”

“That’s it?”

“I could ask you the same thing, Gator. With you and Earth…”

(1.) MONTY TAKING NOTICE OF ECLIPSE’S CHANGE, THEN MENTIONING IT BACK TO HIM AS THEY COMPARE EACH OTHER AND THEIR ISSUES.

(2.) MONTY ASKING WHAT’S GOING ON, AND FOR /ONCE/, ECLIPSE /EXPLAINS/ WHATS GOING ON AND /DOESN’T GET SHIT ON/,HE /DOESN’T/ GET YELLED AT, AND HE /DOESN’T/ GET INTERRUPTED?! AND THEN MONTY /BUILDS/ ON HIS ANSWER TO SHOW THAT HE LISTENED?!?!?! One of the biggest issues with Eclipse’s interactions is that everytime someone asks “why are you doing this” or “what is actually wrong with you, explain it”, Eclipse TRIES to, and then they SHUT HIM DOWN, PUT WORDS IN HIS MOUTH, AND THEN CALL HIM USELESS AND GIVES HIM ANOTHER REASON TO INVEST IN CEMENT BOOTS AT THE LOCAL LAKE. LIKE WHAAAT!!!!!

(3.) ECLIPSE SHOWING EMPATHY, COMPASSION, AND WORRY FOR STITCHWRAITH. TRAITS WE HAVE /NEVER/ SEEN BEFORE IN THIS MAN!

(4.) MONTY KNOWS ECLIPSE IS HIDING MORE. /I/ KNOW HE’S HIDING MORE. HE’S IN FUCKING DENIAL!!!! I’M IN FUCKING DENIAL!! ECLIPSE AND ME HAVE NEVER STOPPED SHARING BRAINCELLS FOR 2 SECONDS OVER THE COURSE OF 2 YEARS OH MY GOD.

(5.) ECLIPSE,POKING AT THEIR RELATIONSHIP. MENTIONING EARTH. OH MY LORD-ECLIPSE. HOLY BALLS. I love it when Eclipse just MENTIONS Earth and my 32 braincells goes wild in the stadiums watching through my eyes that are watching the screen.

I can unpack SO MANY THINGS FROM JUST ONE QUOTE ITS DRIVING ME INSANE!

No, because when I heard this, I sat up. I fixed my posture. I looked ahead. I was at attention. I was READY. I GAINED CONSCIOUSNESS DUDE.

[sunflowersturn]

*shouldering off someone trying to hold me back* no, you see, the thing about sam is—stop it, man, give me a second—because she—dude LET ME—it’s about how danielle describes sam’s mental state as “if i keep smiling everything will be okay” and “i’ll fix it i’ll fix it i’ll fix it” and how she was so careful with the qhoyle because she knows how stories work and how wishes work and she was so desperate to save her friends and gave up a scene of introspection for her own self to save evan’s soul, did we all collectively forget that—and how she manages to charm people around her simply by being a pleasant person who likes to listen and smile and be kind, who approaches almost every conversation with a lack of guile and an expectation of the same in return—and how she has to work so hard to get people to take her seriously and understand her genuineness and kindness are not an act or a facade—and how when she does choose to lower her voice and be stern she DOES wield power and the people who love her the most understand that and even stand in the crosshairs of it if necessary—it’s about how her first thought when presented with the option was to preserve her friends’ free will over all else and ‘if they really wanted to, they’d do it on their own without having to magic about it’ and once again passing up on an opportunity to learn about herself and her magic to protect her friends—it’s about how i’ve never had the opportunity for success like sam britain/black, but i have so frequently had friends and family tell me they admire me for how outgoing i am and i can see that girl i was (and still am) in my early twenties, smiling through everything and offering solutions and pretending not to hear it when people say things about me but WHIPPING my head around if they said something about my friend—it’s about how danielle lies to you as a player and a performer and presents sam as simple and sweet when she is, in actuality, one of the most complex characters at the table—

[brehaaorgana]

Your failure to understand how these things correlate to each other is, in fact, not a sign I didn't understand what you said. It's a sign you don't understand how American politics works.

Bless your little Canadian heart or whatever, but leftists are a part of the democratic base, whether or not they are registered as, or vote as, democrats. Leftists are an assumed part of the democrat voting base until they vote otherwise. This is how campaigns are run, this is how the democratic party functions, and this is elections and voting 101 in the United States electoral system.

When people who fall directly within the voting base of a major party loudly protest that party's candidate; decry courting undecided, moderate, or even voters across the aisle in order to gain more votes; and also actively seek to redirect votes in the voting base away from that candidate, they are directly undermining the success of that party's attempts to solidify their base and gain additional votes from outside of it.

Spoiler: leftists loudly working to detract votes from the strongest party on the left gets read by undecided or apathetic voters as "well not even the left likes the Democrat or wants to vote for them." This undermines active attempts by democrats to court those same voters.

Literally they were undermining democrat attempts to gain voters:

The democrats worked to gain votes. They worked up until the last minute, as any party does. And while there are plenty of failings on their part, it's factually incorrect to state that leftists who voted third party or who refused to vote didn't impact the overall safely democratic voting base. When leftists LITERALLY show up to democrat attempts to rally their base & appeal to undecided voters to win an election, and they then say "don't vote for them, they suck and they're not doing a good job appealing to you" that does, in fact, have an impact. And the impact is that it becomes easier for Republicans to win. Leftists working against the democratic party candidate actually does weaken the democratic party's attempts to solidify the left voters, gain moderates, and win an election. The job to appeal to voters becomes harder if they can't convince their own base to not actively undermine them. Again because the BASE of the democratic party is not solely limited to registered democrats (who are supposed to be the guaranteed base), but everyone on the left.

When you divide the voter base of a Democrat or Republican candidate you make it mathematically easier for the other major party candidate to win.

Again I stress this is not about your personal values, ethics, or how much you agree with anyone. This is about math. This is quite literally shit I learned in a college class called "United States Voting and Elections" taught by my academic advisor whose PhD was centered around elections and voting psychology.

The ways in which elections are won or lost did not change. The impact of dividing the base on the left never changed. The impact of lower voting turnouts has always been something that benefits Republican candidates and makes them more likely to win office even when they LOST overall votes as compared to 2020.

These things are interrelated. The democratic party candidate always has to court voters across the aisle. Leftists splitting the base on the left always impacts the success of a democratic candidate. Third party candidates do not win American presidential elections.

I didn't address your comment further because I linked to an already expansive discussion I'd written that elaborated on the point.

Tl;Dr the point you made made it clear that you don't actually know anything about the political science or the math behind united states elections and frankly, neither do the people I was complaining about in this post. Idk what you want me to address really. "Democrats failed to convince voters because they sucked!" Okay so let's talk about the people who loudly reiterated they suck and don't vote for the democrat because there's literally only two parties who have a chance of winning the presidential election.

Idk guys, maybe people are blaming leftists who refused to vote because of genocide because I literally saw them holding political rallies last weekend in a swing state telling people not to vote

Like it wasn't just tumblr leftists saying not to vote for Kamala, or at all, because of Palestine. Those were real people I walked past last Saturday in Pennsylvania, a key swing state. They had megaphones in front of Philadelphia city hall and a sizeable crowd. I feel like we can, in fact, say they are partly culpable here.

[darkficsyouneveraskedfor]

The Pain of Living 3

Warnings: non/dubcon, chronic pain, blood/violence, perversion, and other dark elements. Not all kinks or triggers are tagged. My username actually says you never asked for any of this.

My warnings are not exhaustive but be aware this is a dark fic and may include potentially triggering topics. Please use your common sense when consuming content. I am not responsible for your decisions.

Summary: You deal with pain every day, but a new source of pain lands on your front step.

Note: I know I shouldn’t.

As usual, I would appreciate any and all feedback. I’m happy to once more go on this adventure with all of you! Thank you in advance for your comments and for reblogging.

Ibuprofen, pedialyte, gauze, and a few extras just to pad out your cupboards. It’s not quite a success considering what you’re headed back to. You drive cautiously, wondering if anyone else can see the horror sewn into your face. No one stops you, no sirens whoop, you’re left to face the strange man in your bed. 

You get home and carry in the bags, pausing just inside to catch your breath. The brief trip has you ragged. You feel twice as bad as when you left. That isn’t what matters. The blood on your floor reminds you that there is much worse to deal with. 

You bend and take out the large bottle of pills and a bottle of grape electrolytes. Your steps are weighed down by more than your pain. Dread hangs off of you like a wet blanket. 

You knock. On your own door. The man doesn’t answer. Your heart pumps. You knock louder, keeping the bottles hugged under your arm. 

Still no answer. You twist the handle and push inside. Please, let it be an awful nightmare. Don’t let him be dead. 

“Ah, oh god,” you exclaim and spin away from the sight the strange man’s naked back. The vision of his ass as he bends his leg around your duvet is stamped into your mind. Ugh. “Sorry, I--” 

“Fuck, I finally fell asleep,” he sneers. “Got the painkillers?” You nod at the hallway. The bed creaks and he huffs. “Well... give it.” 

You turn warily. He has the blanket pulled over his lap. His torso is entire naked, a patchwork of stitches, dried blood, and hair. You near the bed and set down the tablets and the electrolytes. 

“NSAIDs,” he rattles the bottle. “Anti-inflammatories help with blood clotting. It’ll keep me from bleeding out like Normandy beach.” You wince at his crude allusion. He rolls his eyes, “relax. Think I’m through the worst of it. No major arteries. But damn...” he leans back against the pillows, “I feel like a slapped ass.” 

You furrow your brow. The way he talks, his arrogance, it makes it hard to feel bad for him despite his injuries. He tosses back two pills and reaches for the other bottle. He gulps eagerly and pops his wet lips. 

“Mm, fuck, exactly what I need. Hey, you got a TV you can move in here? Something to watch?” He asks. 

You hesitate. 

“You should probably sleep--” 

“Thanks, Nurse Ratchet, I’d love to fucking sleep, but I’m restless now you woke me up,” he sneers. 

“Um... I have my laptop.” 

“Any fucking screen that can keep me from going mad staring at the ceiling.” He insists. 

You nod and back out of the room. This is odd. Absurd to the point you question your own sanity. Have you summoned a hallucination out of sheer boredom? Did you snap? Or do you really have the worst luck? 

You sniff and go to find your laptop. You don’t use it for more than filing your insurance claims and to get your mailing labels for your work. He can borrow it for a bit. You don’t have any pending orders. 

You return to him. He doesn’t acknowledge you as you enter. You hold out the computer. 

“Here, um, it’s all yours.” 

“You talk to anyone?” He asks. 

“Anyone...?” 

“When you went out, did you talk to anyone?” 

“Not really. I used the self-checkout--” 

“Did you tell anyone about me?” He interrupts. 

“Erm, no, I...” 

“Fuck, you are dull. That’s all I need,” he takes the laptop. “You can piss off.” 

You flinch. Wow. That’s not very nice. 

You reach for the laptop as he puts it on his lap, “look, if you’re going to be mean, I have better things to do with that--” 

He grabs your wrist and easily twists it back. Despite his condition, he’s just as strong as his bulging muscles would suggest. You whimper as your eyes glimmer. 

“Ow, let go, please,” you whimper. 

He keeps you locked in for another moment before he obliges. You retract and swallow down the agony. What hurt before is now unbearable. You cradle your arm and retreat. 

“Close the door, raggedy ann.” 

You shut the door. As much to block him out as to appease him. How can someone you helped be so rotten? 

You go to the kitchen and sit in a wooden chair at the small table. You rub your wrist and sniffle. It’s easier to be alone and in pain. You don’t like others to see you struggle. The way that man behaves, you don’t want to show any weakness. 

You blow out between your lips and look at the door. You’ll need to clean up soon. The rug is garbage but getting rid of a blood-stained carpet won’t be easy. And the bleach might not do much for the floor. 

You put your head down on your folded arms. You’ll deal with it eventually. Like everything else. It’s too much. Everything waits on the pain. Your whole life is centered on your aching bones and burning muscles. 

You wallow in your self-pity until you have the energy to get up. When you do, you ignore the inevitable and make coffee. As it brews, there’s a holler. 

“Hey, sugar stack,” the man calls, “is that coffee I smell?” 

You tense, a surge of pain rippling through you. You exhale and collect your strength. You yell back, “yeah.” 

“I take mine black. Thanks, baby.” 

You close your eyes and grit your teeth. You’re not a mean person. You’re not cruel. You don’t hate people. In fact, you do your best to keep them happy. You don’t want to be a burden. You don’t to be a problem.  

Yet this man makes your brain fiery. You’re actually annoyed. Angry even. It isn’t that he’s just rude, he presumptuous. He just assumes that everything belongs to him, and that seems to include your home.  

You can guess how he ended up the way he did. He doesn’t exactly inspire kindness. 

[anghraine]

This isn't going to turn into All US Politics All The Time blog for four years (all going about as well as possible). And I don't begrudge anyone finding comfort where they can from the various state-level small victories—the GOP losing their incredibly corrupt supermajority in NC and failing to take the governor's seat, various state measures to protect or at least advance abortion rights, my candidate for governor winning in my own state, decent performances in a lot of House races, the predictable Senate disaster not being quite as bad as it might have been in this environment.

But for me, there is something discouraging about these as well, and something overlooked in the comparisons to the 2020 election. To me, the obvious point of comparison is less 2020 than 2016.

[This is not an even slightly positive post—putting most of it below the cut so you can skip if you don't want further doom 'n gloom.]

Trump's victory in 2016 was more shocking, yes, but it came with a lot of qualifications. Most obviously, the majority of people who voted in 2016 didn't vote for him, and while this didn't change the result of the election, it did affect the sense of what was going on nationally. Hillary Clinton, a flawed candidate under investigation during the election (however obviously politically motivated that investigation—and it was reopened right before Election Day) and the object of a 30-year misogynistic campaign of relentless, unabashed right-wing and journalistic hatred, and the leader of a campaign that made some clear tactical missteps, was preferable to Trump for the majority of voters even without certainty about what his administration would do. And people could and did lie to themselves about what a Trump administration would be like because he was a posturing blowhard who'd never held office. I always thought "Trump's just saying stuff, he's really going to outflank Hillary from the left!!!" was stupid as fuck, but it's a thing people convinced themselves of.

But in 2024, we know how bad the Trump administration would be (and there's no reason to think this one won't be worse—quite the opposite). We saw how his COVID response made a bad situation orders of magnitude worse to the point that morgues were overflowing with dead bodies. We know about how unethical he is because he's been found legally liable in relation to crimes of corruption and rape. He encouraged a coup to overthrow the last election. And Kamala Harris has far less political baggage than HRC did, is more progressive, ran a better campaign, had no October Surprise, and yet is losing the popular vote quite badly (right now, with 89% of the vote counted, Trump is ahead by about five million votes).

And seeing that people are voting to protect abortion rights in their state or ousting obviously corrupt state officials etc and then also voting for Trump is on one level—okay, so ordinary voters only sort of align with the cackling evil of GOP politicians' schemes and will at times vote to restrict their awful policies even in very red states. On a pragmatic level, that's better than being fully aligned with those policies. But on another level, I find it appalling. This loss isn't about any particular policy and I think you're fooling yourself if you think any One Magic Trick could have changed this result—that was possible in 2016, potentially, but not in this election. A lot of people are voting against specific Republican agendas and then voting for Donald Trump and JD fucking Vance.

Obviously racist misogyny (and misogynoir particularly) is likely a major culprit given that this disparity wasn't present even in far more unfavorable-on-paper conditions in 2016 against a profoundly unpopular white woman after an eight-year Democratic administration. There's the weird cult of personality around Trump. Etc. But I'm also thinking about how the most successful period for Democrats during this cycle was when they veered away from anything to do with actual policies and were like "these Republican politicians are the weird freaks with bad vibes actually." I'm thinking about how the vast majority of the country went significantly rightwards even in many places that Harris or Democrats won.

And it's like... maybe we won't become an autocracy, maybe he'll have another disastrously awful administration that isn't as much worse than the first as we fear, and public opinion will turn against him again and his sheer unpopularity will drive backlashes favoring Democrats in 2026 and 2028. But even that best case scenario isn't fixing what's wrong here.

[ghostiemothp1mp]

|BREAKING: HAZBIN SEASON 2 LEAKS FLOOD THE INTERNET!|

You heard right folks! There was a breach at A24 and Spindlehorse toons resulting in almost the entirety of season two being leaked onto several platforms but mainly Tik tok. While something similar happened last year when Hell's Greatest Dad got leaked, this time it was to a much greater scale, including several songs, animation clips, and more spoilers than imaginable.

Yes, this is disastrous for Spindlehorse and the entirety of Hazbin Hotel as show. In fact, we're lucky that Hazbin hasn't been dropped from Amazon all together. A lot of times when a breach this big happens, the show just get cancelled, but Amazon has stated that their legal team is trying their best to clean this up and find the perpetrator who did this.

However, the leaks are spreading like wildfire and the amount of views and shares is growing by the minute. The best thing that is fans and viewers can do is NOT SHARE. DO NOT SHARE. DO NOT WATCH IF YOU CAN HELP IT! AND REPORT REPORT REPORT! If you come across spoilers of ANY kind—for example, footage, song clips, fanart—REPORT IT IMMEDIATELY AND GET IT TAKEN DOWN.

Now, you might say, "but spoilers aren't a big deal! I wanna know what happens!" Believe me, we are all excited for the next season, but we need to find out what happens the RIGHT way. I will not be sharing exactly what was leaked because I do not want to feed the fire, but the leaks released kind of ruin the show cuz a) they don't make sense cuz they are just random bits and pieces and b) it makes it a lot harder for Spindlehorse to even keep the show and fandom going. We are extremely lucky that Amazon is even keeping the show, please PLEASE help Spindlehorse keep it that way!

According to Spindlehorse, they believe that the person who leaked the footage was actually someone either on their team or on A24, in other words, this was an inside job. Whoever did this had full intention of sabotaging the success of this show from within, either to serve their own nefarious purposes or someone else's. Currently we don't have any more information on it, but hopefully Amazon's legal team can find the culprit and punish them accordingly.

Okay, so, some footage got leaked. What's the big deal? Well, I didn't go that in depth as to the real effects of the leak earlier, but I will do so now. First of all, it's one of the biggest breaches a show has seen in a WHILE. Including hundreds of shots, MULTIPLE musical numbers, and character reveals that were not planned drops. What does this mean exactly? Well for starters, we probably won't be seeing any more con teasers or sneak peeks. Remember the Baxter teaser? Yeah, that probably won't be happening again. Second of all, I have already seen the fandom start to slowly fall apart on Tik Tok, hundreds of videos talking about how angry they are, not just about the show being spoiled in the first place, but the content of the spoilers themselves. People are already saying how furious they are about the twists and turns the show is taking, without even considering the fact that these leaks don't even contain the full context. Third of all, as the leaks spread and fanart and edits and cosplays of the spoilers flood the internet, the likelihood of Hazbin growing in popularity and hype with the release of season two grows slim. Nobody will be super excited about the "big reveals" next season because they've already been spoiled. Yes, this is pretty disastrous, not just to Hazbin as a cartoon, but to the fandom as well.

That is why we must take action! We must aid Spindlehorse and Amazon in the clean up by not sharing the spoilers. We must aid them by not creating fanart or edits or reaction vids or cosplays of spoilers either. We must aid them by reporting these videos and getting them taken down. We can save Hazbin, but we have to work together.

If anyone sees this post, please share. Please help stop this madness and keep things that should be secret, secret.

[lestcat-de-lioncourt]

Literally had thus a multitude of times in my life, on my old account n they kept reporting me to swipe my account off as they were threatened as well, but, some actually did say they wanted to fxck me in anon, but it was anon so they were kinda weak tbh like well I can't even consider it when idk how you are, anon. Thought the crazy anon hate was way weaker. And kinda funny. I've been had people send my friends anon hate and pretend it was be to cause a decade, luckily I had proof it wasn't. I genuinely have never sent anon hate because it's sucky, and I wouldn't wanna stress anyone out, I just block them instead if they're starting to be not great to me. I don't get jealous of others' successes either, I love it. It's amazing to see someone thriving. This life can suck so it's good they do something great.

s3 of iwtv looks amazing 😍😍

[mythalism]

ok im going to try and parse through my feelings on the entire game in the hopes that expelling these thoughts from my brain will allow me to actually sleep because i am running on about 3 hours right now

i will start positive with the things i absolutely loved:

solas. whos suprised

just kidding i will elaborate further of course. genuinely, from a (mostly) objective writing perspective, he is the best part of this game. like hands down. his writing is bonkers insane. he has the best lines and the most complexity out of any character in the game (besides mythal perhaps). i was so so so afraid they were going to completely woobify him into someone who was right all along and never did anything wrong in his life blah blah to make him sympathetic to a new audience. they did not give a fuck however and i could not be more glad. he is exactly the dread wolf and bringer of nightmares of legend. he is so wonderfully in character, even if that character is not someone we saw in inquisition (we saw solas, not the dread wolf!). there are moments that solas shines through, like in his mentions of varric in the very beginning, when he mentions his love for the inquisitor, his convo with a rook he respects (which i do believe was genuine, even if he betrays them anyway. we know that he regularly betrays people that he likes and respects lol), the way he helps the shadow dragons and saves the dalish, and of course in his final scene with the inquisitor. he manages to retain that perfect back and forth, mask on and mask off, solas vs. fen'harel dichotomy with a different balance than the one we saw in inquisition. in inquisition, we saw solas with hints of the dread wolf peeking through. in veilguard, we see the dread wolf with hints of solas peeking through. ok i need to move on or i will talk about him forever. but they nailed the moral ambiguity with him. they nailed the theme of forgiveness being hard. i loved when harding said something along the lines of "there is no one who doesnt deserve forgiveness" this is one of the few consistent themes that this game was successful in exploring. ok ok moving on now i promise

i also loved mythal (fragment mythal, not morrigan mythal who was a flop). admittedly i am a mythal stan, but her integration into this story was a highlight for me. she haunted the narrative in such a great way. it added so much complexity to solas. hearing him GROWL at elgar'nan in rage "you have lost the right to say her name" made me scream in glee. i loved talking to her and having to prove my worth to her. i love that it was hard and she would kill you without hesitation if she found you unworthy. i love that if she does find you worthy she is instrumental in changing solas's mind. i loved her dragon appearance even if she was useless in the damn fight lol. morrigan mythal sucked tho but thats for later

similar vein but the main quests were fantastic, with a few caveats. but overall every main quest had me hooked, having so much fun, at the edge of my seat and screaming and flailing in my chair. weisshaupt was incredible, BLOOD OF ARLATHAN WAS INSANE (the solas elgarnan bitch fight will go down in history as a moment of all time for me) and of course the finale was some of the best writing ive seen from bioware. the way suspense was built was well done, the stakes felt high, and the twists were interesting.

choice and consequence was absolutely banger. i gasped when i went back to dock town after leaving minrathous to fend for itself and saw a gallows with bodies hanging from nooses and piles of bodies in the streets. i gasped when harding died. i gasped when bellara got blighted. definitely the best choice and consequence in the entire franchise and it was very satisfying. i feel motivated to play again to see different options play out.

the environments are fucking insane. genuinely insane giga brained genius. i have never been so gagged by a video game like this. not only were they beautiful but they were well-designed, interesting and diverse. i rarely got bored anywhere (except treviso lol) and i was regularly picking my jaw up off the floor. some highlights for me were the anderfels area where you first meet davrin with that amazing vista, kal sharok, the docktown catacombs, pretty much anything in arlathan, the deep roads, and honestly so much. absolutely beautiful.

this game felt incredibly cinematic and the direction was fantastic. the cutscenes were so well done and they transitioned so smoothly into gameplay. the animation was fantastic, and everything was so engaging to watch. my favorite cutscene has to be when solas is about to switch places with rook and you see him in the background out of the corner of your eye twice, though rook doesnt know. i was literally screaming it was so fucking cool. it genuinely felt like watching a movie a lot of the time

i genuinely enjoyed the gameplay loop of exploration. i had a lot of fun just exploring around docktown and arlathan, there was always something new to find, i loved the puzzles, and i loved finding codex entries. this is a crazy thing to say but it actually reminded me a lot of genshin impact LMFAO. which i know a lot of people would probably consider to be a negative but i thought it was engaging and fun.

combat fucks. it got a little repetitive by the end, mostly because i think i just wanted to find out the end of the story and fucking darkspawn were in my way, but it was a huge step up from previous games and i think action combat was a good choice.

this game has an incredible amount of genuine heart and soul put into it and you can feel it in every facet of the game. i can tell that the devs were passionate and their creativity was genuine. i could feel their love for the characters and the world. this game is unflinchingly sincere and not afraid of being cringe (though it definitely is cringe at times, i respect the commitment to it so i dont mind it). it genuinely does not feel like an EA cash grab, which is a huge win considering how likely it was for years that a cash grab was exactly what we were going to get.

i enjoyed the varric ghost twist. i knew something was up with him but i didnt fully call him being dead until right before the reveal. i get why people are going to be upset about it, its a pretty fucking crazy decision, but i think what saves it is the quote he gives rook in the fade about his choices being his own and still encouraging rook to try to get through to solas despite being KILLED BY HIM.... fucking crazy. it ties in enough to the overall theme of regret and forgiveness that i think it works.

ok time for the negatives

its hard to pick my biggest issue but i definitely have a top 3: the lore flopped majorly, much of the writing felt juvenile, and there was an overall lack of nuance to everything about the game except for solas's storyline that did feel very not-dragon age to me

i actually dont give a fuck about lore retcons, especially if they are explained well. i think they are often necessary and can be pulled off. but this game literally just pretended to answer decades long questions about the lore and then does not. which would be fine if we didnt have someone who knows all the answers to those questions hanging out in our brains and willing to answer them. we did not learn what exactly a titan was. we did not learn what they were like when they were alive and before they were blighted. mythal called them monsters. harding suggests they might have been violent like the elves. we literally dont know anything about them except for what solas and mythal did to them. i dont think anyone even actually gave a clear answer on what the blight is. ok it was the titan's severed dreams but what the fuck does that mean? it was their rage and pain? then why does harding say the red lyrium manifested by her rage and pain was not blighted, just red? if blight equals titan nightmares then that lyrium should have been blighted? so what the fuck is the blight that ghilan'nain cooked with? red lyrium? how did the original darkspawn get made? did she start injecting people with red lyrium? but we know what that does to people because we saw it in inquisition. it makes them red lyrium freaks but it doesnt make them darskpawn. WHAT ARE DARKSPAWN? WHAT IS THE BLIGHT? did i miss this in a codex entry or something guys im so serious. how did we play this whole game and not actually learn what the blight is. we also learned almost nothing about the forgotten ones, which is fine except we literally met one and all they really had to say about it was "evil spirit" ? ok. also um. where are the rest of the evanuris. ok they are gone but where did they go. we know where their archdemons went, but where did they go? ghilan'nain exists separate from her archdemon so its not like killing an archdemon kills the evanuris, it just makes them vulnerable. should they not all be still alive in that prison together, just mortal and archdemon-less? they literally just say "they're gone" and expect us to be like ok! WHAT THE FUCK??? WHERE ARE THEY?? WHERE ARE THEIR BODIES??? WHAT??????? also the explanation for archdemons was boring. it felt like the team literally did not know the answers themselves (and didnt feel like calling up david gaider) so they just gave us vague non-answers hoping we wouldnt notice. I NOTICED.

similar vein; we learned nearly nothing about elgar'nan and ghilan'nain, and they overall felt cartoonishly evil and one-dimensional. and this is a greater problem that ill talk about next, but they were afforded none of the nuance that solas and mythal were given, and it feels glaring in comparison. why was elgarn'nan evil? was he just born fucking evil? we know thats not true. he originated as a spirit, what kind of spirit? what was his relationship with mythal like? what was his relationship to the other evanuris like? he calls ghilan'nain "sister", were they always close? did they become close in their prison? what are his goals beyond tyranny? or do you actually want me to believe he is just full stop evil? if he was one of the original spirit born elvhen what virtue did he embody and what polluted him into something so terrible? why does ghilan'nain love the blight? why is she obsessed with creation? we only get a single codex about she and andruil (that i found). what was her and solas's relationship like before she ascended to godhood? he calls her "the best of them" but we never see anything about their relationship. neither of them has any nuance. they are just pure evil, corrupted by ???? something ??? power??? i guess. and we are supposed to just be fine with it lol. what are even their motivations? why do they want to cover the world in blight? what is their emotional connection to this pursuit??????? we get such an exploration of this for solas and just NOTHING for them. they feel so one-dimensional in comparison, literal comic book cartoon character villains.

similarly, this game lacks nuance overall. bioware is known for its exploration of grey morality on both personal and sociopolitical levels. this game has that only for solas and literally no one else. qunari antaam? evil (super fucking racist depiction as well). venatori? evil minions. elven gods? evil. forgotten ones? evil. meanwhile, crows? suddenly good. its okay. just forget the MURDER, child slavery and abuse. seriously its fine. caterina dellamorte is a sweet old lady :) dont worry about it :). every faction is good and every antagonist is bad. its genuinely insane coming from the studio who gave us dragon age 2 to now give us something so fucking boring and black and white. they got SO CLOSE with the wardens and isseya and in the end davrin still kills her. why does solas get a chance at redemption and no one else does? here we are with an entire story centered around this morally grey character, interrogating whether or not his actions are justified, whether his intentions matter, whether his abuse informed his atrocities, asking ourselves if he deserves forgiveness asking if he deserves to be saved, where do we draw the line? what is the point of no return? why do people do the things they do? its fantastic. and then you go and do a faction or companion quest and its just like, these are the good guys and these are the bad guys. dont ask questions. have fun! WHAT???? FROM BIOWARE??????????

this issue bleeds over into the companions as well. i genuinely liked all of them. they are likable. but holy shit they have no flaws. all of them are genuinely good people and their problems center around others rather than themselves. there is little to no complexity, to the point where honestly they did not feel like real people to me. harding is sweet and perfect and her worst trait is being *checks notes* TOO AGREEABLE? davrin's worst flaw is raising his voice at his pet too much. emmrich's only flaw is FEARING DEATH LIKE A NORMAL HUMAN BEING? neve is kind of cold. thats it. bellara never does anything wrong. lucanis doesnt sleep enough? taash is the closes they come to any sort of complexity and i did genuinely enjoy their identity struggle and i loved seeing their complex relationship with their mother. but none of those are flaws. like these characters are cookie-cutter perfect. we used to have companions who committed acts of terror and blood mages and mean jealous little brothers and did horrible things and said horrible things to each other and struggled with things like internalized racism and complacency in violent corrupt institutions and addiction and facing your fucking war crimes and they are some of the most beloved of the franchise because they feel SO REAL. like genuinely going from characters like anders and blackwall to these companions was so jarring and disappointng. i LIKE them all, dont get me wrong. but they do not act like real, complex fully fleshed out people, and the writing overall suffers greatly for it.

again connected, the writing in terms of literal dialogue but also what i mentioned above comes together to feel incredibly juvenile. i know some big reviewers beforehand said that the game feels like a pixar movie at times, and unfortunately i dont think thats inaccurate. a little harsh maybe, but there are moments that are truly written in such a way that it feels like the audience is children. and that doesnt mean its bad, because i am a lover of childrens media and most of my favorite media of all time is actually for kids (avatar the last airbender, fullmetal alchemist, etc), but this game oscillates back and forth so violently it will give you literal whiplash. it reminded me a lot of the way young adult fiction is written. GOOD young adult fiction, where its well-done, but its deliberately written to be simpler in both diction and theme and focuses on concepts that young people can identify with. this is how i felt during much of the companion quests during this game. again, it was GOOD young adult fiction, but it had the narrative styling and lack of nuance and complexity that is characteristic of such things, and that is just literally not what the game is supposed to be like. and there are great writing moments that do feel appropriately mature and complex, but they are mostly in the main quest and their presence makes the lack of maturity in the rest of the writing feel even more jarring. i have no idea why they wrote it this way.

morrigan's mythal flopped and was out of character. i missed flemeth's crazy ass. they literally nerfed her. i think this is connected to everyone being nice and good and perfect (no abusive mothers allowed!) which is crazy because the other mythal fragment got to be a crazy bitch. so what the hell

the lack of world states is still a major L. it felt like things were missing that should have been present and had no reason not to be other than just no worldstates. well of sorrows needed to be there ESPECIALLY considering the solas/mythal/lavellan dynamic.

this one is self-indulgence but solavellan could have benefited from better pacing. packing so much into act 3 made it feel rushed. i loved the scenes themselves, but there could have easily been more build-up with a few codex entries.

no fenris. i will never forgive

ok im running out of steam and actually feeling more able to sleep now (thank god). i know i said a lot of negatives but i actually believe this game is very, very good, especially within the context of its development. i think a lot of the issues likely do stem from their fraught development cycle, and overall they did a great job of identifying their priorities and pursuing them to the fullest. i dont necessarily agree with what they prioritized or what their vision was at all points, but i respect the clear direction that this game had. i do not believe it will stick with me the way the previous games did, and while playing i often found myself just missing the characters from 2 and inquisition that i love, and the writing that so often had me screaming crying throwing up and/or giggling and twirling my hair. however, this game gave me the #1 thing i wanted which was a satisfying solavellan conclusion, and though yes it could have been done a bit more... artfully, i think its incredible considering where we were just a few years ago with this game. i will play it again a few times, and the fact that it has sold well enough to guarantee bioware gets to stick around and make new games is a major win. 7.5/10 thank u for listening

[brainworms-all-night-long]

Oooough so um. You know the "Eggman finds and raises tails instead of Sonic" AUs and how that usually fucks up the little guy in a special way? Haha so I had an idea like that but with Nine

(Bear with me this is like half the shit my brain came up with on a 30 min car ride there's already so much abt this in my head help)

So a scrawny kit without a Denizen number was detained in Dr.Babble's district due to repeated offenses of wandering off the path and also under the suspicion of stealing and repurposing council robot parts (all strictly prohibited)

After some back and forth and confirmation that he has no affiliation with the resistance, or even a family house to be sent back and locked up in, the Council concludes he could be useful to them. The little thing is smart, knows his way around machines (if the reports are to be belived), is quiet and no one would miss him if things went wrong. He was a freak snatched off the street anyway.

Of course, their first thought was to fully robotize him, and have him do some basic maintenance or reconnaissance alongside Rusty, one of their only actual still standing successful robotized projects, but Mr.Dr. objects, saying it would be a waste if they turned him into a mindless drone doing basic work. So they agree (to disagree) to give it some time and let them see what they're working with, it's not like the little guy is expected to be somewhere else.

After a few days of not-so-subtle emotional manipulation and observation of the fox at work, it's concluded (albeit very begrudgingly) that he has the skills and intellect to match and even surpass all five members of the council.

Of course, that's a threat and a very high liability if the the little freak gets any funny ideas, so the council actually has to play smart instead of brute force their way to subjugation like usual.

A deal is proposed.

If the little fox, now their ninth robotization project in wait, agrees to pledge his alliance directly under the thumb of the council and is fine with the loss and metallic replacement of just a few body parts and vital organs, in turn, he doesn't have to mingle with the measly and pathetic citizens bellow ever again, gains full reign over all of the resources available (with strings attached of course) to keep the five men at full power and finally destroy any resistance once and for all.

The kit, now marked 09 (or simply 9 for colloquial convenience) accepts the deal without much hesistation, the loss of his vital organs seemed to spook him the most, but it's not like he cares about anyone in the city, or vice versa. As far as he sees it, losing his biological arms and jaw is hardly a difficult deal for being sound and secure, fed and housed, protected from any and all elements, and left alone for most of his days. He now lives in the walls of the Tyrants' castle yes, but it's not like he has any reason to feel bad or like he betrayed anyone.

Not like he ever knew anything else but cold pavement and eye-blinding xenon in a city where you can only trust yourself. It's either dying under the suffocating regime or taking any chance given to swing above it. He just got lucky, and it was about damn time he did.

The resistance is nothing but a desperate cult of people deluding themselves with unreachable fantasies and sending their followers on suicide missions. The citizens nothing but ants there to keep the machine running and make all the infrastructure around them useful, and 09, finally, stood above both.

[xiaq]

Actually, I want to come back to this.

Today, there was a meeting between my company’s Important Business Folks and a prospect company’s Important Business Folks to iron out contract details. My part of the sales cycle—proving our tech could meet their needs—was well over. But after the meeting was finished, the account exec messaged me to let me know that the customer specifically called out my demos as being excellent and then inquired if I could continue to support their account post-sale.

As they were trying to remember my name, one of the customers described me as “the technical resource with the pink flower office, who was always wearing a bow” “Oh, you mean Erica?” “Yes! Erica!”

I went back and grabbed a screenshot from one of the demos I did for them. I wasn’t wearing overalls and a cat ear headband, but I was wearing my cozy cable knit jumper and a big pink bow. And yes. My office is memorable for its floral background.

Point is. “Flower” and “pink” and “bow” were descriptors a customer used while asking for continued access to my expertise. For my last onsite, I wore the most lovely floral silk pants and pink coat and received numerous compliments from the customers. You can absolutely be young and cute and whimsical and still be viewed as professional/successful and I don’t want anyone to be confused on my stance there.

The entire whiplash that I got from reading “I just closed a million dollar deal” and then seeing you in your overalls and cat ear headband looking like an actual kid. 😂 I know you’re older than you look but very funny.

Is this not the face of a top-performing professional woman??

[oimitocat]

HEARTBEAT | OS

yeonjun, kai (seperately) x gn!reader

angst + subtle fluff + crying + insecurity + breakups + idol au! + unhealthy mechanisms + 6thmember!reader + implied depression

a/n: can be read as M!READER. i’m sorry if this is trash, i feel like i this isn’t very good ;(

from his earlier training years, yeonjun knew who he was. he was talented. other trainees feared being paired up with him- they would never fully shine next to him. it’s not something he boasts about, he is proud about it, of course, but… he remembers how lonely it was.

remembers how hard he had to keep exceeding if he did everything flawlessly. he couldn’t give anything less than what he has so easily done up until then. yet…. you managed to be on his level. easily. naturally.

you enamored him from the moment he saw your name at the top of the weekly evaluation scores. second. you were second.

“wanna go eat something?” yeonjun asks with a smile, appearing before your view.

you were looking at the schedule your manager sent. once more, you’re more prone to being in the dorms or your studio than going out the city for anything. yeonjun has a busy month after tomorrow.

you’re always second.

“i’m good.” you say flatly.

unsure if you’re joking, yeonjun prods. “n/n, let’s go eat! i’m craving something from the corner store. oh! how about that phò you like? let’s go! i also heard we can take a car-“

“yeonjun go by yourself.” you groan.

“eh?” yeonjun pouts, sitting on your bed and shaking you. “n/n are you okay? you mad? you upset?” he asks, but he’s joking. he’s not actually concerned.

he always has other things to worry about.

“i wanna be by myself today, yeonjun.”

“well i don’t care! i want to be with you before my promotions start up-“

“well i don’t.”

yeonjun pauses, realizing you’re actually not in a good mood. he stares at your figure, back facing him. he hesitates before shaking you gently, “y/n-“

“ugh do you have to be so annoying? no one wants to be around your twenty four seven!” you huff as you sit up to glare at him.

he stares at you, surprised. “what are you talking about-“

“you’re always so full of yourself! always wanting the attention on you! you just want to go out so that someone spots you and they post about how you’re roaming around! you always do this!”

yeonjun fidgets with the bedsheet that fell over his lap, his heart sinking. “that’s not true. what are you saying? i want to spend time with you! we’re dating!”

“out of what? pity?” you grit.

“huh? no-“

“get out.”

and he obeys. there’s no fight in him. he’s never fought with you. this is completely new and unexpected. he’s never seen you so angry and hurt. where did this come from?

he’s seen the light die in your eyes. debut was hard. the career path is brutal. fans can be just as brutal as they are loving. he’s seen how your eyes lose that brilliancy he had loved. that loving passion dimming to a bitter craving for success you probably don’t even want now. yet you always smile. you always make the most of it. you try to.

how long have you been trying for? had he not been careful with you?

“good morning,” he says when he walks inside your room the next day.

you’re awake. he knows you are.

“i brought breakfast from that place you like.” he says, sitting on your bed. “y/n we need to talk about this.”

“there’s literally nothing to talk about. i’m sorry for lashing out. i know i’m the worst.” you say.

yeonjun shakes his head, taken aback. “i didn’t say or imply that. i just want to know what’s going on-“

“nothing. it’s literally nothing, i have nothing going on, you clearly do. don’t you have to fly out later?” you say bitterly.

what’s this about? he frowns, “well yeah but i know something’s wrong. you’re upset-“

“i just want to be alone! can’t you respect that?” you groan.

yeonjun pauses. he doesn’t want to comply but he thinks it’s best. he just stands and goes out. you don’t come out all morning. he doesn’t know anything more until later that evening. his flight is at 8 pm. you haven’t touched what he brought for you. it gives him an unpleasant feeling.

his heart is heavy again. where are you? why aren’t you answering his calls or messages? why aren’t you in your room?

“y/n? i saw him go to the studio,” beomgyu says when he’s called by yeonjun.

you’re hardworking, he knows that. but he’s learned that you push yourself on days you want nothing to do with anything or anyone. you were supposed to kiss him farewell for his flight. you were supposed to hug him and say you missed him already.

‘ i have nothing going on, you clearly do. ‘ what did that mean?

you said he was full of himself… why did you say that? what made you say it?

and when he peeks inside the studio and sees you furiously writing in your notebook- he realizes. you have the headphones on and you only do that when you want no one to disturb you. yet, yeonjun doesn’t like letting things go too far. he needs to clear this up. he doesn’t want to leave knowing you’re like this with him.

“y/n…” he calls out gently, putting a hand on your shoulder.

you jump and stare at him. your expression of surprise turns dark fast. “what? aren’t you supposed to be packing?”

“i can’t see my love before leaving?” yeonjun frowns. “y/n why are you upset with me?”

“i’m not.”

“you said a bunch of hurtful things.”

“i did not. if you can’t handle the truth then maybe you can’t handle life at all.” you grit.

yeonjun finally feels something click. he has never realized what was happening until now. he should have pieced it together before. he should have seen how you started distancing yourself. mentally. emotionally.

physically you’re here.

“i’m tired of being the only one who loves you.” he says, eyes glimmering with tears. he swallows the lump in his throat, “i need you to love yourself too.”

you pause. he’s… right. “yeonjun.”

“i’ve done everything i can. i love you, i treat you good. i’ve been by your side since trainees and i’ve fallen in love with you. yet, i’ve never seen you appreciate me what i appreciate.”

“just get out-“

“why do you push me away? i’m not you,” he begs, “you can’t push yourself out of your body, but why do you push me away?”

“STOP BEING RIGHT. DAMN IT!” you slam your fist down on the desk, your notebook and pencil jumping.

yeonjun swallows, looking away. “then stop being your biggest hater… i’ve been your biggest supporter… don’t hate me too…”

you bury your face into your hands. you sob. “i’m sorry… i don’t know why i do it. i hate that the most.” you say after a long silence, yeonjun never leaves.

he’s never dared to.

why do you hate it do much?

“y/n… you need help…” yeonjun says softly, kneeling before you. his hands rub your knee. “i know you’ve felt like a less important person ever since our career has grown… but we’ve always appreciated you more than anyone and anything.”

“i know,” you sniffle, “i just… feel so alone. seeing how you even the company leaves me in the shadow sometimes.”

yeonjun quickly pulls you to the floor and with him. he hugs you and rubs your back. you sob, finally letting it out.

“i love you… i’ll do whatever i can to make this better,” he whispers.

and you can only cling to that taboo truth.

there are multiple things that have made kai decide that if he ever goes back in time he’ll never be an idol again. yes, there are a lot of things he’s grateful for experiencing and having the opportunity to do but the reality is that this is a harsh path.

the negative remarks. being overworked. the only true reasons he stands firmer are the members.

and you.

yet, it’s felt lately as if neither of you are in a relationship. all of you were exhausted from the concert tours. the company is pulling too many strings and neither of you are strung together.

“huh?” you take out your headphones, looking at him.

“can we talk?” he asks, fidgeting.

you drop everything, hoping off the game without a say. you’ll explain later, kai is always your priority.

“what is it? come here,” you move away from your desk and stand.

the two of you wander to your bed. you’re sitting opposite of him, criss cross. he sits on the edge. you don’t question it, thinking he’s just having a moment where feeling on edge makes him be just that. he’s not looking at you.

“i just feel like we haven’t actually been… lovers.”

you blink. “you want… sex right now?”

“no,” he looks up at you with wide eyes. “n-not in that way! it’s just… we’re literally so busy…. we just came back from our tour and starting tomorrow we have to start meetings and stuff to work on our next album…”

you nod, blushing. you feel a little embarrassed for assuming he wanted sex but you couldn’t help it with how he worded it. “is this about not spending much time together?”

he nods, “yeah… it feels like we’re not dating… i can’t remember the last time we were like this…”

“well it’s kind of always like this, isn’t it? we’ll have our moments soon.” you assure, placing a hand on his knee.

“we could’ve had a moment but you chose to be with your friends and your game.”

you pause, “ah- i mean yeah, okay but we’ve been stressed from all our past schedules. you know i destress through video games or being in the studio. you could’ve been in my room!”

he looks at you. you can’t decipher that look.

you’re everything he’s needed to keep afloat when he’s drowning. yet….

“do… still want this?”

you blink, “want what?”

kai swallows, “us. a relationship.”

you look around, unsure what’s happening. “of course, kai why would you ask that?”

kai shrugs, looking down at the bedsheets, “i just feel like we’re too busy sometimes to even take care of ourselves…”

“that’s the whole point of us being together,” you scoot closer and take his hands in yours, “baby, remember when you just dropped during practice and cried from how tired and exhausted you were?”

kai bites the inside of his cheek and nods. he doesn’t look up at you.

“but it’s always you taking care of me,” he tries, almost in a begging tone. “aren’t you tired? i can’t even take care of myself and i feel bad with not just everything that’s happening but knowing we have a relationship. it’s so many things i need to care for but i can’t even care for myself. everything is just too much sometimes.”

“i get that,” you rub your thumbs over his skin, “kai i get that… but you know i’m here for you-“

“and who’s there for you?” he asks accusingly.

you gently pull your hands away from him. you analyze him. you heart races. “kai… are you… tired of me?”

kai’s eyes suddenly dart towards you. “i… i’m tired of everything y/n. i just want to go to sleep and never wake up.”

you take in the glassy look of his eyes and your heart goes heavy. “do you… not want to keep our relationship going? is that what this is? i know we have a lot going on but-“

“but what’s the point?” he asks, “y/n you deserve more than this. i genuinely cannot find myself spending energy into a relationship when i’m putting more than everything i have into my career.”

you grow baffled, “kai this is our career. we’re a group-“

“exactly! we all have so much to do and so much is expected of us. i fought with myself to get out of bed and come here. the thought of spending time with you a-bored me. it felt like a chore.”

“i’m a burden to you?” you ask.

he falls silent. not daring to look at you.

“when did this start?” you ask, looking down at the bed sheets. you sit back and cross your arms in a form of hugging yourself. “when did loving me become a chore for you? did i do something wrong?”

you’re not enough. that’s all you’re hearing. you’re not enough for kai to feel like he’s enjoying his life. instead, you’re something… someone he feels like is dragging him.

“no, no,” he groans, “you’ve always been my anchor y/n,” he tries, “on my worst days you’ve been more than enough but i just. i can’t be the same for you. i receive and receive but never give back. you don’t deserve that.”

you swallow, “i-i don’t care. you deserve everything i have to offer-“

“i don’t want it.” he says soft, looking at you, “not anymore.”

“but… why?”

“because i’ll burn you out…”

“no you wouldn’t-“

“i will and i’m doing this for the both of us-“

you huff, “don’t you love me?”

with a long, sadden stare, he looks at you. you slump. you watch as his mouth moves— saying exactly what you hoped wasn’t real. you watch as he stands. you watch as he pauses.

a friendship is all you could have. are you better off being coworkers… friends… than lovers. he knew this would happen too. he just wanted to see how far you two could go.

still, you always try. “this was never going to work, was it?”

“no.”

[therealcocoshady]

Kinktober - Day 15 - Spanking

Kinktober 2024 Masterlist

A/N : Here is the Kinktober episode for the « spanking » prompt. And as you guys probably expect it, it is a continuation of the « Pet play » and « Kneeling » episodes. 👀

CW : D/S dynamic - BDSM - Spanking - Aftercare

That first weekend of Marshall « vetting » you as a sub turned out to be rather successful. By the end of it, you were absolutely drained and, though you would have expected it to be because of bedroom activities, it was not the case. The whole time had been about you getting familiar with his rules, learning more about what it meant to be a sub and his rules and expectations. And, as it turns out, there were a lot of things to remember and imprint in your brain.

Thankfully, he had been pretty patient with you, giving to time to adjust. You enjoyed the way submission turned off the noisy part of your brain, but it didn’t exactly come naturally to you. Neither did staying silent until being asked to speak. And your bad habit of running your mouth made it quite clear that you required a lot of explanations before following some rules. At the end of the first day, Marshall had ordered you to put your bag in the guest room, earning the biggest side eye from you. « I’m not sleeping in your room ? » you asked in a tone that failed to hide your disappointment. « You heard me » he simply hummed. However, the exhaustion of the day made it hard to follow the initial command of letting him be in charge. « But… why ? » you asked again with a frown. « Because I sleep better on my own » he sighed. « Not that I owe you an explanation. I’m in charge remember ? ». You nodded sheepishly but couldn’t resist asking yet another question. « Then why did you let me sleep with you last time ? » you asked with a raised eyebrow. He sighed again and rolled his eyes before getting up from the couch and facing you. « Y/N. I set the rules. That’s what I do. And last time was an exception. But the rule is still in place. » he said sternly. You nodded again. « Is sleeping in the same room that important to you ? » he finally asked. « I don’t know. I guess not » you shrugged. « It’s just… I figured that… you know. If we were to sleep together we’d actually sleep together too ? » you added. He looked at you and smiled before cupping your face. « You do realize it’s not only about sex, right ? I could very well be your dom in a totally platonic way. » he said calmly. You opened your eyes a little wider, thinking that maybe you had completely misread the situation and that the forms he’d asked you to fill regarding your bedroom preferences were a formality that didn’t mean anything. As soon as he saw the change of expression on your face, he chuckled. « Yeah, some of my plans include sex. But that’s not the core of what we’re doing. And after some sessions, you might actually want some space, too. A lot of subs do enjoy being able to unwind without their dom being around. » he added. You nodded one last time and went to settle in the guest bedroom.

The rest of the weekend proved him right : you actually enjoyed having a space you could claim as your own. You didn’t really have anyone you could compare him too, but you doubted Marshall could be described as a difficult dom. In fact, he was patient and, apparently, pretty lenient too. However, getting familiar with all those rules proved to be exhausting and you weren’t sure you’d be able to rest as much if you had to pay attention to your posture or anything else you were required to mind in his presence. That being said, he made sure to let you know he was there if you needed him. Especially after he fucked your brains out. He cuddled with you until you came to yourself and waited until you had regained some composure to ask if you needed him to stay longer. It was only after you sleepily shook your head and murmured a small « no, you can go, Sir » that he pressed a kiss to your forehead, praising you one last time and put his clothes back on before leaving you to rest.

Marshall was apparently quite satisfied with you and, before you went home, he suggested you come back the following weekend. Soon enough, a small routine was put in place : you spent most weekends at his place, in a D/S dynamic. The rest of the time, however, you were just friends. Especially when you were handing out in group settings. You quite liked it and it didn’t take long for you so develop some Pavlovian habits. On Friday evenings, when you showed up at his place, your brain was already in « sub mode », your inner noise quieting before you even reached the front door. And as weeks went by, you did a better job at following orders. You thought you were thriving. Until, a few weeks in, you arrived at his place in a bad mood. The last few days at work had been exhausting, your boss had been an ass and you were a ball of nerves and frustration.

It didn’t take long for Marshall to take note. You seemed unable to focus, failed to call him « Sir », asked him to repeat orders twice. He stared at you with concern but, whenever he asked what was up with you, you simply apologized and assured him that everything was alright. He was patient with you, though. At first, at least.

It wasn’t unusual for you to have rough days, and normally she found peace and comfort in your new dynamic. But tonight, something felt off. Every little thing seemed to grate on your nerves, and instead of the usual calm that Marshall’s presence brought, you felt like snapping. The first time you rolled your eyes at him, he let it slide with a warning. « Y/N, » he said in that low, controlled tone that always managed to get her attention. « Watch it. »

You had heard the warning, had even felt a flicker of guilt. But instead of responding with your usual obedience, the irritation bubbling just below the surface pushed you to defy him again. You rolled your eyes a second time, this time more deliberately, almost daring him to react. His gaze hardened, his voice dipping lower. « I’m not going to warn you again. » You should have stopped. You knew it. But something inside you rebelled against the authority in his voice, against the command in his eyes. Maybe it was the way the week had weighed on you, or maybe you were testing limits you hadn’t yet reached, but when he asked you to do something simple—hand him his phone from the coffee table—you rolled your eyes one more time as you did it.

The silence that followed was heavy, and in an instant, you knew you had gone too far. Marshall didn’t speak right away. He didn’t need to. The intensity in his gaze said everything. Your stomach tightened as you watched him stand from the couch, his full attention now fixed on you. Your heart started to race, the frustration that had driven your rebellion quickly giving way to something else—anticipation. You had never been punished before.

« Come here, »he said, his voice calm, but there was no mistaking the authority in his tone. You hesitated for a split second before obeying, stepping forward until you were standing directly in front of him. You didn’t meet his eyes this time, the weight of what was coming settling heavily in your chest. Your heart pounded as she realized the seriousness of your actions. Marshall stood tall, his posture firm, hands at his sides as he looked down at you. « What did I tell you about rolling your eyes at me? »You swallowed hard, your voice small. « Not to. »

« And how many times did I warn you? » he asked sternly. « Twice, » you answered, your voice barely a whisper now. Marshall nodded slowly, his expression unyielding. « Twice, » he repeated. « And you still chose to ignore me. » Your chest tightened. The defiance that had driven you earlier seemed to vanish, leaving behind a feeling of nervousness. You hadn’t expected to be pushed this far, hadn’t expected the punishment to feel so imminent. « I know you had a rough day, » he continued, his voice softer now but still firm. « But that doesn’t give you the right to disrespect me. » You felt your cheeks flush with guilt, your eyes dropping to the floor as the full weight of your actions sank in. You had crossed a line, and now you would face the consequences. « Go to the bedroom, » he instructed, his tone leaving no room for argument. « Undress and wait for me. »

Your stomach twisted at the command. The reality of what was about to happen settled over you, but you knew there was no point in resisting. This was part of the dynamic and you knew it. You had broken the rules, and now you would be held accountable. « Yes, Sir, » you whispered, your voice barely audible as you turned to leave the room. Your hands trembled slightly as you undressed in the bedroom, folding your clothes neatly and placing them on the chair. The room felt colder than usual, or maybe it was just the nerves setting in. You knelt by the bed, your knees sinking into the soft carpet, your body tense as you waited for Marshall to come in.Your mind raced as you tried to steady your breathing. You trusted him completely, but this was uncharted territory for you. You had never been punished before. There had been reprimands, yes, but never something so formal—so intentional.

When the door finally opened, your heart skipped a beat. Marshall stepped into the room, his expression unreadable as he closed the door behind him. He didn’t speak right away, letting the weight of the moment settle between you. He circled you slowly, his presence commanding the room in a way that made you feel both vulnerable and safe all at once. « Look at me, » he ordered. You lifted your head, meeting his gaze. His blue eyes were steady, focused, and there was no doubt that he was in control. « What happens when you disobey me, Y/N? » he asked, his voice even but firm. « I get punished, » you answered quietly, your voice shaking just a little. « That’s right, » he said, stepping closer. « And why are you being punished tonight? »

« Because I disrespected you, » you whispered, cheeks burning with shame as you spoke the words aloud. Marshall nodded, his hand brushing lightly against your cheek before he moved around you again. « I don’t punish you to hurt you, » he said, his voice calm and steady. « I do it to remind you of the structure, to keep you grounded. You need to know that when you push, there will be consequences. That’s how this works. » You nodded, your throat tight. « Yes, Sir. »

« Stand up, » he commanded, and you obeyed immediately, rising to your feet though your legs felt shaky beneath you. « Hands on the bed, » he instructed, his voice low but firm. « Knees apart. » Your heart pounded as you bent over, placing your hands on the mattress, your knees spreading as you positioned yourself the way he had asked. You felt vulnerable in the position, exposed, but you knew this was part of it—part of the process of learning, of submitting.

Marshall stood behind you, his hand resting lightly on the small of your back. « This is going to hurt, » he warned. « But I need you to remember why it’s happening. » You braced yourself, nodding slightly as you whispered, « Yes, Sir. » The first smack landed on your bare skin, sharp and firm, sending a jolt of pain through you. You bit your lip, fighting the urge to cry out, but the second strike followed soon after, and then the third. Each one was deliberate, measured, not too hard but enough to make you wince, enough to remind you of the line you had crossed. By the fifth strike, tears were welling in your eyes. It wasn’t just the physical sting—it was the emotional release, the overwhelming sense of guilt and submission flooding your senses.

Marshall paused, his hand resting gently on your back again. « You’re doing well, » he said softly, his voice soothing. « Just a little more. » You nodded, your voice too thick with emotion to respond, but you trusted him. You trusted him to know your limits, to guide you through this. When the final strike landed, a tear slipped down your cheek, but you didn’t feel broken. You felt relieved, grounded again in a way that only he could provide.

Marshall’s hands were gentle as he pulled you up into his arms, his embrace warm and comforting. He held you tightly, his lips brushing the top of your head as he murmured softly, « It’s over now. » You buried your face in his chest, letting the tears flow freely as the last remnants of tension drained from your body. He held you close, his arms wrapped around you as he reassured you with his presence, his touch. « You’re mine, » he whispered, his voice soft but filled with conviction. « I take care of you. Always. » You nodded against him, your heart finally at peace, knowing that you were safe in his hands, no matter how far you had pushed. Your breath was still shaky as you nestled into Marshall’s chest, the sting of the punishment still lingering on your skin. The tears that had slipped out were slowing, and though your body felt drained, your mind was beginning to clear. The chaos that had swirled inside you all week was gone, replaced with a sense of calm that only Marshall seemed able to bring you back to.

But even as your breathing steadied, you knew there was still more to come—more than just the punishment. There was the moment after, the moment when he would make sure you were okay, because that was just as much a part of this as anything else. Marshall held you close, his hand rubbing slow circles on your back as your tears began to subside. He hadn’t spoken yet, letting you come down from the emotional high in your own time. His warmth, his solid presence, was grounding you, and you felt yourself sinking deeper into the safety of his embrace.

After a few moments, he shifted slightly, tilting your face up gently to meet his gaze. His eyes softened when they met yours, all the sternness from earlier replaced with concern and care. « You alright, Y/N? » he asked, his thumb brushing away the last tear that clung to your cheek. You nodded, though your throat still felt tight. « Yes, Sir, » you whispered, your voice hoarse from the emotions that had poured out of you. Marshall studied your face carefully, as though he was looking for any signs of lingering distress. His hand moved to cup your cheek, his touch warm and reassuring. « You did well, » he said softly. « You took that punishment exactly how you should have. But now, I need to know how you’re feeling. »

You closed your eyes for a moment, leaning into his touch. You weren’t sure how to put everything you were feeling into words. The punishment had been hard—physically, yes—but more than that, it had been emotional. It had been your first real experience with punishment, and while it had stung, it also left you feeling lighter, like some of the tension that had been building inside you had finally been released. « I feel… better, » you admitted, your voice soft. « It hurt, but… I needed it. I didn’t realize how much I needed to let go until it happened. And… I guess it’s not as scary. » Marshall nodded, his fingers brushing gently through your hair. « Sometimes that’s how it is, » he said quietly. « Punishment isn’t just about consequences. It’s about helping you let go of what you’re holding onto. But I need you to know, —you don’t have to carry things on your own. When something’s bothering you, you come to me. That’s what I’m here for. Understood? »

You nodded again, feeling a surge of warmth in your chest. It wasn’t just about the punishment. It was about the structure, the trust, and knowing that he was there to take care of you, even when you didn’t realize you needed it. « Yes, Sir, » you whispered.

Marshall’s hand moved down to your back, pulling you closer into his lap. He held you like that for a while, his touch soft and soothing, letting you come back to yourself in her own time, as he always did. The tension in your muscles slowly unwound as you breathed him in, his scent familiar and comforting.

« You’re not in trouble anymore, » he murmured, his lips brushing the top of your head. « It’s done. You’ve been forgiven. This is just about making sure you’re okay now. »

You let out a long breath, the last of the weight lifting from your chest. His words, simple as they were, meant a lot. Your connection was still there. You were not lost in your own head anymore—you were here, with him, and that was all that mattered. Marshall shifted again, this time tilting your chin up so you could meet his eyes. His thumb traced your lower lip as he spoke, his voice low and calm. « I want to make sure you’re not feeling any doubt about what happened. You know why I punished you, right? »

You nodded, your voice more steady now. « Yes, Sir. I disrespected you. I shouldn’t have acted the way I did.  Marshall gave a small nod, his expression firm but kind. « Good. But listen—if you’re ever feeling frustrated, if you’re having a rough day, you don’t have to test me to get my attention. You can come to me, tell me how you’re feeling, and we’ll deal with it. » His words hit you deeply, more than you could have expected, and you felt a lump form in your throat again—not from fear, but from relief. You had pushed him earlier, and instead of meeting you with anger, he had been understanding.

« I’m sorry, » you whispered, the words heavy with sincerity. « I didn’t mean to push you like that. »Marshall’s thumb brushed over your cheek again, his eyes softening even more. « I know, doll, » he said gently. « And I’ve already forgiven you. This isn’t about punishment anymore. This is about making sure you’re okay. Are you? »

You took a deep breath, nodding. “Yes, Sir. I’m okay.” He smiled softly at you, his hand moving to rest on the back of your neck, pulling you in for a kiss on the forehead. « Good girl, » he murmured against your skin. The praise made your heart swell, and you felt herself relax fully for the first time that night. You melted into his embrace, your head resting against his chest as his arms wrapped around you again. There was no tension left—only the quiet, comforting hum of knowing you were safe there.

Marshall held you like that for a while, his hands moving in slow, soothing patterns across your back. He didn’t rush you, didn’t push you to move or speak. He simply held you, his presence a steady anchor in the aftermath of everything you had just been through. After some time, he shifted slightly, pulling the blanket from the edge of the bed and draping it over your shoulders. « I want you to rest now, » he said softly. « You’ve been through enough for one night. »

You nodded, feeling the exhaustion finally catch up to you. You let him guide you to lie down on the bed, your body feeling heavy but content. Marshall tucked the blanket around you, his touch tender as he made sure you were comfortable. « Stay with me? » you asked quietly, your voice small but hopeful.

Marshall’s expression softened, and he gave you a reassuring smile. « Of course, » he said, slipping in beside you. He pulled you close, letting you rest your head on his chest as his arms wrapped protectively around you. Your eyes fluttered shut, your body sinking into the warmth and safety of his embrace. The day’s struggles, the punishment, the emotions—it all felt distant now, fading into the background as you focused on the steady rhythm of his breathing, the solid presence of him beside you.

« Thank you, » you whispered, your voice barely audible. Marshall’s hand stroked your hair gently, his voice soft as he replied, « I’ve got you, Y/N.»

[swordsandarms]

i know you just tend to lurk (me too) but your fandomised rhaegar thoughts are very validating lol. ive always thought blue roses are symbolic of a child born from love, not symbolic of a woman. like lyanna has the roses cause she's jon's mother and rhaegar's love, not because they're her "thing"? never thought that was far fetched til coming online lmao.

OK, this was in my drafts for like a decade.

The roses aren't really the child or the woman, but a representation of the (tragic, but bittersweet) love itself. Though, of course, Jon as the "fruit"/"proof" of it is still at the centre of it all.

Used to hate the concept of "tragedy" and not understand how that can be compelling/satisfying. Turns out a lot of tragedy is badly done, hence the feeling of meaningless/pointlessness of it all some of them give you. Look at HOTD. The problem with the writing is that everything is made meaningless, not that your "favourite" isn't winning everything. It is the fact that it's all bitter and no sweet at the end of the day. (Not the book version, which is also a matter of how much better ASOIAF handles the "continuation" of the tragedy better than GOT).

I see Rhaelya as a representation of the concept: "The love was there. It didn't save anyone, it didn't change anything, but the love was there."

Once you get to look at it like that, it becomes very annoying when people in the fandom sound like a broken record of "what's nice about this?? EveRYoNE dIeS". Yeah, that's how tragedies work, but look at it as such and you'll see the nice, too.

It's not about how "oh, why would you think the author is trying to paint Romeo and Juliet as a romance when he liked Rosaline before, and now suddenly her overnight?"/"oh, it's all about how they are dumb teenagers messing up"/"oh, isn't Orpheus the dumbest for turning round".

Romeo and Juliet are young people finding a shiny thing in a shitty society that creates generational cycles of pain and hate for stupid reasons. The ending is satisfying not because the love is successful but because the characters - and readers are meant to - finally get that. Orpheus turns round because he loves Eurydice and if you did you would, too.

Westeros is a hellscape of ambition, heartlessness, and corruption. Everyone is stabbing everyone's back for a bit more of land, a bit more of wealth, a bit more political influence. Selling and pawning their loved ones for a corn chip. (Controversial opinion, neither Elia or Lyanna should have been in that position, but that's the reason why, "loving families" and all. Even more Controversial, Rhaegar shouldn't have been in that position also. And that's the "good" people - as Controversial as people might think that statement is for Rhaegar. But also OH, you mean selling off Cersei didn't work out well cause she was meant to be a pretty object and didn't have to be taught about armies and resources, just vanity? Or Lysa for some reason wasn't all that grateful to papa to give armies to the great alliance when they needed them, for reasons of keeping the one "trueborn child" she had sheltered, cause that's the one thing you promised her she could get if she did your bidding?) Looking away from what is fair when it is "lawful" according to the status quo (and fandom finds it easy to pinpoint it when it's someone deemed hateworthy, but will be 1000% lenient towards a Ned Stark, and will even hold characters they hate accountable when putting FAIRNESS ABOVE LAW).

And the thing about ASOIAF fandom is THEY LOVE THIS SHIT. They love to romanticise it all. But there's the paradox of it all. Romanticising comes with this idea of unrealistic wistfulness, I guess. If a character lives in "the cruel real world", the romanticised ideal is nice to think about. If they actually reach for ideals, they are fools who should get real about living in the "cruel real world".

Oop, I ventured far from the point. But I just love the whole CONCEPT of the blue rose at its roots. 💙 It literally means just that at its roots. Something wistful but unattainable.