#and i know this is the case for some people as well that have entire worlds in their heads but can't get it out for some reason or the othe

[sleepycelestialprincess]

Urgg! I see this e v e r y w h e r e!

I work a lot with art and photographs, I'm an artist, I work as a picture framer, and I also have a lot of experience with the history of photography and photo scanning and retouching.

Something that I see a lot is the expectation that old photographs will look low quality because they are old and new photographs should look good. This is entirely opposite in most cases. There are all kinds of limitations that may cause the quality of a photograph from any age to look good or bad and I'll get into some of those later.

Early photography was typically a daguerreotype or tintype. These are both images that are made directly on the surface that you look at. Meaning that there was no intermediate negative or copy made. The image you see was left there by light that came from the subject, through a lens, and hit that surface. The clarity of that image is limited only by how well the photographer focused the lens. If well made, there is upwards of 4000dpi (dots per inch). If you have a 2"x3" image that is approximately equivalent to at least a 96MP (megapixels or million pixels) image. If its a 4"x5", it'd be 320MP. This far surpasses any of today's highest end digital cameras. There are obviously other factors to consider in the overall quality of an image but these photographs from the mid 1800s if in good condition, look great by today's standards.

I'm not going to go into all the photography formats and sizes from the last 175+ years but I'll mention a few. When your great grand parents had their 5 wedding photographs taken, it was probably with and 8x10 or 4x5 inch large format film. Film of that era was grainier than today but at those sizes, even with making a print, will hold great tonality and detail. I would estimate between 400MP – 200MP in resolution for 8x10 or 4x5 respectively.

When 35mm film was introduced in the 1910s, it was largely criticized as not having enough resolution to make an acceptable image. It didn't really take off until the 50s when film got more detailed, and finer grained. Great improvements were introduced over the decades bringing the resolution from about 10MP (very rough estimate) to today's finest films being equivalent to about 34MP with very smooth grain.

I really don't know what they were thinking pushing out digital cameras when they did. Photographs never looked worse! Even a cheep point and shoot camera with 24mm film (APS film was 2/3 the area of 35mm film) produced images far far better than any digital camera for many years. Many early digital cameras were between 1/3rd of a MP up to maybe 3MP. And they were way noisier than even early film was grainy. Even when digital cameras became acceptable in quality if you had the budget for a good one, they still had limitations below that of film. I feel like the crossover was no earlier than 2005. I could go into detail but this post is getting too long.

Then of course phone cameras entered common use not long after and set us back again to utter trash being petaled as anything worth using for anything. This further lowered people's expectations of what an image should look like. What once would have been scoffed at by anyone, became the average common image. Family's memories being reduced to images not worth even looking at.

Luckily things have gotten quite a bit better again, digital cameras of any larger variety look decent. But I think its a real shame that most family's have completely lost about 15 years of photos because of the onset of digital cameras. I fear that may end up longer for many people, if social media sites ever loose someone's photos, many people will have nothing.

—

I didn't even get into photo and art printing. But many things were very high quality in the past, then got much worse, and hopefully have gotten a bit better again. But a lot of things right now are at their lowest yet, like buttons.

Historical context is of course very useful for important things like Politics and Science and everything, but will also open your eyes to things like, uh... the way the clothing/textile/crafting industries try to use the word "natural" as an excuse to sell shoddy and bad quality goods and make you think that's normal.

God knows there are worse things going on in the world, but it really pisses me off when I see companies advertising "Real Shell/Pearl buttons!" like that's supposed to be some upscale selling point, and the buttons in question are the thinnest, roughest, most crudely-made buttons in existence... 🙄😒 "But they're made from Natural Materials! You can't expect Natural Materials to look refined and consistent like synthetic ones!" They are lying to you. THEY ARE LYING TO YOU! And I know this because I've seen "real shell buttons" from 100 or even 50 years ago. And most of them are sturdy and smoothly polished, of a consistent thickness, and sometimes even finely carved. The buttons on nice men's dress shirts? Those are the cheap, plastic IMITATIONS of what people expected actual mother-of-pearl buttons to look like! "Natural" isn't an excuse! Your product is cheap and badly and lazily made! And I'm so sick of this, because I see it EVERYWHERE. "Linen-look" has become shorthand for "coarsely woven fabric with visible slubs" and that drives me CRAZY because do you KNOW what kinds of linen I have seen??? Antique linen so light and fine and smooth you can't even SEE the weave unless you magnify it!!! A fragment of a linen damask tablecloth so smooth and glossy, it looks like SILK? 😭 (On that note, "dupioni silk" is so roughly woven that it would have been considered hardly fit to sell a century ago) "This fabric is woven of Natural Materials, so imperfections will be inevitable!" 🙃 No! 😀 You just made it cheaply and sloppily, and that was your choice! 😊

[anomaliex]

Collection of headcanons not elaborate enough for own word vomit post:

- I don't think Kristen can swim. She has the vibes of someone who never learned as a kid and now it's too late to bring up without being embarrassed. (Also I thought about what would happen if she fell in water — mechanically she's wearing heavy armor, would Brennan just let her swim since she's in universe only in a tracksuit or would she sink without a sufficient strength check? Idk, but that's how I got to the no swimming conclusion.)

- insanely weird hc to have but i think Fabian shaves his arm hair. Also like legs and arm pits i guess but the way more unusual and therefore notable thing is arms. This guy kills any body and facial hair on sight. Like no one has ever seen him with as much as stubble outside of Cathilda or the Bad Kids when they were sleeping over. Why? Idk he just prefers that, no deeper reason. I do think elves generally have less body hair but here his human genes come through so he has to shave. Or get it lasered away I guess. You can do that right?? He's rich. Maybe he'd do it.

- also Fabian's depth perception is dog shit. Using his crossbow is less impressive because Fandrangor is simply a better weapon and his flourishes and manoeuvres rely on melee combat, I know, but to me it's also just that he's better at hitting things real close to him.

- Riz is the kinda guy to have chronic migraines and think it's fine. "Everyone has headaches sometimes and I do sleep a lot less than I should ahaha" (the amount of coffee he drinks is barely saving him from the horrors.)

- Adaine also gets a lot of migraines in what I think are more. Passive non specific visions? Like a gut feeling that's always correct and also makes her body hate her. The proper visions are comparable to absence seizures I think? Like I don't wanna say it's that because it's magic but the process is kind of the same in the sense that she's out for like ten to thirty seconds and it can really suck

- I also think Adaine has synaesthesia! I can't really put this into words well so I'm not even gonna try, but she perceives certain sounds and/or colours at times where there shouldn't be sounds and/or colours. I think those associations also to an extend help in drawing connections between less specific visions and real life.

- we know Gorgug has a drumset in his room I think it's electronic. But like not in a normal way like we have them irl it's some insane artificer shit that would justify so much more noise complaints than a regular one and also could probably have its own pyrotechnics idfk. It's fully a safety hazard but it doesn't even rank on the top 10 of worst things to have in your house that is a TREE that the Thistlesprings casually own.

- I think either Fig or Kristen would be the shortest medium creature type Bad Kid. Like obviously Riz is four feet tall max but he's in a whole different category lmao

- Fig sometimes puts little braids in Jawbone's fur and he happily lets her. He only properly adopted Adaine and Fig has more than enough dads, but he does still act as sort of a paternal figure to her (and every other kid ((which in this case includes Ragh but maybe not Aelwyn)) in mordred manor because he's just a caring guy and it's hard not to grow attached) so that's their pseudo daddy-daughter bonding

- Fabian doesn't like, hate Gilear as much as he used to? Like he still has his moments but overall he thinks he's a good guy and absolutely has the "well I can shit on him but I'm gonna kill this other guy who did. How dare you make fun of my Mama's beloved??" mindset. But uhm he tries to make Gilear work out with him so he can "stop being death fodder". Gilear is a commoner and everyone else in Seacaster Manor absolutely is not and like he likes it and he loves these people but he does kind of live in hell. His wife? Could kill him. His step son? Could kill him. The maid? Could kill him. The dog slash motor cycle?? Could kill him. One hit. Also the entire current Seacaster household are dexterity based fighters they're all so graceful and skilled he's fully just a guy that spills every drink ever on himself

- I think the Hangman loves Cathilda because she gives good chin scritchies (hound form obviously lol) Generally he tends to mirror Fabian's attitude towards people anyway so he's always liked her, but once he started being a hound more she started petting him and giving him treats and he is smitten

- Gorgug (and sometimes Ragh or Ayda) play extreme fetch with the Hangman. Like I need to stress that he's not just a big dog he's large enough to be a mount, which means he'd have to be the size of a horse. Maybe a small horse sure but that's still a horse-sized dog. I think his mini looks fairly big but in my heart he's bigger. So yeah fetch with him (which they mainly do because they want him to feel comfortable in both forms because he's so good) is really big sticks. Like not logs or anything but sticks the average person can't huck all that far. Fabian casts enhance ability on himself so he can also do it, lol. The wonders of multiclassing into bard.

- I think the only Bad Kids who never use makeup are Riz and Kristen. Gorgug doesn't do it every day and not that much but he uses eyeliner sometimes. Fig's makeup is the most noticeable and usually very fun.

- Gorgug has kissed Ragh at least twice. So at least one time after the prom thing. I don't mean this in a ship way I mean this in I look at Gorgug and then I look at Ragh and I go yeah these guys have shared at least one tender bro kiss. I mean I think Gorgug is the kinda guy that would kiss all of his friends if they wanted to because it's not that big of a deal to him and he loves them but not everyone is comfortable w/ that lol. He and Kristen kiss each other on the cheek though, I think (this does not mean he wants to see her naked in public please put your clothes back on Kristen??)

[princessefemmelesbian]

One thing I wish MRAs and transandrophobia truthers understood is that the statement “women are seen as more innocent/valuable/worthy of protection” is not a universal truth and is in fact a belief steeped in whiteness. Whiny men who want to pretend that they’re oppressed for being men simply LOVE to claim that women are privileged in society because we’re seen as more innocent and given the benefit of the doubt for some things, or are seen as less dangerous, or are “cared for more” by society, or can use our “tears” to manipulate men and get ourselves out of trouble. And while sometimes this can have some basis to it, like how some people believe that women can’t rape men, or when they say “women and children”, for instances, in the majority of cases it has not been true, and I am slowly realizing why. It’s because that idea(at least in the West) has only ever been applied to white women.

Women of color NEVER get the advantage of being seen as innocent, soft, or worthy of protection, especially Black women who are stereotyped instead as strong, hardworking, mannish mules due to slavery, as well as adultified and sexualized. The same applies to other races of women like mestiza-Latina women who are seen as “spicy” or East Asian women who are seen as innocent and childlike but not in a way that inspires protection like in white women, but in a way that lets them be seen as “submissive” and thus open to be fetishized and exploited/discarded by white men as well.

Women of color are also raped more than white women, specifically due to the idea that we are inherently more sexual and less innocent than white women and always available for sexual domination and don’t deserve our virtue and dignity protected the way that white women do, but also, more twistedly, due to the idea that we are inherently more “tough” and less dainty and feminine than white women and are built to withstand brutalization, thus we can be treated roughly and abused more harshly than white women, because women of color aren’t “real” women you see? You can beat them and sexually abuse them and even murder them as aggressively and inhumanely as well, they can take it! They like it rough! They don’t deserve protection and safety and love, because they aren’t real women, y’see, they aren’t even human! And we all know about white woman tears, that isn’t anything new.

Really women of color are never given the advantage of being innocent or being catered to like princesses the way MRAs and transmisogynists claim, it is really a western/white-centric viewpoint above all else and it bothers me to see people parrot it without realizing that this only applies to white women. It’s like they only consider white women when they talk about women, it’s really sad and maddening but hey there’s white femininity for ya. It makes sense, though, because both groups are comprised predominantly of angry sensitive white men who are upset because they feel like society doesn’t coddle them enough, rather than that it coddles them too much, and take out their insecurity over their manhood and inability to reckon with their male privilege out on the more vulnerable women in their communities, whom they irrationally see as to blame for their frustration and hurt feelings. They don’t give the slightest shits about women of color, and especially not about trans women of color, because acknowledging women of color’s existence would completely upend their worldview and force them to confront the fact that they are not the ultimate victims of the planet, and that they have the power to oppress someone else and they don’t like that! If nobody’s coddling their ass 24/7, then that means that the entire world is against them, doesn’t it? And women become the enemy for pointing it out. That’s honestly all this is at this point. So done.

[is-today-tomorrow-in-nz]

Why Nikolai is more of a villain than Aleksander

This post is an inspiration from one of anon asks.

Time and time again antis have accused Aleksander of several hideous crimes without understanding the monarchy of 19th century Feudal Russia and what serfdom entails. Due to this lack of understanding(or willful ignorance), Aleksander is studied under a harsher light than Nikolai and other characters. I blame the author entirely for this, as she never gave Aleksander a voice until much later. In books 1-3, he is only projected to us through Alina who had nothing but disdain for him.

On the other hand, we see Nikolai, who was a prince and then a king, who did not do much for the country or Grisha. However, his actions are softened by LB and antis. He is considered a 'flawed' human who did his best. His manipulative actions are treated as an act of strategic brilliance while his mistakes are treated as an act of desperation/helplessness.

So, let me first start by explaining some of the vile accusations thrown at Aleksander and then contrast it with some of Nikolai's actions.

He sex-trafficked Genya.

In Book 1, the author herself says two key points 1) Grisha are no better than serfs and 2) After their training, Grisha are either posted in the borders or sent to serve in affluent households. So Genya was not a unique case. This, again, is the price Aleksander had to pay for the Grisha to live. Genya had to be sent as a child because an adult Genya could not get as close to the Queen as a child would and it worked for a while until the Queen turned on her. This were an understanding of serfdom is needed. A serf can be released only by the master not by anyone else. Aleksander cannot take her away and relocate her somewhere else. And if the antis had read the 'The Tailor' they would know that in spite of the challenges, Aleksander did give her a choice- to disappear forever or exact her revenge and it was Genya who chose to stay.

He committed genocide in Novokribirsk.

Even if we ignore Alina's unreliable POV, Zoya's POV tells us that only a part of the city, near the docks was destroyed. So what Aleksander did was just a warning and not a 'genocide'. Antis keep forgetting that Grisha's enemies were not just Fjerda and Shu Han but Ravka itself. Had the coup had succeeded, he not just wanted Fjerda and Shu Han to back off but the First Army soldiers as well. Book 2 shows how his paranoia were not unwarranted. Through Fedyor's story we learn how they were attacked in their sleep and how First Army conducted sham trials and slaughtered them. This alone shows how Ravka's sentiments about Grisha was not much different from Fjerda or Shu Han. So in the event of the coup, Aleksander had no choice but to issue a warning all of his enemies.

He is a predator/abuser.

This is the one that makes me laugh the most. Girl, he is an immortal. He has no choice. All his age-appropriate past lovers are long dead and buried. What is he supposed to do? Remain celibate? They often bring up the kiss near Baghra's hut as an example of his predatory nature. But what manipulation happened? That dummy fell for Alina and high-tailed from there.

Let me draw a comparison to show what actual manipulation and predatory behaviour looks like. (1) Nikolai who is about 7-8 years older than Alina, forcibly kissing her, against her will, in front of hundreds of people just to better his chances for the throne. (2) Mal who punishes Alina for flinching at his advances by getting it on with Zoya. (3) Baghra, who preys on Alina's fears/insecurities and turns her son's one true immortal companion, against him. These are actual manipulations, not the one Aleksander did.

A predator/abuser needs to have constant access to his victims. In LB, own words, Aleksander rarely stayed at the Little Palace. Compared to him, Nikolai, Mal and Baghra had more access to Alina and they did actually succeed isolating her.

The Stag amplifier

Then the stag incident is treated as a sign of his manipulation and perversion. This where we need to apply our critical thinking and ask the important question who benefits from this act? It certainly was not Aleksander.

Let's rewind the clock a bit, Alina who was the Sun Summoner and a key political figure ran away from the Little Palace. Aleksander did not know if it was an enemy attack or something more sinister. He lies to King, who would have his head for this mishap and, searches for her only to learn that she run away on her own violation. So the girl, he hoped to be his ally became a threat. He was forced to reveal his hand sooner and speed up the coup. People need to understand that Aleksander is not an ordinary, lovesick boy, he is a war general and Alina has proved herself to be unworthy of his trust. So he put a leash on her. This not a question of morality but a question of ethics, much like the trolley problem.

He turned on his own Grisha.

They were deserters for god's sake! and was fighting opposite him. They forfeited his protection the moment they joined hands with the enemy. So he was treating them as a normal enemy.

He stole Grisha children.

He did what Charles Xavier did in X-Men. Grisha powers were tied to emotions and are instinctive. Without proper training they are bound to hurt normal people. Not to mention, if the Grisha were born outside they were either killed or sold to pleasure houses. And considering Ravka's anti-Grisha sentiments, he did what he had to do to keep them safe from actual predators.

Now let's talk about some of Nikolai's actions and let's not forget that he was the King/Prince of Ravka.

Sent his father on a luxury retirement instead of punishing him for his crimes.

Used Genya's trauma to make himself the king instead of offering her justice.

Did not care or investigate the genocide of the Second Army soldiers even if the said soldiers were serving the crown. He punished none of the First Army soldiers and was happily brown-nosing them.

Was happy to start a Civil war even after knowing the kind of king his father was. For a 'peace-loving' person (we have seen him in KoS and RoW ass-kissing useless feudal lords instead of using his authority), he did not attempt to negotiate with Aleksander.

Starved his people so Aleksander would have no choice but to use his Grisha to cross the Fold to get supplies. Again for the antis crowing about Novokribirsk, what do you call this?

Stole Grisha inventions like corecloth etc in the name of unification and supplied it to First Army. Read point 2 once more to understand the cruel nature of this act. He felt Grisha were hoarding better supplies but did not question why the First Army were having subpar things because if he did then the blame would rest on his father and his corrupt noble supporters. So he chooses to steal using the unification propaganda. How noble!

Sent Grisha who were not of age to war fronts and missions. Why not send the First Army? Are there no highly skilled people in the First Army for such things?

Manipulated and used Alina to establish himself. Atleast Aleksander 'manipulated' her for the betterment of Grisha, Nikolai did it for himself.

Destroyed everything Aleksander did for Grisha in the name of unification. Or should we call it erasure? He erased centuries of progress and left them without protection.

He claimed Aleksander used his Grisha selfishly for 'his' wars and then shamelessly sends his minions to recruit them from other countries.

If Nikolai was indeed a just and kind king as the antis claim him to be, why didn't he announce Grisha as a protected class? Why didn't he offer them equal rights as a Ravkan citizen? Through his own spies he knows what is happening to them in Fjerda, Shu-Han and Kerch and yet knowingly he lets Zoya abolish the rule of finding and securing the Grisha children (which mind you, saved Zoya from child marriage).

Aleksander was not just a person, he carried the history of the Grisha that was rapidly being erased. He built a place to pass down that knowledge, their culture and practices. If Grisha were not tested and found, who would save them if they died from wasting sickness, who would offer them protection from slavers and Fjerdans? Once again in the name of 'liberation' Nikolai had truly pushed them into hiding. Without these laws what happens when anti-grisha sentiments raise again after a few centuries? He removed every true protection and erased a targeted group's shared history in the name of liberation.

In the end, Nikolai did not protect his country nor the Grisha. He is in no way the hero of this story nor is his echo chambers whom he calls friends. I could go on and on. Truth is, it is not my intention to minimize things like SA or genocide. These are heavy topics and should be treated as such. Readers or antis who throw around such words should know the weight of such words. I hope this sheds some light on the hypocrisy that resides in this fandom.

Thanks for coming to my TED Talk!

[hoovesandfloorpaws]

i’d like to add re: his live shows & festivals after his album releases:

2020 + 2021 as “live show years” were of course extremely negatively influenced by the pandemic, with his tour & potential festival appearances postponed.

and live show booking for 2022 and 2023 was a right nightmare, because every single artist on the planet needed to catch up on the shows & festival appearances they missed. competition with tour booking is always harsh, but for 2022 and 2023 it was insane. i’m talking venue options in the double digits. really bad deals accepted just to get that fucking date booked. tour routes that cost more money than it made. bad festival time slots or just none available even with ‘household’ names that usually have guarantees. venues financially battered after the pandemic, with some even having had to close down forever, which made it harder to book into that city. same with festivals who never came back after their cancellation due to the pandemic. tour- and festival booking agencies, as well as live venues massively letting go their staff during the pandemic, which were then scrambling to get employees back to even book tours for their artists or festivals (many people from the music industry who had been let go during the pandemic switched career fields just to survive, got settled there and didn’t return), same with live touring crew (for example light/sound engineers, riggers, tour managers, tour bus drivers, etc.) who were suddenly a lot more sparse and very hard to put together — the pandemic was honestly an entire Reset for the live touring industry.

Louis has really good odds with Live Nation (irrc he’s still with them, always was during 1D times too), but LN has hundreds of artists and they are in competition with each other, as well.

Also, the UK is small, especially compared to North or South America, and we have learned by now that you barely make money with a live tour nowadays, but the ‘bigger’ money still lies in a full-continent-tour, which surely strengthens Louis’ bond with his fanbase and takes him to cities where he can potentially do promo with radio, TV, mags, etc.

I’m not sure how much he did that when he was on tour in 2023 and 2024? I wasn’t here and haven’t caught up to that, yet. — But like mentioned above, Louis would have to get that opportunity arranged for him and even more importantly, Louis would have to want to do all that. And I honestly don’t know if he does. It might very well be the case that he doesn’t want to do that level of press anymore after being excessively put through that ringer 2010 - 2015. And I imagine he knows what it costs him if he doesn’t.

all that is to say (sorry, i can never keep myself short lmao) that i find all this interesting in the aforementioned context that Louis and his team might have very realistically struggled due to the pandemic all the way into and through 2023.

the live tour industry is only now slowly back to normalcy since last year, so i’m very interested to see what live shows Louis will get this year, what continents it’ll focus on and what his tour routing’s gonna look like.

Hi Gina, hope you're doing well!!

I've sent you similar asks a couple of times before over the years, but everytime I see it I just can't help but express my frustration. As someone who works in marketing and hears the words "do something that'll go viral" almost everyday from different brands, I get so disappointed in Louis's PR.

Everytime he comes back in the news a little again I get my hopes up thinking that it might actually lead to something but then it just suddenly stops. I feel like his team doesn't actually have a marketing plan and they just wake up one day wanting to make Louis's name trend and then forget about it or get bored after a week.

Even now - going to Zayn's show (not saying it was completely for PR, but definitely planned), then the walls promo, collaborating with youtube and spotify instagram pages, and now going to the superbowl which will be filled with celebrities (you cannot make me believe ever that he's actually there for the American football) - it's all to get him in the news. But why? My guess it for absolutely nothing!!

As always he'll be active for a bit and disappear again, having done all this for nothing, because I don't see an album or even a single coming anytime soon, so this bit of PR will also be forgotten like everything else!!

It took me a couple years, but I've given up all hope in his team at this point!! I really really hope he meets some better people at some point who can position him better, because he definitely deserves and has the potential for it!!

Sorry for the rant. Have a great day!!!!

Hi sweetheart. I was actually just talking about this with @apparentlybychance yesterday. Ah was saying she was checking his social mentions (or whatever the hell it’s called) and he had a huge spike when he went to Zayn’s show, and then nothing. And he’s barely been mentioned in connection to the Super Bowl.

I have no idea what his team is doing. The meet up with fans seemed only for fandom. The Super Bowl attendance isn’t making a blip outside of fandom. It’s just weird.

[denimecho]

I've been having issues falling asleep for the past few days. Whenever I try, I end up lying awake for hours thinking about things I'd prefer not to. Recently, though, there's been something new that I don't know how to manage alone, yet I also don't much feel like talking to anyone in specific about it.

I know it isn't my style to make a post like this, but I figure if there's a chance it offers some relief, it's worth a try.

It's been... possibly 4 years now, I think, since I cut my parents out of my life. I have never regretted this decision. There's been many times that it's been hard, because the feelings involved are conflicting even when you're sure you're making the right decision. Logic and emotion don't always go hand in hand, after all, so while I've always known my decision to do this was entirely fair, I have, of course, felt guilt and despair, loneliness, nowhere to turn to when times are hard.

It's odd when I think about it. I've always known that there were no parents to turn to, even when we were still in contact, because those were not the kinds of people they were. Superficially, yes, my mom is capable of being warm. That's perhaps the most terrifying thing about her, that she can be so warm and so kind, yet also so ridiculously cruel that it's hard to fathom it's coming from the same person. Neither of them inspired the trust that would make one feel like there are "always people who love you that you can turn to", but even so, once it was official that we wouldn't talk again and their numbers were blocked, it felt a different kind of true for the first time.

I've often missed my mom, or "wanted my mom", but known it wasn't her, the person, that I missed, but rather the concept of a mom. I think what I really missed those times were, in the end, some kind of security; an unconditional love that one can trust to always be there. I believe I have people I can trust in this manner, but it's not always easy to stay believing, when I know as well that they were raised to think family is the bond you can truly trust. I have to believe something else is true, because otherwise there is no one to truly trust.

I've long since given up wondering how my parents justify it to themselves that they do not love me. I'm sure they believe they do, somehow. Fact still is that they've attempted to reconnect with their favourite child time and time again, yet never me. They don't even ask about me when they try to sway my brother to speak to them again, and when he tells me so, I say that I know. "I know, I'm not surprised, yeah classic them". I've known since I was a kid that I "wasn't what they hoped for" - what my mom hoped for, at least. My dad didn't hope for kids in the first place - and it no longer hurts that they feel nothing for me. I don't know what it feels like, but it doesn't hurt, I'd say. In fact, part of me is thankful that they find me disappointing because it means I couldn't fix their misery by reestablishing contact with them anyway. They're practically letting me go guilt free.

But... lately I can't sleep, because even though I logically always knew this was the case when I made my choice, it's only now that I truly understand that the next time I can expect to speak to one of my parents again is when one of them dies. I've considered myself pretty much orphaned since we cut contact, but I do know they are alive somewhere. Yet we will never see each other again. We will never resolve anything. We cannot, because even if they said everything I'd always wanted to hear, I will never trust them with myself, with the power they have over me. Now I think of their faces, their smiles when they were occasionally warm, their voices, and that they will die. And I will know nothing of what they were like in the end. I will never hear them speak again, and the day I finally do, it will be for that reason.

I'm not sure what to feel about this. I just can't sleep.

[treasure-mimic]

Last night, over 75,000 screaming fans joyfully sang along to the line “Trying to strike a chord and it’s probably A Minor” and I kinda wanna talk about it.

I… think that enough people have talked about the entirety of the show, the meaning in the acting and choreography and song choice, that I don’t feel like I’m overshadowing it by talking about the one big song that everyone knows. And honestly, I think Not Like Us is important. Or, rather, Not Like Us is demonstrably important, you can’t break streaming and chart records and win five Grammys and be unimportant, ya know?

It’s an aspect of the song that I think has kind of flown under the radar, like it feels so obvious that I almost feel dumb just saying it, but for as much as the song is defined as a diss track, a work of haterdom, a petty spectacle that blew up across social media as well as a dissection of Drake’s place in rap culture and black culture as a whole, it’s also, like, a very direct warning? You know, “To any bitch that talk to him and they in love/Just make sure you hide your lil’ sister from him.” I can’t know if there’s any young woman out there who could’ve gotten involved with Drake and didn’t because of Not Like Us and the beef in general, but it’s not impossible to imagine either. In addition to, you know, all those things I called it above, Not Like Us is also just one of the most profoundly effective deplatforming campaigns in history.

That, to me, is meaningful. In a time and place where it seems like the rich and powerful are incapable of suffering consequences, Kendrick was able to hold one to account, to exact some kind of punishment to one’s reprehensible behavior. I guess we’ll see how much effect it actually had when Drake’s next album drops but like, who could be looking forward to it now?

To me the targeting here feels very deliberate. Like, if Kendrick had made Not Like Us about Trump, who is also a horrible despicable person and one who needs deplatforming a lot more than Drake, it almost certainly wouldn’t have worked, he still would’ve gotten elected. By the same token, is there any artist, in or out of the rap genre who could’ve made the case against Drake so strongly and so widespread. Kendrick was very effectively able to leverage his respect and, call it what it is, authority in the rap scene to remove Drake from it entirely.

Kendrick was able to impact more of a tangible, positive change in the landscape of the world, more than thinkers with higher concerns, celebrities with wider influence, and policy makers with more power, and I think that’s something worth noting.

[drinksglue]

Running back into the room with "AND ANOTHER THING"

In regards to the "not anti, not proship, but a third thing":

Many neutrals will openly interact with antis who are aggressive against pro-shippers, all in the name of "well, I don't care about the discourse, so I don't care that they're antis"

I need you to understand that the flaw with this is that it frames the anti mindset as an acceptable viewpoint to have. It isn't.

Imagine if I said "I don't care about the arguments between librarians and Moms For Liberty, and I think they just need to calm down. I support neither! Just stop fighting!" and then exchanged friendly emails with M4L members. This would be utterly ridiculous, wouldn't it? It would mean that I find their beliefs to be valid opinions to hold, and not dangerous rhetoric that, taken to its logical conclusion, would result in mass censorship.

This is even worse in the case of people who "used to be" pro-ship/pro-fiction, presumably knowing how bad this can get and how it affects people IN REAL LIFE, who still chose to go "neutral" and start interacting with antis. You know what they do, you know how they doxx and stalk and threaten people, and you know how they've caused a lot of mentally vulnerable people to take their own lives, and you're going to give them ANY kind of voice in fandom?

To be "neutral" tells me you don't give a single shit about the people who are being targeted over stupid fandom bullshit that was practically never an issue pre-2015. And the few times that it was... well, that's actually why AO3 exists now.

You want the discourse to stop? The only way that's going to happen at this point is if you snuff out as much interaction with fancops as possible. Avoid interacting with them directly as much as possible, do not reblog their posts or their art no matter how innocuous it is, do not allow them into your fandom spaces. Exclude them from fandom entirely, methodically ostracize them. Block, block, block, and block some more. Doing this will mean we only have to deal with the most extreme of cases that involve mass-brigading and block evading.

That's still a tall order of course, but I can guarantee you fandom spaces will improve in quality if you refuse to make a space for fancops at the table.

Sorry. I'm tired of pretending "neutrals" are anything other than Fancop-Lite.

[revvethasmythh]

sorry, i'm new to the fandom but i instantly fell in love with widobrave….. is the ship really that unpopular?

well first, hello, and welcome to the fandom!! (both cr and widobrave!)

second, i think it's actually difficult for me to track how popular/unpopular widobrave is right now in the fandom, and i only started shipping it in 2020 so I can't give a full historical perspective on what the shipping scene looked like at the beginning besides what i've heard (people thought nott was a child at the very beginning of the show, then it turned into "nott is caleb's mom!" after that, and i'll exempt some further details in case you don't want any potential spoilers since you're new and I don't know how much you know, but those two things did a lot to make the ship....undesirable to the masses, shall we say). from my own perspective, I remember going into the ship and feeling like it was fairly fringe back in 2020 (and it was). small group of people, usually exclusively nott stans, were like the only people you'd see shipping it and a lot of people reacted negatively to the idea of the ship. there was an undercurrent that it was bad because some found it "incestuous" due to feeling like nott was caleb's mother (a thing that it not true in either the literal or metaphorical capacity!) and this has been the most persistent pushback against the ship that i am aware of. generally, back in the day, there was a sense that nott couldn't seriously be shipped with anyone, but especially not someone she thought of as "her kid," much as that's simply a popularly proliferated misunderstanding of ONE scene in the entire show.

the current state of widobrave affairs? i honestly don't know. it's certainly still a very small ship, but there's been a LOT of lightening up about it in the years since the campaign ended. i've seen a lot more neutral-positive opinions toward it, whereas in years past...i mean, i've been blocked just for shipping it. i've seen more than one "do NOT tag this as widobrave" statement on art pieces, like...it was considered FRINGE once upon a time. but i feel like it's stopped being fringe and is now just...small? again, it's usually exclusively nott stans that ship it, so already not a big pool of people just based on that. it's certainly not mainsteam or anything, but i certainly feel more comfortable maintagging my widobrave posts these days than i used to. i think a lot of people just don't want to look at the relationship in a romantic light, despite the fact that in most circumstances their initial setup would have been a HUGE jumping off point for shipping (just look at the immediacy of imogen/laudna shipping, who share practically the same backstory/relationship setup), and generally prefer the other, bigger ships in the fandom. it would probably take a dissertation's worth of explanation to dig into all the reasons why that is, but that is generally where the ship sits in the fandom.

if anyone has more insight on the history of the ship's fandom reception/current reception, i'd love to hear it since it missed out on those founding years! and again, a hearty to welcome to the fandom! it's always nice to see an new widobraver around

[demonixoverlord]

dunno if im late or nuthin but this took me a couple weeks to do cough @quartztwst for the uhhh... *flips through papers* .. no yandere au yeaahhh (i might do myself / my yuusona as well, im debating it haha)

magic level ^^^ he's pretty good in general, with his strongest being more.. phenomenon ish? (ref: this post ig) he'd probably be a rival, only due to the fact that he tolerates Azul and doesn't condone murder lol (might change? idk)

Q/A questions under cut

Does your OC have parents or family in the AU? If not, what is their current living situation?

He lives with his parents in a pretty nice house near where his parents work (aka S.T.Y.X cough) and tends to walk with Idia to school (most likely forcibly lol)

What are their thoughts on Quartz? He finds her interesting, although a bit sceptical because he can tell somethings fishy with how she talks about Azul and acts around him. He does try to see if she's doing alright on occasion, worried if she's masking due to personal issues, issues at home, etc.

What is their thoughts and relationship with Azul? How did they meet Azul?

Macarius is positively neutral about Azul, admiring him for his status but also judgemental about his tactics. Since Macarius tends to help Idia a lot or just stay nearby for social support (we all need someone to speak for the introverts lol) he met Azul at the end of one of the council meetings, and again at clubs. Due to seeing Azul often at clubs, he's gotten to know him slightly better.

Your OC stumbles upon a dead body a few feet outside of the school. Do they report it? Immediately. He first of all wants justice for the victim, but he also doesn't want the enviroment nearby to smell of rot. (lol)

Why does your OC like their crush?

Growing up knowing Idia from their parents working together, he grew closer to Idia and admired him for his skill. Aside from that, Macarius slowly came to the realization that he likes boys as well, more specifically Idia. Of course he doesn't entirely know why or how, especially due to his ex-girlfriend pretty much ruining his expectations of relationships, but he's coping through it.

Since reputation and popularity are kind of different, is your OC popular in and outside of school?

He's pretty neutral standing outside of school, being known for his community garden attempts (he's probably still trying lol). In school however? He somehow became the person lots of first years come to, and has been told he's attractive (he, of course, doesn't believe these often haha)

How social is your OC? Do they stray away from crowds? Macarius doesn't exactly hate crowds, but he wouldn't choose to be in a large one (events being exceptions) since lots of people tend to overwhelm him (and Idia, who he's more worried about :P)

Which TWST character does your OC believe should have more admirers than Azul? He's actually surprised by the amount Azul has, considering Vil also has an admirer hoard, but he isn't complaining since he's happy for Azul in some way. However, Macarius is glad there isn't too many after Idia, considering it'd probably overwhelm him and he'd have to force him to leave his house haha

What are their relationships with other characters/OCs? Shin ( @liyuviq ): "Clever. I admire their persistence. Not everything is a case, however." Macarius likes to consider being their friend, however he doesn't exactly want to push anything, so he doesn't say much about it haha Shuu ( @oya-oya-okay) "Surprisngly sweet. Her hair reminds me of orange lillies." He finds her entertaining, and admires her kindness. He hasn't talked to her as much unless its in passing periods or in their shared class(es) so he makes the effort to try checking in on her from time to time just to be polite. To new / first years, some consider him to be a big brother to them, showing them their classes and helping them navigate the school until they have the hang of it. What grade/year is your OC? 3rd year (18), same as Idia. (he's only a few months older than Idia) Your OC notices Quartz carrying a weapon in her skirt pocket. That's strange since the female school uniforms don't have skirt pockets. Does your OC report this? He doesn't at first, thinking he was seeing things. After a few more times, he quietly told Riddle about it, unsure if he wanted to go as far as school officals yet. Your OC is being framed for murder of another student by Quartz, how does your OC react to that? Does your OC know it's Quartz? Macarius would be probably very surprised and hurt, but still respectful about telling others that it wasn't him. Unless he knew more, he wouldn't have much of a hunch on Quartz without infomation.

What is your OCs goal for the school year or in life? He wants to start a school community garden, using technology to help the advancement of plants and agriculture without harming them.

Where is your OC usually with or at during school? Classes? With Azul? Skipping class? Where do they eat lunch? Macarius is normally with Idia during passing periods or classes they share, as well as lunch. However, he occasionally tutors at lunch (which makes Idia nervous since he sits with him haha) or examines the school's yard(s) in an attempt to plan out a future garden somewhere.

How are your OC's grades? Almost always A's or B's, with the occasional C if he's confused on a subject. (such as English)

Which elimination tactic is preferred to use on them? *shrug* What are your OC's weaknesses? Are they easily manipulated? Easily overpowered by? He's only easily manipulated if he's close to them, especially relationship wise (i.e. his exgf) which is why he tries to keep some people at arms length. For weaknesses, he's pretty neutral on most unless its about Idia (cough very protective cough) or needles (he doesn't enjoy them haha)

Any drama, traumatic story for your OC in the AU? i mean, eh? you can check his lore page if you wanna take that and mush it with this I dunno

[lesbianandstressing]

Modern AU Arcane headcanons

So I finally watched Arcane, and safe to say I’m obsessed! Here are some headcanons I have of the characters existed in the same world as us, where (mostly) everyone is happy and alive :)

vi and powder are always forcing everyone to do stupid tiktok challenges and dances. vander and silco are very reluctant to participate but they somehow manage to go viral every single time

isha is powder and ekko’s adoptive child, and everyone absolutely loves her. she’s mute so everyone learned asl so she can easily communicate with them

vi and jayce play gta online together, and they either team up or constantly fuck with each other and cause chaos

caitlyn’s accent is frequently made fun of by everyone, especially powder

powder and caitlyn pretend to hate each other but are always there for one another when it really matters

sevika and isha are always teaming up to prank everyone. powder has woken up completely duct taped to her bed with sevika filming her and ekko dying with laughter

vi is in the running for the most ticklish person on earth, and everyone, and i mean everyone absolutely loves to tickle her because it’s such an easy way to mess with her. it’s a rarity for vi to go a day without being tickled by somebody at least once

vi and caitlyn’s place is the hang out spot for everyone. game nights, movie nights, and just general get togethers are always held at their place

the group plays cards against humanity (after isha goes to bed of course), and vi and powder are always putting down the most ridiculous cards that never make sense, but they always make everyone cackle

powder laughs so hard when she’s the judge that she can barely get through the cards, it takes her at least 20 minutes

mario kart tournaments always see the most competitiveness out of everyone. mel is somehow the reigning champion despite knowing very little about video games. powder and vi always sabotage each other and often get in physical play fights during mario kart

isha loves legos and has an entire collection that is taking over the house. ekko and powder are very supportive of this but they don’t know what to do about isha running out of space 😭

everyone always competes for title of isha’s favorite aunt/uncle. current title holders are sevika and jayce, but it changes very frequently

vander and silco are isha’s honorary grandfathers

isha has both of then wrapped around her finger

viktor owns a minecraft server that everyone plays on, and he’s like the dad who has to stop everyone from griefing each other

powder’s nickname is still jinx-but for a different reason. vi and powder would always play jinx related games where they would try to not say the same word, and powder always won. so jinx is vi’s affectionate nickname for powder that everyone else occasionally calls her

vander and silco own a gym where they specialize in hand to hand combat-vi works there with them and specifically works with kids, teaching them basic self defense techniques and going from there. vi never really pegged herself as kid material but she’s surprisingly really good with them, and sevika also works there with the adult classes

because of this, vi and sevika also teach isha self defense techniques in case any kids at school mess with her

powder and ekko work at an engineering company together

caitlyn is a lawyer, one of the top lawyers in the country due to her experience and schooling

jayce and viktor are scientific researchers and they are always making miraculous breakthroughs

powder and ekko worked together to design sevika’s prosthetic arm, and it’s very realistic and well functioning. after this, they started making prosthetics for people at a lower cost for those who don’t have the finances to afford them-but they still work just as well

vi and powder don’t let their romantic relationships strain their relationship as sisters. they always have sister nights with just the two of them at least once a week if not more

vi has adhd but manages well with medication and therapy

isha is obsessed with the teenage mutant ninja turtles. like, absolutely obsessed

caitlyn isn’t much of a gamer but she loves animal crosssing

ekko is an excellent cook, powder can barely make a bowl of cereal without something going wrong

jayce loves to play legos with isha

sevika kicks everyone’s ass when playing wii sports

vi and jayce function well when apart, but when they are in the same room they share one brain cell

it’s even worse when they’ve had a few drinks

powder, viktor, and caitlyn have many videos of them being total fucking idiots

sevika believes in ghosts and tries to summon them often

i’m ignoring canon for the rest of my life!

A/N: Hope everyone enjoys these! This is my first time dabbling in the arcane fandom, so lmk what you think :)

[theallianceofcelestials]

Hello again, I have another question!: Does SEA!Eclipse have a music box, and can you put a name to or describe whatever or how many physical, psychological, or other conditions/disabilities he and those in his family may or may not have? Oh, and their pronouns please, if it hasn't already been said?

Hi! I'll answer to the best of my ability, but to be honest I'm don't know how well I'll do so with your second question

So first question, Eclipse doesn't have a music box, he mainly put kids to sleep during naptime by exhausting them during playtime and reading them stories. But he does know a couple lullabies, so he can sing

To your second and thus most complicated one, I'll be honest and just say I don't know all of them. So I'll just say the intentional ones and put a bit of a disclaimer up because I'm not a professional on these things, so take what I say with a grain of salt

The entire family is made of entirely co-dependent people, which is a rather unhealhty thing.

Eclipse has depressive disorder, though he'd be fine for the most part if he didn't have all his trauma. He also has PTSD and internalised a bunch of unhealthy things during his time in the daycare

Sun has his typical cleaning OCD and anxiety, and he's fine for the most part. I guess he's the weirdest in the family because he doesn't have the heightened predatory instincts all that much, which I guess counts as a condition in this case

Moon has his anger issues and he's touch averse. He also has troubles sorting through his own emotions and doesn't always pick up on the emotions of others. He also suffers from self-hatred

Killcode is the first one to have a physical condition, and even that's only because of his sheer size. On one end, most buildings aren't made for him so he doubles over a lot, which makes his back hurt. Combine that with gravity, and he's almost constantly suffering from back pains to just minor aches. So I guess he has gigantism. He also has anger issues, though he's a bit more emotionally intelligent than his eldest brother and knows how to work on it

Bloodmoon is an interesting case that I don't know how to properly describe. They're technically conjoined twins, though their nanomachine body allows them to separate. They're also the biggest mess mentally, because they're two people in one. They have many antisocial behaviours, seeing as they eat humans, however different species prey on each other all the time so I'm not even sure that counts. They're quick to anger but they're also two people so a bit of heightened emotions can be excused I think. They're pretty self-depraciating though

Lunar has dwarfism and he's rather forgetful. He has the old Lunar colour blindness thing where he mostly only detects blue and glowing things, though that might just be because old Lunar mixed up colours. Or he has dyschromatopsia, a term which I came across when I tried translating my language's word for mixing up colours

Solar Flare I don't think has anything for the most part, though it is somewhat selectively mute, and it has some minor body dysphoria because it can't properly emote

I don't know if this is good enough, but this is the best I can think of right now. But I do think it's better to go through my stories and try analysing them from an outside perspective because I didn't plan for most of the things in SEA, so some things might be there that I just don't see or don't know

But now onto the easy part, the pronouns:

Eclipse: he/him

Killcode: he/him

Solar Flare: it/they/he, though it's fine with anything so long as it's not feminine

Bloodmoon: they/them because Bloodmoon is a collective entity, but Bloody and Rusty both use he/him

Lunar: he/him mostly, though he also goes by they/them sometimes

Sun: he/him

Moon: while Eclipse mostly uses he/him for him, Moon doesn't care at all. His pronouns are everyone else's problem, not his

[cherriesfm]

"oh,  i  was  mostly  kidding  but  i'm  glad  to  know  there's  a  bit  of  truth  in  it,"  he  teased,  knowing  he'd  mostly  said  it  to  get  a  reaction  of  sorts.  "well,  see,  that  part  i  can  strongly  relate  to.  as  much  as  some  people  recommend  it,  i  think  looking  through  pictures  for  ideas  when  you're  not  sure  what  you  want  is  the  worst.  you'll  end  up  either  writing  the  entire  thing  off  or  trying  to  decide  between  ten  different  ideas  because  you've  already  decided  you're  only  committing  to  one  tattoo,  not  ten,"  he  let  out  a  laugh,  though  he  knew  if  he  would  act  on  a  whim  and  get  ten  different  tattoos  at  once.  "is  that  the  one  where  they  made  theatre  boring?"  he  questioned,  having  seen  bits  and  pieces  of  it.  "if  that'll  get  you  singing  along  instead  of  giving  me  a  death  stare  the  entire  time  then  sure,  i'll  definitely  have  high  school  musical  on,"  truthfully,  most  of  the  time  michael  preferred  having  something  on  to  avoid  making  small  talk  with  people  he  didn't  necessarily  know  or  want  to  talk  to.  though,  in  this  case,  he  knew  it  would  mostly  be  to  make  alyssa  comfortable.

"  okay,  listen..  i  really  don't  think  that  i  am  at  all  ...  maybe  just  a  little  bit,  i  suppose.  "  she'd  laugh  a  little  at  his  words  with  a  shrug  of  her  shoulders  now.  "  i  feel  like  if  i  went  then  i  really  wouldn't  know  what  i'd  want.  because  i'd  end  up  looking  at  pictures  of  everything  else  and  get  super  indecisive  as  if  i'm  not  already.  but  i  have  a  feeling  i'd  be  slightly  scared  either  way,  so  going  with  the  easiest  ones  first  before  going  for  the  ones  that'll  hurt  more  seems  like  a  better  idea  to  me.  "  in  a  way,  she  truthfully  was  scared  of  the  pain  that  would  come  from  getting  the  tattoos.  "  my  favorite  childhood  movie?  "  she  questioned  back  as  she  thought  about  it.  "  does  high  school  musical  suffice  as  a  good  enough  answer?  i  think  i  just  really  liked  all  of  the  music  in  it  back  then.  "  there  was  no  denying  that  there  was  a  chance  she'd  be  complaining  more  than  five  minutes  in.  "  a  no  cancellation  poilcy,  huh?  i  feel  like  that  would  make  me  even  more  scared  of  it.  but  maybe  that's  a  good  thing.  because  once  it's  booked,  then  it's  booked,  i  suppose.  "

[toddtakefive]

thinking about todd and his resolve toward… not quite isolation, but being alone in a room full of people again. he goes along to the study room to sit on his own and do his homework, he sits at the poets table and follows along with what’s being said while keeping quiet, he goes to the meetings at all but doesn’t necessarily contribute (in fact, if you watch him when cameron is telling the story ‘from camp in sixth grade’, you can see that he recognizes it before any of the other poets but doesn’t voice it until they all have). he’s not alone, necessarily, if you want to get technical about it, he’s just lonely, and he’s generally okay with that. he doesn’t have friends and that’s fine, he doesn’t participate in class and that’s fine, he doesn’t have a relationship with his family and that’s fine—he could live without any real connection and he’d have been, more or less, fine.

the thing about when he says “i can take care of myself just fine!” is that he isn’t really wrong, you can infer that he’s been doing it his entire life anyway, it’s that ‘taking care of yourself’ isn’t the same thing as really living or being happy. todd’s an introvert, certainly, and even as he gets closer to the group he defaults to sitting quietly in the background, but he’s also denying himself community out of fear not introversion. todd isn’t friendless because he’s an introvert, although that definitely plays a part, he’s friendless because he pushes anyone that might want his company away. if anyone has every wanted for his attention in the first place. (neil’s unwavering interest in him is unique (even when it comes to the rest of the poets, who are fine with todd coming along and joining the group, but aren’t really hellbent on him being there in the beginning) and his refusal to accept it is a direct result of being so lonely growing up.)

there’s obviously something to be said about the implications of his parents neglect, and the more than likely fact that he grew up friendless, and how those both play a part in in him being so skilled at dodging social interaction/being so avoidant of it, but by the time we see him in the movie he’s all but accepted his fate as being alone his entire life. he’s already accepted being the family disappointment, and he’s already accepted he’ll never amount to anything, and he obviously doesn’t like it, but he’d have managed living with that knowledge without the confirmation that it was all wrong. would he have been miserable? almost certainly. but he’d have managed. he’d done it for that long already, anyhow.

[petrichal]

obligatory "Oda thank you for sharing this world with us" post

[angorwhosebabyisthis]

honestly it's been really healing being back to actively contributing things and writing out thoughts on tumblr the last week or so, because while twitter tends to be easier for me to write out Thoughts on without getting overwhelmed, the environment in the twitter fandom circles i'm interested in is not only infested with antis but cliqueish in a way that is caustic to the fucking soul if you try to express a thought that's more than three sentences long--a hundred times over if you're autistic in slightly the wrong way--and it's incredibly reassuring to come back to an environment where the very kindest and most inclusive people toward you are not clearly thinking the r-slur the entire time they interact with you lmao