#and if it is one for her I assume she can't be the only person in the world

[beargregor]

wait i'm curious, what makes you say that gregor doesn't like everyone else (if i read that post right)? just curious since i've never seen anyone else say that

i don't necessarily think gregor dislikes everyone else at lcb but i do think that gregor is an incredibly petty person that isn't nearly as close to the rest of the sinners and even outright dislikes some of them cough cough rodya cough cough which a lot of people just Refuse to see because he's as much of a doormat as he is. there's several examples i could get into to try and prove my point however i'll just focus on what i personally think to be the biggest ones.

additionally, this is going to be kind of long, so i'm adding a read more. read more! read it. sorry for being so wordy. i have several diseases.

Pt1. gregor is the type to try and get along at least decently with everyone, especially if he gets a good first impression from them.

this is less a point in favor of gregor's distance w/ the rest of the sinners and more just a contributing factor to it. once again there's several examples i could point to here but i think the most in your face one happened in canto I with yuri, as several people have pointed out. even before gregor comes clean about growing attached to her as quickly as he did because she reminds him of his sister, we get this interaction.

i'll go ahead and make the disclaimer now that i don't necessarily think gregor is the most reliable of narrators, especially when it comes to his feelings and interactions with most people, but from the way he acts when the topic of yuri comes up (and the way we still see him act even all the way up to c7, nearly a whole year after yuri's death) i don't see reason to question his sentiment here. gregor immediately got that aya and yuri were close, potentially even taking note of their traded belts, and went out of his way to get something nice for yuri despite hardly knowing her.

i feel like a lot of people have forgotten as much, especially since it's been so long since c1, but gregor actually spent a good bit of season 1 doing the exact same thing with the other sinners! gregor reads a connection between him and ishmael pretty quickly despite getting off to a rocky start

mostly because gregor can tell that ishmael is pretty sardonic in a very similar way to him. there's been multiple instances where ishmael and gregor have essentially expressed the same sentiment at different moments, most notably gregor's little argument after ishmael got shot with a decay ampule in c4

and ishmael's response to pilot talking about self-sacrifice in c5

i could go ahead and pull up more examples, but in general pm has gone out of their way to show us that gregor and ishmael are pretty similar, so it makes sense for gregor to assume that they're friends, right?

this will be pushpin 1. keep note of this for Later.

ishmael's only the first sinner we see gregor trying to do this with in s1, we also see him try it out with heathcliff, sinclair, and ryoushuu

he's tried to get along with charon, being one of very few sinners that we've seen actually try to establish a connection with her at all

even rodya, despite my insistence that gregor doesn't like her nearly as much as the fandom thinks he does

all of these seem pretty fine and dandy, right? sure it frequently leans towards self-degradation, micromanaging, and commiseration, but gregor can at least be pretty chummy with most of the sinners, can't he?

Pt2. hell's chicken was more than just comic relief guys please

i'm fully aware that this is quite the hot take, but i think hell's chicken deserves a lot more credit for character writing than the fandom gives it. hell's chicken gave us foreshadowing for several events, such as the donqui bloodfiend reveal

heathcliff's distortion in c6 (as well as hong lu's highly speculated distortion at some point in the future)

and ryoushuu and sinclair's continued connection by making him the odd one out on her team

which, hey! that implies something about gregor's odd one out, don quixote, too, doesn't it? yes. yes it does. that's pushpin 2. keep note of that for later.

speaking of pushpins, hey! that's pushpin 1!

splitting into teams is one of the major events in hell's chicken, and most of the sinner's choices are either motivated by very little, backhanded, or motivated primarily by not wanting to be on the opposite leader's side. i didn't include all of the picks, just because i feel like including most of them already gets this across, but i think gregor took one major thing from this: most of the sinners, when push comes to shove, will only side with gregor when they refuse to or can't take his opponent's side.

now, don't get me wrong, i'm fully aware that this is primarily intended to be comedic relief, but when gregor is being described as having his trust broken by ishmael or nearly crying because no one on his team properly sided with him for him, i feel like it's pretty fair to read into this.

something that i think is pretty important to remember in conjunction with this is that we know that gregor is the type to hold a grudge, both from his general attitude towards the G corp soldiers in c1 as well as his continued distaste for vergilius

even beyond the splitting into teams of hell's chicken, the sinners have given gregor plenty of reasons to feel bitter. i feel like this is something people have noticed but haven't really put a finger on, but it's kind of wild just how often the rest of the sinners make gregor the butt of the joke

and sure, we could argue that a fair few of these aren't really made with any ill intent. quite a bit of it could have been meant as harmless teasing, but with gregor being more sensitive than most, it coming from nearly all sides, and as often as it does? yeah, i think he's prone to taking it a bit personally.

Pt3. yes i do still think gregor was the third most important character in canto VII you guys gotta hear me out okay

of course, all of this leads up to the bit of the story i highlighted, doesn't it? c7? i totally get why people haven't really picked up on all the gregor things i did in it, seeing as they were mostly not *directly* said about him or by him.

personally, i think that gregor's distaste for talking about himself on any serious level and thus leading to him getting sort of "sidelined" narratively (which i take issue with that claim, but still. it's effective for getting what i mean across atm) is supposed to lead players to take a deeper look at the times gregor gets held up to other characters and compare and contrast what's being said about them by the matchup. as i showed earlier with his immediate latching onto ishmael, i think this is something gregor himself is at least partially aware of too.

so, that begs the question, who was gregor compared to in canto VII that makes me think it's one of the most critical pieces in understanding his character?

really, i'd like to avoid getting too lost in the analysis of this canto specifically, since i'd like to do a proper post about this later, but i figure i can bury the lede a little before doing it properly.

c7 features several characters being made to perform in sansón's play, acting out the relevant backstory for this segment of the plot. a lot of these characters have rather direct, degrading reasons for playing the roles they do.

outis, a character with an inflated ego who wants her journey to have a purpose, is made to play an aimlessly wandering villager with a single line.

hong lu and ryoushuu, two characters for whom families and the expectations placed upon them are likely going to play a major role, are made to play bloodfiends.

rodya, a character who resents her lot in life and is constantly shown to be eager to leave her destitution behind her and become someone special, is made to play a helpless villager that's too poor to even offer any money to the hero that saves her.

heathcliff, a character that has spent most of his life getting dehumanized by comparing him to beastly animals, is made to play a literal bear whose sole purpose in the plot is to get beat up and then quickly left by the wayside.

sinclair, a character that has two opposed parties essentially treating him as a macguffin to procure for their side, is made to play the character who was arguably the catalyst for this entire canto, not to mention playing a decently major role in ruina.

our star don quixote is made to play her father, the first kindred, but there's someone by their side the entire time, isn't there? don quixote's dear, steadfastly loyal companion. a character which don quixote has tasked themself with getting to come out of their shell?

hello again, pushpin 2.

gregor has been made to play our unreachable star, sancho. someone had to, of course. you can't really tell a story without it's main character, now can you?

now, i should once again give a disclaimer. i am not trying to say that i think adapting what happens to donqui/sancho in c7 to gregor is the road pm is going to take here, not only would that toe a bit past the line of foreshadowing, but it'd also just amount to rehashing that plotline again, which i don't think would make for a particularly exciting story.

what i DO think is that we can take a lot of the things that are said to either directly be the case for sancho and use them to inform how we see gregor.

and god, does playing sancho have some fucking implications for our favorite ossan archetype.

starting off, the earliest moment we get to see of sancho is quite literally her just waiting for death to take her in a pile of ashes.

which, i should remind everyone, is actually pretty damn close to what happens to gregor's literary counterpart at the end of the metamorphosis. gregor samsa experiences one final breaking point that pushes him over the edge and makes him decide to just wait for starvation to take him.

gregor and sancho both consider themselves to no longer be human, something which sancho goes out of her way to highlight repeatedly throughout the canto and gregor is quick to get defensive on her behalf for when outis starts really tearing into her

sancho spends quite a lot of this story denying herself the joys of community and friendship, despite knowing that, even with the rest of the sinners frequently making jokes at her expense and outright insulting her, they were things that she desperately craved.

and, while this is getting into my "outis is a red herring meant to distract us from gregor's eventual betrayal" theorizing, i also think it's worth noting for this discussion that sancho's fellow kindreds, her family, all seem to be under the impression that she dislikes them and ultimately her departure was an act of betrayal

and that, despite gregor being one of LCB's resident mood makers and attempted conflict de-escalators, one of the sinners that's most prone to making appeals to the bonds they've all forged together, only him and faust remained silent during everyone's speech

so yeah, i think there's quite a lot of little details and hints building up to the reveal that gregor's not quite as fond of everyone as he presents himself to be. i do think a lot of this ultimately comes down to gregor getting in the way of his own happiness, similarly to donqui, particularly because he's been frequently portrayed as something of a self fulfilling prophecy, especially by giving him as many christ allegories as they have by way of priest and garden of thorns. gregor is convinced that the rest of the sinners don't like him because he's not convinced anyone could like him, so he convinces himself that he hates them because why should he care if someone that he hates hates him too?

a lot of this ultimately ties back to my personal interpretation of what happens in the metamorphosis as well as my own theories regarding all the times gregor has made weird callbacks and references to lobcorp and ruina, but yeah. i think about this guy and his deeper characterization a fairly normal amount, i think.

to end this off i'll highlight one of my favorite little "gregor is fucking seething and trying so hard to keep it cool" moments, in the credits CG for c7 we see rodya teasing him by drawing a little horse on his window and actively pointing and laughing at it, which gregor really doesn't seem all too pleased about.

i personally think this ties into the other cruel part of sansón forcing gregor to play rocinante, which is the more literal "he's actually just straight up playing rocinante" side of things. gregor was quite literally made to play something less than human, less than even animal really, as he was reduced to nothing more than the shoes don quixote wore as she got to play the leading role. sansón directly makes jokes about gregor being nothing more than shoes in the play twice, which adds to this reading, i think.

this, imo, really plays into the adaptation of the metamorphosis! i've seen a lot of readings for the book that posit that, despite being the protagonist, gregor samsa can't really be considered the main character due to nearly everything he experiences in it being used to further his family's character development at his expense, which i think fits nicely with limbus gregor seemingly having the most said about him through indirect means by holding him up to other characters. also it's rodya carelessly making fun of His Big Major Insecurities™ again like she did in c1 which i always find fun. rodya i love you but god you're the worst.

[useless-catalanfacts]

I have added English subtitles to this video posted by Helena Sotoca on Instagram. She's from Madrid (Spain) but has been living in Catalonia for 7 years. As she explained in another video, she didn't learn any Catalan the first 3 years she lived here, but then realised how she was imposing Spanish on her group of Catalan friends and how important it was for her friends to keep their language, so she learned it. She is very happy about this decision which has allowed her to integrate more in Catalan society and culture.

In this video, she gives her personal opinion on why languages are not only "a way to understand each other". This sentence is something that we speakers of discriminated languages have to hear all the time (in fact, I was reminded of this video a few days ago because @beautiful-basque-country got that comment). Many times, they'll say: "why are you so annoying about wanting to be able to speak your language? A language is only a tool to understand each other, so if you speak both [the local language and the imperial language], why not just always speak [the imperial language]?".

This mindset is what leads to language extermination. First of all, because it assumes that our languages are less worthy of existence and thus that the language's community is less worthy of existence. If I stop speaking my language, I stop being a part of me. If all my culture stops speaking our language, we stop existing. Language is deeply tied to culture, it's through language that we think and transmit our worldview, and there are many aspects of our culture and our landscape that we can only describe in our language, because only we have the specific words to describe it or because the translation loses nuance, context, and connotations. Remove language, and the rest of the culture will soon follow.

Secondly, it erases the reason why we speak the state's language, which is usually because of imposition through violence, and justifies this imposition because the imperial violence of the past that made the imperial language more widely spoken is now the reason why speakers of the imperial language deserve more rights than those who suffered the imposition.

But besides these more social reasons, I like how Helena explains her personal relation to the language in this video. She also shows us one of the reasons why it's so important to promote discriminated languages to be used in public (and not only hidden at home): when you meet someone speaking a language, you form a bond with them in that language and it can be difficult to change. Speakers of minoritized languages often meet each other in contexts in which they're socially pressured to speak the state's language, and so we find the situation where a group of friends who are all native speakers of the minoritized language will form a bond in the state's language. Thus, slowly, because of the state's language imposition in the public sphere (this is what the "speak the state language if there's even 1 person who might not speak the local language! Languages are only a tool for communication!" mindset pushes us to), the local language gets pushed aside more and more, until we can't have a normal life in it and the state's language imposition becomes absolute, and the local language dies, taking with it its culture, history, and connection to the land and ancestors.

With some work, it can be reversed. I've explained this before but I'll say it again because it's relevant. My parents met in Spanish, because they met in high school and back then speaking Catalan in schools was strictly forbidden and punished. They were speaking in Spanish even when they started dating, but they realised how absurd it was that two native Catalan speakers spoke Spanish to each other and how it was a result of Francoist policy. They decided they don't want Francoism to infiltrate our personal lives, so they made the effort and switched. Maintaining the language of their surroundings, their culture, their land, they became even closer. And, thanks to their decision, when I was born I had the luck of being a native speaker of the language too, because it's what we've always spoken at home. But they did it because they had a political antifascist conscience, many people don't think much about it and just go with what is easier. If they had done that, the language would have lost them and also me. Multiply this for how many people meet each other in settings where social pressure or social rules promote speaking the imperial language instead of the local one that is closer to their hearts.

So no, a language is not only a tool to understand each other. It's also what allows us to speak according to our own understanding of the world (instead of assimilating into another's worldview), it gives meaning to our surroundings (both nature, the names we give to places, etc), every word is an unbroken chain with all of those who came before us, it allows us to understand our ancestors whether that be through their writing or songs they passed down or legends, it's an integral part of the human relations we establish, and so much more. Every language is worth everything. Every language has the right to exist and to thrive.

[lara635kookie]

Unpopular opinions on Caleb:

Okay, I'm going to be honest here:I don't see Caleb as a love interest. I see him as our adoptive older brother. In some voiceovers, he's referred as such. Just a disclaimer here:If you like him romantically, I'm not judging you. I'm just expressing my opinion to whoever might share it, but if you don't, I respect it.

Some might argue that "older person of family" are words that korean/japanese/chinese people just use to show respect, and I know this. Like korean has "oppa" and I don't know the chinese/japanese counterpart. And that I understand. However, they were RAISED TOGETHER. By the SAME PERSON. In the same HOUSEHOLD. Same ENVIRONMENT. Even if they are not biologically related, they were raised like it. That's why the childhood friends to lovers works for Zayne. He was raised by a different family.

Some people might argue that it was like a "living in the same orphanage type of thing", which would make sense if they lived in an actual orphanage, who has a completely different structure. You see way more than just two kids in one, and you don't see them calling the person who takes care of them "grandma". They both considered and called Josephine "grandma" even knowing they were not related by blood to her. Implying they both consider themselves her grandchildren. Even if it's just a form of respect in Asia calling her grandma, they still acted like siblings being raised by their grandmother. I'm sorry but Josephine clearly adopted them. If it was an orphanage kind of scenario, they would look forward to being adopted by a family one day, and they both seemed very in home with Josephine. And even if they weren't adopted, if it was an orphanage, as they are both adults, they would both have to leave, because you have to once you're 18. But they kept coming back and staying there, both of them in their 20s. Don't be fooled by some movies or series, usually the kids in orphanages don't develop the kind of bond Caleb and MC had with Josephine. If there wasn't a bond, they wouldn't call her "grandma", they would use "Mrs./Miss Josephine" or just "Josephine".

We don't have many details about their adoption. I've always imagined it was legal, Josephine had the documents signed and such because I imagine she just can't get two kids and get them home. Even if she was involved in shady stuff in the past, considering Zayne's family knew about her and Caleb, and they were close, it doesn't seem like Josephine was trying to hide them. What might kinda justify to me Caleb being a li is maybe she didn't have their permanent guard and now that they are both legal adults they don't need to see each other as brother and sister anymore according to the law and all documentation and traces of their childhood were erased in the explosion. But so far in the story, MC and Caleb acted like siblings, spoke to each other like siblings, teased each other like siblings, they had all the siblings' mannerisms. Their dynamic was way too sibling like, way too many brother and sister coded, that he just popped into my like the banter, the nicknames, etc. I immediately knew he was our older brother as soon as he opened his mouth. The game didn't have to mention it. It was just that obvious, I just assumed based on what they showed. The narrative and plotline just make it so clear. I was even "props to them for making adoptive siblings actually act like normal siblings"( I guess I said it too soon). So far, he was written like an adoptive older brother, and IT WORKED. He was an amazing brother, lol. I think they will probably pull off:The old Caleb, who was her brother, died. This new one changed his personality completely with everything that happened, and now he makes moves on MC. And MC will have to understand that "the sweet boy from her childhood" is gone and see him differently. But like...It's still the same person. Even if with a new personality. I know I'm not the only one who thinks that. They never showed romantic feelings for one another so far. So when I saw this trailer, I was like, "Where does that come from?". Making this transition just seems weird. Imagine them being married and telling people how they met: "We were raised by our grandma in the same house." I'm sorry, but to me, it is just awkward, even though it's legal in theory.

Even if the adoption is undone, they can't change the past. Grandma Josephine dying doesn't change the fact that they were raised, even if not as siblings, as members of the same family. The fact that is by adoption and not by blood, doesn't make it any less real. Adoptive siblings are not less siblings than biological ones. I just hate those kinds of situation, that sadly seem to be increasing their popularity nowadays(The Tearsmith, Culpa Mia/Tuya, etc) that two people become siblings by the circunstances and then fall in love and we are supposed to believe it's forbidden love but like... If you are justifying it with "they are not related by blood", then it's not actually forbidden. "Oh but they have to hide it for their family not to find out" they hide it for a short while, the family finds out, opposes to it for like five seconds and then they end up together somehow in the end. In that case, Josephine died before she could find out, but you got it. And those people are usually the same people that go like:"blood doesn't matter, family is who loves and cares about you and raised you to be the person you are" when it's about couples from the lgbtqiapn+ community or even straight couples when one of them is infertile and adopt children. So what's their point? Do they believe on adoption or not? Those people only believe adoption when it's convenient to them. How is this any different? Those people are basically saying:"Your adoptive siblings are not your real siblings, because adoption means nothing and they are not a part of your real family, so even if you were raised together for years, it's not incest if you hook up with them."

I don't remember what was said about Josephine not wanting kids, or not being good with kids, but she seemingly raised Caleb and MC very well, so that probably changed as she grew older.

Back to Caleb, even as a character...The only unique feature he has is his mechanic arm, that I found really interesting, not just because for inclusivity/diversity/representation but also because it passes a cyborg vibe that just makes sense for a futuristic story, like Alita Battle Angel, for example, that I love. But that's on his physical appearence. Aside from that, in other physical features, and specially in personality, he just seems like a combination of all the other love interests. He kinda looks like Zayne and has the "same" trope as him, he's got a Sylus type of dark romance and kinda villain vibe and the same height as him(I know Caleb was a character before Sylus but he only became a li now, which makes it sound intentional, they could have made Sylus a little bit taller to avoid that, like 192cm or something), Rafayel's more "manipulative" side and eyes that look like his, and Xavier's freakiness and the fact that he also wears an uniform and also flies high, Xavier with spaceships and him with airplanes. I've also seen complaints about his voice, that I didn't like either, but I imagine it will get better with time.

Another thing, is this theory right here that someone commented on Instagram:

(Shout-out to this person because it just seems so obvious now, but I probably would have never thought of that on my own, lol)

The parallels between him and Zayne were pretty obvious, like a few also were with Sylus and Xavier. The thing is... So like, adding similarities to Zayne is understandable, because of this, but as I said, Caleb has a little bit of all the LIs. Which just make it seem like the devs made him to be a cheap copy made with the crumbs of the other LIs with no individuality at all. Which as it was proved with Sylus and Xavier, it could have been avoided, as both have white hair and both come from the same planet, and that's pretty much all they have in common. They should have added on Caleb similarities only to Zayne, because adding to the others to makes it seem like they were desperate to make everyone like him for them to forget that the questionable things I listed that make him a brother, but to me, personally, it had the opposite effect. It just made me like the others even more. And just makes Caleb seem kinda forgettable, since he has no features only he has, that make him stand out from the rest. His personality will probably be more revealed with time, but still, that's not a great start.

The conclusion with this is that I won't stop playing the game or hate on it, I'll just ignore the Caleb romantic content as much as possible and just keep seeing him as a character who is important aa he is MC's adoptive older brother who just came back from the dead somehow, which is what the people who are unsatisfied, like me, should be doing, because hating on it won't change anything. You can share your opinions, like I'm doing, but please do it respectfully. For all the reasons I've mentioned, I don't dislike Caleb, I just feel indifferent to him as a love interest, I still acknowledge him as a well written brother and a good character overall. But if you dislike him, and any other love interest at all, for that matter, there's no point in hating on it, just pretend he's not there. There are other four love interests, I'm sure one of them has catch your eye so just focus on them(this part is a message specifically for some people I've saw attacking the Caleb girlies). Let's just respect each others views.

[angelshizuka]

I have to wonder if the insane amount of hatred Helluva Boss gets, other than the internet getting off on hating Vivienne, is due to the amount of time there was between episodes so people had too much time to build expectations for the show’s direction AND because of the wait time, people treat the show like it had 4 full seasons, when we have only gotten 20 episodes released out of a 50 episode show.

I’ll never say that Helluva Boss is a masterfully written show with no flaws, but it is still a good show and I strongly believe it would not be getting this degree of hatred if it wasn’t an indie show that had a lot of time in between episodes.

I'd assume it's at least part of the reason.

Though I get the idea behind it, these people need to get it through their thick skulls that at the end of the day this is an indie animation show that can only make so many episodes a year. Especially at the start it didn't have as much funding compared to now where the process is a bit more streamlined. But based on the fact the animation has improved, it still takes long even with a bigger team and more budget.

Also "funny" how the antis who whine about these kinda things also complain the loudest about "those poor artists"... They do realize they can't have it both ways, right!? You can't claim to care about the well-being of the artists working on an animated show while at the same time acting like there's not enough content fast enough. They're not even trying to be subtle about their true intentions.

I know I haven't even been here a year yet and we've have had at least some form of HB content every month since, so I don't have personal experience with the long waits/droughts, but I do have experience with it when it comes to other shows/movies, so it's not like I'm unfamiliar with the feeling.

But that's exactly it, no one is claiming HB is perfect and it's unfair to expect any show to be perfect, wheter indie or corporate. Even Viv herself has said she's okay with people critizing her shows (actual crisitsm, not those echo chamber whine sessions the antis are doing), she's just rightfully not okay with them bothering her team... Boy, that recent drama really is something.

And honestly, even if this was a corporate show, most issues/flaws wouldn't even be a dealbreaker for me, it's still that good. Heck, I'd argue it's better than most recent corporate shows.

The main thing HB can't keep up with is the amount of episodes (20 episodes in 4 years, while most corporate shows would've pumped out like 3 seasons with like 60-ish episodes total in that time), but that's also because the animation industry is overworked in general with really strict deadlines (and why so many people expect Viv to magically fix all that by herself is totally beyond me).

Anyway, I feel like I'm rambling and I just keep adding things to mention, so I'll just stop here...

[flo-zoinks]

headcannons/reactions for the vld gang if someone hogtied them and tried to sell them at the fence

LMFQOOOOOO OKAY U WEIRDO (ily)

HOW EACH RDR2 GANG MEMBER WOULD REACT TO BEING HOGTIED AND SOLD TO THE FENCE (MY OPINION)

Arthur - most likely stronger than you, so easily breaks free. "How much were you planning to make? You think Micah would go for the same?"

Strauss - rambles frightened on how important he is to camp, then just begging to be let go, saying he's just a weak old man in another country then his own

Sadie - GOES BESERK (reasonable enough), but manages to escape and tries to kill you immediately after, she will not stop at ANYTHING until you're dead

John 1899 - shouts that you're crazy and to stop being such a freak, then if he escapes after he'd be really huffy puffy and moody for the next two weeks (lashing out at everyone), so now camp hates you, but mostly just for making him unpleasant

Javier - cut out with his knife discreetly (it's in his pocket close to hand) then try and stab you thinking you were trying to hand him over to the Mexican government. If not he demands you reimburse him for how the rope cut into his clothes

Hosea - with his age he is NOT getting out easily, but can probably cut a deal with the fence to let him out. Afterwards grabs your ear and hits your head for being an idiot. Now you're a bigger opp then Bill, and the target of all his comments from now on. (Bill probably catches on to this and tries to talk shit ab you to him to bond but he still doesn't like him)

Uncle - CRAZY curses, like he's real creative, but when leaving camp hogtied panics and starts yelling with all his might for Arthur or someone else. Shouts "you don't want a man with lumbago!". When he's free he says he wouldve been able to get out during his prime, but the Lumbago, again. Duh.

Dutch - "the only bad thing about this is you trying to lift me easily". Manages to leave the fence worker by giving him some speech about how people like him, the "bottom class" need their saviour free to speak and act for them against society. Then writes that speech down when he leaves and says it camp. He takes it as a joke, (tho he's actually fuming), but from now on you have the worst jobs in camp and Micah seems to attack you for it on his behalf.

Grimshaw - probably can't escape much 😭 but hurls insults at you the entire time and berates your lack of manners, saying "Well now I know the difference between the ones I took part in raising than Dutch's little scraps". The fence sale doesn't go that well, however.

Reverend - if he's under an influence, he believes you're a demon personally taking him to hell, and starts trying to run and cries. If not he demands you let down a man of the cloth and compares you to Pontias Pilate

Tilly - thinks you're either trying to prostitute her, or its racially motivated, so gives you NO mercy in her words. But she's smart, so probably escapes then when Miss Grimshaw finds her crying she tries to kill you

Mary-Beth - also assumes you're trying to prostitute her, but she's again very sneaky, and manages to escape the fence, taking with her some things she finds. Same with miss Grimshaw going absolutely crazy (reasonably) at finding out, but now Mary-Beth will sit the furthest she can from you in camp, or purposely in the eyesight of Arthur or Miss Grimshaw (not Dutch) if you're in camp

Karen - "WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING" If she's not tooo drunk, she manages to throw a bottle at your head before you can hogtie her. Purposely doesn't tell Miss Grimshaw but will throw things or insults at you when she sees you until Miss forces her to explain what happened, then she also goes crazy but feels sad Karen didn't tell her.

Charles - "what are you doing" "don't try that, that's such weird behaviour from you, I'm not going to excuse it but what's wrong with you right now". You can NOT hogtie Charles successfully, and he moves his fist to punch you, but decides to play the bigger man and walk away looking at you SO disgusted it's almost worse

Sean - the Fence does NOT want Sean in their keep, probably purposely on Sean's behalf trying to be extra infuriating to make the mans guard lower so he can just kill him. When back in camp he hunts you down and punches you

Lenny - assumes this is a racist action, so when free (hes smart enough to escape without leaving a large trace), he doesn't try to be the bigger man this time and beats your ass, then if he does see the fence seller again he will kill him discreetly, but not actively hunt him. Dutch tries to talk to him about it but Lenny doesn't let Dutch try and feel good about himself (Dutch not lenny), and quickly tells him that him can't be the one to tell him how he should feel (Dutch hates you now for that because he's embarrassed)

Bill - panicking, insulting, though rather nervously it sounds more like rambling. However he knows the fence man quite well from the saloon, so gets out quite easily.

Micah - mostly throws insults, tries to escape. Asks why you would pick him, and not (says multiple slurs), or a woman, as there's "so many more reasonable options in camp". 😨. Then says it makes sense actually, as you'd try to target the strongest links in camp as then its easier to take the weaker ones, 'as they rely on people like him as their protector'.

Jack - starts crying, a lot. Very reasonably too. If its post chap 4 the camp are VERY protective of Jack and immediately respond to that, so you are not getting far with him without just being shot off your horse. Out of all reactions, this is the most likely to have you killed or kicked out of camp with the least discussion/debate. If just kicked out John will track you down and kill you (specifically chap 4+)

Abigail - literal memories of her working girl days by the dangers of it, so manages to distract the seller and escape. When returning she takes Jack, and begs John to leave camp with her if Dutch is allowing these kinds of people near her and her son. Tells Hosea, who promptly has you kicked out of camp, and tells John the same thing. Cries in private, or with Sadie. (If its Sadie then you are dead like end-off)

Kieran - NOT escaping the seller without desperately stabbing him and running off, though not particularly nonchalantly, and leaving quite a trace behind out of his anxiousness. The camp is a little annoyed at you for ruining their information they needed, especially some who had warmed up a little to him. But Sadie, Bill (pretending), and Sean don't seem to care and Sadie even congratulates you.

Trelawny - calls you an uncultured, animalistic, foolish buffoon and luckily runs away from the seller, but won't be found by Camp for almost a year, and even then its not on purpose on his turn. If he sees you alone he tells the Stagecoach workers your information to give to people like Arthur so they jump you

Molly - thinks it's because you just want her out of camp cuz you hate her so much, 'just like everyone else'. In her absence, Abigail forces Dutch to do something about it so when they do retrieve Molly, she is quiet and cries in private thinking nobody cared, (it took them a a good while). Abigail, or Karen (or some of the other girls) try to be polite and talk to her, but she is now too scared to talk to anyone and be open thinking the camp have shown how much they truly hate her by that. Mostly too because you're probably not kicked out of camp by Dutch, and seemingly forgiven unnaturally quick then someone would for their partners kidnapper.

Pearson - panicking, shouting for help, then before escaping steals recipes from the fence. He doesn't manage to escape though. He is saved before dinnertime, then told to make food in the next 20 minutes without time to process. Gives you a 'fence-inspied' special meal from one of those recipes he found

Thanks for the ask!!! So sorry I'm answering soo late I'm so cooped up in exams 😭❤ love you LOTS thank you for this!! What do you think??

Can I be off topic Pearson's food looked so normal to me it just gave me memories of my Mexican Mother's almost same meal served like 5 days a week

[ellecdc]

your omega!barty fic was AMAZING, there was a line that made me wonder how barty would take care of reader in heat but apart from the sexual way? like im terms of reader's headspace during that time.. what do u think?

mhmmmm so I had mentioned to keke (unstablereader who came up with the prompt) that the thing I liked most about that fic was Barty's response to reader. Like, when his instincts were screaming at him to claim, posture, protect, be territorial, he made eye contact with reader first and asked if she wanted his help; he never assumed what she needed or wanted**

I think this would be the same during her heat. while being a raging horn-dog begging to be fucked is definitely an aspect of an omega's heat, I also think there could be a lot of anxiety that comes from that cycle? she's uncomfortable, she's nervous, she's feeling very attached and has major separation anxiety, so it could be a lot to navigate. Barty canonically was imperio'd by his father and one of the reasons that this is an unforgivable curse is because it takes the persons right to choose away; takes away their free will, forcing someone to do something against their consent, and is extremely violating. So I don't think Barty would be one to be quick to make assumptions, or decide what's best for reader on her behalf unless she's truly like, unconscious or something and in immediate danger. He's happy to act as a human pillow when reader can't stand to be away from him for more than 30 second intervals, constantly asking how she's feeling and what she wants, very quick to mitigate any anxiety, and I think he would encourage her to do less ("are you sure you don't want to take one more day off tres? it's been a rough cycle", "I know your heat ended yesterday but let me vacuum, you should rest" etc)

**now, that may not always be the accurate in a/b/o fics, I admit that I've read only a few omegaverse fics and I personally struggle with heavy dom/sub vibes (which is heavily present in a/b/o fics) so while I may not do the entire au/genre justice, this is how I've most enjoyed the au/genre and I do think we can make it work with some artistic liberties lol

thanks for asking!!

[luimagines]

I’ve been playing around with a concept and I’d like to share.

A reader who is… “partners” with darkness.

Not like “Oh my Hylia that person is in league with the bad guy!” I mean a reader who LITERALLY partners up with the darkness. Like she (or whatever pronouns you want.) fights using dark powers, talks to shadows… all that kind of thing.

But here’s the kicker! She’s not evil. And frankly, neither is the darkness that accompanies her.

She will explain that darkness is really no different than light. The only thing that separates them is the person who wields it. Think of them like an axe, it can either be used to chop wood or roll heads. It all depends on the pair of hands holding the handle.

Did this spur from my own opinion that “light is good and dark is bad” is honestly ridiculous? Yes. As someone who hates both sides and prefers a grey area… this is where the idea started. And I honestly like the image of a non evil character cloaked head to toe in utter dark and shadows.

I might write something as I’ve had a few ideas (some funny some not) around the first meeting between reader and the chain… plus the interactions… I feel like it would be akin to the Ysayle and Estinien interactions in Final Fabtasy XIV to be honest. After all… the chain are heroes blessed with light to seal darkness.

Thoughts?

Isn't that like.... Twilight's whole shtick??

That darkness, or rather, shadow, isn't purely as evil as people want to assume just because it's different?

Wasn't that also a thing in Smash that there was a dark one and a light one and they both were bad??

I saw a comic once where Smash was the scene and it was Sora and Ganondorf talking. Sora was confused about how the light side could be bad too and Ganondorf turned on him like "doesn't light blind? can't it burn? doesn't it not wield consequences if left unchecked and scorch the earth without the dark to balance it??"

Or something like that. It's been a while and I only saw it in passing.

I think a reader like this is certainly worth exploring because it adds a narrative that isn't fully fleshed out a whole concept throughout media. There's been greys and blacks and whites, but I don't think there's a solid definition or concept that people have agreed on.

[clubsmarties]

"I've got my show off skills. I have to use them." Eli pointed out as he knew Isa would be rolling his eyes over the phone. "Is it though? You know half of the agency would rather take easy cases than chase a rabbit hole. You're doing the work. The ones most would pass over. You're operating on the fact CIA is compromised too. I've taught you well. Use those paranoid skills to your advantage. Assume everyone is in on it."

Eli started to laugh as he could see his brother being surprised. "He got to jump you?" His laughter didn't subside. "Now who's really showing his age. I can't believe it." Once his laughter calmed down he could agree that going right into attack mode was mostly driven by fear. "He may be spooked. Either he's being threatened or someone he loves is."

"Leave it to us. We can dig around. I do have an in house agent I can bribe for information." The thought funny on its own. Laurel and Eli shared more than spit. "We can pull up the things you didn't get a chance to. Isa don't take this the wrong way but you do realize he is you? I was hoping the more you talked the more you'd realize how alike you are. He is you with the jazz situation only difference is he's not fucking her." Eli sighed into the phone. "No one gets more under your skin than your own past mistakes coming to greet you face to face."

"It's okay to want to know if he was in on it. But casting stones at his house when you're the one who moved out of a glass house probably not the brightest idea. Be the person I know you are. Be the guy who helps him even if he refuses it. From my experience not wanting help means you're at your wits end and are in desperation mode. I don't mean being his best friend but instead his best ally."

"If you need to share a piece of your real life for him to understand you won't hurt him. Do it. This world that we inhabit. There's so much deceit and games that it only takes one person to show that they're not like the rest. If you found at a bowling alley, you know he's not in a position to fend for himself. No matter how much he kicked your ass."

"I know you can do it. I need to let you go. But, call your best friend after breakfast and make sure you have a listening ear she's got a few things to tell you. I don't need to tell you this but be careful and if you need anything call me. I don't care the time. I love you." He didn't hang up but instead moved to the office across the nursery and turned on his light. He wasn't going to get sleep tonight it seemed. "What's the name of the bowling alley you found him at? You're in Lafayette." Not sounding surprised though since he had just turned on Issac's locator and saw he wasn't actually in Baton Rouge.

"That is true, I'm definitely feeling the age more these days. Oh okay, show-off," he grumbled, though the smile on his lips would've betrayed him. "I suppose not, but it is idiotic to jump into the most complicated case ever. Not to mention, I'm keeping this on the low. I don't want to tell anyone about this in case we have some eager ears at the CIA too." It was one of the first thoughts to cross his mind, had Karina or her people infiltrated his agency too.

Hearing Eli call him by his name, he knew that he had to sit quietly and just listen to his brother. He leaned his head back into the driver's seat, the car hadn't even been started. This was no longer a conversation to have on the drive home, so he remained parked behind the bowling alley. "Yeah, that might be the case." And, as he spoke, he thought back to their meeting earlier, beginning to think out loud. "I suppose, yes. His way of showing fear was to tackle the hell out of me, then yeah, fair enough." Isaac sighed in agreement, because that definitely was not in question. Although, he had not heard about her before this case, one thing was clear. Karina Hurst-Pollard was a formidable woman, and with access to the agency's resources, definitely not someone to underestimate. "That she does. At least as far as I've seen. I haven't finished my research yet." It did take twice as long to investigate when he was covering his track from his own peers and any other curious eyes.

He raised an eyebrow when Eli emphasized understanding his frustrated feeling. Yep, that's what he was feeling. He was irritated and his short temper didn't help. After that meeting, it just felt like this was more trouble than it was worth. Risking himself, possibly his family, for someone who didn't want help. "I hate it when you're right. Yeah, I am frustrated but dealing with frustrating people is the second bullet point of this job. It's mostly just, yeah. He annoyed me, more than I have been annoyed in ages. The thought of passing this on to someone tempted me."

Thinking of hie niece made him smile. He rarely missed her nighttime routine, or any time with her at all. Now that he thought about it, this was the first time in ages that he was out for a longer mission. "I miss that munchkin. If I can get some time, I'll call during the day so I can say hi to her. I'm sure Laurel would, she sees a new street and she's fascinated. I'll think about it, but it might not be safe. Best to stay home. True that, should've lied and said I was FBI too. Could've taken your old badge." Not that his badge would've gotten him far.

"I knew you'd get me one way or another," he admitted. "Well no, obviously I wouldn't want her to see my file. No, I'm not..okay maybe slight judgement. I just wanted to make sure the file didn't read another way. You had once told me I wasn't paranoid enough. I was just being extra careful this time around. Mines would look pretty bad." If that had made it in. He got lucky that his brother and his partner were able to keep most of it off the record.

"Neither would I, it's becoming more widespread too. His family being affected is concerning." He nodded slowly, even though Eli couldn't see him. Isaac also didn't feel comfortable leaving Wally in this situation, no matter how much he irritated him. "You're sure? You guys would look into this?" A stupid question knowing they definitely would. "No, I agree. It doesn't sit right with me that his niece might be in danger. Yep, same here. Made me think of Rosebud and my girl. Yes, that works for me. I'll send her everything as soon as I get back to the hotel. Don't really know if I'll get much sleep. My personal phone is always on for you guys. "

[tora-the-cat]

An interesting little fun thing with team 7 is that you assume that Sakura's gonna, like, woobify and simplify Sasuke by putting him on a pedastal,cause her goal is centered around him and shes a 12 y/o fangirl so like of course her understanding of him is skewed cause she doesnt see him as a person, just an object of affection, right? She's can't get Sasuke, can't imprint on and/or traumabond with him like Naruto and Kakashi do. They don't see him with rose tinted glasses, because they've lived through their own Horrors and empathize with Sasuke's experience.

......right?

WRONG lmao!! They have too many ghosts!! Naruto's single-minded codependent ass won't get out of his own way long enough to see Sasuke for who he actually is, only able to empathize with the parts of his trauma Naruto relates to and not really capable of understanding him outside of the context of himself (because Sasuke is. His other half). And Kakashi is far too jaded to be fair to him!! He can't decide if Sasuke is gonna end up as a mini-him or a mini-Obito or maybe a mini-Itachi, but either way he ALSO is too traumatized to see Sasuke AS SASUKE.

meanehile SAKURA'S autistic ass may have dogshit empathy, but you know what she does have? A special interest in sasuke. Nothing better to do then give herself a degree in Uchihaisms. She can write character studies about him. she can read his soul. Whenever she says something about him she is right. Every fucking time! She is RIGHT!!!!

'sasuke would NOT compliment me this directly or explicitly express worry unprompted, especially if it gets in the way of his goals' correct.

'Sasuke shouldn't hide that curse on his neck its not healthy BUT if I tell anyone about it he'll never trust me again, which might be even more dangerous for him then the curse mark. Like he can probably handle the curse mark but no one else can stop him from ripping peoples arms off.' correct.

Speaking of! 'Sasuke would not hurt me even when he seems to be...possessed? whatever the only way to knock him out of it is to present myself as Alive and thus something to be protected rather then something to be avenged, because he gets really stuck in his own head about revenge' CORRECT

'hey so um. like. Sasuke's gonna leave Konoha. I'm not sure anything can stop him at this point and honestly I'm kinda starting to doubt anything should, so the only thing I could possibly do to help him at this point is ALSO defect.' CORRECT!!!!

[darkladylumiya]

After going through a thousand and one tangents in my head I suddenly remembered that in Legends, the lightsabers that Dooku gifts to Asajj (as shown in the Tartakovsky Clone Wars series) are actually the lightsabers of his former padawan Komari Vosa who got captured by a cult and was psychologically tortured and broken until she turned to the Dark Side, eventually ending up leading the cult. Dooku then sends Jango Fett to go kill her to prove that he should be the template for the clone army. Also Komari was there on Galidraan with Dooku when the True Mandalorians got massacred by the Jedi with Jango being the only survivor of the battle and getting sold into slavery in the aftermath.

All of this to say, that Dooku eventually hands over to his new apprentice in the Dark Side the lightsabers created by his former apprentice who fell to the Dark Side before he did, who helped kill Mandalorians with him before eventually being defeated by the one survivor of that massacre and finished off by her former master.

[butts-bouncing-on-the-beltway]

I feel like the post I just reblogged pointing out the all-or-nothing in how many people interact with their deconstruction of systems of oppression is resonating for me right now with so many different moments in my life where someone decides that because some part of myself has access to some of the levers of control/influence/etc that come with the relationship to power, and decides what that must mean about all the other parts of me that might be explicitly refused access to those same levers.

It has happened in so many spaces/aspects of my life, and it can be so hard to feel safe and seen and trusting of others when that's my chronic relationship to being perceived - half truths and obfuscation.

It doesn't really change regardless of who's doing the assuming either. Like, where they land in relation to systems of power may influence which direction they lean in their assumptions about me, but even that is often inconsistent. Both sides of the equation (those who share my marginalizations and those who exist in spaces of closer proximity to power) will still do it nonetheless.

When I was doing my liminal social identities work in undergrad, this was actually a big part of the conceptualization we explored of traumtic alienation of self as individual from self as collective, and what it can do to people to exist in this liminal relationship with your environment and the people in it. As I'm starting to gather my thoughts about my stress modeling, this conceptualization is bubbling back to the surface. I'm finding myself meandering through it on both a path specifically my own, and in an effort to better understand what other paths may be available to people during their version of the process/experience.

Selfhood is so fragile, and so in need of balance between self-construction and co-construction for us humans, and that gives us so many beautiful, even spiritual, experiences of meaning making and generativity of self. It also createa many pivot points where we may find room in our path for vulnerability or blurring of self. As much as these pivot points can be distressing, I think they also sometimes become our foundations of change/personal evolution, when we find that through the distress of existing in shift, something meaningful is occurring or observable in our experience of self-in-transition.

I think something I've valued especially about my own relationship with self is its transience. It doesn't always end up somewhere I would be happy to sustain, but it always allows me a degree of comfort in complexity that I think has made my body-mind a safer place for me overall.

[juliareed]

Mr. Sark has assumed control of your mother's operation— Please stop referring to her as my mother. Therefore, Ms. Derevko must know what he's looking for. // You were hired to kill me? Who hired you? Who put a contract on my life? Derevko. Irina Derevko.

[honestlydeeppolice]

Women who chose selective ab// by gender

Women who chose selective ab// by gender, they probably think that the humans are 80% biologically male and they(she) are one of them, they just happen to give birth.

[bumblingbabooshka]

Equinox Specific VOY Memes

[sherlock-is-ace]

.

[youremyonlyhope]

why won't my brain shut up why won't my brain shut up why won't my brain shut up why won't my brain shut up