#and they're two different people and i love them for who they are and their differences enrich my understanding of them

[khorneschosen]

Typically the left wing of this country. However I do like keeping things broad enough to say that the you can refer to whoever it hits. If you read this and think this applies to you then it definitely does.

I will clarify my meaning however. And expand on it because I usually write a lot of these and don't expect much attention for them.

The left wing has always found it ideal that it's opposition would not be conservatives or libertarians because these typically operate with an entirely different framework of philosophy. And that means there is a meaningful choice between you and them.

However if you notice in Europe there is the opposite trend where people are asked to choose between national socialism and socialism. If you want a clearer example of this is the European politics particularly those in the western sphere.

It's why right now many of the more libertarian or at least alternative parties are gaining in traction in the Western European countries.

For example the Conservative party of the UK has always been a party of anti-capitalism since it's inception. Resulting in a originally feudalesque approach to politics which is not necessarily fascistic but it's differentiation is rather limited in its approach to problems. And it does not have the radical ideology which demands complete loyalty to the state.

This is the ideal state for left-wingers and socialist of all stripes that their opposition necessarily concedes to the principle behind what they proposed to do.

Understand the ultimate ideal behind socialism in this country and abroad is that you cannot demolish the Master's house with the master's tools in other words you have to overthrow the entire system in order to bring about the change you want thus it is not necessarily a boiled frog approach but you must actually dismantle the system violently and thus having an opposition who would validate your violent approach to politics is necessarily something you would need it order to engage in your Utopia building.

Thus as I pointed out from a political science perspective socialists need Nazis in order to bring about socialism.

However in America fascism is not a popular philosophy. Because necessarily in order for fascism to take hold Americans would have to a either start becoming racist which they are unlikely to do considering their outgroup preference or at least the whites out group preference is higher than its own in group preference so that's not happening.

Two and two after a decades of having even a slightly more authoritarian government since world war II the result has been a complete and total hatred of the federal government thus the state worshiping necessary for fascism cannot be maintained either. Americans made love their country but that does not extend to their government.

What's more it's kind of goes against the framework that has been defining American politics which is been the 2008 economic crisis and recession. In which the principled new right and new left were defined by occupy Wall Street and the tea party. Libertarianism and socialism.

In short fascism is not possible here and this is not even getting into the sheer amount of political parties and political interests that would not want this. If you look at the special interest groups not a singular fucking one of them actually once a authoritarian system because I will tell you blatantly that means that they're going to have to pay a lot more for lobbying rather than less.

However it is popular with a small subsection of Americans who don't realize that that is exactly what they're doing. And typically it's those who are trying to bring about the Chinese model in America. Which is often times you are very young and very naive and honestly very stupid American left-wing socialists. The differentiation between them both philosophically and just in policy is becoming weaker by the day. Though they typically don't do the predominant ethnicity sort of thing even though they do have their preferred ethnicity which they consider to be non-white. Particular focus with black because that is the ethnic group which scores highest in their privilege hierarchy. And when you necessarily start looking at what is the concept of power plus privilege and racism you start seeing a philosophy which is very close to David Duke's racial realism.

In short the differentiation between you guys and the Nazis is becoming a lot less day by day and I don't think you guys understand that or care to fight it because again the end of socialism being the creation of this utopia is an ultimate good and the ends justify all the means.

And finally for the part where I said we do not recognize your observations anymore it is mainly due to the amount of things that you have called fascistic or Nazis in the past decades. For example I was called a Nazi for bringing up the issue I had in my local community that being the hog from the feral hog problem the one that causes billions of dollars in damages in my state. Or the state next door which has one of the highest hog populations in the United States. One wonders if they even have people there or if the hogs finally started walking upright like Orwell said. Jokes aside Napoleon.

The ultimate point here is that we no longer recognize your ability to be one truthful and to actually be able to tell what is and isn't fascistic.

For one your movement has fascist as I pointed out and two the baseless accusations that have gone on for so long that you've ultimately destroyed the meaning behind that word and it has semiotically meant opposer.

Three the left wing approach to what is fascism historically and Nazism historically have been discredited because they are not accurate depictions of fascism or Nazism. It is a model which cannot be used to predict anything about what they did during the war or the philosophy of it or their actions during it what's more it is in conflict with how those people at the time describe themselves. And say what you will about subversive philosophies being one of yourself you necessarily know that they have to at some point tell you something about the ideology you are supporting You have to have a reason for it Free association and clever rhetoric will not actually get you supreme power anymore than any other subversive ideology.

In closing I'm glad that you allowed me to answer both your question and to clarify my own statement in greater detail.

An important PSA to remember!

[ID in Alt]

[wonderlandcrown]

𝑆𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑑𝑎𝑦 𝑀𝑦 𝑃𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑊𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝐶𝑜𝑚𝑒

𝑉𝑖𝑙 𝑥 𝑌𝑢𝑢(𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑒𝑟)

a/n : book 5 spoilers, also Vil didn't know Jamil overbloted until book 6. reader is gn and referred to as "Yuu, the prefect, you, they/them pronouns"

genre : light angst, romance(pining)

༶•┈┈⛧┈♛💜♛┈⛧┈┈•༶

Someday my prince will come Someday I'll find my love And how thrilling that moment will be When the prince of my dreams comes to me He'll whisper, "I love you" And steal a kiss or two Though he's far away I'll find my love someday Someday when my dreams come true

Vil was reluctant to stay in Ramshackle during VDC, "A messy room equals a messy mind", is what he tells his dorm mates. Though he understood that the prefect didn't choose to stay there, Vil Schoenheit was never a fan of unclean spaces.

But Vil had bigger problems at the moment, Neige will undoubtedly show up for the competition, and his dream- no, his goal will be in jeopardy.

The headmage did say that the prefect was quite talented in bringing people together...

Fine then, if staying in a dingy dorm means having a chance at winning against Neige, he'll do it.

"How thrilling, " Vil thought, "will my moment of victory be."

Someday I'll find my love Someone to call my own And I'll know him the moment we meet For my heart will start skipping a beat Some day we'll say, "I do" Things we've been longing to Though he's far away I'll find my love someday Someday when my dreams come true

Vil noticed the scars around the prefects hands, undoubtedly the result of going through no less than 3 overblots, not to mention all of them happened under a year!

Vil scoffs, Crowley must be more incompetent than he thought if he allowed a poor defenseless student to get caught up in so much trouble; or is it Yuu who is careless?

He originally saw you akin to something like a pathetic wet cat : lost, clueless, naive.

Though he'll admit he was quite wrong, your occasional sharp jabs towards the trio of potatoes(Ace, Deuce and Grim) didn't go unnoticed by Vil. He thinks you're quite funny, you act so brazenly and sarcastic around your friends but around strangers you suddenly become quiet and well spoken, you remind him of the difference of his personalities on camera and off.

Though that's the only thing he and you have in common.

Vil remembers perfectly well the glare Yuu shot at him when he cursed the delicacies Trey gifted the younger spudlings. It was a necessary measure! You're smarter than your friends, you should understand that they would've tried to break away from the diet Vil gave them.

Vil doesn't understand, he doesn't understand those potatoes, didn't they agree to this? Don't they want to win? If they do they should listen to him, he knows what's best, he's been trained for countless competitions since he was young, these diets, these restrictions have been imposed onto him ever since then and they will be forevermore.

For them, it'll only be a moment before they're back to their normal lives, so why can't they understand? Vil understood ever since he was young, so why can't they?

He's been longing for the chance to stay on stage until the very last moment, so why can't Yuu just do what he says and help those idiots cooperate with him.

Vil pinches the bridge of his nose and sighs, he shouldn't dwell on unnecessary things for too long, lest he stray from his goal.

Somewhere waiting for me There is someone I'm longing to see Someone I simply can't help but adore Someone who'll thrill me forever

"Hey, uh, can we discuss something? "

It was already late afternoon, Epel had screamed at Vil and ran away from the dorm and one of your friends, Deuce, he remembers, ran after him. But they haven't been back.

He lets out a sigh, not bothering to hide his frustration.

"What is it?" Vil turns to face you, usually during the breaks between the VDC groups training, you pass around water bottles and some snacks(not cursed by Vil this time). Though this time you carry nothing, it's expected, the rest of the group only have a break because two of the members ran off to who knows where.

"I think you're being too harsh on them. " Vil scoffs, "Excuse me? They're the ones being too careless, they're not serious enough. " Vil glares at you, nose scrunched. You betray his expectations, really, he expected you to be more mature about this.

You only look at him in the eyes as a response, he notices your tense frame, you must've been planning to tell him this for a while now.

"..Epel ran away." Vil lifts an eyebrow, "And? Are you just here to state the obvious?" He hears you click your tongue, you're irritated with him? Why must you be so mean to him, prefect, all he wants is to win, is that so much to ask for?

"Look, I understand your efforts, what you do to achieve your dreams is commendable, really, "

Dreams? How dare you use such a childish word, the Vil Schoenheit doesn't dream, he has no time for that.

"but you need to realize that not everyone can handle, well, you. We want to win, obviously but uh, you're already so accustomed to this type of stuff but we're not.."

Hm? Oh, prefect, you're flattering him, so you're saying that he's so glamorous to the point that the normal spudlings can't even begin to compare?... Vil's kidding obviously, but the compliment has made him more inclined to listen to you.

"Dear prefect, I may see your point.. Though you must realize that diamonds are created under pressure, and the headmage has been far too lenient." You sigh, brows furrowed, "Tell me about it.. Again, you're not wrong, there are limits. Even the seemingly strong gems can crack if they have internal flaws."

My, isn't this new.. Prefect, it's been quite the long time since someone dared to question him, in such an interesting way no less.. Most people either agree with no objections or slander his views vehemently (Rook and Epel, Vil's looking at you) Congratulations are in order for managing to intrigue Vil of all people.

You're confused on why Vil's smiling, so.. fondly at you, did you do something wrong?

"Prefect, if you don't mind, how do you feel about joining my nightly routine tomorrow, I think you have many interesting topics to share with me."

Someday my prince will come Someday I will find the one Though he's far away he'll find my love someday Someday when my dreams come true Oh, please make my dreams come true

"The winner of VDC is.. ROYAL SWORD ACADEMY, LED BY THE ONE AND ONLY NEIGE LEBLANCHE!"

The crowd cheers endlessly, Vil feels his heart grow heavy with that same, twisting, horrendously ugly feeling of envy. His feet feel like they're on fire and Vil has to pretend the camera flashes are irritating him in order to blink back the tears.

It's ok, it's fine, the loser has to fall and Vil feels like he's been plummeting since then, now, and perhaps forevermore.(please don't let it be so)

It's even worse when Neige pulls him into an encore, his hand pressing on one of the bruises on his arm, a scar gained from his overblot. But Vil's heart only winces when he thinks of you, he thinks of your scars, you must have so many, you've been through so much..

Vil is so, so sorry, he wants to cry and beg for your forgiveness, for Rook's, for Epel's, for everyone's forgiveness. What he did was so stupidly immature, how could he just betray his own expectations, everyone expected Vil Schoenheit to be level headed, mature, and beautiful. So why? Why must he be everything except that?

Everything after his overblot was a blur, really. He thought his career would go up on smoke, everything he worked for would've been gone. Vil stared at his phone, waiting for a ping from his manager, informing him that his overblot, his weakest moment, was leaked for the whole world to see. Vil sits at the vanity, normally he would be staring into his reflection, but now he can't even bear the thought of looking at the mirror.

Suddenly he was met with a knock on his door.

"I'm not expecting visitors, if it's not urgent then go find Rook, or the prefect."

"Vil, I am the prefect."

Vil immediately sits up right, brushing away the few strands of stray hair, before inviting you in. "Come on in."

You quickly slip inside his room, closing the door behind you with a click, Vil tilts his head, usually he would never do this, unbefitting of the mature image of Vil Schoenheit, but since it's you, he finds himself at ease without putting on his performative mask. "I see you want privacy, is it personal?"

"Yeah, I.. wanted to see how you're doing. " Vil doesn't hold back the bittersweet smile, "You really are kind, don't worry about me, you should've ran away when you saw me overblot, why didn't you?"

Why didn't you? You should've ran away the moment you saw blot dripping from his lips and eyes, yet you stayed, you stayed during his overblot and all the others. Vil wants to know, how is one person so caring yet sarcastic, so plain yet so interesting, so normal yet.. Vil feels like he's never met someone like you before.

"Why didn't I? What kind of question is that, the better question is how could I leave a friend during his weakest moments?"

See? Caring yet sarcastic, Vil giggles at your response, "You should know when to stop helping people, dear. One day you'll get irreversibly wounded and there's nothing I could do to help you at that point." Vil's tone is light, though he feels an aching sensation when he imagines a fatally wounded Yuu.

You sigh, taking a step closer to Vil, "I'm not that weak, so don't think of stuff like that." The housewarden of Pomefiore only gives a tired smile, plain yet so interesting, he thinks. You're a magicless being somehow willed with such tenacity that befits the values of the Beautiful Queen, Vil might be inclined to take a few lessons from you.

It takes a while before Vil notices you're staring at him, you look at him as if you were looking at a poor, caged animal. "..Is there something else you want to tell me?" You don't respond, you only continue to look at him, at his clothes, at his hair, then you stare at him in the eye.

Vil feels a lump form in his throat, you're looking at him in such a humane way, not the lovesick expressions usually adorned on his fans, not the scowls of jealousy from the haters. You look at him as if you see something beyond the masks he wears.

Unlike what most people think, Vil Schoenheit actually has two masks, one he adorns when the camera rolls, which from there he has many others to choose from. The second he wears to retain the strict and regal image of Pomefiore, the one who rules this dorm with an iron fist, where he is both hated and loved.(not that much different from his career)

But you, you're looking at none of the two, he never saw anyone else other than his own father and Rook wear this expression. Someone who sees beyond what is presented to them.

"You're tired." Vil finally hears you say something, "I'll go draw you a bath." Your words were authoritative and left no room for arguement, it reminds Vil of himself. As the actor watches you walk into his bathroom he feels a warm sensation course through him, it's been quite the long time since he was the one on the receiving end of these affections.

No, affections is too intimate a word, but Vil can't think of any other way to describe it.

You can't see his expression now, prefect, but do know that you made Vil Schoenheit of all people cover his face to hide his blush and smile. So normal yet Vil's never met anyone else like you.

Vil hears the sound of water flowing coming from the bathroom, he hopes you finish your task soon, Vil has never felt what yearning for another's presence was like until now.

Vil already has his hunter and poison apple, so tell him what you'll be? What role will you take on to complete the Beautiful Queen's camaraderie? Will you be his raven, dutiful, working from the shadows; or his mirror : showing him what you see, beyond what Vil presents himself to be.

Vil shall wait for your answer, prefect.

♬♩♪♩ ♩♪♩♬

a/n : someday my prefect will come - vil schoenheit. first fanfic tbh, there were pacing issues but I don't think it's that bad for a first timer. reblogs are appreciated

[thealexchen]

On sapphic rep in "Lost Records: Bloom and Rage"

Online, I constantly see Lost Records and games like it getting dunked on for daring to represent anybody other than the cishet white man majority. People were clowning on the original LiS and calling it "SJW garbage" back in 2015, but between our recent global political climate and the rise of violent hate crimes against marginalized populations, it's not as easy nowadays to handwave them off as baseless complaints.

That's why it's still a big deal that we have Dontnod out here self-publishing a game about four unambiguously queer women who meet and spend an unforgettable summer together. A game that they want to turn into a new franchise, and they start with the supposedly "harder to market" demographics instead of playing it safe and diversifying after a successful first entry. It's a big deal that DN intentionally centered these four girls and their relationships with each other, away from school and judgmental eyes-- aka, away from the culture of '90s Midwestern homphobia, as much as possible. Their little paradise in the secluded, impossibly beautiful Michigan woods and talks of running away are clearly evoking common queer tropes of secrecy and escape, but the difference is they are so damn happy when they are alone together.

The romances are adorable, but it's obvious how much having genuine friends means to all of them, but Swann and Kat especially. This is a game that truly celebrates female friendship and subverts the cliched cattiness, gossip, and petty drama. If you choose to have Swann admit she's afraid of being unlovable, Kat will simply respond, "We love you." Their platonic bonds don't invalidate their possible romantic feelings, but provide a solid foundation of love and companionship for it instead. Their queerness feels believable because male characters are simply irrelevant to their personal lives. Even in BtS, with two women staff writers, Eliot was still shoehorned in as a Warren clone (except even creepier??) to convince Chloe that Rachel was manipulative.

In Lost Records, these girls are written like any other ordinary teenagers, not eye candy for the implicit male gamer gaze. When they ran down to the lake, I was actually worried we'd get some needless fanservice of the girls stripping to swim in their underwear like in LiS1 episode 3, but nope, there's a cut and the narrative just implies they went swimming off camera in their swimsuits. They complain and chat openly about their periods, they make gross jokes, they giggle about "mating squirrels," they have acne and insecurities, they get excited about each other's ideas, they're ride or die-- because they're teenage girls.

I have to shout out the two women on DN Montreal's writing team-- Desiree Cifre and Nina Freeman, because I was so excited when I found out that women helped write this game. In short, DN deserves their flowers! Please support this game!

[justcallme-ange]

Wait...Would You Fall in Love with Me Again but dnb. Like immortal (Techno) and the same soul in every reincarnation? (Dream) orrrr dsmp lore and Techno sees the differences in Dream before and after the prison arc ("I am not the man you fell in love with") because angst is cool :)

Nonnie, nonnie I know we're sharing but please it's my turn with the braincell!!

It's in the works - Idk how you knew but it's in the works. I've got two scenes fleshed out but yeah. Have some storyboards in the mean time. There's some lore I've been thinking about in regards to the AU (because I can't actually show all of this) but - I was thinking Season 2 DSMP. DreamXD has memory wiped everyone, including the people taken by Lady Death, but it's less of a total memory wipe, and more of a block. (Tis the condition to come back onto the sever). So people remember each other, and they're all familiar with the server, but context for everything has been removed. So scars and stuff stayed and people still have vague ideas of where they stand with one another, ie. c!Q is on friendly terms with everyone but no one seems to be able to fully trust him. Bring in c!Dream, who's memories stayed, because DreamXD can't let a man catch a break. He has the powers to unlock the memories of the people he encounters, he just has to remind them of who he is and what happened previously (still deciding if it's a phrase or an actual spell). So he has the choice of either allowing everyone to move on, and start their lives anew (with only him suffering with their past mistakes/choices/knowledge) or have them remember and have to deal with the fallout. So in this Techno and Dream are married, have been married a while, and while Techno and the rest of the Syndicate were able to escape before everything blew up, the memory wipe made it so that Techno knows he's married, knows who he's married to, but has no idea where Dream is, and anything that happened to them previously. Techno has this feeling that Dream is in trouble, but no idea how, and the server is no help because while not outright hostile to him, they seem ambivalent to him and Dream.

So to the "Would you fall in love with me again" - Dream finally returns and decides to give Techno his memories back, so that Techno can make the choice of where they stand and if he wants to stay together with Dream, a Dream who is different, changed, broken.

Pretty sure I got the server memory wipe thing from @simplepotatofarmer so giving credit where due

[dandelionuprising]

I think a fundamental issue is that no direct comparison can be made between the treatments we use for different symptoms. Antidepressants are not adhd meds are not antipsychotics etc etc. I think a lot of movies that show severe mental illness and the effects of medicine, are actually depicting antipsychotics. Which are notorious for being sedating and taking away a lot of your experience, even as they may also take away some of the bad experiences. So as someone who is in the antipsychotics camp of mental health issues, I find that depiction very relatable.

I'm glad OP and others have had a good experience with their meds, but I think it's important to acknowledge that not everyone will have a good experience, and there won't necessarily be a med that will have the desired effect. And that people who don't have a good experience with medication don't necessarily have to keep trying, it's not necessarily the case that the right med is just around the corner. It's ok to be done with psychiatric medicine. It's ok to not want to risk it at all. Psychiatric medicine is far from being an exact science, and it's extremely hit and miss whether it helps. And for a bunch of people, it ends up doing more harm than good.

Depression or adhd or psychosis etc obviously have a basis in the physical realm, arising from biological as well as psychological and social factors, but we don't have a clear understanding of how exactly, and the medication we use to treat them don't pinpoint target the issue. Rather, they are psychoactive drugs with effects that sometimes, but not always, alleviate the distressing symptoms of various psychiatric disorders.

No one gets to define who the "real you" is. You're real with or without the influence of medication, you just have to decide which version you like being the most. I did like what adhd medication did for me personally, but I've also quit, because the withdrawal is intense in terms of making me completely unable to do anything, and I'm not very good at taking meds consistently, so it caused way more highs and lows in functionality than what I was comfortable with. Two of my partners take ADHD meds religiously, and for at least one of them, it's been life-saving. I also know a person who lost 5 years to adhd medication. It completely changed their personality from a quirky, loving nb pal, to functional but distant dude completely out of touch with "his"(?) emotions. They can barely remember those years, and the mother of their children broke up with them during those years because there was just zero emotional availability (they're back together now). Which is just to say that even a generally well loved and effective medication like central stimulants for adhd can have horrible side effects for some people.

Meanwhile antipsychotics are objectively a really heavy hitting form of medication that (more or less subtly) works by sedating your brain so you have less ability to have weird ass thoughts and experiences. I have found that for me, a baby dose way below the suggested amount for treating schizophrenia/psychosis helps me cope and feel better. But when I was on the lowest recommended dose to treat my diagnosis, I completely lost my spark. I slept 15+ hours a day and spent most of my time listlessly lying on the floor or sofa, staring at the ceiling. Several of my close friends have lost years of their life to antipsychotics. And it's really important to acknowledge these types of experiences, while also acknowledging that medicine can be great sometimes.

The two experiences can coexist. And it's important to acknowledge that these are heavy hitting drugs with a lot of potential consequences (all of them, but some more often than others), and to let everyone make their own decisions about what they want to try and what they want to keep taking. One person choosing not to medicate themselves is not an attack on another who chooses to do so, or vice versa.

90s movies: Psychopharmacology is as good as a lobotomy. If you take pills to treat your mental illness it will literally murder your imaginary friends and you will become a boring, lotus-eating conformist drone.

Me after taking my meds: drives the scenic route home to see if there are any geese on the pond and does a little dance in line at the grocery store and comes home to throw everything​ in my fridge into a stew pot because I can finally taste food again while singing songs at my birds in which I replace all the instances of "she" with "Cheese" and doing a Dolly Parton impression on the phone to my sister

[systlin]

Picking a Gor book at random: Marauders of Gor!

OH THIS IS THE SHITTY FAKE VIKING KNOCK OFF BOOK

SO. We open with Cow of House Cow, formerly known as Tarl Cabot. He got poisoned at the end of the last book and this paralyzed him. Should have upped the dose and killed him

(Bosk. He took the name Bosk because in book five he got taken slave by a lady who mean dommed him once and it fundamentally rewired his brain chemistry. He spends the rest of the books...all TWENTY SEVEN MORE OF THEM...going by the name Kind Mistress gave her pretty slave.)

ANYWAY. There's some dumb bullshit about a plot by the Kurii to conquer Gor. The Kurii are giant werewolf aliens who eat people, and I think Tarl bottomed for one once but that's a different book. They're the enemy of the Priest Kings.

Tarl then fixes the depression he's sunk into because he is Utterly Useless And Pathetic since his legs don't work. This somehow also fixes his legs? Who the fuck knows. He decides to go investigate. This whole baffling intro takes seventy pages.

Anyway.

This takes him to the north, where we find him in a Not!Catholic church. As in, it is exactly like a catholic church except it's to the PK's and not God. The head priest is the most overblown caricature of a greedy evil priest ever set to paper. Calling him one dimensional would be adding a dimension.

Naturally, the Shitty Terrible Vikings attack and loot the place.

Now, they don't attack at FIRST. Norm, thinking himself terribly clever, rips off a move from a saga written by actual good writers and steals the 'smuggle weapons into a church in a coffin with a viking leader who is totally dead you guys, we pinky promise' scheme. Our co hero with Tarl for the book, Ivar Forkbeard, is naturally not dead.

Ivar and his crew promptly loot the place, and also take slave all the pretty women they can find. Tarl, of course, impresses Ivar with his immense fighting ability (dodges a thrown spear) and Ivar decides to take him along with his crew, because Tarl has the thickest plot armor ever seen. They burn the church down and fuck off with their loot. We find out here that the Shit Vikings still follow their gods. Odin and Thor are the only two mentioned. They use a salute that would be very familiar to anyone who has watched WW2 documentaries or, more recently, Elon Musk.

On the longship, we learn a few things. One, that John Norman doesn't know shit about longships, because he gives them rigged sails. Two, that the shitty vikings eat snails raw out of the bilges, which seems like it would give you ten different diseases. Three, that they break slaves by tying them to the oars and dunking them into the north sea repeatedly for several hours, in a move that would totally not kill someone.

At Ivar's holdings, we see more slaves, and the new slaves are branded. Norm spends an immense amount of time and loving detail on this. Tarl is still having a great time. He happily feasts and drinks and rapes...his words, not mine...slaves left and right.

At one point, to discipline a woman, Ivar has her tied naked to a block of ice. For hours. This somehow doesn't kill her, and yet we are told women are weak.

They capture the daughter of a Jarl and enslave her, because she told Ivar to fuck off once and Norm is convinced that this means a woman is burning with a secret passion to literally lick a man's feet. Seriously. There's so much foot licking. In every book. It's in every book. Naturally she falls in love with Ivar and becomes his happy slave. This takes hundreds of pages and it's all horrible. All the poor women get names like Honey Cake, Pudding, ect.

Tarl and his new bestie and their slaves go to what is clearly an Althing, except worse. Ivar is an outlaw, see, and he wants to shove his dick in people's faces that he raised enough money to pay his fine but isn't gonna pay it anyway, because Real Men Don't Do Shit Like Participate Constructively In Society. Norm is INTENSELY culturally WASP, even though he claims to be an atheist. The whole rugged individualism he admires more than anything oozes like slime off most of these books. No, Ivar is clearly supposed to be someone we should aspire to be like, As Men, and Tarl has a huge crush on him I'm pretty sure. And he's a total piece of rat shit.

Ivar and Tarl win a bunch of contests because of course they do, and we see Free Women being unpleasant as Norm writes all free women. Namely, not taking any shit and talking back to men, which Norm calls 'haughty arrogance'. Ivar shows he has the cash to pay his fine, but refuses to. This amuses everyone enough though that they lift his sentence rather than just chucking him off a cliff for some reason.

The head of the Kurii on Gor comes to treat with the jarls. They all decide clearly this is a trick, because of course it is it's not subtle. The Kurii say that they have an army and will take Shitty Viking Land and also the south of Gor. The Shitty Vikings are like fuckit let's fight.

They do. It's somehow boring, in a way that vikings fighting space werewolves should actually find impossible to be. The vikings win by stampeding a herd of cattle over the space werewolves and also maybe some 800 year old legendary figure shows up?

Tarl, having reassured himself that he is a True Man, heads back to Port Kar.

The end.

[tiredandoptimistic]

The idea of Simon and Isabelle having a rom-com where they fight a demon that tries to break up relationships and it ends with the two of them getting engaged is actually so perfect.

At the start of TMI, Simon and Isabelle both had a lot of issues to work through in regards to romance. Isabelle was traumatized by her exposure to Robert and Maryse's terrible marriage, and as a defense mechanism she refused to let herself get too close to any of the guys she dated. Simon had spent years nurturing an idealized vision of a romance with Clary, but he wasn't prepared for the complicated nature of a real relationship. Once the two of them got together, Simon ended up hurting Isabelle because his lack of experience meant that he wasn't honest with Izzy and Maia about his situation. He wasn't being malicious, but he was young and hadn't dated before and he didn't know how to handle his emotions. Isabelle had thought that Simon was different from other guys because he was safe, and she had to come to terms with the fact loving someone means opening herself up to the possibility of getting hurt.

Despite all this, the two of them made it back to each other again and again. Simon learned how to grow up and be a good partner, while Isabelle learned how to trust that someone might genuinely care about her. They both had a lot to work on when it came to opening up and being honest about their feelings, but they did it and they ended up in a happy and stable relationship.

Okay, with that Ode to Sizzy out of the way, let me actually connect this whole deal to Better in Black.

What I love about putting Simon and Isabelle in a rom-com is that they're the ones who started the series not really believing in love. Isabelle specifically was deeply jaded and didn't think that happy relationships were possible. Simon on the other hand believed in happy relationships, but not in real complex ones with messy emotions. By having the two of them swoop in to save other couples from a demon that wants to break up relationships, it shows how their love for each other has completely changed their worldviews. Because of Simon, Isabelle doesn't just believe in love for herself but she also believes in the importance of love for other people. Because of Isabelle, Simon is prepared to fight for his relationship and take the next step into adulthood; marriage. Not because it's easy, but because he wants to spend the rest of his life by her side.

[luguangs]

Gaby my love pspsps drop the Girls Last Tour propaganda pls 🤲

maz beloved thank you for allowing me to rant about girls last tour ily okay let's go!!!

girls last tour, as the name implies, follows two girls on a tour journey through the ruins of a post-apocalyptic world. they scavenge for food and fuel, encounter remnants from long-forgotten cultures, and day after hopeless day they choose to carry on forward.

while this may sound bleak and depressing, it's actually an iyashikei (slice of life). and let me preface this by saying i usually do not enjoy iyashikei stories, but i wholeheartedly think girls last tour is nothing short of a masterful work of art.

the reason i think it stands out from all others in its genre is because it doesn't shy away from despair, but despite it (or perhaps even because of it) still has this undercurrent of hope and a profound appreciation for life.

this juxtaposition of a world ravaged by war and death against two girls trying to make the most of their life day after day is beautifully poignant and poetic. we see the best and the worst of humanity—and it's surprisingly wholesome in its melancholy.

borrowing from the official synopsis:

But as long as the two are together, even an existence as bleak as theirs has a ray or two of sunshine in it (...) For two girls in a world full of nothing, the experiences and feelings the two share give them something to live for…

so yes, it's a slice of life, but if you're willing to look deeper, it has some incredibly profound themes. it gets very philosophical but it doesn't intend to give you all the answers; rather, it simply allows for contemplation on humanity and life as a whole, and it brings it all back to the here and now.

it's about choosing to keep going—to keep living another day even as the world is falling apart around you. it's about finding joy in the small things you stumble upon along your way. it's about watching these two girls rediscover humanity through what we leave behind and learning to see your own life through different eyes.

it's about choosing not to succumb into despair. yes, maybe you could've made better choices along the way—but you still shouldn't bring yourself to regret the life you've lived.

it's about realizing life is about making the most of it that you're able to amid your circumstances and living it to the fullest. it's about how the people you meet, the experiences you've lived, the things you've learned... you carry them with you always.

it's about how humanity is interconnected through our inherent curiosity and passion and love and perhaps our beautifully pointless endeavors, and how all of these give us meaning even if it will all come to an end someday.

plain and simple, it's about how beautiful it is to live. how even despite all the horrors, you can still find joy in living.

i don't think it's an exaggeration to call girls last tour life-changing, and if any of these themes resonate with you i'm sure you'll end up loving this story too.

some people say this story gave them depression. but tbh i think they're missing the point: this story will cure your depression <3 (yes i'm being hyperbolic but ykwim)

anyway if you'd like to get into it i'd recommend watching the anime first!! (i think the manga's visual contrast and use of negative space work better for the tone, but the anime genuinely did such a wonderful job with the music and some sequences in particular, and imo even elevated them. so for your first experience i'd say 100% anime)

however, the anime didn't adapt the full story and while you are able to get the overall themes from the anime, imo some of the best chapters can actually be found towards the end of the manga.

it's a very faithful adaptation otherwise, so you can pick it up from chapter 30 if you don't want to read from the beginning (and it's only 47 chapters so it's super short!)

also if you watch/read pleaseeee let me know what you think i literally don't know anyone else who's into it and i've been kind of going insane about it 😭

TLDR: if you like stories that are philosophical and contemplative, that don't shy away from despair but also choose to find the beauty in life, then this story is for you <3

[merryshobbithole]

What do your f/o's hugs feel like?

Breath taking. Literally. Sentomaru is the kind of guy to give big bear hugs when he's feeling playful, but for the most part they are very soft and warm. He's a pretty big guy, so even when he's being gentle I can feel that pleasant pressure that makes me so safe and loved. He likes to rest his chin atop my head while we hug

What are your favorite dates to have with them?

I love movie nights. Sitting together on the couch with his arm around me and my head on his shoulder. I drift off more times than not, and he always carries me to bed and kisses my forehead before whispering "Goodnight, sweetheart". I know this because I may or may not have pretended to fall asleep on him. I think he's caught on to me, but he never brings it up

What are their favorite dates with you?

Definetely stargazing. Laying down on the grass and admiring the nightsky, listening to the sounds of nature. He likes to talk about constellations and the stories behind them, and I like to listen

What's the height difference between you and f/o?

He's 279cm (9'1ft) and I'm 150cm (4'11ft)

On a scale from 1 to 10, with 1 being the least and 10 being the most, how much do they like PDA with you?

I'd say 4, maybe 5. He's not very big on PDA but he does show affection in public in his own, subtle ways: squeezing my shoulder to get my attention, placing a hand on my thigh (or even holding my hand under the table) when I'm feeling uneasy in social settings, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear, stealing glances at me...

What's your favorite feature about your f/o?

Oooh, that's a difficult oneee but if I had to choose, I'd say his hands!

What do you think they smell like?

Honestly? I have never thought about that. I'll think of something and update this...

What is your f/o's biggest love language?

I'd say acts of service and gift giving. He's not very good at expressing his emotions, so he shows he cares by seeking me out when he's got the time, sometimes bringing with him a little something. It's not anything fancy, maybe he saw something I liked or needed and got it for me, and many times he shares his food with me

Do you guys sleep in the same bed? If so, what's it like sleeping with them?

We do sometimes, mostly in his and when I come over to see him. Sleeping with him in winter is the best since his body temperature is naturally very warm and he loves being the big spoon, but during summer it's best if we either sleep on opposites sides of the bed or apart. We still get back together to wish each other good morning, though (⁠ ⁠ꈍ⁠ᴗ⁠ꈍ⁠)

What's your favorite headcanon about your f/o?

He participates in Sumo matches in his spare time (and I stand first row to cheer him on) 🗣️

What's the dynamic that you and your f/o have?

Those two awkward idiots who are into each other and everyone is able to see it but them because they're too shy and insecure. Also the short-tempered "Ew, people" introvert (him) and the people pleasing "Oh, no. People..." introvert (me)

What does your f/o do for you when you're having a bad day?

He's a great listener and the kind of person to provide solutions right off the bat, but he knows judging by my expression while he talks when I need comfort instead of logical approaches to the problem

Do you like to hold hands? If so, what's that like?

I! Love!! Holding!!! Hands!!!!

As a matter of fact, it's the one (obvious) PDA we're comfortable with. We're not the kind of couple to do kissing in public. Holding hands with him is nice, but again his body temperature makes his palms sweaty fast. Not like I mind <3

Do they like to give you little kisses? If so, where's their favorite place to kiss?

He loves those! Only in private, though. His favorite place is my nose. He says it's very round and cute... ( ⁠•͈⁠ᴗ⁠•͈⁠)

Vice versa, do YOU like giving THEM little kisses? If you, where's YOUR favorite place to kiss?

I ADORE giving him little kisses! Similarly to him, I feel most comfortable doing it in a more private setting. My favorite place to kiss is his cheek!

What's your favorite leisure activity to do with your f/o?

Training! I'm not a very sporty person, but I enjoy keeping him company while he's training even if I'm doing my own thing

What's your favorite compliment that your f/o gives you? What's your favorite nickname that they use for you, if they have one?

His compliments are more "practical", if that's the right word. He praises me when I push through or when I get something right. His way of complimenting my appearance is subtler, but it's my favorite, nonetheless. As for nicknames, he's not the kind of guy to use them, but he does call me "sweetheart" from time to time. Only in private, though

What's your favorite compliment to give THEM? What's your favorite nickname to call them?

I'm horrible at giving compliments. When he does something I find attractive or puts on something nice, I short-circuit and panic. Me personally I like to call him Sen. It's just the shortened version of his name, but I think it's cute!

I want everyone to have the chance to ramble about their romantic f/os, so I'm gonna make a reblog game where yall can answer the plethora of questions I'm gonna toss down. Any of the questions you want to answer, as little or as much as you'd like!! I'll read them all. PR.O.SHIP DNI!!! AT ALL! GET OUT-

SO!! SELFSHIPPERS! RIDDLE ME THIS:

What do your f/o's hugs feel like?

What are your favorite dates to have with them?

What are their favorite dates to have with you?

Do you have any songs that remind you of them? Do they have any songs that make them think of you?

What's the height difference between you and your f/o?

On a 1-10 scale, with 1 being the least and 10 being the most, how much do they like PDA with you?

What's your favorite feature about your f/o?

What do you think they smell like?

What is your f/os biggest love languages? They don't have to be one of the "five", it can be anything specific they use to show you love.

Do you guys sleep in the same bed? If so, what's it like sleeping with them?

What's your favorite headcanon about your f/o?

What is the dynamic that you and your f/o have?

What does your f/o do for you when you're having a rough day?

Do you like to hold hands? If so, what's that like?

Do they like to give you little kisses? If so, where is their favorite place to kiss? (Face, hands, etc)

Vice versa, do YOU like to give them little kisses? If so, where is YOUR favorite place to give them?

What's your favorite silly leisure activity to do with your f/o?

What is your favorite compliment that your f/o gives you? What is your favorite nickname that they for you, if they have one?

What's your favorite compliment to give THEM? What is your favorite nickname to call them?

Okay I can't wait to see some answers!! Feel free to reblog as many times with as many f/os as you want. ANYONE CAN PARTICIPATE! SEEING THIS POST IS AN INVITATION FOR YOU!!

People I'd like to see answer this off the top of my head (but don't have to!!): @moxanji-real @one-winged-dreams @lovesickvalentines @graveluvr @clawingatmy-enclosure @starshakez @jpeg-indulgence @everynya @tropgothships @selfshipping-tboy @amelielovesamaris @pixel-comfort @fl0ralsxgar

[tracksuitponytail]

These were the fics I read in February 2025. This month, I was once again amazed by this fandom's talent and how stories written years ago can still bring so much joy today.

🩷 feed a fever, starve a heart by @insightfulinsomniac [E, 12k, omegaverse]

When Louis turns twenty-one, he receives a call from the National Secondary Gender Services alerting him to prepare for his first rut. Everyone presents two to three days after their twenty-first birthday, and all heats and ruts require medical supervision just in case one thing goes wrong:

Rut fever.

Louis is certain his first rut will be normal. He hasn’t seen the only person he ever had a crush on in childhood in nearly three years, and besides, they were only ever best friends.

Everything will be fine… right?

🩷 Bijou by @kingsofeverything [E, 6k, friends to lovers]

Being in love with his best friend wouldn't be so awful if Harry didn't have to listen to him constantly complain about how the guys he dates don't measure up.

🩷 Too Young by @jaerie [E, 18k, omegaverse]

Accidentally bonded as 8 and 10 year olds, Louis starts resenting Harry once they were old enough for him to realize what had been taken away from him and now they're roommates who fuck out of obligation,

🩷 Click by @allwaswell16 [E, 5k, college/university AU] via @podfic-pals

When Louis got assigned a roommate, he wasn’t exactly thrilled, but as far as roommates go Marcel was a pretty good one. That was until Marcel started clicking a counter everywhere he went...

🩷 Dear Blue by TheIfInLife / @larryismyotpuniverse [NR, 9k, omegaverse]

Harry wasn’t sure what he was expecting to be on the living room table but a stack of papers definitely wasn’t it.

The paper on top was a plain piece of notebook paper, Louis’ scrawl all over it.

‘Some people collect coins or knick knacks or even dolls. Me? I collected Valentine’s Day cards. When I was six years old, I met the love of my life, my mate. The very same day, he wrote me a card. I saved them all and this year, I wrote back.’

🩷 Chaos by @haztobegood [100 words, mature, drabble]

Against the barricade, it’s complete chaos.

🩷 I Trust You by @neondiamond [teen and up, 1.8k, omegaverse, asexuality]

As an asexual Omega, Harry deals with his heats a little differently than most. His Alpha Louis is nothing but supportive.

🩷 incalescent by @eleadore [E, 5k, omegaverse]

The onset of heat is something Louis still hasn’t learned to recognize.

🩷 When you look at me like that, my darlin', what did you expect? by INnenaHeart / @thechavier [M, 1k, bi awakening]

Louis realizes he's into men because of a long hair, chelsea boots wearing, Harry

Be sure to check the tags if there are any topics or tropes you prefer to avoid, and if you enjoy a fic, consider leaving kudos or a comment to show the author some love 🩷

[terresdebrume]

I keep going back and forth on the topic of where I fall on the allo/aro spectrum, partially because I kind of like. Don't wanna be aro (I'm already trans, queer and autistic with depressive tendencies, I don't need to add another thing to the list)

But another part of it is that even if I am capable of romantic love I probably just wouldn't know, because I already don't really know what platonic love feels like? And I'm not saying I can't love anything or anything like that it's just. Like many other emotions, I kind of have to retroingeneer it, sort of

I know I love my cats, not because I feel a surge of Something when I look at them, but because it makes me smile when they do something cute—my face knows what I'm feeling in those moments, I'm not sure I do. I know I love them because when Pouet died I cried every day for a month and I still cry sometimes, when I think about her. I know I love my cats because my brain keeps lighting up with fear signals when they're sleeping and I don't immediately see their chest move as they breathe.

I know what anxiety feels like, I know what anger feels like (when it explodes), I know what depression feels like because I dealt with them for so long I learned to recognize their physical symptoms! If these emotions didn't leave specific signals in my body then I'm not sure I'd know what they are.

And the thing is... I don't really like. Know what love or affection feels like, I think. Yes I can feel myself smile when I speak to certain people, but I also habitually smile at everybody because it makes things easier socially. I know I like people because if they ask me if I want to do an activity I either say yes or I have regrets about saying no.

My point is: I feel like I don't know my emotions so much as I know the buttons they push in my body, so to speak, but the problem about platonic/romantic love is that I can't imagine they make that different a shame, so who's to say which one it is?

It's funny, in a way, that I don't know something like that at my age. It's also really inconvenient, tbh. There's not really a reason for me to think about this rn except sometimes if I meet a cool dude whom I know is gay I wonder for a minute or two what a relationship with him would be like (which I'm going to assume is not that weird a thing to do) and the last time that happened led to, well. Ponderings about romance I guess

Anyway, the tl;Dr is that it took me decades to figure out the emotions I can recognize now, and I've largely approached social interactions with the inner spirit of a wet Chihuahua for most of that time, so how the fuck do I know if I can't identify those because I'm shit at self understanding or because I don't feel them???

Idk, it's complicated

(Tho honestly it would also be a little bit hilarious if after all this shit I landed on nah just aro. Not my preferred option right now but eh xD)

[pumpkinrootbeer]

say what u will about barry allen but no other superhero has had a worse time. you come in, take up another heros mantle, be a hero for however many years, DIE!!! actually die not comic death but die to the point you are functionally irrelevant for 20 years you completely cease to be that character and the vast majority of people grew up with a different flash, get resurrected you're back now (yay?), writers don't know what to do with you because there's already another flash and there has been for the past two decades so the entire universe kinda hems and haws about what to do with you until they take you out of your main comics and just have you chill in the justice league, then you lose your powers and are once again no longer the flash.

I need a "where are they now" but for Barry Allen flash. dead for Twenty Real Life Years. come back to life. reset the universe. just to lose your powers and be booted again from the superhero title. God himself hates this man

"Oh wally got erased from existence" "well x happens to Batman" it's not even about what happens in the narrative it's like. you're the only mainstream superhero ever that stopped existing for two decades and when they do decide to bring the character back they have no idea what to do with you so you're eventually forever relegated to the sidelines And also you're not the strongest or the most skilled or the fastest flash and they keep retconning all the special stuff You did in specific and refuse to let your narrative exist beyond Dead Mom. bartholomew baby I'm so sorry

[spywhitney]

How I sleep knowing I'll never trust anyone that hates Sydney but worships Richie:

[ssaraexposs]

Oda Sakunosuke & Akutagawa Ryuunosuke

BSD // BEAST

[cherealta]

vivienne would throw all her goals out of the window if it meant staying with the people she loves the most vs agnieszka would isolate herself so she could achieve her goals.

more under the cut!

vivienne grew up in a tight-knit family. she was surrounded by them mainly because one, her grandparents owned a resort in thailand which her mother and uncle helped with, and two, her three cousins feeling like siblings more than anything. because of this she would get lonely easy as not being around people for even a hour would be such a foreign feeling to her. obviously stuff happened as she got older, she grew less close (didn't help moving to the us by herself for the first year when she was just about to turn fourteen, then her mother coming over to the states too when it didn't work out with living with her father - long story). she started losing her mother's constant attention when she was around 10, leading her to try and find it in other places. the co-dependant bsf was that place. it wasn't healthy for either of them. that best friend in question being dao - who'll get her proper introduction soon hopefully. but for now i'll leave it at that (mwahahaha).

this didn't get better when she moved to the states. in fact it got worse. she went to some fancy boarding school that her father sent her to because he still couldn't face her properly. she had nobody that she knew by her side. everyone was a stranger. not only that but she had to learn american customs, to conform to their standards. so she did anything, literally anything, to get the attention she needed. she didn't want to be alone. because for vivienne being alone meant she failed. it reminded her of her mother's sudden distance. she never got a full reason why, just guesses, and it lead her to believe she wasn't a good enough daughter for her mother anymore. not only that she couldn't let them leave like dao. it lead to a lot of hurt and trouble for vivienne. even though she hates looking back on this part of herself i think it helped her grow a lot. it made her realize her actions can have bad consequences, even the smallest ones.

at berry high where she could make her own rules and not subject herself to hellish social standards she was setting herself at the boarding school i think it helped her relax and be a lot less reckless. but she still loses herself at times. not only that but it's hard for the students to see vivienne faltering because they see her as a symbol more than another human being (not exactly their fault and honestly this more how vivienne thinks than the actual reality. but i'll explore this a lot more when i go into detail about how the ace saga personally affected her). hell she even did fall into the trap of pushing people away because guess what - she's human!

but at the end of it all, vivienne doesn't even know what she wants for herself. even by the end of her senior year were she grows A LOT. this leads her to have a gap year and going back to thailand for a year. it helped her understand herself more and to heal a bit from her childhood. now in the year of 2024 which she's currently 26 i think she still has a lot of places to grow. learning how to be selfish for ONCE will help this girl by a long run. somebody tell her it's okay to argue for her opinions, thoughts and feelings instead of feeling like somebody will shoot her in the face if she ever does anything that they don't like.

then you have agnieszka. a lonely child. her mother and father clearly fell out of love by 1996, but they didn't divorce. her mother had to fight her family to even marry him. he was a poor immigrant from poland, to her family they saw him as a nothing more than a dirty social climber. her agreeing to name her agnieszka was a massive fuck you, so divorcing him will just let her family have that win which she'll not let them have. then on the other hand agnieszka's father had finally managed to get himself (and by extension his siblings) a very comfortable life. why would he give that up? they live in the same house until agnieszka has moved out, trying to keep up an "image". even after her mother found out about vivienne and his affair, she still stayed. but they don't share the same room. they don't even sit in the same room as one another.

agnieszka being undiagnosed with autism didn't help either. she constantly felt out of place. her mother tried to "correct" her odd ways, her father told her that she should only embrace those ways in private. this caused her to mask, which lead to her hiding such a key part of her identity. she would just be whatever people said she was. it was easier that way. it's not like she agreed with most people. she didn't understand why life worked the way it did. why her parents lived like that. but it seemed like a easier choice for her at the time.

when she went to school (catholic private school no doubt) she had to conceal even more of herself. she had a gut feeling she liked girls when she was around 14, though she didn't get the confirmation until a girl kissed her. hell she barely knew this girl! she doesn't even remember how it happened. but she was afraid - until she was 17 when she started to give less of a fuck. it became an open secret to the sapphics of the private school. letting herself be their experiment. nothing real ever came out of them. but agnieszka didn't complain. it wasn't like she could hate a bunch of cute girls wanting to kiss her. but it didn't help her with the feeling that most relationships are just superficial nonsense that people use to get further in life and for their own selfish reasons.

she had friends in school - though she lost contact with all of them except two. a lot of them didn't understand why she'd cut herself off from her parents just to live a life she wanted. but agnieszka was tired of living in the shadow of somebody or just being an extension of them. she wanted to make a name for herself but she didn't want to let people in too close. if her parents failed her how could anybody else not?

this is why she chose to showcase her art and became a fashion designer. some of the collections were about personal parts of her life covered with fancy and pretentious words as the name of the collection and then some were things she was simply liked. it allowed people to know who she was while simultaneously not directly saying it.

i think like vivienne (but instead of high school it was university) helped her grow. she learnt to let people get close to her, to build actual connections. it was hard at first. she was still lowkey socially awkward and had a hard time understanding others but as time passed she had a better grasp. though she made sure she lived life how she wanted. if anybody disagreed? they could simply leave. no matter how close. but at the same time i think learning that relationships don't have to be this super complex soul-bonding thing could help her... a lot.

[my-thoughts-and-junk]

thinking about superheroes unfortunately