#anti almond stans

[drakaripykiros130ac]

One thing I have always admired about the Blacks is how they are a tight family unit, compared to the greens.

The Blacks did not even start out as a one whole family. Rhaenyra and Daemon both had different spouses, children from different marriages. And after Rhaenyra and Daemon finally married, the Blacks all became one in the true sense of the word family. They always have each other’s backs.

The greens, on the other hand, always seemed to me as a necessary alliance, but never a true family. For Alicent and Otto, the green kids and grandkids were nothing more than their political chess pieces.

Even when Daemon thought that “a son for a son” would hurt the greens just as much as they hurt Rhaenyra, it didn’t really have that effect. The only one who truly suffered was Helaena. The others, especially Alicent and Otto, saw this as a direct attack on their faction, and as a result they needed to strike back. But they didn’t truly give a damn that the little boy was gone from their lives. They lost an important chess piece. That’s about it.

There are a lot of things which make the greens seem as an alliance rather than a family. Such as the fact that Aemond secretly seeks to take the throne from his brother. He doesn’t actually do it, but it is constantly implied how much worthier he deems to be compared to Aegon (both in the book and the show). And he didn’t hesitate to take charge and wear the Conqueror’s crown while Aegon was incapacitated.

Next, there is Daeron, who barely even knows his so-called family, given how much time he spent in Oldtown. He is a Hightower pawn with a dragon, and used as such throughout the whole Dance.

As for Helaena, while she doesn’t have issues in the book, she is still treated as the least important green. Nobody truly cares about her suffering. Alicent put the crown on her head and called her “Queen” yet she constantly undermined her position, and acted as if she was still the Queen. And after Helaena does commit suicide, there is barely any mourning. Alicent plots to have her son married to Cassandra Baratheon and produce male heirs, just to avoid having Rhaenyra’s son end up on the throne.

Finally, we have Ser Crispin Cole. He likes to think that he is part of the “green family” but he really isn’t. He is the family guard dog. They are basically using him. Using his hatred for Rhaenyra for their own gain.

The Blacks have such great family vibes, that it’s a shame they didn’t focus on it in the show. The show writers were really lazy in the writing of the family dynamic for Team Black. They spent so many happy years on Dragonstone before the war started. We barely got a glimpse of that.

Don’t even get me started on how they didn’t show even a bit of Daemyra’s married life. Episodes 8-10 were straight up business. It would have been nice to show how happy the Blacks were away from the Court drama and the greens’ bullying.

[daenerystemper]

ali/cent “the mother of dragons” & hel/aena “my dreams come true” & ae/gon “has the best bond with his dragon ever” & ae/mond “sad meow meow” versus the character, daenerys targaryen, their stans all hate but love to attribute titles/quote/plots to because “dragons aren’t nukes when our faves have them” because “we’re talking about the show!!!  not the books!!!  why would we read ThOsE ProBlEmAtIc ThInGs” because like.  what is the truth.

[helaenasaegon]

I keep seeing headcanons of Aem0nd being so good with the twins, while Aegon sucks, and like... what?!? We’ve never even seen Aemond look at the twins or even mention their names in either canon. 🤨

I’m not saying that Aegon is a good father because we’ve never seen or heard of him being one in the slightest (at least not on the show; I haven’t read F&B yet, and his kids are barely mentioned on his Wiki page), but I wouldn’t trust Aem0nd with a child; he’s too angry and narcissistic, too much like his mother, and she’s literally an abuser.

[hachichimitsu2]

kenman + bunny + stanman if youre still doing the shipping thing

I love Kenman! I think the Vaccination special and Post-Covid special have really solidified the ship for me. I’d even go far as to say it’s my favorite Cartman ship. When I was watching the “brovorce” (still love whoever came up with this term), I like the idea that only Cartman and Kenny considers the main 4 dynamic a family in a sense. A found family. The resemblances are there. Stan and Kyle being the parents at the brink of divorce, while Cartman and Kenny being the children preventing them from doing so, just so they can maintain the familial dynamic that they can’t really get anywhere else. They have this sort of solidarity in a sense, not just in similar familial and financial circumstances, but also in the fact that……it’s implied that Cartman is aware of Kenny’s deaths, which is a theory that greatly fascinates me. When Cartman confessed that he sees Kenny as his best friend in “Kenny Dies”, it really felt genuine to me. Sure, he used those stem cells to make a Shakey’s Pizza, but I feel like it wasn’t his initial plan and did so anyways when he found out it was too late to save him. I also love any moment where they just hang out together. “Whale Whores” is such a hilarious Cartman / Kenny dynamic, and I love any moment between them where they’re just dicking around and being bros. “The Poor Kid” also really fleshed out their dynamic even further, as well as the whole Coon vs Mysterion thing going on. I ship them mostly platonically though. I have a hard time shipping Cartman romantically with anyone given his nature, but Kenman might be the only thing closer to that 😭

I have a major soft spot with Bunny, considering how popular it was back in the day and I’ve read my fair share of fics where Bunny is always happening in the background. “Going Native” aside, I do like the little moments these two share. Kenny being the one to invite Butters in their board game nights, Butters being concerned over Kenny losing in the Magic the Gathering tournament, Kenny literally projectile vomiting after “cheesing” only for Butters to be unphased and comforting him anyway, how Kenny was the only one to understand Butters when his face was all puffed up from his almond allergy, how it’s canon that Butters has a crush on Princess Kenny. I could go on, but considering how their friendship with each other is never really highlighted in-canon, it’s interesting seeing the small moments that they do have with each other. If there was one thing I wish this dynamic was explored upon more in the fandom, it’s arguably the “ugly” sides of their characters. Bunny is relatively seen as a fluffy, hurt / comfort ship, but there’s a lot of potential where Bunny can be used as a dynamic to allow them to grow and explore deeper themes. Both suffer from parental abuse but in different forms, and both use their superhero alter-egos as a means to deal with their trauma but in different ways. Kenny in the form as an anti-hero and Butters in the form as a villain. It’s important to acknowledge that Kenny and Butters aren’t “nice” all the time, just like most of the other characters in South Park, and I like the idea of the two of them being authentic with each other whenever they feel too “burned out” from helping others. Butters has been increasingly suffering from inferior Te (IXFP) meltdowns lately, perhaps as a sign that the things he’s been putting up with has taken a toll on him, and I like Bunny interpretations where Kenny just “gets” that, knowing all the shit Butters has been through in his life. Both Kenny and Butters have a history of their objectifying view on women, but they also have a history in being open to femininity and womanhood in their gender expression, in which I’m hoping that experimenting with the latter more helps them see the hypocrisy of their thinking in the former. Both characters love to help people, but also don’t want to help people if they don’t feel like it (e.g. Kenny in Whale Whores, Butters in Hummels and Heroin). But the defining feature in both characters is that they have a conscience and are driven by their unwavering morals. Butters feeling morally disgusted having to play along as a squirrel for the Britney Spears episode, just like Kenny feeling morally disgusted having to use McNuggets in their fights. In fact, I can really see the parallels between them in their respective roles. Honestly, I think there is a lot of potential between the two personality-wise, in which I wish the show really delves into more! Also, adult Bunny is, like, super good.

I desperately wish the show provides more Stan / Cartman dynamics, because I feel like there’s a lot to work with between the two of them. The dynamic in itself has the potential of feeding us solid character analysis with both characters, mostly due to just how similar they are. They sort of parallel with each other, in a sense that they share a lot of traits. I did mention about their similarities here, but be warned, I talk a lot about cognitive functions 😅 (x). I think Cartman does respect Stan at a certain level, considering that he always goes along with whatever he suggests, has helped him a few times and even let the pangolin go just for him to be happy. It’s hard to say whether I ship them platonically, because I like the idea of Cartman bringing out the worst in Stan the more he hangs out with him one-on-one. They both have a history of covering each other’s backs, such as in Turd Burglars and Toilet Paper, where both Stan and Cartman have no problems lying to get out of a situation. Or how both Stan and Cartman know their own mother’s credit card number (“Do you wanna use your mom’s or my mom’s?”). Or how Stan and Cartman find some things funny even if they are mean-spirited (“Bass to Mouth” being a good example of that). “Two Days Before the Day After Tomorrow” really hammers in their dynamic perfectly though, where it’s established that they can get along well due to similar ways of thinking and processing things, and yet all it takes for things to go south is for Cartman to convince Stan to do something immoral, which is where things starts to tumble for the both of them. I find it interesting personally!

[houseofdabs]

I realized I never made an introduction post so here's a lil about me and my page!

Hi I'm Almond (she/they) ! I'm 20 and I make art and write dumb lil stories about the Sinclair brothers. I ask that you please don't repost my art or anything that I write

I take requests for fics but please do not request anything like:

-incest

-anything romantic or sexual (I only plan to write for the Sinclair brothers for the moment, so anything like x reader i wont write unless i plan to do it myself, if i do write x reader I will write genderless unless its self indulgent)

-rape (also please do not interact if you post rape fics, as an SA survivor that shit makes me extremely uncomfortable, dub-con and cnc is okay but full on r is.... ESPECIALLY if you romanticize it)

-pedophilia or CSA

DNI:

-if you are a bigot of any sort (TERF, racist, homophobic, transphobic, ableist, etc.)

-if you stan Costas Mandylor or Megan Fox

-if you're pro-ship, anti anti

-tcc

Before you follow:

I don't know how to use tumblr all that well so if I don't respond or anything it's because I'm fighting for my life out here and idk what's going on

I write mostly fluff but I will write angst and things such as child abuse (i will always try my best to tag, if i fail to please please let me know)

I tend to project onto the Sinclair brothers and quite a bit of that goes into the fics I write, they may seem OOC but all I can say is if you don't like how I portray them there are plenty of other very talented writers on here who could sate your interests

I might also write for other media like Saw, this account isn't strictly House of Wax although it might seem like it lol

I don't take requests for art but I might draw things suggested to me, it's hard to find motivation to draw and it takes so long to finish a piece so I won't be able to churn out stuff as often and i'd rather do it on my own terms

Also minors are welcome since I don't post +18 content, it's really just fluff here, but if I make a thirst post I ask that you please do not interact with it, it makes me super uncomfortable

I do have a NSFW account, I ask that no minors follow or interact with it at all, it’s @house-of-ass

Anyways I hope you enjoy what I post and don't be a stranger ! My ask box and dms are always open to talk !

[justsomeguycore]

the nut fandom does not talk enough about marcona almonds. i’m a normal almond anti btw but marcona almonds i have no choice but to stan

[anyaaforger]

ive been your follower from your tua days and you've hinted at not liking klave this is not hate of any sort but im just curious as to why you dont like them

my dear dear anon, are you trying to get me cancelled by the klave stans djhsbhdsjg oh no this is such a dreaded question but im going to answer it anyway, because well it is what it is.

okay first off I have left the tua fandom...basically permanently, mostly because I just lost interest, regardless of all of that i have nothing against klave or klave shippers I just don't like/don't care about this ship.

I will admit I thought it was great at first and was very adorable but in all honesty, the fandom ruined klave for me, fanon klave was just so,,,,,,hhhhh i don't know how to explain it.

but fanon klave was so bad to the point of it affecting my view of canon klave.

and also agree with me or not, the tua fandom is super racist as they come. and everyone just made klave out to be the cute white boy mlm uwu and I just got really sick of it because other ships were put on a lower standard like almond or delila or diedora and as much as some people will deny it a lot of it had to do with the character's races.

Also, the fact that I never really enjoyed Klaus character and dave's what? 10 minutes of screen time did not help my case. also some people in the fandom just really ruined klave for me but we don't talk about it.

welp, that's everything on my experience with klave, again I'm not anti-klave i just don't give a fuck about it and I don't enjoy it as much as i do other tua ships. hope that answers your question anon!

crossing fingers that i dont get cancelled.

ALSO BAVE FOR THE WIN!!

[onelastbreath-writes]

On Bruce And Texting:

Author’s Note: Hello and welcome, this is my first properly written fic, originally posted to my AO3, and now that I have finally created a writing blog, it’s here as well. Please enjoy!!  AO3.  Masterlist

Warnings: Hopefully none, its all cute and fluff <3

Summary: Bruce Wayne texts like he's sending correspondences to the Queen, so of course the little monsters he calls children just have to make fun of him! Brats, the lot of them, but he wouldn't have them any other way.

Features: Bruce Wayne/Selina Kyle, all the bats and birds, mentions JL, no crime fighting, only family fluff, jokes and nods to Millennial and GenZ shenanigans.

Word Count: 2.7k

---

Billionaire, genius, tech expert, father of many children, and all around up-to-date-with-just-about-everything type of person he may be, it is also a well-known Fact that Bruce Wayne, the Batman(TM) himself, can’t text to save his life.

Whether it’s due to his Very Proper English Upbringing, his inability to be informal via written correspondences of any type, his indifference, or the fact that it bothers his children so much, Bruce Wayne has not and never will text with anything less than perfect grammar, spelling, and formality. If he has not sent you a proper letter (featuring a dedication, indentation for every paragraph, signature, and post-script when applicable), he did, in fact, not send you that text. Informality is not his Batman Way(TM) according to his children... he’s not too sure what that even means, but it makes his young ones laugh so it’s probably fine?  

His oldest children (Richard and Jason) were raised in the time of Change, where computers, internet access, social media, and all things similar were only just being introduced into households en-masse. They were young enough to remember a time without such devices and connectivity (both for very different reasons, of course, but they grew up without the newest technology none-the-less). They could understand his relationship to the digital environment more so than his younger children, but they still tended to poke fun at his ‘texting blunders’ regularly. All his kids somehow ended up as brats. He doesn’t know how this happened. It’s certainly not his fault. He blames the League members, and especially Clark Kent, for their defiant personalities. 

His younger children, whom he loves dearly, like to confuse him as much as they possibly can with their slang, egregious spelling errors, and all-around ‘internet humour’. He doesn’t know what ‘wig’ or ‘worm’ or ‘oof’ or anything means. He has no idea what those dances are, or how they relate to the music that seems to always accompany them, and for the love of all that is good, don’t ask him what he thinks of this or that ‘meme’. What even is a ‘meme’, and should he be more concerned about his kids being obsessed with them? He tries, oh my god, does he try to follow the children’s conversations, but they somehow all learned a language he has no idea how to decrypt. His best response to them once they start speaking in tongues is as follows: smile but not too much, listen to child even though he is deeply confused, and pat child on head or shoulder when they are finished and are looking for assurance.  

He refuses to be a parent who ignores or tunes out his children, so he always makes sure to put down his work, his crossword, his tools, or whatever else is in his hands when a child searches him out for a conversation. But somehow, despite all the time he spends around them and their strange words, when he gets text from them comprised of abbreviations, acronyms, and completely random words, he goes a little cross eyed. He would never tell anyone, but he keeps a running list on his phone about the things they say that he has had to translate in the past. Spilling tea? Speaking the truth, usually to do with gossip. Wow? Multiple possible meanings: either a video game, or someone saying it (different pronunciation depending on context and who sent the text). Stickbug? A nice little prank with no ulterior motives, just for fun. Something along the lines of “this basic bitch Karen at the grocery store who is a dirty rat-licker and is def an anti-vaxxer just took 45 (forty-five) minutes to decide she didn’t actually want that almond milk. I Stan the cashier who had to put up with her. Rad af dude.” roughly translates to “A rude, middle-aged white woman who wasn’t wearing a mask and doesn’t believe in disease control or vaccinating her children wasted a great deal of an essential worker’s time in the checkout line. The cashier was very professional in their dealings with said customer and should be commended on their actions.”  

Given enough time, the internet for searching up new slang words, and occasionally some help from a friend (Alfred, Selina, Lucius, another of his children, etc), Bruce could decode and respond appropriately to most texts. He was quite proud of these achievements, and although he didn’t always like how often his children were on their phones or computers or gaming systems, he was quite proud of how integrated and easily they adapted to the ever-evolving world of electronics. All his kids were gifted in many ways, but their ability to learn, their hunger for knowledge, and their perseverance when exploring new and challenging ideas were always the things that he was most impressed by.  

He could do without their comments though. Yes, surprisingly, he did manage to get girlfriends with his type of texting. No, he doesn’t miss the ‘good old days’ when telegraphs were the main form of long-distance correspondence (how old do these brats think he is?!). And yes, he does know what a “tweet” is, and how to “post” on his social media accounts, and what “sliding into your DMs” is (thanks to a frantic search after a WE employee mentioned it near him). The Wayne children, truly whom and what Bruce considers his pride and joy, are cruel little jerks to him sometimes. His hoard of parenting books fails to mention what one should do when their children gang up on them. Bullying is covered of course, but he can’t really talk to a teacher or his guardian about how his second son calls him an idiot sandwich, or that his third son regularly tries to get him to do something “For The Vine”. His oldest and youngest boys are only slightly better in the bullying him department; Richard and his puppy dog eyes when he wants to do something dangerous or not-Alfred-approved, and Damian and his growing collection of pets because “Mother never let me have them, and I am deprived, and don’t you love me Father?”.  

His only good child is his beautiful daughter Cassandra, the flower of the Wayne clan. She gives him hugs, and pats his hands, and can sit with him and just enjoy the quiet and stillness when his other children are not around. Her language skills are improving by leaps and bounds every day, and her heart and spirit are unparalleled, but her main method of communication is in her movements. Her hands, her posture, her dancing; Bruce couldn’t think of a more graceful, fluid, powerful person if the world depended on it. His amazing little girl doesn't bully him (and if she ever does, he probably deserves it, he trusts her), so he turns to her most of all when it comes to communicating with someone else. She doesn’t let him send anything that is “sketchy” or “wrong words, bad meaning, Dad”. He would give the world to his children, but for Cassandra, he would destroy it and build her an entirely new one.

Social media, especially with his terrible children all having accounts dedicated to making him look like a simpleton, was another rocky terrain he had to navigate on the regular. He had professionals in place at WE to run the company’s many accounts, paid top dollar to help appeal and relate to the masses, but he mostly had to manage his personal accounts himself. And so, @TheRealBruceWayne was one of the greatest struggles in his adult life. Why can’t he just retweet every post from @WE_Offical and leave it at that? People should only want to know about what’s new with the company. What do you mean they want to know more about our family and private lives? That’s unnecessary, and not important to the running of the company, right? Right? Why are you laughing?!

Luckily, most people in his life aren’t so intimately aware of his struggles. He can act and lie all he wants about being “hip” and “woke” and whatever else the kids are saying these days when he’s with the JL or in board meeting intermissions, networking with his associates. The Batman knows all and sees all, Green Lantern, of course he understands how “Tiktok” works. The Batman is a robot without a funny bone in his body, Green Arrow, but I did witness him sigh and say “same” when he knocked his cup of coffee over while on monitor duty once. No matter how badly his darling children call him out, the Justice League would be so much worse. So, it’s one of his most importantly guarded secrets... even more so than his secret identity at this point. Being unmasked in front of every Gotham rogue would be less detrimental to him than his “friends” learning of his utter ineptitude in staying on top of the younger generations’ lingo.  

When questioned why the League doesn’t have a group chat or a forum or anything that they can use to contact each other outside of world ending matters and communicator (”because we’re friends, Batman! Ma and Pa Kent would love to have everyone over for a barbecue!”), the person who dared even mention texting isn’t even given a verbal response. They are just glared at, silently, often for several uninterrupted minutes, frozen in place only able to breathe shallowly in fear of setting off the Bat. “You know why” his glare says, “I’ll eat you, your family, and everything you have ever held dear” the younger members hear. No one makes the mistake of asking about it twice.  

Outside of his children and Alfred, and his small circle of true friends involved in all aspects of his life, there is only one more person Bruce allows to know of his Darkest Secret. Selina. Someone most people would recommend he not be involved with. Catwoman: accomplished thief, distraction, chaos-incarnate most nights, and his significant other. Sharp as a whip (ha) and crafty like no one’s business; he is head-over-heels. On again/Off again and all over the place their long romance has been, but no one has ever challenged him, intrigued him, like this clever, beautiful, amazing woman has. He’s brought his partners around his children before, both for their judgement, and for their worst behaviours to vet out any “unworthy” suitors. He trusts them explicitly to tell him the truth about those he allows into the manor; were they rude about Bruce wanting to have group outings, did they say something about Bruce’s money, did they get angry or shout or make anyone uncomfortable while they were here? If his children even looked slightly unhappy with someone he brought them to meet, that person would not be invited back. Children, he finds, have the best sight when meeting people; no motives other than finding safety and love, no fear of consequences from speaking honestly...  

Selina, or Catwoman, as they had known her first, was someone all of his kids liked without issue right off the bat. She would make puns and play word games with Richard, his first Robin, tiny, still working on his English, able to connect with him over their acrobatic abilities. His second Robin, Jason, skittish and feisty as an alley cat, knew of Catwoman and her daring escapades long before Bruce found him. The young boy had a few heroes, and no one (not even Wonder Woman) could compare to the incredible burglar who bought food and jackets and medicine for the street kids in Crime Alley. She was saintly in his eyes, and to this day, Bruce was still working on convincing Jason he was good enough for Selina. Tim and Cass and Stephanie (basically another daughter to Bruce, she spends so much time with the family) all joined the Wayne clan around the same time and officially met Selina as a friend and partner of his, and in the good graces of his first two sons. Selina, in all her nightly business, and many travels and acquaintances, had met the three independently, helping Tim get home safely back to Drake Manor when he escaped to photograph Batman and Robin in the dank darkness of Gotham when he was just a young boy, spending some time with Cassandra when her despicable father left her alone long enough to recover from his rough treatment, showing her the first scraps of kindness in her short life, and watching over and protecting Stephanie as she followed and sabotaged her father Cluemaster and his criminal activities. There was no need to win them over once they met her civilian identity, she had already gained their favour and acceptance, and they were happy to have her near their new family. Damian, his youngest, his biological son, took the longest to warm up to Selina. He would never fault his little boy for fighting so hard against a woman that was not his birth mother, especially after all the manipulation and cruelty dealt to him by Talia for the first decade of his life. But as he began to learn about his father, these people in his father’s life, and this woman that was Not His Mother but “still okay, I guess”, he grew to see her as acceptable. Her cats definitely helped, he’d say, no one with cats that loyal and happy can be a bad person.  

Selina, the love of his life, he’d admit quietly to himself, was also a dirty traitor and in cahoots with his terrible children. She would say his texting skills were “sweet” and “very gentlemanly” when she was asked by anyone outside the family, and privately to him she would say she thought they were “adorable” and “please don’t ever change, Bruce, I like it.” However, nothing seemed to bring her more joy than his children sending her texts and “Snaps” and “memes” about him to her. Sometimes it was screenshots of the family group chat that they forced him to join, where he would post “To whom it may concern...” and “In regards to...” when he needed to reach all his delinquents in a timely manner. Sometimes it was video clips of him staring at his phone intently, then typing something on his laptop, then him reading and nodding along, and then finally going back and responding to the text he received with a small, pleased smile. And sometimes, when he got too injured or was too incapacitated to text coherently, he’d have his nearest able child transcribe his text to her. Depending on who was texting her for Bruce, she could expect many different things. From Dick, she’d get lots of shorthand and silly emojis, and many, many, winky and crying/laughing faces in brackets depending on what Bruce had made him type. Jason, bless him, used proper English most of the time, but would never write a single word of Bruce’s soliloquy to her, instead she enjoyed the TL;DR version: “hurt again, missing you, come home soon, blah blah blah, sappy gross words here, love you”. Tim would allow speech recognition to run on Bruce’s phone, and just let it go until the man passed out. Stephanie, the little chaos child, would film it and send it to her, including all her muffled laughter and shaky camera shots of Bruce emoting with his available undamaged limbs. Cass, still more versed in physicality and emotive movement, would interpret Bruce’s text into mostly emojis, hearts and happy faces and animals, but would include photos, and phrases that she found important enough to type out for Selina. Damian, forever his Father’s son in any way possible, texts very formally, referring to her or his siblings Bruce mentions by last name only, and lots of “Father requests me to tell you...” and “Kyle, know that Father...”. She adores these kids, and once Bruce recovers enough to text her himself, or she gets back to the Manor, they get to laugh about whatever she was sent this time.  

So, while it’s true that Bruce couldn’t text his way out of a wet paper bag, and his kids are sometimes brats about it, there’s probably a lot of different reasons he doesn’t spend too much time trying to improve his skills. Whether it’s the smiles of his children, the giggles of his significant other, or the warm feeling in his chest when he sees all his important people bonding over him, well, in the end, who’s to say?

[sybyr]

:) tuu all “Gem Stans”

i want tu say this now n get it out of the way for the rest of the year: if yuu have the weird/heavily misunderstood notion of what our goals are, im not going back n forth. i shuuldnt, & never knew why i did in the first place. I'm 10X'ing this shit, i been wanted tu pack venues, been wanted hella videos, more videos than amv's (still love it yall, this is a different context. dont be offended, or cry below or whatever.) i stand for infiltrating a system thats not designed for out-of-the-box thinkers/artists/persons, that takes growth n a certain energy n force, so all those that Prefer, PREFER, to sonically stay in my 2015-2016 catalog, stay there, & stay put. unfollow Me right now, yuu won't like what I have tu offer yuu next month or beyond & i know it so there's no point in yelling at a tall, steel wall made out of lead tu get my point across. which goes into: getting my point across. no need tu keep saying Onfroy & Myself never having actual, physical, or mutual beef, all the videos floating around where "I'm getting bitched at on the phone", is whatever. im not constantly fighting tu shift a narrative that seems more than likely impossible tu nudge with my current level of leverage. im not striving for perfectionism, thats been hindering me & doesnt make much sense tu du in todays' landscape of the genre of Hip-Hop/Rap, this is what i mean by unfollow if yuu're stuck, all this shit will make yuu depressed as fuck, imma sound "normie" as shit or whatever, im smirking. getting hacked back in November was just icing on the cake of how i already felt about the 'scene', which leads into questions about the motive of that play, tbh, i needed a nice guud kick, that was it. next thing, Anti-World youtube channel was never for any submissions, it's a collective, ik it's big, which has its downsides, nevertheless the most active members within it are the ones that yuu'll be more aware of before the turn of the decade. now, im just gonna talk my shit: i birthed "Trap Metal", n my many many Sons are thriving from that lane I crafted out of self-therapy, which is great (in a fatherly sense i guess), but now, it's time for Dad tu have his meal. It's like I've been workin for 7 days straight (the equivalent of like.. 2 years in my mind for this analogy), with no breaks, just an almond or pistachio break here n there, no sleep, crusty feet, chipped nails, just toiling n toiling away. worst of all, the powerplant is shutting down, the robots are coming in, taking my "job", so, it makes sense tu run up the bands. so kids, Dad is very tired, yuu ate all the big pieces of chicken tuu, smh, imma grab the belt, wait right here.

[newstfionline]

Inside The World’s Largest Walnut Forest

By Peter Ford, Roads & Kingdoms, July 2017

ARSLANBOB, Kyrgyzstan--Nestled in a lush valley of Kyrgyzstan’s Chatkal mountain range lies the village of Arslanbob, home to both the world’s largest natural walnut forest and a legend, the truth of which is harder to crack than the nut itself.

“This is a secret,” said Roma Tohtarov, a guide with the village’s Community Based Tourism (CBT) organization, before continuing: “During the Soviet times, Red Army soldiers came with saws and cut down a large number of walnut trees and sent them to Rolls-Royce in England to be used to decorate the inside of their cars. Mr. Churchill had seen a piece of wood from here before the war, and asked Stalin for some wood in exchange for weapons.”

Verification of the story proves elusive; the luxury car manufacturer did not reply to questions and the story does not appear in any public records.

But it is an example of the kind of legend that villagers have passed on through the generations about the forest. Such is the central importance that walnut trees play in Arslanbob.

Hugging the 6,500-foot-high slopes in the shadow of the Babash-Ata mountains, the sprawling, ethnically Uzbek village is home to 16,000 people, most of whom have livelihoods that revolve around the annual harvest of the walnuts.

Families spend the long winters extracting the nuts from their soft outer covers and cracking the hard shells. Pretty much everyone, old and young, is involved in the process.

“Full nuts we sell, broken ones are made into oil--we rub it on our skin in winter to keep warm,” explained Tohtarov. “Of course, we also eat them,” he added, “but by the end of autumn everyone has eaten too many and are sick of them.”

Fortunately, there is a wide international market for walnuts not consumed locally. According to the United Nation’s trade statistics database UN Comtrade, 1,200 tons of walnuts were exported by Kyrgyzstan in 2016, worth $2 million.

They come from a forest that spreads east and west of Arslanbob in a confusing network of trails that weave through the dark green of the forest, punctured by patches of grass pasture and blossoming wild apple trees.

As you enter the forest, the smell of wood and coal fires near the village gives way to an earthy richness, as the muddy ebony paths crisscross over and around undulating hills. Tire tracks from Lada Niva cars-- the tank-like 4x4s ubiquitous across former Soviet states--mingle with horse and donkey hooves, churning the cloying mud into an even thicker mess, greatly slowing attempts to walk.

Recent nursery-grown walnut trees line up in regimental rows, while the older trees stand alone. In some of the deeper sections, trees are 500 years old, according to Tohtarov. Walnuts from these trees are prized for their superior flavor.

“October 2 is the beginning of the walnut season officially, but in September people start to collect from the trees closest to town, to stop the kids from getting them and trading for ice cream,” he said.

During the harvest season, hordes decamp to the forest, setting up makeshift shelters to allow for easier walnut collection, and the whole event has a carnival feel, with people sharing food and gathering around campfires to sing and share stories.

Story telling is an important part of Arslanbob culture, leading to various explanations over how the walnut trees came to be in the valley.

“There are two similar stories involving Alexander the Great, and at least two others saying important Islamic men brought the seeds from paradise to plant here,” Tohtarov explained.

“I don’t believe the Alexander stories, but about the Farsi or Arabic visitor bringing the seeds, yes, it must be true. Someone had to bring the seeds for the trees, as how else did they come here?” he asked as he slipped and slid up the forest track still muddy from the morning’s downpour, occasionally panting for breath, a result, he joked, of spending the winter months eating walnuts and getting fat.

Zahid Ubayidullaev, a former guide who now devotes his time to running one of the homestay options for visitors, explained the Alexander stories over hot black tea and walnuts at the single-story house built by his grandfather.

“When Alexander and his army was crossing the area, some of the soldiers got sick. Alexander sought the help of the local people, who gave them some of the walnuts to eat, and the men all got better. In gratitude Alexander did not attack them, and they accepted him as their king and built the village here,” he said.

“The other version says that after fighting nearby, some of Alexander’s men were injured and couldn’t travel with his army as it continued its journey. So they were left behind in this valley and expected to die. They ate some of the walnuts and recovered and decided to live here, which is why some people have blue eyes and light curly hair,” he said, repeating the somewhat common idea that classically European features sometimes exhibited across Central Asia can be traced back to Alexander’s rovings.

The forest has played an increasingly important role in the village since the fall of the Soviet Union. In the Soviet-era, everyone had a basic income and guaranteed work, with potato farming the primary occupation. Collecting the forest’s bounty was simply an additional source of food and income. But upon independence in 1991, Kyrgyzstan lost the financial support that Russia provided. Lacking the petrochemical resources of fellow -stans Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, citizens found it increasingly difficult to make ends meet. In Arslanbob, residents quickly looked to the forest to provide their needs.

The village’s economic fortunes now rise and fall on the strength of the walnut harvest. This year, for the second year in a row, residents are concerned that the walnut yield will be disappointing.

On a recent visit, vigorous spring showers had added to the muddy remnants of a late dump of snow that blanketed the valley in up to a foot of snow. Drifts of what at first glance looked like a plague of fat green caterpillars turned out to be a carpet of dead walnut flowers, discarded by the trees after the frosts that accompanied the snow.

The seasonal nature of the harvest has led to efforts to diversify employment options in Arslanbob, primarily in the form of tourism. Efforts to bring in outside visitors to experience the natural beauty of the area have been decades in the making.

Speaking at a 1995 conference in Arslanbob convened to explore ways to preserve the forest, then-forestry minister T.M. Musuraliev waxed lyrical: “The walnut forests of southern Kyrgyzstan represent a great recreational asset for the population. The pure air, with the fragrance of trees and flowers, healthy, clear water, hundreds of picturesque gorges, mountain waterfalls and lakes attract thousands of tourists yearly from other Central Asian countries.”

Visitors have generally been welcomed by the community since.

“The rise in tourism has been broadly accepted by the community. Some of the older and more religious men do not like the tattoos or shorty-shorts on show, but that is about it,” explained Hayat Tarikov, Arslanbob CBT manager and a former forest ranger.

Speaking from his photo-festooned office near the village square, he added: “Its life. We have to change.”

The CBT network has proved an increasingly source of employment in the village, Hayat explained. In 2001 there were seven people working at the Arslanbob CBT. In 2016, that figure had risen to 162, with locals employed as guides, cooks, porters, homestay hosts, and drivers.

In concert with the growing tourism industry has been government-led efforts to protect the forests from overuse and exploitation.

“There is now a tree nursery where new walnut trees are grown and later transplanted to the forest. Cutting the living trees for firewood is banned; instead, the forest rangers identify the dead trees and branches that people can use instead,” said Hayat.

The 1995 conservation conference identified key areas that were threatening the forest, which at some 74,000 acres is a shadow of the former 1.5 million acres that the forest of wild walnut, apple, pistachio, plum, almond, and pear use to cover. Prior to 1917, logging was unchecked. In 1945, the forest received protected status, which limited the felling of trees, but not the damage caused to the forest’s ability to grow and replenish old trees from overgrazing by domestic animals, fuelwood collections, haymaking, and the almost 100 percent collection of fruit and nuts.

High fences of dead branches and barbed wire now partition the forest areas closest to the village. Locals can rent land from the forest ranger, in exchange for a percentage of their harvest.

Tohtarov said outside visitors had begun to influence how people in the region care for the forest, encouraging a culture of not littering during excursions.

It is also helping reintegrate the Arslanbob community into Kyrgyz life, after it recoiled following anti-Uzbek violence across the south of the country in 2010.

That year, a vacuum of power in the wake of the country’s second revolution in five years saw violent clashes between the country’s Tajik and ethnic Uzbek populations, resulting in the deaths of at least 200 people--mostly Uzbeks--and causing large numbers briefly fleeing over the border for safety.

“There were no problems in Arslanbob thankfully, but there was a big drop in tourists that year,” Tohtarov said.

Further strengthening the tourism industry and ensuring the health of the forest is the best course of action in safeguarding Arslanbob’s economy and culture, the local guides believe.

“In the future, I know that the forest will be bigger than it is now, with bigger older trees. The roads in town will be asphalted, the road to town will be bigger, and the Internet will be better,” said Tohtarov, explaining his vision for developing the village.

“I hope that a factory or industry will open here to give people jobs, maybe making t-shirts or shoes, and some apartment buildings so that the urban sprawl will stop. I hope that people here will better understand nature and not throw trash everywhere, inshallah.”

For former ranger Tarikov, the preservation of the ancient forest is the key.

“If I had a million dollars, I would make a wall around the forest with checkpoints, great rangers with good salaries, and really encourage the wildlife to return,” he said.

“Do you have a million dollars?” he asked, somewhat hopefully.

[helaenasaegon]

I know I’m always talking shit, but I’m just so mad about this that I just have to say it:

The why that the HotD writers/producers have further vilified Aegon and vilified Viserys in general (who was not before) and changed Alicunt’s and Almond’s ages, personalities, and backstories just to Boo Boo Baby 🥺 them is fucking infuriating.

Now we have Viserys being hated by Gr*en stans, calling him a rapist, calling him every name in the book. They had him have his wife gutted against her will for son. And then he’s a shit father to all of his children except for Rhaenyra. (Which certain people harp on while ignoring that Alicunt is outright abusive, mentally, emotionally, and physically.

Aegon is now a rapist (he was said to be a perv, but that was never stated before), all so they could have a scene where his mother scolds him for it and then tells the girl that she believes her and it wasn’t her fault and hugs her. Book Alicunt would never have done that; she’s a Misogynistic Medieval Karen for fuck’s sake, she would’ve threatened the poor girl to keep her mouth shut about it. Also, because they know how criticized they were for adding in so much rape into GoT that wasn’t in the books, and now chose to “fix” that by adding in this 5-minute subplot, instead of just not adding in any rape at all. And they chose Aegon as their scape goat.

Then let’s get on the Almond bullshit. You guys (my followers) already know my now that I fucking hate Helaem0nd. “Oh, Aem0nd cares about Helaena, but Aegon doesn’t.” Aem0nd didn’t give a flying fuck about Helaena in the books! 🙄

Little Demon Hellspawn Almond is now The Golden Son, he is now Mommy’s Little Angel, her precious little war criminal. Then there’s the Aegon-took-Aem0nd-to-a-brothel-on-his-13th-birthday shit. Is that mentioned in the books?! IS THAT MENTIONED IN THE BOOKS?! Because I sure as hell haven’t read about it! 😒

Conclusion: These clowns decided they wanted to woobie the 2 worst Gr*ens (tied with Otto), and they sold other characters down the river (and altered those 2 characters) to do it.

(Don’t get me started on how they seem to have some anti-Daemon agenda. 🙄)