#apologies to OP for hijacking their post

[mikkeneko]

sy!sqq & sqh are drift partners#and new recruit lbh is DEVESTATED that his tests found he isnt compatible w sqq#sqh and yqy both can drift with everyone (yqy brings nothing into the drift and sqh is just odd)#(the real answer is sqh helped develop the drift system and is still a bit frazzled from testing it on himself so many times)#but yqy has been permanently benched since his last partner shen jiu was ripped out of their mech on a mission#(presumed dead but yqy is convinced he's still out there & just avoiding him)#anyway mbj needs a partner so they sqh has to drift with him (and they find out theyre a very good team)#so sy!sqq is temporarily benched until they find him a new partner#during that time lbh is away experiencing his traumatic equivalent of the endless abyss#and comes back in a makeshift mech only to find out he IS drift compatible with sy!sqq#(lbh was right.. they were always drift compatible but sy!sqq was immediately enamored by young recruit lbh#and DID NOT want him in the field AND didnt want to acknowledge his burgeoning feelings for lbh#so he threw the physical match-ups and mentally blocked him out of the drift the first few tests#lbh also had a little bit of hero worship bc he'd heard shen yuan was the new pilot of the famous Xia Yu mech after shen jiu disappeared#and the idolatry was messing with the drift/both he and sy!sqq were holding up shen yuan to shen jiu's example)#anyway it wouldn't have worked out for them then. but theyve grown individually and together and can drift now#and theyre nasty both in the field & on the base…. good for her!#shen jiu hopefully swam to shore half dead and managed to survive and stay away from the rifts…. whether he and yqy get a reunion or not#i like the idea that maybe he and yqy were drafted into the jaeger program instead of being trained or recruits#yqy mightve already been government/military adjacent before the attacks started#but shen jiu was working his way up through shadier dealings maybe stings on kaiju organ tradings etc and maybe got blackmailed into it#im very much the 'everyone can have multiple drift partners' type so imo i think#shen jiu joined and was originally partnered with yqy when they needed a fill-in team (even tho they both hated & cherished it)#they worked together well but were both volatile after missions so it was only good in a pinch/for extreme cases#shen yuan came in and to everyones surprise shen jiu immediately took him under his wing & they became a permanent team in Xia Yu#but there was a high cat mission that needed yqy & sj's skills… they got deployed in Xuan Su… and sj was yanked out mid-drift#yqy was permanently benched and sqh (who was arrived and trained same time as sj but used to did more R&D) became the new flex pilot#shen yuan started getting nervous about new recruits going out into the field and started teaching more than being deployed#sy & sqh did missions whenever Xia Yu needed to be deployed… lbh arrived & had a disastrous drift test with sy!sqq#(the worst match-up shen yuan's had by a landslide… shocking to everyone & led people to be a bit suspicious of lbh) - a solid start on the 60k by @mushroomrice

Love how Pacific Rim became its own genre of fanfic AUs because the concept of soulmate-powered giant robots was just that good.

[fnvminorcharacterpoll]

Jsyk that last post isn’t Beatrix it’s someone’s ghoul oc named Whiskey

[spacenintendogs]

3 10 16or 17 for the httyd asks!!

3. Did you play School of Dragon? If so, what dragon(s) did you have?

i tried back in 2018 but my laptop couldn't handle it. i never got past the tutorial with toothless and immediately uninstalled it and then was still devastated when they shut it down :')

10. What are your favourite songs from the soundtracks?

the big 3: forbidden friendship, test drive, and romantic flight.

see you tomorrow is a BANGER

all of the jonsi songs!!

once there were dragons is also so good... listened to that on repeat after i saw the hidden world in 2019

16. What is your favourite plot arc?

edit: i realized this said plot arc and astrid's character arc doesn't rlly count but for plot arc: hiccup & snotlout's arc of learning to respect each other more in riders/defenders of berk. basically the screaming death arc!!

astrid's in the first movie... it's near perfect and her role in the story is so vital bc her mind being changed makes stoick's mind being changed so much more believable. astrid's arc is such an interesting throughline to see the movie through. astrid being the most viking like of the teens and taking everything so seriously only to decide to give hiccup a chance (yes she was hanging off a tree rlly high off the ground and then only apologized bc toothless was whipping her around as payback for her attitude lol) but once toothless calms down that's when astrid rlly sits back and gives toothless & hiccup a chance & you just. see her relaxed for the first time in the movie and smiling so wide and it's SOOOOOOO. i love her so much.

17. Do you read or write HTTYD fanfic? If so, give some recommendations!

i do both!!

for reading, i haven't done a lot & i am kinda particular abt what i read (i heed tags & stuff seriously!! they're there for a reason!!) but!! from recent memory & my bookmarks

promises, promises is by @artinandwritin and it's abt her httyd ocs and @beebooca's oc set post the hidden world (except the dragons are still there!!) and it's such a fun exploration of the effect things can have on oc characters based on what happens to the canon characters they're connected to!! it's very good (and i am honored to have helped beta read :'))

translations by @bignostalgias is a hijack fic where jack frost ends up on berk after following silver dream sand (and ends up becoming "alive" again) and there's the whole thing where he's confused abt how berk exists and seems to be behind modern day and dragons exist. everything is so thought out and carefully put together and i just can not wait for more!!

frowny kisses by @tysonrunningfox bc my snotstrid loving ass adores those losers so much and op has got them DOWN!! the original snotstrid person fr fr i am begging y'all to pls check out their stuff!!!!!!!!!

also fics by @eemoo1o-tfrmoo & @kolasharkattack are also rlly rlly good!!!!!!

and yea i write fics lol but i go through spurts of YEAH UPDATE LET'S GO WOO and then quickly losing steam & updates come rarely even tho they take up so much space in my brain bc writing hard :')

the summer snotlout jorgenson got laid is tied to my modern au & it's abt the brief period astrid & snotlout decided to try dating & obv they break up but hey. unrestrained summer fun :)

burn is a series following astrid & snotlout's friendship. there's only 2 fics rn but windburn is complete and heartburn is a work in progress. i have a few fics for series stewing around in my brain as well but!! yea!!

then there's the calm dragon nip provides which is basically my fishlout smokes weed fic and it's not even a year old yet & tbh i'm not happy with it at all but i don't regret it enough to delete it. u can read it if u wish but i'm not proud of it. c'est la vie.

and those are my most recent fics!! and then my docs are just. full of incomplete bullshit lol <3 ty!!

[29daffodils]

@luveverlong's KinnPorsche Triggers (and if they were results of the vegaspete madness)

hello OP! apologies for hijacking your post, but your reblog made me giddy and i didn't want to bombard your post with vegaspete in case they are not your thing!

**

okay, so @luveverlong made this post which i reblogged and then i started wondering how many triggers actually were there, and thought i'd count and classify which i feel were results of vegaspete madness 😅 here we go.

DISCLAIMER : i probably got some of them wrong, because i keep forgetting certain things happened (like, ken losing his head) . don't take this too seriously!

total triggers (so far) : 57

vegaspete contribution : 30

%age contribution : 52.6%

conclusion : so i was wrong, it's not 90% but it's more than 50% which is saying SOMETHING lmao

abuse >> gun and korn

alcohol use >> pretty much all the theerapanyakul cousins (except tankhun, maybe?)

animal death >> vegaspete + khun spikes 🥹

ass eating >> definitely vegaspete (and he did it with such enthusiasm too!!

assassination >> who??

attempted assassination >> definitely on kinn

attempted murder >> whose??

attempted underage drug use >> lmao porchay

attic wifery >> nampheung goes whoop!

blood >> vegaspete (first & foremost, but also everyone else since mafia)

bondage >> vegaspete (bcz kp are too damn vanilla lmao)

cheating >> who??? who's cheating??

child abuse >> vegaspete (my poor liddol meow-meow and my sweet summer child 🥹

choking >> vegaspete, sensually, but also kinnporsche literally

death >> vegas (i'll never forgive him for that, but also pete aiding in the undeath, hence, this is primarily vegaspete, i take no arguments

decapitation >> vegas (and pete watching from the distance)

edit : okay, it was ken. apologies for my bad english 🥲 (p.s. : i also did not count it under vegaspete in the original post! hence why vegas and pete are written separately, and not as the ship name!)

degradation >> vegaspete

dehumanization >> vegaspete

domestic violence >> technically also VP bcz their dads were shit, but let's count them out of this one because I'm not too sure

drugging >> oof, vegas (but not VP)

electrical torture >> vegaspete *evil laughter*

emotional blackmail >> vegaspete + granny saengtham lmao

flashing lights >> vegaspete (in their neon lit sex room)

force feeding >> vegaspete

gaslighting >> don't think this was VP, but let me know if i forgot a specific scene

gore >> vegaspete (iykyk)

guns >> okay, VP, but kinnporsche can have this one. that one spinning+shooting scene was epic.

gunshot wounds >> vegaspete wins this one. motherfucker survived 5 gunshots, and pete gave him one of them

hostage situations >> vegaspete go whoop!

illegal fighting >> lmao porsche

incest (???) >> definitely NOT VP (they are the only ones not involved in cousin fuckery and yet the most unhinged out of all of them)

kidnapping >> omg chay 🥲

manipulation >> vegaspete, via granny saengtham

munchausen by proxy >> i have no idea what this is, sorry

murder >> pretty much everyone lmao

mutilation >> vegas!!!

ownership >> vegaspete

panic attacks >> okay, I can't remember who got panic attacks, help out a fella here

petplay kink >> vegaspete

poisoning >> heh? somebody was poisoned??

prostitution (???) >> who??

scars >> vegaspete

self-harm >> vegaspete go whoop!

sex scenes >> vegaspete (but also kinnporsche) (but I'm biased and vegaspete were superior so……)

sexual assault / dubcon >> NOT VP 👀

sexual torture >> vegaspete (!!! 😳)

smoking >> pete alone can add up the points for this one lmao

stalking >> vegaspete lmao

stockholm syndrome >> vegaspete (but I'm rolling my eyes)

suicide >> who??

suicide attempt >> definitely only vegaspete

tasering >> vegaspete

theft >> vegaspete at its very core (iykyk)

torture >> vegaspete

vegas >> lmaoooo, he is a trigger warning by virtue, but accentuated by pete

verbal torture / abuse >> gun theerapanyakul 😤

vomit >> porsche 😂 (i think?)

[mokeonn]

Hey if you saw my mini-meltdown last night or you found this blog because the OP of a post reblogged from it and was not happy with me, this is the apology for that. If you're here because a bunch of terfs decided to hijack my trans positivity post, I'm not apologizing for that.

Last night I had a mini meltdown because I woke up to 4 messages that told me that 2 posts on this blog were basically not good. One is a trans positivity one where I talked about my experience with how womanhood is viewed and how it is used against trans women, the other was a tone deaf post of mine, I'm gonna apologize for having a meltdown on my blog of constantly posting and deleting and I'm gonna apologize for that post:

--

What I did was I reblogged a post about white gays acting a certain way and I added my 2 cents (I am a white gay) in the tags. The post was not for me, and my 2 cents wasn't helpful at all and just came off as "not like other girls". That's on me. I deleted it and I will not be addressing it any further because, well, what is there to address? I tagged a post in a very tone deaf way, and didn't listen to what was being talked about. My bad.

I constantly posted the anon hate and other little posts (as well as a not good apology) because I was not in a good headspace (or physical space) and I panicked from seeing that I fucked up (and "fucked up" according to the other post I'm not apologizing for) and was triggered into a meltdown. Does this excuse the above behavior? No. This is an explanation for any who might have seen my erratic behavior last night and why this apology took hours after I saw the post.

I will be clear, there's nothing more I can do than just acknowledge I did wrong and I won't do it again. This post is for any who I hurt or really... just annoyed in the process of adding my 2 cents where it doesn't belong. I know that some people might go to the op's reblog rant and find my blog so here is the explanation for that.

And finally, once again: because 2 posts I made are causing issues, this post is not nor will it ever be about my "cis people see womanhood as pain" post. If you have a problem with that post, I don't care.

[makeroomforthejolyghost]

vagueing. well, specific-ing, really. but too much a coward to reblog the post i'm annoyed about, because i know that wouldn't go well

i'm sick of this post, and of the sentiment in general. "i don't think tumblr's ready for this take yet" op says, and granted it's from two years ago and maybe it was true then? in fact i think i would've appreciated this post then.

ok, maybe not that year. but, like, in 2018 or so i might've.

now i feel pretty over it though. like? i remember having the frustration op talks about--the feeling that since mental illness is the kind of disability we have the most scripts for, it, like, owns the disability narrative and so may co-opt posts about parts of it not actually applicable to able-bodied mentally ill people--but that last addition, god. they lay out all these specifics about how mental illness depression is different from physical disability chronic pain (because those are the only two disabilities /s) and they're such. shallow differences??

"Being insomniac compared to the physical pain not letting you sleep" i mean. we call it "painsomnia" for a reason? these're squares and rectangles! i spend most nights with some "can't sleep because pain," some "can't sleep because adhd," and some "can't sleep because temperature dysregulation." i don't get the urge to guard the sacredness of "can't sleep because pain" against these other forms of insomnia, especially not if, as the person who wrote this part of the post claims, it's not about asserting that chronic pain is Worse than mental illness

"Being unable to cook because your attention keeps dropping off and you accidentally burn it/cut yourself vs being unable to cook because the pan will suddenly become to heavy as your shoulder spontaneously dislocates or you literally can’t stop your hands trembling to safely cut or put things in the oven ect." ????? you've just... listed three different reasons someone might not be able to cook safely. and they're such completely different reasons* that i cannot for my life figure out why they think the latter two examples have more affinity w/ each other than any other two out of the three. like why should a person who only experiences difficulty w/ cooking because of the third reason feel more solidarity w/ someone who can't cook for the second reason than w/ someone who can't cook for the first?

also, in what alternate universe was spoon theory "taken over" by mentally ill/physically healthy people? "they also use it"=/="it's not ours anymore." when have you ever heard an able-bodied mentally ill person call themselves a "spoonie"?--vs., on the other hand, how many times have you seen a mentally ill anon ask a physically disabled tumblr user whether they're allowed to use the spoon metaphor, with elaborate apologies on either side of the question for fear of overstepping, and seen that tumblr user respond that yes, of course you can?

"hijacking" my ass, in a community where we have a strong discourse norm against gatekeeping. more people blog about mental illness than about chronic illness, is, i think, the trend you are noticing here.

*though all three are good examples of why i personally suck at cooking

[e-louise-bates]

If you, like me, are one of those who does struggle with being able to find books on certain topics, or general feel, or particular subjects, I am here to help! ... mainly because I am currently taking a course on Readers' Advisory and so suddenly have become aware of the world of resources out there.

First stop: public library. Not all librarians are equipped to do Readers' Advisory, but it is ALWAYS worth trying. Also, your public library MIGHT have a subscription to Novelist, which is an amazing amazing resource for finding books based on read-alikes, genre, appeal, mood--you name it, you can find a book there. Even if they don't have a subscription for patrons to use, they will hopefully have a subscription THEY can use to find you something.

Goodreads can be hit-or-miss, but sometimes the lists on there can turn up some surprising gems. It can be tiring to wade through everything on there, though, so I understand if you don't have the mental or emotional energy for that.

DON'T bother with Amazon. Their recommendations are garbage. Their algorithm is garbage. If you're using Amazon as your source for finding books, I don't wonder that you aren't finding anything of value.

Literature Map is a fun resource for finding authors whose writing is similar to each other. That's not going to be as helpful if you're looking for books on a particular subject, but great if your complaint is something along the lines of, "no one is writing books like Tolkien and Lewis anymore." (ahem, yeah, that's been my frequent plaint)

Book Riot frequently has lists of "top ten (or twenty, or what-have-you) books about ___" Granted, sometimes these lists are rubbish (I have one author friend who will never stop howling over the time they listed Watership Down as one of the top ten urban fantasy novels of all time), but again, sometimes they can introduce you to hidden gems.

Above all, be curious, talk to people who love books or who are also interested in whatever topic it is you are interested in! And seriously, give your library a try. Unfortunately, I know that not all public libraries, ironically enough, are super reader-friendly, but they are MEANT to be, and MOST librarians are willing and even eager to talk about books with prospective readers.

... If I learn about more resources during the class I'll update this post at the end of the semester.

“there are no books about….” yes there are. you’re bad at finding books.

[panharmonium]

“now you can still make that happen.”

just a few thoughts prompted by this awesome post by @clotpolesonly, which i did not want to hijack - it is fantastic on its own and does not need my thoughts attached to it.  and you should definitely go read it before you proceed here, because a) it’s great, and b) this particular post of mine is not going to make a lot of sense without it. 

(a preview, for those who haven’t already clicked through: the linked post above is a terrific analysis of why the second part of will’s line “you’re a good man, merlin.  a great man.  and one day you’re going to be servant to a great king” feels a little bizarre in comparison to the rest of his dialogue, and how it seems contradictory to what we’ve learned about will’s character previously.)

i LOVED hearing somebody pull this moment out and question it, because this is a moment that i have also thought about a LOT, and while i personally have ended up in a place where i do understand why will might say something like this in this particular context, i ALSO fully agree that this is the most muddled line he has, characterization-wise, because i don’t think the average viewer is going to sit around thinking about how to fit this slightly unusual moment into will’s established characterization, or even recognize that’s it’s unusual at all; they’re just going to CHANGE will’s established characterization to align with this line.  and what i mean by that is that i'm pretty sure this line is solely responsible for every fic i’ve ever seen where will’s reaction to arthur is portrayed as either a mistake, an overreaction, or anything other than a legitimate, valid concern about merlin’s safety/well-being, and for that reason alone i’d be happy to have it modified.

but despite this (because i HAVE sat around thinking about how to fit this moment into will’s established characterization), i actually do look at this line in a way that makes it feel natural to me in context, and now that somebody else has brought it up, i figured i’d just write my own thoughts down, in case anybody else has ever spent any time thinking about this.  (an unlikely possibility, I realize, given that will only shows up in one episode, but i have given up pretending that i am not super over-invested in this character, so - here i am, once again offering you yet another very long post about a very niche thing.)

so.

first of all, the absolute most important takeaway from the whole “you’re going to be servant to a great king” moment is exactly what OP says (and it’s also exactly the same thing that this particular line is in danger of obscuring, for folks who aren’t thinking carefully about it) - just because will realizes that arthur wasn’t going to let the villagers die without risking his own neck doesn’t mean that will is now riding the arthur pendragon bandwagon.  will doesn’t save arthur because he’s suddenly become arthur’s biggest fan; he saves arthur because it’s the right thing to do.  will doesn’t have time to sit around and think about it and debate with himself like ‘hm i don’t like this guy but merlin thinks he’s ok and the man did risk himself for our village so maybe i should still help him out.’  he just jumps.  instinctively, automatically.  he sees somebody in danger and his unthinking reflex is to get in the way.  it’s just who he is.  he would have done that for anybody who was standing in front of him.

will has not suddenly turned into an arthur stan just because arthur did one okay thing.  will still witnesses arthur aggressively interrogating merlin about sorcery, and, like OP says, will still lies.  he still doesn’t trust arthur, not with merlin’s life.  he still doesn’t think camelot is a good place for merlin.  and he still doesn’t think merlin’s “friendship” with arthur is real or safe or healthy or anything equal to what merlin deserves.

so the question then becomes - why on earth does will say what he says???

you’re a good man, merlin.  a great man.  and one day you’re going to be servant to a great king.  now you can still make that happen.

(i’ll be honest, before i get into this - i think OP is right.  i don’t think the writers really thought about it this hard.  i think it probably was, in fact, just meant to be our customary reaffirmation that arthur is cool and merlin is on the right path, even though that fact looks kind of...questionable by any logical assessment of the situation.)

HOWEVER, i am stubborn, and i’m personally committed to making as much of the show’s canon work for me as possible, so back when i was doing a bunch of characterization work on will last year, i thought about this line a lot.  because the linked post above is RIGHT; it doesn’t fit, at first glance, and it would be easy to draw the wrong conclusion from it, if you weren’t paying attention.

and ultimately, after i thought about it for a long time, i ended up in a place where i felt like i understood where this line was coming from, and i no longer felt that it was necessarily out of character (though again, let’s be real - you shouldn’t have to do that much thinking about something to figure out how it could fit with someone’s characterization.  the writers could have been a bit clearer.)

but anyway, that said - the following is how i conceive of that bit, if it helps anybody feel better about that scene.  this isn’t the only way to think about it, by any means, or the “correct” way (as i said earlier, i do think it’s completely reasonable to say “this wasn’t a super well-thought out line” and discard it).  this is just the interpretation that feels most natural to me.

i think, ultimately, what helps me understand this line is acknowledging that will, in this scene, is giving merlin a gift.  by lying for merlin, will protects the Big Secret from being discovered, but when he does so, he’s giving merlin back more than just his physical safety.  he’s giving merlin the freedom to pursue all of the things that will himself was so adamantly against for the entirety of this episode, all of the things that will repeatedly told merlin it wasn’t good for him to want.  his lie saves merlin’s life, yes, but it also ensures that merlin can return to camelot, continue to work as arthur’s servant, go back to the very life that will himself thinks is stunningly unworthy for merlin, but which merlin, for some inexplicable, unfathomable reason, feels is bafflingly important.

will gives merlin a gift, in this scene, despite his own misgivings.  and when he says “one day you’re going to be servant to a great king,” that is a gift of another kind: trust.  merlin is the one who first described arthur with those particular words, up in the hedgerow, when he and will were arguing with each other.  “one day arthur will be a great king, but he needs my help.”  and what will is doing here, by using those words, isn’t so much him declaring his own support for arthur as a ruler; it’s him saying to merlin, “i heard you.  i listened to you.  i don’t know why you’re so convinced of this, and i know we were having a row, but i was still listening to you.  i trust you.”  

will says this to merlin, in his last few moments, even though will himself isn’t sure about arthur, or camelot, or any of it.  it doesn’t matter that will isn’t sure.  will doesn’t want to dole out more warnings right now.  he doesn’t want the last thing merlin hears from him to be another admonishment, another critique, another “you don’t know what you’re doing and this is going to blow up in your face.”  will wants the last thing merlin hears from him to be i want you to have what you want, even if i don’t understand why you want it.  i'm giving you what you asked for, just because you asked for it.  i’m choosing to trust you. 

will has already said everything he needs to say about arthur.  he’s already told merlin what he thinks of this whole camelot situation.  but sometimes, when you love somebody, you have to take your hands off the wheel.  will tells merlin “one day you’re going to be servant to a great king” (repeating something merlin specifically said to him, something merlin said in the middle of a heated argument, something merlin prefaced with “i don’t expect you to understand”), because will is telling him “i heard you when you told me this, even if you didn’t think i was listening.”  he’s telling merlin “i have faith in you, even if i don’t have faith in him.”  it’s him relinquishing control over the situation. 

will has absolutely no reason to trust arthur.  he doesn’t trust arthur, truly.  he says what he says for merlin.  it’s something he offers to merlin, as a gift.  it’s part of their reconciliation.  it’s why merlin immediately follows will’s now you can still make that happen with “thanks to you.”  merlin acknowledges everything will is giving him, in that moment, brushing past the mention of arthur like it’s not even there, immediately re-centering will in the discussion.  “thanks to you.”  you did this for me.  you’re giving this to me.  

“one day you’re going to be servant to a great king.”  just this line, itself, is a gift.  for will to say that to merlin - it’s a gift.  it’s an acknowledgment that merlin’s convictions are worthy, even if will doesn’t understand them.  it’s will apologizing for saying that merlin doesn’t know what’s best for his own life, it’s will handing merlin the reins, it’s will saying i don’t trust him on his own merits; i trust you.  i’m trusting what you told me.  i trust you to know what you need, so i’m going to give you everything you want, even if i don’t know why you want it.

and i do think that this is absolutely, 100% influenced by the timing.  in a different situation, will wouldn’t have backed down like that.  he would have continued to give merlin grief, to ask hard questions, to criticize, to say “why are you being like this; you can do better than this; why are you making bad choices; why are you settling for so much less than you deserve?”

but will is dying, and i don’t think he wants to leave merlin on that note.  merlin has already lived his entire life almost completely unsupported by the people around him, mistrusted by his neighbors, hunted by the ruling powers of multiple nations, prevented from pursuing any answers that might have helped him accept himself, always mired down in a bog of self-doubt.  will can’t bring himself to leave merlin that same way.  he doesn’t want to leave merlin with more ‘i don’t trust you and i don’t support you and i don’t think you should do the things you think you need to do,’ even if it’s offered in the spirit of “i just want the best for you.”  he can’t bring himself to do that.  so instead he makes a concession, for merlin’s sake, and chooses to offer merlin complete, radical trust, in spite of his own doubts.

it’s...this is a trust fall.  this is will saying i trust you to drive this car, even though it looks like you’re about to drive us off a cliff.  and merlin, for his part, knows full well that will probably would have pushed harder, under different circumstances, but he also recognizes will’s concession for the gift that it is.  he understands that will’s personal opinions may not have changed, but that will is saying ‘i believe in you, despite everything.’  he understands that will is stepping off a bridge with nothing but merlin’s word to assure him that the drop is survivable.

i do still think it’s totally reasonable to feel like this is an unusual thing for will to say, for sure.  but for me, personally, when i look at it this way, i see it as fully in-character, because the core thing about will, for me, is that he consistently does things that go against his own interests in order to help merlin.  coming back to fight a battle he knows can’t be won, saving arthur’s life, pretending to be a sorcerer - his decisions consistently make his own life worse and merlin’s life better.  the things he does are always done for merlin’s sake, at his own expense.  

and sometimes - like in this scene - i think the things he says are said for merlin’s sake, too.  

merlin and will both know each other too well for merlin to really think that will is jumping on the arthur train.  merlin knows exactly what will is really trying to say.  he knows it’s a parting gift.  he understands that it’s just will’s way of saying, “i’m leaving and i want you to know i love you this much, to jump when you jump, even though i personally think the drop is deadly.  that’s how much i trust you.  that’s how much i believe in you.”

merlin understands, and will feels understood.  they leave arthur and camelot behind, after that exchange.  they’ve both said everything they need to say about it.  they’ve put that argument to bed, in the best way they can manage, with the time they have available to them.  will has made his feelings about arthur and camelot clear, and now he’s also made it clear that he trusts merlin to know what’s right.  whether or not that proves to be true, later, isn’t relevant - only merlin can make decisions about where his life is going, after all, and will acknowledges that fact, here, at the end, as a gift to his only friend.  he might have taken a different tack if he weren’t dying, yeah.  but since he is, he decides that merlin deserves to walk away from this moment with at least the small comfort of knowing that will, when the chips were down, chose to trust merlin implicitly.

that’s the only reason why arthur’s future as “a great king” even comes up in that conversation.  the rest of that scene is just about merlin and will, and how much they care for each other.  

and for two people who never had anybody else, that’s just as it should be.

[stargirlfics]

I agree we shouldn’t make people feel bad but the way you kinda highjacked op’s post just to basically say “don’t judge people” is weird. People are gonna have their opinions and that’s fine and to be completely honest, they didn’t lie. It is annoying and embarrassing seeing stuff like that scattered all over tik tok. If you wanna make a post talking about how we shouldn’t call things like that embarrassing or cringe or whatever fine but what was the point of basically disregarding what the original post said just because you might not agree with the approach.

Apologies for hijacking, in my eyes I thought it was a relevant and also important thing to also think about as a black woman and needed to go along with what was being said because of other black women who may come across it not aware of that message yet

I know it’s annoying I know it’s embarrassing, I feel the same way too but I’m saying there’s no benefit to saying that over and over, people have their opinions and so do I and it’s ok if it’s going against the grain a bit, I never said you can’t find it annoying, I’m saying be mindful of how you express that

I wasn’t and am not disregarding anything op said because it’s true and important that we not ask those things, I never said that we shouldn’t I just wanted to highlight how we go about it but I can see how that does come across as hijacking or disregarding what what’s originally said

[a-still-small-vox]

André Bourgeois is an abuse victim

I saw a post the other day which stated that André was just as abusive as Audrey towards Chloé because of how much he spoils her, which can be viewed as child entitlement abuse. I didn’t want to hijack OP’s post so here are my thoughts on the situation:

I see Audrey as the toxic/abusive parent and André as the enabling/permissive parent. (This is a standard pattern of abusive households - at least according to Toxic Parents by Susan Forward, my reference on the subject.) André is also a victim of Audrey’s abuse - he doesn’t know how to stand up to her at all, meaning she can walk all over him and control him easily. I believe his permissive gift giving to Chloé occurs for two reasons. One, because after living with Audrey, André has become very passive and afraid of saying “no” to any of his family’s demands. If he says “no” to Audrey she’ll abuse him, and Chloé has learnt to copy Audrey’s emotional manipulation through throwing temper tantrums (pressure through disapproval/anger) and faking emotional distress (pressure through sadness/suffering). Two, because he loves Chloé and sees that her mother’s distance/cruelty cause Chloé emotional distress, he gives gifts to try and make her feel better - as apologies and as substitutes for the real warmth that her mother fails to provide.

Therefore, I don’t think that André should be 100% vilified for the way he treats Chloé. He is a terrible mayor and a mediocre dad, and he definitely can be considered abusive due to his enabling of Audrey and his out-of-control gift giving. But the situation isn’t simple, because he’s also a victim. If you want to hate him, I totally get it. Hating abusive parents in media can be very cathartic. But personally, I don’t hate him, because I see him as kinda pathetic and downtrodden in a way that earns my sympathy.

[robobee]

SUCCESSION ▸ 4.06 living+

[broadwaytheanimatedseries]

I’m not really invested in sander sides but I’d like to hear about your au if that’s alright?

Ahhh it's the op! First of all I'd like to apologize for hijacking your post in the name of my undying Sanders Sides obsession.

Second, I'd be more than happy to tell you all about it, as soon as I figure it out a little more.

I mean so far I know which character is gonna be what color and based on that I know what the team dynamic is gonna be like and who joins when in the story, but in terms of what their powers are, who they're fighting, or literally anything else about the story, I got nothing currently.

But like who knows maybe if you ask me specific questions I'll be able to come up with something, develop the concept a little.

You know, only if you want to.

[aliteralgarbageheap]

pls chill lol that post wasnt that deep it was a joke

Yah I realize that at this point, it caught me at a bad moment and I really shouldn’t have re-blogged like that. Sorry for hijacking the joke post so aggressively. Also, I wasn’t trying to say that anyone's way of coping with stuff is invalid @accidentprone. I would apologize to the OP but pretty sure they’ve blocked me so 

[casijaz]

Xenophobia is not racism part 24,450 - Electric Boogaloo

@angelina-galkina you have so much to say so I’ll just put your argument right here and comment on it.

I am putting this under a read more tag for all my followers. If you’re interested, please read.

Angelina, your English seems to be well enough for you to understand my original posts, so I figure you will be able to understand me now. I am also not a native English speaker, so if there is miscommunication between us do tell me.

angelina-galkinaheeft gereageerd op je bericht “On Xenophobia and Racism”

Actually, the reason Europeans hate Slavs is because they think Slavs are Asians or all mixed with Asians. Slavs were seen as low as blacks people on the Nazi “racial hierarchy” scale. It was because Slavs were not considered white, (which was decided by those white European men you mentioned earlier who classified race.) They think Slavs are “secretly asian” or something like that. To be specific, manyyyyy Russian Slavs are mixed with central asian/ middle eastern at this point.

In Poland and Ukraine, the white nationalists there (like you said, there are a lot) dont consider Russian Slavs white (I am a Siberian Yup’ik, so don’t think I’m getting defensive, I’m not white lol) Russian Slavs experience xenophobia, and that xenophobia is rooted in racism in Europe. In America, the hate of Russians is rooted in dumb political reasons.

When I say that the xenophobia against Slavs in Europe is rooted in racism, I mean to say that they hate Slavs because Slavs aren’t white to them. Again, many Slavs are only partially white (so I guess they are only partly Slav?) This is sort of confusing, apologies.

Also, when you say that the hate of Slavs is geographically based, that is partially true. Because Slavs are so Eastward, they have mixed many times with Central and west Asians. So it is rooted in racism, but the insult is that they are part non-white so it’s not directly racism. I just don’t like misinformation being spread.

Note: {I am from Russia, (English isn’t my first language, sorry) and I know primarily about Russian Slavs, so I am only speaking about them.} Russia is both a multi-racial/multi-ethnic country. 

angelina-galkina heeft gereageerd op je bericht “Okay non-European tumblr”

They were talking about their own issues within Europe. It had nothing to do with people of other races. They were talking about how white people hate other white people, BASED ON racism against other races. It isn’t white racist people hating other white people, it is white racist people hating on other white people who “aren’t white to them” They never said anything bad.

Let’s unpack all of this for a second.

First off all. Who do you refer to when you say Europeans? People of Slavic descent are European. If by European you mean north/west ones I can tell you as one from that area that they are definitely European. These white people do not think they are Asian. Racial discrimination against Asians is something that is experienced by a lot in my country, but not by eastern European immigrants.

“Slavs were seen as low as blacks people on the Nazi “racial hierarchy” scale. ” In my original post I said whiteness was a social construct subject to change. While Nazis have had a hand or two in defining races, the construct of race was not created by them. It was European men in the 1600s. What you are also implying is that Slavic people only experience racism by being related or in proximity to ACTUAL non-whiteness. This is a tactic that has been used a lot in the defining of racism. But let me tell you. The people they’re compared to are always off worse. Also. Don’t ever say blacks again. It’s a racist term.

I have no insight in the genetic background of all Slavic ethnic groups in Russia. However from what I could find from these studies: http://www.khazaria.com/genetics/russians.html and https://bmcgenet.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12863-017-0578-3 is that there’s virtually little to no Asian heritage among Russian and eastern European Slavic peoples. There was almost no middle eastern genetic heritage found among these groups either. This was a study done with a group of 1000 people. You could make an argument that they misrepresented the population, but I actually have a problem with people claiming non-white heritage just for an excuse to absolve themselves of white privilege.

Xenophobia is a complex issue that IS tied to racism but is not racism. Please re-read the post I made. In Europe, xenophobia can be strengthened by racism. For example, in a lot of northern countries the south of Europe is seen as more ‘exotic.’ This is because they are in proximity to non-white countries. In the United States of America, xenophobia is not just all about ‘dumb political reasons.’ The United States of America is a former colony placed on stolen indigenous land by white Europeans from all over the place. They brought their values and systems regarding race along with them. This means Europe and the U.S. have similar systems, simply because it’s the same people who made them.

I think you’re onto something when you say ‘not white to them,’ but you need to realise that they still are white. I don’t know what your experience with racism is if you’re part of a non-white ethnic group in Russia. I can tell you my experience as mixed black person who is not white passing and lives in Europe. Whatever Slavic immigrants face for discrimination, and what I face, are completely different. Their discrimination is not nor ever based on their race. They are white. They don’t get blackface thrown in their faces. They don’t get called racial slurs. They don’t get their bodies or cultural aspects dubbed dirty or inferior on basis of their race. If they do experience discrimination it is based on the geographical history we’ve had in Europe.

What I can definitely agree on with you is that southern and eastern Europeans experience xenophobia on basis of their relation to non-whiteness on a geographical and historical basis. Many countries were colonised by the Ottoman Empire once. In the 1900s they were described as being ‘too close to the east.’ However note that I say ‘too close,’ but not ‘IN’ the east. In the 1800s while northwest European men were defining races they deemed a lot of races not quite white by relating them to races they had definitively deemed not-white. But we no longer live within the racial confines of neither the 1800s nor Nazi Germany. The racial hierarchy scale however is here to stay. It is subject to change, has been, and always will be, but there are certain groups of people whose claim to whiteness can never happen. Among them are black people.

Now to the reaction I made to the non-European Tumblr post going around! I am European! I was talking about my own issues too! These are my issues! White people hate white people because of geographical and cultural differences. They are both white. So they can’t be racist against each other. Both are at the top of the racial hierarchy. They did say something bad. When us ACTUAL non-white Europeans try talking about racism they try and hijack the conversation by stating they can’t possibly be racist because it works differently in Europe. It doesn’t. The U.S. and Europe have the same racial systems. The U.S. even has some of the same xenophobic basis for discriminating groups of people as Europe because the white population of the U.S. consists out of solely (people descended from) European immigrants.

Don’t ever tell a European of colour to not talk about their own issues. These are my issues and I will only stop talking about them when racism and xenophobia cease to exist.

[aussie-sclerophyll]

[transmedicalism-saves-lives]

I am pretty sure I was blocked by the OP of this post, so. 

tervenwitch

the brain sex theory is inherently misogynistic and was debunked years ago. Try reading Cordelia Fine for a change instead on blindly clinging to the delusions of misogynists

@tervenwitch You mean the feminist philosopher? Why would I get any information on neurology from her, she’s not a neurologist? Studying the philosophy of science does not equate to studying science itself.

Also, we’re a sexually dimorphic species. Down to a cellular level, our organs are different between males and females. As a transsexual I am extremely aware of the female-ness of my body, it’s in my vocal chords, my fat distribution, and the size and thickness of many body parts. Why is acknowledging that one of the things that’s bigger in males is the brain stem “misogyny”? Brain sex isn’t about how smart you are, or whether you’re naturally emotional, or anything of the sort- it’s just about the physical differences between the physical organs, and there are several of those. I’ve compiled a list of sources for this claim, and if you’d like to read what actual neuroscientists, not philosophers, have to say on the topic of brain sex, feel free to give it a look.  

realwomenarewomen said: @transmedicalism-saves-lives Firstly its not possibly to be “neurologically a woman” because there is literally no such thing as a “female brain”. Brains are not gendered. The only human organs that are gender are sexual reproductive organs. The idea of “lady and gentlemen brains” is antiquated Neurosexism akin to eugenics or phrenology. So just stop that nonsense.

I can’t tag her, unfortunately, so apologies for that. I’m not sure you understand that, as stated above, we are a sexually dimorphic species. Voices, for example, aren’t at all related to the reproductive system and yet, in males, vocal chords are thicker than in females. Most organs have a differentiation between sexes. Now, maybe when you think “brain” you think “intellect,” but that’s only a small part of what brains do, how they function. The brain is a physical organ, and there are many small differences between male and female brains. It’s been shown, in transsexuals, that our brains are the same as those of the opposite sex. Here’s my list of vetted sources again. 

realwomenarewomen said: @transmedicalism-saves-lives Women’s historic and continued subordination has not arisen because some members of our species choose to identify with an inferior social role (and it would be an act of egregious victim-blaming to suggest that it has). It has emerged as a means by which males can dominate that half of the species that is capable of gestating children, and exploit their sexual and reproductive labour. This is why Title IX protections exist.

No, it’s got a lot to do with the fact that testosterone makes you a lot more physically strong and in less advanced societies that matters quite a bit. However, in the current first world countries, women are absolutely not oppressed. Women graduate every level of education at higher rates than men, are imprisoned far less frequently for the same crimes, are more likely to be hired, and have every legal right that a man has, plus a few that men don’t have, such as the right to refuse genital mutilation, and human rights that are not contingent on signing up for the selective service. As a matter of fact, most Title IX violations this year have been all-female groups that don’t allow men in. Ohio State was sued this year for discriminating against men, and Title IX was the reason. 

realwomenarewomen said: @transmedicalism-saves-lives The term “terf” is a manipulation intended to reframe feminist ideas and activism as “exclusionary”, rather than foundational to the woman��s liberation movement. In other words it as an attack on women centered political organizing and the basic theory that underpins feminist analysis of patriarchy.

What “feminist ideas,” exactly? Because first off, y’all never actually proved patriarchy theory, so if we’re going after antiquated theories here... 

But I digress. What exactly would you call yourself? You have an entire blog dedicated to the exclusion of a small minority of people. You seem obsessed with trans people, and our exclusion from your group (well, at least, trans womens, I’m not sure your thoughts on me, but it’d be a bit funny if it was only the straight guy you found to be acceptable, all things considered). Why do you put so much time and effort into excluding trans women, and then get upset when people point that out? It’s ridiculous to me. 

realwomenarewomen said: @transmedicalism-saves-lives ‘Cis’ is a term that has been hijacked from the field of chemistry. It basically refers to isomers of the same molecule on the same side of a plane. This term was never meant to be used to erase the differences between biological women and biological men who want to be biological women, whether from a dysphoria or anything else.

No, it hasn’t been hijacked. It’s a prefix. It’s Latin for “this side of,” and the opposite of the prefix “trans,” which means “across” in Latin. “Transsexual” means “crossing sexes,” whereas “cissexual” means “remaining on the same side of sex.” It’s not altogether that deep. 

Also, believe me, we’re aware of the differences. We wouldn’t go through all the trouble of getting surgery and taking hormones for the rest of our lives if we weren’t very much aware of the differences. However, those differences can be altered to a pretty dramatic effect, and ignoring that seems dishonest at best. I highly doubt you’d look at me, for example, and think “woman,” and I haven’t lived socially as a woman for years. There’s also the fact that my brain is physically male, but we’ve already covered that... 

realwomenarewomen said: @transmedicalism-saves-lives No one – women, men, children, or transgendered persons – should be subjected to any form of exploitation or targeted for discrimination. Transsexual and transgendered persons are entitled to the same human and civil rights as others.

Thanks, I agree. Everyone should have human and civil rights, no matter what, and I believe everyone should be as kind as possible to everyone else. That includes you. 

realwomenarewomen said: @transmedicalism-saves-lives Recognizing these rights, however, does not mean that we must accept that hormones and surgery transform men into women and women into men; or that persons who self-identify as members of the opposite sex are what they subjectively claim to be. So stop suicide baiting.

Where did I suicide bait? I’m sorry if that seemed to be apparent in anything I said, but I’m very much against any kind of suicide or self-harm. If you’re feeling suicidal, I’d recommend calling a mental health hotline: 1-800-273-8255 is the number for the American National Suicide Hotline. 

That said, HRT and surgery aren’t completely perfect, but they can get us pretty far- by the end of transition, I’ll be closer to biologically male than biologically female, for example. Not entirely biologically male- I’m still going to have a lot of sexual difficulties, and to have biological children will require an invasive surgery involving bone marrow- but closer. 

realwomenarewomen said: @transmedicalism-saves-lives “Cis” implies that women—lesbians, call center workers, single mothers—have an inherent privilege over trans people. Again, let’s not forget that trans is an umbrella term. A gender non conforming male is not more ‘oppressed’ than a lesbian. The cis/trans dichotomy obscures that and allows men to shout ‘oppressor’ at women. Sex change is impossible and unnecessary. Stop using trans activism to perpetuate your misogynistic internalized homophobia.

I don’t believe any group has an inherent privilege over any other group. Being a member of certain groups might change your probabilities of experiencing specific forms of oppression, but no group is entirely full of oppressed people, and no group has no oppressed members- except, perhaps, the billionaire class. When it comes down to it, privilege is based in money, and there are people of every race, sex, sexuality, and religion living in poverty, and people of every race, sex, sexuality, and religion in the ruling class too. The percentages, however, are a bit different.

So no, being trans doesn’t make someone oppressed, and being cis doesn’t make someone not oppressed. However, being trans does increase chances of oppression, particularly being a trans woman, as they’ve almost all been forced into sex work up until the late eighties to early nineties, which is closely associated with poverty and low quality of life in countries where it’s not regulated legally, such as America. 

And for the record- transsexual is not an “umbrella term.” Don’t lump us in with drag queens or GNC people in general. Trans means someone suffering from gender dysphoria, nothing else. 

Sex change is not impossible, and it’s absolutely necessary for trans people to have any quality of life at all. We have a serious neurological disease. We cannot physically change our brains yet. I’d love to be able to be a normal female woman, that would be a great thing for me, it’d be a lot easier than this, and to be honest, I made a damn pretty girl, life is very easy for pretty girls. Unfortunately, my chest tissue makes me so dysphoric that I’ve taken a knife to it multiple times, can’t concentrate if I don’t bind, and as for my genitalia, well, let’s just say that I really wish that was in a better order because being a teenager with a sex drive and dysphoria is extremely, unendingly frustrating. 

As for internalized homophobia on my part- I genuinely thought I was bisexual until I started taking HRT. I didn’t even know I only liked women before. Maybe I didn’t. Who knows? But yeah, if you actually believe I’m a lesbian, or that I’ll be a lesbian next year... well. Have fun with that. 

Have a nice day!