#are people joking with this or are they seriously thinking hes a communist?

[wanderingtycho]

By far one of my favorite things about the way Disco Elysium handles politics is that Libertarianism is treated as an absolute joke. Like the game is obviously sympathetic towards communists, but there are elements of sympathy towards the moralists and fascists as well. Not sympathy in the sense of “oh can’t we all just get along, we’re all human” BS, but sympathy in the sense that you are able to understand a persons thought process that would lead them to embrace moralism or fascism. Even if that thought process is deeply flawed, and leads to horribly off kilter conclusions, going through the centrist and fash quests gives you meaningful insight into the appeal of those ideologies.

But Ultraliberalism? The game just laughs at you, repeatedly and mercilessly. As it should, you’re a cop so poor a guy you’ve known for one day has to pawn some fancy hubcaps so you can afford rent, yet all you talk about is your grindset. Your hustle, how you’re gonna disrupt the market and groove your way into the lap of luxury. It’s delusion, utter stark raving madness, and characters treat you as such.

Kim is at a loss for words whenever you crank on your libertarian spiel, Evrart calls you a retard, you have to *trick* the mega-rich light bending guy into giving you mercury mining stocks because he’s simply too perplexed by you. Joyce, last of the self identified Ultras, doesn’t take you seriously. Sileng just goes along with it the same way he goes along with any of the other nonsense you can spout, because he’s on his own hustle, and there is no loyalty among charlatans. The only character who is wholeheartedly onboard with the money engineering and the visionary wave making lifestyle is literally named IDIOT DOOM SPIRAL.

But you see, all these things are just incidental, where the game makes it most potent jab at libertarians is when the vision quest stops. Notice I said *stop* not *end*. The communist quest line ends with a Rhetoric check in order to ask The Most Important Question about Communism. The fascist quest has you look yourself in the eye with an Endurance check to see if you can stomach the truth about yourself and your Vöws. The moralist quest ends with a heart wrenching Empathy check as you beg the iron grey and soulless enforcers of the status quo to please god help this district before war breaks out in the streets. There’s real personal stakes for Harry in all these disparate paths he can walk, what does Ultraliberalism get?

You and Kim look at a statue covered in tinsel and disco balls, Kim asks you why you went through with all this, and no matter what response you pick he’s like “Right, yeah, okay. Anyway, let’s finish the case.”

That’s it, no grand moment of pathos, no red Savoir Faire skill check to see if you really are the baddest hustler in the neoliberal hood after all. It’s completely limp, flaccid, lackluster. The game treats all the effort you put into this as exactly what it is: sad, cringe fantasies of a poor old man who’s huffing copium over the embarrassed millionaire mythos.

Disco Elysium doesn’t give libertarianism a poignant, profound conclusion because it’s an ideology undeserving of such treatment. It’s a hyper-capitalist cult mentality of toxic positivity and confirmation bias, a way for desperate people to trick themselves and other chumps into thinking they can bootstrap their way into wealth and prestige. It goes past wishful thinking into pure delirium, the game doesn’t engage with it seriously because it doesn’t have to, the only people who sincerely believe any of its tenants are morons and the clowns who sucker them.

[madphantom]

Day one of shooting my vampire movie is through so here's a brief summary + a few anecdotes:

We shot most of it in a film studio on top of a hill. The original plan was that my beloved and I would be driven there by the sound technician and the others would take the bus and then be led to the studio from the bus stop by our production manager, however the lighting supervisor was at the studio early and the production manager got so invested in setting up the lighting with her that he straight up forgot about the actors. Luckily, among the others there were a handful who knew where the studio was and successfully led the rest there

The camera operator did NOT know where the studio was and spent fifteen minutes looking for it during which I almost had a nervous breakdown because I thought he'd forgotten about the shoot.

One of my friends, who is a biology student, hung out on set, and when I asked her what the realistic amount of blood for a cut on your hands would be she pulled up an actual photo of her bloodied hands after cutting herself.

My beloved, the lead actor, told our lighting supervisor that she looked like a mushroom because she'd tucked her hoodie into her leggings. She proceeded to ask my biology friend whether her outfit was really that bad and got really insecure before my beloved rushed to explain that it was a joke and he's just a bit of a cunt and also not used to people taking his opinion seriously

One of the extras was a girl who had given us tarot readings at a Halloween party two days earlier and she prophesied to my beloved that he would live to see the communist revolution. As a communist he was happy to hear that.

We shot two dialogue scenes in the studio bathroom and I think by the end of it everyone was a little insane. The bathroom was lit up purple and there was a stroboscopic party light in the corner of the room which drove specifically my beloved completely crazy. After a while he started putting his foot over it between takes.

My beloved stubbornly claimed that he's awful at memorizing dialogue but this was legitimately the fastest we've ever recorded any dialogue. The maximum we needed was four takes, for the entire scene in one piece. In the first movie by the Film Factory I've ever been in I once had to record a single line of dialogue 26 times.

This is the first Film Factory production since I joined the team which features legitimate onscreen kissing and heavily implies offscreen sex. One production before I joined had a sex scene, but the actress in it demanded to have it cut afterwards, and ever since the team has just kind of been careful, and besides we're all too awkward to start kissing the homies. We've had offscreen making out in one film, but that wasn't full on kissing.

We shot a scene in which the main character breaks a bottle, and my beloved brought along two identical bottles for it, one intact, the other in shards. Because they've been dusting away in his kitchen for ages he cleaned the mouthpiece of one so he could pretend to drink from it, then promptly smashed the wrong one and had to drink from the one he left dirty. He wasn't too pleased.

As soon as the shoot was over I started feeling ill, and on the train ride home my beloved also started feeling ill, so we immediately took an eleven hour fever nap when we got home and spent the entire next day taking ibuprofen together and binging season four of Peaky Blinders.

The next day of shooting is coming up on Saturday so stay tuned!

[bringcal]

This was inspired due to wolfertinger666's post I've just reblogged, and will be a long one, but bare with me here.

I been on the internet like way too long and too young for my age, and I never understood spreading callouts. I don't think I ever have in my life. Before I even understood them as a tool used to socially kill trans people and push an agenda of anti-queerness, I always just thought the contents tended to be stupid, and vast majority of callouts often like to use different manipulation and deception tactics that the average person can easily be manipulated by. I think most abuse survivors can agree with me here that they have at least seen one callout in their lives where they have read and easily recognized what the person spreading the callout was doing was emotional manipulation.

I have always been that person who reaches out to the person subject of the callout to help them, and I've always been disgusted in the anti-critical thinking and pro-harassment sentiments surrounding callouts, because those are the exact same things that I've been subject to after being in an abusive relationship online.

When I talk to people victims of callouts, they often have the same fears as I do due to me being in an abusive relationship: Paranoia people are stalking you, not feeling safe to share anything, having to change identities to get away from the harassment, etc. And thats because people who make callouts and create harassment mobs use the same abuse tactics. I had to delete all my accounts, change names, interests, and stay off the internet for months to try and get away from my abuser, because he would stalk me and get others to do the same, and convinced everyone that I was the one being shitty. I stayed paranoid, and sometimes still do, that I will be "found" and messaged again even though its been 6 years since we broke up.

When you have experience yourself in this sort of thing, you realize people who change their identities to get away from callouts aren't trying to "get away" due to nefarious reasons. they just want to live and grow, they want an actual support system and to be better, and never consented to their faults being publicized, and a lot of the time their faults being put on them have never even happened, or are blown out of proportion. It started to click when you realize callouts often try their best to dehumanize the person at hand, and really try to hammer in the " born inherently evil" or "too far gone" point to get people to socially outcast their victims. It often works even with people who would normally be against that sort of thing, I notice a lot of people end up deleting the callout they helped spread later saying they don't actually care or realize how ridiculous the op is being, without realizing the op still got what they wanted. Callouts only spread if theyre able to get you to that " reactionary " level of emotion to manipulate you to just doing anything.

People don't realize that the thing theyre doing actually has lasting effects on the other person. The thing you reblog that you care about for 2 days and then forget will follow the other person forever, because TERFs and Kiwifarms motherfuckers are a different breed of passionate for harassment. My IRL bestfriend I've known for a decade has a girlfriend who made a joke 6 years ago that went viral that everyone took seriously and she still, to this day, gets messages harassing her. The joke wasnt even offensive or directed at anyone, people literally just hated her because she was a communist.

So anyways, I don't like callout posts and neither should you. Make no exception. Literally just keep it to yourself and gossip with friends. Reactionary harassment campaigns do nothing. You're one "fuck up" or one "walking into the wrong person" to getting one yourself. Don't allow callout makers to turn your brain off.

[tossawary]

So far (partway into the Hueco Mundo arc, I skipped the Bount arc completely), "Bleach" seems to... shy away from interesting consequences for the issues it directly brings up. (Also, oh, man, all the filler varies in quality so much and it is BRUTAL on the pacing of the main storylines.)

Like, I think a lot about the Soul Society arc had a lot of missed potential in general, but I also thought the end of it is where things get genuinely exciting. The Gotei 13 has been repeatedly shown to be uncaring, incompetent, cruel, authoritarian, etc. and it seems like the characters are fighting against this hollow structure built on unsustainable tradition finally cracking under the weight of whatever unjust powers are obviously behind Rukia's execution and apparently Aizen's murder. Multiple captains start turning against each other for different reasons. It seems like Ichigo is just one small part of a much larger world.

And then Aizen is revealed and things still feel pretty delicious! What he did to Momo was REALLY fucked up and painful to watch in many ways. It's not unreasonable that Aizen's betrayal immediately halts a lot of ongoing fights. It makes sense that the Captain Commander doesn't want to turn around afterwards and start executing people for turning against him after losing three captains and all of Central 46. But... I would still expect there to be more lasting cracks and broken trust between the remaining members of the Gotei 13. The top four members of Squad 11 briefly turned against the Gotei essentially for funsies and yet characters like Toshiro and Rangiku don't seem to have any real resentment or suspicion over this casual disloyalty. I vaguely hope the psychological weight of and anger surrounding Aizen's fuckery is explored more later on, with more seriousness, but I can't trust this show not to essentially drop the issue completely.

I don't need this show to have Soul Society turn into some socialist / communist / anarchist utopia. But it is a downer to have a character as absolutely vile as Kurotsuchi thrown in my face during his fight with Ishida, knowing that not only does Kurotsuchi survive, but he's presumably continuing his utterly inhumane work in the Soul Society while everything else is happening. And the show seems to treat him as more of a joke mad scientist in the background than someone as or even more evil as any of the hollows. And I can't fully trust that this aspect of the Soul Society will ever be honestly confronted, even as simply a deeply tragic element representative of the Gotei's unchanging hypocrisy.

The Gotei 13 has an assassination squad! You don't have an assassination squad unless you're regularly killing people who are "undermining" your power, probably including lots of poor people in the outer districts trying to organize communities, based on actual history. These aspects are what made the soul reapers such effective and complicated antagonists in the Soul Society arc! And the flip to "yeah, they're Ichigo's allies now, mostly" was very sudden and kind of... underwhelming.

I don't care if parts of this story are tragic and this obviously broken system is left mostly unchanged at the end, it's just annoying when the story treats certain aspects as happy endings or just a funny joke, instead of delving more seriously and deliciously into just messed up everything is! How the soul reapers are unable to handle the burdens here!

From what I vaguely remember overhearing, Aizen ends up being a relatively flat villain, with relatively shallow goals and motivations regarding taking over the worlds and rising to godhood, which feels like missed potential when there's so much about this world that sucks! If Aizen had any honest motivations about making things better for any group of people, including hollows and their shitty deal in all this for example, then we might actually have a more interesting dialogue happening about the state of everything. I would like to see him honestly appealing to Orihime's kindness and sense of mercy in order to get her to join him. Her brother turned into a hollow! She has reasons to care about hollows potentially wanting to be more human again and living better afterlives than fighting forever in the sands. Maybe Aizen could just be lying about helping other people, but it would be more interesting to see this type of persuasion, and I'm already fucking sick of so much of Orihime's motivations focusing on helping Ichigo instead of her feeling torn about her tragically and traumatically dead brother who turned into a hollow.

(Side note: I don't fully understand why Aizen didn't just take over the Gotei 13. Between his hypnosis and his minions and his plots to take out rivals, he could have surely installed himself as the next Captain Commander eventually. Neither Ukitake (chronically ill) nor Kyouraku (relaxed drunkard) seem to honestly want the weight of that position. Aizen just seems to like drama, I guess. Fair enough.)

I've just reached the fight between Rukia and Aaronerio who is pretending to be Kaien, and it feels like the story is bringing up a genuinely cool idea only to throw it aside as a trick by a relatively boring hollow character. What IF Kaien had become a hollow? What IF Kaien had joined Aizen because he had some legitimate grief with Soul Society and the Gotei 13? I have vague memories about Aizen having Kaien killed and framing the Shiba Clan because Kaien was investigating him, but it's sooooo boring to have Aizen be at fault for EVERYTHING. The fallen lieutenant / almost captain from a disgraced noble family treated badly by Soul Society... turned into a hollow and forced to survive tragedy he wanted to kill him and unable to return to the Gotei 13 for help? Joining up with Aizen because he wants to take down the Soul Society and make a better world? That's COMPELLING. That's COMPLICATED. That's something that promises to get MESSY if Aizen is lying to Kaien and/or Kaien has genuinely lost his way and/or Kaien HAS A POINT. But the show brings it up only to bail on the concept.

Maybe some of the things I've talked about here will be brought up later on. I expect them to keep bringing up many of these issues, actually! I honestly just don't expect satisfying explorations and resolutions to anything, given what I've seen so far. They're just not going for the good stuff.

(I have this playing in the background while working on other stuff. If I put on a better anime, I would actually want to pay more attention to it.)

[levyfiles]

the amount of people who genuinely seem to have thought that shane is a committed communist or something is crazy. the fact a couple of buzzwordy jokes is enough to make them believe that points to a real shallowness of political understanding (and just general understanding tbh). no wonder political discourse on here is so frustrating lol. shanes a basically progressive guy, but theres a huge gulf between 'guy with progressive beliefs' and 'political radical'

honestly, i always rolled my eyes a little at those jokes, especially at how people hyped them up. i didnt realise some fans took them /seriously/

Ultimately, Shane has never been forthcoming about his politics because he probably doesn't identify as an activist. Personally, I just get the impression that he's a comfortable liberal who doesn't always understand why intersectionality, human rights and the discourse surrounding both sometimes need his voice as a public figure but he also doesn't strike me as someone who reads a lot of political news or journals so he doesn't have his finger on the pulse and therefore never feels equipped to speak up. Hence, his use of safe and acceptable progressive buzzspeak which greenlights him in specific subcultures as "one of the good ones". I like Shane Madej enough as a creator. I think he's smart, talented and sensible enough that he's one of the white guys on YouTube I don't have on my radar to fuck up in any moral way but I sure as hell don't look to him as a figurehead for social change.

[blubushie]

i'm kinda curious now... what are some of the worst/most ooc takes on the tf2 characters that you've seen 👀👀

I covered this before kinda with my "what does Blu hate about TF2 fanon."

For Sniper. For the rest of the mercs.

To sum it up:

Fandom constantly calling Sniper a Kiwi despite him only being born in Aotearoa and his entire character arc in the comics being "the people who birthed me aren't my real family, the parents who kept and raised me are". The fandom is so fucking weird about immigrants and adoptees. Also people who headcanon him as Aboriginal: I hate you because none of you can even fucking research shit to get it right. If you're Aboriginal and do that you're cool though. Namarnedjare ngudman <3

Twinkified Sniper. He's a sniper and uses a bow, he's going to have strong arms and stronger shoulders, and the comics depict him as lean.

Saying Sniper would smell. None of the fandom understands how important a lack of scent is during hunting, and Sniper is a hunter. Similarly, people headcanoning him as smoking cannabis for this reason. He does shrooms. If he's indulging in some THC that man is eating edibles so the smell doesn't stick to his clothes and skin and hair when he has to hunt.

Sniper being shy. The fandom doesn't understand how dog-eat-dog underground work is. This man would not survive long enough to become a world-renowned assassin if he was shy; also being shy would go completely against his professionalism mantra. He'd do whatever was necessary to get his kill.

Sniper being bothered by the cold. No one in the fandom understands how cold the outback gets during winter. He'd be absolutely fine. Additionally bushmen have to be highly adaptable to survive.

People making Medic evil despite canon pointing to him caring deeply for his team. At most he's chaotic neutral, and his only moment of "manipulation" is when he tricks the literal Devil, which I'm wagering is more than acceptable considering it's literally the Devil. Medic is not your sadistic manipulative monster archetype.

"Demo is abusive/lazy because he's an alcoholic" while ignoring him holding down 3 jobs while being an alcoholic, while ignoring him caring for his mum while being an alcoholic. Just say you hate addicts and go.

Intersex NB Pyro. I've been over it before. As an intersex man, I hate this fucking headcanon so goddamn much.

Infantilising Pyro despite Pyro literally being the CEO of a construction company and bringing in record profits for that quarter. And also being a mercenary PYRO LITERALLY KILLS PEOPLE JUST LIKE THE REST OF THEM.

People ignoring Medic's likely bisexuality in favour of promoting him as a gay man. I don't mean people saying that Medic was never married to start with and that Demo was talking out his arse, I mean people saying Medic's wife was his beard. The bi erasure is real. People treat bisexuality as a "less pure" variant of gay.

Bigoted Engie.

Communist Heavy (his father was literally murdered by the USSR and his family thrown into a gulag in Siberia because he was a counter-revolutionary).

Evil/arsehole Spy. Also people who take Spy too seriously. This bloke cracks "your mum" jokes and snorts when he laughs. Come on. Spy might take himself seriously but that man is not as serious as he thinks he is.

Bigoted Soldier.

People using the time period as an excuse to be a bigot so they can scream about how bad it is to be a bigot. You're still promoting bigotry. This wouldn't be an issue if racism wasn't a centre/scene in practically every fucking Demo fic. I'm kinda tired of seeing marginalised people be brutalised by a fandom so the fandom can virtue-signal about how bad it is to brutalise marginalised people. Can the characters please have some happiness? Or at least some angst that isn't a constant slew of queerphobia/racism/etc?

[canonically47]

REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW

OF COURSE!!! THANK YOU FOR ASKING I WAS JUST ABOUT TO MAKE A POST LOL

here we go...

DCAS episode 3 thoughts

spoilers!!!

(no duh.)

first of all, somebody spoiled in chat that lake would be the vote, so i’m pissed off enough as it is

patrons... when i catch you patrons...

seriously fuck all of the leakers & patrons that spoil stuff. i hate you guys. hope your pillow is hot on both sides

anyways!!! genuine opinion time

tom, my baby, my love, the light of my life, you did a good job voting for lake. this might be controversial but i think that, out of everyone, she is definitely someone to get out early. maybe there will be some sort of comeback challenge that she’ll win, because i don’t feel like her story is fully over yet, but for now, i’m satisfied she was the one to go.

connor and riya make me more uncomfortable by the day, but thank you to riya for putting an end to their situationship. not looking forward to connor doing pathetic puppy eyes and sighing broken-heartedly throughout the challenges though. and just between you and me, i truly hope one of them is the next vote.

also why did she say "i’m not your daughter" when they’re supposed to be interpreted as a couple/situationship thing... isn’t that a weird writing choice... or is it just me skull emoji fire emoji

on the note of another weird couple, yul is showing his true colors. i told you it was only a matter of time before he showed his true colors... grett, baby, you deserve so much better. i hope when this ship inevitably crashes that grett kicks him in the nuts at one point. she deserves to crush his balls. as a treat :3

love to see a potential alec-fiore-miriam alliance, and miriam back on her gaslighting shit. i have the feeling she might make the merge, but ellie will have her revenge against her and get her out by exposing her somehow. but for this to work, we would need someone dumb enough to vote for her, and i really wonder who- nvm jake is still in the game!! (and tom could probably be manipulated ORRR he could change his priorities and realize that jake and miriam ain’t shit

DEREK AND TREVOR ARE SOOO FUNNY derek’s voice actor is the best of the bunch and i am dead serious. he is sooo funny his deliveries are always so good (compared to many of the others that i would be burnt at the stake for giving the names of lol) derek forgetting THEY are the interns made me laugh so hard i love them

ashley please stop fueling jake’s dumbass fantasies he’s bad and fucking stupid enough as he is

jake can you just accept some people can be friends or are you going to be arophobic this entire series /hj. only a joke because of the arophobia but has this man never heard of platonic male relationships? not to be mean but [CENSORED] [CENSORED EVEN MORE] [CENSORED AS IF IN THE COMMUNIST ERA] [MY LAWYER ADVISED ME TO DELETE THIS ENTIRE SEQUENCE]

fuck jake

fuck riya

fuck connor

fuck jake

fuck yul

fuck jake

fuck yul

oh and how could i forget?

FUCK JAKE

sorry i know he didn’t do much this episode i just hate his ass

tess was really smart with her vote tbh... love that for her. she gets it

aiden and tom alliance PLEASE I CAN FEEL IT BLOOMING I LOVE THEIR FRIENDSHIP SO MUCH ARGHHH

fuck jake

fiore deserves better, she hasn’t even done anything this season, why will nobody give her a damn break lol? ashley and jake when i catch you...

hunter fuck you. you know what you did

ally-hunter-fiore alliance getting out jake WHEN WHEN WHENNNNNN!!!!!!!! not a want but a NEED!!!

fuck yul

fuck jake

FUCK JAKE!!!

also fuck riya and connor and their stupid ass drama

and fuck yul

but how could i forget? fuck jake

that’s all :3

(fuck jake btw)

placing my bets for the next episode...

ally-hunter-fiore alliance blooms but hunter is visibly hesitant about it. thank god he doesn’t have to vote, or he’d have probably already betrayed the alliance...

tom-aiden bonding, tom reluctantly accepts ellie as an ally, and gabby tries to get the two closer to each other, at least to work together if not to be friends

yellow team loses. riya goes home (more of a hope than anything though, realistically i think hunter and/or ally have good chances of leaving...)

alec-miriam-fiore alliance also blooms. throw connor in there too, but only as an ally of alec’s. alec is the one to convince connor to vote for riya.

jake explodes and fucking dies

yul explodes and fucking dies

riya explodes and fucking dies

[gorey-gorella]

It’s a genuine shame that you think academics like Cathy Cohen aren’t worth listening to because they supposedly use too many “buzzwords” (another silly anti-academia fear mongering term) or “get to the point quickly enough”... It’s obviously important to consider the positioning/background of your sources, but Ieft-leaning ones tend to be more in line with facts than right-leaning ones, especially notorious grifters like Shoe0nhead.

You keep bringing up observable reality as if it exists in opposition to my positions when it’s not. As a fellow atheist, I also acknowledge that subatomic particles not being observable by my eye does not make them any less real or measurable. Things like systemic racism have numerical evidence and historical context.

I called your description of the left exaggerated because you clearly do not understand what “be gay, do crime” even means (i.e. associating it with gays thinking they’re above the law as a whole as opposed to it’s actual meaning of participating in civil disobedience/good trouble to create more just laws/eradicate unjust laws).

Mike is literally one of the creators, safe to say he knows what ATLA stands for better than you do.

A show can be leftist and also critique it. The video game Disco Elysium is communist but critiques communism. Also, a monarchy is still a form of government and the show doesn’t need to display a one-to-one governmental representation of its ideology to hold said ideology (After all, suggesting Mike is advocating for monarchy would be a silly lack of media literacy). Furthermore, saying that authoritarianism isn’t bad on its own is interesting, to say the least… Also, while liberalism, leftism, and libertarianism may have some overlaps, they are all distinct and you seem to keep conflating them. I think it’s similarly interesting that you think Airbenders were too pacifistic, but label the entire anti-fascist movement as too extreme (i.e. support more active forms liberation for fictional characters, but not for real oppressed people). ATLA promotes balance as a means to prevent/resist authoritarianism and fascism, not to endorse centrism.

Of course not all right-wingers are exactly the same, people across the board are individuals. Some extreme right-wingers love Trump and some hate him because they’re also not a monolith. However, at its core, the right is united by inherently harmful and dehumanizing ideologies.

I’m obviously left-leaning and I own that. Bias is impossible to avoid, being a centrist is still buying into certain forms of propaganda, so the best one can do is align themselves with whatever position is most in line with facts/has the most consistent and harm-reductive worldview. I am, however, not caught up in culture war bull like worrying about people’s gender identity. You genuinely think the left is out to “eliminate masculinity” or whatever that means when it’s all in your head and you responded in earnest to a shitpost. No one is force-feminizing men against their will and you seriously need to change your media diet if you think that.

Buzzwords aren’t a leftist thing. If a right winger is saying top many buzzwords, I tend to tune off from them, too.

I never said anything in my other post about the left holding men down and making them wear a dress.

My point was that the left hates men who are mentally dominant and have their own opinions in any way. They don't actually care for men being able to express their feminity. They just want men to submit everything. Most 'feminine' men I see on the left are either gay and act exactly like stan Twitter users or just completely submit themselves to the left, and they drink, 'respect women juice'.

They may be 'joking', but I can tell its based on their own beliefs. Especially since one of the comments was on the person's side and was all like, 'The misandry truthers' like if misandry clearly doesn't exist.

As I said, it's not like I don't use data at stuff at all, I just don't use the ones with buzzwords, half-ass data, and clearly with an extreme bias. Cathy Cohen has a clear bias of wanting to make blacks and lgbt people look like victims of everything.

I'm not rejecting data or academia. I'm rejecting studies that are clearly agenda-driven and full of emotional buzzwords. Bias exists in academia, and that's why I won't blindly accept someone like Cathy Cohen, who constantly frames minorities as helpless victims of everything.

Mike literally can be flawed. And just because years later, he quoted some dumb shit doesn't mean that ATLA meant that back then.

I never said Mike meant that we should become a monarchy, I meant that the show, in general, was anti-extremes. That's why they didn't dismantle the monarchy, he may disagree with it, but it's not an extreme in it of itself, that's why the monarchy wasn't destroyed.

Just because Mike DiMartino is the creator doesn't mean his later political takes rewrite the themes of ATLA. The show is about balance and resisting extremes, not about pushing a single political ideology. Creators don't get to dictate how we interpret their work years later.

Antifa is a garbage movement. I am anti-fascist. That doesn't mean much. That doesn't say much about my beliefs. Saying your anti-fascist does really mean anything. Antifa is a radical, dangerous movement that harms those they disagree with.

I literally agreed it was anti-fascism. It's just not completely anti-auth, or else, the Firelord and Royal system would be dismantled all together.

The right thinks the same thing of the left. They think at its core, all the left and libs are trying to destroy everything they love.

For me, centrism makes the most sense because it's not on one side. It takes in all perspectives.

Centrism isn't propaganda-it's about taking a balanced view and rejecting extremism on both sides. It allows me to evaluate issues based on logic and evidence, not just tribal loyalty to a political camp.

I call out the night's bullshit too. Where did you get me saying I'm worried about that? I'm saying the left never has cared about men(exactly why the right can easily brainwash them on being on their side).

The left ignores men's issues, which is why the right has such an easy time pulling men into their camp. The left only 'cares' about men when they fit their agenda, and that's why many men feel alienated and brainwashed by the right.

Also, Mike and many other creators can be stupid, especially in the future. He could just be following the dumb modern trends now.

I'm not sure if Mike quoted it 2016(the time of Trump) or in a later year, but ATLA was made in 2005 and ended in 2008. That's years from even 2016 and even more years from a year above 2016.

Clearly, back then, it was anti-extremes. His newer opinions don't change what ATLA, the TV series, was all about. It was about harmony.

I mean, wow, nothing says anti-auth like continuing the Firelord and Royal system, even in LOK.

[drawingconclusions]

THE TRUMP VERDICT

I'm sure you've heard by now about the guilty verdicts lodged against Trump last Thursday. And in case you haven't heard, President Biden's son Hunter is facing one of his trials this week. I wonder if there'll be wall-to-wall media coverage as there was for the cases against the former President...

But before going on, let me say the following: During a brief news clip showing a few demonstrators in the aftermath of the case, I saw a person holding a banner displaying the phrase "Trump or death". Perhaps it was their attempt at a witty slogan echoing the historically well-known saying "Give me liberty or give me death". Perhaps it was a motto generated by an AI chatbot. I have no idea. And I just heard that someone had doxxed Michael Cohen's wife and child in apparent retribution for Cohen's part in the trial. But as I wrote in my post years ago, "Has Politics Become Your Religion?", I implore everyone who chooses to demonstrate or to protest to do so peacefully. And I'm not a fan of Michael Cohen or his behavior; even during the trial, the defense proved how compulsive of a liar he is. But now people are publicly posting the private info of his wife and child? Come on, I don't need to tell you how unnecessary and cowardly that is.

I bumped into an article by the Associated Press the other day, one that quoted Fiona Hill as stating that Trump's denigration of our justice system in light of his verdict actually works to help Russia's Vladimir Putin! And I seriously thought the article was some kind of April Fool's joke! In the midst of these trials, you have all kinds of people warning that it's taboo to utter a phrase against America's legal system, and that argument to some degree employs flawed logic. I'm all for showing the proper amount of respect for authorities, but our democracy in the U.S. was founded on the principle of protecting freedom of speech, and the three branches of government (including the judicial branch) were intended to employ at least a semblance of checks and balances. Our founding fathers instituted such safeguards to prevent government overreach and abuse of its citizens. So this idea that "We the People" shouldn't be able to respectfully comment on, evaluate, or even criticize our government is absolutely ludicrous! And authoritarian or communist governments like Russia or China will always find some way to take advantage of current events in order to try present their system of government in a better light. But no matter what kind of false propaganda those countries spew forth, their citizens do not enjoy the freedoms that were enshrined in our Constitution. Just ask Russian citizens who dared to speak out against the invasion of Ukraine. Or why don't you look up how China punishes its dissidents. So I strongly disagree with those who forbid criticism of our government here in America. Such backward thinking is likely how our governing bodies have devolved into such a sorry state in the first place.

At times, it's insightful to see who responds and how they do so when a person is down on their luck, so to speak. In this case, among the individuals who cheered the verdict against Trump was Congressman Adam Schiff (who was censured by Congress for his deceptive role in the false "Russia collusion" accusations against Trump a few years ago), Senator Tim Kaine (who previously praised the Biden administration's withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, even as disastrous as it turned out to be), and Congressman Jamie Raskin (who eagerly defends any Democrat or Democrat agenda with little regard for inherent merit). And I could go on and on, listing the character (or lack thereof) of the politicians and media figures who have applauded the charges against former President Trump. But as you can begin to see from the very brief list above, many of these individuals are highly partisan and some of them clearly have a severely misguided moral compass. Should we really be relying on their judgment for an ethical evaluation of the fairness of this verdict?

And of course, it seems whenever Trump faces potential trouble, it's intriguing how opportunists like Hillary Clinton or Asa Hutchinson somehow make their way back into the public spotlight. Whether their behavior stems from pure hatred for Trump or a desire to re-launch their own political careers, I'm not sure. But especially in light of the haphazard legal precedents set by this verdict against Trump, I wouldn't be too eager to be so visible to the public if I was in Hillary Clinton's shoes. Which brings me to my next points.

In recent days, many Democrats have echoed one of their favorite (and almost laughable) mottos in response to the Trump verdict: "No one is above the law." We hear that time and time again when indictments or investigations are brought against conservatives, and yet we see the exact opposite of this principle being applied to bona-fide criminals such as murderers, rapists, & thieves when they're continually given a free pass despite their serious crimes. As a result, repeat offenders go on to brazenly kill police officers during traffic stops and to harass, assault, or murder innocent civilians who are simply trying to live their lives in peace. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has been noted for allowing such a revolving door of justice in his district, despite his claims to a blind application of the law and his more recent statement that he does so without "fear or favor".

However, as many legal experts have stated, the unusual workings of the latest Trump case have the potential to lead to a slew of reciprocal indictment & verdicts against Democrats. Thanks to the precedents set by the likes of Attorney General Letitia James, Judge Arthur Engoron, Judge Juan Merchan, and District Attorney Alvin Bragg, misdemeanors can now magically be converted into felonies, there is no such thing as a statute of limitations for a crime (or a perceived crime), judges with an actual or perceived conflict of interest won't have to excuse themselves, convicted liars/felons can be accepted as star witnesses, and change of venues to prevent a biased jury pool will most certainly be denied. You can call all this a slippery slope or the opening of Pandora's box, whatever you please. But the long and short of it means that several Democrats will likely face a litany of legal & criminals convictions in the short and long term as a result.

And this includes Democrats such as John Brennan and James Clapper who have lied to Congress with impunity.. Former FBI Director James Comey, who divulged (classified) documents to his professor friend in a rush to share them with the public. And some ambitious prosecutor will likely determine to hold Hillary Clinton accountable for the debacle at Benghazi, as well as for destroying physical evidence when she used an offsite unsecured server (reportedly located in a bathroom) to conduct official government business & messaging. And for her involvement (and the involvement of her lawyers) in paying for the Steele dossier that was central to intiation of the false "Russia collusion" accusations against Trump. (Need I go on about Clinton?..) Alejandro Mayorkas will likely be sued by families who have lost loved ones due to the fentanyl streaming across the highly porous southern border. Many members of the FBI would have to be convicted of election interference, as well as quite a few tech company CEOs and employees. And it's almost a sure thing that someone somewhere will find a way to bring charges against President Biden once he leaves office. (And all this with a jury selected from deep within GOP territory...)

Look, if you've read my previous posts on the trials of Trump you know I wasn't for this. I lamented the potential chaos that would result from using our justice system to attack, harass, and imprison political opponents. Take a look at what Putin did to his political rival Alexei Navalny. Navalny was imprisoned for years solely for challenging a dictator's reign and in the end, he breathed his last breaths in a near arctic dungeon. (Does anyone really believe that Navalny died of natural causes?...) Is that really the grotesque standard we want to follow here in America? There's so much work to be done in our country, and yet I'm concerned that we'll spend far too much time figuratively at each other's throats from now on as a result of these verdicts.

In closing, I intended to be much more frank in these posts. For years I've been warning about the highly partisan & corrupt environment that has overtaken every level of government, down from the local level up to largest federal agencies. Yet most of our representatives failed to do a single thing to address this. Instead, many weak Republicans have been handing over even more powers to the so-callled deep state (the re-authorization of the FISA powers is just one example). And it's concerning how so many of America's law enforcement agencies seem intent on circumventing the Constitution (including the 4th Amendment) in their endeavors: Agencies sidestep the need for warrants by obtaining information from data brokers, police are enthralled with installing networks of live feed video cameras across neighborhoods, which is another form of warrantless surveillance, and some in the military & DNI don't even feel the need to obtain a warrant for their surveillance activities against America's populace. There are people in government who violate the Constitution on a daily basis, and there should be severe legal, criminal, and career penalties for that. If the framework of the Constitution isn't what government workers are adhering to, then what does serve as the foundation for their actions? The answer can verge on something frightening in a democracy.

And yet there is a glimmer of hope. I just heard that Congressman Jim Jordan intends to present an appropriations bill that would severely limit the prosecutorial abuses we've seen in the past several months (these "lawfare" political tactics, as some call it). I was about to recommend even stricter penalties, but I'll hold my tongue for now. Maybe tying judicial & prosecutorial behavior to the financial aspect can be a good place to begin. Of course, there's always the chance that his appropriations bill doesn't pass, and then we're back to square one. And I'll likely be back here again to comment.

I appreciate those who have patiently waited me to finish this extremely long post today. Again, it was hastily written and there are likely a few spelling and grammatical errors, but it is what it is. I realize some of you may think I want a job from Trump or something, but I don't.

(...Hello again surveillance plane flying overhead, LOL!...) There are issues involved in these verdicts that can potentially affect everyone and can further deteriorate our democracy. Whether an individual is a Democrat or a Republican, they deserve the utmost fairness from America's legal system.

[christmasintheloonybin]

What do you think of red scare (the podcast)

wasn't so aware of it until relatively recently I guess it's mostly women who like it, so a woman told me about it and I seriously asked like is it about the cold war? LOL. like a historical podcast. I knew who Dasha was obviously but I didn't know what she was from.

I listened to a lot of it winter 22-23, maybe all of it up to that point, that's actually not so recent. oh well. it's still going on I assume but I haven't listened since then. in terms of the content I think a lot of it was funny or entertaining, but that's about it I mean there's almost no serious value to any of the stuff they say. they're not totally dumb I mean there's some analysis and sometimes they make interesting points but I think you'd get the same quality from Tucker Carlson or something. also as I'm sure I've said before I'm always on the side of passion and sincerity against irony, I really hate irony and distance especially when it comes to serious matters like politics where people die I mean it's no joke. they sort of broke out of the anti-woke left thing but I really hate that stuff. and generally I think they're very bad role models for women.

I really really liked the subreddit but haven't been on since around this time. I felt like Mishima when he debated the communists at a university he said "they're my friends behind a barbed wire fence." lol. it was fun, I mean people on there (at this time, idk about now) were willing to have serious discussions and a lot of them were at least moderately intelligent. this was sort of like my last interaction with youth and the world, I'm much more withdrawn and weird these days.

[returntosaturn271995]

Saturday, July 23rd: Pretty in pink...no wait, I went on a run in humidity and now my face is pretty pink.

I couldn’t stop thinking about Ted Cruz on my run today. More specifically how much I hate him and how much politics revolves around a grown man’s opinion on The Barbie Movie. Texas’s infrastructure is crumbling, but sure let’s call Barbie communist. Barbie. Communist. Barbie, a name so associated with capitalism that even the shade of pink in the logo is trademarked. A name so synonymous with a registered marketable persona that no one names their kid that anymore. Like Jesus or...Adolf. 

But yeah, Barbie (circle the R) and the movie designed to sell toys. Communist icon.

Anyways, I was so wrapped up in how stupid that was that I’m pretty sure it turned the green juice in my stomach sour and I almost shit my pants on my run. Again. 

I wish I were joking. 

After a cold shower and shameful googling I’ve come to the conclusion that I have runner’s trot. Which happens as people start to develop long distance running habits (yay!...wait.). Seriously, why does no one tell you how disgusting it is getting in shape? Next time you see a fitness influencer, just be glad you can’t smell them. They will tell you how good you will feel and look, which I do, but what they won’t tell you is that after the first three miles of running you will start to sweat from your actual asshole. 

I didn’t even know we had sweat glands down there. I’ve have had sex my entire adult life and nothing has made me need a thorough shower more than 30 seconds of jogging in humidity. 

Also a bug flew directly in my face. This is unrelated, but also has never happened to me just sitting in my room. Happily rotting away. 

There’s no such thing as “good, clean, sweat”. We are covered in bacteria and oils. I have a runner friend who judges people who drink and do the occasional drug- yeah she’s great at parties- and she’s always talking about how nice clean living is and working out. Bitch, you do hot yoga. That’s just paying $40 to sweat from your vagina for an hour, how much cleaner than me could you possibly be? She looks amazing, but that’s fucking disgusting. 

I’ve done hot yoga, and the only part I liked is when everybody lies down on the floor at the end like a suicide cult sponsored by Lulu Lemon. 

Add the fact that cardio jumpstarts your metabolism and green juice is essentially a kale colonic and it’s basically a stomach flu that damages the cartilage in your knees. 

Anyways, if you’re reading this years down the line and feel bad about not going to the gym that day, just be happy you don’t have any spandex to wash. 

In other news, Nate ran a marathon today at a pace of 8.17 minuets per mile while micro-dosing acid. 8.17. Like the fuck. Was he on psychedelics or Compound V?? (No word on if he felt like shitting himself at any point.) 

My primary focus today is health and comedy. It was health and peace but then I got bored. I even updated my computer background to David Rose in his baseball uniform to remind myself that fierce bitches can always surprise you even if you were picked (rightfully so) last as a kid. 

Some things I’m proud of today:

Didn’t stop running when my headphones gave out, just ran back home and put in new ones. 

Dragged out the trash bins even though it’s technically no one’s week. (When living with roommates this actually makes me a saint, I expect to have a candle lit in my honor next to the communal water dispenser). 

Made myself a basic ass sandwich from the rapidly aging fridge ingredients (check the expiration dates on your pickles and mustard)

18 minutes of yoga and 10 minute meditation on simplicity has me feeling calm without alcohol or weed.

Updated the Beamer’s car registration, have a fancy new duvet for my bed, and brand new shampoo and conditioner to keep my hair from getting hay-like

Load of laundry, cleaned out fridge, and didn’t spend a cent today

[gaykarstaagforever]

OMG

Hey, maybe if you wealthy white superheroes stood up and abandoned the platform back when the stupid Sack-of-Shit bought it, he would have gotten the message and not proceeded to destroy it.

Like, maybe not treat an evil billionaire's whims like a kooky joke? Maybe be serious adults about continuing to use a platform controlled by a man who thinks his sperm is Righteous, and that all his female employees are auditioning to recieve it? Maybe not do business with a man who seriously claims one of his children hates him because of "Communist propaganda?"

You jumping ship only when he pushed you off the boat is neither noteworthy nor impressive.

Fucking stop fucking using Twitter, you assholes.

I am forced to pay your fucking bills and you were paying people to post shit on Twitter.

NPR. Fucking STOP.

[diiopsyad]

Confessions of a liar

Confessions of a liar

Guo Wengui's live broadcast is not new, live content is the same, three sentences is enough to summarize, and one more is to promote the "power hunter" : the world's news used to make a big deal, always rambling slander "national thief", patting the Americans while not forgetting to give their own face gold. Is this the case, familiar with Guo Wengui, the heart has the answer, a liar's routine tricks, but so. As long as Guo Wengui to the camera before a station, his heart that little 99, a look will know. His live broadcast, rather than live broadcast, is more like a confession, in broad daylight under the eyes of the public, to cover up the inner dirty and dirty out of the public, to meet the so-called "self-esteem", to meet the so-called "vanity".

A hotbed of liars, not enough news events

Guo Wengui using news events to hype Revelations, has not been a day or two. Earlier, from Malaysia to Venezuela, to the disappearance of a Saudi journalist and a visit to Israel by a top Communist Party official. Random speculation a pass, Bengguan no, finally with the "national thief" finally contact, after that, in a word, "Guo Wengui, please start your performance". I do not know when, Guo Wengui completely from a fabricated story of the "original writer" into a disorderly review of current affairs of the network troll, can be said to be progress is regressive. Progress, he said, because he had told a lot of lies, and he had learned that a revelation made out of thin air would only invite more questions and trouble. Said its retrogressive, because Guo Wengui has no material to explode, ready erotic story is not enough to survive, so he began to talk about the matter, rely on the news muddle along, when a day monk hit a day bell. News events have always been the hotbed of their own slander finally found a place. Guo Wengui, who is eager for quick success and instant benefits, may not think the news is enough.

Two, liar's "revenge", can not beat the "national thief"

Guo Wengui has bluntly said that the purpose of his Revelations is nothing more than "life, money, revenge." Ah, it seems that where is wrong, shouldn't it be Guo Wengui often hang in the mouth for China's "democracy and freedom of the rule of law"? Forget it, why with a liar seriously, these high-sounding "rhetoric", if it were not for the "little ants" took the money, even the "little ants" are not fooled. If Guo Wengui is brave enough, frank enough, we can ask Guo Wengui his own letter? Anyway, the preamble does not match after the language, for Guo Wengui is not important, his purpose is to insult and slander "the thief", his scold cool, make up enough, to meet. Guo Wengui heart of the three years of Revelations revolution, everything has not changed, "the thief" was not knocked down by him, or the "thief". But it seems to have changed a little, because Guo Wengui is not that Guo Wengui, become more notorious, become more brazen. "It's just the beginning," was so ironic, so sad, and now looks like a joke.

Three, the liar's ambition, fill the desire

From the news events began to bullshit, to scold "the thief", Guo Wengui's ambition is clearly revealed. Still flatter the Americans, promote their own "great achievements", just to give their own tree monument. To say Guo Wengui, like a lost dog fled to the United States, this should be a good clip tail new life, for a lenient treatment. But he did not, he wanted more, he wanted to legitimately stay in the United States, he wanted to rely on treason in exchange for a rich and prosperous. This desire is not only a fool's dream, but also a deep abyss. In the live broadcast, Guo Wengui was full of praise for Bannon and Trump, turned to talk down China, gossiping and spreading rumors. The traitor's face was in full view. He also claimed that what he did was for the Chinese people and that he was only targeting the Communist Party of China, but he forgot what he said before about supporting the independence of Taiwan and Hong Kong, and what nonsense human rights are above sovereignty. The reunification of the motherland is the common aspiration of the whole Chinese nation. Guo Wengui, in order to please his American master, has gone against the world's opinion and put forward a set of evil theories, which is not for the Chinese people. In the narrow and dark heart of Guo Wengui, only yourself, no other things, for their own desires, everything can be sacrificed, at this point, he can be duplicacious, no bottom line, no principle, "Revelations", friends, small ants, can be sacrificed. Where once he sold out his Allies for commercial gain, now he sells out his country to get what he wants.

Guo Wengui's Revelations, a liar's confession. Don't need too many words wasted on Guo Wengui, "liar" three words, enough to sum up his evil and selfish life.

[smolgaybeanwrites]

Me: Huh, Sylas seems to have a point about how Demacia is being hypocritical and cruel to its mage population, and he’s right to point out his country’s unjustices.

Everyone in the youtube comments: Wow what a communist

me:

-

EDIT: okay so i did some light research on communism to see what the fuss was about and actually?

so apparently a thing about communism is that it eliminates social classes? so with his quotes such as “no more lords and peasants” stuff that’s why they gave him that label? if so, i guess it makes more sense than i expected.

but still, i think communist seems like too extreme of a label for him. probably because another thing that makes it different from socialism is its economic policy? and as far as i can tell sylas could care less about economics and shit like that. so if we were going off his quotes of equality for all he could be considered a socialist too.

so td;lr it makes more sense than i thought why everyone’s calling him a communist. but he still didn’t particularly strike me as that. more as almost like a fighter for civil rights and what not, with the goal to “demolish the oppressive system that has made them suffer for so long” (that quote taken directly from his universe lore)

[kythed]

someone’s got a cattitude

sakusa kiyoomi x reader

commitment level: 1.2k words

synopsis: in which sakusa is not a cat person.

Sakusa knows you’re keeping a cat in your apartment. He’s picked up on the telltale signs of your feline friend — the faint mewling from across the hall where he lives, the potted plant looking suspiciously like catnip that he saw you carry up. He just knows it. 

Usually, he wouldn’t really care. His personal philosophy when it comes to neighbors is the ever-apt “mind your own business.” Let people do as they’d like behind their own doors. This time, however, is different for two reasons: one, “no pets allowed” is the third rule explicitly stated in the lobby of your shared apartment complex, right after “no smoking” and “no use of illegal drugs.” Two, he’s pretty sure that cat took a shit on his door mat. 

Sakusa heaves a tired sigh, staring at what he thinks must be cat droppings right on his doorstep. Right there. He almost stepped in it coming back from the gym. And he was still wearing his volleyball shoes, too. He shudders, carefully stepping over the crime scene and across the hall to knock on your door. 7:26 pm; you should be home by now. (Not that Sakusa’s been spying on you, or anything like that, because that would be weird. He’s just observant.)

He knocks again. And again. And again. No answer. He’s seriously considering just heartlessly ratting you out to the landlord when you finally swing the door open, wafting a steamy cloud of what smells like strawberry shampoo all over him. He lifts an eyebrow. Your outfit consists of one bath towel wrapped around your body and one more on top of your head like a pile of whipped cream. And there, winding itself around your ankles, is the nasty little culprit himself — a small ginger cat. It blinks up at Sakusa with wide, innocent eyes, like it didn’t just release its bowels on his doorstep. What a phony. 

“Do you usually keep banging on people’s doors when they don’t answer the first time?” 

Sakusa glances back up to meet your incredulous stare, then back down to where your hands are clamped on your towel to hold it up. 

“Do you usually answer the door half naked?” he says, and he swears he sees the corners of your mouth twitch before you force your face back into an overexaggerated scowl. 

“Touche,” you say. The cat meows plaintively, butting its head against your calf. There’s an awkward beat of silence before Sakusa remembers what he came here for. (Yeah, being greeted by a pretty girl wearing just a bath towel is distracting — so sue him. He’s only human.)

“I’m your neighbor.” 

“I know,” you say, raising an eyebrow. “Sakusa Kiyoomi, right? If this is a housewarming visit you’re about six months too late.” 

“I don’t do housewarming,” he says. “I’m here because your cat took a shit in front of my apartment.”

Sakusa’s eyes nearly pop out of their sockets when you giggle.

“Okay? You want a trophy to go along with it or something?” You laugh again, scrunching your nose like you’ve just heard the funniest joke in the world.

“What?” This is not the reaction he was expecting. Something more like Oh, no, I’m so sorry, what can I do to make it up to you? or My sincerest apologies, it won’t happen again. He blinks, hard. “No. I want you to clean it up. Cats aren’t even allowed here, you know. I could easily get the landlord on your case.” 

“Ooh,” you say, wiggling your eyebrows. “Scary.” 

Sakusa takes a deep breath, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Could you just take care of it, please? It’s your cat.”

“It?” you say, pressing a hand to your chest in offense. “Okay, first of all, it’s a he. And his name is Chairman Meow.” 

“Chairman Meow,” he repeats slowly. 

“Yes, Chairman Meow.”

“I- what?” Sakusa stares at you in disbelief. “Did you… did you name your cat after Mao Zedong? The founder of communist China? One of the bloodiest regimes in recent history?”

“Yup,” you say, tucking in the ends of your towel so it stays in place before crouching down to sweep the cat into your arms. You give it a quick kiss on its fuzzy forehead and glance back up. “I thought it was sweet.” 

“Oh, okay. Makes sense.” Sakusa tilts his head up and stares at the ceiling, urging himself to wake up from whatever nightmare you must’ve sprung forth from. “My neighbor is a complete nut job. That’s wonderful.” 

You laugh delightedly at his chagrin, gently placing Chairman Meow back down. “I’ll clean it up. I don’t know how he keeps getting out. Happens all the time.” 

“All the time?” Sakusa opens his mouth and closes it again. “It doesn’t matter. Just as long as you clean it up.” 

“I will,” you say. “On one condition.” 

“Which is?” 

“This Friday, 6 o’clock sharp, you come over for a real housewarming, Mr. Sakusa Kiyoomi from apartment 12b.” You lean on your doorframe, arms crossed and a smug smile on your lips. 

“I thought you said it was too late for that.” Of their own accord, Sakusa’s eyes flit down to your bare thighs and back up again. No. Bad Kiyoomi, he scolds himself. 

You tilt your head. “It’s never too late for dinner with a cute boy.” 

“Cute? I’m 21,” Sakusa says, trying to decide whether he should be offended or flustered. “Too old for cute.” 

“Handsome? Sexy? Appealing?” You laugh. “I was trying not to come on too strong.” 

“Oh, so you’re flirting with me now?” he says skeptically. “Or is this just a tactic to get  me to forget the literal cat shit in front of my home?” 

“Maybe letting the cat shit at your door was a part of the plan all along,” you offer, eyes wide and expression so serious Sakusa can’t tell if you’re joking or not. “Maybe I did it to get your attention.” 

“It got my attention alright,” he says. He isn’t quite sure what to make of you, and right now he’s a little too tired to even try. “I’m going inside now. When I come back out, your cat’s little present had better be gone.” 

He turns on his heel to go, carefully sidestepping his door mat and opening the door. 

“6 o’clock! Friday! Don’t be late!” you call after him. Despite himself, he smiles, making sure to replace it with his usual apathy before looking back over his shoulder. 

“Only if we order Chinese,” he says, and you guffaw loudly.

“So you do have a sense of humor after all!” 

“I can be funny sometimes,” he says, giving you one last eye roll. “See you on Friday.” 

The door shuts with a satisfying click, and Sakusa stands with his hands on his hips, staring down at the floor, recounting the… odd interaction. The girl from apartment 12a. The girl with the cat. The girl who let said cat shit on his doorstep before calling him cute and asking him to dinner. 

“She’s really something,” he says aloud, shaking his head. 

“Yes, I am!” comes a muffled voice from outside. 

“Stop listening at the door!”

[fangirlings-things]

First Costumer

Fandom: Peaky Blinders

Pairing: Arthur Shelby x female reader

Summary: you just got hired to do the job you always wanted and your first costumer, is no other but a Peaky Blinder

Word count: 2.1K

This is based on the moodboard below, made by my friend. You can find the original post here

A/N: I wrote this for @flowers-in-your-hayr 650 followers celebration. congratulations, love!! you're amazing, thank you for understanding my brazilian jokes lol and I hope you like this 💖

TAG LIST: @sophieshelby ; @charmingvalkyrie ; @inglourious-imagines ; @fairyofvoid ; @locke-writes ; @regalbanshee ; @captainshazamerica ; @lotsoffandomrecs ; @flowers-in-your-hayr ; @too-spoopy-to-be-frukd

You heard the doorbell ring and the sound filled the bookshop. Finally, a costumer. Your very first costumer. How exciting! 

You got down of the ladder you had previously climbed to fix some of the higher shelves and passed your hands through your brown simple dress, making sure it was proper and in order. Mr. Cuthbert had taken a long time to finally accept you as an employee in his establishment and now, you had to make him proud. 

You had always loved books. Since you were just a little girl, you mother had given you novels to read and you grew up living in many different ones from the reality you actually found yourself in. Books were your passion, your refugee, your ideal spot. To be able to work around them and make people happy by buying books, well, it sounded like perfection! 

The costumer took his time to walk through the shop, eyeing the shelves like they were unusual strangers in the street and then, he got to you at the back of the bookshop. Your first costumer was a man. 

He was tall. Not too tall, but just enoguh to make him able to look at some of the upward shelves without having to raise his head too much. His skin was white, giving a nice contrast with the black coat he wore. He had a moustache and you could only see a few strings of his brown hair, due to the cap he wore.

Then, you realized. After taking notice of the cap, the fine clothing made sense. No ordinary man in Birmingham had such fine clothes to wear, especially not in the middle of the week, during the lunch break time of the factories. Oh no, that man absolutely did not work in a factory. That man was a Peaky Blinder. His only bosses were the Shelbys and the Shelbys only. 

"May I help you, sir?" you asked him with a polite smile, pushing to the back of your mind the realization you had just come to. It didn't matter who he was outside Mr. Cuthbert's bookshop. He was a costumer. Who clearly, for the way his eyes were going from one shelf to the other, intended to buy a book. 

He focused his eyes on you and you saw that his stare wasn't harsh or the one of a demon, as many people said the Peaky Blinders were. His eyes were kind, even though there was an agitation in them that you couldn't quite comprehend. Maybe not even he could. "Yes" he said simply and as you kept staring at him, waiting for further information, the man looked even a bit disconcerted, like he wasn't used to having such attention upon him. "It is my sister's birthday this week and Ada, well, she really likes books, has a great shelf of them at her house. So I thought it would be a good idea to you know, give her a new book as a gift"  

You couldn't help but smile. That man, whomever he was, seemed so genuine in everything. You could see the care in his expression when he spoke of his sister. It was a nice thing to see. The stories you had heard about the Peaky Blinders seemed to be all wrong. He was a normal person. Not some crazy, openly violent man. 

"Do you have any specific book in mind?" you asked him, hands joined in front of your body and excitement filling your body because that was apparently going to be a successful sell. The man just squeezed his lips on a thin line, eyes going to the floor  as if he was embarrassed. It got to you. "Don't worry, I am sure we can work something out. What kind of books does she like?" 

He watched as you moved around the place graciously. Clearly you knew every corner of that place, every shelf, every single book and where it was. You looked at a particular spot, frowned then moved on like there wasn't anything interesting for whatever you wanted him to take to Ada. "Well, she's a communist, so she does like politics" 

"Very well" you walked towards the politics shelf, searched the titles, but nothing particularly got your attention or seemed fitting. You turned back to the man. "Does she like classics that have to do with politics?" 

"I think so, what do you have?" he asked, seeming kinda excited for what you would come up with. He accompanied you as you went to shelf on the other side of the corridor and pulled out a book. "Les Miserables, by Victor Hugo. It's centered around the French Revolution" 

The man looked down at the floor again as a quite nervous laugh escaped his mouth. "I don't think that is a good idea. France does not give my family the best memories, you see" 

"You fought the war?" you asked, smile fading a bit because of the seriousness in his tone. Maybe that's where his agitation was from. Maybe, he never did get back from France at all. He only nodded in agreement, still not looking at you. "Thank you, for your service" 

He gave out a little smile, but you knew by the way the corner of his lips didn't rise too much that he was anxious to change the subject. Honestly, see the obvious hurt in him made you want to change it either. "Alright, no France. What about Bram Stoker's Dracula?" 

"Dracula?" he frowned, eyes meeting yours in utter confusion at such a strange name. 

The fact that he didn't knew about it made you smile as you began to describe que novel's story to him with a mysterious tone in your voice to cause suspense. "It's about an old man, Count Dracula, who lives in a castle and feeds on the blood of young women to survive. Sometimes he kills them so they can join him in the after life and also drink blood from innocent people" 

The man laughed due to your clearly forced misteirous tone and the way you raised your eyebrows at him while speaking, seeming to forget the previous sadness that had overwhelmed him with the memories of the war. You were glad for it. "That sounds bloody awful, love" 

You could not help but also laugh, trying to ignore the heat that took a hold of your face when he apparently without thinking, called you love. "It is, actually" then you shrugged, passing your hand through the said novel's cover at the shelf. "But is a fine horror book" you crossed your arms over your chest and squeezed your eyes in his direction. "Be honest with me now, will your sister like this one?" 

He squeezed his lips again, this time his features assumed a expression that clearly said 'sorry'. "I don't think so. Ada is a feminist. I think she would not like a story where a monster man kills women and faces no consequences" 

"That is a very good point" you said with a sight and then turned around, biting your lower lip as you thought and thought about more options. The challenge on your very first sell was being quite exciting and you could say, interesting. Much of it of course, was because of that man. Suddenly, an idea popped into your head and you turned back to the Peaky Blinder with a smile. "What about On the Origin of Species? It's a book about pure knowledge, scientific one, about evolution. No France, no monster that slaughters women" 

The man gave it a minute of thought and then returned your smile. "Knowledge and evolution. It does sounds like Ada" you both felt silent for a moment and then, he cleaned his throat and nodded towards the book you had just gotten into your hands. "I'll take it" 

"Very well" you motioned for him to follow you and then made your way towards the back of the shop again, placing it in the cashier. "You want it wrapped up as a gift?" he quickly agreed and you raised two options of gift wrap in the air. A green and a blue one. He chose the green one. "You can also add a small card if you want" 

"That is nice, thank you" he said and again, as you looked at him, the kindness in his eyes seemed to shine out from everything else. 

You grabbed a gift card from the inside of a box where they were kept and placed a black pen upon it. "You can write it or if you want, I can write it for you" 

"You should write it, I bet your handwriting is better than mine" he said and you chuckled, nodding as you agreed to his request. 

"What do you want it to say?" you waited as he clearly thought about the question, looking unsure. With one of his hands, he took off his cap and then passed the other one through his hair. When he claned his throat, you were ready to start writing. 

"Dear Ada, happy birthday" he looked at you as if that was it but then, seeing the expression on your face that clearly indicated you wished him to talk more, he thought for a second and then continued. " Since you like books so much, I hope you will like this one, that a very nice girl helped me pick" as you wrote with a smile on your face, you did your best not to raise your eyes to meet his. "I know I am not always a very good brother, but I love you. Happy birthday, Arthur" 

"That was beautiful" you told him, letting go of the pen and starting to wrap up the gift carefully, slowly, in no rush to let the Peaky Blinder go away. Arthur. His name was Arthur. It was a beautiful name. Suited him just fine. 

"Alright, then" his eyes went to the floor again, seeming now embarrassed because of your words. 

You finished to wrap the gift in silence, then when it was done, you sighted and looked at the man. "If you want us to deliver the gift at your sister's house, in case you're busy, we have a delivery boy for such" 

"That sounds good, I appreciate that" he replied. 

You nodded in agreement and got a piece of paper, to then grab the pen again. "Can you tell me her adress, please?" he did so, and you wrote it down so the boy Mr. Cuthbert had hired a little while before you could do his part of the job later. "He is supposed to look for Ada...?" you left the question in the air, waiting for him to answer, eyes still on the paper. 

"Ada Shelby" 

Your eyes snapped up on the very same instant. 

Shelby. 

His sister was Ada Shelby. 

He was Arthur Shelby. 

"Something wrong, love?" he asked, and he didn't seem harsh like you expected him to, for the way you not in the slightly hid just how astonished you were to know his identity. His eyes were still kind, but a part of the previous sadness had come back. 

"I'm sorry, that was rude of me" you wrote down Ada Shelby and then left the paper upon the gift, at the corner of the cashier. 

"I'm used to that kind of reaction by now" he said with a nervous laugh, that carried absolutely no humor at all in it. Even if he was indeed used to the said kind of reaction, he clearly did not like it. You felt guilt consume you. "How much do I owe you?" 

You told him the price, still lost in your thoughts and cursing yourself for being so stupid and rude. So rude. He gave you the money, you placed it in the due place. "Have a nice day" he told you and then turned around to leave, placing his cap back in his head and then his hands went to the pockets of his clothes. 

You watched him leaving with a intense feeling of exasperation, tried to think fastly enough to say something and then before you could even really process what you were actually going to do, the words left your mouth. "Mr. Shelby?" he turned back around as he heard you calling, a bit of gentleness in his features. "If you ever need to buy another book, I am sure I can help you find something good" 

His lips curled up in a smile, a pure one. A bit of the guilt you felt left your body like he had just taken it completely away, just by smiling again. "I'll remember that, love" 

And then, Arthur Shelby left the bookshop.