#but I personally just don't have the patience to listen to something in the background unless it's a music playlist

[dayssinceabrandcrossedmarkiplier]

Well it looks like we've got a reset on our hands again. Mark mentioned in the latest episode of Distractible that a company called OWC (Other World Computing) misled him with the information provided with their usb products and as a result is making editing Iron Lung more complicated than it should be.

I feel like that's more than enough ground to classify them as a brand that crossed Markiplier.

[w4w4lycsss]

Hey i have an idea for james hook. what about if you are his gf and are having a fight and when the life is sweeter song starts in the movie you are hanging out in the background. After their little bit of the song you come out and go against it and it makes him all sad and distracted.

STUPID ARROGANT | JAMES HOOK

summary: One morning you and Hook had gotten into a fight because of him and you decide to remind him that you're still angry at him in a way that feels personal. pairing: James Hook x gn!VK!reader

You weren't emotional, on the contrary, you were despicable and annoying, you had no filters to judge people and you were only kind to people you genuinely cared about, and while you didn't lose your spark of personality you were a little more tolerant.

You had fallen in love, madly, you couldn't think of anyone but that cheeky pirate, when your feelings were accepted you were more than happy, both were too disastrous and perfect.

But you had no patience and you were easily irritated, just as he made fun of it, but this time he had exaggerated; You were angry with him, one of his jokes towards one of your friends had broken your boundaries to endure something else. You had already told him to stop the extremist jokes, but he didn't listen to you. You decided to teach him a lesson on your own.

He deserved it, didn't he?

The day after the joke you decided to ignore him, you didn't approach him to greet him or give him affection, you even got together with some royals to make them jealous and annoyed. You didn't like royal children, they were annoying and too calm, you didn't have to take care of yourself to avoid being robbed or hanging someone because they tried to touch you without your consent when you were distracted.

"Come on, honey, I already told you I was sorry!"

"Fuck you, Hook!"

He let out a tired sigh, pouting after having shouted at you from the other corner of the dining room at lunchtime. "They never call me Hook..."

"Oh, they're really mad at you." Maleficent hummed unimportant.

"Are you going to take what they call you seriously?"

"To them I'm James." He frowned in offense but softened his face as he felt some guilt. "For them..."

"Oh, for all the demons. We got it!" Maleficent protested. "The whole school knows that you fought, shut up now. They don't care about you."

He rolled his eyes, hurt by his friend's comment but without expressing it.

You noticed that there were two new girls who were becoming friends with Bridget and Ella, two girls that you and your friends frequently teased. You rolled your eyes, disinterested when you started listening to her sing.

"It's really not a secret recipe..."

"God, enough." You reproached with a sigh, rolling your eyes again and looking away from the song's performance.

You stood up and walked around the school, walking behind the boys who approached Bridget, loitering and figuring out how to escape the cheesiness about the girl's grades.

Bridget's chorus died down when the VKs appeared, starting to introduce themselves menacingly to the new girls with a part of the song. You suppressed a smile as Hook was the first to come out, crossing your arms and looking away.

You clicked your tongue and smiled mischievously at an idea. Maybe not the best.

You got behind the 'good girls' (how you used to call them) and started playing along with them as Uliana started to introduce herself, you weren't noticeable and it was a part of your recent idea.

"She is Ursula's baby sister..." You heard Bridget, smiling to your insides and ceasing to be so in the shadows, walking a little more to be visible to some extent.

You didn't know how to describe his face when he heard something that resembled your voice on the side of the royal people, being scared for a few seconds when he realized that it was your voice. His steps became more clumsy and careless, clashing with some of the royals and even daring to... apologize to them?

"What are you doing?" Uliana protested. "Stop acting like this!"

"I'm sorry!" He replied nervously and uneasily without taking his eyes off you.

"Since when have you say sorry?"

After the song you stood behind Bridget, crossing your arms proudly seeing her face sore from such a petty action. It really took a toll not to hit or something like the girl with the exaggerated amount of positivity that was emerging, making you nauseous, but you had to keep going for your plan to shut down.

It wasn't long until something happened, and that was when Uliana ate the flamingo feathers she stole from Bridget, turning into one and starting to haunt her furiously.

You rolled your eyes, angry and at the same time satisfied that something interesting was starting to happen; You were about to follow the crowd when cold metal hugged your arm, preventing you from moving.

"I'm going to rip your throat off with my hands if you don't let go."

"I don't care! Stop ignoring me." He pleaded with you, looking at you in pain.

You didn't really care about people, but like everything, there's always an exception, and that was Hook, that pirate you'd forgotten you were so in love with when you threw your tantrum.

"L-I'm sorry, I didn't think it would affect you."

"I don't give a shit about that, I don't like it when you ignore me."

His tone and expression were so vulnerable that if someone was watching him they would laugh at him, but you wouldn't, because you were to blame here. Although he had provoked the joke you got too angry, it was like a time bomb.

"Sometimes I forget how sensitive you are."

"Don't call me sensitive in public..."

"There's no one."

He looked down, embarrassed. "I love you. I'm sorry."

"I love you. I'm sorry." You repeated.

You grabbed his cheeks with your hands, making him look up, you realized how sorry and guilty he felt just with his eyes and the way his lips puckered, reaching out to give him a brief kiss and smile lovingly at him.

[ramblings-of-a-chaotic-neutral]

Hello everyone! I wasn't planning on posting a new au idea so soon (since I'm trying to finish up the next chapter of "What to do when an Eldritch God Decides That You're Friend-Shaped" 😅), but this au idea formed while I was watching "The Nightmare Begins" (the season 2 ep where Morgana first discovers her magic and goes to the druids, only to see them slaughtered) and it decided to derail my writing schedule. With some encouragement from the amazing artist and writer @guiltyscarlet, this au was born! I hope you all enjoy!

In this au, Merlin tells Morgana about his own magic during "The Nightmare Begins", so Merlin doesn't send her to the druids for help. He offers to help her learn about her own magic and control it, and she's just so relieved to have someone who understands. Morgana is heartbreakingly scared throughout the entire episode, so having Merlin there to fully support her and offer her genuine help with hiding her powers is life-changing for her. She essentially gets the same wisdom from Merlin as she would have from the druids: that magic is beautiful and not something to fear.

Merlin and Morgana spend the next few months growing closer (much to Arthur's horror, as he interprets it as them being romantically involved). Morgana swiftly gains control over her own powers, and she practices spells with Merlin. Both of them are just so happy to have someone who understands, a friend that they don't have to hide from or fear! They essentially become each other's comfort person.

But despite Merlin's insistence that things will become better once Arthur is king, that they just have to wait and have patience and everything will turn out fine, Morgana isn't so sure. Merlin is her dear friend, but she cannot buy into his "hope for the future and work from the background" mentality. No, Morgana knows that change will only come from action, action that Merlin is too kind, too caring to take. Morgana would never begrudge Merlin for his own kind heart, it is what makes him who he is after all, but she simply cannot show mercy to Uther as Merlin has done.

However, after a few months, Morgause comes to town. While Morgana's nightmares had become much more manageable with Merlin's help, they still hadn't ceased entirely. So, when Morgause gave her the healing bracelet that made them stop completely, Morgana believed that she had found another person like Merlin: someone who understood her and could support her!

So when Morgause sent her a message to meet in the woods, Morgana of course accepted. Now she could have two people to share her gifts with! And even better, Morgause wants to take action against Uther! They can work together to bring about Uther's downfall, and kind, caring magic users like Merlin all over Camelot will be safe from his cruelty and madness! It's perfect... up until the part where Morgause tries to take Camelot by force with a sleeping spell and the knights of Medhir, prepared to kill anyone who stands against her, magic user or not. This, this was not the grand liberation of Camelot that Morgana had been promised!

In the end, Merlin convinces Morgana herself to stand against Morgause and force her to lift the sleeping spell, but when Morgause still begs Morgana to come with her, Morgana tearfully tells Merlin that she appreciates all that he's done for her, but she needs to get away from Camelot, away from Uther. To Morgana, going with Morgause is the only way to save Camelot from Uther, as she could learn from Morgause and focus her attacks on Uther, thereby saving all of the magic users in Camelot, including Merlin himself.

Merlin had risked his life to save her, now she was going to return the favor. This was the only way.

Merlin begs her to reconsider, to at least not go with Morgause of all people, but Morgana won't listen. She has to do this, for all of their sakes. She takes Morgause's hand, and they both disappear.

From there, Morgana and Morgause spend a year travelling around while Morgause trains her in the ways of the Priestesses of the Old Religion. Morgana makes quick progress, and her magic becomes formidable in no time. After a year, Morgana plants herself in the woods to be "discovered" by the knights of Camelot and makes her grand homecoming to Camelot. In contrast to canon, this time when Morgana returns to Camelot, she's genuinely glad to see Merlin again.

After her return, she quickly pulls Merlin aside and, after they spend the evening catching up and expressing how glad they both are that the other is alright after a year apart, Morgana tells Merlin of her plans with Morgause and Cenred, as she doesn't want him to get hurt in the crossfire. Merlin is horrified at the plan, even though Morgana emphasizes that Cenred's soldiers are under strict orders not to harm civilians and to prioritize killing Uther. Merlin, of course, protests her plans, but Morgana shuts him down. Despite their now slightly tense situation, Merlin reiterates his vow that, no matter what, he will never tell a soul about Morgana's magic, and Morgana swears the same to him.

Season three goes much the same way, except Morgana never targets Arthur or Gwen and Merlin never tries to kill Morgana on Kilgharrah's orders. Morgana instead trips on her own, leading to a head injury that Merlin heals with a spell that he forced from Kilgharrah, and the whole "Uther is Morgana's father reveal" happens the same way. This time, Morgana also knows that Merlin went out of his way to save her life with his magic, which only reinforces her belief that Merlin is too kind to do what needs to be done and will get himself killed if Uther is allowed to live.

During Morgana's takeover of Camelot with Morgause's immortal army in the season 3 finale, Morgana doesn't kill civilians and also tries to get Merlin on her side. Her recruitment pitch to Merlin was essentially was something along the lines of "hey, now that I'm in charge, nice magic users like you can be protected! Your kindness inspired me to do this so you and others like you don't have to be afraid anymore! Join me and you can spend the rest of your life using your magic to make flowers bloom and heal people, all of the things you said magic should be used for! :D You just need to ditch Arthur."

And that doesn't reassure Merlin, who's been sold on Arthur's eventual golden reign for years now, one bit. If anything, Merlin feels guilty, as Morgana had taken over Camelot by force and become this hardened version of herself in part because of him.

When Merlin tries to point out how Morgana's takeover and her methods of ruling were scaring people rather than making them feel safer, Morgana used that argument against him, telling Merlin how he could use his kind heart to advise her on ways to make the people of Camelot feel safer and more accepting of magic if he only joined her. Morgana wanted him as one of her chief advisors, right next to Morgause. Morgana already had Morgause to tell her when she needed to be harsher, and now she could have Merlin to tell her when she needed to be softer.

Merlin, however, still rejects her offer, but Morgana isn't surprised. She knows that Merlin's ultimate loyalty lies with Arthur, and once again, she will not begrudge him for that. From there, Merlin manages to escape and meets back up with Arthur, and the round table is formed as per usual. But, before Merlin escaped, Morgana asked him if, after all of this, they could still be friends. Merlin replied that yes, they could.

In this au, Morgause wasn't injured when Merlin struck the cup of life, so Morgana and a healthy Morgause escape together to plot more ways to conquer Camelot, and Merlin still tries to stop them at every turn. While he infuriates Morgause, he and Morgana almost start to see it as a friendly rivalry between the two of them.

I'd imagine that this au has a pretty happy ending, with Arthur and Morgana being able to have a reconciliation or perhaps even bonding over wanting to protect Merlin! Or maybe they have a sibling rivalry to see who can be the better friend to Merlin lol!

And that's all for this au for now! Let me know if you'd like a to see a continuation of this au! A big thank you again to @guiltyscarlet for your support! I'd encourage everyone to go check out their Merlin art!

And, as always, thank you for reading through my ramblings! :D

[yaseraphine]

RANT ABOUT THERAPY AND WHY IT'S NOT MY CUP OF TEA 🤡

+ trying to guess the therapist's rising and our synastry and ranting about it cause I am tired man (and too sensitive lol)

Really messy post btw just a disclaimer lol

(Update 23/11/24 : I might have slightly overreacted 🤡😀😁 lol plus maybe the therapist was actually a Taurus rising lol idk man I am confused as fuck about everything bye 😝🤪🫡)

Just had my first therapist appointment since 2021 and what can I say....it was REALLY awkward. I don't know how people are able to spill their deepest traumas like that bro she just sat down and told me to talk 💀 like what I thought she would interview me or start the first appointment with pre-made questions to make a profile, regarding my background, family relationships,etc .. It was really messy and I was so confused throughout the whole thing.

I understand it's a privilege to afford therapy (it was 60euros for 45 minutes lol of course it is) but it is much more complex than just spilling your guts to a random with a degree.

Something about me is that I always thought i didn't really need therapy, no matter how painful a situation was for me. And it wasn't only therapy, it was also opening up to my own friends 💀 i could take care of myself like i always did anyways so whats the point of paying for it ? I understood people who needed it and felt helped by it. But it just wasn't for me. I have realizations on my own consistantly thanks to my self-awareness and trained and developped intuition.

What pushed me to go back to therapy even though i was , and still am, very skeptical in its effectiveness on me, is that this year, I realized asking for help won't actually kill me and that i have my limits as a human being.

I fear this appointment just unfortunately kind of validated my initial more negative feelings towards therapy and the idea that I don't really need it.

As a really introspective and painfully self-aware person who has a hard time asking for help (but is actively working on it), I really don't know what kind of therapy could help me, really. I know I probably have a few blind spots, but it's so out of my comfort zone to open up like that. I kind of hate it.

I want to keep an open mind, and probably try another therapist but damn if I don't f*ck with any, it just feels forced .. I trust divine timing for that because I don't really want to put myself in such a situation again.

Right now, I feel dirty knowing a random woman knows about my deepest traumas in a really messy and all over the place way. She has fragments of my soul, and despite me having somewhat giving my consent for it, it was too fast. Maybe it's my 8th house moon conjunct Lilith (1181) in Leo that is speaking but I feel literally violated. Strong words but this how uncomfortable it was for me.

Guessing the therapist's rising sign and ranting about 12th house synastry...

Random but I think the therapist in question had a Virgo or Leo rising... I already said it's the most common rising signs (especially virgo) and I am losing patience. We probably had a 12th house synastry that's why our exchange was really weird and scattered. She kept on making weird faces while I was talking telling me she didn't understand what I was trying to say.... I know it all too well because EVERY single person I knew or had interacted with that had a leo rising, my interactions with them were like this. I was saying stuff and it felt like it went in one ear and got out in the other. Like they could hear me but not listen and understand what i was trying to say. This kind of reminds me of Willy Wonka's relationship with Mike TV or wth his name is, in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Tim Burton's movie. Wonka always said stuff to him whenever he opened his mouth like "I cannot hear a single thing you say because you're speaking gibberish"or whatever. (Me being Mike TV and Leo risings being Willy Wonka).

This is how every single one of my interactions with Leo risings went, no matter their gender or age. It was always like that.

[zz0nie]

Genshin Hcs, Women EDITION.

Furina, Navia & Clorinde.

notes; im not the most familiar with the girls, ESPECIALLY clorinde, imo she's just not have enough screentime to deduct enough things out of her. :( Sorry if shes ooc

Furina

You definitely need to have high patience for Furina, as her outgoing performances of being Fontaine's Archon, she must act the part! Holding your hand - basically dragging you - across Fontaine. "Oh this would look AMAZING on you, simply amazing!" She would announce to the world as she is holding a piece of extravagant clothing against you. Maybe it was on purpose to let people know you were close, as it comes with a little matching trinket she also coincidentally owns. She wouldn't admit it to your face though.

Like previously; she would LOVE to take you places, whether it be sweet treat testing, clothes shopping or just being in awe at the scenery around you, for Furina would frequently be looking back to make sure you are enjoying yourself. If you point it out to her, she will - much to her dismay - refuse to admit she was looking at you and would in fact try change the subject to a cat she saw walking on the roof of a building behind you.

Would 100% LOVE to be fed cakes she enjoys, something humane and sweet while you are sat in her room together, as a recorder you were suggesting for Furina to listen to for a while runs quietly in the background. As much as she loves to be fed, she would tell you to open up and go "Ahh" as she gently places a small piece of a cake in your mouth.

She will talk a bunch on the return after watching a "performance", If you just admire her she will either become more flustered or will feel more entitled to keep on talking, you wouldn't mind either way. While she talks she uses her hands to communicate with gestures, as you sit across from her, head resting in your palm as you listen. Maybe take note on any if they have any romantic drama, she might be hinting at you that she wants something.

Will force you to come to meetings with her, and if it is with someone who makes her anxious, expect her to hold your hand and play with your fingers cautiously.

Has 0 shame in PDA, however, would prefer to keep it to a minimal of hand holding or hugs in public, she prefers to verbally tell the world you are hers and she is yours.

Navia

Many many Baking dates! If you can't bake, that's okay! Stir something for her! Or help her by cleaning something up. Just you being there makes her so happy you want to enjoy something she does.

Definitely goes and buys matching pendants for you, if you aren't that sort of person she will find an object that you can both hold dear to you. Such as matching teacups! She is a very flexible person when it comes to gifts. She loves buying you whatever she can, however she does prefer to stick to sweet goods.

Dancing in her kitchen together, or if you're alone any make-shift kitchen she creates in the moment. While waiting for the macarons to bake, you gently place your hand on her hip and lift her arm up, swaying slowly as she giggles and places her hands on you in return, gliding around as you twirl with her.

Loves it if you ask her for anything, any help, you two are there for each other so why not make use of it? She can become a very busy woman though, so don't go over boarding the requests!

She plays with her hair when she is nervous, just grabs a strand and twirls it in her fingers. If she doesn't want to be as obvious, the hem of her dressing will become her new best friend. Gently twisting the fabric on her hands, rubbing it together as unease sets over her. Hold her hand - give it a soft squeeze - let her know she is okay and you are there.

Clorinde

(once again, i apologise if this is ooc)

If anything does ever happen she's quick to find out and come to your aid, you are her priority. If you're clumsy she'll keep a box of aid on her at all times, due to this while you walk she will have an arm hovering around your side, as she isn't a fan of PDA herself, she will keep a distance between the two of you.

Practically acting as a bodyguard as most people assume when you are first spotted while walking together in the streets. No one will confront you or try straggle for higher prices around the two of you. It’s like walking a doberman, you have big scary dog privileges.

She will refuse to teach you her sword art. However, she will be 100% on teaching you how to defend yourself - if you don’t know how to - coming close and personal to you if you posture is off, standing right behind you as she helps you position yourself for defence or attack. She just wants to make sure you’re safe when she can’t be there to help you. Though, while you two are together, she's soft like putty, completely melts in your arms and just wants to relax. You are her safeguard at home when you are alone.

Clorinde is serious and always ready to take things head-on. This does not involve a private life full of fun and puns. She may be slow to catch onto sarcasm too, taking everything you say seriously - she wants the best for you - even if you made it rather obvious that you were joking. She, was not - which may have causes a couple small arguments or surprises.

She loves animals as much as she may not admit it. She’s probably had a few pets in her lifetime, so when she comes to you and you’re holding a stray kitten, she can’t say no to you when you both send pleading eyes her way. You didn’t think it would be that easy, but it was all worth it when you see the two of them on your sofa, sleeping together, Clorinde holding a protective hold against the kitten who’s snuggled into her neck as she’s on her side. Gently pulling a blanket and kissing her forehead gently you wish her a good sleep.

When Clorinde has to go for duty for longer than usual, you’ll see her gazing out into the window or door as she is in her office. She looks up expectantly as her door opens, however to her dismay it wasn’t you. Wow, how she missed you so much. When the person leaves her office she pulls out a picture you took of the two of you for her, with a small note on the back, “Miss you so much, remember to take care of yourself!” She looks, smiling at the picture before swiftly place bc it back in her pocket. Another person came in.

[heartfullofleeches]

Not to be gay on main but do you perhaps have any spare LockJaw headcanons that you wouldn't mind sharing with us? 👉👈 Can be SFW or NSFW, I'm not picky.. I just wouldn't mind taking a bite outta that feisty lil jawbreaker 👀 LMAO

[Here ya go! Sfw for now, but there's always the future-]

LockJaw is a very head strong jawbreaker. Aside from literally being able to crack a person's skull open with her own - she takes little shit from anyone including her darling... But she is far more lenient with them. Once upon a time she was a slightly kinder and patient person, but after losing part of her face she is less accepting to strangers. At her heart, LockJaw is fiercely loyal to those she deems worthy of her faith and to harm them is to bruise her - and you really don't want to do that.

LockJaw is far more caring of those around her than she lets off. Her cold nature and initial hesitance to touch/interact with her darling is because she's afraid of her own strength. She has more control than she realizes, but there's always that what-if. As her bond with Darling grows, Lock will wrap her hands in the softest materials she can get her hands on. When they lay in bed together, LockJaw will put a marshmallow pillow beneath her shirt to support them better. She softens her voice and rarely yells if they are the sensitive type, and is considerate enough to tells them to look away before she spills fresh blood.

LockJaw is extremely touch starved, but tries not to let that side of her show. She also treats her darling like they're made of glass. Does all the heavy lifting, grabs everything from higher shelves, demands to know why they need a knife before she gives it to them when they're just trying to make dinner- even carries them on her shoulder if they complain of the tiniest aches or pains. If her darling desires their own free will or to go for a walk without her glaring everyone down, all they really have to do is hold her hand for a while or give her a smooch on the cheek. This also stops her from punching a hole through someone's face and calms her down like a flame to a fire when enraged.

Scary Dog Privileges - LockJaw is the type to hover in the background whenever her darling is out and about or talking to someone. One wrong move and she will remove her darling from the situation. Even something as small as using a tone she's not fond of will get someone thrown across the room. Did I mention she's a big motherfucker? I'm still playing around with her height, but she's well over six feet and has the muscle/strength to back up her warnings to folks who refuse to listen to her.

Darling both improves and worsens her behavior. She gains back some of that patience she lost in earlier years and tries to use her words more than her fists, but make them cry and it's lights out. She'll "apologize" if there was a misunderstanding, but by tone alone it's easy to pick up she doesn't mean a word of what she says.

(Hope that's enough for now! I love this hot-headed jawbreaker and can't wait to do more with her and the rest of the cast)

[mimiruku]

Jojooo! Hope you are well! Here are my questions for that ask meme! 🍒 (cherries) - Does your character have a best friend? How long have they known each other? What do they like most about each other? How did they meet? (🤭) , 🧣(scarf) - What comforts your oc? Is it an item? An action? A person? Whatever it is, how any why does it comfort them? , And 🎸 (electric guitar) - What’s your character’s music taste like? Do they have one or two artists they play on repeat or do they have a varied and eclectic collection of music? Do they like mainstream artists or prefer underground musicians? What genres do they enjoy?

█  𝐑𝐄𝐃 𝐐𝐔𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒 ⸻ ( ⚝ )

I think you just want compliments for Momina :/ but okay. hahahahah this is also super late . . . but here we gooo, thank you for your patience as always, Nimo!

╰┈┈➤    🍒 ( cherries ) - Does your character have a best friend? How long have they known each other? What do they like most about each other? How did they meet?

That title goes to Momina alone  ⸻ ! Funnily enough,  for Miruku the growth of their friendship had been unnecessarily prolonged, while they got along fairly quickly when they first met in middle school, it had been something he did not properly acknowledge until very late in his teens. For quite sometime Momina has just been a person Miruku is fond off but held no weight in their relationship. Momina is kind, but Momina is kind to everyone, mostly to a fault. This kindness and tolerance is also what Miruku likes most about her, but he'd rather if she was not ; it's sad, how she's always getting hurt, emancipated for people that don't deserve her.

Their meeting is ordinary, so much so that Miruku remembers it only in hazy fractures. A classroom, a project & an exchange of email. He doesn't remember what they did or why they continued talking long after their group activity ended, he thinks it hardly matters now. ( he doesn't even remember who else was in the group ! ) - if you asked if where they've met, he'd likely like. He'd say ❝ I found her in the recyclable trash bin. I recycled her. ❞

╰┈┈➤ 🧣 ( scarf ) - What comforts your oc? Is it an item? An action? A person? Whatever it is, how any why does it comfort them?

Answered.   But I'd also like to add that, sleeping is a comfort activity for him, unfortunately sleep is spars and sporadic, sleeping does not come easy & so when he does, more often than not, he sleeps for a prolong periods of time. He also lies down a lot as well, if not careful, he'd have likely always be in bed even if he wasn't going to sleep. Later in his life, things that makes him sleepy becomes a source of comfort.

╰┈┈➤ 🎸 ( electric guitar ) - What’s your character’s music taste like? Do they have one or two artists they play on repeat or do they have a varied and eclectic collection of music? Do they like mainstream artists or prefer underground musicians? What genres do they enjoy?

I've answered something similar before !    But to expound, Miruku's interest in music is not contained in one genre or type of music, he likes to explore , there are so many interesting and curious music out there ! & thus, when I say 'he listens to anything and everything' I truly mean it. ( mainstream and underground means nothing to him! ) he does still have favorites however , there is always a soft & quiet music playing in his home, barely audible in the background  ⸻  quite a number of them are old love songs & piano pieces,

[matan4il]

choosing to uncritically believe and report/circulate unverified statistics of deaths in gaza provided by a terrorist organization with a stated goal of eradicating every last jewish person on the face of the earth (and therefore an implied goal of demonizing jews and israelis so no one helps them) is….i want to say stupid. at the very least it's absurdly naive. i know getting angry will just make the other person shut down and not listen but i've been slowly losing patience with certain members of my family.

thank you for sharing stories that remind everyone that the victims of hamas are people, of many different faiths and backgrounds, with hopes and dreams and grieving loved ones, and i really hate that you have to remind anyone of that. may their memories be a blessing. sending you love and healing and hopes for peace and safety.

Hi Nonnie! Oh, this is just so spot on, as well as such a kind message. Thank you! *hugs*

I obviously agree with you that people believing Hamas' unverified casualty statistics, likely inflated and def covering up a lot of the death caused by the terrorists themselves, is... incredibly naive at best. It's probably at least partly informed be the media quoting these numbers uncritically. If CNN, BBC and the likes don't hold a serious discussion on why they're quoting these numbers (as they have no other source to quote), but that they should be treated with healthy skepticism, how would the average person know better? But that's why it's important that WE, who do know better, who understand that Hamas is seeking to de-legitimize Israeli globally, who understand that Hamas runs Gaza as a dictatorship with no regard to their own people's lives, speak up and remind others of this.

I totally get the frustration and losing patience with people. IDK if maybe sending them my posts might help? I would offer something else, but I don't remember coming across a single article that seriously analyzed the many issues with Hamas' statistics.

I'm so grateful to you, and I hope you know you have my love and support! xoxox

(for all of my updates and ask replies regarding Israel, click here)

[im-jesus]

Hey there (it's me! The one who sends you the bugs!) Here to ask something non-bug related. I have wildly different interests to a lot of my family (excluding one or two that I don't often see.) For example: my younger sister who likes musical theater, and heartstopper, and the dsmp while I like mystery stories, anime and vocaloid music (both of us like different things too, of course). Anyway, my main point is: is it wrong/selfish/rude of me to talk about my interests over dinner or something? I made a refrence to ddlc at dinner and no-one knew who she was, and when someone asked my sister said 'why would you ask her?' She does this a lot, she did it multiple times this dinner actually. I also explained vocaloids, and got into an argument with my uncle over whether or not they made valid music (as in, music that had emotions) but that's a whole other thing. The whole time I was debating she kept telling me to be quieter, and sighing whenever I added a new point, or explained something new, and advised my family not to engage in what I was saying lest I get exited and ramble I suppose. I think you can tell just from this that I ramble a lot, and go off on tangents so I suppose it's fairly valid(?). I feel like this happens a lot, people tell me "not everyone is in 'fandoms'/knows what you're talking about', and people normally make jokes about 'don't ask' when someone asks me about about something/engages with me while I'm exited about something. I really understand it must be annoying to have someone who's always talking about something you don't understand nor care about all the time, but I also don't notice I'm doing it sometimes (apparently I'm bad with social cues but at the same time I thought I was doing well when someone told me that but there have been other people who have said that too), and even when I do I want to talk about things that interest me, and I try to give other people a chance to talk too. I notice that what in saying normally gets talked over and when I stop talking mid sentence and no one notices, it makes me really sad, the same for when people get discouraged from talking to me. I feel like I'm sort of a mood killer sometimes, and that people don't want to be talking to me, which has probably become a bigger thing than nessecary from my pre-existing self esteem issues etc. I've sort of lost my tangent of thought by now, but basically that's it. I'm just getting tired of people constantly trying to shut me up, and advertising me as someone you need patience to talk to. I don't want to feel like I'm a liability, and someone to be out up with but that is how I feel. At the same time I understand where everyone is coming from and all, but I feel like if I stopped talking about things I care about I sort of would just fade into the background. So yeah thank you for reading this, have the best day, you really deserve it doing all this for everyone who sends you these asks

i'm sorry this took me more than a month to get to, love, my brain has been fucked recently and I wanted to do this at a time when i could answer properly.

there is nothing wrong with talking about your interests, babes. you're amazing and you're so cool and fun. you've spent the last few months educating me shamelessly, and i think that's brilliant. and let me tell you something as an autistic third child with 7 siblings: if they're not listening to you, they're not worth you talking to. i just found a person who i've discovered shares my political values to the letter and we can just rant to each other about it. this same person also listens to my most autistic rants, plus i spent a chunk of my evening yesterday freaking out with @sebs-out-of-spoons about the new HTTYD film trailer.

there's always going to be someone who wants to know, you just have to find them, love. you're going to be fine. i love you, and you are so amazing and so worthy of love. never stop talking <3

[msprojects]

Hokuto's Radio Show - Episode 1, Part 1 out of 4

I'm back with one of my practice translations. This time, my Japanese has definitely improved, but there are still mistakes, lol.

This translation is edited to make it sound natural for an American audience (not that I'm assuming there's a huge one, just that it's the type of English background I have), so please don't worry too much if there's something you notice that's not directly translated. I'm also not a professional translator with any training, in fact, this is my training hahaha. Despite the mistakes, I hope you enjoy!

Listening to Hokuto is a pleasure, his personality shines through in the radio show and I hope it shows in my translation. He was quite nervous, and I also translated his filler words so you could see how he still did his best despite being that nervous. Precious boy!

If you have any comments or thoughts, I'd love to hear them!

Sincerely, m

-- 0:00 - The Rampage's Hokuto Yoshino presents "Hokuto Radio"! ["Escape" by The Rampage from Exile Tribe starts to play.] Good evening, everyone! This is Hokuto Yoshino from The Rampage (from Exile Tribe). Thanks for tuning in~! Right, so, starting today, I'll be hosting this show called "Hokuto Radio", and since it's my first time hosting on my own, I'm, uh, probably gonna mess up on some parts, so I would appreciate everyone's patience and understanding. Today's date is October 7, 2023, and for the next 30 minutes, I will be your host and I'll be presenting you a program packed with personality. To everyone at Nippon Broadcasting System and everyone listening in, thank you for your support! Let's get on with the show! Okay, so, an introduction is needed so please let me introduce myself. Um, my name is Hokuto Yoshino. My last name is written with the words "fortune" from "great fortune", "field" from "pastoral field"*, and when put together with "person of the north", you get my name, Hokuto! So yeah, um, I'm one of the singers from a group called "The Rampage from Exile Tribe," and we'll be celebrating our debut's seventh anniversary in a few months. Yeah, uh, the group has 16 members and um, we have three singers and 13 dancers, which makes us, uh, a 16-person group. Also, besides being a singer, I have also done some acting. I've appeared in movies like "What's Wrong with Being Popular" and "High&Low The Worst." I've also been in dramas like "Stand Up Start" and others, and I'd be happy if you could check them out! 2:00 - Right. *laughs* I'm so nervous! Okay. I sound a little bit stiff, don't I~ Normally, when it's the 16 of us, one of us will be in charge of doing most of the talking. But talking by myself... Gah, I'm so nervous. It's been about, well, seven years since our group debuted, so when we do intermissions during our concerts, like, I've already gotten used to speaking in front of an audience, and um, if the 3 of us vocalists are together, I know that if I trip up, they'll cover for me. So really, doing it by myself is kinda scary.

I'm really nervous right now! If I mess up, nobody's gonna come to my rescue. Man. Well, anyway, even so, I'll do my best and still have fun. Everyone, let's have fun together! 3:00 - Right, so as I said earlier, today starts my first radio program. It's already Saturday evening so I won't be doing an all-out, high-energy show, but I would like to comfortably spend this time talking with and listening to each other. I'm still new to this but I hope you all enjoy the show~ I wonder who's listening in right now. Well, generally, a lot of our fans are teenagers, but I'm looking forward to finding out who is tuning in. We'll have a Q&A corner and so on, so please definitely send in your questions. I'll also be waiting to hear your thoughts and comments on the show. 4:00 - Please send your messages to the following email address: hokuto@1242.com, that is Hokuto "at" mark, one, two, four, two dot com. H-O-K-U-T-O is for my name, Hokuto. If you post your comment on X*, please use a hashtag with "Hokuraji" in hiragana as well.* Okay, so now I'll play the show's first song, and I chose one of our recent releases. Here is "Summer Riot." [Music break at 4:37 for  "Summer Riot" by The Rampage from Exile Tribe] -- Translator's notes:  *pastoral field = this is not a direct translation, as far as I know 「野原」 just means "field" but it would sound weird if I said "take the word 'field' from 'field'."

*X is formerly Twitter

*Copy and paste this hashtag: #ほくらじ

[teddybeartoji]

hi mickey! i'm going through major writer's block rn </3 so i'd like to ask, how do you finish your works? :3

💀💀💀💀💀💀💀i'm quite possibly THE worst person to ask this i'm afraid lmao unfortunately i work purely on bursts of motivation and energy so i work on whatever i want to work on at the moment which means i have a lot a lot a lot of unfinished stuff sadly

buuuuut one thing that does help me get more in the Zone is to listen to music!!!!! smth based on whatever you're writing at the moment yk? like i have a full folder of playlists specifically made for my bigger works and whenever i listen to them it helps me ground myself a little if that makes sense? helps me concentrate a bit more, helps me put myself in the situation. when i'm woking on my apocalypse au i put on a tlou gameplay vid as background noise and that too is a way for me to focus.

pinterest helps a lot aswell actually!!!!! i also have different folders for different au's and so sometimes i just stare at the pics and that helps too

aaaaaaand one more thing that helps me focus is to change the environment. like i often find it very hard to focus in my own room so lately i've been just using the living room as my little makeshift office and i feel like i'm way more productive there. i know some ppl want to get out of the house entirely and go to libraries or cafes yk?

aaaaaaaaaaaand lastly i feel like sometimes it's just good to step away overall. just take a break. i just shut off the computer and everything and then idk read or play video games or watch smth ooorr go for a walk. helps to clear my head. i can't pressure myself into writing at all and while i do think it's annoying, i don't think it's necessesarily a bad thing bc if i don't want to write, if i don't have words, if i'm just forcing them out.. it won't be good. i think all of my favourite pieces have been stuff that i've loved writing. and i mean i've loved the whole PROCESS of writing not just the outcome.

you have to have patience and you have to understand that there really is no rush. writing is supposed to be fun, or at least ENJOYABLE yk? i think my overall motto is just that you can't force anything. if it's not working out rn, it's not working out – but that doesn't mean it will NEVER work out. it's okay to take a break and do something else for a while. the piece won't go anywhere. oh and actually i do want to add that i have gotten way better ideas after i've taken some time off,, like i come back and it's like my brain has grown twice the size. so yeah. take breaks please. and don't rush it, don't force it. i love you<3333333

[39oa]

hi! i’m slowly getting interested in f1 but i don’t really know how to start. so i was wondering if you had any content to recommend (except for the races of course) to get into the fandom, or anything else that could help, really.. thanks :)

oh anon i would love to help!!! are there any drivers/teams you're already particularly fond of or things you want to learn more about? i feel like it'd be easier to narrow down content if i understood your interests better since it's really something you can mold entirely to your own tastes and there are a million different ways to Enjoy and Consume the sport LOL. tbh i call myself an f1 fan but i mostly just rep oscar and in reality enjoy junior formulae more as a whole because i find the process of getting to f1 more intriguing than actually being in it... so it's really whatever you make of it! i'll try to divide my notes categorically so hopefully that helps a little bit but lmk if there's anything specific you're looking for :') and as always apologies in advance for my rambling 💔

getting into the actual sport

having a baseline understanding of the sport is obviously useful but i'm not sure how much you already know so i'll assume you can find super basic info about how seasons and points work! if you want to delve just a Bit further then:

i think chain bear is a decent youtube channel for easy explanations on some technical aspects and little things you may not have picked up on yet that will help when watching races

drive to survive is of course Not Great but it can be a nice and quick window into learning names and faces, even if a lot of it is ridiculously simplified or overexaggerated. it's basically like using duolingo for learning a new language in that it should be regarded as a semi-reliable supplemental material readily packaged for convenient consumption. if there are specific drivers you're interested in you can always pick and choose eps to consume decent Background Lore for, e.g. you can just watch s1e8 if you're a sharl fan

honestly not to shill for official f1 media but i do think f1tv is a pretty decent streaming platform when getting into the sport... definitely not saying you should subscribe to it (if it's even available in your country!) but just as an aside and maybe for future reference i do believe it's very friendly for new watchers because live races have different feeds that let you track race data (gaps, tyre usage, granular sector data during quali, etc.) and it also lets you switch between driver onboards which can be cool. moreover it has pre-race/post-race shows, technical analyses, archives of past seasons, all the f2/f3 content, documentaries, etc. so it's a pretty complete package! although a good amount of stuff gets x-posted to the official youtube channel so it's not a big deal

if you like podcasts, i think beyond the grid is cool because it has a fun variety of interviews (current drivers, retired drivers, tps, engineers, etc.) about both past and current events so you can basically seek out whatever you're interested in learning more about. otherwise i don't really listen to f1 podcasts regularly because i have weirdly low patience for them compared to hockey, but my friend told me that shift+f1 does yearly primers so that could be something useful to check out! (here's the 2023 season preview, i haven't checked it out but i thought i'd link anyway)

keeping up with news

obviously an important part of fandom is trying to keep up with current affairs, so if you haven't already then i would of course follow the f1 youtube channel + twitter account (or whatever other social media you use), f1 nowadays is extremely effective at marketing itself so it's not like hockey where you're fighting for your life waiting for the unfunniest puck personality video in existence to drop every 8 months. not that all f1 driver content is necessarily funny but there's probably a touch more investment in maintaining the illusion! anyway.

if you use reddit then r/formula1 is honestly probably the best aggregate source of f1 news and up-to-date info, i don't read everything there but it's pretty useful and easy to navigate. plus sometimes when i want to cause myself irreparable psychic damage from something that already pissed me off i can venture into a 500-comment section to get my blood boiling even more... 10/10 would recommend

other than that it's really like — follow official channels for any other drivers or teams you're fond of tbh, i do have a few motorsports journalists in my twitter list but since i respect the fact that some people don't enjoy endless news spam i'd maybe just recommend chris medland if you want a succinct live feed during races for the moment? f1 journalism is kind of godless so you don't *need* to follow that many reporters on a whole.

driver personality content

unfortunately i'll be showing my age when i say i don't have a tiktok account but now that i think about it that's probably a great source of information because it seems like f1 fandom is thriving over there!!! regardless the official f1 youtube does have a lot of little driver personality videos you can watch to get to know them more, and again i'd recommend checking out official team + driver channels for more tailored longform content. for ex just from very recent mcl fan pov they have an unboxed series with behind the scenes of select races and also loads of fun minigame content; every team should have at least SOMETHING to nibble on but certain teams are definitely more marketing-savvy than others (aka big 3 + mcl) 🥲

official f1: f1 has a yearly series called grill the grid with just mini quizzes that all the drivers compete in, some are less interesting but it's overall not bad content. the channel has a playlist for the 2021 gtgs which includes the iconic sebvettel world champion video LOL... actually if you sort the f1 channel by Most Viewed there are probably some fun classic videos in there (looking now it's a lot of crashes but you can ignore those lol), like press conference highlights and other convenient top 10 lists. for a random rec i was just nostalgically revisiting the 2019 rookie of the year video and it was getting to me a little bit!

sky sports f1 will also occasionally have good interview/inside content that you can check out, a lot of it is geolocked though (same with canal+ content in france). but for example i felt so much experiencing this random alex interview from last week... he is truly guy of this world

fan compilations: again if there are any drivers you like then you can just search up their names and there will be a ton of comps with Funny MomentsTM, sometimes it helps to just pick a guy and see how you feel about him as you consume content because your true interests will organically develop and surface eventually... sorry i feel like i'm writing a manifesto on fandom in general which is definitely not what you asked for LOL. but like twitch quartet (aka charles, george, alex, and lando) have a ton of silly streaming highlights you can find on youtube, lando has a gaming company called quadrant that he does videos with which can be uhhh hit or miss depending on how much you enjoy Lad Culture, etc...

really it's so easy to get hyperspecific with content once you pick a team or driver so i'm not sure what else to recommend on a general level but that's what i've got off the top of my head! fandom definitely skews a lot toward rb/merc/fer/mcl so it's easiest to consume both video content and fic for them, but if you're willing to go trawling for interviews then you can really get invested in anyone... fandom culture also varies so wildly depending on how you follow the sport and which drivers you invest in emotionally. my closest friend is a "chirlie" as they say and it really is an experience rife with organizational trauma and TFW You're Beholden To The Stranglehold Of Your Legacy so that's always a great pick if you're craving maximum narrative evisceration, or if you're in it for the fic then you could literally just get really into maxiel, but i'm basically chilling in my land of rookie stonks and sit down to watch non-mcl content maybe once a month.

honestly i only follow like 3.5 f1 fans on tumblr because i'm objectively terrified by the size of the fandom HLSHDFLKH so i mostly consume things in a vacuum and talk to like one friend 😭 but there loads of cool creators out here and you can always find a few gifmakers/fanartists/etc. and just follow the rabbit hole from there!!! best of luck and hope this helps >__<

[toast-tales]

3, 4, 6 (because curious!), 12, 29, 30, 33 (we know they do be stylin), 43 and... 48? I wanted to ask more but I'm pretty sure I know the answer for those kdjqwdkqjw, so I picked the ones who got me curious! These are all for Sam.💜

I will definitely answer all these, but get ready to READ lol

3: Do they collect anything?

Hats! They have a collection of about 20 different caps at the moment. It wasn't intentional, they just really liked the style and kept accumulating more over the years. They have a good variety of designs, from colorblock to floral to bands that they like, though they are almost all snapbacks.

4: What is their favorite music genre?

They listen to a lot of indie and punk rock. But whatever they're listening to, it's gotta be something that they can listen to LOUD. They are absolutely going to kill their hearing one day. Because of this, their hearing isn't as sharp as other giants, but they do have a good sense of smell.

6: What is their phone background/lock screen?

The default one, because they've just broken their phone and had to get a new one.

12: What's their preferred sleeping position?

Sam sleeps on their stomach most of the time, but tends to sprawl out in their sleep a lot. Also, lots of tossing and turning. The only time they actually don't toss about in their sleep and actually sleep through the night/feel well-rested is when they sleep with a human inside of them. do with that what you will

29: What video game would appeal to them best?

They thrive on competitive games. They don't have the patience for super complicated, story-based, or difficult games, but they love games in the same vein as Super Smash Bros. I like the idea of something like Overcooked! being absolute chaos with them, but they'd love it (their friends, however, might get a tad exasperated lmao). They prefer to play with their friends vs with strangers online or solo, as that's the main reason they play video games in the first place, but they do play the occasional round of something like Overwatch - online multiplayer games.

30: How would they relax on a day off/rainy day?

Okay besides going to bother Christopher, they'd probably take the bus to the nearest city with a friend. They're the kind of friend to text you with something like "hey, are you doing anything? Wanna go somewhere with me? Great, be there in five minutes." They tend to make spontaneous plans, and they get energy from being with their friends and going places. They don't like to stay in one place for long or sit around by themselves.

33: What is their personal style? Favorite outfit?

Hot Topic merch

They wear a lot of graphic tees, joggers, copious amounts of black, and the like. They really want to wear more tank tops, but it can make them self-conscious in public. Though, they did finally get a black tank top that has binding in it, and that's probably their favorite thing to wear now. That, and they're always wearing one of their hats.

43: What do they think is their worst quality? What is their actual worst quality?

Their "worst quality" is probably their stubbornness - which, it can be a good thing sometimes (seriously, they have the tenacity and willpower to see all kinds of crazy things through). But of course, it means it takes them a bit longer to accept change or, especially, their own feelings at times. It can cause them to be a little dishonest with others about the way they feel (see: Sam is a tsundere).

They probably consider their worst quality to be their impulsiveness. At times, they may realize that they get themselves into stupid situations or agree to things too easily.

48: What are they most afraid of?

They are afraid of being alone. Not that they can't be by themselves, but they're terrified of no longer being needed or being abandoned by their friends. It's why they're constantly trying to reach out to people and do things with others.

[hamliet]

Hi, I'm the last The Glory anon :). I just wanted to say, I get your point of drama's needing to be centered around restorative/preventative justice, I think they're valuable, but I think drama's like The Glory are needed as well. The background of this series was actually because the creator was horrified after reading all the bullying incidents and she actually interviewed a lot of victims in order to get a feeling of what she wanted to say and she ended up wanting to give a voice of those victims who were suffering in silence. The overwhelming sense that she got from those victims, was they they have not felt heard, helped or listened to, that they were gaslit into thinking that they were the ones in fault and that they deserved the horrific treatment. They didn't pursue any actions against their bullies either, out of fear of retaliation or they were coerced into thinking that it would destroy their bullies lives if they did. They wanted to let people know that they (the victims) know now, that it wasn't their fault for being bullied. To let people see how an entire system was stacked against them. The whole series through, the protag was okay into believing she wasn't a good person, that she didn't deserve love or friendship cause she knew taking revenge wasn't something a good person would do. So the drama never really glorified revenge either. What the series did do (for me, at least) was to validate a victim's feeling of hurt, pain, disappointment, abandonment and resentment. And I think that's fair. And powerful. So many times, a victim has to micromanage their feelings into pretty, neat, palpable things for others or have been gaslit into thinking the feelings of bullies and other peoples are more valid, more important. My bullies and my abusers for once, all came from broken homes/trauma's and they used that in order to keep raping/abusing me, a disabled woc. They made me think that the abuse I endured, was far less painful than the abuse they were going through/went trough and that I deserved the abuse because I wasn't worth anything anyway and they were patient /tolerant enough with me. Thinking my bullies/ abusers' feelings were more important than mines, literally almost killed me, but feeling wronged, feeling hurt and yes angry at what was happening to me, saved me. Nothing ever happened to my abusers/bullies and they never thought any wrong of their treatment towards me, either. The worst abuser and rapist were family members and I didn't want to end up with no family at my side completely. As an adult now, plenty of people feel okay to look down on my because of my disability and my race and I can't do anything about their treatment towards me, those little, unjust treatments cut like thousand paper cuts ever single day, but what can I do? I will have to swallow and deal with that every day, for the rest of my day. So yes, having a drama like the glory taking down entitled assholes down, is in some way cathartic, cause real life lets most of the bastards get away. I'm by far perfect, but I'm def not made of violent revenge plans, rage or anger. I can hardly even raise my voice towards someone. Cause I know what it is like to be at the receiving end of someone else's misery and I don't want any part of that anger and inability to see the humanity of someone else. I don't understand why someone would feel entitled to hurt another, who's usually weaker than them. Regardless of their pain or trauma's. Somewhere there is a line. Getting off from someone else's pain is not normal. And if you can't take responsibility for trauma's caused (and there are PLENTY of people who won't/unable to even see the their wrongness), I have even less patience for. I love me some morally grey fictional characters, I do. Redemption stories of abused people hurting others, only to realise they are not better than their abusers, can be powerful, I agree. Yet. If people can love and see the humanity of a redeemed bully/abuser, then I hope that people can accept the anger and resentment of a victim, too. Have a nice day.

Hi! I was worried about losing your ask in particular, so thank you for resending it.

"If people can love and see the humanity of a redeemed bully/abuser, then I hope that people can accept the anger and resentment of a victim, too"<--I do think this is incredibly important, and absolutely something worth remembering.

I’m also very sorry you’ve had to deal with all of this, for what it's worth. You shouldn't have had to.

I also wanna state that every story, even ones that I profoundly find irresponsible or bad, can help people because experiences are so very varied and everyone has unique needs. I’m definitely not pro censorship, so I am glad the story was able to help you. (Plenty of stories I like could be called bad and could upset other people... which is where critique comes in!)

For a larger point... I get a bit philosophical here, but that's because I honestly think systemic answers and individual answers don't always coincide. I'll explain a bit more below, and I hope to convey that my dislike of the show and labeling of it is absolutely not coming from a space of “you are a bad person if you liked it;” I don’t think that at all. I am glad this story offered you an outlet, and for others too. You deserve catharsis.

It's interesting what you note about the creator, because that does make sense. The ironic thing is that if anything I think her care actually contributed to the problems I had personally with the show—and keep in mind this is me personally, my own experience and opinion, bringing my own experiences and baggage to it which everyone does. I guess I am frustrated with the story because it seems like a case of best intentions, maybe, that still does harm. Yet there’s not always a way to prevent the worst effects of the best intentions, too.  So that’s not inherently the creator’s fault either. Just a reality, I suppose. 

As I said before, I genuinely think the show would have worked better had it framed itself with that self awareness that it was a revenge fantasy and an individual story, but it did present itself instead as something deeper than what it was, as drawing awareness in order to create an answer (hence the use of shock value graphic violence that while not unrealistic was still designed to provoke). And the consequences have been far beyond just people being aware of bullying or calling out people who were bullies, unfortunately. It has led to harassment campaigns and perpetuated myths about what causes bullying, which then makes it harder to actually intervene and stop the cycle. Hence I think that's why I consider it irresponsible to frame it as offering a solution when it does not; if it framed itself as escapism, that’d be different. 

That’s what frustrates me, I guess. I keep comparing it to 13 Reasons Why, because while that show also got people talking about suicide and assault and I know allowed people to feel empathized with in their pain, so I'm glad they have that, it also perpetuated myths about suicide that ultimately make it harder to actually intervene and prevent such things. This perpetuated several myths that make it harder to stop bullying, and actually has led to bullying because people online can become convinced that someone deserves to be bullied if they’re a bad enough person, but what that means is not generally as obvious as we'd think. That the director got caught up in the accusations and campaigns of was ultimately extremely ironic, but in a tragic sense: a real case of take out the plank from your own eye before looking for a speck in another’s. But he probably still has a career and a life ahead of him. The blowback will die down for him. But other people with far less money and less privilege, people who are not big name stars or idols or whatever, don’t have the same luxury, and that bothers me in this case.

It's also true that some issues are easier for each individual to see in a larger context and some that are more individual/personal, and it's also not necessarily linked to what someone has personally been through, and also, it's a lot harder for me to "zoom out" when it comes to other issues. And frankly? Your needs, and the individual needs in general, do need to be met too--individual and systemic needs both should be. So, I am glad this show could meet those individual needs, even though I hold that with my criticisms.

Sending you hugs, if wanted.

[high-caliber-bitch]

The gatekeeping around parenting is one of the most obnoxious things. I once had to listen to a co-worker talk about his horrible treatment of his son, I believe seven, who had nighttime bladder control issues. I haven't birthed children, sand this was before my step children came into my life, but I know so much about children and parenting. Bladder control issues are extremely common, and the number one piece of advice is DO NOT MAKE YOUR CHILD FEEL SHAME. There is quite literally a physiological reason for the problem and it has nothing to do with self control. It is a common developmental problem that most children will grow out of, it just requires time and patience. But this father thought he was so wise and was talking about how he was going to make his son wash his own sheets and clothes if he had an accident. Now completely separately I do believe children should understand how to use the washer and dryer because any skills that add to their ability to be independent are good for their confidence and developmental, just good so around, but not how it was being presented to this child. This child is old enough to feel embarrassed about his issue, but under no circumstances should he be made to feel bad or worse about something he literally has no control over. It would be like ridiculing your child for red hair. His father was so disgusted by him peeing the bed that he came up with this whole plan to make his son clean up after himself instead of taking the 10 seconds to Google "seven year old pees bed almost nightly" and find that the first fucking article that pops up is about the reason it occurs and how you're supposed to handle the situation from a psychological stand point that keeps the child in mind because how you handle situations is extremely important.

I had a garbage mother whom I spent a lot of time with and can trace back most of my issues to. As a result I've been reading about and studying child developmental psychology as a personal hobby. I don't want to fuck up my kids like I was fucked up and I don't want to inadvertantly hurt someone else's kids either. I was an undiagnosed ND child with a mother that had her own undiagnosed issues and that's not an excuse. You don't have to know or have words to describe what is wrong with you. You owe it to your children to be a good parent regardless of how you came to that position. I've been reading about child development since I was seventeen because I wanted to understand what was wrong with me and prevent doing the same thing my grandmother did to my mother and my mother did to me. I chose to make myself more aware of how children are affected because I didn't want to inflict any more pain. I broke the cycle because of basic human decency.

There are so many full grown adults in this world taking out their petty issues on their children because they can't take the time to stop and think about how their actions might affect others, just because no one did that for them. My husband should be the poster child for "how to fuck up your kid." He quite literally has a serial killer background, yet by some miracle he chose to be an amazing and selfless father when saddled with parenthood while he was still a child himself. I don't understand how these people go about parenting without thought. I shouldn't have to be ND to be like "I don't know enough about this issue to respond appropriately" and so before inflicting my will upon minors in my care I fucking do some research. Not every issue has to be a deep dive. But you can take 10 minutes to find an appropriate approach.

I'm still learning, and I'm so terrified of making my daughters hate me. Their lives are so stressful and they don't deserve any of it. I am so powerless as a step parent. But regardless of my feelings and fear I'm not going to take it out on them. It's sad that respecting your children as people is an unpopular take.

[thesummoningdark]

Tagged by the delightful @villa-kulla

What book are you currently reading?

Just finished What If? 2 by Randall Munroe, have not decided what to start next yet.

What's your favourite movie you saw in a cinema this year?

I'd say it's either Everything Everywhere All At Once, or Nope.

What do you usually wear?

Jeans and a t-shirt by default. Sometimes yoga pants and a tank top.

How tall are you?

Like 5'7"-ish

What's your star sign?

Libra

Do you share your birthday with a celebrity or historical event?

The only thing I know of the top of my head is that my birthday is two days after Kimi Raikkonen's. According to google I share a birthday with John Lithgow and Jon Favreau.

Do you go by your name or a nickname?

Nah, my name is not easily nickname-able.

Did you grow up to be what you wanted to be as a child?

I wanted to be many things as a child. I don't think I've actually done any of them. 4yo me wanted to be a nun though, so I think it's best not to listen to her.

Are you in a relationship? Who is your crush if not?

I am engaged to @acereaper

What's something you're good at versus something you're bad at

I'm good at working with my hands - building and fixing things. I'm bad at chess. I don't have the patience for it.

Dogs or cats?

Cats I guess, but I'm pretty badly allergic. I'm not really a pet person.

What's something you'd like to create content for?

I don't entirely understand what this one means. I guess I'd like to make time to DM another game? I'd like to get back into writing too - I'd got some new ideas for where to go with the Dishonoured fic I did for NaNo last time round. But I'm working full time and studying part time right now, so it's had to find the time and/or brainpower.

What's something you're currently obsessed with?

I'm sort of between hyperfixations right now. I'm just coming off the end of a big Frostpunk binge, but nothing's really taken its place yet. I have gotten back into watching gaming streams lately, mostly because I have a knitting project I'm working on and it's good background noise. @cenyiere did show me the first couple of episodes of Shadow and Bone last night though, so we'll see if that blossoms into a new obsession.

What's something you were excited about that turned out to be disappointing this year?

Hmmm maybe Frankfurt? The rest of that trip was great, but if I could plan it again knowing what I know now, I think I'd skip Frankfurt and either do Essen instead or spend a couple more days in Luxembourg.

What's a hidden talent of yours?

My one true talent is being slightly above average for a beginner at almost anything. Will I then follow through and get good at it? Almost certainly not. But y'know, something something jack of all trades something something master of one.

Are you religious?

Very no. I was sort of halfheartedly raised catholic (in that my parents aren't religious either but my grandparents very much were) and grew to resent it pretty quickly. 

What's something you wish to have at this moment?

Functional fucking joints. I did something to my right hip yesterday, apparently, and I've been hobbling around like someone's granny ever since.

If you're seeing this and you want to, you may consider yourself tagged.