#but i can only guess bc i am not her

[empress-hancock]

Men are the ones that raise those boys to be cruel. Whether it’s their dads or male classmates or men in movies or online. Sure women birth children but I think many of us recognize that men raise boys, boys who may not even be their own, to be the way they are. If it was only women raising them we wouldn’t have this issue.

people who have sons and unleash them upon the world are committing war crimes imo

[francy-sketches]

made a pie chart of asoiaf dragon colors bc I was curious about it ^_^ my verdict is asoiaf is severely lacking in cool dragon designs why's there so much grey/brown/green I need more prettygirls. (I based this off of the books/grrm's descriptions, so vhagar is counted as bronze and vermax is undescribed even tho they're green in hotd. also quicksilver is technically undescribed but I counted her as silver bc of the name)

also heres a version not counting the undescribed ones

[utilitycaster]

I just want to say, that I agree with almost all of your Critical Role takes and you have 1000% better and more nuanced takes than all of Twitter and I greatly appreciate it! The takes over there regarding Liliana and the gods are just wild and you bring some much needed sanity to the content I see

Thanks! I hope you don't mind because I've been thinking about this re: the Twitter takes but the thing about Twitter and Liliana specifically that I've seen is that there's this really bizarre fetishization of like, the fact that she is a (white) southerner (this also weirdly happened for Birdie though to a much lesser extent, and the person who spearheaded that wasn't even American so I have to assume this is a specific corner of Twitter Culture At Large). And like, here's the thing. It's true that fantasy tends to be very British in its accents, and it's also true that accents in a fantasy world are used to convey the same things we'd assume in our world - RP British for educated, southern American for rural, Cockney for rougher types, etc.

It's also true that laying the exact socioeconomic parallels from our world onto, say, Liliana and Orym (who reads to me as non-regional but I, like Liam, am from the Northeast originally) is a recipe for disaster. Or rather, it's not, but it is going to reaffirm your own biases, some of which are dangerous to reaffirm.

There was a popular post on Tumblr a while back, probably not long after Trump was elected, of someone talking about how they were convincing a relative with the confederate flag towards socialism by appealing to the idea of "isn't in unfair how uneven wealth distribution is and how a small group has so much control" and a number of people were rightfully like "uh, maybe you should focus on the racism" or "hey OP ask your relative who they think that small group in control is because I'm getting a really bad feeling they're going to say it's The Jews." And I feel that a lot of the empathy for Liliana from those spaces feels like that OP. Or in other words: I get that you see your relatives in Liliana. Unfortunately, I cannot help but see me and mine in Orym.

You see someone trapped by circumstance and desperation in a dangerous ideology. I see the fact that I haven't gone to a synagogue in easily 6-7 years without there being a security guard present and usually, the doors locked with someone looking through the window to let you in, and then in the sanctuary there's been an installation so that you can quickly bar all the doors in case an alarm goes off or you hear shots in the lobby.

I think there's a great case for seeing yourself in Imogen, who is in a painful struggle with the fact that her mother does love her very much but is in dangerously deep and has done a number of incredibly terrible and harmful things. That latter point is important, incidentally; I get that cult members sometimes rise through the ranks but all but the leader are being manipulated. But the fact remains that a brainwashed person can still commit atrocities, and in this story, they have, many times over. It's especially true because like...sure, plenty of people are like "I lost my relative to a cult and I just want them back and I couldn't harm them," but also, as we've seen, this cult can and will harm Imogen! Plenty of people are also like "yeah I gotta cut them off, it hurts but unfortunately my horribly bigoted and violent relative, while a victim of brainwashing, is a threat to me too." It's not even the full picture of the Temult side of things, let alone the picture that includes the Vanguard's victims.

I also think the Southern gatekeeping is unhinged because it's like. guys there's QAnon members and other cults across the country; the Confederate flag example above was actually notable in that OP wasn't even Southern so you couldn't even write the flag off as deeply misguided heritage but rather was explicitly being used as a hate symbol. It's awfully presumptive to assume all southerners have the same experience (especially since the Temults are portrayed, physically and in accents, as white southerners, not that the experiences of white southerners aren't also incredibly varied). It's awfully presumptive to assume that people find Liliana threatening because they have no personal experience with people like her; often, it's because they have all too real experience with people like her, and it says something even worse about you if you can say "but you guys, I see me and my family in Liliana" when people are telling you that they see them and their families in Orym. I would not, personally, publicly admit that one's empathy extends to the people who remind you of your family but runs out before it reaches their victims. Nor would I publicly admit that I assume everyone who disagrees with me clearly has never had personal experience with this topic.

I should also note that, as I've noted a number of times before, that these are fictional characters and not real people. Twitter seems to be really fucking bad at grasping that. Like, yes, this is the other thing; I do not think that OP should kill their Confederate flag-toting relative, whereas if Imogen did so to Liliana I'd be like "hell yeah." The former is a real person who I do hope gets deprogrammed, just, you know, maybe adjust those priorities; the latter is a fictional character in a story.

[moe-broey]

Some. Sort of spectrum. From most likely to least likely.

And by kitten-pile I mean This

I'll put a transcript under cut for easier reading! 🫡

How Likely Are They to Kitten Pile?

__

Mirabilis: "are you tired..? do you need a break...? ohh we could take one together..."

If she likes/trusts you even a little, she wants to cuddle about it!!!

-

Sharena and Peony: "Okay! 💖 Yay! 💖"

Shari: The only thing stopping her is social conventions -- making her MORE likely to jump at the opportunity!

Peony: Learning social awareness as she goes, and is surprisingly good at it?

-

Triandra: "Aren't we a bit old for that...? But... even so..."

Embarrassed, conflicted, but feels strangely nostalgic at the notion...

-

Plumeria: "I'm not so petal-soft that I'd resort to such INDECENCY, I mean even if your intentions are Pure USE YOUR HEADS YOU FOOLS!! Girl, the IMPLICATIONS!!!"

Desperately wants to join the kitten-pile, but her Issues and Pride gets in the way.

-

Moe: "aw, so cutes!"

Generally touch adverse, extremely picky even with the people it likes/loves -- everything is entirely on its terms.

[transmasc-rose]

Amy/Rory I Saw the TV Glow au:

Amy as Maddy/Tara, who ran away and never came home, who talks about things that can't be real (the TV show, the TARDIS, a world where they're strong, a world where they're something better).

Rory as Owen/Isabel, meek and yet loyal and yet terrified of his best friend and what she means. And what she says. And what she shows him.

Doctor Who, the TARDIS, the Doctor, all wrapped up into the role of the Pink Opaque, the TV show from their youth, and something Amy grasps onto and never let's go. Something Rory abandons for a normal life.

And yet.

[skunkes]

how did u feel about the 2nd Terrifier movie? i saw it on a first date so it wasn’t the best experience… but revisiting it I can enjoy it more. good sfx

So the first one is 1h30m i believe, and I know when I watched it and saw I was 40 minutes in i was like wow its been that long and it feels like not much has happened huh. But then it did what it did and it ended.

For the second one I was like oh its been 40 minutes. Hopefully it starts kicking off like the first one. And then after what felt like an hour only 10 more minutes had passed LOL and the entire rest of the movie felt dis way

I like that this one had more of a semblance of a plot... The clown cafe song is stuck in my head... Sfx is good but hm im not sure how to describe this....im not one of those "omg this is just a legal snuff film u guys are evil for watching this" people nor am i a "ermm if u cant handle this ur a prude and a little baby actually" person but more somewhere in between or outside. I love movie gore, when i was younger I watched Saw SOLELY for the traps, i didnt even know the plot until more recently LMAO

but obviously That One Scene...idk! I dont think it was too much in the "prude" way nor was i clapping and cheering but it did evoke a "ok come on wrap it up" feeling from me...like these faces combined...does dis make sense. Not walking-out-of-the-theater disgust and revulsion OR enjoyment/glee but just mostly straight faced this ⬇️

The first movie has a naked woman being split in half from coochie down so its definitely not the gore itself here that evoked this emotion ykwim

[starflungwaddledee]

been working on answering a prompt i received in an ask the other day, and so i'm back thinking about... the Thing... 💖🎀 and thought maybe prompt doodles might help me work through this a little?

so uhhh.... if by any wild chance anyone has any ship suggestions for starstruck...??? feel free to send them through!

[memento-morri-writes]

I've been thinking a lot about how Rook's reunion with his former mentor, Zara, is going to go, and since I can't predict what the DM is going to have her do or say, I can only dwell on what I know is going to happen. Which happens to include taking off the illusion ring that's been hiding his injuries from her. So have a snippet of the description I have planned for that moment:

tw for description of (mostly healed) injuries

He hesitates, twisting a ring on his finger. Looking at it more closely, she can tell it’s very finely crafted, and must have been very expensive. A large emerald is set into the band. Rook sighs, and pulls the ring off his finger in one quick motion.  Immediately she’s struck by the difference in his appearance as the illusion melts away. He looks awful. His warm, healthy skin fades to a dull and sickly grey. There’s huge bags under his deeply sunken eyes, and his cheeks are hollowed, as though they have been carved out by an overeager sculptor. He looks like he’s recently risen from the grave.  While he was thin before, now she can see his ribs under the skin, and his collarbones are exaggeratedly pronounce. Thin white lines left by dozens upon dozens of recently healed cuts are scattered across his body. On top of that, faded bruises cover most of his visible skin, a mottled mosaic of purple and yellow. They’re clearly days, maybe weeks old, and she can only begin to imagine what they must have looked like when fresh. Bandages are barely visible under his shirt, wrapping around his back, hinting at even more injuries.

[chiarrara]

at this point I don't see a path for Chelsie to get voted out. If Leah/Angela wins DE HOH, no matter the combination on the block 2-3 votes will always go against whomever is against Chelsie.

The only way Leah/Angela could get Chelsie out in the Double is if they flip Kimo and Rubina over the next two days and I don't think either of them has the social capital to do that.

Something big would have to shift or else Chelsie's path to the final 5 is laid out unobstructed for her and it only gets harder from there.

[deus-ex-mona]

here’s to hoping that hw manages to correct their typo in noontea’s post-chorus bg lyrics in time for the full release—

[ayrennaranaaldmeri]

working on a gifset and can i just say phia saban the ACTRESS THAT YOU ARE:

the sharp fucking turn when he's like wubuwbwu its a lieeee, the withering looks she gave him. it was excellent.

[lesbianlenas]

ok i know u r all DYING to hear abt my topic for my 60 pg paper basically i had originally wanted to write abt creating a separate standard for women who have been abused killing their husbands other than self defense bc self defense has an imminence requirement that leads many women to be convicted of first degree murder for killing their abusive husbands. but someone in my journal wrote that last yr and even tho i could make a different argument i just felt like there was no way i wasn’t going to be preempted so i was like ok nvm. and there was a whole bunch of other ideas i came up w that were also preempted. but anyway i was really upset abt the first one being preempted but it came to me like a vision that i could write abt postpartum psychosis instead which is a somewhat similar issue in that the law doesn’t consider it bc it is an issue specific to women which leads to women being convicted of first degree murder & even getting the death penalty for killing their children while suffering from that. so i am going to write abt creating a specific standard for that other than the insanity defense which isn’t good enough and no one in my journal has ever written abt that & i haven’t seen any other articles written that make the exact argument i want to make so we are good 👍

[setaflow]

Sorry WHAT HAPPENED to your war domain cleric??? Can I have the DETAILS???

Unfortunately resolution is somewhat scant only because this all happened over the course of the last two sessions of a freshly rebooted campaign and we're all on an extended break for the holidays lol, but absolutely you can have details--

In my DM's homebrew setting, my cleric is a noble from a country that's ruled over by several half-brothers that each control one chunk of territory. The brothers are all related to the other by their father, but one of their mothers had a daughter as well who doesn't have a title claim but is more of a Princess Diana-type: adored by the people and has political sway through sheer force of social standing. My character is 29 and the princess is roughly 26-ish, so my DM and I improvised we'd know each other in our childhoods (thanks partly to a relatively high history roll), but weren't exactly on positive terms due to my character's haughty and hyper-competitive personality.

Flash forward a few sessions. My party is in this same country solving a string of serial killings, and I get a letter from the princess to come and meet up after dark. I go to the location with my party's fighter and bard, but I head up to meet her alone. A few shenanigans ensue that result in my cleric accidentally breaking an artifact of hers that was letting her see visions of something. As she was apologizing, the princess started kissing her, and I was like "Welp, my cleric absolutely doesn't pull away and starts kissing her back in the attic of this hat shop".

As I was mentally trying to pick what flavor of childhood-rivals-to-lovers sapphic revelation my girl was going to have through the rest of her story, my DM asks me to make a wisdom saving throw. I have a +9 to wisdom saving throws. I rolled a 2 on the dice.

My DM: "As you're kissing her, you feel your mind shut off for a quick minute. In the next moment of genuine awareness you have, you're standing in a blood-filled room with a sickle you don't recognize in one hand, and the princess's head in the other as you finish carving through the last few tendons in her neck."

End of session. I had my head on the table for five straight minutes.

My character spends the next session in basically a horror-filled fugue state as everyone with a shred of political power (plus her family, who she's on so-so terms with) puts on a sham trial and pins all 27 serial killings on her. Some more shenanigans happen and I think the real killer's about to take us all into a dungeon to murder us there, but that was the last session we had and I don't get back to the table until mid-January thanks to a work event I have to attend right after the holidays lol.

I know it was actually the princess and not someone disguised as her thanks to casting Locate Creature beforehand, and the flavor text/saving throw of the situation definitely aligns with Dominate Person, but basically all the whos, hows, or whys haven't been revealed because this was all the last two sessions and our party hasn't had the chance to look for clues.

As soon as my girl ceases to be an enemy of the state, I have to teach myself a nifty little resurrection spell so I can be like "So....sorry about murdering you, but can we give that other thing another shot pwease 👉👈 👩‍❤️‍👩❓".

[pinacoladamatata]

something something down by the river

yeah i could draw something other than two characters gazing at each other with utter heartsick longing but I know what i'm about son

[infinitelystrangemachinex]

Mel for the unhinged character bingo!

yessss YEEEESSSSSSSSS

[louismygf]

just recently watched this is us with my college friends