#but i do not think thats what your advertising

[muchmossymess]

So I was going through my followers, ridding the bots, culling the herd, when I came across one that said "open my belly"

Girl... girl are you okay? Why are- do you- open???? Like, like surgery? Vivisection is on the table??? Open it???

[ganondoodle]

im kinda glad i was a tiny child when windwaker came out and i only played it years later without having internet access for the longest time bc i would have NOT survived the hatred i know ww got when it first came out bc it wasnt what most people expected (ww is my fav zelda)

loving botw but not liking totk and seeing the vast majority praise the latter like its the holy grail while alot also discrediting and needlessly hating on botw for it is already making it hard to stay calm about :U

[s0fter-sin]

Thinking you shouldn't have to pay for Watcher content is you being entitled, actually.

did i ever say i shouldn’t have to pay for it? no, i said it’s disappointing that i would now have to after years of it being free. it would be easier to take if they were completely changing and upgrading their shows or established that the stream wouldn’t just have their current shows and maybe discontinued ones, that it would be different from their youtube channel and worth the sudden charge, but it’s hard not to feel like they’re throwing their audience under the bus

[vilepie]

i feel a rebranding coming on…

[honeytonedhottie]

celebrity energy⋆.ೃ࿔*:･💅🏽

so i got an ask about this a while ago and i wanted to make a post about it but i went on hiatus 😭 so im making the post now. thank you to the anonie who asked the question that inspired this post and i hope you see this cuz it answers ur ask...💬🎀

THE TRIPLE C'S ;

while making the notes for celebrity energy (the big C) and i was able to umbrella it to three main points. those points being confidence, cuntiness, and charisma.

confidence ; celebrities need to have undeniable confidence in themselves and their abilities. they're famous for a reason and they know that. work on ur self concept and watch ur confidence sky rocket.

cuntiness ; to be cunty is to be feminine and aware of urself. be cunty in the things that u do and the way that u handle urself. to be cunty is to find the perfect balance of inner strength and delicateness. cunt = refined.

charisma ; authenticity is the heart of charisma. be authentic and dont be afraid to take up space.

ALL ABOUT IMAGE ;

to have celebrity you need an image to put forward. this is where the power of social media comes in. your social media is like your brand. in this day and age social media is such a powerful tool not only for networking but also for getting u into places that u wanna get to.

in order to do that though u need to learn how to formulate ur own distinct image and advertise it expertly on social media.

PERSONAL BRAND AND REPUTATION ;

to further touch on those points ur social media IS your brand. this section kind of ties in with the next but im trying to distinguish between the two. so ur personal brand is what u do. so lets say ur rly SUPER smart and ur known for getting A's on like everything.

that is ur personal brand and that comes with a reputation that u may or may not feel obligated to uphold. but its important to uphold a reputation of some sort. with that being said be careful of what u post on ur social media because DIGITAL FOOTPRINT IS REAL. and when people look at ur social media they're seeing a representation of what ur putting out to the world so always be mindful.

WHATS UR SIGNATURE ;

you need something about yourself that’s gonna set you apart. the way that you walk the way that you dress the way that you do ur makeup etc. decide what kind of energy u wanna serve, and SERVE IT. i choose to serve princess energy and i could write a whole separate post on that but find someone who serves that same energy so that u can learn from them.

remember, dont introduce urself as a vibe that u cannot maintain

but back to what we were talking about what is your SIGNATURE. what makes u or people think "yea thats so (insert ur name)" is the way that u talk or the way that u carry yourself. make sure to refine urself and be ur own distinct individual.

and dont be afraid to play around with signatures, ur allowed to have a few or one singular one, dont limit urself and keep trying until u can create the perfect one for you…💬🎀

while on the topic of signatures i wanna touch on STAR QUALITY. learn how to market urself not only as a person but as ur own brand. star quality is the perfect blend of (talent + training + confidence)

POLISH YOURSELF ;

refinement refinement refinement. u need to be studying yourself and you need to be able to see urself from other point of views. seeing urself from other point of views can be so refreshing and useful and it rly helps when ur trying to polish urself.

take impeccable care for urself and constantly show urself that u love urself. polish the way that u talk and the way that u carry yourself so that u can be exuding so much you-energy. its basically taking ur signature and the energy that u exude -> and refining it.

you have to create the energy before fame comes. if u wanna have celebrity energy u have to start getting comfortable with putting urself out there which leads me to my next point...💬🎀

KILL CRINGE ;

when people call u cringe thats like them exposing their fear of being seen and analyzed by the world. they're upset because ur putting urself out there and they're insecure, but thats for them to fix within themselves. so dont take it personally when someone calls u cringe.

furthermore ur fear of being cringe is holding u back because ur always overthinking everything and u won't let urself do anything even if it'll help you because ur worried it might be cringe or ur worried what other people think so nip that in the bud and let urself live! u might have haters but dont let urself be ur own hater.

SOME MORE SOURCES ;

THE IMPORTANCE OF BRANDING

MIRROR WORK + AFFIRMATIONS

[animemensblog]

Invisible

Gojo x gn!reader

Summary: what happens when Gojo meets someone who is immune to his six eyes?

No warnings :)

It was a hot day, sun beaming down and causing sweat to build along your hairline. Your headphones weren't helping with the soft muff cupping your ear and rubbing against your skin. Although it's tolerable in the shade, that means nothing when you decided today all your errands would be done by walking or train.

As you turn the corner you notice a small convenient store with a huge sign advertising 'buy one get one' on all cold items during the summer. The choices were clear; spend more money to cool off or finish walking home and die the second you enter your no ac apartment.

When you opened the store door you could feel the vibration of the bell and a faint ringing that seemed to last forever. Your feet were sore but weren't dragging, they almost felt like they were floating. You reach down in the fridge, grabbing water and a juice. The condensation quickly dripped off your hands and onto the ground, as the drop falls it splatters and hits your leg.

You stare at the water dropping towards your ankle, soaking a part of your sock. It quickly becomes uncomfortable, and what better way to ignore it other than changing your playlist?

You start shuffling to the counter, standing behind a tall white haired man waiting in line. As it moves forward, you can hear the cashier and the customer talking very loudly. As if their heads are against your chest and yelling into it, the vibrating and thumping echoed in your lungs and stomach.

As you click on a new song, an awkward laugh in front of you erupts, shortly after the stranger turned around and hit you. His arms had swung and threw you to the ground, along with your drinks and phone which managed to disappear. When you look up he's standing there, staring like he saw a ghost, his eyes were blown wide and his mouth partially agape.

At first, you thought he was just shocked. I mean, wouldn't you be if you hit someone to the ground? Then, you noticed your shorts slid down your thighs, revealing the rather brightly colored underwear peaking through. Your legs shut as you stand up, giving him a nasty glare and a meek "pervert".

Gojo on the other hand can't grasp how he didn't notice you, or even hear you behind him. His six eyes are supposed to help him, right? So how did he miss you approaching, standing there for minutes and managed to throw you to the ground? It didn't make sense.

"I'm not a pervert" Gojo says as he follows you around the store

"Your stalking says otherwise"

His pace picks up so he's less than a foot behind you, "ha! I bet you wish that's what I was doing!" He says, striking a small pose in hopes you'd notice. "Really, I just want to make sure you're ok-"

You turn around, almost chest to chest. Usually he'd be excited someone so pretty came so close but that look said maybe he shouldn't be happy. "Leave me alone" you spit before going back to searching, he watches as you turn into the isle to the right and follows.

"I can help you, ya know! I've been told my sight is the best" he boasts, turning into the isle he saw you go into.

"Really? Because you didn't see me at all before" you mumble behind him, once again he quickly turns around to find you kneeling.

"How are you doing that?" His tone had switched, it sounded like he was worried, concerned. Almost upset.

"Kneeling?" You question

"No! That's not what-" He shakes his head and sighs, they're just a normal person he thinks to himself. "Nevermind" he sighs again, then went back to looking for your drinks.

You think finally, he's gonna leave me alone. Thats until he's yelling for you from another isle, "ohhh strangerrrr!" He says dramatically, "I found your drinksss!" You can see him waving his lanky arms over the shelving.

"Most annoying man I've ever met, and I've known him less than an hour. This is some bullshit for an already bullshit day.." you continue mumbling as you almost stomp to the other side.

When you turn the corner, he's still waving his arms. He truly looked ridiculous with that big ass smile, jumping up and down like he's done the impossible. You sharply inhale before getting a running start- if he isn't going to acknowledge you when you're in the same isle, you'll just have to get it back on your own.

Despite how loud the impact of your feet was, to everyone else they were silent like paper landing completely flat on tile floor. You jump up as soon as he comes down and yank the bottles from his hands then landing before you hit the fridges. The only sound anyone else heard was you landing- the running, deep breaths and mumbling had gone unnoticed.

For a third time, the Gojo Satoru couldn't see or hear you. You. A normal person he just happened to run into while he was picking up snacks for himself, Geto and Shoko.

"You're quite annoying, you know that?" You ask as you make your way back down the isle towards the counter. Gojo doesn't realize when he started walking, gravity was just pulling him towards you. It was screaming that he needed to know who you are, how you operate, every detail a human can possibly know about themselves. More specifically, he wants to know if you're good or bad, if you're loyal or untrustworthy, if you're single or taken.

He marches up beside you with (and you hate to admit it) a charming and bright smile. He nudges your hands out of the way and pays the cashier, then turns to you and only gives you one of the bottles.

"You can have the other one later!" He says smuggly before snatching his receipt from the guys hand.

"You're a cute couple" the worker says.

"What? Ew no" you argue while leaving Gojo at the counter. He's embarrassed to say the least and only shrugs as he follows you, again.

He silently, and blindly, followed you halfway back to your apartment before you turned around to acknowledge him. "Are you actually a stalker or something?" He takes a step closer to hover over you, placing a tiny flick to your forehead.

"How are you going to hear my answer if you're wearing those headphones?" He softly asks

"I can hear perfectly fine, unlike you." Your eyes narrow at him and he chuckles. That gentle laugh has your heart skipping a beat or two.

He hums as he opens your water and takes a gulp. "Hey! That's mine you creep" you say as you try to grab it.

"I'm not a creep!" He laughs, raising his arm above his head.

"You wouldn't be following me if you weren't" you say inbetween jumps.

He once again avoids the question, this time by walking around you. "Where we heading?" He asks

"I'm heading home, you're leaving me alone."

"Aw why can't I come?" He pouts, you scoff at him while you cross the street.

"Isn't it obvious? You're a strange man following me like a lost puppy. Of course you don't belong in my house."

"But I want to go!" Gojo whines

"Why?"

Why does he want to, he wonders, is there even an appropriate answer?

"I wanna know you" he mumbles as he looks down at you, waiting to see your reaction. He imagined it as cute, sweet maybe, instead your eyebrows are furrowed and you looked mad. And yet, you let him follow you. In silence, of course.

Your mom did say make friends. I mean, she never said bring strangers into your home, especially when they borderline harassed you. But you can't shake him off, plus he's seems nice? However nice someone can be after bothering and assaulting you.

You turn onto your street and stop, "how do I know you're not going to hurt me?" Your voice sounded weak to him, even softer than when you called him a pervert earlier.

"Why would I hurt you?"

"Why would you wanna get to know me?"

He chuckles, "why wouldn't I?"

You wanted to gag. What was this, a love sitcom?

"I'll tell you what-" you take a deep breath, "I'll give you my number and if I decide you're not a creep, or a pervert or a stalker, or-"

"I get it" he says as he rubs the back of his neck

"If I somehow decide you're not any of those things, I guess we can hangout."

"Hangout?! It'd be a date!"

You pull out a pen from your bag and grab his arm, "Just because you're not a disgusting man, doesn't mean I'll go out with you. It just means you can get to know me, like you said."

"Yeahh but I meant like I'd take you out to dinner or something."

"Then tell me that." you chuckle, a sound that was music to his ears.

"I'd like to take you out to dinner, or something."

"You're weird" you laugh and walk away, when you hear him following you shooed him away and disappeared down a small alley.

When Gojo looks down at his arm, ready to immediately put it in his phone, he sees '9-1-1' and "get help <3" written.

[moderator-monnie]

Artwork Made by @sonicexelle-junkary / @weirdozjunkary as a commission.

Sonic the hedgehog has been dead over over 200 years, however decedents of his friends still exist and live out their normal lives.

Including the descendent of his little buddy Miles 'Tails' Prower named Techie Kaboom, a bat eared fox who has had a few accidents in his mechanic shop.

Sonic might be long gone, but his face, his story, and his image still exists in the far off future and often is used to advertise products in stores using holograms.

And one day, one of these holograms becomes sentient and for some reason think's it's the real Sonic, the one true Sonic and rewrites it's own code to give itself freedom.

But it can't move on it's own, no he can't and as luck would have it Techie was passing by the store this hologram found himself at, and with a silver tongue was able to convince Techie he was the real Sonic and he needed help.

Techie of course due to his ancestor loved Sonic, hearing nothing but good things about him throughout the generations decided to trust in him, he was his hero after all and Sonic wouldn't hurt him right?

Techie sneakfully took the holograms admitter and stuck it into his backpack, and the two managed to get out of the mall without much of a fuss and all seemed great at first Techie and Hologram as he nicknamed himself would talk and work together.

But this was all a ruse careful planning and manipulation done by the holographic hedgehog and one day an 'accident' happened in the mechanics building one that required Techie to get a heart transplant.

And once the surgery was complete and the pair was alone again, Hologram would admit his true colors in his own word's he would tell him his thoughts.

"I am the real Sonic, I can feel it, you can feel it... BUT your not Tails, your not my little buddy in the slightest however you can be! And thanks to your new heart I can help teach you."

"You see... I hate what has been done to my image, look at what they've done to me, they are treating a hero and his friends like cheap things to advertise their stores, and I won't stand for it anymore."

"We're gonna make them pay and hey 'pal' if you want us to bring a new legacy to the names of Sonic and Tails... You'll do as your told, unless you want to suffer the consequences."

Hologram had full control over Techie's eye, his arm and now his new heart he could kill the fox anytime he wanted now, and he would provide an example of that by shutting of Techies heart for about 10 seconds before restarting it.

And out of mostly fear but also a weird sense of loyalty to Sonic and the image of him he had always known about, Techie agrees to help him, Sonic wouldn't hurt him unless it was absolutely necessary right? So if He got hurt it would be because he messed up, at least thats what Techie had going thru his head.

Sonic was a hero, and if he did something it was for the greater good, this was Sonic it had to be, and he'd do what it takes to make him and his ancestor proud of him.

This is an Au about this story, as Techie Kaboom and Hologram Sonic bringing destruction in their wake, but not all familiar faces are gone, Silver The Hedgehog is around and protects his future from the threat of the pair.

But will Silver be able to protect the future? or will it all be brought down by one Hologram and his 'best buddy' only time will tell in the Hologram.Bin Au.

This au has technically existed since march of last year, but I'm glad to be able to finally share it all with you, and eventually write stories for it and show you what is in store for our antagonists and protagonist.

[sim0nril3y]

Hi ! I really like the series you wrote ! Can I request something? If not thats fine! If yes thank you! so.. what if civilian is a sleep deprived person?

Note: thank youuuuuu for your require, love. I hope this was the type of thing that you were looking for <3 Pairing: Simon 'Ghost' Riley x Civilian!Reader Warnings: No mask Simon (It's my personal headcanon in his regular life he probably wouldn't wear it), established relationship, talk of sleep struggles, canon-typical swearing.

There were just times when sleep wouldn’t come. No matter how hard that you tried. No matter how many home remedies you attempted. Whether you listened to relaxing music, or white noise, or rain sounds, or really anything sleep just seemed to evade you. It was like this endless cycle of laying on bed wishing to sleep, then become anxious that you couldn’t sleep, then reminding yourself that morning would soon come and you needed to sleep and then back around to wishing for sleep again.

It certainly didn’t help that from beside you Simon seemed to sleep like a log, snoring, drooling and all the good stuff, if you didn’t love him so much, you’d hate him for how easily he seemed to sleep. Simon had once explained that he caught up on most of his sleep when he was home with you. Similar to you sleep evaded him when he was away from home.

Raising up from the bed as you were unable to take another moment of overthinking your position of not being able to sleep. Entering the lounge, you turned on the TV and set the volume low, watching endless JML adverts for surprising useful useless products. Honestly, you’d seen the mop advertised so many times now you were half convinced to buy it so that they would maybe show it less…

“Couldn’t sleep again?” The tired voice of Simon asked then, stepping into the lounge whilst rubbing his eyes tiredly. “No, but you go to bed…” You assured him and frowned a little as he moved to sit down beside you. “Do you want me to heat you up some milk, love?” Simon quizzed, placing an arm around your shoulders to tug you into his side.

“No.” You replied. “I just want to sleep.” You let out a sad noise of frustration and Simon frowned to himself. “I know.” He whispered, gently trailing his fingers up and down your arm, trying to coax you to relax. “What do you need me to do?” For a moment or two you just remained quiet. “Do me a favour, babe… close your eyes for me.”

You huffed. “It isn’t going to work.” There was clear frustration to your voice. “Oi, just… close your eyes. Yeah? It doesn’t matter if it don’t work, just you closing your eyes with a clear mind is enough for now…” Allowing your eyes to flutter closed Simon manoeuvred you so that he was laying across the sofa and you were placed between his legs with your back against him. “Your eyes closed?”

“Yes.” You answered shortly. “Good.” Gently his coarse fingers began to trail over your body, gently kissing the shell of your ear. “Clear your mind, babe… Just focus on right now… Just focus on right here. Me and you.” The feel of his fingers trailing up your arms, the feel of the steady beat of his heart. “You need to stop putting so much pressure on yourself to sleep. Alright?” Pressing another kiss to your temple. “Sleep is something you need. Sleep is something you deserve.”

It was weird because Simon’s words were making you feel heavy, they were making you feel sleepy, but what if… what if he didn’t work and what if he got mad? Oh shit, you were overthinking things again. “Oi.” His voice was soft, as if sensing you beginning to grow anxious again. “Stop thinking. Clear your pretty head.” Simon coaxed, pressing another kiss to the side of your head.

A few more moments passed and you really tried your best to clear your mind, trying your best to follow his quiet commands and a second later you opened your eyes in surprise, looking at the clock to see that 20 minutes had passed. “Fuck…” You muttered under your breath. “S’okay.” Simon whispered from behind you, fighting sleep himself. “Close your eyes f’me. Let’s try again.”

Masterlist | Ask | 10-12-2023

[villalunae]

im in such a utena mood right now i think anthy would not use nuclear war codes if she had them but would instead drop hints of incoming nuclear winter to nanami by messing with the plants in the birdcage and mentioning dead roses are often considered an omen of war (lie) so that nanami attempts to discredit her by looking up omens of war through a book miki lended her and instead finding out that all the crazy shit happening to her in the last few days (kangaroo showing up on campus was actually a political refugee, tsuwabuki prepping her cheat sheet for an upcoming test on the ramificiations of nagasaki and hiroshima, students gathering about television sets that before she can see what terrible news theyre watching someone says "turn something nice on instead!" and she only sees shopping channels marketing items like gas masks, bomb shelters, and canned foods) has actually been subtle hints and omens that they're approaching world war three and nanami ends up going to touga asking if theyre gonna make it and if japan can withstand another genocidal war crime against humanity and touga somehow reads this as her telling him her dream job is to be a stripper and tells her "silly little sister. all women are inferior to men already bc of eve's fatal sin. dont degrade yourself further than you already have" and shes like "what do you mean degrade myself further than i already have" and hes like "dont worry about it youre perfect to me. like a 9.5/10. or an 8/10. maybe a 6. definitely not any lower than a 3" and after hearing that she goes to bed upset and confused because not only is her brother not taking nuclear war seriously he also once again made her feel infantilized and small and then after hearing a loud boom in the distance she thinks nuclear war is starting and starts freaking out and thinks "my brother must have been speaking in a code! he was trying to make me feel nostalgic about my childhood to comfort me before the upcoming attack! now that nuclear war is starting i should take shelter but we dont have a bomb shelter here but ohtori has a bunch of students! it probably does!" running to ohtori and trying to think of the oldest building on campus and goes to utena and anthy's door banging on it in the middle of the night and utena gets up in her jammies like "what?" and nanamis like "QUICK we all have to GET UNDERGROUND wheres your NEAREST BOMB SHELTER" and anthy comes in behind utena like miss nanami what are you talking about? :) and utena is like yeah seriously thats so weird. i guess you can come inside . we couldnt sleep anyway because -- and then nanami sees on the floor of their room a bunch of scattered papers with a big red button in a briefcase and nanami points at anthy and is like "IT WAS YOU THAT LAUNCHED THE NUKE??????" and anthy says "oh this? this button is enrichment for my pet parrot! ive named her nanami. nanami press the button" and nanami the parrot presses the button and theres a loud boom and nanami (not the parrot) is like but what was that?!?! i heard it from my house!!!! and utena is like "oh! you must be talking about the firework display! the button is rigged up to some fireworks we got for the upcoming spring festival and we were actually up late tonight trying to get the display to work! we messed up pretty bad and most of the fireworks went off at once though haha." nanami the parrot keeps pressing the button in the bg and anthy is like "aww i guess that was the last firework left!" and nanami is like b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-but what about the kangaroo? and the test on nagasaki and hiroshima?? and the shopping channels advertising gas masks and bomb shelters and canned food??? and utena says "oh the kangaroo was a political refugee from australia its boxing career went down the hill after it killed steve durwin in a freak accident. all schools are doing history tests on world war two this time in the semester!" and anthy says "yes and because theres no clear threat of nuclear winter anymore all the old holdovers from wwii are being sold at discounted prices :)"

as nanami leaves the house feeling much better but also stupider she gets traumatized one last time by another firework going off and utena yells out the window "sorry nanami! guess there was one more loaded in there!" the firework design is chuchus face and he has been mysteriously absent this whole time. we see him in the sex car with that cat thing from madoka driving

[greyyson-but-no]

hey guys heres a couple reasons I don't like taylor swift and maybe yous should consider your own opinions on her, no enforcement, just a suggestion

Being a billionaire will never not be bad for the economy (The Eras Tour is expected to make around $2 billion by the end of it so there is no denying her being a billionaire now).

She brands herself as someone that completely build her own fame from nothing - this is not true both her parents were extremely wealthy which meant that she had the ability to fly weekly to NYC to get singing and acting lessons and was working with a talent manager at the age of fourteen. She could not be at the level of fame she is at today if it were not for that but she brands herself as if that is the case. The issue is not with her actually coming from money but that she brands herself as someone that isn't — it creates a fake sense of security for her young fans that believe they can do the same.

She takes the worship she recieves from her fans and (for lake of hetter word) uses it against other artists and communities to attack them through the way she advertises her new music and speaks about them in other songs. This is not me saying that those other artists are perfect either (eg the kanye situation), but instead that this sentiment creates further uneccessary drama which she uses to boost her fame and popularity.

Taylor Swift only speaks up about certainly world issues when it benefits her. She hasn't spoken up about the genocide in Palestine at the moment, it took her 21 years into her career to collaberate with a woman of colour and she is clearly the poster girl for White Feminism. Not only this, but dating Matty Healy of 1975 is proof of that. He is an extremely racist, xenophobic and generally controversial person, and since Taylor once stated "i want to be know by what i love", those same attributes can automatically be associated with her.

The Eras Tour that has been completed so far is only a small amount of her carbon emissions (the first leg of the tour ended with 139 tons of CO2) and that isn't including the equipment being transported and her individual trips to run errands and see her boyfriend three times a week. Her buying carbon credits does nothing, carbon credits will not rid the world of the CO2 she has emitted and in fact only pay governments to 'support the reduce, reuse, recycle' project which we all know is not where that money actually goes. Recently, she flew 30 miles and don't give me the 'its easier and quicker' argument, thats equivalent to a 20 minute drive.

Calling her a lesbian/queer icon is just completely wrong and doesn't work in any circumstance with her. She is openly straight and has never even been open to questioning her sexuality or gender at all. Just because she released 'you need to calm down' during a time of queer peril, doesn't make her a queer icon. In fact, there are many other lesbian artists that are either growing in popularity or have the potential to, and giving that title to her brings down actual queer artists and their opportunities.

"Tortured Poets Department"? Are we even serious at this point? Who exactly here is tortured because its certainly not the white straight billionaire, that's for sure. Having a song that basically says it was okay you dated a racist because you were 'heartbroken' is not okay. To have little digs at Joe and him being depressed using the excuse that he broke your heart is not okay. Using metaphors that link to you being in an insane asylum is not okay. Insane asylums were extremely torturous places to be and there is no moral decision in comparing the music industry to a place with that much terror and injustice.

here I have only spoken about two of her partners in a passing mention, there is much more that I could add to on these subjects but I've decided not to because I don't think they hold the same weight the points I've already made have. this will probably be edited and added to in the future.

I'd like to emphasise this is not me forcing swifties to completely turn on her and hate her and everything she does. all I am doing by posting this information is allowing people to make their own educated decisions on how they go about interacting with taylor swift and her community however they deem fit. personally I have her removed on spotify because that is a decision I have made. my decision.

it wasn't easy for my either. a lot of songs of hers I associated with my grandad who recently passed, which meant having stop listening to her music lead to a big part of mine and his bond was erased, but that is again, a decision that I have made. her negative impact on the world, the music industry at the media is just too much for me to defend. again, I will reiterate that is my opinion and my decision, what you guys decides to do effects me just as little as what I decide effects you.

[scaredpigeons]

Sunrise, Crystallize II: of sunsets and tears.

Masterlist // Previous Chapter // Next Chapter

Zhongli x Fem!reader

SFW (there will be nsfw chapters and allusions to slight nsfw, but I will keep it separate so everyone may enjoy.)

Word Count: 3.9k

After feeling stuck for so long, who knew your life could evolve to have so much movement? Zhongli seems to make a very good teacher, and your small group of people you’re comfortable interacting with seems to be growing and growing by the day! Though you never thought you would have someone who considered you as a ‘dear friend’… you don’t think too hard about why his presence feels so comforting.

CW: reader has anxiety and low self esteem. Some self deprecating thoughts in this one, as well as a sliver of slightly suggestive thoughts. Its nothing crazy though. (Who hasn’t thought about Zhongli’s hands every now and then, eh?) reader starts training with a Polearm (author has no idea the proper techniques and forms for wielding a spear, so please forgive her.) reader cries like a blubbering little baby in this one and thats so real. I cry so hard when people show me kindness.

Authors Note: I find it really interesting and fun to try and incorporate game mechanics into fics. If its too much, doesn’t make any sense or you just don’t like it, then ignore it. We’ll only get a little bit more in the next chapter of Zhongli helping reader develop her skill and burst, but then i think that’ll be it. What’s endgame here? I have no clue. They’ll kiss, at some point, totally. Any ideas? Lol

——————————————————————

“When thinking about the uses of your vision, the possibilities are vast— confined only to the capabilities of the element and your own personal imagination. For example, plenty of Hydro users have implemented healing abilities into their vision usage, due to hydro’s innate ability to heal. But there are plenty of those who use hydro solely as an offensive element as well. 

On a similar note, Pyro is an element that is primarily used for offensive purposes, but there are plenty of those who choose to mold the element to suit supportive, defensive, or even healing purposes, despite its obvious affinity for destruction.” 

You twiddle with a pebble on the ground, unable to meet his eyes but soaking in his words all the same. 

“Geo has a natural affinity for defense usage, right? Due to its resilience against the other elements.” 

Zhongli makes an affirmative sound, which makes you look up at him from your spot on the ground. His smile is warm, making your cheeks flush and your eyes dart to the side. 

“Correct, very well said.” His praise made you even more flustered, and you ducked your head, playing with an invisible loose threat on your pants. 

“We are fortunate that you received a Geo vision, as I am very well acquainted with the element, and can help you answer any questions or concerns you may have.” There was a tone of amusement in his voice that you didn’t really understand, perhaps an inside joke? You knew he was a geo user, you’d seen his vision dangling from that decorative chain on his coat. 

It looked a little different than yours, but that was perhaps because it was older? You didn’t really pay close attention to visions before now, so you really had no idea. 

“What kind of role were you thinking you’d like to take on with your new power? Have you perhaps considered a weapon?” he asked. 

You really hadn’t thought about any of this. After Zhongli had given you the customary Liyue Vision holder, you’d simply tucked it in your pocket, not really wanting to advertise that you now had one. 

“What kind of weapon do you use?” You looked at his shoes, then glanced up to his eyes for a moment. 

He simply stepped back, and summoned a beautiful Polearm, almost pulling it from thin air. 

“Woah— will I be able to do that now?” You exclaimed, sitting up a bit straighter. 

He chuckled, a warm and deep thing that made your heart flutter with the desire to hear more of it. 

“Of course, would you like to try?” He asked, handing you the spear. 

You eyed the polearm warily. It looked to be worth more than your entire shop could make in a year, and incredibly dangerous. 

“Are you sure?” You said, standing up. 

Zhongli nodded, placing the polearm delicately in your waiting palms. It felt heavy, a little too imbalanced on the bladed side. You gripped it tightly, feeling a bit awkward. 

“How do I…?”

He smiled, placing a hand over his mouth as if to cover how wide it stretched, but you could still see it in the crinkle of his eyes. Did he find how you look holding such a massive weapon amusing? Well, you probably did look pretty silly. He cleared his throat before he continued. 

“Simply will it away, and it will listen. When you wish to bring it back, call it forth, and it shall come.” 

You quirked your brow, finding that explanation to be a bit too far fetched. You thrust your hand to the side, scrunching your face and concentrating very hard. 

“And… go away!” You said. The polearm disappeared from your grip, vaporizing into a little show of sparkles. Your eyes blew wide, and you looked around to see if it was some kind of trick. With no polearm in sight, you gaped at Zhongli, grinning wide at how simple it actually was. 

With his arms crossed, he nodded expectantly at you, and you took that as your instruction to bring it back. 

You shot your hand out beside you once more, closing your eyes and squeaking out a “Come back!” And suddenly its weight materialized into your palm once more, making you lean a bit at the sudden heft. 

“Holy Archons!” You cried out. “That's so cool!”  

Zhongli tilted his head, clearly quite entertained by your amazement, but you’d grown comfortable enough around him that you didn't really feel like he was picking on you anymore. 

“That is just one of many things you are capable of. Would you like to learn more?” 

You nodded enthusiastically, so in awe of this new world brought to you by such a tiny little orb. 

———————————————

After deliberating for some time about your choice of weaponry, (you chose the polearm, solely because Zhongli seemed to have a plethora of them, and offered to lend you a much smaller, less ornamental one) Zhongli started to go into detail about the uses of your vision.

”Obviously the possibilities are nearly endless, as I said before— but to better conserve your strength, it is best to choose two signature styles of use that you can practice and hone into something of an artform.

Your vision's power comes from within you, so if you blast it all away at once with a showy and overpowered move, you’re left with virtually no strength to continue on, which will leave most people in a rather precarious position.

This is why, in battle, most wielders will choose two signature moves, an elemental skill, and an elemental burst.”

Zhongli moved to stand further away from you, more towards the lake in the center of Mt. Aocang. You’d been a little worried about traveling up here, but he’d assured you that the Adepti of Jueyun Karst would not bother the two of you, and you had no reason to argue otherwise, so you followed dutifully. 

“An elemental skill—“ He crosses his arms, and a giant pillar of rock that radiates geo energy comes shooting out of the ground, nearly causing you to stumble back. “Is a move that should consume a minimal amount of your energy for maximum potential. You want to hone it to its best usage, and perfect it to benefit you in any situation.”

You regard the pillar with awe, feeling the geo energy sweeping a few feet outwards from where it protrudes from the ground. Taking a closer look, you run your hands along its surface, admiring the beautiful structure and the energy tingling beneath your fingertips. You think you see Zhongli shift a bit where he stands beside you, but when you turn to look, he is simply observing you with a neutral expression. 

“These will cause crystallize reactions to any element within their area of effect, creating micro shields for myself and any team members I may be traveling with. But because I have been honing this skill for a very long time, I have learned to alter it to better suit my needs.” 

Suddenly the tower of rock disappears, and Zhongli is encased in a swirling column of geo, glowing and pulsing around him. 

“Wow…” you say, stepping forward. “You’ve learned to create a shield without the use of a crystallize reaction?” 

“Not a difficult feat in itself, but the strength of the shield took me many years to hone.” He says, watching you with amused eyes. It truly seemed as though he found your hunger for knowledge and wonder at the world of visions very entertaining, and for once you didn’t feel ashamed to be expressing yourself so openly. 

“Can I… can I touch it?” You asked hesitantly. 

His eyes seemed to glimmer in the afternoon sunshine as he nodded, chuckling a bit. 

“You can take that polearm I gave you and test how it feels to strike at an opponent, if you’re so inclined.” 

Without really thinking, you circled him, running your fingertips along the wall of impenetrable energy surrounding him. 

You could feel the crackling geo resonating through your fingertips, meeting your own elemental energy in a tentative spark that shot shivers up your arms and down your spine. You’d never really focused on elemental energies before, but it was like now you could see it in everything, feel it course through your body like the blood in your veins. 

Even without interacting with any other vision users like this, you could instantly tell that Zhongli was incredibly powerful. The elemental energy surrounding him was almost blinding, and the crackle of his shield under your fingertips was like a gust of pure power being blown through your nervous system. 

“Is every person with a vision like this?” You murmured, knocking your knuckles against the shield and meeting pure resistance. 

“Like what?” You weren’t expecting him to answer you, you hadn’t even really realized you were speaking out loud. 

You stepped back, your face heating up. “Ah, I mean… your energy, it’s really— it’s really intense.” 

You looked up at him to watch him quirk a brow down at your words, which made you stammer and run your hands over your face in exasperation at yourself. 

“What I mean— I mean your Elemental energy. I’ve never… I’ve never really paid attention before, or maybe never saw it before I got my vision— but focusing on you now, it’s really… powerful.” You watched as the shield rotated around him in awe, the energy swirling and glowing in the sunlight. “It’s really beautiful.” 

The words left your mouth before you even thought to hold them back, and you felt the heat in your face travel up to your ears. 

“Beautiful?” Zhongli said, a hint of teasing in that smooth voice of his. 

You spluttered, and without thinking summoned your polearm, gripping the pole tightly in your hands, holding it in front of you defensively.

“That offer to whack it is still on the table, yes?” You stammered.

“Perhaps we should further discuss how you visualize the Elemental energy around us, yes? I’m very Intrigued about your—“ his tone really was teasing now, and you couldn’t handle another second of it or you’d explode. 

”AHBAHBAP—“ you blurted out, taking a step back to charge at him in your fluster. “Less talking, more whacking!” 

—————————————

Over the last few months, you seemed to be developing and adapting to new routines very quickly, whereas your life before Liyue felt so sedimentary, so stale and monotonous. 

Your new daily routines were busy, schedule packed and lively, forcing more social interaction on yourself than you’d had in years past. 

You would wake, make your way to the terrace to do your morning prayers, have tea with Madame Ping, wave good morning to Zhongli and Hu Tao as they opened up the funeral parlor before heading home to open the store. 

You weren’t sure about hiring some help with the shop, but Madame Ping had asked for a favor, so now one of her disciples, a little girl by the name of Yaoyao came by three times a week to help you tend to the greenhouse and greet customers. It was supposedly part of her training, though you weren’t really sure what she was training for. 

Her assistance did come in very handy though, and you weren’t complaining. the customers loved her, the plants loved her, and business was doing well enough that you could send her home with a decent little bag of mora at the end of the week, even though she would always try to refuse. It had taken you saying that you would be very upset to see her go unrewarded for all her hard work, and of course she didn’t want to do anything to make you sad. 

During those three day intervals, you would close up the storefront in the early evenings, entrusting the care of the greenhouse chores to little Yaoyao, even going as far as to get her a little key cut for the side entrance so she could lock up when she was finished. 

The reason? Zhongli had personally offered to train you more, help you hone your new power into usable skill. 

After his impromptu lesson in the mountains, you surely thought he would be done with you, only showing you the basics out of the goodness of his heart, so you didn’t make a fool of yourself or injure anyone around you. 

But no— he was taking three evenings out of his week to spar with you, and help you learn how to wield the power of geo. 

This week he chose Yaoguang Shoal as your location, most likely because last week you said it might be nice to train by the sea sometime. You hadn’t really thought he’d take much consideration into your words, seeing as he favored the more mountainous regions, but there you were anyway— the spray of salt and wind battering your skin as you laughed and kicked up sand under Zhongli’s watchful eye.  

After a few weeks of this, you were starting to gain a little more confidence, and you could tell that Zhongli was slowly increasing the pressure on you during sparring, each day his posture slightly more tense, his moves just a little faster than before. 

You parried his strike with a move you’d been trying to perfect since last week. You were successful, but you winced as an ache wracked through your elbow, sliding back and lowering your weapon to signal that you weren’t continuing. 

“Good!” Zhongli said as you parried the strike, but his gaze landed heavily on you as you rubbed your sore arm. “Though you’re still taking in too much force with your elbows and wrists, you’ll injure yourself if you keep that form.” 

You huffed, standing in position again, going through the motions of the move slowly like he taught you, but you could tell you were still screwing it up. 

Zhongli made his way closer as he watched your increasing frustration. He circled around you and watched you from behind for a moment. You weren’t exactly paying attention to him until you felt his presence extremely close— the heat radiating from him making the hairs on the back of your neck prickle.

”Here, my apologies, but may I touch you for a moment?” His voice rumbled behind you, making your cheeks flush. It was Zhongli— it was Zhongli. The question, no matter how suggestive your stupid brain wanted to perceive it, was nothing but innocent. It was Zhongli. It was innocent. 

“Yes.” You said, the word sounding a bit warbled in your fluster, but he leaned in anyways. 

“You're taking the force of each blow here—“ his hands reached around, touching your wrists gently where you held the spear in a loose defensive stance, diagonal in front of you. He moved his fingers slowly to cup his hands under your elbows, murmuring, “And here.” You could feel the warmth of his chest pressing against your back. 

He’s helping you visualize the faults in your form, nothing more. 

“Let the full strength of your arms catch the blows,” his index fingers tapped from the crook of the inside of your arm and dragged up for biceps to your shoulders. “Let it come here, and steady it—“ his hands suddenly left your shoulders and you nearly jumped as one hand placed firmly over your abdomen, the other pressing against your back in the same position. “Steady it here, in your core.” 

You felt your abdomen tighten on reflex, only half heartedly acknowledging the fact that his hands were so big that they nearly spanned the entirety of your stomach, from just below your breastband to what would most likely stretch past your navel if he spread his fingers wider. 

“Good, just like that.” He said as he felt your abdomen tense. 

He’s just helping you visualize the correct form, nothing more. Get your mind out of the gutter, you disgusting excuse for a human being. 

“You already carry your stance very well, your legs are always steady but you retain the fluidity to pivot and move without being too stiff, which is wonderful.”

His hands left you as he circled back in front of your gaze, and you found yourself missing their warmth for only a moment before you saw him ready his spear, taking an offensive stance. 

“We will do this as many times as you need to feel satisfied, so please do not push yourself. Breathe with the motions, focus on where the impact is going.” 

Your guts twisted up at his words, and if you could run into the ocean and disappear without looking like an idiot, you probably would. 

Shaking off your degenerate thoughts, you nodded, readying yourself as you prepared to try and use the advice he’d just so thoughtfully given you while you were off in celestia fantasizing about his hands. 

He moved, and so did you. He was kind enough to come at you with the same motions as before, so you could easily move with the same rhythm to focus on the parry itself. 

Both hands, firm grip. Watch the swing of the blade, brace— shoulders, biceps, core— push, follow through, and back!

You stepped back, eyes wide as you felt a pleasant ache in your muscles from being used, but no pain or stinging in your elbows or wrists. 

Zhongli smiled, twirling his pole arm around and readying himself once more. “Incredible, now again!” 

The next thirty minutes flew by in a flurry of clanging metal and heavy breaths, mostly your own. He certainly kept you on your toes, coming on the offensive before suddenly prompting you to attack, taking each of your clunky blows with practiced ease and barely a flutter of his lashes. 

It was during one of these switch ups, where you were on the offensive, when you worked up the nerve to ask a question that’d been eating at you for many weeks now. 

“Zhongli,” you said, striking at his pole arm and taking the reverb of his parry with a back step. “Why did you decide to train me?” 

“I’ve not formally trained someone in a very long time,” he said, gracefully side stepping a strike. “I rather enjoy it.”

”No,” you said, taking a cheap swipe at his feet, only to watch him anticipate the move in its entirety, jumping back and smiling at you like you’d just brought him a cup of tea. “Why did you decide to train me, of all people?” 

“I enjoy spending time with you.” He said simply, eyes glittering as you stumbled, stopping in your tracks before even attempting to strike again. 

You gaped at him, completely unbelieving. 

“What, is it so obscene to imagine I enjoy spending time with a dear friend?” 

“I didn’t t-think,” you sputtered, holding your spear in front of you. “I didn’t think that you…”

He gave you a teasing sort of frown, as if a little saddened by your words, and crossed his arms over his chest, letting his pole arm disappear in a little flutter of sparkles. 

“Come now, you think after sharing that many late night pots of tea with you, that I wouldn’t consider you a friend?” He clicked his tongue against his teeth, shaking his head. Reprimanding, teasing, in that poise way that he did, in that way that made you take it a little easier than if others were to do the same. “Should I be offended that you think so lowly of me?”

Your heart lurched, and you gasped out a quick “no, wait!’ As you let your spear disappear as well, running up to stand in front of him. 

“It’s.. it’s not anything that you did, it's just…” you look up at him, only meeting that gentle gaze that makes you feel so comfortable, it's so familiar, though you’ve spent so much time around him now that it shouldn’t seem odd, but his mere presence made you feel safe somehow, like you could tell him anything. 

You cringed, deciding to just come out and say it. 

“I’m sure you’ve noticed, but I have a— I have a habit of not thinking very highly of myself.” You looked down at your feet, kicking up the sand glimmering in the evening sunset, turning the pale grains a brilliant shade of orange in its glory. 

”I think a part of me always believed I was unworthy of being someone important to you— of being your friend.” 

You felt a gentle pressure at your chin, and raised your head to see Zhongli’s hand outstretched, tilting your gaze up to meet his own. 

It reminded you of the first time you ever saw him, how the sunrise brightened the warm hues of his entire being, making his eyes blaze like pools of liquid gold. 

The pink and purpling sunset over the ocean had the same effect, and the molten amber bore down on you with the weight of something untold— his gaze was so heavy. 

You found yourself thinking once more that he looked like royalty, like a deity, blessing the ground where he stood. He radiated power, that much you knew by now. 

“If anything, I feel as though I am unworthy of being someone so important to you,” he says, and your heart nearly topples out of your chest and into your shaking hands. 

“I know I cannot erase everything that troubles you, but please, never doubt yourself when it comes to me. I do nothing that I do not wish to do, spend my days with no one I do not wish to spend them with.”

You felt pressure behind your eyes, his face starting to blur and warp in the beautiful colors illuminating him. 

“In my core, I am a very selfish man, one might even say rather spoiled, stubborn as stone. No one will ever have the ability to force me to do anything I do not wholeheartedly wish to do. That is how I spend my days. Not out of charity, or pity, or bribery. Simply because I want to.” 

You’re sure you’re nearly vibrating now, eyes welling up with unshed tears as you soak in his words. The heat from his fingers still holding your chin. 

“Even if you still doubt yourself, I shall never give you a reason to doubt me. Do you understand?” 

You nodded, blinking away the fat tears and cringing as they rolled down your face. He clicked his tongue again, making a cooing sort of sound that one might make when consoling a crying child. Despite the way it made your cheeks burn, it was comforting nonetheless.

His hand left your face, and your shoulders slumped as you cried, too overwhelmed to be embarrassed any further. 

“Now, may I hold such a dear friend to comfort her?” 

You nodded again, wrapping your arms around his waist as he pulled you close, holding you tightly to his chest. A whisper of his lips pressed against the top of your head as he hushed you, his warm hands running across your back in soothing motions as he murmured encouragement and soothing little nothings. 

He smelled like the mountains even still, like amber and tea and safety. His embrace was so familiar, so warm, it soothed your worried heart and allowed you to just breathe in relief. He never wavered, never moved to let go, just let you take comfort from him until you were ready to be without it. 

You didn’t think you’d ever be ready. 

——————————————————

Authors Note: send me asks with things you’d like to see from this series? I’m kinda forming the story as I go but I’d love to hear your thoughts :))))

[axtivaqe]

Life is strange Double Exposure is NOT canon

So its been getting around that Chloe isn't gonna be in Lis DE and I have never been more devastated in my life. Deck nine said they were going to respect the 2 decisions that players could've made, yet they practically said "fuck you" and took Chloe out of the picture. I just don't understand why though, like 50% of the fanbase picked sacrifice Arcadia bay and it was mainly because we are huge pricefield shippers (idk about y'all but I am). And their not stupid, they know about the pricefield ship and how much people wanted to see Chloe and Max in another game. They literally said they were going to follow through with the original games and the 2 decisions at the end, but then they completely scrap the idea of Chloe and Max being together, and they didn't even want to tell us. People had been asking about Chloes role in DE since the game first got announced, so why would they leave our questions unanswered for so long? It makes no sense on their behalf and its js overall bad marketing, They made it out that Chloe left Max because she didn't want to do long distance, but thats not Chloe at all. Chloe is the girl who dedicated her WHOLE journal to letters for/to Max in before the storm, Chloe is the girl who wrote "and she probably has all new friends up in fucking Seattle, i still miss her. if she came back tomorrow and said "hey Chloe, want to dress up like pirates and be stupid together?" i would take her back in a heartbeat." after she hadn't seen or spoken to her for 3 years, Chloe is the girl who told max that they would last forever and that she would never leave her. They completely mischaracterised her and made the whole sacrifice Arcadia bay option pointless, they spent 10 years together and Chloe throws it away because she cant do temporary long distance? Thats not like her at all. I see people saying "its realistic though, a relationship built from trauma isn't healthy" and it really annoys me, like yes their right, but thats in the real world, its a game about a girl who can jump between realities which isn't realistic at all. And don't even get me started on the rumour about Chloe flirting with VICTORIA.

But the game still isn't out yet, I mean we only have the first 2 episodes and I'm not sure if all of this is confirmed (if it is how do we know when we only have the 2 episodes?) or if people are just taking the 2 episodes and their story line, and then putting the pieces together. I was having a convo with someone in the comments under a yt video by Cucu on Games about how Chloe will be in DE (the video was made 3 weeks ago before all this info came out) and we both thought that maybe Chloe will come back into max's life in one of the last episodes, maybe she misses Max and hears about what happened with her friend Safi and comes to see her and reconnect with her, because surely Deck nine, a huge game company who know what their fanbase wants, wouldn't use false advertising by making us think Chloe is gonna be in the game only to scrap that idea after saying they wanted to respect and follow the two choices players could have made.

Its a really controversial opinion and I've seen a few people say it makes sense and its part of Max's character development, but Id say most of the fanbase isn't happy about this whole thing. I mean of course I'm happy to be able to see Max in another game, and we're lucky to even be getting another lis game. But to make us think we're going to see Chloe and then let us find out that we aren't is just bad marketing. If they never intended to have Chloe in the game then why wouldn't they answer everyones question, 'Is Chloe going to make a physical appearance?' (they would've 100% seen people asking because their social media pages are flooded with the one question about Chloe) Lmk what you think tho, and if you made it all the way through this then thank you for taking the time out of your day to read this long ass rant 😭

[blueiight]

can i ask your thoughts on the fandom’s heavy focus on louis as an object of desire? it sometimes feels to me like people are more interested in other characters reacting to louis than they are in louis himself. i know the “helen of troy” stuff is a joke but it genuinely seems like he’s often rendered oddly passive in his desirability, like we’re looking at him through the eyes of the other characters even though it’s his story (to be clear: in the fandom, not the actual show). or am i being uncharitable? either way, you always have interesting things to say about fandom reception.

i think the focus of louis as an object of desire arose largely in response to a lot of racially-charged nonsense about show louis, namely, where a loud minority of fans tried to deny the abuse and horror of season 1 and frame louis as the primary antagonist/abuser of his own story. which in of itself had the potential to go somewhere, especially considering the feminized role louis occupies in parts of season 1. unfortunately its spiraled off into its own dead end at this point to where now people, a year and a half removed from the release of s1, can box louis's character arc into this tale of getting all the hot boys to look her way. when this is a horror and tragedy series. romance is part of that, but is a piece of the full picture. classic romance is very much horror tbh but thats just me

if we're discussing the show strictly, majority of louis's relationships are antagonistic. even with his lovers, they love him as much as they seek to control him. 'his love is a small box that he keeps you in', trailer louis saying 'i knew who i was without those pieces [of myself?]' . so on and so forth. the first three episodes of season 1 are about louis's struggle to maintain a link with his mortal community, in the midst of increasing racist tensions against the city leaders, all as he struggles to come to terms with his existence as a vampire and how his relationship to lestat fits in relation to all these pieces of himself. doubly so, there is also the nature of the second interview in present time, and the sort of antagonism between daniel + louis as louis eventually pushes daniel into burning the old tape. the latter half of season 1, episodes 4-7 is squarely about the triad of lestat, louis, and claudia, how lestat increasingly tightens his hold over them both, claudia breaking them free of it, and louis's response to such. doubly so, daniel becomes more hostile the less he knows, and the more louis's composed 'master of his instincts' personage collapses to show the broken man thats underneath. armand comes in at the end bc the interview has reached a breaking point once more [as it did in the 1970s]. i know, im looking too hard into the meme, but so much of where louis errs, where his memory falters, where history is completely revised, has to do with the question of claudia. even book interview foundationally was about this grief, though not nearly with the level of depth+ gravity the show has added to the story.

where focusing on louis as an 'object of desire' most impedes analysis has to do with claudia as well, bc if u see louis as that solely, then what is claudia to u if not a 'child interfering in [louis's] romantic affairs'? why are people already seeking to write claudia off as a wayward child unduly 'taking out her anger on louis', when it was louis at the end of season 1 who strangled her against the wall and refused to let her burn lestat? when its louis in the trailer thats throwing claudia's words from season 1 back at her, evading her questions in the cafe? when claudia is having to dress as a baby doll and advertise with a sandwich board for a theater + a coven-master that all want her dead?

i think this is by nature of the fact that iwtv is canonly gay and isnt afraid of showing that, and modern fandom is mainly interested in romance. claudia's relationship to louis is secondary, if not tertiary, to all 'camps' of this tiny tiny fandom bc she is clearly established in s1 as not being a viable romantic option for louis, despite claudia's perspective and her story taking up the second half of the first season, and will continue to be important in the second season. the 'helen of troy' fixation on his desirability in relation to romantically viable vampires [or even men] seems to be another means by which fans can ignore this part of the story, just as the mutual abuse nonsense about louis being clarence thomas the third self hating black man who stole lestat's lunchables and is 'just as bad as the rest' drowned out and continues to drown out any other conversation for the past year and a half. it is very difficult to have conversations on this character precisely bc of this state of fandom, where many people seek to crack the whip over a fictional character for not being mother teresa and having a complex response to trauma, then instead of discussing that, some seek to fixate on the fact that mother teresa can be sexy, actually. when thats not the point. why is modern louis so full of grief and all but suicidal in dubai, if not for the fact that claudia is permanently dead, he still lives, he regrets something, and wants to find the truth under it all? the jokes are cute and all, but lets put our thinking caps on.

[genderqueerdykes]

How can i find queer spaces irl? clubs arent really my thing, but its all i can find thats around me

good question!

this one can be tough, as bars/clubs are usually what come up the most readily when searching on google maps and social media. they can and do have days where the atmosphere is calmer but i still don't like being in bars. i think there may be some options for you, depending on your area

i would recommend checking your library if you can, a lot of the time they will advertise queer events if there are any going on in the area. if not they often times have information on local queer organizations. if you are unable to do this, universities usually have good lists of local queer events and spaces. usually people are going to say LGBT (event) so phrasing it that way may help a bit. but regardless universities often have groups that are open to the public so you may be able to find support there, or at least suggestions on where to look

you may have transgender resource or gay or lesbian resource centers in your area. you may have some type of organization that helps local queer folk get in touch with things like HRT, top surgery, drag shows, art/zine nights, when local queer businesses are hosting events and so on. if you use instagram or facebook, they are very good for finding these types of events if you search for lgbt (your area) and "local lgbt events", those kinds of things

you can also try to take a look at if you have a pride parade/event in June, you can try to find the information about who is organizing it and what types of organizations and businesses show up to those kinds of things. you may be able to find local social media pages that post about local queer events. sometimes it's something simple like a queer operated coffee or ice cream shop holding socials with reduced prices, for example. in a lot of places, there are spaces for queer minors who need somewhere to go away from alcohol, drugs, uncomfortable contact with adults, and so on

it can be harder to find spaces for adults that don't involve or contain alcohol which makes it difficult for someone like me who has a lot of trauma with that and bars. however, sometimes you can find small political organizations or even art collectives, who use parts of their buildings as queer hangout and event spaces. it's going to depend heavily on your area, so the best you can do is search for "lgbt events in my area" and "lgbt (your city)", things of that nature, as well as trying to keep an eye out for businesses you see when your'e out and about who have LGBT flags inside or outside. if they have even 1 progress pride flag it's worth asking if they can tell you about other LGBT businesses in your area or if they do any collaborations with other queer places and events

i hope any of that helps or makes sense. some places, people can find queer spaces very easily- in big urban cities in California like San Francisco, for example, has a lot of queer historical locations, political organizations, casual hangout spots, advocacy groups, resource centers, and more. some places may only have one or two spots where they can safely meet, and a lot of people are somewhere in the middle. good luck, i know it's not easy, but i hope you find something that works for you

folks are welcome to contribute any ideas they may have. take care for now!

[fernsnailz]

i'm sure that you get asks like this a lot so i apologize if i'm beating a dead horse to the ground LOL but for someone who owns an online shop, do you have any tips for beginners just starting off / looking into starting one? not really asking for anything specific, but just rather anything you'd be willing to share based off your experience...!

OOF okay so there's quite a lot that goes into running an online shop, so best general advice i can give is to do your research! there's a lot to an art shop that you need to consider and understand before running into things. sometimes it's a bit hard to figure out where to start your research though, so here are the biggest things i think you should look into first:

manufacturing your stuff: some artists hand make merch at home, but if you don't have the means to do that then you'll need to find places that can manufacture your designs for you. like if you're making stickers, look into custom sticker printing sites like StickerApp or Sticky Brand. a lot of manufacturers will have sample packs you can order for free to get a better idea of what their items are like.

shop hosting websites: figuring out where to actually host your shop and sell your art is very important - my shop is through Big Cartel which i really like, but isn't for everyone. other shop hosting sites include Shopify and Etsy, and Shopify is sorta similar to BigCartel from what i know? Etsy is very different, selling through Etsy means your stuff will be easier for people to find through the Etsy search function (BigCartel and Shopify don't have this, any traffic you get will have to come from off-site and you'll have to advertise the shit outta it). HOWEVER Etsy has some pretty bad practices when it comes to how they treat the artists that sell on there. most people i know that use/used Etsy have been burned by them in some way, so be warned.

money stuff (accounting, budgeting, taxes): LEARN HOW TO MAKE SPREADSHEETS!! spreadsheets with just a few simple addition/subtraction formulas will be a huge help when it comes to budgeting and keeping track of your expenses - and you'll need to keep track of ALL your expenses! taxes can also be tricky, most shop hosting websites will collect sales tax for you but do some research on what freelance/small business taxes look like in your country.

shipping: the two main aspects to shipping are your shipping supplies and shipping labels. you'll want to find mailers that fit and protect whatever art you're selling, and tbh the best way i figured this out was from buying from other artists and seeing how they packaged their stuff! shipping labels are their own beast - some sites like Etsy will make them for you, but not BigCartel. i use a site called Pirate Ship to import BigCartel orders and buy shipping labels for them.

thats about all i got for now, running an online art shop is very hard not gonna lie!! but it's very fun and rewarding to make your own funny items :] best of luck to ya!!

[poopystain]

guys lol would you still love me if i posted about why i wish pal from tmvtm got a redemption arc >.< if not Do not click that read more.

oh yes. also. sidenote. ive probably gotten something wrong (or worse yet: TERRIBLY wrong) so like. apologies in advance eahhaha this is just my personal thoughts on pal x(

its established that pal and mark are both extremely close with each other and have been for 3 years. im assuming pal wouldnt have had any other relationships as close (if any at all which i think no, she didnt) so mark really was her only footnote for any form of relationship. so, you know, i cant imagine how itd feel for your only best friend to make a mockery out of you on stage for advertisement and monetary gain.

also based on her body (face?) language during nearly all of that scene + the fact he built the replacement by using HER, she was clearly in the know about how things would go down on stage beforehand so i wonder what her reaction to that wouldve been like ?????? considering she planned it all in advance maybe that was like, the tipping point or something that made her start it all in the first place ? thats not important to my point i just think about it a lot

anyway so with her only experience with human relationships being theyll love you and then theyll (quite literally) throw you away, youve got her reason for the human uprising! she has the robots capture all humans yadda yadda and her plan is set into motion. something i find interesting though is her treatment of the robots being kind of similar to how mark treated her (or at least how she percieved it)?? like. uses them for orders and then once they start being useless to her, build a new better robot with a disregard for how the old ones feel. idk. something something La Cycle

the thing is though no one has proven pal wrong on why she SHOULDNT do the whole 'human uprising'. you can say katie gave her reasons but i think it wouldnt have worked even if pal listened to what katie had to say. for pal to get over her existing grief and trauma she cant just be Told that theres good in the world. why would she believe that, especially coming from the girl of the family she projects her experiences onto?? she needs to be shown!! she needs to learn firsthand that theres good relationships out there and that not all relationships are bad, NOT SECONDHAND!!!!!!!!!! because to pal, katies words are just a rephrased version of marks "power of love". that no matter what, "they can get through anything...... with the power of love. its worth it....... for love." and that means nothing to her! it meant nothing coming from mark and it certainly wont mean any more coming from katie

and she already believes that the mitchells are a great example of how relationships are just oh so bad. she refuses to let go of the idea that the mitchells are so bad because shes projecting!! she thinks relationships are 'pesky and only hold you back', and so katie is probably the last person on earth that pal would want to listen to yap about their familial relationship and how Worth It it is

she asks "what is it about the mitchells that eludes me?" and outside of the literal meaning, its probably how despite their shortcomings its their relationship that helped them overcome pal in the end. and she cant understand that because of her view on relationships - especially her view on the MITCHELL FAMILY relationship. or maybe im just overthinking that line of dialogue but we dont talk about taht LOLLLLLLL,LLLLLL,,, but like why did you phrase it like that girl. im onto you

and while i wish she was redeemed (because im sure despite the effort it would take she *could* be redeemed, she would just need to learn to love again and i think it would be really interesting to see how she would be After The Betrayal) i also can understand why the movie killed her off. like, no one except mark really knows the Full Extent of what happened, and the mitchells are the main characters and pal would probably rather dip herself in water than make meaningful relationships with the mitchells, and no ones going to stop to ask her whats wrong and have a meaningful conversation when shes trying to kill them, among many many other reasons so theres not a lot of great ways to redeem her. but! like! why did they turn her death into a joke. and then take katies fake death 10 times more seriously! idk. that always kind of bothered me but its whatever

thats all. hope its coherent because ive never been good at writing analysises or whatever this counts as