#but i have my doubts :(

[mara-xx]

Everyone ready for another McLaren disaster class?

[herwrittenuniverse]

So I'm rereading Patience and Ripples and I noticed something...

The photo of Aaravos in the rain clearly shows him crying.

You can see the streak of water start right about where his eye is, right down his cheek. This had me thinking, isn't this moment quiet similar to this one...?

And in this, Aaravos is looking at a reflecting of himself. Not only do we see a mirror/reflection motif (in both the shows and the stories), it also sheds some light on our Startouch Elf's situation...

He references a fallen star in Ripples. Pretty sure that he and it are one in the same.

He also keeps references how the other Startouch Elves are arrogant, too caught up in themselves and their own greatness to notice how small actions (ie, humans - particularly, how the wise human touches the water and literally causes it to ripple or 'distort their reflection') can have huge consequences.

Aaravos does not like his Startouch Brethren. He does not speak highly of them in either stories.

On the contrary, while he acknowledges that humans have weaknesses (and talks down upon them tbh), he also credits them for teaching him two valuable lessons - patience and consequences (ie, 'ripples').

I would say the first image - the one of Aaravos crying in the rain - is a teaser and a throwback to whatever conversation he is having with The Merciful One - who, as I have already posted, is probably not that merciful. And you know the creators have all this planned out already and love to drop little hints without us even knowing what's happening.

This is all really fascinating food for thought as we head into S6. I already mentioned that Aaravos is going to be regarded in a sympathetic light. My bets are that he was cast away by his own people (perhaps over someone he loved, as he references love in the S6 teaser - yes plz) and has something to prove to the other Startouch Elves who outcasted him - be it revenge or something similar, who knows.

Damn. I do love this show.

[prostocupoftea]

Little darling i need to post to add pictures to my cringe oc self-insert slash-reader hazbin hotel fic, gonna add link when i'll post it (if ever)

Plus some extra clothes design snd just sketches

Anyway, she is a small bird dummas who wants to kill Alastor, aaaand i should stop talking before cringe gets last parts of me and i delete all mentions of her from everywhere

[leconcombrerit]

I am so divided over this episode.

One part of me loved the twists, loved Chadok and Dika, loved how Dika's depression was actually addressed without all responsibility being shifted to external factors, loved the cuteness, and loved everyone's raw emotions.

That's the happy part that won't shut up about how great it was. But then there's the other part that's much louder.

I'll preface this by saying that I love, love the direction they took with Thua and the character himself. Just not how the situation was handled. I hated the it with a passion. The actual mess was wonderful, but the aftermath ? What the fuck was that ? It feels like I missed a whole part between 3/4 and 4/4. You won't make me believe that afer what happened they're all back to being friends.

Especially Thua and Ayan. He stole the notebook, causing him great emotional distress. Why not steal the necklace and scatter the ashes, Thua, his depression isn't quite on point yet. He tried to get them to break up. Hell, he wouldn't even have come clean if Aye hadn't called him out ! How is that being ready to face the consequences ? He still sees his way as the "bad but only way to solve the situation I sacrificed my goodness to do it" in a very self-righteous manner. He could have done it literally any other way at any other time. Telling Aye to stop protecting Akk, someone who literally crumbles without protection, was also... You know. Ruthless.

That Akk would see himself as deserving it, okay, I can see it. Sort of. But AYAN ? And Kan looked so mad, and then they were all good again ? What was the point ?

I need a rewatch to actually make sense of the whole "everybody's happy" situation but it got me too mad, I'll wait for people to write their own meta and try to quell my anger because gosh. And people thought the Wai situation was bad.

[butchfalin]

the funniest meltdown ive ever had was in college when i got so overstimulated that i could Not speak, including over text. one of my friends was trying to talk me through it but i was solely using emojis because they were easier than trying to come up with words so he started using primarily emojis as well just to make things feel balanced. this was not the Most effective strategy... until. he tried to ask me "you okay?" but the way he chose to do that was by sending "👉🏼👌🏼❓" and i was so shocked by suddenly being asked if i was dtf that i was like WHAT???? WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY TO ME?????????? and thus was verbal again

[kittenkes]

When you desperately need words of encouragement and reassurance where you have none.

[s-ccaam-era-crepe]

i think everyone who's ever had migraines should be financially compensated forever btw

[sanctus-ingenium]

fumes

[giantkillerjack]

Today my therapist introduced me to a concept surrounding disability that she called "hLep".

Which is when you - in this case, you are a disabled person - ask someone for help ("I can't drink almond milk so can you get me some whole milk?", or "Please call Donna and ask her to pick up the car for me."), and they say yes, and then they do something that is not what you asked for but is what they think you should have asked for ("I know you said you wanted whole, but I got you skim milk because it's better for you!", "I didn't want to ruin Donna's day by asking her that, so I spent your money on an expensive towing service!") And then if you get annoyed at them for ignoring what you actually asked for - and often it has already happened repeatedly - they get angry because they "were just helping you! You should be grateful!!"

And my therapist pointed out that this is not "help", it's "hLep".

Sure, it looks like help; it kind of sounds like help too; and if it was adjusted just a little bit, it could be help. But it's not help. It's hLep.

At its best, it is patronizing and makes a person feel unvalued and un-listened-to. Always, it reinforces the false idea that disabled people can't be trusted with our own care. And at its worst, it results in disabled people losing our freedom and control over our lives, and also being unable to actually access what we need to survive.

So please, when a disabled person asks you for help on something, don't be a hLeper, be a helper! In other words: they know better than you what they need, and the best way you can honor the trust they've put in you is to believe that!

Also, I want to be very clear that the "getting angry at a disabled person's attempts to point out harmful behavior" part of this makes the whole thing WAY worse. Like it'd be one thing if my roommate bought me some passive-aggressive skim milk, but then they heard what I had to say, and they apologized and did better in the future - our relationship could bounce back from that. But it is very much another thing to have a crying shouting match with someone who is furious at you for saying something they did was ableist. Like, Christ, Jessica, remind me to never ask for your support ever again! You make me feel like if I asked you to call 911, you'd order a pizza because you know I'll feel better once I eat something!!

Edit: crediting my therapist by name with her permission - this term was coined by Nahime Aguirre Mtanous!

Edit again: I made an optional follow-up to this post after seeing the responses. Might help somebody. CW for me frankly talking about how dangerous hLep really is.

[marfian]

Daemon walking around Harrenhal like

[dotted-clouds]

Happy 2 Years of Kingdom Hearts 4 trailer was revealed

[hoochieblues]

Psst. Hey, kid. Want to hear about another bronze equestrian sculpture?

This is The Angel of the City / L'angelo della citta (1948) by Marino Marini, installed at the entrance to the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice. The museum is housed in Guggenheim's former home, Palazzo Venier dei Leoni, which stands directly on the Grand Canal.

I love this thing. Its proportions. Its strangely bulky angular grace. The weirdly flat horizontal of the horse's top line mirroring the rider's outstretched arms and feet. Those hands that look like the sculptor just said 'meh. good enough.'

The fact they're both so... happy.

So joyful. Or something.

What you might not know is this very important context: the original phallus was fully detachable and unscrewed like a lightbulb. For, uh, delicacy's sake...?

As Guggenheim wrote in her memoir:

“When the nuns came to be blessed by the Patriarch, who on special holy days, went by my house in a motorboat, I detached the phallus of the horseman and hid it in a drawer. I also did this on certain days when I had to receive stuffy visitors, but occasionally I forgot, and when confronted with this phallus found myself in great embarrassment. The only thing to do in such cases was to ignore it. In Venice a legend spread that I had several phalluses of different sizes, like spare parts, which I used on different occasions.”

― Peggy Guggenheim, Confessions of an Art Addict

ART.(TM)

Note, I said 'original phallus.' Sadly, it is alleged someone stole the original bronze cock at least once, and rumor has it that it happened so often the museum gave up and welded a permanent one in its place. This does, however, mean that theoretically at least one person out there owns a very particular piece of art history.

[machinerot]

[doctorsiren]

I had a thought

[skyenish]

[Insert funny joke]

[wasyago]

a random cleo in armor