#can't see them ignoring it in this situation

[just-me-mia]

Okay, can we please stop with this peaceful protest bullshit when it comes on to people in situations like these.

Do you realise how self centered and ignorant you are being when you sit wherever you are, reading about a disaster but decided to comment on reasonably aggression calling it as horrid as what is happening.

You cannot put a rapid fire out with a peaceful drop of water. You have to drown the fire or meet the fire with fire.

Look at the history of peaceful protesters, those who decided not to work (in morden terms, went on strike) for rights and see what happened to them. They had an impact but they were brutalized.

Aggression is a language that many respect and understand, so if protestors can't get their messages sent. Their statements will be seen and heard.

Also this is not a protest for simple things, these people were forced out of their homes. They are literally being erased. tell me truthfully, WHO WOULDN'T BE ENRAGED. Not only are they being stripped of what's theirs, they're being painted as the aggressors. Why should they be calm?

Those who try to protest peacefully for simpletons to sympathies with them hoping for some change are disposed of so obviously there's a group that said fuck that.

Let these people rage and support that rage.

[sundays-lover]

stupid in love

husband!zhongli x gn!reader — fluff

synopsis: you're a talkative drunk and zhongli is in love.

content warning: reader is drunk and mentioned to have hair (lmk if i missed anything !)

notes: NOT PROOFREAD <3 ; zhongli is a wonderful lover but let's not forget that he is also canonically a menace 🫶 ; i'm writing and posting as much as i can rn bc i'll be inactive this week because of exams 😭

zhongli can't recall a time when he felt this helpless.

as the geo archon, he possesses the strength of a thousand meteors raining from the sky and has emerged victorious from numerous battles. his voice has commanded countless armies and his hands formed the towering mountains liyue is well-known for today. he is a respectable leader who can devise efficient strategies to overcome any obstacle he may face.

however, at this moment, he is not rex lapis, the god of contracts and liyue's archon. he is the simple zhongli, the funeral consultant of the wangsheng funeral parlor and, above everything, your husband.

tonight, his duty is to get you home. unfortunately for him, you don't seem to want to comply.

you notified him this morning that you and your co-workers would be going out for drinks that night to celebrate a successful business deal, with the promise that you would be monitoring how much you'll drink. while he had his doubts, he trusted that you would have a sense of rationality regardless of if you were sober or not and didn't question you further.

in hindsight, he supposes he should have enforced his doubts when he bumped into a co-worker of yours as he clocked out of work, who sounded tipsy, yet sober enough to inform him that you were currently drunk off your mind and needed help getting home.

that is exactly how he found himself trying to calm down a drunk you on the streets of liyue.

you threw yourself onto him the moment he arrived, not even bothering to bid goodnight to your acquaintances who were putting a group effort into keeping you balanced. after zhongli thanked them for finding him and wished them farewell in your stead, they took their leave. as they turn to head to their respective homes, they could hear you loudly thanking your lover for coming get you.

while the area was significantly less populated at night compared to during the day, the unusual sight of the normally collected funeral consultant struggling to bring his drunkenly rambling spouse home caught the attention of whoever was in the vicinity, causing an embarrassed blush to spread to his face which he ultimately chose to ignore.

his experience as a god and warrior never could have prepared him for this situation, he surmises.

meanwhile, you catch the look of powerlessness on his face and stifle a laugh.

“heh, you look so stupid right now~!”

zhongli gapes at you as you burst into a fit of giggles.

“my husband~ so silly~ so dumb~” your hands reach out and cup his face before he has the chance to pull back.

he merely stares at you as you sing what he wants to believe are praises in your drunken tongue. at this distance—or rather, the lack thereof—he can see your details more clearly; your hair is disheveled and eyes droopy. your gaze is unfocused yet fixated on the way his skin squishes under your thumb.

but he thinks you're beautiful nonetheless. the glow of the street lanterns frame your figure and he thinks you look akin to the radiant sun. moonlight shines down upon you and its gleam creates the illusion of you emitting a halo. he takes these as signs from the universe, reminding him to cherish you with his entire being, for they have sent him their best. he is certain that whatever celestia can offer does not hold a candle to you.

this god of stone crumbles to dust from your touch alone…

while you busy yourself with poking and pinching his cheeks.

he regains awareness of the situation and breaths a resigned sigh. you watch his face soften and shift to an expression that almost looks pleading, and you gasp loudly.

“ooh! so handsome!!!” you squeal, attracting even more onlookers. “i want to kiss you on the mouff—”

zhongli beats you to it, placing a hand behind your head and gently leaning in for a kiss as deep as his adoration for you. you think your knees would have buckled if it weren't for the arm he had wrapped around your waist. you think you hear some of the lady passersby coo at your display of romance, but the echo of your heartbeat in your ears drowns them out.

his lips move slowly against yours, savoring the flavor of the bitter remnants of alcohol mixed with the sweetness of your lips. he doesn't think he's ever tasted a flavor as divine as this.

you are dazed when he pulls away, as though bewitched. he notices and chuckles, eyes full of mirth and tenderness as they peer into yours.

he speaks up, almost breathless. “you look very…”

no, no, no! if he starts charming and complimenting you after all that, you might think you’ll consider marrying him for a second time—

“...stupid right now, my love.”

you blink once. twice.

then you burst.

“you…!”

you thrash in his hold and bury your face in his chest, feeling a bashful warmth rise to your face for the first time tonight.

“you can't pull that on me! so mean…” you mumble into the lapel of his coat.

he chuckles again, more heartily this time. ugh, darn that handsome laugh…

“i apologize, my love.” you sense a teasing lilt, but you can tell he's sincerely coaxing you. a hand remains on the back of your head as you lean against him, fingers softly running through the strands of your hair.

zhongli remains that way, patiently waiting for your emotions to settle. when he hears you meekly mutter his name, he turns to you in his hold.

“yes, dearest?”

“...let's go home, please?”

he mentally sighs in relief. externally, he calmly adheres to your request with a nod. “then we shall head home at once.”

he pulls away to position you so that you are held onto his arm as he leads you home, acting as your support while you keep yourself upright.

the walk home is neither dull nor quiet as you relentlessly babble about any and every topic that you can think of. you sway and stumble over the rocky pavement, but your incredibly attentive husband would never let you fall. frankly, he'd be more than happy to carry you if you asked.

a thought briefly flashes in his mind concerning how he's going to peacefully get you washed up and tucked in bed, but one look at you chatting away into the night and he supposes that he can afford to save those worries for after arriving home. until then, he entertains your mindless chatters with hums of acknowledgement and short quips as you walk arm in arm.

[zours025]

Zombie apocalypse face au I've been thinking of...

Thoughts/details on the AU and an alt color vers of the first drawing (luring you into my evil cave) ⬇️⬇️⬇️

Face as unrelated parties... All normal humans. Caname and fruk (separately) wandering the world after generic zombie outbreak. Theyre some of the last ones left so they rarely meet people and need to depend on the other party heavily. Blahblah its miserable everyone is sad and hurt and tired. Francis had to cut off Arthurs leg to prevent an infection. Arthur has to learn to lean on Francis for a lot of stuff and they learn to get over past grudges and such... 😇 Alfred is bitten at some point and hides it from Matthew. Matthew knows, but he's basically lost any will to live and is ready to die whenever Alfred turns because. Well. "I'm only living for him anyways..." type of sentiment... They ignore it and it's never brought up but it's like. I know you know that I know that- Anyways. So those two are trying their hardest to live out their last days in relative happiness. Doing fun stuff. Appreciating the simple things, landscapes, each other's company, etc... That is until they bump into Francis and Arthur in a totally horrible state. And it's like "Well... We can't just let them die can we? We have nothing to lose anyways." So they watch over the two and care for them and once they're all in okay health they decide to stick together and move on. But Arthur and Francis are clearly more determined to live than Mattie and Alfred and they're good fighters. So they wanna keep em around, all while hiding that Alfred is slowly dying and is eventually gonna kill them all. Milking Francis and Arthur's good will... Eventually new relationships form between the four and inevitably weird "betrayal!" and jealousy type feelings show up... Francis is tired of just sleeping with Arthur and when he gets mad he flirts with either of the twins... And the like... Well I haven't thought the whole thing through but these are the important emotional bases to the idea I guess...

I wrote a scenario for many different possibilities of first-to-dies (because i find them all interesting and bcuz twitter oomf asked and i have no restraint. lole)

Alfred dies first: Most obvious scenario (like hes already a bit zombified and clearly hes getting physically weaker) Im imagining a terrible scenario no matter what. Matthew probably finds him first all hunched over and stuff womdering whats wrong before realising that it's finally the end of the line. Francis/Arthur aren't far behind and they blow "Alfreds" head off without hesitation. Obviously causes a rift between the two and Matthew, who broke their trust by hiding this from them. Matthew is inconsolable for a few days, he thought he had more time. Despite the lie I think Francis and Arthur would end up feeling sympathy. They try to keep Matthew up on his feet but frankly I think this would end with him blowing his brains out eventually anyways... 😊

Alternatively Mattie has been mentally preparing himself for a very long time and he immediately kills "Alfred" and then himself in quick succession. Francis and Arthur are haunted by the memory of the two for the rest of their trip.

Arthur dies first: Similarly, I think its easy to imagine this. He's missing a leg and mostly needs to be near someone else to survive zombie attacks/ambushes. Would probably accidentally get separated from the group and get overrun... Might use himself as a distraction to allow the other three to get away in a particularly dire situation... In a way he thinks hes just dead weight anyways and he wants to see the other three live knowing that he doesn't have much left to offer them (Francis would disagree). Francis is obviously very upset and he loses sleep over the memory of Arthur, his last "real" link to his normal life before all of this. But I think Francis is stable enough to prioritise the twins he took under his wing. He knows they need someone to keep them together, so he toughs it out. Everything is fine till Alfred turns some many months later. By then, Francis developed a strong attachment to the two and doesn't have any regrets. Would probably struggle against Alfreds strength to allow Matthew to escape or something along those lines...

Francis dies first: I can also see him just getting killed by sheer numbers. I think he grew very fond of the twins pretty fast + had to be Arthurs protection for a long time and so he developed this feeling of "I need to keep them all safe at all costs". I don't think itd be as much of a letting go type thing as Arthur. It's more calculated and would only happen in a worst-case scenario. I think Arthur would be pretty irritable for the next few weeks, a lot of things remind him of Francis. It bothers him since he wants to just forget and move on, but he finds that his feelings are more difficult to control than he initially thought. Yells a lot at Matthew and Alfred and gets into petty fights. Its not pretty, but they have their moments... In the end, it's not like he wants to make them suffer. They're all he has left now. Hes trying his best. Has a lot of days where he just wishes he had been the one to die instead.

Matthew dies first: Honestly I'm imagining a non-zombie related death, like an accident with one of the guns or some unrelated illness or like. Falling onto a branch? Falling from high up in general? Setting off a trap? Lol idk. Something that allows Alfred to hold Matthew during his final moments or at least look into his eyes. I think hes also the most liable to flip out on everyone and just kill the four of them all together idk ❤ Crazy girl ❤ It shocks Alfred immensely. He expected to be the first one to die and he's really upset about the whole thing. Outwardly, he cracks jokes and tries to convince the other two that he's fine but he's very much not. Doesn't really know what tk do with himself. Just goes through the motions every day. Francis and Arthur notice the slight change in behaviour but don't really say anything and pretend everything is fine. Playing at being a normal family. Arthur and Francis try spending lots of time with Alfred but nothing really helps. Eventually Alfred turns without ever telling them he was infected and they all die the end. Alternatively he kills the other two and then himself on like a random Tuesday. ❤

Bonus: Everyone except Alfred dies lol. Alone in the desolate empty landscape. Welp!!! What now!!!

If you saw my first post of this text part no you didn't im editing this and putting it here with the drawing its more organised ❤ okay ❤

[shadowshrike]

Not including Tav, which party of four companions would you most love to see adventuring together?

My personal pick would be: Gale, Astarion, Halsin, and Jaheira aka the old person squad.

Besides their cutting humor and collective pragmatism, I love how this group can always have one "odd man out" when almost any situation comes up.

Gale - The token human

He may be older than a lot of the other companions, but with these three he's constantly listening to them complain about things that happened before he was born. When he tries to join in by discussing the histories he's read, he usually learns how much his books were missing and is teased for being the child of the group who still has creaky knees. He also has to remind them that he can't see in the dark at least once a tenday.

Astarion - The token non-caster

Oh, he has an affinity for magic when it comes to practical use, but not at all on the level of the other three. There is a great deal of whinging and, when that fails, stealing of unimportant trinkets from the distracted party's pockets whenever they go on for too long about their spellcraft.

Bonus as the token evil guy. Though it's really more the "token evil ideas guy" because the other three, though not prone to his daydreams of wanton sadism, are far less bothered about getting their hands dirty than he expected. Apparently, once you've lived long enough, a lot of things stop being shocking to you even if you disapprove of them.

Halsin - The token country bumpkin

He's traveled much of the world, but despises city life and finds its customs foreign, constantly surprising the other three with enormous gaps in his 'wise old man' persona. Gale tries to teach him about the city (often to excess), Jaheira calls him out for being ignorant at his age, and Astarion finds whatever opportunities he can to humiliate Halsin using civilization for the party's entertainment, though it often backfires.

Jaheira - The token girl

That's not to say her gender has a huge influence on how the others treat her, but it's something they're aware of when it's just the four of them out there. She'd argue it probably makes her self-appointed job of keeping them in line easier. She doesn't hesitate to weaponize her crotchety old woman voice whenever she calls out the "stupid men" for doing foolish things, and it gives her the opportunity to send them to handle any "boy's club" missions on their own while she makes pithy judgements from the sidelines.

I know this is a wildly impractical squad for the game and there is very little canon banter between them. I just think they'd be neat. Though, to be honest, I think most groups of four companions have their own uniquely charming dynamics.

So, what about you? What companion-based adventuring party do you like best?

[disabled-dragoon]

"Why are children's literacy levels dropping? Kids just don't want to read books anymore."

Books can be pretty expensive and we're in the throws of a cost of living crisis

Theres been a steady increase in the policing of children's and young adult literature

Theres been a steady decline in public libraries

It's not a statutory requirement for schools to have a library

Even if schools do have a library, kids don't always have easy access to it/aren't allowed in it

Kids can be cruel. If they're taught to shame reading, they might see fit to shame other kids for reading and continue the cycle.

Shaming or ignoring kids who struggle to or can't read physical books instead of showing them alternatives or helping them find ways to make it easier doesn't help the situation

The problem isn't just the kids. Don't put this all on their shoulders.

[vynnyal]

Turns out Sunlit Trail isn't quite done just yet, so after all that they just send you to a dead end 😂

[wastinawaaay]

US politicians enabling hate crimes and war crimes and still acting like they have the moral high grand is mind blowing

[carlyraejepsans]

i wish i had more energy to draw and plot lately i NEED to make the insane daemoverse flowisk situationship real. i need you guys to see my vision

[nilnether]

I'm pretty sure that we see the issues clearly is because we only get to see the compressed timeline and end result so it's easy to see the glaring problems. But that's not how these characters lived it.

It's like no one set out to give Spider bad foster parents. By all accounts it was good at the beginning. It just slowly got worse over time and if things get worse slowly enough everyone has time to get used to each level until something forces them to acknowledge how bad it got (like Nash going full traitor).

I bet Spider and Neytiri thing also was mostly easy to ignore. The kids friendship probably started with Jake taking Kiri to visit Grace. Neytiri wouldn't come because she didn't like it there. But that meant Spider and Kiri would meet without her. Jake himself wouldn't mind.

For Kiri Spider must've been utterly fascinating - an only human that's not an adult. She probably wanted to take him home instantly. Once he became hers she would never let go. She, like many kids, probably thought that everyone felt like she felt. And her siblings did (Neteyam plays with them too back then) so her parents surely must've too.

For Spider that was the only time he had a kid his age to play with. Or rather kids because Jake probably took more than one to share human stuff with them. It seemed innocent enough. By the time Spider was big enough to safely go and visit other kids it was already too late. They would've be too heartbroken if their parents tried to take Spider away from them. And if your kids beg and plead it's hard to say no (for Jake especially to Kiri possibly because she is Grace's daughter).

And slowly Spider would spend more time in the forest as his home situation got worse. And the only one who would mind would be Neytiri. But she says it only to Jake. And Jake has no heart to separate the kids. How bad can it be? It spills over from time to time but it's mostly fine.

And, of course, Jake is always postponing dealing with this because it's never that bad. Sure, both Neytiri and Spider are uncomfortable around each other but it's not really bad. And talking about it is hard. Banning Spider makes the kids cry. Trying to argue with Neytiri is even worse. So better not to touch it and everything will stay as it is. Which is fine.

It's fine until it isn't. Sully kids don't understand what the problem is but they can't imagine life without Spider. Spider knows something is wrong but he'll lose everything if he lets go so there is no way back. Neytiri feels like no one cares about her feelings and concerns and it just make everything about Spider bother her even more. Jake is avoiding taking sides so he's making it even worse.

All Sully kids seem to have very high level of innate "this is wrong/unfair "radar and strong tendency to do something about it. This is exactly what gets Lo'ak to come after Payakan and Spider. This is why Kiri tries to include Spider in everything because he shouldn't miss out just because he's human.

But for Neytiri it means he's everywhere including places that she should be able to avoid his presence. He is reminder of all that came with the human invasion and the man who was responsible for all the worst if it. She probably hoped he would be returned to the RDA with the rest of human kids and their lives would be separate as they should be but her own kids stopped it from happening and endangered their own lives.

Everyone feels this is unfair and there is a rift in the family and no one is doing anything about it because there is no solution that doesn't leave someone hurt. Getting rid of Spider would seem like the best solution but then he is gone and that makes things even worse. They have to leave home and family behind. Spider's fate was even worse. And the reunion certainly wasn't happy.

I just hope that after all that happened they can finally deal with their issues instead of letting it fester. Now everyone knows there is a problem and acknowleding it should make it easier to admit they have to do soemthing about it. I hope (please, please, please) in A3.

Nobody talks about Kiri's role in Neytiri and Spider's bad relationship...

I know Neytiri and Spider's relationship has been talked about to death already, but there's one important aspect of it everyone seems to overlook that I want to write down all my thoughts about: Kiri's role.

(Just FYI The High Ground comics are explicitly confirmed to be canon by Avatar's creative team, so please don't try to tell me something's not true because it happened in the comics)

With everything Neytiri has been through, it's understandable that she'd feel uncomfortable with Quaritch's son spending so much time around her children to the point where he starts calling them his "siblings." Contrary to what I've heard others say, Neytiri does not have a "blind hatred" towards Spider. She doesn't want him to be hurt or killed, she just wants him to stay away from her family and mind his own business. From her perspective, an "invader" is acting like he's entitled to being around her family and claiming them as his own, the same family that has been hurt so badly by other "invaders." This perceived entitlement coupled with the fact that he's the son of the guy who thought he was entitled to destroy her homeland is what gives her such strong feelings about Spider compared to the other Na'vi-allied humans.

But is Spider's behavior towards Neytiri's family really entitlement like Neytiri thinks or is it something else? Let's look at why Spider does the things he does:

Why does Spider spend so much time with the Sully kids? Kiri and Lo'ak invite him. From what we see in the movie and the comics, Kiri and Lo'ak don't seem to have any friends before meeting Tsireya and Rotxo, which means Spider is not just their best friend, but their only friend. There is nothing about Spider, Kiri, and Lo'ak's dynamic that implies Spider is the only one seeking them out. They mutually seek each others' company because they all feel like outcasts among their respective species.

Why does Spider call the Sully kids his siblings? Kiri started calling him her brother first. In vol 1 of THG, Kiri tells Spider he's like another brother to her. Shortly after this is when Spider starts referring to the Sully kids as his family. Since Spider has no biological family and a bad relationship with his foster family, it's understandable he would latch onto the people who actually care for him and explicitly say they feel like he's their family member.

Why does Spider insert himself into the Omaticaya? Kiri insists he joins them. in Vol 1 of THG, Spider is present for a Na'vi celebration and Neytiri asks him to leave because he's not a part of their family. Spider is perfectly okay with this and he starts to excuse himself, but Kiri stops him and insists he stay because he is a part of their family. Later, in Vol 2 of THG, the Sullies and the Omaticaya are evacuating to High Camp while Spider's foster family and most of the other humans choose to surrender to the RDA. Spider is initially upset and begs Jake to come with them, but after Jake scolds him, Spider accepts the adults' choice and willingly stays in Hell's Gate, waiting to surrender to the RDA. Kiri, on the other hand, insists Spider come with them to High Camp and goes back for him. This results in Kiri, Lo'ak, and Tuk getting captured by Spider's foster dad and Spider needing to rescue them. In both of these instances, when Spider is told he's unwelcome somewhere, he is okay with it and backs off, but Kiri is the one who fights for him to stay. The only instance where Spider insists he has a right to stay of his own volition is when Jake asks him to turn himself into the RDA soldiers hunting them after Spider helped the Sully kids escape his foster father. Since the RDA likely would've imprisoned, tortured, or even killed Spider for helping the valuable hostages escape, Spider's insistence he stay with the Sullies is completely understandable.

Why does Spider paint himself blue and emulate the Na'vi lifestyle? Kiri again. The only time we see Spider applying his stripes on screen, Kiri is right there helping him. From this we can assume that Kiri and possibly also Lo'ak regularly help Spider apply his stripes since he wouldn't be able to paint his back without help. And while we don't have exact information on when Spider started wearing a loincloth and behaving like a Na'vi, I think we can safely assume Kiri and her siblings are the ones who encouraged this behavior.

After analyzing the origins of what Neytiri perceives as "entitlement," it becomes clear it's not really entitlement at all. Spider never does something he has not been "invited" to do by Kiri or Lo'ak. Spider is not trying to cross any boundaries and he's not trying to hurt anyone; he's just a lonely orphan who has latched onto the only people who show him real care.

From Spider's perspective, Neytiri hates him for no reason other than his dad. In actuality, Neytiri's strong feelings aren't just about who is dad is, but moreso about the way he behaves on top of who his dad is. Neytiri doesn't have a "blind hatred" for him like Spider believes, but she has a deep trauma-rooted discomfort with his proximity to her family in the context of his heritage, and this discomfort makes her lash out at him. But of course Spider doesn't understand this because he's A. a teenage boy with limited emotional intelligence and B. has no reason to think there's anything wrong with his behavior because Kiri and Lo'ak encourage it so enthusiastically. With Spider's limited understanding, it makes sense that he chalks up Neytiri's behavior as "she hates me!"

So we have these two wildly different perspectives. Neytiri views Spider as an entitled invader and she doesn't understand why he can't just leave her family alone, and Spider views Neytiri as a cruel woman who judges him for his heritage and he can't understand why she can't just let him hang out with his "siblings" in peace. When these two different perspectives clash, it gets ugly, and leads to scenes like the time Neytiri lunged at Spider (to attack him? shake him? it's unclear) and Spider yelling at Neytiri and blaming her for his situation (which is really Quaritch's fault for making his postpartum mother fight).

Then we have Kiri's perspective. Kiri loves her mother and her best friend, but doesn't seem to understand why her mom doesn't want her best friend around and she also doesn't seem to understand why her best friend thinks her mom hates him. In vol 1 of THG, she even tells Spider that Neytiri loves him. Ironically, even though Kiri clearly wants her mom and her best friend to get along, she is inadvertently the source of most of their issues. In all the instances where Spider's behavior makes Neytiri upset, we can trace the behavior back to Kiri as outlined in the bullet points above. The more Kiri pushes for Spider to stay close, the more it triggers Neytiri trauma, the more Neytiri lashes out Spider, the more Spider thinks she hates him, and the closer Kiri gets to Spider to comfort him and try and prove him wrong. It's a vicious cycle.

And just to be clear, I'm not trying to say Kiri is at fault for Neytiri and Spider's relationship. Kiri and Spider are just kids with little understanding of the trauma Neytiri has been through. They just know they enjoy spending time with each other, and neither of them fully understand why it makes Neytiri so upset. Neytiri, on the other hand, is not a kid... she is not responsible for her trauma and for her negative feelings towards Spider, but she is responsible for her behavior towards him.

The one thing I don't understand is why neither Neytiri nor Jake nipped Kiri's behavior in the bud before it got to the point where it is now. If Kiri keeps calling Spider her brother and insisting he stay for family celebrations, and it's obviously very upsetting to Neytiri, why did neither of her parents sit her down and let her know its inappropriate? Spider was clearly okay with being left out of the events. If they'd talked about it with Kiri, they would've avoided all that strife in the first place. Hell, Spider wouldn't even be around them anymore because he would've surrendered to the RDA and lived in Bridgehead if not for Kiri insisting he come with them!

And actually, why didn't they stop the kids from spending so much time together in the first place? Neytiri was telling Jake she didn't like Spider around her kids since they were very little. Why did they continue to let them play together if it made her so uncomfortable? Was Jake letting it happen behind her back? Were the kids sneaking away to play with Spider? Did Neytiri let it happen because she thought they would grow out of it or something? At that age, parents have a lot of control over their kids lives, and I don't understand why Neytiri didn't just redirect her kids to play with anyone other than Spider if it upset her so much. In THG, Neytiri threatened to ban Spider from seeing Kiri, but she did it way too late. The kids were teenagers at that point and already saw each other as family, so if she tried to separate them they would've just snuck out and seen each other anyway. If Neytiri is okay with putting a "ban" on Spider, why did she wait until they were teens and much more difficult to control to do so?

I know the "real" answer is because James Cameron wants ✨DRAMA✨ but I'm wondering if there's an in-universe explanation cause it just doesn't make sense to me. I guess the most realistic answer is that Jake let it happen knowing full well Neytiri didn't like it, but he let it slide anyway because he didn't want to say no to the kids. Jake had two choices. He could've A. honored Neytiri's wishes and separated the children before they bonded or B. sat down with Neytiri and let her know Spider is here to stay and that she can't lash out at him. Either choice would've resulted in a much better outcome for everyone involved, but then again, it would've had a lot less drama so I understand why the writers didn't have that happen instead. Actually, now that I'm typing it out, it is pretty in character for Jake to ignore a giant problem right in front of him and hope it'll go away on it's own (that's how we lost Hometree, Eytukan, and Neteyam rip). I guess we're going to see this situation blow up in Jake's face in Avatar 3, just like his other ignore-the-problem-and-hope-it-goes-away situations did. I just hope that this situation will have a better outcome for everyone involved.

It just frustrates me because I feel like all this could've been resolved years ago if Jake and Neytiri had sat Kiri and Spider down and had a discussion about boundaries, but there's too much bad blood between Neytiri and Spider for an easy resolution now...

Anyways, if you made it this far, thanks for reading, didn't mean to turn this into a whole essay lol. Please share your thoughts with me if you have any!

[medicinemane]

I don't know... horrible things happen all around the world and it's not a competition

Atrocities are committed against multiple groups in multiple parts of the world at the exact same moment, and none of them erase each other. They all matter, all the people in this world who are being brutalized matter. There shouldn't be any line you draw where one group doesn't actually matter as much as another

You're welcome to prioritize your energy towards helping one group or another, but what's not ok is invalidating or dismissing people who are actively being harmed

Same goes for trying to figure out which social group has things worst (and lets be honest, always using a US lens)

Like... maybe the important thing is to prop each other up and help everyone get on their own feet rather than trying to... pick fights about if physical disabilities or mental illness are less respected (I'm trying to pick a more absurd example but sadly I've seen exactly that argument happen before). Maybe it doesn't really matter and what matters is helping who we can when we can

I'm tired of it, I'm just fucking tired of it. Support people, champion them when the world is just brutalizing them, but you don't need to throw a single other person under the bus to do that

Which seems to be an absolutely impossible lesson for people to learn

[sskk-manifesto]

Atsushi's back in the game!!! ۶( ˆ o ˆ )

[tardis--dreams]

I actually realized i hate work. Won't be putting any effort into this anymore ♡

[nether-twins]

"I suppose we do, yeah." Vendra agreed in a quiet voice while her brother simply nodded next to her, silently agreeing with his sister, before things went from somewhat good for them... to worse. Like, way worse. Everything had been so calm, if not also a little weird, for so long the twins had both nearly forgotten about the other little problem they had. The two of them both perked up and threw the other a worried glance when one of the not-so-friendly ships outside pretty much demanded to be let on board. This was the last thing they wanted to happen!

"I don't, unfortunately. Can't think of much here, Heed." Though he would have loved to be of help at the moment, there wasn't much he could come up with. The giant couldn't see a way for them to get out of their current situation. They were easily outnumbered here. All he could do was to turn his attention to his sister and ask her, "What about you, sis? Got any brilliant ideas, or are you just as lost as me here?"

Rubbing her forehead with her eyes closed, Vendra let a heavy, tired sigh escape her mouth before nodding slowly. She indeed had an idea, and quite a nice one too, but she wasn't too happy about it from the looks of it.

"Right, I believe I may have an idea, but it's risky. I can try and use my powers to turn off the ships and leave those suckers stranded in space for some time. However..." Vendra paused, digging her sharp teeth down into her lower lip. Doing something so big and drastic would require a lot of energy - and then she meant a A LOT. Nothing would be left for the small Nether to use later during the day. She would be left powerless, weak, and possibly even knocked unconscious until the very next day. It would suck for sure, but it was a risk she was willing to take if it meant that they could get away from their unwanted visitors.

"Oh to hell with it..." If this was what it took to get away from the ships then she was willing to take the risk. All she needed to do was to block out everything around her, ignore all the noises and voices, and concentrate. Hard. Get a feel of what was around them, the number of ships she had to take out. It wasn't easy but, eventually, she managed to get a hang of it. Energy would be seen dancing around her in waves, growing brighter and more powerful with each passing moment, until she suddenly clasped her hands together loudly. Then it all just... stopped... and Vendra slumped back in her seat unconscious after something flashed outside. Now Neftin couldn't tell what it was since he was more focused on his sister, but he suspected it came from the ships.

"Well, good for you, I guess..." That is, of course, as long as she didn't make any of the twins a part of whatever life she had built on her own over who knows how many years. They felt no need to be a part of something that made them both feel incredibly uncomfortable just by thinking about it. Though the twins did let it slip their minds after they re-entered the cruiser and headed for the seats they sat down in previously. Immediately going back to trying to stay as calm as they possibly, not do anything that could possibly lead to trouble, while being stuck in the cruiser together with Heed and her followers - again. All they had to do was to hold out just a little longer.

All while being on a stream... again... in front of Orvus knows how many people. Yuck. It would definitely be better if her brother took care of the talking from this point while she remained silent.

"Alright. Sounds you got a lot to do then. But, um... it's nothing special, really. We're just planning on going back to the thing we were doing before everything happened - which is repairing other peoples tech for low prices. We had a few gadgets left to repair before we were kidnapped happened and, well... we can't keep ignoring them forever." Their costumers had waited long enough already. Sure, the twins would sometimes take a little longer than expected to finish their work, but never this long. They would probably have no choice but to do everything for free because of the long wait. "As for music, though... can't say we have any specific favorite. We just listen to whatever sounds good to us."

[livvyofthelake]

shonda rhimes save me..... shonda rhimes...... save me shonda rhimes!!!

[lord-squiggletits]

Sorry for being negative, I’m just a bit disappointed that after looking through the Earthspark Optimus tags on and off on different occasions weeks apart, it seems like the only thing the fandom has to say about ES Optimus is finger snaps and dad jokes. :/ (And also a handful of people already trying to frame him as a bad person lmao)

Watch for it, when more episodes of Earthspark come out and a conflict with GHOST inevitably arises, people are going to be raging at Optimus for being “stupid” or “self-righteous” or “blind” for working with GHOST and start calling Megatron and/or the Decepticons right about everything because they spent so long focusing on “haha funny dad Optimus” that they forgot about the other parts of Optimus’ character like... idk, not wanting to colonize planets? Not wanting to start wars with entire species that didn’t want to be involved in the war in the first place? Being willing to make compromises even at risk to himself and his own because he wants to treat everyone fairly?

Idk I guess I’m just a bit salty because it genuinely seems like all this fandom wants is “funny dad Optimus” and nothing else. Like you will give them funny dad Optimus who’s ALSO complex and morally gray but people will only ever talk about the former part. And then when Optimus inevitably makes a mistake and bad things happen, people are probably going to treat him as if he’s stupid or an asshole when he ends up not being the Perfect Unproblematic Fave that people seemingly want him to be.

[plokoonsdisapprovingeyebrows]

in fact I'm gonna put my tags here:

#ok ok so this hits on smth i put in the timetravel plo fic! #i called it temple service #its where Initiates get rotated thru the various practical fields that keep the Temple running #kitchens laundries quartermasters gardens maintenance etc. #to give them first-hand experience in all the work that goes into keeping the temple in the shape it's in #and to give them practical skills in case they ever need it #and also to introduce them to these fields in case they WANT to devote their lives to them #i hc that the temple takes in about twice as many kids as ever make a traditional knighthood #bc a lot of those kids decide that actually they want to be chefs and bakers and nurses and pilots and mechanics and teachers #and gardeners and scientists and logistics ppl and a million other things instead #and the jedi support those kids and make sure they get the best education in their chosen fields #bc the galaxy needs all sorts of people #and the temple is a microcosm of the galaxy #the traditional knights have basic skills in those areas so that they can work independently/adapt to the circumstances of their missions #but for more advanced problems... sometimes you need an expert #also the idea of a Maintenance Master turning up to fix your busted laundry chute with an adorable Initiate in tow is v v cute #im writing fic abt this as we speak

the reason I have these headcanons is because, when I think about what my classmates wanted to be when we were kids, like 95% of them wanted to be educators, scientists, medical professionals, tradies, farmers, to work with animals or machines or food, to be designers or artists, and so on. Even if you assume the Force guides Jedi toward kids that have the aptitudes to do the work of a traditional knight, you're still going to get kids who go "yeah that doesn't sound like the sort of life I want, thanks" and pick something a little less emotionally taxing to dream about.

and yeah, just on moral grounds I can't see the Order discarding or neglecting these kids, or forcing them into the path of a traditional knighthood - but there's solid practical reasons to embrace them too. Having support staff and contacts for your Order that understand you and your values and internal culture so fundamentally would be invaluable, even if they as individuals chose to leave and lead different lives.

The Jedi Order mainly being an institution about teaching makes me sad that we never see more "Jedi classes" outside of the popular ones like martial arts, healthcare and Force wackery.

Alongside basic language and science education etc there have to be at least some trade and college courses on offer, right? The Jedi need a bunch of their own people with law degrees. Proper pedagogy studies for future crèchemasters. Cooks. Managers. All types of engineers. Electricians. Accountants. Researchers. How many Jedi hold a doctorate or professorate? Because I think a large number of them do. Their databanks are filled with millennia of dissertations. You can still find Yoda's articles from 500 years ago and cite them in your history research paper.

The Order just having its own micro-economy going on and every member getting their own regular job education next to all the lightsaber swinging adventures... pls