#cleanse wonder

[awakefor48hours]

Katara: *brings up her mother’s death, someone who died in her place because of ethnic cleansing, less than 10 times in show about world-wide colonization*

Fans: Katara is SO ANNOYING. She brings up her mom’s death every three minutes and I wish she’d just stop.

[starry-bi-sky]

What would a mother not do for her child What lengths would a mother not go There's a bond that exists between mother and child With no end to how strong it can grow It's a promise for life between mother and child It begins from the moment of birth.

================

She is six years old, and standing on the porch at her Auntie Alicia’s cabin. She is six years old, and holding an old rifle in her hands, standing at the railing and pointing the nozzle at a large target a couple feet away. There’s a pair of old ear muffs covering her ears. Behind her is her daddy and her sister, and Auntie Alicia. She can’t see them. 

Danielle Martha Fenton is six years old, and her momma has her arms wrapped warmly around her, keeping the gun steady for her. It’s heavy and the butt digs into her shoulder uncomfortably, and she feels nothing but determined. And nervous. 

Her momma was teaching her and Jazzy how to shoot, and they’re down in Arkansas to visit Auntie Alicia for her second “Divorce-iversary” as Auntie calls it. She keeps a hunting rifle in her gun safe for the rabbits that like to nibble on her garden. She mostly grows rhubarb, which goes untouched. But her carrots and greens and other veggies like to be tempting snacks for the game. 

Regardless, she is six years old and learning how to shoot. Her momma and her daddy (mostly her daddy) have been banned from every shooting range outside of Amity Park in a hundred mile radius. So Auntie is the best place to learn, or so momma says. 

Danny thinks it's just an excuse to see her sister, not that she's complaining. She loves visiting Auntie.  

She’s already seen Jazzy do this, her momma told her before the muffs went on to shoot when ready. No use trying to fire when you’re not; you can’t afford to miss when shooting ghosts. 

Danny breathes out steady, just like momma taught her, and quells her trembling little fingers. She focuses down the barrel, and pulls the trigger. 

Immediately, the recoil throws her off, the side of the gun that her cheek was resting on knocks against her skin, harsh enough to bruise if it weren’t for her momma’s steady hands holding onto her. The bang of the gun startles her more than she thought it would, and her heart leaps up and runs a jackrabbit through her chest. 

The gun is carefully slipped out of her hands, and Danny lets it go easily, her cheek smarting in pain and her eyes wide and following up to momma. Momma turns the safety on, and with a gentle hand, pushes against her chest. Danny takes a few steps back, and slips the ear muffs off her head. 

Mommy is smiling big at her, something that Danny can’t help but replicate on her own face as her heart swells. “Did I get it, momma?” She asks, watching as she passes the gun off to Auntie Alicia, who steps over to take it.

“I’m going to go see, sweetie, but I think you did.” Momma coos, before planting both her hands on the porch railing and, in a single leap, vaults over the side and onto the grass. She’s dressed all comfortable for the summer heat, with her hair all tied back and in shorts and a tank top and nice boots. Danny’s ribs swell hopefully, and she stands on her tiptoes to watch her walk over.

“I’ll be hard-pressed to believe if you didn’t, Martha Mae,” Auntie tells her, grinning like a cat, “that was a damn good shot.” 

‘Martha Mae Knight’ was Danny’s granny’s name. Auntie Alicia calls her that because of her middle name — and because, by her words, she has her momma’s weird-shaped eyebrows and piercing blue eyes. The kind that could scare a hawk into singing like a robin. It was Danny’s favorite nickname ever.

Daddy laughs brightly, the sound painful on her ears but twice as nice, and despite the distance, Momma whirls her head around to shoot Auntie a glare; “Language, Alicia. Not around my girls.” She warns. Her accent always comes through when they’re around Auntie. It’s Danny’s favorite thing to listen to. 

“Do you think so, auntie?” Danny says, bright-eyed and ever-optimistic. Auntie Alicia nods fiercely as Momma finally reaches the target and searches for the bullet hole. Daddy then comes up behind her, still laughing, and claps a hand onto her shoulder so hard that it makes her knees hurt.

“Of course she did!” Dad boasts, as bright as the sun and twice as warm. He shakes Danny affectionately, wobbling her on her feet and pulling her straight into his side. She goes so willingly with a burble of giggles. “She’s got the eyes of a Fenton! And our family are darn good shots.”

Auntie eyes him up and down, her smile immediately fading off into a pressed line. “I’m sure you mean she’s got the eyes of a Knight. You couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn at twenty paces, Jack Fenton.” 

Jazzy holds back giggles from where she’s standing by the door, her ear muffs in hand, and Danny watches her Daddy’s dark eyes immediately narrow. Just like Auntie’s, his smile tapers off into a frown. 

Before he can say anything, there’s a cheer from the yard, and they all turn to Momma clapping her hands in delight. 

Danny immediately pricks her ears up, and would’ve darn near rushed over to the railing if it weren’t for her Daddy’s hand on her shoulder. She yells instead, excitement thrumming like a hummingbird against her ribs, “Did I hit it, momma?!” 

Momma beams at her with all the pride in the world, “You sure did, Danny!” And she turns to press her finger against the target, right on the inside red ring of the battered old bag. “Right here, sweet girl!” 

There are cheers from all around, and Danny’s heart bursts inside her lungs with shiny, sunshine glee. She puffs her chest out big, and smiles so wide it hurts the cheek where the gun smacked her. Her Daddy shakes again, squeezing her tight against his side in a hug that Danny happily reciprocates. 

“What’d I tell you, Martha Mae?” Auntie tells with a big wink and a wide grin, the gun still gripped tight in her hands as Momma makes her way back over. “You got a Knight’s eye.” 

When Momma makes it back over the railing, she hugs Danny tight and praises her shot. Danny looks her in the eyes and chases the feeling, and asks to shoot again.

[remedyturtles]

[widowshill]

— And do you or do you not have difficulty remembering such simple instructions? — Only during thunderstorms, sir.

THE SOUND OF MUSIC (1965) / DARK SHADOWS (1966)

[notbecauseofvictories]

cute thing I have learned during this conference: a couple different players are working in the quantum computing space, and specifically working on encryption protection algorithms to defend against attacks---these algorithms are called "kyber" and "dilithium" respectively.

nerds.

[stupidrant]

probably really random and a little niche but i really like the way Atreus and Angrboda literally look like opposite attract. They look completely different but fit so perfectly

[jessieren]

It’s been quite a week…

Hurrah! new Shaun

Eeeek! crazy psychopath Shaun

Ooohhh dirtyhot! Shaun

😱😱😱😱fucking terrifying! Shaun

Plus ugghhh week at work

Meaning I can barely remember my own name and have no idea what day it is never mind what theme I’m supposed to be on

I’m therefore taking my lead from @librawritesstuff and declare this to be a special brain cleanse Saturday

Enjoy!

Credit: Liz P make up and Paul Cribbs - Instagram

[the-bitch-in-the-tower]

I'm about to delete the Ground News app. I liked that I could always see the break down of stories and how they're covered by different media parties.

But what do they mean "Hamas in Rafah" and "intense military operation in Rafah."? You mean the beheading of babies? And the slaughtering of the citizens?

And why doesn't it talk about what "wrapping up" means. Does it mean slaughtering everyone in Rafah? Occupying the Strip like they did before 2005? Building settler colonies on the graves like they did in every Palestinian Village and city they stole during the past 75+ years?

Ground News, it seems, doesn't want to answer those questions.

[bisexualseraphim]

I gotta say, I am seriously fucking concerned with the amount of people here who seem to wholeheartedly believe that the correct answer to the genocide against Palestine is ANOTHER genocide except the other way around. Please stand back for 2 minutes and seriously think about whether you think it’s ever a helpful or just cause to advocate for the deaths of millions of people, especially when plenty of said people are Jews whose families fled there after barely surviving the Holocaust because hardly anywhere else would treat them like human beings or accept them at all since the antisemitism that allowed the Holocaust to happen was not solely in Germany and didn’t magically disappear after the war ended.

Look. The situation is simple when you boil it down to this: Israel is bombing and starving Palestinians like fish in a barrel and doesn’t want to allow aid to Gaza, which consists of a population of over 50% children. Israel allowed the Nakba and displacement of Palestinians for decades and tries to hide it from public view. This is genocide. The Israeli government is at fault for this. Israel holds the power here because they have the power to bomb and starve millions of people and force them out of their homes, and Palestine certainly does not. It’s an utterly horrific, inhumane thing to do with no excuses for it and it needs to stop. This is the simple part that is glaringly obvious for everyone to see and it’s almost laughable for anyone to deny it.

Okay. You’ve successfully identified the main problem and the “bad guy,” if you want to put it in childish simplistic terms. So the question now is: what next? Say Israel agrees to an immediate ceasefire. What do you, impassioned activist on the internet, propose should be done to solve this situation after that? What should be done to free the Israeli hostages? Do you think the UK and the US, two of the most powerful countries in the world who actively help Israel commit its atrocities against Palestine, will ever do anything to help the Palestinians once Israel loses its power, even if better governments are eventually elected? How should the Palestinian land be claimed back? Where should all the Israeli citizens go? Should they all be forced out to Europe and America, even if that isn’t where they originate from, where the already-rife antisemitism has spiked even further since October 7th and Jews who live thousands of miles from Israel and have nothing to do with Israel’s actions face horrific hate crimes every day? Do Israeli children deserve that? Who’s going to pay for their travel and accommodation? Or, should they all be allowed to stay there and live side by side with the Palestinians? Do you think most Palestinians would be happy to remain neighbours with the citizens of the country that has oppressed them so fiercely for over 75 years, even if said citizens didn’t partake in it or in fact opposed it? What about the 20% of Israeli citizens who are Arab or Palestinian? Do you hold the same opinion of foreign settlers in Israel as you do its citizens whom have made a home there for many generations? How do you discern between settlers and “real” Israelis? Do you see any difference between them at all? Why? And what should be done about Hamas, the group that openly calls for the genocide of all Jews around the world and commits war crimes against Israeli citizens? How much of the history behind Israel’s occupation of Palestine are you aware of? Do you think the British government should be held accountable for splitting Palestine in the first place? How would you go about that? Would it be fair to punish the British people for their government’s actions when British citizens didn’t vote for it? How does that compare to your view of Israel and its citizens, and why?

I am absolutely NOT asking trick questions here or trying to “gotcha!” anyone. I am asking these questions precisely BECAUSE they are extremely difficult to answer, with several of them contradicting each other, and they are meant to get an emotional reaction out of you. I certainly don’t know what the “correct” answers to most of those questions are, and that’s exactly my point: there is no simple answer to a problem that has been going on for decades with such a wide, complex history. Historians and political experts who know all the facts and have studied this shit for years don’t know the answer and it’s honestly insulting to all the people suffering to log on every day and see so many people go “actually 😌 I, a random 20-30 something year old on the internet who isn’t even touched by what’s happening in Palestine, have figured it out before everyone else! Just delete an entire country and all its citizens off the map 😊 This is a moral thing to suggest! And if you disagree with me you’re promoting Zionism/terrorism 😘” There are no simple answers and if you think there is one — and especially if you think that answer is to kick citizens out of the country their family has lived in for generations — then you are both wilfully ignorant and evidently fuelled more by hatred than an actual desire for peace and an end to death and oppression and I don’t believe there is a crumb of sincerity in your activism.

Am I naive enough to think that fighting against oppression and occupation is always going to be peaceful? Obviously not. But you’ve got to think about where and when said violence is actually going to be beneficial, and where and when it’s violence purely for the sake of violence, which is NEVER justified. You can’t advocate for human rights and then turn around and say “oh, but not for you.” EVERYONE deserves food and water. EVERYONE deserves shelter. EVERYONE deserves to receive treatment for sickness or injury. NOBODY deserves cruel and unusual punishment or torture. And EVERYONE deserves to be alive. Those are essential human rights that should never, ever be denied wherever it is possible to give them, and disagreeing with that reflects extremely poorly on you and your principles. Think about what narrative you are pushing when you claim an entire people “deserves” bad things. The constant dehumanisation I see happening in online activism (and far too often in real life too) is actually terrifying and if you want to do some real good in the world, I need everyone reading this to examine their potential internal prejudices, even the ones you don’t think you have, and think about who exactly you’re helping when you express thoughts that perpetuate them, and who you may be harming in the process.

Anyway, now that I’ve gotten that out of the way…

Here are some useful resources if you want to make a difference and help people:

Standing Together (an Israeli movement advocating for ceasefire and peace between Israelis and Palestinians)

Zochrot (an Instagram page that seeks to educate the public about the Nakba)

Parents’ Circle (an organisation run by relatives of Israelis and Palestinians killed in the conflict who advocate for peace)

Operation Olive Branch (a Google Doc of Palestinian families seeking evacuation)

Mesarvot Network (an Instagram page run by young Israelis seeking to refuse the IDF draft and end military violence committed by both Hamas and the IDF)

Other Gaza aid organisations to donate to

[shadow-0-8]

Wow guys, warfare area 2 it’s hitting hard today

[zootopiathingz]

You ever think about how really fucking sad it is that in the Hellaverse, the souls in heaven don’t remember their loved ones in hell?

Like, imagine you make it to heaven, but your parent/sibling/child goes to hell.. that’s a whole chunk of your life erased from your memory, for the purpose of protecting you from unholy thoughts.

The sinners, I imagine, remember everything. They don’t lose their memories, not even the good ones. Having good memories could be considered a punishment, as you’re stuck with memories you’ll never be able to relive with people you’ll never see again. But at least you have those memories. You can remember the good things about your life. You can talk about every aspect of your life and you can hold onto those memories for the rest of your damned life. But in heaven, they don’t have that. They die and simply forget the most important people that impacted their lives. They don’t get to share stories about their loved ones because they don’t have those stories anymore. A mother has forgotten her child. A husband has forgotten his wife. Friends have forgotten friends.

I understand it’s to protect their souls and spare them the pain of knowing their loved one is in hell and that they’ll never see them ever again.. but still, that’s just so depressing to think about.

[tenebrous-academic]

I’m finally allowing myself to emotionally invest in Coach Ben. This man is not only surviving in the wilderness he is thriving in it.

Personally, I think he deserves to dabble in some arson. Just as a little treat.

[static-martini]

i know "sorcerers" is the broad term for magic-users in DC, but it seems like "witches" specifically caters itself to the women of that category. which is always funny to me when i think of Klarion

because how awkward is that? his branch of magic could be too "witchy" to contribute to the other guys, but he can't really hang out with the girls because the magic they know lends itself to a sisterhood

no wonder he keeps to himself, all the parties he goes to must be super boring

[fanaticforlife]

About You - LWD Tribute

I'm still waiting for their hugs <3. Haydée (@imaginaryhaydee)made everything fit together in this masterpiece (the flashbacks combined with the new movies scenes are simply healing my soul). There are simply too many emotions -in the most fulfilling way!!!!!

[jarofstyles]

What do you mean our man is BALD?

[blackjackkent]

Astarion is waiting in camp with a business proposal. It's really pretty ill-timed on his part (I feel like his timing has often ended up being pretty bad, with Rakha), because she has had the worst day she's had in a while.

"You know, I feel a connection between us. Like we're two souls walking the same path. Every step we walk trails blood. Killing is an instinct for us. I respect you for that. I would keep the murders in our own camp to a minimum, but otherwise, we're very much on the same page."

Rakha has spent the last several hours desperately battling that murderous instinct long enough to keep herself from filleting Isobel like a fish, and she is not in the mood to hear this. Generally speaking, she feels a certain connection with Astarion around their shared involuntary need for blood - but this is a stark reminder that their opinions about that need are growing ever more different.

"What are you getting at?" she growls.

"I just worry that we're not considering all our options when it comes to our uninvited guests." He's trying to sound casual and it's not working at all. "How many people are infected with them, do you think? Hundreds? Thousands? And they're not just goblin trash - there are powerful people in the worm's thrall. Whoever's waiting for us at Moonrise Towers controls it all. But if we can take that control from them, imagine the power we'd wield."

So that's what he has in mind. To usurp control of the parasites rather than cleanse themselves. Rakha dignifies this with a brief consideration, then dismisses it. Her focus is on freeing herself of the parasite and wreaking vengeance for it. "I'm getting this thing out of my head," she says flatly. "End of story."

He clicks his tongue disdainfully. "A pity. I thought you had more ambition than that. Still, we're not there yet. Maybe you'll see the light yet."