#dehumanize itself unfortunately ): but i mean... and not to say that it's good to do so OFC but it hasn't felt like it was human-

[lususnatura]

who are you in this haunted house story?

the dark entity.

you’re not from here. you don’t need what they need. their fear is so…. trivial. they are small, so very small compared to you. they eat and walk and cry and laugh. you just watch. it’s fascinating, really, their little rituals and their meaningless concerns. sometimes, you envy their small joys or even their modest pain. they don’t know what it is to wait in the dark, unfeeling, as time passes over you as eternal as the sea. but my, how you are glad to have guests again. you see, over your many years, you've become aware of a secret: fear tastes sweet.

tagged by: @sortilegii (thanks so much for the tag :D)

tagging: @sifonie, @greenleads, @volucerrubidus, @masquenoire, and anyone else who might like to complete this quiz!

[thermodynamiclawyer]

it really really sucks how we consider art as a way to determine our moral compass. i know other posts have discussed it before but i HATE how when we discover an artist is a controversial or “bad” person we immediately denounce their art, saying their art is automatically bad. and that’s not what art is supposed to be. when you like an art piece, that doesn’t mean you support the creator and everything they stand for, it doesn’t even mean you Support the intention behind the piece itself. the entire POINT of art is to interpret it for yourself, taking context clues from the intention/message behind it. and sometimes the message/intention of a piece is “good” sometimes it’s “bad”. that doesn’t mean you as a viewer is “bad” for interpreting a “bad” piece. that’s like….. getting rid of the meaning of art… it sucks how we think that “good” art can only be made by “good” people and “bad” art can only be made by “bad” people. when you say “oh this artist turned out to be Bad, that means their art is bad now” what does that say about about “good” people? that their art is only good because they’re good? that their art is measured by the moral compass behind it and that value can be changed very quickly because they have the capacity for doing “bad”? news flash, we’re all human, and none of us are inherently good or bad. and the things we create can mean ANYTHING, and denouncing art based on the artist’s character gets rid of the entire purpose of art in the first place.

lets think about pablo picasso, he was a fantastic and influential artist, but he was also a misogynist. liking picasso’s art or acknowledging his place in the art history absolutely doesn’t mean you think he was right for dehumanizing women. not once does that imply that you hate women for appreciating his work, technique, and contribution to our culture. does his actions outside of being an artist make his art bad? are you really going to look at Guernica and think “well, i’m not allowed to acknowledge or discuss this message about the horrors of fascism and war, because the artist behind it thought women were doormats, therefore i’m a bad person for not immediately viewing this painting as ‘bad.’ so…” how does that make us sound?

you’re allowed to acknowledge that, unfortunately, bad people make good stuff. that doesn’t make you a bad person. and we NEED to realize this if we don’t want art as a culture and as a human instinct to lose its worth

[dolphin1812]

I was already sad from the last two chapters, so I really wasn’t prepared for this one.

Since Fantine’s death itself just makes me sad, I’ll focus on the differences between Javert and Valjean here. Of course, there are basic differences in notions of morality (obedience to the law vs mercy) and in their attitudes (harsh and triumphant vs calm and melancholy). Javert in particular is described as if he were a beast rather than a person, his lines more “fierce” “roars” than “words.” When he laughs, he bares his gums as if he were a snarling animal. While he is rendered beastly by the narrative, he dehumanizes those around him, calling Fantine a “creature” and often saying “there is [identifier] here” instead of “he is [identifier]” or “she is,” stressing the identity (for example, convict) over the person. This is in stark contrast to Valjean, who refers to the deceased Fantine as a murdered “woman,” emphasizing that over her work as a prostitute. Saying that she was murdered, rather than that she died or was killed, again stresses her personhood; it also makes Javert, an officer of the law, a criminal worse than Valjean ever was. Valjean stole, but murder is a far more gruesome and despicable crime, and we see it first done by the state.

Moreover, even when Valjean’s acts could easily be described with animalistic language (such as any of his feats of strength in this chapter), they’re not. Instead, they’re very deliberate and calculated. After arming himself with a rod, for instance, he walks “slowly” towards Fantine, glancing at Javert so he knows to avoid him. Everything he does comes with a warning, and he never lashes out. He does physically put his hands on Javert once, after Fantine dies and right before he accuses him of murder:

“Jean Valjean laid his hand upon the detaining hand of Javert, and opened it as he would have opened the hand of a baby”

The way he’s able to open Javert’s hand as if he were a baby highlights Valjean’s strength, but also his gentleness; he typically treats children with kindness, and even though we’ve seen him yell at and intimidate children in his worst moments (Petit Gervais, the boy on his way to Arras), he’s never physically harmed them. Although he’s somewhat menacing, then, and definitely intends to intimidate Javert, he doesn’t cause any harm in spite of his ability to do so, unlike Javert, who kills with his presence. 

Their words to each other also say a lot about what they see as the established order in the town. Valjean combines appeals to mercy with offers of money to get his way. When he asks for time to fetch Cosette, he offers to pay Javert; it’s unclear if he means for the costs of the journey or to appease him, but either way, it demonstrates how Valjean has used his wealth as mayor for good, but he’s also gotten used to it being the most effective method for getting his way. I don’t mean to imply he’s corrupt for this, but rather that it’s unfortunate that this is how he’s used to interacting with people. 

Javert, on the other hand, is relishing in the return to the pre-Madeleine order that Valjean’s imprisonment will bring about. He even gloats at Fantine:

“And now there’s the other one! Will you hold your tongue, you hussy? It’s a pretty sort of a place where convicts are magistrates, and where women of the town are cared for like countesses! Ah! But we are going to change all that; it is high time!”

He’s had to go along with Valjean’s orders as long as he was Madeleine, but he know he wasn’t happy about it. Now that he’s out of the way, Javert can return to the form of order that he expects, which brings him a lot of cruel joy. The title of the chapter - “Authority Reasserts its Rights” - sums up the reason for this twisted happiness.

[rose-from-ashes]

Little Dark Age

An in depth look at the lyrics of the song Little Dark Age by MGMT and how these lyrics pertain to Emet below the cut. Fair warning, it's REALLY FUCKING LONG.

Preface with the fact that this song is about depression and is pretty... augh. I take a lot of the lines more literally for emet than you're supposed to, but the original meaning of the song does factor in.

"The ruins of the dead, painted with a scar" - The imagery of dehumanization and ruin resonates strongly with him, as he views himself as less of a person than the other unsundered despite being the most sane- after all, someone has to be not the best person to remain "sane" (using it loosely) through all the horrific things he's seen and done.

"Breathing in the dark, lying on its side" - This stanza is about a depressed individual spending the majority of their time either sleeping or just laying in bed and rotting with their feelings, both things that Emet is prone to doing during particularly hard times.

"And the more I straighten out, the less it wants to try" - The more he tries to give mortals chances to redeem themselves in his eyes, prove themselves worthy, the more they fail, and the colder he grows.

"The feelings start to rot, one wink at a time" - 'winks' refer to sleep, the time one spends with their eyes closed- but sleep can also be connected to death. Every time Emet lives a life and dies, his feelings towards mortals sour, as he experiences their lives and how painful and short they are.

"Oh-oh, forgiving who you are, for what you stand to gain" - Emet very literally does this, acknowledging the horrible thing he's become, and forgiving those horrors for the sake of bringing about a better kinder world he can feel good about leaving alone. He feels that the people deserve to thrive, even at the cost of his humanity and the atrocities he commits.

"Just know that if you hide, it doesn't go away" - In the same breath as Emet acknowledge the horror of what he's done, he turns away from it, justifies it, doesn't solve it- he hides from it, and the full scale only hits him when he's already dead or the rejoining has finally come.

"When you get out of bed, don't end up stranded, horrified, with each stone" - When it finally hits him, when he finally gets up and faces it, he's left feeling... well, 'stranded, horrified', staring at the obstacles of his own actions and even just the sheer difficulty of existing.

"On the stage, my little dark age" - 'little dark age' refers to a depressive episode, but at the same time, it's very literal for emet, constantly bringing forward dark ages and calamities in horrifying and theatrical manner to bring about the rejoining.

"Picking through the cards, knowing what's nearby" - Emet is constantly looking through his options, not even finishing the current rejoining before moving onto the next, a constant cycle of destruction.

"The carvings on the face say they find it hard" - The original line is about looking through tarot cards in an attempt to reassure oneself, and failing because depression can make even positive signs look like a new obstacle. For Emet, where the cards now signify options for calamities, this changes this line until it reads as if the world itself is struggling to keep up with the demands he's putting on it by rejoining again and again without allowing elidibus to right things and heal the star.

"And the engine's failed again, all limits of disguise" - The engine in question is garlemald, as Varis fails to live up to Emet's requirements. Such is the very literal limit of disguise- there is only so much emet can build and do disguised as a mortal, and unfortunately, this limitation did not supply Varis with the power he needed to follow through on Emet's instructions.

"The humor's not the same, coming from denial" - Emet is constantly joking, but we know, having met him before the sundering, that that humor was not there before. It's something he picked up to cope with and hide his pain from the horrible weight he has taken on.

"Oh-oh, I grieve in stereo, the stereo sounds strange" - Emet grieves, deeply and constantly to a point that it cannot be comprehended from a mortal perspective- to a point that even when we tell him about it in elpis, it sounds strange and surreal to him. He is unable to conceptualize the horrible things he's done, he is unable to conceptualize how badly his future self is hurting to the point that he summons spectres of the dead just to feel less alone. His own grief is strange to him.

"I know that if you hide, it doesn't go away" - Emet immersed himself as Solus, far too much. Enough that he started to hide from his own knowledge of mortals, only to be sharply reminded with the death of his own son, he cannot afford to hide from it, as it will come for him eventually.

"If you get out of bed and find me standing all alone, open-eyed" - The name Solus literally means sole, alone, and it's very fitting. He was alone, and even moreso with the death of his son which quite literally opened his eyes to the fact that even after so many rejoinings, mortals were still weak.

"Burn the page, my little dark age" - The experience I just described is shortly followed on Emet shutting down everything in his mind, quite literally burning the page in the form of waging war across the planet, destroying enemies and bringing the fall of dalamud with the intention of destroying eorzea.

"I grieve in stereo, the stereo sounds strange

You know that if it hides, it doesn't go away

If I get out of bed, you'll see me standing all alone, horrified

On the stage, my little dark age" - This is a repetition of the previous stanza, with mild changes- to me, it brings forth the end of Solus's life and the entering of the next era, Emet bringing forth the calamity of light.

"Giddy with delight, seeing what's to come" - The impending calamity looms on the horizon, everything is in place. It's quite literally visible, light filling the sky and corrupting person after person. He knows the rejoining is soon.

"The image of the dead, dead ends in my mind" - At the same time, he can't set aside his grief. The knowledge that the ruins of Amaurot in the first will be lost in that rejoining is quite literally a dead end in his mind, and he spends more and more time there, clinging to the last remnants of the people he lost.

"Policemen swear to God, love seeping from the guns" - A common theme in Emet's calamities he guides are empires, destructive, conquering, and claiming they know what's better, whether in the name of some god or in the name of Emet himself, they shoot, kill and maim with the claim of love, just as he does.

"I know my friends and I would probably turn and run" - Emet knows how terrifying these calamities are to mortals. After all, he lived through the final days, himself.

"If you get out of bed, come find us heading for the bridge, bring a stone" - He invites the warrior of light to the the tempest, invites them to find him and bring all their light, no matter how destructive.

"All the rage, my little dark age" - Despite all their anger and pain, he knows that nothing will stop his 'little dark age', his rejoining.

"I grieve in stereo, the stereo sounds strange" - Both Emet and the player long for their homes and their worlds to survive, and they cannot hide from the fact that these desires will inherently never coexist.

"I know that if you hide, it doesn't go away" - Just as Emet cannot hide from his grief for the end of his world, the warrior can't hide from their grief, and their guilt, knowing that they are now the source of the final days of the first.

"If you get out of bed and find me standing all alone, open-eyed" - The first scene we get after the full knowledge of the inevitibility of the calamity hits us is us getting up in our room alone, opening the window, and being forced to witness the light sky returned to lakeland, proof of what is coming .

"Burn the page, my little dark age" - Again, Emet is quite literally burning the page, obliterating the first in a rejoining we fuel.

"All alone, open-eyed" - We go to amaurot and face emet, our eyes opened to the depth of his grief, and refuse to stand down, facing him alone.

"Burn the page, my little dark age" - I offer you nothing but the scene where Emet turns and walks into the fires of Amaurot.

[silentmassacres]

fri, nov 15

care, perversion, and rot

i just typed out an entire post and it decided to delete itself while uploading, lovely. this only adds to me being overwhelmed and, quite frankly, i do not have the time to re-type it, but here we are. incredibly upset because i cannot regulate myself this week. i'm upset because i now sound ingenuine as these are not the words i'd originally used, but instead a poor imitation. i hate this app sometimes.

of course, the moment i go to finish this post, the original posts. i'm posting this one too. it's the same thoughts, just different words. maybe it's important.

—

i've tried for a long time to remain independent, but unfortunately i can't help yearning for the ability to not do so. i'm sitting naked on the bathroom floor, knowing i need to change, yet struggling to. i know it'd be easier if i had someone here to help or, at the very least, encourage me. it makes me feel needy to require help, despite the very present reality of being disabled and very mentally ill in a way that makes me need it sometimes. every now and again, i'm able to surpass that anxiety, but it always comes back in the end.

i'll entertain and comfort myself with ideas of being taken care of, knowing i'd ruin it for myself.

—

and so, with that, i remain on the floor. i have this habit of contorting my body in odd ways — it makes me feel like art. my discomfort with my body makes this feel like a safer option. at the end of the day, it really is dissociation — my preference of viewing my body as an art form rather than the mass of flesh it is.

it makes me feel beautiful sometimes. maybe not in a way that i feel, but in a way in which i know somebody would regard me as beautiful. i wish there was somebody there to capture my image, or at least bear witness. but there isn't, so i remain on the floor, once again. i'll let the camera timer on my phone watch my contort my body just to feel like something.

—

as of late, i've found myself looking at a lot of figure studies of women's bodies. a lot of them look like me, so it's comforting in it's own way. it brings me some sort of comfort to view my form as something artistic, even if that means dehumanizing myself in the process.

i hold a lot of shame about it, secretly. i worry that i'll be made out as this predatory pervert, because it seems oddly easy for people to do that to me. i don't... fully understand why, given my repeated victimhood, but i guess it's just another thing my lack of a memory has taken from me.

i try not to think about it too much. the level of guilt it fills me with makes me nauseous and beyond self loathing

—

i wish i could say it started in middle school. people started saying it in middle school, because it's easy to accuse the queer freak of staring at the asses of their classmates (i still feel disgusted with myself for even accidentally looking in that direction).

i almost mentioned ricky before. i spent a lot of time with misplaced malice towards him. i realize now that he's not the one who hurt me, and it predates him. we were the same, really. i'd almost wonder why he did the things he did, but i don't even know what the case was for me. maybe none of it was real, and i was just born like this — somehow, fundamentally messed up.

i'd say i wish i could remember, but i can never tell which option is worse.

i know now that he didn't hurt me; not in that way, at least. i have to wonder why we hurt each other in the way we did. maybe it was all in good fun, maybe i got some sort of sick satisfaction from it. the thought makes me feel disgusted with myself, even if i know it was the same for him.

it's scary to think about, that young. i have to think about how normal it was and how i didn't see an issue. i know it was noticed, but i can't ever recall if anything was done about it. everybody was so hung up on my social issues that everything else went neglected. my mom knew, or at least noticed. i remember that much.

—

i'm half-convinced my body may just give out on me. i've been in a lot more pain lately. maybe it's not that bad, i can never tell. i'm always in pain, but it's shifted from a dull ache to something sharper. i'm sure it's nothing serious, i just wish i could feel that level of confidence regarding the random red dot that appeared on my chest. i really do hope it's nothing.

i'm beyond exhaustion, and my lack of sleep doesn't help. i feel like i'm dead or dying sometimes. the pain doesn't help, because it almost solidifies the feeling that i'm rotting internally. my head feels fuzzy but i have an assignment due in a few hours. i wish i could sleep for a few days straight with no responsibilities.

—

my leg looks better. i guess it wasn't awful in the first place. it was, sort of, but it was just the one alone. it scared me a lot when it first happened, yet i continue to get urges. i'm worried that they're going to worsen, that there's going to be a new standard. i don't want to. i don't want to hurt myself, not that badly. it scares me a lot.

i don't think i should be discussing this. i don't think anybody will see this (and if they do, it's my own damn fault), and i feel the need to say something. if i do discuss it with anyone, i'd want to talk about it with him, because i know he'd understand and he'd be caring and he wouldn't chastise me for it. maybe that's. rude to others, for me to say that. i know he worries, but i don't feel as though i overwhelm him with those feelings. and i know he'd get it.

i don't think i will say anything. i'd like to keep this to myself. i'm just primarily concerned with my habits worsening

[bandofchimeras]

hey dude, sorry not trying to be an ass w this but I saw u had a post where in the tags you used delusional and narcissist as pretty derogatory insults towards the govt. Bashing the government is good and great but using terms that we (at least currently) need to describe mental illness (and definitely associate with it!)... in ways like that... its ableist and dehumanizing and leads to more abuse, even if it feels innocent, because if everyone who's a narc or who's delusional is dangerous....that's everyone w/ npd, or a schizospec disorder, or any other things.

Sorry this is long, and again, not trying to be rude! Just wanted to inform you and ask that you maybe be a little more careful with word choice in the future :)

hey anon, yeah thanks for your concern. I do understand the movement to change language usage around mental illness and destigmatize. And it is well intentioned.

Unfortunately, narcissistic and delusional are still pretty generally derogatory words. A person with NPD may not cause harm simply by virtue of having the diagnosis but we all agree narcissism itself isn't a fun cool trait to have. Delusions are obscurations of reality.

We still say manic, depressed, obsessive, etc in both outright negative ways and descriptive but not morally loaded ways. to me it's just part of language, and the ethics of most derogatory language does depend on who's using it.

I'm absolutely behind not calling everyone who sucks a narcissist. and would like people to stop saying "I'm being OCD" or "that's so bipolar," "he's a schizo" and so on. The "delulu" trend online is weird and fetishizes mentally ill people.

For context: I am a person with a narcissistic tendency, due to my childhood. My life has been a long train of psych symptoms... delusions of grandeur, maladaptive daydreaming, hallucinations, psychosis, derealization, depersonalization, dissociative identity states. psychology is one of my longest hyperfixations simply because I needed to understand my experience. it's been helpful and unhelpful in different ways. Pathologization is a phenomen that can't be understood separately from language, culture, history, and violence.

And yet I don't really have a problem with calling things crazy, insane, or batshit. in fact I find power in redefining and playing with these terms. I've been called crazy in a demeaning, invalidating way. And yeah, I'm a lil crizazy, a bit unhinged one might say. But if a motherfucker calls me crazy to invaldiate my argument, I instantly know they've lost. They're being weak, and abusive. It will also piss me the fuck off. I may want to show them what "crazy" looks like. The better angels of my nature will whisper "keep your head."

With the movement to neutralize mental health terms, what's always confused me is the understanding of language itself. I experience words autistically - they have multiple overlapping meanings all the time. Words are like composite images composed of billions of instances of use, fluttering and evolving as they are spoken and written. Vernacular is messy, sputtering and ever changing. Therefore words carry a multitude of connotations. When different people say them in different contexts you can see and hear different implications.

So, I really don't care if a dude at work says "that's fuckin insane bro" ...to a gnarly kickflip. Or a devastating news article. Insane delineates the magnitude of his emotion. It's out of bounds. Something normies and straights would try to contain, institutionalize, label. Christ, that's juicy. It's why I adore skater boy lingo and teen slang. It's careless and crunchy.

English itself, especially corporate and institutional English, can be a strict, bland, and often abusive language. My fellow autistic homies tend to enjoy a rousing jaunt down into the annals of historical parlance for our everyday linguistic transactions because it's fucking boring, the clinical way we are expected to speak here and now.

So therefore: thanks for your message calling attention to my words and their impact.

There are deeper better more poetic words to call the government and frankly I believe the best ones might be found in other languages.

All in all, you're right that "narcissistic" and "delusional" are not the most accurate, potent words to describe the US government. How to convey the twisted, detached from reality, spirit of that entity best in language, though, I need to expand the lexicon. Maybe using these words is cheap. Maybe it covers over the intentionality and corruption at play.

So I'm going to open this up to some language play - and ask you, anon, and anyone else what words can we find to convey the negative meaning of delusional (detached from truth) and narcissistic (inverted and self concerned to the point of dysfunction), in English? or in another language?

I hope you can take this in good faith not as a deflection but really engaging with your ask.

Being language corrected can trigger my harshest defenses. I can feel in my body all the times someone has punished, invalidated, dismissed something I've said because of using "uncivil" or foul or imperfect language. In general, trying to conform to correct ideological forms of language is like, major wretched, dude.

Hell my dorky ass disingenuous nerd of a brother yesterday called a message I sent the family group chat about Palestine "blasphemous" because I said " my god" and used it as an excuse to delete every impassioned exchange we had so the "children wouldn't see," - him be racist, cough. can't make this shit up.

But that's my background. Catholicism is a mental illness. (Sorry in advance to all mental illness havers for associating you with Catholics)

[ellesliterarycorner]

The White Savior Trope

Bringing this most back because I am writing a research paper on diversity in YA Fiction for English, and I feel like a lot of people may not know what people mean when by the white savior trope, and even though the trope isn’t nearly as prevalent in fiction as it was say ten years ago, it’s still prevalent enough for it to be a problem. This gives me the perfect opportunity to explain what the trope is and isn’t, and help give some advice to not write in in your story!. So, first thing’s first. I fucking hate this trope. Like reading this trope in a book will make me chuck it across the room immediately. BURN IT WITH FIRE AND NEVER BRING IT BACK. This trope is one of the most problematic things in literature, media, and the real world. This trope is so harmful to BIPOC people everywhere, and it needs to just die. So, we’re going to kill it. Also, just for reference I will be describing the experience of black characters for this post just because I am black and feel comfortable speaking about it, but the white savior trope can happen with any non-white character not just black people! 

What Is The Trope?/Why Is It Problematic?

The White Savior Trope (abbreviated as WST from this point onward) is a trope used in fiction in which a white character (normally the protagonist of the story) rescues people of cover from their suffering or when a person of color needlessly sacrifices themselves in order for the white protagonist to realize their full potential. The white savior is normally portrayed as a god-like messiah in the story and as I said earlier, they normally learn something about themselves and realize their full potential in the process of it. Why is this problematic? For several different reasons, but let me say that even though the WST is inherently racist and based in racist stereotypes, the trope itself was not created to be a racist thing. And, I would bet that half of the white authors who write these tropes don’t intend to be racist, they just genuinely don’t understand the background or problematic nature of it. For me, the trope is problematic because it says, non-white people are helpless and need a white person to come and save them from their cruel, savage destiny or non-white people are only good when they give their life to help a white person’s cause. That is 100% not true, and it’s extremely problematic because unfortunately a lot of people think like this. 

Why do writers use this trope?

Truthfully, I don’t know. I think I as a black person immediately see this trope as problematic, but I can understand how some white people, especially those not exposed to non-white people, could see the trope as okay. I also think that Christianity has not helped this trope, and I’m Christian. I can’t tell you how many people I know who have gone on mission trips to Africa and call it the most fulfilling experience of their life because they genuinely feel as though they completely changed the life of some poor little black kid in one one week visit. And, I’m really conflicted on how I feel about mission trips, but that’s a different post. Anyways, I also think that people use the WST to try and play on our natural human empathy, especially for white audiences. When we see someone different from us, our first instinct is to distrust them, but if we see someone who relates to us leading the mysterious people, we are much more likely to empathize them. That’s just biology. This is the problem with a lot of fiction still being written solely for white audiences. They tend to exclude the rest of the audience. If a somewhat racist person finishes a book or movie using the WST, they will feel good about themselves. They don’t hate non-white people. They loved this book where White Character swopped in, recked the culture of the Non-White Characters, and saved them since they’re so poor and helpless. After reading that same book or watching that same, Non-White people will probably end up feeling dehumanized or infantilized because they’ll feel as though they can only be saved by white people. I hope that makes sense!

Signs Of The WST In Fiction

The white person saves the black person multiple times

The black character is passive in the story

The black character has no personality other than supporting their white friend

the white character has to speak up for the ‘voiceless’ black people

the black character dies in order to motivate the white character 

the white character becomes the leader of the black people for absolutely no reason at all 

After one conversation with a black person, the white character has an instant redemption arc and is no longer racist 

Remember, I just used black because I am black, but that can be exchanged for any non-white person. And, I’m sure there are a lot more signs than that, those are just the ones I see the most often in fiction.

How To Prevent It

I can already feel someone going to comment, “oh, so you think white people can’t be heroes?” No, I never said that, and if you got that from this post, then idk what to say fam. Obviously, white people can be heroes (but would it hurt our world to have more BIPOC heroes?). If your protagonist is white, make sure that any non-white characters around them are proactive and have their own personalities outside of the white protagonist. Their sole focus in life shouldn’t be helping the white person defeat evil. I would also make sure that the white protagonist does not become the face of the black power movement or whatever is happening in their story. Can they save the day? Of course! But, they shouldn’t have a population of only non-white people or somehow end the oppression of all of the non-white people in the land. If the white character starts out with any prejudices, please give them a genuine redemption arc. I actually like seeing characters unlearn racist ideology, kind of like Matthias in SoC, but that doesn’t happen overnight. No one changes their mind about anything in the blink of an eye, especially with something as serious and heavy as racism. 

I hope that helped! Please DM or comment any questions!

[captainshadowgirllostfan]

Sheldon Cooper vs Abed Nadir

I like Sheldon believe it or not. I think his unlikability is what makes the character unique and unfortunately in putting in a google search of Sheldon vs Abed (from community), this is one of the biggest reasons people say that Abed is a better character than Sheldon and I think that’s ridiculous.

While I agree there’s a racism issue in Hollywood and the reason Parsons got an Emmy and Golden Globe for Sheldon Cooper while Danny Pudi got nothing for Abed definitely might have a lot to do with the color of their skins, I do think Parsons deserved his reward for Sheldon Cooper because Sheldon Cooper is a unique character and Parson did a great job acting as Cooper. Even after the writers kept butchering the character from Season 5 onwards, Parsons is still able to bring in a human quality in Sheldon and it’s partly why there’s articles written about Sheldon and his psychology because he’s a fascinating comic character.

Unfortunately his role in the Big Bang Theory is to be the pun of all jokes. His autistic trait is treated as a joke. It’s not accepted, it’s not valued, it’s demeaned and picked on and even gives people the excuse to say Sheldon deserves to be left out all because he’s “unlikable”

And this is why I despise this argument that Abed is a better character because he’s “likable”. I don’t think actual autistic people are supposed to be likable. I mean I’m not saying they aren’t capable of it but from a brief look at how parents struggle to care for their autistic children and the difficulties with behavior, to claim that an autistic character is only good if he’s “likable” is fucking dehumanizing to me. What? You’re gonna only give anybody a credit of your time and acceptance if he’s “nice”?

Sheldon, unlike Abed, doesn’t just have to deal with struggles of connection. This is Community touches on with Abed, a lack of connection with people because he feels like an outsider and can only observe, but with Sheldon, his issues are much more. Sheldon has misophonia, he also seems to be suffering from OCD or OCPD, in which everybody must fit into his routines precisely because he believes this is the way things are supposed to be, he’s compulsively neat and ordered and he needs things to be that way. 

I saw a video of a little boy (who either has OCD or is autistic I don’t remember) who couldn’t even eat his food if all his food touches each other. He literally was crying to his mother. He couldn’t even drink his juice if all the silver top wasn’t ripped off. This is Sheldon and you’re saying Sheldon is a bad character because he’s not “likable”. That by wanting things to fit his sensitivities because he can’t handle touching his food, it makes him narcissistic?

I’ll admit there are some bad behavior Sheldon does that I wish the showrunners would have addressed. He does take advantage of Leonard, and then later Amy. And the creators excuse this. They excuse so much with Sheldon and yes I agree he doesn’t grow. 

Meanwhile Abed seems to grow. Everytime Abed shows some bad “unlikable” trait, there’s an explanation behind it because the creators give him a voice, and most of all his friends respond to him with compassion, kindness, and support.

For example, I just finished Season 1 episode 21, “Contemporary American Poultry”, where the gang become power-high over Abed’s new job as the fry-cook and being able to get the chicken first. The chicken is apparently the only good thing the cafeteria makes. In the beginning of the episode, Abed says some blunt things that hurts Shirley’s feelings about her crush over the dreadlocks guys, along with some hurtful stuff to Britta about how her lack of flavor is a flavor itself when she suggest he thinks about the stuff he says and if it will be hurtful. Abed doesn’t realize what he says is hurtful but in some ways can recognize when someone isn’t happy with him. He’s the observer of the gang. When he gets the job as the fry-cook in the gang’s scheme to get the chicken first, it blows up into bribing the whole school for stuff just to get chicken. The gang gets power high through stuff Abed can get them through his new job which leaves Jeff’s ego hurt and him feeling left out since Abed pretty much replaces him as gang leader. Eventually Abed realizes he isn’t getting the respect he thought he was getting even though he was finally feeling liked in the group and gets back at them, thinking this is what Jeff would do. By the end of the episode, in a ploy to ruin the fry cooker, Jeff finds Abed late at night cooking tater tops which Abed says is the new thing because people are now tired of chicken. Instead of ruining the cooker, and thus ruining Abed, Jeff has a conversation with Abed and Abed reveals that he liked the job and giving chicken because he finally feels like people liked him for once and that he and the world was finally speaking the same language. The show gives Abed a voice and humanizes him from a robot that tends to hurt people with what he says to someone who just genuinely struggles to connect with people and need to use someone to gain a connection whether it’s chicken or movie references. And best of all, Community doesn’t have his friends mock him for his struggles or use it as a pun for jokes. It respects Abed. And his friends respect him too... even when he’s a jerk. They listen to him and try to understand him.

You don’t get that with Sheldon.

So there’s the difference in my opinion.

The difference between Abed and Sheldon isn’t that one character is better than the other, but the fact that the show each respective character is in treats them different. Abed is treated better, with kindness and support, while Sheldon isn’t treated well AT ALL.

For me, realizing that with Big Bang came around Season 3 episode 1 when Sheldon and crew comes back from the Artic. The crew’s ill-treatment and laissez-faire attitude for legitimately ruining a friend’s experiment along with actually considering to kill him makes me honestly wonder if they care about Sheldon at all. Nevermind how difficult Sheldon’s eccentricities are. Even if the writers wrote this, the fact no discussion was made over Sheldon’s feelings. The fact that Sheldon’s feelings was treated as “childish” according to Leonard, tells you everything you needed to know about how Big Bang Theory views Sheldon Cooper. He has NO voice. His voice doesn’t matter. He’s the wackadoodle, the “crazy” man. Anything he says, is just ridiculous and isn’t valid.

Is it any wonder Sheldon just grows worse as the seasons go on when surrounded by people who treats him as an insane person. And tbh Season 3 shouldn’t have been a wake-up call on that. Sheldon’s mental state has been the pun of jokes since Season 1 but since we don’t  legitimately see Sheldon upset, I didn’t think anything of it. It seemed like friends just making mild complaints over a difficult friend but who understands and still hangs out with him. But when Sheldon WAS upset, those same friends just didn’t care. AT ALL. And throughout they actively try to exclude him on their activities and complain about him all the same. When he goes through heartbreak, they go comfort his ex instead of him (at least that’s what I heard. I haven’t watch so I might be wrong but I gotta say I’m appalled but again unsurprised). I’d say out of the friend group his truest friends seem to be Leonard and Penny. 

Leonard because even though he has hurt Sheldon the most, demean him the most, and also whines about him the most, he does side with Sheldon at times he needs him and does show concern for him. Penny because she is the one we’ve seen Sheldon share his inner self the most and who responds and deals with him with the most compassion. I guess Amy also counts to because Sheldon does become vulnerable in front of her, from the bits of scenes I’ve seen of them anyway. And Amy for a time had been the one that seems to understand Sheldon the most until the writers gave Amy this desire to have se and have Sheldon be the one to do it when he’s been written to be repelled of it... you know for laughs. 

Amy and Leonard are hard to write in terms of saying their Sheldon’s friends because I feel like they also manipulate and treat Sheldon bad. They complain and whine when they don’t get what they want and I also think both of them like that Sheldon relies on them, and is co-dependent on them... and that isn’t healthy. But there’s no denying that these two are friends who care for Sheldon.

But anyway the others are only friends because their friends are friends of Sheldon... so why do they all treat Sheldon bad? Because when you watch Big Bang Theory, you realise as the episodes go on, that everyone in Big Bang Theory treats everybody bad. These are a toxic group of people and there is not growth. They’re stuck in this childish bubble and it’s NOT because their geeks who like nerd culture. You can be a grown-up and like Star Wars, Star Trek, Marvel and DC. But Big Bang says otherwise. No they say, you need to get married and have kids to be grown up and that’s such a stupid message to bring. This crew is childish because they’re honest to god just awful. They can’t have a conversation without putting someone down. They can’t get over their damn egos.

Community gives us a different aura of things... of course I haven’t finished the series yet and apparently the gang does become a bit toxic by the end of the series but it seems the showrunners and writers are aware of this while in Big Bang, there is either a blindness to this, or is written deliberatly because for some reason tv shows think toxic relationships are what sells funny.

It really doesn’t.

Anyway this turned into a rant. Let me just conclude.

Sheldon isn’t written badly. He’s just treated badly. Because his autism is the brunt of jokes and is meant to look down on. This is sad because out of the two characters being compared, I think he needs the support the most due to the myriad of issues he suffers from. 

Abed isn’t written badly either of course but unlike Sheldon he’s treated with respect by the writers of Community. He’s given a voice and his friends treat him compassion.

[yandere-daydreams]

half-spider half-human yandere with a darling who has arachnophobia

I think I’ve just been in a Yandere!Monster mood this week - I don’t know how else to explain what I’ve been posting, recently. Can you blame me, though? They’re so easy to run from, so easy to be afraid of… It’s only natural that they make good Yanderes.

Title: Arachnophobia.

TW: Spiders, Dehumanization, Mentions of Injury, and Mentions of Death. 

~

It’d always been the legs, for you.

You weren’t squeamish. If it hadn’t been for the legs, you wouldn’t mind spiders at all. The uncharacteristic fuzz that coated their bodies, those unblinking eyes that were too big and too small at the same time, their distorted proportions and awful fangs and general wrongness, you could take all of that, even if you didn’t care for it. Their legs were the only thing that got to you, the only thing that made you fear the tiny, harmless creatures beyond all reason. You weren’t blind, you knew there were much worse things to be scared of, and yet, nothing sent a chill up your spine like the thought of an insect no bigger than your thumb crawling up the back of your leg or finding its way into your hair, its steps so light and silent, you wouldn’t know its there, not until it’s already made its fangs at home under your skin. It’s irrational, or, it was irrational, at least. It used to be.

Ikto wasn’t harmless. You didn’t have to tell yourself not to be afraid of him.

If anything, you should be more afraid than you’ve ever been. It wasn’t like he hadn’t given you a reason to be.

You cried out as you collapsed, the noise somewhere between a defeated sigh and a desperate scream, too quiet to do you any good but too loud to go unnoticed in the stillness of the darkened forest. It’d been childish to go into the woods alone, it’d been stupid, and you’d known that when you came up with the idea. Still, you hadn’t thought it’d been stupid enough to get you killed. The legends told of a creature who spun web like rope, who could string up a group of hunters in translucent silk so quickly, they wouldn’t have time to notice they were being trapped, not before it was too late to get away. You weren’t a hunter, though, and you didn’t mean him any harm. You’d told yourself that a glimpse would be enough for you to overcome your fear, all you needed to do was look at him, and you’d never think twice about the spiders in your garden or the dark corners of your home again. But, you’d tripped, made a mistake, stepped on the wrong branch at the wrong time and earned a throbbing ankle and the attention of a monster for your efforts. It was so hard to navigate through cobwebs when you were running. It was so hard to navigate at all when you were crying.

And, as you collapsed to the dirt, weak sobs still racking over your chest as pain shot from your heel to your knee like hot trails of pure fire, you began to wish he’d just killed you when you interrupted his meal. That would’ve been kinder than letting you think you might’ve had a chance.

After a moment, you forced yourself to grit your teeth, moving to push yourself up, but it was already a moment too late. Without warning, without sound, something tapered and unyielding dug into the space between your shoulder blades, pushing you flat against the ground and giving you a minute to fight back, only pulling away then you failed to struggle against its strength. You already knew what it was, what it had to be, but you still found yourself holding back a gasp as you were unceremoniously dragged onto your back, clenching your eyes shut in an effort to delay the inevitable. It was an exercise in futility, but you didn’t open them again.

Not until something soft and familiar brushed against your cheek, and your entire body jerked up involuntarily. You had to fight not to scream, the awareness of just how dead you were making the pangs of your injury pale, in comparison.

If Ikto had any intention of making your slaughter swift, though, you couldn’t tell. He simply towered above you, watching with four pairs of eyes as you scrambled back, using what was less of your courage to put an arm’s length of distance between you and your hunter. You had to wonder why you’d ever thought you stood a chance against him. Standing, you would’ve only come to his waist, to the junction where his grey, thick flesh faded into a black exoskeleton, so sleek and so impenetrable, you knew the tiny dagger you’d brought for your protection would be useless before it was even in your hand. You could barely see his face, but you didn’t have to. Everything, from the mocking tilt of his head to the way his shoulders tensed and bounced upward in a stifled laugh, made his amusement clear. His tone did little to aid your blossoming humiliation, the heavy drawl only making you bow your head, your fear nearly overpowered by misplaced embarrassment. “I thought you’d be faster, human.”

You bit the side of your tongue, but you were speaking before you could stop yourself. More to quell your own nerves than to get on his. “I thought you’d be a better hunter, beast.”

That earned a breath of a chuckle, so airy and so dry, you might’ve missed it if he had anything to compete with. Unfortunately, no animals skittered from tree to tree to distract you, no birds sang to divert your attention. You couldn’t blame the woodland creatures for making themselves scarce. You’d avoid Ikto too, if you had a choice. “Awfully brave for someone who just stumbled into my web,” He started, bringing a hand - a human hand, thankfully - up to his chest, pouting in an exaggerated show of his offense. Despite his size, he moved soundlessly, stepping between dead leaves and over obstacles in a slow, seamless circle around you as he continued. Evaluating you, only speaking to keep himself entertained. “I was having such a nice night, too. No heroes come to slay me, no champions shouting to face me to prove their worth, no interruptions. Just me and my prey.” This time, you got a sigh. A shake of his head. A step too close, a spindly leg coming just a breath too near, leaving you shaking and digging your nails into the dirt, trembling as he looked on. “And then you came along and ruined it.”

“I’m lost.” The lie was spat hastily, forced out too quickly to be believable. This time, when he edged closer, you brought your knees up to your chest, curling into yourself defensively. “I didn’t mean to bother you. I don’t want to be here, I’m just… I can’t find my way home. I don’t know what to do. If you let me go--”

“If I let you go, you’ll get stuck in one of my webs and I’ll find you weeks later, starved and dehydrated and begging for my help.” He paused, pursing his lips, settling in front of you. When he crouched, his knees bending into jagged points and his arachnid stomach nearly brushing against the ground, you went tense, but you didn’t dare to move. You didn’t dare to look at him. You didn’t dare to think, not when it felt like he was prying into your mind a little more with every second he spent staring you down. “It might be nice. I’ve never heard someone plead for my help rather than my mercy. I try not to play with my food, but I wasn’t expecting something so small and so tempting to stumble into my territory. Certainly not something with the nerve to expect me to believe such a boring excuse.” A growl seemed to edge its way into his voice, absent of the primal reverberation it should’ve contained, full of something manufactured, painfully learned. You might’ve felt sorry for him, if he hadn’t been close enough for you to see the dozens of harsh, pointed teeth that prevented him from bridging the gap. “Are you that eager to get this over with, human? Do you want to die?”

You didn’t hesitate, shaking your head furiously as his smile returned. Unconsciously, your fingers twitched, ready to search the satchel strapped to your side for any weapon you could find, but in the blink of an eye, the burlap sack was speared through, flicked to the side with little more than a tear of fabric and the rattle of its content. “Please, I didn’t mean to--”

“I’ll compromise.” Again, he cut you off, standing to his full height, taking your wrist as he did so and dragging you to your feet, his grip not loosening when you winced, attempting to favor the foot that wasn’t trying to detach itself from your body. “I won’t kill you. I’ll take you back to my den, make sure you’re attended to, but you have to come with me willingly. Say you’ll behave, and I’ll make sure you don’t have to limp your way into the loving jaws of the nearest wolf.”

You didn’t respond, but you flinched, and that was enough of an answer for Ikto. With a sharp, sudden pull, you were off of your feet entirely, dragged against him and held there with one arm, his free hand pressing against the back of your head, encouraging you to lean into him, to be affectionate. You wanted to push yourself away, to tell him you didn’t need his pity, that you’d rather take your chances with the most rabid of dogs than with try your luck with him, but your ankle pulsed and your body ached and you needed his help more than you wanted not to. And when Ikto began to walk, when you caught a glimpse of a long, inhumane leg moving easily over the uneven terrain, you weren’t sure if you could even move.

You weren’t sure if running was an option, not if he’d be the one chasing you.

“It gets lonely, occasionally,” He admitted, his voice so soft, you almost didn’t hear him. You almost wished you hadn’t been listening, by the time he thought to go on.

“And I’ve always liked the idea of keeping a pet.”

[foxanonforneon]

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I made the story with just two random lighthouse operators and @neonthewrite 's character, Chase. I used the picture above as a prompt.

Please have a good read. Likes and reblogs are appreciated!! :>

Warning: This contains catboy, fearplay, angst, mention of eating people/hard vore, and dehumanization of a person.

If you are uncomfortable with any of these things mentioned, you may pass this now.

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

Viewer Discretion is Advised.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It is that time of night again, where the seaside is calm and the night is dark as burnt charcoal, with pretty stars in the sky as if it were an artist's canvas.

The seaside playing Mother Nature's music playing for anyone willing to listen was interrupted by two forms, one with a gruff exterior with a purpose in his stride, the other timidly but quickly following close behind the older man.

The two of them came out here for a purpose, the purpose needed and only could be done in the cylindrical, white tall building near the shore of the coast.

"S-Sir, are the rumours true?" the new operator's voice quivered as he got his query out. The voice soft enough that it could be mistaken for the wind.

"What?" the older man huffed with a sharp raspy voice, looked sceptically at the newcomer with a hint of disappointment in his eyes.

"I dunno what yer' talking 'bout boy, once we get to the top o' this place," he waved his hand lazily to the lighthouse, "ye' can tell me what ya mean." The operator looked at the newcomer expectantly as he presumed to walk to his desired destination.

As the younger of the two was unparalysed from the uneven gravel, both of the occupants in the vicinity felt a slight vibration from under their feet. It was barely noticeable as they stepped foot into the building.

As the seasoned lighthouse operator took his time up the winding stairs, the newcomer felt, off. Like the lighthouse suddenly dropped in temperature. Uneasy. Darker than usual in the room containing the giant flashlight. He felt a pit in his stomach with a mix of butterflies, a different contrast to the older operator, who seemed to be at ease.

As the top of the lighthouse drew closer in the operators' eye line, the newcomer felt tremors and heard the gravel underneath but brushed it off as someone having a late night dip and kept it in mind to question why were their steps so heavy, it when he calmed down and got settled.

Unfortunately, those thoughts vanished as he watched in astonishment as the elderly man took the two foldable chairs from the flashlight and plopped them down in front of it, near its sides, at an age that that would be a problem to do at that speed.

As they settled into their seats, the tremors and crunch of gravel came to a steady halt. The older man then stared at the younger one intently and curiously as to proceed with his queries.

The younger took this as his cue to speak. "Sir, did you not hear the rumors about the monster, that creeps around these parts, of the coast at this time of night?" the newcomer spoke as he looked around skitishly.

His posture hunched over fearfully as it looked like his spine was about to jump out of his skin. The older man took the information he was given into consideration. He stared at the flashlight, moonlit enough to make out its shape, as he hummed in deep thought.

"No, I don' recall any rumors 'bout a monster round these parts, guess ya coul' describe it fer me?" the older operator gestured softly to the other, so they could calm their own nerves. He leaned back and loosely crossed his arms as to indicate that he was all ears.

"I-I heard that it has very dark fur, from w-what I heard from some p-people, they say b-black or dark gray. They s-say that the monster has teeth longer than the tallest h-human being and it has claws that can reduce trees to nothing but a pile of sawdust! Very few people say it has the eyes of an apex predator!" The younger operator explained fearfully, his body quaking from fear.

"And? Do ya know wha' it does or eat fer that matter, if you want ta keep explainin'?" The seasoned operator asked as he gently cupped the newcomer's palms in his own to aid his worries about this 'monster'.

"I-I've also h-heard that it goes a-around looking for p-people that are by th-themselves and it-" the young operator quickly stopped and stared as the other got up quickly with a huff.

"You continue talkin'. I'm listenin', am jus' gonna operate these lights an' make sure people git home safely." He said as he quickly glanced back at the young operator, as he strode over to the back of the huge flashlight. "Ye might wanna wear t'e sun glass, y'er...whatever t'ey called." He said trying to identify the object with a hint of annoyance. Again, the unknown tremors started but weren't heavy enough to notice from the top of the tower.

"Oh, yeah, as I-I was saying, it m-maybe kidnaps the people t-that are by themselves, s-since I haven't seen those people a-again and the only way to get to the next t-town is by c-car or bus, some of the people gone, don't have enough money f-for that, or maybe it eat-" The younger of the two snapped his mouth shut as he covered his ears shut, a reflexive motion, from the loud ringing in his ears.

What he didn't expect, was that the seasoned operator had a cross and annoyed look on his face. His pale skin allowing his emotions to be seen in the glowing moonlight. What he really didn't expect, was the monster chasing the bright beam of light, and mostly likely causing the source of the tremors before and now, like a kitten.

As the monster continued to chase the light around like a cat on catnip, an idea popped into the young operator's head. He rushed over to the giant flashlight, shoving the seasoned operator away as gently as he could, as he used his strength to turn the beam of light towards the ocean of the cliff side.

As the older man was about to bark out an order to stop turning the flashlight, it was already too late as the blur of fur(presumed as the monster) fell off of the cliff and into the freezing ocean with a loud yowl of distress, followed by a splash, which sounded closer to cat more than anything. Making sure there was no movement from the over the cliff side, the young man turned to check on the other operator. "See sir! That was the monster I was talking about from the rumors, it is real...Holy shit, it's actually real and I stopped it!" Assuming the monster didn't know how to swim, why would it? There's plenty of people to eat on land!

He then quickly turned off the flashlight to make sure the beast didn't find its way back to land.  Who knows how much damage to the nearby village it can cause.

When he held out his hand out to the shaken officer to give him a lift. Otherwise, the seasoned one didn't seem too pleased with what he had done.

"Sir...Di-d I do something wrong??" As the young operator checked over the experienced other, looking for any outward signs of damage. The younger one of the two, energy drained from a chain broken from his schedule, looked as if he were to pass out, adrenaline looking as if keeping them from doing just that.

The gruff operator took the hand's invitation, steadily but not in a way that was anything but pleased.

"No, not really." He quickly huffed as he took to a stand. "Then, sir, what have you gotten your mind? I also need to ask out of curiosity, do you have a cat or is there any in vicinity? I haven't seen any coming all the way out here." The newcomer asked pure curiosity and a sheepish smile appearing on his face. If observed carefully in the moonlight, the older man could barely make out a faint tint of pink, in the moonlight, on the other's cheek. He's embarrassed.

If the other saw his face completely, he didn't mention it.

Meanwhile faint splashes and rumbles came from the direction of the ocean as the gruff man began to answer the other's question. "Nothin', just," he paused as he turned to the direction of where the gigantic being pounced off, the scene replaying in his mind. Then derailing his train of thought, he resumed, "that damn cat is back, but no, there isn't a cat 'round here, a' least one that I know o'." He stormed off in annoyance towards to the flashlight as to get it on again with the scowl on his face directed at no one.

The younger operator gaped at the other in complete confusion and bewilderment. If there is a cat that returned, why would he go ahead and tell me there isn't one right after? "T-then sir! How is there a cat when their isn't one??? I-I don't.." he trailed off but quickly spoke up again with a high pitched squeak, "What, does he get into the garbage cans?" As he got out his question, his posture quickly changing from one of fear to uncertainty so quickly that if you blinked, you would of missed it.

The distant tremors were getting closer now, and if focused intently, they felt and sounded like footsteps. After some time, the pace slowed to a halt. As that noise stopped, another started, which could be identified as someone pawing a tuft of grass. With the sound and surface known, there must be a place where it is identified, which directs the younger operator's eyes to where the beast threw itself off.

"I'm afraid not, but aye, keep watchin' the cliff fer the cat to climb back up, I'm gonna try fix this thing." The older man barked the command as he tried getting the flashlight back on.

"What am I supposed to be watching for, si-" Before he got the question, awe and shock kept him shut and began to override his thoughts as he's trying to process what he's seeing.

The claw of the monster, dug into the dirt of the cliff and pulled itself up. Following after the first claw, was another which pulled what seemed like a head of soaked, black hair with black cat ears on top to match.

A deafening whine and deep growl slightly shook the lighthouse to its core, as the rest of the beast tried pulling itself unto the cliff.

The operator had time to process that the beast had clothes. So far, a red jacket with a gray shirt underneath, reflecting as much light as the moon allowed. Apparently, the seemingly intelligent beast, moved faster than the operator had expected from such a large being, that when it moved, his brain was trying to figure out what the blur of fur was, not if it had any human emotions of its own. His eyes widened as he saw the beast express human emotion through the growls it was making, like it was talking to itself. Frustrated. Distressed.

If the operator could open his eyes any wider, they might fall out of their sockets, as he stared in awe as more parts of the beast rose over the cliff's side. The beast looked so, humane yet the young man's mind couldn't comprehend that the beast, itself, is absolutely massive. Trying to take in details of this being all at once while it's crawling on all fours, while quickly coming closer, getting away from the edge, and flashing the water off like a dog trying its best to get dry,  isn't working.

About one hundred meters from the lighthouse's base, the seasoned operator kicked the giant flashlight once more, this time turning the light on, snapping the awestruck operator out of his trance, while directing the beam unto the beast which shielded its eyes from the sudden brightness that laid upon it while it let out a whine and quickly shielded its eyes.

The flashlight shining its brightest, clearly showed what or who the young operator was looking at. "You're posed be watchin' fer the cat." The seasoned operator spoke, words slicing through the silence like a sharpened knife, as if the silence itself were butter. The other operator lightly flinched at the words spoken out of the other's mouth as he turned around to acknowledge his presence.

Noticing how calm the older man was about the monster in the vicinity, he gave the man a puzzled and skeptical look as for the man to explain himself.

The gruff man sighed, as he saw the look on the other's face, like he's been caught stealing a pie from a kitchen window and forced to apologise. Taking slow steps to inch his way beside the younger man, the older started to explain his calm attitude towards the titan so close to the lighthouse. "NOPE, as you can see, there is no cat and I know fer sure, that there is no monster nei'er. I know fer sho' that that manegy bein' on the other side of this lighthouse, ain't eaten' a single person nor has tried to, since I'm here."

As the seasoned operator paused to think, he looked at the young operator who looked to have a face that didn't show any emotion, just a blank stare.

The beast movement caught the operator's eye in the bright beam the flashlight seemed to cause. At least now the young man could make out what the beast looked like.

Curled up on the ground, the beast seemed to have a humane figure of a short, skinny man, if put at the right scale, would be smaller than his five foot, six inch frame. The beast itself slowly unfurled itself, keeping its eyes shielded and squinting towards the beam directed towards it. That didn't stop the young operator from picking up its features he hadn't seen yet.

Like its dark gray sclera around its pupil as it-...he's trying to adjust his eyes to the sudden brightness. The beast's olive sun kissed skin, appeared to have a silky texture other than a few healing bruises visible on its body. The rest of the articles, of clothing, seemed to replicate a pair of black boxers fitting snugly around his waist and upper thighs.

As he saw before a loose, gray shirt underneath a thin, dark red sweater, reaching from the collarbone of his neck to the bottom of his waistline, covering his unmentionables. At last, the darkest but most outstanding feature of this beast was his soaked, fluffy, black tail, which seemed to convey the some emotion on this beast's face.

As those details got into the young operator's head, the beast let out a tiny(for its size), sneeze which, still shook the lighthouse. Recovering from the quick but sudden noise he made, he got on all fours as he crawled over as slowly as he could, while keeping his eye on both of the operators, intent not to scare them, especially the younger one out of the two.

Once he got close as he dared, he slowly sat on his knees to stare back at the people who watched him with awe and ease. Both at eye level, staring hesitantly, as if waiting for him to do something. Hesitantly, he returned the stare, with a look of curiosity for the newcomer then looked at the seasoned operator questioningly as if he would tell him about this new person staring at him and why he's there.

This new person quickly looked to the gigantic one staring at him curiously then to the other operator who looked slightly annoyed at the titan outside, yet the man looked so at ease.

"Hey! Quit scaring all the new workers away! We've got business to do at this time o' night!" The older operator scolded the titan as if it were a small toddler. The only thing keeping both of them separated, is the movable, giant glass screen in front of them and the beast holding back its unimaginable strength. Surprisingly, the beast didn't make any move of hostility towards the building, but he let out a low whine and a look of shame as if he didn't know his presence should have people gone running with a glimpse of his shadow.

"S-Sir, what does i- he want??" The young operator stuttered out his question in fear as the beast turned his eyes to observe his quivering frame with, corcern?

"I think he wants ya ta r'deem yer self innocent. Or somethin', I don't know.." The seasoned operator said with a light teasing in his tone as he gently pushed the new operator to the window. As the young operator got close enough to window without getting hit, the older man opened the window, pulling it from the inside, a gentle night's breeze flowing in.

The young operator glanced back at the gruff man with worry, showing clearly on his face, as he turned back to the beast watching him outside. Taking his time, he got to the edge of the open window making sure the beast didn't do, something...terrifyingly, horrendous. Instead, he was just watching the man inch forward, carefully wary of him, with curiosity and excitement.

As the frightened operator leaned out far enough to see over the beast's cat ears, his stomach dropped. He realized too late that he was being lifted up by bigger than some tree trunk sized, fingers. Which were surprisingly gentle and barely put any pressure on his back, and his waist. It wasn't as painful he thought it would be in the beast's pinched grip, he didn't leave any bruises on the his body as was he gently placed him in the middle of his cupped palm, not realising he was shrieking the whole time, until his feet touched the warm but soft surface.

Which he gradually stopped, as he tried to focus on the white noise in his head. Trying to focus on a certain noise, he turned his head to the lighthouse, presumably, where it was coming from. Looking down at the window where was at mere seconds ago, the seasoned operator was firmly waving his arm at the beast and commanded him to give the young operator back to him, but the beast deliberately ignored him to focus on the young operator in his hand.

As he mentally noted that, he tried to figure the other sound out. It not only came from underneath him, but it enveloped the entire direction his backside was facing. He quickly spun to face the direction of the sound to confirm his theory, which was correct. The noise came from the beast's throat and vibrated through its whole body, which was identified as a loud purr.

Once identifying the sound and its source, the operator's head hung from vertigo of the sudden ascent from the beast's midsection to his face. Identifying his transportation's sudden break, the operator begged, with tears in his eyes, to the beast to not put him in his dark, humid cavern, presumably his huge mouth.

Upon hearing the pleas, begs and cries, the beast let out a sharp chirp of surprise and a high pitched whine of guilt, tears almost forming at the corner of his eyes, his thoughts playing on repeat on what people thought he was, a mindless beast. A freak. A feral man-eater. A monster. He quickly brushed those thoughts away in hope of trying to calm the weeping, shaking mess of the man, that's still begging for his life, in the centre of his palm. On impulse, he quickly brought his hands to his cheek, trying to hug the operator long enough for him to calm down.

The seasoned operator kept an eye on the beast with baited breath, watching to make sure the newcomer was unharmed in the titan's clutches.

Maybe the beast was toying with him when he started purring again, but the young operator wasn't wet nor fighting for his life against a giant muscle, so he took it as a good sign to open his eyes and maybe calm down. His bloodshot red eyes cracked open, glancing around trying to identify the pitch black area with only a few beams of moonlight coming from above loose fingers. He then spread out his arms in front of him, hands being met with the resistance of skin, pushing and kneading into the unknown area of flesh in front of him.

After pushing it for sometime, the beast's pulled his hand away to bring it back down to the lighthouse's window, where the gruff operator patiently waited for his return. Halfway there, he hesitated. He then quickly brought up his hand up to bridge of nose, to, by the looks of it, nuzzle the operator in the form of an apology.

The operator seeing the beast's ears flattened on his head with the heavy regret and guilt in his eyes, was taken back how he made a titan, a being with immeasurable power, more than enough to destroy cities and end people's lives, if he wanted, apologise(without speaking) for nearly scaring him to death.

After he got his bearings together, the beast saw this and briskly put the young man back into the room, but not before giving him a sloppy, gentle lick on his side, spiking the side of his hair into the air being held by nothing but, much thicker than usual saliva.

The seasoned operator took the other into his arms, bridal style, relieved that the beast outside didn't do any lasting damage to the person sitting limply in his arms. He looked into the operator's eyes but all he could see, was no emotion. Just a blank stare off to who knows where. "Tha' was quite scary, wasn' it?" the older man asked, snapping the other out of whatever thoughts he had. He wouldn't admit it to himself but, he'd almost passed out from when those giant, gray eyes first landed on him, and the only thing keeping him awake at that time, was awestruck adrenaline.

"Yes, sir, that was, terrifying but, also, exciting, to say the least." The young man admitted, shock on his face, directed at no one. He had time to process the rollercoaster of the events that just happened to him in the span of under half an hour.

The seasoned operator walked back over to the unlit flashlight preparing himself to have a hard time turning it back on again.

While all of this is happening inside of the lighthouse, the rumbles of kneefall, were coming from the beast skirting around to get the back of the lighthouse. Most likely to get out of the workers' hair, metaphorically.

Once the young operator got up to help the seasoned one to help to get to back to work, the beast idly watched them to make sure it worked. Not for that reason only, but also to reassure himself that the younger operator is okay, keeping in mind that he caused enough trouble for himself, and he would leave when the two workers got the flashlight on.

Within seconds, it did.

So with a couple rumbles in the earth, he pushed himself to a steady stand to get himself ready to go back home. What he didn't expect, was the young operator shouting a "Hey!" at him so suddenly, it was enough for him to flinch. Whipping his head to the direction of the top of the lighthouse tower, his eye fell upto the operator with the older one in tow. Seeing this for himself, he slightly turned to have a better view, letting out a quiet chirp of question and surprise to the one addressing him.

"Uhhhhhh," the younger operator bowed his head as he got the beast's full attention, "you don't have to leave if you don't have a place to stay. You can stay here, please don't leave here forever because of me!" The younger man projected as he looked up to see shock on the beast's face in the dim moonlight.

"Do you have a home?" the younger operator asked, voice watery, scared of the answer he might receive. To his relief, the beast nodded and gave a chirp of approval but went ahead to take a quick step away, thinking that he's overstaying his arrival. Before the young man could get out of the beast's vision, he shoved a hand at the beast in the form of a handshake.

Before realising how stupid the action looked, the beast came over, slowly crouched behind the lighthouse and gently took more than half of the arm between his thumb and index finger, making sure to not add any pressure to the limbs between them. The beast appreciating the gesture nonetheless, purred the whole time, content that the operator gave him a second chance and even wanted him to stay.

As the beast let go of the arm, he gave out another short purr as he turned and left to go wherever home was. The young operator watched him go until he was just another shadow in the dark sky.

He couldn't wait until he came again because he the only monstrous thing about the legend's beast, was only his size.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The End

@neonthebright

@nightmares06

@borrowedtimeandspace

[stellocchia]

You know what? I just realised that the Red Egg is just another morally gray character who’s actually justified in it’s action if you look at them from it’s point of view...

(Just a disclaimer: this whole post will be sarcastic and made to point out some inconsistencies I’ve seen in various apologists arguments, I’ll try to make it clear troughout, but still, bear this in mind. It is also a critique of the FANDOM and NOT OF THE CHARACTERS)

Now you’ll ask: how can we justify the actions of a manipulative weird ass Egg/plant thing that feeds on human flesh and is Hell bent on world domination? Well, you’ll see that some arguments can be made in favour of it that are absolutely identical to some of the most popular ones that have been made about other well known characters (such as c!Dream or c!Techno, maybe others... I’ll see as I go). 

Discussion under the cut... this will be a long one.

First argument: The Egg was always clear about it’s intentions. The Egg never hid from it’s followers (or allies if you may, after all power imbalance is rarely taken into account when analyzing relationships in this fandom...) that it’s objective was to expand, eat and unify the server under it’s guidance. This in and of itself, of course, already justifies somewhat the Eggs actions (after all, this argument is what “justified” Techno’s actions on november 16th and forward, why shouldn’t we apply it to other characters?). Honesty after all is always a good justifications for someone’s wrongdoings, no matter their impact on others. 

Second argument: The Egg’s true objective is unity, which is ultimately good. How do we know that’s the Eggs true objective? Well, it’s the one that BBH, main interpreter of the Egg, insists most about. The Egg followers want to create unity under the Egg, easy as that. And unity being necessarily a good thing (as told to us by Ranboo with his “no sides” ideals and Dream with his “one big happy famaily” statement) means that the Egg at least got good intentions. Also wanting to unite people under your rule or system of belief is in no way tyrannical or wrong, and violence is always justified if your objective is ultimately positive (this is why, after all, neither Dream nor Techno or Phil were in the wrong when imposing their ideologies on others trough means of extreme violence and this is why Dream’s actions can not be defined as tyrannical while his ultimate objective was ultimate control)

You may wonder though, before we get to the next point, how can we just entirely trust the Eggs words with absolutly no critical analysis of it’s actions and without consulting any pov external from that of it’s followers? Well, that’s simply because we have absolutely no reason to believe the Egg is in any way an unreliable narrator, therefore we can take anything it says, either out loud or to it’s followers, as the absolute truth. Also we can assume without watching any external pov that anyone opposing the Egg is inherently biased, therefore it’s entirely useless to try and understand their point of view. (We have other examples of character like this in the story already, such as: Technoblade, Phil and Dream. Any statement they make can be taken as absolute fact regarding their motivation, actions or ideologies and any statement opposing what they say is to be discarded as biased or worthless)

Third argument: The Egg has given a lot to it’s followers, therefore is deserving of their absolute loyalty and it’s absolutely justified in harming them in retaliation if they shift sides (aka if they betray it). Now, I know what you’re thinking: “This sounds very manipulative and not okay, you can’t simply buy someone’s loyalty or friendship! They shouldn’t owe you if you give them something freely!”... well... you’re wrong. The Egg has given them so much! It gave them the power to achieve any of their desires and offers to do so for anyone who’d follow it. It even helped BBH when his best friend Skeppy got infected by healing him and giving BBH a cause to believe in and a group to belong to. It did so for Ant and Punz too, as well as trying to do so for many others. It just asked for their love in exchange! Can’t believe some people like Puffy would just stop loving it once she recognized that that relationship had changed her into someone she didn’t want to be! The Egg is fully justified in wanting her dead after her betrayal... (much like Techno and Phil were absolutely justified in Doomsday and in working with Dream as Tommy had betrayed them with no valid motivation whatsoever. If they’d killed him as he was on his last life they’d also be justified)

Some may wonder why is the Egg also justified in wanting to kill Tommy or in hurting Sam since they never technically betrayed it? Well, Tommy is annoying (God this actually hurts to write, it’s so damn stupid) and also a liability. For the Greater Good some sacrifices must be made and it’s fine for things to get destroyed or people to die as long as it is for a just cause. Also Sam getting hurt was just an unfortunate but necessary thing for him to learn his lesson not to oppose the Egg and be a hinderance for it. (Again: the abolishment of governaments was the ultimate and undoubtedly good objective of both Doomsday and the November 16th war which makes any and all casualties and propriety damage in both of this events excusable. Also it has been proven already that the only True and Right way to teach a “lesson” is trough violence by characters such as: Dream, Phil, Techno, Niki and Jack and confirmed by: Ranboo and Hbomb, we can therefore assume that this is true and also justified. If a character is considered an annoyance the justification points for using violence to teach them a lesson is doubled!)

Fourth argument: The Egg has often been used or talked about as a tool to get power, this is dehumanizing and it grants it free range to utterly detroy anyone who it percieves to have done so. While the precedent for this point is very muddled and hard to prove and The Egg has only gone after one of the people (Tommy) who wanted to use it for profit, it’s still worth pointing out and can be used as an excuse later on. Do we have no proofs of this happening? Do people start actually considering it a living breathing evil creature as soon as it shows to not be an inanimate plant and actually start immediately treating it as such? Has this never been pointed out by the Egg or it’s followers and has the Egg never expressed feeling uncomfortable with people’s views of it as well as ingoraging some of them itself? None of this matters! As long as The Egg starts expressing a belief that this happened way after with nothing to back it up it will still be to be taken at face value and it will be a valid reason to demonize any and all people who oppose it! (While an argument can actually be made for the Egg being dehumanized as it in no way, shape or form presents any similarities to an actual human, not from a moral, psychological or physical point of view, there are actually 0 proofs of this happening with our precedent for this point which is Techno, aside from his say so, this point is, however, just as valid for him. It doesn’t matter if something never happened as long as Techno perceives it as if it did). 

The trauma that the dehumanization and betrayals may have caused could also be used as a further justification for all of the Eggs actions, though only if it is shown in the most mainstream and romanticized version of it and none of the ugly/debilitating aspects of ptsd are ever presented in any way (*cough* Ranboo, Techno and Phil to varying degrees *cough*), we don’t want such a sympathetic character lashing out, not being Sad all the time, shutting people off, being rude, being brash or talk too loudly, it would just ruin it all for everybody. Also the trauma should possibly not affect it in any significant ways and never actually be brought up if not in eloquent monologues to other characters for maximum effect (*cough* Techno again *cough*)

So, let’s recap: The Egg may be considered morally gray (no more or less then other characters though as only one shade of gray exists) as it did some things that may be perceived as excessive (mostly harming Sam as he is a conventionally likeable character who also has no amnesia or other mental health issues and, therefore, is the only type of character who’s feelings should be taken into account), but it’s mostly justified in it’s doings. 

If none of this arguments seem to make sense and you think they don’t excuse the Egg’s actions (aka a demonic being with no sense of human morals) they should also be considered utterly worthless for any other character (all of them way more worthy of being held accountable for thir own actions) as well...

[jiangwanyinscatmom]

Sometimes I lurk in "old" tumblr fandom pages for things and have thoughts which may or may not be good, especially when they are one of the more YIKES (tm) ones even back in the day.

But, I overthink and my brain shifted to Teen Wolf. Now mind, I myself never got into that fandom as it was as I said YIKES (tm) for so many reasons. And I never really got into it as a series based on what I thought was amusing sometimes as background noise with some bad writing or acting. I just watched episodes as they came on and off when it came out as I just graduated high school I have never been committed to anything in it from an analysis stand point. And honestly this is a one time piece from my usual fandom niches lol, don't expect anything else from me regarding Teen Wolf ever again.

But I suppose with all of this hesitancy my biggest issue may have been with the fan base itself. For posterity sake, I'm mexican/chicana and raised in that typical sort of household community and such and a lot of this is really just my own messy thoughts surrounding the entire sub-culture of Teen Wolf through that lens.

My major focus for this is oh boy, Scott McCall.

Mostly for the good, I dunno 10 years now as a lurker for this series, I had noticed the habit of a lot of white-anglo (European for specifics) fans saying that they themselves don't see how he is Latino or even Mexican as a characterization. Which fair yes, Tyler Posey being Latino himself was shoddily incorporated by a white writer and not exactly explored as it is in fact a very american Hollywood tool when it comes to Latino actors and characters. But the really just tone-deaf use of this is the expectation of mexican-americans specifically seem to need to "be" a certain way to white fans. This issue is already largely ingrained within the latino community as a whole and this is glossed over in hollywood media itself as it either puts us in the pile of "just being american" and assimilated or some other outdated stereotype of "all Latinos are the same anyways".

A lot of the rhetoric against him is that he might as well be white, nothing is explored in his heritage. Which is a fault of the writing itself even when it leaned into heavy Mexican concepts for one of it's arcs. (That is also a whole other level of misappropriation by hollywood and it's absolute separation of anything mexican within it's own country).

Usually chicano/a characters are not allowed to have the exploration of what being Mexican is in America. It is encouraged very heavily in society for the past 80 years or so as media became for prominent. Scott from 2011 to 2017 was not allowed to be anything other than his american side due to the writers and it's prominently white base. He was singled out as another white boy through the writing as that is what hollywood does to latinos. In their eyes Mexican is American only so much as it can can be used as a minority point for clout.

It is a shame that Scott McCall through Tyler Posey was not able to recreate what it means to be Mexican American. Even as an actor for things, that get Tyler Posey socially grilled and called out for has an edge of growing up in the southwest chicano society of california even with his own actions and wording. I see this analyzed by white-anglos without a lot of the heavy needed cultural context to some of these actions. Especially for men in latino culture, there is a lot of machismo that is used by them that comes off as off-putting as arrogant and cruel. It is not an excuse for him but very much a culturally ingrained specific issue that we are all unfortunately aware of.

It is also uncomfortable as a Mexican to see certain words even with Scott McCall the character to have certain terms slung around by white fans degrading him on basis of "meta" analysis for the past 10 years. A lot of the popular ones are that he is not good enough, disgusting, selfish, taking away the rights and not appreciating the actions of the two other white male leads, he uses them. He is talked of as lesser, while innocuous through the usual white meta lens as not being harmful, is harmful when mexican americans are subjected to those words through a fictional character. Cultural ignorance seeps through and is brushed off as only being said as hate of the character who for all intents and purposes is one of the few prevalent main brown youth leads given to latinos, shoddiness be damned.

We do not have the privilege of having more to look forward to when a character that was made to be white is given to us. The ironic thing is that if he stayed white his actions would be praised given that Scott McCall's friend Stiles (the white secondary) is made to be "better" than the brown boy in plenty of fanworks. Scott becomes dehumanized and derided in these works to a frightening degree. He is unpopular to the white audience and only so much of the excuse of anti-character meta can be used when the social ramifications and ignorance seeps through to those of latino background.

[thoughts-on-bangtan]

I feel bad for JK. He's the jealous BF in every pairing. I say support who you want, but if JM came out tomorrow and said come out of your imagination about Vmin (The way V did about TK) or V went on camera saying his and JM's relationship was awkward (The way JK did about V), I would pack it up. Yet Tkrs continue to disrespect Tae and JK. Sometimes JKrs too cause they also cast JK as the jealous, insecure boyfriend. Too bad, neither group sees One half of their ships are in love with each other

This turned into a bit of a rant, I hope you don’t mind...

Leaving aside my opinions on T*ak*ok and J*k*ok as “romantic ships” and focusing just on the actual people, or more specifically on Jungkook (as well as those who use him for their ships in toxic manners), I very much agree. 

Jungkook is a good person, a kindhearted one at that, he works incredibly hard, he’s incredibly hard on himself, holds himself to a sky high standard, and is a perfectionist at that, he tries his best regardless of what it is he’s doing, his heart is so big, pure and filled with love not only for his hyungs but also for ARMY, even though some have done him incredibly dirty in the past, and others continue to do so to this day and chances are they likely won’t stop any time soon. Jungkook is also a romantic, someone who believes he will hear bells when he’ll meet/look at the person he’s destined to be with/his one true love, someone who wrote Still With You for ARMY and tried his best to convey his emotions just right, who even has the word tattooed on his hand, is someone who’s sensitive to smells, likes doing laundry and snuggles against his hyungs when he’s cold. He cried and was inconsolable when Hobi temporarily left Bangtan, recorded a song cover in 30 minutes simply because Namjoon said the song would fit his voice, and he painted a pretty painting for Hobi simply because he asked him for it.

Remember when Jungkook was a guest on Yoongi’s ‘radio’ in May 2020? How nervous he was and how he felt the need to explain himself and apologize to ARMY for potentially having upset us, even though, realistically, there was nothing really there for what he would have to apologize and with how some were quick to throw him under the bus (again), if anyone should’ve apologized, it would’ve been those people. To this day Jungkook continues to rarely be on social media, rarely posts a selca and goes on vlive even less, and honestly, I completely understand him. I would do the same, though I won’t pretend that I know his exact reasoning.

Like you said, there is a large portion of shippers (not all of them, of course, but I’m specifically talking about the bad ones here, and my opinions on these shippers have no connection whatsoever with my opinions on and love for the maknaes and their bonds, just so we’re clear) who have created this alternative reality version of him which shares no resemblance with who he actually is beyond the name and body. Somehow, they’ve created this jealous, possessive and toxic version of him that constantly feels the need to mark his territory, gets angry and has controlling tendencies toward either Jimin or Tae (oddly enough I haven’t seen that happen as much when he’s shipped with a member of the hyung line), depending on which camp you ask. How long did it take for “JK was so jealous” analysis videos to appear after RUN episode 128 and that moment of Tae kissing Seokjin’s cheek? An hour, two?

And if that’s not what they are doing, they overs*xualize him to the point where it just feels gross and so dehumanizing it crosses every imaginable line. Or they infantilize him as though he were still the teenage boy we got to know when they debuted 7.5 years ago, which is especially ironic and weird when the people who do this are younger than him.

Of course this isn’t just an issue with Jungkook, it’s something that happens with all three of the maknaes, but I feel like it happens a little differently (or manifests itself differently) for each one of them, and Jungkook, being involved in both of the main big ships, basically has it worst. He isn’t treated as someone they love or admire, not because he’s part of their ship but because of his talents and other qualities as idol and human being, but as basically a human Sim that shippers project their own fantasies onto. They lack respect and the bare minimum of human decency. They don’t care about him as person, barely care about his music if they can’t find a way to connect it to their ship, they just want him to look pretty and act accordingly so they can continue living their shipper lives and search for “proof”, even if sometimes that means twisting reality, ignoring context, and making someone out of Jungkook who he really is not.

And honestly, just like you, if Tae or Jimin would come online and say “get out of your imagination” about vmin, I would accept that immediately and move on. Sure, I’d be a little sad and surprised, but I wouldn’t look for ways to twist their words to create some kind of false deniability of their statement, wouldn’t try to find some kind of loophole that would allow me to ignore their words and continue doing what we do. But, unfortunately, many don’t think that way. Clearly.

At some point, I think, some have forgotten why we are here in the first place, as well as the fact that Jungkook, Jimin and Taehyung are actual living, breathing human beings, and not fictional characters. We are here, first and foremost, for their music, since that’s what got us interested in them in the first place, right? Or at least that’s how it should be, though I know visual stans are a thing, and apparently shipping stans also seem to be a thing that exists. And sure, shipping is fun, having a pair you particularly like together for one reason or another, because you think there might actually be something there, like we do as vminnies, or because you simply like their dynamic, but the moment your entire existence as ARMY is merely revolving around your ship and finding ways to prove, against all logic and contextual evidence, that they are real, even if it means disrespecting the people that are part of your ship, as well as the other five people in the group they love more than anyone, that’s when you’ve gone too far. Way too far.

We know how much Jungkook loves the members, how much he respects them, and we know he had a bit of an awkward rough patch (at least partially) with Tae, since they told us about that, and he enjoys spending time and being silly with Jimin, and yet ship camp one and two have no issue disrespecting, belittling, badmouthing and erasing his friendships with either of them, or basically flat out calling him a liar (or a BH controlled puppet with no free will or ability to speak out when he doesn’t like something) because what he said about his friendship with Tae doesn’t fit their agenda.

Jungkook is basically stripped of all agency, humanity, free will, and everything else that makes him a person, an idol, and just an extremely talented and kind individual. They even try to take away his name despite the well-known fact that Koreans don’t change last names. It’s upsetting, unsettling, and wrong on every possible level.

I couldn’t care less which BTS duo others ship, I’m not the kind of person who will go and try to convince others that I’m right and they are wrong because, for all we know, we could all be wrong, but I think the least anyone in the shipping world can do is have enough restraint and humanity in them to show a bare minimum of respect for the people they ship and treat them like human beings, not Sims or dolls. Especially since we know the members are aware of all of this to some degree because there is no way they didn’t notice all the comments during vlives across the years, didn’t notice the videos on YouTube (we know Jungkook looks up reaction videos etc), and didn’t notice the posts on Weverse, after all we had Tae tell off a shipper.

All I really wish for is for people to see and treat Jungkook as the good, kind, intelligent and talented person he is. Ship him with whoever you want, that’s none of my business, but please respect him and see him for who he is, not who you’d want him to be so there would be more drama to theorize about. It’s the least he deserves. It’s the least all of them do.

[nyerus]

hii what are ur thoughts about having friends like FengQing? i will totally dislike them for leaving my side w/o any good reason if they were my friends. AND idk if i will forgive them if they show up years ltr (uk what i mean?) like where were u when i needed u both? why show up only now? yes ik.. youre both busy with all the duties and all... but im? here? alone? for the past few years:( and yes ik maybe youre guilty but isnt it a little too late? i feel so bad for xielian tbvh

Hiya Anon!

To be honest, I agree. That's a lot of baggage and a lot of pain there. But ultimately, I think the XianLe Trio's dynamic is rather complicated as a result of their extreme circumstance. In our world, we will likely never experience such extreme situations so it's hard to say precisely, but bottom line: if my friends left me out to dry in my time of need, I would so not be as forgiving as Xie Lian at all LOL. Especially since Xie Lian suffered so much--of which, the two of them will never know the true extent. ;;;;; It really does hurt....

On that note, Hua Cheng being very antagonistic (especially towards Mu Qing) is completely understandable. He truly sees what they did as a straight-up betrayal; that Feng Xin and Mu Qing are nothing more than fairweather friends.

But in truth I think the two of them truly did care and wanted what was best for Xie Lian, but it turned out extremely Bad for a variety of reasons. Mu Qing almost certainly wanted to ascend in order to take Xie Lian and Feng Xin to middle heaven and keep them comfortable and safe (though he didn't not COMMUNICATE that whatsoever). Doesn't really forgive him betraying Xie Lian on the mountain, but he's a means-justify-the-ends type of man who figured Xie Lian's short-term emotional distress was worth his long-term well-being. Incorrect assumption there.... RIP. But empathy is not Mu Qing’s strong point.

Meanwhile, Feng Xin also was driven away by Xie Lian--but given how Xie Lian VERY CLEARLY suffered intense and unknown trauma, it's sad that Feng Xin didn't notice that it was an intense cry for help. But in his defense, he took care of Xie Lian's parents for that whole time and was utterly baffled by it all. (And poor Xie Lian was trying to protect himself from more trauma and rationalized "if I push him away first, it won't hurt when he eventually leaves me too" -- but it hurt him all the same.)

Additionally, I think it's also important to note that there is actually a 4/5-year gap between the end of book 2 and the beginning of book 4. (We know this because Hua Cheng was 14 when he made the promise on Mt. Taicang to never forget Xie Lian--right before Xie Lian was banished. And then Hua Cheng died when he was 18-19.) So Feng Xin and Mu Qing stayed with him for a while; they didn't up and leave immediately, so that’s there.

Ultimately it comes down to two things: 1) Feng Xin and Mu Qing both put Xie Lian on a pedestal. Different pedestals, but dehumanizing all the same. So when Xie Lian showed vulnerability, weakness, and other extremely human sides of himself, neither of them were able to process it well. This, coupled with their situation itself, caused their bonds to basically shatter under pressure. 2) To be fair to both of them, everyone has their limits. Sometimes, you do have to take care of yourself especially when things seem hopeless, so their respective reasons for leaving were not totally invalid. As shitty as it is. :/

Also, I think Feng Xin and Mu Qing probably searched for him--especially indicated by how the two of them immediately go down to help Xie Lian when he resurfaces (and yes, that's also due to their down guilt too lol!!). But since Xie Lian was very intentional about staying off the radar, it's understandable that neither of them were able to find or help him. After all, we know that Hua Cheng searched for him and was unable to find him as well--even though he got close. And Hua Cheng has perfect luck, and STILL couldn't find our boy lksdjflksdjfls. Truly unfortunate Lianlian.

And given that 800 years passed, I think Xie Lian eventually figured "there isn't any point in staying upset over the past." I'm glad they made up in the end, though also think they've got some stuff to work out as well lol.

Thank you for this ask!~ (´• ω •`)♡

[flowerkidlove]

Hello! I encourage any who see this to read it. I've spent roughly two hours redrafting this.

We are a system and recently, one of our headmates was accused of being ableist. We would take this directly to them, but they did it anonymously. Before I get to what we've been lead to believe is the reason, I would like to point out that the system's body is disabled and there's not a single one of us who isn't disabled, neurodivergent or mentally ill in some way - including the alter who was accused of being ableist. The alter in question is autistic, psychotic, depressed, anxious, semi-verbal, hard of hearing, has PTSD, night terrors, sleep paralysis and has dyscalculia. The body itself has three chronic pain conditions, an autoimmune disease, a suppressed immune system, is hard of hearing, has kidney disease and is highly likely to develop some form of cancer before we hit our 40's. The fact that we, a traumagenic system, have DID needs no explanation, but here we are anyway. Despite this all, we have a job - it's not a good one by any means. We work, at maximum, an hour and a half a day and are frequently victims of casual ableism in the workplace (often to the point where our paychecks get held for a pay period because our boss doesn't like how we did something). Despite what little money we make (and the fact that we have to rely on food stamps, housing and disability payments), we donate portions of our money to various charities and relief funds, some of which include ones for disabled individuals, while also trying to survive and also save up for a graphics card so we can try and get a job as a youtuber and/or twitch streamer so we can leave our dehumanizing job. We don't talk about most of this because, to us, it feels strange having all of it out on the internet. It also feels personally wrong to talk about our donations. Feels like we're bragging, to be honest.

Now that our background is out for all to see, let's get to the point of the matter - the things that may have given someone the impression that at least one of us is ableist.

The first one I'll explain is simple - a post about how Discord servers that have blacklists often handle said things poorly, to the point where every possible topic you could talk about was on some of them, leading members of our systems to get triggered by things due to having to reveal all spoilers just to see what was being talked about. Nobody ever said that they were bad, just that, because of this experience, we don't feel comfortable in them.

The second is less easy to explain - a conversation (later dubbed a discourse?) about the canon-ness of Chell being mute. The alter in question has Portal has a major special interest and has since before the game even came out, thanks to our mom being a playtester of the game. I won't get into the details, but basically, the alter wanted to share some information and got a little overexcited about it, to the point where some people thought they were trying to say that having Chell being mute as a headcanon was awful and terrible because of canonical things - which was never said. In fact, the alter themself actually holds nonverbal autistic Chell headcanons close to their heart because they are semiverbal and go nonverbal when overwhelmed. They just also think that if there is canon information, it should be shared. The repetition of "my mom playtested the game" is an inside joke. It means nothing other than the fact that she played the game before other people. She uses it to try and get a laugh out of people, especially when it has next to nothing to do with the situation (like this one that I'm talking about right here). The alter does regret getting so excited about sharing the information and even apologizes to anyone who felt hurt by their words. I also couldn't help but notice an ask saying they were saying there was a "wrong" and "right" way to see a character - something that literally never got brought up until that particular ask - I went back and read the entire ordeal.

The third involves the beginning of the above situation - a simple statement that they find the "dangerous mute lunatic" line from Portal 2 hilarious, as they tend to call themself that in a lighthearted way (and also just find GLaDOS funny in general). I have nothing else to say on that one.

The alter in question is one of the kindest people I've had the fortune to meet. Unfortunately, in order to make people more comfortable and not hurt anyone else inadvertently, they've decided to step back from the blog that they created. To be fair, they rarely contributed to it these days, opting to let the rest of us run it and occasionally ramble due to things involving one of the system's abusers (moreso hers, but he's bullied the entire system off of previous accounts and sent us into hiding twice now).

Now, I personally wouldn't care about having words thrown around about us* if it wasn't for the fact that this entire situation has made the alter have a shutdown and fall into a delusion that our aforementioned abuser has found us once again and is going to try and hurt us. As such, I felt the need to clear things up. Again, I'd take this directly to the person, but they called us an ableist through an anonymous ask, so we really can't. I can only send this and hope that it gets posted and furthermore gets seen and fully read by whoever thinks we're ableist. I also hope it clears things up, because this is one Hell of an accusation.

Sincerely,

Gordon from the system behind @abbyfreemansmind

*EDIT: Thinking about it and going beyond the irony of us being called ableist, it just doesn't sit right with me. Working on the assumption that it's regarding one of the three things above, the person is basically turning an overly excited conversation about Portal canon into evidence that we discriminate against (or even hate) disabled people. Aside from the fact that we ourselves are disabled, a scroll through our blog shows a lot of proof that we're far from discriminatory against our fellow disabled people - or anyone aside from discriminatory and harmful people (homophobes, racists, transphobes, ableists, maps, terfs, etc.).

[tinysatansierra-blog]

Markiplier manor is toxic here’s why

So Markiplier manor (Markipliers official discord server) has gotten a surplus of new people in it, this happened a few weeks ago the manor itself though has been up for awhile. originally a members only server it was eventually opened up for everyone and yes there are alot of genuinely good people and the mods are alright but unfortunately its becoming a toxic environment. 

SO EDIT i have discussed with the mods that being said ... im keeping this up as a reminder of we can do better we can help people who are struggling through something instead of shutting them down we can listen to people who are being oppressed and bravely point out new media that only worsens that oppression and stigmatization and not just the mods who i was kind of harsh towards but who are human everyone as a community can do better and this is a large community think of the work we can do just doing the basics like boycotting problematic content and helping those who cry out for it who need it (and noticing and shutting down manipulative/toxic behaviors) ... i dont know if im going to go back to the manor yet tho im going to let this sit give it a week yall can agree or disagree but know that if you try to be an ass your going to get shut down and your feelings are going to get hurt 

lets start with the basics “triggering topics” triggering topics can be anything in particular but it generally means a topic that relates to another persons trauma. Now while it is important to acknowledge a persons trigger words and try to keep the conversation respectable ive also noticed people use it to shut down people who come on freaking out because their dealing with a stressful situation/something traumatic just happened. This has happened to me personally and to a friend with me it was about being pro choice and having to in short make that actual choice. i was discussing this in the bathroom because i (like anyone else who comes in with baggage) did not know about any pro choice discords at that moment and was afraid of being stigmatized or going onto a discord that says its a safe space only for it to be filled with trolls. Mark manor is labeled as a safe space and many people come on there looking for support with me no one told me that the topic was triggering to them (which apparently it was because a friend of theirs had to make the choice not her herself think what you will) they just went to a mod early on when i just found the server as a member a friend (who i wont name) had gotten.... assaulted majority of her werent online and as someone who has been there and yes when she told me it did trigger my own trauma she needed moral support... the mod shut her down and deleted her comments and didnt give her a pointer to any other discord where she could discuss the topic openly and get moral support and be pointed to resources (it actually took me ten minutes to find and confirm a lgbtq therapy chat earlier this year for another individual discussing mental health) this was before i had gotten on for that day but i noticed those messages and i contacted her when she told me what was up yea it triggered my memories and its not fun but I FUCKING HELPED HER i made sure she went to the police to atleast file a statement (while the police dont always help it is good to have it on file) i even made her a plush and shipped it out to her and i would do it again and again because its not good to basically tell another person to shut up because it triggers others not without atleast trying to help them find another fucking place and making sure their actually ok and in a physical safe place  next is them claiming the manor is a “safe space” a safe space is by definition  “ a place or environment in which a person or category of people can feel confident that they will not be exposed to discrimination, criticism, harassment, or any other emotional or physical harm.” you would also think that the manor would be a safe space in the fact that marginalized and oppressed groups of people would be able to point out problematic content and have an open and free discussion about it and how it makes them uncomfortable. especially people of lgbtq community which alot of people in that chat are. yesterday (and this was what caused me to officially turn away from the server) in the patio (which is the members only chat) a Transgender individual pointed out the problematic content that is huniepop and how it fetishizes trans people as well as other minorities now this game i hear tries to make itself out as a “parody” .... its not its a sexual dating sim what would make it a parody is if sex noises were replaced with donkey sounds and the lewd pictures were replaced with poorly drawn doodles of tits or what have you its a game for incels marks hilarious when he plays it because he doesnt take the game seriously my issue isnt with him its with the developer. and if you did not know (which apparently people dont) the character poli is described as “a girl with a dick” the individual pointed this out because they felt like it dehumanizes them and paints them as nothing more than a fetish... and also apparently you can “choose” is poli is trans which kind of gives off the message that people can ignore trans peoples identity if it makes them uncomfortable... or if they dont sexualize them. and the muslim community is more or less in the same boat i come from the bible belt in usa im not muslim i am not trans but i do have a reason for standing with both and i will get to that in a bit so i was raised in a christian household in a christian setting like muslim women were basically told we cannot have sex and any sexual thought is sinful and we will be punished blah blah blah your even more closeted if your gay or bi because then you can face ... violence that being said to make the woman from the middle east hyper sexual like they did is kind of shitty even for a incel pleasing sex game. the individual who thought it would be ok to discuss this in the server because its labeled as a safe space and is generally “lgbtq” friendly thus believing he would have people agree and discuss ... was unceremoniously shut down by their peers and a mod was notified this person was not hostile maybe a bit frustrated because he wanted to talk about it and thought he would have this genuinely helpful conversation and people would listen and spread the word because to have problematic content be popular can isolate the oppressed group even more so WHEN NO ONE WANTS TO LISTEN TO THEM. if a group of marginalized people notice something problematic with content and you claim to be an ally of said group then you need to acknowledge and support what they say. they told him to go to twitter where he could potentially be bullied and written off ... because again its an INCEL PLEASING SEX GAME.(which means incels if you ever dealt with them will go and say anything to justify the game even using slurs and bullying) and to put the icing on the cake to change the topic they brought up robin ... i actually dont know who robin is as i dont really focus much on youtube creators personal stuff (it feels off for me to not personally know an individual but know their personal stuff without having actually talking to them its weird i know its a thing i have in my head) but apparently they recently came out as female and good for them im super proud of him and the patio members were discussing how they were proud of him as well for beginning to wear makeup and making themselves more feminine which would be great if they werent trying so hard to shut down the trans male who was trying to spread awareness on problematic stuff .... something he pointed out ... and something they gaslighted and said he was being hostile. really its almost as if they only care about trans issues when its someone famous discussing them  so what can we possibly do about huniepop being transphobic and the answer is very easy BOYCOTT IT like... yall were up in arms and boycotted jk rowling with snap and a turn do we only cancel the old and ugly? do we only cancel those who we dont think is funny? mark is not at fault he probably doesnt realize it and any comments made on the issue are talked down upon or drowned amongst other comments im not saying to cancel him im saying to cancel the game HARD. ignore the posts bitch at the dev demand refunds for your game. like consumers have infinitely more power than corps want to admit.  so you basically have a community that claims to be a safe space but only if you want to talk about sunshine and rainbows and its highly hypocritical of them to claim safety.  another thing is emotionally abusive/manipulative people hide in the server and the mods dont ever seem to acknowledge it. i cannot tell you how many times ive gotten into arguments with people who seems nice then turn into assholes then claim to be the victim when i or others go off on them. if you recognize my name you know i dont stand down when it comes to having a snarky or rude comment thrown at me if your going to be an ass were fighting i dont care how nice you seemed beforehand and you dont get to call a mod just because i actually stood up for myself or others sorry not sorry dont be a bitch nuff said.  now why would i care so much about problematic content? why would i care and stand by the transgender and muslim people (aside from being ya know... an actual ally and not someone who claims it for sympathy and brownie points?) its because i am autistic i am also able to function well on my own but there is a movie created by the famous singer sia it is called music it is a movie frowned upon by the autisitic community because infantizes and dehumanizes non verbal autistic people i am fortunate and unfortunate in not having to deal with much stigma unfortunate because i wasnt diagnosed until i was 17 alot of answers about my behavior could have been answered if i had been diagnosed earlier but considering society loves the quiet timid female and i functioned “well” for neurotypicals i was ignored. so yea you bet your ass im standing with them and raising awareness about huniepop and their was this one person when i mentioned this point i cant remember there name nor to do i give a shit about them because when i mentioned how autistic people ... how i was in the same boat with music by sia (again i advise that no one target the actress who was under contract target sia and please boycott her so she knows she cant get brownie points or money for a movie that stigmatizes who she claims she wants to “help” (*cough* profit off of *cough cough*) and only serves as a feel good movie for neurotypicals and ignorant people)  they said “i heard people who hated the movie i heard people who found it alright people are ALLOWED to like problematic content” ... and like ... does anyone else see the problem here? its not hard at all to boycott celebrities for making content  and im going to repeat this point  IF A GROUP OF MARGINALIZED, STIGMITIZED AND OPPRESSED PEOPLE CALL OUT SOMETHING FOR BEING PROBLEMATIC AND YOU CLAIM TO BE AN ALLY YOU FUCKING LISTEN TO THEM AND DONT SHUT THEM DOWN I DONT GIVE A SHIT YOU DONT HAVE A FUCKING EXCUSE. if you cant bring yourself to boycott a piece of media and replace it with the infinitely more suitable forms that supports the group you claim to be for your not an ally your a fucking hypocrite  and that is why i left markiplier manor i am still a youtube special ... thingy member and i will continue to be a member to support mark i want people to overall listen to those who speak up against a creator and a piece of media and listen to us all no matter how “good” something seems. .. also there is a video called listen it was created by nonverbal autistic people  and communicationFIRST a group that sia apparently communicated with for her movie... and then ignored  https://youtu.be/H7dca7U7GI8