#excellent points op

[atopvisenyashill]

I think they both succeeded and missed some key things out with the theme of motherhood. I think the central theme of motherhood was super strong but only, really, around Rhaenyra. It's her mother, it's her sons, it's her baby girl. It's her labour at the mid (ish) point of the season. It's still present with Alicent; her lack of a mother, having children when she was a child, her relationship with them now. But with the Velaryons it felt underdone. Especially with Rhaenys, who had zero interaction with her own kids and yet it's her love for them and grief for them that is at the heart of a lot of her actions. I think they can pull that back a bit by having her focus on her grandchildren (particularly Baela) but the theme of motherhood was oddly lacking for Rhaenys. Perhaps because we don't see the inception point? As she's an older character? Whereas we see Alicent, Rhaenyra and Laena all BEFORE becoming mothers.

Hard agree. That’s something I think could have been remedied with not rushing to the beginning of the dance. We can get Rhaenys interacting with Laena and Laenor when Rhaenyra goes to Dragonstone, see her feelings for the boys change over time, see her interact with Laena at home after Laena’s lil stunt with Daemon. Laena in show is really defined by her interactions with other people and not as her own character, and if we got her living with her mother, it would have gone a long way to showing us both of them as individuals and mothers.

Because yeah, not having Rhaenys interact with her kids on camera is as mind boggling as not having Rhaenyra interact with her siblings in camera. I mean, Otto and Viserys are “older” too but their interactions (and non interactions) with their kids are the center point of the show, and Aemma’s loss is felt in Rhaenyra throughout and Yet. Lacking for the Velaryons! There’s some scenes where Rhaenys is obviously cut out that are Good, like the fact that she fades into the background when politics start up is a great writing choice, but I think then there should have been a focus on how Rhaenys once again (through no fault of her own) can’t be present in the room because Laena is on another continent giving birth, a way to emphasize that how often Rhaenys is defined by loss and absence even as her motives are rooted in the family she can’t be with.

[daz4i]

i noticed that sometimes fan theories can be possibly intriguing and lay out proof and details nicely. but they tend to miss a very important part, and that is the "why". like, yes, this could very much be real, but why would it go down like this? how would it serve the story? does it connect to later revelations in any way? if not, does it really serve any purpose beyond being a very clever twist, and not just a coincidence?

if you're someone who likes theorizing and speculating abt storylines i recommend that you check this part first tbh, it really helps set your ideas up better 🫡 you might even notice more details that align with your theory that way too 😌

[wet-paiint]

hey guys im about to plagiarize a post made by a terf dont mind me

[remythologise]

zero and yuki is a deep cut, people suffered

not to be anti-feminist on main but looking back Yuki was annoying as hell and Zero deserved better. having said that #grateful to know I had good enough taste to ship Zero/Yuki even if I had bad enough taste to engage with that series at all

[homophyte]

[ventresses]

Star Wars: The Clone Wars (6/?) - Blue & Green

Star Wars + Text Posts & Headlines

Note from OP:

In looking back, I have mixed feelings about that last Mace Windu one, because while it's somewhat relevant to his character in the sense that he IS extremely powerful fighter, I also feel like it also veers too much into the "Angry Black Person" stereotype/trope, &/or that it is pulling too much from other memorable characters of Samuel L. Jackson's, not from the personality of Mace Windu himself.

I'm on the fence whether I should remove it from the post or just leave it there, so I'm just going to leave these remarks, and also drop the link to a really good post I saw a few days ago, discussing Mace Windu’s character in the fandom, I highly recommend checking it out:

[enpr-ss]

#idk I just think a lot about the bit with tokugawa where he's like ''I'm just a perfectly ordinary middle schooler''#and tokugawa says ''yeah those don't exist''#I feel like we acknowledge the fact that he had to fill the honor student/perfect son role a lot#but he ALSO had to try and blend into the background (which tokugawa attributes to him acting like his brother)#and I think an important part of his development is acknowledging these negative parts of his personality#like. he can be arrogant! and aggressive! and kind of a shithead!#but he's also a loyal friend and very brave and such a good brother#such a theme of this series (especially the final arc) is about being honest with and about yourself#and accepting both your flaws and the good parts of yourself#and I think it's important that teru and shou saw him at these low points for him#also!! I'm thinking about his fight with shou#and how there was no way he was gonna win against him but he fought him anyway#and then how that's repeated when he fights shimzaki to buy shou time#idk. he's a brave kid.

actually I'm not done thinking about teru and ritsu's friendship. I think teru might be one of ritsu's first real friends. ritsu isn't like,, the most social kid in the universe, and I think he has plenty of superficial friends (see: "I talk about the weather with pretty much anyone") but I think the only real close friends he has are teru and shou. and I think it's bc both of them are people he met without his Perfectly Ordinary Middle Schooler mask. he has to fill the role of honor student, perfect son, doting brother, etc. all the time while ALSO trying to blend into the background and be inconspicuous, and that's part of why he lashed out like he did during the cleanup arc, but with teru and shou, his first encounter with both of them involved him being an arrogant little shit that's willing to pick fights, which contradicts the perfect kid act AND the perfectly ordinary middle schooler act, and is in fact much more honest bc he's not hiding this kind of nasty side to himself. and that honesty works out for him with these two! teru sees himself in ritsu because he's also kind of an arrogant little prick, and aside from initially trying (and succeeding) to intimidate him, teru looks out for him and risks his life trying to save him and they genuinely get along pretty well! and with shou, he sees that ritsu is willing to fight him on his own and he's like "oh you're fucking nuts, we need to be best friends now" and immediately respects him a lot just because he's not gonna run away from a fight he's certain to lose. idk, I just think it's important that ritsu's first real friends are ones who saw him in rather ugly circumstances and wanted to be friends with him anyway

[ventresses]

Star Wars: Attack of the Clones - (3/?)

Star Wars + Text Posts & Headlines

Note from OP:

I'm retracting the Mace Windu meme from this post ("I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy/I would. Pussy.”)

This was posted 2 months ago and has been shared quite a bit, so I suppose it's too late, but still I regret creating and sharing that one so the best I can do is add this to the original post.

I've realized that when I made that one

I was projecting the personalities of some of Samuel L. Jackson's other famous characters onto Mace Windu, and

Not only was it not accurate to his character, but it was veering into the "Angry Black Person" stereotype/trope.

I hate the idea of perpetuating racist stereotypes in stuff I make, and goodness knows there's enough racism and stereotypes in Star Wars as it is, and in the structural racism of our society (which I benefit from as a white person.)

Here’s a really good post I saw a few days ago, discussing Mace Windu’s character in the fandom, I highly recommend it:

Also, here's a great article I highly recommend, discussing race and stereotypes in Star Wars

[charnelhouse]

Thinking of ghost as a dad makes me think of red taking her toddler son shopping for Halloween decorations and seeing a skeleton and the sweet boy is pointing and bouncing up and down like “it’s dada!”

A/N: Ghost x F!Reader (Red Fox). Pure fluff. This ask made me curl up with joy.

She’s a little late. Only ten minutes and it could be anything: traffic, an additional errand, a parking lot shoot-out. Simon’s fingers twitch as his cell phone sits on the coffee table.

It’s only ten minutes.

Ten. Minutes.

He’d lost her in Ecuador for four fucking days, and she’d been fine. Well, relatively fine. Alive.

She can survive anything. He knows this. He feels this. But he cannot shake the belief that one day, his past will catch up to him and take her away. 

Don’t be a fuckhead, Simon. If it’s anyone’s past, it’s going to be mine. 

That makes me feel better, duchess. 

We’re sharing the burden, babe. Lucky for this kid, he’s got two spec ops, hot-ass parents. 

Yah really love a finger gun, don’t you? 

It’s called levity, dude. You’re too damn broody. 

“Don’t call her.”

Simon startles before side-eyeing Johnny, who is spread out on the far end of the couch. “I wasn’t gonna,” he growls defensively. 

“You’re staring at that phone like it’s a bomb.”

“She’s late.”

“She’s running errands with your enormous toddler. Yah know how hard it is to lift that kid? Try wrestling him into a car seat. Took me half an hour.”

Simon scowls. “Of course, I know. I do raise him.”

Johnny wiggles his eyebrows. “He takes after me.”

“Yeah, my enormous son is definitely your kid, tiny.”

“I’m six fuckin’ feet. Thank yah very much.”

“You’re still here?” 

Simon twists around to see Red standing in the doorway. She’s got their son on her hip and an orange plastic bag in her other hand. She leaves him breathless. Her skin dewy, her hair falling in her face. Stunning in a way that burns him. He still wants to shove her over a table and wreck her, but that desire is now weighted with something far more tender. She’s carried his baby.

He knew she’d be a good mother, but he didn’t expect her to excel at it so...perfectly. She can handle a tantrum and peel a man’s skin off.  She can silence him with a look.

“Simon said I could stay for dinner,” Johnny declares.

“I did not,” Simon refutes as he stands, rolling his shoulders. Their son’s tiny lips peel apart into a toothy grin, he claps his chubby hands together. 

“Dada,” he squeals as he opens his arms. 

Ghost smiles back, unable to blunt the joy that unfurls in his chest. Sometimes it’s all too much. 

“He got you something,” Red says as she places him on the floor. When she straightens, she presses her hand to her lower back. “Jesus - that kid is heavy. Remind me to stop having your babies.”

“Uhuh,” Ghost says dutifully. “Of course.”

She’d threatened to leave him a thousand times when she was giving birth. Their son’s head had not been easy to deliver. 

Red pulls something from her bag and hands it to their son, who waddles toward him. Simon crouches and sweeps him up in his arms. The boy squeals again delighted. 

“What have you got there?” he asks as he nuzzles his nose into the down of his son’s head, the soft velvet curls. He smells like Red’s perfume.

“Dada!” he giggles as he lifts a plastic skeleton. Soap barks with laughter. 

“He saw it in the store and lost it,” Red says as she walks toward them, placing a hand on the boy’s back. He shakes the skeleton before hugging it close. “Kept calling it dada. Got a lot of weird looks.” She cocks her head, her tongue darting over her lower lip. “I just wanted everyone to know that I’m getting it from a really hot skeleton.”

“Yah got a filthy head, Foxy.”

“You don’t even live here, Johnny.”

“Dada,” his son murmurs as he burrows his face into Simon’s throat. The skeleton is clutched against his chest, and he feels the boy relax, his damp, milky breath puffing against him as he nods off. 

Simon clears his throat, blinking a few times. There’s a raw snag of emotion in his throat that he can’t seem to swallow. Simon tries to pull the skeleton from the boy’s hands to look at it, but his son yanks it closer. 

“Typical,” Red remarks, her lips quirking in amusement. 

“What is?” Simon smirks because he already knows.

“Do you know how hard it is to shake you off when you’re asleep? It’s like being spooned by a bull slash octopus.”

“It’s true,” Johnny interjects in an empathetic tone. “Remember Siberia?”

“That was a life and death situation!” Simon snaps. “Sub-zero temperatures.”

Red’s eyes widen, her expression intrigued. “Give me the details, Johnny, and I’ll make you dinner.”

[miss-rum-hee]

Fandom discourse in a nutshell

being in a fandom long term: urrrrrrrrrrgh not this shitty argument again we've covered this

[gibbearish]

so this post has been made unrebloggable now (shocker) but ive been feeling the need to address it since i saw it on my dash multiple times, so let's explore how lying on the internet works. more specifically, how blending truth, lies, and omissions to whip uninvolved people into anger works, because i think this is an excellent example and that pointing out the misinformation and the tactics used to spread it here is important, both in correcting the specific falsities but also in helping recognize similar tactics in the future.

so here we have several things that are technically true: staff has been very openly shitty to trans women for a long time and them banning predstrogen is clearly part of that, there is currently a movement regarding discussing transmisandry/transandrophobia, transmisogyny and transphobes sending transphobic asks is by far nothing new, and baeddel is/was a slur. however, among all of this are half-truths, unprovable speculation, or outright lies made to make you believe these events are originating specifically from transmascs.

firstly, the transandrophobia movement has been drastically misrepresented here in the same way it has been for the whole argument, "they're just trans MRAs" has been repeated so many times now that i'm gonna be hearing it in my dreams when i'm 80. i can understand not being willing to address the nuance of that whole discourse in one post that isn't directly focused on that, i'm certainly not, but in this example it's not unwillingness to address a complicated topic, it's a deliberate misrepresentation to frame one side of the discussion as The Evil Bad Ones That Can't Be Trusted. additionally, this post IS about that discourse and is just pretending it isn't to mislead a wider audience, so refusing to address it at all beyond this brief mention is deliberately misleading people about the goals of the group because They're The Other Side Of The Discourse. "transmisogynists" is used as a buzzword here, it doesn't actually refer to Anyone Who Hates Transfemmes, it refers to Transmascs Who Discuss Transmasc-Specific Oppression Using A Word They Coined To Point Out That Queer Spaces Have A Big Problem With Masculinity and just. doesn't tell you that's what it means, relying on the structure and framing of the post to create the Transmisogynist = Transmasc association in the audience's head so op doesn't have to say it outright (and of course the implied Transmasc = Transmisogynist association that follows because creating THAT association is the Actual Point of this post). the mentions of transmascs in this post are designed to look like afterthoughts, op says "typically those who espouse transandrophobia" to make it look like they're saying there's other people they're referring to here too, but almost everything in this post draws from the transandrophobia discourse. some random cis transphobe in texas has never heard the term baeddel in their entire life much less used it in a debate about transphobia, this is an intercommunity argument through and through, but op is trying to mask the fact that they're just referring to "transmascs who disagree with me specifically" and make it look like it's part of a wider trend. and again, i'm not going to go into the nuances of transandrophobia here, but i highly recommend reading some of the theory on it by @nothorses (x) and @genderkoolaid (x) because the "theyre just trans MRAs" argument kinda just collapses under its own weight as soon as you look into it even a smidgen. i've linked a couple broad overviews there but they both discuss it frequently and in-depth, specifically nothorses has a pinned post linking to many different discussion threads that i would recommend checking out if you do want to learn more about what the actual conversation surrounding these words is.

so, after framing the movement this way, they go on to say that the reason predstrogen was banned wasn't /just/ because staff has a long and established hate boner for trans women, but because the transandrophobia movement was teaming up with TERFs to mass-report her and other transfemmes, and implies that this is part of a deliberate conspiracy between Transandrophobia Truthers™, TERFs, and staff. you'll notice that there are no, say, screenshots of transmascs saying theyre deliberately reporting her or of that they're working with TERFs, behind-the-scenes lists of people who reported a certain account, or any evidence for this beyond "she was a trans woman, they're trans men who hate trans women, she got banned, so these must be related". which i find especially funny now given that photomatt has continued melting down about this since it happened and made it pretty clear it yknow. was just part of staffs ongoing hate campaign against trans women that has been going on much longer than the transandrophobia debate? and that maybe the fact that The Literal CEO is having a personal meltdown about this might explain where that could be coming from or at least why it's been allowed to continue for so long, moreso than any individual users reporting someone could? but i digress.

who reported what account is completely unprovable as a casual user unless people directly admit they did it, so to bring it up like this begs the question of what actual reasoning they have for saying it beyond trying to tie a current display of bigotry into an unrelated discourse. that's not to say it's impossible people who discuss transandrophobia were wrongfully reporting her, because again, thats something we have no way of knowing, and the internet is a shit place so i wouldn't be surprised. but given the circumstances and the rest of the lies here, i have my doubts about this being an actual yknow. Thing That Happened rather than just another lie to make people mad at transmascs. now one could make the argument that op wasn't saying transmascs are /deliberately/ teaming up with TERFs/staff, that "teaming up" was just a poor choice of words to refer to multiple groups who happen to have the same goals in mind at the same time but aren't actually coordinating with one another, but given the deliberate misinformative slant of the rest of the post and the overall phrasing in this section, i have trouble extending that grace. regardless, however, that doesn't change that who is reporting who isn't something verifiable, so stating it here as a confirmed fact is disingenuous at the absolute best, and a lie chosen specifically because it's unprovable at worst. if op /does/ have proof that transmascs have been teaming up with TERFs to get trans women banned, not including that with this post is just uhhhhh dumb, and if op /doesn't/ have proof then Why Would You Go Around Telling People That's What Happened Unless You Were Lying To Them On Purpose With Ulterior Motives.

next, op goes on to discuss the rise of the term baeddel. now as i said before, the truth here is that it certainly was a slur and certainly can still be used as one, again the internet is a shit place so i would be a fool if i tried to say "no one is using this as a slur". however, this is once again a drastic misrepresentation of the situation. baeddel's rising use is due to certain trans women reclaiming it and aligning themselves with the original group's politics, namely that femininity is good and masculinity is bad (aka terfism 101), with the added caveat that by abandoning femininity for masculinity, transmascs are evil and betraying devine womanhood and their community by putting more Evil Manhood into the world. of course that in turn is a drastic oversimplification of their politics and i highly recommend checking out this post with an actual in-depth exploration of the history (and without my added flavor), but the important part to note here is that this is not a term transmascs just Started Using one day because they hate transfems so very much as is implied here, its use is directly tied to a group of people saying "hello, here is what i am, and here is what this word means about what i believe," so others went "ok, these specific beliefs are called this." bringing up the fact that it historically was a slur is misdirection here, when you look closer this is almost a 1 to 1 translation of TERFs crying that TERF and radfem are slurs because People Don't Like Their Politics And Therefore Them, so the name for their politics is used negatively, so therefore it's a slur. that argument just has a little more oomph behind it this time because It Was A Slur Originally. and again, that isnt to say no one is now using it as a slur, the rate of decay for online discourse is ridiculous so it being boiled down to and used as "evil transfemme" has certainly already happened, but to act like /every/ use of it is a slur is literally just a lie, when you self-identify with a term based on your shared politics with the original group then you do not get to claim everyone using that term to describe those politics is doing so exclusively to attack you. also this part is entirely speculation but given that op's url is basically just. baeddel switched around to dae bel, i would hazard a guess that they perhaps are indeed aware of the origins of its re-use? but again, that's entirely unprovable and based just on wordplay, but like. given the Everything here i wouldn't be surprised. now, there's definitely an argument to be made about calling users baeddels based just off of their politics when they don't personally self-identify with it, if that constitutes calling someone a slur and if TIRF should be used instead, but crucially, that is not the argument being made here. the argument being made is "ANY AND ALL use of this term is calling someone a slur," and that literally just Isn't The Case.

finally, to tie the whole post off, op reminds us 1) if you hear anything bad about any trans woman ever, it's probably a lie to make her look bad, and 2) if you hear anyone say anything about transandrophobia, disregard everything else they have to say because they hate trans women. not "be critical of the things you see or get sent" or "be on the lookout for things following a certain pattern," a unilateral "anything bad is probably fake and anyone who uses the bad words is probably evil." that is not something someone does if they are genuinely trying to raise awareness of an ongoing trend, that is what someone does when they want you to turn your brain off and be mad at a group no matter what they say.

so yeah, in summary, do be critical of the things you see and be on the lookout for certain patterns, because sometimes people will just Lie to you. or, sometimes people will tell you portions of the truth while leaving out crucial bits so that you'll come to the conclusion they want without anyone being able to say they lied to you without typing up a thirty paragraph long hell post. transmisogyny is absolutely a problem on this site and there are 100% valuable conversations to be had about it and its presence within the trans community, but this post is not that. this post uses real transmisogyny and the wrongful termination of a trans woman's account as set dressing to say that it was all because of evil transmascs who run the trans community behind the scenes conspiring to take out transfemmes, so you should ignore anything they have to say because All of it is secretly motivated by transmisogyny. they're never discussing transandrophobia because it's something that actually effects them, they're doing it to hurt trans women by saying they have it worse. they're never telling you about shitty things a trans woman did to spread awareness, they're lying to make her look bad, or even if it's true they're only talking about it as part of a hate campaign because she's trans, they wouldn't care otherwise. they're never using a specific term because People Use That Term For Themselves, they're calling someone a slur because they hate trans women. there's always an explanation you can think up that ties it back to transmisogyny, and op says that instead of assessing all of what someone says and the context behind it to determine if that's what's happening, you should assume transmisogyny is the answer and refuse to engage any further as soon as you see a word you've been told is bad.

this post is discourse recruitment masquerading as a public service announcement that doesn't offer you any routes to actually learn more about what's going on, it just tells you Here's What's Happening, Here's Who's Evil And Should Be Ignored, And If You Disagree You're Also Evil And Should Be Ignored. content of the actual post aside, i think anything framed that way should be taken with a MASSIVE grain of salt and this would have raised my alarm bells even if i wasn't already pretty familiar with the arguments, people who genuinely want you to know something just because it's good to know will give you options to learn more or encourage you to actually use your critical thinking to assess things, not tell you to sit down and shut up and ignore anyone who disagrees with them.

anyways i guess tldr

[bunnys-kisses]

blow one's roof ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚

john 'soap' mctavish

cw: drug use (weed), intoxication, baby trapping, breeding, outdoor sex, unprotected sex, lying, missionary, the consent is dubious, john is obsessed with you

a word from bunny: like the fic? suggest your own! really like the fic? leave a comment! reblogs are always appreciated! ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚

to blow one's roof is to get stoned. and to get stoned is frown upon in the british military. even for special ops. but while most of your fellow soldiers and commanders enjoyed their hard liquor, you had to get creative on how you got your fix.

enter john. john liked to play as the funny man to his more stoic counterparts. he wasn't a behemoth like his counter part, simon. but he was smart, the kind of smart that should be a concern. he was excellent at what he did, you once overheard a commander tell the scotsman that he could pull off anything he put his mind to.

and one days off, he only had two things on his mind. weed and your sweet pussy. so it was only natural that you worlds would collide. nobody would check his bag when he left or entered base, he was too high level to be caught up in something like that. so it wasn't hard to go to the nearby city and get what he needed for an afternoon with you.

you'd both leave base soon after, he'd take one of the trucks and drive out to the woods. he kept a hand on your thigh as he drove up to the beginning of the forests. you left the truck with two things, a blanket and enough weed for a fun afternoon.

you ventured so far that no one would find or smell you. you watched him roll a joint using paper from a bible he found lying around base. He shrugged and said "makes a good use for king james."

then you two got stoned in the woods, which led to you two getting frisky on the blanket you had laid out. you kissed one another laid out on it as he tugged at your uniform.

"fuck you're amazing." he said with a bit of drowsiness to his voice, "i wanna breed ya and keep ya." he chuckled before he looked into your eyes.

you got him out of the shirt he wore and he worked on his pants soon after. you were far enough out of anyone's reach to worry about having some decency. unless someone got really lost in the woods, no one would be able to find you.

"you can't breed me, silly." you chuckled, "you've been using condoms."

"yeah... yeah." he gave you a dopey smile, "been usin' protection. i forgot." but you were too stoned yourself to realize that he unconvincing tone was letting off his little secret.

he had been spending the last several months getting you stoned and fucking you in the woods with pierced condoms. the little holes did little to protect your vulnerable womb.

the rush of getting you pregnant and getting stoned left a thrill in john's body that he couldn't even begin to put into words. yeah, it was going to suck that you had to leave service to raise your little family, but don't you worry.

he had hearts in his eyes as he pulled away from you and rested on his knees. he gazed down at your naked body which only aroused him more. he laughed, "you look so good. fuck." he rubbed his red eyes before he took you by the hips as playfully rubbed his cock up against you wet slit.

"don't butter me up, soap."

"hey, don't be callin' me soap when it's just the two of us." he pointed at you, he nodded his head, "it's johnny when i'm fucking your brains out."

you blushed and covered your face with your hands. you could feel your heartbeat in the back of your head as he continued to tease you cunt. you moaned into your palms as he moved against you.

"yeah, that's my girl." he said with almost pride in his voice, "you have the most lovely moans I've ever heard."he blinked to keep focus, the excitement was too much for him.

he had hoped that you were too stoned to notice that he didn't put a condom on. but before he sank his length into you, your voice peeked through.

"johnny." you said so innocently, "the condom."

"ohhhh right, lovely." he gave you a big smile, "i guess i had a little too much."

you looked so innocent under him, you had your hands by your mouth as you said, "we don't have to do it if you don't want to."

"nah, nah." he waved a hand at you as he pulled himself towards his pants on the forest floor, "i always want to do it with ya. feels better when i'm stoned anyway." he pulled the condom quickly out of the pocket, he wanted to make sure you didn't see the holes in the foil.

you shifted your hips and laid there, waiting for him. he put the condom on while his side was turned to you. he wanted to make sure you saw as little of the condom as possible. he couldn't risk being found out, not when he believed his goal was so near.

he turned back to you and you were laid there before him. like a beauty aphrodite with the gently sounds of the forest around you. your eyes were closed, he worried that you were asleep. he touched your thigh and you giggled, 'that tickles.'

he got back between your legs and rubbed his cock up against you, "you look amazin'. the more i look at ya, the more i fall in love." john learned very quickly the the line between obsession and love was only a millimeter thick.

"i'm already sleeping with you." you giggled, "what else do you want?" you felt yourself grow wetter the more he teased you.

everything, he thought. everything he could take with his two hands. you have given him everything, but now you just had to be good and get pregnant. he knew you could do it, he believed in you. he'd spend years fucking you while you were high if it meant that he could see your beauty grow as you had his child.

he arched over you and looked into your eyes. you looked back at him, taking in the sight of how blue they were. they felt like they stared right into your core, but were slightly hazy due to the drugs.

"my beautiful girl." he said with a drawl to his voice, "take good care of ya." he held onto your thigh with one hand as he guided his cock into your wet sex.

you tensed up, but relaxed the further he got in. you held onto the blanket underneath you and felt your hole be stretched by his impressive size. while he wasn't the largest on base, at least according to rumors, it still felt like your innards were getting bruised every time he took you doggy style.

he exhaled deeply when he got all of himself inside of you. then the pace became a little more aggressive. he held onto your hips with both hands and thrusted into you like a madman. he watched your breasts and the chub on your stomach jolt with each heavy thrust.

you were certain that the pleasure plus the weed was frying all of your serotonin. alone in the forest you two fucked. it was brutal and fast, it felt like your uterus was in your throat from how hard his thrusts were.

he loved the sight of you, he marveled in it like a man coming to christ. his dog tags moved with each of his movements, they shined in the afternoon light. his head was full and empty at the same time. it felt heavy but there were no thoughts to be had, except for the echo in the very back of his mind that called out 'breed her'. it became what drove him to keep moving his hips against you.

he blinked a few times to get the dryness out of his eyes as he continued to thrust into you. the sound of your heavy breathing and the slick sound of your cunt filled the air. you were so docile under him, it was sight he wanted to admire forever.

"that's my girl, i'll take care of ya forever. rest of my days." he laughed, "get high with ya till we can't hold our own spliffs."

you giggled as you felt good all over. you were so stoned that you couldn't even register what he was saying. but soon your mouth hung open as you gasped for breath. you kicked out your legs in a manner that john found adorable as you climaxed.

the sight of you basking in pleasure made john quickly finish as well. he made sure all of his cock was inside of you as he came against your womb. if he was a praying man he'd be trying to make peace with the man upstairs to make sure you got pregnant.

he laid out beside you and buried his nose in your hair as you tried to catch your breath. he chose well, he thought to himself.

"we should get back soon." you murmured against his chest, your nose brushing against the hairs.

he rubbed the back of your head and said, "how about we get somethin' to eat first. then i'll park somewhere and i can get one more in ya."

"do you have enough condoms?" you asked.

he chuckled and nodded, "i do, don't worry, love. you're safe with me." his voice was a low purr and it made you moan in such a way that it made him hard. "you'll always be safe with me." <3

[olderthannetfic]

This isn’t really closely related to fandom but eh. So the Somerton scandal going around—clearly what he did was wrong, he ripped off other creators and essentially stole revenue from them, etc. Terrible stuff, sounds like a terrible person.

But there’s this popular post going around about how OP is boggled that anyone could ever plagiarize because when they went to school their introduction to the concept was being warned that if they ever plagiarized their head would end up on a spike and it’s Very Bad Evil Terrible to ever plagiarize so they never even DREAMED of doing it.

And while I understand and agree that plagiarizing in order to profit is bad. Absolutely. Still—

Did y’all really never plagiarize in school because you were told it was bad? Really?? Plagiarization is one of those cheating tactics that’s actually very useful because you have to rephrase what you’re stealing in order to not get caught and rephrasing someone else’s ideas is an Excellent way to better understand them (and an excellent way to quickly do assignments when you’re struggling with a large workload). Obviously you shouldn’t do it for everything, but it’s not practical to do it for everything anyway because there are plenty of tests where plagiarization isn’t an option. And it’s not good to do it for actual published papers, yeah, but even not for essays? Especially in the lower grades?

Y’all really just…were told by a teacher not to do something and then never once even tried to do it? I thought this was the website where we all at least pretended to question authority!

--

Plagiarism is disgusting.

Anyone who would do it has a weak character.

So no, I have never once plagiarized or even been tempted.

It's not wrong because some petty authority told me it's naughty: it's wrong because it's intellectually dishonest and a person who will allow themselves to be intellectually dishonest once will do it again.

Doing it in high school won't generally hurt other people, but that was never the problem. Same with all other cheating in school. The fact that you would try to defend this is repulsive.

A cheater mindset is what leads to humans like Somerton who fundamentally do not value or grasp the point of actual creativity or integrity.

[callmepippin]

i feel like there is an important distinction between relatable and recognisable though, and people often confuse the two. maybe someone smarter than me can put this into better words, but i'll try anyway: just because i don't recognise any aspects of myself in a character, that does not necessarily mean i can't relate to them.

relating to someone i think means understanding their feelings, motivations and experiences as they compare (or relate) to your own--how their character or personality relates to your own. that doesn't necessarily mean their personality has to be similar to your own. differences can also describe a relation.

example: i am not much at all like Holden Caulfield from Catcher in the Rye. i would not make the choices he makes, do the things he does, say the things he says. however, i do understand why Holden would do all that stuff, because Holden as a character is dimensional and believable (the other two feel more subjective so i'll leave those alone). and because i understand Holden's character, i can relate to him. "ah yes, i would not do this. but if i were Holden instead of myself, i probably would".

relating to someone is not necessarily exclusively about similar personalities or lived experiences. relating to someone is also about empathy; and if you can only empathise with people or characters who are immediately recognisable as similar to you, i think that might not be the fault of whoever wrote the character...

Not every story is about seeing yourself in it. Sometimes it’s about learning to see other people too.

[superkirbylover]

saw a post talking about ableism in cartoons. overall i agree with the message of the post, but the points made and said feel really infantilizing.

for context, i am disabled and many members of my family are as well. this is all drawn from experiences.

there is something to be said about exclusively designing characters who are insane and crazy with a form of lazy eye. there is something to be said about portraying disabled characters as incapable and stupid. there is something to be said about how these tropes continue to push the idea that disabled folk are "other" and are treated poorly. however, the post and OP made a few comparisons i really didn't sit well with.

they claimed the design of old man mcgucket from gravity falls is ableist for giving him wall-eyes as a way to portray how crazy he is. however, the post failed to mention that he's also a mechanic. he's a genuinely smart character with real accomplishments that happens to be crazy and disabled via his eye condition. he has depth. i don't associate his craziness with his disability, and it feels ableist to me to exclusively focus on the eyes and ignore how he isn't just "the crazy guy." i understand wanting to avoid stereotypes, especially harmful ones. however there are real people who sometimes fall under these stereotypes. as a kid, i fell under the stereotype of flapping my hands when i was happy or excited. and yes, there are people who condemn and discourage autistic folk from doing this because it's "stereotypical." that feels insanely ableist to me.

there is something to be said about trying to avoid harmful stereotypes of disabled folk, but i feel like people tend to overcorrect. derpy hooves is an excellent example; rainbow dash gets very frustrated with her in season 2 and is a bit rude. her voice was silly and she was oblivious. because some parents called and found this offensive, there was a redub and re-animated version of the scene featuring her. however, this version is infinitely more ableist to me. it's no secret derpy is disabled, and i personally resonate with her. to me, she is autistic. on top of missing social queues and having a hard time understanding things occasionally, her lazy eye can impare her visually. it is an undeniable fact that sometimes, disabilities will frustrate other people. my autism frustrates my friends and family sometimes. this isnt rooted in ableism. to me, its much like how non-disabled folk will get frustrated with each other. people should treat others, including disabled folk well and avoid getting mad at things they cannot control. however, erasing the fact people do get frustrated with autistic folk feels infantilizing. people will get frustrated with me. sometimes i do things that are objectively irritating. i don't want this erased. it's a part of being human. what i don't want is the irritation being used as a justification to treat disabled folk as sub-human. this isn't what happens at all in the scene. now, in a later season with derpy and rarity, i have many issues with the scene and how derpy and rarity are portrayed, so i do think there is something to be said there.

as long as the character has depth and is portrayed with respect, much like a person, then personally i don't find issues. i am personally tired of people overcorrecting for ableism in media. there is some correcting to do, don't get me wrong. but i don't want my disabilities washed down to the point where negative experiences with my disabilities are erased. they are important to my and many other folks identities as disabled folk. i don't want my experiences to be sanitized.

[dekariosclan]

What do you think Gale would do if, after six months of living together, Tav gained a little weight and started complaining about his appearance?

P.S.: I know for sure that Gale will love us anyway (the ending for the mind eater is proof of that), it's just very interesting to know your point of view. You always have the best headcannons 😍

Well this is an excellent question, thank you! And thank you very much for the compliment on my hcs ❤️ This is great timing because I have been wanting to do a post talking about how Gale approaches physical attractiveness, and what it means to him in a relationship. You’ve given me the perfect springboard for that!

So, before I talk about the Tav in your scenario and how I think Gale would react to him having a negative self-image, I want to delve into some background on Gale.

First things first—Gale is a wizard, and as a wizard, he has had many experiences changing his physical form. He’s versed in invisibility spells, size-changing spells, appearance-changing spells/illusions, becoming incorporeal, turning to mist, etc, etc. You’d have to assume, then, that being able to change physical form so easily would make Gale realize that being considered ‘physically beautiful’ is not something of great importance.

Second, the world of Faerun is inhabited by incredibly varied and diverse physical beings: elves, dwarves, dragonborn, tieflings, githyanki, half-orcs, etc, etc. Imagine not only growing up and seeing so many different faces every day, but also being a scholar like Gale, one who is always eager to learn about different cultures. Gale’s perception of physical beauty is naturally wider and more varied as a result of being immersed in such an environment—and, since Gale is canonically pansexual, he has no preferences in regards to gender, either.

All this just to say: this is a man who, for his entire life, has had very little reason to care about physical appearances at all.

….and then we come to his relationship with Mystra.

Gale and the Goddess who presents herself as an ‘exceptional physical beauty.’ One that many would consider the pinnacle of physical perfection: eternally young, beautiful, flawless.

I’ve seen so many comments about how it doesn’t make sense for Gale to fall for anyone who isn’t ‘beautiful’ after he’s been with a Goddess. But think about it—what did that get him? What did his love of Mystra and her perfect physical beauty get him?

Abandonment. Heartbreak. Depression. And the realization that there was no sympathy or compassion to be found in the depths of that Goddess’s eyes. No actual love or warmth in her at all. Just a beautiful exterior; a cold, empty shell.

So given all of that: is it any wonder that Gale doesn’t give any weight to physical attractiveness when he falls for Tav? And instead only focuses on Tav’s goodness, kindness, and warmth?

Because Gale just wants to love, and to be loved. He truly only cares about Tav’s heart, Tav’s soul, and most importantly, about the loving bond that they share together.

Now, I do want to clarify—Gale does still recognize and appreciate the physical aspects of his beloved. Very much so, obviously, with his practiced tongue, his appreciation for Tav’s glistening muscles, and his (definitely thirsty) comment on Illithid Tav’s ‘moist tentacles.’

But all that’s a bonus in his eyes. That’s the result of his love for Tav; it’s not what made him fall in love with Tav to begin with.

Which is why it doesn’t matter what Tav looks like. In any form. Gale doesn’t care about the wrapping. It’s the gift inside that he truly treasures.

———

So OP, (assuming you made it this far—thank you for your patience!!)

I think that, if Tav gained weight as stated in your scenario, be it a little or a lot, and started complaining/making negative comments about himself…

Gale would, at first, be completely oblivious.

Not because he’s an inattentive husband, or because he’s not paying attention to his beloved—to be clear, he’s the most doting husband, and he hangs off of Tav’s every word—but because he loves Tav so much and adores him so deeply that he simply cannot fathom it. He cannot fathom that Tav’s comments of “I don’t fit into this anymore…” or “I don’t look like I used to…” are anything more than observations on living a lovely, comfortable, domestic life together.

But when Gale does finally realize what’s happening, and what Tav means…for a moment, he would be stunned. Because how Tav could think he was anything less than utter perfection would be mind-boggling to Gale.

He would compose himself quickly. Take Tav’s hands in his. Raise them to his lips, and between kisses say, “Forgive me, my love. Your husband has been remiss. It seems I haven’t told you lately just how much I adore you.” Then he would pull Tav in for a lingering kiss and, with a smouldering look, add: “More importantly, it seems I haven’t shown you. A critical oversight that I intend to correct—right now.”

And he would.

But later—much later—as they both lay blissfully spent in bed, if Tav’s doubts came creeping back and he still felt compelled to ask Gale, “What do you see when you look at me? Do you still see the old me, the one who was smaller, thinner? Or do you see this new version and simply…accept it?”

Gale would gently place his fingers under Tav’s chin. Tilt his head up so that their eyes met, place his other hand on Tav’s cheek…

And say, with utmost sincerity: “I see the love of my life.”