#finding the beauty in the smaller aspects of life

[choobelette]

A kind stranger is not the blue moon but instead one of the numerous stars in the distant galaxies. Make eye contact through your telescope and smile. They’ll smile back.

She watered my plants for me while I was away. I walked her dogs when her health got bad. I didn't know her. I never will.

1. Small Kindess - Danusha Laméris / 2. The Book of Delights - Ross Gay / 3. Bodega Cat - Simone Johnson / 4. Commute - mine / 5. Welcome to Night Vale - Joseph Fink / 6. photo by Bernd Dittrich / 7. @viridianmasquerade / 8. Moomin (1990) / 9. Sesame Street

[cheriladycl01]

Kinktober 22/10/2024 George Russell- Shower Sex

Plot: George can’t decide between giving you the best orgasm of your life or showering the champagne and sweat from his Brazil win so why not both?

Warnings: Kinktober, SMUT, blowjob, fingering, p in v, sex in shower, sweaty skin, kisses on sweaty body etc 18+ Minors DNI

It was a really special feeling being in your beautiful home country and see your boyfriend win your home race especially where F1 had always been an important aspect of your life.

You stood watching him on the podium with the rest of the Mercedes team, tears in your eyes. Pure elation and adoration for the man on the top step.

It was all a blur after that, the media pulling George every which way and not really being able to celebrate with him. But eventually after a few hours he grabs your hand and your whisked into the car and back to the hotel.

You hold his hand the whole time he’s signing stuff with his dominant hand making sure he doesn’t miss out on anyone. You get into the lift finally away from everyone and you pull him into a long drawn out kiss. Fully leaning against him and his race suit.

“Your so sexy in your race suit” you say biting your lip looking over at him, his sweaty curls against his forehead, the dampness around his neck, the slight musk and champagne mixed together. It was just a sent you enjoyed.

You get into your room and without holding back you hear the door lock pushing him against it. His eyes widen in shock, hand coming to your shoulder. Not to push you off but to hold you steady as your kisses become sort of erratic.

You press against him shifting your head upwards to kiss him at a better angle. Your tongue finds it’s way into his mouth, while his hands come down your back, pulling at the base of the Mercedes team top you were wearing, all before he stops himself.

He stood there panting a little from how long he’d been without breath from your avid kissing, holding your uppers arms to keep you in place.

“I should shower, im pretty dirty and sweaty and I most likely smell” he says sheepishly and you’re eyes don’t change from the loveable and lustful look within them.

“I don’t care” you say starting to jump forward to capture his lips again but your remain tight in his grip making you whine out.

“I’m sticky too, I know you don’t care but I do. You can shower with me, but I just want the champagne off me” he chuckles loving your enthusiasm and neediness for him.

You both strip down, until your completely naked. You kiss George’s collarbone while he remains looking at your naked body. It was something that always amazed him, he didn’t understand how one person could look so perfect in his eyes but you did.

You both get in the shower the hotel one being smaller than that at your home but still had moveable room for two of you. George starts the shower running the water which goes from cold to hot within seconds. He steps under it drenching his body from head to toe, letting the water run down his body and natural take the sweat and champagne with it.

You get on your knees, before he turns round, making sure your in a solid and stable position of the increasingly wet floor. He turns round and shakes his head when he sees thoughts doe eyes looking up at him, a small smirk on your lips.

He doesn’t stop you as you reach forward, making his already semi hard dick bounce up with each fisting moment you create. Once it’s hard enough you switch your hands to his base, rubbing up and down what you know what fit in your mouth comfortably.

Your older hand holds his thigh to support yourself as your mouth swallows around him, licking up the prominent vein along the underside. He jolts forward holding your head to help him remain up his other hand splay against the glass of the shower door.

The water starts to fall from his body and onto your own hair, it was a weird feeling as you couldn’t really open your eyes but you could tell George was enjoying it from the moans that were coming from him and that’s all that mattered.

You kitten lip the tip feeling his body shake before he releases his first load into your mouth. You get up and help wash his body.

It becomes intimate quickly as you rub the soap across his chest under his arms and getting closer to his more private areas. You and George were the complete opposite of prude. You were the kind of couple that new all facts about one another disgusting or beautiful so washing these places on George was no issue to either of you.

He repays the favour starting to wash across your own body whilst also teasing you. The soap he runs across your collarbone moves it way down to your boobs where his hand slides down tweaking your nipples and massaging your breasts leaving your head thrown back against his own chest from his position behind you.

He remains behind you his chin resting atop of your wet head as his hand travels further south. His hand finds it’s way from your hips down to your clit where he rubs it in harsh yet slow circles that has you clenching your thighs together.

“George” you moan out as his fingers dip inside you. It was hard, as you didn’t want to risk leaning up on tip-toes and slipping but the feeling was so good you didn’t know what to do with yourself.

Just as you can feel yourself getting to the edge, his fingers are pulled out and your left whining turning round to have it out with him.

As your turn, he scoops you up as though you are featherlight, cupping the fat of your thighs before lifting you against the cold tiled wall making you shiver at the feeling.

“So beautiful, fuck you needy needy girl” he laughs and starts to push his way into you. One hand stays on your thigh while the other travels up to your hips squeezing as he bottoms out with a sigh.

He always loved how tight you felt but with the warmth of the water hitting his back he couldn’t help but not give you much time to adjust beofre he was slamming his hips in and out at a brutal pace whilst holding you firmly against the wall.

“Fuck George” you moan you head diving down to kiss him, as he moves in and out of you. You come just before him, gripping his wet curls like your life depends on it. He comes in you, his hips stuttering adding a hiss from you when he hits your sensitive clit beofre he slowly pulls out.

He helps you down, making sure not to get you on any of the soapy areas and holding you up noticing your legs still shaking.

“Let’s finishing washing up baby, then we can go meet our friends at the club yeah?” He asks and all you can do right now is nod.

“Such a good girl for me” he smiles, kissing your temple, and staring to put some shampoo in his palm to start washing your hair.

“You know we’ll have to do that again tight?” He smiles and you nod, leaning back into him. He was right, you guys for sure would have to do that again.

Taglist:

@littlebitchsposts @hockey-racing-fubol @laura-naruto-fan1998 @22yuki @simxican @sinofwriting @lewisroscoelove @cmleitora @daemyratwst @lauralarsen @the-untamed-soul @thewulf @itsjustkhaos @purplephantomwolf @chasing-liberosis @summissss @gulphulp @starfusionsworld @jspitwall @sierruhhhh @georgeparisole @youcannotcancelquidditch @tallbrownhairsarcastic @ourteenagetragedy @peachiicherries @formulas-bitch @cherry-piee @spilled-coffee-cup @mehrmonga @eiraethh @curseofhecate @alliwantisadonut @dark-night-sky-99 @i-wish-this-was-me @tallrock35 @butterfly-lover @barnestatic @landossainz @darleneslane @barcelonaloverf1life @r0nnsblog @ilove-tswizzle @laneyspaulding19 @malynn @landosgirlxoxo @marie0v @yourbane @teamnovalak @nikfigueiredo @fionaschicken @0picels0 @tinydeskwriter @ironmaiden1313 @splaterparty0-0 @formula1mount

[over-eden]

6B4T

Lately there has been talk about 4B and so I wanted to bring up 6B4T which grew from the South Korean 4B movement, and specially the 6B4T movement as it is practiced by our Chinese sisters. Before that however differences between the both are as followed:

4B

No sex with men

No giving birth

No dating men

No marriage with men

6B4T

Includes the original commandments of 4B and adds the following:

Don’t buy products from misogynistic brands

Support single women/women that have chosen to be celibate

Reject the corset (rejecting toxic beauty standards)

Reject idol culture (as in male-worship and idolization of entertainment figures this ALSO includes rejecting idol culture for female kpop idols/entertainers)

Reject otaku culture (rejecting misogynistic anime culture)

Reject religion

(**You may see 6B4T referred to as 10bt to avoid censorship as CN social media sites are heavily monitored by government censors, even outside of CN social media CN sisters will still refer to it as 10bt because 6b + 4t = 10bt)

Now that there's a basic understanding... I wanted to talk about some of the differences that the CN 6B4T movement has compared to what I usually encounter in English speaking radfem circles. Please note that this is my own experience and as with any political movement there can a myriad of women that agree and disagree (except on the 6B4T principles as a whole, those are rock solid for them haha.)

I was first aware of this movement around 2020 and have been following women on twitter/x since then that follow these beliefs. All of this has been gathered from tweets by 6B4T users on twitter/x + interactions with them. I am not a CN speaker and have used translation apps to piece together details on the 6B4T movement and have cross referenced this with some of the writings I can find in English about this and the conversations that I have had with some of the 10bt sisters that were willing to interact with me.

I do not feel comfortable just singling out specific accounts for people to look up on twitter but anyone that wants to do their own research can search the keywords on twitter 6B4T or 10bt and go under the "People" filter to populate accounts of CN women that have 6B4T and/or 10bt in their bio.

One thing that I want to talk about right away - the term donkey. It will come up quite often when you search 10bt accounts and is used to describe women that are perpetuating patriarchy because they "carry the patriarchy without protest and allow themselves to be exploited." (This includes married women.) 10bt sisters DO NOT have an emphasis on educating women that perpetuate patriarchy. You can find sayings such as:

"Feminism is like being given a weapon to support yourself with, do not use it to commit suicide by having a complex of saving donkeys" 

“Don't do donkey work for donkeys".

“Don’t get derailed by women support women, leave the donkeys alone.”

Which leads me to the next point - 10bt sisters are for empowering women independently. There is obvious acknowledgement of bonds and relationships between women but the general feeling is more to focus on the individual self, connections are based solely on shared interests and can be let go of as needed. (I have also seen discussions of letting go of romantic ties not just for straight sisters but for lesbian sisters as well.) Sentiments such as "focusing on oneself is a foundation for a happy life" "All thoughts and ideologies cannot be separated from down to earth efforts and dedication" are plenty. Really a focus away from "altruistic" causes so to speak

And on that note: anti veganism. 10bt sisters in general are adamant that 6B4T principles should only include tackling patriarchy and not have other causes added to it. Anti veganism sentiment also seems to stem from certain aspects in CN culture of serving smaller portions to young girls and discouraging them to eat meat as opposed to men. The focus on improving one's self from before also shows up here: "Women need strength to overthrow patriarchy, only then should we focus on improving the lives of animals."

Some 10bt sisters are also very open about criticism and believe women that openly identify with the 10bt movement should be prepared to have their posts critiqued, and while some will debate this... one of the things that is absolutely non negotiable is that actions MUST back up words. There’s lots of debates that go on in the 10bt movement but the bare minimum is that if you follow 6B4T then you must follow its core beliefs otherwise what are you here for? There is a huge disdain for those that say they belong to this movement but don’t follow its beliefs.

With that being said, how do the 10bt sisters feel about 4B taking off in the states? Well…

 “4B grew into 6B4T and they only dared to do half of the movement? It’s disappointing.”

“At this point in time, it is crazy to deliberately go back and start from 4B. You have someone’s shoulder to stand on but you won’t take it.”

“4B: No marriage, no giving birth , no sex, no dating. Doesn't that mean they are still serving as donkeys: supporting idols and otaku, believing in religion, using pornographic content, and consuming misogynistic brands... It really makes one recognize by a glance what stupid things they are still doing.”

“I don't understand how this kind of castration of the feminist movement came about.”

Is some of the general consensus on twitter/x.

Two more things I will add here before I wrap this up:

I have seen a post in English about other principles to follow such as 5B, 7B or 8B. I am not aware of what these principles are and could not find a CN source to confirm this so if 5B, 7B and 8B do exist, I do not believe it originated from the CN movement. 

There is also the concept of icing men out aka if a man comments on your social media posts immediately delete the comment EVEN if it is a comment in agreement. For this while I also could not find a specific CN source for the 10bt sisters, it feels like it is just natural to not interact with men. I have yet to see debates on whether someone can be part of 10bt and still have a boyfriend, husband, etc since the answer will always be a resounding NO. (And on this note… if you are curious about attitudes towards male family members.. rejection of filial piety is something that is very agreed upon. I would recommend first learning what filial piety entails in CN culture as whole if there is curiosity about this.)

I will wrap this up with one of my favorite concepts I have encountered from our 10bt sisters:

“When one woman keeps house*: five women are trapped: herself, daughter, mother, sister-in-law, and female coworkers”

[*keeps house meaning  - “when one woman marries…”] 

If there are sisters out here who are involved with this or have more info to add please feel free to do so! Also would love to get in touch with any that know more on the CN 10bt movement.  

[sillysillygoofygoose]

Older! Toji Headcanons x Fem Reader... Part 3!

Househusband! Toji! MDNI 🙄 slight nsfw at the verryyy end.

Househusband! Toji, who never imagined he'd be in the position he's in. He assumed that if he ever were to settle down, he'd want a more traditional route for his family. A pretty little wife, all done up, taking care of the babies and somehow always pregnant. However, that 1950s fantasy came crashing down on him one night after getting home from a particularly rough "assignment."

Househusband! Toji, who confessed to you about his less than ideal career choices after a hard night and three glasses of Jack Daniels on the rocks. Honestly, you were not at all surprised. However, you were not at all pleased either. You thought he was money laundering, not assassinating people. The creeping fear of losing him upset you much more than the gut-churning crimes themselves. The ordeal turned into a screaming fight, leaving him to sleep on the couch.

The next morning, he wakes up to you, standing over him, twisting the sizeable twelve carat diamond on your left ring finger. The ring that is connected to your heart.

"Jesus Christ, sweets. Trying to give me a fucking heart attack?" He grumbles, voice low with sleep.

"Quit your job. I'll take care of everything, you can stay at home. Just quit." You have no time for his sarcastic antics, blurting out a dismissive, unrelated response to his moody tone.

He laughs. You're standing over him with a pout dancing on your pretty lips... and he laughs?

"You know I can't do that. It's dangerous and... we need the money." He attempts to bribe you, bringing in the financial aspect of him being unemployed to distract you from your unshakeable request... well, demand.

"No. No, we don't. I just got that big promotion. You're quitting. I'm really not asking." The more stubborn he becomes, the more your dainty features are contorted with anger. He's genuinely amused at you putting your foot down. Don't get it twisted. You're no pushover... but you find it hard to stand your ground when Toji gives you that look.

"Uh-huh surrreeee. You really can't make me quit, princess." Really, he's just antagonizing you. He likes to push, likes seeing you roll your eyes in annoyance. Instead, your response is not as gratifying as it usually is. You simply shrug your shoulders, turning your back to him on your heels.

"It's me or the job, Fushiguro."

Fushiguro. Your shared last name dropped off your tongue with the same venom of a black mamba.

Playing dirty. Being cruel. Even a pinch manipulative. However, it scared him enough, his sly smile immediately dropping as you walked away.

Househusband! Toji, who was dead set on the fact that he could never be domesticated. Yet, life seems to always shock him as he realizes he's standing in the kitchen, hands on his wide hips, skimming through a cookbook, picking out what to make his beautiful wife for dinner.

Househusband! Toji, who basically runs up to you like a lost puppy when you get home, gathering your smaller frame up in his big arms.

"How was work, pretty? Missed you all day. Come, I made your favorite."

Househusband! Toji, who unironically wears the "Queen of the Kitchen" apron that you bought him as a gag, proudly hanging it up after a long day of preparing food and spiffing up the living room.

Househusband! Toji, who leaves on trashy reality TV reruns while he tends to the house, furthering his Kardashians obsession and getting him hooked on 'The Real Housewives of Beverley Hills'. When you come back from a particularly uneventful day, he resites the drama he overheard while vacuuming.

Househusband! Toji, who built and grew his own garden, stating that he wanted fresh vegetables to incorporate in his recipes.

"Nothing but the best for you, baby."

Househusband! Toji, who runs purely off of your praise. A kiss on the cheek when he welcomes you at the door, an adoring stare directed at his jerry-built garden bed, a hum of pleasure while digging into a new recipe. His favorite form of praise, however, is when you let him rest his head on your chest, kissing him and thanking him for all of his work around the house. It's nice to be appreciated.

Househusband! Toji, who can't shake the thought of bending you over and breeding you after you teased him about how good of a stay at home dad he'd be. Taking care of the family from inside of the house might not be as bad as he originally thought.

Hope you enjoyed! Xoxo

[saturnsbabyboii]

𐐪𐑂Astro Observations𐐪𐑂

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(Life is like a butterfly...You go through changes before you become something beautiful)

｡⋆｡˚ ʚïɞ ˚｡⋆｡｡⋆｡˚ ʚïɞ ˚｡⋆｡｡⋆｡˚ ʚïɞ ˚｡⋆｡｡⋆｡˚ ʚïɞ ˚｡⋆｡｡⋆｡˚ ʚïɞ ˚｡⋆｡｡⋆｡˚ ʚïɞ ˚｡⋆｡

𐐪𐑂 Despite people talking negatively about Pluto and Saturn, I find them to be the most important and beautiful planets. If you have ever felt hopeless or stuck, look into the position of these two in your chart. All of us struggle regardless, however, Saturn and Pluto bestow us with insight, lessons and knowledge we gain through that struggle and as a result we get to move on further into our journey.

𐐪𐑂 I have found people with earlier degrees on their ascendent tend to have larger frames while those later tend to have smaller ones. I am not talking specifically about weight and measurements per se but rather the general form.

𐐪𐑂 Although aspects act the same in general, it is very interesting when you look into the signs, elements and modalities involved. For example, Trine tends to bring abundance when in Water and in between inner planet but is an indication of overindulgence when it occurs from an inner planet to an outer one.

𐐪𐑂 Mercury opposite Mars "I am not angry! That is just my tone." Be mindful of how you sound and how you deliver your message. It is important to be honest, but it is also important to have tact.

𐐪𐑂 Even though people still dispute which placements determine our leaning towards extroversion and introversion, I have found that the houses and the planets falling in them suggest what are we more introverted about and what are we more extroverted in. Having multiple planets in a house could indicate a higher leaning to extroversion as the sense to express is very strong and immediate, as opposed to an empty house, one might be less inclined to share. The houses that contain only one planet tend to fall under the general energy of said planet and sign ruling over the house, indicating a higher sense of introversion as the person may desire to reflect on the themes of the house or would rather to practice them alone than with others.

𐐪𐑂 However, in case of overall introversion and extroversion, having more planets in Air houses (3rd, 7th, 11th) indicate high extroversion while in Fire houses (1st, 5th, 9th) indicate higher introversion. This may sound off as Fire signs are given the reputation of boldness, however, as the opposite of Air, Fire tend to itself. Introversion isn't anxiety and awkwardness (although it might include them), but rather it describes a person that isn't reliant on social communication, has a low need for others, desires independence, and excels on their own. Another thing, the themes of the 1st, 5th and 9th, relate to freedom, personal journey, creativity, ideologies, beliefs and the self. Meanwhile, the 3rd, 7th, and the 11th relate to unity, communication, the collective, collaboration, harmony and the "us".

𐐪𐑂 Cancer Risings give off favorite child vibes. Having Leo in the 2nd and Libra in the 4th house defiantly makes for the "golden child" trope.

𐐪𐑂 I believe that the degree of a planet has bigger affect on its core desire while the sign affects the manner that the planet translates or comes across. For example, Aries Mercury is usually is thought of as brash and abrasive or interested in things that have themes of violence and sex. However, when in an air degree this person can be much more interested in matters of communication, science, education and holds social rapport at a higher regard. The difference being that the Aries Mercury with the air degree might come across very detailed and articulate, perhaps even to the point of pretentiousness. Yet in matters of thinking they're much more thought out, factual and meticulous than the general Aries Mercury description.

𐐪𐑂 People with Chiron in the 9th house may need to leave their home country or cut off their family to begin healing.

𐐪𐑂 Every sign deep down is similar to their opposite. Aquarius desires to standout while Leo seeks to fit in and belong, Taurus enjoys today in fear of tomorrow while Scorpio wishes for a better tomorrow so they can finally enjoy their day, Capricorn works hard in hopes of creating a better home while Cancer works hard to ensure the comfort of their home, Aries seeks companionship through conflict while Libra seeks individuality through process of elimination, Virgo does practical things out of superstitious believes while Pisces engages in escapist and spiritual practices to better understand realistic demands, Gemini learns to mentor while Sagittarius mentors to learn. Granted, this is an overly simplistic form of explaining it but I hope it was able to better explain.

𐐪𐑂 Venus Aquarius not only desires but actually thrives off of creating bonds online.

𐐪𐑂 People with Jupiter in the 12th would take very long to learn life lessons. This is partly due to having to under go many cycles of self undoing and changes to finally get the lesson.

𐐪𐑂 People with Saturn in 3rd/9th may be untraditional students or enter university late or take time to graduate.

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[ivesambrose]

🤍 JANUARY 2024 FORECAST 🤍

Use sidereal rising and moon

DM or email me at Ivesambrose@gmail.com to book a personal reading 🤎

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Aries : your entire being is focused on career or studies, finances and the material aspects of your life this month. You want to be back with a bang and waste no time. Earlier you may have felt like you had lost an opportunity that was going to bring you a lot of wealth or would have benefitted you in terms of your future goals or career but you'll realize that one door closed and another one opened that led to something far better. That likely you were going to settle for something smaller but the universe had other plans. If you had made investments previously expect sudden gains or if you choose to invest you'll see gains later on this year. Emotionally however, you might feel like your cups are empty or you aren't tending to them as much. You might have a moment of purging of grief that you've been carrying which will bring you catharsis. Some of you might be worried about your mother's health, if you're female please tend to your hormonal health and try to reduce your stress levels. Lastly, don't bite off more than you can chew.

Taurus : You'll regain your childlike optimism, finding little reasons to be happy, expecting good the best instead of the worst. You'll also be excited about the several opportunities or options in front of you that you will manifesting. You'll feel very close to your friends and family, you'll have an event to bond better with them. You have lot of ideas that are unconventional in nature and you'll feel tempted to act on all of them and you likely will. You'll have a lot of energy but that might also lead to burn out so be remain cautious of your Physical health especially if you're working out at the gym. Emotionally you'll be feeling estatic likely due to wealth, business opportunities, indulging in some luxuries, spoiling yourself etc mostly you'll be too focused on your own joy and beauty to fixate on anyone else at the moment. You'll also be more sensitive to intuitive downloads, you'll feel as though a higher force is looking over you and is guiding you when it comes to your life path. Hold your head high.

Gemini : You might feel as though people are little judgemental of you or don't exactly see eye to eye with you when it comes to your career prospects or creative ventures. You aren't sure who wants to help you or take credit for whatever you do. You want to march to the beat of your own drum but you might feel unsure or even fickle minded by what lies ahead. You don't know which path to choose or if you're making any progress. That might lead to some anxiousness. You're advised to calm your head and clear the clutter of your surroundings. You don't want to hear it but you're indeed thinking way too much and acting way too little and thus you remain stuck. Help will be available when you least expect it and stop looking for it. Fix your sleeping schedule and try doing some gentle eye and head massages. Look at the bigger picture. You might get opportunities to travel by end of this month that will be an entire energy shift and could be a possible game changer for you as well.

Cancer : You've been working too hard the past few months, it hasn't brought you the exact results that you hoped it would. You're starting this year finding balance between work and hobbies/me time. Some of you might even get an extra source of income however. You may have romance coming in as you focus on the softer aspects of your life. There might be someone who instills faith and power within you, maybe they aren't around you, could be someone from afar. But they want to see you win at any cost and will push you towards your best. You'll end up having a wish granted somehow, something you have been hoping for will come true. There's a cycle of suffering that is as tight as a knot that you'll be cutting through and free of. You'll receive unexpected help from a friend or a place you've spent your childhood.

Leo : You'll be climbing the ladder of success, there is Inevitable progression in whatever you're working towards. You'll be catching up with old friends and even making new ones. They will encourage you in different aspects of your life and you'll learn a lot from them you might be studying something like a new language or something to do with geography, animals or even farming. The money you spend will come back to you but do spend wisely regardless. Some of you might be getting married or committed. Others of you may have some discord or shortlived strife to deal with. Maybe people competing with you for no reason or arguments at home. Eitherway, you'll be focused on the positive and being as radiant as ever.

Virgo : You're seeing this month as the opening of a movie you haven't seen. In other words, you're treating this as a whole new chapter, you don't want to carry a single old energy or thought process into this year. You're in awe of your own journey. You're preparing yourself for an adventure. You might be writing, documentating, reading, interacting and even learning new skills or languages a lot. Some of you might be preparing to relocate or leave a place. Emotionally, you'll be feeling very fulfilled you might be having suitors, you may fall in love, have someone fall for you or might just find your reason to fall in love with life. Wealth and financial opportunities from overseas will be a big theme too. Start preparing yourself for your new life.

Libra : A new work opportunity that leads you to relocate or leave one thing behind for something better. Mostly I'm seeing something has worked out for you when it comes to your finances so you can allow yourself to lead with your heart and explore spirituality a little more. You'll be maturing as well and taking more accountability when it comes to how you act and what you say or excuses you make and change certain behavioural patterns. I see you looking forward to spending more time with your friends or attending a social gathering or event you'll feel some relief and allow yourself to have fun instead of wanting to control every aspect of your life and seeing it go out of balance. Go and live.

Scorpio : Dedicated work, practice, effort, diligent labour, all if it will add up and pay off for you. Maybe enjoying or self care aren't even your priority at least for this month. You sincerely do have a lot on your plate, you do want to collaborate or simply make substantial progress. This can be anything at all but it will bring you a lot of emotional fulfilment Inevitably. Nothing much to add except, that you be less harsh on yourself and don't ghost the ones who care for you. Cater to that side of you that too wants to be heard & held.

Sagittarius : A particular uncertainty or excess load that you've been carrying will come to an end. There's a matter that will be resolved. You'll feel extremely thankful for it, because you got what you wanted so now you can walk ahead or away from what had been making you feel 50 - 50 for quite some time. It felt like you were the only one giving it your 100 but the outcome wasn't what you had hoped for. I see you being guarded or keeping certain matters to yourself, this could be your long term plans and investments. You might catch a break and revisit old hobbies, places, friends or an interest you had abandoned.

Capricorn : You need to rest or you'll face extreme levels of exhaustion. You might be feeling the need to slow down, feeling more sleepy too, check your vitamin D levels, try and get some sunlight if you can. Dip your feet in warm water and look after your feet in general there might be some heartache or betrayal, might just be memories from the past, there's some ache you carry or have been carrying for quite a long time. You've expressed it but now you feel empty. I do someone being a balm to your heart, might be a fated person you encounter you'll be encouraged to heal your inner child, indulge in some whimsies, day dreaming, walking barefoot in nature and eating more wholesome organic meals. There will be people who treat you with the same kindness you show them too.

Aquarius : You'll be feeling comforted and loved. So anyone else's ill intentions or projected negativity won't matter. Things have started looking up for you slowly but surely, so you're at a place in your life you really do priotrize your peace over anything else. It's simply not worth it, paying heed to anyone's repetitive drama, to people who can't commit and won't progress beyond 3 days of effort. You might be spending time with animals or a pet, you'd feel really connected to them. You'll find happiness seeing others be happy or getting what they want. You might visit some art fairs, museums or start painting or drawing again as well. Mostly for yourself since you're happy with how far you've come so there's no need to rush anymore.

Pisces : Stability and happiness, finally. This can come in the form of a wedding, better relationship with your spouse or loved one or even family, finances improving, health improving etc a combination of all. After a long time, you can be at ease. Sudden increase in fortune or business is also extremely possible, travel is also in the cards, you'll also see the luck of the people you care for or befriend, increase. You might be prone to skin issues however, so please opt for hydrating products also stay warm and do your stretches.

©️ 𝓘𝓿𝓮���𝓪𝓶𝓫𝓻𝓸𝓼𝓮

[aconstantmonologue]

I just saw Wild Robot in theaters and I am absolutely enamored by every aspect of it.

[YAP SESSION WITH SPOILERS AHEAD]

There were so many beautiful lessons and themes in the whole film that it’s hard to just pick out and label them because doing so would disservice the film in its entirety.

-Roz: From the very start I felt such a strong connection to her. She never really ‘fits in’ anywhere, and faces isolation from those she wants so desperately to form a connection with. It takes her awhile to adapt and understand things outside of her ‘program’, and even then it’s a learning curve for her, change is difficult to process and understand. But eventually she gets to a point where she’s stuck at a crossroads, she still isn’t quite synchronous with the community around her, but they’ve begun to understand and accept her, and she knows that she would be out of place if she returned to her maker. Her love and care for Brightbill and Fink are difficult for her to express verbally, but she expresses through her actions, eventually getting the vocabulary she needs and yearned for. She took her programming, and used it to create a life she truly wanted, not just a husk of a being.

-Brightbill: I saw this film with my dad and my stepmom. My stepmom raised me, she is just Mom for me, but there was a moment where I didn’t understand why I never really got to spend time with my biological mother, and I held a lot of animosity surrounding that for a long time. Eventually I grew to understand that she wasn’t to blame, the situation was out of her control, she simply adjusted her sails to save me, becoming my Mom without hesitation even if it was difficult as first. She was the Roz to my Brightbill, and sacrificed so much of her time to learn and adapt to raise me, and now she has to watch me grow up and live a life of my own.

-Fink: I wasn’t expecting to like him as much as I did, I feel like fox characters tend to fall into a very specific mold and seem flat and under developed. But seeing his growth through the film was lovely. They made it clear that it wasn’t an instantaneous change. He went through lapses where he would self isolate his honest thoughts again, not even sharing them with Roz. But as he spends more time with Roz and Brightbill, he starts to grasp the fact that there are people who WILL care about him with no strings attached. And that he is allowed to get close to others and love them without the fear of it being transactional.

Disability Representation: I was not expecting this at all, and it may not have even been entirely intentional, but elements of this story spoke a truth that rang into my bones as a disabled person. When Roz loses a foot she adapts her surroundings to suit her needs so she can still navigate while training Brightbill to fly. Paddler even makes her a prosthesis to replace the section of the leg she lost. The isolation all three face from their peers for being different and out of place hit so close to home. Being isolated from others because you were “too odd” is something my family and I, and so many other neurodivergent people have experienced, and sometimes you start to lose hope on finding a community that will accept you, until you find them in the most unexpected places.

Going off of that, Brightbill being significantly smaller than the other geese and the criticism he faces for something out of his control was written so well. There are people who will write you, and your capabilities, off without question once they realize that you are disabled and ‘not normal’. He has to do considerably more work and put in more effort to be seen in an equal standing as his able bodied peers. That’s why I think the lesson he learns (along the lines) of “you can do anything I can do, even if it has to look different to fit you” was so important. Disabled people CAN and SHOULD be given the same respect and consideration as able bodied people, and the end result should be the object of value- not the accommodation it took to get there.

I have so many more thoughts but I will contain myself, I do want to see it again sometime soon though :]

[calicohyde]

This is a bit of a weird question, but you're the only one I know about who regularly posts about pirates of any kind (admittedly on your other blog) so I figured I'd ask you: what's some stuff you'd want to see more of in pirate fiction? I'm fucking around with a pirate AU for one of my projects and that made me curious - @transman-badass

TL;DR bullet point lists, bolding for emphasis

Necessities:

even if not going for historical accuracy, make sure character designs accurately represent the setting

queer pirates, in particular trans/GNC pirates

POC (Pirates of Color), in particular Black and Indigenous pirates

pirates with body types befitting their lifestyle

religious diversity

Why did you pick pirates if you're not...

commentating on capitalism, colonialism, class, and "crime"

incorporating pirate legends/superstitions in some way

see above points about diversity

Things I personally want to see:

revisit points on diversity again

antivillains

dramatic irony

song and dance

vulgarity

narrative questions built to have no answers

a wider variety of genres; instead of sticking to action/adventure, fantasy, and romance, try a slasher, slice of life, or heist (etc)

More detail on these points + unintentionally effusive praise for Pirates of The Caribbean and Black Sails under the cut.

This is a bit of a (perhaps?) unexpected answer, but my favorite pirate media (that I remember rip) is actually the original PotC trilogy!

While I love the explicit queer representation in Black Sails and OFMD, as well as the political thriller aspect and social realism + commentary of Black Sails, and I'd obviously love to see more of that, they lack some things the first three PotC movies have that I just really fucking love. I don't think any of them are exclusive to pirates necessarily, but I do think a lot of them are particularly well suited to them, and in some ways when they're not incorporated I personally feel like something is missing.

The og PotC trilogy does have its own political aspect and commentary, it's just a bit less confrontational than BS. I wouldn't say it's so subtle as to be a subplot though, it's still a - if not Thee - primary driving factor to the overall narrative and its plot. In my opinion, no pirate media is complete without some aspect of anticapitalist/anticolonialist/antiassimilationist sentiment at its foundation, even if the pirates are not necessarily heroic or righteous - or are downright wicked (derogatory) - in any other way. Pirates make for the perfect antiheroes, antivillains, and villain protagonists, and the latter two are far less explored than the former. And truly what is the point of having a character cast of primarily career thieves if not to say some type of something about the constructs of money and crime?

Another thing is the incorporation of traditional pirate legends/superstitions! I certainly will not be able to find it at will, but there is a post on this site that I wholeheartedly agree with about how cool it is that PotC has a different set of accepted realities depending on who's territory the story is in - i.e. pirate legends are true when the characters are where there be pirates, but aren't on colonial land. There are also pockets of extra depth to the story and characters that only really occur to you if you look at the work through the eyes of someone who exists within the pirates' world, such as Elizabeth's Kiss of Death At Sea.

It also of course ties in perfectly with the allegory; the further colonialism/capitalism spreads -> the smaller pirate habitat shrinks -> the less magic there is/the more reality is confined to only what Is and can no longer extend to what Could Be, shown most directly by the beached Kraken and Jack's response of "The world's still the same [size], there's just less in it." Which in that particular context also reinforces the above highlighted built-in moral ambiguity/acknowledgement of the beauty and necessity of things that may harm you (or pose a challenge to your conquering power), in that only the movie before the Kraken was a direct threat to Jack, and in fact literally killed him, but he still recognizes its extermination as both an indication of worse to come and as a tragedy in its own right. Also shown really well in how an "incorrect" pirate-drawn map can get you places that, when using an "accurate" colonial-standard map, don't exist. And how Beckett can't get Jack's magic compass to work for him even though he knows what it's supposed to do, only a pirate (or pirate-to-be like Norrington) can use it. The Power of Belief in this way is and always will be my number one homie. I got slightly off topic and just started talking about PotC. Anyway.

The dual accepted realities allow for really great dramatic irony as well. Gods and monsters and cursed treasure and impossibly fast and unsinkable ships and the undead are all real, and the audience knows all that based merely on the setup, but to the characters it's a shocking twist. Black Sails has some dramatic irony that I really love as well. The audience knows that Black Sails is a Treasure Island prequel, and they know the culmination of the featured historical events, but the characters don't. I eat that shit up and it's fucking delicious every time. And I also love that good good opposite of dramatic irony in these too, where the audience will never know something the characters do. BS does it through a well crafted metafiction narrative and unreliable narrators. "A story is true, a story is untrue," and this story acknowledges itself as a story - one told by conquerers, liars, visionaries, and warrior poets. We will never know what "really" happened, and we're not meant to.

Anyway even if pirate legends aren't real or *shrug emoji* in-universe, I again think pirate media is incomplete if a few aren't textually present in some other way.

Back to representation stuff. As I said, while Black Sails and OFMD have it pretty good, there should be way more queer pirates, and in particular trans/gender-nonconforming pirates. I'd specifically like to see a portrayal of Mary/Mark Read as being trans/fluid/whatever, rather than "disguised" or "mistaken" as a man (if the piece features historical figures). Equally so, there needs to be way more racial diversity in pirate media, in particular Black and Indigenous pirates. Probably most of the famous Captains you could name off the top of your head were white Englishmen, but there's a lot of evidence that a high percentage of pirates were not. So tbh I think this is less of a "feels" incomplete thing and more of an IS incomplete thing.

Likewise, there should be more body diversity and religious diversity. These things are obviously inaccurate and a Choice to exclude anywhere, but again imo an extra level of dumbassery to exclude from a pirate thing. Model/movie star body types should be rare; we need to be looking at athletes and laborers when designing Golden Age sailors. We need to be taking into account the available medicine of the time period and the lasting consequences thereof, as well as more of the (known) cultural ideas about body differences, neurological differences, sickness, and death. And as for religion, there seems to be vast swathes of people who think once upon a time everyone was either a Christian (be that Good or Bad) or a Savage (whether Noble/Mystic or not). And that is SO deeply fucking annoying - to say it in the blandest, most diplomatic way possible lol.

Even if you're not going to go in for much historical accuracy, you're doing a fantastical/romanticized/comedic/etc version, or you're making a whole secondary world from scratch, you really should be figuring out what would be accurate to the conditions you create. If your piece takes place on a frigate sailing the open ocean in the tropics for long periods of time while the nearest land is being colonized by monarchic northerners in an approximation of the 17th century, the characters should reflect that just as much as the setting and plot.

Now for some things I wouldn't necessarily be disappointed about being absent, but that I would just be kinda jazzed to see. First: song, dance, storytelling, riddles, foul language, and bawdy jokes. This kind of goes hand in hand with the legends and all, but is an extra layer that isn't put on enough! PotC and OFMD have some song, and BS as already mentioned is pretty heavy on storytelling both diegetically and as a main theme. I just want more.

Second, I'd love to see a wider variety of genres. We're spoiled for pirate action/adventure, fantasy, romance/erotica, and coming of age. I want to see some scifi that isn't just pirates In Space (not that I have anything against pirates In Space or think it's not scifi Enough, but we're not starving for it). Pirate slasher. Pirate slice of life. Pirate whodunit. Pirate time travel. Pirate psychological thriller. Pirate disaster/post-apocalypse. Pirate slipstream/surrealism. Pirate heist!! Pirate procedural? somehow?? You get it.

I think I've talked enough now wkgoiuwksk.

[thefaiao]

What are your inspirations for drawing? Like other artists or things

I'll start with my biggest inspiration, which got me into art as a whole: Adam Adamowicz. I got introduced to him through Skyrim concept art, but I honestly think his Shivering Isles concepts are some of the best concept art out there. You can see how much he just takes an idea and completely sores with it. A torrential stream of beautiful sketchy goodness.

I love Oblivion's flat ass dough faces and early Xbox 360 charm, but this shit is simply crazy. Look at this, it makes you wish to dedicate your life to bringing this to life, as all good concept art should. It inspires more of itself.

I could post all the images there are out there, because I sincerely think this is the type of work that has stuck with me the most. It's something to strive for. You can see it for yourself instead. That was what got me started. After that, and through my journey on Tumblr and Twitter, I think what stuck to me the most was the art done by small artists, my "compatriots". The things you don't see. There is so much love in little things, and maybe in another universe there are entire cultures dedicated to them. I wish we had time to explore each and every one of the smallest pieces of media, especially narrative media, weird media.

I'll concede that it's a bit of an abstract thing to be inspired by, but once you realise how much work goes into the smallest of things, I believe you'll find inspiration anywhere you go. I think the reason why my Batter drawings are the way they are is my inspiration from just the design of letters and fonts in general. I think making something that blurs the line of symbol and representation over and over is fun.

One artist that has stuck with me is the late great Gunner Leatherwood. He passed away earlier this year. I watched this guy grow from a hundred followers to thousands. I saw his art improve. I think that inspiration transcends just the visual aspect of the art. It's a story, a lived experience, as all art is, but I felt I understood it much more. I think going after and following these small artists pay off because of this. Everyone can make something truly great, and some people have and no one noticed. Many amazing animated movies have been made, but never got to the people who would understand them, who'd have dedicated themselves to easing other people into it. We like to think we understand media in a completely intuitive, isolated fashion, but it's not true at all. Our shared experience contributes to classics being recognised and loved. Sometimes you need the right person at the right time to understand. Gunner was a great artist because of how intuitive and visceral his drawings were. It was like he was drawing from his entire life experience to express himself in a page. At first he had little control of it, but with time it was molded and polished so that the madness was discernable, but not gone from the drawing. His mindset for drawing was fun, and he too was always going after small artists of all kinds.

But going back to Batter drawings and abstraction, an artist that has also inspired me over the years in that aspect of bluring symbol and representation into one solid thing, and similarly started somewhat small like Gunner, is Matt Lesniewski. His hatching is out of this world, and his character design is evocative and never boring. The characters are huge balls of symbols made into physical objects. Recently he straight-up draws the belts of characters floating. It's wonderful.

Another artist that does this bluring very well, and is very inspiring, is nailgun waowao. They really, well, nail the appeal of making images that have all the defining elements of a certain scene or character, but open closer look they are fragmented and completely abstracted. It's like a bigger image overlayed with many smaller stories and symbols.

But to go back to talking about active inspirations that came before, and got to me to where I am at the moment, it's a bit harder. I can't really make it sound smart besides going "uuh I don't know like abstract stuff, cubism idk lol." Just try to appreciate the great things your friends make, and try and work together to make something even greater.

Some of the most improvement I had in art was from learning with friends. Art ultimately is a form of communication, understanding other people and yourself will make you better at it. Technical skill is fun and speaks for itself, but your experiences will reach much deeper. In a world where we can't even begin to compreehend the powers that be, loving and understanding what is close is probably gonna make your life and art much better.

[twisted-wonderland-shenanigans]

Hello!

I was thinking about the Monster!AU and I'm now wondering about how the residents of NRC would react to how differently Yuu is anatomically.

And what I mean by that is like how most of the students have hoofs. A smaller comparison are ears.

I like to imagine them speculating that Yuu just didn't have ears and just understood what they were saying somehow or that Yuu had holes for ears like parrots do until they pushed our hair out of the way and revealed that they did have ears, they were just out of sight. I can also imagine them wondering why Yuu's ears looked like that.

And for the hoofs part, I can also see them wondering why Yuu wears pants and shoes. Because while I do think that they wear clothers on their upper half, I don't think the monsters in this twst au wear pants or shoes, so I think they'd be confused. I imagine some of them being confused about human feet, too. Toes may be a weird thing to them, too. Or at least the type that humans have since I saw that Jade's concept design has toes.

I just have a bunch of things circulating in my head around this au. Whenever I get reminded of it, I keep on thinking of misinformation that could have spread among the years or completely forgotten about that humans have been extinct, and these are just two of the ideas that have popped into my head. Your au is haunting me in the worst and best way possible.

Oooh yes yes yes yessssss, I love this sort of musing! It gives me life and inspires lil��� ideas in me~! ovo/ Muahahaha, I love that the Monster!AU is giving people ideas, because I love seeing the little shenanigans and randomness that can appear! c:<

Depending on the Yuu’s hair style (or lack of hair style if they have no hair), human ears would definitely be one of those curiously confusing aspects that may have monster students and researchers alike poking and pulling on them (though they do apologize if they pull too hard since ears are sensitive). In some cases, they might wonder if humans alter the shapes of their ears so they appear more rounded and cute before they find out that, no, this is how human ears naturally look.

Imagine their horror the moment they realize some humans actually pierce various parts of their body with metal! Sure, they may pierce their own ears (Kalim being one example), but piercing your nose? Bellybutton?! Tongue?!? “Why are humans so weird with decorative metal pieces all over their body!? Doesn’t that hurt?!” 

Don’t worry, they get over it and get curious and fascinated by the style! 0v0/)

(No but seriously, there are some really gorgeous styles for piercings that can look really cool, I just get squeamish at the thought of having anything but my earlobes pierced for small studs, let alone getting a plug/tunnel or even tattoos for myself. 😅 If it’s your thing, then just make sure to keep the areas clean so they don’t get infected and you can continue looking and feeling amazing, you beautiful person! UvU)

You're right in that they do still wear clothes (I know the concept art doesn’t seem like it, but that’s because I don’t feel like dealing with clothing on that small a scale when I’m trying to figure out how to make their anatomy work), but they do in fact wear pants! Well, except Deuce, given how his body works, so it’s a case by case basis and choice. 😆 So, the fact that Yuu is wearing pants wouldn’t seem that unusual. Their shoes, however…

Like you said, most of the monsters have hooves and can wear horseshoes to make sure they have good traction wherever they go (they can be either metal or specialized rubber that mimics the soles of our own shoes and boots). Those who don’t have hooves though can easily adapt to different surfaces and can build up a tolerance for hot or cold (though that doesn’t mean it’s any less unpleasant during those times), but they’re certainly able to tolerate it better than we humans could, so the concept of shoes never really came to light and it was assumed that all humans had weirdly shaped hooves.

You can probably imagine how the students reacted the moment they realized that those “hooves” weren’t hooves at all.

//

Deuce: “Are you okay, Yuu? Coach was worried you were about to pass out.”

Yuu: *finished with running laps and collapsed under the shade of a tree to cool down* “Ugh…it’s so hot today.”

Ace: “Yeah, it is pretty hot.” *using his wings to generate a breeze to cool them down*

Yuu: “How come you’re not overheating?”

Ace: “Hm? Well that’s easy. Skvader’s and other rabbit-like monsters cool down with our ears. When the wind passes through them, it helps cool us down easier. We don’t really sweat like Deuce or any other species.”

Deuce: “How do humans keep cool?”

Ace: “Well, considering that Yuu’s sweating up a storm, I think they cool down the same way as centaur do.”

Yuu: “Well yeah…though we also cool down through our feet.” *realization sinks in as they sit up* “Oh yeah. Thanks for reminding me, I need to take my shoes off.”

Ace: “Shoes? What are those?”

Deuce: “How are you bending your leg like that, Yu-AAAAAAAAAAAA-!!!!”

Ace: “AAAAAAAAAAAAA-!!!”

Yuu: *holding shoe in one hand* “Why are you two screaming?!”

Ace and Deuce: “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-!!!!”

Riddle: *rushing over in a panic* “What’s wrong? Why are you-?” *sees Yuu holding their shoe in one hand* “AAAAAAAAA!!!! Yuu!! Your hoof!!!”

Yuu: “My what!? Why is everyone screaming?!”

Vargas: “What is going on here?!”

Yuu: “I have no idea! They just started screaming!”

Deuce: “Yuu! You literally just ripped your hoof off your leg!! We need to get you to the doctor before you bleed out!!!”

Yuu: *realizes what’s going on now* “Deuce, I’m fine! I’m not bleeding, see? It’s just my shoe! You guys can stop screaming now!”

Ace: “What the heck is a shoe!?”

Yuu: “It’s a cover we humans wear on our feet to protect them from getting hurt of gravel, glass, or other things that can injure us.” *pulls off sock and wiggles toes* “See? This is what a human foot looks like.” *notices Deuce and Riddle swaying, looking pale as a ghost* “Uh…guys?”

Thud! WHUD!!

Yuu: “Riddle!? Deuce!! Are you okay?!”

Ace: “I…I think they’re still processing the fact that you didn’t just dismember yourself in front of them.” *lays down* “I need a moment…”

//

…yeah, it went about as well as the grape incident. 😂 It took some explanation before those with hooves (like Riddle and Deuce) to recover from the shock of thinking Yuu had hurt themselves and get used to the sight of them without their shoes on when they’re relaxing or cooling down. It’s a simple yet powerful reminder to them that Yuu is literally from an extinct species that they know so little about.

Of course, the researchers (once they realized what was going on with the shoes) instantly became curious and studied how versatile humans could be. You know how sometimes when you’re carrying an armful of something or even just drop something lightweight, and instead of trying to bend down to get it you just grab the item with your foot and twist your leg to grab it easier? (Don’t deny it, I know you do this too fellow reader!) As “lazy” as it may seem, it’s still fascinating how our bodies are able to move in ways that may seem physically impossible or difficult to do in any other species outside of primates!

And I just imagined a scene similar to the one in Tarzan where he was trying to figure out what Jane was and accidentally tickled her, so imagine that happening and the monster in question accidentally getting kicked in the face because Yuu was overly ticklish 🤣

That’s all I’ve got for now, so I hope you enjoy! If anyone has any other ideas they wanna share, hit me up! ÒvÓ

[animehouse-moe]

Chainsaw Man Chapter 127: Save The Asa

This if Fujimoto in his element, mixing parts and characters and approaches to create something that only he could. Lifting characters up with fancy words and emotional sentiments, only to have it come crashing down in the most hilarious and apt ways possible. Hardly a big chapter, but within the context of what's around it, certainly one that will be remembered.

⚠️Warning: Spoilers Ahead⚠️

A lot of the chapter focuses on Asa's attachment to life, as you'd expect. She circles the drain, remember her fears, her worst moments. She remembers just how much her life has sucked, how she's only kept alive to be used as a tool by a devil. It's all very outstanding, and is like an accelerated version of Denji's story because Asa is more aware of herself. It doesn't take the terrible moments for reality to break her, because she was never anywhere near the same rock bottom as Denji.

And that's what I love the most about it, Fujimoto's aware. Fujimoto's aware how terrible Denji's life has been, how brutal an existence he's been given, and rather than leveraging that against Asa, he uses it to subvert expectations and assert just what kind of person Denji is. An insane hybrid devil that is driven only by dreams. The kind of guy that can save Asa.

It's equally as ridiculous, because on the surface you hardly get what's really going on (cue the "Fujimoto fan making something out of nothing"). It's just crazy how Fujimoto is throwing out the dumbest stuff possible, but ends up cobbling together a far more realistic and approachable sentiment to suicidal thoughts. Who cares about the "big things" in life? Why would that matter to someone ready to end it all? It's the smaller pieces of life that they'll miss. Reading their favorite manga weekly, or not being able to pet another cat or dog.

And it just keeps going. It doesn't say "oh there's good stuff to life", or "I moved past it", because the last thing someone wants to hear is "it gets better". Because no shit, thinking it'll get better doesn't make it get better.

Instead, Denji steals the show with his idiocy, and proudly proclaims his dream. No longer is it something as childish, or lowbrow as "touching boobs". Nay, it's something more noble, something more lofty. Something that a young man would truly dream of.

And what gets me here is Asa's disgust, as if she didn't allude to the same thought earlier. Also, cute little symbolism of the pair of birds together. Simple piece about freedom and Asa finding someone, as the two birds join up with one another.

Anyways, it's hard to really give this chapter its flowers when you read weekly. But when you put it into the context of the world ending, of Asa slipping deeper and deeper into depression, of her being driven to suicide, of absolutely nothing going her way, I'd honestly say it's the pinnacle of the arc. Purely because it comes in to mock it. It basically laughs in the face of a nuanced conversation on depression and suicide and says, "yeah it's sucks ass, but don't you want to have sex or pet dogs & cats or have ice cream whenever you feel like it?". It's a beautiful aspect of Fujimoto, and I'd honestly liken it to the finale of Fire Punch (though as a lesser form). His grasp of how people tick is incredible, and being able to stretch that understanding to fit the insanity that he loves chasing is amazing.

[liskantope]

I'm generally very fond of Kat Rosenfield and the way she puts her views on her podcast Feminine Chaos, but in one of the most recent episodes, she muses on the question of "is it better to desire or to be desired?" (apparently younger women tended more to prefer the latter, to the slight consternation of both Kat and her podcast partner Phoebe Maltz-Bovy), one of Kat's musings is a little hard for me to know how to digest.

I was thinking about this, maybe too philosophically, and... I think that, to desire things -- I mean, not just people, but to, I don't know, to desire anything, to, like, be able to inculcate that, that feeling inside of you, is to be kind of alive to possibility in a way that is exciting and that makes a person feel like kind of, I don't know, that feels like the fullest expression of your humanity. Whereas, to be desired, I mean, like, that can be nice, you know, in the sense of like, "yeah, I still got it", which is sometimes nice to feel, especially as I am, you know, advancing in middle age. But, I don't know, you're not gonna pay your rent with it, and it's not gonna enrich your life, particularly. All it does is, I mean, I think, in like the worst cases, foment a certain amount of anxiety, because like, you know, what happens when people stop desiring you, if like, if that's the better thing, it's got an expiration date on it. Whereas, desire, you can want stuff your entire life.

This is a blend of two sharply distinct elements for me. Firstly, her attitude about being desired not having much effect on one's life strikes me as reaching over-the-top levels of insensitivity to what un-partnered not-super-conventionally-attractive people have to think about -- it feels to me like an expression of (somewhat gender-tinted) "attractiveness privilege" if you will (Kat Rosenfield is, um, quite gorgeous by my lights and probably to many others as well). Seriously, being desired "doesn't pay the rent"?! (Arguably it reflects a more general sort of privilege -- Rosenfield long before 40 has established a great, fulfilling career, is happily married, and owns a decently nice home for instance -- that makes it hard to remember that desiring relatively basic things one doesn't have or feel particularly hopeful about getting can be a quite painful form of "wanting stuff".)

But it's so over-the-top that I feel fairly sure there's a much more charitable way to understand what she was getting at, that she was considering the question in a very contextual frame of mind and would probably immediately understand my (surely much more common-sense) point of view if it were put in front of her (which Phoebe did not do) and she were forced to be a little less, as she acknowledged, philosophical. At least, I'd like to think?

The other salient aspect of the above quote for me is that it includes a really beautiful take on what it means to desire, whose general terms have more and more reflected my thoughts as I get older. I honestly think the capacity to desire and the capacity to be desired are equally important in their own ways, and a lot of the importance of the former was encapsulated eloquently in Kat's explanation. And I feel somewhat of a bitterness about the value of being able to desire, a smaller version of the bitterness I feel about the value of being desired: I am becoming very concerned as of late that I no longer have the capacity to be strongly attracted to anyone romantically (or maybe even sexually), and I find that kind of terrifying actually.

[fantasygerard2000]

While there are smarter people than me who have already analyzed Wish's themes, I'd like to put out some things I wanna say about each character and how they tie to the movie's themes.

The general message and theme of Wish is pursuing your dreams, a basic aesop that has been in many family movies. However, Wish's take on this moral is somewhat applicable to pursuing a career.

To give a straight forward cynical example; you, a young artist who wishes to work as an animator in the industry. Giving your wish to Magnifico, who represents the person in charge of said industry takes away your ability to draw and the passion to achieve your dream as an animator. So, you sat there back at home, waiting for a call from the industry in hopes that you have been applied.

When Magnifico does grant the few wishes, he immediately gives people the "job" they waited for years, ie a seamstress and a loyal knight. While not exactly in the movie, this applies to the probability of people who have achieve their dreams and find it unfulfilling or even stressful. The wishes he granted are the ones that he deems benefiting for him; a loyal knight who will do anything he wants them to do and a seamstress who will make the most beautiful dresses for the wealthiest people in the kingdom, himself.

Suddenly getting a position you dreamed of for years without proper training can lead to inexperience, hence why if you want to go to space, you have go to go through immense training. Without the passion to put in the effort to pursue a career, you won't learn how some dreams can be difficult to achieve so you go pursue other means to achieve your wish or even make a new one.

In contrast to Magnifico's instant and literal granting of wishes, Star cannot grant people what they want but helps them by giving them the means the pursue them.

Star, and eventually Asha are fairy godmothers. While most people see fairy godparents as good magical beings who grants your dreams, this is not true. The blue fairy gave Gepetto a son but it's up to Pinocchio to fulfill that wish by learning to be a real boy with the help of Jimminy whom the Blue Fairy assigned to be his conscience. Cinderella never wanted the prince to fall in love with her, she wanted a nice night out as an equal to her stepfamily at the ball. Her fairy godmother leaving the glass slippers are the tools to help her get out of her abusive life and is eventually rewarded with the freedom she deserves by being kind and hopeful. While there is no fairy godmother in Princess and the Frog, Evangeline serves as one given that Tiana wished to her and gets into a situation where she learns to value the friends and family, new and old who have always supported her achieving her and her father's dream of opening their restaurant.

Fairy godparents are the friends and family who supported you in achieving your dreams. When your dreams of opening a large business is impossible, your friends are their to help you into making a smaller one, showing that it's always possible, you just needed to guidance and the number of support. Hence why the "We are Stars" line shows that everyone are each other's fairy godparents.

As for the individual character bit, each of them represent aspects of not just Disney, but the industries Walt has inspired.

⭐️ Sabino - Sabino represents Walt and the studio. His wish to inspire people to pursue their dreams is reminiscent how Walt and his work became the inspiration for people to pursue to their passion in animation which also lead to other studios making animated movies.

⭐️ Dahlia and Simon - As I wrote in a previous post, Dahlia and Simon are opposites. Dahlia has already achieve her dreams to become a baker and if she is given a chance to have her wish "given" to Magnifico, she'll presumably decline and would improve her skills without him. While Simon had worked to achieve his dream to become a knight, he blindly follows Magnifico in high hopes only for him to lose his will to him and seeing how terrible Magnifico was and had never cared for him. Reminiscent of people who dream of working for their favorite celebrity only to be disappointed in knowing who they actually are.

⭐️ Star - Like I wrote above, Star is the friends and family who supports you into pursuing your dreams. As a being of joy, hope, possibility and wonder, Star is somewhat representative of child like innocence, as in how grown ups encourage their children into pursuing a hobby they like and once they go through the struggles, we are there to comfort them. This contrasts Magnifico's excuse to not grant the wishes; he thinks people fear the struggles of achieving their goals, Star helps them embrace the struggles.

⭐️ Amaya - While I already made many posts about Amaya, I genuinely want to make more because of how unappreciated she is, moreso than the husband who claimed he is. While I have written how she's representative of people who been in unhealthy relationships and accepting that their partner/spouse has become toxic, her story can be applicable to abusive families. Basically, Rosas is her and Magnifico's children and when Magnifico starts behaving unhealthily to their "children", ie telling them and doing things to them "for their own good", she resorts into getting him locked away from her and her children as she and them start support and heal each other from the experience. Magnifico being an emotionally abusive father to Asha who he treats as a servant than an apprentice/sorceress in training in an AU is something I'm surprised hasn't been made, as far as I know and I do encourage others to make one based on this.

🪞Magnifico - As that one post has written, Magnifico represents the shady people in charge of the film industry who scrapped, stolen and hoards ideas that will never been made, completed or released. Even though that post has already described what I wanted to write about him, there's another aspect I like to bring up. Heads up, Magnifico simps who're might be reading this, I heed you to cover your delicate eyes.

This thing is Magnifico, and the IP's are the wishes he hoards. While he has the power and status to give these IP's to the people who waited years for them, he hoards them in his metaphorical vault and gives them something different they didn't want but are conditioned to accept.

At the end of the film, the wishes being returned, not granted, returned are applicable to how in example artists now knowing that the industry has declined them of their dreams to become an animator and make their own movie/show start to work independently with other artists.

In what I wrote above on Magnifico instantly granting the three wishes of the people who questioned him, they'd be end up unhappy. This is especially considering how he gives them the items seen in their dreams, but are just meaningless objects that just happened to appeared in their wishes, scissors for the seamstress, armor and sword for Simon. The man who wants to climb a mountain would just be given a flag and Magnifico would tell him to find the nearest mountain to climb. The old woman who wants to sail the sea would be given a ship with no crew to help her sail it. The woman who wants to fly would likely become weightless as she struggles on how to actually control her flying. If Magnifico did have granted these wishes, and since he cares very little of what his people wanted, he's the definition of "Be Careful What You Wish For". And especially considering his song about how "ungrateful" his people are to him, wish granted or not, there be very little difference.

While we don't see how these wishes can be granted once they were returned, we can conclude by logical and accessible means. Like how two people share a wish on flying, they work on a device that helps them glide in the air. Same with the man and the old woman, they will find the right people to support in funding an expedition to climb any mountain and sail a ship to visit places.

Magnifico sees their wishes "literally" hence why he doesn't want to grant them other than his selfish reasons to hoard them, but the images are general representations of their dreams. For example, a child wishes to become a mermaid and swim with the fishes, and when she grows up and accepts that mermaids are not real, she still works for that dream and becomes a marine biologist who uses diving equipment to go underwater and see marine life in person.

That's what achieving a dream is.

[redrobin-detective]

Simon and Betty Roles and Relationships

So I watched the F&C finale and I, personally, loved it to bits but I can see some early rumblings of dissatisfaction. I can't say I got everything I wanted more Simon and Marcy dammit but I felt everyone's arcs resolved well. Especially Simon and Betty's. Allow me to ramble at length.

What really became clear to me in episode 9 is how much F&C Simon and Betty's relationship is a complete role reversal of their AT selves/relationship.

In both cases, you had one who was - through their own conscious actions - cursed to a non-human existence where they didn't have complete control of their thoughts or actions. They are separated from all their loved ones, including their True Love, and given relatively little agency in their own story.

And then you had the other, who watched their love become this non-human entity where they couldn't meaningfully interact. They become obsessed, consumed with saving their True Love, going as far as to ignore having a potential future in Ooo along with kidnapping and doing sketchy magic.

They got trapped in this tragic cycle of loss and insanity trying to save each other and all it did was cost their own happiness. What GOLBetty was trying to tell Simon was that they both made mistakes as humans in the past (her wrapping her entire life around Simon's to the detriment of her own desires and him for being oblivious to it and not considering her) but this cycle had to stop. They'd both made choices they regretted and the outcome wasn't what either wanted but it was the one they landed at. In e9, Simon admitted to "being sorry" for "wasting the second chance Betty gave him" because he was! He was still clinging to their doomed narrative. It was his final selfish act, to throw away the chance she gave up everything for and then force her to watch him scramble after her despite it being impossible. GOLBetty told him to break the cycle and he did.

I said earlier they made choices they regret, both as individuals and a couple but the love was real, it was true and it was now over. They will both carry that love but they cannot be together. Too many things got in the way and they would tear apart the universe trying to exist together. So Simon moved on properly, embraced this new world and life in Ooo. He devoted himself to his loved ones and made a life for himself that wasn't revolving around Betty. It was the healthiest things he could do for both of them.

As for Betty, Simon spent a thousand years as Ice King before he was freed. Some of those moments were good even if a lot of them were bad. She is a whole new type of being able to see and maybe somewhat control the chaotic forces of the universe. I imagine there are some aspects she did like. For example, how appropriate is for a woman who always made herself smaller and bent to the desires of others to be venerated as a Goddess with incredible power? There is no cure now but I like to imagine some day in the future - someone comes along and helps frees Betty from her self inflicted curse. Simon will be long gone I imagine having lived his own full life and died in peace. But now it will be Betty's turn for self discovery and a new chance at happiness.

Their story together was tragic and they both suffered greatly but a running theme of Adventure Time is that happiness is possible, you just need to find it. And for them, finding it meant letting go. I found it beautiful and sad and poignant and awful. I have other nitpicks with the finale but the resolution of their story -at least Simon's side of it - makes me feel settled. I would love to see a future installment giving Betty back her agency just like this series did for Simon.

[vegance]

I have celiac and went vegan four years ago. A friend of mine needs to eat keto for her epilepsy and is still vegan. Sans meds/supplements, which you can usually find plant based alternatives for, I honestly can't think of a disability that would stop you from being vegan

I‘m glad that you and your friend are able to eat vegan! It’s so beautiful to see people from all different walks of life choose this lifestyle 🩷

but there are still things that can keep you from being able to adopt a fully plant based diet. People relying on a specific type of liquid nutrition, people with a range of severe allergies, some people with ibs, people with severe food aversions

and I think even more importantly than just the physical aspect is the mental load. a person with some severe food restrictions might be theoretically able to eat a plant based diet, but it would take so much more work and effort in our current system. For someone dealing with chronic illness, poverty and mental illness that extra effort might just be too much for now.

And let’s not forget the people living in situations where they cannot choose their own diet.

I understand the frustration with people using health issues as an „excuse“ to justify them not being vegan, since many online leftists misuse this argument tu justify animal exploitation, while not being in these specific situations themselves. And many people just don’t know enough about veganism to accurately judge if it would be possible for them.

But I don’t think that it is helpful or appropriate to question the lived experiences of people, and the struggles they face. Ultimately it’s a small subset of the population in the global north that cannot go vegan for health reasons, and the more veganism advances the smaller this group becomes.

I think veganism is better served right now by focusing on those who would have an easier time to go vegan, while also making significant harm reduction a valid choice for those who struggle to go all the way <3

[necromancerthedark]

I am afraid of approaching someone now,

it was easier for me back when I was in school because we all basically had same lives, same cities, houses close by, smaller, similar circle of friends. even in college it was easier to catch up with whatever happened back in someone’s school days, we all shared similar school time tales, traumas, break up stories.

Approaching someone in adulthood is just like collision of two worlds (though it is true for all relationships be it school, college, work or any other stream of life), it all seems so overwhelming. The sheer aspect that another person has a different life altogether since last some 20 something years, they will be having completely different friend groups, so many life events, so many trauma. I do agree that humans are so beautiful when they’ve stories to tell and it is the beauty of randomness of everyone’s life that makes them unique.

Along with that there is a constant anxiety that time is slowly slipping away from you, as the later 20s creep in on you, this anxiety slowly grows bigger and bigger taking shape of a big question mark on yourself.

was I never enough? Will I ever find love? Am I supposed to be like this forever? Do I even deserve someone’s love?

The cycle of self doubt never ends.

As kafka said,

There are times when I am convinced I am unfit for any human relationship.

(Image taken from pinterest)

~ Necromancer