#honestly it's like comparing apples to oranges in a sense

[theloveinc]

i wish i liked ethel cain as much as i like nicole....... cuz i really think she could outdo the doer if she tried but in my mind... just isnt? for some reason?

[stickthisbig]

Look it was a really fuckin rough day and internet drama is what is keeping me afloat so here's some bullshit about Watcher

I don't want to talk about creative decisions. Creators deserve to be paid and TV costs a lot of money, and whether you think a TV model makes sense and reflects the brand's appeal is ultimately a matter of taste.

I want to talk about how much this fuckin thing costs.

If you are going to make a venture like this survive, you must aim at the money. I am the money. I'm financially independent and old enough to have kids who watch the show but have no income, I am a long-time BFU/Watcher fan who's splashed out for merch and a live show, and I've subbed to multiple similar services (RIP Alpha). I am the boring adult that you must convince, because I am the one who can pay for this without a second thought. You will not make it through this on the empty promises of children.

The closest comp to Watcher is not Dropout; it's Nebula. And trust me on this- they would prefer you to compare it to Dropout, because of how much better it makes them look. Compared on full prices (because you can almost always get a discount), Nebula costs half of what Watcher does, for a much, much larger catalog. I am a huge fan of Nebula. I've watched hundreds of hours on Nebula, because there is loads of varied content from creators who have expressed exactly the same wishes for creative freedom as the Watcher team.

And honestly, if we are gonna talk about comparisons to Dropout, you're never gonna be able to watch BFU on this service, so it's apples to oranges anyway.

I am certain that they will make more money percentage-wise through this service. It's not on me to care about their yield from youtube vs a dedicated streaming service vs a partnered streaming deal. That's not my job; I'm not their accountant or their dad. It's on me to look at value for money. I am not a charity, and when you put yourself up as a commodity, I'm gonna kick the tires and leave if I don't like the price.

I'm not going to pay $60 for this, or $42, or $6/month, because it's a bad value on my end. It is less content for more money. $30 still would have been too high, but there was a price point where I, the person with the intersection of money and interest, would have said yes. That is the trade-off: you can wait around forever for somebody to spend $60 and end up with $0, or you can get three people who balked in for $20 each and end up with $60.

Look, we're all friends here, we know the Watcher crew is not so damn dumb that they didn't look into joining an existing streaming service. It's not a fuckin grand revelation that there were potentially other options, and obviously they must have thought about this for longer than ten minutes. But when your service is MUCH more expensive than its closest comparison (Nebula) and the same price as the well-established competitor you'd like to be compared to (Dropout), why on god's green earth would you think I would buy it if I was anything short of obsessed? Where is your growth plan? How is this sustainable? The absolute best plan for me is to wait until the next series of Ghost Files is over, pay $6 to watch the whole series, then cancel again.

Also you're fuckin leaving money on the table by not having delayed VOD on youtube but at this point, that's none of my business.

If it's worth $60 to you and you've got the money, you do what's right for you. But I'm out. No hard feelings! But also no $60.

(Also I do think 100% saying that the back catalog will stay on youtube is a walkback and not what he said in the video, so like, watch that)

[emmafreakecreations]

Making another post because once again the internet is being needlessly mean to something I hold dear with out context and without reading the source material. Specifically with the movie Uglies that just came out. It's not a bad movie if anything it's pretty accurate to the book it adapts with some slight changes they made probably to make the story more cohesive in a movie sense if they adapt the other books. And news flash these books were intended for teenagers so some of it may seem simple or shallow but they were written with teenagers in mind. Literally everything you find about the concept this dystopian future has in it is THE POINT OF THE STORY. LIKE IT IS THE POINT THAT THE UGLIES AREN'T ACTUALLY UGLY. THESE PEOPLE THINK THEY ARE, THEY ARE BRAIN WASHED. And no it's not trying to say ugly people are smart and good while pretty people are bad and dumb. The government needed a way for people not to question things so during the surgery they made people dumb- it's a critique on the beauty and plastic surgery industry. THAT'S HOW DYSTOPIAN GOVERNMENTS WORK. It's like in Fahrenheit 451 people are made dumb by not having access to books and other ideas outside of what the government is telling them. That is what is also happening in this universe. And don't say it's a rip off of hunger games or Divergent because guess what. These books were published before both of them. And this series deals with different concepts of society than what hunger games deals with so i feel like your comparing apples to oranges.

And for those of you who have read the books, guess what it's a different medium, it's not going to be exactly like the book. What's important is they got the concepts and ideas from the book and the spirit of the message which I think they did. Go talk to the Percy Jackson fandom rn and be humbled.

Once again to people who haven't read the books maybe admit you dystopian stories and move on. Because even with Hunger Games you can point at flaws in the story. The thing about dystopia is you have to suspend your disbelief sometimes other wise the whole world falls apart and message that the author was trying to convey gets twisted. And at the end of the day dystopia is supposed to be a warning.

Honestly the fact that the pretties basically have a snapchat filter on them to me feels like an update of the story. Snapchat filters are artificial just like the "beauty" that the pretties have. The beauty standards when the books were published are very different now. I still thought they were fake and uncanny because it was our beauty standard to the extreme not the beauty standard to the extreme 15 years ago. For those saying Peris looks like a ken doll, that's the point.

Everytime a dystopian story comes out everyone has to instantly nitpick it apart rather than just sitting with what the author is trying to say and it's getting old.

[lovemyromance]

How is elriel similar to feysand and nessian?

I actually don't think they're very similar 🤷🏻‍♀️

And the thing is, they don't have to be?

They do have one important thing in common though, kind of a non-negotiable in romances - they actually like each other and are attracted to each other

I like Elriel honestly because they're not like Feysand or Nessian. They're not screaming kicking enemies to lovers. They're not even mates (that we know of right now). But they still seek each other out. Bask in each others company. Find peace in one another. Understand each other without even words or that many interactions on the page. And god, do they have some ~sexual chemistry~ !!

It's refreshing to see a couple that's not enemies to lovers coming from SJM. She does a lot of the banter and fighting and angry fucking - but she rarely does the soft romance. I think Chaol/Yrene or Elise/Lorcan are the pairings I'd compare Elriel to, not Feysand or Nessian.

And again - Elriel doesn't have to be like Feysand or Nessian. Even if Elucien were to happen, I don't think it would happen like Feysand or Nessian. Simply because that's not Elain's character - end of story.

But people who ship Elucien like to say their ship is also like Nessian or Feysand which is why they think is endgame. Except it's not like them, in the sense that Elucien actively avoids each other and has no chemistry or mutual attraction (that we have currently seen). Eluciens tend to explain away their mutual avoidance of each other by saying "oh well that's how Feysand and Nessian started too" in an effort to justify their ship. Not realizing when they use that excuse, it's completely going against Elain's character as a whole.

Objectively, Lucien & Elain are nothing like the other two couples. And again - they don't have to be - but that's all I've seen antis use as an argument. Frankly I think trying to say Elain & Lucien are better suited for each other personality wise is a far better argument for Elucien than trying to compare them to Feysand and Nessian 🤷🏻‍♀️ (don't get me wrong I don't agree with that, but at least it's a stronger argument than saying Elucien is going to be just like Feysand/Nessian)

It makes no sense that people are comparing any pairing with Elain to pairings that are very clearly enemies to lovers, with both characters in the relationship being complete opposites of someone like Elain. People keep bringing up that oh "Rowan punched Aelin in the face" or "oh Rhys broke Feyre's arm" and I think it's just like comparing apples and oranges.

I don't believe it's in Elain's character to have any kind of "enemies to lovers" relationship. You can't compare her to someone like Nesta or Aelin or Feyre. Her personality itself is completely different.

In other words: If Lorcan had broken Elise's arm - or if Chaol had punched Yrene in the face - do you think either of those women would have then gotten with their LI? I don't think so.

An Elriel relationship fits perfectly with both their personalities. They don't have to be like Feysand & Nessian to still be endgame and still be a solid pairing.

Honestly if I do have to read another enemies to lovers, angry banter, borderline abusive couple from SJM - I might skip the next book entirely. Elriel is different, Elriel is fresh, and Elriel is coming 😍

[dearweirdme]

I see all those anons in our tkk blogs making thoughts and questions regarding jkk and how their supposed moments (insignificant and made up most of the times) compare to tkk or make them doubt tkk bond. I obviously know that most of the times its just a jkkr pretending to be a tkkr but I cant help but wonder. Do jkkrs talk about tkk like this in their blogs? Do they talk about tkk moments and how they are sus enough to make them doubt jkk?

Hi anon!

From what I’ve seen, jkk blogs are very hostile to anything that seems to question Jkk being in a romantic relationship. Maybe i’ve just seen the wrong blogs.. but mainly the responses to asks that are pointing to Tae and Jk being close, or Jm and Jk being just friends are met with harsh and often vile wording. The thing is, most jkkr blogs hate or dislike Tae. The best of them talk about him in terms of being Jm and Jk’s friend, but even those can’t stay away from the ‘seeking attention’ path. The worst of them are just plain idiots and the most vile human beings in fandom. Nothing they say can be taken seriously imo.

While many Tkkrs are aware of jkk ideas (how can we not.. there is no escaping it.. I’ve not gone to jkk blogs for months now, and I’m still aware of what they say), to me it’s apparent that Jkkrs aren’t actually aware of what we believe. That’s because we believe in our ships in different ways. Jkkrs mostly focus on the bigger moments. It’s things they can point at and say.. see, that’s sus. Those moments probably give them a rush so big that they disregard everything that happens inbetween and all alternative explanations. Jkkrs don’t test themselves, I think they are even afraid to do so.

Tkkrs’s views are different though. Our moments aren’t as outwardly big (though we have some ofcourse). But, we focus way more on the consistency and the intimacy all throughout Tae and Jk’s interactions. You can’t even explain this to Jkkrs, because when you talk about that.. they point to consistently driving the same car and consistently Jm being at Jk’s birthday. That is not what we mean with consistency though. We mean, that Jk and Tae are always (!) on a certain physical and mental lvel of intimacy. Way more than Jk and Jm are. It’s something that is so strong, but yet so hard to understand because of it being so consistent. ‘They always do that, that’s not new, that’s just because they know each other well, Tae always does that with Jk’… yes… exactly! It’s hard to argue with something that’s really kind of indescribable. It’s way easier to use outliers like GCF and Rosebowl for instance… that’s stuff that can be described easily.. while a vibe, feelings, a sense of closeness is tougher.

Aside from that… Jm and Jk’s interactions are way more in the open. Tae and Jk’s relationship is hidden.. it supposed to be hard to understand. We’re honestly comparing apples to oranges here.

I’ve had a weird influx of ‘neutral’ anons in my inbox. They all very obviously lean Jkk though, and it’s clear they have spent more time on Jkk side than on Tkk side… you can tell they use Jkk narratives and they don’t understand much of Tkk ideas.

[aeide-thea]

the thing is like. there was a particular context that sparked this but i honestly suspect it applies to most axes of marginalization—

like, sure, i think it's fair to be like 'pls recognize that if you pass as part of a hegemonic group, you aren't generally encountering the kind of e.g. physically violent bigotry that ppl who visibly defy the hegemonic standard often get subjected to.' certainly i think the sort of body policing i've personally experienced is more on the order of what, say, cis gnc dykes face than what ppl face who have visibly undergone some degree of medical transition. but like. it's all different points on the same bigoted continuum? like, ppl with so-called invisible* marginalizations are often not actively running into, say, physical violence precisely because they're preemptively enacting self-censoring violence on themselves, and are often in spaces where they're subjected to hateful rhetoric about characteristics the speakers don't realize they share. so it's violence against the psyche instead of violence that's physical, absolutely, but—i don't know. i fundamentally have never understood the—seemingly very common!—urge to compare apples to oranges and decide that one sort of fruit is categorically worse, instead of considering each on its own (de)merits in its own context.

like—i just get frustrated with how badly ppl always seem to want to take their pain out on also-marginalized ppl they see as More Conforming, instead of looking deeper to the actual overarching systemic prejudice which keeps all of us down, and which takes on whatever form is best suited to repress whatever resistance it's encountering. like i'm seeing it these days with theyfab discourse and i saw it last year with disability discourse and i saw it ten years ago with bi discourse and i wouldn't be surprised to hear it's also how intracommunity discussions of, say, colorism often go, and i just feel like. look. the internal emotional violence is the complement to the external physical violence, and the two pieces work together to enforce the same hegemony. no one subjected to either component is having a good time.

⸻ * though like. how 'invisible' are some of these things really. like. normies have remarkable spidey senses and they will ostracize you over 'hidden' qualities they instinctively subconsciously pick up on!

[hereticallyeverafter]

Ever since Sessrin became canon, the antis have just lost the plot- like, literally- and are copium spamming Sesskag on r/Yashahime and r/Inuyasha and, because the best opinions are unsolicited, here's mine: no.

more below, longish ♡

The thing with Literature and canon is, if you didn't see it, it didn't happen. That logic obv doesn't work in real life, but we're in Imagination Land rn. Canonically, Sess discovered the magic of empathy and, after roughly a year of travelling together, left Rin with Kaede's village. His whole thing was giving her a sense of agency and human companionship. But not once do we, the audience, see him do or say anything lascivious towards her.

What if I said, "I can't believe you guys would support a bank robber! Inuyasha prob wiped out someone's life savings!" you guys would be like, bitch, where?! Exactly. Honestly, it says something about a fan or audience member that they can stir themselves into a froth over a headcanon.

I think it reflects a lot of American Calvinist-inherited purity culture versus the total not-that of feudal era Japan too. There's only so deep you can compare sexual mores before you start realizing you're comparing apples to oranges. If you'd like a baby-level intro, YouTuber Linfamy does super entertaining breakdowns of life in early Japan.

Idk. I've been a fan since my childhood, and while Yashahime isn't perfect to me, that's ok, and I *am* super happy that Sess gets a more in-depth redemption arc.

[social-mockingbird]

I don't know if this helps, but oftentimes when I have to explain things to people, my brain decides to take a horrifically roundabout way to explain something very simple, and it is always very stressful to watch the light drain out of people's eyes, and to know I'm losing their attention and confusing them, and there is always a voice in the back of my head screaming because I wish I could just explain things more simply, but I can't, and it makes me feel awful. So, sometimes when people ask me about something that happened to me, I'm too tired to try to explain it, so I give them too little information, or next to none, and then it feels like I'm lying because I didn't give them the whole story.

All that to say, I am often tired of explaining my logic, or myself, so I omit huge swaths of information, or say nothing.

I know it's not the same as what you're worried about and dealing with, and I promise I'm not trying to compare apples and oranges. But I know that when your brain works differently, sometimes the way you feel like you have to cope sucks, and it's exhausting, and very lonely.

I don't know how to fix it, but you aren't alone in your worries, and honestly, your worries are incredibly understandable. If I found out my friend ended up lying to me about something because explaining it would have made them feel like an idiot or taken too much energy to explain and try to help me understand, it would make sense why they did it, and it would be understandable. Even if it's something you want to fix in the long run, it makes a lot of sense why it would happen, and I promise I'm not trying to excuse it because I know it bothers you, I just want you to know that you aren't alone in feeling like you have to use frustrating coping mechanisms to avoid overcomplicated, exhausting people interactions.

(Sorry for the long long ramble! If it doesn't help please disregard, I do NOT want to bog you down more or make you feel like you have to explain even more.)

how do u fix lying about things that u know someone won’t understand? Like “yes I already ate” because they won’t understand your fasting schedule. “Parking was full” because they won’t understand you tried and failed to operate the ticketing system. “Yeah I finished that book” because they won’t understand you have to read an equal amount of pages from all your books and you had to move on before finishing.

I feel like it’s actually a big issue of insecurity and dishonesty. But are you ever tired of explaining your logic and being called an idiot when lying will do? I feel like I lie like this everyday because I don’t want either side to expend the energy trying to figure each other out.

[sneezemonster15]

Hi! What do you think about this?

Is it true? Or ss shippers spread lies as always?

Hi.

It is legit. And he isn't wrong. However, Sakura is not really the heroine in this story, Sasuke is. One of the anime's directors also said this btw, lol. It's very hard to not see it. But Kishi obviously cannot say that in his interviews. He can't openly talk about the gay love story that he wrote in shounen. Sakura is a girl in the same age bracket and in the same team and she is used as a plot device to develop Sasuke and Naruto's dynamic. So she is given the epithet of heroine when the truth is that Sasuke gets all the tropes and visual imagery that a heroine gets in a love story. Naruto and Shippuden are love stories. And that's just a fact.

Kishimoto also said that he wrote team seven as a love triangle. SS think that Sakura is the centre of this love triangle when the very evident truth is that it's actually Sasuke. Lol. But they just conveniently skip anything that does not act in their favor, they are cute like that. They twist everything in the manga to suit their insane theories and when that doesn't work, they use novels.

Anyway, the excerpt of the interview you shared doesn't really speak in favor of SS. All Kishi is saying is that he felt embarrassed writing that scene. Honestly, Sakura WAS very cringe in that scene. She is obviously a fangirl, always was. She rebukes Sasuke because he doesn't share a single word with her, doesn't tell her anything. I find it very funny when people hype up team seven dynamic when one of the members doesn't even willingly talk with the other but is always ears for the third one ie Naruto. I don't know what makes SS feel so proud because the truth is Sasuke doesn't show a willingness to talk to Sakura at all. It's Always Sakura who tries to get his attention or get in close physical proximity with him.

Regardless, at first Sakura does seem like she is handling it maturely, without trying to manipulate him.

She is right when she says revenge in itself won't bring Sasuke happiness. Sasuke also understands this, and it thaws him a little towards Sakura. Which is why he relents and explains in more words than he has ever said to her, that his goals are central to his existence and he must do everything to make them materialize.

Kishimoto deliberately makes it cringe after this though. Sakura keeps talking about Sasuke as if they were a couple. Sakura says - "Revenge won't bring anyone happiness, neither you Sasuke, nor me."

Lol. How exactly does she figure what she feels is important to Sasuke when he doesn't even talk with her? Lol. Why and where does she think she fits in this whole equation? Sasuke is right, him wanting to avenge his clan has nothing to do with Sakura. Or Naruto. Or Kakashi. So why does she think it would matter to Sasuke how she feels about it? And so he tries to explain it to her because he is a kind boy and doesn't deliberately want to hurt her feelings for no reason.

But she really makes it worse after this, by making it all about herself.

She compares her loneliness, she who has parents, friends, and teachers to care for her, with Sasuke's loneliness. Who has no family. And none of the people in Konoha understand what he has been through, no one was there to care for him when he went through hell, all alone as an eight year old. Being with Naruto starts to heal him, like Oro notices very keenly, but then Itachi's visit happens and everything is unraveled.

She compares her apples with his oranges. Seriously, she has no sense of proportion, does she? What an insensitive thing to say to an orphan. And then, when Sasuke is not affected at all, she confesses to him. So. Much. Cringe. First time I saw this scene, I was like, haven't you embarrassed yourself enough? I was just trying to reconcile to the fact that you mocked Naruto for his orphan status, and then you say this to Sasuke?

I am sure everyone here knows people like her who make everything about themselves. It's quite exhausting to talk to them. But Sakura reminds me of this character, hardship one upper. Lol.

Kishi is such a sensitive writer when it comes to writing emotions, he writes the emotional scenes, especially with Sasuke, with such nuance and delicacy. And then here's Sakura, just crowding up the station with her freight train like confession that morphs from caring about Sasuke's feelings to caring about her own.

It started with - Sasuke you won't be happy even if you got revenge.

To - I won't be either.

To - I won't be happy if you left because I would be as lonely as YOU if you did. (And no, it's not the same as when Naruto tries to stop him from leaving, because for one thing, their love is mutual.)

To - Because I love you. So stay in the village for MY sake.

To - Or take ME with you.

Which is really sad. Because the reason why Sasuke mocked Sakura and called her annoying in chapter three in the first place was because she compared her predicament with Naruto's. She really has no sense of proportion, does she? What does she even know how it feels to be in Naruto's or Sasuke's shoes?

Which is exactly why Sasuke mocks her back. Which she remembers and even reminds Sasuke about it.

This is so ironic. It's her core memory about Sasuke and yet she really learnt nothing from it. Nothing. Sasuke schools her about the difference between her predicament and Naruto's back then.

And he schools her even in this scene.

Sasuke realizes that Sakura has not changed at all. She does the same thing here that she does in chapter three. She fails at understanding both Naruto's and Sasuke's feelings. And makes it about herself both times. Well, she is consistently portrayed as a self absorbed, narcissistic and entitled girl, who must acquire whatever she wants, even Sasuke, who doesn't want her back. Because blimp sized ego. She was trying to manipulate Sasuke so he would stay, for Her sake. She constantly overestimates her importance to both Naruto and Sasuke and fails every single time. Lol. Like when she fake confessed to Naruto thinking Naruto would jump at the chance to get it on with her and quit Sasuke and then she gets rejected lol after which Naruto confesses to Sasuke on the bridge and pledges to die with him. She again attempts to confess to Sasuke at the end of war arc and she again makes it all about herself. Because Sasuke's wish to get justice and reform the world is equal to her wish to have him stay with her because she can't help loving him. Lol. She is such an embarrassment man.

Finally Sasuke has had enough, this was a very satisfying panel btw. Idc if people take offense. But it's not a coincidence that every single time Sasuke gets triggered and calls Sakura annoying, it's always in response to her saying something very selfish, insensitive and disproportionate.

SS can give however many ridiculous (non) reasons, painfully twisted beyond recognition, but lol, they are just trying to cope.

Sasuke is a very perceptive person, deeply attuned to how different people think. He knows Sakura's true nature. He knows how shallow and self centred she is and that her treatment of people is full of artifice. That is why Naruto stands apart and one of the major reasons Sasuke likes Naruto is because there's no artifice in him. What you see is what you get, warts and all, his closetedness is also a part of his personality. Naruto is honest, raw, unrefined and gritty. He doesn't mix words, he is not really very skillful with them. And he doesn't care. Because what matters to him is his emotions, he wears his heart on his sleeve proudly, and Sasuke is in awe of his emotional generosity, just as Naruto is in awe of his intensity and resolve.

Coming back to the interview, Kishi is talking about how fans could perceive it (and SS have) as if they were lovers because Sakura gets so weepy and mawkish, announcing her confession in such a cloying manner. And this scene uses the common trope of the aspirational male character leaving the village to accomplish something and the heroine trying to stop him from leaving, punctuated by heavy emotional beats. But that's just the surface level reading of this scene isn't it? Kishi loves his parallels and his foreshadowing. He is very careful about the way he develops his characters and he won't write them to deviate from their characterization without a reason. Sakura has given Sasuke no reason to actually like her, in fact, she only underscores her inherently shallow and self absorbed personality with everything she says, which has undergone no change whatsoever till date.

Kishi painstakingly keeps her character consistently unchanged even in Boruto. She is the same manipulative, emotionally violent, self centred and egotistical person in Boruto, Gaiden at least, who treats her own daughter so badly when she asks Sakura uncomfortable questions about Sasuke.

Anyway, concluding this winding answer, this scene is quite cringey and Kishi is right in saying that it was embarrassing, because Sakura makes it so. Every. Single. Time.

It's so funny to me that fans simply ignore the fact that the emotional core of this story is based on the concept of truly understanding each other and empathizing. Sasuke doesn't give up till the end and only relents after Naruto lets him know of his feelings that finally resonates with Sasuke. Which finally makes him realize that he is not alone, and it makes him cross over to Naruto's side. Naruto makes a fine profession out of it for heaven's sake, his talk no jutsu being the tool of his trade.

Sakura never understood Sasuke. She never even attempted, she always kept on about her own needs regardless of how Sasuke felt about her or even generally. No one understood him, not Sakura, not Itachi, not Kakashi, no one. Until Naruto. That's why the story ended with their reconciliation. And not the war arc. Because the story is about them.

[writingwithcolor]

Jewish author writing about antisemitism; should I include racism too?

anonymous asked:

Hi! I'm a white Jewish person who's writing a story set in a fantasy world with a Jewish-coded culture. It's important to me to explore antisemitism in this distanced setting, and explore what the Jewish diaspora means to me. I have a lot of people of color in my story as well. I don't know whether I, as a white person, should include racism in a story if it isn't necessary, but I also don't want to erase the aspects of many mildly/moderately assimilated cultures that are affected by racism, and I also don't want to imply somehow that antisemitism is a more serious issue than racism, which is obviously not the case. I was thinking that bigotry might be more culture-based rather than ethnically or racially based, but again, I'm not sure how or whether to write about bigotry against cultures + groups based on cultures + groups that I'm not a part of, and people of color in the story would obviously have their own cultural elements. Is acknowledging bigotry necessary?

It's okay to focus on antisemitism

Other mods have important advice on what exactly might be helpful or applicable to include in your story and how. I want to take a moment with the anxiety you express that focusing on antisemitism and not talking about other types of xenophobia will imply to your readers that you think antisemitism is “more serious” than other forms of bigotry. I hear and honor that anxiety, especially since “Jews only care about Jews” is a stereotype that never seems to go away, so I’m going to say something revolutionary:

It’s okay to center Jews in a story about antisemitism.

There, I said it. But I’m not making the case that you shouldn’t include references to or depictions of other types of bigotry in your story. There are a lot of great reasons why you should, because of what it can do for the complexity of your characters, the depth of your worldbuilding, or the strength of your message about the nature of xenophobia, diaspora, etc.

- How your non-Jewish-coded characters react to the things they experience can affect whether they sympathize over or contribute to the antisemitism at the heart of your story.

- How other types of xenophobia do and don’t manifest in your world can help explain why your world has antisemitism in the first place, and what antisemitism consists of in a world that also contains other minorities outside of the fantasy mainstream culture.

- Including other real-world xenophobia can help you set your antisemitism in context and contrast to help explain what you want to say about it.

Both your story and your message might be strengthened by adding these details. But if you feel the structure of your story doesn’t have room for you to show other characters’ experiences and you’re only considering doing it because you’re afraid you’ll be upholding a negative stereotype of yourself if you don’t, then it might help to realize that if someone is already thinking that, nothing you do is going to change their mind. You can explore antisemitism in your story, but you don’t have the power to solve it, and since you don’t have that power you also don’t have that responsibility. I think adding more facets to your story has the potential to make it great, but leaving it out doesn’t make you evil.

- Meir

Portraying xenophobia

As someone living in Korea and therefore usually on the outside looking in, I feel that a lot of people in Western countries tend to conflate racism and xenophobia. Which does make sense since bigots tend to not exactly care about differences between the two but simply act prejudiced against the “other”. Sci also makes a point below about racialized xenophobia. I feel these are factors contributing to your confusion regarding issues of bigotry in your story.

Xenophobia, as defined by Dictionary.com, is “an aversion or hostility to, disdain for, or fear of foreigners, people from different cultures, or strangers”. You mention “thinking that bigotry might be more culture-based”, and this description fits xenophobia better than most other forms of bigotry. Xenophobia can be seen as an umbrella term including antisemitism, so you are technically including one form of xenophobia through your exploration of antisemitism.

I understand your wariness of writing racism when it doesn’t add to the plot, especially as a white writer. Your concerns that you might “erase the aspects of many mildly/moderately assimilated cultures that are affected by racism” is valid and in fact accurate, since exclusion of racism will of course lead to lack of portrayals of the intersections between racism and xenophobia. I want to reassure you that this is not a bad thing, just a choice you can make. No one story (or at least, no story that can fit into one book) can include all the different forms of oppression in the world. Focusing on one particular form of oppression, particularly one you have personal experience with, is a valid and important form of representation.

You also comment that you “don't want to imply somehow that antisemitism is a more serious issue than racism”, but I honestly feel that doesn’t need too much concern. Much like how queerness and disability are two separate issues with intersections, racism and xenophobia form a Venn diagram, with large intersections but neither completely including the other. A story focusing on autistic characters that doesn’t also have queer rep doesn’t imply queer issues are less serious. Likewise, a story focusing on antisemitism doesn’t imply racism is less serious.

I am slightly more concerned that there might be an accidental implication of antisemitism being a more serious issue compared to other forms of xenophobia. Of course, exploring antisemitism alone is completely valid representation, and there’s no need to go out of your way to try and portray other forms of xenophobia. A microaggression or two, or maybe a mutual bitch out session with a gentile but marginalized friend should be enough to show that antisemitism isn’t more (or less) serious compared to other forms of xenophobia.

-Rune

Avoiding racialized xenophobia

I think one thing you have to be careful with here is racialized xenophobia. Are your characters of color getting disproportionately more xenophobia than your white characters? You might be falling into the trap of racialized xenophobia, which falls under racism, which you want to avoid. An example would be “all Chinese scientists are untrustworthy, but not you, you’re one of the ‘good ones.’” Although this is technically xenophobia, it is also racism.

--Mod Sci

In the case you choose to include even small snippets of other forms of xenophobia in your story, attempting to portray xenophobia without the complications of racism can be a difficult process when they often go hand in hand (especially to a Western audience). So here are a couple of suggestions I have of portraying xenophobia without racism.

First and the simplest method is portraying xenophobia between people of the same race. For example, there is definitely xenophobia against Chinese and Japanese people in Korea, but it would be difficult to claim there is a racial component when all of us are East Asian. (Something you might want to be aware of here is intersections with colorism, where even within the same race, lighter skin and other more westernized features are considered more desirable. I suggest looking through our colorism tag for more details)

Another idea is to include microaggressions for specific cultures rather than something more broad. For example, calling Korean food stinky because kimchi has a strong scent is specifically xenophobic against Koreans, while commenting on small eyes can be directed against Asians in general.

Finally, while antisemitism is a form of ethnicity-based xenophobia, it is also a form of religion-based xenophobia. Muslims and Buddhists and Hindus can absolutely be xenophobic against each other with no racism involved. Should you choose this method, particularly if religious xenophobia is only shown in a shorter scene, I suggest you try and avoid portraying any of the above religions as the Bad or Oppressive ones. As a Christian I will unironically tell you that Christianity is a safe choice for a religiously xenophobic character, as we’re far less likely to face backlash compared to any other religion, and inspiration should unfortunately be overflowing in real life.

-Rune

Other forms of ethno-religious oppression

Here is my TCK perspective as someone brought up in diverse environments where there are often other axes of oppression including religion, ethnicity and class:

Racism and xenophobia can definitely be apples to oranges, so creating a universe where racism no longer exists or has never existed seems doable to me. Perhaps in your fantasy world, structures that buttress racism, such as colonization, slavery and imperialism, are not issues. That still won’t stop people from creating “Us versus Them” divisions, and you can certainly make anti-semitism one of the many forms of xenophobia that exists in this your story. Meir has hinted that your reluctance to declaratively show the harm of anti-semitism indicates a level of anxiety around the topic, and, as someone non-Jewish but also not Christian or Muslim, my perspective is as follows: I’ve always viewed anti-semitism as a particularly virulent form of ethno-religious xenophobia, and while it is a unique experience, it is not the only unique experience when it comes to ethno-religious xenophobia. I think because the 3-way interaction between the Abrahamic religions dominates much of Western geopolitics, that can be how it looks, but the world is a big place (See Rune’s comments for specific examples).

To that effect, I recommend prioritizing anti-semitism alongside other non-racialized forms of xenophobia along ideological, cultural and class-based lines for both POC and non-POC characters. Show how these differences can drive those in power to treat other groups poorly. I conclude by encouraging you to slowly trace your logic when depicting xenophobia towards POC characters in particular. Emphasize bigotry along axes of class and ideology, rather than traits linked to assumed biologically intrinsic features. Ultimately, I think recognizing commonalities between forms of ethno-religious oppression as a whole will help make you more comfortable in depicting anti-semitism with the seriousness it deserves without feeling as though you are trivializing the experiences of other groups.

- Marika

Worldbuilding ethnically and racially diverse cultures

As has been mentioned by other mods, I think it’s completely fine to focus your story on antisemitism and not portray other forms of bigotry if that’s the focus and scope of the story you want to tell. My fellow mods have also offered several valuable suggestions for writing about “culture-based bigotry” in general if that’s what you want to do, while making sure it’s not coming off as racially based. One element I can add is that from a worldbuilding standpoint, it will also help to have your fantasy cultural groups be ethnically and racially diverse. After all, this was common historically in several parts of the world, and depending on which cultures you’re basing your coding on, you could absolutely have fantasy cultures in your world that include characters we would read (according to our modern-day standards) as white, and others that we would read as people of color, within the same fantasy culture. All these characters would face the same culture-based bigotry (such as xenophobia or religious oppression), even though they are read by a modern audience as different races.

As a note, the reason I say “read as” and “according to our modern-day standards” is that the entire concept of whiteness as we know it is very specific to our current cultural context. Who is and isn’t considered white has changed quite a lot over time, and is still the subject of debate today in some cases. Your work will be read by a modern audience, so of course, you need to take into account our current understanding of race and the dynamics surrounding it. However, it’s also helpful to remember that our modern racial categories are fairly new in the context of the many millennia of history of humankind, and that they are certainly not inevitable. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking a fantasy culture has to align itself entirely with modern-day racial categories.

- Niki

[antianakin]

There's obviously a massive difference between what someone might consider worthy of "redemption" in real life (which is going to vary WILDLY from person to person), and what makes for a good "redemption arc" in a narrative. You're almost comparing apples and oranges here given how differently we accept things in fiction versus our actual lives. For example, I can look at, say, Obi-Wan and Anakin's relationship and feel like it might make more sense for Obi-Wan to give up on Anakin because that's what works for Obi-Wan's character arc, but if I had to deal with a similar situation with a sibling or close friend who committed that kind of atrocity against me, who knows how I would personally respond. There's so many places where what we want out of fiction and what we want out of life can overlap but there's just as many where they diverge and I think the concept of "redemption" is definitely one of those divergences most of the time.

We obviously agree on whether Anakin works as a redemption arc. I don't think what Anakin has is a redemption arc at all, nor do I think it was ever intended to be. The story feels like it's all about Anakin with the prequels and in some ways it still is, but the OT was obviously primarily looking at Luke and so Vader's sudden about face honestly says more about Luke than it does Anakin, which is likely why his final words are "You were right." Because it's validating LUKE to the audience since that's who the story is about. Unfortunately, when you turn that around and look at the story as being about Anakin, it has that weird effect of making Anakin seem so incredibly self-obsessed in his final moments lol. Instead of validating Luke, it seems to be saying like "Yeah I was a good guy, see? I was always a good guy, everyone who thought I was a villain was WRONG."

So I don't think Anakin is redeemed, nor do I think he was redeemable, because I don't honestly believe he was ever even given a redemption ARC of any kind. That's just not what's written. We barely find out that he's Luke's father until the end of the second film and his conflict about all of it is given like 5% of the third film's runtime. That's not an arc, that is at best a redemption 180. He's redeemed through death which is usually the laziest way to redeem a character because they have to do next to zero work. But if you see it as not a redemption at all, then it's less lazy and more of like a "this had to happen, there was no real way for Anakin to continue to live in the galaxy post-Empire because there's so little left of him at this point anyway." He's got that ounce of goodness left, that's it. He can make one last good choice to prove Luke wrong and allow the Rebellion to win, but it doesn't make him redeemed.

As for Zuko, I think that what you're talking about is a feature and not a bug. This might be where we diverge a little on what we want out of a redemption arc and where we consider a fictional character redeemed, but personally I don't know you can have a truly believable "redemption arc" if the character is an absolutely heinous person. Like this is exactly why I don't think Anakin's redeemable. Zuko is involved in helping some nasty people do some nasty things for his own selfish agenda, so he's still definitely someone who needs to learn and grow. But the fact that he hasn't done anything TOO heinous allows for that redemption to be more believable. Everything we DO see him do to others is something he can ultimately turn around and fix in some way. He can make personal amends to the people he's hurt and move forward from that. With someone like Zhao, there's nothing he can do to bring back Yue or the original moon spirit. There's nothing he can do to bring back the Northern Water Tribe people who died in his attack. So while he can potentially get forgiven by Zuko for the way Zhao treated him, he can't be redeemed for what he did to the Northern Water Tribe or the moon spirit. There just is no redemption there to be had, the damage is done.

But this is where I think you get back to a character like Eliot in Leverage. Eliot is a character who, if we were watching a show of him in his earlier years when he was doing really heinous stuff for some pretty nasty people, would be an absolute villain of a character. It would be very hard to feel like he was redeemable. But Leverage starts us off AFTER he's already left and chosen to be better and is very careful never to really go into detail about what he's done in his past, it's all left up to your personal interpretation. In order to have a "redemption arc" of sorts for a truly heinous villain, I think this is one of the best ways to handle it, by starting after they're not a villain anymore. This allows us as the audience not to associate them primarily WITH villainy and have to constantly be overcoming the fact that we watched them do things like murder children or blow up planets.*

So could you redeem a character like Zhao? Maybe. But his character is sort-of explicitly there to be the irredeemable counterpoint to Zuko so that Zuko can be seen as redeemable. There's a few other characters who play a similar role in later seasons. Even in the case of Anakin, there's always Palpatine as the irredeemable counterpoint that literally nobody even discusses trying to save, there's no tragic backstory for little Sheev because his entire narrative purpose is to make Vader seem less bad by comparison. Most redemption arcs that work better have that format of a bigger badder villain who can't be redeemed standing behind the one that can because it just REALLY helps the audience to buy into the redemption arc if you can say that at least they're not as bad as that other guy, they could've been way worse, etc.

My issue with Palpatine and Anakin is that I don't personally feel like Anakin and Palpatine are that different in terms of how villainous they are. Like we're supposed to believe Anakin is better than Palpatine primarily because he's related to Luke in the OT. That's it, that's really all we have to go on. Aside from Obi-Wan saying that he was a good friend once, but Obi-Wan also calls him "more machine than man" and advises Luke to not assume Anakin can be saved at this point, so that doesn't mean much. And even with the PT in the mix, we see Anakin do some absolutely horrific bullshit all on his own. The only thing making Anakin seemingly less bad than Palpatine is that Anakin has a backstory shown where he was not all bad while Palpatine is always shown to us as evil. But while Anakin IS evil, he's... pretty fucking evil. Anakin is too evil for the format to work for me, personally. Zuko works BECAUSE he's not as evil and most of the stuff he does more directly and personally are things he can also turn around and fix. Anakin can't fix ANYTHING he's done. Taking out Palpatine doesn't really fix or undo anything.

And that's why I'm not convinced that we're supposed to see it as a redemption arc at all to begin with. Because he's not even, truly, redeemed by the end. Lucas has stated at least once that he's not, specifically because he's done too many terrible things to be able to accomplish that.

*Technically, Eliot isn't even redeemed, so you could argue Eliot never HAS a redemption arc because he very specifically states in season 2 of Leverage: Redemption that he doesn't see himself as redeemed nor does he believe he ever will be.

I think what I'm starting to realize is that Darth Vader is redeemable.

Anakin Skywalker is not.

Darth Vader, the guy we're introduced to in the Original Trilogy, who we don't really know anything about, who Obi-Wan remembers fondly even as we know he's gone bad, who ISN'T associated with the end of the Jedi. Erase all the context of what we now know about Anakin Skywalker, his relationships with the Jedi, his actions on Tatooine, the way he treats Padme, his relationships with the clones, his relationship with Ahsoka, all of that. Erase it all.

All we have is Darth Vader. A guy whose worst acts are honestly relatively small and who is almost always up against a bigger villain. It's Tarkin who technically orders the destruction of Alderaan. And Tarkin dies at the end. By ESB, we start seeing the Empire and Vader's relationship to Luke is revealed, someone we love, someone we want the best for. So when you get to ROTJ and Luke says he might still have good in him, minutes before we meet the Emperor himself in person, it's not that hard to believe him. It's not that hard to believe that one last act of kindness is all it takes to absolve him.

Put everything else aside, JUST looking at the Original Trilogy, Vader's.... not THAT bad. His redemption works fine.

But Anakin Skywalker? Anakin Skywalker's been killing babies since he was 19 years old and never stopped. Anakin Skywalker betrayed 10,000 people who considered him family overnight. Anakin Skywalker betrayed several million good men into being brainwashed and turned into betrayers themselves. Anakin Skywalker betrayed the Republic he served, and the wife he did it all for.

You don't come back from that. You just don't.

Darth Vader without Anakin Skywalker's story was redeemable.

NOTHING Darth Vader ever does in the original trilogy is at the level of what we see Anakin Skywalker do over the course of the prequel trilogy and The Clone Wars show. Nothing. Nothing comes close except Alderaan and that's nowhere near as personal or direct as what he does to the Jedi and the Clones. It's also not a betrayal of any kind.

Anakin Skywalker's not redeemable. What he did can't be undone or fixed. There's no amends he can make because the people he'd need to make amends TO are all dead. Because of him. There's nothing left to BE redeemed.

And most of us CAN'T divorce Darth Vader from Anakin Skywalker anymore, you're not really meant to. They usually WANT you to remember Anakin Skywalker when they bring in Darth Vader to stories these days. Which makes that last moment of ROTJ just feel... so unearned now. So frustrating. Because the more we get to see, the more we're forced to remember everything Anakin Skywalker's done over the course of his life, the less his redemption works. Because the more we see, the more atrocities are revealed. More massacres, more murders, more planets and people eradicated from the galaxy forever. At what point does it become impossible to truly be redeemed for everything you've done? At what point is it impossible to ACTUALLY go back?

And it doesn't matter which version of the force ghost you get, either. If it's the older version, then Anakin gets to present himself as if he'd never done those things. If it's the younger version, then Anakin gets to present himself ONLY before he did some of his worst acts (although he's still a baby killer, let's not forget, so that's... suspect). Either way, the things he's done get to be forgotten. They no longer matter. Those people he killed, the people he betrayed, who will never be the same as they were. The galaxy he helped bring to its knees over and over again, that will take decades AT LEAST to recover from what he did to it, can't forget. But he gets to. He gets to forget.

And I don't find that very satisfying anymore.

[youarejesting]

Sly like a... ? - Part 1

[Master list] [Sly Master List] Beta: n/a (at the moment) Rating: All  Pairing: Hybrid!BTS x FailedHybrid!Reader Genre: Hybrid au, fluff, action, adventure, angst, drama, slice of life. Some marked chapters will contain mature/smut scenes, BUT they will not have plot in those scenes and are 100% skippable without losing your place in the story. Words: 1.6k

Summary: Human’s strive to be better, faster and stronger looking to animal DNA. Thus Hybrids are born. As the rise for designer and Pedigree Hybrids increase, so do the failed attempts. There is one species scientists are unsuccessful in creating, but, folklore says they have been here all along, hiding and blending in with the humans for many millennia. How clever they are.

[First] [Next]

Humans always strived to be better, faster, and stronger. So it was only natural for them to turn to genetic manipulation. Splicing the human DNA with that of animals. Bringing about a new half-human, half-animal race called Hybrids. They were like most things humans deemed different, scary, and an abomination. They were not allowed to be independent in fear of rebellion against the elite pure humans. These Hybrids were soon seen as lesser compared to the pure humans and were quick to be sold as servants to the rich and shady, and pets to the common families. The only problem was when the families no longer wanted their designer pedigree hybrid they were either abandoned, sold, or worse.

Hybrids didn’t have a voice. They were not allowed to live on their own unless they were fully educated with a bachelor’s degree. Due to these standards, many were sent back to the adoption agencies to be rehomed again and again until they reached a certain age. Then they were put down to make room for more returned hybrids.

You were working with the government on a program that could fix the hybrid rehoming issue. Having presented your idea to the board they seemed interested and were willing to grant you a small fund if you could give them the results they needed. They gave you a handful of Hybrids, one being Jimin the poster boy for the government. He was genetically modified to create a male calico with the classic calico print which was only found on females.

They succeeded and though Jimin was a male his features were more on the feminine side making him seem too androgynous but not what the market wanted. He was left to be used as a model on new billboards and television advertisements for government services and legislations regarding Hybrids.

Another participant was your neighbor’s hybrid, Taehyung. He was a golden retriever and was volunteered by his owner, an older gentleman who recently lost his wife. He was worried for the young hybrid that one day when he shall pass he will be alone and scared. You were quick to guarantee him a place in the program to help him become more self-sufficient in case anything should happen.

You were currently packing your things, not that there was much, living in such a tiny apartment. However, you were preparing for a call within the week regarding moving into a larger government-funded home where you could comfortably house the number of new participants of your trial program. The place was fully furnished with everything a large family of hybrids would need, all you had to bring was your clothes. Everything else was paid for to create the perfect environment for the hybrids. Rent, utilities, food, and anything the hybrids needed were all reimbursed by the government.

Since it would be a few days before you would hear anything, you thought it was best to start thinking of activities for the hybrids to get to know one another. Whilst also basking in your last moments of freedom before devoting yourself to the program. 

On that note, you had finally finished packing and decided to spend your hybrid-free moments treating yourself to some food. Pulled from your thoughts of a delicious omelet by a loud ping from your jean pocket. A reminder on your phone in bold letters.

H-week!

Today marked the first day of your heat, this explained the nagging twinge in your back you had been ignoring, you thought it was from hunching over to pack. Searching your top draw you saw the empty blister packet of heat suppressants, great another thing to add to your ever-growing to-do list. The pharmacy was a little further than the restaurant you wished to visit but not too far out of the way. So you set off hoping to get back in time before it gets too dark, your eyes did funny things at night.

See you weren’t exactly human yourself, you were an experiment. The world was creating new hybrids and well, you were genetically modified within the same year as Jimin. Supposed to be the new designer breed the ‘Fox-Hybrid’. The problem was it didn’t work, you were born entirely human. Sure you were a bit more agile, and your ability to hear and smell things was better than normal. You were still essentially human.

Once a month since you were thirteen, you would get a strange feeling in your lower abdomen. When you discussed it with the scientists for your check-up, they had explained it was a heat. Whilst foxes usually had a heat once a year lasting three days, yours would happen once a month lasting three days but a lot milder. 

Since that day you have taken a low dose heat suppressant to nullify any pheromones. You were grateful because it wasn’t as painful or as long as a human period, but it wasn’t as debilitating or humiliating as a real heat.

You had grown up seeing Jimin on occasion and were familiar with how debilitating hybrid heats and ruts were. Even so, the two of you became friends, both failed attempts at modification.

Though you never understood why they said fox hybrids didn’t exist, you had seen them. Sometimes in grocery stores, restaurants, or nightclubs. They would be there, they would wink at you or wave, give you a smirk with a twitch of their ears or a swish of their tail. Were they mocking you for being a defect?

The only good thing accompanying your long journey was the music humming softly in your headphones. Used to drown out the loud sounds of the city, as your ears were sensitive. It also helped you ignore the side-eyes from Hybrids who would not so subtly sniff the air as you passed. 

You caught a flash of orange and looked across the street. A simple fruit shop that had a colorful awning flapping in the gentle breeze.

Moving around the store was a shopkeeper in a green apron, shirt, with his bronze hair sticking out underneath a matching cap. He was putting down a tray of banana’s and as he stood, a pair of ears and a bottle brush-like tail were visible, he turned as if sensing your presence and locked eyes with you, tipping his cap. He dusted his hands on his apron, leaving you shocked. A Fox hybrid in public! No one else seemed amazed or even spared him a glance. How could no one see this?

It was like a scene from a movie, as a truck drove past leaving the man looking completely innocent and human talking to a few ladies. He was quite good-looking and charming, but there was no sign of a tail. The women were quick to fall for him, purchasing an oddly large selection of fruits and vegetables. You turned back to the path ahead of you shaking your head in disbelief, before continuing on your way to the pharmacy.

The pharmacy catered for humans and hybrids alike and was never too busy. Which made it your favorite store to collect your script from, as there was little to no waiting time. Handing over the script, you strolled around the store wondering what you would need for these Hybrids. Toothbrushes? Combs? If they had a lot of body hair would they need the silky coat shampoo formula or the soft fur body wash? Placing the hybrid shampoo and body wash back on the shelf you shook your head honestly this was overwhelming. 

Rubbing your aching stomach, you were too uncomfortable to really get into hybrid care right now. You wouldn’t have to worry about any other heats apart from your own as it was decided with the board they would all be male hybrid participants. This stemmed from Taehyung being already a willing participant from the start, they thought it best not to mix male and female hybrids.

You would however have to deal with their ruts, albeit once or twice a year. You chewed your lip in thought pausing in the makeup section of the store. You caught your reflection in the small mirror and preened thoughtfully, your eyes were expressive and angular, your hair due to the modification was a brilliant copper.

You were quite beautiful, eerily so, like the man at the fruit shop. Your features were so similar. Even though you were a defect and he was the real deal. “Ma’am your order is ready.”

Turning surprised you grew hot in embarrassment, stammering to make an excuse, “Sorry, I was just thinking about a really strange fox hybrid at the fruit shop.”

Many occupants in the store turned confused and you heard an old man say, “Fox hybrids don’t exist, they are sinister creatures and not to be meddled with”

“She must be a conspiracy theorist,” one woman whispered to her hybrid snake who was donating venom for anti-venom.

Paying for the medication you left quickly and took one of the small pills as you stepped out of the store. Why didn’t anyone else see them?

You headed back towards your home, not forgetting the reason for your trip. You were excited about an omelet at your favorite restaurant when two apples came rolling across the pavement. 

They rolled towards you, quickly picking them up you carried them inside the store, “excuse me, sir you dropped some of your apples,” You saw his shadow in the darkened store, two pointed ears, and the flick of a tail.

“Are you a fox hybrid?” You asked curiously and he laughed. It was strange like snickering but at a pitch that was not fit for a grown man, like a child’s giggle sharper with a few squeals, or like a bird chittering. You know the sound. He was Gekkering like a fox.

“Thank you,” he took the apples gesturing you over to the side, “let me get you some blueberries, they are my favorite.” 

“Oh thank you, sir, how much do I owe you?”

He shook his head, thrusting a black plastic bag into your hands, “It’s okay, we have to look out for one another.” 

What a strange man…

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[theseerasures]

a yearning nation’s blueeyed pride

honestly there is just like. no point as of Witch (if not earlier) in thinking about Marrow and Winter as following along the same defection path, and downright facile to compare the two in terms of who is “closer” to defecting and therefore “less problematic” (even setting aside that making value judgments along those lines in fiction is...never that straightforward), when the narrative has emphasized REPEATEDLY how they are on entirely separate tracks in terms of character and role in the Atlas military.

seriously, it’s like saying “this orange is bad because you can’t eat the peel like you can eat an apple skin”

so like, yes, Marrow is the one who has verbally expressed his misgivings, and has clearly articulated scruples (as opposed to just the dial-up noise) and will blurt them out any second now as soon as he gets a word in edgewise. but also: Marrow HASN’T gotten a word in edgewise (except with Winter, fancy that), and has done approximately fuck all to actually subvert the system that he is growing to hate. both his theory and lack of praxis are tied into Marrow’s relatively low, overlooked position in the Atlas system, and feed into the fact that for Marrow the project of Atlas is not personal.

Marrow joined the military on ideological grounds. he clearly does want personal connection, but that has been denied him at every turn, largely by his teammates, largely by his partner, all of whom use him to enforce their own struggles with the clash between political duty and personal grief. he has been alienated by the system he upholds, which started even before we meet him. this makes it much harder for him to rebel in deed, because he doesn’t have a lot of power to begin with and he knows the system will not protect him if he does; at the same time, that relative powerlessness and isolation keeps his investment in Atlas abstract, uncomplicated, and much easier to dispel. Marrow is still with Atlas because he has a job to do, because it’s his duty, because he is still clinging to the Atlas military’s illusory altruism. he wants Penny to come with them so she can save Atlas. his protestations at seeing Team FNKI, that they are “just kids,” comes from the belief that it is categorically wrong to send children into battle. what is keeping Marrow from defecting is belief, and once the belief is shattered--like, say, when his boss’ new ingenious plan is to Nuke the Poors--there is nothing keeping him around.

and once his path is set he will not waver, because Atlas, by design, has no hold on him materially or personally (outside of his own life, which he was already happy to dedicate to a cause). Marrow then, is the limit case of Atlas being hoist with its own petard: an exemplar for how it gives its people nothing while demanding everything, but also an exemplar for how quickly the entire system folds in on itself when the veil is lifted. when Marrow defects (and it IS when) it will represent Atlas as a whole defecting from itself, even if we don’t see it visually--from the civilians, to the enlisted soldiers, to perhaps even members of Marrow’s own team.

NONE of the things i just mentioned really apply to Winter, because there is nothing about Atlas that is not personal for Winter.

i have no doubt that Winter is in some ways invested in same abstract principles that swayed Marrow, but that is constantly overridden by the fact that Winter has family at all sides of this, even before everything fell to shit, and the narrative will not stop reminding her.

“what about your sister?” “would you say the same thing if it was your sister inside?” her father was gunning for a seat on the Council. the man who took her in is essentially Head of State. Penny has made herself Public Enemy Number One, and Weiss is actively abetting her. even Whitley has now thrown himself into the fray, unbeknownst to her. and another person might be better at compartmentalizing all this the way Winter clearly wants to, and stick to the party line, but Winter cannot, because the more i watch her the more i’m convinced that the current crisis in Atlas is just a microcosm of the real issue, which is to say: everything is personal in Atlas for Winter, because everything is personal for Winter.

at a moment-to-moment level, and especially when backed into a corner, Winter defaults not to ideology but her tightly coiled lattice of personal relationships. and this makes perfect sense, because Winter grew up in a household where she had to perpetually crisis respond, and then she never stopped. Marrow does what he does because he believes in the dream, in making the world a better place, and therefore it is more difficult in some respects for him to defect, because it involves taking a long hard look at and then rejecting the structures he bought into and made himself complicit in. once lines are crossed and he DOES do that, though, he’s home free. for Winter, there are no lines to cross, because all Winter wants in the end is to throw her arms around everyone she cares about and drag them to safety. to keep them there, closely held, where she can see them and make sure that they stay safe.

but what’s tricky about Winter--what’s fascinating to me, what Jacques tried to beat out of her, what James alternately capitalizes on and tries to quash, what she resents about herself--is that in times of crisis (which for Winter is again ALL THE TIME), “everyone she cares about” becomes everyone, so that suddenly she takes a shine to the General’s war machine, so that she’s risking her life to give Penny and Fria a few more seconds of time, so that she’s stepping in front of Elm’s incoming fist, so that she’s letting JYR go rescue Oscar. Marrow has ideals he values, but at her core Winter has nothing but the people, who are real the moment she sees and feels them--real enough to defend, or defend against.

Winter jealously protects her web of people, but that web will also spiral out to infinity if she lets it--so she doesn’t. she has adamantly refused to move out of the mode where she lives present-by-present, only reacting to what is right in front of her, what she has been told, weighing her own life against the people who are closest, and no more. this is unquestionably a trauma response, but it’s also reinforced by 1) her choice to become a career soldier, and 2) the fact that Winter actually HAS quite a bit of power, and she knows that. but she has never trusted herself with any of it, largely because her hypervigilant response to situations has only ever been chastised instead of rehabilitated. Winter knows the weight of her name and her position, but she constantly tries to ignore it, or run away from it, so that she is only ever the heiress, the second-in-command, and never the Queen. she cannot be a leader until she is Good (that is to say, perfect and rational), so she tries to obliterate her power the same time she obliterates that pesky personhood: remaining still for as long as possible, avoiding situations that she knows will prompt action and choice, and when absolutely pushed to think through her power, moving the pieces around with extreme caution, hoping that the world won’t be burnt black by it.

Marrow and Winter are fundamentally at opposing ends of the personal-political bleed, and the story could NOT telegraph it any more clearly than their conversation in Witch, where Marrow makes a personal plea to Winter so that she can make a call far beyond just that, and she refutes him, by reminding him of his obligation to Atlas in the form of impersonal duty.

i’ll conclude by pointing out that there is something very interesting happening with Winter right now, that exceeds her power in-universe. because even as a Schnee, as Ironwood’s protege, what Winter can do is limited (partly because she limits herself), except for how the story has resolutely centered her actions and MADE them significant. in the course of this war Winter has let herself make exactly two choices--both of them noninterventionist, easily justifiable, and not meant to take any ideological stand--and they ended up altering the entire fabric of the war with Salem. all because she loved her sisters more than her duty. all because she was shown a slim chance to save the kingdom and a fourteen-year-old boy, and she thought just for an instant, what’s the harm

(and James Ironwood will never know. that even with his plan, his bomb, all his ships, all his soldiers...he was no match for her. his loyal lieutenant. the only child he will ever have, who has only ever called him “sir.”)

it is not about what Winter COULD have chosen in those moments, if she had the ability to stop Penny and Weiss from leaving, if JYR were even Oscar’s rescuers, in the conventional sense. it is about the fact that she DID make those choices, and the story has made them reverberate, in spite of the fact that she did not mean for them to. Marrow’s story is about being neglected and overlooked by the system, the moment of recognition that it needs you more than you need it, that there are so many more of you, and together you can stop chasing the dream and make your own. Winter’s story cleaves to the heart of not just Atlas, but the RWBY monomyth, which goes something like: stars are like us. the world was created because two brothers could not get along, and sundered because a woman could not cope with her grief. just because you move closer to the elite, to the center, to the top, to the sublime, it does not mean that you move farther from the fallible. we are all, at our deepest layer, people.

but the world does not tremble any less for it.

[sn33z3s]

not sure if it’s really worth making a whole post about or even a twitter thread (the latter primarily because discussing some stuff in any capacity on twitter terrifies me, honestly) but points from my last reblog - specifically about cartman being the face of south park (though stan remains the protagonist or at the very least the character whose eyes we use) - make me loop back around to assburgers, yet again, as... not conceivably the “death” of stan/kyle. i know i talk about that arc a lot, but it feels like the current backbone with which to claim trey parker has tossed stan & kyle’s relationship away

trey probably isn’t going to care much to juggle(?) all the sp dynamics in a perfect balance because that’s not how they plan the show, and comparing certain relationships is apples to oranges, but anyway, it makes me think more and more about how stan/kyle is a steady yet volatile hum, not necessarily a violent cacophony. buny and i had lunch with a friend today and spoke with him about south park, and the only character he could name was cartman. i guess in my memory cartman was indeed a slightly less popular character within the shippy part of the fandom (i joined in 2008), but still, since the cartman-kyle dynamic carries the iconic comedy of the show (versus stan-kyle, which i would say carries the innocence and the heart), i’ll never quite understand framing assburgers as a shoot-down for s/k and its shippers. because like... it literally focused strongly on stan & kyle, how they would carry their relationship troubles, and how trey made them into individual characters

i feel like some one-person mandela effect wherein i’m questioning the style fandom’s initial reaction to ygo + assburgers. outside of rightful frustrations towards either stan or kyle, most regarded it as a big fucking deal, in the positive sense. i’m sure that feelings were mixed, but i don’t recall them consisting of, like, primarily despair. i do remember thinking the peaceful cartman-kyle interactions were placed in assburgers as not quite an obstacle, but purposefully unusual; that was generally widely accepted, and yeah, it’s fodder, but...

similarly, stan & kyle not getting along is also unusual and after a certain point, became used more and more to amp drama, because the crux is that they are best friends (see: post-covid and return of covid). then again, if a person dislikes s/k, they will inevitably see assburgers as detrimental to style being canon, or whatever. that’s fine. but positing that as fact is what i have to say “hmm” to

[me: not sure if it’s really worth making a whole post about

also me: (see above for joke?)]

[bitchslapthatboy]

Save It For A Rainy Day

I've been a little lost, these last few months. Between the pandemic, and work, and family, and really just life, I've had a hard time finding my way through. And my writing has been pushed to the back burner while things sort themselves out, but lately I've found myself craving something familiar, some sense of home. A home that I often find between the pages of worn books and in the arms of old friends. So in light of that, I thought I'd share some of my favorite comforts: fanfiction. Because what could be better than a story that combines your love of a good book with the friendship of favored characters?

Like Lovers (Or Partners In Crime) TheInvisibleDisaster

Lenny x Midge / The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

Though it's not a ship I think will ever fully set sail, no one can deny the chemistry between these two. That being said, little story will set your heart aflutter with the obvious love and passion these two have for each other.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/23134975/chapters/55362139

The Debt of Time ShayaLonnie

Sirius x Hermione / Harry Potter

This, THIS, is probably my all-time favorite fic. It's wondrously long and achingly beautiful and so perfectly thought out. At this point, I've accepted it as canon. It was the first time turner fic I ever fell in love with and, honestly? Nothing else compares.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/10672917/chapters/23626929

How To Win Friends And Influence People OlivieBlake

Draco x Hermione / Harry Potter

If you know me, you know that OlivieBlake and EliMorgan are my two favorite fanfic authors (seriously, go read anything and everything they've written and try and tell me you haven't fallen completely in love) But there is something truly magical about this little fic right here (though little might not be the right word). I live for the Slytherins and shenanigans that always have a prominent spot in her stories, and this one is certainly no different.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/11208228/chapters/25035075

Apples And Oranges EliMorgan

Fenrir x Hermione / Harry Potter

Speaking of EliMorgan, this one is my current favorite of her's. It's not finished yet, but is already worth reading a thousand times over. This is the story that introduced me to the Fenrir/Hermione ship and oh my god, it does not disappoint.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/15024377/chapters/34829630

Grade A American Beef ACaseOfTheMondays

Bucky x Darcy / Marvel Cinematic Universe

This fucking fic. I squealed with glee, I sobbed with anguish, I cackled like a witch in the forest. Its so fucking good. The first chapter alone is reason enough to swear eternal loyalty to this fic. If you love the fandom bicycle (Darcy) and the brooding murder strut (Bucky), you'll LOVE this story.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/14276592/chapters/32929938

My Two Front Teef ChrissiHR

Bucky & Darcy / Marvel Cinematic Universe

This is straight up fluffy goodness that will absolutely steal your heart. Though heavily Christmas based, it's magical and wonderful and oh so very fluffy. If you need a little dose of joy, give this one a try.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/8717095/chapters/19985182

Pins In The Map Wright_Or_Wrong

Annie x Jeff / Community

So I started reading this when I was still watching Community for the first time through and oh my gods, it's so good I had to consistently remind myself that it wasn't actually canon because I kept expecting the story to continue out on screen. Seriously, though. This is *chef's kiss* perfection.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/4350974/chapters/9869393

So there we have it, some nice little pick-me-ups that you can save for a rainy day. Though if it were up to me, I'd already be curled up in a blanket on the couch with my head in a lover's lap as I re-read each and every one of these over the course of an afternoon.

x.

[thorniest-rose]

I am IN LOVE with your frequent comparisons of Daniel as a piece of fruit, or his interactions with fruits. Makes me all fuzzy inside. The peach comparison is PERFECT, makes him feel so soft and supple, you gotta take care of him right or else he'll start to show the signs....

Oh my gosh thank you!!! I do have a habit of comparing Daniel to a peach don't I? Pretty sure I've been doing it since "ace of hearts" which was my first lawrusso fic. Maybe it's a little cliché, but I love fruit imagery, and it just comes naturally when describing Daniel. Especially when you watch The Karate Kid; he's so soft and dewy when he first gets to Reseda and then as soon as he meets Johnny he spends a bulk of the film looking bruised and beaten, like an apple that's been kicked around and lost its shine.

Plus fruit has such a rich history when it comes to the arts! In painting and literature it's used to denote things like vitality, youth and abundance, and "ripe fruit" is so often a metaphor for a beautiful youth who's just reached puberty. You see it all the time in movies for example when teenage girls are sucking on glossy cherries and biting into drippy pieces of orange. And then there’s its history in the LGBT community, fruit being a slur that’s been reclaimed in recent years and a frequent way of denoting queer desire: take books such as “Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit” or the infamous peach scene in “Call Me By Your Name”.

So I love the idea of Johnny looking at Daniel and seeing him like a piece of fruit: as something tantalisingly soft and tempting, but agonisingly fragile too, with this outer layer of skin that'll bruise if it's handled too hard. Like maybe if he dimples his fingers too hard into Daniel's skin, the impression of his fingertips will remain, like indents in candle wax. And that juxtaposition has Johnny perpetually on edge because he doesn't know if he wants to reach out to touch Daniel - to feel how soft and supple he is, his skin like a downy peach - or if he wants to crush him, too see him drip hard all over his fist. I can really see that intermingling of violence and desire informing Johnny's dynamic with Daniel, at least at first.

And honestly I'm crazy about citrus fruits anyway, both how they look and taste. One of my softest daydreams about lawrusso, which I've posted about on here, is Daniel peeling an orange for Johnny. I don't know, there's something about it. Maybe it's the small act of feeding someone, of providing. Of doing something as delicate as peeling a fruit for someone you love, almost as an aside, doing it without thinking. There's an easy but profound sense of intimacy to that. And because Daniel and Johnny spend so much time at each other's throats in the film and show, I love the idea of them performing these soft little rituals together.

I also love writing about food and thinking about what it represents in a relationship / preparing and serving food as a form of intimacy. For example, I want to write this prequel fic to "as dark as a wounded doe", about Daniel looking after Johnny when he's in shock after the tournament. And it's literally just Daniel making Johnny tea with honey in it and then peeling an orange for him, and making him eat it, slowly segment by segment, then getting up in the morning and making him breakfast. And it's like through these small acts of feeding, Daniel breaks through the ice wall and a bond starts to form between them. Especially as the softness of it would be such a contrast to the relationship Johnny had with Kreese, which was all about power and what Kreese could take from Johnny, how he could whittle him down. Daniel doesn't want to take, he wants to give and provide, and I think Johnny would get hooked on that.

This feels valid too as the making and serving of food is at the heart of so many Italian family traditions. I can see Daniel and Lucille being like that and cooking a lot together at home. And as Johnny and Daniel get closer, Johnny inevitably comes round more and more, like a stray cat in need of affection, and because he wants to be close to Daniel. And through these dinners, and the ongoing ritual of fruit giving (in "as dark as a wounded doe" Johnny also cuts up an apple for Daniel with his pen knife and feeds him pieces), the boys' bond, and their desire for each other, deepens.