#hope this rant helps…someone

[christaline]

Yes all this. I’d like to just add my experiences as someone who’s into that neither has the money nor the “ideal body” for it.

Seriously, take this advice. When i was younger i did not know about all the bs, awful quality “dresses” on shit sites like milanoo and the like. I would buy them and never be satisfied with the look or the shape and would only be able to wear them once or twice. It was a waste of money. I wish i had pictures of some of them bc they were dreadful😆. When i say “don’t buy on ebay or wish or anything” I really am not putting anyone down. I get it, you want the look but it’s out of your price range and those seem like viable options. But let me tell you, what is in that picture is not what you will get. I recommend always looking at the reviews with pictures. Does it look weird on the person? Is it overly wrinkled? Is it actually constructed the same as the picture? Look closely and you will see the dress in the pics and the dress people get is entirely different and made with different materials. Usually really cheap polyester. Some people (smaller folks, sorry) can make that work for them but if ur bigger, just don’t waste your time.

I would not personally buy a dress for less than like $60-80 on a resell site. My ccat rainbow dollhouse was like $40 on sale lol. The other was like $110 (i did it for the color😭). Just be very careful out there bc I’ve also just gotten completely scammed (thankfully i was given a refund but i would have been out $116!).

I definitely can vouch for 42lolita. I buy my tops and bloomers from them. Just make sure if ur a bigger girl, to be careful cuz i have some stuff I cant fit (gonna have to taylor it).

Lacemarket has been my go to. People are super kind and accommodating. If you need a payment plan, just ask. No harm in doing that, the most they can do is say no. I’ve bought most of my stuff from there. I got my dream dreas, AP Little House (in blue!!!!!!) from there for $310. The sellers let me do a payment plan of $100 bi weekly. I’m definitely not saying everyone has to do that tho. But it can be a real help if you are looking at a brand dress that’s high to be able to work out a payment plan. The thing i like about lace market is that you are talking to a fellow lolita. They’re gonna understand what you’re talking about if you have questions and most people love to answer them even if you aren’t buying (but u probably should be buying if ur gonna ask alot haha).

Also, you can kind of get away with buying some decent shoes or jewelry on aliexpress. I have two pairs of nice shoes from there. Obviously, look at the reviews and never buy from someone with 0 reviews (and I personally don’t buy from anyone with a low number of reviews or no picture reviews).

(I swear i have more dresses lol i just never take pics).

These two pics are of my ccats. Both pics have shoes from aliexpress. The bonnet is from lacemarket (it’s so nice…omg…). The petticoat is from a website called vintage fashion (I’m going to get another bc i want a different shape) and the bloomers are from…either 42lolita or devilinspired (uhm, this place can be iffy, i only buy tops and a few accessories…use caution here). Both these looks were bought over the course of months to years. Don’t rush your wardrobe, man. It’s gonna take a long time. I’ve been buying for 2 years and only have 7-8 dresses and one skirt lol. I just have alot of tops to mix and match. Well, I’m rambling here’s my list of really cool places that’s good for all my lolitas on a budget but still want to be the doll that they are:

42lolita

Lacemarket

Onigeishi shop (idk how to spell it)

Melikestea

Lolitawardrobe

Etsy (accessories, some independent makers sell thru etsy)

Aliexpress (for shoes and accessories)

Theres more but i am blanking right now lol.

My friend is getting some crap on instagram about perceived classism in the lolita community, and as someone who runs a budget-focused lolita fashion blog, I'm going to rehash some of the old "but I can't afford burando!" conversation.

For some background reading, here's where I bought three "lolita" "dresses" off ebay, and what I actually received for my money. And here's a breakdown of one of those specifically. I'm linking to these because I want everyone to remember that the pictures on ebay, amazon, wish, etc do not represent what the actual piece you receive will look like.

Lolita fashion can be expensive, but the less expensive end of legitimate lolita fashion is not actually as expensive as many people think it is. It's not all $300 for a dress and $60 for a pair of socks. There are options that bring the price down to other fashions. It cannot compete with the hyper-fast fashion of Shein and H&M and other places where the clothing is designed to be disposable. This is because lolita clothing is not disposable. Even modified or damaged, lolita fashion pieces have resell value. It's very common for people to be wearing garments that are over ten years old. There's also a lot of documentation about how hyper-fast fashion is damaging to the environments where it's made and the people who made it.

Okay, so that's all very fine and well, but it's true that recognizing that something is worth the money doesn't actually get you the money to buy it. There's a lot of things that I recognize are worth the money it costs to buy them, but that I don't have the money for. I don't drive a high-end electric car, even though I think it would be a better choice for me, because I don't have the money for a high-end electric car. So I do, very distinctly, understand that. I'm not about to tell someone "just save up for it!"

But, when someone tells you that you cannot buy lolita fashion on wish dot com, they're not actually saying "you won't be accepted in a wish dot com dress." They're saying, "any money you spend on a wish dot com dress will be wasted, because you will not receive a usable garment." Let's play pretend for a second. You come up to me with $20 and say, "I'd like to buy clothes." I say, "Good. I'll sell you some clothes." I then take your $20 bill, rip it into small pieces, eat all of the pieces, and say, "that's your clothes." Now, you didn't actually get any clothes from that, and there's no way you're getting your $20 back because I have consumed it. Your friend comes up to me and says, "Hi, I'd like to buy clothes." You say, "Don't give her that $20! It will be a waste of money!" Your friend says, "That's classism, because I only have $20." That's the conversation that's happening right now on my friend's instagram.

Classism does exist in the lolita fashion community. It can even come from people with good intentions. But, when it comes to buying on Ebay and Amazon and Walmart.com, people who are saying, "you can't buy lolita fashion on walmart dot com," aren't saying, "we won't accept your walmart dot com dress, because it was cheap." What they're saying is, "the thing that the site is telling you that you're buying and the thing that you will receive are going to be two different things. The thing you will receive will barely be a garment." There's a reason why, when I say "lolita dress from ebay," I have to typeset it as "'lolita' 'dress' from ebay," because it will probably be neither lolita nor a dress.

If you're new to the fashion and want a good shopping resource, 42lolita is a reseller/shopping service that will tell you what the shipping will be up front. Many other resellers will send you the shipping costs after you make the purchase, which makes it harder to predict what you'll be paying. You won't be getting a dress for $20 on 42lolita or anywhere else, but the prices they charge are more in line with shopping at a department store, rather than shopping at a big name designer store. There's a lot of other ways to purchase lolita fashion, and I just used 42lolita as one example.

The number of people who genuinely want the fashion to be as expensive as possible is not all that big. Even people who occasionally buy a $300 dress enjoy finding inexpensive accessories and support pieces. Finding lolita-usable jewelry on the Walmart clearance rack is a thing that's exciting to most people in the fashion. If there was a secret to buying $20 dresses on ebay and getting something that could be used in the fashion, people in the fashion would absolutely already be doing that.

So anyway, yeah, there's classism in the lolita community, but telling someone that they should not give me $20 for clothes when experience shows that I'm just going to rip it up and eat is not classism. Friends don't let friends spend money on badly made replicas on aliexpress.

[anetherealpoetess]

i am a proud feminist, i love haladriel, and i double majored in english literature and communications, so let me just use those credentials to elaborate on the following. choice feminism underscores the idea that empowerment lies in an individual woman's decisions, advocating for the idea that any choice made by a woman is inherently feminist.

however, this individualistic approach, which emphasises personal empowerment over collective empowerment, has created interesting ramifications in how romantic stories are perceived within a feminist framework. namely, choice feminism has intersected with longstanding patriarchal ideas that romance is somehow regressive.

below, i unpack how focusing on galadriel's romantic connections resists both patriarchal and choice feminist ideals that push for an isolated, individualist version of womanhood, which is a lesser version of womanhood, honestly.

both the patriarchy and choice feminism are anti-romance because romantic narratives place the most importance on connection, which contradicts the individualistic ideal of a self-reliant, self-defining woman. but women are not self-reliant, and we are not self-defining. we exist within a larger feminist framework, and men for bi and straight women are often a part of that framework, and this is no different for the female characters we love. to take a female character out of her romantic context is reductive. it reinforces patriarchal ideals that devalue connectedness.

(and why does the patriarchy dislike connectedness? in short, one woman is easy to stop, but a community is a lot harder to control. this is why choice feminism has been allowed to thrive under the patriarchy, because it focuses on the individual, and, as we have established, the individual is no threat.)

you might be thinking: what has this got to do with haladriel or any other ship?

well, this trend of viewing romance as an inherently regressive force aligns with patriarchal attitudes that have long devalued women’s community-oriented narratives as irrational or anti-progressive. and, make no mistake, romance is a community-orientated narrative. romance places a character within a larger context--and by that, i do mean a community--which pushes against the patriarchal and choice feminism ideal of the self-defining woman.

enjoying galadriel primarily through her relationship with sauron does not undermine her character, nor is it anti-feminist to consider how romantic connections might influence or define aspects of her story. in fact, positioning galadriel as self-defining, without acknowledging her relationships, aligns closely with the ideals of both patriarchal individualism and choice feminism, which encourages women to prioritise self-sufficiency at the expense of connection and community.

shipping any female character resists the confines of patriarchal individualism, which isolates women under the guise of independence, as well as the limitations of choice feminism, which prioritises the self over community.

so please do not listen to what anybody says: female characters are not diminished by their romantic connections. the same way we, real life women, are not diminished by our romantic connections. we are enhanced by them, and galadriel is no different when it comes to sauron--or whoever you ship her with, to be fair. you do you, just promise me you'll keep having fun, and promise me you will ignore those who accidentally uphold patriarchal ideals by wanting you to divorce galadriel from her romantic context.

[ganondoodle]

so with echoes of wisdom .. i havent watched any of the trailers beyond the very first one and the thumbnails/screenshots and what others have said about it-

but with the world inside the rift being called "Welt des Nichts" aka "world of nothing/void" in german ('still' in english, for some reason) and demises title in french being "avatar of nothing" ... yeah my anxiety is shooting through the roof again

(hopefully you can be a little more forgiving for me being anxious/weird about it bc demise is my blorbo)

i had similar worries with totk, that werent proven true thankfully, but the darn book is making it all worse again with all those weird lore things the game doesnt even so much as hint at AND potential retcons- im in for a really rough time huh, not just stress in real life (more in tags.. its alot) but now about my specific hyperfixation from two things even (AND artblock still..)

weird as it may sound, i dont want demise to get more lore, partly bc i dont believe theyd do anything with him that i would like (given their track record) but much more importantly- the fact that he has this little lore about him is precisely one of the reasons why i fell in love with him, i tend to like characters that are neglected by the narrative, and his story being both so flat and already done meant i can be very creative with what i come up with for him without necessarily contradicting anything in canon (which is ... or was a big point of how i wrote destiny's story and lore, working with canon in a way that reframes it all without straight up ignoring it ... but i suppose i urgently need to let go of that and accept i spend alot of time working things that will go to waste :( ) AND not having to worry that there will be more stuff with him that would massively change not only what im writing but also potentially how i feel about him since the game he was briefly in was the oldest chronologically and ended with his death- i didnt expect them to mess with anything that far back and thought theyd just go forward and leave the timeline behind and wouldnt mess with it again, given how botw seemed to be a sort of 'fresh start' that seemingly regarded the past as the past that needs to rest and that the timeline was finally no longer a discussion if everythings unified through botw and one thing going forward

but i suppose i was very wrong with that .__.

right now the only thing that motivates me still is the left over determination and spite to work on my zelda comic, since i have never gotten this far and really want to get something done for once, but i cant lie that im feeling like i should pause all work on it too to wait and see waht the book and the new game will do .. either to determine if i still have the will to keep working on it after those things are out (my love for tloz has been taking alot of hits lately ..) or if i have to change stuff (mostly bc of my lore problem trying to not ignore it ..)

[the-siphonophore]

I have noticed recently that every time I discover a subculture (punk, system, queer, disabled, etc) there is a fun learning period and then I am SUDDENLY smacked in the face with exclusivity discourse!!

Queer people will talk about transmasc-only spaces, or lesbian-only spaces, or any other sub-sect of queerness, individualized into it's own Club that no one else is allowed into

Disabled people do this too, excluding other kinds of disabled people, amputees will want amputee only spaces, chronically ill folk want their own spaces, and so on

This happens with many systems/plural folk, who try to seperate endogenics from traumagenics. This happens with punks, attempting to exclude such-and-such subculture from "being punk" and on and on and on

The point is: everyone seems to be scrambling to find and/or make their own exclusive club that they can enjoy, with only "their" people, and I HATE this!! It isolates Others- people who are questioning, closeted, or simply don't fit into a category, a person I used to be. A person we all used to be. We cannot live by cutting eachother off. We cannot thrive by closing everyone else out. We WERE Other, these communities were MADE to embrace Others, rejected folk, damaged folk, and invisible folk. The point of being Queer, of being Punk, of being part of a community, is to LOVE

You can't love someone that you push away

You can't grow if you're not given a chance

Our beloved communities will die if we never allow anyone into them who doesn't fit Perfect Criteria, and none of us want that

Just think about it and next time someone Weird or Uncomfortable shows up, I'd be grateful if you'd remember my words, even if you're don't agree with them for any reason

thanks for your time, I wish you the best/gen

[underratedgrapeju1ce]

are you ever gonna make Giovanni x Bucky art that doesn’t depict them being very…aggressive towards each other…like them hugging or kissing (passionately) or something or is it just always gonna be toxic yaoi?

tl;dr for this long ass ramble: gios not a romantic guy, bucky probably is, shenanigans and character growth ensues

full rant under the cut ⬇️⬇️

at his core giovanni is not an affectionate character at all. any softness that he would exhibit would be acts he think may be comforting or helpful, usually masked with a dry comment.

for example if bucky got sick, i imagine gio would make some comments about how he needs to take better care of himself, probably make fun of now stuffy his nose is, and then make him homemade soup. i feel like bucky gets a lot of mixed messages.

and if they do end up officially together, a lot of other people would say something about how cold or mean gio seems to be, how he must not be a good partner. bucky would probably whisper that he's really a sweetie at heart (which is. a stretch, but hey love is blind)

gio will say mean things, but at that point in their relationship bucky knows he either doesn't mean it, or says it to mask his affection. in public gio plays up the "cold asshole" thing, but even if hes a naturally brash or unfiltered person, he does eventually get more comfortable with small shows of affection.

gio does not admit hes wrong until he is absolutely, BEYOND A DOUBT proven wrong. him and bucky probably mutually deny ANY feelings for each other until literally everyone else is like "dude for gods sake you're both pining so hard and its getting annoying" and even then they're both like "fuckkk whyd it have to be YOU."

even when they're dating, they dont lose their competitive streak with each other though. gio isnt romantic until bucky does some gesture, then HE needs to do it BETTER. i imagine olive has to settle them down before they fight each other affectionally.

gio would definitely need character development to be more comfortable with himself enough to have a decent relationship with anyone, especially bucky who wears his heart on his sleeve. i think they'd be interesting together purely for their "opposites attract" and "bitter rivals" dynamic, and their relationship is interesting whether or not its romantic

...is this anything?

[kloudprince]

An impromptu rant about the Nico Robin casting

I'm severely disappointed in the Nico Robin casting choice. I've been sitting with my thoughts for the past few days. My thoughts have not changed and there is little anyone can say to change them.

I think a hispanic/latina actress should have been cast, just like casting call said. As a latina, I was overjoyed when I saw that the casting call said that they were looking for a latina actress to play Robin. I felt seen. Robin is one of my favorite characters and the idea that someone who looked like me was going to play her was exciting. I'd been been eagerly anticipating the announcement of her casting and then two days ago, I saw the leak. Initially, I was okay with Lera Abova as Robin. Yes, I think she can fit the role VISUALLY. But I think playing a character involves more than just visuals. There is a lot more nuance that I don't think people are taking into consideration. They just see a pretty woman who kinda looks like Robin and loose their minds.

Outside of my personal feelings (betrayal) over the casting choice, I do have some narrative (/narrative adjacent) reasons why I think a latina actress would have been more powerful and why Robin does NOT need to be Russian.

Robin's story contains heavy themes of genocide, oppression, and destruction of ancient history & texts

The burning of Ohara, the Buster Call (genocide) of all Oharan citizens, and Robin's persecution. Considering all of these aspects of her story we can draw parallels with the history of the indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica. During the age of colonization, Spaniards intentionally destroyed texts in order to prevent the continued practice of indigenous languages, religions, and other cultural practices. In a similar way, the World Government destroyed or attempted to destroy the books and research the scholars of Ohara kept within the Tree of Knowledge. Across the Americas, indigenous people were persecuted and oppressed in some way shape or form. Robin, from age 8, had a bounty placed on her head and was hunted like an animal for simply existing and holding knowledge that the government deemed illegal. Robin as a character, represents the resilience of Ohara and the dedication they had to learning the true history of their world. She is last surviving member of her native community and she's going up against the most powerful organization in world. I'm sorry but seeing some white girl play a role like this just feels disheartening. In all honesty, I think an actress of indigenous decent would have been far more powerful. Though I know Netflix would likely never cast an indigenous actress in such a major role but I think at least casting a latina actress would have been significantly more powerful than just another white girl.

Current world events should be taken into consideration when casting a character with a story that touches on such delicate topics.

Now I don't agree with anyone who sends hate or harassment towards Lera Abova simply for being Russian. The Russian Government is to blame for the war in Ukraine, NOT the Russian people. I don't know what beliefs Lera holds regarding the conflict so I can not speak on that. However, I think it was tone deaf on the part of Netflix and the OPLA production team to cast a Russian actress as a character who's entire story revolves around genocide, persecution, and oppression considering what the Russian Government is currently doing in Ukraine. I wish we lived in a world where things like war didn't have to be considered when producing entertainment. Unfortunately, we live in a world where media has a heavy impact on how we view the world. Also One Piece has always been a very politically charged series so taking it just, to me at least, makes sense to consider real world political issues when producing a show that has such a global audience. Had Lera been cast as ANY other character in the OPLA I don't think this would be an issue. It's because she's set to play Robin that people are taking issue with. This is such a nuanced issue that I don't think anyone is really speaking about with the respect it deserves.

edit: I'm not saying that I think that the roll should be recast or that Lera is undeserving of such a huge roll or anything like that. What's done is done and I'm sure Lera is going to do a great job. I just bring up this idea because I think it's something that people should at least take into consideration instead of blindly accepting a casting choice. There's always nuance to these decisions and issues.

She does NOT need to be Russian just because Oda mentioned her being Russian in ONE SBS.

I keep seeing people say things like "Oh well Oda is okay with so it's fine" or "Robin is supposed to be Russian, Oda said so." I'm tired of it. People are allowed to disagree or be unhappy with Oda's choices. He is not a flawless individual. He still has biases. Besides, he's already not following his own set nationalities/ethnicities for the characters we'd already seen. He said Luffy was Brazilian, Iñaki is Mexican. He said Sanji was French, Taz is British. He said Nami was Swedish, Emily is American. Usopp doesn't even have a set nationality or ethnicity, HE'S JUST AFRICAN!! What Oda says in an SBS is NOT the end all be all. He's proven that much with the casting decisions we've seen so far. I don't understand this insistence that each casting choice NEEDS to follow this one fucking SBS that Oda made in 2009!! Some of the nationalities clearly have more thought put into them than others. Usopp being a prime example, because he didn't even get a country! He got the whole fucking continent of Africa. However, if you look at his design he at least looks Black (except for when Toei Animation decides to steal his fucking melanin) Zoro is a great example of a character who's nationality was well thought out and integrated into the narrative. His backstory, his fighting style, most of his clothing, and his presumed connection to the country of Wano all implement aspects of Japanese culture within the narrative. On the other hand, you have Sanji, who is French simply because he is a chef. I think Robin falls into the later category. I don't think there was a lot of thought put into her being Russian.

Thanks to anyone who actually read through all my ramblings. You're allowed to disagree with me. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. Please don't yell at me, I will cry. Anyways, check out this tiktok from @/ xibalba1m. She talks about why Oda might have said Robin was Russian and how it relates to the history of the indigenous people of Mesoamerica and the latina Robin casting call. She articulates a lot of what I was thinking about really well, please check her out. (disclaimer: her video was made in May, months before the casting reveal.)

For those who want to see the nationalities SBS, here

EDIT: Also almost all of her attacks (at least in the english translation) are in spanish.

[throwawayasoiafaccount]

god tywin lannister deserved worse

just remembering elias death and i wanna puke and the way tywin talks about elia and what happened is so damn gross

but rip tommen and myrcella we all know what’s about to happen in the next book :/

the cycle of violence just keeps spinning and damn you tywin for beginning it

(i got a bit crazy in the tags 💀)

[coffeeandcalligraphy]

well. now that I have the rage of 1000 suns in me after someone accused me of plagiarizing my original writing theory <3 it's time to get a little silly (SHARE THE UPDATED MEMO)! I present you:

Rachel's 4-Step Short Story Breakdown

In this breakdown, I've included:

My 4-step approach to story structure (for stories between 1200-3500 words)

Special notes that expand on my thoughts

A list of (free to read online) short stories to study (links embedded)

Feel free to rb/share as you see fit! :)

[honeyconez]

guys hear me out would painis cupcake pay taxes? Because he’s not like mega insane like ass pancakes I think he’d pay his taxes in my professional opinion.

[doomedpuppetyuri]

wheeeee splatoon fandom stop making me want to leave it for good challenge impossible

[4acoffee]

Burning your old homework papers with Katsuki. 

After school ends, of course. He disapproves greatly, but after a particularly difficult day, you want nothing more than to finally release your frustrations on something. To watch it shrivel up and burn. 

He always makes sure you have supervision if you’re not feeling alright, because he knows how you’re prone to being reckless when you’re alone. He also knows the feeling all too well, the pressure of overwhelming anger and frustration that builds up and threatens to tear him apart at the seams from the inside out all the time. 

As a hero, he can usually rely on his quirk to get rid of some of the stress, but he knows you don't exactly have the same liberty as him. 

You send him an abrupt text one day about burning your homework, — perfect grammar, spelling, punctuation, and he immediately knows there's something wrong. Shoots you back a quick text to wait for him and shows up at your door 10 minutes later with a scowl on his face and hands shoved inside his pockets. 

Doesn't ask any questions, just makes sure you know what you're doing and leads you to a safe spot. 

When he's satisfied with all the safety precautions, he sparks you a carefully controlled little fire with his quirk and watches as you start dropping your papers in.

There's a certain vengeance to your movements, a distraught kind of glee in your eyes that toes on the edge of tears as you watch a part of your burdens rise up into the air as smoke. He sees your shoulders shake with some emotion a few times but just lets you get it all out of your system. 

Something that you're endlessly grateful for. 

Eventually you've burnt yourself out and exhausted your supply of trauma inducing paper fuel for the fire. As the fire slowly burns out and coughs up more smoke, Katsuki draws you into a tight hug by the side of your arm. 

Your face is squished against his chest and you try to control your breathing to stop the tremors racking through your body, but he just, holds you through it. Doesn’t let go when your knees threaten to give up from under you, or when your nails dig moons into his skin from under his shirt when you grasp at him desperately. 

There’s a hundred unanswered problems that make you want to rip your hair out and scream at the world. Have someone else acknowledge them for you so you don’t have to fix them by yourself.

But you don’t, you keep them to yourself, you hold them in like you always do, like it’s expected of you. The responsible one, the calm one, the reliable one. Anticipate, don’t complain, adjust yourself. You are so fucking sick of it. 

And Katsuki still holds you through it. You have a hundred unanswered problems and he doesn’t know what they are, but he doesn’t let you go. You have a hundred unanswered problems and you keep it in, but you don’t have to keep it together. Not with him. 

[vyunok-obyknovenniy]

A little analysis of this part in the Odyssey:

Reading time: ~10 minutes

Book 23, The Great Rooted Bed, Fagles' tr-n There he sat, leaning against the great central column, eyes fixed on the ground, waiting, poised for whatever words his hardy wife might say when she caught sight of him. A long while she sat in silence … numbing wonder filled her heart as her eyes explored his face. One moment he seemed … Odysseus, to the life— the next, no, he was not the man she knew, a huddled mass of rags was all she saw.

“Oh mother,” Telemachus reproached her, “cruel mother, you with your hard heart! Why do you spurn my father so—why don’t you sit beside him, engage him, ask him questions? What other wife could have a spirit so unbending? Holding back from her husband, home at last for her after bearing twenty years of brutal struggle— your heart was always harder than a rock!” “My child,” Penelope, well-aware, explained, “I’m stunned with wonder, powerless. Cannot speak to him, ask him questions, look him in the eyes … But if he is truly Odysseus, home at last, make no mistake: we two will know each other, even better— we two have secret signs, known to us both but hidden from the world.”

Odysseus, long-enduring, broke into a smile and turned to his son with pointed, winging words: “Leave your mother here in the hall to test me as she will. She soon will know me better. Now because I am filthy, wear such grimy rags, she spurns me—your mother still can’t bring herself to believe I am her husband.<...>

Telemachus is a precious baby, we've established that.

But he does act a bit like a brat with Penelope a couple times. Of course I don't think that any of that is malicious or that he doesn't love her, but he's still being a bit of a brat.

They both suffered, their pain was similar, but also very different, their experiences and the way they processed it were different as well.

Moreover, at this moment Telemachus has already spent some time with Odysseus. They already had their meeting/reunion and they already cried it out (to an extent. I'm sure there's more crying they'll do afterwards). They even had a father-son bonding activity (a.k.a. the slaughter of the suitors). Telemachus got to know his father at least a little bit over the past couple of days and at this point he processed and accepted the idea of Odysseus being back.

Penelope, on the other hand, was told about it just a moment ago. She can't immediately go "oh, you're saying Odysseus is back? Wonderful, let me greet him", no. Odysseus wasn't away on a short hunting trip or something, he was away for two whole decades, half of that time he was pretty much thought to be dead by most people (the first half wasn't that much better, as he could've still died any time during the war, but at least he wasn't lost, Penelope knew where he was).

Now she needs time to wrap her head around what is happening. We even see her thoughts as she goes to meet Odysseus:

Penelope started down from her lofty room, her heart in turmoil, torn … should she keep her distance, probe her husband? Or rush up to the man at once and kiss his head and cling to both his hands?

She wants to reunite with him, she wants this to be true, but she can't be sure of anything now. They have been apar for longer than they knew each other. Does he still love her like he used to? Is he the man she loved? Is it even the real Odysseus in the first place? She needs to process everything, as well as confirm all the information herself, and Telemachus, at least at this moment, doesn't comprehend that. He's acting quite immature, scolding his mother for not immediately believing and accepting that Odysseus is back.

This is a very interesting detail. First it once again shows us that Telemachus still lacks a lot of maturity, despite having been on his coming of age trip. He's still very young.

Yes, he definitely grew a lot in that short time, but it would've been impossible for him to learn everything at once, he still has a lot of that immaturity left in him, there's still a lot of room to grow and that's completely understandable. We, as people, grow for our whole lives and Tele is doing remarkably well, especially considering his circumstances.

Another interesting thing about this part is that it shows Telemachus', perhaps a bit childish, impatience. He is a kid, who finally met his dad (and his biggest hero), he knows that his mother was suffering and grieving for pretty much his whole life (with things getting a lot worse over the past decade). From Telemachus' perspective Odysseus' return is supposed to solve all their problems, especially since their biggest problem, a.k.a. the suitors, was just taken care of and it wouldn't have happened without Odysseus.

Telemachus just wants a happy family. His dad is back and seems to love him, the suitors are gone, now his parents should reunite, his mother will stop grieving and everything will be perfect. This is something he dreamt of his whole life and it's finally so close, but his mother doesn't immediately believe him. She doesn't immediately accept Odysseus and Telemachus doesn't understand why. He is too preoccupied with wanting things finally to be okay, that he doesn't take time to think about what Penelope must be feeling. It doesn't even occur to him. Perhaps it's also partially the need to be believed and listened to, which is also something he lacked growing up around suitors and being treated as a child, but I'm not diving into that right now.

Odysseus, on the other hand, understands what's going on. He assures his son, that everything will be okay. He pretty much does a more adult version of "mom and dad will take care of this, you go play for a bit". Odysseus understands Penelope's reaction and goes from there. Of course he wants to be in her embrace as soon as possible, but considering everything she has been through, he definitely can't just suddenly grab her and do what he wants. This is his dearly beloved wife and he wants her to take on that role voluntarily, like she did before, he wants her to accept him as her dear husband, like she did before, and for that he has to let her do it at her own pace. He tries to meet her where she's at, to do this reunion on her terms, to assure her, that he is, who he says he is and who others tell her he is.

This is just so amazing and I love their relationship so much (T▿T)♡

I also love Penelope's reaction to Telemachus' words. She doesn't react negatively, she is remarkably calm and part of it is probably the shock from what's happening, but still, she is "well-aware". I think that she knows Telemachus really well, because even though he has surprised her with how much he matured, he's still the same boy, he's still her kid. She most likely understands where Telemachus' outburst is coming from and doesn't get angry, doesn't scold him for his impatience, she reassures him. She lets him know, that he doesn't need to be scared of things falling apart and that she isn't looking to reject Odysseus. She's looking for Odysseus and she hopes she can find him in that familiar and strange man before her. She just needs time, but she will be taking the effort to search for what she's looking for, now that she has a way (she wouldn't have been able to go searching for Odysseus at sea, but now he's, supposedly, right here and she will handle it like the queen that she is).

[tanicus-caesareth]

guarana drama, damage control

[camvrin]

spit balling 🤓

self depreciation aside I'm AWARE that I'm one of the most generous and caring people you could come across if you're not a terrible person

and I will try and be there for you even if I don't like you

so sending me death threats over something that isn't even true when I literally looked out for you is a crazy thing to do 😭

[kraang5]

Hello, I was just wondering around, and I got interested in your TMK Au. I would love to know the full story. Where can I start reading from?

And.. how did they became Kraang? Or are they still turtles? I'm a bit confused.

Anyway, thank you for noticing me. Have a nice day!

Hi there ! ^^

I haven’t really made a full story that you can read, since the au is still a bit under development, but I’d love to share what info I have of my au!

They never exactly ‘became’ Kraang, and they were never turtles either! This au was originally just a small thought on ‘what would the turtles be like if they were the enemy?’ And that’s where I started! So basically , the ‘turtles’ were born as Kraang and later on put on earth after a yellow portal randomly appeared in the prison dimension.

The Kraang don’t have ninpo unfortunately, but I thought of later on having highly similar mutagen (mutagen in my au is Kraang blood) being poured onto them, and giving them powers ^^

Thanks for asking about my au :3 Have a nice day ^^

[mejomonster]

I may post a bunch about authoritarian thinking later, and how to combat it, but some short important points for anyone: if you think like an authoritarian it means you tend to think in terms of black/white, tend to obey and believe people you consider your leaders and tend to view the world as your own in-group and then outgroups (which you may want dead/not care what happens to them/hate them), you struggle to think critically and empathize, and ignoring the many ways this authoritarian thinking hurts society at large and yourself - importantly, authoritarian thinking leaves you EXTREMELY vulnerable to con artists and cruel leaders because once someone gets into a leadership position in your in-group you tend to trust and obey them. Even if they hurt you, abuse you, lie to you. So a big reason to work on changing your own authoritarian thinking, is to HELP YOU PROTECT YOURSELF and IMPROVE your own safety and situation. You will be able to spot con artists and abusers easier, and protect yourself from them hurting you, if you work on changing your authoritarian thinking a bit. In addition, if you care about your in-group (the group of people you identify with) and your in-group views you as part of it (for example: you're in-group is a church and the church members value your partocipation), then you learning to think in more flexible ways will allow you to both save yourself from abusers AND convince your in-group to stop following an abusive leader and switch to a better one for the group. Win win.

Key ways you can work on your own tendencies toward authoritarian thinking: learn how to empathize with various people, learn how to think critically, and expose yourself to a variety of enviornments/viewpoints/experiences.

For empathy, easy ways to start include: get a pet and practice caring about that pet, read books and practice caring about a character, volunteer in a place outside your in-group (so if you go to church, volunteer at a school or library or theater or fair or daycare or soup kitchen) and practice appreciating the process of helping people outside the in-group. Getting a pet and reading can be some of the easiest initial things you can do. Trying to make new friends and acquaintances with people outside your in-group may also help: talking to a child, coworker, classmate, stramger at grocery store or fair, with respect (such as asking what their favorite toy or show is, why, practicing caring about what makes them happy, practicing interacting with people even when you don't immediately get some tangible thing from them), practice talking with people without arguing or starting a conflict (and if they argue first, it's okay to leave the conversation entirely, at least for a while just try practicing Not Fighting sometimes). Practice listening to people to get to know them (including people in your in-group you may not know well), and be curious about their experiences and the differences/similarity to you as all interesting and not necessarily bad or good (so if you went to public school and they went to private school, hold off on making a judgement about it and just be curious about what their experience was like). On a more surface level, if people like a different musician or actor than you, be curious about what they like and try to imagine why someone might appreciate what they do (you don't have to like that band too, but practice trying to understand why someone else likes it). Its the idea of "imagine you were in someone else's shoes," and having pets, reading about characters unlike you, and getting to know people and their unique experiences helps you practice doing that. Along with practicing holding off on judgement, especially on simple basic things to start: for example trying not to jump to black/white good bad thinking over what people in your group and outside it do... in terms of say what they eat, or the music they like, or their clothes. So if you tend to decide everyone who doesnt go to your church is evil, practice maybe viewing a person with the same religion as you but who goes to a different church as neutral and someone who maybe just never knew your church existed or was raised in a different city and so their life experience may simply have been different - but that doesnt automatically make them evil, just for being born in a different city and not knowing about your specific church existing yet.

To expose yourself to more experiences and people: again consider volunteering at an event outside of your in-group, start a new hobby and join a new discord or fandom group or in-person meet up, go to a new bar or coffee place or grocery store and have small talk, take a class in the community, go to fairs and community events, go to an event in a nearby but different community (like a fair in the next county, a concert, a play you'd like to see). Any new hobby or interest that allows you to meet new people and ask them about their experience with the hobby/interest will help, and you'll help them as you share your own experiences. Even just the act of exploring new possible interests will help you, as you will not have a judgement yet on what you like/dislike and will get to practice deciding what parts of the interest you enjoy and don't based on your experiences. So experience new things, and listen to other people's experiences while being open to letting yourself enjoy things others may dislike, and letting yourseld dislike things others may like. Practice listening to others without automatically assuming their opinion/experience is good/bad (or that there is a good/bad at all, preference for cheeze pizza versus pepperoni can just be two neutral choices which are both fine) or going to be the same for you (you may feel much differently than others and thats fine), practice trying new things where you're allowed to try multiple different ways without any way being particularly good/bad (this is to practice thinking in more varied ways: you're allowed to make 3 different cookie recipes and find each of them yummy and yet not perfect, you're allowed to dislike all 3 recipes but appreciate that your friend loves recipe 1 so you may make it for their birthday, you're allowed to fail the 3 recipes and need to try a few times, you're allowed to make them and decide you don't like making cookies after all and would rather try making a cake next). Trying sports teams may help, hobby clubs, board game tournaments, book clubs (where people have various opinions and you - like them - may have your own unique opinion all of which is fine, no opinion is mandatory or restricted).

To develop critical thinking skills: the two parts above will help somewhat with that. Just letting yourself experience new things, meet new people and hear about experiences different than your own, practicing wondering why someone likes something you may not, practicing liking something because YOU like it after experiencing it and not because someone told you to like it, will all help you figure out what you SPECIFICALLY think. And it will help you recognize that other people all think uniquely, may sometimes disagree, and that thinking differently can be okay. Those are some helpful initial steps to learn to think critically.

Critical thinking skills are important because it helps you figure out what is a fact and real, what is a person's opinion which may be right or wrong or only partly right or wrong or may be something you can't detetmine, how to check if a fact is something you can make decisions with or not explained well enough to rely on. Critical thinking is how you help yourself: if you are abused and your lover hits and punches you, and says "I love you and care about you," critical thinking will help you recognize the fact: you are being injured, help you recognize the actions your lover does of hurting you doesn't match their words that they love you, and helps you make a decision to help yourself - to leave the location where your lover is harming you over and over and go somewhere you are safer and not in danger. Critical thinking, even if you love being in an in-group and love following leadership, will allow you to notice when leaders and in-group members genuinely are helping the group, and when leaders or members are hurting the group. This can allow you to help the group and yourself by recognizing when the group has someone harming others and help you determine how to stop that harm. Even if you think very authoritarian and like that kind of structure in your life, critical thinking skills will help you and those you love.

You can start by figuring out how to make a decision on some basic thing. For example: prepare for the weather today in your city. Look up weather your-city in google, click some weather sites (to check collected data), go outside of your front door and physically feel the weather (data you collect yourself), text a friend who lives somewhere else and ask them what the weather is in your city - and ask them not to check the weather report (get an opinion), perhaps also ask your roommate what the weather is (an opinion from someone with the same ability to literally look outside the window and get their own data in person). From this experience you'll learn that data from a collected organization is probably fairly accurate but not perfect (maybe the weather site said 90% chance rain and when you went outside it was sprinkling but not pouring, and the clouds were dark), maybe your friend's opinion in another town was right or wrong (maybe they guessed and rain was a good guess for a cloudy November in your state) but they couldn't tell you how long until the weather would change, you went outside yourself and that was fairly reliable as you could literally feel the weather (but it cant help you decide if it will still be raining in 8 hours), maybe your roommate's weather judgement was better than the friend in another town but worse than your own judgement of going outside and feeling it. This is an experience to show you how useful facts are versus opinions. If you go outside and it rains on you, it is a fact that it is raining. If your friend in another city says they think the rain stopped, it's their opinion and they may be right Or wrong... you'll have to go outside to find out. The weather report site is somewhat right and can give you estimates of the next several hours of weather so that's helpful, but isn't giving you updates as specific as actually standing outside in the weather on your particular block. You can now see how facts and opinipns are useful, and when they are more or less reliable for making a decision to help yourself. (In this case to prepare to deal with the weathet outside).

Next you can practice critical thinking with less simple questions. You can try to decide "what is the best tires to get for my SUV" or "what coverup will be least likely to give me acne"? You'll look up on google these questions, and see company sites marketing their product and claiming theirs is best. You'll notice a company always says THEIR product is the best, and learn that a company may not give you facts as often as NON company sites that compare many products, or that a company will word facts in a way to imply something that isn't necessarily true. (For example: if a makeup clogs pores, it may not say it does that, it may just not use the word "non comedogenic"... but since you aren't seeing the word "non comdegenic" which means not-pore-clogging, that's a sign the makeup May actually clog pores). You will notice review sites, and reviewers with NO sponsors will tend to be more honest and share personal experience, while sponsored reviews may only mention positives. You will notice more fact based comparison sites, which will list ingredients and what each ingredient does, which will be facts to help you make a decision on which makeup is least likely to give you acne.

You may read articles on certain makeup ingredients and if they're a common allergen, which might explain why some makeup with some ingredients caused you acne before even though none of the ingredients were pore clogging. You are practicing comparing facts, and practicing deciding which sources are reliable or biased (biased sources try to convince you to buy something/believe something), what the bias is about (many articles want you to buy something even though you don't Truly need to buy everything), which reviewers gave biased opinions (if theyre sponsored they get money to convince you to buy something), which reviewers gave personal experiences (and are those experiences useful to you - did the reviewer have similar skin type and issues and allergies?). These are important skills! Learning to do this will help you spend money on things that are more likely to HELP you, to be what you want, and this skill will help you avoid scams and avoid being tricked.

Critical thinking gets much deeper than this, and applies to everything you run into in life - all news articles have biases (they want to convince you of something, there's facts AND opinions and attempts to convince you to do something), all ads are like this (every sponsored post on instagram is trying to convince you to believe and/or buy something), all influencers posts (their job is to convince you to buy products from companies paying the influencer, to get you to invest money in the influencer too - every podcaster/twitch streamer/youtuber/etc), books. All stuff you can find in the world is fact, opinion, some mixture, someone trying to convince you of something, and you using your own experiences to get your own facts (example: its raining on your face when you go outside so fact: its raining) and to decide your own opinions (opinion might be: you like feeling the rain, so you choose not to bring an umbrella, but your lover hates rain so they choose to bring an umbrella for themselves). You use all that information to decide what is fact, what is others opinion and are they trying to convince you of something, what your opinion is, and what to do that will help you.

Here's more information on developing critical thinking skills:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2022/08/05/13-easy-steps-to-improve-your-critical-thinking-skills/ (this has good basic tips for things you can do daily)

https://www.criticalthinking.org/pages/critical-thinking-where-to-begin/796 (a big website on critical thinking)

https://www.monash.edu/student-academic-success/enhance-your-thinking/critical-thinking/what-is-critical-thinking (this has good step by step instructions on how to start to think critically and practice in depth)