#i desperately want people to see it because i need everyone to understand how offensively wrong it is

[inquisitorhierarch]

so i think it’s been long enough since the post i’m going to vague about was last in circulation anywhere near me that i can finally talk about it without getting a flood of harassment in my inbox like i Always do every time i talk about people Lying on here about lotr. (a HUGE number of posts about lotr on here are either misleading or simply Made Up lmfao. it’s really infuriating)

anyway there’s a post going around about. the weakness of man and tolkien incorporating what he knew firsthand about the horrors of war into the story - and that part’s all totally fine. but Somebody chose to add on a widely-reblogged addition that stated something so incredibly and offensively wrong that i honestly think maybe i died at some point and read that awful reblog here in hell.

they talk at length about how the “moral” of humanity’s failing is somehow represented by. rohan “failing in its border obligations to gondor” and theoden having to die to redeem himself. and i just have one single thing to say about that

what in the good love of fuck fascist divine right of kings bullshit are you on mate

you couldn’t possibly be missing the point More you fucking weirdo

one criticism of lotr that i am very vocal about (which i for some weird reason Never see popular criticisms touch on) is that Of Course tolkien’s biases as a heavily christian british man gave him certain worldviews that obviously affected the worldbuilding of middle-earth, and he Loved him some divine right of kings rubbish. but even HE would NEVER have said or thought something so oppressively fascist about rohan’s response to gondor’s failure, because let’s be clear - the ONLY human kingdom that failed in the course of the war of the ring was fucking gondor. theoden had his problems, but the vast majority of the kingdom of rohan remained either uninterested in his descent into madness or tried to save him from it.

gondor had already been off the rails for ages at this point.

gondor, and its predecessor Numenor, represent the Higher Race of Man, God’s Chosen People (in a christian sense) - the Norman Kings who came from across the sea to civilise the British Isles and drive out the Wild Men and their offensive scottishness/welshness/cornishness/etc. the men of rohan, and other indigenous inhabitants of middle-earth ranging from dunlendings and the druedain (most likely pictish and cornish analogues) to the haradrim, easterlings and lossoth (spain/the moors, the ottoman empire, and vikings, respectively), are literally termed Lesser Men, because they’re not iluvatar’s chosen, and they are literally Expected to submit themselves to gondor’s rule, or become bad guys if they won’t. rohan literally came into being as a vassal-state of gondor, and their Happy Ending is eomer swearing himself back into that form of service and following aragorn on all his wars in the south.

now, because of tolkien’s biases, this turns out Well for them of course, but from the perspective of readers it’s easy to notice that this is actually fucking dystopian and horrific. in fact, the Most horrific example is the dead men of the Stone of Erech who fight for aragorn at Minas Tirith in order to be released from their oaths.

from their perspective, all those years ago, they were living their own lives on their own land in southern middle-earth doing their own thing, and then some tall dickheads pitched up on a boat after their island home sunk and just Declared that they were the chosen kings and all men have to submit to them. literally anyone in these circumstances would probably be justified in saying “yeah sure okay bro” and hoping the guys would go away - because they don’t have the omnipresence to know that tolkien’s version of christian god said elendil really WAS the true king and they’d be punished for not randomly right off the bat obeying some arrogant jackass walking onto Their land and insisting it all belonged to Him instead and also that their “sure thing buddy” was legally and magically binding. they literally suffered constantly for centuries because of a mistake literally anybody without magical fourth-wall-breaking genre knowledge would make.

sauron might be The bad guy of lotr, but anybody with a capability for analysis can look at the actual worldbuilding and see that gondor is also. Absolutely Horrific

and then we come to Denethor. motherfucking Denethor

DENETHOR is the one who failed in his “border obligations”. to rohan. the idea that rohan failed to guard its borders is fucking gibberish. because even if it HAD been their obligation (which it fucking WASN’T), the reason they failed was an overwhelming flood of orcs massacring their soldiers - you know. a thing that it’s pointless to blame someone for on account of all the Deaths being punishment enough you weird Freak. rohan was constantly begging gondor for help as they were being overrun... as the isen was taken and the first AND second marshals of the mark were killed. and denethor didn’t give a shit. he didn’t even want to light the beacons to call rohan for help - he was only angry that theoden supposedly didn’t answer in time because he was so twisted by the palantir that he saw defeat and betrayal in everything.

to claim that the failure in the disaster that befell the kingdoms of man in the war of the ring was rohan’s is to so totally misunderstand everything tolkien was trying to convey that i have to wonder if you even Read the fucking books or if you just Really like to wax lyrical about how great kings are. the point of theoden’s hesitation to go to gondor’s aid is that he has been through absolute hell and gondor sent NO AID WHATSOEVER so he intended to do the same thing back. and instead chooses to be the bigger man and give help even though gondor has no right to ask for it after offering nothing of its own. to do good for no reason other than it IS good. 

THAT is the motherfucking point of theoden’s change of heart - not some fucking bullshit about being a good little slave to gondor’s king and laws, but the idea that in his heart of hearts, theoden couldn’t even let the people who allowed his son to die due to their inaction to suffer if he could do something about it. rohan’s entrance to the battle of the fields of pelennor is literally about how showing up for no other reason than because it’s right will win the day, even if you’re “lesser” than the big hero guys.

“rohan failed to uphold their border obligations” literally go fuck yourself you fucking prick lmfao

[ofpd]

1st century roman siege of jerusalem dashboard simulator

🐮 barkamtza

why does this shit always happen to me

#oh my goddd the ONE time it seems like people actually wanna hang out with me. #turns out they meant to invite kamtza instead #everyone hates me and i was SO fucking nice i offered to pay for the party #god i'm so pathetic. kms kms kms #they're gonna pay for this i swear #delete later

0 notes

📜 zekharya-ben-avkolas

Ok so obv it's not ok to sacrifice a blemished calf but the blemish is just on the eyelid? So maybe it's ok? But also and i don't want people to start going around thinking that it's ok to sacrifice blemished animals. But the thing is that if i don't bar Kamtza will tell the Romans we insulted them and that will be bad probably. And like no one likes bar Kamtza anyway will people really miss him..... but ugh neither of these seem like good things to do i don't feel like it's my place to make a decision about this :/

32 notes

🏛 vespasian reblogged

🏺neronero

off to war wish me luck! 🇲🇪🏹

🏺neronero

nvm guys. ✡️✡️

🏛 vespasian

my turn lol

53 notes

🧑🏽‍🦳 not-an-airport reblogged

🧑🏽‍🦳 not-an-airport

Hey everyone! These are difficult times, and some friends and I have put together some mutual aid resources for our community to have access to wheat, barley, wine, salt, oil, and wood! More info below the cut. Take care of yourselves! 🫶

Read more

🧑🏽‍🦳 not-an-airport

fuck

7,235 notes

⚔️ biryonei-yerushalayim

anonymous asked:

Hey, I'm trying to ask this in good faith, and I hope you can take it that way. how can you possibly defend burning our grain stores. I understand that you want to radicalize more people but you're taking things too far. Jerusalem's blood is on your hands.

anon, what you need to understand is that the blame for the carnage in jerusalem lies primarily in the hands of the roman invaders and secondarily in the hands of the rabbis for refusing to resist. would you have told the hashmonaim not to resist their oppressors by any means necessary? just because this is getting inconvenient for you doesn't mean we shouldn't be doing it. it's frankly offensive that you'd imply that we, the defenders of jerusalem, should incur any blame for her current state.

#biryonim.answer #grain storage discourse

231 notes

🛡 goel-yisrael

did anyone else see the "zealot blocklist" going around lmaooo

#how do these liberals expect anyone to take them seriously #do they not have anything better to do.

7 notes

📚 stammaim reblogged

stopbeingpoor-deactivated3830102

ughh why is my servant so incompetent! i deserve the best flour why doesn't he get it...

stopbeingpoor

ykw i'll go get some myself. i'm desperate at this point i gotta do something

stopbeingpoor

EWWWW update: i stepped in something NASTY. this is why i don't fucking go out oh my god im gonna die

stopbeingpoor

gonna throw my gold & silver away for the good of the peasants or whatever it's not like it's any use to me when im literally dying -_-

📚 stammaim

lmao look at this it's exactly what yehezkel was talking about! ur gold won't save you!

#yehezkel #marta b. baitos

162 notes

🕎 yalla-hapoel

🌿 amicus-iudaeorum asked:

Hey, love your posts! They're very informative about the Jewish perspective on this war. I'm just wondering whether you condemn the actions of the zealots? I don't really feel comfortable following someone who supports that.

are you fr.

#if youre seriously concerned about this idt this is the blog for you i fear

28 notes

🛡 goel-yisrael reblogged

📖 ben-zakkai

⚰️⚰️⚰️⚰️ lol

🛡 goel-yisrael

? what does this mean

🗡 abbasikkara

dw about it bestie

🛡 goel-yisrael

ok 💗 yay 💗

6 notes

👩🏽‍🌾 discoursedumpblog

I've compiled a list of some of the most rabid zealots on this website. Remember, don't engage, just block and move on.

Read more

152 notes

🏛 vespasian reblogged

🏛 vespasian

some jew got an audience with me & called me king (im literally not lol thats so disrespectful to the actual king + if i was king then he shouldve met w me much earlier??), i think i should kill him

🏛 vespasian

AND my shoe is being so annoying. horrible day 👎

📖 ben-zakkai

omg just came across this old post

🏛 vespasian

OMG sorry i don't mean it anymore 🙏

14 notes

🫒 a-simple-yid

yirmiyahu tzadak...

#not to pretentiously quote tanakh but literally like. #hashiveinu hashem eilekha venashuva hadeish yameinu kekedem.

3 notes

[rccxox]

I’m sorry, but as one of the many people who were there from the start this “apology” is truly baffling.

The only reason I kept asking Red and Flynn to handle this and DMs is that even if we go to the east common room Red has ignored the fact that there are other minors in here even if they go to the east common room it still makes them uncomfortable and I tried saying it but they didn’t get the hint. no offense, but the thing that pissed me off is how the mod team decided to give Crimson probation which was weird in my opinion and people were disgusted by it. Laci said she sent proof even though it was censored to protect those victims, 2 victims came forward and she decided not to give in to the fact Laci could send it to you UNCENSORED.

And when you started the apology (in Discord), I read it thoroughly, let’s break it down hm?

Here are the screenshots of Red’s apology if you fully want to read them.

The side server comment threw me off because if it happened there and you say “safe place” and apparently if it doesn’t happen here we’re all good. I understand if it’s something you normally don’t do.

But god forbid if we keep minors in our “safe space” safe.

“They’d been ‘investigating’ crimson on their own before digging up the nsfw stuff” First off, they were gathering up enough evidence for the proof you so desperately need and whine about.

“But they reported it literal hours after it happened so. Another lie.” I understand shit like this is severe and sensitive but damn I guess people don’t deserve time.

Do I need to explain the “crying wolf” is so disrespectful imo, but who would lie about something like this??

Heavily edited is so icky because Laci had them censored for the victims' comfort and you didn’t even see where she said she could hand it to you uncensored.

Happy to listen to our concerns but do a mass ban on people who spoke out? Okay…

There are, of course screen shots but Tumblr only has ten images per post (lmao)

Red also apologized to crimson which was so fucking weird to EVERYONE.

And for Flynn to come in, and this doesn't mean any disrespect when she started talking about how laci was stirring up in the middle of the drama, when all she did was give you all the evidence, The needed talked about how she was an unreliable source when she gave them ALL the evidence.

And when I told Flynn it was very disrespectful for her to say that she said that's what she noticed but Laci didn't mean any type of offense or disrespect and what matters if you want it uncensored evidence there's something called asking she would have provided it to you and when you sent that screenshot with who was a minor and who was an adult in the server I was just like did you actually see if she (laci) was okay with that being spread but I never got to that because I don't want to “start” more drama. People are upset with Red because she didn't acknowledge the 2 victims that have come forward and said that crimson has done that to them BOTH. kind of sounds like she (red) was victim blaming in my personal opinion, This was something they needed to talk out privately because it's easier to deal with the on one on one then rather than 600 people coming at red. There were new people coming into the chat, and they got caught in the hay fire because they didn't have the full picture. There's a reason we can't do this publicly because if you do this privately you can have awhile to dissect everything, and somebody told me “oh somebody would complain about the lack of transparency” but they could have said “we're gonna settle this in DMs. We're gonna mute this channel for a bit, and when I need to, I don't want to hear any more about it, because we're gonna deal with it in dm’s”. that's all they needed to know, there were people there who didn't have the full picture.

I'm really exhausted and it’s five in the morning .

[sabrgirl]

muslims stop judging others challenge

imagine you're in an olympics race. on your marks, get set, go. but while you're in your lane, you're looking at all the other runners. that one is running funny. why is that one wearing two different coloured socks? that person's hair is flying in their face, how are they even going to see? with all this judgement towards everyone else, do you think you're going to win the race? while everyone else is focused on reaching the end, you're focused on them. yes, you might cross the finish line eventually but

you lost

you finished last

did you even qualify?

it's crazy that this judgement happens so much in this ummah specifically. some non-muslims end up hating on islam because of how muslims treat other people online. and in real life too. and some muslims have left islam because of the way other muslims treated them when they were doing wrong.

we're all humans taking the same test. we just have different trials. do you know what really is the cause of this judgement? your nafs. the ego.

the ego is fuelled by fear and projects its own insecurities and fears onto the world to try and bring itself up. it makes you think that you're superior to other people because, by doing so, it makes you feel 'confident' inside.

for eg, you may wear hijab and see someone else who doesn't. you start judging or gossiping or leaving rude and hateful comments, or even just a comment that you think is going to help her because your ego is saying 'wow, i'm such a good/better muslim than her because i wear the hijab'. but... what about when you see someone who seems like a better muslim than you? do you now all of a sudden feel... insecure? jealous? do you start hating on them or desperately try to find faults in them? do you feel less? if you do this, and you need to be honest with yourself if you do, this your ego/nafs you're listening to.

this isn't true confidence. if you do this, you likely have poor self worth that needs to be worked on and an ego to eradicate. luckily, islam is fundamentally based on the jihad against your inner self/nafs/ego - whatever you want to call it - to reform your character and get closer to Allah سُبْحَٰنَهُۥ وَتَعَٰلَىٰ as a result of it. but that's a topic for another day.

Allah Himself has said:

O ye who believe! Do not let some men ridicule others, they may be better than them, nor let some women ridicule other women, they may be better than them. Do not defame one another, nor call each other by offensive nicknames. How evil it is to act rebelliously after having faith! And whoever does not repent, it is they who are the true wrongdoers. (49:12)

i.e. you will never know the true state of someone. why? because that is for Allah to know and for Him to judge.

when you see someone doing something they shouldn't, first realise that you've been guided by Allah to even recognise that in the first place. how many times in your life did you eventually realise that you were doing something bad and you didn't even know? or maybe you knew a specific thing was bad but you didn't know the reasons why, and now you do? you could've been so deaf, dumb and blind but Allah decided to guide you. so first drop the arrogance and praise Him for guiding you enough to recognise and understand the bad deed.

after this, you have two options:

1. you make du'a for them

'O Allah, please guide them to stop doing ______ / to start doing ______ and guide me closer to You too. please forgive us both for our sins'.

if it's something you used to do: 'O Allah, please guide them better than you guided me and forgive us both for our sins'.

the end. you move on. do not doubt the power of prayer.

2. you advise them

and this is the one where it oftentimes all goes wrong. again, let me mention again what Allah has said:

'Do not defame one another, nor call each other by offensive nicknames. How evil it is to act rebelliously after having faith! And whoever does not repent, it is they who are the true wrongdoers'.

notice that Allah said 'it is they who are the true wrongdoers'. the ones who are rude, who defame, who call each other offensive names, who backbite (if they don't repent).

so then, what's a good way to advise someone? a step-by-step guide:

approach them kindly, compliment them for whatever good you can see they already do.

before you advise them, tell them that you don't mean to dishearten them or hurt their feelings but want them to become better in their deen and character for Allah سُبْحَٰنَهُۥ وَتَعَٰلَىٰ's sake and see them in jannah.

then proceed to tell them what you noticed is bad. relate your own experiences and struggles without exposing your own sins and tell them you understand the difficulty of reforming your character as you're a human too and have your own struggles and trials.

tell them what things helped/still help you. good deeds and ways of living. tell them how it helps you. reading the Qur'an helps you realise that Allah has bestowed so many favours for eg, and you don't want to upset Him.

share useful resources to help them on their journey. youtubers you watch, podcasts, qur'an verses.

explain to them that they should also do it for Allah سُبْحَٰنَهُۥ وَتَعَٰلَىٰ's sake and should research why it's bad so that they truly have an understanding first (which will likely make them stop doing it, Insha'Allah)

respectfully acknowledge that they could actually be struggling with this sin and tell them that you understand that growth isn't an overnight journey but wanted to advise them anyway.

tell them that you'll pray for them and ask them to pray for you because you also struggle with things too.

for online/social media advising:

everything i just mentioned above but do it via DM rather than leaving a comment so that they feel less disheartened, let down and publicly shamed.

what not to do:

if you don't want to pray for them or advise them kindly, move on with your life.

do not leave rude comments

do not backbite and/or gossip

do not scold

do not have a harsh tone

we're all taking the same test. perhaps one of your tests is actually the way you treat other people when you see them doing wrong. you might think you simply left a comment because you're 'guiding other people'. but if they leave islam because of your words and treatment... well. what a thing to be held accountable for on the day of judgement, right?

[crypt1dcorv1dae]

I think part of why I like bbrae as a concept (and usually not in practice bc it's almost never been done successfully, cus I'm a picky bitch) is because one of them is absolutely terrified of being sexually intimate with anyone, not because she doesn't want to be, but because she's afraid of HERSELF and what she might do in that situation, and is also (from the ntt era at least) comes off, to me at least, as a big romantic who desperately WANTS to love and be loved but doesn't know how/is scared of that too, and probably has at least a little crush on basically everyone who has ever been nice to her (but she would never ever ever pursue that) (certain canon events aside) because so few people HAVE... She probably has a hard time truly differentiating platonic and romantic feelings (which is actually supported by canon) due to having little experience with either one so far, but she learns how to easier with time (but probably never fully grasps the "difference", and maybe there isn't much of one to her, because she's also extremely autistic. Go autism girl go!!!)

(also must be said that raven absolutely must be the equivalent of a scared prey animal, if she doesn't have little bunny rabbits anxiety at all times it's just not my raven)

And the other is someone who will basically throw himself at anyone who gives him half a chance but has never had a successful, healthy relationship because he's been used and abused almost his entire life, has only had a few scant healthy influences on his life since he was a small child, his character, to me, is FUNDAMENTALLY influenced by being an abuse victim, and that type of trauma almost always causes some kind of issues later on with emotional connection and intimacy. He's got the physical stuff handled, that makes him feel useful, but he's scared to let anybody actually IN given how badly people who were SUPPOSED to care about him have treated him in the past, so that kind of emotional intimacy is terrifying to him. (Which is often supported by canon, he rarely lets down his mask and truly let's people in)

Also tbh gar BPD king

So, basically, I like the relationship in concept because it's two people who are so so different, who feel and love and care in SUCH different ways both because of trauma and because of just... How they're built. but both being willing to try to bridge that gap to understand each other despite speaking completely different languages and making absolutely no sense, and building something that's absolutel nonsense to anyone else but it makes sense TO THEM amd it WORKS (first platonically, bc I cannot see these two ever growing feelings without a good 7 years of comradery as a foundation, and also bc both absolutely would need full-adult emotional maturity to make a relationship work with all their Trauma Landmines to avoid)

And this is why I am extremely fucking picky about content of them (both canon and fan made) because almost NOTHING I've ever come across has ever even scratched the surface of the kind of dynamic and relationship I know they COULD HAVE... No offense at all meant towards people with a different take on them, it's just not my style

[zvtara-was-never-canon]

I saw this post and it upset and offended me so much. I'd like to hear what you think about this. In fact, the zk claims that the offensive portrayal of Katara in the FN play at the meta level correctly conveys her feelings and her personality in the show. she has no feelings for Aang, and Aang is not sure that she will ever fall in love with him, at the same time, "Katara" in the play says that she felt attracted to Zuko immediately after he captured her, and at the meta-level this is "the correct interpretation of Katara's feelings in the show". In addition, it proves that Zutara is a feminist ship, because "Katara" in the play talks about her feelings for Zuko and dominates their relationship.

https://www.tumblr.com/sokkastyles/723285064748859392/thinking-again-about-how-katara-is-portrayed-in

*throws up* Note to self: do not read Zutara nonsense after a meal. It does not go well.

Yes, Katara IS offended by how she's being shown in that play. But what bothers her is not "Oh she's being shown as a damsel in distress that needs Aang to save her." What bothers her is how the Fire Nation - you know, the nation that killed her mother, destroyed her village, had her dad leave to fight in the war, and has been trying to kill her and her friends for months now - is mocking her for daring to have hope. Treating her like a stupid, overly emotional bimbo people should laugh at. Throwing her coping mechanism of"I haven't lost hope" back in her face and making it look ridiculous.

It's REALLY weird Zutarians just HAVE to make everything about this fake love triangle they created in their heads. Katara's anger here is not because of Aang or Zuko - it's about how SHE is being treated, how this play is insulting HER, how SHE is being treated as unimportant, stupid and desperate when she knows damn well that NONE OF IT IS TRUE!

For fuck's sake, the whole joke of how Kataang is shown in the play is that it is treated as UNIMPORTANT! How it is treated as a completely platonic bond between two dumbasses that will inevitably be destroyed by the Fire Nation.

When AANG lets this nonsense get to his head and ask Katara if it's true that she only ever saw him as a little brother, Katara says "I didn't say that, an actor said that" making it very clear that even though she is mad, she is not taking this seriously. She doesn't believe the writers of this play have any understanding of who she is or what she wants.

And let's talk about the part this person conveniently left out: when they see their characters shown as being romantically involved, both Zuko and Katara are REAAAAALLY uncomfortable.

Why is Katara's clear objection to the way she's being shown only ever taken into account when it is vaguelly connected to Kataang, but NEVER when it shows her full on revulsion at the thought of being with Zuko?

Not to mention, Kataang and Zutara were not the only Katara ships brought up: we also see Katara's crush on Jet, and how she is ALSO not happy with how it was shown in that play, because it assumes that his "bad boy" persona is what drew her to him, when that was actually what led to their falling out. She liked the charming, sweet, charismatic guy that wanted to save people from the evil imperialist nation, not the two-faced asshole that attacks innocents as a means to an end and manipulates everyone.

That's the whole point of the Ember Island Players: we are given one little nugget of truth, followed by COMPLETELY incorrect nonsense.

Katara is hopeful and emotional, but that is the STRENGTH of her character, not the weakness. She likes Aang's company because he is this cheerful person that makes life less sad, instead of seeing it as a childlike trait of someone she thinks of her little brother. She accepted Zuko into the friend group and is bonding with him, but it has nothing to do with attraction - surely not any attraction that could have happen while he was HUNTING HER AND FRIENDS DOWN AND TRYING TO TAKE AWAY THE WORLD'S LAST HOPE FOR PEACE, something she said, to his face, made him a horrible person.

And gotta love how Zutarians think that "Katara is taking the lead in the zutara subplot of the play but in nothing else" in anyway mirrors the actual show. That's the result of ignoring a character's choices the second you disagree with them.

Before Katara even knows Aang is the Avatar and before he is aware of the war that he will be forced to put a stop to, they are already talking about going to the North Pole - not so HE can learn waterbending, but so KATARA can do it. And even after Aang realizes he'll need a waterbending master, he says "We can learn it together."

And they do. And while at first Aang is better at it than her, the writers realized that they'd have more potential for Katara's character if she was a prodigy, thus they allowed her to master it fast enough to become Aang's sifu.

In Cave Of Two Lovers, SHE takes the innitiative to kiss him. Through the entire arc of Appa being gone, she is the one trying to emotionally connect with Aang, while he is being distant - and it concludes with him saying SHE gives HIM hope.

During The Headband, Katara is visibly upset when some other girls are getting all of Aang's attention - something we had already seen in Warriors Of Kyoshi - and they then have that SUPER romantic dance.

On the day of the invasion, Aang kisses her, and while she was not expecting it, she does not look upset like she would be in Ember Island a few episodes later. In fact, that episode ends with her basically cuddlying up Aang to cheer him up after their plan fails - once again, even though he was trying to keep his distance, aka Katara is taking the lead here.

When Zuko joins the Gaang, all the others are okay with it, at least to some degree and Katara is NOT happy about it, and makes sure to let him know that if Aang gets hurt because of him again, she will end him once and for all. This is 100% Katara's choice, and she's making it very clear that she LOVES Aang (and I'm talking both romantic AND platonic love, even if she only recognizes one of them at that point).

In both The Southern Raiders AND Ember Island Players, we see what happens when she and Aang disagree on what she should do: she does what she thinks is right anyway, even if she cares for Aang. She thought getting revenge was what she needed, so she tried that (before changing his mind, in a parallel to Aang trying to deliberately trigger the Avatar State in season two, against Katara's advice). She felt she needed more time to figure out how she felt about Aang, and when he tried to speed things up, and she did NOT react well, and this time he is the one to realize he was wrong.

And, finally, in the last episode, with the war over and Katara's only concern now being "be happy with the people she cares about" she could see things more clearly, and when SHE was ready, she kissed Aang, officially starting their romance.

But since none of it involves Zuko, zutarians pretend it did not happen, otherwise it'd completely ruin their facade of "feminist ship" that TOTALLY only ships Zutara because it is SUPPOSEDLY the only dynamic in which she has any agency - when in reality, what they're saying is "Katara's choices only matter when I agree with them. If I don't, she needs to shut the fuck up."

Just good old misogyny from the fakest of all fake progressists of the fandom, everyone.

[planethibiscus]

How do the yanderes Mitch, Louis, Clementine, Violet, react to Reader who steps in front of them and gets shot in their place?

I WOULD TAKE A BULLET FOR YOU!

Tw: mentions of character death, angst, injury description, some (small) spoilers for twdg s4 in Violets part, and mentions of suicide.

Content below the cut.

Mitch

Shock and anger will hit him harder than any bullet could. That anger extends to you by the way. How stupid are you? You know he can't live without you. It's almost like you're doing this on purpose, like you want to kill him from the inside or something.

So when he sees you fall to the ground in front of him he goes absolutely feral, but that reaction is all internal. He can't make his body choose between cradling you and beating your assailant to death, so he's just frozen in place. It's for the better. If he wasn't being held hostage by shock, then he'd almost definitely get himself killed.

If you're dead, it's a matter of moments before he is too. He will not have the self control to protect himself. At least he won't be suffering for long without you though. He'll kill himself on purpose in some desperate scramble to avenge you. Dying this way is the only chance he has to redeem himself. He won't be forgiven otherwise.

If you're alive, Mitch will not visit you in recovery. He can't bear to step inside the room that you're resting up in. Looking at you makes him feel sick, like he let this happen to you and now he has to deal with the reality of it. His mood swings are terrible, caught between being distraught with guilt and physically sick with anger.

What keeps him away from your bedside is fear. He's scared. Afraid that you'll look at him with the same anger he's crippled by. If you're mad at him then he'll understand why, but he just can't take it. It doesn't occur to him that you won't be angry with him. He blames himself for this, so why wouldn't you?

So he won't come into your room, but he will stand outside your door like a private bouncer, blocking everyone else out too. He's not letting anybody but Ruby inside, and that's only because she's the closest thing to a nurse they've got. Mitch is angry at you, too. Usually you're what grounds him and calms him down, but he can't even look at the door you're behind without shaking, so he stands with his back to it all pouty.

What you've done, it's an insult to your relationship, a sharp and painfully rude reminder that this is the apocalypse and people die all the time. He did not need such a harsh reminder that he could lose you when he's already so slow to opening up.

He'll never trust you to make rational decisions again. You almost got yourself killed, so there's no way that you can argue to him that you're capable of making your own choices. You were almost taken away from him because of your choices, and that's the greatest offense he's ever borne witness to.

If you're so willing to throw your life away over him, then there's clearly something wrong with you. There's something wrong with him too though so maybe that's why he's drawn to you. He doesn't see you as too good for him anymore, but rather, just as twisted as he is in your own lovely way. At least you're redeemable in comparison, but it's like you're made for eachother.

Obviously you know he's outside your door. You can hear him shuffling out there, and you can see the shadow of his feet through the gap in the frame. Ruby will tell you all about how ridiculous he's being whenever she's let in, complaining softly about your guard dog whilst she takes care of you. You'll have to call him in yourself if you want to address the issue. He'll listen then, but he'll act funny.

"You're an idiot." you'll have to tell him. Then he'll find the strength in himself to snap, storming over and trying to yell at you for what you did. He'll be unable to when he remembers that you're in a recovery bed. The very sight makes him poorly with regret.

"You're an idiot!" he'll sputter dejectedly, trailing off into a humiliated sob. His voice breaks under the pressure of his terrible emotion. His fists are clenched but he won't use them. His expression is ugly, his body bending forward so that he can argue right over your face. All he can do is sniffle for forgiveness. He is so sorry that he let this happen.

Louis

Louis can't believe it. No, literally, he doesn't believe it. He's a very delusional sweetheart. It doesn't matter how much blood blooms from your wound, or whether the blossoming red gets on his face and clothes, in his mind you're simply not in any real danger.

He'd be touched at first, the initial realisation that you've thrown yourself in front of a loaded gun for him is so sweet. Until the visceral terror hits and he realises that you've actually thrown yourself in front of a loaded gun for him. He doesn't understand why anyone would deliberately put themselves in harms way for him, let alone you, heavenly, perfect you.

So this was an accident, you didn't mean to get shot. He must've moved or maybe he actually pushed you in front of him or something. You wouldn't do this willingly, no way. Maybe he's dreaming, having a romantic nightmare.

If you're dead he's having some real trouble acknowledging it. He wants to think that you're listening to him like you always do, and you're actually feeling his tears land on your pretty face. Maybe you'll wake up any moment, or maybe he will.

He might as well have been shot. He's not going to be the same guy anymore. He'll hold you until someone wrestles him off of you. Then he'll try to carry the body with him, and if anyone lets him, they're going to realise once they get home that he has no intentions of actually burying you. Even when the cold has crept into your skin, he insists that you're just sick and need a blanket. No one can convince him otherwise.

Another fight will ensue, whilst everyone tries to argue with him that he cannot keep a corpse, he's tuning it out. To admit that you're dead is to admit that he's dead.

If it's something survivable then you're going to have to be okay, because it would be really cruel to admit your feelings for him and then die immediately afterwards. Louis mentally can't handle the idea of you not living through this to laugh about it later.

"You're gonna be okay- you're gonna be okay, you're gonna be okay-"

He's crying but he doesn't seem to realise it. He'll keep denying your injury even whilst choking on his own snot, hands too preoccupied staunching your wound and therefore unable to wipe his tears away. If you're killed right before he actually gets to do anything romantic with you, it'll be such a waste, so he puts all of his effort into manifesting your future.

He's in fight or flight, so he doesn't quite realise that all of your friends are actually trying to help and not just take you away from him. Someone will need to restrain him to get you back home.

During recovery you will not be afforded alone time. At first Ruby will try to bargain for your peace, arguing that it's essential to achieve a faster recovery. She'll be unsurprisingly ignored. Love is the best medicine anyway, and he'll say so quite proudly.

Louis must remain by your side at all times. To hold your hands in his, smile at you, and shed some more tears. He still won't wipe them away even now, because touching you takes top priority. You'll notice that his hands are really dirty, still stained with your blood that he's refused to wash off.

Even if days pass, those stains still will be there. That blood is your gift to him, why the hell would he wash it off? It's the mark of your love, the beginning of your relationship. What else would it be? Just blood? Um, no, it's symbolic and shit. A physical reminder that he must pay back an endless favor to you.

He won't stop smiling or crying, or take hints when it's time for him to leave you be. His reverence is no longer hidden behind any kind of playful front. He's letting everyone see how dependent he is on you. People won't realise that this incident didn't make him crazy and he's just always been like this. Now he's almost excited for the day where he can jump in front of a gun, just to show you how serious he is.

Clementine

Clementine is sent into a blind rage the moment the idea of you being harmed is brought up, so right now, she's absolutely off of her rocker. She'll rip that person apart using her hands and teeth on purpose, becoming more effective than any weapons she's got. Whoever shot you isn't ready for the animalistic flair of how Clementine will deliver justice unto you.

Clementine will mutilate them as long if she isn't stopped first. She knows that you've been injured and that she needs to tend to you as soon as possible, but the raw hatred surging through her is a buzz she's servant to fulfil. She might die beside you to finish her attack, but finish it she will.

If it's a deadly shot then she won't waste the last moments of your precious time together trying to stall the inevitable. Clementine is accustomed to loss. This was bound to happen sooner or later.

Instead, she'll hover over your body like she's always wanted to, and then she'll watch you die. She's going to eat up every last second of your life like it's ambrosia. She'd have already killed your attacker at this point, so her breath would be heavy and she'd be numb with adrenaline.

She'll straddle you softly, with her bloody hands cradling your face. She tilts it towards her to breathe in your last breaths. The picture of your face will burn itself into her retinas so fiercely that she'll be stuck with haunting after-images every time that she blinks.

If you're already dead when she manages to get to you then she'll be very angry. She wanted just one moment to remember, but she's unsurprised that the world couldn't afford her this. She'll pick you up and take you back home with her, to a private spot. Somewhere peaceful, somewhere you liked. You deserve a pretty grave big enough for the both of you, so that one day she can be right beside you forever.

If you're alive and the wound isn't fatal then you'll be fiercely kissed for your stupidity and bravery. It's inappropriate and short lived, because you're interrupted by her harshly compressing your wound. It hurts like hell. Once you've caught your breath from that, you'll have a wide pair of angry hazel eyes to explain yourself to.

Clementine demands to be a part of the treatment process, pushing Ruby aside to do the more intimate work. She'll be the one to pull the bullet from your wound, to clean the area and get a real look at you. It's for the better that she gets to, because she simply can't control her anger when she sees someone else causing you pain.

If you ask her to leave you alone while you're recovering then she will begrudgingly do as asked. Don't be surprised if AJ coincidentally pops up in her absence though. It's okay because he comes with crayon drawings. A lot of them will be of you valiantly protecting Clem. You've inspired him.

It's likely that when she's not in your room then she'll be standing at post outside the door. It makes her feel better. AJ will also take turns doing this, so you always have a little bodyguard managing who can come in and see you. You won't the heart to tell either of them to stop.

She's kind of mad at you by the way. Why would you do something so reckless when it's her job to protect you? This incident makes her all the more scared to lose you in the future. You've lost all outside privileges for months. She was out with you when you got injured this badly, so all she can think of doing is locking you up.

You have a long road of proving yourself ahead. She genuinely considers AJ a better survivor than you now, and he'll tell you that. You're going to have to listen to him bragging about it at your bedside.

Violet

Violet is triggered into a passive but fearful mourning the moment that you hit the ground. She disassociates almost completely, lamenting a loss she hasn't secured.

Why does everyone close to her leave? First her grandma, then Minnie, and now you. Is she so terrible that you'd rather take a bullet than spend another second with her? She doesn't take it as a compliment or a show of devotion, she takes it as an attempt on your own life.

She thinks that she's pushed you into taking that bullet for ulterior motives. Not for her, but rather to get away from her. She's got it all twisted, but she genuinely believes that she understands you a little bit more now, because she knows why you would hate her. There are a lot of reasons. The silver lining is that maybe she's finally found something to connect with you on.

She's not overtly friendly like others, not really funny, not particularly good or skilled at anything either. She's got an attitude and a standoffish way about her that's undeniably off-putting in her eyes. She was so lonely when she lost her girlfriend and she slipped into a very dark place, which only made her more of a loner type. Maybe she's never resurfaced from it. Maybe she's just destined to drag everyone else who tries to pull her out of her hole down with her.

She'll fall to her knees, spitting and cursing and crawling towards you. If you were instantly killed then she envies you, because you've finally escaped. Without you she's going to have to find a new reason to wake up every day. It's going to be so hard accepting your death, but you'll get a grave right next to Minnies. She'll sit between the two, knees brought up to her chest, arms around her legs and head bowed in shame. It's her favorite resting spot. She's waiting for the day where she can be buried in her own little dark hole, right in the middle of you two.

If you're alive, then all you're going to hear is "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry." She's never going to run out of reasons to apologise to you. She's sorry that you felt the need to kill yourself. She's sorry because she's trying to save you when she knows that you don't want her to.

She scared of hurting you but she keeps her hands firmly pressed to your bleeding wound. She can feel it pulsing angrily beneath her sweaty palms, and she desperately hopes that you don't hate her too much for this.

"Don't leave me. Don't leave me." she mumbles, tear stricken, eyes big and haunted. They wash her freckled cheeks, leaving snail trails down her skin. Her jaw is set, bottom lip trembling whilst her teeth chatter.

During recovery Violet is going to be hot and cold with you. Sometimes she'll stick by your bedside, staring at you longingly but too ashamed of herself to speak up or touch you without your permission. Other times she'll wander the hallway outside of your room, or hide somewhere else in the school to quietly lament. She doesn't want to bother you. She thinks that you don't want her around at all which makes her angry.

She gets more standoffish if possible, snapping and glaring at everyone who's unfortunate enough to provoke her. It doesn't take much, just stepping into her world by walking into the same area as her will piss her off. That's of course when she's not by your side, or sat with her head in her knees outside of your door.

If you explain to her why you did what you did, she'll think you're crazy. Like actually, certifiably insane. Stupid, dumb, idiot. She yells at you, but she's not angry at you. She's sad, screaming in your face by accident whilst she begs you to never, ever put your life on the line for her again.

But now that she knows you don't hate her, physical affection is a must. She's holding your hand all of the time. She likes resting her head on your wound, as light as a feather, like it's a pillow for her. You gave her it, right? It's really romantic. Hot too. When it heals into a scar she's going to absolutely worship it. She'll be scolded by Ruby for this of course, because she's irritating your healing injury.

She'll still give you time alone even without being asked to. She's respectful like that. She'll leave the room for a couple of hours and wander around the school aimlessly until she thinks that you've had enough time alone. She knows that you need your space, she's a total loner after all. Even though she absolutely doesn't want to be anywhere else but with you, it's the least she can do to avoid stressing you out. She's knows she's a lot, and she's sorry for that.

An: thank you for your request! I chose to make this more of a segmented story fic than just headcannons because I thought that it fit the prompt more.

[irenespring]

I have seen some posts about an ideal House MD crossover and I would like to submit ER for consideration.

I want to see Kerry Weaver and Gregory House interact.

Both are disabled and suffer from chronic pain, both are autistic, both come off very poorly to people (Kerry unintentionally, House as a defense mechanism), both are queer (Kerry canonically) but closeted for at least a large portion of the show, both Need Therapy. But yet they have wildly conflicting personalities and priorities.

For example, Kerry cares about what everyone thinks about her, desperately wants to be liked by her coworkers, and tries so hard that it backfires. She wants to work her way up the system and play by the rules so she can prove herself to herself and to others. Unlike the social scene at ER which confuses her and rejects her, The Rules are simple, and when she follows them authority figures like her. Better, when she follows The Rules and proves she's smart, she gets promoted. When she is promoted, she assumes people have to respect her, because they too should follow The Rules and thus respect their superiors the way she does. When this interpersonal approach also fails, she has the consolation of even when people reject her for ableist or homophobic reasons, she still has some power.

House only cares what Wilson (and maybe Cuddy) thinks of him, but tries to push them away to see what they do and to prove to himself solitude is inevitable/misery is unavoidable. While Kerry uses ambition to cover for insecurity, House uses surface-level cruelty. This is a problem, and why I can never decide how I feel about his character, because his depression and pain does not justify his behavior (not that I still don't enjoy his character when watching the show, just from a serious analysis perspective). He has given up on interpersonal connection in a way that Kerry has not. Through isolating himself, he makes himself the source of his misery. He maintains the idea that if he wanted to, he could be liked, and thus he has control over his life.

Both of these responses are reactions to pain and rejection, but in different directions. Both characters are implied to be in constant pain, and there is evidence both were mistreated before the Problem Behaviors arose. Kerry's response is to say "well I'm your boss, so you have to respect me no matter my identity" and craves power. House's response is "well if I'm such an asshole, you hate me because of something I did, and thus it's my decision you reject me, not something forced on me" and craves control over relationships.

I would like to see them interact, especially beyond the inevitable initial angry argument. I think it could be interesting. Friends is a stretch (I don't think Kerry could brush off House's offensive comments because of how much similar things hurt her in canon) but they would grow to understand each other over time.

[femmefatalevibe]

hi, i care too much what others think of me. sometimes it gets so bad that if i post something on my story, and there aren’t enough likes or people who usually like it didn’t like it, i’ll literally have nervous breakdowns and delete the stories. like it makes me physically sick. i overthink for hours on end before posting.

i also cannot make ANY decisions on my own. i cant post any pictures of myself without asking others first. i cant buy clothes for myself without others’ input. i could go on, but i think you get the gist

i hate this about myself. i want to become confident, self-reliant and secure. what do i do?

Hi love! I'm sorry to hear that you're fighting this battle with yourself to this degree – that can't be easy. To overcome feeling self-conscious, I've found the most helpful and empowering truth to remember is: Everyone spends most of their time thinking about themselves and, like you, is constantly focused on how life events affect them and how they are perceived. Most people aren't paying attention to you outside of a brief interaction with you (in person or on social media) and will quickly forget about your daily content to go back to fixating on their own inner worlds/lives. Internalizing this concept is liberating: It allows you to understand that no one is watching you (or criticizing you) as harshly as yourself, so you ultimately need to make yourself happy. Unless you're posting or saying outlandish, offensive, or otherwise degrading things, live your life for yourself – not the approval or praise of others.

With this truth in mind, consider what decisions will truly make YOU happy if there was no possibility that someone was watching or judging? Through practice, you'll learn what you like, and who you are, and over time, will see how little others take the time to comment on your choices – aside from general compliments, surface-level questions, and the handful of criticisms that often come from people who have nothing better to do than project their insecurities onto others because they would rather do that than use their energy to the hard work (they so desperately need to) on themselves.

Sharing some more tips here on How To Build Unshakeable Confidence.

Hope this helps xx

[vampiricgf]

also feel like dropping some crazy kita lore this morning because ive been ruminating on my upbringing or lack thereof the last few days

it's really damaging when nobody wants to tell you the truth about yourself as a kid. I knew there was stuff that was different about me and the way I lived, obviously, to kids around me growing up and I don't think adults really understand how much that bothers you as a kid

and obviously when you're a kid other kids are mean, it's just the way it is, but hearing jabs here and there about like why you don't have parents and why that makes you a freak really does harm you growing up

if everyone around me hadn't treated my parents like some big clandestine mystery it probably wouldn't have gotten as bad as it did for me. like I was showing symptoms of my mental illness as early as ten years old, which is a little crazy to think about, and everyone around me dismissed me as a "problem child" an "attention whore" or "just a bad kid"

the damage it did hearing that over and over is something I can't even describe properly. and when you're that young you don't have words like "mania" or "major depression" or even "suicidal ideation" to help people really understand what you're feeling. I was legitimately suicidal at the age of ten years old and it was scary because I had no idea why I was feeling that way or what it even was which just added to the strain of it and the endless loop of "acting out". like I would have episodes and they would call the cops on me

I was manhandled and thrown in the back of a car by officers no less than seven times. that did even more damage. a little ass girl screaming and crying out of desperation asking for her mom and the first instinct is to put hands on her and throw her in a car? like anyone with a brain can see that isn't productive in a situation like that but it is what it is

then as I got older it became more extreme, like with the arson charges and b&e. I didn't give a fuck because nobody gave a fuck about me. And then when I was 13 I landed in front of a judge that remanded me to counseling. that was the first time anybody looked at me and was like "no something else is going on here and it needs addressed". the deal was I attend counseling, zero missed days unless I was sick enough to be in a hospital, and then come back before the judge at the set time and if they said I made significant progress I wouldn't go to juvenile detention and I could get my record expunged at 18 if I stayed out of trouble. it also helped nobody was hurt during my little building burning

so my ass was at that office every single thursday for ten years. the mandate was only a couple months but I kept going for ten years. because that therapist gave a shit about me, the first adult in my life to do so

our first month of sessions were spent in complete silence. I didn't say one word to her for an hour every single thursday for a month. I was beyond resistant and defiant. and I'm sure any other therapist would've just pushed it down the line and said im not dealing with this off you go but she didn't. she was basically as stubborn as I was and it paid off because after that first month I started talking to her and then I never stopped. I kept that appointment slot faithfully despite being shuffled around from different homes that was my one constant and it was something to hold onto

idk but I think there's a lesson in there somewhere about taking kids seriously when they're very obviously having issues and to not write them off over and over because all you're doing with that is reinforcing that nobody cares about them or what they're going through and they will spiral just the way I did. and about telling them the truth. I know a lot of people thought they were sparing me some sort of pain by not telling the truth about my parents being in prison for things like dui, drug offenses, and violent murder but it wasn't doing me any favors in reality. I could've come to terms with it and probably moved on. sure my illness would've manifested sooner or later but I don't think it would've happened in quite the same way or with so much inner and outer destruction if I had known because usually during those extreme episodes I'd be sobbing about just wanting my mom while destroying shit. I knew I had one, but I didn't know anything about her and it was a real pain point for me

so idk tell your kids the truth about shit, you don't really know what someone can or can't handle and you could be fucking them up even more by keeping secrets

[the-trans-advice-blog]

Hello. I just found your blog, and am happy to see asks open because I really need some advice, if that's okay, on coming out to my family.

I'm a trans guy who's been out to friends in college for several months now, after years of being closested and suppressing. My friends and classmates use my preferred pronouns and name, and have consistently respected and defended my identity, so all's great. This just means I've grown more comfortable with myself, and have now no reason to not try and come out to my family, which I haven't done.

My parents are open minded people, but with this sort of stuff they've definitely voiced some sort of disdain towards, for example, gay or trans people in movies. I know their views, but still can't imagine how they'd react if I told them. Coming out to them feels unimaginable; and from someone like me, it would be very unexpected to them. When I'm at home, I'm just enjoying being with them since I don't go home very often for school, so it's also been an issue of mine to even imagine speaking up at like dinner or when we're hanging out.

Despite that, I really want to start medically transitioning, but not behind my parents back. I want to change my goddamn legal name asap, start hrt and get top surgery; I just want to feel like me. I will start working out of state in the next year, so I wouldn't want to start transitioning later when my family can't see me as often where any changes will be very noticable and huge to them. I want to ease us all through the transition, and not make it feel like I'm unrecognizable, like a completely different person, like they've lost their "daughter."

I'm genuinely asking out of a form of desperation, how do you come out, because from the bottom of my heart, I cannot fathom how to do it or where to start. How do you get yourself in such a vulnerable mindset and position to admit something so personal and unexpected? How do I explain to my parents something they most likely don't understand? How do I prepare myself if they don't believe me and reject what I've told them?

Any advice is much appreciated.

The first piece of advice I have for you is that as much as you love your family you need to remember this is about you. You’re not responsible for their emotions and you don’t have to coddle them through your transition. If they are people who unconditionally love you then they do not have to understand you to support you.

My second piece of advice, because it’s very clear to me that you really want them to understand which I think most people do, make it clear that you’re open to any and all questions. A lot of people are afraid of being offensive but it’s important they ask ANY questions they have in order to learn.

I know a lot of people will write down things they want to say to make it easier for them so that might be something to consider! Even just bullet points if you plan on doing this in person.

If you’re really anxious there’s no shame in adding everyone to a group chat and doing it over text.

At the end of the day you need to remember to put yourself first. People will try to tell you they’re grieving or can’t process or blah blah blah blah but your journey is about you and you alone. This is a great time of joy and fear and realizing yourself. The people who truly care about you won’t mind being put behind you.

If there’s anything else I can do to help my asks are always open, friend! Coming out is difficult but there’s not really a guidebook, just do what feels right for you.

[raspberryjellybrains]

Morpheus is a truly fascinating character to look at from a moral perspective because he's such a dick but about 50% of the time it's on accident and the other 50% it's on purpose, but not because of any genuine hate or malice just... poorly directed sadness. Neither of these reasons make it okay, but they make it damn hard to see where the lines are regarding guilt, blame, and forgiveness. As if this isn't enough, hearing Morpheus' take on things (or appalling lack thereof) along with some others makes it even harder to grapple with.

When I'm analyzing this first 50%, I often come back around to asking whether someone should punished for something they didn't know was wrong, which is a normal hard and fast 'no', but this someone has had millinea to find out it is wrong and correct it and hasn't, which then pulls me into questioning where the ignorance becomes willful. Especially when the individual is so blindsided by the idea that there might even be something wrong. Morpheus is cold and aloof, which I put down to a general temperament thing; the problem is that he can't afford to be. This is, quite literally, a major reason why the series ends the way it does. He wasn't particularly mean to Lyta, just not very kind or understanding. He was busy and distracted and hurting and didn't explain what was going on or offer much sympathy (none in the comics). Is it okay that he did that? No. Do I understand why and feel sad that a trait that is innocuous to most was deadly to him? Yes, of course always, yes.

The other 50% where Morpheus is trying to hurt people, it's born out of his own hurt, as most cruelty is. He is not a malicious being; cruel, but not malicious. The way he treats Destruction is from his own wish to escape the weight of their existence and a frustration that someone did it, someone did it and he couldn't stop or join them. He doesn't actually hate Destruction, Dream clearly blames himself at least in part for his leaving and seems to miss him as much he wants to respect or exile him for the deciding to do so. He's on the fence about how to act and overcompensates by being desperately terrible, which is what he always fucking does. That's the worst part! I chose Destruction specifically as an example because the situation lays bare the core of his cruelty very, very well. Nada and Orpheus are good examples as well. Dream doesn't like not knowing what to do, doesn't like being scared and can't stand the idea of being thought of as anything less than perfectly confident and controlled at all times (wow, so healthy!). He doesn't want people to look at him and see someone who needs comfort so he doesn't let them look at all, and ensures they don't by pushing them away at the slightest offense. If they brush against an insecurity or hurt, he's trained himself to lash out rather than lick the wounds. He condemns Nada to Hell when she sees who he is and rejects him for it; He leaves Orpheus on an island for a thousand years because he reminded Dream that he can't fix everything, or even keep those he loves safe; He's so unforgiving and rude towards Destruction because he did what Dream desperately needed to do but couldn't.

Thing is, these are both fixable flaws with obvious sources, but he has spent so long living by them that he doesn't know any other way to do so. Maybe it makes me an apologist—I'm willing to acknowledge that I can tend to hold a warped perspective on things—but I see his core personal moral failings as holding himself to an ordinary standard of behavior when an extraordinary one is needed and feeling that somehow his power and suffering makes him better than just about everyone else (now think about that and Lucifer and lose your mind briefly.) He isn't, on the whole, awful and irredeemable. He's flawed and he's trying, but when one is endless there is very little room for such a thing.

Then I end up asking the question: did he deserve it? does anybody? And that's... hard. Morpheus caused real hurt and damage, intentional or not, across space and time. Does he deserve to die for it? I would like to say no, but I would also see reason in saying yes. The questions get big, applicabilty of death penalty and impact of intention on action big, and that's usually when I stop the train. The point of Morpheus' weird and complex morality is to drive the train straight into the sunset, which I fully encourage those who can do it safely to do but if I did, we would be here until tumblr was ash.

So I can't offer an answer with a neat little bow, or even a particularly persuasive argument as to the final moral determination of Morpheus as a character, but that wasn't necessarily my goal. I can tell you one thing for sure: he would majorly benefit from one (1) positive and healthy friendship.

[thisdreamplace]

Hi dream! How was your time away? I hope you’re doing better now and life is treating you kindly.

I wanted to have a good update for when you got back, I kinda do lol. I used to have celebrity crushes. They would be my sp (it was always kpop idols). However, I am black. Despite every kpop idol I “wanted” having said or did something offensive to my race.. I still wanted them. That bothered me. I the law says we can manifest anything, but I had to realize how f*cked up that truly is. 😭 Imagine having a sp that is potentially racist, but you still want them? I had to ask myself, how desperate can you be? What is wrong? (not in a condescending way, but truly) I recognized that it came from an insecure place. Placing everyone and everything on a pedestal, when it should be me there for my life. I don’t know these people, but I do know what they have shown me on camera and it hasn’t been good. The person I dream of being wouldn’t want this. She would live and know that she could have the most perfect person for her. For some reason, it was a hard concept to grasp. I was so stuck on having a kpop sp. I guess I viewed them as perfect (EVEN THO I COULD CLEARLY SEE THEY WERE NOT) and if I could have them, then I must be on their level. Whew. Thankfully, I have come to my senses lmao.

I saw the Barbie movie last week. I do not regret it. I wanted to have fun for once. Everything was okay until I took pictures. Let me tell you, I had the worst breakdown ever. I’m still currently having it. So I took pictures that day and I fell apart. My appearance has always been a struggle to like within. However, it made me feel much worse this day. So much worse that I have not looked at myself on camera since then. I do not look at my reflection anymore. I have been too scared to see myself because I know I will be reminded of how it hurts to even look at myself. I used to check myself whenever I could to see if I finally manifested, but now I can’t handle doing it. I have always been uncomfortable with my appearance (I didn’t even go out because of it). I know we can’t force what we truly feel away, but because of that, I am not sure how to get out of this. I try to live but a part of me truly feels that I deserve to be nowhere or do anything I like because I am not worth anything. I should be embarrassed of myself. I remember my mother playing a video of me yesterday and I wanted to cry because I had to hear my voice………See how bad it is? 😭 I feel lost because I am allowing what I truly feel and think to come forward, but it’s not easy. I don’t know what to do with it all.

One of my parents has also been a problem in my past and now (due to my mind). I still carry resentment from the way they were in the past. I understand it, but I don’t want to deal with it anymore tho. They are better now, and sometimes I am able to let it go but then I think about how much stress they caused but I really just want to let go. When I tried to get an apology, no one listened tbh. I do not care about that, I just want to be released. I am not sure how to release myself from the anger and resentment. I do not need an apology but I do need to free myself. I realize that I can forgive and let go without an apology. I don’t know how to get to that point.

Despite circumstances, the Barbie movie made everything better. I stepped out of my comfort zone, I got a Barbie outfit and I went out. I know my entire message has been such a rollercoaster. It was a little up and then it went down. 😂 I was still happy that I tried. I love the movie.

Its nice that you are back tho, dream. Have you watched Barbie or are there any movies you have watched/will watch? I want to go to the movies again, just for the snacks LMAO.

-😵‍💫 anon

hiiii <3 i'm so happy to hear from you !! 🥹

my time away was... really, really lovely. although it wasn't such a long time away, so much changed and materialized in my life. it was such a reminder how... natural this all is. how the things we want most, that align with our heart, really aren't anything we have to strive for. it's so weird to think, to the ego that,,, we have to do nothing. but my time away was just a really strong reminder of that, as i experienced it all happening so effortlessly. now, i'm just remembering how it's safe to believe in the best outcomes for myself, to sit with everything through the practice of indifference. 🫧

first of all, love how that all came full circle for you !! like seriously, i love how you were able to realize what you truly wanted vs what the ego thought would fulfill some idea of lack within you. thats the thing. our true wants, our true desires, don't ask anything of us other than to just be. to embrace ourselves and who we are, we dont have to bend or anything for them. it's actually really lovely, and i'm glad you realize that for yourself now.

awwwe i wanna see the barbie movie but tbhhhhhh ive been really busy and when im not busy i just wanna lay around hehe :3 its just that kinda end of summer for me rn ! i'm really glad you go to go and dress up and enjoyed it !! i'm really sorry how it ended though. you remind me a lot of myself though, many years ago now. but i lived like you for most of my life. i remember i wouldnt dare look in mirrors, and theres many years of my life where i have no photos to show for it because i absolutely refused to let myself be on camera. sadly, i hated myself to the core and i thought i was so disgusting and terrible. so actually, i understand your pain in that way. but for me... my advice is that kind that might not help you because it's extremely straightforward. the truth is that... i just realized one day, when i began my self love journey (before i even knew the law or anything), that there's really no point in hating my looks bc like. literally. what does it do ? actually nothing. so overnight i decided to think i'm pretty because it literally costs nothing and it literally does no harm... while hating myself actually did a lot of harm. now, i accepted i'm pretty to myself but when i came back into the world (this all happened around covid time) i realized i still think others can think i'm ugly, so i wasn't fully comfortable but... slowly, i just allowed myself to build my confidence. the more i looked in the mirror and hyped myself up, liked what i saw... the more i stopped being afraid to be seen. and it's not always perfect but... you just have to remember it's a daily practice. there's ebbs and flows to life, and safe to be wherever you are.

anyway, thanks so much for your update !! honestly, that's how it is sometimes !! despite everything, i can't say everything these days has been totally easy for me. i can see how my life is beautiful, but the anxiety within me doesn't really care these days. but that's just part of it. and literally, yes. i love movie theatre snacks sooooooo much. thats 75% of the reason i love going hahahah

take care !! xo <3

[gratisdiamanten]

the age gap NEEDS to be explored!!! i feel like people always treat max older than he is/was (and max has said he’s always been mature bc he was always around adults even as a kid). comparing how other young drivers like lando were treated (even tho he was older than max getting into f1) vs max. even now, both fans and media asking max about marriage and kids. fans especially—like he’s literally only 25….. calm down. but also the pressure and wanting to find build a home/family after a childhood like that… i can just imagine daniel knowing it’s wrong— hiding their relationship. and the burden that is on max bc to him age is nothing

I don't write lots of "canonverse" fic but most of my Daniels are like this. He generally struggles with like, deep abiding shame for existing and not like, Earning that place to exist. It's different than with Max, who just wants to satisfy the place he took out of other people. For him, it's an inherent sense of worthlessness or lacking. Emptiness. If you've ever read Osamu Dazai's No Longer Human a lot of the early parts remind me LOTS of Daniel:

I have always shook with fright before human beings. Unable as I was to feel the least particle of confidence in my ability to speak and act like a human being, I kept my solitary agonies locked in my breast. I kept my melancholy and my agitation hidden, careful lest any trace should be left exposed. I feigned an innocent optimism; I gradually perfected myself in the role of the farcical eccentric. I thought, "As long as I can make them laugh, it doesn't matter how, I'll be all right. If I succeed in that, the human beings probably won't mind it too much if I remain outside their lives. The one thing I must avoid is becoming offensive in their eyes: I shall be nothing, the wind, the sky." My activities as jester, a role born of desperation, were extended even to the servants, whom I feared even more than my family because I found them incomprehensible.

I was well on the way to winning respect. But the idea of being respected used to intimidate me excessively. My definition of a "respected" man was one who had succeeded almost completely in hoodwinking people, but who was finally seen through by some omniscient, omnipotent person who ruined him and made him suffer a shame worse than death. Even supposing I could deceive most human beings into respecting me, one of them would know the truth, and sooner· or later other human beings would learn from him. What would he the wrath and vengeance of those who realized how they had been tricked! That was a hair-raising thought.

So to him, he's not fully deserving of some deep resounding love, or some kind of unearned affection, which is why Max's earnestness unnerves him as much as it attracts him. Max sees through him by and large, and he loves him. Max makes him the "respected man" from the excerpt above. Max destroyed him - his career, his private façade... has seen him at his ugliest raging in his driver's room, violent and feeling nearly nonhuman - and he still likes him. That scares Daniel quite a bit. He's afraid of what loving Max publicly would look like, if that would expose him to everyone else, especially if that public love would actually ruin his image just on its own, with Max having been so young.

Max wouldn't understand. To him this is extremely straightforward. He would hate Daniel's leaps of logic and mental contortionism to make this whole idea of not-allowing-himself-to-be-public-about-it work in the first place. It would make him feel shameful and agitated. To him, Daniel could seem difficult to understand.

[expfcultragreen]

The main langley 711 closed but its whatever because they stopped making mojos and switched to shitty old wedges a few months back 😩

I actually sort of applaud whoever pulled the plug on forcing people to staff it, they were constantly being harassed by bitchy methheads

Which, no offense to methheads in general but, you know the problem people suck all the fun out of everything

That was a neighborhood 24 hour resource that kept getting shittier and is gone now, for brand integrity reasons i would guess

Like, it was rare there werent people camped out outside on the 711 lot or actively overdosing on the premises with firetrucks onsite, and most any night there were multiple active drug deals/a shooting gallery situation in the parking lot or by the dumpsters, plus whatever was happening inside with someone wanting/needing some kind of leeway and being stymied by capitalism etc

Its unclear why this sometimes happens to 711 other than, the people working there tend to be polite about it because theyre not highly regarded by the society that demands 711 either, and the people who go there habitually/camp out there, tend to focus on places that are open 24 hours because they cant go to dry shelters etc

So these businesses are often put in the position of operating in a capacity its not legal for them to operate in, (or else, making enemies in the local transient-and-wacky demographic thats attracted to certain locations for largely geographic reasons)....in order to pick up the slack left by these religiously affiliated anti-drug places that would rather people die than be housed while high

...on the topic of the transient-and-wacky demographic, if you want good advice about being cool with these people, you have to imagine that basically everyone theyve dealt with lately other than other homeless people, are essentially a faceless mass of judgemental calvinist douchbags who never cared about their wellbeing as fellow humans and demonstrably have evil/purely selfish values revolving around profit and a pyramid of enslavement and dont understand true humanism/fraternity/sorority/[any religion name here]/whatever, and every time you enforce some little procedure of whatever bureaucracy your workplace has, thats you assigning yourself evil

....which is exhausting on a long enough timeline even for people who get it, but also, are not social workers but ARE at work

But maybe we should all be taught social work skills instead of like, trig

Some of this stuff is easy for me because ive always been seeing evidence of a reciprocal balancing mechinism to linear reality (karma) ever since i started watching for it as a kid.....so im like, workplace protocol isnt as important as how i myself would want to be treated should i end up in their shoes...(never bought the myth that its personal failings that cause desperate circumstances, always saw how often people socially mob up and destroy the futures of people for petty reasons, could be anyone....cast out)

A big part of the problem is domestication; they dont know how to medicate their trauma other than drugs (for reasons; no money for therapy, no trust in therapy etc) BUT they paradoxically have largely-externally-cultivated resentment for everything about being anywhere they can get them (because theyre not remote diy producers, or colleagues of similar....maybe because they have 0 chill), ie the hostile aesthetics and ergonomics of public spaces and mainly, the people who functionally "fit" eg people who can get jobs and are earning money by flexing on them about where they can be, what theyre allowed to do

People who actively enjoy holding themselves above the people who've had the most damaging lives, entirely deserve their disdain.....but also, anyone who is even just avoidant in the wrong way reads as yet-another-one-of-Them....the authoritarians....the teachers, the stepdads, the nuns, the jocks, the librarians, the mallcops, the clerks, etc/whoever, the ones who've always been there to cast you out, poised to do it.....there are of course skids who actually dont have a problem with authority to a compulsive extent and are conventionally pleasant in demeanor, for the record....typically theyve been hurt first/worst by peers. Most skids are not having a good day when you meet them. (This is tongue-in-cheek understatement; my point is that people often hold visibly impoverished people to standards of decorum that only make imaginationland sense, to people who've never been unsheltered for long, never looked like "a vagrant" etc and might tend to take issue with the idea that its not some kind of choice, to just be "difficult" as a lifestyle....i guess for the thrill of risking being beaten to death by nazis for not being at work?)

And yeah at this point theres a counterculture of identification with being so defiant of a corrupt system in its dysfunction that its dysfunctional, like, it renders one unable to function.....imo/ime, thats trauma, when its creating loss of general functionality. We shouldnt be in such a rush to prove we're just as traumatized as anyone else or to valorize their/our own state of painful defiance, in spite of its paradigmatic righteousness, rationality, etc; the issue here is, we're in the unenlightenment when it comes to healing that pain. Some people say the best way forward is violent radical action, blabla, total rev eternal war yaddayadda....i dont think that leads us out of trauma, kids. I think we have to be like, ummm... corny about all this

Could we all just try voting progressive/lib for the gotcha one way or the other, just so everyone who said it wouldn't make a difference can really see if they were telling the truth, instead of tilting it in their own favor by not bothering and risking the kind of con wins we're bound to have a real blowsome time with, theyre like "we'll just use police to assassinate you all in raids and political prisons and blablabla" basically....its like the 1 reason to hate AI, the 1% might be using us to train our replacements

I have no idea what "basic human decency" is supposed to look like, as noted, there are many opposing views...do the 1% have "basic human decency"? Impossible, they havent abolished themselves already

[notmuchtoconceal]

yeah, i admit it.

i don't wanna just do what you say.

i can only respect your boundaries so much if you give me zero rationale.

if you're ordering me not to do thing, i'm gonna wonder why i'm not doing thing, and then draw recurrent subtle attention to this lapse in my knowledge base in a way you may find grating and even offensive, for reasons I regard as 100% your fault, until you give me something.

find a way to shut me up.

you don't need to give the whole story.

i just need something to understand the why so I can make conscious, self-motivated decisions about being in your presence and engaging with you. if i understand who you are, i can react and self-modify live more organically, while if you give me a command -- derp.

checking data-base. user-interface engaged.

beep-boop-boop-bop.

he said this. there's a correct way to do things. i'm wrong.

what do i do? i need to ask again!

i did as i'm told and didn't respect myself to bother to learn why i'm doing this and now it's not very good because i didn't care!

[instructions unclear meme = i don't wanna be an NPC]

most disagreements come from people undersharing and making assumptions, then flattening themselves into weird caricatures to painlessly skim over all levels of social interaction cause they don't wanna get hurt. shallowness is indistinguishable from selfishness in this way.

look at me, i'll do what you say.

you may know what's best for you, and i may wanna know why you think that. not to contradict you, but to reconstruct your train of thought and deduce from that something of your values and experiences, then ask follow-up questions when other things reminds me.

i mean, bro.

you want me to have power over you, and you don't want me to fuck it up, correct? there are details pertinent to you alone, right?

maybe you don't know, or know everything, and i can provide clarification rather than contradiction. maybe i have my own ideas and if yours make no sense to me, it's like -- i can't even process them. maybe i need more data to fully process your request, so you're just fuckin yourself over by not even trying to meet me where i am and making excuses.

part of this is how little my own boundaries were respected, and how much i was lied to, so what's trained in my cells is to move forward and disregard all forms of distortion, so the whole notion of "respecting boundaries" is a conscious construct which is in some ways skin deep (this is why we have reminders -- like mantras; some things you repeat over and over open you up, some shut you down) so if you are my friend and like engaging with me, and there's something i'm doing you don't like -- you can tell me, and you can give me a reason.

think of it as a trust exercise.

open yourself up just a little, then see how i react.

then do it again.

thing is, i realize because people flatten themselves this way out of fear, and so identify with the fiction they've let themselves become, any regard of their "real" or "submerged" personality is going to viewed as an intrusion, because it's a reminder of the pain which made them repress and become a bot in the first place.

it's easy to live in a monoculture. there's minimal ambiguity if everyone thinks and acts and is raised the same, and yet -- i find it hard to imagine a life like that could ever possibly be worth living, and i think your quiet desperation is so apparent, even at a distance, you're drawn to the illusions i cast because of the tantalizing promise of freedom, but in your gut you don't think it's possible, you think it's all fantasy.

bro, america is all fantasy.

fantasy is constantly becoming reality.

this country was unconquered wilderness two centuries ago, now look at it. we live in a country where carnival showmen dominate the media. we're a country of cookie-cutter people made to serve the institutions which are being rapidly taken over by reptiles. look at how much tech has shifted our way of life in the past twenty years. we are one of the most malleable countries on earth, and that's part of the problem. it's so easy to undo all the social progress the second half of the twentieth century gifted us if we allow ourselves to be complacent and not even backslide into authoritarianism, but fully degrade into the non-human under a constant bombast of EMF, poison and other distractions.

you can make any change you want.

in your own life, or the world around you.

you can only start where you're at, though.

start at home, then get bigger once ya got the resources.

the main thing i wish to impress upon you (as you are so effortlessly impressed by me, i thank you. your soul is beautiful, and your dick ain't bad either) is that this comes down to a difference in philosophy.

people who wanna maintain their distance and hide and serve you through all manner of refraction and circumlocution because they've been traumatically voided and programmed and now struggle to achieve or maintain human closeness without defaulting to power relations, for they've in a sense instrumentalized themselves, only view themselves as a commodity, and are now compulsively seeking feelings of safety and belonging to resolve their constant alienage, rendering their kindness largely illusory for it's rooted in desperation and survival.

and people who can be themselves and ask you direct questions, understanding if you piss them off, you can clarify things or apologize.

of course, in a culture where we understand the block and the walkout have been weaponized (these occurrences ought be rare, and a last resort, I maintain) people may be more anxious than ever, for what if the other party imagines a more inflammatory response, no doubt because they've been sensitized to very specific stimuli and word choice -- which they will repeat back to you directly in a way which is telling of its implanted nature -- thus encouraging a net decrease in communication through normalizing an atmosphere of fear and panic.

how much of what you take for granted is a psy-op, bro?

if you're sittin on yer ass mentally flagellatin me for bein holier than thou, or some shit -- uh, derp. yeah, sniff my armpits faggot. i'm a toxic douchebag alpha male. i'm not brainwashed and not engaging with your cultural vocabulary to dissolve my own trauma, and yet -- admittedly, my presentation may attract and even reinforce yours, oh.

everyone's fuckin brainwashed dumbass.

i'm making the conscious daily choice to minimize my brainwashing and you can too if you don't keep giving up and making excuses.

Transformative BDSM often feels like one-step forward, two steps back.

Cathartic BDSM is often all about the release.

I maintain there are two implicit, but parallel purposes to BDSM, and one can be used as a periodic release valve for making it through a rough time in a hard system, while the other can be used -- through a dark alchemy of identification with the shadow -- moving the game beyond the game, into a higher echelon so to speak -- to change the psyche in such a way that an individual can dissolve social barriers around them.

Like with any medium of artistic expression -- be it art, film or video game -- catharsis misused can be used to enable, and if someone brings a potential point of concern to you, and you dig in, feel attacked, and start rattling off a litany of justifications for yourself, well --

That makes the concern seem justified.

It's hard, bro. You can't change overnight.

Sometimes you don't even know where to begin.

Sometimes you can only make changes when something from the outside comes in and smashes you to pieces.

Sometimes you only figure out who ya are when you're forced to piece yourself back together by hand.

I don't want a comfortable life to become a trap.

That's why I think the way I do, bro.