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bonefall · 5 months ago

Note

how much of Stormpaw’s demon are Maple’s curse vs just things that happen (cause in canon it’s really vague about whether Maple causes all those tragedies or has the ability to see his future for some reason)

EVERYTHING that happens in Stormpaw's Demon involves her. It's not being so dramatically renamed for nothing, she's a major driver and cause of the plot! Crookedstar's young name is in the title; but really, his demon is driving the misfortune.

That said... It's been a while and I'm heavily considering retooling the narrative.

Since I last REALLY worked on it, BB has changed in the sense that I'm a lot more willing to alter canon than I used to be. While my driving mindset used to be "telling a better version of the original story," and that IS a value I still hold... I've lost patience with the misogyny within the original work.

I've spoken at length about the way Crookedstar's Promise grinds my gears (PLEASE follow this link for a full breakdown of why), but in summary; it desperately tries to keep every male character likeable when they shouldn't be, saying nothing about the fact they are complicit in or even enabling abuse, while giving Crookedstar TWO flatly evil maternal figures. Even Brambleberry, who's heavily praised for being "like a mom instead," has a weird moment where she starts giving Crookedjaw the cold shoulder because she finds out he's chatting with a demon.

So like... I'm not sure if I want to make the "better version" of that story. That was the one that I already had, which had Mapleshade be acting entirely out of just the malice of wanting to hurt a child, while Hailstar and Shellheart are the excellent people canon wanted to see them as.

(not that it's even a BAD super edition, it's actually a really good one, but if it's my kitchen that's not what we cook here. Man I really do always massively overhaul my favorite SEs LMAO)

I think, specifically, I want to make Mapleshade slightly more morally gray and Hailstar more of an enabler. Shellheart is getting significantly retooled to make him more of the heartwarming parental figure I think he should be; someone loving to help balance out a very heavy rework.

And of course Brambleberry, I'm going to tweak her some. Try to make her flaws more consistent, get rid of that odd cold shoulder moment.

Old regulars will remember an old AU which is also still a massive favorite of mine; it was called Better Call Mapleshade, and it was kind of a commentary on how an environment can shape a person. Mapleshade, as a demon in heaven, was essentially their best prosecutor and defense attorney.

You can actually see how a lot of ideas from that AU ended up in Better Bones with the expanded trial system! I'm thinking of taking another page out of it, by making Mapleshade more aware of "the game" of Clan culture's structural unfairness, while also using it like a weapon against people she wants to hurt. A powerful demon of revenge.

Under the cut, what won't be changing, the way it was, and Draft 2 of Stormpaw's Demon.

(MASSIVE CONTENT WARNING FOR MENTAL AND PHYSICAL CHILD ABUSE including ableism. BB!Rainflower is WORSE than canon.)

WHAT WON'T BE CHANGING;

These are major details of Stormpaw's Demon that are different from canon. I'm working with these as givens and won't be changing between drafts.

Mapleshade does have a bone to pick with Appledusk's lineage specifically. One option might make her more discerning when it comes to her targets, but no matter what, she is going to have her eyes on this bloodline. She Haunts Applekin.

Rainflower is Hailstar's deputy. And I will make her downfall spectacular. If you were worried I was going to make her more sympathetic then you have no idea who I am LMAO

Shellheart is not Crookedstar's biofather While I want Hailstar to maybe be worse; I do want to fix Shellheart by making him a good parent. I've decided a good way to do this is to make it that Shellheart adopts Storm AFTER he's been abused by Rainflower. He didn't have authority over him before then. In general, I do want him to have a bigger positive role in this narrative. DEPENDING ON WHICH VERSION: Oakheart might also not be his bio-brother.

Crookedjaw is not a cruel name; it's an Honor Title. I've ALWAYS been frustrated by how canon treats scars and injuries as bad things. It's a BATTLE culture. Surviving brushes with death is their WHOLE THING. There is no "crookedkit" or "crookedpaw," he was Stormpaw until he earned his warrior name, with "Crookedjaw" commending the massive lengths he's gone to in order to survive, adapt, and honor StarClan.

Mentor change: Goodbye Cedarpelt, hello Magpiesky! I decided to repurpose one of the Barn Cats! Magpie from the books is a daughter of Perchshine-- the cat who killed Mapleshade. She joined RiverClan long ago. She's actually the one who points him in the way of the barn, and has to train him "as a punishment for teaching him disobedience" when he comes back. I actually have a couple of minor reasons for making this change but I'll spare them for now. He might start with Cedarpelt, but then run to the barn when Cedarpelt is basically refusing to train him properly.

Some family tree shuffles I need to update this tree to show Crookedstar's new situation with Shellheart (and also reflect some other changes I made like confirming Hallowflight fully being Lizardtail's honor title and Robinpaw being the apprentice who gets eaten by Ripwater), BUT, overall this tree is solid.

The ableism Storm faces is going to have a different flavor I have built BB in a way where him surviving his injury would be very respected, but he'd get badly coddled and pushed into early retirement. Him running to the barn is because he suspects he wouldn't have gotten training otherwise.

He kills a fox there because it's Cool. I might give him the tail to wear as a trophy of the kill because that's also Cool. The fox was very old and feeble at that point, which was why it was attacking chickens, but shhh

The Way It Was (Very Evil Mapleshade)

Darkstar's Commandment creating the Queen's Rights, that no queen would ever have to reveal the other parent of their kittens, wasn't enough to appease Mapleshade.

Nor was the damning of everyone that Mapleshade killed. In a fit of irrational fury at all the death, StarClan sent all her victims into the Dark Forest.

But she can't chase them. In the Dark Forest, you don't see someone unless you WANT to see them, not unless you're hanging out in a "land mar" (a sort of personal hell that all demons get).

on the off-chance she does see them, Frecklewish usually rips her to shreds...

Which is the next problem.

You can't DIE in the Dark Forest if you're a demon. You poof back into existence the next day, no injuries, no scars, nothing.

she's bored.

And vengeful. In spite of the wrong being righted, she still thinks she deserves MORE revenge, because what she wanted was really Appledusk.

She finds it unfair that HER legacy is snuffed out, that it's Darkstar's Commandment and not hers, that her babies were destined for greatness and by extension SHE should have been great.

So she takes up a hobby in tormenting Appledusk's descendants. She wants to eradicate them completely, but is spiteful enough that she'll just settle with hurting them.

The first one she managed to kill was Applefrost, Reedshine's son. Just by accident. She didn't know she had such power over the mortal plane.

After that, she managed to drown Duskwater. The daughter.

But she couldn't wipe out HER daughter in that storm... and she brought two more Applekin children into the world.

Stormkit and Oakkit.

So, naturally, Mapleshade turned her sight on the little fuzzball.

He would be an easy kill, in theory. She smashed Stormkit's jaw on the rock, but Oakkit pulled him out.

From there, it's similar to canon for a bit. His recovery is long and painful.

Rainflower is disgusted, and wants absolutely no part of helping him through this process.

That wasn't an injury gained in battle-- it's because he's careless and didn't listen to her. He's going through all this suffering, and for what?

To never become a warrior?

She's cruel to him, begins to neglect and distance herself from him. Discourages him from suckling.

Mapleshade LOVES this. It's worse than she could have imagined. Rainflower is horrible.

Gleefully, she realizes that Stormkit dying now is what Rainflower wants.

So, she kills two other kits in the nursery.

Fallowtail's only survivor is Willowkit, so she has plenty of milk. She starts suckling Stormkit.

(Graypool is now an older sibling! She's actually an apprentice at this time! Later, she encourages Willowkit to visit their father, who decides to just kidnap them completely)

Eventually, being the deputy, Rainflower had some kind of conversation with Hailstar.

During that conversation, she asked him to do something very cruel to Crookedkit.

And Hailstar LOST IT

He's the successor of Volestar, who was appointed by Darkstar herself to uphold the Queen's Rights and protect children.

How DARE you try to turn RiverClan into a place of disrespect?? To use my power this way?!

So, her power was stripped, and Oakkit and Stormkit were taken from her.

From there, Storm eventually goes to the barn as discussed, and Mapleshade continues to do things to hurt him.

This was my first draft, and now having thought about it a lot, I feel like it's not super cohesive. A demonic Mapleshade who's entirely malicious is neat, but I feel like this makes her flat. Shellheart's not tied in super well either, and Hailstar's stand feels kind of hollow because Rainflower hasn't actually used or leveraged the new authority I've given her.

But most egregiously? Rainflower's abuse being so close to canon tastes kind of bland. I feel like I can make it sooo much more intense, complicated, and painful.

Draft 2 of Stormpaw's Demon (Demon of Revenge Update) Essentially an outline for the first few chapters establishing Mapleshade by dealing with Rainflower and then fragments for the rest.

Mapleshade's still malicious, but this time, there's more to it.

Darkstar's Commandment, and the damning of her victims, DID appease this Mapleshade.

But is she satisfied? No.

She doesn't feel like she was wrong at all, actually. Without her killing those three in revenge for her kittens, StarClan's anger probably would have subsided.

She can't hunt her victims down again though, because, they don't want to see her. She fights Frecklewish every now and then but what's the point?

She WON already. She already GOT the euphoria of dragging them all down with her.

Punishing everyone who had ever wronged her was the highlight of her existence... but now it's done.

She's in Hell and she's bored. Her punishment is never seeing her kits again, but more importantly, her punishment is eternal shuffling through the leaf litter when she's SO GOOD at getting revenge.

Problem with revenge is, when you get it, it's gone.

She probably messed with Duskwater and Applefrost a bit, but if she killed one of them, it was accidental. It made her realize that revenge without a motive is just boring.

The prologue would probably open up with establishing her as a character. Who she is, what she wants.

Because the first chapter would dive RIGHT IN to Stormkit. The only child of Rainflower, the deputy.

Right along with Stormkit, you only learn in hindsight that he was born in a storm that killed his grandmother. It's clear that Rainflower reminds him of this often.

And that she's nasty to him. Giving him unclear instruction and finding things to critique, telling him to jump and then barking at him that he didn't ask how high.

She has great expectations for him, and reminds him of their family lineage often. Of who killed his great-grandfather, of what a fantastic pair of warriors Applefrost and Duskwater were

"I lost everything the night you were born. You'd better be able to make up for it."

Unfortunately, Stormkit is not the sort of child who's good at listening to those sorts of orders. He's stubborn and defiant; angry and oppositional.

When he doesn't understand why you do something, he doesn't want to do it

He "embarrasses" her a lot, and gets hurt for it.

In public, these are swats and whacks. The things you're "allowed" to do to discipline your child. In private these are a lot more severe.

So when Stormkit is given an order or a command, he obeys completely out of fear rather than respect. And sometimes he forgets his fear.

The other cats in RiverClan? Well... Stormkit is a problem child, and Rainflower is a fantastic, organized, respected deputy.

Hailstar especially, unfortunately. He feels bad... for Rainflower.

"It must be so hard for her to have such a little brat as a son. He never seems to learn his lesson. When will he stop wandering off? What's wrong with him? He certainly didn't get that from her."

His best friend, Oakkit, gets in the SAME trouble he does.

He's mischievous, fearless, and outgoing, and... never gets punished for it.

There's times where Oakkit does something and Stormkit physically recoils, just imagining what Rainflower would do if HE did something like that. Especially in how Oakkit talks to his dad, Shellheart.

For example, Shellheart will come to get his son for suckling time and Oakkit will tell him to his face things like, "I don't want to! I'm HAVING FUN!"

and shellheart doesn't flip out. He just. explains why it's important to eat on time.

"I know. But Fallowtail wants to go have fun too! She's waiting for you to come and suckle so she can go play."

"Well why can't she just play now and I suckle later?"

"When a suckler is full of milk, it makes their belly very itchy. She's uncomfortable when you don't come and eat on time."

"nnnh"

"Tough sell? How about I sweeten the pile with a badger ride back?"

"Hm. You drive a hard bargain, Mr. Dad."

Stormkit doesn't know why he hates it. He's all angry inside when he sees them acting friendly. He's polite because Oakkit's his best friend and Mr. Shellheart is really nice, but he just...

He's too young at the time to know he's envious. He wants what Oakkit has so badly it hurts.

Sometime after an exchange like that, Stormkit is visited by Mapleshade for the first time.

And they talk about Stormkit's anger and resentment. Stormkit lets it slip that he HATES his Mi.

Waits for Mapleshade to stop him and tell him, like everyone else does, that "she's still your mother."

...but she doesn't.

Besides Oakkit and Shellheart, she's the first person who doesn't tell him that.

She just lets him talk. Lets him go on. Starts making nasty jabs, which make him laugh.

"She says she lost everything the day I was born!!"

"What?! That's crazy! She got you that day!"

"Right?! It's like she's saying I'm nothing! Maybe she SHOULD lose everything, then she'd know what she's got!"

And then she asks, "Do you want her to die?"

Suddenly, there's a chill in the air. He's really shocked by the suggestion of that. He didn't... he didn't mean it to go THAT far. That's not what he meant... is it?

But she's fading back into the shadows, just her eyes visible in the dark. Tells him that she can see he's unsure. That's ok.

Holds up a budding sprig of sycamore, the maple she's named for. Its buds grow in a "deer hoof," with one large bud in the middle and two "toes" sprouting on its sides.

Teaches him that if he needs someone in his corner, all he has to do is call.

(to summon her, a bud is plucked off the sprig and thrown in the river.)

He wakes up with the sprig in his paw, panics, and shoves it under the nest he shares with his mother.

The experience shakes him. He probably ran to Brambleberry for the first time, who explains very seriously that he was contacted by a demon.

From the description... Mapleshade. The cat who killed his great-grandfather.

He BEGS her not to tell Rainflower. PLEADS with her. He can barely hear her already saying yes under the throbbing sound of his heart in his ears.

When he calms down, he hears her saying yes. On the condition she will need to smoke the nursery with sage and cedar, and that he will be needing a bath as well.

When he's still concerned that Rainflower will question him, she makes a plan to distract her for a day, long enough for him to do his cleanse and the smell to fade.

And, of course, that he will not follow any instructions that Mapleshade left him. He agrees. But does not tell Brambleberry about the sprig.

For a while he's very "well behaved." But it's not about him, never has been.

It really doesn't take long at all for Rainflower to get worse. Kids who are defiant like that are usually exercising a defense mechanism-- if they're not aggressive about their boundaries, their limits are pushed to a breaking point.

And after a big blowout like this, which was probably a public spectacle, Stormkit runs back to his nest and digs out the sprig, runs to the river, and throws a bud in the river.

Having calmed down from his shuddering fury, the dread begins to set in as a dead-smelling wind ruffles his fur. He can't help but feel like he just did something very stupid out of anger.

Looking at his reflection, he sees no cuts or swelling. The blows weren't "bad enough." He doesn't have the kind of injuries that anyone would do anything about. Equal parts guilt and frustration swell in him like a tide at full moon. How could he be sitting here wishing she hurt him worse?

So he tries to soften it, "I don't want her to die, I just, I... I just want her to lose everything like she says. Please..."

The wind whispers in his ear, "it will get worse before it gets better."

"I can handle that," he sobs, "I can do anything. Please. Make it stop."

After that, Oakkit probably runs to come find him. Stormkit doesn't want to be found. He makes up a childish plan, on the spot, to run away and join ThunderClan.

Oak says that's mousebrained, but Storm has DEVOTED himself to this plan he made just now.

And is crossing the stones.

Oak sighs, but if Storm's going to ThunderClan, he should really go with him because then they could totally fight off a small fox (Childish hubris)

Unfortunately, Rainflower found them. asks Exactly What He's Doing.

The kids freeze. Stormkit in particular has that horrible, twisting anxiety that you get when you hear The Tone that means you're in for an absolute wallop when you get home.

He's about to start running, but then the voice tickles his ear-fur again. Mapleshade tells him to go back. It'll be ok. She's on his side. She'll make her pay.

Oakkit is still frozen in place when, as if possessed, Storm's body stiffly returns to his mother.

There's a silence. The river trickling through the stepping stones. Storm looking with fear and anger up at her.

She's waiting for an apology, groveling. He doesn't give her one.

So she raises her paw and gives him an awful, hard blow.

His little body twists, flung off balance, trying to correct himself, and he can swear he felt paws pushing him a second time, whipping him downwards.

The feeling of falling fills his stomach, the water sloshes into his ears before there's a ring of a sound like CLUNK-CRUNCH, and then the river floods his nose and mouth.

It all goes dark.

When he wakes up, it's with a throbbing pain in the side of his jaw so intense that he can feel it all the way down in the tip of his tail. He learns from Brambleberry that Oakkit rescued him-- jumped right into the water to pull him out. And then Rainflower pulled him out. That was when Shellheart came and found them.

There's a LOT of arguing outside, but Storm can't ask what it is because it hurts to move his mouth at all. Brambleberry hushes and soothes him, telling him it's nothing he needs to know about.

(MEDICAL INFODUMPING: i do actually have a medical reason I want his injury to come from someone hitting him which causes him to fall. The injury he'd get in canon would actually be a really simple and common split in the front of the mandible, which wouldn't cause his mouth to have a dramatic twist and would heal very easily. He needs to come down on the rock at an angle to shatter the joint like that.)

From here, the tune about Stormkit starts to change.

Oakkit was distraught when they got back, telling everyone that Rainflower smashed him against a rock.

Rainflower's story is that he was running, and she chased after him. EVERYONE knows that he has a habit of doing this.

Then HE slipped and fell and hit his face on the rocks. His fault.

Oakkit was running away with him, he's lying.

Shellheart is FEROCIOUSLY taking the side of his son, furious that she would imply he raised a liar.

Hailstar is taking the side of Rainflower. It's two troublemaking kits against his deputy.

Yes, Rainflower's disciplined him before, but that's no indication she'd do something like this on purpose.

Brambleberry weighs in that the injury that Stormkit has isn't the sort of injury a kitten gets from hitting his jaw. The bone is shattered.

probably does some kind of visual to go along with it, using a stick and a stone

"The bones of a kitten are like the young shoots of a tree. When they fracture," she takes a young twig and snaps it in her paws. The fibers in the center are bent but unbroken, with the bark splintered around them, "they flay but don't snap."

She places the stick on the ground, "So for the injury that Stormkit has," and violently smashes the rock down onto it. It's shattered and pulped, the fibers flattened, "there would need to be a great force."

Shellheart hisses, saying that THIS is the evidence. Oakkit's story is consistent but Rainflower HAS to have lied.

Several cats are now on his side.

...But more are on Rainflower's.

"She's his mother. She loves him. Oakkit has to be mistaken."

"Why would she chase down her own son just to smash his face on a stone?"

"She wouldn't pull them out of the river if she really wanted to hurt him!"

Hailstar prompts if there's ANYTHING else that could explain this?

It comes up that Brambleberry cleansed the dens the other day.

She says that it's possible there is a demon's influence at work. She can't know for sure which one it is-- but it may have a grudge against Rainflower.

She allows them to reach the conclusion that it's probably Mapleshade on their own. She will be talking to Crookedkit when he's able, but she's not about to tell anyone about his dream yet.

She doesn't want him to have the extra scrutiny when he needs to rest and heal, but if she'd shared that an unnamed cat had a demonic dream, it would set off panic as cats accused each other of dark magic.

Rainflower manages to escape consequences by pointing out that it was likely Mapleshade that injured her son.

Oakkit is still trying to tell everyone SHE did it, he SAW it, Stormkit walked back and she hit him and smashed his jaw on the rock

But he's hushed. It's decided there's not enough evidence. And not enough reason to doubt the noble deputy.

She's never done something like this before, after all. It's more likely it was an accident.

There is a group of cats that are dissatisfied about this, though, and it only grows when Brambleberry explains that Stormkit's prognosis is not good.

There is a very high chance he will die. Even adult warriors can wither slowly from this sort of injury.

Recovery will be slow and it will be painful.

...but after that incident? Rainflower gets bolder. She got away with it in public. She got a taste of the leverage she has, how much they trust her.

Stormkit spends a lot of time floating in between his dreams and his living-world pain. There's at least one interaction where he speaks to Mapleshade, screaming at her that he TRUSTED her, he KNOWS she's the one who hurt him! How could she?!

She can't say much, kept at bay by a hazy smokescreen of sage. "You must live! You must survive!"

Her old words echo in his head; It Will Get Worse Before It Gets Better.

Throughout the recovery, Rainflower grows more cruel and more distant.

In public she likes to talk about how difficult this is for her, but he's strong, he will survive.

In private, she'll do things that hurt him, like repositioning his head in a way that "his jaw will heal better in." When he cries, she's unsympathetic.

"You brought this on yourself. This is for your own good."

Her definition of "private" is also changing. She's getting more comfortable with snapping at him in front of limited groups of people.

Since she's deputy, the other two parents in the nursery, Shellheart and Fallowtail, do their best to care for Stormkit while she's away. He's pulled away from them when she gets back, any ideas or suggestions they have vetoed.

When they try to go to Brambleberry about this, she shakes her head with frustration and tries to make them understand she knows... and she's just as unhappy with it as they are.

She tells them she keeps going to Hailstar, but he's still hesitant. Even though she's trying to tell him that Stormkit's recovery is being undermined.

"Rainflower's son has always needed tough love. She's his Mi and knows him best... she's still taking care of him. Give her a warning before suggesting anything drastic."

In the other draft, I had Mapleshade kill two of Fallowtail's kits to free up milk for Stormkit. I'm not sure I need that anymore honestly, plus, this rework's heavy enough! She can just have Willowkit without any deaths, while Graypaw remains an older sibling.

When Brambleberry informs Rainflower and Stormkit that the jaw isn't healing straight and it will probably be at an angle forever, Rainflower reacts with disdain.

"His first scar and it's nothing he earned?!"

She's reminded he might not even survive. He's lost weight. He's eating less. Stormkit curls up quietly. He hates how they talk about him like he can't hear them.

"Surviving is the bare minimum," she scoffs reflexively. There's a silence so thick you can cut it with a claw. After an uncomfortable heartbeat, she continues, "What kind of a life will he live if he-"

"a life," Brambleberry cuts in, "he'd live a life. And it can be a good one"

Rainflower growls, spitting that the twisted jaw is a disfigurement. He'll never be able to open his mouth all the way. He can't chew and he can't suckle forever. Stormkit will never become a warrior if he can't even dispatch a fish with a killing bite.

"Scars are the sign that StarClan has mended our bodies after fighting a good fight, making any Clanborn cat worthy of being an elder" Brambleberry preaches, "Names are what mark us, calling upon our ancestors to look down at us and witness our actions, Rainflower. Don't say anything you wouldn't want them to see."

Rainflower flicks her ear, seething, a rumble in her throat, "was that some kind of threat? As if I've said something wrong?"

"If you feel threatened, look within."

Stormkit resents all of this talk. He can feel his mother tensing up next to him, hears the low rumble progressing into a growl. When adults play stupid games with his mom, he's always the one who ends up dealing it. Why don't they get that?

It's only Shellheart who seems to have it click, "Hey, this is the nursery. Can you take it outside, please?"

As Brambleberry and Rainflower leave, Stormkit lays curled up in his nest, cold and alone. Oakkit leaves Shellheart's paws to curl up around his best friend.

Shellheart stares at them, shifting, but ultimately stays where he is.

There's a lot of words I could write there, between Storm and Oak. Ones where Storm speaks about how he just wants the pain to be done with. Others where Oak comforts him, tells him how much he means to him. More where they end up running into the wall that they're just two little kids and they've both learned the truth that they have no control over what happens when Rainflower comes back into that den.

But I think it would be good to end there, at the lowest point. Because it gets better.

Pissed off by being gently confronted, after her warning from Brambleberry, this is the moment where Rainflower goes too far.

Hailstar is gradually losing his patience. Every time this issue comes up, he's making some kind of new excuse for her.

She's still a competent deputy who holds the Clan together, but this has taken a toll on her reputation.

Her biggest mistake was becoming more open with her abuse after being emboldened. And I think Hailstar is beginning to feel like he's got "egg on his face."

After standing up for Rainflower several times, getting heat from Brambleberry, and now the Clan also starting to murmur...

It's getting very difficult to justify why he's sticking his neck out.

and maybe, part of him is starting to feel a little self-conscious about the way that his deputy is acting about her injured child.

When she comes storming up on this fateful day, interrupting whatever he was doing to make a proposition, it's the breaking point.

Her suggestion: "I've realized that there's only one way to ensure my son survives his injury. He's being haunted by our demon, which only started threatening him when he disobeyed me for the last time. WE need to teach him a lesson, and make sure StarClan gazes down upon him to acknowledge his mistakes."

"...how do you intend to do that?"

"Stormkit must be given a Dishonor Title."

A Dishonor Title, one of the greatest shames that a leader can put onto one of their warriors. A punishment that ranks just below exile in terms of severity.

"you want to put a dishonor title... on your child? one with a life-threatening injury?"

"One that acknowledges his carelessness. To protect him from the demon."

Protect him from the demon. "I see now what must be done."

Previously, I'd thought of Hailstar as someone who would be loud and merciless when he does this. Now I'm thinking it was something he put a lot of thought into. He stands up, brushes past her, and goes to talk to some of his most trusted cats. Brambleberry, his mate Echomist, an experienced warrior such as Piketooth or Ottersplash, and lastly, Shellheart.

So it's not a surprise to anyone but Rainflower herself. He doesn't want this to be dramatic. He doesn't want it to be another big scene. Stormkit has gone through enough.

When he eventually has this Clan meeting, he calls it quietly. In his address to the gathered cats, a crowd that Shellheart and his family are missing from at his request, he says that his greatest regret is that he didn't do this sooner. He even doubts that Mapleshade is haunting her at all-- now having seen her behavior, he says it's more likely that Rainflower bashed her own child against a rock and simply lied.

First, he announces that Stormkit will be removed from her care. He will no longer be of the Applekin bloodline.

She is banned from the nursery at the request of Fallowtail, and will only see Stormkit when supervised by his new Mi, Shellheart.

Brambleberry has already agreed to this necessity, and is performing a ritual so that StarClan may approve of this choice.

He also strips her of her deputyship, and appoints Ottersplash instead. (I might change this to a different deputy eventually)

Not everyone agrees with Hailstar. There's an uproar from Rainflower's supporters.

She was a VERY popular deputy.

More that are just uneasy, feeling that this was a BRUTAL punishment that she didn't deserve.

Lots are happy and optimistic, though. But the mixed reception is exactly why Hailstar asked Shellheart not to be here.

This isn't something Stormkit has to deal with right now.

When Darkstar herself, who created the Queen's Rights, was on her last life, she appointed Volestar to uphold the law as her legacy knowing that Oakstar might try to break it again.

Volestar appointed Hailstar, in the hopes that he would uphold her legacy in turn, to protect kittens and those who can't protect themselves.

He was late, and can only hope he was not too late. He hopes that Volestar can forgive him for that.

Meanwhile in the nursery, Shellheart, Oakkit, and Stormkit are alone, far in the back, where the padded moss keeps out arguing voices.

Oakkit, bless his little heart, is babbling with excitement because his best friend is his BROTHER now. And it's gonna be THE BEST.

He's talking about how it's fine he can't chew because now they can have soup, and they're going to make the nest bigger, and they can stay up later because they can whisper quieter if they're this close together

But Storm doesn't really hear him. His head's swimming, thinking about the dull ache in his jaw, how MAD his mom's going to be because he can't imagine her not finding a way to hurt him, how this is all his fault because he called Mapleshade.

He can't stop it anymore and starts sniffling, which turns into weeping. Still, he's TRYING not to bawl, knowing, knowing he looks stupid when he does that

Shellheart just pulls him in close, so he can bury his face in his fluffy chest. Tells him it's going to be ok. He's safe now. No one can hurt him there.

Not on his watch.

Unfortunately, it's not the last he sees of Mapleshade. After this...

Mapleshade shows him everything she did for him. Yes, she did smash his jaw-- but it was to get him away from his mother.

And she planted an idea here and there, just little whispers into Rainflower's ear. Nothing she wouldn't do all on her own.

And now... Mapleshade believes she's earned some respect.

Stormkit can't disagree... she did exactly what she told him she'd do.

And now that he's not Applekin anymore, they can be Real Friends. They could even strike up a partnership, of sorts. After all, what did StarClan do to help him?

It wasn't StarClan that answered his prayers.

I'm still figuring out what, exactly, she's going to want from him. I have a scintilla that she wants to give him a life, maybe as some kind of bridge to StarClan to see her kits?

Some strange "attempt" at redemption, perhaps? Which she ultimately doesn't get.

Not that she didn't enjoy doing all that for love of the game, mind you. She's very good at getting revenge and it's fun and exciting to pull it off.

But hey, if you're good at something, never do it for free.

What causes Mapleshade to ultimately turn, and begin haunting the bloodline again + Oakheart, is Crookedstar rejecting her in some way.

She comes to collect on her end of the bargain and he refuses, breaking their partnership. He chooses StarClan.

And then from there, it's ON again. Now she has another EXCUSE to do what she wanted to do, and take out her boredom and malice on his family.

This time, it includes Oakheart as well-- because he was Crookedstar's brother.

It was also her curse that harmed Willowbreeze and eventually Silverstream. She's on the warpath.

Maybe she actually helped make him leader on purpose. Like he explicitly asked so she helped him by making the squirrel omen, instead of just doing it for him unprompted. Still figuring it out.

Shortly after the scene where Stormkit cries, he needs to have a confrontation with Brambleberry about Mapleshade I think. She needs to explain why Dark Forest demons are seen as bad.

She's biased, of course, but it's not like she's TOTALLY wrong either. Cats like Mapleshade ARE vengeful, in ways many other spirits are not.

If you're curious, Crookedstar's dishonor title from Rainflower would have been something comparing him to a parasite and referencing his ""accident"" like Fleaskip or Midgefall.

The point she's trying to make with the Dishonor Title is that her son is an annoying bug who didn't listen, as well as subtly erase she fact she knocked him off that rock.

She wanted his name to say "everything that happened was my fault and my mom did nothing wrong"

Not that Hailstar got as far as even asking lmao

#better bones au #Stormpaw's Demon #BB!Crookedstar #BB!Shellheart #BB!Oakheart #BB!Mapleshade #BB!Rainflower #Cw child abuse #tw child abuse #cw physical abuse #tw physical abuse #cw emotional abuse #tw emotional abuse #Stormpaw's Demon Draft 2

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pinguwrites · 1 year ago

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Kinktober 2023 | Day Six — Jonathan Crane + impact play, femdom

Pairing -> sub!jonathan crane x dom!reader

Warnings -> smut (minors dni), edging, riding, ball slapping, slapping in general, dacryphilia, reader's kinda cruel, female orgasm, orgasm denial, degredation

KINKTOBER 2023 MLIST

Disclaimer: The Dark Knight Trilogy characters, plots, quotes, etc. do not belong to me and belong to the rightful owner(s). This is only fanfiction and this is just for fun.

In the heat of your anger, you removed his belt, delighting in the way his face melted into an expression of panic as he squirmed away from you. You gave him a swift spank to the balls. “Fuck!” He gave a strangled cry, throwing his head back onto the pillow. “Owww.”

“What did we say about respect, Jon?”

Tears spilled out of his pretty blye eyes. He sniffled, his lower lip trembled. “T-that I needed to respect you. Because you own me.” He said this all in a wobbly voice, like at any moment he was going to burst into sobs and bury his face in your chest — which if you said he was allowed to, he probably would.

“And what did you earlier today?”

“I flirted with other women,” he sniffled. “I told my colleagues you were my bitch.” There was a red hue on his cheeks, and he was looking away. “But I didn’t mean it! I just wanted you to punish me, to use me! I’m your toy, you know that.”

You spanked him again.

“Hnghh — be nice!”

“Be nice?” you repeated, your tone low and dangerous. “Why should I be nice when you’ve been a such an ass?”

Jonathan’s lips formed a pout. “I’m being good now.”

“No you’re not. Good boys take what their mistresses give them.”

You brushed his belt over his face and gave him a hard slap across the cheeks. He whined and turned his head into the pillow, not wanting another one. His cheek was turning bright red, and the leather mark of the belt was starting imprint on his skin.

“You know what?” you decided, and Jonathan finally looked up. “You have been a good boy, I think I’ll give you a reward, but you have to promise to keep your hands on my clit, and to not thrust up. Can you do that?”

Jonathan nodded eagerly and spread his leg like a desperate slut. “Yes, yes, yes.”

You wet his cock with your pussy, grinding on it slowly. Jonathan whined at the teasing, but controlled his hip movements and didn’t complain, starting to rub you clit with his fingers.

When you finally sunk down on him, he let out a happy sigh, his movements pausing. You stopped, angry at his inability to follow orders, but before you could grab the belt he started rubbing again, pushing his fingers through your folds.

“Sorry, sorry,” he apologized quickly. “Got distracted.”

“I don’t want excuses.”

Jonathan blushed, his other cheek — the one you didn’t hit — turning red as well. He was so beautiful like this. Dark hair tousled, naked and marked with your bruises. This was truly his calling. He was meant to be your bratty whore.

You started bouncing, moaning in pleasure. You circled your hips on his, reveling in the sweet whimpers that poured out of his mouth. He was tossing and turning, desperately trying to keep himself in control. He didn’t want to do anything that would make you upset, and possibly prolong his pleasure.

“Augh, don’t stop,” he pleaded.

You grinned. Sure, Jon.

Once you were both close to the edge, you felt it. Jonathan had starting thrusting.

He couldn’t control himself, and you knew he wouldn’t be able to, especially not when you teased him for so long. Despite all his talk of how he wasn’t like other men, how he was a scientist not ruled by the desires of humanity, you knew, and so did he, that once you got him in the right mindset, he was nothing but a pussy-driven man, hungry for your touch and body.

Jonathan didn’t even seem to notice his mistake. He kept thrusting up, skin slapping against skin, chasing his own release with frevor.

“Don’t come before me,” you ordered.

He nodded, closing his eyes. He started to rub your clit more vigorlosuly, wanting the release of climax to come sooner. When you finally let out a whimper, coming on his cock, he let out a sigh of relief.

“Oh, fuck, need this so bad—”

You pulled off of him before he could finish his sentence.

It took a moment for him to realize what you did.

“Puh-pleaseeeee!”

He sat up, arms wrapping around your waist. He was truly sobbing now, you would have to get him a napkin for his nose later. “I need you. I need you!”

You grabbed his chin. He was getting on your nerves. “Shut up! I thought you were a good boy.”

“I am,” he whimpered. “It’s just . . .” he trailed off, not knowing what to say.

Seeming to accept his fate, he lowered himself back down on the bed, watching with a frown as you grabbed his belt again. He finally figured it out — the best way to get what he wanted was to obey.

“Ready?” you asked with a cruel grin.

He nodded, still crying, closing his eyes as he braced for the impact.

Taglist:

@rainyforest777

@thatwitchybitch420

@madeinuk

@gentyleman

@henrywintersdearestgirl

#Jonathan Crane x you #the dark knight trilogy #fanfiction #scarecrow x reader #scarecrow x y/n #scarecrow x you #cillian murphy #pinguwrites #kinktober #kinktober 2023 #kinktober masterlist

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cloudmancy · 5 months ago

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not to rekindle old discourse if you've moved on, but i was listening to you & @kindlespark's interview on the complicated women podcast / have enjoyed reading your fhjy posts and wanted to ask your thoughts on why the beginning of the season felt so promising to you? i enjoyed the premiere and the premise of the stresses of 11th grade/the rat grinders as foils, but as the season continued i started to feel disillusioned - it seemed less and less like an interactive/collaborative story (cassandra's death, fig's quest to rehabilitate ruben, the ratgrinders being really hard to find/interact with in general) and more of a tour through some unsatisfying callback easter eggs (i simply don't care about porter and it kind of felt like not even emily did). imo the ratgrinders were set up to fail as a narrative concept ever since the bad kids got mad at them for grinding and brennan just sheepishly grinned and shrugged at the camera, and while i share your disappointment that there was no coming together/addressing the root academic injustices that plagued both the bad kids and the ratgrinders, i don't think it was as surprising to me, as the season had already felt too filled with bits/joking around to be that dramatically tight - ironically, i think they got too bogged down in roleplaying scholastic tedium. i tend to come to d20 with a mindset of like, this is primarily a comedy and if they end up producing a satisfying narrative arc, great (and they certainly have achieved this in the past), but i don't think it's a coincidence that most d20 seasons are regarded as having unsatisfying endings - i think it's an incredibly hard thing to do in a ttrpg setting, even for professionals, especially so if their instincts are more towards comedy. they are great artists and improvisers, but evidently that doesn't mean they can't fail to cohere, and i think this season suffered from a lack of investment in narrative all around - brennan not being as flexible with the plot as he's been in the past, the players i think (some anyway) feeling a little tired of these characters and playing them as more chaotic/violent than usual (kristen's random nudism, fig's truancy, gorgug's hatred/bullying of maryann, fabian threatening to skin ivy). idk, i'm just rambling at this point - my overall message is that i'm in agreement that the finale was a letdown, but i'm curious as to how you thought the promising themes interacted with the story/performances in the earlier parts of the season, cause when i look back at it i don't see a unified vision, just some individually interesting pieces that never seemed to fit together, and i don't think i just feel that way in hindsight, but am open to other perspectives (disclaimer that obv this is all opinion and subject to debate)

here are sam's thoughts on it!

ok my thing is that 1) i love porter as a villain and i don't think the twist takes away from his character; i think brennan tied him to ankarna REALLY well and with genuine thought. the lore drop scene in the temple was genuinely chilling and very very cool to me and brennan clearly set up a lot of lore around it that was interesting and not just funny bc fig thought he was bad the whole time. i think porter is a great character and had the bad kids engaged with his philosophy of rage and not had ice feast completely nullify his threat he could've been a really compelling villain. 2) i genuinely had hope for the rat grinders because of brennan's insistence to make npcs like eugenia talk about them as foils, the fact that they used to be the high-five heroes, and the fact that he made them closer to unwilling participants than actual villains. seemed like genuine threads of complexity that the bad kids just didn't pick up on, but i also clearly was fooled bc that brennan didn't react to fig's attempts to convert ruben shows that he wasn't really prepared to have the final battle as anything but tbk vs trg 😭 i think the downtime system was actually really fun and effective at portraying both scholastic tedium while also embellishing the themes (rage tokens!!) 3) this probably wasn't made clear in the ep but i didn't expect d20 to write a perfect thematic story about addressing systemic injustices; i just wanted them to give me any kind of thematic acknowledgment in the battle at all and not just with ankarna. i am very aware that im always reading into the subtext of d20 seasons--that lament is more for the subtext that Could've Been. i agree with you about everything you've said wrt ttrpg settings and lack of narrative investment, but i had higher hopes because fhsy and tuc are so much better with their themes and the themes brennan appeared to be setting up seemed so… obvious to me…. it had me ignoring all the red flags 😭

#asks #anon #fhjy spoilers

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merakiui · 2 years ago

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Oooooh expand more on incel discord mod scara? 👀👀👀

(cw: yandere, brief nsfw, unhealthy behaviors/relationship, incel behaviors, obsession, misogyny)

Either he lives in Ei's basement, or she kicked him out and so now he lives in a very nice apartment far from her. Scaramouche is an incredibly toxic gamer; the type who will spam petty nonsense like “kys” or “your mom doesn’t love you” or “get better at the game before you talk to me” or “i bet you shoot blanks irl.” He is a menace and a bully and an omen all in one terrible package. You’d think that with all of his cruelty he’d actually be trash at games, right? He’s actually surprisingly good—too good, actually, to the point where he’s placed very high on leaderboards and in online tournaments. He also has the worst gamer rage and short temper...

He’s in a server that was created by a pro-gamer who calls herself the Tsaritsa. There are eleven mods in total, with Scara being the sixth. Your meeting wasn’t exactly a meeting; it was more of you had been in a VC with him and a few others and the lot of you were playing games for the fun of it. Scara had some time to kill and he figured that annihilating everyone in the lobby and flexing his skills would give his ego a significant boost. What he doesn’t expect is for you to actually beat him and top his score by a few measly points. He claims he doesn’t care, but then you lightheartedly rub it in his face and now he really cares. The two of you end up arguing in the VC, going back and forth about skill issues and raw talent and how he should just relax because it’s just one win. He ends up kicking you out of anger and spite.

Later, after appealing to mod Dottore (Scara hates him), you’re let back into the server after having promised to not stir up trouble or fights. Scara doesn’t notice your arrival for a few weeks until he spies your profile picture in the VC and he’s immediately reminded of how annoying you were that day. He’s been grinding on that game ever since you beat him just to improve; he’s such a loser.

Scara actually doesn’t play with the other server members often. He’s more of a solo gamer, but with you in the picture he’s determined to put you in your place. That singular win chips his pride more than he’s willing to admit, so whenever he sees you alone in VC he’ll hop in and demand a rematch. You always agree, and each time you always win. Scara is losing his mind. How is he suddenly so trash?! What’s going on? He used to be so good—and he’s still good! You’re just hacking or something. Did you secretly team up with Dottore and did he let you in on some stupid hacking tricks? Is that what’s going on?

Every time you win, you tell Scara to get better. He’s trying. Archons, he cannot stand you. He’d kick you again, but like a worthless cockroach you’d just find a way back in.

At some point, the two of you add each other so you can take your feud beyond the server. Every weekend the two of you engage in rematches and you win every time. If Scara’s pride was cracked before, it’s absolutely shattered now. His hatred for you and your skills (which he is certain are just cheap hacks) grows day by day until it gets to a point where he’s going through the socials you’ve linked to your discord profile just to see what kind of person you are beyond games. You might not even be a female, but Scara automatically sees you as one because of how annoying you are. He has this whole mindset that “women can’t be good at video games” and so regardless of your gender he’s going to live with the thought that you are a female who is kicking his ass at a game he used to be godly at. And Scara, as a pro-gamer, as a man, cannot let this continue to happen.

The next time you’re challenged to a rematch, you text him: if I win you have to pay for my groceries for the month. Scara thinks that’s a stupid request, but he agrees. And if he wins you have to leave the server forever and never return. Unsurprisingly, you win. But just barely. Scara doesn’t care enough to wonder why that might be, but then you’re typing to him: gg, not my best game. I’m kinda hungry and running on three hours of sleep rn, so I’m not at my best.

Scara peers at the message with a scowl, sitting perched in his gaming chair. sleep, idiot, he tells you. and make sure you eat.

Obviously he tells you this only because he wants you to be in peak condition when he plays with you next. Not because he’s worried or anything.

Your grocery bills are covered for two months instead of the one.

At some point, amidst trying and failing, Scara thinks he’s gone insane. He must be trapped in some vicious, unbreakable loop. He knows he should probably give up, but giving up would look weak and then his server members might say he has a small dick for letting you win all the time. He hates you, but what he hates more is when you stop appearing online for your weekly rematches. The idea that he would be worried over you is so lame. He’s not worried. He just needs you to be in one piece so he can kick your ass.

The next time you text him you tell him you were busy with your real life, which is understandable, but Scara is chronically online and so he thinks that in the time you were offline you were busy fooling around like a slut. Is that how you’re so good at games? You seduce the competition and then win while they’re distracted? He hates you and your trickery.

But he still finds himself asking if all is good on your end. If you need him to send money. If you need anything. Since when did he care so much? It’s not caring, Scara assures himself; it’s hate-caring. He’s doing this only because he needs you here so he can win.

Without realizing it, you’ve become Scara’s discord kitten. He sends you money out of spite, he pays for your groceries and other necessities out of hatred, he stays up late on VC with you just to trash-talk and insult you (i.e. get to know you more). He finds your personal social media accounts and the accounts of your real life friends and he pulls up pictures of you on his three monitors and fucks into his hand to the sight of you.

He really is going insane. How did he get to this point? Since when were you able to get him this hard? Why does he immediately think of you when he’s doing the most mundane tasks like chores or shopping and suddenly he’s insatiably horny? It must be because you’re a worthless female using your charms to seduce him, to always beat him at games, to use him like you probably use every other man you’ve come across!

Scara decides that, regardless of whether he wins or loses to you, he ought to just take you for himself and keep you in his apartment as his little housewife. Then he can get back to being good at video games and you can serve him like you’re meant to. He just needs to find your address and plan a few things, as well as buy some...tools.

He can’t wait to welcome his kitten home. :)

#genshin chit chat #yandere scaramouche #tw: misogyny #n/sfw #you think he's going to be ugly irl #but he's actually really hot #he has piercings and tattoos and his room is actually a really cool layout with LED lights #scara online: a toxic loser with no life #scara irl: actually attractive but still a toxic loser with no life #the type of man who compares his dick size to energy drink cans #just so he can feel validated in something

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vegalocity · 24 days ago

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I dunno about mk brainblasting Li Jing into being a mindless “helper.“ yes, Li Jing isnt gikd, but the main reason he did that to the spiders was cuz they fought against him PERSOANLLY. (Also cuz spiders are ick yo him so y’know- bias.)

I feel like he would make Li Jing aware of being the “perfect parent”, and Li Jing seeing just how much… happier Nezha is while under. It could turn into another situation where he may go physically lucid, but ultimately decide to stay for Nezha. This proving that people can be “redeemed�� through the oblivion in MK’s mind.

This could even feed into MK’s mindset, assuring him again and again that yes, this is what’s best.

Okay so- here's the thing-

Me and @unseelie-robynx aren't being all that purist on the show's canon, we feel like if the actual myths and stories tell a more interesting narrative we'll go with that

and one of those was the conflict between Li Jing and Nezha- in the actual stories there was a lot more hostility on either end than just 'distant dad and son trying to prove himself' there was mutual murder attempts in the MULTIPLE, you know?

and sometimes we don't agree with a direction the show takes, and find a more interesting story to alter it for us as we see fit, So our idea for how the Li Jing and Nezha situation goes is much more 'guys they literally tried to kill eachother multiple times before nezha was twelve Li Jing becoming the pagoda bearer and Nezha being TOLD to put away his vengance quest isn't gonna make things GOOD between them' (I mean i would absolutely say trying multiple times to kill your infant age child counts as making a toxic environment, right?)

We do that a few times, Tang Sanzang is a separate person entirely from Tang bc we thought that Tang not being a reincarnation and in fact just being Some Dude both made more sense on a worldbuilding level (its practically a joke in the discord server we first cooked this up in that Tang being a reincarnation of someone that shouldn't be reincarnating anymore is mythologically incoherent and it pisses both of us off to think about) and makes Tang's arc stronger anyway.

But for the way we specifically have settled on how we preferred their relationship it would make more sense for Xiaotian to have an axe to grind against His Buddy Nezha's shitty dad

especially since we have it with other characters, such as Shuyin (an oc we accidentally got too attached to and is now Xiaojiao's main love interest) whom he decided 'nah your parents suck we're gonna rehome you and do something humiliating to them so they can 'repent' they'll be happier you'll be happier i promise it'll all be better like this'

And by the time He'd have either Nezha or Li Jing in his claws on a more permanent basis he'd have gone FULL god complex and took on a more Azure-like 'nah the celestial court sucks' view he'd feel a lot more fine with fucking with people's full lives.

#Also dude i get that you have opinions #but this is mine and Robynx's Au #we get final say #Letters to vega #oblivion series #Tyrant Prince AU

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naturegoddessdiary · 3 days ago

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The best advice I can give anyone approaching their 20s or already in their 20s is to enjoy the ride and take risks on yourself. Aim for 100 “no’s” because, in reality, you won’t reach 100, and you will eventually get a “yes.”

Don’t have a scarcity or grind mindset. Whatever is meant for you will flow effortlessly. Have fun, but take your dreams and career seriously. Try everything. Drop out of college or take a gap year if YOU FEEL that’s what you need. I’m not using my degrees at all! The only reason I’m not is because I missed my deadline due to the people I asked not submitting my recommendations on time. But I love my life, and it gets better every year. You’re going to lose people along the way, and you’ll go through multiple ego deaths—and that’s okay.

I’m much wiser than I was in my early 20s, but I’m so proud of myself for taking risks because I’m now seeing the results. As I approach 27, life is looking up for real.

Ladies, please don’t get pregnant in your 20s unless you absolutely want a child and motherhood is your main goal. If not, make your money and travel the world! If you already have children, that’s okay—it doesn’t stop anyone.

Just because you started from nothing doesn’t mean you will always have nothing. I promise!

Your 20s are a trial run for your life moving forward. If you can hack your 20s, everything else will be smooth sailing. I swear.

Shoutout to the 20-somethings!

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to2llynottoby · 2 years ago

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the hustle mindset isn't that tough, you've just gotta see the angles. for example, there are approximately 8,260 sports gambling apps, all of which promise anywhere from $50 to $200 as a sign up bonus. I sign up for five apps a day, that gives me an average daily income of about five hundred and fifty simoleons, and a whopping 200,765 smackers a year. but what happens when there are no more gambling apps or services, you ask? fortunately that will never become a problem, as my projections show that a new sports gambling service, complete with free in-app money token offer, materializes from the ether approximately once every four days. this rate has been steadily climbing since late 2019, and I project by 2025 we'll have a new sports betting apparatus every 20 seconds, that's long before even the current population is exhausted (assuming the aforementioned five per day rate). It's foolproof, and you're literally losing money not taking advantage of this opportunity. Hustle and grind, sigmas, and I'll see you next week for more tips

#to2lly not text post

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rimeiii · 1 year ago

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Using WHB as an excuse to talk about gaming (pt. 2)

With the character voicelines being revealed in WHB and Xeno Cocytus Crucible FA gaming/Arknights x MonHun event grinding in the background (I stopped at 2 FLB copies by the time Xeno Crucible ended), it's about time I talk about one of my favorite things when it comes to talking about games, that being character development through voicelines! Because these voicelines come a long way to actually describe how a character actually is, and it's often these little details that can make or break a game for me.

What do I mean with these tiny voicelines? It's those little cut-ins, those quotes characters throw out in battle. For me, a good quote is one that displays aspects of their personality without making it seem like those aspects are the sole part of their personality.

(More under the cut, along with a spoiler warning for the What Makes the Sky Blue trilogy from Granblue Fantasy, as well as both Integrated Strategies 2 and Guide Ahead from Arknights!)

WHB's in-battle quotes seem to really hammer in the fact that they're in a war and are out for the angels' blood. Which is completely fair - this is the main premise of the game, after all. But there are several standout lines for me personally, especially in the context of their brief character introductions.

First of all, Naberius. Cool, calm, and collected - demons aren't exactly keen on pissing him off because he can shapeshift into a cerberus in his rage. He himself isn't fond of getting angry and going on a rampage, which I feel is exemplified in his quote.

To me, this is an indication of the ability to keep his emotions on check, so that he won't rampage on the battlefield. It's a warning of sorts, a "You won't like me when I'm angry", spoken with an air of confidence and mastery of his own abilities. Not quite unhinged, he still has his wits on his head - that is, until you push him enough for him to fly into a rage.

Now, you want to know who's unhinged period? Dantalian.

I compared Dantalian to Executioner Specialists because that's really how I envision his fighting style - specifically Kirin R Yato's second skill. Get up close and personal, beat up a prime target while drawing attention to yourself, retreat and go into hiding while finding another opening. Dantalian offering his enemies to write on his skin actually plays well into his character design, with the writings on his skin, as well as him fighting up close and personal just to feel fear!

Also, important to note that it would seem like he's taunting the angels. Given what we know about him, I think it's more than likely he's pissing the angels off by implying that this is definitely his victory, not the angels'.

And on the other side of the coin, we have a relatively sane individual whose only priority is to defeat the angels - Leviathan!

My baby boy, despite his jealousy and agoraphobia, is still able and willing to fight for the sake of his people on the battlefield. Very task-focused, he also shows signs of protectiveness towards his fellow demons on the battlefield - perhaps, it shouldn't come as a surprise, considering the fact that he is a beloved king.

In fact, it would seem his mindset in battle is 'battle first, emotions later' - his battle quote comes off as very...detached, for lack of better words. No threats, no taunts, simply a promise to eliminate all hostiles.

For a less detached yet equally serious person, we turn to Marbas.

He is sharp and succinct in his delivery of treatment progress. Efficient as well, because you're in the battlefield, and injured people will keep on rolling in until the fighting is over.

Another way I like to see skill proc voicelines getting utilized is characterizations that may not necessarily reflect only their fighting styles. Some voiceline cases in Arknights may be similar to WHB, like Lumen - but the delivery by all of his voice actors makes it clear that our therapist fish man Jordi Fontanarossa simply isn't someone used to combat. He is, by his own admission, just an ordinary person - prone to anxiety, focused on his job as a healer. He brings a briefcase into the battlefield in his chibi sprite for crying out loud.

While Lumen's voiceline essentially has the same 'function' and setting as Marbas's voiceline, in the sense that they are stating the progress of their healing, Lumen's delivery is noticeably more frantic compared to Marbas's calmer delivery. Well...he is one of the few people who asks for some time to breathe upon being asked to lead a squad (placed on slot 1 in the squad formation screen).

Contrast this with the more battle-hardened but equally dedicated Executor, real name Federico Giallo, an executor from Laterano's Notarial Hall and literal angel with a shotgun. He is extremely dedicated to his job, and his reference to 'breaking the taboo' is one directed towards one of the Sankta's laws.

See, the angels of Arknights, the Sanktas, live under a set of rules universally known as the Law. One of these rules is the fact that they cannot aim their guns at fellow Sanktas, lest they become a Fallen. However, there are known exceptions, such as the climax of Guide Ahead with both Pope Yvangelista and Andoain shooting at each other, as well as executors like Executor/Federico being allowed to shoot and kill fellow Sankta if they are proven to be a danger. Hence, his mention of breaking the taboo.

As for fellow, non-Sankta Laterano citizens...we turn to Fiammetta, a Liberi and Mostima's keeper.

Fiammetta is often seen as a dry and serious woman who's tired of the shit her coworkers put her through (finballs spiked with peppers, the many codenames her superiors gave to her, wing stickers on her back, and more). She is driven by anger towards Andoain, not being able to forgive him for an incident in the past - the exact same incident that turned Mostima into a Fallen. She really only flies off the handle when facing him, all but telling him that even if the entirety of Laterano would forgive him, she would never do so. "I will sodomize and face-fuck you", anyone?

Yet she keeps her prickly attitude outside of facing Andoain, and it shows - the delivery of this line in particularly sells it. It's dry, matter-of-fact, and borderline sarcastic - she's not actually sorry for forgetting to hold the shot back. Her hot-headedness and emotionality really does show here, in spite of her relative calmer image. And honestly, I'd argue this is how she really is - I often get the impression that she really does care and worry about the Doctor, even though she insists that the things she does are due to contractual obligations. She just doesn't get easily flustered.

And what about someone who's at least a little bit unhinged yet attempts to keep themself sane? Then we turn our attention to Shalem.

Shalem is a man who defected and ran away from a mysterious theater troupe known as the Crimson Troupe - who are actually assassins in disguise. The things he experienced in the past, including the Crimson Troupe, was enough to break him, and his emotional stability at this current point in the timeline is...let's just say less than ideal. And what better way to reflect that in his absolutely unhinged laughter in one of his battle voicelines?

The Crimson Troupe is the main antagonist of the second instalment of Integrated Strategies, Phantom and the Crimson Solitaire. Here, he is the Operator you get by playing the game mode, and he is the one who decided to save Phantom - otherwise known as Lucian, the man who massacred several of the troupe members and is being brainwashed by the troupe in the events of the game mode. So, Shalem ends up taking on the mission to save Phantom from the troupe.

Shalem apparently also has the same VA as Leviathan, btw.

ANYWAYS! One last thing I really like to see in terns of voiceline usage is making them reflect character development! It's present in the unlockable voicelines as you promote and increase an Operator's Trust in Arknights, but I do feel it's done really well in Granblue Fantasy. As an example: meet Sandalphon.

Sandalphon started out as an antagonist in the first What Makes the Sky Blue. Blinded by hatred and anger towards Lucifer, he vowed to destroy everything the Supreme Primarch held dear to his heart - which just so happens to be the Skydoms. He even goes so far as to drop the player character down to the endless skies near the end of the event! His Grand version (the Earth version) is him at his peak, after absorbing the four tetra-element Primarch's wings to use as his own.

He is rendered in an 'imprisoned' state until the time the second What Makes the Sky Blue event rolls around, and the Paradise Lost sub title is fitting. Because by this point, Lucifer is killed by Beelzebub by decapitation and his body taken by Belial to revive Lucilius, leaving behind Lucifer's head for Sandalphon to find upon leaving the angelic cradle he was imprisoned in. Lucifer bequeaths his Supreme Primarch powers and role to Sandalphon, fulfilling his original duty - to serve as Lucifer's replacement should he one day fail to perform his duties. But there is no fanfare to this event, and Sandalphon is left with many regrets and unspoken apologies towards Lucifer, his first friend and companion in their mutual loneliness - with Sandalphon always remaining behind while Lucifer often left to tend to his Supreme Primarch duties. This is the Sandalphon that is the base of his event version (Light element).

A large chunk of his character development is resolved on the final instalment of the trilogy, 000. Here, Sandalphon vows to see through Lucifer's wish for a blue and peaceful sky, and he fights off Lucilius and Belial just to do so (Beelzebub was first weakened by Lucilius and then sealed away by Cagliostro, so err...better luck next time, Bubs). A lot of parallels happen to tie off loose ends - Sandalphon uses the wings of the tetra-element Primarchs to fight toe-to-toe with Lucilius on Michael's insistence, Sandalphon is now the one to say "ittekimasu (I'm going now)" instead of Lucifer who now says "itterashai (I'll be waiting)", and the player character is the one who grabs on to Sandalphon's hand to save him from a deadly fall to the bottom of the skies. This is the version being showcased in the above vid, as a skin for his Earth version - the version itself being a 5* uncap for the event version from Paradise Lost (the uncap material is the event reward).

All of his voicelines reflect his promise to Lucifer now! In order (as translated in the GBF Wiki):

This is the power of an angel/Primarch. Use it well.

I won't let you destroy our wish!

I will annihilate you...

I will put an end to all calamity...Ain Soph Aur!

Which is insane because the other previous versions of Sandalphon, not counting his Valentine's and summer alts? They're a touch too emotional, a touch too angry, and a touch too hateful (Earth). The summer alt also reflects some character development from The Maydays event, and hnghhh Primarchs are good give playable Gabriel and my second Michael weap (or should I say Fire PnS-) please I am a suffering Water and Fire main

Anyways yeah! Voicelines gud. Tiny character snippets gud. Me likey.

#rimei rambles #what in hell is bad #arknights #granblue fantasy #using whb as an excuse to talk about other games #god i love some of these characters so much it isn't funny #i pulled for fia yes #i also built shalem yes #look i like his skin #i may be gbf seasonal but i still love the charas #eustace seruel lancelot my beloveds #playable lucifer cope #and yes fia did say that. in latin.#i need the gacha luck for executor alter btw

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weirdlet · 5 months ago

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Had a 'well well well, if it isn't the consequences of my own actions' yesterday- the other condition of the promised pay bump is to have done five life apps on my own, not just get licensed. And I wrote this down at the time, and eliminated it from my conscious mind in favor of immediate nose-to-the-grindstone survival.

Welp. Now I know I gotta hustle.

45 hours a week, and that's just the scheduled stuff, 'mindset to succeed' bullshit, and it's just barely keeping the lights on, but it's what I've got right now. I swear I will not always be this creatively and emotionally unavailable. But it might take me a few years of grinding to get there.

I just keep smelling summer on the air and being nostalgic for sitting in the hammock outside with the latest fantasy book as a teenager.

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shadowfromthestarlight · 1 year ago

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I had a long and very candid conversation with a partner at a local law firm the other night that I'm still processing. He was interesting because he was totally up front about what the work entailed, the firm culture, etc., which I appreciate. But his outlook on life and work was alien to me in a lot of ways.

I don't know that either of us are necessarily wrong. But he was very into the idea of staying in one place for decades on end. He said that his firm invests heavily in their people with the goal of having them stay. He also literally said being in a job was like being in a marriage and if it's working, there's no reason to end it just because there might be some other opportunity out there. I don't agree; in some jobs, you might make a commitment for a year or a certain number of years, but you're not committing your whole life, and in most jobs, you're an entirely at-will employee. You haven't publicly promised that you're going to stick it out indefinitely lol. I also think that it's very important for your career and your financial security to explore multiple interests and diversify your skillset. That's especially important when you're still fairly new to your field, because the longer you stay in one niche, the harder it's going to be to find employment in another. And further, I don't have the boomer mindset on loyalty to a company. I don't want to be "taken care of" by my boss or by a corporation; the thought of that just makes me feel icky. I don't want to rely on there being a cozy pension or a prestigious leadership role if I just grind it out for 30 years, because life is unpredictable and unfair and you have to look out for yourself. I also think that if you really are a skilled, hardworking person, you should "spread the love" and serve a lot of different people in different ways over the course of your lifetime, if that makes sense.

It's not that I wouldn't be open to spending five or more years in one place, especially if there were a lot of financial incentives and opportunities to build new skills and avoid being pigeonholed into one role. But I'm not into making any promises, either, because you know what? Your employer isn't making a promise. You can never get fired and say to your boss, "How could you? I thought we were family." You'd be told to get lost. It's hard when you're an amiable and agreeable person to face this, but in the working world, you have no choice but to look out for number one.

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flareblitzedyt · 9 months ago

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Are you ever gonna get back to making gameplays? :(

I'm not making any promises if I ever will return to making content on the channel. The state of YouTube for the kind of content that I create is the worst that it has ever been, I needed to of stated many years ago before I did if I was to have any kind of long term success on the platform at all when games like The Witch's House, Mad Father and Ib were originally released in English, back when these sort of games were at their prime for both their hype and their attention.

Alongside the sheer lack of interest for long lengthed gameplay of rpg maker games on YouTube is the sparse of games nowadays that doesn't look/feel like a university assignment criteria of "I submitted my project onto itchio, it passes that criteria on my list of tasks to do" or a meme game that does not take itself even remotely serious at all. Since I stop uploading back in August 2023, I can only see a hand picked selection of games under "New/New & Popular" that advertises themselves with the intention of grabbing the player's attention generally, over requiring an incredibly specific kind of audience to be interested in the meme/culture of that said game.

Another reason is that I do not have any more fun playing these games while sharing my experience of them, why share my experience when another channel out there with 1000s of times a bigger audience clearly has a monopoly in that field and for good reason, because they are far better at that kind of content creation with those games than I am to retain people's attention for so long.

The final reason and this is the most personal one is that even if anyone still has the interest of watching my videos don't have any or a small amount of genuine interest in the content creator (because of the previous paragraph), and just the content itself. It's not something that I expect from everyone, but it's more of a I can count on one hand the number of people who watches my videos who has an interest in both the content that is created, and the creator that created the content. I don't feel that some people genuinely mean what they say when they want to support me, more of a "I encouraging you to make more content for the content, regardless of what mindset you are in, I need content to watch & grind watching."

If I started content creating years before I started, I would of had a far better time retaining a larger audience over a long(er) period of time. Though with the way YouTube is you can only succeed if you retained a monopoly on the content that you started & continue to cover many years down the road from when you began. In comparison to millions that will miss a content creator with millions of subs if and when they decide to stop, I'll only be missed by the smallest margin of my incredibly small presence on the internet, I won't be missed at all and that's how I geninuely feel. My sincerest apologies for letting you down Anon and anyone else reading.

- Flare

#response #youtube #flareblitzed

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everythingpizzawithsprinkles · 2 years ago

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This is a bit navel-gaze-y, really, but I’ve been thinking lately of this mindset I had when I was younger. I learned/internalized very early that what I was going to learn in public school may be useful for context but not necessarily for truth or interest, and that I was not going to be accommodated enough to learn what I needed regardless (for various reasons, queerness, neurodivergence, and health/disability being the biggest but by no means only).

So I resolved to do the barest minimum to graduate (I still had to work excruciatingly hard to achieve this but I would have done irreparable damage had I done any more); while at the same time reminding myself not to let that framework become part of me. I promised myself that when I was free I would find subjects and methods to learn that worked better and meant more to me.

Having the chance to do that now that I’m an adult, even if it’s slow going, is… indescribably beautiful. Every time I find something new that I want to learn, every time I take a class or watch a video or pick up a new tool, I do feel a petty twinge of “fuck you” satisfaction at having gotten out of the hellhole of American public school with my soul intact enough to enjoy learning.

But more than that I love the joy itself.

Part of me will always be hunched over a school book full of deceit and weaponized boredom, tears in my eyes and exhaustion evident in every movement. But I took comfort in knowing a future part of me would be able to put their hand on my shoulder and tell me that “We made it. We made it through, we gave ourself time to recover, and we found something beautiful and worthwhile on the other side.”

Now that’s me, with my hand on their shoulder, able to make that promise with full confidence.

And I would like to help build a world where new generations don’t have to learn to cope like I did, or destroy themselves trying, just to make it to adulthood in a system that actively tries to grind them down to size instead of letting them flourish.

#Text #public school #thoughts #No Jasper Will Not Shut Up #It gets better #Coping mechanisms #United states #usa #American school system #Youth rights

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tomatoluvr69 · 2 years ago

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hiiiii im shmwednesdsy night shmashed. anyway how do you remain existentially optimistic in the face of . It All

Omg loooooove that for you, bask in the youth of it all and lmk your cocktail of choice.

I think to maintain optimism you MUST become a casual hedonist. Like yes open a retirement account, make smart long term decisions, etc etc etc. but if you lean into and mindfully luxuriate within every pleasure that falls in your path, and make an active effort to seek/create pleasure you can learn that actually at this unique juncture in history we are incredibly equipped for euphoric and ecstatic sensory experiences upon demand. I have an entire world’s selection of spectacular foods: chocolates! Spices! Wine! Olive oil! Peppercorns! Citrus and tomatoes! It’s kind of a mind blowing expanse of riches. And the music, christ…stream some music and really listen…you don’t need 36 members of a live jazz band, because there’s a recording from 1954. Films, whenever you want them. And literature, straight to your library or your phone…unreal. Absolutely unreal. Think of the first printing presses, or the days when to have a manuscript someone needed to copy out each letter by hand with a pen nib and some reed fibers. Not to mention the millions of people who never even conceived of the written word. Or a citrus fruit, or a pinch of fenugreek, or a short documentary about those monkeys somewhere in Asia who visit hot springs every evening in winter…the location escapes me. But though the lack of knowledge of alien life within my lifespan plagues me, im regularly awed by the scope and breadth of knowledge and experience I have lucked into by winning the temporal lottery basically.

I focus a lot on that kind of thing whenever the unique stressors of modern life are wearing at me. It helps ease the pain of the job grind, or a long drive I don’t want to be doing…it helps so much to just live for pleasure I promise

But also it’s important to note that I’m not a universal optimist!!! I have an INCREDIBLY bleak outlook re: globalized society at large, and more specifically due to proximity, American life; it fucking KILLS me. I feel close to melting down sometimes in the grocery store when I snap out of the rut of habit and heuristics and I perceive the horrific quantities of plastics and styrofoam leaching into our food and bodies and children and watersheds. And I beat myself up constantly over my failures to find sustained romantic and sexual connections. And I’m also a survivor of an incredibly serious eating disorder, without the money to seek the ongoing maintenance treatment I need, which affects my ability to function normally every single day, not to mention gender and body issues, and struggling to come to terms with the resultant arthritis/dental issues etc. I think maybe my persona on here is altered by the times when I feel so overwhelmed with enthusiasm and zest for life that it can appear im better adjusted than I am? Im very messy and I’m still learning to be a living adult every single day. But the TLDR is that if you slowly build up the mindset of focusing on life’s incredible pleasures (food, friendship, gardening, sunlight, hygge or whatever, literature, film and the unique solidarity and emotional catharsis it brings, music!!, shared moments of humanity, small or large scale travel, FREE KNOWLEDGE about every topic online, art via viewing or creation…etc etc etc) I’ve found it can buoy you through the tough parts.

PS also…seek magic mushrooms and take twice the dose you think you want

#is it Tuesday?? it’s been A Week I literally just moved 500 miles by myself yesterday I think #oh wait u said Wednesday. ok well case in point re: chaos #asks

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darkfrog24 · 7 months ago

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When someone has a question like this, it's important to answer it seriously. There's a lot going on with why liberals think Trump supporters are stupid, and Peni Delina Bedard's post is a good place to start.

I have relatives who are Trump supporters. They're good people. In 2016, my uncle would laugh and say, "He's saying what everyone is thinking!" That kind of guy. Donald Trump promised, among other things, to get them a tax break. So I'm speaking from here.

There's something that conservatives keep doing that makes it look to us like you're lying and something that liberals keep doing that makes it look like we've missed the point: 1) We ask you what you want. 2) You give an answer that's close but not exactly it. 3) We take your answer at face value and propose actions to make it happen. 4) You guys go "That's not what we want! That would only make things worse!" 5) We assume you were lying in step two and that your real motive is to cause whatever outcome will result from not taking the actions in step three. You see this a lot with abortion and gun control. You guys seem really upset about this whole (2) "saving babies" thing and we don't agree with you that fetuses are babies, but (3) we come up with plans for sex ed and IUD programs and we have evidence that they work, but this only (4) seems to make you more upset, so (5) we figure that saving babies isn't really what you care about and assume that oppressing women and keeping poor people poor is what you really want.

There are a couple reasons why this keeps happening.

A) Liberals do a lot of moral reasoning from consequentialism and conservatives do a lot of moral reasoning from virtue ethics. We all use both, but each side skews more one way. The short version is that liberals think the purpose of government is to create the best outcomes spread out among the largest group of people and conservatives think the purpose of government is to create a society in which people get better outcomes if they make morally good choices. It's okay if most people lose as long as losing was their own fault. This guy has a wonderful take on it. It's not that conservatives think they'll all be billionaires someday. It's that they think there's honor in getting what wealth and position you do have.

B) A big part of the liberal, progressive mindset is faith in evidence. If there are multiple scientific studies saying things like, "This vaccine is relatively safe" then, to us, that's almost as good as seeing it with our own eyes. Our problem is that it's very hard to imagine how someone wouldn't think this way. We remember being kids who didn't understand how the scientific system works, so we imagine that people who don't believe in science just don't understand how it works.

In 2015 and 2016, Trump communicated with conservatives using theatrics. He created an image, like a fictional character in a movie. He painted himself as a savvy businessman, an unstoppable winning machine feared by enemies and adored by women. We thought you knew it wasn't real. It was like if Bruce Willis were running for president. We thought you knew he was Bruce Willis and not John McClane. Bruce Willis can't kill a helicopter with a car when he's out of bullets. John McClane could only do it because he lives in a scripted world.

But then Trump had four years to show us the substance underneath the flash, and it turned out he can't govern. He postured and told President Enrique Peña Nieto that Mexico had better pay for the wall or else just cancel their meeting. In a movie, this is where the meebly secondary character would give way to the force of the hero's personality. The real-life Enrique Peña Nieto cancelled their meeting.

Then there's Joe Biden. He doesn't look like much, but he's great at working behind the scenes, grinding out deals between people who don't always agree with each other, laying down track for plans that won't show until later. And we can look at his work with veterans' benefits and infrastructure and we can see, "Ah yes, here is evidence that Biden governs reasonably well. The results speak for Biden's ability to get results."

We have had four years to see that Trump can't govern, that his policies are not only cruel but ineffective. There is evidence, lots of it, right in front of your eyes. Why don't you believe it? Do you just not understand?

He didn't get you your tax cut. He didn't restore American values. He didn't give us a high-winning economy. He didn't do the things you said you wanted done.

So I think the liberal side is justified in wondering what it was that you really did want.

An anguished question from a Trump supporter: ‘Why do liberals think Trump supporters are stupid?’

Peni Delina Bedard · August 31, 2019 · The serious answer: Here’s what we really think about Trump supporters - the rich, the poor, the malignant and the innocently well-meaning, the ones who think and the ones who don’t… That when you saw a man who had owned a fraudulent University, intent on scamming poor people, you thought “Fine.” That when you saw a man who had made it his business practice to stiff his creditors, you said, “Okay.” That when you heard him proudly brag about his own history of sexual abuse, you said, “No problem.” That when he made up stories about seeing Muslim-Americans in the thousands cheering the destruction of the World Trade Center, you said, “Not an issue.” That when you saw him brag that he could shoot a man on Fifth Avenue and you wouldn’t care, you chirped, “He sure knows me.” That when you heard him illustrate his own character by telling that cute story about the elderly guest bleeding on the floor at his country club, the story about how he turned his back and how it was all an imposition on him, you said, “That’s cool!” That when you saw him mock the disabled, you thought it was the funniest thing you ever saw. That when you heard him brag that he doesn’t read books, you said, “Well, who has time?” That when the Central Park Five were compensated as innocent men convicted of a crime they didn’t commit, and he angrily said that they should still be in prison, you said, “That makes sense.” That when you heard him tell his supporters to beat up protesters and that he would hire attorneys, you thought, “Yes!” That when you heard him tell one rally to confiscate a man’s coat before throwing him out into the freezing cold, you said, “What a great guy!” That you have watched the parade of neo-Nazis and white supremacists with whom he curries favor, while refusing to condemn outright Nazis, and you have said, “Thumbs up!” That you hear him unable to talk to foreign dignitaries without insulting their countries and demanding that they praise his electoral win, you said, “That’s the way I want my President to be.” That you have watched him remove expertise from all layers of government in favor of people who make money off of eliminating protections in the industries they’re supposed to be regulating and you have said, “What a genius!” That you have heard him continue to profit from his businesses, in part by leveraging his position as President, to the point of overcharging the Secret Service for space in the properties he owns, and you have said, “That’s smart!” That you have heard him say that it was difficult to help Puerto Rico because it was in the middle of water and you have said, “That makes sense.” That you have seen him start fights with every country from Canada to New Zealand while praising Russia and quote, “falling in love” with the dictator of North Korea, and you have said, “That’s statesmanship!” That Trump separated children from their families and put them in cages, managed to lose track of 1500 kids, has opened a tent city incarceration camp in the desert in Texas - he explains that they’re just “animals” - and you say, “Well, OK then.” That you have witnessed all the thousand and one other manifestations of corruption and low moral character and outright animalistic rudeness and contempt for you, the working American voter, and you still show up grinning and wearing your MAGA hats and threatening to beat up anybody who says otherwise. What you don’t get, Trump supporters in 2019, is that succumbing to frustration and thinking of you as stupid may be wrong and unhelpful, but it’s also…hear me…charitable. Because if you’re NOT stupid, we must turn to other explanations, and most of them are less flattering.

#donald trump #trump #trumpanzees #trump supporters #liberals

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