#i rly dont like the group name i chose but

[whumpshaped]

cast of my robot story (i made 2 of every big hierarchical level but obviously theres like. More lol but i figured i wouldnt rly need more than 2 of each? maybe i wont even need that many. as u can tell i dont know what the fuck i wanna do)

picrew

two of the members of the seventh earth council, the group that controls the spaceship and literally everything on it. it's funny they're called that, none of the members have seen earth with their own two eyes. it's been a long time since any human has walked on that planet...

levendula (she/her), dorel (he/him)

two of the techies. the tech department is where all regular folk want to end up at. there's a very slim chance anyone could get into the council, it almost functions like a royal family — but the tech department? well... okay that kind of functions like that too, the children of techies usually end up as techies, and there's little class mobility otherwise. BUT there's a bigger chance for any regular person to become a mechanic than to become a council member!

they handle maintenance work on the spaceship, on the equipment, on the robots, they write code, they design new and improved versions of any sort of tech. they enjoy much more personal freedom than regular workers.

kikinda (she/her), szoren (he/him)

two of the workers. the workers are manual labourers who handle all the work the techies haven't yet managed to automate or don't have the resources to automate. farming, mining, all that stuff. backbreaking labour. on top of that, they get paid very little, and now with the new SSRCU models already created, they're HOUNDED by the stupid bots too.

kara (they/them), hanga (she/her)

i chose hungarian names/spellings for all of them, if you wanna know exactly how they're pronounced please use a translator app because my phonetic spelling SUCKS. but i think they're all very straightforward :)

rambling about zaps copied and pasted from discord:

so about zaps. the tech guys call it zaps 100%. affectionately (mostly). its primary and default disciplinary action is administering shocks, and well, sometimes it goes haywire and just shocks a bunch of people at the workstation. hence the name.

the workers usually refer to it as anything derogatory. the thing, the beast, the monster, the attack dog, the painbot, the warden. officially though they address it like they would any superior, with either sir or ma'am. but they rarely have to (if theyre good <3 )

council members refer to it as the bot, or if they need to specify theyll say the serial number, 01.

zaps' full official name is self-sufficient riot control unit or SSRCU-01. it was the first of its kind and its been around the longest

[i-have-bees-in-my-brain]

Personal rant or some shit bc i just wanna get this out rn. yeeeee this will be long

So today i had a vit of a stressful day with uni n all bc ive been sick and admittedly lazy over the last week up til like tuesday and i had to turn in an Interpretation/essay tonight and prepare a group presentation for tmr (saturday seminars should b illegal but ok i literally chose this). N e way so ive been procrastinating like hell up until this morning so i didnt rly eat before showing up to seminar at 12am and afterwards i had to check with my one remaining presentation groupmember and finish the interpretation and tgen i had swordfighting class at 5. I didnt Really gave time for it but its fun and im very behind bc i misses several lessons already and am generally. Not good at it lol. n e way i turn up to swords and we peactice some routines ig and heres where the peoblem rly starts. Basically i am a huge crybaby, always have been (im older than firestar btw for context), esp when i feel criticized or yknow. Make mistakes or anything and since i was a sports h8er with 2 left feet n hands all my life n cried often during school pe bc i kept messing up n git embarrassed, it was an important step for me to sign up for this uni extracurricular swords class bc. Doing sth sporty in front of others tgat. Isnt very easy and i gotta learn from scratch is a bit out of my comfort zone. But normally its all v fun, im not good/easily the worst in class but thats ok i learn and move my body and talk to ppl! Proud of myself! Well today not so kuch, i noticed i was getting tense bc of not understanding how to do a movement and everyone (3 experienced fighters bc the main teacher was sick plus 2 other beginners that r learning faster than me) lookimg at me and trying to give helpful pointers and me still doing it wrong... H8 dis feeling bc i kinda freeze up instead of being able to take the tips n try again. Its hard for me to translate input like verbal instructions and demonstsations into my own movements as is. In this state i cant do anything properly and i feel the cryings abt to start while wanting nothing more than to MOVE ON NORMALLY. Well my eye started to get itxhy n teary so i excused myself to "take care of my contacts" (lie) (why am i even so ashamed that i feel i have to lie/make up excuses?? Bro???? That just made the situation Actually cringe?????? Im normally not an ashamed person and cryings just a state/expression but idk) so it was better for a bit until it wasnt. Then i full on cried in class while 2 ppl were actively showing me things/helping me do em right n everyone else kimda watched, kimda practiced. They did ask if i was ok and i said yes like a liar. So at the end of class i normally take the bus home with one of the other new guys but i today just didnt feel able to keep talking to him. So he also asked if i was ok/why i cried and i said i just do that under stress and why i am stressed (uni) so that was also a bit of a lie but only kinda. I said i was gonna go to the livrary instead (another lie, was gonna call my bf to calm me down abit n then take the next bus) so i did tgat n it kinda worked and this genius asked if i had eaten. Bruhhh of fuckin course im sensitive ive only had 3 baked goods all day and hadnt even noticed!!!!!! So then it all made sense, mans gotta get some freakin noursishment to keep their composure in swords class! So i went to another bus stop than normally bc i needed sth from the store and bruh the guy i normally take a DIFFERENT bus with is there (awkwardly votta tell hik i changed my mimd abt the library) and we talk a bit (i feel like i talk to him wayy too much in comparison to him, like we dont know each other that well at all, idek his real name and yknow. If he actually enjoys talking to me) and yea

So now everyone in the 14th century peasant larp class knows my terrible terrible secret:))):)

[lesbianwilby]

obligatory 📕📕📕📕📕📕📕 in response (the superior book emoji in my opinion)

in entirely unrelated news i just made ramen with bacon (sounds very american ik)

in my defense i wanted pork broth but all i have is chicken bullion so i soaked cooked bacon into my broth w/ the chicken bullion while cooking, honestly this fucks super hard

also didn't have zuccini so i fried cucumber instead, also fucks hard

i DID have homemade chilli oil tho so i added that too. and mushrooms

i just like talking abt ramen ok, there's a fried egg on top

kk im done share fic ideas please and thank you

god that ramen sounds SO good holy shit..... esp the egg mmmmm eggs r one of my favorite foods i eat them a lot LMAO

okok au time i did already tell u ur hearing ab my pokemon au!! so i kinda have all the gym leaders planned out n everything but what im going to focus on in this is the elite four + champion which is!! boatem :D ill be completely honest i dont have anything down for impulse or pearl YET other than their team types (impulse has an electric type team n pearl has a rock type team) but the other three have a bit of stuff

also!!! every pokemon has a link to an image of them :3 including the ones u almost certainly already know LMAO

grian: he's the ghost type elite four member!! i think this is probs a bit unexpected but 🫶 i tried messing w other types (specifically dragon n flying) n couldn't rly make a team that i felt fully fit him yk?? ill be completely honest im very biased towards ghost types so thats probs part of why i chose this for him LMAO

- dusknoir (my pmd bias has struck. this will not be the last time)

- mismagius

- gengar (look at me and tell me grian wouldn't have a gengar i DARE u)

- sableye (its the pmd bias again)

- dragapult

- altaria (fun fact!! im saving a spot on my emerald team for a swablu to name after him :3 i have a grovyle named after scar n a ralts named after mumbo so far)

• he also has a natu he named professor beak!! the natu is a gift from mumbo :3

• he runs a flying type sanctuary!! he takes in any injured flying type pokemon (usually wild but sometimes pokemon released by their owners, usually ones that were harmed by careless trainers + abandoned by other pokemon but sometimes other cases happen) n he cares for them in a sorta rehab program

• reason 4 ghost: he weirdly attracts them?? nobody's sure why but he never fights any of them off n actually welcomes them.. he regularly has a group of sinisteas and a polteageist following him <- i could totally come up w a reason as to why he attracts them n i have some ideas

• while he did go out + catch his team they r all still very closely bonded to him (except altaria who was from the sanctuary, it was released by a trainer n was already pretty powerful n it bonded to him thru care n basically like forced itself onto his team LMAO)

• professor beak does not fight but he does go w grian everywhere. its rare to see grian w/o any ghost types ANYWHERE but u NEVER see him w/o professor beak

mumbo: he's the psychic type CHAMPION! yeah mumbos the champion 😎 originally i considered having there be no champion bc i couldn't choose but then i was like "wait a sec .mumbo was ceo (until he wasnt) he should probs be the champion" hes also the only one to have a team w every pokemon being the type o chose for them so far!! i love psychic types theyre my favorite ralts is my second favorite pokemon + fav gen 3 pokemon (my fav gen) which is why i have one named after him :3 i chose psychic for him partly cuz bias partly bc i thought it was funy to have mumbo of all people to be a psychic type trainer

- espeon

- lunatone (was planning to have pearl have one on her team so this might not be set in place?? or maybe they both have one idk)

- musharna

- gothitelle

- meowstic (havent chosen what gender his is n probs never will 🫶)

- gardevoir (RAGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH this totally could read as pmd bias but its not i just adore this line sm every time i play rse i have to have one on my team idc how long it takes me esp since the spawn rates r kinda low)

• so .he originally didn't want to be a trainer LMAO

• the only pokemon he had for YEARS was an eevee n he never planned to get more

• obviously that didn't stay that way ^_^ one night he got kinda cornered by .idk some fucking pokemon n his eevee tried to help but hes literally never fought a battle w it before so it didn't go too well n waoh omg guess what saves him!!!!! a ralts!!!!! yes this is like .cheesy or wtevr no i dont care its my pokemon au i can do what i want

• after this mumbo is like "o shit mayb i should train my pokemon" n he catches the ralts n trains both it n his eevee up n along the way catches the other pokemon on his team (mostly in similar situations to the ralts .psychic type pokemon r attracted to his swagless charm <33)

• n eventually the eevee evolves into espeon!! wow omg who couldve seen that coming

• anyways yea he became a psychic type trainer completely on accident n kinda became champion just for fun 😭 n when he beat the og elite four in whatever region they're in n the champion he just kinda left n like a few days later he gets a call n it goes like "hello?" "hey yo mumbo ur the champion rn .u got a battle to fight some guy wants to fight u" "HUH?"

• somehow nobody told him that beating the champion made u the champion ?also the guy who wanted to fight him was grian 🫶

scar: grass type elite four member!! yea kinda predictable but it FITS ok

- roserade

- abomasnow

- whimsicott

- sawsbuck (its form changes w the seasons so this is the summer form!!)

- mawile (realizing now theres a lot of gen 3 within these teams wow i wonder what games i played growing up Clueless)

- alcremie

• scar my beloved in this au .hes actually the leader of the evil team LMAO

• fun fact !he has a different team for that (lmk if u wana see it i have it planned too) n a different outfit n shit n hes like "oh surely nobody knows its me Clueless" everyone knows its him

• him + his team doesn't do enough bad shit for anyone to kick him off the elite four or do anything ab it or anything LMAO

• cubs the other leader in case u were wondering

• i dont think his team needs an explanation

• HOWEVER like grian he also has a pokemon that he goes everywhere with but never battles w!!! his is a skitty named jellie :3 bc ofc i had to fit her in (n ofc .to nobody's surprise out of any cat pokemon there is i chose a gen 3 one)

these r all the details i have completely planned?? i def have other things down in my head i just haven't typed it all up yet 😓

[tottymatsuno]

One of these days i wanna actually draw out this whole scene instead of sketching it but dhahsbi talked aboit this w hollie and think their dynamic is rly interesting to watch esp as Touhi ages.

Read more if u dare

So as a preface, these are characters i made for two aus that just kinda became the same au. One of it was a fic I wrote called baby blues, and the other was the "old au" that i previously shared with another person.

The old au was about second chance love when you're an older person/after hitting rock bottom. And it involved a younger design of todomatsu from an episode in s3. Since i couldnt ship with that totty, i decided to recycle his design as my son! However since this was a second chance love story, thematically Todomatsu needed to be a single father of the character, and thus thats how Goonie was created!

So his mother passed away during childbirth, and since irl I'm baby crazy, and was a coworker/unofficial work wife (bc i look eerily similar to his home wife), we end up sleeping w each other a few months after the baby is born for mutually pathetic reasons. Then kinda move in together bc Todomatsu's grieving and very very resentful towards his son to the point where he cant even give the baby a proper name at first. So initially his name is Matsuno Matsumatsu 😭

Anyways thats the big crux of the au. Ive written about Totty's dynamic with Goonie (a nickname i chose for silly reasons i dont care abojt getting into, but its a personal one) where there isn't any grief and its wildly different where theyre mutually loving and cute together as parent and child, which is unfortunately a not relationship theyll ever have jn this au.

When touhi is little hes very sweet and kind and innocent except when hes angry, bc when hes angry he vents all of his frustration about the emotional neglect Todomatsu has specifically for him. And it takes Todomatsu a LONG time to fully get over the loss of his late wife. Like two whole sets of twins later. So totty is kinda openly blaming him the entire relationship

Which makes me spoil him a lot in comparison, which touhi also notices and it makes him even more mad because I'm not as strict with him as everyone else, out of pity so he feels like he's not *really* my son bc of it.

This all comes to a head multiple times when touhis a teenager but i think its more realistic that each time it happens, even if his emotions are validated and accepted, and even if we try to do right by him, that Touhi never receives any closure for it. Eventually he feels even more complex because we do love him, and have apologized to him, but it doesnt really help bc what he wants is to be able to further justify his own poor behavior but can't bc he doesn't have the excuse of "well my parents dont love me and never said sorry"

When we do.

Anyways i always thought touhi would be the only one to inherit tottys delayed puberty, but unlike Todomatsu who began HRT after graduating high school, touhi was considered pretty popular with his age group and suffered no real set backs, and waited until he went thru puberty naturally in his mid 20s.

His relationship mellows out significantly post puberty and post angsty teenage years, esp when Todomatsu transitions. He gets this weird sort of idea that since Todomatsu’s no longer his father, he could be the better version of her since he has the same face.

So he and Chichi, who like. Still thinks he's cool despite him being a fuckboy (Tima sorta hates his guts for it tho bc she basically sees it as if hes using his generally happy upbringing as an excuse to be a slut and play around with his peers feelings for literally no reason and tbh shes right for it but i cant judge bc hes my son and i support him right or wrong) are like. Both trying to be cooler than Todomatsu.

So Todomi or whichever name i settled on kinda just side eyes them, and this rly breaks both of their confidence in the matter since Touhi later realizes his mullet really was stupid and Chichi wears those big ass dorky glasses and they both actually really respected and was influenced by Totty's style when she was all dressed up.

Anyways Touhi grows up kinds being in between being a silly cutie, and actually succeeding with the whole heart-breaker thing Todomatsu tried to do around his age.

I get the feeling tho he's not gonna ever claim any kids he does happen to have in the future, and cant see him getting married, but he'd definitely be a fun uncle.

You all must click my uncropped and quickly done sketches of my children to understand her headache. Here they are thru out the years.

[mizugucci]

Hi Mairin! I hope you're well. I'm curious to see what you have for me. 🎵 I hope you make it until 3! 💞

hey ailea!!! im pretty good, hope you're doing okay too! i think ill make it, there's only an hour left and doing these asks help me focus hehe so thank you! hope you like it

position: rapper!! also you're probably the eldest member as well as the "mom" of the group. probably a co-leader since there are so many members in your group. also you're the lyricist for the group

group name: acathetic (pronounced ack-uh-thet-ick) its literally a combo of academia and aesthetic LOL i cant believe im saying this but there are 14 (!!) members of the group requiring 2 leaders. luckily theyre all relatively older (compared to those debuting now) so you dont have to wrangle a bunch of teenagers

concept: dark academia!! so like your debut stage outfits are those prep uniforms from ivy league schools, you know the ones im talking about. but each comeback is a new concept relating to a book from classic literature. so like a vampire concept for dracula, the historical romance from pride and prejudice, becoming knights/heros from don quixote. etc!

debut song: dark but not like horror or anything, more like it's something you wouldve heard a woman singing in a smoky 1920s tavern/pub/club. and despite 14 members, line distribution was pretty good! no one was upset although the main vocalists couldve had more lines...

fun fact: each of your members has a different work/study background besides being an idol. so like you have one who majored in marketing, or another who studied engineering, history, film, art, etc. a few of them are multilingual

send me a 🎵 and ill create a kpop group with you in it based on your blog!!

[potteresque-ire]

hello, ily metas! thank you for taking the time for them. i hope you dont mind an ask with two follow up questions to your metas i'm curious about: 1) has mxtx rly been sentenced? i have seen others also share this news but other fans have quickly dismissed and gotten pissed at these reports for being fake news that are bad for mxtx, and as fearmongering. 2) for those who want to support yizhan but not the ccp, do you have advice how to navigate fan support and interaction with their media?

Hello! I apologise for the late reply!  You’ve brought up some interesting points, so please forgive me for responding with an essay.

First, about MXTX — This is a follow-up to this post.

Unfortunately, this is all we got—all everyone has got about MXTX’s current situation: on 2020/11/10, she was sentenced in Hangzhou Shang Cheng District’s People’s Court (杭州市上城區人民法院). No details were given on her verdict, due to “人民法院認為不宜在互聯網公布的其它情形”  (“The People’s Court decided it inappropriate to announce further details on the internet”). Here’s a link with the screenshot that showed all the information released about the case that day.

There are enough copies of similar screenshots to this one online, with the differences dependent on where the publisher pulled the information from the same website: 中國裁判文書網, an online archive of verdicts run by China Supreme People’s Court. There’re few reasons, therefore, to believe the information on the screenshot was fake. The link I used was Sina’s Financial News, which I believe is trustworthy enough for China’s standard.

It is also important to note, of course, that two scenarios may still render this screenshot irrelevant. 1) The verdict, which was not mentioned in the screenshot, was “not guilty” and 2) the name listed in the case, 袁依楣, was not MXTX at all.

Few have seemed to suspect 2) to be a possibility. Her real name might have been prior knowledge among some fans, or the combination of her surname and city of residence. 1) has been the where the concern / debate is.

I included China’s rate of conviction in the original post for this reason: acquittal is exceedingly rare (<0.1%) for the arrested in China. This short article discussed some reasons.

So, is it possible that MXTX is now a free woman? Yes. Is it likely? Not at all.

Still, since the probability that MXTX is imprisoned isn’t 100%, is spreading this news smearing her name? Fear-mongering?

I can only answer for myself, Anon, but my answer is no for both questions, which is why I’ve felt comfortable posting about her case. MXTX’s alleged “crimes” are things we already knew she did, or common practices among Chinese IP writers. We know she penned MDZS and other BL works; we know MDZS, in particular, has an 18+ element. She was said to have sold merch based on her works, but that wasn’t unusual at all for writers in Jinjiang, where she published her writing. Even those who don’t like her have seemed to agree that it was her writing that got her into trouble, not some other crimes she could’ve committed.

IMO, a guilty verdict doesn’t tell us as much about her as it does about the judicial system, the business practices of her country. It’s worth re-mentioning that media giants such as Tencent are closely tied to the government; Tencent’s WeChat, for example, is part of China’s Great Firewall and is used for surveillance, for censorship and removal of political dissidents. What MXTX’s case hints at is this: the government has (very likely) convicted her, while its close allies are continuing to use her works—works that got her into legal trouble in the first place—to make money. Some fans of MXTX have questioned if the courts have censored the details of the case to save the embarrassment of the rich and powerful, calling what has happened to MXTX 人血饅頭 (“human blood steamed buns”), an idiom used to describe the act of profiting out of someone elses’ life.

As for fear-mongering, here are my thoughts ~ it would’ve been fear-mongering if the public has access to the facts, and not years after they happen. Specifically, it would’ve been fear-mongering to leak the rumours of MXTX’s sentencing, when the judicial system is transparent and the case details will soon be published for all to see. Why? Because “fear” comes from the unknown, and “-monger” is the unnecessary promotion, stirring-up of this fear.

To promote, stir up anything, one needs a reference level. The reference level in this scenario is this: what is the level of fear if the facts about MXTX’s (and other BL writers’) situation are known? Of course, this knowledge doesn’t make MXTX’s experience any easier or more just; it doesn’t cause her less fear. However, she isn’t the target audience of this likely-to-be-true rumour. The target audience is the public and in particular, those who consume and/or generate BL material online.

What is the level of fear among this population if the facts about MXTX’s (and other BL writers’) situation are known? It’s the (relative) comfort in knowing the government’s stance on what they do: how the administration feels about BL, 18+ BL, and their distribution methods. The comfort comes from having the right information to decide how to act accordingly. For example, if I’m a BL writer based in China and I know the court has found MXTX guilty of bypassing publishing houses but not of writing M/M romance, then I’ll know to not produce paper versions of my writing, but I can keep writing.

This reference level of fear is unavailable here, however, since the government has decided to withhold all details about the case. Without this reference level, fear-mongering becomes a ... difficult to define concept.

Are these likely-to-be-true rumours agents of fear, or are they hints on how to survive in a country that lacks transparency?

Continuing with the example of I being a Chinese BL writer, since I cannot expect to hear more facts about MXTX, this rumour is all I’ve got in choosing what to do with my hobby, in deciding whether it is safe to continue. As I’m aware that a rumour isn’t a fact, I first research on the rumour’s likelihood of truth (similar to what I’ve done for MXTX’s case), and cross my fingers that I don’t get it wrong.

By doing so, I’m turning these rumours into my survival guide.

Is it risky? Yes. Is it exhausting? Absolutely. But this is the way of life for people who live under secretive, authoritarian governments—the authoritarian element making it impossible to demand more facts. It may take people outside such regimes some time to get used to—to the lifestyle, and to the idea that, in a place where news is often synonymous with propaganda, rumours are breadcrumbs of truth that should be sieved through with equal care as one would sieve through the news. Heeding, considering the probable truth of what the authority has deemed to be fear-mongering rumours can be a matter of literal life and death. 

Take...COVID. (I apologize for bringing up this unpleasant topic!)

I shall link to an article about the early spread of COVID in Wuhan here and ask: were Dr. Li Wenliang and the seven other doctors fear-mongering? Wuhanese chose to believe in the government, but at what cost to them? What would the world be like today if they took the early COVID rumours as true and masked up like Hong Kongers—Hong Kongers who weren’t any smarter or better, but had simply learned their painful lessons from the 2003 SARS epidemic? 

(Why hadn’t the Wuhanese learned? Because the government has long changed the narrative of SARS, taught their people that the illness originated in Hong Kong.) 

(How can one learn from past mistakes if one pretends those mistakes never existed?)

You must be wondering, Anon, why I’m talking about COVID when your next question is about YiZhan. The death of Dr Li Wenliang on February 7th, 2020, sparked a demand for freedom of speech rarely seen in internet-age China. Its fury, its ferocity forced the government to change its stance on Dr Li, again an unusual move. Since January 2020, Weibo had been censoring COVID news and opinion pieces that shedded a negative light to the central government; after the death of Dr Li, the censorship apparatus stepped up, making way for the propaganda machine to kick in later and change the narrative of the pandemic.

Here are some questions without definite answers, but may be food for thought for YiZhan fans:

1) While the Chinese government’s censorship apparatus (including Weibo) might have silenced the voices of dissent, of mourning on the surface, was it more likely to pacify, or fuel the anger of netizens, many of whom had lost loved ones, many of whom were still under quarantine?

2) Less than three weeks after the death of Dr Li, a group of fans demanded even *more* censorship from the government—the closing of an internet website that had been seen as a relatively free space to express oneself. How would these netizens react, even though they knew little about these fans or their idol?  

(It was, in the context of the massive silencing of COVID discussions in China, that I learned about the ban of AO3. There had been rumours that the government would censor more websites on 2020/03/01. When I read about AO3′s ban on 2/27, my thoughts were 1) Hmm. This came two days early. 2) AO3? Really?)

(I wouldn’t watch The Untamed or know who Gg was until several months later.)

Now, Anon, this is a good time to get to your CCP (Chinese Communist Party) question.

The very short answer is no. There’s no way to support YiZhan without, to a certain level, supporting the CCP. As mentioned above, the media companies are all part of China’s surveillance system. Weibo is where freedom of speech is curbed. Our two boys have been part of the propaganda machine; the BBC article linked above had a tiny picture of Gg on it, as he was a performer in the Hero in Harm’s Way (最美逆行者), a “real-life based” drama on COVID. DD just did a show glorying the Chinese police force (and here’s a video of the same force welding doors to lock in COVID-stricken residents).

Nonetheless, here’s my first advice: please do not beat yourself up for supporting YiZhan!

Gg and Dd are people who live within the system, inside the Great Firewall. They understand the world the way their government has taught them to—not only in school, but also in the news and media. Like most youths in every country, they’re patriotic—and to expect them to be otherwise, especially because of information they don’t have, is both unrealistic and unfair. Even if they do know about certain things impermissible within the Firewall, in China (as in many Communists countries), openly expressing / performing one’s proper political leanings (ie. loyalty towards CCP) is among the most important pre-requisites for any job. This has been especially true for c-ent in recent years .

They, like most of their countrymen, are doing what they have to do.

In this case, it comes to us, our decisions on how to interact with their works. How should we deal with them, their propaganda elements?

The answer, of course, varies from person to person. Personally, I’ve chosen the approaches of “immunisation” and “restriction”. By “immunisation”, I mean learning about as much historical and sociopolitical facts from non-CCP sponsored sources; this is understandably difficult for someone who doesn’t already have some familiarity with the culture and politics of the region, and/or cannot read the language. 

Restriction means limiting my consumption of media produced by China. I avoid shows (dramas, documentaries, variety etc) featuring topics that are likely to contain heavy propaganda, such as the military, the police, Hong Kong/Macao/Taiwan, and of course, anything pertaining to the CCP, from its rise to its governance of the country.

In general, I’m wary of all information presented about the post-monarchy years (post 1911), even though CCP wouldn’t begin its reign until after WWII (1949). Why so early? 1) Because CCP was formed in 1921 and so its glorification requires a change of narrative since then; 2) because the Nationalist Party (Kuomintang, KMT), which governed China between 1912 and 1949 (the so-called Republican Era 民國), would end up exiling to and setting up a new government in Taiwan.

How much propaganda should one expect in shows depicting the country post-1911? The current TV and webdrama directives (previously discussed in this post) offer some hints. Here are my translations of the relevant items:

D7) Dramas about the Republican era: Glorification of the Republican Era, the Beiyang Government, and Warlord Era requires strict control.

D10) Crime drama: crime drama is the focus of content auditing. The Ministry of Public Security (Pie note: in charge of law enforcement, ie, police) will be involved in the audit. The process of crime solving cannot be exposed; criminal psychology and motivations can however be depicted in detail. Undercover police cannot use drugs or kill, or damage the image of the police force. Criminals must be punished by law.

D12) Dramas featuring realistic topics: realistic topics must adhere to the correct world view, philosophy of life and moral values. They cannot place too strong an emphasis on social conflicts, must showcase the beautiful lives of the commoners. Regular folks should display larger-than-life sentiments and aspirations; they can pursue wealth, but must use proper means to do so; they cannot damage the public image of specific employment types, groups and social organisations. Do not preach negative or decadent world view, philosophy of life and moral values. Do not exaggerate, amplify social issues; do not over showcase, display the darker sides of society; do not preach affluence, avoid things that have no basis in real life.

D16) Dramas featuring the Revolution (Pie note: CCP’s coming to power): 2019 is the publicity period of the 70th Anniversary of the People’s Republic of China. Although the “Three Importances” (important revolution, important people, important events) are still encouraged, the  National Radio and Television Administration requires all departments, at all levels, to strengthen the control of content and the overall management of the industry, and focus on the auditing of content pertaining to the Sino-Japanese war and espionage dramas.

These directives (as those translated in the other post) are as vague as they are restrictive, and to err on the side of caution, production companies tend to “overachieve” to avoid going against headwinds at the censorship board. This means their products have a tendency to malign the Republican Era (D7). It means they will likely twist history in trying to depict the CCP as faultless heroes (D16). It means they'll probably present a utopian-like society and call it reality-based (D12), a society in which the good guys share the same values as the CCP and always win (D10).

Yes, my “restriction” means I skipped Hero in Harm’s Way. It means I’ve never listened to Gg’s version of 我和我的祖國 despite my absolute adoration of his voice. It means I just missed Dd’s performance in the law enforcement celebration event. It means I don’t plan on watching Being A Hero and Ace Troops.

So here’s where I’ve drawn the line, Anon, but it doesn’t mean that’s what anyone should do. Only you alone can decide where your own comfort zone is. I write these metas in the hopes that it can offer a … gateway for those who’d like to understand, with a more telescopic lens, Gg and Dd’s country—a country that holds a particularly strong hold over its citizens’ fate including, yes, their romantic fate. It’s not my wish to impose my opinions on anyone.

If I have other hopes… It’s this. Please, as long as it’s safe for you to talk, do not self-censor—especially about facts, especially on sites like Tumblr or Twitter that have long been banned by the Chinese government. I don’t mean one should go about and confront those who insist on a different version of reality. To undo opinions rooted in years of education, IMO, the process has to be voluntary, and the information is already at the fingertips of those who’re surfing these sites and wish to learn more. More importantly, open discussions of these topics may be risky for those who still have close ties to China, and keeping them safe should always be the top priority. 

What I mean is simply this ~ please do not feel obliged to agree with every perspective presented in YiZhan’s work just because you support the leads. Please do not feel you must remain silent about the CCP—its good, bad and ugly—just because your favourite stars happen to come from the country it’s ruling. And please remember: “Chinese”, as a term, has always included people who live outside CCP’s control, many of whom still fully embrace the culture, traditions and values of Historical China, a 5000-years long string of dynasties with shifting borders, ethnic makeup and customs. The Untamed is a mainland Chinese production, yes, but its genre, its manner of presenting certain traditions, wouldn’t have been developed, or flourished, without the diaspora. The CCP has only been the ruling party of one country, the People’s Republic of China, for 71 years, and as a party with foreign (soviet) roots and a record of destroying the pillar of the country’s tradition, Confucianism, it doesn’t own a monopolistic say on how every Chinese should think and act—no matter how much it insists it does—or how everyone should think and speak about China and its people.

It isn’t qualified.

[everythingsinred]

001 gakuen alice

wow really! how random that u chose this manga that i dont even care about or whatever

001

Favorite character: tie with natsume and mikan! natsume has been my favorite since day one but even though it took me some time to love mikan as much, they rly are equal to me.

Least Favorite character: UGH like theres characters i hate, like esp and persona, but whose roles in the story i mostly appreciate. if theres a character im kinda meh abt, even regarding his role in the story........ maybe tono? lol i have no real outstanding feelings abt him

5 Favorite ships (canon or non-canon): im assuming this is romantic? if so: natsume/mikan, hotaru/ruka, koko/sumire, tsubasa/misaki, narumi/misaki-sensei. but ill include nonromantic as well bc i want to: natsume&ruka, hotaru&subaru, mikan&yuka, main 4 as a friend group (which is what we deserved rather than the three of them barely interacting outside of their bond with mikan), and the special ability group (namely tsubasa and misaki with mikan)

Character I find most attractive: kaoru

Character I would marry: maybe yuka. shes the one i would most trust above all. definitely the Best adult in the series. and most sensible.

Character I would be best friends with: UGh maybe yuka again. i trust her the most. its also bizarre now that im closer with age to her than i am with the main characters lmao. yuka is underrated though

a random thought: i have a rudimentary understanding of how alices are sorted according to ability but im ngl i still have trouble comprehending why some of the special ability students arent in latent or somatic. i just accept that i wont understand and leave it at that.

An unpopular opinion: the ending being bad is NOT unpopular. my unpopular opinion is that im not a big fan of like the last 30-40 chapters in general, not just the last three. theres parts i like, but mostly i think it could have been better done. also i dont like that mikan got the stealing alice. i dont like that choice really. i hope that doesnt sound arrogant but honestly im tired so if it comes across that way oh well.

My Canon OTP: natsumikan... ahh im so lucky

My Non-canon OTP: tbh hotaru and ruka! my sister and i made a banger playlist for them and i have sobbed just thinking of their potential. i honestly rly dont care if ppl think theyre a random couple or a way to pair off the spares--i think theyd be a genuinely good match and their scenes together are to die for.

Most Badass Character: probably either natsume or yuka but that badassery also just makes me sad

Most Epic Villain: ew none (ga is not an example of media where i root for the villains lol)

Pairing I am not a fan of: this is such a vague prompt. ill just say that i resent when ppl make one character the character they "ship with everybody" (namely mikan) bc that character tends to be female and there tends to be some very suspect implications about her agency and role in the relationships, like its more abt other ppls interest in her than in her own feelings. im not saying ppl who multiship are all like that (and im sure most multishippers are entirely reasonable) but ive seen enough takes in that vein for it to really rub me the wrong way. i rly genuinely only ship mikan romantically with natsume.

Character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another): ugh i lowkey dont wanna fully answer this but ill give it a go. first idc abt persona redemption, especially if it comes at the cost of his victims' experiences, so like no. he couldve just maybe died or smth instead. ALSO as ive mentioned with her having the stealing alice, i think mikan's end was not really that great for her character. it bums me out.

Favourite Friendship: natsume and ruka hands down no contest. dont argue with me; i wont listen

Character I most identify with: ah a lot. natsume bc. child abuse victim with anger issues. ruka bc pervasive loneliness and feeling of being a burden. mikan bc god am i really good for nothing can i even offer anything? i hate this prompt its too personal

Character I wish I could be: none lol the choices are to be abused, abuse others, or both so none. maybe id be jii-chan, he truly is outside that whole mess.

if you would like to send me an ask for a character/ship/show or you'd like to rb the original post yourself, heres the link!

[narugen]

i was tagged by falen the sana @yutadori​ to do this tag on the 17th of january so its not that late thank u falen if no one got me they got me

name/nickname: egg is . yes no anyway....... u can all address me by ZoroLiker :)

gender: whatever the fuck luffy from one piece has going on

star sign: capricorn but if u want my whole chart to analyze me ... hmu !

height: 153cm...? 5′0...

time: 11:03pm thats someones birhday 

birthday: not mine tho ^ mine’s 26 december 1226 think of me guys

favorite bands: day6 ? seventeen ? yorushika...... ummmm hm. idk i dont rly follow any other group’s music thta closely aside from them 

favorite solo artists: i. i dont know..... [brain exlplodes] i guess i dont have any oh wait i like deco*27 <3

song stuck in my head: hm. the most recent one i can remember would be famous last words by mcr 

last movie you watched: oh!!!!!! soul . it was good but not the best representation 

last show: one piece..... need schol to end so we can continue watching </3

when did i create this blog: dont even know... wait ok . 8 march 2020 apparently  

what do i post: one pice............ mostly... jjk here n there.. hq.... Basically anime n funny things ! 

last thing googled:  tumblr blog checker 

other blogs: i have like 5000 just look at this page

do i get asks: from falen my beloved but i was checking the asks tag on my old blog n omg i sure was popular 

why i chose my url: z. zoro........ [dies]

following: 216

followers: 119 

average hours of sleep: i dont even know every day its a surprise... if u asked me this like 4 years ago maybe my sleep sched wouldve been a very standard 11pm-6am every weekday 

instruments: my brain is an instrument i play everyday .<3 im bad at it 

dream job: do not ask me this question 

dream trip: good god... where my closest friends are so 1. usa 2. australia (sydney) 3. uk idk where falen n boxy stay specifically So

favorite food: hmm... i just had udon the other day (saturday) so that. udon is so sexy.. i like noodle in general 

nationality: singaporean. I Believe 

favorite song: *racks my brain*.... okay lets go i got it 

neo sky, neo map (love live nijihigh ed) 

my my (svt)

hey buddy (svt, 97z)

last book read: i literally dont even know i havent picked up a book in ages the last thing i read with words n lots of pages was probably a research paper or all the sane zolu fics on ao3 AND ffnet .. brainrot 

top three fictional universes i’d like to live in: oh hm….

one piece. one piec......e...... 

pokemon. always pokemon. since i was 10 

and idk hq i guess LOL i dont know just throwing in my comfort shows

tagging: @cupidle @fshigro @pxrtgas @minhyk no pressure to do this! 

[nutelly]

interview tag

tagged by @korimi4 and @leeyubinz mwahs for u

name:  keira

pronouns:  she / her

zodiac:  gem

height:  too tall

time:  it's 11pm

birthday:  in a month ???? crazy

nationality:  south americana.......

favorite bands/groups:  yal know it.. drimketch.. wikmik..fromise..pick see....my two favorite western artists are pale waves and chvrches though

favorite solo artists:  motte !! ive been really into kim nayoung lately too

song stuck in my head:  fly high by the 9 fromies (well in this case fromis_2 ? 🤨)

last movie i watched:  literally cant remember it's been so long

last show i binged:  weki meki mohae

when i created my blog:  i guess i created my blog around 2015 ? i cant remember :/

last thing i googled:  it was either korean grammar stuff or weki meki album versions, trying to decide which one to choose

other blogs:  @haerimida the gif blog.... and also @ leegahyoon i guess, but that one's just for saving the username

why i chose my url:  in honor of the life changing event that happened in the seven spirits concert <3 and haerimida is my loml's, jung elly's instagram @ hdkdnf

how many ppl i’m following:  106 !!

how many followers i have:  107 !!!! a positive tumblr ratio...... also im almost at 350 in my other one yay

average hrs of sleep:  4 to 6.... with some napping involved

lucky number:  i rly dont have one

instruments:  i (at least used to 😔) play acoustic and electric guitar and drums, plus i took singing lessons too

currently wearing:  big bts shirt and flannel pants.....warm™

dream job:  esports caster

dream trip:  south korea rly but not only for kpoppie reasons pls

favorite food:  ramen maybe ??

favorite song:  statsforspotify says my top streamed song all time is rose blue.. my beloved <333 in the last six months it's the weki meki cool though, and for western songs it's drive by pale waves

top 3 fictional universes i’d like to live in:  i really dont know 😭😭 all the fictional universes i can think of are from viddygames and none of them are good to live in

im not tagging anyone as always but if u wanna do this u should !!!

[bundyshoes]

Interview tag!

rules: answer the questions and tag 20 blogs you are contractually obligated to know better!

I was tagged by @burningblake -- thank you so much for the tag! <3

- nickname: i dont rly have any tbh, just my name -- sarah or if someone doesnt know my name online they just called me bundy lmao

- pronouns: she/her

- star sign: leo

- height: 5′6″

- time currently: 3:42 pm

- when is your birthday: August 2

- favorite bands/groups: chase atlantic, breaking benjamin, the midnight, good charlotte, metallica, KISS and probably more alskdjskldf

- favorite solo artists: taylor swift for sure

- song stuck in your head: current song is ‘who wants to be lonely’ by KISS bc it was the last song i listened to

- last movie watched: currently watching Speed with keanu

- last show you binged: Wandavision all the way thru, but im currently in the middle of real housewives of atl and just finished the 90 day fiance shows (minus the quarantine one lol)

- when you created your blog: 2011-12 area

- last thing you googled: padawan lmao

- other blogs: none on tumblr but i have a few on insta and such

- why you chose your url: so its not bc of ted, its from married with children the sitcom, one of my fav shows and al bundy, the main guy, is a women’s shoe salesmen and its a running gag throughout the show about how much he hates shoes and such alsjkdsjdfl i thought the names fit together, but yea its gotten me some raised brows from ppl who dont know the show  🙃

- do you get asks: not anymore, i used to back in my ouat days but i guess no one really cares about what i have to say anymore  😂

- how many people are you following: 865

- how many followers do you have: 1168

- average hours of sleep: uhhh atm its at least 7-9 i think ? my sleeps been weird recently lol

- lucky number: i like 3

- instruments: i dont play any :(

- what I’m currently wearing: grey sweatpants and one of my iron man shirts (the character poster from endgame but with the helmet on -- im dying to get the without helmet one ;;A;;)

- dream job: working at hhn, on the creative team

- dream trip: all the hhn’s all over the world at the different parks, going to both disney and uni parks in fl and cali, las vegas with my bffs, meeting my online friends finally, and salem in the fall/oct time

- favorite food: chinese food

- favorite song: alssldjfldk thats difficult, but rn its paranoid by chase atlantic

- top three fictional universes you’d like to live in: ummmm im not sure tbh, not a lot of series have places that dont have terrible things happen in them  🙃 but any universe with tony stark is a place i wanna live i guess  😂

thank you so much for tagging me @burningblake ! i love getting asks like this, but ill be honest im very lazy with the tagging  💀💀 so imma let anyone who sees this post do it if they want to ~

[sammyloomis]

fic writer tag meme

god damn yall i got tagged by @love-fireflysong AND @queenofbaws, flattered so i am not much of a writer these days but lets give it a whirl ;w;

author name: fudgeroach :V

fandom(s) you write for: almost exclusivley until dawn!! but ive dabbled in some azumanga daioh and danganronpa stuff, and if we go WAY back i used to write twilight fanfic,,,,, it never saw the light of day so dont even try lookin for it

where you post: ao3

most popular one shot: Hot Mess which is a story abt ashleys drunk ass falling out from behind the partition and foiling the prank and thus saving everyones fkn lives :’] idk if i was expecting this one to be the most popular but thats p rad!!

most popular multi chapter fic: the squad be lit fam which is one of those chat fic things where everyones just chattin shit in a group text. i made it cause i wanted to do something goofy n fun between more serious stuff but reading it back its kinda just.... bad... not too keen on my characterisations, they all feel kinda samey

favorite story you wrote: hoooo boy idk if i even have a fave tbh tho maybe Dead Air cause i remember bein really hyped about posting it. even if it doesnt feature the ud kids that heavily, i rly Love my ghost au n thought it was a fun idea to have a couple of idiot internet people try and tackle the story of the blackwood tragedy 

story you were nervous to post: okay warning cause its porn. Closet Boinking. as im sure you can guess Why i was nervous to post it cause its fkn porn and thats all there really is to say on the matter (tho it IS my second most popular one shot so,,, clearly u guys like it)

how do you chose your titles?: sometimes i like bein rly cagey abt it and making it some obscure reference thats like 10 thoughts removed from the original concept, and sometimes its just as simple as me not being creative enough and just slapping something last minute into the title bar

how many of your stories are complete?: 13/17 and thats only cause theyre one shots fghjkl i Suck at multichap stuff

in progress?: uhhh 2 i guess?? the other 2 are vague enough that i could stop em now but tbh im probably not gonna be finishing any multichap stuff hh tho Hopefully the last chapter of Grapevine

coming soon: uhhHH NOT MUCH TBH FGHJK i cant even think of anything im writing that ill actually Finish rn. i have a few bits n bobs laying around, couple danganronpa one shots n half finished chapters, but im not rly confident in my writing skills to make more atm ;w;

upcoming story ur most excited to write: see above

do you accept prompts?: ahh not really, not for writing stuff anyway. but im always down for a drawing prompt!! lord knows im lookin for ideas all the time fghjkl cant garuntee ill do it tho

top 5 authors: hhHHH i HATE pickin people i know, im always scared im gonna forget someone so, in lieu of that, just assume that if ive left a review on ur stuff it means ur one of my faves (but it we’re talking like, published fiction authors i love me some ‘david wong’ for cosmic horror and ‘becky chambers’ for gay n emotional science fiction)

tag 6 people: DFGHJ AGAIN IDK WHO TO TAG FOR THIS so if u read this n wanna do it go for it!! i think everyone i woulda tagged already did this meme anyway ;w;

[swatato]

fat. FAT. P H A T RANT INCOMING FOR ANYONE WHO CARES TO READ THIS NONSENSE CUZ @haldidoodh ASKED

That episode literally blasted the last of my serotonin into smithereens but TBH??? WHO AM I MAD AT I should have seen this coming this whole volume has been such a headache. I cant be bothered to type up a coherent rwde essay on everything that bothered me this episode so im just gonna copy and paste my earlier yelling here instead ;A;

Team Rwby was god awful in episodes 11-12. They’re so self-righteous, entitled, hypocritical and cocky as a team and it doesnt help that they all suck as individual characters nowadays (except for weiss but even she lost best-girl points this episode also lmao blake and yang aren’t even INDIVIDUALS anymore they’re just bumbleby). It was annoying at first but now its just infuriating how rwby thinks theyre always right with their uwu energy and think they can do whatever tf they want with ZERO CONSEQUENCES.

Basically any time there is a problem in this show they have Ruby uwu at it and its solved lol.

They kept giving ironwood shit for taking on this incredible burden SO THAT NOBODY ELSE WOULD HAVE TO and rather than offer any real solution they just kept going “but mantle” like okay?? But remnant??? Like obvi letting mantle rot is bad but HE WAS OPEN TO ANY HELPFUL SUGGESTIONS CUZ HES OBVI AT HIS WITTS END AND DOESNT LIKE THE IDEA EITHER but yeah they just proceed to be the fattest hypocrites by hiding secrets of their own after being all “no more secrets uwu” and WHEN THEY GOT EXPOSED THEY JUST WENT “>:[“ (yangs self-righteous little glare here pissed me off so much oof) especially when ironwood was laying everything out in the open to them from the start. AND ESPECIALLY WHEN THE SECRET WAS FKIN “OH YEAH SALEM CANT DIE LOL” They watched ironwood make every decision he did in hopes of beating Salem while KNOWING she couldnt die??? So literallY WHERE do they get off on screeching at him with their yOu doNt hAvE to Suffer In ManTle YOu doNt kNow whAt iTs liKe bs. Wtf made ruby distrust iw at the start anyway? Because he had a bunch of ships out? They kept this CRUCIAL piece of information from him because he seemed stressed out?? Like what made ruby keep the secret from him. Someone tell me.

And the fact that rwby beat the ace-ops makes no goddamned sense. The power-scaling in this show is non-existant. We finally got to meet some pro huntsmen in this universe who aren’t teachers but are actually on the job, but because we gotta move out of the way for that 👌🏽✨ Power Of Friendship✨ and ✨rwby is always right✨ they somehow managed to beat experienced huntsmen with YEARS in the field who’ve actually graduated school??? FARM BOI OSCAR WHOS *JUST* LEARNING HOW TO FIGHT MANAGED TO LAND A PUNCH ON NEO FKIN POLITAN??? Didnt neo dance circles around yang??? Yang, who punches for a living and also beat mercury and adam??? I cant yall (and the fact that he didnt even bother to sneak up on her this boi literally screamed “no!!” as he ran down a hallway and neo didnt even have time to blink??? Pls)

Ruby’s “you were the best, until you trained us :3” -for maybe 2 days before my team went dancing ruby sis shut right tf up pls my god is this line just so. UNEARNED. Training in a room for a short while does not simply grant you the years of field experience the ace ops have and whAT IS UP WITH HER TRYING TO REASON WITH HARIETT AFTER SAYING THAT COCKY LINE AND FIGHTING HER??? WHAT and also like. The entire idea of “the ops lost cuz they weren’t good friends and were bad at teamwork uwu” is just so dumb. Ur telling me this group of high ranking hunstmen who’ve most likely been working together for at least a few years didnt have teamwork down??? Learning to work together is the most BASIC concept for a team to learn!! Its like the first thing a team has to perfect!! If the ace ops are supposed to be the best of atlas you dont think the ops would have gotten something as fundemental as teamwork down?? I dont buy it. And who gives a shit if they dont hang out after work or take selfies with eachother. Being friends doesnt necessarily mean theyre great at working together. If they succeed at relying on eachother to watch their backs, to keep each other alive (in the words of hariett herself) then Id think theyd know how to protect eachother i.e WORK TOGETHER.

And for all the ✨friendship✨ and ✨going through so much with someone✨ talk rwby like to do, the show barely displays these people acting like friends. We’re constantly TOLD how great of friends this group is, but the actual CONTENT we are shown leaves a lot to be desired. Tell me the last time ruby and blake teamed up in a fight. Or weiss and blake. Or yang and weiss. What teamwork?? Yang only interacts with blake now and weiss is only ever allowed to interact with ruby. Has blake ever said nora or ren’s name out loud? Have jaune and yang ever held a conversation between just them? Team rwby just spent a GOOD DEAL of time seperated from eachother, but when they reunite their teamwork is still somehow better than the ace ops?? Honestly its easier to believe that ruby is closer with team jnpr than she is her own team. If they showed the ops messing up during rwby vs ace ops fight due to lack of communication, then it still doesnt matter. My point is that they shouldnt have lacked teamwork in the first place.

Robyn was m e h this episode “JaMes ConTinUes to UnDeresTimAte Me” *proceeds to get knocked over in .3 seconds and is then KO for the rest of the episode* also great job for starting a fight and aiming to take clovers life in a moving airship with a terrorist on board when clover was acting PEACEFULLY and qrow was WILLING TO TALK IT OUT WITH IW and potentially work on a solution, but naw robyn is big mad and shall shoot.

Qrow made zero sense this episode too. I was with him right up until he chose TYRIAN OVER CLOVER??? THE PSYCOPATH WHO CANNOT BE REASONED WITH OVER THE RATIONAL DUDE YOU KNOW IS GOOD except clover wasnt acting rational in this fight at all and ill get to that AND IS THE ONLY FRIEND YOU HAVE WHOS NOT 19????? Qrow rly looked at tyrian- a man who is literally an enemy to all of remnant and went after ur neice- and said lets get rid of this punk together u and me bro. Like screw teaming with clover to bring down the dude you ACTUALLY have a grudge with whos also a serial killer and then trying to talk it out with clover whod be willing to do things peacefully why is this show like this

and AS FOR CLOVER. where were the braincells this episode. Qrow was trying to fight tyrian-the WAY bigger threat here, but clover??? kept knocking him away from tyrian and restraining him with his hook like??? YEAH LETS HELP OUT THE DEMON SCORPION CRACKHEAD HES CLEARLY NOT THE PRIORITY ATM nvm clover deserved to die there m8

His death scene was emotional and I feel bad for Qrow but u literally sealed his death when u ganged on him with tyrian so why are you even surprised. And on the subject of fairgame, im glad it didnt happen. Qrow was in no state for romance and I was glad he finally had a friend. He just spent the last volume thinking he wasted his life away helping oz, drowning in misery, drinking til he passed out on the street and so drunk he couldnt even be of any help during the apathy situation, when up til now hes been shown to fight just fine while drunk. I don’t see this as a “bury your gays trope” because clover was never confirmed to be gay and all their scenes added up to 40 seconds of platonic friendship. These two are grown ass men, if they had the hots for eachother then im pretty sure they could openly show it and not dance around it like theyre kids. I do feel bad for mlm viewers who were hoping for some rep with fairgame/lucky charms (cuz rt only cares if ur a cute marketable lesbian) but idc for the overly entitled fans who try to force their own headcanons on the writers and go feral when they dont get what they want. You dont just get to prance around claiming whats canon and what isnt. If rep is there then great, but if it isnt, then why not look somehwere else and let the author tell the story theyre trying to tell? Shipping fairgame cuz you think its cute is absolutely fine but not when u start getting ready to casterate crwby for not catering to you. Also, rwby sucks with lgbt+ rep anyway so what were yall expecting.

The only thing that was great this episode was the chorerography. It just sucks that the animation/choreo continues to improve while the writing doesnt. Another thing that really fell off this episode was the whole “we’re friends but we have to fight” drama. It doesnt work when its only ONE SIDE SHOWING ANY DISTRESS OVER IT. Only the ace ops (marrow, clover, the vine dude) seemed to show distress over having to fight rwby (it sucks that the only 1v1 weiss has won was because marrow was going EASY on her cuz he didnt wanna fight her fr) but rwby???? They didnt give any shits. They were so quick to turn against them and aim for their heads. They were SMILING as they ran at the ace ops, while they looked conflicted. If you oppose their UwU philosophy, you’re dead to them.

I really wanna enjoy RWBY but sometimes this show (and the fndm) really tests me. Its ironic how this episode came right after last episode, which I thought was the best chapter this volume. Anyway I rate this 10/10 cuz it gave me best character ironwood and best boi marrow and I would like to give them hugs for carrying this volume on their backs. (Also tyrian and penny and winter have been great too)

[ofstrikcrs]

heyo what’s poppin ! it’s me, hannah !  i’m 20 n vibin in the est. my pronouns r we/them/boys but she/her work as well djskfsmd n i’m currently #unemployed BUT i am a full time student... majoring in dumb bitch theory n loving my gf n i’m at the top of my class baby...... :’) ANYWAY. i’m back again w a ( hopefully ) more condensed version of the infamous google doc(s) STRIKER KIM? MORE LIKE STRIKE ME IN THE HEART I LOVE U BITCH so that u dont all have to read the monstrosity that is my app ( but like, if u wanna... u can find it right HERE ) 

n without further ado... let’s kick it !

this is striker, he’s 28 ( soon to b 29 #ariesculture ) n he’s very complicated.. very complicated.... 

his mom cherry kim ( nee corallo ) is the daughter of lorenzo corallo, renowned filmmaker. daphne had a stint in acting in her youth as well but ending up withdrawing from the spotlight once she married his dad.

his dad is warren kim, business man

what kind of business you ask ? well..

let us rewind a little bit, shall we? now if you know anything about the ins and outs of organized crime in new york city, the name corallo might sound *eyes emoji* familiar to you. giovanni corallo was a boss of the lucchese crime family until his arrest and… you guessed it… that means our man lorenzo corallo is a man of the mafia !

lorenzo, however, wasn’t a first-born son which also meant he wasn’t an heir in any way shape or form and was free to do his thing you know BUT when it came time to arrange marriage for his one and only daughter, cherry, it was Expected of him to keep it in the family 

enter the kim family, who had been loyal to the lucchese family for as long as they’d been in america and had built up quite a reputation for themselves in the family, so it was just a natural choice to marry off cherry to their son, warren

they had two kids! their first-born son, dagger, and their second-son…. STRIKER !

and, as in all mafia stories, there is no better prize than the benefits reaped from die-hard loyalty, so in addition to getting to marry a corallo girl… a series of unfortunate events ( i.e. some deaths and arrests ) led to the promotion from right-hand man to acting boss of none other than our very own warren kim

now being the child of an acting mob boss is stressful, but being the second-son of an acting mob boss is… slightly less stressful. see, cherry stepping Out of the spotlight was a strategic move on her own part but was entirely her own decision which meant that striker was free to choose the exact opposite

with no real mafia-related responsibilities or expectations ( other than keeping his mouth SHUT ) on his shoulders, he was more or less… free to roam however he wanted and as he’s always had a taste for the finer things in life, there’s no real surprise that he chose to follow his mother’s side of the family and became nothing short of a socialite in new york city 

which.. despite what the press says abt our #mans striker kim ( i.e. being a billionaire playboy, irresponsible, reckless, wild, etc. ) he’s smart n his main motivation for heading straight for the spotlight is bc every person who falls in love w him is part of a complex and expansive insurance policy that makes it that much harder for the mafia to make him Disappear, u know ?

this is one of the reasons why striker and dagger never Really not along, though striker’s always had this theory that dagger was built for nothing but the mafia anyway bc he’s straight up one of the meanest, cruelest,  most RUTHLESS people that striker has ever met. but, like, with a name like dagger… how could you not be?

things really start getting #Complicated for striker when he’s ABOUT to graduate from college and his dad yeets this mortal coil in a Shocking Tragic Unexpected death ! it doesn’t really affect striker all that much bc striker spent a lot of his life living with his grandfather in the city but… rather when his father dies it’s dagger that ascends into the role of acting boss and BOY OH BOY that’s nothing but trouble for striker 

dagger gets striker roped right back into the mafia that he worked his whole life to try n get out of.. just like that. sad.

and because striker is… como se dice…. a stubborn shithead with a penchant for the dramatics, he starts looking for a way to make his brothers life absolute hell because! yes! striker IS the person who fucks with the mafia! what a moron!

for a good few years it was just minor stuff, nothing really consequential, but that gets boring very quickly bc ... u know ... it is what it is 

ANYWAY. he really finds his in to what’s going to make dagger kim’s life HELL and that is getting himself involved in a little heist group. there are only so many events that striker can show his face that end with a robbery of some sort before it starts to become suspicious, and it doesn’t take a genius to connect the kim family to the corallo family to the lucchese family. it’s just enough to keep people talking but not enough to actively incriminate himself. and as long as he’s not publicly throwing the lucchese family under the bus, he’s still, by all accounts, insured by the mafia as the son of warren kim.

anyway! enough w the backstory! here’s some fun lil personality n headcanon stuff :’)

first and foremost.. he does have a face tatoo. ( and an eyebrow piercing and yes i have photos of both if u want to see them )  it’s of a crown on his left cheek and he   got it within a week of his father dying and dagger forcing him to come back into   the mafia to Assert His Dominance n show dagger he was still in charge of his own   goddamn decisions so fuck you dagger

dagger punched him in the face for getting the tattoo and he had a black eye for two weeks but you win some you lose some

on the surface? rich kid asshole!!! rich RICH kid asshole!!! you know the kind of guy you take one ( 1 ) look at him and you’re like yeAh u absolutely think that ur better than me ? that’s him 

does he rly think he’s better than u? unclear.. depends on who u are... i already have some thots abt who striker wld dislike hmu tho aha x

fluent in english ofc n also korean and italian, his primary language is lit rally a jumble of korean and italian tht nobody can understand but like.. him n dagger n his dad ( rip ) n he also knows a little spanish and japanese.

he’s afraid of horses but will never admit it

he loves to bet!!! he loves it!!! it’s probably from growing up in a family where making bets on things was a major source of income but he will 100000% place bets on anything there is to place bets on and will rope as many people into his betting pools as possible

he hasn’t had his gay awakening yet isn’t that tragic??  turns out the mafia ISN’T a very lgbt friendly place, who would have thought?? so that’s absolutely something that’s going to happen bc we know that i love to make my characters suffer esp when it’s related to their attraction to someone whew…

he’s somehow both the biggest gossip and the most secretive person that you’ll ever meet??? like he’s an instigator n will make offhanded comments abt what he’s observed other ppl doing recently that he thinks are… inch resting… and you’ll have this long ass conversation w him and not realize until like 2 hours later that he didn’t say one ( 1 ) thing abt himself the entire time

you know how finnick from the hunger games used to get paid for things w secrets??? that’s so striker to the core… like you can’t buy him or bribe him bc baby has $$$ and is so disinterested in the glitz and glamor of fast cars and expensive drinks and whatnot, so if you really want him to do something for him… you’re going to have to trade him some secrets… n that’s that on that!

he doesn’t like to take his shirt off around ppl bc #scars ( predominantly the large letter L that’s branded on his chest but there are some others that i haven’t decided on yet ) anyway he does not partake in the pool parties n as explanation has just always  told everyone that he doesn’t know how to swim… n he’ll die w that lie, thank u !

very paranoid... has 2 different phones w his contacts n codes.. folds his clothes a certain way so he can know if someone touched his stuff... has a fun in a safe under his bed that he changes the passcode to regularly.... he also has some ocd but a lot of it is #trauma

im sry there r so many points here i .. rly tried to trim them down n there are like 300% more in my app but.. whew... ok

i’m going to stop now but pls.. pls plot w me i beg ok thank u bye

[cheswirls]

tether notes 3/3

attached links

reference maps

pt 4 drawings

pkmn team graphics for 5 char

big bang art one / two

timeline

[this is very loose and only goes chronologically, so some points may happen years apart from each other]

caesar, under the family, begins research on creating an artificial arceus

the river from law’s village becomes polluted, and lami gets sick

everyone in law’s village dies. he travels to alola

corazon, the ula’ula kahuna, gets wind of caesar’s experiments

law joins the family in alola

law meets corazon, and shortly after embarks on an island challenge

after getting a special material on poni island, law meets with corazon, who tells him he was planning to turn the family over to the international police

corazon dies, and law escapes the family with one type:null

law ends up in the kalos region

luffy meets shanks, and learns about aura

luffy leaves for the sinnoh region to train with shanks for the first time

ace and sabo set off on a journey through the kanto region

luffy is given his second pokemon, a buizel, by shanks, to help cope with the loss of his brothers

sabo and ace return to travel kanto once more

sabo’s accident occurs; he’s hospitalized, but convinces ace to continue traveling

ace dies in an accident; sabo takes striker, his charizard, and leaves the sevii islands

luffy starts his journey looking for sabo

a band of pokemon poachers begins to grow more prominent in sinnoh; it’s led by caesar, who escaped capture at alola all those years ago

dragon’s group arrives in the sinnoh region

marguerite, a close confident with the sinnoh champion, goes missing

shanks sends luffy a letter; law boards a boat for sinnoh from kalos

the sinnoh champion, boa hancock, contacts shanks about marguerite

dragon arrives at snowpoint and meets with kokoro

aisa goes missing

tama goes missing and, catching word of this, shanks heads to tsuru from his meeting point with luffy

anana goes missing

luffy arrives in the sinnoh region

chimney goes missing, and shanks sets off to go look for all the missing girls

luffy migrates to jubilife, thinking it was veilstone; law arrives in the sinnoh region

shanks is captured and loses contact with boa hancock

dragon separates from his group, going off on his own

law and luffy meet in jubilife

-

the battle zone’s real-life location is a formerly-japanese-but-now-russian island called sakhalin. the lower half, specifically. the other island on the map where the pokemon league sits is based off a chain of japanese-owned islands that i can’t remember the name of and am too busy to look up right now. sakhalin is pretty barren, pretty remote, and pretty unpopulated. it’s also colder than hokkaido, being further north, but bc the pokemon-equivalent has an active volcano, the climate balances out.

i spent more time researching sakhalin on google earth than i did actually writing the entire travel part of part 4. like, an absurd amount of time. more than i needed to. but the result is a good portrayal, and an accurate, effortless one. here’s some geography stuff.

1. the squatty plants on sinnoh’s route 225 are probably stone pines. i say probably, bc i still came away unsure, but this was my best conclusion. i cross-referenced sakhalin flora with what i was seeing on google earth, paired with what was most common since these trees are everywhere in the battle zone. specifically they’re japanese stone pines, so more of a squatty bush than an actual tree. (also called dwarf siberian pines, or the genus name of the dwarf version, pinus pumila) in pokemon verse, i chose aguav berries as the pine’s fruit since the seeds grow in pink bundles, like an aguav plant in-game. also, an unripe pinecone is greet, so there’s that too. 

2. southern sakhalin, that i can remember, doesn’t actually have black-sand beaches. there’s one in platinum off the base of stark mountain, but since that’s aniva bay area of sakhalin, it doesn’t match up great. the only thing similar is in northeastern sakhalin, off the sea of okhotsk, where dark mud will collect on the coast and turn the beach dark. i wrote it off as a game mechanic, saying ‘it’s from the ash from the volcano’, or something like that, and then referenced beaches in iceland that are actual black-sand beaches and really pretty. 

3. aniva bay is southern sakhalin, essentially. it’s a fork, and in the middle is where the black sand beach is in platinum. in actuality, aniva bay is not that big. there’s a lighthouse off one fork, not tall or anything impressive, but it’s there. at one point i wanted law and luffy to sail in (i saw sail, i mean like surf on a pokemon okay) past the lighthouse, and go through the bay, and stop on the black sand beach. this was before i knew most anything about part four, though, and soon the idea was scrapped as i deviated towards the cargo ship taking them to fight area. also, aniva bay isn’t deep enough for whales to flop around in, and i realize since i called it a bay in tether that that should also hold true, but i did say it was a wailmer so let’s jus forget that inaccuracy and say its okay bc the whale is tiny.

4. stark mountain was a challenge i spent. so long. so so long. trying to find the  mountain range it was based off of. pokemon wikipedia was no help, bc sakhalin is huge. if i was gonna do anything for the pokemon community, i’d wanna go and edit articles to include real-life landmarks that in-game ones were based on. i think the closest thing i found to a once-volcano was more into the northern half of sakhalin, so after spending too much time looking into it, i jus wrote based on screenshots of stark mountain, and on my own intuition. also, yea, i used video game logic the closer they got to the volcano. please don’t depict characters holding cloth over their mouths to protect from sulfur ash if youre going for accuracy, bc thats not going to help. 

5. the survival area and the ainu village. i wrote a little about the ainu in part one, while exploring law’s village. my main amount of research went into the ainu’s of sakhalin, though. it’s all sorta the same culture, since they all got kicked out migrated to hokkaido anyway, but there are a few differences. the sheer rock cliff is part of a sakhalin photoset i referenced, so it does exist, somewhere. yes, there are bears in sakhalin, perhaps even more than hokkaido, since it’s less-human-populated. but, again, also colder. i realize survival area is a settlement in platinum, but also.. its really small? and kinda nothing, tbh. so i transformed it into an ainu village, since it’s so outta the way of the other two areas down on each fork of the bay, and it’s closer to the volcano, where the fire goddess resides.

the ainu are the indigenous population of japan. i mentioned before, if you’ve read fma or one of arakawa’s spreads, you’ve probably heard of them. in fma, they’re the race that the ishvalans are based off of. nowadays, they reside in hokkaido, and a while ago they used to reside in lower sakhalin. i couldn’t figure up a creative name for tether for them and i was in so much of a time crunch that in the end i didnt bother, sue me. researching the ainu was most definitely one of the more time-consuming tasks. i spent a long time reading. i watched, after a good recommendation, all two seasons of golden kamuy (an excellent portrayal of hokkaido!ainu, btw, jus not exactly what i was going for) and all one season of sirius the jaegar, where i got the most help from. marking maps and writing the outline (and making myself remember why i dont ever outline. ever.) were definitely time-consuming, but ainu research was by far the most hours i spent on a task for tether (besides like, writing it.) 

i still don’t feel like i did enough research, so the cultural things i did include i tried to keep vague to keep from portraying wrong. the bear ceremonies, the signs of summer through salmon (finneon) hunting and huki harvesting, the bear cub raising, the ripping of clothing in a funeral procession, and the kamuy (ainu gods) are all real things and part of ainu culture. woman tattoo their lips, yes. the patterns of the clothing are distinctive (also warm, bc they’ve always been This Far North, and tether!law is a bastardization of forgotten ainu culture pls dont look at his sleeveless top next to his wooden earrings i beg you) there are lots of things i could go into, but im jus gonna leave it vague again and say if you’re super interested, go find an article or watch golden kamuy. 

there wasn’t a lot of pokemon depicted in the wilds of the battle zone, and for reason. at this point i really wanted to keep true to sakhalin, so i stuck with the fauna native there, and the pokemon native to sinnoh, and if i didn’t include any pokemon that actually appear in the battle zone in platinum? oops. my house my rules. anyway so horses, dogs, wolves, bears. rapidash, eevee, luxray line, ursaring line.. that covers it, right? oh, and fearow. okay, so i did include one pokemon from platinum’s battle zone. also wailmer, there was a wailmer. 

why did you include baroque works into dragon’s group?

so. i wrote tether while the vivre cards were coming out. specifically, right before i was supposed to have started writing part 4, the alabasta pack came out, and i was so taken with goldenweek’s real name that i re-read little garden and stuck her into the story. bentham was.. k, no lie, in my mind he’s like a pseudo-rev member? i jus associate hm so heavily with ivankov, and i read a fic once where he was iva’s student and since then i’ve jus always had to include him in rev stuff so that’s why he’s here. plus i love him. good enough, right? and those two are the only ones, so it’s not entirely baroque works. i don’t rly consider bentham bw anymore, like i said, he’s kinda a pseudo-rev. and i jus rly liked marianne’s name. also her, now. tether!marianne is cool. 85% of the story’s sass.

april 9th is both caesar and marguerite’s birthday. i think in the beginning i was searching for characters that share birthdays for a plot point, and when i settled on caesar i settled on marguerite eventually for this reason just so i could make the whole ‘it’s not his bday its mine!!’ joke. and then i formed the whole story on it being late march-early april and based the weather off that.

law’s sixth pokemon. see, i told you revealing it was strategic! you all were expecting null, right? and then out pops silvally. well, it’s been so many years, so it’s natural they would’ve figured out love and trust and such and breaking the mask and evolving. still! aaaa, that felt so good to write. 

there’s more of a metaphor with silvally, even more with umbreon, that i was going for. something along the lines of a captured being being granted escape, bonding with someone, coming back to get due vengeance with the old captor, showing how much more they had become. with umbreon, it was more thing-i-protected-grew-into-something-that-now-protects-me aka her helping law through his nightmares, being a generally supportive and kind pokemon like someone law knew wink wink. also literally protect, with the whole casear thing.

okay mind control time. i reread pt 4 real quick before writing the notes, and im still not completely satisfied with how shanks broke free. i tried to hard to research good mind control depictions but i was more interested in figuring out how the mind control ended rather than the state of being, and there weren’t many promising results other than the victim dying, which wasn’t helpful. i knew i didn’t want it to be the whole i-love-you-so-snap-out-of-it thing, thats so cheesy and kinda ridiculous tbh. i think luffy confronting shanks’ inner self directly and convincing him to step out is nice, but if you pay attention closer to the scenes and how they match up, you might notice something that aids this.

so, it wasn’t just luffy. i know a lot goes on in latter half of pt 4, and all the scenes are disjointed. law and umbreon and silvally defeat gengar before shanks awakes properly. it was luffy, yes, that convinced him everything was going to be okay, and to not falter. but since gengar was knocked unconscious, the control over shanks was already waning to begin with. it was more like, he was already fine, and out of the cycle, but the trauma kept him from realizing it until luffy came. does that help? so basically, it wasn’t luffy talking alone, it was defeating gengar, like luffy had thought of previously. and then it was helping shanks thorugh it, because you don’t just bounce back from that. thats why i wrote shanks Like That in the remaining scenes.

while not in the best conditions as lab 3, labs 1 and 2 were fully-operational and secure facilities, so if you were questioning why sabo and law (mortally injured, mind you -two stab wounds, ow) would just leave the people and pokemon next to a burning lab, it’s because it was secure and the fire contained. the base was inside a volcano, guys, there’s no way the rooms werent airtight to prevent an accident. imagine being That Guy that fucked something up and led to the active volcano erupting. of course they took precautions. also, sabo had been working in the base for a bit, so if he thought the people were gonna catch fire, he wouldn’t have left them.

koala having aromatisse was purely for plot purposes, for it’s hidden ability. i needed a psychic type, and if i haven’t mentioned, dragon’s group are based in kalos, so it had to be from there. it fits though, maybe, right? anywa, yea, that’s why sabo has a delphox and salamence after he fucks off for two years, because he was in kalos. (this is what i’m referring to, if you haven’t clicked on any of those links.)

Law takes Luffy’s hand and leads them backwards, until they’re out of sight again

and, finally, my favorite moment of tether, when lawlu graduates from arms to wrists to finally holding hands. /cries so proud

k but what’s with that ending?

fun fact time i always knew how i wanted to end tether. from the moment of its conception, even before i finished writing part 1 (before i started, really, back when i was gathering material) i knew it ended with dragon in front of the statue of giratina. insert obligatory sequel joke here marianne mentions, before the trio ventures into the base, that her group’s leader wouldn’t appreciate having to halt his own agenda to help them with taking out the hunters. giratina was this agenda. 

originally, before i started on pt 2, i thought abt law/lu taking a different route. i wanted them to go north, up through eterna forest and to eterna city, and examine the statue of dialga. then go east from there, still taking them through coronet, but then through celestic town and seeing the cave painting of the lake guardians. i also really wanted them to go to lake valor, since it was the only lake they could conceivably go to on their way to veilstone. i thought about switching pastoria for snowpoint and encountering sabo at lake acuity. none of this worked out, but it was all supposed to reference back into dragon and giratina and sinnoh lore. instead i turned it fully into a travel fic and then a rescue op, at the end. it’s still interesting to think how the story could’ve changed, had they gone up to eterna before crossing through coronet. 

in all honesty i wanted to end the story on a surprise note. almost like a goosebumps ending, where everything is resolved and then at the very end there’s a quick scene that leaves you grasping for more, leaves you questioning. (also like certain op chapters leaving you with zero answers and more questions than you started with, fuck you, oda) it wasn’t until i was almost done with part 4 that i started to kinda miss tether, even tho i wasnt done yet but my outline had been done for a bit so i kinda was? and then i remembered back in november when i created concepts for ace and sabo before i even wrote that one scene in mt coronet, and i remembered thinking so much about their story, and their travels, and sabo’s accident. and then, not long after i finished with part 4, i had a startling idea, and i had a first line of a maybe sequel, and i started to put a little more thought into it.

if you’re looking for confirmation, this isn’t it. this is saying i have an idea i’d like to explore. maybe. tether took a lot of work, and a lot of time. it definitely doesn’t have as much feedback as i would like it to, for me to invest in a full-fledged sequel. if i start this, if i ever do, it’ll definitely be more lax, and a chapter-by-chapter sort of thing. i guess it just comes down to how many people are actually interested in it.

[peri]

hey!! anon friend is here! just a question about your name... was Aiden the first name you chose and stuck with? I currently am out to quite a few people about my chosen name but it doesn’t feel right anymore, and I’m nervous that I’ll make people angry or upset if I tell them I don’t want to be called my original chosen name anymore. I don’t know what my name is yet. Big oof.

howdy howdy!!!

hmm, well, yeah! it was my first chosen name. any other names i used to go by were just aliases / things i went by online yknow, like a username.

i used to be afraid id regret settling on the name aiden for that same reason, but turns out it feels completely right for me !!!

however, i do completely know the struggle of finding and settling on a name. i think what helped me a lot was that i experimented with my name first! i asked my gf to start calling me it just to experiment, and another small group of friends before i decided i liked it and made it official between the rest of my friends and everyone online.

it gave me time to get the feel for it, yknow? it helped me a lot in terms of anxiety surrounding the fact i might not like it after i officially went by it.

id suggest doing that with whatever other names u might wanna try out maybe before telling everyone again? unless your friends are rly nice about it, then be open and honest and u can tell them you wanna experiment with new names because u dont entirely like ur new one anymore!

even just experimenting between one person though can help u. sooo, if u ever wanna talk to me my dms are open and i can help u experiment with whatever other names u might wanna try out !!! or if u have other friends to do that with then thats very cool yes, definitely do so!

also i just wanna tell u that if ur friends get angry or upset at the fact u wanna experiment / dont like ur new chosen name, then theyre the ones in the wrong. you dont owe them anything. if theyre good friends, theyll completely respect your choice and allow you to experiment as much as you want without complaining!! you shouldnt worry about all that💚

youre wonderful and completely valid for exploring your identity and experimenting with names and stuff, no matter how many times something changes !!!!💚 i wish u the best of luck in your endeavors!

[kakashibestie]

2, 27 ❤️

grace my pal bicon legend ily and happy pride!!!!!

2. How did you discover your sexuality, tell your story?

AHH I LOVE TELLING THIS STORY OKAY OKAY, it’s kinda sad but it has a happy ending so it’s worth telling!!!

i must’ve figured i wasn’t straight when i was about 11. but i didn’t pay too much attention to it. i just kinda sorta knew, but chose to ignore it as much as i could. internalized homophobia was an asshole to my younger self, but it’s rly weird since none of my parents were like blatantly homophobic or like showed signs of being homophobic in any way—i just didnt Know Shit about the lgbt community or sexual identities and shit, and on top of that, i grew up in a very very conservative (and mainly christian) city, and i didn’t have access to that kinda knowledge back in the day, and i wasn’t willing to figure out how to gain it. so yeah years went by and suddenly i was in 8th grade and i met this girl...and we became best friends. but like...god i remember this so clearly. 

we went to this religious school right (a religion devoted to the virgin mary that started in france and i dont rly give a flying fuck about), and we had these...fun AF in-school camping experiences. one night during an activity that i remember being physically demanding and therefore kinda exhausting, my friend started feeling terrible and she was like shaking and saying things like god i feel awful im not okay and shit, and then i got this...rush of Something i didn’t know the name until later on and i was like dude i...gotta help her i gotta help her feel better AAAAAA

so yeah basically the teachers and staff were like “kid you should get some rest”, so she went to the classroom where our group would sleep, and i didnt move from her side, not for a single second, until she fell asleep. i even pulled a towel and set it on the floor so i could lie next to her, and watch her. and then it hit me.

i was like holy shit i think i love her. 

what’s kinda sad is that i didn’t act on it upon realization because i was DEAD SCARED. i was like dude what if she doesn’t like girls what if she’s nOT into me (back then i was in a bad place regarding my depression, so i didnt find it conceivable for anyone to love me, let alone myself) so YEAH. that school year ended, and at some point in 9th year i gathered up the courage i needed, and told another good friend of mine about the whole thing. AND SHE WENT “dude she’s liked you pretty much since she met you aaa you should tell her!!!!!!!!!!!!” 

AND SO I DID AND WE DATED FOR LIKE TWO MONTHS I THINK UNTIL SHIT WENT DOWNHILL BUT YEAH

the point is, that ever since then i’ve grown to learn more and more about what being bisexual is, what it means, and what it feels like, and i’ve come to terms with my sexuality—and my entire self in the process—so i’m as comfortable with it as possible, and now i embrace and love it and agh, i really can’t wait to Do Things for my bisexual siblings and the rest of the LGBT community, because we all deserve to feel comfortable enough with our sexualities so we can love and cherish them!!!!!!!! 

27. What do you think of gender roles in relationships?

ahhh i already answered this one!!!

LGBT ASKS