#i think they like to be antagonised

[siriuslywounded]

Are they originally British, or were they "acquired during the Great Empire as trophies"??

Pillars at the British Museum

[legally-allowed-to-slime]

fine. you can have pearleo as your domestic fluff and gempearl as your toxic yuri. just this one time

[fiendishartist2]

can i come over and look at you like this

[eclaire-went-bam]

although i think it's important to acknowledge the complexities of aro & ace identities, & to be welcoming of aroace identities that may be sex/romance favourable/hypersexual & seek those relationships, i think it's still important to acknowledge that completely romance/sex repulsed aroaces are still a minority in the ace community despite being the stereotype. & we should still listen to those voices,

[megabuild]

ive never heard of jimtho pls can you share your thoughts?? where this ship even came from??

HELP its ok i feel like. i dont know how popular it is ive never looked in the tags and i never will because i feel like if there is any content for it itll be in a way thats like nevermetshipping cutesy and fun. which is awesome the handful of interactions theyve had are fun But its not what im here for. 99% of it stems from toxic fh/ethubs parallels and how jimmy and etho individually cope with that.. but also because jimmy is an extremely emotional character who isnt afraid to wear his heart on his sleeve and call out shit when he sees it imo (the problem is nobody listens to him.) whereas etho has never felt an emotion in his life so i think it makes an odd dynamic. idk if i need them to kiss about it truly iwthink that would probably make it worse but i think its also the natural progression in a bad way like when youre a 14 year old lesbian and meet your first other lesbian in the wild and get into a relationship that will ruin you for the next 4 years.

[not-poignant]

Hi Pia!

I just have to know- it's day six going into seven for Palmarosa. Contract part-two is in four days...

Do you see these next few chapters being explicit? Is Raphael truly intending to let Astarion see how life under contract is going to be, or is Raphael purposely holding back to lure Astarion into that next contract?

And, in your opinion, do you think that if Astarion truly sees Raphael at his cruelest towards him, he would be more comfortable signing a second? Able to know what the worst is instead of some nightmare he dreams up?

I love your story, and how you write Astarion. Thanks for your time!

It's still day 5!

I can't believe it's still day 5 in the contract, but it is, I'm writing a timeline and everything this time. So much has happened on this day, lmao.

(Chapters 13-18 all happen on the same day T.T)

I do think there's explicit content coming, but Raphael very much wants Astarion in that second contract, that being said, he's already cocked it up a few times already lmao. There's no guarantee he won't do that in other ways. I do plan writing-wise to get Astarion into that second contract though. Raphael oscillates between playing a very good long-game and then snapping and ruining his hard work, lol.

And, in your opinion, do you think that if Astarion truly sees Raphael at his cruelest towards him, he would be more comfortable signing a second? Able to know what the worst is instead of some nightmare he dreams up?

Raphael is not going to be his cruelest, and actually still isn't even though he does kind of lash out at Astarion in a very intense manner in the upcoming chapter. We've not seen Raphael at his worst. This is a guy who sees nothing wrong with keeping people in 'bones shattered in 100 places' levels of agony for hundreds of years. Even Raphael snapping is still Raphael not...giving himself to torture Astarion like he would an Eternal Debtor.

Astarion actually threatens to break the contract at the end of chapter 18 and through chapter 19. But...he hasn't yet.

Astarion has a lot of learned helplessness because of his experiences with Cazador. I imagine he had plenty of times to convince himself he was going to escape / find a way to beat the system etc. only to have all of that brainwashed and mind-read out of him. I am sure Cazador is the kind of person to know that someone will try and escape him and watch them try and then torture them for trying as a reminder that they are enslaved to him not just in body but in mind as well.

I don't think Astarion at this point is fully in contact with the part of him that knows he can walk away.

But also, Astarion accepted this first contract fully expecting to be raped and tortured regularly. He literally considered that and negotiated to make sure none of the torture caused permanent harm. This was a guy who negotiated a contract with stipulations based solely on expecting to be tortured/rape. From Astarion's perspective, Raphael hasn't actually done 99% of what Astarion expected him to do.

In some ways, that makes things harder for Astarion. Not knowing what to expect, and getting whole days where everything's uncertain but 'generally fine' followed by explosions of Raphael's temper etc. is like...still very hard for him to endure. But in a different kind of way.

I think Raphael's going to lay out the terms of the second contract very clearly soon, and Astarion will baulk simply because the terms of the contract will involve him doing two things he very much doesn't want to do. One goes against his personal ethics (and he's already refused to do it around Raphael once), and the second goes against his trauma history. And Raphael knows that. He isn't planning on tricking Astarion into that contract, he's banking on the idea that Astarion will still think the prize is worthwhile.

What I think Raphael is finding frustrating is that he had plans to introduce the concept of the second contract soon and Verillius came along and kind of ruined everything lmao. Raphael is pissed off for a lot of reasons right now. Can't a devil just manipulate a victim into a more high stakes contract in peace?

Unfortunately the Magic 8 Ball says no :D

[deus-ex-mona]

been thinking about how asuna’s [spoiler] scene in the last chapter of idol sengen is oddly underwhelming in the volume version compared to the piccoma release?

i mean l i ke (spoiler reveal under the cut)—

idk if it’s just me but seeing it in colour made the scene hit harder somehow? in some way?

s o . im just. thinking ahead here but…

what if i tried to overlay the colour panel onto the page when i eventually tl it in a few months?

i’m not good at picture editing at all.

b u t still.

i kinda wanna try to go the extra mile for asuna anyway… hmmmmmmmmm…

[katyspersonal]

@feminismisstillahatemovement actually made a VERY good point about blaming the category of people for individual crimes that made me rethink my stance.

Imagine, hypothetically, if all crimes relevant to drug-dealing and robbery got analysed, and statistical majority just happened to be the people of colour. What would come of that? Like... Would that become suddenly justified to look at a black or latin-american person and think ‘yeah, a drug dealer and a criminal potentially’? Of course not! This would be a QUITE bigoted and racist take. /gen

But in this logic? Then how is this okay to analyse all sex-related crimes, figure that majority of criminals are male, and let it result in seeing men as potential rapists and abusers BY DEFAULT?

I didn’t really thing of hypocrisy of this mindset, but in a way, this is... just this. By looking at a man and just automatically suspecting a potential rapist/abuser/misogynist, we are doing the same thing the racist cops do! The cops that see a black person and automatically suspect a drug dealer or robber or whatever. I was not thinking about the absurd of the situation of ‘every man is up to no good until proven otherwise’, but I do now.

And I think I do not want to be a part of this anymore. Men that hurt me to the point of my life being ruined were an anomaly rather than the rule, and I think I should fight my fear before men - the same way racism biases should not be accepted. Thinking that men and women have equal rights is not feminism - it is just being normal. And not being okay (as a woman) with ‘feminine’ professions and roles forced on you by society is not feminism - it is independence. The trait found in men as well.

I no longer want to be the part of THIS as a woman. I think I am finally ready to accept myself as a woman despite all contradictions both biologically and socially - but also I want to have them as our friends, sons, brothers and fathers. There is no need to treat men the same way racist cops treat every non-white citizen, and if some fear is left in me, I will overcome it.

[manekinoodle]

random hoxton headcanon: loves animals. in denial about it. the animals all know he's not a very nice guy and hate him. only his horse (at home) likes him.

[limielle]

idk i feel like so much discourse could be easily minimized if people learned to say "i think" instead of "it is"

[robotpussy]

i fucking hate it when people are like "this is why nobody likes black people" when we're just... being ourselves because it doesn't matter what you do as a black person, non-black people are still going to see black people the way that they do no amount of assimilation is going to change their view of black people

[normanbased]

I’ve seen people in forums and on YouTube saying that because Tony didn’t engage in pride activism during the majority of his life that he is a victim of his own inaction, that he contributed to gay oppression, and that he is to blame for his own suffering. I cannot actually imagine a more heartless way to view Tony’s choices and circumstances.

[archersgoon]

rereading ch1 thescreamingskull.gif what is he supposed to do what is he supposed to do!!!!!!!! he can't be a farmer and a soldier hes only got one choice but anytime he moves in that direction they get pissed at him!! gee i wonder why he keeps skipping out on lessons with the priestking do you think perhaps sending him out to torture and kill people (starting at 15/16) and letting him think that's all he's good for may have influenced his thoughts on the matter? why would he bother. genuinely. "oh you'll have to bond with a girl eventually" okay well first of all that's very heteronormative of you perri*. second of all i think it is like, pretty clear to the people around him that to froi being part of the guard in the way they want him to is very much an all or nothing deal. even discounting his relationship with sex&romance if he's not able to do both (family+the guard) now how is he going to be able to expect to do it later? like he's backed into this corner where he "can't do both" explicitly, but at the same time he's expected to do both but only in the way they want him to he is not being given a choice in the matter. "Once a boy with no home, Froi now found himself torn between two." and this is about sayles/the guard in chapter 1!!! how well did this mindset work out for you guys now neither of you get to keep him. they turn him into a weapon (this is text there's the whole flashback where trevanion says like "You're a weapon Froi. Maybe the best we've ever created.") then when he thinks of himself as one they act as though he's wronged them personally

*i know tomas and bosco are sick of his ass

[swordmaid]

want to do a jb mass effect au but idk if i should make brienne a turian or a krogan 

[thesaintelectric]

ada being divorced (was still close friends and cared deeply for her ex wife) is so important to her btw. she calls her her wife in conversation still, but will also call her her bitch ex wife to be funny (the ex wife in fact payed her alimony (got her therapist friend to take ada as a client (ada refused to go until after her ex wife died)))

[youhavereachedtheendofpie]

Employer of the year, 1988 (sarcastically)