#i've actually been meaning to watch it again

[nientedal]

Is it worth watching Megamind rules? I know I’m not the target, but I’m curious yet also really really nervous. I know it’s for a younger audience but I’m still very on the fence and nervous. Also, love your writing

Omg, thank you, and thank you also for asking and yes yes yes 100% it's worth watching! It got crapped on by a bunch of people who decided based on the trailer alone that it was going to suck (how fun, a movie about a guy who everyone decided would be bad despite not knowing him got a spinoff show that...everyone decided would be bad despite not watching it, lol), so there's a lot of hate out there for it. I'm assuming you've caught wind of some of that, and that's why you're nervous? But for what it's worth, I was staring at the screen like :D basically the whole time.

Some more specific notes below the cut, but the tl;dr is please do give it a chance, if you can find the time. A G-rated direct-to-stream spinoff show wasn't what a lot of people were hoping for, and there were some folks who watched it and didn't care for it. But from a writing and storytelling standpoint, I think it is genuinely good! If you go in expecting a cute kids' show with some silly jokes and social misfits finding their way forward together, and keep an open mind, I don't think you'll be disappointed-- in fact I think you may be pleasantly surprised.

Just a gentle heads-up on some stuff because I'm not sure what you've heard about the show yet, and I'm also not sure what your existing expectations are!

The show was given a shoestring budget and not a lot of time to go from writers' room to final product, and yes, there are places where you can tell. But that was always going to be the case-- Dreamworks was absolutely not going to be spending big bucks on a franchise they've barely even acknowledged in more than a decade-- and it wasn't the fault of the people making the show. And even with the low budget, I think the animation is still genuinely solid, especially in later episodes! The people who worked on it really did a great job with what they were given.

And the writing!!! Holy shit!!! My skin is clear my crops are watered etc. The original writers handled this project and they absolutely delivered. Megamind & Roxanne's whole Thing progresses and grows and blooms in a really sweet and realistic way. Roxanne & Chum have a great dynamic. (Minion's name needed to be changed for legal reasons, but the writers worked that into the show and I gotta say, as a trans person, it was really lovely to see everyone else respond to "actually, because of [spoiler], my name is Chum now" with "oh! cool okay" and just keep rolling. I love that that was modeled for kids.) The character development is tangible; we get to watch Megamind really grow as a person and come into his own over the course of the series. And the new characters are really fun-- I genuinely enjoyed Keiko and everyone else.

Even if you never watch it (it's OK if you don't!) please just know: this was not a cash grab; Megamind Rules was made by people who truly cared about this world and these characters.

It's also worth noting that Megamind Versus the Doom Syndicate (the extended pilot) recaps a bunch of the same lessons as the original movie, so it can feel a little bit "...didn't we JUST do this??" but I'm pretty sure that was because Dreamworks didn't want to rely on kids to watch a 13 year old movie rated PG instead of G in order to get context. So like, I get it. And it's still cute! But it did mean I was nervous about what the rest of the series would be like until I was laughing my ass off halfway through Episode 2. If you're nervous, you can probably skip MMVtDS.

But yeah. I truly do think Megamind Rules is worth watching, and I've been so sad about the reception it received. Thank you so much for asking about it, and not just deciding it sucks and moving on. I appreciate you.

[asteral-feileacan]

This. I also think it's very... odd to assume the place where you tell other people in a fandom what it's time for and what it's not time for. The reason stories exist is to enjoy them; people have always banded around their favourite characters. People should always do that. Tony stans have a right to freely stan Tony, just like fans of any other characters have a right to freely stan their favourite characters. The MCU fandom's problem is not that these stans exist, it's that no one is willing to listen to each other or treat other people's opinions with a least a little bit of respect. It goes beyond the character. If you suddenly come up with this idea that certain stans should just stop existing or interacting because of their opinion, you're eliminating open discussion and the potential for growth. Why the push for an echo chamber? If fans of things aren't allowed write badly written stories based on those things for person enjoyment, where does that leave us?

I can respect OP's pov; after all, when someone tells you that you hurt them, it is not up to you to say that you didn't. But if we want to make representation actually work, we can't just ignore one very important minority in favour of another very important minority. In order to be equal, you can't leave people behind. TFATWS is not The Falcon vs the Winter Soldier. It's The Falcon AND the Winter Soldier. It's not POC vs male abuse victim. We shouldn't have to stamp on Sam to bring up Bucky, or vice versa, because they exist independently of each other and deserve to be treated as equals and fairly. If they wanted the show to be about Sam, they should have just called it the Falcon. There was no need to put Bucky in this show.

Look, I've been here since I was very young. I was a Bucky fan long before I got into writing which is already close to a decade ago now. I grew up with Bucky. This is not to say that my opinion matters more than a new fan, or someone who likes a different character. It just means that I very personally love Bucky's character and I am invested in seeing him either come to an end that fulfils his character, or continue appearing in future MCU media to get to that point. Bucky won't be in the MCU forever, nor should he be. No character should really be, especially in a story that seems like it'll just be going on forever. And I simply think that it's sad that what Bucky's been through is dismissed by the current showrunners and misrepresented, and that the excuse is that Sam deserves more. Can Sam not stand on his own? Do they not have faith that Sam as a character is just as unique and meaningful as anyone else around him? When did it start becoming more about sending a political message over telling a story with respect to the character? I think that's in fact incredibly disrespectful to Sam's character, because he IS interesting, he IS a very strong character whose story SHOULD be followed and continued. But why can that not exist while Bucky also exists, without putting Bucky and his experience down? And why the push to now get rid of Bucky and his difficult trauma, not just by various fans, but also by the showrunners? I would rather watch a show entirely about Sam and his character development than have to have Bucky shoehorned in and misrepresented. Again, why wasn't TFATWS just about Sam since this opinion about Bucky is apparently so popular? I would rather have no Bucky content post-Endgame than this path they're going down.

The world has moved past the need for Bucky stans. They serve no other purpose than to write long stories explaining why their characters is the most miserable character, who has suffered the most, has had the most unfair treatment in the world and then forget and dismiss anyone around their character. Let’s not forget how entitled they act whenever there is a big announcement for Sam’s character, and immediately demand the same for Bucky. Even though there are 364 other days where they could do the complaing for their character, they conviently choose the day there is a big announcement for Sam’s character to complain and make demands they have no right to make, instead of praising Sam’s character just once in their life.

And honestly, I don’t even think they really like Bucky as a character because they absolutely refuse to see him as he really is or see the ways their character has grown.

Like Tony Stans before them, and unlike any other fans in the MCU, Bucky stans have the ability to always paint their character as the victim no matter what the circumstances, act as if their character is the only character to have ever experienced trauma in the history of characters. And they absolutely to refuse to see the flaws of their characters or any bad thing they do, They will blame all the bad things their character does on literally anybody BUT the character. They refuse to acknowledge that their character isn’t the only one who has feelings and who has known pain. We are slowly being freed from Tony stans, it’s time for the same thing to happen with the Buckies.

The last strike is that now they somehow came up with the idea that Bucky’s and Isaiah’s stories are somewhat similar. Excuse me but what???

What is surprising to me is that I never see this kind of behavior coming from Steve fans, Natasha fans, Thor fans and so on. Maybe I missed something.

It’s always the same fandoms that decide on one specific interpretation of a character and stick to it no matter what is happening on screen. They insist on Bucky being the one who needs to be taken care of, when Bucky in episode 5, and episode 6 was the one who was taking care of Sam ( getting the suit, helping with the boat, supporting with the flagsmashers). Do you even watch the shows your character’s involved in or do you just live in your headcanon? Do you even realize that you character is making progess and that unlike your headcanons Bucky seems to have more the profile of a nurturer once he starts healing? Bucky still has a long way to go, but have you seen him giving away that notebook? Starting to make amends the right way? Do you not see his progress?

They insist on Bucky being the one being hurt but turn a blind eye when Bucky is doing the hurting. And let’s not even talk about what happens when the other character interacting with Bucky is not White…

I have seen several of the stans complaining about how Sam was mean/unfair or still treated Bucky like he was still the Winter Soldier or like he was responsible for his crimes as the Winter Soldier, which is all untrue by the way. But then they never mention why Sam didn’t open welcome Bucky with open arms.

The first thing Bucky did when he met Sam was blame him “You shouldn’t have given up the shield”. No “hello”, no “good morning”, no “how have you been Sam?”, when we know that Sam has been checking up on Bucky, and texting him but Bucky didn’t reply. So Bucky ghosts Sam, and only comes back to blame him about giving up the shield. And even when Sam tells him he’s upset about the shield being given to Walker, Bucky keeps pestering Sam. And it keeps being that way for a major part of episode 2 and 3. 

And yet I have NEVER seen any Bucky stan talk about how Bucky treated Sam badly during that time.

Do you guys not remember the scene where Bucky apoligize? I just don’t understand, even Bucky understood that he f*cked up, and changed his behavior, why can’t his stans?

And talking about Bucky hurting people, I have NEVER seen a Bucky stan talking about how awful what he did to Yori was. He befriended a man knowing full well he had killed his son? What kind of mindgame was he playing.

And please don’t get me started on how they tried to make Ayo the “bad guy”, when Bucky had just broke out Zemo out of prison, the guy who killed King T’Chaka, without thinking about the consequences and the impact on his Wakandan friends.

Bucky stans don’t even acknowledge the feelings of other characters than their own. They did it with Endgame Steve with blablabla how unfair he was to abandon Bucky, even though Bucky knew Steve was leaving. And they are now doing it from Sam.

I really like Loki as a character but I’m sometimes annoyed at some stans that want to insist that he isn’t a villain, never did anything wrong and even go to the lengths to paint him as a victim when he killed actual people. But usually Loki stans don’t reach the levels of Buckies when it comes to putting on blinders whenever they are thinking about their characters. Most of them acknowledge Loki’s flaws and his wrongdoings and like him anyway. As they should.

Bucky stans need to step aside and leave Bucky’s character to people who really know how to appreciate him, who (unlike them) want his character to heal and be happy and see him as he is, flaws, wrongdoings, mistakes and most importanly who also see his growth. 

Most importantly, leave Bucky’s character to people who know how to tag properly and won’t tag a post that doesn’t even have Sam in it with “Sam Wilson” just to get more traction for their post.

[omgsecretsecret]

Mintitties

Saw this Lino pic and couldn't help myself

Pairing : subby Lee Minho x dom gn!reader

Genre : smut/VERY suggestive

Word count : about ??

Warning : men wearing slutty bralette ; mention of handjob ; not very described oral sex (m receiving) ; mention of praise and 'good boy' ; implied public suggestive ig if that makes sense?

Author's note : I've been having something for Minho's tits chest for a while now and I had to write it down ; it's a bit different from usual ; this is not proofread and I wrote it very quickly sorry ; the drawing on top is from "Master x Secretary" on Scan-Manga (you can look on Google, it's a hot, nice and short yaoi)

First idea : Thinking about humiliated, shy Minho being scared someone would see the lacy little slutty bralette you made him wear under his very thin white shirt, just the thought making his ears turn red, and his dick twitch.

Taglist : @giddyfatherchris <3

Masterlist

◍｡⁠•⁠ ⁠ᵕ⁠ ⁠•⁠｡◍

It's so hot to see the way his chest look so big now that he got more buff, sometimes almost like actual fucking tits when his tight shirts hug his body so good as he moves.

So when you randomly happen look for clothes and see some pretty little bralette's made for male bodies, your boyfriend immediately comes to your mind and you have to buy one.

Making him wear it was kinda hard. He likes this kind of stuff, but he'll never admit it, and you know that. He'd keep saying that such a pretty little bra is something you should have, but the way his ears were red from the second you mentioned him wearing it are a dead giveaway. Don't expect him to agree easily just because he is obviously turned on by the idea though, no. This man wants to look tough, like he is the one in command no matter what, even though you both know it is definitely not always the case.

You have to play a little bit dirty to get him to do it, almost begging him with pleading eyes as if you were the one submitting. It makes him feel powerful and he likes it. You do too honestly, he's so cute like this, trying to be dominant when you can always see the tiny little bit of excitement in his demeanor, so you let him have his fun.

Maybe he'll be a bit mean and make you suck him off just to be sure you want him to wear that, and you have to agree because it's just the best way to make him say yes, make him feel like he's on top. Plus it's not like you could ever say no to a dick like your boyfriend's. He's always so gorgeous when he struggles to keep it together because of your warm, wet mouth, trying to suppress his loudest moans.

In the end it works. Obviously. He watches you swallow everything he gives you, cheeks flushed and hair messy as he breathlessly says he'll wear your 'stupid bralette' between ragged pants, and you can't help but smirk.

His chest has always been so sensitive, one of your favorite parts of his body to play with. He gets so whiny when you gently knead his pecs or suckle on his pretty pink nipples, it's just irresistible.

You chuckle lightly as he whimpers when you help him put the damn thing on, watching as his ears turn red and you can't resist the urge to tease him. He protests but you shush him gently, reminding him that he agreed on doing that today. He closes his mouth with a blush, looking away and almost squirming in your hands when you whisper a praise in his ear.

You pull away when you're done, satisfied with the results as you look at him. He looks so hot wearing this, so shy but so turned, so yours.

He gasps when he looks at himself in the mirror, your hands lightly traveling over his torso to qhow him every little thing that makes him so beautiful in it. He gets so hard in his pants watching the way your hands move on his body. He finds himself so pretty.

You can't leave him like that, not when he looks back at you with such big doe eyes pleading you to touch him. So you help him again, make him cum in your hand as you keep telling him just how much of a beautiful slut he is for you.

He is a mess by the time you're ready to go out. You picked his thinest white shirt for him to wear, an almost see-through one.

If it starts raining, he's fucked.

He eyes you nervously when he comes out of the room wearing it, asking if it really is a good idea. You just tell him that he needs to be a good boy for you since he agreed on doing this, and you'll be there to take care of him. He shyly nods and you give him a kiss, ready to leave.

But when you open the door and accidentally brush your arm on his chest, he fucking moans.

How is he going to survive the whole day ?

◍｡⁠•⁠ ⁠ᵕ⁠ ⁠•⁠｡◍

do not repost, translate or rewrite without my written authorisation

[batfambrainrotbeloved]

Ok two things, because I’ve decided that since I’m starting to actually use tumblr and not just be lurking and that means that per the contract, I must address some things that I was really tempted to before. I apologize that it’s all gonna be on posts you made a While ago.

One, that post you made about the Batfam from the original timeline finding out Tim was dead. That killed me. Like I have been thinking about that for months. I still have a screenshot in my camera roll of the last line.

Two, the poll you made? of flipping heads or tales? Devastating. On one hand I live for the angst, but on the other I am so glad that we didn’t have Jason yelling at Tim for the pie. I would have simply been destroyed. I don’t know if I would have recovered. Ever since learning that was even an option I’ve been distraught.

Anyway just wanted to tell you how much I love the fic. It makes me what to bite them, but I’m scared I’ll give them rabies. I have fully reread it about 4 times now not including the passive reads. I feel like the words are ingrained into my soul. At some point I saw one of your post talking about how you have laid hints in the story I have been trying to actually absorb the words into my skin and blood stream. So who knows. Maybe at some point I’ll have a theory on what’s going on. But I am not very smart so i won’t hold my breath about it.

<3333333

Congratulations on using tumblr more!! Join the collective :D And no worries!! if anything I ADORE talking about older posts, the new takes, recontectualized shit etc.

The Jason with a shovel thing is actually something I nabbed from a friend @ihavenotsleptindays based on their fic i've been viciously obsessing over here because my god the implications were too fucking good and so so on brand I couldn't resist the brainrot.

I tend to do polls when im like "Yeah I think I know what I want but im not sure" because then watching the direction swing one way or another, I truly learn if I really WAS indecisive or if I was like "NO I WANT THIS ONE" and for heads and tails?? While Jason deserves a good yell- i'm happy how it turned out.

Again thank you so so much <33 And oh yeah, there are LOTS of things scattered throughout each of the chapters. One way ill contextualize it is theres an entire closet of Chekovs guns, some that have already been fired and just the powder and casing remain, others who i've yet to even load.

If you do have a theory id LOVE to hear it!! Feel free to ask/comment/dm but of course depending on the medium will vary how much I may or may not confirm/allude :)

[cinnamonest]

I assume this is because I criticized Kamala Harris in my last post.

I want to address this because it's important to me and frustrations currently consuming my life, and I'm very emotionally unwell right now. I want to share my experiences and make a point I feel is important at this time.

Once again, this is very unfitting of the smut fanfiction blog and will be deleted later, even though I'm sure this is a huge follower-losing post, but whatever.

Forgive me for rambling so much, but I encourage you and people who think like this to read in entirety.

I realize things are tense right now in the US.

Part of the reason for my inactivity the past while (besides multiple hospitalizations) is that I'm glued to my screen every night now because I'm very scared. I've been spending all my time researching, watching videos from economists, etc.

(Preemptively, sources for everything I'm about to say: the FEMA Privacy Act Statement itself, the official CPB database, Helene People Finder, United States Council of Foreign Relations, Samaritan's Purse, NYC.gov, Starlink, Politico, ABC, CNBC, georgia.gov, nc.gov, tn.gov, my own life)

The US is an extremely high-tension, polarized political climate, largely due to the bipartisan system.

However, no one should be immune from criticism.

All politicians should be criticized when they do harm. I am allowed to criticize her, and I will.

Criticizing one candidate is not the same thing as endorsing/supporting their opposition.

3,000+ Appalachians are missing. The current death toll makes this the deadliest single event in the US since 1862. A higher death toll than Hurricane Katrina, a higher death toll than the events of 9/11/2001, a higher death toll than any mass shooting.

However, it is largely going completely ignored, and mainstream news media has barely acknowledged it, in part due to elections, but largely because the people who live in Appalachia are poor, rural people. And the harsh reality is that poor people's lives are not treated with the same value as people of higher classes.

FEMA continues to do nothing, and the feds are now threatening to take children away from homeless parents... yet they blocked donations of trailers and campers from nearby areas that would help those people to, you know, not be homeless. A kind group of Amish have come down from Pennsylvania to build shelters, and FEMA may tear them down too since they don't have "permits."

Harris had the opportunity to do something, and has the authority to order FEMA agents to act differently, but she chose to exploit the situation for publicity, then leave and otherwise ignore them. She then went on to pay Beyonce $10,000,000 to speak for 5 minutes.

That deserves to be criticized.

Her campaign continues to claim a good economy and job market, when inflation and cost of living has peaked, and just this month, their policies actually have officially led to one of the worst employment outcomes the United States has seen since the Great Depression, disproportionately affecting low-income workers.

That deserves to be criticized.

She has a bad track record during her time in the judicial system for the way her actions harshly affected underprivileged people, especially Jamal Trulove, who was terribly wronged.

That deserves to be criticized.

Furthermore, the reason FEMA/the government does not have money for Appalachia is for a few reasons, all of which were ordered, facilitated or allowed by the current administration:

1) we've sent over $100 BILLION to the IDF so they can keep blowing up hospitals and kindergartens,

2) we sent $175 BILLION to Zelensky so he can keep sending young men into violent deaths even if its against their will,

3) we just sent $100+ million to Lebanon even after the hurricane crisis, meaning the federal government explicitly chose to prioritize foreign aid over its own people,

4) money was taken directly from FEMA reserves for crises like ours, and used as part of a whopping $150,000,000,000 spent on mass migration — including free flights, a $20 million welcome center with a free-use "game room" with dozens of Xboxes plus free food/lodging, and in NY, an average of $1400 prepaid debit card per individual each month.

Meanwhile, Appalachians get a one-time $750 per family, and if you have insurance to cover anything, it's a LOAN you have to pay back (many "fact-checkers" are claiming this is false when its literally in the FEMA eligibility statement). Many of the independent line workers FEMA hired for repairs are reporting they have not been paid AT ALL since starting.

In other words, the money that was specifically reserved for saving lives in times of crisis was spent on video games and free money handouts.

That, holy hell, deserves to be criticized.

Secondly, I want to address the message itself.

I realize that a lot of the american tumblr userbase is 1) people young enough that they're still partially financially dependent on parents and/or 2) are, like most of the US statistically, earning middle-class incomes, and live in fairly population-dense environments.

Most people outside the US, on the other hand, are getting their perceptions of life, politics, etc in the US from the posts/narratives of people within the aforementioned groups, popular culture, and their own local media, so their perspective is often quite limited, to no fault of their own. I'm sure my perspective of life in other countries is also very limited.

Most of you live in places other than where I live, and live very different lives from mine. As humans, we are naturally prone to subconsciously assuming the lives of others are not too different from our own, and do not naturally stop to consider how various factors might affect people's lives and decisions.

We are social beings, prone to adopting the beliefs of others who have the same experiences and thereby the same limited perspectives as us, especially in ideologically homogenous environments.

However, I have just as much of a voice as anyone else.

My hope is that I can use my words and experience to foster empathy for one another between different people in a very polarized climate at a very tense time.

I'm originally from a fairly rural community of about 8,000 people, largely low-income, low-education, evangelical blue-collar workers and farmers, in the Bible Belt.

It is well-known that this demographic overwhelmingly voted for Trump. I don't deny that. I visit home a lot, I see the yard signs everywhere, flags hanging from pickup trucks and farm fenceposts, lots of red hats.

There is a reason for that.

The administration of the past four years has utterly destroyed many rural, low-income communities.

It caused a huge spike in job layoffs, leading to homelessness, drug abuse, hunger and poverty for many already low-income people, and for select communities, violent crime.

I'm fortunate enough to have had parents better off than most of the community, but I'm self-sufficient now, and I am in the bottom 20% of incomes in the US, even with a degree. I could write endless paragraphs on how hard it is to get by, but to summarize for the sake of shortening — it's very, very rough.

Everything has become drastically more expensive, very rapidly over the course of a few years. Groceries are 3x their 2021 prices. I had to get a guarantor for a one-bedroom apartment.

Many rural families resort to drastic measures to get by. Small farmers are being financially strangled out of their way of life.

The actions of the Biden-Harris administration is the reason a huge portion of my extended family was laid off and now face total destitution, as there are simply no jobs left available.

The Biden-Harris border and crime policies are responsible for the brutal rape of a significant number of women and girls in this geographic region. Statistically, these rapes have quadrupled compared to the previous administration.

A woman was raped and stabbed to death about a mile from where I live.

Our nearby neighbor, a cow farmer back home, was attacked on his own property.

I have personally faced multiple instances of sexual harassment and aggression, some of which were very frightening. I know other girls nearby experienced the same or worse.

Alcoholism and hard drugs due to the spike in unemployment and poverty has ruined many lives, and help is often hard to access in rural regions.

A woman my mom was acquainted with ended her own life in 2023 because her children were taken from her due to her drug addiction and poverty. People I played with on the church playground as kids are now unemployed heroin addicts.

I've watched my mom driven to tears after realizing how drastically her income tax increased, and how little she has left after them despite working around the clock.

All of these can be traced back to the policies and actions of the current administration, and the current Harris-Walz platform's proposals will drastically increase it all — largely voted for by people who live in economic situations and locations as such that they are fairly unaffected by these consequences, so they may not understand how it affects these people.

I could write endless paragraphs of all the people I know who have been at best negatively affected, at worst utterly ruined, by the current administration.

Since I have the unique background of understanding these people whilst having more liberal values as an individual, with a broad range of people I interact with now, I have tried to have discussions on this over the last year or so, in real life and virtually. I believed that raising awareness would make people on the left-leaning side empathize with them, and inspire dialogue to work to implement ways to account for the concerns and needs of the rural poor, and incorporate that into their existing proposals.

I was incorrect. I've been very polite and respectful in how I address others in these discussions. In the vast majority of interactions, I was not given the same in return.

A few were receptive, which I appreciate, but in most of my experiences, the same group that is known for encouraging empathy, apparently doesn't apply that philosophy to people they dislike — no matter how I presented it, they immediately rushed to demonize, censor, humiliate, shame and gaslight me, and expressed callous apathy at best, if not active contempt, for my people.

They say "that doesn't happen," and I think they genuinely believe that due to limited perspective — but the reality is that they're simply in a position of privilege as such that it isn't happening to them.

Similarly, what you have to understand is that from the perspective of many rural people in red areas, their experience is that more privileged people inflicted this suffering on them by voting for it, then silence and shame them for speaking out about it.

Likewise, they also have a limited perspective — for them, the issue I see is that they adamantly believe the "other side" is already well-aware of the effects their choices have on others. I don't think this is true, I think many on the other end are unaware of these issues.

This dual lack of understanding creates mutual resentment and bitterness, which fuels tension.

I will say that trying to explain how girls in my community were assaulted or my own harassment, only to have it spammed with replies along the lines of "don't care" or "deserved" or calling me a liar, seeing posts mocking or wishing harm on people like my family accumulate tens of thousands of likes, having people I care about referred to as "trailer trash," passive-aggressive statements implying I'm too unattractive for a man to harass — this, along with other distasteful actions I've seen, has pushed me away from the left as a community, and I don't think that's unreasonable.

Similarly, labeling people you know nothing about as bad people, without making any effort to understand their circumstances or what they actually believe and why, will drive people away and make them resentful.

My community is multiracial, women are highly valued in southern culture for various reasons, and they themselves are marginalized and underprivileged. They're kind people who have been good to me.

I haven't really met any people who are hateful, nor is hate the reason for their votes — they're all voting as they do because they are scared, exhausted, grieving and desperate. A lot of people in the area never voted before, but are now registering to vote in droves because they feel their backs are against the wall, so to speak.

Moreover, Orange Man himself redirected $14 million dollars to Appalachia, continues to raise awareness for them in speeches, and Musk, who is associated with him, has a team working to help Appalachians. He's also the only noteworthy figure that has acknowledged certain issues affecting them.

They realize that the situation in Appalachia could just as easily be them in the future, that they'd be given the same treatment.

This has resulted in a lot of rural poor people feeling that he cares more for their lives, compared to Biden/Harris who more or less neglected them. Which, considering that, is a fairly reasonable conclusion on their end.

Finally, it is true that blue voters tend to be in favor of abolishing or ruining crucial aspects of our way of life that, I say this politely, they do not fully understand, while the people here want to preserve their way of life.

So, while I have more liberal values that differ from most people back home, I don't believe they are bad people. They are reacting very reasonably to the circumstances they're in.

All I ask of others is to consider, no matter where you are or what beliefs you align with, and no matter what happens tomorrow, that the "other side" to your own may not be the evil people you have been led to believe they are, but are humans whose lives are simply different from yours, and they are acting in accordance to their experiences, circumstances, and fears.

The growing trend of demonizing political opposition with no attempt at empathy, only creates more pain in the world. I hope this has helped to foster better understanding, and that people can be kind to one another.

That is all I wanted to say.

[ko-existing]

https://www.tumblr.com/ko-existing/766133693448372224/httpswwwtumblrcomko-existing7661320713789440?source=share

Ko, please, how do I stop being so desire driven? I’m not asking this as a lesson, but more like a genuine advice from person to person. I’m 100% this is what keeps me from truly seeing the bigger picture.

I tried many times to just let go and not care about outcomes or read the lessons thinking “yeah, this will make me get the things”, but I can’t. Even if I try to convince myself there’s something deep down saying I clearly still only care about the outcomes. It’s tiring not only because it keeps me walking in circles, but also because I experience episodes of pure joy cause “yes, I can get it, it’s easy” and then ones of pure depression thinking “this is bullshit, you’re understanding it all wrong and won’t get anything, deal with it. You’ll never get anything.” It’s always the extremes, you know? 08 or 80.

I tried to simply step back of everything and just move on with the knowledge I’ve got to see if my mind and thought process unfolds naturally and I stop feeling this incessant seeking for finally KNOWING true self instead of seeing as a belief, but I always end up falling on that depression phase and constant need for reassurance that “yes, you’ll get it”, but as you know, it never leads me to nowhere when I’m constantly reading, and asking, and seeking.

You say “step back and ponder” and say that when we encounter the silence it should be enough, but for me somehow is not and it frustrates me because logically should be enough, I mean, I’m literally being left with the nothingness, what else could I possibly need to understand, right?

I just wanna stop feeling limited, trapped and suffering and most importantly, I want to stop being the cause of all of this suffering. But I placed my desires as the ultimate happiness and this constant feeling of separation never goes away. Why is so simply to read and understand “everything is formless”, but when actually “practicing” and applying seems so absurd? God, I’ve been this way this whole year and I’m so sick of it.

To answer genuinely—you're thinking too much.

If you’re feeling caught in this cycle of extreme highs and lows, it might help to try sitting with your thoughts in a more observing way, which can give you a clearer view of what’s driving the whole process. And no, IT IS NOT A NECESSITY. It's a help to watch without getting lost in thoughts but it is NOT A MUST.

I've been on tumblr long enough to know what to expect from other anons reading this like "i thought meditation is not nevessary". No one is saying throw on an orange robe, head off to the himalayan mountains to sit on a rock in a cave, drink Bo cha, chew on Chülen, start fasting and chant " ཨོཾ་���་ཎི་པདྨེ་ཧཱུྃ" (om mani padme hum) around the clock like it's your monastic lifestyle job.

So, again, I'm not saying this is a necessity or a “must-do”. Meditating, or simply Noticing, can help you see your thoughts without getting so wrapped up in each one—nothing more. There are different options like listening to a guided one or just background music/sounds like rain. I personally like it. So, If it helps, it helps. If it doesn't, see what does.

I've also been on Tumblr long enough to know how quickly people start labeling everything as a “method” or a requirement, so just to be clear again: I’m not saying any of that!

The main thing here is to relax this intense drive for outcomes. You can actually start looking at these desire-driven thoughts as just “passing content”—and yes, this practice can help. When a thought like “I need this outcome to be happy” pops up, instead of believing it automatically, you could take a step back and notice that it’s just a thought arising out of nowhere and passing into nowhere. Watching thoughts like this reminds you they don’t define you and have no reality to them.

Also, see if you can bring your attention back to what’s here without needing to grasp, judge, or chase. Every time you relax that urge for outcome, you’re giving yourself a chance to rest in something that isn’t tied to outcomes at all. " ".

Experience what’s beyond the cycle of “wanting” and “fearing.” Keep it simple, remember it’s a gentle, easy redirection rather than some heavy practice. Never force anything. If you don't want to do it, don't. And never overconsume.

[livesworthlivingau]

Behind the Vale Chapter 34

You know the drill, Spoilers for all of ISAT, etc. CW: Confused Pining? Sparring Scene/Consensual Violence. I SHOULD NOTE THAT THE PINING AND CONSENSUAL VIOLENCE ARE NOT RELATED!!!

"So, how was your little chat with Eclipse last night~?"

"It went well actually," [Blind it!] "how was sharing a tent with Nille for the first time~?" [STARS BLINDING CRAB!!! You immediately feel your face begin to burn.]

"You could at least humor me when I try to tease you, you know!"

"Hah! Not so fun on the other end, is it~?" [You cross your arms and pout. It wasn't fair how difficult they were to fluster now.]

"... Wait... what do you mean it went 'well'?"

"Well... I talked about what I was going to talk about back then... a-and uhh... they weren't... against it." [His face begins to darken instead. Hah! It's working!... Wait what is he talking about?]

"Against, what exactly?"

"Uhm... M-Maybe we shouldn't really talk about this! Th-That was a whole loop ago, it never really happened technically, j-just forget about it!"

"Hah~! I haven't seen you this flustered in a long time~. If I didn't know any better I'd think you were falling for me, Stardust~." [His face burns darker as he falls silent.] "... This is the part where you refute that, Stardust."

"... W-Well... the thing is... uhhh..." [Your own face grows just as dark.]

"... Truce to never speak of this again?"

"Y-Yup! Truce!" [You both stop acknowledging each other as you break off. Stardust heads off towards Eclipse and the Housemaiden, while you head towards Nille, Flare, and, ugh, the Researcher... Fantastic. Nille perks up at your approach.]

"Hey Vay, what were you and Sif talking about?"

"Absolutely nothing~! Next question~!"

"That bad, huh? Alright, I won't pry. Though speaking of, Dile here was hoping to get some info out of you." [Of course she is...]

"Yes, Petronille has informed me that you're a paper type now. I've never heard of someone changing their craft type before, but there's a lot of topics that would apply to in the last few months. I was hoping you might like to spar sometime." [Wonderful, here comes the interro-wait what did she just say?]

"You... want to spar with me?"

"Yes. In Ka Bue, it is believed that there's no better way to understand someone than by the way they Craft. I may not believe in all the sentimentality behind it, but watching someone Craft can make for quite an impression. Perhaps it could even answer some questions you have about yourself."

"... I don't think that would be for the best. I'd rather not hurt any of you."

"I don't doubt your time in the loops has given you an advantage when it comes to experience, but I'm sure I could hold my own long enough to get what I'd need. Besides, Mirabelle can help ensure nothing goes too far." [Your expression does very little to hide your hesitance about the idea.] "So you don't want to prove how different you are from Siffrin now?"

"What?"

"I've seen how Siffrin Crafts for months now, I'd be able to spot it in a moment. So why don't you show me just how different you are now?" [You know exactly what she's trying to do... yet her goading still succeeds in spite of that.]

"Fine, then spar we shall~."

"DILE'S GONNA KICK VALE'S CRABBING BUTT!" [Flare shouts as Nille chuckles with a shake of her head.]

"Can't say I'm not excited to see how this plays out."

--------------------------------------------------------------------

[You stand at one end of a clearing, the Researcher at the opposite end. Everyone else eagerly gathered into a little group nearby to watch. You perk up as Nille calls out.]

"Go easy on them, Dile! They've only been in a fight or two since the Change!" [Excuse us?!]

"Thanks for the vote of confidence?!"

"Hah! Well it's true!"

"Vale seemed rather worried about hurting me earlier, so I don't intend to hold back. Besides, if they do then this whole research project would be null and void. I need to see you at your best, so don't pull any punches!" [The Researcher calls out in a demanding tone, one similar to a teacher encouraging a student. You're unsure why, but it starts to light a fire within you.]

"Alright." [You draw your whip and hold out a paper sign with your other hand.] "Ready when you are, Researcher!"

"Would you mind counting us down, Boniface?" [Flare jumps to their feet eagerly. A very excited grin across their face.]

"One!" [Wait...]

"Two!" [We just remembered...]

"Three!" [WE DON'T HAVE ANY CRAFT SKILLS OF OUR OWN!]

[You begin to panic as the Researcher starts to rush towards you. You see her hands move in a familiar way, and without thinking to go to copy it. You need every advantage you can get as you both SLOW IV each other with the exact same method. She raises a brow as she realized what happened.]

"Huh. No, no that would make sense. You must have seen me use that craft countless times, of course you'd learn how to emulate it. This still isn't exactly helping this experiment though, show me your craft, Vale!"

"I... don't really have any yet..."

"Then you best come up with something fast!" [She threatens and makes a scissors sign, slicing a streak of SCISSORS III towards you. You barely manage to dive out of the way thanks to that heavy feeling slowing you down, leaving you wide open for the next attack.]

[She swings her open palm down towards you just as a PAPER III blast slams down onto your back.] "GAH!" [It stings, but no where near as much as that earlier strike would have. You shake off the craft weighing you down and quickly get back to your feet. You notice she still has the SLOW on her, you have an opening!]

[You crack your whip a few times, sending waves of Paper Craft towards her. She only manages to block one, taking the full brunt of the other two. She slides back across the dirt and falls to a knee. Despite this, a grin crosses her face as she looks back up at you.]

"Now we're getting somewhere, keep it up Vale. Show me what you're capable of." [She commands yet again, getting back up and flashing another scissors sign. The Craft comes flying at you quickly, slamming into your stomach and causing you to fly back, slamming into a tree.]

"Ugh... Oh you'll pay for that one Researcher!" [You're injured now, but it only strengthens the fire within you. You focus your intent into the tip of your whip before lashing it out, sending an intense wave of pure Creative Craft towards her. Even as she blocks it, it manages to deal a good amount of damage. You don't let up, you snap your whip again and again, sending smaller blasts but trying to overwhelm her. She evades the first few only to stop in her tracks and SLOW IV you yet again, taking a couple hits to do so.]

"You're getting desperate, good! You're showing your true self now!" [You grumble as you feel that same weight again, like your whole body was moving through sludge. You can't take another big hit, you look around to find some sort of advantage... You crack your whip once more, and as she goes to defend, it swings upwards and blasts the tree behind her, sending an explosion of leaves to surround and distract her. You move as quick as you can in this addled state to hide behind a tree until it wears off.]

"Clever. You fight like a cornered animal, yet you still manage to find and use any advantage you can." [Why do we feel like a book being read right now?...] "I haven't had a good fight since Dormont, I appreciate you indulging me with this." [You take a few breaths to help shake the craft off of you.]

"My pleasure, I just can't wait to wipe that grin off of your face~!" [You call out, whip ready as you focus your craft into it again. Just as expected you feel a heavy blast of Craft slam against the tree you hid behind. You tuck and roll back out into the open and prepare to strike!... Wait, where did she go?]

WHACK [You're suddenly smacked upside the head with another PAPER III, knocking you over as you grip your head.] "OW! CHEAP SHOT!"

"You think you're the only one who can use tactics?" [She smirks, stepping out from behind a very different tree than you expected. She holds her free hand in a paper sign.] "Now time to finish this."

[You prepare to defend, you're weak but you could take another hit of PAPER III if you're ready for it... until you notice her hand moving different than usual. You glance over at her hand holding her book, which was hiding the Scissors sign she was actually using to power the craft! By the time you realize her trick, the piercing energy was already heading directly towards you.]

[You panic, without thinking you act, a wave of Craft flowing out of you and into your whip. LION TAMER! You lash out your whip, coiling around the attack itself. You guide it off course, and hold on tightly as it spins around your form, releasing it as it flies directly back at the Researcher. She was too surprised by what you did to even try blocking it, landing a direct hit with her own attack and leaving her K.O.ed across the grass... You blink a few times as you still aren't even sure what you just did.]

"M'dame!" [The Housemaiden quickly hops up and rushes over to her side, starting to pump healing craft into the downed Researcher. Flare is close behind with the pack of tonics in case it's needed. You look down at your hands and whip, still just lost in the shock and adrenaline of what you'd just done. You stumble as a heavy pat hits your back.]

"Holy crab! Where have you been hiding that one, Vay?!"

"I... I have no idea... Is... Is she okay?" [You look back over to her, Flare and the Housemaiden are helping her up to a sitting position. She looks spent but otherwise awake and aware. You hesitate before walking over.] "I-I'm sorry, I didn't realize I could even do that, are you-" [You're interrupted as she raises a hand to stop you.]

"That was exactly what I asked for, thank you for assisting me with this experiment. I think we've both learned a lot from it, Vale." [She has a satisfied smile painted across her face.]

"Yes, that was... certainly an experience, thank you for helping me find myself like this, Comet." [She raises a brow at the end of your statement.] "A nickname, if you don't mind me using it..." [She shares a look with you, understanding the importance you give to these silly nicknames. She smiles and nods.]

"Of course, now go enjoy your victory, I need to rest and gather my thoughts properly." [She says with a huff, trying to play off the feelings much like you do.]

"Of course, rest well~." [You head back to Nille as you hear Flare begin shouting behind you.]

"Diiiile! I can't believe you let Vale beat you! What the crab!"

Huge thank you to @itstheval for inspiring the fight scene and coming up with Craft Skills for Vale!! His fan chapters are wonderful and the skills he came up with are so goooood!

[little-drop-of-water]

I've finally had the chance to listen to People's Champion in order and I have some thoughts that have been going around my head. Actually, this idea first came when I listened to Sex=Money.

The lines about the therapist seem a bit confusing. Some think he's talking about his own therapist making money out of his situation. Others think he's talking about therapists as a group and that people in Finland are so shocked from him going from "family fierndly" to R rated that they ended up going to therapy.

I think the second take might be closer to what he meant, but of course is not meant to be taken literally. It's an exageration about the way people have overreacted to him moving away from his ESC "family friendly" phase and going back to his most usual not meant for children content.

But then again, the therapist is an interesting character, because they're making lots of money from the situation (they got themselves a brand new Volvo with turbo) at a very low risk to them. And that got me thinking, there's been a group of people that have benefited from Käärijä's fame in a similar way that the therapist does in the song: the media.

This idea that the therapist might be a metaphor for the media/journalists makes more sense to me after Skit and Autiomaa came out.

Skit hit hard on a personal level, even before I read the translation. This is because I overthink a lot and have a hard time forming coherent sentences, so when someone interrupts me when I speak, is really frustrating. Skit reminded me of a bad interview more than a therapy sesion. Think Kelly Clarkson's talk show, where she interrupts her guests and never lets them finish what they want to say. The therapist does exactly that. He behaves like a very unprofessional journalist (you know, like the ones Jere has had to deal with). Not only he interrupts Jere, he also makes assuptions based on what little Jere is able to blurt out before being interrupted again. An actual therapist (or an actual journalist for that matter) would never behave that way.

In Autiomaa, he talks about what he's been going through the last couple of years, how he's been feeling and how he wants to be listened. And then in the MV, the therapist...doesn't pay attention to him. He only takes a picture of him and continues to ignore him. The only notes he takes are "funny guy" and "not married :p", everything else in his note pad are doodles. This is very similar to the way the media has reduced Jere to "the funny party guy" and only care to take his picture, even when he doesn't want to.

So, basically, like the therapist character in the album, the media has done the same things to Jere:

There's a part of the video where Jere and the therapist are watching the headlines about Käärijä. Jere looks uncomfortable,  but the therapist seems to be the one making him watch (not as extreme as in A Clockwork Orange, but he's still forcing him to a point). This reminded me of the times journalists have dug into Jere's past for totally unnecesary reasons, like the time they found out how much he earned in 2022 or when someone else reminded him that he had to sell his moustache and then telling him how far along he's come from that.

*Not paid attention to the deeper meaning of his lyrics, reducing his work to just "party music".

*Reduce him to a cartoonish or clownish character.

*Remind him of unpleasant moments of his past for unnecesary reasons.

*And on top of that, cashed a lot of money from his fame.

[foggynelsonslucioushair2]

Bagginshield 2024: Khuzdûl

It was a typical evening in Bag End.

Young Frodo had run off to the pub, leaving Bilbo and Thorin to “totter around the house like a pair of ancient wizards,” as Bilbo was fond of putting it. He was currently at his writing desk, quill in hand and fingertips stained in ink as he scribbled on his latest project, a Sindarin to Westron dictionary that would be useful for Shire-folk. From the fireside seat where he sat idly plucking at his harp, Thorin could see the ink smudges on his dear hobbit’s lips and cheek, sure signs that Bilbo was deep in thought.

Thorin’s fingers froze on the harp strings when Bilbo suddenly turned to him and, with a bright smile, called out “Thîr vain chîn darn thulen!”

“What… What was that, my love?” said Thorin, sitting back from the harp and turning towards Bilbo.

“Thîr vain chîn darn thulen,” said Bilbo a bit slower, although it still meant less than a bit of rock in a miner’s hand to Thorin. “It’s a Sindarin phrase meaning ‘you are so lovely you stop my breath,’ or perhaps ‘you are a breathtaking beauty.’ But that translation still doesn’t perfectly convey the awe in the original Sindarin…”

Bilbo began muttering, once again turning back to his writing, and Thorin watched him for a moment, bemusement warring with affection in his heart. He supposed Bilbo’s love for words was similar to his own love for jewels and skillful craftsmanship, but flowery language wasn’t anything he himself understood. Words should be practical, solid, and useful, like those in Khuzdûl: Ibinê, my gem. Bunnel, Treasure above all treasures. Âzyungal, my One. How lovely and straightforward these words were, and so fitting for one as precious to him as Bilbo.

Thorin was startled from his thoughts as Bilbo whirled around in his chair again. “I’ll bet in Khuzdûl, you call those you love something like ‘precious gems.’”

Thorin tensed, wondering for a brief moment if Bilbo had somehow acquired the ability to read his mind somewhere along their travels.

Bilbo evidently took his tension another way, chuckling as he said “I suspect I’m right, but don’t worry, my dear. I won’t let this knowledge slip to anyone. I swear it on the fullness of my pantry and the hairiness of my toes. And that’s a promise that means something to a Hobbit, just so you know.”

Thorin’s shoulders untensed slightly. “Of course I trust you, Bilbo, and it’s not as if you actually know the Khuzdul word. I just hope you can understand that this is the one thing I cannot share with you, even though everything else is freely yours.”

“Oh, hush, Thorin. Of course I understand. I wouldn’t want you to speak your secret language to me any more than I’d expect you to ask me to freely give away my mother’s spoons. I may be your husband but I’m not a dwarf, and it just won’t do.”

“Well, I may not be able to speak Khuzdul with you, but may I sometimes call you ‘Treasure of my treasure’?”

Bilbo’s teasing grin turned soft. “That will do very well, my dear.”

I'm late!!! Oh, well. Here's the first of a series of mini-fics I've been working on, trying to get motivated to write something again. Since dwarves keep their language a secret from anyone who's not dwarvish, I wondered how Bilbo would deal with that. And of course, domestic fic because I want these two to be happy!

[justagalwhowrites]

The Savage and the Sanctuary Ch. 4 Teaser

I've been writing a lot on TSATS the last few days and I'm kind of geeking out and I just wanted to share a little teaser. Is that OK? I hope it's OK. It's below the cut so it's up to you to figure out if you want a sneak peek of the LA arc or not.

Thank you for being patient with me on this and Halcyon! I appreciate it.

Joel slammed the door behind him as he stalked into your house to find you, standing in the kitchen, scrolling through your phone.  “I got you a smoothie,” you said, glancing up for a second and looking back at your phone before you frowned and actually looked at him. “Are you OK?”  “You are not doing that shit again, understand?” He snapped.  “Not… getting you a smoothie?” You asked.  “You know what the hell I mean,” he said. “You can’t just go off on your own like that, I don’t give a shit what your manager says, I don’t care how fuckin’ typical it is, you’re staying close to me. End of story.”  You watched him for a moment before you smiled, looking like you were trying not to laugh.  “What.”  “You were worried,” you said. “Big Miller, afraid! Who knew it was possible…”  “I was not afraid,” he said, probably too quickly. “I just don’t want you dying on my damn watch. If you’re outside, I’m next to you. Deal with it.”  He stalked off to his bedroom, your stupid Oscar there in his face when got there. He grabbed it and went back to the kitchen, smacking it down on the counter, making you jump.  “I don’t need you to remind me how fuckin’ great you are,” he said. “Put that in your damn trophy case. And don’t leave this house without me.” 

[thatsitso]

He's coming back today!!!

[redo-rewind-if]

I Just Imagine the next time they send people to kill MC it's gonna be like The Star Crusaders fight against Dio or MC just throwing a casual Jojo reference by using their time powers.

I've never seen Jojo myself, but, I feel you. Once MC has more control over their powers they'll definitely be able to do some cool things with it. Or, like, just fuck around. Whatever works. 🤭

[deathsbestgirl]

okay i'm gonna try this again because i think i can say it better:

my post about mulder wasn't to say he's perfect or literally never done anything wrong or to hurt scully. i'm a mulder apologist to the extreme (scully too if you haven't noticed), but that isn't what i was doing.

mulder isn't doing it *to* her. he's doing what he does, he's working, he's following a path simultaneously set out for him & that he forged. he isn't intentionally doing anything to her, and he isn't being thoughtless or an asshole. that's so extremely reductive to me. yes i keep referencing trauma, because this fandom talks endlessly about scully's and dismisses mulder's. (all that the path to hell is paved with good intentions.)

but mainly what i'm talking about is that he's not responsible for her abduction, cancer, emily, melissa, etc etc. like i stated in the post. and somehow, he's still getting blamed for these things? as if it isn't the fault of aliens & the conspiracy of men & csm. literally everyone except mulder because he did not have a hand in it, he did not orchestrate any of it. a lot of the things scully goes through is because of these men who think they're gods, who have too much money & too much power. and the other chunk of it is the dangers of their job. which scully is aware of and she still chose then fbi. it's literally at the core of why she chose it, even if it takes her time to figure it out.

mulder does a lot because of his trauma & because he wants to believe, and it's all stepped in love. the alternative to not believing is terrifying for him — the way believing is terrifying for scully. they are so similar, but still fundamentally different. their approaches, their childhoods, their perspectives, what they cling to. they both deal with their trauma in different ways, and one very similar way: diving into work, using it to bury what they can't yet face or deal with, or bring into the light (each other).

anytime i talk about trauma, i don't mean "every single thing he did was perfectly okay because trauma" — i just mean people need room to figure that out and it isn't something he does *to* her. @actual-changeling said it pretty well here. intentions don't erase hurt but he's never tried to hurt her, and she's never tried to hurt him. it doesn't mean it didn't hurt them and of course that's valid. but it still isn't even what i was talking about. but i guess i'm going to anyway.

a huge part of their relationship is learning to communicate clearly & openly. people aren't just born knowing how to do it, and certainly not people with their history. this is how you heal & grow. (yes therapy can help, but it's extremely hard to do alone. because healing in relationship, in my opinion, is the most effective way. someone who will stick around for the hard parts, work with you through trial & error. loving you through your mistakes & struggles, as you're learning/unlearning. and it goes both ways.)

mulder carries guilt for things that aren't his fault (as does scully). i understand talking about it in this respect, but that isn't what i see very often. it's how horrible he is for what he does to her & puts her through. when most of what happens to scully is because of the job & csm & the syndicate. scully understood the dangers of her job. in irresistible, she tells karen kosseff she's aware there's predators in the world, it's her job to bring justice to these people and she needs to believe she's capable. she couldn't open up to mulder in that way yet, so she dealt with it in her own way. (she does this with her family too, she's the strong one.) later in the cancer arc, she admits to karen kosseff that she relies on mulder & his strength — but the only way she opened up emotionally, with true vulnerability, was in the letters she wrote to him in a journal. that she intended him to have after her death. it takes her years to just call him and not hang up when she needs him, and really it happens in fits and starts and backpedaling. but they continuously try! mulder is always trying to let her know she can show him her vulnerability, that he's there to support her. and she does the same for him. there are times they're successful, usually at very trying times for them. where they do talk, they take physical comfort. they learn the ways the other will accept care.

in fire, mulder pushes scully away but he learns it's a way she cares for him. doctorly & physical. he touches her cheek in beyond the sea & firewalker. she touches his arm in squeeze, conduit, pusher. she runs face first into his chest in the pilot, he lifts her chin & hugs her in irresistible. scully covers him in a blanket and pulls his head to her shoulder in herronvolk when his mom is lying in a hospital, near death. they learned each other's minds, what comforts the other and what they will allow and it slowly expands. as does their verbal communication.

i don't mean that his actions don't affect her, but it takes mulder a long time to really understand it because scully does not communicate her feelings, wants, needs. that's something that takes her a long time. there are ways they've both communicated these kinds of things that the other wasn't able to understand, or maybe didn't take seriously because of the circumstances. syzygy, never again, elegy, fight the future, triangle, dreamland, one son. it's why, to me, it's important leonard betts comes after never again. in never again they struggle to communicate, they're not on the same page. the choose silence instead of talking about it. but in leonard betts, he helps her dig through body parts without question. he tells her she did a good job, she should be proud. he didn't get it in never again, but he started to and he did something about it. there are many ways to take responsibility and changed actions, voicing things that matter, that the other person should hear is part of it.

sometimes i just think people are very unforgiving of mulder's struggle, the way he is because of his trauma. and he always does something wrong that's talked about almost like it's unforgivable when that isn't true. even if he was selfish in the cancer arc, he's helpless watching the person he loves most die "because" of him. someone who deserves answers & the truth as much as he does.

it upsets me because it's one of the most realistic & human things about them. it's one of the things handled so beautifully in this show. it's often so raw, the depth of connection & effort & patience & love. despairing yet full of hope & wonder. it so often robs scully of the little agency she does have. it feels dismissive to only focus on scully's. to ignore every step they take together & apart, the ways they change each other, the way they forgive each other everything because they have this intrinsic understanding.

scully's entire arc is difficult to watch, but so much of it is true to the reality of what women experience. yes it's a lot, but it's a tv show. and a scifi horror drama one at that. do they textually cover every single thing? no, but a lot of it is weaved into their cases (kaddish is always a standout to me) and the acting (which if you believe ga, comes across so well in the script she's able to grasp the cancer arc through them alone, not having experience with it herself). there is so much meaning in everything on this show.

the x files is about love because everything mulder (and scully) does is about love, comes from love. and people don't always love perfectly or well. and everyone understands the world & love differently. something else i think is incredibly poignant about their relationship. they keep learning each other until their way of loving completely merges on the foundation of their trust & faith in each other.

[avastyetwats]

Not working for anyone? The fuck did he mean by that? Was he not working for Lowe? And why was he blaming MI6 if he was the traitor? There was so much that wasn't adding up and he knew he shouldn't trust or give thought of Vane's words, but... he did. Something deep down inside of him wanted to give Vane the benefit of the doubt and find out what the fuck he was talking about and what the fuck was actually going on, but before he could inquire more, the conversation came to an abrupt and painful end. His hair was grabbed. suddenly, and yanked back and Flint knew what was coming next. Just before Charles smashed his head onto the bar, Flint managed to slide his hands onto it to soften the blow, but it still left him dizzy for a brief second, though he couldn't spend too long recovering.

"You motherfucker." Flint growled, grabbing hold of his glass and immediately throwing it right at Charles's back. He then surged forward, darting through the startled crowd and dodging the screaming women - many of the auction patrons fleeing the room and or ducking for cover. "MOVE! OUT OF THE WAY!" Flint called out, pushing past some of them while leaping over tables. Finally, when he was close enough, he reached out and grabbed hold of Charles's long hair, yanking him back. "Fuckin' hurts, doesn't it?" He spat, but just before he could do anything else, gunshots rang out. Bonny and some of the other guards had their guns ready and aimed, causing people to scream and run in a panic. Just as they pulled the trigger, Flint released Charles's hair and dove behind a table before kicking it onto it's side to provide him some cover. "M, gonna need that backup! I've been made and Vane is on the move!"

"Copy that. Backup is on the way."

He reached into his suit and grabbed onto his own gun and once the bullets stopped, Flint quickly peeked over the table, aimed his gun and shot at a couple of the guards. They fell to the floor, but the others started shooting at him again so he ducked once more. He looked in the direction he last saw Charles and watched the tail end of his hair disappear down the hallway and he cursed to himself. He needed to get the fuck over there before he lost him... he--

"Shit." He rolled to the side when he noticed a guard come from behind the table, shooting at him but hitting the floor instead. He then quickly stood and grabbed the guard from behind before breaking his wrist to make him drop the gun. He started firing at the guards with Anne and they fired back, hitting his human shield like he was nothing to them. Just collateral damage. In the way. Poor fucker. He then aimed above, pulled the trigger and successfully hit the sprinkler to make it go off, effectively setting off all the others, too. It proved enough of a distraction for Flint to kick the guard forward and disappear into the hallway, chasing Vane down. He burst into the kitchen, scaring the shit out of the cooks and making them run for cover and it's where he saw Vane in the back running. He couldn't shoot him damnit. He didn't want to kill him.

He grabbed onto a plate and slung it in his direction, watching as it hit the wall just in front of him but before he could throw another in came another guard with a gun so Flint slung the plate at his face and watched it shatter on impact, sending the guard into the wall and hitting the floor with a thud. Another came behind him and dodged the plate before leaping over the counter and tackling Flint into the wall. The two fought for a good few seconds before Flint slammed his face onto a still hot stove top, grimacing at the sound of it. "Shit. Didn't realize that was on." He commented as he straightened his suit jacket before heading out of kitchen and outside, looking around for Vane.

Charles was actually having a bit of fun. He would have loved to spend time counting those freckles too. Just because this man was here to kill him, didn’t mean they couldn’t have fun first, right? At least that was the rationale when he looked at the redhead in the suit. He didn’t know what was truth and what was lie, but after being so isolated he frankly didn’t care.

He smirked when he put some blame on him. He couldn’t help it if he’d pulled him away from his women and of course the auction which he definitely was not here for. He was about to tell him what he’d like, but he heard that all too familiar beep. So he finished off his drink, licking his lips. “ Oh that’ll be M checking up on you. You should get that. “ He said calmly, which just made him seem all the more dangerous, slowly turning his head. He lifted his own whatcha clad wrist. “ Seems they aren’t too smart about sending the exact same style of watch to agents in the field. “ He tapped his own watch briefly, reaching over to take one of the abandoned martinis, taking a sip, his eyes never leaving his then. Fuck, he had pretty eyes. “ Are you here to kill me, Mr. Flint? “

[softdreamlesssleep]

God, "I missed you" sex is the best

[agendratum]

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