#if not i should probably explain what i meant by they

[incorrectmahabharatquotes]

This is not as coherent as my usual posts and I'm sorry about that in advance. This is tangentially related to our last post about women in Mahabharat. I saw this post by @nushkiespeaks. I have a lot of thoughts about it but what matters the most in the context of our previous post is that I do not like the use of the phrase "her dharma saves her" in this scenario. I will explain.

TW: violence against women, sexual assault. Please proceed with caution.

(I want to clarify that this is not meant as a call out post or anything. These are just my thoughts about what some feminist analysis of the epic lack sometimes. You can feel free to agree or disagree with me but please be kind and respectful about it and not call people names or harass anyone.)

I love Draupadi as a character so I say the following with all the love in my heart for her:

People usually either praise Draupadi for being a perfect victim. Or denigrate her for not being one. To them, she's either the pure hearted goddess who believed in her personal god and fulfilled her dharma of being a perfect wife. Or she's the cunning woman who didn't perform her dharma properly and deserved what she got.

What gets left behind is that the fact no one should have to go through any of that regardless of whether you believe they performed their dharma correctly. What also gets left behind are: all the other women mentioned in the scene, if only in passing. The slaves.

If you're strictly talking about the BORI CE version of the story(as the post clearly is), while reading it, it's almost impossible to miss the repeated mentions of the normalised and legally sanctioned sexual abuse/harrassment and rape of slaves. (Side note: Yes, slavery was a thing back then. It's horrible. People just don't like to acknowledge the instances in the Mahabharat where slavery is mentioned because it's just not a good look for sacred books to be chill with and actively encouraging buying and selling of actual people like objects. Trust me, if you have a favourite character in the epic, they were probably involved in the practice of slavery somehow, even Krishna, I'm very sorry to tell you this.)

To me, it's odious to mention dharma whenever we talk about Draupadi's vastraharan because it leads the obvious conclusion that those other women mentioned in text suffer at the hands of their "masters", in part because maybe they weren't performing their dharma correctly.

Maybe that's not what people mean when they praise Draupadi for her dharmic perfection. But every time those people, I cannot help but think of those women. The ones that are forgotten.

The ones who were not allowed to save themselves.

I guess, I'm ultimately just trying to say that this post is just my humble request to people to not talk about topics such as sexual assault in terms of the moral character of the victim. The people may mean well, but it does unfortunately perpetuate the idea of a perfect victim.

-Mod S

[gaywarcriminals]

Bby siren SJ & spoiled kid SY 

I cleaned up a ficlet from a sprint I did with @danmeichael while ago! Cw implied murder & cannibalism (none depicted, just normal siren stuff)

"My parents said I'm not supposed to get in the water," The young human— Shen Yuan, he called himself— explained with patience but no small amount of self-importance, as though Shen Jiu was the one being difficult and the human was being the bigger person by humoring him. 

"I can't play on land" Shen Jiu said with a put-upon pout, flicking his tail above water-- the small, short glimpses of his shiny scales were usually enough to beckon the human children closer. They were, in all honesty, usually quite easy to trick. Safer, too– even if humans were softer and weaker, Shen Jiu was still far too small to over-power an adult. When it had been the two of them, he and Qi-ge had been able to catch larger prey, but now– well now, Shen Jiu had to look out for himself, and that meant smaller kills, even if he had to venture much much closer to shore than he would have liked.

“We could, um,” the human paused, “I guess you can’t have games or books underwater��” he trailed off for a moment, before his face lit up with a charming smile. “I can read to you! I can read chapter books now,” the boy said with great aplomb, as though it should mean anything to Shen Jiu, “wait here, I’ll go get one from my parents!”

"NO!" Shen Jiu cried out. If the boy left, there was no guarantee he would return, or worse, he might come back with his kin trailing behind him. Shen Jiu hadn't eaten in weeks; he couldn't allow this chance to slip through his fingers.

Shen Yuan blinked at him, and then sat back down on the rocks, his cross legs out of reach of the lapping waves. Still not close enough for Shen Jiu to drag him under before the other humans heard his screams. Then, miraculously, and without any further beckoning the boy leaned closer. Shen Jiu's body tensed, tracking the movement, waiting for the boy to reach an angle where gravity would do most of the work to send him toppling into the waves.

"Are you lonely?" Shen Yuan whispered. 

Shen Jiu jolted. "What-?" The anger was immediate and instinctive. He snapped his teeth. His hand jerked up, but no, the human was still too far from the edge, from Shen Jiu, all Shen Jiu was doing was flagging his intentions as plainly as a whale, like an idiot--

"Hey, that's-" annoyance flickered over the boy’s face, and for a second Shen Jiu thought he had caught on, that he would run, and Shen Jiu too would have to flee, wasting more of his energy with a failed hunt– but then Shen Yuan was once again the picture of a young lord. The boy cleared his throat. "I mean, you don't have to be embarrassed. I would be upset too if I had no brothers or gameboy," he said with the air of someone delivering sage wisdom. 

Shen Jiu blinked. “Yes,” he repeated, perhaps unconvincingly, “I’m very sad without a ‘game-boy’ or… my brother.” he finished with a whisper. Shen Yuan nodded sympathetically. 

“Ah!” His eyes widened and then curved, sparkling in the midday sun. He shoved a hand into his clothes and dug around, before pulling out some kind of small white and blue object. 

“Da-ge always gives me milk candy when I fall and skin my knee. It’ll cheer you up!” He explained, dropping the thing towards the water. 

Shen Jiu fumbled to catch it, only for the crisp white and and blue paper to start dissolving in his hand. He dropped it on instinct— bright colors spreading through the water could only mean poison. He glanced up and sent the human a viscous glare. 

"Nooo, you have to eat it before it gets soggy!" Shen Yuan urged, seemingly oblivious to Shen Jiu’s ire. 

Shen Jiu considered for a moment. This creature was far too stupid to poison someone, and seemed to have been carrying this for some time without any precautions or fear of it. It probably was just food. Shen Jiu’s stomach grumbled. Cautiously, he grabbed the ‘milk candy’. The blue had fallen away to reveal a white pellet that sat nicely in his palm. He put it in his mouth. 

“Mm—“ Shen Jiu couldn’t suppress the noise. His head fins fluttered in delight as the creamy, sweet taste spread. He held it there carefully, letting it slowly melt over his tongue. 

“It’s good, right?” Shen Yuan asked, just a little smug. Shen Jiu reluctantly nodded. He reached down to pat Shen Jiu’s head, as no one had done in so long. “You don’t have to be sad. If you’re lonely, I’ll be your friend.” As the boy gently stroked the siren’s silky hair, Shen Jiu decided that lunging up to bite wasn’t worth losing the treat in his mouth. It was okay to stay like this, just for a little while.

[wishful-thinking64]

One Hell of a Popular Opinion #01 & HH Rewrite Related Post #05

Season #02 of Hazbin Hotel is easily going to be worse than Season #01 and I don't mean, "it's going to be really mid," no, I mean, "Oh dear Lord, it's so fucked to the point where not even starting from scratch will/should be able to save Hazbin Hotel." ___________ So I'm going to preface this by saying, if you somehow haven't seen or heard of Hazbin Hotel's 2nd season being posted online then I implore you to see some of it for yourself because as much as I'd like to explain all of it myself, there is WAY too much shit to unpack and Tumblr only allows for me to write so much. This time around I titled it One Hell of a Popular Opinion because this actually seems to be what's broken the camels back for some hopeful fans of the show and I can't blame them because the writing just keeps getting so much worse. Like, they went from making Lute a comedic relief one note bad guy in Season #01 to being the ONLY DECENT/GOOD WRITTEN CHARACTER IN THE SHOW COME SEASON #02! Which is ironic on so many levels cause I can feel it in my bones that, in Viv's eyes, Lute is/was not meant to be seen as a like-able character but if she's genuinely going to be the only well written character come the second season, well no shit I'm going to like her.

I'm not even joking when I say that's probably the only net positive from all of this as the rest of the leaks range from, "okay that's just mid," to, "Dude, what the actual fuck?! Who thought this would be acceptable to make?!" Now, as for the reason I titled this as a Hazbin Hotel rewrite related post is because with everything I've seen, I don't know if I want to continue working on my HH rewrite going forward. The entire reason why I started working on this rewrite wasn't to prove a point to the Stans, I started rewriting Hazbin Hotel because I still saw potential in it. I'm being dead serious when I say, I see very little potential in Hazbin Hotel after seeing the leaks. And that sucks since I started out as a fan. Hell, the entire reason I stayed invested in Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss was due to still being a fan (albeit a more critical fan as I refuse to ignore all the bad shit that Viv and her team have done along with ignore the major writing flaws in both shows) but now, I don't really know what to think about Hazbin Hotel other than disappointment and disgust for the direction its going in. Whereas, HB isn't unsalvageable but it'd take a lot of work to make HB good and knowing that the two fandoms take place in the same universe is what ultimately ruins everything.

All of this to say that, I likely won't make anymore rewrite content myself for Hazbin Hotel or Helluva Boss going forward as this proves to me it's just not worth it anymore. Though, don't worry, I'm not discouraged from making rewrites or canon divergence AU's for other fandoms and I'll definitely keep criticizing HH and HB cause the writings only gonna get worse from here folks!

[dinsverdika]

I've rewatched the last two episodes of Ahsoka with my mother. I think she's starting to like Ahsoka, that's a win for me.

[starlight-bread-blog]

Am I in love or is it my ADHD?

[cluster-b-culture-is]

I feel like the entire population has MPD

???

[bluebellplayinggames]

okay this is really sweet actually. this is after the run where chronos sent mel to asphodel for the first time and od is not only making sure she's okay, but also realizing that he used a saying mortals typically use (that have been shown to confuse mel) and taking the time to explain what he meant.

[jewishrizahawkeye]

love watching the discourse surrounding eddie raymond’s cabaret performance online. people saying that the performance should make you uncomfortable is valid and other people saying those people are acting to pretentious over them knowing the plays about the fall of berlin into fascism is just so funny. like please i love it

[phagodyke]

ykw actually I am angry + disappointed w them. I've been pushing how I feel aside and trying to make it my own fault so it's all contained but I think theyve just been mean. and they really should know me better ik I try to pretend I don't expect more from them so I feel less hurt when they do things that upset me but we've been friends for years by this point. like come on.

[birbfeeder2artisticboogaloo]

thousand autumns donghua, episode 6~

shen qiao: bro why did u poison me? :) yu ai: lol what?? POISON?? whaaaat??? no waaayyy, i would NEVER!!! here drink something i prepared with my poisoner hands pls shen qiao: 🎶MAYBE I SHOULDN'T SAYS CÚNLA!🎶 past!yu ai: yes…..YES! DRINK IT!! DRINK THE POISON BOOZE!! BAHAHAHAHAAHAAAA >:D past!shen qiao: bby bro ilu, actually ur just as good as i am, so u look after everything for me, ok?? if i die u take over my position and everything will be great, i trust u with my whole heart :) :) :) past!yu ai: ….....uh-oh ngl yu ai has a really cute face??? actually i might…..i might think he's a teeny tiny bit cuter than shen qiao?? I DON'T LIKE HIM MORE!! but idk i feel like….maybe they fussed with shen qiao's face a bit TOO much and got a weird effect? (i say this as someone who often fusses too much over my drawings' faces and ends up with a weird effect ;A; it's a curse 😔) NOOO SHEN QIAO DON'T GET SICKER!! poor bby sorry i criticised ur appearance so much ;A; awww he doesn't want to be bros anymore ;A; i find it interesting how he's willing to be forgiving of strangers, but not his former bro. not that the former bro really deserves it, bc he's being awful ;A; but its interesting to me, how different ppl approach betrayal!! I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW MORE ABOUT U SHEN QIAO. TELL ME UR SECRETS PLS. yan wushi is so relatable lol. he watches all this and goes 'what an idiot!' and it doesn't even matter who he's referring to, bc he's right lmao shen qiao poor bby ;A; he cough so much ;A; someone get my mans a glass of water ;A; HOLY SHIT YU AI JUST ATTACKED HIM WTF???!!!!! DID DID HE CALL HIM A-QIAO AS WELL?? WHAT A RUDE JERK!! THAT IS UR SHIXIONG, U BRAT!! >:V yu ai: 'i don't want u to leave!' *makes shen qiao spit blood* 'i don't want to hurt u!! come on bro, just stay here with meeeee uwu' ITS THE OLD MAN! HE'S HERE!! aww he help shen qiao up ;A; so cute ;A; uh sir u need to learn to take 'no' for an answe--OK NVM HE'S JUST WHISKING SHEN QIAO AWAY BY THE WAIST ONCE MORE THAT'S FINE. I GUESS yan wushi, king of evils??? LMAO more like king of dramatic hoes 'the evil gang' ….idk what i expected it to be called really DID HE JUST DID HE SLAP YU AI FOR CALLING SHEN QIAO 'A-QIAO'????? THATS AMAZING a bit hypocritical BUT STILL AMAZING AND HILARIOUS DO IT AGAIN!! DO IT AGAIN!! he's such a badass omg ;A; also he has such great accessories!! such good taste in fashion rly!! lol now it's yu ai's turn to spit blood!! serves u right for being a jerk smh lol i LOVE these random side characters who just look like normal ppl in comparison to these bishounen pretty boys. 10/10 artistic choice oh we've met a new friend! yuanchun! hello sir!! he's quite handsome, even if his spine is made of jam SHEN QIAO WILL U WHIST I CAN'T HEAR THEM OVER UR INNER MONOLOGUE yws: i'm gonna help u, then hurt u, then help u again, then ruin ur day and make u cry >:) shen qiao: …….. :( get me out of here pls :( yws: *evil laughs triumphantly* i just want everyone to know that every time yan wushi evil laughs, i laugh too🤣 'YOU SHAMELESS GUUUUYYYYY!!!!!!' amazing oh ok we're we're just gonna fight now. ok cool fellas, is it gay to touch fingertips with ur bro while wreathed in spiritual energy?? GHOST SWORDS!! i do love these pretty sequences with all the martial arts…..stuff lol. i wish i were clever enough to describe it but. just know that it's all very spiritual and neat ;A; aww shen qiao is so cool ;A; ilu my lad! ur a good boi!! WH SSIR SIR WHY ARE U GRABBING HIS FACE LIKE THAT WHOOOAAA UR GETTING REAL CLOSE TO HIM THERE SIR oh i see, the devil whispering in ur ear is actually yan wushi trying to make u be his wife, it all makes sense now!! yws: A-QIAO COME BE EVIL WITH ME. IT'LL BE FUN A-QIAO I PROMISE. WE CAN BE EVIL TOGETHER A-QIAO. I WILL BE THE EVIL HUSBAND AND U CAN BE MY EVIL WIFE A-QIAO. ARE U THE ONE FOR ME A-QIAO??? I THINK U ARE THE ONE A-QIAO. A-QIAO the old man moves fast, not like he's got unlimited time left i guess OH MY GOD HE'S LITERALLY CARRYING HIM AWAY LIKE A BRIDE in summation:

✨THESE BITCHES GAY✨

[ice-sculptures]

i wonder how representative my jancy-ronance poll is of the byler fandom's opinions as a whole bc so far i think it's been mostly limited to my followers and hasn't spread too far outside the circle

[applestand]

.

[lexydakitten]

geometry is a really scary class. not because i dont know like half the content of algebra 1 and have 0 memory of anything but because every time the teacher points at me and shouts something motivational in a scary way. im sorry i said the word should man is it that serious /silly

the other day he went off randomly about the kuiper belt and pointed at me and said i was going places because i knew what the kuiper belt was. is that so?? i am not quite sure thast how that works, is it going to give me information telepathically whenever i have a problem because it hasnt done that yet

[queer-ecopunk]

So, I'm trans. And several years ago, I was at my great grandfather's funeral. 17, newly on T, barely out to anyone other than my close friends and family. And I'm standing there at the refreshment's table, surrounded by strangers and members of my family's church, when George walks up to me.

This man is ancient, bent like a finger and frail. Tufts of white hair surround his wrinkled face. Like always, he's wearing thick glasses, massive hearing aids, and his veteran's hat. George was my first introduction to the concept of war, when he told me as a child why he was missing two fingers on his hand. He's been a fixture at church since I can remember. I've only ever seen him at there or in uniform at parades, the rest of his time spent in a nursing home somewhere. He picks up a deviled egg and says, in his quiet voice,

"You know, before your grandfather died, he told me that now he had 3 grandsons."

I'm frozen in place. I don't know what to say to that, if I should say anything at all. This is not a conversation I expected to have, especially not with this man. But he continues.

"I didn't know what he meant! So he explained it to me."

And I can imagine it. My great grandfather, uninformed and opinionated but supportive, explaining to his friend the news he barely understood himself over after-service coffee and cookies. His eldest grandchild was now a boy.

"And, you know, I didn't know what to think."

Here, George looks me up and down. This 90-something year old war veteran, who knew me mostly as the little girl playing in the church kitchen with his wife, processing what my great grandfather had really meant. It feels like a long pause, even thought it probably passed in a second.

"But you look good. So, eh!"

And then he smiled, shrugged, and walked away without another word. If I was fine, if I was happier, then that's all that mattered.

George passed away this week, at the age of 99. This memory has been bouncing around in my head for a while, but I wasn't sure if or how I should share it. It was a conversation that meant very little, but also meant the world. It was scary, and funny, and the moment when I realized that sometimes the people you least expect will accept you. Sometimes, even if they don't fully understand, even if they barely know you, someone will choose to support you. And that will always matter.

[dellta-danger]

Have you ever had to fire shots into the woods to scare off coyotes you can’t see but know are lurking by the treeline?

that’s what my deranged paranoia posts are.

[corvidlvr51]

I'm still not sure of what to make of Poor Things, at least not the ending...