#imagine going 'survivor vs victim'

[every-dayiwakeup]

Jonathan Byers is an underrated character. Most often, antis have used him as a tool to bring an abuse victim down.

Don't act like you care about abuse victims if you use a survivor and pit him against a victim. We all know that's not true.

[tombware]

judging from the EA datamines i was fully expecting cazador to go full tati like this and expose astarions several misdeeds trying to justify that he deserved what was coming to him and Cazador was doing a great justice and this is where Tav would go (and astarion would hopefully realise, regarding the past criminals he sold) that No. No one deserves this, no matter their crimes.

miss this like crazyyy

[1moreff-creator]

If Min had lived past CH1, where do you think her character could potentially go?

What do you mean if? /j

That depends a lot on the context of her survival, frankly. Does she still see Xander's attempt to murder Teruko and just... survive somehow? Does something else save Teruko and Xander dies without Min being the blackened? Does Xander die before the attempt? Or are the CH1 victim and killers completely swapped? If so, who are the new ones? All of these lead to pretty different possibilities for Min's character. But there's still a couple of things that could have been interesting to see.

Yay an excuse to ramble about Min! :,D

For starters, my guess is that she'd be decent enough in trials; at the very least, she'd act as third brain cell alongside Teruko and Charles. She'd definitely have joined Charles and Levi in talking about how strong jockeys are, for example. Also my heart says she'd have been in the Teruko Teaher CG in some way, such as an teacher's assistant.

Her secret would have also been a hell of a time. Assuming the two CH1 deaths still had each others' secrets, someone must have had Min's, which would have certainly been... honestly indescribable. It just depends too much on who exactly gets it.

However, "You always treated the competition with ruthlessness, but poisoning them to win was a bit far, wasn't it?" would have certainly been an excuse to bring the XF-Ture backstory to light, and combined with MonoTV's own XF-Ture comment, I'm pretty sure hell would have followed. Just complete pandemonium; the poisoner has ties to the same company that seems to be connected to the killing game, yeah everyone's gonna start calling mastermind and shit's gonna hit the fan.

I could see a world where the cast in CH3 becomes completely divided over the Extremely Suspicious Min, with Eden for example being one of the ones to stick up for her (baking squad I will always miss you). I could also see Rose doing it (baking squad I will always miss you), because they could bond over the companies ruling over their respective lives, so Rose would trust that Min had nothing to do with the other shit XF-Ture had going on. Hell, since I'm talking about it, Min would have probably also tried to cheer Rose up about the tape thing, because of her whole "mistakes are to be corrected" thing (BAKING SQUAD-)

And all that means Min would have quite an interesting reaction to Eden or Rose dying, and vice versa. No ship shall remain undoomed in DRDT, after all!

On the other hand, holy shit the beef between her and David. The guy that's always defending the son of a bitch who tried to kill Teruko? Xander, the one Min always disliked anyways? It would be basically on the same level as Teruko's beef with David, which would be a sight to see. Throw in Xander surviving too, and you have the ultimate Yaoi vs Yuri throw down on your hands.

But a lot of this is character interactions, what about Min herself? Well, I imagine she'd grow into reaching similar conclusions to Bonus Episode 1, about what she'd like to do in the future and being a teacher, especially since I imagine the trials would be made in a way that her talent would help so she'd gain more confidence in her abilities. Obviously all of this development would happen right before she dies, or right before the final trial if she's a survivor.

Yes, even though I'm immensely biased when I say this, I think Min could have worked as a survivor. In a very similar way I think Rose could be a survivor now; experience horrors beyond imagination, and slowly get better until the point they're willing to fight their fates (aka company contracts) by the time they leave the killing game, paralleling Teruko's own growth. For Min, those horrors wouldn't be photographic memory, getting betrayed and (presumably at some point) watching close friends like Eden die. Rather, they would be losing everyone's trust between the poison secret and the XF-Ture thing, having some breakdown over mistakes in trials (again similar to Rose), worrying that she'd die before her life really began, and... watching Eden die. In case it isn't obvious, I really miss the damn baking squad T_T

Also, the poison secret (god this post's structure is a mess). I haven't been talking much about it because we're actually missing quite a few details. I've talked before about how I imagine she likely non-lethally poisoned people after the Ultimate Contest for Eminent Students (or asked someone from XF-Ture to do it for her), but obviously that's speculation. That's important because, for example, I don't know how much the actual lethality of the situation would affect the way Miss Anti-Murder Preacher J would react to it, even though I imagine she'd be pretty pissed no matter what. Veronika would be all over Min for the details though.

Her reaction to Levi and Arturo's secrets would have been cool to see. Arturo doing anything for a better life would probably get her to feel sympathy for him, at least, and again depending the lethality of her poisoning, she probably wouldn't be able to really hold it against him without hypocrisy.

Speaking of Arturo, do we think Min would make a good doctor's assistant? She was reading an anatomy textbook in her introduction. Maybe helping Arturo take care of Levi after Trial 2 would be the start of her becoming more confident in her abilities.

Also she'd be real good friends with Charles. No elaboration on this, I just know it in my heart to be true.

One dynamic I'd like to see is with Hu. If Hu learns about Min's past, and Min's desire to leave it all behind (as per the pinned comment in Bonus Episode 1, Min is "Someone who wants to move on from the past"), I could see her reaching out as someone who also has a past she'd rather pretend doesn't exist. There would certainly be a good deal of character development for both of them, just in time for one of them to die of course. Incidentally, the whole "moving on from the past" thing could rope in Veronika as well..

And I could probably ramble about this forever. To be extremely fair, all DRDT characters have so much depth and there's so many interconnected themes all over the place that I could do this for any of them; go on ad infinitum about all the possibilities for growth and exploration that their interactions with the cast and the motives could provide. So I'll cut myself off there.

(I will also add as an observation that (because I'm predictable) I have considered writing a "Min survives CH1" canon divergence fanfic before. Don't count on it happening, just know it can)

Thanks for the ask! Always happy to have an excuse to ramble about my girl :,)

[wheelie-sick]

i definitely agree that trans women face the highest rate of murder and violent attacks, but sometimes i wonder as a trans man and csa/sa survivor how many hate crimes against transmascs go unreported or are misinformation (ie, calling them women)

post being referenced

I don't know about murder statistics, unfortunately there is no way to know since the victims can't identify themselves. I imagine trans murder statistics on both sides are substantially higher than reported because so many of us are not out or are misidentified.

I will say, when it comes to other forms of violence where self reporting is an option the both transfems and transmascs are actually fairly equal. (I can't find the post sharing these statistics but it. uh. exists) with a slight lean to one or the other on a couple of specific forms of violence.

it's hard to know if that trend is true for murders as well. I think it's entirely possible that transfems do make up a large part of victims of murder since there is a distinct difference in the way transfems are viewed vs transmascs are in a broad sense.

I do imagine there is some underreporting and misrepresenting happening. when a trans girl (or transfem in general) is murdered the media is quick to vilify her and paint her as a demon who "deserved it". they make a show of her even in her death. the public sees her death as a spectacle so the media plays into her murder as being a murder of a trans girl (or transfem) this means that transfems end up with a lot of hypervisibility around their deaths. it's not that this can't happen with trans men & mascs but it doesn't happen as often. I'm sure many trans men & mascs are misrepresented as women or not reported on at all. I know transfems experience the same misrepresentation and underreporting it's just impossible to know the ratio of the two since we can't know the stories of the dead.

I don't know if this ramble is making sense. anyways, this was a long way of saying I agree with you and feel the same.

[vesemirsexual]

read the entire series recently and saw your recent ask about yennefer and being abusive. question: why do people only think yennefer is bad/bitch/mean/abusive? bc reading the entire series i found that while i still liked geralt, i also didnt really think of him as a poor meow meow in the way fandom had made him seem and there were points i really didnt like him?

Putting the ask here for reference.

I have some thoughts on this that I think will be unpopular and not go down well. I'll throw them below the cut to be respectful. I think this is probably going to come across much harsher than I intend, which I just want to state: not the goal! Just more of some thoughts I have on this topic, fandom cultural, and general social-cultural trends.

Obviously, there's the argument of male vs females character, which I really do think holds merit here. There's not a lot I can say on the topic, because I think that horse has been beaten to death. I think it's safe to say that Yennefer does have traits that are better received in male characters, and rub people the wrong way otherwise.

Another minor point I want to make quickly that I mentioned in the other ask reply: a lot of the heavy criticism of Yennefer comes from her behaviour early in the story. Realistically, the characters all develop throughout the story, and are not the same people they are in the beginning that they are by the end. It's whether you look at a character as who they are at a specific place in their storyline vs across the whole development. Both Yen and Geralt develop from people who cannot sustain a relationship, cannot be together, and are forced by their experiences to grow and learn.

Now comes the part I think is going to be unpopular. I talked in the previous ask reply about both Geralt and Yennefer having terrible childhoods that left them with a myriad of trauma and baggage. The way they interact with the world as a result of this trauma is very different though - Yennefer faces her problems head on, much of the time with arrogance, steps into a role as an aggressor before she can be the victim. Geralt on the other hand, repeatedly repositions himself as a victim, often coming back to feeling negative about himself/sorry for himself, bitter and sardonic.

From this, I think two things happen:

• People identify with Geralt more. Yennefer falls into the "bad survivor trope", who's behaviour as a result of trauma minimises sympathy you might feel for her, and makes people flinching away from empathising with her further. Geralt is much easier to project, to see yourself in - it's much easier see your behaviour as someone you can imagine as a victim, than someone who is behaving as an aggressor.

• It also means it's easier to excuse when Geralt behaves badly, or in a way that isn't conducive or healthy. It's much more sympathetic and relatable in a way that isn't uncomfortable to identify with. Realistically, no one wants to identify with negative behaviour that could be cast as abusive or aggressive, let alone admit it to other people (i.e, fandom). It's much easier to identify with how Geralt responds to situations instead. I think this kind of identification also makes it a lot easier for in-group bias to form; it's an easy step to call Yennefer a bitch for her response to a situation than to critically analyse how Geralt is responding as well.

What both Yennefer and Geralt share is that they're both incredibly stubborn and difficult people. Neither of them thinks they're capable of love, and suddenly they're neck deep in it (and the wish really has nothing to do with it). Yennefer is absolutely a nightmare at times; at the same time, she's facing someone who is actively trying to convince themselves they don't have feelings or humanity, which is not pleasant or easy to face either.

Yennefer gets raked over the coals for all her flaws. Geralt is many good things, but he's also a cynic, irritable and takes the people around him for granted frequently. He's easily offended, sulks and is prone to self-pity. He can also be incredibly ignorant of other people's perspective and how they feel. He bases his morality and consequent actions on his own views and experiences. In his conversation with Nenneke, it's made pretty clear that he's as culpable for things going wrong for them as she is. After living together for a year doesn't work, he literally ditches her in Vengerberg with a note and flowers because he doesn't want to face her. Yennefer breaks up with him and Istredd after making it clear she would choose him because he won't admit he loves her, and instead retreats into his victim stance.

This is not to say that I excuse all of Yennefer's actions. She actively fucks up in many places, and seriously crosses the line (e.g. throwing jars at him). But I also don't think it's realistic to say that she is the only toxic one, or that their pre-Ciri relationship is the same beast as the post-Ciri relationship.

In many ways, Geralt and Yen are the same character. They're abused, abandoned and set on a life path they don't choose for themselves. They don't know how to love, and they don't think they deserve to be loved. They're a mirror of each other, which is how they end up in the shitty pre-Ciri cycle: infatuation, passion, sex, fight, break up, spend time apart, think about each other, miss one another, seek the other out. Ciri is the catalyst for them to leave this cycle, get their shit together and grow forward from it.

Honestly, I blame CDPR for a lot of Yennefer hate, because most of their portrayal of her sucked, and the rumor that the writers didn't like her is incredibly suspicious considering. I think a lot of the other overly harsh criticism about Yennefer comes from how we identify with characters and their struggles, and how we view the real life complexities of abuse survivors, trauma and relationships.

[thechristiancrusader]

Why Encouraging &/or Doing Nothing About Transgenderism Breaks Both Human & God’s Law!

A Reddit user posted on the r/ Christianity community:

“I just had a comment removed for "bigotry" because I basically said I believe being trans is a sin. That's my belief, and I believe there is much Biblical evidence for my belief. If I can't express that belief on r/Christianity then what is the point of this subreddit if we can't discuss these things and express our own personal beliefs? I realize some will disagree with my belief, but isn't that the point of having this space, so we can each share our beliefs? Was this just a mod acting poorly, or can we say what we think?

And I don't want to make this about being trans or not, we can have that discussion elsewhere. That's not the point. My point is censorship of beliefs because someone disagrees. I don't feel that is right.”

The clueless reply:

“These posts are so annoying. Every single time it just turns out that OP was rude as shit and somehow thinks that saying "Trans people should eat dirt" or "trans people shouldn't have × right because I'm religious" isn't bigoted.

You can have whatever theological position you want, but your theology stops with you. If someone else wants to worship Moloch, that's not your problem. It's the same thing with trans people. We aren't the judges of the world. Keep your nose out of other non-christian business.”

This is my response:

Sorry to burst your bubble but even American law recognizes you have certain obligations to your fellow citizens! Like if you see a man about to commit suicide it was and is still in some places a crime to not try to stop him or call for help and it is always a crime to encourage his behavior of self-harm. You might remember the case of a teenage girl who sent text messages to her boyfriend after he told her he was suicidal she said to go ahead and do it, that he was doing the right thing, that he was better off dead than to continue suffering and being unhappy with who he was and how he lived his life. She was convicted of murder! So now imagine replacing he was suicidal with him saying he was trans then she said go ahead and do it, that he was doing the right thing, that he was better off trans than to continue suffering and being unhappy with who he was and how he lived his life. Then because she didn’t try to stop him from transitioning &/or having surgery or taking hormones he commits suicide or dies from health complications due to a sex change surgery or dies from one of the many serious side effects caused by hormone treatment wouldn’t she like the teenage girl have also broken human law and Gods law? Here are the reasons why speaking up is not just a good idea but your civic and moral responsibility:

1. People who identify as trans “the Data indicates that 82% of transgender individuals have considered killing themselves and 40% have attempted suicide, with suicidality highest among transgender youth…56% of youth reported a previous suicide attempt and 86% reported suicidality. Logistic regressions indicated that models for both lifetime suicide attempts and suicidality were significant”-NIH vs. those who identify as heterosexual who only 11% have considered suicide during their lifetime.

2. “Statistics documenting transgender people's experience of sexual violence indicate shockingly high levels of sexual abuse and assault. One in two transgender individuals are sexually abused or assaulted at some point in their lives. Some reports estimate that transgender survivors may experience rates of sexual assault up to 66 percent, often coupled with physical assaults or abuse. This indicates that the majority of transgender individuals are living with the aftermath of trauma and the fear of possible repeat victimization.”-OVC vs. heterosexuals who only “35% of women and 29% of men have experienced sexual violence in their lifetime.”-CDC

3. “ 2015, the National Center for Transgender Equality estimated that one in six(67%) transgender individuals in the United States has been incarcerated in their lifetime” vs. only “6% for all Americans”-Prison Policy Initiative

4.“In the MtF group, total mortality was 51% higher than in the general population, mainly from increased mortality rates due to suicide, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, cardiovascular disease, drug abuse, and unknown cause. No increase was observed in total cancer mortality, but lung and hematological cancer mortality rates were elevated. Current, but not past ethinyl estradiol use was associated with an independent threefold increased risk of cardiovascular death”-European Society of Endocrinology 2011

5.” Persons with transsexualism, after sex reassignment, have considerably higher risks for mortality, suicidal behavior, and psychiatric morbidity than the general population. Our findings suggest that sex reassignment, although alleviating gender dysphoria, may not suffice as treatment for transsexualism, and should inspire improved psychiatric and somatic care after sex reassignment for this patient group…. The overall mortality for sex-reassigned persons was higher during follow-up (aHR 2.8; 95% CI 1.8–4.3) than for controls of the same birth sex, particularly death from suicide (aHR 19.1; 95% CI 5.8–62.9). Sex-reassigned persons also had an increased risk for suicide attempts (aHR 4.9; 95% CI 2.9–8.5) and psychiatric inpatient care (aHR 2.8; 95% CI 2.0–3.9). Comparisons with controls matched on reassigned sex yielded similar results. Female-to-males, but not male-to-females, had a higher risk for criminal convictions than their respective birth sex controls…The cause-specific mortality from suicide was much higher in sex-reassigned persons, compared to matched controls. Mortality due to cardiovascular disease was moderately increased among the sex-reassigned”-https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0016885

6. “The possible risks of transfeminine bottom surgery include, but are not limited to, bleeding, infection, poor healing of incisions, hematoma, nerve injury, stenosis of the vagina, inadequate depth of the vagina, injury to the urinary tract, abnormal connections between the urethra and the skin, painful intercourse and anesthesia risks.”-American society of plastic surgeons, “review and meta-analysis is to evaluate the epidemiology, presentation, management, and outcomes of neovaginal complications in the MtF transgender reassignment surgery patients…studies reported on 1,684 patients with an overall complication rate of 32.5% and a reoperation rate of 21.7% for non-esthetic reasons. The most common complication was stenosis of the neo-meatus (14.4%). Wound infection was associated with an increased risk of all tissue-healing complications. Use of sacrospinous ligament fixation (SSL) was associated with a significantly decreased risk of prolapse of the neovagina…there is a high complication rate in the reported literature.”-NIH

7. “41% of Transgenders in prison in England and Wales are known sex offenders (46/113). This is a conservative estimate and the true figure is likely to be much higher. It is significantly higher than the average percentage of male sex offenders in the male prison estate as a whole (17%).”-Study conducted by Dr. Nicola Williams and contributors from Fair Play for Women: https://fairplayforwomen.com/transgender-prisoners/

8. Trans-regret / detransitioners are left with irreversible body changes and medical complications for life. Making them lifelong medical patients you might want to see their stories: https://youtu.be/LyJGijjI2JU, https://youtu.be/3am6G-D-VtQ, https://youtu.be/M58PqUjezdM, https://youtu.be/lCDYXSnuq0w, https://youtu.be/etp1IN1xsDY, https://youtu.be/rKDbPkTcObE for more examples just type detransitioners stories into YouTube

I could go on with the statistical and anecdotal proof of how this mental and spiritual illness destroys people's lives making anyone who would encourage or stay silent while knowing and seeing this body mutilation and mental brainwashing, peer pressure, and torture legally and morally culpable and a co-conspirator in the destruction of these peoples entire lives and eventual eternal damnation! But now I’m going to move on to the Biblical proof that Transgenderism, Homosexuality, and any Biblically listed sexual immorality leads to Emotional Hell in this life and literal Hell in the next!

1. “A woman shall not wear man’s clothing, nor shall a man put on a woman’s clothing; for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord your God.” (Deuteronomy, 22:5)

2. “So God created man in his own image,

in the image of God he created him;

male and female, he created them.” (Genesis 1:27)

3. “You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.” (Leviticus 18:22)

4. “No one whose testicles are crushed or whose male organ is cut off shall enter the assembly of the Lord.” (Deuteronomy 23:1)

5. “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth [l]in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident [m]within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not [n]honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and [o]crawling creatures.

Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them.  For they exchanged the truth of God for [p]a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed [q]forever. Amen.

For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is [r]unnatural, and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing [s]indecent acts and receiving in [t]their own persons the due penalty of their error.

And just as they did not see fit [u]to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, slanderers, [v]haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.” ( Romans 1:18-32)

6. “Does not nature itself teach you that if a man wears long hair it is a disgrace for him, 15 but if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For her hair is given to her for a covering.” (1 corinthians 11:14-15)

7. “If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.” (Leviticus 20:13)

8.” Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor [f]effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.

The Body Is the Lord’s

All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything. Food is for the [g]stomach and the [h]stomach is for food, but God will do away with both [i]of them. Yet the body is not for immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body. Now God has not only raised the Lord, but will also raise us up through His power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take away the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? May it never be! Or do you not know that the one who joins himself to a prostitute is one body with her? For He says, “The two shall become one flesh.” But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him. Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the [j]immoral man sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a [k]temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from [l]God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.” (1 Corinthians 6:6-20)

9. “For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin,[c] he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus[d] from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

Heirs with Christ

So then, brothers,[e] we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons[f] of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.” (Romans 8:3-17)

10. “I appeal to you therefore, brothers,[a] by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.[b] 2 Do not be conformed to this world,[c] but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.[d]” (Romans 12-1-2)

Lastly, if you read this scripture you see that God commands us to warn others both Christian and nonChristian of their sin and that unless they repent and accept Christ’s sacrifice reconciling them with God in love it will lead them to hell and if we do not tell them we are responsible for their death and eternal damnation!

11.“he said to me, “Son of man, all my words that I shall speak to you receive in your heart, and hear with your ears. 11 And go to the exiles, to your people, and speak to them and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God,’ whether they hear or refuse to hear.” (Ezekiel 3:10-11) and “ Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me. 18 If I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, in order to save his life, that wicked person shall die for[d] his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. 19 But if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, or from his wicked way, he shall die for his iniquity, but you will have delivered your soul. 20 Again, if a righteous person turns from his righteousness and commits injustice, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die. Because you have not warned him, he shall die for his sin, and his righteous deeds that he has done shall not be remembered, but his blood I will require at your hand. 21 But if you warn the righteous person not to sin, and he does not sin, he shall surely live, because he took warning, and you will have delivered your soul.” (Ezekiel 3:17-21)

In conclusion, if we know someone(online or in person) that is considering transitioning and we encourage it or say nothing we are breaking both human and God's law just as that teen girl did! We cannot escape our earthly responsibilities for we will pay in this life or the next for our neglect and fear of doing what’s required of us as citizens and followers of Christ!

[fuck-this-im-a-witch]

Alright witches, I'm back.

And by back I mean I moved in like a week ago and I'm still unpacking but it's midnight and I'm on a caffeine buzz and wanting to type to procrastinate bedtime so let's go.

Now, in February another witch who's newer to the craft asked me about my baneful protection spells because I made the post about them really kicking several people to the curb and being a great little cut tie.

And while I won't show all the aspects, I will gladly talk about my favourite protection methods, my love of baneful magic and how I like to layer all my spells with as many layers as possible.

So, let's start with layers tbh, because it's how I set up some of my powerful spells.

Firstly, I like colour magic and personal association magic. I understand that a lot of us are going to use the collective association with a herb, symbol, colour, etc. to charge it; and don't get me wrong that is powerful and effective. But with some things, I like personal touches, like charging something with a strong memory association, wether it's associated with a person, a place, an emotion, a desire, a reaction, a relationship.... that's powerful.

For example; my mother's favourite flowers are roses. She loves them. Roses are generally associated with love, but each colour has a different and unique meaning, and sometimes they have both a positive and negative association in flower languages. So I might take some rose petals and enchant them or charge them with a strong memory associated with my mother and her rose garden or a memory of my mother and I in the emotional state linked to the colour or flower language association that I require in the spell. This boosts it and is something I've used in things like protection (because a mothers love is powerful but you know what else is... that womans rage and protective force. I'm scary, she's where I learned a lot of it and she's the one you don't want to cross) but also in healing spells and spells for joy (this woman once put horse poop and glitter in her rose garden with half eaten carrots to convince us reindeer had come at Christmas, she really wanted us to have that magical childhood joy and also took it as a chance to get high quality fertiliser for her rose garden 😂).

So I will charge as many ingredients in a spell like this as possible. But I will also add the same ingredient multiple times, charged with a different intent. I might add lavender to a protective spell as a layer to calm those who bring unintentional harm through unprocessed emotions... but I will also add a layer to confuse and sedate those who come bringing intentional ill intent and malice.

Calendula is for healing, but who do I want it to heal?

Clove for protection and warding, but who do I want to protect and who do I want to ward away?

Graveyard dirt, but what do I want to call forth and what do I want buried?

Chilli, but what do I want ignited with passion and what do I want to burn themselves from the inside out?

Rusted nails or hinges; but what do I want to be injured or stuck, vs warned and sent away?

All of these things get layered together with intricate details and information and intentions. They get envisioned with as many powerful memories and emotions as possible and they are sealed with a wax and a stone that matches their intentions and I usually put these jars (I like jars for these kinds of spells tbh) in little mesh bags with little pieces of paper that remind me of how I built the spell and it's original intent and the sigil I used with it.

Sometimes I will put the sigil both in and out of the spell.

So that's some of my layering and intention techniques; but my love of baneful magic and favourite protective tools and techniques?

I love baneful magic because I am a survivor and a victim of multiple forms of abuse. I turned 24 in February, it marked the first time in my life that I went a full year without being assaulted.

So as you can imagine, I am a very very strong believer in restorative justice and healing, but also in fighting back however the fuck you can. I also believe in blocking those fuckers out with every mundane and magical thing you can think of. They don't deserve access to you and you're going to do your shadow work and build your strength to keep them away as best as you can.

So I choose the path of love and light in the sense that I will protect and seek to help children and to protect the vulnerable. But I mostly choose to do so in very matter of fact blunt ways and then lighting a fiery war path of whoever decided that me speaking plainly wasn't good enough.

And yes, I do that in both the mundane and magical.

So I love using rose thorns (did you know they carry a bacteria that can cause a really nasty infection if you're pricked deeply and left untreated? I didn't until my father had one stab into the back of his head and then spent months dealing with it because he didn't know it was stuck their until it was severely infected), I love rusted nails (tetanus shot anyone? Also, please do actually be up to date on that and be super safe with any rusted metals), splinters, embedding spiked plants, tarantula moults (did you know tarantulas have hairs on them that they brush off at predators to make them extremely itchy? Well now you know. Also think of the speed, the force, the strength, the sight, the ingenuity of spiders that you can utilise their energy for in spells! I love spiders and I find that because of that they will happily work with me even when living), ant corpses (strength, fight, protection in numbers, cleanses dead things to remove harm and infection from the home), wasps (pollinators but also many are carnivorous, protective of the home and their babies, can be befriended by kind and gentle natures that are willing to provide water and respect their boundaries and space), cat fur or whiskers (senses things in the environment, good at finding hidden intentions, holds firm boundaries, doesn't tolerate a lack of respect, loves hard and in unique ways), dog fur (kind, friendly, protective, loyal, loving, strong, energetic, etc whatever your dog's personality is), feathers (freedom, growth, flight, birds eye view, stealth, hunting, teamwork -most of my favourite birds live in communities-), sap (sticky, solidifies, hold's history, comes from a wound and prevents infection of the plant, protective and prevention from pests while also substance for others.)

Anything you can think of will have the capacity to work well in a spell, but it needs your intention, patience and knowledge and reverence of the items power and place.

Nature is so so powerful and beautiful and the cycle of life is full of love, hope, peace, joy, laughter, comfort, compassion, energies that are powerful positive moments but it's also full of death, disease, grief, destruction and despair that are powerful negative traits.

The best protection spells are those that are set up to invite the love and peace in, protect it and encourage it to grow, thrive and encompass all elements of yours and your communities lives and also in the same spell have the ability to send out, ward, cleanse and/or destroy any negativity based on its varying levels and intentions.

Someone who's just in a bad mood or stressful place might just need some warding or a cleanse before entering your bubble.

But someone who's got it out for you or your community, who's there to intentionally or just intensely bring harm or a form of unproductive chaos? They need to be warded and cut out before you even need to intervene on a mundane level so that when you do on a mundane level it's less painful and stressful for you.

And this is your reminder to not necessarily cleanse a space unless something really awful happened there, but to instead transmute and transform the energy and change the way the energy flows in the space. Movement and cleaning a space vs cleansing a resetting is a big difference.

Think like the difference between cleaning your house for an honoured guest vs a moving out/bond clean.

That's the difference between transmuting and cleaning up the vibes vs a full cleanse.

You want your power and your work to feel unique and meaningful to you. It should feel good because it's beautiful and powerful in a way that matches your unique personality and perspective on things and it should help you grow and become stronger in yourself because it encourages you to learn and observe and overcome obstacles with grace, intelligence, courage, compassion and integrity because you know yourself and your potential so you can acknowledge mistakes and work to achieve more.

You're all more powerful than you ever thought possible, you just have to unlock it with time, patience, knowledge and practice.

🖤Pixie

[the-jam-to-the-unicorn]

I’m just so incredibly sad that Olena and Volodymyr(and all Ukrainians) have to go through this. I’m it has gotten so bad that Olena is seeing a psychologist…I know that she doesn’t want anyone pitying her but i feel so sorry for her and Volodymyr☹️☹️Can’t even imagine how hard it is for them. Just want them being happy and healed together after war❤️😣

About the pitying part - based on my interpretation of what she said in the interview (and in other interviews throughout the last months), I think, she has no problem with honest compassion and pity and can also accept that. But she doesn't want the pity to only revolve around her. So, basically, people only seeing her story, her misery, her trauma and all the things that happen to her (and her family).

That's, I think, what she also means when she said in the interview that she doesn't want to be the main character of some tragic story and she doesn't want her story to be told (paraphrazing what she said).

In the end, Ze and Olena are very similiar, when it comes to their public role. Both understand that they have to be in the spotlight - for different reasons - but they still make it all about the people and not about themselves. They talk about their story and what they go through, but emphasize that they're not especially. They're just like everybody else and every Ukrainian has their own horrible story and they want to put the highlight on their people and their stories.

So, yeah, the whole comment was ultimately more a "please don't only pity me and talk only about me" (also probably being very self-reflecting that, while she suffers and experiences lots of trauma and has to go through hell again and again, she still is better off than other Ukrainians and she's in a "lucky" position - as lucky as this position can be with all the responsibility and things she has to see, hear and do) (and yes, trauma is no competion but that's another discussion and shouldn't be dumped on her while she still experiences trauma and is also not our place). She wants to make sure that people not only see the suffering, poor First Lady of a really brave but equally suffering President, but also the people who don't have the attention of the world.

Basically, pity her and have compassion for her, talk about her suffering and her story and put her in the focus, but don't forget ordinary Ukrainians.

In addition to all that - Olena mentions she doesn't want to be viewed as a victim, which is a common thing for trauma survivors. Strenght comes from a position of being a survivor and Olena emphasized she wants to believe in post-traumatic growth (also probably needing this to heal and survive her trauma).

Her whole attitude about that topic also got visible in another part of the interview where (paraphrazing again) she mentioned she feels bad mourning friends "vs" people she doesn't know and that she thinks she can't mourn the death of friends more than she mourns about soldier's or other people's death.

[valkyriesexual]

in the depp v heard case, the abuser won, and society lost. I know that decades of tv shows and movies and everything has good triumphing and the bad guy going down. but in reality, abusers win all the time.

abusers don't care about lying (ex: depp lying about striking AH vs AH admitting to striking depp in self defense). abusers don't care how much their reputation suffers as long as they hurt their victim too. abusers don't care about telling a consistent story (ex: depp claiming AH cut his finger off after putting in writing to like 3 previous sources that he did it himself on a bender). they're shameless, manipulative, and unconstrained by decency, morality, or truth. that will always give them a massive advantage in a legal setting.

imagine if depp and AH had a child together. what lengths would depp go to in order to gain custody? if you're enraged about the verdict and want to do something, look at volunteering or donating to organizations that provide free legal assistance to survivors of domestic violence.

I promise you, we can use all the help we can get.

[if you found this post helpful or informative, please consider subscribing to my substack, it does take me a decent amount of time to research, write, and source posts like this, and substack subscriptions are deeply appreciated]

[redphlox]

Tenko's tears; Touya's wounded inner child

As I've mentioned before, crying serves various purposes, two of which include emotional regulation and forming social connections. Tears signal "I'm sad and I need help" and usually elicit concern from others. But, for Touya and Tenko, tears didn't fulfill these needs. When Tenko cried, the adults around him tried to distract him from his pain or change how he responded to his abuse instead of defending him or confronting his father Kotaro. They meant well, but in the end it didn't help Tenko and he felt alone. No one validated his pain; he was seen, but he wasn't helped. The same thing happened to Touya, who was seen crying, and crying, and crying, but his parents refused to acknowledge the root cause of his pain because it would mean facing their own mistakes. His tears, his cries for help, never got him the help he needed and never made him feel better.

Even as adults, Dabi and Shigaraki weren't listened to because they didn't display socially acceptable feelings such as sorrow or regret, and they weren't dealing with their trauma in a socially acceptable way, like crying. Shigaraki told Endeavor, in front of Deku and Bakugo, that heroes only hurt their families, but it wasn't until Deku saw a glimpse of Tenko that Deku decided Shigaraki was worth saving because little Tenko’s tears humanized him and made him relatable.

While this is a turning point in the manga, the way it came about insinuates that certain unspoken conditions exist that need to be filled before victimhood can be validated or someone is deemed worthy of help. Not everyone is equal, and not everyone's pain will be good enough in hero society. This warrants the questions the League of Villains keep asking: who are heroes here to save? Who is it that needs saving? Where do you draw the line? Are villains not people too?

This new plot point of Deku being moved by Tenko’s tears also brings into light how isolating and demonizing it is for Dabi not being physically able to cry. He compensates for this – because remember, crying regulates your emotions, and if you can’t cry you turn to other coping mechanisms for self-soothing – by telling himself and others that he doesn’t care about anything or anyone. He copes with his emotions by smiling and grinning, by not getting too attached. He takes an offensive approach through keeping a distance from people by insulting them and being rude. However, his quirk’s link to his emotions betrays him and exposes his true feelings: his flames became hotter after Twice died and his flames turned white while confronting Endeavor. Dabi, despite everything, still cares and feels deeply.

So, how is Dabi supposed to be seen and understood and saved if he can’t prove that he has feelings if he can't cry? Why would he even want to cry, since crying never helped him? All Touya did from the age of four was cry for help, literally, and yet he was ignored and neglected. It wasn't Shigaraki's words that moved Deku, it was the unintended display of emotion through crying, which is something Dabi can't do even if he wanted because his tear ducts are burnt as a result of being so heartbroken over his father not showing up to Sekoto Peak. The irony is ugly and upsetting to witness – overwhelming feelings of abandonment and worthlessness almost killed Dabi ten years ago and now, when the story implies he desperately needs to cry to be seen, he can't, and therefore he's still alone and will continue to be alone.

But wait – he cries tears of blood, doesn’t he?

I think that if he’s caught in a vulnerable place, if the right people (Natsuo) meet him or if he is finally validated and seen and understood (Shouto), those tears of blood would come out and he’d finally be eligible (as gross as that sounds) for salvation, for understanding, for sympathy like Shigaraki. Feelings serve as evidence to society that villains are human too, and Dabi must first be considered a human. It seems that salvation, like the attention Touya received from his father, is conditional. Touya's wounded inner child and status as an abuse survivor will be the ticket to his redemption IF he can be vulnerable and express his pain physically to the younger generation of heroes, because talking about his past hasn't helped and won't help. Even now, as noted in 304, people still weren't sure why he became a villain even though he literally explained why in his pre-recorded broadcast. Dabi, or his inner child, has to show evidence he is still emotionally suffering because his words won't suffice for society or heroes. Honestly, this framing is personally distressing and frustrating because it pushes a bad victim vs good victim mentality, especially in light of Rei commenting that Shouto, who she burnt and forgave her nonetheless, is their family's hero.

Don't get me wrong. Shouto has done nothing wrong to warrant this suffering, and I think it's great that Deku is determined to save everyone within his reach. This makes sense as his role as protagonist. With that said, it's unsettling to me how drastically different he's reacting to Shigaraki compared to how he responded to Dabi by comparing him to Endeavor and implying Dabi is worse for not trying to be better. Before anyone jumps down my throat, I know Deku intervened because he was worried about Shouto, and that Deku is 16 and young. My point is that the narrative and the writing is setting up a problematic view of victims by having the main character nitpick who deserves to be saved based on this societal construct that people must first qualify or prove themselves. Shigaraki shouldn't have had to show his trauma receipts or be relatable for Deku to want to save him. Shigaraki didn’t even expose his inner child on purpose – Deku caught a glimpse of that without Shigaraki’s intention.

Let me say this another way. Imagine if you had to present yourself as sympathetic to a firefighter, an ambulance worker, or a doctor before receiving their help. It would be unprofessional and highly unethical for these professionals to turn you down because you don't fit the image of someone who needs help, someone who's not "sick" enough, whose house isn't burning hot enough, whose injuries aren't "bad" enough. So why do heroes, as a group of public servants, have these unwritten rules and preconceived notions about what a victim looks like? I understand that people are more likely to provide services if you're nice to them (you catch more flies with honey, etc) and that everyone has biases etc, but this isn't a core value of the helping professions or public servants. It's unethical to discriminate and assign varying levels of care based on how someone treats you or others around them. People in need are people in need, and that's that.

As of now, it seems like the manga is on route to support the League's complaints by supplying evidence that their disillusionment with society isn't unfounded - even Twice, who died crying at the hands of a hero part of the older generation, was not considered a person before he was considered a villain. But maybe if he had come across a hero from the younger generation, someone who recognized his tears as human despite his criminal record, he wouldn't have met the fate he did. It seems that the older generation of heroes don't take tears or emotions into account, which is why Tenko and Touya were shrugged off. But the younger generation will go out of their way to help anyone who needs help, but only if they prove themselves or make themselves sympathetic.

[ladychlo]

Apparently the jury have reached a verdict on JD. I just know he’s going to win. I don’t want to sound like a crazy conspiracy theorist but I feel like this and Roe vs Wade is connected, America is trying to get back to “traditional” values, starting with getting women back as breeding cattle stuck in abusive relationships. I’m dreading going to work tomorrow and hearing about it.

you don't sound like a crazy conspiracy theorist. the whole course of the trial is enraging on how it built an unchallenged narrative in the social media and grand public. the way this case was put in a public discourse erased a huge part of the Meetoo Mouvement about nuanced narratives of sexual abuse survivors. the verdict somehow looks useless as to the way you see a narrative of discrediting survivorhood was perpetuated and aggravated by social media and stan culture. and I'm thinking of her still a white woman with privileges and access to resources yet she was discredited and mocked for her documented experience with IPV, imagine women and people in general who went through the same situation yet nuanced of abuse would take from this? I know some don't see the seriousness of the public mockery and backlash but trust me shifting public perception about sexual/domestic abuse has a long-term impact on others who might not be as privileged or resourced, impacting how victims identify their abuse and how they open up about it. its just a big big sigh

[3liza]

hey im not gonna spread your weird social media-mediated brain infection on my blog, instead here are some cool studies to look at about how the "beautiful people have an easier life, every day, all the time" is a simplistic view, and is also patriarchal as fuck. more recent studies on "beauty privilege" are finding that the issue is complex, and that perceived beauty acts as a negative pressure in some/many social situations. i have always wondered why my experiences varied so much from the apparent wonderland the pop-science concept of "beauty privilege" paints, and more recent studies (often designed by women this time, imagine) are getting into the complexity there.

you personally may want to think about not reading my social media accounts if they are making you feel and act like this. i think i am not going to interact with you anymore if i can help it because i feel bad about what it is doing to you. anyway.

the short version is that beauty is beneficial in heterosexual social situations when dealing with the opposite sex, but detrimental when dealing with the same sex. this aspect of the research is usually ignored because who needs nuance in their pop psychology, right? not this guy (pointing 2 self)

very simply put, a beautiful woman can flirt her way out of a ticket from a heterosexual male cop. if she tries it on a person who doesnt consider her a potential romantic partner, there may be (and apparenly often are) negative consequences.

similarly in my own life i find that 99% of the apparent opportunities i'd been given for being young and fuckable were predicated on me actually fucking* the person who "offered" them, and most of them turned out to be fake/insincere opportunities anyway. tumblr refers to this as "grooming" when applied to child subjects (which i was, for much of it) but the behavior persists into the target's adulthood, middle age, and even old age if certain conditions are met. i can't find any studies on this because you can't put a Sleazy Guy in a lab setting and ask him "hey were you actually going to hire this woman on hte up-and-up, or were you going to 'hire' her and then spend 16 months making increasingly deranged sexual harassment attempts before reporting her to HR for made-up reasons and then finally firing her or hamstringing her career? just wondering".

i always think about that episode of Always Sunny where Mac goes nuts because every kid in his class was molested by the gym teacher and he imagines this to be some sort of privilege, even though charlie was one of the victims and is clearly devastated by it. thats what this conversation feels like every time it gets to the level of anons making fake tumblr accounts to KEEP pestering me about this stuff. remember that thing i said earlier about blood in the water, and how i dont post about bad shit that happened to me because it attracts the wrong kind of attention??? hehuehueheuheuhuehriuhgfidsrhru

actually thats a whole other realm of study: why victims of sexual assault and abuse are often re-victimized. until recently it was assumed that the victims were making bad decisions in who to trust, and this is sooorrrrtt of true, but doesn't tell the whole story. i read a study once that i am trying to find and will post later if i find it, that took video of adult women study subjects (who had agreed to be filmed) walking normally just down the street publically, and showed this video to male test subjects. if im remembering the study correctly, which i may not be, the male subjects who scored higher on psychopathy indices were better able to indentify the women in the test footage who had been sexually assaulted at some point in their former lives.

something to think about is a lot of "attractive" qualities (including proccupation with physical appearance leading to altering that appearance to be more beautiful), especially in the manic pixie archetype, are very strongly represented in trauma victims, especially sexual assault survivors (as is the opposite, intentionally trying to be "unattractive" to avoid further victimization). this includes "seductiveness", one of the adjectives used to diagnose child sexual abuse victims before the verbiage in the literature got cleaned up. obviouly a child cant be "seductive" and thats pretty offensive and fucked up to say. what they meant is that the childs behavior has been altered by trauma to become sexualized to appease attackers. this is part of the "fawn" sector of emergency responses in humans (along with fight, flight, and freeze).

so when we talk so cavalierly of "beauty" and "attractive people" vs "unattractive people" we are simplifying an issue that is so complex it is difficult even to think about. this complexity makes me go "hmm" every time theres a study on it, much less a popular belief. a lot of it sort of doesnt square with easily-observable phenomena: if physical beauty is so correlated to success, why are the 1% of wealthy people, politicians, actual power-holders, hell even the CEOs of normal companies, very very rarely what you would consider physically beautiful, even when they havent aged out of what the culture thinks is the maximum span of time someone can be "hot"? some of this is just personal preference, and it's real hard to study any of this because of how complex that issue becomes. but where are all these hot successful people i keep hearing about? are they all trophy spouses and retired from the public eye? you can definitely cherrypick examples of "influencers" etc but thats an extremely narrow line of work, and not representative.

anyway! lot of the "do beautiful people get more stuff" research is from quite a while ago, wasnt designed well, and was based on a work and social culture that was quite a bit different than it is now. but even older studies document this effect. ive spent like many minutes typing about this stupid bullshit so im bored and annoyed now and i dont want to type about it anymore

1. Effects of Self-Esteem Threat on Physical Attractiveness Stereotypes

2. Does being attractive always help? positive and negative effects of attractiveness on social decision making (cant find the sci-hub version, alas, but documents a negative effect we're actually seeing an anecdotal example of in my inbox rn)

3. Is beauty a gift or a curse? The influence of an offender’s physical attractiveness on forgiveness

* often it wasnt even just a sex thing. it's very very often a romance/relationship that is desired by the perpetrator. it's a misapprehension of the public that sexual harassment/grooming is "just about sex" or even less accurately "just about power", it isnt

[crackinwise]

My pet AU is Kiyotaka and Mondo somehow out in the post-Tragedy Japan, surviving and saving people. Like either they didn't agree to stay locked in Hope's Peak for safety, or they survived the game and left with the others but didn't join Future Foundation. Major points up front, details divided into sections under the cut:

Mondo's objective would be to find his gang, and Taka's goal, besides finding his dad, would be repairing society while punishing those responsible for its destruction. But their direct task is keeping each other safe & helping victims along the way.

Mondo even stresses calling Taka "Ishimaru" instead of "bro" or his given name in front of others, so they might KNOW who's saving them. Taka caught on quick & is very grateful.

Taka would have kind of a breakdown reconciling who he is with what he has to do in a lawless world where every public moral is ignored. He keeps a small ledger of places they loot from, to compensate in the future.

At the start, Taka can only sleep burrowed against Mondo's chest or back, blocking out their damaged surroundings & pretending everything is as it was.

He cries in Mondo's arms one night after he couldn't avoid killing someone to save Mondo's life, and that's the tipping point. He thinks if he was better, stronger like his bro, he'd have noticed sooner & found a better option. Mondo is being so brave; he's Taka's rock and Taka wants to be as steady for him too. Their souls are already connected so obviously he just has to borrow more of Mondo's spirit, right?

That's how Ishida is created.

(In reality, Mondo just compartmentalizes and shoves down unhelpful feelings. You thought he needed therapy BEFORE all this, oh man-)

Ishida:

Taka ends up slipping into the Ishida facade for fight and flight; any time adrenaline kicks in and he feels he needs that boost. Sadly, that's most of their waking time. He guards Mondo and anyone they're saving like a fierce watchdog, and won't hesitate to bite.

He'll only come out of the role when he personally verifies it's safe and if Mondo can confirm it. Survivors are confused by the dual-sided Ishimaru switching right in front of them, but they're so grateful (and so much weird crap has happened) that it never phases them long.

Too many times, Ishida will go all day without a break. This means when their hideout for the night is absolutely safe, that it's okay to let go, Taka just collapses in exhaustion. But Mondo is there to catch him.

Mondo feels conflicted over the Ishida role because Taka is just a beast in it--it's very flattering and a little hot--but it also makes him worry more than before about Taka's health. He comforts Taka with a lot of praise and reassurances, and Taka sleeps lightly but otherwise fine.

Relationship: (slight mature warning)

When they touch, Taka swears he can feel the link between them flare to fuel them. Twin fires ignited. Mondo doesn't know about all that, but when their eyes meet it definitely makes him feel invincible, so, he can believe.

If they weren't already new boyfriends when The Tragedy hit, all this closeness makes sure of that soon after. Being together is their happiness and, for a while, their only link to pre-Tragedy lives. Vows not unlike marriage were exchanged one night. Where one goes, the other will follow. Anywhere. Always.

When they kiss, safe and alone, Mondo will ask what Taka wants; what he can handle that night. Sometimes it's just the kisses before passing out, sometimes it's more intimate touches to please them both after another hellish day.

Sometimes Taka will ask to be made love to, for obvious couple reasons, but also because Mondo inside him makes their tether feel stronger, more complete. Like going over the invisible line in bold marker. Taka believes any marks they can create with their mouths, any traces of themselves they can leave on or in each other, the easier they can find their bond and tap into it. (He had started a nervous habit of pressing in on lovebites to keep Ishida going when tired.)

Mondo tells him he doesn't need to find a poetic excuse for fetishes and Taka lovingly answers with a stomach punch.

Crazy Diamonds:

Mondo's gang members, the ones not dead or overcome with Despair, are slowly found and joined back up.

Any smaller and sturdier motorcycles are kept when found. If Mondo was able to keep his own in this version, it's a bit heavier than would be good for any off-roading--and much too loud for any stealth--but he refuses to part with it.

Every gang member respected Taka/Ishida the second they saw him fight beside their leader. Before Mondo says a word about him. They readily take orders from him in either form. The change in appearance was a surprise, but they're already used to some members wildly changing demeanor in or away from the gang, so it's easily accepted.

With the gang as backup to keep watch during downtime--after Ishida sized each one up and watched them for loyalty--the pair can feel a lot more relaxed. They joke about having a date in a blown-out restaurant they find, and they can finally enjoy a deep sleep.

When the group finds safehouses with more than one room, Mondo & Taka are given their privacy. Taka tries to insist everyone deserves a chance at privacy and they should rotate, but changing a gang's long-established hierarchy is a losing battle. And Mondo's not on his side because when they're alone he can be as sappy or touchy as he likes.

Legends:

Taka and Mondo save a lot of people over their journey and kinda become a legend that gets spread around and gives people Hope.

This area still needs work from me. Probably some research into Japanese myths and supernatural symbolism. A placeholder right now is something corny like "Two Men with burning eyes and thunderous voices will answer your cries for help. But if you're evil, the two will appear to you as One Demon and drag you down to the land of the dead."

There's also probably a need for costume changes since their color scheme is the same black & white of the Despair Remnants and monokumas killing people. Legend or not, it'd be easy for traumatized survivors to not know they're good guys at first.

Darker Moments: (blood, violence and vague attempted sexual assault)

After he killed a man to save Mondo, Taka luckily (he wouldn't use that word) doesn't have to again. Hurt? Yes. Beat unconscious? Yes. Maim? Yes, but some of the vile dregs of humanity are caught doing things that deserve worse--

--That deserve Mondo. Once when they were still traveling alone, a group of Remnants jumped them, managing to separate the two, and one knocked Taka out with a bad blow to the head. Mondo dispatched the others attacking him and got to Taka right as the Remnant was about to do something unforgivable.

Mondo snapped. He still doesn't remember what he did, he just remembers coming to in all the blood and dazedly picking Taka up to take him to a place he knew was safe.

Taka never finds out. He woke up a day later with a bandaged head and Mondo crying and kissing his hands. Mondo just told him he beat some and scared away the others.

Minor Details:

They try to always fight back-to-back and, to observers, seem to read each other's mind for where to move.

Taka/Ishida would use a sword or hand-to-hand. The pickaxe might just be a random pickaxe they find, if he uses it at all. Kinda hard to carry both a sword and a railroad pickaxe on your back, and I can't imagine it balances very well. (The size in official pics would be a 5lb head w/2-3lb handle.)

Mondo seems like he would use anything lying in debris to fight. Poles, pipes, chains. Aaaand maybe the knives he mentions in School Mode.

For any costume changes, Mondo would keep his jacket at least. A beacon for the Diamonds. Maybe a purple tank top, and different pants better for knife holsters. Unless the holster should wrap around his waist or hip instead?

Any changes to Taka's outfit would keep his armband. It's a reminder of his Talent and his goal to make Japan even better than before. Also wanna keep his boots or change to more rugged ones.

End Goal:

Obviously they'd end up in Towa, after the events of Ultra Despair Girls. They're reunited with Takaaki and Takemichi. Maybe they help set things right there a bit, or Makoto would get word to them about his plans vs Future Foundation's. Look at me, do I look like someone that knows how to end things?

There is no way you read all that. (I love you if you did.) But feel free to use all or any bits of it in your own works. Almost positive I'll never get to compose all this into a coherent fic format. I might update in short scenario posts under a 'Tragedy-survivor au' tag if I think of anything.

If you have a question or want something expanded upon, ask away.

[sinnersandsaints-linwrites]

Do all the ROs have really loose morals when it comes to murder? Or do Roan and Khari (they seem the sanest so far lol) have stricter morals?

Because all I can imagine is poor, danger-magnet MC surrounded by all these people who just eh at murdering someone, and I feel like they’d need someone else who can commiserate about how screwed up this is lol (but at the same time, it’s funny to think about MC turning to Roan and Khari and being like ‘you think murders bad right????’ And they’re just like ‘well…I mean…’ and MC just screaming cause seriously????)

The answer will be under the cut, as I'll mention different crimes (I mean whole variety of them) and violent actions relating to this.

Okay, so, all of the ROs would murder someone under certain circumstances, that's canon, and not even a spoiler. They have the means, so with right motivation, it would happen. All of the ROs would never allow a child to be hurt, or for any form of se*ual abuse or harassment to happen. That is set in stone.

Not all of them think murder is right. This is where their morals differentiate.

Sage doesn't place value on life, or the well-being of people they don't care for. They have their own boundaries, of course, but very few. Violence is the means they have at hand, they see no point in not using it if the situation calls for it. They also do not think much about the laws wherever they are.

Ariel believes ends justify the means, and the life of someone who destroys and/or hurts others are worth less than the life of an innocent. (Example; a spouse who commits domestic abuse vs a nurse who just wants to help their patients.) They have a very strict moral code of what is justified, and what isn't (revenge - not justified, justice killing - justified).

Morgan absolutely hates violence, and would not condone murder. They see enough victims of it on daily basis, they have to listen to the regrets of the perpetrators and the pain of those who were harmed. Only way they'd justify a killing, is if a survivor killed their abuser, or if it was self defence.

Roan tries to be a pacifist, they see no sense in violence or murder. They have more of a 'the other cheek' philosophy. That, however, ends when someone they love is seriously harmed, or if they witness discrimination and/or injustice. They see no fault in anyone who fights for freedom, safety, or protects themselves. Morally they'd be conflicted if they killed someone (unless said someone would be a vile being, doing anything I've mentioned in the beginning) and struggle to come to terms with it.

Riven is more of a mindset that violence is the answer to many questions. In their experience, talking rarely works if the other person is not willing to listen and/or compromise, so a fist can make them finally start listening. Not only that -- they'd kill to protect others, and see no issue with taking revenge.

Khari is more of a tricky case, as they are used to aggression more than they are to peace. They do hold human life in high regard, senseless violence is something they'd never condone. They do, however, think that it can be excused if someone crosses your boundaries (assuming they were voiced), in case of self defence, getting rid of an abuser, or if a loved one was in imminent danger or was severely hurt -- doesn't matter if physically or psychologically.

Sasha lived the life of violence once, so they are probably most conflicted out of everyone. They view their past life as an easier one, they did not care much for who becomes their victim. If someone seemed well-off, privileged, etc., they'd have no issue disposing of them. Nowadays, they're careful about that, and prefer more humane and less permanent solutions. Granted, they'd kill in a blink of an eye if someone their love was threatened, and would go to extreme ways to protect the ones they care for, but their conscience would gnaw at them later for years, if not decades.

Now -- the MCs choices and attitude will influence each of the ROs. They can either steer away from violence, try more peaceful solutions, try to forgive and let go, or they can become more ruthless, wild and vengeful.

thank you for the ask, I hope this clarified things a little! <3

[poetonthemoon]

Uhhh massive tw for abuse under the cut

I haven't been following the Johnny Depp vs. Amber Heard trial all that closely, but holy fucking shit. Everything I've heard and the way some people are talking about them is skeevy as fuck

This isn't just celebrity drama, this isn't some reality TV episode, this isn't fuel for dank memes. This was a horrific and abusive situation that left one or both of these two people traumatized. We don't need to hear clips of a complete stranger self-harming or vomiting their guts out or being beaten or whatever the fuck else. I can't imagine being in that situation, where literal millions of people are watching your abuse replayed over and over again. Being so much in the public eye that everything pitiable about you becomes a laughingstock... my god. I don't understand how people can find this entertaining.

Oh, and if the jury decides that Amber is the guilty party, can we please not use that as an excuse to be blatantly misogynistic? There's already a terrifying backlash going on where her name is smeared on any woman online who sticks up for herself. A single situation where the alleged victim turns out to be the perpetrator is not an excuse to discredit all survivors. What we should take away from such an outcome is that abuse has no gender and that battered men deserve just as much sympathy as women, not "all women are gold-digging manipulative c*nts."

And if Amber is vindicated and Johnny is proven to be the abuser... let him go. It doesn't matter who you think is hotter, or whose acting gives you nostalgia, or whatever else. An abuser is an abuser.

Just accept the evidence wherever it leads, and let the survivor move on.

[godkilller]

@shirenui144

A more sombre question, but had me wondering... Has Gin ever cried / what would it take to make him cry? I imagine it would be verse dependent, but could a man this guarded ever visibly show such emotional hurt?

          out of character.  Why must you hurt me.

          But it’s an excellent question, and as you say too -- Gin has become such a guarded, numbed, and twisted man. He has, for lack of better wording, killed off that part of himself long ago. He is also one of the topmost guarded characters in Bleach, even Ichigo’s little trick of ‘reading his opponent’s heart’ during battle did not work on Gin. Gin was empty. Gin wasn’t even ‘looking at Ichigo’ with his heart when fighting. They did not reach each other. Gin is so utterly closed off from others and himself that there’s an eerie absence of self present in him, a swallowing abyss, intimidating and oppressive. Gin has also spent his entire existence isolated, he joined Aizen extremely young and thus his centuries-long otherness began. He cannot show emotions akin to Toshiro, who is often used in ways alongside Gin to show what happens if one shows emotions and weakness to Aizen Sousuke via childhood friends. Renji and Rukia, too, are used in ways that contrast Gin and Rangiku subtly in the background. Gin’s interactions with Rukia about Renji, and his interactions with Toshiro about Momo are to make Gin more of an other. He is removed, unlike them.

          So Gin does not despair openly like they do. He doesn’t shout or cry for the audience to see. He’s a villainous cold-hearted bastard.

          This is on top of the potent sense of cultural toxic masculinity and military way of avoiding / “dealing with” emotionally charged moments, not speaking of trauma, and the whole nine yards of suppression which channels into self-worth issues and a tendency for violence. Most characters in Bleach, and especially male characters, aren’t allowed to really stop and think about what they’re feeling, doing -- Ichigo being able to do a decent amount of that, yes, with his protagonist badge, but even then ?  It’s pathetically insufficient, barely a taste of what Ichigo actually should be experiencing, and no other characters are allowed to mourn losses or suffer long-lasting consequences for their actions, for injuries, for mistakes, for harmful words or acts. It’s an action / fighting series, the audience is here for big flashy swordfights and cool abilities, not emotions. Certainly not darker topics of PTSD and the like.

          You can slice it any which way, but Gin grew up as a child soldier. It can be contrasted by the fact that the majority of the Gotei 13 / Shinigami characters are shown, in flashbacks, as entering the Academy whilst in adulthood, becoming Shinigami once adults, with the exception of people like Toshiro, Momo, Hiyori, who all look / are perpetually young.

          Gin is a little older than Toshiro, for context, by the way -- and he is younger than Byakuya. Because Tite doesn’t know how the ages of his own characters work, it can be argued that Gin and Hiyori are possibly within the same ballpark in terms of ages. But like. Look at her. What the fuck. ANYWAYS, the point is ?  Gin’s young, and his trauma is fairly fresh. From the Winter War -- and then 110 years into the past to the Turn Back the Pendulum arc -- Gin spends the majority of his childhood either playing caretaker for Rangiku, who is actually a little older than him, and then killing; first, the three Shinigami that attacked Rangiku, then the Third Seat of the Fifth Division, and then many more likely during his career of observing failed projects at Aizen’s side, witnessing horrific Hollowification experimentations, and many more things. The crucial period of development for things like higher level empathy  ( Gin showcases it by sharing his food with Rangiku, a stranger, and then we see the absolute absence of it from then on )  and Gin swiftly enters into the midst of Erikson’s industry vs. inferiority stage of development; what does he have to offer the world ?  What can he become ?  Will he be good enough ?  This is the stage in which Gin makes the connection as well as makes peace with becoming a monster; this is what I’m offering, this is what I’m becoming, this will be good enough.

          He flipped a switch. It’s questionable whether or not Gin has the ability to cry once he’s an established Third Seat. It’s gone, it’s been swallowed down a hole so deep and dark Gin doesn’t want to go searching for it. He doesn’t want to cry. Gin already has a negative connotation connected to crying given his quote “I’m gonna become a Shinigami, change things for ya, so that you don’t have to cry anymore, Rangiku.” Not crying = good. Not crying means better. Rangiku crying over what was done to her was what embedded into Gin that he needed to be stronger. No crying allowed. None. In his mind, obviously, Gin doesn’t actually make that connection that ‘because Rangiku did this, I’ll do this’ no, he’s not so meticulously aware yet, but there’s certainly an imprint left on him from those earlier years in the Rukongai, dreading her tears, hating them, hating those men, and so crying = murderous intent. Crying = anger.

          If Gin cried as a child, he didn’t realize he was doing so. I can see him crying in his sleep from a dream, a nightmare, a jam-packed series of emotions hitting him whilst vulnerable, whilst unable to smile and swallow it all down. I can see him waking from it and wiping at his face, feeling utter detachment like an ache in his chest, an otherness, like that wasn’t even him crying, that wasn’t him. Gin wouldn’t think more of it, he wouldn’t dare linger on the thoughts. Conceal, don’t feel, don’t let them know.mp4 and all that jazz.

          Gin is more likely to lash out in anger than let himself cry. I have a headcanon / drabble somewhere of Gin screaming into his inner world, clutching at his hair, feeling so terribly close to crying but he can’t, it literally will not happen. He’s too bottled up and frustrated from that that when he actually has an opportunity to cry and it doesn’t naturally happen because he’s become so suppressed, it just outright angers him. Because he has latched everything up, lock and key, by the time Gin’s an adult -- if he were to cry as an adult, it’d be during a flurry of explosive emotions. He cannot just casually let loose, no, that door’s jammed shut, it’s been coiled tight in him. A pit of despair by the time the Winter War rolls by. Gin admits to feeling anxiety, dread, during that conflict -- a sign of slowly coming undone, no longer able to keep himself from hesitance, doubt, insecurity, and anticipation hovering around him like a dark cloud. Gin cannot cry, though, not now. Not when he’s so close to making all the pain worth something...

          So it’s no surprise that Gin really only starts getting the actual opening to properly cry in my canon divergent verses. But the catch !!!!  Gin has failed so thoroughly and so brutally that he feels he doesn’t deserve to weep about it. That this is merely a fraction of the karma he deserves. He experiences suicidal ideation, daydreaming of how it’d simply be easier if he hadn’t survived at all. He feels too hollow to cry, then, at the start. He feels too heavy, too much, it’s too much to cry about. He ruined himself and Rangiku for nothing. He did all of this for nothing. And now Rangiku wants answers, still waiting, watching him, and he can’t cry in front of her. IT’S STILL INGRAINED IN HIM FROM CHILDHOOD: she’s the one who cries and he’s the one who comforts. The audacity of him to cry in front of her after everything he put her through, as though he were the victim and her the one needing to comfort him. Gin may be morally gray, but at times he truly sees the world in black and white. No moderation, no give and take.

          It’d hit him later, when he’s learning to become more vulnerable. When he’s trying to open up to Rangiku about something he has to rip from himself, his heart holding onto this sorrow for so long Gin has to surgically remove the truth from himself. AS A CHILD, WITNESSING WHAT HAPPENED TO RANGIKU COUNTS AS A TRAUMATIC EVENT. Not talking about it for 110+ years does a number or two on you when you at last, FINALLY, tell her the fucking scoop. Gin repressed what happened to Rangiku because he recognized that Rangiku did not fully and properly remember, recollect, what happened to her. He knew. Gin saw.

          Compartmentalizing her trauma on top of his own, as though a keeper of it, a sin-eater, Gin would feel absolute despairing relief at finally telling her. Despairing because he’ll be inflicting upon her something he’s been holding back, holding that door shut, for the entirety of their knowing of one another, and to finally let go of the door and let that beast of trauma go charging at her undeterred ?  There’s immense guilt attached to this entire affair. Gin feels childlike guilt; why her, and not me ?  I wish it could’ve been me, we could’ve traded places and I’d be fine, I’d live, we could live happy together.  Akin to survivor’s guilt, Gin wishes those men had found him and taken a piece of his soul rather than Rangiku’s. The ‘why’ of it haunts him. Why her. Why didn’t I stop them. Why didn’t I show up sooner. I could’ve bitten at them, kicked and hit, we could have escaped together -- or at least you could have. Gin also feels guilt at a base adult level: why am I keeping this from her ? No, it’s too late to tell her, she’s happier now, there will never be a good time to tell her.

          There are so many things, feelings, thoughts, that Gin has never shared with Rangiku due to it all being tied to the unspoken secret he’s let fester inside of him.

          SO WHEN GIN FINALLY TELLS RANGIKU WHY HE JOINED AIZEN, WHY HE TRIED TO KILL AIZEN, WHY HE SAID THOSE WORDS TO HER DURING THAT BLIZZARD AND BECAME A SHINIGAMI ... GIN’S GOING TO BREAK DOWN.

          The truth is tied to vulnerability in Gin’s mind. Telling it means ripping himself apart at the seams. Everything he crafted himself out to be was made around this secret. It’s going to be bloody, it’s going to hit him like a fucking train. Gin’s going to feel it coming, rumbling on the tracks, he’ll hear it even, that approaching storm, he’ll know by the prickle at his eyes and the closing of his throat, but still nothing’s ever prepared him for the absolute choked finality of the truth, and he’s going to do his best to hold it back -- it’s instinctive, it’s in his blood by now to mask it, stop it, divert and drawl his way out of it. But this time he can’t just stop halfway and distract her, talk about something else. No, Gin’s cornered himself and it’s high time Rangiku got the truth from him, he can’t run away any more. He’ll have to grit his teeth and talk through it, swallow it back just enough to speak, to tell her what he’s done to them both and for what, for why, it’s the worst possible conversation they could ever have, but one they need. And Gin’s going to find himself incapable of holding back a sob the more he discloses, the more that slips out and escapes him the more the emotions tied to that sunken anchor come up too. He will feel simultaneously lighter and heavier for it.

          There are numerous ways Gin’s thought about wording it. He’s thought about the numbed approach, MISSION REPORT style: Aizen Sousuke harvested souls from the 64th Rukongai District, they took a piece from you. Perhaps not, no, not like that. Maybe... back when y’were a kid, there were three Shinigami assigned to the 64th District to collect souls to fuel Aizen Sousuke’s Hogyoku. They took somethin’ from you. I saw it. I saw them hoverin’ over you, I saw it in their hands. I saw’em offer it up to Aizen in the forest, collectin’ firewood. I saw him.

          WHY DIDN’T I STOP HIM, WHY DIDN’T I ATTACK THOSE THREE MEN THEN AND THERE IN BROAD DAYLIGHT WITH YOUR COLLAPSED FORM A FEW FEET AWAY, MAYBE I COULD HAVE TAKEN THEM ON AFTER ALL. I COULD HAVE CRUSHED A SKULL IN WITH STONE, I COULD’VE STOLEN HIS SWORD BEFORE THE LIFE FULLY FADED FROM HIM AND MADE IT VANISH, I COULD’VE CARVED THROUGH THE SECOND, SLICE THE TENDON AT THE THIRD’S ANKLE AS HE ATTEMPTED TO FLEE, WARN OTHERS. SLIT HIS THROAT AS HE CRAWLED AWAY. YOU’D HEAR IT, OFF TO THE SIDE. YOU’D SEE ME COME UP TO YOU WITH BLOOD SPLATTERS. YOU’D SEE ME LEAN OVER YOU WITH NOT A PERSIMMON OFFERED, NO, YOUR OWN FUCKING SOUL THEY PLUCKED FROM YOU. SHAKY HAND. BLOODIED HAND. TAKE IT, TAKE IT BACK. I FIXED IT --

          Just tell her. JUST TELL HER.

          DO YOU REMEMBER THE DAY WE MET, RANGIKU ... ?