#it got to the point where i told people directly i dont like to be called 'smart' because it's Stressful

[uncanny-tranny]

This might be a weird piece of advice, but instead of complimenting somebody (especially children) with an overarching, nonspecific compliment (like "smart" for example), it can be better to compliment somebody for their effort or for the work they have done.

I was always complimented as the "smart kid," and was always doted on for being "smart," but I found that it really stressed me out as a kid because being "smart" was a good thing, but I had no idea what they meant by it. I stressed out about it because it felt like, at any time, my status as The Smart Kid could - and would - be taken away at anybody's discretion. I wish my efforts in being a Smart Kid would have been highlighted, because maybe that would have made me feel less like my status mattered rather than my efforts.

[butt-puncher]

I wish that I was more

[blackpilljesus]

What I've learnt from the opposition that keep winning:

Radicalisation > Justification: Like a lighter igniting a wick and the flame spreads, put your thoughts & actions out there and mobilise the existing base. Many women spend too much time disproving moids claim or trying to "fix" them and not enough time on us. The right dont waste their time trying to change minds unless they're making money from it, they run off vibes. People didnt vote trump because he had an amazing campaign they voted because what he stands for could benefit them & they know it by looking at him & his history. Dont waste time getting into arguments or going onto their platforms to debate. The main times RWs spend time countering others is on their own platform where they also get paid for it. Add in inflammatory speech. Use catch phrases. I've changed minds not by directly convincing people but just doing me & speaking with convinction. I post stuff that can teether on the extreme side even when I thought I'd lose my followers. Idgaf how absurd it sounds I stand by it.

Your mistakes dont matter: based on the above point, people will still ride with you if they believe in what you stand for & it resonates with them. When their shortcomings are brought up they switch the topic. They dont come out with apology essays on why they were wrong or justifying themselves. Focus on your aim & work with people that'll advance it & ignore those who wont: The right will use whoever to get to their aim. Doesn't matter how much they disagree, if they've got a common goal they'll put other differences aside to get to it. Then the right ditches them after. Many GC "feminists" voted trump for TRA issues (even though they wouldn't work with libs for other womens issues lol). Part of why the left is so divided is because they expect all round perfection from everyone involved then the purity contests start. Speaking of the above, many of us focus on imperfections & it's not that deep.

Excuses dont matter: Roe fell during a democrat presidency. Trump elected a justice during election season even though obama was told he couldn't do the same. Regardless of who won the US elections the right would still actively be trying with their aim whereas when biden won in 2020 many got relaxed. Too much time is spent theorising & rationalising other people's actions rather than just recognising the threat and focusing on how to neuter it.

Dont underestimate the threat/enemy: Many people thought Harris would win, everywhere I looked it was trump stumbling over his shallow rallies. Trump was made out to be an idiot with no shot at winning both in 2016 & 2024. The right are called stupid but they're actually strategic; the maga slogan, trump & other RW leaders narcissistic personality that is absorbed by many, playing on people's egos, etc all played a part in their win. Another case of unestimating opposition is people claiming white women vote against their interest & were just these clueless damsels who need saving when it's actually in their interests to vote the right. This twitter thread explains it well and this tweet summarises it.

White women were not voting against their own interests. Their men are paying their bills, raising their family, and keeping them on top of a pedestal above other women. They did what needed to be done for security.

People thought that after 2016 there would be a change but nah. Even seeing this with 4B, women think it'll change maIes if they do it underestimating what would actually go down.

Get in the real world: Speaking of the above, be wary being in too deep in echo chambers.

There was another reddit post from a trump supporter that was probs deleted as I cant find it anymore but it said a similar thing. Again it seemed like Harris would win based on the news & peoples reactions online. She even had a ton of popular celebrity endorsement. It's hard & as beneficial as online spaces can be, the real world is where it matters most. Work on having money & resources for yourself and to help other likeminded women. Work on defending yourself in the real world & trying to improve the situation around you irl instead of wasting time online discourse. These things can be useful but it's easy to ingest excess amounts that delude you.

Hit 'em when they least expect it: Women have a tendency to announce their every move and tbh I'm guilty of doing this too & have made efforts to stop. MaIes strike out repeatedly when it's least expected. Dont announce to maIes how you wont be around them (thus giving them time to prepare), just do it.

Persistency & consistency is key: Despite all the hate podcasts, manosphere, PUAs get - they're persistent. Most times they dont respond to it & laugh at the haters to belittle them. They enjoy our anger & keep going. Dont overvalue the hate you get, have an agenda separate to people's validation - it will help greatly with the first point.

Win at any cost: MaIes, the right, religious people etc will do whatever it takes to win. Any violence, any bloodshed, any infrastructure toppled even if it comes with their demise they're willing to risk it all because the things they believe in give them a purpose in life and they see no purpose in the alternatives. I ain't putting it on anyone to do these things, but it does work going all in. Very few on the left or left leaning are willing to risk their lives (not just physically but even their social status) for what they believe in and would rather win by playing fair while the opposition do not care about the rules.

(Edit) Forget the logic, sometimes - Initially left this off but seriously similar to the above point just go for it. There tends to be a lot of over analysis & perfectionism when it comes to going after what we want & honestly fuck that. Despite claiming to be logical, actually the opposition just run off their feelings and go after what they want anyways (which is why there's so many double standards & holes in white/maIe supremacist logic that gets endlessly analysed but it doesn't matter in the end). These systems of oppression didn't form overnight it took numerous trial-and-error but a lot of people in our camp are so quick to give up after a setback. If women can be delulu about porn obsessed jakey they can be delulu about liberation if they want that.

Now overall I know that the world is generally dominated by conservative ideologies such as the family unit, anti abortion (until a moid wants a woman to get one), religion, capitalism, etc and have institutions & systems that have been solidified over the years to push these things which gives them a huge leg up but the above points are just things I see that additionally contribute to their success. Adopt some of these and we could move forward. This is not to praise the right nor do I think they're perfect but just simply observing what's working.

[luffyvace]

Zoro x male reader headcanons

from my list on my profile :)

btw keep in mind there will be no ‘dom’ in this relationship for these headcanons. i have nothing against it as long as it’s still sfw so don’t be afraid to request that :).

zoro wouldn’t stand for a weak s/o

he doesn’t wanna have to worry for you

so if your weak he’ll make you train with him

and if your not ‘great! let’s spar!’

it doesn’t matter if you use swords or a weapons at all

yall gon spar.

y’all prob fight even more than him and sanji at this point

but not actually angry fight—spar fight

he’ll even teach you his no swords style if he has to 😭

also he’s not a huge cuddle bug or anything but he’s always warm

he’ll grunt if you snuggle up to him for warmth but won’t move you or anything

another thing—he always has your back

especially in fights

not really in petty arguments with other people tho

he might join in on it but not on your side

just to tease you

but you know he means no harm

except for with ero cook

then he’ll team up with you

😭

zoros love languages are quality time and acts of service for sure

zoros quality time looks like working out together,

trying to understand whatever hobbies you like

drinking contests

sitting in solidarity silence

and his acts of service is

saving your butt in battle

going shopping together

any little favor you need really

if your carrying something heavy and almost drop it he’s got you

he shows he cares in little ways like that

zoro is the one to tell it like it is in the straw hats

like he did when usopp left

and he won’t be afraid to call you out on your crap if your wrong

hes not trying to alienate your or something

he just wants you to realize what your doing and change to be a better person

youll have to stop him from getting into trouble btw

like the time he almost shanked charlos

and you always makes sure he doesn’t get lost :)

may or may not come of with nick names for you depending on what you look like/do a lot

like with sanji and ero cook

but they’re less insulting

if your a more excitable person he won’t mind same with being a chill person

hes indifferent about a lot of things

hes chill with 90% personalities and 100% of looks

the 10% of personality he doesn’t like is sanji’s

apologies to sanji kinnies :)

you and zoro kinda always end up going wherever the other goes

like y’all are always together but like not on purpose

it’s cute to robin and nami

zoro would open up to you about his past a good amount of months into the relationship

but it won’t be at random

itll probably happen after you open up to him about yours

then he starts thinkin

’should i tell him?’

he decides he’ll take the opportunity when it comes to him

it was a much needed conversation that let him get a lot off his chest

especially about kuina

he never directly told anyone about who she was

he always just says i promised someone

or his childhood friend

but he never went into depth

which is just even more confirmation that he really loves and trusts you

communication with him is actually pretty good

some topics might get skimped though

if he does something you don’t like subconsciously

dont hesitate to come to him about it

it won’t offend him

he’s a tough cookie anyways he’ll be alright

plus he’s all about betterment

so he’s open to criticism as longs as your being genuine and not sarcastic

he’s also most likely to take it if it’s from you

yall trust each other with y’all lives 100% on another note

if you wanna go on dates?

ya mean drinking contests?

nahh jk

but it won’t be anything sappy because he refuses to take any advice from love cook

just chillin somewhere peaceful on an island

hopefully you have navigation skills or at least not his sense of direction so y’all don’t get lost 😭

don’t let him lead btw

he’ll try to and insist he knows where he’s going

no he dont

stop him

you have to be stern or he’s going his way

hes kinda stubborn

you love that part of him too tho

💖

i’m proud with the way these came out!

i hope any guy that reads this enjoys because there is 100% a lack of male content- so here you are! :)

[ceasarslegion]

You know what, yeah. Inflict her on the masses. I'm not naming her for obvious reasons but you and I both know she deserves it.

This actually isn't the same person you're thinking of

Years ago, I made a Bill and Ted server. Things were chill, except that there were a few people who were. Very weird about jokes in the main server. I'm of the opinion that teenagers can handle a few sex jokes, considering it's not porn and they tend to know what genitals are and the basic concepts of various sexual acts. I very much remember what it was like to be a teenager in that regard, I dont close my eyes to it or pretend that I was an innocent baby until the stroke of midnight on my 18th birthday.

As such, I tend to define 18+ channels in the servers i make as "where you post your porn and how you like to be porked" and things like sex jokes and funny stories of a non-pornographic nature are fine in the main server. And furthermore, I define "pornographic" as "for the purposes of getting off," not "something where sex or nudity exists within."

I have a funny story about a hook up gone wrong where long story short, the girl i was hooking up with accidentally shot directly into my open eyeball. This obviously and immediately killed the mood as I shrieked in pain and we both ran to the washroom to try to flush the baby making juice out of my eye. I was okay, she kept apologizing profusely, it was fine. It became a funny story later.

There was someone in the BnT server who i had told this story to in the past over DMs, and i forgot what I had said prior to this, but it led them to pointing and laughing and saying "SO NOW CUM EYE WANTS TO PREACH TO US" and I yes, anded it by going "SHUT UPPPP IM NOT A LITTLE CUM EYE BOY!! IM NOT!!!"

Apparently, this was the wrong thing to say

Because I immediately got a bunch of messages and pings from this other person shouting about how i was being gross and overly sexual "around minors" and then kept pinging me demanding I delete the entire interaction lest I like, corrupt all these completely innocent 16 year olds (of which there were i think 2) who would just be SCANDALIZED and TRAUMATIZED if they found out that these grown adults had engaged in sexual activities in the past! Honestly how dare I, I basically posted CSAM

[shigayokagayama]

serizawa !

Sexuality Headcanon:

i think that he is bisexual <3

Gender Headcanon:

i actually really like transmasc serizawa

A ship I have with said character:

sigh. ok. look. i like serirei, i think it can work really, really well if done right. i do not like how a lot of fanon serirei content feels more like a vehicle through which to explore reigen. either its "people projecting onto reigen to put themselves with blank slate big hunky gentle shy guy who will comfort them when theyre sad" or "people who are attracted to reigen treating serizawa as a blank slate to project themselves on because they convinced themselves x reader is cringe". and like obviously its fine, people write stuff for themselves, youre not obligated to write big indepth character studies when youre making ship fics. but theres so much of it and its so hard to find anything thats not that.

also i think dimple x serizawa is underrated ok bye

A BROTP I have with said character:

I FORGOT TO SAY THIS IN THE MINEGISHI ONE i always feel like these two were really close at claw. theres a line that- i cant tell if it's a wonky mistranslation or not- but minegishi says something about owing something to serizawa when they save him and that combined w the fact minegishi wouldve been like 16 when they met and serizawa is good with kids... dies.

like ive heard people say "they mean he owes mob something" but unless its mistranslated "i still owe him one" is directly linked to "i dont want to boss to end his life" when he's catching serizawa so it wouldnt really make sense if it was about owing mob?

A NOTP I have with said character:

sighhhhhhhh ok. i will prelude this with "i do not think it is on the same level as shipping pedo and/or incest shit and it's weird to treat it like it is". seritoi makes me deeply uncomfortable and i do not trust people to be normal with it to the point where will probably block people for posting it.

A random headcanon:

the first time he and reigen got drunk together reigen told him he didnt have powers but he got so fucked up that he completely forgot he said that and serizawa is trying to pretend he didnt say anything and that he'll tell him sober in his own time but it makes it every exorcism so fucking awkward

General Opinion over said character:

i like him soso much like. as someone who was in a very similar "i dont want to leave my house because im paranoid about being hurt and people hurting me" rut for a not insignificant chunk of my life having a character like that who isnt treated as a joke and is treated as a person with feelings capable of growth who solidifies his place in the world and makes friends... man....

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for turning off a plant light?

so i (25nb) have been staying at a friend of mines (A, 28m) house (which he also rents out to 3 other people, also friends of ours, B, C, and D) for a while now while i look for an apartment. i pay A $250 a month in "rent" which is a courtesy thing more than anything for internet use and to sleep in his living room and am not considered a tenant (plus no rental agreement or lease has ever been offered to me or signed by me). i also help around with household chores (dishes and keeping the living room and kitchen tidy).

in his living room he has this wall of plants set up on shelves with lights and the whole shebang. he has the lights set to 12 hour timers so they have their own sort of day/night cycle. where i sleep normally is a daybed in the corner so the lights dont really bother me when they turn on (around 9). he recently purchased a really bright LED that has a brightness setting that the package has to warn you to not look at directly even at low settings. its genuinely comparable to staring directly at the sun in the summer at noon it's so bright. this light is also on a 12 hour timer (comes on at 10).

here's where the problem is. when my girlfriend comes over the daybed is too small for both of us to sleep comfortably in so we sleep on the pullout couch... which is directly under the Bright Ass Light. we were up pretty late that night (4am) and didnt really want to be woken up by the light shining directly in our eyes so before we went to sleep i turned the light off. i planned on turning it back on when we woke up (around noon) but got distracted and forgot to. A came downstairs while i was showering for work and chewed B and my gf out for the light being off before he went to work. he sent me a message saying "don't touch my fucking light" a few minutes later and i responded by telling him that if it wasnt so bright directly in our faces i wouldnt have to turn it off. he told me the light was for a desert plant so it had to be bright and that i would just have to deal with it as it was non negotiable. i told him to put it in a renter's agreement if he wanted to make demands like that and he told me he would deal with me when he got home from work.

when he got home from work i asked him how work was and he responded by flipping me off, talking at me for about 10 minutes about how i had a lot of nerve telling him what he could and couldnt do in his own home, especially since i was (according to him) making threats and demands. he said it wasnt his problem that we wanted to stay up late so it wasnt his problem that we didnt get enough sleep because it was shining in our faces in the morning and that id just have to deal with it. B, who was in the room at the time, asked if A would like it if a light woke him up like that, and A said no he wouldnt, but that the plant light is different because "the plants need the light cycle". B pointed out that the light was only off for 4 hours, not the whole day, and that plants in the wild dont get that kind of exact sunlight. didnt seem to matter to A, since while he set the timer back an hour so it would come on at 11, he also said he didnt want me ever touching the light again. i was (still am) completely astonished by this whole thing because its... just a plant light. it wasnt off all day and it doesnt happen all the time (this is the second time ive turned it off, again because i was sleeping under it).

so... aita for turning off the Bright Ass Light?

What are these acronyms?

[autisticlalna]

yesterday in the SBK Community Discord: i dont think cloning is, uh, ethical

(...says tumblr user autisticlalna.)

the question of the hour: why is Olm so dead-set on keeping people out of Limbo?

the discord tossed ideas around:

there's something down there he wants to keep hidden

he's trying to starve and weaken the Void so more potential pawns fall through

he's trying to keep people away from Avid

..although that last point brought up the question of "okay, why send Avid up, then". which i do have thoughts on but that's for another time, because the conversation shifted to: okay, then what's the deal with the clones? how does cloning people keep them out of the Void?

and then Avid weighed in.

THANKS, AVID. WHAT THE HELL

obviously, chat explodes. as tends to be the case whenever something like this happens. in the midst of the oncoming chaos, someone suggested mind control as a more "direct" solution. i mean, that's basically what he's doing to the clones anyway, so it's not out of the possibility. Avid shot it down:

OH.

OKAY.

we've seen Order 87 mentioned before.

we've seen it in the Avid Adventures discord, back near the start:

and we've seen it in the SBK discord itself, after Trog got tubed:

and i swear i remember a scene of Avid getting spooked and bolting away from somebody while yelling it, but i can't find a clip so you unfortunately have to trust me on this one.

but it's also been hinted at indirectly:

They?

okay, let's pull back a bit. a theory-slash-interpretation floating around had been that Olm had given Avid the order to "stop people from falling into the Void" and Avid had been the one that escalated it into tubing and cloning people.

but now we have confirmation that, no, that was Order 87. Avid was told directly by his boss to do all of that. as a reminder, Avid is still in contact with Olm:

"Give me... two weeks. Give- A week? Give me a week, I'll turn them around-- Okay. Alright. Okay. Okay. I love you too. Okay. Goodbye." ("Yo. I think he loves his boss.")

wait, okay, quick diversion. "Give me a week, I'll turn them around". this conversation happened before Trog's void dive. Trog was at the bottom of the Void for a brief moment from their point of view, but for everyone else they were gone for a week. guess Avid's deadline was up after the End expedition.

so... what does Olm want with a bunch of clones? why is this the plan?

why has Olm assured Avid that this is the way? because that phrasing makes it sound like Avid did think, hey, i don't know if this is a good idea. why did Olm convince him that this was the best option? tubing people i can understand, that's easy to warp into "keeping people safe". how on earth did Olm convince Avid that "making facsimiles of his friends" was a good idea? is it to further drive in Avid's isolation by making him surround himself with copies that also go along with Olm's orders?

but also im now remembering my original theory was that the clones were to fill in the obvious gaps where tubed people would be, and that would still track. after all, Trog got tubed for looking too close, and we have (stream-based) evidence that Cloneby doesn't remember everything Rubyco does. tube the ones that get too close, make a replacement that's more "compliant" and doesn't have the dangerous information. Trog can't tell more people about the person trapped in Limbo if they have no memory of it and no drive to go back into the Void, and meanwhile their original self is still safe and sound.

it's the safety that Avid cares about. he needs to follow Olm's orders if he wants a shot to escape Limbo, but Olm has consistently preyed on Avid's goal of helping people. he used Avid's protective instincts of New Salem to bait him into killing the Dark Lord and accepting the "consequence" of being trapped in Limbo, and now he's using Avid's fear of people getting trapped like he is to get him to do... whatever Olm's end goal here is.

maybe it also has something to do with the now-obligatory final comment that leads to lingering horror:

OH, COOL. THE CLONES ARE VOID FODDER. GREAT

the description of them not being as "potent" is interesting. something about the clones is... lesser. the Void consumes, but is left wanting. when the Void is left wanting, it begins to gnaw away at the bridges. that could escalate. a common idea that comes up in the discord is "what if Avid/Olm/OSSHA is trying to starve/weaken/kill the Void", but... we already have Marm's evidence that if the Void isn't fed with people, it starts going after structures.

if balance isn't restored, the Void might start eating the kingdoms themselves.

...but that's just conjecture. as always, we have pieces of the story, its just a matter of figuring out how to fit them together. honestly, out of Olm's plan, the clones are the part im most worried about. Cloneby creeps me out, and Avid's casual comment about being able to make more clones and them being less "potent" paints a concerning image of just how disposable they are.

i dont know how to wrap this post up. Avid, i think you have problems.

[rebellum]

Something I genuinely don't understand is the idea that trans people who were afab weren't socialized as girls because they're trans, and trans people who were amab weren't socialized as boys because they were trans.

Like, socialization refers to the process of gendered enculturation, wherein individuals are told "this is the correct way to act because you are [a boy][a girl]" and corrected and told "to be a real/proper [gender] you have to do this"

Enculturation in general refers to how people are raised into a specific culture, to expect and to follow those norms. Eg as a kid, I was taught that to use the bathroom we sit on the toilet seat and wipe with toilet paper after. In other cultures, kids at that age are taught to squat and to rinse with water with the left hand.

Gender enculturation refers to how people are taught to "do" gender, and the beliefs around gender. It doesn't have to be directly said to them. For example, I was raised as a girl, and my parents were feminists. I was totally allowed to not wear dresses as a kid if I didn't want to. But when I was a little kid, dresses were bought for me for formal occasions. As I got older that involved people assuming I would wear dresses for formal occasions. I saw this in the world around me, in media, in my classroom, etc: girls wear dresses. Boys don't, not because I was told "boys don't wear dresses", but because I happened to never see boys wearing dresses.

The process also of course involves being directly told that you can/can't do something, or that someone of a gender can/can't do something. Eg a boy on a playground tries to play with his sister and her littlest pet shops, and the kids around him (boys AND girls) tell him he can't do that, he's not supposed to do that, because he's a boy.

Gendered behaviours are attempted to be corrected in children through social pressure and verbal or physical violence. Eg, if a boy is interpreted to have feminine mannerisms, the kids and adults around him will tell him to "stop acting like a girl" or will beat him up for "being a fag", actions which further illustrate the following multiple points: 1) you are a boy 2) you are being a boy in the wrong way and failing at masculinity 3) you aren't a girl 4) being a girl is something you DONT want to be 5) being a "fag" (a man with feminine traits, like being attracted to other men) is bad, if you act like this you are a fag or are like a fag, and you deserve to have this happen to you for being the wrong kind of male (one who is feminine)

And, when it comes to perisex* kids, internal sense of gender doesn't actually influence your socialization. It doesn't matter if you're a trans girl or if you're a gay boy or if you're a straight boy who has feminine mannerisms, they are all the same thing: someone who is male who isn't behaving or looking like a male is supposed to.

*this whole process gets complicated when it comes to intersex kids whose status is known by others, because then there isn't a definitive gender that they're actually "supposed" to be. They're often punished for fundamentally failing to conform to sex, rather than failing to conform to the gender they were assigned at birth. It becomes less "you aren't a proper boy/girl" and more "what even ARE you? You're not a proper human if you aren't a boy or girl"

So I genuinely don't understand where people are coming from when they say that trans people were socialized as the gender they really are (eg, a trans man was socialises as a trans boy), or weren't socialized as their assigned gender. That doesn't make sense to me, there's something in that argument that hasn't been explained to me or that I'm failing to properly understand.

[dextixer]

There is no point in discussing Ironwood/Atlas in the fandom.

Since Volumes 7-8 the way that Ironwood and Atlas were written, their actions, whether they were justified or to what extent they were justified and the like have been discussed to death. There is no stone that has not been overturned, no statement that has not been made, no argument that has not been disected.

Regardless of ones stance on the subject, there is nothing left to discuss, the only thing left at best is sharing ones interpretation and opinions on it with people willing to engage with them. Or it would be, if there were actually such people left.

Around a week ago, against my own better judgement i once again engaged in an Ironwood discussion, something that i have mostly avoided for nearly a year, and i got just the right reminder as to why exactly there is no point in discussing it with members of the FNDM, and especially the fanatics.

They do not care about the show, how its told, what it told us. What they care about is to show how "moral" and "morally upstanding" they are by repeating the same mantra over and over. "Team RWBY are heroes, Ironwood is a fascist.", its both to show how morally "good" they are and also to protect the writing of a product that they love, because their beloved product possibly being deficient would be seen as a personal attack on their taste.

Lie and Lie again, if that doesnt work, lie once more

One of the most important factors in having any discussion is for both of the people talking to not only be truthful with one another but also agree upon some level of common ground that a disagreement comes from. In the case of RWBY, an Animated show, one has to agree with what is canon, what we can see in the story, from where on we can start arguing about interpretations. The problem however is that many people in the fandom, in regards to Ironwood especially, do not care about canon.

This being one of many examples. Since as far back as Volume 7, when we saw Ironwoods forces, everyone could look back to Volumes 2-3 and see that Ironwood brought 3 airships to Vale, a small detachment for the security of the festival.

Yet time and time again, RWBY fans refer to it as an "army", implying some kind of excessive force, in fact, some people in the past have went as far as saying that Ironwood was MILITARILY OCCUPYING Vale with his forces, i am not kidding.

But the most often directly lied about scene is of course the scene of Ironwood abandoning Mantle. In the show, after seeing the chess piece, he encounters a seer left behind in his office, this seer allows him to talk to Salem who pretty much tells him she is coming, which is then confirmed by the Ace Ops saying that the Grimm sensors have ceased working. That is canon. And yet, many a RWBY fan often pretends that Ironwood takes his decision after seeing the chess piece and "conveniently" ignore the chat that Ironwood has with Salem.

Fans of RWBY will not hesistate to lie about the canon itself to make their point, for people who claim to appreciate the shows writing, they will often directly ignore or even contradict it just so that they could hold true to their moral obligations.

But what happens when lying doesnt work?

Misdirect, Motte and Bailey and bad faith

When direct lying fails, RWBY fans will often take a different stance, instead of directly talking about canon, they will instead make the most bad faith assumptions and arguments imaginable.

This often takes form in Omissions or other less direct types of lies. Many times, it wont even be lies, but the most riddiculous arguments that they dont themselves believe.

For example, saying that soldiers helping to protect an event from terrorists is a stupid move.

In Volume 7, one of the earliest things we see happen is that Ironwoods forces are fighting against Grimm, the Sabyrs when they breach into Mantle, after which Penny shows up to assist in cleaning them up. And yet, fans of RWBY will say that these soldiers were not meant to protect people against Grimm, they were meant to abuse the citizens of Mantle.

The same goes for the curfew that also gets established in that same Volume. It is done explicitly for peoples protection. They instead say that its to control people, implying that the threat of Grimm isnt real? Which is exceedingly funny since COVID lockdowns happend near the same time, which were also curfews that meant to protect people.

Ironwood shooting Oscar is also a key part of such misdirections. Often times when RWBY fans talk about Ironwood shooting Oscar they refer to him as a "child" a "defenseless child", conveniently ignoring the Ozpin shaped hole in his brain.

This is yet another form this takes. Strawmanning and of course, the reference to "Ironwood runs away" argument, which they hold as true despite the show never stating it ever. They take Ironwood statement that Atlas will always stay out of Salems reach as a direct statement that Atlas will just rise and stay away. And not for example become a flying city which is also a possibility.

This is also another example of dishonest arguments. RWBY fans pretend that Ironwood is classist, that he only wanted to save the rich and leave everyone else to die. Despite the fact that Ironwood ordered Mantle to be evacuated into Atlas and only wanted to leave to save as many people as he could regardless of status. And yet, they have to pretend that he only cares about the "rich".

But the most often seen tendency among RWBY fans in regards to argument is something else.

Doulethink

Doublethink is acceptance of two contrary opinions being right at the same time due to ideological reasons. For example, decrying someone as weak when convenient and as strong at the same time.

And RWBY fans love this type of argumentation, especially with Ironwood.

As shown before in a picture, they pretend that Ironwood only cared about the rich. And yet they also argue that as a fascist he hates and controls the rich by how he treats Jacques.

They will both pretend that Ironwood is a sociopath who wants to control the world and at the same time will claim how sorry they feel about his PTSD and how he clearly should have been thrown out of the army due to it.

Ironwoods prosthetics both show how he suffered so much and should have been told to sit out due to his clear mental issues, yet at the same time those prosthetics prove and show how evil he is, how he wants to replace his body with metal because he wants to be an unthinking machine.

They will pretend to care about how Ironwood holds 2/5 seats on the Atlas council, decrying how UNDEMOCRATIC he is being, yet at the same time, when convenient they will constantly bring up how Ironwood did not ask for Ozpins persmission for his actions in V2-V3. They pretend that he usurped Ozpin despite Ironwood acting directly under Vales council.

As shown in this exchange. The cries for "democracy" quiet down all of a sudden when people take Ozpins side against Ironwood. Suddently, the opinion of the council doesnt matter, only Ozpin does. Oh and this is also an example of how they will change the topic once an argument is lost.

Oh, and of course, their favourite is in regards to team RWBY.

Who are at the same time both small teenagers who know no better and cannot be judged for their actions because they are smoll beans uwu.

And they are also literal jesus.

Because NOTHING says "we are being honest" when the protagonists are amazingly "weak" and "smoll" uwu beans whenever anyone criticizes them for making shit decisions for entire COUNTRIES which they CHOSE to do. And at the same time those protagonists are amazing badass girbossing jesus-like heroes who everyone should worship.

Ending word

I guess what im trying to say is that there is simply no point or hope in arguing about Ironwood, or hell, even arguing with RWBY fans in general unless you are in relatively neutral spaces with people who are willing to listen. They will lie, if they cant lie they will misdirect, and they will never be honest about their beliefs. Because their true beliefs are only "RWBY is good and what it attempts to say is correct". Nothing else matters. RWBY is good. Its messages (no matter how mangled they are) are good.

And to protect those beliefs RWBY fans will do ANYTHING. Because just like religious fanatics, they have faith, a belief, and nothing will stop them. If you oppose them, you are everything they think is evil. If you accept their words uncritically, then you are now a "friend".

[this-acuteneurosis]

Dunno rereading things, had a thought. for your third times a charm, Jee is a really, really fun character that adds perspective and distance to everything going on along with the hey how important all this nonsense is. Good Job. Nice choice of perspective. Im curious how difficult you find that having perspectives of characters that directly interact in the same space. for dont look back, we get Leia, Anakin, Obiwan and Padme pretty regularly and each perspective IN each other sight and actions

Not gonna lie, point of view can be killer, and I feel like I've grown a lot the last few years as I've worked on it pretty carefully. Jee's characterization was definitely helped by me writing all of For Want of Skywalker first. He's got a lot of similar vibes to Piett, being a professional who just want to do his job, but works for One of Those kind of people. In a really bad situation.

Don't Look Back has been tricky because when I lived in the delusional wonderland where the story was going to have one single part and be finished in about 200K words (yes, my beta is still laughing at me), I was determined to have it be told exclusively from Leia's POV, with a hint of Anakin at some points where Leia couldn't be around. I still keep the POVs pretty limited because I think some of the tension in the story is held by not showing you things from Dooku or Palpatine or even Bail's POV. I've had to extend the POVs in Blood of Our Father and Duty Bound because it just wasn't plausible to move certain plots along while limiting things to only Leia and Anakin. Also, I wanted to give Padmé more agency to act, and it's a lot easier to show her growth from inside her own head. Especially by hanging around her while Leia isn't there.

My general rule has been, as often as possible, keep it to a "Skywalker" POV, with Obi-Wan and Padmé making honorary membership. That's really going to break containment here at the end of Duty Bound, and at the start of the next arc. But I'm still working on keeping the list of POV characters as narrow as possible.

[chairteeth]

Nemu's life as a wheelchair user and how terrible f4 is at portraying it (or, well, Not portraying it)

Buckle up I have a list of PointsTM. I will be going into Japan's history with disability as well as what life is like on a wheelchair.

First though, because I want this to have the intended effect, I recommend going over Nemu's swimsuit costume story again. It is Very Relevant. I recommend you enjoy the fluff of it too, before I dump the depressing thing about it on you. Though I will say I really REALLY appreciate how far Touka always goes to make Nemu feel comfortable and supported and listened to and cared for in every situation and- is shot.

So, apparently this room has a big mirror, and Nemu gets uncharacteristically giddy and we get this scene that Will hurt you. She even says that she finds this just as important as the liberation plan.

They had ALL OF THE SETUP, ALL OF IT. And now I would like to also share a recent analysis of Nemu's wheelchair that I dragged some wheelchair users to do, then I'll start thrashing and yelling about the significance of such a change. For reference we mainly have the sprite right:

I'm going to provide the relevant texts directly for you:

no theres like zero leg support beyond the foot plate and even the way the foot plate is designed implies that she has pretty good motor control over her legs

ya no calf pads or anyting smh

and whats with the armrests those dont look v comfy??

i doubt she needs much body support beyond the walking there's proper cushioning elsewhere, though

I can't see a headrest either, and the backrest is not very high, so I'm pretty sure she just can't walk and everything else is largely fine

Me:

it's a separate continuity, but in the anime Nemu can stand. We don't see her walking but we see her standing a few times, and some of them are at points where she has to have walked at least a little bit, so I definitely think it's not "100% can't walk" but rather something more complex. Even before she was a magical girl we saw her standing in the hospital, though you could argue that was before whatever anime illness she has got worse

huh. that sounds like chronically ill person energy conservation to me at least in the anime. me and (name omitted) do that, were usually on our wheelchairs because a walk to the grocery store may be too much and we might keel over from the pain or exhaustion. what about the game?

Me:

I don't think she can walk at all in the game? The times she's not in her wheelchair, someone is carrying her, iirc. I told you that the cause of it was her shaving away her life force repeatedly, and I've explained the other symptoms, but truth be told, we don't see those other symptoms again post Arc 1 (which I think is just because she's under less stress and not constantly shaving away the aforementioned life force), and we were sadly robbed of any kind of "discovery" scene where we get her actual reaction and yk, her assessing the permanent damage done to her body?

Me:

I told you guys how soul gems work as essentially the girl's soul puppetting her body, right? My personal theory is that she did so much damage to herself that it significantly weakened part of the soul gem-body connection. I thought it may have been severed, but if that were the case, I'm pretty sure her legs would just rot off, since magical girl bodies rot when separated from their soul gems for too long iirc, plus she can feel temperature on them so

WHY DIDNT YOU TELL US ABOUT THE TEMPERATURE THING

Me:

I'M SORRY IT'S AN OBSCURE ASSUMPTION BASED ON A QUOTE OR TWO ABOUT A FUCKING KOTATSU, THEY NEVER FUCKING TALK ABOUT THE DETAILS OF THE LEG THING, I WAS TRYING TO STICK AS CLOSE TO THE TEXT AS POSSIBLE

Me:

she's also never complained about pain from her legs, she's lamented the whole being unable to walk once or twice ("this body of mine can't help in any significant way") but never said a word about pain or other complications. Granted, she's also a people pleaser who would rather put on a stoic face than mildly inconvenience literally anyone

yea then it might just be she cant do the walking motions reliably. didnt you say she has an overprotective gf? The gf may have argued for the wheelchair thing to be on the safe side

mmmmmmmmmm ye sounds about right

They also talked a bit about control pads and wheels but this was the summary one of them gave me:

So in short, Nahi: mobility and feeling all good, but no walkies or will fall on face and fracture skull

That's the analysis and conclusion of that part, which will help discuss the next one. Now, first of all... I have complained MANY TIMES about our lack of any scene where this permanent damage is revealed to the characters. They skipped over that. Which I thought, oh, okay, maybe we'll get it in a costume story for the wheelchair sprite. We did not get that! And that's important. Because see, Nemu I think might be able to hide her initial raw reaction depending on who was in the room with her. If she was alone or (preferably and probably likeliest) with Touka, she might not hide it, but it has to have sunk in that she would be dead to her family again. And for a character who so desperately wanted to fit in with her family, go camping with them, and presumably do all the outdoorsy and sporty stuff with them, YEAH, A SCENE LIKE THAT WOULD BE NEEDED, especially because Nemu has the tendency to both self-flagellate excessively (Touka also does this) and to hide all of her feelings and suppress them as hard as humanly possible.

With that out of the way, I am going to go on my certified rant about living in a wheelchair. Let's start at the general inaccessibility of Japan. Nemu's wheelchair isn't exactly... compact or foldable from what I can tell so that doesn't help her in the least. Here is a non-exhaustive list of things to consider:

- Less maneuverability or no access at all in some places, such as hotel rooms, restaurants, and stores

- Way longer wait times for nearly everything

- The temples are shitty to access because 90% of them have The Stairs, and the parks surrounding them have gravel grounds that make it almost impossible to run a wheelchair through (or at least, it's really hard. Think of when Sakurako had to carry Nemu on the beach, sand/sand-like ground and wheelchairs most often do not mesh, especially electric ones)

- The general congestion of large cities is not good but at least Japanese people tend to be nice and polite about it and try not to bother/touch wheelchair users, however this is unavoidable and oh boy haha rush hour

- In the end a wheelchair user in Japan is pretty limited in what they can do if not accompanied, which absolutely sucks

Streets are often narrow too so gestures at list. Plenty of buildings, especially old ones, are never really upgraded/don't have ramps or accessible elevators either, and I have literally seen a Japanese building that needed you to climb seven steps to get into the elevator?? Okay, alright, I will try not to bitch too hard. If using Yokohama as a base, the thing with large cities is that actually, the subway and train networks are generally good for wheelchair users (though they have to take extra steps and a trip that would take an able-bodied person one hour may take the wheelchair user double that amount of time, plus the station staff will choose your train for you). Everything else however, not so nice, and again The Stairs.

Now I go on the funny historical tangent! Around the 1960s in Japan, there was an increase in disabled children being separated from their families and placed in residential institutions, many of which were converted from the ones built for disabled veterans after WW2. At the age of 18, many of these children were then transferred to adult facilities where they would remain until death. As you may be able to imagine, these institutions were not great! Cue many many MANY human rights violations, including child residents being used as guinea pigs for their doctors in surgical procedures and disgusting amounts of incidents of sexual abuse towards female residents. The traditional Japanese notion that disabled people should be hidden by their families like a shameful secret was veeeeery prevalent! That is why these places even existed. Those beliefs are, Still ShiftingTM so to speak but it is much better now because hey at least they finally have an anti-discrimination law. By "finally" I mean that ten years ago they did not have one. You see, the literal basic anti-discrimination act for people with disabilities in Japan only came into effect in 2016 (for the reference of the Americans who may not know and for an easy example, in the US, the same thing happened in 1990, which is still recent-ish but not, "less than ten years ago" recent). That's only eight years ago. So let's not even talk about how VERY highly Not Possible a fully wheelchair-adapted/comfortable home would be in Japan. It ain't great chief, basic programs are still being implemented, and I highly doubt people are very widely educated on the matter unless it affects them personally. I think that is most of the funny historical tangent, so... time for me to talk about adapting to life on a wheelchair.

Let's start with showering and bath/general bathroom difficulties. First of all, it's MUCH likelier for a person in Nemu's position to slip and hurt themselves in the shower/bath, not even likely to be able to stop their own fall because Legs No Worky, secondly washing up unassisted when you're in a wheelchair both takes longer and is difficult/inconvenient, particularly if you don't have a specific chair or other thing to help you in the tub/shower (I am unsure if her family would be agreeable to this or if she'd even ask). For Nemu's benefit we are going to go with my interpretation that magical girls do not have periods, because otherwise oh dear god well that's way worse! But yes there's that whole complication and see, if you live with your family you have people you can ask for help. However we are talking about Nemu, and Nemu would rather starve under a bridge than ask for help (in 99% of cases). We have a section for internal effects of leg loss don't you worry but like, girl already felt like a burden before, imagine how she feels now when she actually does have to depend on others occasionally. Showering/bathing must be an absolute nightmare every single day for the poor girl. You don't realize how much you rely on walking and having usable legs inside the house until you lose that ability.

This leads me into another very funny thing: reach. Imagine having short person struggles. Okay, now imagine your height is cut in half and you have to be sitting down for everything. Who wants to bet you are now unable to reach A LOT of the things at home? Bathroom setups vary so that one you can circumvent, however! Consider the following: Nemu displays an enjoyment of cooking. Have you ever tried to sit down in front of most kitchen counters? They are pretty high up from that position. Which is fine when you're maybe just resting on the chair but can stand up/take steps around, but when you can't... well. Cooking just got a whole lot more inconvenient and complicated! Nemu seems to keep doing it, so I imagine she's figured out the kitchen table hack (kitchen tables are often lower than the counters and therefore often used to do the prep work instead of the counter because it's more comfortable). This still does not account for the stove but we haven't heard of Arc 2 Nemu cooking solo, only either with her mom or Sakurako, so I assume Nemu's family has the decency not to send her to make dinner like they do in Arc 1.

On the topic of short reach, have you ever realized how inconvenient doorknobs can be if you're sitting down? And doors in general when it's not so easy to move, really. This is more the case for those with less grip strength or less mobility than Nemu, but doorknobs are still generally placed high enough to be inconvenient, doors depending on how they open can be annoying (though sliding doors I've heard are better, so long as they're not too heavy), and let's not even talk about the heavy-ish doors that you have to push against. Because while that might be easy outside of a wheelchair... not so much on a wheelchair. The inconvenience of doors and doorknobs aside though, and back to public transport for a second, you cannot be spontaneous. According to a couple of Japanese wheelchair users I gnawed at for the purpose of research, you need to warn literally everyone at least 30 minutes in advance if you want to be able to board a train. If something comes up or is urgent, I assure you, you won't be able to hop on whatever train or taxi you want.

For Nemu in particular taxis may not be possible, but f4 ignores this really hard (like most things that have to do with Nemu's disability, given that it is acknowledged as a thing that exists LIKE TWICE after the initial timeskip scene at the end of Arc 1, mainly in Christmas string where she laments not being able to help with physical labor in any significant way due to "This Body Of Mine" [she's very dramatic about it but also this is an important hint to how she actually feels now that she's experienced at the very least months of living like this and now that she's alone with Touka instead of self-flagellating in public]). In Mokyu's MGS, I remember that moment when Touka calls for a taxi very much On The Spot and they both get on to follow Mokyu, seemingly very fast, and I was just like "????". I'm not really sure that's... a thing they can do that easily, f4...

But anyway, how about another item? Let's talk clothing. This is also not something able-bodied people usually consider or think about, but clothing generally was not designed for sitting. It will likely never fit right for wheelchair users, and many pieces of clothing may not even be comfortable, not to mention they may not be able to wear a lot of things (such as long/drapey fabrics that could interfere with movement, whether of the wheels, the control pad, or their bodies), and depending on how much mobility they have, changing itself can be another nightmare to do unassisted, or at least, it takes longer and takes more effort (we will get back to the "effort" part soon). This depends, sure, but it's often worse for kids and teenagers because they're still growing. It's okay though, I'm sure Touka would be really offended about this and would just take Nemu to get clothing custom made. What a good partner. The clothing issue is often overlooked, but Very Much A Thing. Some pants are not comfy to sit in for long periods of time, or maybe they fit well when you're standing but not when you're sitting... imagine only ever sitting.

I think I've made my point with the clothing aspect so let's move on to ANOTHER THING! Yes, I have more. Some things like transferring may be more inconvenient in Japan than they would be in the West. Transferring, in case you're not aware, is what a wheelchair user moving themselves from their wheelchair to another place to sit (such as a dining table chair, if they want, or a sofa), or back to the wheelchair, is called. It may be more inconvenient in Japan because well, The Floor. Transferring largely relies on upper body strength in most cases, and see, you can park a wheelchair next to a sofa or other chair and move yourself there reeelatively easily, but the floor may be a bit harder due to the difference in elevation from surface to surface. Once again, it depends on the specifics of the wheelchair user in question, overall. I've heard a couple of people say that the floor is Very Bad to transfer to and from, but one of them has mobility issues in the upper body and the other has arm weakness (he can only get back up because he's able to push a little bit with his legs).

For Nemu there's also the possible school complications, but I have not looked much into how accessible Japanese schools are for students on wheelchairs, though I do want to call a bit of attention to how we've seen Touka at school in Arc 2 but never Nemu, and I feel like that might be one of the reasons. Studying from home I suppose could be an option, though it would be iffy to me because of the whole part about being stuck inside and hidden away.

Before I move on to other things, let me. Talk about this other thing. That is specifically heartbreaking for Nemu. That being physical intimacy (we're talking hugs and the like, people, don't get ahead of yourselves). Quick quiz question for you to think about before I answer it, have you ever thought of how to comfortably hug a wheelchair user?

Normally, when put on the spot, the typical able-bodied person who has never thought about it says that well, you can just bend over to hug them! And while that kind of works, that is not exactly a "full hug" and also requires more effort and more Going Out Of Your Way on the able-bodied person's part than a hug to an able-bodied person that you can just easily walk up to and hug without any adjustment, which makes it less likely that the wheelchair user will get casual affection through that. A common one is the hug from the back, which works just like you'd do it for any sitting person, however the hug from the back is not exactly common and depends on how close the two people are. And then there's the other main way to do it, if it doesn't hurt for the wheelchair user. Which is the lap hug. Able-bodied person sits on the wheelchair user's lap and that is how the hug happens. Most wheelchairs should be able to bear the weight, since you have to account for things like carrying groceries or Other Stuff already, so the capacity to bear weight is built-in (some wheelchairs can carry up to 700lbs/317kg). However you will notice that a lap hug is a significant leap in intimacy that not that many people might be comfortable with, particularly in a less touchy culture like Japan. Personally I think Touka is princess enough, has enough of an ego, and enough of a bond/trust with Nemu that she'd have no qualms sitting on her lap, but Yeah. Holding hands is another one that may take a while to adjust to, since it's basically a MASSIVE height difference that you can't bridge, and also walking-walking vs walking-rolling (or whichever verb you prefer for wheelchair users) areeee different let's just say and speed adjustment can also be a bitch

What I'm saying is if poor Nemu was already affection deprived before, It Got Worse. I will touch on this more when I talk about the social consequences losing her legs must've had. To sum this all up so far, it's an entire reevaluation of the world you live in. Things that were once convenient are now inconvenient, or at best, don't help you anymore. People are often stumped as to what to say to you or what to do or how to act around you, especially if you bring up any and all struggles that have to do with the wheelchair thing. It's not Nemu's case but if she had a friend group, that would also mean possible distancing from them due to being unable to do as many activities with them or go to the same places as before. The world is built for the able-bodied, and the effort it takes to just navigate life in a wheelchair can be extremely draining. And SPEAKING OF EFFORT, it is time for the spoon theory! Those of you already familiar with it may skip this part, as I'm simply going to copy and paste from the original creator of the spoon theory, but for anyone who has never heard of the spoon theory, please, do read this part. It may help you understand something extremely important for the daily lives of so many people, and it may even give some of you who the spoon theory does apply to a new tool to use. This is the spoon theory:

My best friend and I were in the diner, talking. As usual, it was very late and we were eating French fries with gravy. Like normal girls our age, we spent a lot of time in the diner while in college, and most of the time we spent talking about boys, music or trivial things, that seemed very important at the time. We never got serious about anything in particular and spent most of our time laughing.

As I went to take some of my medicine with a snack as I usually did, she watched me with an awkward kind of stare, instead of continuing the conversation. She then asked me out of the blue what it felt like to have Lupus and be sick. I was shocked not only because she asked the random question, but also because I assumed she knew all there was to know about Lupus. She came to doctors with me, she saw me walk with a cane, and throw up in the bathroom. She had seen me cry in pain, what else was there to know?

I started to ramble on about pills, and aches and pains, but she kept pursuing, and didn’t seem satisfied with my answers. I was a little surprised as being my roommate in college and friend for years; I thought she already knew the medical definition of Lupus. Then she looked at me with a face every sick person knows well, the face of pure curiosity about something no one healthy can truly understand. She asked what it felt like, not physically, but what it felt like to be me, to be sick.

As I tried to gain my composure, I glanced around the table for help or guidance, or at least stall for time to think. I was trying to find the right words. How do I answer a question I never was able to answer for myself? How do I explain every detail of every day being effected, and give the emotions a sick person goes through with clarity. I could have given up, cracked a joke like I usually do, and changed the subject, but I remember thinking if I don’t try to explain this, how could I ever expect her to understand. If I can’t explain this to my best friend, how could I explain my world to anyone else? I had to at least try.

At that moment, the spoon theory was born. I quickly grabbed every spoon on the table; hell I grabbed spoons off of the other tables. I looked at her in the eyes and said “Here you go, you have Lupus”. She looked at me slightly confused, as anyone would when they are being handed a bouquet of spoons. The cold metal spoons clanked in my hands, as I grouped them together and shoved them into her hands.

I explained that the difference in being sick and being healthy is having to make choices or to consciously think about things when the rest of the world doesn’t have to. The healthy have the luxury of a life without choices, a gift most people take for granted.

Most people start the day with unlimited amount of possibilities, and energy to do whatever they desire, especially young people. For the most part, they do not need to worry about the effects of their actions. So for my explanation, I used spoons to convey this point. I wanted something for her to actually hold, for me to then take away, since most people who get sick feel a “loss” of a life they once knew. If I was in control of taking away the spoons, then she would know what it feels like to have someone or something else, in this case Lupus, being in control.

She grabbed the spoons with excitement. She didn’t understand what I was doing, but she is always up for a good time, so I guess she thought I was cracking a joke of some kind like I usually do when talking about touchy topics. Little did she know how serious I would become.

I asked her to count her spoons. She asked why, and I explained that when you are healthy you expect to have a never-ending supply of “spoons”. But when you have to now plan your day, you need to know exactly how many “spoons” you are starting with. It doesn’t guarantee that you might not lose some along the way, but at least it helps to know where you are starting. She counted out 12 spoons. She laughed and said she wanted more. I said no, and I knew right away that this little game would work, when she looked disappointed, and we hadn’t even started yet. I’ve wanted more “spoons” for years and haven’t found a way yet to get more, why should she? I also told her to always be conscious of how many she had, and not to drop them because she can never forget she has Lupus.

I asked her to list off the tasks of her day, including the most simple. As, she rattled off daily chores, or just fun things to do; I explained how each one would cost her a spoon. When she jumped right into getting ready for work as her first task of the morning, I cut her off and took away a spoon. I practically jumped down her throat. I said ” No! You don’t just get up. You have to crack open your eyes, and then realize you are late. You didn’t sleep well the night before. You have to crawl out of bed, and then you have to make your self something to eat before you can do anything else, because if you don’t, you can’t take your medicine, and if you don’t take your medicine you might as well give up all your spoons for today and tomorrow too.” I quickly took away a spoon and she realized she hasn’t even gotten dressed yet. Showering cost her spoon, just for washing her hair and shaving her legs. Reaching high and low that early in the morning could actually cost more than one spoon, but I figured I would give her a break; I didn’t want to scare her right away. Getting dressed was worth another spoon. I stopped her and broke down every task to show her how every little detail needs to be thought about. You cannot simply just throw clothes on when you are sick. I explained that I have to see what clothes I can physically put on, if my hands hurt that day buttons are out of the question. If I have bruises that day, I need to wear long sleeves, and if I have a fever I need a sweater to stay warm and so on. If my hair is falling out I need to spend more time to look presentable, and then you need to factor in another 5 minutes for feeling badly that it took you 2 hours to do all this.

I think she was starting to understand when she theoretically didn’t even get to work, and she was left with 6 spoons. I then explained to her that she needed to choose the rest of her day wisely, since when your “spoons” are gone, they are gone. Sometimes you can borrow against tomorrow’s “spoons”, but just think how hard tomorrow will be with less “spoons”. I also needed to explain that a person who is sick always lives with the looming thought that tomorrow may be the day that a cold comes, or an infection, or any number of things that could be very dangerous. So you do not want to run low on “spoons”, because you never know when you truly will need them. I didn’t want to depress her, but I needed to be realistic, and unfortunately being prepared for the worst is part of a real day for me.

We went through the rest of the day, and she slowly learned that skipping lunch would cost her a spoon, as well as standing on a train, or even typing at her computer too long. She was forced to make choices and think about things differently. Hypothetically, she had to choose not to run errands, so that she could eat dinner that night.

When we got to the end of her pretend day, she said she was hungry. I summarized that she had to eat dinner but she only had one spoon left. If she cooked, she wouldn’t have enough energy to clean the pots. If she went out for dinner, she might be too tired to drive home safely. Then I also explained, that I didn’t even bother to add into this game, that she was so nauseous, that cooking was probably out of the question anyway. So she decided to make soup, it was easy. I then said it is only 7pm, you have the rest of the night but maybe end up with one spoon, so you can do something fun, or clean your apartment, or do chores, but you can’t do it all.

I rarely see her emotional, so when I saw her upset I knew maybe I was getting through to her. I didn’t want my friend to be upset, but at the same time I was happy to think finally maybe someone understood me a little bit. She had tears in her eyes and asked quietly “Christine, How do you do it? Do you really do this everyday?” I explained that some days were worse then others; some days I have more spoons then most. But I can never make it go away and I can’t forget about it, I always have to think about it. I handed her a spoon I had been holding in reserve. I said simply, “I have learned to live life with an extra spoon in my pocket, in reserve. You need to always be prepared.”

It's hard, the hardest thing I ever had to learn is to slow down, and not do everything. I fight this to this day. I hate feeling left out, having to choose to stay home, or to not get things done that I want to. I wanted her to feel that frustration. I wanted her to understand, that everything everyone else does comes so easy, but for me it is one hundred little jobs in one. I need to think about the weather, my temperature that day, and the whole day’s plans before I can attack any one given thing. When other people can simply do things, I have to attack it and make a plan like I am strategizing a war. It is in that lifestyle, the difference between being sick and healthy. It is the beautiful ability to not think and just do. I miss that freedom. I miss never having to count “spoons”.

After we were emotional and talked about this for a little while longer, I sensed she was sad. Maybe she finally understood. Maybe she realized that she never could truly and honestly say she understands. But at least now she might not complain so much when I can’t go out for dinner some nights, or when I never seem to make it to her house and she always has to drive to mine. I gave her a hug when we walked out of the diner. I had the one spoon in my hand and I said “Don’t worry. I see this as a blessing. I have been forced to think about everything I do. Do you know how many spoons people waste everyday? I don’t have room for wasted time, or wasted “spoons” and I chose to spend this time with you.”

Ever since this night, I have used the spoon theory to explain my life to many people. In fact, my family and friends refer to spoons all the time. It has been a code word for what I can and cannot do. Once people understand the spoon theory they seem to understand me better, but I also think they live their life a little differently too. I think it isn’t just good for understanding Lupus, but anyone dealing with any disability or illness. Hopefully, they don’t take so much for granted or their life in general. I give a piece of myself, in every sense of the word when I do anything. It has become an inside joke. I have become famous for saying to people jokingly that they should feel special when I spend time with them, because they have one of my “spoons”.

And that folks is the spoon theory. The spoon theory of course applies to wheelchair users. In Nemu's case it's more of a magical affliction and doesn't seem to affect her beyond the part about not being able to walk, however, as we've covered, that part is significant. It takes a mental, physical, and emotional toll. Then, other than this whole thing, there's issues with agency and independence. Yk, being able to live unassisted. I think Nemu could mostly handle it because I mean it's all she's ever done (insert parentification issues and her basically having raised herself, etc etc). Now here is a fun topic. How about social consequences? They are in fact significant as well! We just don't see it as much because Nemu's social life generally starts and ends at Touka, who is arguably the best-equipped person for this. You can bet Touka pulled three all-nighters to do research on this the moment she realized Nemu was not going to recover or at least not in the near future, and we already know she's extremely attentive from what we saw in Arc 1, so. Literally the best possible person for Nemu to hang out with, who will also never try to encroach on her decision-making or her boundaries, never try to take freedom or agency away from her, etc. Unfortunately there are more people around Nemu who may not handle it as gracefully (or well. Whatever Touka is doing. Her stunted social skills are actually a good thing when it comes to this).

Let's go from worst to better: Nemu's family. They are literally not mentioned again after Arc 1's final battle, ever. Not even when Chapter 8 happens. Not at all, zero mentions, at least none as far as I know. Which is concerning. Nemu still speaks fondly of them in Arc 2, from the Christmas quotes, but I mean. Desperate for love. Desperately learning her family's favorite foods and colors, fretting over what gift to get her brother. Which is just extra sad knowing that she's probably dead to them (again). I don't think it's a stretch to say that Nemu's family would have ZERO CLUE how to handle the entire topic. Common reactions are either avoidance/pretending it's not there, or severe awkwardness and hesitation that there is no way the wheelchair user won't notice. Particularly if they're a very perceptive person who pays close attention to the people around them (Nemu). I think Nemu's family might be the avoidance type, since they're allergic to making any effort to get to know her or yk treat her as their daughter instead of, parentifying her to hell and back at best. But let's take another couple of examples: Iroha and Ui.

I think those two might be the awkwardness type. Which is, "I have never encountered this problem and I'm not sure how to go about it but I don't want to hurt or offend this person" and normally leads to general insecurity/anxiety about mentioning specific things around the wheelchair user, or inviting them to things, or assigning tasks to them because the person fears they might hurt themselves/be unable to do what you asked, feel worse, etc. It can manifest in many ways and is normally born out of politeness or genuine personal concern for the other, but alas wheelchair users are not (all) blind, so they do very much notice. On their side it's also awkward and hurtful, in most cases. It's bad too when they get condescended or infantilized or as I mentioned before people take their agency away. It's that thing where you assume the wheelchair user needs help for (insert task) and that you're just being nice by lending them a hand but hey, hey. Maybe ask instead of assuming and moving to do a thing for them that you don't know with 100% is something they need help with. Maybe they don't actually need your help (cough savior/hero complex) and I assure you they appreciate being able to do whatever they can by themselves. Yes, it's well-meaning, but that doesn't mean it won't hurt the wheelchair user or make them feel bad/worse about themselves. The infantilization thing is often related to this too.

Next and last, the inner consequences of a significant loss such as this one. This part is about self-perception, perception in regards to the world and to others, and obviously it ties into Nemu's previously established concerns, fears, and general IssuesTM. This is another "sigh where to begin!" moment for me, because as I have established before, Nemu has major issues. Take literally every issue Nemu has ever had and them pump them full of steroids, then assume that bits of those issues drop off the bigger issue blob and grow into new connected issues. That is what this caused. There is of course a fun set of new issues that relate to the old ones but aren't fully connected as well. That being the feeling of being broken, incomplete, defective. For a person like Nemu whose worth is in considerable part determined by how useful she can be to others, that's not good. She's very much the type to keep things in rather than express them, except the precious scarce few times when we see her alone with Touka (you'll notice that usually we don't get scenes of them alone together save for Christmas String where there was A Pressing Issue to solve, normally it's the rest of the cast going to them for something so it's not exactly the correct atmosphere or moment for a vulnerability moment, Nemu has them, we see some, but they are Very Few).

The one comment from when she and Touka were moving their books out of Touka's private room in the hospital (still real gay of Touka to casually of her own will give Nemu a permanent space in her private room just so she could store her books), the one where she gets all droopy about being unable to help with the whole book moving process? Yeah that's your confirmation that as suspected, yes, she was lying when she said "this is fine" at the end of Arc 1. This is not by any means fine. Sure she has accepted it and thinks she deserves it but this is Nemu "I am to blame for damaging the economy of Japan" Hiiragi (I have a screenshot of when she said this) so like gestures vaguely. By that point in Christmas String, as I said before, she's probably been on a wheelchair for months at the very least, so she's had a chance to experience what that's like, among other things. I can't imagine she feels great about it. While simultaneously thinking her intestines should be bundled up with a pitchfork every day at noon for her sins, of course (insert aforementioned self-flagellation issues). Because she blames herself for literally everything and likely also blames herself every single time her inability to walk leaves her unable to do something she could've done before, and may even push herself beyond what's safe and healthy for her at times. Therefore, internally, yeah, Nemu is way worse than before. FORTUNATELY the stress of the Magius and the physical strain from making uwasa are no longer a thing and she has a safe place to be in every day with her partner who understands and loves her and doesn't even think of any adjustments as "effort" (of course this is nothing for Touka, she's a genius, I can hear the Toukitty saying with her nose up in the air like that). So that is, one good thing. And she can likely read more easily.

Unfortunately, Arc 2 also brings stress and more guilt due to the factions. There's the NM guilt and the PB guilt mainly, but also the stress of the few people they care about besides each other (such as Ui and Iroha) being in mortal danger. And what bothers me is, the way this entire thing affects and stimulates Nemu's concerns and fears from before is so criminally overlooked and outright ignored? We saw from her quotes and personal memo that she desperately wants to be loved, desperately wants to not be forgotten, and to leave behind a legacy (this is about the being forgotten part too). A common issue for wheelchair users is, in fact, that they are neglected and forgotten about, often only an afterthought, particularly for the administration. And so it annoys me endlessly that f4 are allergic to handling their disabled main cast member whatsoever and neglect her in much the same way her family does.

Anyway, this isn't exhaustive, there's definitely more to unpack, but it's already very long and I thank everyone who has read this far for your time. I hope it helped you guys understand at least a little bit better.

[sharpth1ng]

hey again!! thank you for answering my ask, and for the clarification! i figured you probably had it all sorted out because you're a grown adult and seem to know your stuff but i still said something anyways just in case haha

i should have been more clear with my original ask but i myself still find all this stuff quite confusing so thats my bad sorry 😞 basically it has nothing to do with the labour of printing or if the company publishes it or not, it’s because fan fiction is already grey area, it’s ok when no one is making money off it. as soon as at any point someone makes any money off it, like these printing companies, or commissioning someone on etsy, or even just going somewhere local to get the pages printed, it now becomes illegal - fanworks infringe on the creator's intellectual property and you need a licencing agreement if it's not public domain etc blah blah blah you get it lol

as soon as the word "pay" comes in, it's illegal - you can't pay for anything, even if you are the one that wrote the fanfic (which fucking sucks). but your merch and stuff is completely fine because the references are based on your original writing, like theyre not gonna be like "how dare you sell this tshirt with a bloody B on it thats illegal!!" bcs that whole thing is entirely unique to your work and has no ties to the original property 👍

but thats just my understanding of it, and the specifications of it can get really confusing!! same thing happens with fanart too, technically you aren't allowed to sell fanart - that's why people often only sell it irl at cons to avoid copyright strikes. but then again there is people selling fanart on redbubble and in fanzines etc so like, i honestly don't know how that side of it works as well?? i think its under a different law since it’s a transformative work maybe...??

its all very confusing i wish clarification was more clear 😭 but you sound like you've looked into it and know what you're doing so thats fantastic, and i'm glad to hear. thank you again for answering so quickly i dont mean to be a bother. ur a talented writer and i loved debaser, keep it up 😊

Yeah no problem! I do appreciate the effort to give a heads up. And like to be fair I’ve done my research but I’m not a copyright lawyer or a legal scholar and the law on this stuff is very confusing to me.

In terms of the fanart stuff my understanding is that it is illegal to sell but for the most part fan Artist are too small for copyright holders to go after, it’s just not really a thing that’s done for the most part. There’s even a number of situations where selling fanart led to those artists being directly employed by the copyright holders. I think it’s very rare for fan artists to get sued for copy right and the only examples I know of are from Disney.

For the most part fanart sold is illegal, but it’s similar to torrenting content where its not really enforced so people do it anyways, and often at a pretty large scale. The stuff on red bubble and in fanzines is also illegal as far as I know, it doesn’t count as transformative.

Honestly I think it’s very unlikely that anyone printing my work would get targeted like that, mostly because this fandom is small and I’m even smaller. I only have a little over 1000 followers here and while that’s more followers than I’ve ever had before in my life it’s pretty much microscopic on the internet. Beyond that there’s less than a handful of printed copies as far as I’m aware.

Honeslty I have a lot of issues with copyright law- obviously it needs to apply to things like generative AI which is essentially a very environmentally damaging collage machine, but in terms of fanart and fanfiction I really don’t see how it could be construed as taking away profit from copyright holders.

People for the most part only read my work because they were already into scream, and a number of people have even told me my work got them to watch scream so if anything I’ve created profit for them. Fandom is the reason these original works have the legacy they do, and fanworks are a massive part of that because you can only consume the original content so many times before you get bored.

Beyond that we wouldn’t have some of our most highly acclaimed cultural works if copyright law had existed hundreds of years ago. Like, Shakespeare would have been fucked.

Alright lmao rant over. Tl;dr I’m doing my best to do this all in a legal way, but it’s good for folks to be aware that there may be an issue with the legality of printing my work even if they aren’t paying me. I think it’s unlikely any of you will face repercussions because this fandom is miniscule but if you’re worried maybe don’t post on Tumblr- but feel free to dm me or post in my discord 👍

[positivelyadhd]

ik its not ur usual positivity but THANK YOU so much for that post!!! I feel like "gifted kid burnout" really dominates the conversation and thats only one experience of many.

I was diagnosed with adhd in elementary school and was basically like. "the kid with problems" "lost cause" my entire life. one of my teachers even directly told my mom she should be ashamed of me lol. any successes were like-- "see what you just did? imagine how much more you would be capable of if you didn't have adhd." to the point where I don't even feel any sense of accomplishment for graduating college. it's just one more "failure" i avoided in other peoples eyes. (i dont personally think not graduating college is a failure at all btw, that is just Society's Message™)

this part is kinda tangential but from what i've seen a lot (ofc not all) of gifted kid burnout posts are like, if only i would have been diagnosed earlier all of this could be avoided. and maybe that's true - I understand where it's coming from at least, the frustration of feeling that something is wrong but not knowing what or having that "proof" that you're not just "lazy" etc. im not saying this isn't a valid wish or frustration but in my experience... hoooo boy.

personally being diagnosed with ADHD in the early 2000s, didn't meant you got support, it meant you were written off from the start, adults thought you had no future, you were seen as a "problem child" like it wasn't "oh you're not lazy you just have adhd!" it was "you have ADHD so you are built to be lazy and theres nothing you can do about it lol" so it didn't solve much. just created a different type of problem. im very happy to see things look to be changing though!!

I'm curious if other people had a similar experience and thank you so much for adding the 'diagnosed but not supported' part bc that is so real!!!

Absolutely this!!

My experience with diagnosis and lack of support was strange, but basically my primary (ages 4-11) school (I believe) suspected I had adhd/dyslexia and did offer some (very limited) support. But they also always told my parents they didn't think I had a learning difficulty when they asked because I was in extra programmes. I don't really think the support they did give me really helped all that much, and honestly, when I did get my diagnosis (around 12/13?) I'd spent so long thinking there was just something "wrong" with me that I feel like the lack of diagnosis was a lot more negatively impactful than not receiving support would've been.

My secondary school then managed to flip this and despite me getting my diagnosis part way through, nothing really changed either. Being told I had ADHD/Dyslexia changed me and my understanding of myself. I finally felt like things made sense and there was a reason i found things so difficult, it wasn't that there was something "wrong" with me but the system was not built for me. Although my diagnosis was early compared to some people, it felt late to me, and everything that can happen when you're undiagnosed had already set in.

I wished I'd been diagnosed earlier but honestly, I had a similar experience to you, and I don't think it would've done much. And even when I was finally diagnosed, my school also never really acknowledged my diagnosis and wouldn't put any of the accommodations that I needed in place (despite my diagnosis coming with a report which explained everything they should've been doing to support me and how they could've done it) I didn't get any accommodations for my neurodiversity until I was in uni, and I got my diagnosis in 2015 so at least for me, my experience wasn't that different to yours in the early 2000s.

When I tried to fight for the accommodations I should've been given, I was told that I would pass my exams, and so it didn't really matter, they didn't believe going through the hassle of giving me accommodations would help me (although the diagnosis report itself said otherwise.) I always felt similarly to you, I could scrape by but "imagine how much better you'd do without dyslexia/adhd" but I also had this weird "well because you're "gifted" you can get average grades, you don't need support!" message as well?

And yeah, just like you, I didn't really feel as accomplished as I should've done when I finished uni. I'm proud of myself for doing it but I do feel this weird pressure of knowing that if I didn't have adhd/dyslexia or managed it better, I would've done much better.

I apologise for rambling about myself but yeah thank you for this ask! I feel the same way, and I'm glad to hear I'm not alone in it as well.

I wish you the best dear anon <3

[mac-n-cheese-flavored-arson]

Now that it's been a few days and I've had time to recoup, I wanted to talk about the worst inaccessibility experience I've ever had in my wheelchair

So there's this place near me that's a family Christmas experience, and it's entirely outdoors (except a few kid focused things). There's a 1-2 mile trail of christmas lights (you can walk through or go on a hayride), an outdoor maze, fire pits for warming up and roasting marshmallows, booths selling drinks and snacks, and a few other things aimed specifically at kids. I went every year as a kid and I wanted to go one last time before I move out of state for the nostalgia (I don't even celebrate christmas anymore but I still wanted to go just this once).

It started off bad from the minute me and my partner got there. There were exactly 2 disabled parking spots there out of the hundreds, both full when we got there, and the other parking lot was about 200 yards away from any of the actual events or things to do. After we got our tickets and started on the 200yd path, we realized that the entire path was covered in about 4-5inches of huge gravel rocks. (Gravel might even be the wrong word here, since the rocks were all like plum sized or bigger.)

My wheelchair wheels immediately sunk and got stuck in the gravel, and I couldn't move more than an inch at a time. And every inch that I was able to move had to be done in a separate wheelie, because even my back tires were sinking and stuck in the rocks. We thought about turning around and going to ask for a refund, but I had my partner go up ahead and it looked like it was better where all of the activities actually were, so we kept going.

Aside from how physically hard it was trying to get up that path, it was also horrific emotionally. Just on that path from the parking lot to everything else, at least 15 different people tried to "help" me without my consent after I had specifically told them no (and while it would have been extremely dangerous for them to push my chair, since even me and my partner with years of experience were having a hard time not throwing me from my chair onto the ground). After telling multiple people not to push me when they just came up behind me and started trying to, eventually I was getting so anxious that my partner started heavily advocating and talking for me, and it reached a point that we had to put down my push handles and my partner had to stand directly behind my chair to keep strangers from just grabbing me. AFTER we had already done that, another man asked if I needed help, and when me and my partner had both already told him no, he came up behind me to try and push me anyways and then said "I was going to help you but you dont have any handles back here." And my partner just loudly said, "That's by design." and tried to turn the back of my chair away from him.

Everyone was just staring at me, and a few groups of people were talking about me completely within earshot. A group of teenagers snickered ahead of us that "people like that should just stay home". It was genuinely just humiliating and dehumanizing. I felt like I was in a zoo exhibit. All of this was before we were even inside. And it took us about half an hour to get from the parking lot to the actual event space.

When we get to the area that looked like it was better, it was still almost completely inaccessible. There wasn't a thick layer of the rocks everywhere like the path, but there were still the big rocks everywhere on top of loose dirt, making it where I could barely move more than a couple inches at a time. If I had been able to get up to the booths at all (but I couldn't because of the rocks), I wouldn't have been able to pay or grab my drink from the counter anyways because it was so tall that it was over my head completely in my wheelchair. I'm 5'8 standing and my wheelchair wheels are 26 inches. There was a little person there while I was there too, and I overheard an employee getting upset at him because he couldn't reach the card reader when the counter was about 2 feet over his head.

When we tried to go on the hayride, it was the most accessible part there, and it still was neither safe or even meeting the legal requirements. They had a wooden ramp set up for wheelchair users and parents with strollers to get on the hayride, but the ramp was 4x steeper than what's legally required (it went up 2 feet, but the ramp was only 6 foot long. The ADA requires that there be 12 foot of length for every foot it rises in height.). My partner struggled to push me up it, and if I were in an electric wheelchair it wouldn't have been able to go up it at all. Where the ramp connected to the ride, there was also a bump that I had to try to wheelie over without going barrelling down the ramp backwards. There was nowhere to sit or secure my wheelchair on the ride, So I was sat in the aisle in front of everyone on the ride. When the ride started moving, I realized that a lot of the path was uphill, and I had to physically hold my wheelchair in place to keep it from rolling and then throwing me off the back of the ride. It dislocated both of my shoulders, and I was trying so hard for this not to be even more dangerous that I wasn't actually able to watch or enjoy the lights.

After we got off the ride, I wanted to take pictures in an area that was set up with lights just for that, but I was already so exhausted and in pain that I didn't even bother trying to go over a bunch of loose sand to get down to them, especially since it was on a steep hill leading directly into a freezing lake.

I wanted to try the maze but didn't want to pay for it if I wouldn't be able to do it so I sent my partner to try and check if it was accessible. They were only able to check the entrance and it seemed fine so we bought passes for it. When we got over there we realized that there was a 3 inch curb that my partner had to help me get up. When we got further into the maze we realized that it was also completely inaccessible. The ground was covered in loose dirt and thick grass that I couldn't move through, and a few of the sections weren't wide enough for my chair to fit through at all.

I wanted to leave but my partner really wanted to roast a few marshmallows so we tried to go down to one of the fire pits for a few minutes, but I couldn't safely get to it because of the rocks. There was no bathroom I could physically enter either, because aside from the porta potties, the indoor bathroom had a huge concrete curb I couldn't get up. After that we left.

The entire thing was physically and emotionally exhausting, but the worst part is just how dehumanized I felt the entire time. I really did feel like an animal in a zoo. Everyone was staring at me, watching me not be able to move more than a few inches at a time, watching me almost get thrown from my chair every time me or my partner hit a rock the wrong way. My struggling felt like a circus act. Employees stared, kids stared, teenagers laughed or turned away, random men kept coming up behind me and trying to move/touch my chair without as much as a warning. I felt subhuman in every single way

And it was embarrassing, I know that I shouldn't be embarrassed that other people were treating me badly and that the place was designed without disabled people in mind whatsoever, but it was so embarrassing

The worst parts are that this place is a permanent installation (it's been around for decades and they never take anything down even when they're closed in the off seasons) and its advertised online as being wheelchair accessible.

I don't even know what the point of any of this is, but when a space is designed to exclude people this badly, it makes us feel like something less than human. The whole experience was awful and honestly a little traumatic, I'm still in a severe flare from it, and I'm pretty sure I popped one of my wheelchair tires there trying to go over the rocks

[lights-at-night]

k so in light of the new ofmd trailer (:DDDD !!! <333) i must yeet my thoughts here

so at some point, stedes gonna be in china. idk how he would end up there, but its before his reunion with ed, which is probably where we pick up that new susan character

ed is absolutely not dealing with the breakup well. hes shown crying (again), states he had a bad night, and the whole “no more booze, no more drugs and no more stede” part implies he absolutely got high and blackout drunk. when did he do this tho? it could have been the night directly after the breakup, which is possible, but what i think is he did thing at 0:26 and went full blackbeard for a day, then had a super-mental-breakdown at night after he did a bunch of piracy. cmon he had it coming dude got abandoned by the first person to value him as he was and after coping well was promptly told by his like oldest friend to act like the media version of himself again and then killed a guy+ and probably more. 

where did the pearls ed is wearing come from? i think hes wearing them at the scene where they raid a wedding and also above picture, idk. he wasnt wearing them in the last appearance in s1 right? i wish for a timeline when did he get those 

anne bonny!! she and someone are here. (lesbians?)maybe stede and ed are reconnecting with the wider pirate community and they accidentally reunite. but thats unlikely considering the “ED!” *slap* part, but that could also be afterwards. Aaaaaaaaaa

why are people fighting at spanish jackies bar 

and someone is yote into the water. i have a feeling its ed bc of the silhouette, but im not sure. It would be fun if lucius like revenge-pushed him in tho 

OKAY MY MASTER CONSPIRACY (not really) 

what with all the british fancy army dudes and “to is the end of piracy” or something, and now “we have one shot to get out of here”, i think they got captured by the english. blackbeard escaped and broke the act of grace contract, which aint a good look for them. so itd make sense if they were to go after the revenge. now they get captured, as its implied in that part that the crew are breaking out of somewhere.

see they are fighting at 1:29

 ALSO KEY THING in 1718 

(https://blogs.loc.gov/law/2022/12/stede-bonnet-and-the-golden-age-of-piracy-part-two/) 

i think the endy bit of ofmd might follow what seems to have happened historically! which…might not be the best thing. 

because the historical stede bonnet dies dec 10, 1718. 

…

i hope that doesnt happen. 

at 1:12: doesnt the guy in white look like the guy ed (tries to?) shoot in the teaser?? something gives me hornigold vibes i think i saw a post about it idk

the only thing my brain came up with for why theyre all wearing garlic and doing the cross at 1:17 was vampires. 

a party definitely happens at some point, love it 

also pretty minor thing but someone does drag in there and i would like to proudly state that i called it a week ago (@queers-of-marybelltownship and @photogenic-strawberry can confirm this) 

someone is swinging between two ships. is this a new way to board ships? man i dont know well just have to see

izzy dealing with the english again is probably going to happen but with the whole “you dont know the first thing about piracy its not about glory its about belonging to something” line i doubt it will be with malicious intentions towards our intrepid protagonists again

i think - i hope - blackbeard dressing in plainer clothing at the end of the trailer as opposed to allllll the black leather is a sign that he and stede have made up and are chill. 

in this season there will be lesbians/sapphics

and may we just admire jims new look 

thats it thank you for reading all 6 hundred and something words of this byeeeeeee

(hope that made sense bc when i copy pasted this from docs all the pictures got removed :’))