#its going to be a really complicated fight

[tuulikki]

Fighting oppression fundamentally means you’re going to have to figure out the parameters of what a “fight” entails and what values you’re willing to sacrifice along the way. Organising humans at scale will always ignore or marginalise some group whom any truly just system would treat better. The world has seen bad regimes and it has seen very bad regimes, but you only get to be in the first group by a significant, sustained effort to not forget that, for valid reasons, you’re somebody’s bad guys.

A government led by freedom fighters who helped liberate Black South Africans from apartheid is now overseeing a police force that tortures them, betraying a promise not to repeat the atrocities of the country’s former oppressors.

“I’m really shocked because it brings back very, very, very bad memories,” said Khulu Mbatha, a veteran of the liberation party, the African National Congress, when told of the findings. “The leadership of the A.N.C., when they came to power in 1994, made it clear: No soul should be subjected to that.”

( Read article here )

Genuinely any system that can wield enough power to meaningfully help people will, by its size, also have a fundamental unwieldiness that we have to grapple with. Which anyone who has organised something more complicated than a potluck of like-minded friends will know.

a common misconception is that a revolution is built by years of painstakingly raising class consciousness among the masses while at the same time building up a party capable of taking leadership during a revolutionary crisis. nothing could be further from the truth. a revolution is built by making social media posts calling for a general strike over and over until one day it just happens

[lesb0]

I think its really funny when there's any kind of homoerotic scene written or directed by a woman for the Fujoshi Gaze. it's so tender and restrained, lingering touches and long gazes, eyes glancing down the neck, emotionally passionate cresendos and intelligent and complicated but well communicated conversations, etc. the entire purpose is that they want each other sooo badly but never touch. there's always a male role and a female man role, like they're going fully to pretend he doesn't have a penis because he exists only for the female consumer to identify as, so he can only desire passively which is something women can feasibly agree with, like "I also act demure and avoidant of my pleasure so I'm just like Victor in Love Victor!"

But when gay males portray male relationships even with straight guys, it's all about out-aggressing each other. Like in Rotting in the Sun, they are constantly touching and grabbing and spanking, humping each other for no reason, getting naked to show playful sexual dominance. Even if there is a script with dialogue and conversation, there's still a ruling homoerotic textural quality because the bottom guy is body slamming the other one into the wall and tearing his shirt off. they start wrestling around during a talking scene to express how they are both aggressive and active participants in pleasure seeking behaviors which is what gay and straight men enjoy. Men can do sexual play fighting for no reason other than a bonding ritual. a lot of this would just be offensive or mean between a woman and a man so obviously female viewers don't like seeing all this. It's cute how they distinctively gender the 2 modes of homoerotic display lol!

[hawkmetrianon]

Wake up babe new hawkmetrianon au just dropped. this is the "my girl is mad at me i hope i die" au, or, even more accurately named, the Stupid Idiots AU

typical moment happens post season three with the boys where everybody just assumes theyre together and have been together since the house fight

except, when someone (probably miguel) brings it up to eli, instead of being like "what? no, we arent", hes like "SHIT wait we are? oh my god demetris gonna be so mad if he finds out i didnt know"

cue eli slowly doing more and more obviously romantic stuff in an attempt to make up for the however many weeks he didnt know he was dating demetri ("oh my god im the worst boyfriend ever")

demetri remains completely oblivious to this and simply thinks eli is suddenly doing all this over the top baloney "because he feels really guilty for what he did" and "hes in his redemption arc"

secretly hes soaking up all the attention while also trying VERY hard not to read too into any romantic subtext because "no way does eli like me like that". but he pretends hes just chilling about it all

which of course, because this IS the Stupid Idiots AU, eli takes this as demetri being a Petty Bitch and depriving him of boyfriend-ly activity as a punishment for not knowing they were dating

and so he works double time to work his way out of boyfriend timeout which comes to a head around prom where eli is like "ah, yes, i will win demetri's affections back by doing the coolest most dramatic promposal ever to affirm my love for him and say sorry"

i dont know exactly what this promposal is (suggestions welcome) but i assure you its probably eli-typical levels of drama and over the top flair and he also probably ropes so many people into being part of it

demetri says yes (how could he not!) after being incredibly caught off guard and definitely embarrassed, but once he and eli are alone he STILL asks if eli meant that platonically or romantically

"so... we're going to prom as like... dates, right? not as like... bros?" / "why would i ask my boyfriend to prom as my bro?" / "SORRY?"

demetri full blue screens (thinking eli has just very smoothly and not so subtly asked him to be his boyfriend) while eli is still yapping about how hard he worked on that promposal

once demetri stops freaking the fuck out, hes a little peeved like you do that whole romantic ass promposal and then THATS how you ask me to be your boyfriend? you charismatic jerk i hate you? wow i cant believe we're dating now?

and then of course eli is like "now? we've been dating for like, months"

cue this whole stupid ass situation unravelling and face palming at their own idiocy and making out

they have two anniversaries. one for when they got together and one for when they got together

another silly one for you guys. i will post about my angst aus soon (threat), its just theyre a lot more complicated and im a bit lazy to write them out lol. hope this one made you chuckle a tad bc this one makes me lose my mind THEYRE SUCH STUPID IDIOTS

[jintaka-hane]

Omegaverse Alpha!Paulie x f!Omega!Reader

Damn, I am OBSESSED with this.

500w

Sobbing and hugging yourself, you lean against the edge of the company president’s desk, looking for a bit of shelter in your vulnerable state.

“I-I’m sorry… I swear I haven’t missed a single day taking my suppressants,” you sniff, mortified. “I’m really strict about it…”

Iceburg leans on the desk beside you, gently rubbing your shoulders. “Y/N, don’t worry. These things happen…” he says, then glances over at the alphas in the room, wearing a look of mild resignation.

The Galley-La Company is known for its seriousness and commitment to shipbuilding. To maintain such an honorable reputation, distractions among workers must be kept to a minimum. Only a few omegas are accepted among the staff. But your outstanding skills as a shipwright impressed the president - an omega himself - so much that he gave you a place like any other worker. In return for that trust, you take your suppressants religiously, so you don’t cause any complications for the alphas in Dock 1.

But shit happens.

After years on the same medication, today it failed, and your heated symptoms decided to show up right at your workplace.

You cover your face with your hands, trying not to think about the urge to tear off your clothes, burning against your skin.

“Don’t be embarrassed," Icebugr’s soft, reassuring voice speaks up beside you. "This is a natural process, and we know you’ve done everything you could. We’re not going to let you go through this alone, alright?”

You nod, your hands still hiding your face.

“Just… pick an alpha to help you. We can spare one more worker for a week. The deliveries won’t be delayed, and I’m sure we have plenty of alphas here more than willing to help out. Isn’t that right, Lulu?”

“Aye,” comes the man’s voice, rough and tinged with restrained desire.

You peek out from behind your hands to look at him shyly, only to see Peepley and Tilestone next to him, practically devouring you with their eyes. They are clearly holding themselves back because the president is there.

“So, who do you want to pick?” Iceburg asks again. “Point him out, sweetheart.” Then he turns to the workers and adds firmly, “Whoever she picks, we’re going to behave like civilized people. No fighting. Understood?”

The men let out a low growl of agreement, and you blink innocently a couple of times, your face flushed and your eyes bright. Then, slowly, your finger lifts and points through the window at the only alpha in Dock 1 who isn’t in the room - a man who’s practically armed himself with suppressants to keep his instincts in check and act as beta as possible. But all for nothing, because he’s clearly the one most affected by your condition, unable to hold back the strong pheromones pouring off him and only making your symptoms worse.

"Him," you whisper, your voice barely there.

Iceburg follows your finger and his eyes land on the blond worker outside, goggles on and a blowtorch in hand. A small smile spreads across his face before he looks back at you.

“You sure? He might be the least experienced when it comes to taking care of these kind of needs.”

“I’m sure,” you say shyly.

“Alright. Why don’t you go get your nest ready while I take care of the rest?”

“Okay,” you breathe softly, and as soon as you turn around, you hear the president’s voice shouting out the window.

“Paulie!! Get in here!”

...............

Feel free to continue this story if it inspires you! 😘

[urproblematicfav-arsonk]

found your blog while i was searching for unrequited radiostatic and i am so immensely surprised that i actually found one who thinks that it’s more intriguing to explore if it’s one sided from al’s side like whoa.. i thought i was the only one ngl haha. there is just something really interesting about it.. about how vox’ obsession doesnt lend itself into romantic attraction (or at least not really?) and how al has a really complicated view of love and affection and the likes..

(am i making sense im sorry if i am not hcnshfjsbdh)

I'm sorta a contrarian when it comes to things someyimes. Mostly just because everyone does "Vox is in love with Alastor, and Alastor is bothered by it", and I just get kinda bored after awhile. Not that it's bad or not super interesting in its own way, but if I'm gonna do stuff with it, I need to be mentally engaged and I'm just ehhh about that. Absolutely it's a very common aroace experience to feel like you're being pushed into a dynamic you don't want, but there's also the flip side with deeply wanting...something? but it doesn't look like traditional relationships and thus is a lot harder to ask for.

I think the idea that everyone pushes the idea of Vox being in love with Alastor ONTO Vox when he doesn't actually think that, is interesting. Like Val being super jealous and never believing Vox when he says he loves him more and wouldn't leave him. Or just people mocking him for his crush when his "crush" is probably closer to a ADHD Blorbo thing than actual romantic intention (at least anymore, he used to have a sincere crush but it died out FAST). It's sometimes a thing to just assign romantic value to peoples behavior because we're such a romantic-centered culture. Like, because Vox is kinda pathetic and weird around Al, IT MUST BE LOVE. While Vox has to either tolerate the harassment or try to explain himself and look like he's gay panicking when he's not.

Inversely, I like Alastor seemingly hating Vox's guts but deep down he's horrifically heartbroken because his soulmate and best friend left him. That man is getting into public fights with Vox and then going home to lay face down on his floor while blasting The One That Got Away by Katy Perry. And just my generalized hc that Alastor has a Baby It's Cold Outside view on relationship dynamics so every time he's like "that's AWFUL. I would NEVER go on a date with u, hmph", he's then immediately blindsided by Vox saying kay and not bothering him about it again. He thinks peer pressure is flirting and pulling pigtails is first base. Vox is like...a normal adjusted person who just likes going out to dinner or something.

Also I just think its funny if Alastor wholeheartedly believes he could manipulate Vox's feelings for him by seducing him, or offering some kind of relationship and Vox immediately says "Why would I even want that. What??" And just leaves while Alastor surprise pikachu's with his hand out lmao

[sepiamestus]

A couple of marios for @technikki <3 happy birthday 🩷💞

[brokenclockgears]

with artfight happening, i figured it was a great opportunity to practice my painting, and what better way to practice than to make myself go crazy insane by painting people's little nightmares ocs for 9 straight hours

characters belong to @darkrootmushies and @/Daffodills on AF

[tacagen]

one of the things that fascinate me about thawne: yes, he CAN be normal with kids! surprisingly normal!

((not at all times, though. his mental illness still spills through and as usual he, in trying to manipulate or hurt others, spits out at them the exact stuff that would hurt him (or have in his childhood/barry's rejection interpretation) the most in the first place lmao))

but at the same time. his like second instinct when doing his bullshit is FUCK THEM (as) KIDS

(and, well. whatever this classifies as)

[hauntinglyghostie]

inseparable. a shadow and its source. life and death. as much as you want to tear away the thought of him, you can't. you stood by him, and his shadow lingers.

also here's this TERRIBLY shitty drawing I made inspired by @denimscotch saying Lysandre needs to "take a chill pill. make slime or something" and @rainbowpufflez encouraged me to actually post it.

[wa3jetisbestpony]

revstar fans we need to put on the best talent show this towns ever seen and save ReLive!!

[rowanintheriver]

please please say things about “speaking of courage”. it was my favorite chapter in the novel, and

hi anon ABSOLUTELY this was my favourite too. we singled out this short story for my lit class, actually, and it's the reason i ended up reading tttc by myself. (which also means might've taken this ask as a reason to, like, almost analyse it... i'm so sorry.) i had that entire chapter annotated it but lost the print-out :/ BUT i still remember everything i need to. lol.

keeping this under the cut because it got too long lmao:

so. speaking of courage is objectively a fucking masterpiece. to me, it's about exactly what the real norman bowker expressed in his letter for o'brien: that sense of sudden lack of purpose. like, okay. the war's over. we survived. what's next? this? where do we go now? where do we go?

so, norman bowker goes in circles. the circle thing is pretty fantastically done. the story, the structure—it brings you back, and then away, and then all of that just to bring you back again. and then it happens, again, slightly different but it's really just the same.

it's a pleasant day. the lake is in the center of everything. there's nowhere to go and norman bowker is driving. in another world he would've been able to say this or that or would've had someone listen to this or understand that. norman bowker rolls the windows down or turns up his music and takes a turn of his dad's chevy. the world is moving around him and he keeps driving. locked away in this metal box with windows. driving.

on a broad level, that same structure just goes on the entire story. it's so beautifully done. and i believe it's literally the language lending to that too? the lake and town and weather is "smooth" and "flat" and the houses are "handsome" and these descriptors remain the same throughout.

there's this line i really like, about a sprinkler scattering water on a garden. and it's described to be doing it, like: hopelessly. round and round. it's a brief on-the-nose symbolism and i love it.

and there's another layer beneath that all, obviously. with kiowa & the silver star, and really it's the war. and just... peeling away any analysis or whatever right now, the story itself is disgusting if you imagine yourself in there. it's shit. the way it's written just. you think you're brave? could you jump in front of a bullet? could you take this? could you sit and wait? if you've had courage in the hardest of times could you have the type of courage you don't get a say in, at all? could you just be?

that line. "he knew shit. It was his specialty. the smell, in particular, but also the numerous varieties of texture and taste." maybe i'm thinking about this too vividly—but that's objectively horrifying to me. sinking in shit. objectively, you could say that "oh, it's better than facing the threat of being gunned down to death," but... let's be so fucking real. think about it: imagine yourself there.

from an analysis perspective, the ending is what gets me, most of the time. it's such a traditionally happy ending, has all the good symbolism points. gets out of the car, dips his head in the river—which, you know, cleansing, rebirth, all that bullshit (ha)—he watches the fire works for the 4th of july and yeah, it's a nice scene.

and then he says it's a pretty good show. that word pretty changes the entire fucking thing! and he's been doing this throughout, hasn't he? objective comments about the weather -- it's nice -- the town -- it's clean, sanitary -- and that's all he does. he's very carefully detached from the meaning of july 4th, too. the colours of the fireworks are pretty much identical to the colours of the flares from the night kiowa died in that shit field.

in a way, norman sort of died then too. with kiowa. the stupid analysis stuff, cleansing, rebirth, whatever—all of it, but inversed. it wasn't the water, it was the goddamn waste. instead of clean it makes you feel dirty—and norman's feeling of "dirty" means so many things. the guilt of kiowa. the distance from the town, the handsome, neat town who doesn't want the dirty war stories. the general view of the vietnam war. how he's completely clung onto all that this "dirty" means because he's still stuck in the war. my favourite description(s): the place looked as if it had been hit by nerve gas.

i have so much to say about that lake too. there's a really fucking oomph factor about the lake, you know? it's the lake where his old friend died. i wish i could explain this bit properly but god, i dunno, i just feel like there's some sort of parallel between the lake and the shit field. he tastes the water too. they're both described as flat bodies of water. there's something about that scene.

the ending isn't depressing, just because that word's too harsh, but it's... not happy. the way i see it, norman's attempting to achieve what the water is meant to symbolise. cleansing, just trying to wash it off of him again. all that shit. the waste of the war, of his guilt, of—and it leaves him disconnected, because that's a part of him and the only way to get rid of it is cutting it off. he doesn't talk about it, doesn't have anyone to talk to. it's not that he doesn't want to talk about it—he desperately wants to, so much that it genuinely breaks my heart. "want to hear about the silver star i almost won?" he whispers it at one point: the more times i read that, the more i feel his quiet anguish. he shouldn't have to be so disconnected, but he is because they don't want to listen. the place could only blink and shrug.

anyway i just think there's so much to take away from this story in particular. yeah, if you analyse it in that classroom style there's the repetition, that lost quality, the idea of being unable to speak. but more importantly there's the gross reality of it -- it was a shit field and he lost his friend and no one wants to hear about it. because it's shit and that's not what we want to hear of war. because norman wasn't able to save him and where's the good ending to that? we want to hear nothing about war that is war, really.

my thoughts on this will never end btw. there is so much more i have that is unsaid. there's just so many angles to this story -- on a literal sense, as a standalone, connected to the rest of the novel,

and it isn't norman's fault he can't speak. because since this isn't a pretty story, since there isn't a moral or point to it, there's just no one who'll fucking listen.

[jacqcrisis]

Can I talk about the boat scene with Gale? I'm gunna talk about the boat scene with Gale and my boy, Alfonso "The Face-Breaker" Tombstone.

Cause here's the thing. Alfonso Tombstone isn't a religious person. It's not that he doesn't believe in the gods (in fact I dont think you can in this universe), but he disregards them mostly. Given his upbringing and his poor background, the gods are not a direct force to Al. They can be to other, more special people; people of influence and power and interest, but to little old Al, he's just another ant on the ground, living his life with as much of a thought about divinity as the divine probably have of him.

Given his status pre-tadpole, Alfonso fully knows that his life is more determined by the world and the people around him than any gods. And that's fine, that's preferable as divinity is not a replacement for the life that surrounds you, but it's also never going to get him into a tabernacle praying for a change in his circumstance because the gods don't care about lowly old him and, frankly, he doesn't need them to. If he wants a change, than either he will make that change, a person in his life will make that change, or some random chance will make that change.

And then he randomly gets scooped up by a mindflayer ship and everything goes topsy-turvy. He's miles from home. Surrounded by weirdos. Having an adventure.

Yet he still takes that core belief about deities with him. Its one of the things he and Gale bond over as the academic and divinely troubled wizard finds this uneducated athletic performer of an orc to hold surprisingly nuanced opinions about the very thing that vexes him. They debate about, argue, spend long hours into the evening discussing this chasm between their opinions on the role of the gods that do or do not affect their lives.

They never come to a consensus or an agreement, but it opens the door for their budding romance. The divine stops being argued. Conversations move on, relationships deepen, time passes. Shockingly, Alfonso still believes the gods have little interest in him even as he's suplexing the avatar of one deep in the bowels of a mindflayer nest.

And he's in love. Al doesn't want to admit it, doesn't want to plan for a speculative future, doesn't want to give himself that hope because outside of this adventure, outside of the tieflings and the children calling him a hero, he's still the same old Al. No amount of praise or good deeds done in the world could make him believe that if they survive all this and if life goes back to normal, that Gale won't finally see how goddamn uninteresting Alfonso is and immediately forget about him in favor of anyone more worth his time.

But maybe he does start to think about life after. Maybe he does daydream about simple times and simple days. No mindflayers or tadpoles or cults or dead gods or living gods and maybe Gale is there when Al is at his weakest of daydreams that they could have something in the after this. Maybe a home life or another adventure, but something together where Al can and does measure up to all the things in Gale's life that came before him.

And now Alfonso is sitting in a boat among the stars being asked by this person he finally started admitting he loves if they can ascend to the very thing that will make them leave Al behind. Because Alfonso wouldn't ascend with Gale; that's never going to be something he, the most salt of the earth kind of person to ever exist, would want. He isn't divine material, isn't capable of wrapping his head around the minutiae of that, is interested in that at all. If Gale ascends, he would be doing it alone and who would Al be to him but an ant staring at the sky, grieving the person he loved.

I like to think in that whole conversation, Al told Gale all that. That was his rebuttal to the 'tell me you want what i want' line, along with the whole 'I love you for who you are and not the god you'd pretend to be'. Which leads to the rest of the boat scene and I've got too many FEELINGS ABOUT IT.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME.

[micamicster]

My favorite thing in the untamed is how at their core all of the relationship conflicts are about fighting for the right to care about each other

[jackass-jones]

The anguish I feel knowing no story is ever gonna have characters as good as the letter 😔

[quietwingsinthesky]

the funniest thing about even is that they concluded that being loved was not worth the price and picked out someone specifically who they believed would not form an attachment to them, giving them the security of knowing how this relationship would work, only for the master to. get attached to them.

[maddisandy]

honestly i think the fact that laezel is soleils closest bestie and they're partners with astarion is very fitting given they both have the exact sane approvals most of the time. also the laezel lovemailing is very much coming from the fact that while streaming with our friend tonight we were complaining about the awful takes people have on laezel because she acts mean and now im thinking about how much i love her again