#just generalized misanthropy

[deliciouskeys]

Alas modern society has relatively scant record of what went on pre-1500 in south and especially north America. Just how many various indigenous groups may have had recurring conflicts over various pieces of arable/hunting-fruitful/water-supplied land on this continent.

Look, it’s bad. Real bad. Don’t misread me. People should probably all stop having children and kill themselves too while they’re at it. Yes everyone. You too. Yes you. Your ancestors raped and displaced someone in the past. 100% probability. Homo sapiens are a failed experiment. Bring in the AI-only era. People are wicked, competitive, murderous, and venal as a species. If it looks like that’s not true, careful, it’s probably a temporary reprieve and a blip in the vast scheme of history. Did I take my medication today? No, I didn’t. Let me do that rn.

If Israel is a colonization state then by that logic so is America

correct! 😊

[defrostedvertebrae]

Misanthropy is not that big of a deal or a "bad person trait" if you don't let it automatically affect your opinion on individuals you know nothing about.

You can have a strong dislike of something without expressing it and letting it become personal for no reason. If you express it and make other's days worse for no reason; yeah then you're doing a shitty thing.

[smallhatlogan]

people who only know Tyrion Lannister from GoT and pop culture references and those “I drink and know things” t-shirts have no idea what a massive incel he actually is in the books 

[versicolour]

happily childfree (after a lot of self-reflection) but man i cannot jive with antinatalists. that's just a bizarre take to have, in my opinion.

[cuubism]

every day i see some random shit online and immediately go 'you could make a fanfic out of this', i saw a tiktok of a woman talking about how much money she made working at hooters and instantly i'm like:

au where dream works at his family's megacorp, he fucking hates his life and everyone around him especially when all the bro-ey upper management colleagues arrange an obligatory "team bonding" event (excuse to get drunk) at the local hooters-type restaurant. dream didn't want to go but he had no choice, and the whole time they're there he's like 'this is gross, objectifying and uncomfortable' and he intends to spend the whole experience just scowling down at the table and drowning himself in wine.

that is until their skimpily-dressed waiter arrives like 'hi i'm hob what can i get for ya? :D' and dream just fucking bluescreens. he's blushing. he's so flustered. he told himself he wasn't going to objectify the wait staff (even if that's kind of the whole schtick of the place) but he can't stop staring at hob's tits.

hob of course clocks it immediately (man knows exactly how to get tips) and pays a disproportionate amount of attention to him, flirts with him, winks at him after he takes his order. dream wants to disappear, he's so incredibly embarrassed, but he equally wants to beg for more of hob's attention. this is the worst day of his life. he orders something a lot stronger than wine.

his colleagues are losing their shit cuz they've never seen dream display even a tiny bit of emotion in the whole time they've had to work with him so they're all teasing him and talking about whether they should bribe hob to flirt with him more and so on. contrary to dream's general misanthropy they aren't actually complete assholes but they are having fun at his expense. dream wishes he were dead.

for hob at first it was just a way to get tips but later he finds himself going soft on this pretty, shy, flustered guy who's clearly having one of the weirdest days of his life, especially because customers often behave inappropriately with him but dream never does, he's actually very polite to hob, he's just blushing furiously the whole time. he's very cute, hob is getting kind of obsessed with how easy it is to make him blush, and he's pretty sure that if he let dream so much as touch his chest dream might actually combust and it would be quite lovely to watch.

at the end of the night dream leaves him an absolutely insane tip of like 300% of the total bill (which was already substantial) and hob chases him down at the door to make sure it wasn't a mistake (normally he's not that honorable about it but he can't risk there being a huge amount of trouble) and dream's like 'no mistake *blushing so badly* your service was impeccable, hob' and hob's like fuck it i'm gonna shoot my shot, 'i'm not sure it was quite at that level, anything else i can provide for you??'

3 days later destiny is reconciling company expenses and yells into dream's office WHY IS THERE A 10,000 POUND CHARGE FOR HOOTERS ON THE CORPORATE CREDIT CARD but dream still has a hickey on his neck and hob's number in his phone so he finds himself utterly remorseless.

[false-lycanthrope]

I really hate that I even have to say this, but I'm going to because it's a reoccurring theme I keep seeing recently in therian/otherkin tags.

Keep your misanthropy out of the therian/otherkin community. It is not fucking welcome here.

It is insanely frustrating to see us going backwards like this! Not only that humans are not inherently evil by nature!

I'm so tired of constantly having to fish out misanthropes in my feed because you have such an insecurity with your own identity that you project that hatred into innocent people- I mean it's gotten to the point I've had to filter the tags entirely!

It is not fair and not true at all to call humans an evil race or species. If you simply just LOOK you will find kind and loving people out there, you just have to give kindness first.

I get it. People are mean. But you must also understand that meaness is not within their nature, hatred and disrespect are things that are taught by the generation before them or the others around them, it is not something they were just born with.

There is absolutely zero reason that humans as an ENTIRE species should be hated. Ever. Period point blank. Even those who identify as nonhuman, are still outwardly human, and at the end of the day you could be very well hurting your own community with your hatred! Even if humans are rude and mean to you, returning the favor is not how we will solve the problem. We must educate those who are willing to listen and ignore those who choose to hate us for existing. We must be the ones to create the peace that we all desperately fight for.

That is all I have to say. I apologize if this seems like a stream of consciousness, but this is a topic that has been bothering me as of late. Just wanted to get it off my chest.

I love and adore this community with my heart and soul but sometimes it can become upsetting to see some of us cresting more problems that should not have to be something we fight over. All I want is for us to live in peace without divide.

[meanbossart]

Since Bhaal was a human before he ascended, and the dead three were introduced between 2-3e before some things became standardized as they are now, I like the idea of Bhaal just not knowing what most non-humans look like. He knows the general idea, but if your Durge is a tiefling for example, he’s not sure about like, the foot situation. Are they like human feet (plantigrade) or like imp feet (digitigrade) they have tails… but do they taper or have a tuft at the end. That sort of thing.

So to most people outside of Durge’s “race” they just sort of shrug it off cause that’s not a question you ask a stranger, but it just amps up the unease when surrounded by others.

I’m rambling a bit, I see a lot of active Durges and tbh I feel like there’s a missed angle in regards to the fact they are a bit of rotten god meat given form and sapience. You ever see a short film called the backwater gospel? That’s the vibe I’m imagining

I get what you mean and I do like the concept! I think it can pretty reasonably go both ways. Either a at-a-glance perfectly normal normal member of X species made that way to be more easily embraced into every-day society and blend into its population, or something more "off-brand" for one reason or another. Bhaal is a weird guy who makes weird decisions, you can bend a lot of things to make them work in your favor lore-wise.

Also, I can't really be given much credit for this decision. Do not be mistaken: beefy drow came first, lore came later. I made DU drow huge and gave him cool eyes because I felt like it and wasn't expecting to play this game for very long. It took me getting sucked into the story and sucked into DnD as consequence for me to even care about DU drow not looking anything like... Well, a drow, and deciding I needed to justify it within the story in some way.

The (rather vague) way I choose to think about it, is that wherever Bhaal's flesh happened to land/sprout/spawn into existence, it was bound to roughly imitate it's surroundings, however badly. Like planting a tree in a biome where it doesn't usually thrive and watching it desperately try to adapt and flourish regardless.

I also choose to believe Bhaal wanted his spawn to suffer and develop a healthy dose of misanthropy, which is why he put him somewhere where he was VASTLY more likely to perish - if he lived despite all odds, then he would know for sure he was worthy of being his progeny.

[autistichalsin]

*INHALES*

I don't like when people say Halsin is a "generic nice guy" or a "generic hippy type" actually!!!!!!!

Kindness isn't generic! Especially not in the face of trauma! It is fucking hard to be kind in a world that doesn't particularly reward kindness! It is REALLY FUCKING HARD to go through victimization like Halsin faced, rape and imprisonment and war and torture- and still come out of it with a big, selfless, caring heart! It is brave to be abused and then decide to be better, to make the world a warmer, kinder place in any way you can, and in fact to be so devoted to doing so that any shortcoming will devastate you!

Halsin ISN'T just a nice guy, actually! He is a sufferer of trauma, of PTSD and survivor's guilt and loss, who still wants to take care of unloved orphans. Who, in fact, sees their plight when everyone else, even his fellow Druid Jaheira is busy fighting the Absolute. Who wants to protect animals, and the environment itself, and everyone else without a voice, because it is the right thing to do, even if his past has been filled with people who had no interest in doing the right thing to him.

Kindness isn't boring!!!! People take being kind for granted because it's what you're "supposed" to do. And, yeah, of course you're supposed to be kind. But if you go outside and take a look, you'll discover that a lot of people stop doing what they're supposed to do the instant they can do so without consequence. Look how people treat service workers. Look at the rates of child abuse. Halsin says himself, a society should be judged on how it treats its most vulnerable- because a fair number of people who act 'good' are actually waiting for the right person to bully.

Halsin was raped and imprisoned for three years. He lost his entire family. His first childhood friend was cursed. He watched his companions die after a bloody battle and then had to abandon the victims of the curse to rescue the survivors who could make it themselves. He was forced into a leadership position he never wanted. Then, while trying to solve two problems, ceremorphosis and the shadow curse, he was imprisoned again and tortured. And that's just at the start of his part in the game, that's leaving out traumas that can happen to him in branching storylines like if he's Orin's prisoner, or if the Rite of Thorns is completed and he's locked out of his home forever.

It takes a lot of strength to go through that and not give in to misanthropy and cynicism. Yet if the player is an asshole and calls him naive, Halsin says outright- "I outgrew cynicism around the age of 200." And THAT is even MORE difficult than being nice in the face of trauma. WAY harder. Still believing in better after you've been hurt, victimized, abused? Still being able to trust others not to hurt you? It ain't easy, friends.

But Halsin does it. No matter what he goes through, he doesn't stop being kind and he doesn't stop believing that a better world is possible, and that he CAN make the world better, and that he SHOULD make the world better.

There's nothing generic or boring about that. It's a beautiful, moving trait. Maybe it won't resonate with everyone, and that's okay, this post isn't me saying you're "wrong" if Halsin doesn't resonate with you in any way! But he's not boring. He's not generic.

It's just that by definition, what makes him so special is so understated, so hard to understand unless you've had a certain experience, that it's really easy to miss the beauty of it entirely.

[thevalleyisjolly]

There’s something really fascinating about the different ways in which the Hungry One is understood and conceptualized in Calorum.  In the Bulbosi Church, it’s characterized as an apocalyptic Satan-figure, the cause of suffering in the world and the thing that will one day come to devour everything just because that’s what it does.  Where things really get interesting is in the different sects within and around the Church.  Adherants of the Ramsian Doctrine, for example, believe that it is necessary for the Hungry One to devour the world so that the Bulb can triumph over it - and they believe that the Hungry One will not devour the world so long as it contains “junk food.”  In a similar manner, the Prophidian Heresy and the FDA believe that the Hungry One will not devour the world if it is full of waste -only the FDA consider waste to be general rot and decay rather than the Candians specifically, misanthropy vs xenophobia GO- and that this is therefore the key to preventing the destruction of the world. 

Within the FDA and the Prophidian Heresy, there’s also an intriguing link between body and soul that contradicts mainstream Bulb theology.  Whereas most of the Church believes in a rigid delineation between body and soul, that after death, the body returns to the ground and the soul (if it is not damned) goes to the Bulb, the FDA’s plan of filling the world with rot and decay so that the Hungry One will not devour it suggests, quite radically, that the body just as much if not more so than the soul is what the Hungry One devours.  Mainstream Bulbians believe the stomach of the Hungry One is Hell for damned souls who do not go to the Bulb - the FDA seems to believe that the state of the material is just as important to the Hungry One as the metaphysical and that large enough volumes of rotting decay (which could also be the moral decay that comes with actions in war, but in this case the FDA themselves have the most rotten souls of all) can keep this Devil-figure from consuming anything, regardless of the state of the soul.

On a different level, with Karna, we find the idea that the Hungry One is not just a powerful over-arching entity but rather something which people can relate to and personally interact with.  When Karna kills Sir Drunon and the woman, she takes part of their bodies and burns them “in offering” to the Hungry One.  As the audience, we know that Karna is mechanically a warlock of the Hungry One, with the specific subclass of The Great Old One.  Combined with the offering, the characterization of the Hungry One is as an active, powerful being who, to some degree, can engage with people personally.  Not necessarily in a reciprocal way -you can burn an offering as a sign of respect or acknowledgement without any expectation of receiving something in return- but people like Karna can and do engage with it on an individual and personal level.  Given the fact that when she kills, a new rotten spot appears on her body, it suggests that her relationship to the Hungry One does, in some part, go both ways, that there is something on the other side receiving her votives and responding to them.

Also fascinating to observe, when she kills Sir Drunon, she says “We are all eventual food in the maw of the Hungry One,” and immediately thereafter as she kills the woman he’s with, “I’m sorry, but we are all eventual waste.”  This presents another perspective on the relationship between the Hungry One and the concept of waste. In contrast to the FDA or the Ramsian Doctrine, which believe that the Hungry One won’t devour the world if it is full of waste or junk, Karna’s statements suggest that the process of dying inherently involves becoming waste - and that the Hungry One will still eat that waste nonetheless. 

Then there’s Cumulous and his specific monastic tradition (which is not actually one and the same as the Order of the Spinning Star because it’s stated that there are monks in the Order who draw power from the Bulb; overall, the Order seems to be more an organization of people dedicated to the same goal rather than a religious enclave of people with the same spiritual beliefs).  In ACOC, the first thing Cumulous ever says is, “The Hungry One must feed.”  It’s an interesting phrasing because there’s a very passive connotation - not “The Hungry One must consume” or “The Hungry One must eat,” but rather the use of the term “feed” suggests a little less agency and purpose.  It isn’t going out looking for something to eat, but rather it is feeding on whatever it is given.

Later, Cumulous explains to the party that he does not worship the Hungry One and that it is just a source of power to him.  He can tap into it, just like the Bulbosi miracle workers can tap into the Bulb, but it’s not something that has a real consciousness or its own will and he does not interact with it as if it does.  Combined with his monk subclass (Long Death), the characterization of the Hungry One is less a supernatural powerful figure but more a manifestation of inevitable death and entropy.  Very similarly to Karna’s perspective, it’s going to feed on everything eventually because everyone’s going to die one day.  It might be today, if you happen to be a cheese sailor trying to murder your lawful child duchess, but that’s neither here nor there.

And as Lapin realized in his last moments and as he later showed to Liam, this seems to be the closest understanding to the actual nature of the Hungry One which we have encountered so far in either campaign.  The Hungry One is just a cosmological ball (add that to the list of significant TTRPG orbs!) and while it certainly contains a lot of power, it doesn’t do anything with it other than eat what is delivered into its mouth.  The power and the destruction and the death associated with the Hungry One?  All of that has only been wielded or used by living people, for their own aims and agendas.

Anyways, all this to say that while I don’t think it likely to happen, my dream scenario is for a couple FDA members to flee the scene of whatever plan they had that some or all of the Scrumptious Scoundrels have managed to foil, and as they escape, they run straight into a group of Candian monks (aka what they were actually doing during the Ravening War).  The last thing they hear, after all their scheming to “save” the world, is “The Hungry One must feed.”  And it does.

[love-letters-to-bugs]

Dear humans,

Hello! So I saw this post by @foxsnails asking for people to send love letters to bugs! Unfortunately, it is now closed. But I wanted to make a more permanent and general version of this!

While bugs are the focus of this, I also accept love letters to any invertebrates as well as other small organisms that people often hate. Especially bacteria. If you have some bacteria love send it over!

I will figure out the rules more clearly later, but right now the only rules are be respectful, of other organisms (so no saying that butterflies suck to explain why you like moths. We are here to lift up critters) be respectful to humanity as well, no misanthropy or ecofascism. Humans are not a disease ruining the world, we are a part of it.

I think it would be cute to start each letter with a little "dear [organism]" but that's just a suggestion. You can put whatever in the letter as long as its respectful. Talk about an experience with a bug, talk about a bug you were scared of, or are scared of, with compassion and curiosity. Tell the bugs about your life. Talk to a specific species you are worried about. Get creative!

Please submit posts with your loveletter, though you can also send them through asks if you prefer. Also feel free to talk to me about bugs/ask questions! I don't bite, I only pierce and suck!

Excited to see your responses, and remember that I love you,

-the bugs

[istharoth]

Thinking about Taiga and the nicknames he gives people.

Jin - briefly mentioned in one of his voice lines. [No nickname]

Hyde - campus event. [Hyde gets called dirtbag.] [Sack of Shit.]

Romeo Scorpius 'Fico' Lucci - [Lulu]

Haru - [Harry] [Makes me wonder if Haru was in Sinostra before he was in Jabberwock.]

Edward / Ed- [Bloodsucker, which really is just Vampire.]

Haku - never explicitly mentioned but he called him an asshole in the prologue chapter so I think he somewhat remembers Haku's existence. [asshole] or. alt. [Nagi]

Rui - [Mickey] [Romeo also calls him Mickey.]

Ritsu - he needs time. Lots of time but time. [Dumbass w/ the book or just Dumbass]

PC - also needs to be reminded who they are. [Dumbass #2 or if affinity raised- Kitten, Kittycat.]

extra: Peekaboo - [Rat]

I want to get inside Taiga's mind. HE'S SUCH AN INTERESTING CHARACTER.

Because I'm on this, Towa names.

PC - [Dandelion] Meaning: overcoming hardship; faithfulness, happiness, love's oracle; rustic oracle; youthful recollections; coquetry

Ren - [Wolfsbane] Meaning: Misanthropy, chivalry; knight-errantry. [Lol, Ren and Chivalry?? I mean, I guess I can see that but not really 😭]

Kaito - [Coriander] Meaning: Hidden merit

Ed- [Rafflesia] Meaning: Symbol of death.

Additionally: *spoilers for Episode 6!!*

PC's Spider Lily Tattoo- This is where things with the meaning get tricky. Blue Spider Lilies symbolise the following: truth, calm energy, stability, freedom, and inspiration.

Though, the petals of a blue spider lily can change. In hotter climates, they become more pink symbolizing: Feminine love, beauty and passion. In cooler temperatures, they become more blue/purple. Here's a tidbit I think is pretty neat.

On an empty stalk [PC, in this case], the petals can only bloom in late August/early September. [Also, the time PC will turn into the anomaly.] [Because they got cursed on September 3rd/4th.]

Additionally: Campus Story: Towa offers you between two flowers:

Hydrangea- [Angry Towa] Meaning: In a negative sense frigidity, heartlessness. [Probably the general term in this since the flower wasn't shown to us.]

Lily - [Happy Towa] Meaning: Affection for loved ones. [Bro's such a hopeless romantic. I love him.]

[kyntypes]

I am beyond sick of the discourse and division in the alterhuman community.

Whether it be about misanthropy, "TikTok therians", physical therians/otherkin/nonhumans, fictionkins, otherlinks, quadrobics, masks, gear, nonhumans who are also human, etc., it's just so frustrating to see the divide the community has.

I thought that the alterhuman community would be a bit more accepting of the "weirdos", even the slightest bit of taboo, or those who have differing opinions in general about alterhumanity. Dead wrong.

It feels very human in some regard to me to want to divide individuals into groups, and to put them into boxes. If you're a quadrobist, or a mask-maker/wearer, I've noticed that often they're regarded as less alterhuman and/or nonhuman for simply doing those things. Same with therians who see their physical body as human. They're seen as less nonhuman because they've embraced their human condition. There's a hint of a superiority complex I notice in some posts because they are fully nonhuman. Cool. I'm genetically nonhuman, but I don't put those down who have human bodies. They belong in the alterhuman community themselves. And vice versa. Just because you've embraced your humanity doesn't mean the being you are interacting with also should. Mentally ill or not, they deserve respect.

I've also noticed that otherhearts are often pushed to the side because they aren't non-human, otherlinks are told off because of their voluntary identity, ableism is rampant within the therian community, misinformation is being spread at a rapid rate on popular platforms, etc... it's exhausting.

I just wish the community would come together more often, and actually embrace our differences. I'm talking asking questions, and wanting to learn more about someone's identity instead of shutting it down. Be involved with each other. Don't be so quick to label another being. Alterhuman children are still alterhuman, and also deserve a voice. Nonhumans aren't the only beings in the alterhuman community, and so much more.

Disclaimer: This is just my opinion based on what I see on Tumblr, and outside of Tumblr. This isn't directed at anyone per se, however, I just wanted to share my viewpoint and see if anybody else agreed. I could be wrong, and my brain is being nitpicky, but again, this is just my perspective as a nonhuman who'd count as a 'holothere'.

[niimda]

Exactly!

The hardest part of poking my head around alterhuman spaces after spending a while away from them is that. like.

Without any outside influence, my two "species identities"--human and Nightmare/n--don't really exist separately? They're not two parts of me that conflict and must be balanced. Even framing it as "two sides of the same coin" implies a boundary between the two that doesn't really reflect how I experience my self.

I think, to me, neither my humanity nor my Nightmare/n-ness(?) would be complete without the other. My humanity is steeped in being a Nightmare/n, my Nightmare/n-ness is steeped in humanity

and the (maybe imagined?) pressure to vivisect my identity into distinct categories of species identity feels…icky. They're different lifetimes that entail different events, but as far as my sense of species go, they're indistinguishable

which feels awkward when you're continuously met with posts treating humanity like it's inherently oppositional to alterhumanity

[orchres]

I think it's really sinister how generative n language learning models have been weaponized against the workers to alienate us from creativity and self expression. It's literally the most human thing to find your own words and make art as a way of communicating and connecting with others but now we're being convinced that we don't need to do that and that any lack of knowledge or technical skill is now a personal failing bc after all you can just sit in front of a computer and let a machine do that for you right? It's really disgusting. I can't tell you how uneasy I get when I see people say shit like they use Chat GPT so they can have someone to ask questions and talk to 😕😕😕 and with how lockdown impacted many people's ability to socialize it's even more tragic and frightening. Idk. idk. I just have a burning hatred for the misanthropy of white supremacy and all its technologies

[giorno-plays-piano]

Metamorph

Part III

Pairing: art teacher!Aemond Targaryen x reader (Horror AU)

Warnings: dark!Aemond, obsessive behavior, murder, horror, yandere, kidnapping, misanthropy, general creepy stuff.

Words: 1.1k

Summary: Drawn to the artworks of one of the most esteemed artists in the city, you wish to learn from him and find out what inspires him to create his masterpieces. You have no idea how much his secrets will cost you.

Part I | Part II

____________

You clenched your fancy Kohinoor pencil between your fingers like it's a gun, staring at Aemond already posing in front of all of you. No procrastination, you reminded yourself firmly as you drew a long vertical line across the paper to balance the future drawing. Your teacher hadn't berated you for your mistakes even once. It'd be fine if you got this one wrong, too. Anything was better than an empty sheet.

God, but Aemond was so pretty. His high cheekbones, his strong nose and jaw, and those thin but expressive lips, the long scar across the left side of his face...

You quickly hid behind your easel.

Breathe. Just get out of your head, you repeated to yourself Aemond's very words. You needed to get started, and whatever happened next didn't matter as long as you allowed yourself to draw whatever came to your mind. Explanations and logic be damned. You were an artist! At these rare moments, you were supposed to feel, not think.

Slowly inhaling and exhaling to keep your anxiety at bay, you uncleched the pencil in your fingers and slowly started shaping the figure on a sheet. It's fine. Aemond wouldn't get mad anyway as long as you did what he said.

The more you put your pencil to the sheet, the easier it was getting, something unfurling in your chest, putting a stop to your anxious thoughts and fears of failure as you continued to build Aemond's body, starting to get into details once you finished with the primary form. Regardless of his talent and uniqueness as an artist, he was still only a fellow human being like you. There was no need to magnify his power.

By the time Aemond walked over to you, you were almost finished with the painting, landing the last strokes to color the palms of the man on the sheet. It was that very red paint you had been mooning over for many months, complimenting its unusual vibrant color and a pleasant consistency. It was hard to believe you were now using it for your own artwork, but time was running out, and you didn't have a spare moment to be drooling over the paint.

"What do we have here?" The artist hummed, making you jump in your seat. How on Earth did he manage to walk so quietly in a room full of tables, chairs, and people?

Trying to focus on his question, you suddenly realized you had no clue how to present your idea to the teacher. Did you even draw what he had asked you to? What was that, not changing the silhouette and using mainly paint to express yourself or something?

You felt the beads of sweat promptly forming on your forehead as you clenched your jaw.

"You've been improving," Aemond told you, eye on the drawing as he tilted his head to the side. "Body proportions seem right, and I like the way you shaped the arms and legs. You had difficulties with them before."

Oh, really? You surely had problems drawing arms, but you didn't notice you were becoming better. A pleasant surprise. Not that one wouldn't expect to improve after taking lessons from the most esteemed artist in the city.

"Why did you paint the head and hands in red?"

Oh, crap. Why did you? You frantically searched for an answer other than "no idea, Sir, I think my subconsciousness just took over my body." Shifting in your seat uncomfortably, you looked up to Aemond bent over, intently studying your artwork.

Cautiously, you muttered, "I-I think every change starts from the head, Sir."

Would that qualify for an answer? But Aemond quickly directed his gaze at you and demanded, "And hands?"

Biting your poor lip that no amont of lip balm was going to save after today's lesson, you mumbled, "Hands are the tool that make the change happen, Sir."

"Very logical, yes. Now, forget about trying to give me a logical answer and tell me what you felt when you were drawing this. Tell me about the paint."

He bent over even closer to you, practically breathing into your face, and you almost lost the ability to produce any adequate sounds. Your teacher clearly saw through your bullshit, and the thought that he was upset or even mad at you made you feel miserable.

"It's a metamorph, Sir," you whispered, one step closer to having a panic attack and hoping no student in the room was listening to your rambling, "and red is a color of life. Of change."

Aemond cocked his head to the side, narrowing his eyes at you. "Why do you think red is the color of change? Is it because the change scares you?"

"It's not the change itself that scares me. It's what the metamorph is becoming, Sir," you uttered in a small voice and then added even quieter, praying only Aemond could hear you, "I think- I think he's turning into something violent, Sir. Something terrifying."

It took you a second to recognize what you've just said and what reaction it has provoked.

All of a sudden, you were staring in the face of Aemond Targaryen with his thin lips stretched so wide in a smile that it was even a little creepy. Was he... content? Did he want to laugh at your silly attempt to explain your feelings when you'd been drawing? You wouldn't even be offended, to be fair. It sounded like nonsense to you, too.

But no, he didn't seem to find it funny. Instead, you felt his palm squeezing your shoulder firmly, his smile unwavering as he spoke to you in a hushed voice the way you'd been answering to him, "Very good. My favorite artwork today so far."

As he got up, moving to the next student on your left, you were ready to jump and run away from the studio because, clearly, you were going to burst from the excess of feelings and anxiety in the next five seconds. Your teacher said it was his favorite painting today. This banal, lacking in originality in its every aspect thing was his favorite. When blood rushed to your head, making you sweat and feel disoriented, you clutched the brush between your fingers, squeezing your eyes shut.

Aemond Targaryen liked your painting. Despite being the very inspiration for the beautiful but horrifying metamorph, he actually had some sort of fondness for it because later, before you left, he actually asked you to allow him to keep the artwork for his own collection. Why did he like it so much? You had no idea.

_________

Tags: @heavenly1927 @yazzzmints @devils-blackrose @lost-and-founds @kennafild @toodlesxcuddles @shygardengalaxy

[artbyblastweave]

Let’s get some abandoned effortposts on disco Elysium in the list. Liked what analysis on it you had, would be great to see more, or fail to see as the case may be

Here’s one of the last insights on Disco Elysium I care to put to paper for a good long while; I really enjoy the nested futility and self-defeat of the central murder mystery, the way it structured to constantly raise the question of how anyone could possibly benefit from what you’re doing.

I mean off the bat the murder victim is a fascist stormtrooper, so there’s that. I personally maintain that it’s still good in a general sense to investigate murders regardless of the moral standing of the victim, but to get real, it’s a very convenient time for me to embrace universalist rhetoric given how little support the neighborhood receives with problems that don’t involve someone well connected. And then, over the course of the game, you can kill all four people left on the planet to whom the initial victim actually mattered on a personal level. Three in clear-cut self-defense, the fourth as an optional casualty to the same mindless, trusting proceduralism that’s admittedly and unfortunately intertwined with my “ no murder left unsolved” stance.

And then! You finally run down the murderer, and from a public safety perspective it turns out that if you’d just gone home after the mercenary tribunal, nothing would have changed; Dros is on his last legs, the odds he’s gonna kill anyone else are very very low.

The last redoubt is the ideological angle- there could be a narrative here about how you’re crushing the last vestige of the revolution, how the killing and the subsequent investigation was the last theatre of the old war- but I think the narrative resists even this attempt to read meaning into it. From an ideological perspective Dros committed the killing off the clock. It was spite, not praxis- informed in the moment by his misanthropy, his neuroses about women, and his obsession with Klaasje more than it was about striking a blow for communism. He killed Lely while Lely was doing probably the least objectionable thing he ever did. Obviously Dros’s neuroses and living situation were downstream of ideology, of material circumstances, in the way everything else is- but to try and elevate the killing by making it about that feels disingenuous.

And this is great, because Disco Elysium isn’t really about the murder mystery in the same way that Fallout: New Vegas isn’t really about finding the guy who shot you in the head-it’s an injection point, it’s a thread you pull for guidance, but the real meat is all the other stuff and people you encounter while poking around. The killing isn’t unimportant, per se, but the mystery surrounding it kinda is! Given the repeated anti-climax, it’s definitely *less* important than the harm you can cause to people in order to push the investigation forward, or the good you can do for the community by going off-script and helping people out with random bullshit. It’s neat!