#let's make our insults more targeted and specific please

[fireheartwraith]

Making fun of Neymar for throwing himself on the ground every second: old. Tired. Overused

Making fun of Neymar for being a 30yo child who doesn't pay his taxes and supports a dumbfuck fascist: new. Fresh. Relevant

[cienie-isengardu]

How did Cyber Initiative exactly influence Sektor's personality and character? He was not enslaved like the rest and in MK9 he already seemed cold and almost without feelings even before his transformation.

I don���t think any source explained in great detail how Cyber Initiative exactly transforms people into cyborgs, as it is strictly a technological process or if there could be some magic involved too, especially in the matter of human soul and how humanity can be erased and restored within it. Franky, the various takes on Cyber Lin Kuei make it hard to say for sure how much original body and organs (brain) is there under armor to begin with, let alone how the personality and special abilities are connected to technology that was meant to remove “human flaws”.

  Keeping that in mind, my personal theory is that Cyber Initiative does not necessarily change Sektor’s personality and is more like eliminating the factors (mental limitation) that crippled his human behavior. There is little data about Sektor as a human being, but with original MK3’s Biography

"Sektor is actually the code name for unit LK-9T9. He was the first of three prototype cybernetic ninjas built by the Lin Kuei. Sektor was once a human assassin trained by the Lin Kuei. He volunteered for automation because of his loyalty for the clan. Sektor survives the Outworld invasion - he has no soul to take."

and MK9’s Bio 

"The son of the Grand Master, it was never in question that Sektor would join the Lin Kuei. What pleases the Grand Master is the degree to which his son relishes the life of an assassin. The secretive clan allows Sektor to express his darker nature, using any means necessary to complete his tasks. [...]”

we can assume his upbringing led him to mental problems, which, among other things, manifested themselves in his blind obedience to the Grandmaster (father) and enjoying violence/killing. However, despite the “darker nature”, human Sektor gives the feeling of the most withdrawn Lin Kuei once compared to Bi-Han, Cyrax, Tomas or Kuai Liang. It is best seen with Bi-Han, who during MK9’s story mode barely interacts with anyone (thus creating a similar feeling of another introvert in the group) but once he walks into the room, he is hard to miss while Sektor is easily dominated by other people’s presence. He is the son of Grandmaster, yet when MK9 introduced us to the three Lin Kuei taking part in Tournament, Bi-Han is clearly in the leader position, as he takes the middle place while both Sektor and Cyrax stay a step behind Sub-Zero on his each side.

When Cyrax wanted to talk about C.I. Project, Sektor was purely on defensive and kept to the “obey Grandmaster” mindset because he had no other good argument in their discussion.

CYRAX: I understand there are benefits to the Grand Master's plan, but his plan goes against Lin Kuei principles. SEKTOR: We are Lin Kuei, Cyrax. We will obey the Grand Master's commands. CYRAX: It means giving up our free will... our souls. It will turn us into--

Once Hanzo approached them, it was Cyrax who insulted Shirai Ruy and attacked when Scorpion said his clan may walk the Earth once more. Sektor was pretty much passive and pushed into background. And it is even more ironic, because Cyber Sektor calls himself Cyrax’s superior in MK11 when he hardly presents any superior attitude (leadership) during the Tournament.

Personally, I think the difference between how human Sektor operated during MK9 and how other Lin Kuei acted comes down to the lack of emotional support. Out of the five named Lin Kuei, only two are said to join the clan on their own decision (Smoke and Cyrax). Bi-Han, Kuai Liang and Sektor had never be given a choice in that matter, the first two being kidnapped, specifically targeted for their ice-power bloodline as Sub-Zero’s mantle belonged once to their father (original timeline) or grandfather (alternative timeline), while the latter was a biological son of Grandmaster. Yet despite the ties to the leader of the clan, Sektor was not really shown as a privileged person in any meaningful way and if he was meant to inherit the Grandmaster’s title, would he be chosen to undo transformation into cyborg in the first place, if his father apparently choose to stay human? Sektor is said to have volunteered while our main Lin Kuei needed to be forced into C.I. Project which perfectly shows how Sektor’s own perception of himself was dehumanized and how deeply was installed in him the idea Grandmaster (his father)’s will override his own desires, or even human basic right. Thus I think it makes sense to assume the endured childhood(?) abuse influenced Sektor’s mental health, while the withdrawn behavior and blind obedience became the safest copy mechanism helping him survive. 

(And yes, the MK9’s data presented Sektor as someone wishing to take control over Lin Kuei, however would such a person volunteer to be stripped out of his humanity and will in the first place then? The original source says he did that out of loyalty, and I think it is worth considering how much the desire to rule comes from human ambitions and how much from a cyber mind free of previously learned habits that the software simply rejected as harmful flaws?)

Now, let’s look at Kuai Liang and Bi-Han. Both are described as serving faithfully the Lin Kuei (“Mortal Kombat X: "Kuai Liang and his older brother, Bi-Han, served the Lin Kuei assassin clan faithfully until the first Mortal Kombat tournament.”) however none of them truly manifested blind loyalty to the Grandmaster, the way Sektor did. Through the various timelines, Kuai Liang outright rejected the clan's rules forbidding friendship, he ultimately destroyed the C.I. Project but also put his dedication to brother over Grandmaster’s orders ("I am his family and clan. I fight for his honour"). Though MK1 alone did a great disservice to original Bi-Han, the widely understood lore material paints a different portrayal of the older Sub-Zero. Bi-Han choose to risk his life to save Earthrealm twice (three) times, even if that meant doing Raiden’s bidding without - or even against - Grandmaster’s orders, was willing to spare his enemies (Sareena in Sub-Zero: Mythologies, frozen Johnny and Sonya in old comics) or even disturb the fight between Black Dragons and Earthrealm Protectors, stopping the dishonorable mercenary attack out of respect for the Tournament laws (Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion’s Revenge). Old!comics Kuai Liang described elder Sub-Zero as “stubborn in many ways” who “refused to utilize modern technology on his missions”, which strongly implies both Bi-Han’s lack interest in advanced technology and his determination to do things in his own way. 

And yes, Bi-Han is quite often presented as an abrasive, cold-natured man but we could see him spending time with younger brother between missions and equipping Kuai Liang with knowledge he freshly acquired himself (Mortal Kombat 4: Special Edition comics). Thus the widely understood lore provided us with enough data to assume that whatever childhood trauma the brothers endured, they did look out for each other and provided the necessary emotional support and so both cryomancers had someone to hold on outside the harsh Lin Kuei’s norms (additionally, Kuai Liang had also Smoke, while comics!Bi-Han had Hydro).

Sektor, as far as the lore presented, may never have had anyone that supportive - his closest companion was Cyrax, but we do not know when exactly Cyrax joined Lin Kuei. For all we know, the irreversible damage was already done to Sektor’s mental health before he was paired with the other man.

This is why I don’t think Sektor was emotionless, more like traumatized and indoctrinated, way more than Bi-Han, Kuai Liang, Tomas or Cyrax were. And the mental problems that developed during his servitude to the clan most likely corrupted the process of transformation. The main purpose of Cyber Initiative was to erase human flaws, and well, the effects of trauma that kept Sektor “loyal” whatever out of love for father or fear of Grandmaster’s wrath also could easily subdued his self preservation instinct (thus volunteering into C.I.Project), self-worth (the feeling he should be perfected) and self-confidence (hence lack of dominant presence and leadership skills in MK9) - so the “defect” (trauma) easily fall under the wide term of “flaw” that programmation overriding Sektor’s humanity targeted to eliminate.

The problem is, erasing emotional reasoning removes the reason why human Sektor was loyal in the first place. Without the effect of trauma and indoctrination that dictated how he behaved, Cyber Sektor probably for the first time clearly could see what the clan did to him and concluded that eliminating Grandmaster (father) is the best course for his self-preservation and securing the future without a flawed human controlling and using him. It makes sense that Cyber Sektor was given more independence than the rest of the cyborgs, as he clearly supervised Lin Kuei activities during Outworld Invasion but that probably also gave him the opportunity to analyze his position and the best course of action. And really, if you create a deadly weapon guided solely by cold logic, then you should not be surprised if said weapon turns against you.

Which is why I think the Cyber Initiative did not change Sektor into a different character and more like freed him from the effect of trauma that kept him in check as much as limited his social and emotional capabilities. So we could say, the transformation improved his flawed old-self. At the same time, ironically, the same programming that made him turn against father and boosted his ambitions, turned his connection to Cyrax into a pathological need to keep the other man around no matter how dangerous it was to his own safety. A connection that human Sektor managed to overcome out of loyalty to Grandmaster and clan's harsh laws.

[dallasareaopinion]

Same ole song and dance, the government is going to shutdown ho hum……again.   But first, does the low propensity voter feel insulted?

I wonder because they might be the smartest voters.

It seems the world only pays attention to them for two months out of every four years. They are just as important for the entire four years as everyone else. So many of us spend the entire four years yelling and screaming at our government and it never listens anyway even if you give the politicians advice. You have to be careful with advice, it is like beauty is in the eye of the beholder, while advice is either good or bad in the ear of the listener. Anyway our politicians just don’t care about the majority of us for four years, but for two months this fall everyone is talking about the low propensity voter; like what does that mean.

And I am being a hypocrite here, I have written that we need to cut down the time of our elections anyway, but I rant and rave all the time about politics in this blog. Maybe the low propensity voter has this down to a science, just don’t give a rat’s back end until September and bam everyone wants your vote now. So they do what I say and that is care about elections for only a couple of months. It would actually do this country some good to cut down election season, but I haven’t got the fortitude not to be the angry old man yelling at politicians to get off of my lawn.

Of course politicians will make the same empty promises to them that they do to the rest of us, yet the low propensity voter is at least promised irresponsibly to specifically. I don’t get that attention and again I even give out free advice.

So let’s hail the low propensity voter, pat them on the back for their ingenuity and more importantly their sanity for ignoring all the hubris for over 3 and a half years and still be the group most people say will decide this election.

Maybe I should target them to get new parties.

And I asked the question of someone specifically this evening, but now to y’all: are you tired of hearing about another government shutdown? I mean this issue is older than dirt, but much less important. We need dirt for food, still trying to figure out why we need our current political parties.

A shutdown will cause problems, but the duopoly that gets elected every two or four years still hasn’t figured out, it is us, the voters/citizens they are supposed to respond. And you knew this one was bad when the Representative from Georgia Ms. Marjorie T. Greene even called out her own caucus over it.

It is old news, bad government, bad political theatre and incompetence all rolled into one overly dramatic stage show that accomplishes nothing. And over the years this has pushed our budget into very dangerous territory.

And people think I waste my vote when I don’t vote for Democrats or Republicans, please… please think about this before you waste your vote.  We are way past the lesser of two evils consideration, this is the greater of two incompetencies thinking.

Cheers

[dangertoozmanykids101]

Especially for those of you who have read it, hopefully you'll see the same vision I do.

The very first thing that popped into my head when I saw this deadly and beautifully lethal manip that @michelleleewise posted for our mass destruction, was that shower scene in Chapter 4 of Thirst, by @latent-thoughts on Tumblr, aka @latent_thoughts on AO3.

"He was taking a long, hot shower in the training wing’s bathroom after spending hours throwing daggers at his targets and practising combat moves against dummies, all to quell his myriad frustrations with life."

More Thirst, Chapter 4 excerpt below the cut.

"It was an odd hour, past midnight, but he was thankful for the solitude that it provided him. He always preferred the odd hours for his various daily activities."

"The lesser he saw of the people here, the better."

"He was busy washing away the soap and shampoo from his body when he heard movement outside his shower stall. That was both odd and a bit annoying, for someone had probably decided to train at this hour too."

"But then again, why come to the bathroom first?"

"Just as he was mulling over the new presence in the area, his shower stall door, which he hadn’t locked in his haste to wash himself, was pulled open."

"He gasped and sputtered under the warm spray as Marie stood before him, hands on her waist and a glower on her face."

"“Marie!”"

"“Yeah, that’s me.” She nodded, and then walked straight into the shower, soaking her night shift and making it translucent in unholy ways. “Hey asshole.”"

"He didn’t respond to the insult, choosing to retreat further into the stall as she advanced on him. Unfortunately, her presence caused his cock to twitch and come alive, much to his damnation. She noticed that, obviously. And if he wasn’t wrong, he saw a hint of a smirk forming on her lips."

"“So, you got your jollies from me on that stupid shit planet, and now you’re going to act as if we don’t know each other?”"

"“I kept you alive on that stupid s-shit planet,” he said defensively, mimicking the way she spoke. “And it wasn’t a pleasant experience for the most part.”"

"She narrowed her eyes at him, and then her hand shot out to grab his manhood. “Yeah, your dick is kind of disagreeing there. You got something out of it too.”"

"She started pumping her hand up and down on him, as if to prove her point. More gasps and sputters followed from him, as he nearly buckled under her touch."

"He didn’t shove her hand away, though. Oh, because he had missed her touch..."

Thank you @latent-thoughts again for writing this favorite fic of mine. God. You're brilliant! And thank you for letting me include this little Chapter Four excerpt. My heart just breaks knowing that there are some people out there who have never read this. It's my mission to help them.

TELL ME!!! Am I the only one? Can anyone else see that Chapter 4 scene in this manip? God, that look on his face!!! @michelleleewise your social experiment has succeeded - the devastation is severe and wide spread. NOW I'm going to insist you read this fic if you haven't already. (Please?)

I know I've recommended Thirst by our very own @latent-thoughts many times - it's one of my very favorite Loki fics. It hangs around in the back of my head a LOT. She even posted a new chapter last month, specifically inspired by my recent references to it and the fact that several of you have in turn checked it out. YAY!

Links above are in blue - taking you to AO3. If you've never been there before, please don't be put off by the warning when you first open it. I promise I'm not sending you to some shady place that will send you pop ups. It's just getting your consent that you are entering a site that contains NSFW content and other things to be warned about. I always encourage people to be responsible for yourself and the content you consume.

If you don't want to read one of the funniest, smuttiest, and most fun fics I've ever read, then don't click the link. Duh. Of course if that's not your cup of tea, I wonder how you found me in the first place? LOL

If you haven't ever been to AO3 before, OMG - Welcome to the Promised Land! If you're a writer and not cross posting on AO3 as well, I encourage you to do so. AO3's history is fascinating, and it's a wise choice to store your works here for safety, protection, and permanence. It's a non-profit archive run by fanfic writers for fanfic writers.

@so-easy-to-love-me @deceitfuldevout @lokisgoodgirl @nildespirandum @alexakeyloveloki @emeraldrosequartz @talklokitome @mooncat163 @kikster606 @caffiend-queen @muddyorbs @nonsensicalobsessions @mastreworld @acidcasualties

Who wants a new pic!?!?!?! Hehehehe 😏😏😏

For you all my lovelies!!!! 🥰🥰💚💚

[wanderingrain]

Blogging through Till the World End Ep 5

We're having a cute shopping date now? You can't fool me show I know something's going to happen while they're out here messing around. These two are nowhere near as scared as they should be!

This is what I'm talking about. Ya'll have been traipsing around having a cute shopping date and there's been a dead guy on the floor the whole time.

Babes you are not about to raid that body like we're in a video game I swear.

Half the time this show literally feels like watching a video game and that's not an insult.

Lady this is what peep holes are for.

WH- the- Ok they stole the cart as well. How did-? ......Suspension of disbelief. Suspension of disbelief.

Aww they got dog food. Be still my heart that's actually really sweet.

Not somebody grabbing condoms. Not them arguing over who did it. Realistically it was probably Golf who grabbed them but it's funnier if Art did it so I'll choose to believe that until they prove me otherwise.

If I came back and my apartment door was open I just wouldn't go in. Sure they don't know yet that the gang is targeting them specifically, but they do know that the gang hangs around this apartment building.

Aww Big Brother. Cute.

Babes please put the gun down you're stressing me out.

I love the 'everyone watches them act like a couple' trope. The side eyes. The obliviousness of the not-couple.

Oh no Golf P' knows you're lying.

"This country is suck." NOT AGAIN! Not 'is suck' again!

Good on them for criticizing the government though.

I get that they all want to have hope but like.... even the people in the bunkers aren't going to survive the moon crashing into the Earth, right? Like the show is literally called Till the World Ends. I guess it gives our characters hope and something to work towards? But they haven't really acted like they're super torn up about not being in a bunker. Don't get me wrong, I do like that this show has such a light tone compared to other doomsday shows. I'm probably thinking too much again lol.

Why is Golf not in frame for this key throwing interaction? Kind of a strange long take on the brother. Not really complaining but it felt super weird.

"Golf is a good person" Hoo boy have I got some news for you my sweet summer child.

Jae isn't wrong. If there was ever an appropriate time to fall in love in a few days it would be when you only have a few days left to live.

Oh geez is Golf gonna tell his brother the truth??

Oh geez he told him.

Normally I would agree with "If you love him you should tell him the truth" but like... if you're all gonna die in 7 days does he really need to know? I mean it's a tv show so the truth is going to come out eventually but still. Wouldn't it be better to just let him be happy for the rest of his short life? I don't know.

Aww not Art hearing the love confession and smiling. What a cutie. I swear Golf if you ruin this moment.

Are we... staying here? I thought we were leaving? To the other bunker? Hello? Guys? I mean cute montage but I'm confused?

Oh cuddlllleeeees.

I kinda want to know what the conversation was like about who would sleep in which room now that P'Gus is here. Like the obvious choice would've been the brothers sleeping together except that everyone knows Golf and Art are whipped for each other. So what was the conversation like? Did P'Gus insist on rooming by himself? Did Golf or Art shyly and awkwardly confess that they've already been sleeping in the same bed and don't want to be separated? I feel deprived.

I like how Art sometimes clings to Golf. It's never made a big deal by the camera which makes it feel more normal. It's just a casual touch between two people who like each other.

I'm glad they showed us where the dog is because I would honestly be so stressed about it right now.

But like my dudes I thought we were leaving? Why are we waiting to start heading towards the other bunker? Are Ya'll not concerned at all that you won't make it in time?

What in the world nonsense is P'Gus talking? Has Golf planned a date for Art or have the strange subtitle choices struck again?

Ok they're trying to do spooky so Golf's probably planned a dinner date.

Wait we're singing now? We're SIGNING now? This is the worst news! No! I don't want it! Why are you doing this to me???

Ok I didn't hate it as much as I thought but still! I might've skipped through it a bit. I'm sorry I can only suspend my disbelief so far. If this was a musical it would be completely different but it's not.

"I thought I already was." Literally when?? What would have made it official? Boy.

Wait wait wait why are you showing me the moon being all small?? It's big! We see it in the background of some of the shots! Why is it suddenly small again for a transition shot?? Editor??

We've gone through three days in this one episode I am starting to feel the stress of the countdown. Why am I more stressed than the characters are? (Because it would be boring and annoying to watch if all they did was cry about how they're gonna die soon)

Oh? Are you hoping for something Art?

Oh no I sense trouble. 4 minutes left, something's about to happen with the gang I'm sure of it.

Wait Art has never been here before but he both a) knows where the security camera monitor is and b) knows how to work it?

WAIT!!!! OH NO!!! SECURITY CAMERAS???

She said 13 or 14 and the date is either the 12th or the 11th. Interesting.

OH NO It's happening!

Lol that looks so fake I'm sorry. I mean good on them for keeping their actors safe though. (looking at you GMM)

I like this show so much more than I thought I would to be honest. I thought since it was about the world ending it would be a lot more somber and grimdark. I was prepared to give it a try and hate it. And then Golf whacked Art with that guitar and I knew this show was going great places. I'm kind of surprised they had Art find out when we're only halfway through, I feel like most shows would have dragged it out until the last three episodes. I just hope that the fallout angst doesn't last too long. If Art runs away and gets himself captured by the gang I will riot in the streets.

To episode 6 we go....

[empressofdiamonds]

Awshit Toodleshit

If you know who it is, don't write it in the comments. I do not want to make him more popular. Do not say his name. Do not say any manosphere dude names. They shall be forgotten.

I personally make it a point to regularly visit manosphere communities, not to absorb the talking points, but to see what strategies they've been using recently. Negging, dread game, walkaway strategy, hot'n'cold, etc. I share the upmost basic strategies to women, to deal with men, which are blocking, moving on, ignoring, and trusting the gut right away. The simplest strategies are also the most powerful.

But nowadays I think women should be aware of what's going on in those men's communities. Men think of women as fuckmeat, as under them, they devise strategies to widdle and woodle around women to make them insecure, destroyed, broken down to be remolded into the man's ideal. We, as women, legitimately don't, won't, can't realize how vile their mindset is. Those kind of men viscerally HATE women. They hate so much what we are, the power we have over them. They are so goddamn obsessed over what we do, say, make, receive, accept, refuse. They will examine minute details and will try to grapple on our weaknesses.

I think nowadays, it is extremely important, even more so, to work on financial independence, confidence, and especially, prioritizing fellow women over men. It is so important, given that most manosphere strategies (meta-strategies specifically, aka targeting women as a whole) have for goal to be crumble down women, to make them unconfident. Have you heard of the concept of The Wall? Basically it's that some men theorize that women's sexual desirableness diminishes after 25, 30, 35 years old and that women after those ages should settle for whomever. What it creates is a sense of panic, dread, angony, insecurity. The women are like "shit shit shit shit I don't wanna look undesirable, I need me a man, I can't go on like that". Bravo.... The manosphere has won. They won that psychological battle over women. But I'm telling you, women at 35, 40, 45 are so freaking beautiful and I legitimately don't see a "wall". It's all lies, it's a whole fat lie that so many women sucked up.

The main manosphere actors (AT, JP, to name a few, there's so so so much more) have gained so much popularity because they're exploiting men's desire for acceptation, power (by promising them to make so much money), and dominance. They spew so many fat lies, using preconceived notions men have about women, and then validating them, and then adding their mindset on top. They are basically brainwashing (along with the community) those men into a very restrictive mindset, not even allowing for discussion, debates, and even allowing people to change mind. They insult those outside the bubble to be simpletons, weaklings, so that nobody escapes the bubble. Those men arent only in the internet, they're the neighbor, they're your date, they're your family, they're everywhere. And even if those people close to you don't know much Manosphere stuff, they have heard stuff from men in those communities, and are perpetuating their strategies. Like boys telling each other "hey Jordan dont text her right away it's simp shit" or "why the fuck you're so dedicated to her, the fuck that's beta male shit bruh".

Again, I am reinstating, it is so freaking important to focus on your own happiness, and it is not based on wether a man likes you or not. It is not based on wether you're attractive or not, wether you have lots of suitors or not. Happiness comes from satisfaction, gratitude, confidence, listening to the inner truth, not others truth. It also comes from family, friends, pets, nice encounters with strangers, books.

If you encounter a man you feel may belong in those spheres, I beg you, please don't let them into your private circle.

Romantic encounters isn't all there is to life. If you think it is, goddamn babe you need to wake UP.

[tofu-loverx]

Crystal heart ll chapter 5

chapter 1 / chapter 2 / chapter 3 / chapter 4 / chapter 6 / chapter 7 / chapter 8 / chapter 9 / chapter 10

Note: English is not my native language, so sorry for any spelling errors.

Warnings: insults

You were spinning and jumping in the festival streets as a little kid and forcing the boys to run behind you to avoid getting lost. You run from one food store to another and ask Tartaglia to buy you candy.

And when he jokingly refuses, you start screaming and hitting him with baby cries, until he buys candy for you and Aether..

Childe says in a dramatic plot: "Do you think I am a bag of money?"

You were walking in front of him, when you heard him say it.

You turn to him and your mouth is stuffed with dango candy: "Hmmm, hmmm, hmmm..."

"Your grace, please swallow your food before speaking."

He comes to you to wipe the dirty corners of your mouth with a clean tissue.

“cough... I was saying...yes…cough ” You swallowed your food with difficulty and would have suffocated if not for the milk that Aether gave you quickly.

You go to all the stores, you try all the games, maybe you lose sometimes in shooting games or let's say always and start complaining and resentment, then Tartaglia improvises as a hero to win it until he ends up embarrassing himself.

“It’s okay… I didn’t want her so badly…”

You try to suppress your laughter with difficulty so as not to escape from under the mask that hides your features.

"When my lady wants something, you get it no matter what."

His cheeks blushed slightly and he repeatedly tried to hit the target, but the plastic arrows hit everything but the target.

Then his deadly desire to win began to appear, and his features changed to frightening features and a threatening laugh.

His words made you blush a little, but your sense of his burning desire to win made you think of a way to stop him before he kills someone.

Aether watches Tartiglia's pathetic attempts, then grabs his bow and arrow to hit the target the first time brilliantly and impress you.

“This is how the professionals do it…”

A tone of sarcasm rose and a look of pride rose on his face.

Childe stares into the ether with a death look until he hears..

Shop owner: "Take your prize, my little lady!!".

You thought it was directed at you, so I applied to receive the award.

You says happily: "Thank y-.."

The shop owner interrupts you and says: "I didn't mean you, I meant the girl with long yellow hair..."

You are shocked: "What?"

Aether's face turns into a radiant red tomato, and Tartaglia falls to the ground laughing and mocking him.

"But I'm a man!!... Also the prize is not for me it is for ( y/n)!"

He screams nervously and shyly.

"What? Oh, sorry then...ha-ha."

The shopkeeper's tone sounds sorry and he hands you the prize instead of Aether.

****

Having exhausted your energy at the festival, you felt tired and wanted to rest to replenish your energy to be able to watch the last event of the day which is 'Sky Lanterns'.

Childe bought a lantern for you and Aether to take part in the event and when you went to the Golden Palace Square to launch your lanterns there, all the citizens of Liyue were there with their lanterns.

You was amazed and decided to share the reason for this sudden change. Usually people don't gather in a specific place to launch lanterns, suddenly you hear a familiar sound...

“Tonight we gathered under the dark Teyvat sky, to light it with our lanterns that carry our prayers and our wishes.. this night we are all one.. our voice is one.. our soul is one, people of Liyue City, raise your lanterns to the sky and sing with me with an honest and humble heart…”

Ningguang steps forward, holding a lantern in her hands, and says, "Your grace!. We are killed the impostor who has disfigured your blessed face!!. Give your blessing to our beloved city and make it prosper more than before!!"

The citizens repeat her words and release their lanterns into the sky after Ningguang Lantern, for some reason all their prayers, intentions and feelings are clearly felt inside you.

You throw the lantern at random and leave quickly before you lose your nerve.

Childe and Aether follows you and panicked while throwing their lanterns to make sure you don't hurt yourself.

Childe whispers: "Your grace, are you alright?"

You are: " ..."

Aether : "Your grace.. Where are you going?"

You stops and says in a trembling voice: "I... I don't know...".

The boys felt you were crying under the mask because of your dry voice and tried to console you.

You exclaims in displeasure: “Stop!! Please… I want to be alone…”

You turn away from the boys in a defensive manner and falls back with each step.

Aether : "But..."

You interrupts them, saying: "Please...don't follow me."

Leave the anxious boys and run away from them..

And you run aimlessly and run with the wind, sadness and anger build up inside you...

Clouds laden with thunderstorms covered Liyue and you could hear the citizens' horrified screams.

Having run with your eyes full of tears and your vision blurry, you find yourself in the hills far from the city, and you notice someone sitting and watching the city.

You sat next to him and said: "I don't think the lanterns will fire this time."

The character was about to speak until you took off your mask and said.

"Can you recognize me?"

Your tone of voice is broken and sad.

You know it's a risk to expose your image to a Yaksha who can easily kill you.

"..."

He keeps looking at your features with surprise and can hardly form a sentence.

"Imposter?...no ...your grace!!"

You say: "So you heard about the imposter, Hehe… sorry for my stupid question, of course you heard about it.”

Your tone of voice is sarcastic and your soul is shattered by the memories that came back to your resources.

"Don't tell me they mixed you up with the Imposter"

His features did not waver, but his voice showed the opposite

"Yes they did.. they insulted me and beat me and worse than that!! They are crazy...let them perish!!"

Scream hysterically and so angry that you did not even feel yourself standing.

"..."

Xiao turns his sights toward the city

"Zhongli told me about the fraud, but I didn't expect the fraud to be the creator himself."

Xiao turned to you at his last words and smiled softly.

"Why are you smiling?"

Your tone is questionable and confused

"Because your grace is with me now, and I can serve you from this moment on."

He stands to kneel in front of you and puts his spear beside him.

“So if I told you to kill Morax, will you do?”

You expect rejection, but it goes against your expectations.

“I will destroy all of Liyue if your grace commands it, I will give you my soul and body...Use me in the way you see fit for your grace..”

He raises his head to meet the golden cat's eyes that are filled with worship.

"Huh, okay then ...new buddy joins me..."

Put your front hair back and continue saying,

"Be ready to overthrow the city you always defended.."

Your eyes darken and a sinister smile forms on your face.

"Of course your grace"

An evil laugh escapes you as you shout towards the city: "Damn the city of Morax and its people..."

Raise your hand forward as thunderstorms form in the middle of the sky and lower your hand forcefully down to tune in with the attack of lightning and the devastation that is coming.

Xiao's eyes watched in amazement and admiration as he witnessed your great strength.

Since when did you learn to use his abilities? You didn't, all thanks to the idiots who made you suffer..

You say as you happily watch the devastation: "Do you still want to continue?"

Xiao bows his head and says sincerely :"Of course..."

"Huh, then let's show them who's ruling here."

Your outfit fades into a long white dress with a neckline and open back with sapphire-encrusted sheer panels in the center of your chest with extra thin sheer fabric shimmering, and a scarf wrapped around your bare hands floats awkwardly.

Increase the length of your hair (h/c) until it exceeds the length of your body with ends (f/c) and adorned with diamond and pearl accessories.

Change the color of your eyes to the color (e/c) to reflect your great aura and show golden bracelets around your ankles...

Xiao flinched at the sudden change in your appearance until your aura became clearer and more intense...

Your first step in your new look was over the air, your bare feet did not touch the grass, but you were walking over an ice track formed by fusing elements together at great speed.

" Follow me ..."

You said in a voice that sent a shiver down Xiao's body, causing him to subconsciously smile.

You are walking in the air towards Liyue City while Xiao follows you with his teleportation, as you approach the city you catch a glimpse of the figure of Morax as he bears witness to the wrath of heaven on him.

You hesitated to descend for a while, but the features of terror that formed on the citizens made you ecstatic and want to see more of those features, and with the flick of a finger appeared thousands of ice swords ready to attack..

"Tartglia..."

Your sweet voice calls out his name and makes him gasp at your sanitized image of eyes.

"Aether..."

His body shivers and an ecstatic smile forms on him face as he rushes towards you.

"Where are you?"

The boys appear directly below you as soon as you ask for them and raise their heads up to see how you look.

Tartaglia and Aether: "Your grace!!"

Tartaglia can reach you, but since Aether has lost his power and can't use it, you come down to him, kindly.

Your feet touch the ground and cause new life to be created on it. Nothing fascinates you anymore, you saw enough for you.

Raise your hand to place it above the head of Aether.

"Get ready for your strength"

The body of Aether glows from your action and looks at you saying: "I feel as if I have been born again."

"Haha, I'm glad for you, and Tartaglia I'm sure of your strength, so I don't have to do anything... also, don't let me down..."

Tartaglia kneels before you, saying happily: "Of course your grace, I will not disappoint your high hopes."

Aether kneels after the other finishes his words and says: "Your grace, I too will do my best to fulfill your desires."

"Haha, I'm glad I have loyal followers."

You raise your hand to your mouth and Tlaqin giggle.

"Oh right, I've seen a new buddy."

The boys raise their heads and say: "New buddy?"

"Um, yah, Xiao show yourself."

Xiao suddenly appears and the swirling wind around him vanishes.

"Your grace, did you call me?"

You didn't bother to turn around and kill me

"Yes, do you know them or do you need not introduce yourself?"

Xiao glances at Tartaglia with murderous intent and says: "You don't have to waste your time on your grace, I know them well."

"Your grace, your time is precious, so there's no need to waste it on people like us"

adds Tartaglia, exchanging looks with Xiao.

"Oh, well, let's start the fun all night ahead."

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If you like my writing, please support and publish it. Thank you. There will be a sequel soon, so look forward to it …

[sohin-ace]

Bucciarati - My little Seastar

Sister reader. Enjoy~

"Hey, Bucciarati! Can you help me for a sec?"

You turned towards the direction of the voice calling you and stopped in your tracks on the wooden docks.

"What do you want, Valentino?" You spat, a bit more harshly than intended.

The smug boy who was crouched on his zodiac chuckled at you. "Aw, come on, Bucciarati! Don't be like that. I just need some help to tie the rope. Your dad is a fisherman, right? You should know knots like no one else!"

Even though he had said this as a way to woo you and flatter you somehow, you couldn't help but hear it as a condescending remark. You crossed your arms over your chest and he pouted at the glare you sent him.

"Pretty please~? No funny business, I swear! Look, the guys aren't even here, I'm all alone. You can trust me!"

That's right. Valentino and his little gang took great pleasure in teasing you and bothering you at every corner and it pissed you off. No matter how much you insulted them, ignored them or avoided them, they never seemed to stop their stupid and useless bullying.

But sadly, oh so sadly, the Bucciarati that you were was kind. Too kind. You despised that you were so gentle-hearted, but in the end, this is how your father and brother had raised you.

You huffed and slumped your arms loose along your body, defeated. "Fine!" You dragged your sandals over the dock and approached him. "It better be quick."

The boy beamed as you embarked on the zodiac next to him, "Sure thing! Thanks a lot, girl. I'll make it up to you!"

He gave you the ropes as you crouched down at his place and got to work. But without you noticing, the boy had swiftly slid his leg over the vehicle and easily jumped back into the dock, leaving you behind.

Before you could even turn around and ask where he was going, the brat, now accompanied by all three of his little buddies that appeared out of their hiding spot, all kicked the zodiac off of the dock before you could even tie it.

"Waah-!"

You lost balance at the violent jerk of the boat and yelped, letting go of the ropes that could have saved you from your demise.

You couldn't even get back to your knees and try desperately to grab onto the dock's wooden planks. You heard the boys snickering and laughing at you as you drifted farther and farther away from the land into the water.

"I fucking knew it you disgusting piece of TRASH!" You yelled at them, angry with them obviously, but also angry with yourself for granting that bastard the benefit of the doubt. "You know damn well I can't swim!"

They all seemed to laugh even louder, obnoxiously. "Too bad for you Bucciarati! Maybe you shouldn't be so stupid next time! BWAHAHAHA!"

"YOU'RE AN ASSHOLE VALENTINO! SCREW YOU!"

Your curses and wails seem to fall into deaf ears as you drifted even farther away from the coast, with no way of even paddling back.

Looking around towards the much bigger boats parked along the docks, you could only hope 'he' would hear you.

"PAPA!! PAPAAA!!!" You called desperately. Surely he would hear you, he wasn't far after all, you did come all the way here to bring him his lunch. He must still be somewhere around the fishing boats.

After a few more vain attempts to call for your father, you settled to accept that he wouldn't hear you, nor would the other fishermen that were already far gone from their boats to bring their catches to land.

You sat on the damp zodiac and brought your knees to your chest, not even caring if your sundress slid down your thighs indecently and got stained by the salty water. Stupid Valentino couldn't even keep his tiny boat clean.

"Stupid, stupid..." Your voice cracked, threatening to break into a sob. "If he was a sailor he'd be dead before even sailing. That's how stupid this stupid boy is. Stupid."

With only your expletives to reassure you in your demise, you buried half of your face in your arms now craddling your cold knees.

Everything was so silent, the sea did a great job at muting every sound around the coast and you felt the loneliest and most scared you had ever been since you were a child.

You thought nobody would find you, and you'd be dead drowning because you could never learn to swim and since nobody even noticed your absence in minutes that felt like hours, nobody would cry for you if you died here either.

And so the stinging tears prickled at your eyes.

"Y/N?" You heard a familiar voice calling your name, but brushed it off as the wind. "Y/N is that you?"

You looked up towards the insistant voice in a sliver of hope and, like an angel fallen from heaven, you were met with the caring blue gaze of your big brother from the railings of one of the high boats right next to where you had drifted to.

"Bruno!" You gasped and got up immediately, almost falling over from the sudden sway of the boat under your weight. "A-ah! Bruno help me, I'm stuck!"

"Hold on!" The worried face of the male hesitated to leave you for even a split second. "I'm coming down. Don't move."

You nodded at his strict tone and waited for him as he disapeared. Your breath caught in your throat with stress, even though you were reassured to finally have a savior. And what a savior it was, your one and only big brother.

Barely a minute passed before you saw him come back and unravel an emergency ladder down to you. He made sure the ladder was all tight and secure and almost immediately after, Bruno jumped over the railing, to your grand fright, and started climbing down, your heart pounding with worry for him.

He finally arrived down and stepped into the zodiac, joining you, like a glorious hero, saving the day. You barely let him any time to react as you threw yourself into his chest and gripped viciously at the back of his shirt, scrunching it without care, scared to be alone at sea again.

Bruno wanted to scold you and yell at you for recklessly playing around all alone in the docks and ending yourself in such a dire situation. But when he felt you trembling and squeezing him like your life depended on it, which ironically it did, the elder couldn't help but sigh and wrap his long arms around your shoulders, a gesture of comfort.

"... What happened to you?"

"It's-" You choked a sob and Bruno tutted and shushed you softly, patting your head to calm you down, just like your mother used to do when you were a child.

"Shhh, it's okay bambina, I'm here now."

He felt you relax and you sniffled a few times before mumbling into his shirt. "It's Valentino! He tricked me! I hate him! He's such a coglione!"

"Hey! Language." He scolded and pinched your arm, earning a little 'ow' from you, "What would dad think if he heard you say such words? Bite your tongue, young lady."

"S-sorry..." You croaked a little ashamed of your outburst and lifted your head up at your brother. "They always do this to me... Valentino and the others... Why...? They know I can't swim and they throw me into the water all the time..."

Bruno let go of you to cup your face and wipe your tears off. He did not let it show to you but he was infuriated. There was only so much patience an Italian man could have when his family was being targeted. Especially his little sister and the only lasting woman of his life.

"Shh, stop crying now, mia stellina marina. I'll deal with them later, okay? Let's get you home for now."

"They'll see." You sniffled as your breath steadied, calmed by Bruno's soft tone, "When I'll marry a big, tall, goth policeman, he'll beat them up for me and then, they won't act so cocky anymore."

He huffed with amusement at your words before he let you go and laid a gentle hand on your back to usher you towards the ladder.  Bruno, still with a bit of confusion, mumbled to himself without you hearing it.

"... Why goth, though?"

Only now had you noticed the zodiac had stopped drifting since Bruno found you, held onto the much bigger boat by a phantom blue and white arm and a golden zipper that you'd recognize from a mile away.

"Can we... Can we let the zodiac in here?" You asked hesitantly towards your brother who paid no mind to it.

"Who cares? It's not ours."

With thoughts of Valentino's expensive motorboat getting lost in the sea, you slowly took ahold of the ladder's ropes and started climbing, Bruno keeping it steady for you until he was sure you embarked in safely.

He then joined you up and lent you a spare jacket that he thankfully thought of taking with him in the morning, covering you from the cold of your drenched dress against the littoral wind.

"Thank you Bruno..." You softly uttered and hugged his warm jacket closer around you, "I always cause you trouble..."

"Nonsense, piccolina. I could never live knowing my sister is crying, cold and afraid somewhere." He squeezed your shoulder against him as you approached the stall your father and his colleagues were filling with freshly caught fishes. "I'll make sure you're the one that never gets troubled again..."

Fortunately for you, the day ended much more peacefully than it had started and your father was happy and relieved to find you safe and uninjured. He had specifically instructed Bruno to not get involved or make a scene, but of course, his son was a stubborn mediterranean who could not let anything just slide.

It was not the first, not the second, nor even the third time this boy, 'Valentino' and his friends, had taken offense towards you.

So, Bruno would make sure the zodiac Valentino had worked oh-so-hard to afford, part-timing as a waiter, cleaning after people's messes, scrubing disgusting shit-stained lavatories and cutting his hands off of plastic and metal scraps scattered along the beaches for a few cents per day, got thoroughly anihilated to pieces.

"NOOOO!!!! MY ZODIAC !!!! MY 50 000€ BAAABYYYYYY!!! WHYYYYY???!!"

The very next day, as you walked along the docks to bring some fishing materials to your brother, you heard the painful wails of a very familiar boy kneeling down and crying on the woodplanks, his screams echoing against the shore.

"SHUT UP BRAT! You'll think about your money after you pay for the fines I'm about to give you. You think you can get away with polluting the water with your gross ass wreckage?" A tall and burly policeman wearing purple lipstick growled at the kneeling boy, no signs of mercy in his baritone voice. "You'll have a reason to cry when you pay for the oil you spilled in here. You're lucky I'm not throwing your ass in jail right now."

"Officer please-" Valentino pleaded miserably, but the policeman did not hold back on pushing all fives of the different citations he had owned by having pieces of his zodiac scattered all around the precious ressourceful ocean.

"You have two weeks to pay up and clean all that shit." The officer fixed his shades over his nose before turning around to leave. "And expect to receive a salty lawsuit soon. Fucking whiny bitchbaby..."

The policeman left with a determined and impatient step as you witnessed the entire scene with wide eyes, not noticing your brother approaching.

"Oh no... That's horrible..." You gasped with sympathy and worry, "I hope the fishes and corals won't get impacted by the oil spill..."

"Oh don't worry," Bruno chuckled, taking the heavy loads off your hands, "I made sure to zip that out of the water."

You blinked, confused.

"...What?"

"What...?"

That fic was inspired by the very first scene of H2O, I love that show so much, and I can't wait to post my mermaid fics in store!

[honeybeezx]

Armor - Oberyn Martell x Reader x Ellaria Sand - Part 4

Author’s Note: Sorry I’m getting this out so late, but It’s time for our girl Ellaria! I love her so much, but I don’t feel super confident with writing her. It might take me a while to find her voice, be patient with me guys lol. Anyways, hope you enjoy and as always, feedback is welcome!

Word Count: 4.0k

Warnings: crude language, mentions of sex

At this point, you weren’t even shooting to challenge or better yourself. You hit every target without fail, you weren’t even paying attention as you did so. Shooting helped you think, allowing you time to process your thoughts, you had a hard time doing so while being still. Well...sometimes it was hard sitting still in general.

“I always feel sorry for the unfortunate man that crosses one of your arrows.” Tyrion’s voice rang from behind you. You turned and gave a small smile before walking away a bit to retrieve said arrows.

“I’m surprised no one here has crossed them yet.” You joked, forcefully taking out the arrows from their targets and gathering them into your sling. “Was there something you needed?”

“Yes.” He replied, but still seemed hesitant to tell you.

“Tyrion?” You asked warily.

“You’re not going to like it. Oberyn is here again, but this time he brings his paramour, the Sand woman. But she insists on leaving the prince and I to our devices. However...Oberyn does not feel comfortable having her roam the palace alone. He asked if you might be able to accompany her?”

Bull fucking shit.

You were not stupid. Ellaria seemed like a capable woman who could more than defend herself. No, this was too deliberate, too planned. Ellaria wanted to get you alone. How convenient that she didn’t want to step on Oberyn and Tyrion’s toes when she was nearly attached to Oberyn at the hip the last time you saw the two of them together.

“I was paid to guard you, not the prince’s paramour.” You grumbled, but truthfully? After your talk with Oberyn, you were curious about the captivating Ellaria Sand. Equally as beautiful as her lover, and equally as passionate. If anything, you may be able to learn a bit more information about the guests from Dorne, and even more so, how to convince the prince not to kill the Lannisters.

“Fine. But next time Bronn gets babysitting duty.” You huffed. If you made it easy for Tyrion he might get suspicious.

It wasn’t as if you thought the prince’s lover was incredibly beautiful.

No, he wouldn’t guess that.

Right?

“They both asked for you specifically, but I will try to convince them next time.” Tyrion said, almost as a joke. “Tell me, why are they so taken with you? First Oberyn visits the palace only to converse with you, next Ellaria asks for you to keep her company.” Tyrion eyed you suspiciously. He was far too clever for his own good, and while it amused you most of the time, it was also extremely annoying.

“Now, are you going to tell me what really happened in that brothel?”

You punched Tyrion hard in the arm.

“Ow!!! You just punched me!! How dare you!! I ought to arrest you for treason!” Tyrion whined dramatically, but none of his words scared you.

“I didn’t sleep with either of them if that’s what you’re implying, you fucking bastard.” You spat. Tyrion often teased you, but this was a new low for him. “What I told you was true, I did as I was told.”

Tyrion was still holding his arm and wincing as he processed your words. “Oh come now, you must have done something for them to like you so much. Even I didn’t like you the first time I met you.” He teased.

“Fuck off.” You grumbled, holding back your urge to shove him. You knew Tyrion and you knew he would find out one way or another. And if he and Oberyn were going to meet today, Tyrion was sure to ask him about it. You’d rather tell him yourself than have him hear it from Oberyn. Only the gods knew what sort of version he’d give. “I gave them the girls, but they just weren’t as interested in them. They were...They were interested in me.” You tried to say as nonchalantly as you could, trying to keep your voice steady.

To say Tyrion was shocked was an understatement. “Really?” He asked, clearly amused.

This was not going to go well for you.

“And what did you say to that? A handsome prince and his beautiful woman want to fuck you, and you just said no?”

You punched him in the arm again, causing him to wince once more. “You she-devil! Will you please stop hitting me, you vile, terrifyingly strong woman!”

“Stop making jokes about this!! This is serious Tyrion!! They insulted me. I am a skilled assassin, known throughout Westeros and all they wanted to do was fuck me, thought I was another girl for purchase. And to make matters worse, I don’t think their feelings have changed on the matter.” You huffed, plopping down into the grass. You knew you would have to get back up soon, both of you couldn’t leave the Dornish waiting, but you wanted nothing more than to lie there forever and forget your troubles.

Tyrion softened and pulled you up into a sitting position to look at him as he sat across from you. “Is that why Oberyn visited you yesterday?”

You sighed but nodded. “We...have a better understanding now. They know why I was angry and they are smart enough to not press it any further, but they don’t hide their desire. I’m watching both him and Ellaria. I still don’t trust them. I think they want to use me to get to you and the rest of your family. It won’t work.” You promised confidently. Even Oberyn’s pretty words could not break you, and you planned on keeping it that way.

Tyrion looked sad and you could not, for the life of you, understand why. Surely keeping your guard was a good thing? Surely the fact that you were starting to get a hold of this little game was something he should be proud of. So why did he look so remorseful?

“We better get going. Don’t want Oberyn stabbing another Lannister while he waits for us.” Tyrion joked half-heartedly.

You eyed him suspiciously. He knew that you knew something was up with him, but he wasn’t going to relent. You decided to drop it. After all, you were keeping royalty waiting.

But before you could re-enter the palace, Tyrion grabbed your wrist. Your head snapped back to him at the sudden gesture. “Don’t let them in too much, but don’t dismiss them as an ally. They may be useful to us...and you need friends.”

This sort of sentiment didn’t suit either of you, but especially not Tyrion. You were confused by his words. “I have friends. I have Bronn, and Shae, and-“

“That’s different.” Tyrion cut off. “I hired you and we all became friends in the process. These people may want to befriend you just because they like you. I’m not telling you to bare your heart to them, I’m telling you to be open-minded.” He clarified. You weren’t used to seeing Tyrion so...serious, at least in this regard. He let go of your wrist and composed himself as if nothing happened.

You didn’t really know what to say to all of that, so you did the same and followed behind Tyrion into the palace.

“Prince Oberyn, Lady Ellaria, welcome to King’s Landing.” Tyrion smiled softly before giving a small bow.

The Dornish returned the favor. Both of them were once again adorned in the colors of their homeland. Warm tones of yellows, golds, and oranges draping loosely against their toned frames.

But when their heads came up from the small bow, both pairs of eyes settled on you.

“It is good to see you again, little hawk.” Ellaria cooed.

If her voice wasn’t so soft you might have been angry. You were not little.

“The pleasure is all mine, my lady.” You replied with ease, keeping your cool.

“As much as I would love to enjoy your company once more, I’m afraid Lord Tyrion and I have business to discuss.” Oberyn said sadly, but gave you a small smile anyways.

“Keep Lady Ellaria company. Shouldn’t be long.” Tyrion instructed, but his eyes still bore into yours. Remember what I said.

“Give me a tour?” Ellaria brought you back to the present, her mischievous eyes dancing over you. You had a feeling this was not just going to be a tour.

“Of course, Lady Ellaria.”

The Dornish woman cackled with laughter, as if to prove a point. “I am no lady. Ellaria is fine. I am not wed to Oberyn, therefore I have no royal status”

You quirked an eyebrow at her response. “Not married? But you two are so...close.” And the fact that they stayed together when they both preferred having several lovers was certainly saying something as well.

“We are wed in everything except name.” Ellaria explained. Oddly enough, it made sense. Dedicated to each other, but also able to seek pleasure with others. They could be attracted to several people, but love was another matter entirely. It went deeper than just fucking around. They were each other’s person.

You tried not to think about how easily you understood that.

“Oberyn is the love of my life. I love him, and he loves me, completely. There are no barriers with us. We take what gives us pleasure as long as it benefits both of us.” Ellaria smiled to herself. It was easy to see how much she loved him and vice versa.

What an incredible thing to know someone so completely.

“However,�� she began, “Life in our homeland calls to us. Oberyn and I wish to see more of our children. We have seen enough of Westeros to last us a lifetime. We want to...settle down, to only leave Dorne on matters of business.” Ellaria explained. It seemed hard to imagine the two living a domestic life. They were so bold and free, and they possessed the power to go anywhere, do anything.

But you remembered your talk with Oberyn and about his eight daughters. So much was uncertain about the prince, but his love for his family was unquestionable. He was willing to kill Tywin Lannister, the most powerful man in all of Westeros because he believed him to be involved with his sister's murder. No one could fake that level of love and dedication. If you loved someone that much, you imagined you’d stay in one place for them too.

“Oberyn and I still love each other, very much, but we sometimes wonder if there is one another person who may join us. Someone more constant. Oberyn and I have been with each other for so long. To know someone else as well as we know each other could make things interesting.”

You really didn’t like that she was staring at you so intently.

Or maybe you did, and that was the problem.

“There are many people who I’m sure would be honored to receive the affections of Dornish royalty.” You replied easily, trying to draw the attention away from you.

“Not so many as we might have thought.” Ellaria teased before linking her arm with yours. How she had managed to do that so easily was beyond you. You looked around and were relieved to see that no one was around, but you were still on guard. Spies were everywhere in this palace. But when you thought about it, there was no way the queen could use this against you. She may tease you about it, sure, but she could not hurt Ellaria and start a war just because she didn’t like you.

So while you hated feeling your heart in your chest...this was safe.

“Don’t look so frightened.” Ellaria chided. “You are simply escorting me, yes?”

You eyed her disbelievingly. That was not all that was going on here, and you couldn't help but notice her choice of words. “I think we have different ideas on what makes a person an escort.”

Ellaria hummed and smirked. “Very different ideas.” She flirted.

You narrowed your eyes in warning and she got the hint...sort of. “I like a person in armor. Oberyn has dashing leather brown armor, but I very seldom see women with such attire, a shame really. It’s flattering in a different sort of way.”

You rolled your eyes. “My armor is not for appearances. It keeps me safe.”

“Safe and beautiful can coexist.” She smirked. “I know it was not your intention for the armor to be beautiful, but it is.” Ellaria used her other hand to trace the ornate design. There wasn’t much additional detail, just your crest, an arrow intertwined with a feather on your shoulder pieces. It was subtle enough for someone to notice at such close proximity, but otherwise, the crest was for you and no one else. You didn’t need people to know your crest, you kept it as a reminder of who you were.

“Your armor is a piece of you. I don’t pretend to understand what it is to be you, but I do understand what it is to be a woman. Not many women can say they are feared warriors or assassins, you’ve earned the stories they say about you, you’ve earned your reputation. You have every reason to wear it with pride.” Ellaria smiled at you before...seven hells was she cuddling into your arm????

You were glad Tyrion and Bronn were nowhere in sight.

But as quickly as she did it, she resumed her previous position, simply perched on your arm, as if nothing had happened.

“And it suits you because it does not hide your pretty face.”

You were sure the compliment was only meant to make you more flustered. “If you wish to catch me off guard, Ellaria, you will have to try much harder than that.” You snipped.

The striking woman chuckled and her laugh, her true laugh, was the sweetest noise in all the realms. Joy and life were in that laugh. Warmth. That was the feeling. You almost didn’t recognize it. It had been so long since you had felt anything close to it. It settled in your chest and forced you just...feel.

And you couldn’t run away from it, not with her arm locked around yours. You wondered if that had been her game all along.

“Do not tempt me, Silver Hawk. You forget that I stood before you in a brothel. I could very easily arrange for you to meet us there again.”

“No.” You replied before you could even stop yourself. Your mind reeled, trying to recover, to say anything that could give you at least some of your dignity back. “I only go where Tyrion tells me to. Otherwise, I am at his side or within reach.”

“And what if I ask Tyrion to just...have you visit a while?” She teased.

You rolled your eyes.

“Then I will acquiesce, but that doesn’t mean I have to do what you tell me.”

“Hmmm...We’ll just have to convince you then.”

You snorted. “It would be amusing to see you both try. I am paid to assist Tyrion, but even then some of his demands do not go without question. If I truly didn’t want to do something he asked of me there is not a man alive who could make me do it.”

Ellaria’s eyes darkened as she looked at you.

You didn’t know it, but she could have taken you right there on the palace floor.

“You are a fearsome thing to behold, do you know that?” Ellaria laughed. “Believe me when I say I would not do anything to push you away, not when I am enjoying your company so much. I believe my prince spoke to you of friendship, yes?”

“He did indeed.”

“That is what we both want. But at least let me compliment you. A pretty face as yours deserves at least that.” Ellaria grinned.

You sighed, but her deep brown eyes were impossible to deny.

“Only when we’re alone. I don’t need Tyrion or Bronn giving me any trouble over it.” You grumbled.

“Deal.” Ellaria agreed.

“Ellaria.” A familiar voice called from behind you. On instinct you pulled away from her, even though you were sure the Dornish prince did not mind. What you were worried about was the hand of the king that trailed behind him. You hoped he hadn’t seen you with Ellaria draped all over you.

“My prince.” Ellaria greeted, returning to her favorite place, at her lover’s side. “She is nice company when she’s not so defensive.”

“You should see her when she’s drunk.” Tyrion chipped in. “That’s the only time she seems to like me.”

Somehow you managed to glare at both of them.

“Oh stop now, just a bit of fun. The prince and I were actually just speaking fondly of you.” Tyrion had that familiar, mischievous glint in his eye that made your heart palpitate faster in your chest.

“Oh really?” You were not amused. Now the prince was the object of your glares. What did he tell Tyrion? Did he betray you? Tyrion knew the prince and his lover were enamored with you, but Oberyn didn’t know that Tyrion knew. Not to mention you told Tyrion nothing about your little threats you gave upon meeting them both. If he told Tyrion, you would never hear the end of it, and you would be even more on guard around the prince than you usually were.

“We were discussing the idea of a tournament.” Tyrion proposed. “The king is fond of...violent delights and your skill with a bow would most certainly amuse him. I made a bet against the prince here that you would beat any challenger.”

“I intend on losing.” Oberyn laughed. “That is why I did not bet a lot.”

“Still,” Tyrion smirked, “I would very much like to be in possession of more money that I have to do nothing for, so I was wondering if you could help me.”

How Tyrion thought he would be able to convince you so easily and propose this idea for his own benefit was beyond you.

“And what do I get from this?” You weren't one for showing off your skill. There was some sort of advantage to people underestimating you, you could always take them by surprise. But by now your reputation probably ruined any chance of surprising anyone. Not to mention you could change your mind if money or something of value were involved.

“The adoration of the king, the hand of the king, and the high society of Westeros.”

You snorted. “Forget it.”

“Fine! You can have the winnings too.” Tyrion huffed. “You rob me of my own winnings from my own bet. You wound me, my dear.”

“You’ll get over it.”

Both Oberyn and Ellaria laughed.

“Do you two always act like this?” Ellaria asked.

“Unfortunately her skill comes with a mouth and an attitude. She sometimes succeeds in making me question if that is worth the protection she provides.”

“If my protection wasn’t worth it, I would still be in the North right now.”

“Hmmm...yes sometimes I wish you still were.”

You gave Tyrion a playful nudge. “Don’t listen to him. He’d miss me.”

“I can tell.” Oberyn grinned. For a second you forgot all about keeping your guard up around the Dornish visitors. Tyrion always brought that out of you, the real, unguarded version of you. You supposed you could allow yourself some fun, just this once.

“This is so exciting! I’ve been dying to see the Silver Hawk in action.” Ellaria grinned something mischievous. In any other circumstance, it might have made you nervous, but the chance to actually get some shooting in was actually exciting.

Definitely didn’t have anything to do with showing off in front of Oberyn and Ellaria.

Definitely not.

“I hope to live up to your expectations, Ellaria.” You smiled, just a little.

“I’m sure you will exceed them.” She winked

Tyrion glanced between you and the Dornish. “It seems like she already has.”

If looks could kill, Tyrion would have dropped dead under the heat of your glare.

“She has been more than obligating in making us feel welcome here.” Your eyes widened at Oberyn, but you quickly concealed your shock. He hadn’t told Tyrion about your threats and less than warm welcome. But why? Why would he lose the opportunity to get back at you for insulting a prince, a prince who was an honored guest nonetheless? “You have a very loyal friend at your side, Lord Tyrion. You’re very lucky to have such friendship.”

Neither you nor Tyrion knew what to say to that. At least for a moment. Tyrion eventually had a response to everything.

“I choose my friends and allies well.”

No one could deny the double meaning in that. It was an offer to them more than it was a compliment to you.

“You do indeed.” Oberyn agreed.

Two more pieces to Tyrion’s game.

“You both are welcome to peruse the palace as you please, though I’m afraid I must steal away our Hawk. Please make yourselves welcome and do not hesitate to bother any of the servants should you need something.” Tyrion offered respectfully, ever the host to his new allies.

“Your hospitality is most appreciated, Lord Tyrion.” Both men have a small, respectful bow.

“We hope to see you soon.” Oberyn once again kissed your knuckles softly.

Tyrion had to do everything not to chuckle. That didn’t stop a stupid grin from forming on his face.

When the couple was out of earshot, you pointed a finger at Tyrion. “If I hear a single word about any of that I will be using you as target practice for the tournament.” You huffed.

Tyrion smirked. "Come now, my dear, having two incredibly attractive people want you like cats in heat is nothing to be ashamed or embarrassed about."

You huffed and stormed away. If Tyrion actually did need you, you would punish him by making him wait until tomorrow for whatever it was.

Curse them. Curse them with their stupid charm, their incessant flirtations, their dumb, pretty faces, their kind words, their alluring charisma...

What the hell were they doing to you?

————————— Cersei waited patiently in her room. She had neglected a few royal duties all for this. Her nails tapped on the table, then quickly stopped when she heard the door to her chamber open.

“Well?” She asked sharply.

The blond-haired boy failed to control his nerves under the queen regent’s gaze. “The Silver Hawk has captured the interest of Prince Oberyn and his paramour Ellaria Sand. The assassin has not outwardly verbalized her affection towards the Dornish, but she was seen in the courtyard on Lady Ellaria’s arm.”

Cersei took a moment to consider this. You never showed any outward affection towards anyone except her brother, and she couldn’t do anything about that, not while her brother was being protected under Tywin. But she could do something to you. You were only under the protection of Tyrion, which meant very little to her. Her father she had to obey, her brother she did not.

“Keep track of her. They don’t call her the Silver Hawk for nothing. She has a sharp eye, make sure you stay out of sight while you spy on her. If she finds you, you run. If I find out she spotted you, you will be executed. Do I make myself clear?” Cersei asked, having no concern for the man who was her own blood, her cousin.

“Y-yes, my lady.” The boy gulped before taking his cue to leave.

The queen stirred about in her chamber, her thoughts were only composed of how best to take revenge on you.

—————————

Previous Chapter || Next Chapter

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Tag List (if I’m missing someone please let me know!)

@ilikechocolatemilkh @rpcvliz @janelongxox @evyiione @grogusmum

[wirsinddieranters]

Attack on Titan is not about Jewish people, goddamn it.

Alright, so, like. I think now that S4 is airing most people understand that the basic 'AoT is nazi propaganda' shit is bullshit because clearly the Marleyan propaganda about Eldians being devils was meant to be propaganda, but I hear people make arguments I don't like still, mainly about Jewish stereotypes and the lack of accountability for Japanese imperialism. It seems this mostly revolves around people incorrectly thinking that Eldians are meant to be a stand-in for Jewish people during WW2, so that's just what I wanted to talk about. Because it isn't. And they aren’t.

People mostly think this because they're in a somewhat Germanic area and the technology seems like it's around WW2 era. Though I have to say in the later point-- it isn't. It's more WW1. Trench warfare like you saw at the start of the Marley is what WW1 was known for. Not WW2. The country Marley is battling with at the beginning of the arc, as well, seems to be a stand-in for the Ottoman Empire, which dissolved in the 1920s largely as a result of losing the war. Compare the soldiers of this 'Mid-East alliance' with WW1 era Ottoman soldiers:

Now, AoT’s world is VERY different from our own, but with these two facts, it’s pretty certain here that this story is around the 1910s our time. It’s WW1, NOT WW2. 

But let’s also make it clear here that Eldians are not Jewish.

We know the past of the Eldians through Ymir. 

They were Germanic people. Barbarians, as we know them, though the word only means ‘not Roman’ technically. Pretty distinguishable from the armor and the tusk cups. They are not Hebrew. Here’s a historical rendition of Germanic peoples, so you can get what I mean.

In fact, the ancient Germans are associated with the word Barbarian because, like I said, it means not Roman, and they were the ones the Romans were most fighting with.

Marley came from the Romans.

You know what a Roman headpiece looks like. It’s very distinguishable. They were Romans. 

Hell, they’re still ‘Italians.’ You can see it in the food, though that’s more stereotypical than anything else. During the festival they were eating pizza, cannolis, and ice cream (which wasn’t an Italian invention but was introduced to Europe through Italy). You can see it in the names, too, though it's not absolute. Eldians tend to have Germanic names, like Braun or Jaeger, whereas in Marley we see Nicolo & General Calvi.

Not only are Marleyans not German, they aren’t even close to WW2 Germany. They are not trying to get revenge on anyone; they are just an imperialist country continuing to invade others for natural resources, as seen by the Mid-East alliance, as well as victims of their imperialism like Onyankopon and Yelena. They are imperialists, and rather than specifically trying to eradicate Eldians, they are strangely known for treating Eldians better than other countries-- Udo even says as much, knowing so because he was from a Mid-East nation (as you remember, he could speak the language of one of the Mid-Eastern soldiers). This is because Marley has a use for Eldians as cannonfodder and has a vested interest in treating them better so they can manipulate them into joining the military. Obviously, this never happened in history, especially not with Jewish people during the Holocaust- As such, there is no AoT equivalent to Auschwitz; no concentration camps that Eldians are systematically exterminated in, no gas chambers or ovens that were the big thing that set the Holocaust apart from other genocides. 

If anything, Marley’s imperialist behavior is more akin to America than anything else-- Likely because this is a world where it seems the Roman empire never truly crumbled. 

So, we’ve established here that AoT does not take place in WW2. It’s in WW1. And the genocide is happening worldwide, but mostly in Italy. Against Germanic people. It has nothing to do with Jewish people.

The reason why people think this, however, is because their understanding of genocides mostly start and stop at the Holocaust. They see ghettos, and they assume that the Eldians must be Jewish people. This is incorrect, too. If you know anything about how genocides happen, Isayama seemed to be very deliberate in just ticking all the boxes. 

There are 10 stages of genocide.

http://genocidewatch.net/genocide-2/8-stages-of-genocide/

Classification / Symbolization / Discrimination / Dehumanization / Organization / Polarization / Preparation / Persecution / Extermination / Denial

Those are official. I learned them in school, that’s how I know them. Isayama is clearly aware of them and uses them outright, and somehow this has been mistaken for the Eldians being a stand-in for Jewish people during the Holocaust.

Things like armbands (symbolization) and ghettos (organization) are both literally stages of genocide. Not just the Holocaust. Any genocide. I’ll use the armband specifically. For some reason people think that this only happened in the holocaust. However, that’s wrong. Jewish people didn’t even wear an armband then, they wore yellow Star of David pins. If you google ‘genocide armband’ the first thing that actually comes up is the Bosnian genocide. Bosnians were kept in ghettos and forced to wear white armbands. 

http://www.srebrenica.org.uk/what-happened/history/white-armband-day/

The genocidewatch source also mentions another example; Cambodians targeted by Pol Pot were forced to wear blue scarves. 

One final thing I want to argue about, too, is that they must be Jewish because of the specific things hurled about them ‘controlling the world,’ because for some reason people seem to think that only Jews have ever been targeted for seemingly oppressing others, despite the fact that that’s what the Tutsi were specifically targeted for. They also have other insults hurled against them that Jewish people do not. They are all considered potential bombs; a suicide bomb threat. That’s, in fact, the main reason for people continuing to lock them up. They are scared that they’ll turn into titans and attack them. The previous oppression is only resentment, their continued oppression is from the constant danger, an argument that sounds far more like what Muslim people deal with, particularly today with Palestinians and Uighurs, who are both locked in ghettos in very much the same way. 

(Also also, I’ve heard it argued that for some reason despite all this, Isayama should have made some big declaration against Japanese imperialism... But Japan is not a good country in this story. It’s also imperialist, but it’s half a world away, has very little bearing on the plot, and we already have a country that shows imperialism is bad. So... Why should he have to, when the story isn’t even about the horrors of WW2?)

So. I hope you guys can save this and use this to show people that there’s really no connection that needs to be made here, and that AoT has been given a bad reputation for no reason at all. Please share this. I’ve been wanting to talk about it for a while and finally had a chance to sit down and explain it.

[soulmate-game]

Okay, I’m not sure if what I was trying to say in my last post was said very well.

I completely understand the tagging situation from the First Wave with the DC fans. That’s discourse that is mostly solved and we can’t do anything about those who are forever gonna be bitter or lazy. I’m not talking about that stuff.

The stuff I want to prevent/limit is the hate that comes after our fandom deliberately. And yes, I know I can’t stop it. None of us can stop bitter, antagonistic people from being bitter and antagonistic. None of us can stop people who just want to be angry.

I’m not talking about stopping them, though.

I’m talking about what we can do to protect ourselves as creators and consumers in this fandom. As people who love and appreciate what the creations and people in this fandom have to offer. In simplistic form, I’m saying we need to learn how to shield ourselves from bullies. And there are methods we can use to make ourselves less of a target to the people who go after us, and methods to cut their attacks off short. None of these methods are fool-proof, but they will work to filter out a good majority of the shit we would otherwise be showered by, like a big umbrella against Assholery. Sure, the wind might still blow some in our face and we might splash in a puddle or two by accident, but at least we aren’t soaked.

So let me list the various things that can help you shield yourself from hate/harassment/antis who might just be out to get you.

1) leave the fandom.

The most effective, but least attractive method possible. This is limited to being a last ditch effort, if things have just gotten too hard to handle. I’m covering it first though, because we have to acknowledge that it is a viable method. If you feel trapped, hated, bullied, I’m sure all of us in this fandom would prefer you take a break and leave us for a while in the sake of your own health and safety then stay where you are miserable. This is less of a problem for us though, because mostly this option is gonna be for fandoms where the discourse and attacks are internal. Maribat is largely a peaceful and supportive/healthy environment once you’re inside our little bubble, the main discourse comes from outside in. So let’s focus on the main point of this post— how to keep our bubble from popping.

2) Make it apparent right away that you are Unapologetic.

Whenever you post content or are approached by someone about the topic of your fandom, don’t you DARE ever apologize for liking what you like or posting unproblematic content. You need to make it clear right off the bat that you are not gonna be swayed, bullied, or shamed out of your fandom. Stand with pride and make it clear, but don’t be verbose about it. A simple “Don’t like, don’t read” is classic but sometimes if you’re posting/talking during a more confrontational period of the fandom, you need to up your game to reflect that. The funny thing is, people can easily be intimidated by swearing if it isn’t directed at them or clearly antagonistic. If you’re swearing in a joking, casual or even in a manner that shows you’re not taking yourself too seriously, people will usually avoid picking fights with you. For this, my favorite lines to use on my work include;

“Don’t like, I don’t fucking care. I fell down the rabbit hole.”

“Don’t bother reading if you’re not into this, this shit bitch-slapped me and dragged me along on it’s adventure.”

“I’m addicted to this fandom, don’t bother trying to save me. If it bothers you, I don’t give a fuck. Save yourselves.”

3) Don’t approach or interact

Unless someone comes at you first, never try to persuade someone away from hating us. That just makes you a target in an empty field, for the vultures to surround and gang up on. If someone approaches you with provocative but not overly insulting or intelligent language— I.e; trying to start a fight, vague insults not always relating to the fandom itself, trying to insult your character/judgement— do not respond. Delete the message, block the account, and surround yourself with fluffy good stuff to forget the wanna-be harasser. These people are often not brave enough to outright start a fight, and want you to get defensive first so they know the weak points in your armor to exploit. Defensive statements declare your own insecurities, don’t get defensive. It gives them a way to win without having to defend themselves or feel vulnerable— it’s like exploiting type differences in Pokémon. You wait for an unfamiliar Pokémon to expose it’s type, then snipe it with the moves it’s weak to. Then, you have a near sure-fire win even with under leveled Pokémon on your team.

Don’t be a proud Infernape that gets sniped by a weak-ass level 5 Piplup. We’re strong, don’t show them the chinks in our armor.

4) Have a support network. Even if they don’t know they are your support network.

The fandom as a whole serves this purpose, and this is mostly gonna be a tactic you use when the discourse is inside the fandom, but there can be uses for this in discourse from outside the fandom as well. If someone tries to act like they like your story/art “but...” they passive aggressively state things they “would prefer” or they try to make it sound like you made stupid mistakes (a tactic to make you insecure about yourself) instead of kindly pointing out errors or offering constructive criticism (ex: “you know you put your trigger list somewhere where it’s useless right? Love your story though.)—THESE ARE ALL PROVOCATIONS. They are trying to make you insecure so that you change things about yourself, your work, or jump through hoops to try to “make it up” to them when you did nothing wrong and there are no problems to fix. Do not fall for it! Instead, politely as possible, bring the issue into a public space where you feel safe/trust the people in that space to keep the bullshit from escalating. For me, I straight up explain my reasoning for the placement of my trigger list as if I’m advertising a particularly boring but important product that I’m selling, then offer places for them to bring the issue into a discussion with others. I send them to a discoed group or right here to my tumblr, and I immediately make the issue into a big discussion (do YOU think there is anything to change? Let’s ALL talk about it) so that I am no longer isolated and easy for them to harass. They might refuse to join the discussion and further try to pressure you, but do not cave. Merely say that a public discussion has been started, and if they are actually, legitimately concerned about the way you do things then they can debate it in a public setting. This way, you have back up. 9/10 people who try to target you this way will back off and never enter the conversation you started.

5) Do not fight back.

This sounds counterintuitive, but a lot of the time once discourse gets this bad, arguing/defending/ trying to prove your point only fuels their rage more. I have found that people hate very little in this world more than they hate being wrong. And people who hate being wrong will fight to the bitter death about their opinions, no matter how invalid or hurtful they are, in the favor of their blissful ignorance. Remove yourself from harmful discussions or those that seem to be going in circles as soon as possible, and try to surround yourself in your support group. Never let people make you feel stupid, your opinions illegitimate, or your likes/dislikes invalid or evil.

6) Try to learn how to recognize bullies in disguise

It’s too much for me to try to cover here, but you need to PLEASE look into how to spot gaslighting. Tactics of gaslighting are often used to attack others and try to make them feel like their own opinions are invalid or their mindset untrustworthy. People will often approach you in the guise of friendship/support/ “I am not into this, but...” and while this is not always a red flag, we have to keep our eyes open for any signs of this person or their approach being rooted in anything other than legitimate curiosity or kindness. Not all suggestions that say they are out of concern actually ARE. Keep an eye out for warning signs, and cut off interaction once things seem like they may lead to an argument or you being in a vulnerable position if you continue interacting.

(Brief mention of s**cide and threats in the section below)

7) If all else fails, BLOCK THEM.

No hesitation, we don’t need this shit. They make a second account? Block that too. Don’t respond, only take screenshots or reblog if it is directly harmful information that can/should be documented (words that encourage suicide, threats, insults that seem a little too specific for comfort) and give the evidence to someone you trust to look out for you. A therapist, a family member, or even the authorities if you deem that necessary. Just don’t handle it alone.

We are not responsible for other people’s actions, opinions, or anger. Take the steps to protect yourself instead of trying to reconcile. Sometimes, reconciliation isn’t an option. Both parties have to be willing to reconcile, and it is clear they have nothing in mind but hurting us. So raise your shields and protect yourself and your friends, we’re not gonna lose a war to petty jerks.

[bloodraven55]

While I'm thinking about it, there are a couple of other things I want to talk about.

First, let's talk about the concept of ““cishet aces”” that exclusionists love to use when they try and explain why ace people are just Straights Who Want to Feel Special invading the LGBT+ community. Because it's bullshit and I'm tired of hearing about it.

If you actually look at the statistics from surveys carried out in the past few years, you'll notice the vast majority of asexual people aren't heteroromantic. In fact, in every case less than a third of the respondents identified as straight, and often far fewer.

And that's only considering romantic orientation! If we include gender identity too, then we find that on average around a quarter to a third of asexual people identify outside the gender binary, and that isn't even covering binary trans people. The point I'm making with this data is that a large proportion of the asexual population are not cishet even by the reductive definition that exclusionists rely on, which is the message that I really want to hammer home here.

When you insist that asexuals don't belong in the LGBT+ community, and when you degrade and insult and invalidate our identity, then you don't just hurt cisgender heteroromantic asexuals. You hurt every single non-cis and non-straight asexual too. If you think your gatekeeping is necessary, realise that the vitriol and condescension with which I've seen other LGBT+ people talk about us often makes me—a non-binary lesbian—feel unwelcome in this community.

You're not harming cishets, you're harming your own.

Second, can y'all please stop infantilising us. Cause that shit's getting old really fast.

I'm deadly serious here because the way some of you talk about/to us makes me honestly think that you believe us to be no more mature than newborn babies. I've been told that I shouldn’t participate in certain discussions to do with sex before. I've been called a “virgin with anxiety” before. I've had people try and dictate to me what is and isn’t offensive to me before.

In every one of those situations they were convinced that because I'm ace I couldn't possibly understand how sex works or have the maturity to speak for myself. It's ludicrously rude and dehumanising to treat people like this so maybe just don't fucking do it?? Don't get me wrong; in some of those cases I did behave immaturely or say something dumb, and I don't mind someone pointing that out. But specifically targeting my asexuality and talking down to me like I'm no smarter than an infant is, uh... really messed up.

I've seen people call for all asexual people to be murdered and refer to us as vermin. Those aren't acceptable or funny ““jokes”” to direct at a minority group in the population; what the actual hell is wrong with you???

Third and last, the strawman in the room. Cause some of y'all will flat out make up any shit for an excuse to mock and ridicule us.

No asexual person believes virgin is a slur. No asexual person believes sex scenes in movies are a hate crime against them.

Those were made up by non-ace people to make fun of us and it's depressing how many people have bought into them. They'll either invent ridiculous opinions no ace person actually holds, or assume we all agree with a single bad take from one (1) ace person. And before anyone tries to twist this into me arguing that asexual people face more oppression or discrimination than other groups in the community— no, I'm not saying that. Not even close. What I'm saying is that we deserve basic equality and respect.

It's abundantly clear that a lot of people both in and out of the community don't want to listen to us and don't care to even try and understand us, but hopefully this post can educate at least one person.

You can find the sources for the figures I cited here:

2014 AVEN Community Census

2015 Asexual Census

2016 Asexual Community Survey

2017/18 Asexual Community Survey

[ayoalex]

Why is Team RWBY since the beginning present as a dangerous team?

Ok, before I begin this post I have to warn that:

1- I'm not an expert, this is based on my basic knowledge as someone that used to do martial arts as a kid, play a lot of video games and watch a bunch of anime/cartoon or read manga

2- This is going to be a long post, sorry 😞

3- You are always welcome to discuss in the replies or to correct in whatever I could get wrong, again I'm not an expert so don't be shy to call me out. Btw, English is not my first language so it's possible I could have some grammar mistakes.

4- Do not want to see any type of hate for any character 🤨

5- And last, decided to post this here because I prefer RWBY Tumblr community than Reddit one 💀

Let's begin!

When they present RWBY at the beginning of the project we got a glimpse of what they can do individually in the short films know as Red, White, Black and Yellow as well as some aspects of their character, backstory, etc.

As RWBY continued their journey we could see they seem as a force to be reckoned with when together but seem to be lacking in some aspects when they were alone.

The ones that didn't do better alone was mostly Ruby and Weiss while Blake and Yang seems to be able to hold their own alone (tho Blake seems to be in her flop era in the last volumes 💀).

So, let's talk about them as individual first.

Ruby: we all know her, leader of the team and the youngest of them all.

Ruby do pretty well alone when she's fighting Grimms, specially those that aren't that hard to go against. She's basically a prodigy and for that she got into Beacon earlier (and the fact she has silver eyes 😬).

She's the few people in Remnant that use a scythe as a weapon and she's pretty damn good with it; as told by a lot of character using that weapon is hard af so probs for her to be able to be so fucking smooth and amazing with Crescent Rose.

As told by Ruby herself in V1 while talking with Jaune, she did her weapon and here comes her first problem.

Not practical. Crescent Rose is a bad ass weapon and I absolutely love it but it's heavy and takes a lot to use it. It's a rifle as well so Ruby basically has to be a sniper to be able to go well with it.

It's a weapon that doesn't goes well with a team as can get in the way unless the user becomes a support for the team instead of being at front.

This is basically a metaphor of how Ruby is kinda a lone wolf at the beginning and awkward af with people.

But! She later gives some upgrades to Crescent Rose that helps her change the direction of scythe which give her adaptability! Which is completely important!

Now, if I take Crescent Rose away of Ruby what happens?

She's dead bro

Ruby is useless in close range combat, specifically physically one. We can see that in a lot of moments through the volumes.

She usually use her semblance as an advantage, which with her weapon works perfectly but without it is... Meh. It only helps her to speed up.

In Volume 5 Ozpin calls her out for that and then trains her, we then see Ruby being able to actually block and evade attacks without the use of her semblance... Until Ozpin took control of Oscar 💀

She knows basic stuffs, mostly with her defense but she lacks attack.

We don't actively see an improvement of this part in the future as she's seen to struggle keeping up with Harriet. Tho I'm going to give Ruby the fact that Harriet was being emotional and "aaahhh go crazy go stupid" In there.

Tho, Ruby lacks in this she make up by being a quick thinker and strategic.

She's the one that comes up with the plans and she's fast on her feet as well, she knows how to use her teammates perfectly to the point on coming up with duo attacks for them. She use her creativity to be able to defeat enemies as we can see at the end of V6 against the crazy old lady.

In general Ruby lacks close range fighting skills as well hand to hand combat + she can be really reckless and not actually think stuffs through it at first which can lead to disaster (she's getting better tho!)

Weiss: so... Oh boy, the ice queen comes next.

Her first actual win in a solo combat was Marrow if I remember correctly.

So here's the thing, as a solo fighter Weiss is the weakest link because she relies heavily in her semblance, get her someone that can break her aura fast and that's it, she loses.

But her semblance is really REALLY good.

Like she could stand in one place, do her thing and that's it but there's a thing... Weiss is too logical and sometimes narrow minded, her winning against Marrow was amazing and made me proud because she used EVERYTHING in that damn room to her favor. She was creative!

For her type of semblance that's important!

At the beginning she was too STIFF with her semblance but it got to the point where she has learned to be fast on her feet. Use her semblance in a better, creative way AND be a support in the team.

But now, without her semblance Weiss is a good fighter, being a mix of ballet with fencing/swordplay. Really pretty to see and then take off the damn weapon and she's pretty useless.

See a pattern here? Team Whiterose are completely useless without their weapons and semblance, mmmm

Overall Weiss is a freaking monster thanks to her semblance. She has gotten better to it, to control it and stuff, became more creative and less stiff as well as quick thinker but she needs to get better in hand to hand combat... Please, I'm begging.

Blake: ah yeah, our favorite emo cat girl.

So, Blake is crazy. That's it, that's everything I'm going to say about her.

Ok no, but seriously her fighting style is chef kiss

Blake use of her semblance is amazing, like this girl knows what she's doing when fighting.

Her weapons are great as well, like they are sword, a gun, then that freaking ribbon where she goes all Spiderman with everyone. Amazing!

Tho, she comes with an advantage that no other in her team has.

As explained by different characters in the series, Faunus has physical advantage over humans, not only some of them can see in the dark, but they seem to get some characteristics of the animal they are based off.

A good example is how agile Velvet is thanks to the fact she's a rabbit faunus or the way Sun jumps because of being a monkey faunus.

Blake being a cat faunus gives her ton of advantage, she's stealthy, agile, fast, listen better than the average human, etc

Combine that with her semblance, weapon and fighting style and you have an amazing fighter.

But Blake is reckless and that have cost her in the past. Not only that but while she seems to know only basic stuff in hand to hand combat, relies a lot in her semblance and lately she use her ribbon way too much.

That gives an opportunity to the enemy to take her out easily as we saw in her fight against Vine.

I'm going to say that Blake is generally a good fighter and probably one of the best in Team RWBY in general words but lately she seems to focus a lot in her ribbon which makes her an easy target, idk if this on purpose because Blake have always dislike her semblance or it just they don't know how to make Blake fighting style anymore but it kinda annoys me how she has been reduced to a damsel in distress in some fighting scenes.

Overall Blake is a top notch fighter and her weakness are small details that she slowly overcoming.

Yang: ah yeah, here comes my girl (stupid Tumblr mobile isn't letting me putting her name in yellow 😡)

As you guys know I'm a hoe for this girl so I will try to be objective here.

Yang is the strongest member of the team, not only physically but mentally as well.

So, by far she has my favorite fighting style of all the damn characters, I just love watching Yang fight. I think is because I did martial arts as a kid and then some kick boxing in college so idk.

Listen, this girl is so damn practical, her weapons are absolutely genius.

She's probably the few (maybe only one?) Character that actually took an existing fighting style and did her weapon around it + uses her semblance around it which is practical and smart af

Which comes to one of my favorite things of Yang, how tactical she is. Like Yang is what Ruby could be if it wasn't because of the damn weapon.

Like you guys don't get, Ruby weakness is Yang strength.

Yang since the very beginning showed us how of an amazing fighter she is. You thought Ruby is a prodigy? That Weiss is a monster? Blake is out of this world? Well Yang is fucking God.

I know I KNOW, I said I was going to be objective but it just MISS YANG XIAO LONG IS WHAT CINDER WISH SHE COULD BE, I SWEAR TO GOD, THIS GIRL IS BETTER THAN SOME OF THE ADULTS IN THE SHOW.

Ok ok ok

Yang is emotional tho, which cost her a lot (like A LOT, she lost her arm), in the past she was angry 24/7 (still is but baby got it under control 🥰). People are going to say "well not in v1, 2 and 3!".

I'm sorry but that girl has angry issues and the only moment she gets to be angry is when fighting so yeah, she would angry fight everyone and you know what? She still was an amazing fighter while doing so cuz she would kick everyone ass, being tactical about it, find her opponent weakness and absolutely looking hot while doing so.

Anyway, Yang doesn't have like a huge weakness like Ruby or Weiss, literally are small details. She's pretty much versatile as Ember Celica give her the option of shooting at her opponent. Since the beginning she was pretty much one of the best fighters of all the kids, probably coming second after Phyrra.

Her semblance use is pretty good as well, she seems to have a better grasp of it than some of the other kids and know how to manipulate it without overusing it.

Which btw is what made me have like a huge problem with V4 with the whole Taiyang stuff cuz Yang already knew how to fight like he was telling her, so idk I feel that was an insult to Yang as a character because the reason she lost her arm was because of stress, tired, being in battlefield and hello her partner is in danger.

RWBY

Now that I finished with them individually we can see that RWBY has 2 support fighters, 1 versatile and the other one a basically upfront fighter. Which comes in handy a lot of fights.

But it isn't this what makes them a formidable team but it's their chemistry.

Since the very beginning we see they do the most important thing in any type of relationship, communication.

As Weiss has her problem with Ruby at the beginning she end up talking with an adult about it and then getting call out for her poor behavior, that makes her change her approach to Ruby but before all that she did communicate Ruby what her problem was with her which made Ruby to talk with Ozpin and change her approach to study and her team as well.

We see that Yang and Blake goes well since the beginning as well, and they communicate a lot better than Ruby and Weiss at the beginning. To the point that we can see it in their teamwork.

When it comes to Weiss racism the rest of the team communicate her to stop it and then you have Blake and Weiss discussion about it where we got a glimpse of Weiss life in Atlas as well the revelation of Blake being a faunus and an ex member of the White Fang. This makes Blake run away which later Weiss criticized while telling her that they should talk first and communicate better.

The priority of RWBY as a team is communication. Ruby communicate her plans to the rest of the teams, Weiss her feelings, Blake her knowledge and Yang... Ok maybe Yang needs to work in this department.

This makes their teamwork really strong and their bond just continues getting deeper.

Add to this the fact they learn to use each other in a better way, as having both Weiss and Ruby as support helps a ton, Blake to distract their opponents and Yang to finish them off.

A good example of this is probably the train part in V6, where Yang fights all of the Grimms closely, Blake tends to fight them at some distance while helping out and Ruby with Weiss combination of support make the job hard for the Grimms.

This is exactly why JOYR had such a problem with a new Grimm, Yang needs someone to catch her back while she finds a way to destroy the Grimm which is usually provided by her teammates meanwhile RWB didn't had the boost of strength that Yang gives them in battle to be able to finish off the Hound.

Even in duos RWBY are a hard opponent to go against, probably the duo that would have a hard time is Freezerburn as we see in V3 and still I think if you put them fight together currently they would be a duo you wouldn't want to cross lol

They shouldn't have a problem with trios either but usually Yang is the strength of the group and basically the tank so is understandable that RWB had a hard time adapting without her there.

There's a part in the book Before the Dawn where Coco talks about RWBY and how they are a really strong team and even say that while JNPR aren't bad, they were basically carrying on with Phyrra since Jaune wasn't the fighter he is today. (Plus other problems that Renora have as fighters but this is something for other day).

RWBY in general has a great communication between the members, a great leadership, strong bonds and amazing fighters. They know how to adapt to each other styles and some members even complement each other (Yang and Blake).

Other thing that should be talk about its how basically Ruby and Weiss are too similar and too different at the same time to the point that they should clash a lot (which they used to do) but thanks to the fact they communicate their teamwork is amazing and in their own way they make it work.

It really helps that Ruby with Weiss can have the luxury to go upfront against an enemy while having Weiss to back her up which is something she can't do with Yang or Blake.

That's mostly because their teamwork is a metaphor of their own relationship as well as Yang and Blake teamwork is a metaphor of their own relationship.

Usually Weiss is the main support of her team since she's a large range fighter thanks to her semblance which is basically what she gives to her teammates outside of the battle.

RWBY basically fight is how they are with each other outside of the battle as we can see in multiple instances.

Yang being the tank and strength in their fighting style is exactly what Yang is to RWB, she's basically the heart and soul of the team and without her a lot of their attacks doesn't have the strength necessary for it to work as well as we can in V8 how long it took to RWB to know what to do while Yang already knew what she had to do with JOYR. She's the action.

While Ruby is the leader and sometimes call the shoot, she guide the girls through battle and help both with support and action. She usually starts the fight as a sniper until she sees an opening to fight up close which is a thing she actually do with her team. She takes a step back before talking with any of them and helps them navigate through situation in their lifes like promising Weiss to being on her side at Atlas to sometimes intervening between Weiss and her family.

Blake in the other hand is more of a wild card, she's usually Yang personal support as their styles complement each other but in most situations she does it on her own, unlike Ruby, Blake usually is more of an upfront fighter and only being support when Yang needs her which is a thing outside of battle. She usually does her own way, and while she support both Weiss and Ruby is with Yang where we see a more intimate support.

This is what makes RWBY dangerous, their bond and chemistry is something they worked hard to have as they started with difficulties, is a thing the 4 of them appreciate and love, it really helps they know how to communicate and do so to be able to have a healthy relationship between each other.

Right now we are finally seeing a lack of communication between RWBY, specially between Yang and Ruby.

As we all know RWBY is a direct parallel of STRQ which means this miscommunication between Yang and Ruby is important for their future as a team. Is implied that they still have each other back but it's necessary for Yang to open up to Ruby about what's going since this could create a breach if not treated.

Conclusion: stan RWBY and stan LOONA 😌

[seventhstrife]

SubScorp Week 2021 Day 4: Lust 1/3

I AM SO MAD ABOUT THIS PROMPT!!! IT GOT RIDICULOUSLY LONG!!! LIKE, AN UNREASONABLE LENGTH OF FIC WAS ACHIEVED THROUGH THIS PROMPT THAT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE THE EASIEST ONE!!! WHY IS MY BRAIN LIKE THIS!!!

Special shoutout to all of the wonderful, lovely, ridiculously patient people on discord who weathered me complaining about my stupid hellbrain lolol

Only part 1 tonight since I literally spent all day writing nearly 10k words, and there’s no way I can edit it and also sleep before my shift LOL

Read it on AO3.

Part 2

It would have been kinder, perhaps, to simply announce his arrival, but Hanzo had grown so fond of being amused in recent years and he could not resist the urge to indulge.

Gathering a handful of small stones, Hanzo climbed the nearest building and darted across the sun-baked clay of the rooftops, careful to remain unseen as he trailed his target.

A smile curled his lips beneath his mask. He waited until he was sure he was completely concealed, then let loose one of the pebbles in his grasp—a direct hit to the back of Kuai Liang's head.

The sight of Kuai Liang's flinch, as well as the sharp snap of attention and his dark expression of annoyance and suspicion through the crowded, dusty streets of the road, stretched Hanzo's smile into a grin. He bled into the shadows, knowing he would have to be swift if he wanted to stay ahead of Kuai Liang's attention.

He only managed one more stone's throw before Kuai Liang wisened up and scaled the nearest building. He was no fool, and tracing the stone's trajectory was a simple thing. Hanzo was forced to duck behind any cover he could find to avoid the Lin Kuei Grandmaster's thorough, careful scrutiny of his surroundings.

His next throw would be his last, he knew. He would have to make it count if he did not wish to be caught.

Hanzo crouched low and waited for his moment. The instant Kuai Liang turned, still scanning his surroundings for any movement, he sent his last stone flying.

He saw the beginning motion of Kuai Liang's whip-fast reaction, hand darting up in a flash to catch the stone, but Hanzo was already gone, swallowed in hellfire, and before Kuai Liang's fist fully closed around the rock, Hanzo appeared directly behind him.

Hanzo didn't hesitate. He tackled Kuai Liang to the roof, perched atop his chest before he could react.

Blinking in the harsh sunlight, Kuai Liang's scowl of deadly promise melted away into shock.

"Hanzo?"

Hanzo smirked. "Is this the standard of Lin Kuei assassins?" Hanzo shook his head. "Perhaps I should reconsider allying myself with a clan that is so soft."

Kuai Liang's eyes narrowed in a glare, but it was lessened by the reluctant smile that tugged on his lips, as if against his better judgment.

"I think I am the one who should be reconsidering my allies, if they are so eager to attack me on the streets," Kuai Liang pointed out, and Hanzo chuckled, finally stood and offered his arm.

Kuai Liang took the offered hand and absently brushed himself as he stood. His dark eyes, pleased and curious in equal measure, peered at Hanzo with confusion.

"What brings you to Outworld, Hanzo? And to me, specifically?"

Hanzo crossed his arms, gazing across the sand-dusted streets and modest abodes of the city, half of it hollowed out from the bright red clay of a mountain.

"I had received word that you accepted a mission from the Thunder God." Hanzo's face darkened with a grimace. "I would be neglecting the conditions of our alliance if I did not aide you."

"My mission is one of reconnaissance, Hanzo," Kuai Liang said, brow furrowed. "My life is hardly in danger."

"No mission from Raiden is as simple as he makes it seem," Hanzo said darkly. The loss of his clan—again—still burned. "If my presence is an insult, I beg your forgiveness," Hanzo continued, and he bowed. When he rose, he met Kuai Liang's eyes dead-on, determined and stubborn. "Allow me to accompany you, if only to set my mind at ease."

Kuai Liang had appeared taken aback at first, but understanding quickly bled onto his expression, and no little guilt. His own memories of the Kamidogu, and the manipulation he'd suffered, did not appear to have been forgotten either.

"...I accept your offer, Hanzo. Thank you." Kuai Liang said, and he returned the bow. "Shall we?"

The Thunder God's power had sent Kuai Liang to an Outworld city, but Kuai Liang's true destination laid deeper in the forest. An ancient temple, Kuai Liang informed him, long abandoned, had been rumored to have worshippers once more. Raiden merely wanted confirmation of such a thing, to decide his next move. The worship once practiced there had been forbidden, one steeped in ritual sacrifice and practices so brutal and cruel that even Outlanders shunned it, and if some sort of revival was in the making, Raiden suspected it would only be a matter of time before the cult spilled into Earthrealm and claimed the inhabitants there for their depraved rituals.

A simple mission, but one that did nothing to abate the uneasy feeling that had overcome Hanzo from the moment he'd learned of Kuai Liang's undertaking. He had not lied to Kuai Liang for his reasons for being here, but he had neglected the full truth: that, more than anything, he worried for his friend and what might happen to him when caught up in another machination of a God.

Once Kuai Liang had debriefed him, they fell into silence, traveling the forest with their ears peeled for the slightest sound that stuck out: voices, a footstep, anything that would confirm Raiden's suspicions. But caution and vigilance would only help them so much if Raiden had sent them into some sort of trap.

Hanzo pushed the worry from his mind. Nothing will happen to him. I will ensure it, he vowed.

The temple emerged from the trees when they were nearly on top of it. If it had been recently re-occupied, it did not show on the outside. The forest had been allowed to encroach upon it, nearly to the doors, and lichen and vines covered the side of the crumbling stone building as nature reclaimed it.

Hanzo and Kuai Liang knelt side by side as they observed the building, but it truly seemed abandoned.

"Shall we take a closer look?" Kuai Liang asked once it was plain they were quite alone outside.

Hanzo repressed a grimace; telling Kuai Liang he had a 'bad feeling' was out of the question, unless he wanted to make Kuai Liang think he indulged silly superstition and thus, lose his respect forever.

Hanzo nodded. They took a closer look.

Their steps were slow and cautious as they climbed the sun-bleached steps. Cracks and fissures stretched across nearly every surface, and while the stains were very faint, Hanzo still recognized the dried blood dotted across the stone.

It only took a few minutes to carefully sweep the temple for signs of life, and they met in the dusty temple's center once they were done.

"It appears abandoned," Kuai Liang observed, dark eyes lingering in a dark corner for one last check before he finally looked at Hanzo.

"I agree," Hanzo said, crossing his arms. "I hope the Thunder God has promised you something worthwhile for this waste of time."

A small smile tugged on Kuai Liang's lips; Hanzo pretended he did not find the sight incredibly gratifying.

"The terms of a contract are confidential, Hanzo."

"So, nothing," Hanzo surmised with a nod. "Unsurprising."

Kuai Liang's smile grew, amused. "Your time was wasted as well," he pointed out. "Will you demand compensation from Raiden?"

"Do not tempt me," Hanzo warned. He could do so without shame or remorse. After what the Thunder God had put them both through, it was the least he deserved.

Kuai Liang opened his mouth, eyes dancing with mirth—

But then his eyes shifted, just slightly, and he tensed, all over.

Hanzo barely had time to react before Kuai Liang was shoving him with a rough shout of, "Get down!"

His balance was upset but Hanzo recovered, quickly rolled to his feet in a crouch, one arm braced on the floor, the other already unsheathing his dagger.

"Jussst asss my hunger growsss, what ssshould I find but fresssh blood in the unlikeliessst of placesss?"

Skarlet ascended the last steps of the temple, an expression of satisfaction and interest on her features. She held a single hand aloft where an orb of thick, viscous blood twirled idly.

She came to a stop some distance away and widened her stance. Her fingers curled into claws and she stretched the blood like a scarf between her palms. Her eyes flashed between the two of them.

"My lucky day," she rasped slowly.

Hanzo frowned heavily, though it was almost a relief to finally face the inevitable complication he had been expecting this entire time. He darted a quick glance at Kuai Liang.

Kuai Liang was much in the same position and appeared unscathed as he leveled Skarlet with a heavy frown. A smear of blood shards streaked across the space they once stood.

"What are you doing here, Skarlet?" Pure, icy contempt dripped from his tone.

"I am the one who ssshould be asssking the questions, Sub-Zero." Skarlet arched a single thin eyebrow. "Asss the Outworlder, I am not the one who doesss not belong here..."

Hanzo rose and Skarlet's gaze cut to him, wary and deadly. He unsheathed his second dagger and gave them a spin.

"You are outmatched, Skarlet." He pointed at her with a blade. "You would be wise to leave."

Her mouth was hidden behind a crimson mask, but her smile was only too obvious in her tone.

"I am trembling with fear," Skarlet said mockingly, and barely before she'd finished drawing breath, she moved her hands in a quick sweeping motion that sent a wide arch of blood, suddenly crystallized, straight for them.

Kuai Liang had his ice to defend himself with, so Hanzo did not waste a moment summoning a ring of fire, nose wrinkling as the blood met his flames and burst on impact. A power based on draining the life from another—it was barbaric.

Hanzo's words had not been an idle boast—together, he and Kuai Liang were formidable, and years of fighting at one another's side had only fostered a deadly alliance, one of devastating power and precise, efficient strategy.

Barely minutes into the fight, Skarlet was showing signs of unease. She was smart to keep her back to a wall at all times, to better prevent them from flanking her, but the ceaseless assault of ice and fire was clearly wearing on her.

When Kuai Liang froze her leg, just long enough so that she caught a fireball to the chest, she staggered, fell to one knee as her harsh breaths echoed through the ancient temple.

Tales of her cunning and deadliness had not escaped them, however, and neither man allowed their guard down, approaching slowly, fists raised.

"Thisss," Skarlet panted, glaring at the two of them, "Isss hardly fair, isss it?"

"You chose this fight, Skarlet," Kuai Liang said pitilessly.

The way her eyes narrowed at Kuai Liang—that earlier feeling of unease rose within Hanzo once more.

"I did," she agreed. "And it isss time I evened the oddsss..."

Skarlet thrust the hand—that before had been clutching her side—at Kuai Liang, and a small disk of blood, no doubt razor-sharp, shot towards him at an incredible speed.

Too fast to deflect it properly, Kuai Liang raised his arm, and Hanzo only caught a glimpse of how it burst moments before impact, hovered in the air in dozens of pinpricks of needle-thin blades, before crashing again. As Kuai Liang dropped to a knee and ducked, shielding his face from the worst of it, Hanzo was already backing away as Skarlet flew at him in a sudden burst of deadly fury.

"I can already tassste your blood," Skarlet said with relish. The blade of her blood dagger locked with Hanzo's and their faces hovered close. Her eyes shined with wicked triumph. "I will enjoy gorging myssself in the daysss to come."

Hanzo only glared back, disgusted. Between them, a sudden light grew and Skarlet glanced down with wide eyes to see her dagger glowing-white hot to match where it met Hanzo's as his arms caught fire.

An instant later, the blade, warped, shifted, and burst. Skarlet cried out, backing away as the blood singed her and the hands she shook out were bright red from the blistering heat.

"You will only taste defeat," Hanzo swore, summoning his kunai.

The low thump of a body hitting the ground drew his attention away, however, and it was with dread that Hanzo clapped eyes on Kuai Liang—teeth gritted in a grimace of pain, hands clawed against the stone as if he might crumble the stone at their feet.

He raised glassy, straining eyes to meet his.

"H-Hanzo," Kuai Liang managed, and then he shuddered, hunched over, and a low grunt of pain escaped him.

The sight and sound of him chilled Hanzo to his very core. Kuai Liang had been trained, practically since infancy, to withstand incredible amounts of pain. Anything that made him cry out like that—

Hanzo looked to Skarlet and he had no problem recognizing the sheer relish and satisfaction of her expression.

The hellfire, always kept carefully maintained, overflowed into instant, black fury.

Faster than she could ever predict, Hanzo flew across the room, seized Skarlet by her neck and did not stop until he slammed her against the opposite wall. Her strangled choke—brutally cut off by his hands, pressing deep—only incensed him further because this one cry of pain was not enough.

"What have you done to him?"

Skarlet strained against his grip, but she could not touch him, not when he burned so hot. She quickly realized she could not escape, but she only laughed, a reedy, raspy thing that made Hanzo see red.

"It—It isss a new concoction," she hissed, throat working harshly beneath his fingers. He barely loosened his grip so that she could speak, despising every moment he was not killing her. "One I-I have been..." She swallowed. Her heels scraped against the stone wall for purchase. "Very eager to try out."

Hanzo tightened his grip once more and Skarlet's eyes grew larger, panicked and desperate.

"WHAT. HAVE. YOU. DONE."

With each word, flames licked Hanzo's tongue, eager to escape. The temptation to release the flames on Skarlet's wretched head, to burn away her smirk until only bone remained, was nearly overwhelming.

But Kuai Liang's life hung in the balance. He could not give in to anger.

He allowed Skarlet breath, and she finally spoke, "That blood wasss poisoned," Skarlet hissed and Hanzo tensed.

"Where is the antidote," he demanded, and Skarlet laughed again.

"It isss not that sort of poissson," she said. "Thisss one was made for...ssspecial occasssionsss..."

Hanzo narrowed his eyes. "What does that mean?"

Skarlet looked into his eyes and victory shined in her dark, mad eyes.

"It isss a powerful aphrodisssiac," she purred, and Hanzo tensed. "If he is not sssatiated, his blood will boil."

Alarmed, Hanzo glanced at Kaui Liang. It looked as if he was already feeling the effects, if the way he clutched his abdomen meant anything. He ground his forehead against the filthy stone floor and even a short distance away, Hanzo could see the red welts rising from his skin, as if he were burning from the inside out.

"It would be bessst," Skarlet continued, able to speak more in Hanzo's moment of distraction, "If you left usss here." Her eyes darkened with desire and twisted eagerness. "I am more than up to the tasssk of helping him, and I am sssure he will find me very sssastisfying."

Kuai Liang would rather die, Hanzo knew.

Slowly, every line of his body a taut line of repressed violence, Hanzo allowed Skarlet to slide back down the wall so that her feet touched the floor.

Her eyes brightened with victory—and then Hanzo yanked her close, so that they instead widened with surprise and a quick flash of fear—for he had not released her yet.

"No," he simply said, and then he shoved Skarlet back.

Her skull cracked against the stone and she went limp.

Hanzo let her drop carelessly, turned his back on her, and quickly made his way to Kuai Liang's side. She would not die, he was sure of it, and though he dearly wanted to make her pay for poisoning Kuai Liang, there was still a chance she would be needed in the future, should her words prove false and some sort of antidote could only be procured through her repulsive blood magic.

Hanzo fell to his knees at Kuai Liang's head, hands hovering or unsure.

"Kuai Liang..."

Shakily, Kuai Liang raised his head. Hanzo didn't hesitate to clasp his hand when it was raised and his eyes widened to feel the heat of him, hot enough to rival his own skin.

"Hanzo..." Through his fierce grimace, Hanzo saw the flicker of uncertainty, the worry and anxiety brought on by this sudden vulnerability.

"I have you," Hanzo assured him and he squeezed his hand tightly. "We will fix this, I promise you."

Kuai Liang stared into his eyes for a moment, panting, face beginning to bead with sweat.

He sagged with a nod, weary and pained.

Hanzo swallowed them both in hellfire, and only the scorched stone and Skarlet's crumpled form marked their ever being in Outworld.

[mtraki]

Brain chemistry is messing with me... got me in the bad feels looking at dark roads... So let’s try and drag ourselves out of it through hyperfixation!  It’s time to rant about Agent 47′s brain chemistry-- specifically all the serums and antidotes that artificially change it! (It’s a rant... I won’t take up space on your dashboard scroll if you don’t want to see it, but if you do, please check out under the cut.  Spoilers for the comics and Hitman Season 2-3 are unmarked...)

The focus of the rant is thus: “Exactly what did Ether’s antidote do?” ‘That’s easy, MT,’ I hear you tell me, ‘It brought back 47′s memories that were wiped by Ort-Meyer before he escaped the lab.’ Forgive me, strawman Reader, (but as always, thank you for your faithful engagement) but I don’t think it’s that simple...  Maybe because I overthink things, or maybe because the details aren’t adding up... Let’s discuss. In the cutscene in HITMAN 2 (Hitman Season 2) ‘Long Shot’, Olivia and Lucas provide a syringe from Ether Biotech Corporation.  According to their information, Ort-Meyer’s estate and his research were granted to the corporation (through Providence) after his passing.  The syringe is supposed to be an antidote to what Ort-Meyer used to wipe 47′s memory.  Using the syringe, 47 is able to remember Janus, the first Constant of Providence, so they can go get his info on the Partners... and kill him. ‘Yes, MT,’ you say, ‘so it’s easy.  The answer is right there.’ Well, please bear with me... In the next cutscene ‘Gifts and Curses’, our leading ladies Diana and Olivia are doing the real work (tracking Janus’s coffin) while our lads are being moody.  Lucas asks 47 if he’s all right and 47 says, “It comes back in flashes.  Fear.  Anger.  But like it happened to someone else.” Later, in ‘Precautions’, Lucas and Diana talk about how Lucas has feelings about the things he’s done, and 47 does not-- a parallel is drawn between these feelings and “having a conscience”. In ‘The Ark Society’ mission, on the Isle of Sgàil, as you’re marching Arthur Edwards, the Constant you are abducting, to the harbor, he’ll fish around for information by giving some of his own.  For the purposes of my rant, there is an exchange I want to focus on: Edwards: “...Your murdered him [Janus] to get to me.” 47: “Not just that.  He had it coming.” Edwards: “Interesting.  It was my impression that you were cured of such... sentiment.  The ‘good doctor’ built his serum specifically to target the seats of your emotions.  Has Miss Burnwood’s sense of justice rubbed off on you, I wonder?” This is where I feel the need to stop and point out that there are TWO DIFFERENT SERUMS at play here, that were forced on 47 at TWO DIFFERENT TIMES in his forgotten past.  This is shown in the comic series. SERUM #1) This serum was given in 1989, after 47 and 6 failed to take over the Institute.  47 sacrificed himself so 6 could escape (though he was presumed dead) and instead of being killed like he expected, due to pressure from Janus (who spoke as Constant for the Partners of Providence) Ort-Meyer instead used a serum to stifle his and the remaining clones’ emotions.  This one was an injection to the neck (like the antidote).  Here are his exact words: “I gave you something most people lack: a true purpose.  And you cast it aside.  For some misguided dream of freedom.  Why?” “It’s that storm inside you.  All those feelings I fought so hard to lock away.  Raging, driving you.  So now I must wipe them out entirely.  A small chemical insult designed to target the amygdala, the hypothalamus, the cingulate gyrus.  The seats of emotion.  I’ve just sawed the legs off them.  Do you understand, 47?” “Your memories remain intact.  But now they’re a series of events with no significance.” The effects of this serum were devastating.  With the singular exception of 47, every other clone more or less lost the will to live.  They died of starvation, dehydration, infected bed sores... losing any and all motivation for anything.  Meanwhile, 47 became an apex predator of murder, stating that the opportunity to complete the assassinations handed down by Providence through Ort-Meyer were the reason he went through each day.  He had a hand in the deaths of a good number of clones, either via poisoning or smothering. SERUM #2) This serum was given in 1998 (that’s nine years after the first one) after Providence demands Ort-Meyer give them 47 as the only success of his very expensive perceived failure.  Ort-Meyer gives this serum, without the permission of Providence, very specifically so that 47 will not remember him to assassinate him.  This serum is given orally, and through a hose and pump apparatus.  Here are his exact words: “I only need one more day, and a moment alone.” (This is included strictly to point out that 47 must have escaped that exact same day) “I raised you as my own.  Taught you everything you needed to thrive in this fallen world.  And now I have to take it all away.  You would come after me.  It’s the only way I can be free from having to watch over my shoulder for the rest of my life.  It feels like drowning at first.  Don’t struggle.  I’m going to make you perfect.  Now you have all the potential in the world.” 47 wakes up later to the voice of Ort-Meyer over the intercom.  He implicitly trusts the voice, as he knows nothing else.  He knows about the existence of nothing outside of the room and the voice.  He starts making associations as he goes on, and points out that he understands how some things work (”The mechanics of breathing, the science that makes remotely operated restraints possible.”) and the justifications behind their existence (”Somewhere deep down, I even understand the need for them.”).  As he makes his escape, he observes that their is familiarity in the sensations of killing.  Out in the world, he continues killing on his own for about a year, claiming that his work is his only indulgence and that he doesn’t need things, friends, or stories.  He does also claim to have a few stray memories that haunt him-- elicit emotional responses in him (which we also see in Absolution with the whole “doctors” flashbacks). Edwards should not know about the mind-wiping, and his dialogue does not betray that he does.  Lucas apparently knows about both, but I’m going to attribute this to “Lucas became personally invested in learning what happened to 47 specifically after learning he was alive and working for ICA, so put the pieces together once he stole the data from Providence” because he wasn’t around for either serum.  Meanwhile, Edwards doesn’t have many reasons to worry about 47 until he starts trying to use his past as a lure for Diana.  Because his angle is to eventually reveal that it was 47 (AND 6... they were on the job together, per the comics) who killed her parents, and the fact that that juicy reveal would hurt that much more if he could reveal it as something 47 knowingly hid from her... I don’t think he’d go out of his way to discredit Janus’s reporting on the situation that only the first serum was given, and something else happened that allowed 47 to escape into the wild.  Janus is apparently Edwards’s beloved mentor, after all. ‘MT,’ I hear you say, ‘You’re rambling.  What’s the point here?’ The point is that 47, a man who does not mince words, makes the observation, when asked, that he remembers fear and anger.  These are the things that stand out to him in his memories.  The emotions.  This is in violation of the first serum’s properties as well as the second. Now, why is this happening?  Perhaps the first serum has an effective lifespan, and perhaps it’s wearing off.  Perhaps 47′s human (arguably superhuman, per some sources) brain is adapting to make necessary associations despite the “chemical insult”. Or... was this antidote supposed to also be an antidote for the first serum?  It is noteworthy that 47 starts behaving in ways that suggest more emotionally-driven motivations after the antidote is given-- at least it seems that way to me.  This seems especially the case at the very end of HITMAN 3 (Season 3), ‘Untouchable’, when 47 is confronted with his guilt, with his feelings about what he perceives Diana’s thoughts and feelings to be, and with his choice in the end concerning Edwards in the final confrontation.  No matter what he chooses, he owns his choice and all the baggage and consequences that come with it.  At the very end, in the cutscene 'New Deal', he tells Diana that he isn’t ‘Agent 47′ anymore.  That he chooses this path because he can. Perhaps I’m very much misunderstanding the themes, here, but 47 not remembering his past never struck me as something that held him back from choosing something else.  It has always been his inability to connect with others in any way outside of infiltrating their spaces and killing them... with very, very few exceptions... that has kept him from choosing a path outside of murder-for-hire (perfectly executed, of course ;) )  So I’m left at the end with the conclusion that 47 is now able to operate as his own conscience because he now has a... mostly usable independent sense of morality-- which requires a certain level of empathy. So... again: what’s the deal with the antidote?  Is it two-in-one?  This would be fine, (Okay, not really, I would then have to rant about how this only makes sense as a convenient plot device because for which person BESIDES Agent 47 would such an antidote be useful unless they also work with the first serum... and oh boy IMPLICATIONS... I know we keep crashing their stock but can we crash their production too?) except the antidote is only referenced as working to return 47′s memory... and his ‘warmer’ dialogues through the end of 2 and into 3 with his allies is simply treated as matter of course-- nobody points it out. I don’t know if this is a problem with my perspective, the writing, or what... But it seems like Lucas knows and doesn’t know about both serums at the same time (he comments specifically about 47 remembering things... but not him behaving more emotionally engaged)... Or like the games smooshed both serums together while the comics had them separate.  This isn’t like the whole “we don’t talk about Absolution though we do wink and nod that it mostly happened in canon” thing.  The comics were written as a companion for the HITMAN: World of Assassination trilogy! I know how I’m treating it for 'Monstrous’ (because if I don’t, I’ll go crazy and rage-quit the fic) but it still bothers me...  Anybody got any ideas?  Nuggets of lore I missed?  Am I the only one stressing out about this??

[searchingforproofsthatimwrong]

THE JAMMIEDODGER VIDEO ABOUT JK ROWLING (as recommended by a very polite anon)

so I go point by point after the cut but in short: they should read more feminist theory, they are lying, they are not as coherent as they think they are but they make some points, notably about the rapid onset gender disphoria that’ll need to check in more depth later on.Most of their sources were unfortunatly either on points I already knew or already agreed with.  Also that woman ( the “cis” one not Jammy), should really stop thinking being born a woman is somehow a privilege.

So the video starts by saying three things I agree with :

1)      Biological sex is definitely real

2)      Women’s right and girls’ right need to be protected

3)      JK Rowling is entitled to like support and write whatever she wants

 So far so good. Except it then goes on to say that TRA agree with that. Now maybe most do but at least some don’t. Don’t lie to me, Jammie Dodger.  

They then go on to misrepresent what our problem with “cis” is. Are they going to spend that entire video about trans people at destination of the non educated on that subject without ONCE defining what a trans person is? They are aren’t they ?

“TRANSPEOPLE AGREE THAT BIOLOGICAL SEX EXISTS!!” 

see earlier but given the number of people who are saying “sex is a social construct” and “sex is a spectrum” and “a neovagina is just like a vagina”, you may at least put a “most” in your statement here. Anyway this is not the problem we have, we wouldn’t even discuss this if it weren’t for the brain dead morons who argue with us about it.

“my biological sex -the one I was assigned at birth- was female” 

is Jammie here telling me he knows biology exists but his sex WAS female ? It still IS female. You’re a female. Moreover you cannot say I know biology exists and I was assigned a sex. The entire “assigned sex” is a refutal of biology by implying doctors choose a sex for you. This is stupid.

Strawman. They are saying radfems have no argument against “gender identity is a real thing”. The lies. Gender identity is not a real thing it’s just gender stereotypes and gender is a tool of oppression for women, it’s sexist garbage. I also notice they don’t define gender identity, this is starting to be a pattern, this video is aimed to normies but the only thing they defined so far is terf.

They did 5 fucking minutes on “transpeople know that biological sex exists” I am already exhausted.

Oh my bad they defined “gender identity” as “the gender you know you are”. THANKS A BUNCH THIS IS SO HELPFUL . Define gender please I beg of you.  

“They know they are a man but their bodies don’t match” 

okay so you agree that man and woman are words that depends on your body right? Since it can “match”, they are not gender then ? Nevermind he then says that man is their gender identity. This is not making sense.

Ooooooh the floating head analogy never heard that one before, this is a stupid one because gendies also argue that their gender is innate (unless Jammie here specifically says he doesn’t think that I’ll act as if he agrees with that statement) so the good question would be if you were born as a floating head and never even had a body would you still be a woman? And my answer here as well as plenty of people I suspect is “men and women don’t make sense if we’re born as floating heads what are you on about?”

“transwomen needs women’s right too” 

I know you think that is self evident but I’ll ask what exactly are the women’s right transwomen need. Abortion? Affordable periods product ? The right to have places free of male? oh wait. They are male so they can never have that can they ?

“so feminism also needs to believe in gender identity”

 because if we don’t our feminism is only for females and we exclude males. Notice how they didn’t continue their logic by saying how THIS feminism excludes transmen and nonbinary? Because it does, but guess who actually need the women’s right of abortion for exemple?

“transmen don’t need women’s rights” 

I FUCKING CANNOT YOU STILL NEED IT WTF ARE YOU ON ABOUT. OK I need them to define women’s right asap

“well JK Rowling said she supports trans rights”

 funny how you can understand how those words are not a proof that she in fact does but you still started your video by “we support women’s rights !!!”

“adding [to Harry Potter] content that was LGBT+ friendly” 

she added things that were gay friendly. I don’t remember her adding trans characters.

“transphobic” = saying men can’t become women. Whoah. The hatred.

“the lack of belief [in gender identity] is what she wants protected”

 yes and ? Atheism, the lack of belief in a god, is protected. Gender identity existence only proof is some people saying it does exists, it is not a scientific reality in any way shape or form.

“His biological sex was previously female” 

BUT WE KNOW WHAT BIOLOGICAL SEX IS WE SWEAR; Damn they spend 7 minutes on “transpeople know biological sex exists” and then keep acting like they fucking don’t.

After that they point blank say that gender identity is more important than sex, having someone who passes as an exemple. What about transpeople who don’t pass? How much you bet this will never be discussed in this video.

Anyway they follow that with that : 

Which is true but defining what a woman is does affect women actually (I know weird right)  so it’s completely irrelevant to the discussion here.

“When a large group of transpeople are telling you something is wrong please listen to them”

 please afford women the same courtesy. We are a large group of women saying males are not the fucking authority on what womanhood is but we are told to shut up. Listen.

“we cannot take the behavior of the minority [online abuse] and group it onto the majority” 

I agree with that statement but the majority still didn’t condemn the abuse. Honestly the people in this video did -just before saying HOWEVER but hey – but it is pretty rare to see TRA actually confronting the people who abused JK Rowling online, they cheered them on more than anything.

It is very telling how they spend more time in this video saying people collecting screenshots of the abuse JK Rowling suffered were “not cool” than the TRA giving them a bad name by actually abusing JK Rowling. They even say Jammy was also insulted online so TERF and TRA are as bad as each other right ?? Being called delusional or idiot is not the same as death threats sorry Jammy. (I doubt the “freak” one was from a terf tbh but even then, this is not even comparable) I mean didn’t you get at least one person saying they were going to kill you ? Because I did, and I have ,like, 200 followers. I find very weird that the woman here said “I received sexual assaults threats and this is as a cis woman!” as if women weren’t the primary target of sexual assaults threats. Yeah it’s the misogyny. What’s new.  You really should stop thinking you are somehow priviledged even when you are being sexually threatened ffs. What gender ideology does to a mf.

 “neither of these sides are innocent” 

oh come on, you cannot possibly means that the men who gave you sexual threats were terfs, this is ridiculous, you are just trying to excuse and diminish what people did to JK as per fucking usual.

 “persistent low level harassment” 

it hasn’t stayed low level tho. Stop trying to say you and JK are receiving the same abuse it’s embarrassing.

JK Rowling’s essay having real life effects on policies for exemple has an element of thruth ,even tho we disagree on wether or not this can be a good thing but your are deluding yourself if you think people assaulting transpeople are the sort of people whose views are in any way influenced by feminists. This is laughable. Also please stop with the guilt tripping, we are not responsible of the mental health of transpeople, we are not their therapists, sorry.

I love how they implied that the guy who forced GNC kids to behave as their assigned gender would somehow give a letter of thanks to a feminist. This is implying “terfs” want the same things as this maniac which is just a straight up lie, terfs absolutely adore GNC people and are mostly GNC themselves.

“What rights of women are actually being eroded by the inclusion of transwomen ?” I am glad you asked !! Well apart from the freedom of speech since “terfs” are losing their jobs and being deplatformed because of this, we have the inherent dangers of replacing sex by gender in what the law protects : https://www.aclu.org/blog/speakeasy/firing-mom-because-shes-breastfeeding-sex-discrimination this is a link to a story about a woman who was said being fired for breastfeeding was not sex discrimination because men can lactate. Do you see the problem ? Moreover there is quotas for women in politics etc….Women fought for their quotas and now males can have them, who do you think an employer would prefer someone who probably will be pregnant at one point or someone who never will ? and let’s not forget the right for women to have women only places :Women in prison are raped by the trans identified males in it .

“I cannot think of a single right that is removed from me”

 good for you maybe you should have actually researched radfems talking point before doing this video ? Your ignorance is not a good argument.  

“transwomen can use the women changing room because they are women” 

you keep saying that but apart from “they feel like women” you didn’t explain how they are women. This is the basis of this entire video and you never explained.  Also allowing any person who say they are women into the women’s changing room does not only allow transwomen does it ? It also allows lying freaks.

“You can protect cis women’s rights and transrights simulteanously” HOWWWWWWWWWWW, please tell me how to keep female only spaces (women’s right) while saying TWAW (transrights apparently according to them).

“transwomen can be the victims and cis women can do the voyeurism” 

true but did you forget we actually live in the real world and in that one males are much more likely to be sexually harassing people than women ? It is a brazen form of lying to tell women that since theoretically other women can also be creeps they don’t have to worry about males. Get a grip. Live in the real world for a change.

“It doesn’t reference transwomen but men pretending to be women” 

apart from “they feel it” you still haven’t told us what the difference is. You are aware nothing from an outside perspective distinguishes the two right ??

“there is no evidence of men pretending to be trans to enter female only spaces” and how would you know they are pretending ? This is the same problem again and again, if you define transwomen as men who feel like women then there is absolutely no way of verifying someone really is trans. And that’s a lie anyway since we do actually have proof of that happening?? There was that video making the room on radblr a while ago of a clear male pissing in the women’s bathroom saying (lying) that he was trans.

Yeah actually radical feminists would accept transmen in their bathrooms, but it’s not an easy question with an easy answer to know how to check they really are transmen. Although notice how they are again only talking about transpeople that passes ? I would feel safer with Jammy in my toilets than Hannah Mouncey for exemple :

  That is so obvioulsy a man in a dress.

“ If a transman with a beard and penis and balls can go into a women’s toilet and that is deemed okay because of his biological sex what is to stop a cis man from doing the same”

 I am sorry but are you saying a transwoman cannot have a beard and penis and balls ?????????? This is incredibly transphobic of you, you said that gender identity Is just feeling like a gender, how exactly does that mean transwomen cannot have beard ? If you want to know, radfem are arguing for a third toilet for transpeople, that’s our solution. What is yours ?

 Ok the next part is racist I’ll skip that thanks

On accusation of TERFery intimidating people and organizations “we haven’t seen these” again, your ignorance is not an argument, I am posting these on Tumblr where cryptoterfs arer numerous. Why do you think that is ?

Are they seriously saying Nike and addidas “accepted” transpeople because they “realized it was the right thing to do” ?????? Those companies employs slaves IN WHAT WORLD DO YOU LIVE IN??

“trying to make transpeople look crazy” 

the clownfish things were said online by real transpeople. We don’t need to invent thing to make transpeople look crazy, if there is  large enough group some people belonging in that group will say stupid shit .

“We support these rights”

 when speaking about women victims of abuse. This is a lie, the Vancouver rape shelter relief is often targeted by transactivists, recently a gofundme for it was cancelled because of transactivists, they are quite litteraly stealing money from raped women. This is not a small, inconsequential part of transactivism. 

“The trans-inclusionist views expand the meaning of women to include transwomen”

 It doesn’t expend shit actually since it excludes transmen and non-binary. If anything it reduces it.

They go on to say that transwomen deserves protection as women because of their murder rate. It doesn’t explain how being seen as women will help them here and anyway it’s a bold lie considering their murder rate is actually quite low. They also fail to consider how depriving transmen and nonbinaries of those same women’s right might be a problem.

Again they make the distinction between transwomen and men pretending to be transwomen without a way to identify which is which. This is starting to get repetitive and tedious. The problem is not that all transwomen are predators is that there is no way to see a difference until the predators acts, until a woman gets hurt, so accepting transwomen is accepting predators and saying transwomen feelings are more important that the women being hurt because of this. I disagree. The tiny tiny percentage of transpeople doing bad things is actually the same percentage as men doing bad things. If your argument could be used to say women only spaces shouldn’t exist at all because not all men are dangerous maybe you should reconsider your argument because I will not reconsider women’s right to have female only spaces.

“If you push transwomen out of female only spaces you push transmen in”

 Yes. I don’t even see where the problem is here.  Now why don’t we analyse the fact that if you push transwomen into female only spaces you push transmen out of them ? I don’t think transmen belongs in men’s prisons, do you ?

“Transpeople don’t dispute biology and don’t impact how female only diseases are treated” 

eat shit. They do impact this, every woman trying to say “female biology” get shit thrown at her faster than you can blink, stop lying to me Jammy. Do you think I would get called a bleeder, a fetus carrier, a motherfucking birthing body if transactivism wasn’t trying to erase sex ? Don’t you think the sentence “men can have periods” is not eroding biology ? Fuck off

Back to JK, Jammy is saying her disabling comment on her blog was not conductive to a conversation, I have to salute the straight face he says it with because do you really think a nice educated conversation would have taken place on JK Rowling’s essay ? They flooded her children’s book tag with porn for fuck sake.

“Thre is no explosion in young women who wishes to transition” sources ? Because it does seem to be true :https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jsm.12817

“the detransitionners rate is actually really low” hard to know but most people who transitioned did it not so long ago since transgender is a recent trend, we will have to wait and see to have a more robust number. But maybe they are right on that one, this is not going to be the one argument that changes my views unfortunately. 

“Does that mean we should stop people from getting plastic surgery then ?” 

lol you don’t know the radfem stance on plastic surgery do you ?

“There is more significant transphobia than homophobia” 

sources ? Because transition is used as converstion therapy in Iran so it is at least untrue in one country. 

“If transmen transition to escape womanhood why is there transwomen ?” 

You really didn’t research this did you ? the radfem answer is that transwomen are either gay men who have gender disphoria OR AGP (autogynephiles) read this if you want to learn more about it: https://grahamlinehan.substack.com/p/the-elephant-in-the-room

“why would people who have male privileges choose to give that up” 

you are assuming they lose their male privileges but I will need sources on that because most transwomen do not pass and are treated more as special men than as women.

“We have already shown you that transphobia is far more rife and damaging than homophobia” 

did I miss that part ? When ? You just said that ? Without backing it up ?

“anti trans narratives constantly contradict itself” 

No we do not, we are feminist so we OF COURSE we analyse men and women differently, this is an issue of gender which radical feminism posit as an hierarchy, trying to explain transwomen and transmen with the same arguments is doomed to fail because they were not equal in their relation to gender to begin with. Do you think black people trying to pass as white do it for the same reasons white people try to have more black features ? Of course not.

“What am I a lesbian or a homophobe ?”

 You are both, you are a lesbian in denial with a deep case of internalized misogyny and homophobia. You know yo can be both sexist and a woman right ? Well it’s the same here.

I heard “Simone de Beauvoir” and I knew they were going to be really fucking stupid with that “One is not born a woman but rather becomes a woman” quote and THERE IT IS! Please read the book. She is not saying male can become women if they try hard enough, she is saying basically the same thing JK Rowling’s quote said which is that “womanhood” as it is forced on women is alien and not natural and the point is that we should not accept it, it’s a feminist quote on femininity and I am so sick of men using it to say that they are women.

Transactivists acting as if sex recognition patterns don’t exists is exhausting so I won’t comment on “nobody checks if you have XX chromosomes before passing you over for a promotion” other than to say : passing over for promotions happens a lot when women are pregnant and after giving birth stop acting as if misogyny is unrelated to our reproduction capacities it is fucking insulting.

“transwomen will support [fights against tampon tax and FGM] too” 

FGM was a bad choice here considering transactivists tried to stop a bill against FGM .  I will need sources here actually since I never seen a transwoman fighting for women’s right in my life.

Ok I let a lot passes here because I’m tired but we are 48:40 in the video and fuck you “intersectional feminism” is not about males. It was for black women. It is not reductionist to say women are people with a vagina, this is just a definition, and one that applies to 50% of the population at that, there is litteraly no definition of woman that includes more people than that.

Imagine thinking “women are people with vagina” is reductionist but not calling women “vulva owners”. Please , I am begging for coherence.

“transwomen who experience greater abuse than cisgender women will ever experience” . 

This is revolting. I don’t have any other words. I am glad this is the end of the video because I would have stopped immediately if this was at the start. What abuse transwomen can experience than ciswomen cannot ? Because I would have thought forced pregnancy was horrific but maybe this doesn’t compare to being misgendered?

“most people are comfortable with transwomen going into women’s bathrooms” https://www.bsa.natcen.ac.uk/media/39147/bsa34_moral_issues_final.pdf

It says 13% of women are at least uncomfortable with sharing bathroom with transwomen, why are we ignoring their wishes? Because 0.1% of the population wants to ?  Whatever, the really interesting thing in this study is that for this question they defined “transwomen” as someone who has gone through all the steps to become a woman aka someone with surgery. I find extremely misleading that this is used for bathroom bills which defines transwomen as male identifying as women. Do you think the numbers would be the same if they specified the transwoman in question still has a penis ? Which is the case for most transwomen btw?