#like it was a Good fuck you but a horrible incitement

[wilwheaton]

Hey man, I could use a few talking points to help convince a friend that Musk is horrible. I'm reading 'Think Again' by Adam Grant (good read btws) and he says to help convince people to come to your viewpoint that it can be good to have 2 or 3 strong points instead of 10 mixed points. The counter argument I get from people about Musk being good is that he did spacex and tesla, and without him we'd be decades behind. Maybe, but I don't have good ammo. Please help as I get too angry tobe critical

Well, listen, the fascism, the transphobia, the chaos, and the unwavering support for autocrats all over the planet really ought to be enough to outweigh anything else, if you ask me. It sounds like you know some people who got excited about the companies he threw money at, and they are having a tough time updating their feelings due to current events. Or maybe they share his values and don't want to admit that.

But I'll try to offer some simple facts.

He did not do engineering with Tesla or SpaceX or even PayPal. He is a fraud. He walked into these existing businesses, where people had done actual work and engineering, threw some of his Apartheid money at them, and took credit for their work. He claims, over and over again, to be a founder of these companies, and that's just straight up a lie that is easily disproved.

He literally did nothing except throw money at people and take credit for their work. Look at every Tesla up to the (chokes back laughter) Cybertruck. Those Teslas look like cars, because they were designed by engineers. Look at the Cybertruck. When you stop laughing at what a joke it is, know this: that's what happens when Elon Musk is in charge. It's like a ten year-old with some crayons drew it on a menu at Denny's.

All of the things his weird fans claim he made possible, are things that would have happened, and were in the process of happening, without him. He literally did nothing to advance the technologies or engineering. In fact, SpaceX whistleblowers have told reporters how they had to keep Musk occupied with bullshit, so they could do the real work without him fucking it up all the time with his incompetence.

But even if he were telling the truth, even if the myth were fact, it would not outweigh the damage, the pain, the chaos, and the suffering he has inflicted on millions and millions of people, all over the world with his lies, his spread of misinformation, and his incitement of angry incels.

Also, don't forget, when Ukraine was trying to defend itself, he turned off Starlink access when they could have decisively ended Russia's aggression. A lot of people have suffered and died as a direct consequence of that action, which he took to support his buddy and fellow autocrat, Vladimir Putin.

That's more information than I think your friends will be willing to hear. Studies indicate that people who are heavily invested in the myth of a person will fight hard to hold onto the myth, and reject truth and facts, because it's so jarring to them. Musk has built a cult of personality, and maybe your friends are stuck to it.

I'd gently encourage your friends to consider one key fact: he has lied about his entire origin story, he has lied about his contributions to Tesla and SpaceX. He lies about everything, except when he posts on Twitter like a 12 year-old edgelord, because that's who he is, emotionally.

Finally, and this is for you, specifically: if your friends insist on supporting a fascist, a racist, a misogynist, or a bigot, because they think rockets are cool, maybe it's time to look for new friends.

I hope this helps.

And fuck Elon Musk.

[pumpkinbxtch]

hi pumpkinbxtch, a request please, as percy and sally reactionary, when percy meets his twin at the camp (she was stolen as a baby in the hospital)

double trouble ✧⁠*⁠。

— percy Jackson and reader being his twin.

summary: You and Percy know each other, and you have more than one thing in common with each other. Maybe family blood.

warnings: swear words

a/n: What's up. I love the idea of ​​Percy having a twin. It's like a mentada de madre (an intentional rebellious act to annoy) to the gods from Poseidon. I hope you like it. Kisses from Mars.

The gods did nothing. As usual.

You always blamed them, but at least you had a safe place to be, yes, maybe Hermes' cabin wasn't the most spacious, and they crowded you with a bunch of unrecognized people (like you), but you couldn't complain. At least you were there, alive.

Until the new one arrived. A boy with eyes like… yours and black hair like… yours, the same age as you.

Halfway into the cabin he cut the pace, and he saw you with his eyebrow raised, his teeth peeking out slightly as he exaggerated the grimace even more.

— Hello?

— Hello.

The sons of Hermes laughed and others whispered. Within a couple of hours, they would have spread the news of your horrible similarity. Still, you just passed by and decided to ignore him.

Percy Jackson, they said his name was.

“Good,” you said, “so what?” you added. So you did your tasks for the day and started helping.

The days passed and of course, you had to live with that Percy, but it really scared both of you at the level of synchronicity that you sometimes had. Literally, one day, you couldn't stop talking at the same time.

The Stoll brothers looked at you strangely and analyzed every movement. —We may not be twins, but absolutely you are.

You and Percy denied, throwing them some bread at the same time. Both saw each other again and began to murmur the same things, totally annoyed and awkward.

Then catch the flag day arrived. They put the two of you in similar positions and right next to the beach, you began to fight. For no apparent reason, but you were so upset, so confused.

— STOP FOLLOWING ME! —Percy shouted, kicking some sand while he faced you. The tone of his eyes was exactly the same as yours, and they always told you that this was unusual.

— WE HAVE TO WORK TOGETHER, DUMB — And you stuck your tongue out at him. As you dragged, the spear and your armor echoed.

— BUT YOU'VE BEEN ACTING STRANGE — You looked at him frowning.

— YOU SHOW UP LATER, YOU ARE THE ONE THAT ACTS STRANGE!

Percy had the apparent feeling of affection for you, but he also found you tiring. But why love someone he didn't know?, ugh.

When you noticed that he was silent, you couldn't stand it and pushed him to the shore, causing him to soak his tennis. He glared at you and stumbled with the little rocks.

— WHAT THE FUCK?

And he pulled you into the water, but when you held him tight, both ended up falling and having a fight.

Percy didn't want to hurt you, so he just threw water at you, but it didn't do anything to you, actually it filled you with energy. you, pushed his face away with your hand and tried to nudge him, but you didn't succeed either because Percy moved naturally in the water.

Some campers noticed the fight and called Chiron, others joined the fight, singing and inciting.

Several were betting on Percy and others on you.

Then, without measuring your strength, you punched the black-haired and accidentally scratched his cheek with your rings. He grunted, but the wound was already healing instantly. That surprised you.

The distraction was an opportunity for Percy, so he took your arms and pulled you in with him. Still fighting in the water, you started kicking, and the other campers stopped cheering. They ran towards you.

You felt panicked, and stupidly let out your breath, trying to yell at the boy to let you go. But what happened was stranger.

Your voice rang clearly in Percy's mind, and he was stunned, all fighting and struggling ceasing. You looked at him confused and took a sigh, a sigh? Could you breathe underwater?

“How do you do that?” You heard in your head, opening your eyes wide.

“How do you do that?” You replied.

You were suspended in the water, breathing and speaking telepathically.

A seawater glow shimmered over the water, and rose to the surface.

Damn, there was Chiron with his mouth open, looking right above you.

Both looked and managed to make out a figure.

—Two tangled forks? —Percy asked.

But you had been at the camp long enough to know exactly what it meant.

— Percy… — You said surprised. He looked at you, it was the first time you said his name with such seriousness.

Chiron trotted in front of you, and you grabbed the boy's wrist. You walked a little further to the shore, but stayed in the water.

Percy didn't understand anything.

— Hail the Jackson twins! Children of Poseidon.

Your heart raced and you looked more closely. Two Tridents, but at the last point they both got tangled. They looked like they were doing “Pinky Promise.”

Everyone bowed before you and you looked at Percy, who didn't seem to have a different expression than yours, literally.

You were called to The Big House.

Mr. “D” rubbed his temples as he sank into the chair.

Chiron drummed on his lap with a smile on his face.

— twins? — You said.

— she was stolen, and my mom didn't tell me? — Percy claimed, he seemed really offended. Was that how great he got along with his mother? You thought and stumbled over your own thought. Or your mother?

—It is a difficult question.

—Unfair, — you murmured. —I've been here for as long as I can remember, and now…— you took a breath and your cheeks turned red. Percy looked at you and felt bad. His sister, she has been there, he could never help her.

— Yes, yes, how sad. The misfortune here is that it's not just one, it's two sons of Poseidon that I have to put up with now! — Dionisio let out another grunt and took a sip of his Coca-Cola. This behavior wasn't strange to you, so you didn't say anything, but Percy grabbed your shoulder and leaned towards the god of wine.

— Don't talk to my sister like that — his tone sent a shiver down your spine. His sister…

The comfort you felt couldn't have been normal, but you were really looking forward to having someone by your side, and now you had a brother. Strangely, you felt happy and excited. Almost overlooking the question of why. So why were you separated from your family?

You put your other hand on top of your brother's and told him it was okay with a look.

The connection you found with each other was out of this world. Of course.

—So I just throw this strange coin while you throw water on the grass? What the fuck is that? — You growled and turned the hose towards Percy, half of his person getting wet and the other not. You looked at each other again with raised eyebrows. Would find an answer later.

—Throw it, Percy, damn it!

Percy threw up his hands, fed up. And he threw the coin through the curtain of water, it disappeared.

Your brother looked for answers with his eyes, but you shook his hand, then you will explain to him.

— Oh, Iris, goddess. Accept our offering and let us talk to… — Well, you hadn't learned your mother's name. Because you didn't know her. Percy raised his hand.

—Sally Jackson

The rainbow began to reflect a woman, with brown hair and freckles on her nose. Pretty.

— Mother? —Percy said, surprised with the technology he had come across.

The woman was cooking, but she dropped the shovel when she saw the reflection of her son in the middle of the kitchen.

—Percy? — She approached, her eyes locked on the boy, and you squeezed the hose.

— Mother! —He shouted, full of joy. You didn't need much to know that they got along well.

—My son, how are you? I can't contact you, but how are you? And Grover?

You almost got dizzy with everything she said, but Percy seemed to keep up with him without any problem. Your brother assured him that everything was fine.

— Mother, in fact, I want you to tell me something.

You were about to tell Percy to abort the mission, but he looked at you confidently.

—What happened to my sister?

The woman's face darkened.

—How do you know that, dear?

Percy stood up from the grass and motioned to you. He would take the hose, then you appeared within your mother's field of vision, and she opened her mouth, letting out a sob.

— It just can't be

— Hello — You said awkwardly and let out a nervous laugh. Sally couldn't deny it, it was you.

Finally, you had found your family.

But the gods would pay you back.

[pleasantspark]

AyyLmao Critic Post

My instance of Orbiter is different from the ones people use, I see Orbiters as people who defend and spend money on the person they defend. Not to sleep with them, to be clear.

I like it when AyyLmao proves he's a VivziePop Orbiter and poster when he makes this video and other calling it a masterpiece.

Reminder, Zoophobia is the origin of the infamous Addison Incident it's said that Zoophobia is written horribly which I do not actually deny. Going off by the title it's one of those:

"VivziePop did NOTHING WRONG!" defense videos that serve nothing and remains the same as any other content. AyyLmao produces Sloptent, he's a Slop Content Farm with no hobby other then to defend and defame victims of VivziePop. He conveniently removes any context of the other end or flatout remove comments in criticism of the show.

He's not a reliable news source for Viv and is content in harassing minors rewriting storylines then being biased. His content is specfically leaning on the Slop end of YouTube and contains nothing more of "Drama Posts", "Did You Knows" and "Updates to [blank] drama"

Now addressing the "Criticism vs Harassment" screenshot in the thumbnail, there's no clear difference to VivziePop as she sees all Criticism as Harassment. Even the good faith ones. She's so deluded and relies heavily on borderline rabid fans yes men statements to get her going.

This thumbnail is insanely misleading.

Now the title.

Once again SLOPCONTENT.

"Zoophobia: VivziePop's Failed Masterpiece"

reason why ZooPhobia failed was not because of what I assume has to be "harassment" but because of Viv's lack of interest in the story after pitching Hazbin Hotel/Helluva Boss. Zoophobia was already in the stages of decay before being sidelined by Hazbin entirely to even consider putting any more real effort.

Viv has not mentioned Zoophobia in years, she's completely forgotten about it, and her Nozz Account as well as not addressing any of the Addison concerns.

Something tells me in the video he's going to be like "Reason why Viv stopped Zoophobia was because of Harassment and Criticism as well as people like [Dollcreep] destroying the reputation of Viv."

Tbh. AyyLmao's Bias towards Viv is uncanny and barely even adds to the drama other than to monotize off drama his input does not add.

AyyLmao is a VivziePop Orbiter as with DaniDraws and DJBlitz.

VivziePop's "Masterpiece" Zoophobia didn't fail because of Criticism and Harassment, it failed because she refused to improve, and that is a fate that will befall Hazbin and Helluva Boss if she doesn't tighten the fuck up.

In order for your stories to thrive and have your work be praised, you have to take criticism and improve, refusal to do so only shows you're willing to not change, and in a decade or so, Hazbin will be merely forgotten and seen as a distant memory. There's a reason why old fandoms of obscure good media is considered obscure. It's because people or the people behind it refused to get with the times, and Viv refuses to take the incitive to better improve her content.

It's all on her once Helluva and Hazbin's views tanks and the only memory of it is the stans that refuse to change and move on from a dead show. There's already Stans being converted into Fans being converted into Former Fans that are jumping ship.

Furthermore, if you can't make content regarding Hazbin Hotel news without being biased (As News sources are OFTEN bias to both parties.) then you aren't a news source to be trusted. AyyLmao is one of these people.

[changeling-droneco]

To every person who told me when I stated i was concerned about the rise of antisemetism and concern for my jewish friends that i shouldnt be? Fuck you, like, that hurts to say because i considered at least one of those people an ex old friend who i cared deeply for, but fuck you, i said this when jewish people were already being raped and attacked months ago in a rise of antisemetic hate crimes that this was concerning me and you told me i was focusing on the wrong issue.

Now there are pogroms, people have to be told to hide their jewish identity to not risk being killed or worse. So many people have been hurt and attacked, there are mobs, so many horrible things have happened but no, apparently never again meant "never again will I care after this" for most people, not me, never me. I fucking meant it as never again means never again.

So now I ask, is it still the "wrong issue", am i still focusing on the "not important part" because i give a shit that people are being brutalized for something they had no say in? Is it "not worth my attention" that people are being beaten and chased with knives by more then 50 people? Is it unimportant that hundreds of people are stuck indoors hoping desperately to be okay and for their family/friends to be okay as the progrom continues for horrors?

Because I don't actually care what your answer is, because I will continue to care, and I will continue to be loud, and i will not give up on people who have done nothing wrong but apparently be born. I can't do much I admit, I wish there was more I could do. However, I can say this, that my goy ass stands firm on Never Again Means Never Again, and that I will defend the rights for jewish folks to live a life of peace that never should have been up for question.

I will not wait for permission or even consider pretending that real lives are some fucking soccer match where i can only focus or care about one team where only one team can win. No, the only true way to peace, to change, to humanity, is hand in hand. Anyone who tells you otherwise, is trying to sell you something, and that something is never good.

(Also because I hear the term being thrown around a lot but i had to look into myself what it even was actually because i realized I didnt even fully know beyond "another violent bad thing", a progrom is "a violent riot incited with the aim of massacring or expelling an ethnic or religious group, particularly Jews.")

[lynxindisguise]

*sniffs air* is that... pisces season?!? wishing the happiest of birthdays to the dampest of them all @spindrifters! the boys are dressing appropriately for the occasion...

"Happy Valentine's Day, Moons."

The box is deceptively non-threatening: plain cardboard tied with gold ribbon. But Sirius has that all too familiar glint in his eyes, the one that once meant they'd be spending the evening in detention.

Lips pressed together, Remus holds his husband's gaze as he opens the box—slowly, just in case something jumps out at him.

Inside is a simple, olive green corset. Soft, sturdy suede with delicate embroidery along the edges. "Not really your style, is it?"

"No." Sirius smirks. "It's yours. It's for you."

"You want me to wear this?"

"Desperately."

Remus sighs, suddenly nostalgic for the year he was gifted 'moon' themed boxers. "That isn't a present, Pads; that's torture."

"Oh, just try it."

"What's it going to suck in? My ribs?"

"It'll be good for your posture."

"My posture?" He cracks a grin. "Made you wear corsets in your Pureblood etiquette classes, did they?"

Ignoring his question, Sirius removes the corset from the box and sets about loosening the laces for him. "Take off your jumper."

Resigned to his fate, he peels off his jumper with far less enthusiasm than he was hoping would be the case tonight.

He's left winded just from yanking the corset over his shoulders. Sirius tuts and gently pulls it the rest of the way down for him.

"As a proud member of the working class, I thought you'd appreciate a front-lace one. I can still help lace you up though... if you like..." His fingers run teasingly up his front, toying with the laces.

"Not too tight," Remus grumbles. "I'll get light-headed."

"Don't worry; we'll get you a fainting couch."

His scowl gives way to a gasp as Sirius tugs, exposing a bit more give at his belly than he was expecting. Those elegant fingers work their way up slowly, reverently, lips pouted in concentration. The strange intimacy of it momentarily distracts him from the way his spine is straightening, shoulders rolling back.

"Moony!" Sirius exclaims as he ties off the laces in a perfect bow. "Are you actually taller than me? Are those shoulders I see?"

He rolls his eyes and hunches instinctively—or he tries to, but the corset doesn't allow it.

"I'm not taking the piss," Sirius insists. "You look so fucking fit, Moons. Makes me want to fuck you in a haystack or something. Come look at yourself."

Sirius drags him to the mirror—a place he generally ignores.

It isn’t horrible. His shoulders and chest do look broader, creating the illusion of a v-shape. And the colour suits him, and he supposes, on the whole, he feels rather… pretty. It's a silly thought, even sillier for inciting a prickle behind his eyes.

“Knew you’d like it,” Sirius says, annoyingly smug.

“It’s alright.” He shrugs. “Do you want me to wear this tonight, then?”

“No, keep it on.”

Sometimes he forgets that he married a madman. “I’m not wearing this to dinner.”

“Wear your jumper over it.” Sirius hands him back his jumper, and he knows there’s no arguing it.

He consults the mirror to see how ridiculous he looks, only to find that he simply seems more… erect. Confident, even.

“Oh will you just admit you like it?”

“It’s… surprisingly comfortable,” he concedes.

Sirius snorts. “I’ll get you a prettier one for your birthday. One with little bows and lace maybe. Or shiny teal one. Make you feel like a... sexy grindylow.”

“A sexy grindylow.”

“Yes.”

“You want to fuck a sexy grindylow?”

“I mean…” Sirius laces their fingers together, teeth grazing his lower lip. "Do you think Jeff would go for it?"

Remus shakes his head, desperately jostling away the image of Sirius and his grindylow godfather before plucking a kiss from his lips.

Sirius beams, gorgeous and glowing. "Happy Valentine's Day, Remus."

"Happy Valentine's Day, love. Are you ready for your present now?"

And well, Sirius isn't the only one with a telling glint of mischief in his eyes.

His husband arches a knowing brow. "Am I?"

He struggles to keep a straight face as he hands him the box, watching the first crackle of laughter cross Sirius's face as he opens it.

They both break as he lifts the collar—red with gold spikes—from the box, doubling over at the sight of the heart-shaped tag bearing Remus's contact information.

"I hate you," Sirius wheezes, wiping tears from the crinkled corners of his eyes.

"I love you too, darling." He smirks. "Do you need help putting it on?"

[prismartist]

burying my face in my hands. oh my god. oh my god. the amount of times i've rewatched the clips of tubbo just having the worst day of his life. i make so many posts like this but i cannot help it i'm obsessed with the ROMCOM of it all. my FUCK. it's like the romcom gods and stars converged on this very day to create this stream. the revelation that fred might (MIGHT) be old. tubbo screeched like an eagle over the letter for about twenty minutes and quite literally going through the five stages of grief. tubbo saw fitpac listening in and yelled at them to get out of his room. fred showed up just as tubbo asked bagi for advice and he stage-whispered to her that yeah that's the guy he's asking advice about who may or may not be an old man. he got fit to try and very discreetly ask fred what his age is to absolutely zero results. tubbo incited a fistfight with bagi over her calling fred cute. bagi knew what was up immediately when she blurted out "OH YOU LOVE FRED!" i swear to god i can't explain it the genuine way she just let it tumble out in shock i felt like everything STOPPED. it felt like a movie moment you feel me. and tubbo with lightning-fast reflexes got the fuck out of there. he despaired. then he logged back on to see bagi and co explaining to fred about love in the context of his crush. later she broke it to tubbo that fred fredzoned him. tubbo said he didn't care, and then proceeded to drown himself in the river. he asked fit to read out his will. there was an actually pretty sweet moment where cellbit and bagi came to comfort him with the rest also offering some consolation. and then pac left to collect what tubbo left him in the will and fit left because he wanted to look at some lobsters. then phil threatened to kill tubbo for whining so much.

can you believe. i can barely believe this is real. fuck all other drama on this yaoi island i don't care anymore all i care about is tubbo's terrible horrible no good very bad love life.

[blubushie]

https://www.tumblr.com/blubushie/761610902932979712/idk-if-this-is-just-my-experience-but-i-noticed?source=share

my two cents on the "problematic" content thing is that tf2 is one of those media where you can lean into both feel good shit and darker topics simultaneously.

a recipe for a good tf2 fic is over the top gore and ridoculously stupid humourous scenes.

but also, If you're upset about people posting blood and a lil' guts, you picked the wrong fandom. that said, writers should of course use their best judgement and tag things appropriately. yk if someone comes in complaining about blood, there's a notice that says "you might see some shit"

and I don't play anti/pro ship games because the definitions of such things are fucking convoluted and meant to incite riots at this point, I do believe... I guess it sounds ridiculous to say it but I have seen people complain about "the mercenaries would never..." in the past. and it's always left me scratching my head.

and like this is tf2 we are talking about, people are going to die, horribly, which includes our main protagonists. there will be violence, fire, and swearing.

but also, If you're upset about people posting blood and a lil' guts, you picked the wrong fandom.

There's a reason I don't tag for blood on this blog and that's why lmao. I'll tag for gore gore (it's #haemocyanin btw—think viscera and guts and body horror) but I won't tag for blood.

I have seen people complain about "the mercenaries would never..." in the past. and it's always left me scratching my head.

This as well. IIRC at one point someone (either Hale, the Admin, or Miss Pauling, can't recall who) outright states that a few of the mercs are sex offenders. And this can be anything from "got slapped with an indecent exposure charge for pissing in public on a wall while drunk and had to register" to "outright assaulted someone" and we don't know what it is or who it is. And I'd personally rather my mercs not be violent sex offenders, but we also don't know, and I'm not gonna shit on someone or harrass them for exploring that bit of lore and what the circumstances might've been behind it.

It's very ironic to me that the "oh we're all freaks" website draws their line at, like... petplay or something and you can't go any freak beyond that. Now, it can certainly be argued that certain acts aren't in character for certain characters, but people as a whole are also highly nuanced. Someone can frequent a prostitue and then go home to their happy wife and happy little family. An alcoholic sociopath with anger issues can hold down a stable job and be a good friend and a good person—is that also out of character? People are confusing, extremely self-contradicting creatures, and it's fun to get into their heads. We've all got skeletons in our closet. We've all got something problematic about us, or our pasts. No one's hands are really clean—there's always dirt somewhere, it's just a matter of finding it. Stones in glass houses. I think harrassing someone for the fiction they create is bullshit, personally, even if I do find it morally reprehensible and disgusting in my own eyes. Depiction doesn't equal endorsement.

And people are allowed to not want to interact with people who depict or engage with certain things! God knows I have a few of my own that I wouldn't want to interact with. I just don't reckon nobody should be harrassed for it. I don't reckon real people should be harmed over fiction. I can recall a few groups to recent memory who ordered certain works destroyed, who demanded certain things not be talked about or written about or art done of them, and none of them were the good guys.

[olderthannetfic]

I'm not here to advocate for a piece of shit such as Vaush, but really, why are the people in this debacle or whatever so stupid? Stupid on Twitter, stupid on Reddit.

See, days ago apparently Vaush filtrated by total accident a glimpse of his monitor, with a folder of porn open and with DRAWINGS of lolicon and horsedick. People were, how did you know, totally scandalized by it. Vaush is a PEDOPHILE!!!! He has LOLI SHIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He's also into HORSES because HORSEDICK!!!!!!!!!!! We have to REPORT HIM to the authorities!!!! (Apparently they did, according to a post on Reddit, fucking stupid idiots.)

Okay so, y'all literally forgot his misogyny, his racism, his transphobia, his ableism, his tendency to incite harassment by his audience full of insecure boys leaving 4chan to enter another 4chan but "for leftists who love Debate™" (that means, the debatebros). He being a piece of shit is unimportant. He has loliporn, so he's evil for that! Must he pay his horrible sins!

Jesus fucking Christ, these people. I hate how this puritan way of thinking, this anti way of thinking, infiltrated spaces and took away all the good and helpful criticism you can do to people being shitty. But this is hardly the first time it has happened, and likely won't be the last. So, so tiring. Fix your damn priorities. Society won't change when you focus on loliporn instead of actual predators who had caused real harm and real trauma.

--

[ryosei-hime]

The Dionysian Aspects of Queen Bee

Looking at Bee through the lens of a devotee of Dionysus is very interesting. So, I thought I’d make a post about it.

Dionysus is often mischaracterized as a drunk, but in reality he’s all about consumption within reason. He encourages drinking to excess so far as it brings you pleasure and joy, but the moment your over-indulgence brings you or others pain or shame, you’ve gone too far. He doesn’t approve of making an ass of yourself.

Which is exactly what you see with Queen Bee and Blitz. The moment Blitz is no longer enjoying himself, but drinking to forget and avoid his problems, she speaks up. If he’s not enjoying himself, she can’t enjoy the energy coming off of him. He’s tainting the punch, killing the vibe.

Dionysus also encourages (especially women and the disenfranchised) to free themselves from the bonds of social restrictions and norms. He influenced women to throw down their weaving, uncover their hair, and run wild in the woods during a time when they rarely got to leave their homes.

We see this with Bee’s party. The guests are all Imps and Hellhounds - those of the lower classes. She chooses to socialize and consort with these classes. While you could say this is because they’re her people, and she’s the progenitor of Hellhounds, she doesn’t have to party with them. She still has a higher position than they do. And while having an affinity for Hellhounds makes sense, she also seems to prefer imps which I personally think points towards simply enjoying the company of lower class demons.

Bee strikes me as someone who would willingly lower herself to their level to an extent for the fun of it. And she may potentially have a preference for those who are more downtrodden in society.

Note I say “to an extent” because she still has power and shows no signs of not wanting it. And she can be a bit rough with her encouragements to party. Her reasons for doing so aren’t entirely altruistic either. She wants others to feel good because she wants to feel good, too.

Dionysus can also be harsh and forceful with his liberation and freedom. It is not always something he allows his followers to choose to engage in. Sometimes, he also throws you into the punch bowl lol.

He’s a powerful God and he has no desire to be anything else. He uses that power and status to get things he wants, fuck with people for fun, and have his own good time. Bee is no more equal to the Hellhounds at her party than Dionysus to the bacchanates of his thiasos. So, in my interpretation, neither wish to actually be equal to the downtrodden they seek to uplift.

I do like to imagine Bee could incite her Hellhounds into a Dionysian frenzy and it would fit with her bee influence fairly well. That is of course just a head canon. But I think it would be a fun power.

Dionysus was also about sexual liberation, and I think she showed a bit of that with her musings over Satan lol.

But, I think, much like Dionysus, Bee is likely an extremely morally complex person. I don’t think she’s as purely good and benevolent as I’ve seen some speculate. Who in Hell is? She’s likely got her darker shades even if on the whole, she’s much more interested in others having fun than some Sins probably are.

Disclaimer: this is just a ramble because I really liked drawing the parallel. It is not an attempt to say that Bee is a terrible, horrible, evil bitch since I know someone will misconstrue it that way somehow, this being the internet and all. But she has notes of a God I worship so it should be obvious that I like her and this is not an attempt at slander.

[likesunsetorange]

i had posted part of this scene before but i changed some of it lol and here’s just an extended part overall!!! honestly i really just love mikasa in this au so much like she’s just so funny lmao

“I think we have some things we need to talk about,” a voice that would be sweet if it wasn’t so clearly filled with anger calls out, sending a slew of chills down Eren’s spine. He turns towards the kitchen where her voice came from, the image of her smaller frame greeting him, discontent apparent on her face.

“Umm… Sure… What did you want to talk about?” He hates how there’s so much uncertainty in his voice, but he doesn’t know how to act around her. Is he supposed to feel guilty? Is he supposed to be stern? Is he supposed to try and be her friend?

If she wants to come off intimidating, she’s doing a good job, making no effort to give off friendly smiles or warm, compassionate glimpses—her stare is icy and steely, and she leaves no room for small talk, immediately jumping into the matter. “Let’s not play stupid here—I’m gonna assume you’ve put two and two together and realized I’m pissed off at my parents. But more importantly, you want this job for whatever reason, and I want you gone,” she says candidly. “It seems there’s a very simple solution to both of our issues here—whatever my parents are paying you, I’ll double it. And you can go back to that sad little Garden State of yours, and we’ll both be happy.”

The limits of an Ackerman truly know no bounds, just as Kenny had said, proven by Mikasa merely a few hours after their initial meeting. Eren sits bewildered, unsure of how to handle her proposition, knowing he obviously can’t accept her offer, but inciting more rage into her would only make matters worse.

“I was told by Levi and Kenny that you might try and bribe me…” His voice trails off, watching as Mikasa eyes him intently, waiting for him to finish the remainder of his sentence. “And they also told me to be sure and ignore you.”

The grey of her eye is covered by the way it physically twitches at his words. If Eren’s striving to neutralize the situation, he’s failing horribly. He doesn’t know how he’s supposed to win in this scenario.

“Of course they would fucking tell you that,” she says, rolling her eyes. Mikasa lets out a sigh, drumming her freshly manicured fingers against the granite, her mind turning—Eren clearly derailing her plans. After a few beats, she clasps her hands together before leaning forward onto the island. “Fine. If you’re here to stay, then let’s get a few things straight, Eren,” the emphasis on his name apparent, plush lips omitting the “N” at the end—something that might’ve been endearing if she didn’t sound so indignant. “We’re not going to be friends—let’s get that clear.”

With Mikasa, it’s clear Eren needs to stand his ground; he can’t falter under unrelenting stares and callous words. So he chooses not to waver, forcing himself to pocket whatever remnants of hesitation or nervous energy that linger. “I expected as much. And you don’t seem like the… friendly type, anyways,” he shrugs, attempting to maintain his usual apathetic demeanor, which for reasons he can’t explain, seems to feel like a foreign concept ever since he’s arrived in New York. “I’m only here to do my job, after all, aren’t I?”

“I’m actually very friendly, just don’t expect me to be friendly to you.” He finds humor in how her voice sounds the exact opposite of the words she speaks. “But anyways, if you’re going to be living in my house, we need to get some things straight here.”

“Shouldn’t I be the one setting rules for you?”

“What rules do I need to follow? You follow me around all day whenever I decide to leave the house, I guess I try not to get into trouble for the sake of my parents , and you lock yourself in the guest room every other hour of the day. Simple as that,” Mikasa says matter-of-factly.

A silence settles over the two of them—on Eren’s end, it’s due to her sheer audacity, mostly because he’s not sure if she’s actually being serious, and on Mikasa’s end, because she expects him to actually agree, awaiting his nod of approval.

Realizing she’s awaiting an approval she won’t get, Mikasa relents. “Fine. You don’t have to lock yourself in the room all day—do as you wish I guess,” she says, releasing a huff. “But this brings me back to things we need to discuss.”

[melodytaylorauthor]

On today's episode of Mel writes books:

I am in the process of re-editing my first novel. I wrote it when I was 18 years old, and I've learned a bunch since then. (I should hope. Eesh.)

It's coming along nicely, thank you. The bones of a good story were in there, I just didn't yet know how to dig them out. Now I do.

As part of a new edit, I'm also getting a new book cover with a new author photo and a new description (often erroneously called a blurb).

Descriptions are HARD. It took me a few years, but I think I finally have a handle on the damn things. Here it is:

"Ian is a young woman with an unusual name – and a brand-new pair of fangs.

After life as a struggling artist, becoming a vampire is the most fun Ian’s ever had. Alongside her vampire mentor, she’s been playing the debutante artiste all night and sleeping all day. Until the night her mentor is brutally murdered.

Now Ian is next on the killer’s list. With no mentor and no idea how to catch a murderer, Ian fears she’ll be dead before sunrise. When an old and dangerous vampire who calls himself Sebastian Cain offers his help, Ian knows that despite his frightening demeanor, she has to accept.

But Sebastian is hiding secrets. With justice for her mentor and her own survival hanging in the balance, Ian must unravel Sebastian’s dark past and true intentions, gain control of her new vampiric powers, and uncover why a killer wants her dead – before she finds a dagger through her heart."

Allow me to dissect for you, if you like.

A story needs to consist of an everyday world, an inciting incident, characters' goals, complications, crisis, climax, resolution. A description is similar, but you don't want to include the final climax or resolution, and it's not identical.

A description needs a splashy hook. This should be one sentence, not too long. Then three paragraphs. First paragraph: a sum up of the everyday world, characters' goals, and the inciting incident. Keep that as tight as you can. Three to four sentences is ideal. Second paragraph: a summary of the complications. Stick to the main two or three complications, don't get lost in the weeds. Three to four sentences again is ideal. Third and final paragraph: a sum up of the crisis but not the climax or the resolution. The crisis is literally just the decision a character is forced to make in the course of the story and what will happen if they choose poorly; the climax is what they choose, the resolution is how that plays out. Keep that last paragraph short, too. Three sentences or so.

Tips from authors I admire: Don't ask your reader, "What would you do if -- ?" That's not what the story is about. Also, if the reader doesn't care or wouldn't do anything or wouldn't do what your character does, you've lost them right there. Don't ask questions like, "Can Ian unravel Sebastian's dark past and figure out why the killer wants her dead?" If she didn't the story would have an unsatisfying ending. Of course she will. Duh. Get more into the flavor of how that will go than if it will. Our newbie vamp who is described as a debutante artiste is going to unravel the dark past of someone much older and scarier than her, and figure out why her mentor's killer did it and wants her dead next? How the fuck will she do that? Well, read the book and find out!

Start with an elevator pitch. Figure out how to sum up the main character and the main conflict in about three sentences. This is what you will say to people who ask what your book is about. The more you ramble, the more you lose people, so keep it tight. Main character, main conflict. Build your description from there. When people ask what my book is about, I say, "It's about a young woman who's only been a vampire for a few years. She's having a great time when the man who turned her is horribly murdered. So now she has to not only figure out how to not get killed herself, but also why anyone would do this to her mentor and just how to survive as a brand-new vampire."

A breakdown of my description:

First, a splashy hook. This can be something about the theme, a statement about the major conflict, or a statement about the main character. Whatever seems interesting and gives a feel for something important going on in the story.

"Ian is a young woman with an unusual name – and a brand-new pair of fangs.

Every time I would workshop this description, if I left out that Ian was a woman, the biggest comment that I got was "Ian = female?!?" This was way too confusing for people, even people who should have been cool with fluid gender. When I opened the description with Ian being a woman, no one was confused about her gender, but everyone said it wasn't a great opener. Listen, people, I'm painted into a corner here. It's not a great opener, but you're not leaving me much choice. Ian is a very new vampire, and a lot of the complications in the story stem from her being so young and not having a handle on the world she now inhabits. So I added the "brand-new pair of fangs" as a tone-setter. Is it as grabby as it could be? No. Is it kind of what I had to work with? Kind of. It's doing its job well enough. My readers have responded well to it, so I'm content. Readers and writers look for very different things in a story. Remembering that is important to learning how to take critique.

Now we reach our first paragraph: everyday world and inciting incident. Our character was doing X thing UNTIL . . .

"After life as a struggling artist, becoming a vampire is the most fun Ian’s ever had. Alongside her vampire mentor, she’s been playing the debutante artiste all night and sleeping all day. Until the night her mentor is brutally murdered."

This paragraph has to do so much work. It has to give the reader a feel for the character, give the reader an idea what the character wants, and then say what happens to screw that all up. You have to take your walking, talking, breathing character that you've spent maybe YEARS detailing and getting to know and turning into a REAL PERSON, and distill them down to a couple of sentences. Who are they, what do they do/want? KEEP IT SHORT.

Ian is an artist. She's always wanted to pursue that muse, but it's hard out here for creatives. She bumped into a vampire (without knowing it) at a poetry reading and made friends with him, and he decided he liked her and changed her, so now she gets to play all night, painting and partying and having a good time, and it's been great for her so far. The man who turned her is a decent guy who's a real friend and believes in her. Yay, she gets to follow her muse. What she doesn't know is that he has a dark past that's been looking for him, a jilted lover with murder in his heart and the resources to track this guy down and make him suffer. Ian's mentor doesn't know his ex is about to catch up to him either, until the night he gets his heart ripped out of his chest. Ian is funny, intelligent, loves cats, enjoys a little light drug use at parties, doesn't take the world or herself too seriously, has her own sad love life history, is the oldest of two girls and has somewhat exhaustingly normal parents, etc. NONE OF THAT MATTERS. Not to a potential reader, not yet. Hopefully they will come to love Ian, but first, they have to have an idea who she is and if they want to know her any better. Three sentences: who she is, what she does/wants, what happens to fuck that all up.

On to the second paragraph: complications. Okay, so the big thing has gone wrong; then what happened that made fixing it or getting back to normal life even harder? Because if something went wrong, and then got fixed, boooooring. The character has to struggle to fix their shit, or the reader won't care.

"Now Ian is next on the killer’s list. With no mentor and no idea how to catch a murderer, Ian fears she’ll be dead before sunrise. When an old and dangerous vampire who calls himself Sebastian Cain offers his help, Ian knows that despite his frightening demeanor, she has to accept."

Another paragraph that has to do a lot of work. Sebastian is another fully-formed, interesting character who has a redemption arc through the story. There's also Ian's relationship to her mentor to explore, her human and vampire relations start crawling out of the woodwork to get in the way, she falls in love, Sebastian gets lusty for the first time in five hundred years, the two of them argue a bunch, there are secrets to uncover. Again, none of this matters in the description. The primary complications are that Ian will be killed next, her youth and inexperience make her vulnerable, a scary old vamp has offered help, she can't really say no and expect to live.

I'm giving you a little insight into the characters and story to let you know how MUCH I had to trim out to make this description work. It really boils down to what the main story is about -- having a good elevator pitch helps with this process A LOT. For the description I branched out and added Sebastian in, because his arc is important to the story, but I never bring him up in my elevator pitch. Short and sweet. And notice how you don't even know her mentor's name? Yeah. Short and sweet.

And on to our third and final paragraph: sum up the crisis, but leave out the climax and resolution.

"But Sebastian is hiding secrets. With justice for her mentor and her own survival hanging in the balance, Ian must unravel Sebastian’s dark past and true intentions, gain control of her new vampiric powers, and uncover why a killer wants her dead – before she finds a dagger through her heart."

Ian has a LOT of various decisions to make throughout the story. The big ones have to do with Sebastian and his redemption arc, saving herself and seeking justice for her mentor, and figuring her newbie vampire shit out. There's SO MUCH MORE, but this is where the primary plot goes. This is the question my elevator pitch proposes. I added in Sebastian, because the description can be a tad longer, but the elevator pitch is where it all starts.

If you got to the end of this, thanks for reading, I hope it was insightful and helpful! I know it was long; a lot goes into this.

Good luck out there.

[sortyourlifeoutmate]

So I've seen a lot of interesting opinions regarding the riots or, rather, interesting opinions regarding the response from the authorities to the riots, and a lot of these interesting opinions have also been bad opinions.

I am not the ultimate arbitrator of what is and isn't correct, obviously, but I'm better than some it turns out, so let's give out a little. Because damn.

(And even by my standards this is a little verbose and angry, so let's just put in a little read more here to spare people.)

As you may or may not be aware, there were some riots recently. Who am I kidding, you're aware. You also probably have a fairly solid idea of what lead to what. Horrible murder, ridiculous lies, racists, Gregg's gets looted. It wasn't pleasant.

With that as preamble, let's see some nonsense.

So yes, this seems like a great place to start. A sober and level-headed analysis of the riots that immediately veers into "The foreigners are united and invading" and operates from this baseline, assuming that it is common-sense and just plain reality.

No, sir. You are silly. The riots may have been racially-motivated in the main (we can piss and moan and poke and probe about the corrosive effects of austerity and other such interesting causes but they sort of lose a lot of their heft in the face of predominantly white crowds yelling 'We want out country back') but assuming that the racist people racistly rioting had a point is, uh, wrong. They don't and didn't, and neither do you, you big cocking racist.

Attempting to conquer and colonize indeed. They're not, and saying such things make you sound like a person who does not perhaps have a solid grasp on, well, anything. I assume you can put your trousers on yourself in the morning, but frankly I'll be happy never know.

(PS: What the fuck does 'if the native British want to survive they need to unite racially' mean, exactly? Working off the basis that you are a big cocking racist I can just assume you mean 'White people have to keep everyone else out' but that's not really, uh, that's not great? What's British, exactly? What's native British? Do Normans count? How far back are we going? Why are we even bothering to ask because, at this point, we realise we are talking to be a big ol' racist.)

Moving on.

Okay look. No-one likes the idea of the government arresting you for saying something and that's, you know, fine, but there seems to be this idea that the UK government is on a tear right now just locking up anyone who so much as mentions riots or immigration and that's... not... true...?

You see in this country a thing you can get in trouble for is incitement of violence or racial hatred or some combination of those things. Now normally, thanks to the parlous state of the courts and the police your odds of getting away with that sort of thing are pretty good, but in the wake of explicitly racist riots you being cheeky and posting that hilarious "We should totally burn all the brown people, let's all meet at this location at this time and 'peacefully protest' (wink)" meme is likely to be viewed rather more dimly.

(As an aside, despite what certain elements would also have you believe, this lackadaisical attitude towards dealing with hate speech and such online does cut both ways - the police aren't going to kick down your door for saying all trans people are sexual predators or whatever (with probably one or two exceptions just so people can roll them out and point at them gleefully) while ignoring racists. They're just going to ignore pretty much all of it all the time anyway. There's a lot! Just normally not riots.)

They need to make a point, basically, and need to make it clear that even if you didn't go out and, say, loot a Gregg's or burn a library or something else similarly patriotic, you're not going to be getting away with being a big ol' riot-organising, hatred-stoking racist.

Is that good or bad? I suppose that depends on how much you enjoy being a big fucking racist on the internet, but if you want to criticise the government - and I enjoy it, personally - you can still do that without ending up in jail so, I don't know, maybe put Orwell back in his box, eh? Maybe let's keep him in our back pocket until we need him, yeah?

Christ...

Oh and by the way, should there be consequences for lying? I don't know. Maybe? Depends on what your lying does! Nowadays it seems to be the bread and butter of a lot of people to just talk shit and then shrug and say well they didn't know any better. Was the attacker Muslim? Oh I don't know, so I'll just err on the side of the caution and say yes he was an an asylum seeker at that WHOOPSIE oh no a riot oh well not my fault my hands are clean oh and by the way we're being invaded.

Normally you'd probably get away with that! Not after a riot! Again! Context!

Argh.

And in a similar vein.

You're just wrong. The UK is not going to be sending out international goon squads to nab citizens of other countries who have been talking shit. We don't have time for that, we don't have the money for that.

(Also no-one is apolitical, don't be silly.)

And again, there's this notion that the merest mention of the riots is sufficient to attract governmental ire and, like, no, we'd never get anything done. And the very euphemistic 'discussing the people's demands within these riots' given that what that is gesturing vaguely towards is, you know, the racists.

The racists who rioted? The 'enough is enough' nazi-saluting, 'Are you white if not we'll drag you out your car' crowd? I wonder why discussing them might be bad? Could it be because the people who do that are also racists operating from the position that the riots were, if unfortunate (because they made them look bad), stemming from a legitimate source? So they tend to circulate the same lies that caused the fucking riots in the first place?

Well, 'caused'. Built the bonfire and set the kindling. You know what I mean. The people who bang on for years about 'invaders' and 'failure to integrate' and 'ooh er Muslims they're a bit shifty' and then are shocked - shocked! - when some people act on these statements! Shocked I say!

I'm veering off-course. It's been a long day.

In summation. No. You are wrong. You are all wrong and, in one instance, just a fucking racist.

The rioters were racists. They did not have a legitimate cause of concern or issue or any solutions or anything really at all. They were violent cunts out to be violent cunts and found a good reason to be violent cunts. They don't like Muslims, they don't like brown people, they tend to assume most brown people are Muslim, they like fucking shit up. They are not complex.

The swirling melange of things feeding into the riots? Maybe more complex. And by that I mean the years terrible rhetoric where immigrants and asylum seekers and Muslims are used as sticks to poke and prod an electorate having its life ruined by terrible policies and a world that's just generally getting worse.

See them? It's their fault! Don't look at us! It's their fault!

That parts sort of interesting. But that's not what we're talking about. We're talking about racist, violent cunts. We're talking about people trying to set hotels on fire when people were inside. We're talking about people punching people in the face because they dared to be black and walk near them. We're talking about people on the internet spreading what they know are lies with the specific purpose of making things worse and intentionally triggering what they hope against hope is going to be a race riot, because that's their deal.

So yes, make all of the Keir Jong Un jokes you like. They're going to bang some rioters up, throw some online idiots in jail as an example to others, and then get back to the serious business of making all of our lives worse by cutting public services.

And stop, uh, being such credulous idiots. Basically.

Extraditing non-UK citizens indeed. Fucking listen to yourselves...

We're not America! Or Mossad.

[anco-writes]

Day 6: Bloat

Ace had made his way to the kitchen, still dressed in his femboy attire, belly hanging to his thighs as he wiggled his fingers in delight. He'd been snacking as per usual, but well… if he was going to blow up whether he ate all day or ran laps, why wouldn't he indulge in the former?

Protein bars and rations, snack cakes and cookies, Ace showed no discrimination in his indulgence. He hadn't binged in a good long while, and this was certainly causing more of those mixed up emotions. His arm warmers were completely rolled down at this point, looking more like fuzzy bracelets than anything else, and his belly bulged out obscenely from the overwhelming bloat that came from the deluge of food. 

There was a virtually endless amount to choose from, the station’s onboard computer replacing empty cabinets with new contents as soon as the doors were closed. At this point he was making a game of it, making loops around the dimly lit kitchen as he continued to try new things he'd been eyeing for a while. 

This continued well on into the night, and eventually he found himself seated on a chair by a kitchen island, paws planted firmly on the floor, gut gurgling as it processed the load within. “oogh… oh I definitely overdid it…” despite the words and feelings of exhaustion, Ace still had a smile on his face as he said that. 

The distinct hissing sound of one of the automatic doors opening sounded as Red entered the room, the blue feathered Phoenix yawning and stretching before turning on the nearby light and freezing when she did so.

She caught full sight of the scene unfolding in her kitchen, the bloated fox sitting with his gut wobbling in the air, packed tight as he raised a hefty forearm to cover his eyes. Discarded wrappers littered the counter top, none of them having been properly marked as trash for automatic disposal. It was nice living on such an advanced station, but when people couldn't even do the bare minimum…

Red stomped over to Ace, her hand smacking against his belly with a resounding thud as he suddenly jolted upright. “Uuurrrpp!! H-hey, what's the big idea?!”

“I should be asking you that! You're in here making an absolute pig of yourself, and you can't even be bothered to keep it clean? Like it's hard or something? I saw you, looking all sleepy, you were just gonna sit there, pass out, or waddle back to your room without doing a damn thing about the mess you made.” Red seemed genuinely upset at Ace, which was definitely catching him off guard.

“Mff… well consider it pay back for what you did to me.” Ace groaned, rubbing at his gut, eyes blearily squinting against the overhead light. 

“What the hell did I do to you to warrant this behavior?” Her question was flat and straightforward, not ringed with a teasing tone Ace might have expected.

“Uh, that thing you did that caused this? Ya know, while we were hanging out…?” Ace tried to pantomime shooting a finger gun, but stopped midway to massage his belly some more.

“I have no fucking clue what you're talking about fat ass. But I'm not letting you off the hook easy. If you're hungry, you should have said so, cause you're getting my dessert whether you like it or not.”

She stormed past Ace, who turned to look at her with mounting concern. It was bad enough that she was acting like she forgot the inciting incident, but the last thing Ace actually wanted to do was eat anything else. “H-hold on, I'm seriously full, you uh, can see how much I've been eating.”

“Oh I sure can, didn't you just buy that stuff yesterday or something? And you're already outgrowing it. Appetite's out of control. But don't worry, I've got you covered.” The sound of the blender whirring to life definitely made Ace jump, or at least bounce.

“I-I’m telling you it's your fault!” Ace whined, before slumping back once more, already regretting his choice of words. If she did know what he was talking about, doubling down would only entrench her further. But as he sat there, the horrible realization that she might not actually know what he was talking about grew on him.

He checked his chest again, and though the chest had blossomed into an impressive bosom, he couldn't find any traces of a bullet or dart there. What he did find was Red appearing before him again, a pitcher in one hand, and a funnel with connected tube in the other. She glowered but grinned,  thumping his belly with the back of her hand. “I know you're bull shitting me cause of it was my fault, you'd know. Like this-” She grabbed his chubby cheeks, and stuffed the hose down his maw, clamping it shut with one hand as the other hefted up the pitcher, a small ring of ice holding the funnel up. 

Ace watched fearfully as she brought the heavy pitcher to the funnel and poured it in, thick creamy sludge filling the empty tube, before it all hit his tongue. He really was full, so he didn't even swallow at first, but suddenly Red was rubbing his throat, and he couldn't help it. One strained gulp gave way to a rhythmic process. His belly creaked as it slowly bloated larger still… 

Slowly, his eyes drifted closed… 

[teaveetamer]

How much of the Edel backlash/discourse is rooted in fandom misogyny and how much of it is rooted in having opinions soured due to people justifying her actions and doubling down via harassment/stalking and spewing out hateful rhetoric? Cause I've seen people saying the dislike towards Edel proves that the fandom can't handle "female characters who are evil or flawed and make mistakes " when I think it's moreso "people are justifying her bad/villainous actions and saying it good actually and doubling down on it."

This is going to be two things.

First:

Was/is there probably misogyny ingrained in some parts of the fandom that don't like Edelgard? Sure.

Would they have been dicks about Edelgard and women in general regardless of anything Edelgard fans said or did? Probably, yeah, that's how shitty people work.

Was it the majority of people who didn't like/criticized Edelgard? Probably not.

Did it help anything to just blanket accuse everyone who didn't like her of being misogynists? Absolutely not.

There are absolutely valid criticisms of her writing and how some of her fans treat her, but lumping every criticism together as "misogyny" fundamentally lacks nuance and exists to shut all criticism down, valid or not. And it does so in a way that is not only designed to say "I don't agree with you", it's also meant to say "therefore you are a bad person." You're attaching a moral dimension to media critique that was not necessarily present, nor did it need to be. Most of us can recognize the coded insult there.

That's obviously going to make things more heated right off the bat. Cuz, you know, most people don't like it when you come out the gate saying "I think you're a horrible person". So the people getting shit on by Edelgard fans get annoyed and push back, which causes the fans to push back harder, on and on and on.

The second point here is where I maybe risk being controversial.

I'm going to preface this by saying this isn't necessarily something I think is good/agree it's an okay thing to do, it's just my observation from my time in the fandom and knowing how internet culture works.

Second:

You have to acknowledge to some extent that Edelgard diehards are primo troll targets.

Like okay okay, hear me out.

You know why Edelgard discourse continues to fascinate and amuse despite everything? Cuz most people don't take this shit that seriously, but they think it's hilarious to make fun of people who do. Edelgard diehards just do not know when to quit, and they've been identified by 99% of the fandom as people who are easy (and occasionally entertaining) to poke at and incite a reaction from.

Their obsession with co-opting the language of social justice just enhances that further by making them come off as incredibly oversensitive about something that actually doesn't matter that much.

It's the heady cocktail of misplaced self-righteousness, the way they're so sensitive and easily hurt/offended, the obsessive need to argue every point, and categorical refusal to stop until they are 100% agreed with. It basically makes them PRIME troll targets. It's like. God it's not even fair. Edelgard fans are like those tech support scammers and arguing with them is like being one of those youtubers that gives the scammers the run around for hours on end just to fuck with them.

And like? It perpetuates itself because where an individual might come to the realization that they're arguing with a troll and they look fucking ridiculous, the Edelgard fandom is a community that consistently reinforces reacting to every single situation about Edelgard in the most terminally online manner. I mean go on their server they pat each other on the back constantly and congratulate themselves for "sticking it to the haterz" for stalking and harassing people, not realizing that at BEST 95% of the wider community is laughing their asses off at how ridiculous they look, and at worst 95% of the wider community growing increasingly hostile toward them every passing minute because of their behavior.

I mean. I didn't exactly advertise this but last year I got some amusement out of posting Dimitri-positive meta to my main blog. Because I noticed every time I posted anything positive about Dimitri in the tag it would get a responding anti-Dimitri screed from Raxy within 2-5 business days. And I was posting those because I genuinely like Dimitri and wanted to spread positivity, but I will not lie. It was fucking hilarious. I laughed my ass off watching him get so mad over just the concept of someone saying something nice about Dimitri. It's ridiculously easy to set these people off. Every time someone they don't like breathes they feel the need to write a screed and flip out.

Which like, it's not fun to be on the receiving end of getting stalked and harassed and having screeds written about your every opinion... but yeah if I were detached from the situation I can see why it would be amusing. I mean even typing this out I find it kind of darkly amusing.

And I'm not saying everyone that dislikes Edelgard is a troll (I'm certainly not in it to poke bears and get reactions) but like? I wouldn't be surprised if there were trolls who just jumped on the discourse as soon as they realized how damn easy it is to get Edelgard diehards riled up. Think of how many 3H discourse posts have some variation on the "don't mind me, just getting some popcorn" comments.

So the discourse gets perpetuated, by some actors, purely for amusement. It doesn't just happen to Edelgard fans either, but I'd say in general they're significantly easier to bait and rattle. I mean there's literally a dozen blogs on Tumblr no one gave a shit about that managed to do it without even trying. Just by like. Existing and having opinions they didn't like.

Like, genuinely, the more I think on it the more absurd it gets. There's so little you're actually required to do in order to piss them off. It's kind of amazing.

I'd say you can see a microcosm of this every time Edelgard loses a voting gauntlet in FEH. There are dozens of characters who have lost numerous voting gauntlets, but Edelgard is usually the one that gets the most energy put toward making fun of her for losing. And you know why? Because her diehard fans extremely consistently go into a tailspin whenever it happens and people find that funny as fuck.

Chrom loses his 15th voting gauntlet, there's a meme, and everyone laughs and moves on. Edelgard loses her 5th voting gauntlet, there's a meme, and then there's a full blown meltdown in the comment section and screaming about how everyone is evil and misogynistic and queerphobic for days on end. Now not only can you make jokes about her losing, you can make jokes about the terminally online fans losing their goddamn minds over her losing.

And again I'm not saying that's a good thing or that it should happen... but I feel like emotionally mature adults should also be able to recognize when maybe they're being a little too over-invested in the internet waifu war and acknowledge when it's time to write off certain people/opinions as not worth your time to care about.

And you know, some of it is that there's actual things to talk about and controversial conversations can get heated. But there's been things to talk about in every game ever released and it only seems to hit critical mass when you combine the co-opting of social justice language to "prove" the haters wrong with the need to argue your point aggressively and endlessly despite all evidence indicating that it's probably time to give it a rest.

[feral-lore-creature]

oh boy oh boy oh boy am i here to tell you how much that was not rhetorical.

i guess the best place to start wpuld be simply with HR Giger and his rise to fame with his biomechanical artwork. Biomech, as it sounds, is the combination of organics and mechanics, most often represented with human/animal anatomy where joints are replaces with gears and pistons, but infused with muscles and tendons. Gigers art was particularly inspired by Salvador Dali, HP Lovecraft, and Alfred Kubin

(some examples of their work in order of who was listed)

(The Temptation of St. Anthony ,The Shaggoth,Homage to Rimbaud)

Giger was enlisted to the design set by Ridley after he viewed Giger "Necronimicon IV", for which the Xenomorph was designed after.

"Giger's design for the Alien evoked many contradictory sexual images. As critic Ximena Gallardo notes, the creature's combination of sexually evocative physical and behavioral characteristics creates 'a nightmare vision of sex and death. It subdues and opens the male body to make it pregnant, and then explodes it in birth. In its adult form, the alien strikes its victims with a rigid phallic tongue that breaks through skin and bone. More than a phallus, however, the retractable tongue has its own set of snapping, metallic teeth that connects it to the castrating vagina dentata.'"

The Alien is meant to incite sexual horror in men specifically, between ita phallic shaped head/inner tongue and vaginal secondatry mouth, whule still maintining no sexual dimorphism (except feom the queen) so you cant tell if its a male or female.

"however, he could not conceive of an interesting way for it to get onto the ship. Inspired after waking from a dream, Shusett said, "I have an idea: the monster screws one of them", planting its egg in his body, and then bursting out of his chest. Both realized the idea had never been done before, and it subsequently became the core of the film. "This is a movie about alien interspecies rape", O'Bannon said in the documentary Alien Evolution. "That's scary because it hits all of our buttons." O'Bannon felt that the symbolism of "homosexual oral rape" was an effective means of discomforting male viewers."

after this point all of my thoughts devolve into a garble of pointing and hand flapping so enjoy what i was able to provide and i hope we become moots bc i wanna talk abt alien w ppl so so bad

BY THE VOID, THANK YOU! This is so well done. I fucking LOVE IT. I'd LOVE being moots! 😭 I need somebody to info dump on, too!

Putting my own thoughts below the cut so nothing gets too long.

I always thought the idea of making (usually cis) men uncomfortable via graphic, fictional representations of rape was SUCH a good change of pace. It's refreshing, not just in terms of "flipping the script", but the way it's presented is often beautiful, and grotesque.

I remember watched the "horror" (read: fetish) movie "Don't Breathe" with my FATHER not knowing the plot twist (because that's the point of watching the damn movie...) It made me so fucking uncomfortable. It's just a fetish film, honestly. It handles extreme, very real events with no grace or creative liberty. It's horrible.

ANYWAY! Back to Aliens, I think that's also why I fucking LOVE the hive system the Xenomorphs work in. I know some people don't enjoy these terrifying, eldritch organisms being "reduced" to something so earthly as a hive system, but let's be honest, it's effective way to reproduce/gain numbers, and it's still just as scary.

That's the reason I adore the QUEEN herself. Her design is powerful, and elaborate. She sure as hell plays and looks the roll of queen. She's the epicenter of the species who commands all those under her as she "births" more of the monstrosities to destroy worlds in her children's wake. She's the only feminine being binding the hive together into an organized destructive force, and she doesn't even need a male to fertilize the eggs. (<- also a detail I really like.) She's quite literally an evil girl boss LMAO I love her.

These are the main reasons (and I'm sure there's more,) as to why I love HR Giger's original art work, and how it was shown in the first two movies, then later beautifully presented again in Prometheus 2012. (<- somebody please be obsessed with the Engineers with me, I love them, and need to bang one asap LMAO)

It's an amazing example of art that's meant to "comfort the disturbed, and disturb the comfortable."

[words-and-threads]

I'm regularly alarmed by the amount of slack people will cut a middle-aged man composed entirely of red flags. And I don't mean understanding that nobody is just evil and people are complex and having compassion and such. I don't mean finding them interesting or compelling. I don't even mean the tongue-in-cheek self-aware "He has never done anything wrong in his entire life." I get the joke, honest.

I mean putting their suffering (usually as a result of their own actions) above that of the people they have hurt or are actively still hurting. I mean insisting they're actually sweet guys, they're just misunderstood. I know it's not doing any actual harm, I know the difference between fiction and reality. I don't think it's unethical or dangerous to do this, I just think it's bad analysis.

It's not just fictional men either. The professor who takes advantage of his students. The unhappy dad who's totally going to leave his wife any day now to marry his 20 year old girlfriend. Every writer who gets praised for a wish fulfillment novel where his self-insert is saved by a pretty young muse who really gets him and has no motivation beyond solving all his problems.

"But he's sad!" Bitch he's an adult. It's not your job to bail him out of his shitty life.

It's funny because I created an OC specifically as an antagonist/inciting incident for another character. He's an arrogant, patronizing bastard with awful judgment and a questionable attitude toward medical consent. I find him interesting as a character, but the response from other people was "daddy..." and I was like oh my God no. He is not daddy. He is not babygirl. He is not a really good guy underneath it all. 90% of his tragic backstory is his own fault.

And I love this character! I use him for text role-playing and he's so much fun. But he's horrible. He's horrible on purpose. Being horrible is central to his character. If you meet a man like this in the wild, fucking run.