#like very few times have i been like 'oh this twitter thread is important'

[fallinforerling]

LOVE ISN’T ETERNAL. chapter 4 - jb

ೃ⁀➷ jude’s masterlist

ೃ⁀➷ jude’s taglist  

ೃ⁀➷ masterlist

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The weekend arrived without any nasty surprises, which was very much appreciated. Jobe was still a bit bitter towards Jude for all the lies he told the family, but you convinced him to not pick any fights with his brother. Jude didn't deserve it, but you still cared about his family dynamic staying the same regardless of how he managed the breakup and everything that came after it.

Now you were laying in bed, not having the energy to do much. It's not like you were allowing yourself to be consumed by the grief or sadness (which you still felt), but you were a bit apathetic. Luckily, Nikki and Mia were coming over to help you with that. 

“I want this to end.” You whispered after a while, wanting to say something to fill up the silence in your apartment.

Because you truly wanted to get over him. Why bother grieving him? He has been partying and probably sleeping with girls every night since his arrival to London. And what were you doing? Missing him? Wishing he’d call? Having insomnia?

“Fucking prick.” At least insulting him was good therapy.

Before you could enter the space of mind where all you did was hate him and his existence, your phone started to ring. The only connection to the outside world this past week and a half was that little device.

Nikki was calling.

“Yeah?”

“Check my chat, girl. This is fucking insane. Go! We're almost there!” And then she hung up.

“What's up with Nikk and hanging up after saying things like that?” You laughed, expecting something funny or a photo of them. But no, it was a Twitter thread. When you clicked it, you almost had a heart attack.

“The fuck is this?!” You screamed.

The author of the thread simply wrote: “Jobe's new girlfriend???? I'm so jealous, who is sheeee???” followed with four photos per tweet. They were from the park meeting just a few days ago. There were photos of you hugging, when you were sitting together and when you started to leave the park.

At least it wasn't going viral, but there still were lots of people interacting with it. They were trying to guess who you were and for how long you two have been “dating”. A nightmare.

This had never happened in the ten months you dated Jude, mostly because privacy was important to him... And now you were mistaken for his little brother’s girlfriend? You felt like having a panic attack, but your front door opened and closed loudly, interrupting your thoughts. 

“Did you see it?” Mia said, entering your bedroom after a few seconds.

“How did you find it?”

“Oh, you know I love gossip. I was digging for some information and I came across it. Did you see the date? Someone posted it three days ago.” Nikki sat next to you, biting her lip.       

“Yeah…” Your brain started to analyze how it happened… Who took the photos without you noticing? The park was almost empty the whole time. Unless… “Fuck… I know who took those photos.” 

“Who?” Mia asked with apprehension. “Someone we know?” 

“No, far from it” With a sigh, you sat. “We met at a park near here. I've always liked that place because most of the time is empty… But that day I spotted a group of girls near us; I didn’t even payed them attention, they were far enough to not eavesdrop.” You covered your eyes, feeling frustrated. “They were teenagers, so of course they took the opportunity when they recognized him.” 

“Yikes, girl… Someone’s going to cancel you for dating a minor.” Nikki joked, winning a very small smile from Mia and you. 

“That’s not funny, my god.They probably will if they ever find who I am and my age.” You sighed, absolutely sick with the path your life was taking. “Why can’t I have one day of peace, huh? Life sucks.”

“Of course it sucks, that’s the main thing about living,” Mia said, sitting in your bed. “Well, let’s pray for that threat to die soon enough. You know how people are, they’re probably hunting for the next big gossip of the week.” 

“Yeah…” You grabbed your phone again, thinking about your next move. “I probably should send this to Jobe as well, I don’t want him to be taken by surprise if people begin asking about this.” A tiny smile peaked between your lips. “And let’s hope the girl he likes doesn’t find it either.”

“Do you know what else you need to start doing?” Nikki said while you send the link to Jobe, who started to laugh about the ridiculous assumption those girls made about you. 

“What?” You asked without paying much attention, smiling a bit when Jobe started to call himself Mr. Steal Your Girl. 

“Being a soulless, heartless, and cold girl for once. What about some clubbing, some fun… Some boys?” 

“You’re like the devil on her shoulder, Nikk,” Mia said, nudging Nikki’s arm. “But I agree, you need some fun. We forbid you from staying at home, drowning in your sadness. That boy doesn’t deserve it.” 

“Not one bit,” Nikki replied, hugging you. “I promise it will be super fun, just go out with us tonight.” 

Instead of responding, you took a look at the ground. There it is. You knew them too well, there was no way for them to “casually” suggest a night out; they had a plan. Their bags were on the floor, but you noticed a small bag that Nikki only took out of her house if she was planning to party: her makeup bag, which was essential if she was going out clubbing.

“Are you trying to persuade me into partying tonight?” You smiled, not even mad at the idea. 

“Maybe?” Both of them said, trying to look as innocent as possible. 

The three of you looked at each other with big smiles before laughing. 

“We’re going out tonight!” Mia screamed, gaining more laughs from Nikki and you. 

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The fun part about going out with Mia and Nikki was the part previous to the actual clubbing. There just was something magical about getting ready with them: the makeup with the collaboration of everybody, constantly changing outfits, Nikki persuading both of you to drink a little bit for good luck and Mia insisting that all of you needed smoky eyes, so guys felt intimidated. Most of it was nonsense, but they were your best friends in the whole world and you always felt extremely thankful for their support.

“Promise me you’re going to at least try dancing with the hottest guy that approaches you tonight.” Mia said while doing your smoky eyes (yeah, you gave in).

“I’ll try.” And you will because it wasn’t fair for you to stay in your comfort zone. If this whole thing didn’t cheer you up or make you feel better, then you could always find other ways to keep your mind occupied.

“That’s more than enough for me. Try to have fun, this is a girl’s night.” 

“And talking about girls. Put this dress on, the girls look stunning in it.” Nikki dropped a black dress on your lap. 

“No way!” You lifted it with a smile. “I completely forgot about this dress. I haven’t worn it since…” You paused, feeling uncomfortable. “Uh, Jude’s birthday.” 

“Well, who cares about that? You still look amazing.” Nikki smiled, obviously not about to let you think much about Jude. 

“Done!” Mia said after a few seconds, biting her lip. “This is my best work so far.” Her eyes were sparkling, so you believed her. 

Facing yourself in the mirror, you almost didn’t recognize the face that was looking back at you. You looked amazing; the color of your eyes popped, the glitter was doing the right job of not making it look too dark and the red lipstick was the final touch. You loved it. 

“That’s the face of a heartbreaker, girl.” Nikki admired your face for an instant before smiling. “Ah, I can’t wait for the boys to fight over you.” 

“Very funny, Nikk.” 

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The club Nikki choose was wild, especially since a manager was waiting for you at the door, guiding you to the balcony section of the club- which was the freaking VIP one.

“Nikk?” You half-screamed through the music, dying to know how she managed to pull this off. Mia seemed as confused as you were. “Anything you want to tell us?”

“About what?” She kept walking with the biggest of smiles.

“Uh… Us getting into the VIP section wiht no even five minutes of being here?”

“Oh, that?” Her smile grew bigger, if that was physically possible. “I know someone.”

Clearly, that was all the information you were getting. Mia gave you a look and the both of you silently decided that it was better if you didn’t dig into it.

“Tonight it’s about having fun, girls. My treat, don’t worry.” Nikki said once you were at the table, which already had a champagne bottle resting comfortably on an ice bucket. Three champagne glasses were next to it, patiently waiting for you. 

“Oh, so this is luxury, luxury.” Mia whispered, laughing a bit. 

“The fun it’s all that matters, trust me, Mia.” A waiter appeared out of nowhere, silently grabbing the bottle before smiling at all of you. 

“Welcome, ladies. May I open it now?” You nodded, and with one quick movement of his wrist, he had the job done. Impressive. “Hope you have a good night. Don’t forget you can always call a waiter with the button that’s underneath the table.” And then he was gone. 

“You were right, Mia. This is luxury luxury.” You accepted the glass Nikki offered you, excited for the night ahead. 

“Let’s enjoy it without actually wondering how much all this is, babe.” Was all she said before chugging her glass in one sitting. “I’m ready, give me another one.” 

“That’s what I’m talking about!" Nikki cheered, happy to see Mia engaged with tonight’s mission.                                                                                                     

“Come on, you need to chug that thing too, there’s more in here.” Nikki told you, already serving Mia’s second glass. 

“Fuck it.” You said before doing as Nikki said, chugging your champagne as carefully as possible so you didn’t choke. “If I end up vomiting all over the floor at the end of the night, I want you to know, I’m blaming you.” 

“That’s fine to me!” And then Nikki chugged her glass as well. 

Yeah, this night was going to be hella interesting.

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Needless to say that within two hours of clubbing you were pretty drunk. Not to the point of falling when trying to walk because the world was spinning or to the verge of unconsciousness, but a good point between being able to not care if something ridiculous escaped your mouth and dancing with strangers without giving it a second thought. 

Nikki had found some friends along the night, and now three more people, which were the nicest ever, were sitting at your table, chatting and laughing along. You enjoyed the their company, but felt the need to give yourself space to drink a very much needed glass of water in peace. 

So there you were, leaning against one of the multiple spaces in the balcony where little chairs were dispersed. It felt almost peaceful if you ignored the music blasting through the speakers or the many waiters going around the place, dealing with drunks and orders. 

“No way! Is that you?” A voice startled you, taking your mind away from the blankness it was immersed in. “I knew I wasn’t mistaking that face!” 

You turned, slightly pissed at the person that was basically yelling at you, until you realized it was Gio. Gio Reyna himself. 

“Gio?!” You didn’t know why, but the excitement made you scream. Maybe it was because you were drunk, but seeing Gio was one of the highlights of the night. “What the fuck are you doing here?” 

“I’m taking the few days off I have.” He hugged you tightly once you stood up, almost swiping you from the floor. “You look amazing! What are you doing here?” 

“Thanks! I’m with my friends, they’re right there!” You pointed to the table, where all kept chatting without noticing your encounter. “It’s a girl’s night!” 

“That’s cool! I thought you were with Jude, since he’s at London and all that.” 

Your smile never wandered from your face, not caring about Jude’s name being dropped from Gio’s lips. You shook your head, letting him know you weren’t with him today. Or ever, for that matter. 

“Nope, just my girls and I.” He kept looking at you like he was in front of a new person, not Jude’s “girlfriend”. You didn’t know if you liked it or felt bad about it. He was one of Jude’s good friends after all. “What about taking a picture? It’s been so long since we saw each other.” 

“Sure! Are you okay if I post it to IG?” 

Oh?

“Of course, go for it.” 

Then the two of you moved to a more illuminated area, he took his phone and you knew this was one of a kind type of opportunity. Time to be the pettiest bitch I know. Taking advantage of him getting closer to you for the sake of the photo, you passed one arm over his shoulders, and after a couple of pics, you decided to give him a tiny peck on the cheek. 

“Let's see.” He said shyly. Aw.

A few of them were blurry, but most were decent and the peck one was fabulous, not only for the sake of your intentions, but also because of how good the two of you looked. Your makeup was still intact, and with the lighting, it shined in a very pretty way. Gio had a light blush due to the alcohol, his smile being evident, giving his already handsome face something else. 

“That one?” You said, picking the one you liked the most. 

“Yeah! We look amazing.” He started to set it but paused before publishing it. “Do you mind if I tag you?” 

Bingo. 

“Go ahead, I have no problem.” And that was it. 

You said your goodbyes, and while returning to the table, you felt some type of triumph. Did this make you a bad person? 

“Where were you? We thought you got lost or something.” Mia said when you finally arrived, sitting beside Nikki. 

“So… I did a thing…”

[lightbrand]

do you have a guide for someone who wants to get into alyuri? like the stories and stuffs?

OH YOU ASKED AT THE PERFECT TIME because I literally was hoping to make a general guide about them and their stories across not just Granblue Fantasy but also their original Rage of Bahamut incarnations and their Dragalia Lost cameos because they're about to rerun the BEST ALYURI EVENT EVER on July 15 in GBF. Long post ahead!

As for where to START, I highly recommend going in with the Granblue Fantasy story (which is where I found them at first), as there is a clear continuity and story progression with dedicated setup, plot, character building, and (now that there's been plenty of events and fate episodes) some truly delicious payoff. In addition, they're fully voiced with some beautiful CGs and art, and are incredibly fun to just watch audiobook/VN style! Their voice actors breathe so much life into the story. Most of these are available to see on YT, but I can link them for good measure since this will be like, a diet resource post. I wasn't able to find the first two Light SSR Albert (I might go record them from my own game in a bit) or Summer Yurius episodes, and I don't have him in the game [screaming and crying] but the GBF wiki has full text transcripts of those.

For a reading order, it goes like this:

-Light SSR Albert Fate Episodes 1+2 (Not REQUIRED per se, but a good intro to his character)

-Eye of the Storm (Side Story) [Personally, I'd recommend to start here because it properly introduces Levin and the actual story]

-[Optional] SR Albert Fate Episodes 1+2

-Wind SSR Yurius Fate Episodes 1+2

-Light SSR Albert 5*/Lv100 Fate Episode

-[Optional, placed here because of the release chronology] Summer Albert SSR Fate Episodes 1+2

-False Heroes (Event Story, is getting rerun in a few days and is in my opinion some of the best content with them bar none, I HIGHLY recommend experiencing it yourself!!!!! GBF has an event rereading function, even if you skip through it, so long as you unlock it, you can read it later)

-Dark Albert Fate Episodes 1+2

-A Sweltering Eternal Getaway (yes, the summer event is lore relevant for several important Levin characters and important to Yurius's character arc. don't worry about it.)

-[Optional] Summer Yurius SSR Fate Episodes 1+2

-[Bonus!] Here's some crumbs of an official "Bad Ending" from the ...And You event.

Now, going onto Dragalia Lost, the easiest and fastest one to actually go through, which is ironic since the game itself has long since EoS'd. It's super simple--watch Albert's Adventurer Story, then Yurius's. That's pretty much it. I really like their Dragalia Story even though it's short, since it's a fun mix of their love-hate relationship in RoB combined with the sort of care and closeness of the GBF story. There's a few character crumbs here and there in their voice lines and Wyrmprints (available on the DL wiki of course), but nothing MAJOR unless you want to go digging. The DL fanbase did a good job of archiving the game though, so if you want to see the smaller bits, they're all out there.

Now, by far the most obtuse (from an English speaking standpoint) for the least amount of reward is the Rage of Bahamut story. RoB is not accessible in English, but a few dedicated fans have compiled story summaries of all that happens. Here's a golden Twitter thread of a lot of their plot-relevant and side content in the game. They've also provided some translations and videos for some of the voiced content in RoB too! Here's a link for some of the 4komas that some fans took care of as well. Their relationship in RoB is very silly, as they never really...make up? They stay frenemies as opposed to other stories where they reconcile their pasts. Each card in RoB also contains some flavor text for the characters they feature, and a few of those are covered in the thread. The other cards are out there, but they are in Japanese, but if you're interested I could see if I could compile a quick list of the flavor texts with real rough translations. It's mostly some flavor though, not incredibly important plot-wise unless you're hungry for more of the way their RoB relationship is written.

As a small aside about RoB--it's the first incarnation of these characters, and it's ... on the older side. I think it's perfectly fair to say that originally, Yurius was something of a homosexual caricature played often as a joke, and I think it's important to understand that when looking at the older content. The newer content, however, has come quite a long way, and as someone whose been following the way Cygames has been developing their relationship for half a decade at this point, I think it's certainly improved just overall.

Well. That should be enough content to at least get that ball rolling and keep ya busy. If for some reason you get through all this and want some more crumbs or fanworks, let me know! I have many a fic/doujinshi recommendation as well :] Here's some cute official art for making it this far and forcing me to write this mini guide in prep for the False Heroes rerun !

[swords-of-a-soilder]

Remove Problematic CCs

Section 2

"The Qsmp is problematic"

So fun fact twitter hates this fandom and everything it stands for, I'm not kidding when I say the amount of people I saw calling the fandom, toxic, racist, misgontic and ableist is interesting to say the least.

So of course when the SulhasSpace issue happened some people ran with it as proof that the fandom is the problem. Now I've show you guys an racist account before in the last account of interest (burnbook Qsmp) So I'm not here to pretend it's not a problem, it absolutely is.

So yes I get where these are coming from to some degree but Twitter doesn't forgive or forget, and there's of course the fact that not ever "fan" is actually a fan.

That being said they are two sides to Qsmp twitter right now,

1)Chill fun time, drawing your faves.

2)your faves are problematic and if you don't push for them to be kick out your a terrible person.

A common discussion I see on the twitter is often, "oh you're defending your faves, you call out any creator but your faves" completely ingoring the fact that most the stuff their holding said faves accountable for are ages old.

They call us parasocial but then make post after post advocating for members to be removed from the SMP, it's making rounds, so I want to clear any misinformation on Twitter and make it clear when creators apologize.

I bring you back to this tweet (please don't even interact with this person Thank you.)

You might remember them from the bonus section, this was posted jan 5 2024 with 1.3K likes (Jesus) so allow me to clear the air on some accusations.

In the reply of this they link a thread stating all problematic behaviors of creators, however MAJORITY of the this thread is just attacking the fan base I'm not even kidding.

Here's the thing, the bad apples aren't the fandom, it was this same behavior that had people attack dsmp fans.

Say what you want about Dream but you can acknowledge the dsmp fandom got so much hate for simply existing because a few of them were bad.

Because as someone who's been in both, and left both oddly who was previously a full on dream Stan and just sorta grew out of him. People hated us just for liking the dsmp.

They attacked minors in cosplay called us fatherless and cringe (and like yeah but still) overall make fun of Nurodiverst kids for having hyperfixations, and their justification was we're all terrible people.

Here's my thing, you don't actually care, you don't care about the alleged victims or the people who's lives are at risk; You want to make the fandom look bad.

You could have easily said "A person on twitter told another they hope the us gets bomb" and yeah I understand it was in the context of the Qsmp but people are not their interset, don't water people down to the things they like, then you're just making stereotypes.

How is it any different than saying, "a kpop stan did this, a furry did that,"

Also while I'm on this compersion of both I've noticed a constant conflict in regards to the Forever situation vs Dream situation with the parties on either side the other cc is guilty but theirs isn't.

I noticed this as soon as the accusations dropped actually a lot of people even here on Tumblr, where saying "this is what we deserved" and at "least dream didn't actually do it"

Tô be honest I noticed the fandom was at odds before that even, they were sudden talk here on Tumblr which means the topic likely came from Twitter of the dsmp compered to the Qsmp.

And I'll be honest dsmp was getting dragged, I read these thinking, 'why are we comparing them, they're clearly different with their own stories.' I still wonder that.

I don't want to fight with dream SMP fans, I use to be one of you , I had a freaking fan fic plan that was just c:! ranboo getting teleported into the Qsmp.

Why don't have to fight, but I guess with dream being unlikable, that makes things very hard.

Anyways I'm getting of track, when this person does have a important Calm it's often.. wrong

Ok no, to both of these.

1) she was not the only woman on the server, Jaiden joined the server at the very beginning, so unless I miss an noticed that Jaiden actually used macs pronounces that's a fuckin lie.

You can see Jaiden right there behind Foolish, on the very first day. This isn't hard to confirm, it doesn't even take a second.

I read the tweet and immediately went, nah that's not true I remember Jaiden, And what do you know Jaiden was in fact a member at that time.

(looking at this image gives me so much Nostalgia omg..)

2) she was not the only one being harassed, in fact they literally contradict their own statement with proof bad was receiving hate at the same time

Political lore, as in election season? I mean it must be I can't think of another political Qsmp event that bad was involved it huh crazy but If thats the case then Baghera wasn't the only one receiving hate thats... that's crazy, you're crazy.

Non of the tweets that screenshot are misogynistic, it's just people who believe the dream accusations criticing her attendance to his concert.

Also let me be clear real quick, I am AFAB in fact tmi I haven't even gotten on T, it's difficult to here and I'm afraid of getting hate crimed.

So I understand misgony, I live it, this is not what this is; Criticizing a woman isn't inherently misgony.

When you guys said "Qsmp had a misgony problem," is that what you guys meant, a woman gets hate and it's automatically misgony and not a section of the fandom being toxic..? Ok

[consistantly-changing]

[Image descriptions in order: a twitter thread by @ ellle_em "Elle Maruska (they/them)" which says "Ok I think we as a culture are kinda bad at talking about pregnancy tbh. Because there are a lot of stigmas--for the pregnant person pregnancy is supposed to be this time of joy & happiness and even the discomforts are supposed to be presented as these quirky, cute little things

Like "tee hee I have to pee every 20 seconds!!" and it's not....given the sort of serious consideration you'd give an actual illness because no one wants to associate growing a baby inside of them with an illness obviously but look--in some ways it kind of is

Some people have easy pregnancies with few symptoms. Some people deal with the annoying side-effects to some extent but not to like, a debilitating extent. And some people get so sick their lives and the lives of their unborn child are in very real, very immediate danger]

[But we don't want to talk about that last group of pregnant people. We don't want to address that particular reality. Because if we did, we'd realize that pregnancy should be treated as the serious, dangerous condition it potentially is.

I was in that last group. I had hyperemesis gravidarum throughout the entire nine months of my pregnancy. I couldn't eat, I couldn't sleep, I couldn't function. I was on a bunch of different medications, I was dehydrated & on the edge of starvation. I was seriously, seriously ill

If my symptoms had existed independent of being pregnant--that is, if I'd experienced the constant vomiting/nausea/dehydration/fatigue without being pregnant--I would have been treated like a dangerously sick person.

But I was pregnant, not "sick"! Pregnant ppl aren't sick!

"Why aren't you excited for the baby???" "Why aren't you painting the nursery/going shopping/having fun at your baby shower????" "What's WRONG with you aren't you HAPPY you're having a baby???"

I got all of that.]

[And when my husband was invited out for a long weekend and he chose not to go because I was sick, his buddy was like "dude she's just pregnant it's no big deal don't let her boss you around like that!"

I. Was. Literally. Starving.

And the whole "it's just a pregnancy!" gets wielded by the anti-choice crowd. "Oh just carry the baby to term and then have an adoption! It's just being pregnant! You don't have to abort!"

As if someone who doesn't want a baby sees the experience as "just" anything

The truth about pregnancy is it can wreck a body in the same way a disease can (and no I'm not talking about weight gain/stretch marks/that sort of fatphobic bullshit).

And if you're a black pregnant person? a poor pregnant person? It's even worse

But to acknowledge this makes one feel as if they're "ungrateful" for being pregnant, especially if it's a deeply desired thing. I wanted a baby. I was actively trying to get pregnant. I was excited and eager and ready and then I went through utter hell]

[That hell didn't change my desire for a baby or my gratitude for getting to have a baby but it did teach me how pregnancy makes your body and your emotions and your suffering all prey to public consumption. Everything about my experience was dissected by those around me

And it became some sort of litmus test for what sort of mother I'd be.

For a lot of people [cough motherinlaw cough] it was a test I failed miserably because I didn't spend nine months skipping through wildflowers. I spent nine months becoming a walking skeleton.

So basically I want to be able to talk about pregnancy for what it is: a condition. One that impacts people differently but one that can and often is be deadly. A condition that requires care and understanding and empathy. A condition that can be temporarily debilitating

And this is MOST IMPORTANT for the non-pregnant partner of the pregnant person to understand. Reading through those "AITAs" on reddit you get the picture how few non-pregnant partners actually get what their pregnant partners are dealing with. And that's scary]

[It's scary how dismissive so many of them are. It's scary how few seem to realize that the death of their partner isn't some wild one-in-a-billion chance. It's scary how they seem to believe their partners are being too demanding, too controlling, too needy.

And it's because we don't treat pregnancy as a serious condition.

Which is keeping in line with how we don't treat anything involving a uterus as serious :/

So if you know someone who is currently pregnant please, show them empathy. If they're not acting as happy or excited as you think they should be please understand what they may be going through. It's not all about the baby, it's about the person carrying the baby too" /End thread.]

[Two more tweets by the same person, the first says "Hey so if you like my words please consider buying something for my cats, I live in Spain and sort of run an unofficial cat sanctuary where people dump unwanted kittens at my door and I care for them. I ALWAYS need help:" attached is the Amazon link.

The second tweet says "Or send me a bit to help with vet care costs. I spend......so much time at the vet", attached is the ko-fi link.]

I really really appreciate that this person went off and I TRULY do think this is a conversation that needs to be had more and more.

I am not going to reiterate or repeat anything they said above, but I want to share my personal feeling on a subtler aspect of this issue.

People don’t want to talk about pregnancy as a potentially dangerous and lifethreatening condition because many of them believe it is necessary for a full and meaningful life. Unfortunately, many many of the people who  believe this are not also the people who would be carrying the baby.

Our social narratives are all largely amatonormative, and beneath that, bioessential. That is, they operate on a sort of supremacy of the body, as well as the nuclear family narrative. What this means is that most people are raised and pressured into believing that a) having a baby is a MUST for a meaningful life (hidden agenda: have someone to take care of you when you’re old bc amatonormative society isolates family units and ostracizes seniors) and b) it is the birthing of the child that gives this meaning- no other form of childcare is meaningful.

Now before I go on I am NOT JUDGING anyone’s life, desires or dreams, I am critiquing the social narratives that we are raised with.

Anyway that last bolded point is why there;s all the talk in the world about ‘starting a family’ via childbirth and an entire industry geared towards enhancing fertility when pregnancies are not forthcoming (and many  many people who stress themselves out trying to have a baby, feeling guilty or broken because the social and relationship pressures to fulfill this ideal) meanwhile adoption continues to be seen as a third- not second option. Present, living children are less important than the ideal of childbirth forced on people.

And I say ‘forced’ because it is an expectation. It is an ever-present social narrative. And it goes hand in hand with the fact that it is seen as taboo or shameful to talk about pregnancy as difficult, dangerous, and not necessarily all sunshine and smiles.

Mothers are shamed for feeling less than joyful about this very dangerous experience, and by that others are also shamed for feeling averse or apprehensive about pregnancy. It is an intentionally created false narrative that plays into the hands of patriarchy- because a grand amount of this pressure and related apathy (”oh it’s not a big deal, it’s just pregnancy!” says someone who isn’t carrying the baby..) continues to allow men to pressure women into having children (”THEIR” children– unlike, say, an adopted child) just so they can feel the pride of having sired a child (even though their contribution is oh so genetically and energetically small).

If we talked more honestly about pregnancy and childbirth, we might have to validate the concerns and lifestyles of uterus-bearing people who were expected to want to become pregnant. Men might have to just back down and shut up about wanting to create ‘kids of their own’ through someone else’s body. We as a people might have to think twice about acting as if pregnancy is inherently positive when this society is not actually capable of offering healthy supportive pregnancies to most pregnant people because a society that treats poor and black people this badly as well as one that isolates families into these tiny units isn’t capable of giving pregnant people the considerable care and support they need at such a precarious time.

Pregnancy is pregnancy– that’s it. Things do not inherently mean anything aside from the meaning we assign to them–therefore pregnancy and childbirth are not inherently positive nor is it necessary for a meaningful life.

When we do not speak openly and honestly about pregnancy, we are not letting people make informed choices about their bodies; this is not informed consent.

Bonus:

Links:

https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/4H671VB55LY5?ref_=wl_share

https://ko-fi.com/ellegato

[mysumeow]

Hello!! I've been a huge fan of your work for some time now, actually. I actually like your writing style because it's neat and somehow appealing to my eyes, from one writer to another! I'd like to try this matchup game and this is also my first time as well😭😭 I hope I'm doing this right. I'd like a genshin matchup please and thank you!!!

For appearance, I have long hair and I work out from time to time. I'm skinny with a slight curve!!! Working on that. I do dancing but never singing because many of the people I know express their distaste for my voice😭 Point is, I do exercise and dance a lot. (Im a girl btw!!! don't know where I should slip this in)

I'm not really smart, I consider myself to be quite dull but not at the same time. I have amazing grades and sometimes get into the top 5 but I get distracted too easily, especially the day before exams(somehow I still pass.) When I'm with the people I like, I get extremely comfortable no matter where the both of us are. There are multiple times where I almost got hit by a vehicle because of how carefree I am around my friends.

I'm a people person, talkative extrovert 100%!! I love people and everyone I meet, I wave at strangers who wave at me and I strike up a conversation whoever is next to me anywhere, anytime. There was this one time I talked to this cute mom outside of a mall because I was bored, I also remember getting scolded a LOT by my friends because why do I even talk to strangers willingly? I don't know. It's just who I am, really.

I have a strong distaste for shameless and loud people, I don't usually mind the most of them but when they are in front of me or during an important event where everyone is supposed to be quiet, my head just hurts. I also engage in gossip from time to time, but not those who bring people down. Just the sharing of opinions. I also don't like fish. a lot.

For my bigger flaws, I have a highly anxious avoidment attachment style and I apply it to everyone I meet. I am also very prone to overthinking and daydreaming, a day cannot pass without both of these happening. I'm not proud at ALL. All of this happened because of something that happened in the past, I constantly look for the same feeling the person gave me in everyone I meet, and feel disappointed when I don't find it at all. BUT I DONT LEAVE WHEN I DONT. I like people. But I'd like it better if they gave me the same warmth she did in the past.

Oh this is getting really long I gotta stop ramblingAAAHHH. So my hobbies are writing and gaming. I have great pride over what I write and I never doubt my plots. I also love animals except those that are taller than me(doesn't apply to dogs). I like eating. I eat four times a day and I don't even get breakfast.

OKAY I think that's all, sorry for the ramble!! 😭😭 Thank you for reading this, and wow this feels like a Twitter profile thread. Only thing missing is the More About Me ↓

. . . ꒰ MATCHUP II

A/N: A fellow writer!  Hahaha don’t worry anon, I like reading these submissions! Also, I think it’s the first time someone has described my writing like that, so it was a bit surprising for me :OOOOO  Thank you! <33

I match you with Kazuha! He finds it endearing how genuine you are and your knack of opening a conversation. Even as a wandering samurai, it’s few the amount of people he has met like you, and your friendly demeanor captures his heart with ease. When you ramble on about your day or anything you want to speak about with him, he looks at you with fondness. He pays attention to everything you say and remembers important details, without interrupting or feeling bored about hearing you speak.

He has a scarily excellent memory. He’ll ask you about how’s it going with the last story you were writing like, months ago—after you had spoken to him about it once…

He doesn’t scold you when you get distracted, instead opting for redirecting your attention or guiding you back into safety while keeping the conversation with you. If it’s a life-or-death situation, he’ll grab you by the arm and pull you away from the danger, while apologizing for taking such an abrupt decision but letting you know there was peril awaiting you.

Thanks to Kazuha’s patience and forgiving nature, he sees beauty in your amiability and in your whims. He does get extra vigilant when you get distracted or opts to choose safer routes within his means whenever the two of you are strolling around or traveling.

If you travel in the Crux Fleet, there’s plenty of gossip going around, even during your brief stay. Kazuha isn’t one for seeking gossip, but without putting any effort into it, they make their way into his knowledge. You’ll have lots of conversation with him.

Likewise, Kazuha likes to daydream. He enjoys the moments of silence too, and you’ll often find him daydreaming while looking at the sea or writing a haiku. He’ll recite it to you if he sees you’re curious about it.

Kazuha deals well with your attachment style. Even if your absence isn’t pleasant to him because he really enjoys your company, he’s understanding and won’t hold a grudge for it. He’ll wait for you to come back and welcome you.

Honorable mentions for this matchup: Thoma and Kaveh.

Very broad explanation: As long as you’re not causing any trouble to the Kamisato Clan, Thoma’s a people person too. Kaveh loves to talk. He’d match your energy when you want to chat with him.

[peachyteabuck]

Lukis omg can we still talk about the whole yelena belova discourse thing I just like hearing your thoughts about it all

so @caroldantops posted this thread that i think def both changed and cemented my views about one of the key questions of the discourse, which is "is yelena actually aro and/or ace?" and makes a lot of posts that rely on her being canonically either/both kinda...sinister? for lack of better words. i'm certainly not saying she can't/shouldn't have that aspect of her sexuality canonized in the future, but it's still laying in a grey zone in the comic universe; and certainly has no part of the cinematic one (meaning her sexuality is never discussed).

to claim that fanfic writers are erasing a sexuality that isn't tied to a character, and to call them aphobes regardless of their politics outside of that fanfic, is insidious and ignores the nuances involved in this. as i said before, that no one has seemed to find a good response to, is "is any fanfic where yelena has no romantic/sexual relationships good representation, regardless of the fic's content and the author's politics?" for example, if a fanfic writer who doesn't think asexual people are real writes a fluff-only fic where yelena and the reader are best friends having a movie night, is that aroace yelena representation? why? why not?

not even to mention, when i think about aseuxal liberation aroace yelena disourse doesn't cross my mind. do asexual and aromantic people deserve proper media representation? sure. but just as i think lesbian media representation is something that is a sustained action meant to comfort rather than liberate, asexual representation likely doesn't free asexual people from compulsory sexuality, medicalization, ostracization, social isolation, etc. it is good! it is certainly nice! i'm not debating that, but representation without liberation is tokenization.

this absolutely isn't saying that no one can headcannon yelena as ace/aro, or any character regardless of canon sexuality. this certainly doesn't mean anyone should be harassing anyone else because of their feelings about yelena belova (or anything else, but like, yelena belova is the most pertinent here).

in short - whether yelena is actually 100% for sure without a doubt aroace matters less to me than asexual liberation, and queer liberation writ large.

[loquaciousquark]

Talks Machina Highlights - Critical Role C2E138 & 139 (May 25, 2021)

Hello, you lovely people! It’s Tuesday and it’s time again for TM! Tonight’s guests: Marisha Ray & Liam O’Brien! The first picture that pops up when you google his name to check the spelling for the thousandth time is him with a shaved head, which is a wild look.

Ah! According to Dani, this is likely the last Zoom Talks! I’m so happy to hear this! They complain about Laura’s internet freezing constantly whenever she was about to say something exciting.

This episode is sponsored by The Elder Scrolls Online. As I’ve recently resumed my Skyrim run, this makes me crave it all over again.

Liam talks about having to drop everything to start the Zoom call, then having 27 minutes of technical difficulties before they could even begin recording. Augh, same hat.

Beau navigating the Astral Sea & Cognouza was empowering and unsettling. “This is the coolest! Uh oh.” It’s like seeing a new piece of RL tech come out and thinking about how it will change everything, then immediately thinking about how it’ll be abused, like deepfakes.

The first interactions with the Somnovem was overwhelming. They started fighting gnolls in a medieval towns and are now fighting interstellar beings. For Beau, it felt like talking to a really drunk friend. I actually love how she phrases this. “To me, it definitely felt like when you talk to one of your friends when they’re really drunk, and you’re like, ‘oh, I see what version of this person I have right now.’ And then you catch another version of that person on a shit day, and you’re like, ‘ah, I get it, you’re having a shit day.’ But then you catch them when they’re all put together and holding it down, and you’re like, ‘okay, you only hate yourself on the fringes.’ I get that. I found the Somnovem relatable.” Dani: “I too am just a collection of different emotions just barely hanging on by a thread.”

Marisha was able to put the pieces together of the ninefold emotions pretty quickly.

They do a whole tape-review bit after Brian mispronounces Yussa that is amazing. Aside from that, the M9 are glad they got him out of the city. It felt like a die-in-the-Matrix situation for him.

Liam kind of always suspected Matt would dangle the time-travel carrot in front of him. He honestly doesn’t know which way he’d go now. “For a long time, Caleb was like, ‘this doesn’t exist, so it doesn’t matter.’” It’ll probably be a mental coin flip if it comes down to an in-game decision.

"The dice are a CW producer,” when it comes to Beau & Yasha fighting each other.

They can’t remember another prolonged encounter bleeding into another encounter directly since Thordak/Raishan & Kevdak/the herd.

Cosplay of the Week: cattheterrible on Twitter with a beautiful Yasha.

Liam thinks Matt did a great job making it feel like a pressure cooker in terms of balancing their approaches between Lucien’s party & Cree. They’re also both very pleased that their plan with the threshold crests worked - it’s one of the few plans they’ve had across two campaigns that worked. (Honorable mentions they pull: intuit charges, Gelidon, Yenk/Vorugal from C1. “Will Friedle was a better [tactician] than all of us that entire campaign.”)

As far as the nine eyes on everyone go, “we’re all just one metaphysical garbage disposal.” Omar starts barking and they joke the dog will be SAG-eligible before Dani. Ha!

Just the idea of Aeor as a relic of history is massively important. They might die at any point, but if they live, Caleb thinks it’s so important to preserve that history Indiana-Jones-style, especially since it was obviously more advanced as a civilization.

Marisha wonders if they can bring forward the piece of Lucien that is Molly. “It’s a fractal. It’s that full molecular crystalline structure that’s repeating and recurring, and even if it’s several times removed, it still feels like part of the same thing. But maybe a different version, a different timeline of what Lucien is was more or less Molly, and can we Spiderverse the fuck out of this? Can we somehow recall that programming from whatever’s buried? [...] It’s like how moving things to your Recycling Bin doesn’t really clear them from your hard drive.”

Fanart of the Week: mellifera38 with a beautiful Lucien pre-tentacles. The card award shenanigans come complete with massive fireworks green screen display, a rainbow unicorn, a cease and desist letter, eagle wings, lasers, and a PHYSICAL CARD in his hand oh my gosh, to celebrate the final Zoom Talks.

Liam is glad Essek was there to help out with the dunamantic elements of their fights. He’s doing a lot to redeem himself. Liam is also thinking a lot about endgame, long-term repercussions of how this would affect the kingdoms.

Marisha finds the weasel being Artagan adorably traumatic and hilariously tragic. Not only was this poor weasel getting dragged to hell and back, sometimes his personality gets shoved to the side to allow Artagan in. Poor thing, ha! Liam talks about one aspect of the game is that you learn things about your character as ago and then apply it backwards; “We ragged on this weasel so hard, that Matt was like ‘fuck you guys, he’s alive because there’s a fey prince inside him’ and made it retroactive through time.” He’d noticed it for a while, but because there was no downtime in Aeor, there was never a chance to casually bring it up. Beau’s confirmation of seeing something weird about the weasel was a relief that he wasn’t crazy.

It’s a lot of pressure to be the “face” of the party, especially considering Beau’s CHA stat is low. Now it feels like siblings deliberately pushing Lucien’s buttons, except with the full recognition you’re poking a nuclear bomb. It’s honestly been fun, though - she loves being a smartass to people she should ABSOLUTELY not be saying things to. In Caleb’s mind, Beau is the closest thing the group has to a responsible hero. Cad is a great sage, but Beau does what she thinks is the right thing that needs to be done.

They both laugh at this being Matt’s love letter to FF games. They should have been ready for the transformation and the amazing spectacle of the whole thing.

And that is that is that! Brian thanks the guests, Dani, and the crew. “We did it! We did Zoom. Thank you Marisha especially, and our amazing production team for figuring out a way for us to be able to do this from home and make all the artwork and everything so awesome. Thank you to everyone who has touched the show in some way and helped us do it from home.”

Is it Thursday yet?

[olderthannetfic]

What do you think about the write-in campaign to AO3 re: racism and structural changes needed? Why wasn't the block function built into the archive from the start? Why are the archive warnings those specific four and not slavery or bigotry?

The best take I’ve seen is this twitter thread: https://twitter.com/rahaeli/status/1273627467505373185

I don’t know why a block function wasn’t there from the first. I assume it’s because it’s harder to code and not absolutely necessary for an archive to function. AO3 has always been a bit of a shaky volunteer effort.

We picked the archive warnings from things that were common on older fic archives. Which, yes, reflects what fandom cared about at the time and is not neutral. (And when I say “we”, I do mean me specifically. I can’t remember how much my committee chose those and how much the Board and others drove the exact selection, but I did a lot of the research into older archives at the time. Including something about racism straight up never occurred to me in 2008.)

All of the main warnings are things that occur constantly in fic and that people can easily evaluate their own work for and that an Abuse team made of a few volunteers with no specific training/cultural knowledge can easily enforce.

The list is largely based on what’s practical to enforce.

Back when I was last involved (which was 2014, to be fair), OTW was very bad about work/life balance. A lot of volunteers were working far too many hours with far too little training. The Abuse team had like 3 active members early on in AO3′s history (though I’m sure it’s much larger now, but it’s probably still really fucking small for a site the size of AO3).

In order to institute major changes to how racist stuff is tagged, AO3 would need to do something about the problems of:

1. How do you get someone to make a fair and consistent ruling on what counts as racist without asking a bunch of POC to look at traumatic shit for hours without pay, counseling, or any real reward?

If you want to see how this shit goes wrong, just look up the horror stories about Facebook moderators. Textual fic is probably going to be less bad for most people, but it’s still going to add up.

The responsible way to handle this on most websites is to pay people and to limit the number of hours they have to spend on it. Including free therapy as part of the job is sensible. All of this requires money and a robust company structure that can take care of employees in general.

2. What about revenge reporting?

What happens when people start reporting all the “nasty” fic about characters of color? What about when it’s by an author who’s a person of color? What if that person doesn’t want to disclose their identity?

If the top-level warning is for “depictions of bigotry” or “slavery”, this is less important because those are a bit more concrete. OTOH, those two concrete topics are already heavily tagged for. A top-level warning would be a political statement from OTW about race topics being as important as sex ones. If OTW wants to do that for PR, I think that’s fine. It may make some fans feel more listened to, which is a positive thing. But this warning won’t otherwise help fans or protect people from unconsciously racist fic, which is a big part of what people are bothered by.

If the top-level warning is for “racism”, and we can report each other’s fic for unintentional racism... Oh boy...

The first thing that will happen is people going after all of the kinkfic they don’t like and a flood of overt, intentional racists using this to troll any fans of color they can find.

(Anyone who thinks this is an “excuse” needs to take a hard look at the number of people who package complaints about AO3 and racism with complaints that underage fic is on there at all and another hard look at 4chan trolling Tumblr. The radfem anti-porn crusade is alive and well in fandom, and any weapon is going to get used on the less privileged. It’s not an insurmountable problem, but it exists and we have to figure out how to deal with it in order to have a workable AO3 policy. Any proposal that does not include the possibility of fans of color who like “gross” kinkfic and just want to be left alone is not a policy that belongs on AO3.)

Any proposal for a top-level racism tag needs to have some plan for how to deal with these issues. I’m with Denise that OTW fixing how many hours people work without pay and other internal structural issues is what’s actually needed right now. Among other things, that would expand the pool of people who could afford to volunteer and get into positions of power.

[makeste]

regarding Best Jeanist, Dabi, and all of that

@kaleswagdragon​ I hope you don’t mind me posting this comment and my response as its own post, seeing as it quickly got out of hand and sort of morphed into a whole entire essay.

anyway, so! you say that it’s a mischaracterization, but it’s really not, though. I mean, props for bringing up the cultural context of Japan, in which the honne-tatemae culture of covering up anything that might lead to any sort of conflict -- even if it means harming an innocent victim in the process -- is a very real issue. so given that, I understand why so many people are interpreting Jeanist’s statement in a “how dare you bring this family shame to light” sort of way. and Caleb’s “dirty laundry” translation doesn’t help, given the “we’re more embarrassed than actually concerned about this” feel of that particular phrase, which he apparently chose just because of the clothing pun without really giving much thought to any other implications.

but in the actual Japanese, the meaning/context is somewhat different. here’s a link to a twitter thread clarifying the original spoiler translation, and breaking down the actual Japanese dialogue.

I think the meaning here is very clearly “you waited until the public’s faith in heroes was already wavering to bring this down on them as a final blow.” if he was simply criticizing Dabi for publicizing the Todoroki family drama, he would have stopped with that first sentence. the two sentences afterward (“you waited until everyone’s faith in heroes was wavering, when the damage would be too great to handle”) make it clear that what he’s actually calling Dabi out for is the way that he basically weaponizes his story into the perfect political tool to finally take down the heroes. which is an observation that we as the readers can verify for ourselves as being true. look at how he so carefully edited the footage of Twice’s death. look at the contrast between the way he acts in the video, compared with the homicidal glee we see from the actual Dabi in real time.

Jeanist is notably the only one who is able to get the same perspective as the readers here, since he’s the only person who’s physically present in Jakku with the real Dabi, but is also able to hear the video being broadcast. meaning that he’s able to hear both video!Dabi’s calm, prerecorded “I’m just a concerned citizen trying to look out for a society being taken advantage of by the ones charged with protecting it” speech, and actual!Dabi’s “hahaha fuck you Endeavor I’m bringing the whole country down even as we speak, well anyway time to kill you all” reality. he alone can see that stark contrast between the concerned whistleblower act Dabi is putting onscreen, versus his true attitude of “I don’t actually give a fuck, I just want to eradicate the heroes and make my dad suffer.” basically, Jeanist is the only one who can see that juxtaposition, and see Dabi’s reveal for what it really is, seeing as Dabi literally spelled it out for Endeavor and the others. and so he’s calling him out on that.

and he’s not wrong to do so. it’s clear that a lot of fans vehemently disagree with this, but being an abuse survivor doesn’t excuse you from having the same obligation as every other human being on the planet to try your best to be a decent person, which at minimum means not going out of your way to hurt other people. I say this as someone who’s experienced abuse, which shouldn’t need to be a disclaimer honestly, but I guess that’s how it is these days. anyways, though, I have, and I know a lot of other people who have as well. it’s a terrible, awful, exceptionally shitty thing to experience, and it affects everyone in different ways. and every single person who goes through something like that deserves help and support and time to heal, and it’s a tragedy and an injustice that Dabi, from what we have seen, never got any of that.

but that doesn’t excuse him from still being held to the same basic standard of “hurting other people is shitty” as everyone else. it doesn’t mean he gets a free pass. it doesn’t mean that anyone who says “hey, Dabi using his trauma as an excuse to murder people is kind of fucked up” is an abuse apologist. and it doesn’t mean Horikoshi is an abuse apologist for writing him that way, for that matter, because guess what? sometimes people who are abused grow up to become abusers. that’s just a fucked-up thing that happens sometimes. and pretending like it doesn’t is ironically not all that different from that whole “sweeping things under the rug” concept you mentioned earlier. it does happen, and I think it’s important to acknowledge that, because acknowledging it is one of the necessary steps to take in fixing it.

this attitude of “if someone was abused they should be absolved of responsibility for their actions” that I’ve seen in some posts is taking the concept of “abuse often has a profound impact on people’s mental health, and that should be taken into consideration before judging them too harshly for behavior that they can’t always necessarily control”, and twisting it into this nice little loophole that people can use to duck accountability whenever it’s convenient. but being abused doesn’t give you the right to abuse other people, is my point. nothing gives somebody the right to do that.

and Dabi is hurting other people. he waited ten years to tell his story specifically because he wanted to use it to make others suffer. and, putting aside the part where he’s trying to engineer the downfall of society as a precursor to the mass destruction he and his pals have planned, he also broadcast the story nationwide without the consent of the other abused parties involved. which I’m not saying he didn’t have the right to do, mind you, because it’s his story as well as theirs, and he has the right to tell it. and the right to make his abuser’s crimes as public as he wants, if that’s what he decides. but it also ignores the question of what his mother and siblings might want, and the fact is that they’re also survivors, and so in theory should have the same right as Dabi to choose their own healing process, and decide exactly how they want their abuser, who like so many abusers is also a close family member, to be held accountable. anyway, but all of that is obviously very, very complicated and I don’t think there’s a clear right or wrong side as far as this part of it all. it’s not a situation where everyone can be happy, which unfortunately is often how it goes.

anyway, I’ve kind of meandered pretty far from my original point now, so my bad. my points are, basically,

(a) I think the linked explanation does show that Jeanist is chiding Dabi for using his trauma in this specifically scheming and destructive way, as opposed to saying “shame on you for not being a good little victim and staying quiet”, which would be a ridiculous thing for Horikoshi, who’s explored the topic of abuse more thoughtfully than any other mangaka I’ve read, to randomly have one of his protagonists say.

and (b) the people calling Dabi out on his shit aren’t all smug victim-blamers who have no sympathy for what he has been through. the latter point (and a lot of this post, actually) isn’t particularly directed at you btw; it’s more of just a general statement brought on by some of the discussion that’s been going on these past few days.

anyways, I actually like that the fandom is talking about all of this! I just think it’s a very complex subject, and an even more complex situation currently in the manga. and ideally, people would try to acknowledge that complexity when discussing it, rather than simply picking a side and doubling down on it no matter what, or shooting down the whole thing as problematic writing just because isn’t a neat and tidy situation where you can simply say “oh, person A is right and person B is wrong, that’s it, end of story.” it’s not, unfortunately. it’s a messy clusterfuck of a topic that’s only going to get messier as this plot continues, so hopefully we can all just sort of brace ourselves for that lol. this is really just the tip of the iceberg, I think.

[lostinmirkwood]

Gendry regularly brings flowers to his mother’s grave. One day he notices the near-by grave of an old man never has any flowers so he starts to bring him flowers too. Inspired by a twitter thread from @sixthformpoet about how he met his wife. Read it on AO3 here.

TW: There is a brief mention of drunk driving and a loss resulting from that

Gendry isn’t sure what about the grave caught his attention that day as he was leaving the cemetery. Maybe it was how bare the plot was compared to the flower filled ones around it, including the bouquet of daisies he’d just left at his mother’s headstone. He’d been coming to visit his mother every few weeks for the past few years and had never taken note of who her neighbors were. The name Walder Frey was engraved into the simple grey headstone, along with his birth and death years. He’d been in his early nineties when he’d died a few years past. No other information was written about the man.

The next time Gendry was at the cemetery, this time leaving a small cluster of miniature sunflowers on his mother’s stone, he again noticed the grave of Walder Frey was barren. All around him were families quietly laying flowers and having picnics in the early summer sunshine. It was then that Gendry decided the next time he came to visit his mum he’d bring Old Walder some flowers too. No one deserved to go unremembered, after all.

True to his word when Gendry came next to the cemetery he brought a few pale pink peonies for his mum and a small spray of white flowers for the old man next to her. He spent some time catching his mum up on what had been going on and as he stood to leave he bent and placed the other flowers on Mr. Frey’s grave. He stayed for a little while longer, contemplating the kind of man Walder Frey might have been before continuing on his way.

This carried on for the summer. Gendry would come with new flowers for his mum and every time would pick up a small spray for the old man next to her. He would stand at his grave for a few minutes at the end of his visit and think about Old Walder. He’d died near the holidays, that must have devastated his family, Gendry thought. He wondered if Walder had a large family, they must have all moved away or led very busy lives and not been able to visit their father or grandfather very often. He was probably a wonderful granddad, doting on his young grandchildren, buying them ice cream and taking them to ball games, playing teatime and attending ballet performances. Gendry had never had a grandfather, he didn’t know what they were like, but he imagined Old Walder Frey must have been a good one.

All his musings came to an abrupt end in the fall. He’d arrived as he usually did, this time with a small pot of chrysanthemums for his mother and a little bouquet of white feverfew for Mr. Frey. As he approached the pair of headstones a small, dark haired woman was standing there staring, no, glaring , at Walder’s grave. Gendry realized this must be one of his granddaughters, here to visit her grandfather. Maybe he could finally hear some stories about the old man, he thought. Old Walder must be missing something important for her gaze to be burning a hole in the headstone like it was.

The woman cut her gaze over to him as he approached, taking in the pot of mums one hand and the white flowers in his other. Gendry came to a halt next to her and knelt to place the mums in front of Ella Water’s headstone. He’d wait to have his regular chat with her until Walder’s granddaughter left, she’d understand. Standing, he turned to the granddaughter and held out the flowers to her, “For your grandfather,” he said. “I bring him some every time I come visit my mum.”

The woman arched a dark brow at him, turning her glare from the old man’s headstone on to him directly. Her eyes were the color of the storm clouds that gathered off the coast in the summer, Gendry noticed. Her pink lips pursed in a moue of displeasure.

“My grandfather?” she asked.

Gendry nodded, gesturing with the flowers towards Walder’s headstone, “Grandfather, great uncle, perhaps? You seem a little young to be his daughter,” she looked near his age, for certain. Maybe the old man had married late or again in his later years and she was his daughter after all.

The arched eyebrow was joined by its twin before both dropped into a fierce expression, “The old arse wasn’t my grandfather,” she spat.

Gendry was taken aback, “Oh, uh,” he didn’t really know what to say.

“You bring this miserable old shit flowers?” the woman was practically growling at him as she jabbed a finger in the direction of Walder's headstone.

“I just, just didn’t want him to be forgotten? I bring my mother flowers almost every week and it began to seem rude to ignore her neighbor,” Gendry tried to explain, realizing that he sounded a little silly. Here he was, buying flowers for a complete stranger. Someone incredibly disliked by the woman next to him for some reason.

The woman huffed but didn’t say anything.

Gendry tried again, “I’m sorry? It’s just. Did he do something awful? No one ever seems to visit him.”

“For good reason,” the woman sneered, “He was a drunk, miserable, old man by all accounts. Married about eight times, had more children than seems reasonable, was generally rude and miserly. Then come Christmastime four years ago he’d had a few too many and crashed his car into my uncle as he was headed home from the grocery store and killed him instantly before driving off. Old bastard didn’t even have the decency to face trial and justice for what he’d done, instead he died in his sleep a few nights later. My cousin turns five tomorrow and starts school this year. I came here to yell at the old bastard for all the things my uncle is missing out on because of him. It’s not going to fix anything but I feel better about it. His family tore themselves apart over his will after he passed, that’s probably why none of them visit.”

She seemed to run out of steam towards the end. Gendry stood silent next to her, now it was his turn to glare at the headstone marked Walder Frey. Here he’d been thinking that the old man was a kindly and generous grandfather when in fact he’d destroyed a young family and faced no consequences for it.

“Well if that’s the case then he doesn’t deserve any more flowers,” Gendry turned back to the woman next to him. He held out the small bouquet of feverfew to her and she stared down at the flowers blankly before looking back up at him. Her eyes had lightened considerably in the last few minutes and her face had settled from its grim disposition into a soft look of confusion. Gendry gently shook the bouquet at her until she took them, still looking unsure. “The old man isn’t going to get any more from me. You should have them.”

She took the flowers and held out her free hand to him, “Thanks, I think. Arya Stark, by the way.”

He took her hand, “Gendry Waters, it’s nice to meet you. Sorry for bringing flowers to a shitheel.”

Arya giggled and Gendry was entranced. “I forgive you,” she said.

He smiled, “Can I make it up to you?”

“More than the old bastard’s flowers?” she asked, still staring up at him. Gendry realized they hadn’t released hands after introducing themselves.

“Can I buy you a drink sometime?”

Arya smiled and gave him her number before turning away. Gendry sat down at his mother’s grave after a moment before grinning to himself, “Did you see that, Mum?”

[omegawolverine]

I know you posted it days ago but you said something about wanting to rant about either karl or his fanbase and its been itching at my brain. Ive no clue whats happening or what is happening at all cause no one seems to be making clear points?? Or explaining anything?

Obviously you do NOT have to talk about it im sure it might be a sore point to rant because people can get SO needlessly rude to others over it. But if you want to idk explain? Just rant? Im definetly curious what it was over or about.

The "you dont need to talk about this" is amplified by the fact i am DAYS late and you are probably over it by now.

okay hi yes im happy to talk about this but i think i should preface with two things:

1) even tho it may seem like im biased towards him or being very defensive of him im actually a super casual karl viewer and the only reason i am super defensive of him sometimes is bc we act a lot alike irl and that is mainly because of our neurodivegency. when i say a lot i mean we share traits like "annoying" stimming (jumping around, making loud noises, repeating the same phrases until everyone is sick of hearing them), the difficulty reading situations, the very obvious issues with volume control and not just bouncing from subject to subject to subject as we fucking please. basically anything you've seen karl do on stream that is Very Neurodivergent ive done the same in my own way which is why i get defensive when i see people calling him annoying or saying they dont like him, usually for these types of reasons. that being said, when i say im a very casual karl viewer, i fucking mean it. i usually only watch him when he's streaming with other ccs i like or when he's doing chill alt streams bc even with the annoying donos, he's pretty relaxing and comforting when he's just fucking around by himself and he isnt trying to get as hype as he would on a main channel stream. so yeah, it may seem like im biased and sure, i guess i am on some level, but it's not coming from a place of me hyperfixating on him or me even loving him as a cc, it's coming from me being a neurodivergent who likes him just enough to get upset when i see people basically being casually ableist towards him.

2) i dont have all the facts or even a great understanding on what the fuck has been happening recently with his "drama"...mostly bc he talked about it on his priv, which im not on, and people are gatekeeping the tweets, as they always do, and basically making you "dm to see them" (which is already a problem in and of itself bc apparently in these tweets he said he didnt want them being ss and shared, yet they are being shared thru dms over and over and over again like. at that point just stop withholding the information and post the fucking shit, you clearly dont care that he said "dont share"). additionally, most of the threads ive seen on this situation havent actually explained the initial issue, just talked about his apology (a lot of people have said "it's bad" but havent said why and with no screenshots ((i havent asked for someone to dm me them and i still havent seen them posted, which is mildly surprising, but incredibly frustrating at this point)), i only have a few basic details i can actually assess it on) or they talked about the initial issue in very vague details so um. excuse me trying to explain this now, but ill try and make it make sense with how little ive actually pieced together.

(oh, also, here's my first rant about the ableism in this fandom which is way more broad. this is a pretty different rant from that one, but they're both pretty big reasons why i hate this fandoms treatment of karl)

so basically the problems started with mr beast being apart of a charity stream that donated either to autism speaks or to a similar company, im unsure on that part. im also unsure on if the people participating in the stream actually knew of this or not bc, from what i remember, the money was being donated to a separate organization that was like. under the bad company or some shit like that, idk how stuff like that works and also i read about this shit months ago bc this originally happened months ago and just sorta came to a head recently.

anyways, i think karl was supposed to be apart of this stream but pulled out of it right before (that or these were two separate streams and karl was supposed to participate in the first but pulled out while mr beast did both?? idk. regardless karl did not actually participate, just mr beast). from there people started doing the guilt from association bullshit they always do, this was also doubled by the fact that the chris being racist stuff came out sometime around then and basically he got dragged all over twitter for "being ableist" and "supporting racists" and i cant remember if he actually apologized when this originally happened or not. i vaguely remember him apologizing about something back then but i genuinely dont know if it was this or something else.

basically that died down eventually, a good chunk of people unstanned him but him and honktwt didnt end up getting the lovely lil technotwt treatment and they still havent yet, surprisingly. good for them honestly ajsksk

but now we get to the past few weeks and apparently something happened with him "laughing at someone saying the r slur" (it was mizkif, i believe), specifically when it was directed at other people, which is a big yikes, obviously, but when karl was called out for this a lot of people kind of. made this into a situation that it wasnt bc um. basically karl didnt laugh at it, he gave a few nervous giggles, as people often do when in a situation like that (and karl specifically said he does this in the one part of his apology tweet which i did stumble upon, although it wasnt the important part of the apology thread bc why would it be) and people fucking crucified him for it. they quite literally dragged a neurodivergent man for supposedly "laughing at the r slur" when he can literally reclaim it and also he was just nervous laughing.

and this is where the situation just gets really bad because they. basically forced him to admit that he was autistic on his priv to apologize for this. i havent seen the screenshots of him saying this, but i saw people discussing it and i am frankly so fucking pissed about this because sure, it was a bad situation, and i understand people wanting an explanation, but an apology? for a neurodivergent man nervous laughing at a slur he can reclaim? and then forcing the man to admit something he literally said in that tweet he didnt want people to know which is why people were being so gatekeepy about it while also LOUDLY discussing the situation, as if that wouldnt drive MORE PEOPLE to look for screenshots and ways to get ahold of this information? and then people had the audacity to call it a "bad apology" when they had quite literally just violated his privacy by forcing him to admit something that he shouldnt have needed to share in the first place if he didnt want to, which he didnt.

and this is why im so pissed off. karl is already constantly picked at and made fun of and called annoying for his neurodivergent traits, things which he literally cant help, things which are generally harmless, and now he was forced into a situation where he can now be further picked at and made fun of and called annoying bc they forced him to admit something private instead of just understanding and accepting that he had been nervous laughing at someone using a slur he has definetly been called for his neurodivergency.

tldr of my thoughts: yes i think karl needed to address this situation, it definetly looked bad, but twitter stans have this sense of entitlement with their ccs and because of that, they consistently take it way too far and harm the people they claim to care about so dearly. we've seen it happen time and time again with dream, but this is the first time ive seen them basically force someone to out themselves to make their apology "valid" and most of them still seem to not want to accept it anyways, which just makes me feel bad for him bc now that info is out their and people are just disregarding it to continue "holding him accountable".

anyways, i think that's all i can really say on this topic rn tbh, if anyone else knows this situation better please feel free to lmk clarifications and ill add them in since, like i said, i know fuck all thanks to twitter being so goddamn hush hush about the important details while simultaneously being the loudest mfers about how much they hate karl now instead of just fucking unfollowing and moving on.

thanks for the ask and im sorry if this is confusing!! i just think this is one of those weird situations where like. i think karl deserved some criticism for what happened and how he handled it or at least he shouldve been asked to address it but that just. isnt what happened, at all. he was harrassed. karl got harrassed and because of that he handled this situation even more sloppily than he probably wouldve and exposed private info about himself that he didnt feel comfortable doing and it just. fucking sucks tbh.

[hisui-cotton]

So two things to prelude this post, one is that today on twitter #boycottGenshin trended at the start of the day, and #DoBetterMihoyo taking over by the end of the day and I'm on the side of do better because I think Genshin is early enough in developments that they (Mihoyo) need to learn these lessons earlier (before they get to countries that will be affected by however they are portrayed) and make this great game incredibly better. The second is there is no reason that the development team of Mihoyo should be using indigenous people to baseline their monster species even for simple dances. Make your own "wild" dance, don't perpetuate a savagery being associated with indigenous cultures.

I made first a Twitter thread over here that generally summarized my feelings on the matter at the time they were occurring.

Oh one other thing I guess before I start, T1J does a great video on Tokenism vs Diversity, and why the difference is important to understand the similarites between the two. It's based around understanding where the mindset of these social terms come from and why it's more important to understand how to better be diverse in a genuine sentiment rather than simply by quota inclusive characters. Simply looking up Tokenism in youtube is a great way to hear black voices talking about it as well, not everyone has the same exact feelings on how it's overall done in media or how they feel about it, and how not all Tokenism is based around the black community but minorities in general including LGBTQA+.

_

SO. The problem isn't the inclusion of the characters, or even that thier personalities reflect thier diversity. It's the development choice in how thier wordings of the characters, just on surface levels, can be a dangerous mindset to get behind.

The first thing that should be said is there is no problem in making it important to include other characters of color, and there's nothing wrong with them being bold. It's that when next to the other playable characters, Kaeya and Xinyan are not just wildly eccentric, but are portrayed as such even more so than others characters on specifically a surface level of appearance. This is all "murky" because I believe there may be great intentions behind Mihoyo including them at all, it just needs to be kept in mind there's a pattern and token feeling to how they're doing it, thus making the details of the characters  stories feel disingenuous.

Kaeya is specifically called "exotic" multiple times. Both by Paimon, who is a space child, and the very description of his appearance is "Kaeya is a tall young man of lean build with dark skin, noted to give him an “exotic” and foreign look" its specified that his skin color is what makes him exotic. It may be to "hint" that he literally isn't from Mondstat (although Dainsleaf is questionable then) but it's really off putting that his skin color, rather than something like his diamond iris, is what's emphasized here. There's nothing wrong with him being black, there's nothing wrong with him standing out but to single his skin color as being other, strange, and the thing about him that is unique, isn't kind even when meant to be. They're trying to emphasis that he's handsome partially because his skin is darker. It comes off kind of like a fetish. Its being said it was a translation error but the fact that it was translated as such an error is important. It was seen as being okay to translate as such in localization. Part of the inherent need to not make it about race but still emphasis that race is important is there in that word choice or someone just didn't think it sounded wrong. It has been that way from the game's release afterall.

The inclusion of diversity in Mondstat could be better on its surface level as well. It's a town that has scholars coming to study there, though at the moment aside from Albedo the only other scholar I can think of is Sayid. He's an NPC from Sumeru, a yet to be seen country but seems based around Egypt, Arabia, and India. In fact there are several other NPCs from Sumeru, and unfortunately they're all very white. It's somewhat easy to say "they're just place holders for later" but how long is that? Will it be long before the implementation of Sumeru, or will it not be till its release? Will they even become people of color later, I mean you're just making a guess and hoping when you say "they're place holders". This is where ranging skin tone, and learning how many darker skin tones there are is important. It allows you to really diversify your world and feel inclusive at the very least.

Xinyan's story is difficult to get around. In some ways whether people realize it or not her story has an edge of progressive desires. What Mihoyo doesn't realize is they can't emphasis a fighter of prejudice, and have her appearance be one of those reasons she is ostracized, and then say that it's based purely by her clothing appearance. Saying it's because of her clothes is one thing, saying it's her performances literally burning down the stage is one thing, but for people of that skin color it sounds like excuses being made to judge her other than skin tone, when that's what they may want to judge her by. That doesn't mean every character is secretly judging her by skin color, and it doesn't mean there are purposely racial undertones but everything setup around her, allows for it to be there.

For some people it's a welcomed character story actually, a young asian-black girl from the country pioneering an innovation to music with the knowledge of her home and style of a foreign country. It's just sad that she is the only asian-black character in Liyue and can't connect with the others because of prejudice, the same way it's sad to see Kaeya is the the only black man in Mondstat and is still seen as highly different in the city he's lived in since a young age. I said it earlier too but a few more shades of darker skin tones really would have gone a long way for these characters inclusions. Xinyan is a wonderful character with a heart big enough to want to fight prejudice and be accepted by her own people. I'm sure that she's not the only one though.

I don't think there is actually any difference between the model and art skin tones either. They both at default have Xinyan with a dusty dark skin tone exactly like Kaeya. The model's skin can become lighter during the day, and darker during night since there are actual light sources. The fact that she and Kaeya are the only two dark skinned characters and there are only two countries so far though, says something about a quota of making sure there's black people within the game. That in of itself makes all that character story, for either character, come off as fake care about their stories

I can't even summarize my thoughts to end this, and there's a lot of people who feel differently than I do, I'm just laying out what could be done better and make the natural and interesting characters not feel disingenuous in thier implementation to the game.

That all the thoughts I have right now but if I have more I'll definitely continue this post through an edit-and-reblog post.

[lady-of-disdain]

If you're so bothered by a cartoon ship (which... no words) still don't understand why you take it out on shippers, not like you could do much about the studio anyway, they don't care, as they should, but then being on our ass is entirely pointless... maybe that's the problem at the same time, maybe to some extent you do realise no one cares so you've decided persecuting a bunch of fan creators and consumers would be the next best thing. That said I feel it's imperative to point out, we're not Sunrise, we're not the ones with the power to shape this story, so you bullying us is frankly just devoid of any meaning other than raw intent for violence. At the very least admit that and drop the pretences, it's the only thing you've done after all, one would have to be blind not to see it.

If you're afraid a puny ship might be canon, and whatever you've twisted it to mean for you, take it up with the studio, alternatively with god since you're so into fictive characters over real life. Come to think of it didn't you guys have a friend that has a friend working at the studio? How come you're still so insecure? Why don't you tell the friend of the friend to influence the plot? Why hasn't this friend of a friend provided any other inside scoops to make themselves credible? Questions, questions.

Either way, hurting shippers will achieve nothing, we were gonna ship no matter the canon status of the ship, and I pity you people who think that shipping something has to be done because you want something canon, as opposed to just... for fun... but maybe that comes naturally with being pathetic, anyway, the possibility of it becoming canon now has nothing to do with us. Even less so as Westerners, if audience even has any sort of influence in all this, it would be the Japanese one way before it would be any Western one. Appreciate you giving us so much importance, but we don't need it, and we're just not really as important as you attribute, we'd just love it if you stopped hurting people over cartoons. You made something gruesome out of a fairy tale, that's on you, that's your problem, and we'd all be better off if you found a way to deal with that didn't rely on abusing others.

Honey, are you lost? I think there was maybe a different blog this rant was supposed to be sent to but I got it by mistake. Because I have no worldly idea what you are talking about in about half of this ask.

The first thing that confuses me: that I’m apparently “taking it out on shippers”, “ persecuting”, and “bullying” them? Please show me your receipts. I’ve literally never directly initiated contact with a sessrin blog. Hell, the one time I considered answering a post made by a pro blog, it was going to be in direct response to a question they posed in the anti tag, directed towards antis, and it turns out I couldn’t even answer the post because the user had most of the anti community blocked. (Silly, I know, but this is what we’ve been dealing with so what can I say.) Any time I want to respond to a sessrin argument that wasn’t directed to me anyways, I would usually screenshot it and blackout the names.

I can count on one hand the times I’ve even posted in the same thread as pro sessrin blogs, and in those cases, I either A) didn’t directly call out the other blog/blogs that were posting in the same thread as me, or @ them, or B) was only even interacting in said post because pro shippers were piling on and harassing people in the thread, and I was simply pointing out that there were shippers in said thread acting fools. The only time I ever even pointed out a particular blog I did it via screenshot and did it to keep a record of a blog that was admitting to flagging our posts as spam. 

If you would like to see proof of my interactions, all you have to do is check the #receipts tags on my blog, you’ll find all of my interactions conveniently tagged. (Oh and don’t worry, I’ll get back to that receipts tag shorty.)

The second thing you said that confuses me, that I have a “friend that has a friend working at the studio”? What (and I can’t stress this enough) the FUCK, are you talking about? 

I.....have never made this claim? Where have I ever said this, where have I ever reblogged this? I’ve never even read this? I need some clarification here, because either you are from an alternate timeline where I’m living a much cooler life, or like I said, you have the wrong blog.

~

Anyways, regardless of the fact that I’m pretty sure you sent this to the wrong person, I guess I can render a response to the base question you seem to be asking here: Why argue with shippers?

Really, at the end of the day, I’m not arguing with your average shipper. Hell, there are a few blogs I even follow and interact with that have said they like sessrin content, but they understand this is not an appropriate thing for a kid's show. And I can respect that because I’ve been in the problematic ship boat in other fandoms. (Here’s a hint, in one of the fandoms that I followed content for a problematic ship in, a content creator was given cookies with sewing needles baked into them, yikes right?!)

The main message of mine and many other blogs I follow is that this ship isn’t appropriate for children’s media, and what happens is a lot of salty people come out of the woodwork who feel the need to argue and say there is nothing wrong with it, which causes us to have to list the reasons why there is indeed something wrong with it (thus why it shouldn't be in said children’s media), then what happens is people like you come at us and act like all we’ve been doing is bullying shippers, and “why don’t you just let us ship in peace!?!?!?!!!??”

In fact, I shouldn’t even be surprised that I got this ask eventually, because as I’ve pointed out in the past, the shipper argument seems to be a cyclical one.

A blogger will make a statement something along the lines that they really don’t care if people ship sessrin, but the shippers really shouldn’t be making a lot of noise to the studio that they want to see this ship in the show because kids watch it, and it’s not a great message to send to kids.

A shipper will then message the blog (usually anonymously if possible) something along the lines of you’re wrong about the ship sending a bad message to kids because of xyz, or it’s a totally normal and healthy relationship, and you’re wrong, or Yashahime isn’t for kids, etc.

The Blogger will then respond with actual evidence, a well-worded response, or even just fucking common sense (like come on, some of the mental gymnastics I’ve seen people employ to try to validate this fucking ship to us is hilarious).

The blogger will then get another message something along the lines of  “why don’t you just let us ship in peace!?!?!?!!!??”

The blogger responds with JESUS CHRIST I SAID FROM THE VERY START THAT I DON’T CARE WHAT YOU SHIP I JUST DON’T WANT TO SEE IT IN A GODDAMN KIDS CARTOON”

At which point the whole process is rinsed and repeated. Congratulations you’ve just witnessed a new grey hair grow out of my fucking scalp.

However, there is a new facet to this shit gem that I’ve noticed during this whole annoying cycle, and that is the fact that a lot of pro shippers are making claims that they are being harassed by anti blogs, but I’m not seeing a lot of proof of this. And make no mistake, if I see an established anti blog being terrible, or making a false claim, I have no problem calling them out, or correcting false information. Please, feel free to screenshot proof and post it in the anti tag, and see how many other blogs won't put up with this either.

And to be clear, I don’t really count anonymous asks as harassment, because people can be sending that shit to themselves. Just like I don’t mind asks I get like this one because I naively respond to them in the hopes that maybe someone will actually understand what the argument has been about this whole time. And if I didn’t like it, turning off anon magically gets rid of it, so *shrug*.

No, I’m talking about actual, out in the open harassment, or shitty behavior. 

Like oh say, Patreon art being reposted in a discord server, then when a good samaritan reports the art theft they are harassed by their fellow discord members. 

Or maybe the ongoing flagging and harassment campaigns that are going on over almost all online social media platforms. 

Or how about the time some people tried to start a Twitter smear campaign against a voice actor who has some opinions about their ship they don’t like.

Yeah, remember how I said I’ve got a receipts tag. I see ya’ll.

[en-theheights]

Part two of the problems in HSMTMTS:

In my last post I stated the situations within the fandom not regarding the s*xual assault allegations or the BLM movement. In this post I will be. Let’s dig in.

Sidenote: when I say that someone hasn’t posting anything at all on their Instagram about the BLM movement, I just mean that they haven’t posted anything on their feed. They could’ve posted a bunch of stuff on their insta-stories, but those go away after 24 hours, and it doesn’t count for me.

Joshua, Olivia, and Frankie, were VERY late when it came to talking about the BLM movement. They didn’t say anything until people called them out for not saying anything, and at that point it seemed like they only posted about that stuff because of peer pressure or bandwagoning activism. Olivia is doing her part now, Joshua posted a thread on Twitter a week after eveything had happened. He also said that he donated money. He posted a petition and a photo on Instagram, but that’s it. He hasn’t said anything else about the BLM movement since May when people acttacked him for it. When people dmed his manager on why he hasn’t been speaking up about the matter, she would block them. Here’s what he said on Twitter:

Frankie said something and is mostly doing his part on Twitter, but on Instagram he hasn’t said anything. Joe was hated on for posting the black square and then deleting it because it didn’t follow his aesthetic on Instagram. Although, he is doing his part on Twitter.

Dara, and Julia both unfollowed Joshua on Twitter, as well as unfollowing him on tik tok alongside Sofia too. Don’t know if it had to do with the BLM movement or not, but there is obviously some turmoil between the cast members. (Oh the things I would do to see their group chat rn) Everyone else has been spot on about the BLM movement, and has definitely been doing their part.

Onto the s*exal assault allegations:

Joshua has currently two s*xual assault allegations against him, but the third one came out to be false. Long story short, a young lady on a Twitter named Gr*ce accused him of s*xually assaulting her, but then it came out that she was lying about the whole thing for some “social experiment” She was cancelled VERY quickly. Here are a few twitter threads you can view to learn more about the false accusation:

This is what Gr*ce accuses him of:

This is what what the user shows to say that the accusations are fake:

Tumblr only allows me to post 10 pictures so I’m showing the two screenshots out of them all what I feel is most important. If you want to read more about it, then you can head to Twitter and search up, “Joshua Bassett Grace” and it’ll be the one of the first things to pop up.

This is what he had to say on the situation:

“it has come to my attention that a now deactivated account has spread rumors about me regarding a fabricated encounter with a fan accusing me of sexual assault. this abhorrent rumor is absolutely false, and dangerous to actual victims with real stories. (1/2)”

““i’m sick to my stomach that someone would recklessly perpetuate such defamatory claims. it is vital to respect all peoples boundaries at all times. be kind and be good. (2/2)”

It’s people like her that make others afraid to come out with their allegations because people are just going to assume it’s false. She is a sorry excuse for a human being. Yes, he spoke about the first allegation against him, but he still hasn’t addressed the others ones. This is another one that had come out about him:

It’s not s*xual assault, nor is it s*xual misconduct, really just him being a shitty human being. This one has little to no proof, and it’s hard on what to believe. Personally for me, definitely could be true, but that doesn’t mean he’s an abuser, just more of a guy you shouldn’t try anything with.

The third allegation against him is so hard to comprehend and understand, and I’ve literally searched all over twitter to find it, but I can’t seem to find anything about it. The bare minimum that I know of is that he was messing around with underage girls, but that is just what I could find out of the mess that is Twitter. Still, there is no actual proof that he has been, so believe what you will. Most people have come to Joshua’s defense due to the sporadic accusations against big male celebrities like Ansel Elgort, Justin Bieber, Cole Sprouse, etc. It seems to be a trend now to accuse male celebrities of sexual assault to possibly gain money and internet fame. This is disgusting, and I hope that the other girls that are accusing Joshua are being truthful.

Julia and Joe both liked Joshua’s sexual assault post, but then immediately took their likes back. Julia got on something called Cameo in which you get paid to speak about certain things. Someone asked her her opinion about Joshua’s allegations and she defended him.

Personally for me, she does know Joshua better than the fandom, so Im not surprised at anything she said. She wasn’t going to go on and say bad things about her co star. Although, I don’t think it was smart for her to speak up about it, and then try to beat around the bush. This is also a note to ALWAYS believe the accuser and never the abuser. Just because you stan Joshua does not mean he’s a good person. He’s going to show us what he wants us to see..obviously. stop saying, “he would never do that” because that’s what 12 year olds say. We have no idea the type of person that Joshua is behind closed doors and off camera. This goes for every celebrity ever. Please be smart and know which side to stand for. If the allegations against him turn out to be false, then I’ll switch sides.

Tim Federle was accused of s*xual misconduct a few years ago, but it has finally come to light. Tim hasn’t come out to say anything about it, but it’s DISGUSTING and he needs to address it:

Here a website that you can visit to read more about it:

Once again I’m going to believe the accuser rather than the Abuser. Don’t forget that this allegation against him happened quite a while ago. But because Disney is such a powerful network, any and all information about him during that time has been deleted. Buzzfeed did an article about it, but it was deleted. There is currently a petition going around for Tim Federle to be fire as show runner of HSMTMTS. It needs 1,500 signatures and it’s so close to its goal. Go to change.org and learn more about the petition there. Again, believe what you will, but Tim went very quiet after his accusation came out.

Alright there. I have laid out eveything that I know of that has happened in the HSM fandom. If you still choose to stick with this fandom, than that is completely up to you. I know Tumblr is the safe place for all fandoms, but it’s important that all of you know who and what you’re supporting. This is in no way showing you why you should or shouldn’t leave the fandom. That is completely up to you. Do what you will with this information. I have chosen to overall just completely forget about my involvement with this group and move forward.

Remember:

Know who to stand for

I’m now done with this fandom. If there are still any questions, than my dm is always open.

[borhap-au]

Joe Mazzello: the fluffy chronicles.

Comforting Joe. 

It’s been troubling two years for Joe, since his dad – his hero, his best friend, his role model, passed away. He still sometimes caught himself wanting to call him in times of trouble, and only when he couldn’t find his dad’s number on his contact list had he realized he will never be able to call him again. On daily basis Joe was caught up in other things, too busy for too much thinking, but around the time of his dad’s birthday or the anniversary of his passing, the thoughts come back again. You never dismissed his troubles, always let him cry on your shoulder, talked with him long hours about it if necessary. He confided in you, not scared of letting you know about any of his little secrets. You were generally someone who was able to lift him up, but those current times were really troubling for him. Not only did he lose his dad, but also in times of the pandemic the entire movie industry shut down, with him not being able to find a job. He didn’t star in any movie for two years, and it was hanging over his head, because he wanted to be able to provide for his family that he wanted to start with you. From all the troubles in his personal life and his career, he has experienced a writing block, not being able to write or edit any of the scrips for his future movies. Once, while checking his Twitter, he came across a thread of people hating on him, and that broke him a little. He didn’t talk much, he was rather quiet and wanted to spend more time alone. You let that go for a few days, hoping he will open up to you when he will be ready for it. Unfortunately that didn’t happen, so you decided to come to him and ask him directly about his troubles. He was hesitant at first, but then decided to let you know what was going on. It started off as usually, with him telling you how much he missed his dad.

“And you know, I should visit my mom more often. I don’t want to miss any moments with her, I’m done playing the adult role in my life, I’m done pretending I don’t need my parents and their guidance from time to time. I wanted everyone to see how independent I was, how I could handle everything on my own, and because of that I missed some of the very important moments with my dad. I should’ve visited him all the time when everything was still good,” he muttered quietly and laid his head on your legs, and you softly pet his head and shoulder. You understood him. You also lost a family member and you knew very well how that regret creeps in from time to time. At the same time you were very proud of Joe, for being able to talk about his loss, for the fact that he didn’t close it all in, and also that he let the entire world know how amazing his father was, in his posts on social media. Not many people were able to talk about their loss with such honesty. Moreover, you supported his charity work, also inspired by his father.

“So we will. We will visit her on the weekend, okay? And any time you need it,” you smiled and he looked at you. He reached his hand to your face and pet your cheek, smiling slightly. He felt your support and that was very important to him, especially in those moments.

“Are you sure about this? Those trips may be boring for you, I know you’re not really in for family meetings…” you shook your head, confirming what you’ve said before.

“Whenever you need me, I’ll go there with you. I like our little road trips,” you took his hand and laced your fingers. He pet your hand with his thumb.

“I’m happy to hear that then. I like when you go there with me. I hate not having you close. I always miss you. A lot,” you smiled, but before you could add anything, he continued. “But I also don’t want this to be a responsibility for you. We should both enjoy it equally.”

“I like going there with you. I like your mom. And I like to spend the nights in your old bedroom,” you smirked, letting him know what exactly you meant by that, also reminding him of a few very nice moments. He smiled as well, especially since you reassured him about certain things. “Even if you went alone, I’d follow you. I hate when you’re not around. Especially at night. I need to have your arm around me to feel safe, even at home,” he knew what you meant, because he also hated when he went to sleep and you weren’t there.

“Sounds like you love me,” he gave you a little smile and you immediately nodded.

“Of course I love you. With all my heart,” after all, you knew each other for a while and you were even planning the future together. Your feelings towards him didn’t change, if anything, you loved him more than before.

“Even though I’m a loser without a job?” after hearing that, you immediately hugged him tightly.

“You’re not a loser. And you have a job, your job is acting. We are just in a middle of a worldwide pandemic. Once it’s all over, you will have the Duck movie, and many more,” you smiled to him and quickly added. “And if they don’t consider you for the next Jurassic movie, I will sue those motherfuckers,” you joked and he immediately chuckled, because it was too funny for him how innocent you sounded while cursing. While he was still laughing, you continued.

“You’re one of my favorite actors, but not because I’m biased. You have a great range. From dramatic roles to comedy, you’ve nailed everything I’ve seen you in. And you’re a director too! Not to mention you write awesome scripts. If you want to, we can later do some brainstorming, maybe we will come up with another wonderful piece such as Undrafted.” He smiled when you mentioned that. He was really happy to hear that you enjoyed his movies, after all, he decided it’s you that he wants to impress for the rest of his life.

“You’re a blessing, you know? You’re amazing and gorgeous,” he smiled, petting your cheek. You chuckled quietly, because in your opinion, it was way too far-fetched to call you all those things. But he believed differently. “You make me feel better, not only about all of this, but also about myself. Seeing you always makes me think: how did I get so lucky to have you all to myself? And then I start thinking that maybe all the flaws I see in myself, maybe they don’t really matter to you. And that’s a very important thing to notice. That something that to me is a big problem, something that I believe is too visible for anyone not to notice, the same thing for you is either too small to be a problem, or not noticeable at all. It always makes me feel better.”

It was really everything you needed to hear. It was your goal to be your boyfriend’s biggest supporter, not only in a way that would be visible to others, but also to him. You wanted him to feel appreciated and loved in the relationship. You wanted to always lift him up, instead of putting him down. Life was already miserable enough in itself, and you wanted to be able to bring happiness into the life of your biggest source of joy, your man, Joey.

“As an actor,” he continued, “I am aware of every little part of my body that may not appear flattering on screen. That’s also why I turned to comedy, because it doesn’t matter how you look like on screen as long as you make others laugh. But around you, I feel like I could be right there on screen alongside all those Pitts and Goslings, and compete with them, and even win. Of course that will never happen, but I just wanted to put into words the things you make me feel,” he smiled, sat up and kissed you softly. You put your hand on his cheek, kissing him back.

“In my heart, you’ll always win with them. I don’t care about any Pitts, Goslings or anyone else, as long as I have my Mazzello. To me, you’re amazing, and handsome, and overall attractive. You’re my supermodel, my Oscar-winning actor and director, in my mind, you deserve everything that’s the best in the world, because you make my life better. And not only mine. You read all of those messages from girls telling you how much they love your movies, your comedy, your YouTube channel. You to them are what Brad Pitt is to others. Not everyone has the same taste, and to some of them, you are the perfect man. I know you are to me. You’re funny and you care about others. I don’t know what can be more attractive than a good heart. Not to mention, you really step out of your comfort zone to make others laugh. You’re such a dork sometimes. God, I love you for it,” you chuckled and you both instinctively hugged each other. There was no place better than right there, in his arms.

“You like my comedy?” he muttered, petting your back. You smiled and kissed his shoulder.

“I love it. Anytime I hear you have an idea for a new YouTube video, I literally want to see it right there and then, even if you haven’t finished it yet. I just love every single one of your projects, no matter how small. And that one video, in which you told us it was okay to make fun of you or even insult you, as long as it will make it easier for us to get through quarantine? That was so selfless and amazing, I had tears in my eyes just watching it. You’re my love, my idol, my hero, my everything, Joey. I hope you feel it every day.”

“Oh, I’m your hero now, huh? Good to know, will annoy you with that for the rest of your life,” he joked, because he didn’t really know how to respond to that. It was beautiful and overwhelming to him, but he felt happy after hearing that. You could see it in his eyes. “And since I’m a hero, then you must be my princess,” you nodded when he said that, because you always loved the pet names he had for you.

“And I can promise you, my knight in shining armor, my prince charming…”

“Your king…”

“Let’s not go that far,” you both laughed. “I promise you that everything will be okay, as long as we have each other. I’m here for you and I always will be. I swear.”

“Thank you for it. I love you, Princess,” he pet your cheek, smiling.

“I love you too…”

“King.”

“No,” once again you chuckled, and you knew that when Joe was able to crack jokes like that all the time, everything will be alright.

[garetthawke]

okay so. just to let tumblr know what is going on with twitter wrt the she-ra ending and what's blowing up on lesbian twitter, someone made a post celebrating canon sapphic couples, with she-ra, korra, adventure time, and steven universe.

then this fucking asshole made this comment on it:

...which was followed up by this comment of the asshole below him.

[a twitter retweet with the comment "girl on girl is the safest and laziest LGBT representation" by twitter user TroyVaderInk, with a comment below from twitter user UnHolySpork that says "its almost like they are completely fetishizing lesbian relationships and also completely ignoring that lesbian relationships are most often extremely abusive. EXTREMELY."]

and the overt lesbophobia is enough to be mad about, obviously. but this is getting under my skin for more than that, too.

so, contextually, the discussion these people thought they were having was pointing out how seriously hard it is to get m/m couples on a show like this. however, the conversation had instead was this extremely offensive mess.

the original comment does a few things here, 1 being the complete erasure and dismissal of the struggle LGBT people have had actually getting these f/f couples on screen.

2, acting like these four children's cartoons are somehow elevating wlw representation to straight representation by pitting mlm rep against them vs against het couples, rather than acknowledging both facts: that four shows of minor, one-to-none kiss rep is pathetically low, AND that mlm rep is pretty much nonexistent in media like this.

and 3, he used the phrase "girl on girl" like a goddamned porn category, implying his opinion on the apparent "easiness" and "laziness" of sapphic couples is in fact informed by and probably counting fetishistic lesbian porn made for straight men.

(this man also spent a good deal of time on twitter antagonizing lesbians who called him out, many of them teenagers, some by saying some sexist shit and defending it with utterly stereotypical sexist responses, and he had added to his callout, a post of him referring to a sapphic character with the d slur, so feel free to go report him.)

the second comment here chimes in with an almost hilariously hypocritical assertation that a) these sweet, canon wlw couples on CHILDREN'S shows are (somehow) fetishistic (for existing at all i guess??) and that b) most lesbian relationships are (somehow) abusive; which is besides the point of this post, but still one of the most hurtful and damaging things said in this thread. there is an additional comment of hers (not shown) below this one that clarifies that is what she meant.

in any case, this drove me up a fucking WALL.

because while the initial point here - that media creators are still too scared to show boys as much as even holding hands in shows like this - has a lot of validity to it, it was posed at the utter expense of lesbians, and requires of heavy dose of hypocrisy to follow through in that way.

because while media is still scarce on similar mlm rep, fandom is literally DOMINATED by it. to the point that many lesbians, including myself, have said we can't find a safe space within it ANYWHERE. I've had to drop out of active participation in SO MANY fandoms i previously loved, because the entire fandom was reduced down to thirsting after and fetishizing men in the fandom, particularly in m/m format.

there is overt hostility towards lesbians in fandom spaces when we express our discomfort over this, and to boot f/f often gets ignored or mistreated by the same people, so it only adds to our discomfort and alienation.

these 4 shows have hardly put a dent in that. they are very meagre representation at best, save maybe steven universe on a technicality, because the rest are all end-of-show or even post-show confirmations, and all of these shows have about 1-2 kisses each, if even that. pathetic stats when compared to m/f couples. it has not made fandom that much of an easier place to be as a lesbian, but i am nontheless INCREDIBLY thankful they exist nonetheless.

the hypocrisy is hard, because as a lesbian the most we are often offered is blatant fetishization, so wlw media that literally DOESN'T do that, coming from lgbt people, is incredibly important. anything that is normalizing is desperately needed.

and yet this person calls what little bit of non fetishistic media we have fetishistic, underneath a fetishizing comment about them, decrying it existing because of claimed fetishization - all in the name of speaking up about mlm rep, which is, within fandom, actually JUST as fetishized, if not more.

and it breaks my fucking heart as much as it enrages me, because this COULD have been a valuable discussion. we could have talked about the fact that mlm have yet to get similar representation to this, likely mostly due to toxic masculinity. but instead these posts used that as merely an excuse, the afterthought to tearing down lesbians and this wlw rep.

and all this to say: it literally doesn't matter how valid your original point is; if you build it on a foundation of hatred and bigotry, it loses all credibility, and destroys the desire for anyone to put in discussion about it. talking about mlm rep under a heavy blanket of lesbophobia will get you nowhere except on a lot of shit lists, unless you WANT to align with general homophobes; but i promise you they will care even less about the plight of mlm rep, save for, oh how ironic, cases of fetishization.

if you look at four, yes the whole FOUR shows sapphics got of representation like this, and your follow through logic is that sapphic rep is thus "easy" and "lazy," you are clearly lesbophobic already and have no ground to start with.

the clashing, hypocritical combination of ideas here that bizarrely imply that both a) fetishized lesbians count as rep, and b) that lesbian rep shouldn't be there because it's fetishized, do not create a cohesive starting point for a discussion of lack of mlm rep, and conveniently ignores the endless bounds of fetishization that is involved with m/m couples in fandom; which means none of it is actually about fetishization at all. it's about these couples being sapphic.

the fact that these two people are bi, people from within our own community, makes this hurt all the worse. lesbophobia is so goddamned pervasive among us that even when we should be fucking celebrating this factually rare achievement of rep, instead people are tearing down lesbians, both characters and real people.

it's disgusting, disheartening, and it's something we need to pay attention to so we can call it out and make it abundantly clear that it will not be tolerated or normalized.

the height of offensive irony is calling us "safe" when this is what we get just over an episode of a cartoon showing two girls kiss.