#like we already live in a world where lots of innocent people die

[idkhowtopickausername]

It’s true and important to point out that landback is about a return to Indigenous sovereignty and doesn’t mean that everyone else has to leave but it’s also true that land back + the fall of the American empire will probably not happen without significantly jeopardizing the safety of the average North American, and the American government/empire will be to blame for that because it won’t give up power peacefully

[stinkrascal]

Breanna: It don't hurt, does it? Vladislaus: It is healed, mostly. I am grateful you only took one bite.

Breanna: [ slurping ] You want some of this? Vladislaus: No. Thank you. Breanna: Uhuh. Hey, so is cannibalism a thing with vampires?

Vladislaus: Of course. Cannibalism is found within many species. It is only natural it occurs in our kind as well. Breanna: Oh. I bet that's a big problem. Hey, what about restaurants?

Vladislaus: What about them? Breanna: Do vampires got restaurants? I bet that would help with the cannibalism thing. Vladislaus: There is an entire city at our disposal. There are many such opportunities for fine dining experiences.

Breanna: Huh? Oh. You could've just said yes, but okay. I bet you read a lot.

Breanna: Hey, so do vampires have libraries? Vladislaus: Yes, Breanna. We have libraries. Breanna: Yeah, you sound like you read a lot. Vladislaus: Thank you. Breanna: That wasn't a compliment.

Breanna: Hey, by the way, where are we going? Vladislaus: To the headmaster. She wishes to meet you. Breanna: Oh, right. Hey, so I got another question. Vladislaus: Yes, I'm sure you do.

Breanna: What's that supposed to mean? Vladislaus: Nothing at all. Breanna: I feel like you're making fun of me.

Vladislaus: What is your question, my dear?

Breanna: It was—uh—oh. Yeah. About when I bit you. You were bleeding. And last night, when you cut your hand—you bled then too. How's that work? How do you bleed if you're dead?

Vladislaus: You are mistaken. We are not dead. It is the opposite. As vampires, we are made to live. We experience life in its most concentrated form. Food tastes better, music sounds sweeter, and my God, Breanna, the sex.

Breanna: ...

Vladislaus: ...

Vladislaus: [ clears throat ] My point is, we are not dead, we are more alive than any other. Breanna: That's... good? Right? Frankie: Hey! Heyyyyy! HEEEYYYYYY! HEYY VLADDY DADDY! [ coughs ] ah shit, HEY VLAD! C'MON LITTLE MAN, I KNOW YOU SEE ME!!!!!!! HEYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Vladislaus: Of course. If you pay no mind to the minor setbacks. Breanna: Huh? What setbacks?

Vladislaus: The part where we eat the flesh of innocents, my sweet summer child. Breanna: Oh. How'd you know my birthday's in the summer? Frankie: C'mon peepaw! Get some fuckin' hearin' aids! [ whistles ] Yoohoo! Over hereee!

Breanna: Who's that guy over there? I think he's calling for you.

Breanna: Hello? Mr. Straud? Are you listening to me?

Breanna: Do you know that guy? Vladislaus: [ clears throat ] No. Vladislaus: [ in Frankie's mind ] Leave me alone. Frankie: Aww, c'mon, you don't gotta be like— Vladislaus: [ in Frankie's mind ] I SAID LEAVE. Frankie: Agh, get outta my head ya pervert.

Breanna: It kinda seems like you know him. Vladislaus: [ clears throat, louder this time ] As I was saying--our powers come at a great cost. You will do well to remember that. Breanna: Huh? Oh. You're still on that. I don't really care to be honest.

Vladislaus: You should. You were human not 24 hours ago. Would you turn your back on your people so quickly? Breanna: Who's my people? They're lucky I'm nice enough to stick to blood packs. Vladislaus: The blood packs are a byproduct of our sin.

Vladislaus: For every blood pack you consume, someone must die. Someone must be slaughtered. Breanna: Get off your high horse dude, you're a vampire too. If you think it's so bad you shouldn't have asked to be turned. Vladislaus: Is that what you believe?

Vladislaus: [ sighs ] Forgive me. I am being haughty. Truthfully, I envy your nature. You are suited for this life. This world was not made for me, and every interaction I have reminds me so.

Vladislaus: You, however, seem very good at enjoying yourself. You seek decadence, do you not? Vampirism is a decadent lifestyle. You will thrive. I can already tell. Breanna: ...Oh.

Breanna: [ giggles ] That sounds fun.

Breanna: You make me sound like I put some thought into it.

[thisisallthehattersfault]

Some Whitebeard Pirate Excerpts

"But," Rakuyo whimpers. He sounds so very small. "But I'm your son."

Whitebeard's face remains cold. "I have so many sons."

"Oh shit," Marco chokes. "Rakuyo, run!"

The call is picked up and echoed, his siblings crying out for him. He hears the cooler heads among them holding the others back from rushing to their own deaths trying to save him. "It's too late for him!" They shout. "There's nothing we can do, he's a goner!"

Not without a fight. He scrambles at the ground on all fours, animal-afraid, and tries to force enough speed into his fragile, mortal limbs to escape what's coming. He barely makes it two feet before Whitebeard's shadow falls over him like a physical thing, oppressive and heavy. Stifling all the air in his lungs.

Someone screams "Pops, you'll kill him!"

There is the boom of displaced air. Rakuyo has just enough time to think this isn't how I thought I'd die. Then, all at once, the world goes dark.

Whitebeard's massive fucking pillow is practically the size of Rakuyo's entire body, and it slams over him with a fwump that squishes him flat and knocks the breath out of him and sends a spray of oversized feathers up into the air. Some of Rakuyo's siblings have continued their dramatics, and from under the very soft weight currently crushing him to death and muffling his ears he can hear Haruta wailing "He was so young!" and Thatch's hysterical "He had so much to live for!"

Rakuyo gets a corner of the pillow pried up enough to drag in a breath of fresh air, only to immediately inhale a feather and almost actually die choking on it. The rest of the gathered crew are avenging his gruesome murder, and Whitebeard is now fending off most of his children while they attempt to collectively beat him to death with pillows.

Pops, the bastard, just laughs.

It's Blamenco who comes to actually help pry the goddamn pillow off of Rakuyo so he can escape it's down-filled clutches. "You're the only person in this family who actually loves me," Rakuyo tells him.

“That ain’t true and you know it,” his brother scolds him, but he’s grinning, too. “Look, they’re all killing Pops for you. That’s gotta count for something.”

Rakuyo sighs. “Only if they actually manage it.”

------------------------------------------------

“Wh— Is this therapy?” Ace sputters. “Are you therapizing me right now?!”

From somewhere behind him, Jiru mutters, “That’s not a word.”

Kingdew raises his eyebrows. “Without your consent? I would never. It would be malpractice.”

“You lost your license,” Ace seethes.

“For murder,” Kingdew peacefully informs him. “Not malpractice. I’m very serious about the privacy of my patients.”

Ace grits his teeth until his jaw aches. “You are a lying liar who lies.”

“I am?”

“Yes!” Ace waves a hand vaguely at the two of them, and the table they’re sitting at, and the — the fucking hot chocolate. “You’re… trying to get me to talk about my problems because your whole thing is beating up everybody’s brain goblins for them. You’re like, obsessed with the crew’s mental health. I’m onto your game.”

“My game?”

“You’re like—“ Ace grapples with the words. “You’ve got like, that thing, where you can’t do a lot of physical lifting or chores or fighting sometimes because of the fibro-thing, so you try to make up for it by being everybody’s shrink because it’s something you can do even when you can’t stand up.”

Kingdew nods, thoughtfully, like they’re having a debate and Ace is raising interesting points. “Hm…” he muses. “Now who’s therapizing?”

“It’s still you!” Ace shouts. “You’re doing a — a one of those — reverse psychic things on me! Well it’s not gonna work!”

“It already did,” Kingdew informs him, all innocence. Ace can practically see his fucking halo glinting. “You just told me you think it’s normal for people to feel like they have to earn their right to exist.”

“That’s — I —” Ace gapes, too stunned to even really argue. “You’re an asshole,” He realizes.

“Hmmm,” Kingdew intones. “And how does that make you feel?”

“Oh, fuck you!” Ace jumps up from the table, snatches up the hot chocolate (it’s good hot chocolate, and shouldn’t be ruined by — by shitty therapizing crew mates!) and storms out of the room.

Before he slams the door behind him, he hears Pops’s voice, a deep rumbling sight. “Do you really have to come down that hard on him? You’ll scare him off.”

“I don’t know what you mean.” Kingdew sounds way too goddamn pleased with himself. “We’re making great progress.”

[analexthatexists]

TAWOG OC Playlist Explaination!

Strap in, this is a long analysis.

Also, this character’s name is named O2!

Check out the original post/playlist HERE!

My Ordinary Life

The 8-Bit part of it doesn’t matter, it’s more about the song’s name. An introduction to our character with a catchy song to go with it. However, the song itself has some pretty complex meaning underneath it and is more than just a nice head bop, but most of that is swept under the rug by using the 8-Bit cover, which could convey ignorance or innocence.

Basics in Behavior

O2’s suspicions about the reality of their world begin hitting them during school. The lyrics “Is it okay to have a feeling that maybe there is more to this game” and “This is how we live our lives searching for the answers inside of every page” from the chorus are the main focus here. Are these feelings valid? Is it okay to be questioning their world like this? She doesn’t seem to be the only one questioning this either. She can’t be, right? This is around the time she gets a hold of the files containing the truth of her world from THE AWESOME STORE.

Not Enough Time

The song is very frantic and intense. The type of stuff you’d hear in a “Time is running out, you need to act NOW” type of sequence. O2’s literally running out of time as she fails to warn the people of Elmore of what’s going on, eventually getting ignored and forgotten about, which leads to…

End is Near

The song starts simple, then the drop basically ruins the peace. It’s devolved into chaotic noise and random sound effects, yet still comprehensible somehow. Pretty much what O2’s mentality’s going through. With little room to breathe and already so much on her mind, she’s sent to The Void where she proceeds to lose it. She doesn’t want to be trapped here nor does she want to die with so little idea of what she’s even living for. She’s scared. She’s alone. End is near. …But…Her fears are suddenly cut off as the song does. She isn’t alone after all. (Hmm…A TADC song could of fit this playlist…)

No More Entities

Referring to the lack of people and answers in The Void name-wise, but the melancholy yet calmer tone of the song gives way to O2 taking a step back and relaxing, taking in the situation and accepting her fate trapped in The Void. Rob has been able to calm O2 down, and maybe things won’t be so bad after all. …Oh, how wrong that turned out.

This World of Mine, World of Everything, The World Revolving

These were all paired together intentionally. Let’s start with This World of Mine. Note: Around this time, Rob has escaped The Void as he did in The Void episode. O2 chose to stay. “Can’t accept? Well, you’ll come around; When headaches start and; The strokes have you bed-bound; Your time’s slowly creeping near; Footsteps won’t even sound” O2’s threatening someone. Who? Why, the producers/writers of the show themselves! The line “Can’t accept?” Specifically is her asking “Can’t accept the end of this show?” Referring to the fate of the show getting rebooted and a movie. “Well, you’ll come around” suggesting O2 believing they’ll change their minds about rebooting the show, the reason for that being a multitude of reasons; Backlash, CN cancelling them, ETC. She threatens them rebooting the show because she believes The Void consuming it and letting them die in peace is a better end than potentially being mutilated and turned soulless in a poorly done reboot. She’s the opposite of Rob; Cancel us and let us pass on, do NOT bring us back, I don’t WANT to be rebooted. It’s a lot like everyone else’s views that are against Rob’s ideals, but WAY darker. That line also goes for Rob, who has the opposite ideas and motives than O2. He’s vengeful and wants Gumball taken down and all that jazz. She’s just not into it, and the fact he won’t accept his fate in The Void only worsens their bond, if they even had one. World of Everything is very similar when it comes to what it’s trying to convey. Most of the song is just O2 trying to make herself feel better; Using painfully sarcastic phrases to make the end of the world sound a little more tolerable. However, each time she does so progressively gets more blatantly obvious that she can’t keep this up. “It’s a new domain, where everyday is all the same” Referring to the cartoon nature of the world and how it always returns to status quo. “All pleasure or all pain, it’s really all the same” O2’s grown numb of both happiness and pain. She’s not sure if there’s even a difference anymore. ”A world of all, yet nothing’s here. Stuck in a loop, year after year. I feel the laughter looming near; Am I the jester, or the butt of the joke?” Again, referring to the repetitive nature of Elmore and the show as a whole. The world is “Amazing”, and yet there’s nothing else to it. Was she ever even important to the story, or was she just a punching bag for jokes and humor? Was she even a real character or just made to be sidelined? A side character? A nobody? “Each step I take gets taken back; I’ve seen the end, the Final Act; The stage goes black; I’ve seen the cracks” All of O2’s actions amounted to nothing. They failed. She knows how the series ends and knows they’ll basically be trapped in a limbo-like state; Both alive and dead (cancelled) at the same time. A show that isn’t progressing or being cancelled. A hiatus. And it drives her insane. The World Revolving is the culmination of her mentality crumbling, to which now the music’s more sensible and easier to listen to, yet still very much chaotic. Unlike her last breakdown (End Is Near), this one is more controlled, maybe even purposeful. You couldn’t even call it a breakdown; It was just O2 accepting the world’s devolution into nothingness.

Heal

The finale is here. The last episode has arrived, Rob’s at Elmore Junior High trying to “fix” the people there, and O2 has nothing more to do and say. There’s nothing left. Nobody to go to minus the people above; The Creators. But why would she continue pestering them? It’s clear that isn’t working. Nothing else to do but… Reconcile. “An evil power draws near; An omen of rage, spite, and fear. Reawakened, stained by death.” The Void / Finale of the series. Might have even been referring to Rob and the remote. “I wish I had some better news. I wish I’d never fallen for his ruse. But I’ve no power to rewind time; So this is how we’ll die” O2 wishes this wasn’t what had to happen, but they can’t do anything about it, so this is how they’ll go out. ”He’ll leave this world a hollow shell; He’ll burn the lines between Life and Hell; He’ll leave us empty, as he himself; He’ll drown in chaos, all we’ve ever held” There is no “he”, they refer to the creators and the inevitable movie/reboot. O2 believes this will leave them hollow and not like their original selves (Or at least take some of their essence and character away, cough, cough, Steven Universe). She’s very pessimistic about all of this, and it’s reflected in the song. ”A cataclysm is soon to fall; The gods of ancient times won’t hear our call!” And even with the pleads for the series to die or for the fans to pray that the reboot won’t be bad, it’s unknown if their prayers will be heard, to which O2 believes they won’t be. Heal is all about impending doom and the inability to do anything about it. At least, to the singer. The mask shopkeeper has “no power to rewind time”, so they accept the death that will fall before them; The Moon coming down and destroying everything. O2, similarly, is powerless in this situation. Their world is going radio silent and fate is going to be unseen. She’s tried everything she knows and can do, but it was all for nothing. …But maybe she’s wrong? Link, with the ability to reverse time, was able to stop the fate the shopkeeper sang about. In a similar fashion, while O2 couldn’t do anything, the fans and creators can still do something about the fate of the show. O2 may believe nothing they did worked, but maybe they were able to reach out to someone. Who knows? All that’s left is an unknown fate. It’s not clear what will and won’t happen. Only one thing is clear to O2… “Pain is the only thing we still can trust”

This was REALLY FUN to write. Thanks to @friendly-neighborhood-furry for inspiring half of these ideas and for their really great indepth analysis of this playlist!

I might post the actual, like, character board soon, but for now, I’m just gonna post this. I’ll link the character post when it comes!

See you soon! . . .

[thatgayguywholikesyourcontent]

I try not to nit pick the show because there are small things here and there that don't matter. But they really should've taken half a minute or added a line of dialogue to explain what Magneto did. Yeah, he emp'd the earth but what where the consequences. Jean says something along the lines of "if we don't fix it, the magnetic field will destabilize."

And Magneto is fine just killing every living thing, human and mutant, on the planet???? I'm sorry, what!?!?! Genosha happens and he's ready to doom everyone so him and a handful of people can rot and die on an asteroid? Its so bizarre. And they can't have him fix the magnetic field to early or the prime sentinels would re activate?

They needed to take a minute or two out of there three part season finale to polish up that shitpile of a plot. And the thing that kills me about it is that the skeleton of a solid plan is right there.

Magneto jacked up the magnetic field.

Its consistently emping the planet, suppressing unshielded tech to keep the prime sentinels shut down at the cost of a world wide blackout.

If its not fixed in 12 hours, this will became unfixable. Magneto himself wouldn't be able to correct it.

And that's his plan. Tech is being used to not only even our the evolutionary arms race between mutants and humans, but will allow humanity to eradicate all mutants eventually.

Mutants are inevitable, stated several times already, and he's giving his people the chance to get ahead of it at the cost of throwing the world back several hundred years.

Which will kill a lot of innocent people, even mutants who can't defend themselves against angry mobs.

Long term victory at a short term cost.

And its a solid plan. Magneto is done. Genosha was the dream Xavier sold him on and its dead. Let the world burn and a new one, a mutant one, take its place.

Magneto even makes a comment that "evolution does well in the dark."

The skeleton of it is right there, but without an explanation a reasonable character is back sliding to a heinous villain. Another problem is that they should've shown mutants on those cargo ships, or him rolling up on Genosha to offer sanctuary to the survivors.

Without any of this the whole climax just feels empty. Sure, we see a bunch of cameos and the chaos on the streets, but it doesn't feel like a line drawn in the sand, the "war" everyone was talking about. I don't know. Just might be influenced by the MCU, or trying to get hype for more marvel cartoons. Focusing to much on refrences where it should focus on the little guy. Its just...If this was every adapted to a comic I could just picture those panels.

[rosewood-multifandom-writer]

Street Fighter 6 Story Review:

After this and Akuma’s release, I am going to review World Tour Mode. Spoilers, I’m gonna be pretty harsh with World Tour and the rest of this game. Every character will get a TL:DR breakdown of their storylines because I don’t want this review being longer than it’s already gonna be.

The only stories that I will not be counting are the DLC character stories because as of the date of this review, I only have Ed. If I get the rest of the DLC after Akuma gets released, then they will have their own review post, but for now, it’s just the base game roster. The stories with a heart (❤️) next to it are my favorites.

Luke: Luke’s story begins with him introducing himself and wanting to meet new people during his street fighting journey. He thinks he’s still the same young punk he was before he joined the military briefly. Luke’s story is about him fighting on his own terms.

Jamie: Nothing special, the usual Jamie being the protector of his city, beating up gangs and thugs, and arguing with Luke.

Manon: Hates being called “strong” as it is a trigger for her due to her mother abandoning her and not having friends due to her being amazing at judo. She also does this thing that I also do whenever I am having a bad day where she says she’s “fine” but she’s not. Marisa is the first and only person who genuinely compliments and praises Manon’s strength. ❤️

Kimberly: A young 80’s aesthetic loving ninja who is investigating her uncle’s death. Runs into JP. ❤️

Marisa: We see Manon vs Marisa from Marisa’s perspective as she proudly talks about her history and of course, more lesbian subtext between the two. ❤️

Lily: She is a part of the Thunderfoot tribe and travels a lot as she is the most curious fighter. She runs into Dhalsim.

JP: This villain is so good because there are people that are just like JP in real life. Not to mention that he is the king of gaslighting and manipulation. If there is one symbol that is more fitting for him, it would be a chess piece. ❤️

Juri: She is having trouble moving on and feels like she has no other purpose in life other than her now one-sided rivalry with Chun-Li, and it looks like Chun-Li’s words did have an affect on her at the end of her story. ❤️

Deejay: If you’re looking for the definition of chill, Deejay will be used as an example picture. Kimberly acts as his inspiration for his newest song.

Cammy: She is investigating the reminents of Shadaloo, and runs into JP. JP gets away, and Cammy is more determined than ever to find more information about Shadaloo, because like a cockroach, Shadaloo just won’t die completely. ❤️

Ryu: In the usual Ryu fashion, Ryu seeks more strength and looks to fight other fighters with unique abilities. Luke wanted to get a picture with him, but the closest he got was an awesome shot of Ryu being his usual heroic neutral self walking away from the fight with Luke.

E. Honda (Bear Hugger): E. Honda wants to open up a new sumo themed restaurant, and the Manon boss fight he has is actually a flashback fight of him trying to open up his restaurant in France where the temporary amusement park is, but Manon gives him better advice for his restaurant. Hence why his restaurant is in Urban Park.

Blanka: He becomes great friends with Lily and remains champion of the jungle like the ugly cute creature he is.

Guile: Guile learns that Ken has not been the same since the incident in Nayshall, and in his ending, he tries convincing Ken to go back to his family and if you remember his conversations in World Tour, he doesn’t want Ken to repeat the same mistakes with his family like he did. ❤️

Ken: Ken is framed for being a terrorist and is now in hiding even after his innocence was proven. I know others beat me to it, but I think this is gonna be the start of Violent Ken. Whether he will appear by Capcom pulling a SF5 season 2 and makes SF6 season 2, or we get SF7, we will definitely be getting that dark side of Ken.❤️

Chun-Li: We see Chun-Li living her best life semi-retired, but thanks to Juri Han, she learns that taking down Shadaloo isn’t that easy, as there are still more things going on with Shadaloo, even though M. Bison is dead. ❤️

Zangief: He mistakes Marisa’s want for a romantic partner for a tag team fighting partner, and he clumsily makes an excuse as to why he can’t. Marisa is a graceful person when it comes to losing and being rejected. ❤️

Dhalsim: Dhalsim being the usual freaky yoga contortionist he is gives Lily some enlightenment.

What are the best stories from Arcade Mode?

The top 5:

1. Juri.

2. Ken

3. JP

4. Guile

5. Kimberly

These five are the best stories as it focuses on the aftermath of Shadaloo’s downfall, which is the best storyline of SF4-SF6’s timeline so far.

My least favorite stories are Lily and Jamie because they’re not the most interesting characters in my opinion, nor were their stories interesting to me. Plus, I’m pretty indifferent towards these two.

Is playing Story mode worth your time?

In my opinion, if you haven’t played Street Fighter in a long time (the last time I personally played Street Fighter I only played SFII) or you’re new to the franchise, the story is definitely worth your time.

In my case, I want to analyze characters like the roster in SF6 and I am going to review the rest of this game, so playing Story Mode was definitely worth it for me. Plus, it doesn’t waste my time like what World Tour did.

So if you want to experience/re-experience SF6’s story, play Arcade Mode’s Story.

I will have a lot more to say about World Tour mode, but as of right now, Akuma hasn’t been released yet, so I can’t fully express my opinion on World Tour as a whole yet.

Conclusion:

In short, the story of Street Fighter 6 is an interesting one from what I have seen as someone whose first experience with Street Fighter was Street Fighter II, so I can’t speak for anyone else who played more of the other games.

I will say that the Arcade Mode Story is better than World Tour’s story. Hopefully it gets better in the Turbo/Ultra/Champion/Whatever Edition of SF6.

[ragnarssons]

Hi! Is it okay if I sent a small rant here?

Most are saying that Joel damned the world by saving Ellie. The world was already damned and killing a innocent little girl wouldn't have made it better. The doctors were incompetent. They were going to kill the only known immune person. They didn't even do any tests. This is enough to prove that even if he left Ellie, there was never going to be a cure because the doctors were idiots.

Did you know that Joel is living his best life at Jackson? Ellie and Dina are married and are rasing JJ together. They also gave Joel a "world's best grandpa" Mug. Joel started teaching guitar lessons it has been a few days let's see how that goes.

It's okay, it's okay, you can come and rant and vent here! People saying Joel damned the world are TLOU2 fanatics who believe the worship-style narrative Abby forced upon the players/audience, because that damn woman can't see no fault in her father. Not even her father murdering a 14yo without her consent. It's funny how we say "well saving the world shouldn't be on Ellie's shoulders"... well technically, "damning" the world shouldn't be on Joel's either. First of all, literally, the world has been ended and doomed for 20 years, while Joel was a poor-ass single dad/contractor not eating his flour. He didn't doom the world, as you say so yourself, at the moment of the game, the world is already doomed, has been for a while, and has revealed a lot of uncomfortable truths about human kind. And yknow, if we gotta delve into questions like this, we still can raise with: How are the doctors any good if they're so willing to kill a child without her explicit consent? And if they get her consent, is it "good consent" if Ellie accepts out of trauma and survivor's guilt? Can they still do it? Where is their duty of care? And then let's say they go with the procedure, everything apple-pie they get their cure. Then what? They use it to beat FEDRA? And how many people would die in the process? What would even be the point of beating FEDRA when it's about "sAvInG HumAnItY"? Or they just distribute it freely like that, happy happy everyone is happy? P l e a s e. The way the world is portrayed in the game and the show, you can't believe that's how it's gonna happen. It's stated multiple times on the show, how FEDRA and The Fireflies are these huge, determined, strong entities going at each other's throat, so much so that oftentimes, human casualties ensue, and it doesn't stop them. Like can we take a minute and weight in on how many people The Fireflies might have killed in approx. 20 years? (I'm sorry anon, literally battling TUMBLR to post this maybe it's too long so I gotta cut this-)

[kingdarkstalker]

I don’t think you really understood the third arc. The reason why it was bad for the leafwings to wipe out the hivewings was because not every hivewing was involved with the tree wars. Most of dragons involved had already died at that point. So it wasn’t fair for them to blame dragons who never took part in anything against them. And don’t forget they were going to do the same to the silkwings. They didn’t care what happened to the silkwings as long as they got their revenge.

How would it be fair for innocent hivewings to die for something they never did? That they had no control over? They literally didn’t even have freewill. Wasp would go so far as to keep dragons under mind control for years just to be petty or to prove a point, like with malachite. We never got to see it, but can you imagine what she did to the hivewings who tried to protest her? Oh wait, we did get to see that. When jewel mentioned a couple of old dragons protesting the treatment of flamesilks. They were turned into zombies. Why should wasps subjects have to pay for her sins? And let’s not act like every hivewing supported wasp because not everyone did. Several times we get to see instances of hivewings defying her. In the epilogue of the flames of hope we’re told most of the hivewings were completely outraged when they learned the truth. There was even backlash from them against jewel just for being related.

The entire theme of the third arc, as I read it, was to look beyond someone’s labels and judge them by who they are as a person, and not purely by their biology. Tui wasn’t trying to sympathize with racists or anything. She wasn’t trying to say that you can’t be mad at your enemies. Heck everyone forgets that blues entire character arc was accepting that things weren’t fine and that he didn’t deserve to be treated the way he was. But blue knew how to be mad at the right people. He didn’t just blindly murder any hivewing who crossed his line of sight. He fought the hivewings who were doing harm and accepted the ones who wanted to help.

i agree that innocents that happened to be born into a genocidal group dont deserve to die, however there's a lot more nuance to this that tui sutherland critically failed to address

"not every hivewing was involved with the tree wars. Most of dragons involved had already died at that point"

not every slave owner in america was involved with the colonization of the land; however they still owned slaves and benefited directly from colonization. the same goes for the hivewings. all the adults after the tree wars, and indeed, generations since, owned literal slaves, and were (consciously or not) treating silkings as objects/possessions. as well as this the adults largely accept the anti leafwing propaganda without second question. completely comfortable in their position of power above others at the cost of their literal lives and personhood

"So it wasn’t fair for them to blame dragons who never took part in anything against them"

many dragons including wasp who were directly responsible for leafwing genocide WERE still alive, and like i just pointed out above, the rest of the adults were complacent slave owners or even soldiers that actively hunted them down.

"And don’t forget they were going to do the same to the silkwings"

i dont think it was right to not attempt a rescue of the silkings or consider them, but at that point in their active genocide i can understand how the leafwings would feel they had no choice, no chance to risk, other than to make certain that none of those who wanted them dead remained

but more importantly, the way tui writes the leafwings against the silkwings really stinks of the way racists try and pit the struggles of people of color against each other. realistically, cultures of color and judiasm have always intersected and upheld each other. tui wasnt capable of imagining a world where the revolutionaries are actually the heroes, so she manufactured a conflict by implying that (some) leafwings think that silkwings are "lazy/complacent" etc when they are LITERALLY slaves and the leafwings having empathy for their situation would be too nuanced for her, of course. if tui sutherland wants to talk about the heavy, extremely applicable to history morality of sacrificing innocent lives to stop a genocide, she better start doing some more research on anarchist / resistant movements, because the shit she writes sounds like she thinks antifa is terrorism lol

How would it be fair for innocent hivewings to die for something they never did? That they had no control over? They literally didn’t even have freewill

alright this is where i have to ask, how far are you intending to go to defend full-on adults that literally owned slaves? when im talking about innocent hivewings, im talking about children or actual honest allies. the very LARGE amount of hivewings were completely comfortable owning slaves, or even if they weren't, they were unwilling to put their lives and bodies on the line. people in america who were born and raised into slave owning families still managed to grow up to realize that owning another person is evil. its rather insulting to the capacity of not only the hivewings theoretical intelligence, but more importantly the reader's. no one is "mind controlled" to own slaves by wasp. this was a system set up intentionally by her and her MANY followers, and was socially accepted by hivewings for how many years again?

nb4 the "but theyre mind controlled!" heres the thing: theyre not mind controlled 100% of the time. yes, wasp is always watching and listening through them and would torture those who tried to rebel. isnt that a convenient way to let hivewings be "too scared" to revolt or even express contempt or disagreement with owning slaves? isnt that such a suuuuper convenient way to blame everything on the actions of ONE person, wasp, as if literal genocide/facism/slavery doesnt take CULTURAL and SYSTEMIC support to even exist? almost like tui sutherland was afraid of, uncapable of, or didnt want to address that she essentially combined the holocoust with america's genocide and slave trade history and that comes with an incredible amount of thought and research? oh but she was too busy looking up evil jungle plants. so she creates a very easy way to have a Single Villain and remove blame from the entire population of hivewings that literally own slaves. because of course, they have no will of their own--except all the hivewings that actively and gleefully abuse the silkwings, or volunteer for soldier or guard duty, or the very few hivewings that actually arent facist. but dont think about that, blame wasp for everything!!

also the idea that most hivewings had NO IDEA about wasp lying to them is so???? aggravating because this shit was only a few generations ago and yes irl lots of people can be fooled by propaganda but we're also talking about owning slaves, not just being unaware that your government is built on an active genocide. like at a point you have to be willingly ignorant to stay within your comfort. people died in resistance to slavery and genocide irl. it fucking sucks and no one should ever have to die for peace, but accepting that risk for the betterment of others is part of resisting facism and genocide. nothing gets accomplished if no one is willing to put their bodies on the line--we are stronger together, but the hivewings are written as if none of this would ever occur to any of them ever, which is insulting and also untrue

The entire theme of the third arc, as I read it, was to look beyond someone’s labels and judge them by who they are as a person, and not purely by their biology

like, sure, you're not wrong, but it's a very "i dont see color" kind of lesson. completely ignoring someones heritage, culture, and assuming you're totally the same is another kind of ignorance. it screams of how white people use MLK's quote about character vs color of skin, and ignore everything else he said about how that mindset change is not that simple, and how racists and bigots that refuse to change must be destroyed, and how the white population largely ignored the racism of america because they were comfortable in it. or, in the terms of wings of fire, tui continues to act as if bigotry simply stems from a few bad people and arent a result of massive systems of power that are built over generations.

it's not just wasp that's to blame for leafwing genocide and silkwing slavery; its the fault of every hivewing that helped her carry out her genocide (remember, it started before wasp had mind control), who saw what was happening and didnt resist, and the rest who were simply did not care enough to risk their own comfort for the sake of the lives of others. it is the fault of that weirdo human guy who craved domination, and it was the fault of clearsight for her eugenics experiment on pantala. its the fault of the system of governance that allows a single queen to be in charge in the first place--a problem that constantly comes up in wings of fire but is NEVER solved, because of course, tui thinks that replacing a "bad" monarch with a "good" one is the solution. exactly how liberals think that voting in a democratic president instead of a republican one will fix america, when in fact the entire government itself was built on facistic horrors and should itself be dismantled

Tui wasn’t trying to sympathize with racists or anything

then why did she sympathetically portray several hivewings that were explicitly shown to either be slave owners or soldiers for wasp?

She wasn’t trying to say that you can’t be mad at your enemies

then why did she spend sundew's entire book having everyone being mad or uncomfortable or judgemental of her anger? why was sundew's arc "well not ALL hivewings" while that is essentially true, was hammered in with the implications that her anger was "unhealthy" or "unwarrented". shes literally a survivor of an ongoing genocide. why does cricket complain when sundew claws up a statue of wasp? why does bumblebee exist if not to have a convenient innocent hivewing to bond to sundew, so she can feel conflicted about whether she should be mad or not towards the group of dragons largely responsible for killing her people. again, there is nuance here that tui refuses to address--obviously it would be healthy for sundew to not direct her anger at innocents that had nothing to do with their parents bigotry. however the way this is framed blames sundew for even being mad at all, as if a literal teenager growing up under a genocide wouldnt have negative feelings towards the facist culture and all those benefiting from it as a whole. like, it is SO irresponsible of tui to make these extremely sensitive real life topics so front and center in her plot when its very clear that she did literal wikipedia research and nothing further on these events in history.

But blue knew how to be mad at the right people. He didn’t just blindly murder any hivewing who crossed his line of sight

yes of course, because blue is the token "good one". someone else has addressed the racist writing of blue better than i could, so i'll just link it here.

[cheese-water]

hi im sorry I just need to ramble gen loss crap somewhere this s relating to the pole you did I really don’t wanna ramble literal paragraphs in tags:

The dehumanization of content creator by both corporations and fans alike: Lets me honest this is just kind a the surface metaphorical meaning of it all im pretty its been confirmed if not I dont think I need to explain why.

How when our perception of reality is manipulated, our choices mean nothing: tbh this is kinda correct in a way?? Because it all ends in Ranboo dying right? Like let’s if he refuses to do the activities in ep 2 like he’s just gonna die yknow? Like the more you think about it our own choices didn’t really matter they all lead up to the ending scene of rans death. What if we chose live? Something tells me showfall would just erase his memory and reuse them and then the cycle could repeat until inevitable death.

One of many attempts to escape the facility that always ends in death: Kinda what i js said but like: Also it would be extremely hard for Ranboo in any way to escape. Primarily bc mind control. But let’s say that doesn’t apply. Try to escape the mall? Let’s be real the doors are gonna be jammed and there’s showfall people everywhere they’re probably just gonna inject Ranboo with something. Tries to prove to the cameras he being held hostage by showfall? In a ‘real world’ situation Is anyone gonna believe him? They might just think he’s acting. At some point showfall is js gonna get bored of dealing with them and just off him.

also did you see sneeg trying to escape-

The sanitization of today's media to better cater to and profit off of children: I could see this because it is also a VERY common thing in the world with like family channels, child beauty pageants, and what is more similar to genloss’s implementation of this: Ranboo blew up when he was 17! Tommy and Tubbo 16! They were literal minors! They were kids! It was and still is disgusting how much sexual content was produced of them when they were CHILDREN. There are endless examples of this: hundreds, if not THOUSANDS or articles made about an ‘offensive comment’ that was literally just taken out of context, tiktoks and threads saying THAT THEY SHOULD GROW UP?? they are kids!

honestly unsure what the cannon ages of the genloss characters are but if were going by irl ages Ranboo is still 19! Honestly more rambling about how kinda sad this is like, bro is 19 he is literally getting doxxed, death threats, and still creating genloss! Like their 19 and made a work that was considered for an Emmy! (Also being the only not virtual reality work)

The favorable interpretation of events we're supposed to believe vs. the truth: A LOT of ep 2 how they par-take in these games with seem innocent at first, just playing some mouse trap, introducing yourself, etc. but they are literally being held a gunpoint. The scene where Ranboo rips open Charlie it just seems like a comedic scene but for a few seconds the slime is blood. Ranboo is being forced to rip open Charlie simply to survive himself. The puzzler straight up shoots Niki TWICE and the audience(LITERALLY US LOL) feel bad, but a lot people find it funny(kinda is tho- low key loved that scene) obviously Niki is alive so its funnier but what if she actually died?

here’s more of my ramble on genloss meanings and stuff

I just the horrible effects of social media. hate from just being yourself, hate for being ‘fake’/ a ‘catfish’, hate for having fun, hate for not enjoying yourself and people telling you should be grateful. To the point where instead of being yourself you force yourself to shape into this emotionless mold just to appeal to the internet. You could try to ask for help(ranboo spelling sos in Morse code w hand),but your to far gone “you already bought a ticket and there’s no turning back now” I know this isn’t the most accurate but it’s literally 4am lol

Social Media|Showfall Media ya see it?

Srry for the such unorganized thoughts and crap im a dying autistic. -☁︎🪷(just a name to recognize me by you never know also I’m rambling more here about random shit-)

I’ve been trying to think of a response to this ask for a solid five minutes but I just can’t. I just, I’m so so so happy right now. Like, literally smiling ear to ear. You have no idea how happy this makes me. :DDDDD

I adore analyzing media to pieces but with genloss specifically, I also enjoy understanding all of the different influences and interpretations from the audience. Normally, once I find an interpretation I like (either created by me, the most popular, or simply the first one I see) I stick with it, hard. All future thoughts about that media run through the certain interpretation filter only, which isn’t y’know the most open mindset I’ll admit lmao. I think what was different about genloss was a combination of me being a genlosser from the very beginning, being share my theories publicly for the first time, and probably the biggest reason, I didn’t believe the most popular interpretation.

I’ve always been an OUR CHOICE DOESNT MATTER believer since the beginning and could never get on the content creator exploitation train before it left the station. So I guess it gave me a different perspective in regards to reading and sharing analysis posts. Somehow both more critical and more understanding, like I could tell you how the dehumanizing cc theory only applies to eps 2 and 3, while acknowledging that the end of ep 3 literally had a choice that supposedly did matter so who tf cares we’re all having fun. And then I wondered if the cc interpretation was the most popular one and now we’re here.

And so far, it turns out that yeah it very much is lol. But all the notes going into detail about why they believe what they believe just gave me so much more insight and appreciation for the theory. Not just that one but all other interpretations, timeloops, capitalism allegories, your social media parallels just to name a few, have grown a special place in my heart in a way that hasn’t happened to me before genloss. Idk it’s just very cool and I love hearing ‘em all.

Also so I can be told very obvious things I haven’t noticed before. Like how am I just now understanding Social Media -> Showfall Media pfffff

[corvatrix]

Nothing We Learn Is Useless | Scythe by Neal Shusterman

RATING ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

💡 REVIEW

Incredible, fascinating book. Lots of thoughts on empathy, compassion, personal growth, consequences, and what it means to be human when your mortality is no longer an issue. Parts of the book were a bit predictable, but it wasn’t so bad that it felt like lazy or cliché writing...it felt like good writing with consistent characterization and world building. 

The book ends on a cliffhanger, but the ending is also satisfying enough if you were to just read the one book by itself. I already own the next two books (hurray for box sets!) and I cannot wait to devour them.

Spoilers and predictions below. Please keep spoilers out of the comments!

 🗝️ THEMES

The pain of empathy

Humanity and the loss of innocence

Duty and honor vs. passion and desire

Emotional intelligence and vulnerability

Worthiness (and who decides worthiness & unworthiness)

📖 TROPES

Coming-of-age

Teenagers selected for special assignment (Chosen Ones)

Teen angst

Starcrossed lovers

Good guy wants to keep things as they are; bad guy wants systemic change

Political intrigue

Life-or-death stakes

📆 PREDICTIONS

Rowan & Citra are star-crossed and I’m sure the romance will grow, but there will absolutely be conflict; this will probably be the differences in their opinions on how to behave as scythes and what should be done about the more “progressive” members of the Scythedom

The Tonists are going to be a major plot point moving forward (possibly an uprising and a desire to return to mortality, or at least giving people the option to be mortal)

Curie & Faraday will fall in love again and end up gleaning each other

Goddard sympathizers will continue to push for limitless gleaning

Rowan will find Citra’s “old guard” ideals problematic and Citra will think Rowan is going too far gleaning Goddard sympathizers 

💬 QUOTES

“Scythes were no more supernatural than tax collectors in the grand scheme of things. They showed up, did their unpleasant business, and were gone.”

“It’s refreshing to be challenged. You have no idea how tedious it gets--the pandering, the obsequious flattery, the endless parade of sycophants. A slap in the face is bracing. It reminds me that I’m human.”

“We’re roughage. If we don’t cause a little intestinal distress, no one knows we’re there.”

“Good intentions pave many roads. Not all of them lead to hell.”

“Nothing we learn is useless.”

“Scythes wished to be seen as the many facets of light, not of darkness.”

“There are no accolades for the unworthy.”

“Motives can easily be beaten into weapons.”

“I live here not because of its extravagance, but because my presence here is the only way to preserve it.”

“It’s not about age, it’s about stagnation. Some people grow stagnant before they turn their first corner. For others it could take hundreds of years.”

“Learn how to show compassion in the face of tragedy. It was emotionally exhausting, but rewarding. It was preparing her to be a scythe.”

“The idea of irrevocable death without the controlled hand of a scythe was too much to bear for a world that had conquered mortality.”

“In a profession where conscience was a liability, who would want one?”

“I am legend. Yet every day I wish that I was not.”

“I think all young women are cursed with a streak of unrelenting foolishness, and all young men are cursed with a streak of absolute stupidity.”

“Although scythes may be the most powerful humans on Earth, they are also the most vulnerable.”

“There are times I feel I am fighting a losing battle against an old-fashioned apocalypse of the living dead.”

“He wanted to be a failure, because only by failing would he know that he held on to a shred of his humanity.”

“My greatest wish for humanity is not for peace or comfort or joy. It is that we all still die a little inside every time we witness the death of another. For only the pain of empathy will keep us human. There’s no version of God that can help us if we ever lose that.”

“Martyrs testify far more effectively than the living.”

“In our line of work we must hold on to every bit of honor we have.”

[wack-ashimself]

All we work to do is not be homeless, not dead, and not have anything to show for it except for Endless Perpetual Wars on innocent people. So why do we work? Because all our work seems to be doing is killing. Ourselves and others. And never the people who really deserve it. How come the people who always push for war are the last on the front lines? They can make so many sacrifices of everybody else and never of their own. Psychopaths. The worst of humanity rules Humanity through force, fear, and threat of death. But at this point the threat of death doesn't seem that big of a threat when living seems not worthwhile for most of us. I've said it most of my life and people hate hearing it. The world sucks. It's always sucked. Ever since the Dawn of man till now. If you took any average person at any average time anywhere in the world, more than likely they were fucking miserable most of their lives. We have been fucking this up the whole time. And we don't have too many options left to where we can fix it. We might be the last generation that has a chance. So can we take it? We have nothing else to lose including our lives. Fuck, even if they don't kill us, they're still killing us slowly millions of other ways. They're eroding our souls. And I don't know how much is left... at least when somebody is bombed, and a body is found, you know they're dead. I see The Walking Dead all among me. Giving up on being happy, their dreams, or even helping a neighbor. What's the point of walking around if you're already dead? To just move? Alan Watts famously said the point of existence is just to be. Just to be you. And I'm telling you there's way too much in the way of you being you for you to take it. This is your life. Possibly you're only one. Why the fuck would you live it to other people's rules if it's making you so goddamn miserable? If you're going to die, you might as well live the way you want to live. Fuck the establishment. Fuck billionaires. Fuck bankers and CEOs and wall street. But specially fuck the Federal Reserve and International Banks who make these wars profitable legally but not morally for fucking sure. I'm just so God damn tired all the time. Its Never gotten better. Not once. Sure I've had good years, 2023 was one of the best years of my life, but it was also one of the worst years for a lot of other people. Especially palestine. We all, all, get lifted up, or we're all dragging each other down. Like it or not we're in this together. We're a shared part of nature and we've been damning it far too long.

[littleapocalypsekitten]

Interesting thread. As someone in her 40s who hates makeup and does not wear it and who has decided not to dye over the emergent gray hairs, I'm old enough to live in the Age of Who Gives a Crap.

I have some compassion for the ferret-furry's death-anxiety, though. I lost a very close loved one in mid-January. He was younger than me, in his 30's, because sometimes it is not age that gets you. While I like to keep some spiritual beliefs, I'm agnostic enough to not be sure of them and depression and anger have been large parts of my grieving process. If this person is grieving someone, well, that would be a reason why fert is getting irrationally angry at nothing. Comes with the territory. (I have, for my part, not been directing my rage at innocent strangers online, but the weirdest things have been setting me off). My depression in grieving has gotten me borderline nihilistic, having thoughts of wondering what even the point of life is when we all die (and some of us young) and wondering why the Hell people have kids in a world where they'll learn that one day they will die. (Aside from instinct. I'm an asexual, so I am a freak who does not have reproduction as a basic instinct. Even people who have those instincts live in a world with many kinds of contraception now). So, yeah, I've had thoughts of "Wow, what a rotten thing to do to a kid - to bring them into a world where they and everyone they will ever love will die." I want people back. I will not get them back. I've been very "existence is suffering" lately. But part of the healing and holding myself together is accepting that, indeed, humans are mortal. You can outrun age all you want, but maybe some unforeseen health problem you don't even know about will zap you. I've almost died from an accident falling down stairs several years ago. I narrowly survived a random infection and have some permanent damage (pretty much what age is, ultimately) from it. I've thought a lot about transhumanism, as well, long before recent tragedy in my life. I have a series of stories I write on and off about people with immortal minds who body-surf into robotic forms and their hobby of hunting and oppressing the mortal descendants of the ancestors who were left out of the immortal class. It pretty much captures what I think of the whole thing. Maybe immortality will be achieved, but it will definitely be class-based, which makes it, in my eyes, a lot of bullshit. I applaud the efforts of people who try to do life-extension, because, you know, it would be cool if we reached a world where people regularly lived Hobbit-lifespans and it would be cool if people who aged could do so with less damage, less mobility issues and the like. However, escaping it all? I don't think it's an option outside of divine intervention. And if it were to become so? I guarantee it would only be an option for the rich. It is too late for me now. I resent the chronic pain that life's damage has left me with, but don't give too much of a shit about a few gray hairs and wrinkles. I'm not rich enough to be saved, and I'd like to eventually be reunited with the loved ones I've already lost eventually, whever they are (even if I'm wrong about the spiritual stuff and that "place" is oblivion). I hate to disappoint, but I will not KYS now. I've fought too long and too hard. I'm an ONREY old lady.

scrunching my face real hard rn

[mohhesham95]

Human x2

'To deny people their human rights is to challenge their very humanity.'

Nelson Mandela

I wrote about this about 6 years ago, but now seems like a good time to write again. What makes a human human? Seems like a pretty basic question, but in that answer lies a lot of the world's issues. Some would say the brain, humans, are the smartest living creatures. Some would say the ability to evolve. Some others would say the sophistication. Some would say the inconsistency, hence the term 'human error'. In a world with so many technological advances, I believe the most important human quality is empathy. If you can not show empathy, you're drifting away from what makes you human. You're just turning into a robot that can be controlled. A cog in a huge machine that serves a greater purpose. This generation has seen so much trouble in the world that would make them question the purpose of life. The Palestinian war is the latest of those travesties. It makes you think, is it a life worth living? A world where innocent people are murdered every day in cold blood, and the so-called world leaders are trying to normalise that. They are trying to make you feel less empathy, to make these scenes like a usual occurrence. The 'civilised' western governments are not very bothered about murder when it comes to 'less worthy' people. Saying no to killing has become 'supporting terrorsim', and when they try to save face, it's 'all lives are sacred'. If all lives are really sacred, you wouldn't be turning a blind eye to blatant genocide. Are you really expecting a young boy who had his whole family wiped in front of his own eyes to be civilised? Are you expecting him not to feel anger and injustice? Are you not expecting him to want to do everything in his power to get vengeance? This is basic human emotion. How can I be logical in front of blind violence? Violence breeds violence. You can't kill innocent civilians and then be surprised that these helpless people will bite back. Everything was already taken from them, and you will not take their humanity as well. We, as Arabs grew up fascinated by the Western culture. Democracy, human rights, equal rights. Human rights are for only the people they think that they deserve it. It's not all doom and gloom, though. The free Western humans saw the truth. Protests in places like London, NYC, and Berlin to support Palestine. Not in your wildest dreams, you'd imagine that. There are never positives when people die, but the real victory of this war is the unmasking of reality. The people saw the truth because it's as clear as day. The false image has been exposed. They can't lie to your faces anymore. That's why they are desperate to shut you up. They don't want you to be heard. There are no two sides to this story. Governments want to brainwash you into being a cold robot that just follows their rules and accept their narrative. They want to make you feel hopeless and helpless. But you're not. Speak up, show support, and take a side. Being neutral in a situation like this is equal to supporting evil. These situations show you the real core of people. Don't normalise killing. Don't normalise genocide. These are people with stories, dreams, and lives. They deserve a fair chance at life. They are not just numbers. Don't lose what makes you human. Don't lose your empathy. Make them heard. Life might not be fair with no fairytale endings, and we might feel powerless, but I'd rather try to do what I think is right even if it seems pretty insignificant. Just making these people heard and letting them know that we see them as unique humans worthy of a stable life is the least we could do. We were born human, and we can't let anyone take that away from us, no matter how hard they try.

[marblemoovt]

Rambling anon here with more to say haha…

Exactly! If only we could get rid of the eclipse altogether 🙃 I love happy endings and working scenarios out in my head as much as I can to ensure they come about.

Yes! You phrased that so nicely. I think it’s completely normal to have this mindset when it comes to Griffith. I say this because he’s such a schemer; and, although he appears well mannered and gentlemanly, we know it’s all manipulation to get what he wants. Griffith’s demeanor makes you want to believe that there’s actually good underneath his carefully crafted façade.

Even though Sadie came about accidentally, she’s still a fave ❤️ you gotta love her relationship with the princess. Also, Sadie definitely helps flesh out the princess’s character—I’d say without Sadie, the reader doesn’t really get to see the princess’s vulnerable side. And although she’s besties with Charlotte, she can never truly let her guard down around her because people are always listening to their conversations. I too love Sadie’s obsession with kneecap breaking 😂

Also…in this world where Guts either doesn’t exist or doesn’t leave the band, it makes it riskier for Griffith to have feelings for the princess, if that makes sense. He’s forced to figure out if this forbidden love is worth potentially jeopardizing his dream. But if you ask me, I’m convinced Griffith is already whipped for the princess (lol) so I think he’s already in the mindset of reconciling what he feels for her with what he wants to accomplish.

So well said. It’s clear that Griffith is conflicted about his feelings for the princess, which seems to be a move in the right direction. I’d say Griffith is even starting to believe in unconditional love towards the end when he admits that he’s trying to figure out how the princess could exist in the “dreadful world” they live in. Griffith learned early that the only way to attain his goals is through manipulation. Clearly, he feels the need to wear a “mask” in order to get what he wants. I love that you explore his innocent side (or, one could say, what’s left of his innocence), because even though he’s calculating, indifferent, selfish, he still maintains a little bit of a childlike sense of wonder.

I agree, this is such a neat trope!! And of course the perfect one to explore using someone like Griffith who is so bent on attaining his dream. I am so excited for if/when you do continue this story to see where this road may lead.

Side note: every time these two kissed I was low key freaking out hoping they wouldn’t get caught or else Griffith gets arrested for it lol 😶

Side side note: Do you think Griffith would get arrested and tortured if the princess’s parents found out about them? She mentions they wouldn’t be happy about her letting Griffith call her by her name. I’m inclined to think that, if someone caught them acting in love, running around together in secret, kissing, etc., then the princess’s parents would likely punish Griffith in some way.

Thank you for keeping my inbox alive, anon. If you ever want to be mutuals, my DMs are open.

One of my toxic traits will forever be thinking that Griffith can be good even if I don't completely believe it myself. Honestly, eclipse and post-eclipse Beserk will remain shrouded in darkness in my memories. I'm content with pretending that everyone is happy and fine. I'm the type of person who dislikes it when a lot of people have to die--which is why I can barely watch my partner play the walking dead lmao.

There's definitely a timeline where the princess runs away with Sadie. I think it would be fun to explore because I love a good royalty -> adventurer story as much as the next person. Though I don't think there's anyone competent enough to take over the throne with them gone. And while I imagine Charlotte to have been their best friend since childhood, she grows up in a much more restricted environment and their personalities differ as a result.

I wanted Charlotte to be the textbook perfect princess, basically what the princess's parents wanted. Funnily enough, they both have what the other lacks. The princess has more freedom while Charlotte has more control. But I think this is what makes them good friends since they can balance each other out. However, I don't think Charlotte would ever truly understand her friend. It's been a while since I've seen Berserk but Charlotte gives me sheltered vibes. Probably because of her dad. Can a bird really know what freedom feels like if it's lived inside a cage its entire life?

While we like Griffith, we all know the man ain't good at genuine feelings. I wanted to have at least one person who could tell the princess that everything will be ok because everyone needs someone like that. And in came Sadie, a person completely unrelated to the other characters. Someone who could see the princess as a person and provide emotional support.

I wanna say that Guts exists because he and Casca are absolutely adorable together. At this point he has not left, I honestly haven't decided if he would. But if he did, it would be after meeting the princess so things could end differently. My whole plan with Griffith is that he realizes there are other ways to accomplish his goal. And so does he continue on the path he knows and is sure will work? Or does he deviate into the unknown that plagues him with foreign feelings but a considerably tempting outcome? Because he can still have a kingdom either way.

Honestly, I'm not sure what his original plan was, probably to gain support, usurp the throne, and marry Charlotte. But there's never any indication that he reciprocates Charlotte's feelings, and I believe all his interactions with her were with the sole purpose of winning her over. So when he's offered an easier alternative, it makes him feel suspicious. Like when you feel that something is too good to be true.

We all know Griffith didn't have the best childhood. He probably learned at a young age that it's necessary to lie and steal to get what you want. He can analyze the situation and don the appropriate mask, which also coincides with how he's good at planning. He's gotten used to fooling people, to burying his feelings deep inside. I want to see the pure panic he experiences when someone manages to see the chips and cracks in his facade--and to care for once. Because Griffith would normally brush the other person off, but when it's someone he potentially likes? That's when things start to get interesting. Someone who can see he's pretending because they don't put him on a pedestal where faults don't exist. Someone who makes it incredibly difficult for him to view as 'beneath him.' Someone who is smart and powerful but still retains kindness, and--holy shit does he like this person???

I feel like everyone has that inner child, some more so than others. I think people who didn't have a good childhood or believe they didn't will always lean on the stronger side. Because there's that urge to have the childhood you wished you had, to not have grown up as quickly as you did. There are just some things you miss out on as a kid because circumstances forced you to mature, and so there's this undeniable pleasure and curiosity that appears when the opportunity arises.

End goal is definitely that Griffith marries the princess and people are happy. Griffith will learn that the path towards his goal is not a single path where the road is narrow and everyone is but a stepping stone. I do want to write a scene where he destroys the behelit with his own hands as a big fuck you to the gods. I want some character development for the princess as well but I haven't come up with anything yet.

Honestly, I can definitely see the princess teasing Griffith with discreet kisses in public, pushing the boundaries to see how much they can get away with. I think it would be funny to have Griffith be totally out of his depth for once. Griffith, in a situation where he has no control whatsoever? Preposterous!

Because the princess's parents are much nicer than Charlotte's, I don't think the punishment would be too harsh. In fact, I think the parents would be ecstatic that their child has finally shown romantic interest in someone for once. That betrothal meeting that ended poorly wasn't the first. While Griffith is a Viscount, I don't think the parents would be shallow enough to fault him for his status. Tbh, the princess is the heir, and so Griffith would kinda be a trophy husband lmao. The way I envisioned the kingdom when creating it was that the princess would take the throne and hold complete power regardless of marriage. So the amount of power Griffith would have solely relies on how much the princess is willing to give him. At most they would both rule the kingdom; Griffith would never have full reign.

I think that would be enough for him, especially if he doesn't hate his queen. With the way things are going in that oneshot, it implies Griffith is fine ruling side by side with someone if he deems them an equal.

As for the name part, I wrote that meaning the parents would disapprove of letting someone of lower status speak casually. I'm not super knowledgeable on nobles and etiquette, but I believe it's deemed rude to not treat those above you with respect/manners. So it's purely a social etiquette thing, especially since Griffith is a man to whom she is not related nor engaged.

There aren't that many people who are on the same level or higher than royalty. Griffith is asking for permission to address the princess informally, and we all know he didn't ask with pure intentions. Because of all the titles, I feel like there's something intimate about dropping them and just calling people by their names. It's especially present when the majority of the kingdom has to address a person by their title but he gets to say their name.

So while I don't think anything as bad as torture would happen, I do see the possibility of banning Griffith from their kingdom. Which would then call for an "Oh crap you really like him, don't you?" arc. And now that I'm writing this I'm sorely tempted to incorporate it.

Now I'm devastated that this novel lives in my head and will probably not transition onto paper anytime soon.

[suratan-zir]

Another unbelievably ignorant russian comment under one of my posts. Under my recent reblog about Chasiv Yar.

This translates to: "Do you make sims content or a war propaganda?"

I won't even hide the name of the person who wrote this, I don't care. I mean, the fact that they write it to me in russian already says a lot. Where do I start?

This was a sims blog. It was a place where I had fun sharing my content and admiring other people's games. Even when I was living under russian occupation and essentially in a war zone, I was still able to just take my mind off it and relax, playing in a fantasy world where everything was fine, knowing that peaceful and free Ukraine still exists somewhere and I will move there eventually.

I can't do this anymore. Russia killed peaceful Ukraine. Living in russia, where nothing fundamentally changed in your life in one morning on February 24, you are unable to understand me. You don't want to understand Ukrainians.

We watch our entire cities being burnt to the ground, our people die from russian attacks, buried under the rubble of what was once their home. We mourn loss after loss every single day. We've learned to ignore air raid alerts because they happen so often that you simply can't live your life hiding all the time. Everyone who stayed in Ukraine accepted the fact that shit can happen to any of us at any moment. Nowhere is safe.

And while your taxes, like value-added tax from every single little thing you buy living in russia - goes to support p*tin's army and this genocidal war, while 144 million of you doing nothing to stop this, you have the audacity to blame me for posting whatever the hell I want on my own blog?

Is the desire to stop the killing of innocent people considered "war propaganda"?

45 innocent people in Chasiv Yar went to bed on July 10 only to never wake up again. And dozens of others ended up under the rubble or lost their loved ones forever. Russia killed them and thousands of others. Because they happen to live in Ukraine.

How is my desire to tell about this tragedy is a "war propaganda"?

This is Donetsk region, Donbas - the same Donbas that your modern hitler pretends to "liberate". The same Donbas where many people used to think that russia is their friend and russians are their "brothers". Brothers who came to kill us all.

First, your country attacks mine, kills thousands of people and makes life hell for all who survived, so that later you could comment under one of my posts about this war to complain about the lack of sims content. Unfuckingbelievable.

Since the beginning of the war, I changed my blog bio to reflect what my posts are about. I also made several posts talking about what tags you can block if you don't give a fuck about some dying Ukrainians. Hell, I even made a whole dedicated blog only for sims content. But I have around 2k followers, and if my posts encourage at least one person out of these 2 thousand to donate to support Ukraine or spread the information, then it's not in vain. I have to use what tiny influence I have to help my country, just like any other Ukrainian now. Although sometimes in moments like this I really consider leaving tumblr.

[estarion]

she gives his nose tender pressure and he imagines having a heart that could flip.  lashes flutter, quiet reflection in his glossy, sky-searching gaze.  he missed her by a hair.  “… i was betrothed, naughty girl.”   technically.  it never stopped him from dallying.  just like being an elf never stopped him from acting like a heathen amongst friends.  he and akina would’ve been friends.  he is sure of it.  and he’d have dealt with anyone giving her trouble.  magistrate astarion ancunín was subtle, hands kept clean.  he carried a silver dagger, always, but never actually had to stick it in someone.  no.  other people would do that for him.  happily.  “there were cannibals that lurked beneath the city.  i’d arrange to have him fed to them.”  crooked little smirk.  he raises a finger, pretending akina’s still there.  maybe her lips were about where selûne’s tears are now.  floating.  he pokes at the trail in the sky.  it looks sort of like a frown from this angle.  he pouts upward.  “we could’ve watched.  cute date idea, i think.”

he wants to joke that she should have just married him instead, avoid this whole tawdry mess.  tempt him to the point of madness and recklessness.  have him breaking vows to his parents and the boring elven woman expecting to meet him down an aisle once they’d both reached their hundredth year.  what harm could it have caused?  she’s human.  she’d probably die during childbirth and shatter his heart. they’d have had lots of babies before that ... eight or nine weird little half him, half her, half elven babies, that he’d have no idea how to interact with but would somehow become his world.  and he can see her trying to be an ordinary housewife even though he’s a magistrate who might someday try to become a duke.  he would live a life that utterly fucking delighted him before adopting a proper, adult name and succumbing to the next seven hundred years of doing whatever it was his family expected.

astarion boosts up onto his elbows, tossing his head back so that he’s viewing her upside-down the way he might’ve sixty seconds ago.  the girl in his fantasy.  his stomach tightens against a sudden wave of giddiness, breeze rustling through as warm and gentle as her inexplicable kiss, messing with his hair, his head.  that head comes forward again, teeth pressing bottom lip.  him, down on a knee?  before her?  begging her to make him the happiest man?  hilarious...  the thought of her flat-out refusing him, even more so.  gods, he hopes akina would have refused him.  with her dark and disapproving matching eyes and a pretty little heartbreaker dress.  wait until he’s spilt vital organs of all their worth in declarations and promises and then remind him of his place.  nowhere near a darling girl.  even one who tears petals off innocent, harmless flowers.  he shakes his head , grabs his flask, and springs up from the ground.  he twists, glaring back at her while ensuring all his items securely holstered and not to become a hindrance.  then begins his grassy approach, eyes fixed and narrow.  “you’re very annoying.  just thought you should know.”  asking about things he’d already been considering, how dare she.  “and i did start the fire.”   he hopes the smile he cannot bite away doesn’t inspire her to fuck with him.  he likes smiling around her.  she better not ruin it.   “does it make you want to swoon?  how lucky that i’m here to catch you...”   he stops walking before he can be told he’s too close.   “feel like pretending you’re a bride, then?  or would you rather ride me the whole way back.”  he cocks a brow, about to be haughty but eyes soften when he checks over her arm.  he’s not sure which would be more comfortable, but it’s her choice.  let her jump on whichever end she prefers.  his arms are ready.

 while he doesn't look pleased with declaration of her age , he doesn't show the tiniest effort in trying to stop this gullible young woman from getting this close to him . a small smile on her lips , the scent of night flowers and trees filling the air , she wants to bite his nose to catch his attention — thankfully , she doesn't . not a clever thing to do when the girl hovering over you craves attention like she craves to live . and he doesn't even open his eyes , only his leg moves , and akina looks up momentarily to see it . long legs , very long , she's noticed him walk slower sometimes to match her pace when the group is in a hurry . . . how sentimental . her eyes roll , she looks back down at him with a tilted head .

 most had thought she was either too skinny or too pretty to handle a knife , and that had encouraged them to do weird things . it's always been so easy to wrap their hands around her thin neck , and akina never had the upper hand regarding her strength , so she's learned how to swiftly work with knives . a kitchen knife , blades , and finally , twin swords . ❛ good men bore me . ❜  and she scares them , they often run away . not that she's tried anything serious ever since she ran from her mansion , unless there were some manipulation and benefits involved . they'd say she tastes like sugar , and too much sugar isn't good for you . sugar coated poison , something you can't even hold in your mouth for too long when you lick the sugar off it — licking . her mind goes back to the little trick he did on her arm , thinks about how his teeth didn't even graze her wounded flesh , how careful he was .

 it's not done without a warning , it's nothing to startle him or perhaps that's the worst thing you can do to a vampire that's refusing to open his eyes . but she does it anyway ; leans down impossibly close , puckers her plump lips and kisses the tip of his sharp nose before moving away again . back to her spot , eyes briefly glinting – playful . she did it because she felt like doing it , simple , a creature of pleasure and impulse . that's what's saved her in a world like this , yeah ? ❛ hmm . let's say i killed my husband . i got annoyed . he thought marriage on paper meant it's okay not to keep your dirty little paws to yourself . ❜  and she did , she's glad she did . shadowheart would be surprised to hear so many words spilling from her mouth , she called her a mouse a few days ago because she was too quiet – unless astarion was around . something akina did on instinct , not even knowing she was doing it . ❛ but i'm sure i could seduce you . i was prettier . i had both my eyes . and i wore pretty dresses . ❜  a small twitch to her nose , she picks up a tiny , yellow flower and starts plucking its petals . ❛ are you going to carry me to the camp ? did you make my fire ? hm ? ❜