#long and ranty

[letthesunshinein]

I’ve been musing on adam’s sexuality and I know some folks feel like he’s been bi the whole time but having just done a deep pynch-focused dive through the books, I actually think adam hadn’t realized that he was into ronan Like That until they kissed. like he obviously knew ronan was into him (and actually, knew ronan was gay since like, the beginning of trb probably), but he had sort of convinced himself that the reason he enjoyed it was vanity/attention. and right before and after the kiss we get the line “adam didn’t understand anything” which feels to me like he hadn’t even comprehended this was a thing he wanted until he was doing it.

and that’s actually a very common queer experience, especially for folks who are interested in multiple genders, especially when they’re young.

so adam, despite wanting to know everything and being the perceptive one, has these increasingly big moments of “I feel like I’m missing some data here” but the data he needed was the actual experience of kissing ronan/making the conscious decision to kiss ronan again and THEN he has his eureka moment. And he can look back at the moments where he found his Latin teacher hot, or when he put a picture of an attractive man in his glove box and realize he was bi the whole time.

[14dayswithyou]

💖 Day 3.5 is now available! 💖

For the last couple of months, only Server Boosters had access to the 3.5 update... Buuuuut now it's available for everyone to play in the 14DWY Discord — and soon itch.io once I'm happy with the QA and state of the game — so please don't feel pressured to join unless you want to!!

The full devlog + even more screenshots are under the cut ^^

What's been added to the 3.5 version?

📺 Streamer Mode!

I've been told that it's difficult to stream and monetise age-restricted videos on YouTube and Twitch, so I added an option to remove the sexual content and strong language used in the demo.

Now y'all can invite Ren into your bed for cuddles without putting your streamer career on the line /silly /lh

This won't affect the 18+ rating or dark themes/elements of the game, however! Although Streamer Mode will prevent you from seeing any "gruesome" CGs in the future, most of the core elements of the game will still be tied to the choices and decisions you make. So you won't miss out on the overall experience by using streamer mode!!

⚙️ Custom Pronouns!

It only took me one entire year to get around to it, but you can finally choose your own preferred pronouns (or use a set of pronouns instead)... At the cost of being able to change them mid-game ^^;

Since the original pronoun screen wouldn't update until a new scene was displayed, I temporarily disabled the feature. But once I find a workaround, I'll bring it back!

💗 Choose how others perceive you!

You can now choose how the cast and narration perceive you! Originally, the narration was kept strictly gender-neutral (outside of pronouns and genitalia picked by the player), but this will soon change in future updates.

For more clarity: you don't get to choose the words specifically, but you can choose between masculine, feminine, and androgynous terms!

📋 Separate top and bottom genitalia!

You can now choose your tatas and pps separately! >:3

Alongside that, you can also choose your preferred body type!

I removed the "both" genitalia option because a few players still assumed it was an obscure version of "intersex". That wasn't my intention and I don't want to mislead anyone, so I took it out for now ^^;

I also didn't want to include a screenshot of the new genitalia choices in action (because it's NSFW), so y'all get the same character menu screen for the nth time instead lmao

📱 Relationship Screen Overhaul!

You can now change your own status for more immersion, and long-term Server Boosters will eventually be able to submit and use their own icon within the game as well!

Stalking finding your friends has now become easier by using "Buddy Maps"; a new app that allows you to see the location of all the cast members!

I want to offer players more incentive to check the relationship screen since they tend to miss the status updates, so hopefully this might help ;v;

It also says it "updates every few hours" so folks don't go overboard and check every 5 seconds to see where Ren is gdsghf (also keep in mind that he's a hacker lol)

🖤 Additional Scenes Update!

Day 2 received a brand new CG!!!!! Originally, I planned on only adding a few CGs sporadically throughout the game, but it didn't feel right to leave Day 2 so... empty... so I added a brand new CG to (hopefully) make things feel more balanced and natural!

If you decline Teo's offer on Day 3, Leon will now call and try to convince you to reconsider. However, players are still allowed to decline, and if they do, they'll reach a dead end.

After listening to feedback on itch, I changed some of the dialogue during Days 1-3 to make it seem more consistent! They're only small changes though, so it's honestly not worth looking for sdgjssga

🎶 Updated BGM and SFX!

I wanted to try out a different style of music to see if it fits the vibe of 14DWY more! The BGM features more acoustics to suit the "beachy" theme of Corland Bay, though I made a conscious effort to include piano elements as well to stay true to the original!!

I figured it'd be better to give players a live example before I make a poll (to see if they prefer the change or not) and publish it to Itch.

Some new SFX have also been added, though it's very minimal and honestly not that noticeable.

How to download and play the update?

(warning: clicking on the following links will open Discord!!) To download the Day 3.5 update, simply join the 14DWY Discord server, verify your age, and visit the "14dwy-updates" channel!

Alternatively, you can also wait until the update is publicly released on Itch to play it as well!! (It normally gets released shortly after a round of QA testing/getting feedback from the server, though I may release it earlier if I feel like it hehe ^^)

Enjoy!!

[potofsoup]

i love your fourth of july comics every year but this years feels extremely optimistic about biden’s abilities in the face of him letting roe get overturned and funding a gen*cide at worst or letting it happen at best by taking the bare minimum of regulatory action… i mean can he really be trusted at all anymore to do the right thing or act in line with the people’s demands? and how do we know the people behind project 2025 won’t just rig the election again to get in under false pretenses?

Hihi! Thank you for reading and enjoying my July 4th comics every year! I am in a non-US airport en route to a month-long trip in a place with sketchy internet, so sorry in advance for sloppiness in my response (and potentially going radio silent).

But:

I don't think he "let" Roe get overturned, since that was the Supreme Court's overwhelming conservative majority, which really started with Mitch McConnell refusing to approve Obama's appointee and forcing it into a 2016 election issue. The fact that Trump got to appoint 3 Supreme Court Justices is what got us here.

Re: Biden and the Israel/Hamas war ... on the one hand, there's definitely more that he could have done, but on the other hand, they are a whole other country over there. It's Hamas that initiated the Oct 7 attacks and took the hostages. It's Netanyahu and his right-wing government who decided to retaliate to such extreme extent. Biden can talk about how he would really like Netanyahu to stop fighting and step down, but at the end of the day that's not his call, any more than he can stop the Sudan fighting that is near-genocidal either.

So, to come to your question #1: "Can he really be trusted at all anymore to do the right thing or act in line with the people’s demands"?

For me, it's a resounding YES. Guyz, he has passed so much good domestic policies. My spouse works in green energy and the passing of the Inflation Reduction Act halved his anxiety and gave him legitimate hope. The tumblr post I linked to in my comic has links to many of the other great things that Biden has done. Tbh I voted for him in 2020 because "a moldy onion is still better than Trump", and I've been pleasantly surprised. Like how he tried to cancel student loans, the Supreme Court overturned it, and then he came back 6 months later with a different way to do it that didn't lead to a court challenge.

Is he perfect? Hell no. There's tons of stuff that I wish he did more about, or he went further on, but also he's just one guy heading one branch of government who is heading into an election year. (Just like FDR promising not joining WWII, while behind the scenes doing all the Lend-Lease Act stuff). And "the people" have lots of demands, many of them conflicting.

I'd also like to push at the unspoken part of your question... "Can he really be trusted to do the right thing..." compared to whom? Because right now the answer is "compared to Trump." And compared to Trump... I don't even trust Trump to respect the results of a legitimate election. Heck, he might just take his favorite state secrets, sell them to the highest bidder (or just show them off to someone for funzies), and then claim Presidential immunity. A decent Democrat who got stuff done vs someone who probably wants to pardon himself and all his friends and do Project 2025 stuff is not even on the same level. (Do I wish that there was a viable Democratic alternative to Biden? Sure! But who?) Heck, at this point -- imagine if it's Kamala Harris vs. Trump. Who would you vote for?

As for your question #2: "How do we know the people behind project 2025 won’t just rig the election again to get in under false pretenses?"

We don't. But also what can we do besides showing up to vote?

Actually, I need bullet points for this:

The 2022 midterm elections brought in fewer-than-expected election-deniers into crucial electoral offices at the state level, which means that hopefully most state electoral boards will continue to have integrity

Yes, voting is harder but at least we can still vote. So it's about getting out there and getting your vote counted. For some states, it involves waiting in 8 hour lines. For some states, it involves bringing 2 forms of ID. Document. Track. Make sure it's dropped off in a real ballot box and not a fake one. Don't believe messaging that the voting is happening on a different day or location, etc.

A 50.1% majority is easily challenged. A 55% majority, less so. Which means getting people out to vote.

The more people know about and think about the reality of a second Trump term (versus being disappointed by a Biden term), the more they will be motivated to vote against Trump.

Finally, let's be real here: I'm braced for a 2nd Trump term. That said:

I'm still going to go and vote for Biden, because the only way to prevent a 2nd Trump term is to vote.

A Trump term where either the House or Senate is controlled by the Democrats will be *very* different from a clean Republican sweep.

Even with a clean Republican sweep on the federal level, States have so much more power now, and voting the state level stuff will help shore up Democratic goals for the future. States get to draw voting districts however they want. States get to decide on abortion policies. If you live in a deep Red state, there still might be things to vote for that make it easier to live in now, and turn it purple a few elections down the line.

So at the end of the day, it's "Vote AND". Vote and keep living your best life. Vote and tell others about Project 2025. Vote and have hope. Even if Trump wins, at least you'll have voted against him. Vote and stay to build up a progressive wave for the next election.

[whatisgoingoninmyhead]

there's something to be said about how public unawareness about aspec identities contributes to the infighting within the aspec communities.

for example, I've seen a lot of "don't say ace people don't have sex because that's harmful to the sex favourable aces" and the opposite: "don't say ace people can have sex because what about the sex repulsed/averse?"

and they're both valid points, but because of it, aspec posts have to cater to the entire spectrum or risk starting arguments over this. Ideally, people could look at an aspec post and accept that it's for a different part of the aro/ace spectrum to where they are, but that's where the public unawareness comes in

because outside of the aspec communities, there's so little understanding of what the terms mean, that people within the community have to make every post generic so that the unaware won't see one post and make an assumption for the entire community based on it.

I see where every side is coming from, but infighting doesn't really solve any of the issues. The only thing that can start to solve it is more expansive aspec media representation, and spreading the "aro/ace identities are a spectrum" posts as much as possible to reach outside of the community, rather than trying to make specific posts fit that generic message.

[bookinit02]

genuinely i am going to say this once only because it’s the middle of the night but the level of tiktok hating i’ve seen on this app pisses me off so so so badly. you are not better than anyone else for not having tiktok downloaded, you are not smarter, you are not “more evolved.” tiktok is used by such a wide variety of people and of course there is low intelligence and empathy present on there, there is low intelligence and empathy EVERYWHERE. including here. there are also some of the kindest, most intelligent, most hopeful people i’ve ever seen. i do experience extremely low lows and high highs while scrolling tiktok because it is an insane range of content—it shows you pretty much everything you could ever imagine out of the range of human experience. i’ve seen a man who spent his life savings to buy out land and provide free housing for people. i’ve seen a woman document her journey to learn english and receive nothing but unconditional support and positivity. i’ve seen dogs learn how to “speak” and new mothers speaking openly about their depression and women encouraging each other to leave their abusive spouses. i have learned SO much in the last few years that i never learned in school. i guess really what i’m saying is that i don’t love the app itself so much as the power of human community, and it’s genuinely really upsetting and disheartening to see people continually shit on a platform that has done so much good for so many. it really does connect a lot of us to the world in a way that’s not comparably possible on any other app (yes, including this one), and i personally will be extremely upset if it really does get banned. not to mention how nobody should be championing government banning of any app, regardless of if you like it or not. just genuinely. can we cool it with the pretentiousness for a day or two. that is all i fucking want

[legofemme]

I mean this as nicely as possible but if youre so afraid of insects that you cannot handle looking at a cartoon bug dragon then that is on You and Not the people who like them

[normieauaskblog]

Autistic meltdown

Yeah this is the post this week lol

Just a shitty doodle

Its just edd having an autistic meltdown because err hashtag relatable

[existence-is-a-liminal-space]

rant time

This is so disappointing, and the worst part is I have no one to blame but myself. I've always sorta seen the writing on the wall. Hori has always had a really weird track record with his writing; dropping plot points, being purposefully cagy and noncommittal to certain themes etc. However I do think there is a difference between something being an objectively poorly written story and just a story that, while well done, might no be something I personally enjoy (or even a overall fine story with a few flaws). For awhile I thought, like many people that mha was going to be a scathing critique on hero society and Deku & Co. would have to reccon with their places in it: how the hero-villain dichotomy does not help anyone, scapegoats those deemed undesirable, allows heroes to get aways with murder, and perpetuates the complicity of the masses leading them bring about some sort of systemic change with the help of the antagonists . When I realized it wouldn't be that I thought "OK" then it is a story about saving the have-nots and proving why they are going about things the wrong way and offering another solutions while working within society–a bit sanctimonious but sure–they become the greatest heroes because of their compassion and willingness to save. And then when the villains bring up their issues with society their continuously told to shut up or that their wrong with no further elaboration, better yet that they just dealt with what happened to them the wrong way as if was somehow their fault for reacting badly to being treated badly and given no real recourse. And then the All For One reveal happened. And god. the last minute reveal (right before he's 'killed') that all of Shigaraki's family issues and quirk were the direct result of AFO? It's a really nice way to further invalidate all the criticisms he's ever made now that nearly everything bad that's ever happened in his life was because of some really bad guy, doubling down on making everything an individual problem rather then a social one–because that way you don't have to challenge your characters core ideologies right? or think of actual solutions? And that's where I feel like MHA crosses into being an objectively poorly written story overall; to establish all these issues and themes and back out on them at the last minute for a simple solution.

I have to ask: What the fuck is going to change? Stories set in a fantastical world usually have something to actually fucking comment on in that world. We are shown explicit issues in the world of mha What has been deconstructed about the world of MHA? After all of this, what have any of these so called greatest heroes done to make an actual, tangible difference in the world they live in? The end of MHA is shaping up to be just a continuation of the same cycle it the begins with, all of it's issues going unaddressed or swept under the rug. People want to say that MHA doesn't need to address those things, that it's just a story about hope and redemption, where is the hope and redemption in killing off the people shown to be the most victimized by society? If it is a story about true heroism being intrinsically linked to saving then what does it say that some people just can't be saved, that are 'too far gone' that have to be fucking mercy killed.

In conclusion, the LOV deserved to be in a story which actually lived up to what it promised.

[zombiecowboy65]

See because we always talk about Jeremy riding that thang like his life depends on it but nobody wants to talk about Jean getting his well deserved weinering

Ok this wasn’t ur question but I’m gonna air my grievances . The day this fandom learns what a subtop is or simply stops trying to sell me this idea that Jean has to bottom bc he doesn’t know how to top (how hard can it fucking be 😭) (also it’s way harder to bottom imo but whatever) or that Jeremy kinda has to coach him thru sex like he’s a parent or that Jeremy is the one calling the shots and Jean is ASKING him to (which just feels like a cop out to me) (and it’s different if u like sub Jean ) (typing this caused me pain) (but like do u get what I’m saying? It’s like well it can’t be wrong to have Jean submit because he ASKED ) is the day I will maybe try to approach bottom Jean again.

Idk I think there is untapped potential in powebottom Jean , and my friend once sent me this meme of someone texting their partner that they were like . Going to ride them until they died or something. And the partner send back a fearful cat pic LMFAO. And was like this is jerejean. And I was like so true .

But yeah. And everyone’s got their own opinions but for the past year everyone was pushing bottom submissive Jean so hard and running with labels they didn’t know the definition of. So I kinda turned off even thinking about it , not because I don’t think they’re verse but because I knew the reaction it would get if I even put that content out there and I was not feeding a monster haha. Sorry if this literally sounds batshit insane.

(Also there was like this notion that he HAD to bottom for some reason? Like Jeremy also didn’t have an ass. And it wasn’t even like he wanted to bottom it was just kinda expected of him? Like every fic was like oh well we don’t have to fuck. U could just? Flip it around ? Like why does he have to bottom and why are u immediately jumping straight to anal sex lmfao)

(But again I want to emphasize I’m not saying he can’t bottom I just hated the approach of the fandom and like ppl can create what they will and I also can create the content I want but…)

[kindahoping4forever]

Do you think this fandom is dying?

Note: I originally got this ask a while back and didn't get a chance to answer before the Malum stuff started happening and it seemed like this idea might be less of a concern. But recently I've seen similarly themed conversations and thought my answer might still be relevant.

I can definitely understand how one might be tempted to see things that way but I think there's a few important distinctions to consider before any grand statements are made.

When the band is off tour and between albums, fandom activity usually slows and then with the new era, we see a resurgence of fans excited and ready to engage, along with new fans and typically a few from the past checking in. (Solo eras tend to bring in a similar type of resurgent activity but nowhere near the level of when the proper band is releasing a project and the broad interest tends to taper after the initial single release, as we're seeing the dropoff with Malum right now.)

We're also currently in the midst of what may end up being the band's longest period of public inactivity to date. Fans often talk about the "drought" during 2017 while Youngblood was being recorded but in actuality, we were still getting daily content from their socials and they even went on a 13 date tour that year. Even during covid, it felt like forever but between the CALM release and promo, 5SOS5 recording updates via socials and the content we likely wouldn't have gotten outside of the pandemic (ie: the infamous Amazon stream, the Quarantea, a few IG lives and the tier list), we were still getting fed. Contrast that all with where we are now: 5SOS5 is nearly 3 years old, they haven't played a show since October 2023 and we know the next album is actively underway but we really have no idea where they are in the process because they for the most part (understandably) are not sharing much on socials anymore. There's not a ton of fandom discussion going on because there's not a ton to discuss tbqh.

Is the online fandom smaller than it used to be? Absolutely. Do I think this means people are actually changing their ways and renouncing their fandom in droves? No. I've been a fan for 11 years and an active online contributor for 7 and I can honestly say that the 5SOS online fandom is one of the most brutal, emotionally taxing and at times toxic fandoms I have ever engaged with. I'll always be grateful for it, it's changed my life in countless ways and I wouldn't be who I am today without it but I have absolutely paid a price being involved with it as deeply and as long as I have. Tumblr is hands down the chillest branch of the fandom (with that said, I have still had some downright ugly experiences over the years) but it's also the smallest and quietest. We're an island of sorts, vibing somewhere else, and while I've always been a big advocate of curating your own experience online, it's not always practical to completely tune out the happenings on other platforms that see more engagement but also a lot more toxicity. I personally know a handful of people (and have anecdotally seen numerous others) reach a breaking point and decide to protect their peace and cut online engagement out of their fandom diet, save for official channels and their own safe circle. In all transparency, even I have seriously considered that choice more than once and as recently as last year. The band isn't losing fans, a lot of fans feel they've lost a community where they feel comfortable spending their time without judgement or drama (whether the target be the band or the fans themselves) constantly threatening to infiltrate what should be a safe space.

This somewhat goes hand in hand with the previous point but I'd be remiss not to mention another key component of this equation: life is hard and people are tired. It's a sweeping generalization but I think most would agree it's one that's hard to argue with. The past few years have been rough and running this blog, I've seen it take its toll on the way people engage. Posts that would've once been reblogged with fervent tags become silent likes, friendly asks and comments that would've once been sent remain unwritten, fic ideas that would've once been written settle for being unexplored concepts in a friend's DMs. Having an online presence can be taxing especially if you're engaging socially, especially if you're a creative contributor in the community and it takes the kind of energy that a lot of people are in short supply of these days. If this new normal continues to behave the way it has for the past couple years, I'd expect to see a few peaks in engagement when big moments happen (album announcement/release, first music video/performance back, tour beginning/ending, etc) but for the most part, daily interaction is left to a core group.

So all this to say... the answer to your question is somehow both yes and no! In general, I don't find it unusual or concerning for a fandom's activity to fluctuate, especially a fandom as long-running as ours.

If I've learned anything over the years, it's that this fandom is predictable. The fandom at large has a bad habit of getting bored easily and that boredom often leads people to jump ship until things are exciting again. Others may choose to make their own excitement, which almost always results in drama (whether it be about fellow fans or the band itself), which in turn leads to people stepping away and the cycle continues on. It can definitely be frustrating to experience but time after time, once the band returns, so does the enthusiasm, the drifters and the positive vibes. So I'd say, don't count us out yet!

[localvillagecryptid]

Y'all might hate me for this, but the more and more I think about it, the more I think it was incredibly short-sighted of them and weird as fuck to cast a black man for the role of "World's #1 deadbeat dad with so many unpaid child support checks that they had to bar him from having kids." Yes I'm talking about Zeus. Yes I know they probably didn't mean it that way. No I don't think that intention really matters when you've got an entire team of professionals working on the project with the expectation that millions will watch it.

Like did we forget that we didn't like Zeus. He was never really a villain but NO ONE in the fandom liked Zeus. Hell, the CHARACTERS didn't like Zeus. He might as well have been a villain, with what he does and how they regard him. Why the fuck did they cast him like this.

It's especially weird when you consider the way Rick initially wrote about the gods' appearances as basically caricatures/physical cues for what they're supposed to represent. Battle-hungry god of war Ares being a "scary biker guy", and goddess of love and beauty Aphrodite oscillating between "all the supermodels in the world"/whoever you're in love with, for example, make total sense for obvious reasons. Hence it made sense to me for Zeus to be a white man in a suit in the first book, seeing as being the "king of the gods" and general self-centered prick, his whole thing is being more powerful than anyone else (and an asshole about it). So it made sense that he would look like an alpha male Podcaster's wet dream. It made sense that he'd look like the face of capitalism and patriarchy incarnate. Unfortunately, a white, rich businessman kind of IS the face of power in America. Making him black feels like a weird confirmation for those Ben Shapiro fucks who think white people are being oppressed or replaced.

"Appearances don't matter" vs the importance of visual storytelling, fight!

[chocosvt]

got in trouble for reading a book (a physical book - not smth off my phone) at work cuz it was slow 😭

[squeezetheduck]

Here’s the thing with people shipping Alastor, I could not care less about who people ship Alastor with or whether they ship him at all, what I do care about though is people making him allo.

This is one of the few cannon ace (possibly aro) characters out there and he can 100% be shipped in verity of ways without ignoring he is ace or aroace.

Make him aroace but still platonicly obsessed with Lucifer or Vox.

Make him sex repulsed or indifferent it doesn’t really matter (I could 100% see him having sex with someone for entertainment purposes just like I can see him being sex repulsed).

Even make him Demi/grey-ace if you must show him reciprocating sexual attraction.

Bonus points if he’s aro and you play around with platonic relationships/QPRs.

I know at the end of the day he is a fictional character and people will do what they want, but please listen to aro/ace fans when we ask you not completely ignore his sexuality when there are so many ways you can still play around with his characterization without disrespecting one of the few cannon ace characters to exist in TV.

[catsandgoodbooks]

So. Punz and George. They're both very much defined by their relationships with Dream, probably more than anyone else on the server. It's hard to talk about Punz without bringing up Dream, and it's hard to talk about George without referencing him either. They have lives, of course, but Dream is always at the forefront of their minds. Punz spent a whole year of their life just waiting for Dream's escape; George dreams away the days even after the jailbreak in a fantasy world of his imagination where everything is perfect and he can be with Dream.

But they don't really have a relationship. They don't talk, especially not about Dream, because that would show that they cared, and George is trying to deny that to himself after the dethronement and Punz cannot allow anyone to consider even for a moment that they are on Dream's side or it was all for nothing. So the relationship they do have, weak and distant as it is, is based on bitterness and perceived betrayals and envy.

George doesn't really think about Punz much. If he did, he'd had to think about Dream, and not his Dream, not the Dream that exists only in his dreams now, but the actual, real Dream. The Dream who dethroned him without a second glance. The Dream he abandoned. The Dream locked away in an obsidian prison, rotting away as George sleeps. And George doesn't want to think about Punz. Not when it pulls him out of his dreams and makes him think about Dream.

When he does think about Punz, though, he's not exactly a fan of them. They betrayed Dream; undeniably, inexcusably, they did. They had his trust, and they threw it away for a little extra bit of money. George would never do something like that. Dream left first, after all. Dethroned George first and told him he didn't care what happened to him. Dream never did that to Punz.

And that's important. Dream never turned against Punz; they were the one who chose to betray him. Dream never quite trusted George the same way he did with Punz, and, in the period leading up to the dethronement, he let George in on less and less of his plans, grew closer and closer to his mercenary. George told himself it was because Dream wanted to keep him safe. After the dethronement, he accepted the fact that Dream just didn't care about him anymore, and that it had been a sign of that.

George tells himself that if he had been in the situation as Punz, if Dream trusted him, he would of never done what they did.

Punz...doesn't have a great opinion of George, to tell the truth. They might of pretended to betray Dream, but George (and Sapnap, and everyone who was there and just watched it happen) is the one who actually did. George left. He left and didn't come back, didn't even show up for the arrest/execution (because that's what it really was, an execution, no use dancing around it). He didn't even go visit Dream in Pandora's Vault, even when he had every chance to, even when he didn't have a plan dictating that he absolutely could not do that. Not like Punz did.

Unreliable. Untrustworthy. Uncaring. Those are the nicest words for what George is, at least to Punz. Dream died, twice, and George was nowhere to be found. Just because Dream had been trying to keep him safe. To make sure people didn't try to target George to hurt Dream. And George just left, like that was an option in this game they were all playing, that none of them save Wilbur had chosen to play, like you could just throw up your hands and say "okay, that's it, I'm done" and leave with immunity, taking everything you've done with you. That wasn't how the world worked. And it didn't matter if George understood that or not, because it still hurt Dream, and that was what was important. Because what George did was a betrayal, and because they were already familiar enough with that to know how bitter it tasted. Because Punz had to constantly pretend and reap what they had sown and deal with this betrayal they had committed - not the one they were infamous for but the one in their heart and their brain and the way people looked at them and laughed with them and the way they had agreed to the plan and let Dream die and the sneaking suspicion they had, growing louder every day, that something had gone wrong and that they had to do something about it but that too would be a betrayal - but George didn't, just because he had been there earlier and knew some people longer. Because people trusted him more and he didn't have to prove how reliable he was and how much he hated Dream and all that.

And because George had Dream's love in a way Punz never could. Dream loved too freely, that much was true, but he flinches at every motion Punz that was a little too fast, a little too sudden, and makes sure to call everything a business arrangement, makes sure they're mercenary and client, makes sure to suppress any little trace of attachment that could get either of them hurt. And, even now, even after George has gone and left, Dream still loves George; Punz isn't too blind to reality to miss it. And they had kinder days together, back before everything went wrong; there were no kinder days for Punz, and there never had been.

Despite everything, they're two sides of the same coin: wishing for something that is no longer reachable, no longer possible, because things have changed and because people have changed. Because Dream has changed, partially due to the decisions they made, and there isn't anything they can do to go back to how it was. Not truly.

And neither of them really care about anything or anyone else. They're not here to fight for ideals or morals, they just want to keep the people they love safe and away from the people who would want to hurt them. They are willing to kill for it, but, because of who Dream is, and because that would put them in danger, they can't. They're not allowed to, explicitly in Punz's case, implicitly by Dream pushing George away. Because Dream wants to keep the people he cares about safe, and that can't happen if it looks like he cares about them or vice versa.

(It's only okay if Dream's the one getting hurt, after all)

[otgo-brooklyn]

MDZS Seven Deadly Sins!AU

[sailorsally]

Violent pro Russian hate groups just stormed the premises of Pride Festival that was supposed to close Pride Week in Tbilisi. The organizers had to be evacuated. Everyone is fine.

It's just heartbreaking to see this happen again and again. Police 'failed' to keep them out because current pro Russian government has been doing the damnest with church together to use queer people for their political games and homophobia to gain more supporters. I have been at this festival years ago and it was the most supportive and loving space I have been in, I have so many fond memories from it.

I was going to be there this year too, as were my queer friends. Now all of us are sad because once again we had to face the harsh reality that queer people aren't protected here. And worse - the government will actively orcherstrate violence like this to further separate Georgia from Europe and European human values because that is what Russia wants.