#no matter the reason - even if it's a personal matter. and how can we not be concerned. after everything

[jeanjauthor]

*sighhh...* They missed half the Orkney Islands...including the ones with the entry in the Guiness Book of Records.

The one with the purple lable Noup Head Lighthouse is Westray, and the one with Knap of Howan is Papa Westray, and they hold the Guiness Book of Records for the world's official SHORTEST daily commercial airflight route. I think the GBR says it was 2 minutes flat, or maybe a couple seconds over but I personally timed it from wheels off the runway to wheels on the runway, and that day that I watched it, it was 1m 57s. (I think they had a tailwind the day I watched.)

It's a little commuter plane, seats about 8 people, and it takes off and lands a few times in the morning and a few times in the evening, because it's faster and cheaper to take a small plane like that than it is to spend literal hours sailing over the sea.

Westray is also home to Noltland Castle (nolt = cattle, iirc), which has an absurdly high number of cannon loops. Not arrow loops, but cannon loops or portholes. Like, 72 or so...and it's NOT a big castle. It was never fully finished, but it was finished enough to live comfortably (for the time), plus it was highly defensible, and it was expected to become the place of retreat for Mary, Queen of Scots when being pursued by the English. Unfortunately, at the last minute she chose instead to head south for France, and was captured (etc'd) by the English. (The locals are very proud of the fact their ancestors were prepared to house The Queen.)

(Not all of the castle, but you can definitely see some of the cannon loops!)

How do I know all of this, and for that matter, why did I go there? Well, 2014, the World Science Fiction Convention was being held in London, and my mother and I decided we wanted to visit some relatives waaaay up in Scotland. On Westray. So they took us ALL over the place, and that's when I got to see the GBR record being (unofficially) beaten by like 4-5 seconds.

And yes, it is very, very windy. Like, wimdy windy. Literally, no trees grow up in the Orkneys unless they are in protected valleys, hollows, sunken gardens, or enclosed by walls. The tallest "tree" mum & I saw on Westray itself was a row of fuschia bushes that was probably close to 9 feet tall, slightly taller than the fence sheltering it. In fact, most gardens are sunken gardens, by at least a yard or more, specifically so the plants can grow safely, sheltered by the wind.

But it almost never snows in the Orkneys. (Can't speak for the Hebrides.) It rains intermittently, too, so it's almost always green with grass. It is almost always perfect sheep-grazing weather, and some cattle-grazing...but mostly sheep because sheep come with their own woollens for winter, and even Scottish cattle don't get that shaggy. (The reason Noltland Castle was named so, the locals suspect but cannot say for certainty, is that the local lord could afford to own cattle.)

So yes, there were a lot of sheep around the area, and you can bet they'll have their wool being made into Harris Tweed.

I don't know if anyone would want to visit Westray (other than for the awesome castle, lol) without having relatives all the way up there (like we did), but if you can visit the Orkneys, do give it a try! The main isle has the Stones of Stenness, the Ring of Brogar (both of which you can actually go up to and touch, unlike Stonehenge!), Skara Brae (the oldest intact Neolithic village in existence, so very cool!!!), and the Italian Chapel, made out of a Quonset Hut during WWII for the Italian prisoners of war.

(Stones of Stenness)

(Part of the Ring of Brodgar, which is huge, too huge to get into my camera view without having walked over a football field away.)

They were building cement buttressed causeways to connect a few of the nearby islands to the main one to try to cut off submarine access to the isles, and being Catholics instead of Anglicans or Protestants, they politely requested the camp commander for a Catholic church and priest. The commander, not being a total dirtbag, got them a Quonset hut, some cans of paint, etc, and told them they could work on building it when their daily work was done.

It's getting on in years, but the grandson of the artist (Italian POW) who originally painted the interior has come round a few times to touch up the paint job. Let me tell you something: You have to touch the walls to make sure they're not actually plaster relief work.

That is a flat, smooth wall.

Flat.

So while the Orkneys are a "piddy bit" (Scottish Orkadian for "little bit") off the beaten path, there are some interesting things you can go see! Plus, sheep. (I don't have any pictures of sheep, though, sorry.)

(Hebrides, you're on your own for Enthusiastic Tourist-ing.)

The answer to "What the h*ck goes on on those islands to the North and West of mainland Scotland?" by Derek Guy @/dieworkwear on twitter [x]

[mylittleredgirl]

buckle up folks, it's deep dive about chakotay hours!

season 2, "initiations"

@isthereintruthnobeauty1968 asked a question about chakotay in this post about the scene above:

for an infamous leader of an anti-federation rebel group he seems to firmly believe in its authority and ideals And to have (at least externally) adjusted to the blended crew seamlessly. what's the deal?

see, i don't think chakotay ever wanted to be a rebel, or even a leader for that matter.

he wanted to be a starfleet officer.

season 2, "tattoo"

chakotay enrolls in the acadamy as a teenager as young as he legally can ("tattoo"). he tells seven ("one small step") that he joined starfleet because of his love of paleontology, and he only turned away from that out of responsibility to the maquis and now to voyager.

[get a snack for this one y'all]

season 6, "one small step"

it doesn't come up often, but whenever chakotay talks about his pre-voyager starfleet career, it's always about first contact or archaeology. in "emanations," he compares their exploration of an alien burial moon to a mission he went on as an ensign, all while demonstrating his anthropology expertise. add that to him nerding out in "blink of an eye," "one small step," the dinosaur episode, and a bunch of other examples, he's a social scientist both by training and by inclination.

in the original star trek, they had an "A&A officer," a specialist in archaeology, anthropology, and ancient civilizations:

tos season 2, "who mourns for adonais?"

we never hear that term again, but that's the role chakotay often fills on voyager, and he's very happy whenever he gets to do it.

now, realistically, i don't know how much time pre-maquis chakotay would have spent in a blue uniform, because those skills would not make him an obvious choice to lead a maquis cell. ro laren sets up his character (unnamed) in tng as a tactical specialist who resigns to join the maquis:

tng season 7, "preemptive strike"

(which is a very polite and noble way to do it, as compared to eddington's defection in ds9.)

if he was in fact ro’s teacher (i think so, despite a stardate conflict in some later dialogue), it seems very in-character to me that chakotay could have started out pursuing a sciences path before showing an aptitude for piloting, strategy, and/or command. given what we know of him, regardless of his own passions or preferences, if a senior officer noticed his skills and encouraged him to change career tracks, he would do it.

teen angst era aside, he respects authority. he argues against dogmatic ideology when it's inflexible to the needs of the moment, but he likes working within a command hierarchy, and for better or worse, he is easily swayed by charismatic leaders.

season 1, "caretaker"

not only does he yield to janeway's authority on voyager before she even asks him to, and then molds himself into the kind of first officer he thinks will help her most, he does the same thing with annorax in "year of hell." tom is the voice of ethical conscience and reason in that episode, and he organizes the rebellion—against chakotay's orders!

there's so much going on here:

season 4, "year of hell part 2"

despite his father's perceptions of him as a contrarian, chakotay only rebels as a last resort. he would genuinely rather not. he clearly talked about the maquis cause with ro and others before he left—and i bet that's why he resigned to a starfleet admiral in person, to make one last appeal. his preference is to try and change systems from within.

not to west wing about it, but chakotay is only The Guy when he has to be—he wants to be the guy the guy counts on.

(hot take: with how he rationalizes the calculated sacrifices annorax is making in "year of hell," i don't think chakotay would have left starfleet for the maquis if it wasn't personal. but it was personal, so here we are!)

maquis chakotay is a disillusioned idealist, but he's never that disillusioned. he believes in the stated ideals of the federation, sometimes more than janeway does.

season 3, "scorpion part 1"

and it's a fundamental character trait that he looks for the best in people and situations, often to his own detriment (tuvok, seska, annorax, that time janeway and tuvok and tom all lie to him for half a season, the list goes on).

and it's easy to see good in starfleet, especially when most of his career was during the height of federation utopia before "the best of both worlds," at which point starfleet remembered it's also a defensive force and started building the defiant—which was the very first starfleet ship ever designed solely for combat.

the cardassian situation in tng is shown as an aberration in a largely peaceful era. the off-screen "border wars" were fought by officers who expected to go their entire careers never firing a phaser.

tng season 4, "the wounded"

for decades since making peace with the klingons, and with the romulans keeping to themselves, starfleet has been mostly goodhearted nerds who are committed to exploring and making friends. even if chakotay was a tactical officer, that was the starfleet he signed up for and served.

and, in fact, the reason why the federation abandoned the colonists in the dmz in the first place and wouldn’t help bajor during the cardassian occupation is because the federation and starfleet are devoted to the ideals of peace and noninterference to a fault.

tng season 5, "ensign ro"

chakotay doesn't object to starfleet's actions, but its inaction.

which, side note, is why janeway's choice in "caretaker" makes it easy for him to rally behind her. by choosing to protect the ocampa, even though it's a huge sacrifice and puts her in a prime directive gray area, janeway specifically addressed the exact trust gap he has with starfleet.

season 1, "caretaker"

that's what he wanted them to do back home!

chakotay defends his starfleet uniform in the kazon scene that inspired this whole essay, and he believes what he's saying, because he's right: that's not what a starfleet uniform represents, either in theory or in practice. especially in the mid-24th century, regardless of the political issues, the federation and starfleet do not conquer planets or enslave alien cultures by force.

(of course, they wouldn't have helped the kazon free themselves either, but that's not the question on the table.)

to op's main question: it's an interesting (or boring?) doylist choice to make chakotay such a platonic ideal of a Starfleet Officer™️ (which, for the record, has always included going off-leash at the expense of one's career whenever ethics overwhelm regulations).

season 1, "prime factors"

star trek went to a lot of trouble to create the maquis for the voyager premise of two crews... and then quickly brady-bunch'd them into one happy family and let deep space nine wrangle the maquis problem instead. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

chakotay being so willing to put himself and his crew into starfleet uniforms (even though some members of both crews objected to it) cheated us out of some potentially rich drama, but it does hold water with what we see of him as a character on screen, and his relationship with starfleet. it has disappointed him, but he still believes that it's a force for good, and chakotay will always err on the side of seeing the good in something and thinking he can change it for the better from within.

--

tl;dr: chakotay is a starfleet officer by training and at heart, who was temporarily out of uniform because his family and tribe happened to be directly in the middle of starfleet's messiest ethical quagmire.

he made a personal, moral decision to join the maquis, not because he was anti-federation, but because that was the only way to protect federation civilians—which was part of his starfleet oath to begin with. he worked hard when he was younger to earn this uniform and i think, in spite of everything, he feels honestly proud to get to wear it again.

[endereies]

MERCH DROP - CS

No Nut November - Day 30

NNN Masterlist...

-➤ You and Chris decide to announce your relationship through a merch drop

for: @issysh3ll

Merch releases weere reasonably often for the triplets, having them during any holiday or milestone. With their growth, they became more professional and personal to them. A lot of them were in relation to videos they did or even inside jokes between them. Nick would do his own themed drops for space camp, varying in themes. Chris, however, tended to follow a familiar pattern. His love for deer and his logo was printed on every article he sent out. This time, it was slightly different.

“Chris, you messaged me? What’s up?” You sauntered into the living room, staring at the messages Chris sent you only a few minutes ago. Once you placed it in your back pocket, you looked up to finally see what it was about.

“Look at them!” Chris grips a hoodie from a box and lifts it to his chest. The fabric was made from a dark burgundy colour that made the white lettering stand out. It was one you had specifically requested when you and him sat down to gather ideas.

A soft gasp leaves your mouth as you hold a hoodie from the box next to the other. It was a classic black shade with an oval printed on the chest. It had the words ‘Fresh Love’ on top of two printed cans. One of the cans was an obvious Pepsi can while the other was your favourite drink. “These are perfect, all of them look so cute.”

“Want to see my favourite one?” Before you could mutter a reply, a shirt gets uncovered showing a deer and a fox next to each other, presented like his spotlight tee from a previous drop. Both of the animals were looking at each other, not focusing on anything else. It reminded you of how you each act together.

“This is a good idea, right?” the idea of releasing the news to all the fans had been playing with your mind from day one. How would they react? Would they hate on you? What would-

“I’m ready if you are, I don’t want to hide my relationship with you just because some of the ‘fans’ are jealous of what they were never going to get.” He rolled his eyes playfully before attempting to fold the clothes neatly in the boxes.

“Neither do I, I don’t want to hide anything. It sucks when you are all filming, and I have dedicate my time with you around that.”

“It’s not the fans who matter, it’s us, okay?” With the added reassurance, you nodded meekly.

Then he quickly smirked and grabbed your hand and phone simultaneously. Without processing it, your hand instinctively wrapped around his, your new nails clearly on show. He snapped a photo of the merch with both your hands in the bottom left corner. A quick blush covered your cheeks as he immediately added it to his Instagram story, tagging his brands. He didn’t tag you purposefully for the build up.

He shrugged, placing his phone back on the table. “Don’t mean we can’t tease em back.”

@melliflws @yuhayeee @st7rnioioss @sturn-bugz @bueckers @worldlxvlys @raysmayhem-72 @patscorner @y0urm4m @bernardsbendystraws @junnniiieee07 @luverboychris @jnkvivi @rac00ns-are-c00l4 @shorthairchris @colorthecosmos444 @anabethinking @zay-sturns @anyaa2s @emilyfaith2003 @zariyamitchell-blog @imjusthereforthesturniolosmut @sturniolosiphone @slutf4rmatt @flouvela @lovesturni0l0s @2prcntmilkluvr @ribread03

© ENDEREIES 2024

[ashkabbom]

Temporary stresses - Mouthwashing

A/n: I disappeared but I'm back. I finished school and I'm officially on vacation 😋. I had another idea initially, but then I gave up writing to Curly with that one.🎀 Tell me if I wrote something wrong, English is not my first language and I use a translator a lot.

I wanted a story with a happy ending, although it wasn't supposed to end 100% like that 😭

Versão em português no wattpad: Livro de One Shots - Mouthwashing (Conta: ashkabbom)

•Captain Curly x Fem!Reader

Summary/Synopsis: You hate being emotionally raw and your husband has been acting strange lately.

Notes: I wrote this with a happy ending, but in situations like this stress can actually be very dangerous, so be careful if you are going to do this to someone or if you are the person to receive this one day.

You were uncomfortable, to say the least.

It had been seconds, minutes, HOURS, since he had answered you, he avoided you whenever he could! The worst part is that you don't know the reason for all this, even though you told him to tell you when something was bothering him.

He's been acting kind of strange since yesterday. It seemed like you were the only one who was out of touch with all that nervousness and discomfort.

You had been a bit paranoid for some time now, because of these attitudes you didn't know if you had done something and it was eating you alive.

Searching through all your memories and finding nothing you realize you did wrong. Maybe he just got tired?

"I did everything like I always did..." You were rambling on to yourself. Maybe you said something wrong? You know very well that words, no matter how simple they are sometimes, can hurt.

This was all giving you a huge headache and leaving you a mess of emotions. You were just too exhausted.

You were out of the house now, on your lunch break from work, messing around on your phone for a few minutes, more specifically texting your husband, hoping he would answer you like he always did.

He didn't answer you properly, the messages were short and seemed more direct than ever, your husband didn't write and talk to you like that. God, you just wanted to go home.

"You've got that look on your face again." You hear your co-worker, Linda, say and let out a sigh. "What happened now?"

"This is the fourth time we've seen you with that sad, sullen puppy face in the space of 15 minutes," her other friend, Charlotte, says..

"Do you think I'm old?" You ask suddenly.

"What happened to 'Hi friend, I missed you too'? It doesn't exist anymore?" The first woman says.

"Exactly, calm down. You're not old, you're perfect for your age. And old age comes to everyone! It's inevitable." The second friend explains with a raised eyebrow.

"But now it's so different... When we met I was different, my hair, my body... My age..."

"Girl, seriously, what happened? You haven't had these low self-esteem spikes in months, you were so happy" Charlotte says with a sad tone, sitting down next to you.

"That's the problem, I don't know what happened... Since yesterday Curly has been acting a bit strange, avoiding me and being vague at times, but at the same time he's been very short and direct." You think about what your morning had been like that day.

"Oh my, don't be like that, men are a mess all by themselves. I'm not going to put ideas in your head, but let us know if you need help with that." Linda says, running her hand over your back.

"You're still as beautiful as the day you met, so don't worry. If he's going blind and can't see it, take the trash out of your house before it starts stinking up the whole house" Charlotte says, making it clear what she originally meant.

"I just don't know if something happened and he didn't tell me, if I did something and he was uncomfortable..." You love your husband with all your heart, otherwise you wouldn't have married him.

"Girl, put your cards on the table and that man against the wall, if something is going on he will tell you, he is not a lying man" Charlotte advises you in a lighter way now.

"She's right, you have to talk to him, but really talk to him. Just starting a conversation with him won't make him tell you anything... Ask what's going on and if everything is okay." Linda hugs you affectionately. Honestly, maybe this stress is just in your head? You don't know.

"Okay okay, but I'll do it after work, there's still a few more hours until it's time to leave." Grumbling you and your friends get up, heading towards the door while talking about anything now.

You don't know what you would do without them.

Hours had passed since that conversation, it was already getting dark and you were driving home almost completely peacefully.

Being with your friends relieved you a lot, but you still had a little bit of a nagging feeling, not to mention that you also knew that life is not a strawberry and anything can happen.

You were together for 11 years, dating for 4 years and married for 7 years. There was no reason for it all to go down the drain. At least you told yourself that.

You had texted him earlier, saying you were going home now... He hadn't even seen the message, but that's okay! Sometimes he's just busy with... Anything, you think.

Parking the car, you sigh, You hated feeling as tired as you had been feeling lately, you wish you could enjoy some of your time at home instead of just passing out in bed. On the bright side, you were on vacation from your job in 2 days. Just two more days.

Today you would confront him! You would know what was going on with him lately and everything would be okay! Everything has to be okay.

You open the door to the living room and notice the loud silence, seeping through your entire house. You didn't have a good feeling about this..

"Curly? Love?" You call out as you walk through the door and into the room, feeling a little anxious.

You turn to the kitchen and then–

"SURPRISE!" Some voices say/scream at the same time, scaring you at first, but then you notice the cake on the table, balloons, birthday hats, coxinha and other things on the table.

A wave of relief washes over you.

It was your birthday today.

"Happy birthday my love, you don't know how much- Wow, hey, hey! What happened? Why are you crying?" Your husband's cheerful tone soon fades, quickly replaced by a tone of concern.

You hadn't even realized that the wave of relief had brought you to tears, you were crying.

Did something happen? Is she okay?" Anya, Curly's work friend and maid of honor at your wedding a few years ago, asks worriedly, approaching.

"Honey, is something hurting?! Do you need anything? Anything at all? Do you need to go to the hospital?" He was quick to come closer, putting his arms around you as he checked your body with his tender and concerned gaze. God, this was all you wanted.

You try to explain, through your tears, that you're okay, that everything is okay now.

"I thought-" You stop to sniff a few times "I thought you were mad at me. Acting different and distant."

"I told you you sounded thick, but it's amazing how your head doesn't work sometimes." You hear Swansea's voice and let out a laugh through your tears.

"I'm so happy that everything is okay and that you're not mad at me." You explain as you wipe away your tears, soon feeling Curly's hand on your cheek while the other rests on your waist.

"I'm sorry my love, I would never be mad or upset with you, a thousand apologies darling" He says as he peppers your face with kisses, apologizing several times. "Please, I'm so sorry"

"We told him to hide it and not tell you or give you any hints about your surprise party and such, since last time he ended up telling you... But I think asking him to disguise himself wasn't... the best idea" Daisuke says as he analyzes the situation with a disappointed face.

You laugh a little and soon they join you, then a small silence arises, but it is quickly broken.

"So?" Swansea begins

""Is everything okay in there?" Anya asks, looking at you calmly and with a little concern. "Are you feeling any pain?"

"How are you and she?" Daisuke asks in the most direct way.

You sniff one last time and look down, running your hand over your belly.

"I will never make you cry like that again." He finishes with a peck on the lips and runs his hand over your belly. "I will never worry the two girls in my life again. I promise"

You look at him fondly. "We're fine, we just went through a hurricane today and yesterday." You laugh lightly. "Now let's eat this cake, I'm hungry for two."

The others laugh at your answer and soon everyone gathers around the table to celebrate your birthday.

You really hope you never have to go through that worry again, not even Curly would do it again.

You have the most caring husband and your daughter would have the best dad.

[home-of-renn]

somewhat unrelated to this.

But this is so right.

Astrid 100% had a right to be pissed, especially because from her perspective - up until this point - Hiccup had been disrespectful, sarcastic in a way that could be interpreted as rude, uninterested in the well-being of his tribe despite being the heir, and overall not someone who's very involved in the lives of others - which is a big deal since you would have to be a close-knit community for the sake of survival.

Hiccup kinda always seems like he's being forced to be around everyone. Not to mention he's always screwing up in a way that has detrimental consequences for everyone but himself (cause he's untouchable as the son of the chief). Like, would you wanna be BFFs with the guy you indirectly/directly got your house burned down?

From anyone else's perspective, Hiccup is insensitive and rude and clearly doesn't want to be around you. We as the audience know that Hiccup being insensitive are his attempts at lightening the mood and being funny - it's not often that he does it to be mean. We as the audience know that Hiccup may look like he doesn't want to be involved because he thinks they don't want him to be involved.

I think Astrid is meant to reflect her community. She is the epitome of what it means to be a Viking on Berk. She's strong and good at fighting. Her skills may be partially due to natural talent but it's mostly hard work and perseverance. She's involved with the daily life of her community and is well aware of the costs of living in a place like Berk. She knows how to follow orders and when to stand down despite being immensely prideful.

In comparison, Hiccup can be viewed as being almost naive. Astrid and Hiccup are both only children. Everyone on Berk has to fight for their survival. If either of them dies their parents lose all their children and their name/house may no longer be carried on and their bloodline may end. Their deaths would affect the people around them, and for Hiccup it's an even bigger deal because it would spark a succession crisis. Astrid is most probably aware of this - it may even be the reason why she trains so hard. The only one who seems to take this lightly is Hiccup.

Not to mention, with Astrid's way of thinking, Hiccup isn't trying as hard as he should, because there is someone to replace him - that being Snotlout. If you were heir, and everyone else wanted your cousin to rule, wouldn't you try a little harder to secure your claim and prove yourself? It makes Hiccup seem a little bit ungrateful and 100% like he just doesn't care - like he's taking it for granted, like he's not aware of his privilege and that he's treating it like it 100% guaranteed - like no matter what he does he will still be chief one day. It sort of leaves a bad taste in your mouth.

Us as the audience know that Hiccup is trying in the way he thinks is best. He's playing to his strengths - that being his inventions. But they don't always work out, and that's what people see. They see his inventions failing. I bet that until Toothless, not many people had actually seen the extent of Hiccup's genius and his skill in building things. All they see is the fiery carnage after something has blown up in his face. It seems like he's a dog with a very dangerous bone that won't let go (despite it directly hurting people around him). It can be interpreted as him being selfish or maybe even cowardly since he won't try something else/give up.

All of this combined with the fact that as the future chief, Hiccup should be more caring, more mindful and overall give more of a shit about his tribe and the people in it, paint him as not exactly a great person.

So yeah. If your destructive, rude, uncaring future chief (who doesn't ever appear to be reprimanded properly since his behaviour keeps continuing - which btw if anyone else on Berk behaved like this they would be outcasted/kicked out) suddenly got amazing - literally over night - at the very thing you had been training for since you were old enough to crawl - you too would be convinced he was cheating (which tbh he kinda was) and have a little bit of a breakdown because that is just so fckin unfair on so many levels.

rewatching httyd and like. Astrid was right to be pissed abt hiccup suddenly becoming competent. imagine you've been training ur whole life and ur so fucking kickass and then this weird little nepo baby emo kid shows up and beats you at everything and steals all your friends. ngl I would be experiencing a breakdown. I'd be having a midlife crisis. yknow actually I think she underreacted

[elvensorceress]

saturday snippet of longing and pining and being completely unaware of your own feelings! (feelings are hard, okay)

@tizniz @hippolotamus @livinginsunnyhell @eddiebabygirldiaz @spotsandsocks @thelikesofus @monsterrae1 @ronordmann @wh0rebehavi0r @epicbuddieficrecs @chaosandwolves @singitforthegirls @daffi-990 @lonelychicago @sofa-king-lame @alliaskisthepossibilityoflove @blutterlie @sazanahashi @smilingbuckley @inell @bekkachaos @evaneds @rainbow-nerdss 💕

more of this 🥰

"I don’t know how anyone could not want you.”

Buck stares at him again with that piercing, soul-rending gaze that skewers directly through Eddie’s chest. But then Buck closes his eyes and shakes his head with a sardonic huff. “He’s straight. So. Doesn’t really work that way.”

Probably says something that Eddie’s first thought is, why not?

Why would it matter? Who would even care about sexuality if it were Buck offering his heart? Attraction is made up bullshit anyway. Who actually looks at someone and wants them when you know nothing about each other? Who wants to fuck just because they think someone is good looking? No one falls in love at first sight. It’s romanticized, telenovela fiction. And people lying to themselves because they’re lonely or want attention or orgasms or whatever. 

There’s a lot you can convince yourself of when you’re lonely, heartbroken, afraid you’ll die alone, afraid you’re a failure as a person, a husband, a partner. There’s a lot someone might do to be what other people want. There’s a lot that gets cut out and tucked away in order to be what you’re supposed to. 

All the more reason Eddie judges and dislikes anyone Buck dates. He’s totally justified. None of them get him and they don’t adequately appreciate him at all and Buck deserves all the love in the universe. At the very least, he deserves someone who will love him just as much and just as fiercely as Buck loves them. 

“Weren’t you ‘straight’ until Tommy?” Eddie asks. “Or— not that it was dependent on him, not that he did anything— but you thought you were straight until you realized you liked him. Right?” 

Buck looks at him, stares too hard at him for far too long and it makes goosebumps wash all over Eddie’s skin. The hair on the back of his neck prickles and swishing, churning flips through his stomach. 

“Yeah,” Buck answers quietly. “I don’t think that’s the case here though. Doesn’t matter. It’s not— It’s late. Too late. It’s really too late. We should sleep.”

Yeah. They should. Eddie has a long day of more packing to do tomorrow and another long distance tour with the realtor. Even if thoughts are whirling in his head. Too many thoughts. 

How does Buck know it’s unrequited? How does he know what he’s feeling now if he didn’t before? Did something change? How the hell would Tommy supposedly know if Buck didn’t know? 

How does Buck feel when he likes someone? 

How does anyone feel when they like someone? How do you know if you do? Is there supposed to be something you feel when you’re looking at someone beautiful? How would you know they’re beautiful if all you know about them is how they look? 

How do you feel anything for someone? Especially if you don’t know them? People say sex is better with someone you love, but is that more romanticized bullshit lies? Probably not. Sex is overrated honestly. It’s fine. Mostly. Just. Not what everyone seems to say it is. Nothing earth shattering or life changing. Nothing all that intimate either. Not technically. It’s just distant, avoidant, using each other for a moment of relief. He and Shannon did it so they didn’t have to talk. When they didn’t want to talk or actually be close. They didn’t have to go on dates or bare their souls or anything. They could just take off some clothes. 

Isn’t that what everyone does? Isn’t that the difference between dating someone versus being friends with them? 

Is it supposed to be different? Is that why people like sex? Because it’s different for them? 

Does anyone actually feel the kinds of intense, fervent, passionate emotions that people make up stories about? Isn’t romance just another fantasy? Like fairy tale magic and otherworldly phenomena? Like dragons and unicorns and mythical creatures? It’s a nice fantasy, but still a fantasy. None of it is real. 

Love isn’t sex or attraction or beautiful people being beautiful. None of that is love. 

Love is sacrifice. Connection. It’s blood and battle and being torn apart. Giving up everything because there’s no alternative. Because you’re not whole anymore without the person you love. They’re part of you. So losing them is losing yourself. 

Is that all love is? Loss? 

Eddie reaches out and holds onto Buck’s shoulder. They should sleep. He’s tired, too. But there’s heaviness in his chest and a swirl of despair whirlpooling inside him. It’s small now, but it’s been growing and he needs to hold onto Buck. 

When it’s not enough to just grip his shoulder, Eddie lets his hand slide down until it’s again resting on Buck’s chest and he can gently rub back and forth a few times. He hopes it’s comforting. He hopes Buck knows he’s not alone. Eddie won’t let him be alone. Someone will love Buck the way he should be. 

A wave of envious aching crashes through Eddie’s chest and he swallows hard. Buck should be loved. Buck is loved. Maybe not the way he wants. But Eddie loves him. Every beat, every breath, every single shred of his soul holds love for Buck. It might not be enough, but it is there. Eddie would love him until Buck finds someone he wants who loves him properly. 

Eddie would love him after that, too. Even when Buck is happy and settled and doesn’t need him anymore. 

Buck takes Eddie’s hand and holds it tightly as he closes his eyes. He doesn’t turn back around. And he doesn’t let go. 

Eddie just wants to inch closer and hold tighter. 

There’s something faded, slipping away like tides and wet sand through his fingers. 

Why can’t he keep this?

Why can’t this be the answer? Why can’t Eddie love him the way he wants? Why can’t Buck love Eddie this way? Why can’t they be in love with each other? 

[scribeofmorpheus]

Why Dragon Age Veilguard isn't a "Cathedral"

Concept art by Matt Rhodes

"To disinherit the storylines of past games goes directly against the notion of building cathedrals."

What is inherent with Veilguard that keeps bothering me is the fact that the world's choices truly didn't matter--and it doesn't simply bother me from a player perspective, it's not simply a grievance borne of frustration to what I (as a longtime fan) have lost. It's about the very culture of the arts under capitalism's new media habituation cycle [x][x].

Yes, I spent hours of my life playing and replaying each instalment of Dragon Age. Yes, I painstakingly curated a 'canon' world state by replaying what came before in preparation for Veilguard. Yes, I am even more unsatisfied with the end product--time hasn't helped, it's just widened the divide. But, and I can't stress this enough, these very personal gripes aren't what hit home the most. It's the inherent disregard of legacy. A legacy that the previous writers and game developers were building towards.

In the DAV artbook, "cathedral" is the word used to describe the process of making a game. Matt Rhodes' exact words are: "One artist can make a painting, but it takes a team to build a cathedral." Cathedrals took centuries to build. The architect who drafted the first blueprints would likely never see his work realised, he had to rely on those who came after him, like-minded and passionate, to see it through--for the culture, for the future, for legacy. Painters took on several apprentices for this reason too--giant frescoes were not completed by one man's hand, even if it is one man's name that immortalises them. Similarly, if you weave a narrative around choice, what good does it do to take it away at the final act if not to fall to caricature?

To disinherit the storylines of past games goes directly against the notion of building cathedrals.

Late-stage capitalism and profit-margin-obsessed game producers forcing developers to churn out meager content, to make a known brand into something it's not, to chase a fad or a popular trend... o, how reductive and cliche you've been forced to become Bioware. We have lost the cultural thought patterns relative to Cathedrals. We know only of barn-raised churches--done in a day but unlikely to last the turn of the seasons.

And don't even get me started on the music of Veilguard either. From Origins to World of Warcraft to Everquest to Baldur's Gate to Dungeon Siege, you can hear the intricate interconnected weave of sounds inspired by the Dungeons and Dragons-esque fantasy genre. You hear it in the repeated use of certain instruments, in the harmonic weeping notes of a bard-like singer or the foreboding echoes of drums as if of war. In tavern songs. But then, rather than hire someone who loves these worlds and this genre, who is a hungry artist looking to make a name, a legacy if you will, for themselves with a spectacular score, you hire any already sated composer, one well-into the encroaching years of career fatigue, whose notes repeat in countless projects, who feels less concise and more uninterested with each new project. One who has long since cemented his legacy. Someone in it for a paycheck and nothing else! And, to top it off, you let him compose something so minimalist? I am offended actually.

Cathedrals! We should have witnessed the final tile being placed on the Dragon Age cathedral. Instead, some architects walked up, tore down the interior and installed IKEA furniture and called it authentic before having to call the previous architects to come and fix the "load-bearing issues", forcing them to rush and add a coat of varnish and a few 'aged' details for authenticity.

[paralleljoys]

Leona Thoughts! Big Big Leona Thoughts!

I’m only going off of snippets of the chapter described by others and the one video on youtube that is still in Japanese so this might be inaccurate but for right now this is my opinion on why Leona’s dream played out like it did.

[TLDR: Leona’s pride, loneliness, and self-doubt is so strong that his dream cannot become canon-divergent without risking waking him up.]

We already know that the dreamer’s can only dream when the “reality” of the dream is sustained. And that “reality” bends depending on how imaginative or delusional the dreamer is. Which gets us things like Doodlebob!Floyd and Buff!Epel. We know that the magic of the dream will work to keep the dreamer asleep.

“Leona is the type of person to know when he’s dreaming” was what Idia said and I think that he was right.

When we get a dreamer like Leona, who is so rooted in reality and how he knows the world to work, his wildest and happiest dreams would absolutely bend the dream to the point of waking him. So his dream is reality.

To become king in reality, Leona’s talents would have to be recognized or he’d have to be the only option. If he was recognized then he’d be king already so the reality where he is chosen over his father, Falena, or Cheka doesn’t exist.

So, they get in an accident, his father succumbs to his illness, no other choice is available but Leona. It’s not how he wanted to get there, but in “reality” that is the only option for Leona.

And he stays realistic throughout his dream. He’d be king by circumstance and no one would want him. He’d enact his plans but no one will support him. He’d fail as a king and his people will reject him. Looking at who Leona is, I personally think this wouldn’t be true. The Savanaclaw students trust him as their leader for a reason, why wouldn’t there be people in his country willing to listen to him?

Regardless, in Leona’s wonderfully pessimistic worldview he will continue to be unwanted, even when he has what he wanted most. Leona understands both himself and others to the point that he subconciously recognizes how his pride would be his downfall but he can’t acknowledge it yet. He’d push everyone away until only the hyenas are left.

This understanding pushes itself into the way that the people close to Leona manifested. The people didn’t support him because why would they? He’s a replacement for Falena, not their chosen King. He can keep the hyenas with him, but the moment the food is gone he knows they wouldn’t stick around. The fact that Ruggie appeared as a protestor in the crowd instead of someone at his side shows how transactional Leona views their relationship to be. Then there’s Kifaji, his caretaker who stayed with Leona his whole life and arguably the closest character to Leona. The man will beg and plead for him to be a proper king, no matter how far from it Leona strays, because Kifaji is diligent or better yet, tenacious. Either way a truth is that Kifaji will not abandon the King. Meaning that even at his worst he believes Kifaji would never leave him, so long as he’s King.

But what did Lilia admonish him for in Chapter 2? Not for attacking Diasomnia, but for having a sensitive ego that directs his anger at his retainers. That is what Lilia says makes Leona unfit to rule.

And in his dream he takes the abuse from his people. He takes the rejection and the insults. He is still King. He is still King until he tries to hurt one of his people, Ruggie. That’s when Kifaji stops him. Because he is no longer King when he turns his anger on his people. And that’s when he runs away. That’s when he sinks deeper into his dream.

[Thank you for reading this far but that’s all I have to say! It’s more my delusions but it’s there nonetheless. I wish I had gotten into the Lion Guard because I know there’s themes from that that could explain more aspects of Leona and his dream.]

[origamimissingno]

Long story short op

Design that isn't completely masculine/is in any way girly = Girl in most Pokemon fandoms eye

I got shit once for calling my male Primarina a boy because he looked too girly to not be a girl (despite every playthrough of sm/usum I've down with piplup had them be a little dude)

It all boils down to misogyny even if the person doesn't realize it

Meganium and Venusaur are ultimately the same pokemon design wise, big plant dinosaur with a flower

But because Venusaur is more "Manly" in looks that makes them a Boy No Matter What, because the flower is based off a Corpse Flower

Where as Meganium has a Big Pretty Girly Flower and Soft Lines And Curves, so that means they are a Girly Girl UwU

These are the same people who bullied Game Freak into making Gallade because they could not handle Gardevoir being Male despite originally having a more androgynous design, and why there are plenty of Pokemon lines now that when they have a Girly design are Locked To Only Bring Girls (looking at Tsarrena or however you spell it, and Hatteren)

Because they don't like when a girly design can really be a boy, because that's not right in their eyes

And many of them don't even realize they let that bias paint how they see pokemon

Taruos and Miltank are an early exception because they were legit made for lore purposes to be just male and just female, but it's because ultimately they are close enough to mate with each other and have children, it's just meant to copy real life, the bull for work, and the cow for dairy and meat

These people got weird about Professor Oak asking your gender in the Gen 1 remakes Fire Red and Leaf Green, because how dare Oak imply the Manly Men could be Girls

They assign genders to Pokemon as a whole species instead of the individual pokemon because of shit like "Gardevoir shouldn't be Male and Machokes shouldn't be Female", because they forget both that these characters are fictional, but also that they are animals. They work under their human binary, so much so that some even argue against the pokemon that do not have genders for not having them, because they don't fit the human binary

And when they see a pokemon in the anime do something gendered, they cling to that as a reason why that's a "main personality trait" even though we see another Chikorita who's as obsessed with Baseball as their trainer, but thats not a personality treat because that doesn't fit their view of Chikorita and I hate it

I'd much rather have the universal "main trait" be that Chikorita just really liked to fucking clock things with their head leaf over "crushing on main character UwU"

I'm sorry I feel strongly on this mainly because of the amount of dumbasses who get somehow when the first pokemon I catch of most species that have a gender split at all don't match the gender they assigned every Pokemon of that species

A very normal Meganium.

[0alix0]

Can't get rid of a thought about how utterly USELESS the 10 year time jump really was.

I didn't like the idea first, it's a DECADE we're talking about. Like for this time alone you can get a child and raise them to a 4th grade, you can get a full medical degree, you can grow a Christmas tree from sprout. A DECADE GUYS. And I'm not even talking about logical missteps. What was Inquisitor doing this whole time? What the fuck was Solas doing this whole time?? I don't remember any new of his shenanigans being mentioned in the game. Why didn't his agents push him further into action because, you know, they're not getting any younger? Why's Varric still chasing after Solas??? Why's Lavellan still chasing after him??? It's a decade, any normal healthy person would reasonably calm down and maybe give up at all. and if they aren't normal healthy people, then you should probably show them being unhealthily attached to solas, give the reasons for it and consequences!

STILL there was potential for drama. Seeing some older versions of companions moving on with their life, changing so much since the last time we saw them. Inquisitor being a bit too old to deal with all that, maybe having a family, kids. Lavellan becoming one of the primary reasons for Solas to destroy the veil, because she's right there dying slowly because of the it, because of him.

Good stuff.

But no. It literally doesn't matter! It's never used for anything even remotely emotional. The only reason it exists is to justify the lack of character choices from previous games, and even THAT feels like a bullshit when you look back at the Inquisition. A game that takes place 10 YEARS AFTER ORIGINS yet still respects at least SOME of the player's choices beyond "who did you fuck?"

And now everybody just ignores it! Fans, writers, even the developers who created npcs. Isabella looks about the same she did in DAI multiplayer. Harding's just changed her hair a bit. Morrigan has the same face as she had in Inquisition. The only one who kinda changed is Varric, but.... come the fuck on, take inquisition!Varric, put him into vagrant's clothes, grow some hair, dye it, and make him alcoholic. One month of work. That's it.

Shit's hilarious 🚬

[ladies-of-fortune]

Becoming "that girl" and the trap of materialism

Work on your inner self before making any external changes.

It's easy to believe that the next new thing you acquire, whether that be clothes, beauty procedures etc will be the thing to solve all your problems in life. But, it probably won't. All it will be is a drain on your resources and you will still be insecure, just with more stuff. This is not to say you can't buy those things, but to be mindful of the reason why you're buying them. Do you actually want it? Or have you been led to believe you want it, by marketing, social media or what other people are doing?

Even if you don't necessarily like what you see in the mirror, it's important to have love for yourself regardless. At the end of the day, all our bodies are is a vessel for us to inhabit. Despite our best efforts, we are not always going to be looking 100% because life constantly throws stuff at us. There will be times we are so busy we don't eat as well as we should, or stress may impact our appearance through weight gain, acne or bloating. If we go seeking validation for this vessel from the outer world, we make ourselves vulnerable to attracting bad people/energy into our lives. If we are mentally in tune with ourselves, this reflects into our outer appearance and we cannot be shaken by external influences.

You can love yourself and think you'd look objectively better with a certain procedure or a different weight. You can love yourself and want to be different than the person you are currently. A desire for improvement that stems from your love of self is stable and patient. This is important because real change doesn't happen overnight. If you lack this self love, you cannot be objective about yourself and will end up in a never-ending series of 'quick-fix' changes in the impossible pursuit of perfection that will leave you worse off in the long run.

Things you can do to develop your inner state:

Shadow work - Your unresolved tensions from past events will repeat themselves until you address them.

Read/listen to podcasts about things that interest you - Don't you love seeing the way a person's face lights up when they talk about something they find fascinating?

Reducing your social media time - Social media is fake, everyone is just projecting the image they want to project and you have no clue what's truly going on in their lives. Take part but be mindful of this.

Practice gratitude and kindness everyday - To yourself and others. Thing about the simple routines in your daily life, how lucky are you to be able to partake in them? Someone's being a bit rude to you? It's nothing to do with you and everything to do with how they show up in the world, so don't take it personally. A bad personality makes a person look ugly, no matter how attractive their appearance is.

Exercise - It does wonders for mental health. Start small and work your way up. It can be as simple as taking a walk outside or following a YouTube video. Even if you give up halfway, you still showed up and gave something. Something is always better than zero.

Change your diet - Our mental state is impacted by the things we choose to put inside ourselves. If you're eating ultra processed foods like McDonalds, Doritos etc on the daily you could probably feel better than you currently do. You don't have to go crazy and cut everything cold turkey (you'll more than likely relapse), work on making small swaps for healthier versions of the things you like for a sustainable, long-term approach.

[librarygarten]

I would not be able to shut up about Zelda lore. I'd be mentioning the Links the Chain hasn't met yet, or how Ganondorf's hair keeps getting longer with each iteration, and especially the timeline! I'd be turning to Legend and Four and saying that according to Nintendo, they're a bunch of Links conflated together (Four Swords before Time and Adventures after Twilight what???) and then turning to Warriors to say that his game isn't canon to the timeline. SEND HELP

Literally same. I swear I would be the most annoying person ever. I'd be telling them about all the fan theories, giving them all an existential crisis. (Because IMAGINE if Wind found out some people don't think he has the hero's spirit. Or if Sky found out some people think Demise's curse is the reason every other Link had to deal with Ganon.) This was going to be a short little blurb but... yeah you get a whole two pages. This is what you get for feeding my hyper fixation, anon.

“You know about all our adventures and the impact my actions specifically had on the timeline.” Time’s face was unreadable. His usually serious demeanor had a much colder edge to it. And it was directed at you.

You take a breath. He had been a bit stand-offish when you had joined the group. He had been upset when you spoke about how the chain’s adventures were games in your universe. You suspected he began outright avoiding you after that. You had thought there had been an unspoken but mutual understanding that his games were something not to be spoken of. Nothing could prepare you for this conversation, especially with the rest of the chain within earshot. Still, he had spoken to you. Directly to you. Which was progress, even if the subject matter was… this.

“Yeah.” You try to seem nonchalant. Your voice crack ruins the effect somewhat.

“Explain, then. Knowing how we,” Time motions to the rest of the group, “all fit together might help us face the creature we’ve been fighting.”

“Oh, that might get a bit complicated. Some of the games y’all appear in aren’t canon.” You smile nervously. “And some of you guys seem to be multiple games combined? Like, you have two games, and that makes sense because Majora’s Mask was meant to be a sequel to Ocarina of Time. But, for example, in the official timeline The Minish Cap and Four Swords take place before the timeline split, while Four Swords Adventures happens after it, even though all three games seem to be Four’s adventures.”

“Wait, what?” Four perked up at the mention of his name. “How does that make sense? I used the Four Sword about a year or so after my time with the Picori. How can those two games have things between them?”

“Hoooo boy.” You pressed your lips together, trying to summon the restraint necessary to give a tactful answer. You looked at Time, then Four, then at the rest of the chain, whose attention was focused solely on you. Screw it. They asked.

“The company that created the games, Nintendo, published a book with an official timeline in it. The timeline begins with Skyward Sword, after which Sky and his Zelda kind of found what will eventually become Hyrule and *ahem* start the royal family.” You ramble on, choosing not to comment on the way Sky chokes on his own spit. “Then, the Minish Cap happens. And according to Nintendo, the next game, Four Swords, has a completely different Link. After Four Swords, the events of Ocarina of Time happen, where a TON of time travel shenanigans happen.”

Time coughs. You keep talking.

“During Ocarina of Time, Time defeated Ganondorf as a teenager. His Zelda then sent him back in time to prevent Ganondorf from ever getting the Triforce in the first place, but this didn’t erase the other timeline. Thus, there are two timelines: Time’s original that he was removed from and the new one where Ganondorf was never really an issue.”

You get out a stick, drawing lines in the dirt to illustrate your point.

“Now, in the timeline that Time left, Ganondorf eventually came back. That’s what set’s up the events of Wind Waker and Phantom Hourglass. Also in this timeline is a game called Spirit Tracks. The Link from that game isn’t here, but Wind’s Zelda’s granddaughter is that Link’s Zelda.”

“WAIT WHAT?” Wind shouted, temporarily snapping you out of your rant. Oh shoot. How long have you been rambling? You turned your attention to Wind.

“What’s up, sailor?” You point at him with the stick in your hand, as if you were a school teacher lecturing on a subject and not a gamer with way too much free time.

“Tetra had KIDS?” Wind scrunches his face up, as if disgusted by the thought of his best friend reproducing.

“Yes, that is how grandchildren work.” You tap your stick against the end of the line you had drawn. “Anyway, that’s about it for that timeline. As far as I know, Wind stabbing Ganondorf in the face actually killed the guy for once.”

“Wait, WIND is the one who actually finished off Ganon?” Legend pipes up.

“Why do you sound so surprised!?” Wind fires back indignantly.

“MOVING ON!” You shout, redirecting the group's attention back to you. “In the timeline Time went back to and fixed, he has another game, Majora’s Mask. He then settles down and has a kid, who has a kid, etc. etc., then we get Twilight and his game, Twilight Princess. Time is kind of a dickwad in that game, but we don’t have time to unpack that.”

“Hold on.” Time puts up a hand, trying to stop you from continuing. He looks… extremely worried. Twilight looks as if he just swallowed a frog.

“Nope, moving on!” You use your stick to quickly lower Time’s arm. “Twilight actually also killed Ganondorf, but the bastard went and got resurrected. Vaati also shows up again randomly, and that’s how Four Swords Adventures happens.”

“What about me and Legend?” Hyrule raises his hand politely.

“Ah, you guys are from a timeline where Time died in his final fight with Ganondorf.”

“I’M SORRY WHAT?” Twilight and Time shout at almost the same time.

“Yep. That’s what started the Sealing War. Time’s Zelda and the sages sealed Ganondorf away. Then we have Legend’s games, which have two different orders, both of which were published by Nintendo. It either goes A Link to the Past, Oracle of Seasons/Ages, then Link's Awakening, or Link’s Awakening, then Oracle of Seasons/Ages.”

“Why the different order? Doesn’t ‘Nintendo’ know?” Legend smirks, as if he had won against this strange other-worldly company that had reduced him to a child’s game.

“Well, they published the first version, but because Link’s Awakening was the last game for you, fans thought you died at sea.” You explain. Legend’s smirk disappears as the color drains from his face.

“Anyway, according to Nintendo, the next game is A Link Between Worlds, which is a different Link. After that, it’s Hyrule’s games: The Legend of Zelda and The Legend of Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link. Then that’s it for the downfall timeline.”

“What about me?” Wild sheepishly points to himself.

“Nobody knows. Nintendo says they’re after Four Swords Adventures OR Spirit Tracks. Personally, I think after FSA makes more sense, but we DEFINITELY shouldn’t get into theory territory right now.”

“I’m guessing my game is the same? No clear timeline placement because of all the different timelines mixing together?” Warriors rolls his eyes as he says it, as if annoyed he doesn’t have an official timeline placement.

“No, actually. Your entire game was more fanservice than anything. Nintendo doesn’t even consider it canon.”

“WHAT?”

^ Y/N explaining the timeline to the chain be like

[10101]

I agree completely with most of this- particularly how well the articulation of transphobia being caused by cissexualism is, and how a good analogy to make more people understand this would be to show homophobia is produced by heterosexuality as an institution and misogyny is produced by patriarchy.

But a small part I disagree with is the change of sex markers. This is largely coming from a biased perspective of my own but I live in an extremely misogynist country where same-sex institutions are one of the very few safe spaces women have. I do believe transitioned trans women should get access to them too (by transitioned I do not mean a necessary “sex change surgery” but someone who has at least been on estrogen for about a year or so) because it’s inhumane to deny a woman who would inarguably face misogyny a safe space against that. Sex markers on IDs help us get access to these institutions. It’s a small respite in the grand scheme of things and I also believe in separatism being a transitory/temporary stage before cissexualism and the patriarchy are inevitably destroyed. But it matters greatly to a lot of us right now, and I believe it can genuinely help trans women too. Also it can help make more informed and empathetic cis allies, because when we see the reality of another class of women, we understand them more and we can form meaningful communities with them. I speak on this from experience. My trans friends are the reason I have become much more nuanced and empathetic in my takes rather than just taking mere liberal positions on these issues.

I’m not sure what the solution is. I want feminists and trans rights communities to build more empathy and understanding of their causes and understand that they are intertwined. So maybe one solution I can propose is gender-based identification, since sex is defined too narrowly by many authorities even now (ignoring the fact that there are not two immutable sexes and that ignores intersexual people’s realities, who actually exist in much higher numbers than we think, besides many other realities too). It could be based on simple criteria like being on hormones for a year or the like, but that in itself might be difficult considering recent anti-trans legislations across the world and how it would ignore non-binary people’s realities. But I’m sure that a solution can be found that doesn’t take away a temporary respite but at the same time genuinely acknowledges realities that exist beyond our narrow dichotomous ideas.

I also wanted to add to the post that understanding our bias towards dichotomies might help make cis people understand the point you’re making. Every cis person is married greatly to the belief that there do exist certain dichotomies. Non-binary is still an outlier to a lot of us. We see trans women and trans men as strictly part of these dichotomies too (sort of). Mind-soul, male-female, heterosexual-homosexual, breadwinner-homemaker. These dichotomies further encourage the reproduction of essentially all forms of oppression. But from what I have seen and understood, the realities of trans people are removed from it frequently because cis people refuse to actually truly place them under these dichotomies, and see them as outsiders to it, even when they have to repeatedly painfully prove they can be a part of it too.

I think making cis people understand that the entire world isn’t black-and-white and yin-and-yang and that this itself is a product of what is arguably the first oppression in the world—heterosexual categories of “man” and “woman”—could help them understand that transphobia does not affect them with the same extremity or intensity that it affects trans people. We still get a place in that dichotomy. They are always considered outside of it, no matter how much they’re forced to push themselves inside these dichotomies because of the world we perpetuate. I think the point I’m trying to make is very similar to what you said but my addition is more about “how do we make cis people understand that what they believe is reality i.e., dichotomies is actually not reality and is just a part of perpetuation of systems of oppression” (if that makes sense).

“transphobia hurts us all” is an analytical statement. It is making a claim about how a specific bigotry operates in the world, and its supposed analytical value is in revealing something about transphobia that appears on the surface to be counter-intuitive - “while you might think transphobia only hurts transgender people, that isn’t the case; it hurts cisgender people too.” The follow-up to this statement, sometimes implied and sometimes explicit, is a moral imperative - transphobia is a social ill that hurts us all, so we should seek to get rid of it.

This analytical-moral chain of logic isn’t unique to this statement; a lot of analyses of the social world come from a broader desire to “figure out what to do.” When we investigate a social phenomenon to uncover its inner workings, and in this investigation we identify the scope and impact of the harm it causes, we are in a better place to understand how to reduce harm in the world. Of particular interest in this investigation of transphobia is highlighting its illegitimacy - if transphobia also harms cisgender people, this is evidence of its illegitimacy as a social force in the world. We have uncovered some fundamental contradiction in the workings of bigotry, and this contradiction provides a rational ground for us to oppose it. Of course transphobia is irrational and must be opposed; it harms other groups of people who are not transgender.

This is also why people object to this statement on analytic grounds - disagreeing with the argument that transphobia hurts everyone is a critique of analysis. Importantly, it is not a dismissal of empirical evidence; we can see many direct real-world examples of cisgender people being targeted for transphobic abuse, such as cis people being attacked in bathrooms for “looking transgender.” A critique of the claim that transphobia hurts us all is a methodological critique, it is a critique of analytical framing; we are operating from the same set of social facts, but reaching different conclusions. The reason for this is because we are using different investigative and theoretical tools in our analysis. And these differences are not trivial; how we define the social phenomena under investigation directly informs how we understand the facts in front of us.

So first, we must settle the problem of definitions - what is transphobia? Simply defining it as a hatred of transgender people is insufficient for all parties. If it does indeed also hurt cis people, then this definition doesn’t do us much analytical good. Where do we go from here? Perhaps a better place to start is to investigate its origins - what assumptions does transphobia operate from? Where do those assumptions come from? This is where we start getting somewhere. Transphobia draws its core assumptions from cissexualism - the belief that there are two mutually-exclusive and irreconcilable sexes, sexes which are immutable and biologically hard-wired, meaning that it is a difference in human beings that exists independent of the social worlds that human beings build. This idea is bound up in many forms of power, one of which being patriarchy; yes indeed there are two sexes, and one of them is better than the other. And because sex is hard-wired, then patriarchy is likewise a simple fact of nature. These assumptions are also bound up in reproduction; one sex impregnates (this is the powerful sex) and one sex gets impregnated (this is the weak sex). These ideas and assumptions structure much of our social world, being embedded in many social, political, and economic institutions, from family to labour to dating to census records to political office, and so on. 

Transphobia is thus an output of these logics - if sex is biological, and sex determines your place in society, then attempting to change your sex means you are thwarting the natural hierarchy of human beings. You are either trying to rise above your station, or abandoning your post. Either option is grounds for punishment. Why would you go against nature? How dare you?

So, transphobia is a bigotry that comes from cissexualism. We could investigate further where cissexualism comes from (and indeed those investigations are taking place), but for our purposes we now have a much more analytically rich definition. Transphobia is a social technology of discipline; it performs a regulatory function for the continuation of cissexualism, much the same way that misogyny is a regulatory apparatus of patriarchy, and homophobia is a regulatory apparatus of heterosexuality. These bigotries perform a very ‘rational’ social function; they reproduce existing forms of power by policing their borders and brutalising anyone who does not behave in accordance with their logics.

We now return to the original question: does transphobia harm everyone? This question now feels methodologically inappropriate, because we are ignoring the role cissexualism plays in producing transphobia. This is as absurd as describing homophobia without mentioning heterosexuality. The question should instead be: does cissexualism harm everyone? The answer of course is yes - we can see how cissexualism produces the social conditions for people to assault someone in a public bathroom for “looking transgender,” for an adult to force a child to report what their genitals ‘really look like’ so they can continue playing soccer, and for a billionaire to spend the latter half of her life dumping money and resources into political legislation that makes it more difficult to, among other things, correct administrative mistakes on your birth certificate. 

But because we are now talking about cissexualism, it is much easier for us to see how its violence is differentially applied across groups. Cisgender people can point to their cisgenderism as grounds for being exempt from transphobia - “don’t target me, I haven’t done anything wrong! I’m following the rules!” Their societal position as cisgender allows them to argue that they are illegitimate targets, that they are being unfairly treated. This animated much of the surrounding discourse around Imane Khelif - I can’t believe JKR is targeting a real woman! Can’t you tell she’s biologically female? Here’s her birth certificate to prove it, and anyway, don’t you know it’s illegal to be transgender where she lives? 

This is a defence that transgender people cannot mount for ourselves - we are by definition fraudsters in the cissexual regime of gender, we are abandoning our stations, we are perverting nature. And in this difference we come to see that it is not transphobia that harms us all, but cissexualism; we are all subject to scrutiny under cissexual surveillance, but cis people can generally pass the test. Transgender people cannot. 

This distinction also has implications for the second sequence in this investigative chain: what do we do about transphobia? Again we see that this call to action is methodologically inappropriate - you cannot “deal with” transphobia in society while leaving the cissexualist structure that produces it intact, in the same way that getting rid of misogyny without first getting rid of patriarchy is impossible. You cannot get rid of an output without destroying the machine that produces those outputs. This is also where many cis people, even those who count themselves as trans allies, become uncomfortable; abandoning the idea of a metaphysical property of being, hard-encoded into their DNA, means abandoning a whole host of other ideas about identity, about social organisation, about institutional operations. Even minor reformist calls by transgender people, such as removing sex markers on birth certificates (which determine your ability to access all kinds of administrative and civil services), is met with intense hostility by cissexuals - how will we run our hospitals, how will we raise our children, how will we track population data, how will we do anything without sex markers? You people are insane! Look how you deny reality! What is wrong with you freaks? Why can’t you just be happy with the way you were born? And on and on, ironically refusing to concede the fact that states, hospitals, child care, and census data are not natural facts of the world and can be changed. Because if those things can be changed, perhaps sex is not this monumental biological destiny after all!

“Transphobia hurts us all” is an analytical statement that advances a set of cissexual assumptions about the world, and as a consequence, it is severely limited in its value for advancing a moral imperative about how to resolve the problem of transphobia. It is not a neutral statement, nor is one that is helplessly subservient to “the hard facts.” We know those facts - describing them is the role of the social scientist. Whether you are in a laboratory or on the street, you are doing social science by analysing social phenomena. And when you say transphobia hurts everyone, you are doing a poor job of it

[solanasreality]

Ⳋ᧙ — STOP CONFORMING 𝔱𝔬 S✹CIETAL STANDARDS.

i’m serious. there’s genuinely nothing to get out of trying to conform to what you already know is false.

using the law means building trusting in yourself. genuine, unwavering trust.

if you have an assumption that matches up to what the world tells you, “money is hard to make„ “you need to do xyz to shift„ (which only comes from the assumption that you need to work hard 😦)

then you’ll receive that in your reality because that is what you’ve chosen to persist in.

but, now that you’ve known the law, you can do something about that. which is why it’s genuinely bothering when i see people asking how a specific person manifests, because you make the rules.

you make the rules.

we are the operant in power, we control our realities. there is no reason to depend on outside sources when they don’t control your realty. i am essentially a nobody in your reality, the post you’re reading and the many more that’ll come after it, is just you talking to you.

wanna know the truth? none of it matters if your dominant thoughts revert back to negatively perceiving your situation.

the tarot readings won’t matter, the subliminal requests won’t, because it all has to do with you. you can easily change the outcome because of your energy, you just need to hold your own hand at the end of the day and change your thoughts.

tell me, how do you go from breaking free from societal standards by just having the belief in something “non-conventional,” just to fall into the same mindset when the entire point of the law is individuality?

to throw your control onto a random person when you’ve been subconsciously manifesting your entire life, from your first breath, and allowed others’ assumptions to run your life is missing the point.

and even if someone was kind enough to set their dreams aside to guide you, if your dominant story doesn’t match the one that person has, which one do you think is going to manifest?

the assumptions you have? as the operant power? or the person who didn’t control your reality at first, and couldn’t now? we can only do so much.

take back your power and figure out what clicks for you. because i promise you, it won’t be a method that’s telling you to spin around and clack your heels three times, unless, again, that’s what you assume. because it all goes back to your thoughts, and why persist in that when you can take a shortcut and already have your desires internally?

changing your subconscious beliefs is a step everyone has to take. that’s the law of assumption, that’s how it works. luckily for you, it’s as simple as deciding you have your desires right now, at this moment, and not straying from that narrative.

i have no problem with people asking about tips on how to manifest (although, i will most likely redirect you to this post), but to ask me to manifest for you at the expense of my enjoyment? your ask is mooooore than likely getting deleted.

[kamalasloth]

Caitlyn Kiramman Analysis- The Wooden Boat

In S2E8, there is a scene where Caitlyn talks with both Maddie and Vi, which also features seconds long close-up shots at the wooden boat trinket she holds in her hand. My interpretation of the importance of this wooden boat is that it showcases how Caitlyn manages her emotions at this point in the series, and also how it highlights Vi’s importance in her life.

1st closeup: During Caitlyn’s conversation with Maddie

“You can’t blame yourself.”

“I don’t need consolation. I need a plan”

Here Maddie makes an attempt to comfort Caitlyn, to which Caitlyn clenches her fist around the wooden boat, refusing to let Maddie remove it.

The trinket serves as a manifestation of Caitlyn’s emotions. She doesn’t see Maddie as a person she can confide in, so she decides to keep her emotions bottled in, thus the wooden boat held firmly in her hand.

2nd closeup: Caitlyn’s heated conversation with Vi

“How long were you sidled up with that shifty, self-serving war pig? She oinked poison in your ear, and you just ate it!”

“I know!”

In contrast with her holding onto the wooden boat for dear life with Maddie, here Caitlyn throws the trinket at the ground in frustration.

Although they’re clearly in an argument, them having an argument itself is a difference in how Caitlyn views Maddie and Vi.

She doesn’t trust Maddie with matters of her heart, so she avoids even putting real emotion into their conversations, acting as formal as she can, Caitlyn acknowledges the social status between them (commander and officer).

With Vi, Caitlyn isn’t afraid to speak freely, so she tosses the wooden boat, her raw emotions out towards Vi, in hopes that Vi would understand what she is feeling. The reason why they’re even in an argument is because Caitlyn trusts Vi so so much. To give a personal example, I can get into an argument with my family over the tiniest things, every few weeks, but not with other random people in my life. That is because we don’t bottle up our emotions towards people we love!! We aren’t afraid to let them know what we really think, as opposed to having conversations with other people in our lives, we try to always say the appropriate thing.

This isn’t the only case where Caitlyn shows how much she trusts Vi.

Earlier in the story, we as a fandom always laugh at how Caitlyn immediately folded after hearing Vi out about saving Vander. There is still a valid reason behind why she would do that (besides her being down bad🤣). Just as Vi later said, Ambessa is fake AF, which means nobody in her life apart from Vi has pure intentions, so imagine her being in that toxic environment for so long and then Vi hits her with an “I want to save my dad.” That is like the realest thing anyone has said to her for a while, so of course she wanted to help her😭 Remember season 1 guys, they’re both smol beans with good hearts 💔

But back to Caitlyn tossing the wooden boat, in another perspective, Caitlyn is pouring out her heart out to Vi, basically saying, I no longer know what to do, every time I try to do the right thing it always backfires, PLEASE HELP ME. She doesn’t have to care about her social status, or showing her soft side to Vi, WHICH BRINGS ME TO THE CONCLUSION that had Vi not stomp out of the room after, they would’ve fucked right then and there. Lmao.

Here is the clip I referred to for this analysis:

[cherrytea556]

Just because someone turned out to be a bad person doesn't mean that bad thing didn't happen to them or that person was entirely wrong. I hate the internet's narrow view that just because someone got exposed as a bad person, it suddenly dismisses their claims against another.

Ava Kris Tyson is a child predator, that doesn't mean SunnyV2 video was suddenly correct. Context matters. It was still a transphobic video that didn't even suggest any of the actual harmful things Ava has done.

Synnibear03 is a child predator and Birdie, while so far I wouldn't say he's a child predator, was exposed to be inappropriate with kids (commenting on a 15 year old's fanart of his hypersexual ocs when he shouldn't, the whole dating a 13 year old thing that I've been iffy about) That doesn't mean Deadwingdork 'won' (and I find it gross how his fans used synni being exposed as a groomer a bloody celebration. Wow, way to say you don't actually care about kids being affected guys!) He didn't won because even in that situation, he was whiny for such minimal reasons like a fictional room and trigger warnings, commented on things like he knew when he didn't know them like defending Birdie's parents and is also transphobic (constantly using 'it' to mock Birdie's pronouns as he called it dehumanizing instead of just using 'he') Deadwingdork had his own problems that shouldn't be negated or excused just because these two people turned out to be bad.

The situation with Cody Ko where people dismissed Tana's claim of him saing her when she was a minor. Just because she's been exposed as a bad person before doesn't mean bad things couldn't have happened to her or someone taking advantage of her, especially when she's a minor in an online sphere.

And now I'm worried people are gonna do the same thing where Courtney claims of her sister, Lily Orchard, saing her would be dismissed as she's now revealed to be a bad person. Lily especially will definitely fucking use it to negate her own issues and I need everyone to be aware stop with this mentality towards bad people. All that's doing is letting other bad people like Lily get away with their actions when we shouldn't be doing that. Don't dismiss Courtney's claims just because she's a bad person.

Bad people aren't always wrong and can get mistreated by others and those by negating those others issues, your essentially giving them a pass. And you don't want to do that. Especially Lily. Don't play her game.