#not to mention the hundreds of people who were directly affected

[breakingjen]

.

[ghostingghosty]

Iran has launched a retaliation against Israel for the attack on a diplomatic iranian building, and therefore Iranian soil, in Damascus, Syria. The attack got little mentions in the news, and media will use this lack of information to favour Israel, as headlines are where most people stop reading. Be aware and stay informed; Israel started this, NOT Iran OR Palestine.

Israel's, with the full support and weapons of the US, ongoing genocide on palestininians, their multiple attacks on land outside their colonisation "mission", and their general military mindset of being in the right are the fault of this. This is a retaliation from Iran, and all further escalations from this situation will be due to the unhinged evilness and ego of the USA, Israel, and the West. All blood will be on the hands of the oppressors; both those who are directly feasting on the meat of their victims, those who refuse to use a leash and those who ignores the blood.

I am afraid of the prospects of the situation escalating by the US's military force being sent to, not only, "Israel" and Palestine but also, now, Iran. Hundreds of thousands of people were killed and injured in the "war against terror" and millions were affected. Not only that, but the prospects of the war reaching outside the region are also getting increasingly more of a reality, and I hope all who, before, could ignore the terrors by turning of their tv's, now will finally look, even if it is for own self-interest.

Stay informed and keep informing those around you – remember, the Western medias are zionists and many will fall for their propaganda. Stay safe. Free Palestine.

[svsss-fanon-exposed]

Exposing SVSSS Fanon: 24/∞

APHRODISIAC-PRODUCING PLANTS ARE AN EVER-PRESENT DANGER IN THE WORLD OF PIDW

Rating: FANON - UNSUPPORTED

One of the most common tropes that I have ever seen all across SVSSS fanfiction is the use of aphrodisiac-releasing plants or "fuck-or-die" plants, as a plot device in order to get two characters together. Surprisingly enough, however, there is not a single mention of such plants existing in PIDW.

I debated on whether to rate this as neutral or unsupported, since typically I will choose neutral when there isn't any kind of evidence for or against something-- however, in this case, I chose unsupported due to the sheer amount of times that SQQ's narration references the sex scenes and plot devices in PIDW, and the fact that not once was any specifically sex-related plant mentioned among them.

We do know that there are all sorts of rare plants used as plot devices in PIDW:

"Do you still remember creating a plant that only appears every thousand years?” Shang Qinghua was speechless. “Your description is way too broad. Bing-ge’s eaten at least eighty, if not a hundred plants like that.” (7 Seas, Ch. 5)

and

...the number of mythical flowers in Proud Immortal Demon Way numbered at least in the hundreds, and every single one was at least a thousand years old, and when you added on all the mythical grasses and mythical trees, who the hell could remember all those names?! (7 Seas, Ch. 3)

Naturally, we also do not know all of these plants, so it cannot be said with certainty what sort of plants are included or excluded from the set. However, the effects of the plants we do know of are as follows:

Thousand-Leaves Snow Petal Lotus

"This flower has grown within the depths of Jue Di Gorge for thousands of years. Its spiritual qi is extraordinary, and furthermore, it is the natural bane of creatures from the Demon Realm. It emits an innate barrier that repels demonic beasts." (7 Seas, Ch. 4)

Additionally, when Luo Binghe absorbed the flower, it increased his abilities, likely due to the spiritual qi contained within it:

Incidentally, he even absorbed the nutrients of the mythical flower the girl had just eaten, and so his martial ability once again made great progress (7 Seas, Ch. 3)

Sun-Moon Dew Mushroom

The Sun-Moon Dew Mushroom was also called the “flesh mushroom,” and this name was entirely literal. Though this mushroom wasn’t especially useful for cultivating, it still grew by collecting spiritual energy from nature along with essence from the sun and moon. If you planted its sprout in soil rich with spiritual energy, nurtured it, meticulously sculpted it, and watered it with blood and qi, once it matured, you could cultivate a living body of flesh. The body could grow just fine, but it was impossible to also create a soul via this method. That was to say, you could only grow a soulless, empty shell. (7 Seas, Ch. 9)

This is by far the most well-known of the mystical plants of SVSSS, considering the fact that it directly contributes to a major plotline. It is also notable that this plant was not used by Luo Binghe in PIDW:

In [SQQ's] defense, this mushroom wasn’t reserved for Luo Binghe. Rather, it was supposed to be for one of his opponents... ...If it were a thing that affected the main plotline, or if it were some mystical flower or herb meant to provide one of Luo Binghe’s power-ups, he wouldn’t have had the guts to try and steal it. (7 Seas, Ch. 5)

Also notable here is the mention of mystical flowers and herbs providing Luo Binghe's power-ups-- this is seemingly the primary purpose of mystical plants in PIDW.

The Ties That Bind

This is the final mystical plant mentioned in SVSSS-- and also the only one with a negative effect:

This plant sowed its seeds in the bodies of living beings, and they were especially attracted to people who gave off energy. Recklessly deploying one’s spiritual or demonic energy attracted these seeds to oneself. That was why Shen Qingqiu had stuck to physical combat as much as possible and avoided using his spiritual energy. When Ties That Bind seeds entered one’s flesh, they didn’t hurt, only faintly itched. But once they sprouted from the flesh that was their soil and burst forth through the skin, every inch of rent flesh from which they grew erupted in violent agony. Furthermore, the more you used your spiritual energy, the faster they grew. If you went as far as to use a spiritual blast, they would sprout like mad, budding in an instant. (7 Seas, Ch. 16)

Now, obviously, since there are only three of these plants mentioned within SVSSS, it is far from the eighty to a hundred mystical flowers, plus the additional trees and grasses, which we know nothing about at all. It wouldn't at all be unlikely for one of these many plants to have an aphrodisiac effect, or to produce a fuck-or-die poison-- but I personally feel that it would be likely for Shen Qingqiu to mention this directly in his narration had it been as common trope in PIDW as many fanworks imply.

Of course, it isn't unreasonable for fandom to come to the conclusion that such plants were present in the PIDW world-- after all, sex pollen is a fairly common trope, and PIDW contained a great variety of sex scenes. However, here it is important to note that Proud Immortal Demon Way WAS NOT purely an erotica, porn, or hentai novel. Fundamentally, it is a power fantasy-- and papapa scenes are just one part of that power fantasy.

In the original text, it is described as "YY", which is a slang term that literally translates to something like "mind masturbation"-- but that doesn't mean purely sexual content, instead it refers to a wish-fulfillment, escapist setting, a non-academic fantasy world, where the primary focus is on the main character becoming more and more powerful, overcoming more obstacles-- in Luo Binghe's case, this includes defeating all of his past enemies and marrying all of the beautiful women he came across. The sex scenes were just one part of the power fantasy-- erotica for erotica's sake was not the goal.

That isn't to say that PIDW didn't feature an abundance of sex scenes-- after all, that was one of if not the most-desired plotlines, and Airplane was made to cut backstory content in favor of them:

"And back then, everyone in the comments section was saying they wanted to see the other plotline, right? The one where Bing-ge bravely conquered a hundred flowers, you understand. A whole hundred holy flower spirits who had from their birth never laid eyes on a man, and all of them virgins. Cucumber-bro, how I suffered while writing the chapter of the hundred flower buds’ first mass-blooming! And still you roast me…” (7 Seas, Ch. 14)

Still, the power-fantasy of PIDW encompassed many different factors-- the battles and revenge against the villains and the ever-increasing power level as stronger and stronger enemies were defeated were just as important as the sex scenes and harem plotlines to the overall effect of the story.

My hypothesis for the origin of the theory that "the world of PIDW is full of fuck-or-die plants" is that it comes from the common sex-pollen trope in erotica and fanfiction, PIDW's reputation as containing quite a lot of erotic material, as well as a few select passages of SVSSS which link plants and flowers with sex-- one of which is the passage above, regarding the hundred flower spirits. I think that the more significant root for this theory, though, is the curing of Without a Cure through sex.

In SVSSS fanfiction, I have found it most common that the sex-inducing plants are specifically of the fuck-or-die variety (therefore, able to be categorized as poison) rather than the pure aphrodisiac variety. This lines up quite well with Qin Wanyue's affliction by Without a Cure in PIDW-- and its subsequent cure:

Then, in the end, how was the poison cured? After the down and dirty scene, the girl’s poison was naturally cured! Was it ridiculous? Cliché? Implausible? …But it was satisfying, right? Ridiculously satisfying, so ridiculously satisfying, ha ha ha ha… Look, Luo Binghe was of both human and demon blood, right? And the demon half of his bloodline came from their number one Saintly Ruler—from the heavenly demons of old! A wee little demonic poison wasn’t even strong enough to get stuck between Luo Binghe’s teeth, and he instantly absorbed and digested it during their you know. (7 Seas, Ch. 3)

However, the poison itself had little to do with either flowers or sex-- it was simply an incurable poison, which just so happened to be cured by dual-cultivation with a half-Heavenly Demon. There's a debate to be had as to whether the sex itself was the cure, or if it was Luo Binghe's bodily fluids in any form (curable by his blood as well), but that is all a topic for another post. Regardless, though this created a fuck-or-die scenario, it had nothing to do with fuck-or-die plants. Even in this scenario, the sex was only coincidentally a cure, with the characters not aware of it until afterwards:

The girl thought, “Since I’m about to die, I must leave behind some memories to ensure that my life won’t have been in vain. I don’t have many days left, after all, so I won’t suppress my feelings anymore.” Then, using her weak and fragile body, she pushed Luo Binghe down. (7 Seas, Ch. 3)

Now, we do know that aphrodisiacs do exist in the world of PIDW, but only one aphrodisiac is actually mentioned, which is produced by succubi:

Even if he was Great Master Liu, being poisoned by the succubi’s natural, innate Mesmerizing Fragrance—or in other words, their aphrodisiac, was profoundly…not good! (7 Seas, Ch. 23)

It's perfectly likely for other aphrodisiacs to exist in the world of PIDW, and for plants with aphrodisiac effects to exist, and it wouldn't be a stretch to say that such plants may have been used in some of the many, many harem plotlines. However, the aphrodisiac here is an ability belonging to a certain type of demon rather than a plant, and this is the only time where it is mentioned that some external cause is meant to induce lust in someone (Xin Mo is a matter for a future post as well). Rather, it seems that harem members are mainly drawn in by Luo Binghe's power, talent, looks, and generally magnetic appeal, rather than being forcibly drawn in through aphrodisiac plants or specifically fuck-or-die poisons.

Everything in PIDW was about bringing satisfaction to the (male) readers-- so, to determine whether fuck-or-die plants would have been a common plot device, we would need to ask would this plot device provide such satisfaction? It could-- but that would also depend on how it is portrayed. In fanfiction, both parties are often rendered helpless by whichever plot-device plant is being used as a means to get the characters together. In PIDW, though, I feel like it might play out a little more differently-- likely, there would be more plotlines in which Bing-ge himself was not affected, but instead generously helped out whichever maiden was currently afflicted and suffering, through which the romantic relationship was established.

Of course, it would still depend a lot on the specific plotline being followed, so this is more of just a suggestion to consider how the mechanics of such a plant would work to provide satisfaction to PIDW's target demographic, and whether to follow or subvert those expectations and tropes. Alternatively, because of the genre shift that occured during SVSSS, it wouldn't be out of place to include tropes more common to danmei, or to fanfiction, in that universe-- where it may be more common to have scenarios where both parties (especially the POV character) are incapacitated and affected. Every writer, of course, has the freedom to explore whichever tropes and plotlines they wish to-- but it could be interesting to look into genre tropes and see how they may or may not apply.

Typically, these arguments would lead to a neutral rating, rather than unsupported, since there is no direct evidence against the existence of such plants-- however, this post is not primarily meant to address the existence, but rather the prevelence. The existence of aphrodisiac or fuck-or-die plants in the world of PIDW would be neutral or even somewhat likely, but the topic being analyzed is the common fanfiction trope that within the world of PIDW, fuck-or-die plants appear frequently and are a well-known, common threat that the cultivation world's inhabitants must be prepared to face at any time.

I think that if that were the case in PIDW, there would have at least been one single mention in Shen Qingqiu's narration of a fuck-or-die or even an aphrodisiac plant-- perhaps as something that he himself would need to prepare for and worry about after transmigrating. However, there is no such mention-- therefore, while they may exist, it is not likely that sex-inducing plants are an overly common sight in the world of PIDW. The mystical plants seen in SVSSS are either poisons, power-ups, or utilities, and it is implied that most of the many other plants in PIDW would also fall into that category.

[maknaeswrld]

here | h.js

wc: 3.7k

genre: childhood best friends to strangers to lovers; gn!reader; idiots in love; fluff; angst.

cw: mentions of marriage; in depth-ish depictions of panic attack; I think that's really it, please let me know

a/n: The Hannie POV nobody asked for and I wrote anyways bc I missed my first fic dumbass babies. if you'd like to experience the full story and haven't yet, start here

roadmap: starts in present; gives his perspective on the time just before and after losing contact; ends back in present (The SOUND + 5 Star era) ((yes it's been that long since I released the original story))

Felix comes bounding in, practically shaking in excitement as he grabs Jeongin and disappears just as fast. Jisung blinks at it, not really paying much attention, his younger members are always up to stuff, but curious about what had garnered Felix’s attention.

He chose not to think about it too much as he fiddled with his mic pack.

Until Jeongin and Felix came back with Jeongin buzzing with just as much excitement.

“Y/n’s here!” Felix shouts. “I just had Innie confirm it for me, they’re actually here! They’re sitting-” Jisung lost all ability to pay attention as his head whipped toward Chan, who was already pulling his shirt back on.

“Go inform the band, I’ll tell production.” Chan says, looking directly at Han as the others seem to fade to the background. “And do not do anything stupid.” Han nods and all but runs out of the room, grabbing band members as he sees them.

“We’re gonna do There during intermission.” He says, sounding as breathless as he feels. “And don’t worry, this isn’t gonna be a regular thing I just, I really need to perform it tonight.” His drummer just pats his shoulder encouragingly. 

“Don’t worry man, we’ve got your back.”

As the spotlight hits his face, he’s smacked with the realization that he has no idea where you even are. There’s hundreds of people in the stadium, thousands of eyes watching him curiously as he nervously clears his throat. The crowds have never affected him quite like they were in that moment.

“This wasn’t exactly scheduled, and I’m sorry about that, but I just talked it over with the others and with the band and we’re going to perform There for all of you tonight. This song is, well it’s really important to me.”

As the opening chords start, Jisung feels his heart in his throat as he prepares to sing, eyes scanning the crowd for any sign of you.

He hadn’t written this particular song, though there were plenty he had written for you, but when Changbin and Chan showed it to him, he knew without a shadow of a doubt that it was one that would resonate with you. He knew, or at least he very deeply hoped, that if you ever heard it, you’d think of him. When he had told them this, they agreed they’d perform it live should they ever find you in the crowd, should Jisung ever get the second chance they all wanted for him. 

They all knew he was in love with you, they knew before they ever even met you. Han Jisung has never been good at hiding his emotions, and when it came to you, it was almost as if there was nothing to hide because when they met you they could all see you felt the exact same way. 

What none of them could ever figure out was why you never told each other and how Jisung let you slip away so easily. It was like one day you were there as you always had been and the next you didn’t exist. No one knew why Jisung let communication dwindle to nothing, but they had all felt the loss when you fully exited their lives.

***

For as long as he could remember, Jisung had you by his side. He remembers playing in puddles and bathing together before it was considered weird. He remembers you hitting his bullies and getting suspended in elementary school, he remembers when puberty hit and he realized you were hot, and then later when he came to the conclusion you weren’t just hot you were also exactly who he wanted to spend his whole life with, in a non platonic way.

That realization hadn’t freaked him out as much as he thought it should have, he already knew he had never wanted you to leave him, so the addition of emotions his young mind couldn’t fully comprehend wasn’t that big of a deal. Not really. 

You supported him like no one else. You took care of him, helped him through his anxiety attacks, protected him even if he didn’t necessarily need it. He was young, he knew it’d likely mess up your friendship if he said anything, but he knew without a shadow of a doubt that you would be his fairy tale ending,,, one day. If you felt the same. 

So instead of outright telling you how he felt, he started fishing for how you might feel. The joke of ‘are you in love with me or something’ quickly became an ongoing thing that you would both use when the other did something that resembled even the smallest bit of possible affection. It went from a way for him to see if you felt the same to a safety net for you both to use to say it without actually saying it. 

It was obvious to everyone, including the both of you, that the relationship went beyond friendship, but he never acted on it, too terrified of being wrong to risk it; and then later too afraid of pulling you into a world that you didn’t want to be a part of. 

As Jisungs fame grew, his need to keep you by his side both intensified and dwindled. 

In all reality, he was terrified of rising to fame alone, of having the spotlight on him and not being able to look to his side and see you. The thought of you not supporting him every step of the way, of not being with him, of losing touch and never being able to find his way back to you scared him more than anything he’d ever faced. But on the same hand, he wanted you nowhere near the spotlight. 

He knew the risks that come with the industry, and he knew how much worse it could potentially be if people thought you were romantically involved. The music industry isn’t always the most pleasant and he knew it, you knew it, so as much as he despised the idea of losing you, the thought of you losing yourself by following him seemed so much worse. 

Jisung wanted to always protect you, keep you from the dangers and toxicity of relations of any kind with an idol. He was torn in half about it. He wanted to be selfish and keep you close, but he needed to keep you away. He knew the boys would take care of you if he had tried to keep you close, he knew Bang Chan would never let the company dictate your life in any way, but the risk far outweighed the reward at the time. Jisung didn’t know what he would do should he ever have to watch you get dragged into a lifestyle you never wanted.

When you told him you were moving to America for your promotion, it was as if it were the answer he didn’t know he needed. Between the timezones, him and the members getting busier, and your new work schedule, losing communication all together wouldn’t be too difficult.

The thought of purposely losing contact with you made his stomach twist horribly, guilt riddling him, but he had to, it was the only way to keep you safe. The only way to keep you untainted by the dark side of the world he threw himself into. 

He didn’t bank on his members caring for you so much, making it drag out longer than he anticipated, asking when he was going to call you so they could steal his phone to talk to you themselves. They would ask him why you stopped calling every night, to which he’d shrug and pretend he hadn’t silenced your number. As they got busier, the thought of you slipped further and further from everyone's minds, and by the end of your first year in America, it was as if you didn’t even exist.

His heart ached at every little thing that would bring a reminder of you to his mind, from seeing your favorite flower to trying a new restaurant and wishing he could share it with you. You were a ghost that haunted him in everything he did. Every song he wrote was a story of you or to you. 

The members never pushed him to try and contact you, but he sometimes wished they would, that they’d force his hand and call the number he wasn’t even positive belonged to you anymore. The closest anyone ever got into making him remember you was when one of the members would buy something that reminded them of you. Between the eight of them, there was an entire bookshelf in each dorm dedicated to gifts they should have been giving you throughout the years, although not a single one of them ever acknowledged that being the case.

Han wished they’d bring you up, he wished they’d force him into remembering you and everything he had, everything he could have had. 

It was shortly after the release of NoEasy that he’d bought the ring. He was out shopping with Jeongin and Hyunjin when he saw it, and all he could see was it resting on your hand. He’d purchased it and stashed the small box carefully away so there could be no possible pictures spread, and therefore no rumors. 

Jisung never truly believed he’d see you again, part of him might’ve even hoped he’d never see you again, it’d be easier to suffer in his choices than it’d be to try explaining them to you. 

But a much bigger part of him couldn’t leave his apartment without that ring. After buying it that day, it’d taken up permanent residence in his bag, never once separating from his side. Changbin had laughed after seeing it the first time.

“What, do you plan to just drop to one knee and pop the question the second you reunite?”

Jisung’s cheeks turned bright red at the teasing. 

“And what if I do?”

Changbin just looked at him like he was his own special kind of stupid and was wearing a giant sign that announced the fact. 

Sometimes, when the studio was empty and the hour too late for any human being, Jisung would let himself dwell in the memories of the past, trying to remember how it felt to have you in his orbit, your gravity keeping him on his axis. He’d let his mind drift through the memories that he typically kept tucked away. 

Thinking of your smile, your shared inside jokes, the way you’d loved him so hesitantly for so many years, both eased his heart and made it contract with regret every single time, but it’s also where so many of his songs started. He was an emotion writer and you were his favorite emotion.

As the years passed, he grew more confident in the fact that he’d successfully run you off. The ring remained in his bag, but was handled less. The songs were still written, but not as often. He was comfortable in the fact that you were good and gone, that he would never see you again.

Until that was no longer the case.

~~~

As the song came to an end and Jisung still hadn’t been able to find you, he tried to keep his shoulders straight. Tried with all his might to keep a semblance of a smile on his face. But he knew he wasn’t successful when Chan grabbed him and gently directed him backstage once again.

“Sungie, I really need you to come back to us, okay? Y/n or no Y/n, we’ve still got a job to do and getting into your head is just going to take you further away.” Chan, always the voice of reason, could hardly hide the concern clouding his eyes and voice. Han hated making Chan worry about him, especially in the middle of shows.

“You’re never gonna find them and get them back if you don’t get out there and keep trying.” Seungmin smacked him on the back, shoving a bottle of water into his hand and continuing past.

Taking a few anchoring breaths, Jisung quickly changed into the next stage's outfit, let the make-up staff do their job, and finally found his way back out on the stage. 

He never stopped searching. His eyes constantly looking over every single face he could see from the stage, begging his eyes to finally pick you out of the crowd. Stomach moving further and further up into his throat the longer he went without laying eyes on you. And then Minho laughed.

There weren’t many sounds that drew Jisung’s attention quite as fast as a genuine laugh from Minho, the noise caught him off guard and pulled him in his direction instantly, a genuine smile already making its way onto Jisungs face.

Han threw an arm over Minho’s shoulder, a grin splitting his lips as he lifted his mic for his upcoming part, before Minho shoved him into a downward spiral of losing all track of his surroundings.

“Straight ahead, about eighth row maybe.” His friend nodded slightly, and Jisung’s eyes were scanning the direction, instantly finding yours. 

The world didn’t stop, it didn’t go quiet or fade away entirely, but Jisung felt like it should have, like finally seeing you again was everything he needed in that moment and the rest of the world could find something else to do as long as you kept looking at him.

Minho’s hand squeezing Jisung’s side roughly snapped him back into the reality of the situation though. The rest of the world wasn’t going to just leave right now and the major choreography was coming up. He couldn’t help smiling at you again before getting ready to continue doing his job, barely recognizing that he completely missed his part.

After having finally found you, he couldn’t stomach losing sight of you, fearing the second he stopped looking at you, you’d vanish. As if he’d made you up. It caused plenty of mess ups in both choreography and lines, but by the time the concert came to an end, he was convinced you really, truly were right there.

After saying his goodbyes to Stay, he rushed to the closest member of security he could find and begged for him to go get you, giving him your name and approximate location. The energy of a good show was an adrenaline high unlike any other Jisung had ever experienced, the excitement coursing through the group aided with the joy of knowing you’d been in the crowd. 

Jisung realizes maybe too late that he should’ve asked if his members were okay with him pulling you backstage, if they wanted to see you and get to know you again as much as he did. He hunts down Chan to ask, albeit too late for his no to have any real effect. 

“If you hadn’t sent someone to find them, I would’ve done it myself. You’re crazy if you think we were going to let them leave without trying to reconnect. We all missed Y/n too, you know.”

Chan meant to be comforting, but it had the reverse effect. Jisung knew his members cared about you too but he’d never really stopped to think about how much him pushing you away may have affected each of them. 

Had the decision been completely selfish? Had he caused pain to everyone important to him for nothing if you accept the invitation and come backstage? In the end, Jisung knew blocking you out had been selfish, he knew that he should have left it to be your decision to make, that if you were going to leave it should have been because you wanted to not because he made you. If he hadn’t, would you be on tour with them right now? What would be different if he had talked to you about his fears instead of just choosing to act on them?

The further his brain went down that thought, the more he had to pace to try and keep his heart rate somewhat steady. He avoided messing with his hair, knowing that his stylist would chew him out for pulling it again, but damn it did he want to. The air felt too thin, the lights too bright, he hadn’t just hurt you, he’d hurt his band too. He hurt every single person he wanted to be the best version of himself for, every person he never, ever wanted to hurt.

“I need you to breathe for me Sungie, deep breaths. Can you follow my breathing?” Chan didn’t try to touch him, just hoped he listened while watching his friend spiral. “That’s it, there you go.” Chan could feel his whole body shake with relief as Jisung remembered his breathing techniques and started to calm down, even if only slightly.

He slowly reached into his pocket, fishing out the box Jisung insisted on taking with him everywhere. Gently, he reached out to place the box in Jisung’s shaky hands.

“I’m gonna go in there now. If you need me, you can send one of the guards in for me, okay? But remember, that is your best friend in this whole world in there. You’re going to be okay.”

Jiusng hugged him tightly before letting him go. He opened the box slowly, staring at the ring he’d picked out so many years before, his heart in his throat looking at it.

He snapped the box shut again, shoving it deep into his pocket, out of sight as if the box had burned him, eyes moving to the ground as his pacing started back up, Chan’s last words on repeat in his head. 

“It’s fine, it’s fine, it’s just your best friend. Your best friend in the whole world that you’ve been out of touch with for years. You’ll be okay. It’s not like they wouldn’t want to see you. Oh my god, what if they don’t want to see me.”

“Han Jisung, would you stop rambling under your breath and hug me already?”

Han’s head whipped up, eyes wide, and for a moment all he could do was stare at you in shock, all he could think was that you are really here, truly in front of him and actually demanding a hug. 

And then he rushes towards you, pulling you into a hug so tight, as if he’s afraid you’ll disappear if he lets go. He sort of is.

“I missed you so much.” Jisung whispers, his voice watery even to his own ears, likely from his earlier breakdown.

You hug him back with just as much strength, clinging to him and willing away tears of your own.

“Careful, it almost sounds like you’re in love with me or something.” You try to joke, your voice just as unsteady as his.

Everything Jisung had ever thought and never said, every song he’s ever written and every night he’d stayed up remembering you and all the times he could have told you flash through his mind. His heart ached. 

“And what if I am?” He whispers. He could feel your breath catch in your throat. Tears still threatening his lash line.

Before you can say anything, he starts fumbling for his pocket before pulling out a small black box. He takes a deep breath, not bothering to try and decipher if it was a good idea before sinking down onto one knee, his mind fearful but determined as your eyes widen in shock.

“Because I am, ya know? I always have been. You’ve always been my ending, Y/n/n. And I had promised you once that you’d be stuck with me for the rest of your miserable life, and that I’d put a ring on it if it meant never losing you. Well, then I did lose you, and now that you’re here, I don’t intend on ever letting you slip away again. So, marry me, and let me spend the rest of my life by your side, because I joke about your miserable life a lot, but I know for a fact how miserable life is without you and I don’t want it.”

Jisung knows you better than he knows himself sometimes, but he’s never been good at dealing with you crying. But before he could put the ring up to attempt to console you instead, you drop to your knees in front of him, nodding as you grab his face and pull him in for a kiss.

Your lips are salty, likely from your shared tears, and his are a little chapped, but they meet yours just as eagerly. His heart swells with the utter completeness of it all, as if this is how it always should have been.

You both pull apart for air, Jisung leans his forehead against yours as he grabs your hand to slide the ring into place, the sounds of whooping and hollering not too far off. 

Jisung is unsurprised to see all of the Kids watching, but he can’t help but blush at the four strangers grinning from ear to ear accompanying them.

He blushes and you grin, tears still flowing as he wraps you up into his embrace, thrilled to finally have his best friend in the whole wide world back and beaming proudly as you showed off your ring to two of your apparent friends.

“I love you.” Jisung whispers as he helps you stand up after a few moments to recollect himself.

“I love you too.” You whisper back, leaning further into him and he swears he could live off of just hearing those words from you and feeling you in his arms.

“Sweetie, you’ve got some major explaining to do.” The tiny blonde girl glared at you.

“And so do we. Thanks Hannie.” Seungmin grumbled, being unable to hide his smile even as he said it.

Jisung looked at you, wearing his ring, back in his life where you should have always been, and despite the exhaustingly long conversations and apologies to come, as well as the amount of explaining Chan is probably looking forward to with the company, Jisung couldn’t find himself to feel anything but pure, unadulterated joy right in that moment.

thank you for reading! reblogs and comments are always always appreciated, I love to hear thoughts and opinions!🫶

[fairuzfan]

you didn't actually answer my question , Temple Mount is the most ancient and holiest site for Jewish people -- the Dome of the Rock & Al-Aqsa Mosque were built hundreds of years later on behalf of the Umayyad dynasty's conquest. you mentioned in your response a massacre that happened centuries later, which does not relate to the fact that Jews cannot pray at this site (their utmost holiest site before even the existence of Christians or Muslims). how is "temple denial" something that I made up when you can research it right now and see what it is and that it exists? I ask because this seems to be actually a blind spot for many non-Jewish people simply because it doesn't affect them. I'm not intending to be argumentative and I am sorry if my English is bad in getting across

I'm sorry for being argumentative but a lot of the time, whenever Palestinians are asked about temple mount, there's an implication that Palestinians are colonizers and don't deserve to be on the land. Israelis, if they could, would completely ban Muslims from AlAqsa despite it being the third holiest site in Islam.

AlAqsa is probably the most important national symbol of Palestinians, often thought to be the last straw for Palestinian heritage. So much of our culture has been robbed from us, and (primarily muslims) believe that the demolition of AlAqsa, which is, as Mohammed ElKurd puts it, is one of the last places in all of Palestine where being Palestinian is not criminalized would be a fundamental loss we would never recover from, equivalent to losing our Balad.

I bring up the Ibrahimi Mosque Massacre because there are no restrictions for extremist settlers legally — they operate as an arm of the state and in some cases are encouraged to committ these acts. The "Apartheid Law" basically enshrined that settlements are a national value for Israel. This means that there is no safe haven for Palestinians legally. They're in constant danger of getting kicked out of their home or getting arrested for existing. I cannot emphasize enough how Palestinian freedom is so restricted with the explicit intent of pushing them out of the land.

Temple denial as a concept (after looking it up) seeks to paint Palestinians in a fundamentally bigoted and violent light. Palestinians are not allowing Jews in AlAqsa not because they hate Jews, but because that opens the way for settlers to become violent around AlAqsa, which a lot of the time is already happening. I suggest reading "Why Do Palestinians Burn Jewish Holy Sites? The Fraught History of Joseph's Tomb" (sorry the link is not linking, but you can look it up on the palestine institute webpage). It discusses the use of history as a colonial tool. Here's an excerpt:

It is one of many shrines across historic Palestine – now split into Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza – that has been re-invented as exclusively Jewish, despite a long history of shared worship among Jews, Christians, Muslims, and Samaritans that goes back centuries. And the reason it has been attacked has almost nothing to do with religion, and much to do with how the Israeli military and settlement movements have used religion as a way to expand their control over Palestinian land and holy places.

And a second excerpt describing the political use of religion:

But the claims of biblical archaeologists had a strong role in how the Zionist movement would come to understand and conceive of the landscape.6 As European Jews migrated to Palestine in the first half of the twentieth century, they drew upon biblical archeology's claims. They adopted archeologists' claims that Palestinian holy sites were directly linked to ancient biblical figures. In many cases, they focused on occupying those sites in order to legitimize the colonial endeavor by giving it a sense of deeper history. In many cases, this would mean evicting the Palestinians who actually frequented these holy sites.

And what Palestinians are afraid of:

In 1975, the Israeli military banned Palestinians – that is, the Samaritans, Muslims, and Christians living around the site – from visiting, a ban that has remained in place until this day. [...] Unsurprisingly, the ban has ignited intense anger over the years. This is true particularly given that frequent visits by Jewish settlers to the shrine are accompanied by hundreds of Israeli soldiers, who enter the area and run atop the rooftops of local Palestinians to “secure” the tomb. As a result, Joseph's Tomb has increasingly become associated with the Israeli military and settlement movement in the eyes of Palestinians. Its presence has become an excuse for frequent military incursions that provoke clashes and lead to arrests and many injuries in the neighborhood. Some fear that Israelis will attempt to take over the shrine to build an Israeli settlement around it. This fear is not unfounded, given the fact that Israeli settlers have done exactly that all across the West Bank in places they believe are connected in some way to Jewish biblical history. The notoriously violent Jewish settlements in Hebron, for example, were built there due to the location of the Tomb of the Patriarchs in that southern West Bank town. Following the initial years of settlement, settlers even managed to convince Israeli authorities to physically divide the shrine – which is holy to local Palestinians – and turn the whole area into a heavily-militarized complex. Other shrines have become excuses for the Israeli military to build army bases inside Palestinian towns, like Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem – which is surrounded by twenty-foot high concrete walls on three sides to block Palestinian access. The village of Nabi Samwel near Jerusalem, meanwhile, was demolished in its entirety to provide Jewish settlers access to the tomb at its heart.

I'm not denying the temple mount is there. I'm just saying that history has been manipulated to erase centuries worth of cultural heritage through scholarship and Palestinians are protective of their most important symbol of resistance and life. Even you saying "Islam and Christianity came after Judiasm" is a dogwhistle for me, because a lot of the time extremists say that to completely erase AlAqsa as an important site to Muslims and intending to deny the site as a shared worshipping site that is quite important to Muslims. Just because Islam came after Judiasm, does that mean it's not legitimate as a religion itself? Islamically, Islam is a continuation of Judiasm, so we don't deny judiasm is important to AlQuds. We just are so concerned with losing our national symbol that we're so protective over it.

Now I bring up the massacre at ibrahimi mosque because, like mentioned in the excerpt above, Palestinians are afraid something like that will happen again. There's no protections for Palestinians, and most of the time they're denied from praying in AlAqsa themselves by Israeli authorities. Israeli settlers themselves come in and disrespect AlAqsa, and as I mentioned, extremists plan on demolishing AlAqsa to build a Third Temple. The Massacre at the Mosque paved way to the "Jews Only" streets I mentioned, including the militarization and basically a complete upheaval of normal life for Palestinians. I suggest looking into how terrible the situation in AlKhalil is, and that arised directly from the massacre.

You cannot separate this issue from the colonial implications of the last safe haven in all of Palestine being open to Israelis. Now when Palestine is free, I doubt there would be restrictions. But right now, there are and to pretend Israelis don't pose a threat to Palestinians fundamentally, would be erasure of the colonization of Palestine.

I'm sorry if that sounds harsh, but even if AlAqsa was built hundreds of years after, it doesn't change the fact that RIGHT NOW Israelis have privilege that Palestinians do not. As soon as that privilege is no longer there, then we can talk about allowing Jews there. But until then, Palestinians are constantly in danger of settler violence and to take away a space (which, Ibrahimi Mosque was one of those sites before Palestinians were massacred) is frankly, an insult and a denial that Palestinians themselves are colonized.

I suggest looking at the links I provided earlier for more in depth analysis. I'm going to reiterate: the only reason it's illegal is because Palestine is colonized and this is our last safe haven that we even aren't completely allowed from entering ourselves.

Most Palestinians are quite heated about this topic. It genuinely is considered one of our last national symbols (so not just religious but also political and cultural), which means that having that taken away (which extremist settlers plan on demolishing it completely, and if they're allowed in, then there are no restrictions on their behavior) would be tantamount to losing our balad, or nation. I've heard Israelis call AlAqsa terrible names over the years and some fully intend on demolishing the site. Even within Israeli politics, it is a genuine goal for some people, including Ben Gvir, so most believe that opening the door for settlers (who are the ones who want the destruction of AlAqsa) would be equivalent to giving it up. You can't ignore that when talking about AlAqsa and the laws surrounding it. The primary reason for this protectiveness is political and cultural.

[nadiajustbe]

Underrated HMC moments I've never seen anyone talking about part 2

Howl choosing "H. Jenkins" for the shop's sign wich is the one and only moment in the series he actually uses his legal initials, as "H" can stand for "Howl" and "Howell" in the same time

Lettie being so angry about Prince Justin calling her "a sweet lady" that she said that she would prefer ever Howl over him. Wich is. Telling.

The King assuring that he never pushed Justin off and that everyone who knows them both wouldn't assume that.

Sophie being so RAGED with the whole weedkiller and daffodils situation she wasn't saying A SINGLE FULL WORD for about a page in the least. All of the sounds were like "argh!" and "Sophie gave the wordless glump of range"

The seven-league boots having the funniest description of use ever, as every time someone used it then the effects were simply narrated as "Zip!"

Howl raises the skull and quotes Hamlet directly to it, wich becomes a hundred times funnier when you remember that this Skull is canonically and ironically the only "person" in the room who can understand the reference.

Howl saying "Denmark" in the same sentence. And, again, they're in a fairly tale fantasy word. Sophie has absolutely no clue what to hell is Denmark. For Howl this is the basic knowledge of elementary school level.

Poor Percival being almost KILLED for transforming in the middle of a valley because people thought he's a WEREWOLF.

Poor Percival being STROKED with information of him being made of part of two other people right after experiencing heavy trauma, beheading, physical damages, not really well-planed adopting and moving a house.

Percival describing laying on the shelf and looking at the other parts of himself. What a lovely kids book.

Sophie accidentally making cayenne pepper magical. She would make a great seller-witch career because she doesn't need to know the spell in order to make. She takes random powder. She says it will do the duel fair. It makes the duel fare by making an opponent sneezing uncontrollable (wich is also just a way cayenne pepper affects people lmao)

Sophie's first thoughts after she heard that Howl is leaving the black door knob where it is being "Of course! There's miss. Angorian!'. Sophie, dear, he has a family out there.

Michael, apparently, hiding the money under the same brick Sophie will soon describe in CITA as "the brick where we're hiding money from Howl"

Miss Angorian and Howl acting like the spell in a modern Wales is the most normal thing ever. "That's a spell!!" "Oh yeah of course I suspected that"

“Didn’t know I used to fly up the wing for my university, did you, Mrs. Nose?” “If you were trying to fly, you must have forgotten how,” aka Sophie absolutely not understanding modern world sport terminology

Drunk Howell trying to get through the door MULTIPLE times, bumping on it before "discovering" the door

Calcifer "taking" that huge mention they lived (and almost never visited) in without buying it. It was literally said the owner is just Not Here.

Sophie loosing an acces to her own room. Wich must be really sad.

Witch of the Waste leaning on a swing when literally capturing Howl's family

Additionaly: Howl canonically NOT altering his clothes while rushing to save his family. He was running around in a long-sleeved medieval closes on a welsh playground

Sophie and miss Angorian having a whole fight over the guitar pulling it back and forward while it was making horrible sounds

Sophie literally pushing miss. Angorian off the house using the said guitar

Howl immediatly reacting when someone mentioned that the star Michael tried to catch looks sad.

Scarecrow literally running around with parts of Justin's body on its sticky shoulders for eighty percent of the book's finale

Howl saying he could be "the evil fairy at his own christening" which is probably a reference to the "Sleeping Beaty". Also. rises a question: did Howl HAD a christening. There's a huge chance he actually did.

Ben and Justin just. smiling at each other for enough amount of time for Sophie's narrative to say "If she had paid any attention she would see them". Am I interuppting something???

Lettie hating Howl's courting SO MUCH she asked Percival to bite him several times.

Additionally: Ben apologising to Howl for trying to bite him. That's also probably first time they're interacting

Howl ignoring all of it because sOPHIE HATTER

[infiniteglitterfall]

OP there first claimed that I was only using Western sources, then blocked me when I shared too many tweets from anti-Hamas Palestinians.

Not the first time. That is standard operating procedure in the pro-Palestinian movement. And it's probably the biggest red flag, out of a LOT of red flags, that this isn't any kind of grassroots progressive movement.

It's an astroturfed far-right Hamas movement, disguised with progressive buzzwords.

A progressive movement would be centering and platforming the activists on the ground. The people directly affected, who have expertise and knowledge in what's happening and what helps.

Not blocking them on sight, as many Palestinian activists have complained SJP leaders and pro-Pal influencers are doing. (Sometimes AFTER calling them "Zionists.")

Kudos to @queermarzipan for reporting OP for supporting terrorism. I'm posting this to show everyone how easy it is to do that. And to encourage fucking beg people to report worship of Hamas, PFLP, and all their pals.

This shit is screwing over the actual people of Gaza.

It's actively helping Hamas to continue silencing Gazan voices.

And it's abandoning the people of Gaza who have fought Hamas so fucking hard and suffered so fucking much at its hands.

I'll hand this post over to Gazan activist Hamza Howidy to explain more.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Hamza Howidy (@hamzahowidyy)

We Gazans attempted several times to remove Hamas from power. In 2019 and in 2023, the people of Gaza held peaceful marches against Hamas; for this crime, we were brutally assaulted by Hamas militants. Hamas imprisoned over 1,300 protestors at each protest.

I was one of them. I was personally imprisoned by Hamas and tortured twice, because I participated in these protests.

So I know firsthand that when ordinary Gazans like myself protested against Hamas, there was no media attention.

No human rights organizations demanded the release of prisoners held for months in Hamas prisons, not to mention those who were tortured by Hamas, and even killed by Hamas—like Issam Al-Saaffein, who was killed under torture in Hamas's jails.

This trend has continued during the present war. Since October 7, hundreds of Gazans have been killed by Hamas' failing rockets. Hamas has confiscated the food, fuel, and medicine sent to Gaza, and they did not stop here. 13-year-old Ahmad Breka was shot in the head by Hamas in Rafah while attempting to collect humanitarian aid. Others were fortunate because they were merely shot in the legs by Hamas while attempting to grab humanitarian goods that Hamas stole and kept in their facilities. These inhumane acts, along with the agony that Gazans have undergone since October, prompted many to demonstrate anew during this war.

They demonstrated in Khan-Younis in front of Yahya Sinwar's house; others protested in the north, asking that Hamas free the captives and cease the war.

They received the same response from Hamas that I did: They were fired upon.

There have been protests in Gaza, throughout the war, demanding that Hamas surrender so they can finally have peace.

Nobody in the movement has heard of it or mentioned it. Much less coordinated protests with them, or amplified their demands. Instead, our protests ignore them at best. And often, openly fly Hamas flags.

Everyone who cares about Palestinians needs to reclaim this movement from Hamas and its supporters.

This is just one step towards doing that.

[cardentist]

I saw something earlier that I chose not the engage with directly, but I do think this needs to be said.

I think discussions around transandrophobia (or anti-transmasculinity, or just the Idea that trans mascs need to have language to put words to their experiences like all other trans people do) ARE often binary-centric, and that's a legitimate criticism to have about it.

but the Reason this happens is because the bigotry that trans mascs are currently facing is Extremely gender-essentialist, and in turn Extremely Binary. it's something I've been continuously frustrated with specifically Because I try to make an active effort not to cut nonbinary people out of trans and queer discussions. and it's often very hard ! because the arguments and positions people take act like nonbinary, intersex, genderqueer, and gnc trans people simply do not exist.

for many people the idea is that trans men and trans women sit on opposites sides of a seesaw, and if you argue that trans men experience X then you Must also be arguing that trans women Don't experience X. and trying to unpack and respond to that means having to Engage With It. which I've found Extremely frustrating, specifically Because I try to make an active effort Not to cut nonbinary and genderqueer people out trans discussions.

if, for instance, someone argues that trans mascs/"afab's"/"tme's" As A Group don't experience medial discrimination (while trans fems do), and it's on a post with hundreds upon thousands of notes, you're put in a position where you Have to center the medical violence that trans mascs experience.

because trans mascs being cut out of conversations about medical abuse and discrimination have had very real and disastrous consequences for trans mascs. it's important that people understand that trans mascs experience this not just as a byproduct of the abuse trans women face, but extremely targeted to them and their needs.

people believe that trans mascs don't experience oppression for being men, and they go further to state that trans mascs don't experience medical discrimination because they are men, and you simply can't address that without centering the discussion on the experiences of men.

and that creates an extremely Binary discussion, even when you make the active effort to include nonbinary/intersex/genderqueer people in the discussion. specifically BECAUSE a binary is being made and enforced already.

trans men are being denied their lived experiences, having the violence they face erased, Because They Are Men, and you can't stop the behavior without addressing the gender-essentialism that is Already There.

and It Is Unfair. it's absolutely Unfair, because nonbinary, intersex, gender queer, and gnc people are All hurt by this rhetoric. they're All hurt by this strict enforcement of gender-essentialism, but the conversation is centered around men and women by design.

the fact is, All Gender-Queer People Are Equal. (genderqueer meaning anyone who has gender in a queer way). and framing our experiences as being Inherent and Exclusive to any one type of person will Inevitably cut people out of conversations that actively affect them, simply because you didn't know that your experiences were shared.

BUT. framing the discussion about this as if the problem is that trans mascs trying to carve out a space for themselves is itself exorsexist is Also deeply unfair.

to tip my hand a little, the post I saw had specifically mentioned the talking point about trans mascs experiencing corrective rape with the intent of getting them pregnant and forcing them to detransition.

and it Is absolutely true that there are people who experience this kind of violence who Don't consider themselves trans masc, whether those people are trans neutral, genderqueer, or intersex. and it's absolutely wrong to bury that and insist that they Don't.

but at the same time, the situation is that trans mascs are being told that they Do Not experience physical violence, that they Do Not experience medical violence, and that the violence they Do face isn't gendered (whether that means insisting they don't experience misogyny, insisting that they don't experience violence Because they are men, or both).

so when trans mascs assert This Is A Kind Of Violence That I Experience And We Need To Acknowledge That we have to understand that the framing right isn't the trans mascs' Fault, right? we Understand that saying "trans mascs Don't have unique experiences" is harmful in this context Even When the premise is that there are no experiences that are solely unique to one kind of genderqueer person. not because it isn't True that all genderqueer people share experiences, but because people are very Specifically arguing that trans men's experiences don't exist and don't deserve to be acknowledged.

the fact is, transmisogyny as a term Exists, exorsexism as a term Exists, intersexism Exists, but the line is being drawn at transandrophobia (or Whichever term you'd prefer).

I Agree that the overall discussion would be healthier and easier to have if None of the terms we used were specific to a single identity, but instead discussed different types of bigotry under the genderqueer umbrella.

but that is not what people are trying to achieve by squashing transandrophobia. trans mascs are being singled out Specifically as not needing or deserving their own terms, while Also being cut out of other trans conversations. people preface their conversations about transphobia Specifically with "trans men don't experience this," and then tell trans mascs that they're Wrong for creating conversations that center themselves.

ideally, right this second, we could say "transmisogyny Generally focuses on the experiences of trans fems, exorsexism Generally focuses on the experiences of people who push the gender/sex binaries, transandrophobia Generally focuses on the experiences of trans mascs, intersexism Generally focuses on the experiences of intersex people.

but all of these experiences have overlap because they're all gender minorities, because all of these groups have overlap in members, And because people experience violence based on the way that the perpetrators of said violence Perceives them (not inherently because of the labels they identify with)."

but to get there we have to be willing to allow All genderqueer people to assert their lived experiences as valuable and important. this knee-jerk reaction to trans mascs that frame Their attempts as violent or unnecessary ultimately hurts people. and as long as trans mascs are put in this position, pushed out of conversations about oppression that affects them And told that they're not allowed to start their own conversations without being bigoted somehow, there will Always be a need to address it.

trans mascs Have to discuss the gender-essentialist oppression they're experiencing, and it's not their fault that the conversation has been framed this way to begin with.

addressing the problem of non-binary and genderqueer people being suppressed and sidelined and pushed under the rug Is Extremely Important ! it's an inherent part Of the conversation. but the conclusion cannot be that it's trans mascs fault for wanting to use a word to represent themselves when quite literally every other group in the queer community gets to have that privilege.

[marvelouslytrekking]

Unbelievable

Pairing: Leonard "Bones" McCoy/Reader Summary: Written from the prompt: "I would believe that you're fine, but you have a goddamn knife sticking out of your leg, so." Word Count: 1417 Warnings: Mention of death, yelling, knife, injury, brief mention of disaster A/N: I haven't written much in forever and today I opened Google Docs to maybe try and write and I found this untitled and just sitting there. I really don't remember writing this but I guess I did so here it is! Enjoy :)

You were on a planet that had just had a major natural disaster hit their capital city. There were many casualties and you had come in to offer assistance and to bring them much needed supplies.  You were at a medical facility helping to triage people coming in with various injuries.

You had been tasked with assessments before directing the injuries to the treatment they needed. You were also helping with some of the more minor injuries if there was a lull in people coming in. While you knew your work was less exhausting than that of some of the other doctors and nurses who were doing back to back surgeries or other more intense work, you were still exhausted. You were also sure you had skipped a few breaks and honestly weren’t sure how long you had been at this posting. 

As if he had read your mind, suddenly Dr. McCoy appeared beside you. “I swear I haven’t seen you take a break all day. When was your last break?” He questioned.

“I honestly don’t remember,” You told him truthfully. 

“Well then what are you doing standing here, shoo, go take a break and come back a little refreshed.” 

You went to argue but he gave you a look that told you not to even try. You sighed and dramatically handed off the padd to another nurse before you stepped out of the school that had been turned into a makeshift hospital.  You immediately took a deep breath and realized just how long you had been cooped up in that building. You would never admit it to Bones, but you had desperately needed the break.

You had started to go for a walk. You should have probably been more exhausted than you were but you found yourself being restless. You didn’t want to get yourself lost so you were just walking around the block because you would be able to keep the school in your vision and you knew this area was one of the least affected so you wouldn’t find yourself in rubble and impassable areas. 

You had rounded the corner of the back of the building happy to be away from the chaos and be able to enjoy some quiet when you notice a man approaching. “They killed my wife! How could they let her die!” You heard him yelling. You felt bad for him, he had just gone through a tragedy and it wasn’t something that could be helped. It had seemed that he was just yelling at the world and not anyone in particular, but suddenly he was directly in your face. “How could you let them kill her!!” 

“I’m so sorry for your loss sir, but I am sure they did everything that you could.” You tried to diffuse the situation. You were trying to remember if you had seen this man when you were triaging people, but you had seen hundreds of people and at a certain point, the faces began to blend together. 

“No! You said she’d be okay, that it was just a simple injury and then we waited hours and now she’s dead. You killed her!!” 

You were trying to process what he was saying but before you could say or do anything, he was lunging at you. You hadn’t been prepared for the attack so he managed to knock you down on the stairs behind you. You were trying to push him off you when you heard the back doors opening and someone yelling. You let out a breath of relief when the commotion scared the man off and he ran off within second of the person starting to yell at him. 

“Oh my god! y/n, are you okay?!” You suddenly released the voice was that of Dr. McCoy. 

“Yeah, yeah I’m fine.” You responded. You were still a little stunned from the encounter and you began to slowly pull yourself up to a better seated position.

You watched as the doctor looked you over. You rolled your eyes, “You know, I am a nurse, when I say I am fine, I mean it,”

“ Well, I would believe that you're fine, but you have a goddamn knife sticking out of your leg, so." He responded with an annoyed look.

“What are you,” You started to respond before looking down to where his eyes were and realizing that he was right, there was a knife sticking out of your thigh. “Oh.”

“Yeah.” He sighed, “So how ‘bout we get you back inside and get you taken care of.”

“I am pretty sure this is a yellow case at best, I can take care of this myself. I am sure you have much more important things to be dealing with.” You told him. However, you did allow him to help you get up from the stairs. You made sure not to put any weight onto your left leg. 

“Well I think having my favorite nurse out of commission puts you higher on the priority list” He told you.

“Oh, and here I thought you didn’t have favorites.” You chuckled.

“Don’t tell Christine, she’ll be very upset and no one wants that.” He joked.

“Your secret is safe with me.” You smiled. 

You still wanted to protest that you could take care of yourself, but you also had to admit, you didn’t mind being taken care of by the doctor so you allowed him to lead you to a table and to patch you up. 

“What happened?” He asked gently as he began to cut the fabric of your uniform pants away from the knife blade. 

“I really don’t know. It happened so fast. He was yelling about how his wife died and then next thing I knew he was in my face saying I killed his wife and then before I could even try to respond, he had jumped me.” You explained. “I was trying to remember who his wife was. He said I told him it was a minor injury. I don’t know if I diagnosed her wrong. I mean maybe I am to blame.”

“Hey,” Bones stopped what he was doing, putting his hands on your shoulders and forcing you to look at him, “You did not kill her. You have been doing your job to the upmost degree, there is a lot that can go wrong when we are trying to take care of this many people. We can’t control everything, he was just misplacing his anger. You are not to blame.” 

“I mean, what if I am though?” You were trying to listen to what he was saying but all you could think about was how you couldn’t even remember who the women who died was. “I mean I can’t even remember looking the women over, what if I over extended myself and was too tired and missed something.”

“Listen, I know what you're going through right now, but honestly if you don’t remember her you might not have even been the one to look her over. And I promise, as your direct superior, I would not have let you stay here if I thought you were a danger to yourself or others. Nor would you let yourself get to that point.”

You knew he was right but it was so hard to believe it when you stopped to think about the life that was lost. 

“Thanks Len,” 

“Anytime. You know where to find me if you need to talk about this type of stuff.” He told you. From there he worked in mostly silence. He made sure to warn you of incoming pain and apologized when you winced anyway. 

“Alright you’re all good. Now get yourself back to the ship and rest for a while.” He instructed once you were patched up. 

“Wait, I thought this was about making sure I could get back to work?!” You protested. 

“You have already been here well over the maximum allowed for hours, and you were just stabbed. You need to get some rest. Once you have had a good 10 hours off, you can come back and work if you’re feeling up for it.” 

“But-” You tried to interject. 

“No buts. Get some sleep. That’s an order.” He said, authority behind the statement. 

“Fine, but I am not going to be happy about it.” You gumbled. 

[misspelledwordswizard]

Chapter 2 - My new peaceful life

Previous chapter / Next chapter

I didn’t become conscious until I was two years old. In fact, there wasn’t a single moment when I regained consciousness and my memories, it all came gradually, when I realized, I was living with this information.

So, I was reincarnated. Wow, incredible, my miserable life ended only for a new one to begin. I was born into a simple but loving family, it was just me and my parents, they always did everything for me, even with such low conditions.

I had a normal childhood, I was a normal baby, a little smarter than most after the age of two, but it’s still hard to think with such a limited body. Of course, I noticed the little differences in people in this life and in my previous life, like their pointy ears and different culture, not to mention the lack of technology around there. But I didn’t really figure out where I was until I was five.

Until then, I thought I was in a world where humans were actually elves, until one day when I was still a child. My father was talking to a friend in a meadow near our house, they met by chance on the way, while I was playing in the grass with bugs or whatever else I could find. I don’t remember much, but something caught my attention, and I started to distance myself from my father, who was too focused on his conversation to notice, and I went deeper and deeper into the trees.

I walked a little, picking flowers and the occasional mushroom – I’m pretty sure some of them were poisonous, my hands were itchy afterwards – and then I heard a loud noise as something hit the tree next to me hard. I froze, startled, watching the creature that was bigger than me retreat back into the earth. As the creature prepared to attack again, I found myself in the same situation as a few years ago, sensing my death, I saw the projectile coming towards me while my body did not respond to my commands to escape, and then everything went dark.

Luckily, my father had arrived in time, the darkness I saw was his tunic blocking my vision as he stood in front of me, taking the attack in my place. He quickly picked me up and took me away, I had never been so grateful as in that moment, and after a few scoldings for leaving his side, I finally managed to think and identified the creature.

What attacked me was nothing more than na Octorok, my years as a big nerd in my past life granted me this knowledge, and it was then that I realized, those people were not elves, they were Hylians, and that was not just any world, I was in Hyrule, I was reincarnated in the universe of The Legend of Zelda games. Well, cool, I guess. It didn’t interfere much in my life, to tell the truth. I continued to grow up peacefully, and over time I discovered more specifically where and when I was. My parents lived in a small house in Hateno, the situation in Hyrule was bad for everyone, lots of monsters, the places seemed abandoned, so it was clear that I had been born during the great calamity, a few years before the hero woke up. Despite everything, I was raised with a lot of love. I missed my family from my past life a lot, but my current family never stopped giving me a lot of love and I grew attached to them too. I had some friends in my childhood, but I couldn’t deepen these friendships. After all, mentally I was much older than them, so I preferred to spend my time listening to the conversations – gossip – of the adults.

I met few throughout my life. Since I hardly left the village, I was out of danger, but that didn’t stop me from taking precautions and exercising my body so that I would at least be able to run if I needed to escape. It was when I was sixteen that rumors began to circulate, saying that the hero had awakened after a hundred years of slumber. Hope once again circulated throughout the kingdom. Of course, I was already expecting this to happen soon, which was good, of course, but it wouldn’t affect me directly, at least not until the calamity was finally defeated.

A year later, I decided it was time to start my own life and no longer depend on my parents. Hateno suddenly seemed too small for me, I knew there were wonders in Hyrule, even though I wasn’t the adventurous type, this desire to know more things lived inside me. In seventeen years of life I had never even seen another race other than the Hylians, I wanted to meet new people, new places, to do something different than just following life without real goals like in my last life. So, I went far from Hateno, along with a group of adventurers who could escort me to safety. I went near Dueling Peaks, I started working at the stable there, which was good, because I also managed to stay temporarily until I could find a house in the region. After some effort, I managed to build a small cabin among the trees, isolated but still close to work. It was almost rewarding, now I had my own space with everything I needed, a bed, a bookshelf and a small kitchen area with a table for one.  It was good, it was peaceful.

Every three months I would still visit my parents, the journey was long, but the longing was too great to bear, and there were no means of fast communication in that era. Nine months passed like that, until the calamity was defeated. During that time I even managed to see the hero – Link – who sometimes passed by the stable, but I never exchanged even a word with him, funny, I didn’t remember that he had long hair... and I thought he would be shorter. But I just watched as he ran from one side to the other doing his things or helping people. I wonder if he managed to get all the Korok seeds.

Well, things definitely improved with the end of the Calamity, fewer monsters, Hyrule was preparing for reconstruction, I heard that Purah was on the move, leaving Hateno and heading to the center of the kingdom. Again, this may have made things safer, but it didn't affect me directly, my life continued as usual, and everything was fine. I never had any hopes of getting involved with important characters from the games, much less the hero or the princess or the hero. I was fine with that.

Well, which brings us to this moment in my life. Almost a year after the end of the Calamity, I went to visit my parents recently, I had arrived home yesterday and today I was busy organizing my things, since I had to go back to work tomorrow. My day started late, I arrived exhausted late last night after a lot of walking, I didn't even change my clothes before passing out on my bed, and now I had breakfast an hour before lunch time.

Unfortunately for me, I had a lot to do. As soon as I finished eating, I left the house to be graced by the sunlight, which touched my skin and enveloped me in a comfortable warmth as I headed towards the nearest river to fetch water for my chores. Since it was a rather long journey to repeat, I always took a large barrel of water, which I carried in a wheelbarrow I improvised myself. It wasn’t the best, but it worked. After refilling my water, I started cleaning my little cabin. The good thing about a small space is that it also requires little effort. I swept and wiped the floor with a damp cloth, then used a smaller cloth to clean the furniture. I searched the cupboards for food that was out of stock. I needed vegetables and greens, but I couldn’t spend them now. My paycheck wouldn’t be until next week. Well, my only option would be to look for nature.

Having reached this conclusion, I prepared myself by grabbing a basket and left the house again, now walking peacefully while looking for possible fruits, mushrooms or anything else that I could find around here. The wind gently caressed my cheeks as I walked, the sun, just a few hours away from setting, illuminated my path with orange lights. Peace. It was the perfect word to describe it. If in my past life someone had told me that I would finally live in peace only after dying and being reincarnated in a video game, I would have thought it was the greatest absurdity. Anyone would think that, it was crazy, but it’s my reality.  I managed to get some mushrooms and apples, but the sun was already setting, even with a low monster count I wouldn’t risk wandering around at night, so I started to make my way back to my hideout. What a shame, I wish I had found carrots.

The sound of crickets was what accompanied me on my way back, in a peaceful and controversially silent symphony. How hungry. The sound coming from my stomach accompanied my thoughts. I forgot to eat lunch, my stomach is empty. After a few minutes of brisk walking I found myself back at the door of my house, opening it, causing a creak, I entered the peaceful and comforting territory, making sure the door behind me was closed. I went straight to my kitchen area.

There were no divisions in my cabin, it was all one room, but it was comfortable, and more than necessary. I took my old pot, filled it with water and put the two potatoes I had at home to cook, then with my small frying pan I used another burner on my wood stove to sauté the mushrooms I had picked today. When I finished the potatoes were already cooked, so I took them out and mashed them, seasoning with a little salt.  I put everything on a plate and took it to the table, sitting in my lonely chair.

Mashed potatoes and sautéed mushrooms. Not the best, but it’s good enough for today. Tomorrow I have work, so I’ll go straight to bed after eating. Surprisingly, even in another life I still have bad luck with jobs, I definitely don’t like having to spend the day feeding horses and cleaning up their waste. But that’s temporary. When I can save up enough money to support myself I’ll go on a little trip, I’d love to see Rito Village or the Gerudo Desert, although the idea of dealing with extreme cold or extreme heat doesn’t appeal to me.

I’m not sure what my dream job would be, but maybe I’ll find it along the way. Or just spend my life doing whatever nature gives me, whatever is easiest. My mind wandered, thinking about the future as I ate without enthusiasm. I feel lonely. Well, it was by choice, and of course, I love living isolated from society, but now I feel very lonely. I have no friends, my parents live far away, the most exciting things in my life are the books I read and the stories of the travelers who pass by the stable. Maybe I should adopt a dog... or a cat. After I finished eating, I cleaned all the utensils I used so as not to accumulate dirt, then I undressed so I could clean myself and wash off the dirt and sweat that had impregnated my body. Man, how I miss showers. If I had a shower at home, I would take three showers a day.

Unfortunately, I am forced to take cold showers in the nearby river only a few times a week. I miss perfumes too. I hate being dirty and smelly. I brushed off the thickest part of the dirt and put on my most comfortable clothes to sleep, while organizing a change of clothes for when I woke up. I had already laid down on my small bed when I remembered to pick up a book from my bookshelf to read before going to sleep. It took me a while to be able to read, the speech might have been the same, but the alphabet was completely different. So I needed more effort to learn how to read and write.The good thing is that I always kept diaries in the alphabet of the earth, which protects me from having my secrets leaked. It was very useful, even though my parents tried to exorcise me when I was a child, thinking that I had been possessed by na evil spirit that wrote strange symbols.

As I stood in front of my bookshelf, choosing a book, I thought I heard noises coming from the direction of my bed. I looked around and saw nothing, the noise had stopped too, so I just shrugged my shoulders.  As soon as I turned my attention back to my books, a loud noise came from the direction of my bed. I looked up in alarm, unable to see clearly due to the dust that had been kicked up.

Destroyed

Everything was destroyed, the wall behind my bed had a huge and irregular hole, pieces of wood scattered all over the place, my bed was completely broken and crushed under a piece of my wall, and on top of this severed part of my wooden wall was a blond man, groaning in pain, while screams, noises of combat and sounds of bokoblins invaded the air. Through the hole in the wall I could see several men with swords and shields fighting against a bunch of angry bokoblins in a great confusion of sounds and movements. The man who was on my destroyed bed and wall soon recovered and returned to the fight, leaving me standing still in front of my precious books that now no longer held my attention.

— What the fu-

[isthedogawolfdog]

youtu(dot)be(slash)g-7cLXyMp8E?si=OQ_6WDtl_dnMj9DP

Thoughts on this video on the reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone and also the article that it cures which claims the Yellowstone narrative is factually inaccurate?

BAHAHAHA I am fucking CACKLING.

Okay so this video:

was posted in late 2020 and BOY HOWDY is it a wild ride. Because I need a distraction and am feeling particularly petty right now I'll see if I can break down the video and it's... um... "facts".

Before I start though the dudes YouTube is chock full of extreme vegan takes so I wouldn't say he's the top tier candidate for good sources lol.

"Introduction"

The beginning is meh. Y'know the usual thing some Youtubers do with the whole "is this really true???" thing with unreasonable amount of suspicion? yeah. He pretty much makes comments on how maybe the reintroduction of wolves into YNP wasn't the "incredible success story that it was made out to be." Which I feel like the, y'know, the many hundreds of research papers on the wolf reintroduction into YNP and the massive benefits it's created kinda contradicts? but I mean what do I know.

"Yellowstone narrative is misleading"

So this part opens up with this video (which I don't feel like watching rn if I were being honest so I'll save that for later) that blew up a bit ago regarding how wolves change rivers, and the claim that it was misleading, untrue, etc. The youtuber (who we shall call Hancock because "Youtuber" will get boring) uses this source to stake the claim that the positive impact wolves have had on rivers in YNP isn't true.

As we would know if we actually did research and didn't talk out of our ass, wolves didn't directly affect the rivers just by hunting elk, but beavers as well. Aspen and willow are, surprise surprise! a favorite food of beavers. Prior to wolf reintroduction riverbeds and waterways in YNP were in terrible shape, mainly due to erosion and lack of support from water loving plants, which are... tada! willow and aspen! Beavers and elk chowed down on these plants in huge amounts due to their numbers being so vastly out of control due to lack of predators. So when wolves came around and started hunting the plentiful beavers and elk, the willow and aspen were basically like "oh shit! we aren't being eaten to the point where we're all dying!! lets grow more!!" and in turn the more willow and aspen = more footing for the soil along waterbeds which means the rivers were saved. Some of this was mentioned in the article that was linked but wasn't mentioned by Hancock so idk what's up with that.

To sum it up, wolves made an impact! And it's silly to just write that off completely!! I think my issue with this part is that Hancock completely writes wolves impact on the environment off, which is frankly ridiculous. The original video may have overstated it a bit, but it's not like it doesn't exist.

"The balance of ecosystems"

Hancock then talks about the complexity of the YNP food chain (kinda), and how some people feel the need to restore the balance in nature if we humans fuck it up which?? like yeah?? we should?? He goes into a schpeel about values or whatever and if we value certain ecosystems over others??? Idk I was NOT tracking.

He mentions his thoughts on "which balance is best for the animals that live there". Goes on slight anthropomorphizing tangent then dives into the next part...:

"Ecology of fear"

Ah, lads, we are back in biology class aren't we. Except this time we are anthropomorphizing the hell out of everything! "The deer are afraid of being eaten alive, so afraid that they sometimes choose to eat less..."

Okay, did anyone tell this guy that the amount of food the herbivores (ungulates namely) before wolves were reintroduced was literally killing everything? Without wolves to balance the prey populations out they overgrazed, populations skyrocketed and so did disease.

The rest of this is a tangent, so I'll skip over it.

"Wolves suffered too"

Hancock cites the outbreaks of canine distemper disease that have occurred in YNP since reintroduction. This is a bit of a mute point, since canine distemper can fuck any canine population up whether it's a brand new reintroduced group of wolves or they've been there for decades.

Also, can we note how he talks about canine distemper then shows a wolf with mange?? hmmmm.

"Numbers of animals vs welfare"

Dude talks about random bullshit regarding animal rights. Loooooots of emotional heartstrings attempting to be pulled. He is 10000% coming from one of those anti-predator perspectives. Biiiig yikes.

"It's too complex (human health analogy)"

This section was basically mansplaining but with vegans lol.

"The choice we have"

He brings in wild animal contraception?????? I???? Girl what. I mean it's a thing yeah but I did not expect that to be where he was going.

Hancock talks about "one of the cruelest, and unfortunately most romanticized and thus most prevalent methods of population control" AKA reintroducing predators. Hmmmm it's almost like he didn't read about the mass amount of ungulates and other prey animals dying off in YNP when winter came (prior to reintroduction) and there wasn't enough food to sustain them all, subjecting them to excruciating deaths and long drawn out starvation and disease.

Hancock then goes onto how animals eat each other alive, which like, yeah, they do. AND THEN he talks about "wild animal suffrage" which, frankly I refuse to google. Blah blah blah he's anti-hunting who would've thought.

"we didn't do it for the animals"

Okay this actually has some value to it. Hancock talks about how wolves weren't reintroduced for their benefit, or anyone else, but only for people and tourism. This is both right and wrong.

I'm sure that all the biologists and hard working members on the reintroduction team would disagree that it wasn't done for the animals, but who knows. Anyway, the point that tourism would rake in a lot of cash for the state was also something that helped wolves get reintroduced, since we know many government officials weren't in it for the animals. So yeah, sort of true, but not really.

Hancock goes on about what animals are concerned about, even adding a little wolf with a thought bubble (which tbh, I'm sure if wolves knew about the technicalities of biodiversity they would love it, since it usually means a better quality of life). More anthropomorphizing and entitled vegan guilt tripping.

At this point I stopped watching, since it's already been roughly an hour, and although I could do this all day, I have to work later.

To answer your question anon, this video is very poorly put together and I wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole. There is little to no research done prior to creating it, and the creator talks from a animal rights activist point of view, which is never helpful.

[sophieinwonderland]

that’s an interesting and really cool observation— not many ancient stories of time travel to the past. do you have any thoughts to why that might be?

I wonder if it’s related to different values of the people, or maybe those who were storytellers had less regrets. Like what kind of background would an ancient storyteller come from? More likely to be of a higher class or a revered status. Or maybe there were stories of time travel to the past, but they’ve been lost to time/not passed down.

(Context)

I think these are some solid possibilities.

On not being passed down, that would make sense. Time travel narratives are complicated. Storytellers passing them on is going to be hard and will be difficult for a lot of people to grasp. Maybe popular stories we know today might have even once had time travel elements but were simplified over hundreds of years of retellings. It's one possibility.

I'm not sure about higher class people having fewer regrets. If anything, I think they might have more. Having social mobility means more opportunities to make mistakes. And being at the top means that when something goes wrong, you're more likely to be blamed and feel responsible.

And these were periods where one would think regrets would abound with so many wars, plagues and corruption everywhere.

The Photograph Theory

One possibility I've pondered is that technology might have changed how we perceive time.

The first photograph was in the 1820s.

Hans Christen Andersen's The Galoshes of Fortune was written in 1838.

The first colored photograph was was taken in the 1860s.

In 1881, came The Clock That Went Backwards. There are many more time travel books written after, leading to the concept truly taking off with The Time Machine by HG Wells.

One could argue that the pictures may have influenced how we view the past then.

Or Maybe Not...

But that might be too presumptuous. Trying to find patterns to explain things in hindsight.

A Supplement to the Journey to the West in 1640 depicts a sort of time travel to the past. But that's actually a dream so it's questionable if it counts. Also, Memoirs of the Twentieth Century was written in 1733 and depicted someone getting written messages from the future. So despite these playing with the idea of time travel in some ways, neither directly involve actually visiting or altering the past.

Maybe the relationship between time travel and the photo is coincidental. These later time travel stories might be evolutions of those mentioned above. (But probably not since I doubt A Supplement or the Journey to the West was that well known around the world, and Memoirs of the Twentieth Century had most copies destroyed.)

I like the photograph theory at least, but I'm not certain.

Maybe our concept of time changed because of how fast advancements were happening?

It's not that the world was static before the last few hundred years, but it's been changing faster than ever.

If someone writes a story set in the 1400s, it's not going to be that different of a world from one set in the 1300s. At least on a technological level.

In comparison, almost every few decades in recent history have been world-changing. Compare the 2010s to the 1980s. Compare the 80s to the 50s. The 50s to the 20s. The 20s to the 1890s.

It appears that the rate the world has changed has radically increased. This could then affect people's perceptions of this time.(But then, maybe that observation is just bias itself, a result of knowing certain eras better because they're more recent and we have pictures and videos from those time periods.)

Maybe this caused people to become more nostalgic for these lost eras? Eras they had personally lived through, and watched as the world changed?

No... this doesn't sit right with me either...

Even if technological advancement caused humans to become more nostalgic for past eras, that's not the only thing nostalgia should exist for, right?

What about nostalgia for kingdoms who were overthrown? For cities lost to natural disasters? To simpler times with loved ones lost?

Not all nostalgia should be tied to technology and advancement. Some should be more personal.

Back To The Future isn't about huge technological difference between the time periods. Not really. It's more a story about a kid learning about his parents and who they used to be, and making them into new people. The differences between eras are really just dressing on this personal story about Marty's relationship with his family.

And then you have Groundhog Day stories which are just... one day on repeat. These don't explore the speculative or historical side of time travel AT ALL.

Not to mention prophecy was a thing. People could always conceptualize getting information from the future. But physical objects and beings traveling to the past is unheard of.

Prophecy is Another Oddity

Almost every culture has stories involving precognition. There's always been interaction FROM the future.

But no time travelers anywhere. No spirits going back to the past. No gods. Not even objects until Memoirs of the Twentieth Century. So information can time travel in mythology, but literally nothing else can.

Despite time travel not existing in any fiction ever prior to the past couple hundred years, it's always been assumed by every culture on Earth that the future was something that people could just see.

In today's world with our understanding of physics, prophecy would only make sense as a form of time travel. Much like how light is just particles bouncing off of things and hitting us in the eyes, information about the future would need to be coming from the future. (Or be calculated somehow by understanding all the variables that could lead to that outcome in a predeterministic way.) But I don't think most ancient people saw it that way. And thus, never made the leap from information traveling back through time to entities and physical things traveling back through time.

[dwarf-vader-of-middle-earth]

My absolute biggest pet peeve with TikTok users is that when you tell them how the app is literally awful because it has been designed to be addictive and as a result it shortens your attention span, these folks will argue against you yeah, but their main point is ALWAYS that TikTok is how they, and many others, get their news and information on world issues.

Bro there are literally hundreds of other ways to get news that won't ruin your brain. Ways that don't shorten your attention span so you can only watch like a minute long video tops. Ways that don't forcefeed you random bullshit that has nothing to do with your interests and goes against your own opinions, through an app designed to market off your views and taps and reactions, which therefore benefits from forcing you to view things that have little to no relevance to you and your interests, or that will even enrage you.

It's much like when Facebook first came out. Facebook is still shit by all means, but for years after becoming mainstream, studies were being published left and right about how the site forced opinionated posts that went against a user's monitored and recorded opinions, specifically to garner attention and reactions, and to see how users would react. It became addictive. It became an endless hole of arguments and a breeding ground for accusations and callouts amongst users. It was unhealthy, and many users found themselves literally addicted to the argument. Addicted to the high of being in the heat of the moment, of being right, of feeling spiteful. People still fall victim to this today on there, but it isn't as prominent now because we as a society are more aware of the issue, and thus have fought back, have learned to avoid arguing as a whole, and even just avoid Facebook completely.

TikTok users more often than not, from what I have seen, fall victim to this cycle of arguing and feeding the reaction machine. They, much like the Facebook addicts back in the day, refuse to acknowledge this is what they're doing if they become victims, and then they eventually find themselves depressed, anxious, angry, and frustrated, and claim they're unable to stop scrolling through TikTok overall, essentially treating it like a drug. I will tell anyone who reads this: you can find literally hundreds of official, peer-reviewed and professionally done studies, published on how social media which does this sort of thing, leads to mental illness. It is proven that users must monitor what they consume, and how often, and for how long. Otherwise, it very well will eventually affect their mental health negatively. I personally have seen many teens and young adults, many of whom are good friends of mine, who have become this way specifically through TikTok. I've had to tell all of them that TikTok is their problem, that because there are no decent ways to filter out what appears to you on there, and they are caught in the argument hellhole, their mental health is tanking and they MUST take a break from it. And every time those people listen and break away for a short while, just a few days, they find their mental health becomes more stable.

Plus. TikTok users are so heavily monitored and censored. Many other sites and apps are no better. However, news articles and videos will write/say whatever the fuck, and have zero censors minus, usually, profanity and NSFW subjects directly being mentioned. Yes, they are absolutely biased, but the key thing about anyone who reads/watches the news versus watching TikTok, or even just being on any heavily monitored app, is that you learn, as a news consumer outside these environments, how to notice and recognize biases, and where to go beyond one source to find a less biased report. So I'm begging TikTok users. Pick up a newspaper. Read what actual journalists post directly instead of watching a 20 second video rapidfire paraphrasing what that journalist said. Learn what a scholarly source is and use your local library to locate scholarly sources on subjects you're interested in, and obtain information which is actually vetted by folks in the field instead of random users with no study done outside a single video. But please stop using a literal mind-numbing, doomscrolling, forcefeeding app.

[skylarstark4826]

The moment that said Princess stepped into the sacred territory of their Kingdom, Namora didn’t expect the light that adorning her King’s eyes. The mention of her presence brought another side of the Mighty Kukulkan. He ordered the finest dress that ever been made and made sure their hostages were fed well. 

At first it was just something any host should do. Welcoming guests with an open arm, but they were Talokanil. A civilization far away from the surface, hidden from the world and only a whisper in myth of the people. They were people of Gods, the only people that could survive underwater, conquering the only place that cannot be touched by the surface dweller.  

So it was odd, so out of him to welcome Guest - no, their enemies. The scientist was just a touch away to be erased but her King insisted on giving her the same warm welcome like the Princess. It was outrageous, it should not have been like this.  

But she couldn’t help, to see the sun finally shine on her King’s eyes. His eyes lit up the moment the Princess stepped into his space. The shadow of their dark Kingdom seemed so bright now the Princess had appeared and making him sway in a way Namora never saw her King be that way. 

Her King was God, their protector and their hero. He had hidden their traces of life for hundreds of years. For generations, even longer before her parents were born. Namora was his namesake, a token of gratitude she was named after him. As now she served under him directly as his advisor. 

It was not in vain, but Namora wished that light in her King’s eyes did not light up because of the Princess. 

He shouldn’t be compromised , by a Princess that was far from noble. Just another selfish surface dweller. 

She tried to keep convincing him, but only after one of their handmaids died, only then Her King came back. 

His rage was fresh, full of fury and Namora had been waiting for this. For him to realize how dangerous the surface and its people were. No one can be trusted.  

But then - she spared him.  

Namora knew beneath the shiny vibranium necklace, her King was still a human. There’s a sentiment, something in his eyes and heart, in regard to the Princess. In a way that Attuma even points out the smile that was brought to his face. Namora realized too. 

For years they had served their King. For years before their parents had served him too. For a long time Namora only heard his story through the songs and stories told by her parents. The Great Kukulkan. The God that she was named after. The boy without love they called him, a curse and a myth. 

But for long too, even his people acknowledge that despite his capability to protect and remain loyal to his people, Namor seemed to live up to his name. As the man seemed hesitant to accept any love in his life. 

It was sad, a sorrow painted in his eyes. Despite the fact he tried so hard to give affection to his children because for one maybe that’s his way to chase the curse away. But then again, he couldn’t.  

Then the Princess came. 

Namora could see it now, he was trying not to be Namor for her. He wanted so hard to be the man with love. So he welcomed her, dressed her in jade, and gave her a tour of their sacred kingdom. 

It took awhile for Namora to accept that reality, because the hatred that still linger in her heart upon their view to surface dwellers. Despite her King's attempt to show how the Wakandans were their ally in this cruel world. 

Until that one moment, his smile came again.  

The war had ended and Namora, still angry at the way her King still refused to take his pride again. 

Attuma took her to his side, taking her to see the sunrise in Wakanda. Telling her maybe this was the best way to form an alliance. They should not put ego over their King’s defeat. They, after all, have people to protect too. 

For the last resort Attuma told her, this was also for him. For their lonely King who had spent hundreds of years refusing to take any one as his love. Because the new Wakanda Young Queen was the only person that brought that smile,  the smile that had been hidden in a very long life and hardship. The smile that might have been lost the moment their King buried his mother in her mother’s land.

They were warriors, but also they were sinners. The Wakanda Queen gave them so much salvation and forgiveness. She even gave them the opportunity of a lifetime, to see the sunrise and sunset without worries. Something Namora’s parents had missed out on and long for their whole life. 

It would still be hard to accept. But their alliance would bring hope. Bring the future that before couldn’t be seen, but finally could be reached.

Her children would see the sun directly. Not living under the shadow of the water anymore.

She sighed in defeat and contentment. Maybe it would not be bad after all this alliance. 

But really? Namora still couldn’t handle this side of the lovesick dolphin of her King.

[spurgie-cousin]

Okay, BUT. You do get so annoyed when people point out trends in America. Like the appalling gun laws, the war against women, the sheer amount of racism. Obviously this is not all Americans, it is appalling to suggest so, but it just hypocritical to call out that and then do the exact same thing. As much as you're trying to paint your vent as not at all generalisation, you were very much going "all European countries". 1/2

I am sorry that you're having an awful week, but I just wholeheartedly disagree that me pointing out a literal trend in data points is akin to passing judgment on an entire group of people. You're absolutely right that *generalizations* about Americans make me angry, but it's not the people pointing out that America has a gun violence problem that make me angry (because that is true and not debatable) it's the people saying things like "all Americans are gun crazy lunatics who are too dumb to vote in their own interests". The former is acknowledging a statistical fact, the latter is a sweeping judgment about hundreds of millions of people, and it seems like you think I'm doing the latter when I'm doing the former. Acknowledging a trend in behavior is not the same thing as stereotyping.

Every demographic is more judgemental towards bigger people online, which I find equally as infuriating. But the instance I was upset about last night was directly connected to this weird online trend I have been noticing with all of my bigger female content creators, and that's an influx of very harsh comments from other women in those specific countries I mentioned in my last ask. And I wasn't calling them "European" unfairly, if they were from eastern Europe or Scandinavia or something that warranted a distinction I would've done that.

If you think I'm being unfair by pointing out this thing I've noticed because it has directly affected me and my work clients, we can agree to disagree. My vent post was definitely angry but there is literally never a time I would think it is ok to pass a sweeping judgment on a large group of people, regardless of how angry I was at a few people from that group.

Edit: also I don't remember using the word foreigners at all? Maybe I did and just don't remember, but I don't understand your point about that word insinuating the internet is only in America?? Or that I only think Americans on the internet matter? I'm not sure, but I can say with certainty that in my entire time on the internet, neither of those thoughts has ever crossed my mind and I've been on here since like, 2005.

[changeling-rin]

The opinions on Speck you don't get to show because it hasn't come up in story and we never ask? (Servo, hoping to start a trend)

He and the Four also tend to drift together, due to both being quieter sorts. Sometimes you just need to recharge with a person who also knows the value of silence, you know?

He is, one hundred percent, an introvert

He's also the sort of person to just. Get up and do something, if it needs doing. It doesn't particularly matter how the thing gets done, as long as it does, in his mind.

This is how the whole ear-stabbing thing came about, by the way. Villain needs defeating? Nearest convenient weak spot is an ear? Alright then, Speck sees no real reason why this can't be exploited. Time to go exploit it.

He himself is not a very good mage. There is, however, one loophole of magic that he excels in, and this is being a channel for other people's magic. If he were to put effort into it, he'd also be an excellent amplifier and general power-up, but right now he's just a convenient extension of range. Ezlo hasn't mentioned this to him, because Ezlo didn't think it was important, but most people don't just... shrink down with the level of ease that Speck does. There's usually a lot more effort and time involved, quite frankly, because most people's magic systems will actively put up a resistance to being affected by an outside source. Speck's system, for some reason, Does Not Do This. Speck's system says 'hi friend!' and offers assistance.

He has channeled for Ezlo's shrinking magic enough times that he has, unknowingly, permanently altered his own height. Magic always leaves a mark, and that's the sort of thing that builds up over time. He will top out at a flat five-foot-zero (152cm).

If Speck were to ever channel for whatever nonsense Realm's magic gets up to, they might end up on the moon.

His favorite color is a soft, sunset orange. Unfortunately for him, he looks terrible in orange.

He actually thinks spiders are adorable. Out of respect for Gen, he will probably never say this out loud.

He has the Mom Friend override for if any of his fellow Links are feeling socially anxious about something, which directly ties in to that Get Up And Do It bit from earlier.

As a side effect of being a part-time Picori and climbing absolutely everywhere, he's built like a rock climber. He's basically bouldering everywhere he goes, so of course he's got the muscles and grip strength to match that. Not a lot of bulk, but the very wiry sort of muscle and also a handshake that could break your bones if he put enough force into it. He becomes very Dorito-shaped as he grows up, due to using his arms and shoulders to haul himself around everywhere. Still wiry, but a stocky sort of wiry.

And lastly, he doesn't actually like sweets. If asked to pick a snack, he'll choose something salty like roasted nuts or olives.