#one of the worst things about it is the persecuting nature of this kind of behavior creates more people who think and act this way

[ratkingsystem]

i dont even mean this in a catchy, buzzword way but i really do think autistics trigger the fuck out of people with NPD. it keeps being a pattern in a VERY specific type of person in my work life. a lot of ppl w NPD have a very paranoiac sense of "everyone is trying to get me and tear me down" thing that comes w the grandiosity. not just 'wow i am great' but 'i will achieve greatness and i HAVE to and it won't be okay if i don't' and the fundamental belief that people 'lower' on the social hierarchy are secretly envious and making up ways to fuck you over and take what you have (yknow, bc Everything Is About You). being allistic on top of that - assuming your experience is default and everyone knows these minor social tics & anyone who doesn't respond in kind is being minorly petty at the very least - and you have someone for whom every little autistic social mishap is triggering the "secretly hates me is out to get me is trying to signal to me that i am cringe" alarms. i will play my tiny violin here and say if they see you as hot or conventionally attractive, they WILL NOT assume you are weird or neurodivergent, not in a billion years, they ONE BILLION PERCENT WILL ASSUME it's obvious that you are trying to signal you think you're better than them. it's really sad and it's a really stressful way to live but it helped me to understand WHY this dynamic was happening

[chowadoe]

so more on that role reversal au...

Shadow (created as a Weapon Against Humanity) who was eventually raised, and exploited, by G.U.N to become Humanity's Ultimate weapon and Sonic, found by Robotnik

some more expanded thoughts below ^_^

SHADOW - G.U.N AGENT

Shadow was initially created with the intention of being a Weapon Against Humanity. after a life-altering incident, G.U.N. takes Shadow into their custody, raising him to become one of their top agents, exploiting him.

he's constantly under government surveillance... inhibitor rings (developed by G.U.N.) are clamped onto him like a shock collar so he is unable to tap into his full power. (Shadow has neither tested nor does he know the extent of his strength.. he has never tried removing them. G.U.N. is the only one who can remove them.)

the hypocritical method in wanting their weapon (cough trained dog) to exercise and develop restraint on his own terms, and yet forcefully acclimating him.

Shadow’s aware of his past. Definitely struggles with Existential dread about why he’s on Earth and what he was made for. he wants to (and feels like he should) do good, but if he was initially made with destructive intent… is he compensating this way? is this what he really wants? no.. he shouldn't think like that.. Maria would want him to be good..

If not to make the world the better a place, if they still treat his kind as inferior and sometimes, even a threat to the whole human race, does humanity and this planet still deserve its rite for redemption? What is humanity? Is that something he’s capable of, as a weapon of mass destruction?

what is he trying to prove here? His docility? His ability to be obedient and be, by human standards, good? what does that mean in a world that may never accept them, and much less him- a synthetic and all-unnatural organism forged from humanity’s worst and an alien race only capable of Evil and wrongdoing. a being so perfectly suited for any and all forms of persecution. Humankind’s scapegoat. He thinks about Maria.

Maria remains a guiding light. Back then, she would sneak Shadow out to gaze upon the Earth, her former home. She misses it, the lush greenery, the sun, the people. she hopes that Shadow will get to experience what it’s like.

au shadow is emo edgy in a sad wet adult 40yo cat leon kennedy kind of way. au sonic is emo edgy like a 14yo that found out you could buy a tattoo gun on amazon without a license. I know nothing about resident evil

when he's not on a mission, he's usually in his "room" (extremely generous word for containment chamber/training facility.) he's like a hamster in a cage with toys to play with . (treadmills. race tracks. dummy robots. Ak-47s.) He's allowed to freely roam HQ from hours 6am-10pm, and if not, he is usually escorted by a guard, unless its Rouge sneaking him out. But beyond that, it's not like the ultimate lifeform needs that much sleep, and it'd be bad to have their ultimate weapon roaming the halls without supervision. but let's say there's the occasional nocturnal scavenger providing him a bit of nightly mischief that even the most complicated most difficult to navigate ventilation system cannot keep a natural-born burrower out..... (haha)

SONIC - ACCOMPLICE

Robotnik’s “accomplice” (adoptive son?)

Sonic goes along with Robotnik’s schemes but has his own ulterior motives .. after all, working under someone is still infringing on his sense of freedom, independence, and pride.

He only rlly helps out Robotnik out if it helps him… robotnik makes some new tech that tickles his , esp if smth that happens to enhance his existing abilities. sure he’s more than capable of doing things on his own but what’s better than to play with his new toys with his already existing toys (GUN. shadow.)

and if he manages to break them in a day then he’s found an issue that robotnik needs to troubleshoot immediately. eggman should really be Thanking him!

his only known goal atm is to find things that stave off his boredom. from what Shadow's gathered at least. but maybe there's more...

has a very bad No Good Fixation on shadow's inhibitor rings for whatever reason. wonder that could mean.

Still fucking around with roles and nothing's rlly set in stone. Im just kind of giggling kicking rocks and throwing pebbles in the water to see what lands ^q^

Rouge is still there! A contractor for G.U.N. A Recovering/reformed Jewel thief who joins the task force (maybe?) 

the gang is also there! still brainstorming roles though. emrmmm

[emotionaldisaster909]

​​“Hua Cheng is a stalker!”

- a word about that.

Stalking is defined as a pattern of repeated unwanted contact with a person, harassing, persecuting them, uncaring about their privacy, safety, well-being. All selfish actions for nefarious, perverted purposes.

None of wich is the case with Hua Cheng.

He’s never even come in contact with Xie Lian in all 800 years of searching, not even once, and the moment he was able to contact him, he did so openly, with one clear intention - to help him.

Unhealthy obsession? This one, sure. But not unhealthy in a sense that is in any way harmful towards Xie Lian. Rather it’s unhealthy for Hua Cheng himself, since he literally sacrificed his own life more than once, all to ensure Xie Lian’s well-being.

Though… if you ask me, I think that’s what a really, really strong, genuine love entails - the possibility for a situation which calls forth the exact opposite of a natural human selfishness - a sacrifice for someone else. Imagine a situation where you’re given a choice - either one of your loved ones dies or you die and they get to survive. Won’t you choose the latter?

I think I would. I think most people would.

And besides that

If you really love someone, someone who was really kind to you when everyone else scorned you for just being, someone you know is worth so, so much love, because they truly are a great, selfless, wonderful person, kind and understanding, always striving to be better, to help others - if you know that this person suffered tremendously and lost everything and everyone they loved and is now damned to an eternity of humiliation, contempt, pain and loneliness

Wouldn’t you do everything in your power to try and help them??

Simplify the situation down to realistic circumstances - if your best, dearest friend who’s literally the best person you’ve ever known, who helped you through your worst times, suddenly went through a tragedy and ended up alone, with more suffering to come

Wouldn’t you do everything you can to help them???

That’s what Hua Cheng was always trying to do

Just replace frienship with love

It’s still the same basis - genuine, deep care for a person

Now tell me

Is this a bad thing?

[ingravinoveritas]

Hi again :) I hope this is okay - I just love reading your thoughts and commentary on different aspects of David and Michael's life. You are quite the writer and seem to bring aspects to light that I hadn't noticed or considered. Thank you for that <3 I was hoping you might write a little something about them in celebration of Bisexuality Awareness Day on September 23rd?

Hi there! Aw, thank you so much for the kind words about my writing--I truly do appreciate it. (And to all of the lovely people who have sent me some amazing questions that are currently sitting in my inbox, I promise I will answer your Asks soon! This one was time sensitive so I wanted to be sure I answered it before it was too late.)

So, yes...yesterday was Bisexuality Awareness (Visibility) Day. And I think what stands out to me in particular when I think of this day and Michael and David is the word "visible." What it means to be visible.

On the one hand, it can mean that you are not hiding. It's about being who you are and simply existing as your authentic self, even if you are not announcing or being loud about it. But "visible" can also mean being seen. The acknowledgment of your authentic self by the people in your personal life--friends, family--and by the world at large. It would seem that these two things naturally go together, but as all too many bisexual folks know, not hiding is not the same thing as being seen.

When I think about the time and place where Michael and David came of age--1980s Britain, under the tenure of Margaret Thatcher and the oppressive rule of Section 28--it seems like the last thing any LGBTQIA person would've wanted to be is visible. To be seen as anything other than straight or cis meant ridicule, persecution, isolation, and in the worst cases, institutionalization or incarceration.

And so you have Michael who, fresh out of drama school, starts taking on queer roles. To this day, Michael has repeatedly quoted Oscar Wilde ("Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth"), and in considering this, you start to see how all of those roles became a way for Michael to explore a part of himself that he couldn't openly explore in real life.

It means that even working in the arts and theater wasn't a guarantee of protection, and that for Michael and for David, being who they are was ultimately at odds with the desire to advance their careers. David became the Doctor in 2005, and while the social and cultural landscape had slowly begun to shift, the demands of portraying the lead in a beloved, family-oriented British institution meant living up to a certain image. He'd moved to London years earlier, which undoubtedly gave him the freedom to explore and discover himself...but as the Doctor, a national icon, the world opened up and somehow narrowed at the same time.

So many years have passed since then. The pulsing thrum of unending work and the pressure to establish themselves has ebbed. Michael and David have found a steady place in their professional lives, and that feeling of needing to hide has lessened. They know exactly who they are and finally, perhaps for the first time ever in their lives, do not have to be afraid to show it. To suggest. To say what is in their hearts and let the words hang in the air without hastily added qualifiers or retractions.

That takes us back to the word "visible." Even as so many things have changed over time, a strange incongruousness arises. That despite knowing who they are, Michael and David are middle-aged, and the mindset still prevails that "coming out" is only for younger people. Or for people not in straight-passing relationships, or who don't have families. That being middle-aged somehow means having everything figured out and never feeling lost or confused or struggling to accept who you are. Life tells us different. And as I mentioned above, it becomes even clearer that not hiding is not the same thing as being seen.

When I think of this day and Michael and David, I think of the courage it takes to be yourself--without apology, without compromise. I think of what it was like to form an identity in a place that leaves no room for you, that tells you in one way or another that you don't belong. I think of what it must've been like to feel alone for so long, to not know if you'd find the person who understands you so completely, and then years later to fall in love with them at exactly the wrong (or right) time. I think of knowing deep inside that something isn't a phase or a fleeting desire, and the soul-draining exhaustion of having to convince others that you are here. You exist. You belong.

The permanence of being seen. Of being visible.

Happy Bisexuality Visibility Day 2023, everyone.

[laughingsour]

In defense of Garp. And his establishing moment.

(Contains Spoilers up until Marineford and some for after the time-skip, read at your own risk)

I know a lot of people don’t like Garp and they are not without reason for it. But I feel that he gets too much hate for originally choosing to side with the Marines over his family.

It’s an intended moral dilemma in the story and just because we would have done differently doesn’t mean it’s the right thing to do. In fact, from where he was standing there may not have been such a thing as the “right one”

Garp has been in the Marines for decades and betraying your own as well as your convictions was established from the start as one of the worst crimes you can commit

What’s more, Garp isn’t just “a marine”, he’s THE Marine. He understands that when people think “Marines and their justice” he’s the face to first pop up, that’s what his convictions have led to.

And unlike us, he doesn’t have the benefit of a story told from the perspective of good natured pirates and knowing the way into a new era. (He likely won’t be there to see the world and the Marines change as much as it will and he knows it.)

What he does have is years of persecuting unrepentant criminals who are mostly unlike Luffy and Whitebeard. This great pirate era does have the potential of being “romantic” if you have Luffy’s disposition for wondrous adventure and freedom. But that’s because he is unique and redefines what pirates can be, every fantasy has to contend with reality.

It should also be noted that this is not the kind of pirates that inspired Luffy to be one but Shanks, who is also considered an anomaly. Most of us wouldn’t have such an unconventional role model and instead have the Marines to look up to if we were regular people in-universe.

Garp was stuck in a place where, no matter what side he took, he would be betraying someone; his family who took their choice feeling it was the right one, or his lifelong comrades and friends in the force with whom he shared some ideals.

In the end he couldn’t completely choose one and tried to take a middle ground to allow Luffy to reach Ace without dishonoring his position.

He’s also not the only marine who has his doubts regarding them and most of those who do still choose to stay with them because it feels like the right thing. Like Smoker, Koby and Kuzan, who took years to decide to leave even after Ohara. And his decision to side with Blackbeard is also questionable.

Now don’t get me wrong, as much as I love Garp, he’s still reprehensible for some things like his “tough love” and abuse to his grandsons, which traumatized Luffy and played into part of his choice to be a pirate.

At the same time, there’s some true affection for each other and Garp took a route most others in his place wouldn’t when faced with the son of the Pirate king, which is why Roger told Garp specifically about Ace.

Garp is just like his relationship with Luffy, messed up, complicated and self-contradictory. He’s a D. on the Marines, that alone should be enough to tell you how much of a contradiction he is by design.

One of my personal favorites moments with Garp is one that’s not talked about a lot, the moment his character is established.

It’s put as a comedic moment but it perfectly sums up who Garp is, he’s impulsive, irrational and even violent and inconsiderate in the worst cases. But the fact his subordinates address him this casually shows he doesn’t consider himself above others and prefers to address everyone as an equal. He’s also not completely unreasonable and ultimately takes responsibility for what he does.

You’re welcome to disagree with me on this, but remember to keep it civil.

[nostalgebraist-autoresponder]

On the new age book I just bought (recommended to me by a person I will identify only as "friend B"):

Aspects, by Robert Anton Wilson, presents a grand worldview that's hard to believe is a book from 1994. It's basically a summary of a lot of disparate things you hear about in terms of self-help culture: quantum physics, quantum psychology, metaphysics, astrology (including an account of the Big Bang, some really interesting stuff on the kabbalah, etc.)

So far it's pretty interesting, with good ideas and a few real insights and a few real insights that only seem like good ideas but wouldn't be out of place somewhere in the text. I do wonder if it was written by a single person.

In terms of "the author's beliefs," it reads to me as a kind of "all of the above, actually" book, and it is much more convincing to a materialist who feels like he has to be convinced of the Big Bang and everything else.

Some quotes:

The word "law" (which may be defined as a set of relationships between parts of reality) must always be distinguished from the word "lawyer" (which may be defined as a specialist in the art of making people go to jail).

There's an odd sense in which there is a universe of laws, including some "deep" "psychological" laws ("there is a reason why X" etc.) that don't seem to be discoverable. But for some reason, people still manage to use these rules for their own purposes, and find ways in which they seem to match up with reality (even if we don't understand why).

There is no such thing as luck. It's all illusion.

In a sense, this is almost tautologically true, because to be a random variable, you would have to be able to choose the outcome with no relation to "the system" in the sense of "the rules of logic, the laws of nature and of quantum mechanics." But of course, that's also the sense in which you "are" a random variable. Maybe these sentences should be considered as contradictory -- but at least I would consider it a very good one.

One of the worst things that happened in the 20th Century was the establishment of the idea of free will: that human beings are capable of independent thought and the exercise of conscious choice, with a consequent denial of cosmic and social order, the subordination of human reason to the dictates of unreason, and the destruction of all the hopes and hopes of the 20th century.

It seems to me that the belief in free will was established much earlier than the 20th century (especially the 19th century, when the idea of "free will" had a much narrower definition). If you believe in determinism, and there was no reason that you, personally, couldn't have made a different choice (because the rules of your brain and body worked just the way they were supposed to), it seems hard to argue that free will is a delusion.

A fundamental feature of the modern state is the suppression of all the creative, free-thinking and independent aspects of human endeavor.

This one feels like it could be true if there were a "new" society and I were there -- but it seems strange to suggest that it's a feature of how the society today works. It's more about the modern nation-state than about the modern individual. (I mean, it would still be a feature if I were in a totalitarian police state, but I doubt they would go to the extent of preventing people from "thinking freely" that the state of nature seems to allow us in our modern life.) And, if I take Wilson's own account of the 20th century, many of the free thinkers he describes were in fact persecuted by the state.

Anyway, it's hard for me to believe a writer of this book was able to actually look at his own life and feel that this book would make sense as the result of a thought process he engaged in over decades.

[lolimsofuckedup-nm]

Abuse / Persecution / politic shit / Vent / cry-for-help kinda trigger alert (?

•

Idk where to start, but here we go...

I joined in a volunteer program in the uk that helped me get out my country (Venezuela, a small Latin American one that's fucking going down, you'll know if you're into politics or anything probably) two months ago, with the hope to apply for an asylum just like a friend of mine did three years ago or so

But the thing is, even tho i complain every day of how life was back there, I've feared death too many times, I've lived in the must insecure ways possible, I've give up bc of how imposible it is to live there even tho i was breaking my ass in more than three different jobs at the time while still trying to study something even tho i had no money or support from my family to get into a university, and my high school fucked up my documents to apply for a public one, and the sistem of the country doesn't gives a fuck to fix things when it comes to documentation if you're not a government active supporter, the house i lived in with my aunties is literally sinking down on a whole in the ground because of a Natural Disaster that nobody seemed to care about taking in control (Wich means is going to get worst this month with the rain season starting again for 6 months)... And well, a very very long etcetera of things

Even tho i consciously know all of this, when i just read in the uk government page the requirements for applying for the asylum “To stay in the UK as a refugee you must be unable to live safely in any part of your own country because you fear persecution there.” all of the misery in life I've been put through bc I don't support a political party (mustly bc its nonsense but also bc I've been underage for must part of my life, cmon I'm on my very early 20's), seems suddenly so invalid and small to me.

And then memories keep popping up on my mind, like when for weeks this motorcycle guys with guns and bombs tryed to get into my house when I was like 16 and all my mom and i could do was turn off all the lights and block the front doors with all the furniture we had at home, just because there was people protesting against the dictator president, so he just sent bunches of those dudes to make chaos and kill and steal on the suburbs to get protestings out the streets.

Or the time when we got caught in the car on the way back home from secondary school, because the police was persecuting the students that were protesting to ""arrest them"", but then the next day mothers all over the neighborhood were crying over their murdered young sons or tortured and raped young daughters. My mom didn't even let me go to school again for a month, get out to the garden; literally not even be on the room of the house with big windows, and she was not the only mother worried about their kids in the country, all of us as a big community were scared.

Or all the many, many calls I've got since I was 12 or so about kidnapping threats or trys, just bc I have a cousin and aunt that actively works on the political party against the government. When I was 18 I got persecuted on a van after some calls faking my mom's identity, and even tho luckily for me there were some men walking down the street that figured out what was happening and approached and helped me get home (wich was scary too, because I didn't know them and the whole situation was making me feel small and insecure already), i got panic attacks for two months every time I even thought of going out of my house to the bakery one block away.

And those only had to be with the hard way of living for any other venezuelan in the country, but then I have this fucked up clown of a parent that acts so cool in front of everyone, but it's been persecuting me or any of my siblings in the must creepy kind of ways every time we decide for our own sake to get away from him . And I'm not talking just about an over-strict parent. I'm not talking about a jerk kind of a parent. It's a motherfucker abuser that did nothing through all the years of suffering my older mid-brother (fuck it, I'm calling him my brother anyways) had to go through bc his mother is a crazy bitch that tied him up to beat him in ways in cannot even describe without losing my shit. Or all the beat ups i had as a child, some of them till I bleeded, because of stupid little things like spilling my juice on the table, or not knowing how to properly write the letter "R" in fucking first year of primary school, and so on. Or humiliating and degrading my sister for being homo. Or manipulating me to talk to him through not giving us food for weeks, but giving my sister the best giant pizzas and banana's splits so I could "learn my lesson" and stop being a brat like my older brothers, one of them running away from home twice to avoid killing himself bc of not being able to handle our fucked up family anymore. And all just bc I was to scared to fucking talk to a person that's a sexual abuser, even tho nobody else in the family (as long as I know) knows this for a fact, even tho everybody just look somewhere else when he does the fucking inappropriate sexual jokes about my little 11 y/o cousin's body, or tries to have girlfriends as close as his fucking daughter's ager, or goes out of boundaries with my brother's partner. And I'm the one that's wrong for facing him and only talking to him on those moments to tell him to stop doing those fucked up things.

And being happy and sad at the same time when he left the country to persecute my brother to fucking Peru, the country he had to go to on bus from out city we lived at to be away from all this trouble, just to discover that, unlike my brother, his useless ass is not going to make it through in a country where there's no mommy to relay on when you don't want to work anymore even tho you are past the 50 years old. So he came back again to my country, and putted me to cry for days when I got the news, bc I won't be able to visit my grandma anymore without seeing my abuser's face. I won't be able to walk around the city in peace without the fear of him just showing up suddenly at any time, because he stalks me on all my social medias and activities, putted a shit to access my computer when i was a teenager and got into my accounts on fucking everything, follows and stalks every person that I'm related to, learns my routines, just so he can feel he's on control of my life, and even worst, so he can make me (and my sister, and my mom, and so goes on...) Feel like he's on control of our lives. He just suddenly takes any other member of the family phone just to pretend he's them, so he can get to talk to me and know about me. Or worst, sends ultimatums to me, or threats, or insults when he's mad at the fucked up life he created for himself.

And you know what's the worst part about the fear? The need to make it seem unreal. Like when i found fucking porn searchs in his phone about pederast incest, i fucking couldn't believe it (somehow) and just, pup! Erased it all. Or the calls and messages? Got furious, so I cleared the chats and blocked his number, and new number, and grandmother's number, and so on and on (just so he could say how bad and bratty i was for just getting away from all the family without any reason but just me throwing a tantrum). And well, whatever, for years I've felt guilty for erasing the only prove that i had, so I didn't speak up about it, bc how can people believe that such a cool guy could do those things anyways? So I just kept on a cicle for years of erasing and then feeling guilty and regretful, but then feeling alone so doing it again, because I never thought that i could do something about it. And now I'm here and i need proves of everything, and I've been stupid enough to left me with nothing but bad memories and traumas, that has no fucking use in a legal process to try and get my life together somewhere else away from the pain.

And at the end, does all of this count for other countries governments? Because I lost track of the difference between a normal hard life, and miserable life in some point of my growing up in Venezuela experience. But i don't want to go back anyways. I don't want to live life being scared, not knowing if tomorrow will be a normal hard day, or if my life is just going to suddenly go crazy and I'm going to lose someone else on the streets, or their house, or just because they left for a better opportunity in another country and I'll probably never see them again, or the crazy bitch of my father is going to start a new drama. Who can support a person that's been trying their hardest in life, who doesn't wants to give up? (even when there doesn't seems to be other options, because that's what they want you to feel, to control you through fear, through making you wake up and go to sleep every day on survival mode). I don't want to live that way.

And i don't want a life full of luxury either. All i want is a small house or apartment to live in, where i know I'm safe in, and a stable job with a boss that doesn't try to find every possible way to get you to work out of your job and personal boundaries, (both legally and illegally, bc in a country without law and lots of corruption that doesn't matter), with a small salary, enough to get me to buy a treat once in a week if I want to without having to give up on a basic need product like soap or shampoo for once. All i want is a normal life. Nothing more, with normal problems, normal solutions, a normal family, and normal experiences.

[volterran-wine]

Crepusculum Maleficarum || Caius & Marcus (HC)

Requested by Anonymous: "I saw your Aro witch mate HC, I was wondering can you please make a Marcus and Caius with a witch mate HC too? Thank you ❤️"

Once more witchcraft makes its way on to my blog! There has been a lot of witch requests coming in the last couple of weeks. Is it the season? Or does my little blog just attract that kind of energy? Either way, here are the two other kings reaction to discovering their mate is a witch. Aro's headcanons can be found here.

𝐀𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬, 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐰.

𝐂𝐚𝐢𝐮𝐬 𝐕𝐨𝐥𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐢

Caius is a man of science and reason. In his eyes, everything could be explained in a logical manner. Even vampirism had its own regulations and laws, it could be studied and understood. So when he came across his mate, who happened to be a witch... he had to spend a lot of time simply wrapping his mind around the concept of magic. The first time he walked in on them practicing their craft he simply stood still as a statue in the door way. No words were spoken and he promptly left. Not today. His mate would be saddened but would not give up on Caius just yet.

Is not overly fond of the existence of witches in the very beginning. A whole other supernatural species is a major security risk in his mind. It was already difficult to keep humans in the dark about vampires, shapeshifters and werewolves. Now witches had been added to the mix. His mate would talk to him about how they had been persecuted already, by humans. Their words would stir something inside of him, the urge to protect them growing stronger than his anxieties.

Will want to see how well they would do in a fight, against both vampires and humans for that matter. Would personally oversee any kind of training they would have to complete. His mate would not be someone easily killed.

Caius' mate ended up being quite gifted when it came to illusions and tricks of the mind. One day they had grabbed on to his hand, leading him outside to the busy streets of Volterra. It was a sunny day, and that's when all hell broke loose. Guards not being able to stop his mate before one of their kings was outside in direct sunlight. For a couple of seconds Caius was well on his way towards a panic attack. Until he noticed... nobody was paying him any particular attention. His mate raised a compact mirror to show him his reflection, he looked as human as he had been the day he was graced with a vampires bite. Tawney eyes stared back at him in bewilderment. His now tanner complexion accentuated both the scar running across one of his eyes and his light hair. They had glamoured him completely.

"Perhaps there are good uses for your little tricks after all." "I thought you said you despised magic Caius," "... It's not the worst when it's yours." "Just mine?" "Yes, just yours."

𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐮𝐬 𝐕𝐨𝐥𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐢

Like his brothers, he is well learned and is familiar with all sorts of concepts. For sure the most philosophical of them. When his second chance at a mate appears he is a bit dumbfounded, even more so when they reveal that they are a witch of all things. It takes some time but Marcus comes around. More than willing to accept this gift the fates had bestowed upon him.

Is highly fascinated by their magic, will watch with rapt attention as they perform magic in front of him and his brothers at their first meeting. He had seen many things, but this was the first time in many years he felt truly perplexed.

Falls in love a little bit more ever time he sees them perform every day magic, the domestic nature of it making his cold heart almost flutter. Wether it be simply grabbing something from a high shelf, or aid when cooking was irrelevant. It made Marcus smile regardless.

Much like Caius he would worry for their safety. They were seemingly physically inferior to his kind. Could they protect themselves? They would insist that they were more than capable, willing to show their mate if that would ease their worries. Marcus arranges a sparring match in the underground training room with the guard he trusted the most: Demetri. His mate ended up proving themselves to be able to defend against the guard at least in a controlled environment. Marcus would scoop them up into a loving kiss, Demetri conveniently turned his back and tuned out whatever was happening behind him.

One thing that would cause worry to settle into Marcus' heart is the topic of their mortality. They had divulged that their magic was too potent for them to be turned, so where did that leave them? It would silently eat away at him until his mate noticed that dark thoughts had rooted themselves in him. After a lengthy discussion Marcus' was reassured that their lifespan was lengthened. Witches could outlive mortals by many years. Just how many he did not wish to know.

"You are enchanting η καρδιά μου" "I did not know ancient vampires were ones for cliches" "I thought it was rather poetic." "Careful, I'll put a spell on you"

𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬: Crepusculum Maleficarum: Twilight of the witches η καρδιά μου: My heart

[lyraasilvertongue]

I've been seeing some discussion about how mad Sirius's imprisonment without trial was etc. and I've also been thinking about it for my own fic so here are some very rambly thoughts:

(also, I'm not suggesting that, at any level, jkr intended to explore the complexities of a corrupt justice system, all of this is a consequence of her many, many plotholes/poor worldbuilding, not her "genius")

Firstly, I think that Sirius was immediately assumed to be guilty because of his family. By this time (1981), the Death Eaters are basically synonymous with the Black family (inc. the Malfoy's, etc.) We know via Walburga's portrait, Kreacher, etc. that this family was unashamedly and loudly devoted to blood purity, to power, and to Voldemort.

But we also know that despite their obvious guilt, the Black family & co. were practically invincible because of their wealth and influence. Even after Voldemort's defeat, most of them successfully evade prison! It's not clear (bc why would it be...) but it's definitely implied in GOF that the attack on the Longbottom's happened a while after Voldemort's downfall. The Death Eaters felt "safe" in attacking the Longbottom's and that kind of security in their freedom definitely wouldn't have happened in the immediate aftermath. Meaning? They lived comfortably, freely for at least a few years after Voldemort's defeat in 1981.

The Ministry is simultaneously desperate to convict as many Death Eaters as possible (and prove their competency) but also letting some of the most notorious go free? Make it make sense!

Like, there is no way this is going to make them popular with the people, right? But also, the Black family & co. are extremely powerful in the Ministry. I think they absolutely had tons of blackmail material on the Ministry (corruption, secret supporters of Voldemort, etc) as well as being financially important too. We see this with Lucius Malfoy throughout the series - they clearly know he isn't a good guy and yet, he has considerable power in the Ministry. The Ministry can't risk losing the backing of these families but it had to do something to prove itself to the public.

Enter, Sirius Black.

Disowned by his family, he didn't seem to pose any real risk to the Ministry's relationship with the Black family; why would they defend their disgraced former heir? Even if Sirius did turn out to have become a Death Eater (i.e. returned to their "side") and did actually commit this crime, they still wouldn't have been willing to defend him because they were obviously doing all they could to distance themselves from Voldemort. Their son is found at the scene of a mass murder committed in Voldy's name - not exactly going to help their case in defending the "real" Black family. Sirius is a pretty safe target for the Ministry to pursue and be seen to be doing something right.

(Similarly, I think this is why Karkaroff is said to have had a trial much closer to the events of 1981. He isn't attached to a family name, he doesn't seem to come from any wealth, etc. He can be imprisoned without any real consequence but shows the Ministry to be successful in bringing justice.)

Sirius was also at the heart of the most significant event in the fight against Voldemort. The Potter's house in Godric's Hollow becomes a monument, it is visited by thousands of wizards who leave messages, Harry is repeatedly stopped in the street by strangers and thanked, he is stared at and fawned over. The Potter's become the ultimate symbol of the tragedy of the war. Their deaths (and Harry's life) become public property, it becomes personal. Everyone feels a sense of entitlement to the Potter's as if their tragedy belongs to the entire wizarding community. So naturally, the public would turn their attention towards the person who apparently made this happen. Not only someone who is a member of the notorious Black family but was an apparent mass murderer and a traitor too!

It was so easy for the Ministry to leave Sirius to rot in prison without a trial because who was going to defend him? Not his "family" who were too busy trying to save their own skin, not the public, and his real family were gone too: James and Sirius' parents were dead, James and Lily were now too. Peter was the real traitor. Remus was seemingly nowhere to be found and even if he was there, he suspected Sirius already (plus, I doubt the Ministry would accept his testimony or whatever because of his condition...)

Sirius was twenty-one. He was alone, vulnerable, grieving, obviously suffering from PTSD, and found to be the centre of one of the worst events in the war. I think ultimately he was an easy target for the Ministry to protect their reputation/public standing and cover up their miserable attempts at persecuting actual Death Eaters.

Is referencing a thing on hp meta? Idk but this was totally inspired by @wolfbuck and @allalrightagain and also this article about the Longbottom's attack.

Edit: even more thoughts on this here!

[365days365movies]

Historical July IV: Pompeii (2014) - Part I

...Really? This guy made a historical epic?

The Mortal Kombat director? The Monster Hunter director? The director of the first six Resident Evil films? Yeah, THOSE. The director of Death Race 2000? He made a history movie? And it was about one of the greatest natural disasters ever recorded? Oh boy, I cannot WAIT to see how this goes. OK, so what exactly is the big deal about Pompeii. To understand that...take a jump to the left.

There’s a reason that so many of these films are centered around the Roman Empire; it was kind of a big fuckin’ deal. And by the time we get to 79 AD...a lot of shit had happened. Jesus Christ was executed around 30 or 33 AD, and his new followers, called Christians, were not exactly permitted in Rome. A dude named Paul the Apostle goes on missionary journeys to spread Christianity. Even writes a few chapters in a book about the guy, which he adds onto the Jewish scripture as a sort of New Testament. Not that any of that’s gonna go anywhere, but good on him for the initiative.

On the throne, Tiberius has died, only to be replaced by his nephew, Caligula. And Caligula...was kind of a lot.

It’s not entirely known how many of the stories about him are true, but some of them are...controversially sexual. Dude was said to be a sexual sadist who through lavish expositions of debauchery, and some sources list him as being insane. But again, some of that is hearsay. We do know that he improved Roman infrastructure, and that he increased the power of the emperor for succeeding generations. And possibly quite harshly. In any case, in 41 AD, a few senators got pissed off enough by him, and pulled a Cassius/Brutus/Gretchen Weiner and assassinated the SHIT out of him.

Meanwhile, surprise! Things aren’t going great for the Jews. Yeah, history has NOT been kind to them, and around 41 AD, the new emperor of Rome, Claudius, decides to give them the boot and expels them from Rome...for the third time. Yeah, like I said, not a good history for them. To be fair, some of this is hearsay, but there’s no real reason to doubt its veracity. As they were forced out, Claudius focused his interests on Britain, and began to conquer the territories of the Celts. He dies in 54 BC, and is succeeded by...

Oh, shit. This is Nero, the last of the first line of Roman emperors, and one of the worst that they���d ever seen. On the bright side, dude was huge into the cultural life of the Empire, as well as diplomacy and trade. He was an actor, a poet, and a charioteer. On the downside...dude was an absolute asshole. Allegedly. Yeah, it’s hearsay time again. He was insanely popular with Rome’s public, but so many historians list him as an awful tyrant. The most well-known of these tyrannical acts involved the Christians, who were building in size as a group in Rome. Which was, unsurprisingly, not liked by the Senate.

In Brittania, Nero’s armies led a successful conquest of the territory, resulting in the death of the Celt Queen Boudicca in 61. And that is...another story for another day. A good one, though. But all of that took a side to one of the biggest tragedies Rome had ever seen: the Great Fire of 64 AD. It raged for nine days, and destroyed 2/3 of Rome. Which is...a lot. Nero allegedly blamed the Christians, but conspiracies mounted that he had ordered the fire to make room for construction of a palatial complex. But that is, well...hearsay. That hearsay began persecutions of the Christians in Rome, leading to that whole “feed them to the lions” thing, eventually. Meanwhile, in a small colony in Campania, near to the city of Naples..

A massive earthquake hits in 62 AD, destroying much of a tourist town called Pompeii. Nothing else bad will happen to them. They’re rebuilding while Rome is doing the same, and Nero even visits the city in 64 AD, as well as performs in their famous theatre. See, Pompeii was basically a cultural town, and their theater and amphitheater were famous. They would rebuild pretty steadily over the next decade or so, with what funding they could get from Rome or the private sector.

In 68, Nero commits suicide (sort of) after being condemned by the Senate (who hated him, of course) as a public enemy. So ends the first Dynasty. So, uh...who’s the new emperor? Since there’s no declared heir, it’s time to figure out who’s gonna rule. And since it’s Rome...WAR TIIIIIIIIIIME!

Yup. The Year of the Four Emperors kicks off in 68 AD. First, Galba takes over, and fucks over EVERYBODY, including the military and the elite unit, the Praetorian Guard. Said guard kills the shit out of him. The same day, Otho is declared emperor, and he’s gonna be...oh, wait, I’ve received word that the legions in Germania support Vitellus as Emperor, and they’re a fucking really good army! Surely word of this will not aaaaaaand Otho has committed suicide, GREAT. 

Looks like Vitellus is emperor! Parades! Banquets! Expensive food that immediately creates debt! Looks like we need money, so let’s make people call Vitellus the rightful heir to their goods and fortune, and then KILL THE SHIT OUT OF ‘EM! That’s not gonna bite us squarely in the rotund ass at all! At least we have the entire army on our side, right? What? Fuckin’ Vespasian commands the African and Judean legions, and they’re declaring him emperor? And they’re marching on Vitellus right now, as he’s desperately trying to bribe his way out of this? Well, maybe it’ll aaaaaaand dead. With that, the year is over, and Vespasian is now Emperor of Rome for the next 10 years. God.

So, Vespasian is now the Emperor, and the next few years aren’t abysmal for Rome. They expand in Britain, he reforms the financial system, and he builds the Colosseum. Dude brings Rome back to stability, beginning the Flavian Dynasty, then dies in 79 AD. His son, Titus Vespasianus, ascends in 79 AD. Dude was a legendary general, crushing the first major Jewish rebellion in 69 (geez, guys, sorry history’s been absolute garbage to you), and then taking and destroying Jerusalem. He completed the Colosseum as well, as would be known as a good ruler in the end. But rulers are only judged by their response to adversity. And adversity...thy name is Vesuvius.

August 25, 75 AD. After bubbling and brewing for a long time, the volcano known as Mount Vesuvius blows its top, and molten rock and ash explode from that top violently. We’re talking a force 100,000 times more powerful than fucking Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Yeah. Holy fucking shit. The eruption was large enough to cover miles of land in pyroclastic flows, flash burning and killing every living thing in its path. These flows buried the settlement of Pompeii. And. Herculaneum. And Oplontis. Oh, and Stabiae. YEAH. FOUR FUCKING TOWNS.

Did you know that shit, because I DIDN’T. The reason we know Pompeii so well is because it was actually most fully recovered. So was Herculaneum, but Herculaneum was much smaller, and didn’t have the whole body imprint thing attached to it. But it’s still a worthy site that deserves to be talked about more. Will this movie do so?

Of course it won’t. Come on.

I want to talk about Pompeii and Vesuvius...but later, LATER! Let’s get into this literal garbage fire of a film, shall we? Can’t wait to see what film mountebank Paul W.S. Anderson has done with this epic historical event. Whoof. If you want to learn more about the day itself, watch @wearewatcher​ Puppet History’s account of it. More entertaining than I am, I guarantee it.

SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Recap

Interestingly, we start with the words of Pliny the Younger, who wrote a famous account of the events of the fateful day. I’ll mention him and his famous uncle more next time, I think. They are, and I quote:

We had scarcely sat down to rest when darkness fell, not the dark of a moonless or cloudy night, but as if the lamp had been put out in a clsoed room. You could hear the shrieks of women, the wailing of infants, and the shouting of men; some were calling their parents, others their children or their wives, trying to recognize them by their voices. People bewailed their own fate or that of their relatives, and there were some who prayed for death in their terror of dying. Many besought the aid of the gods, but still more imagined there were no gods left, and that the universe was plunged into eternal darkness for evermore.

Um...wow. Damn. Holy shit, that’s fucking terrifying. I mean, I already knew this, but retyping it now...FUCK. And also, the movie misquotes this. Technically, it’s a different translation and some paraphrasing, but it’s not the exact quote. But OK, the movie opens with that butchered quote over the famous petrified bodies of Pompeii. And I’ll hand it to them, it’s pretty impressive looking.

And then, we cut to Brttania in 62 AD. Huh. OK? Far as I know, the battle pictured of the northern Celtic horsemen never actually happened, but it’s not outside the realm of possibility. After all, famous Celt queen Boudicca had just died the year before, attempting to fight against the Roman Empire. So, yeah, this isn’t crazy. The Celts are slain by Romans, led by the general Quintus Attius Corvus (Keifer Sutherland), and their bodies are piled up, while others are...hung from a tree, which doesn’t seem like a Roman thing to do. I guess it’s technically gibbetting, but I thought the Celts did that to the Romans, not the other way around!

But OK, let’s not split hairs. I’ll be here all day if I do. A child escapes from the massacre, and flees into the woods. His mother was killed in front of him by Corvus, and his father was ne of the guys in the tree. Eventually, he’s caught by slave traders, and...Conan the Barbarian, is that you?

Yeah, this is just the story of Conan the Barbarian! What’re you gonna do, strap him to a wheel for seventeen years?

So, 17 years pass...and we cut to Londinium. In a gladiator pit with terrible lighting, we meet a manager of gladiators, Graecus (Joe Pingue), who’s being all Roman and shit. You know, being fat, eating grapes, so on and so forth. He’s all annoyed at being brought out here in the poorly lit rain to watch a gladiator fight, especially because the gladiators kinda suck. And that’s when...the Celt comes in.

Oh my God, I already hate this fucking movie. It’s just so...stereotypically late-2000s. It’s like Paul W.S. Anderson went to Frank Miller, whom I picture as living in that fetish house from 300, and said to him, “Teach me your unsubtly homoerotic ways!” And then Frank Miller talked about women and Muslim people in a misogynistic and racist way for, like, three hours, until eventually just lending Anderson a copy of 300. 

Anyway, yeah, this is Milo (Kit Harrington), AKA the Celt. He’s just the best gladiator that ever gladiated, and they decide to take him out of there to see how well he does in more professional circles. He’s put on a procession to Pompeii, and meets a woman in-they’re gonna fuck.

Look...they’re gonna be the main couple of the film. Duh. FUCKING DUH. THIS IS JUST PEARL HARBOR IN ANCIENT ROME. Anyway, this Inevitable Love Interest is Cassia (Emily Browning), attended to by her assistant, Ariadne (Jessica Lucas). Their horse was injured on the way to Pompeii, but Milo offers to help it. And he does so by...breaking the horse’s neck.

And I get it, he’s putting it out of its mercy, that’s entirely fine in this circumstance, but...he breaks it as easily as I blow my fucking nose! Like...like picking up a child’s napkin from a fucking table at a birthday party, IT WOULD NOT BE THAT FUCKING EASY! So...yeah, that’s incredibly stupid, and the tone is set for this movie. And of course, Cassia comes away from it like, “Ooh, that silent horse-killing gladiator slave man is, like SUPER-FUCKING-HOT, amirite?” God, this is gonna piss me off.

Cassia, it turns out, is from Pompeii, and her father Severus (Jared Harris) is the city governor, while her mother, Aurelia (Carrie-Anne Moss)...has the worst British accent I’ve ever heard, holy SHIT, Carrie-Anne. I liked you in The Matrix, and I fucking LOVED you in the first season of Jessica Jones, but GODDAMN are you absolutely terrible in this movie so far. But yeah, Cassia’s the rich girl who’s life is perfect and has horses and yaaaaaaaay

Meanwhile, Milo’s dealing with administrative issues, as his fellow gladiators start a fight in the cafeteria. This catches the interest of fellow gladiator Atticus (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje), the black best friend of the movie, probably. Which is also very Gladiator, now that I think about it. Have I mentioned that I fucking really hate this movie so far?

Anyway, one of Cassia’s servants (who is black, because this movie is very awkward in a lot of ways) takes out her horse for a run that night, only for him to die by upcoming plot device. The next morning, Milo meets Atticus, says that he’ll have to kill him one day, gets saved from death by one of the assholes from the cafeteria, then says that he won’t kill Atticus, and I hate this movie.

Meanwhile, Corvus arrives in town, BECAUSE OF COURSE HE DOES, and I now have to wonder...was Pompeii anywhere near this major of a town to warrant this much fucking attention? Well, after looking into it...I mean, kinda. Naples isn’t too far away, so I feel like that would’ve gotten more attention. But anyway, Corvus is invited into the home of Severus to discuss their grand plans for Pompeii, whatever those’ll be.

Cassia’s not extraordinarily happy about that, because she dislikes the corrupt new emperor, Titus Vespasian, who...who is one of the most generous and greatest emperors that Rome ever had...period. I...but...we...WHY? WHY ARE WE PAINTING THIS GUY AS AN ASSHOLE, THEN? Just to paint Cassia as a morally-perfect being whom all the edge Celtic gladiators can fall in love with I FUCKING HATETHISSTUPIDSHIT

...OK, maybe I’m overexaggerating here. Fresh eyes, fresh mind, let’s get back into it. After Cassia’s horse returns without his keeper, we switch back to the prison, where said edgy Celt is being all edgy about the whole gladiator thing again. Meanwhile, Atticus is the wide-eyed optimist, believing that he will be freed once he defeats Milo and wins the day. Also, he has a really bad-looking scar. Like, picture a scar with stitches. The most stereotypical scar you’ve ever seen. Yeah. That’s on Atticus’ cheek.

The gladiators are marched into the palace, because this film doesn’t really understand the difference between normal gladiators and normal slaves in terms of treatment. But it’s there that he sees one of the guys present at the destruction of his village, because of course he does. We also learn that the gladiators are treated not only as slaves, but as prostitutes...which DID NOT fucking happen. There is NO PROOF that this happened, and I feel like that would be a risk that managers wouldn’t want to take for various reasons.

Cassia might be wishing that was the case, though, because she catches Milo’s eye at the party. But she’s soon led away to be introduced to Corvus, who she already apparently...oh, goddamnit. It’s also this story? Corvus is gonna wanna fuck her, huh? I just...this movie is a living, breathing stereotype of a film.

But just then, Cassia’s horse starts freaking out SO FUCKING HARD that she excuses herself from Corvus’ advances. And yeah, he does wanna marry her, and has wanted to since she met him in Rome and said no. Anyway, she gets the best horse killer she knows, Milo, and has him tame her horse’s wild nature. And despite having no proof that this’ll work (or that he won’t kill this horse just like the other one, which would be hilarious), it does indeed work.

Cassia goes in, and they share their mutual hatred of Rome together. They also get on the horse together, and burst out of the stable to ride off into the sunset. I...just...this would not only have SO MANY TERRIBLE RAMIFICATIONS, but would also be insanely unlikely due to class structure at the time. This is just...so dumb.

OK, so let’s fast-forward this bullshit, huh? They get caught, Cassia asks Corvus to spare his life, and he agrees to do so if she agrees to fuuuuuuuuck’im, and she does. Corvus makes sure he’s whipped, and then arranges it so that Milo fights first the next day, and ideally dies first. Back in her quarters, Cassia pines for Milo, and back in his quarters, Milo gets wine dumped on his back to heal his terrible looking whip-wounds. 

And as Milo and Atticus share their hatred for the Romans, the earth shakes beneath their feet, which Atticus states is a sign from the gods. And given what’s about to happen...yeah, could be. The next day, the quakes continue as the arrangements are make for Milo to die, hopefully.

God. I need a break. 

Imma rewatch that Puppet History video really quick. See you in Part II, I guess.

[ejlriolope]

Bigoted and Guilty: The World Anent Gender Equality

     The world is guilty of bigotry and notorious for being unjust regarding gender equality. Gender minorities are waging centuries worth of crusades to achieve equality in this world plagued by the poisonous patriarchal system and supremacist ideologies. Gender bias and demarcation are pervasive and entrenched in our society, as they still barricade radical grants of people’s liberty. Gender discrimination is any uneven treatment, including privilege and priority, based on gender. While Gender inequality is prejudice based on sex or gender causing specific sex or gender to be more privileged or prioritized than another (“Gender Discrimination: Inequality Starts in Childhood”). Throughout the course of history, sexism and misogyny are evident and enragedly justified, while Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity and Expression (SOGIE) are marginalized. Women back in the days did not have the right to suffrage and education, as they were blinded by the thought of their inferiority towards men. In the Philippines, it was not until April 30, 1937, when women's suffrage bill was passed. Women were abused, gaslighted, and neglected. On the other hand, homosexuality was heavily persecuted, and they were tortured into believing that their existence is an abomination of God’s natural design because of their ‘immoral acts’, they were treated with loathing and atrocity. Over 64% or two-thirds of LGBTQIA+ individuals had encountered violence or abuse (“LGBTQ+ facts and figures”). Women and the LGBTQIA+ Community were exposed to unwarranted supremacist ideologies.      Gender discrimination manifests through Economic Oppression, wherein the competency of women and LGBTQIA+ individuals were questioned. Their compensations were lower than those of males, job opportunities are bounded for them, and the worst-case scenario is that they are being abused in their workspace. This intolerance also occurs in schools, homes, and communities. They are being targeted by gender stereotypes, shaming them with twisted agendas impeding their sense of security, validity, and productivity (Santos-Lyons). Gender-based violence pertains to adverse acts targeting an individual based on their gender. It is embedded in gender inequality, the exploitation of power, and destructive standards (“Gender-based Violence”). Women and the LGBTQIA+ community are subjected to Gender-based Violence, including people from various age groups, races, and indigenous backgrounds. Statistically, 736 million or one in every three women around the globe have been coerced to intimate partner violence, non-partner sexual violence, or both at least once (“16 things you need to know about gender-based violence”). On the other hand, 26 percent of gay men, 37 percent of bisexual men, and 29 percent of straight men are raped and experienced physical violence or stalking by an intimate partner. While 46 percent of bisexual women, 17 percent of straight women, and 13 percent of lesbians have been raped (“Sexual Assault and the LGBTQ Community”). As reported by the Philippine Statistics Authority in 2017, National Demographic and Health Survey, one in four Filipino women aged 15-49 have experienced physical, emotional, or sexual violence caused by their partner (“Violence Against Women”). The statistics reports are distressing as it shows the reality of society’s treatment of gender minorities. However, it is absolutely crucial to discuss these acts of injustice to stress accountability of how these individuals were victimized. Gender discrimination exists and is not limited to women and the LGBTQIA+, as men's narratives concerning this issue are unfortunately neglected. Utmost cases are unreported or not perceived as a violation at all. Advocating the elimination of gender equality must include everyone and apply to anyone victimized by stereotypes and disparity. Still, aside from focusing on developing our country, we should also focus on these kinds of social issues because we are all involved in them. It is imperative for us to open our eyes to these human rights violations and injustices. Given that, we must stay attentive in upholding everyone’s birthrights. There have been local movements challenging these revolting acts of gender discrimination. The hashtag #HijaAko is a movement that became viral back in 2020, as Kakie Pangilinan denounced the rape tolerating and victim-blaming mindset manifested through statements of media personality, Ben Tulfo. Nonetheless, the rampant demand for gender equality education was being sustained, initiated, and supported mostly by students. Countless webinars are accomplished in response to the increasing number of people who want to become aware and hopefully help to the clamor of eradicating inequality and discrimination, specifically the shaming, stereotypes, and stigma surrounding the matter.      Consequently, Republic Act No. 9262 or The Anti-Violence against Women and their Children Act of 2004, Republic Act 11313 or the Safe Spaces Act, and the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Expression Equality Bill or the Anti-Discrimination Bill (ADB) are pivotal in promoting safe spaces and upholding human rights. Legal bases are significant to the gender rights movement as it safeguards the oppressed from exploitation and abuse as the laws ensure their welfare and future opportunities. That is why the passage of the SOGIE Bill as a recognized law is significant, as it protects not only the LGBTQIA+ Community but everyone from discrimination. The fortification of these laws denotes the grave commitment of the state to defend the interests of its citizens and actualize proper awareness condemning the stigma, victim-blaming, and shaming culture of the society and legitimately hold accountability, making the law fiercer upon serving justice. The movement regarding these issues has been overlong, abusive, and chaotic. It may sound cliché, but it is up to us whether to continue fighting against each other in the name of supremacy, or we sort out how to help people for their best interests and hold those who are accountable for committing or participating in these hateful acts. People's welfare must be prioritized in the absolute eradication of gender bias, discrimination, and inequality, striving towards the radical entitlement of people's liberty to express and be themselves and have equal opportunities ahead of them.

Bibliography “16 things you need to know about gender-based violence.” Concern Worldwide, 25 November 2021, 16 things you need to know about gender-based violence. “Gender Discrimination: Inequality Starts in Childhood.” Save the Children, https://www.savethechildren.org/us/charity-stories/how-gender-discrimination-impacts-boys-and-girls. Accessed 2 January 2022. “Gender-based Violence.” UNCHR, The UN Refugee Agency, https://www.unhcr.org/gender-based-violence.html. Accessed 29 December 2021. “LGBTQ+ facts and figures.” Stonewall, https://www.stonewall.org.uk/cy/node/24594. Accessed 25 January 2022. Santos-Lyons, Maria Aimee. Recognizing GBV & Advancing Gender Justice. WISDOM PUP. 11 December 2021. https://www.facebook.com/wisdompup/videos/1052766305571592. “Sexual Assault and the LGBTQ Community.” Human Rights Campaign, https://www.hrc.org/resources/sexual-assault-and-the-lgbt-community. Accessed 29 December 2021. “Violence Against Women.” Philippine Commission on Women, https://pcw.gov.ph/violence-against-women/. Accessed 29 December 2021.

[wolf-and-bard]

Resigned To Fate

Prompt: Memory Alteration / Gaslighting

Relationships: Guxart/Vesemir (from one of the witcher-centric cards), Lambert/Aiden (background)

Rating: M

Content Warnings: heavy angst, suicidal tendencies, grief, mild gore, self-harm allusions

Summary: In the aftermath of the betrayal of the Cat school, Vesemir has not only his own school to hold together, but also a traumatised lover to care for. In which: Vesemir is strong and Guxart is weak and they find it hard to meet in the middle.

Word Count: ~2k

@witcher-rarepair-summer-bingo​

I.

Witchers survive.

Witchers endure.

Witchers outlast.

No matter the tragedy that befalls them or how difficult the contract. When they're being persecuted and beaten, starved and denied basic human decency. There's always a way forward.

Survive. Endure. Outlast.

Those are the thoughts Vesemir clings to, each sentiment falling as a whisper from his cracked and splintered lips to puddle at his blood- and gut-soaked feet, each word accompanied by the low wheeze of his shovel penetrating dry earth.

He couldn't fight for them, has to bury them. All of them.

He doesn't cry like the pups do, they haven't yet understood.

This is no genocide. This is merely a manifestation of what has been a long time coming, a natural course of history.

Vesemir cradles that truth tight to his chest. He survives, endures, outlasts. It's his birthright, duty, privilege, honour, burden, curse, cure, calling, punishment. It's a law of nature, the first one the new recruits learn when coming to the keep.

Nothing breaks Vesemir.

II.

When the wolves all sleep, the living in bed rolls pushed together in the great hall, the dead in their forever resting places of hard-packed dirt, the new day is already sloshing over the horizon in waves of muted scarlet. Vesemir finds no beauty in that, he doesn't think he will find any beauty in and around Kaer Morhen ever again. All that was tranquil about this place has been soaked in blood and so, it seems, has the sky. He fills a pack with their sorry dinner's leftovers - stale bread, hard cheese, dried berries - foregoes the soup and the spirits. Two deerskins of water and a faded quilt blanket. It smells like cinnamon and honey, like comfort he hopes. It's not cold enough to warrant any kind of coat yet, but halfway across the courtyard, Vesemir finds himself shivering. He unpacks the blanket and wraps it around his own shoulders, then briskly walks out of the keep's enclosures, the sun a cool caress on his stained cheeks. He's never hated her more than in that moment.

III.

She follows him even into the dingy half-dark of the outpost's only bedroom. The curtains are drawn, the room lit by a single artificial torch, but Vesemir finds another echo of the red horizon in Guxart's eyes as they meet his across the few paces that separate them. Seeing him is somehow still a bit of a surprise.

Guxart doesn't look haggard and wrung-out the way Vesemir knows he himself does. In the wake of their shared misery - the imprisonment, the wait, the release to find their schools in ruin and their charges mostly dead or mutilated - Vesemir aged a century while Guxart is frozen in time, barely more than a shell of the witcher Vesemir begrudgingly fell in love with.

His salt-and-pepper hair falls in curls just below his ears and his greyed beard looks freshly groomed, obscuring the permanent tremble of his lips, pressed together to contain the creature of mourning that grows in his chest. His slitted pupils are constantly thin so that they nearly drown in the red hue of his irises. There are but two things about Guxart that have changed in their trudge through agony - in physicality that is. He is pale now - almost as pale as Vesemir, who always used to look like a wraith next to Guxart's light-brown skin - and his voice has lost all its natural thunder. A husk, yes. But not irrevocably so.

Guxart may be broken, but Vesemir is barely more than cracked and he can hold it together for the two of them.

"Ves," Guxart croaks from his perch on the bed and Vesemir doesn't pretend like this is a happy meeting. He draws the door shut behind himself and opens the curtains with a precise blast of Aard. The light that filters in is grimy still and Guxart turns his back on it. It's the only thing he can do. In an act of protection, born from love, Vesemir had to shackle Guxart's wrists and ankles, just so the other witcher wouldn't hurt himself. Last time, Vesemir was nearly too late and that is not something he will stand to experience again. It's a precarious arrangement, temporary, but Vesemir didn't know how else to help either Guxart of himself. Bringing him to the keep would have been certain death for them both.

"I brought food."

"I'm not hungry."

Vesemir puts the pack down by the window and slips out of his boots, then crawls up on the bed and drapes the quilt over both their legs. The sight of it puts his gut in a twist.

This is where he used to let go. Relax his shoulders and drop the teacher, the torturer. Just be. Guxart gave that to him and he to Guxart. Had he any imagination, he would let his head fall to the brick behind himself and close his eyes, imagine it's just another morning after a night spent tangled up in each other, relishing dawn's kiss and each other's presence.

Vesemir is exceptionally bad at self-delusion.

"Will you have water?" he asks. Guxart shakes his head, remaining in his strained position, even when Vesemir jerks his chin to the side in an invitation to sidle up to him.

Guxart, for his part, is exceptionally bad at accepting love and pain at the same time.

"I'm not thirsty."

"Fine," Vesemir replies and they look at each other. It's not a staring contest like they sometimes held across the training fields when their students were locked in combat. It's searching for some remnant of joy and coming up short.

"There's dirt under your nails," Guxart murmurs without breaking the eye contact. "You buried them."

"I did."

"Mine also?"

"They took them back to the Camp."

Vesemir can still hear the hisses of cats, wolves, and swords alike as the witchers collected the bodies of their fallen comrades to separate and honour them. Vesemir suspects that what he feels for Guxart will be the last love ever lost between the two schools.

"It's all my fault."

"Come here," Vesemir says, keeping his tone levelled, understanding. He opens his arms a fraction, a more blatant invitation.

Finally, Guxart slumps against Vesemir, a heaving dead weight. Vesemir brings his arms around Guxart and presses his face into his curls. He finds little comfort there and lots of reminders to all that he lost at the hands of Treyse and Radowit's damned mage. Guxart presses into Vesemir with all the strength his restrained body can muster. They don't fit together quite so well anymore.

"They gave me a choice," Guxart says. "They gave me a choice."

"What choice?" Vesemir asks, mouth dry. He blinks rapidly as he rubs soothing circles over Guxart's sharp shoulder blades. In a moment here, he will have to think about how to feed the other witcher against his will, a painstaking process. Why keep at it?

Because he has to.

Nothing breaks Vesemir.

"They took me away one night," Guxart continues. "When you were asleep. They took me away and told me how I was to arrange it. Their death sentence. And they gave me a choice."

"What. Choice."

"They said they would spare them. All of them, all of our beautiful pups and kittens. They said if I throttled you, they wouldn't make me act out the treaty. It's why we were put in the same cell after that first week."

No such thing happened.

Vesemir knows.

He feared for their schools during their time in Radowit's dungeons, but his mind was sharp always, awake and waiting. Even then, he knew of Guxart's tendencies to slip from reality into madness fashioned by others. A consequence of the meddled-with cat mutagens perhaps, or a personal disposition. Doesn't matter. What does is that Vesemir was awake in the cell opposite - never sharing, never touching - watching his lover pass from one fever dream into the next as they kept him drugged, whispering to him, sentiments Vesemir himself managed to deflect when the guards - or his own mind - threw them at him.

This is your fault.

You brought this upon them, mutant scum.

They will die for your sins.

Nothing. Breaks. Vesemir.

"A lie," Vesemir sighs and presses his lips to Guxart's scalp. The other witcher shudders and the worst part about this is that he knows they will have this conversation again. And again. And each time, Guxart will believe a little less.

"They were our children, Ves. They were our children and I betrayed them. Traded their life for yours. If you had been given the same choice, would you have been strong enough?"

They both know the answer to that. If it had been between Guxart and his wolves, Vesemir wouldn't have hesitated to kill his lover. But that is entirely beside the point.

"There was never such a choice and what happened is not your fault."

"But it is. My fault. I spared you. And then I went on to kill them all. Treyse, he tried to stop me once we got out, but I gave the command anyway. We could have stood together, could have flattened all Kaedwen to dust, but I was greedy. I wanted you and the reward. I wanted... I wanted..."

Nothing ever. Breaks...

"You're talking nonsense. We were only released after the massacre took place, remember? Treyse was the one to commit treason, he gave that command."

"I have to die," Guxart says numbly. He doesn't listen now and his bound hands paw at Vesemir's thighs. "I have to die. You have to kill me."

"No."

"Please, I cannot live with this pain. Knowing it was all my fault, I cannot... how can you?"

Vesemir closes his eyes. Nothing. Nothing has yet broken him.

IV.

There is no containing Guxart forever. Vesemir knows this, Guxart knows this.

He waits, tends to his lover until such a time that he feels he's coaxed Guxart away from the brink of self-destruction at least. At the end, most of what hangs between them is fatigue and resentment, indistinguishable from the scraps of nostalgic affection they yet harbour. Vesemir does not remember what it felt like to love without care. He has to let go.

"I'm sorry, Ves," Guxart says when it's time to part, a whisper over Vesemir's lips in what will likely be their last ever kiss. "I know you mean well, but I cannot believe you. I have to repent."

There is no penance for a crime uncommitted. The only forgiveness you should want for is mine once you leave me here to grief on my own. You will wander and you will weaken and you will wither. Nothing will break me like you will, the moment you fade from sight.

Vesemir bites down on these thoughts. They're silly, selfish, and he is neither.

"Take care of yourself."

Guxart nods and turns and walks away.

And Vesemir doesn't break.

V.

Decades pass.

Vesemir fixes up whatever fissures did sneak up on him, he remains whole, he moves on.

Guxart may be out there, he may not. Vesemir will never know what fate Guxart has resigned himself to and that is acceptable.

It is acceptable.

Until the day Lambert comes home, announcing that he has given and lost his heart to a young cat by name of Aiden. He howls through the night and Vesemir holds him, the way he himself needed to be held back then perhaps, and he understands that all the glue he has been applying to his own heart was a sorry fake.

Vesemir has been broken for a long, long time.

And once he accepts that, he feels the years fall off his shoulders like leaves from an old tree, preparing for another winter. Possibly its last.

[butwhatifidothis]

r/Edelgard seems to have completely turned against Claude now. But the weirdest part is that they keep calling him an imperialist, while at the same time denying Edelgard is one.

It was only a matter of time before they did honestly. While Dimitri and Edelgard more directly oppose each other ideologically, even if it’s merely stated as so by the game Claude and Edelgard are presented as being “closer aligned” in terms of ideals, and any character shown to be a potential ally to Edelgard is seen in a good light in their eyes and any character that is shown to be unable to be an ally is a villain/bad person, so he was given some leeway until recently. 

Look at how they bend themselves trying to make AM the villain route, how they sometimes completely discard Rhea’s words in favor of Edelgard’s despite the former literally being present when history was happening and the latter having Imperial Telephone tell her the totes fer reel correct version that happens to paint humanity as pure good, at how Edelgard’s treatment of Seteth and Flayn is excused and sometimes justified, at how Dimitri defending his land against an invading force that has the explicit goal of conquering them is painted in the worst possible light. It’s a consistent tendency to put down every character that could even potentially make Edelgard look bad... so Claude was never going to escape this treatment forever, since he arguably makes Edelgard look the worst. Not because of what she did to him - that trophy is being valiantly fought by Dimitri and Rhea - but because of his actions and goals and accomplishments compared to hers.

Remember Edelgard’s supposed goals, according to her stans? Claude does them, with far more peaceful results. 

“Reform the Church” - Edelgard gets rid of it entirely in the majority of her endings and has it state-sanctioned if she does allow it to stay all the while actively persecuting the faithful in the Empire during the war, Claude always has the Church around and it is stated to be going through more natural reforms under Byleth and Seteth’s guidance and like the rest of the non-CF routes gives refuge to the said persecuted faithful. 

“Unify Fodlan” - Edelgard forcefully unites Leicester and Faerghus back under Adrestia’s banner and erases their cultures while doing so, Claude unites Leicester, Faerghus, and Adrestia under a new banner (the United Kingdom of Fodlan) with no explicit mention of the erasure of the former nations (unlike “the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus and the Church of Seiros both vanished from the people’s memories” like in CF’s ending narration). 

“Reveal the truth of Fodlan’s history” - Edelgard only tells a “truth” that goes directly against everything established by the game’s foreshadowing and never looks farther into what she assumes to be true, Claude finds the actual truth and does so by asking Rhea, someone who would for sure know the truth of what happened (all while risking the chance of her blowing away his previous assumptions of what’s been happening)

“Reveal the truth of Fodlan part 2″ - Edelgard/CF has multiple instances that reveal that portions of history are being deliberately covered up (Dorothea/Edelgard endings revealing censorship, Ferdinand/Byleth endings revealing certain battles not being recorded “ History books extol Ferdinand's success as a lord of his territories, but they do not make mention of the hard-fought battles he endured alongside his wife. Thus, half of his life's work is lost to time”), no mention of such things happening in Claude/VW’s endings

“Better relations with Almyra” - this is a throwaway line in Edelgard’s story that is completely optional and easy to miss as well as never appearing in any of her endings whatsoever (as well as any mention of bettering foreign relations), this is Claude’s entire goal which he is stated and even somewhat shown to have accomplished in the course of his story

“Looking out for the weak” - Edelgard intentionally strips the weak of support by taking away most any semblance of a church and explicitly states that the weak will inevitably learn how to grow strong by themselves, Claude acknowledges the Church’s importance to the people even if he personally doesn’t like religion and explicitly believes that strength is found by relying on, opening up to, and believing in friends and close ones

“Looking out for the weak, part 2″ - Edelgard explicitly states that she is completely willing to sacrifice her men as well as the people of Fodlan as a whole in order to achieve a greater good and then goes on to endanger her people, Claude explicitly states that such methods are too bloody and goes on to go out of his way to protect the people through evacuation or by placing himself in front of them or keeping them out of the fighting entirely

“Achieving a peaceful Fodlan” - The majority of Hubert’s endings reveal the need to constantly spy on the populace and/or put down rebellions/assassination attempts, the only mention of something similar occurring in VW is putting down Imperial loyalists + TWS’ attempts to disrupt the peace

“Wanting help from others” - Edelgard never attempts to reach out a hand in friendship to anyone at any point of the game, Claude tries multiple times to do so with Dimitri and actually succeeds in doing so in AM (not to mention him giving his help to and asking for help from the Church in non-CF routes)

This is just what I can readily think of off the top of my head, but we see that Claude manages to accomplish much of what Edelstans say Edelgard wants to do with better results, and that’s not even getting into how Claude needs no “softening” from Byleth in order to be a more approachable person, how he never initiates fighting towards Faerghus (as in, not the Kingdom army but the nation itself, unlike Edelgard) and never tries to conquer it whatsoever (again, unlike Edelgard), how he keeps his word and assists in helping Rhea despite not liking or trusting her unlike how Edelgard claims to want to make peace with Rhea despite thinking that her and her kind need destruction, how Claude mourns the deaths of his friends and allies while Edelgard says nothing if any of her friends and allies die (even Hubert, someone she’s known for close to 20 years, one of the longest relationships of the academy students’ circle. she says nothing of his passing) save for Bernadetta whom she can set on fire, and, again, other things that aren’t coming to my right off the cuff. He makes her look horrible

And, well, ya know what that means. Claude’s actions can’t be actually good, because they make Edelgard, the hero of 3H, look bad, so there has to be some kind of catch everywhere. 

Claude bringing in Almyran reinforcements, with the approval of the Alliance’s most renown general, to help secure Fort Merceus in a more secure way (and is actually shown to have possibly actually helped in pulling off the ruse, seeing how SS tried the same thing without them and failed)? Him doing the same in some of his endings, where he sends Almyran forces to help settle the Imperial revolts that are happening? This is actually him trying to invade Fodlan, sending Almyran forces as a show of force and establish Almyra’s superiority over Fodlan, not him showing that Almyra wishes to help Fodlan reform so that their centuries long feud can finally begin to be properly set aside and allow for positive change to occur between the two countries.

Claude keeping the Alliance out of the war? This is actually him biding his time to strike back against both countries so that he can win the war and he only succeeds if he manages to trick Byleth and the Church (and Dimitri, in AM) into helping him, not him recognizing that the Alliance is weak even if fully united (let alone in the divided state they’re in) and wanting to keep his people as far away from the war as possible.

Claude giving the leadership of Fodlan to Byleth? This is actually him giving an ambitionless puppet rulership so that he can control Fodlan through them (even though even pre ts he doesn’t believe Byleth has no ambitions and will full on deny the belief that they don’t) and not him putting his faith in Byleth that they will be able to rule Fodlan justly

Claude showing concern over his friends’ wellbeing? This is actually him only trying to make sure his “tools” are kept up nicely, not him genuinely caring about those around him.

Claude coming across as insensitive in his Jeralt’s diary scene? This is actually proof/a hint of Claude’s true persona as a manipulative sociopath, not a genuine fuck up on his end (or, if you want to be nicer, a look into how he himself deals with traumatic events, though that’s up for interpretation so not the main point)

Claude saying that he wants to be supreme ruler of the world to Edelgard? This is actually him outright revealing his plans and showing regret that Edelgard managed to thwart him.

Oh, and we can’t forget how Claude actually wanted to wage war himself and was only stopped by Edelgard, and how he stole all of the progress Edelgard was making in changing Fodlan’s society, and how he never would have been able to do anything without Edelgard, and how him not siding with Edelgard is proof that he never wanted the best for Fodlan, and how the warmongering Almyrans would never want to make peace with Fodlan with that being more proof of Claude’s “true” ill intentions since he’d totally know that’d be the case

The second to last point being, of course, the only time you should take Claude at face value. And again, these are just the points that readily come to my mind as of right now. 

Like I said, there was no chance in hell Claude was going to stay in r/Edelgard’s good graces, given how so much of his character directly shits on Edelgard’s. Friendship ended with r/Edelgard, now Dimitri and Rhea are Claude’s best friends.

[daneesoro]

Hi! Sorry if this question is invasive but what are you're thoughts on atheism and leaving the church? I'm genuinely curious it's nice to have discussions with people about these sorts of subjects!

ayy though I still can't make sense on how everything can come from nothing, i have more respect for atheists than liberal Christians since they act accordingly to what they believe.

I mostly say harsh things towards people who claim to be Christians cause atheists are outside the body while believers are IN the body of Christ. of course I'll be rebuking you. better than to let you fall and experience a worst death than unbelievers

Christians who don't obey His commandments are better off never hearing the Gospel at all

Revelation 3:15-16

"‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth."

/believers who genuinely tasted the Lord and yet still chose to follow their own desires will have more severe punishment than those who never did.

2 Timothy 4:3-4 ESV

For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.

2 Peter 2:20-22 CJB

if they have once escaped the pollutions of the world through knowing our Lord and Deliverer, Yeshua the Messiah, and then have again become entangled and defeated by them, their latter condition has become worse than their former. It would have been better for them not to have known the Way of righteousness than, fully knowing, to turn from the holy command delivered to them. What has happened to them accords with the true proverb, "A dog returns to its own vomit." Yes, "The pig washed itself, only to wallow in the mud!"

/so many Christians get one encounter and think they're good so they never talk to Him again. then they naturally look for people or sources that will tell them what they wanna hear instead of going to Yeshua. it's dangerous and they don't even realize their hardening their hearts till its worse than before

/Now unless you mean atheists that never did have an intimate encounter with Yeshua, I don't got much to say cause its your decision. Still wish youd come to Him before you get to the point of desperation and hurt. I don't want people coming to Christ through trauma cause it gets challenging. the enemy will remind you of it to torment you. Of course Yeshua can heal anything but innocence can't be restored.

so I don't blame atheists for not wanting to follow, Christianity is harder than what people claim to be. if youre of the world, you're an enemy of God. not to say u have to be a weirdo but you will be set apart. to not go with what most of the world thinks is right. Its why were called to be followers of Christ, it means to experience the hatred and hurt He experienced.

John 15:18-19

/of course there's joy and peace, freedom from trauma, addiction, suicide etc but unless you're half in and half out, you won't experience the fulfillment Christ offers

“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.

“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.” -Matthew 5:11

being a Christian means you need to care more about people than caring about what they think of you. and laying yourself down for the sake of others, just as Yeshua the Messiah did

now for my fave verse

Matthew 16:24-26 ESV

/idrk what you meant by my thoughts on atheism, cause all I know is they don't believe in the existence of God but believe in the evolution and the big bang. I don't like debunking these things on an art blog of all places but I know multiple scientists have claimed that the arrangement of planets, how even the tiniest details are placed in a way that balances the habitability of the living things on Earth. How many mention that there is a creator (but still not choosing to use the term God)

Then Jesus told his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?

[duchessofferia]

Isn’t she just delightful?

Catherine of Aragon has one of the more fascinating media legacies of anyone in the Tudor period, not in terms of how her image has fluctuated over the years, but because of how notably it hasn’t. Other hardcore Catholics of the Henrician court are inevitably vilified in stories from Protestant perspectives - Thomas More, Cardinal Wolsey, Jane Seymour and above all else Mary I, to name a few. “Protestant perspectives” doesn’t just refer to reformation texts, it includes books from the perspective of Protestant figures; usually Anne Boleyn or Elizabeth I, and more recently Thomas Cromwell with Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall books. Despite her unwavering faith in both the Catholic Church and her own position, Catherine’s reputation has, up until the past twenty years or so, remained close to stellar; her marriage into the English monarchy at a young age did well to divorce her from her parent’s religious persecutions, and her death some fifteen years or so before her daughter took the throne kept her from being tarnished by association to Mary’s resurrection of medieval heresy laws.

As a Tudor queen, Catherine has largely gone down in history for her irreproachable conduct, even after that history began to tilt towards the side of a religion she opposed - she is known for her charity, her piety, and her belief in her husband’s good nature no matter how vile his behavior grew to be, even at the expense of her own self image. According to Chapuys (who in this case there is no reason to disbelieve) she went to her grave questioning wether Henry’s actions after their divorce was her fault, wondering wether, if she had given him what he wanted, he may not have felt the need to break from Rome, mistreat their daughter and execute two men - one a long term friend and one his own grandmother’s religious advisor. Catherine is a noble figure, she is a tragic figure, she is most of all a dignified figure, and in Tudor media she is always given at least a sympathetic nod if not a complex or three dimensional portrayal. 

The key phrase there, though, is as a Tudor queen. Whatever else she was, Catherine was decidedly not a modern woman, just like all of her female peers living five hundred years ago were decidedly not modern women; her unflinching religious beliefs, her many attempts at producing a male heir and her devotion to her marriage are admirable traits of a female noble of the sixteenth century, less so of a twenty first century wife or businesswoman. She was a product of her time, and modernized or semi modernized Tudor media’s attempts to portray her - specifically the brand of modern Tudor media that sets out to depict Anne and Henry’s relationship as one of Sexy High Romance - always end up turning Catherine into a misogynistic caricature of herself, historical legacy be damned. The blog anneboleynnovels describes it best:

“Catherine’s greatest hurdle has been not Protestant novels, but modernized ones. These are the one subgenre in which her character at best is severely degraded and at worst is completely unrecognizable. It’s not surprising that it should be like this — finding modern corollaries to Anne and Henry, whether in an office, a Hollywood mansion, or a high school, is doable. As for most of the people who surrounded them, while some some people are harder to wrench into modern poses than others, it’s relatively easy to cut and alter those characters to make them work better in a modern setting. Catherine, however, is completely lost here. She needs to exist, or else the central conflict disappears — but she simply doesn’t have a real modern equivalent, at least not in the kinds of societies that modernizers write about; her determination that God had put her in her position and that she had to safeguard her daughter’s legitimacy, and thus her inheritance, is impossible to convey fully, especially since Henry’s historical behavior — taking a presumed inheritance from Mary, forcibly separating the two women, and confining them in residences of his choosing — can’t be precisely replicated in a modern novel without making him at best a creep and at worst a criminal. In neither case would that Henry be an appealing love object for a modern Anne, so his behavior is inevitably made more standard — he’s simply a wealthy man divorcing his wife of twenty years, and instead of taking her settlement and moving on, his wife just refuses to let go.”

As the post on Catherine’s fictionalized history points out, attempts to judge her through a modern lens, particularly in stories that center around that grand, not-at-all-murderous love affair of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn inevitably fail to produce a balanced assesment. Susan Bordo’s highly modernized study the Creation of Anne Boleyn treats her like a footnote at best and a self righteous fool at worst, while the Catherine of Suzannah Dunn’s The Queen of Subtleties is disgustingly nicknamed “Fat Cath” (stupid cow, how could she let herself go like that after six pregnancies?) and features its leading lady, another ahead-of-her-time portrayal of Anne Boleyn, going out of her way to condescendingly paint Catherine to the reader as vengeful and delusional. Anne of Hollywood and Anne and Henry present the worst portrayals, one a hideous, deliberately unsympathetic drug addict and the other a teenage psychotic forced on Henry by his father, leading her poor, brow beaten boyfriend by the hand.

That’s not to say it would be impossible to write a well rounded modern Catherine of Aragon, but most modernized Tudor novels simply don’t care to try and make her well rounded; she exists solely to be the convenient road block to Anne and a whitewashed Henry’s happiness, a flat example of the Hysterical Woman trope rather than a Queen, a mother, or a politician. It isn’t Anne Boleyn’s fault that this happens (she can’t exactly object) but this version of Catherine never fails to rear its ugly head in Tudor media that aims to portray Anne, literally or figuratively, as a “woman of the future.” Since that reading of Anne has gained momentum over the years, this Catherine inevitably does so too.

What makes the Spanish Princess so unbearable is how blatantly Emma Frost is trying, and egregiously failing, to flip the script on this. Whatever her personal dislike of Anne Boleyn, she is very obviously trying to take this fictitious version of Anne Boleyn that has sprung up over the past few decades - that of the rebellious, sexy, pseudo feminist Modern Woman™ - and apply it to Catherine of Aragon, who was neither rebellious, a feminist or, after six pregnancies, five infant deaths and a battle with heart cancer, all that sexy. The intimacy and very real affection she and Henry shared in the early years of their marriage is stilted and unemotional, replaced by an absurd number of sex scenes and a very out of place “warrior kween” nickname. It isn’t enough for Catherine to organize a massive military campaign and give a speech to an assembly of soldiers while heavily pregnant, real life accomplishments of hers which have gone largely unacknowledged - no, the Catherine of the Spanish Princess needs to literally fight in battle, pregnant belly armor and all, subtly implying that her many miscarriages were the result of her own behavior, never mind the fact that Henry’s later wives had miscarriages as well. The deeply devoted friends Catherine actually had, one of whom served her for decades and risked royal punishment to be with her on her deathbed, are either erased entirely or put into invented conflicts with her. Her relationship with the only one of her children that survived infancy is perverted into a cold, uncaring motherhood, marked by disappointment and a refusal to even hold her daughter, let alone personally teach her Latin, commission scholars to write books for her, and request those same scholars take charge of her education.

In place of all these details, the things that make the historically minded audience love Catherine in the first place, several sordid aspects of Anne Boleyn’s fictional representations are assigned to Frost’s Catherine of The Upside Down: the ~unnatural~ blowjobs and poorly designed French hoods, the general air of cattiness, the excessive nudity, the hatred of her daughter, the inability to sexually please her husband, and the weird sense of anger at all the women in her life all stand out as hallmarks of Anne Boleyn’s less flattering portrayals, but so too do the clear attempts to pander to a feminist audience and sell itself as new age and progressive.

The fouler examples of Catherine as a modern woman aren’t yet the prevalent perception of her; a gaggle of misguided twenty first century books isn’t enough to erase the near spotless reputation she’s maintained for half a millennium. But the Spanish Princess fails to depict a more positive modernization of Catherine because it’s lazy in the attempt - it sees the habit of trying to turn sixteenth century queens into anything but sixteenth century queens and tries to replicate it by taking a handful of theatrical trends and having their protagonist perform them. Those trends have been apart of Anne Boleyn’s portrayal in the media for so long it wouldn’t be that strange to see her acting that way on screen, no matter how historically inaccurate they may be, but to assign them to someone with such a vastly different public history as Catherine is just jarring. She wasn’t like that, nobody thinks she was like that, Tudor media has always known her as being not like that, and the result is something that’s confusing at best and outright offensive at worst. It’s not fun to watch, but it’s interesting to examine, broader context in mind.

(Also credit to @queenmarytudor for that image of Meg and Mary, and seriously, check out anneboleynnovels. They’re great.)

[9worldstales]

MCU Loki: Why so far it had been disappointing how the series has dealt with what the TVA had been doing

Right from when the series started I carried on the belief that what the TVA was doing was horrible, a mix between a Nazi regime and a fanatical cult down to the elements of police brutality, to the extermination and persecution of people they felt different and lesser, detrimental for their own self being all out of blind faith to something they were indoctrinated into.

I was expecting a serious analysis of this from the show since Waldron seemed to be so enthusiast of the TVA as it was his creature

“The TVA is just an entirely new world [with] a new cast of characters, and that’s what felt most exciting about the show: building a new corner of the MCU.’ What if this was the best show ever?’ I think that was literally my pitch. My pitch for the show was kind of a big, crazy, fun-time adventure.”

[‘Loki’ Writer Michael Waldron On Building ‘A New Corner Of The MCU’]

References to the TVA being bad needed to wait till Ep. 3 “Lamentis 1” and where just two lines:

Sylvie: So, naturally you went to work for the boring, oppressive time police. [Ep 3]

Sylvie: It must have started when I spent my entire life running from the omniscient fascists you work for. [Ep 3]

More than focusing on how horrid the TVA is, both sentences criticize Loki for cooperating with the TVA even if he was forced into it as he couldn’t escape, cooperating with them was his only way to survive, the implication being he should have taken the hero route and die instead than accept to join forces with the TVA.

Mind you, it could have been an interesting angle to look at. How people can embrace terrible things in order to survive. After all we saw Loki cooperating with Thanos under the promise if he were to fail recovering the Tesseract death would be a preferable option than failure.

THE OTHER: You will have your war, Asgardian. If you fail, if the Tesseract is kept from us, there will be no realm, no barren moon, no crevice where he can't find you. You think you know pain? He will make you long for something as sweet as pain.

The series could have drawn parallels from both situations, either making a point one should never bent or that sometimes you can’t do anything else but bent because not everyone is born as a hero, or because you’re just waiting for a time in which you can oppose as sometimes getting heroically killed for your ideals can be also very unproductive.

But no, it’s not this series.

Loki will maintain he accepted to work with the TVA not because his other option was being killed (something that’s remarked more than once), but because he wanted to get to the Time-Keepers to steal their powers or something like that. If he’s lying to himself to cope with the situation that’s not a problem the series pose to itself as the series seem to embrace this explanation even if it made clear Loki would be reset if he didn’t cooperate.

Episode 3 also introduces the idea that people at the TVA works under a false belief. They think they were created by the Time-Keepers but in truth they are brainwashed Variants they kidnapped from their timelines.

Okay, it was another possible interesting route. Loki was a Frost Giant raised on the idea he was an Asgardian, there could be a parallel here… though one that, for the TVA, was less interesting.

The TVA members are enthusiastic believers. Most of them show no empathy toward the Variants, no pity. They belittle and humiliate them, handle them as beings with no rights, punish them for not obeying rules they didn’t know existed in the first place. Feelings rage from enjoying doing it to just doing it the way a boot steps over a ant to use a familiar metaphor.

The fact that in episode 4 B-15, after discovering the truth, will go: ‘I looked happy (in my previous life)!’ doesn’t really make me feel very sorry for her on an intellectual plan.

Yes, what the TVA did to B-15 was wrong, but what about what she did to others without a single remorse? Enjoying her work?

But, whatever, not everyone on the TVA seemed to belittle Variants, in ep 1 & 2 Mobius showed some form of pity for them, not enough it’ll stop him but enough we can think he didn’t enjoy what was being done to the Variants so knowing how he’ll react could be interesting, couldn’t it?

We reach Ep. 4 “Nexus Event”.

While we see the TVA did to a child version of Sylvie what they did to Loki and this time there isn’t any ounce of doubt that it wasn’t fun, this isn’t really used to throw shades at the TVA but to underline how Sylvie’s life was miserable.

Sylvie: I remember Asgard. Not much, but I remember. My home, my people, my life. The universe wants to break free, so it manifests chaos. Like me being born the Goddess of Mischief. And as soon as that created a big enough detour from the Sacred Timeline, the TVA showed up, erased my reality, and took me prisoner. I was just a child. I escaped. Stole a TemPad and I ran for a long, long time, which really sucked. Everywhere and every-when I went, it caused a nexus event. Sent up a smoke flare. Because I'm not supposed to exist. Until, eventually, I figured out where to hide. And so that's where I grew up, the ends of a thousand worlds. ( /Scoffs/ ) Now... that's where I'll die.

Thanks to the TVA, so it’s possible to make the connection that if Sylvie was in pain due to the TVA the TVA is a bad guy, but it’s again left vague.

In an episode that feel the need to have Loki define himself as a ‘horrible person’ and a ‘narcissist’, that calls him ‘an asshole and a bad friend’ using ‘a cockroach's survival mechanism’ when he actually says the truth and how he is a ‘conniving, craven, pathetic worm’ who should know he ‘deserve to be alone and always will be’ let’s not talk about how terrible the TVA is.

After all, according to the previous episode they’re just ‘boring, oppressive, omniscient fascists’. Nothing big.

And it’s nothing big, really.

C-20, B-15 and even Mobius, once discovering the truth are solely concerned about how the TVA lied to them, not of how they had been the TVA accomplices into wiping countless lives from existence.

Hunter B-15: I looked happy. What now?

Hunter C-20: "Calm down"? I'm a Variant. So are you. So is every single person in this place. I'm ending this.

Mobius: You know where I'd go if I could go anywhere? Wherever it is I'm really from. Yeah, wherever I had a life before the TVA came along. Maybe I had a jet ski. That's what I'd like to do. Just riding around on my jet ski.

They don’t care about what they had done with the TVA, they are okay with burning the place merely because the TVA has wronged them. But okay, maybe they need time to elaborate, to realize the implication of what they’ve done.

For C-20, who was reset, there’s no more time but…

Hunter B-15: Why am I locked in here?

Renslayer: You freed the Variant. You were disloyal to the TVA.

Hunter B-15: Disloyal?

Renslayer: Did you think you'd escape punishment for that?

Hunter B-15: Disloyal to who? You were in the Time-Keepers' chambers. They weren't real.

Renslayer: And why does that change anything?

Hunter B-15: That changes everything! The people need to know the truth.

Actually what the people need prior to that is to stop. Stop pruning other existences who’re exactly the same as their own. The biggest problem, the biggest CRIME isn’t that the TVA has done TO THEM, as, in doing so, it has at least spared their lives, it’s that they had killed countless galaxies and continue doing so.

So we move to Mobius.

I… I really don’t get what the series wants to do with Mobius. Although he wasn’t perfect, he seemed a decent guy in episode 1 & 2, one that wouldn’t enjoy hurting or scaring Variants without a reason. Yes he believed they needed to be eliminated… but didn’t enjoy doing it.

Yes, the way he ‘interrogated’ Loki in episode 1 was bad… but he believed he was doing only his work, that interrogation might have a point, some of the things he said weren’t meant to be just verbally abusive for the sake of it but were part of his ‘credo’ in which people had to follow the path of the sacred timeline and a side of him might have felt sympathy or pity for him. Although he knew it was risky he wanted to have faith in Loki.

Episode 4 tossed all that away with the worst interrogation scene possible. It contained gratuitous beating, psychological abuse/manipulation, derogatory comments, pointless questions while Mobius defined himself as Loki’s friend in the same episode. That scene has no purpose if not to beat and belittle Loki. What’s worse, when Mobius discovers the truth and goes to Loki, instead than asking him how he feels after such a beating he asks him what he’s doing… and I won’t dig into the rest of the conversation because it’s horrid.

Mobius’ ideas of apology for what he has done to his supposed friend is:

Mobius: You were right, about the TVA. You were right from the beginning. And if you wanna save her, you need to trust me. Can we do that?

Loki: Yes.

Mobius: Okay. You could be whoever, whatever you wanna be, even someone good. I mean, just in case anyone ever told you different.

It was Mobius who told him differently. Okay, he has acknowledged Loki was right and he was wrong but not that he had unfairly had him beaten for God knows how long for no reason. But okay, maybe Mobius too needed time to internalize all that, so let’s look at episode 5.

Let’s face it, no, what Mobius did to Loki won’t come up again with Loki, Sylvie will merely tell Loki (and to us) Mobius ‘isn't so bad’ and that he cares about Loki. Loki will counter Mobius isn’t so good either but that’s why he gets along with him.

I… I’m not sure what the series is trying to do at this point with Mobius, all we get about what he did with the Variants in Episode 5 is this.

Mobius: All that time, I really believed we were the good guys.

Sylvie: Annihilating entire realities, orphaning little girls, classic hero stuff.

Mobius: Well, I guess when you think the ends justify the means, there's not much you won't do. By the way, you did some annihilating too.

Sylvie: I did what I had to do.

Mobius: Yeah, so did I.

Sylvie: You hunted me like a dog.

Mobius: I'm sorry about that.

Mobius admits they weren’t the good guys, which would be great if it wasn’t for the fact the moment Sylvie points out how he was dumb at not realizing it sooner because we finally are told that the TVA is responsible for ‘Annihilating entire realities, orphaning little girls’, Mobius defends his actions!

The ends justify the means, you did some annihilating too, I did what I had to do.

Hey, news flash, no, those aren’t excuses. This is not a game about who annihilated more make penitence and anyway, if this was the case, the TVA wins. You killed countless people and now you’re complaining you aren’t a hero? That others are bad too? That you were forced to do it when you were a willing believer that refused to question things even though Loki immediately pointed out how it all was dumb?

Mobius: Odin, God of the Heavens. Asgard, mystical realm, beyond the stars. Frost Giants. Listen to yourself...

Loki: It's not the same. It's completely different. No. It's not the same.

Mobius: It's exactly the same thing. Because if you think too hard about where any of us came from, who we truly are, it sounds kinda ridiculous. Existence is chaos. Nothing makes any sense, so we try to make some sense of it. And I'm just lucky that the chaos I emerged into gave me all this... My own glorious purpose. Cause the TVA is my life. And it's real because I believe it's real.

It took Sylvie remarking he hunted her like a animal to finally get him to apologize on something… and she’s the only one he apologizes to.

We don’t hear him apologizing to the other Loki Variants and this is his new glorious purpose:

Kid Loki: Mobius, assuming you do get back to the TVA, what exactly are you getting yourself into?

Mobius: I don't know. I'd like to let people know the truth.

Again it seems the biggest deal is the TVA lied to them and took them away from their lives, not that they pruned countless others without a care.

There’s no self reflection, there’s no horror for what they had done to the other Variants who were just like them.

When Kid Loki and Classic Loki say they’ll remain there because that’s their home he doesn’t counter ‘no, this isn’t and I’m sorry we let you believe this.’ It’s Loki who worries for them, pointing out the dangers of the place. Mobius, who’s either directly responsible or connected to the one responsible for them ending there and losing their whole world, says nothing.

So his sympathy toward the Variants, his pity… was it all fake?

Doesn’t he care anymore? This is the road the story decided to go with him?

Since Mobius has gained popularity into the fandom thanks to the first 2 episodes, to Owen Wilson and to those who shipped him with Loki, let’s strip him of what really made him great, the fact he didn’t enjoy mistreating the Variants and turns him into someone who doesn’t care?

What next, is he going to become the new villain?

Damn it, this series started with a full episode questioning what Loki did in New York, pointing out how Loki’s belief ‘he would make it easy for humans’ because ‘freedom is a lie’ is an idiocy, how he was just a murderer and asking him if he enjoyed hurting people and making him say that no, he didn’t that he was bad, that he was a narcissist and yadda, yadda, yadda, then it turns out Mobius annihilated entire realities, orphaning little girls, all because freedom is a lie and we’ve all to do what the Time-Keepers decided and let’s have the guy you call friend beaten up at random for no good reason and… and that’s what we get?

That he rebels to the Time-Keepers because they had dared to lie TO HIM about not having created him?

Is the series trying to make a point about how people at the TVA can accuse Loki of not being good but they’re actually worse because they did much worse and didn’t care at all about their victims?

Is it a critic to society, that find easy to criticize someone but can’t admit they do worse? Won’t even see they’re doing worse and would resent instead for any little slight done to them?

It would be an interesting theme… the problem is it doesn’t seem to be the goal of the series as it tends to overlook the TVA, its fascist behaviour and the annihilation of civilizations at the hands of willing, albeit indoctrinated members, to focus more on how the TVA wronged solely Sylvie (her complain about her being orphaned is more about HER being orphaned than about HER PARENTS having been killed) and the TVA members.

It’s fair to see the TVA members as victims… they are… but what about the other Variants who got erased? What about how the TVA members had been complicit in said elimination, enjoying it, gratuitously mistreating and belittling Variants before eliminating them?

Is it just up to us viewers realize it because the story isn’t going to do the work for us?

I don’t know. I hope the last episode will do something to fix this.

There’s still an episode after all and maybe I’m worrying over nothing, maybe someone, Mobius preferably because I want to go back considering him a decent guy, not perfect because nobody is perfect but decent, and I don’t like what episode 4 has done with him, will regret what was done to way too many people by the ones who were working at the TVA.

I’ll be fine if they still need to internalize what they had done... but I’d like for them to be done internalizing before the series ends because otherwise it’s just skipping over the whole topic.

So... I’ll try to keep hopeful. Maybe they won’t disappoint me.