#or be given more reference points

[lover-of-mine]

So. first off - I your colour theory posts are amazing, they are the first thing I ever saw of yours and I immediately fell in love.

Secondly, I just saw your recent response re: your thoughts about 7x04 & 7x05 and am wondering if maybe things will make more sense, or at least be easier to articulate, once 7x06 is out.

Hi, first, thank you, I'm so glad you enjoy them 🩷

But, yeah, probably. Because the more data points on something the easier it will be to figure out what they mean. It was easy for me to figure out how to articulate all I wanted with my blue and green posts because the blue and green is being used since season 2, so there's a lot resolved for me to look at to figure out patterns. But this season, we are using new rules. Like, for instance, Buck being canonically bi, makes Eddie a love interest officially, so they have different rules being applied to them now. I think the show might be creating a whole new category of stuff there because we never had a proper triangle before. I have some theories, but I don't have anything to back me up on them fully yet, because this development is in the middle, so trying to write something now kinda feels like I'm trying to write a summary on a book I didn't finish reading. Everything about the season so far is telling me that Buck and Eddie are gonna get together but they need to figure out they are queer first. Or at least tell the audience that. Like, they have enough space to say that Eddie already knows he has feelings for Buck in some degree, in all degrees actually, they can argue Eddie from fully in denial to aware of something he needs to deny to fully in acceptance that he thinks Buck can't love him back, but they would still need to figure out a way to tell the audience that outside of Buck (as in not in a scene with Buck) so that the "Eddie turned gay for Buck" argument can't be used. Because I can't turn off the writer side of my brain trying to guess where this is going narratively while doing analysis like that, and I think, for instance the blue and yellow is telling me something on that, but since I don't think the show has used this combo like this before (and I hadn't had the time to fact check my current theory) I don't have a resolved plotline to use, so I'm kinda speculating on a lot more than just the pattern since this season is in the middle and we don't have the story they are trying to tell yet and I don't love going down that line alone. Like, it was fun writing about the sun within the construction on sunset theory, but I think the actual yellow/gold the keep putting around Eddie and behind Buck is being used for something more than that but I don't know how to explain why I think that.

There's also the way they are handling the blue and green thing this season, I can't tell if they proved me right and they have been completing the blue and green thing with other elements of the scene, since we had Henren in blue and green with both of them using both blue and green down to their shoes or the patterns of their clothes this last episode, we had bathena completing it with pants, we had Buck with a green coat and Eddie surrounded by blue things, even the date between Buck and Tommy, Buck usually is in solid colors, but his shirt was patterned where Tommy's was solid, or if they decided to expand this season and the shit I pointed out before are coincidences. The season being in the middle means it can turn in any direction, so I'm kinda unsure of what to say because right now I feel like I'm completely off base and that makes me not feel confident enough in what I'm saying when I try to write on 704 and 705, and if I'm not confident of what I'm saying, then how I'm supposed to convince y'all of anything? Does that make sense? Like I have more thoughts on 704 after watching 705, the same way both gave me thoughts on 701, but they still sound like gibberish to me so I know they will sound like gibberish to you, so I'm waiting and letting the thoughts simmer.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Shout out to all artists who had to work without any strong direction or instruction.

I wish you a merry “the client likes it anyways”

[lunarin64art]

That feeling when he can't stand to see you that way, no matter what you do, no matter what you say😩😭💔

[gbirrd]

6/9 - Jason Todd tarot card designs for Complete Candor by @vexfulfolly as part of the @batfam-big-bang

Read the fic here!

Other cards:

1-Babs 2-Cass 3-Bruce 4-Tim 5-Damian 6-Jason 7-Duke 8-Steph 9-Dick

Image IDs

Image 1:

A design of "The Devil" tarot card. It has the texture of recycled paper and reads "THE DEVIL". A symbol of a gravestone is visible behind the numeral "XV".

A young Jason Todd in his Robin uniform tugs at a thick chain around his neck that comes down from the top of the frame. Matching shackles are around his wrists and he is buried up to his waist in dirt. His head is tilted up towards the chain. There is blood on his hands, arms, chest, and dripping down the right side of his face as well as from his nose.

Image 2:

A design of "The Devil" tarot card. It has the texture of recycled paper and reads "THE DEVIL" upside-down. A symbol of a flame is visible behind the numeral "XV".

Jason Todd faces forward, filling most of the frame. He is in his Red Hood uniform and has narrowed pupil-less white eyes. He is holding the end of a thick chain in his right fist. Flames fill the background and bathe him in an orange light. The entire card is upside-down.

[imagoddamnonionmason]

CIA SAFE HOUSE

Jodie “Bell” Hall, MI6

52.5200 N, 13.4050 E, West Berlin

1981

Do not repost without permission!

[loracarol]

Poseidon isn't in God Games because in The Odyssey Poseidon was off in Ethiopia receiving sacrificial offerings when Athena asked Zeus to intercede on Odysseus's behalf.

But at that moment, Poseidon was among the Ethiopians, very far away, those same Ethiopians, the most remote of people, who live divided in different groups, one where Hyperion goes down, the other where he rises. Poseidon went there to receive a sacrificial offering to him— bulls and rams—and was now sitting at a banquet, enjoying himself. But other gods had gathered in the great hall of Olympian Zeus.

(source)

Which like, yeah, it would be cool to have had Poseidon in God Games, but the fact that it's canon to the Odyssey made me laugh.

But also now I'm picturing an Epic AU where everything is the same, but in Get in the Water, Poseidon is wearing a dumb little party hat and still snacking on sacrificial offerings & he's pissed because he had to leave a party early for this fuck u Odysseus.

[whollyjoly]

for some reason i can't explain i know saint peter won't call my name

nothing that lives, lives forever - an immortal soldier!alton more au

(1.1k of snippets from my old guard(ish) au where alton more is old, too old, and has been living and fighting far longer than anyone should. full description/other thoughts at the bottom. tw: blood, violence, mentions of death)

Alton clicked the lighter closed, running a thumb over the silver case. The night was warm, sticky in a way that he never could get used to. He sucked in a breath from the cheap cigarette, letting his head fall back against the rough side of the barracks.

It was quiet. Typically, there would be no end to the commotion coming from the small building, one of many that littered Camp Toccoa. The wall of sound was ever-present, no matter if it was shouting or laughing or snoring. But whatever the cause, there was always noise. 

No matter if it was a blanket of noise he knew well, unchanging except for the language and the scenery. Soldiers are soldiers, and some things are a constant. It could almost be comforting, if it didn’t also mean that the need for soldiers was a constant as well.

However, tonight was a Saturday, and it was one of the few weekends that Sobel had allowed Easy the use of their weekend passes. Almost every man in the company had jumped at the chance to get off base, to travel home if they could and spend time with loved ones. The ones with farther-flung hometowns had spirited off to Atlanta, happy to spend their time drinking and dancing and fucking instead of slogging through another run, three miles up, three miles down.

Normally, Alton would have joined them in their carousing - it was easier to pass the time with the effortless camaraderie built during a training camp than bored and alone. 

But today had been a bad day. The sound of swords and the shift of sand beneath his feet followed him out of his nightmares, the humid summer of Georgia morphing itself into the baking, dry heat of the desert. 

His shouts must have been real, because when a hand came to shake him out of his dream, the first face he saw was not that of a grouchy NCO, but of a blood-caked Saracen, eyes alight with righteous fury. 

Alton didn’t think. He had grabbed the knife from under his pillow, an old thing that had been sharpened more times than he could begin to count, and was on the man in less than a breath, pressing the blade into the side of his neck. The familiar thrum of blood beat against his fingertips, the grit of sand scratched his gums. He knew what he had to do, had done it a thousand times, a thousand thousand times, what was a little more bloodshed spilled across his feet-

Alton had blinked, and came to himself in a rush.

Instead of an unnamed Saracen, the ashen face of Johnny Martin stared up at him, eyes wide behind the knife.

Alton drew back his hand, retreating almost as quick as he had lunged earlier. He mumbled a quick curse and apology as he stepped out of arm’s reach from the man. It wasn’t until Martin’s eyes widened even farther that Alton realized his tongue was slipping out Arabic of all things.

Usually, Alton was better about remembering himself, who he was almost as important as where he was. But for whatever reason, his demons had decided to catch up with him that night.

After a quick smile and some quip about the Krauts in his dreams, he managed to wave an only-slightly-mollified Martin off. The shorter man apparently hadn’t forgotten it though, if his watchful eyes during chow that morning were anything to go by.

Alton was just glad that no one else was awake to see it, at least. That was the last thing he needed.

And so, instead of joining in on a weekend of broads and booze, Alton found himself waving away the invitation by an eager Smokey and bemused Alley. When the horde made their way out of the barracks, fantasizing in bawdy terms about their planned misadventures, he felt like he could breathe easy.

Fucking finally.

~~

Alton took another drag from the cigarette. He watched the smoke curl, up and up until it faded into nothing amongst the darkening sky.

The lighter was a welcome weight in his hand, grounding him to this time, this life.

The design was worn by now, details barely visible after a half century of worrying. It still managed to amaze him, sometimes, what people could do with the smallest of canvases. Alton didn’t feel the same wonder however, wasn’t as mesmerized by the beauty man could create as he once was.

But in the quiet moments, he could still appreciate the time some French craftsman took to transform a hunk of metal into a small token carried around by a dead man.

Luz had spied the lighter one weekend, and laughed at him for using something so old-fashioned. Alton just shrugged, not caring to admit that he was still getting used to having a light at his fingertips. It wasn’t all that long ago when he was still lighting a pipe with a flintlock pistol, and not so long before that when he would carry around a flint and steel.

Time was passing all the more quickly these days, technologies changing and advancing, and everyone was obsessed with needing things to be quicker, cheaper, simpler. Alton scoffed. He could hardly find it in him to care.

He glanced down at the lighter in his hand, shifting it back and forth in a practiced motion and watched as the light skittered across the sides. 

It had shown flowers, once. A veritable garden of carnations, daffodils, and lilies of the valley, with leaves spilling across the front panel onto the back. They represent good fortune, he was told. Good fortune, luck, and hope. 

When the merchant described it to him, eyes ablaze with a passion known only to those with wares to sell, Alton didn’t try to hide the snort that escaped his throat. 

Fortune and Luck had abandoned him long ago, and hadn’t returned since waking up in a battlefield abandoned by all but the dead, sword in his chest and blood in his mouth. 

And what the fuck was Alton supposed to do with hope?

It was the quote on the back that had caught his eye, all those years ago in a street market in Reims. The beveled edges had faded with time, the familiar letters Alton traced were more memory by now than any physical mark. Une vie honorable est une vie éternelle.

An honorable life is an eternal life.

Alton couldn’t help but stare at the message, both then and now. He hated that goddamn word. Immortal. Unending. Eternal. 

They were such flowery words, used by people who craved what they couldn’t have, what they shouldn’t. The romanticized idea of the everlasting, the fountain of youth, the gift of life! Alton was sick of it.

This wasn’t life. He was a fucking dead man walking. And he sure as hell didn’t do anything honorable to deserve it.

months ago, while thinking about the absolute insanity of the almost...cavalier? attitude we see alton more have over the course of the series, an idea hit my brain: what if there was a reason nothing seemed to phase him - not panzers, not being a breath away from a car wreck, not bastogne, not speirs? what if this wasn't his first war? that thought spiraled me into a minor insanity that is this: my immortal soldier!alton more au, loosely inspired by the movie the old guard (2020). the idea is that, once upon a time, there was a soldier in a land many centuries ago. one day, he died in battle. and then, he woke up. and then he died. and then he woke up. over, and over. drawn to countless battles, conflicts, and wars, each one etching itself into the core of his soul. a never-ending cycle...until one sweltering summer, where he found himself at a training camp at the foot of a mountain. anyways. at some point, i plan on writing this as a full story, but that is admittedly a long ways away. however, in celebration of alton more's birthday today, i wanted to post my favorite scene that i've written for this au! it's set sometime at the beginning of the story, in the early days of camp toccoa. mostly, it's just a character study of this version of alton more. hope you enjoyed! and of course - happy birthday alton more!

(song insp.)

taglist: @sweetxvanixlla @coco-bean-1218 @bucky32557038ww2 @georgieluz @samwinchesterslostshoe @xxluckystrike @next-autopsy @ronald-speirs @land-sh @ronsparky @panzershrike-pretz @theredrenard @kyellin

[timelyquantums]

methinks if you hc argenti as tribios' father you should be boiled....

[pynkhues]

I apologize to reach out to you from a side blog I am just not comfortable to do it from my main. I agree with everything you have said so far about louis except the part about how armand is a trophy spouse but that’s a topic for another time.

I think interview with the vampire fans are being incredibly unfair to label any fans of the show who have a different read on louis’s character as antiblack. I agree wholeheartedly that nonblack people especially white people have an innate antiblackness because antiblackness is global and exists in nearly every culture. However there are nonblack people who are dedicated to knowing their place and comforting their antiblackness and are very aware of the antiblack tropes that are often used for black characters in media. However I don’t believe you to be antiblack or any other interview with the vampire fan who has a not-fem read on louis as antiblack either. I have a lot of black friends in the fandom who agree louis is androgynous at best but he is not feminine and neither is he hyper-masculine. He likes being a man and he is attracted to masculinity as a concept and performs it himself just like the other men on the show. There is no canonical confirmation or even clues that louis is gender non conforming or that louis wants to be feminine. This is to say that does not at all mean he is hypermasculine or a dominant sex fiend- he truly is not hypermasculine. I think fans who want everyone to only have a specific fem reading of louis and try to beat everyone else into submission by accusations of antiblackness are doing a lot of damage to this fandom and the well meaning people in it. I have come here from the hamilton fandom and these types of accusations were very normal there and the hamilton fandom for a long time was made fun of by the entire internet for its endless in-fighting over characters and I think iwtv as a fandom is headed for the same fate. It is very saddening and very heartbreaking to see people who have not displayed any abuse apologia like you be accused of abuse apologia and racism. I think louis’s masculine personality makes perfect sense for the time he existed in. During Jim Crow black men were seen as ‘less masculine’ by white men just because they were black. The fandom argues that not viewing Louis as feminine is antiblack but stripping away his masculinity in the time period of Jim Crow is also anti black that is how black men were emasculated by white men back then. It makes sense that louis as a black man in the 1910s and beyond would perform masculinity-not hyper masculinity- because white supremacists took away masculinity from black men to dehumanize them and take away their social power. I believe it’s much more antiblack to ignore the historical time period Louis lives in so you can force a feminine reading on him because that is what aligns with your fetish. A lot of interview with the vampire fans are ‘fujoshis’ who have previously consumed boys love media in which often the ‘bottom’ is feminized because these stories are written by women who aim to feminize the bottom because they either view bottoming as inherently a feminine thing -which is not a progressive social view but a rather conservative one- which is why boys love written by gay men do not fall into these tropes. This of course is not the case for all boys love media but it is a present trope. I wish for iwtv fans to not use inflammatory language to control people who utter a different view of Louis. It is very dangerous to try to beat everyone who views Louis differently-and not in a racist way either- into submission by accusing them of racism when they prove to be well educated on racial matters like you have. I want everyone especially that user who replied to you calling you a white supremacist to know that you are being dishonest with your intentions. You are just angry people are able to see Louis as the actual version he is on screen and not as the fanonized version. Please stop this latent form of violence and abuse which is accusing everyone of being racist and please look inwards yourself as to why you wish to control how other people think of Louis especially people who are not racist and do not box Louis into racist tropes and readings. Please stop this harassment

Thank you for sharing your thoughts, these were both really insightful and interesting reads, and I really appreciate you taking the time to send them.

[longagoitwastuesday]

I actually like the last chapter. I think the ideas are very good. I have my qualms on how some things were managed, as I always do, but I think shonen authors get tangled in the expectations of a shonen to the point it jeopardises their writing, often even when they're not lacking in skills

[scarletjudgement]

HxH and HTTP Status Codes

The HTTP 403, 404, and 405 references in the Hunter Exam (as foreshadowing or character-summaries) is so sickening, but at the same time it's hard to deny that Togashi probably was referencing them, considering that the manga came out in 1998 while HTTP codes were a thing since 1992-1993 (and he spent a whole page explaining what the internet and computers were). It could definitely be a coincidence, but the definitions of what 403, 404, and 405 end up meaning is something we see as the stories have progressed.

For context, these are the Error Codes, and as the reader I think you may already guess and connect the dots on why I find the correlations so intriguing:

403 Forbidden: Leorio

The request contained valid data and was understood by the server, but the server is refusing action. (Wikipedia) The client does not have access rights to the content; that is, it is unauthorized, so the server is refusing to give the requested resource. Unlike 401 Unauthorized, the client's identity is known to the server... re-authenticating makes no difference. The access is tied to the application logic, such as insufficient rights to a resource. (Mozilla)

404 Not Found: Kurapika (We all know this)

The requested resource could not be found but may be available in the future. Subsequent requests by the client are permissible. (Wikipedia) A 404 status code only indicates that the resource is missing: not whether the absence is temporary or permanent. If a resource is permanently removed, use the 410 (Gone) status instead. (Mozilla)

405 Method Not Allowed: Gon (Though I think the name of the error can speak for itself)

The request method is known by the server but is not supported by the target resource. (Mozilla) A request method is not supported for the requested resource. (Wikipedia)

Further thoughts:

While it's possible that this can definitely be a stretch or a coincidence, it sure is an interesting way to look at it. And even if Togashi did not intend for these to connect, it makes me even more interested to continue reading HxH to see how long they'll connect until they're no longer applicable.

404 interests me because of "temporary unavailable" and "it may be available again in the future", so I wonder if that's applicable not only to Kurapika himself but to the Kurta Clan as well, considering we're entering the Dark Continent and I've already seen a theory on the Kurta Clan originating from the DC one way or another (reddit links)

Think of these as an allegory or metaphor

Mozilla page on HTTP Response Status Codes / Wikipedia page on HTTP Status Codes

[screambirdscreaming]

The thing about programming is that there's a level on which it feels like total wizard shit, like you're grappling with concepts directly on an abstract plane, splitting them apart and restructuring them into more elegant and fundamental forms, limited only by your own comprehension which you can practically feel expanding as you synthesize constructs and destroy them and remake them

But it is also, simultaneously, one hundred percent pedantic bullshit all the way down.

[garygoldenbignaturals]

fuck if you click the jaden link on my pinned (it's just search results if you look up her name) she really is being flanderized at the moment. by me. she's not defined by violence i promise she has depths trust me......

[moonsmaxxing]

old kingdom nightwing politics were so unserious because what do you mean you’re removing another tribe’s constellations from the star charts as a symbolic gesture against their government you wouldn’t even put most of them on the main charts in the first place. you’re removing, like, two constellations over your own inability to maintain a trade relationship, and reprinting all these reference scrolls that nobody but five of the most annoying nightwings you know will ever switch to unless they truly must because they’re missing fucking constellations? that you’ll have to quietly add back in a few years anyways?

[fayevalcntine]

Since I already pissed off enough people, I would also like to add that using Anne Rice's reason for writing Interview With The Vampire as a way to process her grief over her deceased daughter isn't a solid argument to make for even book!Louis' position as a mother when within the book itself, Louis highlights having had romantic feelings for Claudia. The book specifies them kissing on the lips multiple times, some very weird descriptions whenever they both hold each other near, and even Louis repeatedly lamenting on whether or not Claudia is his child given his own complicated feelings towards her in the second half of the book. Louis' feelings for Claudia never start off or develop as maternal, either. He's honest in saying how he and Lestat treated her like a doll to dress up and play with for their own entertainment.

Interview With The Vampire is a Gothic novel, with all the weirdness that comes with it. The show itself takes to blurring the lines between Claudia, Louis and Lestat: Claudia insists on being referred to as their sister once she matures mentally past her young age, despite the other two still having a responsibility to her as her parents and failing at that. Louis refers to Lestat as "the father" and he and Claudia as his children. Louis and Claudia have practically no boundaries with each other despite being parent and child. Louis enters her mind and talks to her repeatedly despite never asking for permission to even do that, to the point where Claudia has to block him out. Claudia listens in on him and Lestat having sex. In the early years when she was with them it's even hinted at her having slept in the same room with them for several years before getting her own room, despite the two being so comfortable to sneak into each other's coffins and canoodle while Claudia listens in on them.

[dogsliampaynedoesntinstagram]

The idea that people are responsible for the oppression of the state is an incredibly regressive one - that actively corrodes solidarity and increases state power. /

I understand that you were asked specifically for your thoughts on the particular twitter thread that anon shared, and that thread didn't make the point I'd like to share, but I do think it's a related, if maybe more nuanced point. I understand (and agree) that people aren't responsible for the oppression of the state, even if they oppose state repression in annoying dickhead ways. But I think there's a difference between holding someone responsible for the oppression of the state, and holding someone responsible for failing to engage with and listen to a marginalized community and then taking an action that, even if done with the best of intentions, harms that community (even if that harm comes in the form of increased state oppression). And i think that's especially true when the person is an outsider and not a part of the community in question (the white British man in Malaysia of it all doesn't help, nor does the fact that in his speech at the show he conflated being religious with being bigoted). It's my biggest problem with Matty Healy's brand of public politics, that he doesn't seem to actually listen to communities he's supposedly advocating for (especially when those communities are communities of color), and I think that failure to listen and respect does more harm to solidarity than people criticizing him on the internet.

I've thought about this anon for quite a few days - and I don't think there's a meaningful distinction - and that what you suggest is still holding people responsible for state repression. I'll explain why and then talk about some other random thoughts.

The first is that it's not possible to engage and listen with a community. A community is not a single entity talking with one voice. I was once involved in a solidarity campaign in Wellington, where there were two families of people from the place we were organising in solidarity with. They hated each other - they disagreed about everything. Sometimes it's a useful fiction that it's possible to engage with and listen to a community (in practice what that means is engaging and listening to formal and informal structures within the community or listening to individuals - or both). But it's also incredibly flattening and doesn't allow space for reality or complexity.

It would be possible for an act to have listened to queer Malaysians and still kiss on stage. Of course there's a wide range of views on queer politics in Malaysia - why wouldn't there be? (There's always been a wide range of views on queer politics everywhere else).

I think to make the idea that you're putting forward make sense, then you would have to be much more specific about what obligations people have. In this particular case (and I suspect more generally) it would very soon become clear that people could still fulfill those obligations and make out on stage.

And you are still blaming people for state repression. You're still saying that people are responsible for the actions of the state. And my politics involves holding an incredibly hard line that they're not.

*******

Another problem with this framing is that it's based on a reading of Matty's intentions that there's very little evidence for. This all hinges on an intention to advocate on behalf of another group of people. I don't think that's how he presented it. If I was asked to summarise, from what Matty said, why him and Ross made out - I'd say it was because Matty Healy was angry.

What if Ross and Matty kissed because Matty was angry - not as an act of solidarity?

*******

I also think the wider context is important. I think some of the criticisms only introduce the power dynamics of the situation when Matty Healy and Ross MacDonald kiss and disrupt the situation - even though those power dynamics always existed.

The reason that the promoter had brought them to Malaysia to play this festival was because they were a western band. They were there because of the long history of empire. They were there because of the global power dynamics. The promoter was trying to make money from that dynamic. To say that this only matters, because they were disruptive - is to I think normalise everything else that was going on.

I am influenced here, by my oft stated belief that artists only have an obligation to avoid playing in a country with a terrible government, if there has been a specific call for a boycott by an organised resistance movement.

BI'm not comfortable saying that it's OK to go and make money in a country with homophobic laws, unless you make a political statement. Or even worse - as long as you don't make out with people.

*******

The other thing I think about a lot is the context I'm writing in - as part of the One Direction fandom. We've watched Harry wave rainbow flags around the world. He's raised a rainbow flag in a country where male homosexuality was illegal. He's raised trans flags in states where terrifying attacks were made on Trans people. I don't think there's any reason to think that he ever talked to anyone locally. In the 8 years I've been here nobody has ever suggested that he should. And I really struggle to come up with a good reason why they would be different.

And I just can't emphasise enough how much I think that saying it's OK to wave a rainbow flag, but not for two men to make out, is not queer politics that I can get on board with.

*******

As is maybe clear from what I've said so far - I've realised that one of the reasons I've been uneasy with the response to what Ross and Matty did is that it fundamentally involves policing the fact that two men have kissed on stage. And I think it's impossible to do that without it being a homophobic act.

I think a discussion that I could engage with would question the political meaning of Ross and Matty making out, not the legitimacy of Ross and Matty making out.

Because a pretty fundamental belief of mine is that men who consent get to make out with each other for pretty much any reason at all, no reasons, bad reasons, and anyone who questions the legitimacy of two men making out is building a more homophobic world.