#or the intentionally is intentionally made in bad-faith

[shikai-the-storyteller]

Every time the topic of Vegetta and marriage comes up I am forced to see misinformation or even flat out lies about Vegetta's past wedding experience and his relationship with Rubius and I just

[bearofohu]

sorry for doing this again but how are ppl seriously claiming that rin and haru werent written with the subtext of having any romantic tension……… what the fuck do you think the association with sakura trees means in japan???? the power of friendship??? commodore between men?? it means gay sex fall in love. like come the fuck on

[kismetconstellations]

Takashi Shirogane is and always was a gay man. If you can't accept that, you're probably homophobic.

[alienscumbag]

How to explain to ppl that jokes are the foundations to a lot of bigotry... Like you let ppl you don't know start laughing at jokes poking fun at groups they aren't in and that's where they start to get comfortable with being bigoted and then using "it was just a joke" as a defense

[eeldritchblast]

Some misc. Wyll facts I collected while browsing his dialogue files like a madman

If Wyll dies and you ask his corpse what is ultimate goal is, his response is "Freedom from Mizora".

Wyll's mother died when he was born. Growing up, he was so close with his father that he never felt like he needed anyone else, but as an adult, he's questioned what it might have been like had she lived.

Wyll does not consider himself a man of faith - in fact, he resents "the so-called good gods for tolerating the curelty of the evil" - but rather believes "the faith that matters is that which you hold in yourself, in the ones that most matter to you."

More than one devnote reveals Wyll intentionally tries to downplay his emotions. Example: "Not too sad outwardly even though he is."

Wyll's father trained him how to use a rapier, sword, and bow.

Wyll uses "a light spritz from a vial of jasmine dust" as perfume.

Wyll considered dukes to be hypocritcal for their diplomacy with bad people.

When Wyll was a young boy, he was smitten by Stelmane.

When Wyll was eight, he snuck into the Counting House to see if the rumours of mythical treasure it held were true. The guard spotted him and took him straight back to his father.

When Wyll was fourteen, he had his first alcoholic beverage, and got so tipsy from wine that he puked in Dillard Portyr's bushes.

Wyll had his first kiss in The Blushing Mermaid when he was fifteen.

Wyll claims he's spent some time in the Underdark in his adventures as the Blade.

Wyll says he's killed a vampire-spawn before, when Player!Astarion confesses he's one himself.

Wyll claims his toughest kill was a minotaur, and one of his scars is from the battle.

Seven years prior to the game, he made his pact with Mizora to defeat the Cult of the Dragon, and was disowned and exiled from Baldur's Gate by his father. He was seventeen at the time.

Five years prior to the game, he took on the mantle of the Blade of Frontiers, after rescuing a child from a band of goblin attackers near the Cloakwood.

Karlach calls Wyll her best friend.

[w2sology]

DOING THE PRANK WHERE U PRETEND TO GET SOMETHING FROM THE BACK OF THE CAR BUT INTENTIONALLY SMACK YOUR S/O WITH HARRY PLEASE!!!!! would love if u included the comments at the end

cut it out, harry lewis.

summary: harry's been a bit sick of you hopping on tiktok trends, but this one leaves him a little more than baffled.

warnings: none

notes: this trend had me giggling so bad omg 😭😭😭 guys it's been ages (like a month but still) since i last wrote something writer's block was KILLING ME 😀 feel free to send in some prompts or reqs <3

harry had told you to get ready in the next half an hour, that you'd be going on a little date in central london. well, he didn't tell you, rather he sprung the idea up on you after you complained about being bored for the last two days.

it took a lot more than he thought it would've to convince you to leave the house, with harry going as far as telling you that he'd drive. that's how you knew he was being serious.

so as he was getting ready after you, you scrolled through the obsession of your life that was tiktok, laughing every so often and sending some to your friends who had yet to respond to the others that you sent.

stopping on one video that you couldn't stop giggling at, a thought formed in your mind. the tiktok was of a girl who wouldn't stop "accidentally" hotting her boyfriend whilst trying to get things out of the backseat of the car.

it had been ages since you last pulled a joke on harry, yet only the other day he pulled one on you with the help of the boys.

"are you ready yet or are you still laughing at your phone?" harry came back into the bedroom, pulling his navy blue nike hoodie over his shirt.

"i am ready, in fact," you got up, tiptoeing to gently grab a hold of his face, pressing your lips to his. "and the things on my phone will always be funnier than you."

"good joke," he smiled a false smile at you, squeezing your waist before grabbing the keys off of the dresser.

"i still can't believe you're driving. wait, pose with the keys, let me get a photo for your mum."

"don't get too used to this..."

harry walked out before you to put his shoes on, but seeing as you already had yours on, you asked him to unlock the car for you. to him, it seemed you were just eager to leave but really, you had to make sure that there were items in the backseat.

placing one of your tote bags in there, you evenly spread out one of the jellycats that you left in your car and another bag full of spare things. putting the camera at an angle that was able to capture both you and harry, you smiled giddily. soon enough, harry joined you in the driver's side, about to start the car.

"wait!" you called out. "i think i forgot something in the back."

"can't you get it whilst i drive? it's not me you forgot, right?"

"ha ha ha," you rolled your eyes. "no, i might rip it apart by accident."

harry shook his head, nonetheless not starting the car before he looked dead into your camera. he did wonder why you were recording, yet he never actually brought it up.

messing about in the back, deciding which item to use first, you decided on the jellycat.

it was an octopus, one that faith had got you from a trip in florida that she and ethan went to.

"here she is!" you smiled, pulling the jellycat back and purposely hitting it into harry. you did it gently, but not too gentle to the point where he didn't get irritated.

jumping as it made contact with his arm, harry frowned. "ow?" he said, looking at you, but you were too busy dusting off the jellycat.

"hm, actually no." you turned back around to put the stuffed animal back, this time reaching for the tote bag.

luckily, it didn't have anything too sharp in it, so you wouldn't actually hurt harry.

again, you pulled it back with enough force this time slightly jolt harry out of his relaxed position. "are you alright?" he asked, blinking at you.

"huh? what d'you mean?"

"you've just... full on wacked that into me?" he said, more so asked, in shock.

"did i?

"yes?!" you could've sworn you saw his eye twitch, having to restrain your laugh.

"oh," was all you mustered out, looking into the bag as if you actually needed something from it.

harry shook his head, running a hand through his hair as he waited for you to finish. "can we go now?"

"un, not yet actually," and you turned again to the backseat, this time grabbing the last bag.

pulling it back again, it hit harry in his arm, but this time he grabbed the bag from you, tossing it back in the backseat.

"harry! i needed that," you gasped, again to hide your laugh.

"no you didn't, y/n, unless you were using it to target me again" he mimicked your whiny voice.

you didn't know what had you more speechless, the mimicking or his reaction to your silly little prank.

"i wasn't targeting you..."

harry turned to you, giving you the most dead straight look ever. "cut it out, you hit me in the arm three times."

"maybe you were just too close to me."

"i— what?!"

you both stared at each other; harry with a look of shock and slight irritation and you with a serious look that you couldn't quite hold, bursting out in laughter soon after.

"oh my god!" you managed to say in between laughs. "you should see your face!"

"right, let it out. it's not that funny," harry shook his head at your state.

you leaned forward to grab your phone from where you left it, rewinding the last part where harry three the bag in the back. "oh, this is gold."

"you're a right wind up, you know that?" harry said, refusing to give you the satisfaction of know your trick worked on him.

"oh, i know," you smiled at him. "but you live me regardless."

"unfortunately."

"hey," you pushed a hand in his face, instantly groaning when you felt his tongue poke the same hand. "god, just drive."

[blanketforcas]

🚩Cult and cultlike/toxic behavior: red flags in fandom 🚩

A non-exhaustive list inspired by my 10+ years of experience in fandom, both personal and second-hand. By sharing this, I hope to make other people more aware and able to protect themselves in the future. No fandom space or friend group is worth your mental health.

They claim they have secret information and use that to lure you in

They might either lovebomb you at first or make you (feel like you have to) prove your worth

The leader(s) of the group might not feel super approachable, at least not without fear of saying the wrong thing

They seem to create or point out a divide in fandom you’d never noticed before. Likely this divide isn’t actually there in wider fandom, or the need for it is wholly unnecessary.

They create an us vs them (outsiders) situation. Their group has the most knowledge and expertise, if others critique them it’s simply cause they must’ve heard false rumors. They are always the ones who are “misunderstood”.

Questioning statements from leaders/people with high regard in the group, is not without risk. You can get dogpiled, your intelligence put into question and gaslit about your own words and feelings.

You see discussions happen and get more heated, and at the end of that discussion the person on the receiving end of the things mentioned above ^ starts apologizing profusely and/or believes they are indeed stupid. However, if this person does keep defending their stance, they might get bullied or kicked out of the server/group chat

Too much emphasis on Being Right/having the correct take or theory – it may seem it has a higher priority than empathy and tactful communication

You need to have an opinion (their opinion), because silence equals condoning or agreeing with the “other side”

Bad-faith interpretations of posts/statements from someone considered part of the "out-group". You feel in your gut that something is off and they're misrepresenting it, but you find yourself wanting to agree anyway cause it fits the narrative the group subscribes to and going against that is generally not welcomed.

Everything is a moral issue. When everything is made out to be a high-stakes issue or reflective of everyone as a person, it's easier for the leader(s) to manipulate you.

You find yourself excusing people’s behavior because you agree with their point. The way they bring their argument forward and the tone they use, become subordinate to finding out the truthTM

There is such a thing as The TruthTM in every theory, discussion or analysis

If you don't Get It, it's cause you haven't "worked on yourself enough". Or it's cause you're not trying hard enough, or you haven't done enough reading, or you have blind spots only they can see.

There is a lot of conspiratorial thinking – maybe actors are trying to send us secret messages, maybe there is a Whole Lot You Don’t Know But We Do, Trust Us, maybe this or that person in fandom has tried to attack us and are planning a bigger attack,…

You barely/don’t have fandom friends outside of this group and if you do, you tend to intentionally (whether subconsciously or not) hide your experience from them. They wouldn’t understand the way they talk, they wouldn’t understand the way it works etc

They want to know a lot of your personal information. - might only happen once you get into higher ranks

You might get (more and more) specific “tasks”, it starts becoming a part-time job instead of a hobby/fun space to hang out with friends

Of course, these red flags are not always immediately visible let alone advertised when you join a group chat/discord server/twitter or tumblr bubble. They can also be nonexistent at first and show up later. Here are some general ways to stay vigilant:

Periodically check in with your values, if they might be changing & how you feel about that.

Keep an eye on the way people (and yourself) are being treated. Is it kind? Is it fair? Do you feel on edge all the time when you’re having conversations? Is your body more tense when you’re in this online space or when certain people are around? Be honest with yourself here.

Ask yourself: Is this space becoming my only coping mechanism? Am I spending too much time here? There’s no shame in spending a lot of time on things you enjoy, but do check in with yourself sometimes whether you are actually still having fun and if you are taking things too seriously or parasocialising a lot.

There's a lot of fun to be had in fandom and a lot of good that comes out of it - don't forget that. Keep seeking that. It's why we're here!

[vehiculartheyslaughter]

I have made multiple valid points that you are refusing to engage with because you have no counter arguments.

Also multiple paragraphs are better than big walls of text because they are easier for people with ADHD to read through.

Many people in the community really insist on conflating gender identity and gender class to present transmascs as privileged and part of the oppressor male class. This male positioning is then used to further distort, minimize our experiences and often even deny the misogyny we continue to face after transition. They say that trans men are men, not only in terms of gender identity, but also in terms of gender class, essentially they say that society perceives trans men as men, which is an insane thing to believe.

They advance the logic that identifying as a male places you in the male class, which gives you access to male privilege and power. Of course, the patriarchal class system doesn't work that way; patriarchy doesn't respect the gender identities of trans people. But unfortunately, many trans men fall for this and start to believe that they belong to the male class and have power over women, which isn't true at all and it's a harmful narrative.. That's why it's so important to distinguish between being a male in terms of gender identity and being a male in terms of gender class.

Trans men are men in terms of the former (gender identity) but not in terms of latter (gender class); in the latter case they are either women ("women who want to be men") or a third gender class.

[bowtiepastabitch]

Heaven's Not Homophobic in Good Omens, and Why That's Important

I need to preface this with, I am not trying to start a fight or argument and won't tolerate any homophobic or bad faith arguments in response to this. Cool? Cool.

This is in large part inspired by this ask from Neil's blog, which sparked some discourse that I don't want to get involved in but that brought up some analytic questions for me.

He goes on to reblog a question asking about Uriel's taunt specifically, clarifying that "boyfriend in the dark glasses" can just as easily be read/translated from angelic as girlfriend or bosom buddy. The idea is that an angel and a demon "fraternizing" is seriously looked down upon, not that heaven is homophobic. And that's super important.

We see homophobia in both the book and show, of course. Aziraphale is very queer-coded, intentionally and explicitly so, and we see the reaction of other humans to that several times. Sergeant Shadwell, for example, and the kid in the book that calls him the f-slur when he's doing magic at Warlock's birthday party. These are, however, individual human reactions to his coding as a gay man.

I am, personally, not a fan of heaven redemption theories for the show; no hate for people who want that it's just not something I'm interested in. I don't believe that heaven is good with bad leadership, or that God Herself remains as a paragon of virtue. To me, that's not in line with the themes and messages of the show. It's important, however, that heaven doesn't reflect human vices. Heaven can be nasty and selfish and apathetic in its own right without ableism, homophobia, transphobia, or racism. This matters for two reasons.

Firstly, we don't need the -isms and -phobias to be evil or at least ethically impure. In a world where we spend so much time fighting against prejudice and bigotry, our impulse is to see that reflected in characters whose motivations we distrust or who we're intended to dislike. While it's true that that's often the big bad evil in our daily lives, it can really cheapen the malice in fictional evil from a storytelling standpoint. A villain motivated by racism or as an allegory for homophobia can be incredibly compelling, but not every bad guy can be the physical representation of an -ism. Art reflects the reality in which it's crafted, but the complexity of human nature and the evil it's capable of can't be simplified to a dni list.

Secondly, and I think more importantly, is that for Good Omens specifically, this places the responsibility for homophobia on humanity. If you're in this fandom, there's like a 98% chance you've been hurt by religion in some way. For a lot of us, that includes religious homophobia and hate, so it makes sense to want to project that onto the 'religious' structure of Good Omens. It's a story that is, in many ways, about religious trauma and abuse. However, if heaven itself held homophobic values, it would canonize in-universe the idea that heaven and religion itself are responsible for all humanity's -isms and -phobias and absolve humans of any responsibility. Much like Crowley emphasizes repeatedly that the wicked cruelty he takes responsibility for is entirely human-made, we have to accept that heaven can't take the blame for this. To make heaven, the religious authority, homophobic would simply justify religious bigotry from humans. By taking the blame for religious extremism and hatred away from heaven and the religious structure, Good Omens makes it clear that the nastiness of humanity is uniquely and specially human and forces the individual to take responsibility rather than the system. Hell isn't responsible for the Spanish Inquisition, which by the way was religiously motivated if you didn't know, and heaven isn't responsible for Ronald Reagan.

This idea is perhaps more strongly and explicitly expressed in the Good Omens novel, in the scene where Aziraphale briefly possesses a televangelist on live TV. It's comedic, yes, but also serves to demonstrate that human concepts of the apocalypse and religious fervor are deeply incorrect (in gomens universe canon) and condemn exploitation of faith practices. Pratchett and Gaiman weave a great deal of complexity into the way religion and religious values are portrayed in the book, especially in the emphasis on heaven and hell being essentially the same. They're interested in the concept of what it means to be uniquely and unabashedly human, the good and the bad, and part of that is forcing each individual person to bear the brunt of responsibility for their own actions rather than passing it off onto a greater religious authority.

Additionally, from a fan perspective, there's something refreshing about a very queer story where homophobia isn't the primary (or even a side) conflict. The primary narrative of Good Omens isn't that these two man-shaped-beings are gay, it's that they're an angel and a demon. The tension in their romantic arc arises entirely from the larger conflict of heaven and hell, and things like gender and sexuality don't really matter at all. Yes, homophobia and transphobia are very real, present issues in our everyday lives, but they don't have to be central to every story we tell. There's something really soothing about Crowley and Aziraphale being so queer-coded and so clearly enamored with each other without constantly being bombarded with homophobia and hate. It's incredible to see a disabled angel whose use of a mobility aid makes no difference in their role and to see angels and demons using they/them pronouns without being questioned or misgendered. It's all accepted and normalized, and that's the kind of representation that we as queer people deserve.

[sleeplesssmoll]

New idea: Sonetto's bizzare strength was one of the reasons SPDM paired her with Vertin.

The Foundation didn't care if the black sheep was broken by their ace. Everything would be pinned on Vertin if an incident happened.

Why were Sonetto and Vertin assigned as each other's desk mates? It could have been random, but I like to think the Foundation has a system.

I had a few ideas I like to play with.

My favorite being that they had a synergy. Sonetto's mastery of arcanum and Vertin's advanced perception complimented each other well.

The other possibility was SPDM hoping Sonetto's obedience and loyalty would rub off on Vertin. Also, she would keep Vertin in line since they were tired of dealing with the troublemaker. These ideas can exist at the same time.

However, Sonetto might excel with whoever she is with. She's just that good. As for being a good influence, their plan could backfire and Vertin could influence her to misbehave. Although, you could argue that SPDM had faith Sonetto and underestimated Vertin.

In the drabble I was messing with, the first few reasons I gave are Sonetto's POV of the Foundation. She and Vertin made a great team and SPDM saw their potential (same as in Unsaid). It's a reflection of her deep respect for the Foundation and she admires their foresight.

But Vertin sees something Sonetto overlooked: Sonetto's strength.

Sonetto could easily break her other fellow arcanists. Arcanists are fragile and Sonetto's strength is an outlier (other exceptions like Bunny Bunny also exist so while uncommin its not unheard of).

Vertin didn’t realize it at first, but as time went on she noticed she's the only one in the class able to handle Sonetto (until Sonetto learned better restraint as they grew)

Luckily, Vertin always bounces back from her injuries and from what we've seen she's pretty sturdy in combat. While Sonetto might not intentionally try to hurt anyone, we know she's passionate and her feelings get the best of her at times. We've seen Sonetto hurt Regulus, Schneider, and impulsively attack Arcana on sight. It's a pattern.

Technically, all these things could be true at the same time.

But Vertin doesn't like mentioning it because that'd be like bad-mouthing Sonetto's guardians. She can’t really vent about her feelings to Sonetto about the Foundation. Meanwhile, Sonetto is oblivious to how deep Vertin's wounds are from their upbringing because Vertin won't reveal her past. Sonetto still believes the Foundation is "doing what's best for them."

Whether Sonetto ever actually hurt Vertin or not is another question. SPDM might have forced them together, but that doesn't mean Vertin was ever injured by Sonetto. She was a fail-safe...just in case.

[trunksette]

I don't think I have ever made an "addressing the situation" post in my life.

You people have completely blown this entire situation out of proportion, you are completely ignoring the fact that none of this was done in good faith. KAB is not difficult to get ahold of, her DMs are open, her ask box is open, if someone wanted to "make her aware" they should have brought this to her first.

They did not, instead they posted a few out of context screenshots (containing only 2-4 messages each) to make Rose look as bad as possible.

I ask each and every one of you here to lay everything you have ever said in a group chat bare and see how you stack up.

Better yet, not to lay the entire thing bare, but to have someone intentionally crop and cherry pick what has been said into order to make you look bad.

This is a personal attack, Rose's privacy was violated, everyone in that server's privacy was violated.

Secondly I want to address of the problem of "professionalism" everyone is pretending to care about so much.

Everyone saying how "unprofessional" it is to insult their "boss" I want you to take a second of your time and look at the dates present in these screenshots.

All but one of these comments were made before Rose was hired as an official part of GB Patch's team.

These comments do not come from an "employee" but someone who was simply a black person in a fandom space.

Which brings me to my third point. All of you are upset, crying that this fandom is about diversity and is a "safe space"

Well I have some news for you. Diversity and acceptance is not about everyone dancing in a circle holding hands and singing "Kumbaya" being a true diverse safe space means making room for everyone to be heard, even when the things you are hearing make you uncomfortable.

Here's another thing, people of color, queer people, trans people, do not have to be polite when talking about their feelings when it comes to issues that directly represent and affect them. They do not need to hold your delicate hand as they walk you through the immense trauma they experience through simply existing.

People keep trying to say this is not about race but it is. Whether you knew Rose was black or otherwise these comments are directly linked to the fact that they are a black, trans, queer person existing in a fandom space created by a cis white woman.

You take offense with their rudeness, with their tone, as if you have any idea if this person has any right to the anger they are expressing.

I don't know what kind of "safe space" you all are trying to create here but that server was a safe space where we didn't tone police black people expressing dismay about an overly white community.

[redfoxwritesstuff]

A Misdemeanor Of The Heart, Chapter 7 (Human!Alastor x Married!reader)

Chapter Trigger Warnings: None

AN: Comments and reblogs are the lifeblood of fics, please consider dropping a love note and let me know if you want on the tag list!

Masterlist AO3 KoFi

Everything hurt. Not so much that you couldn’t move, but you ached all over with every twitch of your muscles. You took a handful of aspirin and waited for the pain to dull as it always did. There were things that needed to get done and the last thing you wanted to do was tempt Laurence’s temper and not get it done.

It was midday on a weekday. Most of the men were working and many of the women were busy with tending to their children and their homes. You didn’t want to brave the bus, but you wanted to walk even less. Your feet ached from the walking you had done earlier in the week and if you pushed your luck much more, blisters would break out on your feet.

Laurence wouldn’t see that as an excuse for the shopping to fall behind or appearances to be allowed to slip. Better to brave the bus than to make the pain in your feet any worse. A little extra pain now would save you untold amounts of pain in the future. There was really no reason to debate it. 

Luckily, the bus was fairly empty and your gamble had paid off. You could snag a seat and, even better, no one took the seats next to you during the ride. The jostling of the bus over bumps caused little flairs of pain to spike, but it was manageable, for now at least. 

You were used to the abdominal pain that lingered after being kicked while on the ground. It was tiring, but it was easier than when his blows would hit your limbs. There were more of you to absorb the blows when he kicked out at your stomach and far more muscles to compensate. 

Closing your eyes, you ran through your list for the day. Drop off the dress. Grab more coffee from the market, more aspirin from the pharmacy. 

Mesmerizing earthy eyes and a warm smile flittered through your mind, demanding your attention over the mundane tasks of a simple housewife. Mr. Mo-, no- Alastor for you. Alastor had found his way into your thoughts more often than you cared to admit since he had walked out your door. 

You told yourself it was just your lack of real social connections that made your mind latch onto the man. It was easier to blame that and not think about the warmth of his body brushing yours in the kitchen or dwell on the way his warm skin was just a hair darker than was acceptable. 

You could hear his laughter as his banter ran circles around your husband, leaving Laurence with little to do but scramble to keep up in his own home. It wasn’t something you should have enjoyed seeing, but you had. God above damn you to hell, you had enjoyed it so much. 

Alastor was someone you should hate. You should blame your current pain on him. Intentionally or not, his actions had contributed to the beating you were now recovering from. It was his fault Laurence had slapped you so hard your nose had bled, staining washrags that would never really be clean again. If Alastor hadn’t wound up Laurence so much, it wouldn’t have been so bad. 

Resenting him, blaming him, wasn’t something you seemed to be able to make yourself do, no matter how hard you had tried. It was just as much your own fault for not pushing Alastor away, for allowing yourself to call him Alastor as he had requested. 

Being friendly was Alastor’s job. It was probably his persona to have married women falling at his feet. He was charming and handsome. Would he laugh he if knew how he occupied the thoughts of a married woman he’d only met in passing a few times and spent one meal with?

As the bus rumbled to your stop, you shook your head, trying to will the man to leave your head. Dwelling on another man was asking for trouble. You are a married woman. That wasn’t ever going to change. You were faithful and would continue to be. You had vowed till death do you part from Laurence. 

You told yourself you were being nothing more than just a silly woman as you shuffled down the sidewalk and up the stairs to the tailor shop. It took more work than it should have to keep your back up straight and the warm spring weather had your heart pounding in your chest with the effort. 

A car pulled up and parked along the street and you paid it no mind as reached for the door. You didn’t see the sharp brown eyes glance at you through the windshield as you slowly pulled open the heavy door. 

You moved slowly as you crossed the empty shop. Pick up your dress. Drop off last night’s dress. That’s all you had to do. Your heart was beating harder in your chest than it should have been. 

The bell over the door jingled as you stepped up to the counter. The sound was sharp, sharper than you remembered it being. The lights were harsh, too bright when paired with the bright sunlight through the large windows. Ringing. Your ears were ringing nearly as loudly as when Laurence slapped you last night. 

The shopkeeper’s mouth was moving, but you couldn’t make out her words. The counter was cold under your hand as you reached out for it. You couldn’t feel the ground under your feet. 

The shopkeeper reached out for you as you swayed on your feet. It felt like smoke as her fingers grazed your hand. Falling back, you registered that the floor was going to hurt, but you couldn’t catch yourself. 

“Alastor,” the shopkeeper called out, but you couldn’t make sense of it. She wouldn’t be calling for him. It was just your mind. He wasn’t there.“She’s going to go down, catch her.”

Rather than hitting the floor, you remained on your feet, propped up against something warm and firm. Blinking, your mind cleared little by little. 

“Hand me that?” You groaned as the sound of Alastor’s voice filled your ears, mind telling you it was little more than a dream or delusion. “Her nose is bleeding.” 

“I’m okay.” Your words come out thicker, slurred. It felt like you try trying to speak through a mouthful of cotton balls, but the feeling was quickly fading.

“We’ll see about that,” Alastor said, dabbing your nose with the cloth. Pulling it away, he folds to a clean portion and drapes it over your nose, pinching your nostrils together firmly. “Lean forward, I’ve got you.” 

Alastor didn’t give you much of a choice, though. His large hand came to rest on the back of your head and applied enough pressure to force you to lean your head forward, not that it took much in your trembling, weakened state. 

“Breathe through your mouth, darling.” His voice was softer now than it had been while he was in your home. There was a kindness to him now that lulled you along with his directions. You wanted to indulge in that and for a moment, you did.

And then reality came crashing around you., the colors and sounds that had faded into the background slammed back into your mind. Reaching up, you covered his hand over your nose with your own. His hand was much larger than yours, making the task difficult. You tried to ignore the warmth of his skin or how long his fingers were as you ran your hand along his, grasping the fabric over your nose and pinching down just above his fingers. 

“I’m okay,” you said again, voice muffled as you stepped out of his arms. “Thank you.” 

“Let me help you to the chair.” Alastor’s hand on your back was a soft guiding pressure you had to fight to resist. Stepping to the side, you put even more distance between you, letting cold air fill where the warmth of his body had been. 

“Dear, you really should sit down.” The shopkeeper had concern written clearly across her face. 

“It’s just a nosebleed,” you muffled out. “I’m fine.” 

“What happened?” Alastor asked, standing close still but allowing you your distance. If Laurence got wind that you were again close with Alastor, he’d rain hell down upon you. There would be far more than sore abdominal muscles and a bloody nose for you to worry about. 

“I just walked into a pole earlier,” you laughed off your lie. “It must have reopened with the day’s warmth.” 

While you pulled the dress out of the bag to request the mending, you didn’t see the way Alastor’s eyes roamed over you. There were no dirt smudges on your dress, nor were there dried dribbles of blood to speak of a prior nosebleed. The only reason your dress was blood free from this incident was his quick rescue with the handkerchief from the display. 

You were lying to them and he knew it. 

“Susan, be a dear and put that handkerchief on my bill.” Alastor called out, interrupting your continued halfhearted attempts to explain away the bloody nose. 

“No,” you protested, stepping forward and resting a hand on his arm before thinking twice and yanking it back, “I’ve got it. There’s no reason to-”

“Nonsense,” Alastor smiled down at you, “I’m the one who grabbed it.” 

You couldn’t argue. You were too tired for that and really; you needed to get out of the shop before someone saw you and Alastor together. The last thing you needed was someone to mention who was helping you to your husband.

Holding the cloth to your nose, you struggled to lie out the dress and show the shopkeeper, Susan; you had learned her name was, where it the seam was torn. Alastor, once again, was eager to come to your assistance as soon as you showed any signs of a struggle. 

“This is last night’s dress?” He asked, ignoring the way Susan’s eyebrow rose. 

“Another one?” Susan sighed. “I just repaired this same rip. How do you keep doing this to your dresses?” She asked, as if she didn’t know. Whatever Alastor had going on with you that had him knowing what a married woman wore last night wasn’t any of her business, but he’d do well to pick up on a trend of ripped dresses if he was going to get close to a married woman. Susan didn’t feel like mending any more of his clothes, either. 

“I’m just clumsy,” you laughed off your lie, praying they believed it. 

“If you’re so clumsy that you keep ripping the shoulders of your dresses, perhaps I should teach you to mend them yourself,” Alastor laughed at his words as if they were some sort of joke and not an indecent proposal. “All these tailor trips sure must get expensive.”

“Says the man is here more than his own office.” Susan grumbles from behind the counter as she began writing up your ticket. 

“I hardly see how that’s any of your concern.” You tried to avoid looking at the man. “And why would you think it would matter how much I use a tailor’s services?”

Alastor leaned into your space, breath washing over your neck as he spoke softly directly into your ear. “Fist off, your home is only partially wired. I can’t imagine a reason why someone would still have gas lights in their more private spaces if they hadn’t run out of money during the update process.” 

“If you know how to sew so well, Mr. Moreau, why are you having the tailor fix your clothes?” You shoved the ticket into your bag and gave Susan a parting smile, working hard to pretend you hadn’t heard a word said about the state of your home.

The woman only raised her eyebrow higher at the theatrics. Whatever was going on between you and Alastor, it was amusing, at least for her. 

“Just because I can, my dear, doesn’t mean I want to.” Alastor leaned his back against the counter as he watched you close your bag. “And I can afford to have someone else do it.” 

“As can I, Mr. Moreau,” You realized you were stomping when where halfway to the door. For all the aggravation Alastor was causing you, he had distracted you from the ache in your muscles and the bloody nose. 

That realization put the fire out. Your shoulders sagged as you turned to face the two looking at you from the counter. 

“Thank you, Alastor.” You hesitated before continuing, “For the offer and for helping me with this.” You twitched your fist, holding the handkerchief in it in his direction. 

With a deep breath as the door shut behind you, silencing the jingle of the bell. The air outside helped clear your head. Walking toward the bus stop, you dipped the handkerchief corner into a fountain and scrubbed the blood from your face, doing your best to remove any evidence of the incident. Walking through town with blood dried on your face would do nothing but cause talk. 

As you walked, you couldn’t help but think of Alastor and the things he said. Was it really that strange that your house was only partially wired? Was there a reason why Laurence was no longer upgrading appliances and utilities in your home? It used to be something he took pride in. There hadn’t been much changes in the amount of pocket money he had given you each week.

Should you be learning to mend your own clothes? Alastor said he could teach you. What would that be like? Where would he teach you? It wouldn’t be proper for him to come to your home to do so, nor for you to go to his. You couldn’t really be seen out and about with him, Laurence already didn’t like Alastor.

It was a shame, really, that the two men couldn’t manage to get along. You could imagine a world where the two men got on well enough to maintain a friendly business relationship. It would be a world where Laurence wasn’t overly sensitive to Alastor’s barbs and perhaps the barbs came fewer between. It was a world where you could learn to sew from Alastor and indulge in the simple act of sharing space and time with him. 

Maybe you could just sneak away and learn to sew from Alastor anyway, perhaps in a park, well in view of all and with feet between each of you to show the clear platonic and instructional nature of the interactions. Wouldn’t it be a wonderful way to spend the afternoon? There didn’t have to be anything improper about it. You could just spend time learning from him. 

There was no way you could do that. Propriety forbade it. It was nothing but a passing daydream.

Next? Masterlist

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[physalian]

On Hyper Independent Characters (and how not to make them the bad guy)

So many characters with “trust issues” are painted out to be cynical little gremlins who just need to ~open their hearts~ and ~let the love in~ like doing so, repeatedly, has only proven them right every single time, but this one love interest will swoop in and save the day.

The people who write these characters tend to do so in bad faith, as if their fears and trust issues are unfounded nonsense, like they’re wrong and Negative Nellys for being wary.

So!

From experience (thus this is hella biased), here’s some thoughts on writing an independent character with trust issues that isn’t belittling.

1. It’s likely not that kind of trust they have issues with

I said this before a while ago, but “trust issues” paired with an extreme sense of self-reliance isn’t “I think everyone is a liar,” but rather “I think everyone is unreliable”. It might stem from a place of constantly being let down, of constantly having the people in their life drop the ball on major events, but also little things, even something as simple as “hey yeah I’ll totally do the dishes” and then they continue to sit there, forcing the person to be a nag about it, or just do it themselves.

These kinds of personalities tend to grow up surrounded by unkept and empty promises, where, while it might not be every single occasion, it happens one too many times for them to keep giving the benefit of the doubt. Even when people have the best of intentions and mean it when they say they’ll do XYZ in the moment, and they really just forgot, the person they made the promise to is impatiently waiting for them to remember 12-day-old dishes.

2. Why don’t they just remind people to keep their promises?

If you’re in my boat, many people with commitment issues are also narcissists or just mean, who, if you even gently remind them, make you out to be a nagging, impatient brat. And to avoid hearing that again, you just don’t speak up. Too many times where ‘forgetting’ has been from a source of a weird power fantasy, intentionally screwing you over, leaves people sitting in a state of unknowing whether it’s benign neglect or very much on purpose, and afraid to voice their concerns to be proven right.

If you’re not in my boat, chronic “forgetters” aren’t going to change without intervention. So if I ask you to do the dishes once, and you forget, that’s one thing. If I ask you twice, three times, four times, nagging over and over again, then the benefit of the doubt is shredded, and I can’t help but assume that the “forgetting” is on purpose. Either weaponized incompetence or something more benign, doesn’t matter. Even if you have some executive dysfunction, that's an explanation, not an excuse, and the people you live with aren't your maids.

Either way, these personalities might grow up with a whole slew of self-worth issues, and be reluctant to make plans with people, invite friends to important events, or get excited about big milestones, because they’re so used to people they care about “forgetting” or canceling last minute that the only one they can trust to reliably show up is themselves.

3. Why don’t they just communicate these fears?

See the “narcissists” in point 2

4. Isn’t it lonely never letting people in?

Fuck yeah, it is. The thing is, though, that if you spend your whole life learning how to do everything alone—pay your bills, do ‘couple’ or ‘friend’ activities, run errands, take yourself out to places—the idea of having to squeeze in the wants and needs of someone else might start to sound incredibly inconvenient.

If you’re so used to being on your own schedule and reaping the benefits of being a party of 1 in crowded spaces (I just took myself to dinner at a place with an hour long wait, able to be seated immediately at the last remaining barstool), of not having to wait for someone else to confirm plans, negotiate who’s driving, negotiate a time to meet up, food to order, a movie to see, a roller coaster to ride, a game or streaming service to buy—everything is entirely under your control, sacrificing convenience for the chance that the person you invite actually shows up on time and is invested as you are isn’t really worth the risk.

That's not to say I don't enjoy when I get to do things with friends, but I can equally enjoy doing things alone as opposed to whining about it.

Personally, while I can daydream about having a romantic partner, that thought is always immediately followed up by the understanding that they’ll be an inconvenience to my independence. But I’m someone who’s always had to do the emotional labor in a relationship, who’s always the most organized, the most mature, the most level-headed in tough situations. Always been the person in groupwork who does all the work. The idea of being “a team” is a fantasy meant for other people. “Team” to me is “me and this deadweight that I have to drag around”.

5. How I’d like to see this represented in characters

Dropping “the one” into their lives and having this person swept up, broken out of their little pessimistic shell, in some epic romance, as if they only needed to find the right person and nothing at all goes wrong… is bad faith.

It’s bad faith because it minimizes this kind of independence as just a little mood problem that can be fixed right quick, that it’s inherently wrong—what was all the fuss about?

What I’d like to see is examples that prove they’re not crazy. Big and little things. Dishes, and big events. Then, they can meet “the one,” but not without some trial and error. A lifetime of “people suck and are unreliable” isn’t going to be snapped away bibbidi bobbidi boo after one good date. This magical person will have to show up, and keep showing up, and keep showing up, and the one time they don’t, because they won’t, then A and B can hash it out like adults.

6. How this person might act

I’ve never actually met somebody like me and we’d either be best friends or loathe each other. But this person might be the most reliable friend you’ve ever had, because they’re so afraid of becoming like everyone in their life who let them down before. If you ask a favor of them, it gets done with supernatural haste.

This person might also have their own commitment issues, where instead of failing to keep their promises, they punish themselves by keeping promises they hate, showing up out of spite and resentment because they said they would, lest they be called a hypocrite.

They might under-share or not speak up about accomplishments in their life until the time for hype and anticipation has passed, lest they share expecting the same level of excitement only to be met with apathy. They might not show visible excitement about objectively exciting things, because they’re so used to plans falling through that they won’t believe something is happening until they are physically in the location and it’s staring them in the face.

Thus, they might look frequently bored or unhappy and unmoved by something important to you, or something you thought they’d like (especially if you’ve let them down before, trust is a privilege, not a right).

7. What I’d like people to understand most of all

First, that some of us tend to live by the “if you want something done right do it yourself” mantra, so actually asking somebody for help with something is admitting that X cannot be done alone, which makes failure to keep a promise even worse. As in, if A goes out of their way to admit they can’t do F alone and risk being let down to ask B to do this one little thing for them, and B still drops the ball, A is going to sit there and think “this is why I have trust issues”.

Can’t speak for everyone, but yes I do acknowledge that the suffering in silence isn’t helping anyone and am working on it. Counterpoint: Weaponized incompetence is very real and an adult should not have to remind another adult to keep their living space clean, at the bare minimum. Agreeing to do a thing is at least equal responsibility on the inviter and invitee and "you didn't remind me" isn't a valid excuse.

But most importantly, if you have a friend or relative who is fiercely independent, I’d implore you to learn one thing: Do not make promises that you can’t keep. And if shit happens and you have to cancel even when you had the best of intentions, have the decency to tell them and make the best effort you can to reschedule ASAP, instead of putting the impetus on them to do the rescheduling. Make it absolutely clear that you do, in fact, care, and weren’t going out of some apathetic sense of obligation.

I cannot count the amount of times I have asked a friend to do something for me, they eagerly agreed, and then my very real deadlines come and go and they say absolutely nothing, so I have to nag them, and nag them, and then they turn it back on me with a “obviously you can see that I’m busy and you’re not paying me for this” when all they had to do was say “no I can’t help you” (two whole humans; we are not friends anymore).

The ability to be approached with a request for a favor, step back and think about it, and go “No, I don’t think I can do that in that time frame/at this moment I’m going through a lot/with the skill the task requires” is apparently ridiculously rare. I’d infinitely prefer a no upfront than a yes, bank on that yes, and then wait around hoping someone follows through.

Not saying anything is really rude. If you agree to X, the person who asked you is fully expecting you to do X. They shouldn’t have to be lining up backup plans and last minute helpers scrambling to do the job you promised would get done.

—

Not exaggerating when I say it happens in so many areas. I’ve needed very important things like recommendation letters, or actual paid beta readers on a very hard deadline and still scrambled at the last minute to find replacements that sometimes cost real money for rush fees. I’ve been left waiting at an event for an hour minimum only to finally receive a ‘hey I can’t come’ text and then go home. I’ve told people multiple times, “hey, if you’re going to do X, please do it like this and have some consideration for my things that you’re borrowing” and just… be ignored.

As somebody who gets whatever’s asked of me done immediately, no matter how busy I am, man is it hard to keep accepting “sorry I forgot” as an excuse, from multiple people, multiple times.

The nice thing, though, the big benefit of hyper-independence is that I have learned so many skills out of a compulsion to just do it myself instead of gambling with the accountability of another flighty human. Handyman things for my home and my car, but artistic things, too. So there’s that.

[probablyasocialecologist]

When you look at Instagram or Facebook, I want you to try and think of them less as social networks, and more as a form of anthropological experiment. Every single thing you see on either platform is built or selected to make you spend more time on the app and see more things that Meta wants you to see, be they ads, sponsored content, or suggested groups that you can interact with, thus increasing the amount of your “time spent” on the app, and increasing the amount of “meaningful interactions” you have with content. I also want you to realize that anything bad that you see on the platform is a symptom of Mark Zuckerberg’s unwillingness to rate-limit or sufficiently moderate the platform. Logically-speaking, one would think that Meta would want you to have a high-quality Facebook experience, pruning content that might be incendiary, spammy, scammy or unhelpful, or at the very least, comes primarily from those within your own network, but when your only concern is growth, content moderation is more of an emergency measure.  And to be clear, this is part of Meta’s cultural DNA. In an interview with journalist Jeff Horwitz in his book Broken Code, Facebook’s former VP of Ads and Partnerships Brian Bolland said that “building things is way more fun than making things secure and safe…[and] until there’s a regulatory or press fire, you don’t deal with it.”  Horwitz also cites that Meta engineers’ greatest frustration was that the company “perpetually [needed] something to fail — often fucking spectacularly — to drive interest in fixing it.” Horwitz’s book describes Meta’s approach to moderation as “having a light touch,” considering it “a moral virtue” and that the company “wasn’t failing to supervise what users did — it was neutral.” As I’ve briefly explained, the logic here is that the more stuff there is on Facebook or Instagram, the more likely you are to run into something you’ll interact with, even if said interaction is genuinely bad. Horwitz notes that in April 2016, Meta analyzed Facebook’s most successful political groups, finding that a third of them “routinely featured content that was racist and conspiracy-minded,” with their growth heavily-driven by Facebook’s “Groups You Should Join” and “Discover” features, algorithmic tools that Facebook used to recommend content. The researcher in question added that “sixty-four percent of all extremist group joins are due to our recommendation tools.” When the researcher took their concerns to Facebook’s “Protect and Care” team, they were told that there was nothing the team could do as “the accounts creating the content were real people, and Facebook intentionally had no rules mandating truth, balance or good faith.” Meta, at its core, is a rot economy empire, entirely engineered to grow metrics and revenue at the expense of anything else. In practice, this means allowing almost any activity that might “grow” the platform, even if it means groups that balloon by tens or hundreds of thousands of people a day, or allowing people to friend 50 or more people in a single day. It means allowing almost any content other than that which it’s legally required to police like mutilation and child pornography, even if the content it allows in makes the platform significantly worse.  As a result, Meta is kind of like an absentee parent, occasionally looking up from their phone and muttering “don’t do that” when something obviously awful happens, and even then they’re extremely hesitant to intervene. 

[socksorstockingz]

I don’t really post much on here, but as someone who’s been in the Nevermore fandom for a while (following some tags on tumblr and being on the discord, though my activity there has significantly dwindled after it became bigger), but in light of the drama that’s gone on I feel like I’d like to give my opinion, if only for my own peace on the matter.

As a response to the whole situation and in context with other stuff I have heard of going down on the discord, I think Red’s long post was kind of a necessity, as only addressing the current biggest drama (that related to Crimson) would likely stir up people into saying in bad faith that she’s ignoring other issues that have gone on in the discord, and you can tell from Red’s standpoint that all of this has kind of been an accumulation of months and months of shit, on a scale she, Flynn and the mods have admitted to not being entirely prepared for, as their prior experience in discord moderation was on the Shiloh discord, which is significantly smaller, and thus more tight-knit. I’ve seen some people claiming that 95% of the post is calling out others rather than apologizing, but, having read most of the post thoroughly, Red seems quite apologetic and guilty throughout, thought their frustration is also noticeable. I understand why some people are unhappy with the fact that she namedropped some people she believed were involved in particularly toxic situations within the discord — which, I might add, was likely used as better context for her thought process and decision making throughout this whole mess, rather than her intentionally trying to throw in non-sequitors and victim blame, as I’ve seen thrown around. Admittedly, showing the discord/tumblr names of users — some of whom are apparently minors — is somewhat immature, as it could risk them being targeted by harassment (though Red did state in post not to pursue these people, and, in context, was likely airing out the names to ensure people didn’t throw around accusations and assumptions at random users). In that area, I believe Red could’ve been more careful.

As an apology for what she and the mods have been accused of recently, I think the post worked well, with her kind of structuring the piece like an apology sandwich: providing an upfront apology to a group she unintentionally harmed in her initial discord response, stating the full context of the situation, then reiterating her apology at the end. Some may call it tactless or manipulative, but, in my personal opinion, the long “filling” of the apology sandwich was necessary to provide an explanation, but not an excuse for her mistakes. You can tell a lot of this has been boiling in the background for a long time, and, though this extra information has provided more fuel to the Red-hate-train fire, it also helps inform people who may have been on the outskirts of the situation of some of her observations while moderating, which ultimately led to the mistakes made in the most recent situation.

Do I think Red made mistakes? Yes, absolutely. Do I think Red could have worded things better or tried to tackle the situation differently? Yes, as well. But, despite its flaws, I think what Red has done to address this situation and try to atone for/improve from it demonstrates greater humility than a lot of other creators I have heard of and known. When she said she and Flynn would step back from the community and find new mods to hopefully rebuild the community’s trust in both them and eachother, she Meant it, as, if you look on the discord, Red and Flynn have tags under their profiles indicating that they have banned themselves from the space. Some may see this as them running away from the mess, but, as I see it, they have said their piece here, and are, as Red has stated, trying to focus on themselves and the development of Nevermore, rather than digging themselves deeper into the trenches of everything that has gone down, which I find quite admirable, even if some of their actions during this whole debacle were questionable. I’m not saying there is no criticism to be had, but I think the sheer dogpiling that has gone on in the past few days (even before Red had posted either of her responses) is utterly baffling. I get wanting to hold creators accountable, but you’ve gotta remember they’re humans too, and immediately spouting some of the most heinous shit about them isn’t going to help them improve, you improve, or help the victims find peace in the situation. And, based on some of the posts I’ve seen, it seems like some people were holding onto a lot of information until after the first big post about the drama hit tumblr, then suddenly started unloading that onto their blogs to continue stirring the pot and adding to the dog pile. It kind of feels parasocial, and like they were just Waiting for this opportunity to drag the creators down. Maybe I’m misinterpreting the posts, and maybe more things are coming out now that people feel more validated in their opinion by having other peoples’ anger on their side, but it just feels kind of… disturbing.

I’ve heard of this happening in other communities before, and I guess, considering its size, something like this was bound to happen to the Nevermore community at some point. Maybe I was just naive to think that we could avoid shit like this, but it’s happened, and people are hurting, and things are confusing and scary. But, if there’s any advice I’d give to people who have been doomscrolling through this (like I have lmao :’) ), it’s important to take a step back from this situation, and take a step back from your keyboards, and just collect your thoughts for a second. Because, after a while, it’s just hurting yourself over and over because you feel betrayed that something like this could happen in a community surrounding a piece of media you love. Perhaps I’m being hypocritical in saying this, but… I really think it’s important to distance yourself if you need to, and take some time to yourself to process everything.

[antianakin]

In addition to the The Wrong Jedi arc, I also hated the Bio Chip arc, not just because of what happened to Fives, but also because they unfairly framed in the Jedi in yet another morally compromising situation and I hate that.

I assume you're referring to the Jedi discovering that a chip exists but accepting the "anti-aggression" explanation without fighting it or trying to argue that the chip should be removed.

It's honestly no worse than the implications that already existed about the dynamic between the Jedi and the clones for the five seasons prior to this and even arguably ever since AOTC came out. It's not exactly making the situation seem any worse, especially for people willing to look at it in bad faith.

They have a clone character explicitly call the Jedi slavers in season 1, and just by making the clones more independent and individual, it creates a stickier moral situation than already existed in AOTC.

And given the weird moral stickiness that exists with the droids, it couldn't have been fixed by giving the Jedi a droid army because people would STILL claim the army was made up of slaves and the Jedi were awful slavers for fighting in it.

So, sure, the Fives arc has the Jedi forced to ignore the existence of the chip so far as we know, but is it truly any worse than Slick calling them slavers five seasons earlier? Is it worse than five seasons of the clones existing within a morally sticky situation that the Jedi can't properly address?

The reason the Wrong Jedi arc sticks out to me is because the Jedi are PERSONALLY called out and made responsible for what happened to Ahsoka. Ahsoka explicitly says she doesn't trust the Jedi or the Council and then it's the Council who has to make a judgment call in the end. By contrast, Fives spends the entire arc desperately trying to seek out a Jedi he can tell this information to (starting with Shaak Ti and then turning to Anakin later) and he explicitly refers to the Jedi as his "best friends" later in the arc. And while Ahsoka claims that Anakin is the only person she trusts, it's also Anakin who refuses to listen to Fives and dismisses his accusations against Palpatine.

So while the Jedi do end up never addressing the chip situation again, the arc on the arc on the whole is actually immensely positive towards the Jedi and DOES represent them very positively and intentionally calls out ANAKIN as the untrustworthy one (Shaak Ti ends up listening to Fives and trying multiple times to get the situation examined further).

The Wrong Jedi arc is 10x worse than the Fives arc is from my perspective. The Fives arc doesn't intentionally introduce any criticism towards the Jedi that wasn't already generated by AOTC anyway and it works really hard to make the Jedi look GOOD in a way the Wrong Jedi arc really does not.