#or the virtue signaling and lies

[ambelle]

Words need to mean something. If all it takes for 4x08 not to be racist garbage is a love scene then what are they really saying? This can’t be about deep rooted racism in the writing if it’s such an easy fix.

For example Bonnie getting a couple love scenes with white men did not fix anything. Because the root of the issue was that her purpose on the show was to die for her white friends and be happy to do it. It was repeated by her and them many times. Yay she and Enzo fucked…and then they killed him and she literally got shipped off to Africa. No that’s not a joke… they legit sent Bonnie to Africa in the finale.

SO if the writing was actually racist Kory and Dick sleeping together wouldn’t fix that. Did it fix the problems they had with season 1?

What people are complaining about is ironically what a lot of people wanted from season 1. For Dick to be there for her and support her. For him to fight for her and put her first. For Kory to be the center of the his world and the main plot. But because they didn’t get the kisses and sex (if there’s sex) by a certain timeframe now it’s racist. It’s just throwing around trigger words because your horny lol.

And yea the idea you and I “accept crumbs and are the reason the show gives us crumbs” is insane when there’s hours upon hours of recordings of us complaining during season 2&3. It’s also delusional to assume we have power over what the showrunners do if we whine and moan daily … but keep giving it ratings. Like yeah that’ll show em!Just because they are underwhelmed with DK doesn’t mean it’s problematic… it just means they are underwhelmed.

Once again they need to show me the ship on this show whose scenes and overall story is better. And it can’t be a ship with a black person since this is about race. There’s a reason they all pretend KomKon never happened because it blasts a giant hole through their theory that the writers find a bw being loved revolting.

TBH I think the most racist thing I’ve seen come out of this show is the way some fans said with their whole chest they resented Mar’i, a 3 year old black toddler, and not a single one of these SJW dickkory shippers checked them. No I’ll never forget that cause WTF company are you keeping while complaining about racism?

Then them writing fics wear Dick is swearing in Kory’s face, touching her while threatening her, making her cry and feel insecure, even having people hate crime her…People can truly get fucked LMAO. That’s insane.

Dick and Kory being supportive, kind, and understanding of each other and it ultimately leading to them realizing they are destined to be together… you can call it boring, underwhelming, unsexy if you want. But you can’t say this is a clear cut example of writers despising bw. Not with how loved Kory is not only by Dick but by her whole family. Not with how underwritten most white characters are on this very show.

You know who can’t relate Tara and Bonnie. No one gave a shit if they were breathing or not and getting fucked by white men did not change that.

I’ll be honest that I wanted DK as a couple for a whole season but I didn’t expect that because they are so unorthodox. I figured they’d be in a lot of scenes together and we would see them figure out they act married anyway. So I agree I wanted a full season of them. What I don’t agree with is discounting all romantic moments that don’t involve kissing and sex. That’s part of love but it’s not the whole thing. Frankly it the ONLY thing missing from their relationship.

Hi anon I definitely feel you!

I think people misinterpret my feelings because I just became frustrated with accusations about who I am as a person and how I basically support racist writing because I enjoy Dickkory’s writing. I think they are so kind and understanding of each other and I find couples that emotionally support each other so refreshing. They always have each others back.

My stance is that I love their relationship I just wanted to see more of it in season 2&3. It’s not that I think the show is flaw free. However…this season I can’t complain. I’ve been loving them and how much time they’ve spent together confusing Jinx and a whole town into assuming they were an item.

But also Brenton literally told us at NYCC that they confess at the very end of the season. So like… we knew??? And secondly we’ve gotten way more of them than we ever have and that includes season 1. But unlike season 1 Dick is openly affectionate and Kory is the focus of all his attention. Not daddy issues, not Rachel cause she can handle herself now , but Kory. Because he’s so afraid of losing her and so deeply in love.

Dick’s entire character arc in part 2 is about keeping Kory safe and confessing his feelings. Episode 4x08 wasn’t a useless throw away episode just because they didn’t have sex or kiss. They realized they both are in love. So we did get a full season of Dickkory- it was just a season of them realizing they belong together Vs them being an official couple (but having the exact same mission focused scenes because they don’t have time for Olive Garden with May running around.)

Season 1 when you look back at the fans commentary people said they were rushed, they were insulted by DickDawn being married, they were mad DK fizzled out so quickly. All valid complaints but also things people are pretending they didn’t say because they are laser focused on season 1 having a love scene and that being the most important thing. Just like they are pretending they didn’t say they wanted Kory to give Dick the cold shoulder this season. THANK GOD the writers didn’t waste time on her being mad at Dick for dating Babs when he was single lolz?

Anyway I decided to officially stop taking people seriously when they called 4x08 crumbs because that’s just ridiculous. And people who found this episode beautiful and romantic aren’t enablers of racist writing.

Such an outrageous and disgusting thing to claim LOL!

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

"Only delusions and lies require artificial support. Truth can stand alone. Therefore the true word has no need of superficial, solemn ceremonies. Only lies need such devices." -- Leo Tolstoy

Blasphemy laws and cancel culture betray lies.

[catcatb0y]

Auuughhh I won't go on a rant, but literally just hearing a family member- WHOM I HAVE ACTIVELY TALKED SHIT ABOUT TRUMP TO AND THEY AGREED- casually profess that someone in the family is cutting them off because they voted for Trump...

It just brings back all of the feelings I've had about this election.

I'm pissed off that they care so little about the future of human rights. I'm pissed off that I felt bad about distancing myself from them. I'm pissed off that the majority of the Republican Party has the dicipline and dedication to vote for someone they dislike, A CONVICTED FELON WHO SMUGGLED OUT GOVERNMENT SECRETS, and yet all the left can do is share the Suicide Hotline and say "Remember to donate to these other causes." Some of whom voted, others who professed they were 'staying out of it'.

I'd rather there be a second, useless capital raid than live with the fact that millions of people did nothing to contribute to the crumbling of American democracy. That millions of people actively participated in its slow demise.

I feel stupid for watching half a dozen other countries valliantly kicking out their shit ass right wing parties and yet America put a convicted felon on its highest seat. A man who attempted treason and smuggled out classified documents.

I feel so overwhelmingly pissed off right now.

[charliemwrites]

Part 3 for Nikto with his… handler? Living god? Owner? Who knows, certainly not the reader.

Content: Sexual Desire (Wet Dreams), Codependency, Mild Injury/Violence, Mentions of Dissociation

Snuggle in, you tell him. Every night, clockwork, a signal to calm, settle, rest. Leave the blood and bone of the day behind.

Like he’s not a man who barely remembers he’s alive most days. Like he doesn’t turn to you blooming human, a plant to sunlight. All because you tell him to.

Snuggle in, you bid, tugging at his thick bicep. Your fingers don’t even curl halfway around it. He’s huge, even without all the gear. Or maybe because he's out of his gear.

Snuggle in, you coo. A guilty part of you preens at the way his head cocks at that turn of phrase. He never hesitates to climb into the bed you’ve shared since he made himself yours. There’s really no choice but to snuggle on such a small mattress, but he still lets you move him, teddy bear-like, to the most comfortable position.

“You’re warm,” you hum, because he needs to remember his heart is beating, pumping blood. That he’s not a corpse.

“Too warm?” He asks.

“No,” you sigh happily.

He lies on his side tonight, always between you and the door. You pluck at the front of his t-shirt, urging him closer, away from the edge of the bed. It feels like you’re constantly coaxing him away from an edge. He always comes willingly at least.

His heavy arm drapes across your waist, as robotic as a cuddle can be. You don’t mind, he’s still getting used to this. Knows how to provide you comfort but not how to take it in for himself. He'll settle, you know, always does. Virtues of sleep melting all his harsh, rigid lines.

You wrap both your legs around one of his. Rock-like muscle flexes, twitches, settles. He’s wearing just his underwear and a t-shirt; he’s hard again.

You understand why he said no. Aren’t even all that disappointed. Not for your own sake, anyway. For his, perhaps a little. Wish he’d treat his body with more than just obligation, but small steps. One at a time. For now, you’ve got him here, warm, his breaths already lengthening in preparation to sleep.

You stroke your hand along his ribs like soothing a horse. It’s more for yourself than him, a silent affirmation that you’re both here and safe and bedding down for the night. Count the bumps of scars - one… two-three, four… and five. Five-and-a-half at his hip.

His cock twitches against your lower stomach. It feels thick. Big. You squeeze his hip and tuck your arm between your bodies again.

“Were you ever ticklish?” you ask.

“No.”

You snort in amusement and press your forehead to his chest. Feel his heart beating slow-steady. Always so, so calm. Inhumanly so. You never fall into the trap of letting yourself think he’s anything but a man.

“What do you want to dream about tonight?” you pipe up again.

You don’t know why you’ve started asking this. Maybe to remind him that he’s not dying for a short while. Maybe to figure out something of his mind, still so unfathomable to you. Maybe just to get his voice in your ear as one last nightcap.

“Winter,” he answers. “Snow.”

You make a soft noise. “I think I want to dream of that too.”

You do dream of winter, and snow. You dream of green-black trees and swathes of frost crystal. And you dream of Nikto. A smudge of black with ice chips for eyes.

You reach for him, drag him down to a pillow of snow with you. Even in sleep, he yields for you, doughy and soft. Drapes himself over you, clucking about the temperature until you shush him with kisses snuck between his shirt and mask. You press and pull, want him close, want him...

"Are you alright?"

You blink into the darkness, at ice chip eyes and a patchwork jaw of scars and stubble. Nikto's mouth is pressed thin, worried. A canine peaks out from a scar that healed poorly despite your best efforts, skin tugged back into a permanent little snarl. His canines always look so sharp.

"You were... having nightmare?" He drops articles when he’s tired. You must have woken him. Part of you despairs at ruining his sleep; he gets so little of it.

You lick your dry lips, swallow past an equally dry throat. There's a noticeable stickiness between your thighs. A needy ache throughout your pelvis. You're nearly shaking.

"Um," you rasp, rubbing at your face. "Not a... it was just intense."

His brow furrows a bit. This tiny line that emphasizes a jagged mark over his forehead. You trace over it absently, nearly grind down on his thigh again when you see how his pupils dilate further.

"Alright?" he asks again. Always so worried. So expressive with you, for you.

"Yeah, I'm okay," you sit up slowly, carefully. He sits back with you, eyes sharp as he looks for injuries, as if someone snuck in and attacked you while he slept. "Just need a drink."

He makes room for you to climb out of bed. You wish you could grab a spare pair of underwear on your way, but you can feel his eyes burning on your back. Don't want him to feel... pressured? Awkward? You swallow your lust and stumble into the bathroom.

A cold splash of water shocks you more awake but also cools your blood.

It’s been a long time since you got yourself off. Nikto all but lives in your pocket now; and whenever you do have privacy, you’re usually too tired to bother with getting off. Some days it’s all you can do to brush your teeth before collapsing in bed.

Not right now though. Right now you want to do sinful things to the man who’s entrusted you with his fragile psyche.

Fuck.

You rub at your eyes, discard of your soaked panties in the hamper. You’ll grab a new pair in the morning and just spend the rest of the night commando.

When you climb into bed again, Nikto is still wide awake, waiting for your return. You crawl in with him, chilled now.

“Better?” He asks, almost hesitant.

The heat of him seeps into you like honey, a sweet drizzle down your spine, diffusing through your bones. Sleep is already dragging at you again.

“Mhm,” you sigh. You don’t wrap your legs around him this time. But you can’t help hooking your calf around his, ankles locked together.

“Alright,” he whispers, almost to himself.

You hum, fingers curling loose around his wrist. “Settle in, Nikto. I’m okay.”

You fall asleep with your head against his tricep. This time you dream of nesting birds.

—

Anger, like most strong emotion, is something you thought a bit beyond Nikto. Not that he doesn’t feel it, more that the dissociation mutes it all. Makes it into something vague in his mind, a vivid color desaturated to pastel.

You were wrong. Or maybe you’re right in every other instance except this one.

The circumstances brew up a storm like so:

Kortac has sent you (and by default, Nikto) with a small team to yet another military base. Mundane by all accounts.

You and Nikto bunk together, also by default. (“Snuggle in,” you chide as he glares at the door. It’s not your door; it’s not your base. It makes him twitchy. It even seems like he hesitates for a moment before climbing in.)

You, by virtue of being novel and shiny and discouraged, are viewed as a tempting commodity. Think you even hear one of the men you’re supposed to be working with mutter “dibs” to someone else. Also pretty mundane.

What is not mundane is someone seeing Nikto at your side and apparently thinking, that’s a place I want to insert myself uninvited.

The clouds roll in at the gym. You’re setting up the squat rack while Nikto finishes up his last set of pull-ups. (You’re trying not to ogle. You might be failing.)

Someone sidles up to behind you, just in the corner of your eye. Standing closer than a perfect stranger should. You think it’s Aksel and turn, wondering if he’s already done with cardio. Instead, you find a man you’re only mildly acquainted with.

You’ve run some drills with him, saw him in a briefing two days ago. But you’re generally so wrapped up in the microcosm you and Nikto have formed that you don’t even remember his name.

“Need a spotter?” He asks, smiling.

You shift your weight back, trying to put more distance between you two. It’s strange. Nikto stands even closer than he is on a regular basis and you’d feel bereft if he didn’t. But this… feels invasive.

“No, I have someone,” you reply, perfectly polite. “But thank you.”

“Ah, you mean the Nobody?” The man chuckles. You clench your teeth. “Someone else ought to get a turn, no? Your teammates said you are not romantic.”

You frown. Whatever they said, you’re sure that was not the verbatim answer. You don’t know what you and Nikto are — it’s something that defies any language you know. But it’s certainly beyond “romantic”.

(Waking deep in the night, sweating and panting and aching for the man already awake, worried for you. Dreams plagued with pale blue eyes and scars that still ache. Phantom sensations of skin that only breathes in the safety of your room.)

“No,” you answer, “Nikto is my partner.”

A shadow passes behind him, Nikto returning to your side, faithful as always. His eyes don’t even flick towards the other man.

The man, however, locks eyes on him and sneers.

“What, does your guard dog bite?” He mocks. “You don’t owe it anything just because it humps your leg.”

Your temper flares, white hot and mean. “The only dog here is the one yapping for attention.”

Anger ripples across his face, he tenses like he’s going to move. The start of some derogatory name on his tongue.

And then between one blink and the next, he’s on the floor and Nikto is standing over him. Metal flashes beneath the lights; a wicked knife held in Nikto’s tight fist. The man isn’t getting back up any time soon though, he’s bleeding from… somewhere on his face. You can’t tell with the way he’s covering it.

“Knife away,” you tell Nikto quietly.

It’s gone in an instant.

You hook two fingers in a chest strap and tug. “We’re done in here.”

He follows you out, silent as ever. Follows without question or complaint until you stop between buildings. Let out a sigh.

“Fuck that guy,” you huff, running a hand down your face.

“I could still gut him,” he offers.

You’d laugh if you didn’t know he meant it wholeheartedly.

“He deserves it for what he said about you,” you mutter.

Nikto cocks his head, stares. Doesn’t understand, you realize.

You shake off the last of your ire and turn your full attention to him. Step in close and take his gloved hand in both of yours. The same one that had held the knife. There’s a little smear of blood on the knuckles.

“I don’t know what anyone says about me,” you explain. “You know who I am, and that’s all that matters.”

His eyes bounce between yours, something stunned in smooth skin around his eyes. You smile a bit.

“But what I won’t abide is anyone trying to take your humanity from you. Not ever again, you hear me?”

He mask moves like he wants to speak, but no sound comes out. You wait a moment to see if he’s just picking his words, but nothing comes. After a long moment, he just blinks, and you continue.

“You protect me, right?” He nods instantly. You tilt your head. “Well, I take care of you. You let me decide how to do that, yeah?”

His voice comes out shredded. “Yes.”

You hum, pleased. “C’mon, let’s get a bite to eat.”

First | Previous | Next

Masterlist

[box-in-a-cage]

There is not virtue in getting scammed. There is not virtue in being a mark. You are not displaying your virtuous nature by giving money to someone who is lying to you via emotional appeals so that you will open your heart and bank account to that poor downtrodden Nigerian prince. All you are doing is showing fellow zealots that you are also utterly devoted to The Cause, and showing other ill-intenders that they too can get you to cough up money with the right words.

You are not obligated to #GetScammed4Palestine. Getting scammed is not activism. You are not bettering anyone's lives except for the ill-intending agents who want your money to do something secret and untoward.

You wanna help Palestinians? Donate to real, honest, accredited aid organizations and charities. Ones that did not have employees taking part in the atrocities on October 7th. If you're in the USA, campaign for Kamala Harris as a means of harm reduction toward Palestine. Giving your money to some random person who is in one of the twenty countries that GoFundMe operates in (NOT someone in Palestine!!!) does nothing but cost you money and GUARANTEE that your money does not reach Palestinians in need.

We have our issues with the phrase "virtue signaling," as it's often a condescending right-wing buzzword, but that's what this whole Gaza-scam Zeitgeist honestly is-- taking action first and foremost in furtherance of upholding our standing as a good activist. You feel obligated to circulate, to give to, false crowdfunding operations that empirically, evidently, cannot be for the cause you are supposedly contributing to. You feel that you will be ostracized by your peers if you question these fundraising asks you're getting in your inbox. You'll be a bad activist if you don't do everything you can to help Palestinians-- yes, including possibly sharing a few scams! Sharing just a few scams is a small price to pay for circulating what surely are mostly honest accounts of real need, right? After all, you really think someone would do that? Just go on GoFundMe and tell lies? It's never ever happened on Tumblr before.

Do not give your money to randoms on the internet. You do not know who they are. The people who supposedly "verify" these fundraisers are also random people you do not know. You know that the site they are using to crowdfund does not service people in Palestine. The only evidence you do have around this whole thing is evidence that these GoFundMe's are lying to get your money. Believe the evidence and stop giving in to (what seems to you as well-intended) peer pressure from your activist friends.

If anyone takes issue with you wanting to know where your money is going, then they are showing that they want you to be taken advantage of. They want you to listen blindly! Sight-unseen! Listen to your self-preservation instincts, take notice of the red flags in front of you, and prioritize your own well-being. Drop manipulative people from your life.

Your principles are being used against you for no benefit to Palestinians, and you are in a cult. You have to start taking care of yourselves and stop endlessly sacrificing yourselves for no real value in the name of a cause that you are not benefiting.

[heliads]

Ok so I saw how you said you wanted to write for narnia in your request guidelines so, imagine if you will:

Reader and Caspian with a sort of rivals to friends to lovers. Charting the transition from "My prince" (Sarcastic) to "My prince" (playfull, joking) to eventually "MY prince" (loving). Hope this makes sense, lots of love <3

when people check the request guidelines <333 also this request was so good that i had the people vote upon it. soldier reader for the win

masterlist

You’re not sure what makes you more angry, the fact that you broke your sword or that the prince was there to see it. If it were not enough of a ruination to your day to have your blade break in half like a child’s wooden toy, if it were not enough to have to retreat through the storms of other fights and clashing metal and skulk to the background to get another, you were witnessed by the one person you detest most of all.

You should not be hating Prince Caspian. He just makes it rather easy to do so. He is the physical embodiment of this world, the crown on high, the savior of your every waking hour, all because he happened to be born into the right family at the right time. It is not his fault that he is one of the most powerful men in all of Narnia, but it is not the result of his labor, either. He is simply the prince, and there is nothing more to say on the matter.

That is quite different from you, then. You had to claw your way up through the ranks, sacrificing skin and sweat so you could eke out a win time and time again. Your trials served you well, gilding your brow with the title of captain of the guard, but it wasn’t like anything was handed to you. No, not at all. Yet, by virtue of his predestined position, Caspian technically has control over every soldier in Narnia. He outranks all of your efforts by the crown put on his head when he was just an infant.

This is the way of the world, and the way that it has always been. It makes no sense for you to hate him so fervently over something he cannot control. Caspian is an easy scapegoat, though, a figurehead for you to heap your regrets upon like laurels. It is not his fault that he was made prince. It is not his fault that you despise him for being one.

You’ve had time to grow accustomed to your life of blood and sweat, however, and today should have been no different. This morning was an amalgamation of at least a dozen different mistakes, though, and that ruined your day before it hardly even started. You woke up a little too late, you snapped at your friends then regretted it half a second later, and now you’ve gone and broken your blade, too.

It wasn’t your best weapon, at least that counts for something. Your finest sword is your most prized possession, and lies in careful hiding back in your quarters. This was merely your practice weapon, one designed to be battered and beaten all in the means of furthering the skills of you and your men.

Still, it stings to see it lying on the dusty ground of the training yard, shiny metal fragments already beginning to cloud over with grime. You sigh, signaling to your partner that you’ll have to abandon the match for now, and carefully pick up the pieces. When you stand, cradling the shards of your sword like a child, you look up and see Caspian of all people staring at you from across the training yard. Evidently he’s arrived just to see your sword fail.

Wonderful timing as always from him. You have to marvel at how he does it. You half think Caspian carefully plans his excursions into the swordsman's arenas when he believes you to be least ready to see him. You meet his gaze for a moment longer, then turn, heading back towards the rows of equipment on the far side of the yard.

You murmur at least half a dozen curses as you go, running them over your tongue like a prayer. The broken pieces of your sword can be turned into the armorer in the hopes that something will become of them, but you highly doubt that. In the meantime, you’ll have to dig up the coin to buy yourself a new sword, and risk damaging your primary weapon in the meantime. How splendid.

A voice sounds from behind you, one that makes you grit your teeth despite the soothing intonations. “You know, if you’re stabbing our own men so hard your weapon shatters, I’m afraid to see what you’ll do to our enemies.”

You grimace to yourself, then turn around to face Caspian, expression resolute. “Fear not, my prince, your men will be spared from me today. I’m sure I’ll have plenty of time to break swords when a battle arises.”

Caspian arches a brow, perhaps at the tone you direct towards his title. “If you speak with that much thrill over the thought of war, I’m beginning to fear that you may not be my best advisor regarding the maintenance of peace.” 

As if he’d ever listen to you long enough to consider you an advisor. The two of you snap at each other’s throats every time you get within shouting range. “Perhaps I just like a chance to fight.”

“I think I’ve noticed that,” Caspian murmurs, bemused.

It takes great strength to keep from glaring at him, strength that fails you by the second. “You’ll have to excuse me, I must go to the blacksmith for repairs.”

His face falls. “You won’t be continuing in the ring today? I had hoped to best you yet again.”

His lips quirk up as he says it, making the insult lose some of its barb, but it still makes your temper flare. “I’m afraid not. Blades are not as easily bought by soldiers as princes, I must see if I can salvage this one before going to the trouble of a purchase.”

Caspian seems half a second of self control from rolling his eyes. “There are more swords in the yard, L/N. Simply select another and we can go for a round or two.”

He gestures towards the training yard expectantly, and you feel the weight of your difference in stations come crashing down around you. Caspian will not stop asking until you fight him, that is his birthright. He does not know what it means to be disobeyed. And, as the captain of his guard, you cannot argue. This you know to be true, even if Caspian is unaware of just how he’s wielding his influence. There is nothing you can do to circumvent him.

You force your expression to go icily cold, devoid of any and all emotion. Even the anger, which was sparking through you so readily before, vanishes from your disposition. Caspian blinks in surprise at the sudden change, more so when you abruptly drop the pieces of your broken blade to the ground, where they send up a small storm of dust.

“Of course,” you say, even-syllabled, “how could I ever think to do anything else? Your word is my command, my prince.”

You pack as much loathing as possible into those syllables. Caspian flinches as if you’ve hit him, and then his confidence is gone, his eyes downcast. “If you don’t want to–” He begins in a whisper, but you’re already moving briskly towards the rows of extra blades.

“I most certainly want to,” you answer him, the borrowed blade seeming to cut into your hand despite the smooth leather grip, “you have asked, and that is all the motivation I should ever need.”

Caspian swallows hard, opens his mouth to say something, but you swing your blade at his head before he can manage it. This is utterly wrong behavior for a soldier towards a prince, but Caspian has never seemed to have a problem with your actions before, no matter how challenging. It’s as if both of your prides are so strong that they could overcome any class barrier set in your way.

Caspian barely parries your sword before it cuts into his head. Grunting with effort, he twists his weapon, forcing you to step back as he disengages, striking towards you in return. Seizing the opportunity, Caspian presses his advantage, taking a few quick steps and maneuvering the two of you further into the training yard and into the designated spaces for fighting.

Words are clearly still clinging to his tongue, begging to be spoken aloud, but this is no longer a place for conversation. It takes everything in you to counter his attacks, to spot when he’s off balance and lunge with piercing precision towards every gap in Caspian’s defense. You may hate the dark-haired prince with every fiber of your being, but you cannot deny that he is skilled. He might be the only one here capable of providing a challenge to you. You might hate him even more for that, or worse, not at all.

Caspian feints to his left, then his right. You ignore both distractions and plunge your weapon straight towards his heart. Expecting your belligerence in regards to his ploys, Caspian parries the strike and returns it with one of his own. You move to take a quick sidestep, but the ground is slick beneath your feet with mud from yesterday’s rain and you stumble. It’s the slightest of missteps, but for someone at Caspian’s level, it is enough.

He lunges forward, and you feel the shadow of the stone wall on your back before he pushes you into it. The rock is cold against your back, driving the air from your lungs. You try to force your way towards the center of the yard again, but Caspian has his sword at your throat, and any movement would lead to you cutting your own neck.

Unwilling to yield quite yet, you stay silent. You and Caspian breathe in and out, the deep gasps for air first discordant and then slowly, steadily, joining in a shared rhythm.

Caspian speaks first, you know he’s been waiting for it. “You hate me.”

You scoff. “You hate me. This is not an exclusive feeling.”

He exhales harshly, exasperated. “Stop deflecting everything onto me. We could have been friends.”

You laugh, tilting your head back to give him a better chance to slit your throat. “You are a prince. I would never have been anything but nothing to you.”

Caspian’s eyes widen. He moves away from you unsteadily, first closer than he’s ever been, then gone, halfway across the yard in what feels like just a second. You let your eyes shudder closed, exhausted from the intensity of the fight but perhaps something more as well. When you open your lids, he is gone. He had just arrived, but he is nowhere to be seen now. That could be no one’s fault but yours. He is not your friend. But. He could be so, so much more. 

Three days later, a gift arrives in your quarters. You unwrap the cloth bindings to reveal a sword nestled within the folds. You can tell at once that it has been perfectly selected for you– the heft is just right for your level of strength, the grip matches your hands exactly, and the edges are razor sharp, ideal for those slashes towards the forearms you’ve been so fond of as of late.

It comes swathed in a rich purple cloth, the sort of color you’ve only ever seen decorating Caspian’s frame as he walks with his troops or speaks to his nobles. An angrier, more bitter part of you wants to reject the gift entirely, to toss it from your room like refuse or return it back to him at once. Still, it is a fine blade, and you know that were you to just pick it up, it would feel exactly right, an extension of your arm into shining metal.

So, the sword joins the rest of your collections, and the purple linen ends up tucked away in your desk, carefully folded into a neat square of color and creases. You cannot explain why you do either, not even to yourself. 

The next time you’re called out with your regiment to guard the prince and some foreign powers on a diplomatic mission, the sword is on your belt, your hand resting on its hilt. Caspian sees and something changes in his expression; a deepening of a smile, a pleased spark in his eyes. For some reason, you cannot hate him for being proud. Not today.

He finds you later, once the crowds have dispersed and he doesn’t have to be a prince, just a man. “What a fine sword that is,” he remarks pleasantly.

You narrow your eyes. “Don’t. Don’t even.”

Caspian spreads his hands, the picture of innocence. “I have no idea what you could possibly be talking about.”

“You had better not,” you grumble.

He nods solemnly. “Of course. Just a random thought, however, it really is a nice blade. It must have been picked out by an exceedingly good swordsman. Perhaps even the best in the castle.”

You should be irritated with him for being so bothersome again. Instead, you find yourself fighting a smile. “It’s a shame, then, that the only swordsman here worth his salt is me.”

Caspian’s mouth drops comically. “That cannot be true.”

“It is,” you reply as casually as you can, “I come to you with only the best information, my prince. Only the best.”

He starts to respond, but something stops him, something that makes him smile quietly. Your stomach flips with the unsettling feeling of having missed out on a joke, but for once, you don’t entirely mind it. Instead, the two of you walk all the way back to the castle, and only when the diplomats arrive again must you be parted. It is not the worst use of your time.

Caspian finds you again two nights later. You’re on a shift guarding a section of the castle walls, which gives you an excellent view of the foreign powers riding away into the darkness. They’ve been here for days now, testing Caspian’s patience like no one else, not even you.

He joins you soon enough, exhaustedly leaning his arms up against the stone battlements. “I think I hate politics,” he murmurs into the night air.

You chuckle, the quiet sound abnormally loud in the darkness. It should make you self conscious, and it does, but not as much as it would for anyone else. The hot prick of awareness in your stomach is both doubly strong and doubly weak because you are next to Caspian; why, you cannot explain, but it is true.

“You are a prince,” you point out, “politics was always something you would have to do.”

Caspian groans. “That doesn’t mean I have to like it. That’s why I always envied you, you know. You got to carry the banner and fight the battles without any political conniving.”

You stare at him in shock. “That cannot be true. No future king could ever want to be a mere soldier.”

He laughs derisively. “As if you’ve ever been a mere soldier. Not to me,” he adds on afterthought, and you’re not sure that it was even meant for your ears, “no, not to me.”

You shake your head slowly. “But I thought you hated me. All this time, you’ve merely wanted to join me in fighting without a care?”

Caspian’s brow furrows. “Hate you? No, no. I never hated you. I never could hate you.”

He straightens up, slowly walking over to you. There is no one else on the castle wall to see you, no one below. Even still, your eyes feel like more than enough of an audience to find some reason to stop this before the pounding in your heart blocks out your ability to breathe properly.

“My prince,” you say, a warning. It doesn’t make him flinch like it used to, a blow grown familiar, worn down to the weight of a feather instead of that of a blade.

Caspian sighs, the listless air leaving him and vanishing just as quickly on the wind. “Don’t tell me you haven’t wanted this. That you’ve never thought about it.”

“I couldn’t,” you whisper, and something in you cracks in half when his face falls, “but you could.”

Caspian’s eyes dart cautiously up to you again. “Are you sure?”

Neither of you have to specify what he means for you to know. “Yes,” you breathe.

You did not anticipate this night to end with you kissing the crown prince of Narnia. That being said, you would not want to have it any other way. There may be foreign dignitaries out there plotting the end of his reign, or political turmoils present to claim most of his time, but tonight, Caspian is yours and yours alone. It makes you smile into him. It makes everything that much better.

narnia tag list: empty for now!

[hainethehero]

POC can forgive Tommy. That's a valid opinion, and it's not my place to inform them of their feelings on racism.

However, both Hen & Chim never imply forgiving Tommy after Tommy decides to treat them like they are humans (Chim specifically mentions still being isolated because of his race years after he started). They treat him kindly because they are kind people, even before he acknowledges them. Nor does Tommy ever apologise for some of his behaviour. Hen even goes as far as to state that she is not friends with people who had left the 118.

As a woman in a historically male industry, I've heard women get negative descriptions/comments for things men are praised for and had their opinions/requests ignored only for a man to bring up the same thing and it be heard. Tommy's brand of misogyny is still around. Based on his comments/tone in 7x03, I'm hard pressed to believe he's changed in that aspect.

A lot of people tolerate people who hurt them because it makes situations easier. (Not any less painful)

Y'all really need a crash course in contextualising/comprehension/media/plot literacy.

AGAIN-

Tommy's character was never intended as a mainstay. So all the redemption/reconciliation that happened, was only able to be shown in a small montage. The show isn't going to allocate a lot of time or a full episode for a redemption arc for a character that was not meant to be permanent.

The montage however, did show that Tommy Hen and Chim all reconciled. IT IS IMPLIED. That's why in later episodes, Chimney could still call on him to put out the house fire that nearly killed Eddie. And that's why he could still be trusted to be contacted when they needed to rescue Bobby and Athena.

Because Tommy's character didn't have the luxury of a full episode to redeem himself, the audience is expected to contextualize their reconciliation. We didn't see Tommy actually apologize, but we do see him and Hen and Chimney embracing each other after having a farewell party for him. That shit wouldn't happen if Hen did not like him/reconcile with him. Therefore IT IS IMPLIED.

We're not even sure if he'll be a mainstay in season 8. Or of he'll just be a peripheral character like before. The point is, his character won't be fully fleshed out until they decide if they're giving him a full arc as a main.

So y'all are crucifying his character before it even gets a chance to flourish because he's getting in the way of your preferred ship. It would be so much better if y'all can just admit that instead of virtue signaling & using racism as a means to justify your horrible behaviour towards not only Lou (who's just doing his job & now have to deal with delusional fanatics who send him death threats & make up lies about him as a person when they don't know him at all), but also fans of the show who like the BuckTommy ship.

Additionally, y'all have taken to socmed and have made the entire show about this, being absolutely INSUFFERABLE in all of the cast's comment sections whenever they post anything remotely related to buddie or Tommy. It's why Oliver deleted X, and it's why Ryan has a hard time being on socmed, why Aisha has her comments limited & why Tim Minear had to make a post about y'all sending him death threats after he didn't include the karaoke scene. It's insane behaviour.

It's also not lost on me, that y'all typically do this to female characters who get in the way of your preferred ship.

[caligvlasaqvarivm]

was in the process of starting writing an eridan centric no sburb au and the more i write the more i’m like goddamnit pale erikar is happening without me even trying you’ve 100% gotten me invested

YEAH. Even if you just go purely by canon, their personalities just wind up meshing so well.

Like how Karkat gives Eridan special treatment and is extra nice to him because he knows how rough it is to be in Eridan's thinkpan.

Or how Eridan is willing to immediately shelve his own problems whenever he hears that Karkat isn't doing well emotionally and basically demands to give him emotional support.

Or how Karkat lies to Vriska that nobody listens to him talk about quadrant stuff when we've seen them talk to each other and we know they gossip about that shit all the time.

Or how Eridan is basically the only person who's ever succeeded in getting Karkat to calm the fuck down, by virtue of his incredible obtuseness, like, he doesn't even need to try.

Or how Karkat makes a bunch of death threats to Eridan and Eridan takes it as "ironic repartee," meaning that Karkat's usual problem with mixed signals is not a problem to Eridan, because Eridan is honestly just happy for the attention.

Or how they're so in sync with each other that Karkat telling Past!Eridan that their pact is over led to Eridan assuming they have a pact, and Past!Karkat hears about it and just rolls with it, because apparently it makes sense that they have a pact or something with a caveat that they be nice to each other. Of course.

Or how they talk so often that Feferi outright laments how it leaves Eridan with nothing left to talk to her about.

Or how, even before he knows that Karkat is a mutant, Karkat is still one of his best friends, and their relationship doesn't change after Eridan finds out - in fact, unlike Vriska or Equius or Gamzee, who make comments about his blood color (Gamzee calls him a punchline blooded motherfucker), Eridan never even bothers to mention it. (Because he doesn't actually give a shit about the hemocaste, it's basically all performative).

Or how Eridan knows Karkat well enough to know that Gamzee's advice to just be chill and w/e doesn't work for Karkat.

Or how Karkat's response to Gamzee going murderous is "oh god oh fuck oh man oh fuck" and his message to Past!Gamzee is "get out of here, this barely even concerns you," but his response to Eridan going murderous is a very personal "fuck you, BACKSTABBER, HOW COULD YOU???"

Or how Karkat has a double-v typo once and there's a point where Eridan drops his double-letters and yells at Feferi in capslock 👉👈

And that's all JUST CANON. That's all stuff we've SEEN them do. If you start making some extrapolations, there's so much more.

Karkat's dream has always been to become a threshecutioner - a member of the Empress's strongest troops - seeking to find some sort of acceptance within the society that outcasted him if he could prove his worth that way. However, Karkat's the weakest fighter on the team, and given that Eridan's pissed off angels scared everybody else off his planet, it's likely he's one of the best fighters, if not THE best. Combined with his noble status, Eridan was on the fast track to, if not becoming a threshecutioner, then otherwise achieving some great rank or prestige within the Condesce's army. (Even Dualscar, laughable as he was, was still Mindfang's superior).

Karkat would think Eridan is badass.

Meanwhile, Eridan's problems nearly all stem from the pressure he feels to live up to the expectations on his shoulders, as a highblood, as the orphaner, as the person keeping his friends alive, and as a sea dweller. His is a world of constant anxiety and anguish, not helped by his innate troll/highblood volatility and his own knowledge of how dangerous he is. And Karkat is their self-described "fearless leader," who will happily tell everyone what to do.

Eridan would be relieved that the pressure is off his shoulders.

Karkat's had to live in fear for his life for nearly all of it; when Eridan got added to the group chat, Karkat was probably fucking terrified, especially when Feferi got added right after. Like, oh, fuck, it's a sea dweller (noted as being so hostile that even GAMZEE is nervous about being by the water for too long), oh fuck, he knows the heir apparent, oh fuck, he's an insane murderer.

And then... the sea dweller respects his authority. The sea dweller takes him completely seriously, once he gets past all the slurs and talk of genocide, which the sea dweller obviously doesn't actually mean (Eridan's contradictions are REALLY obvious, which is part of why nobody else takes him seriously). The sea dweller doesn't give a shit WHAT his blood color is.

Like, I think Karkat finds a weird sense of safety in having a violet-blood friend that he can make death threats to. Their last memo together implies that such "ironic repartee" is completely normal for the two of them, and I personally like the idea that Karkat at one point took issue with one of the insane shitty things that Eridan likes to say, went off on a classic Karkat Rant, and then went "oh wait. shit. fuck. im so dead," only for Eridan to completely laugh it off and treat it like casual joking around.

And Eridan just craves attention, positive or negative. He desperately wants people to take him seriously and care about him. Kanaya, Vriska, and Feferi don't, because frankly, they don't really get why he's got so many problems - they're all privileged and they like it! - and Terezi is like "yikes. wow. glad that's not my problem," while Gamzee just tells him to chill out (he can't, that's his entire issue) and Equius avoids (void joke ha ha) him. He doesn't really talk to the lowbloods, but given he doesn't express any casteist anti-lowblood sentiment specifically until he's mad at Sollux (and has totally caste-neutral opinions on Sollux before that), it's not even because he doesn't like lowbloods; one has to assume he's got a different reason for avoiding them - like his canonical guilt over all the murders, or an extrapolation of his general anxieties in that he doesn't like talking to people who are going to be dead before he's even 1/100 of a way through his own life, or that the lowbloods tend to avoid him because... yknow, -gestures to all of Eridan-.

But he always had plausible deniability when it came to Karkat, because Karkat was always anonblood; even if he assumes Karkat's an "assblood," he had no way to know for sure 'til he found out Karkat was an off-spec. And Karkat DOES take him seriously, or at least more seriously than anybody else, by a longshot. He's even willing to outright tell Eridan that it's not Eridan's fault Nepeta doesn't reciprocate his feelings. WHO ELSE WOULD DO SUCH A THING???

And on that topic is pity. They both extend to each other a pity that they don't really afford anyone else, and Karkat - with his uncanny romantic acumen - outright says that pity is the driving force for all non-pitch relationships. Because he's the only person who even acknowledges that Eridan's probelms are PROBLEMS, it's clear he feels pity for Eridan's utterly fried thinkpan. Meanwhile, Eridan seems to recognize how sensitive Karkat really is, IMMEDIATELY putting everything else on pause to try to provide Karkat emotional support whenever it's brought up that Karkat is sad.

Eridan never extends this kind of consideration toward anyone else, too busy grandstanding and putting on the Big Bad Sea Dweller act; Karkat never even extends this much sympathy to Gamzee, never once bothering to understand his religion, or comment on his shitty lusus or crisis of faith. Even when he tries to cheer Terezi up, it's not really with outright sympathy - he tries to build up how awesome he thinks she is, or take on the blame for the situation. But with Eridan, he just goes, yeah, okay, shut up. I know it's tough being you.

I think it's also pretty notable that although Eridan comments about how HYPOTHETICALLY Future!Karkat can't reject him because he's not Eridan's Current!Karkat, he has never actually hit on Karkat in any quadrant, as far as we've seen. And I'm even willing to believe that he never has - when he met Karkat, his pale and pitch quadrants were filled, and he was always pining after Feferi in flushed; it probably never even crossed his mind to see Karkat as a viable dating partner, and I think he likes their unofficial moirallegiance friendship exactly the aay it is - when he thinks Karkat is hitting on him pitchwise, his reaction isn't "yes let's date," it's a surprised "whoa, coming on kinda strong, there."

And just. Just. The way that Karkat took Eridan's murder spree so fucking personally, especially compared to Gamzee in the same memo. You BACKSTABBER. I HATE you (not enough to not talk to you for an extended period of time but still). How COULD you. I thought you loved her...

Like. Man. I think it would require a third party to point it out in order to get them together - Karkat seems to be kind of embarrassed by how often he talks to Eridan (because it's, y'know, ERIDAN), and has convinced himself that Eridan is SUCH a pathetic dumbass that OF COURSE it would never work out between them (keep telling yourself that, buddy, you're the one who started thinking about that in a conversation where Eridan literally was not hitting on you), and Eridan is, uh, a dumbass.

But even that's kind of tricky, because Karkat's mixed signals make their friendship read as weirdly pitch-coded (I don't think you're normally supposed to threaten death upon your moirail and call them slurs), and also, nobody really wants to imagine Eridan being in a happy, loving relationship. You run into this problem sometimes even in real life.

But he's kind of basically in one?????

Literally, society if Eridan and Karkat made it official -

[gulfiya007]

On lukola fandom

Here’s some venting about the lukola fandom, and its ways, and consequences, from an ordinary polin, Bridgerton and Luke fan.

Starting from the way Luke’s loved ones and friends are treated by its adherents. Especially his girlfriend. The hate towards her is visceral. The whole phenomenon of bullying and stalking someone just for existing and posting on their SM account from time to time probably needs to be studied by social studies scholars and parasocial relationship specialists, cause it’s new heights apparently.

So, what if she’s proud of Luke as her boyfriend and wants to show it? What if she wants to mark her territory sometimes, to which she has a right btw? What if she trolls haters and delusional IRL shippers occasionally? Hers is probably the most relatable behavior. I myself, as an introvert millennial who doesn’t run one single SM account and cringe from the exhibitionist nature of current SM posting practices, still recognize that there’s nothing unusual about that kind of posting per se. Why was Luke’s former gf, Jade, allowed to post him all the time (which is totally alright btw), but Antonia hinting at having, say, a dinner with Luke is shady, attention-seeking, desperate, needy and despicable?

It's not that I care particularly about her. In fact, I couldn’t care less if she’s replaced by Luke with some other woman in a couple of months or if she is his future wife and mother to his kids. I still believe, regardless of her status in the relationship, she deserves basic respect and decent treatment as a human being that we know pretty much nothing about. She does not deserve the vilification and demonization that she gets.

Luke too, has a right to privacy and respect for his personal choices that are nobody’s business. He owes no one anything in terms of disclosing his dating life and confirming his relationships. If for someone, Luke bringing the girl to almost all his travels and events with himself, is not a proof or statement in and of itself about her being his girlfriend, then that’s on them. No amount of intentional misreading and skewed takes on photos will trump this simple fact.

Also please don’t bring up virtue signaling and other cancel culture stupidities, such as moral judgements passed on Luke and his close ones for political or other values purportedly held by them, of which we in fact know zilch. It’s clear that this is just another useful tool in a shipping crusade.

Nicola too, deserves, for a change, to have her numerous statements taken seriously. Let alone, privacy. She’s being stalked by her so-called fans to insanity. I am sure she, to put it mildly, is uncomfortable about her “queen” and “goddess” status among the cultists, and being a projection vessel for a myriad of sad women. Cause she knows very well this type of passionate idolatry is an inch away from hate, and the plus sign switches to a minus sign the minute she does something not to their liking, a wrong brand or person supported, or not enough disciplining of Luke is exercised. The most delusional thing about lukolas is them truly believing themselves to be Nic’s or Luke’s fans.

Which brings us to the crux of the matter. That IRL shipping is bad, period. Some lukola bloggers on tumblr, TT and IG half-heartedly try to reign in and admonish the more unhinged segment of the fandom by telling them to behave and not bring their bul..t to the actors' feet. However, this is what the lukola discourse platforms, by simply existing, still do - breed crazy fan behavior. Because the problem lies in the belief system itself. No amount of reservations, house-keeping and discipline by lukola discourse 'leaders' will do away with the tenets and premises of this religion that seep through and twist every discussion and speculation about the figures involved (Luke, Nic, etc). Since every reasoning should work towards a certain end goal, all means and distortions are good to achieve it. Finding faults with Luke's character and behavior and demanding a 'redemption' from him, hating and criticizing Luke's friends and family, attributing motivations to the actors and their loved ones that best suit theories, online stalking etc. A myth about Luke ever publicly stating he was single during promo, a ridiculous myth about Bridgerton cast and showrunners shipping lukola (news flash – nobody in the cast cares about their co-stars’ private lives, stop the kindergarten), or the “papgate” affecting in any way Luke’s job prospects. Myths upon myths that build the house of cards of the lukola dogma. I myself wouldn’t care a damn about this fandom if it really contained itself to its close corners and group chats, however, unsurprisingly, they spill over in a grand fashion and permeate all discourse.

You really believe the innocent delulu fangirling has no by-products? These are the staple manifestations of the lukola and of any IRL shipping fandom, and popular lukola theorists are pretty successful in justifying and reinforcing them. And it should not be surprising that some followers, the most zealous and stupid ones, take it too far and actually harass people and be annoying in SM.

As a Luke and polin fan, I am annoyed by this, but I am 100% sure this sh*t is affecting the actors, and you all can kiss goodbye to the chemistry between Luke and Nic naturally displayed during promo. I am sure polin will not be affected, for L and N are excellent actors and friends, but you all soon will look sadly back to S3 promo tour as magic that will never come back.

[damnfandomproblems]

Fandom Problem 4387:

I'm not really sure when this change happened but at some point people decided that the burden of not interacting with anyone you don't want to interact with lies with everyone EXCEPT yourself.

We see this in DNIs, that range from "no racists / no Nazis" to "you must have the exact same opinions on every single cartoon as me". (First off, do you really expect extremist bigots to respect your DNI? That people like that just won't bother you if you ask them not to? If anything DNIs function only as a virtue signaling tool to tell people we deem Good People that we are also Good People.)

Just friggin use the block button, that's the only reliable way to make sure you never have to see or talk to anyone you don't want to, be it because they're racist extremists or because you don't like their headcanons about your favorite anime character, wherever you decide to draw the line at.

Another way is people yelling at people for "making gross fanfic and fanart!!" just, don't click it then? wtf it's not hard.

But bottom line, this is the internet. Before you even log in anywhere you need to prepare for the possibility that you're gonna see some cursed shit sooner or later. It's just part of being online. Shock sites have been around forever. "But the kiiidsss!!!-" shouldn't even be ON here if they aren't able to manage themselves.

Also this whole attitude that "everyone adult is an eeeviil pedophile groomer out to get you, EXCEPT *ME* OF COURSE YOU CAN TRUST *ME*, I AM YOUR GUARDIAN ANGEL LOOKING OUT FOR YOU BUT NO ONE ELSE CAN BE TRUSTED!" Is DEFINITELY going to make it much easier for actual predators to hide in plain sight. Also? People could just be lying? Anyone could SAY they're a minor, to get the trust of other minors. IF kids are going to be on the internet, at least give them the tools to protect themselves. This means, don't list out every single thing that could be used to identify you and then slap "pedos DNI!!!" at the end and expect them to just leave, cause that's not gonna work. And don't assume everyone is always being honest, someone could SAY they're 15 and trans to try to relate to you, but you can't be sure WHO they are really, so don't give out any information that could be used against you.

And no, it's not "victim blaming" to say we should teach kids basic internet safety, any more than it would be "victim blaming" to teach kids not to dart into a busy street. "Stranger danger" isn't new but it sure seems like a lot of people have forgotten about it. Everyone has a responsibility to keep themselves safe. If someone--of any age--can't handle that responsibility THEY SHOULD NOT BE ONLINE.

[unofficial-estonia]

why is ur pfp 🇺🇦 it has nothing to do with estonia

Alright, I’ll humour you. Really, nothing to do with Estonia?

What exactly is Ukraine currently doing, huh? Could it possibly be fighting for their independence against the terrorist organisation that lies to East of both Estonia and Ukraine? No?

Would you imagine that Estonia is very invested in Ukrainian victory and that Estonians very strongly support Ukrainians???

That includes us having Ukrainian flags everywhere, to remind ourselves and people outside Eastern Europe that r*zzia is still invading Ukraine.

Could this be considered virtue signalling or whatever else buzz-word? Maybe. I’ll happily virtue signal Ukraine’s right to self-determination though.

Next time you need to take a verbal shit go to the bathroom, not my inbox.

[darkeagleruins]

From David Thomsen:

An Open Letter to Leftists: On July 13, 2024 things CHANGED. For too long you have mistaken our TOLERANCE for weakness and it emboldened you. That TIME has come to an END. Things are going to happen FAST now and you will find yourself wondering HOW you got here. So, here’s how.

You called us RACISTS while we were standing together as WHITE, BLACK, & BROWN Americans. You overwhelmed us with images of races unable to COEXIST. Then came DEI, reparations, & constant ATTACKS for even the smallest perceived slight. You needed us DIVIDED, which was the GOAL.

We supported GAY marriage and didn’t notice the TQIA’s at first. Then you went after OUR KIDS, openly flaunted your sexuality, & made PRONOUNS a weapon. You had men competing in WOMEN’s sports and invading their private spaces. And again you demonized those that DARE push back.

We got behind “ME TOO”, not knowing the intent. The slightest accusation became grounds for MOB RULE. You cancelled and shamed. You made being a MAN the problem. Toxic MASCULINITY was the phrase of the day. So we watched you TEACH AND RAISE a generation of SOFT, feckless boys.

WE’RE ALL immigrants and our ancestors did it RIGHT. They learned English, got JOBS, and assimilated into the culture in order to be a part of this GREAT NATION. Then you allowed an INVASION, gave them handouts, and let them do as they LIKE. Hell, you even wanted them to VOTE.

You changed the NAMES of mountains, and buildings, and teams to ERASE our history. You took the pledge out of schools, knelt during the anthem, and burned our FLAG!! And did it while proudly displaying those of OTHER countries and movements. You made PATRIOT a dirty word.

You took away our VOICE. Media STOPPED even talking about OUR side. You PREACHED to us during our shows, on the NEWS and in the theatres. VIRTUE SIGNALING at every turn. And you LIED. Telling us not to BELIEVE what we were seeing with our own EYES. We felt isolated, even CRAZY.

Then HE came along. He was brash, RAW, but grew on US. He wanted to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN. He spoke to the helplessness we FELT. You said RUSSIA was his handler. You attacked his CHARACTER, his family. And yet, HE WON. You didn’t let us CELEBRATE though. You said he CHEATED.

So you took to the STREETS. You PROTESTED, and BURNT, and THREATENED, and ATTACKED. Our fascist response was to remain SILENT. We heard every single day that, ORANGE MAN bad. The economy was STRONG, the world was SAFE, and the WALL was going up. You couldn’t let that STAND.

Then came your VIRUS. You locked us in OUR HOMES, hurt our businesses, stole moments from our CHILDREN they won’t ever get back. Keeping us separated became LAW. You killed our ELDERLY and VULNERABLE. Then you FORCED us to inject a CURE. If we refused, you SHAMED and fired us.

You LIED some more. A lot more. You covered up LAPTOPS, mobilized your ARMY of celebs, and smeared the man’s RECORD and reputation. Worse yet, you CHEATED. At least you told us the BLUE WAVE was coming. We didn’t expect it to happen while we were SLEEPING. You STOLE an election.

The best of US finally stood & took to the STREETS. You provoked us and let us walk into that BUILDING. You killed a woman and PROSECUTED the rest. You locked us up. You CENSORED us. Made sure we couldn’t RISE. You weaponized LAW and laughed as YOU DID IT. You thought you’d WON.

We sat and watched you destroy our COUNTRY. You defunded our POLICE, allowing crime to run RAMPANT. You spent to the point we couldn’t AFFORD to live. You abandoned BASES, and EMBASSIES, and allies. You made us WEAK. Then OTHERS began to awake. So you became DESPERATE, more vile.

You convicted him of CRIMES he didn’t commit on CHARGES you didn’t define. You tried to take his FORTUNE. Your leaders called him a THREAT and a fascist. You called him HITLER. And you DEMONIZED EACH AND EVERY ONE OF US. We lost friends and FAMILY. MSM spent everyday on our EVIL.

Then SHOTS rang out. YOU NEARLY KILLED HIM. But the man ROSE. He lifted his FIST in the air and told us to FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT. This selfish, HATEFUL, ugly man nearly gave all to save a COUNTRY he LOVES. And we’d been afraid to wear a RED HAT? Our eyes teared with ANGER, respect.

He withstood all you could MUSTER. And in doing so, he EMPOWERED us. And so now you see, the REAL men and REAL women are coming to take our COUNTRY back. We won’t be SILENCED, we can’t be STOPPED. You will watch as every ounce of POWER you once held is returned to the PEOPLE.

We will restore LAW AND ORDER and ILLEGALS will be shown the door. WE will retake our SCHOOLS, our cities, and our STATES. The minority will NO LONGER dictate to a once silent MAJORITY. We the PEOPLE of the United States of America LOVE this man and country. We will and are MAGA!

[maxdibert]

Hi I have read many of your James posts and so far I agree with all of them. What gets me wondering however is someone like Lily Evans - potrayed as the saintly morally good character - dating someone like James - an entitled bully who kept his jerkish behavior even after he supposedly changed. Who do you think she was? Did she excused James's behavior because she found him attractive and thought she could change him? Or that he would change for her? Was she downplaying his faults because she fell in love? Or was she simply too naive? I cannot believe a person who would marry a person with so many faults like James wouldn't also be far off from being jerkish themselves. And what about her relationship with Severus? Was she as attached to him as he was? Why was she friends with him for so long if she was excusing his prejudice for years? I'm so conflicted about her. The author implies she is something but the text kind of goes against that. As someone who is pro snape and knows Lily was a big part of his life what do you think about her, her motives, actions or relationships? I love your opinions a lot btw never stop sharing them😄

I looove to talk about Lily because her character sucks. And not because of her, but because HOW Rowling portrays her. Sooo.. Lets go! Lily is emblematic of a significant issue in the series: the tendency to use female characters as tools for male development rather than as complex individuals with their own arcs. In Lily’s case, her character functions primarily as a moral barometer—she exists to reflect the “goodness” or “badness” of the men around her. Her choices and relationships with James and Severus are less about her own desires, values, or growth and more about how they impact these two men. This framing does Lily a disservice, stripping her of agency and interiority while simultaneously burdening her with the narrative role of deciding who is worthy and who is not

Rowling’s portrayal of Lily is heavily idealized. She is the perfect mother who sacrifices herself for her son, the brilliant and talented witch who stands out even among her peers, and the moral compass who chooses “good” (James) over “evil” (Severus). This construction paints her as infallible, a paragon of virtue, and the embodiment of love and selflessness. However, this saintly image is rarely interrogated within the text.

The problem lies in the dissonance between how Lily is presented and the decisions she makes. If she is meant to represent moral perfection, her marriage to James —a character whose flaws remain evident even after his supposed redemption—creates a contradiction. James, even as an adult, retains the arrogance and hostility that defined his youth, particularly in his continued disdain for Snape. If Lily was as discerning and principled as the narrative suggests, why would she align herself with someone whose values and behavior contradict the ideal of Gryffindor bravery and fairness?

This contradiction weakens her role as a moral arbiter, making her decisions feel less like the result of her own judgment and more like a narrative convenience to validate James’s redemption. By choosing James, she implicitly forgives or overlooks his past bullying, signaling that his actions were excusable or irrelevant to his worthiness as a partner. This not only diminishes the impact of James’s flaws but also undermines Lily’s supposed moral clarity.

Lily’s role mirrors a common, harmful trope: the woman as a moral compass or fixer for flawed men. Her purpose becomes external rather than internal—she isn’t there to pursue her own goals, ideals, or struggles but to serve as a benchmark for others’ morality. It’s as if Lily’s worth as a character is determined solely by her relationships with James and Severus rather than her own journey.

By failing to give Lily meaningful contradictions or flaws, Rowling inadvertently creates a character who feels passive and complicit. Her saintly veneer prevents her from being truly human, as real people are defined by their contradictions, growth, and mistakes. Yet Lily is static, existing only to highlight James’s "redemption" or Severus’s "fall."

This lack of depth reflects a broader issue with how women are often written in male-centric narratives: their stories are secondary, their personalities flattened, and their actions only meaningful in the context of the men they influence. It’s a stark reminder of the gender bias present in the series, where women like Lily, Narcissa, and even Hermione are often used to drive or validate male characters’ arcs rather than having their own fully developed trajectories.

Regarding Lily and Severus relationship, their bond begins in a world where both feel alienated. Severus, growing up in the oppressive and neglectful environment of Spinner’s End, finds in Lily not only a companion but a source of light and warmth that he lacks at home. For Lily, Severus is her first glimpse into the magical world, a realm that she belongs to but doesn’t yet understand. Their friendship is symbiotic in its earliest stages: Severus offers Lily knowledge of her magical identity, while she provides him with acceptance and validation. However, this connection, while powerful in childhood, rests on a fragile foundation—one that fails to evolve as their circumstances and priorities shift. When they arrive at Hogwarts, the cracks in their bond begin to surface. While Lily flourishes socially, Severus becomes increasingly marginalized and becomes a frequent target of James Potter and Sirius Black. This social isolation only deepens his reliance on Lily, but for her, this dependency becomes increasingly difficult to sustain.

It’s important to recognize that Lily’s discomfort isn’t only moral; it’s also social. By the time of their falling out, Lily has fully integrated into the Gryffindor social circle, gaining the admiration of her peers and, most notably, James Potter. Her association with Severus, now firmly positioned as an outsider and a future Death Eater, risks undermining her own social standing. While her final break with Severus is framed as a principled decision, it’s difficult to ignore the role that social dynamics might have played in her choice.

It’s worth considering that Lily’s shift toward James wasn’t necessarily a sudden change of heart but rather the culmination of an attraction that may have existed all along, one rooted in what he represented rather than who he was. James Potter, as the embodiment of magical privilege—a pure-blood, wealthy, socially adored Gryffindor golden boy—offered Lily something that Severus never could: validation within the magical world’s elite.

Though Lily was undoubtedly principled, it’s plausible that, beneath her moral convictions, there was a more human, and yes, superficial, desire for recognition and security in a world that was, for her, both wondrous and alien. Coming from a working-class, Muggle-born background, Lily would have been acutely aware of her outsider status, no matter how talented or well-liked she became. James’s relentless pursuit of her, despite his arrogance and bullying tendencies, may have been flattering in ways that bolstered her sense of belonging. James’s attention wasn’t just personal—it was symbolic. His interest in her, as someone who could have easily chosen a pure-blood witch from his own social echelon, signaled to her and to others that she was not only worthy of respect but desirable within the upper echelons of wizarding society.

This dynamic raises uncomfortable questions about Lily’s character. Could it be that she tolerated James’s antics, not because she believed he would change for her, but because she enjoyed the social validation his affection brought her? Interestingly, this interpretation aligns Lily more closely with her sister Petunia than one might initially expect. Petunia’s marriage to Vernon provided her with the stability and status she craved within the Muggle world. Both sisters may have sought partners who could anchor them in environments where they otherwise felt insecure. For Petunia, that meant latching onto the image of suburban perfection through Vernon. For Lily, it may have meant aligning herself with someone like James, whose wealth, status, and pure-blood background offered her a kind of social and cultural security in the magical world.

If we view Lily’s relationship with James through this lens, her character becomes far less idealized and far more human. Rather than being the moral paragon the series portrays, she emerges as a young woman navigating an uncertain world, making choices that are as practical as they are principled. While it’s clear she disapproved of James’s bullying, it’s equally possible that his persistence, confidence, and status were qualities she found increasingly difficult to resist—not because they aligned with her values, but because they appealed to her insecurities.

It’s also worth noting that Lily’s final break with Severus coincided with her growing relationship with James. This timing is telling. Severus, a social outcast from a poor background, represented the antithesis of James. By cutting ties with Severus, Lily not only distanced herself from the moral ambiguities of his choices but also from the social liabilities he represented. Aligning with James, by contrast, placed her firmly within the Gryffindor elite—a position that would have offered her both social protection and personal validation. And this whole perspective is much more interesting than her image as a moral compass for the men around her. Unfortunately, as with many of her characters, Rowling didn’t put any effort into giving us definitive answers; she just insisted on that unhealthy, idealized view of motherhood and the idea that everything is forgiven if you're on the "right" side and rich and popular.

Sorry for the long text, but whenever the topic of Lily comes up, I tend to go on and on, haha.

[allaboutalf]

Getting ready to drag out the old stan X/Twitter account cause wtf do you mean people who have watched the show for about two weeks & have only interacted with toxic buddie shippers are now jumping on the Tommy hate train?

There’s someone who got some traction live tweeting their watch about a week ago & it’s mind blowing to see them go from being neutral but into buddie to a full on easily led hater cause they’ve only interacted with vocal toxic fans.

Asking why people like Tommy when “all he did was be awful to Chim & Hen, apologise offscreen and kiss Buck”. If they just watched the eps about a week ago how did they forget that Tommy, Chim & Hen resolved their differences on screen & that Tommy literally risked his job & life to rescue Bobby & Athena just cause Chim asked.

You don’t have to love Tommy but the forced hate & ignoring his character development is frustrating.

It also is weird that they’ll double down on hating him over it all (& I know they’re doing it cause he’s the LI in the way of their ship) but hand wave away anything any of the other characters have done. None of them are perfect.

Plus, this whole virtue signaling narrative they’ve invented that he could have outed Buck to Eddie over a snarky closet joke that only Buck and the audience had context for - Eddie had literally just mentioned closet space - is so ridiculous it’s laughable. None of them cared when the episode aired but cause it’s gained traction within the toxic buddie fandom as something they can use to turn people against Tommy they’re now all jumping on to use it as a reason to hate.

I’m so so close to joining the few buddie and bucktommy/Kinley shippers over there I see trying to push back (& I do see you guys, I know you’re on here cause it’s a nicer environment, & I thank you for being willing to try to get through to those who are willfully ignorant). But while I like to vent here I really don’t want to engage with them.

[severeprincesheep]

I do feel sorry for Neil Gaiman fans because I too have been disappointed in artists that have meant a lot to me. I guess the reason why I've never been a fan of this particular author is because, as far as I can tell, he's mostly a children's author and I'm too old for kids' stuff. it's just not fair for an adult to engage with children's entertainment and then complain when she doesn't like it. Why would she? It's not for her demography. As long as the children love it that's what matters.

But I am qualified to say that judging from the clips that I was exposed to on Tumblr Good Omens is pure religion propaganda disguised as LGBT empowerment.

I am thinking specifically of that scene where Jesus is apparently being crucified and the devil is visibly disturbed by the violence - why? He's a devil and Hell is supposed to be a horrible place of endless torture perpetrated by devils just like him. People were crucified to death by Romans all the time, this was a very common thing.

The angel tells him that humans are killing Jesus simply for having asked them to love one another, that's all. And the devil says "Yeah, that'll do it", as if anyone has ever been crucified for this reason. Let's give ourselves some credit as a species, please.

First things first

1 - Jesus is a fictional character, not an historical figure, and God doesn't exist.

2 - In the New Testament Jesus is crucified for challenging the authority of the Romans when He says that He is God made flesh and that God is the boss of everything, including Judea. The Romans can see He is gathering quite a following of fanatics who will do anything He says, so they crucify Him like they typically did IRL to those who opposed Roman authority. That's it.

And finally

3 - Jesus did not invent the concept of loving your fellow man, but He did invent threatening people with Hell everlasting if they did not accept Him as their Messiah. You could be the best person ever, who's done nothing but wonderful things all your life, but Jesus is only impressed if you believe in Him, if not you're going to Hell, out of spite presumably; but also because the authors of this fairy tale really wanted to force you to believe in their made-up fictional character as a real thing. This is intellectual terrorism and no one has the right to do this to you.

Good Omens was an all out, masks off, only too obviously transparent religion propaganda that told lies to children... but that's ok, because Neil Gaiman the famous author and rapist brought it to you and packaged it in the form of a gay couple, one of whom was David Tennant, on steroids - the guy who said he doesn't like black women talking too loud.

Wow, another male gay couple for girls to adore - what is this, only the 465723554657 time that I've seen this on TV so far? What an irresistible proposition for Tumblr girls who can never pass up on the opportunity to virtue signal their support for the LGBT community.

But only if it's gay men, that's well understood. Being an LGBT supporter is only virtuous if it's in reality a thinly disguised support for men. Women will always be up for it with slavishly abject devotion, and men would sooner die than support any woman or any female couple whose love by definition excludes them and their sexual desires.

[hainethehero]

Let me make this CLEAR:

POC'S have a right to dislike Tommy based on his racist past.

POC'S have a right to dislike Ryan based on his use of and defense of using racial slurs.

What I am seeing, though, is A LOT of the fandom virtue signaling but making every excuse in the book for Ryan. Hating on Tommy is valid, but not when you excuse the other entity who made racist remarks IRL, just to validate your ship.

It is utterly disingenuous of a majority of the 911/buddie fandom to hate on Tommy (the character) for his racial discrimination in the past, but to love Ryan who's defended using racial slurs IRL.

Like, we get it. You really want buddie to happen. But hating Tommy (THE SAME WAY YALL HATE ON FEMALE CHARACTERS THAT GET IN THE WAY OF YOUR SHIP/OTP) is such terrible behaviour.

I'd also like to enter actual 911 canon into the record for your memory-loss:

Both Tommy and Hen reconciled their relationship in S2.

Both Tommy and Chimney reconciled their relationship in S2.

They even had a going away party for Tommy (if I remember correctly, there was cake.)

Chimney called Tommy to save the 118 in S2.

Tommy showed up to help Hen and the 118 in S7.

All of this to say, we KNOW you don't like Tommy because he's getting in the way of buddie. I'm a buddie fan, I want them to happen. But I disagree with villainizing Tommy and using racism as the excuse (valid) but excusing racism when it comes to Ryan.

Buddie shippers have even attacked Lou and made up egregious lies about the man just to justify the unnecessary hate they're sending him. (I've seen it on Tumblr & X)

And to the buckTommy shippers:

Disliking Ryan for his use/defense of racial slurs is VALID.

But, making up lies and saying he hates women, is misogynistic and is a violent person with incel tendencies is absolutely atrocious. These claims are unfounded and are just straight up malicious. (although this was mostly seen from buddie tweets & reddits/subreddits circa 2019-2021)

And finally, (AGAIN)

Hating on Ryan for his use of/defense of racial slurs is VALID.

But it is also valid to acknowledge the fact that Ryan has been the ONLY one out of the entire cast to post/speak out against the Palestinian genocide. No one else has said a word.

It's easy to judge morality when your own character isn't on a public trial. Please remember the cast- Lou included- is made up of real human beings. And that they're just making a show and doing their jobs. This level of persecution is NOT IT.