#protect yourself and everyone else

[lyriumsings]

baldurs gate is so funny it’s just

laezel &shadowheart: let’s break you outta this religious cult!

wyll & gale: let’s break you outta this unhealthy relationship!

astarion & karlach: let’s break the people who broke you!

that’s it that’s the game

[chittychittyyangyang]

“Knowing what it is to feel loved…”

So, I want to preface this by saying some of this is from my own personal experience as well as just kind of what I know from adopted people in general. While not outright stated, Summer Rose basically did adopt her, and the fact he was so young when Summer died, and she found out about Raven are both relevant. Because I feel like if Yang truly knew what it was like to feel loved on a deep, visceral level, she wouldn’t put herself in a position to always sacrifice herself for others. She wouldn’t martyr herself and have someone else feel the pain she has felt by leaving them behind.

The thing is, I don't think people understand how unlovable you can feel when you are adopted. Our society, puts motherhood on such a pedestal (and RWBY not existing in a vacuum we can assume there too), that it is so easy for a child to internalize there is something inherently unlovable about them that would make their own mother give them up. And you can just learn that as a kid even under ideal circumstances where others try to make you feel loved. Had Summer not left, Yang could have possibly lived a happy life without ever knowing Raven didn’t want her. But that’s not what happened. She had two mothers leave her and was left with a dad unable to take care of her and having to step up for her sister. No one ever stays, and Yang has to be the one to pick up the pieces.

When Beacon fell, Blake ran, Weiss’s father came and took her back to Atlas, and Ruby went off on her mission. Her own father says in ear shot he can’t go looking for Ruby because he has “to look after other things” while looking over to Yang’s room. As if she’s in the way of the daughter he really cares about because he out right states she reminds him of Raven. Speaking of, imagine growing up knowing your dad almost resents you for reminding him of the mother who left you, who you’ve been trying desperately to find, only to find out your father knew where she was and was intentionally keeping that information from you. Yang’s feelings of being unloved are so directly tied to being Raven’s daughter, and being forced into a parental role way before she should have been. I also mentioned with Blake in another post, that she did everything “right” with Blake, and she still left without even saying anything. “What if I needed her here for me?” Blake leaving her is just further proof that she must inherently be unlovable and not enough to stick around for.

Yang’s feelings seem so secondary to her that she finally finds Raven to help find Ruby. Yang gets to confront a woman who is nothing like the woman Tai eventually told her about, just for Raven to deflect and not answer the question of why she left. Yang’s feelings truly don’t matter right now because right now this is about getting to Ruby. Never mind, finding her trying to find Raven was how we were introduced to her character (Yellow Trailer). When Yang gets to confront her again, no one around, call Raven out on her shit, all but beg Raven to pick her over power and safety. Beg Raven to be a mother to her and love her, and Raven can’t. We, the audience, can see that Raven is conflicted and loves Yang as much as she can (which Yang can’t see because her back is to her), but it’s truly not good enough. It’s not what Yang needs. Raven might have been able to come up with an excuse before for leaving Yang, but now Raven is actively not picking to her face. Because in the end no one picks Yang.

But Blake did. Blake picked her all the way back in the Emerald Forest, and as far as we know Yang doesn’t know that. We don’t know if Yang knows that Blake ran to keep her safe. Yang doesn’t know Blake wanted her to hate her to further keep her safe. Everything Blake did was for Yang, but Yang doesn’t know that. Yang doesn’t know Blake is doing so well now because of Yang being in her life. Blake is in a perfect position to be there for Yang now and help Yang feel loved. Blake has gone through her journey and processing, and she’s seen and been demonstrated loved through her parents. We can only truly understand love when it’s been demonstrated for us. Yang has never had that, and Blake can be there to focus on her needs and show her what a good partner is like, because she knows what a bad one can be. Blake can take the lead and allow her to feel love in a way neither of them has felt before. It won’t completely fix Yang’s feelings of abandonment, but Blake can be there to help her hold that feeling so it’s not such a heavy burden.

[snekdood]

if ppl telling you "jewish ppl in israel were already kicked out of other countries and have no where else to go" makes you feel compelled to call whoever said that a "zionist", I really just dont think you give af about jewish ppl's lives quite frankly.

if your "free palestine" means "getting rid" of all jewish civilians in israel I think you're probably just a heartless asshole.

[starlaslight]

//rewatching the roy vs lust scene and seeing Roy get stabbed makes me feel things every single time.

[immobiliter]

i loooove rewatching furina's trial because it's so satisfying to watch her slowly lose control of the narrative in the way that she does

[shokupankoart]

Fogged mind (´∀`)

[angel---eater]

ohhhh my god WHY are animation students the snobbiest goddamn people alive. holy shit. you cant say that shit and then also say to lower your standards wrt your own art what the fuuuuuck

like holy fuck im about to pull out my 'my dad was working in animation decades before i was born and only very recently left' card. you wouldnt survive the asylum i was raised in. i was playin on the floor of animation studios before i could walk. you dont know the hells ive seen theyre gonna boil you alive sis

[theriverdalereviewer]

everyone jumping to team kamala we will never experience true freedom in this country

[tuiyla]

You might have not have an opinion on this but I’ve been rewatching Grilled Cheesus and I feel like the framing is so weird?? It’s fundamentally about Kurt and his dad and since they start the whole religious thing FOR Kurt to support him, the issue shouldn’t be religion. As soon as Kurt said he didn’t everybody to pray for him in school, and that it made him uncomfortable enough to complain, it should just be done. Everybody can pray themselves, leave the Hummels out of it. Thoughts?

I have thoughts!

I have a vague memory of debating this with people on the sub, back in the day because the framing is so weird. It's that Glee problem of feeling like they must suddenly be a PSA and present all angles, even at the cost of character and a satisfying narrative. The other glaring instance I can think of is the suicide discussion scene with the God Squad in 3x14. Why must they always do this with Kuinn?

The problem with Grilled Cheesus is that it's trying to be Kurt's story but also wants to present this middle road of "religion works for some and not for others". And there aren't any inherent problems with that messaging. It's perfectly valid for people to seek comfort in religion and equally valid for others not to want anything to do with it. But this is Kurt's story and he makes his feelings clear. It's frustrating to watch characters cross his boundaries and insist that he's being ungrateful when he's already going through an extremely traumatic time. I honestly don't know why Glee thought this was the way to achieve balance.

I think everyone is being kind of a prick to Kurt in this episode, frankly. Even sweet Mercedes whose good intentions I appreciate and I usually stan is being way too pushy with her closest friend. All Kurt needed was her support and respect and Mercedes is usually excellent at giving that but the episode uses her and Quinn as religious spokespeople. They're ideas in Grilled Cheesus, not people. At least Mercedes is still more respectful than Quinn but even she's being way too pushy. No should be no. And even if some of Kurt says is harsh, he's still allowing people to do whatever they want with their faith and is just asking them to leave him and Burt alone. The prayer scene in the hospital feels particularly disrespectful. Because yes, who knows how Burt feels and it can't hurt, but Kurt has explicitly asked them to back off. Pray at home or at church, ffs! And no, I don't think Carole had the 'authority" to overwrite Kurt's wishes in this particular case. If anything, Carole should have stood behind Kurt.

The characters advocating for religion or even a conversation really betray that they aren't truly in it for Kurt. Otherwise, they would have left well enough alone the moment Kurt expressed discomfort. There's a time and a place for civil debates but right after his dad's heart attack ain't it. And I love Quinn and write a lot about how dirty she was done and all that so I feel I have permission to say this but she just really sucks in this episode. She feels so entitled and makes it clear that her making a statement about faith is more important to her than Kurt's feelings. I wouldn't say someone like Sue who is ardently on the opposite side is much better because she doesn't have Kurt's best interests in mind, either, but she's at least a little more supportive. And she's supposed to be the villain! And don't get me started on William Shitecester who takes this as an opportunity for dialogue. What a shit teacher you must be to prioritize a lesson over the wellbeing of a student in crisis.

I also dislike how people ignore Kurt's valid reasons to dislike religion, again a sign of hypocrisy. Because yeah, Kurt is being kinda harsh but who wouldn't give him a pass in this situation, and the ignorance of the Glee Club to not consider the church's historic distaste for gay people is infuriating. Easy to say god welcomes everyone or whatever when people like you haven't been persecuted for hundreds of years. And as all this is going on Kurt is getting severely bullied at school for being gay so what excuse do they have for not taking his identity into consideration? That they don't really care. Everyone is so self-absorbed and self-righteous in this episode it's painful to see.

The audacity of people to call Kurt ungrateful and intolerant is what pisses me off the most. On the one hand, the episode works well to establish how alienated Kurt is starting to feel even within the New Directions and it builds towards him going to Dalton, which I like and consider good storytelling. On the other, it's incredibly frustrating to watch this kid be so isolated when he would need his friends the most just because Glee decided (and in-universe Schue) that they wanted to preach about religious tolerance. Just leave the damn kid alone. It's just one of those instances where we should not be having philosophical discussions; literally who gives a fuck, Kurt might lose his only living parent! So Grilled Cheesus as a whole is a frustrating watch despite me appreciating certain storytelling elements.

If anything, Anon, I have too many opinions on this. Some of it is strong feelings about the injustice and hypocrisy of it all but the rest are just frustrations on a story level because it feels so unnecessary. But the bottom line is that Kurt was right and his friends should have respected him more than their religious preaching. And again, just pray at home or go to church and discuss it with your pastor. Not the time to try and convince your friend that religion can be good, actually. Who gives a fuck, literally read the room Stacy.

[lunieloon]

🎶Gonna Make a Heartthrob Outta Me...🎶

More Howard art! I have a problem I know 😅 (ramble below :>)

I've been listening to a lot of Marianas Trench recently and I think a lot of their songs match his backstory! Especially Desperate Measures and Celebrity Status

I think he plays into the "party boy rockstar" persona a lot more after Dewy dies (and especially when he first meets Astro, Nebula, and Edwin) of course, it's more of a way to cope than anything else.

He starts to believe there really is no escpaing destiny so he tries to full send it into the whole "star shapelings are meant to be crazy famous celebrities because if not it means you've failed" mentality. Despite knowing deep down it isn't the life he really wants. But he doesn't know of any other path to take.

His time in the Big 3 was very short lived though, and that's probably for the better. It gave him the time he needed to mourn and figure himself out. Being out of the public eye was the best thing that could happen to him.

But Astro and Nebula being gone was still devastating to him. When their daughters return, he knows there's no one left to take care of them. So he takes them in. Seeing Starlet do everything she can to protect her younger sister reminded him of himself.

Howard becomes the kind of person he needed when he was Starlet's age, and he works hard as her mentor to make sure she doesn't feel alone being the Star of the Big 3 like he was.

[isekyaaa]

wld love to hear ur thoughts abt ur last post on true selves - @milkstore

It's really simple tbh? Basically people have this assumption that if they've never opened up to you, you can't ever know their "true face." They assume that the face that they show to the world is heavily divorced from their true self. Sure doesn't help when they act differently around different people, blah blah blah. To them, their masks are lies and their heart is truth. To be honest, I'm not sure I understand why these people think this way. Are not the different faces a person wears just different facets of their personality?

Regardless, I think because people operate under the assumption that the masks they show to the world aren't their true self, they assume they can't ever be known without their consent. It's a really ridiculous assumption tbh. It'd take a lot of conscious planning and decisions to truly create a persona that is completely unlike yourself. Like you'd literally have to be insane to do that.

In reality, people do not think much before making majority of their day to day decisions. Must you play a mental chess match to decide whether or not to greet your coworkers? Do you make conscious decisions to purchase food you dislike so nobody will know what you actually like? Do you have to physically and consciously move the muscles in your face to form a smile or a frown for every interaction? If these things do not take much conscious thought, then are you not acting true to your "true self?"

Then think about the things you consciously do or don't do. If someone disagrees with you but you don't argue back, does that not say something? If you tell jokes at work to get people to laugh, does that not reveal things? Even if these actions are not a part of your "true self," does not the fact you simply did them tell something about you?

This is just talking about actions. This doesn't even go into reactions. People assume that they are the best actors and can fool the world, but they are just fooling themselves. Initial reactions are hard to hide. True happiness and excitement is hard to fake. Feigned interest is quite easy to see. Stress, anger, and hurt are hard to gloss over. Are not emotions and the reasons for them very revealing for true selves?

And kinda going into my other post, you work from there. [Observation + observation] = intuitive observation. [Intuitive observation + intuitive observation] = mid-tier observation. Etc.

In my personal opinion, while intuitive observations are where the meat of everything is, that doesn't make simple observations less... intimate. For example, you observe a person doesn't eat many vegetables. You can rightfully assume they don't like vegetables. The very fact you noticed this means that you were paying attention to them. You know something about their true self.

[linabirb]

also hi while i was talking about my ocd and anxiety during today's therapy session my therapist literally googled the wikipedia definitions of the things my brain called me to prove that it's wrong and that those thoughts don't matter

[meatriarch]

im still on my fuckshit but when i think of cc maria ( by extension also nosy maria but specifically noting the isolation aspect of cc );

can you imagine one day skimming the paper. its been a few weeks since all the commotion knowing your friends' had attempted to come find you but then were chased off. never actually heard or saw any of them, but you know they were around.

but you've been moved from the cells to a mattress upstairs. you're given more freedom, more wiggle room, you're allowed to do things - little hobby-type activities - you're given better foods, you're looked after by the older woman at the other house. the man who took you, who terrifies you still to some degree, slowly doesn't feel like such a stranger anymore, you're right to still be cautious around him but as the days, the weeks, pass by, there's simply a different air about him, and in the shack. lighter, in a sense.

you find yourself growing used to the new daily - the new routine. of waking to the sound of him getting ready for the day, of being left alone in there for hours sometimes, others trailing after him like a duckling, around the older womans' property, helping with an array of tasks. and you worry about upsetting her at first, unsure if doing so will earn a knife to the throat. you listen, you do as you're told, you find some kind of way to co-exist - all the while still, in the back of your mind, there's still a ray of hope,

that maybe, maybe, since the rest of them got away - that they're merely licking their wounds, that they'll get word out and even with all the silence since they had been on the property, there's that shred of hope that maybe? someone will waltz in, guns blazing so to speak, and you'll get out of this hell finally.

that is, until that day - that you're skimming through the paper, and you recognize yourself in a little column - and you realize you're staring at your own fucking obituary.

and in that moment everything seems solidified.

you're never getting away.

there's no point in it.

there's no one out there who are still trying to find you, get you back, bring you home, back to your mothers' arms, back to being an older sister, back to the circle of friends you loved so dearly.

you're dead.

not just to the world, but to those you loved - those who claimed to have loved you, too.

what else do you have at that point? where else do you go, even if you still tried to leave? who wouldn't look at you sideways for the blood that's already stained your hands? for the flesh caught between teeth?

who else is there, except the one murmuring encouragement and praise in your ear?

the only constant you've had in all these weeks? whose words rang true - clearly - that no one cared? that they abandoned you? left you there, didn't even care to make sure you were alive or not? only thought of themselves and got the fuck outta there without confirming if you were even still alive.

[yaoib0y]

me when someone genuinely has the opinion "well I'm afab and like queer haha, so i cant do anything" towards social justice

[snekdood]

anyways tired of this mean spirited ass website

[meatriarchived]

i did not sleep yay for me im still on my fuckshit but when i think of cc maria ( by extension also nosy maria but specifically noting the isolation aspect of cc );

can you imagine one day skimming the paper. its been a few weeks since all the commotion knowing your friends' had attempted to come find you but then were chased off. never actually heard or saw any of them, but you know they were around.

but you've been moved from the cells to a mattress upstairs. you're given more freedom, more wiggle room, you're allowed to do things - little hobby-type activities - you're given better foods, you're looked after by the older woman at the other house. the man who took you, who terrifies you still to some degree, slowly doesn't feel like such a stranger anymore, you're right to still be cautious around him but as the days, the weeks, pass by, there's simply a different air about him, and in the shack. lighter, in a sense.

you find yourself growing used to the new daily - the new routine. of waking to the sound of him getting ready for the day, of being left alone in there for hours sometimes, others trailing after him like a duckling, around the older womans' property, helping with an array of tasks. and you worry about upsetting her at first, unsure if doing so will earn a knife to the throat. you listen, you do as you're told, you find some kind of way to co-exist - all the while still, in the back of your mind, there's still a ray of hope,

that maybe, maybe, since the rest of them got away - that they're merely licking their wounds, that they'll get word out and even with all the silence since they had been on the property, there's that shred of hope that maybe? someone will waltz in, guns blazing so to speak, and you'll get out of this hell finally.

that is, until that day - that you're skimming through the paper, and you recognize yourself in a little column - and you realize you're staring at your own fucking obituary.

and in that moment everything seems solidified.

you're never getting away.

there's no point in it.

there's no one out there who are still trying to find you, get you back, bring you home, back to your mothers' arms, back to being an older sister, back to the circle of friends you loved so dearly.

you're dead.

not just to the world, but to those you loved - those who claimed to have loved you, too.

what else do you have at that point? where else do you go, even if you still tried to leave? who wouldn't look at you sideways for the blood that's already stained your hands? for the flesh caught between teeth?

who else is there, except the one murmuring encouragement and praise in your ear?

the only constant you've had in all these weeks? whose words rang true - clearly - that no one cared? that they abandoned you? left you there, didn't even care to make sure you were alive or not? only thought of themselves and got the fuck outta there without confirming if you were even still alive.