#so i wouldn't have to tag a warning

[tls12lessthan3]

thinking about orvs metatextual engagement with its genre and specifically how that interacts with its women again. kim dokja is a self insert for the reader - what he thinks is largely meant to represent what we think, especially in the beginning before sing shong really fleshes out his character. kim dokja sees the world through tropes, directly acknowledging the genre around him and the cliches we expect e.g. the overpowered mc, the scheming villain, the beautiful heroine.

but a major part of his arc is deconstructing this reductionist view of the world in a way that parallels the author's deconstruction of the genre, and that plays really well with the way orv writes women. yoo sangah is perhaps the best exanple - shes introduced as the heroine, a one-dimensional pretty girl who in any other novel would become kim dokja's love interest. but the authors allow her to be her own character, directly challenging the stereotype of the heroine and calling attention to the genre's typical lack of depth for such a character. i think this undercurrent plays in the background often but really comes to the forefront when yoo sangah reminds kim dokja of her putting pepper in their bosses' coffee, a memory kim dokja had supressed because it didn't fit with the pretty girl persona he made for her.

i interpret that moment as yoo sangah pushing her way out of the mold of heroine often found in these stories, demanding a depth be added to her character, asking kim dokja - and thus the reader - to see her in her entirety, to see the heroine archetype for what she could be. orv is at all times in conversation with its genre, and its simultaneous writing of female characters with agency and depth and acknowledgement of the tropes these women are expected to fulfill is undeniably a part of that. and its a part i enjoy. most of the time.

[chanelle-lize]

I used to have a really hard time bringing up the fact that I graduated from high school a year late without feeling the need to explain why and insisting that it wasn't my fault while simultaneously kicking myself for how much I sounded like I was just making excuses for something I should take responsibility for.

Then I watched Dimension 20's "The Seven" and suddenly I could simply say that I was a super senior.

The first time I heard the phrase "super senior" was in reference to Antiope Jones, a Black girl who had been held back a year after getting kidnapped and imprisoned by members of a fundamentalist cult, and like, girl, same.

So, since then, instead of anxiously spinning out any time I tried to tell a personal high school anecdote, I could just say I was a super senior, and then my brain would auto complete that statement with "like Antiope Jones" and I'd feel good about myself because Antiope Jones Is That Bitch.

That's what the problem had been the whole time. I wasn't worried about how other people would perceive me; I had been struggling with how I perceived myself.

Thanks, Aabria.

[bearimba]

Silver doesn't need another father. He's already got one of those, technically, but the man turned out to be a weak, cowardly bastard who couldn't face his own problems let alone raise a child. The way he sees it, there's no need to set himself for more disappointment. He's got a roof over his head and food to eat, and that's far more than he could ever depend on in the last... however many years he'd been living on the streets. Lance and Clair are annoying as hell, but while he's training in the Dragon Den, he doesn't exactly have much room to complain. Not out loud, anyways.

Lance doesn't particularly want to be a dad either. He's already got too much responsibility on his plate as Champion, and this kid clearly needs so much more emotional support than he feels like he can provide. Simply convincing him to move into his guest room was enough of a struggle, and it only really worked because Lance had promised Silver he could "earn" his keep. What the hell is up with that, anyways? He's not sure what Silver's past looks like, and he's not about to go prying, but the bare minimum he can do is make sure he doesn't have to rough it out in the woods anymore. At least Clair seems to be having fun training him...

Clair is more than ready to be an aunt. The other two refuse to admit to caring for each other, but unlike them, she's not afraid of something as stupid as her emotions. The brat's slowly but surely been mellowing out during his training, and her idiot cousin has actually been taking care of himself for once in order to be a "good example." Silver has even caught on to calling Lance "old man" like she does, on account of those ugly-ass reading glasses the all-mighty Champion has to wear, and she couldn't be prouder. Best part is, she doesn't have to spend a dime except to treat the kid every so often! That's a win in her book if ever there was one.

[sojourner-between-worlds]

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[teh-nos]

"are people not into that?" i ask, after posting my weird niche shit to the internet, despite knowing it to be weird niche shit.

[dawnthefluffyduck]

New game interest unlocked

(crow in bottom right belongs to @patchwork-crow-writes)

[melancholic-pigeon]

Okay this is the *actual* last comment, for real, but I just found out Spider is now smearing me as a convert and accusing me of being involved with drama I was not involved with because he mistakenly attributed my apologies for his public temper tantrum as being about something unrelated.

THIS IS A FALSE ACCUSATION and I do not appreciate having yet another bit of fake malicious intent falsely ascribed to my actions and* attributing a completely unrelated attack to me.

Also, it's very sad and disappointing whenever a Jew gets mad at a convert because something else is going on in the Jew's life and the convert happens to be in the splash zone and the Jew falls over backwards to smear the convert and invalidate her faith.

Just....the childish aggression is making me so, so sad and disappointed, from someone I used to think very highly of, who is now lying about me and publicly smearing me with false accusations based on a conflict he started because he misinterpreted something I said and I went out of my way to give him the benefit of the doubt when trying to clear up the mistake HE MADE that led him to decide bullying and attacking me for three fucking days was appropriate and okay and that I'm the bad guy for saying it's wildly unprofessional to behave like this in public to a former customer face.

Sorry, but facts, reality, linear time and the truth of what I actually said and did are on my side here, and I will not stand for being smeared and attacked and shat all over because I had the gall to try to kindly resolve his uncalled for, unjustified temper tantrum.

I am also not sorry that I left a side note in the tags that it was also unacceptable for HIM to drag his daughter into a stupid internet slapfight based on his own reading comprehension failure. Because it was and is unacceptable, and she needs to hear that message from someone.

End of story. Keep digging that hole as long as you like, Spider. It's not helping your case and is continuing to make you look progressively worse and more unreasonable, and the only person you have to blame is yourself.

*revised for clarity

[meetmeintheyard]

sorry I don't have twitter, what did mango do?

ah well. someone posted links to clips from this year's beerio kart of him sexually harassing the women at the event (specifically maya, emily, qt, and cinna) to r/LudwigAhgren and were understandably looking for a response from someone who is linked to the event. the clips in question are pretty uncomfortable; the women he's interacting with don't seem to find his drunken antics funny and maya in particular looks really unhappy about it

i don't know if it's a 'cancel mango forever' situation or 'yell at him/people near him until he apologises or something' situation but it's definitely not good

[warm-mangoes-with-chai]

Just found something after 3 years,,,, life is with living still,,,,🥹

Bottom line? NEVER give up, my fellow yuri soldiers 🧡🤍🩷

[homicidal-mother]

I'm sick and my dad's mad at me for not going to the flea market with my mom.

[hiddenbeks]

so many thoughts abt how schewpid the jedi council is in kotor but also not sure if i should write abt any of them before i finish the game because it's entirely possible that i'm still missing some critical information,

[dykesopodgirl]

it feels like the fight against warning people not to use ai is soooo. idk. not fruitless but it certainly has diminishing returns

to me, it feels like the piracy logic. "just pay crestors for their work"/"just involve yourself in the community snd read or write" but there is literally no reason for anyone to do that out of anything but respect

"try roleplaying!" the rp community is in shambles rn. not even really because of ai!!! it was in shambles long before LLM chatbots were commonplace on the internet. for years i've been trying to find an rp with someone else that doesn't fizzle out in a week. even when i think they're invested and the replies are long life still happens and. i stopped looking. it's frustrating to repeatedly start up and set down stories i get excited for. the only person who hasn't done this is a lifelong rp partner i met in like 2016. he's the only person who doesn't get four messages in and then never says anything to me ever again.

it's not like i want people using ai chatbots for this purpose!! i'm greedy and selfish i think more people should rp with me. but also i really cannot blame a single soul who would rather use ai than deal with the trashfire that is the current tumblr rp community. i gave up. just started writing instead 🤷‍♀️ and you know. it feels hard to blame people who took the easy way out about it

forum presence is at an all time low, people just leave left and right, not to mention even finding a partner that jives with you in the first place— i don't mean matching styles even! just finding someone who doesn't actively conflict with you can be hard.

[neverendingford]

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[thelostrainbowthenovel]

Perception With The In-Laws

I feel like I've talked quite a bit here-and-there about Brooke's relationship with Nate's family, and/or their perception of him, but I've never really talked about the reverse. That being, Nate's relationship with Brooke's family, and their perceptions about him. Since I've had some ideas floating around in my head about that, kind of in a way going along with my ideas for a future happy and functional Alagona family, here is a post to explore that more! Plus with the current/updated ideas for Brooke and the Von Brandts. I hope you enjoy!

((Just going to do these by the individual family members to make things simple))

================================================

- Brooke + the Von Brandts

. Vulcan: At first, Vulcan wasn't too fond of him, sharing the common thought of the Mareasian royal court that he was troublesome. This attitude mainly is from the time Brooke was a child, partly from his grievances with his parents, but also from finding out about the rivalry between him and his eldest son. Their interactions were limited back then as Brooke did not get too involved in conference meetings or major royal matters till he was a teenager, so positive progress between them was slow. It was not till Brooke was an older teen did things start to change, as by that point not only had he become genuine friends with Nate, but he had also started working on making a good impression of himself after learning more about why he struggled so much as a child(both his mental health disorders + his adhd). Brooke never got to interact with the other rulers much when he was younger so he didn't have many thoughts on Vulcan other than finding him intimidating, but as he started getting more involved in royal matters and conferences, and closer to Nate, he knew he wanted to do whatever he could to make both Nate's parents like him. In time, things improve to the point that Vulcan genuinely thinks of Brooke as a good person and enjoys conversing with him, particularly for his enthusiasm about learning more about Feorian culture and his generally care-free attitude being a rarity in Feor.

. Soleil: Soleil shared similar sentiments as her husband at first, but warmed up to Brooke quicker than him. She did not like how teasing he was to Nate when they were children, with their rivalry reminding her too much of how she does not like or get along with Arethusa and Lian. She was the first between her and her husband to pick up on the shift between their son and Brooke when they were teenagers, but was happy to see both Nate in higher spirits, and seeing what a genuinely good young man Brooke was. As Soleil has come a long way herself in being more expressive and lively, she greatly enjoys Brooke's presence, especially with him bringing a more "fun" energy than the normally serious one in the Feorian palace and royal court. On Brooke's end, he always found her a bit more approachable than Vulcan, with there being a silent understanding of the other that helps their relationship build. As another part of Soleil's mother's intuition, she was the first to start speculating something "more" was going on between him and Nate when they became adults, noticing first how they would look at each other fondly and seemed to be talking more when at royal functions together. She brought these suspicions up with Vulcan privately, and with the Mareasian-style engagement ring Nate has started wearing recently, this has pretty much given them as close to a confirmation as they can get without Nate telling them anything. As they have both warmed up to Brooke, they would not mind letting him into their family, though are patiently waiting for Nate to tell them everything himself.

. Hestia: Easily the one he has the best relationship with, outside of the fact she is also the one he has interacted with the most. They were always quite friendly with each other even before the events of the main story, though Tia was initially wary of him as she knew him to be her older brother's childhood rival for the longest time before finding out that they became friends. Though it was a slow process to get her to warm up to him, Brooke was patient and always made it a point to engage in friendly conversation with her, with him being so happy once she finally does. When they do get to know each other better, they are relieved to find that they actually have a few things in common, such as both of them being neurodivergent. With Tia's special interest in pirates and Mareasian history in general, she always looked forward to getting to talk to him during conference meetings and asking him all the questions she has from her readings without the fear of judgement. She just finds him so cool to talk to, and he in turn finds her excitability so charming, happily indulging in her ideas and plans whenever she is in Mareas. Their relationship does get more tense during the main adventure after the secret of his and Nate's relationship gets out, as things get awkward and Tia becomes unsure of how to interact with him as she processes all of their history together, but eventually they come to an understanding of each other and become good friends. She is happy seeing how much he makes her brother happy, and sees him like her "big brother-in-law" even before him and Nate get officially married in the future.

. Flint: Their relationship starts off a little hesitantly at first, mainly on Flint's end. Though they always had opportunities to interact before, they just never took the time to truly get to know each other better outside of brief greetings. Since Flint is at an age where he is mostly preoccupied with his own interests and aspirations, he is not the most aware or privy to what his older siblings get up to or the connections they have outside of Feor. So, when his older brother gets outed and his relationship gets revealed, Flint doesn't know what to think. This mostly comes from the fact that he had no sort of inkling or hint to it at all, that while he does love and support his brother, he's still a little confused and takes his time to warm up to the situation. On Brooke's end, he just wants to make a good impression and get along with all of his in-laws. After enough time of him living in Feor and getting closer to both Nate and the other family, Flint eases up a lot more to see Brooke as another "older brother" figure, and loves bonding with him over hand-to-hand combat as they both specialize in that than magic or weapon-based fighting.

. Ashton: Since Ash is so young, Brooke has not had any meaningful or substantial interactions with him before. The few times their respective families have been at the same event together, Ash was either being watched by his mother or royal nanny away from everyone else, or had already been put to bed, so anytime they had gotten to see each other was very brief. Though as that is, they come to have a pretty good relationship. As Ash is mostly a happy and excitable toddler right now, and Brooke loves kids, they have a fun and happy energy when they are together. Ash always ropes Brooke into playing with him, which Brooke is more than happy to as his happiness is infectious to him and never fails to brighten his day.

- Nate + the Alagonas

. Arethusa: Their relationship has always been complicated. Like with all the other royals and especially rulers, Nate does his best to be cordial and respectful, as he wants to establish good relations before he becomes king someday. This is especially true with the Mareasian royals, as it was always a goal of his to strengthen the relations between their kingdoms. With Arethusa, he can respect her dedication to her role as queen, though he does not care for her harshness. It comes out in bites at times, with her other times acting kind of indifferent and distant, so he is always on guard and careful when interacting with her. Part of this also comes from hearing what she was like as a mother from Brooke, as even if she has mellowed out a little bit in recent years, that still does not erase all the coldness and stress she has placed with all of her children. On Arethusa's end, though she has never admit it before, she secretly admires Nate's own dedication to his role, and how adamant he is in wanting to improve relations. She still has a ways to go before showing a warmer side, but there have been small signs of her opening up more already.

. Lian: The one he has the most complicated relationship with. Since Lian is not at all invested in either his children's lives or his royal duties, any interactions they have had in the past were very brief and limited to a respectful but begrudging acknowledgement. Nate tries to remain civil, both to keep up appearances and because of his goal of strengthening the relationship between their respective kingdoms, but truthfully he never liked Lian. Half of it comes from hearing how awful he is from Brooke and seeing that reflected during their few brief interactions, but also for how apathetic and callous he seems, as his only interests are for what makes his life easier or benefits himself. After the fiasco that was Nate and Brooke's being outed, any lingering politeness is thrown out the window once Nate hears of the prejudiced things Lian had to say about the situation, with him being silently glad and thankful when Lian eventually leaves the family.

. Meredith: The one he has the most positive relationship with. Both being crowned heirs, Nate has interacted with her the most, both in and outside of royal matters. They always had a cordial relationship, as they hold a mutual respect for each other and share a lot of the same goals. Those goals being wanting to strengthen the relationship between their respective kingdoms, creating more opportunities for them to work together and get along, and change some of the laws that are preventing their people from living their authentic lives. Since they have worked so closely together, some people in the past have made rumors of something 'deeper' going on between the two, but they are nothing more than good friends. With Mere being one of the first people that are told about Nate and Brooke's relationship, Nate does feel more at ease sharing about it with her, even going to her for advice at times on how to make Brooke's life more special(or to gossip, he deserves it since Brooke does so about him with Hestia).

. Murphy: Nate has not had many interactions with Murphy before. There is the considerable age gap at play, with Murphy spending most of his time with other children or a trusted adult when their respective kingdoms are at the same royal event. Murphy is also pretty anxious and awkward around most people, so most of the time he stays close to his family's side instead of interacting with the other royals. Any interactions they have had are brief, but Nate does feel a great amount of sympathy and patience for him, as he is an introvert himself and understands his preference for interacting mostly with close people. Despite their awkwardness and hesitance at times, Murphy slowly eases up enough to approach and talk to Nate, thanks mainly to Brooke talking so much about him, and Nate in return is happy to see him opening up more and them finally being able to bond a little bit.

[tateytots]

i love my friends soooo much they are all being cradled so gently in my heart

[imthat1boy]

I find it so funny that epilepsy warnings aren't that hard, however, somehow, people don't add them! Crazy, right? And it's not like they just forgot to add one or anything like that, they actually argue with people saying "just skip it" as though that's not what the point of a warning is! Crazy right? Absolutely HILARIOUS!!! 😂😂😂🤣🤣🤣🤪😜😋 SOOO FUNNY

/s