#stunning conclusion

[andreai04]

“Because caring was a thing with claws. It sank them in, and didn't let go. Caring hurt more than a knife to the leg, more than a few broken ribs, more than anything that bled or broke and healed again. Caring didn't break you clean. It was a bone that didn't set, a cut that wouldn't close.”

[melrosing]

one thing I also find v frustrating in this fandom is that a 'passive' female character is considered somehow backwards, uninteresting, or unsympathetic. passive and active are just about what a character's relationship to the narrative is. it does itself not determine whether that relationship is an engaging one or not, or what degree of importance that character holds. women are often relegated to passive roles, so necessarily within ASOIAF there are going to be characters who operate from within them - and that is still worthy of commentary and engagement. it's great that we also have a high number of female characters with active roles, but that is not the only way to write interesting women. you can have whole fucking novels about passive characters and many of them are the best ever written so can we stop with the Barbie 2023 dir. Greta Gerwig level feminism im tired

[bridgyrose]

Ruby let out a soft sigh as she looked out towards Blake and Weiss, still not quite sure how she felt about what her relationship with them was. After she talked to them, they had both asked her to be their girlfriend, and yet, she didnt quite feel… right. Sure she was happy that the two wanted her with them, but the more she thought about it, the more she didnt really know what she wanted. To have them close and in her life, but everything else… 

“Everything alright, Rubes?” Yang asked. “I figured you’d be a bit more focused after talking to them.” 

“I thought so too but I… I dont know, maybe there’s something I’m missing.” 

“Missing?” 

Ruby nodded as she watched Weiss and Blake talk with each other and hold hands. “I always thought that maybe getting into a relationship would fix me and let me be like the other girls. But now that I’m with them, I still feel… broken.” 

Yang shook her head and lightly tapped Ruby’s shoulder. ��You’re not broken.” 

“And how would you know that? I’ve watched how Blake and Weiss are around each other and I… I cant do the same. I dont mind holding hands, but every time I try to kiss them, it feels like I’m missing something. Like I’m not feeling the same things that they are.” 

“Maybe you’re not really into girls?” 

“No, I am, I want nothing more than to be with them. But I-” Ruby leaned forward and put her head on her desk. “I cant give them the love that they want.” 

“Have you asked what they want?” 

“Yes-” 

“I mean really ask them what they want.” Yang smiled a bit as she looked out towards Blake and Weiss. “If you ask me, I think they just want you to be in their lives just as much as you want them in yours no matter what that means. Even if that means you cant give them the love you think they want.” 

“And if they dont?” 

“If they dont, then maybe they’re not right for you. Though, I think I know how you feel a lot more than you think.” 

Ruby looked up, curious. “You do?” 

Yang nodded. “Sun’s a bit… handsy for the most part. Not that I really mind, but its not something that I go after.” 

“I dont need to hear about that.” 

“Dont worry, I have a point. My point is that I’m happy without going any further than dates and hand holding. But it did mean that we had to talk things out and figure out what kind of relationship that we wanted.” 

“Yeah, but… I… I still dont know what I want or why I feel so… broken.” 

Yang shrugged. “I cant exactly give you an answer on that one, but if you never talk to them, then you’ll always be second guessing yourself anyway. And maybe you’ll be able to figure out the words you need to tell them.” 

Ruby nodded and looked back at Weiss and Blake. “Do… Do you think you can give me a bit of privacy with them?” 

“Sure thing. Dont take too long.” 

Ruby smiled nervously as Yang walked off, not quite sure what she was going to say to either of them. Not that she really had any of the words to describe the relationship she wanted. Still, Yang had a point, she would need to talk to the two of them before things got out of hand for her. Even if it meant having a conversation that she’d much rather not have. 

She shakily got up, heart pounding in her chest as she walked over to Blake and Weiss. She held her arm to her chest, her voice quiet as she stumbled over a few of her words. “Blake, Weiss, can… can we talk?” 

“About what?” Blake asked. 

“About us.” Ruby swayed a little as she tried to keep the words going, stuttering as she continued. “I-I wanted… I wanted to talk about what you… what you both wanted out of our, um, our relationship.” 

Weiss looked at her curiously. “Where is this coming from? I thought you were happy with what we have together.” 

“I am! But I… I dont…” Ruby went quiet for a moment as she looked at her two girlfriends, her body trembling as she tried to find the right words. “I dont want sex,” was a bit too blunt and too early to try to talk about, and it wasnt entirely what she wanted the conversation to focus on. “I… I dont… I want… I want to be close to you but kissing-” 

“Feels weird?” Blake interrupted. 

Ruby nodded. “I dont mind it, but I… it still feels weird and it doesnt feel… right to me.” 

“So no more kissing?” Weiss asked. “Then what would you like to do?” 

“That’s… what I dont know,” Ruby admitted quietly, holding her arm. “I like the cuddling and being close, spending time with you both, but once it comes down the romance stuff, its… awkward for me. I cant get into it like the two of you do. I love you both but not… like that.” 

“If you cant be romantic-” 

“Then we’ll work with you on what does work,” Blake cut Weiss off and gave her a smile. “Right Weiss?” 

Weiss sighed and rolled her eyes. “Right, we’ll work with what works for you. Even if that means less romance.” 

A small smile crossed Ruby’s lips and her hand moved away from her arm. “Thanks for understanding.” 

Blake nodded and pulled her into a hug. “I’m fine with taking care of the romance stuff with Weiss. And if you’re not into it, then we’ll do what makes you feel good. No obligations on anything else.” 

“I still want to be kissed,” Weiss said. “Just to be clear if we’re making our wants known.” 

“Will hugs work for now?” Ruby asked. “I’m still trying to figure out the rest of this, but if I get more comfortable with kissing, then I’ll try to do that more.” 

“Hugs are acceptable for now.” 

Ruby giggled as Weiss winced as she pulled her into a tight hug. “Once I have better words for how I feel, I’ll let you both know.” 

“I’ll hold you to that.”

Prev

[bklynmusicnerd]

More evidence for my belief that Meme might have a soft spot for America. She actually took the time to comfort her when we all know Meme is sick of the dramatics and crying in the house. She was also trying to clean up Felicia's mess but still lol.

[velvetbunniie-archive]

the reason evangeline survived jacks’s kiss is because she’s a lesbian w an insane comphet crush atm, thus making her immune bc she’ll “never truly love him” (‘cause she’s, you know, 0% attracted to men), and in a month, she’s going to come out of the closet and they’re going to have an immensely awkward breakup. aaaaand send post.

[brb-on-a-quest]

in case the people were wondering, van keys have been recovered thanks to my lovely sister (after I spent like 3 dollars getting new copy made - still way cheaper than I thought but also you couldn't have answered my pspspspspsps sooner?)

@igotthisaccountunderduress @informedimagining @gracefulchristiangirl

[prairiedeath]

some ppl on here are so full of themselves & think they're like these internet celebrity trendsetters who everyone is skinwalking..... your presentation is a result of everything you've consumed just like everyone else. we're all cannibals and it's beautiful, get over it.

[twentyfivemiceinatrenchcoat]

what if: merman! diluc?

OHHHHH YOU’RE OUT TO GET ME ANON. MER!DILUC….. 😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫 yk what. as much as i crave him shirtless and soaked i think diluc might be better suited as a fisherman….. do we see the vision.

he is so gentle and peaceful and when he finds you washed up and injured on the beach he doesn’t hesitate to patch you up…. brings you freshly caught fish so you can eat and regain your strength, guts them himself and cooks them on an open fire, and you can’t help but wonder what it’d feel like to be under those hands. hands capable of something so cruel but also so tender. he ties a piece of cloth around your injured fin and you want his touch to burn your skin, to feel that devastation. etc. you get it

[cabeswaterdrowned]

the “Neil has a whole fanfic in his head about kandrew/sees them as married” vibes in the very beginning of this book… not talked about enough

[aveirix]

you know what i hate? when scratchmen apoo casually removed his hand and used his muscles as strings. i feel like the entire fandom just kinda glanced over it. like i know the OP world is full of some crazy shit. but that crosses a line. that crosses a line.

[dogrom]

isnt livwood incest…?

So if i call my friend a bro if we date then we incest?? No bro. They are not blood related? They were together as kids, growing up together(not even long) . Look at most gay ships, in the shows they always call each other brothers. So now merlin x Arthur is incest? "you were like a brother to me" it's a thing right?

Please tell me where did you get that logic please make it make sense to me because this is so stupid to me.

[andreai04]

“Bring our people home, Manon.”

[chryzuree]

where was luc??? hello????? i’m so unsatisfied with this entire plot. WE FORGOT ABT LALA UNTIL THREE QUARTERS IN. WHY

[ozimuth]

live footage of my friends and i having zero functioning brain cells

[lilac-melody]

It is so hilarious to me how people see me as cool and wise on the surface- literally telling me in anon that they’re too scared to talk to me

but Bean knows how much of a dumb pathetic and uncool person I am irl

[unproduciblesmackdown]

payoff of being embedded in a unit of authoritarianism since birth is sure then being able to go like "wow this is just like dynamics & phenomena i experienced up close & personal, repeatedly, in many contexts & configurations in my first two decades of life" plus also beyond that in abuse culture world & the noncoincidence that even interactions beyond the confines of the home(tm) reinforced / did not contradict the hierarchy & concomitant abuse within....but then like hey yeah also the Larger Units of hierarchy & abuse / authoritarianism (ft. their logics & practices necessary for continuously & continually shoring up that hierarchy) can also make it like hey yeah the Two Parent abusive nuclear family more like the Two Party [the US is also a one party state but in typical american extravagance they have two] where right wingness is defined by the degree of directly embracing white supremacy & "left wing" is "anything else" hence like wow The Left is always infighting (everyone with any ideas besides "umm christofascist white ethnostate?" so like yeah there are many other ideas) vs The Right's admirable cohesion (simply re: the white supremacy idea which also necessarily embraces all other Out Group / Nonperson paradigms & practices b/c that's what all already has been necessary for shoring up the [when has the US been a nongenocidal non white supremacist non oligarchy])

like obviously individual experiences & contexts vary but like narrowing in on [the Family as immediate relations ideally cordoned off into nuclear households] ft. [Parental Authority the top priority of which is preserving that authority, ideally patriarchal, an abusive mother e.g.? hey, that ought to be the father] times it's like, think people tend to struggle re: having the "nicer" / "safer" parent who was also shitted on as well but also at the end of the day would always side with the "meaner" "more dangerous" parent, even in whatever terms most sympathetic to the abused parties, with the underlying logic that we're always just going to have to deal with them so some secret strategic mitigation is the best that can be done, perhaps the equivalent of being sent a ":(" after an Onslaught Of Expressed / Enforced Authority(tm) event....the tendency to see the best in any lack of actual intervention / protection on the assumption That Could Never Happen Anyway & forever At Least that the one parent isn't as bad as the other [the Not That Bad / Could've Been Worse infocation, like free bingo square in manifestations of minimization if not outright abuse denial] & all the sympathy for, you know, being human & doing their best(tm) &c which sure might all be true but the abused parties (oft children, more vulnerable than adults, by virtue of being children i.e. considered legal property of some specific adults & theoretical property of any adults in general (the paternal logic in any "protect [xyz]" like maintain one group's supposed ownership / control over [xyz] "for their sake" then? great) & also generally smaller & newer at being alive in this world) but who are liable to not extend that sympathy to themselves (or certainly not be extended that sympathy....when is "they're doing their best / they're only human / they mean well or whatever / they love you, they're family" successfully deployed the Thwart an abusive parent like it is to tell an abused child to not be too resentful of this situation, when is it actually deployed toward the abusive parent at all really. & again in the lack of boundary between the authoritarianism within many individual family households & that of the state they exist in (here re: the US) like that naturally one encounters the logic of abuse expressed just as "common knowledge" & the Assumptions of other people, e.g. the rejection of a parent having zero access to a child, the reinforcement of automatic apologia deployed for whatever a parent could possibly do, argued for "family", yet not deployed the same way to automatically defend anything thee child(tm) could do, thinking emoji lol....see: like the non boundary between [the Patriarchal home/family(tm)] & capitalism when uh oh capitalism the system of continuously maximizing exploitation Needs various forms of labor to be unpaid, uh oh another lack of boundary when white supremacy is used to also shore up the patriarchy that shores up the white supremacy, e.g. that even if in some "inferior" class it's treated as More Important that at least you're not that And black, the theoretical ideal/normal white man is a person while a white woman is a woman while a black woman is black, white women could have any legal property via chattel slavery which needed white women's participation to help enforce, the specter of sexual violence all coming from nonwhite & especially black men & it's up to the genteel white man to Protect Women (see prev, implicitly white or you'd have to specify otherwise)

anyway that is to get around to pointing to the Two Parent System wherein so shockingly the results are the same as the One Parent System re: abuse maintaining The Family (properly, i.e. unquestionable & certainly undeniable parental access to children, & "ideally" ofc again the patriarchal Father as ultimate authority w/ownership over the Mother, who in turn is theoretically honored for that motherhood (at least you own your children, insofar as it doesn't contradict w/what the father wants to do with his superior claim to ownership) & then finally all the obviously shittiness from being in that position in a patriarchy is in turn dumped on The Children who are ungrateful & owe the mother everything Because of what the broader society & immediate personal expressions of that abuse have done to her. see also ofc that two adults likely don't have the resources to raise a child in time or money or energy, maybe there's only one but also even an extended family's worth of adults aren't enough, is it enough when a child is sent to school for some other adults to be in charge most of the day, or even if someone is hired to look after them beyond that, all this ofc with the assumed premise that a child is always limited to the various Domains of The Adults In Charge, & from there i segue into how naturally being in gay baby jail unless & until adults are no longer recognized as Legally In Charge Of You (the grand like 5 minutes it's relatively been since the ideal timeline of a woman's life wasn't being legal property of her father until asap passed along to legal property of her husband. still considered ideal ofc but like with "maybe you can have a bank account" now & "maybe you can become 29 before you're in Old Maid danger" Maybe, i said, Maybe....anyway that obviously adults(tm) being divided up (atomised. spritz) into Households isn't even supposed to be enough to live on their own, re: necessitating Marriage, much less uh oh having kids who are stuck with their parents who are stuck with them, but then all the obvious actual problems & abuses inflicted on Adults to have to have their family households & exploited jobs are dumped on the children who Must appreciate & be loyal to the parents (i.e. never Deny Access) while yknow kids have Fake Problems they're whining about, the one Real Problem of having to pay a bill gets the payoff of leverage to tell your children to shut the fuck up or perhaps the more vulnerable spouse

hm didn't segue right into "so shoutout to like The Ratchet Effect diagrams lol, the "Two" Party System where its supposed left wing Blocks Movement To The Left, right wing Moves Everything To The Right" but even that is like, mm, conferring a passivity to what democrats do in the continual movement to the right (won an election? lost an election? the lesson either way is The Right Is Right; exact same logic as in "winning or losing" "the war on crime" like the collection & analysis of whatever statistics show the trend of some "crime" is increasing in frequency or magnitude? show that it's decreasing? the lesson either way is Cops Need More Power) like the institutional effort of democrats to push a candidate nobody wants through primaries (did we even do that this time around. oh great that the assumed candidate even graciously agreed to not force themself as The Candidate, & now like 5 min left with the Next In Line candidate dumped on everyone now with the lesson for the left(tm) to shut up already lol) & then it's up to Grassroots Voters. it's up to Unity & well we all Need to listen to the white supremacists, points were made, in the "elections" with voting as limited as possible & with the electoral college & supreme court as Safeguards against democracy & here's the senate, eternally thus, & again the conclusions will always manage to be moving To The Right, paraphrasing from twitter like democrats are about to be or already at the point of "in the name of unity we will no longer be running against republicans; it's too divisive :(" which yknow is already The Statements of all of yesterday from various like "i'm the republican official white supremacy agree-er now" after also the entire campaign of "no, I'm the fascist" where like wow shocking that the appeal to the fascists didn't win a) the fascists who will ofc want the even more overt fascism, why wouldn't they or b) the people who want antifascism actually, and do not want fascism; who could have foreseen? & it's always the fault of being Too Antifascist for the actions of the fascists or the Diplomatic Comprimises the other party makes with the fascists &/or their Failure to thwart them....the Nicer, Safer party in power is surely doing their best & at least they're not the Meaner, More Dangerous one but at the end of the day they'll always side with that party over america(tm) & those bearing the brunt of the actions of State Power can be told to keep their chin up or else to stop acting out b/c how do you expect that state power to respond, cmon, you bring it upon yourself, & you Have to work with them & understand all their feelings & your role in resolving those feelings by being lesser inferior property, you do Have to understand, b/c in the end this is All About Family, surely Good & Necessary, whoops i mean in the end this is All About America

anyway yeah i'm like damn my "nicer" (also shitty) father who was also the even more sexist & racist (& certainly no Less ableist, queerphobic) parent was basically the democratic party of the Two Parent System of Family Government lol. b/c we Need to perpetuate this Family, no other logics much less actions are acceptable....& people struggling with the Parent / Adults in their life like that who were the "safe" & "protective" ones who markedly failed to protect & minimized the harm afterwards but also in general, never to confront the reality of the situation, or do damage control like "aw some points were made at all :( ah i see you have Feelings about this :( hmm yes the Parental Power is gonna have to make some changes" & then as soon as possible (assuming reeling in the party who was deviating too much) these changes(tm) are already compromised or diminished if done at all, & then oops things incrementally might be right back to how they always were, no guarantees it won't be Worse b/c the Power is even more insecure / aware of weaknesses, & the only way this is thwarted is if the Wayward Parties can actually leverage new boundaries / less vulnerability, not b/c the supposedly sympathetic parties, who never came through where it counts & likely would also become overt antagonizers / wielders of whatever power within the Family hierarchy / turn on the more vulnerable parties to Get Them In Line, actually came through. movement Away (more disruptive to the maintenance of The Family, The State) is blocked, incrementally only ever moving everything back, & then Further....& despite this being what the power structures are, & do, the Disruptive parties liable to be scapegoated lol, can't believe the scapegoat child is ruining everything for everyone, this Family would totally improve & start being everything it could be otherwise & we ignore who actually has the power & is actually enforcing the hierarchy harming everyone to point to that scapegoat; can't believe thee left is destroying america (republican voice) can't believe the left is destroying america (democrat voice) So You See? The Undeniable Consensus. just like how i believe it was my fault my family unit was Like That & i had those experiences, according to the vast majority of Input from that family & even others who, knowing nothing, would say how Lucky i was to be relatively close to home, or just of course that oh well parents love their children & mean well & try their best. just like how i believe that being treated like i've been generally as a neurononconforming person, i.e. hated & the interpersonal abuse & bullying & ostracization & [attention possibilities: ignored, responded to but negatively, interacted with to get something from] & actually rewarding interactions or just actions being liable to get Deluxe authority responses as disruptive(tm) & ofc disobedient(tm) like hell fuckin yeah lol. just as i don't think that other people who have similar experiences or ones i don't have, i.e. assessed race being automatically seen as wrong / inferior, being isolated & undermined from all around? well gotta be their fault then, cmon lol....Abuse is actually normative, not extraordinary, in every Arena of interactions, & so are the logics / apologia / assumptions

anyway lol re: like yeah people struggling with the like betrayal of the "nooo i'm on your side, i sympathize, i'm the one who's nicer & you Need so that things aren't even worse" party, not even One Big Novel betrayal, but rather that that's what's Been done the whole time & doesn't stop. that supposedly if you have Any sympathy for that party you have to be like aw :( keep doing your thing (necessarily reining everyone in) or if you have Any sympathy for the people who also want things to improve but blame & take it out on the more disruptive parties (more disruptive to an abusive family e.g., btw. & not like i see Cohesion as necessarily some Good rather than neutral? when i'm autistic / my existence is supposedly antithetical to this? or when i'm able to look at a zillion hypothetical or actual situations & recognize how "cohesion" isn't the best goal / a destructive one / a vague concept anyways like cohesion Between Whom? on what basis? recognized & pursued how? why? up next: same as vague shit like "family" or "community" &c) then it's like yep gotta be Responsible for their feelings too if you're at all sympathetic & capitulate, The Only Possible Action, vs the idea of those in power actually making things shit stopping, much less being stopped / having to stop in the various ways that can happen....one way being "oh no, adult children who choose to be no-contact with parents" which is seen as A Tragedy, & sign of a Deteriorating Society, take me back. ah jeez oh no, look at the divorce raaates....Oh No, twentysomething women aren't pursuing marriage enoughhhh....again the undetectably identical echo when people peak vaguely talk about "conflicts" that thwart "community" or whatever, ugh nobody will date anymore, commit anymore, be friends anymore, hang out as coworkers anymore, talk to me if i want to talk to them anymore, &ccccc....

the real tl;dr is like wait ""two party"" (one party) US electoral system, just like ""two parent"" maintenance of thee family lol. ratchet effect raise your hand if you've only ever experienced Movement Away from the abusive family blocked, forever incrementally ratcheted back in to the desires & pursuits of those most in power / top of the hierarchy / thus of course most invested in the abuse, that's what the power & hierarchy is made of, sustained by, perpetuates....sorry doing our best :( sorry that's just all that's realistic, no other choice Really. cmon. kind of Your Fault if you don't agree to that & whoops now Everything is the fault of whoever doesn't agree & cooperate enough :( now look what you've done & brought upon yourself :( & we'll just forget the eruption of violence suppression happened & will happen again & be the overhanging threat all in the meantime