#that's my opinion of course but still

[thesecretingredientislove]

Wordgirl is truly one of the greatest shows to ever exist

[lazylittledragon]

ok someone please correct me if i'm wrong but am i weird for thinking those 'audiobooks don't count as reading' posts are ableist as fuck????

[ankahikoibaat]

my two sentence pithy hopepunk post escaped containment - you never can predict what will! - and it was obviously never going to encompass the whole spectrum of story possibilities hopepunk obviously like, omg, people in the notes. but i reiterate!

Star Wars is hopepunk! not grimdark!

it doesn't mean there's not darkness or evil or bad in the stories or genre, but ultimately it's about the triumph of good or the possibility thereof!

personally, i find the focus on stories in the fascist government point of view loses that - and are honestly a drain - and I stand by that, but also, stop defining morally gray at me people! i do know the meaning even if i'm not writing out the damn definition!

also, morally gray does not automatically mean more interesting or more nuanced! (anyone saying that can fight me.) (i'm a wuss and too chronically ill for this so not really.)

choosing to be good, to do good in a world of increasing darkness and evil and selfishness is a fucking compelling story, and it can be handled with such complexity and delicacy if someone actually gives a shit and doesn't go "good vs evil is boring" automatically!

[diaruchann]

Bro really said "I'll gladly drop a few babies from a wall to keep my men alive"

which is hilarious like Odysseus do you think a god coming down to tell you to kill an infant is a common occurrence

[blackhholes]

teen wolf meme: [3/4] families -> the yukimuras

When my wife and I married, I took her name, as she was the only surviving member of her family.

[kacievvbbbb]

At its core the most important relationship arc in Avatar the last air bender is the one between Zuko and Aang honestly if you can’t see that then I don’t think we watched the same show.

Aang and Zuko are the true Yin and Yang in the show the push and pull. Fire and Air right down to their personalities.

It is both of them that have to go on the journey of learning that fire is more than just destruction can be used for more than just to hurt.

And that right there is the point it doesn’t matter if Aang defeats Ozai and they bring the fire nation to heel. Without a character like Zuko the fire nation would be lost forever to distrust and unrest, balance would never be reached. Because despite everything they have done all the damage they have wreaked the world still needs the fire nation and to work with the fire nation they need to know that fire can do more than hurt. And who best to show them than a prince who’s been burned himself?

The war started with the fire nation attacking the air nomads in a bid for control and it will end with the fire lord embracing an air nomad and taking ownership of his nations actions. You must first close a book before you can start a new one.

Aang needed Zuko just as Zuko needed him because to get peace a true lasting peace you can’t just cut off the head of a snake you have to change its mind. The world already lost the air nomads the balance is already precarious, it cannot afford to lose the fire nation too.

Afterall Air can snuff out a flame and it can also fan them. But when the two elements are balanced one existing in peace with the other it can also make a warm hearth for the home.

[raelyn-dreams]

Pretty 5 is so beloved bc we have:

Arashi "I dream of being a beautiful woman and also had explicit attraction to girls and my male teacher" Narukami.

Tori "I'm in love with my unit leader but he's in an arranged marriage to my sister and I feel selfish for wishing it was me" Himemiya.

Mika "I'm going to live with my beloved partner in Paris as a direct parallel to the life his queer grandfather never got to have" Kagehira.

Hiyori "I'm a princess in the units with the most fanservice imaginable and almost kissed my partner in an mv 3 times" Tomoe.

And Aira "I blush over idol fanservice and am a tsundere towards my unit leader and enamored with my former online friend" Shiratori

[faelapis]

i haven't seen inside out 2 yet, but i'm glad it's making people appreciate turning red more

[hopeswriting]

imagine you're luce, and you're born the heir to a mafia family. you're mafia-born, and so of course also mafia-raised, and then also a donna-to-be. you're raised to be able to take on the role, to be good and capable at it, are taught to make one of your core beliefs about how the many must come before the few, because the family must always come first. you're going to be the donna, of course you must always prioritize the family above all else, it's your foremost and most important duty.

if caring about the few too comes at the price of the many, comes at the price of the family, is it even worth it? if the happiness gained from it comes at the price of a greater suffering for others, is there even any meaning to it, even if it's your happiness we're talking about? you understand, don't you?

you're not sure if you do, but you care about your family, love it, want to do right by it once you become their donna, so you nod, listen and learn.

(you don't have to be taught the pain and loss and guilt and anger and bitterness is a fair price to pay for the pain you decide has to be inflicted and the sacrifices you decide must be made, including by yourself. it's the least you could do, even.)

imagine you're luce, and the gift of foresight runs through your blood.

you would not call it a gift. you did not ask for it either. and you'll never come to see it as something wanted by you.

you can see the future, and it happened exactly as you saw it would, so of course it's exactly the way you wanted it to go. you can see the future, and it happened exactly as you saw it would, so of course you didn't care to try hard enough to change it. you saw the future before the shape of it had yet to be breathed into existence, and who's to say it didn't come into existence only because you saw it happen? you saw the future, and it happened worse than it had to for it.

you can see the future, but you still can't make it anything else than what it was always going to be. you can even make the visions happen at your will, but you still have no say on what you see or how much you see. you still can only be the witness of it before anyone else can.

it does mean double and longer the happiness sometimes, means relief and gratefulness and hope beyond words, and it'd be cruel of you to voice out loud your feelings for others to hear the many more times it means something else.

you can see the future, and it doesn't make it any kinder on you than on anyone else, does not give you any more power or control over it than anyone else, but at least you can see the future. you're given the time to make peace with it, to brace yourself for it, to bargain with it, to plead and beg and fight against it however desperately and hopelessly, even if in the end it still happens exactly as you saw it would.

(you can see the future, and it still doesn't hurt you any less than anyone else when it happens, but you don't expect anymore for anyone to hold you any less responsible for it anyway. it would be nice for someone to do it one day, but you understand.)

you can see the future, and you decide it's a kindness to both yourself and others to keep it for yourself as much as possible whenever you can.

imagine you're luce, and your family has this set of rings they've looked after and protected for as long as your family has existed. they're one set of three of the most important artifacts in the world, ones that help in safeguarding its existence and balance. they're duty, the very first one and the most important one your family was created for.

the pacifier around your mother's neck is duty too, and the most important and powerful artifact among twenty-one in safeguarding the world and its balance. it's been passed down in your family too, from mother to daughter. it's duty, but less tied to your family and much more to the blood running through your veins. it's a curse, in fact, as it demands heavy sacrifices the rings don't, and one that can only be tied to the blood running through your veins.

(your mother looks at you as if expecting some kind of reaction from you, and you can only wonder at which point you weren't supposed to see it as a given. duty and sacrifices have been one and the same for you for a long time now. is it even duty if it doesn't require any sacrifices from you?)

imagine you're luce, and your mother dies for duty. she's the donna, and so she dies for your family. she's the sky arcobaleno, and so she dies for the world. she's your mother, but she dies anyway, doesn't fight it either, even knowing she will leave you behind, even knowing she won't ever get to see what you look like all grown-up.

everywhere you look, duty stares back at you, from your mother and the pacifier around her neck, her love for your family and the life she gives up for it, her love for you and how she dies anyway while you're still only a child. duty, from your family members and how they die for you and kill for you, how they do both at your command, how their lives are in the palms of your hands and how they weigh only as much as you allow them to at a time. duty, from the knowledge your foresight gives you and the shackles tied to the blood running through your veins.

your mother's only duty while she lives too. she loves you, but she'd have had to give birth to you anyway even if she didn't. she loves you, but she still gave birth to you even knowing the kind of life you'd have to live, the kind of hands you'd inevitably end up with, the burdens she'd have to lay on your shoulders, passing them down from her own. because she loves you, she finds the resolve to raise you to be able to face all of it head-on and come out on top, but she'd have had to raise you much the same way anyway even if she didn't.

(she doesn't die for you, doesn't fight to be able to keep living with you, and this, too, is your mother surrendering to duty one last time.)

(you're so sick of it, so angry at it, so hateful and resentful against it. you're so stifled by it to the point you've stopped being able to breathe for a long time now. or you would have been if they had taught you how to face duty in this way too.

it's for the better they didn't. a silver lining, sparing you pain that isn't necessary for you to go through. everyone you turn to only teaches you how to keep holding your breath longer, and you listen and learn, obedient and dutiful as you've ever been.

you're grateful for it too. really, you are.)

everywhere you look, there's no room for you to so much as question any of it, let alone anything more. duty is commendable, something you ought to look up to and strive towards, strive to achieve. duty is the right thing to do. of course it is.

(you exhale a breath of relief that shakes you down to your very core.

thank god, it's at least the right thing to do.

you're grateful for it beyond words. really, you are.)

imagine you're luce, and before it even happens, you know the choice you'll make when climbing that mountain, when standing on top of it, when waiting for a bright light to shine down on you from above. you know the choice you'll make then, even when pregnant with your daughter.

it doesn't matter since how long you knew, be it years, months, days, hours or minutes before. all that matters is that before you can even contemplate the idea of making another choice and all its implications and possible consequences, before the thought can even come alive in your mind, you already know the choice you'll make.

(you can see the future, but just because you already saw it, it doesn't mean it's now set in stone.

you can see the future, but just because you're given the chance to fight to change it, it doesn't mean it still won't happen every bit like you saw it.

it doesn't mean it can't still happen even worse than how you first saw it happen because you fought to change it, no matter how already dreadful it originally was.)

imagine you're luce, and before it even happens, you know they'll be others with you standing on top of that mountain. you're the only one who'll know it before it happens.

(because you can see the future.

and oh, you did not ask for it.)

they're strangers, people you don't owe anything to. adults who choose to show up at the first meeting, and to show up to every following mission after that. the chosen seven, whose ambitions and prides lead them to walk the path of the seven strongest too once laid down in front of them.

you don't force their hands in making any of those choices for them. you're not responsible for any of them.

you become coworkers then, accomplices, your hands stained in blood to various extent, but now dipping in the same pool of blood as you strive towards the same goal together. you have each other's backs, learn each other's strengths and weaknesses, learn each other's personalities, likes and dislikes. you keep having to spend more time together as the missions keep coming your way.

inevitably, you come to care about them. even more damning, they come to care about you in return. enough so they'll look after your daughter even after what'll happen on top of that mountain. enough so they'll look after your granddaughter too, warmly and fondly enough she'll call one of them uncle.

you're still the only one who knows they'll stand together with you on top of that mountain, not knowing what'll happen on it like you do.

and you do care about them, you swear you do. really, you do.

(you care about them the same way your mother cared about you, and how she still raised you to have steel in you and be made of sharp edges you know how to use. you care about them the same way you care about your family, and how you still send them to their deaths as needed so the rest of your family you care about just the same can keep on living longer and safely. this is the only way you've had the chance to learn how to care and love.

duty and sacrifices have been one and the same for you for as long as you can remember. it doesn't matter at which point sacrifices came to mean love to you too.

and most of all, you love your daughter more than anything else in the world.)

imagine you're luce, and this is who you are. this is who you've been raised to be, the only way you've been given room to grow up to be. this is the life you've lived and the kind of life that has shaped you as the person you are now. this is what you've been taught and told is the best version of yourself you could have grown up to be. this is who you ended up being by what you've been taught and told are all the right choices to make.

you're still the only one who knows what is about to happen on top of that mountain. it hasn't happened yet. the fate of the world hangs on what'll happen on top of that mountain, the same world you'll have to give birth to your daughter in. the same daughter you're currently pregnant with.

now imagine you're luce, look me in the eye and tell me you'd know how to even form the thought of the possibility of there being any other choice to make. look me in the eye and tell me you wouldn't look at the only choice in front of you, and know deep in your bones it's the only right choice to make. that it is right of you to make it. because it simply has to be.

(imagine you're luce, and you're not doomed by the narrative. of course, you're not.

why would you need to be when the narrative has painstakingly shaped you all your life to become its perfect, faithful and dutiful sacrificial lamb?

and then, imagine you're luce, and you're even grateful for it, so, so very grateful it held up its end of the bargain too.

truly, you are.)

[forbiddentaako]

more monochrome practice I suppose

[lunar-wandering]

laying in bed thinking about how Wukong is a people pleaser and this part of him gets frequently overlooked due to the focus on his hot-headedness/impulsivity

[quinns-art-box]

ANNIVERSARY OUTFIT DOODLES inspired a little by the new merch :] i really wanna draw lots more of these guys in their cool fits but enjoy the polycule and friends for now

[raaorqtpbpdy]

Okay my copy of agit came in the mail today and I just read the whole thing, so now I can finally share my thoughts.

First of all, love it, literally the only thing I was iffy about the whole time was the fact that they used smartphones and contemporary slang instead of keeping everything from the shows original time period. I personally would have preferred it maintain the 2005-ness of the original show, but I can understand why the author chose to modernize it.

Secondly, the whole two doors thing at the end where his choices were “no powers” or “no phantom planet” very obviously only existed so phantom planet could be retconned out of existence—not that I’m complaining, I’m just saying it was not subtle. (But also phantom planet no longer canon can I get a fuck yeah)

And lastly thank you AGIT for canonizing that Dan calls himself Phantom as his only name because goddamn it is so hard to write anything serious or emotional when the main character’s name is fucking Dan. I’m sorry ppl named Dan but I cannot take your inner turmoil seriously (not when I’m writing in third person, anyway. It really takes me out of the moment. The vibes are awful.)

[fallenbhaalspawn]

one of the things about Orin that fascinates me is how she definitely is a dedicated bhaalist, but not nearly as dedicated to bhaal and how that's shown in a bunch of little (many unintentional) ways! her outfit being red instead of the traditional bhaalist black (or that weird bronze/gold some bhaalist armor gets), her title of the Red given to her not by bhaal nor fellow bhaalists, but by her cognate doppelgangers, the jewelry she shares with her mother but is worn by no other bhaalists, etc.

even before she says "I did all this for [Sarevok]!" and finding her Helena's corpse in Orin's room even after her mother attempted to kill her, a fact which she is clearly and justifiably caught up in, you can still see the breadcrumbs leading to the fact she is primarily driven by her more direct familial connections instead of her god

[twogundogonesighthound]

(This is wyrddogs) I didn’t want to derail the post but I saw your comment that non-sighthounds can’t lure course because it’s dangerous. My club offers racing and lure coursing to non-sighthounds under LGRA/ AOK9 rules. I’d love to hear your thoughts/opinions on the dangers to non-sighthounds. (Asked in good faith for the potential for a respectful discussion.)

I'll happily answer as I know the question is in good faith, but if anyone tries to stir anything up - you'll be blocked!

So here's the thing: sighthounds were bred to hunt in packs. They've always hunted in flights. Are some of them going to resource guard? 100%. But because they're bred to hunt in groups, they tend to know how to run better together on a field and are less likely to have resource guarding issues. I think it's a horrible idea to put a pack of like, border collies, together to race and course. They're not bred for it so their runs won't be as safe, many of them are resource guarders, etc. Racing is probably safer, but I see safety issues with the idea of coursing and racing non-sighthound breeds. I love all the single-dog activities, like CATs and LCI, but running them in groups is asking for trouble.

Edited to add that it does NOT test athleticism to see what off-breed dogs course, which is what AOk9s website says is the purpose. Not the purpose of coursing - it's to test hunting ability. It's sort of a silly approximation...but that's a really dangerous way to "test athleticism" imo. Putting a bunch of pitties on a field to compete over a resource is a bad idea.

[mystical-one]

WARNING IM GOING TO BE HONEST AND EARNEST HERE. i really unironically unconditionally liked now and then