#the human experience. emotions. the humanness of it all

[noperopesaredope]

#not a shitpost #when i say 'not to be anti-religious' i quite literally mean #'not to open myself up to attack for criticizing not just christianity but also other religions beyond christianity and western familiarity #... BUT' #anyways other religions aren't benign or 'exotic' or 'exciting' or 'enlightening' just because you personally #weren't raised in a society entangled and altered and grappling with their inextricable sociopolitical influence #anyways yeah the original post was christian-centric (bc that's where my firsthand religious trauma comes from) #but the additions were written very much with other major world religions in mind #westerners forget: there are actually other MAJOR world religions in existence #and by major i mean large powerful and yes potentially quite harmful. like with most major power structures #this will shock and amaze you but many MANY human beings deal with annoying ridiculous awful religious oppression.... #and that religion is not always christianity! because western experiences are not universal! #if you've never heard someone raised (for instance) in an Egyptian conservative muslim family go on a RANT... #... it's educational! they have a lot to complain about!!! #ANYWAY. #just because it's not your oppression doesn't mean it's not oppression. end rant #posts I'm going to lose followers for... #no wait im not done yet: to me religion is similar to a business or government #no it's not *innately* harmful. but it IS a power structure #and therefore highly vulnerable to abuse/misuse if preventative measure aren't taken as it grows #and the fact that it's promoting specific worldviews...the very basis on which we build our understanding of the world and morality... #and that it's so wrapped up in human emotions and spiritually...that makes everything more delicate. and individuals more vulnerable. #so yeah i think religion owes a duty of care to its members to acknowledge this and actively work to protect the communities it influences. #and yeah kids especially! hence this post <- OP's tags

I remember taking a World Religions class in high school, and one thing that stuck with me from it was my professor saying "There's no such thing as a 'peaceful' religion, nor are any religions inherently violent."

It was kind of a wake up call to learn about both the good and the bad of various religions and how they can have harmful power structures, like with Hinduism having a harmful caste system and, as someone else pointed out in the replies, Buddhism being just as open to corruption and hate as any other religion. We learned about how there are some corrupt Buddhist monks and things like the Rohingya Genocide in Myanmar, where Buddhism was used as a weapon to violently slaughter a Muslim ethnic group.

There are many religions I have looked into due to personal exploration, and almost all of them have flaws and ways they can be weaponized against people. I now believe that there are no religions that are more "inherently wrong" than others, just ones that have been more openly weaponized. It is dangerous to maintain the belief that only some religions can be harmful, or that some religions are more dangerous than others on a base level.

not to be anti-religious but i do wonder if teaching children that they are innately flawed and sinful is, perhaps, not a healthy worldvi

[syscest]

wait, does everybody really not wish they were plural? I just kinda always thought that and like talking to yourself all the time (but out loud and not auditory hallucinations so its normal) and only being able to access certain emotions sometimes and then feeling them overwhelmingly, and like having multiple names that you switch between at any given time were just standard parts of the human experience, and being plural meant you had to like lose large swathes of memory and wake up in the middle of situations and events

(grown adult woman just now realizing this)

[inbarfink]

Okay this is such a tiny easy-to-miss character beat but I just absolutely love how after already hearing about how Arthur Cantabella has constructed a whole made-up fantasy world cut-off from time and logic for his daughter to live in and upgraded from paying people to play-along in his LARPs to creating a town-sized Secret Government Brainwashing Experiment and invented like five new kinds of human rights violations… the point where Phoenix is just so shocked and says it’s ‘going too far’… is when he finds out that Arthur had suppressed and altered Espella’s memories of her childhood best friend.

I mean, it is kinda ridiculous but… I think it also makes perfect sense because Phoenix is a ridiculous kinda guy and even if he is intellectually aware that all of the things Arthur Cantabella has already told him are Extremely Fucked Up - it fits so well with Phoenix's character that this is what sets him off on an emotional, instinctual level. I can’t think of anything more personally, viscerally unsettling for Phoenix Wright - the man whose entire life and sense of identity is built on his memories of his own childhood best friends. 

[theonlyqualitytrash]

The irony of Fyodor's words:

These words have always stuck with me when I started to reread the manga, especially with the recent chapters and Fyodor's behavior. He says something deeply philosophical, but also deeply ironic.

In the anime, he says:

“People are eager to believe that they are acting with free will. That they know best. They become so excited by their own discoveries that they give them too much value. We all loathe to believe we can be controlled.” (Season 3, Episode 4, 17:35)

And in the manga:

"People, honestly, simply, wrongly assume that 'I thought so myself.'" (Vol. 10, Ch. 42, Page 35)

At first glance, these two quotes seem to say something very similar—that people tend to overvalue their own thoughts and discoveries, believing them to be entirely their own, when in reality, they might be influenced by something (or someone) else. But here's where the irony kicks in: Fyodor himself embodies this very mindset.

Despite his belief that people are wrong to assume their thoughts are independent, Fyodor operates under the assumption that his philosophy is entirely his own. In truth, it’s shaped by a lifetime of suffering, trauma, and a near-obsessive need to control the world around him.

Fyodor’s theory—that all ability users should be eradicated—is rooted in his own experiences of feeling powerless and out of control. The abuse he’s endured, combined with his ability, has led him to view the world—and its "free will"—as fundamentally flawed. He believes that to restore order to this chaotic world, the gifted must be suppressed. Yet, isn't this philosophy itself an example of the very thing he criticizes in others? His conviction that he has discovered the "truth" mirrors the self-deception he critiques: the tendency to believe that his thoughts are purely his own, unaffected by external forces, including his trauma.

In a way, Fyodor is trapped in the very mindset he warns against: the idea that his conclusions are logical and independent, when they are actually the product of his suffering, his obsession with control, and his refusal to accept the chaos of human nature. His belief that he’s arrived at the ultimate truth—that ability users must be eradicated to prevent chaos—reflects the same misguided, self-affirming belief that he accuses others of having.

Fyodor, in his isolation and intellectual torment, has convinced himself that eradicating others' abilities is the only way to restore order. But this "discovery" is not a product of pure intellect. It is, instead, the result of his trauma and distorted worldview. The irony is that he has become the very thing he despises: someone who clings to his own belief as the ultimate truth, dismissing the possibility that his thoughts are shaped by his personal history, his suffering, and his need for control.

At the heart of this contradiction is Fyodor’s desperate desire for control. His philosophy isn't just intellectual; it’s emotionally driven, born of his experiences with powerlessness. In seeking to rid the world of chaos and disorder, he longs for a sense of security. But he fails to see that his quest for control is itself a response to his internalized trauma. His attempts to impose order are shaped not just by logic, but by his scars.

This leads us to the central irony: Fyodor cannot see that his belief system is flawed not because it's illogical, but because it’s emotionally driven. He claims to have transcended the emotional influence of others, yet in doing so, he becomes a prisoner of his own narrative. He cannot escape the fact that his thoughts, like those of the people he criticizes, are shaped by his fears, desires, and personal history.

Fyodor's rejection of external influence is, in the end, a perfect reflection of the flaw he exhibits: the inability to recognize that his thoughts are not independent, but deeply shaped by a lifetime of suffering and a need for control. He believes that he has arrived at the ultimate truth through intellectual reasoning, but in reality, his philosophy is just as much a product of his internal struggles as anyone else’s beliefs.

Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk :>

[animeyanderelover]

Request: Can I have Hc's of Kaneki with a darling that has regenerative abilities but is not a ghoul and was just recently kidnapped so they don't have the highest opinion of him or ghouls in general?

Tw: Yandere themes, possessive behavior, obsession, delusional tendencies, paranoia, abduction, isolation, darling has had bad experiences with ghouls in the past, some gore

Tags: @flaming-vulpix

Darling with regenerative abilities

🔲​An abduction in general is a more nerve-racking experience for Kaneki than it might just be for darling. It is always fueled with paranoia and irrational fright though, the deep-rooted fear of losing you to someone, be it human or ghoul. There are certain scenarios where there will be more paranoia involved than normally and I believe that with a darling with such special abilities it will be such a case where there will be even more fear apparent than under already very suffocating circumstances. For you see, someone like you would surely be desired by both humans and ghouls for your special abilities. For ghouls you might just be a never-ending source of food for as long as you breathe and for the ghoul investigators and the Commission of Counter Ghoul you might just be a solution to the casualities if they were to figure out on a biological level how your abilities function. Threats are now then ever from possibly both sides and it is this terrifying knowledge that pushes Kaneki quicker than already over the edge. He does not want you to be a food source nor a science project and finds himself with no other choice but to take you himself.

🔲​Weighted down with very little opinions of himself and already expecting you to not have a very high opinion of someone like him, the despair is nevertheless there and unstoppable when you give him the cold shoulder after your abduction. A paradox if emotions that should not exist clash within him. On the one hand he recoils whenever he listens to his own obsessive thoughts, disgusted by himself. Then in the next moment he wishes so dearly to touch you and to receive the affection that he hasn't experienced in years. He loves you but at the same time he is too ashamed to face you and let you see just how pathetic he really is. After all you are right in your hatred, he has ruined your life to prevent one of many horrific scenarios in his head. Still, his presence is always lurking as he watches you whilst you are stuck in his apartment. Admiring, loving, worshipping from a distance where he believes he won't be of any burden or annoyance to you. He cannot be too far away though as if physical distance is harming him. The emotional distance between him and you is already so severe after all, at least let him keep some strings of sanity intact.

🔲​You reveal to him a few weeks after the abduction why you despise ghouls and by extension also him. In the past you have suffered from an attack by a ghoul who left you on the brink of death with mutiliated limbs. If it wouldn't have been for your regenerative abilities you would have never survived yet the process of regeneration was long and was painful. For weeks you had to lock yourself in your apartment, isolated to hide your secret and wait for the day until you had recovered. A story that does nothing but add to his paranoia as one of his fears is proven. You were already attacked by a ghoul. You already suffered by the hands of one side. Even though he is only a half-ghoul, even though he has nothing to do with it, Kaneki still feels horribly guilty and ashamed as if everything is his fault. You have a reason, a valid reason, for your disgust and low opinion of ghouls. Yet still he craves deep down to have you understand that he has only the best intentions in mind for you only to be met with that horrible knowledge that he keeps you locked up. The following weeks will be difficult for him as he struggles with his feelings and thoughts. A breakdown is bound to happen.

[fallingrealms16]

CAITVI FIC REC LIST PART 2 (???) <3333

MUAHAHAHAHA I’m baaaaaack ;)

Gonna keep this personal note quick:

Here is the wonderful part 2 out of Violyn fanfics, only the best of the best that I have read! Lots of stories + another note at the end, make sure you read that to not miss any upcoming content <3

Reminder‼️ pretty please read all the tags on each fic before reading as I am not responsible for any emotional trauma you may experience ^3^ (more notes at the bottom ty, ily <3)

NOW let’s get cracka lackin🤚🏼

While you’re down there, being a doll by Greed

4.8K Words // Chapters: 1/1 // 2K Hits // COMPLETED

//EXPLICIT//

“But I don’t need to be there to know that your panties are soaked right now," Vi said, her voice sending a thrill down Caitlyn's spine. "Go ahead, tell me I'm right."

You’re Mine Now by YourSinfulScribe

10K Words // Chapters: 4/4 // 5.8K Hits // COMPLETED?

//EXPLICIT//

Vi is an astute and expert smuggler, and although she has not had the best of luck lately, she has always known how to make good decisions that have helped her survive.

However, ignoring rumors and advice, she enters a mansion that, although it seems ordinary at first glance, hides something that Vi could never have imagined.

Vampire Cait x Human Vi

Coming home to you by mkhhhx

20K Words // Chapters: 1/1 // 14K Hits // COMPLETED

//EXPLICIT//

“You are not taking good enough care of yourself,” Caitlyn starts, looking towards the fountain. She’s lost weight and her cheeks are hollowed, the knuckles of her hand too pronounced into Vi’s grasp. “I need you now, more than ever, Violet.”

“You have me,” Vi says, as a matter of fact. As if she has anyone else to live for, to give her loyalty to. “In any way you’d want me.”

this one is so broken and tentative it actually ruined me btw. Literally as I type this shite I’ve also got it open on my computer STILL reading because it’s that good—I didn’t have to finish it to recommend it

When It Rains, It Pours by SarcastCity

22K Words // Chapters: 4/4 // 23.8K Hits // COMPLETED

//EXPLICIT//

Caitlyn's shower breaks, and Vi's the sexy plumber who comes out to fix the problem.

Place Your Bets by ChemistryGod

25K Words // Chapters: 6/6 // 30K Hits // COMPLETED

//EXPLICIT//

Vi's an up-and-coming pro-boxer. Her first match is against former heavyweight world-champion Sevika. Vi needs the money to move up the social ladder, and with her pro-status comes better training. Caitlyn is new in town and they hit it off at a lesbian bar. Vi, however, never could have guessed that their jobs would put their newfound relationship in a tight spot.

Nothing Personal, It’s Just Business by second_hand_feels

28K Words // Chapters: 5/5 // 10.8K Hits// COMPLETED

//EXPLICIT//

“Not gonna lie,” the smooth voice announces down the alleyway, “whatever you’re doing, it looks hot as hell.”

Caitlyn just freezes, taking a moment to assess the situation. Gaze flicking up to the voice, it’s the woman, one of Demarco’s enforcers, standing at the mouth of the alleyway and fuck.

Fuck for so many reasons. Notably, she can’t be fucking this up this quick, but also, fuck, she’s just so hot.

Catvi Undercover Cop/Mafia AU

P.S. extra bonus one shot fix it fic recommendation <3

Sweet, like a cupcake by aniyahsheree

2.7K Words // Chapters: 1/1 // 1K Hits // COMPLETED

//EXPLICIT//

Vi pulled back slightly, her lips quirked into a playful grin. "Told you," she murmured, brushing a stray strand of hair from Caitlyn's face, "you're sweet—like a cupcake"

Next one will be slightly longer fics…like 28K words+ ✅ but jumps to more than 55K words+ very quickly!

Pretty plsssss send in recs too! I’m always looking for stuff to read and also recommend for others so if you know of a good fic send it in <33

MUAHAHA OKAY NOW IM DONE ‼️

[theshiftingwitch]

How can u go to a marvel/fiction dr this dosent make sense

Reality shifting:

✨ The breakdown ✨

Although it became popular on TikTok in 2020 thanks to Dracotok and the Great Harry Potter resurgence, reality shifting is an ancient spiritual practice.

Through thousands of years, people of different cultures, beliefs, religions, and backgrounds practiced reality shifting in different forms and for different reasons.

The practice gained traction in recent years however due to the new found popularity of the multiverse theory.

What is the multiverse theory?

It is a concept that came to life through some areas of physics and philosophy and it suggests that our universe with all of its planets, all of its stars, all of its black and white holes, all of its creatures and laws and movement, may in fact not be the only universe in existence. It brings up the possibility of other universes existing parallel to ours, vibrating at a slightly different frequency that we are not able to see it currently.

See: inflation theory, the "many worlds" interpretation in quantum mechanics, the string theory...

But how do we prove that this is all real?

Well, the only way to prove that shifting is real is to try it. And thankfully there are hundreds if not thousands of shifters who are thoroughly documenting their journeys online and talking about their experiences in great detail.

And how does that mean you can shift to fictional worlds like marvel universe for example?

Well, if we take into consideration that there are infinite realities, and within those infinite realities there are infinite possibilities, and those infinite possibilities mean that no two realities are exactly the same, it would stand to reason to believe that one reality's "fictional worlds" are another reality's real worlds.

What is simply a movie or a book or a TV show in this reality, is another world's actual people, creatures, and events. If magic doesn't exist in this reality, it can very well exist in another reality. If vampires aren't real in this reality, they can very well be real in another reality. If you are merely a human in this reality, you shift your awareness to another reality in which you are a werewolf, an angel, a demon, a wizard, a cat, a butterfly, a horse, a rock, a cloud in the sky...

How do you do that?

You become aware of the fact that you are simply pure consciousness. You are not your body, you are not your mind, you are not your thoughts, you are not your feelings, you are not your circumstances, and this reality is not the only one in existence. It is simply the only one you are currently aware of. You expand your awareness, you tune into other realities like you're tuning into a radio frequency, and suddenly you are in another world with other people experiencing another life in a different body with different thoughts and different emotions.

Lastly, I would like you to consider this:

we are on a floating rock that is millions of years old, in an infinite universe that is somehow expanding into more infiniteness, with more galaxies than we can even begin to count. There are more stars in the sky than there are numbers, there are more galaxies than there are humans, and we keep discovering more and more and more as time goes by. Is it truly that hard to believe that this reality may not be the only one?

[wp100]

kinda sad how much people will defend ai to the ends of the earth

like you really want robots to create art? the very thing you rely on as an escape that us humans have made since forever? sounds really miserable and dull

[gentlenotes-moved]

"you're flawless!" "you're perfect!" or!!!!!! maybe you're a little flawed. maybe you've fucked up. maybe you're a human with scars and faults. a human who's wronged and who's been wronged. maybe you've messed up. but... maybe you're a human that deserves love and happiness and good things in life. a human that deserves to heal and to be loved because you're worth something just for being alive.

[silvermoon424]

Me when I remember how dogs were the very first domesticated animal and have evolved alongside humans for thousands of years, resulting in our two species becoming adapted to each other and able to easily communicate.

Me when I remember that humans and dogs have been around each other so much for so much time that dogs are better at reading human behavior than our closest genetic relatives (the great apes).

Me when I remember that dogs can easily understand our facial expressions and gestures, while most people are able to intuit things from a simple bark (if the dog is friendly or aggressive, big or small, nervous or excited, etc).

Me when I remember how, millennia ago, some wolves decided to hang around humans for extended periods of time and those humans thought "you know, we could make them our friends."

Me when I remember that dogs are called man's best friend for a reason.

[weaselle]

high key recommend the Foreigner series by C. J. Cherryh, which is a 22 book series about the platonic but devoted relationship between some aliens and the only human they allow access to their culture

Basic Premise of the series as follows (don't worry no real spoilers)

humans looking for a new homeworld find a good one but when they get there it's already inhabited by aliens in a bow and arrow stage of development

humans don't want to interfere but are forced onto the planet anyway by technical problems. Humans refuse to share too much technology and knowledge because they still don't want to interfere too much

humans and aliens mostly think they are getting along great but are so unknowable to each other that they are actually fucking it up for each other real bad (alien emotions and human emotions are so different that what gets translated as "friends" and "loyalty" etc have no actual translation and assuming there is a one to one equal experience leads to serious problems)

things come to a head in a short and bloody war (the humans are more technologically advanced but are like half the size of the aliens, and are a relatively small group of humans on an entire world full of the aliens. Well, i guess technically the humans ARE the aliens in this scenario, but you get what i mean)

The aliens decide the humans can have one large island and must stay there. The aliens want human tech knowledge, the humans are not in a position to deny them much but insist on a slow and controlled turnover of the knowledge so they don't fuck up the alien's development too much if they can help it (also don't want to lose their tech advantage).

The aliens, determining communication with humans to be imprecise and dangerous, insist the humans elect a single person to leave their island and live among the aliens to be the sole human responsible for communicating between the species.

the, like, fifth person to take this post is the first human to maybe really understand the aliens, he is starting to kind of go native, the aliens he is with are starting to develop a deep respect and love for him, and this is where the first book begins, with the aliens in a weird state of tech development that includes steam engines, computer chips, "horse" riding and handguns

all 22 books are gripping, i thought the first trilogy was amazing but aliens from somewhere else get introduced later in the series and the last four books had me absolutely hanging off the edge of my seat the whole time - really looking forward to the next book if she can manage it, C. J. Cherryh is one of my favorite authors, has published around 80 books since the 70's, and she's been writing this particular series since 1994.

aliens with with communication disabilities that have human service animals whose job it is to use their body and voice to physically and tonally indicate the alien's mood by handling the body language and vocal tones for all face to face communication...

"human service animals" was a weird thing to type but you get what i mean in three words instead of an additional paragraph so

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

I'm sorry I let down my guard.

[First] Prev <–-> Next

[mourn-and-watch]

no but essek's abnormal behaviours in the last arc and especially in episode 140 are my roman empire. which is ironic because aeor is something of a roman empire itself. but in all seriousness, it was the episode that made me realise i love essek and his development so much and it kinda summarised it even before caleb's epilogue.

and i mean the "it's not fair" scene specifically. it's like, an epitome of his whole character progression from a person who put An Objectively Important Goal above all else without hesitation to someone who can't help but care for people around even more than his goal, no matter how big and relevant it is.

the mighty nein - and he alongside them - pretty much saved the world and freed an ancient city from thousand-year-long suffering. they defeated nine extremely powerful menacing entities who managed to stay out of everyone's sight for years and were so close to achieving their goal and dooming exandria in the process. they did the impossible and became heroes and somehow, they survived, even though they had bidden farewells a couple of hours ago because they had already understood what they had been facing. and nevertheless. they made it.

and none of them was celebrating.

mighty nein are basically essek's only friends. he knew them to be very unusual people, to put it lightly, loud and stubborn and completely inescapable once they consider you to be one of their own. and they showed him so much kindness and put so much faith in him, they were here playing the most atrocious music ever and digging clay in his backyard for a spell they invented just to help one of theirs and asking him if he could bring them pastries the day after they found out he was lying to them and had started a war. they were chaotic and weird and sometimes unbearable but most importantly they were carrying so much hope with them all this time - a hope they could end the war, a hope they could stop the angel of irons cult, a hope they could get better, a hope he could get better, and now, finally, that they could save their lost friend.

and that hope shattered, just like that, the moments after they'd already made the impossible. they saved so many souls - and then could not get back just that one.

for essek "my intentions were never good they were important" thelyss it just. shouldn't have mattered. they won. it could have been worse. people die and when they die they rarely come back. they should've been happy everyone else barely made it alive.

but for some reason, mighty nein being so defeated after they saved the world exposed him to that overwhelming feeling of injustice and unfairness. and i mean, there were many things essek considered to be unfair, but when i watched his first appearance and his interactions with mighty nein later on til their reunion in aeor arc, i wouldn't dare to guess that one of the things on that list would be something that personal. and personal not even to him.

the thing is, essek didn't even know who that guy was. why mighty nein cared about him so much. he had an idea, i guess, that he was their friend once, or someone in that body was. it was also a person who wanted to unleash a terrifying horrific aberration onto the material plane. it was a person very dedicated to killing essek and his friends - and they still didn't take any pleasure in fighting him. essek didn't feel strongly about lucien or molly, because he never knew them.

i don't think he mourned his death and failed resurrection. he mourned mighty nein's hope, the one they put in him when they had no reason to, the one they offered yasha in the cathedral and the one they kept after the spell for veth failed and the one they carried til the very end because they wanted it to reach molly. they had saved people with this hope. they had saved nations. they had saved the world. but they ended up feeling like it hadn't even been worth anything.

how desperate would it feel, witnessing people who for some reason always saw good in you when they absolutely shouldn't, who made literal miracles out of nothing, who ended wars and fought gods and tricked the hags and freed cities from horrors beyond anyone's comprehension purely because they thought it was the right thing to do and also loved their friends this much, silently crying over a dead body they couldn't bring back to life? how desperate would it feel to realise that with all your knowledge about time you dedicated your life to and threw away any principles for, you can't undo this? no one can. some things are left to fate alone and this time it wasn't kind to them. no matter how much good they did, they still got slapped in the face.

and it was, i think, such a genuine moment of empathy. like, essek is the character who prefers to put up a facade and act distant and self-composed but this time he just. walked away unable to watch this. the could only say to fjord that it wasn't fair. even when he was caught off guard in nicodranas he was able to explain himself and his motives to an extent even though he was a nervous wreck whose extra important plan went to hell the second the only people he cared about appeared. this time he had nothing to elaborate on. it just wasn't fair. it wasn't fair his friends didn't get what they wanted the most. it wasn't fair he couldn't do anything to make it right.

it is such a sad and beautiful and even cathartic scene because it is about person who started a war that destroyed so many lives - and then met this ragtag group of weirdos who saw a lonely stand-offish guy and said "hey, let's be friends!" and didn't even wait for him to answer. he saw them being serious and calculated and he saw them being ridiculous and extremely stupid, he saw their mistrust to outsiders and their loyalty to each other, he made spells with them and paid a visit to their hot tub, he ate their stale pastries and drank their hot chocolate mixed with whiskey, he was welcomed amongst them and in their wonderful home, both in xhorhas before they even found out what he had done and in the tower when they already knew - and then, he saw them mourning their loss, defeated and helpless, and he, a person who believed there were things more important than whole nations, let alone just one life, couldn't help but share the pain they felt. a pure display of compassion from someone who detached himself from it, who didn't believe he could grow into a better person capable of it again, but became one nonetheless without even realising it

[wayward-sherlock]

you guys ever think abt the fact that there are so many songs and art pieces and movies and poems and cracked floorboards and overused blankets and favorite snacks and allergies and haircuts and scars and books and favorite classes and most loathed teachers and fun 2am adventures and late nights spent crying and money falling out of birthday cards signed by loved ones and coffee orders and little things lost between car seats and video games and tv shows and photos and stories that make up every single person on this planet.

[fallout-lou-begas]

so the thing is that i imagine pauling having a very codependent abusive mother figure situation with the administrator where the administrator has beaten her down so completely to where she doesn't think that she is capable of being anyone or anything outside of her role as the administrator's assistant and buries and suppresses her humanity and emotions and needs as much as possible to fill that role and when she's surrounded by professional lunatics the only one she can really ever open up to is the brilliant but soft-spoken sweetheart from texas though of course it is accidental at first with engineer simply detecting that something is wrong because she's having a really rough day and he just gets her some extra coffee or something thoughtful to try to take a load off because it's the kind thing to do and it just really touches her and as engineer becomes her point-person for logistics and planning because of course she really respects his intellect the professional boundaries of their relationship just erode more and more because pauling is both literally and metaphorically touch-starved and every time this guy makes another goofy science joke she feels her stomach doing flips and engineer has caught a few feelings too but is way too much of a good ol boy gentleman to act on them in an improper way and also he's at least a decade older than her so there's all that but eventually things reach a breaking point because she either needs to risk everything to experience the physical and emotional release she desperately craves or else she'll curdle despite this being expressly forbidden by the adminstrator so now you've got the two smartest people in team fortress trying to hide their unauthorized workplace relationship from everyone and in between assassinations and battles miss pauling is daydreaming of a cute little ranch house life with her sweet texas bumblebee. okay? and that adds so much weight to engineer convincing miss pauling to sink the australium cache by telling her straight-up that if she keeps it then he won't have anything to do with it, or with her???? and you have to imagine them being in love but also the first conversation they've had directly in over six months based on the timeline of the comic??? OKAY????!!!

i can't put this in the main tag because non-lesbian miss pauling is a third rail for a lot of people (and before anybody gets mad at me: i'm a lesbian) but i will say: TF2 Comic #7 finally delivered a huge win to the Engie/Pauling truthers out there. it's me. i'm the truthers.

[sergle]

I really truly, from the bottom of my heart, hate you bitches so much, because on the tiktok of literally COCK AND BALL jokes w brittany broski, there were a few notes/messages like this:

And I KNOW you don't think anyone's going to check. You had someone go into your askbox and say "hiii brittany broski is shitty about palestine she's really ignorant :/" and you went oh omg I didn't know!! thanks for telling me! So I checked! This is in reference to her talking in her podcast, because people were asking why she hadn't done any big press statements about Palestine, you didn't retweet this or that, you must not care, don't you care, what's your stance, etc etc please say more OKAY COOL. So what's going on there? What did Brittany say on her podcast? Is she a Bad Person? Can I have some transcript, please? ____ "Hey guys, before we get into this week's episode, I want to talk to you about the ongoing and prolonged suffering and loss of life in Gaza, in Israel, and the oppression of Palestinian people widespread. I don't ever want it to be a question that I would ever not be against the oppression of any group of people, that I would ever stand on the side of the oppressor." "There was a lot of fear of misusing my platform." ... "I will admit that I was nervous to talk about it, because I don't want to say the wrong thing. And this is too fucking serious of an issue to misspeak, or to spread misinformation, or to speak over or for someone." ... "So I want to take a moment on my biggest platform- which is this podcast, to say that I stand with the people of Palestine, I stand for the liberation of Palestinian people." ... "Every day, to log on to social media, and be just inundated with graphic, unimaginable violence, and loss, and grief, it's just--There are no words." ... "And I feel helpless. That's part of it too, when you feel helpless, the last thing you want to do is talk to people about it-- but visibility is a resource in and of itself. And I can offer that." ... "The outpouring of rage and passion online, and anger at what's happening, I would argue needs to be dedicated and focused on our elected officials. We live in a democracy- albeit an inherently flawed one- we live in a democracy where we have elected officials who were elected and put in power to represent us, and if we feel misrepresented, if we feel underrepresented in foreign affairs? These officials have public phone numbers and emails. There are scripts available online to express your disdain and your rage, and unfortunately that's one of the only ways we'll see actionable change."   "If you expected more from me, it's a terrible feeling- but I don't want to center myself, this needs to be all eyes on Palestine right now, where the real activism is happening. I would encourage you to follow journalists that are on the ground, people who are in Gaza, we need to be listening to them. I would also hope that we're at a point in this conversation where I can express my desire to stand in solidarity with the people of Palestine and that NOT meaning or suggesting or condoning anti-Semitism of any kind. There's a rise of anti-Semitism and islamophobia in the United States and it's just-- it's disgusting, and it's scary, so I want that to be said too. I just wanted to share that I am experiencing part of this collective sense of helplessness and hopelessness-- but it DOESN'T HAVE to be hopeless. I'm going to include a phone number in the description of this episode where, if you don't know the name of your senators or your Congressman, it's never too late to learn, and you can reach out to them." _______ Hm. What a bitch!! Yeah, just so ignorant and uncaring. Obviously she's not keeping up with anything. Should've retweeted more shit ig!