#the system sucks but in order to change it we need to elect people who support democracy

[raeathnos]

Actually saw a post this morning that said ‘if you vote at all for either candidate in the next presidential election you support genocide and are a horrible person’ and I just…

I cannot fathom that level of stupidity. Also, I’m extremely suspicious of anyone who tries to tell others that voting doesn’t work, is bad, etc.

Please don’t fall for the same mistakes as 2016. Yes things are bad, yes there is bad on both sides, but refusing to vote doesn’t change anything or help anyone.

I’m begging y’all to think and use your heads.

[prettycottonmouthlamia]

Listen to me right now, genuinely.

You should vote in November. You really should, but I don't really want this post to be about that. I have a pretty profound distrust of the average liberal "blue no matter who" crowd on here. I am not of the belief that you should willingly suspend your capacity of criticism and accountability of people in charge. If that can be extracted out of you, they will not give it back. Democrats are not a party full of people who love you and want to do everything you ask of them: they are a party who support the capitalist system first and foremost, and their interests are more beholden to the system than they are to us.

BUT, speaking as a trans woman right now, I'd personally really not rather see Trump get elected, obviously. If you're the type of person who sits and goes "I don't believe in politics", I want you to really listen to me. I get it. I truly do. American politics suck. Our politicians are chronic liars, they make promises they don't even try to keep. But there is almost one thing they never lie on, and that's the people they intend to oppress and stomp down. Trump wants to legislate and use his executive powers to push trans people out of existence. He can't be allowed to do that.

BUT

BUT. Voting cannot be the only thing you do. A bunch of the blue no matter who posters on here are going to do one of those things come November

Trump will win, and despite any evidence to the contrary, they will blame the like 50 communist bloggers on this website for ruining the election chances of the entire country. It was Russia yet again, somehow.

Biden will win, they will pat themselves on the back for a job well done, and proceed to sit on their hands until they find another reason to blame leftists for the actions of conservatives.

Trans history is full of examples of us being left behind. Your political plan for the future CANNOT just be to show up at a polling booth. You need to do more than that. What you will need to do will change somewhat depending on who is in charge, but I'm begging those among you to start taking action both now and after the elections.

Make sure your trans friends are safe. Check to see if they still have access to their medications. Check to see if they need money to get out of the country. Work to protest regressive and transphobic policies. If you're a lawyer, it's time to get ready to defend the cases of trans people against libelous suits. Plenty of you can do this pro bono.

Build mutual aid groups among your neighors and peers. Show up to a local LGBT organization and see what they need. Volunteer your time and money and often time spare clothes for other people. Educate yourself on our history, educate yourself on political theory, support organizations that help out the homeless directly.

Learn how to defend yourself and others during a protest when it faces police brutality and state sanctioned violence. Learn how to effectively neutralize tear gas, learn how to cover your self up so that you cannot be tracked by the pigs. Learn how to break kettle formations, learn your rights.

Never stop protesting against the people who feel it is their God given right to turn America into a theocratic dictatorship (which is not in the Bible by the way. I feel I should mention this. This is not a Biblical belief, the conservative Christians who tell you otherwise are lying out their ass.) Never stop protesting to stop the exploitation of the Global South by tech companies. Never stop protesting to end the genocide in Palestine. Never stop fighting so that the people of Sudan can be heard.

Just voting does not make you a politically active citizen, or really, a politically active person. It takes work, work that is very easy to burn out on. But if we can't rely on the American government and the Democratic party to do the things we need in order to avert the twenty crises looming over the horizon, then yes, we need to do more as a united people than fucking vote.

[thelittlepalmtree]

Please just listen to me. I know you are frustrated. I know that you did everything right and still the hopes that you had in 2020 were not met. I know that many of you are feeling disillusioned. I know the system is broken. But we do not have a choice. We have to go out there and campaign. We have to be involved in elections. The system became broken because the people who care the most Stopped participating. If you are a leftist and you believe in making change in actionable change you should believe in campaigning for democrats. The reason everything sucks right now is that the republicans have always cared about one thing only and that is winning elections. They don't deliver on their promises. They were a complete shit show in 2016 when they controlled all levels of government. But the republicans don't fight each other. They donate and they campaign and they win. Especially on a local level.

I understand that it is difficult to participate in a system that is so fucked up. But unless you have a legitimate plan to take out the US government and the US military, You need to be participating. Whining on Tumblr or Twitter or TikTok is not a solution. And the stakes are high. Yes the status quo sucks. You know what's worse? the status quo 100 years ago that republicans want us to get back to. Even if we win, Gay marriage, Birth control, Interracial marriage, And countless other things are likely to be threatened because of the Supreme Court. You think it's bad that row versus wade was overturned. I absolutely guarantee you that if republicans can win both legislative bodies bodies they are going to try to pass a national ban on abortion. And Joe Biden will not be able to executive order our way out of this. It is bleak.

There is no fixing the problems that we have. We are fucked. Regardless. But the inches between between hold millions of lives. Yes it's gonna fucking suck. I'm sorry. But it does matter if it sucks a little bit less. That little bit is a lot of people. People who may be able to access abortion if they can travel. People who may be able to access birth control if they can get it from doctors In other States. People who may be able to get married if they can travel. People whose jobs are going to be on the line if no one's trying to look out For them. The people on the margins are going to Be sacrificed when you decide that you're too good to vote. Don't fight for Joe Biden or for whoever is running for senate in your state. Fight for the person who lost their job in the pandemic who is now looking at a pregnancy Test and doesn't know if they're gonna be able to get an abortion. At least now they have a path. At least now there are people who want to help and there are ways to help. That is worth preserving.

I am not saying don't March don't protest. I am saying do both. Find a local election you are passionate about preferably one that is about elections. Your local election board. And support candidates. Just try. It is worth it to try.

[comedicreliefonlyworkswhenfunny]

I am against the "Americanization" of fandoms.

What this applies to

Holding non American characters (and sometimes even fans) to an American moral standard. This includes

Refusing to take into account that, first things first, America is NOT the target audience, so certain tropes that would or would not pass in the west are different in Japan.

Like seriously, quite a few of the jokes are just not going to pass or hit, because they require background information that is not universal.

Assuming all American experience is standard. (This could mean watering down just how much pressure is placed on Japanese youth irl by saying that sort of thing is universal (while it is, to a degree, Japanese suicide rates are pretty fucking high because of how fast paced and work heavy some of their loads tend to be), and it's really annoying and rude when someone is trying to speak out about how heavy and harsh the standards are placed on them to succeed just for some American whose mom occasionally yells at them to do their homework dropping by to say "it's like that everywhere")

Demonizing (or wubbifying) a character using American morals, including and up to harassing fans over their interpretations or gatekeeping whether or not a character "should" get development (while you shouldn't do that fucking period, it's rude and annoying- this is specifically for the people who use American standards without acknowledging the cultural gap between them and, you know, the fucking target audience) ((Like seriously, saying "It's different in Japan" is not the end all be all excusing someone's actions, but sometimes the author didn't immediately think that maybe (insert vaguely universal thing) was that bad or that heavy of a topic before they put it into their media. If you don't want to see things like that? Pick a different series and stop harassing the fans))

Getting mad at or making fun of Japan's attempts to satirize their own culture. (A good example is Ace Attorney! To most of us, it's just a funny laugh can you imagine if courts were actually like that- guess what? Japan's are! (Not that America's are actually that much better, they just look good on paper))

Making America/American issues the center of your fan spaces

(Usually without sharing or bringing light to the issues that other countries are going through)

Your

Experiences

Are

Not

Univseral!

Seriously, very few things across America, even, are universal. Texas things the hundreds are nothing while Minnesota's like "oh it's only thirty degrees below zero"- so for fucks sake, stop assuming that all other countries work in ways similar to America.

It's good and important to share Ameican issues with your American followers, but guess what? America isn't the only country out there, and it's certainly not the only one going through bullshit. Don't pull shit like "why's no one reblogging this?" or "why should I care about what's happening in (X country)?"

Don't assume everyone lives in America.

Stop assuming everyone lives in America.

America is not and has never been the target audience for anime, and it's certainly not the only country outside of Japan that enjoys it.

Like I said above, sometimes Japan attempts to satirize its own culture. We can't tell what is and isn't meant as satire, because it's not our culture.

Social media activism can be tiring and maybe you don't have the energy to focus on things that are out of your control, but, if someone tells you about the shit they're going through, don't bring American politics up.

For the neurodivergent crowd out there thinking, "But why?" it's because a lot of social media, especially, is very heavily Americanized- sometimes to the point where people assume that everyone is American. Not to mention, it's disheartening. I'm sorry to say, but you're not actually relating to the conversation, you're often diverting the focus away from the topic at hand. Even if you mean well, America is heavily pedestaled and talked about frequently, and people from other countries are tired of America taking precedent over their own issues.

Don't divert non-American issues into American ones. Seriously. It's not your place. Please just support the original issue or move on.

Racist Bullshit

This especially goes for islanders and South Asian characters, as well as poc characters (because, yes, Japan DOES have black people)

Making "funny" racist headcanons. Not fucking cool.

Changing the canon interpretation of an explicit character of color in order to fit racist stereotypes.

Whitewashing or color draining characters. Different artistic skill sets can be hard, yes, but are you seriously going to look at someone and say "I don't feel like accurately portraying you or people that look like you, because it's difficult for me." If someone tries to correct you on your cultural depiction of a character and/or their life style, don't be an ass. (If possible, it would be nice for those that do the corrections to be polite as well, but it does get really frustrating).

Seriously, no offense guys, but, if you want to persue art, you're going to need to learn to depict different body types, skin colors, and/or ethnic features.

On that note, purposefully, willingly, or consistently inaccurately portraying people or characters of color (especially if someone in the fandom has "called you out" or specifically told you that what you're doing comes across as racist and you continue to do it). If you need help or suck at looking things up, there are references for you! Ask your followers if they have tutorials on poc (issue that you're having), whether it be bodily portrayal, facial proportions, or coloring and shading. Art is so much more fun when you can depict a wider variety, and guess what? Before you drew the same skinny, basic, white character over and over, you couldn't even draw that!

Attempting or claiming to DEPECT CULTURAL ACCURACY within a work or meta, while being completely fucking wrong. ESPECIALLY and specifically if someone calls you out, and you refuse to fix, correct, or change anything.

*little side note that the discussion revolving art is a very multilayered conversation, and it has quite a few technical potholes, which I'll bring up again farther into this post.

Fucking history

Stop demonizing or for absolute fucks sake wubbifying Japanese history because UwU Japan ♡0♡ or bringing up shit like "you know they sided with Nazis, right?" It's good to recognize poor past decisions, but literally it's not your country keep your nose out of it. And? A lot of decisions made by countries were not made by their general peoples. Even those that were, often involved heavy propaganda that made them think what they were doing was right.

Seriously, it's not your country, not your history. Unless you have some sort of higher education (but honestly even then a lot of those contain heavy bias), just don't butt in.

^^^ this also goes to all countries that are NOT Japan (specifically when people from non American countries talk about their history while in fandoms and someone wants to Amerisplain to them why "well, actually-"). When we said, "question your sources," we didn't mean "question the people who know better than you, while blindly accepting the (more than likely biased) education you were given in the past."

What this does NOT include:

Fanfiction

FANfiction

FanFICTION

FANFICTION.

Seriously, fanfiction is literally UNPAID WORK from RANDOM FANS- a lot of which who are or have started as kids. ((No, I'm not trying to excuse racist depictions of people just because they're free, please see above where I talk about learning to grow a skill and how it's possible tone bad and get good, on top of the fact that some inaccuracies are not just willful ignorance))

"Looking it up" doesn't work

"Looking it up" almost never works

Please, for fucks sake, you know that most all online search engines are heavily biased, right? Not to mention, not everything is universal across the entirety of Japan. You want to look up how the school system works in Hokkaido? Well it's different from the ones in Osaka!

Most fanfiction is meant to be an idealized version of the world. Homophobia, transphobia, misogyny, ableism, and racism are very prevalent and heavy topics that some fan authors would prefer to avoid. (Keep in mind, this is also used by some people in those minorities often because thinking about how relevant those kinds of things are is to them every day).

A lot of shit that happens in writing is purely because it's an ideal setting. I've seen a few arguments recently about how fan authors portray Japanese schools wrong- listen, I can't tell you how many random school systems I have pulled from my ass purely because (I need them to interact at these points, in these ways). Sometimes the only compliment I can think of is 'I like your shirt' or sometimes I need character A to realize that character B likes the same thing as they do, so I might ignore the fact that most all Japanese schools require uniforms, so that I can put my character in a shirt that will get someone else's attention.

Sometimes it's difficult to find information on different types of systems, and sometimes when you DO know those things, they directly rule out a plot point that needs to happen (like back on the topic of schools (from what I've seen/heard/read- which guess what? Despite being from multiple sources, might still be inaccurate!) Japanese schools don't have mandatory elective classes (outside of like gym and most of them usually learn English or another language- I've seen stuff about art classes? But the information across the board varies.), but, if I need my character to walk in and see someone completely in their element, I'm probably not going to try and gun for accuracy or make up a million and two reasons as to why this (non elective) person would possibly need something from (elective teacher) after school of all things.)

Some experiences ARE universal- or at least overlap American and Japanese norms! Like friends going to fast food places after school doesn't /sound Japanese/ or whatever, but it's not like a horrible inaccuracy to say that your characters ate at McDonald's because they were hungry. Especially when you consider that the Japanese idolization of American "culture" is also a thing.

Also I saw someone complaining about how, in December, a lot of (usually westerners) write Christmas fics! Well, not only are quite a few of those often gift fics, with it being the season if giving and all, but Japanese people do celebrate Christmas! Not as "the birth of Christ," but rather as a popularized holiday about gift giving (also pst: America isn't the only place that celebrates Christmas)

But, on that note, sometimes things like Holidays are "willfully ignorant" of what actually happens (I've made this point several times, but (also this does by no means excuse actual racism)), because, again: plot convenience! Hey what IF they celebrated Halloween by Trick or Treating? What if Easter was a thing and they got to watch their kids or younger siblings crawl around on the ground looking for tiny plastic eggs?

Fanfiction authors can put in hours of work for one or two thousand words- let alone ten thousand words, fifty thousand words, a hundred thousand words. And all of these are free. There is absolutely no (legal) way to make money off of their fanworks, but they spent hours, days, weeks, months- sometimes even years- writing. It is so unnecessary to EXPECT or REQUIRE them to spend even more hours looking up shit that, no offense, almost no one is going to notice. No one is going go care that all of my combini prices are accurate or that I wrote a fic with a Japanese map of a train station that I had to backwards search three times to find an English version that I could read.

Not everyone has the attention span or ability to spend hours of research before writing a single word. Neurodivergent people are literally a thing yall. Instead of producing the perfectly pretty accurate version of Japan that people want to happen, what ACTUALLY happens is that the writer reads and reads and reads and either never finds the information they need or they lose the motivation to write.

^^^ (This does NOT apply to indigenous or native peoples, like Pacific Islanders or tribes that exist in real life. Please make sure that you portray tribal minorities accurately. If you can't find the information you need (assuming that the content of the series is not specifically about a tribe), please just make one up (and for fucks sake, recognize that a lot of what you've been taught about tribal practices, such as shit like human sacrifices or godly worship, is actually just propaganda.)

Not to mention, it often puts a wall in front of readers who would then need to pull up their OWN information (that may or may not be biased) just in order to interact with the fic ((okay, this one has a little bit of arguability when it comes to things like measurements and currency, because Americans don't know what a meter is and no one else knows what a foot is- either way, one of yall is going to have to look up measurements if they want to get a better understanding of the fic)). However, a lot of Americans who do write using 'feet, Fahrenheit, dollars,' also write for their American followers or friends (which really could go both ways).

On a less easily arguable side, most fic readers aren't going to open up a new tab just to search everything that the author has written (re the whole deep topics, not everyone wants to read about those sorts of things, either). Not only are you making it more difficult on the writer, but you're also making it more difficult for the reader who's now wondering why you decided to add in Grandma's Katsudon recipe, and whether or not the details you have added are accurate.

Some series, themselves, ignore Japanese norms! Piercings, hair dye, and incorrectly wearing ones uniform are frowns upon in Japanese schools- sometimes up to inflicting punishment on those students because of it. However, some anime characters still have naturally or dyed blond hair some of them still have piercings or wear their uniforms wrong. Some series aren't set specifically in Japan, but rather in a vague based-off-real-life Japan that's just slightly different (like Haikyuu and all of its different prefectures). Sometimes they're based on real places, but real places that have gone through major changes (like the Hero Academia series with its quirks and shit).

Fandom is not a full time job. Please stop treating it like it is one. Most people in fandoms have to engage in other things like school or work that most definitely take precident over frantically Googling the cultural implications of dying your hair pink in Japan.

Art is also meant to be a creative freedom and is almost always a hobby, so there are a few cracks that tend to spark debate. Like I said, it is still a hobby, something that's meant to be fun (on this note!)

If trying new things and expanding your portfolio is genuinely making you upset, it's okay to take a break from it. You're not going to get it right on the first try and please, please to everyone out there critiquing artists' works, please take this into account before you post things.

I'm sorry to say, but, while it gets frustrating to see the same things done wrong over and over again, some people are genuinely trying. If it matters enough for you to point out, please offer solutions or resources that would possibly help the artist do better (honestly this could be said about a lot of online activism). I get that they should "want" to do better (and maybe they don't and your annoyance towards them is completely justified- again, as I said, if this becomes a repeated offense and they don't listen to or care about the people trying to help them, yeah you can be a bitch if it helps you feel better- just please don't assume that everyone is willfully ignorant of how hurtful/upsetting/annoying a certain way of portraying things is), but also WANTING to do better and ACTUALLY doing better are two different things.

Maybe they didn't realize what they were doing was inaccurate. Maybe they didn't have the right tutorials. Maybe they tried to look it up, but that failed them. Either way, to some- especially neurodivergent artists- just being told that their work is bad or racist or awful isn't going to make them want to search for better resources in order to be more accurate, it's just going to make them give up.

Also! In fic and in writing, no one is going to get it right on the first try. Especially at the stage where we creators ARE merely in fan spaces is a great time to "fuck around and find out", before we bring our willfully or accidentally racist shit into monetized media. Absolutely hold your fan creators to higher standards, but literally fan work has so little actual impact on popular media (and this goes for just about every debate about fan spaces), and constructive criticism as well as routine practice can mean worlds for representation in future media. NOT allowing for mistakes in micro spaces like fandoms is how you get genuinely harmful or just... bad... portrayals of minorities in popularized media that DOES have an impact on the greater public. OR you get a bunch of creators who are too afraid to walk out of their own little bubbles, because what if they get it wrong and everyone turns against them. It's better to just "stick with what they know" (hobbies are something that you are meant to get better at, even if that is a slow road- for all of my writers and artists out there, it does take time, but you will get it. To everyone else, please do speak up about things that are wrong, but don't make it all about what's wrong and please don't be rude. It's frustrating on both ends, so, if you can, please try not to escalate the situation more.)

Anyways, I'm tired of everyone holding fictional characters to American Puritanical standards, but I'm also tired of seeing every "stop Americanizing fandom" somehow loop into fanfiction and how all authors who don't make their fics as accurate as possible are actually just racist and perpetuating or enabling America's take over of the world or some shit.

Fan interpretation of published media is different than fan creation of mon monetized media. Americans dominating or monopolizing spaces meant for all fans (especially in a fandom that was never meant for them to begin with) is annoying and can be harmful sometimes. Americans writing out their own personal experience using random fictional characters (more often than not) isn't.

[bamf-jaskier]

A long ramble of thoughts about the history of chaos on the continent and why Fringilla’s use of forbidden magics is pretty neat

So one thing not too many people knowing about the Witcher is that magic is called Chaos for a very specific reason: it is the opposite of Order. In Sword of Destiny, Borch tells Geralt that Chaos is the aggressor and Order is endangered and needs protecting. Chaos is what mages/elves/witchers/sources/etc can channel in order to produce magic. 

It's important to note that magic DID NOT EXIST before the conjunction of the spheres so it's pretty strongly implied that before the conjunction Order and Chaos were one and the Conjunction split them apart, leaving Order vulnerable and Chaos in the hands of living beings to manipulate. When the conjunction happened, no race (humans, elves, werebubbs, etc) knew how to use magic but eventually most of them found a way to use chaos. 

What is interesting is that we are told that Witchers/Mages/Elves all see magic differently but we are never told how. It is mentioned briefly that mages "pervert" magic by the Elves but we don't know what perversion of magic looks like to the elves because it is subjective to their own worldview. However, looking at the earliest human tribes on the continent, the Dauk and the Wozgor we can get some idea of the difference between human magic and elf magic. Both groups were very influenced by ritualistic group magic as well as worship of the gods. Many of these gods such as Melitele are still worshipped. 

The Dauk were more into fertility and harvest, think early Beltane Midsummer stuff, while the Wozgor primarily worshipped Lilit with Blood Sacrifices. So we see humans are in a group-mentality when it comes to magic and summoning, they pull power from the earth and pool together their magic to create spells. At this time, elves and humans were not considered enemies so group-magic and more nature-esque magic is accepted by the elves. This is also supported by the dryads and elves seeming to prefer druids who still use magic group-magic today.

So now we start to get into when the philosophical schism on magic happened. Clearly, at some point, humans started working on less "group/nature magic" and on more individualistic magic. By the nature of chaos it is consuming so as more humans began working on individual magic, they became more power hungry. I had a theory that it was human's use of individualized magic that led them to leaving the nomadic tribe mentality and instead moving to more Nordling-Like culture where they live in one place and fight with other tribes, eventually building cities, colonizing, and in general taking the standard course of human history. So now humans have magic. And they have POWER. 

So you get mages who are fighting for their tribes, their groups and eventually kingdoms like Novigrad begin to form. Now the Brotherhood was formed in the 8th century by the Novigrad Union which was a group of druids, mages, and priests who signed a non-agression pact to stop the raids and warfare that were so common for centuries. However, the Union fell apart due to difference in views on magic while the Brotherhood stayed together. 

The Brotherhood is now sort of the ruling party on the continent, it's the only power really left after the Union. It's not its own Kingdom so it can technically be considered neutral. This puts a lot of responsibility on the Brotherhood and the Northern Rulers are overwhelmed by the number of monsters. Previously, humans were so focused on killing each other they couldn't really organize and do anything about the monsters but now that society is developing it's a real problem for trade and travel. so they create the first Witchers in Rissberg. However, once they find out that the Witcher don't have the same magic aptitude as mages, they are discarded as failed experiments.

This is where is gets interesting again for me. Because Witchers actually can cast magic as strong as mages, they elect to use signs but Witchers can pool their magic together in order to cast more powerful spells. So what was the difference between mages and witcher that had the mages deem Witchers as failures? I am theorizing that Witchers channel chaos whereas mages manipulate it. 

The way I describe it in my fic is that Witchers act as a conduit for chaos, think of it like sucking up magic into a straw, the Witcher is the straw, they bring chaos in it's purest form into the world. Then, once the magic is in our realm, they shape it into the spell or form they desire. It's similar to how elves and ancient humans used magic. This is why the elves don't call a Witcher's magic a perversion but a mage's magic is. 

I'm theorizing that Mages on the the other hand bring magic in through almost a mold. When a mage summons chaos, that chaos can only be used for the very specific purpose that they want in that moment. It ties into their philosophy on willpower. What you desire is the magic you have. So a Witcher could begin to cast an Aard and then halfway through change the sign into an Igni and it would work fine. However, a mage can't begin to cast a portal and then change it into a lightning bolt. But this is also the reason mages are so powerful, their magic is specific. It is decided and the willpower behind it makes it a stronger spell.

NOW FINALLY we can begin talking about forbidden magics. So I'm not going to get into the First and Second Ages of the Witchers but just know that Witchers are now off on the continent doing their own thing and monster hunting, creating their own culture, etc. The Brotherhood does NOT care for this. They can see control slipping from their fingers so they and they are worried other mages are going to experiment the same way they experimented to create Witchers but this time they will make something even more powerful. Something that could topple their power. 

The Brotherhood begins to ban magic that could be used to manipulate the natural order. The main three banned magics of the Brotherhood are Goetia (demonology), Necromancy and Ancient Magics. Now demonology was actually practiced by the Wozgor and many think that Lilit was actually a demon they summoned. Necromancy and Ancient Magics both have the potential for abuse but not more so than any other form of magic. However these are all powerful magics. But it's not just BANNING magic that creates censure with the brotherhood. It's the stringent guidelines of how to perform magic even though we KNOW there are multiple ways to channel chaos. The Brotherhood also creates a system with the court that also creates censure because courtly expectations now place an emphasis on respectability and governance and how you should hold yourself, etc. Being a mage becomes a lot more restrictive and a lot less experimental.

So we have to ask ourselves, what does Fringilla do that causes her to be considered abhorrent, In Tissaia's words: "I will defend our way of life, The Brotherhood, The Academies, the order that we have built up over centuries, you've rejected it all Fringilla" 

So here's what we KNOW Fringilla has done: Forced Mages in Servitude until they decide to serve the White Flame (of course Fringilla says it isn't servitude but Triss disagrees), Practice Necromancy, Demonology, and Fire Magics She specifically says the phrase "most of us came from Aretuza and Ban Ard" so here's what we have to consider, how did Fringilla get them there, she can't have kidnapped everyone and as well if u know some spoilers from the book then there are plenty of mages that voluntary work for Nilfgaard. 

Fringilla works with ANYONE who has chaos, not just people deemed worthy by the Brotherhood. In addition, she works will all magic, no limitations. In many ways, Nilfgaardian magic is returning to ancient magic. If you watch the battle at Sodden, the mages perform a lot of life-force spells. I have a theory that those types of spells are MEANT to be performed in groups and since they aren't, the mage withers and dies. 

Also, listen, in another world Nilfgaard could be the hero. If they didn't show Nilfgaard being generally evil like killing everyone and sacrificing mages and stuff they actually have good reasoning? Cintra is objectively terrible. They literally almost killed off an entire race? The Genocide of the Elves is very much brushed over and honestly Cintra should have been overthrown ages ago. Also Nilfgaard has policies of cooperativity and community and honestly if they didn't so morally bereft acts their society has a lot of potential. 

Fringilla is returning magic to how to was pre-brotherhood where it's groups of loosely defined mages doing what they want. She is also trying to break of the individualistic mindset of most mages which I think is interesting because it goes against the very soul of how mages perform magic. It's like Tissaia said, Fringilla is rejecting centuries of tradition. In any other world, Fringilla would be the Katniss to the Brotherhood's Capital. If Nilfgaard wasn't cast as so brutal they would literally be considered a revolutionary force trying to oust a genocidal dictatorial system (Cintra). Granted, many people have compared Nilfgaard to either being a Roman Empire or Soviet Russia analog, both brutal totalitarian or imperial regimes which probably is part of the reason Nilfgaard is so brutal. I am suggesting that in another universe, Nilfgaard could be instead of an imperial-religious-type regime a more revolutionary force. 

Perhaps an AU where Nilfgaard teams up with Cintran Rebels and arrives at the city to help Cintran Freedom Fighters tear it down and then allows Cintra to rebuild on their own terms. Basically, I’m talking about the overthrow of the monarchy system present in most of the continent. 

I would really like to see an AU where Fringilla is a revolutionary figurehead trying to work to establish a democratic system in a monarchal society while going against centuries of magical tradition. I think with the addition of magic and complexity of politics not the continent there’s just so much to think about here. 

[beardedmrbean]

Results from the presidential election are in. Well, actually, they've been in for quite a while now.

Macron wins, what a shocker. The fact that Le 🖋️ got to the second round was a godsend for him. As long as he didn't mess up big time, it would go just like November 2020, except with even less people voting for his opponent.

What I don't understand is how everyone can agree that Macron is a piss poor president who'd sell his own mother for a McChicken, yet he can still get enough votes to get to the second turn.

Oh, wait, I remember : People still try to strategize, and won't vote for a candidate who they don't think is gonna win from fear of "wasting their vote". It's like they think this is a game show, and they'll win big money if they vote for the candidate who ends up winning.

Are you telling me that, out of the dozen of candidates on the ballots, from left to right (but no liberal, except Macron the vaccine-mandate liberal and Mélenchon the statist liberal), a quarter of people saw the last five years of protests, government overteach, and overall fucking over everyone, and think "Hmm, I hate all those candidates, only Macron is the one I want"

I mean, yeah, he calls himself a centrist and his 2017 program sounded pretty level headed to me, probably enough to earn my vote, but there's this thing called empirical evidence, and I believe the last few years have made enough of that to show he's not a good candidate.

I'm rambling a little, but I really hate the fact that people "strategize" their first turn vote. It's not a fucking game show, you don't have to pick the one who's gonna win or the "lesser of two evils", there are other candidates and there's literally no consequence if you "get it wrong" by voting for a candidate who ends up taking only a small percentage of the votes.

For the first round you should really vote for who you think would do the best job, it's just mind blowing to me that they don't do that we get that here with the party primaries.

2020 the dems weren't looking for the person who would be best for the job (obviously) but who they thought had the best chance of winning against Trump, and ya it worked but look where it's gotten us.

Then we've got lesser of two evils voting, which is just terrible.

System is never going to change until enough people realize that they're going to need to suck it up and take the L for several years in order to grow support for a party that can make a difference and maybe not be evil.

Too many people are making this kind of thing out to be a life or death situation, which ya it could turn into but it's gonna take a long time to get there and maybe if you and enough other people stopped voting for evil you could keep it from happening at all.

With you guys I did enjoy seeing everyone like they do in Germany when the AfD gets anything going, just closing ranks and voting against whatever they're promoting regardless of if it's good or not. All the parties rallying behind Macron which should be worrying they shouldn't ALL back him especially since many of them probably hate him.

[phoenixyfriend]

What can I do to limit Amazon’s* negative impacts without harming vulnerable communities who rely on their services?

* or any similar company that people are forced to use to survive if they are poor, disabled, elderly, rurally isolated, or any combination of the above

My post on Amazon has been circulating pretty far these past few weeks, and a lot of people keep trying to argue about what can be done right now. 

1. Contact your representatives

If you live in the US, there are several sites you can use to figure out your senators (you have two) and your representative (you have one). Call them if there’s a phone number. Email them if there isn’t. They’re obligated to have SOME form of contact. If your rep is already on your side, they can use your email as evidence for how citizens feel about the issue when Congress is in session to argue. If your rep is NOT on your side, they will see the email as evidence that a portion of their constituency is NOT willing to reelect them if they don’t play nice, and that scares them a lot. Either way, make yourself heard. Harass them if you have to.

(For more local issues, especially things like minimum wage and labor laws, you can find your representatives for your state or city government, like your mayor or governor or county rep, and contact them as well. Make yourself heard.)

Write emails in your own words about one of the following subjects:

Supporting the USPS. It’s the backbone of the US shipping industry, and major shipping companies like UPS, FedEx, and Amazon use it for overflow.

Monopolies and antitrust acts. Reference past antitrust acts leveled against oil, railroad, and telecom monopolies.

Raising the minimum wage. Reference inflation.

Enacting a marginal tax rate on high earners (re: the 1%, but phrased in a way that they’ll take seriously). Reference the marginal tax rates of the fifties.

Increasing disability benefits. Try to work something in about how stringent the requirements to qualify are, and how benefits don’t cover enough for medical care, transportation, assistive technology, and so on.

Increasing social security benefits for retirees. People pay into this fund all their lives as part of their income tax; it’s supposed to benefit them right back! (You can circle back to marginal tax rates and how the rich usually have savings and don’t need social security, but the poor often don’t have savings and rely on it.)

Enforcing corporate taxation. Find some statistics on who paid corporate  taxes in the past few years and who didn’t. Make sure to find a few big names and what their tax rate SHOULD have been. Emphasize how much extra money the government would be making.

Nationalizing the health care industry. Reference how well it works for countries like Canada, Korea, or Sweden, and how often hard-working Americans are bankrupted by unexpected medical emergencies.

Enacting or enforcing higher standards of employee rights. Did you know that minimum wage employees in Indiana don’t have the right to a lunch break unless they’ve been working at least twelve hours?

Legal repercussions for predatory pricing practices. Walmart is the best-known for this, but Amazon does it too, and they’re a fair bit sneakier about it.

Capping rent prices. Housing costs are among the highest financial pressures Americans face right now, and the fact that housing costs have risen SO much faster than the minimum wage is why it’s impossible to rent a one-bedroom apartment on a minimum wage anywhere in the US right now.

Capping upper management incomes. A CEO should not be earning several thousand, or several million, times as much money as their employees. It’s a long stretch (so argue the more achievable things first), but imagine if we could convince the government to say “actually, you can only make up to twenty times as much per hour as your lowest-paid employee.”

Banning police as threats against unions. UNIONS ARE GOOD THINGS. SUPPORT THEM.

Anything else that comes to mind! There are lots of subjects. This list is not an exhaustive one.

2. Vote

Pretty self-explanatory, I think. Vote in every election. Sometimes you won’t be able to vote for your top choice, and that sucks, but remember that our system is fucked and you have to go for the lesser evil that’s still capable of winning. So vote Blue (because ambivalence to our desires is better than glee at our suffering), and then send as many emails and make as many calls as you can to force them to recognize that, since you helped them get into office, they have to honor the deal to actually represent you now.

3. Support small businesses

Okay, so supporting local businesses probably isn’t too easy in a pandemic. You can’t just walk to your nearest mom and pop store to see if there’s an affordable option. That said, if you can afford to do so, try to see if there are small businesses in your area that are doing delivery or curbside-pickup.

If you live in a more rural area, see about ordering from small online businesses for non-essentials. If you’re thinking “hey, I’d like a new scarf” or something, check Instagram or Etsy first. All faults aside, Etsy is only a marketplace, not a seller themselves, so they rely on the vendors using their site to remain in business. (Whereas Amazon tries to drive their vendors out of business to take over their market share.) You can also use Google Shopping, eBay, or Craigslist.

4. Don’t Use Amazon (or similar), but don’t shame people for using it either

Some people rely on loss leaders to survive. That’s a fault of the American economy being a horrifying mess, and I listed a whole litany of the causes above. Money talks, so avoid using Amazon unless there is NO other way to get your product, but if someone you know uses Amazon, and you know they’re struggling, keep your mouth shut. If they’re not struggling, mention your distaste for Amazon but don’t push the issue; they’re more likely to come around if they feel like you’re not passing a moral judgement on them for it.

5. Recognize that many fairly-priced products are more expensive than you’re used to

The example I usually use is fashion. We’re used to a shirt costing ten or twenty dollars, even at places other than Walmart or Target. This price is what we’re led to believe is reasonable, but it’s really a factor of incredibly underpaid workers, usually overseas. If you can’t afford it, feel free to blame the low minimum wage (I certainly do), but remember to take a step back and remind yourself that it’s not that the piece is expensive, it’s that you are underpaid, and the current system is trying to teach you to expect cheaper items as the norm so they can get away with paying even more people less than they deserve.

6. DONATE

Yeah! There are a whole lot of nonprofit agencies that focus on issues that relate to this topic. I prefer to donate to organizations that focus on enacting systemic change through legal or institutional channels, like the ACLU and AAPD, but there are a lot of options, some of which focus on more direct help, or on specific parts of the country. Figure out one that speaks to you, check it against a trusted charity rating system like Charity Navigator, and set up a monthly donation if you can afford to. Constant support can cause compassion fatigue, but consistent support is how you Get Shit Done.

7. March

Join an activist group and march. Sometimes there are other major events going on (hijacking one of the current marches against racism and police brutality in favor of one about monopolies would be in bad taste AT BEST), but there will come an opportunity to make your voice heard by showing up on the street and just yelling with a sign.

Now go forth and unleash hell.

[springbudeyes]

Placing Mianite’s Gods on an Ideological Spectrum (but not taking it too seriously)

It sucks to be dead center on an an ideological spectrum. Opinions pull at you from both sides. Politically and religiously, I’m – well, I wouldn’t say I’m a fence sitter because that implies hesitation – but I’m grounded between camps. I’ve been Christian, I’ve been conservative, I’ve been liberal, and now I’m realizing that none of the labels fit me. But I know what does. I like being able to wrap my head around as many viewpoints as possible. I like bringing conflicting ideas together and helping people find common ground. Sure, I voted Democrat this election (and please tell me you did, too). No, I don’t believe in the Christian God. But if you’re a Trump supporter, we can have lunch. If you’re an old friend from church, I miss you and would like to catch up. It struck me today that I might be an Ianitee irl. This is all on a whim, of course. I’m not trying to “sort” myself into her “house” or assign anyone else a Mianite god, for that matter. My point is not to assign a label, but to explore an idea.

The goddess of balance walks a tightrope. She holds a scale. She is both light and dark in a photograph—and therefore, she can also be grey. She’s an impartial judge. Her job, although far grander in scope than mine, isn’t totally unlike what I do for my tiny group of friends on the internet. Her followers might be people who struggle to navigate the warring dualities of their worlds. This makes Prince Andor a bit of a chaotic Ianitee if you think about it. It comes naturally, of course. If the balance leans toward Mianite, then Dianite must bleed into Ianite for the brothers to equalize. The goddess of balance wields both order and chaos. If Mianite reigns, the neutral sister stands with Dianite in bringing chaotic revolution to the doorstep of tyrannical order. Likewise, if Dianite has plunged the world into darkness and fire, Ianite joins with Mianite in building armies and sanctuaries. “We are not pacifists, nor are we vindicators,” Andor said. “We are nature. We are whatever balance demands. We are void and we are hurricane. We are the healer. We are the warrior.” If Dianite had ravaged Ruxomar and Mianite had lay dormant for ten years, a blade in his chest, both Helgrind and Andor may have preached quite different yet still conflicting ideas. As a psychological note, an Ianitee will have a hard time if they’re conflict-avoidant, but they’ll go through Hell if they’re ill-tempered. The magic word is temperance. (See the Temperance arcana in Tarot.) I suppose I might as well go ahead and draw the comparison between an Ianitee and a centrist, a term which may hold some emotional charge for you if you follow politics. Put simply, a centrist holds moderate political views. I don’t identify as a centrist, but the term does describe me, and my refusal to accept the label might serve only to exacerbate the problems a centrist already has. My problem – which a certain type of Ianitee might share – is a lack of belonging. Few people consider you their ally because few have the time or interest to let you engage in the long, convoluted process of proving your character and earning their trust. On the surface you might seem – as I said before – like a fence sitter or even an enemy simply because you refuse to accept a proposed solution. Most people wish even their enemies some amount of good, but when it comes to choosing between friends and enemies, most will choose friends. You might not want to make that choice. You might want to save everyone. If you can’t, you won’t. Your stance may sound sensible once you’ve had time to parse it out, but it’s far smoother on paper than in practice, and it’s nigh impossible to preach “love thy enemy” to a wounded wolf. On the other hand, maybe you are a fence sitter. Maybe you genuinely don’t know right from wrong. Maybe you’re a bit of a nihilist. “Is all this conflict really worth it? Return it all to nothing. Void.” (In your local RP group, ever thought of playing an Ianitee who wants to “End It All?”) But hopefully, you’re more of an existentialist. You see meaning vested in people and their accomplishments. You want to help them find the best meaning for them and you don’t think they’ll do it by veering blindly toward every impulse. Extended streams of impulse gratification can lead to extreme ideological thinking, such as totalitarianism. You don’t want a world full of people who all think the same thing. Again, the magic word is temperance. There’s real importance in having two sides to a system. Take, for instance, the political structure of the United States. Democrats and republicans are ever at war, but what are they really doing under the surface? What are they intended to do? Well, that’s up for debate (some might say “kill each other”), but if we take a broad look at history, a pattern emerges. One party – the party of order, you could say – establishes hierarchy. It defines who is who and who gets what. It puts competent people in positions befitting them and treats the less competent with compassion. That’s if all goes well, but the party of order isn’t impervious to corruption. People who tout themselves as servants of God and the State turn out to be monsters who ravage the environment, the economy, the rule of law, and each other. That’s when – take this with a grain of salt – the party of chaos steps in. At first it calls for change. It articulates and expresses visions for a better order. It doesn’t seem so chaotic now, but as the corruption spreads, unhearing and unyielding, moderates and liberals become radicals. Calm discussions become battles for sweeping change. The rebels rage for equality and take it by massive persuasion or by force. They break up the calcified structure of the old order and drag it back down into the primal, bloody sea from which new order springs. (I’m dipping into Mesopotamian mythology here, and if you’re familiar with the Enuma Elish, you’ll know the significance of what I’m about to say.) Order will return, but it must be guided. Someone must ensure that the reborn world is more just and peaceful than the dead one. We need order within chaos—Yang within Yin—white dot within black swath.  I’ve just tried – and perhaps failed – to describe the eternal cycle of order and chaos in terms of real-world society. Now let me place it in a simplistic Mianite shell. Mianite builds hierarchy, Dianite tears it down, and Ianite stands in the middle, bearing two communicating vessels, ensuring that neither too much nor too little blood is spilled in the process of transformation from old to new. 

[acti-veg]

what’s your opinion on the us election?

This is quite a wide question so it’s difficult to offer anything concise so bare with me here. No one who values people of colour, the LGBTQI+ community, poor people, disabled people, public health, the environment or fair democracy should be voting for Trump, let’s get that out of the way first. After almost a full-term in power and countless examples of the worst kind of racism, nepotism, self-enrichment, ineptitude, aggression and authoritarianism, no American can, at this point, claim to be voting without knowing exactly who this man is.

That said, both candidates are very flawed, Biden is obviously less terrible than Trump but is not exactly an inspiring choice for anyone. It looks like the supreme court nomination may be pushed through before the election, which I think would make a big difference to the number of people willing to suck it up and vote for Biden. I also think that a lot of the discourse around this has been really simplistic and disappointing, labelling anyone unwilling to bring themselves to vote for a democratic nominee with a deeply troubling political and personal history as ‘supporting Trump.’ 

US voters are forced to choose between two old, white men, both racist (though one less overtly so), both with accusations of sexual assault against them, both of whom have worked to entrench racist institutions, expand the US military complex, advocated aggressive foreign policy, and neither is even considering addressing America’s issues with prisons, race, wealth inequality or healthcare. This election is the starkest example, at least in my memory, of just how broken US ‘democracy’ has become. The US is a plutocracy at this point and I don’t think anyone who has been paying attention can reasonably deny that anymore.

All that said, the pretence that both candidates are just as bad is as unhelpful as blaming third party voters for the democratic party’s chosen nominee (again). There are degrees of awfulness at play here, and as depressing as it is to have to measure candidates by who is the least terrible, that is the unfortunate reality that US voters find themselves grappling with. A Biden presidency, as much as I despise the man, would be a great deal less disastrous than another term with Trump in power. Whichever way you look at it, Biden in power is a better outcome for progressives, but we shouldn’t kid ourselves about who this man is, or try to gloss over the fact that Biden is a right-wing candidate, too.

Part of the issue is that, in almost every election post-war, the narrative has been the same. Leftists in the US don’t vote for a candidate they believe in, they vote against a candidate who they despise. Left-wing voters have had to tell themselves ‘we just need to suck it up and then pressure this terrible President we are voting in for reforms’ in every election that I can recall. If Americans are only ever voting for the lesser of two evils, then that is all they are ever going to get - it is the two-party system, government lobbying and the electoral college which really needs to change in order to have a fair election. That’s why I can empathise with those voting third party, even though it is, practically speaking, a wasted vote, at least during Presidential elections.

I think that both sides are under-stating the issues at hand. The ‘Never Biden’ crowd are trying to paint Trump and Biden as if they’re the same, as if there is good and bad with no degrees of either one. Likewise, the ‘Blue No Matter Who’ people are spending far too much time glossing over Biden’s serious flaws, and painting anyone who can’t bring themselves to vote for him as an idiot or as ‘supporting Trump by proxy.’ It’s a complicated situation and American voters are in an unenviable position, but either way, another term of Trump in power cannot be allowed to happen.

[theorangedead]

PSA About Third Parties in the US

The US doesn’t have third parties with any political power. This is not because of lack of support or interest in third parties and it’s not about media coverage of third parties. It is because of the structural institutions of the US. It doesn’t not matter if third parties have support, because the way the US legislature is set up means that third parties cannot have any real power. It doesn’t have to be this way, it’s not like this in other countries, but this is because other countries are *structurally different* and this cannot change in the US without *institutional reform.* I’m saying this because a lot of people seen to think that if only people would get excited for and vote for third parties in the US we wouldn’t have only two options, but that’s not true. That wouldn’t work, because of how legislative districts in the US are set up. 

Explanations below the cut. 

The US as single member, winner take all legislative districts. This means that US legislative districts have only one representative who is determined by the getting plurality of the votes. I said plurality and not majority, because it doesn’t matter if they get the majority of votes or not. As long as they get the *most votes* out of *all the candidates running* they get *all of the power as representative*. There is one seat and it is taken by the person who gets the most votes. This means that if there are 25% Green Party votes, 35% Democratic votes, and 40% Republican vote the Republican candidate wins and gets all the power. It doesn’t matter that 60% of people had more progressive beliefs that they voted on, the most conservative candidate won and will now get all of the power. In a different system with 5 seats that are proportionally represented the Green Party might get 1 seat and the Democratic and republican parties two seats and then the Green and Democratic parties both have more influence. That does not happen in the US. It is not how our system functions on a structural level. 

That is why voting Green is useless. If voting third party is what gets you out and voting in local elections that’s good, but yeah, your third party vote for president means nothing. That’s why Democrats don’t like the green party. In any close race, if the Green Party takes voters who would otherwise be voting democratic, but think they have a third option, then it enables a Republican more conservative than the Democrat to win. this is why Republicans who sometimes work to enabled the Green Party, because they know that (aside from on a local level) all they can do is hurt democrats. The idea that you have a third option in the presidency is *an illusion* that is just structurally untrue. 

I’ve seen some people saying vote blue on the presidency, but support and organize for the Green Party on a local level if that’s what you believe in. This is a much better idea because on a local level there’s more flexibility and the Green Party can get more support. However, the idea that you’ll work up the green Party on a local level to be powerful enough to be a major party is probably not true in the current system. If you really want more than two options you need to advocate for structural reform. That’s the actual third option. Currently there aren’t any large-scale movements for this that I know of, but that’s the movement you want to build up that could actually get somewhere in allowing for third parties. Choosing a third party and supporting it will not change the US legislative institutions. 

This system is also why the republican and Democratic parties end up so similar in rhetoric. When you just have to get the plurality and there are only two real options it makes the most sense to go to the center. Imagine two points on a sliding scale from left to right. The point to the left gets everything to the left of it and the point to the right gets everything to the right of it. In order to get the most possible that on that scale both points benefit from going to the center. It’s more complicated in real life with who actually votes and who has protected voting rights, the difference between rhetoric and policy, the influence of lobbying, etc. but that’s how it basically works. 

Now, I don’t hold that the two parties are the same because the differences that some people wave away as insignificant is actually incredibly important to my life. the Trump administration has tried to legalize healthcare discrimination against transgender patients and the Biden administration will probably not make huge headway on trans legal rights, so some people consider that the same. I, a transgender person living in a red state during a pandemic, consider it the difference between life or death for me. I voted Blue early and think you should, too, to be completely honest with you, because I enjoy living. But I will say that there are two similar parities in America and many different parties in other countries and often the two parties don’t give the option of voting your full values. This is true and it sucks. But it’s true because of institutional, structural reasons that need to change, not because the media or other voters have decided it should be. 

[uncloseted]

why do you think it seems like people are more depressed and anxious now than ever before ? do you think social media has something to do with it ?

Okay so first a few disclaimers.  I’m not a mental health professional or an epidemiologist, so these should be taken more as casual speculation than fact.  Also, I grew up in the US, so a lot of this is likely US-centric, but I think a lot of these factors are problems that are prevalent throughout the world. So in order to answer this question, the first thing we have to ask is what causes anxiety and depression in the first place?  A lot of people (especially on Tumblr) have a tendency to blame “brain chemicals”, which is true in part, but not the entire story.  Depression and anxiety are complex, and what causes them is multifaceted.  These causes can also include (but aren’t limited to) genetic vulnerability, faulty mood regulation, stressful life events, medications, medical problems, early childhood loses and trauma, the way you learn to relate to the world in childhood, and structural differences in the brain.  It should be noted that hormones and hormone fluctuations are included in that, which may be part of why teenagers present with more symptoms of mental health issues than other people.

The first thing we should consider and something I think accounts for a lot of the increase in depression and anxiety is access to mental health care.  As we talk about depression and anxiety more as a culture and as our health care systems become more aware of mental illness, more people are being diagnosed with mental health issues and speaking about those diagnoses freely.  The criteria for depression and anxiety has also become slightly more flexible than it used to be, which also means that more people are being diagnosed.  However, while more people are being diagnosed, those people aren’t necessarily getting a holistic approach to treatment.  Many people are diagnosed by their primary care doctor and given mediation, but do not see a therapist or make lifestyle changes.  So, more people being diagnosed but not necessarily more people getting adequate treatment or recovering.

Moving on to lifestyle changes, our culture is not ideally suited for good mental health.  As a culture, our diets aren’t great, we don’t sleep enough, we don’t exercise, we’re culturally isolated and often lacking in community, we don’t do things for other people, we don’t get a lot of downtime or vacation time, and we aren’t taught how to regulate our emotions or deal with negative feelings (and are often taught maladaptive coping mechanisms instead).  All of this can play a real part in making people who are already predisposed to being anxious or depressed worse. 

We also have a lot of conflicting cultural expectations- on the one hand we’re supposed to do what we love and be happy, but we’re also expected to be successful and functioning members of society, which don’t always go hand in hand.  And our focus on being happy can actually be counterproductive- when people become very focused on happiness, they become anxious about not feeling happy or about how to feel happier, which in turn brings their mood down.  Our reliance on digital devices also plays into this; some research has shown that those who have grown up with technology use their devices as a coping mechanism (to ignore or escape from negative emotion) and are emotionally unprepared to deal with difficult situations because of it.


On the topic of devices, I do think media and social media also play a role in this problem.  It used to be that the media you had access to was primarily local news, and occasionally something national or international.  Now, we are inundated with news from all over the world, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.  This causes a unique problem; we are aware of all sorts of bad things happening in the world, more than ever before, and I think many of us feel like we have a responsibility to do something about each and every one of those issues but can’t.  That helplessness and feeling of responsibility contributes, I think, to a lot of people’s anxiety.  The current political situation also isn’t helping, particularly if you’re young, liberal, or part of a marginalized group.  Feeling like the world is falling apart because of our elected officials can be really scary, especially again when you feel like you don’t have any control over the situation.

As far as social media goes,  we are constantly presented with images of other people with which to compare ourselves against, and I think even if we consciously know that, those images can make us feel inadequate or like we need to be doing more.
  Comparison has been scientifically proven to be the thief of joy, whether we consciously recognize it or not.

We’re also a generation entering into a poor economy, and a lot of us are over-educated and under-employed.  However, our parents ideas of what we “should” be doing are still there- buy a house in the suburbs, get married, have children- things that are not necessarily financially feasible anymore.  And so again, a mismatch between expectations others have of us and the reality of our situation that causes feelings of inadequacy.  And when it comes to work, many of us are in jobs where we’re under-stimulated, doing way less work than the amount of hours we’re at work for, or where we’re (to borrow from Marx) alienated from our labor.  School is similar; it’s not really designed with students in mind, and it isn’t always a stimulating experience where you can see the purpose of what you’re learning.

On the topic of parents, that has contributed to rising levels of anxiety and depression as well.  “Helicopter parents” make their children reliant on them, and when that child grows up and has to be an adult, they’re unprepared to be independent, which can cause a lot of anxiety.  Helicopter parents are also likely to be anxious themselves, and so they model anxious behavior for their children, causing their children to be anxious adults when they grow up.

I think the amount of choice we have also contributes to the anxiety/depression question.  When you’re told what you should do, that can suck, but at least you have an idea of what the “right” choice is.  We have an unlimited number of choices that we have to make each and every day with very little guidance as to what the right choice is, but lots of expectations about how we should be. Again, anxiety provoking- what if you make the wrong decision and fail to live up to expectations?  Along with that, we have an idea that we’re in control of our own lives and every decision that we make.  In happiness research, there’s this idea of the “locus of control”- basically how much control you think you have over your life.  People with low loci of control are happier than those who feel like they’re in control of everything, and so I think having so much choice and so much control is contributing to why people are unhappy.  And as a result of that high locus of control, we spend a lot more time thinking about the past and the future, and less time sitting with ourselves in the present.  We don’t give ourselves a lot of downtime to just exist, without external distractions or letting our thoughts control our experiences.  Learning how to be mindful and fully present is an important skill in order to battle depression and anxiety.

Culturally, like I said before,  I think depression and anxiety have become more acceptable to talk about, which is good!  But those discussions are also creating a sort of echo chamber, where everyone around you is also struggling.  I think the sort of “depression meme culture” we’re seeing online today is actually a problem because of that- people are pulling each other down instead of working together to recover from their mental health problems.  It’s becoming normalized to be a teenager or twenty something with a mental health issue, and the more we accept this as normal, the less people will seek help or treatment.

Last one, and this is a strange one, but bear with me here- I think that 9/11 had a huge impact on the anxiety levels of people born in the 90s in the US (and I imagine similar events that have happened in other countries would have the same impact).  I think children who saw that happen but couldn’t really process the situation are more likely to become anxious adults because to a ten year old brain it seems like something terrible could happen anytime, anywhere, and that trains our brains to constantly be on red alert, waiting for the next catastrophic thing to happen.  I would guess this is especially true of people (like me) who lived in New York when it happened.
  On a larger scale, I think many of us have never really had the luxury of living in a world that’s (seemingly) working well and at peace, and there’s kind of a generalized, low-level anxiety that comes with that.

This definitely isn’t a comprehensive look at the issue, but hopefully this gives some insight into it at the very least.  If you all can think of other factors that might contribute to the rise in anxiety and depression, please send them in!

[sapphicdash]

Do you think trump supporters actually support him or are just thinking that it’s a big “fuck the liberals” that went too far and now that they’ve put so much investment into backing the wrong person, they have doubled-down their support while ultimately knowing that Trump and his staff don’t care about anyone but themselves, but are too proud, stubborn, and perhaps scared to admit it?

Do you think that Trump could have been able to do this at all if it wasn’t for the intense support of the KKK, big corporations, and his need to have power in order to be protected from his own terrible financial decisions?

Do you think the Republican Party is going to try and completely pin all the blame on Orange Injustice if he loses the election and try and separate themselves from the monster that they themselves helped to grow and feed?

Do you think I’ll ever be able to look my sister in the eye and feel like I can trust her again, knowing that she decided that voting for the personification of alt-right rhetoric was more important than not voting for someone who actively wants me dead and gone?

Do you think that this will still be an issue even if Biden gets elected? That this won’t happen again? That this isn’t the exact same thing that happened in 1920 in the US?

Do you think that even if everything fucking sucks and nothing you do feels like it’ll make a difference that’s what those in power want? To cause more fear and doubt and repress the people’s vote because the electoral college is fundamentally flawed along with the system it’s tied to?

Do you think that any of this will change with just some online posts, memes, and grievances shared among friends?

Vote. Protest if you can. Contact governors and representatives. Call out bigotry, demand change, punch a nazi, vote out the bigots and the ones who have been bought by corporations, redistribute the wealth of the billionaire class.

Save our future before we don’t have one.

[morningsound15]

Hi! You don't need to post this ask. But I just wanted to say I agree with your response to the ask. Some of us just don't have the luxury, not voting blue does not mean voting red, but in a two party system it is likely not helping our odds for change of any kind. It may be just as worst with Biden, but the alternative is this. The US voters are about idolization, if Biden is any less than idolized, Trump wins. A candidate shouldn't be idolized to get elected, but the US is like that & it sucks

see now i gotta post this ask because if i want to respond to u i gotta do it publicly (u can send an ask through ur account & i can answer u privately or u can hop in my dms if you’d prefer that solution, i just don’t like to leave things unsaid/unanswered)

i just disagree with this premise, and i think the people inside (or outside) the US who think that US voters need a politician to be idolized in order for people to support them/for them to win are actually really condescending to the voting public, & i think they miss the point. i think this argument actually turns people off of candidates/electoral politics, because it makes disaffected voters feel like everyone who holds or wants political power is lying to them and manipulating them & using them for votes without caring about the material conditions of their lives or improving their situation (they are correct to think that), and then when they dare to say anything to that end, they get jumped on and attacked by a bunch of “well-meaning” liberals who invalidate all of their thoughts, feelings, experiences, & their inherent distrust in electoral politics by telling them not voting for biden is the same as voting for a fascist (i know that’s not what ur saying anon, i don’t mean to put words in ur mouth). as long as we continue to approach our elections like that, as long as we continue to lie about our political history & obfuscate about the realities of our political present & the harsh possibilities of our political future, we will continue to prove those people correct, democrats will continue to lose elections, & our country will continue to backslide into outright authoritarian fascism (which we have always been doing / has never gone away but i DIGRESS).

the way this argument trickles down, the way it has always trickled down, is to the end result of an entrenchment of establishment politicians, establishment money, and the continuation of the imperialist colonial capitalist status quo, which continues under both dems and republicans, which is what is actively leading to the destruction of our planet. idolizing biden is bad for the future of our planet, & we need to be honest about that. if the end argument is correct (biden > trump, therefore we must elect biden), then that argument should be able to be proved without lying to voters and manipulating arguments in bad faith. but u can put all of the information u want in front of a voter; they might look at all of the info u have to offer & they might still come up with a different conclusion.

there are people who have politics & political analysis beyond which person sits inside the white house & given what our options are for this election/the near future we have to start engaging with THAT kind of politics more if we ever actually want to change things. the biden vs. trump debate is political theater & it is ultimately not a productive avenue for change & we’d all be better off spending more time organizing in our communities as opposed to screaming into a void of ppl who already agree with what we think that it’s important for us to make sure trump doesn’t win.

[sharpened-fantastic]

what are the reasons to vote for Biden? because you're out here talking about how we shouldn't vote green/abstain from the presidential, but can you please tell me what exactly would be different about a Biden presidency vs a Trump one? besides that a second Trump turn would keep liberals engaged and give us more chances to radicalize them. Joe Biden is just as bad as Trump on nearly every level and if he miraculously wins the gen, the DNC will be left unchecked. I'm curious on who that helps!

Hey! A genuine thank you for sending a full, non-anonymous ask. 

However, the biggest thing to remember is that having a democrat in the office will lead to policy changes and will change how our country is shaped for literal decades to come. 

Yes--Biden is a shit head, he would probably continue a lot of the racist and outright idiotic policies that Trump either put in place or continued from previous presidencies. I wish it weren’t true but that’s a simple fact. I agree that this sucks dick and makes me not want to vote at all.

One BIG thing is having a leader, regardless of political views, that has literally any political experience other than “accidentally got elected for four years as president”. Even compared to other presidents, even other republicans, his approach is overly militaristic, explicitly fueled by monetary gain, and he refuses to bend to even feign concern or duty towards American citizens. His open xenophobia (that has literally been UNPRECIDENTED, even to other politicians sharing his beliefs) has allowed greater mobility and reach for hate groups, and has let other politicians feel more comfortable in presenting non-coded, upfront, racist policy. It’d be one thing if it just showed the American public “oh wow, all of these places were racist the whole time”, but elevating literal concentration camps (yes, those did exist during the Obama era) to “let’s use abandoned warehouses to strip kids from their families, live in conditions we legally don’t let a lot of animals live in, and give them marked psychological scarring!”, among other things (I’m gonna put references at the end of this I’d hate to be talking purely out of my ass).

Trump is also horrifically undiplomatic--severing or straining our ties to other developed nations--, overemotional and unprofessional constantly on social media, and speaks positively on radically bigoted and backwards groups.

I think you’re giving Trump a lot of credit by saying he and Biden are equally bad. Both racist? yes. Both made bad policy decisions? oh yeah. However, Biden is still left enough that the democratic party accept him, the republican party has been squabbling since 2016 that Trump is too right-wing for republicans. Let’s have a president that even pretends to condemn Charlottesville or the dozens of other explicit hate crimes across the country. Let’s have a president that has better tax policies, or maybe even pays their taxes at all! Sure, they’re both bad! It’s a shit situation we’re in! But would you rather be trapped in a room with a child throwing trash, or a child setting the room on fire? 

Oh and one other big thing, I don’t want Trump choosing the supreme court for an entire generation, thanks.

Who knows, that’s up to you I guess, and if you don’t wanna vote I can’t stop you, I mean, it’s punishment enough that you’re gonna have to live with your decision. 

Here’s the biggest thing to remember: voting isn’t fair. It’s a broken system that supports those who abuse it, and those who abuse it are shitty people that don’t deserve that power. HOWEVER, refusing to vote only allows those who support people who abuse power to become more brazen in their racism, disregard for the American public, and signals to republicans “we give up! we swear we’re gonna have a revolution one of these days, but until then, you choose who’s in office!”

Biden is the wrong choice for presidency, but he’s our only choice. I don’t support Biden, I support voting, and I refuse to support letting Trump have another minute in office just to “radicalize leftists”. Not to be rude, but I think anyone who’s gonna get radicalized in this direction has been radicalized, but there are plenty of centrists that were taught “racism is bad” in grade school, but are getting a ton of support from the “racism can benefit you” crowd.

Ok, I’ve held off from the caps lock and stupid italics and bold for long enough, but “a second Trump turn would keep liberals engaged and give us more chances to radicalize them.”?! 

Are you fucking kidding me???

I don’t think anyone should have to think on having their political ideologies shifted while hundreds of Americans die due to lack of access to basic necessities, having their families torn apart, and while the future of the country burns in the background. Trust me, regular republicans do enough heinous shit to radicalize me and the majority of my group, you just normally need to dig ever-so-slightly deeper than surface level to see it, and providing that information to people is something I’m willing to do to get Trump out of office.

I really hope that I’m misreading what you said there, because holy hot fuck is that the most disgusting thing I’ve heard all fuckin month.

But here’s the biggest thing! VOTING IS SO EASY TO DO. PLEASE JUST DO IT. DON’T ACTIVELY ALLOW TRUMP TO WIN. I KNOW IT’S MUCH MORE DIFFICULT IN SOME STATES COMPARED TO OTHERS, BUT IF YOU DO HAVE THAT PRIVILEGE I WILL BURN YOU TO THE GROUND IF YOU THROW IT AWAY. 

Sorry, this was way longer and more of a rant than I intended. TL;DR--

Both are bad, but saying that Biden is “just as bad” as Trump is flat-out irresponsibly ignorant

One has political experience. That’s it that’s the bullet point.

As far as bad presidents go, Trump has been fuckin record breaking

Trump goes on overemotional, uneducated rants on social media, refuses to speak against extremely open, literal hate speech groups, and is straining America’s relationships with all other developed nations

There are some differences in their policies, again, both are bad, but this is not the time for black and white thinking please 

A radical president radicalizes people in both directions

I can’t even properly express my distaste for the comment “a second Trump turn would keep liberals engaged and give us more chances to radicalize them” I am literally praying that I’m misinterpreting what you’re saying right now, holy fuck

IF YOU CAN VOTE AND YOU CHOOSE NOT TO, I’M MORE ENRAGED AT YOU THAN PEOPLE WHO STILL THINK THIRD-PARTIES CAN STILL WIN, BECAUSE AT LEAST THEY GIVE ENOUGH OF A SHIT TO ENGAGE WITH DEMOCRACY. 

Ok references (sorry they’re all in the wrong order and of varying quality): x x x x x x x x x x x

[olivieblake]

pat here that was a great read I'm sorry I was so confusing I want to clear up that I have no issue with voting Biden he is who is needed to be president right now of the options we have I have no doubt. He's not perfect as you said but I don't understand those who say they are the same. I am going to take a couple asks to hopefully be clearer about what I was attempting to say feel free to ignore if I'm repeating myself but please know I've never even considered not voting Biden once he was it

you've made some great points so some of what I was thinking may be invalid now, I'm a fairly new voter I'm not totally familiar with the process yet. I was trying to say as someone in the christian circle I know a lot of people who know trump is a bad person yet are lining up to vote for him anyway due almost entirely to wanting to see abortion overturned. These are people who would (obviously wrongly) consider themselves loving and kind people ignoring the many of their values for 1 issue. yes, I agree this is a common source of confusion for me in terms of right-wing voters abortion is about control especially to the men in charge and many others its also about life I know lots of women and I'm sure there are men, who really believe the stories about babies fighting while being aborted. its the defining issue of the party but the people are coming out to vote for whatever benefits they think anti abortion laws will bring them at least that's the experience with the people around me, it might not be universal no, I think you’re right about that. but I also think that is generally how things tend to go; we could probably look back at history and see people choosing their stances on one “hot” issue. say, prohibition, for example.

so when I say the left is fractured I mean that we want health care we want action on climate change we want something to be done about policing but we don't agree on how it should be accomplished and I have seen many people outright refuse to vote for Biden because he doesn't offer every single thing they are looking for on every issue on these issues. Thats what I was trying to say by saying its fractured. I am refraining from trashing Biden/dems during this particular time because I don’t think it serves a purpose, especially since the GOP agenda is much more concerning, but yes, once the election is over we should continue to be critical of policy decisions because to me voting 3rd cause Biden changed some of the GND is so selfish yet they are so like my grandmother believes trump was anointed by god to stop abortion yikes (and end the world??) and so though she's conflicted cause she knows he's bad she'll ultimately vote for him due to that. My long winded point (lmao) was I think there are many like her and they don't see they are being used (they aren't victims they are very complicit in his evil but I think trump takes advances of easy targets and pandering to christians is one of those targets) “trump” aka every GOP lawmaker I don't see the right struggle so hard with the 3rd party or not voting and so I wondered if the GOP lawmakers are actively not seeing through one of the core party values in order to keep the party together and voting for them, (they are a mess but they are typically a mess that agrees I think? cause they are selfish and the inconsistent policies consistently benefit only them) only one more left I promise god I'm so sorry I'm insufferable I at least hope this all made more sense 

last one, maybe my flaw is that its just trump who has no intention of overturning abortion yes, this is a major flaw in your reasoning. we’ll discuss (there is no way he was anointed by god!!) and is using it for reelection maybe other lawmakers actually want too and he's held them up idk I think you already answered how i'm wrong anyway aha but I wanted to clear up 2 party system sucks but its not what I was mad about and I am very very clear about voting Biden and I hope I didn't make it seem like people shouldn't!!! please folks vote early & safely the conversation took a slight turn after your asks which is why I wrote my follow-up, but thanks for clarification!

I realized everything I wrote is still probably confusing just ignore it my adhd mind connects things that make like no sense cause its dumb sorry to waste your time! It was a general musing I had like wow how can a chunk of the left take their rights so for granted they'd not vote Biden cause he's not perfect. yes this is a fair source of confusion. people are astoundingly selfish, it’s wild I wonder if the GOP lawmakers see that and purposely don't pass a core issue so their base doesn't get apathetic one day too oof, I wish, but no & I like u so I shared 😂😂 thank you! it’s not a problem to ask, and I’m glad you took the time to clarify.

here is my original answer, with this portion of your question answered in this video; I went off for a bit on a tangent about how abortion politics have basically led to the alienation of women who suffer miscarriages because of recent events on the subject, so I hope you know you’re definitely not the only one who has general musings that can sometimes go on for a bit

[phantomwarrior12]

A Lonely World

Prompt: Broken by lovelytheband

Word Count: 2,394

Warnings: Mild swearing, Gabriel trying to be an innocent little shit, fluff

Summary: The Winchesters tend to get laid, you somehow end up with something more exciting.

A/N: Hi folks!

This fic has been in the works for the better part of year, but, at last, I emerge victorious and I finished it!

Please leave a like/comment and let me know your thoughts!

~ Phantom

A Timely Rescue

---------------

I like that you're broken, broken like me

Maybe that makes me a fool

I like that you're lonely, lonely like me

I could be lonely with you

--------------

Fingers drumming aimlessly against cool brown glass, y/e/c locked on the couple swaying to and fro in the back corner.

Another bar, another night of the Winchesters trying to persuade you to let them play wingman. Another night of you declining their offer and electing to drink alone after they leave.

Different town, same story. That is, until he appears in the chair beside you.

You hadn't heard him approach, let alone noticed the shift of people around you. There's a Hunter's instinct kicking in somewhere in the back of your mind, but no alarms. Whatever it is, it won't hurt you.

You feel his finger tips along the small of your back before you see him. There's subtle buzz entwined in a tenderness you've never known within the depths of his touch, every inch of skin tingling from a single brush, a warmth flourishing beneath flannel.

When your eyes find themselves facing warm honey and you could swear you felt your heart skip a beat.

"Come here often, sugar?"

It takes a moment, but you grasp the fleeting sense of reality and steady yourself, turning towards the charismatic stranger, fully aware of the arm now slung across the back of your chair.

"That line work on all the ladies?" You query with a delicate arch of an eyebrow.

"Depends. It work on you?" The corner of his lips tug upwards into a mischievous smirk.

"No."

He allows a quiet chuckle, settling a little closer to you, "Really? I think we both know that that's not true."

You let out a quiet snort, readjusting your body to face the bar more so than him, hand already curled around the beer bottle as you study its contents, "I wouldn't be so sure if I were you."

He arches an eyebrow but pulls away and leans on the bar, "Alright, I'll play along," cocky shift of the shoulders, "let's start over."

He outstretches his hand, smiling at you with such an expectant look, you decide to indulge him, if for no other reason than to entertain yourself for the remainder of the evening.

"Y/N." You accept his hand, soft meeting calloused, gentle meeting firm. There's almost a current running through his veins, a subtle jolt when palms meet and fingers lock.

And there's a twinkle in his eyes when his thumb brushes across yours as he shakes your hand, "They call me Gabriel."

"Pleasure," you can't help the warmth that crawls into the smile you offer.

"So, and forgive the how cliche this line is, what's a girl like you doing in a dump like this...alone?"

"Just passing through," it slips out easily, a forewarning before things go too far, "how about you?"

He shrugs and finally relinquishes his hold on your hand, leaving it empty and nearly forlorn at the loss of his touch.

"Same as you, quick stop in a little town," he glances around the bar before settling back on you.

You nod slowly, noting the intentional break in eye contact to study their surroundings, "Running , huh?"

He seems as surprised by your boldness as you are, gauging the expectant look etched into your features.

"I'm that easy to read, huh?"

"Like a book." You set the empty bottle off to the side and direct your full attention to Gabriel.

"Takes one to know one."

"Except I'm not running," you correct him, "got nothing to run from."

He leans a little closer and his expression grows solemn, "Everyone's running from something."

"I don't run, tough guy." You counter, leaning a little closer, studying every inch of his features. "Something pushes you down, gets in your way, you stand up and make it move."

Gabriel scoffs, "You make it sound easy."

"Task's only impossible if you deem it so," you return proudly, y/e/c drifting from his eyes to his lips and back again.

He flashes another cocky grin, "Mind if I buy you a drink?"

You gesture towards the empty bottle beside you and a slight smile tugs at the corner of his mouth as he orders another round. He waits until the bottles rest between the two of you before he speaks.

"So, if you're not running, what're you doing out here?"

"Road trip with my brothers." You nod to the Winchesters huddled in the corner, two women fawning over them. There may not be any blood relation, but they're the closest thing to family you have.

"And they left you to drink on your own?" He arches an eyebrow, disapproval evident in golden hues.

"I get some peace and quiet, they get laid, we all win." You chuckle lightly, taking a sip of your beer.

"Weird, but whatever works, I guess." Gabriel shrugs, turning his full attention back to you.

"And what are you running from?" You level an expectant look on the man beside you.

"Family drama," he shrugs, avoiding your gaze.

"You really aren't good at this lying thing, are you?"

"Oh, but I'm telling the truth. I got brothers, too, they're just a lot bigger and meaner." He offers an amused smile, "It's good to get away from family now and again."

"I can understand that." You nod, taking another sip of your beer.

"Enough about that, care to dance?"

"I don't dance."

"Really? Who shoved the stick up your ass?"

You snort indelicately, "Apathy."

"Well, let's see if we can't have it removed." He takes your hand, pulling you to your feet and out onto the dance floor.

"Gabriel--"

"Have some fun, Y/N." He twirls you to arms length and then back against his chest.

Your shoulders sag but there's a smile etched into your features, allowing him to guide you across the hardwood. You can feel ths Winchesters' gaze, but soon, he's the only thing you can see, the only thing you can feel as the two of you glide across the floor.

His hands are everywhere, molding with every curve as you move in sync. His presence floods your senses like a rush of ecstasy that you never thought possible, a feather-light embrace that you can't see, but every nerve can feel. You brush off the nagging hunter's alarm, attributing the paranoia and distrust to the alcohol coursing through your veins and the traumatic memories that haunt your thoughts--memories that often banish any hopes of genuine happiness.

Just once, you want those thoughts to be wrong. Just once, you want the mysterious  man whose arms are wound around you, to be real and not a danger when you turn your back. Just once, you pray he feels the same way. 

So, when the Winchesters leave with their catches for the night, when the bar's inhabitants dwindle and it's only the two of you swaying to a slow song, you allow your defenses to fall, if only for a moment.

You lay your head on his shoulder, your eyes sliding shut as you commit every touch, every detail to memory--something to cling to when hell grips hold and you need a safe haven.

You're lost in the newfound sensations, the alcohol singing through your system, a perfect concoction of endorphins and ecstasy until that cool wisp flickers along your spine. It  dances over marred ridges and, for a moment, you're convinced you're imagining it; the chill as nothing more than an unfortunate result of beer and sleep-deprivation.

That is, until you meet his gaze, your breath catching in your throat when you notice the faint glint of blue flaring against whiskey, "Gabriel, your eyes--"

"What about them?" He questions innocently.

"Either I'm much drunker than I thought, or they're glowing."

"How many rounds have you had, sugar?"

"All night? Five or six?"

"You're drunk, sweetcheeks. My eyes aren't glowing," he assures you smile.

"You sure?  Because I'm pretty sure there's something trailing along my spine, too."

"Drunk. How about we get you back to your motel? You should probably try to sleep this off," he teases gently.

"You're probably right," you relent as the wisp disappears and the alarms in your mind silence themselves.

You're positive you blacked out, convincing yourself the whoosh of air you'd felt was the wind during a brief moment of consciousness on the way to the motel. It couldn't be the ruffle of feathers you hear when Castiel flies you somewhere. The next time you open your eyes, something that felt as if it had only been a moment,  you're both standing in the middle of your motel room, "How long was I out--?"

"Twenty minutes, give or take," Gabriel shrugs, helping you over to the bed.

"I probably snored--"

"Not at all," he waves you off, tucking the blankets around you.

"Thanks for the ride," you murmur, settling in to sleep.

"No problem, sugar. Sweet dreams."

The snap of his fingers is the last thing your exhausted mind can register before you drift off, a content smile spread across your lips.

-------------------

"Rise and shine, Y/N!" Dean knocks on your door and you groan against the light filtering through the curtains, burying your face in the pillow.

"Go away!"

You hear Dean swipe his spare card and step inside, "Up and at 'em."

"You tell me to get up one more time and I'm coming at you." You bite back, reluctantly kicking the blankets off, swinging your feet onto the floor.

"You sleep okay?" He props himself against the doorframe after he closes the door.

"Like a baby," you stand, moving to grab a change of clothes from your bag.

"So, spotty and you cried a lot?"

"Fuck off, Winchester."

"Must be one hell of a hangover if you're this cranky. How'd it go with thar guy last night?"

"What guy?" you deflect, stifling a yawn as you shuffle towards the bathroom to change.

"The one you spent most of the night drinking with?"

"Didn't go anywhere, good dancer though." You call through the door.

"That sucks," he glances around the room, "Maybe next time."

You step out of the bathroom, "Not holding my breath."

"Oh, come on--" Dean's cut short by a knock at the door, "There's Sam," he pulls the door open, "and Cas?" He arches an eyebrow, glancing back at you.

"Don't be a dork, let them inside." You don't look up as you throw your clothes into the duffel.

"Hello, Dean. Y/N." Castiel greets, stepping inside the room.

"What brings you by, feathers?" You glance up from your bag with a smile.

"Sam called about a case, I thought I'd--" he looks over at you for the first time, cutting himself short.

"Cas?" Dean glances between you and the angel.

Castiel strides across the room, brows knit together in confusion,  his eyes beginning to glow a brilliant blue as he reaches for you.

"Whoa, easy," Dean steps between you and Castiel.

"Something wrong?" You frown, y/e/c darting between his outstretched hand and his eyes.

"You have residual grace."

"I have what now?"

Dean steps aside, allowing Castiel to step closer, offering his hand to you, "May I?"

Confusion emerges victorious in the whirlwind of emotion and you tentatively hold your hand out. You hold your breath as Castiel's fingers ghost over your forearm, a cool whisper beneath his touch as small wisps of blue trail along your skin.

"I've felt that before--" you murmur, eyes trained on the swirling light.

"When?" His gaze darts to your face, concern evident.

"Last night. This drifter sat and talked to me, I thought it was just the beer, but, it felt like this. My hunter alarm was going nuts at first, but he was fine by the end of the night."

Castiel nods slightly before he turns his attention back to your arm, squinting slightly at the Enochian letters glowing bright against your wrist.

"What the hell?!" You jerk your arm back, staring at the lettering as it fades, "What was that?"

Castiel takes your hand again, waving his hand over your wrist to reveal the letters, "It's Enochian and it's a warning."

"A warning for what?" Dean steps closer, concern glinting in apple green orbs.

"Y/N's been placed under the protection of," he hesitates, staring at the letters for a long moment in wonder.

"Of who?" You press, the anxiety building in your chest.

He meets your gaze solemnly, "The archangel, Gabriel."

You open your mouth to speak, but clamp it shut as you sink onto the bed, holding your wrist.

"So, you don't get laid, but you somehow draw the attention of an archangel and get yourself on his no-smite list." Dean shakes his head, scrubbing at his face, "Must be Tuesday."

"He's not just any archangel. He's the only one of the archangels to flee heaven. He's been missing for thousands of years."

"He said he was running from family drama,"  you interject, brushing your thumb over your wrist absently.

"Y/N, did he say where he was going?" Castiel kneels beside you, searching your features desperately.

"No. We talked, drank and I somehow ended up here. Looking back, I guess it felt like when you fly us places, Cas." You look up at him slowly.

Castiel's features fall but he nods, standing back to his full height, "Then he's moved on."

"But why place me under his protection?"

"What did you talk about?" Dean asks.

"How annoying brothers are."

Sam snorts lightly, "Maybe be thought of you as a kindred spirit, fed up with your brothers?"

"That's entirely possible." Castiel glances towards Sam, "Mankind has done much less to earn the protection of God himself, perhaps something Y/N said resonated with Gabriel." 

"In any case, you've now got an archangel in your corner, Y/N. Not a lot of people can say that." Dean pats your shoulder before he moves towards the door, "Let's head home, I promised Bobby we'd pick up some supplies on the way home."

"Right," you find your way to your feet, "I'll meet you outside, just need to grab a few more things."

Dean nods, corralling Sam and Castiel out the door to finish packing up Baby. Within twenty minutes, you're on the road, following Baby down the street. You cast one final glance in your rearview mirror, a slight smile tugging at the corner of your lips when you see the archangel's watchful form in the distance.

"See you around, Gabriel."

--------------------

A Timely Rescue (Ch. 2)

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