#their capacity for care

[khruschevshoe]

Izzy Hands and Black Pete Hands-Spriggs

I am caught off guard by you

Like a wave I'm pulled into

It's a feeling I can't fight

Like a wildfire deep inside

You're taking my heart by storm

I'm lost in your love

-Ruelle, Storm

Izzy laughs, a hollow, wretched sound thanks to his dehydrated throat. "You picked the wrong people to torture. I don't know who's feeding you your information, but Blackbeard's not my captain anymore. He's not anyone's."

The Spanish sailor rears back, teeth bared, to break another of Izzy's knuckles, to punish him for the way he misled them. Izzy doesn't close his eyes. He doesn't flinch. He looks the man dead in his eyes, taking this one small victory-

Then a blade sprouts through the sailor's guts, and he gasps in shock. Izzy smirks despite the pain boiling his knuckles, an agony never forgotten despite the limb the toes were attached to being long gone as the sailor tips over to the side, blood spouting from his mouth.

Izzy's smirk instantly shifts into a tired but genuine smile when he sees the hero behind the blade. Pete has never been the most gifted swordsman, but it doesn't take a master to plunge a sword into the back of a man. It only takes someone with enough dedication, enough bravery, enough stubbornness to agree to infiltrate a vessel of the Spanish navy. (And also someone, apparently, who has black grease paint smeared around his eyes like the strangest racoon Izzy has ever seen.)

And all of that contributes to the most devastatingly lovely sight that Izzy has ever seen.

Izzy is woozy, but the words that have been floating in his head rise naturally to his lips. "I love you," he says, and it's as easy as breathing.

-aletterinthenameofsanity, i'm a dead man walking here (but that's the least of all my fears)

Listen, was I expecting to love these two so much? No, no I wasn't. Was I so absolutely glad to see the way the two of them ended up having one of the most solid, supportive, affectionate dynamics in the entire crew? Hell yeah! The fact that their relationship begins with Pete whittling Izzy his new leg? And the fact that he does it again after Izzy's leg is stolen from him when Izzy and Archie are taken by the Spanish? THE FACT THAT IT IS USED AS A METAPHOR FOR THEIR RELATIONSHIP? Dead. Gorgeous. 10/10. This scene, where Pete is the first one in to rescue Izzy during the Santa Joana situation, gave me everything I ever could have wanted. The two of them and Lucius really flesh each other out well, and I'm crossing my fingers that the promised Gravy Basket fic involves one of the three of them.

@possumsmushroom @yuenity @polikate @bricksbloggyplace

[solarwreathe]

in another universe they could have been playing at the beach

[blondie-drawings]

working on some silly tlt memes for my friend's bday and I liked how this one came out 🥲

[valtsv]

the thing about "callout/cancel culture" that convinced me it's rotten to the core is the dehumanisation you face once you become the subject of a campaign like that. a lot of criticisms of callout/cancellation attempts appeal to the humanity of the subject, pointing out that it's unfair and unproductive to treat a person, a fellow human being, regardless of how much harm they've caused and how genuinely unlikable they are, like that. but unfortunately the reality of being the target of a mob mentality often means facing the very isolating and traumatising experience of realising that you've ceased to exist as a person in their eyes. you're a representation of your transgressions, an embodiment of harm that needs to be erased like a blemish, a spectacle for entertainment, a means of earning social approval by publicly condemning and humiliating you in what quickly becomes a competition to see who can strike the blow that knocks you down so you never get up again. nobody cares about who you are outside of what you did. people make mistakes and hurt one another, but there is always the capacity for change, for regret and reparations. you are an irredeemable monster. you can't change. the only way to make sure you can't cause harm ever again is to neutralise you entirely. to drive you off and hurt you so badly that you never consider coming back. and it often succeeds. but it doesn't make the world a better or safer place. it just tells everyone that certain behaviours will be punished, so you should conceal them, and harshly condemn them in others so that everyone knows where you stand; nobody will stand up for you if you're accused and brought out for judgement, so you shouldn't trust anyone, and always be on the lookout to take them down before they can do the same to you. you're not creating a safe, welcoming community. you're creating a panopticon built on fear and punishment.

[lesbian-david-tennant]

Star Trek, The Immunity Syndrome (2x18)

[inadvisablebutinevitable]

Every day. Every damn day I wake up and wonder how Wymack must have felt hearing Jean say, “Kevin never once doubted you’d take him in … I laughed at him. I’d never taken him for a dreamer.”

I wonder how he let that sink in, thought over and over again of his first interactions with the kid and rewriting his perceptions with the context that not only did Kevin know that was his dad, but that Kevin trusted him. Unquestionably, before Wymack even did anything, Kevin ran to him because he believed that Wymack was someone safe he could run to. I wonder if Wymack thought about “my father comes to all my games, that is enough” knowing that Kevin truly meant it, maybe always has.

I wonder how Wymack felt then, when later, much much later, that broken boy who laughed at his son for believing in a father he never met calls him out of the blue. When, before Wymack could even get a single word in, begs him, voice wet and desperate why did you take him in?

I wonder how Wymack felt after the phone call ends. Hearing Josten, arguably his most distrustful kid, telling him “I’ve got him coach” and then hanging up the phone, and wondering if Rhemmen has enough strength to watch Jean eventually get to a place similar to where Neil’s at now. To finally learn, slowly but surely, how to trust. I wonder if that made him appreciate Kevin’s trust all the more.

just… I wonder

[fl00mie]

something i did when i saw a post of joku talking about this topic: it's an interesting concept but practically impossible because nothing stops artists from continuing to create (this is convenient for ink), based on this i tried to adjust the words of the creator of dreamtale herself to her characters under an objective truth— there is no limit to the multiverse

here's the post and the translation

[densewentz]

Edwin did not read a little ghost girl for filth in the very beginning of the very first episode for trying to pretend that the age she died at had any bearing whatsoever on her actual current level of maturity and capability just for you guys to turn around and use "he died at 16!!!" to vilify the Cat King and Catwin shippers btw

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Assisting Acquaintance Acquired.

[First] Prev <–-> Next

[midnightdemonhunter]

I say, Then it’s not love anymore.

Michael says, It was love up to then though.

[psychologicalwarclaire]

I keep seeing people looking forward to an emotionally charged jayvik fight as if Viktor won't just whack Jayce with his stick and call it good

[snekdood]

i dont think non-transmasc allies realize that- it's actually their job to uplift our voices and make us more visible. it's actually their job to bring others awareness to us and to advocate for us. it's their job to use the platform they have to talk about us, accurately portray our struggles and/or bring trans guys into the discussion to talk about our problems. we can only do so much alone and if no one else is advocating for us, then people are less likely to listen and take us seriously.

y'know how white men hafta talk to other white men for them to actually listen about and understand the struggles of people of color? it's like that. people of your own demographic are more willing to listen to you than listen to the people you're advocating for, unfortunately, but that is the reality. you need to bring us on when you're having discussions about us or at least get your info from transmascs if you're going to talk about us w/o us there. I can shout at the top of my lungs about trans men everyday but at the end of the day it doesnt reach as much people. it's the responsibility of people with more visibility and a platform to boost our voices and message.

[crustyfloor]

“My amazing daughter” ❌

Too human, not dystopian enough

“my lovable creature” ✅

Unintentionally objectifying, affectionate in a dystopian way, true to the canon “pet and owner” dynamic most aliens have with their pet-humans, “Aliens can never truly understand humans they are two different species”

[fatedroses]

And some days, I just wish you wouldn't look at me at all.

[mxtxfanatic]

Hm, I know I said at least in my first reading of mdzs that I felt like Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng were actually friends as kids, I would like to remind folks that the catastrophic breakdown of their friendship was not because of some misplaced care but because Jiang Cheng is a stagnant character whose whole role in the story is to be the one who never learns, changes, and grows past his insecurities and resentments. They were always going to fall out with each other, even if the Sunshot Campaign never happened, even if the Wen Clan didn’t exist as a subjugating force terrorizing the other clans, because no matter how much Jiang Cheng cares about anyone, he will always place his personal resentments first.

I’m so serious: reread the pre-fall of Lotus Pier parts of the novel (flashback extras included), and tell me how many times Jiang Cheng says something genuinely nice about or to the benefit of Wei Wuxian without prompting. Point to me places where Jiang Cheng puts himself on the line for Wei Wuxian that is not him distracting the Wen. Compare the number of unambiguously positive interactions they have to the number of interactions they have in total, and I bet you’ll see that the positives are laughingly scant. Most every interaction they have together, Jiang Cheng is being a negative nancy. He’s the type of friend who, if you said “Today is a good day!” would snidely respond back, “What’s so good about?” before loudly complaining about what a nuisance your happiness is. Jiang Cheng is the type of friend that tells you that everyone else hates you because you’re so annoying, and you need to do something about that because he also finds you annoying so you should be lucky he “puts up with” you. And all of this negativity can be directly traced back to the resentment Jiang Cheng feels caused by his own mother projecting her insecurities onto him. Jiang Cheng, who cannot grow, learn, or change, is unable to extract his own self from his mother’s insecurities, ending up inheriting them as his own, instead.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like teen!Jiang Cheng is some irredeemable monster (that is reserved for his adult self), but Wei Wuxian already shows signs of being tired of his attitude as kids. He snaps at Jiang Cheng rudeness in the lotus pod seeds extra. He constantly admonishes Jiang Cheng about his blatant disregard for the lives and safety of other people. Most of the time, Wei Wuxian won’t even engage in the petty little remarks that Jiang Cheng makes, just treating it like nobody had spoken at all. The only times Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian move as a unit is when they have a common enemy—like Jin Zixuan—but without that, they are only held together by the fact that…they’ve been friends for a long time.

And this kinda leads me back to the point about the yunmeng friendship not being able to withstand the test of time even without an outside conflict: I would place the point of no return for their relationship at Wei Wuxian killing the xuanwu of slaughter, not at the fall of Lotus Pier. Wei Wuxian is one of two individuals that killed a mythological bloodthirsty creature responsible for hundreds of deaths, spent a week in a coma from his injuries and lack of immediate care, and what does he get for it? Jiang Cheng shows up with soup gifted to Wei Wuxian by Jiang Yanli, except he’s eaten all the meat out of it. Jiang Fengmian gives the most lukewarm praise to Wei Wuxian for his achievements—which Wei Wuxian neither complained about nor called him out for—because they were both trying to be mindful of Jing Cheng’s insecurities, and Jiang Cheng still made it about himself. When Madam Yu storms in to yell about how Wei Wuxian is a “bastard child” and he’s just trying to show off, Jiang Cheng consciously and unambiguously sides with his mother. Wei Wuxian had to drag his feverish body out of bed—after just awakening from a week-long coma—to placate pity-party Jiang Cheng, and the only thing that makes him feel better is not promises of continued friendship but of servitude. Even if at this point Wei Wuxian was still viewing Jiang Cheng as a—admittedly caustic—friend, Jiang Cheng’s view had fully transitioned from “annoying friend my mother hates” to “the servant I need to keep in line lest he overshadows me.” If anything, the fall of Lotus Pier, the debt placed on Wei Wuxian by the Jiang leaders, and the subsequent war probably allowed their friendship to last longer than it naturally would have (remember, they are only united against outside forces).

All this to say that while Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian may have started out as genuine friends in their childhood, their transition to enemies has absolutely nothing to do with that care. Sometimes we fall out with people because we just do not like them as people. Jiang Cheng’s resentment prevented him from appreciating Wei Wuxian as a person, leading to the end of their friendship and their descent into eventual enemies. Not misplaced or warped care, just pure, undeniable resentment.

[cheesuschrist-iii]

One of my favourite things about Once Upon a Witchlight is that half the party are just not good people. I’m sorry but Kremy is just a fucking bitch. I love him tho. Gideon has anger issues and would kill a man for Kremy. Mostly I just love morally grey characters especially because as a party they keep ending up doing good as a whole.

It’s also easy to forget that the origins of their adventure were selfishly motivated because they were in debt.

Also out of all of them the most morally inclined is a depressed wet cat and morning “I have trained my mind in order for me to choose the most logical option in any situation” Frost.

I also do think they’re developing better morals and are unintentionally bettering themselves as people.

Mostly I just love that Frost and Gricko will be like we have to help these people and Kremy will be like do we thooo. And then they do.