#these acts should not be committed upon real people

[deeplyshalllow]

I’m sorry but this is bullshit.

Let’s break this down

On Fiyero being Captain of the Guard

He is a double agent. He does not believe what he stands for and is using his position to do what he can to find and help Elphaba. I don’t know what to say to you if you missed the obvious statements about this in Thank Goodness, because I have always thought they were so obvious they really should be rewritten because I don’t know how he wasn’t found out and arrested when he said all that.

Morrible: Now you've been at the forefront of the hunt for the Wicked Witch, haven't you? Fiyero: I don't like to think of her as a Wicked Witch.

Glinda: Fiyero, I miss her too, but we can't just stop living. No one has searched harder for her than you.

I guess he doesn’t literally say “shhh I’m secretly using my position to undermine the regime” but I think the writers thought people watching the show had some basic media literacy.

Does this mean he didn’t commit atrocities? No probably not. But bear in mind if he hadn’t been doing it, someone else would have. Fiyero knows this, by placing himself here he is in the best position both to protect Elphaba but also protect the Animals in the regime. I know we don’t see him helping the Animals, but nor do we really see Elphaba doing so? Given he used the first opportunity, when they wouldn’t get in trouble, to help the Lion Cub it seems a pretty good inference that he was trying to send out warnings to Animals when he could (especially now the movieverse has made him the only character aside from Elphaba who is friends with an Animal – he probably even has a network he can tap into!).

“Searching for Elphaba did not somehow compel him to go and volunteer to follow (or to give!) orders in the name of the dictator who was trying to have her assassinated the entire time.”

IDK about you, but I think if I were to search for someone wanted and was given the opportunity to both have the best resources and information to find her and hamper people who might find her and hurt her, I would totally do it this way too.

“He didn't accomplish anything from it either, by the way”

Um, yes he did? He literally succeeded in the exact goal he was planning by joining the Gale Force: to protect Elphaba. If he hadn’t been Captain of the Guard in the throne room when the Wizard called his guards she would have been captured and killed, instead she escaped which eventually allowed the Wizard to be overthrown and Elphaba’s values to be acted on in the form of Glinda ruling.

Her position in the Wizard's regime was foisted upon her. There are things we can discuss, but I find that many folks need reminding that Glinda would undoubtedly have been disposed of (or worse) if she failed to make herself useful.

There is a difference between keeping quiet, not protesting a regime and actively endorsing it. Glinda was doing the latter and she was not forced into that. (She also was not helping undermine it the same way Fiyero was).

Fiyero: I can't just stand here grinning pretending to go along with all of this! Glinda: Do you think I like to hear them say those awful things about her? I hate it! Fiyero: Then what are we doing here? Let's go, let's get out of here! Glinda: We can't leave now, not when people are looking to us to raise their spirits. Fiyero: You can't leave, because you can't resist this. And that is the truth. Glinda: Maybe I can't. Is that so wrong? Who could?

Elphaba: No, of course you never! You're too busy telling everyone how wonderful everything is! Glinda: I'm a public figure, now. People expect me to... Elphaba: Lie? Glinda: Be encouraging!

I promise I do not hate Glinda, I find her character fascinating, and she is starting to make up for the awful stuff she does in act two by the end of the musical. But do not pretend for one moment that she is not actively complicit in this regime, with no real desire to stop it until it starts actively hurting her.

“He always WANTED to be self-absorbed and shallow, and all his actions are consistent with that. Elphaba saw depth and discontentment in him, yes: but (and I cannot stress this enough) when given the chance, he channeled that in the wrong direction. He didn't confront that and become a better person.”

He gave up his wealth, privilege and safety to ensure Elphaba escaped from the throne room and continued her cause (this isn’t about running away with Elphaba btw, he lost everything from the moment he pointed the gun at the Wizard). He was ready to die for her in the Corn Field scene. I don’t know what more you want him to do to prove that he was not shallow and he wouldn’t die for his cause in the exact same way Elphaba was prepared to?

“He doesn't think through the wider repercussions of anything he does — thoughtlessness is just one of his core character traits.”

I don’t think there’s anything to say here except you are just actively wrong.

Fiyero is the only character of the trio to put thoughts into his actions. He is the only one who doesn’t immediately act on his impulses.

Elphaba reacts immediately to what she thinks is right without thinking of the consequences to herself or, frankly, if it will even work. This is shown metaphorically in her outbursts of magic in early act 1 but also more literally in Defying Gravity, confronting the Wizard after Wonderful and, even in some twisted sense, in capturing Dorothy.

Glinda reacts immediately to her first instinct of what she wants and feels emotionally and regrets later (often when it’s too late to backtrack) – the hat, telling Morrible and the Wizard how to capture Elphaba, even saying she’ll join Elphaba in Defying Gravity can be seen as examples of this.

Fiyero, however, (ironically) is the only one of the group who thinks. In throne room he goes in, plays the part of a loyal guard until he’s got rid of the witnesses and neutralised the threat of the Wizard, in the Cornfield scene he realises that the only way he can get Elphaba away safely is by threatening Glinda, at the end of the show he is the one who plays along as a scarecrow for days while coming up with the plan for Elphaba to escape (and make no mistake, this is Fiyero’s plan, he’s the one who knows the water melting rumour, he’s the one who knows the secret passages in Kiamo Ko).

“But let me be frank: that is literally all he ever accomplishes in the show. He gives her dick one time, and one of his castles, and that's it. That's the culmination of his years trying to find her”

He saves her life three times in act two. What the fuck are you talking about?

Glinda who is ultimately vindicated, and has — for all her faults — made the necessary choices to fulfill Elphaba's wishes,

I will give you that. But it’s not by any foreplaning. Glinda does become a good person, but it takes the whole musical and some very horrible consequences for her actions, ones that she quite rightly will forever regret and have to spend her whole life making up for.

And none of this would have been possible without Fiyero anyway, if it had not been for him Elphaba would have been captured, executed and Glinda would have never had the courage – or possibly even the motivation to fight back.

[Wicked Act II spoilers]

[edited for tone and clarity of purpose, apologies for initial crudeness and frustration]

Okay, obviously I'm biased, but I'm gonna need the Fiyeraba shippers to please set a lot of your people straight about some things. I've seen way too many people trying to say that Glinda is just a selfish bimbo and that Fiyero is a virtuous and selfless figure more worthy of Elphaba's love. I'll set aside for now the idea of "worthiness" in this context. But let's start off with Fiyero joining the Wizard. Hoo boy...

Yes, he was initially somewhat less tolerant of the propaganda against Elphaba than Glinda was; yes, he was secretly trying to find her so he could run away with her or whatever. But honey: those facts DO NOT fully absolve his actions as the Wizard's top officer, or selfish recklessness throughout Act II. I see so many popular threads and posts romanticizing and whitewashing with "oh but he didn't REALLY join the Wizard, he just pretended so he could try to get to Elphie! It's all for love, and he sacrificed everything for her!" As if the literal captain of the literally fascist forces responsible for the oppression of Animals wasn't equally responsible for said oppression?? Hello? Fiyero really didn't think of seeking out Elphaba in ANY other way that DIDN'T involve becoming *checks notes*... the trusted leader of the troops committing all the abuses she's fighting against in the first place???? Like it's cool and all that he helped with Brrr, and it's all well and good that he planned on betraying the Wizard as soon as he found Elphaba (which took literal years, so I guess we're left to assume he was prepared to just keep doing fascism indefinitely if she didn't show up????), but uh... it's kind of concerning to how eager some of you are to make excuses for this dude volunteering as the head of the Ozian Gestapo??? smdh

He didn't accomplish anything from it either, by the way — like yeah, we get it, he did everything he did whilst silently fantasizing about running away with the Witch he was being paid to hunt. Fine. But I can't be the only one who doesn't buy that as an actual excuse???? Like, guys: nobody forced him to join the fascist army — even with crazy ulterior motives. He wasn't coerced into it; it wasn't his only choice or anything. Searching for Elphaba did not somehow compel him to go and volunteer to follow (or to give!) orders in the name of the dictator who was trying to have her assassinated the entire time. He could have just not done all that. (Genuinely so curious how the second film plans on covering that material tbh)

Glinda made several questionable decisions that can be (and have been) debated, but she is still very unambiguously a victim. Her position in the Wizard's regime was foisted upon her. There are things we can discuss, but I find that many folks need reminding that Glinda would undoubtedly have been disposed of (or worse) if she failed to make herself useful. I mean hell: she wasn't even supposed to meet the Wizard in the first place — she was only there because of Elphie. If she'd tried to resist, it would have immediately gotten her labeled the Witch's accomplice. As soon as she'd chosen not to get on the broom, her fate was out of her hands, and all available options were varying degrees of horrible.

That's not the case with Fiyero. He went to the Wizard all on his own; no one ever cornered or forced him into it. Thinking Animals are people, and having a crush on Elphaba, simply did not stop him from carrying out the regime's orders — for years. It's not clear exactly how long he's been captain at the start of Act II, but the clear implication is that he's been a soldier for most of the time skip. I've seen Fiyeraba accounts with headcanons about him acting as a double agent, secretly doing stuff to help Animals — and that's a great idea, it would indeed serve to make a lot of his actions way more palatable — but until we actually get to SEE some of that (maybe they'll add it for the movie version of Act II; we'll have to see), there is nothing in the story to suggest that. He certainly didn't do a damn thing for all those Animals who were enslaved and caged in the Wizard's palace — and we don't see a single other Animal outside of there in Act II, so as far as we know Fiyero has participated over those years in the near-total removal of Animals from Ozian society. In the name of "finding Elphaba". Not fighting for her cause. Just finding HER. For HIMSELF.

It's fine to have a ship you like, obviously — and there is genuinely a lot to like about Fiyeraba, I don't dislike the idea of them as a couple or as friends — but come on guys: please stop those out there idealizing Fiyero as somehow a clear "morally-superior" alternative to Glinda, lol. The dude had power, access, and opportunities, for years, that he could have wielded in any number of really selfless, revolutionary ways. He didn't. And I propose (apparently controversially): he simply didn't want to. And that — at the end of the day — is (much as some would like to deny it) true to his character. He always WANTED to be self-absorbed and shallow, and all his actions are consistent with that. Elphaba saw depth and discontentment in him, yes: but (and I cannot stress this enough) when given the chance, he channeled that in the wrong direction. He didn't confront that and become a better person — for the most part he just displaced and projected it onto Elphaba as an object of obsession, and put on an even thicker pretense than before.

All his actions — regardless of the complexity he has deep down — are those of a man who never gives one fuck about anything or anyone, except (kinda sorta) Elphaba. But even then: at no time does the care he has for her seem to extend to caring about any of her wants or needs outside of sexual validation from him, or how she might feel about his actions, or indeed the impacts of those actions upon her, her cause, or anyone or anything else. I don't think it should be all that controversial to say: he doesn't think through the wider repercussions of anything he does — thoughtlessness is just one of his core character traits. He doesn't think ahead or see meaning in anything outside of what can temporarily excite him, in the moment. I think people place a little too much weight on Elphaba clocking him with regard to his internal pain, and seem to expect (understandably of course) that she is not only right, but moreover that he will grow from that in a positive direction, based on her influence.

But he doesn't. If anything, we get a surprising inverse: he pretty much proves her wrong. Not to say he didn't have hidden depth and all that, like she said: but his hypothetical heart of gold proves not to really amount to much in practice. He doesn't grow out of his shallowness and his self-centeredness: he grows into it in a way that he hadn't quite yet in school. Where once he was only masking an internal listlessness, after he's been cracked open by Elphaba he decides to be genuinely self-absorbed and deeply shallow, not just coasting by. He performs in new ways — as a soldier, eventually as a "fiancé", etc. — but by Act II we meet a Fiyero who has staked the last remaining shred of humanity in him on the vain pursuit of the only object of his desire that has ever been unavailable to him, and firmly chosen to say to hell with everyone and everything else.

When put to the test, Fiyero sacrifices Glinda, the Animals, and all else that Elphaba actually cared about, to pursue his own unresolved crush from college. Mostly to get in her pants, really — as harsh as I'm sure that sounds. But let me be frank: that is literally all he ever accomplishes in the show. He gives her dick one time, and one of his castles, and that's it. That's the culmination of his years trying to find her — years in which he actively worked as one of the stormtroopers (or even the one commanding them) committing untold crimes against Animalkind (who, again, it seems have been all but erased from Oz by Act II): y'know, the very crimes Elphaba sacrificed her life to try and stop????? He spent the most important time of his life — of his own free will — being a fascist soldier, but he "did it for her" somehow, so according to some, it's perfectly fine. Heroic, even. Yikes??

But let's make something very clear (since my original version of this post caught a lot of flak, including slurs and other rudeness):

I like Fiyero. I find his role extremely interesting (I could do a whole dissertation on him, but I'm especially a fan of the way his proving Elphaba's assessment of him wrong presents a fascinating parallel and contrast with Glinda, which I think is lost on a lot of people). But PLEASE stop with all the misguided Glinda slander and idealization of Fiyero. By all means, thirst! But don't give me all this bullshit about him deserving Elphaba more, or being super deep, or being really principled or noble or whatever else. He does have layers, and quite intriguing ones, but his insides are straw — he isn't meant to have some deep, overwrought emotional core or motivations; he has passions that he acts upon when given the chance. That's it. And that's fine. Actually kind of refreshing in a story rooted in simple children's fantasy but rife with intensely complicated personalities. Fiyero makes it his mission to represent denial of depth and embrace of raw, spontaneous desire — and I for one love that, and wish others appreciated it.

And in all seriousness, shipping wars aside: by the end of the story, it's Glinda who is ultimately vindicated, and has — for all her faults — made the necessary choices to fulfill Elphaba's wishes, bring down the regime, etc. And all that despite herself. She's miserable: not just because of the mistakes she made, but because of her correct moves as well. Fiyero is simply not — and could never be — that person. And that's okay! Like I said: I am not anti-Fiyero. Fiyero's willingness to throw it all away for the sake of sheer, overriding passion is a huge part of what people like about him, of course — and it's an obvious factor in the attraction between him and Elphaba, because she has her own flavor of that impulse as well — but I'd actually argue that it's not romantic, it's his fatal flaw. And thematically that's fantastic! But I just don't believe that it somehow means he "deserves Elphaba more" because he "gave up his life for her" or whatever. In part because NOBODY truly "deserves" Elphie tbh, not 100% (and I question anybody who claims otherwise), but ultimately because I don't accept the idea that his fleeting acts of passion make up for all the shit leading up to them (or even proceeding after them tbh). At least Glinda managed to do what Elphaba always wanted in the end — but I would die on this hill even if Gelphie didn't exist.

You don't have to agree with my analysis of Fiyero and his choices, relationships, etc. — that's fine. What isn't fine is trying to portray Glinda as some kind of spineless traitor whore for the Wizard and Fiyero as a conscientious hero who earned Elphie through self-sacrifice. That's just not the story that was written. It's WAY messier and more interesting than that.

[riggadybambdoondah]

The perpetual dichotomy of "I want people to be good and do good things" and "I want to read about characters committing horrific acts" does things to my soul that I can't seem to articulate

[akutasoda]

hello, may I request jing yuan with a teen!reader who is jealous of yanqing? - they are around the same age as him, a new cloud knight who is an orphan, they try really hard to get the generals attention, even making him tea, buying presents etc. they want to be like yanqing, and are a bit jealous of the relationship with jy and yanqing, so they always try to prove themselves, even sacrificing food and sleep for their training, and are reckless during missions (bonus points if yanqing or jing yuan is present at the mission, they would literally fight until they pass out)

to prove oneself worthy

synopsis - all you ever wanted was somebody to pay attention to you and the one person that does so is already doing so to somebody else

includes - jing yuan ft yanqing - all platonic

warnings - gn!reader, orphan reader, slight angst, fluff, sacrificing food and sleep?, passing out?, jealousy, wc - 1.6k

taglist - @teddirika

you're parents weren't around. it was a simple fact, whether they had simply disappeared or died was unknown to you. all you ever knew was that you had no outstanding memories of them and that they certainly weren't atound anymore. this fact made it so you couldn't really care less for where they were or what had happened to them, they were rarely a thought that crossed your mind.

an orphan roaming around the streets of the luofu would bring attention, especially when you were resorting to any means necessary to survive and get by. petty thefts and minor acts of aggression were regular occurrences in your day to day live, cultivating a set of skills that aided in your fight for survival - including swift escapes from the cloud knights. an honest part of yourself really believed that you'd be a theif your entire life but a silver haired general thought otherwise.

jing yuan had become aware of the young one evading capture and committing very basic and mainly harmless crimes, how could he not? a part of him could sympathise with your situation, he understood that it was clearly your only mean of survival and so he didn't think that someone with their whole life ahead of them should be confined to the four walls of prison. your skills were impressive, there was a reason you hadn't been caught yet, so jing yuan thought that with the right guidance you would become a fine knight.

he would set out to find you himself, to personally extend his offer and hr wouldn't force you. if you declined then he had no choice but to arrest you himself and so he could only hope that you would see what he was trying to do and accept the offer. luckily for the both of you, you took up his offer. you understood that this would be the better way to pay for your crimes and would help you build a better future for yourself - earning back the trust of the luofu citizens you stole from.

what became pretty apparent very quickly was your unconscious growing attachment to the general. in between your training you would seek out jing yuan and if he wasn't busy you'd stick by his side. jing yuan was always incredibly busy and so you always tried to garner what spare attention he had left and demonstrate to him that his faith in you had not been misplaced - even going as far to bring him legally obtained presents.jing yuan was the only person to ever give you some kind of hope, somebody who believed you could be more than a street thief. it was evident that you would eant to thank him in some way, prove that his help would not go wasted.

jealousy was a vile emotion that made prople do horrendous things, it could break people apart and even force someone's hand to do something vile and unforgivable. you were no stranger to taking to underhanded tactics and resorting to frowned upon actions, so in any scenario you wouldn't have an issue with jealousy. this time it was different. you had been introduced to yanqing and saw him quite often, he was jing yuan's retainer afterall. there was something about him that just made you jealous.

you soon realised that it was his closeness to the general paired with his skills as a swordsman. yanqing had everything you could ever want. he had the generals attention, he had impeccable skills with a sword and he even was a capable knight without one and that made a vile anger boil inside you. but you wouldn't act on your jealousy. if you did you knew that jing yuan would be disappointed in you, he probably wouldn't want to ever look at you again and you would've proved to be a waste of his efforts. so you opted for a slow fix to your jealousy, working day in and day out to improve your skills to prove that you could be better than yanqing.

practically every minute of your day was spent with a sword in your hand, eventually coming to tell yourself that you weren't doing enough. you had managed to best every cloud knight more than once and decided that they simply weren't going to help you anymore, so you started sneaking away. in the dead of knight you'd head to mara-struck areas and defeat them - you didn't care that you lost out on your sleep. meals soon became irrelevant aswell, only ever stopping for a snack when you physically couldn't continue no more. you told yourself that it would all pay off in the end.

jing yuan noticed your absence pretty quickly, especially when even the other cloud knights would start claiming they hadn't seen you for days. a small part of him wondered if you were slipping back into your habits for stealing but he didn't want to think you would. he started piecing things together when he would see how fatigued you look and would try and question you when he was informed of how often your weary body would end up in lady bailu's care. he would ask bailu and she would tell him how your body would often not have enough nutrients to function properly and that your sleep was limited. jing yuan tried to confront you multiple times but you always weakly pushed him away and told him that you just wanted to train more.

he started sending yanqing on missions with you to keep an eye on you but you didn't take it that way, to you it was a dig in the face. to you jing yuan no longer saw you as a capable fighter and was trying to get you replaced on your missions. you wouldn't let that happen. unfortunately due to the lack of sleep and prioer nutrients in your body, your thoughts clouded over and so all your fights became clumsy attempts to wield a sword. reckless actions would be taken and eventually you'd pass out with too many unnecessary cuts, only slightly mitigated by the fact yanqing was there but you pushed him away from helping.

yanqing would soon find himself carrying your unconscious body back to luofu's infirmary's and lady bailu would have to be called in as the other healers simply couldn't fathom your injuries. jing yuan would also be contacted and would be there as soon as he could. each time you'd wake back up, wearily push everyone away and leave before any asked you anything. the next time anyone would see you would be in the same scenario - you passed out on a mission being dragged back to the infirmary.

jing yuan began to worry. each and every time you looked worse and worse but bailu always said the same things about exhaustion and lack of nutrients. jing yuan knew you were purposefully skipping meals and sleep in the name of training but he didn't understand why. he had a small inkling that it was to do with yanqing but he refused to believe you would resort to such extremes over something like this. eventually he had enough, when you woke up again from passing out on a mission he stopped you from leaving and told you dead straight that he was withdrawing you from your duties and that you were going to stay under care in the infirmary.

you were broken by the news. you had worked all day and night to get better at being a cloud knight, to beat yanqing and know all your hard work was to go waste because jing yuan didn't want you on duty anymore. you insisted that you were fine and didn't need this but it became very clear that jing yuan was not going to budge from his decision. however you simply wouldn't listen and would still sneak away from the infirmary to train out of bounds with the mara-struck.

the general had enough of your reckless behaviour. he understood that you were trying to improve as a knight but you're quest to do so had made you weaker and farther away from your personal goal. jing yuan personally pushed aside his duties to seek you out when the infirmary had told him you were missing and when he found you it wasn't a new sight. he watched with a saddened expression as you sloppily and recklessly took down the enemy, he winced when he saw your body hit the ground after you finished. you were out cold again, the general carried you back to the infirmary. this time he waited, waited until you regained conscious and made sure you wouldn't run away.

he confronted you as it pained him to see your talent go to waste and it hurt him to see how you treated yourself in the name of training. eventually he managed to weed the reasons for your behaviour out of you and due to your sheer exhaustion you couldn't help but start allowing tears to slowly escape and roll down your face. in this moment of weakness, jing yuan saw the child he found originally and offered a hug. one you gratefully took.

[hyperlexichypatia]

Since I've seen a few lists of "Conservative, right-wing, and/or borderline fascist ideas that get unquestioningly passed around leftist, liberal, and progressive spaces," I thought I'd add my own:

The amount of personal freedom or bodily autonomy someone has is inversely proportional to the amount of material support they receive from others/society/government. It is somehow "hypocritical" to advocate both material support for all and bodily autonomy for all.

Straight men want sex. Straight women do not want sex. Women want romance, commitment, monogamy, and marriage. If a man has sex with a woman without giving her these things, he is in some way harming, "preying on," or "taking advantage" of her. If a woman agrees to such an arrangement, she must be led astray, traumatized, or suffering from low self-esteem.

Someone's sexual desires or patterns of attraction are a large and important component of their overall morality as a person. Sexual desires and patterns of attraction, even if never acted upon, can mean that someone is an Intrinsically Bad Person.

People are marginalized for being smarter than other people. This is a real problem that has to be addressed.

Identities like nationalities, cultures, ethnicities, and religions are fixed and absolute, with firm, defined boundaries between them. Ferreting out people who transgress or "fake" these identities is important, necessary, and a good use of time and resources.

Cultural groups should generally remain separate and clearly distinct from one another. Cross-cultural influence (anything from loanwords to intermarriage to migration) is, by default, Generally Bad.

Religion is primarily a matter of external social identification by others, not a matter of choice, personal belief, or self-identification. Someone might choose to reject their family's religion or embrace a different one, but this is inherently inauthentic, play-acting, appropriation, or the result of manipulation. People are always "really" or "rightfully" the religion they were assigned at birth.

There is some sort of connection between health and morality. Whether it's "Being virtuous will keep you healthy" or "Being sick is a moral failing" or "Doing things that endanger your health is morally wrong" or "Medical doctors are moral authorities."

Having to do a lot of manual labor to survive is good for people. Virtuous people enjoy it.

The world would be a better place if production of food and other necessities were radically decentralized and de-mechanized, resulting in a lot more people having to do a lot more manual labor to survive. Economies of scale and labor-saving technology are bad. "Growing your own food" is possible, desirable, and virtuous.

There was a time in human history when life was good for everyone and there were no problems. Any inconvenient questions about problems that may have existed back then are just propaganda.

There are Intrinsically Bad People whose Intrinsic Badness can in some way be detected or measured through some kind of scientific, medical, and/or spiritual assessment -- whether it's "He has bad vibes" or "She's a diagnosed malignant narcissist sociopath" or "They're possessed by demons."

Violence is good and justified when dealing with Intrinsically Bad People, and if you disagree, you must be saying that Intrinsically Bad People and the Intrinsically Bad Things We All Know They Intrinsically Do are somehow good, which maybe means that you're also an Intrinsically Bad Person.

These are specifically right-wing ideas that have found new homes and new coats of paint in leftist, progressive, and liberal circles. I'm not even listing things that are just universal across the political spectrum, like "eugenics is good" or "children are property." Just the specifically reappropriated fascism and ethnonationalism reframed as "the people's" authoritarian homestead culture.

[psychotrenny]

When Liberals describe a piece of media dealing with contemporary war or politics as being "Morally Ambiguous" they mean nearly always mean that it questions the specific decisions of those in power, not the basic ideological assumptions that their power rests upon. Like it's always "Was it a good idea to invade this tyrannical terrorist shithole in order to spread freedom and democracy?" or "Is it okay to torture evil terrorists shitheads to save people from their oppression", never questioning whether the US actually are protecting the innocent and spreading prosperity or if their enemies really are straightforwardly sadistic oppressors. It may question whether the US is acting like a good guy, but it always affirms that the US inherently is good or at least has the greatest capacity to be. Even in Liberal media where the doesn't come off looking the best, they still make sure to present their enemies as even worse. Not to mention the way that any atrocities the US does commit are presented as either mistakes, malicious perversions of the system (probably orchestrated by enemy infiltrators anyway) or tragic but necessary evils. Meanwhile the atrocities committed by their foes are the proof of their innate evil and strong necessity of stopping them; this is the basis of that whole discussion around whether terrible means should be adopted to achieve the noble end of defeating these villains.

And like a story apparently "isn't making a political statement" when it doesn't give a clear answer on these terms, but the terms themselves are never up for discussion. Like I heard someone call Call of Duty: Modern Warfare "apolitical" because it neither justifies nor condemns stuff like those SAS soldiers torturing Arabs and killing sleeping or unarmed Russians (leaving it for the player to decide oooooooooh sooooo deep), as though its choice of antagonists and decision to present them as unambiguously evil isn't a statement in of itself. And like its choice to give Soviet imagery to the Russian Ultranationlists is apparently just a silly oversight (like ooooh real Ultranationalists hate those Soviet lefties hahaha) that says nothing at all about the creator's view of international politics and anti-US ideologies.

As far as your average Liberal is concerned, media contains political statements are when a character turns directly to the camera and says "This thing is good/bad". Anything else is deep stuff that makes you think and lets you come to your own conclusions. Just play the game, don't worry about who set the rules

[therandompagesblog]

Her Soul for His Soul Chapter 2 🌜Seungmin🌛

Trigger Warnings: violence, torture, sexual references, death, slavery, disturbing imagery

For a thousand years, I have existed. Over a thousand years I have been a slave to Lucifer and the council. Collecting and stealing souls. Being summoned by pathetic humans to do their dirty work for the last five hundred years, all because I killed someone named Jisung's lover. Who was a pathetic mortal being. This ended up with the council sending me to do shit for humans. Until today, I was finally freed from the Kim family. The council have freed me from my debts as I have repaid them and Jisung over by a hundred. I learned to never make the same mistake again. I should have researched that demon before committing the act. It was because I thought it was funny to execute a human in the biblical sense which everyone but Jisung found funny. It was funny to see people praying for a God that didn't exist. Except he did but there was more than one God. There was a group of them, but their politics was complicated.      God's were not perfect like the mortals thought. Some were graciously good and sickeningly pure. Others were similar and yearned for pure virgin mortals as a sacrifice. Some gifted witches practised for years and years to become a God and then ascended into the higher realms to be a God. One thing gods have in common is they all agree not to involve themselves in each other's business. In a sense, you could say Lucifer was the God of the Hell realms. The highest-ranked angel with all the power was banished to a realm a God created for him, so Lucifer created six more realms that Demons and Reapers could cross over.      Us Demons are like angels. We have wings but horns instead of a fucking pathetic golden ring around our heads that controls us. We worship freedom. We hunt souls to help the reapers to send them to the underworld. We have so much power and money that any human would be lucky to have. When we collect souls their money becomes our spiritual money. If we ever returned to the mortal world we could transfer it to their coinage or any coinage in their world. Here it was the same. If we went to the market in Hell realm four we could buy, bargain and haggle. It sucks if your are a poorer monster or a novice demon because it requires skill and experience.

I ENTERED THE BAR TO GREET MY FRIEND. He was so excited. He hasn't seen me in over two hundred years. That was the thing about being a Demon. Time goes by far too quickly. The concept of time for us was very different. We had forever. If something didn't kill us or we weren't executed we'd survive a very very long time.      "Long time no see hyung." Jeongin called out, his blue eyes glowing in the dark as he found a table for us. The word 'hyung' was a word for older brother. It was a word from our dead language that only demons and repears could speak but it was pretty much a dead language now. No one but the older demons spoke it. "You did see me, Jeongin. Two hundred years ago." I said, my tail pulling out the chair for me to sit on. Jeongin was a young Demon. About three hundred years younger than me but he was an extravagant soul hunter. He was half Reaper half Demon. His cousin was the Grim Reaper. No one knew the Grim's real name and no one messed with him. He was the guard to all the souls and the keeper of the underworld. He rarely stepped foot in this world.      "Did you get your book back in the end?" Jeongin asked. "Fuck. No. It's still in that mortal realm. I couldn't fucking find it." I growled. Slamming my fist upon the table. That book was the key to summoning me. The book bound me to its owner.  They became my keeper. The book was part of my soul. I had to hand that book over to the Kim bloodline so they could summon me, but it was torture. Some Kims in the past would build a tunnel for me to live in. Some would shackle me and torture me. It was worse than hell. "We're going to have to go back to the mortal realm and get it," Jeongin said worriedly. He knew how much pain and effort I went through in the mortal realm. I had to get it back. "It's Halloween soon. What if some idiot tries to get hold of it? Does the Kims still have it?" Jeongin asked. "No. When Lucifer granted me protection for a week I questioned them. One of their idiot grandchildren lost it and sold it to a charity shop." I growled. Jeongin laughed but abruptly stopped as he realised I would be dragging him into this.       Jeongin hated the mortal realm. He almost never hunted souls in the mortal realm. He got frightened off by some witches and then bullied by other Demons for it. Jeongin slayed creatures in the hell realm for souls. He was more comfortable here and so was I. I loved it here. I yearned for the heat. The comfort. The freedom. Hell was a never-ending place. The humans may even refer to it as being like space. There was no ending for us in this realm. Lucifer expanded it every century so no one could reach the end. There was even a rumour he would expand a ninth realm because of the amount of criminals passing through to us because the Gods changed the laws. Even a one-time a liar who died the next day was banished to this realm. It was crazy. The Gods were mean. They weren't as merciful as Lucifer. He was forgiving. He was all-knowing. He was nobel. But, piss him off, he would hurt you.      "So we going then," Jeongin asked nervously. I smirked at him, flashing my gold eyes. I was so ready to fuck with humans one last time. I just pray to Lucifer an idiot doesn't find my book. "Yeah let's fuck and find out for a few days since Halloween is coming up."

Taglist for the iconic readers:

@silentreadersthings @ihrtlix @galaxy4489 @catlove83 @reallychaoticwoo @leezanetheofficial @linocz @hyunmikim @eastjonowhere @skzdreamer13 @mavischerry @kiaralynn3838 @jellyleggz @mihoonz @hanniesbubuwife

[lemonhemlock]

i just think it's ironic how critical stark fans are of the targaryens like robb and dany are veryyy similar and the first men are colonizers too lol

i think robb should be criticised more for his lack of policies and political foresight and planning when it comes to his independence project, but robb did not resort to sacrificing people to acquire fire-breathing monsters or to torturing people to get his way. he didn't set out to conquer lands. he became king in the north and king of the trident not because he conquered the north or the riverlands, but because they pledged themselves to him. there IS a difference between them

you can agree with northern independence or not but the reason robb called his banners and rose up in the first place was because the de-facto monarch was unjustly imprisoning his father, then executed him without a fair trial, thus breaking the feudal contract (coincidentally, the same reason the targaryens were rightfully deposed). then ofc came stannis' letter casting doubt on joffrey's paternity

honestly a fair line of questioning that might even betray authorial bias is, in a series that puts so much emphasis on the dangers of magic and the HIGH price associated with it, why does robb (and the rest of the starks) get the luxury of being soul-bonded to a magical fierce beast (that comes to them without making any nefarious trade), but dany can only access dragons via committing horrifying acts? imo this could very well be a weak point in the thematic consistency of the series

as for the first men, yes, they were colonizers. so were the andals. they are also dead. the process of ethnogenesis (an often violent process, yes) resulted in the westerosi people. what are they to do about it now? they're just regular people living their lives, not wanting to be brutalized, too, by other foreign invaders like dany will bring, not wanting to fight in any more pointless wars.

is that not a valid request or desire they might have for themselves or do they have to pay indefinitely for the crimes of their ancestors by having the same thing done to them?* does it just go from invasion to invasion until the end of time? is colonization or conquest ok to do indefinitely because they have historical precedent? when does it stop?

from the westerosi point of view, the children of the forest don't even exist anymore, so even paying reparations is out of the question. though, who knows, maybe the series finale will address the issue of reconciliation, since WE know the children of the forest are still out and about

*and, before targstans come out of the woodwork, no, i do not hold dany accountable for things her ancestors did, i hold her accountable for the things SHE did. is it her fault her father became a tyrant? no. but her dynasty got rightfully deposed and that's that (see this post for a more in-depth answer: yes, even ~medieval political theorists believed there are conditions in which a population can rightfully rid themselves of tyrannical rule).

is that fair for dany on an individual level? well, how do you define 'fair'? is it fair that feudal lords own all the land and hoard the resources? or, better yet, why do you define "fair" only in relation to nobles, their wants and desires, the real or perceived injustices visited upon them. i understand that the series is high-born-focused escapism, ultimately, and that it won't end in this radical re-ordering of society or in a leveling of privileges across social spheres, but, for real, sometimes what's "good" for your favourite high-born character isn't good for the smallfolk! that's a basic enough idea we can stick to

[michirukaioureincarnate]

You know, with discussions of Neil Gaiman and all the disappoinment that's followed, especially of his admirers that are struggling with him not being the basic decent human being we expected and believed him to be, there's a lot of inner reflection that needs to be done to prevent more heart ache.

Not only that, but this is a wake up call to stop putting human beings on a pedestal. No one is above causing harm. Not you, not your mom, not anyone. Especially men. I don't know if this is just my way of thinking, but every single man is a potential s*x *ff*nd*r.

It's not a generaliziation, but an indisputable pattern after years of social, biological, political, and systemic conditioning. It's not a matter of if, but when, and sometimes the when never comes because the man luckily dies without tainting his slate. And if he does commit the crime, he's more likely to get away with it than his victim ever is of healing from it. The richer he is, the easier it is, but even men without power and resources get off with a slap on the wrist.

But that isn't really the point, and bear with me as I try to articulate myself through the nausea I'm feeling since stumbling upon the recent news. If you're hurt, disappointed, confused, and struggling with it because you have so much love for this man and his works: good.

You're not brushing it off. You're not acting like it's okay. If you're finding ways to justify your love for his art amidst the small voice of guilt in your chest, it's because you're a human being who, at your core, acknowledges that you don't agree with what he did. If there's an iota of fear that you may harbor the same negative qualities he does that compelled him to act so heinously, no you don't.

Before Gaiman was ousted as a predator, you knew him as a creative, a visionary, whatever positive perspective you had of him, and you wanted to admire that. Undeniably, Gaiman's a wonderful storyteller AND a s*x *ff*nd*r. The latter doesn't negate the former. But it's possible that it may have dictated some of his creative choices.

But how would you know which ones? You're not him, and you're someone who is self-aware and accountable enough to not do what he did when he hurt someone.

On that note: you are not him. You don't know him personally, neither does he know you personally. There's nothing to defend about him, because he's not yours to defend. His works aren't yours to defend.

That's his job.

Have some emotional boundaries and decenter yourselves from his life so that you're able to swallow the truth of the matter: that Gaiman's hurt real people who have to live with lifelong emotional and even physcial scars.

His actions have nothing to do with you as a fan or admirer, and the least you can do is withdraw your support until he, by some miracle, proves himself innocent and regains your trust.

YOU, as the consumer, are the prize here, not him. Have some standards for yourselves, my goodness. YOU, as a human being, are a completely separate entity from him and his actions. Gaiman would be nothing without those who actively decided on giving his works a shot.

And his ideas, whether you decide to continue consuming them or not, do not completely belong to him. Artists channel inspirations of life as they go through it, inspired by people they meet and events that happen to them, most of these things being external factors that are open to interpretation regardless of the artist's internal perspective that they present it with.

What you should worry about is if your money is going directly to him and his team, which may be used to suppress the victim's voices and provide him an unfair advantage in the matter. This is something that's still in your control more than anything else. Hell, pirate his stuff and consume it in secret if you really can't let go of it.

The conversations around "separating the art and artist" are important, and I personally don't believe in separating them at all, but a more immediate concern is to stop contributing to the artist through their art as soon as something concerning crops up. He's a business man, and you're his investors. Take your space. Breathe. Rationalize. And let his social stock value plummet, jfc, he'll still survive without your money and adoration. As long as you're not directly contributing to his ability to inflict more harm, allow yourself the space to grieve.

And, please, you're your own person. If anything, you're probably going to be the next writer, director, artist, etc who creates stuff that's on par with his or even better. Only difference will be that you won't be someone who actively hurts people.

[blackcat419]

Pros and Antis in HotD and aSoIaF Fandom: the breakdown around grey storytelling

I think I know why TB people struggle so much for understanding why TG is liked by people and it’s because fandom discourse has been so rotted away by “pro shippers” and “anti shippers” discourse that we’ve entered into a puritanical view of consuming media.

They see the media you consume as a direct reflection of the type of person you are and thus the characters you like must be similar to who you are as a person.

To a certain extent I get it, looking at a broad portfolio of media consumption can reveal a bit about a person. For example, I consume a lot of horror media. You can discern that I like being scared and the adrenaline that comes from it. But that’s only in a safe controlled situation where I can turn off the tv or monitor when it gets too much. I don’t like haunted houses, being alone at night, or even the dark.

Media is a safe place to explore different sides of humanity in a controlled setting where the only thing at risk is our own enjoyment. People can find that they like things in media that they wouldn’t like in real life. But this distinction is lost on a lot of fandom puritans. To them, media consumption is a political act. You reaffirm that you are a “good person” by watching the “good shows” and rooting for the “good guys”. To look upon a morally complex character or even the villain with interest and sympathy is thus to condone and support every action that character will be written to take.

But this idea of assuming moral righteousness from the characters you support in media because even harder to understand and justify when applied to stories like HotD and aSoIaF where every character possesses both good and evil. So how does a puritan fan reaffirm their belief that they are morally good in a series such as these? The fan will assign the idea oh moral correctness and superiority to the characters they like. Any bad, morally questionable, or straight up evil act the character commits will be justified as righteous no matter how the story frames those actions to the audience. The same is applied to characters these fans do not like. Every bad, morally questionable, or evil action is amplified to become the main character trait while any good, just, or morally righteous act is off written as either an evil act in disguise or any good to come out of the act should be attributed to another character. Any harm committed again the character is then down played as not that bad or actually deserved.

In HotD and aSoIaF, this fandom Puritanism mainly affects female characters.

In aSoIaF, we have characters such as Dany and Arya being framed as the morally righteous and just while characters such as Catelyn and Sansa are painted as villains. Weirdly this does not apply to actual villainous female characters likes Cersei. This could be because the books and show are very clear that her actions are evil and cruel, puritan fans do not feel insecure liking her as they feel secure that the story and thus other fans know she is a bad person and won’t assume liking her means viewing her as a good person. Characters such as Margery Tyrell and Arianne Martell are viewed with more complexity than other female characters but I bet once they come into conflict with beloved female characters, they will be viewed as villainous.

In HotD we see the same thing happening. Puritan fans see Rhaenyra as the perfect hero with any negative action being just or not her fault while Alicent is painted as more evil than the step mother from Cinderella who, despite all evidence to the contrary, wanted to be queen and this deserves everything that she gets.

This is why so many people have to explain to puritan fans that liking characters like Sansa, Catelyn, Alicent, Aegon, or Aemond does not make one bastardphobic, a rape apologist, or anti feminist. I also think it explains why these fans can’t except that their favorite characters have done wrong and hurt people. They can’t accept criticism or critique of their favorite character because to them it’s not another person’s reading of a fictional character, it’s someone judging them on their morals.

Puritanical fans interlock their identity and sense of self with the characters they like and struggle to separate criticism of those characters as criticism of themselves as a person.

[cosmicjoke]

Levi's Choice and His Value of Self-Determination:

Another aspect of Levi's choice to give Armin the serum and let Erwin rest that people don't really consider, is Levi's respect toward peoples will and right to choose for themselves.

Erwin didn't want to be the commander of the Survey Corps anymore.

He wanted to be able to finally fulfill his role as commander by making that one, final sacrifice of his dream for his duty, and through that final act, at last absolve himself of his guilt and become worthy of the position. That's why he thanks Levi for making the choice for him. Because it allowed Erwin to do what he really wanted to do, deep down, but didn't have the strength to, which was sacrifice himself for the cause of the Survey Corps and live up to the sacrifices of all his fallen comrades. That's what Erwin wanted. To go out on his shield. To die for the cause.

Levi never forces anyone to do anything against their will, and that's an important part of his character to understand in order to also understand his choice.

He's constantly asking others to choose for themselves, to decide for themselves what they want and what they believe is right. We see him do this with Eren, and Jean, and Historia, and even Dimo Reeves. Even when Levi is trying to coerce people into a certain action through threats of violence, they're always empty threats which he never really follows through on and, ultimately, lets the person decide for themselves what they're going to do. Like his threats against Annie, or Zeke or Erwin. Levi threatens all of them with violence if they don't do what he tells them, but he never actually goes through with these threats, even as all these people fail to comply. And, of course, this pattern of Levi letting others make their own choices and decide for themselves holds true with Erwin, too, in Shinganshina.

Once again, because Levi values free will and peoples right to choose for themselves, to have agency over their own lives, above just about everything. That's what Levi's speech to the 104th during the Uprising arc was all about. This idea of the hell people choosing for themselves being better than the hell forced upon them.

To give Erwin the serum would have been to rob him of his own agency and deny him his own choice, forcing him back into a role and a life he no longer wanted, which he had given up gladly and thanked Levi for allowing him to give up, and that would have gone against everything Levi believed in and valued.

Levi's entire philosophy of "no regrets" hinges on this idea of always doing what you feel in your heart is the right course, even if the outcome isn't what you hoped for. It's about never compromising what you actually believe is right, no matter the cause. That's why I always roll my eyes at anyone who claims Levi compromised his values or his morals for Erwin. That claim is so antithetical to Levi's character as a whole.

Levi always followed his heart and did what he believed was right, no matter the cost to himself. Even if it meant losing the one person who gave him a sense of direction in life, which is precisely what he lost in letting Erwin die.

Levi refused to violate his belief that everyone should be allowed to choose for themselves their own path, and he refused to violate another persons agency and right to self-determination, even if that violation was meant to be committed in the name of "the greater good".

And again I posit, what does that term "the greater good" even mean, if people aren't allowed to choose for themselves what becomes of their lives?

That question is what underpins every dystopian nightmare ever depicted in fiction and played out in reality. A society of "peace" that's achieved only through the repression of free will, of fee thought and agency and autonomy. In other words, no real peace at all, but a false peace built upon a lie and the violation of other peoples wills. Further, a peace like that is inevitably doomed to failure anyway, because it's just another form of oppression and persecution. Just another form of imprisonment. Eventually, it would lead to rebellion. Eventually, it would lead to war.

Levi understood that better than anyone, I think. He understood that forcing people to do anything against their will was wrong, and that to do so would eventually only undermine whatever temporary benefit might be gained through forced cooperation.

We really see this belief of Levi's demonstrated through the story. Again, he never actually forces anyone to do anything. He ultimately lets everyone decide for themselves, and he never compromises in this, he never leaves anyone without a choice, because to him, there's nothing more important than people getting to choose for themselves, of getting to live and even die how they choose. It's one of the reasons Levi doesn't make a good "leader" in the traditional sense. He has no desire to tell other people what to do or how to act. And it's not because he's afraid of being responsible for other people, though that is something Levi fears, but because he believes it's every person's right to decide those things for themselves. We see this demonstrated also through the way Levi stands down when Hange makes the choice to sacrifice her life. It's why Levi doesn't try to stop her. Because it's her choice, and he doesn't feel he has any right to tell her or anyone else that she can't make it.

I think understanding this about Levi's character is also vital to understanding why he made the choice he did with Erwin. He wasn't ever going to violate Erwin's agency to choose for himself. He wasn't going to take that choice away from Erwin by undoing it through injecting him with the serum.

As an aside, what I also don't get about people who claim Levi was willing to doom humanity for Erwin is that it assumes Levi believed Erwin was absolutely, irrefutably essential to humanity's survival, which we know he didn't believe, because he was willing to let Erwin die not just once, but twice, prior to making the choice he did with the serum. Once during the Uprising arc, when he tells that MP they kidnapped that he's willing to let Erwin die if it means getting Eren and Historia back, and once during the RtS arc, when he lets Erwin ride to his death charging the Beast Titan. Neither scenario indicates at all that Levi believed Erwin's death in those circumstances would doom humanity to extinction, or whatever. On the contrary, he saw Erwin as expendable in comparison to Eren's survival, and twice put Eren above Erwin in the belief that Eren was more important toward achieving the goal of humanity's victory. Clearly, Levi always believed that humanity could survive without Erwin. He wouldn't have been willing to let Erwin die two times in the lead-up to his choice in Shinganshina if he didn't believe that. So this ridiculous notion that Levi "doomed" humanity for Erwin holds no water. It also assumes that Levi would have somehow, magically, understood the circumstances they would be facing before learning what was in Eren's basement, and that knowing those circumstances, he knowingly and purposefully let Erwin die. People that claim this are basically claiming that Levi had full knowledge of what they would be facing and that Erwin's continued existence was essential to defeating that threat, and he did it anyway just to spare Erwin further suffering. But the reality is, Levi had no way of knowing at all what they would be facing or what the threat was, nor did he hold any belief that Erwin's continued existence was essential in defeating that threat. He had no idea that they would discover an entire world of people beyond the walls, let alone a world of people hostile toward them and wishing for their eradication. He didn't make the choice he did while believing humanity couldn't go on without Erwin. He fully believed it could. This is what pisses me off so much about this bullshit claim that Levi "chose Erwin over humanity". No he didn't. Levi 100% believed humanity would survive without Erwin.

[shinysoroka]

I'm rewatching OFMD with some friends and it's hitting me like a truck how awful Izzy is, how much his actions are whitewashed by a lot of fans and how capital F fandom keeps tripping over the same stone with the depiction of abuse.

The same scenario happens constantly where an abusive character played by a conventionally attractive guy, usually with dark hair and a British accent can commit the most horrific acts and fandom will treat the character as a poor little meow meow. The kicker is that a lot of the time, the abuse they inflict is upon people who are in some way bucking against fascism/toxic masculinity/gender norms/imperialism, etc. Those people are also overwhelmingly women, people of color or just vulnerable in one way or another.

Some notable examples include:

Kylo Ren: Wannabe fascist who brutally tortures the female lead in a scene that heavily echoes sexual assault. Brutalizes the Black male lead so badly he's in a coma by the end of the 1st movie. Fandomized as a PLMM immediately, treated like nothing is his fault and the real bad guy has twisted his mind. Also has Finn's every good trait slapped onto him, including the love interest role.

Izzy Hands: Emotionally and physically abuses the Maori co-protagonist. His actions include selling him out to the English, telling him he should have let the English kill him and threatening him with violence if he doesn't behave the way he wants him to. Extends the same treatment to the gender nonconforming white male lead. Fandomized as a PLMM since the 1st season and treated as a suicidal abuse victim, basically putting all of Edward's traits onto him.

Loki from the MCU. Manipulates and undermines his brother's actions out of pure jealousy. When said brother starts to break away from the imperialistic mindset he was raised into, he straight up kills him and then continues his family's streak of colonialism, despite being from a colonized world himself. Proceeds to never take responsibility for his actions all while treating every female character (who isn't his gender flipped self) like dirt. Fandomized as a PLMM immediately, treated like the read villain has twisted his mind, has all of Thor's traits and experiences slapped onto him. Are we seeing a pattern yet?

Snape and Draco Malfoy from YouKnowWhere: Relentlessly bully children and their peers, are openly bigoted against non magic users and poor people even if they meet all other criteria for blood purity and never express regret or shame in the entire franchise. Fandomized as PLMMs eventually (once the characters playing them were hot).

Do notice, those are all either media for kids/teens or media for adults that isn't exactly subtle in its message. The abuse is not hidden in between the layers. The characters act openly. And yet, there's this insistence to rewrite villains that are actively fighting to preserve the abusive status quo as noble heroes. Are we sure fandom is always progressive and righting the wrongs of canon. Are we really sure?

I don't have a solution here. I'm just describing a phenomenon. And it's driving me a bit insane, ngl.

[luna-rainbow]

Hello, hello, long rant incoming

When I reposted this on AO3, I had intentionally minimised tagging and summary because I wanted to archive it rather than attract readers. I didn’t even tag it Steve/Bucky because there just wasn’t enough mention of Bucky in it. Importantly, P*ggy was not tagged.

The user calls themselves “Rebuttal” and their only work is another essay rebutting someone else’s post on Civil War, which they had to post separately because I guess the OP blocked them. So we have a serial offender with too much time on their hands going around to directly suck the joy out of other people’s fandom experience.

They begin with this:

Although I don't particularly care for Steve's ending, this essay does not offer support for a different one.

*Inhales* Honey, can you please Google analytical essay and narrative essay before you unload your drivel on other people? This "essay" is a fic - while there's some character analysis, the emotive language should be sufficient clue that the focus is the story. It’s like reading The Fifth Elephant then writing to Sir Pratchett to argue his “essay on Discworld” is factually incorrect because it offers no support for the idea that the Earth is flat.

Steve is self-sufficient. He is not shown as requiring Bucky as foundational to his being. (…) We do know Steve was willing and expecting to go it alone after Sarah's death and that he is fully confident in his own abilities; he can "do this all day." Bucky's offer at the apartment earns a small smile, not a great overcoming.

I enjoyed how you, at multiple points in your essay, pick at certain turns of (evocative) phrasing while ignoring actual canon mentions. Explain why you deliberately omitted my mention of the canon phrase "Even when I had nothing, I had Bucky". Sure, Sarah was Steve's touchstone, but Steve's words clearly indicated that upon Sarah's death, that touchstone role shifted to Bucky.

Steve's "I can do this all day" is said a total of 4 times during all the movies. Each time he says it to a bully (one time he specifically says it to protect Bucky), and never in relation to his emotional turmoil. Also just, factually, he never references "I can do this all day" when Sarah dies can you be real for a sec.

It's mighty rich of you to say a grieving person who had JUST BURIED HIS SOLE LIVING RELATIVE that a) "he is willing to do it alone" - I can guarantee no one who has lost their sole beloved family member feels "willing" in that situation; and b) downplaying the smile that took all of Steve's energy to muster. All I can conclude is you know nothing of grief. (And since you love the word "disservice" so much - your interpretation of the scene is a fucking disservice to CEvans' acting.)

Steve's choice to go to war has nothing to do with Bucky. Steve has tried five times to enlist and stated his reasons, which have nothing to do with Bucky and everything to do with not liking bullies.

Because, you know, saying “I want to join the 107th cos I’m gay for my best friend” is going to go down real well in the 1940s military *snerks*

Can you get your head out of your ass for one minute and consider that people make decisions based on multiple factors? By acknowledging that Bucky is an important factor in Steve wanting to join the war DOES NOT MINIMISE STEVE'S MORAL COMMITMENT TO FIGHT BULLIES.

Steve is also not aghast at hearing Bucky's assignment. - Back this up.

Bucky does not believe in pre-serum Steve as much as pre-serum Steve believes in himself. - Right. *In Bucky’s tired voice* Because simply ~*♫~believing in yourself~*♫~ is going to stop you getting killed. This is a fucking war, not a back alley. Do you know the death rate for US soldiers in WW2? 1 in 40. For perspective, the death rate from coronavirus is currently sitting at 1 in 70.

Whether Bucky went to war or not, Steve wanted to go. - Again, back your ass-umptions up.

Steve was told Bucky was dead. He was going to try to rescue the rest of the 107th. Again, to suggest that Steve's courageous act is about Bucky is a disservice to Steve.

So not only do you remember fuck all about the movie where it doesn’t involve your fave, you apparently remember fuck all about the scenes where YOUR FAVE APPEARS.

P*ggy: “What do you plan to do, walk to Austria?” Steve: “If that’s what it takes.” P*ggy: “You heard the Colonel. Your friend is most likely dead.” Steve: “You don’t know that.”

NOW LOOK THOSE WORDS IN THE EYES AND TELL ME HIS RESCUE MISSION IS NOT ABOUT BUCKY.

Also, Steve wanting to rescue his best friend is a "disservice" to his character? Condolences to your friends and your character, I guess.

It is strange to ignore Steve's interactions with people other Bucky. Okay here we go, we’re finally getting to why this steaming trash heap landed in my inbox. It's Peggy who - I knew it. I fucking knew it. Of course it came from someone who likes Miss I-need-to-make-everything-about-me - appreciated pre-serum Steve at the flagpole - Oh you mean the appreciation she showed by not uttering a single word to him?

Peggy and Erskine supported pre-serum Steve's drive to do his part when Bucky did not. It seems truer to say that they more likely "kept Steve afloat" during his basic training, of which Bucky had no part.

Hold on. *walks off to cackle* *walks back, wheezing*. P*ggy kept Steve afloat? Miss-never-said-a-single-word-to-Steve-P*ggy, “supported” Steve during his basic training??

Again, I urge you to actually watch CATFA, where *checks notes* your fave has her biggest movie role. AFTER STEVE FINISHES BASIC TRAINING, the two of them sit in a car and exchange the infamous lines:

P*ggy: “You have no idea how to talk to a woman, do you?” Steve: “I think this is the longest conversation I’ve had with one.”

They have, by their own admission, not had a conversation before this, so which bull’s ass did you pull the “P*ggy kept Steve afloat during his basic training” shit out of?

There is nothing in the scenes to suggest he finds it a great miracle. The whole assumption of Steve's reaction seems to be a Bucky-centric projection rather than Steve-centric.

No, honey, I think you are just blinded by your Bucky hate. You looked at a scene where 2 characters (including your fave) claimed that Bucky is no longer alive, and Steve himself said, "I thought you were dead" - and Bucky was, against all odds and expectations of at least 3 different characters, found alive...and said, NAH NAH NAH NAH there's nothing here! There's nothing~here~to~suggest~it's a miracle.

Honestly I think you're the one living in a different plane of projection.

When Steve awakens in the future, his line to Fury is "I had a date." With Peggy, not Bucky.

Pfft he said “I had a date”, not "I had a date with P*ggy". So your interpretation is just as invalid.

And just, realistically, do you really think Steve is deluded enough to expect he’d wake up in time for a dance? And...do you really think Steve is desperate enough that he'd go for a woman who blasted him with live rounds for locking lips with another woman? When in your own words you said he hates bullies?

We do not know what Steve thought as he died, so saying he is content with death is not supported.

How about this -- "we do not know what Steve thought as he died, so saying he is not content with death is not supported". It’s my conjecture against yours and you’ve come onto my turf to be a presumptuous prick.

He has Peggy and Natasha. To ignore these two relationships seems to do a disservice to both characters.

Ah yes, the great relationship with P*ggy, who in 5 minutes of her screen time is characterised by: 1) mocking Steve as “dramatic” when he asks for guidance, and 2) her florid delirium in which he had to pull the emotional labour to placate her, and 3) her being grateful that she's led a great life without Steve.

If oldwoman!P*ggy was such an important relationship to Steve, he wouldn't have lamented to Natasha that "it's not easy finding someone with shared experience".

If there is any lesson Steve should learn in the modern day, it is that Steve sacrifices and Bucky leaves. Once involuntarily with the Snap, but twice voluntarily.

WHO THE FUCK HURT YOU AND MESSED UP YOUR BRAIN. I don't know how you can look at those scenes and pretend that the sole victim is Steve.

(Actually I can, because it's a common refrain from certain shit!stans who can't deal with the idea of Bucky being morally good)

Bucky sacrificed his own freedom and lived time in order to protect other people from getting hurt. And Bucky being involuntarily "Snapped" only counts as "Steve's sacrifice"?? The one who actually dies/gets Snapped isn't making a sacrifice? My gods the logic in this one is strong. (Also by referring to Bucky's death as Steve's sacrifice you have inadvertently acknowledged just how important Bucky is to him but I guess that flew over your head like the rest of this story)

It also ignores that Steve lived five years without all of those people. He had accepted the loss and changed into someone they would never truly know or understand.

Mate…

Do you hear yourself…

YOU LITERALLY WROTE THE COUNTERARGUMENT TO YOUR ENTIRE ESSAY.

Steve lived TWELVE YEARS WITHOUT YOUNG P*GGY. He had ACCEPTED THE LOSS (although, in my mind, it's really no big loss) and BOTH OF THEM HAD CHANGED INTO COMPLETELY UNRECOGNISABLE PEOPLE, not to mention they never truly knew or understood each other to begin with. So if your logic is that Steve has changed too much in 5 years to be around his old friends, why the fuck would he want to be around a woman he last saw 12 years ago and who he knew got an entire happy married life with another man. Eww.

I mean if NTR is your kink that's fine but no need to flaunt that on my turf.

The fun thing about fandom is that canon is open to different interpretations. You could read the tavern scene to say P*ggy is inviting Steve to be her right partner, just as I could point out that Steve’s pointed silence is a resounding rejection of that invitation.

But there is incorrect fandom etiquette, and that’s when you stomp into an innocuous narrative musing and start a ship war.

And I beg of you to learn another word from "disservice".

(The whole pile of horse shit for anyone needing to have their blood boiled)

[blackknight-100]

I'm just upset right now so this is not very articulate, but some people in the Tolkien fandom are so obsessed with defending the Feanorians and minimizing their mass murders it's actually absurd. Also it's really, really irritating when you can't go two days without running across a post desperate to turn them into soft people by explaining why "it's not that bad" and "guys actually I think only a few people died".

Or alternately not understand their oath or their grievance at all and try to explain why Luthien/the Valar own the Silmarils.

And I'm not talking about headcanons (you are free to make yours), these are actual parts of the text someone picks up and extrapolates to the nth degree to suit what they say.

Like look, I get it. The Feanorians lost the sacred, almost divine items that their father made, and now those are in the hands of an actual evil god who will not give them up, and whom they cannot fight, and they are oath bound to recover it. I get that. But you know what? 'The other elves were inconsiderate of the importance of the Silmarils as heirlooms to the Feanorians', and 'the kinslaying is a massacre that can in no way be defended by the oath and the need to recover jewels' are two statements that can and should coexist. And one of those deeds is worse than the other.

There are several people and cultures across the world (including mine) that has had their cultural property stolen and looted by colonizers, and the idea that something is 'yours' if you won it from a thief, instead of belonging to the person who made or previously owned it is distinctly colonial in nature, but you know what these people in the real world didn't do?

They didn't commit mass murder. They didn't turn into thieves themselves.

And if these very real people with very real grievances could deal with that (and continue to deal with it), I don't see why anyone should try to justify the kinslayings, or make posts explaining why the Silmaril actually belonged to Luthien and her descendants/the Valar.

Should Luthien have considered returning the Silmaril to the Feanorians? As a woman, no; not after what Celegorm did. As a princess and heir to her father? Yes. Thingol, despite his grievances about the kinslaying at Alqualonde, should have acted as a king and considered the diplomatic way out of this. Except the Feanorians didn't try to take it from Luthien, and Thingol was behind Melian's girdle so it didn't work out. Should Dior have tried to act as king and not antagonise the Feanorians after the girdle was lost and his people decimated by dwarves? Absolutely. All of this is true.*

What is also true is this: the Feanorians should not have fallen upon unsuspecting elves at Alqualonde and taken their ships from them. They should not have attacked Doriath, which had barely recovered from a dwarven attack, and killed people. And they absolutely, never should have gone after Sirion. SIRION WAS A REFUGEE CAMP! AND THEN THEY KIDNAPPED THE TWINS.

THEY KIDNAPPED!!! THE TWINS!!! WHO HAVE NO MATERNAL FAMILY!!! BECAUSE THE FEANORIANS KILLED THEM!!!

No amount of found family fics will stop this from sounding like the political removal of princes/lordlings from their culture and background and their artificial integration into people who have killed their whole family.

And literally all those people the Feanorians were fighting after leaving Valinor could have been their allies against Morgoth. You know, the evil god-creature that has two of their Silmarils? The one that killed their grandfather and drove their father to madness?

Also the Valar. Oh gods, the Valar. They suck. The sheer irresponsibility and condescendence they display throughout this whole fiasco, starting from the destruction of the trees till the very end is astounding. I'm glad most of the fandom seems to ignore them because if I saw a post defending Manwe I would actually throw hands.

*Should Elwing have returned it? Well, here it gets murky: as the leader of a refugee camp in Earendil's absence, she should have probably opted for the path of least violence (which is surrendering the Silmarils), except the Feanorians had already killed her whole family and this was past the point of return. It also would have a very unsound decision to give back a jewel so contested when it meant so much to her people to the elves that ruined their lives and killed their kin, and then sent letters so stern it might as well have been demands disguised as friendship.

[bohemian-nights]

How do Targies unironically praise T@rgaryen blood purity like legit white supremacists and then deny there's any racism there?? Please make it make sense

Honestly liking the Targaryens isn’t the problem(and at this point, I'm pretty sure we all like a Targaryen or two).

Yeah, they undoubtedly have some bad views as a whole, but as long as you acknowledge that their views are an allegory for real issues that’s fine.

We aren’t necessarily defined by the fiction we consume.

However, these fans outright taking on white supremacist talking points about blood supremacy and blood purity with 100% sincerity and then being confused as to why people are calling them racist is a mind trip.

If all you are getting from the books is how special and magical the Targaryen’s are and how they must keep the bloodline pure, how outsiders dirty the blood, and then use that to degrade and mock characters(and harass their fans) who aren’t silver-haired with purple eyes then yeah, you’re a fucking racist.

GRRM is admittedly not the best at handling race(or even certain female characters). He’s an old white man and it shows, but even he didn’t create this universe for you guys to spout out this crap. You are supposed to question things like feudalism and Targaryen exceptionalism not uphold it.

Nettles is a prime example of this, but they want to say she’s Daemon’s kid, or unquestionably Valyrian, and how she’s irrelevant since she’s Black(not to mention deny the racism she faces in the text as well as outside of it) rather than admit that maybe your blood, your gender(she’s a woman too but they always seem to forget that), your social economic status, your race does not define you. You and your actions do.

That all being said, I do think the Targaryen ideology is what attracts people to the house in the first place, but they won’t admit this because that means they have to confront their own biases.

If Targaryen ideology is harmful and you agree with it wholeheartedly what does that make you? How do you view people who are different than you? Who do you view as beneath you? How do you treat people who you view as lesser than you?

Yes this is all fictional, but the language being used is very much based on how they feel about certain groups in real life.

Look I’ve seen people straight up say things like there are too many Black people on HOTD and that the only in-canon Black character should be cut because they’ve met their quota and then cry that they are being (rightfully) called racists.

I’ve seen people say that since Daemon rejected a white woman(Alys) who they view as better than her(Nettles) he would for sure never touch Nettles’ with a ten-foot pole much less love her in a romantic capacity and then cry that they are now being called a racist.

I’ve seen people purposely reduce characters solely down to their race and then cry that they are now being called a racist.

I’ve seen people harass and stalk actual Black fans and then cry and say that they are being bullied when we call them out for it.

I’ve seen people outright use racial slurs then the fanbase brushes that aside to say that the racism is limited to just a few individuals when many of these same people are using the previous arguments and treat real-life fans like crap.

Racism isn't limited to saying I hate n-words and wanting to commit acts of violence upon us.

It’s easier to say you aren’t a racist than to deal with the very real possibility that you are a part of the problem. That you treat people(including fictional characters) who don’t look like you like absolute shit because of something as stupid as the color of their skin. That you view them as so beneath you that we don’t deserve basic respect.

It should be noted that Targaryren fans aren't the only racists in this fandom especially when it comes to Black characters/fans, but they are the most outright hostile to the point where it is utterly ridiculous when they say they aren't racist.

But what do I know? I’m just a crazy hating ass bitch who’s out of her depth and who should shut her trap…

[oraclecat]

Some Thoughts to Get You Through Inauguration Day — and the Next Four Years

I want to share this post from one of my favorite writers, Connie Willis, that I found incredibly helpful today. I needed it. I hope it helps someone else like it did me.

January 20, 2025

By Connie Willis

I know I promised no news today, just inspirational stuff to get us through the inauguration, but there were two pieces of good news, two good things that Biden did just before he left office, that I thought I should share:

--The first three hostages were released in the Gaza ceasefire deal that Biden engineered. They are all young women and seem to be in good health. They were smiling, and their families were overjoyed at their release, but of course they’ve been through hell, and their recoveries will take a very long time. Still, Biden got them out, with the promise of more to come.

--Biden pre-emptively pardoned a number of people Trump and Kash Patel have announced their intention of going after: Dr. Fauci, General Mark Milley, the members of the January 6 Committee (including Liz Cheney, Trump’s number one target) and all their staffers, plus the police officers who testified before the January 6th committee.

--Biden said of the pardons: "The issuance of these pardons should not be mistaken as an acknowledgement that any individual engaged in any wrongdoing, nor should acceptance be misconstrued as an admission of guilt for any offense. Our nation owes these public servants a debt of gratitude for their tireless commitment to our country."

--Here’s Dr. Fauci’s response, which I think is pitch perfect: "Let me be perfectly clear: I have committed no crime, and there are no possible grounds for any allegation or threat of criminal investigation or prosecution of me. The fact is, however, that the mere articulation of these baseless threats and the potential that they will be acted upon, creat immeasurable and intolerable distress for me and my family. For these reasons, I acknowledge and appreciate the action that President Biden has taken today on my behalf."

--The sputtering fury from MAGAs and Republican Congressmen and Senators, screaming that they’ll go after them in state courts and open new investigations into their actions, shows that these pardons were completely necessary. Thank God Biden did it. And that he did it at the very last minute so that Trump didn’t have the chance to forestall the pardons.

Oh, and in an absolutely hilarious bit of good news, you know Mike Johnson ordered that all the flags at the Capitol and the White House be raised to half-staff for Trump’s inauguration, even though it broke the law. Well, this morning when they tried to raise them, the cords had all frozen to the staffs and they couldn’t get them unstuck to raise the flags. (Suggestion: You could try licking the flagpoles with your tongue.)

Okay, here are some quotes to get you through the day. And the next four years. (Note: You might copy the ones you like the best and stick them on your bathroom mirror or your refrigerator as a reminder when the going gets rough.)

--pelagicray: "We are all going to have to embrace the chaos, ride it out. That "ride it out" is something the sea taught me. Before actually being out there I simply raged at chaos. I still have that rage, but it is tempered by that ‘ride it out’ attitude one has to have with long times at sea. Caught in a storm one cannot avoid, and that is nearly impossible if one spends much time out there, and about which one can do not a thing, teaches the ‘ride it out’ way. In my case we were not even ‘crew’ who had real work to do keeping the ship riding it out. We did what of our work we coud do in conditions that made it near impossible, but sometimes even that was not possible. We became total passengers. And some storms are scary, even for the experienced. One has to learn self control when the rolls are beginning to test the limits of the ship’s righting moment, knowing that any next wave could be the one to tip the balance, hearing things break loose that should not have broken loose and sometimes themselves endangering the ship. That is when the crew may endanger limb and even life controlling that problem. But one learns to go with the rolls, ride it all out, trust in survival, or, as some I knew did, break down and react to everythinng. And tht itself risks survival. We are all going to be riding a lot of bad stuff out. We will ride it out--or not."

--rugbymom: "You also learn, I gather, to always keep that safety line clipped on. And that survival requires teamwork and taking care of each other. That’s what I hold onto. Whatever happens, we have to take care of each other, our neighbors, our friends, our family members, our community. Don’t let anyone be stuck in the storm alone."

--lpeacock: "I have no illusions as to how fucked up things are going to be. I’m just glad and thankful that we have so many good people in the fight to try to combat the fascism..."

--Steve Schmidt: "Everything Donald Trump has ever done has been chaotic, shambolic, and, in the end, a failure. All of it."

--Howard Zinn: "To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness. What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will detemine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capability to do something."

--Douglas Wood: "I...know that in the midst of constant, hourly assaults by bad news and worse news, of awful people doing awful things, and all of it rolling over us faster than we can understand or process it...I know that there is this. Always this. The wild, unnamable beauty of the natural world. Of the same shining moon that the Buddha and Jesus and Lao Tse and Shakespeare and Da Vinci and Galileo knew. Of winter trees standing like ladders to the stars. Of the impenetrable silence of the universe. Of humble feet standing on a tiny plot of ground while eyes gaze upward into the mysterious All of which we are a part. And suddenly one realizes the simple, saving truth...that the News is not the world."

--J.R.R. Tolkien, on Sam in the depths of Mordor: "Far above the Ephel Duath in the West the night-sky was still dim and pale. There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for awhile. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty forever beyond its reach."

Today is also Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, and that’s sort of fitting because he above any other American knew what it was like to live under a cruel and unjust system for generations and still not give up--or become embittered and cynical and just as hateful as the other side. So here are some MLK, Jr. quotes:

--"If you can’t fly, then run. If you can’t run, then walk. If you can’t walk, then crawl--but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward."

--"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of convenience and comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy."

--"We will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope."

--"We must walk on in the days ahead with an audacious faith in the future."

--"I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant."

And finally, from Hakeem Jeffries: "Success is not final. Failure is not fatal. All that matters is the courage to continue."

Think of this as Dunkirk. It’s a bad day, and there are many worse to come. But it’s not over.

[xsweetcatastrophe]

You Broke Me First

Part 12

this is my new favorite picture fyi

As you get older you learn you can't take back your words or your actions. You learn it's important to be careful what you say or how you act when you're angry in the moment. Hurtful words can't be taken back, and actions can't be reversed.

Zoe decided to learn that the hard way.

"He SQUEEZED my ARM" Zoe yelled dramatically, as she took a sip of her 3rd... or 5th? tequila soda.

Upon Cillian leaving, Zoe called her best friend, Dana, and invited her over. Dana brought over tequila. After 2 drinks, Zoe told Dana everything. EVERYTHING. Dana now knew the arrangement; everything she wasn't supposed to know. Zoe knew she shouldn't have told her. She knew the implications and how difficult this could make things if Dana told people.

But drunk Zoe didn't care. Drunk Zoe was angry and had enough.

"That's the reaction my dad gave me when my dog died" Dana said, laying on the couch with her drink on her chest. "Hey, can you turn that fan off? the spinning is making me nauseous"

Zoe looked at the fan in the corner, unplugged. "It's not on"

"oh fuck" Dana said, covering her eyes. "I think we drank too much"

"Who cares, LOOK AT MY LIFE" Zoe yelled, motioning to the window where the paparazzi once stood to get pictures of her and Cillian. "Where are they now? do you think they're out there?" She said, stumbling back towards Dana on the couch who was now sitting up.

"sssssswhat are you gonna do, I still can't believe you're not getting paid for this" Dana replied, pausing in the middle of the sentence to hiccup.

Zoe downed the rest of her drink in one gulp and slammed the glass down on the coffee table. "Fuck it. Fuck him. He should be lucky - LUCKY i agreed to this"

"You tried so hard to make it work and feel real. You even started a show with him"

"I STARTED A SHOWWWWW WITH HIM!!!!!" Zoe yelled back. "THAT'S COMMITMENT!!!!!"

"You wanna go out? lets go outttt I wanna go out" Dana said standing up, wobbling towards the front door.

"No I wanna stay here, I don't wanna put on real clothes" Zoe said, pouting.

"Then lets have fun already and stop complaining about men they all suck" Dana said, climbing on top of the coffee table. Zoe climbed on after her with the tequila bottle in her hand. She took a swig of it and passed it to Dana. "To girls with good friends"

Dana grabbed the bottle and took a swig as well. After swallowing and cringing, she added "and to girls who aren't scared of breaking NDA's"

An hour later, the girls were dancing around the living room to Spite by Charlotte Sands. The music was blaring and the windows were opened. The downstairs neighbor was hitting the ceiling with a broomstick, annoyed with the noise at such a late hour. The girls didn't hear the bangs, they carried on with their dancing and singing.

They eventually (unfortunately) made their way out of apartment, stumbling down the street to the dive bar on the corner.

They spilled into the door, laughing and holding onto one another.

They were blackout at this point; they've become the group of girls that are so drunk you would roll your eyes at them and stay far away. "They're obnoxious, so sloppy" you would tell your friends, giving them dirty looks. "Hate to be the person who has to deal with getting them home"

and boy, would you be right.

Zoe, finding her liquid courage and sassiness on a high level, took out her phone and decided to facetime Cillian. It was 2:40am, the bar was calling last call, people were staring to head home, but not Zoe. She wanted to stir the pot.

After about 5 rings, he answered. "Why... hello?" He said, visibly rubbing his eyes. He was in bed, confused why she was facetiming him at such an hour.

"Yea I just wanted to let you know that i'm done" Zoe said loudly, holding the phone too close to her face.

"Done with what - where are you?" He said, squinting.

"I'm done with this pretending thing we're doing, Cillian" Zoe said louder.

"SHHHHH Stop yelling! where are you? are you okay? who are you with?" Cillian said, sitting up.

"I'm with Dana. She's my best friend. She has black hair. And green eyes. and looooooooves Adele and one time, she peed her pants on her way home from work. But you wouldn't know that because you're a BAD. FAKE. BOYFRIEND" Zoe continued. "See, SHEEEEE came with me to the dive bar on the corner by my house you didn't want to go to - you wanna say hi, DANA COME HERE" She yelled off camera.

"Zoe NO. STOP" Cillian said, frustrated. He got out of bed and pulled on sweatpants. "Don't move. Do you hear me? Don't leave." He said, hanging up the phone.

"Here she is - ugh, he hung up, HE'S SO RUDE" Zoe said, completely not hearing anything Cillian said. She had Dana next to her with a round of drinks. They were the last ones in the bar, and the bartenders were starting to wipe down the bar and clean up for the night.

"You shouldn't be with a man who hangs up on you, it's 2024 we want better for ourselves, women's rights" Dana slurred, not making any sense. The bartenders listened from afar, making eyes with the security guards by the door. They were tiny girls, they didn't think they would cause a problem, but they were extra aware of them and how drunk they were.

About 15 minutes later, security escorted them out of the bar. They were now sitting on the curb, leaning on each other and trying to find the strength to stand up.

"Hey I don't feel good" Dana said, closing her eyes. "Call me an uber?" She said, handing Zoe her phone.

"Just sleep by me" Zoe said, standing up trying t pull up her friend. She paused when headlights appeared to her right, shining in her eyes when she turned her head to look. It looked like the car was coming right at her. It slowed to a stop closely to her, and heard the back door open as well as the front passenger window come down.

Suddenly, in front of her, Cillian appeared... looking angry. He was in sweatpants, slides, and a hoodie with the hood pulled up. He walked over to her, forcing a grin on his face but his eyes said otherwise.

"Hi baby" He choked out. Zoe stared at him, speechless.

"I came to get you" he said, putting his hands on her hips and squeezing. He stared her down, nostrils flaring and jaw clenched. If looks could kill, Zoe would be in trouble.

He was full on glaring at her at this point, and unfortunately for Zoe she was starting to see two of him.

"let's get you back to my house... now."

tags: @lau219 @wolfieellsworld  @shopgirl6us