#they think only of power over the people (especially those who voted for them) and money that shouldn't belong to them

[graveyarrdshift]

*slowly backing away bc i've read marxist literature once or twice* 😔

NOOOO DON'T GO PLS I LOVE YOU BESTIE PLS DON'T HATE ME 😭😭😭😭

[beatrice-otter]

The President and the Police

It is curious to me that people who are (rightly) outraged at the police being sent against the college protestors and want to reflect that in their voting in the next election are focusing on the office that has zero power over the police, and not the offices that actually control the police. (This is especially aggravating because we've been talking about the police a lot over the last four years, and so if people actually wanted to change things you would think they would have figured out basic things like "who controls the police.")

The President does not and never has controlled the police. Anywhere in the US. Policing is a local matter. The vast majority of law enforcement is done by the city police (employed and governed by the city), county sheriffs and their deputies (employed by the county), and state police (employed and governed by the state). The laws and regulations and policies are made at the local level. So are hiring decisions! If you want to change things--and God knows the police are corrupt and violent and bigoted and awful, and DESPERATELY need to be changed--you can't do it through which presidential candidate you vote for (or don't vote for). You do it by voting for your local elected officials: town mayor and city councilmen (or whatever the exact positions are in your area), your county sheriff, and your state representatives. And then following up by doing things like attending city council meetings and raising the question of police reform--and talking to your neighbors and people in your community and building a coalition of people to work on alternatives to the police and convincing people to try some of them. If you live in a city that has a protest that the cops have been called to, please call your city government and complain. It won't magically change things but it'll be a little bit of pressure in the right direction.

The President does have some control over Federal law enforcement, but that's the FBI, DEA, ICE, and other more specialized groups (like the military police and Fish and Wildlife enforcement officers). And God knows that they could desperately use reform as well! ICE in particular should be abolished. So yeah, your vote for President will affect those organizations. (Trump, of course, loves ICE and wants to expand its powers and reach.)

But if you are rightly concerned by police response to the protests, and want to use your vote to do something about it, you need to be thinking locally.

And good news! Local elections have far fewer people voting in them, so it's actually much easier to affect things at a local level than it is to affect national affairs.

I know this, because I've seen it happen in my community. I am a supporter of an immigrant rights group in my community, and a while back our little local police department hired a guy who had been fired for racism by the biggest city in the region. This is extremely common; most trained and experienced police would much rather work in larger cities which pay better. So a lot of small towns and county sheriff's departments have trouble getting "qualified" people who want to work there, and regularly hire cops who are only willing to move to rural areas because they've been fired for cause and no larger police department will touch them.

But in this specific case, the local immigrant support group was watching, saw he'd been hired, and swung into action. They encouraged their members to call the city council, and go to city council meetings, and write letters to the editor, and after a couple of months of this the city council conceded and got rid of the guy. If you get a group of people together to make a concerted effort, you can make a difference in the policing in your local community.

But the President can't do jack about it. So don't blame him, blame the people who actually hire, train, and write the policies for the police. Who are all local people living in your area!

[elljayvee]

image source: statista

Young friends, I'm asking you to vote. I'm asking you to get your friends to vote. I know it can feel like you don't have any power, and in a lot of ways, that's because those 70 million Baby Boomers are, genuinely, still holding onto it. About 70% of the US Senate is Baby Boomers and Silent Gen. There's more Silent Gen folks than there are Millennials. I generally think intergenerational conflict nonsense is, well, nonsense -- there's a LOT of Baby Boomers who are on the same side, politically, as I am, and a lot of younger people who are flat-out Nazis like JD Vance. But look at how much power they're holding.

And the only way to change that is to vote, and to run -- but the number of people who can run and want to run is smaller than those who can vote. You can change the political balance and the age balance in our government by voting.

Gen Z had historically high turnout for 18-24 yr olds in the last Presidential election, and I'm super chuffed about that -- but it was still only about 28% of eligible voters. Overall, turnout was about 66% across all age groups -- and Boomers turned out at nearly 70%. Pew Research has talked about how largely the differences in success and failure of candidates are not due to preference (who the population as a whole would LIKE to win) but due to differences in voter turnout (who actually shows up to vote).

image source: brookings.edu

The United States is a LOT less conservative/fascist on a population level than it is on an elected official level, and differential voter turnout is why. Voters under 30 are the most likely to support candidates who aren't creepy fascist motherfuckers, and there are millions of you who aren't going to the polls.

Voter suppression is real, and there are lots of people working to counter it, but efforts to counter voter suppression only go so far if people aren't showing up in the first place. Gen Z -- on a population level, over 60% of you don't like creepy fascists! That's great, but not liking them needs to be backed up with action. Please get out there and vote like you care about keeping creepy fascists out of power. It's not as fun as dunking on them on the internet, sure. But it's very effective.

I want you to vote, young friends. I want everyone over 18 and younger than 60 to crank those numbers out, but I especially want everyone between 18-40 at that polling booth, ready to go. I want to see sky-high, record-smashing young voter turnout in this election -- and I want to see it at the next election, and the one after that. I want there to BE a next election. These motherfuckers tried once to overturn an election -- by legal challenges and by force -- and the way to make that not happen again is to shut. it. down.

Please. Vote.

[qqueenofhades]

The thing that confuses me about the "don't vote" left (not the "I don't want to vote", I'm talking explicitly the "don't vote" left. I don't agree with the "I don't want to vote" left either but I can understand their logic) is they lose me at the final step of the logic. I've tried to connect the logic here, even if I don't agree with a political position I do try to understand where people are coming from (empathy for someones situation is not the same as cosigning it), but I just can't connect the dots here in a way that isn't deeply cruel. Does United States politics prioritize the lives of those in the US (and often white) over those in the Global South? Yes, it's a fucking atrocity. We should continue to make noise about it, cus Biden has used less drones and that shows progress, even if it's not enough. The part where I lose the plot is where the conclusion to this injustice is to let even more people die? Cus that's kinda how I see the idea of not voting: I can pick between shit and more shit, and at the end of the day, I'm picking whoever allows the most people to make it to the next day. Given Trumps stance on everything but specifically climate change, I feel like Biden is pretty significant harm reduction.

I don't think both things can't be true: that every life lost is a travesty we should not forget AND the more people we can save is worth fighting for.

The thing is, I have seen nothing among the "don't vote" far left (and I am talking here specifically about the people who both loudly announce their intention not to vote and try to convince others to do the same) to convince me that they actually care about harm reduction or stopping genocide. They only care about what makes them look the most Correct and/or superior to the Democrats. They yelled bloody murder about Obama using drones, they went dead quiet about Trump using them even more (even when he nearly started WWIII by assassinating the Iranian general Soleimani with one), and then said nothing at all when Biden reduced the drone program to almost nothing and withdrew the US from a failed war in Afghanistan it had long ago lost. Now they will yell all day about Israel/Hamas (something that Biden did not start and has had no direct military role in responding to) but they don't care about Russian genocide of Ukraine and Syria, Chinese threats to invade Taiwan, etc, because those governments are "anti-western/anti-American" and therefore should be defended. Their opposition to human suffering is extremely conditional and rests on whether they can look good out of it, and they never interrogate the hypocrisies of their own ideology.

Likewise: every country in the world prizes its own citizens above those of other countries. It's just a basic fact. Yes, the US has a grim history of intervening in other countries and causing untold civilian damage (especially during the Cold War and then in post-9/11 War on Terrorism). Yes, that legacy is complex and needs to be acknowledged. But literally none of that will be fixed, not to mention all the vulnerable people in America itself who will be punished, by Trump getting into power again. Biden is not just a grudging "lesser evil," but has done a lot of truly good and helpful things, regardless of the Online Leftists' constant lies, misinformation, and misrepresentation. If you spend all your time announcing what a champion you are for non-American marginalised people and/or those undergoing terrible suffering, and then deliberately and knowingly adhere to a course of action that will increase that suffering tenfold not only for those people but your own neighbors, friends, and family, then no, I don't believe you are a brave champion of social justice. You just want to know what categories of people you can gleefully and righteously punish and make to suffer for not believing the same things as you, that makes you just as dangerous as the right-wing fascists, and I can and will call out your ass accordingly.

[reasonsforhope]

I can't take the state of the world anymore, every day things constantly get worse and there's literally nothing we can do. Every time things get better they're immediately undone by forces more powerful than us. I just want things to go back to the way they were before when it felt like there was hope, now it feels like humanity is doomed and will never, ever get better. I just want to die so I can finally know peace from this evil.

Hey. I'm really, really sorry you're having such a hard time. That sounds like an incredibly painful headspace to be in.

Please find someone you can talk to and who can help you - whether that's a peer counselor or a good friend or a trained mental health professional. Especially a trained mental health professional, if you can. You can find a really thorough list of crisis hotlines listed by country here.

Also, I realllllly recommend getting off any websites or social media that are contributing to you feeling like this, or at least block all the people/tags posting things that are making you feel like this. Negativity bias is real - the news/internet doesn't accurately reflect the world and neither does the way your brain perceives it

In the meantime, a few quick words/facts of comfort. I hope they can give you at least some reassurance or solace.

We literally have more reason to hope we can solve climate change than ever before x

Starting about six months ago, major international energy reports have come out for the first time showing that we have a visible, concrete path to staying under 1.5 degrees celsius x

Twenty, even ten years ago, scientists talked about whether we could possibly manage to limit global warming to 4 or 5 degrees Celsius. Now, those numbers aren't even on the map - we're talking 1.5 or 2 degrees Celsius. We've cut expected warming in half in under a decade x

Renewable energy is growing so exponentially it's now "unstoppable" x

Two hundred years ago, in 1800, there wasn't a single "liberal democracy" - a democracy that gives all citizens the right to vote - on the planet. Just over one hundred years ago, in 1900, there were five of them. Today, roughly half the countries (aka roughly 100) on the planet fall into this category. International politics is so often two steps forward, one step back, but this is actually an astonishing pace of progress in the grand scheme of things x

For all of human history, until just over 200 years ago, roughly half of all children died. Across times, across cultures. Half of all children died by the age of 15. Half of them. Today, globally, that same child mortality rate is only 4%. We did that. We changed what was previously an eternal, inescapable, and horrific condition of human existence, and we are going to keep making that rate go down x

Two steps forward, one step back, is still moving forward. There are so, so, so many reasons that we are not already doomed. There are so many reasons to think the future is going to be bright

To anyone struggling with thoughts like this: please, please give yourself the chance to see it

[caffeineandsociety]

I think there are a lot of people on the left who WANT all the antisemitic conspiracy theories to be true for exactly the same reasons a lot of people on the right do.

There are lot of people who WANT it to be true that "billionaires" is synonymous with "Jews"; that the greedy "elite" can be identified by demographic data. Who WANT it to be true that both major US political parties are the same because in the end, they're all part of the same unified hive mind of greedy power-mad misanthropic mutant lizard people - figuratively or literally, doesn't matter. Who WANT it to be true that all of Israel's few allies are ultimately just puppet governments of theirs (even though the opposite is much closer to being true), and the REST of the world is NEXT to fall to this horrible hive of evil.

Because, many people don't realize this, but conspiracy theories are PLEASANT to believe. It's exciting to think you're onto a deep truth that most people aren't privy to, especially when it sounds like something straight out of a scifi thriller. It's empowering to think the solution to all of society's ills is simple, staring you right in the face, and as soon as you just get enough people together to smash some crucial load-bearing element it will all come crashing down and lead us to our "natural state" of utopia like in an action-adventure epic. Even the helplessness of feeling like it's insurmountable has its own satisfying bent as a gateway to an extreme "positive" nihilism - if we're all fucked regardless, if (((their))) power is just too overwhelming, then nothing we do REALLY matters - we're free, we never have to do anything we don't want to again for the benefit of the world around us, because it won't change anything~!

Sound uncomfortably familiar yet? Perhaps like some arguments about voting, environmental protections, or local initiatives beyond libraries and public transit you've seen floating around right here on tungle dot hell? About the struggle of relating to "normies" and recognizing where the Overton window sits at any given time, even? About the prospects of getting ranked choice voting nationwide?

It doesn't matter who you are, or what your beliefs are, or how "smart" you are - at the end of the day we're all just hairless apes capable of falling for the same brain chemistry tricks as any other, and bullshit can be spun in leftist flavor just as easily as it can be spun to appeal to the right. You are not immune to the feeling of "awww yeah, it's all coming together~" over what you might realize, out of the moment, is a complete nonsequitur or cherry-picked to hell and back. You are not immune to the thrill of believing you're basically Neo The Matrix. It's hard to build resistance, let alone immunity, to the siren call of alleged easy solutions to complicated problems, or to the sweet relief of helplessness. The internet is doing a great job of making recreational outrage more and more appealing to more and more people.

I only beg more people to be willing to recognize those facts and TRY to course-correct when those feelings start to take them to some dark places.

[boreal-sea]

Something I don’t see people discussing properly on tumblr is how progress happens. I don’t mean the mechanics, I mean the overall momentum.

I’m going to use geology here for a moment. For a long time there were two schools of thought about geologic processes: catastrophism and uniformitarianism. The first posits that all major geologic change happens in sudden and catastrophic moments. Volcanoes suddenly appear, landslides occur, earthquakes tear apart the ground. Uniformitarianism instead states that all geologic change is slow and constant. Mountains erode over millions of years, tectonic plates move only centimeters per year, rivers carve out a course over thousands of years.

Now, even a non-geologist can look at this and correctly observe that in fact BOTH of these types events happen. Volcanoes and erosion exist side by side. And geologists agree. Today it’s accepted that much of geologic history is typified by long slow processes interspersed with rare moments of catastrophe.

And social change is a lot like geology. It feels like a lot of people fall into catastrophism or uniformitarianism and these two groups are at odds with one another. Catastrophists in particular are extremely frustrated with the slow periods of social change. Uniformitarianists tend to be wary of the "burn it all down" crowd, citing the harm that would do to vulnerable groups.

But social change does in fact move at two paces. It tends to plod along, with groups slowly gaining rights over decades. One small law here, another there. When you look back over the course of 50 years you can see significant change! But in the moment, it feels like nothing is happening at all. However, there are moments where there is significant and sudden change. The Civil War is one example. Brown v. Board of Education is another example.

And like nature, these watershed moments, these leaps forward for human rights, are usually the result of a culmination of social pressure, of the slow incremental change that happened in the decades prior. The Civil War didn't come out of nowhere. Neither did Brown v. Board of Education. These moments of upheaval need the work of the slow and steady folks.

Again, to use geology, I think about it like how earthquakes work. An earthquake does not (usually) come out of nowhere. It is instead the result of pressure building up between two tectonic plates. This pressure finally becomes too much, the friction between the plates is overcome by the shear force, and the plates violently lurch. In some places, there are lots of little earthquakes: it doesn't take much force to cause the plates to slip, and the resulting earthquakes aren't very big. In other locations though, pressure has been building for a very long time. When that pressure is released the earthquake is massive.

A lot of people who comment angrily on my posts begging them to vote for the Democrats are catastrophists. They want change NOW. They are tired of the slow and steady work. But I think Roe v. Wade being overturned is an important lesson in how sometimes, those catastrophic moments don't always have staying power, especially if other slow behind-the-scenes progress is not done to enshrine those rights -- and with regards to abortion, the blame is entire on the Democrats. They failed to enshrine those protections into federal law, and instead simply assumed Roe v. Wade would never be overturned.

I'm not against sudden progress, but I do not think it's something you can artificially manufacture. You cannot intentionally make this volcano explode, you cannot trigger an earthquake on purpose. To borrow something from a Folding Ideas video (In Search of a Flat Earth), it seems as though some of these people are attempting to manufacture the circumstances needed to bring about catastrophic change through any means necessary, including allowing Trump to become president again. The harm this may cause is irrelevant; the ends justify the means to these people.

So when I propose we stay the course, vote Democrat, and continue to push for ranked-choice voting, the catastrophists see this as paramount to agreeing to everything the current system is doing. I don't want everything to change right now, so clearly that means I must completely agree with, enjoy, and benefit from the system as-is. This of course could not be further from the truth. I actually want society to change almost completely. I want election reform, I want us to stop being capitalists, I want bigotry to fade into a distant memory, I want us to do everything we can to fix global warming and pollution. The idea world I imagine is very different from the world we currently live in.

I do think another catastrophic lurch forward will happen. I don't know what it will look like. It will probably be the culmination of many years of effort. Maybe it will be an election many years from now in which every state uses ranked-choice voting and a 3rd party candidate actually wins. Maybe it will be something that happens tomorrow. Biden could pass away, leaving Harris to take his place as the nominee. That might seem like it's not the result of decades of effort, but Harris even being in the White House is a result of slow effort.

[the-greatest-fool]

I basically only post and read posts in my bubble aside from occasionally scrolling through Real Tumblr, but people’s takes about US politics on this website are fucking unbelievable. They talk about our government as if it didn’t save us from a pandemic-induced financial collapse, pump trillions of dollars into public works, not to mention substantially invest and rein in pharmaceuticals, and is instead some sort of ultra-neoliberal-corporate kitty shooting machine.

Like let’s be for real. Do they…know what the government does? How it works? Do you know what a conservative is? Do you know what an authoritarian is?

Because a system of government whose citizens are all lucky it has had continuous peaceful transfer of power for centuries could very well have its greatest norm violated—that those who reject its legitimacy must be rejected—and we don’t blink an eye.

Because the first major investment against climate change, coupled with life saving investments into healthcare, cancer research, and drug costs could be shredded by indiscriminate fiscal conservatives who don’t care if we die in forest fires, cancer from pollution, lose insurance because we’re jobless, or, apparently, all die in a fricking plague.

Because a foreign policy establishment that had finally reversed two decades of foreign intervention in favor of a normalization strategy aimed at reducing American foot presence, drone strikes, and indiscriminate killings is about to be replaced by the whims of a man who dropped the “mother of all bombs” on the Middle East, gave American soldiers up to Russian bounty hunters, extorted a foreign leader for political favors and arguably indirectedly resulted in that country being BRUTALLY INVADED BY AN IMPERIAL NEIGHBOR, is in the pockets of CCP-funded billionaires, and WANTS TO “FINISH THE JOB” IN GAZA.

Because a President who is against family separations and promotes a path for DREAMERs and more legal immigration and rights for unodcumented people could be replaced by a man who wants to separate families, PUT UNDOCUMENTED PEOPLE IN CONCENTRATION CAMPS, RESTRICT EVEN LEGAL IMMIGRATION, ESPECIALLY THAT OF MUSLIMS, AND SHOOT MIGRANTS.

Because a President who stopped a repeat of the Great Recession and the painful decade that followed it with strong fiscal stimulus which CUT CHILD POVERTY IN HALF BEFORE CONSERVATIVES MADE IT EXPIRE, then managed to cut deficits and presided over a decline in inflation, resulting in record high real wages (aka taking into account inflation) for workers is going to be replaced by a President who wants to TARIFF ALL FOREIGN GOODS by 15%, CUT TAXES FOR THE FILTHY RICH AND THE TAX ENFORCEMENT TO STOP THEM, INCREASE CHILD POVERTY AND UNINSUREDNESS by cutting gov’t programs, and HURT UNIONS which by every measure will lead to lower wages, higher prices, and more poverty and starvation.

Because a President who has pledged to sign a bill codifying Roe v. Wade (which has yet to be possible in recent memory, whatever these kids say), who enshrined the right to marry someone of the same sex or different race, who supports the Equality Act which would enshrine LGBTQ protections into the law, could be replaced by THE MAN WHO REMOVED AMERICA’S RIGHT TO ABORTION, whose Christian nationalist supporters want to END SEXUAL FREEDOM as we know it including TARGETING IVF AND BIRTH CONTROL, who wants to reverse LGBTQ discrimination law in favor of Christian bigots who hate queer and trans people, and who demonizes that community to win political support.

Ask yourself if you really think there’s no difference between the two. Ask yourself if a reasonable person given these facts would choose the latter. Ask yourself why you see so much propagandizing against the reasonable choice. Ask yourself why so many people seem to have opinions on this when they “don’t even go here”.

Maybe I’m just preaching to the choir here. Maybe people who say this inane stuff wouldn’t vote anyways. Maybe somehow we’re screwed anyways. Maybe people will stupidly vote third party and we’re fucked. Maybe this will get me attacked.

I don’t care anymore. If I have to see one more fucking post acting like we live under the fucking Evil Empire while a SELF PROCLAIMED DICTATOR is about to end the best streak of decent governance I’ve ever seen in a while, I just can’t anymore.

[uptoolateart]

The Miraculous Child

So, in 'Representation', Felix talks refers to ‘the miraculous boy’ a couple times. He also calls Adrien’s conception ‘a miracle’, meaning Adrien too is ‘miraculous’.

The second I heard this, it hit me that the title of the show has had this extra meaning from day one. If we look right back to the start of the series, it has been a story about children and adults, especially parents, some a little overbearing (like Tom) and some neglectful or downright abusive.

The message I take away is - life, bringing a child into the world, is a miracle. Science tells us how it works, but the fact that it works is almost like magic. Yet, there are people out there who fail to see this and don't value the gift they've been granted.

There will be people reading this and thinking, ‘Yeah? So what about Chloe?’

I hear you.

Audrey is a terrible person, and Andre is no better. When he hauls her off at the end of ‘Revolution’ and says he needs to correct his mistakes, he just sends her away with her mother. He’s washing his hands of ‘a problem’, just like he’s done with everything else, e.g. when he resigned as mayor. He walked away from responsibilities, after creating a mess for the people who voted him into office. Likewise, he walked away from his responsibilities as a father.

Does that excuse Chloe's behaviour towards others, especially Marinette? No. Does it explain it? Yes.

So, let's talk about choice, which has been mentioned several times in the series. Chloe has a choice to become just like one of her parents...or to become something better.

Because, if you think about it, at some point in time, Audrey and Andre and even Gabriel were all children. And children aren't just born nasty. They learn nastiness as they grow up. To become who they are today, they had to have started out in a similar position to Chloe, for example. They represent the potential future for their children.

If we saw them as kids, we'd probably see them being mistreated by the adults in their lives and we'd all sympathise with them and hope for their redemption. But we're seeing them as adults and our instinct is to say oh well, too late, they're just awful people. In fact, they could redeem themselves at any point, as demonstrated by Nathalie's turnaround in Season 5. It's just that, the more awful things you've done, the more you have to atone for. Gabriel would have to do a lot - maybe even have a brain change - to be redeemed. But you see my point.

So, at the end of 'Revolution', we see Chloe at a crossroads. She's on that plane, annihilated by her mother, and hiding by herself in a corner. She browses her contacts and hovers over Sabrina's entry...and her face crumples like her heart is breaking with regrets. Oh, it’s sad.

But she passes over Sabrina and moves onto Marinette. She makes one last attempt to bring her down. It’s an act of desperation – redirecting her own suffering onto another, trying to keep control over things when she’s completely out of control of her own life.

Marinette finally puts her in her place, and we see Chloe fall apart in a real way - for the first time ever. I don't know about you, but I found that very uncomfortable viewing. It was a relief to see Marinette stand up for herself, and it needed to happen...but Chloe's despair was also painful. I think all of those were emotions were intended.

Let’s set Thomas aside here. I don't want to get into debates about what was said on Twitter. He’s not the only writer for the show, anyway. I am just speaking about my personal perception of that scene. Chloe gained heaps of sympathy, after she’d been appalling all season, which was pretty powerful.

The fact is…Chloe needed to be put in her place. But that doesn’t mean she deserved everything she went through. Even so...sometimes these moments are necessary and revelatory. They can be the catalyst for great change.

What I mean is – if you're in denial about your position, redirecting your pain onto others, sometimes you need that wakeup call. You need to hit rock bottom in order to start climbing back up into the light. So, when Chloe fell apart, it was painful...but I also saw it as her potential turning point. As long as she maintained her delusions to escape into at school, it was impossible for her to transform - because she refused to see that there was any change needed. But when you have nothing left…that’s when you might begin rebuilding yourself.

Every episode in Season 5 has had multiple meanings. Looking at 'Revolution', when Chloe was akumatised, she trapped her victims in a maze, going round in endless circles (revolutions). Notably a lot of them were adults.

I think if this had happened early on in Season 4, Adrien would have been trapped morosely in that loop with the others. We saw this kind of thing in 'Guiltrip'. So, it spoke volumes about his growth as a character when he was the first one to seek a way out of Chloe's maze. He immediately used his cataclysm and broke a hole, escaping and letting everyone else out. Metaphorically, what he did was break the cycle. If we think about cycles of abuse, this is what the next generation always has the chance to do - to revolt against the past.

it's interesting, then, that when we got to 'Representation', we saw Cat Noir completely lose it with his father. He needed to let it all out...but he was in danger of going too far...and deep down, he knew it. His worst nightmare was of losing all control, to the point of letting his rage destroy everything he loved. Unconsciously, he's well aware that he runs the risk of becoming like his father. However, his complete breakdown, begging his father to take his miraculous to make it all stop, tells us he won't become like his father - because his conscience is too strong. He wants to break that cycle.

Felix has also done some bad things - but he's begun the journey of redeeming himself and changing. He too is trying to break out of that cycle so he doesn't become like his father.

Kagami is embracing her passionate side, rejecting the coldness and isolation her mother has attempted to breed into her, no doubt due to her own upbringing once upon a time.

And I think there’s definite potential for Chloe to do the same. There’s no reason for anyone to remain caught in these patterns. The trick is to recognise the pattern is there in the first place - because you can’t break free of something if you don’t know you’re imprisoned. At the end of Revolution, I think Chloe finally saw her prison, saw that she was already trapped in her own maze, going round in circles. Now it’s up to her to pull an Adrien and cataclysm the bars that hold her in.

Because like Felix said, over and over – each child is miraculous simply for existing. And miracles should be cherished.

PLEASE NO POST-REPRESENTATION SPOILERS IN COMMENTS :)

[poorrichardjr]

Just How Much?

I know a lot of people aren't as familiar as I am about how some politicians try to use othering to get ahead. They aren't as familiar with how this eventually goes to an extreme that is used to demonize a group of people who aren't the primary group to any political sphere. The best known instance of this was just before WWII by the Germans, though they were playing into long believed hatreds and stereotypes.

The reason I bring this up is because we have seen this repeated time and time again in history, and today we are witnessing a constant stream of it in our own nation. Just listen to major republican politicians and you will hear denigration of "illegal" aliens. But they are far from the only target. Listen to Donald Trump and you will constantly be inundated with hate for "illegals, liberals, Haitians, foreigners (especially Chinese)", and anyone else who doesn't subscribe to their version of history or America.

The rhetoric is going through the roof. Haitians are eating your pets. Illegals are taking over buildings in Colorado. Liberals are forcing sex changes on students in school or trying to make them gay. Take your pick of othering in politics. The whole point is to make you think these people are less human than you. It is designed to make you fear these "people" enough that you will agree to vote for the person who is spewing constant lies.

The more they can make you believe these individuals are undeserving and less than you, the more likely they will willingly take action if you are foolish enough to put them in power. The Jews of Europe aren't the only people who have this used against them. Armenians in Turkey, The ethnic minorities of Cambodia, and the Tutsi's of Rwanda can all tell you how politicians used charged words to make citizens hate their fellow countrymen.

Ask yourself when you hear these people talk about all the evil people here in America, how far are they willing to go? How much further are they going to take this? If this person comes to power, will he send the police into American homes to root out all these people he seems to hate? Will they use those militarized police forces to force other groups in this country to conform to their ideals? When will it end, or would it?

[ashensgrotto]

Protective (Part 2 of 'Am I Feeling Love')

Characters: Azul Ashengrotto x F!Reader

Word Count: 5,328

Part 1 Part 2 (You Are Here) Part 3a Part 3b

I had someone ask if I was going to do a continuation of ‘Am I Feeling Love?’ that was orinally written on my main blog @kiy-anna after I rewrote the story to fit the tags better. I was mulling over the idea and my poor sea-rotted brain decided “Screw it, Mari! Just write the damn thing!”

It took a bit to figure out how I wanted to execute the process, but I’m honestly more curious to see what you guys think as well. Also, don’t forget, I have a poll that ends in a few days that will help me decide what sort of fanfiction I will be posting going forward, so please vote! It ends on Wednesday!

Warnings: yandere behavior, beatings, manipulative behavior, and foul language

***

The world is cruel, the world is wicked

It’s I alone whom you can trust in this whole city, I am your only friend

How can I protect you, girl, unless you always stay in here

Away in here…

***

Azul tapped the desk he sat behind impatiently. 

For the past hour, he had been cooped up in the VIP Room of the Mostro Lounge dealing with those poor unfortunate souls that sought him out - the pathetic fools making deals with the octomer as his patience thinned by the minute. All he wanted at this point was to get out of his office and watch you.

You, the magicless guest of Octavinelle, had been living in the guest rooms of the dorm for a little over two months and were working within the Mostro Lounge to pay for said room - not that you needed to, it was merely a lie so Azul could keep tabs on you. The other students of the Octavinelle dorm did not completely understand his reasoning; some thought that he was merely being a nice housewarden to a poor soul with no one else to turn to, others that knew the housewarden too well thought that he was using you as a way to lure in unsuspecting victims for his contracts. 

Whatever their thinking was, only Azul and his vice-warden, Jade, along with the problem twin, Floyd, knew the real reason as to why you were kept close by. 

Soulmates were rare and finding that ‘other half’ is like the story of the mermaid princess and her longing to be with a human. It’s a rare occurrence that only happens once in a millennium if not longer. Many times, people - humans, fae, and merfolk alike - often settle for someone they are content and happy with, someone that isn’t their other half. Azul, at the time he first learned about soulmates, wanted nothing more in the world than to find them - to have that one person who would see him for himself and not the pathetic octo-twerp he had been called during his youth; thus, he began working on himself, his powers increasing as he lured his victims in and stole away their most treasured gifts - a beautiful singing voice, powerful magic… all of it. 

But even with the changes and his new found strength, Azul had no luck in finding the other part of his soul - that was until about two months ago when you first appeared in Twisted Wonderland.

Azul had been ecstatic the first few weeks after you had taken up residence in his dorm; consistently coming to check on you, making sure you weren’t too tired, asked if you had eaten… and sometimes just watching you from the darkness of the lounge as you shifted from table to table, taking orders and bringing food and drinks to the guests. Nearly two weeks into working at the lounge, the clientele number increased slightly - making Azul at first wonder what had happened. 

Turns out, some of the students who had frequented the lounge had made mention of you in passing and how you were nicer compared to the other staff members - hence the students came to the lounge to, not just get a glimpse of you, but to also shoot a chance at getting you as their waitress. Jade and Floyd, who were consistently in the lounge and operated as Azul’s eyes and ears - especially when it came to you - informed Azul of what was going on. Hence, Azul decided to restrict your hours to only working when he, Jade, or Floyd was. When you asked if you had done something wrong, Azul merely rested a hand on your shoulder, eyes shining with a possessive kindness, as he explained there were certain students who had been watching you - and he was only doing this for your protection. After all, it wasn’t like he could monitor you twenty-four-seven - he still had his grades to keep up and you weren’t a student, technically.

It worked momentarily, but then Azul was back to the drawing board again when Jade had mentioned Riddle Roseheart’s overblot in passing.

Turns out, you had asked Azul for a day off the same day Riddle went berserk. Azul had asked what for, but you merely said you wanted to explore the school grounds, specifically the rose gardens that surrounded Heartslabyul. He knew that you had ‘made friends’ with two freshmen from the dorm - Deuce Spade and Ace Trappola, both who had been collared by Riddle because of their bad behavior. If Azul could work his will, he would have locked you up in his own room and thrown away the key to prevent anyone from looking at you or speaking to you - but he couldn’t find the strength to do so. Even so, he had agreed, allowing you to go to the unbirthday party that was randomly held on different days during the year, with the promise that you would come back as soon as it was over and not a minute later.

Turns out, the ‘unbirthday party’ had been a lie since Deuce and Ace both had challenged Riddle for his position as headwarden and you wanted to go to support them in their fight. However, Ace made a valid point about the rules that had been pressed upon the students of Heartslabyul and practically turned the whole dorm against Riddle - which caused his temper to flare up and the overblot to happen. Luckily, you didn’t get hurt during the fight between Riddle, Deuce, Ace, Trey, Cater, Crowley, and the pyromaniac demon cat-weasel, Grim - but you had been the one to smack sense back into Riddle with a slap to the face when he had gone after you next. 

And it was because of that slap and knocking some sense back into the headwarden of Heartslabyul that those who heard about what happened began to flock to the Mostro Lounge in search of you once more.

Azul pressed his face to hands and rubbed at his skin hard enough to turn it red as he thought and thought. What was he going to do? He couldn’t let anyone else get close to you! You were his! His soulmate! You should be putting your entire focus on him and him alone! Was that too much to ask?!

“What’s with the face?” the unwelcomed voice of Leona reached Azul’s ears as the octomer sat up and righted himself.

“What’s it to you? Nevermind, I’m busy at the moment, Leona. If you wish to speak with me, you have to make an appointment…”

“I already did, did you forget?” The beastman prince strolled into the room and plopped on the couch, arms dangling behind the rest and feet landing on the table before him, “I need to make a contract with you for a potion.”

Azul shifted his glasses into place before reaching into his desk and pulling out the familiar golden paper he used for his contracts, his pen twirling in his fingers as it shifted into a fishbone and began to write, “What sort of potion?”

“An enhancement potion,” Leona answered, side eyeing the Octavinelle headwarden before explaining, “With the Spelldrive Tournament coming up in a few weeks, and with all of these little mishaps that have been going around the campus lately, it would be a shame if something were to befall a particular headwarden we know too well.”

Azul did not need Leona to explain any further nor to question who he was referring to.

It was no secret that the Diasomia dorm had taken first place in the Spelldrive Tournament for the past two years straight - practically overrunning Savanaclaw who usually held that spot. The dorm’s success had been due to the new headwarden - Malleus Draconia - who had taken up the position the year before Azul arrived at Night Raven. Malleus was a dragon fae and one of the top ranking mages in Twisted Wonderland - so powerful that he alone was the reason for Diasomia’s success, making ninety percent of the scores by the dorm’s team. He probably would be the only player if Crowley had allowed it. 

Many of the other headwardens were disgusted by the losses and damage that had been dealt to their teams over the course of the past two years - even Azul had been winded by Draconia once and had no desire to be the dragon’s dinner again; due to this, the headmage had made the offer to place Draconia in the hall of fame, which would prevent him from participating in any more of the Spelldrive matches this year and next year. At first, all of the headwardens were in agreement - but Leona argued that it wasn’t a fair fight, claiming that they were acting like a bunch of cubs. Azul had twitched at that remark, but agreed that the fight wasn’t fair - as much as he hated it, he agreed that Leona did have a point about allowing Draconia to continue; he wanted to prove that Draconia wasn’t invincible nor was he immune, he wanted to prove that anyone could beat the Diasomia headwarden - even if it was just another individual.

Azul adjusted himself in his chair, thoroughly invested in the deal now, “If we’re thinking the same thing, Leona, you must be willing to offer something in agreement of equal price. How about that speciality spell you’re so fond of? You barely use it.”

“‘King’s Roar’?” Leona arched a brow in his direction, “I may not use it, but it does come in handy from time to time. How about my nephew instead?”

Azul twisted his features in disgust, “No thank you. I’m not Rumplestiltskin, nor a babysitter.”

Leona laughed, his voice shaking the settee for a moment, “I was only joking, Faleena would never allow me to hear the end of it. Well, then… perhaps a little advice on that soulmate of yours?”

Azul nearly dropped his pen, surprise appearing on his normally calm face before his pale blue eyes narrowed at Leona menacingly, “What do you know about that?”

“It’s not a surprise given your behavior as of late,” Leona curled his fingers inward as his gaze shifted toward them as if to inspect his nails, “Besides, I heard from a few of my dorm members that frequent here that you’ve been keeping a pretty close eye on our magicless guest.”

‘The sneaky lionfish,’ Azul sneered at Leona, feeling his temperature rising as his gloved hands curled inward.

“Personally, I have nothing against wanting to keep (Y/N) close,” Savanaclaw’s headwarden continued, “She’s cute and pretty, nevermind that fact that she’s a hard worker and kind - sucks big time that she’s a female. She probably would’ve done well in Night Raven if she was a boy.”

“What’s the point you’re getting at?” Azul seethed.

“Merely that everywhere she goes, she is welcomed. (Y/N) has made a few friends without your knowledge by working the floors of the Mostro Lounge. Every time she shares a smile, a laugh, or anything - someone undoubtedly falls for her charm.”

Azul leaned back in his chair, rubbing at his chin in thought. Leona had a point - (Y/N) may have been his precious pearl, his soulmate, but she was also well liked by any and all who encountered her. Deuce, Ace, and Grim were just the stepping stones, Cater, Trey, and Riddle also fell in line with her presence and kind words - and even many of the Octavinelle dorm that worked alongside her in the lounge had gotten close with the magicless guest. However, the students of the Octavinelle dorm knew that Azul had marked (Y/N) as his - those that did not understand the process, such as the humans of Heartslabyul, would always be a threat to the octomer’s happiness; they might even go as far as to ask the headmage to allow (Y/N) to stay in their dorm!

Azul clenched his hand tighter at the thought, ‘No! She’s mine! I will not allow anyone to touch nor taint her perfection or soul.’

The headwarden of Octavinelle leaned forward, fingers crossing together as his elbows rested on the desk and his chin on his folded hands, “I’m willing to make a deal with you, Kingscholar.”

Leona arched a brow as Azul continued in a dark voice, “(Y/N) is very important to me, the other half of my soul - as you know. Her recent encounter with Riddle Rosehearts’ overblot has left me worried that she might attempt to leave Octavinelle. I know that I promised I would help her return home, but I need to keep her close by in order to do so. Soulmates are rare - whether they are humans, beastmen, faes, or mers - and they need to be kept close to each other. I do not want to put (Y/N) on a leash nor lock her up, but she is far too free for my liking. I will create the spell enhancement potion for you in exchange for your help with (Y/N)’s freedom.”

“What is it you have in mind?”

“... Merely a little scare that will show her how cruel and twisted this world can be.”

***

It was a few days later when the plan was set in motion.

You had been helping with the set up for the vendors surrounding the colosseum where the Spelldrive tournament was set to take place in a few days; setting up tents and tables, covering areas with cloths and helping move heavy objects. You wiped at your brow as a bit of sweat dribbled down before a cloth was pressed to your face.

“You’re working too hard,” the familiar voice of your employer pulled your attention to him, a smile appearing on your face as Azul’s lips quirked into a grin.

He was dressed in the headwarden’s dorm uniform - a black tuxedo with a white dress shirt and purple tie and the dorm’s scarf hanging loosely around his neck, a pale gray overcoat that hung on his shoulders, and a black fedora perched on his head. He was leaning against the silver tipped cane with the large octopus on the handle - the mage stone held securely between its silver tentacles. It was strange to see for someone who was working on setting things up, but Azul was in charge of overseeing everything and making sure everything was where it needed to be and making changes as needed, using maps and planograms as reference points. 

“Well, I always believed in the phrase ‘working hard or hardly working,’” you answer, taking the offered handkerchief and wiping away the sweat and grime from your features.

“Quite an interesting phrase,” Azul nodded, resting his hands on his hips, “Care to enlighten me on the meaning?”

You shrug, “I’m not really sure, honestly. People in my world use it for small talk or to point out a person’s laziness. For example, if someone wasn’t doing anything, someone might ask ‘working hard or hardly working?’”

Azul hummed in thought, “I suppose it is a good phrase to use - maybe it might actually get Floyd to do something for a change… however, as I’m sure you know, that eel will whatever whenever he wants to, regardless of what I tell him.”

I giggle, nodding in agreement, “Yes, and half the time he dumps his work on his twin - poor Jade.”

“Jade’s used to it,” Azul waved his hand dismissively, “but speaking of ‘dumping things onto others,’ I hate to ask this of you, but I do need you to do something for me.”

“Hmm? What is it, Azul?”

“I have an order waiting to be picked up at the school store. You’re familiar with Mr. S’s mystery shop, yes?”

You nod with a smile, “Yep, I’ve been there a few times.”

“Good, I need to go there and get the parcel. It has a few items that we’ll need for the Lounge and for the tournament. I would get it myself, but I have to keep things going here and Jade and Floyd are working on their own projects for the tournament. Would you be willing to go pick it up for me?”

“Why not have it delivered to the dorm?”

“It’s easier to travel to the store instead of going to the dorm and back. I had intended on getting it earlier, but it completely slipped my mind until now.”

You frowned a bit as something crawled up your back and tingled behind your head, a feeling that something didn’t sit right with the whole situation. However, Azul had slipped to your side as his arm came around your shoulders and pulled you close enough for you to smell the expensive cologne he always wore.

“Please, (Y/N), it’s very important that you do this for me. I’ll reward you, too, for your efforts - a drink of your choice from Mr. S’s shop or from the Mostro Lounge, on the house. Besides, you’ve been working so hard as of late that you need a little bit of a break. Take this as an opportunity to stretch your legs and cool down a bit.”

A refreshing beverage was starting to sound good. You had been working in the sun for a while like everyone else that was part of the setting up, never mind that your bottle of water had been drained a while ago and you had yet the opportunity to refill it. Perhaps just going to get the parcel for Azul as well as a small drink wouldn’t be so bad.

“Ok, do you mind if I finish up here?”

“Of course,” Azul pulled away before resting a hand on your head and messing your hair, “but as soon as you finish, please go and get the package. I need it as soon as possible.”

You nodded in understanding before turning back to your tasks as Azul walked away.

***

The parcel wasn’t big, thankfully, but it was awkward - an odd shape that looked spherical, but was flat with pointed edges. 

‘I wonder what’s on here?’ you shake the package gently as you walk away from Sam’s shop, heading back toward the colosseum. You discard the thought, tucking it under your arm and taking your time, enjoying the shade the trees provided and the gentle cool breeze of autumn ruffling the changing leaves of the school campus and pulling some off and away from their homes. The colors reminded you of home - how the trees in the parks would shift from greens to yellows, reds, and oranges before fading into dark browns. It was strange to see all the trees do the same thing here - it made you wonder if Twisted Wonderland celebrated holidays like your world did.

You were so busy admiring the colors and deep in thought that you didn’t see where you were going and ran into the back of a very large student.

“Oh, I’m so sorry!” you smile apologetically, “I guess I wasn’t watching where I was going.”

“Well, then, watch it,” the student growled.

“Hey man, look what she did to your jacket,” another student pointed at the sleeve of his uniform’s coat.

The charcoal gray coat that all of the students were required to wear was typically a heavy cotton and ridiculously hard to damage - however, low and behold, one of the pointed ends of Azul’s mystery order had put a decently sized tear in the student’s coat. The tear revealed the golden yellow of the student’s vest, traveling from his mid back to just the top of his waist. You covered your mouth in shock as the student took his jacket off and examined the tear, rage budding on his features.

“You stupid - look what you did!”

“I’m sorry! It was an accident -” you try to explain.

“Do you know how much this cost?” the student shook the coat at you, “Now I have to buy a whole new one!”

“Just make her pay for it,” another student spoke up, crossing his arms over his chest.

“P-Pay?”

“You damaged it, didn’t you? So, you’re the one who's going to buy me a new replacement.”

“I’m sorry, but I don’t have any money…” you bit your lip as you felt your heart rate jump up, clutching Azul’s package close to you, “I-If you give me a moment, I’ll go talk to my employer and see-”

“Oh, no way,” the student grabbed the front of your borrowed button down shirt, “You’re going to pay for the jacket one way or another.”

Something within you snapped, you had tried to be reasonable with these three and had apologized for the trouble; however, it seemed now that you could only run and hope that you got to Azul before these guys did something to you. Your face hardened as you gave the student holding you a kick to the groin with your knee, the student releasing you as he groaned in pain at the sudden attack. Once you were out of his clutches, you took off in the opposite direction as the three students shouted at you and chased after.

You clutched the package close to your chest as you bolted into the school and down a corridor, staying close to the windows, hoping for someone to see you as you shouted out for help. Your cries echoed off the high ceiling, alerting a few students and staff members - but it seemed everyone elected to ignore your screams for help as the three pursuers gradually came closer and closer. 

You threw yourself around a corner which led out into the courtyard to throw them off.

Unfortunately, an uneven stone caught on your shoe, causing you to stumble forward and land on the ground, Azul’s package flying from your hands and landing with a sickening crack against the side of the wishing well. You tried to stand to move, but something heavy came down on your ankle, a loud snapping sound and a cry of agony echoing across the lawn. 

“You stupid bitch! All you had to do was pay up,” the student’s voice from earlier came in your ear as a large fist grabbed a handful of your (h/c) hair, pulling your head up to look into his rage filled eyes, “but nooo, you just had to kick me then run and tried getting help.”

“I think punishment is in order - after all, what can someone without magic and a broken ankle do now?”

Something heavy collided with your face as tears welled up from the punch, the pain coming again from the opposite side. Your hair was released before you felt a heavy boot collide with your stomach as you were kicked across the lawn like a football, landing a few feet away from the wishing well. You tried to sit up with a groan, your arm coming around to clutch your side as you spat out blood. Your entire body was shaking and was sore - you were beginning to wonder if they had hit any vital organs. A large hand came forward and grabbed at your hair again, pulling you up as you cried out.

“Piece of fuckin’ shit, you don’t know when to give up, do you?”

You bit your lip, fighting to hold onto consciousness and the tears that were slowly slipping from your eyes. You were scared and were still wishing beyond a doubt that someone would find you and stop these three from beating you up more. However, the wish was short lived when you were dropped to the ground, causing you to wince as more pain came from your side. 

“Time to say good-bye,” your eyes widened as you pulled your arms up toward your face, the student rearing his foot back with his aim clear in his dangerous eyes.

“Care to explain yourselves?” a familiar voice asked, stopping the students as their eyes widened in fear.

You peered out between your fingertips as the familiar figure of Azul came forward, his dorm overcoat fluttering behind him in the breeze as his walking cane tapped against the dirt. His face looked difficult to read as he came forward, eyes sharp and filled with rage.

“H-Headwarden Azul,” the student put his foot down and backed away from you, “W-We thought you were over by the colosseum.”

“I was - I was looking for my errand runner,” Azul’s gaze shifted between you and the three students before repeating, “Care to explain yourselves?”

“I-It’s nothing, honestly,” one of the students visibly shuddered.

“Y-yeah, just a m-misunderstanding is all!” the third student smiled wobbly.

“A misunderstanding, hm?” Azul cocked a brow, eyeing the students, before lifting his walking stick and tapping the head against his gloved palm like a baseball player would, “I will only ask one last time. What. Did. You. Do.”

“S-she destroyed my jacket!” the first student tried to explain, “She wouldn’t pay up for a replacement so-”

“So you decided to attack a defenseless angelfish who is under my protection?” Azul snickered, “How very foolish and pathetic…”

He snapped his fingers as Jade and Floyd appeared before the students. Azul came over and lifted you into his arms, “I’m taking her to the infirmary to get patched up - Jade, Floyd, have some fun.”

You ducked your head close to Azul’s chest, a headache slowly forming as he carried you away. You swallowed and began to open your mouth to speak, but Azul hushed you.

“Rest, (Y/N). You’re safe - there is nothing to be said nor to say. Just relax - I won’t let anything harm you.”

***

You must have fallen asleep because when you opened your eyes, you were in your room back in Octavinelle’s dorms. Azul was there, resting in a chair beside your bed with his arms folded over his chest and eyes closed. You shifted slightly, which caused the octomer to open his eyes - blinking rapidly before they fell on you as a smile crossed his face.

“How are you feeling?” he asked, standing and coming to sit beside you.

“Sore, tired,” you answered.

“That is typical after a fight,” Azul nodded, handing you a glass of water that had been perched on your bedside table, helping you to drink the cool liquid.

You smiled as he returned the glass to its spot before your face fell, “I’m so so sorry, Azul.”

“Whatever for, (Y/N)? You did nothing wrong.”

“Your package - you entrusted me to get it, but it probably got broken after that fight…”

“Don’t worry about it,” Azul’s fingertips curled under your chin, lifting it up to force you to look at him, “I’m not going to be concerned about a package that was damaged when you - someone I’ve been tasked to keep an eye on - was hurt severely. You’re very lucky. But, I do need to ask, what in the world happened? What did you do?”

“Honestly, I don’t know. I… I accidentally ran into him because I was taking my time and admiring the changing colors of autumn, not paying attention to where I was going. When I ran into him, one of the parcel’s sharp points must’ve caught onto his coat and when I pulled away, it tore it.”

“NRC’s required suits are relatively expensive, so I can see why he was upset,” Azul nodded thoughtfully, “However, why did he attack you? You could’ve come to me and explained you needed money for a replacement jacket - ”

“I tried telling him that, but he wouldn’t listen and grabbed me. I kicked him so I could get away and was intending on going straight to you, but he…” you didn’t want to say anymore, the memory of what happened only a few hours ago was still painful in your mind.

Sensing your distress, Azul cooed to you, pulling you into his arms as his head landed on top of your head, hands running up and down your spine gently. You sniffled into his suit coat, hand coming up and gripping the back of his jacket, feeling the familiar warmth and comfort that was  Azul Ashengrotto.

“Shh… it’s alright, (Y/N)... you’re safe now,” Azul murmured, his voice soft and soothing in your ear, “I know, I know… I can only imagine how afraid you were…”

You nod as you sniffle more.

“It’s alright, though… I’m right here beside you. Those monsters can never touch you again… but you have to promise me something.”

You look up at him as his eyes shine with pain and… something else.

“This world is cruel and wicked, (Y/N),” Azul reached up, resting a gloved hand against your cheek and wiping away the tears that gathered in your eyes, “It’s only I you can trust in this place - Jade and Floyd as well - your only friends. We can’t protect you if you are away from our sight, so you must stay here in Octavinelle - where we can always be within an arm’s reach.”

“B-But, what about the others? Deuce? Ace? Grim? Surely they…”

“(Y/N)... did they come to help you during your darkest hour? Who was there when you were getting beaten by those mongrels?” Azul asked, eyes narrowing slightly, “I did not see Deuce or Ace. Nor did I see Grim or Trey… the twins did not see any of them nor Riddle or Cater either. Who came for you?”

“...You did.”

“Exactly,” Azul nodded, “I will always be there for you. Jade will always be there. Floyd, as strange as it may seem, will also always be there.”

You nod slowly, tucking yourself against his chest as you realize the dark truth. They had abandoned you, left you to fend for yourself while you were getting hurt - it was Azul that came and found you and it was Jade and Floyd that put the trio in their place. The three of them were the only ones who cared about it - showing you love and support through these last two months in this strange, dark, twisted world. Tears fell faster as you sniffled under the calming strokes of Azul’s fingertips.

If you had happened to look up at that point, you would have seen the octomer grinning devilishly down at you, his eyes of pale blue filled with possessive love and adoration. 

***

Azul ventured out later after you had fallen asleep with the twins in tow. The trio met with Leona in the lounge of Savanaclaw’s dorm, the octomer pulling out a vial of strange green liquid.

“As promised,” the headwarden of Octavinelle presented the vial to Leona, “for services well rendered.”

“This is it?” Leona snatched the vial, inspecting it closely, “I thought there’d be more.”

“Too much and the power will cause the user to overblot,” Jade explained, “We don’t want a repeat incident.”

Leona hummed in agreement, looking back toward the trio, “Speaking of which, what do you intend on doing since you hurt three of my best players with that little incident?”

“If anything, it’s compensation for us after what you did to three of our best players,” Azul let out a shrug, “but remember, Leona - there’s a much bigger fish to fry in the ocean that has nothing to do with me or the twins nor anyone in Octavinelle.”

Leona grumbled, turning his head, “Ruggie!”

The hyena appeared out of nowhere, landing next to Leona with a soft thump, “You called?”

“Take this,” Leona handed the vial to him, “On the day of the Tournament, you know what to do.”

Ruggie snickered with a nod.

“Well, we’ll be going,” Azul smiled, turning away, “pleasure doing business with you, Kingscholar.”

“And I hope that you live a long life with that soulmate of yours.”

“Oh, after that little incident - I doubt she’ll be going anywhere… at least for a while.” 

***

You do not comprehend (You are my one defender)

Why invite their calumny and consternation, stay in here

Be faithful to me, grateful to me

Do as I say, obey

And stay in here…

[rubykgrant]

(bringing back the "Rookie Grif and Simmons Meet Their Future Selves" picture because I thought of ways to expand it a little~ This all happens in a scenario where a new time god AI is messing with everybody, just for gits and shiggles, and this is one of the things that happens. the people who get pulled from their proper time-line eventually get sent back with erased memories and a "rewound" internal clock to avoid paradoxes, but some nonsense still happens!)

"Aw, look at how cute I was..."

"What the f- I don't call myself- I don't think- I'm not cute! Guys aren't cute!"

"Oh, shit, I forgot I was insecure as hell back then too. Damn,"

"You? Look at ME over there. Oh my God, I'm a baby!"

"NO! I'm 22! And that's- I mean, it's LITERALLY 4 years older than the legal voting age, and another year over the legal drinking age, so I'm a man! Chronologically! Mathematically! Legally!"

"I'm a repressed man-baby,"

After the initial shock of "another time displacement event has happened" wore off, Grif and Simmons- that is, the older Grif and Simmons, were casually amused to see their younger selves.

It really wasn't the worst thing an antagonistic AI with god-like power could do. So they had to baby-sit the two insecure and repressed Grif and Simmons with their little rookie buzz-cuts for a while. Big deal. They had already sorted out a similar situation with Tiny-Sarge, plus the angsty-teen versions of Carolina and Wash. As far as the older men were concerned, this was fine.

The two younger men (who were definitely MEN, and NOT cute) did not agree. The last thing they had been doing was fighting on the floor of the barracks; Grif had somehow managed to roll out of his cot, slowly slide onto the floor without making any noise, continue rolling until he reached the cot next to him, and while still out cold, wormed his way up onto the mattress, forcing out the person who had currently been sleeping there. Simmons.

Simmons responded by yanking his blankets out from under the intruder, which made Grif roll out of the cot yet again, this time quickly, and hitting the floor with a thud. He woke up pissed, and an argument quickly followed.

All around them, the other rookie soldiers had groaned, and tried to block the bickering with their own pillows. It just never ended with those two. Every single person who had trained with them hoped and prayed that they would NOT get sent to the same assigned base as Grif or Simmons... ESPECIALLY not Grif and Simmons TOGETHER.

Simmons tried to tackle Grif, which was a mistake, because Grif wasn't exactly an experienced fighter, but he knew a thing or two about how "playground wrestling" (which was like cage fighting, but with less rules). Grif had Simmons trapped in a tight hold, squawking empty threats, and then...

They weren't in the barracks anymore.

They were in what seemed to be a livingroom. A large livingroom in a fairly nice apartment. They were also between the TV and a huge couch, full of many unfamiliar people... except for three. Three of these people were familiar; another Grif, another Simmons, and- Grif's little sister? Kaikaina?

The young Grif and Simmons panicked, but the strangers seemed to only be mildly irritated. A short dude with dark hair and glasses swore, said something like- "Not THIS again". A gruff old guy, with a buzz cut of his own, looked at them almost wistfully, like a dad at his kids' graduation or something. Kai burst out laughing, and Grif couldn't process his sister being TALLER than him.

Several agonizing minutes later, explanations and introductions were made. The sarcastic dude with the glasses- Church, he went with a few of the others to "fix the problem". After a discussion, the rest of this group agreed to go out, buy some extra changes of clothes and supplies for the time-travelers in case they remained for an extended stay, and Grif and Simmons would stay at the apartment. With Grif and Simmons.

It was WEIRD.

"Why do our faces look all... jacked-up?" the younger Grif asked.

"AND WHY ARE YOU TOUCHING EACH OTHER LIKE THAT!?" the younger Simmons nearly screeched, pointing at the sight.

The older Grif and Simmons were standing together, in the kitchen. This Simmons had both arms drapped over Grif's shoulders, linked by holding one of hi wrists. This Grif stood with one arm bent, the hand in the pocket of his jeans, the other wrapped around Simmons' back, that hand resting on the other man's hip. Their middles were pressed together. All cozy and... intimate.

Also, the older Grif clearly had sections of his body covered in skin that was a shade lighter than the rest of him. The older Simmons had... robot parts? Robot parts! In the same areas, around the eye, one side of his jaw, and the left arm.

"Well... long story short, I got hurt, needed extra skin and organs and blood, so he shared..." older Grif answered, grinning like this was FUNNY somehow.

"Then a BUNCH of other stuff happened, and now we're married," older Simmons added, seeing the horrified looks of disbelief on the younger faces. "Trust me, this is NOT the weirdest part of our lives!"

"There is no way in HELL-"

"NO, this IS hell, this has to be hell, you choked me to death in the barracks, and I died, and this is some kind of torture in the afterlife!"

The younger Grif and Simmons were not taking things well.

"Calm down, don't get yourself all worked-up again!" the older Grif said to the younger Simmons. Somehow, his tone wasn't unkind. Younger Simmons didn't expect any version of Grif to sound like that. "You aren't dead, and this isn't hell. We can get into the philosophical implications about the afterlife later, if you chill out-"

"Oh man, they haven't even had that conversation yet!" the older Simmons chuckled.

"Ha, this is gonna be fun. But first thing's first..." Grif walked over to the fridge, and pulled out several containers. "I know myself, and back then, I was jonesing for pizza bad,"

"Dude, you have no idea..." the younger Grif forgot all about the issues he had with his future-self's taste in romantic partners, his taste in food was still acceptable.

"I absolutely have EVERY idea, I lived through your life up to this point. I remember that crappy military food, and the tiny portions. This pizza right here? Pepperoni, bacon, 2 kinds of mushrooms, 3 kinds of cheese, olives, and green bell peppers. I'm heating you up four slices, AND making chocolate milkshakes. Get ready to not feel like you're STARVING for the first time in months," the older Grif began preparing the food as his younger self followed behind, looking like he might start crying tears of joy.

"Maybe we DID die... except I went to heaven..." he mumbled quietly.

"Here, I know you'll like this..." the older Simmons opened another container, waving his younger self over. This Simmons was less food-motivated, and thus less trusting when offered a treat. Older Simmons was putting different portions of food onto a plate. "By the way- you aren't actually allergic to half the things you THINK you are,"

"I'm- I'm not?" younger Simmons cautiously asked.

"Nope. Mom and Dad just used to serve you under-cooked food because they followed all those stupid diet trends, and gave you food poisoning," older Simmons finished with the plate; it was Chinese food, chicken fried rice with various vegetables, pork chow mein, 2 potstickers, and spicy mandarin chicken. He put the plate in the microwave, heating it up for a couple of minutes.

The Grifs were off in happy-pizza-land, but the Simmons' weren't focused on the food. Younger Simmons noted the casual yet disdainful way the older Simmons spoke about their parents. It wasn't as if he didn't complain about them himself, he could get pretty loud and angry about his dad from time to time. It just... usually had more of a build-up. More of an emotional explosion. Which he always regretted later, and felt like he owed an apology to a man who hadn't even heard anything he said... this older Simmons was oddly more confident and open. Younger Simmons didn't even recognize that attitude in himself.

"So, you aren't allergic to everything. And those times you got sick, that wasn't your fault. You weren't the problem. Even the times you did get sick because of and actual food intolerance you have, that wasn't your fault either..." the plate was ready. Older Simmons handed it to younger Simmons with an encouraging smile, and motioned for him to go join the two Grifs at the kitchen table for milkshakes. Older Simmons got himself a plate of Chinese food as well, and sat down beside the older Grif. They had very little space between them. The younger Grif and Simmons were sitting at opposite ends of the table, trying very hard to NOT look at each other.

"You were serious before... you guys actually got married?" younger Simmons finally asked when he felt like his brain was working again. He could see both of the rings older Grif and Simmons wore. Wedding rings, on their ring fingers. Not only that, the rings matched; older Simmons had a dark red ring with a band of gold running through the center. Older Grif had a gold ring with a dark red band.

"Yep," older Grif said after a gulp of milkshake.

"WHY?" younger Grif had one eyebrow raised, utterly confused.

"I'm not sure. I think he tricked me," older Simmons deadpanned, but his poker-face broke almost immediately. The older Grif leaned against him, his head fitting into the crook of Simmons' neck, both men smiling in a satisfied way.

"No, really, why?" younger Simmons pressed the issue. "He's- he's the worst! He always makes a mess, he forgets to flush the toilet, he's lazy beyond all reason-"

"Oh yeah, and you're a dream!" the younger Grif finally looked at the Simmons he knew, and it was with a glare. "You are so up-tight, you've got the military rule book stuck up your ass side-ways, you're an annoying little shit-"

"OK kids, stop flirting~" the older Grif pretended to scold the younger men on the other side of the table. They were shocked into silence at that; flirting? FLIRTING? They were NOT flirting!

[burnitalldowndarling]

https://www.tumblr.com/burnitalldowndarling/744870483940524032/whats-been-particularly-vile-to-me-is-this-group

#alladis#the left started to die when the white people took over#obama derangement syndrome hit them just as hard#they've just displaced their bigotry in more convoluted ways Really? How so? /genuine

Short on time so not a lot of links or theory, but I think a major example of what I'm talking about is the white leftist dismissal of "identity politics." What they mean by idpol is marginalized people taking pride in their identities or talking about bigotry, which white leftists typically frame as a distraction from more important issues. Thing is, the "more important" issues tend to be those of primary importance to white men, such as UBI or copyleft -- but it's not idpol when they do it. Another example is the embrace of class-centered (also called "class first" and "class reductionist") leftism. Addressing class disparities and economic justice does help marginalized groups as well, but do remember that the people who stand to gain the most from class uplift are those who were already well-off -- as white cis people tend to be, in America, thanks to historical and systemic bigotry. The rising tide floats all boats, but those who already had speed boats in the water are still going to do better than the folks surviving on inflatable rafts.

Identity-centric politics such as anti-racism have always addressed class and economic justice issues, but had the added benefit of centering the most vulnerable groups. The idea was that if you address the needs of/reduce harm to those groups first, everyone still benefits, but you save more lives. In their rejection of idpol, the American left now often ignores harm reduction, denigrates incremental improvements that benefit marginalized groups, and weakens the whole coalition by permitting established power hierarchies and bigotries to run rampant. See the "dirtbag left". See also Bernie Sanders' own 2016 campaign staff revolting because he failed to address racism, racial and gendered pay disparities, and sexual assault. How's he going to build a progressive national coalition when he can't even get his own house in order, progressively?

And I blame white leftists, along with white conservatives, for Trump's election in 2016. These are the people who kept pushing third-party voting, "boycotting" voting, and accelerationist nonsense like the idea that letting Trump get elected would hasten The Glorious Revolution -- never mind if it killed a few poor or brown people along the way. These are people who attacked and dismissed marginalized people online (especially Black and queer women) whenever they pointed out the dangers of a Trump win. They were absolutely vile in their sexism toward Hillary Clinton and anyone who supported her. In a lot of cases these were "leftist" influencers and such who embraced Gamergate and other harassment campaigns, and used the techniques of same against their fellow leftists -- and surprise, surprise, several years later a whole lot of the most prominent ones have come out as fascists. They got right-wing radicalized during the 2000s and 2010s same as white conservatives, in other words; they're just as racist, just as gender essentialist, just as anti-semitic and classist and so on. They just like UBI too. And they're better at using therapy-speak or communist-speak to hide their bigotry.

Tl;dr, while there are plenty of white leftists who are doing the work and doing it right, the most prominent face of leftism for the last 10 years has been the dirtbags, the brocialists, the accelerationists, etc -- people who IMO make the left weaker, and who are frequently dangerous to the very same vulnerable groups that the left should be centering. And way too many of them have become very wealthy from doing so, at which point a lot of them stop being progressive. Almost as if they were only ever in it to advance themselves, in the first place.

[qqueenofhades]

as a woc (who is south asian, so i share that with harris), it's deeply upsetting to me that......nothing she could do would be right. i see people wondering why she isn't doing more, but then she does something, and then those same people pick that thing apart and tear her to pieces and it really does go to show that nothing we ever do will be "right".

i have yet to see criticism of her specifically that doesn't boil down to racism or misogyny (or a combination of both), and it's frustrating, especially in leftist spaces, because i do want to think critically and have conversations about what she's doing right and what she (and the administration as a whole) could improve upon, but i feel like i can't start or participate in those conversations without dealing with that same racism + misogyny. and this isn't even getting into the gop, this is about people who call themselves progressive/leftist/whatever. so much effort goes into maintaining the idea that they're better than the right, but i don't see nearly as much effort put into.....being better tbh

Unfortunately, among all their other problems, Online Leftists are a) often just as likely to be racist and misogynist as the GOP, and b) to strenuously deny that they are, weaponize that language in bad faith against people or candidates they dislike, and otherwise parrot abstract "social justice" talking points and Progressive Jargon while being absolutely noxious to the real, actual people that are involved. They do, as you say, assume they are Morally Righteous, and then don't actually interrogate that or question it in any way. So.... yeah. Yeah, pretty much. As I've said before and will say again, they are an absolute failure as any kind of practical or effective opposing force to right-wing fascism, and often inadvertently or even deliberately enable it in deeply disappointing ways.

It's funny that in all my posts/answers on the topic, I stated multiple times that if people could provide me an actual reason that made empirical sense as to why they didn't like Kamala, I was happy to have that discussion. Instead I got a lot of weird angry asks from people clearly still trying to justify their Hillary Clinton Derangement Syndrome (I only answered one of them because I have better things to do with my life), accusing me of being "emotional," "angry," "trauma-dumping" and God knows what else. And like. I'm sorry that pointing out a clearly verifiable fact (misogyny is what doomed HRC, anti-Obama backlash/racism was what enabled Trump) triggered y'all to that degree, but I think that fact is pretty illuminating on its own. And no, actually, I don't have to "get over" HRC's loss or "just accept" that people had "reasons" (conveniently never articulated, but they were real! They totally weren't misogyny! PEOPLE HAD REAL REASONS FOR NOT LIKING HER WHY WON'T YOU BELIEVE ME AND ACCEPT THAT!!!) for disliking her and/or not voting for her when her opponent was Donald F'n Trump. Like, I know they live in the magical realm of the Permanently Online where the real world suffers no consequences from their bullshit and the argument about why 2016 was not their fault changes daily, but that's not the case with us here on Earth. And yeah, we're pretty mad.

Kamala has, in my view, been doing a perfectly fine job as the vice president. She has been able to give a few powerful and relevant speeches about race relations, gun violence, abortion, and other topics. I occasionally see news articles from "anonymous sources" who "don't like her" or want to cause trouble for whatever reason, which I treat with the usual degree of skepticism that I employ when reading anything the mainstream media writes about Democrats (which is then repurposed and reused in the Online Leftists' "Democrats Terrible!" screeds in equally bad faith). Yet again, I repeat my offer for anyone who wants to complain about her for an actual and clearly articulated reason to explain what that reason is and why it's not a double standard, why it's not attributable to racism and misogyny (even and especially the unacknowledged sort), what they expect she should be doing differently, and why this is any kind of big deal for the actual mainstream electorate. But judging from previous experience, this will just trigger another round of anonymous WE HAVE GOOD REASONS FOR NOT LIKING HER!!! whines with cheese, and to that I say, yeah, don't even waste your time.

[curi0uscreature]

Swap Compton’s / “King of the Gulch” Story

( Written in 2023, first literature post based off a poll I did like. officially a month back. T’which thanks to the ppl who did vote for more writing stuff! )

As a man that loved animals dearly combined with his great understanding with them, he joined in on the Vet lifestyle. It was fun for a bit seeing all the different animals and getting the opportunity to help all of them! But one day on a work rush, it was extremely over the usual amount each day. And more so, overwhelming for Compton. The barking, the great amounts of concern people had for their pets, the faint yelling, and then—boom. All of it was gone!…almost all of it. And the reason for it wasn’t exactly good. The faces of concern immediately switched to anger and the faint yelling was almost louder, mixed with the sound of dialing phone numbers. It wasn’t long before Compton found himself locked up. in jail. For who knows how long honestly.

God, it felt like the entire world’s weight was on his shoulders. What kind of person would he be after he’d come out of this place? If anything he might do worse than the incident he committed before. And it certainly wasn’t like he’d knew anybody that could bail him out..it was a risky idea but it was extremely tempting. Late at night, he escaped jail making sure to leave no trace of evidence of his tracks. He stayed in in unkept places in the area he lived in and kept a low profile. Until discovering an underrated restaurant that was in dire need of a chef…They don’t know him. They don’t fear him at all. They aren’t aware of his past record and he had some good cooking knowledge in his hands…He applied. And if anything this was better than his job as vet. People were nicer and given that it was kept low, nearly nobody even recognized him! He eventually saved enough money from payment to go on vacation as well! By the time he came back, nobody recognized him either. He was no longer a famous criminal.

Not long after, a woman named Lucrecia recruited him for her research group full of powerful psychics. Out of anyone, Cassie and him became the closest of friends! Beekeeping, literature, helping each other out, they were almost inseparable! However someone none the wiser caught his eye. Otto Mentallis. Sure he was full of himself sometimes but it was slightly,,endearing in a way? Maybe even..charming. Cassie disliked him, but she was his best friend after all. Surely she wouldn’t think about him negatively over a small crush right? With this knowledge in the back of his head he’d tell her eventually. Meaning after several weeks of trying to hide it. Somewhat Surprisingly: she was very supportive for him after he opened up! Even offering to help him out when confessing. But that confession didn’t come up until it was followed by another few weeks of stalling and confidence building. He had to get it out somehow and honestly, any day now before his feelings were bottled up and tied into knots.

So one day in the lab on his occasional one-on-one research time with Otto, he expressed how he felt. Well muttering out a few mumbles at first before getting to the main point. But it checked out given: Otto felt the Same way! They started dating a few moments afterwards. And those moments soon turned into weeks, into months, and into years. By the time they even knew it, Bob and Helmut were getting engaged! It took a while for them to arrive due to prepping the most out of everybody but what matters is they were there with all of their friends. It was beautiful.

( Post “Ford-igula” )

Bob and Helmut are gone. Lucy’s lost herself—mentally. Cassie feels demotivated, all while Otto’s in a sense of denial during the opening. Sure the attention and popularity was nice in a sense but it didn’t feel…right. At all. Especially with the current situation at task. He tried to reach out to Lucy, but she immediately shunned him off. He tried beekeeping with Cassie again which helped, but only for a little while. Otto stated that he’s fine multiple times during check-in’s but it is very much clear that there was something much, much more than that underneath. It eventually lead to them splitting apart mutually. He still loved his partner dearly but he just..couldn’t stand seeing him being in denial like this.

Overtime the more he repressed his truest emotions during missions, it built up. But in a different way. Something that felt almost..physical. Mainly on his temple, but he tried to brush it off as something that’ll go anyway with rest but it increasingly got more painful because of his repressing. Once again—Boom. This time harming himself on the left side of his face. It took several days to recover properly but that might as well been his final straw. The night he was able to get back on his feet was the night he had reluctantly left to the forest. It turned into nightly beekeeping alone and interacting with friendly animals every now and then, but the animals slowly grew into crowds.

Because of his understanding with them, they were more so mad about the fact he wasn’t the owner of the gulch due to how well he treated them. But they slowly grew out of control with this ideal concept, leaving Compton with no choice in the matter. He had tend to them. He was in the deepest part of the forest where it’d probably take ages to get out and back and his vision wasn’t the best with one eye working but the other being blind. So until further notice, he’d protect this place. It’s sacred for him and his “subjects”. He now earns the title: King of the Gulch. Legend says if you manage to get in his animal kingdom, you’ll never get out.

[maybe-boys-do-love]

So related to the news about Thailand today, I want to detail a thing i noticed when writing a longer piece about Boston on Only Friends, because I think especially watching as foreigners, we can forget or ignore some really cool subtextual commentary that's happening in the QL shows we're watching.

We learn a couple episodes in that Boston's dad is running for office. When we first meet Boston's dad, Nick is working on his campaign flyer, which reads among other slogans, "Give me a chance to improve." (Thanks to @thaisongsengsub for the translation). Boston enters the scene wearing a graphic tee that says 1998. In 1998, the Thai Rak Thai party was founded in Thailand by Thaksin Shinawatra, who would become the first democratically elected prime minister of Thailand to serve a full term in 2001. According to the Guardian article where much of my info's coming from, he "introduced a universal healthcare scheme, village funds to stimulate growth, as well as policies to boost entrepreneurship and help the country recover from the Asian financial crisis. He also presided over the repayment of the debt Thailand owed to the IMF ahead of schedule."

In 2006 Thaksin Shinawatra was deposed by a military coup and his party was outlawed. Only Friends spoiler alert: Just as Boston lives in exile from his friend group and from Thailand by the series' end, Shinawatra would live in self-imposed exile beginning in 2008 and lasting fifteen years to avoid legal charges. Interestingly the former prime minister returned for the first time the same month that Only Friends premiered, August of 2023 (upon his return he was promptly put into custody).

A new incarnation of this populist neoliberal party formed after the dissolution of Thai Rak Thai, the People's Power Party, followed by Pheu Thai Party when the PPP was dissolved. Shinawatra's younger sister, Yingluck Sinawatra, would take on leadership of the party and become the Thailands first female prime minister from 2011-2014, when her tenure was also ended by the courts and a military coup from which she fled to exile. The party is currently being run by Shinawatra's daughter, Paetongtarn Shinawatra.

The Move Forward Party, a more progressive Thai party, that was dissolved by the courts yesterday had previously been part of a coalition in Parliament with the Pheu Thai Party but decided to not vote for its candidate for Prime Minister after the PTP decided to include more conservative parties that supported the military junta in its coalition also in August of 2023 (you know, the period Only Friends was being written), as reported by Bangkok Post. All this is to say that there were a lot of politics in Thailand happening around the time of Only Friends.

For those willing to observe Jane Austen's "fine brush strokes" that she uses to offer portraits of romance, you'll find observations that would've otherwise been censored on slavery, the military, estate law, and most obviously, marriage law and female citizenship. Thai BL series don't have to be as explicit as Not Me to comment on political affairs. In fact, because of the political situation some of their commentaries require a deft touch like the one we see in Only Friends. I don't want to say exactly how I think Only Friends interprets the political situation it hints at here. Hopefully you can at least see that this idea of improvement, inclusion, and exile is as tied to the concept of friendship on Only Friends as it is to Thai politics. I only want to recommend that you watch for how QLs address class, political actors, geopolitics, and condemnation more broadly because to my eyes, they are doing some of the most subtle but radical commentary happening in any contemporary media, which I won't say makes them better or worse, but goddamn does it make them interesting.