#this one's incoherent even for me sorry

[kalinara]

So there's this interpretation that I have, I'm not sure how common it is, that when it comes to the X-Dream, the person who tends to embody it the most is Scott Summers, rather than Charles Xavier.

For once, this isn't meant to be a Charles Xavier hate post. Because I do think the mutant dream is important. And while I definitely have my share of "Magneto was Right" moments, especially with the world as it is right now, I do think that the dream of co-existence is, at heart, a good one.

Mutants and humans are not a separate species. While the "mutant gene" has a clear genetic component, something that's come up more and more often. The vast majority of mutants are born in human families. They have human lives. They belong to human countries. They have human racial identities and sexualities. They belong to human religions and subcultures. I don't think it's wrong to want acceptance, even given everything stacked against them.

Magneto's right. Sometimes. But Charles Xavier isn't wrong.

That said though, I don't think Charles himself really serves as an example of the Dream. For one thing, for the vast majority of X-Men canon history, Charles Xavier kept his mutation a secret. To the broader Marvel world, Professor Charles Xavier was just a very mutant-friendly rich, brilliant baseline human guy.

I'm not saying this as a criticism to Charles. I think that pretending to be a baseline human for so long is what allowed him to be able to raise, train and protect mutants in relative safety. It does, however, mean that he isn't an example of what he preaches.

Scott Summers, on the other hand...

One element from the original X-Men run that gets a bit lost nowadays, I think, is that (since it's before Hank turned blue), the two characters who really didn't pass as humans were Scott and Warren.

Don't get me wrong, they don't have the same difficulty as Kurt or Beak or Glob Herman. They have ways to mask as human in a pinch. But it doesn't take much to blow their cover. Warren can strap down his wings, but he can't get rid of them. And Scott's glasses fall off so often that it became his iconic image in the animated show's opening theme.

So that means, ultimately, that Scott really doesn't have a choice about it. He's pretty much got to live publicly as a mutant - with all that entails.

The funny thing about Xavier's Dream, I've always thought, is the best examples of it actually working aren't actually the X-Men. Something about the fact of a uniformed child army appearing out of nowhere to fight bad guys and then disappear after proving they can cause massive amounts of damage (...mostly Scott, admittedly, but sometimes Bobby too) tends to make people more freaked out rather than less.

Whereas Pietro and Wanda lived fairly openly as mutants in the Avengers and were actually pretty beloved. And during their respective stints on the Avengers, Hank, Storm, even LOGAN, tend to get positive press and reception. A lot of that, I suspect, is because the Avengers is a different kind of entity and folks didn't so much accept those mutant characters as just not think of them AS mutants. But it does indicate both that Xavier's onto something with positioning his students as heroes, and fucking up the execution somehow.

It does get interesting to see how other teams and characters tackle the idea. The Original X-Factor concept was fascinating. An obviously absurd and terrible idea that was as counterproductive as it was well-meaning, but also fascinating. Secretly training mutants while publicly acting like "mutant hunters".

Most of the time though, the X-Men basically followed the Xavier formula, even when Xavier was in space or otherwise on the outs. But it gets kind of interesting in the mid 00s, when we go through that spat of Xavier's the Worst (which I enjoy but also think gets a little over the top even for my Xavier-hating taste.) When he gets booted off and Scott (and Emma, but she's more in charge of the school side of things) takes over completely, we see a shift.

Whedon's Astonishing X-Men is really interesting in this context. I've seen folks dismiss it as some kind of "conservative" attempt to go back to a status quo that never really existed. (And honestly, I wish we'd stop calling story arcs that we don't like "conservative". It's always a story about a oppressed minority trying to exist in a world that despises them, even if we don't necessarily agree with the way they do it.) I don't see it that way. Whedon's X-Men is specifically presented as a strategic attempt, by Cyclops, to present a specific superheroic face to the world.

It's basically the same as the later X-Tinction Team, but in the opposite direction. And this isn't me putting my meta hat on, this is expressly the reason given for the team in the first couple of issues.

It does get a little funny then that half the run involves internal X-Men issues and then adventures on another planet, but there you go.

Then of course, we get the Decimation. We get the move to San Francisco, where, even then, Scott Summers's primary strategy is to make friends with the Mayor and try to have them live openly as part of the community. And it seems to even be working, to an extent, until Civil War and Dark Reign put the kibosh on that. Then we get Utopia, and the mutants under attack.

We do tend to lose the co-existence thread at this point, understandably. Though you could make the argument that Logan's team going back to the Mansion was an attempt to return to the Xavier-style status quo. While Scott's X-Tinction team was meant as a return to the Astonishing style superhero team, only this time scary and a clear lightning rod distraction from the Mansion folks.

Post AvX gets interesting, because you have Logan's team openly working with the Avengers. Scott's team is of course hunted, but somehow the guy still manages to be on every college dorm wall and get a cover of Rolling Stone. The Mutant Revolution at this point is oddly friendlier than Utopia when you get right down to it, and more about trying to set up a place where OTHER mutants get to live in their homes, with their own lives, even if Scott and his team get to live in a Weapon X facility. Even when he abandons the Dream, he really doesn't.

As much as I dislike Death of X and Inhumans vs. X-Men, the Xavier-hater in me gets unpleasantly smug by the idea that the "X" in Death of X does NOT refer to Xavier. Because Xavier is the dreamer, not the dream.

(That may also be why people tend to react really badly when Scott falls off his pedestal. Milquetoast Revolutionary Scott didn't really say anything all that different from his Claremont era characterization, but they act like he's a monster because his edgelord presentation is not the Dream they signed on for.)

It does make Krakoa even more interesting though, because we've got Xavier back. He's back being the architect and the Dreamer. But Krakoa is, when you think about it, the complete antithesis of his own dream!

There are definite good parts to it. Safety, resurrection, the chance for mutants to develop their own individual culture and identity. But it's not an idea that works for everyone. Not everyone WANTS to be separate from human society. And we see that, I think, in Scott Summers.

The Summer House is the gift that keeps on giving in terms of sparking meta. This time though, I think about its location. And where it is NOT. It's cool, it's fancy, it's built with Krakoan plant technology on the moon. But it's not on Krakoa itself, and the more I think about it, the more I think that's significant. During a time that the Council wouldn't even let Scott bring the Champions - superhero CHILDREN to Krakoa for safety, he's having his very human dad for family visits. (I wonder, if Kitty and the Marauders weren't available, would a space ship have been plan B?)

Later, we have the X-Men back in the Treehouse in the middle of New York City, helping the mayor and engaging in all kinds of outreach. Xavier's got his Camelot, so Scott gets to indulge in his own version of the Dream once more.

It's interesting actually, how the From the Ashes version seems to be an interesting amalgamation of vision. In many ways, it's like post-Schism Utopia or even the Revolutionary era - a repurposed base that once belonged to the enemy. A stripped down team focused on tactics and missions. No students at all, this time, except maybe the new mutants they've accumulated accidently.

(I realize it's funny to call the Adjectiveless Team "stripped down" when it's probably got the biggest cast of the X-books so far. But it definitely feels like Rogue's team is the catch all, for any former X-Men to just drift in and out as the writers see fit, while Emma's is basically Generation X, anew. It definitely reads like each member of the Adjectiveless team was chosen for a purpose)

At the same time though, they're not as isolated as Utopia. They're working with the locals. I know some folks were pretty bitter about the idea of Scott courting the local police chief, and I get that, but I also think it's completely in character. They're making a presence for themselves in the town rather than isolated from it, and it'll be interesting to see how that all works together.

[asexualbuthorny]

you know what i hate?

when bitches wobify Mu Qing and make him into a twink and i especially despise it when they do it for a ship with Feng Xin.

and okay he's not as muscular and more lean (hence being describes as looking scholarly) but do y'all fucking forget the man is a martial god in his own right? by no means is that man a damsel in distress that needs Feng Xin to constantly save him. he's smart, he's cunning and yeah he had a few vulnerable moments but by no means is he a poor wet meow meow he would kick your ass and laugh at you for being a failure. and yeah he's more lithe, especially when he's constantly next to Feng Xin who is kind of hypermasculine in fandom portrayals and impo (general "gigantic masculinity" anyone?) and those two are THE SAME FUCKING HEIGHT so why is Mu Qing always drawn to be much shorter than Feng Xin. and also maybe let's factor in the fact that Mu Qing was poor when growing and likely had to go without food so the lack of proper food while growing probably had an effect on his development(this just a hc btw but still it tracks). also this whole thing kind of smells really bad when people take Mu Qing, who is described as scholarly, and feminise him. it's really giving "EUGH!!! school is for girls!! only boys play sports!! academics=lame, feminine girly, war=cool, MASCULINE, done by REAL MEN URGH!!!"

y'all saw a man who is a war good who doesn't conform to your idea of a "war god" and went "no❤️that one is a femboi catboi twink who gets bent over by that one who DOES conform to my basic, no nuance idea of a war god"

get bent xoxo

[bookhobbit]

Changes happening at work that have a chance (not a certainty; just a chance) of meaning I may not have enough work to do in the future. Every time this happens it sets off a cascade of suicidality feelings (I am physically safe and not making plans). This is surely not normal. I felt like this all the time when I was finishing my PhD and again, worse, when the company got bought out last year and we sort-of-not-exactly lost our jobs. It's like every time I have to think about the possibility of job-hunting I have an existential crisis and want to stop existing. It's all the same existential crisis that I can't seem to resolve and the same constant obsessing over what I could do to stop myself feeling trapped in a corner, it just kind of goes back down to a quieter level when things are more stable at the job. Just getting news that MIGHT lead to having less work (it might even lead to more work!!! we just don't have the data yet!) has put me back here which feels really stupid of me.

[insomnya777]

guys!!!!!! false god by tswift is so ranchers coded!!!!!!!!

[deus-ex-mona]

ok yk what. now that i’ve had some time to process nghy canon, considering the current pacing of gen retcon, i think their next step is as ✨clear as day✨

i really like seeing them happy together, but i truly do think that they should divorce and either live the rest of their lives as single besties; partners in hero/heroine-isms, but better off as just friends, or go their separate ways for a bit and get back together when they’re a little older and wiser, staying together for good this time around, as each other’s first and last boyfriend/girlfriend

[arvoze]

[3/3] HHNFLARTAS - what's done is done

hell hath no fury like a rescue team association scorned not a fic or anything, i just ramble a lot about my pmd ocs in a digestible format that's more or less that kind of content. random yearly event for rescue teams. covers no more than like, one week of VV content

[ 1 / 2 / X ]

the rescue team association #1, again

there comes a point where it gets complicated. the RTA can't let you pass just because you completed their challenges -- you could cheat to win, and that wouldn't be reliable, after all. there's a million and one technicalities to consider.

yes, keith's team saved the rescue, who came back safe and unharmed. they also secured the item at the end of the dungeon. so what gives?

you never split the team. the rescue takes priority.

but they did the rescue. does it really matter? you can't just go off of stuff like this. there's specifics to it. it's a case-by-case basis.

both parties are right, in their own way. it's not a black and white case.

..

in the RTA's defense, they aren't wrong. you've got to consider how their actions would come across out of context.

a rescue has been secured. a member has split from their team, taking the rescue with them.

they split from the team. this puts them in immediate danger. they also have the rescue with them, so they're endangering the rescue as well.

if the solo member is incapacitated, the rescue is at incredible risk. the member is also at risk.

team splits can cause multiple problems to arise at once. it may also be seen as a disagreement.

extreme measures had to be taken to ensure the remaining members completed their goal.

the usage of a flood orb is not commonplace. team inventory will not always have this item available. it cannot be considered a reliable solution to a problem.

relying entirely on one item makes you a liability. it can be considered an easy way out.

the monster house was not fully defeated, simply temporarily disposed of. if the orb failed to work, the team would not have survived.

if the rescue was there, they could have been swept up in the confusion.

their general behaviour may be seen as too immature and unreliable.

this only checks out if they're monitored during their dungeon run. the three have a lot of chemistry with eachother, and have a lot of banter together. when you're unaware of how they talk to eachother, it can be seen as constant bickering and arguing.

regardless of how seriously they take the job when it's required (since they don't really like to be tense the whole way through), they have lapses of silliness and tomfoolery. this is because the RTA is incredibly boring and hate fun.

they barely even survived. let's be honest.

this is self-explanatory.

the rescue team association #2

in the defence of keith's team, you'd have to consider the following:

a rescue has been secured. mike has split from the team, taking the rescue with him.

he split from the team, a mutual agreement between all three members. they decided that this was the best way to get the rescue to safety. mike is strong and fast enough to get the rescue out of the dungeon with his remaining energy.

mike didn't become incapacitated. and if he was close to such, he can take matters into his own hands to really save his skin, and, more importantly, the rescue.

there was no disagreement, and mike was going backwards. he wasn't taking any new paths and discovering new things/triggering events. he was simply backtracking, taking the safest routes.

the rescue plant, an undetermined pokemon of undetermined rescue knowledge, agrees that this was the best decision to make given the circumstances.

extreme measures had to be taken to ensure keith's team could complete their goal.

this is because luwel prepared for the worst. when you plan for a rescue, you already know what kind of environment to expect, so you prepare thusly; this is no different. if it were a real job, and keith's team were the only pokemon available, it would be the exact same -- luwel would prepare the very same items as he did for this adventure.

they had the flood orb, which meant it was available to them at the time. a problem was predicted, planned for, and then solved. this is how it should be.

keith's team did not rely on a singular item. instead, luwel took the time into planning out the right items to carry with them, getting a rough estimate on the dungeon size and how difficult the job would be. to say the item is the sole reason they survived is to completely undermine luwel's ability to plan ahead.

a monster house does not have to be defeated in order for either goal to be met. if a third task was to defeat a monster house, then this would apply. but this was not the case, so it does not.

the rescue would have been accounted for. keith's team will make quick decisions, but they will never forgo the rescue to make them. the rescue, had they been present in the room at the time of the orb's use, would have been given a heads-up, and the team would take the initiative to keep the rescue safe before using the orb. additionally, the rescue was not even there at the time.

keith's team communicate with eachother frequently, including having light conversation, as well as constructive discussions about eachother.

sorry that you're too unfamiliar with a good relationship to understand their dynamic. the rescue would state that despite the circumstances, they did feel that keith's team had great communication. this is a non-issue, and exists just to make the cause for failure bigger than it actually was.

there's a lot of back-and-forths. guildmaster rime is not happy with the results.

the rescue team association #3

truth be told, there's… really not a lot that the team can do about the situation. what's done is done. they can fight their case if they really wanted to, but it's just resources wasted. as far as they're aware, at least.

guildmaster rime has always been in keith's team's ballpark. hell, keith is like a son to him, he is a son to him -- keith's going to inherit his guild, for goodness sakes! how can rime be succeeded by someone who failed the master trials for no real good reason? it won't do. it just won't do. the guildmaster is typically in agreement with the RTA when it comes to grading, as a seasoned explorer himself -- but to not consider keith's case? to fault them on technicalities alone? it's not right. it isn't fucking right. he'll do something about it. or at least, try to.

as a guildmaster, rime has some form of contact with the RTA. it's a required system in order to have a guild be truly recognised in the world, and additionally mandatory for any teams to earn ranking points. he drops a line of inquiry into the guild's connection orb, but there's been no response for several days. despite his grievances with the system, rime knows better than to push.

..

the boys have already forgotten about it, for the most part. they're discouraged, but they know in their hearts what they truly are: a good team who did the right thing. keith tries to distract himself by ranting and raving about the process of getting another flood orb. luwel's been trying to distract himself by writing up varying arguments to plead their case, which isn't really a distraction at all. mike is… unbothered. he cares, but doesn't have enough faith in the system, and settles more on the idea of "we know our truth and that's that, if they can't see it that's on them". every time luwel brings up a possible counter-point, mike gives him a thwap on the head. "best to keep it to yourself," mike says. "i dunno if keith can take it".

they cross paths with team PB&J occasionally, who, against all odds, ranked in the top 100. keith would say it was a total fluke that they did, and truthfully, he's right. it pisses him off further.

..

it's been about a week. the RTA responded to rime, after sending a rotom drone or two out to survey the boys. none of them noticed. nothing really fun or exciting to report on. the drones were simply just monitoring their day-to-day, to see how they've decided to take the results. it's invasive, and certainly not something they consented to, but the RTA can do whatever they want if you more or less work for them. thankfully, they do not find luwel's musings, as he gave up before the first surveillance.

rime's call is short-lived. there's not much to say, according to the RTA. the final findings were, essentially, "agree to disagree". they'd argued that because the case wasn't black and white, a true, rightful verdict couldn't be settled on; this uncertainty meant it was safer to fail keith's team than it was to pass them.

nobody had the desire to combat the RTA of all people about the decision any further. failing due to just barely missing the mark was better than failing due to sheer ineptitude, which lead to some sort of small victory for the team in the end. at least we aren't total failures, i guess, keith would think to himself.

not that they'd expected things to go their way. they knew that by now.

..

end.

[technicalknockout]

LITERALLY FILLED OUT 2989947986 PAPER FORMS SO I CAN SKIP SCHOOL FOR A WEEK AND GO ON A FAMILY TRIP BUT MY UTERUS SAID NO. MY RAGE IS IMMEASURABLE

[librarydilf]

Neverook yaoi triangulation of desire moment wherein I [local fag] want to fuck every man in dock town so bad it makes me look stupid but that's impossible within the game mechanics and so the next best thing is to have my man Alec Mercar fall in love with The Personification Of Dock Town herself: Neve Gallus.

[dracimexidae]

Watched the first 2 episodes and the only conclusion i got so far is that Sophie Okonedo is the real true QUEEN and i would gladly submit to her, she doesn't even have to ask ❤️‍🔥👑🧎

[seaquestions]

kitten really. really. really. needed that win. instead i had to experience the most stressful hour of my life at work with a smile on my face and didn't even get to feel good abt hockey.

[istillgotlove]

you need to calm down is kind of really silly and I get why people are like really but also listen. listen. international superstar country sweetheart taylor swift making a fun song to make sure people know she supports her lgbt fans is actually really important.

[raccoons-in-a-trenchcoat]

Not to beat a dead horse but I NEED to talk about Mako again

I’ve been thinking about this panel again. Because I still can’t get over the last panel. Bolin saying that Mako had “found himself” and Mako’s face being cut off. The cut is just so dramatic? And it’s Mako. The guy who has had a million jobs, from pro bender to cop to bodyguard. Who is remembered by fans as the guy who doesn’t have a personality. The guy who is always defined as Bolin’s brother, or the Avatar’s boyfriend, or Wu’s bodyguard. Who doesn’t have an identity outside of what he is to other people.

[outeremissary]

kasander + 😴 please!

Thank you ❤️ Sleep questions about D&D elves always lead peculiar places, don't they?

hc + 😴 for a sleep-themed headcanon

Kasander seldom sleeps willingly. Their trance is already haunted by half-alien memories of blood and darkness, disorganized images they struggle to stitch together and match to their origins. It's upsetting even without any supernatural incursion causing more extreme visions, and it makes them fear resting. Sleeping, on the rare experiment trying to avoid the memories, is much worse. They always dream, and they always dream Bhaal's dreams. And it takes such a terribly long time to wake. So they avoid sleeping, and they're thankful not to have a reason to.

However, sleep is the most convenient way for the Emperor to contact them, and the Emperor has a way of pulling them under whenever he pleases. When they first met and the Emperor was still in the form of the Dream Visitor the Emperor offered to soothe their nights from the restless, terrible trance by quieting their dreams- if only they would sleep, of course. Disoriented, still largely amnesiac, and distressed by the visions, Kasander agreed eagerly (there was a lot of agreeing with the Emperor then) and committed themself to the psionic protection out of desperation for any relief from the growing fear there was something wrong with them. It did seem to work- mostly- but when Kas began to break with the Emperor they stopped sleeping nightly as well. By that point they were ready to grapple with the horrors of trance again, as painful and difficult as they were.

[katyspersonal]

It is always so hard to recover the default settings of my brain after someone had already fiddled with them.

I live completely settled and accepting that nothing in my life will ever get better. That Russia will just keep getting digged deeper and deeper into its grave and I'll never be able to leave it (I am poor, nor I have qualifications important enough). That I'll just die here, and alone, and unloved, and very soon after my mom passes away because I can't fully care for myself. That everything will just keep getting worse, that I'll never reach the civilized world, that I'll always struggle with money for as much as food, that nobody will want to be my family.

But I accepted it, there is no need to worry too much if nothing can be changed. So it hurts even stronger when some asshole crawls back, telling me that he can't have a future without me, how much he wants to take me out of this mess and give me better life, how he has money to buy everything he ever wanted but it all means nothing if he can't buy me gifts and see places with me and meet holidays with me. How he just wanted to have a family at last in his life and only saw me as such - not because I was the only one who would accept, but because he only liked me. Because in the end I dropped my guard and felt hope. My brain completely rebuilt my concept of life and future from "dying alone, cold, unloved and pretty soon" to imagining doing everything there is to do in life together with someone I love.

But apparently he got too scared and uncomfortable with how fixated I became on meeting irl already, since I kept asking him about it? Of course I was impatient! I could not wait to take walks in the places he showed me together, and let him teach me how to cook, and watch all the shows he wanted me to show together, and do house stuff like picking furniture, cosplaying, decorating for holidays, taking care of pets, having long talks before falling asleep etc.. Yet he thought that was cringe and it made me sound "obsessive and entitled" and he went all "woah chill, you should be more HUMBLE and grateful for the OFFER, actually I was not in my right mind when I offered you, I am not really that desperate for you so why can't you just visit me once in a while for holidays or something :)"

And I just can't rebuild myself back to how I used to be right away. The vision of a better future became so apparent, so integral for my thoughts and feelings every day, that I kind of lost the idea. Like walking out of a house only for the door to lock itself behind me, so I can't even walk back in and am stuck outside.

I feel like my life just tries to teach me that I can't be loved or wanted. Why else I keep facing betrayals? Because it should be apparent that if something sounds too good to be true - then it IS.

[britneyshakespeare]

i finished the merry wives of windsor today btw. 4 shakespeare plays left to go

[nabaath-areng]

It's funny how my psychiatrist and psych nurses are all so supportive about my as of yet undiagnosed physical issues and do their best to keep those in mind when we discuss my care. Meanwhile GP and qualified doctors either tell me to "not compare my googling to their medical degree" or go all "yeah EDS sounds quite likely actually but there's no point diagnosing that since it cannot be cured anyway"