#tragic pasts

[chell-min]

my hands still remember

[earlgraytay]

I really wish that people had a better grasp on what The Average Person's Life was like pre-industrialization. If you're living in the global North the odds are good that your life is, in fact, better than a medieval king- yes, even with the political stuff- and would make your ancestors cry wild tears of envy.

The things that suck about your life are things that suck about the baseline human condition (at least since the invention of agriculture, but that's 10,000 years of humanity). Yes, including all the political stuff.

The baseline human condition is "being terrified of losing the harvest and starving", compared to that, losing a job is no big deal. (It's bad, it can be life-upendingly bad, but it's still not "you are guaranteed to die if you screw this up" bad for most people.)

The baseline human condition is "getting kicked around by a tin pot dictator", whether that be a king, a baron, a warlord, or a chief; it's taken centuries of social technology to get the world to a point where that's Not Normal.

The baseline human condition is "losing multiple siblings and/or children at a young age to diseases that are entirely preventable". That's a shocking tragedy now. The baseline human condition is "being in the pathway of said tinpot dictator's wars of conquest" and having to deal with soldiers' pillage, looting, and worse (even if they're nominally on your side). That is, again, a shocking tragedy-- it still happens, and happens in way too much of the world, but no one is going to tell you that it's normal.

I'm not saying that we can sit back and rest on our laurels. We can't. I've been calling the pre-industrial world the "baseline human condition" for a reason- unless you're very, very careful, that's what your society eventually reverts to. It takes a lot of people working very hard to make sure you don't have to live at the baseline human condition, and if you start slacking on that, you start backsliding into it.

How we treat each other- and how we use the technology, material and social, that we've developed to make things easier- matters. We can make the world even better than it is now. We can also make it significantly worse. The choice is ours.

...But if you know that you can reliably have food regardless of the season, you don't live in fear of a random attack killing you tomorrow, and you can listen to music on command whenever you want? You do actually live a better life than a medieval king. Because even kings and emperors were much closer to the baseline human condition than a random farm worker in Bumfuck, Iowa is today.

[shhhhimwatchingthis]

just started the X-Files after years of Pop Culture osmosis, parody, references and memes

But holy shit did none of you prepare me for the pathetic wet cat rizz of Fox Mulder. Puppy dog eyes every other scene. He loses every stand off with every other government agent, military op, co-worker he bumps into. Sassy little quips in between getting his ass kicked and the puppy dog eyes. he's deeply traumatized. he has no social life. he never knows whats going on. he's one of the smartest people in any room he's in and knows more than most what's going on.

This guy is just sopping wet vibes, desperate need to believe, and love for Scully. Character of all time.

[hinamie]

so just know, I'm healing / even though it don't feel like it

insp

[an-established-butt-dent]

"What have they done to you,

Old friend."

Trapped in the fade, Solas comes face to face with the remnant of his spirit.

The Dread Wolf was his wisdom, mirror to his pride. In the wake of the wrathful Evanuris, it too, has succumbed to their taint.

Or, where I'm making wild plot speculations surrounding Solas trapped in the fade. while turning my brainrot into art pieces and gifs. I'M PACING MY ENCLOSURE. Looking for crumbs and scrabs of Veilguard. Please Bioware I'm begging, feed me. 😭

[urfavoritemistake]

if you put me into this thing rn it would just be a loop of "you can call me anything except late for dinner/he was the center of my universe, the sun of my galaxy/so you never cared about ford?/i never said that./were we even partners?/one thing led to another/who else will give you this feeling again?/puppet hour/the love cage/my blessed muse/oh sixer, it would eat you alive/it would eat you alive/it would eat you alive/it would eat you alive./GET OUT OF MY HEAD/you first."

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Gaslight, Gatekeep, Girl found dead in a hidden room.

[First] Prev <–-> Next

[weirdly-specific-but-ok]

i don't have a lot of sins—but utterly abusing the em dash (—) in every piece of writing I've ever attempted might be the top one—or at least, in the top ten.

[hells-okayest-dad]

Do you think anyone misses Trudy? Do you think Javier thought it was weird that she never came back? I wonder if he told anyone. At the turn of the 50s I doubt any cop would be that concerned about a woman going home with her husband but I wonder if he knew that something wasn't right.

I wonder if Trudy's parents are alive. I wonder if her dad still plays the piano. Does her family wonder why they never see her anymore? Why she doesn't come home for Christmas to sing duets with her favorite person? Has her sister forgiven her for crashing the car?

[knockknockitsnickels]

I think this is one of my favorite lines from the Wraith route because of (imo) how much the meaning changes depending on if you got there via Spectre or Nightmare. For Spectre, it honestly strikes me as a genuine question. Why are you doing this to her? If you're on the Spectre route, you presumably already know the Narrator can't really be trusted, since you had to reject his reward to get here. What are you hoping to gain from continuing to hurt her? For Nightmare, it honestly just makes me sad. As the Shifting Mound describes her, "She desires only companionship, but the only thing she knows is how to hurt." This line feels like a plea from someone who genuinely doesn't understand why you keep rejecting her. She wants to be with you, but she just can't understand how to do that in a way which doesn't hurt you.

[gavramous]

I just know Price is a divorced man. I feel it in my bones. This is my TRUTH. He's a miserable divorced man who keeps his ring wrapped up and stashed in the bottom desk draw in his office. Only Laswell and Ghost know he used to be married.

Laswell actually knows his ex. They shoot each other a short message on christmases and birthdays, and that's it. They both feel too awkward to continue a friendship after the divorce. Ghost, on the other hand, found out on accident when Price was a little too tipsy to control his tongue and let it slip that he used to be married. Ghost had no idea what to say, and Price immediately asked him to forget he said that.

[musubiki]

danmarch 🐉💎

[anetherealpoetess]

it's vital for my mental health that the show introduces celebrían and we get to see this man fall in love with his wife

[bbq-potato-chip]

the brotherssssssssss

[lexicals]

The contrast between teenage lan wangji and adult lan wangji is so funny. He goes from 100% obedient uncle's special boy to almost getting disowned and bc everyone acts like nothing happened afterwards he just starts doing whatever the fuck he wants and everyone is too cowed by his reputation to say anything. And it works bc 1. he usually wants to do things that align with his clan's principles anyway 2. who the fuck is gonna stop him and 3. are you going to be the person who says they saw the great hanguang-jun breaking a rule?? No-one will believe you. Even people who do see him doing smth out of the ordinary are like "well. He knows what he's doing I'm sure"