#trouble's lament

[mirtola87]

HO HO HO!🎅 Merry Christmas from The Nightingirls (aka @amyfarrahfowler86 and myself)! Here's a little gift for all the fandom… 🎁 Hope you'll enjoy our first fan video!😇❤️😈

[gingermintpepper]

I think, perhaps one of the funniest things to come from EPIC popularising the Odyssey is that now a ton of people think Poseidon wanted to kill Odysseus.

In the Odyssey, Poseidon has no intention of killing Odysseus. In fact, part of the whole reason Zeus lets Poseidon do whatever he wants even though he thinks Odysseus is rad and should get to kiss his wife is explicitly because Poseidon had no intentions of killing Odysseus. Poseidon wanted to pay back the suffering/inconvenience blinding Polyphemus would have caused. It's a really abstract thing tbh. How do you pay back someone permanently disabling your son? Poseidon's solution was just to amputate Odysseus from his other half; i.e. Penelope. The end game was never murder, it was always an endurance race.

(Od. Book 1: Zeus reassuring Athena that he is not, in fact, a part of Odysseus Hater-Nation. Trans. Robert Fagles)

Also, for those wondering if there's any sort of in text reason for why Poseidon wasn't around in God Games - at the time in the Odyssey when Athena petitions Zeus to let Odysseus leave Calypso's island, Poseidon was -checks notes- on vacation in Ethiopia. Yep. He left to Ethiopia for a festival and thusly was very much absent for Athena's whole "please let Ody go? Please? 🥺" request.

(Od. Book 1: While Odysseus was suffering, Poseidon went to party in the east)

I am begging y'all to read the Odyssey. It's a comedy for everyone except Odysseus and Penelope who are, in fact, suffering 24/7 365.

[incesthemes]

the great tragedy of supernatural is that it has lines it's not allowed to cross. it can't depict textual incest or even too much maladaptive affection; it can't show the reality of prolonged homelessness or food insecurity or the actual dangers of fraud and theft; it can't delve too deep into the lasting effects of abuse and neglect or trauma; it can't talk about political issues in any meaningful way—it can't contain anything too morally objectionable or uncomfortable for viewers. it has to build and maintain a fantasy that lets people ignore what they don't like. and that's a shame because of its roots in horror, so instead of being free to explore the themes and elements that form the show's foundation, a lot of it is left to subtext, to subtle nods, to "if you know you know" moments.

what the show does manage to depict on screen is rich and captivating, but at the end of the day it has an image to maintain that doesn't align with the reality of its own themes. the show is at odds with itself and its executives, and over time it gets progressively scrubbed clean just like the gritty, low saturation, high contrast lighting of early seasons. it departs even further from its horror foundation, relegates more and more of its worldbuilding and characterization to subtext, or even just memories of the past.

i just think it's a shame that despite its (original) genre, it faced so much opposition and so much sanitization that it never really had a chance to go all-in with its world and characters, and that what little it was able to depict was sucked away over time until it became a ghost of the american gothic horror it once was.

[the-crow-binary]

I wanted to draw the national Bastard, but I also wanted to draw Joachim for @xemnas178 (surprise!!) :< So I drew both. ❤️ (and because i decided to cover him with the cape you can't tell, but Joachim is sitting on Walter's lap. Not of his own free will of course. :3)

First attempt at drawing Walter, his nose and eyes gave me a hard time lol

[firendgold]

I always block the Manipulative Albus tag obviously but I also always want to block the Good Albus tag because I mean… isn’t that a given? That’s like having a Good Harry Potter tag… like, no shit. Fork found in kitchen.

Like yeah he made some tough decisions but his intentions were good. And, imo, if the information, skills and power were placed in anyone else’s hands - whether it be McGonagall or Kingsley or even Harry himself (as Inverse elucidates)- they would have struggled and failed to do better.

Also like… the Grindelwald stuff was literally a century ago when Dumbledore was practically a child. Why are we so generous towards Regulus Black who probably literally butchered muggles and muggleborns but we can’t forgive Albus who was lower-class, had an insanely difficult homelife and likely faced otherization and racism for having a Native American, muggleborn mother. I think if you can forgive anyone for being radicalised against muggles, you can forgive the teenage boy who eventually lost his mother, his father and his sister because of an anti-Wizard/Witch hate crime.

Ugh.

Most people don't bother to look into Albus' deeper history—and by that I mean the stuff we knew even before Pottermore and Fantastic Beasts and the outside interviews. All of the information about Albus' past is in Deathly Hallows, his race and social status and circumstances—all right there for people to read. But that cements Albus's status as a good but complex character so bashers ignore it or downplay it. And I in turn ignore them.

To your point about the 'good Albus' tag, I think you have to consider what you said first about the manipulative Albus tag. It is so ubiquitous. In just the six years or so since I got back into HP fanfic and fandom, the amount of dumb people who think Albus is manipulative/evil/shady has not decreased. It has quadrupled if anything. Even when using the tag that's supposed to be about Albus and Harry's positive relationship, there are at least 80 fics right now on AO3 that have that tag or similar. You have to block it all to stay sane.

But EVEN if you block the manipulative/evil/greater good tags, lots of other people will write fics about Albus with neither a good nor manipulative tag, but then their Albus Dumbledore will still be wrong. He will be manipulative and want to control everyone, will be untrustworthy for "some" reason not ever quite explained to the reader, will still be pining after Grindelwald and worshipping at the altar of the 'Greater Good' even after age 17. So unfortunately no, 'Albus is a good person' is still not a given in this fandom. The incorrect takes have so deeply permeated the meta discussions that it is very easy to find fics without any labels that honestly need the manipulative tag, even though the authors would probably argue you down about how "problematic" Albus is if you engaged them in dialogue.

(Example necessary probably, but just try to find a Harry/Hermione fic where Hermione doesn't randomly bash Dumbledore and act like she, a teenager or twenty-something, knows better than him, even though canon Hermione had the correct takes about Dumbledore the entire series. Check and I guarantee you that a good portion of them won't even tag manipulative Dumbledore, especially if it's a post-war fic and he's not alive. Incorrect takes abound. :'/)

I think the people who use the Good Albus tag know that water is wet just like you and I do. They know Albus is—well, really morally gray in many aspects, but a good person overall. But these authors are saying, "there has to be some counterbalance. People reading my fics should know that I am presenting the character as he is, and not as I presume him to be".

I personally haven't used the Good!Albus tag because my fics are meant to counter those many false-advertising fics out there that don't tag "I think Albus is as evil and/or controlling as Voldemort" but say that anyway when I try to read them.

As for Regulus Black... don't look at me lol. I think he's an intriguing character—or was before the 'marauders fandom' got their hands on him—but he's not moving any mountains in my fanverse just because his elf was threatened and his feelings got hurt. I'll stick to focusing on Albus.

[polaroid-petals]

At this point I'm, like. THE real world Omori and Stranger guy. What do you mean I can't come up with anything to write for that prompt?

[gargelyfloof118]

The Tale of Yesterday: A Saga in Most of Its Parts.

To start, I don't have the best luck with my vehicles. I tend to break things or just be the common theme among things that break. I have had 4 spark plugs blow, a gas pump die, a leaf spring pop, tread on my tire shred off, been hit by a cop, hit by a plumbing truck, the AC fail in the summer in Texas, among a smattering of other things that were simple to fix or cosmetic. We've been down to one vehicle since before school was out due to a failed starter.

Grandma offered to take a kid on Friday and asked for some eggs. My friend (let's call her A) wanted some eggs. All things I can take care of in one round!

I hauled the kid up, gave Grandma the eggs she wanted, and headed down to my friend's house. I decided to take back roads, thinking it would take me more directly to her house and I could have some much needed down time to myself at the same time. Two birds, one stone.

This particular back road is full of hastily patched pot holes. This particular back road has turns that could rival an A5 race track. I don't know if it was a factor, but I wouldn't be surprised.

I was about a mile from A's house when I heard it. The distinctive clank of something metal bouncing along behind the truck.

Eek! Pull over! What is that??? WHAT IS THAT?? Aw crap... that's not safe.

I get moving, going more gently than before and wincing at every clang. Call Hubs. "Hey, uh yeah, I know you want me home sooner than later, but something fell off the truck and is bouncing along under it. I'm leaving the truck at A's house. I'm sure she will take me home but I need to call her." Call A. "Hey, uh.. I need to leave my truck with you, can you take me home?" And she starts laughing.

She starts laughing for 2 reasons.

1. Her husband (who we will call J) is a mechanic. He does a lot of sidework to help out the family and this sort of thing happens often. He's our go-to mechanic and we are often over at their house. (Like I said, I don't have great luck with vehicles)

2. She had a friend just the night before in a similar situation. Apparently, A went out to book club the day before and her friend bought her home. On the way back, they hear a thud and then metal clanging. Her friend's car dropped its muffler.

So A goes "Did your muffler fall off?" "I think so?" "Is it a long tuby thingy?" "Yeah" "Just park it next to my friend's car, we will have matching pair" I'm trying not to laugh while she's saying this. What are the odds?? Two dropped mufflers within 24 hours! Both on the way to her house?!

I get there, park, take a picture for Hubs, put her eggs on the porch, and she takes me home in a fit of giggles.

I had to then call my mother-in-law and give her the news. "Hey... I need to ask you to do something that you might not like... can you bring the kid home?"

I explained what was going on. We have no vehicle. I, currently, have no way to come get my child. Can you bring him home?

She's not entirely comfortable with the idea. (Understandable) She doesn't have a carseat and hasn't had to drive the kids anywhere before. She might just keep him overnight. We will keep in touch.

Hubs got in touch with our neighbor (the same neighbor who has 2 horses in our pasture) and asked if we could borrow a car just in case. Of course!! Neighbor jumped on it so fast we had a spare car in 5 seconds flat! He's awesome! I was able to go get the kid and get him home. Grandma didn't need to do it, which I could see really made her shoulders relax. She's a good driver, but she was worried.

J decided it was easier to fix the starter in the Jeep than it would be to work on the truck. He came over after dinner and worked on it in our driveway.

Starter works now, but the battery is dead. Neighbor brought over a trickle charger and a jump box to help out. We figured out the battery has a fault and we need to replace it. Neighbor left his car so we could continue to use it. Hubs is supposed to go this morning, but isn't up yet.

On all these parts, I am extremely lucky that everything happened when it did. My child was somewhere safe. I wasn't in a rush to get back to him, and it wasn't necessary that I get him at a certain time. I was very close to my mechanic's place AND his wife was there to take me home. My wonderful neighbor was willing and able to lend a car. Even when I called Hubs to let him know what was going on, I didn't interrupt an important business call. It might not seem like a comedy from the outside, but everything landed so absurdly perfectly that all I could do was laugh the entire day. How odd a day it was.

[fictionadventurer]

Grant's memoirs are a weird reading experience. He's a good writer, very likeable, very interested in laying out the facts clearly and clearing up misconceptions. No doubt historians love his precise details. The trouble is that I have no spatial reasoning or knowledge of geography, so I can't follow his descriptions of battle tactics, and military manuevers just aren't that interesting to me. But I can't skip ahead, because in the middle of all these military facts, he will throw in some of the wildest stories you've ever heard, and I don't want to miss any of it.

It'll be like

Grant: Numbers, tactics, place names, battle plans, names of commanders, numbers, place names that are the same as other famous cities in the US so who even knows what state we're in, oh and here are some more numbers.

Me: Zzzzzzzzzz....

Grant: I left my son sleeping in one of the gunboats, and I hoped he'd stay there until we captured Grand Gulf, but when he woke up and found me gone he followed the sound of the guns to the battlefield.

Me: Excuse me, WHAT??

Grant: My twelve-year-old son Frederick came with me to all the battles in the campaign toward Vicksburg.

Me: WHAT???

Grant: He has vivid memories of all the battles because of how young he was.

Me: I'LL BET HE DOES!!!

[angelbvn]

i’m just being paranoid.

just paranoid.

…just paranoid.

just…paranoid….

[aroseyetbloomedwrites]

I've reached a point in inspiration where I am actually getting paralyzed by it. I'm getting closer to the end in my current fanfiction. I've got several ideas for another, I want to make a late Halloween themed series, I want to participate in Haurchefant week and combine several prompts. It's troubling that now I can't pick up my pencil again.

[sn4kebites]

all jjk does is stress me out. manga im in an extremely toxic relationship with

[darabeatha]

Absolutely feral that after getting kicked from heaven and falling down for 9 whole days (and then staying burning in agony in a pit of fire down in hell for another 9 days) s.atan and his army of millions of fallen angels just crawl from the shores of hell, decide to make a hugeass palace for themselves and then discuss what the heck are they going to do now, only to come to the conclusion that the way to hurt god the most would be to destroy his newest creation (men) which from then on they can further take on earth and make it their new kingdom (bc during the council, one of the fallen angels argued that even if they made a new kingdom in hell, at the end of the day they are still essentially 'trapped' in a box, so would that even count as a triumph?)

[cookies-over-yonder]

cookies sad hour whining hour ignore me (<- actually loves attention)

[justthatspiffy]

ohhhhhh holy fuck

[skenpiel]

its like how i have a habit of making my sonas like pastelly pink and cutesy and stuff just bc i like those aesthetics. but thats not me and it NEVER will be. my monstersona used to be a pink pretty candy themed demon but that was NEVER me i just thought it was pretty. like do you get what i mean

[thiswaycomessomethingwicked]

love poor Eomer floundering a little at how to Brother Properly. 

Eowyn: I am BoOoOrEd

Eomer: i .... am sorry?

Eothain: have you considered asking your sister if she’s doing alright? 

Eomer: I do! she always says she’s fine, so therefore she must be fine. 

Eothain: that’s not. that’s not always the case. you know that right? 

Eomer: i don’t understand people, i’m just going to hang with the horses and kill some orcs.