#tw homophbia

[starlitkindred]

Mogh took Miquella of his own choice

This is def an ok, hear me out, but...

I'm not trying to argue that Miquella didn't charm Mogh. But I will point out that in none of the trailers, nor the opening cinematics, does it ever say Mogh cut Miquella from the Haligtree. Gideon thinks that is what happened but here's the thing;

ALL NPCs are fallible.

This seems to be true of any Fromsoft title. The trailers do not lie, as far as I know, but you have to pay attention to where they cut the characters dialogue and where the pauses are. The best we get are item descriptions and as far as I know none say that Mogh took Miquella. That and I would argue any dialogue from NPCs within item descriptions are still fallible. They are taken from NPCs.

That and while I don't completely agree with this take, this Youtuber has several very good points as to why YOU are the bad guy in the DLC.

To be clear I do believe Ansbach is telling the truth when he said Mogh was charmed. BUT I believe he did so way later than everyone thinks. Even if he charmed Mogh before the Haligtree I doubt the charm was what people think it was. Remember all the demigods had interactions with each other but Mogh and Morgott probably least of all due to the who "being locked in the sewers" thing. I have another theory for this but I will stick to my first one for now.

So assuming that Mogh and Radhan were Miquella's first choice (which I don't believe was the case. I honestly think Godwyn was meant to be) how did Miquella end up in Caelid to heal Frejya after the Battle of Aeonia?

Below is my guess at the timeline of events;

-Miquella DID cacoon himself in the Haligtree

-He DID mean for the Eclipse to revive Godwyn, but in the Land of Shadow, not here

-Malenia was asked to fight Radhan and did so

-Miquella left the tree of his own free will (remember all we see in the trailer is Mogh carrying Miquella), but Mogh did NOT take him from it

-He went to Caelid to ease the suffering of those there

-Mogh was looking to create his own Dynasty FAR before Miquella entered the picture

-He saw an opportunity when Miquella was in Caelid, as it was close to Moghwyn Palace

-He either intercepted Miquella when he was in Caelid or in-between there and the Haligtree in the Consecrated Snowfields

-Miquella, having cocooned himself previously, was too tired to fight, and isn't one for fighting anyway

-> instead Miquella charmed Mogh to use the demigod's wants in order to get into the Land of Shadow. I truly think that Miquella was trying to become a god and ascend using the Haligtree, which we know he watered with his own blood. I believe he was trying to use the rest of his body to bring the tree to life and die in the process to enter the Land of Shadow. That failed and it's why he left. He knew he would need to find someone to help him. But hearing of the battle of Aeonia, left to find his sister and to help those in need. We KNOW that is well within his character to try to help even if he over-extends himself. So, when Mogh, who probably could not be reasoned with to let the young Empyrean go, said what he wanted, Miquella agreed, probably under vague conditions, to let Mogh be a part of a new age. Mogh did not realize what he agreed to completely (I am NOT saying Miquella is a complete 'good guy' here. Please keep that in mind) and took Miquella to Moghwyn palace and helped the Empyrean cocoon himself again. THIS is when Miquella had interactions with Ansbach.

After Mogh created his "bloody bedchamber" Miquella, whether conscious or not, refused to interact further. It specifically says so in Mogh's remembrance. I believe he did not want this. It was only the last chance he had to get to where he wanted to be. And he was making the best of a bad situation. No response does not imply consent. Mogh didn't beat allegations, please stop with that. He may have been tricked, but honestly I think a child skirting the truth in self defense is way too common in systems of abuse. Just admit that your fav is problematic and move on.

Speaking of Mogh being a fav;

I seriously feel sorry for the guy. He was locked in the sewers as a child. All he wanted was love and affection. Unfortunately he was desperate enough to turn anywhere for that. And when the Formless Mother reached out he accepted, probably without thinking. Then he went on to take power because "if education isn't liberating the oppressed can only dream of becoming the oppressors" as one of the people I listen to in Elden Ring likes to reiterate. And I honestly believe it's true.

Did Miquella have any right to control Mogh? GODS no. That is horrible considering what Mogh went through. Was Mogh just an innocent victim at that time? Also no. Dude had a blood cult and an entire swimming pool of blood outside his house. He was a terrible person. It's a shitty situation all around. There are no "good guys". But do I think Miquella deserves all the flack he gets? Definitely not.

There is no proof Miquella can charm someone from afar. The Charm would have had to be in person. Otherwise he wouldn't have had to be close to us during the final fight to charm us. And even if your argument is he can't charm the tarnished from afar but others are fair game. Why not take Ansbach and Thoillier out of the fight if they get caught? We know Fromsoft will pull shit to make fights harder. I feel like that is a mechanic that totally could have happened. Either way, there is no way to prove Miquella can charm from afar and in fact evidence to the contrary. He couldn't charm Radhan from afar. He would have had to do so earlier. And even then he only seems to use his charming abilities after someone has already agreed to help him.

Do I think that justifies his actions? Not in most cases. And not with Mogh. But I do think he didn't want to use Mogh in the first place. I can't place a ton of blame on someone who was likely using his only out in self defense. And again this is a CHILD. It's reiterated repeatedly Miquella has the body, and understanding, of a CHILD. Regardless of how old he is. And he and Malenia are still the youngest of the demigods (as far as we know).

So yes Mogh is still problematic and you can still feel for a problematic nuanced character. I don't see why every character has to be perfect for you to be ok with them. The entire point of media literacy is to look at what the story is trying to say.

And what is the story trying to say?

That whenever you help the NPCs in the DLC (meaning Miquella's group of misfits), you make things harder for yourself in the end. You have to fight them. The only two who will join you are Ansbach (who again is a BLOOD CULTIST WHO MURDERED PEOPLE) and Thoillier, the biggest SIMP in the lands between who clearly has an unhealthy obsession with St Trina. To the point where she doesn't talk to him. She talks to YOU. YOU have to choose if you will relay those words to him. And if you do? He dies in the final fight. Your actions in trying to "help" him cause his death. Which is common in Fromsoft games but still. Ansbach shows up if you provide him with the knowledge and location of the fight. Thoillier only shows up IF you go out of your way and honestly out of obsession. Like he clearly would rather drift off to forever sleep than fight.

When you help the others you make the final fight with Leda harder for yourself. And you have to be a real jerk to Moore who honestly just wants acceptance? Like he barely pushes for it. All he does is take your guidance, make his decision, and never blame you for deciding for yourself.

Now Leda. Leda is also an obsessive radical and that is made pretty clear. And Hornsent is... idk how to say this without getting banned. A theocratic fascist murderer? Have you read the caterpillar mask item? He's one f-ed up dude. But still.

Through Gameplay the game is telling you the more you help these people achieve what they want, an Age of Compassion, the harder you make it for yourself, who is standing against that age. Is that really a good thing? Are you really being a good person? Because when you choose to be shitty, yeah things get easier, but is that the right thing to do?

It's complicated and like all the other characters I don't think you are meant to be the "good guy". Please just think about that. Having complicated interesting characters who make you question their morals is GOOD. Questioning your actions is GOOD. You can still have fun playing the game and be aware of these things.

-

There's still a lot I haven't said here, like my other theory of the timeline assuming Mogh was charmed before the Haligtree (which I think is difficult since he was either in the sewers or Moghwyn, but still possible) and others. I hope to do more lore analysis with these things where I add more of the item descriptions and text. But I just feel like all the hate for Miquella over Mogh and Radhan is mostly unwarranted. He's a child with a child's understanding of the world trying to play a literal Game of Thrones with adults. There's also the question of why make a child god? What does that say? What does the contrast of Miquella/Marika say about Mogh/Radhan and Godfrey/Radagon? What is the concept of Oppression when it comes from Gods/theocracy down to the autonomy of even just those right below them? What does that say about Mogh being an oppressed person? There's a lot more affecting this dynamic than just the two character's directly interacting. Which we never see- another important point but I will not touch on that either.

Regardless I just really wish more people would be a little more media literate about this, and other media, than they are. Like I love many of the characters in Elden Ring. I really do. But like... they are meant to be complex, interesting, and all in shades of grey.

I will add that I do believe a lot of the objection to Radhan/Miquella is a bit homophbic and the fact that that seems to be a lot of people's objection? But not incest? Uuuuh... that is definitely problematic. Let's not pretend that George RR Martin didn't have a hand in writing this. He very well can and will make incestuous royals. Just cus Radhan is your favorite Chad doesn't mean he can't also be gay. It is really off-putting that THAT is your reasoning and not the fact that it's incest. Idk why people were surprised by this. Please ask yourself why you are objecting to this, is it really just cus you are mad that one of your favs is gay/bi? If so I feel like you should reflect on your own biases.

[bootwearingfairy]

tw: hiv/aids, tw homophobia implied in analysis

I have an important question to people who also think way too much about vampires: What happens if a vampire drinks the blood of someone who has HIV? Do they too get infected or is the virus nulled due to their undead nature? If a vampire had HIV in life, do they still have it when they're reanimated/resurrected? I wonder about this since I've been diagnosed with HIV since 2018; I constantly have fantasies involving vampires but now the concept of infecting one with my whole thing makes me feel guilty. What if antiretrovirals don't work on them because they're undead??? What if they feast on me intending to have a little treat? What if they bite before I disclose that extremely important information that would effect them directly???? Does this add stigma to HIV or does it not?? If I were to become an undead flavor of vampire, does the HIV die before I come back? Does it get reanimated with me???? I have so many questions and Anne Rice is no longer on this plane so I can't exactly call her up unless I perform a séance or some shit. If I were writing a vampire story where HIV is a very real thing that happens in the fiction, I don't know which direction I would go in. In my heart of hearts I'd like it to be basically cured upon transforming but I also wonder how disrespectful it would be to write on the topic and saying "oh hey it's cured by magic monsters" or some shit like that. I have it, yes, but my situation was made significantly better and easier to deal with due to those who died to make sure people like me now would continue to live. I've never had to experience the truly grueling losses from that time. There's a lot of y'all out there that did, though. I couldn't bare to make light or a mockery at something that should've never been. People are *still* dying from AIDS to this day. I really intended for this post to be more light hearted but I don't think that's something that's really possible. And also, maybe the people before me wouldn't have died in sheer numbers like that had homosexuality not been criminalized. We had cured so many other diseases before then, why was this to be the one that was ignored? (That last question was rhetorical and before you say "I know," consider there's someone else out there was like "oh, okay, thank you for telling me that") SO all in all this is a really tricky topic, but it's something that's been buzzing around in my head since the diagnosis.

[sky-daddy-hates-me]

My new therapist just told me to "agree to disagree" with my mum

I was trying to explain how frustrating my parents homophobia, sexism, abuse and racism is, especially my mum's attitude towards it.

I'm sorry, you fucking tory Karen, I'm not gonna just drop it, not when it impacts people's lives, not when it impacts my life.

So currently having fun trying to find a new therapist ... again.

[bloodsvcker]

We repeat again and again and agian that this has never been directly about destiel, that we just want validation, that we’re not delusional children that don’t know the epic highs and lows of american television, but (mostly) lgbtq+ adults with enough intelligence who doesn’t want to feel like a burden anymore, who wants you to realize that having lgbtq+ characters is not generosity and assuming every character is straight until proven otherwise is not right, that we are not trying to break the integrity of your show that had dean drooling over a fucking dog. That even after a whole ass gay love confession that aired on television ang got confirmed by actors and writers people can call us disgusting for forcing an agenda. And for some reason we’re also explaining why queerbaiting is a bad thing. I’ve never seen us this sane and calm while some actor is screaming at us and we didn’t even do anything. 

[st4r-c0d3]

I feel like i handled this terribly :D

someone messaged me on discord and this is how it went (they're haku):

uhh

i feel like i should have told this individual off for being not only homophobic but racist?? yeah i handled this poorly :D

[artofabeginner]

Enough

Authors note:

The following is an expert from a story concept I had a while back. It was essentially a detective novel, but I totally fell in love with this side character. So anyways there’s that. Also I never wrote a single thing for the story. Not a word before this, and I always assumed this scene, if it ever happened, would occur much later on.But I have had bits of dialogue stuck in my head and heres the product of one of it hope you enjoy.

TW: Discrimination, mentions of death, murder, mentions racism, mentions homophobia, mentions of Islamophobia, mentions of self doubt.

Enjoy

The bars stand between us, the cold dimly lit room seeming to seep the questions held on their lips. Silence enfolded us, no one wanting to break the silence, and I was not about to be the one to do it. Over to my right, the officer stands, seemingly uninterested. But I could see the glimmer in his eyes, and not for the first time I wondered what he assumed would happen.

“Amana,” the man, my friend, behind the bars calls, “Are you okay?” He is concerned but wary.

“Yes,” I smile “Of course I am.”

Viktor did not believe me, that much was obvious.

“Hercule and I, we will get you out-”

“-I was never concerned with that-” 

“-And once we do, any ill associated with your name will clear.” 

I sighed, and waited for a moment before answering,

“You can’t do that.”

“And why not?”

I look over at the officer, whose eyes now trained on us.

“Because my reputation does not come from my name, but from what I am, and you can not change that.”

“I don't think I understand,” for the first time Hercule spoke up

“I wouldn't expect you to, it is not something you would have faced.”

“Then explain it to us,”

“Viktor, my problems do not come from being incarcerated for an attack I had no part in, it is from being their first and only suspect in a party of twenty other people,” I paused, feeling tears well before shaking them off. People like me can’t cry.

“It is the humiliation that will cling to me, the realization that no matter what I do I will always be the other, the scapegoat. The public may forget, but I won’t, people like me don’t forget.”

Viktor, for the life of him I’m sure, is trying to follow. Maybe he does understand, maybe he knows what it’s like, but maybe, hopefully, he doesn’t.

“It's knowing that I will never be more than the scarf on my head and the name on my hands.”

Hercule shook his head before turning to me, “You are British, that is all that matters to us.”

“To you maybe, but to the people out there I am not British enough.”

“Well come on now,” Viktor cuts in, before ultimately stopping,

“And to the people I know I am too British, do you see the problem?”

“Viktor and Herucle, I deal with something others seldom do. I live in the gray, in the 

undecided,in the uninitiated. I live in the forgotten.

I was and never will be British enough, just as I will never be North African enough.

I will never be Amazigh enough, but I will never be Arab enough.

I will never be dark enough, and I will never be white enough. 

I will never be Algerian enough just as I will never be Tunisian enough.

I will never be gay enough, or Muslim enough, or free enough or oppressed enough.”

“I will never be enough, not to others and not to myself.”

I begin to cry, for everything that I never had before, for the small and the little, for the things I promised I never would. And as I do, I know the officer smiles, and I know my colleagues recoil, and I know I've lost the game.

“Viktor, you are Russian, and I know better than most the stigma surrounding that, the hatred people have, the stereotypes people think, the fear you sometimes feel. But you will never not be Russian enough, you will never see the flag and not know if it flies for you. You hold the book that everyone hates, but at least you can read it. To hold a culture and know that you could recoil if you wanted, and not be called a liar or a fake.”

“They will remember me as the Muslim women who was wrongfully accused of an attack on a diplomat, that is it. Then they will forget me, they always do. And that is a blessing better to be forgotten then to be viewed in a light that will make them question. If only I could do the same for myself.”

Hercule reaches through the bars, a look on his face I have never seen before. “We will get you out, and once we do this conversation will be had again.” 

“I would prefer you forget,” I laughed when the look of fury passed their faces “Better for my ego and reputation that you don’t see me cry.”

Hercule clearly did not find that funny, if the sudden slam of the door on his way out was any indicator.

“I will see you later, and-” he fumbles with the handle, “Don’t worry about him, he’s just frustrated at the case.” 

A look of worry passes his face before he shouts “Not that he won’t solve it, just that y’know it's hard, but not harder than anything before-”

I laugh, and laugh and laugh. The look of fear melts away and he smiles.

“I’ll see you later.”

“I'm not going anywhere.”

And I am alone.

Well mostly alone, the officer stands in the corner amusement painting his features. Resisting the urge to smack him across the head, I motion to the door,

“Aren't I supposed to be escorted to my cell.”

“No,” he smiles, “There is someone else to see you.”

“I wasn’t informed of this. Who is it?”

“I wasn’t told.”

“What do you mean you don’t know. I won’t see them unless I know.”

“I promise you, you don’t have a choice.”

“A choice?” I stand up, making my way towards him, “Listen I may be in holding but I have rights and-”

The door swings open, revealing the figure of a man. As he steps in, my breath quickens, and I realize exactly what he meant.

Taking my seat, I look ahead at the only person who could make everything a lot worse for me.

“Hello Ama, it’s been so long.”

Shit.

[blursed-penguin]

Have some Sam vent art, cause y'all deserve the fruits of my suffering :)

Me: [surrounded by homophbia literally all the time irl]

Me: how about I make direct contact with a homophobe in order to debate them in my only safespace.

Homophobia: [enters my safespace]

Me: ah fucc

[strowlers-official-blog]

Imagine thinking someone’s existence is political controversy. Once again Strowlers offends homophobes.

[littleredwritingwoods]

So this happened....?

[frogsandmagic]

Bro I need someone to watch the anime Stars Align so I can rant about it with them. It’s so good but never see anyone talking about it!!

[munkthehunk]

@ my American mutes amiright?

[sky-daddy-hates-me]

Since I was struggling lately, I joined a jw discord server just to see what's going on and wether going back would be best.

It has only confirmed my decision to leave.

And yes people in this server believe that the covid vaccine is the mark.

[lichrelly]

really mad at this stupid review of the last of us part 2

[legitimateluffy]

Lozza, I follow someone on tumblr who yesterday posted something about "I grew up thinking being gay was bad and I developed a homophobic thing against myself since I ended up liking women anyway" and more things like that. I am not your or her age and I don't know how to support her but I do know you had similar feelings. Can I give you the link so you can support this person if you feel you can do something for her?

Man I hate hearing that other people are going through what seems to a sense of internalised homophobia. If you want to you can and I won’t post it however if you don’t feel inclined to that’s okay. Having feelings like that is quite hard to deal with and I still have that happen to me sometimes which really sucks and I don’t really have anything to counteract it. It’s like a wave, sometimes it comes crashing down on me and other times it’s not even there at all. I don’t know if I’ll be able to help or not since again, I’m going through this too. But I might be able to send some type of support.

[the-sappho-of-lesbos]

I honestly don’t know how to handle my self perception. I’m just filled with so much self hatred and discomfort with myself. I know I’m under weight, I know I almost always buy clothes that are too big for me because I have no real perception of what I truly look like and I overestimate how big I am, yet I still feel fat. I still feel like ripping at my skin and pulling myself apart. There is not a single thing about my body that I like. I have lost a significant amount of weight around my face, and it is obvious, but because my face shape is just naturally round it still looks too big to me. My eyes have this weird little crease at the top of them that I’m extremely self conscious about. I’m TOLD my nose isn’t even really that big and is more of a button nose, but i just don’t see it. I compulsively squeeze my nose multiple times throughout a day in a weird attempt to make it look smaller. I want a nose job but I know I can’t get one. I want my breasts removed because I hate how fat they make me feel. I want my stomach removed so I have to worry less about gaining weight. I just want to like my body but no matter what I do I hate it. I’ve never once felt truly beautiful before. I feel like I have a gross body and the face of a hideous troll. I go out of my way so people will compliment my appearance, but even though I go through all that trouble for family members and strangers to say “you’re so tiny!”, “your skin is beautiful!”, “you have chicken legs!”, “you’re gorgeous when you smile!”, “you look like a character from a show/a doll”, “your fashion is amazing!” I don’t ever believe them. I always feel like they are lying or belittling me. And I become self conscious because I think they are actually thinking I look disgusting, YET I feel like an ugly failure if they don’t say it. I feel like I can’t win. I’m constantly comparing ever part of my body to other people. I completely my fingers to other people and get self conscious if I think mine look gross compared to their’s. I just want to feel beautiful but I can’t. I hate so much about how I look.I hate how I look when I’m smiling or sleeping or just looking at something. I hate how clothes sit on me. I don’t even have pointy teeth, yet for some reason front on I look like I have vampire teeth, and I have no idea why, because if you look at them side on they aren’t abnormally small OR pointy. They are completely average. Yet because of this I feel like my smile is extra disgusting. I feel like my face blows up like a puffer fish when I smile.

To me my legs look disgusting and pudgy. They look way too big for my comfort and my stomach looks too squishy. I feel like my arms squish out too much and make my boobs look bigger. My neck looks short and stumpy to me which I LOATHE. I CRAVE a neck that is small and not wide. I wish my hips didnt look the way they do because I feel like they make me look fatter and wider.

Even my personality is terrible. It’s just not fun for anyone to be around. I feel like most people can’t even have a discussion with me because as soon as I feel even the slightest bit of tension I buckle and freak out. I take a slight disagreement as an argument. I’m stupidly shy and passive. I can tell that my anxious nature makes other people anxious. I feel so lonely when I’m with other people because I never feel like I fit in with them. I saw a couple yesterday and both the women were just so attractive and cute and I was happy for them, I truly was, but I cried once I came home because I know I’m never going to find that. I know I have nothing worth loving about me. To make matter worse I just went an binged watched these videos of a gay lady couple I follow and it just made me feel more ugly and lonely. I know I’m too weird and basic and gross and anxious. I’m a push over who shoves unnecessary and uncomfortable amounts of love onto people and I know no one will ever want me. It just hurts so much. I feel like I have no where to go. I feel like I have no worth or purpose. I couldn’t win in the success department, I couldn’t win in the sexuality department, I couldn’t win in the personality department and I couldn’t win in the appearance department. It just feels like I have no chance. I can’t help but just feel so angry I had to be born this way. It doesn’t fee fair. Why do I have to be this way? Why do I have to be so sensitive and emotional? Why don’t I ever feel like I fit in? I hate that I’m constantly living in a state of loathing myself and feeling uncomfortable. I just want to feel comfortable with how I look. I want to feel proud of myself and be loved. I want someone so badly it hurts. I have this pain that just never leaves me. I’m not good enough for myself or other people.

[kaixito-blog]

[ hayley kiyoko, twenty six, female, she/her ] ━ hey, I just saw [ kai ito ] walking down the streets of crownsville. they’ve lived in town for [ one month ], and you can catch them around town working as a [ choreographer ]. I hear they’re known to be [ outgoing & adventuress ] and [ carefree & boisterous ]. if asked, they would say their aesthetic would be [ a beat perfect for dancing, oversize clothing, tough yet soft, loud music ].

tw: violence and homophobia 

 Hey I’m El and I can’t wait to rp with you all. Kai isHey I’m El and I can’t wait to rp with you all. Kai is a character I’ve been working on for awhile. Anyway here have some bit about her. 

Kai grew up in New York specifically The Bronx. She was raised by her mother and Baba (What she calls her grandmother). Her mother was a nurse and worked odd jobs to keep their rundown two bedroom apartment. She never knew her father and never cared about knowing him.She had two strong Ito women that raised her.

The neighborhood she grew up in was pretty bad. There were a lot of gangs and violence in the streets. Growing up in an environment Kai ended up as bit of a delinquent. She got into a lot of fights and hung out with the wrong people. She was a little shit to say the least.

One day she passed by a dance studio. She begged her mom for dance lessons and finally got them for her birthday. It was her favorite thing to learn new moves or new choreography. She would dance anything ballet, ballroom, jazz, and her favorite hip hop. It helped her express herself in different ways. 

Throughout her school years she actually kept her grades up. It was hard but her education was the one thing she didn’t want to disappoint her mother with. Since her mother had to give up on further education to have Kai. She at least owed it to her mother to at least get into college.

Kai came out as a lesbian pretty early one. At first she got the crap beaten out of her for being gay. She surrounded herself with friend who would accept her from who she was. They weren’t the best influences on her but they supported her and would throw hands for her whenever needed.

Once in high school Kai became a bit of a player. Having an outgoing and carefree personality meant she attracted people. She would have a new girl every week. Any girl who showed interest in she would hit on. Never really having a real relationship. 

Senior year Kai found out she had the chance to go to nyu tisch school of the arts for dance with a scholarship. She had the grades to get in but had to clean up her act and keep her record clean. Working hard that year and actually getting accepted. 

After packing her bags and moved to an area in New York that was way nicer than where she grew up. It was hard work, dancing everyday and working every night to afford her tiny apartment. Which was actually worse than her home. managed to graduate in the end.

She got a job at a really upscale dance studio where she became a choreographer. She worked with pretty big name stars. Even went on a few tours as choreographer and background dancer for different musicians. She began traveling around a lot for different things. A music video here and dance project there. It all came a bit to much and she got worn out. She decided it was time to call a place home. As much as she loved New York the big city wasn’t what she needed.

That’s when she found Crownsville. She had passed through a couple times and always loved it. 

She bought an apartment a month ago and is still settling in. Living in a small town is new but she loves. She still teaches choreograph in the studio below her apartment. 

Kai is can be a little much at times. She just wants to live her best life and have fun. She is still adjusting to the town but hopes to meet new people and make new friends.