#we do NOT talk about generation me here and i do Not really like the fact that they were broken up but at the same time. the angst

[earlysunshines]

thief!

minatozaki sana x fem!reader

synopsis: everything you own is actually sana's, obviously. she's your girlfriend after all.

warnings: nooone ; pure fluff ; lovebirds homos lalalalla ugh sana my love ; not proofread

a/n: HAPPY SANA DAAYYYY how could i miss it?? here's my once in a blue moon sana fic loool

long, acrylic nails gently scraping against your scalp earn a soft hum from your lips.

sana feels your hand snaking around her waist further, tightening your hold on her as if she were your personal teddybear. a small smile forms on her lips, her eyes open just a bit more, and her fingers work to move your bedhead away from your face.

"cute," sana mumbles, turning ever so slightly just so you can rest your head on her shoulder comfier.

your lips are parted just barely, your nose buried in the hoodie sana is wearing, and the only thing in filling the silence is your slow breathing. you mutter something incoherent, and sana hums confusedly as if you'd really answer. she laughs, massaging your scalp just a tiny bit harder.

"mmm," you groan, enjoying the feeling even as you're asleep against her. she feels your leg moving over one of hers and under the other, then feels you tugging her closer.

wow, she really is your teddy bear, huh?

sana blinks hard, shutting her eyes tightly before rubbing them with her free hand. she looks outside, the sunlight shining brightly through the blinds. it seems to be noon—maybe if you two hadn't binged three episodes of some kdrama last night you'd be awake earlier.

"baby," sana says softly, her voice like honey. "it's late, let's wake up."

"mmmmmmm," you drag on your groan, clinging to her tighter. sana knows you heard her, but sana is sure that you did not process a single word from her.

"baby," sana giggles quietly, "gosh, you're gripping onto me like i’ll run off."

"what if you do," you mutter tiredly. "it's too early for this..."

sana pats your head twice, then checks the small digital clock on the bedside counter. the clock reads 12:21 pm. early would be... well, incorrect to a general consensus.

"it's noon... c'mon, we can cuddle more after we run some errands."

"sanaaaaaa..." you drag out sleepily, shifting so you can rest your nose in the crook of her neck. you breathe in deeply, taking in the scent of roses and something sweeter. "it's your birthday..."

"and we're already halfway through."

"are you saying that me clinging onto you isn't enough? is this not the best way to spend your morning on your birthday?"

"well no..." sana starts, then kisses your head before continuing, "but i would love to do a little more than just stay in bed like this with the love of my life—as much as i love her."

"you're evil."

"you're just like a koala, always so sleepy." sana chuckles before pinching your cheek. she pulls away just a bit to examine your face, eyes still closed with a smile on your face. she presses a kiss to the tip of your nose, then to your cheek, and a quick peck to your lips. "five minutes... birthday girl says no longer than that."

"fine, fine." you sigh, opening your eyes (finally) and blinking a few times to focus your view. wow. you must've fallen asleep next to an angel, because she's still in the same bed as you and looking as cute as ever with her puffy morning face and soft smile.

your hand reaches over instinctively to rest on her cheek, knuckles dragging against her soft skin.

"awake yet?" sana asks.

"has anyone ever told you how gorgeous you are?" you say in awe, sounding like a fool in love. "because you look beautiful miss minatozaki."

sana rolls her eyes, then pinches your cheek again. you chuckle weakly, still groggy from sleep.

your eyes drift to the hoodie she has on. the shade of gray and the design look oddly familiar, so you use your hand to rub the material. the hoodie also looks a little large for sana, and then it hits you:

"is that my hoodie?" you question.

sana blushes. "what are you talking about."

"that's my hoodie... isn't it?"

"well technically it's our hoodie."

"and who declared that?"

"the universe, obviously." sana says through a smile that leaves your whole body feeling all tingly. "ever since we became girlfriends it was basically in the contract."

"i don't remember signing any agreement saying that you can take my clothes whenever."

"you don't? because i do." sana has that stupid grin on her face, the same one she always has before she says something both idiotic and heartwarming. "remember when we kissed for the first time? yeah, that was the signature."

"really now?"

sana nods. "and when you kissed me again it renewed the contract. and when we makeout with tongue and share saliva and all that—"

"grrrooossss!" you say, knowing you quite literally did everything the night before.

"—it basically sealed that contract through the exchange of dna."

"so you're saying french kissing is what makes it acceptable for you to steal not only my hoodie, but also my t-shirts, jewelry—i even saw you in my socks! is that really—"

"well not just french kissing. normal kissing too."

"you're such an idiot." you push her away and sana makes a high-pitched noise that's in between a groan and a squeal. then, you scoot over and pepper her face with kisses. "i love you, now let's get up, you've convinced me." you mumble, "i can't take all this kissy talk in the morning."

"afternoon." she corrects. sana pushes you away so she can hold your face with both hands, squishing your cheeks like she's pressing a sandwich in between her hands. she smiles, eyes crinkling at the ends and all that.

—

the birthday girl had requested that you give her a piggyback ride to the bathroom. after being set down on the counter so gently, brushing her teeth with you in between her legs as she sat down near the sink, and being able to kiss you so easily after she finished her skincare; sana had requested that you carry her everywhere the rest of the morning, both on your back and bridal style.

now she's being placed gently on the couch while you head back to the kitchen to grab the cups of teas for you to enjoy as you cuddled close on the couch catching up with messages. sana let you rest on her shoulder throughout the whole ten minutes of responding to friends and family, even sneaking a picture while you were focused on some game you've been into on your phone.

in the midst of it all, both of your stomachs growl at the same time.

you and sana glance at each other before bursting out laughing.

"someone's hungry," you tease, poking at sana's stomach. sana rolls her eyes before you add, "i guess that means we should go out for brunch, huh?"

"maybe..." sana kisses your forehead and finishes her tea. "let me fix my hair and get changed, i'm too lazy for makeup."

"you're already so perfect without makeup."

sana snickers. "stop being so smitten, loser."

"hey!"

—

"is that my—"

"maybe." sana says, zipping up the puffer jacket that's not only oversized on her but also the exact same model as the one you had bought the month before. it's definitely your jacket, but sana looks cuter in it. maybe the contract is real.

"thief." you roll your eyes before putting the hood up on her, it falls over her eyes and right above her nose. "you'll catch a cold."

"you're so caring, what a lover."

"gross." you groan playfully, earning a disgustingly adorable pout from sana. you glance at the beanie on her head after she fixes the hood, it looks oddly familiar. "is that...?"

"contract."

you giggle. "right."

sana puts her shoes on, then reaches for your hand before she opens the door. you zip up your work jacket before intertwining your hands and heading out together.

maybe your girlfriend is a thief. throughout the day you start to notice that the tinted lip balm she uses after brunch is most definitely the same balm that momo had gifted you a few days prior. you also notice the t-shirt under her, scratch that, your jacket that is also yours. you let her have that one, though, it was too small for you anyway, and sana rocked the perfect fit.

you don't think on it too much, that your girlfriend is an experienced clothes stealer borrower, because one: it's her birthday, so you might as well give her today. and two: she looks ridiculously good in everything that's yours.

maybe it's not stealing if she belongs to you too. she's your girlfriend, and with every kiss shared throughout the day it makes you realize that maybe that contract isn't just something stupid made up from the lingering drowsiness after waking up.

whatever it is, you could really care less. it's sana's day and if sana has a smile on her face—who cares if your wardrobe is shrinking day by day.

[star-anise]

I mean, yes. Fully and logically, they should have that kind of education and know all about animal studies. So when they speak in these kinds of ways, there's this weird sort of moment, like, "Do you know that's untrue, or have you actually completely lost the plot?"

I think Camp A tend to be people who are trying to communicate the science to their clients and the public, especially if animals are only incidental to their presentation. This post was most proximally sparked by an explanation of a grounding exercise in Acceptance and Commitment therapy, that divided concepts into external and internal experiences:

Rabbits and other animals tend to only move towards and away from stuff that they can see or taste touch or smell, stuff in the outside world. Human beings, on the other hand, are different. They can also be influenced by stuff that shows up inside of them. Humans are the only creatures who can be somewhere physically safe, like in a warm bed with a full tummy, and be in full-on threat mode. This is because we have language and we can think ourselves into danger. This is the cost of our inside space, of having language.

It's from a video by Dr. Louise Hankinson, a UK clinical psychologist, and is notable because Dr. Kevin Polk, who developed the exercise in 2009, commented on the video to say it was very well done.

I was being a bit facetious, because of course if I asked Drs. Hankinson and Polk about the internal life of rabbits, they would be able to tell me a ton about how rabbits can respond to experience and be shaped with behavioural conditioning, about how the evolutionary history of different species would affect their average sensitivity to stress and feelings of threat. Or if I questioned the necessity of language to internal human experience, they'd know a lot about that.

The general explanation for this kind of disconnect is that the exercise in question is not meant to teach its audience about rabbit cognition. It's teaching a self-regulation tool to a lay audience. They are blurring the specific details to paint a simpler picture, using widely-understood concepts to give people a mental map to sort different feelings and experiences onto.

And like, I do love me some broad overgeneralizations that are still useful teaching tools. I still think there are excellent clinical uses of the Five Love Languages! And maybe I'm just extra judgmental here because I'm deeply disenchanted by behaviourist-flavoured approaches that can encourage clients (or entire treatment communities) to ignore important parts of their internal experience in favour of simply performing the behavioural norm.

But there's also the trauma-focused movements like Somatic Experiencing, that talk a lot about learning to process our traumas like animals do, because animals are wise enough to shake and move and inhabit their bodies in a way traumatized humans need to emulate. And like.... really? I do believe in the need for trauma therapy to focus on somatic and sensory experiences, but I'm not sure I'd buy the argument that zebras don't get traumatized by hunting lions because they still run around the savannah.

It feels like the top of the slippery slope that landed me among colleagues who believed in the Law of Attraction or healing crystal frequencies or tried to sell me on Michiu Kaku. When someone is willing to blur the truth out of all recognition on a regular basis, I begin to doubt their ability to zoom back into sharp clarity on the specifics.

I really wonder if trauma theorists who say things like "Humans are the only animal that will be in a fright state when physically safe" or "the rest of the animal kingdom doesn't get PTSD" have ever, like

Do you think they've actually ever met an animal?

[sailornymph]

i’d like to request general uchiha relationship headcanons? like relationship dynamics, how they’d treat you, whether or not they’d be into pda… stuff like that. thank you!!

‘SOMEONE LIKE YOU’

the uchiha men relationship hcs

cw : itachi’s death

authors note : my first two requests!! :)

♡ ︎madara uchiha

— this man is a handful, the overall madara experience is honestly

— he is attracted to your strength, then your face

— he is far from traditional, why follow what is known as the norm, when he isn’t a ordinary person

— he’s such a perfectionist, but he hides it behind his pride

— he’ll plan a really nice picnic thoroughly, from start to finish and if it doesn’t go to plan, just a little, he is mentally cursing himself

— he gets jealous easily, and isn’t shy about letting it be known. you allow a child to kiss your hand because of their admiration for you, he’s taking your hand back, wiping it, scoffing at the child

— you’re the first person he openly shares his plans with and if you’re a uchiha, he wants you to help him (to a certain extent)

— he is open to pda, but he is a respected leader, so it will be to a minimum. he’ll hold your hand, have an arm around you, even hug you, but that’s it

— he doesn’t really listen to what you’re talking to him about, but it’s because his mind is so focused on the clan and it’s future. when you get upset about him not listening, giving him the silent treatment, he gets upset and demands you retell him everything swearing that he will listen this time

— leading up to his death, he will make sure you are far from danger, allowing you to live the rest of your life safely

— 8/10. he seems dangerously wild and reckless to many, but in the midst of his chaos, he is always thinking of you, keeping your safety in mind, if you would like something, how you would feel, etc.

“where will we go?” you asked, gently combing through madara’s long thick hair.

“you don’t worry about any of it, i will take care of it and make sure you are someplace safe-

“i want to stay and fight alongside the others,” you admitted, making him look back at you.

“i won’t let you, many of them will die in battle, i will not lose you too,” his face hardening, but regardless, he faced forward, allowing you to continue combing.

“you won’t lose me”

“i know, because you will be far away from here, somewhere safe”

“madara”

“do not argue with me on this, please, i’ve thought over this too many times, you will not fight,” he raised his voice, but quickly stopped himself, shaking his leg, his way of calming his nerves.

“will you fight then?”

“i will come back to you,” he indirectly answered.

“and you don’t have another solution?”

“i’m afraid war is the best answer,” he said, pausing, examining you through the mirror, as you combed his hair. you didn’t want to throw your entire life away, you loved the clan so much, but your love for him outweighed the clan, you would go anywhere with madara, even he knew this.

“i am sorry, darling, if i could have known another way, then i would chose it for your sake, but i don’t, i will get revenge on all of them”

“i trust you, i’m worried, but i know you’ll protect me”

“i wish i could have given you a life without war and violence, if i didn’t make it back to you, you unfortunately have my blessing to move o-

“i couldn’t dare be with another, after experiencing you, i only want you, not someone like you. there isn’t a man i know as strong as you, who cares so deeply for the wellbeing of his clan or family,” you said, making him smirk.

“i am amazing, aren’t i?” he snickered.

“yes, so you better come back to me, promise me”

“i promise,” he turned kissing your lips, intertwining your pinkies. he would come back to you, and begin the next stage of his plan and he would spend every moment with you.

♡ itachi uchiha

— to be with this man, you will be find the most precious love, but you have embraced pain and suffering, because that is what you will be rewarded in the end

— he may be a mass murder, but he’s a gentleman to you lol

— he is quiet and very observant, and attempts to be traditional with you, but he isn’t living a traditional lifestyle, so he’ll eventually go with the flow, simply stopping by whenever he is free in between missions

— he isn’t the jealous type, but is protective. he had no intentions of dating, until after meeting you, he is very aware of your attractiveness. he could care less about strangers fawning over you, it is when it begins to become uncomfortable for you that he will intervene

— he’s a criminal so no regular couple activities, but sometimes you’ll make dango together and share them, or he’ll surprise you with breakfast

— he isn’t into pda, but he doesn’t mind having his arms around you, when it’s cold, putting his cloak on your body, or even kissing your hand (if no one is around)

— he listens to you and is very engaged during any conversation with you. he will ask questions and make small comments

— he secretly likes when you are doting on him, especially when he doesn’t feel well

— feeding him soup, placing a cool cloth on his head, helping him around your house, washing his hair, you’re the only person who has ever gotten to see him in such an intimate way

— your last memories with him, he will make sure they are nothing short of sweet, waking before you, surprising you with breakfast, ending the night with a soul crushing hug and kiss. his heart breaking even more, wondering and wishing how your lives would have been if things didn’t end up this way for him

— 8.9/10. other than the lack of normalcy and how he went and let his brother kill him, taking him away forever. he is far from perfect, but he is gentle and vulnerable always and everything he does for or to you, you will be able to see the love being poured into it

“did you enjoy today?” itachi asked, that peaceful smile appearing on his face.

“i did, but i always do,” you told him, as he wrapped his arms around you.

“i love you,” he blurted out.

“i love you too, tachi,” you grinned.

“i never thought i would never love again, after the things these hands have done, to my village, my clan, my parents, my brother-

“stop it, you were a child-

“i was apart of the anbu-

“following orders given to you by your superiors, you sacrificed yourself for them, you did what many could never bring themselves to do,” you told him, beginning to raise your voice.

“alright love, i hear you,” he smiled.

“good, i hate when you talk like that, even if the world hates you for what you’ve done. i love you for what you are,” you told him.

“i have only one regret-

“itachi”

“that i didn’t meet you sooner, or that i wasn’t born in a different village, so that we could have met long ago,” he sighed, reaching for your hand, bringing your fingers to his lips.

“but you have me now, and that’s all that matters,” you reassured him, your smile faltering seeing the sadness in his eyes.

“my baby brother, sasuke, he has grown strong enough to avenge them all,” itachi said, staring at you with a unfamiliar, distant look.

“what are you saying?”

“how did i get so fortunate to meet someone like you,” he said, ignoring your question, reaching to hold your face.

“itachi”

“i don’t think i could ever forget your blissful touch, so determined to make the headaches and fevers go away, and for a time, they did,” he began to wipe away your tears, not allowing them to fully run down your face.

“you're not going to die, stop talking like this, i don't want to hear it,” you said, but he only smiled.

“i'm sorry, my love, could i just hold you tonight? no more talking, just us, and our love” he asked. biting back your tears, you nodded, as he kissed your lips, for the final time, wrapping his arms around you. this would be his last moment with you, before his death.

♡ indra ōtsutsuki

— so sorry for you if it is an arranged marriage because this man will treat you like garbage and not care about how you feel, at all!

— but for the sake of the need for happiness, let’s say he actually fell in love with someone

— he is the type to fall hard, he wasn’t looking for love at all, when you somehow managed to catch his eye, he can't get you out of his head

— he is very lowkey and secretive, so no one else finds out until asura catches him sneaking off from training to surprise you with flowers. he tells their father and when he is back home, he has to hear an earful about keeps something like this a secret

— very obviously old fashioned and leans heavily into society norms, as his partner, your role is to take care of the home-life, especially since you most likely are nowhere as strong as he is

— he is very jealous hearted, however, thankfully, he won’t direct it to you. asura keeps trying to be a little too nice for his liking, he’ll make sure to be rougher than usual, during training. the other men in the village are basically eye fucking you, it’s okay, just know they will disappear only to reappear someplace random, with a nasty bruise or two

— he doesn’t listen but tries to make up for it. you wanted a purple kimono with white flowers on it for your birthday, all he heard was kimono and will gift you a red one with a dragon on it and proceeds to be genuinely confused by your frowning

— once the relationship is no longer a secret, he will always have his hand on your lower back

— he yearns for your comfort and affection. he is stuck with these feelings of rejection, but you are always there to remind him of his worth

— 7.7/10. he may be a menace to many other people, but to you, other than human flaws, he loves so passionately.

“indra…what happened?” your heart sank at the sight.

“don’t look, turn around,” he said. his closest friends, both of them laid dead.

hesitantly, you turned your back to the scene, your breathing becoming rugged, as he wrapped his arms around your body.

“walk forward,” he muttered. he didn’t want you to see what was here. what he had done. to them, his friends since he was a child.

“indra-

“with immense stress and sadness, i’ve found that the sharingan will evolve,” he said, making you turn, facing him. his usual red eyes transformed into a newer version, tears pouring down his face.

“what did you do?” you asked, beginning to choke on your tears, as you held his face.

“i’m stronger than him, why am i not worthy? i helped those stupid people and it wasn’t enough to please father,” he said, the rage seeping from his aura.

“just because he can’t see your worth, doesn’t take away from who you are. you can still teach many people to learn and walk in your ways, indra,” you told him.

“what could you possibly see in someone like me?” he asked bitterly.

“how could i not be so in love with someone like you,” you countered.

“indra, what have you done?” asura and his father approached, making him glare in their direction.

“as many times as i am reincarnated, i will be sure to always find you again,” he said, about to face his brother.

“indra, don’t-

“wait for me, each time, i will always come for you,” he kissed your lips, his susanoo picking you up, tossing you into the nearby wheat fields. getting up to run towards the battle, a few villagers grabbed you, holding you back.

all you could do was cry, they had brought him to this point, it was all of their fault. you would wait for him and be there when he finally got the recognition he deserved.

♡ obito uchiha

— he’s not my favorite, but he is probably the best

— he feels broken, but for you to come along and fall in love with him, he will do everything in his power to not lose you

— you have been around him as tobi and you were amazed by the switch, suddenly he’s goofy and making joke after joke, although, you prefer plain old obito because you love his authentic self

— when it is just the two of you, he’s calm and a bit too serious, but he is very attentive. nothing you say or do goes unseen. from your favorite color to the name of your worst enemy, even if he isn’t responding he’s listening

— extremely jealous, but hides it very well, for your sake. you’re out shopping, he’s dressed as tobi, and the shop owner is staring, occasionally complimenting you too much. he’ll laugh about it as tobi, but come back later to slaughter them

— he is constantly thinking of ways to be romantic, asking konan to teach him origami, picking flowers, trying to learn recipes

— he feels love is rare to come by and the fact that he has found that cares for him genuinely, he wants to make you happy

— it is rare to be with tobi, but if you’re with him, he’ll say something like “lookie here, my angel,” spinning you around or any kind of pda. obito is a bit my hesitant, other than holding your hand or waist

— even in his final moments, his mind will drift to you, you are somewhere far away, safe, and he can’t help but wonder would you be proud of him for doing the right thing in the end

— 9.6/10. a love as pure as this is hard to come by. he loves so deeply and passionately, in the end, he hopes you would forgive him for the evils he has committed and simply remember all of his genuine love

reading a book, you could hear tobi’s goofy voice, making you place the bookmark inside. he was talking to someone. finally, as the the footsteps began to become distant, you sat up.

“hey,” you said shyly, going to stand up, staring at his disguise.

“hey,” he said, as the mask was pulled from his face, as you approached.

pressing his lips against your own, you hummed, breaking the kiss.

“let me look at you,” you smiled, staring at his face, before he covered his face with your hands.

“you don’t want to look at someone like me”

“i actually want nothing more than to look at someone like you, so handsome, such a good boy”

“i haven’t been a good boy, all the chaos-

“for me you have, and that’s all that matters to me,” you smiled, pecking his lips again, before placing a kiss on each of his eyes.

perhaps there was a mistake, he didn’t understand how he of all people ended up with such a beautiful partner, inside and out — but he would love you the best he could, for as long as he could.

♡ sasuke uchiha

— he is very interesting. if you’ve been together since teenagers, he stressed you the hell out and was super nonchalant about it

— if you managed to still be together after everything, then you will get to see firsthand, sasuke trying to unlearn old habits and try to understand how he can love you the way you deserve

— however, if you begin dating sasuke while he has the other emo haircut, then you are experiencing an entirely different person. when his old classmates told you about the things he did, you couldn't even believe them, until he told you it was all true

— sasuke is quiet, a bit awkward at times, but not shy. he will come across as a bit traditional

— he still struggles with being jealous, but not as easily nor as much as when you both were younger. back then, any guy who talked to you for too long was getting threatened by him, now he can't help but be a little upset at your coworkers who get more time with you

— he is terrible with all the new technology, all of the younger kids are using, so expect old fashion, but romantic advances

— writing you small notes, sending you flowers, walking you home from dates kind of man

— he cannot bring himself to do any pda, not even holding hands, the most he can do is walk close to you

— he’s always halfway listening, he gets stuck in his head at times, while nodding at your words. if he were to take you out on a date, he will randomly remember something you said and he will bring it up

— he struggles with communication badly and seems almost childlike with an anxious expression, as he struggles to find the words to say to you

— he feels embarrassed telling you how much you mean to him, so he’ll get you something instead. you didn’t think he was listening when you told him about your favorite fragrance, so he went and bought it, as a surprise

— 9.3/10. he’s trying his best. trying to redeem himself, all while fixing his relationship with you. he still has many things to work on, like his inability to communicate, but your history together, along with the changes he has made, how could you not love that face?

“did you enjoy tonight?” sasuke asked, as your shoulder brushed against his own.

“i did,” you smiled.

“good,” he hummed, before the two of you went back to a comfortable silence.

“sasuke,” a voice called out that you immediately recognized.

“naruto,” he nodded, as the hokage and his wife approached.

“you're back in town and didn't stop by?” naruto grumbled.

“i am spending time with y/n,” he said, making the couple's eyes shift to you.

“y/n? how are you? i haven't seen you in a while,” naruto smiled, as you politely bowed.

“how are you two-

“i need to get y/n to her house, she has work in the morning,” sasuke interrupted.

“you don't live together?” he exclaimed, gaining a few looks from people passing by.

“no-

“maybe after the proposal or wedding,” sasuke shrugged, while your eyes widened.

“that’s great to hear, i better be invited, stop by when you’re free, we have to leave, it’s date night,” naruto winked.

“it was wonderful seeing you again, y/n,” hinata smiled, as naruto excitedly pulled her to the newest ramen restaurant.

once the two of them were gone, you both began walking. nervously clutching your handbag, you didn’t know how to bring up his words-

“what is the matter?” sasuke asked.

“you told naruto we would live together after the proposal or wedding, is that true?” you asked, staring at your feet.

“yes, married couples live together, don’t they?”

“yes, but you’re sure want to do these with someone like me?”

“i haven’t been the best partner to you, and i’m trying to make it up to you, however, my promise is still the same as it was back then,” he said, his hand brushing against your own.

you smiled thinking of the memory, sasuke was leaving, joining orochimaru, when he stopped at your house to say goodbye. you cried bitterly, as he held you close, promising if he didn’t die, and finally became stronger, he would come back for you. he wanted to marry you, and while it wasn’t much of a priority anymore, younger sasuke guaranteed that it was only you, he planned to restore his clan with.

“it was a long time ago, i made those promises, am i someone you'd do these things with?” he asked, hesitantly.

“of course”

“even after everything-

“when you left, i tried dating. it was a failure, none of them were ever good enough. i searched and i couldn't find someone like you, so i decided to wait until you came back to me because i knew you'd get stronger,” you smiled.

“i love you, a lot,” he said, stoically.

“i know dear, i love you too,” you laughed.

quietly huffing, he felt like he was moving in slow motion. for the first time in years, he reached for your hand, interlocking your fingers.

“we should go ring shopping, once you're done with work tomorrow,” he said.

“sounds great, can i ask you a question?” you said, your face burning in exhilaration.

“anything”

“do you still want to restore your clan?”

“only if it is something you wanted, i doubt work would allow me to have too many children, maybe one or two,” he admitted.

“that’s completely manageable, have you ever thought of baby names?” you caught him off guard, but he recovered quickly.

“only if it was a girl, i was thinking sarada, for reasons,” he glanced over at you.

“it's unique, i like it,” you said, as he finally stopped in front of your house.

“thank you for walking me home”

“you are welc-

“would you like to spend the night? i mean, its late and-

“would you be okay with me being here?” he asked, smiling as you nodded shyly.

“lead the way,” he nodded, taking off his shoes, following you into your home for the night.

[genderqueerdykes]

just saw that "you are loved" cuttlefish post on my dash again (idk if you know the one) but it goes through so many identities and just. does not include trans men. pan people, bi people, lesbians, trans women, intersex people, nonbinary people too i think, but not trans men. like maybe I'm taking it the wrong way, maybe I should celebrate that all of these types of people are being celebrated, i especially loved seeing intersex people included, but? the deliberate exclusion just hurts I guess. it would've been so easy to say trans people or just include trans men too.

another thing that makes me feel like I'm just being overly sensitive about it is that I do tend to lean into the nonbinary label sometimes, but it feels very "the only good enby is a femme-lite enby" and I'm. audibly sighing I used to like seeing that post on my dash

i haven't seen the post you're referring to, but i have definitely noticed this with queer positivity posts in general

like people think it's somehow progressive to aggressively leave trans men out of every conversation, ever. like, people have gone too far with profiling people based off their genders to the point where they trick themselves into thinking that trans men are now Cishet Male Oppressors and find excuses and reasons to target, bully, and emotionally abuse us. people literally just think we are undeserving of love and kindness because us disclosing that we're a man suddenly somehow is hurting that person

people are NOWHERE near as aggressive about this with cis gay men. people are not sitting here trying to weed cis gay men out of every space and post as possible. it sends me reeling to realize that people accept cis men more than trans men, even though they love to say how much they hate "all" men. is it really "all" men, or is it just trans men? because it feels very pointed toward a specific group of men that nobody loves to name, but everyone loves to hate.

i know that people who aren't trans men usually can't see the pain this causes us. but so many people just don't care. they assume that we have no feelings because they stereotype men to be emotional brick walls. they think it's okay to leave us out and abuse us because somehow, trans manhood has hurt them. like these people behave like a bus full of trans men showed up at their front door and kicked them to death.

like people really are so threatened by the idea that a "woman" can become a man. why is this an issue?

and good lord that is the ugliest take on nonbinaryhood i've ever seen. "femme-lite". wow. people really just do see nonbinary people as women, huh? nonbinary people aren't cis women jesus fucking christ. masc and butch nonbinary people are still nonbinary and there's nothing wrong with that. jesus christ people are SO scared of diversity. people are SO scared of something they can't relate to.

feminine people and women are not inherently safe to be around. i have been sexually and physically assaulted by multiple women. i have been groped by women. i have had cis women tell me that i'm "basically a woman" because i have a vagina and i'm a trans man. i've had women emotionally and mentally abuse me. women and femmes have stolen things from me. women and femmes are not inherently safe to be around. women and femmes can hurt you.

i'm sorry you're encountering this kind of stuff. people are more proud to talk about who they hate than who they love/like and it's just ugly. they don't care that it's affecting people. but if someone does something to even slightly inconvenience them, like, idk, being a trans man, then suddenly the world grinds to a halt. it's entitled behavior. it's people who want to be in control of the queer community and try to control our narratives.

there are some people who are legitimately a part of the queer community for the wrong reasons. the amount of people who are converting to rad feminism and thinking that the queer community needs to be a Cis Girls Only Club is staggering. people are trying to remove everyone but cis women who are pathologically afraid of an entire gender that hasn't hurt them. this isn't the terf club. stop trying to make this into the terf club.

i hope you're able to feel a bit better soon. people are so fucking shitty and it's time it stops. there's no reason to profile people. that's not what we do here. it's not right to leave people out of our spaces who rightfully belong. ignoring the existence of trans men won't make us go away. we're here and you need to listen to us and care about us because we are your siblings and we have not inherently wronged you by virtue of existing.

[ficsbyrike]

「🌃」 mc-ish mutuals •••

Wanderer on the subway on my way back from work… sorry y’all but I clocked out 14 minutes ago this one’s between you and god

#I need a break #And SO much sleep

(3 notes) ⤴️ 💬 🔁 ❤️

🔁 raf-tumblrsta reblogged •••

「🐥」 raf-tumblrsta mutuals •••

i looooove playing speed draw on roblox and making kids cry when i win every single round its my favorite pastime fr fr

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「🖼️」 rafayels-paint-water follow •••

rafayel when are we getting a new painting 🙏🙏🙏 your fans are STARVING 😭😭

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「🐥」 raf-tumblrsta mutuals •••

girl 😭😭 soon i promise

#everytime i try to do something my mind wanders to roblox #picking up a brush? #no roblox #making sketches? #no roblox #life is roblox

(23 notes) ⤴️ 💬 🔁 ❤️

「🐺」 thing2 •••

WHAT?? psychopath behavior get her ass nonny!!!

#wait are you talking about sylus from the n109 zone LOL #tbh i see it he’s kinda… #🐦‍⬛ anon

(12 notes) ⤴️ 💬 🔁 ❤️

🔁 lukiepookie reblogged •••

「🦊」 lukiepookie follow •••

I am going to drink one gallon of unprocessed raw milk rn

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「🩻」 dr-zayne-phd •••

I cannot tell if you are joking or not, but I would strongly advise you not to do this. Drinking raw milk can lead to a myriad of health consequences like stomach cramping and vomiting. In more server cases it can even lead to kidney failure, paralysis, or death.

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「🦊」 lukiepookie follow •••

And I will drink another

(1,002 notes) ⤴️ 💬 🔁 ❤️

🔁 otherworldly reblogged savannas-fotos •••

「📹」 savannas-fotos follow •••

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「💡」 otherworldy mutuals •••

The Earth… is really beautiful ＜(“0”)＞

(2,674 notes) ⤴️ 💬 🔁 ❤️

🔁 dramaqueenie reblogged explosively- ••• handsome

「🍎」 explosively-handsome •••

Ok this is going to sound insane but hear me out. I want to confess to my childhood best friend that I have feeling for her, the only problem is that she thinks I’ve been dead for the past 7 months. How do I approach this situation??

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「📢」 dramaqueenie follow •••

ok… there’s a lot to unpack here

(58 notes) ⤴️ 💬 🔁 ❤️

🔁 pretty-simple-aesthetic reblogged •••

「🎀」 pretty-simple-aesthetic follow •••

if you genuinely support sylus or think he’s hot,,, block me and i’m being so serious. he’s literally a mass murderer, a wanted criminal, and the reason why the n109 zone is so dangerous. if you cannot set aside your attraction to him and realize that he’s a terrible person, i do not want you to interact with any of my posts. period.

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「🍞」 bananabreadwhore follow •••

Girlie does not realize that the mainstream media brainwashed her so bad this generation is so cooked man how is no one doing research before posting things online 😭😭

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「🎀」 pretty-simple-aesthetic follow •••

girlie does not realize that i am standing outside her house with a loaded shotgun

#and what does media literacy have anything to do with this??? #i’ve had a family member die in the n109 zone you cannot be telling me anything!!!! #i swear this is just some middle aged divorced wine mom who simps for this freak #someone come pick up grandma over here

(30 notes) ⤴️ 💬 🔁 ❤️

🔁 raf-tumblrsta reblogged davinki- ••• appreciation

「🎨」 davinki-appreciation follow •••

Head of a Woman (1500-10) by Leonardo da Vinci

#da vinki 😧😧🫵🫵 #raf-rebloggz #not my art

(5,078 notes) ⤴️ 💬 🔁 ❤️

🔁 lukiepookie reblogged •••

「🦊」 lukiepookie follow •••

I am going to drink one gallon of unprocessed raw milk rn

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「🐺」 thing2 •••

why are we drinking raw milk gang?

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「🦊」 lukiepookie follow •••

Thorsty 😔😔

(1,002 notes) ⤴️ 💬 🔁 ❤️

🔁 bananabreadwhore reblogged ••• pretty-simple-aesthetic

「🎀」 pretty-simple-aesthetic follow •••

if you genuinely support sylus or think he’s hot,,, block me and i’m being so serious. he’s literally a mass murderer, a wanted criminal, and the reason why the n109 zone is so dangerous. if you cannot set aside your attraction to him and realize that he’s a terrible person, i do not want you to interact with any of my posts. period.

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「🍞」 bananabreadwhore follow •••

Girlie does not realize that the mainstream media brainwashed her so bad this generation is so cooked man how is no one doing research before posting things online 😭😭

#How are you going to be this chronically online and still be this uninformed #Media literacy is so dead man #These people are stuck in their twitter echo chambers and FREAK OUT when a different opinion is presented that doesn’t match their agenda #+ sylus is hot and if you don’t think so there is something wrong w/ you #bananabreadwhore.txt

(30 notes) ⤴️ 💬 🔁 ❤️

[livingsurreal]

It feels like keeping the Veil up just pushed a big problem onto Thedas’ future generations. We’ll keep slapping bandaids on it until it all falls apart. Someone else can deal with the fallout, but we’ll be dead by then, so who cares.

This is such a good point - no matter if you are pro or contra veil. The Veil is now tied to the existence of ONE ancient elf. An elf who was not even powerful enough to kill a single evanuris. The Veil was massively weakening, even with two very powerful (one of them the MOST powerful evanuris) fueling it.

Only a redeemed Solas is willing to keep the Veil up. All other versions of Solas still want to bring it down and you cannot for the live of me tell me he would not work very hard, even from fade prison, to get free and get it down. And even with redeemed Solas - what if anything happens to him? Boom - veil gone.

And if you think the veil coming down is catastrophic, with Solas and "a host of spirits helping to minimize the damage" - think how bad it could be with it just disappearing AND nothing to fuel the Blight Prison.

Like OP said - after Veilguard nothing has changed. (for the better)

Lets face it, even with Mae/Dorian at the very top - you cannot change a society that absolutely relies on slavery over night. If anything the elves are worse of b/c the Evanuris are elvhen and people WILL be angry for the fall and blightening of Minrathous. Can you image the amount of people who died when Elgar'nan took the city? There will be a lot of very dead elves after that. One Archon against a massive amount of rich and powerful people who do not want to give up their wealth? Dorian/Mae will not survive that long. Radonis did not survive the Venatori and he was on par with Tevinters status quo.

And even IF Dorian/Mae survive and do change some things, you can bet on Tevinter going back right to where it was, once they die of old age.

The Blight has changed, but I somehow doubt it changed for the better. Less viral does not mean less deadly, less controlling.

The south is completely broken, and nothing we did in previous games had ANY impact of the survivability. I cannot for the life of me understand why they did not use previous choices here. All we got from the south were letters from the Inquisitor. No animations or voice overs (save the few cutscenes we have with inky, but there is no big talk about the state of the south there, beyond "yeah blight, bad, we fight"). They could have incorporated a ton of choices from before and given us different outcomes via the letters. And with just the right amount of choices Southern Thedas might have had a fighting chance. But now? The only thing still standing is Skyhold? Like what the actual hell.

And again, as if any surviving elven would not be hunted down for the sin of their birth. ELVEN gods were the cause of all this death and destruction.

They said they wanted to give the elven/dalish a win. But, where is the win? There is no win! Anytime anything happens to the elves (or rather the people in Arlathan) Rook swoops in, being their white savior. Some VeilJumpers (who are for a big part not even elven) get lost in the forest? Rook comes to find the missing kids who played with stuff kids should not play with. (eg some ancient artifacts they most of the time do not understand). Elrgar'nan captures 10 dalish, Rook comes to save the day. (What was up with that quest anyhow? Like I expected there to be hundreds of dalish elves looked up. But no, its like a handful of people. That's enough for what ever Elgar'nan is planing? Okay then...) And they are building nothing new. They either lock away or destroy if possible what they find and deem to dangerous. What little remains they use in some way without even really understanding what they hold in their hands.

And apparently the elves suddenly don't believe in their own gods anymore. But instead of showing us a people who grapple with the lie that is their believe AND decide "NEVER AGAIN" and fight against their ancient oppressors - every one is just "eh, yeah ELGAR'NAN and GHILAN'NAIN - oh those two are bad!"

They just do all that coming to terms with the lie they believed off screen. Somewhere in the past. When? We don't know. That would have been a win. For there to be a win one needs conflict. But there was no fight. They just collectively decided to let go of everything the ever believed in.

So I guess something has changed - the dalish don't believe in the evanuris anymore. But that's about it.

Now after Veilguard, "Minrathous is the diplomatic center of Theadas"... So we are right back to pre-Andraste times? Where Tevinter rules the world? As if this "diplomacy" would not sooner or later become conquering. The Qunari in Par Vollen are defanged. They have lost their Antaam so Tevinter is no longer locked into an never ending war. The entirety of the South is leaderless, defenseless. Antiva still has no standing army. The Crows will not survive an invasion by Tevinters forces. Nevarrah is ruled by a dead king, puppeted by the Mortalitsaii and I bet they would welcome Tevinter rule b/c it means they have official power, no longer needing to rule from the shadows. Arlathan is a bunch of Dalish and human settlements, not standing army either. The Anderfels had the Wardens as their defense force, but the Wardens almost completely gone. Rivain remains, but do you think they could survive after Tevinter took everything else? The Dwarfs of the south are busted, only Kal Sharok remains standing, And they do not care about anyone but their own Thaig (not that I blame them).

Again, Archon Mae/Dorian would try to stem the tide, but lets be real, what are their chances.

Then there is the question of the future of the Titans. Valta was connected to a living titan. One that showed no signs of blight. From what Veilguard showed us ALL titans are supposedly tranquil but I cannot believe that Valtas titan was in fact tranquil. How could she have reconnected with it otherwise. How could she have dwarven magic otherwise. So after Hardings quests - are we supposed to just "let go" of anything Titan-related? I mean we have SEEN a baby titan in one of the first concept trailers and then they just do away with this story line? Forget the past - only the future is important seems to be the theme of the game. But one who forgets the past is doomed to repeat it.

Ya know, when the first trailers hit - I thought Solas and Varric would be a bit like the devil and angel on Rooks shoulder. Both trying to convince Rook of their way. I thought this would be our theme. Who is right? They both believe in the righteousness of their cause, keep the veil, bring down the veil, but who is right, which way will Rook go. What would be best short term / long term / what is the good kind of change / what is the bad kind of change.

Stagnation does not help anyone - everything is constantly in flux - but how to usher in a better world for future generations.

Despite all the damage a falling veil would do, you cannot ever convince me it would be worse than the devastation and death brought by Big El and Ghil. That it would be worse than the state of Thedas we have now, where everything that has happened since Andraste is in danger of being undone.

Again, never mind that the Veil is a construct and all constructs break at some point. It will not, cannot stay up indefinitely. This was the one change to bring the veil down with the least amount of damage. The next time the whole Blight gets free too. And only redeemed Solas is even working of "calming" it. The other versions of Solas - true to their nature of being a spirit and thus reflecting - are either trying to trick their way out or gnawing on his bars like a feral wolf.

Again - NOTHING has changed. Everything is just delayed.

Not a single thing Rook did (or rather, what we as puppeteer of Rook decided) changes anything. In the end even the Treviso/Minrathous decision was meaningless since the blight just burned away(?) after Solas went into the Fade Prison.

Ya'll remember Morrigan in DAI - how she tried to preserve the magic of the past? How sad she was about everything becoming more and more mundane and how more and more magic and beauty gets lost with every decade? This is where we are now. Even more magic and beauty has been lost.

I am calling it now - the magic eating storm that comes from the North, the Executors and their plans - in the end we are left with a Thedas without any magic.

That is the end goal of DA - a world without ANY magic.

(I am glad that at least the companions made me fall in love with them. Otherwise this would have been the first "play it once and be done with it DA")

Castles in the Fade, or What Was the Point of the Veil Anyway

Something that will now haunt me until the end of time is why was the concept of the Veil ever introduced into this series.

We’ve been hearing about it since the very first game. There’s a codex entry about tears in the Veil in Origins. Tamlen mentions a thin spot in the Veil if you play a Dalish elf. Sandal has a prophecy in Dragon Age 2: “One day the magic will come back—all of it. Everyone will be just like they were. The shadows will part and the skies will open wide. When he rises, everyone will see.” Admittedly, this is just one line said by a character who often says odd things, but it hinted to the fact they were planning to do something with the Veil from the very beginning. The state of the Veil is repeatedly brought up. It all had to mean something! Or so I thought. 

When I saw “The Dread Wolf Rises” quest in Veilguard, I said, “Oh, here we go!” The Veil is coming down, magic is coming back, and it’s going to set up such an interesting story for the next game. 

Alas, no. 

I hadn’t really enjoyed my time playing Veilguard up until this point. It felt like the game was ducking and dodging every bit of world building and lore that could possibly bring nuance or complexity to the story. Every returning character or faction was a cardboard cutout of themself. They shoved Solas is a time-out box and gave him nothing to do. They refused to let him have any impact or influence on the story when he had been set up to be our main antagonist back in Trespasser. This game used to be called Dreadwolf! And while we learn about his past… we never talk to him about it. In the present, he’s in stasis.

Elgar’nan and Ghilan’nain are our villains. And they are your typical evil for evil’s sake villains. They are mad, bad, and only as dangerous as the narrative will allow as to not give Rook and co too much trouble. They are surprisingly patient while Rook fixes all their companions’ problems… until Elgar’nan moves the moon to cause an eclipse. A vital component in making his own lyrium dagger. For some reason. This guy can move a satellite!? And he just let Rook walk away in previous encounters… twice. Ok. Sure.

The Evil Duo need their own dagger ostensibly to tear down the Veil, because they want to unleash the full force of the Blight onto the world. Because they are evil. And they were thwarted last time they tried to Blight the entire world. Why do they think Blighting the world is a good idea? What’s the point of ruling a world if everyone is dead? I guess they haven’t thought that through, because of the madness and the evilness.

Ok, I thought. Perhaps the gods will be the one to tear down the Veil. Or maybe we’ll have a choice to let Solas do it his way before they can, which will be less chaotic and less full of Blight. Because the Veil has to be coming down one way or another? Why introduce the concept of the Veil, especially a Veil that has been thinning and failing since the series began, if it’s just going to… stay.

There is a principle in storytelling called Chekov’s gun. If something is mentioned in a story, it must have a purpose. If you keeping mentioning that gun hanging on the wall over the fireplace, it’s because at some point in the story, someone is going to take it down and use it. The Veil felt like Chekov’s gun to me. Chekov’s Veil, if you will. It’s been here from the beginning of our tale, the spectre hanging over our protagonists’ heads for multiple games.

The Veil has been a character unto itself. It was the central focus of the third game, and its dissolution was set up to be the core conflict of the fourth game. We learn everything we thought we knew about the Veil was a lie. It was not created by the Maker to separate the Fade from this world because of jealous spirits, it was created by a guy named Solas to trap the elven gods and the Blight from destroying the world. Also, the elven gods were never gods, and they are also evil.

This reveal will surely throw the Andrastian religion into chaos! This puts the very existence of the Maker into question! The Evanuris are a lie; it’s only fair Catholicism—oh, I mean—the Chantry is a lie too. We briefly touch on that in Veilguard… then it is quietly discarded. Religious crisis averted.

But I digress.

When the title of the fourth game was changed from Dreadwolf to Veilguard, I started to see the writing on the wall. Still, I held out hope the Veil would have some greater purpose in the story. That its introduction as a concept was for a reason. That something in this world would change.

Instead, from the get-go, the question of the Veil is no question at all. We only get Solas and Varric making oblique or catastrophizing statements about it. Solas says little beyond he has a plan. If I ever wanted to hear a villain monologue about their plan, it was now! Varric, on the other hand, decries Solas’s plan. He warns that should the Veil fall, it will destroy the world and drown it in demons. And that’s that.

We never really learn why Solas wants to tear the Veil down, or why he thinks it will help anyone. “The Veil is a wound inflicted upon this world. It must be healed,” he says. And that’s basically all he says about it in Veilguard. In Inquisition and Trespasser, we learn it took the immortality from the elves. It cut most of magic off from the world. Spirits are trapped and are being corrupted into demons, and most of what we know about spirits and demons is wrong. There are ancient elves possibly asleep? That part is left vague, but ancient elves are still about. We meet some in Mythal’s temple. There seems to have been some merit in bringing it down, because elves were flocking to Solas’s cause at the end of Trespasser. He had agents working for him already. What do they know that we don’t know?

Apparently nothing, because by the time Veilguard rolls around, there are no mention of agents. He is working alone. His only motivation now seems to be he’s too deep in his sunk-cost fallacy. The Veil is unnatural, so it must be removed—consequences be damned. We are never given any reason to think Solas has a leg to stand on in his pursuit of tearing down the Veil. We never hear any kind of counter argument from anyone, not even Solas, as to why the Veil should come down. We are only told it will destroy the world. It will drown the world in demons. This is all Solas’s fault.

There is no nuance. No complexity. No moral quandary to mull over. The game gives us vague warnings with no explanation as to what exactly is so world-annihilating about the Veil coming down. We must take Varric’s word at face value. We’re the heroes; Solas is the villain. Stop him.

It makes me wonder why Solas was ever a companion in Inquisition, let alone a romance option. Solas was presented to us as a complicated character in Inquisition. We had the potential throughout the game to make him see the value of this world, to help him realize he was wrong about it. “We aren’t even people to you,” the Inquisitor says in Trespasser. Solas replies, “Not at first. You showed me that I was wrong...again.” He began the third game viewing the world as tranquil, seeing the people in it as nothing more than figments in a nightmare, just as we saw our companions in the In Hushed Whispers quest. He ends the game having made friends, having recognized he was mistaken. He might have even fallen in love. (Or he may still seen no merit in this world if the Inquisitor antagonized him the entirety of their time together.) But something makes him continue with his plan to tear down the Veil, despite recognizing this world is real. He must know something we don’t. Something we’ll learn about in the next game.

We’ve been hearing about the Veil for three games now. We’ve set up our complex antivillain for the next installment, and he’s going to tear the Veil down. We swear to stop him or save him. But it has to be more complex than that. It can’t be so straightforward. Uncomplicated. Simple. Boring. Right? Right?

Nope. He really is just the villain, mustache-twirling and all. He apparently had no greater motivation, no as of yet unrevealed knowledge that would put this whole Veil thing into a new context. It was really as simple as the Veil falling will destroy the world, so Solas must be stopped. There is no new information that is revealed which makes us question what we are doing. Solas is never given any nuance or complexity to his actions. Nuance and complexity have actively been taken away. Both him and the Veil are looking like they are the worst things to be in a story: pointless. Why introduce the Veil if it’s just going to remain unchanged? Why introduce a character like Solas, bother humanizing him (for lack of a better term), giving us his backstory, setting him up as a cunning antagonist, only to make him look stupid, then put him on a shelf until the last ten minutes of your game?

Solas was the trickster archetype of this tale. He was our version of Loki from Norse mythology. What is the role of the trickster archetype? To challenge the status quo. To bring about events of extreme change, like say, the tearing down of a Veil that holds back all of magic. Loki is a huge contributing factor in Ragnarök. Through his manipulation, he causes the death of the beloved god, Baldr. This ushers in a long winter, which signifies the beginning of the end. Loki is imprisoned for this crime. When the final battle between gods and giants begins, the sun and moon are swallowed, plunging the earth into darkness. The earth shakes and Loki is freed to fight on the side of the giants. The world burns in raw chaos, falls beneath the sea, and is reborn. The world is remade, and a new realm of the gods and a new, better earth is formed.

It really felt like this was the setup they were going for. Solas causes the death of Mythal, and this is his catalyst for creating the Veil, which ushers in a world without magic. This could be seen as equivalent to the long winter. Solas falls asleep, trapped in dreams. He wakes and sets in motion bringing about the apocalypse. It’s not a perfect one to one, but it’s there if you squint. We have a war against the gods in Veilguard. I was expecting a few remaining Titans to wake and join the fight. But we don’t get any of that. There is a final battle, but it does not end in the end of the world. Or a better world. It just ends, and everything is the same.

It seems our trickster god caused his apocalypse thousands of years before our story started, when he created the Veil. His role in this tale was over before ours began, and he really is just some relic from a long-past age. He has no role, no purpose in this story. He is here to be thwarted. He is no Loki at all.

If you can’t tell, I wanted the Veil to come down. Did I think the Veil coming down would be painless? Have no negative consequences? No. Of course not. But keeping it up has negative consequences too. And it made for an interesting story. Or at least it could have. But we never explore that. The game presents no counter argument to having the Veil stay up, which, again, begs the question: what was the point of introducing the concept of the Veil at all?

Did I think the Veil coming down was actually the best solution to help Thedas become a better place? I don’t know, and I never will, because the game never argues for it one way or another. It just tells you to want it in place and to stop asking questions. In real life, a catastrophic event is not the best way to solve any of the world’s problems. But this is the realm of fiction. We have gods and monsters, magic and myth. We have introduced the status quo of Thedas, recognized it needs to change, then our trickster god appears ready to fulfill his role in the narrative. 

Instead, it all comes to nothing.

I got to the end of Veilguard… and everything was more or less the same as it was at the start of Origins. Veilguard actually tries its hardest to pretend any previously mentioned problems don’t exist, so of course the Veil coming down has no merit. There are no problems to solve in this world, apparently. Solas is just stuck in the past and can’t get with the times. Silly Solas.

The Veil isn’t even a permanent solution. It wasn’t to begin with. It was some duct tape wrapped around a broken pipe, and we’ve just slapped an extra piece of tape on it. It’s still leaking. It is still unnatural, and will fall eventually one way or another. Large amounts of bloodshed weaken it, so I guess Thedas better achieve world peace real quick to avoid any battles. There were seven super-powered mages holding it together… now there is just one. Ironically, the Veil was going to fall after two more Blights anyway. The Wardens were doing Solas’s work for him! It would also have released the full force of the Blight at that time… which Solas was trying to avoid, I presume.

It feels like keeping the Veil up just pushed a big problem onto Thedas’ future generations. We’ll keep slapping bandaids on it until it all falls apart. Someone else can deal with the fallout, but we’ll be dead by then, so who cares.

Primarily, I wanted the Veil to come down from a storytelling perspective. The Veil was an interesting concept and I wanted the story to do something interesting with it. Conflict is what makes stories stories and the Veil coming down could create so much compelling and complex conflict. And the Fade is weird, and I like weird. Stories are also about change, and I wanted to see Thedas change. Yet, Veilguard is over, and barely anything has changed. Instead of magic coming back being a conflict for the next game, they went with Fantasy Illuminati. Oh.

The Veil turned out to be a nothing-burger, and no problems in this world are even close to being solved. Slavery is still rampant in Tevinter. The elven people are still oppressed everywhere. Mages have no more rights in the South than they did in Origins. Spirits are still trapped and being corrupted. The Calling still exists, though might be different somehow now? They don’t really get into that. The Chantry’s validity is still not allowed to be questioned. The Blight still exists in some form, but again it’s vague. Oh, and we learn the dwarves have been gravely wronged, and the Titans are still tranquil. At least if you redeem Solas and a romanced Lavellan joins him, they can work together on healing the Blight and helping the Titans. Oh, good. One problem is being acknowledged and some action will be taken. Offscreen. Hurray? Solas doesn’t have a really great track record of fixing problems, so Lavellan is definitely going to need to be there to make sure he doesn’t fuck it up.

For some reason, this game seemed terrified of letting us think about anything for more than two seconds. It shied away from complexity or nuance at every turn. The game is called The Veilguard—ironically, that word is never uttered in the game—but we are given no real motive for guarding the Veil. We’re unquestionably the hero. The villains are uncomplicatedly evil. Save the world… never wonder what you are doing or why.

I wanted the game to make me question if the Veil staying up or coming down was the right choice. I needed to be given a real counter argument. Convince me the alternative would actually be better or worse, because as I mentioned… things suck quite a bit in Thedas already for a lot of people right now. Let the Veil’s fate be a difficult choice to make. If the conflict cannot be what to do about the Veil, it should be am I doing the right thing about the Veil. If the heart of your game is so thin on motive, everything else falls apart around it.

I hoped they were setting up a complex, Thedas-sized existential conflict for this game in Trespasser, but no. I wanted something to happen, but nothing did. 

I want to feel challenged and changed by a story, not left feeling empty. I’m tired of superficial entertainment. I want to sink my teeth into a narrative that doesn’t paint the world in broad strokes of black and white, good and evil, heroes and villains.

Ultimately, I think my issue is why even introduce a concept like The Veil if you’re not going to do anything interesting with it. Or anything at all. What I thought was Chekov’s Veil turned out to just be a MacGuffin. And that’s disappointing.

[dlnorton]

Getting Into Shortwave, A Reason To Do It by DLNorton

I'm 62 years old.. in case you were wondering. This is why I'm bringing this up for our younger readers on Tumblr (and Bluesky) because I feel it's going to be important starting next year.

This is it... and listen closely..

--Get into listening on shortwave.. and get into ham radio operation.

Yes, I know a lot of far right evangelical churches use this medium to spread their own brand of bullshit to the older generations and the few nutcase survivalists out there, but hear me out. Not everyone uses this medium anymore.. but it's stagnant as far as the left agenda is concerned, especially here in the U.S.A. It's on there, but it's far and few between. It needs to grow.

I listen a lot to the stuff coming out of other countries, and from what I hear.. they're talking about us.. Americans.. and they're right. We really do not give one f u c k about what goes on out there.. unless it's on our cellphones, and even then we pick and choose who we want to watch.. not listen.. and a lot of them are these pointless "influencers" which, quite frankly, helped to get D*n*ld Tr*mp back into the White House.

So why am I asking the younger folks to get into shortwave listening and get into ham radio operation? Because of Starlink. El*n M*sk basically owns Starlink.. and El*n M*sk at any time can have it shut down.. on a whim. Yes, there are other satellite communications providers out there, but as does Starlink, so does these other providers.

We need an alternative to fall back on.. and it's the old school method of communication that has been around since Guglielmo Marconi sent out the first wireless transmission of carrier (radio) wave morse code back in the very early 1900s. If M*sk shuts down the satellite systems and in turn, all the cell towers shut down.. which is funny because that's also radio frequency based (Thank you Hedy Lamarr).. we're going to be left high and dry as far as cellular communication is concerned. They did this on a small scale in San Francisco back in 2011 when BART shut down cellular service to those who were planning a protest of a BART police shooting of a homeless man. This created a lot of chaos since this communication was no longer available, and no one had a way of coordinating the protest. If they had simple FRS (Family Radio Service) or GMRS (General Mobil Radio Service) or even the old tried and true CB radios.. then they could still communicate efforts in this event.

Simple.

Why these? Because no one really monitors these frequencies anymore. Oh sure, the FCC has their own monitors, but do they also really hang on to every word? No.. they do not. I know this because I used to run a CB radio transmit station and the shit that goes on on those airwaves, you'de think the FCC would be cracking down on it.. but they don't, they have much bigger fish to fry like... Internet communications? Fucking LOL!!

Could the local, state or federal authorities jam all radio frequencies? Sure, but simple over the air jamming is a real military effort, and most municipalities, et al.. (especially local) do not have that capability readily available.. but shutting off cell towers by just one order..? That could create MAJOR chaos..!!

Also, the Internet can too be shut down with a flick of the switch. It's pretty much shut down (or limited) in North Korea, Iran, China (to some extent) and any other dictatorship, hell.. even Russia has it limited.. You think P*t*n wants us to know what's really going on over there? If Tr*mp gives the word, M*sk will shut down Starlink and any other Internet/cellular provider faster than you can say "KKKlandestine" or "Pr*ject 2*25" or "Punch that MF'ing Nazi asshole!" .. It's scary to think about if and when your eyes and ears get punched out or shut off. I panic when I can't find my iPhone.

Shortwave is SO easy to listen to. You can actually listen to shortwave on the Internet using any WebSDR site. SDRUtah has a good one. Google it, and give it a whirl. Now, it is on the Internet and the Internet is vulnerable to shutdown. So what do you do? Get a cheap shortwave radio and a length of wire, some batteries and tune in. Oh.. I say batteries because the electrical grid can be shut down too, like in the case of when Texas had that horrific snow storm back in 2021..? It completely FUBARed their power grid thanks to deregulation of the power companies, and ERCOT got "caught" with their preverbal pants down..? But enough on the Lone Star states bureaucratic fuck foul ups.

So the electrical grid is defenseless too.. which is why having alternative power sources is a good idea. But I hear you say, "God dammit dude, are you trying to turn us into these wack job survivalists you see roaming the Internet and other survivalist modes of communication?"

Not necessarily.. but we can use one aspect of their "bonkerz" methods and ideologies to at least give ourselves a little something to fall back on.. and why not start with listening to shortwave? It's simple to do. You can find any number of shortwave radios on the Internet (Amazon, eBay.. who ever.. Temu? *shudder*) at any price practically.

Now I have two shortwave radios, a Radio Shack DX-394 I got back in 1996 at a Radio Shack that was shutting down, along with a couple of inexpensive police/fire scanners for listening to the 2 meter bands and to listen to the weather band on 162.550 MHz. And I also have an old Halicrafters S-120 vacuum tubed unit which I don't listen to anymore since it's practically unsafe to use because of how it's wired for use back when it was manufactured back in the late 1950s. I did find a YouTube video on how to modify the old S-120 to make it safe, but it's a lot of work that I don't really want to get into right now. Maybe in the future I'll crack that old puppy open and go at it with a soldering iron.

Now the other item I mentioned was ham radio, or amateur radio. I do not have the capability to operate a ham radio.. not yet, I'm working on that. I'm going to try to get my "Tech" level license so's I can operate on the 2 meter bands. I attempted it back in the mid 1990s.. but got sidetracked somehow and lost interest. I'm kicking myself over that one still. *sigh*

Now, I say "Tech" level because there's actually 3 levels of ham radio operation (license).. an AI overview spewed this out on Google to give you an idea:

------------------

-The three levels of ham radio license in the United States are: 

Technician Class- The entry-level license, which is the choice for most new operators. It allows access to Amateur Radio frequencies above 30 megahertz, and some limited privileges on the HF bands. 

General Class- Grants operating privileges on all Amateur Radio bands and all operating modes. To earn this license, you must pass the Technician written examination and a 35-question examination. 

Amateur Extra ClassAllows access to all the same bands as General class licensees, plus some additional segments within those bands. 

To get a ham radio license, you must: 

Pass an examination administered by a team of volunteer examiners (VEs)

Contact a Volunteer Examiner Coordinator (VEC) to request an examination

Pay any reimbursement fees charged by the VEs

You can stay at any class for as long as you want before upgrading. US licenses are valid for 10 years before renewal. 

You can study for the exam using: 

Study guides

Training courses

Question pools, which are normally valid for 4 years

Study tools from HamStudy.org

---------------

That's basically it in a nutshell as far as ham radio is concerned.

And remember,

CB radio and FRS are basically free to use, GMRS is free to use too, but you'll need to pay a $35.00 fee on the FCC website to register you and your family.. which is one basic fee (35 bux) and you're off to the races as far as GMRS goes. I forget how long the GMRS permit is to use.. but I think it's 5 years.. but I could be wrong..

So that's it. The take away here is, start by listening to shortwave.. and hopefully, the rest with blossom from there.

Be proactive as far as your communication goes. I know there's probably more I didn't touch on, but I know you're smart "young" and mostly woke people.. I'm an old fuckin' boomer, and I know some of my boomer peers are crusty far-right motherfuckers and they're trying to get the proceeding generations to follow their lead. It's up to you guys to take a stand and fight them.. and I hope this will give you one method of staying in touch with your peers when all else fails to deliver.

so... GO!! NOW!!

-DLNorton, 12-28-2024

[[Repost this far and wide.. PLEASE!]]

[glamourscat]

you’re now my new friend so im gonna complain about some fans🤭🤭🤭

THE OTHER THING I WANT TO TALK ABOUT IS tim isn’t weak????? its canon damian says “drake is stronger than i like to admit” or something like that but the idea is that tim is canonically strong i mean cmon he’s a bat??? i saw something that another writer wrote and i really don’t want to disrespect but she(?) wrote something like tim couldn’t do the ‘jacked and kind’ trend. HE CAN HE HAVE TO IF HE COULD NOT HOW CAN HE BE A BAT HE HAVE TO BE STRONG

and he’s really smart like i don’t even now how to say it but its conan bruce think tim can even be smarter than him and damian says tim is the smartest!!!

i mean i get it tim isn’t the most popular robin but he’s really great but tiktok and tumblr makes him look like an idiot who’s just soft??? HE IS NOT his story is really interesting if you just read instead of making him look like some weak thing.

and bcz of the misinformation people just don���t like tim😭😭😭😭

and i don’t even want to talk about coffee addiction LIKE PLS STOP THIS MADNESS

ps:i probably made grammer mistakes sorry🙏🏼 AND i would like to send some asks when im more awake😭😭😭 it’s 3am rn

Don’t worry about it ahaha. Me and grammatical errors are like this 🤝🏻. Also, if you’re comfortable with it, let’s be moots 😭. I honestly need more people to yap with about Tim.

and yes ofc! Feel free to send more asks about Tim whenever u wish :)

Now, onto what you said. YES, YES, AND YES AGAIN. Thank you! I’m going to be honest here, I think Tim’s mischaracterization as “weak” boils down to the fact that many people see him as a twink……. The amount of art, both drawn and written, where he is depicted as this frail little thing that can’t think for himself and is weak and shy is too big. I mean, are we looking at the same character?

When I see people butchering Tim’s character, it’s clear to me that they haven’t read the comics. I’m not saying you need to read ALL of them—that’s just absurd considering the number of runs there are. Just the main ones could be beneficial. You know, having a general idea about the character.

He was trained by Bruce (and we know Bruce’s training is anything but easy), Nightwing and lastly, Lady Shiva herself. He has mastered many unarmed styles of fighting, including Leopard Kung Fu, Savate, Judo, Capoeira, Karate, Dragon Kung Fu, and Bojutsu.

He might not be a tank like Jason (side note: let’s remember Jason is the way he is thanks to the Lazarus Pit, because he was malnourished growing up, which stunted his growth). Just because Tim isn’t ripped and has a leaner build doesn’t mean he is weak. Nor does it mean he is stupid. His IQ is 142, and he is cited as the most analytical of Batman’s proteges, with detective skills on par with Batman himself. Like you said, BRUCE HIMSELF says he believes Tim is smarter than him in some ways.

And on the coffee addiction—that’s so funny to me because, if I’m not wrong, he drank coffee ONE time in canon, someone made it his personality, and everyone ran with it 😭.

I just can’t. Honestly, Tim is a skater boy. A punk at heart, who listens to bands like Oasis and Green Day. He is absolutely obsessive at times, loud and opinionated. He is a child prodigy and grew up rather isolated. Then his mother died. He and his father got into deep arguments because of his job as Robin. He stopped, then started again. His father died, and he found his father’s dead body while wearing his Robin uniform. He escaped Bruce for about a month, forging a fake adoption certificate from a FAKE uncle he made up because he didn’t want to be taken in by Bruce.

He feels like he is a burden and still keeps that sentiment, which was incremented when Damian joined the family and took his spot as Robin, leaving Tim feeling hopeless. He became Red Robin, lost his best friend (or something more) and went absolutely insane trying to clone him. He can’t handle loss for shit. The same thing happened in his Red Robin run where he ignored both Nightwing and Steph, who tried to stop him from following his unhinged plan of finding Bruce, who was presumed dead but Tim thought was alive. To save his loved ones, he willingly jumped from a building while injured, almost dying.

This, in my eyes, is anything but weak.

He is my unhinged bisexual gremlin. Love him so much

[mint-in-the-moonlight]

the fandomification of paganism

hello everyone! first of all, thank you for taking the time to read this post. I want to preface it by saying that it is based on my opinion and observations and it's coming from a genuine place of care for the community. I don't mean to attack anyone or deny anyone's experience, I simply want us to reflect on the path that online paganism has been taking in recent years. with that being said, I hope you can continue reading with an open mind and limit your critiques to those actually related to my points, framing or conclusions. thank you!

there is something that I've been noticing in online pagan spaces lately, a shift which has me worried and feeling disconnected from much of the community. it seems to affect the way we think and talk about our deities which then seeps into the rest of our practices and communities.

I think we have already witnessed many large ways in which it manifests. the most recent and widespread example that I can think of was the whole "the gods are mad" thing on the eve of the US presidential election. some people were adamant that the gods were emotionally affected by the affair as if they themselves had a personal stake in it. now, I don't mean to say that the gods don't care about human affairs but the general consensus after this whole debacle seems to be that the gods are generally quite distant from stuff like this as they have no stake in things like human politics beyond potentially how it affects their worshippers. I agree with this general idea and I think what is likely happening is people are projecting their own opinions and feelings onto the gods because it is important to them that the gods seemingly agree and can sympathise (i wrote a bit more about this situation here if you're interested in reading it).

so from this one example, but potentially many more that I or you reader have experienced, i think what we are seeing is a certain trend (and I don't mean this in a negative way) of the gods as much more human-like. this is not necessarily a bad thing, many pagans see the gods as much closer to humans than I do (I see them as much more non-human or superhuman and just completely out of our realm of understanding). but what i usually see this being accompanied by is a certain belief that the gods are always around and very invested in every tiny aspect of our lives. in some people's practices, they seem to serve a more companion role and their importance as gods is severely downplayed.

I think this want for spiritual companionship is completely understandable and normal, this is after all one of the reasons why people can decide to become pagan or religious in general. but I think at times I see this move into a territory that I find problematic. I call it the "fandomification" of paganism.

I've been struggling with how I want to describe it because as much as I want people to be able to worship and practice however they want, I genuinely think that some of these behaviours cause problems in our communities and I want to address that from a place of good faith. with the knowledge that this might ruffle some feathers I want to say the following: I think some people treat the gods too much as manifestations of their favourite blorbo from a tv show or book rather than the powerful spiritual beings that they are.

I think that the idea that anyone can immediately communicate with the gods through a candle flame or a pendulum has led people to believe that they always have the ear of the gods and that the gods care and have opinions about every little thing that we can think of. I think skits on tiktok have popularised the erroneous idea that the gods can have snippy little conversations among themselves and practitioners and that they have beef amongst themselves.

what I honestly think is that many people have lost the respect and awe of the gods and made them into their personal entertainment clowns and that really rubs me the wrong way. this is not the way I want to engage in my religion, and once again while I do not wish to compel people to adapt their religion to what I believe, I have definitely noticed a growing schism between pagans who think like me and pagans who do not. I think it may be time for us to reflect on this development and how we want to tackle it going forward in relation to the future of our pagan communities.

[luniviravosshipper]

I’ve just been thinking lately about Aaravos’ mostly flat character arc up to this point and his lack of involvement in interpersonal relationships with others outside of Claudia and Viren, and I’m betting a lot of how we see him interact with other major characters will change quite a bit in the next arc of the series. So, out of curiosity…

I’m in between Aaravos and Janai and Aaravos and Callum. We’ve seen the most built up for Callum and him, but I’m so curious about what it’ll look like once Janai and him finally talk face to face after everything that has happened. I would otherwise say Aaravos and Terry as my first choice, but season 7 didn’t really make me all that hopeful for whatever might be planned for those two if the writers are thinking of doing something else with them tbh.

But I’m really interested in general in seeing what other people’s thoughts are here.

[star-lights-up]

I have like 5 million headcanons for the Hear Me Out au and I can't fit them all into the fic, so here we go, part one of character headcanons:

Charles:

He identifies as queer because he experiences romantic attraction and gender differently than others due to his telepathy (much more fluid). Generally he just uses male terms but he really just doesn't care all that much about pronouns.

he's nearsighted, and wears glasses.

he may not be able to figure out his own life, but he's got great advice for everyone else (and usually it works)

he's kind of been wanting to get his ears pierced for years but he's worried it'll clash with his academia aesthetic

If he's not wearing jumpers and button-ups he owns like five million oversized hoodies in varying colors

he collects converse

He likes classical music and pop and lofi

He just randomly has teabags all the time

Erik (sorry about his face idk what happened):

He generally respects people he'd just rather not talk to them.

Learned to cook and bake from Edie, it's become cathartic for him.

Knows how to paint and draw but will never tell anyone about it. He also makes sculptures from metal when he's bored.

Likes running and working out.

Angel:

Taylor swift girly to Raven's sabrina carpenter obsession (they've got all these records on their walls)

Does yoga and mountain biking

Makeup specialist of the house (since raven can just do it with her powers)

Will sometimes go flying with sean but he makes her nervous a lot because like, what if something happened to his suit?

Haunts the local starbucks

Raven:

Only wears gold jewelry and loves pink

Will kill anyone who hurts her friends (and they'll never find the body)

Has watched the sabrina carpenter christmas special like ten million times

does "natural makeup" tutorials for mutants with all different skin colors. People send her pictures of their mutation and she shifts into them, spends time making the look, and then posts it for them.

Sean:

Started to learn to cook when they all moved in together (just simple foods for now but he's getting better and really enjoys it)

Wayyyyy too much energy at any given moment

Has perfect pitch and is a great singer because of his mutation. He can also play any instrument by ear.

[projectjasper]

new siwaj is genuinely so good at the romcom genre (with a dash of something like slice of life here and there), so good at showing humour and domesticity and intimacy and cute fluffy romance. fully unparalleled in those departments. and i think so far perfect 10 liners manages to stay within the bounds of the genre the best.

putting aside some of new's earlier works and focusing on two generally amazing romcoms that he has made in recent years that i absolutely adore - 'a boss and a babe' and 'we are' - there was pretty much only one issue with both of them: they tried to bite off more (complicated and heavy topics) than they (as romcom series) could chew. the way abaab handled the abuse storyline was just bad and it might as well not have brought up the question of the relationship's power dynamic cause it didn't have anything substantial to say about it. don't get me started on the way child abandonment is waved off in 'we are'. and i honestly think these more serious topics were eventually dealt with so flippantly not because new is incapable of handling such serious topics at all (see: until we meet again) but because seriously handling them in this case would take us too far away from the romcom genre. they are simply something it is inherently unequipped to deal with.

meanwhile, perfect 10 liners (at least, so far - fingers crossed for the rest of the series) has been really good at presenting human characters with a backstory that is significant and effective in establishing conflict but also pretty normal, not entirely world-shattering, or uniquely heavy. having a shitty ex or divorced parents are things that do absolutely have a serious negative impact on people, but they are also very common and it is exactly because of how ordinary and easily digestible they are that they can be dealt with fairly quickly and painlessly, not requiring too much nuance and in-depth discussion. what i'm saying is they are not like your first love being a survivor who killed herself or your boyfriend being sent away and abandoned at age five. you know what i mean? they are perfect conflict set-ups but are also not too much for a romcom to handle.

because at the end of the day the romcom genre is like the dessert of media. it's awesome, it gives us a sugar rush and, to some (me, it's me, i'm talking about myself), it is the best part of the meal. but it cannot handle the same amount of density the main course can. it is mostly lighthearted and largely uncomplicated by definition and it should stay that way. (part of the reason why i think romcoms have been struggling with this is because there has been a trend of people wishing to feel constantly intellectual just for the sake of it and thinking complexity and heavy themes are the only acceptable things in media, but that's like... a whole other essay).

and, although i know a lot also depends on the screenwriter(s) and the source material, with the way conflict has been presented and wielded in perfect 10 liners, i really think new is finally fully getting to that point where he knows exactly what this kind of series should look like, what his own strengths are, and how to mix the two.

at this point, at least to me, new siwaj is the king of the bl romcom genre. and, as someone who has been watching straight romcoms his whole life and has always loved the genre but yearned to see himself in it, i am eternally grateful to new for finally making that dream come true.

[cheesynachosworld]

guys is so funny to me see stranger things ga’s opinion on byler cus’ i was just talking to my cousin about how im so excited for season 5 to come out and she knows that I’ve been loving byler for years, i was like “I can’t wait for them to be endgame!!” and she was like “you really think so? I know u have a lot of faith on it, and remember faith moves mountains !!” I know she said it in a supportive way of course, then I told her “yeah, I have faith, me and 366, 689 people on tumblr do :D” then she was like “WOWW y’all can manifest together and make it happen”

If the general audience knew we are all over here CONVINCED that is going to be canon

it’s curious to me that she is a fangirl of a bunch on mlm ships and is really into BLs and still has never been into Byler even tho for me and I think all of us is something that most certainly is FOR REAL happening

(when s4 came out she was a steddie shipper btw🧍🏻)

[amiaclone]

Thank you! I love getting compliments by my writing

By leader I’m assuming the manager guard? If so I’ll do it I hope I’m right 😭

Tw: Probably really ooc

I unfortunately can’t find a gif of him so just google the black manager guard if you don’t know who I’m talking about

Leader guard x gender neutrel! Reader

(Readers gonna be a hoodie if you don’t mind)

You sighed how long has it been?

Killing in general sucks but being forced to do it? Wow

You unfortunately lost one of the games in the last squid game it was i think the honeycomb game? You however survival instinct took in and ran and hid for a good while trying to get out of the Island

Unfortunately due to all the cameras and lack of hiding spaces you were caught but due to how long it took to find you and how much you begged and begged….The vips apparently or something requested Front man for you to live they didn’t care what they’d do with you but you were entertaining

So you became a guard honestly it was better then dying but killing hundreds of people made you sick to your stomach

Although you were promised to be let go after this game which was relieving but still….you don’t think you were ever gonna forget this

You ended up becoming a co officer? Too bad the officer front man of the workers was the most annoying guy ever…..

You were disgusted he didn’t care about the amount of lives he was taking and watching people being tortured is entertaining somehow…..and the selling the organs bit

He however unknowingly to you took a liking to you he never saw your face no matter how many times he’d insist you never took it off it’s not like it was an order he just….wanted to see your pretty face

He liked your random short snarky comments you’d make occasionally whenever you’d get comfortable enough

Now here you are with him annoying you about whatever as he kept his eyes on the cameras making fun of half the players

“Player 233 is so stupid imaging not eating your food when it’s your only meal a day-“

“I don’t care-“

“Oh come on babe can’t you just pretend to agree me and you can both agree it’s boring.”

*You rolled your eyes under your mask*

“Yeah the second we get distracted I get the blame and get killed? Yeah right”

“He thinks you’re somewhat entertaining weirdly it’ll probably be me.”

*You didn’t say anything what’s there to say?*

“……So wanna make fun of the players?”

“No.”

“Ok then, your loss….”

*You were shocked he agreed somewhat but atleast he shut up*

“Hey since nobody’s here why don’t we take our masks off can barely breathe in these….”

“Why do you always wanna take our masks off?” *It’s not like you didn’t want to or anything but the way he always insisted was he testing you? Planning something? Being paranoid in this case is perfectly justifiable*

“Well you sound cute your face is probably even cuter….besides we’ve known each other for weeks you have to atleast think I’m tolerable?” *He teased*

*You scoffed* “Yeah so tolerable…” *You pondered in thought it is getting hot in here it’s not like you can’t breathe in the mask or anything but eh you never seen his face either you haven’t seen any of the workers faces now thinking about it-*

*Your thoughts were interrupted by him taking it off he was…..attractive. Eh personality is kinda bad.*

*You quickly regained your composure* “Sweet.”

*He winked jokingly*

“Bet you weren’t expecting this face were you?” *He went through his pocket and got a cigarette and smoked puffing some air out.* “Wanted to smoke.”

*You groaned in disgust* “In this room was it really necessary?” *He shrugged* “It’s not like it’s gonna kill you.”

*You sigh taking your mask off and using your hand to wave the smoke air out of your face you noticed him staring*

“What?” *You asked in an annoyed tired tone*

“Nothing.” *He smirks a bit*

“You’re just really pretty that’s all.”

Hope you liked it!

[genderqueerdykes]

Hi. Here's a lot of words that y'all don't have to read and I have a question that y'all don't have to answer. I think you all make a lot of great points. I'm sorry if this is on the blog already.

I think I might be what you call an egg. I just try not to think about it. I'm going through a lot of stuff right now that needs processing and I can get to the gender thing when I can get to the gender thing. That said, I'm trying to let myself exist in queer spaces and it feels like everyday women are bashing men without batting an eye. Actually, that's happening not just in queer spaces. Nobody says anything except to agree. Even people that I've known for a while and know that I'm married to a cis man whom I love and respect (and who actually got me interested in feminism). I told one friend that I was uncomfortable by her comments and she flipped it around, pouted exasperatedly, and said, "I thought you were a safe space!" I didn't know that there was a safe space for sexism!

What the fuck do I say to people? I'm autistic and have an extreme sense of justice and can't just let things go but I want to be at least somewhat respectful-sounding because when you yell at people they shut down and think you're wrong/the problem. I also don't want to talk their ears off/write paragraphs like this. 😬

🌀

jesus, i'm so sorry people are treating you like that. it really hurts my head to see people do this. you don't deserve that kind of behavior, you're not a shitty person for trying to figure out your gender. you're not shitty for being happily married to a cis man. i have so many words so i hope i won't give you a reply that's too long to parse

no matter what people's beliefs are, everyone is reinforcing that women need to hate men. like you're right it's just everywhere. not just queer communities. it's weird. it's like, i get it, the way we force men to act is absurd. we need to focus on helping men snap out of the shitty things we force them to do and support them in growing and changing. also like i don't get how people dont see how terrible it is to openly admit that they see trans men, queer men, gay men, bi men, disabled men, men of color, intersex men, multigender men, and so on. there are so many groups of men affected by this i dont get why people don't care

this "safe space" thing has gotten abused to hell and back. it's out of control, now it's being used as a gatekeeping tool. it's weird to me but people are defining things like this:

general lgbt/queer communities = women's safe space

lesbian community = women's safe space

nonbinary community = women's safe space

butch, gender non conforming, genderqueer community = women's safe space

genderfluid, bigender, multigender communities = women's safe space

bisexual, pansexual, polysexual, & polyamorous communities: women's safe space

like it's gotten way out of control. people think that every experience that doesn't outright say man is a women's safe space. and even then, we see entitlement there in the transmasculine and trans man communities as well. the thing is is like. these are intended to be communities. not safe spaces. like

women's groups exist. there are groups dedicated to providing safe spaces for just women, irl. a lot of the time they're based out of crisis and sexual assault survivor clinics, but there's also ones for homeless women, and so on. like i honestly guarantee you that if you googled "women's safe space" you'd find some local, brick and mortar places designed to be there for women and only women. like. those. exist.

we don't have to turn the entirety of queerness into a women's safe space. i feel like women who have been hurt by men are running to the wrong place a lot of the time. or they expect every other queer person to have the same trauma as them. like i think people in general are very queerphobic and assume that most queer people are women, for some reason?

i don't know why people view this as the "running away from men club". that's how terfs define the lesbian community. if you want to show people why this is dogshit, it's because that's literally how terfs define lesbianism. that's how rad fems define lesbianism. the "we hate men, we never want to be around men ever again, men are inherently dangerous" club is the lesbian separatism club.

people often say "why is there a lot of talk of lesbian supremacy lately?"

it's because so many people got indoctrinated into rad feminism without ever realizing it. queer communities are not the "we hate men" communities. those are rad fem communities.

so many queer spaces need to involve men, because men are very important in so many queer experiences. erasing their experiences and denying them the right to be in those spaces isn't helping anyone. if people want to be in all woman groups, they need to search specifically for that. if someone defines "lesbian" as "women's only safe space," they're looking for a women's space. honestly, maybe people just need to be nudged in the right direction. maybe not enough people know there are literal all woman safe spaces irl that help women with homelessness, sexual and domestic abuse, childcare, substance abuse, mental health, and many other resources.

sometimes there are behavioral health and crisis centers that accept just women. some psychiatric hospitals have spaces for just women. it really is possible to create, nurture and participate in womens only spaces. people are just trying to take over something they personally don't belong in, and it's insane that that's the norm right now. people are obsessed with going backwards in terms of progress in accepting diversity in queer lives.

anyway, i hate this shit, so i hope things improve for you soon, people are just. so proud of being mean right now. people are proud to be assholes and they take it out on disadvantaged men. isn't that sad? people are pissed off about patriarchy, the establishment ABOVE us, so they attack poor, mentally ill, disabled, neurodivergent, intersex, trans, queer men and men of color, as if that'll solve anything.

[violetsastrocytes]

unhinged regulus (my fave)

hey hello i thought i'd quickly talk about regulus in my lotss fic... i feel like people are gonna have problems with him—so here's some musings/ramblings etc!

so i really enjoy the idea of exploring human nature, and to me this means a flawed character. in lotss regulus is not a good person. there's good in him, sure, but on the whole he's morally corrupt and has a detrimental fuck-it-we-ball attitude. he relishes in destruction and indulges in his volatility. like he persuaded sirius to literally bind them together with a potentially fatal and 100% illegal spell at ten fucking years old, because he was like whelp. i'm gonna miss you when you go to highschool. and he's manipulative as shit, because sirius was like oh yeah, horcruxes, solid plan, and then does it.

regulus joins the army, yes to protect sirius, yes so sirius doesn't have to, but he would've joined anyway. he LOVES the power it gives him. he finds murdering fun. genuinely fun. he likes to tease his victims, he likes to draw their death out, he thinks it's hilarious when they cry and beg. and sure, okay, these are unambiuously bad people, veela traffickers etc, reg doesn't feel this way when he's on the battlefield and it's basically soldiers just like him. but still, it does take a certain character to not only carry out, but relish in murder.

i took a lot of inspiration for his and General Riddle's relationship from Silko and Jinx (from Arcane). i thought that dynamic was the best ever, like here are two hurt, damaged, chaotic and morally deranged people. they enable each other, they care for each other (genuinely). i'm obsessed with Arcane so think about it way too much, but Silko's last words to Jinx "you're perfect" make me wanna scream. because to him she is. that's what a daughter is to a father—a true father. flawed and tainted and morally ugly, blood all over her hands—but she is still his daughter, he forgives her, he loves her. despite, because of, regardless.

anyway my whole point with this ramble—i feel like lots of marauders fics ive read ultimately try and either validate, justify or redeem a character's unjust actions or corrupt nature. that's totally valid obviously, but that's not what i've done in lotss. regulus never regrets his behaviour, even when it ends up costing him someone he really, really loves. even then he continues to do it, he continues to enjoy it. he never has any big revelation and goes fuck. i messed up.

and general riddle—we've seen him manipulate, coerce and trap nagini. so we're against him. but then we see him from regulus' pov—who admires and trusts him—and he seems like a nice guy. so then we're like okay, is he a dick or is he nice? but isn't everyone both sides of that coin?

i really tried to show that while, on the whole, he's an upstanding leader, fighting for good causes (and is non-discriminative: there's a vast and inclusive representation of genders and races in the death eater army, something which is notably absent from the ministry-affiliated order and bmaf) even then riddle's hungry for more power. he wants to experiment and test the limits of his magic. my whole moral of the story thing with lotss is that power corrupts. there is NO GOOD SIDE. i'll say it again: no one wins in war.

like that line in hotd, where alicent says wtf are we even fighting for anymore? and rhaenyra is like lol idk. i was reading about the vietnam war recently: america and australia sent all those men in, then realised they were being fucking decimated and were like, oh fuck, and pulled them out again. thousands dead. literally for fucking what. anyway, all that to say: i'm not trying to use a character (regulus) who is generally well-liked by the fandom in order to try and justify or advocate for violence. his behaviour is just me experimenting with another way trauma can play out, like don't forget the circumstances of his birth, or the fact that he had to watch sirius being abused. sirius' magic was tested by orion to the point where he almost died multiple times. it effected sirius one way, it effected regulus another.

anyway! it's a story loves, not meant to be serious xo as i said before, take it all with a pinch of salt. and if you happen to watch arcane, tell me so we can try about it together!