#what’s wrong with that???? isn’t he human? doesn’t he deserves a community?

[error-523scintilla]

Also like… not to deter from the point, but how many cis men are you sure are cis? Maybe they’ve not discovered they’re trans/nb/genderqueer/xenogender, or even will end up being part of the intersex community, and neither do you. Wow, it sure is so cool of you to ostracize the people of your community!!! So girlbossqueenslay of you!!

At the beginning of the year, my boyfriend —the token cishet guy of our queer friend group— came out to my as nonbinary, and is still coming out to terms with his gender (us being raised latinoamericanos and him amab in Venezuela). If it wasn’t for having a grand support group of queer friends and a bi girlfriend behind him, probably would’ve never come out. How many “men” are having the same experience? Why can’t they explore their gender and queerness? Why should they be rejected by default?

And another thing is… where’s the intersectionality? White feminism being the ban of our existence, black women will probably have more in common with black cis men than upper class white woman. Same goes with Latino women, or Asian women, or Arab women, having more in common with cis queer men of color than white women.

Oh, and if you’re a gold star lesbian, your sexuality doesn’t makes you less of a bigot :) you’re still next on their target list

"cis men dni" are you ready to come out of your "no boys allowed" treehouse yet. its time for lunch.

[milimeters-morales]

i will be totally honest with y’all i can’t see Hobie (ATSV) in a romantic relationship ever. like, i can’t see him seeing anybody ever as “the one” or even having multiple partners or anything. I can barely see him having friends outside of the ones he already has. I can somewhat see the “are we dating or are we not dating” thing being something he gets involved in, but not really. i think a lot of people either don’t know or just forget that he’s probably homeless and that his world is shit rn and that stuff he needs isn’t easy to come by 😭😭 and a lot of homeless people just don’t have time/energy for shit like romantic relationships and the stuff he’s doing canonically because they’re so focused on trying to survive. That’s why when I make posts about him casually flirting or whatever it’s never serious, it never goes anywhere, because honestly! Between music shows, trying to find your next meal, fighting the power, trying to find a shelter for the night, helping other homeless people and others in need as both a civilian and Spider-Man, dealing with dimensional threats, trying to find a place to get clean, i just don’t think Hobie has time to even consider it. Sure, maybe there are facilities in the HQ to make it easier, but after that stunt, i think he’d avoid using them as much as possible. do you see what i mean??

[saintsenara]

Thoughts on Ron and Hermione as a ship?

thank you very much for the ask, @thesilverstarling!

i’ll state my position straight away: book ron and hermione are the best of the canon couples.

they will have a long and extremely happy marriage made rich by great and stalwart love, lust, fun, and faithfulness, rather than held together by duty and couples’ therapy like so many readers and authors (including jkr, who seems to have decided to spend the years since the conclusion of the series failing to understand anything about her own characters) tend to think.

i will state another position straight away: lest i seem like i’m just a fan with blinkers on, i think this even though hermione is, by far, my least favourite member of the trio. if she were real i would detest her, and i dislike how she is treated by the narrative as always justified in her negative characteristics. i like fanon hermione - perfect and preternaturally good - even less.

as a result, i think that it’s ridiculous that jkr has said that she thought ron needed to ‘become worthy’ of hermione. they belong together as equals - which is what they’re set up in the narrative as being from the off - and i hate seeing that undermined.

because ronald weasley? he’s an icon. and he doesn’t get anywhere near the respect he deserves in fandom.

there are multiple reasons for this - ron’s narrative purpose is to be the everyman sidekick, and so he is able to be less special than harry or hermione (the helper-figure); the amount of aristocracy wank in this fandom means that the weasleys’ ordinariness is less appealing to writers than making harry have twenty different lordships and call himself hadrian; the narrative interrogates ron’s flaws - especially his capacity for jealousy - much more intensively than it interrogates either hermione’s (cruel, inflexible, meddling) or harry’s (reckless, self-absorbed, judgemental) - but one i feel is particularly significant is that ron is such a british character that many of his traits are not understood as intended by non-british readers.

in particular - as is outlined in this excellent meta by @whinlatter - ron’s sense of humour isn’t indicative of immaturity or a lack of seriousness, but is, in fact, evidence that he’s the most emotionally aware of the trio.

ron is shown throughout the series to understand how both harry and hermione need to have their emotions approached - and i think there is no piece of writing which says this better than crocodile heart by @floreatcastellumposts:

That was what she liked most about Ron, she thought vaguely. He was very good at being suitably outraged on your behalf. For Harry, for her, for Neville. That sort of thing mattered, when you were hurt or embarrassed or wronged in some way. You needed to have someone else on your side, to be as emotional as you felt, maybe even more so, so that you might feel a bit more normal. It was very decent of him, and she was not sure he realised he did it.

ron’s inherent emotional awareness is an enormous source of comfort to other people. he does the work which isn’t flashy or special - he makes tea and tells jokes and is just there - but which is needed in healthy human relationships far more frequently than a willingness to fight to the death for the other person.

[as an aside, this normality - even though i think it is assumed rather than justified by the text - is also what ginny provides for harry. if you believe that hinny are a good couple but romione aren’t… i can’t help you.]

but let’s look at some specific reasons why ron and hermione belong together:

their communication styles mesh perfectly. ron is the only person hermione knows who feeds her love of being challenged and debated, and who is able to engage in this way of communicating without becoming irate when she refuses to back down. ron is good at picking his battles, but he’s also good at recognising that hermione’s tendency to argue isn’t intended to be confrontational a lot of the time - it’s just the way she works through feelings and problems. he’s far more easy-going about her tendency to nag, interrupt, try to provoke arguments, or speak condescendingly than he’s given credit for - and hermione evidently respects this, since when he does tell her not to push a situation (above all, when she’s trying to needle harry into talking about sirius), she listens to him.

that ron and hermione’s tendency to bicker is taken by fans to be a bad thing is because it’s something harry - from whose perspective the narrative is written - doesn’t understand. harry is extremely conflict-avoidant - he tends to take being pushed on views and opinions he has to be insulting; and he has a tendency to assume that he is right which is just as profound as hermione’s. he and ginny communicate not by debating, but by ginny having no time for his rigidity and refusing to indulge it - but ron and hermione bickering about everything is not a negative thing within their specific emotional dynamic.

[as another aside, this glaring chasm in communication styles is why harry and hermione would be a disaster as a couple.]

they each provide validation the other needs. it’s clear - reading between the lines - that hermione is a tremendously lonely person. the friendlessness of her initial few weeks at hogwarts seems to be a continuation of her experience as a child, and - outside of ron and harry - that friendlessness endures through her schooldays. i’m always struck, for example, by the fact that, when she falls out with ron in prisoner of azkaban, she has no-one else to spend time with, and that this is only avoided in half-blood prince because harry decides not to freeze her out. i don’t think her friendship with ginny is anywhere near as close as fanon seems to imply (ginny has no interest in being nagged either), nor do i think that she’s anywhere near as close to neville (not least because she is so condescending to him) as she’s often written to be.

and this loneliness seems to stretch beyond hogwarts. the absence of hermione’s parents’ from the narrative is - in a doylist sense - clearly just a device to maximise time with the trio all together, but the watsonian reading is that she doesn’t have a particularly good relationship with them. hermione’s obviously upper-middle-class background - the name! the skiing! the holidays in the south of france! - can be presumed, i think, to come with a series of expectations from her parents which she feels constantly that she’s not entirely meeting, particularly expectations attached to academic success.

[for example, the grangers - were she a muggle child - would undoubtedly have ambitions for her to attend an elite university and then go into a prestigious career. tertiary education of the type that they’re familiar with doesn’t seem to exist in the wizarding world - most careers seem to be taught by apprenticeship - and this, alongside all the other divides between the magical and muggle worlds which contribute to the distance between them, would be one very obvious area in which she felt the need to prove herself to them.]

ron, too, has quite a difficult relationship with his position in the family - voldemort’s locket is not wrong to point out that he seems to receive considerably less of his mother’s emotional attention than ginny or the rest of his brothers - and he too is constrained by expectations which he doesn’t know how to explain he has no interest in - above all, molly’s desire for her sons to achieve top grades and go into the ministry.

he also suffers while at hogwarts from being ‘harry potter’s best friend’, something which harry never appreciates. but hermione does. she recognises ron’s jealousy and never allows harry to minimise it (and she and ron are very much aligned on having no respect for harry’s saviour and martyr complexes). she appreciates ron’s strengths - above all his kindness and his sense of humour - and makes him feel as though he’s achieved things with them. and ron does the same for her; he is hugely observant when it comes to her, and he challenges and defends her.

the two of them clearly spend a lot of time together one-on-one while harry’s involved in his various shenanigans (including outside of school - hermione has often arrived at the burrow days or even weeks before harry, and they seem to write to each other frequently when apart). they do this within a relationship which is fundamentally equal. one issue with hinny is that, post-war, harry is going to have to get used to seeing ginny as a peer, rather than as someone he has to protect. but ron and hermione never have that issue - equality is baked into their relationship from the off.

because, to be quite frank, fandom overstates the role that jealousy plays in their relationship. it’s true that ron certainly doesn’t acquit himself brilliantly when it comes to hermione’s relationship with viktor krum (it’s because he’s bi and doesn’t know it yet), and a tendency to externalise his insecurity into trying to make others also feel insecure is one of his primary negative traits (hermione does this too, via her patented lofty voice when she’s trying to condescend to people). but this is often taken as the initial red flag for how the relationship would crash and burn, and ron’s toxic jealousy is often used in fan-fiction as the trigger for emotional and physical violence towards hermione which, frequently, seems to drive her into the arms of either draco malfoy or severus snape… who are, of course, the first people we think of when we hear the words ‘not prone to jealousy’...

but i think it’s important to point out several things in defence of ron’s jealousy over krum. firstly, hermione evidently regards his jealousy as ridiculous - she’s upset by it, yes, but her upset must be understood as being caused by the fact that she wanted him to ask her out. she doesn’t think he’s being possessive, she thinks he’s being stupid. secondly, hermione is equally as jealous over ron’s crush on fleur delacour and relationship with lavender brown. she behaves just as cruelly when it comes to lavender as ron does when it comes to krum - and the narrative only treats her actions as more sympathetic or justified both because harry dislikes lavender too, and because, by that point in the series, jkr has dispensed with any inclination to ever criticise her.

but, outside of this teenage pettiness, ron is never jealous of hermione over things which matter. he is never jealous of her intelligence or competence or ambition or success (indeed, he defends her constantly from attacks designed to undermine her in these areas). for someone who struggles with being overshadowed by harry, he is never upset at being overshadowed by her. he is clearly going to be happy to support her in any of the career ambitions she can be written as having post-war.

and, on this point, i think it’s worth interrogating why so many readers still seem to feel uncomfortable with the idea of ron and hermione having a dynamic where she is the more ‘powerful’ one. [it’s always a bit trite to say ‘but what if the genders were reversed?’, but actually that’s not irrelevant here]. if hermione ends up taking the ministry by storm and ron becomes a stay-at-home father or has a job which is just to pay the bills, what, precisely, is wrong with that? why, precisely, should hermione regard ron making that choice for himself as a negative thing? hermione so often seems to leave ron in fan-fiction because of a lack of ambition - something which seems to be particularly common in dramione - but, in canon, she is shown to not particularly care if ron and harry do the bare minimum when it comes to studying etc. she nags them to do their work so they don’t get in trouble. she doesn’t nag them to do it to the same standard that she would.

and, actually, i think that ron being less ambitious than hermione is something which is key to how well they work. because ron provides not only emotional support, but emotional clarity.

hermione is shown throughout canon to - just as harry does - have a tendency to become obsessive to the detriment of her own health. she is also often - as harry is - emotionally or intellectually inflexible, and finds it hard to move on when what she feels or believes is proven to be wrong. both she and harry are micro-thinkers, who lean towards knee-jerk assumptions and stubborn convictions (and, indeed, hermione has a remarkably hagrid-ish tendency towards blind loyalty).

ron is none of these things. ron is a big-picture thinker (it’s why he’s so good at chess). he’s a pragmatist. he’s the least righteous of the three. he understands that faith and loyalty are choices, and that sometimes these choices will lead to outcomes which are bad or hard. he is the one of the three most willing to own up to having made mistakes. he is the one least likely to act on gut instinct (and, therefore, the hardest to fool - i think it’s worth emphasising that he clocks that tom riddle is tricking harry immediately, the only one of the trio to do so). he understands that things are a marathon, not a sprint. he is the least obsessive.

and these traits contribute to aspects of his character which are underappreciated. ron worries about hermione making herself ill during exams, or when she is using the time-turner, and makes an effort to get her to set healthy boundaries and redirect her anxiety. ron stands on a broken leg in front of sirius or goes into the forest to fight aragog not out of righteousness, but out of choice. ron takes over the burden of preparing buckbeak’s defence when it is clear that hermione is approaching burnout. ron is completely right that harry hasn’t done any long-term planning for the horcrux hunt, and his anger does force harry to tighten up after he leaves the trio. ron has a clear head in the middle of battle. ron makes harry and hermione laugh. ron is unafraid of human emotion. ron arrests harry’s tendency to brood over the little things by looking at the bigger picture. ron will always come back.

ron is bringing his politician wife regular cups of tea and making sure she doesn’t work all night. he is helping his lawyer wife to feel less upset over losing one case by reminding her that she’s won ten others. he is noticing stress creeping in and whirling her off for a dirty weekend, or even just a takeaway on the sofa. he is teaching his daughter to be proud of her ambition and his son to treat women as equals and both of his children that all you can do when you fuck up is apologise and try to do better. he is making hermione smile on the worst days of her life. he is helping her strategise her long-term goals when she gets stuck on the short-term ones. he is telling her straight when she needs to get it together. he is seeing a misogynistic head of department call hermione a ‘silly little girl’ and choosing to tell him exactly what he thinks of that.

ron is the ultimate wife guy. hermione is a very, very lucky lady.

[frozenjokes]

Something Somber, But I Hope At Least I Can Do My Best To Help You

there are guns in this fic, this is the warning for that. she’s (the fic) is a tad angsty

“I’m going to kill you now.”

Grian stood in the shallow water, holding some sort of human device in his hands. He was alone today, but it was possible Scar was just recovering from his injuries at home. That would make sense. However, Mumbo did find it a little odd that Grian hadn’t brought much of his stuff, the bag left in the grass looking deflated in comparison to how full it usually was. Grian wasn’t moving very much, very stiff as he pointed whatever he was holding at Mumbo’s face. He looked.. a little upset? It didn’t really look like he wanted Mumbo to have it, he was holding it so tightly, but Mumbo was getting a little confused about what exactly the purpose of this was.

Mumbo leaned a little closer to sniff, but Grian winced, taking a couple steps back. Well. Guess that answers that. Mumbo’s fins rose and fell on his back and head, twitching with annoyance. Why did Grian call him over if all he wanted to do was stare?

“What,” Mumbo said, hoping Grian would at least try to explain whatever it was he was holding and why he wanted to show it off, but Grian remained stiff, lips pursed.

“You don’t get it. You don’t- I’m going to kill you, and you don’t understand. Do something. Get mad or hiss at me or lunge or something. Defend yourself.”

Ah, so he was upset. If he was trying to communicate why, he wasn’t doing a very good job. Mumbo wasn’t even sure if this was about Scar; he didn’t think so, Grian never said Scar’s name, but he wasn’t sure what else. Wait, could he still be mad about the whole bag stealing thing? That was so long ago! If that was the case, that was sufficiently a Grian problem, learn to let go of a grudge, buddy.

“What,” Mumbo asked again, hoping Grian would do a better job at explaining himself.

Grian huffed as if his own inability to be clear was Mumbo’s fault, “This is a gun. Gun,” Grian moved the device a little in his hands, but didn’t hold it any less tightly, “I am going to shoot you with it. I am going to kill you.”

Mumbo stared blankly. Alright, the thing he was holding was a ‘gun.’ Great. Was he going to show him what it did, or were they just going to sit here for another twenty minutes. Mumbo didn’t mean to be so impatient, but honestly, Grian was being stupid and Mumbo’s tail was still in quite a lot of pain, worse in the shallows.

“I can’t- you don’t get it. And you know, it’s nothing against you. It’s not. Well..” Grian paused, thinking, then shook his head, “No, it’s nothing against you, even if you stole all my shit and fucked up my ankle- I might have a limp for the rest of my life, y’know! I probably won’t. But I might! You tore through all sorts of important shit in there.”

Mumbo wasn’t sure if he was supposed to be understanding what Grian was saying, but the human didn’t look like it planned on stopping, so Mumbo let it be. Still, he kept a slightly warier eye.

“And I’m not sorry, by the way. About your tail. You deserved that as far as I’m concerned, stealing my stuff then trying to sing me into the water after I was injured- I know your game. That’s what you guys do. You kill people. At best you’re like- like a public nuisance. But you’re dangerous, I know you’re dangerous and I..” Grian trailed off, looking away, “I’m just afraid Scar doesn’t know.”

Ah. There it was. So this was about Scar.. oh, Mumbo hoped he was okay. Scar hadn’t looked like he was hurt too badly, but then again, anything could have happened. The bite could have gotten infected or was deeper than Mumbo had thought, or any other number of things. Given how upset Grian seemed to be, something must have happened.

“Scar doesn’t have a very strong sense of self preservation, he never has, and it drives just about everyone in his life up a wall. I don’t know why or what’s wrong with him or if he’s got some sort of mental health issue he isn’t addressing, but it’s always been this way and- and he just gets so focused. Like he gets an idea in his head and he literally can’t think of anything but pursuing it. And when I say literally, I mean it. He doesn’t think about anything else! I don’t even know if he can! You would not believe how much he talks about you, it’s all ‘Mumbo Mumbo Mumbo! Mumbo this, Mumbo that,’ and because we have to keep you a secret, all of this goes to me and-” Grian cut himself off, taking a second to breath.

“It’s not that I care. Scar can talk my ear off all he wants about anything he wants. Sure, it can be a little much and I get frustrated with him from time to time, but at the end of the day, he picked me, y’know? There’s a guy that can talk his way into anything he wants, who can make friends with basically anyone, and he still.. he wants to talk to me. And that’s a special thing, y’know? Scar is a special kind of guy. And it just kills me when he tries to throw his life away!” Grian kicked up sand and water as his voice rose through gritted teeth, and Mumbo jumped back, startled, though he immediately regretted the motion, hissing in a soft whine at the pain that pulsed through his tail. Grian stared at him for a long while, still pointing his ‘gun,’ but his shoulders fell.

“He’s going to be mad at me. For killing you. Doesn’t matter how many times I said I was going to or how many times I told him he couldn’t interfere if I let him come and see you. He’s going to feel bad, then I’m probably going to feel bad, and we’ll probably both feel very bad for a while, but it’ll be fine because Scar will be alive. That’s what matters, in the end. Not mermaids, not money- well, actually I won’t go that far. I’m going to sell the shit out of your body and I’ll probably be very well off for the rest of my life. I think I’m allowed to want that too! I think that’s fair.”

“And I’ll have you know, Scar’s not innocent either, he still wants you in his zoo even if he doesn’t talk about it around here anymore. As if you’d even understand. I’m telling you to your face I’m going to kill you and sell all your body parts and you couldn’t give less of a fuck. It’s impressive almost, how neutral your face is right now. You look a bit like one of those dogs from those kennel ads? All of them looking all sad with the sad music trying to make you feel sad so you go out and adopt. That’s how you look all the time. It’s the eyes. All big and dark like that. Ugh.”

Mumbo wasn’t sure what to do. Clearly this human was in some kind of distress, but the more it talked, the more he was sure he had no clue what was actually going on. Had it come looking for some sort of comfort? Why Mumbo? Out of everyone Grian knew, surely Mumbo was the least qualified by far.

Did.. he know anyone else? Humans were social animals, Mumbo knew this, but mermaids were too, and even despite this, some had trouble fitting in. Mumbo had never seen another human other than Scar hang around with Grian.. maybe while Scar was healing and resting, he just didn’t have anyone else to go to.

Well, Mumbo knew a few things about humans. They liked to talk (loudly) and yell at each other (loudly) and call each other’s names and be obnoxious to each other for fun. Though, given Mumbo did not speak human, this seemed out of the question in terms of things he could do to help.

Humans.. liked touch. Mumbo was pretty sure of that, no matter how foreign it always seemed. Scar was always touching Grian affectionately, and despite the latter never looking all too thrilled, he never really reacted negatively either, sometimes even visibly relaxing. Is.. that what Grian was looking for?

Mumbo steeled himself, less for the pain of maneuvering in shallow water and more for reaching out his hand toward the human ahead. Sure, maybe they’d had a rocky start, but Grian was clearly in distress. If Mumbo could show him that he cared, maybe Grian would understand he meant to be friendly? Even still, he found his head and body cringing back in anticipation of The Touch, though he kept his arm extended, one eye still watching anxiously.

Grian looked.. well, honestly, Mumbo couldn’t tell if he was any more or less distressed than before, but it felt a little bit different than before?

“What.” Grian said, looking rapidly from his gun to Mumbo to Mumbo’s hand, eyebrows pinched, “What is this. What are you doing.”

Ah, yeah, that made sense. This was pretty radically different behavior for Mumbo; if he was on the other side of it, he’d be wary too. Though, he didn’t quite have the words to explain himself. For a moment Mumbo considered singing, something soft and somber so Grian might understand his intentions, but given how the human reacted last time he sang.. no, that would be a bad idea.

‘Red,’ he whistled instead, “Grian.” Mumbo’s gills flared gently, frustrated. Why was this so hard. Maybe Grian was put off by how uncomfortable Mumbo looked.. maybe looking a little less like touching Grian was one of the top ten worst things that could possible happen to him would be a start.

Mumbo strained to get a little closer despite the pain, holding out both of his arms instead of just the one, palms up. He managed to open both of his eyes, though they were still pretty narrowed in the bracing anticipation of something unpleasant. He even tried to face Grian completely instead of shying away, though he couldn’t quite force himself to manage that entirely. Grian’s mouth hung open, like breathing that way might give him more information on what exactly was happening here. Unfortunately, intention was not something humans could smell.

Grian slowly, slowly lowered his gun, not letting go, but not holding so tightly either, leaving it in one hand at his side. His arms were shaking- actually, mostly of him was shaking.. Mumbo wasn’t quite sure what that meant. Likely a symptom of human distress; it didn’t seem voluntary, quite unlike the quivering of mermaid fins when they were very angry.

Mumbo snapped back to reality when Grian moved, taking a slow step forward. Then another. Then another.

‘It’s okay. This is okay. I’m sorry about Scars, and I’m sorry you’re worried. I think you’re worried. That human seems like it’s survived quite a few injuries though, I think it’ll be okay. I thought you were going to hurt each other, and even now, I’m not entirely sure you weren’t. Mermaids have thick skin. You do not. Humans are too fragile, you can’t be fighting each other like that.’

“You’ve been watching us, haven’t you. I mean, of course you have, but this is.. I guess you’ve really been paying attention. Is that what we sound like to you, just all sorts of nothing speech all day? I bet that gets annoying. I’ve never heard you talk this much. I guess your language is also pretty complex. It must be, unless you’re just repeating the same few concepts. It’s hard to tell. Are you really that intelligent? Wow, if you knew what I just said you’d probably be offended. But I just- I mean you’re just a big fish, yeah? It would be crazy to just assume you had comparable intelligence just because you kinda look like a person. But that’s what Scar thinks of course.”

‘I have no idea what you’re saying, but I’m pretty sure this is how human conversation works. You take turns talking for long periods of time and stare very uncomfortably at each other’s faces. This is a foreign concept to me, Red. Humans are extremely weird.’

“It’s funny how when you’re saying one of our names the clicking stops. Did you do that just for us? So we’d be able to say them? I just assumed some mermaid words didn’t have clicks, but you don’t stop. You don’t stop at all actually, it doesn’t even look like you breathe.”

‘Is this the appropriate time to speak. You humans don’t pause for very long before another one starts talking. My arms are getting tired, are you going to touch them and feel better or not.’

Mumbo almost thought Grian understood, because at nearly the same time Mumbo spoke, it moved forward another step, far closer than what was comfortable, though, to be fair, this entire experience was uncomfortable. Couldn’t Grian just reach out and touch Mumbo’s hands from as far away as possible? What was the point of getting this close?

“You look. Uncomfortable.” Grian cringed back, demonstrating the word and gesturing vaguely to Mumbo before his neutral expression returned. “Uncomfortable.”

Uncomfortable! How did he know? Mumbo had gone through so much effort to look friendly and inviting, he hadn’t even bared his teeth once! Mumbo took a moment to inspect himself, a few quick embarrassed clicks escaping his throat when he saw every single one of his fins across his back flared out and on end. Even the big one at the end of his tail was all spiky and sticking out of the water, goodness. Mumbo forced them all down at once, re-presenting his arms.

Grian laughed, which Mumbo was 90% sure was a happy sound, and then relaxed a little more, waving his hands in a ‘no’ gesture.

“I’m not going to touch you if you don’t want me to, Mumbo. I’m not- Do you just think that’s a human thing? Lots of animals enjoy physical contact y’know, we actually domesticated a ton of animals for the sole purpose of petting them. I have to think you guys also enjoy it, at least with each other. You’re just flighty with humans, and I’m guessing lots of other stuff in the water. Do mermaids get eaten a lot? I can not imagine that being an issue. You’re huge.”

Grian backed up a little, but not out of fear. Just.. stepping away. Mumbo dropped his arms, somewhat relieved, but a tiny part of him was also a little annoyed. Clearly there was something magic about human touch, and Mumbo was kinda starting to want to know what the fuss was about. But Grian kept its distance now, and Mumbo didn’t think he would be able to convince it to approach him again. Shame. Though, admittedly, it was nice to not have his personal bubble be so thoroughly invaded.

“Hey,” Grian said, grabbing Mumbo’s attention back, “This isn’t- I’m still going to kill you. I’m going to.” It raised its gun half heartedly, but stopped, dropping it with a huff and a little stomp of its foot. “If you hurt him. Scar. Again. If you even touch him I’m going to- I won’t hesitate. If you kill him I’m going to- I’ll be really upset. So don’t. Do that. Clear? Are we clear?”

Mumbo stared. Grian stared back.

“Are we clear? Yes or no.”

“What,” Mumbo said, deeply confused, but Grian only huffed. Mumbo flicked his tail fins with a short hiss, ‘I don’t speak your dumb language, if you want me to understand then tell me clearly.’

“Don’t sass me.”

‘I don’t like your tone.’

“Shush!” Grian drew a finger over his mouth and Mumbo copied the gesture, flicking his fins. Grian threw up his hands like he’d been mortally offended, turning immediately on his heel. Humans. So dramatic. Internally, Mumbo noted the gesture for later as something to use when the humans were being particularly annoying.

“Whatever!” Grian declared, not looking at Mumbo as he spoke, “I’m leaving!” He marched away out of the water, stomping and splashing as he left in what Mumbo was sure was a conscious effort to be as obnoxious as possible. Amused, he began his careful backpedal into deeper water, sighing contentedly. After a minute, Grian seemed to be quite offended when he looked back to see Mumbo also leaving, yelling and calling out and being a total nuisance, but Mumbo ignored him, relieved to be out of the shallows.

Scar was all kinds of odd, but Grian felt like a different beast sometimes. Scar was predictable in his weirdness, completely baffling, but consistent. Grian felt like he reacted differently to the same exact situation every time, the one exception being when he felt he was in danger, in which he would just scream. Loudly. Shrilly. Only sometimes justified.

Maybe it would just take a little more time.

Scar was easy; easy to impress, easy to speak to, and easy to watch- Mumbo would say Scar was easy to be around, but that wasn’t quite the case with his chronic lack of environmental awareness, always swinging his arms and moving erratically. But at this point Mumbo was used to it. In a way, that erraticness was predictable too; Mumbo knew to keep a little more space between the two of them because of it. But Scar was an open book, and Grian clearly wasn’t.

He was guarded like Mumbo was, and that was a good thing. Scar’s carelessness was written all over his body, and Grian had his moments of impulsive stupidity, but Mumbo didn’t worry for his life like he did for Scar’s. Briefly, he wondered if Grian worried about Scar as well.

[trials-of-a-spirit-worker]

Ghost Hunting Shows Opinions and Why

Ghost Adventures

I can’t even begin to tell you how fucking obnoxious I find them. I mean I’m sure you see it from my writing. Anyone who’s been here long enough knows how I feel about these fuckers.

“Aaron, I magically have a condition where I cannot go down the spooky basement where this aggro spirit, that I’ve managed to piss off in the last 20 minutes is lurking. He’s known for snapping necks. Go down there with a glow stick and go hump the pole, he hates that. Good luck.”

Poor Aaron though. Everyone does the dirty work and Zac just sucks up all the notoriety and shit cause he’s supposedly “conventionally attractive.” (I don’t see it. And you can’t give me the queer excuse. Cause I still like men.) And the voice he does. Annoying. Who the fuck talks like that? I'd rather hear Channing Tatum's shitty gambit do this shit.

Honestly, especially since there was all these articles and confessions about them forging evidence, I’ve just liked them less and less. Ghost hunting and paranormal things of that nature in the world of science is already seen as a joke and shit. We don’t need these chucklefucks fucking up that reputation even more cause they want to make ratings. Where’s the love? Where’s the passion? 

Hate em. 0/10

Ghost Brothers

Okay, can I talk about how much I love the representation though!? Cause its usually a joke that the Black people die first in scary movies cause we make too much sense or we just don’t end up in that situation. Which I mean…true. We don’t stay long in scary ass situations. Spooky ass shit happens we fucking leave. Point blank.  But yeah, love seeing my brothers working in the ghost hunting game.

Now they’re greenhorns, in every sense of the word. But that isn’t a bad thing. They’re adding new perspectives, are not afraid of learning. They use their feelings and their bodies alongside the technological evidence. What I really like about them is how respectful they try to be. They always err on the side of politeness and you can’t go wrong with that.

One scene that will live with me forever is when they all tried to date that one ghost who was ghosted (sorry for the pun but not really) by her lover and killed herself in despair over it. That scene will never not be funny/cute to me.

“You deserved someone who would be there for you, and I think I’m that guy.” Iconic. I want to see more of them and I heard some rumors it might return. I want the blackness so bad.

7/10 I want to see them go further.

Ghost Files/Buzzfeed Unsolved Supernatural

As much as I shit on both Shane and Ryan, and I love doing it. It’s my favorite one. Doesn’t mean Shane’s a good influence. I do like the idea of having a skeptic doing the hunting with you. It keeps you grounded and honestly, I respect that. What we need most in these types of these investigations is discernment. And other than the clear comedy and chemistry Shane delivers with Ryan, that's his purpose in the show. He's the reality to the hopeful in ghost hunting.

I say this as a firm believer myself (like no shit Sol, you're a death witch and a spirit communicator), we need more skeptics and people to keep the situation grounded for MULTIPLE reasons. We get excited, our desires/biases lead to looking more into results that might not have much. It's when the non believer/skeptic had nothing where we can get excited. Ghost hunting still follows the rules of science and the non excited/non believers help us being the control and the ones to demand repetition.

Now, on regards of if I think Shane is a fucking demon? I honestly just wouldn’t be surprised if he was. Cause he does some bullshit I don’t think anyone else can get away with. Disrespecting Annabelle to her face and living? Something’s looking out for that tall motherfucker. I’m checking him with holy water if I ever get the chance.

8.5/10

Ghost Hunters

The most respectful ones I’ve seen. They treat the ghosts humanely, with dignity. And from what I’ve seen they get good results. They’re the only ones I’ve seen that have been at the sites for multiple days as well. They use what they learn from their prior day to expand and get better evidence with the spirits. It's very cool to see and honestly in a way, super professional of them that way...

Another thing I like about them is they debunk when they can, sometimes right on the spot. I respect people who do this, because like I said, no one takes this type of thing very seriously because so many people take every bump and creek as evidence and that gets…annoying and discrediting. So, I have mad respect for them.

8/10  

My Haunted House

Okay, Lifetime, what the hell are we doing? This is a hot mess. The most horrifying thing about the show is the shit acting. The stories are cool though. My spouse and I make fun of this show…a lot. Its just good for entertainment. Something to listen to in the background if you ran out of true crime podcasts.

Good shit. 4.5/10

[samthecookielord]

(Intro) - (Previous) - (Next)

Lukas: Reuben? Reuben, come here, boy! 

The pig’s expression seems to shift to… excitement? It runs towards you, squealing happily.

As it draws near, everyone jumps back. The pig has two heads, which is definitely more than Reuben had. Probably.

Lukas: Uh, maybe that’s not Reuben, actually!  Axel: If anything, it’s a two-ben. Get it? Olivia: I’d smack you for that pun if I wasn’t freaked out! Axel: Well it's what I do when I'm freaked out!

(next poll under cut)

Two-ben circles around you a little bit, then jumps and squeals. It’s clearly trying to communicate with you. Of course, none of you are quite as in tune with pigs as Jesse is, so it’s not an easy task. You eventually deduce that it intends on leading you down the most efficient path to Jesse. You follow it, and it eventually stops. You can then look at more memories on the wall before continuing.

[Game pulls from previous save again, some are choices that you didn’t actually make]

These memories are even less severe; minor slip ups, light snarking, forgetting something someone wanted them to do.

? Even the little things.

Some are blurry, and you note that you’ve never heard of those things even happening. Regardless, you continue to place torches along the walls. Radar seems nervous.

You continue through. The memories you see here really throw your whole team for a loop. You see Jesse be killed by zombies. You see them doomed to fall by mobs. You see them burnt to a crisp whilst trying to fight shulkers.

This definitely didn’t happen, right? You were there. You’d remember if Jesse died, so what are all these about?

? ADMIN remembered that.

For each memory you’re required to look at, you obtain an item. You receive a redstone torch, TNT, a gold sword, a feather, and an awkward potion.

You follow Twoben. It seems like you’re close. The room is empty again, and the air feels wrong. Now you’re all prepared for this. Your vision fades.

You find yourself in a dimly lit room, with walls of cold stone bricks and quartz. In front of you is a contraption, menacingly towering. In front of you is iron bars, blocking the way. In front of you is an iron block, – Radar. In front of you is Radar, head stuck inside the iron block, hands desperately clawing at his own iron prison.

Stop it stop it please stop – let him go!

Stop

Everything blurs.

The room is brighter.

Taller too.

But not much brighter.

The air is suffocating.

He’s suffocating.

Oh my god oh my god what did I just do!? Get him out of there, you idiot! Quick! Now! Get rid of the barrier! Break it! Delete it! Now! Just focus! How could I do this to him again!? Radar, just hang on! I’m sorry! Focus, you stupid brain! Just do whatever you did before but backwards or something! Why did you do this!? This is the worst way to die! Get him out!

Come on! You can do anything in the world! Just focus! Just focus!

Why isn’t this working!? Why can’t I control it!? He doesn’t deserve this! Not for a second! How could you do this!? He’s running out of time!

“Radar…”

You need to fix this, now!

You, Jesse, begin a desperate search. Tears constantly blur your vision. Your head is killing you, and your chest is tired, but you can’t give up. You can’t. You won’t. Not until you fix your mistakes, if anything can be fixed with him ever again. Your whole body should be aching now, but it’s distant, muted. Everything it would normally be longing for-- sleep, food, water, is barely even a suggestion. Of course. You’re not human anymore.

? ADMIN never forgot that.

...

...

...

[wildfloweronwheels]

Well. This is not the post I hoped I’d be writing tonight at all. I’m sure I will have more eloquent and involved thoughts in the coming days, but for now, just know like so many of you, I’m devastated by the decision it seems America has made today. A decision that will have echoes in every country across the world. Green lights for the worst of humanity to bulldoze on ahead and leave decency behind. We can talk about what that dystopian reality will look like when we know more details but for now, I think we can all agree even the tamest version of this situation is pretty fucking awful.

I’ve shed more than a few tears today for women and girls. People of colour. Palestinians. Trans people. The LGBTQIA+ community as a whole. My disabled brothers and sisters. Immigrants. Basically everyone who isn’t a white straight ablebodied cisgender hetereosexual man or boy. But to be honest, I’ve shed tears for them too. Because somehow we’ve gotten here. To this place. Where toxicity and hate have been collectively chosen and agreed upon in the privacy of the voting booth, even when every indicator painted a different picture. Again.

My stomach’s been churning with rage and grief and confusion and a bone-deep sense of dread. Not just at this result but also because I have a movie coming out tomorrow and now it feels wrong to celebrate that. It feels tone deaf or otherwise dismissive to be excited when so many are afraid and in mourning.

I keep telling myself he doesn’t get to steal my joy over finally being able to share Audrey with you, especially when the storm is half a world away. But as an empathetic person whose work and life has so far been committed to fighting for a better world in its many forms, it’s a hard feeling to shake.

I guess I’m hoping that even though Audrey is an absurd and pitch black comedy, that it can be there for anyone who might need an escape or a laugh in the coming days. Isn’t that why we make art?

I’m not sure what the next moves are or what we do about where we’ve landed. But I do know that as always - humanity, joy, connectedness and community are our tools of rebellion. Going to see a movie isn’t changing the world but finding light however small is defiant. And right now, no matter where we are, we need all the defiance we can get.

Maybe that starts with going to see a movie, I don’t know. I guess what I’m trying to say is, I refuse to let him steal the well-deserved moment for all of the people who poured their blood, sweat and tears into this film. We’re all extremely proud of it and we hope it means something to you too. The time and place for more nuanced conversation and action will come. Right now, we all need a minute to feel our feelings and escape in whatever ways keep us safe. If Audrey helped you do that I’d be honoured. And then whenever we’re ready, we take a breath and keep trying. Can we have a group hug now please?

[vanzuris]

i don't know if this may be a kinda weird idea but i thought about it last night and it's been eating me alive, follow me on this one:

kyman as cats au. yes.

(sorry if it’s poorly written, english isn’t my first language)

so, kyle is a slim orange cat who's been living with the marshes since two weeks after he was born. they found him on the side of the road during a family trip, dirty and tiny and loud, and randy was outnumbered; he had zero chances of convincing stan, shelly and sharon to not keep the goddamn cat. and as time passed he successfully gained everyone's heart. they loved him. even sparky (rest in peace) and specially stan who considers him his super best friend because kyle is a very chill and nice cat.

and it has been just him in his territory for a while.

so it's just natural that he can't help but stare in confusion when shelly comes back home with a fluffy, fat brown cat with big brown eyes and a red collar, alleging that she saw him around all by his own for a few days now and decided to take the poor thing to their home. stan, who just loves animals in general, finds him adorable and reaches out to pet him. that motherfucker immediately starts to purr, just to bite stan’s hand seconds later and then act like it was all in good fun. and he doesn’t quite know what is it, but there's something about him that kyle just... doesn't like.

whatever, it doesn’t matter because then it happens. while eric (as printed on his collar) rubs on stan’s legs, he notices kyle for the first time. he immediately starts to approach him, ears and tail up communicating his curiosity. the family just stands there, wanting to see how this will turn out. first they smell each other, and then proceed to make a kind of staring contest before eric raises his paw and hits kyle on the face.

“oooh, i would fight back if i were you, buddy” says randy.

but they still let eric stay after posting pictures of him on social media in case there’s someone out there looking for him. the week goes by with loud meowing from both cats, and it’s a bit annoying but funny, because it’s like they’re arguing in their own little language all the time. kyle tries his best to avoid him: staying in stan’s room for more time than he’s used to, resting on the tallest step of the cat tower, going out of the house to hang out more often with the neighbor’s cat, but he still gets involved in these “arguments” that sometimes even become physical and end up with shelly and stan having to separate them.

and it certainly doesn’t help that eric spends 50% of his time sleeping in shelly’s bed (his favorite human of the four, because she’s always petting him, treating him like he deserves (yeah, like a king) and even bought a nice plate to feed him) and the other 50% trying to start fights with kyle. seriously, what’s wrong with him?

okay. they hate each other, right? kyle must be angry because this cat came out of nowhere and invaded his territory and even dared to try to start fights with him. that’s what it looks like to the whole family.

so it’s just natural that stan has to rub his eyes five times to confirm he’s not insane and seeing things when one night he goes to the kitchen to get a glass of water and catches both cats curled up together, incredibly close, on the couch.

“i think kyle is gay”, stan shares his thoughts with the rest of the family three days later during dinner, after constantly catching the two cats getting along and being… clingy? when apparently they thought no one else could see them.

“sparky was gay, what’s the possibility of our cat being gay too?”

stan doesn’t know, but he’s sure he’s right. of course he had to be a fucking orange cat. no one believes him, though, because the cats continue to be gay in secret.

and it’s all fine until one day a blond guy in an orange parka shows up to their house, claiming that eric is his cat that ran away two months ago.

shelly and stan look at each other, knowing damn well that they both started to love that rude cat and don’t want to give him back. but it doesn’t matter, they eventually would have to.

eric greets kenny with a loud purr and even louder meows, happy to see him again. shelly asks kenny to please take his plate and newly bought toys with him so eric can remember her, and then they leave.

the whole week after that is a torture between shelly talking about how much he misses eric and kyle meowing at the door, waiting for the brown cat to come back.

and on a tuesday, stan wakes up to find the two cats curled up on the couch again. oh my god.

he calls kenny, who comes to pick eric up and stan explains how their cats are… lovers? apparently. kenny laughs, but believes in his word and promises to take eric to visit his cat-boyfriend sometimes.

it’s not necessary, though, because eric keeps coming back on his own, but eventually learns the way back home with kenny so that’s not a problem anymore.

the only option the marshes have now is to accept their cat’s sexuality and eric’s presence too, whenever he shows up.

whether they like it or not, he’s part of the family now.

[hawkogurl]

in the genuine way possible, Why do you like Raimi verse MJ?

Would like a description of your thoughts.

So I just woke up (I know it’s 6PM I work night shifts) so this might not be as well verbalized as it could be. (Update: I put this in drafts and am now adding to it at midnight but I have had a day so prior warnings apply)

But for me, she’s a nuanced and flawed female character who isn’t given the credit for that she deserves and I think she kicks ass as a result. I don’t need characters I like to be good people, I need them to be interesting. She’s interesting.

But in terms of what people normally hate her for, I don’t really tend to agree for a variety of reasons. The main thing people get on her about is cheating, which is very much true, but that feels unfair when Peter also cheats! And he doesn’t see nearly the same amount of shit thrown at him that MJ does! (Wonder why that is?) Hell, he hits her while he has the symbiote but I barely see people bring it up. But on the note of her cheating, I don’t mind it because we’re given a reason as to why she’s got such bad commitment issues that I find interesting. She grew up in an extremely unstable home with a seemingly chronically ill mother and a verbally and likely physically abusive father. She’s a dysfunctional person for sure, but we as a community are more than willing to read into and analyze far worse behaviors in Peter, Harry, hell, people outright ignore Norman being an abusive father. It’s bs to me that she’s not given the same treatment. Shes someone who grew up in an unstable environment. Shes used to that. Her entire life in her formative years was that. As a result, the way I see it, she either gets into relationships with people who tend to continue not treating her well (Flash and to a degree Harry.) and when she’s in more stable relationships that hurt her less, (like John) I theorize that the reason she does so much to put them in jeopardy is that her, stability with men in her life is always something that has ended inevitably, but abruptly and probably violently. Being the one to destroy a relationship her trauma screams at her will inevitably end with her being hurt again gives her a sense of control.

And on top of that, I find her emotional responses to Peter’s behavior while he dates her extremely human! Sure, she definitely makes mistakes in how she handles it, but I personally absolutely hate the degree to which people ignore Peter’s own mistreatment of her. I’m not gonna claim she did nothing wrong, but people in this fandom have a tendency to remove responsibility or the ability to have done something wrong from Peter. At that point in the movies, Peter has everything going for him. His life is finally going well and as a result of his own inflated ego and the fact the world has revolved around him he sort of seems to forget that she has her own life and her own problems that she wants to be heard and understood and supported through. His ability to do that is one of the things that drew her to him in the first movie and she’s watching him as it becomes apparent he doesn’t really have that anymore. Everything in his life revolves around him and has for years, so when her life problems get brought up and he makes them about himself and remains somewhat unempathetic and so absorbed in his own joy he doesn’t notice how poorly she’s doing, I find it personally hard to deny that’s exactly how I would feel in that situation. I hate that people refuse to empathize with her, or when they do on a surface level they still refuse to acknowledge any blame Peter has there. Hell, I find it hard to deny that I’m irritated that it’s basically overlooked that Peter kissed another woman in front of her face but people will rip her to shreds for kissing another man one time. I’m not gonna say she didn’t fuck up, but I find the way she’s treated unfair and I frankly think the opinion wouldn’t skew the same if she was a man for both of these topics.

I also just like that she’s a person? She has emotions that feel real, she has a life and a career outside her relationship with Peter, she has compelling trauma that informs her decisions. I frankly find her to be a more nuanced and interesting character than MCU MJ or TASM Gwen simply because she feels more well rounded and flawed. They’re better and more likeable love interests, but I frankly think she’s a better character. Everything that people praise in them as something that makes them Better Than Raimi MJ either feels like rather shallow traits or things that feel somewhat misogynistic towards Raimi MJ, a character who they claim they don’t like due to misogynistic writing. No hate to those to ladies, I see the appeal to them and I think people should like them, but Raimi Mj has more depth to me.

In conclusion: To like a character I don’t need them to be a good person I need them to be interesting. Shes interesting. Also everyone in this trilogy, including Peter, is at least somewhat a bad person. So I don’t know why she specifically is being treated with so much less grace other than the obvious reason.

[be-the-glenn-to-my-maggie]

Well, I was gonna take longer on this post, but I went to reblog something today and came to the frankly startling realization that some of you clowns already have me blocked? Babes, I haven’t done anything yet. At least let me do something first. 

Anyways, here’s why there isn’t any moral greyness in the Avatar franchise villains, you guys are just horny:

I know I said it a bajillion times on this blog, but the point of Avatar is to make a direct statement on colonialism, genocide, and ecological harm. It touches all these interconnected themes; militarism, imperialism, racism, colorism, and it comes at them in a way that is supposed to give you an unbiased view of this. We are not watching a movie about Earth and about the genocide of our indigenous peoples because a lot of people already have preconceived notions about these topics. Please see my lovely studious deracination post for more detail, but essentially; Sometimes it’s easier to approach these issues when you (white people) don’t feel like they are targeting you (white people).

You are supposed to sympathize with the Na’vi. You are supposed to see things from their perspective, and maybe gain the ability to understand the complexity and harm that caused by all these big themes I mentioned above. A prevalent theme in The Way of Water is this long lasting trauma felt in these communities, especially displayed in Neytiri and her subsequent treatment of Spider. You are supposed to See, understand? That is moral greyness, something you the viewer knows that is wrong in a protagonist character, but you understand why and how they ended up there. You are torn. 

And sometimes, the way you read or view a narrative that employs studious deracination allows you to look at yourself and your own biases more. Basically what I’m saying is sympathizing more with the recoms and Quaritch is more of a you thing, guys. 

I’ll say this again, there is nothing wrong with finding them hot, villains are fun. I am a huge fan of Quaritch in the first movie, especially the scenes where he holds his breath to shoot at Trudy’s Sampson. He’s a great villain! But he is not redeemable. Quaritch not only is our main representation for all the genocide, colonialism, imperialism, and racism present in the themes and inspiration behind the script, but he also doesn’t do anything to deserve redemption? 

For real world issues such as the ones Quaritch represents, there should be direct addresses and attempts to unlearn behaviors and make amends in order to redeem that character without presenting those issues as non-issues. Think Zuko in A:TLA. Direct amends, directly addressed, and no one has ever excuses his actions because he is the first to condemn them. What people think makes Quartich redeemable is being (questionably) nice to his son. That is entirely unrelated to what he needs to be redeemed for, and is therefore not relevant. Not to mention the mountains of Stockholm Syndrome, trauma, damage, and harm he actually did to that kid, but oh well. Don’t get me started on Quartich’s Lima Syndrome. 

He still kidnaps and tries to kill many innocent children (even unrelated children, he didn’t know who the Sully’s were at first just random Na’vi kids and a human that he also kidnaps before knowing him, and he takes Tsireya captive at the end too) just to get to their dad, kidnaps Spider and takes him to be tortured (yes that’s his fault), manipulates Spider into helping the recoms (telling him he can stay and be tortured or come with them is not a choice, that is a manipulation tactic), kills the ilu to torture the Ta’unui, has the tulkun killed and displayed specifically to bait Jake and the Metkayina into a war, burns down the Ta’unui village, and tries to kill the Tsahík of the Ta’unui (important to note he had to have learned what a Tsahík was likely from Spider to have used to term, knew what she was to the clan and how important she was and choose her to target) and only didn’t because Spider begged for her life. I feel like I shouldn’t have to say this, but guys. If he doesn’t kill a defenseless and random unrelated woman just because his own kid asks him not to, thats actually not good! It’s not a good reason! That’s not developing a moral compass actually! We can say all we want that old human Quaritch wouldn’t have stopped because of Spider: you don’t fucking know! Dude could have loved his kid so much and that was his whole driving reason to burn Hometree to the ground, so he could make it all nice for his kid. It actually just doesn’t make it okay or redeemable. It’s not morally grey, his morals are clear. He does not feel bad for what he’s done, that’s clear. Bad people can also like their kids, and also have slutty waists. 

For the other recoms, I hope I do not have to explain that not a single one of them does a single thing to even suggest they could be redeemed. The fact that they were brought back does not bode well for their records. Lyle Wainfleet has now killed two named Avatar characters, he killed Seze in Avatar as well as Neteyam. Dude was pissed when Trudy didn’t let him help shoot at Hometree lol. The military industrial complex doesn’t need ur help with their image lol. 

Again, go crazy go stupid for them all. But let’s remember the point of this whole thing here. The military genocide boys are not getting redeemed in Avatar, guys, and they are certainly not raising that kid. 

[mental-about-you-too]

There are a lot of layers to The Kiss, but one is the connection to Crowley’s simplistic conception of what it means for humans to be In Love. He says, when scheming about getting Nina and Maggie together: “one fabulous kiss and we’re good” and “vavoom, sorted”. He’s imagining a romantic movie where a kiss is the be-all-end-all, the solution to all conflict, a magical mode of communication wherein two people automatically understand each other from now on, and a definitive signifier that Love has Happened.

This is how he imagines human love. I think he’s always considered his relationship with Aziraphale much more complex and precious than anything a couple of humans could do, what with their longevity disadvantage and limited understanding of the universe. I think he started falling for Aziraphale at “I gave it away!”, and never stopped; nor did he ever really try to resist that pull. I think he has recognized his feelings for Aziraphale for a long time, even if he hasn’t always acknowledged them outright—largely because he knew Aziraphale had some serious fear-based hang ups and would have been uncomfortable, and because their relationship has always been forbidden and dangerous to them both.

So then we come to that scene where Nina tells him “it certainly looks like that”. I don’t think the part of this interaction that rocks Crowley’s world is a sudden realization of his feelings—he knows he’s got feelings, to a degree that they sometimes get him into trouble—it’s the idea that those feelings could be translated into human terms. It’s that final remark: “other people’s love lives always seem so much more straightforward than our own”. He considers his situation so much more complicated than a human relationship, and in that moment he thinks…what if it isn’t. What if I’ve been rescuing him when he doesn’t strictly need it just for an excuse to be near him, indulging his pretenses of plausible deniability, getting all tangled up worrying about what heaven and hell will think, (and even now continuing to live in my damn car in the hope that he might invite me to move in in his own time), and it could all just be…vavoom, sorted? Could it be that simple?

Now fast-forward to That Scene. Aziraphale thinks he has just told Crowley: “I can restore you to the status you deserve, and now everyone will recognize the goodness I’ve always seen in you.” But Crowley’s just heard, “we can be together, as long as you change into someone else.”

I could write a whole essay on everything that might have been said to make this conversation go differently (and on all the character insight revealed by the way it does go--as many people have already done), but at this point Crowley is absolutely hemorrhaging emotion, and he tries, but he’s failing to reason with Aziraphale or explain why this hurts so much, and he invokes the example of Gabriel and Beelzebub, and it doesn’t work, and they’re talking at cross purposes, and Aziraphale still doesn’t get it, and things are spiraling out of control, and Crowley thinks, desperately: maybe the human way will work.

The timing is completely wrong. The approach is completely wrong. He kisses Aziraphale, and it’s not romantic at all; it’s full of anger and hurt and desperate, desperate hope that this might somehow fix everything, like "in a Richard Curtis film". And Crowley can feel it not working, can feel Aziraphale tense and confused, and they’re not falling into each other’s arms in sudden understanding, but he keeps his grip, holds on tight, trying to insist that this should fix it. He gambled on a human fantasy as a panacea, and he hangs on so long because he knows he’s losing the bet.

I first saw the kiss scene before watching S2 (after the season had been out for several days though; I didn't know about the leak) (I deliberately went looking for spoilers to make sure it was gay enough before I committed—I was a Sherlock fan; don’t @ me), and my initial reaction was: how could Crowley be so cruel. To squander something so precious as their first kiss, and use it to convey hurt rather than love. To know Aziraphale is struggling with a choice, and to try to use how they feel about each other against him. But after watching the show properly, I no longer think it was manipulative (though Aziraphale may have taken it that way)— just misguided. Just inept, and desperate, and so, so ill-advised.

[adhdbisexualramblings]

No. You know what?

I am sick and tired of how the Invader Zim fandom treats ZaDr.

While I stand by the firm belief that any romance between them would be imagined, bitter, codependent, and toxic, you are all terrified of that. You are all scared to admit that it’s anything but nice.

“oh but Zim and Dib are so similar that-“ that is EXACTLY the problem. They’re too similar. One is apprehensive to get close to anyone and the other has no social skills. Zim craves attention and isn’t good at giving it. Dib focuses too much on getting the attention of those around him and doesn’t relent until it blows up in his face. And have you seen Zim? Have you seen how manipulative, uncaring, and selfish he is? Do you really think he would accept Dib, a human, as his partner to begin with? Do you not think Dib wouldn’t have an issue with getting close to the enemy? Do you think neither of them would? If anything, a “relationship” between them would consist of Dib following Zim around like a puppy, because Zim gives him attention, and Zim leading him on because he loves being paid attention to.

It would be messy. It would be bad. It would be codependent at best and downright emotionally abusive at worst. They hate each other.

the fact that they will need to “rely on each other UwU🥰” is NOT GOOD. They can only rely on each other so much before it becomes too closed. Zim doesn’t understand human love. Dib is so starved for affection he’ll love anyone who gives it, and have you seen him? He attached to Mr. Dwicky only because he said he believed him. If he wants to get into any sort of relationship, he needs to set some sort of boundary first. He’s not going to do that with Zim, and if Zim does set boundaries, they’re going to be enforced very roughly.

Zim has never gotten any praise in his sad pathetic life. If he does, it’s all he’ll focus on. The one thing he wants is respect and attention. Other than sucking up to superiors, the other way he gets the respect he wants is with fear. Not just respect, even, but a power dynamic that puts him above the other person. See Prisoner 777 and his children and his multiple threats to anyone who he might want to intimidate. He’s not completely prickly, yes, but the anger and brashness he displays is very thick as well as very hard to put down. It takes a lot of coaxing to get anything positive out of him.

Zim likes fear. It’s something that makes him feel superior. He feels more comfortable when he has any sort of advantage. We see him take glee in showing his Tallest or fellow Irkens how he’s the greatest. How of course he���s right and brilliant, he’s Zim. This barely needs to be said, but he has a massive ego. Not to mention his feelings on all humans in general. Filthy, dirty, stupid, inept, deserving of Irken control. He’s hardly eager to get into a relationship with one.

This is where I would mention that they are similar which, while that would give them common ground, is often one of the dealbreakers in actual relationships. If people are too similar, fights often run back and forth for hours. They don’t know how to take in this often painful mirror image. They know every inch of the person before knowing them. They don’t know how to communicate. For Dib and Zim specifically, it would be emotionally damaging as opposed to eye-opening. Neither like being reminded that they’re wrong, or that there’s something wrong with them. They have similar problems, which neither can fix because they’re still pushing back dealing with their own. It would be a circle of hurt, even unintentionally. They might both love the transactional attention, but that would only lead to them believing they need each other, and feeling more comfortable in the obligatory attention the other provides. Because a lack of attention would make them feel their relationship isn’t working. It’s built on the need for an audience and praise.

But they don’t need transactional attention. They need someone who can listen. They need someone who can give another perspective, but if they’re two mirror images, the light only bounces back. They would get nowhere.

Even if it, miraculously, wasn’t filled with bitterness or intentional hurt, the two would be stuck. It would hardly be good for an Irken, who has a completely different moral code and different form of hurt, to be with a human, who is only marginally more self-aware.

I have a lot of feelings about this specific part of the fandom and am up for talking about it more or criticisms.

[asher-agere]

Hallo!! I hope you’re days been going good! I was wondering if you could do hc’s for cg Fyodor with a sleepy baby regressor Sigma? ≧(´▽｀)≦ - ⭐️

How considerate of you! (˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶) My days been pretty good! I feel very accomplished hehe. I hope the same to you! And I can absolutely do that ٩(^ᗜ^ )و ´-

Caregiver Fyodor + Sleepy Little Sigma

⋆♱✮♱⋆

ִֶָ࣪☾. I believe that Fyodor would be a very possessive caregiver, that’s his baby. And Sigma is a very clingy little! These two go together perfectly! Sleepy time means even more clingy of course, which pleases Fyodor greatly. Since Sigma is almost always sleepy… It’s just an endless loop of perfect!

ִֶָ࣪☾. I’ve previously stated that I think Sigma regresses from 2-4. HOWEVER, clingy baby Sigma is even younger! This is a baby we’re talking about after all! I’d say he regresses from like 1-3, not much younger but definitely more baby

ִֶָ࣪☾. I think that Sigma would be mostly non-verbal! He can babble but he gets self conscious that his deep voice isn’t very baby like (,,>﹏<,,) But Fyodor to the rescue! Fyodor will play his cello for the baby! The music drowns out the babbles so Sigma can still be a happy babbling baby, and even if he can hear himself a deep voice fits the cello’s tone better, so it sounds nice

ִֶָ࣪☾. Sigma is already a sleepy enough baby as is, and Fyodor doesn’t help with that! A caregivers headspace can be just as helpful as a regressors, sometimes Fyodor needs a break just as much as Sigma does! But Fyodor isn’t good at communicating that. You know what he is good at though? Manipulation! He’ll make some warm honey milk and offer to hold Sigma as he drinks it. It isn’t long before he has a yawning babbling baby! Sigma realizes what he’s doing but doesn’t mind hehe

ִֶָ࣪☾. To help ease Sigma into headspace a go to snack is milk and cookies! Fyodor isn’t much of a baker, so they’re usually store bought, but sometimes Sigma makes them! Fyodor will endlessly praise him for being so helpful and doing such a good job! The praise also helps with slipping into headspace hehe

ִֶָ࣪☾. All the stuffed animals ever! I think Sigma would be absolutely fascinated by stuffed animals, he’s never had any before, and they’re so soft and fluffy! Fyodor indulges this obsession and it isn’t long before their nap time cuddle piles are more stuffed animal than human. Sigma’s a happy baby though! It feels so warm and safe, plus being in his caregivers arms? It’s the best ever!

ִֶָ࣪☾. Sigma is a baby that needs something in his mouth. I don’t think he’d be too bad about sucking on his fingers? He’d recognize that’s yucky. But he’ll chew on a plushy or a sleeve if he has it. If he’s only wearing short sleeves and doesn’t have a plushy to chew on he’ll end up crying! Everything feels so wrong and he doesn’t understand it! But then Fyodor slips him a pacifier and everything feels nice again! Of course crying only wears him out even more, leaving behind sleepy baby once again

ִֶָ࣪☾. Sigma is very sensitive to textures! Luckily Fyodor only buys the best, so they wouldn’t have many issues. But if Sigma is wearing his work clothes he just feels so gross! Fyodor will take his hand and guide him to a dresser, gently changing him into comfortable clothes

ִֶָ࣪☾. Fyodor isn’t strong enough to pick Sigma up, which is super sad because the baby wants to be held! Plus moving his legs is just so hard… But Fyodor rewards him with all the hugs ever afterwards! So it’s worth it. He doesn’t want to hurt his caregiver of course, he’s a very understanding baby!

⋆♱✮♱⋆

I hope you enjoyed! I love writing sleepy clingy babies, they’re all just tiny little guys! They deserve all the cuddles ever. I hope everyone who reads this has a wonderful day!

[chris-continues]

I read your post about how Knives would be more 'human' than Vash with their s/o. I've been thinking about how human he feels. He'd definitely be the type to fight with his s/o and then leave for a bit to calm down and collect his thoughts. Once he's done he would apologise and try to comfort his s/o in his own way. We know his way of thinking but I think if it comes to his s/o he would think about what he's said and figure out where he went wrong.

Oh definitely- I wrote a drabble where knives fights w a pining reader and it hit hard.

I think for the worst fights? He’d dive into work for a solid few days or even a week while Vash tries to coax him out of his room. He’s got a bit of an ego on his side sometimes,

He didn’t say anything wrong. You were in the wrong.

It’ll take him a hot minute because he hates to admit you did make a few valid points, as did he, and then the regret hits him like a freight train. Fuck, he pushed the best thing happening to him away from him and he has to make it up somehow.

Stopping by your dorm and dropping off snacks or meals by your door. He doesn’t need to label them. You know who gave them to you, especially if this isn’t your first fight. Sometimes he’ll write a small letter anyway, not a direct apology but perhaps berating on how you should eat, among other things.

When all is said and done you’ll visit his condo, and when he sees you he’ll invite you in. It’s tense, but you both mean well, and if you apologize he’ll insist that it’s fine.

He missed you. A lot. He’s more dependent on you than he’d like to admit.

While he doesn’t really want to talk about it and just wants things to return to what they were before, if you want to talk about it he won’t refuse. He hurt you, he shouldn’t have said some of the things he said. He’ll work on these faults, he’ll try to listen.

You’re a good communicator, and he’ll always value that about you. You’re what he needs. And when all is said and done, when you’ve made amends and can rest in his arms again,

It’ll take him awhile to let you go. He doesn’t truly deserve your touch, your love, but you stay. You, soft and beautiful you, and it’ll take him a hot minute to truly believe you need him as much as he needs you.

[wibble-wobbegong]

okay i never check the tag or confessionals so im only experiencing via mutual posting but i cannot believe there are people who don’t think mike is a dynamic and complex character. MIKE WHEELER.

i’d say he’s literally the most complex character in the show. i know i say this all the time but mike isn’t the embodiment of any singular experience because he’s written so human. he’s got a strong will and he’s hard pressed to give up hope. he’s bad at talking to other people and expressing himself and people will follow him anyway because they see his determination and love and it inspires them too. like that’s LITERALLY what happened in season 1. mike’s moral compass leads him to think violence is wrong unless it’s in self defense against violence which is why he reacted so harshly at rink-o-mania. mike admires when violence is used to protect but he’s afraid when violence is used to harm first and that’s absolutely a result of troy and probably lonnie.

mike has an incredibly complicated relationship with el that cannot be divided into whether or not he loves her. he cares about her so deeply that it’s practically love but it isn’t familial or platonic or romantic but something else that came as a result of the things they went through together, good and bad. he wants to be her friend because he isn’t. he doesn’t have a relationship with her but he knows that at her core she’s very similar to him; protective and loving and strong willed. he admires her! but they don’t have a relationship. he wants a friendship, but he has to unpack a lot of his current perception about el and detach himself from her.

mike’s relationship with lucas and will and eddie and dustin and max are all like this too. he has complicated and different relationships with everybody. he’s angry with lucas for joining the basketball team, part of him understands why and part of him wants to be like lucas too. he’s angry with himself about it. he’s constantly being pulled apart in his relationship with will, having built a completely different perception of what he thinks will is saying versus what will thinks he’s saying and it’s caused massive communication issues and neither mike nor will are at fault for it. mike absolutely had a crush on eddie and wanted to accept himself the way eddie did, and i’d say a lot of his admiration had to do with the way eddie pulled him out of his isolation problem after the byers moved. eddie’s death is gonna crush him. mike and dustin haven’t gotten much time together over the course of most of the show but right now dustin is probably the only person who has any idea what’s actually going on in mike’s head because dustin has become a safe place. dustin still wants to play dnd, so mike has someone to lean on without being terrified of exposing himself while he regains confidence in his freak status. dustin and him don’t have deep, hard conversations but mike does tell things to dustin and wants him to do the same. mike’s relationship with max in s2 and s3 literally deserve their own post. like that dynamic is deeply rooted in mike’s insecurities and grief

mike himself has intense struggles with his mental health because of how aware he is. he understands his own feelings and what they mean, he has known he’s had feelings for will for a long time and has struggled with it constantly. he’s struggled with his sexuality because he’s aware he’s gay and can’t love el the way he���s supposed to no matter how hard he tries. he’s aware that he can’t stop loving will no matter how hard he tries. he’s aware of the fact that he looks at boys and never looks at girls because he’s been aware of who he is since at least post s2 and he’s tried to fix it and can’t. he started accepting himself and then the entire thing with s4 was him thinking will was returning his feelings and he was ready to break up with el at sbp and pursue that friendship but then he felt like he had to give el what ‘she’ needed and erased so much of that progress

mike was way too willing to walk off a cliff for dustin. you’re gonna look me in the eye and tell me the boy who set up that sauna plan in under five minutes, who managed to understand a hivemind he’s never directly interacted with, who managed to discover an alternate dimension just to save the people he loves couldn’t find a better way to diffuse that situation??? that he couldn’t even try? the mike we know would never have given into something like that so easily if he didn’t want to. part of him was doing it to save dustin, but he could’ve saved dustin another way. mike had just lost will, el, and lucas. he puts pressure on himself to save everybody and he ended up losing everyone and now dustin is in danger too. he needs to save dustin or else he’ll feel like a complete failure of a person. it’s about saving dustin, but it’s also about the fact that he doesn’t see value in himself outside of other people

i can’t even list everything here but mike is SO complicated. he’s hope and he’s tragic and he’s human. people just don’t want to admit that they refuse to try and understand difficult storylines and make you look outside of the norm you’re forced to look through. it’s about defying norms until you have to defy your own norms.

[atqh16]

Gonna preface this by saying I’m not autistic so if I’m wrong please feel free to correct me. With that said

I think there’s some legitimacy in the idea that Sai is possibly on the autism spectrum. He tends to take things very literally. Has trouble with interpreting human emotions to a point where he needs to actually study it. He also finds it difficult to emote himself. He can be very blunt with his words and comments and doesn’t seem to realize when he’s hurt other peoples feelings unless he’d done it with the aim to do so. But even then he consistently sticks to the same insults and teasings over and over (eg: him making fun of Naruto’s dick)

His jutsu style is very unique to his own compared to other Shinobis except for the ones born with a specific kekkei genkai. It could be interpreted as a fixation or special interest of his hence why he can implement it as part of his jutsu style so well

Of course you can say this was all caused by his time with root but compare him to someone like Yamato, who’d also been in root for far longer than sai, but doesn’t have issues with reading social cues or communicating himself the way Sai does.

I also like the idea because it adds some layers and complexities to his character. Especially since none of these things stop him from improving as a person and learning new things. Being who he is isn’t a detriment. It’s just a part of who he is. It doesn’t stop him from learning to become a good friend. To move away from the brainwashing he’d been subjected to under Danzo so he could develop his own identity and beliefs.

What I like about his friendship with Naruto is that Naruto never avoids him (except for their initial meeting which is fair since he saw Sai as trying to take Sasuke’s place). Naruto doesn’t shy away from him. When Sai admits to not understanding Narutos goals, he doesn’t brush the guy off. He takes time to explain. Like always, he allows himself to be vulnerable in a way Sai was taught not to be. In later chapters he’s also shown to trust Sai completely and is able to communicate with him in a fight without words (eg: in their fight against Karui and Omo). Naruto (similar to how he makes friends in general) does not shut Sai out and that’s significant. There’s a reason why Sai is protective and devoted to Naruto’s ideals the same way Gaara or Shikamaru is.

Which is why I hate it when I read fics where he’s depicted as just an apathetic, creep. Sai deserves so much better.