#yeah if he was saying those things today he would be problematic

[lets-all-calm-down-a-bit]

what? oh, my blorbo is problematic? teehee yeah i know<3 he should be set on fire and locked in a cage<3

oh wait- you meant that negatively?

...

why..?

[dimplyowl]

Today I want to talk about intentions. A while ago I made a post about why Izzy's toxic masculinity and internalized homophobia doesn't give him a free pass to treat other people like shit and then not try to atone for that. A lot of the Izzy apologists I see seem to be of that opinion: that because we take into consideration Ed's past trauma when thinking how his actions have hurt the people we care about, we should give Izzy the same grace.

Well, I don't actually think we should, and I'm going to tell you why.

First, though, I want to say that this isn't about attacking people who enjoy characters who are pieces of shit. Please, by all means, enjoy your grubby little shitstain characters (I absolutely have some of my own that I love). This is about discussing why it's problematic to twist the canonical narrative to label Ed as abusive and Izzy as a victim.

And, in my opinion, it comes down to intentions.

"But dimplyowl," you say, "someone's intentions don't matter when the result is harmful to the people around them!" And I think, to a point, yes, that's true. People who hurt others through careless or reckless behavior need to bear the responsibility of their actions and own up to it (something that imo Izzy does not do). But I think there's also a distinction that needs to be made between people who hurt and control others because they take pleasure in feeling powerful over them, and those who don't.

If we take a look at Izzy's actions in season one and compare them to Ed's actions in season two, in my personal opinion, it becomes clear that one of these men is someone who has repeatedly taken pleasure in mistreating the people around him, both insubordinates and people that he claims to "have love for." And that man isn't the dread pyrate Blackbeard.

Does Ed enact violence on other people? Yes. Does he "love a good maim?" Also yes. Does he enjoy hurting people? Mm, debatable. The thing about Ed is that he has a complicated relationship with violence. To him, it's a tool to be utilized when necessary. I think he certainly gets a sense of vindictive pleasure when instructing Fang to skin the French captain or when the people at the French party descend into chaos and set themselves on fire. But, importantly, it's because those are people who wronged him. Those are people who hurt him, who dug at his race and his background and took pleasure in using those things to hurt him.

But Ed doesn't enjoy violence for violence's sake. There's always a reason, whether it's in reaction to being insulted, belittled, or threatened, or whether it's because it's literally just in the job description, he has a reason.

In season two, his reason for mistreating the crew is that he's trying to provoke them into mutinying on him. And, like, honestly, he does a pretty shitty job of it. Up until we rejoin them, his big crime is overworking them. The crew is tired emotionally and physically, but for the most part they're unharmed. They lost Ivan on a raid, but any one of them could die on a raid at any time, because it's literally just a hazard of the job. Not a single one of them is even considering mutiny at this point.

Ed hits his breaking point when Izzy suggests that they try and "talk it through," and imo completely understandably. It's his fault that the morale on the ship is low, is it? It's his fault because he was sad and heartbroken and vulnerable? It's his fault because he was healing in his own way, but that wasn't acceptable to Izzy at the time, but now because the ship isn't fun for Izzy anymore, because Izzy is on the verge of losing his position of power as Blackbeard's first mate, now is when Izzy decides that maybe talking it through might actually be helpful? Yeah, if I were Ed, I would fucking shoot him too.

But not once do we get any evidence that Ed is taking any pleasure in wearing down the crew. When he hits his breaking point, he is very clearly not having a good time. He realizes that if he wants this to end, he needs to up the ante. He hands Izzy a loaded gun and offers himself up as an easy target. Izzy laughs at his suicidal boss, friend, someone that he "has love for", and tells him to do it himself. He prolongs Ed's suffering. He puts the crew in even more danger. And even as Ed is trying to make the crew kill him, he doesn't touch them. By this point, we've seen this crew turn to mutiny twice, once because of Stede's ineptitude and once because of Izzy's abuse when he took over as captain. It shouldn't take much to get them to act, and yet it takes Ed threatening to get them all killed in a storm for them to finally act. Because up until that point, he's been unstable, he's been clearly going through a crisis, but he hasn't hurt them, he hasn't been abusive. He's clearly not enjoying any of this, he's going through some shit, he's hurting, and they love him, and until their lives are imminent danger, they're discussing how to help him.

If Ed wanted to hurt them, if he wanted to push them into mutiny sooner, there are so many things he could have done to terrorize them. Instead until the point he decides he can't live anymore, his only hope is that either he'll get killed in a raid, or he'll overwork them enough that they'll kill him themselves. This is not about abusing his crew, this is about abusing himself.

In contrast, when we look at Izzy's behavior throughout season one, we see someone who very clearly enjoys his position of power over other people, and who gets pleasure out of abusing that power. In 1x2, he sows distrust and uncertainty in Ivan and Fang about Ed's decision-making, telling them that he's half-mad, keeping Ed separate from the crew, and discouraging any questions by asserting himself physically over Fang. (He then claims in 1x4 to have reassured the crew when they've doubted Ed's leadership, when in fact he seems to be the cause of that doubt). In 1x3 he blatantly lies to Ed about having "explicitly" (his word) told Stede that "Blackbeard wants a word with him." He is practically gleeful when he passes on Stede's message to go suck eggs in hell, clearly expecting that to get a rise out of Ed, certainly to get him to drop his fascination with the Gentleman Pirate, and probably intending for Ed to attack Stede himself for disrespecting him.

In 1x4, he flip flops between caring that some of their crew died while fighting the Spanish to get Stede and his crew, and telling Ivan and Fang to kill anyone who refuses to fight the Spanish. Intending to fight the Spanish warships that have caught up with him is absolutely going to get everyone slaughtered, when there are other options. Ed actually advises anyone who can to leave, knowing that that's their only chance for survival, and similarly he tells the Revenge crew to surrender when cornered by the British. In 1x4, he clearly considers every death that would occur to be his responsibility when he tells Stede that being Blackbeard means that everyone's going to die, and it's going to be all his fault. Who's the one who actually cares about what happens to his crew here?

In 1x5 Izzy attempts to exert control over Lucius and punish him for, apparently, not working on his day off? Never mind that there are two other people in that room who are slacking off. Izzy targets Lucius, who is an effeminate unapologetically gay man, who Izzy clearly believes will be an easy target. He attempts to mock his sexuality (which actually winds up being more telling on himself), decides that it's his right to tell someone else's crew what to do at all, and attempts to use Lucius as an example to show the rest of Stede's crew that their "days of doing fuck-all are over", but then doesn't give jobs to the rest of the crew? He catches one of his own crew members fucking off with Lucius, and from what we can extrapolate, decides to only punish Lucius, because clearly Lucius as the "seductress" is to blame. He threatens to blackmail Lucius into obeying him, is visibly enjoying threatening him and manipulating him, and leaves like a pissy toddler when he doesn't get his way. And by "get his way", I mean successfully gains control over someone through threats and manipulation.

In 1x6, he once again decides that an effeminate gay man needs to be punished for his existence, but this time it's Stede he sets his sights on. He decides that he needs to take action only after hearing Ivan say that he's never seen Ed so open and available. Izzy can't have that, because he needs Ed to be dependent on Izzy, so that Izzy can continue to isolate Ed from the rest of the crew, can remain the only source of contact between Ed and the crew, and thereby easily control and manipulate both parties. He pressures Ed into finally acting on what he said he would do, belittling Stede and Ed's connection to Stede by referring to Stede as Ed's pet. (It is not an accidental choice that the writers will later have another antagonist refer to Stede as Ed's pet; it's deliberate mirroring to Izzy as an antagonist). He uses Stede's ego to manipulate him into insisting on putting on the fuckery so that they can get rid of Stede today--almost as if he knows that putting immediate pressure on Ed to act won't give him time to reconsider, to rethink, to back out, to maybe consider why Izzy is so adamant about this--and then uses Stede and Ed's relationship to further manipulate Stede into doubling down on doing the fuckery when he's doubting himself. And doing it in possibly the creepiest way possible?? Stede literally puts up a physical barrier between them, and Izzy pushes against that, actually literally pushes up against the curtain to push against the boundary that Stede has put up.

And then when it's clear Ed isn't going to kill Stede, Izzy decides that he's going to take that decision out of Ed's hands. He decides he knows better than Ed what's best for him, places more value in his own decisions than Ed's, essentially mutinies on Ed by disobeying him, and on Stede by challenging him to a duel. He clearly believes he's going to win, and easily, in the process forcing someone he again claims to "have love for" to watch as he destroys the only thing that's brought hope and life and light and enjoyment back into Ed's life. He's embarrassingly easily goaded into losing his temper, relishes the moment he thinks he's won, the moment he stabs Stede, loses his temper again when his sword is stuck. Canyonites love to talk about Ed having anger problems, but this episode clearly demonstrates who actually has the anger problem. He looks to Ed when he realizes he's lost, as if Ed is going to forgive him, let him stay, when he just tried to kill Ed's friend and (only in Izzy's mind at that point) lover.

Izzy then turns to the fucking cops to turn Stede in. He reinforces his belief that Ed isn't capable of making his own decisions when he refers to Stede as having "done something" to Ed's brain, as if Ed is a weak-willed, easily manipulated child. He sends Jack in because he knows that Jack will put a wedge between Ed and Stede, and hopefully to get Ed out of there before the navy shows up. He apparently doesn't consider the fact that Ed is the most wanted pirate in the world, and if Jack doesn't succeed, will be in life-threatening danger. But maybe he doesn't care about that, considering what he tells Ed later.

He arranges for Ed to be put into his custody. Like, I shouldn't have to say anything about that, because it's fucking disgusting. Like Ed is property to be handed over to Izzy. He tries to convince Ed that Stede's execution is actually a kindness, despite knowing what it will do to Ed. When that fails, he tries to convince Ed not to take the Act and sign the contract, but...isn't that what Izzy himself just did?

In 1x9 we get more of his control and manipulation over the crew. Taking away a week of Wee John's rations for making a comment about Izzy's terrible name for his ship, as he is actively eating in front of him. Making Ivan and Fang serve him, telling them his food needs more salt, and then not even eating more of it when they salt it? Fucking gross. That move is all about control.

And then 1x10, which I shouldn't even have to talk about, but the fucking horrible way he treats Ed apparently is still something that goes over some peoples' heads. Once again keeping him secluded from the crew, refusing to give them answers about what's going on, keeping them busy by literally spitting on their clean deck, when he could have just dumped the coffee out on it. Watching Ed grieve and bond with the crew, once again deciding for Ed that he knows what's best for him, interrupting his grieving process, telling him that what he's become is worse than death. Threatening him that if he doesn't return to the very specific image that Izzy says Blackbeard is, that Izzy will kill him. Later on his deathbed apology admitting that he knew that being Blackbeard was harmful to Ed, but that he kept pressing because Izzy needed him, needed Blackbeard in order to feel powerful, to keep the level of respect and fear that other people had for him.

All of this paints a picture of a person who enjoys feeling powerful, who enjoys using that power to hurt and abuse and control the people around him, who will do anything, even at the detriment of someone that he has "love for", to keep that power for himself. A person who takes pleasure in hurting people, physically and emotionally.

I see a lot of people trying to say that what Ed did was worse than what Izzy did. I personally don't think it was, when you add up the consistent way that Izzy mistreats every person around him. But I think that what's even more important in this discussion are the intentions behind the hurt.

Ed did everything he could not to harm his crew until it became evident that the only way he could be successful in getting them to kill him would be by giving them a very present, very real threat. And even then, the way he went about doing it was very distant. Making Jim and Archie fight each other. Sailing directly into a storm. Damaging the ship to make an already dangerous situation even more dangerous.

Izzy repeatedly enjoyed exerting his control and physical and emotional violence on other people. He displayed a pattern of believing himself to be the only person capable of making the right choices, of removing the agency from the people around him, specifically of removing Ed, a person of color's, agency. He hurt every single person around him, all for his own benefit, for his own gain.

Maybe it comes down to value systems, maybe intentions behind someone's behavior really don't matter to you, but I know that I am much more forgiving of someone who hurt me as a byproduct of hurting themselves than I am someone who knowingly, repeatedly hurts people because they enjoy it.

[aquareegia]

Thought I'd share with everyone, who doesn't speak German. In yesterday's livestream with ESC Kompakt, LOTL shared some thoughts about the voting system and the impact of juries in Eurovision. I think they speak for a lot of us here, bc these are issues we point out every year.

Chris: "Generally I have an opinion about the ESC, specific things and the voting system. I don't say this because I'm searching for excuses or I want to say "yeah, but we were actually in sixteenth place in the televoting and blah blah blah". I'm not trying to sugarcoat the result but generally I think if I were responsible for the ESC and could make changes, I'd firstly get rid of the big 5. We realised it backstage at the semi finals, everyone was so happy, they fought hard, they did it and you walk along and... nobody gives you dirty looks but everyone is congratulating eachother and you're just there and feel bad because you're automatically in the final. That's the first thing.

Secondly that only the first ten get points. When 26 countries are competing, it would be nice if we could implement a system where everyone gets points. Maybe weighted differently but still get points. I think that would be nice.

And finally, sorry if I'm getting ahead of myself, I don't want to start arguing but I'm a big fan of the people's choice! I think it doesn't matter how good and professional a member of the jury is, we're all human and we all have different preferences. And maybe there's someone (in the jury) from country xy, like a great schlager singer that won the ESC in the 60's confronted with a guy like Käärijä. Maybe she doesn't understand why an entry like this is a smart, artistic, great entry in today's ESC world, and says "What's this trash? He doesn't even sing." You know what I mean? Those are three things I'd change."

Pi: "You have... how many was it? 136 from all countries? And you have millions of audience votes and the fact that this is weighted 50/50. A small handful of people have the same impact as millions of people, in direct comparison, they actually have more impact. I think it's always problematic when a small group of people have the most power. For example, without trashing the rich, but the billionaires of the world, as few as they are, have more influence than regular people. And that's... I think that's questionable."

Despite the criticism I really like how positive they are and say that they'd participate again anytime, just because of how much they enjoyed the general experience.

[meraki-yao]

Some people say Nick posts about mary & george when there is something about Taylor because he wants to show that he has real jobs and shift the focus to real projects god, they're so evil

Jesus Christ, fuck them. They're stirring drama for drama's sake. That's their FUCKING JOB. M&G is literally 2 weeks, 14 days away, why wouldn't Nick post about M&G? Like they didn't choose for these dates to collide, it just did.

So yeah you're right, those people are fucking evil who can't leave a good thing alone.

But honestly, I'm amused by this "argument"/"criticism", and I'll tell you why (warning: discussion of real-person shipping under the cut, please don't read if you're uncomfortable with the subject)

Also warning, I ended up with a short-essay, because I'm me lmao

As I mentioned before, for rwrb I'm mostly active here; but I also look at the posts and opinions of the Chinese rwrb fandom (i don't post there though, I don't have nor want to have Chinese social media accounts)

and the thing about shipping culture in China is that RP shipping is almost DEFAULT (and I can write a whole dissertation on this phenomenon if anyone wants to read it) like, if you ship a pair in a show/movie unless the actor/actress is publicly in a long term MARRIAGE, not just relationship, MARRIAGE FOR LIKE AT LEAST FIVE YEARS, the audience will automatically ship the actors too. So much so that this is part of THE MARKETING STRATEGY of all locally-produced streaming shows

Also, when I say ship, I don't mean "aww that's cute they're cute together", I mean tin hatters. I mean they genuinely try to find snips and bits in photos that might serve as proof that they're together. We call it 嗑（磕）糖 ke tang (Eating/Drugged by Candy), because in Chinese weddings candy (called 喜糖 Xi Tang "happiness"-"candy") is given to guests, and because it's sweet. The "evidence" is called "candy", and the act of looking and finding "candies" is called "eating candies".

all this to say, nearly all rwrb fans in China ship Taylor and Nick together, and they're genuinely convinced that they're together. I've seen my fair share of "candy"/"evidence" and they keep coming. (some of those i genuinely think they're trying too hard but there are really some that I see and go "...damn.")

now finally back to this ask. Nick posting when Taylor has an event, what the people mentioned in the ask is bitching about, IS CONSIDERED A CANDY. EVERYBODY IS GIGGLING AND GRINNING OVER THE FACT THAT NICK AND TAYLOR POPPED OUT TOGETHER IN THE PAST COUPLE OF EVENTS LIKE THE GQ, THE ACADEMY GALA, MILAN AND TODAY. IT'S LITERALLY THE OPPOSITE END OF THE SPECTRUM.

a last little tidbit from me and my opinion on the whole shipping thing for now: personally I don't entirely agree with the default real-person shipping, it has proven to be problematic in the past and honestly I hate how monetized it is, but 1, it's such an "everybody in the country does it" thing that I... would be lying if I said I'm not influenced by that mindset at all, 2, I know where this mindset came from and it has stuff to do with the societal pressure of young adults in the country and rebellion against traditional concepts of marriage and stuff. It's a sociology phenomenon, and when I look at it as an outsider, I find it kind of fascinating.

As for my opinion on the boy's relationship, I don't...care? I know they have a good relationship and that's all I want for them. As for what type of relationship they have, I don't really mind/care, and I don't think we should look too much into that. That's their relationship for them to define and them to publicize if they want to. I know for a fact, that they are great friends. Are they more than friends? That's unfalsifiable, and that's no one's business but their own. So that's my stance.

But I had to choose one extreme fan's reaction, rps is a much less harmful thing than the sheer amount of hate and deliberate drama-stirring I've seen. So there.

[pancakes4two]

SCANDALOUS GF IG PT 2 RN 💳💥💳!!💳💥!!

HI HI HI sorry it took me literally forever to do a part 2. hope this is worth the wait!!

PART ONE | MASTERLIST | TALK TO ME

people

100,211 likes

people You know I love you, babe.

Harry Styles and girlfriend Y/N L/N pack on the PDA after being spotted on a lunch date in Malibu. This comes just two weeks after the pair stirred up controversy for collaborating on a lingerie collection for Styles’ brand Pleasing. Hit the link in our bio for more.

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harryfan3 conveniently kissing in the middle of the street in front of a bunch of paps, nice

harryfan2 i don’t like who she’s turning him into.

harryfan1 this plus that childish ass ig post she uploaded last week? yikes

harrystan5 guys… can we please go back to having some class

harrygirl1 and we thought the olivia yacht pics were bad😭 now he’s making out in broad daylight

yourinstagram

Liked by harrystyles, emrata and 76,429 others

yourinstagram all i have to say

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emrata exactly 👏👏👏

yourbff at the end of the day she’s thriving

harrystyles 🖤

yourinstagram luuuuuuuuuuuv you 💋💋

Comments on this post have been limited.

harryflorals

80,827 likes

harryflorals Harry recently followed model Emrata on Instagram!

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harryfan1 uh

harryfan3 randomly???

harryfan4 i mean she’s not the greatest but i’d prefer her to y/n🫢

harrystan1 don’t get your hopes up😭 she’s like BFFs with y/n

harryforever he’s going on her podcast i have a friend who helps produce it lol

harryfan8 and what exactly does harry have to say on emrata’s podcast😭😭 that’s so random

emrata

Liked by yourinstagram, deuxmoi and 1,934,283 others

emrata Today on High Low w/ Emrata! I chat with Harry Styles about double standards and the difficulty of trying to correct a media narrative. Spoiler alert: he’s not too appreciative about the social media witch-hunt that’s currently directed at his girlfriend. Stream using the link in my bio.

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harryfan1 oh no. oh no. OH NO

harryfan7 i listened to the full hour podcast so y’all don’t have to lol. he basically told us to fuck off in the nicest way possible. when i get back home i’ll comment some direct quotes here

harrystan UHHHHHHHHHHH

harryfan7 he said: “It’s obviously hard when you’ve been in the public eye for so long, and people start to feel like you have some sort of obligation to them, or that they somehow know you on a deeply personal level and can dictate what you are or aren’t supposed to do. And that’s not to say everyone is guilty of falling into that mindset—certainly the vast majority of the internet displays nothing but kindness and grace. But I would be lying if I said it wasn’t disappointing to see the public reaction to… certain things lately. It’d be nice if those corners of social media could show a little more compassion, especially towards someone I love.”

harryfan9 honestly he has a point. like i’m definitely guilty of being harsh towards his gfs in the past but hearing him say that really put things into perspective for me

harryfan10 meh still think she’s problematic. yeah maybe we don’t know harry on a deeply personal level 🙄 but we’ve been fans of him for so many years and we know he typically doesn’t act like how he does with her. why is it wrong for us to comment on that?

harry’s instagram story:

TAGLIST: @crazygirlinthisworld @grapejuice-rry @b-reads-things @s8tellite @michellekstyles @vrittivsanghavi @alienorknight @flwrmuse

[jewbeloved]

Some places aren't what they just seem to be...🩸🩸♥️

Note: Have this horror fanfic as my way of bringing back my spicy fanfics. I'm kinda losing motivation and I have hell (school) on my tail .⁠·⁠´⁠¯⁠`⁠(⁠>⁠▂⁠<⁠)⁠´⁠¯⁠`⁠·⁠.

Warnings: Murder, bl00D and Knives....mentions of drugs (in the beginning).

Gender: Neutral

💙💚 The Main Four 🧡❤️

You were dropped off to a nearby orphanage by the police after both of your parents passed away due to drug overdose.

The orphanage looked very fancy and aesthetic from the exterior. You wondered what the inside of the building looked like.

When you walked into the building, you were met with a lot of children your age running around, chatting with each other, playing games together, and playing tricks on each other.

You noticed one of the maids walked up to you with a bright smile on her face.

"Hello there dear, are you by any chance the new orphan that we were getting today?". You looked up at her with a blank expression.

"Uhm...yeah, that's me...".

"Well it's lovely to meet you, I can ensure you that you will love it here at the orphanage! What is your name, little one?".

"(Name) (Last Name)".

"(Name)....what a beautiful name! come, let me give you a tour around the orphanage since it's your first time here".

The kind maid showed you every room and area that was around the orphanage. They had a dining hall where the orphans could get their food, they had showers so the orphans could take a bath, they had a library for any orphans who were interested in books.

They even had dorms for where the orphans could sleep and rest up their energy.

You were surprised to hear that there were 40 orphans and 5 maids at this orphanage.

Once the tour was over, the maid gave you comfortable clothes to wear for the day and allowed you to go talk with the other kids.

You spotted 4 boys chatting with each other. One of them seemed to be arguing with the chubby one while the other 2 just watched.

The kid with the orange parka was the first one to noticed you and he waved at you before his other friend in the blue and red beanie looked at you as well.

"Hey, aren't you the new kid?" The kid in the blue and red beanie asked you.

"Yeah, that's me..who are you guys?". You looked at them puzzled.

"Right names, I'm Stan Marsh and this one next to me is Kenny Mccormick...the one in the green ushanka is Kyle Broflovski. And the fatass is Eric Cartman". Cartman immediately looked away from Kyle and at Stan in anger.

"IM NOT FAT YOU GODDAMN EMO HIPPIE!!". Stan rolled his eyes at Cartman's anger towards him while you just stared at the boys with a "•_•" face.

"Alright then...my name is (Name) (Last Name)". They all gave you a thumbs up while Cartman was still pissed off and crossing his arms.

"Mhppmhhhhmmphhhmmmhh". You looked at Kenny with a confused face since you didn't understand what he said.

"Um, what was that Kenny? I'm afraid I don't follow on what you said".

"He said: 'Do you want to hang out with us?'". Stan translated for Kenny.

"Oh...sure!". Your face began to lighten up as you assume this orphanage wouldn't be as bad as the rumors say.

What rumors? No need to worry! those are just said by silly people....this orphanage is perfectly okay!

You ended up spending time with the boys during the "daily activities" the maids gave out for all of the orphans to do and have fun.

You got to know the boys better and they got to know you better as well. You didn't understand why the other kids would call them "problematic". They say that the boys would swear at each other or other orphans, always talking to each other during quiet time, and getting into some fights (Kyle and Cartman).

But you didn't see them do any of those things because they have been so nice and chill around you, but if many orphans were saying it. You didn't care anyways since you were glad you had at least some company instead of going the whole day being awkward while living in a orphanage full of 40 kids in total. (THATS A LOT).

When dinner time came, the maids had all of you dress up in special uniforms for the occasion.

You were confused on why you have to dress in uniforms to eat some food, but you couldn't complain until you see how the food they serve here tastes.

You got in line while holding your trey, the orange-haired maid placed (your favorite food) onto your trey while giving you a glass of milk with it.

Milk at dinner?? I expected to at least get some juice or (your favorite drink).... You thought inside your mind as you left the line to find a table to sit at to eat.

Kyle motioned for you to come over and sit with him and his friends. You sat down at their table and noticed that they all had a glass of milk on their trey as well.

You then looked around to see a few other kids (6 of them) have a glass of milk on their treys too while the rest didn't... was this normal?

"Hey....uhm...do they serve anything else besides milk? or are they just out of stock?". You asked the boys as you pointed to your milk.

"Well, they normally do now because that's all everyone really wants now. You'll get used to it eventually (Name)". Stan said as him, Kyle, Cartman, and Kenny began eating their food.

You eyed your food and milk while glancing up at them back and forth. You signed and began eating your food as well while ignoring your milk for a while.

You heard a little cough from the boys and the other 6 kids when they drank their glass of milk.

You immediately looked up at your friends. "Stan, Kyle, Cartman, and Kenny? are you guys alright?".

They were silence for a couple of secs before they snap back into reality. "Yeah, we're fine it's no big deal really".

You looked at them confused and eyed your own glass of milk, you picked it up and looked closer at it until you..saw that it was...

Spoiled...

Your eyes widened. "Guys! you just drank spoiled milk!". You panicked as they gave you a concern look.

"What are you talking about (Name)? the milk wasn't spoiled it was fresh, did you hit your head or did Kahl jewness aura hurt-". Kyle pushed Cartman out of his chair with him letting out a "OW!".

"But but-! I just looked at my milk and it was spoiled!". You tried to defend yourself you didn't understand why they were being so calm about this as if it was a normal routine.

Before you could say something else to them, the maids have announced that all orphans should go to their dorms to get ready for the night.

"Oh Jesus finally! I get some goddamn fucking rest after so many hours!".

"Shut up fatboy! you barley participated in anything since this morning!". Kyle and Cartman began arguing back and forth with each other as you watched your 4 friends walk out of the dinning hall.

You signed as you got up from your seat and followed everyone else to the dorm area. All of the other dorms were occupied except for the room that had only one bed in it..it looked a little ragged but it was still comfortable to sleep on, it even had a small candle on the nightstand to light up the room.

You took off your uniform and began to change into some nice warm clothes to sleep at night.

"Oh well, I hope nothing weird will happen at night...". You locked the door and climbed into your bed before falling asleep.

After 2 hours, you woke up to some growling noises. You were half asleep as you rubbed your eyes wondering what that noise was. You shrugged it off since you were lucky your room door was locked anyways.

When you tried to go to asleep, you heard a loud scream that sounded like one of the orphans. You immediately jumped out of your bed at the sight of the scream wondering what was going on outside of your dorm.

You picked up the candle that was on your nightstand and held it close to your face, not close to enough to burn you.

What was that scream just now? It sounded more like a scream of horror....

After 3 mins you heard another loud scream and then another following after that one. You were getting nervous and you wanted to know what the hell was going on...if you remembered, people always said the rumors about this orphanage are what happened at night...

You were snapped out of your thinking as you heard some kids banging on your door letting to be in as they cried for help. Your body was shaking a little at their cries.

"PLEASE OPEN THE DOOR!" "HELP US, THERE ARE COMPLETE PSYCHOS OUT HERE KILLING US! THERE'S 10 OF THEM, PLEASE OPEN THE DOOR!". The crying kids continued to beg and bang on your door.

The crying and yelling was soon replaced by stabbing noises and more loud screams. You saw something red splattered onto the glass window of your door...is that...

Blood...?

You were now having second thoughts about opening the door since you were sure that some killer must be inside of the orphanage now...why weren't the maids doing anything at all???

This continued until 27 screams were heard and then the alarm began to go off. Your door was unlocked automatically when the alarms went off.

You heard a maid telling the orphans to run to something they call "bunker". Everyone ran straight to the bunkers immediately.

You ran out of your room as well trying to follow the remaining orphans to safety. As you were almost out of the hall, somebody grabbed your hand while placing a knife near your neck.

You were flabbergasted and turned around to see your attacker, it was one of the orphans except their entire body was twitching like crazy as if they were possessed.

They had a evil smile on their face as they saw the fear in you. Another orphan with a knife in their hand was in front of you, their whole body was twitching like crazy as well.

You were confused, scared, and shocked. You had no need what was going on and why there was suddenly some orphans going completely nuts and killing everyone.

You looked at the psycho in front of you and saw something white dripping from their mouth.

Was that...milk?

Your eyes widened even more as you remember the time you heard coughing from Kyle, Stan, Cartman, and Kenny when they drank the milk after you discovered it was spoiled.

You were sure that the spoiled milk could've given them a bad stomachache, but it seems like it did something else other than that.

You didn't have anymore time to think as the 2 psychos were ready to stab you dead.

That was instantly stopped when you saw they were pulled back and dragged away at the same time.

2 screams and blood splattering were heard at the same time meaning it must've came from the 2 psychos who were trying to kill you. But how? that happened so fast in a short amount of time....

Thankfully you still had your candle and you shined it around until you saw 4 boys which looked exactly like the ones you befriended when you first came to this orphanage...

"Stan..? Kyle...? Cartman...? Kenny...?". You were shaking uncontrollable in fear because so much has happened since nightfall came...

Their bodies were twitching crazily as well. You wanted answers and you wanted them now..

"What is going on here?! why are all 4 of you holding knives and drenched in blood?! I want answers please!!". The boys stayed silent as they look at each other.

"Guys should we really tell them?". Stan asked as Kyle and Kenny nodded except for Cartman who shaked his head.

"No way, they'll just fucking rat us out!". You had a confused mixed with anger expression on your face as you looked at them.

"What are you guys talking about?! Everything seemed normal and happy when I first came here, but now things started to get weird at the diner hall where we were only given "milk" and that weirdness lead to all of this bloodshed at night! You guys know what's happening in this orphanage and I want answers!". You were on the verge of tears while your anger was still showing.

Stan signed and decided to speak up.

"Basically....this orphanage is about survival...we can't blame you for acting this way. The spoiled milk the maids served us is the calayist leading to all of this bloodshed".

"What do you mean? how can spoiled milk be the cause of this?? isn't it supposed to give you a bad stomachache because when things are spoiled it means they usually god bad!".

"That's usually what spoiled things would do, but this milk doesn't work that way. All of our visions went red when drank the milk after we finished coughing".

"You guys make it seem like this is a normal routine!!".

"Duh, because it is. once you drink the spoiled milk the maids give you, you become a threat to other orphans who didn't drink the milk".

"Goddamnit Cartman, can't you be nice to people for once?!". Kyle yelled at Cartman rolled his eyes.

"Sorry, but the word "nice" doesn't work in my dictionary for jews".

You didn't even noticed that sun had already raised up and all of the blood that was around the place was gone and the boys were no longer twitching or had a knife in their hands.

"No...no....this has to be a dream...it has to be...". You sulked down on the floor next to the wall while your hands were wrapped around your legs.

"The rumors about this orphanage...were true after all...but why isn't this reported to the police....? don't tell me the walls of this sick place is soundproofed!". You couldn't hold back your tears as they streamed down your cheek.

Stan and Kyle sat down next to you and wrapped you in their arms as Kenny pulled down his hood to speak.

"Yeah, you could say that the walls are soundproofed and more orphans are coming here every week or so. we pretty much can't leave since this orphanage is in a forest".

"So I can't leave then...I have to spend the rest of my life in this haunted place....". You cried even more.

You then felt 4 other arms wrap around you.

"It's okay (Name), even if we can't leave you won't share this pain alone because we will be there to protect you from the other orphans".

"But that sounds like the only way we can leave is if we die!".

"At least we will die together instead of dying alone..".💙💚🧡❤️🩸🩸💖💖

I have been way to hook up in watching ONE PIECE and checking out WELCOME HOME I haven't had any time to write anything on my blog or my hellpark blog as well. I deeply apologize for my lack of posts everyone, multitasking yourself can become stressful at some point....

[normal-with-adhd-is-a-joke]

one shocking thing that people with ADHD do that makes us the most annoying bitches in disability awareness and acceptance circles

I encourage both ADHD and non-ADHD people to read this, I'm hoping awareness on both sides can lead to reducing some of the hostility I've seen towards people with ADHD in disability circles. And yes, my fellow ADHDers, part of fixing this problem is us doing the work to avoid using communication techniques that can be triggering to people who have experienced ableism.

I want to talk about something I call reciprocal storytelling. Basically, telling a story that is in some way connected to a story someone else just told. Non-ADHD people do it too, but I've noticed people with ADHD do it a lot more than other people. If you ever listen to two people with ADHD have a conversation, it's pretty much a nonstop string of loosely related stories.

So why is this problematic when communicating with other disabled people? Unfortunately, ableist people often weaponize reciprocal storytelling to belittle the experiences of disabled people. I think the easiest way to have people understand this is with an example.

We're going to create a character called Laurie. Laurie has chronic, debilitating knee pain. Laurie just met a woman, Sandra, who injured her knee while running a few years ago. Sandra's injury was painful and interfered with her life quite a bit, but it's healed now. Their conversation goes something like this. Laurie: I can't walk with you up those stairs. Do you want to take the elevator with me so we can keep talking? Sandra: Sure. You know, I had my knee injured once while running. Took me a few months to get back into the swing of things. Something that really helped me was exercising it. Laurie: I'm sorry that happened, knee injuries are the worst, especially if you enjoy being active. Unfortunately working out hasn't helped. The thing that's worked the best has been not pushing myself too hard. Sandra: I thought that too, but I worked through the pain and it eventually went away. You just have to not give up. Laurie: haha, yeah I guess. Well, this is my floor, got to go.

Sandra was ableist in this conversation. She asserted that she could treat Laurie's pain despite knowing nothing about it and having no medical experience. When Laurie said that she had either already tried Sandra's method or thought it would be dangerous, Sandra less-than-subtly hinted that Laurie wasn't trying hard enough to get better. In this conversation, reciprocal storytelling became a tool to make Laurie feel guilty for being disabled. Now, let's look at a scenario of a person with ADHD talking to another disabled person:

Paul has ADHD. He's in a meeting for the disability club at his college. Right now, Ron, a manual wheelchair user, is talking about an experience he had on campus. Ron: I went to Professor Smith's class today and when I got there, there was a chair halfway blocking the door. I asked him to move it so I could get into the classroom and he told me to move it myself. Obviously, that's going to be really difficult for me to do since I have to use my hands to propel. I asked again for it to be moved and he called me lazy. Paul: Oh, Professor Smith was ableist to me last semester! I have an accommodation to sit in the front of the class. When I got there one day there were no front-row seats available. When I went to him he told me seats were first come first serve and that I should have the self control to pay attention to him and not the people in front of me.

To a person with ADHD, this conversation may seem harmless and non-ableist. It's just one person sharing a story related to another person's story. In fact, Paul might have even been trying to add credibility to Ron's story and encourage him to report it. However, this is not how Ron, a person who has likely experienced ableism, would probably interpret this conversation. To him, this might come across as Paul trying to make this experience about him and take attention away from what he had experienced. Or, it might come across as saying that having trouble paying attention in class because of a professor's actions is the same as being physically barred from entering a class because of a professor's actions. Either way, Ron is likely to leave the conversation feeling that Paul values talking about his own disability over listening to the experiences of others. Eventually, if this happens too often, Ron and other members of the group may begin to resent Paul for his perceived self-centeredness.

So how do we fix this? One, on the part of people with ADHD, practice active listening, try to make sure others are done speaking before you begin, and avoid jumping into talking about yourself without giving any feedback to what you just heard. For people without ADHD, communicating how you feel and why is key. The ADHD people in your life might not know they're hurting you if you don't tell them. Even if the ADHD person initially responds with hurt or offense, this doesn't mean the conversation failed. A lot of people with ADHD also have rejection-sensitive dysphoria and may need time to calm down and think about what you said before they can apply it.

[merrivia]

I don’t want to start drama and I don’t think Damen raped Laurent but like… Damens been raping sex slaves since he was thirteen lol like they were slaves and could not consent, ergo: rape. That Damen/Akielos didn’t think of it that way and that Damen would be horrified by such an accusation doesn’t mean we in the modern world shouldn’t recognize it as rape. I do love Damen as a character for what it’s worth but yeah. Def a rapist. As is Laurent, for that matter, who I also love.

Hmm are you sure you don't want to create drama lol.

Okay so this is touching on some very emotive topics.

All I'm going to say is yep, absolutely. Laurent and Damen are morally grey characters by today's legal standards and moral values. They inflict grievous bodily harm, and they kill. Both of them leave victims in their wake.

Readings of this text can be done in multiple ways, and the fact that it is basically original slash fiction that was meant to be 'slavefic' and explore that as a kink, meant once it moved to traditional publishing and came outside of that particular context, the content was always going to be problematic. I do think Pacat pulls off an extraordinary feat by turning something originally meant to be sexy and a kink exploration, into something with such meaningful, complex characterisation

I want to throw something out there, about legal definitions of crime, in terms of the rape in the novel. There are two aspects: 'actus reus' which translates as the act of committing the crime, and 'mens rea' which is the intention to commit the crime. You need both to convict someone. In the UK, where I was born and brought up, consent relates to both- so as soon as you commit the act of raping someone without consent, you also have the 'mens rea' of intention.

Now under that definition, yep, you would call Laurent and Damen rapists. No arguments from me there.

If you did want to delve a little deeper, this is what I would say:-

Essentially, both Laurent and Damen absolutely commit actus reus, in terms of rape, Damen by having sex with slaves and Laurent by what he does when he drugs Damen and tries to have Govart rape him in the ring, and when he forces Damen to undergo fellatio by Ancel (under UK law, 'causing someone to have sexual activity' is also a sexual offence, I'm actually not sure if it would be seen as rape, but in my eyes it is). Laurent most definitely also has the 'mens rea', he did those things with the intent that Damen be raped and sexually assaulted.

Damen, I do feel is more complicated, because I think it can be successfully argued that he had the 'actus reus' but not the 'mens rea'. You can feel free to disagree with me on this. Your reading of the text is your own. This is fiction and not real life. The world of the books is not our world.

Damen has had 'kinghood' hammered into him since a child. Think of what Akielon thinking is like around that: Be the perfect warrior. Be the perfect man. Be virile. Take slaves as it is a source of 'extreme pride' to your people. Slaves are trained to be submissive, they crave a master, they submit and you treat them perfectly. That is the trade off, and it is honourable.

Damen didn't actually see slaves as people, in the same way that he would literally anyone else in society. It's horrific, no doubt about that. But Damen has never ever questioned or critiqued his culture, as slavery is ingrained into every part of it. That would also go against what his father Theomedes believed in too, and Damen was raised to be obedient to him, and lived his life striving to please his father completely. Damen treated his slaves perfectly, so he thought, and he thought of that as part of his moral duty. You can see that Damen literally risks so much to ensure the safety of the consignment of slaves at Arles. He also sees what Govart did to Erasmus as rape (which it was), and is filled with righteous anger and outrage over it. This all tells us a lot about his world view.

Remember that Damen as a prince is literally 'exalted', considered on a higher level to normal people, so much so that his body servants in KR cannot dress him without extreme nervousness as the intimacy of touching his body is too disrespectful ('death to lay hands on the son of the king'). Slaves can do it, as they are literally so submissive that they will do anything they are ordered to. It angers and displeases the Akielons in KR, that Damen refuses slaves, and he still soldiers on regardless. I would wager, in terms of his upbringing Damen would be pretty touch-starved if it weren't for slaves (and wrestling!) because he literally is not supposed to be touched! Imagine the head-fuck of having that as your normal way of being (it's also why, alongside notions of Akeilon masculinity, I don't think he was hugged for most of his life, until Laurent in ch 12 of KR). To sum up: Damen has no conception in terms of his world view that what he's doing to slaves is rape, therefore his 'mens rea' is, arguably, actually not there. When Laurent accuses him of being a rapist, he visibly recoils in horror, as that's simply not something he thinks he would ever do.

As soon as Damen experiences the true horrors of slavery for himself, he understands slaves are human beings, something he didn't really get before, and he becomes an abolitionist. He refuses to have sex with them, as now he knows it’s rape, and won't even be served by them. It isn't just that Damen is in love with Laurent, and doesn't want to have sex with anyone but him. He has changed his own world view, by being on the other side of the fence, in a country that was not his own, but also of his own volition and now has the ability to make the right choices.

So, whether you see him as a rapist or not, is entirely up to you. But people are going to read his actions differently when it comes to his 'mens rea', and I think that's something that has to be accepted as part of fandom discourse. I also find it interesting, that for some reason, Laurent's actions which so much more clearly had the intent of inflicting sexual acts by force, are seen as secondary to Damen's apparently. Make of that what you will 🌚

[ravennaortiz]

CountDown: The Beginning

As always this is an 18+ only story. This story is AU based and not your typical Sons of Anarchy story. Some readers may find some plot lines and changes to some characters to be problematic please read at your discretion. This story also time jumps heavily so keep this in mind as you read!

Warnings: General themes of the show such as violence, drugs, swearing etc, minor age gap, minor smut in later chapters.

Juice made his way slowly from his room to the kitchen. He could hear music playing and voices carrying up the stairs. He was feeling nervous and anxious for several reasons. He took a deep breath before walking into the brightly lit kitchen and taking in the sight of those he called family.

Before he could say anything a chorus of happy birthdays rang out and he was dog piled on and taken to the floor. After a few minutes of roughhousing he was let up by his sponsor Jax Teller. Jax gave him a warm smile and patted his shoulder before pulling him towards him for a hug.

“You know you can stay here as long as you need to. I’m not kicking you out of the nest just because you’re eighteen” joked Jax reassuringly. Jax knew things had been weighing heavily on the younger man lately. “Thank you Jax. I’ll never be able to repay you for everything you have done for me the last few years” replied Juice as he felt relieve wash over him. “No worries man. Just remember my baby sister is still off limits” joked Jax as he stepped away from Juice, wrapping an arm around his sisters’ shoulders as she rolled her eyes at him.

Juice nodded in acknowledgement as he chuckled, everyone knew Jax was protective of his little sister, and turned his attention to the younger Teller. Where Jax was blonde and blue eyed his sister Rockette, who they all affectionately called Rocky, was raven haired and had piercing jade colored eyes. “This is for you” stated Rocky with a smirk as she stepped towards him with a box in her hands.

Juice took the box and walked over to the kitchen table where Chibs, Opie and Half-Sack were now sitting and grinning at him as they drank their coffee. “All you guys grinning like creeps is making me nervous” joked Juice as he looked around at them and chuckled lightly. “Just open the box birthday boy” laughed Rocky as she nudged his shoulder with hers and rolled her eyes as she joined him at the table with Jax on his other side. Juice tried his best to ignore the jolt that her touch brought to him. He knew every man in this room would rip him limb from limb if he let on his feelings for her. He internally kicked himself for not having had the courage to say something before now. Now it was too late since he was eighteen.

“Juicy Boy? You Okay” questioned Chibs as Juice stood before them a faraway look in his eyes for a couple of minutes. “Oh, yeah….  Sorry guys” laughed Juice as he felt his cheeks heat up with embarrassment. He quickly undid the box and lifted lid and felt his breath catch in his throat as he saw the contents. He gently pulled the black leather Kutte with his patches already sewn on out of the box and looked to Jax. “Surprise brother. Today is your first official day as a fully patched member. You can thank Rocky for being nice for once and sewing your patches on last night” stated Jax as he smiled at his now former prospect who he had taken a serious gamble on with him being a run away and all. He couldn’t be happier for how the kid had turned out though. “Thank you, though I think you’re nice all the time” stated Juice laughing as he hugged Rocky who had playfully smacked Jax, before turning back to Jax. “Thank you also. I couldn’t have had a better person to show me the ropes” he added as he put the Kutte on.

Juice spent the rest of the morning opening gifts from the others and talking while they ate breakfast. Juice couldn’t imagine life without these five. He saw Chibs as the father figure he never had, Jax and Opie like his older brother and then of course Half-Sack and Rocky who were his best friends.

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[thisisyourprincipalspeaking]

I think we're giving Chris too much credit when it comes to social justice and being an ally to the point thinking that he wouldn't actually date or marry someone like her is absurd. I think a lot of his social justice was/is performative. Do I think he's a racist, no but he has been tone deaf in the past and he has always been fine with problematic people around him. His stylist is problematic af. Also look at where he's from and who he hangs out with. Boston/MA is one of the most racists places outside of the south. How many POC are in his friends group, friends that he actually sees often? Taking those things into account he's probably heard ignorant or tone deaf shit from his own friends and never spoken up. So would he care about his wife's history? He's surrounded by white upper class people he's never truly understood equality, justice because he hasnt taken time to. The man has privilege written all over him. He has said some problematic stuff himself and has also participated in problematic stuff including his political website. Yeah none of it was outright racist but it was ignorant and tone deaf. There's no room for ignorance in today's world when we can easily research and learn before we start speaking.

Lets not forget how he was going to do a whole project about the middle east for ASP but didn't include any middle eastern person, instead i had white men who are/were responsible for most of problems in the middle east. and then the only reason he cancelled it was because of the backlash. The man would have continued with it had there been no backlash not realizing the ignorance of it all. Instead of apologizing for the lack of middle eastern voices he ignored it. The blame isn't solely on him but the team also but he is a founder so he would have more say in what is presented.

There's plenty more ignorant things he has done and used Dodger to brush it under the rug. The man has never taken accountability for anything. So do I think he really cares about her or her friends racism, fatphobic comments, No I dont think he does. Trump was an outlier for him. How much has he fought since then? There have been political leaders just as bad as Trump and he hasn't said anything. I will not accept him having the website and having to be neutral as the reason why. That's one of the reasons why that website is problematic. This both sides BS is stupid when there are people in elected offices who are outright racist, sexist, homophobic, and classist. He's giving some of these another platform to speak. Plus this website is separate from him as an individual, he should be now more than ever before, more involved in calling out racist politicians and statements they that are not facts. All of the statements present on ASP are factual correct yet they dont call out the leaders nor do they correct later on. There's a reason why the site isn't bigger. At the end of the day he knows most of these issues arent going to affect him so he doesn't have fight as hard against it just like most white men.

I think if this is real, then he is with someone who very closely resembles other people in his life and what he knows. I really dont think she's all that different from what he's used to, which also should make people really think about his actual life and what he knows not what he presents.

i agree with most of your statements, anon. i don't think he makes as many of the regular day-to-day decisions regarding asp at this point. i'm sure he did in the very early days while building the hype and trying to get people interested, excited, and willing to participate. but with as much as it has going on and as busy as he's been, there are others making these decisions. which would again be a situation where he's getting too much credit 😉

[pythiaswine]

CAN I JUST TALK ABOUT HOW BAD I WANTED LMM TO LEGITIMIZE LAMS but i kept being let down over and over again like ughhhh. first he gives the Angelica relationship a whole song and subplot and yes it was great, the whole musical's a lyrical, compositional, choreographed masterpiece BUT WE AREN'T HERE TO DISCUSS THAT. we are here to talk about how his source material was biased because Chernow gave breath to the Angelica thing, as improbable as it was (especially compared to the probability of the Laurens/Hamilton relationship? homophobia.) but then picture it, I'm a young, naïve teenager, I'm very fixated on lams and history, I loved the Hamilton musical, was a Hamilton teen and that part of me is irreparably burned into my brain. then LMM drops this sneaky little tidbit like the beacon of wisdom his fans see him as bc he wrote a historical self-insert fanfic for broadway, he says the Laurens/Hamilton relationship was real. great! but he didn't actually put it in the musical and that disappointed me. And damn, okay, he had a few lines here and there in the off-broadway version that were cut but maybe that wasn't his fault or maybe he planned on fleshing it out more and had to cut it down to make it more palatable for the people sponsoring his ride to broadway, a pathetic excuse but it could make sense. For all that, I could have forgiven, forgotten, etc etc... but I will NEVER forget naïvely believing during the year the Hamildrops were released that we'd finally get a Laurens/Hamilton song. In April it didn't happen, I thought okay, maybe pride month. Didn't happen in pride month. Didn't even happen in September or October, or as a last-minute gay reveal in December. It just didn't happen at all. We even got some covers of songs that already existed without notable variations on the lyrics and it's like... bro couldn't have done the bare minimum and had a Laurens cover of Satisfied? That's the moment I was let down for real. I had truly BELIEVED that because he said himself that the Laurens/Hamilton relationship was real, he'd actually follow through on something that could be digested by the fans more than a forgotten tweet. but damn it hurt. absolutely no queer representation in a musical about Alexander Hamilton. bro. to play devil's advocate, there is no way to "prove" hamilton wasn't straight (eye-roll) but it's not like Hamilton: An American Musical is historically accurate in the least. It's embellished, fun, glamorous. It paints people in their best (unless you're charles lee lol) considering it's about a bunch of people who definitely were not kickass abolitionist BIPOC, but because LMM found it important to represent America today, he made the cast very inclusive to cultures and ethnicities of those these historical figures oppressed. so why can't he fictionalize the story a bit more? it's not even FICTION BRO it's literally more provable (and less problematic and more interesting) than the Angelica/Hamilton affair so WHYYYY. all i mean to say is, i was very let down and i can't appreciate the musical or LMM the same as I did when i was younger because now it gives me the straight-man ick. the "yeah they were gay!" for ++ points with the lgbtq+ fans but a severe lack of action. i hate that shit. real allies would say "fuck your homophobia, i'm publishing my art as it is even if i face backlash and censorship," because that's how shit gets done. it really really let me down, that's all, good night.

[open-hearth-rpg]

Safety: Great RPG Mechanics #RPGMechanics Week Nine

One of the greatest things about modern rpg gaming is that the issue of safety has become a great filter. Beyond the actual application of safety tools, it has become accepted and conventional to the point that a game has to make a deliberate choice not to discuss that in some way, particularly for any material moving towards edginess, horror, etc. If a game goes into problematic areas but doesn’t address those issues, someone has made a deliberate decision. 

And that’s something which has changed over the last decade and it makes me super happy. Just a few years ago Free League publish Mutant: Elysium, a game where you effectively play fascist, human-supremacist, state tools who engage in ongoing PVP and player betrayal. Imagine Paranoia without the humor and more jackboots. And the only nod to the potential problems with this was a passage that said, yes players might get mad at one another and if that happened you should probably stop the game and talk about it. 

Weak sauce. 

Or another game, written in part by creators I respect, which covered a licensed property with a strong ethnic element, including a history of white co-opting, which had no talk about cultural issues in play, culture sensitivity, the challenges of playing characters from that culture. It boggled my mind at the time– but it was just far enough back I could squint my eyes and hold my nose. I like to think people would point out that absence today– or more likely that oversight wouldn’t have happened. 

So when a ttrpg doesn’t have any discussion of boundaries, talking to the table, or handling safety– especially with tough themes– that’s a good filter– it moves it down in the likelihood of actually spending the effort to bring it to the table. I appreciate too when slightly older games start to address these issues in later supplements. More recent Star Trek Adventures publications like the Players & Gamemasters’ Guides and the Lowers Deck Sourcebook have called out theme and issues which could be a problem at tables (eugenics, suicide, death) and suggested way to talk about these with the table.   

And here’s the thing I’m going to be brutally honest about. I thought safety tools were dumb when I first heard about them in the abstract. My immediate reaction was to go into grumpy GM mode, worrying about people talking away my autonomy as a GM. I thought up straw man arguments based on how imaginary players could use these to break or derail a game. I was an asshole about it. But then I started to see people actually railing about it and invariably they were people I considered asshole GMs. And I started to ask myself AITA?

More importantly I started to actually see and interact with these things in play. That really showed me how dumb I’d been about the whole thing. But two things sealed the deal for me. First I had a player I’d played with for close to two decades, a big, buff dude stop a game. He said: enough with the spiders. He finally told me that he was phobic, really badly phobic and sketched out an incident as a child. It had always stressed him out, had made him quit games, but he’d never said anything. We’d played together for years and years and I hadn’t known and he hadn’t said and it had made some of his time at the table really awful. 

I see GMs say “my group has played together for years and never needed…” Yeah, f*ck you. I’m willing to bet there’s someone who had an evening ruined or quit your table because of that. And don’t get me started on the “we always had girls at the table and they never had a problem with it” line. Someone did and they felt like they had to get along and keep their mouth shut. But that’s an older generation of gamers– my generation of dinosaurs and the generation which followed us. I am genuinely grateful that the needle has moved and these kinds of discussions have become commonplace and accepted. 

The second event which completely changed my take on this was at Gen Con running a late-night Saturday session for Game on Demand in 2017. A group of five sat down, four guys and a young woman. They were clearly a friend group who had been playing together for three days. I set up the game and then I went through the X-Card with the table. And I looked up at the young woman and saw a look which I can only describe as “thank f*cking god.” She didn’t know me, but she realized there was a chance that I wasn’t a total asshole. 

So yeah, safety tools are one of the greatest modern meta-mechanics to facilitate play. I love reading how different games provide resources. On Open Hearth we ask that GMs use a layered set of tools for all sessions: Lines & Veils, the X-Card, and Open Door. Each has a different purpose and role. GMs have leeway to swap some of these out for other tools they’re more comfortable with but most people use these three because they’re accessible and work. 

The best games spend some time discussing how these tools work in the context of the game and how to implement them. Safety tools aren’t a band-aid, the game facilitator and the table as a whole has to be aware of how to resolve situations using those tools. That can be a challenge and good games illustrate those techniques. There has to be follow through. 

A couple of recent games have solid safety sections. #iHunt uses its own structure and lays things out pretty thoroughly. It also spends time talking about its philosophy regarding safety. Apocalypse Keys has a great three pages which tightly lay out the concepts of the game’s Green, Yellow, and Red approach. I’m biased but I think Hearts of Wulin also does a pretty good job– it combines a CATS explanation, safety tools, and some cultural notes. 

But it wasn’t as good when I first sketched it out. It took time to develop some of those ideas– with influence from Agatha Cheng and James Mendez Hodes for the cultural discussion. Other concepts came from feedback. Hearts of Wulin offers romantic action melodrama. I knew I wanted to make clear that players should consider gender and sexuality fluid in play. But a playtester pointed out that the structure of mandatory romantic entanglements pushed out aromantic characters. 

And again I’m going to cop to being dumb here. My first reaction was “well, it is a game about romance so that’s key to the genre.” But on reflection I realized how limiting and potentially alienating that could be. It didn’t take changing the rules to fix. I just added in language about how players who wanted Ace or aromantic characters could do that. They could swap out a romantic entanglement for a general one or they could read “romantic” as a strong bond of friendship, care, or devotion. 

I’m ranging wildly in this because so much of table culture and play management circles around the broader concept of safety. It’s not an onerous thing and the care spent here pays back. It includes a lot of elements: active tools, collaboration, consent, check ins, establishing boundaries, and beyond. For example I stress that players should identify pronouns for themselves and their characters. In play they should also take care to get those right and make corrections when applicable. 

I love this for a couple of reasons, but most importantly the one I talked about at the start of this. Using pronouns makes fascists, TERFS, and the like really mad. It’s a great filter for them. Every couple of months I’ll get a comment on one of my actual play videos. Most recently I got this one on a Dune session zero: “wow, this is the first time I've stopped viewing RPG content after just 5 seconds. however it is a must, after hearing the application of the pronouns after the presentation."

All I can say is good, die mad about it. 

[blazescompendium]

Shin Megami Tensei is 31 years old today.

image provided by Vesk Scans. Please follow her archiving work!

Yeah, Shin Megami Tensei for the Super Famicom is now 31 years old. It is surprising for me how a game that came out full 6 years before i even give my first breath on this Earth, would be so important for me and my life. But here we are.

Even after playing the entirety of the mainline franchise, and a lot of spin offs, this game still holds its position very well in my heart because it is such a unique game. First, i always loved mythology and religion, so much so that i pursued it as a career. It started when i was little, with the influence of my father who was a scholar (albeit amateur) of those fields. Religion always played a major role in my life, both for the good and the bad, and although i don't actually align with any religion at the moment, i was studying the bible in a religious school since a very early age.

So, when i found out about Shin Megami Tensei, it clicked really, really well with me. I know that it is just a game, and even if it tries a lot to be faithful, as a researcher and scholar of Mythology and Religion we got to say it not always gets it right. But it tries! And when it tries, it can achieve very good results, and that's why i love it so much.

And that was when i was a teen/young adult. Now i grew up a lot, and even started my career in those fields, and still regard this game very high.

The characters are great for me, because i love how this game can be incredibly inclusive. Your main character is not a destined hero, or magical being. It is just an average guy, going to the groceries when the world start to end. He lives with his mom, have its problematic friends, and lives an average life. He always acts like any other person would act, and even his looks are just average.

Now, the thing is that this game did not aged well, but its absolutely playable and very fun to play. The old SMT titles have this ''survival horror'' energy, where you have to take care of resources while advancing in the game. ''Should you use your complete party in this dungeon, since its dangerous, but risk to deplete your MAG stock?'' Stuff like that got me.

And this brings me to how much i hate Atlus as a capitalist company. They made this effort to show us they care about the anniversary of the franchise that kick-started their business, but did not do anything about it. Just shoved merch to the US audience, that is not available anywhere else. Us, from outside, just did not got anything from this ''anniversary''. And i thought the Persona 25th was bad enough lol. But i guess merch hoarders are happy?

And that was a big fucking lie

I honestly don't want anything out of the ordinary. If they could at least port the SNES titles to the Switch Online at the west, because its already available in Japan, i beleive we would be very grateful already. Playing and presenting this games for a new generation is a pain. And i believe Shin Megami Tensei deserves it as a series, not only for its uniqueness but also for everything this IP did to Atlus.

But hey, i guess we are getting something, right? We have a whole new Persona 5 spin off coming next week! I am so hyped to see the same characters, exactly as they were 7 years ago, in another story about teen rebellion or whatever.

Im sorry, SMT. We failed with you. But your legacy will never be gone. I beleive SMT message keeps relevant to this day, and even more so as the time passes by. The world is a very different place then it was in 199X, but still a very divided and extremist place. SMT was the only game of its time to tackle this issues.

Happy anniversary to Shin Megami Tense, as a great game as one of my favorite games of all time. I wish more people could play it at least once!

And yeah, to celebrate i think i will be beating SMT 2 tonight, after lectures!

[qqueenofhades]

I hope this isn’t weird or something that I should just deal with on my own and all that, so I apologize in advance because this is incredibly recent and I’m still hurting and trying to figure out what to do next.

One of my friends of quite a while now turned out to be a massive fuckin transphobe. Yippie. The thing is, he’s fully in support of the non-straight side of the queer community, always has been, but apparently that’s where he draws the line, and I just learned that today, and it sucks. It sucks so much that someone I really cared about turns out to be a kinda terrible person who ended up saying some incredibly hurtful and disrespectful things when it all came to light.

But the thing is, while the trans hatred is DEFINITELY there, it all seems to be stemming from a place of generational hatred and ignorance because he just can’t see how his actions and words are hurtful. It turns malicious when he’s pushed, as I learned the hard way, but I feel the root of it is simply ignorance.

We got in an argument via text, which, of course, is always the worst way to do things but it was a normal conversation that went downhill incredibly quickly and I’m like 3+ hours away so we can’t hash it out in person and I wasn’t willing to just go and call.

For your uh. Viewing displeasure. I’d send screenshots (and can, if you’d like additional context) but people who have a stake in this are very likely to see this and I don’t particularly want my name attached without anon.

I didn't say that transgender people are mistakes, and I didn't mean to suggest that. People can make the mistake into believing that they are who they are not

Yes, I don't believe a transwoman is a real woman. They are biological differences between both man and woman that can't be changed

Cue me going on a bit of a tangent about suicide rates, Trevor project, intersex people being a thing, what transitioning is like, etc etc. I was pissed, I was hurt, and I admit my first reaction was anger but I also think I did a very good job of keeping calm, explaining things, while also trying to impress upon him just how incredibly shitty saying those things is

Why are you so mad? I just wanted to open up to you. I didn't mean to sound rude or anything like that

Upon which I explained that I’ve lost friends to suicide and yet again how problematic some of his statements have been

I think we both need some time to think about this

I don't. I know exactly where I stand with this issue and who I care for and what it means to me personally. You're more than welcome to call so we can talk about it that way, if that's what you'd prefer or what would help you

It seems like things right now are a bit heated, I just want to talk about when things have calmed down

If that's what you need in order to decide whether you support trans people or not, go ahead. As I said, I know exactly what my opinion on this is, and it's on the side of the people whose beliefs don't disrespect certain people's existence

I respect and love everybody, but I'm not going to change my values or beliefs because they "disrespect" other people's values or beliefs

Which… yeah. That’s where it left off. Other shit was said, other shit went down, and I stand by everything and don’t regret it, even if this guy used to be my friend.

But as I said, I very much feel that this is coming from a place of ignorance and having been taught by religious, queerphobic parents, having very little experience to the queer world and having no understanding of our history, our pain, and the battles we’re still fighting. I believe he genuinely doesn’t see how his words are hurtful and how his actions genuinely cause issues and how his words are the things that drive trans people to suicide and hatred.

Which is what I’m reaching out for, what can I do, I don’t want to cut him off because I don’t want to abandon him to be a hateful person because I believe everyone, however horrible their beliefs, can learn and grow and change, and I want to know any sort of resources or help or advice you have, anything to try to fight that ignorance-based disrespect and make him realize that they’re not just words and that his behavior isn’t just his personal beliefs, that his beliefs are genuinely harming other people.

Thank you, and much love to you. We all need a bit more kindness and love and acceptance right now with this world we live in.

I'm sorry to hear about your friend, and it's understandable that you feel deeply upset and betrayed. At this time, however, I don't think you have any obligation to "educate" him or do more than you have already done. If this is a friendship-ending issue, well... it sucks, but it is what it is. If you want to, you can communicate that he's welcome to reach out to you again if his feelings change. Otherwise, it's not your responsibility to continue or spend extra time trying to talk him around. It's something that people either accept or they don't, and while feelings can evolve, it's usually something that will happen with time and space and on their own accord. So yeah. It's up to you whether you want to signal that you're up for further communication or not, if you want to take some time to let feelings heal, or if you don't want to continue being friends with someone who feels that way. Either way, it's not your responsibility to endlessly try to talk him around. Make a decision about what you feel comfortable with, set that boundary, and do your best. It sucks, but such is life sometimes. Alas.

[minoru-wife]

Defending Mineta Minoru - Comic Relief Role

Welcome! This is your beautiful grape juice enjoyer writing to you! Today I will be talking about something light, which is: Mineta comic relief role! Grab a snack cause this is a big one of a post.

This blog has no intention to attack anyone or/and the fandom. It's simply to bring awareness to the community to something that isn't noticed by many. It's just an opinion. Also keep in mind that I stopped watching the anime around the time [spoilers ahead, maybe] Deku found his extra abilities with One For All, so pretty much everything is based on things I remember.

Many fans that hate Mineta feel outraged with him having the comic relied role in the show. One thing is not finding the character funny, that's totally fine, but wanting or not Mineta is the comic relief character and here are some reasons.

Reason number 1: He's a punchline, literally. The creator makes him do and say stupid things just so the characters can punch him. I laugh horribly every time I see that scene when Tsuyu slaps Mineta with her tongue!

Reason number 2: His outfit. My man isn't dumb! He knows he can't catch girls with the way he looks, so he plays the funny card. HIS HERO COSTUME IS A GRAPE BOWL! IT'S FUNNY! (Doesn't matter if we laugh at it or not. It's ridiculous, cute and funny)

Reason number 3: Culture. I saw a video once from a youtuber saying that each culture has it's own values on what they find funny and each one has also their problematic puns that are socially known as wrong but accepted as a joke. It's not a surprise that Japan pictures pervert characters as comic reliefs in anime. In my culture we also see pervert people/sexual jokes as good comedy, but that's it. We know it's wrong and I swear to you that I slapped the shit out of everyone who was a pervert towards me and even with that I still like Mineta. Some cultures find funny puns about masculine sexual abuse like "Don't drop soap in prison", some find funny homophobic puns, no culture is perfect and innocent and there's nothing wrong with it. What's wrong is when people don't know to separate the pun between reality.

Reason number 4: Balls. Yeah, we all like to say jokes about balls and Mineta has infinite huge balls to entertain us for a loooooooooooooong time! (If you look well at it, the o's look like balls) Cannot go wrong with the balls puns, every one laughs at it. As the good AC/DC once said "I got big balls, he's got big balls, she's got big balls, but we got the biggest balls of them all!"

Reason number 5: Character design. Mineta is short, no doubts in that and his height is many times used as a pun. "They're making fun of people with dwarfism!" (I had to use google translator for this one, correct me if I said it in the wrong way) No, they're using his characteristics for comedy! Have you ever seen those videos made by dwarfs creators where they compare a normal sized spoon in the hands of their tall friends, but gigantic next to them? It's not making fun of them in an insultive way! The mha team doesn't turn it a bad thing on the character and many times is an advantage for him while still being funny!

That's all for today. Two long posts in one day? Damn, I was inspired this night! I would like to come back at some points here in the future and maybe I might do a second part of this theme.

Thank you for reading my words. I may be a fan of Mineta, but I don't defend his pervert actions and I'm the first to admit he's nasty during the show. Let's see...what could I talk about for the next topic? Let's try and see Pervert Characters and understand why many pervert characters aren't judged by their actions and deemed problematic by the fandom, but why Mineta is the exception at the fandom eyes.

[mermaidsirennikita]

Ok now that you put it like that I see what you mean better, and I really like the blackmail angle that has some potential. I feel like it would need some work shopping but you could still stick to the spirit of the thing without again bringing in the threat of rape. To me the biggest sicking point would be the Westcliff scene which could be turned consensual fairly easily imo. But I am with you I don't really wanna see this get an adaptation? I'm afraid they would fuck it up for the reasons you mentioned re cast and production values. But to bring it to my original point I've read far worse, now that I really think about it there's maybe a handful of Romance novels I have read that don't have rape, dubious consent, assault, etc. Then again I haven't really read any historical romance published beyond the early 2000s, which is not a generational thing I'm younger than you lol. So in the grand scheme of things yes I do think Wallflowers is fairly inoffensive. Like I would love to see someone try to adapt a Jude Deveraux novel from the 80s in this day and age.

Yeah, I totally get why your POV would be skewed by the books before the 2000s lol. By their standards, the Sebastian thing is skewed. I do think it's interesting to see though, what is called out as rape and what isn't. I'm going to read some Lindseys next year, but I remember Fires of Winter saying, from the heroine's POV, that the hero raped her. And it wasn't the only one? But I don't think I've read any where the hero threatened or did rape a woman who wasn't the heroine, from that woman's POV especially. I really think that's part of why the SVS sticks out more--Evie can't excuse it or reconcile with it, because it didn't happen to Evie? Even though in the grand scheme, he didn't rape Lillian obviously (not to dismiss it, but I do side on the "he wouldn't have done it" argument; not because I think he's a great guy, but because I think he probs wouldn't have been able to perform if she was resistant and he would've ended up like "well, I'm in a tight spot" because a criminal mastermind he is not).

Lol Jude... I love Jude. I think it would be so hard for anyone to adapt Jude, or at least Jude's BEST works, today. And that's a whole other thing, because I think that in romance, there's often this idea that "best" means "least problematic" and... I don't know, man. To go back to Kleypas, I won't argue that her 90s books had more consent issues and hard alpha heroes (I love... Then Came You.... a book where the hero calls the heroine a whore and a bitch lol) but those books to me read as better-written and frankly more interesting on a dramatic level. That's a lot of authors. It's not that you can't write more progressively and interestingly, but imo a lot of historical authors especially right now are struggling to figure out how to parse that out.

The harder answer is "you keep the shit that's trickier to deal with and deal with it", but a lot of people revert to the easier answer which is "pretend that nothing is wrong and just cut anything difficult to write". Which... I don't know. I disagree with, no matter the subgenre.

Which brings me back 'round to: lol that's why I just can't handle a Wallflowers adaptation. I just can't take "cut the hard stuff" as a solution.