#yes but on this one i dont even require context

[raxistaicho]

just saw a post stating that edelgard starting a war is 100% wrong, essentially stating that being a revolutionary is Evil no matter the context

it really is incredible just how absurd theyre willing to go with this narrative that shes a bad person, as if a good percentage of media doesnt inherently glorify revolutionaries as heroes and idols to be celebrated. but when edelgard does this, it suddenly becomes wrong, a crime. how curious is that, right?

like its really clear that these people just dont give a damn about the story of fodlan at all because its VERY CLEAR that this is a country on the brink of collapse. i dont know how you can look at fodlan in any capacity and not see the cracks beginning to form. this is a country where child soldiers are not only encouraged, but REQUIRED in order to keep up with bandit attacks and slaying demonic beasts. multiple paralogues state that children with crests are married off, to the point where sylvain literally calls himself a studhorse at one point. ingrids paralogue is about defending ingrid from being KIDNAPPED and likely forced to marry a man at knifepoint. multiple cultures like sreng and duscur have been stomped on and treated like dirt, treated like "cared for" slaves at best and violent savages at worst, to the point where a man escaping back to his homeland is seen as "refusing kindness". FODLAN IS A BAD PLACE.

but no! apparently war is ALWAYS evil, even when the alternative is letting this state of affairs continue. war is ALWAYS evil, even when it saves innocent lives from the machinations of those who would do us harm. war-- No, let me be clear about what this person means. When they say "War", what they actually mean is "Violence." Violence is always Evil. That's what this means. It's that old adage of "Violence never solved anything", except that this is a statement used by pacifists to demean all violence rather than just cruelty.

If you look me in the eyes and tell me that you wouldn't hurt anybody, ever, then all it tells me is that you haven't got the heart to actually care about people. Is violence tragic? Yes. Absolutely. But denouncing it entirely is... It's beyond inhuman. It's apathetic about human life to the point of insanity. There are stories dating back centuries - Millenia, almost certainly - about how men and women will fight against gods and demons just to save one person from a fate they didn't deserve.

"Violence is Evil." No. Violence is Emotion. It can be used to attack and it can be used to defend. It is not, and cannot, be evil of its own accord. It is a tool to be used at the discretion of its wielder.

Evil, TRUE Evil, is Apathy. Evil is when you have all the power in the world to help people, to change the world, and you don't. When you see genuine human suffering and you don't feel the urge to step in and help. Evil triumphs when good men do nothing.

just saw a post stating that edelgard starting a war is 100% wrong, essentially stating that being a revolutionary is Evil no matter the context it really is incredible just how absurd theyre willing to go with this narrative that shes a bad person, as if a good percentage of media doesnt inherently glorify revolutionaries as heroes and idols to be celebrated. but when edelgard does this, it suddenly becomes wrong, a crime. how curious is that, right?

Generally speaking, Edelgard detractors try to deny that she's revolting at all through some description pedantry, even though ultimately what she's doing is fighting the very social groundwork upon which Fodlan rests, and,

So yeah. They get so hung up on the part where she's a person in power herself and ignore that she intends to change Fodlan utterly, and for the better. Rhea and Seteth frequently call her a traitor or other synonyms. She is a revolutionary.

Also, people just become enamored with the ideal of peaceful protest, when the reality is... sometimes things gotta get bloody.

like its really clear that these people just dont give a damn about the story of fodlan at all because its VERY CLEAR that this is a country on the brink of collapse. i dont know how you can look at fodlan in any capacity and not see the cracks beginning to form. this is a country where child soldiers are not only encouraged, but REQUIRED in order to keep up with bandit attacks and slaying demonic beasts. multiple paralogues state that children with crests are married off, to the point where sylvain literally calls himself a studhorse at one point. ingrids paralogue is about defending ingrid from being KIDNAPPED and likely forced to marry a man at knifepoint. multiple cultures like sreng and duscur have been stomped on and treated like dirt, treated like "cared for" slaves at best and violent savages at worst, to the point where a man escaping back to his homeland is seen as "refusing kindness". FODLAN IS A BAD PLACE.

Yup. It's been said time and again, but for a setting in an FE game, Fodlan's in a remarkable state of turmoil long before the war kicks off. Usually things are peaceful before the aggressor nation makes it move.

but no! apparently war is ALWAYS evil, even when the alternative is letting this state of affairs continue. war is ALWAYS evil, even when it saves innocent lives from the machinations of those who would do us harm. war-- No, let me be clear about what this person means. When they say "War", what they actually mean is "Violence." Violence is always Evil. That's what this means. It's that old adage of "Violence never solved anything", except that this is a statement used by pacifists to demean all violence rather than just cruelty.

So Fire Emblem as a series is in a weird place in how it treats war, because frankly it wants to have things both ways. Obviously the writers don't want to extol the "virtues" of warfare so on the face of things, the series tends to portray an anti-war message, but this is an SRPG at the end of the day, so while Emmeryn's appeals to peace were powerful and cause a good number of Plegia's soldiers to dessert, you still use violence and war to stop Gangrel, Walhart, and Grima. The writing rejects violence for a good cause even though violence is how you fix everything.

One of the Edelcrits runs a whole-ass thing picking out anti-war lines from Heroes as though this somehow throws shade on Three Houses, when the reality is it's throwing shade on how things are done throughout the whole series. They behave as though self-defensive violence is always justified and never spirals out of proportion.

"Violence is Evil." No. Violence is Emotion. It can be used to attack and it can be used to defend. It is not, and cannot, be evil of its own accord. It is a tool to be used at the discretion of its wielder.

Exactly. It's all about what the violence is doing and how severe it goes. Edelgard fights to bring rights to the people; Rhea fights to maintain her power and Fodlan's status quo. The fact that Rhea is the one defending herself doesn't change that she's fighting for a bad cause.

Evil, TRUE Evil, is Apathy. Evil is when you have all the power in the world to help people, to change the world, and you don't. When you see genuine human suffering and you don't feel the urge to step in and help. Evil triumphs when good men do nothing.

Very true, and Fodlan is a case study in that.

Thanks for the excellent ask!

[autismagolor]

⚙️~MAGOMARCH 2023~⚙️

yes. you're reading this right. in light of return to dreamland deluxe coming soon, I MADE A MAGOLOR BASED DRAWING CHALLENGE!! it works like all those other month-themed drawing challenges; every day you draw something based on the corresponding prompt! only required thing is that you put magolor in all of these because well. its Magomarch whod you expect to draw /lh

some prompts require a bit more info! i highly suggest you check this section as it can provide context to any prompts you're confused about!

FREE PROMPTS: every Sunday/Magolor Day of March is a free prompt! this is where you can draw whatever you want (as long as it involves magolor ofc)!

DIFFERENT SPECIES: i felt this one was obvious but just in case, this prompt just has you reimagine magolor as a non halcandran species! just be sure he's recognizable dhsdhsdh

CONCEPT: draw one or more of magolor's many concept designs! he's got quite a lot of em! if i find some good images of them i'll be sure to edit this post and put them here but for now you gotta find em yourself sorry HSDHSDH

GIJINKA/CANON: ok this one's fun, and also depends on whether you draw magolor as a gijinka more often than his canon form or vice versa! if you draw him as a gijinka more often, challenge yourself and try to draw him as he canonically looks (stylization is more than ok and is encouraged! i love stylized magolors)! the inverse ofc applies to people who draw his canon form more. you can also draw both at once if you want!

ALT. UNIVERSE draw magolor as he would appear in any sort of AU! this can be an AU of your own creation or even someone else's (if they're ok with it)! you don't have to make an AU solely for this challenge if you have one already.

if anyone else needs a prompt explained, i'll put it here in this list!

-------------------- ok whew that was a lot of reading sorry HSDH i hope this challenge gets some traction! i've been thinking abt it for a while and figured now was as good a time as ever to post it! if you happen to wanna take on this challenge, good luck!!!

DONT FORGET TO TAG YOUR PROMPT ART WITH #MAGOMARCH !!

[arithmonym]

Been thinking about your ace cam fic where she initiates and is like hm yes i am good at being a scientist. And then is like YIKES WAIT NVM. Bc ive lived that experience several times lmao and you wrote it super well in a way that i feel like fits them. It Stuck with me.

Anyway Im reading this autostraddle article you reblogged and looking at the consent chart (screenshot included) and Im curious about where you feel she falls on that chart. I interpreted it as “willing consent (when i care about you even though i dont desire you right now)” but yeah im curious about your meta on it

(fic link, for context.)

that’s a difficult question!! i don’t think there’s a straightforward answer; and camilla is an unreliable narrator in this fic, so that confounds the issue.

the way she narrates the encounter prior to her withdrawal, i think “willing consent” is the closest approximation: she doesn’t desire palamedes, but she’s making the choice to have sex with him because she cares about him, and they’re both hurting in the wake of dulcinea’s rejection. she doesn’t expect to get anything out of it except the reassurance that she and palamedes are still bound tightly together, but she doesn’t expect to be harmed by it, either (…so long as she can stop herself from thinking about how it might affect their necro-cav dynamic, which she prioritizes more than any romantic or sexual relationship they could have).

from a meta perspective, the setting of chapter two is very intentional: it’s where camilla trained as a child (first for her own benefit, then for his), and it’s where she first started to internalize the societal messaging that her autonomy was less important than her his.

(i took gymnastics for a few years as a kid, and the rope climb made me cry sometimes. i could do the other skills fine, but i struggled with the coordination required—not to mention the attention of my peers as i failed. this is camilla, ashamed she wasn’t better (at a task that objectively means nothing vis-a-vis “being a good cavalier”), because she’s grown to a point where she bases her self-worth on being useful to him.)

(then, at the end, she’s lying on her back on the mat, staring up at the bell, exactly like she’s just fallen off the rope. again. introjected conditions of worth go brrrrrr.)

the paragraph under that chart clotheslined me, because whoops, been there, done that, and i think it rings truer to what’s actually happening with cam in this fic:

even as she refuses to acknowledge it, camilla knows that she’s making a mistake. she doesn’t want to desire palamedes. she doesn’t want this to become a part of their dynamic, she wants this to be a one-off that they never speak of again (because she doesn’t really want it to happen in the first place)—but she’s also terrified of losing him. her decision to initiate rather than pull away is 100% informed by the fact that dulcinea has just rejected palamedes, and cam perceives something as simple as prioritizing her own wants/needs as a rejection, on a day when that’s a very sensitive subject. this tips the scale more towards the “unwilling” side, IMO, but it’s a huge grey area (badum-tsss, sixth house pun).

TL;DR: i think consent gets tricky in the context of cavaliers and necromancers and how all-encompassing that relationship can be!! i love all interpretations of campal, but i thought this one was worth exploring (especially as this fic is also me processing that i’m on the ace spectrum, and it reflects the struggle to work out my own boundaries with sex).

bonus: screenshot from when i first brought this fic up with my friends.

[pantherxdrawz]

I’ve come with another Fan-Overblot I was intending to stop at Cater cause he was my favorite plus again *points to Overblot watchlist he should be on*

But I was listening to Novocaine, blacked out, and a Trey Overblot was on my screen

I might make this a design series at this point no promises though Anyways I’ve jokingly nicknamed him the Bone Fairy cause of that one Tumblr post pointing out its potential existence and someone put Trey over it (i dont have ether image saved) and my OB!Trey is essentially like a much larger and more hostile Tooth Fairy

I mean I seriously gave him a toothbrush as a weapon (not fully in frame but he’s got it)

Now there’s me talking about the design again + Lineart only bonus under the cut, I intended to include Cater’s in my OB!Cater design post but I forgot so yeah his linearts there too

And also Alt’s because OB!Trey has way more Alt’s than OB!Cater-

^ There’s your lineart + a Cater

v There’s your alts

C-can you tell I struggled to hell and back with the colors

Honestly this is my honest reaction trying to color this monstrosity

Anyways ignoring my piss poor coloring-

Onto inspiration and stuff for the design:

My inspirations where mainly dentists,

(because I heard Novocaine for the first time since becoming a TWST fan, I’ve heard the song in general before, and as I listened my brain immediately started pointing blinking arrows to Trey like “HmMM DOESNT THAT SOUND LIKE SOMEONE FROM THE NEW GAME YOU LIKE? HMMMMM? HMMMMMMMMMMMMMM?”)

Alongside Tooth Fairy from Reverse: 1999 (mainly cause of the dentists), and The Mad Hatter

As for why I didn’t give him glasses, for one: it felt like they made his face too crowded with everything added on and two

Azul has glasses yet his Overblot doesn’t have glasses, just saying

(Yes it could be just because he’s an octopus and glasses don’t work in the sea but it’s 5x funnier to imagine Overblotting temporarily improves your eyesight because it doesn’t like nerds)

As for the blot design and placement for OB!Trey it is also more willy-nilly for his arms it’s kinda just slapped on like Cater’s was

but I also tried to make teeth like designs out of it, I don’t know if that’s actually possible but hey I don’t know if diamond hair or eyes are possible with Overblotting *stares at OB!Cater* so what do I know

With his face I also attempted to mimic Tattoos like how pretty much every canon Overblot is (even though the canon ones look a lot like lace or fishnet) with the large clover over his eye and the entire side of his face being covered with teeth markings (that sounds sus out of context-)

I don’t know how Trey would Overblot I just know he has the requirements and my OB!Trey would be a fucking nightmare especially if teaming up with OB!Cater like just you see a bunch of armored Cater clones with stitched smiles approaching you with pliers as they’re after your teeth it sounds ridiculous until you realize that Trey’s after your teeth and plans on leading you bleeding out unlike a NORMAL Overblotter who’d just squish you + OB!Cater’s clones are like a hydra but instead of it just being heads its the whole clone so if you where to kill one three more spawn in place so you have that.

Plus he covers more ground with the Cater army

And if he teams up with Riddle it’s just gonna be:

OB!Riddle: “OFF WITH ALL YOUR HEADS”

OB!Trey: “Can I have their teeth.” OB!Riddle: ”……………...*very hesitant* sure.”

OB!Trey: “OFF WITH YOUR HEADS”

[ilynpilled]

im sorry for complaining about this again and im gonna remain frustratingly vague as usual but to me it feels like there are some fundamental misunderstandings when it comes to jaime and some of the things that are being explored in depth in his arc and how, and a lot of that misunderstanding is deflected with the “redemption vs no redemption” discourse where that very concept isnt even meaningfully defined, especially in the context of his story. his character is very often simplified down to an extreme (and also confused) dichotomy that does nothing but force all discussion of complicated characterization, themes, and actual difficult choices being made (and why, and how those choices are restricted by external or internal factors, and what desires of his are selfish or commendable) to a halt by virtue of being frustratingly reductive. like a lot of ppl just dont engage with this character properly because of the “complex asoiaf characters being locked inside of fandom created boxes they dont fit” phenomenon. one of the greyest characters in asoiaf is just not allowed to be grey because of the redemption dichotomy. he either has to be a golden retriever with no agency of his own when it comes to the evil he does or enables who is only making selfless choices since jumping into the pit (as if this kind of simple linear trajectory is a requirement for an arc to be one thats exploring reformation and the struggle with atonement & redemption, among other things) or a morally black villain with all of his redeemable and heroic aspects diminished, whose difficult position of being in the middle of a lot of conflicting oaths that is full of moral grey area (so many vows speech) and cannot be made to compromise — as well as his house (including his 8 year old son) being under existential risk — is just outright ignored, his internal conflicts, guilt/shame, and self reflection misconstrued, his development denied, and everything he decides to do being read in bad faith to neatly fit a specific narrative that actively rejects the questions proposed through his character arc (that the author himself openly talks about in interviews, if you still refuse to believe it is the intention). and please stop acting like george is even trying to give you a straightforward easily digestible and resounding yes/no answer to these questions. like theres an actual allergy to complexity here, and i cant even act shocked when i see some of the most basic aspects of his character being missed. and for me it is especially easy to recognize when certain talking points are being regurgitated rather than actually thought about meaningfully or independently bc ive seen every opinion on him under the sun, and it is really not that hard to spot

[tiredrobin]

referring to my last post im too lazy to like. explain the premise in detail so the basic idea is danny and damian twins thing, danielle/dani clone is the same age as danny, she has his memories but not all of them and jumbled and fragmented and messy and it fucks with her a lot. and danny also. now theyre triplets in the way where damian has obviously no memories of dani but she remembers him and its SO MESSY and emotionally difficult for all of them because dani is 100% danny's sister but not damian's. heres a non-specific ficlet thing i tamped out because this au is stuck in my fucking head but i dont know enough to write it because i dont care abt dc stuff. thanks for understanding

also. theyre literally all transgender. because i said so. this is a legal requirement for this au. vlad switched the chromosomes to make a more stable clone but dani was like "...no, im a girl actually". danny and dani joke about switching bodies all the time. damian and danny didn't know they were trans until after they separated, damian still doesnt know danny is because he thinks danny is dead, danny does know Now because damians a wayne and is in the news and danny recognized him evn tho no one but damian's family knows hes transmasc. also danny is transmasc in the agender kind of way. nothing can fucking stop me

vague context: sometimes dani quizzes danny on his/sorta-their past, bcuz her memories are so weird and jumbled and it helps to hear the truth evn when she cant actually remember it.

cw: brief mention of an adult being creepy towards children

-

"Okay," Dani says, and Danny pretends he isn't fervently praying she'll shut up.

"Okay," he echoes after a long moment, prompting. Somehow, the wariness doesn't leak into his voice.

"Third coach tried to kill us—you," she says.

'Third coach' means Danny and Damian's third trainer. Dani uses words pretty strangely, sometimes. Her language has a habit of slipping into something more rudimentary, simplified, like she's a toddler.

She's a year and seven months old. Her grasp on language is, in Danny's personal opinion, remarkable.

"That happened, yes," Danny says when he realizes he'd been quiet too long. He's starting to drag. These conversations are exhausting in a way he can never articulate, not even to Dani, but there'd be no reason to because he knows she gets it. From the way she's listing to her side in the air, the imbalance fucking with her physics enough that she's starting to drift very subtly to the left, she's worn thin.

"… Why?" she asks after a long pause. "He seemed nice."

Danny focuses in on the thrum of her core. It's in near-perfect resonance with his own, which used to be so deeply disturbing it made his skin crawl but now feels soothing. It's a balm on his frayed nerves during the bad days; a reminder that, though he's lost one sibling, he has another.

"He wasn't," Danny murmurs. Third trainer smiled a lot—that might be what Dani is remembering—but he had wandering hands and a creepy way of looking at him and Damian. He taught them about pinching nerves. His fingers always lingered.

"Oh," says Dani. She rights her tilt, though she's still drifting. Danny's brain does a weird thing, a math sort of thing, that calculates the angle of her drift, the current speed, the projected acceleration. If she keeps going, she'll bump into the wall in three minutes, twenty-seven seconds.

(His brain does weird things like that, sometimes. Frostbite says it's a result of ectoplasm mixing with living neural pathways. The ectoplasm appears to be acting as a stimulant of sorts, or maybe a steroid. A stimulant-steroid. (…Stimuloid?) He hadn't been able to follow the explanation very well at the time, due to the fact that his brain was doing the opposite of what it's doing now. Sometimes he thinks so fast it feels like his thoughts are teleporting; sometimes his head is so foggy he can barely process what's right in front of him. It's super great. Super.)

"… Oh," Dani says again, softer. Then, in an abrupt subject change, "Did you really almost push Tucker off some stairs?"

"You" this time. The way she selects it—"us", "me", "you"—it says a lot about how the memory feels to her. She'd been raised an assassin; she barely knows Tucker, Danny's oldest friend. She hardly recognizes dad; she wants to cling to Sam. Sometimes it's him, sometimes it's her, sometimes it's a weird third thing. Or something. She'd phrased it in a way that made him laugh and forget most of it, when he'd asked, and now he regrets that.

"I did, yeah," he huffs a laugh. "He stole—"

"Our truck!" Our. "Yeah, okay, I remember that."

"It wasn't a truck."

"No? It—ohhh, it was the, um. The model train. The one you built! That Tucker's dad gave you."

He nods. "Yeah. I was worried he'd break it."

"And pushing him down the stairs wouldn't?"

"Assassin training."

"Sure."

One of her eyes is a little crinkled. She might be getting a headache, because that's the face Danny makes when he's getting a headache. (It's the face Damian made when he got one, too.) (Stop comparing them.) "You should get some rest," Danny tries.

"I'll get nightmares."

Her nightmares are weird. She's talked about them enough for Danny to feel familiar with them, even though his are nothing like her's. She'd tried sharing one with him, once, and it'd hurt his head for days after.

"I'm gonna get nightmares too, now," he points out. She winces. Danny realizes too late that might have sounded more accusatory than intended. He wanted her to stop asking questions, yeah, but not at the cost of herself. He's the reason she exists now; he's the reason why her head is so stuffed full of things that don't make sense, memories and daydreams and terrors both real and imagined haunting every step she takes. Even if he isn't the one that made her, hadn't ever wanted her—even if that, she's his responsibility.

"It goes both ways, idiot," she says.

She's not reading his mind, but. It's like she is. She can feel his core like it's his thoughts, and that's near enough. "I'm the older brother," he says, intentionally putting something a little haughty in his voice, a tone he hasn't carried since he was, like, eight or something. The effect is ruined a bit as he lays down, angled so he can still watch her drift towards the wall. "You're my responsibility. That's how it goes."

She rolls her eyes. "What if I wanna be the older brother?"

"Can't. You're the youngest, out of the three of us."

Dani sort of… pauses.

Danny does, too. He hadn't meant to say that out loud. Damian is… "gone" isn't the right word, because he's not dead. Not like Danny thought he was for a… for a while. But he's off limits in a way Danny can't access. He hasn't referred to Damian as his brother since the first time Dani started asking questions, and she'd been careful to avoid doing so herself. Which would seem considerate, if Danny didn't know she avoided it because the whole thing just feels too big and too messy to look at in the eyes.

And here Danny's gone, shoving his foot in his mouth. The three of us. There isn't three; Damian has to think Danny's dead. Has to have mourned him. If Damian knew…

It's so scary to think about.

And—there's Dani, now. Not a replacement—nothing could replace Damian—but Damian would feel that she is. Probably.

"What a mess," Dani says.

Had she thought the same things? Maybe. No way to tell without asking, and Danny's too tired to ask. "Yeah."

She touches down onto the ground. On silent feet, she checks the locks on Danny's door, and then she pads over to the bed and nudges him until he gives her enough space to lay down next to him. She's not going to sleep here, and Danny won't be able to sleep with her there (it reminds them both of sharing a bed with Damian), but she likes to do this sometimes and Danny likes it when she does.

Neither of them say anything else. Danny won't be able to fall asleep, but he manages to start a very light doze. Dani's core thrums contentment and his echoes it. She's saying I love you I love you I love you and he's singing it back, and when her pinkie hooks into his—like Damian, like Damian, stop comparing them but it's so much like Damian—Danny curls his to lock it in place.

"I might to spy on him," she murmurs after an unknown amount of time.

Danny cracks open an eye. "You won't."

"I want to," she amends, "But… I won't." I'm scared, she doesn't say, but Danny can hear it anyway.

"The tabloids do it enough for us," Danny points out.

She snorts. "Yeah, sure. 'Damian Wayne: Vegetarian or secret animal killer?' Definitely a good accurate way to get information."

Danny smiles and lets his eyes slip shut again. "He was like that even when we were little." Didn't like eating meat, eating animals.

"I remember."

He sighs. His core sings I love you. Dani's pinkie slips from his. There's a sweep of cold, like a blanket being pulled over him, and then she's gone. He might see her in a week; he might not see her for months.

Danny drifts to sleep.

[hyperlexichypatia]

hey! ive been observing this account for a while as a person who is relatively new to anti-pysch, madpunk, and youth rights related stuff. and i wanted to ask something related to bodily autonomy. would someone refusing or downright saying they hate showering count as ones right to their own bodily autonomy? i see hygiene commonly weaponized against those who are neurodivergent or have mental illnesses and physical disabilities, that and i think hygiene has moved so far from protecting ourselves from certain viruses and diseases to "if you dont follow this specific skincare routine, buy these specific products, and take a shower in a very specific way (or use an alternative method/way that doesnt involve a shower in the first place) you're gross and should be shunned from society". i feel like our quickness to judge others who dont follow these things are may appear like they dont is connected to somethings related to consumerism and classism but i wouldnt know how to explain it as im still new to all this.

Needing help with hygiene is also really stigmatized, and people are denied access to it. Lots of people who don't have clean bodies and clothes are denied access to those things -- maybe they're unhoused and don't have a working bathroom, maybe they're disabled and can't get into the shower without assistance, which they don't have -- and of course anything associated with poor and disabled people is intensely stigmatized. So yeah, stigma on not having the right hygiene is absolutely classist and ableist. Even the word "hygiene" is often used to mean eugenics. We equate "clean" with "abled" and "dirty" with "disabled." There are even studies (I'm not sure how reliable they are because I haven't done sufficient research on them) suggesting that people adopt more conservative/judgmental attitudes when there's a bottle of hand sanitizer in view.

I think what really reveals the bad faith of the whole thing is that this kind of stigma is purely about social class and not actually about cleanliness from germs. The clearest example might be how in the 1840s, Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis proposed the completely radical idea that maybe doctors should wash their hands before treating patients, and being widely denounced for suggesting that doctors could be the problem or could be dirty. The second clearest example might be the American political response to the COVID-19 pandemic -- people who had spent decades opposing the rights of poor people, unhoused people, immigrants, disabled people, people of color, queer people, etc. on the basis off "They're dirty/ they smell bad/ they're gross" suddenly pivoted to "How dare you ask me to avoid touching you or your food, wear a mask, or wash my hands, this is personally insulting to me."

Hygiene requirements are certainly necessary in certain contexts -- yes, you should have to wash your hands and wear a hairnet when preparing food, you should have to wash your hands and wear a mask before performing surgery -- but these should be things the employer provides and makes accessible.

[fels-fantasy-hoard]

One of my friends and players just brought something up to me that I think is a discussion that should be had and that is:

Should white people make ocs that are poc in ttrpgs

She sent me two ticktocks here and here where two poc talk about how it makes them uncomfortable when white people play as poc in ttrpgs and she was freaking out because her oc from the last 3-4 years in our campaign is mix raced. My friend is also mix raced but white passing and she was afraid she was offending people.

So, I just wanna give my perspective from observing this same discussion in other writing communities - because it is essentially the same discussion of whether or not white people can write poc in novels, video game, movies, etc because it all comes down to aesthetic appropriation.

Now, if any poc would like to add their own thoughts and experiences with this please do, your voices are much more important than mine - a white person - so I'm going to put my thoughts under a cut. I'm basically going to talk about my own observations within the fantasy genre as a whole when it comes to ethnicity and race and the patterns I've seen and how that translates into the ttrpg medium. Cheers :D

So, the main problem I've seen brought up when white people try to be inclusive by adding poc in their stories is that their inclusion stops at aesthetics. A poc is still written with the mindset of a white person. Changing the ethnicity of a character changes nothing about them and - many times - their ethnicity isn't even clear. They are south Asian but of which country? Which region? South Asians are an incredibly diverse ethnic group just like Afrians or Central/South Americans. If you can swap the ethnicity of a character without changing anything about them, then you aren't actually making good representation, you are doing the bare minimum of preventing an all white cast. It's 2023, we should hold ourselves and each other to higher standards.

Now, when it comes to fantasy stories, there is a bit of a problem. The worlds within fantasy settings become so much smaller because humans often share the setting with nonhumans such as elves, dwarves, gnomes, etc. This means humans are often turned into a european monolith - or something very close to it - while other real world ethnicities are shoved onto fantasy lineages (often times still flavors of european).

I dont think I need to point out why this is a problem. Humans continue using the aesthetics of nonwhite ethnicities but completely divorced of their culture and context. This is the definition of appropriation. I can think of dozens of fantasy stories from various mediums where there would be no change if a poc was white because their ethnicity has no impact on their characterization - as seen with various video game characters who's skin becomes lighter and lighter through every installment or has dark skinned concept art and a light skinned final product.

You want your fantasy setting to be a mixing pot of cultures and ethnicities? Ok, look at the US and how all of these different cultures remain intact even after generations. Yes, there is a level of assimilation but even fourth gen Mexican immigrants are still influenced their culture. Mix raced people have their own unique struggles and cultural experiences. Every country in the world has their own unique mixing pot of cultures and ethnicities. No country is a monolith as that would require committing cultural and/or ethnic genocide to everyone who does not fit the predestined mold.

A setting can have a mixing pot of cultures without racism or prejudice. You can have a human civilization that isn't a monolith. Don't be afraid to research different cultures to represent them with respect. Not only will it make your setting feel more immersive, it will give you a deeper understanding and respect for people irl.

It's always boggled my mind when people say irl race doesn't matter in fantasy then immediately turn around with fantasy racism like... seriously? The beauty of humanity is how diverse our cultures are and yet you'd rather dismiss this beauty over using the violence of prejudice and racism as cheap conflict in your story.

If you actually want to be inclusive in your fantasy stories, do research. Talk to poc of the ethnicity you are trying to represent.

If you are a player wanting to make an oc that is a different ethnicity than you - consider why? Does the character's physical appearance actually matter to their story? Are you willing to put in the work to represent this character's culture and respect the irl culture and people you are drawing from? Is this even your story to tell? If your answer to any of these questions is no, then maybe you should rethink some things.

I don't have the answer on whether or not white people should be allowed to make their oc a person of color but I think this question is indicative of a much larger problem within the fantasy genre of aesthetic appropriation and surface level representation of poc. I don't have any answers - other than put more effort into representing different ethnicities and cultures which its whole own can of worms- but its a conversation that should be had.

I would love to hear other people's thoughts and feel free to correct me or add your own experiences with this. I want to learn so I can write better representation in my stories and understand different perspectives better. Cheers :D

[mdpikachu]

yes this is the dante theory list for those who liked this post but im also making it my pinned

First; Hi, I'm Md (they/it/she) and welcome to my autism hole. Boops you. HERE is my art blog, HERE is my eldritch sideblog, HERE is my berserkerlot sideblog, and HERE is my photoblog, HERE is my AO3, HERE is my Flight Rising, HERE is my BlueSky. Okay, now back to the actual post. Limbus FC is C092709920.

Md's hot hot list of Dante limbus theories that I've been sitting on since I started playing

ONE OF THESE WILL BE RIGHT. MAYBE. cut for length. discuss in the comments. contains ruina and lobocorp spoilers. maybe even leviathan spoilers. assume spoilers for the newest content. pinning so i can keep adding to it in the future. (edited 10/21) (up to TKT)

Theory 58, pushed up bc it has potential, 7/7- Dante's name is Da'at or something similar. it's a hidden sephirot. iIT'S NUMBER 10. WAIT THIS FUCKS TO THE TOP OF THE LIST THIS GOES.

Theory 1, from early march 2023- Dante has the option to get their head back, takes it. Human Dante is shown. except clearly hiding unfamiliarity with the sinners. The clock head is still alive. A clock doesnt need a body to live. Human evil dante uses the golden whatever to cause Problems and has the sinners chained to them. vergil is free tho so he can beat down evil dante. (this now works with a canto 5 tidbit where vergil said he'd only step in if "all sinners dead, dante is beaten, and the hands of the clock are about to be torn off".)

T2, 3/12- 9 circles of hell, Dante, and a few subsections. Dante is sinner 10. Charon is also in the divine comedy so she'll get a section. Dante are u lucifer. who is the lucifer of the setting?? i'm saying pre-dante Dante until otherwise noted. (not personally fond of this one)

T3, 3/15- iori saw limbus going a certain way and guaranteed it by making sure Dante got factory reset by force. villain to cause heroism. (dont know enough about Iori for this one)

**T4- Backwards clock relation possible. (possibly canon validated) (even more possible connection as of 6.3)

T5- Saying Dante had a significant other named Beatrice is way too low bar but It's a necessary one. ech

T6- Dante IS Beatrice and given the name of someone else. (too ez)

T7, 3/17- future Dante guaranteeing the future changes by getting past Dante's head removed. issue solved. This one is based on the opening and reading the lyrics real goodly.

T8, 3/20- Dante's head has a lil bit of angelas ai in there. or ayin data. benjamin. any of them. carmen even. fuck whatever. maybe hokma bc ticking in ruina theme. (this one lead to some Better Ideas. see later) (4/7) POSSIBLY SUPPORTED BY 6.2. WHY DID THEY SEE THAT.

T9, 3/23- The three censored letters. B E A, S I N, E G O, A L I, who knows. v e r. could be anything this one is nothing

T10, 3/26- Faust VERY SPECIFICALLY says that brains cant be replaced-- so even if Dante gets their head back, it's incompatible now. (!! this is a Top Theory)

T11, 3/28- Beatrice or someone else died around Christmas, which makes Dante sad even without their memories. The pain exists but the context is missing. (They also seem to know Christmas music without any issue, able to sing along with Charon in their head. This is not addressed in canon.)

T12, 3/30- Beatrice was one of the orphans that died in Leviathan :) the time period matches up. It was around Christmas.

T13, 3/31- HARD LOBOCORP SPOILER. Thinking about In Hell We Live (Lament). "Each loop we live/die thru"? How many times? How many times has Dante done this? Or Pre-Dante, anyway. Faust is probably in on it. The new L corp took one look at what Ayin was doing and went "we can do that too lmao". Losing their memory was a base requirement to prevent madness. I rewrote this theory on 9/19 but added "to prevent a paradox"

T14, 4/18- Less a HC and more a suggestion, just use F Corp's shit to Unlock Dante's memory. If we ever visit District F, you KNOW Faust is gonna keep them on one hell of a tight leash.

T15- Is the Star a Singularity? Did Dante STEAL it? Are THEY the singularity? The clock? This one's too easy too though.

T16, 5/8- WAT IF THE STAR IS LUCIFER. MORNING STAR. CAN MANIPULATE SOULS IN HELL. (weak but proj moon loves their Christian imagery. this will come back repeatedly) not this one. maybe

T17, 5/10- Dante is either connected to whitenight OR a jesus figure (12 apostles, sin, not dying when killed, revives people, etc. the christianity again. it will continue. i already drew plague doc dante.) (4/7, possible but carmen is the lucifer adjacent if 6-34 is anything to go by. jesus is still open.)

**T18. 5/16- Dante's clock hands are made from a Golden Bough. ez. LETS FUCKING GOOOOOOOOOOO canto 5.2

T19. 6/16- This has 0 canon basis but what if Dante was a Bloodfiend, would that be cool or what? They already don't need to eat, but is that from the clock or something else? Do they get IVs with nutrients? How does this work? Idk. I just want Dante to cut their hand open, make giant claws and rip a man apart before eating dirt. Dante can chew on a Sinner as a treat. c: I just want this one.

T20- Wouldn't it be fucked up if Dante found their head and it had either Distorted or was an Abnormality??

T21, 9/29- Religious Bastard Dieci Dante Aligheri.

T22- Dante has gotten Very Attached to the Sinners as their only form of contact while they've gotten themselves together. They recently realized many Sinners are doing this for the end goals, not to be a team. This seemed to upset them. UPSET THEM MORE. DISTORT THEM. DANTE REALIZES THEY'LL ALL LEAVE WITHOUT A CARE IN THE WORLD. Carmen! Come get this bitch.

T23- Actually, Dante should distort for any reason. I Absolutely Understand the Mechanics (lying). Got too depressed, hit -45 SAN and decided they're just a useless tool instead of a person? Absolutely. You're now a piece of equipment. (when Heath asks if they're okay in canto 5 bc they got injured, dante responds "the clocks fine so who cares?") (I now understand the mechanics but want it anyway) They won't.

T24- Building off the previous, they're really starting to believe they're just a tool like how Gregor thinks he's a bug. That Is Not Good For Your Mental Health (garry ib icon.png)

T25- Putting this here just before my fav one, their skin. We never see it, so a list of potential possibilities excluding Being White bc that's BORING: Any POC, ashy skin (like vergil), dark ashy (charon), pure black or close to (a lot of people do this, me included), dark and covered in stars, very tattooed, very mechanical, just outright a robot, bloodfiend again, scarred, frankensteiny, bough roots, fucked up censored, ETC. Based on the few images we have that show anything, it's just pitch black under there unless it's a skinsuit. the rest of them may be any of the above but for now most of these are defunct.

T26- My Current Top Theory of All Time- Dante is an AI. They have never been human, just machine. At least one of their creators cared enough to do better than Ayin ever fucking did, fostering curiosity and a desire to live in the little AI. Thing is, after Angela, AI became Very Illegal. There's no way their creators survived. L Corp New got them. Old AI Dante was, at their core, still an unfeeling machine that made decisions based purely on cold logic. New Dante is a person that is learning and growing, refusing to follow the colder path at times.

Is the clock part of them? Unsure. That can work either way.

But they're definitely becoming a person who doesn't want every encounter to end in bloodshed and death. Good for them. (this part is correct)

T27- Dante is not Ruina Dante. they didn't get booked. I think they'd throw hands on sight.

T28- Verg/Dante that's all glory to yxxiville

**T29- Dante navigator skills IM SO FUCKING HAPPY I WIN FOREVER MOM HOLY FUCK

T30- I missed one! Their eyes with a human head. This has a few that rotate. Red eyes, Gold eyes, Gold with the star, heterochromia with only one gold/star and red, pitch black (pre-d), or night sky/star. mix and match. who cares?

T31- I personally like the idea of Dante being a redhead (real red not ginger like ish) but realize it doesn't make much sense. Black hair works too, esp smoky, but they need more color. maybe fire streaks? if POC, maybe dreads?

T32- I am now also accepting heathcliff/dante post canto 5.1 he care so much.... actually just sinner polycule is valid. so is sinner family. both work. the only part I dont like is dante/faust. doesn't feel right. Charon excluded. that is our child. sinner x any other sinner. dante x anyone. including vergil. not charon.

T33- Forgot an old one where I figured Dante was a hacker that got into a Lot of trouble and being sinner #10 was meant to be a suicide mission.

T34- Dante being an ai part 2, having been planted in a body. maybe even a body they knew.

T35- [added to 25]

T36- Memory loss being fully intentional to kill their previous self and only carry over the necessary. A new start.

T37- Yknow how we never SAW Dante being an upper torso and arm in canto 3? Why? What is being hidden that's so important? robot parts? are you a robot? are you a -

T38- Dante being an artist of any kind. musician, poet, painter, etc. even post amnesia. give em a hobby

T39- Somewhere else I discussed forms that'd be fun for a Dante Distortion but i cant find it so ill reiterate: coffin spider, all around helper clock, useless fucking thing. all of which have gold chains suffocating them and it doesnt fight back. give it morphine

T40- this one's insane but dante's og self being the Player/self-insert. thats why they were "Me" and not "Dante" we're not them. but we also are. (in tkt theres an npc names Mai so like. its close)

T41- This ones a joke but og dantes name actually just being "Me". (but not pronounced that way) (alternatively it was a nickname)

T42- Dante being an interviewer or reporter- A big name one. No wonder they keep secrets like K corps singularity. They can release that publicly later... if they choose to.

T43- RECREATE CARMEN. DO IT PUSSY. That 5.5 Blade scene is Damning as all hell. That or the bough + the monolith had an Interaction.

T44- Dante's internal programming knows the City Lore but Dante isn't allowed to know. The fact so much of that scene was censored...

T45- Dante is Bongbong

T46- I haven't beaten Ruina so I don't know a lot about Constructs or Librarians but like. Maybe they were one of those.

T47- Dante is going to eventually explode (figuratively). Even they can only take so much abuse and bullshit. Self-esteem can only go so low.

T48- Dante being a disaster chimera of stuff. AI made of someone else's brain, in someone else's body, with other stuff installed, etc, etc, etc.

T49- The Star reminds me too much of Blue Star, talking about Sin and such. Maybe it's an abno relating to that. who knows.

T50- Dante is an ID and there's a mirror in their head keeping them active. I hope they do a Charon/Lapis and totally overwrite the og bc the og's an asshole.

T51- Dante's the first successful "new human"

T52- Dante IS fucked up but something in their head hides the fuckedupness from everyone else.

T53- Dante is connected to that "ancient river".

T54- Dante was part of the 13th association.

T55- Dante stops keeping info to themselves so damn often. This is basically a bingo free space.

**T56- The Sinners are using Dante's time CONFIRMED jfc i JUST added this one too. and then tkt just confirms it like a minute later.

T57- Dante is a star. just straight up.

T58- Dante is Bari, suggested by @calmariah

[flameofthescorpion]

Ramblings of someone way to hyperfixiated on Nevadas "Nowhere" (Headcanons - Apparatus designs applied)

EYESTRAIN WARNING LATER DOWN IN THE POST!

Sooooooooo welcome to me rambling about outside of Nevada because god we dont talk about the Machine alot and it greatly upsets me so imma do it.

Do keep in mind this is all headcanon and applies to my appartus designs, so it may not apply as well to canon

Now the Nowhere, or also called the "Curtain Of Nevada", is what happens if you leave the borders of Nevada, also called the World Borders

The world border is the main thing keeping the area secluded and together in the world of Nevada, meaning nothing exists outside the borders, HOWEVER, due to this area being quiet big for the Machine to host on one single server, it cut up Nevada into different sections where loading is required, now loading for Nevadeans is simply spacing out for a second and then good is, for the Machine however it is necessary to manage everything on an organized level. The 4 zones would be Nexus City, Somewhere, Nevada Central and due to the Demoniac cult activities both Stygian and the Machine are in unison to have cut the Haunting House into its own seperate loading area to keep the improbability levels at least somewhat contained so it doesnt overflow with the drive active.

If you looked at the image closely you would have noticed some points on the world borders where it says "Enter Zone", Enter Zones are exactly what their name entails. While the world is indeed stable, theres some part of the border where its easier to cross behind "the curtain" than it is on others.

Now what i will have to elaborate on is exactly what i mean in the context of "curtain" Its quiet simple really Nevadeans and mortals in general do NOT see reality as it is, they see a simple illusionary curtain to keep their sanity stable. HOWEVER, the employers are complex enough to see the world for what it really is as they were built by the machine to keep order and to protect its very system which is everywhere and nowhere at the same time

Reality in actuality consists of corners, chains and platforms, or in the most simple definition i can give it The Machines Skeleton.

However only the employers can IN NORMAL SITUATIONS SEE THIS. Is it possible for Nevadeans to Noclip behind the curtain and see what reality really consists of? Yes but its not nearly as clear as the employers can

They can still see of course but massively impaired due to the fact they werent SUPPOSED to see this all. And their vision is not the only negative effects theyll take from going behind the curtain, because there is indeed 2 different scenarios:

Scenario 1: The Employers acting as the Machines security system would most likely notice this new arrival, and Auditor, being the first to usually take care of this issue, would rip them to utter shreds as now this Nevadean would pose a threat to the system due to having directly interacted with it.

Scenario 2: They are lucky enough to notice this isnt good and noclip back before any of the employers get alerted of their arrival. Even in this case they arent truely off the Hook as they either A. go insane from what their mind has just witnessed B. If enough mental collection is present, turn into a disquieted.

Some beings such as The S-3lf Eater however will not be affected by this as it was deliberatly built to suck energy off the Machine, due to this the Employers cant detect it as a threat either, essentially, its a parasite. (that was what the comic yesterday was about BTW)

Reality overall is a topic that not many talk about because only few know of the Machine as a concept, mostly only Dr Gonne, who abused this knowledge, 2BDamned who also abused said knowledge however in favour of the Maker and the Cyberbandits who have a way stronger connection to the Machine as it is "the serverhost".

Is a connection of the Machine, aka the server, ever SEVERED with a Nevadean it would have devestating effects on the Nevadean. The second the connection to "The Server" is gone, the Nevadean will IMMIDIANTLY loose most of their recollection and personality as the machine is the one storing the data of such. In most cases one of the younger employers, either Conductor or Auditor help to re-connect this individual with the Machine....or well if not i think we all know what they would do.

Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk im so sorry if none of this made sense im very passionate about my favourrite Higher Power, love the metal crab-

[nocturnal-phantoms-fandoms]

ehh

Im so so tired of all the discussions around S & R sexualities.

Story time: when I first read the books I assumed everyone is straight bc I was a child raised catholic with no critical thinking skills (though, I could tell I didnt like r/t that much but I couldnt really tell why). Then, after entering the fandom and discovering r/s I was like, oh ok, S could be bi. R could also be bi. Then I became more inclined towards gay S. Some time passed, I rejoined the fandom on tumblr. I see more posts talking about r/t being comphet and bi S agenda, and im like, alright makes sense, R is gay, S is bi.

But now Ive come to the conclusion it doesnt matter to me, in fact, I dont want to have a set headcanon regarding their sexualities. Bc im just so tired of seeing all these metas with canon info as arguments for/against comphet, for/against reading them as bi vs gay - and like, the metas themselv are great of course. I love metas and I love people writing metas.

But at this point it doesnt matter to me who is assigned which label and why.

I see them both as queer - partially bc of the canon info from metas I mentioned, but partially just bc I ship them together - and it certainly doesnt matter to me if the author intended them to be read as queer or not (obviously she didnt?? why is this even still being brought up I though we were over this??). They are not queer coded (that requires authorial intention) and they can be read as queer - but reading a character as queer implies a reader reads a character as queer. Its an interpretation. And yes, considering all the context of the books, reading R as a gay man seems like the best interpretation, but its still an interpretation. That I agree with, obviously. But its still up to the specific fan.

One thing confuses me though. As someone who doesnt ship r/t* - from Watsonian perspective: R was basically pressured by molly since he initially never voiced interest in T and in fact seemed to avoid her; form Doylist perspective: this was done with a great disservice towards T as a character - and generally agrees with all the context pointing towards R being read as queer man with AIDS / lycanthropy being read as a metaphor for HIV/AIDS - Why R cant be bi? I dont think he was into T - and Im not saying he was bi - but I dont see how thats an argument against him being bi in general?

But like I said. Idc at this point. They are both gay. And bi. And ace, while we are at it. Depending on a concept/storyline/fanfic I want to explore at this moment.

.

*and this shouldn't be needed to be said, but, just to be safe: doesnt have a problem with r/t shippers. this ship isnt for me, thats it.

[csmeanerr]

“i’m not affiliated with the species or terralien staff” “LET ME ASK COY” make up ur fucking mind dude

.https://toyhou.se/~forums/5867.service-reviews/457397.terraliens-psa-upd-03112023

specifically this comment

quick breakdown to all of their points

1) yes terraliens originated as a cham concept! however iirc chams are aware of, and alright with, the existence of terraliens.

yeah that's not the issue. the issue is terraliens were similar to chams and were given their space but when another species does the same terralien owner spat in their face and started this entire thing. what's being pointed out is the hypocrisy with the origin of terraliens being a rejected cham myo to show that terraliens came from a similar background

2) “doxxing”… yeah, there was no evidence of doxxing in those screenshots. 

as the second comment says they were intentionally trying to get someone's IP by trying to get them to click links that will give it. in what fucking world does the sentence 'we need to bait them into click links' not put them in a bad fucking light

3) coy’s CENSORED nsfw stories. It’s exhausting seeing people make such a big deal of them. Nothing they posted was actually NSFW. The worst they posted was a cropped image of their oc without clothing on, with the uncropped version on their (age verified) CF stories. They do NOT post uncensored nsfw, and i don’t know why people keep bringing it up. Also you straight up put words into their mouth with your paraphrasing; they released a whole thing explaining their thought process, and said they wouldn’t do so again (which they’ve lived up to, moving all nsfw content to a different account entirely, which again requires age verification to see). even if they had posted uncensored nsfw, it would still be a non-issue since they’ve since acknowledged and rectified their actions.

contradicted yourself in the same argument and then added 'they fixed it so don't bring it up again'. nudity ≠ sexual intent but the context of the pieces does imply it so trying to say it's not nsfw because it's just nudity is misleading.

the first image is of their oc nude with little showing but also has ghost hands on them, one close to their ass. there is also blush on the character's face and ass so let me ask if you would be comfortable showing your coworker this picture. nsfw means not safe for work aka it's inappropriate to pull out in a public space it does not inherently mean porn.

the other is of a bunny thing in shibari which of course many people claim isn't sexual which is a subjective issue. shibari is often associated with the bdsm community so just because you think it's not sexual does not mean it's not inappropriate

4) stitch adopts. they’re not breaking copyright by drawing the same species as a movie 💀by that logic, nobody could sell pokesona adopts, or sonic adopts, or adopts of any other fandom. this is also a very dumb argument that keeps getting brought up for no reason.

i dont really give a shit about this one cuz it's a whole can of worms and its arguement boils down to being a massive grey area. YES is it breaking the law of designs and you shouldn't even call it stitch because then you're affiliating the design with the brand, which is what they are against. The reason pokemon and other stuff gets made and sold though is because these large brands don't go after one-time transactions cuz they don't have the manpower nor interest, they only crack down if it's of a larger scale that would harm their image.

[missmayhemvr]

Do we stay or do we go

i have a serious question to my brother and sisters, all those stolen of africa and those that immigrated from their of their own volition and the generations that came after.

ive been doing a lot of listening to the goings on in the world, and ive been learning of our past and our history and philosophy and i have a question that we of the diaspora(not counting the islands in many regards and you'll see why) have not seemed to really be able to qive a definitive response to in the over 200 years since i've first seen this question be raised, and yes the context is different today from when it was first asked, and you may have guess what the question really is.

Do we stay and fight this oncoming wave of fascism and antiblackness that is sweeping through Europe and its settler states that it spawned? or do we turn towards Africa and the carribean nations?

I dont feel i need to say this, its very clearly not a "well if you dont like america, go back to africa" situation. but what im saying is, the western experiment, is falling apart at the seams, im sure we all see it at this point, most the other black folks i speak to are feeling pretty jumpy about it rn, my mother and my great aunt who hate each other and agree on nothing, are getting real strong get out vibes and pushing everyone to have passports. it feels like no matter where we look the white world is trying to position itself as being oppositional to and a defense against POC, the far right is gaining major traction enough in germany they are considering banning a political party(which they should) and that not to speak on much the rest of europe, which is trying to convince us not to be worried about the dudes waving nazi flags and making claims about russians being asian and thus being less human, american police violence just keeps going up to the point we aren't even safe in our own four walls, and much like the past they kill you and then take everything you owned so your family doesn't even get anything. france is proving how much distain it has for the people of africa living in its borders and the cops there are mad that they can't do even more extrajudicial violence against brown people. you got in nearly every EU nation at this point 1 or more parties who's whole thing is "we hate poc and immigrants and lgbt people" and they seem to be gaining support more than losing it.

so i guess im saying, is it worth staying in these places that just hate us? even when there is another place we can potentially go to that doesn't require us to do colonizer shit?

like don't get me wrong i get the idea, we been in x place 200, 300, 400 years why should i leave, my great grandpa had people like that in his life, they didnt make it long. but like you or i most likely aren't anywhere near where our families started in america or britian or france etc,(tho for us in settler states that shit gets even more complicated tbh) chances are your family much like mine has been pushed and pulled across the place to the point that we are damn near nomadic, we are the most if not the second most poverty stricken group in these places, we are more likely to be charged more for half par services goods and the state just refuses to support use to the extent where vast swaths of us are in food desert, areas with low access to internet services and more issues. i dont feel like we really leaving much behind except of course the friends and extended families we have made(which tbh is huge).

This shit sounds super doom and gloom and im aware of that, this isnt really for me to present a sunshine are roses situation, in fact i am really putting that on who ever sees this. if you can read what i laid out here and feel you have something constructive to say one way or the other, i wanna hear it. like i really want to hear both sides, this topic been around a long time, i feel its really about to become super relevent again and i'd like for as many of us to have discussed and thought about this as physically possible(talk to your families and friends about this too, they dont have to come reply)

so black folks, reblog, message in the replys, talk in the tags whatever, just think about this stuff critically and talk about it. poke holes as best you can, bring up whatever figure you can think of that ever even had a thought about this topic. learn about this topic as best as you can, its older than garvey by a lot. theres bad sides to it and not so bad sides to it.

non black folks, please just leave this alone, its truly not the type of topic you should involve yourself with.

anyway i go more i wanna say about it. and im not myself sold that i should move to say ghana(more likely to move with my gfs in Australia rn) and ill likely add more in reply to other people. be safe Everyone of the world.

[gardenvarietysystem]

I want to meet more OSDD systems. I need more points of reference.

I present to you, A slam poem based on my experiences.

ONE BODY ONE MIND ONE GUN

Being a human

is so direly difficult

for every line of dialogue

seaveral more die or develop

how can I ever properly communicate

the several pages of channels

separate piles of conscious-

nested and confused thoughts dread-

several start-stops

all in our head.

sentences misplacd that make no-

senselessly incomplete that require more

context context

what context do we need to share to make it make sense

one mouth , several thoughts

the speed, intensity, overlapping

shouts through space in response

to situations

my hands

my mouth

my mind

can't keep up.

to - to even begin to speak would make them catch on

raise suspicion

insta-fail my stealth mission.

they're gonna know

how would they know?

they're gonna know

what even is a non verbal worrier

they're gonna know

what does it mean to not be able to speak

but not a thing can stop the

thoughts haunt my dreams

dreams i dont remember

bursting at the seems

ever since last November

of 3 years ago

the timeline is fuzzy

I dont remember

all the details

something's I'd have to think really

hard

hard things.

I can do hard things

as a human

-not a human-

just tinkering

and toiling away

at the layers and layers

of trauma and dirt

yes we were hurt

but now we are whole

children of the sun

one body

one mind

Now Behind the bullet

and the gun.

[red-dyed-sarumane]

thought dumping without looking at my sources here BUT

i just dont get it right like the line in shoushitsu so VERY directly says "as long as you're a person the old world's legacy will continue in the toroidal direction" mea!ning! (based off other context in both shoushitsu & other songs like maximizer) so long as the characters continue to follow their paths of their own will & desire & don't think of it as only something they need to do or as the only relevant trait about themselves, then they still have their selves/egos and still are full people. and in that case that they're full people they're guaranteed to follow the path of the world into its next iteration, in other words, they get to keep living, or if u want to stick with the terms in shoushitsu they're "reborn" in the new world so to speak.

this isnt even speculation, this is shown to us in both the text in shoushitsu (the text thats like "she slowly closed her eyes, and i gently opened mine. a certain world had disappeared") and also the text in canon (about how she comes to in front of a fountain after it rained, implying the start of a new loop/world)

and even up to the end of oumen mokushiroku it's clearly tenshi still holds her own values, still has her wants & seems to be aware of herself. i dont know if the "'not me not me' those words didnt reach anyone" is referring to tenshi or apoptosis speaking, seeing as its implied apoptosis was the first to be chosen as a sacrifice until she pinned it on someone else (who happened to end up as tenshi). tenshi's hyper aware of time almost like how the laboratory character is, that hyper awareness that can only come with knowing an indisputable end is coming. she knows what's happening & can't find a way out of it. but that doesn't make sense to me. if she's still herself, if she stepped in to take apoptosis' place, that's her own judgement, protecting the other is her own goal in that case. i guess it's possible to only fall on tenshi if she's the one least likely to protest, but even of the event of being forced to be a sacrifice, even if she has to "accept" this fate, that's not real acceptance, that's not really throwing herself away in the sense that this series requires. i guess it can be stretched that far if needed since it seems like the only real option here, that she ended up giving up her own goals to fulfill a role the others demanded, thus became a "thing" rather than a "person" at the last minute. but even then that doesnt add up. shes crying over this. shes ACTUALLY crying over it. despite ALL the stress & psychological torment going on in the entire series, she's the ONLY one shown crying over it (yes several others are mentioned to cry. it only makes sense. they arent SHOWN that way however) & no one who's truly accepted a role, even this dire of a role, would really cry over it right? it's hard for her. her smile looks like it could break any second.

yet even for being an early song in the series, if she wasn't meant to be a "person" there's enough in the song to tie it to the series without it having the motif. the ou itself directly ties it to aru sekai shoushitsu & that's how a lot of people realize its related. the motif isnt really necessary to show its a series song. look at all the more recent songs that dont have it specifically to show the characters dead. so why is she singing hers. it feels like saying she's dying as herself truly, but then she should just wake up again like everyone else if that was the case. what makes it a sacrifice really and why is it different from how everyone else is dying?? the only other thing i can think of is that, if she's singing it, it's like a last wish of sorts. the sort of thing only meant for emotional impact. it's true that it's still the only song besides shoushitsu that has the motif sung instead of added to the instrumentals. i can't help but feel that has a meaning to it. maybe it is to say she's giving it up. i just don't know it doesn't make sense to me given the other details i feel like she should still get to live.

i mean both kyuuyaku and kannagi sing out the rute furute wo a line. touhikou doesn't but those two do. it doesnt seem to bind them to each other any more than it does touhikou.

so i just really don't know how i'm supposed to take the end of oumen. everything else, everything else seems to say she's dead. she's not coming back. the way she says she wishes they could meet again, the way she says everything goes dark. the way how in unplanned apoptosis, the song tied the closest to oumen, she falls apart even worse after the sacrifice is brought up. how in kanon shes deeply regretful over the fact a sacrifice ever occurred. everything else is saying tenshi's dead she's not coming back. except the fact the main motif to say a character lives is in the song. and the thing is, oumen and apoptosis seem to be all magu wants to give us regarding that particular incident. we might not get any more info on what happened there beyond those two. sure kanon's related too, but not as deeply, not enough to give any more clarity to this one situation. sure we get new unexpected info every new song, but coming back to these two feels so unlikely. it's like everything's here already, yet its still not enough to know everything.

[thatbitchsimone]

I also love Angelica and think she's so great - there's another video on her youtube where she says people should only lose their virginity in their 20's - what do you think about this? I agree with her sentiment to an extent and I do think as a woman I was put into many situations that make me feel used now and I am sure this can negatively affect men as well.. I just kind of felt ashamed/worried after watching the video because she said that having sex very young can negatively set you up for life and I agree to an extent but I think there's more nuance to it than a 20 minute youtube video can express.. And also I think the problem more with me is I didn't know to express my boundaries or communicate and people took advantage of that sometimes.. and just how women are socialised etc etc

i was just gonna watch that video but it looks like shes deleted all of those videos (which sucks ass bc she had an amazing video about the tumblr nymphet community and its parallels to nambla and how it has negatively affected us that got seduced by that little subculture back in the mid 2010s) so unfortunately i cant answer this properly bc i dont have the full context and i dont have her arguments etc but i can still give some of my immidiate thoughts on it so here we go

i think losing ur virginity/wait with sex until ur in ur 20s is probably ideal tbh and i would absolutely encourage it for anyone who is in their teens rn and havent had their sexual debut yet. main reason being that u will be old enough to understand sex and its risks and effects and u will have had time to figure ur own body out more and u will most likely have at the very least basic level emotional intelligence and maturity that is required to have safe and healthy and enjoyable sex. like u have just finished puberty and just left teenagehood behind which is a messy and confusing and rough lifestage for all of us and ur now entering adulthood and have gained some perspective etc and u are way more in tune with urself (at the very least compared to when u were a teen) and both ur body and brain will be developed enough to be able to handle sex and have a realistic attitude around it and while ofc u can still be manipulated and u may still be somewhat naive it wont be anywhere near AS easy to manipulate u as it would have been earlier bc thats just how it is. u might still be vulnerable maybe sure but if ur vulnerable now u were even MORE vulnerable when u were a teen. its just how it is. thats how growing up works. u will probably have a way easier and more enjoyable sexual debut in ur 20s bc u will have a headstart in so many ways both physically and emotionally.

BUT im not gonna pretend like its that black and white and simple. Many girls (and boys but im focusing on women here) have perfectly normal and healthy sexual encounters when they are teenagers and i rly dont believe that sex will just automatically traumatize and harm u when ur a teen bc lets be real here, the key here is that u explore sex with UR PEERS, boys and girls within ur own age group, NOT ppl that are 20+ when u are like 14-16. when ur a high schooler and u want to explore sex u do it with other high schoolers. ppl ur own age. I think its perfectly fine and normal to have sex when ur a teen, but that is assuming u are having sex with other teens. NOT ppl that are like 5 years older than u. thats when actual impactful long lasting harm becomes highly likely. feeling like u got used and heartbroken by a boy in ur school aka a boy that is ur peer and ur own age will hurt and suck and will leave an impact on u but its a very different impact than the one u will be left with if u felt taken advantaged of by someone much older (not a teen). the dynamics are whats important here i think.

sex and relationships are messy and yes u can always get fucked up from it thats just how it is. u cant avoid it. u just need to be able to handle it and maybe ur not ready to handle it until ur like 25, thats fine. dont do it then. like if u dont think ur ready, just wait until u are. if ur like 15 and feel ready then go ahead but STICK TO PPL UR OWN AGE when ur that young. u gotta be equals. period.