#you defend yourself

[dreamlanddoll]

Idk if this is mainly just an issue within straight/cis circles but genuinely tired of the way men talk about women like we're nothing but joy-sucking nagging leeches only good for sex and housework when they are the ones that have been making us miserable since the dawn of time. Treating us like property, blaming us for our own r/ape, just generally hating us (clearly they haven't stopped but you know), and then wondering why we're so miserable. Maybe because everytime a man like you opens his mouth we feel the need to defend ourselves but GOD forbid we do because then in your absolute fucking peanut mind we're just proving your point. Ugghhh I hate it here. Fuck.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Kiss Kiss Fallen Tree!

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[inkskinned]

they want to talk about mental illness and acceptance and how everyone is a little ocd it's cute and quirky and their "intrusive thoughts" are about cutting their hair off and you say yours are about taking a razorblade to your eye and they say ew can you not and everyone is a little adhd sometimes! except if you're late it's a personality flaw and it's because you are careless and cruel (and someone else with adhd mentions they can be on time, so why can't you?) and it's not an eating disorder if it's girl dinner! it's not mania if it's girl math! what do you mean you blew all of your savings on nonrefundable plane tickets for a plane you didn't even end up taking. what do you mean that you are afraid of eating. get over it. they roll their little lips up into a sneer. can you not, like, trauma dump?

they love it on them they like to wear pieces of your suffering like jewels so that it hangs off their tongue in rapiers. they are allowed to arm-chair diagnose and cherrypick their poisons but you can't ever miss too many showers because that's, like, "fuckken gross?" so anyone mean is a narcissist. so anyone with visual tics is clearly faking it and is so cringe. but they get to scream and hit customer service employees because well, i got overwhelmed.

you keep seeing these posts about how people pleasers are "inherently manipulative" and how it's totally unfair behavior. but you are a people pleaser, you have an ingrained fawn response. in the comments, you have typed and deleted the words just because it is technically true does not make it an empathetic or kind reading of the reaction about one million times. it is technically accurate, after all. you think of catholic guilt, how sometimes you feel bad when doing a good deed because the sense of pride you get from acting kind - that pride is a sin. the word "manipulation" is not without bias or stigma attached to it. many people with the fawn response are direct victims of someone who was malignantly manipulative. calling the victims manipulative too is an unfair and unkind reading of the situation. it would be better and more empathetic to say it is safety-seeking or connection-seeking behavior. yes, it can be toxic. no, in general it is not intended to be toxic. there is no reason to make mentally ill people feel worse for what we undergo.

you type why is everyone so quick to turn on someone showing clear signs of trauma but you already know the fucking answer, so what's the point of bothering. you kind of hate those this is what anxiety looks like! infographics because at this point you're so good at white-knuckling through a severe panic attack that people just think you're stoic. even people who know the situation sometimes comment you just don't seem depressed. and you're not a 9 year old white kid so there's no way you're on the spectrum, you're not obsessed with trains and you were never a good mathematician. okay then.

mental illness is trending. in 2012 tumblr said don't romanticize our symptoms but to be fair tiktok didn't exist yet. there's these series of videos where someone pretends to be "the most boring person on earth" and is just being a normal fucking person, which makes your skin crawl, because that probably means you are boring. your friend reads aloud a profile from tinder - no depressed bitches i fucking hate that mental illness crap. your father says that medication never actually works.

you still haven't told your grandmother that you're in therapy. despite everything (and the fact it's helping): you just don't want her to see you differently.

[wilteddreamsofbaldursgate]

I’m a fierce believer and defender of Smooth Brain Astarion (affectionate).

I love that, if left to his own devices, he ends up dead in a ditch. I love that this pasty menace of an elf is a walking disaster. I love that his brain produces one coherent thought per day, only to have it backfire on him later on. I love that his first choice in freedom is to unapologetically be the worst version of himself. Because it makes sense. 

That’s what abuse and trauma do to your brain—they fuck with it. 

And in Astarion’s defence, the man didn’t have to use his brain for nearly 200 years—it’s probably the very thing that kept him as alive as he can be; to survive 200 years of pure shit. 

And what use is his brain when his days and nights are dictated by someone else for as long as he can remember? When he has no say in what clothes he wears. When he doesn’t get to choose what or when to eat. When his body and mind aren’t his own, distorted by torture and hunger and self-loathing, forced to obey his vampiric master. Why use his brain when his survival depends exclusively on his abuser’s whims? 

Astarion could’ve come up with the most brilliant plan possible to escape Cazador or save a mark from their doom, but he never stood a chance of succeeding—which doesn’t mean that he didn’t get punished for trying (or even thinking about it) anyway.

Existing under Cazador was a game he couldn’t win, so why bother playing? 

And it’s only by chance that Astarion’s autonomy is returned to him literally overnight. It’s only natural that he’s overwhelmed by his newfound freedom. How is he expected to make sound decisions when he can’t even recall a time when he could do and say as he pleased? 

Of course Astarion is a walking disaster when he finds himself on that beach after the Nautiloid crash—and he’s fully aware of that! That’s why it’s so crucial for him to get on the player’s/other companion’s good side.

He’s self-aware enough to be so insecure about himself that he would rather trust a stranger’s capabilities than his own. 

Being a catastrophe of a person is part of Astarion’s character journey. Not only does he have to reclaim his personhood, he has to learn how to depend on his own brain again and I think that's such a painfully beautiful, important message Baldur’s Gate 3 sends. 

Because healing isn’t pretty. Nor is it easy.

You’re not alright the moment you’re free of whatever horrors you had to live through—and that’s ok! There’s time and room for you to adjust. 

And the moment Astarion feels more or less safe within his new environment, when he’s fed and treated like a person worthy of respect and consideration, his insights, skills and perception are crucial assets to the group.

Astarion knows his art and literature, and although his little remarks are unhinged at times, he's genuinely witty. Even his objections are, considering the circumstances, absolutely legitimate.

Personally, I love seeing Smooth Brain Astarion become more and more secure in his judgement the more Tav/other companions trust and support him.

Astarion is smart, his brain’s just been stewed for nearly 200 years.

[demigods-posts]

i was sitting in my room thinking of how convenient it is that the books in the pjo series takes places before or after the school year. then i remembered that ttc happened during winter break. and that percy and annabeth likely returned for their second semester after that quest. what a tragedy.

[weirdplutoprince]

Perhaps "fixed" would be a stretch but a girl can't help but think that a good PR team would have at least significantly improved Wei Wuxian's situation

[rizavii]

me personally if i was Zarkon i would have been so embarrassed after that fight in season one.

imagine being the all-powerful super feared ruler of 99% of the universe and all of a sudden this weird punk with approximately two weeks of Space Experience comes into YOUR HOUSE and starts throwing hands with you while his friends jail break what is possibly your most valuable prisoner.

the kid then proceeds to give you a genuinely difficult fight and leaves UNSCATHED (with the help of his brother dragging him out by scruff but STILL).

I'd never show my face again.

[that-foul-legacy-lover]

Hellu here with the idea of creator!melusine able to work with the hydro element and childe/foul legacy (and neuvi) showing them all the neat tricks?

*eats your idea in one bite* mmmm delicious and tasty :)

perhaps you're not even given a Hydro Vision- instead you have innate control over the waters of the Primordial Sea. in a way it makes sense, the waters being the oldest and most connected to the Creator, but you're still understandably a little spooked when parts of Fontaine's ocean begins bending to your will. Foul Legacy is absolutely ecstatic, however, chittering happily and gently cupping your mittens in his claws. your siblings curiously peek over your shoulders, oohing and aahing as they watch sparkling water form tiny shapes in your hands before dissolving again- you're just like their sister Sigewinne! except, you don't have a Hydro Vision, but you can control the water all the same!

Legacy admittedly wants to teach you how to fight as soon as he can, but Neuvillette lightly flicks him on the forehead with a frown, met with reluctant grumbles. they can both teach you, but first and foremost Neuvillette wants you to know basic control. he makes sure you never get overwhelmed, helping you learn and tempering the waves with his own power as the Hydro Sovereign if anything begins to get out of hand. when he's not here, Foul Legacy secretly teaches you how to make more complex shapes with the droplets, starting from a perfect sphere and moving your way up to eventual weapons- he WILL teach you how to fight with Hydro eventually, it's best to get an early start! although, his favorite thing to do is helping you make a tiny narwhal out of water, the miniature beast swimming around your antennae and Legacy's horns as he trills in delight

[infiniteglitterfall]

I guess this might be why the UK seemed to go so antisemitic so quickly

I'm researching the 1947 pogroms in the UK. (Actually, I'm researching all the pogroms and massacres of Jews in the past 200 years. Which today led me to discover that there were pogroms in the UK in 1947.)

From an article on "The Postwar Revival of British Fascism," all emphasis mine:

Given the rising antisemitism and widespread ignorance about Zionism [in the UK in 1947], fascists were easily able to conflate Zionist paramilitary attacks with Judaism in their speeches, meaning British Jews came to be seen as complicit in violence in Palestine.

Bertrand Duke Pile, a key member of Hamm’s League, informed a cheering crowd that “the Jews have no right to Palestine and the Jews have no right to the power which they hold in this country of ours.” Denouncing Zionism as a way to introduce a wider domestic antisemitic stance was common to many speakers at fascist events and rallies. Fascists hid their ideology and ideological antisemitism behind the rhetorical facade of preaching against paramilitary violence in Palestine.

One of the league’s speakers called for retribution against “the Jews” for the death of British soldiers in Palestine. This was, he told his audience, hardly an antisemitic expression. “Is it antisemitism to denounce the murderers of your own flesh and blood in Palestine?” he asked his audience. Many audience members, fascist or not, may well have felt the speaker had a point. ...[The photo of two British sergeants hanged by the Irgun in retaliation for the Brits hanging three of their members] promptly made numerous appearances at fascist meetings, often attached to the speaker’s platform. In at least one meeting, several British soldiers on leave from serving in Palestine attended Hamm’s speech, giving further legitimacy to his remarks. And with soldiers and policemen in Palestine showing increasing signs of overt antisemitism as a result of their experiences, the director of public prosecutions warned that the fascists might receive a steady stream of new recruits.

MI5, the U.K. domestic security service, noted with some alarm that “as a general rule, the crowd is now sympathetic and even spontaneously enthusiastic.” Opposition, it was noted in the same Home Office Bulletin of 1947, “is only met when there is an organized group of Jews or Communists in the audience.”

The major opposition came from the 43 Group, formed by the British-Jewish ex-paratrooper Gerry Flamberg and his friends in September 1946 to fight the fascists using the only language they felt fascists understood — violence. The group disrupted fascist meetings for two purposes: to get them shut down by the police for disorder, and to discourage attendance in the future by doling out beatings with fists and blunt instruments. By the summer of 1947, the group had around 500 active members who took part in such activities. Among these was a young hairdresser by the name of Vidal Sassoon, who would often turn up armed with his hairdressing scissors.

The 43 Group had considerable success with these actions, but public anger was spreading faster than they could counter the hate that accompanied it. The deaths of Martin and Paice had touched a nerve with the populace. On Aug. 1, 1947, the beginning of the bank holiday weekend and two days after the deaths of the sergeants, anti-Jewish rioting began in Liverpool. The violence lasted for five days. Across the country, the scene was repeated: London, Manchester, Hull, Brighton and Glasgow all saw widespread violence. Isolated instances were also recorded in Plymouth, Birmingham, Cardiff, Swansea, Newcastle and Davenport. Elsewhere, antisemitic graffiti and threatening phone calls to Jewish places of worship stood in for physical violence. Jewish-owned shops had their windows smashed, Jewish homes were targeted, an attempt was made to burn down Liverpool Crown Street Synagogue while a wooden synagogue in Glasgow was set alight. In a handful of cases, individuals were personally intimidated or assaulted. A Jewish man was threatened with a pistol in Northampton and an empty mine was placed in a Jewish-owned tailor shop in Davenport.

And an important addendum:

I've read a whole bunch of articles about the pogroms in Liverpool, Manchester, Salford, Eccles, Glasgow, etc.

Not one of them has mentioned that the Irgun, though clearly a terrorist group, was formed in response to 18 years of openly antisemitic terrorism, including multiple incredibly violent massacres. Or that it consistently acted in response to the murders of Jewish civilians, not on the offensive. Or that at this point, militant Arab Nationalist groups with volunteers and arms from the Arab League countries had been attacking Jewish and mixed Arab-Jewish neighborhoods for months.

I just think the "Jewish militants had been attacking the British occupiers" angle is incredibly Anglocentric.

Yeah, they were attacking the British occupiers. But also, that's barely the tip of the iceberg.

Everyone involved hated the Brits at this point. If only al-Husseini and his ilk had hated the Brits more than they hated the Jews, Britain could at least have united them by giving them a common enemy.

[redysetdare]

Maybe making jokes about "Invading" countries while we have multiple devastating wars that have massive invasions going on isn't the best look you guys.

[paperglader]

I’m a little obsessed with hsr’s mc so far cause she literally only has two modes:

1) imma smack you with this cone thing I just found

And

2) Literal wet dog. Dead in the eyes. Just done with everybody else’s shit from minute 0. Got dumped in the middle of a spaceship with no memories, no past or explanation, and now everyone’s trying to kill her at every turn. Just straight up not having a good a time.

+ she has a girlfriend

(She’s actually really funny too, and snarky, but I’m too lazy to find those screenshots)

Edit: I FORGOT TO MENTION THAT SHE HAS LIKE A BOMB IN HER CHEST. So. Like, the whole thing makes sense if you think about it.

[fatliberation]

hey you are incredible and you're doing amazing things for fat people everywhere, I'm so sorry for the abuse you deal with on behalf of the whole fat liberation tumblr community but I just wanted to say we're extremely grateful for everything you do 💛

aw thank you, I appreciate this so much <3

[sapphic-agent]

Kataang Shippers: Netflix Katara sucks! Where's her fire??

Me: Yeah, I would have preferred they kept her temper and spirit too. But to be fair the comics and LOK also-

Kataang Shippers: Katara deserved a quiet life after the war! She deserves better than feminists shitting on her for doing absolutely nothing after the war while her friends and husband and brother were fostering a new era! Just because fighting was one of her defining character traits and an integral part of her character arc doesn't mean it's bad writing that she gave it up! It makes TOTAL sense that she didn't do anything to earn a statue while even the cabbage man did!

Me: eye twitch

[tiyoin]

Does Rook ever just "watch" twisted anxiety reader ?? I feel like he just enjoys the reactions that comes out of the reader.

the moment rook noticed reader slow down during PE was when he got a new target🤭

(rook is gonna get introduced very soon!)

it was enviable becoming rook's next watch target. silly reader! did you really think you'd be safe from people's watchful eyes in the sanctuary of ramshackle? your room?

non non non!

ofc rook loves to watch yuu. he finds them as beautiful as a stem of grass. how they go whichever way the wind takes them with gusto and elegance. how no matter how violently the wind whips them around they'll always be surrounded, always be supported by their fellow blades of grass. winter may be hard, like the obstacles they face! they may get stepped on, trampled and abused. but they'll always stand tall no matter what the cruelness of winter throttles at them. and when the spring rolls around, there's more blades of grass this time. they all get stronger and stronger, forever nonyielding to any adversities.

as much as they were a fortress, they were also a home. insects and bugs alike call grassy plains home. what may seem like meters to us could be miles for them. the grass are smaller trees, rook would joke in French whenever he got the chance.

overbold after overbold, rook was more surprised than the last at their perseverance, just like that of a single blade of grass.

and yet, you were something else entirely.

you were a donkey.

non non non!! that is something you should be ashamed of!

donkeys are de toute beauté creatures! (rook is actually more offended than you were when you got upset he compared you to a donkey)

listen dear y/n! donkeys are peaceful creatures that do not need your narrow mindedness around them. they're doing their best and that's more than anyone else can do.

would you rather be friends with a show horse or a donkey?

if you say show horse rook can see why. they're beautiful, elegant, majestic creatures compared to the latter. they're the models of the mammal species.

and yet, show horses are vain, egoistical divas who are known to kick and prank their trainers. quite literally bite the hand that feeds them.

yes you feel good being around it, but when push comes to shove, they care more about their manes than yours.

donkeys, to others, may be less physically appealing than the mighty knights stead, and yet by live stock handlers are much more beloved.

donkeys, albeit enthused creatures, are sensitive, kind, are known to make incredibly strong bonds. they're loyal creatures, once befriending a donkey you have a friend for life. where you walk they walk, when you cry they cry.

donkey's do not have manes so they do not care for them.

donkeys are very social animals, it is strongly advised of rhyme to not be solo as they become incredibly distressed and depressed when not in the company of their loved ones.

and dear reader, he must call you a donkey because have you SEEN your-

*rook is thrown in horny jail*

but rook is definitely one to appreciate the hidden gems of the world. and with his (and vil's) help he could make you shine! hiding uncut gems is an addictive feeling, but being able to shape and mend those rocks into crystals- that's what rook loves.

he wants everyone else to see the beauty that is you the beauty that you keep locked away in a hidden tower inside your heart. thick vines and unkept underbrush scatter along the walls of stone, titanium, and glass guard your tower.

rook will do what he must to get that box inside the tower, under the bed. he will do whatever it takes to open that box and show the world it's contents.

so why don't you join him for lunch? dear y/n.

and if the world turns it away he'll happily nuzzle it. as you always say: more for me!

uh, but to answer the question: yes. rook does watch twisted anxiety reader. it's apart of his schedule. he especially loves their unpredictability.

you have a class today, will you make it? or will you skip it again? if you skip it, then that's okay!

there's a few times where you've made him pause to think. but there were other times you were so painfully predictable. so painfully predictable that he felt perverted when he guessed the time you were gonna go to the library. only to see you walk in through the heavy oak doors not a second too late nor early.

and oh my god he loves watching reader's reactions. this mf would keep a track sheet 😭

would you continue playing the role of l'agneau, or would you let your fangs peek through your wooly disguise in hopes that the others wouldn't realize.

rook (and admittedly a few others) want to put you under a microscope.

poor reader would never leave ramshackle again if they found out! it works out for rook that the reader thinks they're unremarkable, it really does. cause it keeps them 'grounded' and in their own little buule! so he doesn't have to worry about any outside forces or them thinking a little too hard about their shadow.

[hedgehog-moss]

forgive me for the possibly foolish question, but what kind of care do the fish in the aquaponics require? do you have to feed them to a certain point where the plants then supply their diet, or do you continuously care for them? merci! i love your blog 🌱

The plants don't feed the fish, it's the other way around :) The plants use the fish poop as natural fertiliser (with the help of useful bacteria that break it down), and in doing so they clean the water for the fish. Here's a little diagram

Since my system has towers over the fish tank rather than grow beds, the fish do nibble on the plant roots that dip in the water but that's just an illegal snack, fish food is their main diet. Also when I find little insects on the plants, I shake them so the insect falls in the water where the fish give it an enthusiastic welcome. Some aquaponic gardeners farm insects to feed their fish (and they feed the insects with some of the plants so they have a complete symbiotic system) but I haven't tried that yet. I used to successfully breed dynasties of stick insects in a terrarium in my bedroom as a kid, so maybe someday.

The fish part of the aquaponic system is very low-maintenance—I don't clean the tank since the plants absorb the fish waste, I just have to adjust how much I feed the fish depending on how many plants there are, so the water doesn't get dirty, it's a bit of a balancing act. The main other thing to watch for is the water pH, for plants it should be around 6 or 6.5 (ideally) and for fish around 7 or 7.5, so I try to keep it between 6.5 and 7 to keep everyone reasonably happy. Rainwater has a lower pH and my spring has a higher one, so when I fill up my watering can in the tank to water outside plants, I look at the pH meter and top up the tank with rain or spring water depending on what's needed.

You just have to be careful not to pick up a hitchhiker fish in your watering can as you go to water other plants!

[sad-trash-hobo]

You know what. I get why Anakin went to the darkside. You're gonna show me the Phantom Menace and hear Qui Gon tell Anakins mother that he isn't there to free the slaves, just pick up her son on a whim. And then to have him go and return Jabbas son, JABBAS SON, back to him? After he was owned by Gardulla? And no one says that that was inappropriate to have him do. And then in the Zygeria arc for Anakin to be upset about slavers, as he should, and Obi Wan tell Ahsoka that Anakin and his mother were sold into slavery so it's a touchy subject for him. He wasn't even sold into slavery. He was born into it! And this was Obi Wan, Anakins supposed brother? Shocking that Anakin would feel so betrayed and undervalued that he would go to the dark side. Anakin shouldn't have ever been a jedi. He should've been in therapy on Naboo with his wife. I love you Obi Wan, but you really did fail and I also hate you, in this essay I will-