#you don't want to die with your child only 10 years old

[firawren]

Yes, the Prince should have let the Enchantress inside

Time for another Disney Beauty and the Beast 1991 rant, because I'm feeling real salty today.

I'm tired of seeing people saying the Enchantress was awful for cursing the Prince because he was a child and shouldn't let strangers inside his house.

No. He 100% should have let her inside.

First of all, he probably wasn't a child. The only evidence he was a child is Howard Ashman's "10 years we've been rusting" lyric because Howard wanted him to be a kid. The two directors of the film wanted him to be like late teens, and all other evidence in the film points to that. So, he has no canonical age at which he was cursed. (And no, him being a kid in Enchanted Christmas doesn't count as canon within the context of BatB 1991 and analyzing the original prologue.)

BUT HEY EVEN IF he was a child, you're mistakenly thinking of him as an ordinary child in modern times and the castle as a modern ordinary house. Neither of those things make any sense. He wasn't just some kid, he was a prince, a leader, a guardian for his people that he was supposed to protect, no matter his age. The castle was his home, yes, but it was much more than that, practically a public place, for his subjects to gather. Any of his subjects should be able to come there and ask to enter.

BUT HEY EVEN IF he was a modern child in a modern house who was taught about "stranger danger," remember that there were dozens if not hundreds of adults in the house with him. He wasn't home alone, nor did he live in a modern normal neighborhood. If you live in the middle of nowhere with no shelter anywhere else for miles, just a forest full of deadly wolves and bears and who knows what other scary shit, and a frail old lady comes to your house at night in the freezing cold, and asks nicely to come in, because she is 100% guaranteed to die if she doesn't, and there are like 87 adults around to make sure she doesn't get up to any mischief inside your house, and you have tons of space and food for her, are you honestly telling me you'd be cool with your kid turning her away to die? No! You would have wanted your kid to let her in and your servants to take care of her. It doesn't matter that you don't know her. You don't go around committing manslaughter when you can save someone's life with zero risk, cost, or inconvenience to yourself.

It was so fucking cruel and sadistic for the Prince to turn her away. There was literally no reason to do it, absolutely zero downside to letting her in. Any halfway decent person would have let her in. Hell, even a dick like Gaston would have let her in. It would be insane for anyone to turn her away in modern times, let alone back then, let alone if you're her fucking leader who has a responsibility for her well-being.

You can still debate whether that horrific mistake was enough to warrant getting cursed over (though we know from the prologue it wasn't a one-off, but I digress), but you cannot debate that it wasn't a horrific mistake. It was. It was dead wrong. Period. And the Prince was a complete sack of shit for doing it, child or no.

[raconteur-wanpi]

OK, but really, I'm genuinely so sad this fandom doesn't talk enough about Vinsmoke Reiju. She's legitimately one of my absolute favorite characters in the entire story and a lot of people don't see how absolutely tragic she is.

Just. She had to stay behind. She had to stay behind so Sanji can be free, she could never join him. She can only live her dreams of escaping her horrible, horrible family vicariously through him, the only person left in that household she loved. And she had to let him go. Because if she left, an army would follow behind her to get her back; she's a "success" after all. And also because she had already deemed herself a monster. After Sora died, Sanji was all Reiju had left. And then she was alone. Stuck with them for 13 years. Stuck with the wolves. The only way to survive being to mould herself after them.

From the beginning, it was never slip up, never make a mistake, always be perfect or you're next. Pretend to laugh at the misery of the only person in your family you haven't lost hope in, knowing that he might hate you forever after this, feeling like a coward. But you're a child. A mere child, a little 10-year-old girl, and you're scared. And she already saw herself as unworthy of that freedom at that age. She's not like Sanji, she was born to play the role of a monster. Even with her intact emotions, she's still trained soldier. She has the symbol of Germa tattooed on her, how could she ever escape it? She has blood on her hands; not because of her own choices, but because of the commands she's physically incapable of disobeying. She looks at him and tells him he looks so much like their mother, but she denies to accept that so does she.

She's the firstborn, dad's perfect little girl, his first success, his obedient property. The man who she grew to hate so much, when she found out he was going to be assassinated, she didn't warn him, because she hoped it would actually happen. Even if it meant throwing her own life away as well. When she saw him beg for his life she just, rightfully, felt no guilt or remorse. Just anger and satisfaction, even as she herself was about to die, something that seemed she wanted happen. But when he got attacked later on, she showed concern, because unlike Sanji, to her he still is, dad. He's dad, who held you and called you his wonderful child. He's dad, who raised you and showed pride in you. He's dad, who potentially put some sort of authority chip in your brain and forced you to stain your hands in blood. He's the man who killed your mother. She hates him. She wants him dead. She can't stop seeing him as family, and shows concern when he's hurt. It's more complex than how her brother sees him, and it's visceral and real and upsetting.

She had to stay behind. And after all of that, she had to relive the goodbye to the only person left in her family whom she ever loved. God. I hope she gets to see Sanji again. I hope she escapes. I hope one day she finally gets to taste his cooking. She never got the chance to do that, didn't she?

[nikalaeva]

I've been seeing a lot of "pro-Rhysand" arguments for ACOSF lately, like: "How dare you suspect that Rhysand is a villain and manipulator if he would have died with Feyre and the baby too??!!!"

Well, who's to blame? Maybe, two idiots who decided to make a mutual death pact and then have a baby without thinking for a second about the risk with wings? Okay, Feyre is 20 and has intellect of a goldfish. But what about this 500-year-old fairy, most cunning ruler with a thousand multi-moves?

I've seen smart people speculate about whether Feyre could have changed form early on, about the timing of ovulation, egg fertilization and implantation, etc. Even if Feyre hadn't changed form, the chance of conceiving a child with wings WAS STILL 25%. Not 1, 5 or 10% of life-threatening situation - 25%.

If you were offered unprotected sex with a 1 in 4 chance of getting pregnant (or catch a venereal disease or HIV), would you take risk? Or if, when planning a pregnancy, your doctor told you that there is a 25% chance of dying during childbirth from bleeding, you wouldn’t think about it, wouldn’t you consult a specialist?

And I'm supposed to believe that this man male will be a good, responsible father? The man male who was ready to die along with his wife, whom he "didn't want to worry"? The man male who was ready to leave his child an orphan, a burden on his "family" of a dumb soldier, a spy-executioner with a bunch of traumas, an eternal drunk woman female and an old hag who can only scares children?

I don't think so. I find it easier to believe that Rhysand is an asshole and abuser than that he is such stupid and irresponsible moron.

[mercy-burning]

The first lines... (Tag Game)

I was tagged by the ever-so-lovely @foxy-eva to post the first few lines of my 10 most recent fanfics!

(and once again i am taking the coward's way out and not tagging anyone... one day my impostor syndrome will not exist and i can tag people in peace without feeling like i'm annoying them lmaoaoao. but feel free to do it and say i tagged you if you'd like!)

Of Bases & Supernovas -- "As your fingers thoroughly comb through his hair, weaving and tugging and eliciting the most pathetic sounds from his mouth, Spencer Reid briefly reflects on how he got himself into this situation. Two murders in the last two months, and then a third. Escalation. Bruised, bloody faces and shattered glass lodged into the throats of three single men, all of whom no other obvious connections could be found. Until one finally walked into the station... Until you."

Backseat Benefits -- "You like to think you know Spencer pretty well; Two years of being friends and two more of a relationship under your belts has more than proven your mutual knowing and loving and understanding of each other. Still, he manages to find ways to surprise you every day without even trying."

R&R -- "A day off—a true day off—from working at the BAU is extremely rare, especially considering all the little things that pop up in between cases, like requests from other departments and endless piles of paperwork. Even when you technically have a day or even a weekend off, there's always someone calling to ask for a second opinion on something or for a second opinion on something or for a confirmation that you sent in a report of some kind. Bottom line: there's always something."

Don't Stop -- "It's not unlike you to be vocal when being intimate with him, but right now, Spencer is hearing sounds he's never heard before—beautiful, vulgar, and oh-so-desperate. They vibrate deliciously into the crook of his neck as your cotton-clad hips rock back and forth over his thigh."

Exposure -- "'And what about your sexual relationships?' You freeze like a deer in headlights, unwilling to budge no matter how loudly his horn is blaring. Even as he asks again, your name a gentle coax on the surface of his tongue, you remain perfectly still. 'Did I strike a nerve?' he asks sweetly with a tilt of his head."

Here We're In Love (Apricity) -- "There was once a time in Spencer's life when being in bed didn't generate a strong feeling of any kind. It was simply a task needed to end the day and transition into another, a means to an end, and least of all a luxury; Even when he was a child, responsibility outranked reveling in the comfort of a warm bed."

...I Wonder -- "The first job I ever had also happened to be the best job I ever had. I was twenty years old, and I found an ad in the paper searching for a full-time nanny to a little boy. I didn't think anything of it, other than I desperately needed the money and I didn't mind babysitting. A few years out of school with no plans to attend college and no solid idea of what I wanted to do with my life, I wasn't sure if I'd even get hired."

A Weekend in Paradise (Summer of Sin Bonus Chapter) -- "The only thing warmer than the blazing sun above me, the only thing that could burn me to the greatest extent until I was nothing but a pile of ash, is the way Spencer is staring at me right now. Mom is reading a book quietly, laying her legs over his lap as they lounge on the loveseat, and Andrew is with me on the patio, rubbing sunscreen on my limbs. Even though we're far enough apart so no one can hear any conversation from the other party, the unspoken jealousy radiating from both Spencer and I is loud enough to drown out an entire concert venue."

A Study in Anchored Souls -- "Spencer Reid always knew he would die. It was a cold, hard fact of life that at one point, everyone would die. It was unsure when or how, but it happened. There was no escaping it. That thought alone was enough to squander most of his anxieties about death—even after a few near-death experiences and the constant danger his line of work tended to throw at him throughout his lifetime. Still, the one thing he couldn't stand to think about was the 'after'."

A Kindness You Can't Afford -- "There's a small pit in your gut that only deepens when you hear a knock at the door. A chill permeates your nervous system and sends you off on shaky limbs until you reach it, and as your palm comes in contact with the cool metal of the doorknob, you're disappointed to discover that the contrast does nothing to comfort the hot and clammy skin. Unless the person behind the door turns out not to be who you think, you will not know that comfort."

[mineral-vulture]

The Road to Hell is Paved with Good Intentions

You know, for Go Rush (and Sevens) being the lighter and sillier Yugioh series in tone it really does have moments of sorrow.

OKAY I wanna talk about Sevens and Go Rush and how both series have this weird underlying of tragedy in it. So uh spoilers for both series below. Oh and it will be long.

My boyfriend @siromany and I watched Go Rush first because we were fascinated that one out of the three protags (I will die on the hill that Yuamu and Yuhi are protags along with Yudias) is an alien. We were watching it and wondering the series' connection to Sevens especially when we would see shots of Yuga. We did eventually figure out it was in the past. After we watched the episode where Yuga, Yuamu, and Yuhi go to the future as cats seeing the time period where Yuga came from we discussed the possible turmoil that Yuga feels. At this point what we knew about him was that he made rush duels in his time, somehow ended up on the past, and had to make rush duels to help prevent the valgerian's war. Seeing one of his friends inform him that the game he created, rush duels, also went through the same thing like in the real yugioh meta. Overly complicated, unfriendly to new players, and pushing out children who are the main demographic from the game. We both felt sadden for him finding this info out but it seemed like he was able to take it in a "Well that just means someone else has to come by and fix it again" sort of positive view. Not long after watching that episode I suggested we watch Sevens since this series is going to have more references and connections to it. That and there is context we are missing. So we did just that and I will say I am glad we watched it the way we did because it gave a unique perspective on both series. Watching Sevens we were able to see how the Go Rush counterparts are inversions to how each dynamic was different which was super cool. When we were getting to the ending of Sevens both of us felt the pain of knowing what was going to happen to Yuga. We kept thinking back to the Go Rush episode where he returns to his time and now that episode is more painful with full context.

Returning to Go Rush and watching Yuga's journey it truly sunk in that him going back to the present for a bit only to be told that what he did in the past did not change the present but in fact CAUSED what all happened was NOT good for Yuga to find out. Yugioh in 7 out of 8 series has always had the theme of going against destiny and being able to fight against it, Vrains being the exception, and how the main characters can prove the antagonists wrong in some way. Sevens and Go Rush seem to have more of the theme of "You can fight against destiny but there is a consequence to it and you may not like what that is". I vaguely know there are people who don't really sympathize with what Yuga did in the later half of Go Rush which like I can kind of get. However lets put ourselves in Yuga's position, shall we?

You are a 10 year old child who has been thrust into the past after trying to protect your creation from a man who wanted it destroyed. A creation that was made from joy and love of duel monsters. Trying to bring the game back to the demographic it was made for, children. Making rush duels simple to understand but also fun to play. You a stranded in a place that is both familiar and unfamiliar and you need to find a way back home. But you are stopped by a man and his crew who are demanding you to create rush duels. You don't want to do this, you know this could affect the past. But you overhear that his man's species have been fighting in a big war for a long time and that the conflict has not ceased. Dueling from your experience has brought people closer and you can communicate through to people's hearts to make them understand (a common yugioh staple about dueling) and while you may not know why this guy wants rush duels to exist or how he knows of them, you have hope that maybe this could help stop strife. Maybe making them this early wouldn't be so bad? That and maybe making it early that could mean you could change the past of dueling and therefore the future of it for the better. You not just do such but along the way meet the ancestors of people who look similar to your friends. But they aren't the same people which logically makes sense but doesn't hurt any less. They remind you of home, a place that now you have kind of given up going back to. But hey, chin up! Rush Duels ending up saving the Velgearian and ending their war! That's great, you DID have a positive impact! Making Rush duels in the past was for the better.

Wait, now these two random guys have created Maximums by turning people into cards? Uh, that is a lot worse than how they were originally made. You get turned into card and two whole years pass while you are in that state. But no worries, you know you can trust you ancestors and their Velgearian friend to solve this. It'll all be fine. You then get sent back to the present just for a bit to observe your friends. But going back you are told by one of them that Dueling became complicated and out of the reach of kids. What you did in the past didn't change it. In fact, YOU caused the same cycle to happen. You try to ignore that thought and tell yourself that it can be fixed, you can change this. You head back to the past promising you will return home...hopefully. unbeknownst to you, your presence is creating a rift between two best friends because of their feelings for you. Feelings you are unaware of because at this point you are a 12 year old boy. One of them is the ancestor of the six ceos of Goha company, a company that in the future creates duel monsters, while the other is the ancestor of the Mutsuba company that deals with construction and is of now the owner of the city. Where you came from the town was called Goha city, not Mutsuba, the descendant of Mutsuba talked about how her family lost power and how Goha took over everything. In the past both companies were super close but then everything fell...and that falling is happening before you but you aren't even aware of it. But well at least the Maximum situation has been sol-oh a prototype of the Velgearian species is causing issues? Great, okay that can be solved. While it does get solved...you find out that the Velgearian are dying and fast. They are being wiped out, but why? You thought they were immortal, what could possibly be causing their extinction? They are using their energy while rush dueling which is shortening their lifespan. The thing you created to help them is what is going to end them. You are responsible for their demise. But then you find out that proto-Velgearian was trying to find a way to stop this. That he was looking into a way to revive the Velgearian but that research stopped. Your friends are trying to complete his goal but you begin to put the pieces together and realize what is being made, Monster Reborn.

The card that began the domino effect of the destruction of Rush Duels in your time. A card that alters the memories of others. The card that caused strife between siblings where they decided to destroy rush duels along with each other. It is now sinking in how everything is repeating itself and how this could be your fault. You have to, no, you NEED to stop this. Even if it means hurting those you care about. Even if they see you as their enemy and you are alone, you have to do this. You have to destroy what you love, you have to become the person you tried stopping before coming here. You now understand why he was trying to stop you those years ago. What other option is there? You can't tell them why making this card would be bad because your Velgearian friend wants his comrades back. He won't listen. No one will listen. The needs of the many out weigh the needs of the few as they say. You fight your ancestors tooth and nail only for the card to be used and now all three of you can see each other's memories. Your ancestors now know what all will happen. You loose against them and the card is now unleashed. You couldn't stopped it. Your duel caused a rift in reality to open where now you can go home but you are leaving behind a road of the damage you have caused. Made worse with the fact that Monster Reborn can't even revive the Velgearian which is why the proto-Velgearian stopped his research. Making the card was pointless, and trying to stop it was utterly pointless. Your fighting to change the future only caused it to happen. You have to live with that. But not just you, but your ancestors too.

I know this is the goofy card game show but what the fuck. I didn't expect Yuga to become one of the most tragic yugioh protags. Watching his desperation of trying to stop the pain that is going to happen in his time and in turn having to destroy the very thing he loves was just heartbreaking. Anyway, I hope whoever reads this enjoyed my ramblings on Sevens and Go Rush. That and I hope people who weren't sympathetic to Yuga try to at least understand my perspective and such. Though I tend to like tragic characters a lot so maybe that is why I am sympathetic to him.

[beecauseevan]

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December 2023

"Home Alone?" Chim says the title like a question he doesn't really want answered, with a not insignificant amount of trepidation. 

"What's it about?" Buck asks innocently, fiddling with a pair of craft scissors, the bright pink plastic of the handle a stark contrast against his dark blue uniform pants. 

"It's about a boy," Chim explains. "He's home alone."

"He almost murders two burglars," Eddie adds helpfully, because that seems like a pretty crucial detail. 

Buck hums. Then, after a few seconds of hopeful silence, he shakes his head. "Doesn't ring a bell."

Chim groans. There are two stacks of DVDs on the coffee table, the one on the right drastically higher than the other. Home Alone quickly joins the looming tower, another entry in the seemingly endless list of shows and movies you simply have to watch, according to Chim and probably several Buzzfeed articles, unless your name is Evan Buckley and your childhood sucked. 

Chim's desperate eyes meet Eddie's. Eddie shrugs. He doesn't even try to hide his smile. 

"I don't know what you expected."

Chim sighs, because of Eddie's comment or maybe just the general situation, and turns back to the coffee table to survey the stacks. Though, given that the left one consists of exactly one DVD, stack is probably not the right term. 

"How is Die Hard the only Christmas movie you've seen?" 

"Maddie made me watch it," Buck replies, opening the scissors and closing them again, cutting the air with cheaply metallic little snipsnipsnips.

"I guess that's my legacy," Chim says morosely, and gets up. "I have more DVDs in my locker. Don't go anywhere."

"Who even uses DVDs in this day and age?" Buck calls after him. "There's this thing called Netflix, old man. You should give it a try."

Chim is still flipping him off when he gets to the stairs and the dimness of the 10 PM app bay swallows him whole. 

"What are you doing anyway?" Eddie asks, nodding at the mess Buck has made of his half of the couch. Paper cuttings cover the leather like snow, leftovers from the pile of strange sculptures he's gathered in his lap. 

"I'm making snowflakes," Buck informs him. Eddie levels a—pointed, doubtful—look at one of those sculptures, misshapen and strangely bug-like in nature, and Buck amends, "I'm trying to make snowflakes. I want to make some with Jee, so I looked up, uh, child-friendly crafts, but—this is way more difficult than I thought. And if I can't do it, there's no way a two-year old can do it." 

Eddie thinks back to a sunny afternoon in his kitchen, to two very different kinds of heart drawings spread out on his kitchen table. Chris got an A on his sketch. Buck's had a heart-shaped button nose. Jee will probably do just fine. 

"Practice makes perfect," Eddie tells him cheerfully, patting his shoulder. "If you keep it up, you're gonna have the fine motor skills of a preschooler in no time."

"Screw you," Buck replies. "I'm holding scissors. I could stab you."

Eddie glances at the scissors, eyes the childproof rounded tip. "Sure."

Before Buck can prove to him just how dangerous those craft scissors can be—and he looks like he's definitely considering it—a shrill ringing interrupts the relative nighttime peace that has settled over the firehouse. DVDs and ugly snowflakes get abandoned, gear equipped and the truck boarded, and just a little over ten minutes later, they're standing on the set of some Hollywood blockbuster Buck probably won't watch either, and for a moment, Eddie forgets to be professional. 

"Holy shit."

The set in front of them, a fake street hemmed in by fake brownstone facades, might have looked festive, maybe, at some point, but there's not much left of that now. It's all buried beneath white goo, glittering ominously under the studio lights, more horror flick than Hallmark movie. What looks like the grayscale aftermath of a Slimer attack is the result of a bunch of fake snow machines gone wild, and next to Eddie, Buck has stopped dead in his tracks too. 

"Holy shit," he echoes. 

Bobby, strutting through the mess with the grace of a former figure skating star, calls for them, and they start moving. 

Truth be told, there's not that much they can do here. The machines are already turned off, and there's no fire that needs putting out, no car wrecks, no stuck elevators. They're here because three of the crew members fell unconscious after they came in contact with the goo, but it's probably some type of allergic reaction, so Chim and Hen have it handled. That gives Buck some time to look around, his face painfully open with curiosity and that strange, enviable love for life that comes so naturally to him, and it gives Eddie some time to watch him do it, watch as his eyes, bright and blue, take in the scene. 

"Did you know that the largest snowflake ever recorded was 15 inches wide? They found it in Montana, in 1887."

"No," Eddie says honestly, because what the hell. "Nobody who isn't you would know that. And I call bullshit. 15 inches? Come on."

"I didn't come up with it," Buck tells him. "Otherwise I'd have a Nobel prize."

"They give out Nobel prizes for that?"

"They should," Buck says, and at Eddie's dubious look, he quickly continues. "Snow is fun, Eddie. People like snow."

"I don't like snow," Eddie replies. It gets below freezing in El Paso, but usually only at night, and even then it rarely snows. He doesn't miss much about Texas but he does miss that. Then again, Southern California isn't that different. Which may or may not be why he picked Los Angeles over Chicago.

"Snow is beautiful," Buck argues. "Magical, festive—"

"Cold, slippery, dangerous—"

"Come on."

Eddie spreads his arms, look around, and Buck does, but only so he can look back at Eddie and roll his eyes.

"That's not snow," he says, kicking his foot as if to prove a point. He sends a clump of goo flying in Bobby's general direction, and Bobby glances over his shoulder to give them a long-suffering look.

"Snow is snow," Eddie says, just to be contrary. 

"One day I'll show you," Buck decides. "I'll take you to Hershey. Then you'll see." 

"Sure, Buck," Eddie says. "Sure."

December 2024

At the time he'd laughed it off, but now, a year later, Eddie understands that suggestion for the invitation it was. Buck invited him to spend Christmas in Hershey—his hometown, where his parents live. That feels significant, somehow, even though it probably wasn't meant to be. Buck was probably just joking, probably didn't mean anything by it, just wanted to introduce Eddie to the dubious wonder that is a snowy winter. Even now, a year later, it's a ridiculous suggestion. Eddie doesn't even like visiting his own parents over the holidays, and he doesn't dislike them nearly as much as he sometimes hates Buck's. 

It's a ridiculous idea, but if Buck brought it up now, a year later, Eddie would say yes in an instant. 

Because now, a year later, Buck's smile has faded. His skin is pallid and bruised, his large frame looks strangely small. A hospital gown will do that to you, Eddie thinks, as he stares at the wires, the tubes, all those foreign objects attached to his best friend's too-still body. 

What a difference a year can make.

Written for the @911countdowntochristmas - this was supposed to be 24 drabbles but the Buddie NDE speculation going around pre 8x08 inspired me and now it's a 24-mini-chaptered fic instead. And definitely more hurt/comfort than fluff. Oops.

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[obsessionsandme]

Why did Dick leave?

So there’s this take that has been bothering me recently: it's often framed that, in current versions of canon where Dick Grayson is fired from being Robin, that while, yes, him being fired from Robin can be acknowledged, it's not like Dick Grayson was kicked out. So, it's seen as Dick choosing to leave, and the conversation is often centered around Bruce being emotionally insensitive and wrong, but Dick should've known better and recognized this as Bruce just lashing out from fear of Dick getting hurt. Maybe if we were going with really old canon (like 40s, 50s), I could see that interpretation, but I feel like that's quite disingenuous interpretation of these events based on the various canonical versions of Dick getting fired from being Robin. I think there's an interesting angle to this when you consider the fact that this isn't the first time Dick was fired.

Ok, so I understand everyone has different opinions shall we say about Robin: Year One (spoilers ahead), but I think if you choose to engage with this canon, it changes the way I at least viewed Dick's final firing from being Robin. Just to bring you up to speed: in the comic, Dick gets nearly beaten to death as Robin in front of Batman by Harvey Dent, while Batman is tied up and watching until he's able to free himself and save Dick. Following this, Bruce Wayne chooses this very emotionally mature response:

Yes Bruce, let's not be compassionate to the child that was nearly just killed, let's go straight to "you're fired." Not surprising but definitely disappointing. I think what's not talked much about is the aftermath though. The point is often made in fandom that even if Bruce fired Dick from Robin, he would still want Dick to be there because he values Dick as a person himself, not just as Robin. However, after Bruce gives this speech, he makes no attempt to engage with Dick. Sure, in the comic, it's written as both of them not saying anything to each other, with Alfred saying "The young sir adjusts his schedule to normal working hours." However, remember: Dick Grayson is a literal child in this comic- he doesn't have the onus of communicating with Bruce. And it's clear that as Bruce takes no initiative to talk with Dick.

And the comic couldn't be more explicitly clear that, as a result of this, Dick runs away from home since he feels that Bruce doesn't need nor want him.

I think from this, a clear and explicit line can be drawn from the past to present, where it is seen that Dick sees his place in Bruce's life as being explicitly tied to Robin. And I'm sure that throughout their time living together, maybe Dick started to feel differently, but an insecurity like this doesn't just disappear. When such a similar situation happens years later where Bruce decides to fire him again, what would stop Dick from thinking the same thing?

As a matter of fact, in this same comic, there is no real resolution of this conflict. Bruce says nothing to the effect of loving Dick or viewing him as a son, instead as soon as they're both back in the cave:

Who reads a letter where your pseudo-son is like: hey I don't think you want or need me so I'm running away, and has this response? Basically, Bruce says "I'll let you be Robin again but only if you follow my orders always, even if that means I die." Wonderful Bruce, 10/10. This fear is never assuaged at all, so I get confused when people speak on how Dick should've been so sure in his place in Bruce's life. Like, this boy literally could not have been clearer about his insecurities and Bruce sidesteps them in this moment and more than that- reaffirms that Dick's role in his life is only as a Robin that follows his orders always.

I understand a lot of people don't like this comic or don't enjoy to engage with it, but I feel like the parallels between this comic and any comic that deals with Dick Grayson's eventual firing are so strong that I couldn't not speak on it. I understand that other comics could lead to different interpretations on their relationship and center more on Bruce showing how much he cares about Dick outside Robin, but I feel like this point is still valid as in other comics, Dick has expressed this insecurity of not feeling secure as his son.

Tales of New Teen Titans #50

In this case, Dick is affirmed as Bruce's son, but this still speaks to the lingering insecurities Dick has about his role in Bruce's life in my opinion. As spoken on earlier, these insecurities are not unfounded and make a lot of sense for Dick to have because Bruce doesn't speak on his love for Dick as a son much at all because he's emotionally insensitive and because of, frankly, the way Bruce centers Robin over Dick.

So yes, Dick left but not because he was just very angry about having Robin taken form him (which I still think is very valid) but also because he has reasons to believe that Robin being fired is a rejection of Dick Grayson himself.

[fraumagdagoebbels]

Mrs. Goebbels said to the children: "Children, don't be afraid, the doctor will now give you an injection that all children and soldiers will now receive." With these words she left the room.

8:40 p.m. (on May 1st). After 10 minutes, Mrs. Goebbels, accompanied by me, went into the children's room, where she stayed for about five minutes and placed a crushed ampoule of cyanide in each child's mouth. (Each glass ampoule contained 1.5 cm high 3 cyanide.) When we returned to the anteroom, she said: "Now it's all over."

Then I went with her down to Goebbels' study, where we found him pacing up and down the room in a very nervous state. As she entered the study, Mrs. Goebbels said: "It's over with the children, now we have to think about ourselves." Goebbels replied: "We have to hurry, because we have very little time." Then Mrs. Goebbels said: "Here in the We don't want to die in the bunker," and Goebbels added: "It's clear, we're going out into the garden." His wife replied: "Not into the garden, but to Wilhelmsplatz, where you have worked all your life." (Wilhelmsplatz is located between the Reich Propaganda Ministry building and the Reich Chancellery.) During the course of the conversation, Goebbels thanked me for making her fate easier, then he said goodbye to me, wishing me success in life and a happy return home.

Words of Dr. Helmut Kunz where he recounted the situation in the Führer's bunker before and after the murder of the children. He was arrested after the war and interrogated about the fate of the Goebbels family.

On May 2, 1945, in the center of Berlin, on the Wilhelmsplatz, lieutenant colonels and majors in the presence of Berlin residents - Germans Lange, Wilhelm, the chef of the Reich Chancellery, and Schneider, Karl, the garage master of the Reich. Office - at 5 pm someone discovered the charred corpses of a man and a woman. They were Joseph and Magda Goebbels. Two pistols Walther no. 1 (damaged by fire) lay at the head of the two bodies.

A singed gold cigarette case was discovered on the Frau Goebbels' body, a gold NSDAP party badge and a singed gold brooch were discovered on the body. In addition, when the cigarette case found with the woman's body was examined, the monogram “Adolf Hitler - 29. X. 34” in German was discovered on the inside of a lid; As Voß explained, the case had been used by Magda for the last three weeks. Voß recognized the charred female corpse as Magda Goebbels and justified his statement with the information that the female corpse was the corpse of Goebbels' wife due to its stature (a little over medium size) and because of the NSDAP's gold party badge. (Magda was the only German woman to wear this badge; it was presented to her by Hitler three days before his suicide.)

On May 3, 1945, the corpses of children were discovered. Children's corpses lying on beds in a separate room in the bunker of the Reich Chancellery. They were dressed in white nightgowns, the girls had ribbons in their hair.

To identify the bodies on site, the prisoners of war - the personal representative of Grand Admiral Dönitz in the Führer's headquarters, Vice Admiral Voß, Hans-Erich, born 1897, the garage master of the Reich Chancellery, Schneider, Karl Friedrich Wilhelm and the cook of the Reich Chancellery, Lange, Wilhelm – who knew Goebbels, his wife and children personally well. Vice Admiral Voß, Lange and Schneider clearly identified the corpses - during interrogation and when the corpses were presented - as Goebbels, his wife and children... On May 1st. J. saw Voss Goebbels for the last time at 8:30 p.m. in the air raid shelter where Hitler's headquarters was housed. Goebbels explained in a conversation with Voß that family would follow Hitler's example, they would end their lives by suicide.

When viewing the children's bodies, Voß identified all of them as Goebbels' children, as he had seen them several times; One of the girls, Goebbels' daughter Heide, who was four years old, had been to Voß's apartment several times with her parents.

[loonylooly]

at this point i'm wondering what sarah is thinking when writing her love interests, like ok it's clear she finds them hot but like....are they good people

Rhys:

UTM lap dance shenanigans

throwing Feyre into danger constantly (Weaver, destroying cauldron, getting the book from Adriata, etc etc)

Still not doing jack shit about wing clippings in Illyria?? Emerie is right there, Rhysand, go enforce your damn laws

Insulting his wife's sister constantly

Almost killed his wife's sister cause she dared give her important medical information

Locked Lucien (MY BOY!!) in the house of wind

Locked Nesta in the house of wind

Didn't give Mor any warning that time he made her face her abusers and she cried i think (ngl i forgot most of it)

Ignoring Hewn City even tho...Kier is like the only bad guy we've seen from there?? Surely there's decent people in Hewn City, don't gotta make everyone suffer

Nesta windhaven kidnapping intervention so she stops spending Rhys' money (if it was really about her own sake, they would've put a stop to it much earlier)

Seemingly alienates everyone in Feyre's life that could and would stand up to Rhys for Feyre's sake. Lucien? Nah, shoo. Nesta? Nah, shoo. Weird thought but Tarquin? Yeah, makes her steal his book.

And last but DEFINITELY not least; demon baby wife death

HE COULD'VE TOLD FEYRE... OR ATLEAST NOT THREATENED TO KILL HER SISTER FOR TELLING HER WHEN HE HOULD'VE TOLD HER IN THE FIRST PLACE??

THERE'S PROBABLY MORE BUT MOVING ON

Cassian:

Barely ever stands up for Nesta in the IC

Aids in kidnapping Nesta to Windhaven so she stops spending whysand's money

Laughs at Nesta when she falls down the stairs

Aids in punishing Nesta for daring to tell Feyre important medical info

Constantly going agaisnt Nesta's wishes and trying to "save her" when she doesn't want him to

That one time Azriel asked Nesta if Cass had pushed her down the stairs...Like are we gonna ignore that?? Personally I'd have a quarter life crisis if my closest friend, who is like my sibling and has known me most of our lives, seriously entertained the idea that i would physically assault the girl I like

general aggressiveness all of ACOSF

aids in bulldozing Nesta's apartment

Rowan goddamn Whitehorn (Who I've yet to see people bashing him somehow,,, HoF rowan was like if ACOSF cassian had a horrific murder baby

Left his pregnant mate alone during a war cause he wanted to prove himself....like..idk man if i had the choice between war and taking care of my pregnant wife i'd pick the wife (did he know she was pregnant? i've kind of forgotten by now)

Rowan's kid would've been hundreds of years older than Aelin.....just think abt that

Literally everything he did to Aelin during training in HoF

Their argument where he PUNCHED HER IN THE FACE

Threatened to whip Aelin...I repeat....Threatened to whip Aelin, an ex-slave....

Told Aelin it'd be better if she died 10 years ago (unprovoked?? bitch you met her like 2 weeks ago just cause she's getting on your nerves doesn't mean you gotta wish DEATH upon her)

Literally was relieved to find out she was only 19 because if she was a few years older she could've been THE CHILD OF HIS BEST FRIEND.

No issue with marrying the cousin of his best friend's child....Imagine if he hadn't met Aelin first.. If he'd met Aedion first, Aelin would've always been the relative of his friend's son to him

FOR THE RECORD i hate all of the SJM age gaps but rowan and aelin's specifically irks me because Aelin LITERALLY CALLS HIM OLD throughout the WHOLE SERIES

Literally tells Aelin he doesn't care about what she's been through and that she is nothing to him after she confronts him for leaving her

Puts Luca in danger by sticking him on to a frozen lake with a monster inside where he'll DIE if Aelin can't save him

Funnily enough, some of the only seemingly decent person guys in SJM 1. Are completely forgotten about in the books or 2. SJM had to make them violently unlikeable

Like we've got:

Tarquin, seemed like a pretty good guy, rightfully pissed that the IC stole his family heirloom, shows up like twice in the books (LET HIM COME BACK SARAH I LOVE HIM)

Tamlin, was pretty decent in book 1, was made violently unlikeable in book 2 onwards

Chaol, very strong morals, generally a good person, loves his wife, made violently unlikeable and boring in late CoM, HoF, and QoS (ToD is one of my favorite books in the series, will praise ToD till the day I die, my boy EARNED his own book)

Aedion, seemed like a good person, strong morals, spent years trading his dignity for the sake of Terrasen, loved his cousin above all else, made violently unlikable in KoA (even tho I think he was justified in being angry about it, i'd be SO pissed)

Sartaq, good guy, strong morals, Nesryn's chapters were some of my favorites in ToD, Sartaq is one of my favorite SJM love interests, i'll never forgive author lady for forgetting about him in KoA (tho i guess she forgot about everyone from ToD? Yrene and Chaol are the only important ones, she barely even mentions Nesryn even though Nesryn's BEEN an integral part of the gang since QoS, giving her the Suki from ATLA treatment)

[nochi-quinn]

exandria unlimited: divergence: episode 1: it's bad here

nobody escaped the GOT intro unscathed, did they

ryback?

ruidis mentioned

that's so cool, I hate it"

I think I audited the wrong class"

elder dorf!

level 0!

I didn't know that was a thing

dex FOUR??

level No

matt. brennan. it's been fifteen minutes. are you seriously gonna make me cry.

I'm gonna fight brennan in the parking lot

this hallucination is gonna kill me and matt both

brennan child voice

this man has THIRTEEN HIT POINTS

this man has FOUR HIT POINTS

"she isn't a healer, she's a preserver" oh I like that

"it's the 20-sided one" alex

"you want my help this time?" I love Nia

this scene would start just as I sit down with food

"it probably just tastes like ash" "it ALL tastes like ash"

I love everybody in this scene. they're all gonna die so hard.

keph are you okay (no)

alex: would

these level 0 stats give me so much stress

ah, mordAurum. gold dragonborn. I get it.

oh. oh him big. him real big.

him still only got 10 hp

he has an intelligence of 6 he knows what he's doing

"a lost, giant child" :(

brennan is banned from putting children in his games

liam's face

"matt if you would like to have more than 4 hit points -"

ba ba ba, ba barbithrix

that's too many, put some back

liam r u ok

"we understand you have many infirm here" yes that's why it's called the infirmary

druid?? dwarf druid??

growing things!!!

hope symbolism!!

garen is making FRIENDS

the halls of partying

"party punishment?" hey I've seen most of severance that's absolutely a thing

LIGHT FLEAS

INFESTED WITH HOPE

not the lion king 2 "~deception~"

using the cough for good

oops, oversold it

stop! putting! children! in! hell!

alex: would

even evil has standards

"it's SO bad"

just wedge this poor big man in the wall

these dragonborn children are going to kill me

crokas is going to kill me

alex and matt keep giggling at the most sixth-grade things, I love them

"are you sick?" "of this shit? yes."

"like the flower?" "hurhgh?"

I did also think it was the flower originally

"I didn't name me" dskfjhslk

matt sounds like Billy Bones from the beginning of treasure planet

not the tragic sibling keepsake

liam mentioned the dice roll pendulum swing earlier and it is going to swing back SO HARD

bless bugs!

"until someone else's bones caught you" uncalled for

"what's your armor class?"

literally shoot first ask questions later

"what do you do?" "oh, fuck!"

ready for this tpk

"this guard died because his helmet stabbed into his brain"

100 years of frustration behind that swing

fine dwarven crafts

vomit action

"it's bad here"

"I don't think I did that"

oh not the trex rumbles

"it looks like fingers" no thank you!

no wait is it roots

IT'S ROOTS

"sticks." I LOVE HIM

he's old, that happens sometimes

"there's bugs in here."

ah.

what does THAT feel like in stone-sense

there is a god-fight happening upstairs

MEECES

FUCK YEAH MEECES

this is almost definitely stormlord & wildmother v strife emperor

roll that beautiful hammer damage

disabled dragon DISABLED DRAGON

"why'd you do that to your arm" crokas

HAMMER PUNCH

fuck yeah meeces

three what now

rip The Boys

"when it walks Exandria with a purpose"

"I saw him comin'." Can ya hear 'im? Those gears and gyros clickin' and whirrin' like the devil himself??

fuck yeah, apocalypse setting

everything in between gets you individual body parts

rip The Boys

matt stop helping

"are you weakest at the shoulder or the elbow?"

"I'm gonna faint" that's dungeons and dragons baybee

meeces!

they found their cheeses

fuck these six giants in particular

bugbear!!

hugbear!!

I will not get attached to starmian I will not

fuck yeah luck feat

hey in ferelden that cheese is a decent shield

"sorry, vox machina, git gud" liam

"a god's shinguard looking like the statue of liberty"

oregon trail ass checks

ah yes, the mythical rain

found the cannibalism

well I guess the hand-soup was already cannibalism

liam o'brien spellcasting flavor text my beloved

I! Love! Him!

alex

good pinecones

this is what happens when you put "death" in your literal name

brennan do we need this level of detail

I don't. I don't need this level of detail.

matt: I put the team('s rolls) on my back

"yeah, that's what happens when I talk shit"

rip nia

I will not get attached to starmian

this is why I did not get attached to starmian

his job is to be old and die so we can learn and be sad

"…shit"

"will you flee?" "would it help?"

"that is what strength is for"

vestige?? crokas get vestige???

"belt."

I love him SO MUCH

[vivixrocks]

‼️🍉I KNOW WE WILL ALL DIE EVENATALLY 🇵🇸‼️

Guys, your money will go to save my family😔🇵🇸

Hello, I'm Eslam from Gaza, a mother of two girls, Hanaa, 5 years old, and Alma, 1 year old. My house, my car, and my husband's job were destroyed. I lost 11 people from my family in GAZA'S GENOCIDE and I cannot bear to lose more.

Imagine that my 5-year-old daughter surprised me by saying that she feels that she will soon die from a missile that will tear her apart.

Is it fair that my daughter dies while she is still dreaming of life?

Please donate any amount you can to save my daughter from extermination.

🍉‼️If you have $10 and you don't donate i you are participating in the extermination of my children‼️🍉.

🇵🇸🍉 https://gofund.me/a2ccf744 🍉🇵🇸

I hope that one day, your child, every child in Palestine will only think of the memories of fear and pain as something in the past and forever in the past. Tell Hanaa to dream of life no matter what, I struggled similar feelings and still do, wanting to do it, but always hold on to even the tiniest happiest moments. "I want to experience this again." , "I want to eat this again." Even if you are close to death hold on to life.

This family is also vetted.

[xxthefairywitchxx]

Hyper Specific Poll Time

Is it too late for this? Has this trend died? Don't care, I remembered some shit I think would be fun to have in one of these...Some of these are so long I need to have the full sentences underneath. I'm a yapper with details, what can I say?

1*(Slight edit) When I say >3 I mean less than three years old, not less than three popcorn kernels. I don't know how many popcorn kernels were in my ears

3*Recently had to remove a LOZ wall tapestry only to find underneath a smaller, hidden Homestuck Kankri Vantis picture taped to the wall

4*As a six-eight year old, had to drag a very small baby cousin(10-14m small) out of a fire ant hill so they wouldn't die cause the adults weren't paying attention

5*Got incredibly attached to a cheery, sunshine anime protag when your depression was worsening, only to realize as an adult their character ark is becoming depressed

6*Once traded smutty art commissions(plural) of a woman and her husband for shiny pokemon(plural)

7*Once put up with a guy who sent you a dick pick long enough to get a version exclusive of a pokemon, then blocked him

8*Recently was being gunned for by an actual demonology cult because you happened to know some shit about demons

9*In high school had a class with your elementary school's ex-best friend's girlfriend and had a huge gay crush on her and melted when she gave you a decorative key

10*Unable to comfortably drink from a can unless you 1000% have a safe cover for it cause when you were a child you took a drink from your soda and got a mouth full of roach

Reblog for reach if you wanna

Also if you want more details about any of them, feel free to ask

[allyallyorange]

I don’t think you know genuinely how much you adventure time Hongjoong means to me. What’s his full story like in his head?

what’s his canon event pre and post ateez?

what haunts him? with his magic, is their anything that can genuinely make him terrifying?

He seems distant from the rest of ateez, does he show he cares? Do they know? or is he trying to prevent that?

what’s the thing that Mingi so special to him :>

just your adventure time Hongjoong. I’d read their biography.

I LOVE JOONG IN THIS AU SM

Ok I can give some details off the top of my head!

He's the younger brother of the current Demon King at the time of the main story. Despite being a prince, he really never cared for taking on responsibilities and learning how to be in charge since he was the younger sibling, he likely would never have to be in charge ever. He was pretty spoiled and self absorbed, because not only is he a prince but he's the prince of what is essentially Hell. He never really "cared" for anyone. Affection and love and such weren't really openly showed in his family either, except for with himself and his older brother, who he's always had a good relationship with. They have friendly competitions with each other. Before he meets Mingi he had a pretty much entirely carefree life. About as much angst as a rebellious teen. Wanting his parent's approval but not wanting to have anything to do with running their realm.

Post canon he takes over as Demon King, he couldn't bring himself to kill his brother (the royal Demons cannot typically be killed. They live to 10000 and die, unless they are killed by other royal blood), despite everything, his brother is only this way because they don't care about others in Hell. Hongjoong has learned to care, and he cares about his brother too. So while Hongjoong needs to learn how to run the kingdom, he essentially has his brother in a cage, and he asks his advice on things related to being a King. It's a very complicated relationship because of course, The Demon King killed Seonghwa. And Hongjoong really liked Seonghwa, and he'd been under the impression he'd have several years to get to know Seonghwa better, so he feels lost when suddenly the other isn't around. Hongjoong has also never felt sad about someone dying before, so it's a lot of confusing feelings. Yeosang disagrees with the decision to keep Joong's brother alive, so their relationship stays at least a little strained for probably ever, though Yeo tries to understand.

Incasing Mingi in a crystal prison haunts him.

On that note, Mingi is special to him because Hongjoong had never felt real affection for anyone before. Or at least he never understood it. He likes his bandmates, he likes his brother, but if one of his bandmates were to disappear Hongjoong would replace them, in his mind, he's very far above them, as the Demon Prince. His brother and him were friendly, but not friends. Then he meets Mingi, who is like 10 years old, and lost and innocent. Mingi has no magic, Mingi is so small, he's basically useless. He would rank so far below Joong in his mind there was no reason he should've wasted time helping the kid get home. But for some reason he wanted to, maybe he was bored that day and just wanted something to do. Mingi was so endearing, the kid had a terrible sense of direction, and so did Hongjoong, so it took a really long time to find their way back to Mingi's village. In that time the kid went on and on about everything and nothing. Things he liked, things he hated. He fidgeted with Hongjoong's bracelets when he'd decided to cling to Joong's wrists while they walked. Mingi didn't know that Hongjoong was someone "special". He talked to Hongjoong like no one else ever had, he wasn't afraid of him, he'd even bluntly insulted the Demon's pointed ears and teeth, saying they looked funny. Mingi was just interesting to Hongjoong at first. He'd also never interacted with a mortal child before so it was very new to him. He keeps visiting Mingi and the kid is just so loud and bouncy, and then shy and quiet its hard for Hongjoong to keep up. Mingi clings onto Hongjoong, hugging him, tugging on his clothing, snagging his accessories, etc. No one has done that to Hongjoong before, and it's endearing. When Mingi gets cursed, Hongjoong takes care of him for several years until Mingi decides he'd rather be frozen forever than cause more damage. At some point in their years together, Mingi had said Hongjoong felt like an older brother to him, and Hongjoong decided that in turn, Mingi feels like a younger brother to him. Imprisoning Mingi was so hard for Hongjoong because it felt like saying goodbye to the only person in the world he'd come to genuinely care about. It didn't help that Mingi was clearly so afraid during the process. Even during the main story line, when they're both adults, Hongjoong still see's Mingi as a sweet 10 year old kid that showed him how to feel.

Hongjoong's powers include: soul sucking, body/mind manipulation, transformation (into his demon form. he might have another, larger, scarier, form that he almost never uses) and he can use dark magic. He knows like ancient spells that are not written in most spell books wizards like Wooyoung would have access to. (the crystal prison spell for example is not something that just anyone knows) Hongjoong needs a book to cast spells cus he can't remember the incantations (cus he never cared to study them). He's honestly not that great at magic like this, Wooyoung is better at dark magic than he is. The most useful power to himself is just that he cannot die unless someone in his bloodline kills him or he gets super duper old.

He is a bit distant to the others for a while, but he grows fond of them over time. He becomes quite close with Wooyoung, because Wooyoung is always being sent to Joong's shack for breaking house rules. Hongjoong, also becomes close with Jongho, as they spend time where it's just Joong, Hwa, Mingi, and Jongho. For months Seonghwa makes him feel nervous, so he tends to put distance between them, they have a push and pull relationship. Closer to the end of the main story he's more openly showing he actually likes the others. He's gotten closer to everyone, and he enjoys hanging out and playing around with them. It's not that he was trying to seem like he didn't care in the beginning, he just like. actually didn't really care that much when the other half of the guys show up. He just needs a little bit of time to get used to them!

Thank you for your ask!!

[neodymiumcuilz]

I'm Kholoud from Gaza. I have no home left, no safety left. The war destroyed my house, and now I live in a tattered tent. But that is not the real pain…

The real pain is being a mother watching her children suffer every single day, unable to do anything to save them.

My children suffer from a rare and severe skin disease (Ichthyotic Psoriatic Plaque). Their skin cracks, bleeds, and burns with pain. They cannot sleep, they cannot play, they cannot live like other children. Their small bodies can no longer endure this agony, and all I can do is hold them close and try to hide my tears.

$500 every three days—that is the price of easing their pain. But I have nothing. I don’t even have enough to feed them. I am begging you, please donate whatever you can—be it half, a quarter, or even the smallest amount. 😭🙏

I am pleading with you as a mother, to your kind heart—please, don’t leave me alone in this suffering. Your help, no matter how small, could mean the difference between them continuing to fight or surrendering to the pain.

My children deserve life. They deserve a childhood free of agony. You could be their lifeline.

Donation link is pinned in bio 🙏

HELP A CHILD IN AGONY IN GAZA - URGENT DONATIONS NEEDED 🍉🍉

"I am Kholoud Al-Hanawi From Gaza 🇵🇸, the wife of Dr. Ahmad, a surgeon who risked his life in the war to save others. But today, he stands helpless—unable to save his own children. Our home is gone, reduced to rubble, and now we live in a tattered tent, barely shielding us from the burning sun and freezing nights. We have lost everything… but the worst pain is watching our children suffer.

Our precious babies, Yazan (9 years old) and Zeina (2 years old), are battling a cruel disease—Plaque Ichthyosis Psoriasis 🩸. Their delicate skin cracks, bleeds, and burns every single day. Every movement is agony. Every night is filled with their cries of pain. No child should suffer like this. "

These are words from @khloud-family1 who has reached out, asking for help. She is from Gaza, the city where nowhere is safe, where there are no safe homes to return to, where just under half of children have lost the will to live, and expressed a want to die. Where there is no food, water, or health care. Where people starve, and parents are forced to watch as their children suffer, unable to do anything. This is a harsh reality for Kholoud. Who lives under a tent, unprotected from the elements. In the unsanitary conditions, sick and injured are highly vulnerable.

" How do I tell him that the medicine he desperately needs is beyond our reach? $500 every 3 days—that’s what it costs to ease their pain. But how can we afford it when we barely have food to survive? "

$500 every 3 days, about $1000 per week. Keeping in mind, there is little to no income in Gaza. The cost of medicine and other needs is too much to bear. Don't just ignore this, what are you waiting for? Don't wait until its too late. Don't forget about them, don't leave this family in the dark. Donations are crucial, what may be a disposable amount to you, will save his life. Donate what you can manage - even 5 or 10 dollars.

ONLY $215 USD RAISED - that's isn't even half the amount for 3 days of medicine. Please, have humanity.

[manic-maniac-man]

HUgE April 2011

HEDI SLIMANE

"ANTHOLOGY OF A DECADE"

All Photos by Hedi Slimane

Hedi Slimane.

This genius photographer, who created a frenzy in the men's fashion scene in the 2000s, has produced numerous photographic works to date.

A photobook that brings together all the work he has recorded over the past 10 years will be released.

The world that Hedi captured through his viewfinder is an anthology of his memories that will be passed down to the next decade.

"I have only one style, and will have it, and repeat myself until I'm gone, but this style is my own."

"My style is always the same. And it will never change. So I will probably continue to go back and forth until I die. But at the same time, it's something that only I can do." (Hedi Slimane)

words from Hedi SLIMANE

--- I believe you are currently residing in the United States. Could you please tell me where you are and what you have been up to recently?

"I moved to California in 2010. Not only is the nature and history here amazing, but I also love the free atmosphere that's unique to California that Europe has lost. I'm currently based in LA. No matter where a shoot or project takes place, LA is the base. That's because LA has a somewhat European feel to it, but at the same time, it's a city that has the perfect balance of the rapid development and energy of Asia. I'm not sure if this is simply because Asia is just across the Pacific Ocean, but it's a really fascinating place." --Has anything changed since you started living in America? Please tell us more specifically.

"Nothing has changed about me. For better or worse, I don't think I've changed at all since I was 5 years old... (laughs). But since I was absorbed in fashion, it was necessary for me to distance myself a little. For me (who has drawn the line at fashion), LA is a very comfortable place. It's a place where I feel at home. Also, since 2007 I've been working on a project called "Representation of Americana," and America has always been a place I've been interested in."

--Why did you decide to compile your past photographic works again at this point? "It felt like it was inevitable that I should compile my own work at this point, which is also the first decade of the new century. In 2000, I was doing everything from 1 to 10.

"I felt like I could do anything. But I think that this free and positive attitude, and the willingness to try new things, was the most important foundation in creating this anthology. It was also one of the reasons I wanted to leave a record of my work in fashion and the masculinity I felt at the time. It is important to express the fashion and scene of the era that was born from indie rock, which I was able to reconnect with. Also, we are now in an age where people all over the world can access my work. Around 2000, I became interested in the Internet as a medium, and I published my designs and photos online. In the mid-2000s, blog culture and social networks started to become popular at around the same time, and my homepage naturally spread to the public."

--Your works seem sentimental, but also very emotional. What state of mind are you always in when you look through the viewfinder and capture your subject?

"When I take portraits, I am conscious of protecting the subject from the concept of 'time'. When it comes to this way of thinking, I become as sensitive as a child and create a clear image in my head. Time flies by and disappears in just an instant. I always have this image in my mind when I approach the subject. So I focus all my energy on capturing the unstable fragility and danger that comes with youth, and the fragility of the vitality of life, which can be glimpsed in such a moment."

--Among the works are musicians' kits.

Your photography ranges from portraits of young people to landscapes and still life. What is the subject that interests or fills you with the most passion at the moment?

"I'm most excited by the unexpected encounters I have every day. Just two days ago, I met a skater boy on the streets of LA who was incredibly charming. It wasn't something that anyone planned, it was just a coincidence. But from the moment I saw him, I wanted to use him as a subject for my work. I think it will become a shot film. Such coincidences are one of the reasons why I can remain passionate. I believe that nothing great comes from a rational way of thinking where everything is calculated."

--Your black-and-white photographs have a minimalist, edgy originality that overlaps with the fashion image you previously designed. When completing your black-and-white photographs, especially

What are the points you are particular about?

Do you want it?

"Ever since I was a teenager, I've always had a certain tone and depth of black in my head, so for decades I've been trying to express that in prints myself, and that's been my biggest obsession. I don't go that far with the silver halide photographs I'm currently dealing with. But recently I've often been unsatisfied with my own prints, so I'm thinking about finishing my own prints again and holding a solo exhibition for the first time in a while."

--On the other hand, I'm not interested in color photography these days. If you want to take color photos now, what kind of subject would you like to photograph and how would you like to photograph it?

"Of course I take colour photographs, but I feel more comfortable with black and white.

"There was a time when I only shot in color. But now that I'm only taking black and white photos, I feel like I'm able to approach photography with a much higher awareness of color than I did back then when I was taking color photos. Recently, I've been taking a lot of color portraits for magazine shoots. It's fun, but the more I take them, the more I feel like I'm a black and white person. I feel like the element of 'color' isn't necessary for my work."

-- Many of your works give the strong impression of a certain kind of "music" playing in the viewer's head. Do you have any sound inspiration in mind when you shoot?

"Music has always been my source of inspiration. In fact, it's the only thing that has meaning to me. Music is energy and it's time. It's through music that fashion becomes a vivid memory. I still listen to UK indie. I've been listening to Egyptian hip-hop, The Heartbreakers, and LA's The Waves a lot lately. I also like anything from Gainsbourg to surf music, and old rock like Gene Vincent and Buddy Holly."

-- Recently, I think a lot of photography is done with digital cameras. This is true for the entire photography industry, but do you feel there is a difference between digital and analog film photos?

"I started taking digital photos around 2005. But actually, about half of the photos in the photo books being published today were taken with film. It wasn't until around 2004 that the technology of digital cameras started to improve.

After the techniques improved dramatically, I started to use digital media. As I said before, it was around the same time that social networks became popular and my website became widely known. So, in a way, it was the right time to try new things. I'm not a nostalgic person, so I always try to work with machines and technologies that are on my wavelength. By doing so, I think that the work from that time becomes part of my memory and I can express the relationship with the work of other artists."

--Your photo books seem to be very particular about the quality of the paper and the cover design, but to what extent do you personally direct them? Also, are there any art directors that you trust (or pay attention to)?

"No one in particular. I direct everything myself. What's strange is that there are photographers who aren't obsessed with layout, typography, the paper they're printed on, or the textures. My photography and fashion design are inseparable from graphic design. I've been working on graphic design for as long as I have on photography and clothing design. Everything is my idea. To be honest, I don't want to rely on anyone creatively. I feel more uneasy if the other staff involved in my work don't understand my ideas. In that kind of environment, you can't create a true sense of the moment, or the uniqueness of the creative process and expression."

---As a photographer, how do you view the current men's fashion scene?

"I tried out the 'New New Wave' at Dior Homme, but I don't think there's been much movement since. It seems like the current men's scene is like my last collection from 2007 A/W."

---Please tell us if there are any photographers you personally like or whose works you collect.

"I like reportage photography. August Sander, the iconic work that captures the social dynamics of the time, early Will McBride, Ed van der Elsken, and avant-garde photography from the 1920s like Rodchenko."

--What kind of camera do you normally use?

"I'm not a particularly fetishistic person, but I often use lenses that I've had for a long time. I process them so that they express the nuances I want to capture. But it doesn't matter what kind of camera or lens you use. What's really important is your own eyes and your vision."

--Now that you've been an artist for 10 years, do you want to change your style in any new ways?

"I think that people who can be called truly creative are people who pursue one thing to the fullest. Therefore, I don't think there is any need to change yourself. Even if you try something new and change yourself, you will only be going around in circles and will end up coming back to the same place. My style of photography has not changed at all since 1983.

It's clear if you look at my previous photo books. The photo I used on the first page of my pari photo book this time is one I took in the summer of '88. I put it on the opening page because I wanted to show everything I've been working on since then. There's just one consistency, one emotion, one energy, one feeling, in both fashion and photography. My style is always the same, and it will never change. So I'll probably be going back and forth between the same places until I die. But at the same time, it's something only I can do."

[scr33ch1ng]

So,

There really is nothing on system littles. And what I mean is, despite how long I've been searching I can't find much that helps us actually raise a child. System hosts will mention it, sure, or they'll have a specific alter who is great with kids. But we don't have any of that, and I bet other systems are struggling with this too. So, I'm compiling what I've learned in the past year or so and sharing it as an attempt to help.

This is written from my experiences with my little brother, a traumatized headmate around 10 years old. This might not apply to everyone.

Traumatized children require constant reassurance. They might be easily scared or startled by anything, and hold irrational beliefs that everything will hurt them (me too buddy). They can be the most vulnerable and emotional part of a system. This makes them really important, and in a unique position. They DEMAND attention. Even if they are quiet, if they are dissatisfied, it will come back and bite you in the ass. They require patience and special consideration.

You have to make your child headmate feel safe and comfortable. This is easier said than done. It's a lot more complicated than simply buying some toys and watching cartoons. Children have emotional needs, we all do. They need to feel love and feel like they are part of a family. This is why communication is very important. Communication is different with every system, and we communicate via a variety of writings, pinterest boards, dreams, co-fronting, and more direct but vague ways of throwing emotions at each other, and asking questions and receiving a vague response. This is all to say that even if you literally can't hold a conversation, there is many ways to talk to each other.

In order to meet your littles needs you have to know them first. You can assume the basics, yes, but that will only get you so far. Children also aren't known for their excellent communication skills, so this is a process. My little benefits from a pacifier, which was easy to figure out. But it took longer to realize he also wants his own clothing, and he refuses to wear black because it's a color that is worn too frequently by other alters, and he needs to feel like his own person. This might be a bit ridiculous. A color is just a color, right? No one is going to die by wearing black. But to him it is very important, and he will be distressed if he is not wearing clothes comfortable to him.

And the way our system works is it's easy to feel another alter's distress, so there is no point in wigging a systemmate out for no reason. You want to work together to reduce stress. It makes an easier time for everybody.

Anyways. You will have to make compromises. You make compromises just by being a system. I adjusted our living space to be more "child friendly". I removed the animal bones we had on display. I don't buy decor that my child alter would find scary, even if it's a horror movie character I like, even if I think it's not that bad. If you can make your little feel comfortable even by one percent, it's worth it. I adjusted our room to feel more cheerful. I have a shelf of easily accessible toys. I decorated our house more with cute things. Fridge magnets, goodwill figurines, a printed photo of a puppy, anything to make your syskid feel like this is also their space will help .

This is all I have for today. Thanks for reading!