#you probably shouldn't enable me like that

[kanerallels]

Platonic sebezra, circus au?

Oh-ho-ho I did NOT expect this prompt to take root the way it did. Ahem. But here's a little ficlet that doesn't even begin to touch the depths of brain rot you've given me

“You’re the new tightrope walker, right?”

Sabine didn’t look up from lacing up her shoes as she replied, “Looks like it.”

This wasn’t where she’d expected to be— a circus in the middle of nowhere, barely breaking even. Clearly, it wasn’t as popular as it used to be. Everything made that clear, from the worn out waistcoat that the ringmaster had been wearing when he hired her and the threadbare costumes hanging on a rack near her, to the fact that the tent was still nearly empty, and it was fifteen minutes until show time.

But she’d gotten stuck, and she needed the money. And luckily, she was good at more than one thing. Tightrope walking would be easy.

Rising, she turned towards the arena— and froze, coming face to face with a lion.

Her instinct was to scream, her second to run or fight. But instead, Sabine deliberately tensed her muscles, feeling the panic race through her, silently counting to five. When she reached five, she let out a long exhale, then lifted an eyebrow at the orange clad boy standing behind the lion.

“Let me guess,” she said. “Lion tamer?”

He grinned. “How’d you guess?” With a quick whistle, he called the lion back, and it settled next to him, looking like nothing so much as an over large cat. “I’m Ezra, and this is Jasmine.”

“Sabine. This how you greet all your new coworkers?”

Shrugging, Ezra said, “Only the ones who can handle it. And it looked like you could. Besides, it’s a good test of who’s going to stick around.”

Sabine had no intention of sticking around. This job would, hopefully, get her enough money to make it to her next destination, and then she would move on.

But for now, she just nodded. “Looks like I passed.”

“Looks like it,” Ezra said with a grin. “Welcome to Circus Spectres.”

[sskk-manifesto]

(๑•́ω•̀)

[transhitman]

Yeah so like I think people trying to say whether Curly is like bad/good or like at fault/blameless are missing the point. Like 1) bad person is a term I have issues with in general (I don't believe a person can be ontologically evil and you shouldn't either, a three hour video essay) and 2) within Anya's story he is an enabler no question, but at the same time we don't really get to see what he would have done going forward and if he really would have taken responsibility or continued to let things go as they did. I think being in denial when your best friend is accused of something awful is an understandable reaction. Not that he did the Right Thing in the slightest, but his mistake is very human and probably meant to be sympathetic. Also, they were all gonna be trapped together for 8 months and we don't know the extent or timeline of what Anya told him so like. Who can say what would have happened. The whole situation is a time bomb whatever Curly might have done.

It is of course interesting to consider how much Curly is responsible for. Obviously he was supposed to keep the crew safe. If not for his overabundance of trust in his subordinates (because they WERE his subordinates, whether he saw them as friends or not), Jimmy wouldn't have been able to put them in that situation in the first place. But at the same time, the game is kind of screaming at us that Jimmy is responsible for his actions. Jimmy is the perpetrator. Jimmy did this to himself and to his friends.

All this to say that like... On a character-to-character basis it's interesting to consider all this, but the game is about Jimmy, at the end of the day, and his actions and his mindset. Curly made mistakes but Jimmy is unequivocally the bad guy in the narrative that has been presented. The story is not presented from Anya's POV, where Curly might be a villain, and Curly's POV segments are limited, meant to give us a more objective view of the OTHER crewmates that Jimmy dehumanizes in his narration, imo. And I find it fascinating that despite the game's insistence that Jimmy is at fault, and the way Jimmy constantly blames his actions on other people (look what you made me do type beat), we as an audience still want to consider that the blame could be split. Maybe it should be. Maybe it shouldn't. Maybe the question is useless, because it already happened. It happened, and it can't be fixed. And only one of these characters was able to actually show us how they would act in the aftermath.

[desiree-uk]

Just a little appreciation post on Draylson's Second Hand Goods Register! It's such a simple concept but I really like it and I can see the potential for gameplay. I think it's a good alternative to dumpster diving for stuff or consigning your sim's creations and unwanted items.🙂

Once I realised it does actually work for me (I thought it didn't because it freezes a bit when I try to add it from Buy Mode due to me having A LOT of cc 🤭) I can try and see how I can utilise it in my game.

Actually @MrDjGri on MTS summed it up perfectly by saying '...This is what consignment register is supposed to be!..' and that is a good description!

The register works pretty much like the consignment register in that the 'shop' and 'sell' tabs show up so you can buy and sell stuff at the same time. You can sell whatever is in your personal and family inventory. The above screenshot shows 2 armchairs, a floor lamp, a picture, a bike rack, even the sim's car! She won't be selling that. 🤭 I know NRaas Consigner allows some items in the family inventory to be sold but it's nice to have a choice between the two. For immediate sales, I'll use this register. Also, this register doesn't have any restrictions at all, of things that can be sold compared to Consigner, so anything that can be added to personal/family inventory can be sold, even things that were added to the family inventory via Debug Enabler that probably shouldn't be there! Be careful of that option though lol.

The buying of items is perhaps my favourite part :D I like the element of surprise in that the 20-odd items listed available to buy from changes every so often (I think it changes every day and each time you restart the game), and they randomize ALL content you have installed from expansion packs, stuff packs, store content and custom content! So your sim can kit out their new/empty house with some nice affordable, mismatched furniture and decor if they want to. Or buy another sim a present from a wide selection of goods! But make sure you buy what you want today because it will be gone tomorrow! 🤑 All brought items will be in the sim's personal or family inventory.

It's fun sending my sim to the shop everyday to see what is for sell, and they can come away with a surprise bargain. Also, it's a good reminder what content you actually have installed, if like me you have a lot and have forgotten most of them. 😄

[letteredlettered]

I'm sad about this whole culture in which readers on AO3 shouldn't put their real opinions about fics in the bookmarks.

Like, to me it's a dick move to put a negative opinion about a fic in a comment, because comments go directly to the author. While I would love for more comments to be discussions between readers, in the end I am getting notified about every comment and comments are the simplest and most direct way for me to hear what you thought, so yeah, I don't want to get bashed there. I'm not really here for critique, and unless someone says they're here for critique they're probably not here for it either.

But for bookmarks, an author has to go looking. And sure, it's easy to look, but in the end, bookmarks are a reader tool. And sure, there are private bookmarks, but then bookmarks can only be a private tool. Meanwhile, public bookmarks enable readers to find what other readers like or writers they like are interested in--or not interested in. That's what bookmarks are for. They weren't built to be places where authors can seek additional praise. If you, as an author, can't handle negative things being said about your work, maybe don't go looking in spaces that weren't built for you.

I feel like creating a culture in which readers can't put their real opinions about what they read in any public space on AO3 really restricts the already limited community function of AO3. And I get that AO3 is an archive, not a community space, but frankly I don't love the idea of an archive that isn't a space for readers as well as writers.

I know other people feel differently about this, and I'm not trying to say those people can't have their opinions. I just want to share my two cents.

[receivingtranny]

just saw a post saying that men shouldn't be allowed to become therapists because they *will* rape women/girls or at best... mentally ill women and girls *will always* catch inappropriate romantic/sexual feelings for a male therapist (not even gonna touch the flaming pile of internalized misogynistic shit lying within the later statement) and just...

what the fuck you guys.

like yeah fuck the "not all men" attitude that's just a fucking scapegoat abusive men love to say for why they never hold themselves or other men accountable, but actually *genuinely* saying all men will rape and abuse if they became a therapist does nothing to offer solutions that will actually make therapy safe for people.

because i'm sorry but i've had nearly 40 therapists in my life and unfortunately i've had a mix of really harmful experiences from both male and female therapists. the best therapist i had was actually nonbinary. the second and third best were male.

i've had both male/female therapists try to convert me to christianity and say my illness was god punishing me for sinning. i've had female therapists enable my father to continue being sexually/psychologically/physically abusive under the guise of "you're probably just being a dramatic teenage genderfuck" they didn't say genderfuck but they definitely thought my queerness had given some reason for why my dad should be the one to help "get me on the right track".

so i ask you radfem bioessentialists, in your utopia without male therapists, what's your solution for people like myself? multigender/nonbinary people who are seeking therapy, or *gasp* perhaps even schooling to become a therapist? do i get a female therapist because i was AFAB? or no since i identify as a man and have a penis now I must be planning on raping her so i'll need a male therapist. but wait, i'm AFAB and i identify as a woman so he must be planning on raping me. so another multigender AFAB person i'm guessing? wait but if i identify as a woman and a man... and they identify as a woman and a man... who's the one planning on raping the other in this situation? I just wanna make sure I know what to do here, being part man and all, is it in my nature to rape her? or is it his nature to rape me? or do we just rape ourselves all the time since we're both men and women simultaneously.

sorry not to sound like an asshole there at the end with the sarcasm, but like, i was human trafficked for several months and am now severly agoraphobic and even i'm not this terrified that everyone i meet is going to rape me. so idk man. get a grip? have some compassion beyond yourself? some critical thinking skills maybe?

[spinningwebsandtales]

Imagine Reminiscing With Hunter

Hunter X FemReader

Rating: G

Warnings: Angst, all the feels, fluff

Word Count: 930

(A/N:) Okay I gave myself some major feels in this one. As I have gone through a lot of loss within the last 3 years this helped me heal just a little bit. I hope this helps bring a little bit of closure to the series. Though I loved the final season I was a little bit disappointed in how fast the ending came. It ended a little quickly (or I just didn't want it to end) but I'm so glad they got the ending they deserved. Until next time happy reading! ~Countess

It wasn't unusual for Hunter to disappear during the night, you had grown used to his disappearances during the waning hours of the night. As a soldier, created for one purpose in life, it wasn't unusual for his senses to overwhelm him. So in moments you would give him his space, but other times you would search for him. You had a way of telling whatever Hunter needed. As a leader, he had to be the guidance and rock of the team. Now he didn't have to worry about such things, but it had still taken it's toll over the years. This moment, finding Hunter's side cooling and him nowhere in the room and the solemnness that had overcome the tightknit family, you knew that Hunter needed you this time.

Searching for any signs of the aging clone, you noticed Batcher's absence as well. Normally the loyal creature was holed up with Omega. But even the younger girl's room was barren of her presence. That's when you knew, she was making good on her argument with her brother's this evening. You sighed deeply, breath hitching as your heart cracked. Passing by Wrecker's open door, deep snores echoing out into the hall, you knew Hunter needed you now more than ever.

Pabu was silent as the town slept on. You sat on the stairs a hot cup of caf in hand as you waited for Hunter's return. The stars above glistening brightly before a ship crossed over above your head, and you knew the blonde haired girl was making her own way in the galaxy. Batcher's padded steps alerted you to the return of Hunter. The Lurca snuffled your hand before heading inside. Though happy to see you, you could tell the creature was saddened by her body language. Hunter sighed deeply and you gave him a sad smile.

"Caf," you asked holding out the cup.

He nodded and took your offering, then took a seat as you patted the spot beside you. You had the uncanny ability to know just exactly what he needed. And caf answered a lot of life's more problematic issues. Though it warmed his body and alerted his senses, it couldn't heal the fresh wound in his heart.

"I take it she's gone," you sniffed, fighting back the tears.

"Yeah," he answered, taking another sip. "I couldn't talk her out of it. I didn't even try."

"She wouldn't have listened. That's why she try sneaking away," you replied. "She can't just sit by and do nothing while other's suffered. It's never been in her nature and," you nudged Hunter with an elbow, "she learned it from you."

"Doesn't make it any easier," he chuckled. "I still remember the first time I saw her on Kamino. I never understood why she was so drawn to us."

"It's because you guys were different," you paused. "Like her."

"Tech taught her a lot too. He was the best out of all of us."

You smiled, wiping a stray tear, "He was definitely a rebel. You probably shouldn't have let her spend so much time with him, he clearly influenced her."

Hunter nodded, grinning to himself behind the mug of caf, "I wouldn't change a thing."

"I wouldn't either," you agreed. "But you know Tech wasn't the only one she learned from. Echo had a lot to do with her to, Wrecker was a total enabler, Crosshair too when he wanted, and don't even get me started on you. You were like a father figure to her. You protected her and you taught her in your own way."

Hunter leaned his head back, taking a deep shuttering breath.

"What I'm getting to is," you grabbed his hand giving it a gentle squeeze, "she had good teachers in her brothers. In you guys. The Force is with her and her other brother is out there watching over her too. Tech is all for this and you know it. He goes with her wherever she goes and so do you, Wrecker, Echo, and Crosshair. She is a part of you and her you. It's a cycle we must live. We have them and then we have to let them go, whether that is in something they must set out to do or they end their race of life."

"That's the only reason I let her go," Hunter replied.

He finished his caf and set the empty mug aside. You held your arms out offering him the comfort he needed now more than ever. Hunter tugged you towards him setting his chin on the top of your head. His beard catching a few of your hairs. You cried softly, letting yourself free yourself from emotions, and Hunter wiped at a few stray tears. The galaxy such a vast place, you meet so many people and they make you into you. He never regretted for one moment having Omega in his life and that's why it hurt so much in letting her go. With one final squeeze Hunter let you go, wiping at wet eyes and cheeks.

You laughed wobblily, still drying tears. "Now this just raises the question. Who's going to tell Wrecker?"

Hunter shook his head, grabbing both of the empty cooling mugs, "I'm not."

"I'm not either," you argued.

He paused for one moment and you both stared at each other for a few seconds.

"Crosshair," you both said in unison making you both laugh.

With sorrowful but light hearts you both went back inside the warm home, hand in hand. Ready for whatever the galaxy threw towards your way next.

[praetorqueenreyna]

well i AM asking for the essay on modern ACOTAR fandom please🙏😩

YOU ARE ALL ENABLERS!!! FINE I SHALL WRITE MY ESSAY!!!!! I'm putting it under a read more because I'm embarrassed of how long it is.

ACOTAR fandom is strange in a fascinating and NOT FUN way. Fandom has gotten SO restrictive recently, it's suffocating. And idk what it is about ACOTAR, but its fans are among the WORST. Whatever discourse you've seen in other fandoms, multiply it by 10 to get the experience of being in mainstream ACOTAR fandom. It is an unchallenged belief in this fandom that writing, drawing, or consuming any kind of content that isn't 100% healthy in the real world means that you - YOU!!!!! - are a danger to real life human beings. Criticizing a character's choices and the author's writing decisions is warped into you being an abuse apologist and also you probably yell at abuse victims in real life. A drawing of Tamlin and Elain sitting in a garden is now a disgusting acceptance of real life abusers and you're traumatizing every abuse survivor.

I can think of countless examples off the top of my head of real life human beings being harassed and bullied and called all kinds of nasty names for the fictional content they create about fictional characters. Like, I cannot stress enough the irony of these puritans spouting off in woke-enese about how "dangerous" certain fans are being incredibly verbally and emotionally abusive to people in this fandom. A fanartist on Instagram was painting portraits of each of the ACOTAR characters, and as a fun framing device, each painting was meant to be a painting that Feyre would make, and the captions talked about how the artist thought Feyre would paint this character. A charming and delightful series taking advantage of the fact that the main character is a painter, right? WRONG!!! This artist did a painting of Tamlin, and she was raked across the coals for DARING to even IMPLY that Feyre ever even THOUGHT about Tamlin or could even CONSIDER forgiving him enough to paint him. She was accused of "forcing an abuse survivor to think about her abuser." Like, do you see how absurd that is?? Feyre isn't real!! Nobody forced anybody to do anything! That's the kind of batshit insane nonsense we're dealing with.

Not to mention any depicition or joking about the series' villains is seen as you endorsing REAL LIFE VILLAINY!! me and my friends are constantly under fire for DARING to enjoy villainous characters or dark content. I feel like I shouldn't even have to say it, but the content that you create and consume doesn't say anything about you as a person. People who are very well adjusted, kind, and happy will engage with dark content for a variety of reasons. Some use it as a coping/healing mechanism, some just find dark content fascinating and worthy of exploration, and some people have dark fantasies. This fandom behaves as if the things you make and consume are examples of what you consider "healthy" and things that you want to do to real life people. It's INCONCEIVABLE to them that you could enjoy something in fiction and not endorse it in real life. INCONCEIVABLE!!

Aside from the irony of people claiming to battle against toxicity screaming violent insults at real life people over fictional characters, this is very very funny. Those of us that have been in the rarepair trenches in other fandoms can't help but laugh at these grown ass women losing their minds because somebody drew a blonde man. The culmination of this has been the runners of Elain Week refusing to even SEE characters they don't like. The visage of Tamlin will shatter their fragile minds and send them to their early graves. And this isn't even TOUCHING how their standard for which characters are Acceptable and which ones aren't is almost solely decided by what the author has explicitly stated and not based on any critical thinking or analysis.

The sheer and utter absurdity of this fandom in particular being SO hung up on canon should be studied. SJM is such a poor writer that she contradicts canon within the same book. I am firmly convinced that nobody actually reads her novels all the way through before they are published. This canon is bad. Which is why it's so baffling that this fandom in particular is so obsessed with canon and what the author has stated both within the books and in interviews. SJM says this character is bad, and so they are BAD!!! This character is good, and so they are GOOD. Oftentimes if you see people try to tear down Tamlin, they'll bring up SJM saying that he's abusive in interviews, talking about how she doesn't like him, and bringing up that she put a hotline for abuse survivors in the back of one of the books. SJM has said that he's an abuser, and so therefore he IS, and there is no further investigation.

Again, a kindergarden concept I didn't think I'd have to explain to a bunch of grown adults on the internet, but a creator's intention is not the end all be all of discussion. It's certainly a part of the analysis, but it is also up to the reader to determine if the author has convinced you of the story they're trying to tell. For example, the creator Joss Whedon clearly created Buffy the Vampire Slayer to be a feminist, empowering show for women. However, the viewer can watch the show and point out areas where he failed in this intention and allowed misogyny, racism, and homophobia to seep into his works. Imagine if every time you tried to criticize a "feminist" show made by a man, the fans screamed at you that the creator said it's feminist, and so therefore it is, and that's the end of that.

This is PARTICULARLY galling with SJM's villains. A lot of them are just...not written well, or convincingly, or realistically. BUT a lot of them are sexual predators, and so any discussion about them and their character is cut off at the source. SJM tells you that these people are BAD GUYS and you have to accept it, otherwise you're defending r*pists. It's especially hilarious because a lot of her "good" guys also commit many horrible acts. Part of the hilarity of the Elain Week nonsense is that the man that the creators ship Elain with, Azriel, is a PROFESSIONAL TORTURER. But SJM says he's good and sympathetic, so therefore, he is. And it's an entirely different essay to go into how SJM portrays her female villains, and I got Cancelled for it last time I tried so NO YOU CANT MAKE ME!!!

Lastly, I'll mention the bloated victim complex of people that like popular things. Again, not unique to ACOTAR fandom, but certainly very prevalent. The people who are in the majority NEED to feel like they're the underdog, fighting the good fight. Hence having the people who like one of the MAIN CHARACTERS and one of the Top 5 Most Popular Ships acting like they are Jesus on the cross for shipping Elain and Bland Dude #4. They work themselves into a paranoid frenzy, feeling attacked at every twist and turn. I would bet my LIFE that the people that run Elain Week have never even seen Beron/Elain content, let alone had it submitted to their event. But they got themselves all worked up about the Evil Tamlin Cabal RUINING THE EVENT that they made these rules that are simply ridiculous. And it backfired on them. Me and my friends have been accused of ruining other character weeks for making content for ships that WE like but the moderators don't. They'll see one single Rhysand/Tamlin drawing and act like you've fucking shot them. They genuinely feel like nobody likes Feyre or Rhysand, the most popular characters, and everyone supports Tamlin. It's insane and they need to get offline. I've seen people wearing Night Court merch in real life. Trust me, you won. You are not the victim.

[chicasgeneralgoods]

yeah im ngl? like i totally get a lot of people can understand that curly is just as responsible as jimmy for what happened to the crew while at the same time being invested in him as a character... but it's kind of really weird how curly gets more of a pass by a lot of mouthwashing fans? like a lot of people will refuse to draw jimmy as a way to denounce him and deem him unworthy of any "fan" work, but then given how the two are so like parasitically unified, shouldn't that extend to curly too? is the fact that he is a "well-meaning" person whose inaction (as well as certian actions) directly lead to the violence against anya and the crew who didnt directly do the violence himself somehow absolve him from the kind of vindication that makes jimmy unworthy of fan-like portrayal and engagement? does that keep him from crossing that line? is that rooted in a desire to separate curly from the man horrible man he enabled? does this align him more with the victims as the rest of the crew are rather than the perpetrator? is curly both a victim and a perpetrator? is he neither?

this is all not so much to declare one conclusion one way or another but rather to muse on the different fan-engagements and portrayals between jimmy and curly.

as horror media, mouthwashing is expected to have a metaphorical "monster" who causes disgust and fear to the audience. I can only think of three characters that could fit this role: jimmy, polle, and curly himself. jimmy is the most blatantly monstrous in that his actions are reprehensible and this is what has earned him his sort of exiled position from fan-representation/engagement, and polle chases the player (as jimmy) in the way a horror game character might in certain gameplay sections, but could curly not count as well? upon closer examination, most people realize that curly is complicit in the violence that happened at the ship which can incite the same kind of repulsion as a "monster" is meant to do. the game also uses his permanently open eye in promotional material to kind of symbolize the horror of the game itself. polle is only really a monster when you see his role from the perspective of jimmy (especially when you read him as a voice for anya) or when hes read as a metaphor for capitalism and the company that enabled this before any personal level even applies (which i think is a role he can exist in simultaneously). curly's post-crash body is similarly used as a source of horror from his ever-present gaze and also from kind of drawing on the history of disabilities to be seen as "monstrous" and repulsive ("monstrosity" of course is a very loaded concept that often hosts a lot of racist, ableist, transphobic, and overall just the variety of repulsions against "the other" that is encountered in media orientations within it). if you asked me what the true "horror" of mouthwashing was, i'd probably say it's the horror of witnessing, enabling, and abiding of abusers (also considering that the ending of the game is curly witnessing everything but being unable to act or communicate anything of what he saw and if hes found presumably taking the blame for it)... which i think would place curly as the "true" monster of this game within such an interpretation.

so then, why doesn't he cross the line?

[aruanimess]

You should totally do HCs for AOT characters. I know you want to😎

🌟

The gender/sexuality HCs? Oh, anon, you shouldn't be enabling me like that... (pls continue)

Okay, so the reason I was hesitant to do this is that I'm usually a "bi until proven otherwise" type of person, but here we go-

Before I begin, disclaimer 1: I consider pan and bi to be very similar sexualities, being bi doesn't mean you're not attracted to nbs (at least imo). The difference lies in whether or not the gender of your partner factors in the attraction you're experiencing (again imo).

Disclaimer 2: This is all in good fun, not meant to be taken too seriously, and obviously if you disagree that's all right 💕

So without further ado:

Eren (he/him): Heteroflexible, but also demisexual. Boy needs a strong bond to penetrate the wall of tatakae and get him to feel attraction. His implied but not canonically explicit crushes on Annie and Historia, only confirm this for me bc he only became interested in them after he learned more about the way they think. Mikasa is obviously his best friend, and Armin, his other best friend, puts the flexible into the heteroflexible.

Mikasa (she/her): Pansexual, also demisexual. She doesn't care about her partner's gender, only about their heart. She has trouble getting attached, but once she does she's ride or die!

Armin (he/they): Bisexual. You know the meme that goes, "I'm probably nonbinary but I don't have time for that"? Yeah, that's Armin. He do be fighting demons, and the demons are his relationship to masculinity. They like macho dudes (the ones they envy/they eeeenvy 🎶) and people who intimidate them.

Annie (she/they): Bisexual. Unlike Armin her nonbinary inclinations are not over some angst with womanhood, she simply sometimes wishes not to be perceived in any particular way. She likes boys if they're nice, girls if they're cool and nbs... nbs are just hot.

Jean (he/him): Pansexual. I don't think gender matters to him, he judges people through their actions, though, and oh boy... he's a harsh judge!

Connie (he/hee): Pansexual aromantic. Sorry, this boy is all about friendship, the other thing he just doesn't get. His friends will be his family, not his future spouse. He still gets around though 👀

Sasha (she/her): Demisexual, demiromantic, straight. Niccolo. Need I explain more?

Bertolt (he/him): He thinks he's straight but he's actually bi.

Reiner (he/him): Homoflexible. Mainly gay, but an exceptional woman can make him change his mind.

Historia (she/her): GAY, GAY, HOMOSEXUAL, GAY. Les-be-honest this woman is a lesbian.

Ymir (she/they): c'mon, she's a giant lesbian!

Pieck (she/her): okay, I know it's a hot take, but I think she's straight. Like who in their right mind rejects Hange? Clearly straight. (And I don't want to hear about Yelena because, again, who in their right mind rejects Hange but wants Yelena?? NO) She's polyamorous though.

Hange (they/them): Pansexual. Canonical crushes involve Keith Shadis and Pieck. They clearly don't care about their partner's gender, only their levels of weirdness. Their gender is mad scientist.

Levi (he/him): another hot take, I think he's aroace.

[iz-star]

About the latest polemic about Zayne and Sylus over twitter...

I left twitter for good. I'm honestly so tired of the drama that arises there everyday. I literally decided to log in today just to see some Arcane spoilers and the first thing I was hit with was with the most recent drama about CN players and specially Zayne and Sylus players having a heavy argument about plagiarism and how some lines of Zayne seem to have been copied onto Sylus' lines...

Firs of all, I don't know how the CN fanbase is, so I can't really say anything about that matter. From what I read, it seems things are quite complex there and arguments & harassment among LI's fanbases seem to be quite intense from what ppl is saying but, again, I can't really say too much on that matter cause I don't know how the fanbase is there, I'm not part of it neither I go to CN websites to look up for lads content. Most cases my experience visiting CN websites has been because of kind ppl that has respectfully asked me permission to repost my art and give me credits there, from that perspective my opinion about the CN fanbase has always been good and it still stands, I'm pretty sure that great part of the fanbase it's nice and it's only the small little toxic portion that is overshadowing the nice and chill part of the fandom.

My point here it's: Don't let yourself to have a tunnel vision about this situation.

You can probably see 10, 100 or even 500 ppl arguing and harassing others and even so it's not even a quarter of the whole total of players that belong to the fandom only in China, let alone global. To generalize from your point of view is not the objective take you think it is, talking from your experience doesn't talk for others experience, no one's experience here is universal. I read a lot of ppl trying to find someone to blame all the time "Zayne players started everything" "Sylus writers copied Zayne" etc and you know? Rolling this ball to one another is not going to lead us anywhere because as always, it's not acknowledging the true issue here: that is, us as players, keep enabling this kind of toxic behaviour if that means to stand up for or to 'defend' our main LI.

To try to portray one LI's fanbase as the guilty one is just creating more trouble than solving it and it's also not having a general understanding of the situation at hand and instead, encouraing biased opinions that only create more division and discrimination within the fandom.

And let's be honest, it's not the first time (and probably won't be the last, sadly) that drama arises within the fandom where we attack others LIs and their fanbase. This game is targeted towards adult women, we are not supposed to behave like adolescents making tantrums and messing up with our peers, yet here we are, enabling arguments, harassment, bullying or overall having an ugly and mean attitude in order to defend something that honestly, all the LIs would feel ashamed for if they were real. Like, literally all of them hate to be on the spotlight for the stuff they're good at, it would be even worse if the spotlight it's caused by them for all the wrong reasons.

I know lads guys are fictional, and I'm not going to invalidate people's feelings by saying that you shouldn't take it too seriously just bc they're not real -most of us find a lot of comfort in fiction, after all- but that doesn't give you the right to harass real people neither hurt their feelings [the same ways you feel when they attack your fav LI]. You are able to feel whatever you want to feel, however, you're still responsible for your words and actions. If this game is turning you into an awful person, then I'm afraid to say that you probably must step back and reconsider if your passion for it is healthy for you.

I know it's easy to get upset and sometimes we have the need to express it. However, to decide to be a part of a fandom is to accept that you are not going to always like what ppl say, let alone agree with them. Not everyone's opinions might aling with yours but it's enterily up to you the way how you take and respond to them. As I said before, I left twitter for good bc I found myself often wanting to be mean to others upon reading the negative stuff some ppl said about Zayne, especially in order to compare him with other LIs just to make him look bad. I would often felt so ugly thinking like that. Staying away from that drama has been super helpful and that's the best advice I can give for now: try and enjoy the game and your LI by yourself if the fandom is getting too much to handle.

Be careful about the discourse you support and always ask yourself if your words and actions will truly lead you somewhere good and healthy or it will only cause more chaos for you and others. Flammable opinions only light up and burn if we feed the fire, if there's no one to keep it alive, the flame will drown out very quickly.

[mysticcrownwolf]

I have not watched arcane but I follow enough people that do to have to general idea of what it's about and I am calling it right now the only reason this fandom demonize Vi is because they like Jinx and by extension Silco so all the bullshit ass enabling he did with Jinx for years will be forgotten because Vi punches her for killing everybody she ever loved and then the people in this fandom who don't have even a quarter of a brain cell to rub together will be like well Jinx suffered so much because of Vi because she had suicidal thoughts and see people meanwhile Vi deadass saw everyone she loved die in front of her, then lose her only remaining family to Silco and then spend her whole childhood in prison. Like the people in this fandom can't comprehend morally grey characters or even think that their faves can be complex people who can do bad things if the narrative shifts that way.

Look me in the eye and tell me these people have a single thought in their head while watching the show because the writers said these two seasons are the Jinx and Vi story. That they will probably make more arcane stuff but these seasons are focused on the sisters and so why do I see post like I wish Vi didn't have so much screen time or I wish Vi and Cait story wasn't the main focus here and the show focused more on "insert any background narrative they wanted to see" like bitch go fuck yourself.

Like I have never seen such a large group of people utterly incapable of media literacy it's like they need to be handfed concepts like:-

"A doomed narrative means no happy endings at most you get a bittersweet one"

"Your fave can be a bad person and still be your fave you don't have to justify them as a good or reasonable person (and demonize their equally traumatized sister looking at you weirdly purist Jinx fans) to continue liking them.

"Metaphors and parallels shouldn't be spoken or spelled out for you. You as a viewer are suppose to understand then yourself using your brain"

"Good people can do some bad things this doesn't make then irredeemable and bad people can do some good things this doesn't suddenly makes them fully redeemable"

"If a shows ending is ambiguous it doesn't mean the writers were too pussy to commit to a proper ending it means they purposefully made it ambiguous so their can be more than one interpretation for it"

"Not all good stories needs have good or even satisfying happily ever after usually in a doomed narrative you just survive to live another day"

"Just because someone's trauma manifest in a more visible way doesn't mean another characters didn't suffer at all (still looking at you Vi haters)"

To summarise do I think the people who can't see a nuanced story like arcane without generalizing everything in black and white and then complaining about how it's bad are all brainless idiots with the mental capacity of a third grader with no capacity for media literacy or reflection. Yes. Is it probably a baseless generalization. Probably. Do I care. No,fuck you'll and all your arcane hate post you all tricked me into reading by disguise them as actually analysis.

If I can pick up on the subtle nuances and non linear narrative of arcane by just reading Tumblr posts and watching some clips on YouTube you people have no reason to have this shitty of an opinion when you actually consumed the full media.

[idlenight]

I'm curios- what are the reasons from the demo that you like hg? It can be under the cut if you want to avoid people getting spoilers!

I will use any excuse to blab about HG, you are an enabler anon.

WARNING: Public Revelations Demo spoilers (for route 4.2) under the cut

Secondary warning of a LOT of text lmao.

hgsib variable.... i am obsessed w/ u.

You are Hollow Ground. You wake up in the middle of the night because you're a little parched. You untangle yourself from your polycule to go to the kitchen and get a drink.

There, sitting on your kitchen counter, is the villain that had previously refused to show up to the meeting you invited them to and send their assistant instead. They are in full armor, you are in your robes (a little underdressed for this meeting).

They offer you a cup of your own coffee that they just made.

Personally? I would be alerting my bodyguards polycule to the intrusion. But no HG just, rolls with the punches. I respect that.

But to get into the actual nitty gritty and the Connections(tm) to sidestep, focusing on the friendly + mind conversation because that's what I saw in my run.

In the friendly conversation where sidestep takes their helm off you get so much insight into HG's relationship with their sibling.

"Believe it or not," you start, *if ((suit_terrifying) or (hgterrified))   realizing how absurd this must sound, "I do believe it will be more advantageous to work together than be enemies." "You have certainly proven that you would be a bad enemy to have," Hollow Ground admits. *if hgreveal   "And I'm glad you're being sensible about this." The smile is real, as is the relief.   *if hgmind     "I wouldn't want us to be at odds. Not now."

a boss or hunter also gets this piece of dialogue that im unwell about:

  "Oh I know exactly who would," Hollow Ground says, voice sharper than it has been so far tonight. "Lord Ember. That San Francisco fuck has been making moves on my territory. I wasn't sure if you were one of his plants until tonight."   *if hgreveal     ${hghis} ${eyes} meet yours. Certainty. You're on ${hghis} side in this.

'Certainty. You're on [their] side in this.' <- homie immediately willing to believe step is on their side because they're probably his sibling, why wouldn't they be?

With a thief step, this dialogue comes up

  "Sometimes I can't be bothered though." You stare ${hghim} down, seeing how much leeway you have with your little stunt. "With the whole research thing. Is that going to be an issue?"   "You..." Hollow Ground groans.   *if hgmind     "You really haven't changed one bit, have you?"   *elseif hgreveal     "This feels far too familiar."

and the mindtalk + being defensive:

    "So what?" Your tone matches ${hghis}, because you have never once backed down from an argument. "Are you seriously surprised?"     "I shouldn't be, you always were a little shit." The words are out, flat on the table between you, coins not heads or tails but on the edge, spinning freely.

HG's youngest sibling confirmed to have been a little shit. (this dynamic was made for River 'born to be a shithead little brother' Becker fr fr)

Although my favorite part of the mind talk is this:

  *selectable_if (protected) #"You saved me," I gasp, focusing on that. "Why?"     "You saved me," you gasp, trying to swallow the taste of blood and drowning. "Why would you do that?" $!{hghe} must have known what you were trying to do. You're not sure if Hollow Ground is a telepath, but there is some form of mental powers at play here, that you could feel. Something...     "Hell if I know," ${hghe} @{hgsv lies|lie} and you know that now. Can taste the lie, not because your minds are entangled but because you can see it in ${hghis} eyes.     *if hg_relationship = "dangerous telepath"       "I should have let you drown like last time."       "But you didn't," you retort, wiping your mouth. "You know something."     *else       "Liar," you retort, wiping your mouth.

"You don't know?" You can sense the disbelief, ${hghis} eyes narrowing. "Fuck. Of course. That makes sense. Too much sense." "No it doesn't," you protest. "Do you remember anything?" Hollow Ground leans forward, too insistent now, almost reaching out to touch. You lean back, putting space between you despite the protection of your armor. "About what?" Why are you the one being interrogated? What did you see in there? What did you feel? "Your childhood." The words land heavily, and you almost laugh. As if you were ever a child.

The way that i am obsessed with ["dialogue" he lied] in texts. ALso ugh, HG leaning forward, wanting to touch sidestep. To make sure they're real? to comfort them? to comfort themself? They want sidestep to be their sibling so bad, need it to be true.

In fact is sidestep dismisses it (our memories got entangled. it's nothing more than that), then HG begs them to answer the question anyway, and are very clearly unwilling to let it go even though they won't force the answer because they're at a disadvantage.

  #"No," I say, which is technically not a lie. "Why?"     "No," you say, which is technically not a lie. No childhood unless you count being newly decanted, fumbling your way through the world before your memory implant. "Why?"     "Because you remind me of someone." Hollow Ground looks directly at you, eyes narrowing. "Someone who I thought I had lost long ago. Someone who should be dead."     "Some people don't stay dead forever," you joke with your grimmest smile, but ${hghe} @{hgsv takes|take} it the wrong way, eagerly leaning forward.     "Could it be...?" A pause, ${hghis} fingers tapping nervously against the table. "You would have been in your early teens. There was an... attack. They called it an accident, but nobody was fooled. You had been arrested, they said you suffered an overdose. They never let us claim the body, so I always figured it was police brutality. Didn't want us to see the evidence. I never thought there was a chance that you were alive?"

You can feel the hope radiating from ${hghim}. An old wound, reopened. Someone who loved ${hghis} *if afab   little sister *elseif amab   little brother *else   younger sibling and is now hoping that ${hghe} had been wrong all along. That there is a chance there had been no death. No body. Just someone disappeared into the system for whatever nefarious purposes. Someone who might be sitting at the table across from ${hghim}. Maybe. Hope. The most powerful and addictive of drugs. *if (((amab) and (gender = "woman")) or ((afab) and (gender = "man")))   You know in your heart that it is wrong. Not just because you are a Re-Gene and never were a child. But because the child you saw in ${hghis} mind had been a @{amab little girl.|little boy.} And you never would have been. Not back then.

Hollow Ground loved their younger sibling, Hollow Ground hopes that they are wrong. They want to be wrong, they need to be. For a chance that their sibling can still be alive, sitting in front of them now, breathing.

I could go on but this is already long enough lmao. Thanks for coming to another one of my TEDtalks ✌️.

[ludwigoat909]

SIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGH.....

I don't want to attack this comment too much because something tells me they're probably young and also because it's true that there are people out there that are to forgiving of Curly even downright ignoring what he did wrong (like yes enabling your firend knwing he's a rapist is very bad actually). But BY GOD I pray you never have an actual victim of abuse while you still have that mindset. Some of y'all just don't know how it works or how people are manipulated by it and until you get that you are not ready too talk about the subject.

Curly and Jimmy's relationship isn't fucking displayed as Jimmy purely berating him. The cockpit scene is literally meant to show how Jimmy is a source of confinement to Curly's insecurities. That's the thing with abusive relationships, first they try to establish a strong bond, make sure you stay trapped in it by making sure you are the problem and not them, along with giving you this false sense of warmth to make you still love them when you shouldn't

As for him "being a rape apologist". Look, I completely understand the conclusion. Like... him saying Jimmy, "they can fix it", and shit really fucking frustrates me on so many levels in everytime I play it making me go "DUDE WTF ARE YOU FUCKING SAYING STOOOP", and by god does it make me cringe to even try to make any explanation to his insane enabling behavior.... I still think he wasn't that honest when he said that shit.

Ok, so... there's people out there who have made parallels between him and Anya in terms of how they interact, so let's talk about that juuuust for a bit ok?

You'll see in the game, Anya tries to "compliment" Jimmy as an obvious defense mechanism to avoid him throwing a tantrum and, of course, harming her. Especially now that he's in an even higher position of power.

Now, does this shit compare to Curly? Fuck the hell NO. He is the captain, he should be taking actions, he is clearly still on a higher position then Jimmy even if the later has a strong inflence and control over him.

What I am saying is that Jimmy is a generally dangerous and emotionally unstable hypocrite who envies his best friend for getting all the praise. He thinks he is a victim in all of this. Not aknowledging the harm he has done nor identifying what the real problem is. That's why he looooves being fed into this belief that he is not defined by some """""""litttle""""""""" mistakes. That everything is going to be "fine"

So that's what I think Curly's intent when he enabled his shitty rapist friend wasn't to literally apologize the rape but rather, he simply tried to feed him off what he wanted to hear because it's the only way he knows how to deal with him, all in hopes of makimg sure the situation doesn't escalate, which didn't fucking work obviously.

The point of Curly is that he had to make a decision. He had to pick a side. He had to make a change. Yet he didn't. Because he's too much of a coward who is terrified of change. The cockpit dialogue being the biggest representation of that. Literally standing on a bridge, his feet stuck in cement. That is why

Again this isn't meant to be a defense for his action. It really isn't. I'm just saying that not seeing the red flags of an abuser like Jimmy isn't "unrealistic" and it is very victim-blamy to assume that their victims should've immediately see the red flags, and that he is less an apologist and more of a fucking coward.

[wolfofcelestia]

Pre relationship Sylus:Leave Go away

Sylus now :🥺 why are you leaving me stay by my side

Is this the same guy that literally shoved us out of his room 👁️👄👁️

I can imagine that his plan was to sleep with her in Midnight Stealth tbh

He challenged MC to find the brooch, knowing full well that it would be on his person so that she would have to feel him up. He dressed in nothing but his robe. He kept his bedroom door unlocked

And... I mean, who sleeps sitting straight up in their own bed? Considering that it was night time (I'm assuming midnight because of the title??), he shouldn't even be asleep at that hour. He was absolutely just pretending to be asleep

Him shoving her out of his room was just part of the game. Just to entertain himself, some kind of foreplay, or testing how far she's willing to go

And I feel like the twins enabling MC was both out of their own fun and also out of habit. They're probably used to Sylus bringing home random girls that when Sylus brought back MC, they just assumed he wanted them to treat her like all the others

So that was Sylus's plan

But then he stopped when he finally pinned her to the bed

She wasn't just any girl to him and he couldn't make himself treat her like all the rest

[eroticcannibal]

Okay so this is entirely separate from your discourse but I HATE when I'm calling out a pedophile, a real life pro contact minor attracted person who BRAGS about it and because I say "I think pedophiles should die" suddenly everyone is like "but it's a mental illness!! They need HELP!! (And also so what if they're talking about a real child?)" fuck OFF. and they're like "I don't AGREE with them, obviously, but you shouldn't say they should kill themselves!" So many people are pedophile defenders it's fucking sick. No, I'm not talking about Loli or bullshit I'm talking about a REAL person.

Yeah like obviously there's some nuance around the term pedophile but like. IN CONTEXT I think the meaning is pretty clear there (esp with the term having different definitions in different context and it sounds like you aren't using the medical definition there!)

It does deeply frustrate me when ppl coddle and excuse the pro contact and offending lot with "but it's a mental illness" like I'm sorry but everyone else who is attracted to someone can manage to not rape them, your """mental illness""" doesn't make you a rapist, that's a choice, stop making excuses for them! And honestly while I guess *technically* suicide baiting is bad, but if someone is at the point where they think it's OK to rape kids, idk probably better hills to die on than protecting their feelings. It would certainly solve the problem if they did kill themselves.

There has been this weird tendency in progressive spaces, in the effort to extend sympathy to non offending pedophiles, to go a bit far into enabling and coddling and I'm very much not a fan. I'm honestly not a fan of the attraction itself being considered a mental illness or the idea it inherently means someone needs help to not offend. Like. U can have your thoughts in private and not act on it. Maybe someone might need some help dealing with shame but if you think u "need help" to not molest a kid maybe u should be thrown in the ocean. It just removes responsibility from the offender. That's a choice they make.

And DISCOURSE ASIDE, if ur calling out a fucking predator, pushback is derailing regardless of the reason. Just fucking. Let someone metaphorically maul a nonce in peace. There is a time and place for pedo discourse but what u describe aint it.