#you really need to be ok with the fact that some people dislike the thing you like

[aipilosse]

8, 12, and 13?

I wasn't going to do anymore choose violence acts, and then I saw someone being extremely self-righteous about not partaking in the violence and you know what, I think I'll finish the asks! *Someone* has to spread negativity 😇

ok buuuut I'm not going to think to hard about these.

8. common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about:

aaahhh ok, first thing that pops into my head: The sons of Feanor are not the main characters of the Silmarillion. Really, Feanor isn't even the main character of the Silmarillion -- it does not have a main character. It has a collection of protagonists that shifts as the legends are strung together, but there is no singular main character or even group of characters.

12. the unpopular character that you actually like and why more people should like them.

Hahah it's got to be Thingol. More eloquent people than me have written up defenses of him, but really he's a proud bastard who marries a Maia, keeps much of the population of Beleriand safe (yes really) and provides a safe haven for people after the Bragollach (yes REALLY) and *almost* comes around to real growth but then ends in tragedy.

13. worst blorboficiation:

Lol Melkor. And his chronic pain, poor baby. Fingolfin was so mean to him.

[fairestwriting]

I was wondering if I can request a Savannaclaw with a reader who is feels very cold one day like they are just sitting there shivering because they think they are ok (sorry I’m bad at explaining stuff and I’m awkward :])

dw you explained this really well!! i hope you like it <3 post sponsored by It’s been slightly chilly where i live and ahhhhh hhh so freezing …..

𐙚 Leona Kingscholar

Leona was raised in the savannah, so yes, he doesn’t really get along with the cold. As soon as autumn starts, he’s grumbling about how awful the weather is that day. How glad he is that Savanaclaw stays at reasonable temperatures all year long, really, he doesn’t get how anyone could even enjoy this kind of weather—

”What’s so good about this damn snow, people look like stupid kids getting excited over it…” He’s ranting absentmindedly as you walk together when he glances at you, and sees how you’ve been shivering through every step. Leona’s look twists from mildly annoyed to actually kind of disturbed.

”Herbivore, did you forget your coat or something?” …Immediately, he pretty much forgets about his own complaints. Has he ever even seen anyone shaking this hard? And you expect him to just believe you’re fine? Did you freeze your brain off during this walk? He’s not having any of that, no way.

If you just keep insisting don’t even need an extra scarf, he’ll just decide that you know what, there’s no reason for either of you to be out in this hell weather— Keeping you closer to him than usual during the walk back to Savanaclaw. Where he, of course, will deny any claims of him getting worried over a small thing, and/or that he was cold himself and just wanted an excuse to go back to his room.

𐙚 Ruggie Bucchi

Like Leona, Ruggie also dislikes cold weather, he just expresses it differently. Less straight up cursing the general existence of winter, more laughing about how he’s freezing his ass off. He doesn’t comment on it as much either, because thinking about it just makes you feel even colder.

He does see a kind of aesthetic appeal in the snow, though. “I mean, who doesn’t? Leona-san doesn’t count, he just complains because he’s cranky about being cold.” He tells you when he’s explaining why he’s invited you to come to the courtyard with him to look at the first snowflakes to fall that year— Then he turns to you and you look like you’re straight up vibrating, and he’s actually horrified.

”Wha… What do you mean you’re fine? Are you crazy?” He’s even more wide eyed when you give him your response, are you seriously this stubborn? Isn’t this a hypothermia symptom? Ruggie scrambles to get his second jacket off himself and onto you. He’s freezing even before it’s no longer on his body, but that’s not his main concern right now. You’re getting dragged out of that courtyard.

…Ruggie has picked up on a few things from classmates who are familiar with snowy winters, yeah. And it just so happens that some of the stories might’ve been a little exaggerated. He insists you keep his jacket even after he calms down, then ends up getting a cold from the whole situation. Yeah, pretty embarrassing. Still better than risking you getting hypothermia, though, he’ll always say whenever you bring this story up.

𐙚 Jack Howl

The fact that you’re dating Jack itself prevents this scenario from taking place, honestly. Because if you’re together, then he has plans of introducing you to his family. And if he has those plans, he’ll make a point of gifting you a very nice, very warm winter coat for you to wear the day on the day of your trip.

That, and he’s actually knowledgeable on the dangers of cold weather and the signs of hypothermia. And the fact that he’s kind of built for colder weather in the first place means he’s actually pretty energetic during the winter. ”It’s getting colder soon, so don’t forget to bring your jacket to class.” That’s the text you wake up to, sent at five in the morning, the exact day before the winter solstice.

You also hear it often, it might not feel too cold now, but it will later, he explains as he reminds you once again. Even if you also come from a place with colder weather— So, if he meets you for lunch and you’re shivering in place, it’s either because your clothes aren’t keeping you warm enough, which Jack is constantly trying to prevent, or you could be sick.

And it’s not going to make him straight up freak out, but he already regularly fusses over you, so he’s just going to do it more. ”If you’re shivering like that, you can’t be fine. Were you feeling unwell earlier? You know it’s not a good idea to go out in the cold, if you do…” He’s already dragging you to a warmer area where he can get you a hot drink, asking you if you felt off at all today, and giving you his jacket — all three at once, and that drink is firmly in your hands very quickly too.

if you like my work you can support me by commissioning me or tipping me on ko-fi ── ᵎᵎ ✦

[siggiedraws]

What’s your thoughts on idw silver, I personally think he is ok but I feel like the idw comic didn’t really do very well with his character.

I can't say I like him... at all.

American Sonic media already has a history of needless and quite frankly terrible changes, whether made out of ignorance, xenophobia towards Sonic Team/SoJ, some vague, made-up sense of marketability, or all three. So, I'm already wary of media like that. They always change fundamental aspects of Sonic's appeal and are supremely unenjoyable to me as a result.

To stay on track here - why do I dislike IDW Silver? The main reason is that I think he's portrayed as way too polite and nice to people. He has no backbone. It's as if he was just based off of popular fanon or Archie comics, rather than the source material. I don't blame anyone for thinking Silver is some timid, polite sweetheart if fanon and IDW/Archie is all they have consumed, but I'm doing my best to dispel that notion for the sake of conquering misinformation. As a casual fan, it is understandable to have misconceptions, but I'm going to be much more harsh to official media.

I need to hammer home the fact that Silver is rude and often talks down to people. Sonic '06, Silver's debut game, showcases this very well. In an '06 cutscene, he talks down to Sonic after attacking him when his guard was down. The casual stride over to a wheezing, incapacitated Sonic kills me. The disrespect is fucking crazy.

In the level Flame Core, he acts haughty and superior about his abilities, even letting out a light chuckle at how pathetic the enemies are. And, a detail that is easy to miss, he doesn't even apologize for trying to kill Sonic.

That's not even mentioning the Rivals games being a wonderful source of Rude Silver™, where there are too many snide remarks to count.

IDW Silver is a telltale case of Silver's nuance being stripped so that he only represents one trait of his- that trait being "naivety." Silver's naivety is mentioned twice by Blaze in Sonic '06 because this is relevant to the story. Naivety is Silver's fatal flaw that leads to him being easily manipulated by Mephiles. However, his naivety isn't due to some innocent, childlike outlook on the world. Silver takes everyone at face value and always assumes people are telling the truth to him due to a lack of social skills. This is why, when Silver mentions something outlandish or unbelievable to people, he is confused why they don't believe him. This is shown in both Rivals 2 and the Sonic x Silver wallpaper cover story.

IDW seems to completely miss this nuance and conflates "naivety" with childlikeness and innocence. When you realize this, decisions put towards Silver's characterization in IDW makes a lot of sense - his hyperactive excitement and adulation over Whisper is a good example, but how he doesn't talk back to Sonic calling him "flatware" in Issue 8 particularly bothers me.

Realistically, Sonic would immediately get thrown into a wall if he said this to Silver.

Portrayals like IDW Silver are just so utterly confusing. How in the world does Silver get misconstrued this way, into something entirely opposite of what he is, in both fanon and official media? To be completely honest, it makes me frustrated. I want things to change and I feel like I have to speak up. I ended up writing an essay about Why Silver is Rude. I'm sorry anon.

[bassiascoparia]

All right, ok, LISTEN. I don't know who needs to hear this, but I'm pretty sure that some people do. It's ok to hate Percy Jackson because it depicts the Greek Gods in a terrible way. Rick Riordan has the creative license to write them however he wants, but it's still fine to be annoyed at how they're portrayed.

It's ok to hate the fact that PJO wasn't in Greece and that the explanation for why it was in America was terrible.

It's ok to hate the fact that Zeus, Hera, Ares, Athena and a whole lot of other gods were portrayed in a negative light.

It's ok to be furious because Ares is a bad parent in PJO.

It's ok to tear your hair out over the way Artemis and her hunt were written.

It's ok to be angry that Athena had children with mortals when she was a virgin goddess in the myths.

It's ok to be angry that Hades cheated on Persephone in PJO (even if you like Nico and Bianca and Hazel. It's fine to do both).

It's ok to be angry that Persephone and Demeter don't have a good relationship and that Demeter is largely painted to be an overbearing, helicopter mother.

It's ok to resent the fact that Artemis, the former's hunt and Hestia, the goddess of the hearth and another virgin goddess, were portrayed as literal CHILDREN despite there being no reason for Rick to do that.

It's ok to be annoyed with the fact that Poseidon was sanitized when he could've been such a morally gray character.

It's fine to cry about the fact that Aphrodite was largely reduced to a stereotypical, modern cartoonish version of RomANtiC lOvE when she was the goddess of LOVE, not just ROMANCE, SEX AND BEAUTY.

It's ok to like Trials of Apollo but want to smash things because Apollo was depicted as an incompetent dumbass. It's ok to seethe at the fact that Zeus was portrayed as an abusive father to Apollo when in the myths, he was quite loving.

It's ok to do this because PJO is one of the if not THE MOST major media that depicts Greek Mythology. It's basically a Greek Mythology fanfiction MODERN AU. And yes, it's helped thousands of children and adults and made them feel better, and it's almost as popular as Harry Potter for a reason. But it's still fine for Greek people, Hellenistic Pagans and even people who aren't Greek or Hellenistic to be angry with how Rick Riordan is continuously bastardising the Greek Gods and making them look more and more of a joke.

A lot of people who got into Greek Mythology used PERCY JACKSON as their first reference, and while Percy Jackson is a great start for venturing into Greek Mythology- PLEASE, PLEASE BEAR IN MIND THAT PJO GODS ARE NOT AS ACCURATE AS THE ORIGINAL.

POSEIDON IS NOT THAT GOOD.

HADES IS NOT SO VILLANOUS.

ATHENA IS NOT SO COLD AND UNCARING. SHE'S A MAIN PATRON OF HEROES AND RARELY ABANDONS THEM EVEN AFTER THEY'VE COMMITTED WAR CRIMES

DIONYSUS IS NOTHING LIKE HIS PJO COUNTERPART.

ARES IS A GOOD FATHER.

DEMETER AND PERSEPHONE HAD A BEAUTIFUL, LOVING RELATIONSHIP.

HERA IS NOT SO HORRIBLE. SHE HAD HER GOOD MOMENTS

ZEUS WAS NOT THAT BAD IN GREEK MYTHOLOGY AND HE WAS ALSO A CARING FATHER. HE SENT BLOOD RAIN DOWN TO MOURN HIS SON SARPEDON WHO WAS FATED TO DIE.

I know this sounds like I hate PJO, but I really do like the series. It's fine to like PJO and its characters while also disliking how the gods were portrayed. It's ok.

[hidingfromthelackofreadingcomp]

I like how Captain Curly is written. He's a peacekeeper. I myself, am a peacekeeper, I can relate. I'm not saying it's a good thing, in some cases it's really not a good thing and I admit that. For example: the rape of Anya. Curly tries to play it cool and de-escalate the situation like he always does. But this is rape. This isn't an average, more tame problem. This is very serious and peacekeeping isn't usually an option in cases like this. Also take into consideration, there wasn't much time for Curly to act further about the situation before the crash. To my understanding, Anya only confirmed she was raped to Curly when she told him she was pregnant. (Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong in a polite and civil way). So if I'm right about that, Curly REALLY didn't have much time to fully process the situation and act accordingly. Also keep in mind, he's good friends with Jimmy. If you found out that someone you don't care for is a rapist, you would automatically take the survivor's side. If you just found out that one of your good friends had raped someone, you'd be in denial at first because you like your friend. You would hesitate at first, even if only for a second or a minute. Some people, depending on who they are and how close they are with the rapist, might need proof to fully believe it. Only after you've gotten proof that the survivor is in fact a survivor of your friend's assault would you stop giving your friend the benefit of the doubt. What kind of proof? Well, that depends on the person, some people need more proof than others, it also depends on how close the person is with the rapist. I believe Curly is in a situation where he needs more proof. He wants to inform himself on just how bad the situation is in order to make a decision. Which is why he talks to Jimmy. He talks to Jimmy hoping for humanity, any kind of regret, he's hoping that Jimmy will take responsibility for his actions. He's also secretly hoping it wasn't really Jimmy who did it. Also also, he wants to see both sides. Which is usually a good thing, but when it comes to rape, it should be pretty obvious that you should take the survivor's side. But Curly doesn't know that, he's used to smaller, lesser situations, so he acts as if it's a smaller, lesser situation without realizing that's what he's doing. He's trying to process everything. Maybe if he had time to process everything, it would hit him that hey, this situation should be handled more seriously and you can't keep being the peacekeeper to make it better. Because Curly does like and respect Anya, he has no ill will towards her, he's just plagued by his peacekeeping nature and bias due to his friendship with Jimmy. However, he doesn't have time to fully process the situation because, well, the crash happens and he loses all ways of communicating with others. I am in no way defending Curly, he's not a great person, but I recognize that he's trying to be, he's just not used to this kind of situation. He feels like a real person. Which is why I personally, don't dislike him, but I see why some do. And that's ok :). I just wanted to rant about him, honestly. If anyone comes at me in a hostile way, I will block you. If you're civil, I will gladly discuss with you!

[eight-ball-juice]

ENA DREAM BBQ THEORY

Ok so I don’t know if anyone else has made these assumptions or theories but I kinda wanna get my thoughts out.

so, I think its not too far of a stretch to say that the starting area is inside of a door like the lonely door/crowded door. Bed Door.

it’s too early to say really what other doors are like. But I think between the contained environment, the blue bed same color as the other doors, it makes sense that it was a similar type of door, even if the events inside the door were not similar.

from what we know of the lonely door, people can come in and out of the doors as they please (until they close). Some doors have natural citizens in them.

next, we have genies. We have only seen one instance of what counts as a genie (possibly two if you count The Great Runas). Because of how Coral describes needing to hire an entity to be the genie of the horse door, and how Taski applied to be one, i imagine that potential genies have powers only once they become a genie, and once they’re in their own door. Perhaps the way a genie works is dependent on the type of door.

now we get to the bed door. With no one in it, except for a single flea, and 1 mannequin laying down in a shop. In fact, all the buildings in the door seem to be shops. There is the giant thing that flies through the sky but I don’t believe he counts as anything yet.

the only one in the door is Ena. What if ENA is the genie of the bed door? It was full of shops, perhaps salesman ENA ran hers like a market place. And ruined it. To the point that any other door is more desirable to reach than her door. If you consider the layout of the casino, it’s quite easy to notice that the bed door is shoved in the corner at the end of the hall, and no one really goes near it. All the other doors are displayed prominently across hub and casino.

it could be a possible reason most dislike ENA. That she was a Genie, one of the most respective and privileged jobs in this world, and she failed miserably. It could also explain Theodora’s reluctance against her. Yes, most of the other characters who don’t like Ena can be assumed to not like their species. But Theodora can see more than the average character in order to give her forgiveness. Seeing another Genie who failed in her role seems like something that’s not forgiven by another genie.

this theory is probably stupid and other people can say it better but these are just my thoughts.

[mymarifae]

yesterday someone on strawpage asked me what made me go from a dr. ratio hater to a dr. ratio enjoyer and that response took me. four hours . to put together. so you know what i'm going to share my thoughts here too. here's why i like this ⬇️ jackass a lot now!!!!!!!!!!!

he's a tricky character! the first interactions we get with him are so off-putting and unpleasant that i feel like a lot of people are like "wow, this guy is a self-absorbed dick, i don't respect him at all. can he go away" - i know that was my reaction! and he IS a dick. but like. listen.

it's really, really, REALLY easy to misconstrue 90% of his words and actions. it doesn't help that he has the speech patterns of a haughty asshole. and it alsooooooo doesn't help that aventurine's stunt in penacony required orchestrating a "betrayal" between himself and ratio. i think some of the things ratio said during All That constitutes the bulk of most people's persisting dislike of him. So:

1. everything ratio did and said was exactly what aventurine asked him to. this was all pre-negotiated. i think aventurine's insecurities acting up and the way he started doubting whether ratio was truly just acting threw some people off as well, but there is plentyyyyyy of evidence that no, ratio does not hate him and was not waiting for the perfect opportunity to stab him in the back and rid himself of this "damned gambler" but i'll get more into that in a sec ok? i have another bullet point to make first. and it's important so read it carefully ok? promise?

2. any comments from ratio pertaining to aventurine's race were said to fuel the narrative SUNDAY was building in his head probably from the second he learned which ipc executive would be coming to penacony.

aventurine's plan hinged on sunday's prejudice. he needed sunday to think of him as a liar, a cheat, a silver-tongued honeypot - basically, every avgin stereotype floating around in the universe. he needed to invoke a sense of insult. how could someone so... despicable invade the family's sweet dream? he needed sunday to be so wound up over his presence in penacony that he couldn't resist the urge to put The Vile Avgin back in his place. idk THIS ("this" being the real world parallels of how the catholic church ethnically cleansed the rroma during the 16th and 17th centuries) is a whooooole issue in itself that i don't have the time to go into rn because we're supposed to be talking about dr. ratio. oops

anyway the important thing to understand is that ratio absolutely does not look down upon aventurine's heritage. he was acting, with aventurine's blessing, to feed into sunday's biases. and he wasn't even good at it 😭... like look at this exchange from 2.0:

one snarky comment from aventurine and his ass is immediately Apologizing. his ass that's supposed to be acting like he doesn't respect or like aventurine At All. in fact, aventurine's "even under the watchful eye of the harmony..." comment feels a liiiiittle pointed lol. it's a subtle warning to ratio! like, "hey, dumbass, did you forget we're being monitored at all times?? knock it off."

and like this isn't even the only time ratio breaks character and puts aventurine's plan in jeopardy. he learns nothing from this interaction because it's worse next time. lmao:

this stupid fuckignb note. is extremely significant in manyyyy ways so we have to talk about it. first of all, stopping to check on aventurine's condition and to say "tell me if you can't hold on any longer" RIGHT IN FRONT OF SUNDAY (basically, since the family was monitoring everything and a few minutes later we see one of gopher wood's birds hanging out in that general area)?? BRO

if he wanted to, this brief interaction would have been enough for sunday to call their bluff. and aventurine knew that; many of his lines here feel like attempts to redirect ratio into picking the act back up and to stop trying to help him.

next, the stupid fuckignb note's contents. yes yes the second half is very sweet and it's all anyone ever wants to talk about and i understand because it probably meant the world to aventurine especially in that moment but i need you to look at the first half

ratio gave aventurine the answer..? he. gave him the answer. you might be wondering why this matters at all and i'll just have to redirect you to his actions in 1.6, wherein he notably refused to give any answers and let asta, stelle, and like everyone else on the space station flounder, learn from their floundering, and - ultimately - Grow

ratio is a teacher through and through. if someone isn't one of those "geniuses" he wants nothing to do with, they're a potential student in his eyes. and everything that happened in mundane troubles was the space station's final exam, so to speak. his inaction wasn't out of cruelty or because he didn't care about the fate of all the people on the station - obviously he did, because he was the one using the phase flame to teleport the missing researchers to safety...

he posited himself as a safety net in case things went horribly terribly wrong, but he left most of it up to stelle and asta, because he believed in them. they had all the information they needed; they just needed to figure out how to utilize it. and if they failed, well... they had their safety net, and failure is a learning experience too. like, ratio wants people to learn. he wants them to have all the skills and knowledge they could possibly need to take charge of their lives.

the "geniuses" of the world, the head honchos, the impossibly rich 0.0001%? whatever you want to call them, there's always this Upper Level in society that can do things "ordinary" people can never dream of doing. their way of life is simply unattainable. ratio disagrees. he believes that anyone can do anything, if someone would only take the time to teach them. and he's chosen to be one of those teachers! instead of sitting on his ass and just theorizing about a better, fairer society, he's doing what he can to make a difference.

(not so self-centered after all, huh?)

so like. when you remember how much of a teacher ratio is, like this is a philosophy ingrained in his very bone marrow, it's a pretty big fucking deal that he just GAVE aventurine the answer he needed. it shows how concerned he was! and how guilty he felt about the part he had to play!!!! his words and actions were so far removed from his actual thoughts and feelings that he literally HAD to put the whole operation at risk to remind aventurine that he doesn't view him the same way sunday did, give him a safety net, AND let him know it's there. because at this point he felt that the plan was too risky and he cared too much

like honestly i think he hoped aventurine would read the note before putting on his "performance" and readjust accordingly. but then he didn't <3 and acheron had to remind him that it was still sitting in his pocket <3 if she hadn't said anything about it i don't think he would have opened it adgsmbfdndhfbkjjbg <3 oh i love a mess <3 anyway i think this serves as a suitable refute for the "dr. ratio was racist towards aventurine" sentiment that continues to fly around in some parts of the fandom, so? MOVING ON

i ended up talking about this already, but looking more closely at how ratio looks at the world was a biiiiiig part of why he grew on me So Much. it's all actually really noble and worth admiring. again, he just talks like a dick so it's easy to get confused LMFAO

he never received nous' recognition not just because he "cares too much" (as you'll see some people vaguely claim and then not elaborate), but because he fundamentally disagrees with the ideology that allows the genius society, the path of erudition, and even nous themself to exist.

there's like... a certain "threshold" of intelligence and knowledge that nous operates off of. the unknown, the near-or-actually-impossible to comprehend, things that the average person would never be able to grasp and would never care to try because it's simply beyond them - that's all nous cares about. but ratio doesn't believe this threshold exists. he doesn't believe in knowledge that cannot be taught. just to reiterate: he believes anyone can learn anything if someone teaches them, and they will care if they know someone will be there to teach them.

but if anyone can follow the footsteps of geniuses, then Genius is no longer a superior echelon of society. the end goal the erudition seeks is no longer "beyond the limits of mortal wisdom."

nous rejected ratio because he rejected them - long before he fully understood that he did so.

i think he only ever tried to seek their recognition because it was expected so highly of him. like, he was a prodigy child, absorbing new information and collecting phds at the speed of light. of course every adult around him was like, "oh yeah this kid's a future genius society member" and then they told him this. over and over. and he was like, Okay, so this is the path i'm supposed to embark on, and i must do it and i must succeed (or i'll let them down; i'll be a disappointment, a failure, a waste of resources and all the hopes and dreams everyone's pinned onto me.)

he spent a good few years trying and failing to conform to nous' surprisingly (ironically?) boxed-in mindset. but they ignored him, probably because they predicted that even IF they recognized him while he seemingly ascribed more closely to the erudition's beliefs, he would ultimately wander off and "waste" time trying to nurture the achievements of "mere" mortals instead. and then he had to sit there and be like ok i apparently fucking failed at the one thing i thought i was supposed to do with my life, What Now

and this results in the dr ratio we meet in game. still haughty, still has an attitude problem and a bad temper, still has a tendency to talk down to people (i think though at this point his condescending tone is more of a defense mechanism and a way of isolating himself from others before he is once again rejected from a "part" of society after trying, trying, and then Failing to conform to a box), but! considerably more humble and far more focused on others than himself. he cares, ok. he cares an awful fucking lot. he believes in the good of humanity. humanity's ability to do good, to grow... to find the answers to its problems, implement them, and save itself.

plus, "character that's very admirable and very kind and loving IN THEIR OWN WAY (<- this is important because ratio isn't any of these things in a traditional sense and that's another part of why i've come to like him; it's interesting) but is cursed to just sort of talk like a total jackass forever" is an extremely entertaining concept

one other thing that's less significant than realizing ^^^^^^^ALL OF THAT. GOD .but still played a big part in my warming up to him, is how fond he is of those stupid rubber ducks and the goofy poses his statues are in. and also how his very first introductory cutscene is him playing chess BADLY (😭😭😭😭) against himself. that speaks to a sense of whimsy and playfulness that he doesn't have much of an outlet for. which i find... cute. and an aspect of his character that's a ton of fun to play around with

IN CONCLUSION: i mean he's okay i guess

[musicfeedsmysoul12]

Ok for the au stories fullmetal alchemist/ Harry Potter… Ed adopting a female Harry and teaching her to be a badass

Female Harry loves her grandma Izumi

Harriet Potter was an odd girl. She looked normal. Long black hair always in a braid, a fondness for red that occupied her wardrobe, big green eyes. But the fact was she was odd. She wore red yes but also the strangest sort of jewelry. Huge skull rings, tacky necklaces and clothing that one Muggleborn commented looked like it came right from Hot Topic, whatever that was.

She was ridiculously smart, and fond of debating with her teachers about everything. Her reaction to Transfiguration as a loud ‘what the actual fuck’ lived on in Hogwarts history but she also excelled in it. She even did well in potions despite Snape being… himself.

She was foul mouthed but incredibly polite to McGonagall, Pomphrey and Sprout. She always was writing in her notebook and loved to study but also tossed the books to the side to have fun.

Ron liked it. Hermione, other then disliking the cursing alongside the lack of respect for the male teachers, liked Harriet to. Or Harry as she told them to call her.

“Wait what?” Harry said as she flipped through a rather large book. “What the… fucking hell!” She jumped up and took off. “Gotta Owl my dad!”

“Who did take her in?” Hermione wondered out loud. “According to everyone she lived with her aunt and uncle but she said she was taken from them by the authorities.”

“Huh?” Ron hadn’t heard that. Hermione nodded.

“I asked her some stuff about London and she told me she’d lived in Amestris since she was six because a Military Officer took her from her relatives when they were being arrested,��� Hermione said.

“Amestris?” Percy asked, having been walking by. “The only All Magical country?”

“Harry says it does have Muggles they just don’t hold with keeping magic a secret because they’re under a military dictatorship and most magical people have to register,” Hermione said. “She did say the laws are loosening after a revolt about fifteen years back…”

“Seventeen,” Harry was back with her owl on her shoulder. The girl sat down to begin to write. “Can’t believe a Philospher’s Stone…” she muttered.

“Oh! Nicholas Flamel! Yeah he’s right famous for being the one person-“ Percy began but Harry snorted.

“Amestris has a few people who made one. My dad even figured it out.” She told Percy bluntly. “And it’s foul.”

“Wait, really?” Hermione asked in surprise. Percy didn’t look like he believed it as Ron simply watched Harry.

“Yeah. Also, turn lead into gold?” Harry stopped writing to grab a new piece of paper she drew a circle on and then wrote what looked like runes down. She grabbed a pencil lead Hermione had (she used something called mechanical pencils which were kinda cool) and placed it in the circle.

Harry clapped her hands and touched the circle, causing a blue glow to envelope the lead. When it was done, a golden rod lay where the lead was. Percy stared in open mouth shock.

“Gold isn’t hard for any alchemist to do. It’s just illegal in Amestris and England actually. The only good thing Flamel did was claim the Stone was the only way,” Harry said. “I have to turn it back, but you can scan it to prove it.”

“Why is it illegal?” Ron asked, staring at the lead hungrily.

“Economics. To much gold added to the economy causes prices to rise,” Harry explained. “Things get more expensive and money becomes useless.” She let Percy verify what the thing was before she turned it back to lead.

“What else is wrong with the Stone?” Hermione asked.

“How it’s made. My dad and Uncle figured out how and were so disgusted they backed out of their goals,” Harry said grimly. “Alchemy is equivalent exchange. I can’t make things out of nothing. Conjured items here don’t last either,” Harry sounded relieved when she said that, “as you’re offering energy. But Alchemy is a science. Not magic. My other Uncle, Roy, he’s a Muggle but he can use Alchemy. All you need is what goes in.”

“Whoa!” Ron was impressed but then a thought struck him. He felt his face go pale as Hermione asked about what kind of Alchemy Roy did. “Wait… what’s Equivalent for a long life?”

Harry looked at him grimly. “A few hundred years ago Xerxes was destroyed in a single night. No one knew who had done it, not until seventeen years ago when Amestris nearly met the same fate. A man, no a monster had done it. Created a Philosopher’s Stone. He used Xerxes.”

“No…” Ron said as Hermione huffed.

“What does that mean?” The girl asked.

“A life for a life,” Percy said, his voice shaking. Harry nodded.

“So if Flamel is over six hundred years old… who did he kill for his Stone?” Harry asked quietly.

[twisted-wonderland-but-gayer]

Oh! I dont usually see Grim dislike/hate. Can I ask why you don't like him? I think there's def room for improvement for him, but I cant find it in me to truely hate him since he reminds me of a character I really like. (Puppycat from Bee and Puppycat)

He's just such wasted potential.

Look I'm into flawed characters, but I don't like stagnant asshole characters that are in the majority of a media. Grim has barely improved since the start of the game.

He's rude, obnoxious, continues to actively cause you problems and throws you under the bus quite often (I mean look at the most recent Crewels SSR card– he tries to blame you for his mistakes and yet still gets you in trouble).

In every event he's the same. Be annoying, make a few dumb/rude remarks abt the culture, "I'm hungrryyy". I think in one event I've counted him talking abt food abt 35 times? Like I don't mind the trope of "monster creature loves food" but that's all he is and doesn't have half the endearing traits. He never shuts up about himself. He's so boring/generic. How is Morgana better than him

He still seldom shows affection for you. Like you barely get to semi bond when talking about his past. This was the only main scene we had to get attached to him before book 6. Seriously throughout every book he's just been overly cocky, rude, annoying, and suddenly you care only about him and not the fact that several people were kidnapped and the school was trashed and that the world is ending.

I thought he would have a huge change of heart after book 6 and his moment of him crying— which honestly didn't move me cause he didn't do anything for us to get attached to in canon. You really have to make up your own headcanons and theories to really make him "good". He's also your buddy but it seems he aknowedges as much as the rest of the cast

He didn't even have a change of heart as he immediately went back to being him. Sure there was that scene in book 7 where he says he's gonna protect you and calls out for you but it's like... cool you had several years to develop and we have maybe 4 scenes of you being an actual character and not some plot device/instigator.

The other thing too is how he is in school. He wants so badly to be a good mage and be the best in NRC but doesn't actively do anything to achieve that. He continues to never study and slack off (which fucks Yuu over cause they're 1/2 a student).

By all means, I'm not saying he can't be annoyed at what being a mage entails or a hypocrite (flaws are important). But he's been one for years and hasn't changed a bit. He still has shown very little improvement for someone who claims to sorta care about his "henchhuman" he certainly continues to impact their grades and school life. (Plus consider yuu not being from this world and all the extra effort they have to put in for a -C, its implied in the book). I wouldn't be surprised if he hurt Yuus pockets a lot too with his selfish appetite.

The main issue I have with him overall is the lack of consequences for him. He almost set everyone on fire? OK. He apparently scratched yuu very bad and that's that. No scene where you confront him about it or the rocks that he eats that you continuously warn him about. You can argue book 6 was the punishment but it didn't seem like it. He'll cause so many issues and get a slap on the wrist for it.

I think the best thing to do right now is to have Yuu snap at him so he improves. Fuck up their friendship. Make him realize he has been bad and actually have him change. A dramatic friend breakup. It would be the only way for Grim to change quickly rn with how long it's been

Have Yuu become a full student and watch him fall apart as Yuu doesn't need to rely on him and they're able to get their As in peace as Grim gets his Fs. Let them get angry. Seriously I'm so mentally ill over the concept of Yuu in general esp in game Yuu and all the ways to make them foils to characters or have them be angst fuel.

I want to like Grim. I love found family. But he just doesn't deserve that currently. He just sucks.

Do do understand why people like him. But I'm not one of them with the state he's in. I'm sorry I don't feel bad at all.

[talisoftomorrow]

autistic hazel callahan hcs (ig?)

so . hm. hear me out. i have some random not only hcs but like "evidence" (just me rambling lets be real) of why hazel is autistic to me (or its just me projecting the recent diagnosis in my new comfort character whatever)

this is my first time doing a post so? yeah enjoy i guess :<

its a whole essay be aware!!

★THE ESSAY PART (?)★

• the way she doesn't get phrases and takes things literally like in that one scene when pj and josie are talking about the juvie thing and she is like "wait . you guys ate literal shit?" (that one scene people talk A Lot but there's more, like that one when she get "oh... so things about juvie werent real lmao ok why did u lie tho" and she seems genuinely hurt :[ oh god)

• that being said, she is easily gullible, really having the idea of "i wouldn't lie/mislead about something like this, so why would they?", the first instinct is to believe because it doesn't make sense to lie or mislead at all (exemple: the scene where the guy from the team i forgot the name tried to help her and she believe not only for this bcs because she was vulnerable, of course)

• speaking of lies, she really disliked the fact that the girls were lying to the club about what was iy really about (but that's just what every other person would think ig lol)

• she likes to organize things!!! like, the lists and every email and how she took the whole club activities so serious? omg i love her sm

• that scene where she is almost having a breakdown and doing noises and curling up in herself...

• she's stimming. all the damn time. I DONT MAKE THE RULES ITS THE TRUTH. like, literally.

anyways this is the ones i remember rn, let's go to some hcs shall we?

★AUTISTIC!HAZEL HCS★

★ ㅡ her favorite way of stimming, mainly in public, is to play with her rings or/and chain, crack her knuckles, fidget with the hem of her shirt, feel the soft fabric of her cardigan sleeves or just curl her fists around the ends of whatever long sleeve she has on that day.

★ ㅡ part of me thinks she really likes the texture of crochet or the kind of texture her clothes during the movie has, like, just sliding her nails at it almost scratching, but some days, she would absolute hate the feeling.

★ ㅡ she does have a special interest in how to make bombs but not only that, the crochet thing would be something she would really like to do, too.

★ ㅡ she likes to do lists for EVERYTHING, even silly stuff, probably does ranks of random foods once in a while out of boredom (that one is very self indulgent i must admit)

★ ㅡ when overstimulated, she usually curls into a ball and makes noises to try to self regulate (just like in the scene of the gif!).

★ ㅡ she is the type of autistic that is hyperverbal for sure, even more so with her special stuff like bombmaking ! if u want her to love you ask her about it.

★ ㅡ she have difficulty with maintaining relationships, not much starting them, so that's why she so glad she got the girls of the club to be alongside her.

★ ㅡ i like to thing the girls help her when she is in need of supporting, just like after she got beat up at the gymnasium and everyone showed up to help.

★ ㅡ moving her whole body and being overly expressive to release the pent up stress and kind of a way of stimming. her skipping everywhere would be a good one too :>

★ ㅡ she actually doesn't do that much of masking, only when very self aware like when she doesn't get a obvious joke or something, but ever since the girls became her friends, they try to help her and say "hazel... that wasn't serious, we were joking" or something along those lines and even try to explain it to her!

i think thats it for now?

i told you that was going to be long 😭 sorry i just needed to yap about my babie haze anyways thats it bye

[sam-keeper]

so this is months after the fact, but i'm wondering if you read dean kissick's now infamous harper's piece about "representation" making art banal, because while it seems to me he has some kind of a genuine frustration, both he and the people responding to him are sort of talking around the actual issue in question, or misplacing blame (classically by pointing the finger at "minority" artists)? my first instinctive response to the assertion that no interesting art exists because of the nebulous project of representation, was that, well, skill issue - interesting "minority" artists exist, very much so, perhaps the more interesting question is WHY they don't make it into shows and what would have to change structurally beyond the lip service of institutions to elevating non-white, queer artists.

...but at that point i realised i know literally nothing about the visual art world lmao and while i can confidently point to why this happens in publishing, i was wondering if you had any thoughts abt the actual piece and some of its very blithe (and what seems to me!) and sweeping assertions?

oh my god I had not seen this piece and it BODIED me. WHAT AN OPENING PARAGRAPH! I read the opening line out to Sarah and she looked like I had thrown a flash grenade in her face. she was blinking the spots out of her eyes. the whole thing is so incredible it's sort of hard for me to get my thoughts together--though, I think it's very Psychological that he keeps complaining that the art world has lost the vitality it had when he was... in his 20s? and my man surely you're not writing a whole article grousing about identity then in one of the last paragraphs dropping a line like, "In the Nineties, when I was a student at a Christian boys’ school in Oxford,"

but that opening though. oh my goodness lmao.

ok confession though on the main subject: I generally feel pretty disconnected from the contemporary high art world myself honestly? I've always had trouble getting an overview of Scenes cause I tend to burrow pretty deep into the stuff I'm most interested in, I've always been a bit too autistic and working class (complicated term for me but w/e) to really... fit in with my peers even when I was in grad school for contemporary art history... you're probably more knowledgeable about contemporary publishing than I am about contemporary art tbh. it's something I actually feel self conscious about as a self professed materialist haha

the annoying thing is I do sort of get what he means, for like, 6 paragraphs or so in the middle of the piece. there's definitely a strain of contemporary identity-focused art that leaves me kind of cold or just nonplussed in part for the reason he lays out: that there's all these things that are supposedly signifiers of this or that or "call to mind" or "invoke" some historical marker... but all of that is present in the descriptive text rather than the piece itself? like, you would need an incredibly specific and *narrowly focused* repertoire to see a chain made of salt and immediately jump to "ah yes it's like the ancient greek slave trade, in particular".

I don't think this is necessarily a problem of bad art though so much as bad ad copy?

like, I do encounter a lot of artist statements that leave me going, like, ok but *does it decolonize the body through the inversion of subject and object* though? or whatever. like what would that actually feel like, to have happen to you, intellectually and affectively? there's a lot of bold claims about what radical things the work is doing and it often feels like upselling, to me. but that doesn't necessarily mean I dislike the art! actually at multiple shows in my area I've seen stuff that I really enjoyed and then looked at the artist statement and learned that in fact what seemed like a shocking, surreal expression of an inexpressible inner experience was actually banal old "social anxiety". like the art has to fit into a consecrated schema of psychotherapy or sociology or ethnography to be marketed or justified. I don't think that's a problem of identity, or politics, I think it's one of commodification, but I empathize, I think, with the author's *frustration* about it.

also, tangentially, I have this whole thing I wrote recently that might make it into an article or might not, about Felix Gonzalez-Torres's "Untitled (Portrait of Ross in LA)", his famous interactive/conceptual piece where a pile of candy weighing the same as his lover's ideal body weight is continuously depleted by gallery attendees and refreshed by gallery administrators. the Smithsonian recently showed that with just, a comically blithe description that cuts out the entire context that this is artwork about gay men during the AIDS crisis. and that's actually a good example imo of a place where it's really important to have contextualizing information because the contextualizing information is part of the piece and shapes how everyone involves participates in the work. like, you might come to the conclusion that it "invokes" communion, and that's great, though I think saying that in the museum guide maybe is a bit over-determining? but you can only get to that invocation if you already have a context about the performance that you've been invited to engage in, if that makes sense. the accompanying explanation is a script that the participants are using to guide their interpretation--interpretation the way an actor interprets a line, I mean. and I think Kissik would just throw this out along with everything else, which is unfortunate.

but! like! I don't really know because he also seems to enthusiastically cite things pretty similar to this as pluralistic art that is of the present instead of the past. why is Wael Shawky's Cabaret Crusades good and Puppies Puppies's bronze nude self portrait bad? I have no idea. (well, she's transsexual so.......) or, like, is he suggesting that the Symphony of Sirens, an avant garde whole city performance honoring the October Revolution, is good because it's not... about anything? sometimes it seems like he just has a problem with people painting in traditional ways but then in others he's like hey look at this cool traditional painting! I find this so genuinely perplexing lmao. I genuinely do not know what I'm supposed to come away from this piece doing, as an artist.

oh, well, except that the bit about Louis Fratino sort of hits, too. his critique of Fratino is that he may be making gay cubism but the fact that it's cubism still makes it aesthetically conservative. I actually think about this a lot, the tendency for marginalized artists right now to paint themselves into history, as it were. it's directly relevant to my own practice, since I'm drawn to art primarily from the turn of the century, or I guess broadly from something like 1860-1960 maybe? I was classically trained, I do a lot of figure drawing, and I love drawing nudes of my queer friends. is that aesthetically conservative, or is depicting trans people happy and horny and beautiful surrendering to bourgeois aesthetic values? if I draw a fat snake furry in a pose based on Ingres's Odelisque is that a clever detuning of the canon, or is that a concession to the canon's authority and an admission that I don't have anything to say that hasn't already been said by a cishet male european?

it's definitely an anxiety for me. (I'd say it's table stakes for him but I guess the opening paragraph's point is that it's all fun and games until somebody loses a leg.) no idea what to do with all this but I do think about it, and I do feel frustrated with how... inward focused so much art now can be? that's not something that appeared in the last 8 years though lol that's the whole postmodern turn! like, architecture for example--yes there's all sorts of ironic quotations of classical greek elements and forms but it represents a historical return that contrasts the break represented by say brutalism. lichtenstein does dot painting renditions of cubist art. practically everyone in the Lowbrow Movement that comes out of comix are addicted to quotation and citation from both fine art and pop culture, and those guys are almost all cishet white guys!

so, whatever. the piece touches on some stuff I've thought about too, basically, but in such a garbled way that I'm not even sure what to really do with it. also I found out from this piece that he's associated with the Dimes Square people. once again I feel vindicated in being prejudiced against New York City and its people, though I can't say more about what kind of performance piece I'd like to see introduced to Dimes Square without getting put on some sort of List. oh, also Helen Lewis thought this article was brilliantly written. lol. and also, lmao.

I feel like there's probably more that could or should be said but I can't really think of what else to say so I'll stop rambling now.

[dearweirdme]

This whole Taeil and now this Kim soo hyun and that late actress situation is showing me that we really don’t know anything about these famous people. So many of them are nothing like they seem when we watch them on screen or when we listen to their music. Every now and then we found out stuff about some idols or actors (not always bad things) which fans had no idea about and then we realize that we really know very little about them and that outside of their lives as public figures, there are relationships that we have no clue about.

I am saying this because I have seen so many taekookers swear that there is no way Tae and Jennie happened and some say this is because they are confident in what they have seen in Taekook but my question is, who really knows Tae enough to know how he behaves when he is in love? Yes some aspect of love and romance are universal but there is always a good chance people are misinterpreting things just because they do not fundamentally understand or know these particular people’s mannerisms or behaviours in different situations. That is why it isn’t advisable to try to read body language of people you don’t know well because there is so many things that affect people’s behaviours or mannerisms and sometimes we really just don’t know them enough to say for fact that we know what each motion or gesture means.

While I think it is ok for people to have doubts about taennie because they found it weird, I don’t think anybody should be dying on that hill that they didn’t date or aren’t dating because at the end of the day how do you know? Tomorrow we might get to find out more about things and I’m not sure anyone wants to end up looking really stupid after swearing up and down that Tae could never date someone like Jennie. I think we should be conscious of that.

Hi anon!

I have to say.. I very much dislike how people try to somehow connect ‘not knowing someone’ to (in this case) two celebs (alledged?) criminal behavior. Those are different things. What those men did is heinous. That is what should be talked about and not ‘but we don’t really know who Tae is’. Tae has absolutely nothing to do with those men. You are perfectly able to make your case of not knowing him without connecting it to other people’s criminal acts.

And I disagree. Sure, there’s a lot we don’t know about them. That doesn’t mean that we know nothing though. Watching BTS throughout the years is very different from watching actors in a movie. We have seen them not only in mv’s or interviews, but also in travel shows, during lives, interacting with each other a lot. We have an idea of who they are. We have seen them get annoyed, get angry, get sad, be happy, be mischievous, be proud… we have seen all sorts of emotions and situations. I know I have at least one anon who always tells me about visceral reactions. I like to refer to those as microexpressions. Those are the automatic reactions you cannot hide. Paired with context, I think bodylanguage can tell us a lot. I know there is a lot to say about things being staged and being faked, but for me there’s also truth in them.

I value body language. Body language is more than you make it out to be. We use it at a daily basis. Most of the time you use it without being aware of it. It’s why you know your partner is sad or happy, it why you know your baby is hungry, it’s why I know my kid is lying about not having had candy (🙈). And sure.. there’s interpretation needed. There’s certainly a margin of error. We could be wrong. I just don’t think we are. There’s too much. There’s too much other stuff that also points to us being right.

I don’t think Taennie is fake because of Tae and Jk. I think Taennie is fake because it was a perfect example of a pr stunt. Even if I hadn’t believed in Tae and Jk, I still would have clicked this as pr.

Who cares if we look stupid one day. I certainly don’t. I’m an anonymous person on tumblr. What I care about is Tae and Jk.

[monophobix]

Ekko and Mel......now that was personal. They really gave them the Magical Negro™ treatment and no time to explore it. And oh boy, am I tired of it. I hate the narrative of black characters having to self-sacrifice for people who would not do the same for them. Could you imagine being fucked with by something like the Arcane or LeBlanc for allegedly a year or so,just to immediately go to war the moment you're back in normal surroundings? Do they get a break at all? Like damn.

Neither of these characters nor their trauma was ever taken seriously. I haven't forgotten how this fandom acted towards Mel in season one because of her entanglement with Jayce and the blatant slut-shaming and misogynoir that came with it. Nor have I forgotten how Ekko and his dynamic with Jinx was hyped up for the past three years to market season 2, just to barely get screen time in said season (outside saving everyone's ass in the finale).

(Insert the Rose McGowan saying "Imagine how tired we are" meme.)

ok so there are some aspects of this that i agree and disagree with

- the self-sacrificing part i disagree with. yes both characters have miserable endings but other characters also sacrificed themselves for others i.e. jinx, viktor, jayce so i don’t think this specifically is just a mel and ekko thing. i also do believe that atleast ekko has characters who would 100% sacrifice themselves for him aka jinx, maybe vi. as for mel, she is very alone and it’s miserable but she’s also the character most likely to be in the show forwards (noxus seasons) so i doubt this is the end for her.

- i agree that we should’ve seen more consequences of what they went through. the black rose and mel and leblanc deffo should’ve had more emphasis and it’s really annoying we didn’t actually learn shit about that. again, hopefully the noxus show will elaborate. as for ekko, we did get an entire episode focused on him but i still agree that we should’ve seen more from when he got back. with the amount that timebomb was hyped up we absolutely should’ve seen more of it and the fact we didn’t was a massive shame and entirely netflix’s fault (the finale was supposed to be over an hour but was forced to be cut down). i rlly hope they release those scenes :((

- i agree that the fandom definitely needs to fix up on mel. i understand people disliking her when season 1 released because there were a lot of unknowns but anyone who hates on mel just to serve jayvik deserves to be shot maddie style. you don’t have to like a character but people also need to learn to not be a misogynistic twat too.

generally, i get where your coming from because things were really rushed and we didn’t get to see as much development as was actually written, but i don’t see it as a race issue since it’s not only mel and ekko who were done dirty like this but also many others (vi, jinx, isha, sevika) who didn’t get the on screen time they deserved. idk lol

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for making a typo?

💬🍃

(to help find later)

This has been really frustrating me, but I don't know if my emotions are clouding my judgement and if I really was the one in the wrong. For context everyone mentioned is an adult.

The other day I (19) was talking with a friend in server about a character from a book series we both really enjoy. Two other people who never read the book were popping into the convo occasionally so me and my friend were trying to explain some context. One of those two people are who the situation revolves around, let's call them Leaf (20), fake name.

I have ADHD and I tend to get really excited when ranting abt my hyperfix, I tend to have a lot to say and a need to get it out as fast as possible, so I tend to make a LOT of typos. I make a lot of typos even when texting normally, it's a very well known fact about me. Because I make so many I don't tend to correct or change them in normal casual conversation because it's simply too much work and takes up too much time when people understand what I'm trying to say anyways.

When trying to explain a character's backstory I accidentally misspelled like and used a k instead of an l, since the letters are very close together on my keyboard. I had NO idea that it was an actual word at all, let alone that it was a slur. There was no malicious intention behind it at all. Leaf let me know that it was a slur, and I immediately apologized and explained I didn't know and I tend to make a lot of typos. Leaf was weirdly condescending about it though, we are NOT very close but they passive aggressively called me their "beloved darling" and to "use my eyes ❤️". They responded to my message with the apology in it by saying "well now you know" basically, and I thought that was it. The conversation moved on.

We sent a lot of messages in between that and when Leaf brought it up again. The original message was typo was completely buried. Admittedly I did not edit the original message right away to correct it, since I don't edit messages on discord often and I was distracted so it slipped my mind. But I did go back immediately when Leaf brought it up again. They said that they felt that being excited about a book isn't an excuse to say a slur and they shouldn't feel scared to speak up about it. We were all very confused by this, because we thought it was resolved and my friend even thought that they had said something wrong this time. I apologized AGAIN and had to do so profusely, with Lead responding to my messages with "ok" multiple times. They finally said that its okay now bc before I hadn't apologized or changed anything. Which is VERY CONFUSING TO ME because I DID APOLOGIZE, AND THEY RESPONDED TO THE MESSAGE WHERE I DID.

I will also admit that I did not like Leaf prior to this incident. They have a tendency to get condescending and harp on others for accidents or mistakes, but when they perceive the slightest bit of criticism they have a break down, regardless of if the actual message meant to be negative. They also do not communicate clearly and it's usually a guessing game in regard to what they're actually trying to say or what the problem is. I know they have some other mental health issues so even though I disliked them I never let it show in my behavior. I tried my hardest to be as polite and kind as possible, because I didn't want Leaf to feel unwelcome in the server. Sometimes people don't vibe and that's alright, their needs just clashed with my own (I have a need to over explain and completely understand a situation, so Leaf being vague and passive aggressive is especially frustrating for me) and I didn't want to isolate them from their friends just because I didn't vibe.

Additionally, in a previous conversation where I was talking about a fandom appropriating my culture and why that made it hard for me to enjoy the source material, Leaf said some questionable things. They were also a fan of what I was talking about, and they didn't seem to understand what I was talking about or why it was upsetting for me. This obliviousness made me extra baffled when it came to the typo incident.

I guess I've just been frustrated at the immaturity of how the situation was handled. I make such an effort to be polite and mature when it comes to them, and some of my other friends have said I've been much more patient with Leaf than they would have been, but maybe my judgment is clouded and I should have done something different. The server that we're in is very small (~20 ppl but usually only 5 or so are regularly active) and I don't want to stir up any kind of drama or trouble when I can just handle my own emotions personally. However what happened baffled me so much I feel like I need an outside opinion.

[cal-daisies-and-briars]

🔀🔀🔀🔀🔀🔀🔀🔀🔀🔀🔀🔀🔀🔀🔀🔀🔀🔀🔀🔀🔀🔀🔀🔀🔀🔀🔀🔀🔀🔀🔀🔀🔀🔀🔀🔀🔀🔀🔀🔀🔀🔀🔀🔀🔀🔀🔀🔀🔀🔀🔀🔀🔀🔀🔀🔀🔀

1k for 🔀:

---

“I’ve already accepted that,” Buck says. “Otherwise I wouldn’t have ever brought Maddie into it.”

“Okay,” Bobby says. “Good. Evan?”

Evan huffs. “If you really didn’t know…”

“I didn’t,” Buck promises. 

“I believe you,” Evan mumbles. 

“Then we can drop the hostility, at the very least,” Bobby says. 

The hostility only. Not the mistrust. Not the dislike. Just the outward, rampant hostility.

“Fine by me,” Buck mutters. 

“Likewise,” Evan says quietly. 

“Good,” Bobby says. “That’s a start.”

🟢

Eventually, they pull over for gas in Arizona. Not too terribly far from Phoenix. 

Buck is nervous about it. It feels like a variable. Like something out of their control. Obviously he knows this was inevitable; you can’t drive across a fairly large continent on one tank of gas. You also can’t just not eat or drink or pee for forty hours. But as long as they are moving in one direction on the freeway, not much can happen. Add people and other cars and amenities into that variable? A busy public place? Things can, in fact, go wrong. 

“Do you need to use the bathroom?” Bobby asks Evan as Buck gets out to pump gas.

“Yeah,” Evan says. 

“Alright, let’s go inside,” Bobby says.

“I need a babysitter?” Evan asks. 

“Yes,” Bobby says flatly. “We can build trust, but that hasn’t been accomplished yet.”

“Fine,” Evan sighs. 

They head off into the Hart’s rest station together, leaving Buck alone with the sound of the filling gas tank. 

As it’s filling, Buck watches a dark SUV with tinted windows pull up in a nearby parking spot. It has Virginia plates. Buck supposes that isn’t weird. People from all over drive these highways, traveling. And rental cars come with plates from all states. Hell, his Jeep does not currently have the plates of the state they’re driving through. It’s not that strange. Except something in Buck feels alarmed anyway. 

Two men climb out of the vehicle. They’re wearing professional attire. Slacks, plain button ups, and nice shoes. They look official. Their car, though unmarked, looks official. Buck feels a pang of nervousness. They walk into the building, and the moment Buck is done pumping gas, he follows them. He doesn’t know what it is about them, but he follows. 

Inside, he spots Bobby and Evan. They’re by the drink fridges, and Bobby is pointing at a Gatorade, saying something to Evan. He’s got that captainly explaining look on his face. One Buck knows all too well.

Buck doesn’t approach them. Not yet. He watches the strange men first, watches them watch Bobby and Evan, too. Because that’s what they’re doing. They’re pretending to shop for beef jerky, but they’re watching an unassuming Bobby and Evan. 

See, to anyone else, Bobby and Evan just look like two normal people. A man and his son, maybe. In the middle of their roadtrip. There is no reason to look at them. Unless someone is looking for them. 

Buck pulls out his phone and sends Bobby a text.

Your seven o’clock. Two men. Agents of some kind? Watching you. 

He watches as a moment passes, then Bobby reads it. He frowns, glancing in the direction Buck specified. He whispers something to Evan. Then he texts Buck back.

Ok. Can’t do anything sudden or they’ll know we’re watching. Go back to Jeep. We will pay and leave as normal. 

Right. Okay, right. That makes sense. Bobby’s spent enough time with Athena to know how this goes. Buck turns and leaves, crossing the asphalt back to the Jeep. He keeps his eyes glued to his phone, in case Bobby reaches out again. He doesn’t sit down. He leans against the driver’s side door. He might be needed quickly. 

A minute or so later, Bobby and Evan leave the gas station. They’re holding several drinks and a few snacks. Bobby grabbed Buck’s favorite flavor of Gatorade. Pink. He didn’t know Bobby knew that. Didn’t know he’d paid attention. 

They’re about halfway to the Jeep when the two men in fancy clothes exit the building and shout after them. 

“Stop right there!” 

Buck goes rigid. Facing him, so does Evan. His eyes widen with fear. Of course they do. He’s been detained by police once. Escaped somehow. Last thing he wants, Buck suspects, is to be back in their custody. 

Bobby puts a hand on Evan’s shoulder. A quiet missive to stay put. Then, he turns around to face the two men. 

“Can I help you?” Bobby asks. 

“We aren’t interested in you, Sir. Just the fugitive you’re traveling with,” the taller of the two men says. He’s very tall, actually. And thin - lanky. 

“That’s nice,” Bobby replies. “Can I ask who you are?”

“We’re law enforcement,” the other man says. He has a scar above his lip, like he’s had cleft palate surgery in the past.

“That’s helpfully vague,” Bobby observes. “May we see identification?”

They look at each other, but do not comply. Not suspicious at all. It doesn’t take much to flash a badge. Or a warrant.

“If not, I think we’ll be on our way,” Bobby says. 

“Mr. Nash,” Tall says. “The man you’re harboring has committed identity fraud.”

Well. Not quite.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Bobby says. “And we’re going to leave.”

But while Tall is focused on Bobby and Evan, Scar looks at Buck.

“Evan Buckley, I presume?” He calls out. “The real Evan Buckley?”

Buck tenses even more. He can’t lie. He’s always hated the thought of lying, but now he knows he actually can’t. He has to find a way around it. 

“What do you mean?” Buck asks.

Playing dumb. He can apparently physically manage this. Well, that’s good. 

“Whatever this man has told you, Mr. Buckley, you don’t need to worry,” Scar says. “This can all end here.”

[davidthephoneguy]

A little (mostly Dialtown) rant of my own

Ok first of all you all need to calm down, I'm goin on this rant despite not currently being in the dialtown fandom but I was back around when the game first came out. I just feel like I gotta ask you to be calm because I know how agressive people can be online with that shield on anonymity. I also do not hate dialtown or Dogman nor do I blame them for said issues that will be stated.

Dialtown as a whole does pretty obviously have a problem about representation of fem/fem presenting characters especially in the fandom side. As a previous rant stated before most fem characters are either glossed over in favour of male/masc presenting ones, such as with the main dateables. It even extends to side characters which feels rather disheartening. Now I get why its mainly the male/masc presenting ones who get attention, I must highlight the fact that I am a Bi-Ace Transman and I tended to focus on Oliver and Randal over Karen so I was part of the problem on that part. So i get the gender serotonin of drawing them but I hope you can also see how it means that for example, Karen is almost completely overlooked. I would see myself in them because of the shared gender, I really do understand why this has been happening. You are not evil for doing this, that is not what this rant is about in the slightest. Like the previous rant before stated the game doesn't pass the Bechdal test (Which if you are unaware is a media test which requires two fem characters to talk to eachother about anything other then a man, already an extremely low bar to pass) which Dialtown does not pass. It's completely valid to have reservations about that as it is an overall problem with media at large. Media at large is still a white straight cis male dominated space and needs more diversity in all ways. Dialtown as a whole is a good game and has a diverse cast which is wonderful and amazing to see. The only issue is how some are highlighted more then others or demonized in a way that lines up with misogyny (Such as with Mingus' behavior being villainized by the fandom while Stabby and Shooty doing the same thing being ok and lighthearted in the eyes of the fandom which from an outside view just looks like misogyny I am sorry folks. If the only factor in if you like or dislike a characters actions is because they are a woman is misogyny even if they're cis or trans, misogyny is just the word for discrimination in this way) Pointing this out doesn't mean an attack on anyone, pointing out an issue is meant to bring attention to said issue so it can be improved or fixed. The previous person who I have been referencing and paraphrasing here (who I am not going to @ as they don't need more direct harassment) was slightly attacked for having a rant, yes everyone is entitled to their opinion but that does not give either side the right to actively attack the other. Please remain diplomatic.

People are allowed to highlight issues, if we don't then they won't ever get fixed. We're meant to stick together and fix things together, not attack eachother. Thats what people like terfs want us to do, they want us to tear eachother apart so that they get what they want, our destruction. We have to stand together with the things we love. My apologies for how long this ended up being but I just had to get it out of my head. Just my thoughts as a transman/voidrabbit on the topic