#you'll find good and you'll find bad here

[chaoskirin]

You know what's funny is I've warned against some of the shit this site shills as OK. It was so enraging like 6 or 7 years ago when I posted something like "yeah never leaving someone alone after they fuck up is probably bad actually" and got called... IDK the word at the time, but something like an apologist.

And again, I'm gonna point this out: Seeing everything in black and white with no greys in the middle IS THE PROBLEM. Not just "A" problem, but THE problem among leftists.

I'm gonna go ahead and use Arin Hanson as an example again, because there's drama about him on Twitter again, but people still want to "remind" his fans about the stupid shit he did in his life ten or more years ago. You don't have to do that, I fucking promise. You don't. You don't have to like him or be his biggest stan if you don't want to, but CHRIST. Shut the fuck up. You HAVE to give people room to change and grow, or what is this all for?

"But what if ______ said something racist?"

Are they actively doing it now? Are they doing racist things? Are they causing harm? No? Then SHUT UP. You don't have to tell everyone who posts about _______ that they said something stupid 10 years ago.

I also follow someone on Twitter who fucked up in a huge way and JUST posted some racist shit. It was unintentional and came from a place of severe misinformation, and he apologized as soon as he realized he fucked up and even RT'd the people who corrected him, but there are STILL PEOPLE commenting on his posts with "are you going to address this" and... just fucking SHUT UP. There is a really clear line between holding someone accountable and harassment. You HAVE to learn to tell the difference.

And I can't believe I have to say this because someone will misconstrue this, but holding people accountable is good. It is. I get it. You want to point things out and demand better. That is good for society. But if you see people have already pointed it out by the dozens, or sometimes hundreds, you can just... not support that person.

There's this thing on the internet where if you don't explicitly state that you DON'T support something, then you MUST support it. And those people also need to shut the fuck up. Sometimes it's the dogpiling that pushes people away from reflection, especially when there are also a ton of comments that say things like "don't listen to them. If you ever need to talk, I'm here."

Who do you think that person is going to for help? The person calling them horrible, or the person offering them comfort?

I fully expect to get asshole asks like "oh so you support racism" and here's a pre-emptive "fuck you" for deliberately misinterpreting what I'm saying. Unfollow and block me rather than sending me dipshit asks.

I'm done with all of you.

I'm especially done with the pissants who saw me say "Kamala Harris is probably better for the country than Donald Trump" and sent me asks saying I was a fucking genocide apologist. You see what your bullshit got you? Fuck you. Now we have someone who'll not only support the Palestinian genocide, but will likely do other terrible shit, as well. And even though Palestinians begged you to vote for Kamala Harris, you just had to virtue signal to the world that you were just so gosh darn progressive.

I am saying this all from the bottom of my heart. Stop pushing people away. Stop seeking perfection in every person on the internet. You will NEVER find it, and not only will you spend your life angry, but you'll spend your life fucking things up for everyone else.

posts about the alt-right pipeline being compassionate towards young men while radical leftists shun and shame them are not fucking saying "the men are becoming violent because feminists are too mean!" and if that is your takeaway you need to get off tumblr until you've better honed your critical thinking skills.

those posts are talking about how effective the language and approach you take in your activism can be. this is literally cult deprogramming 101. if someone is being taken in by a violent or dangerous group, that violent or dangerous group is usually offering them compassion and solace while working hard to convince them everyone else in the world is their enemy. you are under no obligation to coddle or act compassionate toward these men and their violent ideologies, but if you have the means to try, it is something that you can do to make a tangible difference.

radicalized people are often only one loving friend or family member or external voice away from being de-radicalized. of course that is not always the case, but it very often is. a lot of y'all rightfully understand that you do not carry the burden of being that voice, but a lot of y'all also have a lot of internalized ideas about morals and punitive justice and have simply written off these people as deserving of only the worst and not worth saving.

ten years ago, my grandmother was a fox news watching republican who voted red in every election and very well could have fallen down the qanon rabbit hole if not for me and her daughter challenging her compassionately, walking her through hypotheticals that validated her feelings & proving why they were false, & being patient with her despite our extreme division in political ideology. it was frustrating fucking work! but i decided i wanted to do it, because i could see the horizon and i could see me making a difference!

"misogynists have been saying feminists are too mean for years, get new material" that is not the fucking POINT. the point is that you, feminist, can be the compassionate voice that guides your brother, your father, your cousin, your grandfather away from fucking becoming or staying a nazi. you can show them compassion and companionship. you can be the woman they think of when their alt-right bros try to convince them that women are the enemy. and you can choose to crystallize that image of yourself so wholly in their mind's eye as worth protecting that they may very well choose to reject those harmful ideas.

it's not saying you HAVE to do it! it's saying you CAN do it! don't you 'firebomb a walmart' people all love taking change into your own hands? where the fuck is that energy right now, huh?

[hotvintagepoll]

Trying to get more into old movies because of this blog (I only know about half of these people and feel like a poser) do you have good recommendations on where to start or is it just a situation where you watch stuff and find what you like as you go?

you are not a poser <3 i myself am just here for the hotties.

here is my quick and dirty list of fun films to start with if you're new to old movies. and of course if you like one of these, do try to find more stuff as you go! there's no bad way to try out old movies.

(this list is not official and is SUPER quick. i'm tagging for content warnings where I can, but if I forgot something let me know.)

"I want to watch something SILLY!"

The Court Jester (Danny Kaye, Angela Lansbury, Glynis Johns, Basil Rathbone)—everyone in this movie is hot. everyone is in fancy medieval dress, which makes them hotter. everyone here is very silly. You can stream this on Hoopla, last time i checked, so you might be able to stream it through your library!

Chitty-Chitty Bang-Bang (Dick Van Dyke, Sally Ann Howes, Lionel Jeffries, Gert Frobe)—some people hate this movie and to them I say What Is Wrong With You. dick van dyke is a hot absent minded inventor who lives in a windmill with his two adorable children, his gorgeous sheepdog, and a grandfather who is categorically useless. it feels like the two films mary poppins (1964) and willy wonka (1971) had a baby and that baby was born on roller skates singing an old broadway showtune. this one has been showing up in some odd places lately—I think you can catch it on Tubi or Hoopla? It's definitely around.

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (Jane Powell, Julie Newmar, Howard Keel, Russ Tamblyn)—my problematic fave. everytime i watch this i change my mind whether it's a sexist pile of garbage or a feminist paean, and fellas, today we're on the feminist paean bandwagon!! jane powell's millie is truly the star of the movie, she is the hero she drives the plot the narrative is on her side, and besides all that there are seven very hot men dancing next to her and six beautiful ladies making me bisexual. (on Tubi last I checked.)

The Duke Is Tops (Lena Horne, Laurence Criner)—I get a huge kick out of watching Laurence Criner and Ralph Cooper swindle everybody while also trying to put on a show; there's just something silly and sincere here, plus you get a ~musical extravaganza~ at the end when all is right as rain again. Free on YouTube I think?

"I want to watch something DRAMATIC that may make me FEEL SOMETHING."

Witness for the Prosecution (Marlene Dietrich, Tyrone Power, Elsa Lanchester)—I love a campy twisty turny mystery, don't you? :) I'm not going to talk about this one much because it's better to go in blind, but if you like Agatha Christie stories you'll probably like this.

To Be Or Not To Be (Carole Lombard, Jack Benny)—always relevant, always makes me laugh, also makes me cry. this takes place in poland during wwii so big tw for nazi imagery and mentions. (don't worry. this movie fucking hates nazis.)

Seven Samurai (Toshiro Mifune)—this one is Great Cinema™™™™™™™™™™™ for a goddamned reason

"I want to watch some stuff with the scrungles in it!"

Mr. Washington Goes to Town (Mantan Moreland)—I've been checking out more of Mantan Moreland's stuff because every time I see him in something I think he's delightful, and I really enjoyed this silly-spooky comedy. Does this story have a brain cell? No. Are the special effects and goofy slapstick fun? Yes. This is a fun example of an all-Black cast in a film that was made for Black audiences, and is a striking counterpoint to the stereotypical representation Black actors were given in white-targeted films, showing the enormous amount of talent and artistry the racist studios missed out on by excluding these actors. This is not A Great Film™ but it's still A Fun Time,™ with a goofy Laurel and Hardy type vibe. (It's free on Youtube.)

The Red Shoes (Robert Helpmann, Leonide Massine, Marius Goring)—hey kid, you wanna watch something fucked up? This movie is so fucked up. It's about ballet, it's about art, it's about technicolor, it's about dance and toxic relationships and making theatre and nightmares and ambition and death. A lot of these recs tend on the silly side (because I tend on the silly side) but this one is actually Serious Film and will definitely help you chat up Martin Scorsese should you ever meet him. Big content warning if you can't handle dark themes right now—this movie's pretty dark, not in the gore way but in the Haunting Creepy Image way. (it's also free on Tubi and Kanopy most of the time.)

The Invisible Man (Claude Rains)—my favorite of the vintage horror flicks and a great introduction to Most Dunked On Hot Vintage Man of All Time, Claude Rains. (it helps that you barely ever see him!) Very very silly but the special effects are just plain fun. (I think this is on Internet Archive in full?)

"Can I just get more hot people please?"

Flower Drum Song (James Shigeta, Nancy Kwan, Miyoshi Umeki, Jack Soo)—there are so many unbelievably hot people in this movie which is somehow very good (thanks to its cast) and also incredibly, horrifically bad (thanks to its white team of writers, directors, and producers). on the one hand, it's a mostly Asian cast in a big budget, beautifully designed MGM style musical! there's dream sequences, lots of fun dancing, crooning Rogers & Hammerstein cabaret moments, and just charm galore. it is also freighted with so. many orientalist assumptions and stereotypes, absolutely ridiculous shit that the writers ABSOLUTELY should have known better about in the 60s and nonetheless carried into this. this is a hard one to recommend because I loved this cast, and I loved seeing them in a context beyond the usual stereotypical bit parts so many of them frequently were limited to—yet the movie itself perpetuates so many stereotypes on its own it can be a hard one to watch, and I totally understand if it does not work for most people. tl;dr watch for Shigeta, Kwan, Umeki, and the others, but content warnings galore for one (really bad) case of yellowface casting, orientalist tropes, extremely stereotypical character types, etc. (On Tubi/Kanopy last I checked.)

Charade (Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn, James Coburn)—this movie feels like a Hitchcock movie except I had a ton of fun watching it, which I can't always say for a Hitch film. (I told you my taste was bad.) This one is free on YouTube and thank god because Audrey wears a lot of Givenchy, Cary Grant wears spectacles and keeps almost dying, it's very exciting and thrilling and funny and sexy. I don't think there are any content warnings but it's been a minute since I watched it. (I should go watch it right now.)

The Big Sleep (Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall)—they're so hot askjdljhjghladkghjksahkhgslkahgshskjhgsalhgsahgjh. i like this one a lot :)

[this is NOT A FULL LIST of all the hot vintage movies to start with but it might give you some starting places! i banged this out as quick as I could at 2 am, so apologies that it's sloppy and not perfect.]

[deaddee-anime-brownfanlady]

One of the things I love about mouthwashing in terms of its well-written story. Is how human and realistic each character feels, especially in regards to Curly and his blindness towards Jimmy red flag behavior as a friend which I find to be realistic and very human.

Because let's face it, I feel a lot of people would have extreme difficulties believing that someone they are super close too and care about as being the type of person capable of doing horrible acts or being a terrible person.

Be it a family member or a lover or a child or best friend, you do have people out here who will deeply refuse to believe also see that someone they know and have a close bond with as " Bad people ",

Even if said person there close towards have obvious red flags and other signs of them not being all that "great "... , you'll still get some form of denial and pushback against said claims.

Something like " You don't know them as well as I do" or " We've known each other for years " or maybe " My Child or So & So would never! Do such a thing! " and something along the lines of " You only known them for like an hour while I've known them my whole life OK "

Curly seems like the type of person who sees the good in everybody and believes in giving people second chances, even if it is from those who really don't deserve it.

Curly refusing to fully see and come to terms with the major red flags / issues within Jimmy until he is left in a severely vulnerable, helpless position were he's basically forced to see how Jimmy truly, actually is as a person.

I think it is a super realistic portrayal of how actual people can be when it comes to having serious difficulties with dealing with the hard reality of seeing someone they've have a close relationship / friendship with as a potential horrible person capable of harming others and even harming them as well.

That some people might not fully see those red flags until they're far too late and the damage is already done.

[divineerdrick]

Homestuck: Beyond Canon Upd8 for November 11, 2024

*flops*

Don't mind me.

Just gonna lie here while I do the Homestuck liveblog thing.

I am going to give a heads up. If my next migraine treatment brings me a bit more back in line, I'll be doing VLogs again. I have a bigger video project planned, but it's not Homestuck related. I'll be posting the updates here though, so you'll still know when I blog an upd8. Then you'll all get to see my haggard and aged face.

We begin with the monthly news upd8 from James. Except no! It is in fact an upd8 from Miles! James fades into the background, and apparently Miles will be our flattering correspondent from now on.

It looks like Miles is putting potential spoilers in the news post, so I might have to be careful in the future. Of course these might be jokes. We'll have to see.

Work continues on the planned [S] page and more Beyond Canon merch. We won't be getting an upd8 for December, but they will be running the Patreon. The next upd8 looks like it might be as late as February.

That's all unfortunate. But I fully support if the team wants to take a well earned holiday.

Upd8

Tavvy has decided to join Yiffy on an adventure. This can't possibly end well. His attempts at being her lackey have so far landed him mostly in trouble. And there's a heap of trouble brewing on the soon to be battlefield.

Yeah that's not happening.

Heh! Harry brought the trail mix.

Oh wow. And oh no!

OH NO!!!

That can't possibly count as Heroic though. Getting sniped while performing a purely tactical role is not a hero's end. Still, Rose is probably glad the kids aren't seeing that.

And button.

Interesting view to cut to.

Again, I don't think this will count as Heroic for anyone. But a lot of people are about to die. And let's not forget, none of the trolls currently outside for the Plot Point are God Tiers. This is bad. This is really bad. This is the kind of moment that calls for an extreme, deus ex machina, like the Plot Point has the potential for.

But we're not getting to see it yet.

Edit: @vriedi reminded me that Meenah is a God Tier. Though this does make me wonder, what happens when a dead God Tier dies?

Orange curtains.

Okay! Legitimately fantastic Psyche Out. They actually got me pretty good there.

Okay, we have a new troll it I think.

gavageCunctation is messaging Vrissy. Though that doesn't necessarily tell us much, except that a new player may have entered the drama.

And they're "negging" Vrissy. So this troll clearly sees themselves as a "player" too.

We've got a "game" that's about to be played. A game being run by a TC. Now Gamzee is dead, but that doesn't mean he didn't setup something before Vriska killed him. Still, it's likely these are two completely new troll kids.

We've got a new AA too. So we might be seeing more troll descendants. After all, they used cloning to kick things off. This troll is typing in purple, but blood typing may not be universal anymore. I do find it interesting that we're continuing the nucleotide pairs though. They could have gone for a different motif. Maybe they're trying to symbolize that these are potential paradox clones for a new session?

AA is apparently our chronic auspistice for this group. And potentially our Seer, though we've had fake-outs on that before.

And our actual cliffhanger ending is this new GC's computer exploding.

So yeah. Something has to happen for a lot of our beloved characters to not bite it. I'm also curious how Rose's vision of future events can come true if Jane has unleashed her weapon. But I mentioned last time that Rose is playing a dangerous game here. I don't think any of our God Tiers are in trouble, and I'm pretty sure the Plot Point is fine.

I'm wondering if this is how Calliope ends up sacrificing themself, if Rose was even correct there. Either way, this a dark ending for the year on a community that's already seen some dark endings.

*Returns to flop*

[beef-brisket]

Adam: Wait- seriously? He looks like THAT but has an issue with me? That's a fucking joke.

Adam lay on top of his bed and folded his arms.

Vaggie: We understand that there is a stigma that surrounds humans and demons, but the king tried hard to keep that out of politics.

Adam: Oh yeah? And how important is the bambi reject?

Vaggie: He's the kings advisor-

Adam: Ah, good. The kings advisor is a racist. The man who gives him advice on how to deal with human issues and affairs is hateful towards them? Yeah. That makes sense.

Vaggie: It's not your concern-

Adam: It is kind of my fucking concern, bitch. If he's not fucking letting me go anytime soon, then I'm stuck with Sir Ass Face. I already done want to be here, and now I have to fight for my fucking right to be kept somewhere I DON'T want to be? What the fuck is that?

Vaggie: ...I see your point.

Adam: Pft. You wish you could see it.

Vaggie glares at him until there's a knock at the door, the King is standing there with a tray.

Lucifer: Thank you, Vaggie. I can handle it from here.

Vaggie bows and closes the door behind her, leaving the room.

Lucifer: I'm sorry about that-

Adam: Look. I don't care, I just... want to fucking go home, alright? I don't give a shit about whatever the fuck his name is, thinks or says about me or the whole human thing. I didn't sign up for this- well, I wasn't signed- I was taken. I just want to go home, Lucifer. I think you're a... nice guy, you'll find someone. A real woman, that wants you for you. A demon woman, by the way. I'm not good for you, alright? I have issues- okay? Really bad issues. I'm not royalty material.

Lucifer stood there awkwardly with Adam's dinner. This isn't what he expected Adam to say, but he wasn't surprised.

Esther Au @fanofstuff01

Adam didn't understand what was going on, he was on his way to a party dressed as a woman for a dare that his friend Angel dared him to do.

And now he's being dragged away by royal guards to the palace.

What the fuck did he do wrong!?

Adam: Let me go!!

Vaggie: By order of the King, all age appropriate women will be brought before him.

Adam: I'm not a woman!

Vaggie and Lute look him over and they don't seem convinced.

Lute: Sure you're not.

Adam: Then I have the deepest voice of a woman ever.

[mogamuncher]

Chapter I: The Heroine and the Knight

“Whatever horrors you may find in these dark spaces, have heart and see them through. There are no premature endings. There are no wrong decisions. There are only fresh perspectives and new beginnings.”

“This is a love story.”

•••

Chapter I: The Heroine and the Knight

You are on a path in the woods. And at the end of that path, is a cabin. And in the basement of that cabin, is a knight. You are here to slay him. If you don't, it will be the end of the world.

Quite predictably, you tilt your head in confusion at such words, uncomprehending, despite how clearly and easily it was explained. "What do you mean? How is he going to end the world?"

It doesn't matter how he will end the world, all that matters is that he's going to do it. Rather, it matters that you are going to stop it, preferably by slaying him. There should be no need for you to ponder on unnecessary details outside of that.

Though such sensible words were spoken, you look on forward at the path with a confused and bumbling expression, as if concerned.

"So he's reaaaaally scary?"

No, he's a normal knight.

. . .

At that, you somehow become even more confused.

"But then. . . Isn't it really bad? To kill a knight like that?"

Obviously, you wasted your breath to ask a simply idiotic question, one that is frankly just to be expected coming from the likes of you. In the first place, what does it matter that you're killing a knight specifically? Is this your sad attempt to be a moralist? There's nothing more inherently wrong with killing a knight than it is to kill a blacksmith or a tailor, in fact it would be more morally sound to kill the knight, as he theoretically would be the most fair to fight, being able to defend himself.

"Eeh? Still though. . ."

There's really nothing else to discuss here, you're wasting the time of both me and everyone else in this world, the longer you take to slay that knight the more you put the rest of the world at risk. Do you want to be the reason that the world ends?

"N-No! Obviously not! I'd never want something so horrible!" You protested with a pathetic squeak, sounding vaguely like a mouse that's being stomped on.

Then stop dilly dallying and go to the cabin, the world depends on you, unfortunately.

Eventually you come to your senses and do just that, walking along the path in the silent still forest, until you see a hill. Of course, atop that hill there sat the cabin, a seemingly normal wooden structure of fairly small size.

Now, before you go in, here's a word of warning;

He will lie, he will cheat, and he will do anything to make sure you don't slay him. Don't believe a word he says.

Voice of the Noble: [Not that I would willingly doubt another's good intentions, however, haven't you simply been too biased this whole time?]

"That's exactly what I was thinking! I mean, we haven't even met him yet. . . There's no reason to mistrust him like this."

Truly, even ugliness has a limit, why would you let yourself be swayed by any old voice that speaks in your brain?

"Eh? But," You tilted your head, a puppy-ish display of confusion. "Isn't that what you are also?"

Voice of the Noble: [Indeed. There is nothing that should make you any more reliable than me.]

Regardless, you should hurry to the cabin anyways, and hopefully you'll do so ignoring any stray noise from a certain disembodied voice.

Voice of the Noble: [Ah, she completely gave up in answering me, after all. . .]

Voice of the Noble: [Even so, we should refrain from making any judgements until we meet said knight.]

Nodding your head to agree with said certain disembodied voice, you finally decided to walk towards the cabin, soon stepping inside and closing the door behind you.

The cabin itself was small and old, ordinary in every sense of the word, with the only real furniture of note being a small wooden table with a small blade perched atop of it. Said blade is your implement, it would be rather difficult to slay the knight without it.

. . . But even knowing so, your hand hesitated slightly as you reached out to the blade, before it fully dropped to your side, limp—— Pray tell, what exactly are you waiting for?

"Well, I agree with the other voice, I want to talk with that knight before I do something as drastic a slaying him! I would feel awful if I hurt him over something as silly as a misunderstanding."

There are no misunderstandings to be had there though, he's going to end the world you foolish girl, what's there for you to not understand?

"Even so! I want to talk to him first, and it would be reaaaaally difficult to do that if I came in while holding a knife. What if he gets scared of me?"

Voice of the Noble: [Admittedly, it would be difficult to have civil conversation with anyone if they were holding a weapon—much more so if they were there with the specific purpose of ending you.]

"See? He understands!"

You two are incorrigible.

Voice of the Noble: [For some reason, I can almost picture her disgusted face right now.]

"Eh, me too. . ."

Ugh.

Well, leaving your only weapon alone because of your own incredibly foolish reasoning, you stepped forward, face to face with the door to the basement. Taking a deep breath to steel your own nerves, you went inside.

Creeeak.

The wood groaned underneath your feet as you slowly went down the stairs. Dark and forgotten, the wood was a bit dusty, the walls narrow in relation to the staircase, this place was as claustrophobic as it was simple. If the knight truly lives here, slaying him would be doing him a favor.

But your sightseeing was soon interrupted by a voice carrying up the stairs. It was curious, light, airy, a bit playful. It was as if the person speaking was a cheerful sort of friendly, the type of person that carelessly treated serious situations with casualness.

"Hellooo? Is someone there? I sure hope it's not another doom flag. . . Being chained here is already enough of a stain in my pride as it is!"

Voice of the Noble: [He sounds. . . Nice. Perhaps a bit too callous considering the situation he is in, but he does not at all sound like a threat.]

That's what he wants you to think, anyhow. What, are you really letting him get to your head this quickly?

"But he really did sound friendly though." You protested, annoyingly so.

Voice of the Noble: [. . .]

Voice of the Noble: [Undoubtedly, your narration is beyond biased.]

Regardless, you keep walking down the stairs, until you finally reach the basement.

That's when you see him, The Knight;

With short slicked back hair black as the starless sky, equally as dark owlish eyes, he was dressed in armour that was only a bit dirty despite his time in the basement, a side cape surrounding him as he fumbled it with his hands. A single shackle and chain was wrapped around his wrist, whole another stayed vacant on the wall near him. He was sitting down, seeing you walk in.

The knight himself stopped to stare up at you, blinking once and twice, before he shook his head rather suddenly. His face split into a friendly grin then, he waved in your direction, the chain clanking loudly as he did so.

"Hey there! You're new—well I guess anyone would be new, since I don't have any visitors at all—but hey are you here to save me? Ah, I would be happy if that was case, but somehow my heart still aches at the thought of being casted as the damsel here. This is just too disheartening, you know?"

At his unending friendly chatter, you balk slightly, taking a step back, you reply rather eloquently:

"E-Eh?"

Hm, indeed, riveting.

Voice of the Noble: [Oh give us a break, we did not expect for the Knight to be so. . . Spirited.]

Oh? And here I thought it was your decision to simply talk to him before taking any action, should you not have been prepared for said Knight to have a eccentric personality at the least, then? I mean, you were told he was going to destroy the world, after all.

Voice of the Noble: [That is different. The problem is not that he's unapproachable, rather, it's the opposite.]

So you've been stumped because the Knight you're supposed to slay is actively cheerful? What kind of heroine lets herself be swayed by such things?

"Uhhh, hey, are you just going to stare at me?" The Knight asked, having finally stopped talking, staring at you with a slightly nervous expression.

He patted the spot right in front of him, as if goading her to come close to him.

"Well it's awkward to talk to anyone from so far away. So, c'mon! Sit here with me, it's been ages since I've had a tete-a-tete with anyone."

Voice of the Noble: [Despite his eccentricity, I see no harm in us sitting down to talk with him. After all, simply slaying a knight without any reason would be awfully unbecoming of us.]

"I don't know what a teytey-ah-teytey is, but of course, I'll sit with you."

Saying that, you foolishly walked closer to the chained up man, sitting down in front of him. He opened his mouth to say something, but right before he could utter a single word you beat him to it, extending your arm out with your finger raised, as if making an addendum.

"Make no mistake, this is not me choosing to believe in you right away. This is for my own benefit, because I don't like being in the dark about things."

Despite your stern tone, his smile only seemed to gain a rather genuine edge to it, though he nodded gravely.

"Of course, of course."

"This is an interrogation, I want to know your real intentions, so I need you to be honest with me."

"Understood, you'll get nothing out of my mouth that isn't the full truth, 100%, 1000% even!"

"Thank you for agreeing. In that case, please tell me your name!"

With that, the Knight stopped. Growing pensive, he scratched at his head as if trying to recollect something, before he sprung up with a snap of his fingers. He got up suddenly, startling you, making a ridiculous pose as he just his hip out and pointed towards the basement ceiling.

"I am 「The Knight」, I'm broke and clueless beyond compare! In fact, I'm so clueless that I have no idea what my actual name is. For that, you can just call me 「Knight」 or 「The Knight」 for now!"

"My, when you put it like that you do sound utterly hopeless! Still, it's nice to meet you, mister Knight."

"Hearing anyone call me like that feels extremely awkward," He rubbed the back of his neck, sitting back down on the ground in front of you. "It sounds like I'm someone's dad. Please have mercy, I'm still young. . . I think."

Voice of the Noble: [Shouldn't he at least know his own age? Or his name, for that matter?]

Indeed, he should. Do you not find that odd?

You say as much, anyhow. "It is strange though. . . You don't remember your name, or how old you are?"

The Knight shook his head, seeming oddly sheepish again.

"Not at all. For all I know I have just been stuck here this whole time."

"And how long have you been here?"

"Ah, well. . . I don't know."

You tilted your head, confused, he scrambled to explain himself, the chain flying with his hurried arm movements.

"I just——! I lost count if how long I've been here, okay??? It's not like I have a clock y'know? It could've been days, or months, or years, or five minutes, I wouldn't know!"

Voice of the Noble: [That sounds inhumane!]

And why do you say that? Have you ever thought that perhaps he deserved such treatment? After all for someone that's said to be a bringer of an actual apocalypse, mere imprisonment is actually a light punishment, no?

Voice of the Noble: [And what is even being punished here? As far as I am aware, we are still here and so are you, so he hasn't even done anything wrong yet!]

Yet. Besides, does he need to do something bad to face consequences when his future actions are already known? He can only end the world once, knowing that, shouldn't those that live in said world have the right to get rid of him at once the minute they know what he'll do? It's simple prevention of a future issue, is all.

Voice of the Noble:[So you're keeping an innocent man in captivity.]

Yes. After all, said innocent man will soon become non-innocent, at least that is if you won't slay him. If not to save the actual world, then at least end him for the sake of helping to retain that innocent, after all, who wouldn't want to die wholly blameless?

Voice of the Noble: [Hgk——! That. . .]

"That is horrible!" You protested out loud, which the Knight in front of you nodded, clearly misunderstanding it as a response to his earlier complaints.

"That's what I've been saying! Couldn't they at least have given me some books? A TV? A sewing kit? Even just a deck of Uno would be fine at this point!"

While the Knight listed off several nonsensical things that you had no clue about, still, you smiled at him. Perhaps his cheerful attitude despite his imprisonment has moved you.

Either way, you move on with your faux interrogation, pointlessly extracting information from someone you'll inevitably have to slay either way.

"Someone told me that you're going to end the world, is that true?"

"Eeeeh? Well, that's news to me! In the first place, I would find it difficult to end even a single fly if I wasn't chained up. How am I supposed to end the world?"

"In that case, mister Knight, what would you do if you got out of here?"

"I dunno. . . I would like to see the stars in the night sky, I think. I can't help but feel like I haven't seen them in so long. . . Truly, seeing them again, is what I want to do."

"If someone like me were to free you. . . You wouldn't try to hurt me?"

"Not at all! In fact I would be eternally grateful and would thank you a million times over. I'll let you know I can show my gratitude just fine, Heroine-tan!"

At his odd words, you pause, looking at him in incredulity.

"What did you just call me?" You asked, and the Knight shrugged.

"Well, if you're talking about freeing me, then I can only assume you're the fated rescuer that'll sweep me off my feet and away from here. Since you're a very beautiful girl, who's rescuing me so heroically, "Heroine" is the perfect name to refer to you by!"

Your cheeks flush, stuttering a bit, your response gets cut short by him continuing his tirade.

"The "tan" is just a term of endearment, it's a nickname from me to you. You give those to the people you think fondly of."

"You think fondly of me?! We just—— We met today!"

"And you're the first person I've seen in so long. . . Sorry, but you did end my loneliness, even if for just a single moment. I think fondly of that."

You stare at him after that, and he blushes, averting his gaze, he scratched his cheek idly.

"Though with you staring at me like that," He said, bashfully looking back at you. "I can't help but feel like my maidenly feelings are at risk here."

Voice of the Noble: [. . . Maidenly feelings?]

He's speaking in complete nonsense. Like I said, it is pointless to converse with him, you will have to kill him either way.

Even so, your will seems to only steel further. Your hands shoot up and grasp the Knight's own, he blinked at you, flushed and shocked, ugly eyes somehow a bit softer.

"I have decided, mister Knight," You say, your annoying voice surprisingly even. "I will free you from this place. We are both getting out of here."

He gasps, and you can almost see something light up in his dark eyes.

"You really mean it? You'll save me?"

"I will. I promise."

Indeed, promises mean a lot to you, don't they?

Voice of the Noble: [Good. This boy is clearly innocent, and should not have to suffer here alone. Anyone with a conscience would see it fit to rescue him.]

Even after all my warnings, it seems impossible for either of you to gain a single bit of common sense. . .

Voice of the Noble: [You say that, but the entire time that you have been describing him you have not once antagonized him. At least not how you do to us.]

. . . Well, I'm not one to misinterpret things, anyhow. He will end the world, but if personal feelings were to get involved, then I could easily say that prefer him overall.

Voice of the Noble: [Oh, is that so?]

"I'll need something to open this with," You say, tugging on the chain holding the Knight prisoner. You get up and start walking to the basement stairs, thinking of searching for a key on the first floor.

Thump.

Unluckily for you, however, the door atop of the stairs simply closed on their own, locking both you and the Knight there. You're not leaving this basement until you've slain him, I fear.

. . .

You pout, rather childishly may I add, putting your hands on your hips like a scorned mother.

"Aren't you being to hard on poor mister Knight? He's a reaaaaally good boy, you should let him go!"

While yes, The Knight is a very good boy, you must understand the predicament we are all in at the moment. He will end the world. That is everything there is and ever will be, he will be the downfall of everything to ever exist. No matter how good he is as a person, nothing can ever change that fact. He must he slain, for the good everyone else. It's the right thing to do.

Voice of the Noble: [That's hardly true, he seems perfectly average. How is a single normal human person going to end the world?]

He just is, what's there to not understand?

Voice of the Noble: [That is not an explanation!]

It's the only explanation you're getting.

"Ah, did they lock you in here too?" The Knight spoke, having heard the door close from his spot on the floor. "Damn, that's ruthless. I think we both could kick down the door if we tried together though. . . I just need to get out of here."

Hearing the clanking of him tugging at his own restraints, you turn around and go back to him, where he's glaring at his shackled wrist like it had personally wronged him.

"Damnit, I just need to get rid of this one chain, I can't even pick the lock since there isn't one! I just. . ."

You see the exact moment that an idea seems to come to him, his face lights up and he grins, giving you mildly sheepish smile, he warns you. "Say, I got an idea, but I think you might want to look away for this, it's going to get ugly."

You nod, but don't look away at all, staring at him in curiosity.

Voice of the Noble: [Just what is he going to do, exactly?]

He takes a deep breath, as if to steel his own resolve, the Knight looks down at his wrist with pure determination in his eyes.

"C'mon, aren't you a knight? This is another step to the freedom of Heroine-tan and yourself!"

After giving himself a pep talk, the Knight finally shows exactly what his "idea" was.

The black haired man dug into his own wrist with his teeth, gnawing at the skin, pulling until he was tearing through it, his canine teeth shredded through the meat as he seemed to be filled with a feral sort of ambition, clearly aiming to eventually get to the bone. Oh dear, I can no longer watch this.

Voice of the Noble: [Dear Od, stop him! This is horrible, he's hurting himself——!]

Just as the sound of steel clattering to the floor sounded out in the background, you bopped him on the head, making him detach his mouth from his wrist with a undignified yelp.

"Ow! Hey——!"

"Mister Kniiiight you dunderhead! Don't hurt yourself like that, that's terrible!"

"Eh? Dunderhead? Who even says that anymore?" He said, as you gently grabbed his brutalized wrist, lips still stained with his own blood. "Also, how else am I going to get out of here? I don't see any keys nearby, and it's much better to only lose a hand than to stay here!"

Saying that, you look back to see the pristine blade from the first floor, now sitting here in the basement floor with you, that must've been what the sound from earlier was.

Voice of the Noble: [And I must assume that this was your doing?]

. . .

Perhaps.

Seeing the blade, you go retrieve it, coming back to the Knight with it in hand, you extended out hand for him to give you his wrist.

"If that is the case. . . Then please, let me do it like this, I just don't want you to hurt yourself. . ."

He stared up at young again, something meaningful passing through his eyes, however it is fleeting, passing you by before you can properly grasp it.

"Mm, so it seems like Heroine-tan is too kind, after all." With a fond smile, he gives you his injured and bleeding wrist, you hold it like its the finest of all porcelain.

And so, you do. You carefully use your blade to first cut through flesh, then you cut through bone. Through it all he simply stays still, at first looking at what you were doing, until you gently guided his head with your hand, tilting his gaze to stay on your face so he wouldn't see such a grisly sight.

Though by the end it didn't seem like he needed such tender care, as he easily separated the severed hand from the rest of his arm, laying it down on the ground as he got up, finally free from the chain. His smile, however, indicated that he appreciated it, at least.

"Thank you."

You held on to his remaining hand, squeezing tight, somehow it seems like severing his hand shook you up more than it did him.

Voice of the Noble: [It is only natural, anyone would feel sick at having to do such a thing to rescue someone. Still, it is truly remarkable of him to not react at all, it was his hand in the first place.]

Exactly, is it not suspicious? How he didn't blink at all when his hand was cut off? How he immediately jumped into mauling himself to get out?

Voice of the Noble: [He is a knight, staying clear headed in life or death situations is to be expected. And while it was. . . Distasteful. . . It was necessary, in his perspective, to get us all out of here.]

Your ability to wear rose tinted glasses truly astounds me.

"Now, let's go kick that door down!" With more self confidence than before, he led the way towards the door, letting go of your hand for a single moment as he went to a surefire way out——

I am not letting you do this.

Both of your hands grip your blade tight, bringing it up as he turns his back to you.

Voice of the Noble: [What?! You can't—— You can't just do that!]

Oh but you will find that I very much can, in fact, I will.

Your hands go up, one smooth downwards motion is all you need——

"Mister Knight, dodge!"

——But you still find it in yourself to warn him, making him jolt fowards, as your blade narrowly misses him. Stop making this harder than it needs to be, foolish girl, I am trying to save the world.

Voice of the Noble: [You are making us do things against our will!]

I am making you do your job.

Still, despite the irrationality of your actions, your hand grips the wrist of the hand that was still yielding the blade, trembling, you hold yourself back as the Knight turns to look at you, his expression one of melancholy and understanding.

"Oh, this isn't you. . . You're trying so hard to help me, aren't you?"

He walked up to your shaky form, gently taking the blade from your unsteady hand as you let him, unbelievable.

Looking at you, he already seems to be mourning something.

An intrinsic understanding passes over you both, he seems to know what is the only way to resolve this, and you seem to agree, giving him a timid nod, resolute in keeping your promise.

"For what it's worth," He smiled, it looked like he was near tears. "I really liked you."

He breathes in, and sighs.

And then he stabs your chest.

. . .

But you do not die, not yet.

For a knight, he seems to have missed the mark of where your heart is, you stayed alive even if in pain. The Knight winced, taking the blade out, he tried again, a stab.

He missed again, you are still alive.

"I. . . I am so sorry."

Again. He misses.

"I'm sorry!'

Again again again again gain——!

"Sorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorry I'M SORRY!"

Eventually it all becomes too much, you collapse to the floor in a death by a thousand of paper cuts, slowly bleeding out as the Knight looks down at your body. He drops the blade, tears starting to run down his bloodied face, his blood is sure to mixed with your in there now.

Voice of the Noble: [No, it can't be. . . This can't be the end!]

I am afraid that it is.

"I wish. . . I really wanted you to. . ."

Crying softly as he kneeled next to you, the last thing you can feel is his hand holding onto yours, his fingers intertwining with your own. For a knight, his hand is oddly soft.

Thes last thing you hear is him as well, his mournful sobs and his whispered confession.

". . . Save me."

Everything goes dark, and you die.

•••

AN: Whew, that really was something, huh?

Uhhh yeah hi this post is way out of what I usually do around here, but I had been itching to write something about this au, sooo i did this!

Ok ok so like, let me give you a bit of Author's Commentary™ on this:

The formatting was the biggest hurdle, as translating the Slay the Princess style of storytelling into text is a bit difficult. I settled on writing in second person and having the literal story narration be the Narrator/Echidna talking, that way I won't need to both have Echidna talking as if she's narrating and also another actual text narrator. For all the times that Dona is in the story, she's both herself and the actual storytelling device.

For the voices, as you can see I'm going for something similar to what they do in the novel (inspired by me reading the witch cult translations in preparation to writing this fic) because it's easier to keep track of. For now you guys only get to meet Julius, but this will eventually get real messy

Emilia and Subaru are the only characters who actually talk with quotation marks, so I went absolutely ham in pacing their dialogue, especially since I didn't need to give descriptors of who is talking all the time! I tried to make their interactions fun and charming like I'm the series, but I have no clue if I managed to capture their vibes.

The real Re:Zero curse is to be absolutely obsessed enough to read the novels over and over, but to still have no fucking clue how to write any of these characters, please help me, I am in great pain

Also yes I absolutely made that last "save me" to parallel to the end of the first loop in arc 1, this is actually a bit of a role swap in a way, since Emilia is always in a position where she can die for and save Subaru

Anyhow, please tell me what y'all think, I'll prolly keep posting chapters of this Au here until I eventually gain enough courage to post it all on AO3. Most of all, tell me if y'all want chapter 2 (AKA: The Damsel)

See ya!

[darth-jess]

Hello ! Here's a Star Wars question. What's your opinion on "love isn't attachment" interpretation of the Jedi Code that has been going around?

Hey! Sorry it took me so long to answer this!

Short answer: Love and attachment often go hand in hand, however, they are NOT the same thing.

Long answer:

At the end of the day, this question hinges on how you define love, and what kind of love you are talking about. The English language is quite limited when it comes to love, because there are many different kinds love. (I've said it before, and I'll say it again, we need to bring back all the Ancient Greek words for all the different kinds of love, they were on to something.)

Love in general is not forbidden for Jedi, which means that there are at least SOME kinds of love that do not require attachment.

As Anakin puts it:

Compassion/agape/unconditional love is essential to being a Jedi. And this kind of love is not attachment. This kind of love expects nothing in return. This kind of love is never jealous, is never possessive, and does not hinge on ego or desire. This kind of love is not physical or sexual. There is no "I love you, I want you, I need you," and instead, there is self sacrifice, there is generosity, and it transcends personal desire.

HOWEVER.

When it comes to romantic love, there is always some aspect of attachment. This kind of love (when shared between two people) does come with expectation: I expect you to support me emotionally, I expect intimacy, I expect communication, I expect commitment, I expect loyalty, etc… (might sound demanding, but put it this way: would you be with someone who didn't care about your emotions? Who never wanted to be intimate with you? Who refused to communicate? Who refused to commit to you? Who cheated on you? I hope the answer is no because that would be very unhealthy).

Romantic love without attachment can come off as very cold, and uncaring. If your romantic partner said, "Hey, I love you so much, but if you left me for someone else or died, I would let you go and get over it and be fine, it's just the way of life," you might be slightly hurt.

Romantic love is deep, biological (not only in the sense of "it's for procreation" because it's so much more than that, and so much deeper, it fills a need for human companionship, friendship, someone you can trust beyond trust, someone to share everything with), and at its core, romantic love requires some level of attachment. It comes with all that "I LOVE YOU, I WANT YOU, I NEED YOU" passionate emotional insanity which is also inherently possessive. Romantic love requires an acknowledgment of the ego, it feeds the ego: I love you, AND you love me, and that feels great.

Romantic love centers around the self. Romantic love stems from what you want. (I'd never tell my sister, "On your next date, don't think about what you want or what you are looking for, think about what the guy wants and be selfless" because that is the worst dating advice ever.) Romantic love is inherently selfish- you want to end up with the person that makes you happy!

AND THAT IS NOT A BAD THING.

Unless you are a Jedi. (If you need a reason why, please just watch the Star Wars Prequels and you'll have your answer.)

IN CONCLUSION

Love is NOT attachment, however romantic love inherently comes with attachment.

Footnote: while attachment, possession, selfishness, and jealousy are all very normal of romantic love, every romantic relationship needs a balance. There are levels of possessiveness and selfishness and attachment that have to be worked out in every relationship and people have to find what levels of these things they are comfortable with. Not ALL manifestations of possessiveness in a romantic relationship is good/bad, etc. just clarifying.

[ryttu3k]

Largely for reference, the conversations Jaheira's kids have with each other. Rion talks to Fig and Tate, Jord talks to Jhessem (and the plants); there's four bits of dialogue each.

Rion and Fig

"Poor dummy. Look at its arms - it just wants a hug."

"That's why it keeps losing. Dummy."

-

"Am I supposed to pretend that sword you're swinging wasn't stolen from my room?"

"Wrong. It's completely different."

"Funny. Because it looks just like the one I stole from mum when I was your age."

-

"Good. But you'll need to learn more than just the Harper forms."

"Is that why they threw you out? Because you didn't like their forms?"

"They didn't throw me out. I left. There was just… more to be learned elsewhere."

"Like the Flaming Fist?"

"No, now they threw me out."

-

"When can I move on to a real sword?"

"Oh, stop sulking. I had to teach myself in secret when I started. Mum didn't want to 'force me into the same life'."

"When did she change her mind?"

"About the third time I knocked her on her arse."

-

Rion and Tate

"Hey. You alright up here?"

"Yeah. I'll come down soon. Sorry."

"Don't need you to be sorry. Just checking that you're all right."

-

"You going to eat with us today?"

"I'm not… I'm not hungry. Really."

"Ah. Well, I could use a hand with the washing up - last time I let Fig do it, she blunted my best knife slaying 'soap-mephits'."

"Heh. All right."

-

"Would you like a book? I can have Jhessem drop one up. Maybe she'll even read it with you."

"Jhess…? Eh, no. That's all right. I'm all right."

"What if I tell her not to do the goblin voice?"

"I guess… that would be okay."

-

"You don't need to watch the door, you know. No one's getting in that we don't want to."

"They don't need to get past the door. They could just b-board it up and burn the place."

"True, I suppose. But you have something out there that you didn't, in your last house."

"…Fig."

"Fig."

Jord and Jhessem

"Bootprints on the tabletop. You haven't been poking around the top shelves again - have you, Jhessem?"

"Of course not. Her diaries are off-limits."

"And written in code too, I'm afraid."

"I know. It's not a very good code."

-

"Well, what are we reading now? More Alaundo?"

"No. I'm looking for any histories about this Absolute."

"I wouldn't bother. It's a new god - unknowable and mysterious."

"It's just another cult. And cults are common as muck."

"Huh. So sayeth the wise Jhessem."

-

"Try that hand-bill on fungal poultices. We might be tending the injured here before long."

"Perhaps you should brush up on the herb-lore yourself, Jord. Mother's vines are looking a little weedy."

"Why are the quiet ones always the cruellest?"

-

"That reminds me. I'm working on our family tree - I've already placed Rion. You're next."

"Hah. Well, I'm afraid you won't find us dangling from any of the same branches, sproutling."

"So we'll graft on another. A druid should know how to do that, shouldn't he?"

"I… suppose he should, at that."

Jord to plants

"You three have been just guzzling the water recently. Save some for the others, all right?"

"Coming along nicely there, Floki. Good, strong roots."

"Those leaves are a little darker than I'd like, Felicis. Bad soil? Hm. Don't tell mother…"

"Oh, come on, Ferdinand, I just trimmed you."

-

Rion and Jord are definitely trying their best to be big siblings! Rion is very gentle with Tate (who, from that last dialogue, seems to have experienced some trauma before being adopted by Jaheira - there's a letter that suggests his biological parents were amongst the first taken by the cult), Jhessem is a character, Jord and his plants are adorable, and Rion and Fig are very much cut from the same cloth.

[seyaryminamoto]

Haha, thank you so much for your answers and your kind words too! :D I'm honestly amazed that this fic could have been such a game-changer for someone, never imagined it'd make someone see the potential of fanfiction this way! That's seriously amazing to learn! Thank you for sharing your story! :D

A lot of your answers made me smile too, haha. Many amusing guesses about the future too, I love that you do not underestimate how horny Sokka and Azula are x'D though of course there will be some initial restraint, of course... Also, that was a pretty great title for Part 2! Nice idea there! O.o

Thank you very much for all your work in writing this post! It's really thrilling every time I come across a new reader who is so enthusiastic about jumping into the world of Gladiator! <3

Happy 300th Chapter to Seyary!

Here's my response for @kigozula's celebration of @seyaryminamoto's masterpiece, Gladiator! Thank you both your amazing work!

FAVORITE…:

OC: Rui Shi

2. Guard: Fei Li

3. Gladiator: Not counting the Blue Wolf, The Millennium Dragon

4. Sponsor: Ty Lee

5. Pair/Couple (besides Sokkla): This is hard… Ty Lee and Haru or Song and Rui Shi

6. Friendship: Song and Sokka

7. Villain/Antagonist/Opponent: The dread that exists for Azula and Sokka about being caught… for a more “true” villain/opponent it would be Rhone

8. Suitor for Azula: Huan because this man is worse at giving gifts than I am

9. Place (any houses/island/cities…): Ember Island or Shu Jing or both.

10. Event (weddings/festivals…): Azula’s and Sokka’s wedding with Xin Long as the officiant

FAVORITE TOP THREE…:

Sokkla Kisses in Part 2 when they become finally a couple: Hmmm…. I think the best one for me was the kiss(es) in the Library’s planetarium. There's too many to accurately rank and all are worth remembering now that Arc 3 is in full swing. I miss the Sokkal kisses.

2. Sokkla Love Making: The hot springs date at Shu Jing, the palanquin quicky, and the… every one? There’s too many to list. Like the kisses, I think most readers miss the love between Sokka and Azula.

THIS OR THAT:

Part 2, or Part 3 (so far): Part 2 for the happy feels

2. Zuki Family or Mai Jian Family: Zuki family

3. Festivals Arc or Anniversary Arc: Have I mentioned these are hard? Anniversary is my favorite for the sole fact that Xin Long officiated a wedding

4. Captain Rui Shi or Captain Fei Li: Captain Rui Shi

5. Ozai or Zhao: Ozai

6. Gladiator Brawl, Sponsor Race, Pairs Tournament or Scavenger Hunt: Gladiator Brawl for the awesome final but Sponsor Race for the feels

7. Xin Long or Appa: Close but Xin Long

8. Azula’s Squad or Sokka’s Squad: Choosing sucks but Sokka’s. I think Azula’s Squad is still forming at the moment.

9. Ty Lee or Mai: Ty Lee

10. Shoji or Kino: Shoji

11. Ruon Jian or Haru: Haru because I think Ruon Jian did not have enough “screen time” to really move into my heart

OTHERS:

A Place you would like to visit or live: I want to visit Ember Island or Shu Jing or Sokka’s house, or the dragon cave or the… Throw a dart at the map.

2. If you could give Part 2 a title it would be: “The Bonds that Drive Us” because, yes, the bond between Sokka and Azula are the key driving force of the plot and the story, but other bonds, those of friendship and/or romance between the many characters, give the story more depth and pushes the story forward.

3. Something you look forward to: Ozai’s reaction to Sokka living and fighting against him

4. Best Arc(s) in Part 3 (so far): Story telling

5. Favorite Sokkla Artwork from Part 2: Sokka and Azula in the planetarium

GUESSING TIME:

Future Ships you think will happen: Here me out… Yue and Anorak

2. Azula and Zhao will divorce when/because of …: Zhao dying to Sokka. Or dying to something/someone else. I don’t see him living to see the final chapters of the story.

3. When Hakoda meets Azula and Hotaru for the first time…: Hakoda joins Sokka for the battle where Azula and Sokka meet again but is in a different place when they do battle. Once the battle ends and the dusts settle. Hakoda watches Hotaru because we all know Sokkla is horny.

4. When Ozai and Ursa see each other …: This is hard. I think that Ursa would be one of if not the final nail in the coffin for Ozai to truly realize he’s beyond saving. This would take place closer to the final chapters.

5. I think Ozai's future looks like...: It’s very hard to say. For the short term, I see him beating himself up for the awful choices he made before making even more after Sokka's return.

6. When Azula finally visits the south pole, I hope/wish/think …: The villagers calling her Jing and she being confused.

7. First things Azula and Sokka will do after their reunion: Hug, cry, apologize, visit Hotaru, find a private place…

QUIZ: (The correct answers can be found in my post on June 16th)

Name of the first Gladiator Sokka fought against? Spawn of the Volcano... Chan's gladiator. That's his name now.

2. How many years are Azula and Sokka a couple now? 3 to 4 years now. Maybe even five but that seems wrong. Once the 3rd Part started, for some reason I thought they were together for 5 years.

3. Which character found out about Azula and Sokka’s secret relationship first? Song

4. Which character felt something might be going on/will be going on between Sokka and Azula from the beginning? Ty Lee

5. What’s the name of Ozai’s first love? I sadly don’t remember but I’m willing to bet my left kidney that it was himself. Please don’t take my kidney because I know I’m wrong.

6. What was the first Gladiator event Azula and Sokka took part in? Scavenger Hunt

7. How often did the Blue Wolf fight in the Slate? Twice in six months? Nine months?

8. Who would have almost been the potential future prince? Chan

9. How old was Aang when he was forced to freeze himself and Appa? 18, I think.

SOME NICE WORDS TO OUR DEAR AUTHOR SEYARYMINAMOTO:

I won't lie. I used to think fan fiction was only something bad and cringe inducing (Mine definitely are) but then I was introduced to your work(s) on an Artcraawl post. I thought, "why not? It has three million words, hard work had to be put into it." Six hours later I realized it was past midnight and I had classes the next morning and I had a long ways to go to catch up. For the next few weeks of January/February in 2022, I was addicted. Friends thought I was crazy because every time they looked at me, my face was glued to my phone. The glee I felt when I realized that new chapters were being posted was amazing. And then the impatience of having to wait two weeks for the next update was devastating. But then I saw that you had more works for me to read and read I did. Safe to say that you changed my view of fan fiction, Avatar, Azula and Sokka, and writing. You opened many new doors for me that I refused to even have to key made for. Your dedication, hard work, and awesome writing skills amaze me. I'm happy to be one of many readers you have even though I'm a bit late to the party. If the story continues for another ten years (That number is insane BTW, that's a decade!!), then count me in! I will still wait for every update and my heart will be moved by your beautiful writing. Thank you for all the work you put into this and for how you have influenced me for good. Truly, thank you.

Here's for 300 more!

For the record, @kigozula, why on earth did you make the questions so hard to answer? This was supposed to be fun yet here I am trying to decide which Sokkla smut scene was my favorite. Do you know how hard that is? Shame on you 🤭

[dairyfreenugget]

I could count the amount of original stories of mine that don't have horror elements on one hand and idk what that says about me

[gayspock]

what if I wss emo instead 🤔

[hella1975]

I’m not exactly well versed in British culture, so I might be a bit off base here, but it might help some of your US followers if they frame the pervasiveness of classism within the context of the American south.

There is a very common and socially accepted assumption that southerners are stupid, backwards, toothless hillbillies with dumb accents.

Its often played off like a joke, but the insidiousness of it is real and harmful. I don’t think it’s too dissimilar to what you experience, either, though perhaps not quite as pointed or extreme.

When I travel, I do my best to flatten my accent so people don’t pick up on it as easily. As soon as everyone finds out where I’m from, I’m made into a joke. It fucking sucks.

i dont know enough about the american south and i would like to reiterate that despite similarities our class systems are still so different that blanket-comparing them isn't gonna cut it, but yes this sounds exactly right!! like class over here isn't just a money thing, in fact more often than not that's a very small part of it. it's dictated by income and region and accent and what school you went to and what your family do and who you know even down to what you wear and what supermarket you shop at, and if you dont meet the top marks in ALL of these then you will experience classism at some point

[shimmershy]

Heya! I'm a big fan of how you draw your characters! Do you have tips for drawing people and finding your style? I suck at it

Hi! Hmmm...trying to think of advice to give is difficult because for me, it kind of just developed over time and I never did anything specific to find my style, necessarily. I know that like, everyone says this when giving art advice, but I think this is genuinely one of those times when giving it a lot of time and practice is the best thing you can do. It's really cool to see your style develop into something more recognizable over time, because at this point it kind of just comes naturally to me? I don't know if it happens like that for everyone but it makes sense that the more you get a feel for drawing, the more you get comfortable drawing a certain way, I guess.

So I mean, another thing you could do is try drawing in a lot of different ways! That may seem counter-intuitive, but if you do that, you get better at noticing all the different factors that makes an art style distinctive, and you can figure out what you like drawing the most because you're trying a bunch of different things. Sometimes I like trying to imitate other people's art styles in my sketchbook. You could try taking parts of other people's styles that you like and incorporating it into your own art. Like, say, you like the way someone draws eyes or hands or something. You could try focusing on getting really good at that specifically. Just, of course, don't trace other people's art and post it or anything, ha ha.

In terms of drawing people and characters in general, though, using references and practicing anatomy helps a lot. I don't do it a lot honestly because I get bored of it really quickly lol, but usually I grab some photos of complex poses and sketch them in my sketchbook to get a feel for how the poses work. If you're struggling with anatomy, it might also help to trace over the image and break it down to simple shapes beforehand (I do that sometimes, too).

But that's about all the advice I have. Practice, try using anatomy references, and take inspiration from the art you like.

[downfallofi]

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[frodolives]

1850s Tumblr Dashboard Simulator

👸🏻 girlbossladyjane Follow

It really makes me sick to see people giving money to penny weeklies when Franklin's expedition STILL has not been found 😭 There are good men out there trapped in unimaginable temperatures and literally all that's needed is a little more funding for another rescue mission yet all you guys seem to care about are your vulgar little stories...

🧔🏻‍♂️ queerqueg Follow

the franklin expedition is dead as hell

👸🏻 girlbossladyjane Follow

Disgraceful thing to say but I'd expect nothing more from a M*lville fan

10,558 notes

👨🏻‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏻 hartgrindisreal

Sorry for posting so much about Tom Gradgrind/James Harthouse from Hard Times lately. It turns out that I was getting arsenic poisoning from my wallpaper? Anyway I took a seaside stroll and I'm normal now. Check your walls y'all

#whyyy did i assume they were committing unlawful actions together like where did i even get that from lol #hard times isn't even that good by dickens standards tbh

659 notes

🎨 asherbrowndurand

Just painted this

2 notes

ss-arctic-girlie-deactivated18540927

RIP Napoleon... you may have been unable to conquer Alexander's Russia but you sure as hell conquered Alexander's bed

🖼️ preraphaelitebro Follow

HERITAGE POST

📝 shakespearesforehead Follow

How does this have less than 100k notes you could literally not avoid this post back in the 20s lol

82,170 notes

🌄 loyalromantic Follow

poets just aren't dying young in mysterious water-related incidents like they used to :/

#as useless and degenerative as i find 'the living poets' and i'm glad we're finally moving on from them #i have to agree with op in this respect

6,884 notes

🎀 thefopdiaries Follow

I finally got a daguerreotype of myself ^_^ Porcelain urn for scaling

📜 bartlebi-thescrivener

i think i hauve consumption

112 notes

🐋 whaler4life

They found oil in the ground??? WTF. THIS IS LITERALLY THE WORSTTTT. FUCK MY LIFE FOR REAL THIS TIME

11 notes

🌿 naturesnaturalist Follow

I swear this website has 0 reading comprehension skills. Darwin NEVER claimed we "evolved" from apes like if one of you guys actually bothered to open his new book you'll see all his arguments are backed up by evidence. He actually makes a lot of sense

#sure there's nuance like i don't fully agree with all of it #but his general theory of natural selection seems pretty sound imo

56 notes

🤵🏻‍♂️ byronicherotournament Follow

🙈 butchbronte Follow

Of course these are the finalists lmao this website is so predictable. Anyway vote Heathcliff if you dont i'm going to assume you're a phrenologist

📖 sapphichelenburns Follow

It's not problematic to acknowledge the fact that Heathcliff was a brute like he literally killed dogs in case you forgot. #rochestersweep

🙈 butchbronte Follow

I love the implication here that Rochester never did anything cruel either. He literally locked his wife in the attic and lied to Jane about it 😭 like that was a pretty significant thing that happened

📖 sapphichelenburns Follow

And? God forbid women do anything

#why'd you have to pit two bad bitches against each other #anyway i'm not attracted to men but still went with rochester #bc in terms of living quarters thornfield hall > wuthering heights easily

8,027 notes

👨🏻‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏻 hartgrindisreal

Not the Russian tsar dying immediately after hartgrind became canon

#i know dickens hasn't technically confirmed it yet but like. SOMETHING was strongly implied ok #see: my previous post #dickensposting

522 notes

👨🏻‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏻 hartgrindisreal

LORD HELP ME. THE BODY LANGUAGE. THE WAY THEY'RE LOOKING AT EACH OTHER. AHHHHHH

#this installment!!! im-- #dickensposting #i can't fucking cope #dickens wants to KILL us he wants us DEAD....

2,309 notes

⭐️ newamerican

Hi guys sorry I haven't been posting lately it's been so difficult getting to California 💀 I'm finally here now though just need to find a pickaxe and soon I'll be digging! :-) wish me luck lol

#gold #gold rush #gold rush grind #california #adventure

0 notes

[girlthativealwaysbeen]

sometimes i miss talking to that one person who didn't NEVER turned it into a competition about who has it worse and never told me well atleast you have [x]