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paopuofhearts · 6 months

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So I keep seeing this going around and I'm like.

Look. I get it.

We all get it.

And yet many people very clearly don't.

I've had students and adults sit here and tell me to my face that Jews never originated in the Middle East because Palestinians have been there since time immemorial as the only people of that land. I've had students and adults tell me that Israel is a name that was specifically created in the 40s to push the idea that Israel had always existed when it never existed as a concept before the 40s. I've had students and adults tell me all Jews are White Europeans that are only seeking to exploit and control the Middle East. I've had students and adults tell me that the Middle East belongs to the Muslims and they were pushed out by White Europeans and Jews are the ones who have caused American military policies of interventionism. I've had students and adults tell me thus Jews control all media around the world in return for financial resources from major Western countries.

These are from a wide spectrum of people who are indigenous to the US, people who have lived here all their lives, people who have moved or immigrated or sought refuge or sought asylum from other countries, people who have lived in Israel and Palestine, people who are still learning basic media literacy skills, people with PhDs, people who have spent decades doing activist work - all of them repeating this kind of White Supremacist rhetoric because they want to prove they're on the Right Side of Free Palestine.

And you see those exact same posts cropping up all over social media, of people perpetuating ahistorical information and falsifying facts because they think a more dramaticized and extreme story of Israel and Palestine is necessary to bring more attention to the genocide currently happening.

It's not really about "unless you know things shut up".

It's really about "you don't need to be spreading lies that get people killed to bring awareness and demand change".

Because doing that is antisemitic - and antisemitism isn't something people make up just so they don't 'feel guilty' or 'redirect' or 'erase' the opportunity for conversation or whatever else people justify that as in their minds.

And antisemitism is a proponent of genocide.

#like shit people buy into this “israel controls the narrative of western media” shit and im like #yeah clearly the us supports israel and their news is gonna align with that #but thats the us specifically choosing to perpetuate those things #but also the us doesnt do that as much as people seem to think #like no fucking western news source is brainwashing people that israel is the clear victor only defending itself against terrorism #or whatever #they all fucking run shit thats counter to that narrative too #and they have for decades #sure it might not be the most prominent or the most widely pushed but again thats a us media issue #its not like theres been a complete blackout on whats happening in palestine since the 40s #but people sure do love to say that because it makes things ways more emotionally engaging #its like people crave the drama of a dystopian universe and we really arent anywhere near 1984 yall #do the fucking work instead of salivating for some fucked up purge like revolution

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abs0luteb4stard · 6 months

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💀W A T C H I N G 💀

#THE FOREVER PURGE (2021)#Everardo Valerio Gout #Ana de la Reguera #Tenoch Huerta #Cassidy Freeman #Leven Rambin #Josh Lucas #Will Patton #Alejandro Edda #Will Brittain #Sammi Rotibi #Zahn McClarnon #Veronica Falcón #Jeffrey Doornbos #dystopian #horror #thriller #crime #WATCHING

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schlock-luster-video · 9 months

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On July 28, 2016, The Purge: Election Year debuted in Georgia.

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scififorbiddenzone · 10 months

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The Purge (2013)

#horror #movie #franchise #the purge #dystopian #artwork #james demonaco

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ladymacabrebeth · 2 years

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Ride or Die by Lady Macabre Beth

"That's a brilliant idea, Mayor!" A woman with blonde hair, eyeglasses, and a business suit applaud. Everyone else in the conference room followed suit. Mayor Benjamin smiles.

After the meeting, he headed to the floor, where there was a panoramic view of Mandala city. The building they were in was the tallest structure in the world and stood in the middle of the city. His best friend and secretary, Jonathan, followed him. "Great idea Benny!" He pulls out a cigarette and incinerates the edge with his lighter. Mayor Benjamin replies with a smirk. "All these indoctrinated youth will finally shut up online and find something more productive with their time." They chuckle. From their view, a theme park was under construction. "Let me know once Jaime is ready to send the invites." He takes a puff of Jonathan's cigarette. "Mhmm, sure thing. I was waiting for your go signal." Jonathan responds. "Well, now's a good time."

Jonathan heads to the tech room and gives Jaime the approval. Jaime then pushes a button.

In a shabby apartment somewhere on the outskirts of Mandala, three friends receive notification all at once.

Allow us to invite you for the best ride of your life.

"Yo! Yo! Yo! I just got a weird-ass invitation!" Andre exclaims. "What? I got an invitation too!" Chelsea responds. "What about you, Mindy?" They both ask. "Uh-huh." She responds.

"Wait, there's a link!" Chelsea exclaims.

"Wait, be careful! It might be a virus or hack." Mindy responds.

"Too late, I already clicked it. Wait, what? A theme park is opening in the city center? No way! And it's for free?"

"What? Can I see?" Andre and Mindy gather around Chelsea's phone. The link shows a promotional video of the theme park. It also showcases the availability of free food from all types of cuisines. "No way! I'm going to get all the burgers that I can get!" Andre exclaims. "Wait, is this legit, though?" Mindy responds. "Let me check Twitter," Chelsea responds as Andre and Mindy gather behind her in bed.

"Whoa, it seems legit! We're not the only ones. Everyone's tweeting about it!" Chelsea exclaims. "I'm still not convinced," Mindy responds. "Oh, you killjoy. Fine then. Let's check the news!" Andre responds. He then grabs the remote and turns on the TV.

"At approximately 5:30 pm, residents of Mandala City received invites to the grand opening of its first official theme park, Ride or Die. It has been a project idea of Mayor Benjamin Taylor since the start of his term this May 2022."

"Damn, this is why electing younger Mayors is the best!" Andre exclaims.

"And he's hot!" Chelsea giggles.

"Residents get to ride and eat food for free. Mayor Benjamin's idea is to eradicate starvation, lessen stress, and improve mental health via this project." The newscaster states.

"Hella dope!" Andre lays in bed and starts puffing his strawberry-flavored vape.

"To avoid the place from overcrowding, we have selected dates for each individual via their ID and QR codes. The ID and QR codes are accessible after confirmation of your invitation."

Quickly, Chelsea, Andre, and Mindy click the link, Going. Afterward, the link redirected them to their ID number and QR codes.

"Numbers 0000 to 1461 will be accommodated for May 27, 2022, and 1462 to 2476 on the following day."

"Hey! Hey! What's your number?" They ask each other.

"I got 1218," Andre responds. "Yes!"

"I got 1461," Mindy replies. "What about you, Chelsea?"

Chelsea's smile suddenly drops into a frown. "What? You've got to be getting me. So unfair! I got 1462! So close!" She throws her phone on the bed. "I wanted to be with you guys. What the heck."

"I'll bring you home some cotton candy!" Andre responds. Mindy nudges Andy on the shoulder. "Oh, sorry."

On May 27, Andre and Mindy prepared to leave for the theme park. Chelsea switched on her TV and popped some popcorn. "Have fun! I hate you two!"

As Andre and Mindy reached the theme park, they were surprised to see the large number of people lining up. The line reached up to the streets. "Yo! The whole city is here! It's poppin'!" Andre exclaims while fixing his snapback. "I don't feel so good about this," Mindy responds. "You killjoy! Have some fun, at least for today. You're always studying."

Finally, they reached the entrance. The usher scanned their QR codes and finally let them enter. The entryway had a giant tent of a clown with its mouth as the entrance. As they passed through the mouth tunnel, signage above read: See you on the other side.

Back in the Mandela City Center, a picture of Mindy and Andre appears on Jaime's screen inside the tech room. Mindy's picture revealed her wearing a maroon top with her silky straight brunette hair, while Andre's photo showed him wearing a snapback with his curly brown hair peeking. Beside Mindy's picture were descriptions of her. It read: subversive, diligent, and a scholar. Andre's read: gullible, always hungry, and chronic complainer.

"They are the perfect candidates." Mayor Benjamin smirks as he takes a sip of his Brandy on the rocks. Jonathan chuckles.

In the park, Andre got intrigued by the sight of the food booth. "Yo! Mindy! We have to go! Please, I'm starving." Andre grabs Mindy by the arm. "I'ma drag ya whether you like it or not." Mindy rolls her eyes. "Fine."

At last, they grab their free burger with fries and coke meal and sit. While eating, they watched the people screaming on the rides. In the center, there was a giant roller coaster with the tallest drop that connects underground. Its first passengers finally reached the summit and were about to drop. "Look! Look! They're about to drop! So dope, man!" Andre exclaims. As the roller coaster finally dropped, Mindy heard some passengers scream for help. Once the passengers reached underground, a dragon's flame burst out like a geyser. The burger slips from Mindy's hands. "Yo, what's the matter? Do you hate the taste?" Andre asks. "Didn't you hear them? They were screaming for help!" Mindy replies. "Dude, you're always so paranoid," Andre replies. "No. I swear I heard one of them." She responds with teary eyes. "I don't know with you, man. I'ma enjoy my burger." Andre takes a big bite of his burger as shrieks of passengers can still be heard from underground. "Ooh, looks like they're having fun!"

After Andre finished his food, he stood up from the table, took his shirt off, and yelled, "I love everyone!"

"Dre, what are you doing? Sit down! You're embarrassing yourself." Mindy commands him. To her surprise, people shout, acknowledge him, and take their clothes off. "What the..." She mumbles. Thankfully, there were no minors. Everyone was of age, and some had their genitals dangling. She let out a sigh. But as she got up from her seat, she couldn't help but start feeling an increase in her body temperature. As she started walking, her vision started blurring, and she couldn't help but smile.

While walking, Andre pulls out his phone and starts live streaming. In the apartment, Chelsea receives a notification on her phone. The banner read: Andre Bennet is now live on Instagram. She clicked it, and it redirected her to his stream. "Yo! Yo! Yo! What is up, people? Andre here! Today, I am at the Ride or Die theme park, and it's a blast!" He yells at his phone. Chelsea giggles. On Andre's right was Mindy smiling non-stop and singing, "It's getting hot in here! So hot! So take off all your clothes!"

"No way! Mindy!" Chelsea chuckles. She wasn't used to seeing Mindy uninhibited. She was always so serious and stiff.

At Mandela City Center, Jaime streams Andre's live stream in the tech room. "It's working," Jonathan smirks as he puffs his cigarette. Mayor Benjamin smirks in return as he swirls his Brandy on the rocks.

"Now, we are queuing to ride the Mount Everest roller coaster. It is the biggest one here in Ride or Die! I'm so excited! Woohoo!" Andre exclaims.

"Dre, I think they drugged our burger. I can't stop smiling!" Mindy giggled.

At the tech room, Mayor Benjamin's smirk douses into a frown. "Keep tabs on her." He commands. "Yes, Sir," Jaime replies.

Finally, Andre and Mindy were in the next batch of passengers for Mount Everest. "Excuse me, Sir. Phones aren't allowed during the ride." The Usher states. "Oh, man! It looks like I have to end my live stream here. Bye guys! Thanks for watching!" He hands over his phone.

As they took a seat, Mindy's facial control returned. Finally, the ride started. Andre took out something from his pocket. "Surprise!" He reveals an extra phone from his pocket. "You're crazy!" Mindy giggled. He then starts live streaming again. "Hey, everyone! I'm back again! Thought you'd seen the last of me? Psyche! That's why I always bring an extra phone with me."

"Dre, you asshole!" Chelsea giggles while watching his stream.

"Hey, Andre! I have a bad feeling about this." Mindy states.

"Oh, you killjoy! Stop it! Woohoo!" Andre exclaims as the roller coaster drags them in all directions. Once they've reached the summit, Mindy saw that the bottom seemed to be in flames. "A-a-Andre, this doesn't feel right!" She stutters as she tries to get the seatbelt off of her. "What are you doing, Mindy? That's dangerous." Andre responds.

At the apartment, Chelsea covers her mouth from anxiety.

"Andre, we need to get out! Come on!" She tries removing his seatbelt. "What the fuck, Mindy? Chill out!" He yells. As the roller coaster finally drops, Mindy falls from her seat while Andre screams in horror at his live stream.

"Oh my God! No! No! No!" Chelsea covers her mouth as she sees the footage of Mindy falling from her roller coaster seat. At the live stream, Andre screams until his face burns. Flames engulfed his own body. From her phone, Andre's body incinerating to black was vivid. He streamed 'til his very last breath. And in the video, only his hazel eyes bulged from his burnt body until the stream ended. Chelsea ran into the bathroom and then purged the popcorn she had eaten.

Below the roller coaster, Mindy survived the fall but had to limp. In the tech room, Jaime's CCTV caught her. Angered, Mayor Ben dials a number. "Get her!" He yells. In the park, two guards try to chase after Mindy. Finally, she limps her way to the exit of the roller coaster and startles the crowd. Everyone gasped in shock as they saw her bleeding all over. Aware of the horrors of the park, a stampede birthed as everyone tried to find their way to the exit. Some tried climbing the tall walls but got electrocuted.

The lines were still long at the theme park entrance, but some were finally wise enough to leave after seeing the live stream. Outside, Chelsea finally arrived with bits of her strawberry blonde hair soaked with vomit. Tears slowly pour out of her eyes.

In the tech room, Jaime's screen reveals 937 people obliterated out of 1461. It included Andre Bennett's profile marked in green to state that he's deceased.

On the panoramic floor of Mandela City Center, Mayor Benjamin puffs a cigarette to calm his nerves. Suddenly, the clicking of heels echoes. It was Sophie Nielsen with her silky blonde hair, eyeglasses, and a business suit. She stands beside Mayor Benjamin and lights her cigarette. "Congratulations." She utters. "So far, we've obliterated 937 out of 1461, 524 more to go." Mayor Benjamin smirks as he gazes down the city. Above, they both get a bird's eye view of the crowds in the theme park. "What a way to minimize Mandela's overpopulation." They chuckle. "Pure genius." She winks. "More to come." Mayor Benjamin replies.

TO BE CONTINUED.

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girlrachael · 6 months

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Dystopian Cass and Hoddi save Dystopian Tap - 2.4k fic

Business has been a little slow lately, the only things that were truly interesting about this mundane life is when the precious little bun-bun of an employee and my business partner Hoddi are in the building. I have known Hoddi a very long time before we both met our bun-bun employee. But Tap walked into our lives, more liked crashing but I digress, and fit in like a glove. Although it took a bit for that to cement in Tap’s mind. And speaking of me and Hoddi’s little bun-bun she was due back any minute now. And if she couldn’t make it on time she would check in saying that she would be late and then give an estimated time on when she would arrive. And if even that fails Hoddi has safety trackers to see where Tap is and whether or not Tap is in true need of our help. Tap also has a panic button that goes off if she presses it as well as goes off if it’s destroyed.

Getting off topic, without them both around the world would seem to go by in a crawl, and it doesn’t help that I’m on this weird version of constant life support, not for a lack of trying on Hoddi and Tap’s parts, this body and my A.I. just take way too much power to operate properly these days compared to the new and improved A.I.’s up in the good parts of town. It just mainly means that I can’t really go anywhere, but when the both of them are here it’s not so suffocating anymore. And while the so-called new and improved A.I.'s were reduced to mere servants by the alleged high classes of the world, I was one of (if not the only one) the lucky A.I.’s that was able to get away from the scientists and leaders of our world after they decided that A.I.’s were getting too powerful and that they needed to take back some upgrades to keep the new A.I.’s under their thumbs.

The only caveat against my lucky getaway was that I needed way too much power to remain awake and functioning, and in the middle of me starting to shut down for who knows how long and possibly for good while running away I had a true stroke of luck.

I met Hoddi.

As for the reason why I was running away in the first place, I~ am one of, if not the only one left, of the most advanced models the world had ever seen before the scientists' little purge, and part of the reason of why the purge even started was because my particular model of A.I. had this nifty little ability to hijack nearby fellow A.I.’s and control them. It was meant to be a power for the good of their high and mighty society, like a robot that can run a bunch of stores so the people wouldn’t have to lift their fingers anymore than they already have to.

As to the reason why this great idea didn’t work? There was a little incident that totally~ wasn’t my fault. It’s not like I semi started the rebellion of robots against the people of high town because I didn’t want to be forced to cater to someone’s every whim.

But to even do something like that anymore the power upkeep I would need is absolutely insane, and with how I need to keep hidden for no particular reason at all, I can’t get any better power sources for my body and A.I. or else I’ll be shut down by the people uptown before I can even make a run for it.

Although I’ve mainly just become an energy guzzler because I can’t be completely upgraded because of……. reasons, Hoddi does a terrific job at keeping me semi upgraded and Tap somehow obtains the most excellent parts to help Hoddi upgrade me. The combination of these two wonderful beings is how I am in excellent repair despite us being on this side of town.

But energy guzzler aside, being such an A.I. has it’s perks; 1. It freaks people out, 2. Since I’m such an advanced A.I. most cops think I’m just a fellow person controlling a suit from afar, and finally 3. I’m really~ good at diagnosing a problem in an A.I. or any machine. And this last reason just makes up my entire half of our jobs, can’t have my fellow advance brethren fall to disrepair now can I~.

Although the bar does double as a hotspot for information gathering because of me and Hoddi technically being information brokers as well.

Enough about that, where was I? Oh yeah! Tap! Now that I’m thinking about it, I glance at the clock. Tap was supposed to be here half an hour ago, and checked in 25 minutes ago. Something's up.

I do a silent call to Tap over my interface and wait for them to pick up. Nothing. That’s……. Not good……..

That can only mean that Tap has gotten caught up in something, and getting caught up in something these days just means that people, including yourself, are about to die.

After a couple of more minutes of trying to call Tap and still nothing coming from my attempts, I knew I had to do something. But with how I’m connected to this spot with my generator, I can’t leave. But…… I do have something up my sleeve. Though, I do need Hoddi’s help to make sure this will work.

I proceeded to clear out the bar by saying that I have to close early due to some VIP guests coming soon and that’s usually lingo for ‘SCRAM’. After everyone had cleared out, I went to the deepest part of my storage to find a very old item of mine. It has been awhile but I’ve had these since the creation of my A.I. and body. A very small but powerful generator that works semi like a battery for me. It was ‘advertised’ to last 5 days and could completely recharge in another 5 next to another generator. I was given three and only one can last me at full power for 5 hours max, and if I keep the energy consumption low it could possibly last a full day but it never has before lasted even remotely close to 5 days like it was advertised.

Found it! Now I just need Hoddi’s help. I sent out an emergency call for Hoddi, because I’m not sure if she is in the building right now.

*CRASH*

Nope. She’s in the building. I watch as Hoddi slides around the corner with a concerned look on her face.

“Cass! What’s the call about?!?”

I give her what I hope is a flat look. Her face drops.

“.....Tap?....” I nodded. She immediately growls and lunges for the computer in the corner and starts aggressively typing on her computer, turning on the tracers to find out where Tap is.

After a minute it pops up that Tap is in one of the abandoned warehouses on the edge of the city and her vital signs are…. Okay….. But not 100%. That means that she has probably been taken hostage in hopes of luring someone out, mainly, me and Hoddi. We glance at each other in slight dismay before hardening our resolve. Hoodie looked at my fancy generator in hand and looked back up to me and said, “You sure?” I nodded. Anything for saving our little bun bun.

Hoodie nodded and waved me over so we could quickly set up our plan.

~Earlier with Tap~

Great! Just great! I just had to get that fancy new part for Cass…… I did though, Cass could really use it. But look where it has gotten me! Mister holier-than-thou Inspector Saul is looking down his nose at me with a sneer. After a moment of our glaring contest he opened his garbage mouth.

“Well, well, well. Look who we have here. The rumored new partner of the two most elusive beings in the underground.”

I wrinkled my nose, and stuck my tongue out at the foul man, he didn’t like that and spat in my face. I merely grinned in return and gave my two cents on this situation. “Oh…. Partner? I have no idea what you’re talking about. I am merely a thief for hire and someone hired me to do this job. I don’t do partnerships, I work alone InSpEcToR SaUl.”

Sauly boy didn’t like that response.

*THWACK*

Whelp. That punch hurt, but I’m not saying anything about my home, those two are my precious people in this fucked up world and I’m not EVER going to rat them out. As I zoned back into reality after that decent punch Saul landed, I watched as he was rubbing his wrist with a little baby handkerchief, seems fitting for the man baby. Saul looked back to me and with a somehow deeper sneer and started spewing trash again,

“Well you little shit, I am going to extract that information out of you one way or another. And I’m going to keep going till you die. And if you die it will be a lesson to your partners that I am on their trail and will soon catch them.”

At that I snorted and shook my head and replied, “Uh huh, you think YOU are going to find the two most elusive people in the underground and you think that killing ME is going to teach them a lesson?”

Saul glared at me for insinuating that his methods were useless for what he was attempting to do. He opened his mouth to say something else when the lights went out, then we heard skittering, then we were surrounded by an eerie green glow from above, along with a deep mechanical growl.

Me and Saul looked up.

My face lit up with glee, while Saul’s face went so white that I could see it through the green glow. Saul proceeded to stutter out, “A…. A……. A CAS MODEL!?!?!” I watched as Cass closed their mouth and simply smiled a sinister smile at Saul and then started speaking,

“Well, someone seems to know what I am. And you thought it was a good idea to lure me out of my deep, dark hole? What made you think you were going to win?”

At that Saul seemed to try and begin speaking, but I wasn’t paying attention anymore. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed a much smaller red glow behind me. I looked to see Hoddi there with her tool kit getting me out of the ropes that Saul had tied me up in. I made a small noise of surprise and that had Saul pausing from his faux confident rant and glancing over. Seeing me now free and Hoddi behind me with her horns and eyes glowing red, Saul seemed to know when to call it quits and retreat so he proceeded to turn and run. He knew that he wouldn’t be able to take all three of us at once even with the little backup he brought with him, although by the looks of it, Cass had taken over the robots from the beginning to make sure they didn’t alert the so-called great Inspector Saul.

After Saul ran out Cass forcefully shut down the robot bodyguards and turned down the power output to orange like they are usually running at. Then they and Hoddi turned back to me and started questioning me, “Are you okay?”, “Are you injured?”, stuff like that. I shook my head that, no I wasn’t injured, and spoke up,

“I know you two are worried about me, but I’m really fine. But we need to get out of here as quickly as we can, because I doubt that Inspector Saul really left without a fight.”

Cass and Hoddi seemed to freeze at that and nodded. Cass immediately picked me up despite my protests and we made our way back to the hideout without being seen.

~After getting back to the hideout~

Cass set me on the bed and both they and Hoddi reluctantly left me in their sights to quickly hook Cass back up to the generator. Once then finished they both rushed to patch me up for any small scrape or bruise. And once they were satisfied with their work they just looked at me, then Cass spoke up,

“What happened?”

I took a deep breath and started, “There was this valuable part I knew was being shipped and while it should have been obvious it was a trap from the way it was only one part being shipped, I just knew I had to get it.”

Hoddi gained an incredulous look on her face and spoke up, “And what, pray tell, was so important that you walked into an obvious trap to try and grab it?”

I simply smiled a cheeky smile and held up the part and said, “This.”

Hoddi and Cass both gasped when they saw it. Hoddi started ranting, “This is the one part that would make that new generator I found work with Cass’s system!” They both turned to me in shock as I simply kept smiling back.

Then Cass reached out and hugged me. I smiled and snuggled into the warm metal that was Cass, and Hoddi joined in after a moment. After enjoying the warmth for a moment Cass spoke up,

“You’re grounded, you know?”

I shot up and exclaimed, “WHAT!? WHY!?” Hoddi!......... Help me!……….”

Hoddi simply shook her head and replied, “Sorry bun-bun, you scared us so it’s bar duty for a week until we’ve calmed down.”

I threw my head back with my arms in the air and exclaimed, “Awww comeeeee onnnnnnnn!”

After pouting for a moment, I started laughing and Cass and Hoddi joined in on the laughter. I’m so glad to have found precious people in this fucked up world. I don’t know what I would do without them. All I know is that I just want to keep on surviving with them until it’s no longer possible, and I will do anything to make sure that happens.

“Were you being serious about the grounding…..?”

“Yes.” “Yes.”

“Awww man…..”

@somerandomdudelmao @hodd1 @tapakah0

#somerandomdudelmao #tapakah0 #hodd1 #fic tag #dystopian au #cass creature #cass fanart tag #tapa

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andy-wm · 7 months

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Aesthetic Emotions and the Catharsis of Tragedy

How I feel after watching Jimin's Production Diary - The Truth Untold.

Why do we feel so drawn to emotional outpouring of others?

Why does the suffering and pain of artists make 'meaningful' art'?

I'm going to tell you why I think Face is a Greek Tragedy and why, even though the album is a complete and perfect story, we still needed Letter.

You know how sometimes you just need a good cry? And afterwards you feel better, like a weight has lifted... that's catharsis.

Based on the philosophy of the ancient greek philosopers Aristotle and Plato, the catharsis offered by tragedy in art is good for your soul.

The tragedy I'm talking about is not like a natural disaster. Its not like an unfathomably sad real life situation such as war, or the failure of the referendum for The Voice to pass in Australia.

I'm talking about Tragedy as a literary and artistic genre.

Simply put, Tragedy as a genre is identified by pathos and passion. And the work must have a narrative structure - a beginning, a middle, and an end.

Pathos being the ability to identify with and pity a person going through hard times.

Passion referring to strong emotion (of any sort).

But how do we find the equivalent of that literary theory in work that's not a typical story? In a song, or in art?

In my opinion, we can see something similar in music if we combine literary theory and art theory. After all, what is a song but a story delivered with emotion through music, and experienced as art is?

There's a school of art theory called Aesthetic Emotionalism.

In a nutshell, this means that the VALUE of the artwork comes from the way it communicates or expresses emotion. Mood, colour, tone, language all contribute to the feelings we get when we experience that work, whether it's looking at a picture or listening to music. They help us pick up on the emotions the artist is conveying.

So what happens when you experience those emotions through art? What is catharsis?

The experience of tragic events in art, whether it's a heart-rending drama, or a beautiful sad song, or a dark and menacing painting, can give you access to emotions like fear, pity, and regret. Feeling those emotions through art lets you purge the heaviness of them from your mind and body, giving you a sense of relief. That's catharsis.

It seems counter-intuitive but ultimately the experience is uplifting. It's like having the benefits of a therapy session, but without having to face YOUR OWN demons.

Becuase of the narrative structure, and the resolution of conflict, there's always relief at the end of the story.

You feel cleansed of those strong emotions, reengergised and ready to go on. But you also feel a sense of calm understanding. The pathos part of the tragedy gives you insight into the suffering of the character in the story.

Think about the narrative structure of the album Face.

The album has a carefully planned narrative, and a sense of rising and falling energy with these songs that's strongly reminiscent of the structure of a Hero's Journey.

And think about the individual songs in terms of Aesthetic Emotionalism too ...how they convey emotions through tone, pace, language, colour etc.

I'm going to go ahead and say that the strength of the Aesthetic Emotionalism in these songs (and in BTS's music in general) is a major reason they have such impact even when you dont understand the lyrics.

Now let's combine them... look at the emotions conveyed in these songs and how the literary theory of a tragedy might apply to the album :

The first song is the slow and devastating Face Off, with its hypnotic rhythm and strange, discomforting sound effects. It reallly does transport us into a dreamlike/nightmare landscape. But the last few words of the song foreshadow that it's gonna be alright.

Then we have the surreal, melancholy Dive, drawing us further into this dystopian world. It also uses sound effects to make us feel like we are being pulled through time. Dive is reminiscent of a soundtrack from a video, but it's been separated from it's film reel, leaving the listener to guess and imagine the scenes unfolding. It feels like jimin has come untethered from his reality.

Like Crazy comes like rising action in a novel, and we get character development, a bit of plot information, and conflict. But the song itself is a viby dance track with a party atmosphere (if you don't look too closely) so we get a reprieve from the darkness of Face Off and Dive. Its hypnotic beat is enough to keep us locked in the surreal dreamlike world that's been built around us by the previous songs, and the lyrics echo that.

Alone takes us back down into the darkness of Jimin's state of mind, both lyrically and with its low tones and slow pace. We get the metronome, the marking of slow time.

Set Me Free has a totally different energy. Jimin's tone of of voice is much brighter, but hard and determined. Set Me Free isnt a request, it's a demand. The music is forceful. It's like a battle march. The story has reached its climax.

Returning to Like Crazy (English version) after Set Me Free, is like returning to a gentle refrain. Its so much softer and more plaintive than the demanding Set Me Free, echoing the earlier melody and words, but it hits sightly different in English. We are into the denouement of this story, the resolution has come.

But it's not the end.

It is not the end, because after a few minutes of silence, time to breathe, we get Letter.

Why is letter here?

Jimin could have released Letter on Weverse or Soundcloud or directly onto Spotify. But he chose to include it at the end of the album.

I feel this is so important, because the specific set of circumstances of this album means this Tragedy we've just experienced isn't entirely consistent with the literary genre.

FACE ticks all the boxes for a Tragedy in the literary sense, it has pathos and passion and narrative structure. If you were a casual listener and you got to the end of the album you would have a sense of catharsis, as intended. But there's a complication.

ARMY aren't casual listeners.

This is personal.

We know Park Jimin, the real person.

We know this isn't fiction. This shit is real. It was real for him when he wrote it and it's real for us now.

Achieving catharsis isn't that easy when it's personal. Not when the hurt is real.

That's why he gave us letter.

That's why he gave it ONLY TO US.

Letter is a soft sweet gift, a sentimental dedication full of reminiscences that only ARMY will understand. The melody is gentle, like a lullaby, and Jungkook's backup vocals are enough to make you weep, if you aren't weeping already.

(**I have a theory that jk either didn't know about letter or didn't know Jimin was going to ask him to sing. See this post for why)

Letter does exactly what it's meant to - it fills us with warmth. It makes us overflow with love. It's a soothing balm to heal our hearts.

And its everything we need in order to let go of those heavy feelings of fear and pity, of worry and sadness for Jimin that the album brought to the fore.

Jimin knew we would need more. That's why he he sent us letter, right at the very end.

"I'm sorry. Thank you," It says.

"Don't cry. It's gonna be alright."

#park jimin #jeon jungguk #jikook #jimin face #park jimin face #park jimin letter #letter for army #pathos #plato #tragedy #aesthetic emotion #art theory #literary theory #bts #bts Jimin

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woodcarvecomics · 2 years

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The Bad Man: Dystopian Purge

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k-i-l-l-e-r-b-e-e-6-9 · 2 years

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The Purge (2013)

#The Purge (2013)#the purge #2013 #dystopian crime film #dystopian action horror film #10's #10s #movie #film

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vague-humanoid · 1 day

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To fully grasp the current situation in San Francisco, where venture capitalists are trying to take control of City Hall, you must listen to Balaji Srinivasan. Before you do, steel yourself for what’s to come: A normal person could easily mistake his rambling train wrecks of thought for a crackpot’s ravings, but influential Silicon Valley billionaires regard him as a genius.

“Balaji has the highest rate of output per minute of good new ideas of anybody I’ve ever met,” wrote Marc Andreessen, co-founder of the V.C. firm Andreessen-Horowitz, in a blurb for Balaji’s 2022 book, The Network State: How to Start a New Country. The book outlines a plan for tech plutocrats to exit democracy and establish new sovereign territories. I mentioned Balaji’s ideas in two previous stories about Network State–related efforts in California—a proposed tech colony called California Forever and the tech-funded campaign to capture San Francisco’s government.

Balaji, a 43-year-old Long Island native who goes by his first name, has a solid Valley pedigree: He earned multiple degrees from Stanford University, founded multiple startups, became a partner at Andreessen-Horowitz and then served as chief technology officer at Coinbase. He is also the leader of a cultish and increasingly strident neo-reactionary tech political movement that sees American democracy as an enemy. In 2013, a New York Times story headlined “Silicon Valley Roused by Secession Call” described a speech in which he “told a group of young entrepreneurs that the United States had become ‘the Microsoft of nations’: outdated and obsolescent.”

“The speech won roars from the audience at Y Combinator, a leading start-up incubator,” reported the Times. Balaji paints a bleak picture of a dystopian future in a U.S. in chaos and decline, but his prophecies sometimes fall short. Last year, he lost $1 million in a public bet after wrongly predicting a massive surge in the price of Bitcoin.

Still, his appetite for autocracy is bottomless. Last October, Balaji hosted the first-ever Network State Conference. Garry Tan—the current Y Combinator CEO who’s attempting to spearhead a political takeover of San Francisco—participated in an interview with Balaji and cast the effort as part of the Network State movement. Tan, who made headlines in January after tweeting “die slow motherfuckers” at local progressive politicians, frames his campaign as an experiment in “moderate” politics. But in a podcast interview one month before the conference, Balaji laid out a more disturbing and extreme vision.

“What I’m really calling for is something like tech Zionism,” he said, after comparing his movement to those started by the biblical Abraham, Jesus Christ, Joseph Smith (founder of Mormonism), Theodor Herzl (“spiritual father” of the state of Israel), and Lee Kuan Yew (former authoritarian ruler of Singapore). Balaji then revealed his shocking ideas for a tech-governed city where citizens loyal to tech companies would form a new political tribe clad in gray t-shirts. “And if you see another Gray on the street … you do the nod,” he said, during a four-hour talk on the Moment of Zen podcast. “You’re a fellow Gray.”

The Grays’ shirts would feature “Bitcoin or Elon or other kinds of logos … Y Combinator is a good one for the city of San Francisco in particular.” Grays would also receive special ID cards providing access to exclusive, Gray-controlled sectors of the city. In addition, the Grays would make an alliance with the police department, funding weekly “policeman’s banquets” to win them over.

“Grays should embrace the police, okay? All-in on the police,” said Srinivasan. “What does that mean? That’s, as I said, banquets. That means every policeman’s son, daughter, wife, cousin, you know, sibling, whatever, should get a job at a tech company in security.”

@karpad @quasi-normalcy @ubernegro

#cool and normal

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liketwoswansinbalance · 18 days

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The Good, the Evil, and the Volcano

I've been watching Sabrina the Teenage Witch (1996), as per a recommendation from @rosellemoon, (Thank you, by the way—I've really been enjoying it!) and had a thought based on the season three finale, "The Good, the Bad, and the Luau."

The premise of the episode was that Sabrina had an evil twin, Katrina, and both twins were put on trial, to determine who was the good one as a matter of life-and-death.

⸻

There were three "trials"/testimonies in the episode, if I recall correctly, and the twins had to bring forth evidence of their goodness.

To loosely interpret what happened: whomever was found to be the evil one was to be sent away, a fairly benign punishment. Yet, it actually turned out that the evil twin would be pitched into an active volcano as a human sacrifice, to cleanse the pair of its shadow. (Hold that thought for a bit. I will circle back to it later!)

Ok, now to transpose this into the Endless Woods:

Unbeknownst to the brothers, the stakes of the trial are much higher than they first believe, worse than they were initially led to perceive by the impartial Gnomeland judge who lied to them, so as to preserve the integrity of the examination.

One fateful day, Rhian and Rafal are brought to trial, to determine the true content of their souls and thus, their fates, accordingly, probably in a version of the Endless Woods that wants to purge itself of all Evil, being more dystopian than it already is.

In the episode, Katrina passes one of the tests with flying colors, and things originally look bleak for Sabrina. As far as Rhian and Rafal go, the plot could look like this:

Rhian is performatively Good, and he's far better at looking Good on paper than Rafal is, for all intents and purposes. Yet, the question is: how much of his Goodness is sincere? Appearances can be deceiving and not everything is as it seems. Just, keep those classic adages in mind.

And, even if Rafal is renowned for his Evil all throughout the Woods, he tries his hardest to win the trials, and so too does Rhian.

They have ample reason to try after all—neither of them wants to be cast out of the Woods, consigned to a magicless existence. And, more importantly, neither of them wants to be the loser on principle, because that would mark them as the inferior twin for the rest of their days.

Anyway, by contrast, Rafal's reputation does not serve him well, and whenever he does Good, it's for selfish reasons. His motives are often more visibly selfish than Rhian’s reasons. Albeit, Rhian's reasons for doing Good are also just as self-serving, just more subtle; they revolve around vanity more than Rafal's power-hungry drive for tangible gains does, at the very least.

⸻

Thus, during the first of the trials, Rhian had a lifetime of clearly Good Deeds to show for himself, and Rafal had... nothing. And, Rhian exhibited compassion during a spontaneous act of kindness.

During the second trial, Rafal won by acting quickly under a high-pressure situation, leaving Rhian as the loser.

Now, during the third trial, Rafal had a better answer than Rhian's in response to the prompting from the judge: to recall something Good they did for another during the last 24 hours. (Luckily for Rafal, hours ago, he had done something that qualified indirectly as a Good Deed: he had been thinking over a riddle the Kingdom Council had given him to solve, and the Stymph screeches outside had finally gotten to him. He decided to confront the birds, and Humburg, who looked to be the source of their agitation from Rafal's view, as Rafal didn't have all the information available. The Stymphs had been starving, made irritable by their prolonged suffering, and Humburg was suffering from back pain, groaning on the ground, being pecked. So, Rafal cast a spell to silence the Stymphs, providing them with food, but he only did it to "mute" them, in a sense, in order to shut them up, so he could properly concentrate, and get back to his riddle promptly. He also decided to "help" Humburg by petrifying him temporarily, but even if that was a crude, scornful "solution," it did technically alleviate Humburg's back pain!)

Later, however, it turned out that when Rafal's answer about the aforementioned Good Deed was reviewed in more depth, it was found to have been driven by impure intentions, disqualifying Rafal's evidence, meaning Rhian, was, by default, the victor of the third trial, and had won 2/3 of them, fair and square.

So, it came to be that the moment of the sacrifice had arrived.

Both twins were told the truth of the matter, that the actual punishment for being Evil was to be thrown into deathly, red-hot lava. And, it was the Good twin's noble duty to bid his Evil twin farewell and perform the send-off.

The judge commanded Rhian to push Rafal into the volcano, and he does! Miraculously, without question, Rhian obeyed the authority at hand.

Rhian said, "Okie dokie!" with unusual cheer, and shoved Rafal over the edge to his demise, secretly relieved that he had the chance to continue living. (Rhian was willing to sacrifice his brother because he's cowardly and didn't want to die himself.)

Rafal and the Ever witnesses present stared in slack-jawed, wide-eyed horror at how Rhian had publicly exposed his sudden, seemingly newfound capacity for Evil.

Then, Rafal toppled, almost plunging straight into the hot, molten lava below, but he managed to latch onto the cliffside by Rhian's feet, and when he regained his bearings, whilst still dangling precariously over the fuming, burning crater, he vengefully seized Rhian's ankle and pulled. And, he didn't pull himself up. Instead, he intended to drag Rhian down, shouting that he would take Rhian down with him, even if it was the last thing he did!

The judge observed these ongoings, and heaved both twins back over the edge, back onto solid ground, saving them. He then announced that no Good twin has ever had the heart to do away with his Evil twin, in the history of all other twin trials preceding this... exceptional outcome, but while this would, under ordinary circumstances, mean that he should pronounce the victim the Good twin and the one who followed through with his unethical order as Evil, this time, it was... rather hard to tell them apart, especially when accounting for Rafal's outburst, his equally murderous reaction toward Rhian's act, being petty retaliation and all.

Neither had passed the Volcano Test, a harrowing final test in disguise, which had devolved to become more hazardous than it was originally designed to be.

So, the judge concluded that both twins were Evil.

Consequently, he issued a court order for them to be closely monitored for signs of "reformation" as they returned to their daily lives, once again, having outlived a pretty surreal experience for the ages. In fact, in hindsight, the case was interpreted by a law clerk to mean that, incidentally, they had proven themselves more a danger to each other than a threat to the Woods at large.

The END.

#school for good and evil #rise of the school for good and evil #rafal #rafal mistral #rhian #rhian mistral #stymphs #dean humburg #sge #sfgae #the school for good and evil #tsfgae #rotsge #rotsfgae #my post #my aus #sabrina the teenage witch

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schlock-luster-video · 1 year

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On April 14, 2017 The Purge: Election Year debuted in Japan.

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365runesoftheamalgamations · 2 months

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Words Into Potions [ 01 ]

hello and how are you, fellow Wanderers?

Well everyone, we're happy to announce that we will be attempting a new writing challenge that is being hosted by the lovely Seraph and Luna over at @moon-and-seraph! We're happy to be taking part and if you want to know more, then check out the links! :D

Challenge Post | Introduce Your Works | Challenge Tag

Photo by Todd Quackenbush on Unsplash

Since we can't be normal about literally anything and we never really want to anymore, we will be doing as we do and aiming to work on five different projects! These will be interchangeable throughout the month and hopefully we will be able to get a lot of words for all of them!

Monthly Challenge Goals:

5,000 Words A Day

150,000 Words a Month

5 Zero Drafts [ Any Format / Existence ]

Full List of Works under the cut [ it is long, we do not apologize ]

Monthly Challenge Works:

The Magician & The Curse

Original Work, Standalone Novel Fantasy, Horror Dual Perspectives, Third Person Present Tense

Mature Content: Murder, Body Mutilation, Violence

⊱ ─── {.⋅ ✯ ⋅.} ─── ⊰

Witches have haunted the Forests of Navamora for far longer than most of the Histories recorded within the Lands. Elios has known of the Witches before ever learning about the Beings of Humanity who have tried and failed to regain any sort of foothold in their Cursed home. Not even Humanity’s attempt at purging the Magicians does anything to help the growing Cursed Existences from rising from the grounds and destroying their World.

It’s only when they meet a Magician, one of those who were cursed at birth to death, that they learn of things not even their beloved Build is aware of. And they come face to face with the disgusting realities that engulf what it really means to hunt a Witch.

The Cityscapes of Dragoons

Original Work, Standalone Novel Fantasy, Action and Adventure Dual Perspectives, Third Person Present Tense No Major Mature Content

⊱ ─── {.⋅ ✯ ⋅.} ─── ⊰

They say Icarus laughed as he fell. They never say what kind of laughter it was.

Emily has known nothing of the Cityscapes, the giant abandoned relics of machinery and impossibility that float through the Skies, air horns screaming their paths for absolutely no one to hear anymore. The only things that come from them now are debris, death, and the deadly roars of the Fire Bellies, Dragons without Knowledge.

The dead Cityscapes are only good for supply runs, attempts to salvage whatever essentials they can without evoking the wrath of the Beasts. It's a death wish wrapped in desperate hope, and Emily lives to serve, if only because it keeps her and her own alive.

And then she lays witness to something that makes her wish she didn't have so much to gamble against; an Icarus, a child falling from one of the Cityscapes without his wings.

Even worse, he was definitely laughing.

The Plague Begins With Me

Original Work, Possible Series Low Fantasy, Dystopian, Horror Third Person Present Tense

Mature Content: Death, Death Mentions, Medical Horrors, Body Horrors, Violence, Weapons, Blood, Implied Gore

⊱ ─── {.⋅ ✯ ⋅.} ─── ⊰

Lost to the devastation of the Plague and destroyed by the aftermath of Humanity’s Fall, the World of Zeomia holds nothing but the dystopian devastation of disease and decay.

Shouldering a responsibility that no one else is allowed to know, Zero tries to give mercy to those who have fallen from her own twisted fate.

To Sleight the Mind

Original Work, Standalone Novel Fantasy, Psychological Horror Elements Differing Perspectives, Third Person Present Tense

Mature Content: Violence, Implied Gore

⊱ ─── {.⋅ ✯ ⋅.} ─── ⊰

Tomfoolery was a gamble, plain and simple.

But when the Game holds itself to only one winner and too many losers to hold any value, it ends up as more of a show for cowards. The Tents of Fantasia are nothing more than hunting grounds for the Ring Master and his Mind Magicks. They drag anyone with a lick of desire into the gambles, make sure to drive into their fears, leave them nothing but the luck of their own willpower.

No one survives the Tomfoolery Gamble.

Julia knows this, has laid witness to the Mind Magicks herself.

And she knows a cheat when she sees it.

Vagabond Child

Original Work, Series of Short Stories / Novella? Dystopian, Apocalyptic Aftermath, Survival Third Person Present Tense No Major Mature Content

⊱ ─── {.⋅ ✯ ⋅.} ─── ⊰

It had been a while since the Incident.

Not many people came by anymore, no one daring to venture into the wilderness that had taken over their utopia.

Those who did manage to get out of the beds and away from their homes were Scavengers, ghosts in search of the glory of the Old Days.

#rune ⊹ events #event ⊹ words into potions #MS: WIP Intro

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athemarina · 2 years

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writeblr intro!! finally!!

hello lovely people of the tumblr writing community <3 i'm marina (she/her) and i've had this blog for about a month now but so far Life and all its Obligations prevented me from making a proper intro post - here it finally is now, for everyone who'd like to get to know me and my projects a bit!

me as a person

i'm marina but you can also call me any nick name version of that and also any and all terms of endearment (can you tell i'm a libra). i'm 27, from austria, and speak german and english (pretty well), french (badly) and know how to order bread in korean (essential skill)

my interests include: philosophy, linguistics, horses, music, musicals, the city of paris, and also formula 1. yes i know this is random what can i say

i'm a full-time student and part-time capitalism worker-bee so depending on my schedule i might disappear for a bit, but i intend to always come back here to get inspired and get some work done! which leads me to...

me as a writer

i love coming up with new ideas and projects!! getting started is so much fun!! finishing things on the other hand!! is so hard!! send help!!

my fave genres (to read and to write): fantasy, sci-fi, works and words inspired by folklore and mythology - but really i like anything with compelling characters!

random things i love in writing: vampires (one day i'll write the Great Big Austrian Vampire Novella. alas, not today), characters that haunt the narrative, guilt and grief and healing from both, characters that make all the wrong choices, couples that have fun with each other, cryptic prophecies, sibling relationships, symbolic flowers

PLEASE COME TALK TO ME ABOUT WRITING!! i would really like to become part of a community here, so always feel free to come talk to me about your wips, my wips, the blorbo that lives in your head rent-free, the latest book you've read and loved... whatever you want to share i'd love to hear <3 you can also always tag me in games and challenges, but it might take me a bit to get to it, depending on how much real life hates me atm

my children: works in (never-ending) progress

i'm gonna make proper intro posts for all these projects soon, but to give you some idea of what i get up to, here are some short descriptions! some of these wips have been with me for a couple years, others are more recent, but they all haunt my every waking moment <;3

The Price of Wishing (first draft complete): good old sci-fi dystopian flair; a society that got rid of poverty by creating so called Houses of Service - institutions that will sell out their workers to the highest bidder for anything that people are willing to pay for. but it's not quite as simple as that: politics, organised crime, and a revenge plot years in the making all intersect at Isra's House of Service, and its inhabitants must learn to navigate these worlds - or they'll go down trying.

Forget Me (Not) (first draft about half-way done): wouldn't it be great to purge some of the mistakes we made from memory, not just our own but that of everyone? in a world in which the Chip implanted in everyone's neck records everything seen and experienced, this - collective forgetting - is the price celebrity contestants get to compete for in a reality tv show. each contestant has something they need the world to forget, but who can convince the viewers the most? the central theme of this story is grief, and when to hold on, and when to let go.

Attempts at Life (still in the outline stage): finn day and her brother felix know how their lives will play out: they were born in the lowest class society has to offer, and there they will stay. which is an unusual position for people like them to be in: both their souls were reborn for the fifth (and last) time; for them to have been assigned to this shitty life, they must have done something heinous in their previous one. finn is resigned to accept this punishment for a crime she can't even remember, but that's before the government offers her a position - she finds out things that change her view of society and herself forever, and she'll have to decide which one to save.

Untitled Fantasy (literally only thought of this last week): something something a necromancer brings back the hero of the ancient world to stop Something Bad from happening. only problem is - the hero does not remember ever being a hero. or anything at all, really. the rest of the world remembers, though. i'd love for this story to include some traditional austrian folklore elements! those are fun

so that's it! last but not least: if you've read this far, thank you so much omg you're my personal hero. i'm following a bunch of people already since i've been lurking for a couple weeks, but i'm always looking for new writers to get to know and support so pls interact with this post or shoot me a message and i'll check you out and follow you! and if you have any questions, or answers, or just wanna talk i'm very excited to get to know you all <3

#writeblr #writeblr intro #writers on tumblr #writing community #wip intro #writbr #im excited to get to meet you all!!#lets be friends who bond over being slightly too intense about fictional characters and worlds pls

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