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anantaru · 1 year

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— rejecting his cuddles

including dan heng, jing yuan, gepard, blade x gn! reader

꒰ genre ꒱ — fluff, crack, we‘re evil

— dan heng

"nope!"

you quickly place your hands on top of dan heng‘s chest to swiftly push him away— although tied with an eased and playful shove, your boyfriend was still left baffled and most of all, supremely confused out of his damned mind.

primarily— since when did you ever reject a comforting, cozy cuddle from your pretty man the moment he rushes straight home to come and see you, principally spoil you with all the bundled up physical affection he could possibly channel and provide?

one hundred percent, never. in point of fact was it you instead who would hug him first afresh.

"oh— i‘m sorry." dan heng backs away, as to not cross any boundaries with you. his voice shakes and creaks in the back of his toughened throat. it doesn't take a genius to figure out that he in fact, did not expect to have such a hard time being rejected by you.

"s-so.. uh, yeah."

dan heng corrects himself— or lets work something out to express it differently, at least tries to spell out a follow up sentence because you actually managed to make him speechless, at loss of words with nothing more than arbitrarily prattles bubbling past the tip of his tongue and leaving his lips.

there‘s a punch of cold silence, stolen by a deep sigh from your irritated lover— one might think that dan heng strongly thought about what he had done wrong or if he messed up in some way. yes, the possibility on you playing tricks on him was always there but this time you really put in all your acting skills into this one moment, carving it to almost perfection.

"can— can i ask why?" he nervously whispers, deciding that there, nothing was as gruelling as not receiving a hug from his significant other, "i don't know, can you?" which unbeknownst to him, was playing a devilish play with all expenses falling flat on top of his shoulders.

you smirk, your body moving on its own as you suddenly shelter his body into your frame, "surprise! it's a prank!" and nuzzle yourself into his chest, cheeks flushed on top.

granted, his facial expression was hilarious, but you could only go that far before the man would suffer from a heart attack.

"you're unbelievable." dan heng rolls his eyes while leaning his head into your neck, his nostrils slightly flaring at the pocketed entry of your signature scent welcoming him at last.

"you still love me though."

— jing yuan

to wholly fool someone, precisely form their running thoughts anew, was it wishful thinking or actually possible? what an absorbing charge to partake in, you figured.

but despite that, you were awfully aware that someone as hellishly meticulous and careful to their surroundings such as jing yuan was without question to be an utmost arduous task to accept— yet, who were you to give up so easily?

your heart had been softly pounding with a minuscule increased pace signalizing your nervousness the minute your boyfriend unlocked the door to your shared home. if you had been honest to yourself, the following sequences that would normally happen work as followed— if you didn't decide to be a little evil today, they never change, you greet the man in addition to embracing him in a warm hug, point blank, and jing yuan unreservedly savored such implementing like no other.

the man sought after a soothing embracement all day long, he thinks about it, and when closes his eyes he imagines it too. it's a crucial source of serotonin to him and he requires it each night before passing out into a deep slumber with you by his side.

"i'm home, my love."

your ears point at the all too recognizable voice dotting a comforting timbre into the living room as you silently moved up from your seat to walk towards jing yuan who had made it his own personal duty to part his arms the second he sees you saunter towards him.

"hello, love." you greet him with a smile, your voice had been soft and actually managed to fool him for the short duration of your prank.

but then, "oh, no thank you!" you skillfully dodge his attempt to wrap his arms around you, waving your hand in between the awkward space of your bodies, shaking your head.

"excuse.. excuse me?" that's a little less confident than how jing yuan would for the most part articulate himself— to underscore his brilliant irritation, he cocks up a brow in disbelief.

but he's cautious, your darling— so don't be fooled, the man had a sharp and blazing eye on remote sections that might go unnoticed to other people, to the innocent faces and crowds, it was jing yuan who was keeping the control interlaced in the palm of his hand.

"hmm?"

you play the guiltless, in the clear significant other a little too well and you applaud yourself for your very own performance— at this rate it makes you wonder if you should have actually pursued a career in acting after all.

while your boyfriend was now feeling a sense of dread in his joints and limbs, the color of his eyes had gotten hidden by a dusty darkness.

"ah, i understand." he smiles, but the way he approaches you was almost tactical, and that grin on his face— on the outside, modest and upright while on the inside, it concealed a bristling confidence that yes, figuring you out was easier than he thought.

"that's okay." jing yuan walks past you, slow, each step echoing and slipping past your ears, his hand too, was listlessly tapping your shoulder once twice, as he made you turn around to face him again.

"i do not need it anymore." huh, for him to not even utter a single complaint, something, anything would do, really.

your lips pucker into a pout when you realized it‘s over, when you noticed that your boyfriend was getting way better at this, as if he had you wholly figured out from the very start— did you never stand a chance to fool him to begin with?

"ugh." you cross your arms around your body, "you knew from the start, didn‘t you?"

"of course i did, love." he breathes his words featherlight, but his smile stays strong regardless.

"i always do."

— gepard

in the beginning of your comical scheme, gepard was convinced you didn‘t want to hug him because he had just returned from training the new recruits of the silvermane guards and fair enough— he didn‘t have the chance to take a shower prior to returning to you.

yet, keep in mind, in any other instances you did not care about said fact, more so was it you who‘d practically hug him for hours on end and pepper him with kisses all over. being the mighty captain of the silvermane guards of beleborg not unexpectedly came with a tightly shut package of both it‘s very own positives and jarring negatives.

while the positives would greatly outweigh the stormy negatives by a tenfold, having limited free time to spend on each other would sometimes be a strenuous obstacle you can only manage together, as a team.

"i can shower right away." gepard panics, he didn't think it was possible for his body to sweat even more than earlier when he fought against the new recruits and your poor boyfriend curses himself underneath the warm racks of his fastened breathing on why he didn't manage to be in the bestest shape for you tonight.

he adds on, "don‘t move, i‘ll be right back!"

the sides of your mouth twitch in an amusing snort and you carry on to gnaw down on your bottom lip to suppress yet another wave of laughter, "oh, i think you‘re misunderstanding me." and step back just a little bit more to accentuate your evil plan and push your boyfriend over the edge for good.

"i don‘t want to hug you tonight." you raise your brows while scratching the back of your neck.

this sentence alone was like a sharp stab into the blonde's heart as he sets his eyes to meet your own.

"like at all." and you finish him off with an indirect blow right against his handsome features, "at— at all?"

if you were aware of one thing, it was that gepard never wasted any time to talk things out with you— basically being transparent and working together, "okay, baby'" he pauses, "listen to me." and almost squeals in sadness, placing both hands on top of your shoulders.

"if you're still sad i had to cancel our dinner the other time, i can try to figure something out—"

how adorable, you realise.

pinching his cheeks with your fingers, you smile, a shadow of intense guilt poking on your heart, "i’m sorry!" you yell, "everything is fine, i‘m sorry." and abruptly lean into his warm body, arms crossed around his chest as you sensed the upping beat of his heart underneath his ribcage.

gepard couldn’t believe you this time, truly, and lets his eyes fall close before sighing out— in relief but also a slight bit of annoyance written across the rest of his heavenly features.

"i‘ll get back at you for this."

— blade

"hmm, you sure darling?" he acts innocent that's for certain but blade’s next look on you, fuck, if you didn‘t know any better you would've sternly stated that it entirely formed into a menacing demeanor— stone cold and fierce as you felt it wash over your trembling skin.

a followed sharp click of his tongue against the roof of his mouth is all it took for you to whole-heartedly regret and loathe even considering to work out a prank against your boyfriend, at all.

"yes, i pass."

notwithstanding, you couldn‘t back away now, quite obviously would it blow up in your face with you becoming the pranked one instead. at this graven point the entire situation had already been in great favor of blade instead of you— the most plausible solution would be to somehow make it out as a winner regardless while your lover thoroughly found delight in engaging in those games with you.

"what a shame." he sighs and tilts his head to the right— pending his eyes from your lips to your legs and up, then approaching you a step closer so your cheeks could immediately sense his warm breathing.

"and here i thought my significant other actually liked me." and slowly whispers his finishing line against the shell of your ear while idly leaving it to his gravelly voice to place a shivering thunder-like sensation on your skin, in this cold your body welcomed the flames of your flustering frame, the furnacing warmth and the fuel this man was capable to inflict on you was ridiculous, but so did you work wonders on his psyche.

you knew your boyfriend, entirely— his sweet perceptions, his personal views and his virtually scary attention to detail for bodily responses of his usual targets.

"ugh, cut the crap blade." you roll your eyes at him playfully, laughing out a frustrated heave with a deep scowl on your lips.

"me?" blade dramatically places his hand on top of his chest, his mesmerizing eyes growing at the size of saucers, what a pain in the neck, literally.

"yes you."

despite everything, you, with the kindness of your heart, attempted to silently move forward to cuddle him, practically leaving your failed prank in the past while blade, in his radiating confidence, was swift to dodge you.

"no thanks." blade says sternly, "i‘m rejecting this hug."

how unwelcomely, indecently, annoyingly typical for your boyfriend to turn this entire malfunctioning situation upside down and play it into his very own favor.

if only he wasn‘t so breathtakingly handsome when he greeted you and presented his confidence so tastefully, smiled so prettily at you too, his shining whites and canines poking from under his lips and greatly accentuating the rest of his bewitching features while his large hands slowly ran up and down your shaking arms.

"tsk." you avert your gaze, not being certain if you're more embarrassed that you lost or that he beat you so effortlessly too, "you‘re unbelievable blade."

okay, hold on— even though you started this game, now witnessing it in a different perspective on how it would‘ve played out the other way around was a little frustrating, to say the least— while you also made sure that you‘re calling yourself out for that sprinkle bit of hypocrisy climbing up on you.

"i‘m unbelievably funny." he drawls back at you with a wink and kisses your forehead playfully— then your nose, which he found adorable and lastly your cheeks before gently trapping your chin in between his thumb and pointer finger to make you look at him, "and i have to put you in your place sometimes, you know?"

as he at last, conveniently pulls you into a warm hug, both smiling and laughing into the comfort of the situation.

2023 anantaru do not repost, copy, translate, modify

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ithacanradio · 2 years

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what are some facts that changed the way you viewed things? for me some were:

china only suffered about 5k losses due to covid, in a population of over a billion people.

they also eradicated extreme poverty this year.

haiti is so poor because after the revolution in 1825 france asked for indemnity for lost property (slaves included). haiti paid the equivalent of 21 billions in a span of 112 years. the french parliament then repealed this ordinance in 2016 but didn't give back one cent.

winston churchill was a racist fucker who caused millions to die in the bengali famine, his own advisors declared they couldn't see much difference between churchill's outlook and hitlers's.

the united states military killed about 20% of the korean population and arbitrarily divided the country establishing a military occupation in its southern half and now says it is outrageous that the dprk developed a nuclear deterrent.

while we are on the subject, the colonizers killed so many native americans that the globe cooled a little.

russian life expectancy only recently went back up to where it was during soviet times.

after the communist revolution life expectancy in china rose from 40 to 65 years in only thirty years.

in 2014, europe abstained and the u.s. and ukraine voted against the UN resolution to combat the glorification of nazism.

#im legit curious to know some other facts if you have any add em!#politics #sources in the notes

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zombie-bait · 3 months

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The Death of a Vampire

Lestat as a protagonist just works so incredibly well and a very significant aspect of that is him being Anne Rice's self-insert. Lived experience can be critical when it comes to writing a good story and many memorable novels will feature elements of that. Anne is built different, though. Lestat (book 2 onwards) is basically Anne's journal for dealing with her grievances and trauma, which, on its own, is a very questionable method of writing. More often than not, it causes him to be characterized inconsistently between books because Anne's own opinions have changed. But it also makes him so real.

You follow his struggles with religion, you see him yearn for forgiveness from a god that has seemingly abandoned him a long time ago and you feel it. The passage I will never get over is in the early chapters of The Vampire Lestat, when Lestat has a breakdown over his mother's (and frankly his own) mortality. He struggles and he cries and he can't get out of bed because there's nothing he can do. Eventually he starts to live again, forces himself to.

But.

"I wandered into the church and on my knees I leaned against the wall and I looked at the ancient statues and I felt the same gratitude looking at the finely carved fingers and the noses and the ears and the expressions on their faces and the deep folds in their garments, and I couldn’t stop myself from crying. At least we had these beautiful things, I said. Such goodness. But nothing natural seemed beautiful to me now! The very sight of a great tree standing alone in a field could make me tremble and cry out. Fill the orchard with music. And let me tell you a little secret. It never did pass, really."

I think about those last two sentences a lot. I think about them even more since Anne Rice passed away.

Every page of Interview is spent talking about death and yet (imo) it's only in TVL that you really feel it. Louis in book 1 welcomes death quite readily because, besides his toxic boyfriend and their traumatized daughter, he doesn't have much to live for. He's basically given up by the time Lestat appears. The greatest torture, to Louis, is the knowledge that he can live forever on the suffering of others.

But Lestat is the complete opposite. He wants to listen to music, to explore Paris, to perform on any stage that will take him, to embrace the man he loves and to send his ailing mother letters of his accomplishments. Death matters most to those who are desperate to live and god is he desperate. He's haunted by his mother's sickness, by the wolves on the mountain that threaten to end his life before he's even lived it, the witches place that reeks of meaningless suffering. And in a way, the dark gift provides opportunity to escape that. But it is still death. It takes away Nicki in a very literal way and takes away his mother in a more personal one. Magnus, like death, chose Lestat arbitrarily. He sees the cellar of blonde corpses and knows that he was only one of dozens to meet an untimely death with no explanation.

Lestat also really wants you to know that he is, truly, a good person. He must be. He swears to only hunt criminals and then goes back on that two pages later. He reshapes stories to present himself as the noble protagonist and the audience has no choice but to believe him. He wants, desperately, to be loved for all that he is, man and monster. He wants to be the hero.

He's this awful, fascinating, very human man so clearly born out of the internal struggle to find meaning and love in a cruel, unpredictable world we all tend to share. He's made up of incredibly basic and powerful human desires hidden behind a mask of bravado and I can't recalling seeing another protagonist like him.

(Quick mention: This isn't some kind of "wow Anne Rice is an incredible author who can do no wrong" piece. She's written a lot of fucked up and bad shit that cannot be easily brushed over. But I don't think I'll ever get over reading TVL for the first time. To read someone bare their soul in such a way creates a truly unique experience. A lot of characters in a lot of pieces of media face death, but it's rare to see a character face mortality in such a personal way.)

(Also odds are I've written similar posts to this before but shhhhh these sad gay vampires are all I have)

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the-strength-of-the-wolffe · 5 months

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Finally! I get to share my headcanons about this loveable piece-of-work, my boy Sinker.

Like Boost, he didn't choose his name; their batchmates came up with it because of his pessimism, a quirk that stress exacerbated (more on that below).

He was a reluctant “older” brother—not naturally responsible or nurturing but arbitrarily chosen to be in charge of his batchmates by their superiors. Although it felt unfair at the time, it’s the reason he’s a sergeant at the start of the war.

One of their trainers didn't get on with him (personality clash) and took every opportunity to beat him down. He put on a front of insolent indifference, but the harsh words (on top of Kaminoan indoctrination) eroded his spirit, leading him to develop that famously bleak estimation of himself and all clones.

For an engineered soldier, stress had an unusually adverse effect on him. It didn’t just sway his mood; by young adulthood, his hair started to thin and show gray roots. He couldn't stomach shaving it off, nor admit his shame by dyeing it black, so his solution was to dye it entirely gray and pretend to own it.

Needless to say, he isn’t in the healthiest frame of mind as we meet him in “Rising Malevolence.” He has a callousness about him that strikes me as a defense mechanism. Sadly, he doesn't take General Plo's words to heart that day. In fact, he isn't sure what to make of the General for some time.

If he had met Wolffe under any other circumstances, they wouldn't have become friends; they're too different, and Sinker is nothing if not realistic. Suffering the massacre together, and later rebuilding the 104th, bonds them like nothing else could. Even though rank and duties often keep them apart now, they hold fast to that bond.

He tries to move past the loss of his old squad by falling back on cadethood excuses ("I didn't want this job!") and cold memorized truths ("that's the reality of war"), but the horror and guilt get to him on occasion. For a while, he's at turns distant and aggressively protective toward his new squad.

He takes an immediate disliking to Comet, regarding him as a liability at best and a threat to the squad's safety at worst. Truthfully, he sees a bit of himself in the rookie (that defensive apathy), and he hates it. The tension between them erupts one day into physical violence, which he immaturely instigates. The brawl puts a bad mark on his record (and is my explanation for why he doesn't seem to climb any higher in rank). However, by coming to blows, the two of them are able to confront their issues with each other. Gradually, they work toward a more amiable relationship.

His personal beliefs and his mixed feelings about General Plo come to a head during a dangerous search-and-rescue operation. When half his squad (including Boost) become trapped in a damaged building, he fully expects he'll have to leave them to prioritize civilians, a prospect he suddenly finds chilling. To his shock, Wolffe and the General converge at once, the former taking over evacuations while the latter goes after the troopers. In the end, not a single one is lost.

Because of this harrowing event, he realizes first how much he cares about his men, what their lives are worth to him (not expendable!), and second that he's not alone in feeling that way—General Plo meant what he said. He still has some qualms about the General (e.g. the health considerations are a source of stress), but his love language is acts of service, and the General's tremendous act of saving his squad wins him over.

From this point onward, he's able to shoulder his responsibilities with less fear, and that confidence does wonders for him. He really evolves as a character—just look at how different he is in "Mercy Mission"! (I've got a separate post about this in the works: contrasting his arc with Wolffe's.) He doesn't lose all of his rough edges, of course (he can still get nasty when stressed, and be rather angsty at times), but overall he rounds out to be a tough, conscientious, steadfast individual.

His sense of humor, however, does not improve.

#the clone wars #sinker #wolfpack #wolfpack headcanons #boost #comet #commander wolffe #plo koon #clones

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good-old-gossip · 12 days

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Israeli authorities released dozens of Palestinians back to Gaza today, having arbitrarily arrested them at different points throughout the war. One of them, Sofian Abu Saleh, had his leg amputated by Israeli forces during custody. "My leg got infected [in custody], and [the Israelis] refused to take me to a hospital," he said. "After seven days, the infection spread quickly, like gangrene, they then took me to the hospital on did an operation." Abu Saleh says he never suffered of any diseases that could have led to this infection. "I went into [detention] with my two legs, and have returned like this," he said, alluding to this one remaining leg.

📸 by Hassan Salih

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walks-the-ages · 6 months

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If you are in Michigan state's 12th District, please reach out to Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib to show your support!

https://tlaib.house.gov/posts/video-tlaib-speaks-on-censure-resolution

Like and share the original speech on twitter here .

[ID: Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, a brown-skinned Palestinian American woman, gives her speech to congress. She is wearing a dark purple suit with a traditional white kufiyah around her neck. Various members of congress are in the background, many of them tearing up as her speech goes on. Partway through the speech, a congresswoman in a green suit and green headscarf comes up to hug Rashida in support as she cries during her speech, holding a framed pictured of her grandmother. end ID]

Transcript:

I’m the only Palestinian American serving in Congress, Mr. Chair, and my perspective is needed here now more than ever. I will not be silenced, and I will not let you distort my words. Folks forget I’m from the city of Detroit, the most beautiful, Blackest city in the country, where I learned to speak truth to power, even if my voice shakes. Trying to bully or censure me won’t work because this movement for a ceasefire is much bigger than one person. It’s growing every single day. There are millions of people across our country who oppose Netanyahu’s extremism and are done watching our government support collective punishment and the use of white phosphorous bombs that melt flesh to the bone. They are done watching our government, Mr. Chair, supporting cutting off food, water, electricity, and medical care to millions of people with nowhere to go. Like me, Mr. Chair, they don’t believe the answer to war crimes is more war crimes. The refusal of Congress and the Administration to acknowledge Palestinian lives is chipping away at my soul. Over 10,000 Palestinians have been killed—majority, majority were children. But let me be clear: My criticism has always been of the Israeli government and Netanyahu’s actions. It is important to separate people and governments, Mr. Chair. No government is beyond criticism. The idea that criticizing the government of Israel is antisemitic sets a very dangerous precedent, and it’s being used to silence diverse voices speaking up for human rights across our nation. Do you realize what it’s like, Mr. Chair, for the people outside the chamber right now, listening in agony to their own government dehumanizing them? To hear the President of the United States, we helped elect, dispute death tolls, as we see video after video of dead children and parents under rubble? Mr. Chair, do you know what it’s like to fear rising hate crimes? To know how Islamophobia and antisemitism makes us all less safe? And worry that your own child might suffer the horrors that six-year-old Wadea did in Illinois. I can’t believe I have to say this, but Palestinian people are not disposable. We are human beings just like anyone else. My Sity, my grandmother, like all Palestinians, just wants to live her life with freedom and human dignity we all deserve. Speaking up to save lives, Mr. Chair, no matter of faith, no matter ethnicity, should not be controversial in this chamber. The cries of the Palestinian and Israeli children sound no different to me. What I don’t understand is why the cries of Palestinians sound different to you all. We cannot lose our shared humanity, Mr. Chair. I hear the voices of advocates in Israel, in Palestine, across America, and around the world for peace. I am inspired by the courageous survivors in Israel who have lost loved ones, yet are calling for a ceasefire and the end to violence. I am grateful to the people in the streets, for the peace movement, with countless Jewish Americans across the country, standing up and lovingly saying “Not in Our Name.” We will continue to call for a ceasefire, Mr. Chair, for the immediate delivery of critical humanitarian aid to Gaza, for the release of all hostages and those arbitrarily detained, and for every American to come home. We will continue to work for real lasting peace that upholds human rights and dignity of all people and centers peaceful coexistence between Israelis and Palestinians. And censures no one. And ensures that no person, no child has to suffer or live in fear of violence. 71% of Michigan Democrats support a ceasefire. So you can try to censure me, but you can’t silence their voices. I urge my colleagues to join with the majority of Americans and support a ceasefire now to save as many lives as possible. President Biden must listen to and represent all of us, not just some of us. I urge the President to have the courage to call for a ceasefire and the end of killings. Thank you. And I yield [the floor].

If you are outside her district, now's the time to start hounding your own representatives for supporting the punishment on Rashida for the 'crime' of speaking out against the genocide of her people

#rashida tlaib #usa #free palestine #palestine #gaza #free gaza #the west bank #free the west bank #us war crimes #israel war crimes

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rikeijo · 1 month

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Today's translation #587

Febri vol. 40, Toyonaga Toshiyuki x Uchiyama Koki interview

Part 13.

-- Yes, the commentary was amazing, wasn't it?

Toyonaga: [Back to the topic of favorite scenes] Among the scenes that I was involved in, the parking lot scene in episode 7. We had to re-take that scene so many times, that even I didn't know what it was about in the end, so it was a very memorable scene to me. Other than that, the scene when Emil doesn't qualify for the Grand Prix Final, and standing behind Sara and Michele, he says "Let's go clubbing later!" - how quickly he recovered from what had happened (laugh). I quite like that lightness.

Uchiyama: Like "Let's try our best at the next competition!".

Toyonaga: That "next time, next time" - that lightness (laugh). And my favorite character is Popovich. We see him only once in episode 10., and he already has a new girlfriend.

Uchiyama: He's fast (laugh).

Toyonaga: It's amazing, how fast he can move on (laugh). At the studio, there were whispers about 'Popo-chan has a new girlfriend now, so he'll become a normie and his artistic expression will suffer' theory, that seems very credible.

Uchiyama: The type that does badly at work, when their private life is too good.

Toyonaga: Yeah, yeah. He's the type that skates better, when he's heartbroken, I think? - we were having a lot of fun, arbitrarily imagining what kind of character he is.

#yuri on ice #yoi translations #yuri on ice translation

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intersectionalpraxis · 5 months

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I have seen so many videos of Palestinian children return home as young adults, and one of the most jarring things I've noticed is how much of a difference there is between Palestinian people coming home to their families after being captured, criminalized, isolated, and abused by the IOF for years (sometimes even decades) -and that is the the joy; the palpable relief of seeing their once child finally come home after being arbitrarily detained -you can see it in their expressions, their body language, their voices -jumping into each other's arms and crying and smiling... then you see the hostages being returned back to the IOF and suddenly you see the GRAVITY of difference -what Palestinian people have had to and continue to suffer under occupation is just astronomical. The Palestinian youths and adults -that Hamas was just trying to bring them back home to their loved one's -you see these videos and you realize this is just only some of the thousands still in IOF custody and prisons and I think, deeply so, that anyone brushing aside the fact that the IOF has imprisoned so many Palestinian people -and many children -some of whom were taken for throwing ROCKS... have done this systematically and cruelly for decades. Only hearing about this as a simple 'hostage,' exchange in mainstream western media has infuriated me, as though the sheer weight alone of Palestinian children -now youths or adults, coming home after years of imprisonment, abuse, and violence -should apparently take less of a spotlight because this is, fundamentally so, a mass crime against humanity that the IOF commits -don't forget this... let this be a reminder that until all Palestinian people are free -until all of them come home, this is not over. End the occupation, and permanent ceasefire now.

#feminist #feminism #social justice #freepalastine🇵🇸#free palestine #palestine #free gaza #israel is a terrorist state #from the river to the sea palestine will be free #settler colonialism #settler violence #current events

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bonefall · 1 year

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So since you plan on keeping leopardstar as a thistlelaw supporter are you planning on doing the same with blackstar? I'd personally argue he was worse in a much more lifelong way than leopard was so I'd figure, but who knows.

He WAS much worse, there's no argument back from me here lmao. Early on in the rewrite I was deciding on which one of them was going to have a long redemption arc, and which one of them was going to going to get merc'd. One could repent; but not both.

I decided that Leopardstar fit MUCH better as the one who gets merc'd, for a few reasons;

Her actions in TNP are more consistent as someone who supports Thistle Law. ShadowClan's just uncooperative, but RiverClan is an active danger because of Sunningrocks. She was even happy to watch the other Clans get driven out, allowing Hawkfrost to say that they should hurry up and get gone so RiverClan can have more land.

Hawkfrost is not born evil, so that has to come from somewhere. And his story is now that he was failed by RiverClan. Leaving Leopardstar out of that just to arbitrarily say She's Sorry Now makes a less coherent Bonefall TNP and implies nothing could be done to prevent Hawkfrost's radicalization, because having a completely repentant leader wouldn't have changed this. Characters are, at the end of the day, a writer's tools.

ShadowClan's proximity to ProtagonistClan makes it much easier to show Blackstar's redemption. I did fix the Lake Map so that RiverClan isn't IMPOSSIBLY far away, but because ShadowClan is a major neighbor in Po3, I have more opportunities to display how Bonefall Blackstar is different from Canon Blackstar, including that he punishes the patrol who watched Berrykit suffer. (letting shadowclan not be EvilClan in the rewrite was a bonus)

And her killing at Mistyfoot's claws is the Thesis of Bonefall TNP; that Thistle Law will not go away on its own, and that these ideas do not die unless they are killed.

So Blackstar goes on a long journey for redemption, and Leopardstar dies at the end of Bonefall TNP. Change or die. No point in having the same arc for two characters.

(Snipped quote from a very long post I made on Mistystar in general below the cut)

""...Mistystar’s killing of Leopardstar, I will argue, is the thesis of Hawkfrost’s arc in Bonefall TNP

RiverClan, in canon, never has a reckoning with the fact that they allowed Tigerstar to take over. They rapidly pivot Leopardstar and RiverClan as a whole to be regretful of the choice without showing ANY remnant supporters, refutation of the ideology, or even any sympathy for Feathertail’s retconned trauma in Shadow In RiverClan, a book I’ve spoken about strongly disliking.

Making Leopardstar’s character consistent, and fixing Shadow in RiverClan, preventing this ridiculous canonical post-hoc retcon that they’re just fine after TPB, is something I care immensely about.

So there is no situation anymore where Mistyfoot can just sit back and follow the code until the Clan stops following Thistle Law. You can’t appease fascists. These ideas do not die unless they are killed.

And TNP is now a story about the Tigerkin, split between their perspectives. As you know, Hawkfrost’s arc is that he is failed by RiverClan, becoming the inheritor of an ideology that should have been buried before he was born. She thinks that with his death things can maybe go back to normal... but it doesn’t. Because Hawkfrost was not the problem. He was a victim just as much as he was a perpetrator.

Mistyfoot kills Leopardstar, a thing that should have been done a long time ago, and rules the Clan in a way as to limit the influence of Thistle Law. As much as she can, she tries to prevent what happened to Hawkfrost from ever happening again, truly wrapping up his story for Bonefall TNP.""

#Bonefall Mistystar #Bonefall Leopardstar #Bonefall Blackstar #Thistle Law #Bonefall Rewrite #Bonefall TNP

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thegirlmirage · 8 months

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Overwhelmingly, recently, perhaps a symptom of two huge influxes of users, I feel that Queer Tumblr has been a lot of infighting about who is allowed to be queer and who is allowed to use what label and it's not the Tumblr I joined in 2016.

When I joined it was unintentionally a queer haven for me. I started exploring skirts that I wanted to wear and I found comprehensive explanations about what being trans was and even though I had realised I wanted to be feminine already, I had no information, I was entirely alone.

The support, even just arbitrarily to random strangers here, was embracing and breathed life into me. Now I'm finding myself so distressed from the extent to which Queers are so ready to dig their heels in, to hate each other, to tell each other to die, over labels and microlabels that were already a firm part of Queer identity *Thirty Years Ago* I'm serious. People were identifying as bi lesbians in the 90s and they weren't having the hassle you're giving them here today.

We need to patient with each other. We need to be compassionate even when we don't understand. We need to recognise that we will never perfectly understand everything. We are flawed, we need permission to be flawed. We need to be able to be ourselves without judgement from people who are ostentiably us.

This is a crucial time. Our solidarity has always been our greatest asset and will always continue to be. We owe it to all the Queers of the world who are suffering and dying, to create a united banner.

Disagreements can happen. Different opinions can be very healthy. It is so easy for these things to be given fuel by bad actors, or even just people who have given up trying, because as we fight amongst ourselves they are legislating our graves. Our graves that won't even bear our names.

Please. Be kind to yourselves. Be compassionate. You need it. I need it. We need it.

#queer discourse #transgender #queer identity #queer solidarity #trans rights

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kerres · 3 months

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First 3 eps of Solo Leveling thoughts! From someone who has never read it!

For my tastes, the first two episodes were pretty jarring. Blood isn't a huge deal to me, but watching someone suffer that intensely wasn't fun. I do appreciate it for the storytelling though! Elsewise, let me tackle this chronologically henceforth.

Everyone loves an underdog story, and I think the "isekai"/adjacent category needs more of it! Sure, they can start out pretty lowly, but their special skill spikes up their usefulness unnaturally so. Of course, I'm sure that will happen anyway, but I'm at least satisfied that it isn't a pure isekai in that the show has taken a GATE approach. All in all, the dungeon gate dynamic is pretty neat to me -- really reminds me of mmorpgs.

The fact that these characters are from a modern world looks more interesting to me than arbitrarily requiring a death from a previous life to get to the fantasy world. Getting to have a full life's worth of information then relatively starting over somewhere else without the same technological advancements makes the protagonist able to just.. "invent" them there, drastically boosting their overall status for no real effort of their own.

Back to it though, a character being known as The Weakest is a compelling enough beginning to me. Of course, there has to be some amount of concrete scaling, so the rankings were inevitable. The precedent of an inability to change your base power-level was of course gonna be a part of the story. (I will say, the "second awakening" gimmick already feels a little suspicious/dull to me, but we'll see how it's handled.)

The fact that the token weak girl healer character is actually not all that weak of a healer just really doesn't like the job much and only does it out of necessity was a great angle imo. Just like the average mmo, nobody wants to play support, and for someone who didn't even want to play the game, having that responsibility sounds tough to argue with. Using the kind of trauma she ended up with as a fridging method didn't bother me at all. That's a very reasonable reaction!

Though the protagonist looks like he's going to have a pretty generic story given the title, I do also like that he doesn't have a history of gaming. Nearly every protagonist is a NEET or gamer otherwise, but he had to ask his sister. He gets the hang of it, which is to be expected, but he has to ask her what to look for initially. That just furthered the narrative that he's had to work extra hard this whole time so she could live a peaceful and average life. I appreciate that kind of consistency and detail!

---

I drafted this, then didn't get back to it for a week or so whoops! I'd like to be more consistent, and I'm sure I will be, but let me just get this out of my drafts for now. I'm excited to eventually get a reasonable pacing out of this project!

#solo leveling #kyr review #spoilers

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palossssssand · 9 months

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Gingull 4, 6, 7!! Love this animal. The slutch.

Love this animal!!! The slutch!! Finally getting around to answering these stray asks that have been sitting around in my inbox.

4. How easy is it to earn their trust?

Her trust is easy(ish) to gain and easy to lose(I know that "how easy is it to lose their trust is also a question but for the sake of this answer I will include it). She's someone who may have been more gullible when she was younger and was repeatedly betrayed by it, and thus has learned to become more cynical of new people. This comes from a lack of or difficulty with recognizing patterns in social cues (speaking very much from personal experience as an autistic kid growing up). She still retains a level of sympathy and optimism for gaining trust, especially when they've made a good first impression, but she tends to fall back on bad assumptions if someone's slighted her, and it's only after communicating further and patching things up that the trust is more strongly instilled. Her sense of trust can be distilled into "optimistic about potential new encounters and cynical when the encounter happens".

6. Do they consider laws flexible, or immovable?

Gingull's sense of "right and wrong" comes from her dad King, who taught her that laws can be an unfair but necessary evil, in that there's a reason for each law to be in place, but that reason won't always be the morally correct thing. King takes a more passive approach to this, but urges Gingull to take whatever action she feels is correct to do. When she was younger, she was probably more likely to be compliant with laws, and formed her own opinions on them as she grew older and encountered direct consequences of the laws. She considers "laws" to be rules set in place by someone else arbitrarily (and not an innate sense of morality)

The question is honestly a little vague and I might have to delve deeper onto what the laws of Slug City are, which would be an interesting post and thinking exercise. Like, are laws formed by one individual, suggested and voted on by the community, or a mix of both? or a secret third thing? It would be informative in structuring the city so that I have more to work with when it all falls apart.

7. What triggers nostalgia for them, most often? Do they enjoy that feeling?

I haven't thought about the specifics of Gingull's life growing up all that much, besides the fact that she's always been close with King(dad) and Alfin(sibling). I feel like it would be fitting for her to feel nostalgic for the simpler times, playing in the summer and not worrying about school or politics or other complicated feelings and things, especially after the accident that mutilated her face and being involved in the city's conflict. Part of her character development is her coming to terms with being allowed to grieve for what was lost, accepting her new life and situation, and being angry at the system that causes her new life to be very difficult. Nostalgia for Gingull comes with bitterness at the realization that not everyone was allowed to experience it, maybe a twinge of survivor's guilt, especially later on when she finds out what happens to all the other experimental accidents(answer: citywide coverup). This all fuels Gingull's eventual desire to help the other suffering citizens(and the despair with being powerless to do anything about it alone).

list of characters ask list (open all the time btw!!!! please feel free to send more of these, I love answering them and they help me think about these characters a little deeper)

#gingull #asks #slug city #thank you for asking!#I feel like putting as much of myself into Gingull helps inform her character a little more #like what would I do in this situation and why. obviously we are not the same person #but it's fun to also pick apart what she would do differently and why #my ocs #every time my brain goes 'you need to make a fully fledged living breathing world and go in on all the details' im like no. thats the devil

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ofstoriesandstardust · 2 years

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back to december (lt. bradley “rooster” bradshaw)

a/n: we’ve gone too long without some angst. suffer.

summary: after all the time, Rooster agrees to have one last conversation, in order for the both of you to get closure. you find yourself asking him for one more chance.

inspired by taylor swift’s “back to december”

main masterlist | top gun: maverick masterlist

warnings: swearing, discussion of depression and symptoms of depression, mentions of therapy, mentions of a grandfather passing away, angst with a hopeful ending, this takes place somewhere arbitrarily on the timeline post-TGM, this is self-indulgent, but isn’t that what all fanfiction is, references to the selection because i can’t help myself, i saw the opportunity and ran with it, this has a mildly unrealistic ending and this isn’t the best thing i’ve ever written but honestly idgaf

word count: 2,412

You sighed, fiddling with your cup as you sat down at a table outside the cafe. It was a nice spring day out, warm, with a gentle breeze. Not too hot, not too chilly. Perfect. Had things been different, it would’ve been a day you and Bradley had spent in your backyard, enjoying the sunshine, lazily reading books and working and chatting and soaking up each other’s presence. Your heart clenched as you thought about it, knowing you were the reason it wasn’t like that anymore. Knowing you were the reason it may never be like that again.

He sighed, the sound of the metal chair scraping against the concrete bringing your attention back up to him as he set his cup down. The two of you sat in silence for a few moments and then you blink. “Thanks for agreeing to meet with me.” He nods and there’s more silence. “So, how’ve you been?”

“Good.”

“Work good? Everyone still flying good?” He nods.

“Yep, all still the best damn pilots I’ve ever flown with.”

“Mav good? No more plane crashes?”

“Yep, everyone’s all good.” You nod.

“Well, the weather’s nice today.” You say, looking up at the blue sky, not a cloud in sight.

“Mhm.” He responds, taking a sip of his drink. You look at Rooster, knowing his guard is up and you’re the reason why. You know he’s thinking of the last time you saw him, when he tried to save the relationship and you left him behind, telling him it was for the best. You sigh, blinking back the tears that are starting to form. You don’t get to cry, you’re the reason you’re here in the first place.

“How’re things going for you?” You aren’t expecting him to ask that, so your brain short-circuits and you freeze, coming up with the only response you can think of.

“Good. Good. Job’s good. Family’s good. Good.”

“You don’t sound good.” You chuckle a little bit at that.

“Yeah, I don’t- haven’t been sleeping lately. I uh, got diagnosed with depression in February. Not sleeping is part of all of it.” He raises his eyebrows a little bit.

“Oh.”

“Mhm.” It’s your turn to put your guard up, not wanting to let Rooster see the worst of you. Another silence settles between the two of you and you chance a glance at your ex-boyfriend. Your met with the same brown orbs that you’d fallen in love with. He’s looking at you with concern and care and a hint of something else and you’re hit by a wave of memories.

Rooster’s hand is on your thigh as you laugh loudly with him, the countryside flying by. The two of you are on your way to see Maverick at his hangar and it’s at that moment, seeing your boyfriend relax as he laughs at your story, that you realize you’re in love with the boy. He glances at you. “What?”

You shrug. “Nothing, you’re just cute, s’all.” He squeezes your thigh in response, eyes on the road.

“I love you, you know?” You take his hand from his thigh and it intertwine it with yours, squeezing it.

“I love you too.”

You blinked, swallowing your tears as you watched the time on your phone tick by. The day wasn’t over yet. You could still call. Still text. There was still time to reach out. You groaned as your entire body screamed to do something, to let him know you still cared but you didn’t move, watching the time run out. As the clock hit 11:59 PM, you sighed, clicking your phone off and standing up from your dining room table. Your house was dark and quiet, much like your life had been since you’d broken up with Rooster.

“Happy birthday Bradley.” You whispered.

You sigh as you take in Rooster’s defeated figure, collapsed at his dining table.

“Fuck, (Y/N), I am trying so hard here, please, just give me something.” You sighed, biting your lip. He’s crying and you can feel tears of your own rising up.

“Bradley, you and I both know this was never going to work.” He whimpers, his hands coming up to cover his face as his sobs take over, muffled behind his hands. Your heart cracks and you usually would’ve sat down, taken his hands, and let him cry into your shoulder as you hugged him, soothing his pain. “I’m so sorry, but- but you deserve more and I- I can’t give you what you want.” His head shoots up to look at you and you grimace taking in his red-rimmed eyes.

“You! You’re the one I want! I don’t care about all this shit, I just don’t want to lose you!” A cold feeling washed over you as you picked apart his words, wondering if he really meant them. He wanted you now, but would he in a year? Two? Three? Were you breaking his heart or just speeding up the inevitable, when the two of you burned out? Would he just resent you for staying when you both know it was meant to end? And did he even really want you or was he just with you because of how long the two of you had been together, for what the two of you been through together?

“Bradley, I’m sorry, but I can’t- I can’t do this anymore. I can’t. We’re done.” You whisper and you watch as his heart breaks. The cracks in every piece of him falling apart as sobs overtake his body and he breakdowns at the table, shoulders heaving. Your heart twists as you watch the scene and you turn away, biting back your own tears. You grab your keys and before you know it, the front door is shutting behind you. You breakdown in your car, collapsing onto the steering wheel as your own sobs wrack your body.

Goodbye, Bradley.

He smiles at you as he jogs over from the game of dogfight football. You not-so-subtly admire the way his tan skin glistens with sweat as he presses a kiss to your cheek. “How’s the book?” he asks warmly and you shrug. You’d long stopped paying attention to the murder mystery in front of you, instead admiring your boyfriend and his pilot buddies as they played.

“Oh, just thrilling.” He lets out a loud laugh as a warm feeling settles in your chest.

You could get used to that sound.

“Yeah, okay. Yeah, thanks for telling me Mom.” You say, swallowing the tears as Bradley eyes you. “Yeah, love you too. Bye.” You say and you move the phone away from your ear as you look at the table, eyes burning. “Sorry, I just- I had a feeling something was wrong and I needed to-” You sigh, taking in a deep breath, trying to hold back the tears. The relationship with Rooster was still fresh and new and you weren’t sure you were ready for him to see you break. He stood up wordlessly, gently taking the phone from you and putting it on the counter. He wrapped you in a hug and you returned it, feeling your guard fall down second by second. “He passed away tonight.” His hug becomes tighter around you as the first few tears break loose. “My grandfather’s gone, just like that.” A sob breaks free and he moves a hand to run through your hair.

“Shh, let it out baby, I’m here. I’m right here.”

You blink the memories away as Rooster sighs, shifting back in his chair. “What do you really want here (Y/N)?” He asks and you shrug.

“I told you, I wanted us to both get closure.”

“I got closure the night you walked out. Try again.” He states harshly and you flinched and shifted uncomfortably in your seat, sighing.

“Uh, well, I uh- I’ve had a lot of time to think about about what I did and especially why I did it. And uhm, not that it’s an excuse but uhm, I’ve come to realize my depression was the driving force behind the breakdown of our relationship. It- it made it really hard for me to feel like I could be loved, that I was worthy of love. And the bad thoughts got worse and I thought that maybe if I left then I wouldn’t- wouldn’t feel so shitty. But by breaking your heart, I broke mine, and it just made things worse.” You feel your throat close up with tears and you pause. The brunette shifts eyeing you carefully. “And uhm, a few months after we broke up I decided to get help for whatever I was dealing with because I realized that this shit isn’t normal. So I started seeing a therapist and um, it lead to a diagnosis and I’ve been doing a lot better now. But I still struggle with it because I uhm- sorry I’m-” You sigh, putting your head in your hands as the tears threaten to consume you.

“Hey, it’s okay, take your time.” He says softly. You pull your legs put on your chair to sit criss cross, picking at the skin on your finger. He move over so slightly to set his large hand on your knee. You sigh, taking a deep breath, not daring to make eye contact with him as his hand never moves.

“It’s been hard for me to get to a good place because I still have a lot of guilt and regret about what I did. Bradley, breaking up with you was the worst mistake I ever made. You were- you were my best friend, someone I could just laugh all night long with. You knew exactly what I needed and you supported me no matter what. You treated me so well and I know- I know leaving broke your heart and it broke mine too. I regret it more than I regret anything else in my life and I am so sorry. And uhm, I want to ask for a second chance. I don’t deserve it but God- it- I know it’s so selfish of me to ask but I have to because I need to know and if you’ve moved on or don’t want to let me back in, I completely understand but I- I want nothing more. If you gave me a second chance, I promise I would do better this time, I would love you right, I- I would never leave again.” He inhales sharply, moving his hand from your knee and your heart sinks as he does. You wipe away your tears as they slip down silently as the man in front of you holds your heart in his hands. “I still love you. My heart has only ever been yours Bradley Bradshaw, and it will only ever yours to keep.” He crosses his arms as he looks away from you. You continue to wipe away tears as you watch the gears turning in his head.

“What you did destroyed me.” And there it was. You nod, already moving to stand up.

“Yeah, I know. And I’m sorry you can’t forgive me.” You whisper, grabbing your keys, as the tears burn your eyes. You’ve already broken down enough, might as well go home and lick your wounds without having to hear him list everything you did wrong and why his life was so great without you in it. He reaches out for your wrist, effectively stopping your movement.

“Hey, I didn’t say that. Sit down.” He says nervously, almost as if you’ll say no and run again. You sit down slowly and it’s only once you’re fully seated, that he’s sure you’re not going to bolt, does he let go of your wrist. It burns from his touch as you try not to think about how badly you want to take it and just hold it in your own again. “Look, if we’re gonna do this, we have to start over. I need to see that you’ve changed. That you’re truly doing better, that you’re doing what you’re supposed to, that if things get bad again, and they will at some point, because it happens with mental illness, that you’re not gonna run again. I need to be able to know that I can trust you to talk to me about whatever’s going on inside that pretty little head of yours. And that if you’e not gonna talk to me about it, you’ll talk to someone.” You nod slowly, biting your lip uncertainly. He hesitates, clearly choosing his words carefully. “Look, I’m not saying that we’ll- we’ll ever get back together. I can’t promise that, because I don’t know if I’m going to be able to trust you again. But... but I’m willing to try. Because I loved you and I still love you and I will love you for the rest of my life.” Your heart flutters at the words but you try not to get too hopeful. “So, we can start out as friends, and we’ll go from there.” You sigh, feeling your heart twist, knowing you need to tell him the truth.

“Bradley, I’m all in or not at all because I will not survive losing you again. I- if you get to the end of this and realize you’ll never be able too fully forgive me- I can’t handle that. I can’t get you back, even just as a friend, only to lose you again.”

“Hey, I’m not going anywhere.” He whispers. “Look at me.” You hesitantly meet his eyes. “I’m not. No matter what, I will always love and care about you and if you needed me, I’d fly halfway across the world just to be there. It’s gonna suck and it’s gonna take a lot of time, and we stand a good shot at figuring things out but even if we don’t- I’ll always be your friend.” You sigh, wiping some of your tears away. “What was that book series you made me read, the competition of princesses?”

“The Selection?”

“Yeah, that’s one. What was it Maxon said, my heart was only ever yours to break anyways? Well, (Y/N), my heart was only ever yours to break.” You don’t mention that Maxon had also told America that he could break his heart a thousand times if she liked. You knew the implication behind his words. “I love you, and I love you enough to work things out. We’ll figure it out.”

#bradley rooster bradshaw x reader #rooster bradshaw x reader #bradley bradshaw x reader #bradley rooster bradshaw #bradley rooster bradshaw imagines #bradley rooster bradshaw imagine #bradley rooster bradshaw fic #bradley rooster bradshaw fics #rooster bradshaw imagines #rooster bradshaw imagine #rooster bradshaw #rooster bradshaw fics #rooster bradshaw fic #bradley bradshaw #bradley bradshaw imagines #bradley bradshaw imagine #bradley bradshaw fics #bradley bradshaw fic

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tirsynni · 7 months

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Possibly one of the most disturbing things about a current fandom trend is that I've seen the build-up to it. Right now, no matter where you look, you'll see a growing wave of characters needing a "diagnosis." They need to have a mental/physical health label. They need to have explanations regarding their behaviors, ie, the increasingly popular "I see this character acting this way and thus I am confident they were abused as a child." As I saw one person describe it, every character needs pathologized.

Mind you, if you want to write a character as autistic, ADHD, etc., that is fine. Perhaps you have a diagnosis and want your comfort character to have it, too. Perhaps you want to explore something or just mess around. Whatever. I don't care. It's when people insist on it, make a diagnosis mandatory, insist that their perception of the character with this diagnosis is correct, etc., that it gets disturbing.

While I'm aware that many people are frustrated with the social services and mental health field -- and I completely understand, as I work in these fields and I know how messy they can be -- and turn to the internet for assistance and self-diagnose themselves when official diagnoses seem beyond their reach, I'm also very aware how dangerous this practice is. I've seen this practice grow online to the extent that every behavior has to be pathologized. No matter what anyone does, there is a diagnosis attached ("Ah, this person is so distractible, so clearly they have ADHD") or a specific history (the ever popular "This person MUST have had an abusive family growing up").

I love whumping my characters. I love using them to explore different things, including mental health issues and trauma. (Hell, one of my current LoZ fics has some inspiration from some recent training and me wondering about the character's unique background and if that would increase or decrease vulnerability to certain things.) Sometimes, I'll do my research to try to have symptoms and behaviors at least in the ballpark of correct. This is all fiction, though. When everything is colored through these lens, including how one perceives fictional characters, things become dangerous.

One big rule in the social services and mental health fields is that you are not supposed to diagnose clients. Ever. If a professional looks at a client and arbitrarily decides that they have such-and-such diagnosis, that forever colors how they perceive the client and thus opens the doorway to them mishandling the case, putting their own biases on a client, recommending the wrong care, etc. It can lead to them dismissing many of the client's statements because it doesn't align with the perceived diagnosis. This includes the decision of "I have no actual information about this person's past, but based on their behavior, they must have had an abusive home environment." This can lead to the professional changing how they interact with the client, the client's supports, overlooking other -- possibly dangerous -- factors, etc.

Humans aren't that simple. If someone is displaying a certain behavior, many things could have caused it. Humans are too complicated to decide that "Oh, yes, obviously this occurred in their background." That's absolutely not how it works. That's the damned Sherlock Syndrome in action. Many, many factors affect how people act and react, and the insistence that obviously this behavior must be caused by this is downright disturbing.

When a diagnosis is being made in a professional environment (if the person is, in fact, a qualified professional and actually good at their job), part of the process includes ruling out other factors. Many children have been diagnosed with ADHD when, in fact, they are suffering from sleep deprivation and stress. By treating it as ADHD, they are allowing the other unhealthy behaviors to continue and give the child medication they don't need. Adderall affects people with ADHD and people without ADHD very differently, for example. The professionals are also supposed to have standards to increase the chances of the correct diagnosis. Is the patient tired and distracted? Did something happen this morning which could affect the client's normal behaviors and throw off the assessment? Is there something about the person doing the assessment which is affecting the results? It's like trying to do a medical assessment and constantly getting high blood pressure because the person is afraid of the doctor's office.

I've also seen people tag a character with a diagnosis, and not only is the character themselves unrecognizable, but they end up writing a crude parody of the diagnosis itself. They read less like a character and more like a caricature. The writer went online, did some quick research, and ended up with a character who might as well be a token character on a sitcom. It ends up being actively insulting by the end. In the instances where it's done well enough so it isn't 100% insulting, you still have an unrecognizable character due to the person preferring their perception of what the diagnosis would/should look like rather than the wanting to write the character in question. (Mandatory note: if you want to write someone OOC, no problem. Just recognize that, in order to make them fit your preferred mold, you did write them OOC and not insist that yes, they are completely in character and everyone else is in the wrong for saying otherwise. It's fanfiction. Write what pleases you. Just don't insist that it's something it's not.)

All of this also dramatically simplifies the mental health field. It simplifies the various issues into something you would see in grade school. It simplifies medication and therapy into miracle cures. It reduces the insanely complicated human brain into a child's puzzle. "Ah, this person has this, so they will display these behaviors. Makes sense." "Ah, this person is struggling with this. Give them a therapist and they'll be good as new!" Like, I can imagine that someone is dealing with Stuff in real life and want to write a fic where the character does find a miracle cure. As previously stated, no problem. Just don't insist that everyone else needs to perceive what they wrote as real life miracle cures. That's not how it works, things are more complex than that, and no size fits all, especially in the mental health field.

I've seen it online for a while now: people enthusiastically putting their entire diagnosis up for everyone to see, people merrily slapping labels on themselves, people looking at every video and going, "Oh, I do this!" People insisting that everyone needed a diagnosis slapped on them and, if they didn't have a diagnosis, they were clearly in denial. They pathologize themselves, their behaviors, everything around them, and now one of the first things they do when discovering a new favorite character is ask, "What is their diagnosis?"

This post isn't meant to discourage people from researching their own needs and their own mental health. It isn't angrily forbidding people from writing characters how they want them. It is a statement that the mental health field, humans in general, human brains, mental health, etc., is far more complex than "Oh, I have this diagnosis, so I have these symptoms and here is what I need to do!" It's stating that there is a difference between being aware that someone has certain behaviors and responses and pathologizing everything a person or character does. It is stating that sometimes it is very, very easy to go from "I headcanon this character as this" to "If someone looks/acts/etc. this way, they obviously are this." If these actions are your go-to, then you might want to take a step back and breathe for a bit.

...it's also a tad frustrating as someone with a diagnosis, as someone who works in this field, to see someone tagged as ADHD and being a sitcom stereotype or seeing therapy solve everything. Write whatever you want, but have some self-awareness when writing.

...it's also funny that I see the tag "medical inaccuracies" but never see a tag about "mental health inaccuracies." Hmm.

#rant #long post #fandom rant #mental health #internet pathology #internet culture #fandom culture #chill people #i'm happy to talk about this subject #and i know this was #if a long post #still a very brief summary of these issues #but there is a reason that #the popular response #for mental health #medical issues #etc #is #“Talk to your doctor”

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