#if a character dying causes you that much distress then that's a You problem and david fucking jenkins is not responsible

[asgardian--angels]

you know it's bad when tumblr's being the more mature social media site when it comes to rancid takes on izzy's death

#ofmd #holy shit twitter's devolved into a battleground #what is WRONG with yall involving david jenkins in your beef #you dont have to like what happened but #how many fucking years in fandom does it take for people to learn to be civil #and not base their entire identities around characters so if anything happens to them it's a personal attack #that they then take straight to the creator #if a character dying causes you that much distress then that's a You problem and david fucking jenkins is not responsible #and he's not your therapist #and besides. just because something happened you didnt like doesnt mean it was a bad writing choice #but even if it were. you never have the right to make it anyone else's problem #i cant imagine having the gall #don't do this guys. the cast and crew are so lovely to us. don't make them stop interacting with us #people saying this show was a comfort show. or a safe space show or whatever. thats great for you #but it's not djenk's responsibility to cater to you and not his problem if the show doesn't meet your infinitely high expectations #he's telling a story. things will happen in those stories. #and it's actually p rare on tv that creators are getting to tell the story the way they want so personally im grateful #if you don't like his vision then don't watch it. you don't have the right to bully him. seriously whats wrong with you #cause yeah im sure con o'neill would love what youre doing huh #the fate of a fictional character is sliiiiiightly less important than being kind to people in the real world yknow #only tagging this so people can block for spoilers

[athena-85]

Dying for Rhysand to compliment Elain or dote on her is so weird …Like focus on Az please, Leave Feyre’s man out of your guys’ fantasies with her LOL it’s odd

Hello Anon,

Hope you are having a good day. Although I am concerned you are not because you chose to deliberately misunderstand the point of my posts “ SJM Simping for Elain Archeron” and be negative.

So I can only assume that me showing screen shots of canon scenes pointing out how all the characters have scenes caring about Elain, causes you distress. Maybe you are distressed because you can’t imagine a character caring for anyone other than their LI? Or maybe you don’t like that Elain’s character gets a lot of love in canon?

I am not sure why the author of these novels continuously has her characters compliment Elain, or show a lot of love for Elain.

I started those posts because ultimately we are reading books and I assume there is a reason that the author is doing this. This is a story that is written by SJM and she continuously chooses to point out how lovely Elain is. Why? That is what interests me.

In the scene that you are clearly upset about Sarah chooses to make Rhys complement Elain, but it seems a little bit out of place. He’s not going around throwing out compliments to all the other characters. Why? Is it because in future books, Elain and him will be close. Maybe he considers Elain a sister that he’s never had the opportunity of protecting or caring for . Maybe SJM just wants to remind us again she really is so lovely that characters just can’t help but remind her. We don’t know yet but that scene stood out to me.

Please don’t get your panties in a twist from what i am pointing out. If you really have a problem with the scene then maybe write to SJM 🤷‍♀️ you can express your frustration at the fact that you only want the MC’s (Feyre) love interest to show love for Feyre and no one else. Maybe you can even tell her that you don’t want Elain’s character to get so much love. ultimately, you have to figure out what’s causing you the most distress about those scenes. 

Have a great day , and really, if you don’t like seeing this type of canon please block me. ❤️🌹

#elriel #elain archeron #acotar #azriel shadowsinger #feyre x rhysand #rhysand #acotar ask #sarah j maas simping for elain archeron

[crabussy]

Can you recommend any good horror podcasts that arent just TMA and the purple eye town one?

OH ABSOLUTELY. I only have a few because I only recently (few months ago???) got into horror podcasts but boy are they good.

Hello from the hallowoods is definitely my top recommendation. It has every flavour of queer you could imagine, I can think of literally one cishet character and he's ace WHICH IS AWESOME. There's trans ghosts seeking revenge, repressed gay men who turn people into instruments, stitched-together monstrosities who are 7 feet tall and super polite (AND THEY'RE NONBINARY), goths who use neopronouns, intersex girls with FANTASTIC luscious moustaches, and so so much more. It's wonderfully done and each character explores their queerness in different ways. Some have accepted it for a long time and its just part of their lives, some are only just finding themselves, some are actively fighting to be seen and accepted.

every character is fantastic and fleshed out with lovely arcs and character growth. The stories are haunting and thrilling and heartbreaking and distressing. There are elderly lesbians with crossbows and aromantic creepy girls with pet spiders and werewolves with gold threaded through their fur and gay old fishermen who gradually turn into all powerful eldritch beings.... SO much more.

The basic plot without spoilers is that the world has to some extent ended, due to black rain that fell from the sky around 20 years ago, twisting everything and causing horrors to form. The deer in HFTH have 3 eyes and two sets of jaws and shrieks that sound like they're dying. A kid who fell into a lake full of black water when he was 8 warped into a being towering over 10 feet tall who still has the brain of a little kid. its fantastic and beautiful and horrifying, nestled somewhere between sci fi and horror. A huge corporation called the Botulus corporation has created Dreaming Boxes, colossal metal cubes capable of holding over a million people, where you can escape the end of the world and dream for your entire life.

surprise surprise BotCo is terribly fucked up and corrupt, and revolution starts happening from the inside. Lady Ethel Mallory is like if lady dimitrescu was trans and wore heart shaped sunglasses and fur scarfs and had giant pet flies. I love her.

Your narrator is an ancient god who is secretly an overdramatic theatre kid. Their name is Nigiknik and they are SO indignant and SO poetic and overdramatic (on purpose, its his character). Pretty much every character is loveable and horrifying and so, so haunted

It's about 90 episodes at this point and new episodes come out every wednesday, it's one of the best horror podcasts I have ever listened to. please please check it out!!!

_______

Other significantly less long-winded recommendations:

Camp here and there, transmasc host, fast paced, set at a camp for kids in a TOTALLY NORMAL PART OF THE WOODS. yeah the sky is blood red yeah the trees eat people yeah there's a guy in a pink plastic elephant mask who stands at the treeline but its FINE.

The penumbra podcast is more sci-fi then horror but its absolutely horrifying. Juno, the protagonist, is such a good character. all the characters are fucking fantastic. Very very good story!!! Juno is a private eye who has to go around solving other peoples problems while trying to resist kissing people. its great and scary

I haven't listened to it yet but I've heard that Old gods of Appalachia is VERY GOOD.

thats all for now!!!!!

#hfth #hello from the hallowoods #horror podcasts #ask tag #THANK YOU FOR THIS ASK I love putting other people through The Misery that is listening to HFTH #diggory graves is my favourite character but I also love olivier song..... and danielle my beloved #and jonah and hector and ricou and nolan and nik and bern and violet and winona and mort and polly and yaretzi and riot and moth and ethel

[giggleeclown]

I'm freaking terrified of clowns dude( coulrophobia) 👁️👄👁️

He is keeping his distance!!!

But for real right now. I’d like to bring something up about this.

Hi! I’m Vivi, and I am a hobbyist clown. I find clowning very important in my life. I also find erasing the stigma around clowns very important because this form of performance is dying quickly and many professional clowns are losing their jobs!

(DISCLAIMER. BEFORE I GO ANY FURTHER, I HAVE NO PROBLEM WITH HORROR THEMED CLOWNS. AS A MATTER OF FACT, I ENJOY THEM GREATLY AND HAVE CONSIDERED BECOMING A HAUNT ACTRESS. I HAVE A PROBLEM WITH PEOPLE INTENTIONALLY CAUSING EMOTIONAL DISTRESS IN PUBLIC SITUATIONS. THERE IS A TIME AND A PLACE FOR HAUNT ACTING.)

Though my intentions are not change your mind, I’d like to throw a few points out there.

First off, I’d like to say it’s very unfortunate to have this phobia. When I was younger, I had a phobia of walk around characters (mascots), so I know exactly how you feel. It’s such a shame when you feel fear for something that’s supposed to bring joy and amusement, especially when little children aren’t scared the way you are. It can make you feel ashamed or just overall down to have a seemingly harmless phobia.

Id also like to bring up something. Being afraid of ‘scary’ clowns is not just being afraid of clowns! Horror clowns were never in the picture for traditional clowning, and it was something that was brought into popularity much later. Think of it as how porcelain dolls were something prized back then, and now are romanticized by horror. If you’re scared of Annabelle but don’t bat an eye at a dolly on your grandmother’s shelf, you’re not really scared of dolls. It is a human instinct to be afraid of what is intentionally scary and hurtful. Especially when you are unsure of a masked stranger’s intentions.

From this point on, I’m going to assume that you have legitimate coulrophpbia.

I’d like to tell you what clowns mean to me. Clowns were invented to spark joy, safe feelings and amusement in people of all ages. There is a sense of security in clowns because they are always kindhearted and mean well, but also a strong humor them because they are the joke. This is why clowns and children go together hand in hand. Children can laugh at a clown because this is the one person who does not know better than them, and the child can teach the clown a thing or two.

Believe it or not, there are traditional clown rules. Some of them being that the joke is on the clown, profanity and criminal behavior are forbidden and no acts of physical and emotional harm to anyone. This always ensures that everyone has fun interacting with a clown. Of course, performers break societal rules all the time, which is why you see some versions of clowns being the total opposite. Crude birthday candle smokers who act like carnies. These depictions are wonderful, imaginative and not harmful! But these are also rules that ‘scary’ clowns break, and they do become harmful when used in this manner.

Traditional clown makeup is something that many people are afraid of, and I can completely understand this. This is because clowns, unfortunately, fall into the ‘uncanny valley.’ This means that they look somewhat human, but not quite. This can cause alarm in the brain that many cannot understand, and this is why we cannot understand clowns.

To bring up my last point, I’d like to say that being a clown or mirroring one can teach you many things. A clown must learn to laugh at themself, they must learn to smile in the worst of situations and make the best of their mistakes, they must learn the advantages of service to other people, have an instinct of empathy and a gentle heart, and they must always keep going after a bad show. This is why I love to be the character of a clown, but also mirror a clown in my everyday life.

At the end of the day, I don’t want to try to change your opinions or ‘convert’ your fear. This is a fear that you cannot control, and I completely understand your hesitance towards the uncanny valley. You’ve probably noticed at this point that I haven’t attempted to go from one point to another, just scattered a point or two. My goal is to spark ideas, conversation and the desire to understand and learn more. REMEMBER! Fear primarily comes from what humans do not understand. If I can be the reason more people are educated on this topic, then I am content.

To conclude this, however, I’d like to remind you that it is your duty as the only person who can make decisions for yourself to not interact with content that sparks your phobia. If my clown character scares you or makes you feel unsafe, you must always remember that you are the only person in control of what you take in on the internet. You owe it to yourself to take care of your brain and your emotions, and I don’t think that a very effective way is to engage with the person who has content that can harm your emotional well-being. Please keep this in mind for future reference.

I hope that this analysis potentially helped you see another side of clowning if you haven’t already. Once again, people become afraid of things that they don’t understand. I hope that I could provide you and others with a little education that could potentially get a conversation or a new opinion going. If you’ve finished reading this analysis, my best wishes to you on your adventures in taking care of yourself and your phobia.

But, if you should find yourself wanting to give clowns another chance, I am anxiously awaiting your return!

Have a lovely day!

#non tickling #non t content #bigtop the clown #the primary circus #coulrophobia #clowns #clowning #traditional clowns #real clowns #clown awareness

[johnwickfucker]

actually being bothered by things is a normal human experience to have. experiencing negative emotions like discomfort in response to seeing/reading something is normal. like yes, curate your online experience and avoid things that actively hurt you (ie. outright disturbing violent or sexual content) but also please Please distinguish the difference between "hurt" and "made feel somewhat badly/uncomfortable"

the person presenting an opinion on a character or show you hold dear is not hurting you by expressing that opinion. a character you like dying is a thing that made you sad, and is not a source of legitimate hurt to you. someone saying that walks and showers are good for people, causing you to think about how you don't do either as much as you should and making you feel bad, is not Hurting you and not cause for berating sed person. the book you had to read for school that included some upsetting topics was meant to make you upset (maybe even highly upset! maybe even somewhat distressed!) and prompt reflection upon Why you became upset and why the material is important to read because of that emotional response-- the uncomfortable parts shouldn't be avoided, nor should they be reason to avoid the work altogether because you don't want to feel negatively from interacting with the text.

i could go on, but also: if me expressing this opinion didn't make you feel very good, it is not an emotional "attack" on you and i don't want a hostile response from you. i'm not responsible for your emotions nor am i a bad person for making you feel upset by saying this. and if you interpret this in bad faith and find some moral reason why this opinion (and by extension, me) is Bad with a capital B, that's your own goddamn problem.

#i just read a bunch of chronically online takes and needed to get this out of my system #because so many of them were the result of people being overly sensitive to otherwise normal things being said #on some level it's funny and on another it's deeply sad to see people doing actual harm to themselves by not #developing a healthy amount of emotional resilience or regulation #instead choosing to blow up at anything and anyone that makes them feel bad and amplifying their feelings to the level of Pain #(making the source of that pain evil for causing it) #just. christ

[moo-oon]

Good Omens Re-Watch pt. 3

I completely forgot to post this, so enjoy these very old ramblings :)

I'm rewatching Good Omens with some friends (some have seen it already some have not) and I thought I would share my thoughts as they come because I am dying.

EPISODE 5

So much of the beginning of this episode is Aziraphale conducting his plan without telling Crowley what is really going on. The lack of communication here sets up the absolute heartbreak that will be coming.

Shax is such an interesting character. You think she would be so much better at her job. She has been doing it for so long but she is mostly bite with a little bit of bark. 

All the people saying that Aziraphale can’t speak French cause it's a love language I adore and applaud you. 

Nina calling them out on their gay chaos I love it to death. “He's not a bit on a side, he's just an angle” Wow ow okay darn wow okay. Tell me you're a hopeless romantic (and suck at communication) without telling me. 

Crowley trying to talk out his anxiety and stress with Aziraphale, getting brushed off, and then basically telling Gabriel to end his own life could not be more perfect. I would not be surprised if Crowley blames heaven for Aziraphale's perspective (even more so after ep.6).

Also whoever made the comparison that Crowley understands the pain of remembering that Gabriel has to go through is horrific. So many “I knows” with very little specification. 

When Muriel reports back to heaven it could not be more alarming how little everyone knows. Michael and Uriel should know so much more and they should not have to use a lower-level angel like Muriel to figure it out. It really shows how disorganized heaven is. 

As much as I want Aziraphale to communicate his meeting plans with Crowley there is something very sweet about him surprising Crowley with a ball. Even though it does not give me much hope that it all goes so poorly it is a kind thought. 

WHOEVER did Garbiels ball outfit deserves so much joy and praise. It could not be more wonderful!

I did not previously notice how stressed Aziraphale says “You are definitely safe in here” to Nina. He clearly knows that something is up (you know like demons invading) and still attempts to have a normal evening. His priorities are all confused, and his avoidance is at an all-time high.

The absolutely gorgeous shots throughout this entire season of Aziraphale's pining look are absolutely wonderful and heartbreaking. 

Once again Aziraphale avoids the situation. He KNOWS that something is wrong but when Crowley (somewhat desperately) tries to talk it through with him Aziraphale drags him to dance. He even tells Crowley that he is “overestimating how much trouble” they are in. This is so much of the root of the problem they really expose in episode 6. 

AGAIN WHOEVER GAVE GABRIEL THAT COAT GODBLESS HAVE A GOOD DAY!

I do not understand why but Nina and Maggie clearly are aware of the miracles and are unaffected. I literally have no idea how or why but also I am astonished how I did not notice this the first time around.

“Rescuing me makes him so happy” I don’t know how to approach this line. First of all, I think Aziraphale truly likes to be rescued. It shows that Crowley cares, that someone thinks he is worth putting the resources into saving. Crowley also probably like saving Aziraphale because he is not great with words and cannot express his emotions in that way. Saving him is a significantly easier way. On the opposite end, Aziraphale needing saving clearly causes Crowley an insane amount of distress. Which I think is clearly seen in the gun scene. Crowley does not mind saving Aziraphale when he has control of the situation, but as soon as he is not sure he can it's just a pit of stress.

EPISODE 6:

I think Maggie accidentally inviting the demons in is a nice touch. Not only does it show how overconfident she is but it reminds me a lot of how Crowley so desperately tries to protect Aziraphale to the point of self-destruction. As well as Shax saying that she is “unloved and unlovable”. That part imparticular feels like a deep insecurity for Crowley (and Maggie of course). 

“You’d have to be a Throne a Dominion or above” and all the archangel Crowley theorists aid YAY!

When Aziraphale says that all that his plan contains is the circle it is so clear how much faith he put into Crowley returning with a better plan. I love that they have faith in each other but the codependency is too far. Even Shax knows that Aziraphale is “Crowley's emotional support Angel”. They both rely on each other far too much for it to be healthy. (I desperately want them to be happy but I also NEED them to communicate)

The relief of Aziraphales's “You came back” is so torturous when you know what's gonna happen in like 2o minutes.

I do fully believe that Metatron feels that this was the best way to get Heaven and Hell to be at actual war. He recognized that Aziraphale and Crowley would not allow Heaven and Hell to go to war if they could prevent it. Instead, he made Aziraphale START the war (not really of course but ya know significant).

Okay so let us talk about the crack ship turned cannon, and how it could not have been done more beautifully. They had maybe a minute of discussion in season 1 and suddenly I am watching them fall in love. When I imagine soft romance it was not with them. They of course also represent what Crowley and Aziraphale COULD have. If they actually communicated and worked through stuff they too could feel the joy of living their own life. 

Aziraphale plainly asks Gabriel and Beezlepbub “What do you want?” and them HAVING AN ANSWER! If you asked Crowley and Aziraphale they would look at you and stutter profusely. 

The Angels not even being able to identify the Metaron is so telling. They don’t know how the earth works. They don’t know how Heaven works. They are so ignorant of everything and so self-righteous. Even the Metaron bringing Aziraphale coffee instead of tea shows how little anyone really knows. If anyone should know anything it would be him but no.

Crowley has begun to plan what they are gonna do, and he's cleaned up the bookshop so that WHEN Aziraphale returns they can continue living in their own little bubble. That my friends is why I sob.

Both Aziraphale and Crowley meet in the bookshop with such high hopes that they have solved the problem. They both believe they can now live happily because of their own solution. Once again they failed to communicate and this time it truly breaks both of their hearts.

I fully believe that Aziraphale telling Crowley about what Metatron said is completely unreliable. I do not believe that the Metatron would ever be so kind or know enough to say the correct things to Aziraphale. What we see the Metatron saying is actually what Aziraphale wants/believes he heard the Metatron say.

“Like the old times! Only even nicer!” For Crowley, it was never a nice time, especially now when it hurts to remember. 

I fully believe that Aziraphale cannot comprehend why Crowley is walking away. For the same reason that Crowley cannot comprehend why Aziraphale would even attempt what he was suggesting.

When Aziraphale turns around you can SEE the hope in his eyes. Then he sees the Metatron and he can’t even handle it so he turns back around. 

Then as Aziraphale is walked to the elevator what Crowley said in their argument/confession becomes true. WHEN heaven ends the world. Suddenly he understands but it's far too late.

Then Crowley gets his own moment of hoping that Aziraphale turns around, and of course, he doesn't.

Finale note, I fully believe that the Bently plays “A Nightengale Sang in Berkely Square” because it expected Aziraphale to get in. Because of course, Aziraphale would come back. EVEN THEIR CAR CAN’T COMPREHEND WHAT IS HAPPENING.

#good omens 2 #good omens #emotional ow #good omens spoilers #please let them communicate #good omens season 2 #good omens killed me #gos2 spoilers #im sobbing #good omens season 2 spoilers

[amesstm]

s/o who is scared of spiders

Characters: Daichi, Kita, Kuroo, Oikawa, Bokuto, Terushima, Futakuchi, Ushijima

A/N: This is inspired by my terrifying experience with a spider last night. If anyone wants to know, spraying it constantly with B&BW fragrance sprays is very effective. Now, my bathroom smells like warm vanilla sugar.

✨Daichi✨ would hear your scream and immediately think it’s a home invader because he’s a cop. As he ran towards you, he’s glad he’s done all the exercising he’s ever had to do for this exact moment. Absolutely no one was going to touch you. “What’s wrong?! Are you okay??? Is someone dying??” He assesses the situation and immediately sees you pointing at a small spider in the corner. He’s completely stone-faced (with that look on his face whenever Hinata and Kageyama argued) because he got so worried over nothing; so, he starts to turn away. “Nooo! Please come back!” After much pleading on your part, he’d promptly kill it with a press of his shoe. Clean scene with no evidence. You’re still breathing heavily but don’t worry, he hugs you because you’re his baby. You may be embarrassed because you know that your fear is irrational, but he’s seen a lot of fear in his lifetime.

✨Kita✨ would be running because of the blood-curdling scream. Kita is usually calm, collected, and stoic, but he actually shows worry for the first time in his life. He notices how you’re curled into a ball with your eyes fixated on the mirror. His keen eyes immediately see what you’re freaking out about. “Please get rid of it, Shin!” Yeah, all the anxiety disappeared from his face and a relaxed demeanor replaces it. “It’s only a spider, it won’t hurt you.” “It’s hurting me spiritually.” Since Kita works in the fields, he’s perfectly fine coexisting with bugs so he’d walk past you calmly, pick it up in his palm, and show it to you. Of course, you yell in terror so he just releases it outside, a little farther away from the house. “It’s gone.” “You released it, didn’t you…” He’d nod nonchalantly. “What if it comes back?” “I’ll be here for you.” You sighed but smiled, unable to ever really be mad at him, “We’re making a pillow fort for defense.”

✨Kuroo✨ would be concerned because he’s never heard you scream like that before, not even with him. But as soon as this man sees that you’re freaking out over a spider, this man of science will rationalize that it’s not a threat. Of course, Kuroo would laugh at you at first, but then he’d educate you on why spiders are good for the environment. He would absolutely try his best to make you understand that the specific spider you were scared of at this moment was actually not dangerous whatsoever. He knows that you’d freak out with visual examples of harmless spiders, so he sticks to an audio lesson. By the end of his spiel, you’re okay with spiders. Kuroo would still be in a teasing mode as usual, saying, “I’m so proud of your character development.” You pout, “Can we still evict it, though?”

✨Oikawa✨ would probably hear your screams from across the house and think you’re being dramatic (as if he can totally judge you). So, he takes his time sauntering to you whilst you’re just hoping he’d hurry up. He would literally roll his eyes because it was probably over nothing. But as soon as Oikawa enters and sees the menace, he would scream just as loud and definitely possibly higher than you would. If you could handle his weight, he totally would’ve jumped into your arms at that moment. You two would stare at it from across the room, holding onto each other and crying together. “You kill it!” “No, you kill it!” If it moves an inch, you two are screaming again. Even the spider would be confused by the spectacle because all it did was exist. Meanwhile, you both contemplate relocating to Antarctica (aka the only place without spiders in the whole world). Instead of any drastic actions, you call Hajime to be the savior of the day. Unfortunately, you had to use Oikawa’s phone and Hajime let it ring.

✨Bokuto✨ is concerned at first - as he should be - but then he’d love the spider because it’s small and docile. His eyes would widen like an owl’s in wonder, creeping even closer to the little guy so he wouldn’t scare it. The large man would even pick the little creature up, much to your astounded horror. He also dares to get close to the spider in his palm, whispering, “Hey little guy, was my little owl scaring you?” You’d definitely be offended because it scared you first??? You’re in the corner pouting from frustration and betrayal, watching Bokuto admire it. Soon, Bokuto would absolutely be engrossed in a whole conversation with the spider as if it would reply, so he didn’t see you enter with a vacuum. Now he’s the one screaming because you killed his friend.“STUART, NO! He had a wife and kids!” “Okay, so?” Bokuto is in emo mode until you prepare a funeral for ‘Stuart.’

✨Terushima✨ is all cocky and arrogant when he tries to kill the spider for you. His signature smirk wasn’t even subtle or disguised as concern when he teased, “Awh, does my darling in distress need me?” Now you stop freaking out, opting to glare at him because you just want him to get rid of it. Your hand swats at him, causing him to tease you even more. He’d laugh at your expression and shoo you away with an easygoing smile, “Don’t worry, it won’t be a problem for you anymore!” You’re bouncing slightly in place as you anxiously wait for some relief. Little did he know it was one of those jumping spiders. So when it jumps to another location entirely, he jumps and screams from terror and confusion. Wild TERUSHIMA fled! You sighed in disappointment and promptly closed off that area of the house because your knight in shining armor refused to enter a rematch.

✨Futakuchi✨ would think your phobia is irrational at first, as most do. In fact, he wanted to tease you for it, but the look on your face melted his iron heart. A big pout rested on your lips and your eyes dropped in pure hopelessness. Now, he decided that the perpetrator should be eliminated as soon as possible for you to be happy again. He’d swiftly grab a tissue, kill it in one go, and flush it down the toilet. Let it be known that your phobia had always been made fun of, so your boyfriend killing it without any questions? Futakuchi would definitely notice the sparkling heart eyes you were making at him, so he’d chuckle, “Why are you looking at me like that?” With the most serious expression and tone you asked, “Can we get married now?” He’d chuckle and walk away, not taking you seriously. You’d scamper after him, whining, “No, no, I mean it! Come back!”

✨Ushijima✨ would be really confused by your fear. “Why are you scared of it?” His furrowed eyebrows and confused eyes weren’t mocking whatsoever. So, you knew he was genuine in his curiosity and confusion. After calming yourself down, you’d explain why spiders absolutely terrified you. While many considered your boyfriend to be dense - and to be fair, he was - but he knew the look of fear. He’s seen it with his opponents before. Silently, he just kills it for you. You breathe out in relief, “Thank you! How can I make it up to you?” He’d slightly pout, “Do I scare you like the spider?” Confused by his question, you tilted your head, “No. Why?” “Because you looked like my opponents.” You blinked a few times and began to laugh, “No, no, baby. You don’t scare me at all.” Afterwards, you make him lean in for a kiss, which he gladly accepts as reassurance.

A/N: y’all why did my autocorrect wanna write cow when I was writing Ushijima’s??? It knows bro.

©amesstm on tumblr // pls do not plagiarize, steal, or repost my content w/o permission!! BUT likes & reblogs are highly appreciated :)

#haikyuu!! #haikyuu #haikyuu imagines #hq captains #daichi imagine #kita x reader #koutarou x reader #ushijima x y/n #kuroo tetsuro x you #terushima x you #daichi sawamura #kita shinsuke #haikyuu koutarou #kuroo tetsurou #haikyuu terushima #ushijima wakatoshi #oikawa tooru #oikawa x reader

[basement-writings]

Your absolutely fine anon, sorry this took so long, Texas has been going through storms and electricity is sparse. I’m glad that you requested this again because I honestly like writing for Victor, I find his character one that You can expand on a lot. tysm again anon :)))

<~Yandere 2P Russia headcanons~>

Viktor is a man of logic and few words. Most people don’t even bother approaching him because of his intimidating physique around almost everyone. So for him to fall so hard for another person is unheard of, especially to him.

He wouldn’t like these new feeling at all as he’s learned from a young age that you can only trust on yourself and that other people will want to use you, trick you, harm you, and discard you when your no longer ‘useful’ to them; so for you to suddenly make him feel so vulnerable around you would make him despise you, make him want to see you submit to him and only him.

~~

Victor was situated in his living room in front of his fireplace, relaxing after a tiring day at work. From the outside you couldn’t tell that he was distressed, from how his face never seemed to remove his stern glare. But on the inside, unbeknownst to anyone, he was tethering on the edge of insanity.

You had only been in his life for around a month but you had already invited yourself into his mind and disrupted the calm tranquility peace he once had. He was never one to lose himself to another person, but, you were really testing his self control by making him feel these emotions.

He hated you for disrupting him but on the other hand, he wanted nothing more than to have you to himself. Make you feel everything inch of pain that you had caused him. Yes, he had to make you pay for the sins you had committed. Make you feel vulnerable in his presence, make you submit your every thought to him and only him. It was all reasoned in Victors mind, as it seemed like a fair exchange.

Victor only snapped out of his thoughts as he realized his growing grip on the arms of his chair, turning his hands white. He slowly took his hand off of the arm and looked at the dent in the material his hand had made.

He turned his attention to the dying fire before him, leaning forward ever so slightly to stare more intensely into it. Signing, he picked up a log and threw it onto the small fire, watching as the fire attached itself to it, completely consuming it.

He leaned back in his chair still staring into the fire, thinking of the ways to perfect his plan on getting you.

~~

Now this isn’t to say that Victor wouldn’t be capable to loving you, even with how sadistic he would get with his unforgiving punishments, when your behavior has been pleasing to him he would show the slightest bit of romance towards you.

This would mostly include caring for you and not ignoring you all the time for his work. He wouldn’t be too opposed to just reading together in bed or the fireplace, in his opinion it would do you wonders instead of being on your silly phone (not that you would have it in his care, unless your counting the land line-).

Though he would much appreciate a smart reader and would nurture your smarts with giving you more books exploring the human mind along with Psychology. But he would also be cautious of the books he gives you as he doesn’t want you to be able to outsmart him and possible escape his grasp.

Though if you do decide to try to escape, you would need to get out of Russia fast and possible seek shelter in America because Victor doesn’t take well to be outsmarted and you having a sucessful escape would excite and anger him at the same time, Victor isn’t used to feeling such strong emotions before so his outburst would be deadly.

Victor has no problems pulling strings in his government to get some loyal spies to retrieve you, he isn’t afraid of intimating other nations into giving him information if he suspects them to be hiding you from him.

Once your back in his care, he won’t hold back from making you permanently reliant on him.

Don’t worry though, he’ll take great care of you.

#yandere hetalia x reader #Yandere Hetalia #Yandere 2p Russia #2p Russia #TW Yandere #yandere aph #Yandere 2p Russia x reader #Yandere

[amintyworld]

Dream SMP Fusion AU:

Certainly not me thinking about a Steven Universe AU for Dream SMP because fusions

Also, just to note: Not all fusions are for romantic relationships, so please no shipping since many of the creators are uncomfortable with that. The one somewhat romantic relationship fusion mentioned is between the characters Schlatt and Quackity, and are the only ones classified as such for the lore and story already created - I do not ship them whatsoever. Thank you.

Also, feel free to use these ideas with credit!

TW: Abusive Relationship, Toxic Realtionship, manipulation.

So like, what if during the L’manburg Independence War L’manburg was the only ones who really fused with each other, and the Dream SMP just never really thought it was useful and therefore didn’t really use it all that much for battle, pvp, etc. 

They discovered fusion one day while building the wall when a bit of debris was about to fall on Fundy and Wilbur swooped in to save him, and suddenly... a whole completely different person stood in their place. It didn’t last very long, but Wilbur from then on was determined to learn all he could about it and understand it. 

Wilbur couldn’t seem to explain his findings much scientifically, but he wrote up a journal on all he learned - how the fusion seems to combine and showcase the best parts of each individual person.

An iconic Steven Universe Scene takes place (For you SU fans, when Smoky Quartz first came to be) when Tommy in a effort to get his discs back one day tries to take Dream head on, pushing away Tubbo’s help. Tommy gets throughly beat up by Dream and in a heartfelt moment Tommy tells Tubbo that no matter what he does Dream will always win against him because he’s not strong enough. Then, Tubbo says that that’s not true, that Tommy doesn’t have to be like Dream, if anything Tommy’s like him because they both aren’t like anybody else, and it sucks, but they have each other. Finally Tommy accepts Tubbo’s help as they fuse for the first time.

Eret and Niki fused once while hanging out and dancing one day, which led Wilbur to discover how to trigger the fusion in a more controlled manner - through dancing. 

The war happens with the revolution holding better against Dream and his posse for the short fact that they had fusion on their side - they weren’t totally confident in the ability yet, which lead to some close calls to unfusing at the wrong time, but a few prominent fusions came out of it. In the end, they won and Wilbur continued to write his findings in the journal.

The election came about, and with it the exile of Wilbur and Tommy - this time the two were on the receiving end of fighting with fusions.

Wilbur even suggested on fusing together for survival - together they were more combat skilled, and better focused. After all, there was lesser chance of hurting one target than there was two. So, for a while they stayed together, at least, until Technoblade came to help.

Techno was very awkward at the whole fusion thing - it seemed stupid, and the poor pig hybrid didn’t exactly dance very well, though he was often too embarrassed to admit it. Techno didn’t understand how his two brothers could fuse so easily while he just... couldn’t. (I’m imagining Wilbur coaching him in Pogtopia while Tommy has to wear paint cans in order to each his height)

While out together, the sight of Tubbo causes Wilbur and Tommy to become so distressed they unfuse as Tubbo tells them he wants to help, and becomes their spy.

Back in Manburg, a certain goat hybrid finds Wilbur’s fusion journal and does some light reading. Schlatt thinks that he needs fusion soldiers to fight for him - from what he’s reading, these fusions are practically unstoppable. If he were to have that kind of power at his disposal, no one could stop him.

Being the ‘selfless’ leader he is, he uses himself as a test subject as he fuses with his militia - Punz, Ponk...

Quackity at first makes fun of his attempts as always within five minutes the fusion quickly falls apart. This only pisses of Schlatt more, until he comes up with an idea. 

He confronts Fundy and tells him that if he was loyal to Manburg, and their desires aligned, they’d be able to fuse no problem. Fundy agrees and they become the first completed fusion in Manburg - Fundy only does it because he wants to keep suspicion low and his cover a secret, and it somehow works. Schlatt doesn’t question Fundy much after that.

As the festival gets planned Schlatt continues his tactic of sniffing out traitors through fusion, which does not bode well for Tubbo, who keeps narrowly escaping having to fuse (Looking at the ‘I’m pregnant’ excuse-).

Back in Pogtopia, tensions rise as Wilbur and Tommy become more and more distant as Wilbur plans to blow up Manburg during the festival. 

Festival happens, not much really changes except Schlatt tries to get Niki to fuse with him to prove she wasn’t a traitor and not get killed like Tubbo - Wilbur overhears and intervenes, running away with Niki back to Pogtopia, fusing with her to help both of them escape.

When Quackity tries to leave, Schlatt forces him to fuse to stop the traitor from escaping, and for the first time, the two get trapped in a mixed up mess of a fusion - nothing is combined of the two, it’s all a mish mashed up mess - thankfully they aren’t fused for long and Quackity escapes, but both have the feeling of agony, sorrow and pain of the forced fusion in their minds. 

They take back L’manburg with some awesome fusion v fusion fights.

In a last attempt to keep from dying, Schlatt forces Quackity to fuse with him again in exchange that he release Tubbo, who was on his last cannon life (Schlatt held up a knife to his throat.) Once again, Quackity is trapped down in the painful and dark abyss as their fusion makes mass destruction. Wilbur, Tommy, Tubbo, and Techno all fuse to take  the unstable fusion down.

They succeed in doing so, fatally wounding Schlatt enough to corner him, the stress, drugs, and alcohol combing into a panic attack and he dies. 

From there, things proceed as normal - Techno releases the Withers, Wilbur pushes the button. 

New L’manburg is thriving with Tubbo as the new president... everyone can finally be who they want to be - wounds of course are still healing.

Quackity talks with Tubbo about his bad experience with Schlatt, and Tubbo is there to listen and always tells him that he doesn’t have to fuse if he doesn’t want to... of course fusion can be helpful (Some fusions have been helping repair the TNT and Wither damage) but, Tubbo insists, you don’t have to fuse to be able to help.

Ranboo gets a crash course in fusion basics by Phil and Ghostbur. (It’s like gem classroom, it’s all so cute guys-)

Phil also helps out Fundy who’s still iffy about Wilbur and all that he did for him... namely, fusing with Schlatt to avoid suspicion. It’s all wholesome and sweet, even with Ghostbur and his failed attempts to help in the background.

Things play out as normal in terms of plot - Techno retires, Tommy gets exiled...

Dream, at first, is very committed to blowing up Tommy’s stuff - one day, he says he won’t do it only if Tommy fuses with him, because he’s curious in how it works. 

This turns straight up unhealthy during the Beach Party when Tommy remembers all the times he used to have and how he feels so lonely, and Dream tells him that he’s always gonna be there for him even if they don’t, which results in Tommy and Dream fusing for a while whenever he comes to visit so Tommy won’t feel as lonely or as depressed. Tommy becomes dependent on Dream and the fusing and clings to it to an unhealthy amount, though Tommy of course wouldn’t admit that.

Eventually, Dream blows up Logstedshire and leads to Tommy running away in a brief moment of clarity. 

Phil gets under house arrest as the Butcher Gang try to take Techno down to kill him, but Phil, the ever to clever, gets there before they do and fuses with Techno to help take them down. They unfuse when Quackity threatens Techno’s horse, revealing that Phil snuck out. Techno covers for him and tells them that he broke Phil out, that it’s his fault and Phil had nothing to do with it. They believe him and Phil is in the clear.

The attempt fails, Techno finds Tommy and the two continue to practice fighting while fused - Tommy’s idea from his experience fighting with Wilbur - and they’re pretty strong. Ranboo and Ghostbur hang around and ooo and ahh over their moves.

Tubbo visits Tommy and as in cannon believes he’s dead but for a different reason - he finds evidence of when Tommy and Dream were playing around while fused and thinks that they’re permently fused - Dream forged a letter claiming that exact thing. Tubbo of course blames himself for losing his best friend.

Back in New L’manburg, the Butcher Gang gets fusion training too (except for Quackity) and Ranboo finally fuses for the first time with Fundy, the fusion turning into what a 12 year old would be like on redbull.

While on house arrest, Phil tries fusing with Ghostbur and to his surprise... it works - not for very long, but it works. They come to the conculsion that since Ghostbur is a ghost, that maybe it wasn’t two people fusing but instead a soul and a person, leading to the imbalance.

While Techno and Tommy are fused, they hold Connor captive and ask for ransom... leading Tubbo to be extremely confused when someone he doesn’t know is asking ransom from him who appearently knows him-?!

Only after they unfuse... Tubbo realizes that Tommy’s still... here. He’s still here and not in a fusion with Dream. Things go as in cannon.

Finally, after Dream figures out where Tommy is and tells Techno, any chance he gets with Tommy alone he tries to tell him that they could fix everything if they just fused again, and Tommy keeps finding himself refusing.

Anyway, what do ya’ll think? Should I do a follow up post for the fusions?

#dream smp #dream smp au #niki mcyt #c!niki #the eret #itsfundy #wilbur soot #son fundy #dad wilbur #tommyinnit #tommyinnit and tubbo #tommyinnit exile #tubbo president #president tubbo #ranboo #dreamwastaken #c!dream #jschlatt #c!schlatt #quackity #technoblade #the festival #dream smp spoilers #dream smp fusion au #steven universe

[radexchangeprogram]

Hii, I've seen you have open requests and I have been thinking about this for a while, so I wonder if you could do something with Mammon x female reader who one day just snaps at brothers, because the way they keep talking about him being stupid and worthless hits too close to her own experience and she doesn't want anyone else to go through it? 🥺 I hope it's not too complicated, I just feel so soft for Mammon lately 🥺 Thank you in advance! 💖

Of course! I actually love this idea. This is more gender neutral than female since there wasn’t really any instance where pronouns/gender became really relevant for the reader.

Scummy (GN!MC x Mammon)

Warnings for cussing, possibly emotional abuse

I’m also a little mean to Satan, Asmo, and Leviathan in this I’m sorry (I don’t hate any of them but MC had to snap at someone in this 😔 being mean to Satan especially hurt bc hes my favorite)

You were sick of it. It was as if Mammon so much as breathed wrong that his brothers would start insulting him.

It reminded you of how your family would take every opportunity to put you down, picking apart every mistake you made while ignoring all of your successes.

Today was the day you finally had enough.

Mammon had come in, excitedly talking about a big modeling gig he had scored and how he was going to make loads from it. Rather than congratulating him, his brothers began making jabs at him.

“So what? You’re just gonna gamble it all away in a week.” Was Satan’s voice always this condescending?

“A week? More like a day lololol!” Leviathan’s laugh sounded crueler than you remember.

“I don’t even know why you keep getting gigs! You’re not even THAT good looking!” Asmodeus’ normally comforting voice sounded more like nails not a chalk board now.

Mammon’s smile faultered, distress hiding behind his eyes.

“Shaddup! You don’t know what you’re talking about!” He was getting defensive, trying to protect his ego.

“You know we’re right, scumbag. Just because you did one thing right doesn’t mean-“ You didn’t even let Leviathan finish.

“CAN YOU ALL SHUT UP? WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?”

The four brothers froze and turned to you, their faces all expressing various degrees of shock.

“Why do you always pick on Mammon? I get being frusterated when he steals from you, but this? HE DIDN’T EVEN DO ANYTHING!”

You looked at Satan first, not caring about any possible consequences about what you were going to say.

“If he’s scummy than what are you? You’re a passive aggressive asshole who resorts to cursing people rather than talking anything out!”

Leviathan was next.

“You’re so absorbed in self pity that you would cry about nothing being fair instead of going out and fixing your problems!”

And finally Asmodeus.

“And you’re a whiny narcissist who thinks you’re entitled to everyone’s attention!”

The brothers were dumbfounded. You had never lashed out at any of them like this.

Without another word, you grabbed Mammon’s hand and dragged him to your room.

“M-MC what was that about, huh? They could have hurt you for saying that kinda stuff!” Mammon was trembling, overwhelmed and confused as to why someone would do something that bold to defend him.

“Because I’m sick of them treating you like shit! Why do you just let them talk like that to you?” You noticed that small tears started to form in the corner of his eyes.

“The G-Great M-Mamm-Mammon doesn’t-“ He couldn’t even finish his sentence before breaking down.

“Fuck, MC, I don’t know! Maybe cause they’re right. I’m the scummy second born! All I do is steal and gamble and lie and-“

You cut him off by hugging him tightly, burying your face in his chest as his tears fell onto your head.

“They’re not right. You’re the best demon I know. You protect me, make me laugh, keep me company, and so much more. You’re my first man and I love you.”

His face turned red when you said that you loved him. While he would often say that he’s your first so you should love him, he never thought you would genuinely love him back.

“I love you too.” He gulped.

Feeling bold, he gently lifted your face to his and kissed your lips like he had been dying to for so long.

You moved your arms to rest over his shoulders and deepened the kiss.

By the time you pulled away, both of your faces looked as red as Diavolo’s hair.

“S-so does this mean you’re mine? I mean you’re already mine but I mean-“

You cut him off with a laugh.

“Of course I am. As long as you’re mine too.”

He continued to hold you close until you heard a loud knock at your door.

Realization smacked you when you remembered that you had insulted three of the most powerful demons in the Devildom not even half an hour ago.

Mammon saw that you were scared and placed a kiss on your forehead.

“Don’t think I wouldn’t protect my treasure if they try anything.”

Mammon opened the door, making it clear to his brothers that if they were here for revenge that he would stop them. While he may not be the most calculating demon he was still the second strongest of them all.

“We came to apologize. MC made us realize that we may have been too harsh to you.” Satan said, looking at his feet shamefully.

“While you might not be as pretty as me-“ Satan elbowed Asmodues in warning before the fifth born continued, “getting a modeling gig like that is something that you deserve to be happy about.”

“This reminds me of this one episode from ‘I’m a the Second Most Powerful Demon Lord but No One Respects Me’ where the main characters brothers realized that they were being jerks because the main character’s human friend yelled at them!”

Everyone looked at Leviathan with a look of annoyance before he blushed.

“I mean um- I’m sorry for being a jerk to you, Mammon.”

“W-well you should be! Insulting the Great Mammon like that! In fact, I think each of you should give me 1,000 grimm to show me how sorry you really are!”

The brothers groaned in annoyance. At least Mammon was back to his usual self.

#obey me #obey me mammon #obey me mammon x mc #obey me mammon x reader #mammon x reader #mammon x mc #obey me imagines #obey me reader insert

[agent-8449]

The Radiation Dilemma (SBI Rust/Sleepyrust)

Obviously, Rust is a video game and the measurements of radiation are purely arbitrary, but this is all for fun! I also don’t have the game so I could not do the precise measurements I wanted.

1: The Problem

Radiation in Rust (also notably, the Fallout franchise) is measured in Rads. Rads are a dated measurement of absorbed radiation defined as 1/100th of a Gray or 1/10th of a Joule per kilogram. For example, while in the Dome a player receives 10 rads/second. Now, sure, this doesn’t sound too bad right?

Wrong. Dead wrong. A dose of 1000 rads is fatal 100% of the time. Any of our titular cult members would be dead in under two minutes. In a different perspective, the most radioactive thing on Earth was once the Elephant’s Foot settled at the bottom of Chernobyl nuclear reactor no.4′s basement-- a structure made of once-molten nuclear reactor fuel and the silicon that made up the reactor chamber itself. At its most radioactive it output 80 grays an hour; or just over 2 rads per second. Anyone within a meter of it would suffer a lethal dose within 4 minutes of exposure. And our beloved Dome has a radioactivity 500% of this.

Obviously, something else is going on here or even with radiation protection, players would be dropping dead in less than a minute.

2: The Effect

25 Rads is the minimum dose for the effect to be observable in blood chemistry. At 200 rads a person will start developing rashes and sores, called erythema. At 400 rads you have a 50% chance of dying. Of course, this is when the given amount of rads is applied in a ‘short amount of time’. How long is this amount of time? According to wikipedia, 100 rads applied in less than a day is enough to cause Acute Radiation Syndrome (ARS). That’s how much radiation Wilbur or anyone else would receive in ten seconds while inside the Dome. ARS isn’t usually fatal, but it sure isn’t fun, and these people are definitely spending more than a moment in these areas.

The Dome isn’t even the most radioactive place in Rust-- the Power Plant, for example, has some areas that output an astonishing 75 Rads/second. Something that radioactive would be scorching to the touch, and just being in the vicinity would be actively sickening.

3: The Lore

This early in the Sleepyrust server’s history, everything is quite vague. However, we do know that when players die their body doesn’t disappear (compared to Minecraft, where the original body poofs into smoke). This mechanic is notably used by Krinios/Hycei’s faction, Fort Kickass, to supply them with food. Cannibalism is a grim yet surprisingly plausible tactic in Rust.

This ‘cloning’ could be an answer to how the characters/players survive the sheer amount of radiation present on the island. For one, it suggests that someone or something has the ability to copy, manipulate and teleport human bodies. Not only do their radiation-addled bodies get reset to a clean slate often, they could also have been genetically altered to be resistant to radiation.

This could also explain why Tommy’s death to Hycei on the 13th caused him so much confusion and distress; the process of copying over his memories to the new body wouldn’t be perfect, and likely would take a little while to ‘settle’. It doesn’t help such a death would be quite traumatic.

So, all in all, the horrific levels of radiation in Rust bring some very interesting ideas to consider. I believe SBI Rust has some amazing potential for lore and storylines and this one aspect of the video game could result in so much.

Thank you for reading!

#sbi rust #rust #sleepyrust #overanalysing yo #this was fun to do

[tlbodine]

The Great Content Warning Debate

Horror Twitter has been aflame for a few days now with heated discourse about trigger/content warnings, and I keep seeing the same arguments and questions and points come up repeatedly so I wanted to collect all of it into one place because I feel like discourse can only get so far if people keep reinventing the wheel -- so perhaps having the full discussion laid out in one place could be helpful.

Of course, the folks arguing probably won’t see this post, but perhaps there can be some benefit from talking about it anyway. This is intended to be more of an overview of arguments and counter-arguments, collected and displayed as impartially as possible, but of course my own opinions are going to leak in and color some of this. 

NOTE: This is written specifically from the perspective of the horror book community, a genre that traditionally is associated with troubling, transgressive, risk-taking and shocking works. There are discussions to be had for content labels on other types of fiction, but as I’m unfamiliar with the norms and expectations of, say, romance, I’m not going to wade too deeply into that here. 

So without further ado, the arguments and counter-arguments and discussion points that I keep seeing hashed and rehashed and circled around when the issue of trigger warnings comes up! 

If you’re sensitive, you shouldn’t be reading horror 

“Horror is supposed to be horrifying! It’s not fluffy bunnies and kittens! You’re supposed to be made uncomfortable!” 

There are a few problems with this: 

“Uncomfortable” is not the same as “Sent into a panic attack/flashback/relapse” (ie, triggered) 

People with PTSD and other issues can and do engage with horror all the time and often love the genre for entertainment or therapeutic purposes

Many people are fine with some types of content but not others; blood and guts won’t affect them the same as rape, or they’re fine with adults dying but can’t handle child death, and so on and so forth 

Knowing what you’re getting into can help you prepare/brace yourself so you’re not taken unaware; people with the right warnings can mentally prepare themselves and enjoy a book that they would not have been able to read if they were confronted with it unexpectedly

Trigger warnings are censorship 

Some folks have an implicit/kneejerk reaction that “trigger = bad thing” and respond to the request to put warnings on a book as a moral value judgment on the book’s contents. I can see why they might fear that, especially because at a glance it’s easy to conflate the groups asking for warnings with the groups who say things like “if your characters have underage sex then you the writer are literally a pedophile.” But by and large the folks asking for warnings do not seem to be asking for folks to stop writing certain difficult themes, only to provide a heads up for readers about the type of experience those readers can expect from the book. 

There is an argument to be made that warnings could affect the sales of a book, in much the same way that an NC-17 film doesn’t get the same distribution opportunities as an R-rated or PG-13 film, and that authors/publishers will make marketing decisions to include or exclude certain types of content in order to avoid this. 

Trigger warnings will spoil the book 

While some readers will benefit from content warnings, others might have their reading experience ruined by knowing about major twists. This seems especially relevant with a warning like “child death.” It’s very important that people who have, for example, recently lost a child not be unexpectedly re-traumatized by reading about a child dying without warning. But it’s also important that people who want to enjoy the full, shocking impact of such a scene have the opportunity to do so without having it dulled by forewarning. 

Any kind of warning system needs to be opt-in for a reader. Some suggestions include: 

Placing warnings at the end of a book, where readers can flip to that page to look (not helpful if you’re ordering online) 

Placing warnings on the author’s website, where readers can search (not helpful if you’re buying in person)

Given the limitations, a combination of those strategies seems to make sense. It may also be unfortunately true that someone looking for one type of warning (ie, rape) will have their experience ruined if they spoiler themselves for another warning (child death). This may be unavoidable collateral damage. 

Authors/Publishers should be responsible for putting warnings in their books

There seems to be some debate over whether the onus of responsibility for providing warnings rests on the author or the publisher. It should be acknowledged that authors may not always have the power to make this choice -- and if the presence or absence of warnings becomes a factor for judging the quality/moral fiber of authors, those authors could be punished by the reader community for a choice that was largely out of their hands (although, there’s still nothing keeping the author from hosting those warnings externally - how successfully that is implemented is another matter). 

Additionally, the demand for warnings will be placed more consistently on small presses simply because those presses are more likely to heed the request. This could create a double standard where readers might be more forgiving of large pub works that forego warnings because there’s no expectation that they would have implemented them anyway. On the other hand, this could be a way for indie publishers to differentiate themselves on the market and appeal more to certain subsets of readers. 

External groups or communities should be responsible for warnings

There’s a line of reasoning that an author or publisher may not be sensitive to the potentially triggering/damaging things in their work, and some kind of external governing body should manage this work instead. This does sound a lot more like the censorship argument that people are worried about. 

Wiki-style sites and places where people can freely tag books (such as Storygraph) also fit this bill to an extent. They would presumably have less power over the market than a ratings board like the MPAA, but could still exert influence over how a book is received. 

Demanding warnings will negatively impact marginalized authors 

We’re already seeing some evidence that BIPOC and LGBTQ authors are affected more by user-generated trigger warnings on sites like Storygraph, and that these warnings can be weaponized against marginalized authors. Much like review-bombing a book before it comes out can affect its launch, labeling a book with inaccurate trigger warnings could damage its sales. 

Similarly, lists of “safe” and “unsafe” authors have already begun to circulate among some groups, and there seems to be a disproportionate number of marginalized creators on that “unsafe” list -- at least according to the anecdotal reports I’ve seen. 

Historically, it is true that any attempts at censorship or content moderation will be more harshly applied to marginalized groups (see: film ratings for gay sex vs straight sex). 

It’s impossible to warn for everything

One hesitancy that some authors have with tagging their work is they’re not sure what to tag for. Triggers are highly personal, and there’s no way you can possibly guess what might upset a reader. 

Here’s a list of commonly agreed-upon things that might make sense to tag for in a given work: 

Violence/gore 

Suicide/self-harm

Rape/sexual assault

Domestic violence

Child death/endangerment

Animal death/abuse

Drug use/substance abuse 

Racism/slurs 

That said, it’s still difficult to account for context. At what stage do you warn for something? If a character is drinking a beer, do you need to tag for that? Do you distinguish between the tone things are written in, such as being played for laughs vs seriously? If the rape scene is written artistically/metaphorically, does the same warning apply as if it were described act-by-act in a clinical sense? What if your blanket list of warnings gives readers a false sense of what the book will be like -- is it actually helpful at all, or is it just posturing/virtue signaling to include warnings that won’t actually be effective?  

Some would argue that this is dramatically overthinking it, but this does seem to cause a great deal of distress to authors who want to do the right thing but worry about getting it wrong. An argument could be made that trying and failing might be worse than doing nothing, especially if your attempts get you labeled as a “trustworthy” or “safe” author only for that trust to be “betrayed” by a warning you used incorrectly. 

On the other hand, many would argue that we all “pretty much know” what needs to be warned for, and that warnings are intuitive. These granular questions could be viewed as a distraction from more common sense issues. 

Readers are responsible for managing their own safety

Ultimately, because it’s impossible for every potential trigger to be identified and warned for, readers will need to remain vigilant. Of course, there are already ways to identify the content of a book without any kind of established warning system -- such as, for example, reading posted book reviews, asking a question on a book’s Goodreads page, reaching out to the author directly, asking about the book in a reading group online or having a friend/parent/spouse/trusted person read the book first and report back with their findings. 

This is the system we’ve pretty much used as readers for years, before “trigger warning” became part of the common vernacular, and it does have some distinct advantages just because you can get a lot more specific information this way. 

It is possible that if warnings become more commonplace for books that readers may become less vigilant about their own safety, which could paradoxically put them at greater risk of finding troubling content unexpectedly. 

There’s also the issue of “safe” and “unsafe” author lists. At the moment, while the discourse is hot, it’s perhaps more natural to pick sides and disregard some authors for reasons that may be unfair -- for example, marking an author as unsafe or boycotting her work because she doesn’t want to include warnings, but she wants to avoid warnings because she strongly believes they will be detrimental to a reader’s safety. A reader may or may not agree with that perspective, but it’s certainly not the same motive as an author who would do something actively malicious to a reader (like, idk, emailing a screamer to a reviewer or something. that’s a made up example.) 

In the end, trigger warnings are a good idea, but the issue is complex to implement and some people do still have reservations about their overall efficacy. 

We simply won’t know one way or another until we try to implement it. But in the meantime, I do think it’s valuable to continue talking about this, as long as everyone involved remains civil and engages in good faith. Once people’s perspectives start getting thrown out the window in the heat of the moment, or strawmen arguments are erected that don’t reflect what anyone involved actually believes, the discussion ceases to be helpful. 

#trigger warnings #discourse #twitter nonsense #authors behaving badly #writing advice #writeblr #writing #publishing

[calliecat93]

When I started TNG, the biggest curiosity I had was why Dr. Pulaski was so hated. I heard plenty about why, but at the same time I wanted to see for myself and be able to draw my own conclusions. Well now that I’ve finished S2, I think that I can safely state my opinion and the reasons why she had such a bad reception.

My general opinion is… Pulaski’s fine, but she got an bad start. She’s a very competent doctor who is devoted to her duty. She’s a bit of a smartass, but otherwise a friendly enough person. She’s a VERY much based off a certain CMO form a certain other Star Trek show that came out before this one, but we’ll get to that later. Pulaski honestly had a lot working against her and she just wasn’t able to get over them despite her actress Diana Muldaur (who played Miranda Jones in TOS) doing an excelent acting job. It ultimately ended with Pulaski being dropped all together and Crusher returning in Season 3.

While I understand the hate against Pulaski and can’t say that it’s unwarranted to an extent, I think that a lot of it that I saw was overblown. Now if people disliked the character, that’s fine. Everyone has different tastes and reasons for what they like and dislike and should be free to have and express those thoughts. But a lot of the issues with her that I had were taken care of very early on and she became much better by the end of her tenure. So why do I believe that Pulaski ultimately failed? Well I’ve come up with three explanations based off my own observations from watching the show and what I got from fandom consensus. Now this is all my opinion based on those observations and is not objective fact whatsoever, so take this with a grain of salt. So I believe the reasons that Pulaski failed are:

#1. She Is Essentially a Female Dr. McCoy… Sort Of: Pulaski was clearly heavily based on Dr. McCoy from TOS. She’s an middle-aged, somewhat world-weary doctor. She’s stubborn, grumpy, and doesn’t put up with anyone’s crap. She’s witty and always ready with a biting comment. She has the dedication to her job. She has the bantery relationship with the Science Officer, which we’ll go into that here soon. She is a doctor before she is an officer and that will always be her top priority, even at great risk to herself. She has a zero tolerance towards authority and isn’t afraid to talk back to anyone no matter how much they outrank her. She even outright has a hatred of teleporters that McCoy had. The parallels are all there. It may be why I’m a bit more lenient on her since McCoy is very much my favorite character in TOS and so far all of ST. But I think it is very much the root of the problem.

While Pulaski has several of McCoy’s traits, I think the writers really only understood McCoy on a surface level. They forget to include his compassion, his empathy, his humanism, his loyalty to the captain even when he opposes his actions, all of the things that make McCoy… well, McCoy. I don’t even know if the pacifism is there. Also McCoy had over 70 episodes of TOS and at that point five films (Undiscovered Country hadn’t been made yet). Pulaski had about 20 episodes and her relevance depended on the episode. McCoy had that as well, but he also had more material so we had FAR more time to get to know him. Pulaski didn’t get to have the time to gain that depth or care from the audience. Like… can I imagine Pulaski hypoing someone so that she can be tortured in their stead and it have the same impact that The Empath did? Can I see her counseling and assuring Picard if he’s having doubts like McCoy did for Kirk in The Ultimate Computer (okay tbf that would be Troi’s job but still)? Could I imagine any of the main cast being crushed about Pulaski dying of a terminal illness and choosing to stay on essentially a doomed spaceship with someone she just met and feel as gutted as I did in For the World is Hollow…? Honestly… given time maybe but in the end no. Now could I imagine McCoy risking getting an aging illness to possibly cure a child and others of it ala Unnatural Selection? Yes, albiet I think he’d be smart enough to bring protective equipment with him to be safe. Could I imagine McCoy telling someone like Data they’d be wrong to sit by a woman giving birth because he wasn’t human ala The Child? Hell no. Maybe he would if he was worried it would cause potential distress the one giving birth, but it sure as hell wouldn’t be because they’re an android. But I could imagine that someone who just saw McCoy as ‘grumpy doctor with a bad bedside manner who says witty lines and argues with the logical Vulcan character’ would get that interpretation. Thus why I think that Pulaski may have ended up how she did.

Now mind you I do think it IS a double standard to excuse McCoy’s dickish momemts and flaws, but demonize Pulaski for her’s. It’s like saying a man can be that way because it’s just expected of them and they can be forgiven, but a woman doing so or being assertice is wrong and they are horrible and unforgivable for having these traits or having flaws even if they correct them. That being said I do think that it’s more than that and it all comes down to the fact that TOS and TNG are two different shows with different character dynamics and ways of doing things. TOS mainly followed a Triumvirate (for the most part but that’s a different post entirely), TNG is much more of an ensemble. Pulaski didn’t have a Kirk nor a Spock to bounce off of or either let her traits shine or be kept in check like McCoy did nor did she really develop any unique relations for herself aside from maybe with Troi. We hear about her empathy and humanitarianism, but we don’t really see it on-screen like we did with McCoy. She has his surface level traits, not the deeper ones that the Triumvirate dynamic along his doctor position allowed him to showcase. In other words, Pulaski was put in a series that wasn’t designed for her while McCoy was exactly where he needed to be in order to thrive. It really speaks to how much the TNG writers didn’t really seem to get McCoy or why and how his character worked, which is strange since they got him right when he showed up in the series premiere. But maybe that was due to DeForest Kelley and him absolutely knowing the character he’d played for so long. But yeah they tried to replicate McCoy, and it just didn’t work with TNG’s already established character dynamics nor did they fully get the character that they were trying to recreate. If I want McCoy, I’ll go watch TOS or AOS. I didn’t need Pulaski for that.

#2. Data and Misconstrued Character Dynamics; This is in relation to the first reason and REALLY shows how much the writers didn’t think the dynamics through. We all know how much Spock and McCoy bantered. How they are opposite ends of the spectrum and how their perspective points helped Kirk in making his decisions. Well clealry they wanted to re-create that with Pulaski and Data. Makes sense, Pulaski represents the humanism and Data the logical. But there’s one big, BIG problem with that: Data is NOT Spock. A lot fo people have pointed this out, but here’s the thing about Spock. Despite whatever he may have said, Spock DID have emotions. He kept them suppressed due to the issues in his upbringing and that wasn’t necessarily healthy, but he did have them. And despite speaking in a calm manner, he was also an utter sass bucket, could be rude, and had no issue putting down humanity if he had a point to make. He and McCoy were very much equal in their bantering and yes maybe McCoy could go too far with his insults, but there was always an equal balance and Spock was also perfectly capable of starting/escalating their spats. There were also plenty of moments to show that in spite of it, they were still friends and cared a great deal about each other with probably the best examples of this being The Immunity Syndrome, Bread and Circuses, The Empath, and plenty of moments in others like Miri and For the World is Hollow… Those who have been following me know how much I love the Spock/McCoy dynamic and I could go all day, but the point is it’s a complex relationship that may seem like disdain on the outside, but is so much more when you examine it up close.

Data however? Data is intelligent and the Science Officer with a calm demeanor, but that’s about where the similarity between him and Spock ends. Data is an android. I do not believe that he is emotionless, he just has a different wiring that causes him to feel things differently. He’s never shown disdain towards humanity at least from what I’ve observed thus far. If anything, he actively seeks to understand it and emotions more. He actively has hobbies like Sherlock Holmes. He tries things like sneezing and growing a beard in an effort to understand more. Data is more or less a child with a child-like understanding of things and he doesn’t really understand social cues or things like humor, but he DOES have emotions and feelings. There’s too much on-screen evidence to say otherwise. He just has his own way of processing it. This is what makes Pulaski look so bad. When she calls Data a machine, says he can’t understand, and even purposefully mispronounces his name, she comes across as an outright bully. She is essentially bullying a neurodivergent child. Do I need to explain why that’s awful? Data, while by no means a doormat, isn’t the type to sass back or make any biting comments back like Spock would. There is no balance. There is no equal footing. There are not enough positive interactions outside the banter to show that there is something deeper there at the end of the day like Spock and McCoy did. Heck you can even compare how Pulaski and McCoy talk to Data via McCoy’s guest appearance in Encounter at Farpoint. He DOES make a quip about Vulcans when talking to Data and when Data points out he’s an android not a Vulcan, McCoy mumbles “Just as bad.” But immediately after he gives Data genuine heartfelt advice on treating the Enterprise with care. It’s clear that ultimately it’s McCoy being his usual grumpy self who’d be acting the same way towards anyone else and is otherwise perfectly civil and encouraging to Data. We’ve known him long enough to know this. Pulaski didn’t have that luxury, coming off as condescending towards Data at best and considering that she’s a doctor, it looks especially bad.

Now to be fair this only lasts for about four episodes. Pulaski does start catching herself by her second episode, and stops completely after Unnatural Selection when Data helps her and stays with her after she gets the aging virus. After that she’s MUCH moe civil to him, even defending his choice going against the Prime Directive in Pen Pals and was at his retirement party in The Measure of a Man. But clearly the damage had been done. Data is a very beloved character and by Oulaski’s intro had already been established and well-liked character. Data was treated equally and was valued as far more than just an android among the rest of the crew, Crusher included, so Pulaski coming in a season later and acting that way also didn’t help. The writers did not think through why Spock and McCoy worked and how to try figure out a unique dynamic for Pulaski and Data. Instead they just tried to copy TOS, and it utterly failed. It ruined Pulaski’s chances before she could even really start running. But I do believe that she could have rebounded and as I said, she DID get past it. She did relapse some at the end of the season in Peak Performance to the point I wanna say that maybe it chronologically happened earlier in the season, but even then she felt realized her screw up and apologized. It’s still an improvement from early on. But things just weren’t meant to be, which leads is to…

#3. She Only Lasted One Season/She Replaced Dr. Crusher: I believe that the biggest thing that worked against Pulaski is simple: she was cut after Season 2. Pulaski was created when Gates MacFadden left the show. I’ve seen conflicting reasons as to why, but regardless she left and a CMO was needed. IDK how popular Crusher was, but I had really enjoyed her. She was essentially the mom of the ship which added something different from TOS (wel McCoy was also the mom lets be real XD), had a son onboard which also added something new, was very much capable and devoted to her job, and was a badass when she got to use a phaser. Her being written out sucked, but that’s not necessarily a reason to hate Pulaski. But as I highlighted above, she just didn’t work. They tried to make McCoy, but without the dynamics and depth that let McCoy flourish. TNG is not TOS. Whenever TNG tried replicating TOS like with The Naked Now? It blew up in their faces. The key to a spinoff or reboot is to keep certain themes and tone alive, but to not just replicate what came before. TNG flourished when it began to find it’s own footing, and ultimately lasted four seasons longer than it’s predecessor due to it.

I genuinely believe that Pulaski COULD have developed into her own character and could have found her place the same way that McCoy did. But alas that didn’t happen. People wanted Crusher back, so they managed to get MacFadden to return and thus Crusher was put back in her rightful place. Because of it, Pulaski was just forgotten about. She didn’t get the chance to form her own character. She didn’t the chance to develop further and leave her early days behind. Why? Because she simply wasn’t given the opprotunity to do so. I can’t say it was the wrong choice, but it’s an utter shame because I do believe that Pulaski was on her way to improving. But it was too late. Her bad start with Data, her character not working in the TNG dynamic, and her replacing an already perfectly likeable character who did fit the dynamics all amounted to the character’s abrupt end. And because she didn’t get the chance to develop further and find her own path, her bad reputation has stuck to this very day.

In the end, the whole thing just feels like a waste. Pulaski had potential, but it just didn’t work in the end. I can’t say that I hate her. If anything, I feel bad for her. The writers failed her at the end of the day and by the time they tried correcting their errors, the audience had already made their judgement. It may have been for the best to just drop her and bring Crusher back, but I also hate seeing character potential just so utterly wasted. I hope that if any side material used Pulaski, they were able to find a much better direction for her. I can’t say that I love Pulaski. In a more TOS-like setting maybe she’d have worked better. But in the end I think that Pulaski was a decent character who just had too much working against her and they caused her to crash and burn. Just an unfortunate case all in all.

(Image Source)

#this is all mainly opinion so feel free to ig kre

[tendertenebrosity]

Part 4 of my new TJ and Danny arc! Previously: 1, 2, 3. Masterpost here. TJ and Danny are my OC’s, the Pathverse belongs to @wildfaewhump!

The road was so long. Endless. When TJ looked ahead, it went on and on, shimmering in the heat, until it disappeared around a curve and a stand of trees. When he looked back, the metal barrier that marked where Danny and his car were had already gone from view.

TJ had never seen so much road, so much grass, so much sky. Was this what the world was, he wondered? Buildings like little huddled islands full of people, and between them just… huge empty stretches of road and sky that went on forever? No wonder you needed a car to get around in it.

Mostly from secondhand, incidental memories, TJ had formed the impression that ‘outside’ and ‘grass’ and ‘sky’ were supposed to be nice things. Other people liked them. But it was all too big, and too bright, and too hot, so that he felt even dizzier and sicker than he had in the car. And his feet started hurting almost immediately, thin bright lines of pain where the shoe rubbed against his ankle and his toes.

He trudged on anyway, eyes planted on the ground a foot or two ahead of his next step. There had to be people out here somewhere, and TJ was going to find them, and then they’d find Danny and take them both back home and everything would be OK.

Except it isn’t going to be, though, a thought pressed insistently at the back of his mind. Is it? Danny did something wrong. Danny took you away from the Agency on purpose.

Danny’s going to be in trouble when he gets back, and probably so are you.

TJ paused for a moment, hopped and skipped and tried to run a finger around the inside of his shoe to ease the bit where it pressed against his skin. But that isn’t fair, he protested. TJ hadn’t done anything bad. He’d done what Danny said. He’d always done what Danny said. Now the rules had changed and he was bad for letting Danny take him?

He shaded his eyes, looked up. The road was stubbornly unchanged, the end of it seemingly as far away as it had ever been.

He went on, limping, trying unsuccessfully to find a gait that didn’t hurt too much. And even though it was hard, even though this environment was nothing like the cool grey calm of his cubby, he thought.

Good Paths didn’t cause trouble. Good Paths did whatever the Agency said, whatever their handlers said. Up until now… for as far back as TJ could remember, that had always been the same rule. His handler had just been an extension of the Agency as a whole – oh, they’d been people still, TJ knew that. They’d complained about their bosses, and their jobs, and maybe they didn’t do everything perfectly. The Agency loomed over all of their heads, a huge amorphous structure that towered up into invisibility from TJ’s perspective. But they were still part of it.

TJ had always been obedient to the Agency, and to his handlers. Finding out that actually maybe those weren’t, or didn’t have to be, the same thing was… disconcerting.

I’m loyal, and, and obedient. I’ve always been a good Path.

But… who to? How could you know what was right, if handlers were just people who might tell you right or wrong things?

Equally disconcerting was the idea that Agencies could potentially just… ‘go under’. That was how Danny had put it. TJ knew what a business was, had read memories underpinned by and distorted around people’s ‘businesses’ going bad and falling apart. But – those were things that people made, mundane things, the world would keep on going if they fell apart. The Agency was too big and important and special to do that!

Wasn’t it?

What was TJ going to do, if being obedient to the Agency and obedient to Danny were suddenly completely different things?

This morning had put holes in the world, great cracks that let solid ground drain away. No matter how patiently and carefully he turned these thoughts over in his mind, he couldn’t put the pieces back together in a way that made sense and closed the hole.

TJ looked up, blinked at the horizon, and found that the stand of trees was actually nearer. It was, wasn’t it? It wasn’t just TJ getting dizzy and confused and forgetting what it had looked like before? He felt queasy, like he wanted to leave the road and be sick behind some of the grass, but he hadn’t eaten breakfast so it wasn’t as though there was anything to actually come up.

He swallowed hard, tried to forget about his feet and the headache that was pulsing behind his eyes, and kept going.

Julie thinks that I did this. She thinks I made Danny take me away, somehow. He hadn’t, of course, but TJ supposed it had been so out of character for Danny she thought somebody had to have made him. Danny had lied, or forgotten, when he said that TJ had never touched him… TJ hoped that wasn’t going to cause problems. He worried at his lip, shading his eyes with his hands.

It doesn’t really matter. Even if we’re going to be in trouble, Danny might be dying and he needs someone to get him out of that car. I need to get him out of that car. There’s nobody here but me to do it. And that was wrong and bad, but things were already bad. So it could be bad in a way that didn’t mean Danny died trapped in that car.

The bright yellow/green/blue of the world was starting to swim, to fuzz into greyness with sickening rainbow edges. But when TJ stopped to catch his breath and looked up…

Hidden behind the stand of trees and only now coming into view, there were buildings.

The building was marked out with tall, brightly coloured signs. There were cars dotted around it. And the distant, moving shapes of people. TJ covered his eyes with his hands, guiltily. But surely he couldn’t do any harm from this far away, right?

They were closer than TJ had dared hope… but he still had to walk to them. He set his teeth in his bottom lip, adjusted his blindfold over his forehead so it could be tugged down at a moment’s notice, and limped forwards, towards the bright signs.

-

Violet checked her phone for the time, then shoved it into the pockets of her jacket along with her hands. Still fifteen minutes before she was due to be picked up; she had time to go into one of the fast-food places at the service station and get a shake or something.

She left her bike chained into the rack, helmet dangling from the handlebars, and made her way past the cares and fuel pumps. She gave someone a nod and a forced smile as they paused to let her cross in front of their car.

She was almost through the automatic doors when she heard the panicked yell behind her.

“Jesus Christ! Get the fuck away from me!”

She tried not to flinch, tried to make it look natural as she spun away from the doors and started walking in the other direction, as if she’d just remembered that she wanted to go that way. Hands buried as fists in her pockets, she scanned the bleak concrete expanse of the car park.

There. A hunched figure, dressed head to toe in pale blue, like a uniform, and the man in jeans backing away from him in horror.

She heard the person in blue say something pleading, but it was drowned out as the man backed away again, a paper fast-food bag dropping to the ground and splitting.  

“What the fuck is this? Get away - ”

The person in blue turned their head, distressed, and Violet saw the blindfold across their eyes; but to be honest, she hadn’t needed to. Her feet had already changed direction again, almost without her volition. She yanked her phone out as she walked, hissing curses until somebody picked up.

“Glen,” she hissed into the phone, without waiting for him to respond. “Get to the meet up point now. There’s a kid in a blindfold wandering around alone, I’m going in, see you soon.”

“Wh- Violet, don’t - ”

“Oh, no!” Violet called out, stuffing the phone into her pocket.  “I am so sorry!” She plastered on her best look of friendly chagrin, pushed her sleeves up over her elbows, and strode towards the angry stranger and the Agency Path.

Glen better get here soon.

#Whump writing #Pathverse #TJ and Danny #Rescue attempt #car crash whump #blindfolded #institutionalised dehumanisation #internalised bigotry #telepathic whumpee #endurance whump

[hb-pickle]

Frozen 2: Dangerous Secrets Review Essay

Why Sensitivity Readers Are Always Necessary

Before I start, I would like to make it very clear that this review only critiques the aspects of colonialism and representation in Frozen 2: Dangerous Secrets. I will not be discussing the romance, side characters or anything else like that. Also, I would like to make it very clear that none of this review is meant to personally attack or berate the author @marimancusi . I firmly believe that none of the cultural insensitivities in her book were intentional, but were simply the result of a non-indigenous, white author writing about experiences she could not personally relate to. My only goals for writing this review is to show the author how her book unintentionally perpetuated many harmful and outdated ideas about racism and colonialism, and to convince her and Disney to contact and hire sensitivity readers before they create content about vulnerable racial/ethnic groups. 

I would also like to state that I am an African American woman and not indigienous, so I have personal experiences with racism and colonialism towards black people, but not towards indigenous communities. So if any indigenous people see problems or inaccuracies with my review, I would be happy to listen and put your voice first.

- - -

To summarize quickly (with full context), Frozen 2: Dangerous Secrets is about Iduna, a young indigenous Northuldra girl (oppressed racial/ethnic minority) who was suddenly and violently separated from her home and family when her people were betrayed and attacked by the Arendellians (colonizing class). As a result of the massacre battle between the two groups, Iduna is permanently separated from her home (caused by a magical and impenetrable mist) and forced to spend the rest of her days in the kingdom of Arendelle, where she lives in almost constant fear of being exposed as a Northuldran (for the townsfolk are violently bigoted against them). Naturally, this book contains many many depictions of racial hatred and bigotry along with exploring the mindset and fears of a young girl dealing with the brunt of colonialism. Unfortunately, it tends to fumble the seriousness of these situations (out of ignorance or out of a desire to keep the book lighthearted/to center the romance plotline), which results in an overall detrimental message to the audience. The missteps I specifically want to unpack are as follows.

- (1/5) Severs Iduna’s connection to her culture before the story even begins (making us feel less empathetic for the Northuldra’s plight) 

I’m not 100% certain, but my understanding is that the purpose of making Iduna a double orphan was to make her more sympathetic and to give her a reason to save Agnarr’s life (to have compassion for a stranger, the same way her adoptive family did for her). In theory this is perfectly fine, quickly establishing that the audience should like Iduna is smart and so is rationalizing her most important, life changing decision. But in practice this only functions to distance Iduna from her culture and family and make the reader care less about the Northuldra. This is because it takes away Iduna’s chance to have a strong, palpable relationship with a specific Northuldra character, which would humanize their entire group (even if only in memory). The only Northuldra characters that Iduna mentions more than once is her mother and Yelena. Both of these characters are mentioned rarely, neither have a close relationship with Iduna (her mother dying 7 years before the events of the story), nor do either of them have any specific personality traits or lines of dialogue (Yelena has exactly one line and it is about knitting). The goal of a story about a child unjustly stolen from her home should be to explore why those acts of violence were so horrific. The very first step of exploring that is to humanize the victims. After all, why would a reader care about the injustices done to a group of people who barely exist? How are we, the readers, supposed to feel bad for Iduna and mourn her family like she does, if we barely know them?

We needed more of Iduna’s memories. We needed to learn about her friends, her family, her mother and Yelena. What were they really like? How did they love Iduna? What were their last words to her before she never saw them again? Didn’t Iduna care for them? Did she worry about their well being and miss their comforts? We need to hear about how she bonded with them, how they made her feel, how they made her laugh or cry. How they taught her to hunt, forage, and knit so that when we hear how the Arendellians speak of them, with such ignorance and contempt, we are as truly disgusted and offended as we should be. 

- (2/5) Equates Iduna and Agnarr’s suffering, aggressively downplaying the brutality of colonialism (even to the point of prioritizing Agnarr’s needs)

First things first, I understand that Dangerous Secrets is a modern day romance novel for older children/teens so an equal power balance between Agnarr and Iduna is preferred (which I agree with). But, this balance extends past the romance and personalities and into attempting to portray Agnarr and Iduna’s suffering as equal. This is best exemplified in these lines of internal dialogue by Iduna:

I did not deserve to be locked away from everyone I loved. But Agnarr did not deserve to die alone on the forest floor because he’d had a fight with his father. Whatever happened that day to anger the spirits and cause all of this, it was not his fault. Nor was it mine. And while we might be on different sides of this fight, we had both lost so much. Our friends. Our family. Our place in the world. In an odd way we were more alike than different. (Page 67)

All of this is technically true, up until the very last line about them being “more alike than different”. Agnarr and Iduna’s lives are nothing alike. Iduna is a poor, indigenous girl who had everyone she ever knew or loved either killed or permanently taken away from her, stolen from her home and forced to spend the rest of her life living in a foreign kingdom rife with people who actively, consistently threaten her safety. While Agnarr, on the other hand, is a white male member of the royal family, heir to the throne, and extremely wealthy. The novel doesn’t shy away from this (at least on Agnarr’s part), and doesn’t hesitate to show us that Agnarr is royalty and will never experience what Iduna has to endure. But it behaves like Agnarr’s relatively petty, temporary, and incomparable ills are just as heartbreaking as Iduna’s and focuses significantly more time and energy building up empathy for him and his woes. This extends from small things like the book asserting that the few times Agnarr needed to stay in his castle, to avoid political assasination was comparable to Iduna’s family being trapped in the mist (against their will for 30+ years); to more concerning issues like claiming Agnarr’s separation from his parent’s is just as distressing as Iduna’s separation from her entire people. Now fleshing out Agnarr and his relation to parents is a good thing, since it can provide crucial character motivation and make him more of a well rounded character. But when Agnarr’s suffering is presented as more relevant and worthwhile discussing than Iduna’s it, by extension, implies that the frustrations of an affluent life and being separated from parents that did not value you in the first place (Runeard and Rita) is somehow more or just as pressing as facing the brunt of the most violent and terrifying forms of colonialism. Agnarr’s story may be tragic, but it is nowhere near as horrific as Iduna’s and the book should acknowledge and reflect that.

- (3/5) Has a rudimentary understanding of racism and how if affects the people who perpetuate it

Dangerous Secrets’ understanding of racism (and how to deal with it) is summed up very concisely in a conversation between Lord Peterssen and young Prince Agnarr. Agnarr asks his senior why the Arendellian towns people are so obsessed with blaming magic and the spirits (magic and spirits being an allegory for real world characteristics that are unique to one culture or people) for all their problems, and the following exchange insues: 

“People will always need something to blame for their troubles”, he explained. “And magical spirits are an easy target-since they can’t exactly defend themselves… “So what do we do?” I asked. “We can’t very well fight against an imaginary force!” “No. But we can make the people feel safe. That’s our primary job.” (Page 132-133)

Though Lord Peterssen is supposed to be a flawed character, who puts undue pressure onto Iduna and Agnarr to uphold the status quo of Arendelle, this line is (intentional or not) how the book actually views racism and how it expects the characters (and reader by extension) to deal with/understand it. Bigotry is portrayed as something that is inevitable and something that should not be quelled or disproven, but accommodated for. Agnarr, as king next in line, should not worry about ending the unjust hatred in his kingdom, or killing the root of the problem (the rumors). Instead he should tell his people their suspicions are correct, and put actual resources and time into abetting their dangerous beliefs. Even later on, at the very end of the novel, Agnarr treats the prolific bigotry and magic hatred of his people as an unfortunate circumstance he has found himself in, and not something that he, as king, has the power or civic responsibility to change. 

This could have been an excellent line of flawed logic, representing how privileged people tend to avoid/project the blame of racism, and prioritize order and peace over justice. Which would work especially well for Peterssen and Agnarr since they are both high class nobles with the power to actually make a difference, instead choosing to foist responsibility onto Iduna (in the case of Peterssen) who was only a child, relatively impoverished, and the one with the most to lose if she spoke out. Or, in the case of Agnarr, they do disagree with the fear mongering, but only for personal reasons (Agnarr because his father used it as an excuse for his lies); refusing still to actually work to improve his society. But the key detail is that this needs to be portrayed as wrong, which this book fails to do. Agnarr nor Peterssen are ever expected to disprove the townsfolk’s bigotry in any meaningful, long lasting sense, Peterssen is never confronted seriously for his cowardice and victim blaming, and Agnarr is never criticized for his anti-bigotry being based entirely on his own personal parental issues and not in the fact that he knows with 100% certainty that the Northuldra are innocent.

This flawed understanding of bigotry also applies to how the book depicts the Arendellian townsfolk, who are awarded no accountability whatsoever for their actions. The townspeople spend the entire book threatening to kill any Northuldra they find and Peterssen, Agnarr, and Iduna are constantly afraid that they would immediately destabilize the government if they found out their king was close to one. But somehow this does not translate into any contempt or distrust in our protagonist or the reader. In this novel, we meet only four openly bigoted individuals: the two orphan children playing “kill the Northuldra”, the purple/pink sheep guy (Askel), and the allergy woman (Mrs. Olsen). The orphans are dismissed wholesale because they are literal children who also lost both of their parents in the battle of the dam (so they were killed by Northuldra; somewhat justifying their anger). And the other two townsfolk are joke characters, whose claims are so unbelievable that they aren’t supposed to be seen as a serious threat. Not only that but Askel is rewarded for his bigotry when Iduna offers he sell his pink sheep’ wool (which he thought was an attack from the Northuldra) as beautiful pink shawls. These are the only specific characters that show any type of active bigotry in the entire kingdom besides Runeard, whomst is dead. Every other character is either an innocent and friendly bystander (the woman at the chocolate shop, the new orphans Iduna buys cookies for, the farmers Iduna sells windmills too, the people at Agnarr and Iduna’s wedding), has no opinion at all (Greda, Kai, Johan), or is portrayed as someone who is just innocently scared and doesn’t know any better (the rest of the townsfolk, especially those who fear the Northuldra are the sun mask attackers). Even the King of Vassar, the most violent and dangerous living character of the story, doesn’t even hold any prejudice against the Northuldra, and simply uses their imagery to scare Arendelle into accepting his military rule. 

So according to this book, bigotry and racism come not from the individual, but from society and the system you live in, but also not really because the people in charge of that system (Peterssen, Agnarr, and eventually Iduna) are also virtually guiltless. This, of course, is not true at all. Racism is a moral failing which exists on all levels of society, from individuals who chose to be bigoted, to others who tolerate bigotry as long as it doesn’t inconveniance them. It's not just an inevitable fear of what you don’t understand, but an insidious choice to be ignorant, fearful, and unjust to the most vulnerable members of society. It is malicious and irrational, and the more you tolerate it, the more dangerous it becomes.

- (4/5) Presents Iduna’s assimilation to the dominant culture as a positive

As the romance plotline of Dangerous Secrets really starts to get underway, Iduna’s life seems perfect. Her romance with Agnarr blossoms, she has her own business, and is becoming accustomed to her new surroundings (in order to make the coming drama more exciting). This is her internal dialogue as she returns to town one day:

I couldn't imagine, at the time, living in a place like this. But now it felt like home. It would never replace the forest I grew up in… But it had been so long now, that life had begun to feel almost like a dream. A beautiful dream of an enchanted forest… There was a time I truly believed I would die if I could never enter the forest again. If the mist was never to part. But that time, I realized, was long gone. And I had so much more to live for now… And my dreams were less about returning to the past and more about striking out into the future- (Page 128-129)

Again, I understand that the point of Iduna being content with her life like this is to be the “calm before the storm” of the romance arc, but the fact that Iduna is almost forgetting her old life, and that it is presented as a good thing, is extremely distressing. At only 12 years old Iduna lost everything she ever had besides the literal clothes on her back; she would never forget that. Not only that, but the real world implication that a minority should cope with their societal trauma by spending the rest of their life working for said society that unapologetically wants to kill them (and get a boyfriend) is horribly off putting. It strikes a nerve with many people of color and indigenous readers because telling minorities to “get a job” or “get a life” (especially when said jobs ignore/are separate from their own cultures) is commonly used by privileged folk to blame them for their own dissatisfaction/unhappiness with the society they live in. The idea is that minorities should continue to suffer, but busy themselves, so they stop criticizing dominant culture and defending/uplifting their own. This is part of cultural erasure, and the book plays into it, by commending Iduna for “having more to live for” than cherishing/wanting to return to her original home, for prioritizing Arendelle over herself, and for forgetting her heritage/playing it off as nothing but a dream. Devaluing indigenous culture like this, especially through an indigenous character, is extremely disrespectful.

Not only that, but it’s completely antithetical to Iduna’s character, since she claims to be proud and unashamed of who she is, but happily assists the townsfolk who hate her, and rarely mentions her heritage besides when she’s caught in a lie or actively being persecuted. This is another failing brought on by the lack of understanding of how racism affects its victims. Being a minority plays into all the decisions you make and all the interactions you have; it’s not something that you can just turn off unless directly provoked. Iduna’s would be constantly fretting about who she talks to, and who she is with because if she gets too close to the wrong person, she could have put herself in serious danger. 

Nowhere is this lack of realism more obvious than the scene directly after Iduna rejects Johan’s proposal. Iduna spends a long time thinking about whether marrying Johan or Agnarr would be better for her, and not even once does being a Northuldra play into her decision making. This should’ve been front and center because your husband can be your strongest ally or your greatest enemy. If Iduna was outed, what could she do to defend herself against or alongside her partner? If she was ever going to consider marrying for anything other than true love, her chances of survival should have been her first priority. 

What I’m not saying is that there needs to be a complete overhaul of Iduna’s personality, or that she needs to be frightened and suspicious at all times. Iduna can project strength and caution. She can be kind to the townspeople, but reserved in order to keep a safe distance. She should cling to the few pieces of her culture she has left, despite what society tells her to do. Or, on the exact opposite side of the coin, Iduna’s personality could be kept relatively the same, but the book needs to acknowledge that this is a terrible thing. Iduna is being assimilated against her will to a society that doesn’t value her and that is a tragedy. In a futile attempt at survival, Iduna buries her culture away and lives her life as a perfect, contributing, model Arendellian citizen, but they terrorize her regardless. 

- (5/5) Negatively depicts the indigenous Northuldra as murderous invaders

In Chapter 34 of Dangerous Secrets it is revealed, during a flashback, that Iduna lost her parents and her entire family group in an attack by a separate group of Northuldra invaders. This scene is completely unacceptable regardless whatever narrative/story purpose it was supposed to achieve for several reasons. Firstly, because this book is about colonialism, which we as a society already know the consequences of and how colonizers, in an attempt to rid themselves of blame, react to it. One of the very first things a colonizer/privileged class will do to make themselves feel less guilty for the atrocities they perpetuate is bring up acts of violence/wrongdoing on behalf of the oppressed. The sole purpose of this is always to make the victims look less sympathetic and less deserving of justice, equality, or attention because “they’re not so innocent, they did wrong things too, so maybe we shouldn't feel that  bad for them/maybe they got what they deserved”. And of course this mindset is absolutely horrific and unforgivable when you’re talking about a group of white colonizers actively trying to destroy and indiscriminately slaughter a large group of indigenous people, including their children. 

The second reason is because the author is a non-indigenous white person, and therefore benefits directly from the downplaying of indiginous pain. I’m sure this wasn’t intentionally malicious on her part, but that’s what she wrote; these are the consequences.  

((Also the fact that one of the Northuldra groups are murderous invaders means that Iduna was actively lying the entire book about the Northuldra being peaceful.)) 

- - -

In conclusion, any book that incorporates the culture and experiences of a group the author is not a part of, should absolutely hire a sensitivity reader to ensure accuracy and respect. As a Frozen superfan myself, I actually enjoyed this book a lot and I was delighted to see the lore, worldbuilding and romance. I loved Agnarr, Lord Peterssen, and Princess Runa and certain pieces of dialogue and imagery were beautiful. This novel just desperately needed someone to check it. All this book needed was a bit more of a critical gaze on some of the character decisions and motivations (I truly believe Agnarr and Peterssen would have been even more intriguing and likeable characters if they were actually called out, and given time to reflect on their hypocrisies) and it would’ve been much stronger and more palatable to diverse audiences. Some elements did need to be cut out completely, but a sensitivity reader would’ve easily been able to point this out and offer alternatives that preserved the spirit of the novel, without including any offensive and distasteful implications.

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