#like i can't understand someone unironically thinking that was a good idea

[the-cat-and-the-birdie]

Hobie stans hear me out:

SpiderPunk x SpiderPosh

I like the idea of a SpiderPosh.

He's a kid, born into money. He was born with a silver spoon up his ass and has been to private school all his life.

He got bitten on a fancy school trip. He has a fancy East End accent and drinks tea with his pinky out. He wears polos and ascots and Calvin Klein underwear unironically.

Hobie meets him and it's like 'ugh fucking hell' cause growing up in London he's come across his fair share of twats

But instead of being stuck up - SpiderPosh is just... Totally innocent and naive in nature.

He's the complete opposite of Hobie - coming from a 'utopian' universe like 2099. He genuinely thinks bigotry is horrifying and unfathomable. He hears about the things that happen in Hobies universe and he's just - floored.

Not only that, but he's concerned. It upsets him. Despite his looks and nature, Posh is extremely firm in his belief in justice, and kindness, and fairness.

To him, the thought of homelessness, and poverty and bigotry is gutting.

The more he knows about discrimination the more he hates it. The more he wants to help.

That's how he starts idolizing Hobie -

At first Posh is entirely intimidated by Hobie, with his bright colors and jagged edges. Whereas Posh is like the pages of a perfectly printed hardback novel.

He's afraid Hobie might hate him, or think he's a poseur. But he still tries anyway, apologizing for even bothering Hobie.

At first, he just asks what his anarchy patch means, and when Hobie tells him, Posh can't help but be dazzled.

A world without leaders, without borders, without poverty or excess. Posh tells him the idea sounds beautiful.

"I think we could do it - humans I mean. It's possible. We all want to do better, we just have to hold ourselves accountable. I'd give up a lot, for a world like that. I'd know we'd all sleep better at night, am I right?"

"Yeah," Hobie tells him. "You are."

Posh plays the interaction on repeat. Thinking about how Hobie explained it so easily, and stood on it so firmly.

He didn't know why his hands would sweat at the thought, even hours later.

And Hobie keeps it in mind too.

Later, he comes to Posh, giving him a book on Anarchy - told him it was due back at his universe's library in a couple days. But he'd figured that maybe a Posh would want a read.

Posh enhales the book in that time, reading over the pages Hobie had dog-earred, the scraps of paper stuffed between the pages with Hobies handwriting and thoughts.

The day the book is do back Posh gives it back to him, and the two send their entire lunch in the Society Campus food court, spilling their thoughts.

Posh thinks he's amazing. He tells him so.

Hobie thinks he's benevolent - a reminder of the good in the multiverse, the true good, the people worth fighting for.

Soon, he starts pestering Hobie, eager to pick his brain - asking for protesting tactics, and how to get people to listen.

Hobie is a happy teacher, always patient, and always fun. He's Posh's favorite type of person. So entirely him, that Posh could never seem to forget how other worldly he seemed.

When Posh learns about Hobies blue laces, to be honest, he's shocked. If anything, he's a bit upset. None of which surprised Hobie. He knew Posh was sheltered, altruistic to a fault.

But it's not that Posh is disgusted with him.

If anything, he's worried sick for Hobie.

He's asks him if he wants to talk about it, or unpack it, or if he's still processing it. The thought of Hobie killing someone, and then living with it everyday scared Posh. Hobies still a person.

But Hobies mostly over it.

Posh understands that sometimes things need to be done, but he still wonders how Hobie carries it with him. He doesn't bring it up anymore though. Hobie has made it clear it isn't a venting matter.

And-

Sure, Hobies rock sounds like the sounds of cars being compacted to Posh, but he likes supporting Hobie.

Posh plays classical violin and piano, and although he and Hobie basically never play together - Hobie, a fellow musician, loves Posh's technique and the complexity of his pieces.

Sure they're the exact opposite. Sure Posh eats pizza with a fork and knife - and Hobie has to teach him how to eat it otherwise - but deep down they're fighting for the same cause.

They have the same values and views and love for the world. They'd both die for freedom and equality.

And they are in love yes they are gay boyfriends. Sheltered Posh gasped at the word queer, and when Hobie explained reclamation and the power in the word - Posh saw the light and now they're two radical gay lovers who do radical queer things

Theyre like those old couples that lie in bed next to each other in reading glasses doing wordcross or knitting before bed except it's Hobie and Posh in matching pajamas reading praxis and discussing the history of anti-capitalism in the west

Hobie and his cute kind boyfriend Posh

Okay say hi to my new oc y'all eventually I'll give him a real name a posh snooty name but until then

Punk and Posh

#back at it again #with the OCs #spiderman #atsv #spider man #marvel #across the spiderverse #hobie brown #spider punk #spiderpunk #hobie x oc #hobie brown x oc

[swearyshera]

I'm somehow only now realizing the climactic scene at the Heart won't have the same "I love you" confession cuz it's been explicit status quo here since the word go. So that's gonna be fun.

Also this kind of thing unironically scares the living shit out of me. Characters that just can't let go of admiring/loving/helping someone who's repeatedly hurt them, to the point of putting themselves in harms way for their sake make me feel so goddamned helpless and angry, even when I understand why they would personally or thematically do so. It is terrifying on an existential level. Even if I know its the heroic or "kind" thing to do or will work out for the best in the end, it fills with so much fucking suffocating dread because it makes me think how much of what we feel towards people who hurt us is outside our control and we'll just leave ourselves open to being hurt in the same way over and over. I know Adora and others like her are supposed to be making a powerful choice to follow their heart and do what's right, and she definitely chooses over and over afterwards to not accept the same kind of treatment as before, but I'm always left with the fear that they never a real choice at all.

I'm already resigned to the climax in Heart not being as good as the original - how could it ever match up? I've gone through a few different ideas for it though. Initially I thought Catra could propose for real but... eh, not really a fan of that one now. There was also the thought that it could be about Catra selflessly telling Adora to stay for Etheria and not her, but again, that doesn't really work. Current idea picks up a little bit of an ongoing thing around Adora... but I'll keep my cards close to my chest!

And it's very interesting that you point out characters who just can't stop putting themselves in harms way for that one person, because there's a line in this episode that's basically that - and I have not been normal since I wrote it 18 months ago. It's true, though, that sometimes we do love people who are not right for us - or, as we see here, we love people who are right for us, but not ready to be. I think that hurts more, when someone who you know can be so, so perfect with you is on a bad path.

I did lean on the idea of choice in season 3, where Catra would only focus on the choices others made and ignore her own bad ones. I like to think she's matured since then, and will make better choices (once she's back from Prime-ification, anyway)

[outrunningthedark]

"If Tim is “no longer involved” with OG, there’s less of a chance his influence can fuck things up for the fandom."

Me, to whoever unironically believing that: Kristen Reidel and Buck's cheating/sperm donor drama hello? Anyone?

She's picked as the co-showrunner because Tim likes her brand of drama the most. Why haven't people realized that? Is being a "911 writers' stan" cloud the judgment so much?

I don't think it's about "stanning" a show runner as much as it is wanting or trying to promote the belief that their choices have a purpose that matches the fandom's, especially when a lot of the activity in this space comes from people who write fics and paragraphs worth of analysis and speculation. If Tim was still dividing his time between both shows or there was no spinoff, you wouldn't see the "good riddance" reaction going around since s4 of LS started. They'd *have* to put their faith in him because there would be no backup plan. This is evident in the "defense" of the two story lines you mentioned. Buck cheating was (from a fandom POV) supposed to spell the downfall of BT. It did not. It was also supposed to be an indication of Buck's "regression" and inevitable breakdown. It was neither of those things. Mainly because Eddie's breakdown followed immediately after and Buck had to be on his best behavior to care for Chris/offer Eddie emotional support. Now that the arc is closed, nobody brings it up because it added nothing to his story. BT broke up because TayKay's work got in the way, giving people the excuse to harp on about terrible they were together or she was as a person. (We were never supposed to like her for him or them together. Maaaaybe if the fandom wasn't celebrating her #charactergrowth in s4 and pushing the idea that she would stay on as a platonic friend, the trajectory of the relationship could have gone differently, but alas. They were duped.)

With the sperm donor arc, the initial thought process (my preferred outcome, obv) was that Buck wouldn't actually go through with it because he'd realize he isn't built for not being a constant presence in his bio kid's life. And for the bloggers who think they know everything, it doesn't make sense if canon!Buddie isn't the outcome. (A lot less likely now that the spotlight is on another couple. Can't have social media talking about Buddie and Buddie only.) Making a rash decision, but then having the universe "scream" via failed donor attempts or having Buck speak to someone from his family about the mistake he'd be making and then he realizes he shouldn't do it, would have been a good story, absolutely. Stop doing things for other people, Buck! Do them for you! Because you understand your worth now! But here we are months later and: - His attempt at helping make a baby was successful, and proven successful in the 6A finale, meaning we're nowhere near the end. - The show runner was already talking about the impending birth in her s5 post-mortem interviews. Unless it turns out that Connor was able to impregnate his wife (still rooting for this no matter how unlikely, especially when the reaction could have changed what was meant to happen down the line) there's gonna be a kid, and it will be biologically Buck's. IMO, the people who will still "applaud" the story line if it turns out Buck has a kid out there somewhere are the ones who want to see him with his "own family" because Chris isn't actually his. (Apparently "the family we chose" doesn't apply when there's an option for Big Man, Tiny Baby? Okay.) But to everyone else? RED FLAG. Kristen would not create a fictional child just to never bring it up again. It's easy drama. Also, the audience is going to know that Buck has someone else with his DNA. They are going to be thought of as "his kid", not Christopher, until canon says otherwise. It's a way to appease a certain part of the base in the event that Buddie goes canon because at least he got to have one of his own, right? And honestly, it works in the opposite scenario - Buddie remaining friends throughout - because TPTB have no way of knowing how long OG will run for or how long OS will stick around. If Buck gets a LI that's not Eddie, there may not be time for a pregnancy plot.

#anonymous #tina speaks #tv: 911 #tv: 9-1-1 #buddie

[pryotra]

Okay, then let me elaborate, as someone whose favourite character is NOT Kiara - she doesn't even rank in my top 10. She is an extremely fun villain. In FGO, she's probably legitimately the most unnerving of the Remnant bosses. She is unrepentantly selfish. She is deeply, brutally manipulative. Her force of will is enough to suppress a Demon Pillar, to the extent that it is actively terrified of her. It is genuinely a LOT of fun to piece together the massacre on SERAPHIX - what caused it, and why.

Kiara is selfish and hedonistic and ambitious. Her character is not that she wants what she wants which is sex, it is that she wants pleasure, and will hurt, burn, consume, destroy, manipulate, kill to get it, and she will do it until there is nothing left, because her hunger is endless and nothing in the world will ever sate it. She wants what she wants which is to feel good, she'll do whatever it takes to ensure that happens and there is nothing and no one can change her mind because people as a concept are so far beneath her notice that they register as beasts, food, slaves, but not human.

It is petty. There is no greater purpose here. Become one with her, worship her, for no other reason that she likes it. Do whatever it takes to stay satisfied in a world that becomes less satisfying the more you experience it. If that means swallowing the world, so be it.

Kiara reminds me of the trope of women-as-the-monster whose terror is connected to their sexual maturity. Carrie, Ginger Snaps, but in this case more relevantly Jennifer's Body and, yeah, teeth-vagina-horror-lolfest. A man perceives a woman's sexuality as scary when they can't control it, or when it can hurt them. Kiara reminds me of that kind of horror villain on an existential scale - and the amount of agency she has in her sexuality is staggering because it's not in service of the viewer/player - it is attacking them.

And if I had to guess, that's why people like her. The senseless gluttony, the shameless selfishness, the futility of knowing that nothing you do could ever stop her. Scary is sexy is scary. You don't get female villains like Kiara very often, and certainly not on such a horrific, world-consuming scale.

"My character is I want what I want which is [x]" - I mean, I could use that to describe a lot of characters, but I'd be stripping out a lot of interesting details if I did. She is a fun villain.

Additionally, she has an enjoyable enough dynamic with Andersen, and the idea of her as the conceptual villain of waifu gacha game players is pretty hilarious.

lol Even what you've said in the first line tells me the post wasn't really meant for you. I was literally writing towards a group of people on a youtube threat salivating over how sexy Kiara was, and how it would be 'worth it'. As I said 'unironically their favorite character'. There's no nuance or deeper reasoning to it. They apparently think she's sexy and want the waifu, without realizing that the waifu will eat their souls. As such, I'm worried for them.

So on to the rest of what you said, (which is funny because you say it's not deep, but you have some good reasons for finding her interesting). Everything you've said is actually why she's not a fun villain. As you said, she's purely hedonistic. Her motive is motiveless pleasure. She wants to feel good, so she does whatever she wants because nothing else is human but her. Anything interesting about her is how she affects the plot and the concepts around her character. Her actions are horrifying, and she works incredibly in being unnerving because she DOESN'T have a motive. As a character; however, she's utterly flat, boring and self interested. Once you get that she only wants pleasure, you don't need to look deeper into her to understand her. What you see is what you get.

(It's the same reason I find serial killers in books boring. It's not that they're not good villains, and effect the narrative very well, it's that they're boring characters. You can replace them with a monster without really losing too much nuance. A purely selfish character is no more fun then a purely selfish person. Having written in Kiara's headspace, it's never a place I want to go again.)

That's all there is. If a character's entire personality can be summed up as "I want ' '" they're not fun. Even BB had more character and nuance to her. The only thing that ever caught my attention was the fact that this was a kind Kiara once, before the demon pillar got to her, but backstory is for the character not character for the backstory.

However, on a meta scale, you're absolutely right. Particularly the fact of an overtly sexual character who is an attack on the player rather than for them to enjoy. It's one of many reasons I've enjoyed ProtoMerlin's debut and the outpouring of salt from fans who realized their waifu saw them as entertainment at best. But the meta around Kiara seems to have been lost on the people I'm complaining about. So, while on a very grand scale I'd agree that that's what makes her function as a character, and probably actually what Nasu intended, it seems people don't always get that element of her.

And I'll admit I find her dynamic with Anderson incredibly creepy just because she's the reason he's in the form of a child based on her...preferences.

Of course, most of this is devolving into 'I think this is fun' and 'I don't think this is fun'. And that's pure preference. My issue was people who don't seem to realize that Kiara is probably one of the most dangerous characters in Fate.

And I'm incredibly salty that Kiara got a summer variant before a lot of more interesting characters. (Or any male characters at all.)

#kiara sessyoin #fate #I'm even more annoyed that she's in Berserker Bryns banner so I have to risk getting her

[etherealsign282]

I'm writing this as a separate post to group my entire thought process before I move on from the light drama from my last "toxic religious people" post because whew... it's just mind boggling people like this exist and don't understand they're the bane of their own existence.

I am... amazed that someone can prove word by word that someone speaks the truth, but be disagreeing with them and denying it the entire time.

Psa, if you think nobody should be talking about the problems within cultures and groups and religions because anybody can be evil, in the sense that they can come from anywhere, don't call yourself an activist for anything.

It's unhelpful rhetoric to tell someone that they are starting problems for no reason because you think that since bad people come from anywhere, there's no reason to complain at all. That makes no sense. That would mean progress for anything would never be made because our voices and protests would never be heard until it's too late. That's how many issues are CURRENTLY happening, because the idea that it didn't need to be talked about until it becomes a main issue... makes it a main issue, and it's even harder to nip it in the bud after letting it grow to those proportions. The only time it shouldn't be encouraged to talk about religious problems is if it was based on racism, like antisemitism. Calling out some privileged people for weaponizing various religions to abuse people and manipulate them, is perfectly normal.

People are allowed to complain about anything bigoted or shitty upsetting them and if you're allowed to complain about them complaining, you're in an even more of a hypocritical (not to mention more useless) stance.

On top of that, if someone points out that toxic or shitty people do x y and z... don't fucking prove their point by doing those things then act like you're still innocent?

If I say, "alt religious people don't deserve to get away with being the worst versions of themselves but think they're a good person by hiding behind their religion since it isn't Christianity, and calling anybody who calls them out as 'mean'", bc I'm tired of the hypocrisy,

and you unironically start the dialogue by calling me mean... I'm shutting that down quick next time. Bc obviously your ego won't let you click things together and I'm not explaining anything to someone who can't see past their own smelly shit.

But on top of that, if you're bouncing from between saying that nobody like that exists to begin with *in "your" religion*, to saying that anyone from any religion can be bad and that someone is "fighting for no reason" when the post wasn't even hostile, directed at anybody, and just stating fact, and YOU inztead started a fight in the comments over it... you're just gaslighting at that point. You’re minimizing someone's voice because YOU don't find it important, and painting them as overreacting and starting shit after YOU started shit. You can pretend to be enlightened as much as you want but the dismissive, privileged, cruel behavior you portray speaks louder than any kind, performative words you could say about yourself in defense.

And then... using your religion to literally place passive aggressive, hostile intent on someone and freeing yourself from the binds of accountability and responsibility and looking like a bad person, by claiming that the other person (that you argued with and fought with for no reason) is being too toxic and that they need to heal and be more positive. It's literally proving the point that unhinged religious people will hide behind their religion to feel better about themselves even when they're doing terrible, no good things.

I just can't see how someone could just... not see the irony that they're the problem. That they checked off all the bullet points of what makes a toxic religious person a toxic religious person.

I basically said

Be religious person, have shit take or personality

Call someone mean for being called out

Weaponize religion in some way that makes them feel like they're not being shitty because they're "protected", and usually using it wrongly to avoid self reflection.

(In this case, by acting as though frustration and anger aren't normal feelings, whitewashing the concept of emotion to a more toxic positive "live laugh love" concept that was originally built on the premise to be racist and attack/ dismiss PoC beliefs like hoodooism and voodooism etc and paint them as evil; then deflecting the fact that they have no rebuttal because they're too ignorant for the conversation, by claiming that the other is too toxic or mean or "sad" and that they need a more "positive light. So they can pretend to be a good person because they're certainly "too positive" to keep the fight they started going, aka too afraid to cope with the consequences of their actions. After arguing and gaslighting for no reason, and pushing someone to the point of reacting negatively on purpose.)

And they... did every single one. Unironically. And yet probably think they're the victim. It's mindblowing.

This is why I hate a majority of religious people, and specifically religious people who think they're different just because they aren't a Christian, but sidestep and blame just like a Christian. This is why they needed to be called out- it makes them too uncomfortable and they lash out and reveal themselves for the hateful, unhealed, toxic, argumentative, and highly reactive people they are, whilst having an unhealthy superiority complex toward anybody who is open and honest about not being healed, being argumentative, and being reactive (bc it obviously makes them uncomfortable to see someone thriving in the truth, the rawness of their emotions and reactions, and still being right, while they struggle to be a good person despite all their toxic positivity and denial of perfectly normal emotions like anger and sadness and still ending up wrong). Maybe if someone can pinpoint and call it out, they can eventually fix it before it becomes irreparable.

The only thing is they're not adaptable, open minded, or mutable enough as a person to get that anger and negative emotion really has very little to do with those things- why do you think most abusive cis men can remain quiet while maliciously abusing and manipulating their wife, so they can call them a psycho woman afterward when they snap and start yelling? It's not calmness, and serenity. It's called a plotting, cunning, vindictive way to treat people. Its called forcing reactive abuse. It's called darvo. Whatever you want to call it, it's not because pretending to be at peace actually makes you at peace.

If demonizing negative emotions were about true calmness, they wouldn't need to react to anything anybody says or does with cunningness or passive aggressiveness to begin with. Being at peace isn't to go poke the bear, then walk away with chew marks, believing that you did nothing wrong only when you have to deal with the consequences of your actions. True peace is leaving the fucking bear alone because you don't have a need to bother it into anger to begin with, just to prove you're more reasonable.

#toxic #true words #toxic spirituality #spirituality #fake woke #fake spiritual #toxic positivity #religion is toxic #religion #religion is poison #all religion #gaslightingisabuse #gaslighting at its finest #fake activism #“just don't complain about anything ever bc bad people come from everywhere” lol ok #hypocritical #hypocrisy #hypocrite #wiccan #some fake woke wiccan literally proved my point then really said there was no poijt to complaining about it #the point is #that you exist BECAUSE nobody has ever told you that weaponizing your religion doesnt make you a good person #maybe if someone called you out sooner #you wouldnt be a bullshitter that starts fights because youre insecure #drama

[system-of-a-feather]

It is really wild how heavily my feelings towards possibly having a semi-normal semi-low stress semi-free life soon swings WILDLY between the normal and expected joy and excitement, and sheer depression and anxiety. It's part of the motions itself and it's the trauma speaking, but the idea of not having my childhood trauma placing strict psychological walls and limits of what I can and can't do just... in a weird way it seems almost miserably boring right now. Like literally 3 hours ago I was excited and relieved but now Im dreading it - and I'm pretty sure I'm still me, maybe I'm still fused with Data as well and its just me swinging between two dominant sides, I can't tell but good god the swings from relief, excitement, joy and just an existential crisis and sense that without the chronic stress and pressure and extremely rigid walls I've been living in if I would even still be me

Which is an anxiety thing, because obviously Ill still be me and obviously life will still suck and be stressful in its own ways, but man is the idea of being relatively free came out of left field and I've only had a month to really realize how close we are to it.

I'm honestly... kind of scared to be happy. I don't think I'm ready for it XD

Like straight up, I'm terrified of being happy and healing now that I'm at a huge threshold point in healing probably. Im just like

Wait wait

Wait no wait

Hold up slow down

I haven't thought about this decision genuinely beyond a theoretical haha thatd be nice but would never happen

And its at my front door

What do you mean Ill have OPTIONS in life other than survive

Im not ready for OPTIONS in life

God someone hide me I'm not ready to live and thrive jesus christ

Most graduating college students I feel have this anxiety around graduating because they have to live on their own, take on independence, and have to adult permanently on their own and that stress I'm good I love that I'm ready for that

But god damn does the freedom of not having to prepare for the next test every 3-4 weeks, the grind to do more and more, and then returning home and not having my own place - that shit, THAT shit scares the fuck out of me

Make me survive on $5 for food a day, fine I can make that work I'm used to and good at struggling and suffering. Give me a home and money that I make myself and let me live with my supportive and loving fiance and engage in my hobbies when I get the chance because I succeeded at immense cost at preparing for the work force?????????

Relaxing?! ENJOYING LIFE?! terrifying.

Like Im writing this satirically but its unironically the thing thats had me dysregulated for a fucking month. It's getting better and more manageable than before but good GOD have I never more understood the thing my therapist tried to get me to understand that "I have grown comfortable in my misery"

Like I don't want to stay in my current life style god no its not sustainable, but to get BETTER? To have a chance at something nice? Somehow right now that sounds scarier than the current life cause man, I know my misery. Even when my brain genuinely doesn't see this as a "waiting for second shoe to drop" the level of which I am so unfamiliar with existing in anything but a chronic trauma response state and the possibility that I might not be in a chronic trauma response state TERRIFIES me.

And Im really here going "Don't worry we still live in a dystopian capitalist society and life will still suck its okay" to ease my anxiety and good god

I fucking god PTSD man. Someone without PTSD aint like this man

-Riku

#alter: riku #vent #vent tw #feel free to reblog and discuss on this tho #im within my coping range but good god #there is this huge dissonance in what I think and know I should feel and what I do feel #of course thankfully I also understand how this is and this is also “how I should feel” and so I am fine giving it space to air #but good god is it a weird conflict of logical and emotional brain #PTSD #C-PTSD #recovery #healing

[reilleclan-blog]

I don't recognize my hands I don't recognize my face I don't recognize my hair. I sleep for hours to wake up wondering why I'm still here and who am I to be here. Yes, I feel extremely alienated since I was a little kid I wish someone protected her. Now I'm here in her place I wish someone protected me I wish my existence mattered to the ppl around me. I suck at making friends I never realized why I was different, and my differences everyone else noticed family, school, strangers. I miss my dog, yes child we finally got a dog he sadly had his final days almost 4 years ago and I still miss him. In a way he was my only friend I could talk to even to him I wasn't the best I miss him all the time. He was my only friend constant lonelyness constant being alone and abused I have no one. The world will tell me for a couple days "it's not so bad" until I remember why I choose to separate myself from so many ppl. Most ppl don't see me as a person a living person. I'm not even here to them I'm not here to myself. I am alienated I am unfinished unnamed. Why would I be cared for. Why would someone know my name, or date me or care for what comes out of my mouth. I want community but community is not safe I am not safe I am not ok I'm not well. I'm sick. I can talk to myself for as long as I like I can go on morning walks and try to reach for companionship but it will never come cause I'm not meant to exist to anyone I'm not here. I can't be here this place is the worst. This is not a joke ig this is a cry for help but idrk. I'm physically here and yes u can touch me, but mentally I'm not. I'm not sure what having closeness with a person is. I wonder if the world would be a kinder place if everyone experienced what a black autistic woman had to deal with. From the moment we are born we are no longer seen as human. I wish this place wasn't so painful I wish I didn't care about anything and some days I unironically think Pain from Naruto had the right idea. Nobody cares until it's themselves so give everyone the same painful experience will ppl care then?

Also I'm so fucking tired of telling ppl how out of touch with the world I feel(alienating or alienated) and that person's response is "well u can still change that" I understand maybe ppl don't know what to say or they genuinely believe "if I could do it u can" that's not the same for SOMEONES LIVED EXPERIENCES. It's just not maybe u want to say something positive b/c it's easier or b/c u aren't living what I'm living thru but please stfu about this "positive lifestyle" bullshit. "Don't stress " WTF THANK U FOR TELLING ME SOMETHING I WISH ID HAVE THOUGHT OF THAT. SUCH KIND HIGHLY GOOD WORDS THOSE ARE. If u don't have anything "affirming" to say u can just say nothing or stop fucking talking to me. Just "stay positive" in a world where CHILDREN AND ANIMALS ARE BEING KILLED AT A RAPID RATE WHILE "HUMANS" watch it like it's the fucking Super Bowl. Yes I'd love to "stay positive". Anybody that says shit like that.. just fuck u. Yes whoop whoop u overcame ur obstacles that's great but ur not me. I'm so tired of the arguing and fighting just listen to me actually listen to me.

Me me me care about me listen to me love me. Tell me I matter to u and actually show it. I'm fucking done

#black woman

[saltypiss]

What's funny about the abortion thing is that the republican politicians couldn't come up with a good reason to vote for them. None at all.

Because they know banning abortion is just a bad thing for people, there is no way to actually argue against abortion.

Seriously, all they have is "It's killing someone!" But the opposite side has statistics, science, evidence, history, basic empathy and reasoning skills, basic understanding of pregnancy and the procedures and after effects, how poor the adoption process both is and how bloated it is with no takers, and half the voting base.

You can't argue with emotion when that emotion is you being a fucking pussy and not giving a shit about the actual harm being caused, entirely and solely because thinking of just the concept of something you'll never ever be involved in makes you mildly irrationally upset. Congratulations, your pussy feelings mean jackshit. The fact is, there is no argument against abortion. There is no argument for republicans. There is nothing. Their entire platform is maniacs rapists pedophiles murderers traffickers and more. There's source after news outlet after investigative journalism, after what they've openly and publicly said and done. They argue with emotion, no policy, no rational line of reasoning.

Like social security, ooo, it's tax they'll never get! We're being taxed to death! Wahh! Wahh! Got any actual proof or are you just going off anecdotes and what other uninformed angry people like you already are predisposed to believe? Literally, how did you come to this line of reasoning. Anything. Anything ever at all?

At some point all the arguments build up from behind the echobox and they just leave silently. Nobody is truly hard republican, they have no logical reason to be, they just hate something and want it to be something they never have to think about. Because again, they're pussy control freaks. But everyone grows up eventually, sometimes.

Eventually they'll realize the world ain't so small and they can stop pretending to know everything without having anything to show for it but devotion to an idea they could never explain to a crowd of people on a stage openly, other than a nazi rally.

Like I still haven't heard a good argument against gays or trans people. Just that they're flamboyant, gay, "unnatural" and weird. Oh no. The utter horror, life existing, and you caring about a very arbitrary aspect that has no scientific proof of anything.

Really republicans just build their entire ideology off the incomplete concepts and fan-fictions of others either paid to do so or unironically making those facebook tier memes.

Either way, holy hell it is hilarious to watch the in-fighting over Dump. 7-8 fucking years since before the elections. About. Fucking. Time.

For once I'm rooting for Dump, because it looks like he's got little chance, and he's causing in-fighting. Divide that party like the democratic party has to be having been the only rational option forever, forced to hold every ideology that isn't Hitler fascination.

[youchangedme]

"im going to create a narrative that is So Diverse" *literally creates racist caricatures*

#literally have no words for this #like i can't understand someone unironically thinking that was a good idea #im talking again

[asexual-means-no-attraction]

To be honest, the bi/pan thing is one of the reasons why I'm unironically anxious about the LGBTQ+ community now: I feel like I'm not smart enough to understand all this and what is and is not transphobic. I've always thought, if you are OK with both sets, which is bi, it means you can at least technically be with any human, and the rest is personal relationships, that are defined by the personalities of the involved. Another thing I don't get (and would be grateful if you or someone else could explain) is the genital preference thing, like the one with Lil Nas X. I've always thought that it's okay for people to have personal preferences when it comes to their personal bed, including the ones concerning the body (as a whole) of the partner. I also don't think it's a specific LGB thing. We are not made of magic clay, there's such a thing as incompatibility, be it size, libido, preferences, and it happens with straight people, even if it's not something people usually talk about. I've heard the argument "Well if you call yourself lesbian as in loving women, and you don't want to date transwomen because of their bottom areas, you are a transphobe and don't consider them women, because there's no way you will know what's in their pants until you make it to bed", but I still can't understand the logic. Like... it's a personal preference, what someone likes and doesn't like in sex, right? And it happens in straight or in same-sex relationships that involve cis people, that the pair starts dating, everything is OK, they make it to bed and it turns out, that not everything is great, they either work their way around that or break up and look for someone compatible. If people know, what they like and don't like already, they tell or discuss it beforehand. So if a person knows they prefer a certain type of sex, and having this type of sex is an important part of a relationship for them, why would they be a transphobe, if they look for it, and don't discriminate against trans people in any other way? I might be wrong but sounds like the old "You are a bad person if you don't want to date me". I'm sorry for the long ask, and I assure you I'm not a troll, just not very smart xD

Ok breaking this down. you start with talking about (1) bi vs pan. And finish with discussing (2) genital preference. You actually phrases things well and you seem to have a good grasp already. So I'll just add on and give some possible explainations.

1. Bisexuality means you're attracted to all genders. It means you can like anyone, just like you thought. It has no difference from pansexual besides "well pan just feels right." Because having a preference isn't a seperate sexuality. Just like a straight women who likes tall guys isn't any less or more straight than one who doesn't care about height. It's the same way with bisexuality. Pansexual has just taken off because of a lot of misconceptions of bisexuality and the idea that labels are supposed to be more about what makes you personally comfortable rather than focusing on what you actually are. If we told everyone with internalized homophobia to just make up new labels it wouldn't solve anything. Same thing for internal biphobia. Add that to the social media obsession of being "woke" and you get the label pansexual which is riddled with biphobia.

2. For the genital preference, again you're on the right track.

Not transphobic: hey, you're an amazing women, but this isn't working out because I just am not comfortable in this relationship.

Transphobic: I'm not comfortable in this relationship because you're not a REAL women.

Just like how some people like tall vs short, blonde hair vs brown hair, chubby vs skinny, funny vs serious, extrovert vs introvert, some people just don't like certain parts on a person-- regardless of their gender.

There are 100% people who are transphobic and will call their partner a lier, cheater, fake, not a real [whatever] when they come out as trans. Because sometimes you wait till things are going to get serious to out yourself (saying right away your trans can attract chasers so the right time to tell is gonna be based on what the trans person thinks is best). And it sucks.

But sometimes its just... You simple not being in the right relationship. Sometimes there are deal breakers in a relationship. Sometimes it's something big, sometimes something small. And sometimes it's because someone isn't comfortable with the genitals of their partner. And just like how they deserve to be with someone they're comfortable with, that trans person also deserves someone who's comfortable with them. It's not transphobic.

As for the lil naz x stuff. Gay men and straight women like dick. Lesbains and straight men don't. Sometimes you'll have someone who's comfortable with other genitals then their sexuality, sometimes you won't. Sometimes you might have to wait till you've had surgery. Sometimes you gotta find someone else cuz your current relationship didn't work out. It sucks. But it's just how it works. And not just for trans people. Relationships don't work for any number of reason. And genital preference is just one of those possible things.

Genital preference isn't inherently transphobic. Believing trans people aren't the gender they actually are IS transphobic. And the people who make a big huge deal about genital preference are either really frustrated trans people wanting to vent about how it can be hard to find a partner, or someone who's really just looking for "woke" points and literally just saying "you're a bad person if you don't want to date me." It's exactly as you said it. Some people just don't care and they only see things as black and white. If you disagree with them, you're evil. End of story.

#lgbt discourse #pan discourse #bi discourse #trans discourse #discourse #ask #answered

[tooweirdforyou]

Matchmaking Time ♡ » @kaku-lover

matchup request ; Alrighty! I can't wait to see who you match me with 🥺👉🏼👈🏼 (i will love anything you write)

I'm like 5'0, i have short brown hair, and honey-brown eyes. I'm chubby so I'm perfect for hugging 😌

I've had people describe me as kind and sweet. I'm generally really patient, but it can depend. I'm quiet around people I don't know, loud around those i do know, and I have a quick temper😳. I'm rather opinionated on things like human rights and injustice. I'm rather protective of my friends and extremely loyal. It would take a very good reason for me to turn my back on someone and even then it would seriously depend.

I like to read and play video games (I'm kind of boring dhdhf) I also like to write poetry sometimes. I love most kinds of music, and I still appreciate the ones that I don't. I'm the kind of person who unironically enjoys the song Boyfriend by Big Time Rush.

If it's okay, just please don't consider Akinu or Blackbeard. I... have very strong negative feelings on them. I hope that's okay, I really don't mean to sound rude or demanding :(

Both male and female are okay with me!

Eee, I hope I didn't write too much! I'm excited to see who you choose for me :D

Thank you~~~

Hii! You kind of sound like me, haha. Except I don’t write poetry, but instead fanfics! And you don’t sound rude at all, I understand.

I’ll most likely not match anyone with those two regardless but I appreciate you telling me. :) and bless my fellow chubby and short people. :D

So, without further ado, I match you with..

Revolutionary Sabo!

So, the blonde beauty is the perfect match for you, in terms of a male pairing.

Sabo would actually absolutely adore your height, since he’s a little over six feet. He can wrap his arms around you and place his chin on top of your head and just hold you close into his arms. -u•

He really appreciates your loyalty towards your friends and loved ones, since he is as well. Your kindness only adds to your attractiveness and how cute you are to him, and he isn’t at all bothered by your quick temper. He grew up with Ace, remember? He knows how to handle it, haha.

Sabo also reads daily, whether it’s to study or brush up on some information, he enjoys opening a book or two occasionally. He’s a playful person and would definitely be pretty competitive if you ever play games with him!

Now Sabo isn’t a huge fan of much music in my taste, but he does appreciate all forms of art. So your poetry would interest him and he’d ask if he can read a few entries you wrote.

Oh, and no worries that you’re quiet when you first meet, Sabo is a natural smooth talker and he’s very patient and understanding, so he’ll definitely get you to open up pretty quickly but at your pace, of course.

“Hm? Oh, there you are, angel. I was wondering where you were. Come on, let’s go to the bedroom and cuddle for a bit, maybe even read a book or two.”

Overall, I truly believe that Sabo is the best match for you, and I think you two would really hit it off. ;)

Bellemere!

This beautiful woman is the perfect match for you, in terms of a female pairing.

First off, Bellemere was a former marine, I believe, and she strongly agrees and believes / supports your opinion on justice and loves how loyal you are, because she is as well. She admires loyalty.

She shares your interests in different music, she likes listening to many and I believe her favorites is more of a soft melody type, piano music mainly. And she’d love to hear your poetry if you ever feel like sharing, though, she might zone out when she hears your voice because your voice is her favorite thing to hear. :)

Bellemere loves how sweet and cuddly you are, she really loves to hug people and you are perfect for that! She doesn’t mind your temper, since she had to raise two girls by herself so she’s also used to it and knows how to handle it.

She is extremely playful and loving and as much as she loves you, she will dominate you in all your video games so good luck. >:D she isn’t a fan of all games but she’s always willing to try whatever she’s never tried though.

“Come on, you’ve beaten me once, soak it in. I let you win because you were being cute. Next time, I won’t be so nice, so let’s have a rematch!”

So overall, Bellemere is a really great match for you in my opinion, I really think you two are compatible. :3

Honorable Mention : Issho / Fujitora

Obviously, if you aren’t into older people, then Fujitora is more of a father figure in your life, and I believe he’s someone that would be great to have a platonic relationship with.

Your opinionated thoughts on justice and the fact that you are extremely loyal and protective is already a perfect match for Fujitora.

Plus, this man is a big child, I’m positive, so he’s a great opponent for your video games. Think of like a cool / best grandpa that you have, you know? :)

A/N : IDK WAS THAT A GOOD MATCHUP? is that how you do these things? :> I thought it was okay. I would probably go in more depth and give more details and such, like first date, first kiss and etc, but I’m Saving those for AHEM Valentine’s Day,

And, I’m still sick but I wanted this out so people have a good idea of what specifically I do for these matchups so.. hopefully this was okay? TuT

-

(also if I had to pick a match for you off the very top of my head, it would probably be Ace because I feel like he would treat his partner right and you deserve it 😤 plus I feel like with your kind personality, it would mesh well with his. Ace seems like he would gravitate to kindness, and he would definitely ask Marco for help on how to take care of you when you get sick. He's adventurous, so he could bring a lot of excitement to you and he would probably have a wide variety of things he likes to do, so whatever your hobbies are, he'd at least try once. With you being sweet, it would help heal those painful cracks in his heart. While he doesn't expect you to "fix" him, your affection would over time help him anyways. If someone so nice can love him, maybe he does deserve to be happy.) ((If you drop some personality info/preference info, let me know and I'll totally do a more indepth and more thoughtout matchup for you♡♡))

okay, the fact that you even made a matchup for me is so sweet and :0 ACE?? omgg 😭 omg, this was already so sweet enough of you already and so much, and you’re willing to write more?? ahhh, my heart. I luv this 🥺🥰❤️ thank you!

#tooweirdforyou #one piece #matchmaking time 🤍 #kaku lover #one piece matchup #syd’s matchup

[mantra4ia]

Trixstar Imagine Fanfiction: "Three Times The Charm"

By mantra4ia. August 1st 2020. Cross posted to AO3.

One of the most aggravating things about hell was that Lucifer could still hear prayers. Like a soundproof room with a squeaky fan. Like a 'no smoking' sign on your cigarette break. Like listening to Alanis Morissette unironically. God's final joke, Lucifer lamented, was that deep in the bowels of exile was just enough awful celestial Wi-Fi to get the spam — prayers to other celestials of which he only caught the static, or pleas to the big man himself — like the bleed-over on an AM/FM radio. Which was why, when Lucifer finally heard a prayer loud and clear with the volume turned up to 11, it nearly knocked him off his thrown. It had been so long since anyone had prayed directly to him, not in jest, or begging for a favor, but earnestly and with fervor that at first it gave him a migraine. He could hardly hear the words let alone distinguish the voice behind them, until at last he was able to tune in to someone achingly familiar.

"Hey Lucifer, it's me."

Trixie, you little hellion, is it really you?!

"it's Trixie. I'm not sure whether you'll remember me. It's been a while."

You have no idea...but of course I remember you mini-Decker, don't be silly.

"Maybe you think I'm still pet sized. Well I'm not anymore."

I promise you, those remarks had nothing to do with your stature and everything to do with your intelligence, and possibly also your penchant to devour snack cakes, small human. But I admit I was wrong Trixie, you're smart and clever. It was then that the epiphany struck Lucifer: why and how was she praying to him at all?

"I bet you're wondering why I called you on the long distance prayer line. At first I thought maybe I would hear your voice answer me back, but I guess this will have to do. You see Lucifer, I may have lied to you, and I know you are not going to like that, but I hope it doesn't keep you away forever."

What? He took flight from his throne and down to lowest depth of hell scape, trying without success to fully find his footing among the chasms, his knees imperceptibly shaking —though he knew not why — while his feet took hold of him though he knew not where to. As if beckoned by the siren sound of her voice, he made his way through the winding onyx labrynth, turning where her voice waned and proceeding again where it renewed in strength.

"Because I didn't lie-outright-lie. I just didn't tell the whole truth. I've always known you were an angel, like your brother Amenadiel. Just that you live in different places. I wrote a whole bunch of letters over the years, but the post office told me Hell wasn't a valid address, and eventually they started making fun of me behind my back for not having enough postage."

Well you should have tried sending it via the DMV. Honestly, Beatrice, I have any number of portals there. A whole network really.

"Anyway, I figure where you are it might be lonely, so I guess this is as good a time as any to catch up."

Out with it then, what's the sitch child?

"I just started driving lessons, although they're not as good as yours." That's my girl. "And Charlie's doing great, he started playing soccer." Please don't tell me Linda had him play keeper to keep an eye out for infant angel powers. "He's the goalie." Christ, I bet she put him in a helmet too. "I was mad at him for a long time, I know he's only little, but I was angry that he couldn't remember you like I remember you. He even asked me if you were my imaginary friend." Does he really not remember his Uncle Lucifer? "I know, kids are dumb. But I'm not mad anymore. I drew him a picture of you in my art class...and my detention after I didn't do the actual assignment in art class, but still-lifes of fruit are boring. It doesn't look like my old drawings on the refrigerator from the last time you were here, if that's what you're worried about. And it's better than Amenadiel's stick figure drawings. If I'm being honest, I wanted to make sure I remembered you too. Maybe one day you can tell me what you think. My teacher Mrs. Fissner says it's very good. Disturbing but good. She may have sent me to see the social worker. Mom misses you. I miss you too. Listen Lucifer, I'm sorry I didn't reach out sooner but...never mind, I guess that's all for now...."

No, Trixie. You're the first human voice I've heard in a thousand years who isn't begging for mercy. Don't, please, Lucifer pleaded.

"It's just that I don't really believe in prayers. I mean, I think they're kind of stupid..."

You're preaching to the choir Trix. I couldn't agree more, this rare instance being a timely exception.

"...because people somehow find a way to make it all about them, and what they want, when they should really be listening."

Oh damnation, don't tell me you've turned into a theological scholar, or did Amenadiel put you up to this? Fess up. Could you sound anymore like your mum, you're the second oldest young person I know. Where is the Beatrice who could extort people for cash, lay waste to my flat in a single pirouette, and inhale chocolate like I inhale controlled substances? A haunting thought ghosted over Lucifer's nostalgia. Did I miss all your formative years?

"And I don't want to do that, because I don't want to torture you."

Lucifer's step faltered as he slid to the ground against the ravine walls, at last overwhelmed by the whole absurd, miraculous encounter. All the days upon days he'd spent torturing souls without missing a beat, and Trixie was worried about torturing him? About how her struggles might affect him? His chin sank to his chest, and Lucifer cried.

"Mom didn't tell me you went back to hell, because she doesn't know that I believe you when you said you're the devil, but she did tell me that it's important and that in your new job a lot depends on you. I didn't want to hurt you by asking you to come back when I know that you can't. But this life is really important too Lucifer, and...it's mom. She's got a new friend."

So that's it, Lucifer thought in resignation, that's why she's praying.

"I feel lost between them. So I asked God to send me an angel, the nicest angel he had."

You've got to be kidding me? Is that what I am now sloppy seconds, I'm not even first on the prayer chain!

"Except I'm pretty sure I already used up that prayer when he sent me you."

Lucifer's din of thoughts fell into silence as he hauled himself up to full stature, trying to pull himself together. I can't help you Trixie, your mom deserves to be happy. Chloe deserves to share her life with someone who makes her feel as special as she really is. And God help me, I can't believe I'm saying this, but it would help if you showed her a little grace.

"So I was hoping Lucifer, that you could please come back and show my mom this isn't the right guy for her. I know you're the only one who can."

Not if it puts you both in harm's way, Lucifer said, knowing that his words would never reach her, and that her prayer like a billion others before would float away unrequited.

"If you can't help me, please help her."

Lucifer stopped cold. Why would the detective need my help?

"I told you, Lucifer. I need you to understand that I've always known what you look like. More than that, I need you to know I've always understood who you are. So that you'll believe me when I say I know that my mom's friend, the one that looks like you, isn't really you."

It was only then that Lucifer realized the wall he'd braced against was not a stone cliff, but a gate. He did not waste a moment eviscerating the lock.

Trixie had searched for Lucifer once, in his mortal abode at Lux.

She'd found him again within his personal den of iniquity without batting an eye.

Little did she realize that even in the lowest depths of hell she could reach him. Dad's blessings, it seems, run in the family.

Third time's the Trix. You're right urchin. It's time to go home.

***21 days of Lucifer Countdown: 21 days until season five. New content daily***

#lucifer morningstar #trixie espinoza #lucifer and trixie #trixstar #lucifer s5 #netflix lucifer #lucifer imagine #third time's the charm #send me an angel #The nicest angel you have #fan fiction #mine #fanfic4ia #21 days of Lucifer

[novelistash]

Wattpad & Twitch?

I saw the term Writeblr. Am I a Writeblr? Is Writeblr a page or a person? Well, this Jon Snow has been dipping their toe into the wide world of Wattpad. Any other writers on there? Drop your links! I've been reading stories live on Twitch, and it's been a lot of fun! There's a lot of lost talent there, as with all writing spaces, but it definitely needs some help finding air to breathe.

Why did I decide to read Wattpad stories live on Twitch? Read more. (I hope I'm using this feature right.)

About two and a half years back, I decided that it was time to stop dragging my feet and get traditionally published. (Well I try to get trad pubbed.) I knew that Twitter would be the place to promote and Wattpad would generally be the place to share, but I also knew those places would be full of competition. November was coming up so I thought, "why don't I live stream Nano? That'll be fun." It wasn't.

As much as people don't want to read, they definitely don't want to read while an author is writing. Twitter had a very small writing community then and I haven't seen it get any more popular. Which isn't to say it couldn't get popular, but I don't think it works as a way to GET an audience. I could talk about those who've found moderate success, but if I'm going to do that I'd like to talk to them and maybe interview them. Something I've considered putting on my ghost town of a YT channel.

Regardless, I was on Twitch for about a month. I never gained any kind of following and every viewer I saw on those channels were people like me, those who were trying to promote their own writing. So, yes, I could gain followers of other writers, but I couldn't build a brand that way. I had too much experience with similar platforms to think otherwise. If I wanted to get readers, I needed to be on the platform that readers were using.

That lead me to more or less wasting two years on Twitter. I mean, I met some cool people while on there and had good interactions. But was it good for my brand? Did it help me find readers? I'd say a resounding "no" on both parts. The funny thing about Twitter is that it's great at making you think that people care about you. Shit post about a bad day? Hundreds of replies. Link to a blog going into detail about that bad day? Now you're starting to see how little people actually care. At some point I can go into the nuances of my time in the trenches of Twitter, but the point is that it didn't help my writing career.

For me, the biggest problem with Twitter was the same problem with all writer-centric spaces: we are sellers without customers. I like to describe these spaces as towns of vendors. We each have our vendor stall set up, and see lots of people walking. This is great! That means there are customers! Except all of those people walking on the street are also vendors. They're only there to sell their own wares. Yes, there's mutual inflation and reciprocal commerce, but writers make a poor basis for a readership. If someone is selling eggs, they want to sell to bakers, cooks, and the common man, not their fellow ranchers.

Regardless of fame and fortune, I want a readership. I write for myself, yes, but once those words are on the page, I want someone to read those words. I've been writing for over twenty years by this point and during that time my perspective has almost always been, how do I get readers? It's a natural question to ask, but it's driven by selfish desires at its core. I think for the writers of today, the bigger question might need to be, "how do I get people to read?"

The larger problem with readers, is that there aren't that many of them. If there are ten billion eggs in a town of a hundred, most of those eggs are going to rot. And even though most everyone knows that the general public doesn't habitually read, there seems to be this stigma against talking about it. Ever since I started writing, the talking point has always been "people thought comics would destroy the novel, but it didn't."

Okay, so, there are still readers, but could you say that a majority of the people read? Comic books, television, movies, and video games all offer more senses than the written word. They offer experiences that books never can, so why would anyone choose to read a book when they could instead watch that same story play out on screen?

Well, the written word can actually offer things that other media can't. In general, novels are closer to the emotional landscape of the story. Books invite the reader to be a part of the creation process, rather than a passive observer. The lack of a spoken word or portrait lets the reader construct whatever voice or face they desire. Beyond all of that, readers tend to spend more time with a book than any other media. (I'll hold off on a thorough debate of the narrative quality of iterative gameplay loops in video games for the time being, but I'd be hard pressed to find someone who enjoyed Preston Garvey's procedurally generated missions more than any of the designed quests in Fallout 4.) The point is that the written word is not without value, simply that its qualities are losing appreciation.

That's where the idea of reading stories came about, not as a way to increase my visibility, but as a way to increase the number of readers in the world. Opera single handedly created a boom in book sales by doing little more than talking about books. I think that modern entertainment can take interest in reading farther. Podcasts and Twitch streams are filled with content that is actually dead air, but people will tune in and listen. They connect with the player, the streamer, the speaker, and they are content to be apart of somebody else's discovery. A big part of what makes Twitch successful is simply watching these personalities react.

Wattpad is literally an endless supply of new stories that are available for free online. For some, anything that isn't traditionally published is a book not worth anyone's time. But there are hundreds of thousands of people submitting entire novels to literary agents every single year. Statistics alone supports the idea that great books are not going to get the representation they deserve. What are those thousands of unpublished authors supposed to do with their novels, wait patiently for exterior validation?

I don't think there's any shame in self publishing a novel and Wattpad and platforms like it are a perfectly reasonable way of putting out that content. Is there under edited content on Wattpad? Of course, but can anyone in good faith say the same isn't true of all published works? Yes, some writers are just starting out, and they dump their content onto Wattpad, but I don't understand why that's immediately a reason to balk. The writers liked the idea enough to bring it to life. Sure, finding a way to manifest those ideas is complex and difficult, but I honestly believe that a first body of work can still have an unironic entertainment in them.

I've been streaming on Wednesdays from 10am-noon pacific time. I might change that moving forward, but right now it's looking like I'm only going to be adding more time. If you're interested in joining me for story time, check me out on Twitch.

https://www.twitch.tv/ashnovelist

#writeblr #writing #twitch #explanations no on asked for #wattpad #seriously share your stories and I will read them

[nellygwyn]

Omg thank you so so so so so so much!!!! I'm just so happy, as stupid as it is xD

I unashamedly and unironically love Henry with all my heart, and he's probably my favourite Jane Austen character. Like, I really love Willoughby and Mary Crawford as well, but I think they were hardly redeemable even from today's pov. I mean, having a secret baby with someone and not taking even financial responsibility, or saying it may as well be better if your brother died are both good reasons to end a relationship. Now, Henry? I honestly think he was good, even more so considering how awful his influences had been. From today's pov he'd probably just have a one night stand after having his relationship broken with someone not married because it would be more convenient and less 'awful' (as it was back then, I think, to have a relationship with a married woman rather than a maiden; I might be wrong, but that's the feeling all the books give me).

I love how he doesn't care at all about Fanny's social or economical status, something that can't be really said for Darcy, and not even Knightley to Henry's level, as much as I love Knightley as well. I love so many things about Crawford and his relationship with Fanny, while I've always disliked Edmund and their relationship fervently. Edmund totally takes her for granted, and his kindness towards her feels more like charity and obligation than sincere love or generosity. The adoring unequal even dismissive relationship he has with Fanny is so awful the only reason I stand the ending of Mansfield Park is that Fanny gets what she wanted herself, as questionable as it might be. I honestly think Henry would have been a good husband, had he stayed on the way of the character growth, and he definitely appreciated Fanny for all that she was in a level no one other than her siblings did. I'm a big supporter of "Henry, for all that's good, if you could have kept it together the ending would have been better for pretty much everyone".

I'm sorry for the rant, I could talk about this for hours. What I meant is that the letters you talked about, from family and friends, make me feel elated as dumb as it is. So thank you very much!

Don’t apologise for the rant at all, love!

I also love Henry Crawford and agree with most of what you’ve said here. I understand why Austen did what she did i.e. Fanny does not end up with Henry. She was so sick of literature that suggested kind women exist to save and redeem rakish men, which was pretty rife in the 18th and early 19th century. But on the other hand, I am a sucker for the idea that a man improves himself in order to prove his love and dedication to a woman. 

[elizabethrobertajones]

I'm not saying you agree with that TLJ article since you tagged it 'mh', but I'm very worried but this latest trend 'Your opinion is wrong because of internalized ___'. Some movies just suck? Like, I hated Ghostbusters 2 because it was bad. I was perfectly okay with having four women as main characters, but that can't be your whole idea for a movie.

I do think that article is interesting, and trying to describe what is basically a wider cultural phenomenon. I’m sure on case by case basis you could rarely boil it down to just a few specific factors and “diagnose” someone except for really obvious lifelong character types who would be in the most obvious demographic. 

Star Wars *already* got a bunch of sexist and racist backlash before TFA, so it’s already in the bracket of movies which got thrown together as the collection of SJWs are ruining our childhood movies like Mad Max, Ghostbusters, etc, so it’s also definitely not like this is a wild stab in the dark that it has pre-existing tension, although in this case the reaction is still really split. But I can see why it’s easy to examine it this way and analyse where it might make people uncomfortable, and wonder to what degree people are prepared to let go of Leading White Man formula for mega blockbusters. 

Something like Wonder Woman, people know what they’re getting into when they see it in the sense that the franchise is completely built around there being a female character in the lead role. So that stands quite alone. And it’s not like there haven’t been action movies with female leads in the past either, but the re-casting in the case of Ghostbusters, or just development of interesting female characters who aren’t beholden to a cookie cutter template/romance arc within a supposedly male-dominated franchise (Furiosa, especially) and changing up old franchises to have more diverse cast (Star Wars) or just completely flip the “male is the default” idea like Ghostbusters and Oceans 8, are deliberately challenging and in some cases - the last 2 especially - are pretty much thumbing the nose to the idea of all-male casts being unremarkable and default. Whether the movies are *good* or not (I thought Ghostbusters was about on the level of, say, a Ghostbusters movie for quality and humour, so okay basically :P) they’re culturally significant at a time when it seems both bizarre and horrifically slow and backwards that we *still* don’t have *even just getting male and female representation right, never mind race and sexuality and disability representation* (I mean for that last point - in some ways these films are already going to be regressive by the time other progressive steps are made, for example Charlize Theron wearing a green screen glove to delete her arm, instead of just hiring an actress with half an arm which is the immediately less-expensive and fiddly route to get the aesthetic…)

But idk, it’s not even like Star Wars was either perfect or extremely progressive, it just managed *not* to have 2-3 white male leads + some other people in the background, and to allow the non white male people to have such a stake in the story they could mess up and make decisions that affected the fate of the galaxy - often negatively, as this is the ESB slot of the trilogy aka where everything is supposed to go in the toilet. There was a lot they could have done better and I’m still annoyed that Maz and Phasma both got pitifully tiny roles but were basically included despite the set up of the movie being extremely restrictive to much exploration and with probably the longest time limit they thought they could allow themselves and still sound like there were any tension in the chase… 

I think it’s definitely always worth exploring whether social issues are having an impact on the reception of a film, though, because it’s a way of addressing the issues in our society, which we *know* exist, and when a film is openly critical of our society, and then people are critical back at it, guessing there may be a nervous backlash from people it made uncomfortable for too-close-to-home reasons makes sense. The critique offered by Kylo Ren to edgy white masculinity is really interesting, and I think it’s probably not hard to imagine SOME people especially who fit the profile are reacting against him, or glorifying him anyway unironically while disliking large amounts of the rest of the movie. 

One of the points that article made as well was that other generic or bad films do much better with audience reaction - in fact some truly terrible films do really well as they’re marketed to a niche audience, and that audience gobbles them up and we get the inverse, of critically panned but audience ratings pretty high.

I mean, I’m assuming if you follow me you’re a Supernatural fan and so we’re all here to gobble up the melodramatic pretty boys :P

So, idk, I think in some ways the picking apart of the film and emphasising its flaws is happening in a strange social climate, where in some ways the discomfort about the film not catering with the most “easy” empathy of a white male main character & with flawed but interesting characters in the other roles particularly prone to being criticised in society for existing anyway and that the SW revival has already had one film threatened boycott over because of Finn being a black stormtrooper on his reveal, and I doubt that feeling has just magically gone away… There comes a point where I wonder how much is basically film review concern trolling when it comes to criticising his and Rose’s arc, or the film in general. 

And how much of the film’s real flaws, plotholes etc if they existed in an easier version of the film with all 4 Chrises in the major roles would take months or years to get properly dissected by the internet while it’s basically as soon as you go back online after the movie someone’s complaining about why Canto Bight even existed.

I mean my “Hm” was “this is interesting and I think it definitely could apply to the wider cultural reaction to the movies” while obviously on a personal level if people have certain standards for films (my dad hates basically *everything* so I don’t think his reaction to TFA was categorically racist or sexist, just that he would be inclined to think pretty much anything JJ Abrams makes is garbage and whoops I never should have naively made him watch the first episode of Fringe with me :P) then if any of these movies are things you can tell would have rubbed you up the wrong way anyway, e.g. you didn’t like the original Ghostbusters that much/have found it far cringey-er on adult rewatches etc then you are absolutely allowed to have a reaction to it on a personal level which is not a sign of the sickness of our society :P 

But I think even if you don’t like the new SW film, it’s worth putting aside your critiques of it for a moment to think about this article and the wider reaction - not to make you guilted into enjoying the film, but because it’s worth at least pondering the wider social issues the film’s already definitely caught up in since like, before TFA came out, so we can’t deny that there’s at least some portion of the audience, whether the loud but small group of assholes who utterly invisibly boycotted TFA, or the wider percentage of the population who’ll be consciously or unconsciously turned off by the cast and the power given to their characters in the story, and the possibly even wider percentage who may still struggle to empathise with female characters because Hollywood has so systematically underrepresented like, what can alternately be the literal largest demographic on the planet, and presented just plain old cis women as characters whose inner lives are valuable and decisions should be respected. 

I mean since I came out the movie I’ve been swinging back and forth on “should Holdo have just told Poe her plan or was the point that this man of a much lower station is getting all up in her business demanding to know and questioning her, and I assume that was intentional so I should agree with Holdo but would this have looked just as bad if a male admiral showed up doing the same thing and they accidentally undermine her by it being a bad decision in general, or is the point that if it had been a male admiral Poe would have shut up and not let an insurrection, but I mean it’s *Poe* and I love him and I totally understand and he was made out to be more sympathetic until *after* the twist so did they WANT us to be critical of Holdo or am I just falling into a trap of not giving female characters the same room to fuck up as male characters -” and that’s BEFORE I get onto the internet and read this debate for weeks, just my confusion about this arc and what it was saying and if it was meant to say one thing or the other or if it’s a bit of bad writing (but not something so bad it would ruin the film to the point of only 50% enthusiasm like Rotten Tomatoes is giving it - like, 93% or something :P) or if it’s doing exactly what it’s supposed to by making my brain cogs go and making me feel I need to write like, a dozen female admiralty into things to allow Holdo a cultural sisterhood of good bad and ugly admirals to be her own person in instead of the only female admiral to ever stick in my head like this :P So idk. 

Hm. Basically. 

#Asks #star wars #star wars spoilers

[system-of-a-feather]

Someone: *sigh* Riku is rambling about birds and research again...

Okay literally though, our system has two cockatoos - both of which are more of the shape shifting sort since our system doesn't have any animals that are just animals, but even past that we all really really really just have major cockatoo cockatiel behavior. Like some parts are SIGNIFICANTLY less cockatoo than others but like... we have at least four parts that radiate massive cacatuidae energy; myself being one of them

Like, if you get us excited, you will see the body side walking and head bobbing at it and like... even as a not-cockatoo-morphing part, I unironically get phantom head feathers.

Plus we all scream and never shut the fuck up like them.

Like I guess we technically would be cacatuidae-kin but honestly it's just largely more of a cultural thing in the sense that we were more emotionally raised by them than our parents so the entire branch of parrots specifically are just seen as like... inherently our "kind".

I joke that we are like... reverse imprinted animals. Rather than being a wild animal imprinted onto humans, we imprinted on birds - specifically the cacatuidae family - and cognitively struggle to understand that we are not, in fact, at least half cacatuidae ourselves.

The really unfortunate thing is that I would go into cockatoo research but a lot of the time you can't really do avian research if you have birds yourself due to completely reasonable biosecurity issues and I don't think I could sacrifice my ability to live with birds for the ability to research them.

I might try talking to the professor running the pscittatine lab here on campus to see if there would be a possibility and value in potentially researching (in the future) aspects of the rehabilitation and socialization of cockatoos poached from the wild and/or brought in from the pet trade / neglectful homes and if that would be viable with the biosecurity issues in their opinion on the account that inherently the research would be focusing on birds that are already going to have to deal with exposure to possible pathogens and were not raised within an isolated lab.

But honestly, after talking with my professor about being involved in a research lab on pullet (pre-laying hens in the egg industry) behavior and development and how I feel about that, I'm currently leaning to my long term research dream ideal being involved the development and rehabilitation process of pscittatines, but that again would only be possible and dependent entirely on if I could safely run such a project in the future while having my own birds - cause if not, then I'd probably go back to my human behavior research. Avian behavioral research is my favorite; but if I can't do that, then I am definitely sticking to either developmental psychology or clinical psych

jadlfaldsfl

I REALLY WANT TO SCIENTIFICIALLY STUDY THE REHABILITATION OF COCKATOOS SO BADLY THO I SWEAR SOMEONE TELL ME I CAN ;;;;;w;;;;;

It's so hard being as much in love and enmeshed with birds as I am AND as into research as I am cause I am regularly forced to pick between birds as a life partner and birds as a study topic.

On one hand, I can do SO much more good for my kind if I choose to have them as a research topic and sacrifice my ability to regularly live with them as part of their flock; but on the other hand I NEED MY FLOCK >.>

I REALLY went off tangent about this but ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

I hate having to think about where I want to go specifically within behavioral research in the future. I know I WANT to go into it but hhhhhhhhhhh. I have a year or so to Figure It Out TM before I need to start applying to doctorate programs specifically on a topic but I have TOO many ideas and passions reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

I cry.

#alter: riku #rambles #ramble #research #research tw #cockatoos #birds #bird rambles #riku rambles