#the only time I make an exception to this is when ppl use their religion as an excuse to hurt others

[sage-nebula]

Do you believe in God?

I consider myself both agnostic and a secular humanist. I don't know what's out there in the universe, besides aliens. (Aliens have to be out there somewhere; the universe is just too big for our planet to be the only populated one. It just makes sense for some other living beings to be out there somewhere, even if they don't need the same things to live as we do.) There could be some supreme being, or some eldritch horror. Maybe there's another dimension that overlaps with this one and that's where the supreme beings / eldritch horrors are. I don't know. Likewise, I don't know what happens after we die. Maybe we just blink out of existence, our consciousnesses vanishing into the ether. Maybe there is some kind of afterlife. Maybe we're reincarnated. Again, I don't know. I don't remember ever having died before, so I really can't say.

But I can say that—well, two things.

One, if there is some kind of supreme being or eldritch horror or whatever, I don't think it makes sense for them to care about humanity. To them, we'd be ants, wouldn't we? And even if someone has an ant farm, they don't care about each individual ant so much as they care about the colony as a whole. Ants might suffer. They do die. Even someone who is watching over the colony isn't going to intervene for one little ant. Why would they? Even if the ant does have some kind of internal emotions or whatever, the person taking care of the ant farm has no way of knowing that. They can't comprehend it. So they don't have a lack of care because of malice, but just because . . . those are ants. They're on a completely different level. And I think that any kind of deity or whatever would look at us, at humans and other animals, the same way. We're the ants and the Earth is our ant farm. If some kind of cosmic entity does exist, there's no way they'd care about an individual person. Not because they're necessarily malicious, but just because we're on completely different levels.

And two, regardless of any of that, what's important is what we do to and for each other on this planet, in this life. I don't know what happens after we die. Maybe something. Maybe nothing. But I can't, and I won't, live my life trying to barter for a better afterlife, should one exist. Not only would obsessing over the afterlife make it very likely I could miss out on the life I have right here and now, but also, people around me are affected by things I do or don't do. And the same goes for you: your actions have effects on other people, and on this world. So we should do our best to treat each other with respect and dignity not because of any possible moral dessert, but because, isn't it better to leave a positive impact than a negative one? Wouldn't you want someone to treat you with respect and dignity, even if there was nothing for them to gain from it?

My own personal mental illnesses and struggles aside, I'll be honest: It's really hard to live in this world sometimes. Horrible things are always in the news. The planet is hurtling toward devastating climate change and those with the power to stop it refuse to. The state where I live sees me as less than a full person. It's hard to think that things could ever get better. But what keeps my head above water is the belief that most people are trying to do good. Most people are trying to help, rather than hurt. Most people are trying to leave this world a better place than they found it. For every loud asshole, there are nine decent people quietly doing their best. I don't think that anyone has an inherent morality in real life, in the sense that I don't think that being "good" or "bad" is an immutable quality within each person. Instead, I think our choices define us. And I think that most people, when presented with the option, choose to do good. I believe that, when push comes to shove, the majority of people care.

So, simple answer is: no. I was raised in a Catholic household, but I am not religious myself. I believe in a universe that doesn't care, and people who do. But who knows what the truth really is. I'm just one person, a human being upon this earth, with no greater knowledge about the afterlife or divine entities than any other person has. I don't have nearly enough hubris to think I've got it all figured out. I'm just doing the best I can to get by, and do as little harm and as much good as I can. In the end, I think that's all any of us can really do.

#anonymous #but in case this was a trap or smth: i don't have anything against religious ppl #if someone believes in a god and that makes them feel better about life & the world - i'm happy for them! #like i said this world is often horrible. life is so hard & dark sometimes. anything that brings you light & comfort is a good thing #the only time I make an exception to this is when ppl use their religion as an excuse to hurt others #you believe in a god? that's great. wonderful. i say that sincerely #you think that you believing in god gives you a right to hurt other ppl & control how they live their lives? now we have a problem #but otherwise i really don't care & i don't judge religious ppl for having faith. i personally don't - but that doesn't mean you can't

[pepprs]

ok yeah hi. it is very inappropriate for me to do this publicly when it is such personal whatever information. but i need other ppl (esp other jewish ppl) to know what im thinking and like. give me permission to act on it or whatever (cringe) and since i don’t have a new therapist yet im substituting my mutuals for one lol. so here’s this. tw for like… religion and me asking questions that have implications for all religion / culture in general and things like that. and also food. also not that i think anyone who follows me would do this but this post is not an invitation to proselytize to me or convert me to a different religion etc etc. ok here we go. this post is called: i am probably the wicked son and i am going to hell for it (not that jews believe in hell i don’t think but whatever). discuss ♥️

ok so here’s the deal. passover starts on wednesday. my family is not really that observant. we don’t do a Haggadah or a Seder or anything like that we literally just have my grandpa over for 2 nights of completely non traditional dinner where the only religious aspect is us saying a generic hebrew prayer for Passover at the beginning where we don’t even know what the words mean and then we just have normal conversation and don’t eat leavened stuff or most grains for a week. we don’t even eat matzah or any of the other passover foods you’re supposed to eat.

(here’s the part where i feel like even in asking the question im inviting god to smite me with a lightning bolt LOL) so i erm.. really do not want to not eat leavened stuff for a week. literally just because i eat leavened stuff sooo much and so much of what i eat is bread and it keeps me reliably full and i get hungry so fast and im hungry all the time. but it’s like.. im not special for that. im not unique in getting hungry fast or in relying on bread. (to my knowledge) im not ill or suffering in any way that makes me unable to observe the dietary requirements of this holiday. and in fact i probably eat too much bread than is actually healthy for me. but im just depressed out of my mind and need to make sure im eating things that keep me full and not letting myself be hungry. and i just really don’t want to not eat bread.

but the thing is i know not doing that is like one of the biggest… i don’t want to say sins but sins. that you could possibly do. like i just looked it up and the punishment is called “kareth” which is basically “the extinction of the soul” 💀 which ties Rigjt into my anxiety / guilt / whatever about making my own life and choices different from my mom’s and how the way she gets angry at me for doing something different than her makes me experience ultimate cosmic primal rejection / abandonment LMAO. but like my connection to judaism is already basically nonexistent bc we basically don’t do any of the holidays except rosh hashanah / yom kippur / passover / hannukah and what we do observe is so non traditional and secular that it basically doesn’t even count. and also i don’t “look” jewish and don’t have a “jewish last name” or whatever. and i know this is like complicated / bad in some ways to admit but i don’t feel any connection to my ancestors who made their exodus out of egypt or whatever (and who also probably were fullest having eaten bread and didn’t have the privilege of choosing whether they wanted to lol). and most of the jewish ppl in my life are either completely non observant or only casually observant and it’s more of a cultural / traditional thing than a religious thing. and i don’t rly feel a sense of community w other jews though ive fluctuated w that from time to time but i especially don’t rn bc of the situation with isr*el and p/alestine and how most of the observant jewish ppl i know are z*onists. the only thing that’s keeping me observing the holidays is obligation and precedent because that’s always how my family has done it.. and also i find meaning and whatever in rosh hashanah and yom kippur and hannukah. but i actually don’t at all for Passover. it’s always been my least favorite holiday which is ironic bc it was my parsha when i was bat mitzvahed. i feel disconnected to it probably because we never did seders and stff. and i don’t feel like i owe my ancestors anything for escaping egypt (girls who are the wicked son <3) but if i did i don’t see why we reenact the suffering we experienced instead of… celebrating that we are not suffering anymore! and eating a lot of the things we couldn’t eat while we were! and living our lives to the fullest! like why is it not a holiday about joy and gratitude instead of plunging ourselves back into reenacting suffering. says the girl who projects all the time and makes herself miserable every day LMAO but like.. idk. it’s making me so mad.

and the thing is i don’t even… like idk. the whole wicked son thing fucks me up so bad and strikes a nerve bc why are you labeled wicked / disrespectful / whatever for questioning precedent and figuring out how you want to make meaning in your life. like throwback to my mom getting fucking PISSED at me when i came home for passover last yr (i think it was passover or another jewish holiday) and said i was trying to figure out why im vegan and she took that as such a personal offense bc she couldn’t believe that i would question something she engrained in me.. idk. it was so fucked up. i feel like conflating god / my judaism and my mom / my veganism is not a good idea and is suggesting blasphemy but idk. im gonna be honest actually. i don’t know if i believe in god or if my questioning that makes me agnostic and not jewish. if i do believe in god it’s spinoza’s god who (according to this fb post i read in 2020 that has stuck with me ever since) says that basically god is the universe and… like it’s LITERALLY the end poem from minecraft it’s like you don’t have to be afraid of me or spend your days doing rituals to honor me just because that’s the precedent. make your own rituals. you will find me in no book or temple or whatever if you can’t find me in the precious moments of life like a sunset or joy or someone’s eyes. like you should just be who you are and not be afraid and indulge in the human experience and that is how you thank me and you don’t have to repent for anything because why would i make humans who make mistakes by nature and then punish them for doing that. and idk. that speaks to me so much. that’s what i hope so badly that god is. that’s why i hope so badly that me having questions and doubts about this stuff and figuring out how to connect to / honor my ancestors and culture and whatever in a meaningful way (and if i actually want to) is not going to invoke cosmic punishment of some kind because i am a human being and im allowed to have questions about things like this and to do things my own way that feels right for me given the circumstances and it’s okay to want to live (and to try to build) a life where as many rituals and sacrifices and burdens as possible are ones i choose and accept and consent to and am lucid about. especially when most of those burdens and stuff that ive experienced so far are things i have not gotten to choose at great mental and emotional cost. right? i want it to be that way so badly. i think if that was god then god wouldn’t want me to not eat brwad for 8 days just because that’s what the precedent is about how to honor the pain my ancestors suffered. god would want me to make my own tradition and if it was one of joy and gratitude for my ancestors and indulgence and exploring what being jewish means to me i think that would be okay with god. like LOL. but also am i just making excuses for not eating bread for a week and playing god or whatever and in doing so hopping and skipping and jumping to my doom in the form of kareth. do you see what i mean

but anyways yeah. this is really more of a thing for when im at work (which makes it even LESS of a big deal like im only there for 9-10 hours a day or whatever) bc if i didn’t do passover at home my mom would kill me so im leaving that aspect of it alone for now. but Omg im at a point in my life where doing things i do not get to choose is painful and im on the verge of a breakdown every day and the thought of having my diet disrupted for a week and being hungrier than usual when everything else in my life feels like it’s falling apart and i know how much being even slightly hungry impacts my mental health is making me lose my shit! like it’s just one too many things. but again im not special in that and i could do it if i had to. but do i have to if i don’t want to. what should i do.

#purrs #food #religion tw #ask to tag #delete later

[newsfromstolenland]

Hello Love!

I just read a post about you being a lesbian Muslim. I don’t want this message to come through as hate, not at all! But unfortunately, no matter how some ppl would like, homosexuality is a great sin in Islam. You can’t go around saying that you’re a Muslim when your acts are completely the opposite. No shame in what you’re doing, I just wanted to point out that Homosexuality and Islam cannot be practiced at the same time. This subject was clearly stated in the Qur’an with Prophet Lot’s people who engaged in homosexuality:

And [We had sent] Lot when he said to his people, "Do you commit such immorality as no one has preceded you with from among the worlds? Indeed, you approach men with desire, instead of women. Rather, you are a transgressing people." But the answer of his people was only that they said, "Evict them from your city! Indeed, they are people who keep themselves pure." [Quran 7:80-82]

And [mention] Lot, when he said to his people, "Do you commit immorality while you are seeing? Do you indeed approach men with desire instead of women? Rather, you are a people behaving ignorantly." But the answer of his people was not except that they said, "Expel the family of Lot from your city. Indeed, they are people who keep themselves pure." So We saved him and his family, except for his wife; We destined her to be of those who remained behind. And We rained upon them a rain [of stones], and evil was the rain of those who were warned. [Quran 27:54-58]

These two verses themselves are quite direct in their condemnation of the behaviour and does not make them acceptable in this religion. As such, we must refrain from any behaviour that Allah commands against. While we may be inclined to sin; the test is to remain steadfast.

And this message is only an advice, not interfering in any way.

May Allah guide you and us all inshallah!🫶

hey bud, no matter how you phrase it, this message is one of hate.

believe it or not, following every verse to the letter is not the end all be all of being muslim. I can believe in allah, can identify with Islam, can belong in the muslim community, and still think that the Quran contains hurtful and unnecessary verses.

lgbt+ muslims have existed longer than some civilizations have (muslim hijra in india and pakistan for example) and I really don't give a fuck if you refuse to acknowledge that

muslims all over the world have rejected the idea that Islam must be against lgbt+ people, and your choice to remain bigoted and exclusionary doesn't make you superior. it makes you unwilling to learn and grow.

#asks #anonymous

[castle-dominion]

1x6 always buy retail

Voodoo voudu vodun idk much of anything but whatever it is it's p cool & there are actually some branches which I think are forms of folk catholicism. Haitian Vodou is the one I know, well, nothing about & idk how correct I am but not /nothing/ nothing. From what I know, it is a french voodoo that formed in the americas in the caribbean (yk where p much all the natives were killed & then the europeans sent a ton of african ppl there as slaves, I think this all had smth to do with chocolate, possibly sugar tho) & it is a syncretism with catholicism, originally started out as an ATR. That's probs why the individual at the beginning sounds almost like they are speaking french. My french is rusty tho & I'm hard of hearing & the captions are empty.

My q is, what's up with the fellow's eye? OH WAIT OH GOSH OH WOW THIS IS A LOT lmao I like how he says "yeah why did we ever get divorced except for the reason we got divorced" & then kisses her again. They say your tattoo artist know what you sound like in bed: I can't tell if rick is in pain thinking about meredith or if she has her mouth somewhere.

I'd like to see an episode where they think someone is african-american & then they find out this person is australian. I think that would be nice.

RC, once beckett snaps him out of it: I had sex with my ex-wife this morning. Everyone: ... (this is a murder scene. they kind of stop & look at each other & castle & just... that was random) RC: My first ex-wife, Meredith. Alexis's mom. (girl idk if ppl want to hear) (special hell: for ppl who talk at the theater. Oh firefly.) RC: The hell of a deep-fried Twinkie. KR: A deep-fried Twinkie?? RC: Yeah. The guilty pleasure that you know is bad for you, so you only do it once, maybe twice a year for the novelty. *The boys nod & gesture their understanding.* But a deep-fried Twinkie every day is...

KB: Crime scene. Dead body. A little respect here. RC: I don't think he can hear me. I mean he's right. Once I'm dead y'all can't hear me so yk chill out. idrc. If I die, I'm dead.

Doesn't rigor mortis take two hours to set in & then ages to leave? Would it be hard to move the body then? bc that's one reason zombies can't exist, to move they would need to rip apart their muscles & then they would no longer be able to move.

JE: Vodun? What is that, some kind of Star Trek thing? *smiles at ryan like he cracked a funny joke* KR: No, dude, it's a religion. Practiced primarily in West Africa. *ppl look at him.* What? I read, too.

See? Beckett got Ryan into Castle novels.

KB Have CSU run the pouch. Have an M.E. test the blood. And let's get his fingerprints in the system, see if there's an ID. This ritual - I assume that it was done for a specific purpose? JE That's only if you're assuming that the guy doing this was rational. RC No, no. She's right. It might not make sense to you or me, but, uh, if we found out why he did this, we might find your killer. JE ("duh") Yeah, that's kinda how we do it. *him & ryan smile at him like :| like yeah bro. yeah. sarcastic I think.*

Just reading out loud to her. paris... like new york or did she take alexis to france? Castle is right about crazy ppl & sex. KB: how shallow are you? RC: Very

Obv she's going to be a practitioner. Um, it's fiction? I feel bad. He probably wrote vodun as scary evil bad for derrick storm when she told him a ton of rly cool stuff. Ooh, hardcore nigerian, now that's fun. See? Saints. I love how beckett reacts when Michelle says she is a practitioner. Girl, shut up. See michelle knows what's up. Cow's foot has plenty of gelatin, we used veal knucklebones for stock my first week of culinary school. Braised for a long time or simmered, the connective tissue in the meat would really soften up. I think cow's foot soup sounds delish. Plus, they obviously cleaned it! I like how she is a practitioner & also owns a cool restaurant. I wonder how much research the show producers & writers & ppl actually did for this episode.

Yeah. There are people who do bad things in every religion & lack of religion. Hold the reins on your racism & religious prejudice (which tbh is racially informed too).

Ryan is a first name, why is it his last name?

Sounds like ryan said "his" name is Darcy Cho. Darcy is technically a unisex name, originally a men's name, but then she's a woman. Neat, the cops from the other side of the city called these folks. Cool how we get a murder that's far away today.

Lol ryan really is a castle fan now. But he remembers what chapter that was? I can't even remember what BOOK something is from. (Ryan also looks normal now, the first few episodes they were really floundering to get all the characters down. At least they figured it out by now.)

Mom? I like how alexis is playing along in front of simmons. Fine but promise we're not leaving the city.

RC: There's a lawyer joke there somewhere, I just can't think of it.

Things are coming together <3 eeheehee

Remember japan? penthouse suite 14 floors up? walked it? yeah. Good times. West side story vibes. Just watched "america" bc of that. Good times. Woah gun out already? acab. These boys have the right idea. Keep ur mouth shut.

Ooh a mysteries "he" Yeah. Sounds about right. Weird. I feel like u should be able to be a citizen easier. I mean like. You're living here ain't u? Can anyone do that or do u need to be a priest?

Love the "yo yo" lol. Also I swear ryan has worn espt's exact outfit & esposito has worn ryan's exact outfit. Just a couple episodes ago.

Meredith: Richard! Over here! JE: Deep-fried Twinkie? Ryan just watching w that slight frickin smile RC, eyes closed as if he's getting a headache: 'Fraid so. Oh look at that, Ryan has a castle book. The way the three are standing stacked up like that Kitten? (rysposito laugh) RC: I had this dream once, only I was naked and far less embarrassed. Oh no she's going to end up helping. RC: what'd she do? (I think. my lipreading skills aren't good yet.) AC: shopping.

You got it boss. I love boss. I should call ppl boss more often.

I wish they would actually get a sketch artist to do it when they describe ppl to them. idk if they just get sketches of the actors to make it look accurate but I think it would be cool to see. I got an ai art account back when I saw it as just another tool, a medium for people to use, before I realized that AI need to learn & so it's essentially art theft, but anyway I just put in some prompts & it spat out a few options, one of them looked a little bit like a cartoon version of the person I was trying to get. They had writing on their forehead but other than that... & then I tried to evolve it a few times & at some point it spat out realistic-ish images & none of them looked close.

KB: Someone on Canal Street's got to know this guy. KR: Mmm. KR, eyes moving: Where's Castle? KB: He went home. KR: Deep-fried Twinkie, huh? KB: I didn't ask. KR: *smiles watching leave*

RC: I wonder if she could get arrested in New York. I know people now.

Castle listening graciously to his mom. Apparently Susan Sullivan (MR) was actually a broadway actress & so playing her on TV is kind of like she's playing herself. idrk. I think it's good that they got a theater actor to play the theater mom. She is kinda like martha. Red hair, fiery temper, kinda reckless (getting her kid out of school), tbh probs kinda,, worldly ; ) & also an actor.

Lol who tf cares. RC: You ladies picking out something pretty for yourselves? Alright fine just cut your way in! That's nice! /s Lol the bolt cutters just falling Ooh neat little sigils on the ground

Yeah lol smuggling. KB: Castle? Castle! RC: I'm on TV. KB: Are you having a breakdown? RC: Not a breakdown. A breakthrough. And I really am ruggedly handsome, aren't I? XD XD XD. Apparently NF gets ppl coming up to him on the street saying this line. Castle only says it once & Ryan says it once too, but it was in the intro so ppl heard it every time.

Castle & this guy. I like how this guy knows oni, or at least says hi.

Lady. this is an electronics store. I got cameras all over this place.

I like the way espt says his own name. not espozido, but esposito. Their little handshake uwu

Don't say Azi is willing to testify! Let him keep his identity hidden!

Love ryan's green shirt btw, it's been there for a while I just haven't mentioned it. Why does he walk like that tho? He walks from side to side, very... idk. movey. He just sways a lot, but it is a little bit less fluid than a sway. Like he has hip problems almost.

Why is castle taking off his jac-- OH YES THIS SCENE! SO EXCITED! dhkjshfajks bc he's not police, but might as well have a vest! tbh when I first started watching the show, actually when my mom showed me a clip where he was speaking chinese & mentioned a show he used to love (firefly reference? that's y she showed me) I thought that the cops had given him this. Apparently he got it himself lol.

Bro should be careful. If they see him sneaking around behind them he might get shot. Oh no I remember how this goes. I always have my phone on vibrate, & half the time I have it on low-power mode, so it prevents vibrations, so my phone is straight up silent. Except when I get phone calls, then it still vibrates I think, but idk bc I don't usually get calls. Regardless, I always have my phone on vibrate & so should you, at least if you're in a tactical thing like this. Oh no I don't want to hear it I don't want to watch this scene. *watches regardless*

DAD DAD DAD! DAD DAD DAD! DAD DAD DAD! (good ringtone) They just all have their guns pointing at him & somehow they were all silent as they turned to look at him. *just leaves thru the side door* GIRL HE WAS IN A SITUATION! Wow houseing rly is expensive in ny, as bad as toronto. yk the canadian housing crisis is actually worse than the usa even tho we have more space & less ppl here. Co-sign...? *sees the nigerian drug lord* Girl take a pic?

RC: Uh, black. Uh, dark blue. Uh... It's very hard being a witness. I don't know how you guys ever get a conviction. I'm usually really good with the detailed stuff. I just... I got distracted. KB: Yeah. You're rolling calls during a TAC strike. JE: Hmm. Interesting. RC: He was supposed to be inside the building! KR: What about the color of your shirt? What is that right now? Is it black or blue? I couldn't quite tell. The sun was in my eyes.

KR: Hey. Vodun guy's a yoga nut. Drug dealers can have HOBBIES ms panizzon!

Weird mouse.

RC: You ever try doing a half moon pose cranked up on caffeine? Completely throws off your chi. Trust me, she bought her coffee after class.

Don't leave the door open man's gonna come in. I was right. Just having a shootout in her house. Ew broken glass ew broken glass ew broken glass. What if they just give him the passport?

Mirror? Oh, Phone. Hey castle's actually p clever! Casually takes a swig

Casually grabs a glass XD Your first gun battle but you were held at gunpoint recently. Oh that's the s4 reference! This is the champagne bottle! We all know it's implied to be sex but then he just "never EVER call me kitten."

Aww I love rick & alexis. RC: Yeah. That's what moms do. Me & my mom: ilysm

WOAH POOR MARTHA. AC: Raising one parent's hard enough. I don't know what I'd do if I had to raise two. My mom & me: *eyes emoji*

so sweet

I love eveything sm. Surprisingly there was not a lot of a plot b plot relation here.

#castle 1x6 #castle 1x6 quote #castle 1x6 spoilers

[seoafin]

tbh,, i havent read the raws of the interview yet, only the translated ver from fan-translator and b4 i start, i think that this will be just me talking in circle and in no particular order AND a real mess (my brain does weird things after exams) but uhh here we go

gojou collects talented people, and by doing so he finds the people he can most probably relate to, except that he can't, not really, because something in the universe shifted when he was born. and it makes me think of how he's always known it, that he is special, and he's proven it, time and time again— he wants to take in talented ppl and he does, but there rly isn't much he can do for them. for they are talented, more talented than the world can understand,,

but they aren't gojou satoru

gojou took in megumi, bc he knew megumi was strong, and would grow up to be someone even stronger, but gojou can't facilitate or encourage his growth, bc for all they're similar, they are so fundamentally different. ALSO,, while geto was in his life, gojou rly judged everything according to his understanding of geto’s moral compass. gojou wears a human suit and geto is how he learnt to wear it well 🏃

the dragonfly analogy regarding to geto’s response to gojo, who was shown wearing a dragonfly patterned yukata in HI arc,, i’m trying to not think abt the fact that dragonfly symbolized victory in jpn....pain. i quoted from a web here for more explanation : In Japan the dragonfly is known as the "victory insect", or kachimushi, because of its hunting prowess and also because it is known to never retreat. Dragonflies are agile and fast fliers and can even hover, but never fly backwards

and bringing this up again, matricide and patricide are 2 of the 5 worst act to commit in buddhism, and it was said that if u commit one of those act u’re going to spend a real long time in the deepest pit of hell before continuing the samsaric cycle (higher chances to be born as an animal after that probs)— this might be geto’s divine retribution. held no power over his own body and could be considered that he’s the same as those “monkeys” 💀

ALSO the fact that sukuna's interest is "eating" rly drives home his hedonistic philosophy of seeking pleasure for himself. and he’s a cannibal...makes me think if he’ll just chomp on ppl with the mouth on his stomach

randomly, to date i think he hasn't really called himself a human, shaman, or a curse, and has held himself apart from all 3, and we've also the intro of the cursed wombs so i wonder if he’s trying to become, or is, a different entity altogether

so onmyoji got mentioned in the interview and what they practice is called onmyodo and abe no seimei and kano no yasunori were the notable practitioners,, and the kamo in jjk is the same as irl who served the imperial court back then

maybe i was right when i said that the relation between the govt. and jujutsu elders are similar to how the shogunate and imperial court work (ie, the former holds the actual power) but... lets see later,,

and i cant believe that i actually nailed it on the analogy of jujutsu practices by religion,,, so mahayana buddhism, shintoism, and taoism is present in jjk along with their respective jujutsu practices...but between the 3, it shld (?) be taoism > shintoism > mahayana buddhism (which could took a path to pure land buddhism)

it’s weird that the number of curses are supposedly higher in jpn comparable to other countries when taoism was brought from china....tengen sus

so the zenin family tree is sth like :

brothers: [toji's dad] ; naobito ; ougi

so toji, naoya, and maki & mai are cousins of the same generation

[toji's dad] → jinichi (probs) ; toji → megumi

naobito → other brothers, naoya

ougi → maki, mai

but yea i’d call anyone who’s within/close or below my age range as cousins and others above 30 as uncles/ aunts LMFAO,, i dont rly memorize my own family tree 😭😭 especially since most call the other by honorifics instead of names : aunt, uncles etc or attaching said honorifics at the end of a name for an older sibling figure/ older cousins [but like ppl in my country also call the other who are older with sibling honorific even if we’re strangers,,, rly similar to korea’s hyung/oppa—eonnie(unnie)/noona but some uses more genderless honorific] (1)

tw // topic of incest, mentions of abuse

if anyone got the wrong idea when reading this : i am not glorifying/ romanticising incest(uous themes),, i’m looking at this with absolutely no lenses of bias even tho im rly against it

初恋 = literally : first love, or puppy love

恋 = romantic love/ deep longing

i literally don't know how else to put this...🧍and with language barrier...using a western interpretation of the eng word "love" to explain a jpnese term is not quite that simple, unfortunately

that thread omg,, i rly do understand how exactly someone could associated kindness with love bc of my upbringing, it was when i was slightly older that i was just...oh so its not like that orz,,, so the most plausible explanation would be that

but the problem is that,, akutami never specify when exactly she had a crush on them,, and when megumi answered todo’s question she had a “♡” reaction 😶,, uhmmm there’s rly no way to look past this if its this way or be in denial

i’ve seen some of "why wouldn't mai react that way after hearing megumi say he'd like someone who's compassionate when she's surrounded by men like naoya",, well I MEAN,,, that, but also mai probs admires that megumi grew up so well out of the clan, regardless of the fact that he had the foundation (10 shadows) to do so. imo she seems happy for him the way she can't be for maki, bc maki ultimately had to leave her behind

hate to say it but yea,, the 3 clans most likely still practice inbreeding in order to preserve their power and presumably their wealth too 😀

i had an idle thought abt it at first but i filed it deep in the back of my mind asap,, bc i ont wanna jump to conclusion abt this out of all things too early. it’s probably not even in jjk, but all those elite clans in other ani/mangas that produce powerful heirs and whatnot also do the same,,, but this way of (my personal) thinking was influenced when i first got into tsukihime (type-moon),,, i read abt the nanaya family background and found out that they practice that in order to keep their bloodline “pure” (to keep it short : they have an optical power),, and i had this kind of assumption ever since so there’s that

i’m,, convinced the zenins' inbreeding made it more difficult for them to get powerful shamans bc they got 2 jujutsu technique-less children with heavenly restrictions in the same generation: toji & maki

even more convinced that maki might be a bit stronger than toji bc toji could see curses without aid while maki can't so the pay-off must be higher,,, SJJASN IDK ,,, plus naoya sort of implies his older brothers are nothing compared to him, and idk if we should take that as his arrogance or that his older brothers rly are weak/powerless. it would make sense as to why naobito had a lot of sons, ig, as head of clan

i feel so bad that if one of the factors that can caused heavenly restriction is inbreeding,, toji and maki and mai had no say in how they wanted to be born but are scorned for it,, typical asian families projecting their traumas and ideals onto their kids but get mad when they realize that those ideals are ugly...😁😁😁

since the zenin are conservative,, i wonder if they still hold onto old jpnese dining traditions. where in ancient jpn, hierarchical relationships were made readily apparent even within families. a dining table where everybody sat down and ate as equals would be unheard of. rather, each individual is given their own table that indicates their status,,, someone who is not considered “strong” according to the zenin’s views most likely have no place at the table, and probs eat when those who are “strong” finished/ serve them when they are eating

if toji was tossed into a swarm of curses,, i dont think abuse during said time is below them,,,

the zenin clan was already great, but they further amassed power and strength by, what i assume to be, marrying and adopting powerful individuals into the clan 🤔 ,,, i imagine they're like the hiiragi but without doing what they did to shinya (ons reference)

BUT after all that, i like to think that since akutami’s a big horror fan, jjk might be an outlet to explore said topics or even darker ones, so i wouldnt be that surpised abt it. given that there’s more than enough “red flags” before this was dropped : a reference to “tale of hikaru genji” when a grown woman asked for gojou’s number in HI arc (out of all things); granny who transformed into the man’s daughter, sat on his lap and man just touched her waist; mei mei and ui ui ; and...this (incestous theme is in the novel btw)

lets not start with whatever the fuck in kubo’s head in the interview otherwise i’m writing paragraphs with every curse words possible,, those big 3 mangakas are so— UGH,, a planet w out (cis) men like him sounds real good rn 😌 if one of yall out there decide to do it,, pls hmu rly cant do this shit anymore

akutami said i like my men pretty and i like women who will step on my neck and spit in my face (I REMEMBERED TATSUKI FUJIMOTO’S INTERVIEW WHEN HE WAS ASKED ABT MAKIMA AND IT WAS SO 😭😭😭😭) but ykw,, love that for both of them <3

when i said 3 : one piece, bleach, naruto. aside from the blatant depiction/ characterize of women in those 3,, idk if some ppl arent aware yet but oda is friends with two (2) convicted pedos,, man...the major disappointment and disgust when i first find out abt it

anyways this is just my 2 cents (which i think rightfully belong to the trash can) so pls just take this w a lil to no grain of salt - 🐱

YEAH THE ♡ LMFAO I THOUGHT IT WAS JUST A “good answer ♡“ heart BUT NOW IM RE-EXAMINING?????

honestly i wouldn’t be surprised if the three clans practiced inbreeding. but ik people are going to be  😡😡😡😡😡 about it when the queen of fucking england is literally married to her (something) cousin. i’m not justifying it but like....love the double standards, just as always with the west 😍

DON’T EVEN GET ME STARTED ON THAT FUCKING PED* LIST THEY SHOULD ALL BE IN JAIL. JAILLLLL. it’s all so gross. that’s why i fucking hate when people look towards manga for positive representation because the chances of that are super slim to zero, especially since the industry is saturated with misogyny and ped******* and a lot of other gross stuff.

i think ppl forget jjk is a horror manga LOL so obviously it’s going to confront darker themes. the question is whether it’s going to be done tastefully or not......

#honestly I don't have high hopes unfortunately 😭 #but who knows I might be...pleasantly surprised #idk I don't have high hopes in manga nowadays so hmmm #anyway as always I enjoy ur thoughts <3 ❤️❤️ #hope ur doing well!!! #and getting all those genshin impact goodies #🐱 anon #long post

[menalez]

if ppl wanna use smth against me they shld use my actual words & positions, otherwise they just show their own dishonesty. i don’t feel more “kinship” w moc over white women, nor do i feel more “kinship” w white women over moc. i share smth different with each group. when it comes to men, i avoid them regardless of race or religion or whatever else 99.999999% of the time & only make exceptions for gay men. the gay men close to me are all moc, namely MENA &/or south asian. otherwise everyone close to me is female. my best friend is a white woman. a lot of the people i have gotten along with & supported & bonded with both online & offline have been white women. the difference is, they aren’t racist, they respect woc, and they listen to woc & find our voices important. the groups i feel most “kinship” with are gay people, esp lesbians, and woc. lesbians of colour ofc i feel most “kinship” with.

and obviously i won’t feel “kinship” with neither racists nor misogynists. meaning racist white women are women i feel no kind of “kinship” with, and misogynistic moc, are men i feel no “kinship” with. despite that, i will still oppose misogyny directed at racist white women as i will oppose racism directed at misogynistic moc.

im not obligated to feel any kinship with women who spend their day fearmongering about poc and immigrants when that would harm me, my gf, my family, and many of my loved ones. they clearly feel no kinship with woc like myself otherwise they’d care more about how their racism & xenophobia harms us too, and spend more time reading into how the bullshit they spew is bullshit.

lastly pls stop projecting ur obsession with me onto random anons. just bc some anon u see sounds like they hold a position that might very slightly resemble mine if u twist my position enough, doesn’t mean it has anything to do with me.

#it’s annoying how often ppl will see some random anon and be like omg mena shut up omg we know menaHET #like if i wanted to be on anon id do that instead of subjecting myself to harassment by my openly disagreeing and not standing down

[kiatheinsomniac]

Just a rant ab ignorance to witchcraft:

Hearing so many uninformed ppl talking about witchcraft in my English class today really annoyed me. It’s quite as simple as: don’t have an uninformed opinion because those around you who are informed are going to look at you and listen to you and call you ignorant. And sure it may seem harsh to say but it’s not so much really. The information is out there and if you haven’t sought it out already then there’s no shame in keeping your opinion neutral because you’re aware of how uninformed you are. There is shame, however, in allowing your own misconceptions and lack of familiarity to lead you down a path of ignorance.

At the end of the day, witchcraft may be a non-religious practise but it is used as an auxiliary to religion — especially by pagans who have had many ways of their worship erased and are not able to access to means to other forms of worship. Witchcraft plays a huge element in neo-paganism because reconstructionist-paganism is a very difficult practise following centuries upon centuries of erasure.

And often paganism isn’t taken very seriously because us pagans have watched our religion be made a mockery of for over a millennium. But why should we have to continue with this in a time like today because people decide to continue to develop uninformed opinions? The information is out there and it’s easily accessible. One google search can easily explain the difference between magic and magick for a start.

Hearing “well they THINK that they’re witches” is the most ridiculous logic ever. If someone practises something, they are a practitioner whether you believe it or not. We’re past the age of believing in alchemy but that doesn’t mean that all those from the renaissance/medieval era are suddenly no longer alchemists. It’s no different to saying “well I don’t believe in Christianity therefore Christians don’t exist”. That’s simply not how it works.

As a Hellenic pagan I’m just so tired of seeing people whose only source of information on Hellenism comes from Percy fucking Jackson make ignorant opinions on how us neo-pagans go about our practise. Another thing I’ve grown tired of is having to refer to my religious practise as being centred around “mythology’ so I’ve stopped doing that. I’ll make people hear my explanation of Hellenism when asked because I shouldn’t have to patronise my own religion just so someone can have the quick and dumbed-down explanation that they want.

Witchcraft is a very touchy subject because it’s practised so diversely. Sure, some witches may be completely non-religious (which of course shouldn’t earn then any disrespect regardless) but there are people of many religions (typically pagan ones) that have very little choice but to use witchcraft as a replacement for a whole history of Christianity repurposing and erasing our practices.

And really ignorance in general is such a wide-spread problem that scales from being irritating to getting people killed and there’s absolutely no exceptions for it when we live in an age where enough time on the right places of the internet can give you all the information you need and you’re able to talk to people who already know loads about what you’re looking into.

[angeltreasure]

Can I ask you a faith question? Are you knowledgeable enough?? (No offense). I've heard ppl say like, "God doesn't abandon you," but I mean... yes he does?? If you go to Hell, He's abandoned you. And like, apparently, there are a bunch of ppl in Hell. It's just confusing as heckkk. Like, if He loves us and won't leave us regardless if we accept him or not... how are there pour souls in hell? I reckon it breaks his heart but WHAT IS THIS? Can you explain, (if you can)?

Hi there! I am by far no major in theology, but here is the simplest answer to your question, as I have been with the faith for a long time. It’s going to be a lot of information at once but it’s speaking truth. If you want sources for these, let me know and I will make a post with references to the Catechism book.

God is omnipresent. He doesn’t abandon His creations. He loves humans, made in His image, so much that He gave us the gift called free will. That means we can make any decision we want and He won’t interfere, because He loves us beyond human understanding and comprehension. He ways are not our ways, His thoughts are certainly not our thoughts. That’s why there are bad people; people have the choice to make bad decisions. That’s why things like racism, and war, and abortion, and violence, etc, etc, etc, happen. God sees everything. No one can hide from God. Not even in the dark of night. He knew all of our thoughts and actions before even creating us, before time existed. He knows who we truly are. It’s nothing to be afraid of.

God doesn’t send anybody to hell, it is us humans who send ourselves to hell. Why? God offers us a chance of Divine Mercy, that is, forgiveness our sins if we are truly sorry after we die. All sins can be forgiven except blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. This Divine Mercy is offered to anyone, regardless of religion or spiritual beliefs, it is offered to all human beings. I am not sure how many are in hell, but probably a lot? Only God knows for sure.

That’s why we have to open our hearts and not be so hard-hearted. There is hope. God is real. Heaven and Purgatory are real. Hell is real. The question is, what will you choose? The past is already dead. The future is not yet born. You can only live in the present moment. Make the present moment count! Go to confession for your sins when possible. You can find solace in changing for the better. I am sure it breaks God’s heart seeing any of His children in hell. 

“WHAT IS THIS?”: It is simply the consequences and affects of the gift of free will.

#asks #free will #God #Divine Mercy #hell #sin #judgement #Catholicism #Catholic #hope this clears things up

[hauntedwoman]

rules: tag ppl u wanna get to know better

tagged by: @hotelghost (thank you sm <333) 

1. your name and then what you wouldve named yourself - my name is maggie (short for margaret which i Hate) and hm i love the name calliope a lot and its totally not a coincedence that i would go by “cal”

2. astrological sign (sun/moon/rising if u know) - virgo sun/libra moon/scorpio rising and yes me having an earth sun and a water rising is why i have m*ntal illn*ss </3

3. when did u join tumblr and why - i joined in 2014 i think ?? and i joined bc i wanted to get deeper into the titanic fandom 

4. top 5 fandoms - a) titanic b) filmblr (?) and i guess c) taylor swift except i am swiftiephobic and proud :/ and well that’s it bc i have no other personality traits than loving titanic (1997) 

5. top 5 favorite films - a) titanic b) clue c) the sound of music d) baby driver except fuck u ansel elgort and e) knives out 

6. go to song when u wanna Feel Something - either “a burning hill” by mitski or “the archer” by taylor swift or “fine line” by harry styles or “as the world caves in” by matt maltese or “sleep on the floor” by the lumineers

7. what’s your religion/faith if you’re religious - i was raised cath*lic and let;s just say that i have come to my senses and i do not support or endorse the Church at all except for its slutty slutty aesthetics 

8. a song that makes you feel seen - “two slow dancers” - mitski

9. if you could have any career - i simply do not dream of labor </3 but i would love to be a screenwriter or director

10. do you have a type - it’s just billy zane in titanic (1997). that’s it. that’s all there is. no one else is doing it like him.

11. what does your heart/soul yearn for - to move away to a city far away from here and finally feel peace 

12. if you had to describe yourself in 5 words to someone who doesn’t know you -  chaotic, feral, unhinged, lonely, melancholy

13. favorite subjects in school - rn my fav subject im learning is my screenwriting/digital video production class

14. where does your soul feel most at home - at my grandmas house tucked away in the tennessee hills 

15. top 5 fictional characters - a) caledon hockley b) victor vale c) ransom drysdale d) rose dewitt bukater e) agent dana scully

16. top 3 moments in a show that made u ugly cry - bold of u to assume i remember any details of any piece of media that i have ever consumed 

17. the earth, the sun, the moon, or the stars - the moon........... i love her so much 

18. favorite kind of weather - a clear summer day perfect for going to the beach, the kind of heat that exhausts you but also makes you feel held

19. top 3 characters that you kin with - okay the only character i rlly ~identify~ with is cal but it’s just bc we both use sarcasm to cope with our feelings and we both put the bi in bitter :P

20. fav medium of art - either film or music but i cant chooooossseeeeee

21. introvert/extrovert/ambivert - introvert 

22. a fav literary quote - i dont have one rip im such a bad english major

23. some of ur fave books - “the glittering hour” by iona grey, “normal people” and “conversations with friends” by sally rooney, the raven cycle series, “vicious” by v.e. schwab, “my year of rest and relaxation” - ottessa moshfegh 

24. if u could live anywhere in the world where would it be - probably nyc or 

25. if u could live in any time in history when would it be - probably the 1910s but i am a woman and mentally ill so uh i would be Institutionalized for not only being sexy but hysterical <3

26. if you could play ant instrument masterfully what woukd it be - piano or electric guitar 

27. if you have one, what mythological god/goddess do you feel a connection to - aphrodite or persephone

28. favorite recent selfie in your camera roll 

tagging: @peakatseven @titsoutforsunmi @romanced @greek-mythologies and uh anyone else who wants to do it ? (ofc it's not required that you participate <3333)

#thank u for tagging me !!!!

[normal-thoughts-official]

Ahh yes the Polycule all being polyglots too. Poly-everything. But in all seriousness, Mel is so... charmed by their partners speaking other languages. Especially Spanish. And ugh imagining them traveling together and all translating for each other and oh god the pet names and introducing each other to new places/cities/foods ahhh.

hdbdidnsidn well i mean it's kind of canon since obviously raphael grew up in méxico, simon is hinted to speak spanish since he understands when raphael speaks in it and also uses some words with him from time to time, and emeraude refused to say "rosa" with an US american accent (which. sexy of her) meaning it's heavily implied that izzy speaks spanish because her pronunciation is, obviously, perfect.

and yeah i just. look. meliorn loves hearing different languages and thinks they all sound beautiful (i kind of have a headcanon that seelies can speak all languages? like including tree and animal languages and shit. like some magical stuff? yeah) and they know it brings raphael in particular great joy to call them pet names in spanish. and well, if it brings them great joy to hear it too, that's just a bonus. but simon and izzy notice and start calling them bella and princesa and mi amor too and aaaaaaaaa

and simon also speaks yiddish as we know (i know that some ppl hc him as a Sephardi Jew and i dont mean to invalidate that hc, im just saying that because he calls his grandma bubbe. maybe he's both?). and.... okay i looked it up for several hours and maybe it’s just because i’m stupid but most endearment terms i found in yiddish were said to be for children? but also i do love the idea of simon calling mel/rapha/maia “oytser” (treasure) and even with petnames aside, yiddish just..... has so many beautiful words??* and meliorn (and also maia and rapha of course) love hearing him talk about it and learning all those great words, from insults to beautiful descriptions. and it feels so important for simon too because he already had very few opportunities to speak yiddish outside of his home, and he’d hate to feel like another part of being Jewish was being taken from him when he was already losing most of his family, you know? plus, it’s kind of one of his special interests and it’s nice that he can monologue about yiddish and everyone is genuinely interested. and raphael of course partially understands how he feels about the language (not fully, since it isn’t really simon’s first language, and there are particular complications with being Jewish and the fear of losing your Jewish identity/culture that just don’t apply for goyim, but still, as an immigrant, there’s solidarity there) 

*a few of my faves that i came across researching yiddish for this: nakhes (”proud pleasure, special joy--particularly from the achievements of a child”), Kemfer (”a fighter… but one who fights for a cause; an activist”. lowkey obsessed with simon calling his partners that, because.... they are), mechayeh (”literally, something that has brought you back from death to life, and colloquially, something relieving or refreshing” - tbh i love how dramatic yiddish is, reminds me of brazilian portuguese lmao), balebus (”a gracious, welcoming, and considerate host”). 

anyway! i just love the idea that simon and raphael can find some sort of comfort and understanding in each other, despite the fact that by all accounts simon should be (rightfully) wary of raphael’s religion, but raphael is genuinely interested and respectful towards simon’s culture and he understands the fear of straying too far from your roots and losing yourself, the feeling of having your culture shunned and kept to the indoors, the responsability of trying to keep it alive and the feeling of being completely lost when you’re apart from your community. again, it’s different, but... most goyim (for simon) and non-latinos (for raphael) don’t even come close, even among vampires, and it’s nice that they get that

also raphael has no illusions when it comes to catholicism/christianity and he understands why ppl, especially ppl like simon and magnus, would be wary of it, and he feels genuinely humbled and happy that the both of them understand what being catholic means to him and accept that part of him, even if from a distance. like, magnus canonically helped him find his faith again, you know? that’s really, really humbling and a show of love, because the shit catholics put him through - he was literally there to be prosecuted by witch hunters, he watched in real time as christian colonialism tried to tear his homeland (and did tear his family) apart, and still he found it in himself to help raphael find his way back to the religion because it did him good. raphael will never stop being thankful, and humbled, by that. and even if simon sometimes rolls his eyes at the goyishness of raphael’s whole punishment and sacrifice thing or fucking whatever and generally doesn’t get too close to it, he also trusts raphael, and raphael knows that it’s a big deal. and simon loves that raphael knows that it’s a big deal and doesn’t have illusions when it comes to his religion or the role christianity had in oppressing not only simon’s, but thousands of ppl historically. u kno? 

hmmm that was a tangent. also as u (probably) know i’m not Jewish so please let me know if there was anything inaccurate or offensive in what i’ve written.

anyway! polyglotcule. and okay i think those are the languages i can think of (and well simon could also speak ladino if you hc him as a Sephardi Jew) other than the hc that meliorn just knows all languages, which...... i absolutely love and stan tbh??? like yes i know the logistics of that are complicated and that to truly know a language you have to understand its culture and so they’re not exactly fluent as much as they’re able to understand most of them, but look, look. i just love the idea of the polycule travelling around and meliorn talking to ppl for them and simon and maia being super excited and wanting to know, like, everything they can and asking them a billion questions and asking them to translate every sign they come across and every time they do (even as they have literally no way of knowing if meliorn is correct or not) they’re just like WOAAAA and generally being huge goofy nerds about it. and izzy and raphael have a more held back approach but they’re also clearly so impressed and proud of them, even if it’s literally just like, magic

like raphael is just in love and watching them with those soft eyes (especially when simon and maia get all wide eyed and excited about it because he loves them okay) and sometimes their eyes will cross and they share a little smile??? and hold hands???? and it’s super sweet??? and izzy is just smiling at them too, although with that more open, big smile of hers, head tilted to the side a little, while clary huffs because izzy is not paying attention to what she’s saying, even as she’s swishing their linked hands a bit because they’re That Couple. and then every once in a while izzy’ll ask a question of her own, except it’s always something like “how do you say ‘the most beautiful one’ in [language]?” and meliorn smiles and tells her and she’s like “yes, you are” and they laugh and make a joke about flattery and she just winks and smiles

(then she grabs maia’s hand and goes “you all are” and kisses her and clary too, just so they know she doesn’t play favorites. not that they need it, but it’s nice) 

foajhsdoajda im just a slut for the polycule okay

#ask #anonymous #The Polycule™ #meliorn #simon lewis #raphael santiago #maia roberts #izzy lightwood #clary fray #sh #shadowhunters #raphaeliorn #saiaphaeliorn #saia #clizzy #claiabelle #isabeliorn #this ship is such a mess and i love it tbh #q

[mllemaenad]

Why is everybody keep forgetting that elves had quite some forces and were not some helpless souls? Why do ppl forget that it's their own racism that initially caused the war in the Dales? Why everybody dismisses Minaeves' story about how her clan treated the unwanted mages? I mean Chantry sucks big time, but can we please stop making elves into some magic creatures that only do good. They do not. None of the races and religions in Dragon Age is perfect, yet one has a particular bias from fandom

Hi Anonymous person.

Um. Sorry, but … what? That’s … a lot of vitriol. I’m … going to do this point by point.

Why is everybody keep forgetting that elves had quite some forces and were not some helpless souls?

No one is claiming that the elves were ‘helpless’ in the sense that they were children, or somehow unable to fight. Elven sources are a bit spotty, for solid ‘in universe’ reasons, but there’s enough on the Emerald Knights to understand that they kicked some serious arse.

But. By the time Orlais set its sights on the Dales, it had already steamrolled over a bunch of other nations, effectively doubling its original size.

The grand nation of Orlais occupies a full quarter of the Thedosian continent and extends its influence far beyond its shifting borders. In ages past, Orlais flexed its military muscle, threatening territory belonging to Nevarra and Tevinter and outright invading Ferelden. One could argue that the Emperor or Empress of Orlais, regardless of competency, is the second most powerful person in Thedas – the first, of course, being the Divine.

…

Together, the two [Kordillus Drakon and Area Montlaures] transformed Orlais from a few squabbling clans controlling their own city states into an empire. Hand in hand, they conquered well into modern-day Ferelden and Nevarra, stamping out any worship of the Old Gods as well as lingering Alamarri and Ciriane Deities.

– World of Thedas Volume II

Sure, we have an account of the massacre of a pacifist nation (note that they are also vilified by the text, even though they are literally ‘helpless souls’ being overrun and slaughtered by an empire), but that is going to be the exception to the rule. Most of these ‘squabbling clans’ would have had warriors and fortifications. It didn’t matter. Orlais invaded, defeated them, forced them to convert – and absorbed the survivors. The Orlesian empire is The Blob.

Do you … not get how massive this thing is? A quarter of Thedas is under direct Orlesian control. That’s what came for the Dales. An almost endless supply of soldiers and weapons and supplies against one newborn nation. That’s what’s so scary about empires, once they get going: they can take the resources of the people they conquered yesterday – including the bodies of the actual people to be used as soldiers or workers – and use them against you today.

So yeah: big picture, they were ‘helpless souls’ being knocked down by the biggest bully in Thedas. They put up a hell of a fight – even took Montsimmard for a while – but they didn’t have the resources of an empire to sustain them, so they were screwed.

Why do ppl forget that it’s their own racism that initially caused the war in the Dales?

Okay so … racism. I feel like I keep saying ‘empires are bad’ and ‘conversion by the sword is bad’ and … these are somehow controversial statements that people want to refute? That’s … just a little bit scary, you know?

The elven people quite famously worked with humans. Specifically with the Alamarri rebels who took down the Tevinter Imperium. You know: Andraste?

At Shartan’s word, the sky

Grew black with arrows.

At Our Lady’s, ten thousand swords

Rang from their scabbards,

A great hymn rose over Valarian Fields gladly proclaiming:

Those who had been slaves were now free.

– Shartan 10:1.

– Dark Moon

There’s even a whole fucking verse about Shartan and his people making a bloody suicide run on the entire Tevinter army to try to rescue Andraste:

The Liberator drew the blade at his side

And charged the pyre, the freedom of the Prophet before his eyes,

But from the legion came a storm of arrows

Blacker than night. And the disciple who had fought side by side

With the Lady fell, along with a hundred of his People.

And among the Alamarri ten thousand swords fell to the ground in a chorus of defeat.

– World of Thedas Volume II

That’s pretty heroic! And pretty tragic! Elven slaves and human rebels standing side by side, fighting an empire. Winning, in the end, although at great cost. And yet what you’re trying to tell me is that the elves are ‘racist’ (also: not a great word to use in reference to an oppressed people because racism requires social power) rather than, say, justifiably worried about the growing power of a nascent empire?

He [Kordillus Drakon] began his holy quest at the ripe old age of sixteen by taking to the battlefield. At the time, each clan had its own variety of the cult of Andraste, its own rituals, traditions and versions of Andraste’s words. Young Drakon unified them by the sword.

– World of Thedas II

Orlais is aggressive and fanatical. It is running around slaughtering people who disagree with its religious beliefs. If you are a non-Andrastian nation sitting more-or-less on the Orlesian border, watching other nations fall and be forcibly converted – and those people just believed different things about Andraste – you have to know what’s coming. This really only goes one way. Are you really going to call closing your borders and prepping for conflict ‘racism’? Is that really the word you want to use?

Halamshiral, “the end of the journey,” was our capital, built out of the reach of the humans. We could once again forget the incessant passage of time. Our people began the slow process of recovering the culture and traditions we had lost to slavery.

But it was not to last. The Chantry first sent missionaries into the Dales, and then, when those were thrown out, templars. We were driven from Halamshiral, scattered. Some took refuge in the cities of the shemlen, living in squalor, tolerated only a little better than vermin.

– The Dales

Relations broke down completely when the Chantry sent missionaries. Because of course they did. The fact that Orlais fundamentally does not believe in religious freedom is the very thing that the elves are afraid of. It is also, you know, a pretext. Provocation meant to push the elves so they start something and Orlais can say it was their fault. There is almost always a pretext. The empire says it’s coming in to resolve a local conflict, or they’re dealing with an incident on the border, or they’re ‘liberators’. And then they stay. And they take.

Do you really mean to blame the elves for being conquered?

Why everybody dismisses Minaeves’ story about how her clan treated the unwanted mages?

No one has forgotten or dismissed Minaeve. Everyone is keenly aware that – on a meta level – Bioware did some quite ugly retconning in Inquisition to make both elves and mages look less sympathetic. Many people have noted that Minaeve’s story is the exact opposite of Lanaya’s story, and that neither Velanna nor Merrill talk about anything like that. Nevertheless, it is raised at least three times in Inquisition: by Minaeve, by Vivienne and by The Iron Bull. So yes, that is a deliberate retcon made at a late stage in the series in order to allow people to do exactly what you’re doing: yell that the elves are ‘just as bad’. It’s gross.

In universe, of course, it’s worth noting that Minaeve was seven when this happened. Whatever it was, it was terrible – but it may not have been what she thought. It’s also worth noting that the Dalish are wandering nomads with few resources, under constant threat from humans in general and templars in particular, and if they did find themselves forced to throw one mage child to the templars to protect the rest – that is fucking horrible, but says more about the world Orlais has created than it does about the elves.

But I have to ask – why do you think it’s so important that everyone remember a twenty-second pro-templar conversation with a minor character, instead of extensive conversations about elven society and losses with Merril and Velanna? Those are two grown women who have lived their whole lives as Dalish and have a keen understanding of the culture of their clans. Or whole novels about Fiona and Briala, respectively the leaders of the mage and elven rebellions?

I know the novels are supplementary material so I’m certainly not blaming anyone for being unfamiliar with them. But if there were things I wish people could always remember when talking about the elves – it would be those stories of oppression and revolution.

I mean Chantry sucks big time, but can we please stop making elves into some magic creatures that only do good. They do not. None of the races and religions in Dragon Age is perfect, yet one has a particular bias from fandom.

It’s … interesting that you brought ‘race’ into this. Because I didn’t. I haven’t been writing criticisms of ‘humans’. I’ve left the Rivaini alone; usually mentioned Fereldans favourably; I haven’t been talking about Antiva or Nevarra. They haven’t come up.

I was talking about the aggression of the Orlesian empire and its Chantry. The elves were brought up as possibly the people who have lost the most to Orlesian aggression. They’re certainly the best sourced of those people. I’ve talked about the Chasind and Avvar where I can (humans!). I’ve talked about dwarves and Qunari. I bring up the Daughters of Song and the Disciples of Andraste where I can, because I have references for them. I know that a whole lot of other cultures were destroyed by Drakon and his Chantry – but alas, I can’t say anything meaningful about them because there are no codex entries, in game dialogue or other reference materials for them.

Of course the elves are not ‘perfect’. While Zathrian’s rage is understandable, his decision to keep the curse going even when it began to threaten his clan was terrible. Merril’s clan was far too easily led to bully and exclude her; they were her family and someone should have stood up for her. Historically, the Dales probably made a mistake staying out of the Second Blight. I mean – I get it. The Blight softened up Tevinter enough to let the rebels take it down. It could have worked again against Orlais. But in retrospect – bad idea. Didn’t work.

Those are just examples. Of course there are more. But it doesn’t matter. That an elven character fucked up at some point does not change the fact that they face racial persecution as non-humans (and are pretty clearly coded as a combination of indigenous, Jewish and Romani people), that they face religious persecution as non-Andrastians and that the Orlesian empire stole their land and forced them into slums.

And I note all of this because of the … tenor of your Ask. Had you said something like “This elven stuff is great, but I’d like to chat about how the dwarves are basically facing an apocalypse and no one will help them, and also wouldn’t a story about a casteless revolution be great?” I would have said “Yes! Let’s talk about that!” Had you said something like “Isn’t it fucked up that the Qunari are treated largely as savage invaders, operating as an ‘Other’ it’s okay to hate?” I would have said “Yes! Yes, it is!”

But … this reads like a list of ‘reasons why people should stop pretending the elves don’t deserve to be oppressed’. And … somehow equates ‘Orlesians’ with ‘humans’?

I mean – surely you aren’t saying that our sympathies should not be with the frequently enslaved minority group who are forced to live as second class citizens in appalling slums, and who have been forcibly converted to a religion they don’t want to follow … but rather with the empire that took everything from them?

Because … I really hope not.

#dragon age #chantry critical #Anonymous

[yaz-the-spaz]

Hey yaz! I was just wondering your opinion on why you think Liam's mgtm would have him "date" a 17/18 yo. I dont follow m*ya at all and know p nothing abt her except that she is a model (?) and her dad is famous (?). I just feel like its weird they would pick someone a decade younger than him. My friends who arent 1d fans all have bad opinions abt him bc of this so like why do you think she was the choice? I understand publicity for her and stuff but just curious on what you think.

hey! i honestly think they just don’t care that much about the age aspect of it (and probably didn’t even consider the fact that the reaction would be so icky or maybe they did but just didn’t care), i think it’s mainly just the old/usual tried and true PR and Promo for an Up and Coming Model™ gimmick that they’ve done time and again (because they know it works. because they’ve done 867 times now and still the het side of the fandom manages to fall for it every time and swoon their idiotic asses off) and the age gap was just a secondary thing that they were maybe hoping ppl either wouldn’t pay much attention to or wouldn’t care about. apparently they didn’t learn their lesson from the way ppl reacted to him and c and the whole gross pedophilic predator aspect of that whole scenario (w/ the stories of her flirting and preying after liam since he was 14, etc. smdh). but as pretty much everything has shown, 1dhq (or whoever is running shit now) and the entertainment industry in general tends to always be about 42 5-10 years behind when it comes to being cognizant of general public changing sentiments over things. i mean just look at how many shows and movies from within the last couple of years are STILL portraying relationships between adults and underage teenagers and acting like that’s normal and perfectly acceptable (riverdale, pll, shameless, etc.). maybe in the early 2000′s no one was really batting an eye that much (cause it was so normalized on tv/in movies over all these decades that a lot of us didn’t really think too hard about it) but that shit certainly ain’t flying in post-MeToo era and yet...asshats still out here showcasing it. 

and the same with representation i mean shows like glee and modern family were a game-changer for sure but it still took like 5-10 or so years after those shows’ inceptions for the rest of hollywood to get with the program and start putting more queer characters in their shows and movies and just generally engaging in more diverse representation on a whole (as far as race, religion, gender/gender identity, neurodivergence plus-sized, and handi-capable representation, etc. as well). hollywood/the industry in general has always been super slow to change and get on board with the progression of the rest of society, and super reluctant/resistant to change at that. i mean i know all this is only tangentially related but they are largely still fighting the rise of streaming services tooth and nail despite the fact that most of the big ones have existed now for around a decade. i have a friend who works in the music industry who’s talked to me in-depth about how much the big record companies are still remaining super set in their old dinosaur ways and insanely obstinate about changing their business methods in a way that would make much more sense with the direction of the market and the heavy skew towards free streaming because they just refuse to accept that the entire market has changed and is only gonna continue to change. but instead just wanna sit and wallow and try to force ppl to play by their old games in a way that just is not sustainable and very likely only gonna wind up losing them money and business in the long run. and ofc we see the same with politics. 

it’s all just old dinosaurs who can’t let go of the way things used to be and we’re unfortunately seeing that all play out in a weird way with this whole let’s make liam date a teenager bit. whoever came up with it, whether it was her family or 1dhq or both or whoever, is clearly wayyy behind the times when it comes to public sentiment and either did not even foresee/consider all the ways this was gonna be digested in a largely super negative way by the public (and by extension blow back on liam in a super negative way), OR is so fame-hungry/money-hungry and so desperate to get this girl some attention that they just did not care at all how it would look or be received. 

...or both. honestly i’d be very willing to bet it’s a little bit of both lol

anyway short story long the gate-keepers of every major industry in this country (and lbr, the world in general) can’t deal with the fact that their breed and their business models are rapidly going extinct or becoming obsolete. they can try all they want to force their old (gross) ideals and outdated business practices on an unwilling public but the fact of the matter it’s very likely only gonna end up biting them in the ass and having the exact opposite result than what they wanted.

(that or it’s a huge concerted negative campaign against liam that’s going swimmingly lol but that’s way too tinhatty and conspiratorial even for me and i highly doubt they would do all this and expend this much time, effort, and money into something that was purely meant for the purpose of sabotaging liam and nothing more, and that didn’t also in some way guarantee mutually assured gain in the form of promo for m and her family. this is compounded by the fact that liam’s very clearly spent the majority of the last two years being photographed almost exclusively with either her, or shady people in the business and fashion industries that also seemingly happen to have strong ties/connections to her father. that’s not a coincidence. this is clearly largely for her benefit. but - as what i’m sure is a nice bonus for whoever made the other end of the agreement on liam’s behalf - also doubles as a continued opportunity to perpetuate the already highly problematic public image liam has unfortunately been saddled with, as well ofc the usual perpetual bearding and closeting) 

#fire-and-water-for-your-love #asks #my thoughts #liam #maya #laya #1dhq #public perception #public sentiment #entertainment industry #shitty promo #pr relationships #ugh sorry this got soooooo long lol

[kyliexc]

BUENAAAASSSSSSSSSS ! soy yo , mini from da 6ix , again . coming at you with my original kid . she’s changed just a bit , but still pretty much a god damn  M E S S .  and bad bunny’s vete came on shuffle soOoOooOoooOOOOOOOOOOOOO LEGGO !

chicago’s very own Kylie Castillo has been spotted on madison avenue driving a BMW X5 , welcome ! your resemblance to Becky G is unreal . according to tmz , you just had your twenty second birthday bash  . your chance of surviving new york is uncertain because you’re impulsive , but being loyal might help you . i think being a Aries explains that .  3 things that would paint  a  better picture of you would be a bottle of patron, late night partying and 20grams of weed . 

hit the mfng like button for plots bc I WILL mssge u or else

BASICS ! 

Full Name: kylie valentina castillo

Nickname(s): ky, kyky, k, kybby

Age: 22

Height: 5 ft

Date of Birth: April 15th 1997

Zodiac sign: aries

Hogwarts house: slythindor (slytherin + gryffindor)

Ethnicity: mexican

Nationality: american

Gender: cis female

Pronouns: she/her

Orientation: bisexual

Religion: agnostic-catholic

Tattoos: a peach on her ass, #2 tramp stamp and canon becky g tattoos

Language(s) Spoken: english + spanish

Accent: american with a hint of spanish

BACK STORY ! 

kylie castillo is the third born child from alejandro and lupe castillo ! alejandro was a renowned soccer player from jalisco, mexico . he played for the mexican national team AND for Barcelona FC . lupe castillo is also from jalisco , mexico , but she attended school in spain where she began as a seamstress for a small vintage boutique before going off on her own to start her own exclusive brand that made it big - as in , only those who could really afford the clothing could wear it . lupe is owner to ROSARIO . lupe and alejandro met in spain , but ultimately moved to chicago to settle down with their kids since kylie’s paternal grandparents lived there.

Kylie was born in Chicago , Illinois , but throughout her childhood , she bounced between Chicago, Los Angeles , and Barcelona ! 

kylie took after her dad , immediately falling in love with soccer since she was little . it wasn’t like the castillos pushed her into it , she found the sport herself . kylie , along with her siblings were a sports family in general . most of her siblings got into some sport growing up , whether they took it seriously or not was up to them , but kylie definitely did. 

kylie and her dad are really close for the fact that he basically coached her throughout her entire athletic career . kylie is very competitive because of this , and super into keeping herself fit . she sees a goal , she wants it , and she’ll do anything to get it . her jersey is #3 !

besides soccer , she really loves to sing and it came out of nowhere but it was due to all the family parties she has . often an acoustic guitar would be brought out and everyone , including kylie would be singing along to vincente fernandez - heck , you know the castillos hired a mariachi band to be part of these gatherings . 

ky spent a lot of time with her grandparents who would ALWAYS be blasting old mariachi / love songs , singing at the top of their lungs to each other , and from this kylie enjoyed what music did for her . performing was just another thing that came easy to her . the stage , whether it be an actual stage or just a small little space where she was surrounded by family , it was home to her , and she was never afraid . the one place where she could vocally express herself is through her lyrics . ky and her cousins often would write down song lyrics , pretend to perform for thousands of people - but it wasn’t something she ever thought she’d do . it was just for fun , and she took up extra curriculars besides soccer that related to it . i . e dance , acting , etc. 

yet , that was something else , her eyes were on the prize , and that was soccer . sort of . 

kylie had everything set for her to continue playing soccer after high school , to eventually make it onto the US Women’s Soccer team - yet she deadass started to slowly give it all up at the beginning of her 4th year of high school , hanging with the stoner kids , practicing less , putting less effort. she eventually found the underground rap scene -  she loved soccer , but it was time for something else , especially when her dad was mad at her , the field didn’t feel like home like the stage did .

on soundcloud , and youtube , kylie lent her vocals to some guys she met , being on their tracks . her sound was unique because she sang and rapped in both spanish and english . she was earning a name online , her followers going up and tbh , she wasn’t trying but it came to her and when she saw the numbers rise , and her name get out there a bit . she rlly started working on that part of her life . 

A MESS ?! * TW : abortion , drugs , etc .

in high school , she met giovanni ho ho hoe narciso . they were friends for a long time until finally , they started dating . definitely one of the reasons, but not the main reason why she also didn’t care about the sport as much - but kylie’s dad blamed gio a lot fo kylie not playing soccer . so her dad didn’t like gio , and to make matters worse , he didn’t like gio’s dad . so it was a HOT MESS . kylie ultimately had to choose between her family and gio , and when she said yes to marrying gio , she chose gio .  

18 years old and she ran off to marry gio - except that didn’t happen . 

she woke up one morning , he was gone and she couldn’t get a hold of him anymore . ky really didn’t have a choice besides going back to her family , and BET her dad was all ‘i told you so’ 

she couldn’t contact gio but YOU BET she ended up finding him eventually to get in the lasdt mfng word but that conversation ended up with her just being hurt , and it was the last time she really saw gio . he moved on , whether she believed it or not , he did .

so fast forward not long after that meeting . kylie found out she’s pregnant . obviously , it was gio’s . and she had two choices , keep it or get rid of it . 

without telling anyone , except her best friend , kylie got an abortion . which , no one knows , not even her family , not even gio .

SECRET ! 

        ***again , not many people know this ? but the                  one above is a secret too ?? she’s just full of          secrets. JKFDHDFKG

from 20 - 21 , kylie moved out , hopping from place to place within chicago . but she definitely went off grid . not caring for social media , not contacting her parents . 

kylie went into a strip club and at first it was for jokes , but when she got on the pole - she was actually good ?? JDKHGDKFJHDFKJH so the manager offered her a job and well , bitch took it . so she did that for a year , hanging with the wrong crowd, drinking every day , smoking weed which is a staple for her , but she started to do blow - which is .. not a staple for her . it was a dangerous year for kylie .

but doing blow , and selling it for awhile while working the pole gave her the connections she needed to meet rich guys with status in the music industry. 

so eventually , her EP made it in the hands of a producer for sony music latin . 

so she left the pole and started being featured with big time Latin names 

think cardi b’s start up and yeah , she definitely drugged men and stole from them while doing this too DKJGFHDKFJ

PERSONALITY + CURRENT SITUATION !

kylie’s back bitches ! as in people already knew her but she’s been M.I.A for a year , so she’s back and ppl are like wtf KDJGHDKFJGHSFKDJ and she lives in New York now

currently she’s working on her first album release.

besides the mess , she’s a GOD DAMN GOOD TIME. if you ever need to get drunk and party. kylie is your girl . if you need to get fucked up, you better have her on speed dial.

kylie’s the bitch with the bottle of patron , serving tequila shots , and then dancing on top of tables.

highkey always ready for a fight . she doesn’t care where she is , she will always SWING. don’t play games thinking she’s gonna back down from a fight bc she won’t. if u want a fight , ky will give u one KJDHGKSFJDHGKSDJGH talk shit get hit is her motto and i hate her for it

she has a black cat named mijo

her friends and family are the loves of her life . literally , if you mean something to her , there’s nothing she won’t do for you . she will ADORE YOU

if ur her enemy .... that’s fun too. :)

confident AF

she’s an all around bitch i hate her , but she’s a mess , and she’s funny , and she’s too much sometimes .

too stubborn for her own good all the time bc she thinks she’s always right. 

she’s also really goofy when she wants to be

has a hell of a good work ethic , will get shit done when it needs to be done . is definitely the pushy friend to encourage others to do the same.

BEST HYPE WOMAN EVER

she loves assholes.

her lito, lita, ita, tito {grandparents} are her favourite people ever

will cuss you out in spanish and english

hella hot tempered and uhm...

YEAH THERE’S A LOT BUT YEAH I THINK I GOT IT COVERED KGJHDSKFHG

#why she so cute in that gif for #wHO ALLOWED THIS #who told me listening to vincente fernandez while writing this was a good idea #im so HURT #Y THE EFF IS THIUS A MFNG NOVEL #OGHFDKJH #hit me pls #wealthyhq:intro

[feelhuman]

ʻ   /   wow ,   i  am  so  excited  to  introduce   jessica delaunchy   to  our  current  students  at  cape  coral .   she  is  extremely  excited  to  join   track / field  &  latin .   coming  in  as  a  twenty one  year  old   junior  ,  they  shouldn’t  worry  about  fitting  in .   the   cisfemale  leo   has  always  reminded  me  of   zoë love smith   ,  but  some  people  don’t  see  it .   trying  to  keep  the  fact  that   she was under witness protection    from  getting  around  this  school  is  going  to  be  tough .  no  worries ,   though ,   cape  coral  will  create  a  new  life  for  them ,   i  assure  you .  ʼ 

                     hiya  beans  !  i’m  nae  (   she  /  her  ,  twenty  ,  australia  gal  /  acst tmz !  )  and  i’m  real  pumped  to  get  crackin’  &  introduce  you  to  this  walking  tragedy !   ──   this  is  my  gal  jess  ,  who  is  rlly  smthin  else  ,  phew .  i  truly  am  in  love  with  her  tho   &  i  hope  ya’ll  like  her  too !  click  ....  the  ....  read  more  ....  now .

basic stats .  

*    find  her  full  stats  here !

current  legal  name  :  jessica  blaire  delaunchy.

nickname  /  alias  :  jess  ,  jj.  /  none.  

gender  /  pronouns  :  cisfemale  ,  she / her.

dob  /  age  :  august 13 1998.  /  twenty one.

place  of  birth  :  long  beach  ,  california.

currently  living  :  portland  ,  maine.

ethnicity  :  curaçao  ,  indonesian.

nationality  :  american.

languages  spoken  :  primarily  english  ,  learning  latin .

religion  :  her  father  was  christian  &  her  mother  was  muslim  ,  so  she  was  exposed  to  both  growing  up  (  her  dad  wanting  her  to  feel  closer  to  her  mother  in  a  way.  )   jess  doesn’t  really  know  which  bracket  she  falls  in  ,  if  at  all  ,  so  instead  she  respects  both .  does  this  make  sense ..... no.

sexual  /  romantic  orientation  :  pansexual  ,  panromantic.

occupation  :  self - employed  ,  ig ?  she  takes  odd  jobs  wherever  possible  ,  and  the  $$  is  always  under  the  table   :  house / pet / baby sittin’  ,  deliveries  ,  written  papers  /  tutoring  ,  even  ...  dare  i  say  it  ...  gambling.  

education  :  scholarship  student  at  cape  coral  international  school.

major  :  archaeology. 

biography . 

*    tw  :  parental  /  family  death  ,  murder  ,  gang  activity  ,  &  nae’s  obsession  with  rlly  bad  tragic  backstories .

the  unfortunate  beginning  to  this  story  is  this  :  a  girl  understands  death  before  she  understands  life  ;  a  sad truth  ,  a  lost  mother  on  the  birthing  bed  as  they  try  reviving the  infant  &  succeed  ,  a  broken  family  from  day  one  ━  she’s  born  novi  ovard  ,  with  a  head  of  thick  raven  hair  &  a  set  of  lungs  you  can  hear  three  floors  down  ,  but  healthy ,  alive  ;   her  mother  meets  a  much  more  grim  fate  that  very  hour  ,  and  it’s  almost  as  if  she  carries  that  misfortune  as  a  stain  for  the  remainder  of  her  childhood  ,  because  if  she  wasn’t  here  ,  maybe  her  mother  would  have  been . 

her  father  is  a  stern  man  ,  strict  &  abrasive  ;  he  loves  his  daughter  though  ,  that  is  crystal .  nora  grows  up  wanting  little  ,  and  some  could  say  that  is  her  father’s  way  of  over - compensating  for  the  lack  of  maternal  parent  in  the  household  and  the  way  he  works  long  hours  at  the  police  department .  he  remarries  when  nora  is  twelve  ,  to  a  woman  with  a  couple  of  daughters  &  a  son .  it’s  not  a  bad  thing  ,  no  evil  step - mother  or  new  step - siblings  horror  stories  ;  nora  likes  the  feel  of  a  feminine  presence  ,  likes  having  siblings  to  confide  in .  most  importantly  ,  she  sees  her  father  smile  for  the  first  time  in  years  ,  and  that’s  more  than  enough .  it’s  a  family  ,  not  entirely  by  blood  ,  but  it  feels  just  as  close  ;  like  pieces  that  finally  form  a  whole .    

FAMILY  OF  FIVE  FOUND  MURDERED  IN  LONG  BEACH  SUBURBAN  HOME  :  nora  comes  home  from  a  night  out  with  friends  to  find  strange  men  in  her  house  &  bloody  stains  on  the  carpet .  they  don’t  see  her  ,  if  they  had  perhaps  she  wouldn’t  be  breathing  right  now  ,  but  she  see’s  them  and  that’s  just  as  bad  ━  the  lights  flash  bright  red  &  blue  as  the  cops  ask  for  a  recount  of  the  events  that  occurred  ,  but  she  can  only  describe  faces  and  remember  a  few  names  shouted  as  the  culprits  ran  from  the  crime  scene .  they  presume  it’s  connected  to  the  L.A  mafia  ,  looking  for  justice  from  a  cop  that  did  them  dirty  a  few  years  back  ,  but  there’s  not  enough  evidence  yet  &  they  say  her  safety  is  at  risk  now  .  so  ,  they  offer  her  protection  ,  say  it’s  for  the  best  if  she  leaves  her  california  life  behind  ,  leave  everything  behind  and  start  anew .  

portland  is  a  big  city  ,  not  entirely  ideal  but  it’ll  do  for  now .  she  leaves  california  as  novi  ovard  ,  and  is  reborn  as  jessica  delaunchy  in  maine   ━   no one  remembers  a  jessica  delaunchy   ,  or  at  least  ,  no one  truly  knows  who  she  is .  she  lives  with  her  aunt  ,  no   ;  her  parents  work  overseas  so  she  lives  alone .  she’s  from  somewhere  in  west  virginia  ,  except  she  doesn’t  sound  like  it  ,  so  maybe  it  was  oregon  ?  apparently  she  got  expelled  from  her  last  school  for  setting  fire  to  the  gym  ,  or  was  it  trashing  the  headmaster’s  coupé  ?  in  truth  ,  not  much  truth  is  known  about  jessica  delaunchy .  she’s  only  at  cape  coral  because  the  thought  of  getting  a  free  ride  to  an  expensive  school  sounded  appealing  ,  and  a  refreshing  change  from  a  life  of  constant  camouflage  ;  she  only  joins  track  ,  because  everyone  hates  track .  she  only  joins  the  latin  club  because  who  really  has  the  patience  for  it  ?  jessica  blends  in  ,  jessica  is  just  jessica  ━  an  enigma  ,  hell  in  heelys  ,  possible  undercover  secret  agent  (  ?  )  and  a  heck  of  a  lot  of  fun  to  have  by  your  side  on  friday  nights .  

other  tid  bits .

phew  ,  where  do  i  begin  .  .  .  in  general  she’s  a  pretty  fun  gal  !  knows  how  to  let  loose  &  have  a  good  time .  we’re  here  for  a  fun  time  ,  not  a  long  time  ,  homeboys .  

this  is  also  her  downfall  because  she  will  literally  do  ANYTHING  to  have  fun  ━ jump  from  a  moving  car ?  sounds  cool .  jump  into  a  tank  full  of  piranhas ?  best  idea  she’s  ever  had  ,  get  the  camera  ,  tony .

does  NOT  understand  boundaries !!  at  all  !!  she’s  not  sorry !!

bit  of  a  compulsive  liar  too  tho  ??  she’s  one  of  those  people  that  you  never  rlly  know  if  they’re  telling  you  the  truth  or  just  mucking  around  ,  which  she  is  like  99 %  of  the  time  ,  and  no  -  matter  how  much  you  pester  her  ,  she  will  just  come  up  with  more  extravagant  ways  to  deter  you  from  the  truth  because  she  has  some  sort  of  .  .  .  allergy  to  sincerity  ,  ig .  

for  ex  .  don’t  ask  abt  her  family  unless  you  want  a  5  hr  presentation  on  how  she’s  related  to  the  lost  romanov  family  &  was  disowned  because  they  were  too  intimidated  by  her  big  dick  energy .  

really  in  denial  ??  over  everything  that  happened  ??  she’s  been  ignoring  the  truth  for  years  &  tries  not  to  let  her  thoughts  wander  too  close  to  family .  which  is  # yike !  

as  much  as  the  portrays  this  too  cool  for  school  persona  ,  she  actually  enjoys  it !  she’s  v  smart  &  studious  ,  loves  history  ,  philosophy  ,  literature   ,  loves it .

a  complete  DORK .

rlly  bad  attention  span  tho  &  one  of  those  annoying  ppl  that  waits  until  a  person  finishes  talking  and  says  ‘  u  say  smthin ?  ’

lives  on  her  own  w/  her  cat  larry  ,  who  she  uses  as  a  judge  of  character  but  he  hates  everyone  so  its  ....  useless  ,  but  one  day  this  asshole  is  gonna  like  someone  and  she’s  gonna  be  STUNNED .

has  a  big  heart  ....  somewhere .  she  just  forgets  she’s  supposed  to  have  one  sometimes  dfkjlhhfdhg 

will  always  do  the  unconventional  way  of  doing  things  because  she  hates  following  the  norm  or  being  labelled  as  a  stereotype !! def  one  of  those  ‘  i  liked  it  before  it  was  COOL  ’  bitter  ppl  too. 

i  think  that’s  iT ?? I  THINK .

wanted connections .

*    find  her  wc  page  here !  if  nothing  floats  ur  goat  tho  ,  pls  hmu  &  we  can  figure something  out !  (  either  here  or  on  d*scord  :  i’m stu pedasso #7836  )

#capecoral:intro #whew !! we did it .... it is Done

[seoafin]

/&/&@2@3@3 i decided im not opening any socials when im half sleep anymore 😐 BC I JUST NOTICED IT BYE

anyways,,, my thoughts on jjk 146 b4 i log off again // (1)

this chapter just rly sheds a light on why their academic scores are the way they are sjjsjsjsj

on objective judgements of power i have to say i trust maki, who's never rly shown bias, the most among the students ,, when she says yuuta is the strongest, yuuta is the strongest,,, likewise, i sometimes dont trust yuuta, who sometimes doesnt trust in himself 😔

i don't think i have thoughts for this chp that i haven't already considered before ??? *squints* did i miss sth

are non shamans aware of the game tho... they're all just cursed, right, but ,,, do they know it..

i increasingly feel that megumi knows sth and is not spitting it out bc how many times has he very transparently deflected this chapter,, also idk if it was intentional but the way the hokkaido discussion put a bubble right on top of his face

alao how tf do u just casually curse the majority of jpn?? wild,, i hope the ainu do play a significant role down the line tho. i wonder with kurisu hand involvement if we will also see another shaman faction emerge since there's some degree of tieback to religion

and not megumi being blase abt his death! his ‘yeah whatever if i die it'll be fine’ was the least convincing thing ever!!! he’s so casual abt the idea sukuna could use him like,, what are u thinking megumi ,, then again he knows sukuna doesn't want him dead rn

since ppl are talking about nanamis CT,, maybe it's that all CTs belong to a single pool, there can only ever be one holder of the ability at a time so there's a restricted number of abilities and that's what also accounts for the small number of shamans

tengen’s barrier presumably works bc shamans agree it participate voluntarily,, it makes sure CTs remain in the pool. CTs rotate out at certain intervals, checking each other, bc the amount of cursed spirits also rises according to shaman power lvls

which makes me wonder if the golden age was a reaction to sukuna's growth in power, except that his fingers remain, the power is still circulating and kenjaku is out being an asshole. so 10 shadow, 6 eyes, curse manipulation all at the same time is maybe a reaction to kenjaku’s power plays

depends on how many of these super long living shamans there are too,, many of them have elemental powers or powers related to keeping the shaman world in check,, re: techniques and curse manipulation

imo there's also a suggested convergence where at some point a shaman hits critical mass and starts to tip over into cursed spirit territory. like,,, ur cells become so saturated by that cursed energy it starts to eat and replace ur actual mass and cursed spirits with a bunch of cursed energy become more capable of emotional nuance and approach a more "human" feeling ,,, idk. balance is clearly more literal and more relevant than we thought

ainu (irl and probs here too) are an indigenous group that reside in hokkaido. if we’re basing on recent laws and the fact that hokkaido is home to many many sacred sites based on their spiritual belief of gods manifesting as anything from nature,,, so if we look at in from jjk and shaman society perspective, it’s only right that tokyo/kyoto shaman society have no hold on hokkaido.

and based from the tensions in the past due to the government (irl), i doubt ainu shaman tech aren’t as open and prone to control as tokyo or kyoto are

i hope i’m not overlapping my thoughts with phantom seer that i’m catching up to rn bc it also involves shamanism sjsjjeen  - 🐱 (2)

seeing the ainu panel made me excited because I think that that means that the ainu may be getting a special spotlight later on

DON’T EVEN GET ME STARTED ON MEGUMI!!! I WAS SO UPSET!! i know he likely did it to protect yuji and everyone but im still so....like that’s the last thing he wanted. all he wants is to live and protect his friends and tsumiki....

yeah...the last panel had me thinking about nanami’s cursed technique. it would be interesting if CT’s could be traded or smt, but I always thought CT’s were something inherent and unique to the individual but who knows at this point

i want more on the zenin clan politics and how exactly megumi became head. also very very interesting that gojo’s presence was the only thing keeping the “shared” armory stocked. the minute gojo was sealed they took back the weapons and dipped. i wonder why it was created in the first place!!

#the way you roasted EVERYONE #thank you golden kamuy for educating me on the ainu #megumi really went yeah i might die. anyway. #IM SO WORRIED FOR ALL OF THEM #🐱 anon

[weaselbeaselpants]

Hazbin Hotel Review part 2: Mistakes were made please don’t kill me

This pilot is polarizing at the moment. In between the two sides of the anti-fanbase (ppl crying “if you like HH you’re homophobic”, or the BWW with it’s cringey politics), you have lots of fans who are falling over themselves about how good this is. If you love Hazbin unconditionally that’s fine, but here’s the thing:

I like it too.

I’m the kind of person who’s naturally critical, pokes harmless fun at what I like, and is always rewriting and reimagining things within the fandoms I like. I want to be a ‘Hazbin’ fan but I don’t know if I’m allowed to since the fanbase can be so staunchly overprotective and Viv herself has said she doesn’t like criticism, no matter how valid or done in good faith.

Tbh, that’s why the drama revolving around @frootrollup1​ upsets me: the fandom is fine with lumping all criticism or redesign stuff in the realm of ignorant hate, when redesign, rewrites, revamps and other fan dribble are kind of a labor of love onto itself in other fandoms. Guess that’s a talk for later though.

With all this in mind, let me go over my thoughts:

There’s no PROPER establishment of Hell as a place, setting, world, or proper establishment of the characters.

The armor-piercing question Hazbin needs to be asked is this:

“is this a generic version of Hell we should all be familiar with and need no introduction to, OR is this a unique take that requires it’s own rules?”

^ It feels like the latter but we don’t get a good rundown of said rules. Besides that, characters are one note and serve either no purpose or become flies on the wall to other characters’ purpose.

Things were said and places were shown but we honestly don’t get a good idea of Hell by the end of the pilot. It’s a ritzy(?) place where souls of the damned literally become demons and then get purged. I THINK. I THINK, that’s what the writer’s were going for here. TBH, it feels like they’re skipping ahead and thinking of the show as a finished, fully realized product with developed characters and plots already, and not an introduction to a series/standalone piece.

If I didn’t have some inkling or the lore prior to watching it, I wouldn’t have known that the demons sans-Charlie were once human. Angel says in passing in the car that he’s already dead, but really references to the fact that they were once human are rare.

Now I’m a simple woman - I ain’t picky with mah demonology - But, call me crazy, when I think Hell I don’t think of the people who end up there turning into demons, I think of people going there to be tortured. That’s the hell I’m used to seeing and is prevelant in like every religion that has a hell. Taking a spin on that and making demons the souls of sinners trapped in hell? A-okay, but I NEED MORE. Instead of talking in a car or spending time on this lolsofuny demon turf war, we really needed more time given to the fact that Vaggie, Angel, and others were once human. No, I don’t want a full flashback, but it would give us a better grasp of the mechanics of sin in this world if these two characters told a little bit more themselves than just having some lines offhandedly explaining how everything works. 

EX- How to do revamp of a familiar setting right while still leaving certain details vague? One Word: Hadestown. 

Hadestown doesn’t need to give you all the details of it’s setting cause that’s not the point. You don’t need to know if the workers of Hadestown are literally dead, metaphorically dead, or both or where other gods live. Those aren’t the things we need to know for the musical to progress. What we need to know is Hades’ underworld is a mining colony of doom, that Hades buys peoples souls so the workers can never leave, that Persephone and Hades are on the rocks which is messing up the seasons, and that oop! Eurydice had to go back. Between the commonplace to complex knowledge westerners have of Greek mythology and the revamped Prohibition-era setting, all is explained that we the audience need explained.

I have the feeling Hazbin Hotel wanted the same thing: explain what needs to be explained for the currant plot and leave bits and pieces in the dark. It just didn’t really work.

The flow of the narrative was bad.

So apparently on the PizzaPartyPodcast Vivziepop admitted there were things that were moved around or turned out rushed.

Fair enough but even with that excuse can someone please tell me why they thought it was a good idea to start the story after Angel has already been made a patron of the hotel?

Getting to know not only how the world works first and foremost, but who our main character (Charlie) is and what she is doing (the hotel), would be the easiest way to drop us into the action of the story and get the ball rolling. But instead we start off with an intro song that sort of shows us what this world is like but doesn’t explain anything about who or what we’re seeing until the newscasters come in. Angel’s introduced in this time and the build up and execution of this character is poor, rushed, and feels more like writers fudging around with a character they like than giving us, the audience, a proper introduction*.

After that, I’m sorry to say the spots where the story picks up, drifts off, lulls about, or comes around all kind of melt into this big slurry the characters are drowning in, without any real care for telling a story. BUT THIS IS A STORY!!!

This is not a little menagerie of random characters ala the Pastoral Symphony from Fantasia. This is not a collection of little things just for the fun of it to get to to know these people (it does a bad job at getting you to know these guys). This is a three act structure. I can tell where the intro, rising action, climax, and falling action are SUPPOSED to be, but they don’t stand out, don’t do their job, and melt into the fluff in a way that makes the emotional impact we’re supposed to feel null somehow...

The pacing was bad. 

While some scenes go by far too quickly others go on for faaaaaaar too long. These are the bits that don’t surprise me when I hear this pilot was changed around, cut down, or fudged with a bit.

Scenes like this include Charlie’s back and forth with Katie Killjoy before and after her song, Charlie and Vaggie’s fight in the car, Alastor explaining himself to Charlie and Vaggie trying to talk him out of it, ALL of the Ser Pentious/Cherry Bomb terf fight bits.

Oddly, it feels like these parts are trying REALLY hard to get a point across but they end up being more of a hindrance to this otherwise snappy dialogue and supposedly simple set up. This pilot is 20+ minutes, but the bits we need to endear ourselves to our main cast are squandered on what the writers thought was “fun to write” at the time.

Too many characters, even in a 20 minute pilot. 

Instead of getting a good idea of our leads, everyone is treated with the same level of importance or interest in a world that hasn’t even been fully introduced yet.

The truly important supporting characters to Charlie, Vaggie, Angel, and Alastor are Husk, Katie, and Nifty. Katie provides conflict to the first half of Charlie’s story, while Husk and Nifty are hires by Alastor for the hotel; they establish his power over other demons and his influence on the hotel and it’s success. Sir Pentious and Cherry Bomb needed to be cameos. Their characters should be glorified plot contrivances/resolutions, No More. I ain’t gonna care about a cast of billions from the start. We gotta start small first. Not only do we have four mains, we also have a bunch of little guys who need to eat up screen time...except they absolutely don’t need to and should be simple background cameos for now.

Sir Pentious and Cherry Bomb get as much character time as the four mains even though Angel is underdeveloped and Alastor is overdeveloped. When it comes to storytelling - unconventional or otherwise - priorities, is what this pilot needs.

Angel basically does nothing after Alastor is introduced. 

Of all the characters in Hazbin to get left in the dust (lol) and be underdeveloped, Angel Dust would be my last guess. He’s popular with his creator and with the fandom but because of how the pilot is set up, his character falls to the back-burners and is kind of unnecessary: (Charlie uses him as an experiment to see if she can reform a sinner but he doesn’t hold up, so when Alastor comes into play the focus of Charlie’s plan switches almost entirely to Alastor and Angel is unneeded). If this were two episodes of a series; one about Charlie getting to know and trying to “fix” Angel, and another about Alastor coming in and taking over, that’d be fine. But this is a pilot so the plot and character development is kinda crushed in and neither Angel nor his existence amounts to much of anything.

I honestly forgot Angel was even in the latter half of the pilot. The poor demon-spider whore dies on the way to his home planet.

Not to fan-blurb here but I think it’d be more interesting if the conflict in the latter half wasn’t Vaggie trying to warn Charlie away from Alastor but Angel feeling shown up by Alastor and him being the one protesting to Alastor’s take-over of the hotel. It would have given Angel more to do and would cement him as one of our four leads.

Alastor gets a backstory because he is A) not the character I thought they were going for, or B), they’re jumping the gun on him. Alastor is a maddening character in my book because if he’s the character I thought he was supposed to be - our main villain - then they royally messed up a good villain by explaining his story. If he ISN’T the main villain, than color me confused on what he’s supposed to be. 

It goes without saying that a good villain should remain somewhat mysterious throughout the rising action, which is what the pilot is building up to (I think?). Alastor’s personality makes him an absolutely wonderful villain and probably the most outwardly “demon”-like of anyone in Hell. Him being a rogue demon that scares the inhabitants of Hell should be alluded to, not stated.

Vaggie and Angel get passing “we dead” bg but our villain gets a backstory dumped on him? For the standalone pilot this episode is, his backstory doesn’t do anything for the plot. For the rest of the series, this feels like a big waste to reveal this guy’s history over anyone else. The rest of the HH cast are sorta small stereotypes and cliches that the writers want to endear to us because of what they do and what they go through, though since there’s too many of them they end up just being there. Alastor, on the other hand, is where they hit gold and really have a character who oozes personality and the feel of their show...but they kind of taint him by giving him an unneeded (at this point) history.

Big problem with him not only being explained but him outright stating his intentions with the hotel.

Maybe I’m wrong and Alastor is not the bigbadvillain in a cast of villains...in which case I don’t know what the pilot wants us to think of him or where the show’s going with him. Is he a demonic version of Harold Hill who learns to care about ppl and gets redeemed? Maybe that will change with future episodes....

Hazbin is confusing as a person not privy to the franchise/development prior ,and feels disappointing from the pov of someone getting hyped for these characters. As a follower of the project it feels like a let down to the respective characters and plots we’ve been anticipating. While, as newcomer, it’s hard to care about anyone. My sister, who had far less info on the pilot than me, was watching it the whole time going “who are you?” and by the end said “why should I care?” Really good summary from this IMDB review here:

Little harsh but my thoughts exactly.

TL;DR: The writers need to really rethink how to introduce their world to newcomers AND fans alike. -

There’s so much passion in Hazbin Hotel but I feel it’s misaimed and a prime example of why “write/draw what you like and what sounds ‘fun’!!!!” isn’t a good idea for storytelling.

There’s technically a story in Hazbin Hotel, but because of the bad pacing and lackluster approach to world and character development, for the kind of project that it is, it’s not very good. 

-

Again, for the people in the back: if you think I’m a bully because I happen to be harsh with my criticism, sorry but harsh critique isn’t the same thing as bad faith criticism (CinemaSins, NC, Bad Webcomics Wiki) and I’d appreciate it if you didn’t lump me in with those turds because I don’t love every second of this. I may not be the best writer, but storytelling is my passion and I think this dropped the ball. IT DOESN’T MEAN I HATE IT. - Alternatively, if you love Hazbin unconditionally or disagree with me on these things: great! Like what you like as long as everything’s safe, which it is. Stuff is problematic but hey so is everything look at the stuff I like. Also, if you’re one of those people who unironically says “if you like HH than I’m blocking you teehee unfollow me”, you fittingly have a very special seat in hell set up for you. Don’t threaten my friends cause you don’t like something they like. =)

#hazbin hotel critique #vivziepop #hazbin hotel