#the place that binds us

[s-aint-elmo]

no thoughts head empty the oppressive stagnancy of legacy in ever after high dragging me round the block yet again

it's such a shame that we get so little explanation about the actual mechanics of destiny, which is the entire premise of the show, bc it's so juicy. like what power does destiny hold when you rip away milton's lies and centuries of assumptions and traditions. esp bc despite raven signing herself as the evil queen in the real storybook of legends, when the snow white fairytale actually happens in dragon games she's playing one of the seven dwarves and her mother has reprised her role. like how much of that was because of the characters' actions and how much was destiny pulling on old, familiar threads. keeps me up at night.

a lot of this is probably just like, plot holes and writer hot potato but i like making it that deep, that's half of the fun. my personal interpretation is that fate is a wild thing that desires repetition and they developed the system of fairytale legacy bloodlines to keep those repetitions predictable and contained, instead of wreaking havoc whenever and wherever they please. 

which lends itself to some really juicy exploration of how legacy is a duty as much as it is a privilege, and how to be a princess or a witch or a hero or a dragon is to be the same thing in the end: the lamb destiny slaughters on the altar to sate the ever-ravenous narrative. to keep the flock safe. keep the unknown that prowls beyond the beaten path at bay. because if a there is always a mother who will be cruel, or a maiden who will fall into a sleep like death, or a child who will become a bird, isn’t it better to know who, and how, and when? isn’t better if it’s you, who has known your whole life that you must be eaten, be poisoned, be stripped of your humanity, rather than anybody else, who wasn’t raised to see it as an honour instead of a great and terrible injustice?

#ever after high #mine #remember when apple asked snow white for advice on yester day and she had nothing useful to say? bc all the problems in her life were #solved by a smile a friend and true love's kiss? #and apple got to experience being disappointed by the parent she placed on a pedestal for the first time ever? that was really fun #don't even get me started by how the class of classics are all called by the names of their roles that is sooooo fun and fucked up #the mantle of your legacy is so large and so heavy that it swallows you up entirely #ik it's for convenience's sake but simply imagine with me. surrendering your true name once your tale begins to bind to the retelling #more strongly. invite the eye of the narrative to fix on you. set destiny on its well-worn tracks and drive it smoothly #to happily ever after #i love the idea of the retellings being ritualistic to an extent. there is so much you could do w destiny #how destiny is a crutch too that prevents u fr growing as a person bc there is nothing life can start that u haven't already seen finished

[ladybugboots]

let me help you

#ok it took me a long while to get around to post this for multiple reasons so whatever #alt caption: the threads that bind us #click for quality please!!!!! i never say that but ik it looks like shit on mobile #hollow knight #hornet #the hollow knight #ghost #fan art #id in alt text #okay so i'd love to know what ppl make of the caption #bc i had something in mind but when i asked some friends i got a different responses #hornet killing the vessels as her duty but she sees it as maybe mercy killing bc she pitys their fate #so she's saying it to that vessel #and then thk saying it to ghost by way of their self impalement (orz) #and ALSO. ghost to thk: helping kill the broken vessel either to take their place or end the radiance whichever ending #and my friend thought of hornet to ghost because of her needle coming in #and then a bit of a stretch and kinda meta but hornet by killing that vessel allows ghost to get the mothwing cloak lol #hk spoilers #<HELP

[jamiethebeeart]

47th (?) coloring submission for @green-with-envy-phandom-event with lineart by @foxyteah

.... was i thinking up a whole plot for this au while coloring? yeah. yeah i was.

#greenwithenvy2024 #danny phantom #paulina sanchez #i meant to follow actual manhwa coloring and then i quickly diverged as my time ran out #absolutely believe paulina would cast a spell or something to pull her and phantom into her story #danny thinks the way to break out of the story would be to remove the crown - thinking that's binding him to the world #but no! plot twist! the flowers that glow at night are actually a disguised variety of blood blossoms that dampen his powers #and as time in the story goes on the blood blossoms have a greater affect on danny - times running out for him to figure out the disguised #flowers are the reason he can't use his powers and destroy them to break out otherwise he'll be stuck forever #paulina would absolutely made a deal with a ghost to find and plant a variety of blood blossoms that wouldn't hurt danny #but would cancel out enough of his powers to keep him tethered to the story #paulina is having the time of her life! danny not so much. but it would be a fun opportunity to humanize paulina for danny #and of course Sam takes place of villainess to “heroine” here because paulina is that petty

[moonpaw]

ohh ohhhh... luffy's dream is having a massive party

it's both so very luffy but also childish and easy for someone to laugh at

#one piece #one piece spoilers #in the tags!! #we already know one piece is gonna end in a massive party since oda said so himself #roger was too early because of circumstances like shirahoshi not being born to help pilot noah and #momo being too young to talk to zunesha #noah and zunesha are both massive and can easily carry hundreds if not thousands across (or up) through the ocean #there's so many factions and islands and kingdoms and groups and luffy has affected so many lives by #not minding his own business #he's someone who could easily bind all the places he's been to together because of his ability to draw people close to him even without #meaning to #whatever one piece is- the search for it has turned into a treasure hunt and a scavenger hunt in the form of the road poneglyphs #the road poneglyphs leads to the rio poneglyph also but- it's like a game #joyboy has sent everyone on a wild goose chase #and whatever one piece is i could easily see luffy 'using' or 'exchanging' it for his massive party viva la post enies lobby style #could you imagine #''you used the treasure one piece for a party??'' #''yeah lol'' #can you see it

[kukkakisu]

...What a heavy price to pay.

#kisudraws #lethal company #lethal company oc #masked oc #quick doodles of copycat #been thinking about the way masked feel once binding into a body #particularly if the body's host was sensitive and full of love to begin with #how difficult would it be to manage it all #all the grief all the joy all the love #what do you do with it all if you aren't used to feeling those things in the first place #the mask uses the body yet a part of the person remains forever lurking there in those moments of emotion #reminding it of their existence #what a tragic duet it is

[roboraindrop]

[vibrating at a frequency that could shatter glass]

I am feeling very Normal about Chucky. Mhm. Yes sir. Very Normal indeed.

#Most of our ship takes place before the possession but. thinking about carrying around doll Chucky n helping him commit atrocities #like. the way Ti.ff holds + treats him like a baby kinda rubs me the wrong way. ma'am that is a whole grown ass man #i would treat him with more respect than that. i think it's little differences like that that he'd appreciate #little ways that i treat him better (': #I am also thinking once again about us going through a ceremony to bind ourselves to each other. #outside of marriage obviously bc marriage is overrated n i dont think he'd do it again after Ti.ff #We make a sacrifice to Damballa by killing together n use the blood for a spell that binds us deeper than marriage ever could #and y'know what. he doesnt regret it. not for a damn second. #rain rambles #Dollface #Netflix and Kill

[dragonomatopoeia]

sometimes i see posts where i think That Doesn't Sound Right But I Don't Know Enough About Neurobiology to Dispute It

#my understanding of dopamine and serotonin deficiencies is that they tend to be issues of uptake rather than production #like generally if you eat enough casein rich foods you should be good. your brain will manufacture a pretty sizeable amount #but from what i've gathered #the problem is that it will generally USE and transform those chemicals at a rate that fucks you over #so ssris and stimulants for adhd tell your brain HEY JACKASS WE NEED THESE #or more specifically they bind to the places that would usually be grabbing your dopamine and serotonin and doing shit with em #again. big grain of salt here. i'm not a pharmacist or a neurologist or psych #just a nosy and neurotic creature that reads papers on everything i have ever been prescribed. due to my brain problems.

[tiredyke]

queer men can never just shut up when it comes to discussions about queer women. they always gotta interject with “um but what about ME and MY ISSUES #misandry” read the room oh my god

#can’t ever talk about the intersections of misogyny & queerphobia without men bitching about it and speaking over us #im so over it #the recent rise in lgbt+ MRAs and incels is staggering and majorly alarming #trans women deserve to speak about transmisogyny without a hundred trans men coming out of the woodwork to say ‘um this is misandry’ or #‘we have issues too’ and then derail the whole conversation #trans men deserve to have those discussions too and to be heard but not at the expense of trans women. there’s a time and place #queer women never get to just talk about ourselves and our own experiences #men always gotta have the mic #like i frequently see discussions about transmasc issues. don’t bind like this. use this for that. here’s tips on how to make your #transition smoother. gender affirming tips. i never see the same support or advocacy for trans women #like im not saying it doesn’t exist. im not saying trans men are universally privileged. cissexism is very real and should be talked about #but im also sick of how men are consistently prioritized in discussions about transphobia and misogyny #and we never get to hear trans women’s perspectives or side of things #despite being the primary target of transmisogyny

[aeide-thea]

very much an off-the-cuff post so there may well be bugs, i'm still workshopping my thinking here, but—

i seem to see posts fairly regularly in which a member of some marginalized group A is objecting to attempts by less marginalized group B to make connections between discrimination against A and harm experienced by B (the main thing i have in mind here is when people attempt to align themselves with visibly-trans people by pointing out the ways that transphobic legislation also impacts gnc cis people, theatrical crossdressing, &c, but there are definitely also examples along other axes)—

and like. the main objection i've seen from A is 'why do they have to connect my experience to their experience in order to care about it? why can't they just agree that i shouldn't be discriminated against as a matter of, like, compassion for fellow humanity?'

and this reaction does honestly always just seem a little, idk, naive to me?? like, i don't know, it's gotten very popular ime to complain about normies' clumsy attempts to Understand Instead of Just Accepting [this feels potentially linked to like. the way many of us now prefer silently clicking 'like' to producing our own original, maybe clumsy, responses? but don't @ me on that point], probably because a lot of the time they aren't genuinely seeking to Understand but just to point out all the ways our queerness &c doesn't fit their received (unexaminedly conservative) understanding of the world, which feels to us (very reasonably!) like renewed pressure from the establishment to make ourselves fit that established framework, and so we resist… but at the same time, idk, maybe i'm just outing myself as lesser-than-thou here, but for every sort of person i was raised to distrust and have since arrived at genuine loving acceptance/appreciation of, it's involved first coming to understand their frame of reference at least a little? not to say that there isn't a place for shutting up and listening while you're still working to understand, because there definitely is! but i do kind of think this idea that's become popular in certain liberal circles of like, 'you don't have to understand my experience, you just have to respect it,' is fine and true for keeping peace with strangers, but really isn't a recipe for winning friends or influencing people—it's a recipe for keeping people at arm's length where they can't hit you. and then people turn around and want to apply that rule to coalition-building, and get all shocked-pikachu-face when others seek to identify more active points of connection.

...

another ~Radical Objection to Liberal Approaches~ i've seen, though often not specifically in this context (of discussing the way attempts to oppress A have knock-on effects for B), is like—'there's no point in deconstructing their logic because it's fundamentally illogical! insert that sartre quote abt anti-semites!' and like. no, there's absolutely no point in debating their logic with them. but fundamentally when people assert a logical resistance to bigoted positions they are not doing it to Own The Bigots, imo, or at any rate shouldn't be; they're (we're) doing it to reaffirm the basis of their/our own camp's position, namely, we see your knee-jerk fears and reject them; we substitute instead a patient allegiance to logic, that reasons its way into compassion.

that said, obviously there's a conversation to be had here about, like, platforming bad positions, and to what extent deconstructing them is implicitly platforming them! but. i do think that complaining that logic won't win over bigots is missing the very fundamental point that the logic isn't for the bigots: it's for us. we're talking to ourselves; we're affirming ourselves. and yeah, we need to understand that this sort of intra-party discussion doesn't, on its own, constitute sufficient activism! messages need to be communicated beyond the bounds of the party! but i do think i disagree that there's no place for it.

#anyway i'm just sticking this all under a cut bc it got very long and i didn't arrive at a nice tidy overarching conclusion #but i guess i just think like. i'm not convinced that resisting people's attempts to understand a struggle as linked with theirs #is ever going to be a strategy that makes any sense— #i just think it's coming from a place of woundedness that wants its pain to be Seen and Matter In Itself #and not get ignored until someone else is also impacted #and like. that's SO emotionally valid! god! but also like. that's feelings and not a basis for politics??? #and the second point here— #which honestly could've been its own post; i was just thinking abt the two points together bc i saw a post that made them together— #really feels to me like. showing up at an internal org meeting and then complaining that it doesn't constitute effective public messaging #like yeah‚ people pass posts around on here that aren't gonna convince conservatives #but like. (a) how much convincing of conservatives do you really think is gonna happen on tumblr anyway? #and also (b) then make your own posts that *are* angled at convincing conservatives! or‚ you know‚ do something that isn't posting! #(in b4 'some of us have disabilities' yeah‚ me too! i emailed my representatives the other day! there's stuff you can do!) #but like. everybody just wants to critique other people's efforts (and obviously as per this very post i'm not immune!) #when it's like. most of what we're doing *isn't* activism—what it could be is the tentative social basis for a real coalition #on which activism could then be founded #but most of us would rather suspiciously snipingly in-fight than let these tentative social filaments thicken into binding ties! #anyway. a great example of a post by someone with adhd that will probably be prohibitively difficult for other ppl with adhd to read!

[starlightshore]

Accidently put a save_game() function into a step event

#i was making key rebinding saved but the thing is #im using Juju Adam's input system #so i can KInDA understand how it works i dont REALLy know #i assume i placed it in the right spot in the if safe bind but nope! i fucked up! #personal stuff

[bloomingsalma]

okay... so I get why I was hesitating to watch soulmate (2023)

#beautiful film #like the cinematography and scenery was so incredibly lush with comfort and nostalgia #so many rich colours so many interesting shots and angles so many different + distinct sets/places #and yeah it just. yeah. it really was heartbreaking #I already knew the big twist so it didn't shock me but the film did leave me with a bit of a sad ache #just seeing the ebbs and flows of their friendship and the longing they both have for each other. the intrinsic and eternal string that #link them together forever more. was just so beautiful #as someone who values their friendships a lot it was so beautiful to see a film centering on the eternal nature of true friendship #and how true deep friendship can almost be soul binding in which you guys never truly leave each other no matter the pain or distance #how those old friendships stay with you forever and how those friends you'd always return to because a piece of you still resides in their #palms #the film did a wonderful job between flashbacks too and leaving things ambiguous at times #spoilers ahead!!! #but what was most saddening to me was the years and happiness lost due to their miscommunication and intense love for each other that #actually ended up making them not address their problems with each other and therefore have their friendship fall apart #like. if they had just communicated about the guy and didn't distance themselves from each other #and if miso hadn't left the hotel after the Busan trip and they had just had a conversation about the fight #like. so much of the conflict and resentment and pain and distance wouldn't have happened #they could have travelled together painted together spent their years together #if just the most minute things had been different if they had just used their love as reason to address their problems rather than run away #they could've had so much they could've had so many years together if they had just spoken to each other #and that is the most heartbreaking of all. that they could've had a life together if things had been different #and just seeing the transition from their innocent and freeing childhood + teenagehood into the conflicts hardships and growth of adulthood #is painful too #just that loss of youthful freedom love friendship dreams and entering into the harsh and difficult reality #when things are no longer always about sitting under the sun with your friend and watching the sea #yeah that was hard #salmaspeaks #films #soulmate (2023)

[stinkbeck]

i'm in the wrong fuckin crowd.

#this town is just not for me lol. #i think there's a reason all the gay people leave #u just can't survive here! this place like crushes the gay spirit. i feel ashamed of everything + i feel like i'm supposed 2 be available 2 #all the guys here. i'm just depressed lol. also i feel like everyone is straight pretty or expected 2 be. i saw a woman in a tee shirt #hefting a beer keg up the steps of a liquor store a few weeks ago + was like 'holy shit. most beautiful person i've ever seen. thought all #the real people left..' #where r all the real people though... like where r they living. i gotta get out of here #also wtf. how dare people shame me for being real lol??? boring-ass cowards. all need something 2 talk about huh! if i wasn't here #what would bind u + your besties together? stop being so fucking afraid. wtf do u think life is?? #like is everyone so afraid of having to answer the questions they ask themselves?? #bury ur head in the sand. whatever. you'll die like the rest of us.

[rhaenyras]

If you look at GRRM’s cast of female characters it’s very clear that he does not like or reward the Alicent archetype so it’s no wonder her fans think she’s oppressed. The vast majority of his female characters who have some kind of substantial role in the series are willful and defiant in some way.

hmm... i tried to inquire into this myself and apparently her stans think alicent is a victim because ever since her youth she's been involved in "inappropriate" relations with much older more powerful men against her will. aka king jaehaerys i and viserys i respectively.

and yeah, to be quite honest, i find it very hard to believe that thirteen year old alicent would spend her days accompanying an old dying king because she just felt like it. I don't know any such 13 year olds. it's much easier to believe her father pushed her into that uncomfortable situation in order to advance his own position at court and family's status, and she just obeyed because she didn't know better, as it is expected of someone so young. and even later when she's a full grown adult as viserys' wife, she's still too young to be a mother and finds no joy in sharing his bed, on top of that.

and dont get me wrong, i am the first who's more than willing to frame powerful men as the source of all evil and abuse, both in the fictional and real world. alicent definitely is NOT responsible for the way her relationships with these kings started nor the undocumented harassment she might have suffered by them, as she couldn't have agreed to any of that, at least in one case, on account of being a minor.

as much as i can appreciate all this and recognize how depressing and underwhelming half her life might have been, it still doesn't excuse the way alicent later betrayed rhaenyra's trust and actively worked against her former friend and also against the political agenda that would bring about change (possibly an improvement for victims of powerful men such as herself too!!!).

alicent truly had no business using her own sons by the king she so despised to snatch rhaenyra's birthright away from her so called "childhood companion". if power and agency over her own life were what alicent understandably craved, then she should have gone for it differently.

her options later in life aren't as limited as they were at the beginning of it all, so let's not pretend alicent had no responsibility in what came after.

truth is, she eventually became too absorbed in the men's game and could barely tell her own will apart from theirs. alicent herself stopped identifying as a victim (if she ever had) simply because she found herself rewarded for all her years of patience and obedience by the very men who had used and abused her, first and foremost otto hightower. she was eventually awarded an ounce of power as the "mother" of the king, aka the only other role (alongside that of the wife) that a woman can hope for under the sexist patriarchal regime. and that's enough to win her loyalty forever and bind her permanently to the side of patriarchy. she won't even try to change the very system that has treated her like shit since day one because why bother? it shouldn't be changed and she's at the top of it all now, besides. or so she wants to believe.

so, in short, do i think alicent hightower is a victim of patriarchy as much as basically any other female character in asoiaf? yes, most certainly i do. do i respect her for the way she responded to the system actively victimizing her? hell no, she became part of the systemic problem soon enough, like so many women do nowadays too regretfully

#actually thinking about how patriarchy uses motherhood to submit women and bind their cause to its own #like... you're so much less willing to rebel if you have children of your own #alicent herself must have thought that there was no other way to protect her children at some point #but naturally her children and grandchildren never would have been endangered if she hadn't set aegon up to claim the throne #rhaenyra bore them no ill will and was never gonna do them any harm #so 1) alicent created that problem for her children herself 2) then decided she would excuse every later action of hers with #'but i needed to protect my children 🥺🥺🥺🥺 i just had to' #well ..... you're the one who jeopardized their lives in the first place ali sweetie hello???? #ask #anon #anonymous #alicent hightower

[merriclo]

“we are bound by the same sins” is such a raw fucking line and i cannot remember who said it but it’s just so fucking good

#it’s 1:15 am and i am sobbing over this line #it’s the religious trauma #i’m breaking my rule of posting past like 9 pm 🏃‍♀️ #the quote hits so different when ur a closeted queer kid in the rural south #with friends who are also closeted queer kids in the rural south #i swear i walk into my school’s gsa club meetings and i can just feel the solidarity of ‘the same sins bind us’ #we might be different we might hate each other we might wish we never met in the first place but that all be damned the same sins bind us #the feeling when u see someone u hate A Lot going through it bc of transphobia and u just have to forget ur hatred and help em #it’s so weird bc like. now i’m the gsa vice prez. i’m one of the ppl that dozens of queer kids in a rural southern town look to. #that’s. holy shit. #ah i’m ranting in the tags again #it’s ok i can have some emotional vulnerability. as a treat. #i don’t get gushy often might as well let it be over a sick quote #sorry for dumping all this in the tags. lmao. #i don’t think anyone will see this tho (or actually read all of these tags) so that’s good ig #idk. i’m tired. good night. #uh oh clo’s talking again

[drawingtigers]

Osiris Golderest, Lord of the Blackmourn Ridge district, had countless secrets as a warlock. If the people of Blackmourn found any of them out, they told no one; Osiris would do the same to protect any one of them.

#my art #drawing #fantasy #illustration #original characters #warlock #look at him im so proud of him #for reference a warlock is a master darkmage who's bound a spirit from the Otherworld and darkmagi are often looked down on #brightmagi do not seek to bind or befriend or submit to Others. only to harness the magic of the Otherworld #brightmagic is a respected trade and schools are common. darkmagic is still making its place in the world #darkmages used to be at the sources of centuries of war until a great warlock brought world peace #after years earning a place at the lords' table Osiris was given Blackmourn Ridge to govern so he'd give up and theyd be rid of the warlock #land of undesireables and pitiful darkmagi. slums and coal mines. Osiris did not give up nor neglect his task

[mejomonster]

The Dark Forest opens from the perspective of an ant

Love this author

I once wrote a poem from the perspective of an ant and a tree

#lb #the dark forest #frankly im beyond shocked at how many people get high one day #and Then finally realize WOW animals and plants are Alive TOO and feel things #like NO shit how did u not know that by age 10 dude??? #trees talk to each other. plants scream in levels we cant hear. dogs understand us. crows understand us #octopus can solve puzzles. bees can play. elephants grieve and visit places of the dead #every animal has a life and its own experience. every living thing does #(my poem was abiut how fucked up it is we die over money which is a Concept humans made #wjen money is a concept and therefore not Naturally binding. it can be thrown out for something more useful #since its just an idea humans had. its not real like trees for centuries alive. like ants crawling. like us breathing) #anyway just. the opening of an ant enjoying the shapes it feels it walks in? Wonderful!!! #i love contemplatjng how other living things may experience life #i suspect plants and fungus experience it quite complexly we just are so distant its #hard to relate to their expetience.