#tl;dr ignore me i’m rambling

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

WIBTA for completely ignoring a very long and thought-out apology message?

TL;DR: Abusive ex sent me apology after two years of silence and I’m not sure I want to acknowledge it.

So I was in a very abusive relationship with my ex for around a year. I’m going to try not to go into too much detail, but I tend to ramble and this is a hard topic for me so I’m sorry in advance if this ends up super long.

When we started dating, it was great for the first six months or so. I noticed certain things that made me question if she could have BPD (intense jealousy, sudden mood switches, impulsivity, self-destructive behaviour) and encouraged her to speak to her therapist about it. She eventually did and was diagnosed with BPD, but she wasn’t able to get on medication for another few months. After that, everything seemed to just… completely spiral. She started to control who I could speak to (I was only allowed to be with friends for an hour, and if I was even a few minutes late she’d be blowing up my phone accusing me of cheating etc. and ignoring me for days), she wanted me to cut off every friend who didn’t like her or warned me about the relationship and would accuse me of disrespecting boundaries if I objected, she would shout at me 24/7 (e.g. we’d be talking fine, she’d tell me she had a headache, I’d say I was sorry, and she’d suddenly be yelling that she didn’t need my pity and that I was patronising her), she constantly tracked where I was and who I was with, she lied to me constantly about things both major and minor, and by the end of it she was physically aggressive. This eventually culminated in her cheating on me, me giving her another chance (zoinks), and her cheating on me again less than a month later with a man she knew had SA’d me in the past. After that I just couldn’t take it anymore and finally got the courage to leave.

This unfortunately made everything worse. She split on me - basically a BPD thing where your opinion on someone goes from love to hate or vice versa in an instant - and she made it her mission to make my life hell. For almost a year and a half after our breakup, she was sending things to my house, to my family’s houses, she was stalking my social medias and sending me death threats from burner accounts, all of her own social medias became solely dedicated to talking about me, and then the worst part - she knew I wanted to go to college to become a primary (elementary) school teacher, and so she called up the college I was going to attend and told them I was a pedophile. She went all out with this accusation and was posting it all over Twitter, messaging my friends, getting her friends to post it - it was crazy. Thankfully it did not actually affect my education because I explained what was going on and I had evidence that things she was saying happened were false, but it was a super terrifying and stressful time.

While that was going on, she used the fact I was an SA victim against me - at one point she told me to “shut up and go get raped again”, and another Tweet she made accusing me of being a pedophile was followed up with “Shame you’ll never get that teaching job, I hear they’re not so kind to people like you in prison”.

Making everything more confusing is the fact that every few months it’s like she’d switch back - she’d send me an apology message, tell all her friends it was a lie, get back in contact with me and tell me she was on meds and going to therapy and everything was getting better, and then a few weeks later she’d be posting about how abusive I was again and blocking me everywhere. It felt like there was nothing I could do - if I ignored it, she’d step it up to get a reaction, and if I did acknowledge it, she’d step it up anyway because I was reacting.

Finally, FINALLY, I threatened to get a restraining order and everything stopped.

Almost two years pass and nothing. I’m now happily engaged to a wonderful girl who was my best friend throughout that whole relationship and knew exactly how affected I was by it. I’m going to therapy, was diagnosed with PTSD, and have been slowly moving on. I still have nightmares about her, and sometimes things will get me (e.g. a few months ago I saw someone who looked like her on TV unexpectedly and had a panic attack), but things are good. Much better. I was thinking of it all much less, I wasn’t dedicating energy to it, I wasn’t even angry or upset anymore, it was just a past lesson I’d learned and didn’t need to worry about anymore.

Then last week I wake up to a message. Again, it’s been two years.

Now, this message was LONG. It was from my ex, apologising for everything she’d done. It was a genuinely nice message and clearly had a lot of thought in it. She said she knew it was selfish to message me when I’d moved on but that she had things to say for her own peace of mind. She said she was happy to see I was engaged, that she’s done a lot of self-reflecting and healing. She said she tried to date again and ended up “karma’d “ - that the relationship was scarily similar to ours but with her in my shoes this time - and that it had made her realise just how disgusting her actions had been and how badly she’d fucked me up. She made it clear she wasn’t looking for forgiveness or to reconnect, just to apologise.

Part of me is mildly skeptical because of the fact she’d apologised multiple times before and it never stuck, but the two year gap and the way it’s phrased makes me believe this is truly genuine. She seems to have matured and changed as a person.

Thing is, I just… can’t bring myself to respond. Every time I go to do it, I remember things she said or did to me and just can’t. I feel like if I just responded and said no hard feelings and explicitly told her I have moved on and am doing better, I could give her the same closure that this apology might eventually give me. It would be closing this chapter for good for both of us and I could just never think about her again.

And yet I just. Haven’t. I’m scared to open the window of communication again in any way, I’m scared it’ll be taken back, I’m scared that this will take me back to square one because she’s put herself back in my life (even tangentially) and now I’m thinking about her again after so long of trying so hard to heal.

So WIBTA if I just… didn’t acknowledge it? If I let her essentially wonder forever it it was ever seen or read because I just don’t know what to do about it, even if I’m potentially keeping closure from her for my own comfort?

What are these acronyms?

#aita #am i the asshole

[silverwhittlingknife]

Hi! Thoughts on Dick and Tim during Murderer/Fugitive, and their argument over whether Bruce killed Vesper?

(My interpretation was that to Dick, Robin means not only unwavering loyalty to Batman, but unwavering faith (“I’m dismayed that there can be a Robin who believes Batman could be guilty of murder”)— whereas to Tim it’s more about having faith in the symbol and the mission, not the person)

Tim (suspicious that Bruce has emotional blind spots and is about to get a case wrong): Nightwing. Channel Two. Go discreet. (Gotham Knights 1)

Dick: I don't - I don't see how you can say that and still wear that uniform... Tim: The guy who gave it to me–the guy who wore it first–HE taught me never to back away from any possibility that might lead to the truth. And he still believes that… right? (Gotham Knights 26)

Ooh, look, it’s one of my favorite comics of all time. <33

Yeah!!  I think hmmm.  Both Dick and Tim are intensely loyal to Bruce and they both care about him a lot.  But they do think about their loyalty to him in very different ways.

Also tl;dr I am biased here but also I am right dsfsfs - although I do think that Tim's loyalty is kinda to the symbol, I also think a big part of the issue here is that Tim's more unambiguous personal faith is given to Dick, not to Bruce. When Dick says, How can you wear that uniform and not have faith in Bruce, Tim answers, essentially, I wear this uniform because I have faith in you. Which is not what Dick wants to hear!

I had SO MANY THOUGHTS about this, so below the cut:

Dick and Bruce and the importance of faith

Tim and Bruce and the importance of doubt

More rambling Dick-and-Tim-and-Bruce thoughts

Dick and Bruce and faith

Dick’s notion of loyalty is pretty firm: “It's no secret Batman and I have had our... issues. But I won't be involved in anything that hurts him.”  His connection to Bruce, from the very beginning, is all about their shared sense of mission: the oath in the candlelight. Dick’s got this intense loyalty that he feels he owes to Bruce, and he feels betrayed when it seems like Bruce isn’t reciprocating, because as far as Dick’s concerned they owe it to each other.

I think you owe me an explanation, Bruce. ... We were the Dynamic Duo, don’t you remember? / If Bruce Wayne doesn’t exist, who am I the son of? / I know you have to live through restraint. I understand how brevity is your moral compass. But why lie to me, of all people? Why would you lie to me. ME. ... I trust you more than anyone. / I've trusted Batman with my life since I was eight. / On top of everything, he's my father now, too... I want to hit people just for thinking bad thoughts about him.

Dick’s first experience of Bruce is fighting by his side.  He initially conceptualizes his role of Robin as about being steadfast partners to each other, and although he'll sometimes later recategorize it as a kid's role, that doesn't change the way he thinks of his own relationship to Bruce: partners, no matter what.

Dick fights with Bruce a lot - he'll pick a physical fight in this very arc! He's not afraid to stand up to Bruce! He wants to be independent and bristles when he feels bossed around or ignored or when Bruce is dismissive or doesn't listen or doesn't call on him for help! But paradoxically, he stands up to Bruce because he has faith in him. Dick respects Bruce enough to confront him and he expects Bruce to offer him the same respect in return. He'll pour out his heart to Bruce because despite everything, some part of him expects Bruce to have an answer, to step up, to be the person Dick's determined to believe he can be.

Tim and Bruce and doubt

By contrast, Tim initially interacts with Bruce like a detective stalking a criminal.  He collects newspaper reports. He follows Bruce and takes photos of him and gathers evidence to present to Dick. He goes to talk to Dick, not Bruce, about Bruce’s problems—and Tim will pretty consistently continue to talk about Bruce to Dick (or occasionally to Alfred), to work behind Bruce’s back, to be frank with Dick in ways that he’s not frank with Bruce.  Tim’s often at pains to insist that he does respect and care about Bruce, but one of the reasons he has to keep insisting this verbally is because his actions and assumptions suggest a lack of trust.

Tim’s first experience of Bruce is of someone who could be a knight or a monster, who needs help and intervention, who can be loved but not entirely trusted.  Someone who isn’t gonna be okay on his own; someone who needs saving and fixing; someone whose sense of himself can’t be entirely trusted or listened to.  Batman needs a Robin.  No matter what he thinks he wants.

In New Titans 71, Wolfman writes Dick musing about Tim as a Robin and how he’s different from Dick himself, and thinking, “He questions more.”  Much later, in Teen Titans/Outsiders, Kory will note the same difference.  Which is a funny thing to write given all Dick’s fights with Bruce—but I also think it’s a true insight!  Tim’s default is questioning.  Almost his entire tenure as Robin is spent as Bruce's apprentice, not his kid, and that affects his attitude a lot. He never takes his trust in Bruce for granted.  It’s carefully considered—and it could be revoked.  A part of Tim is always judging and measuring Bruce, deciding which qualities he thinks are admirable and which ones not so much, what's worrisome and what's not, analyzing whether Bruce is looking after his health or not, etc etc.

You have to promise me something. You'll listen to Alfred and at least call it a night and give yourself a chance to heal. / How many times are we going to have this conversation, Bruce? You died tonight. For almost two minutes you were dead. / Maybe Batman doesn't need to know about this. / He's a hard guy to get to know. / I have friends. He has... associates. / Bruce has been on the job the longest. It’s slowly driven him mad and eaten the human part right out of him. / My boss - my teacher is gone, gone as in fled, but also gone out of his head. And now he may be a murderer as well. / I think maybe Batman has gone crazy. / Don't like the risks he's taking. Don't like the way he spoke to me. I hope it's the concussion talking. I don't want to think his edge is coming back.

It’s not that Dick never worries about Bruce in this way.  He does!  In the arc right before Lonely Place of Dying, his inner monologue compares Bruce to an alcoholic. And IMO it’s strongly implied in Gotham Knights 26 (the Dick-and-Tim fight about Bruce maybe being a murderer) that one of the reasons Dick is so forceful and so upset by Tim’s suggestion is that he’s suppressing his own private doubts.  Tim’s dragging into the open something that Dick is refusing to look closely at.  Dick's faith is an act of will—if I’m going to be Bruce’s ally, then I can’t believe he’s capable of this.  I can’t allow myself to believe it.  And if I believe he’s capable of it, then I’m not acting as his ally anymore:

Dick: "I think it’s… admirable that you can continue serving a system in which you have so little faith. But I can’t. I can’t, Tim. I cannot believe that Batman is guilty of murder. I do not believe it, and I will not believe it. And I can’t stand with anyone who does."

You don't get this upset about somebody saying that the Earth is flat, you know? Dick's not laughing the accusation off; instead, he's drawing a hard line - I will not consider this. I refuse to go there. The topic is off-limits.

(In the same comic, you've got a similar fight going on between Alfred and Leslie with similar stakes - Alfred refusing to believe it but clearly harboring secret doubts, Leslie openly suspicious.)

General Dick-and-Tim-and-Bruce thoughts

Tim to friends: "I lie to Batman" (Teen Titans 3) Dick to Bruce: "But why lie to me, of all people? Why would you lie to me. ME." (Outsiders 21)

It’s always been Tim’s instinct to strategize around Bruce rather than with him. Tim will lie and circumvent Bruce’s orders, whereas Dick will disagree to his face.  Dick respects Bruce enough to give him his say and argue back, whereas Tim tends to think of Bruce as an admired-but-unstable figure who you sometimes listen to but sometimes plan around.

And I think you get the core of that in this arc!

Tim voices his concerns pretty frankly to Dick, but is way more circumspect in front of Bruce, because he doesn't entirely trust Bruce - Tim thinks "is Bruce stable and trustworthy" is "a decision that Dick and I will make in consultation with each other," not a decision that Bruce can make.

In the past, Dick has basically gone along with this kind of thing - he and Tim gossip about Bruce a lot! So it's not surprising that Tim's first thought is that they can confer on it again. But when it becomes a question of "is Bruce murderous, criminal, immoral," then Dick's loyalty kicks in. That's too serious an accusation for Dick to feel entirely comfortable talking about it behind Bruce's back.

Generally IMO, how Dick conceptualizes his loyalty tends to vary a lot depending on who he's talking to. So e.g. in general, Dick's more likely to gripe about Bruce to Tim than he is to gripe about Bruce to the Titans, because he knows that Tim basically likes Bruce. Tim's Robin! Dick takes for granted that Tim is loyal. So it's not disloyal to complain about Bruce to Tim, because Dick and Tim are both on Bruce's side. Dick complains to Tim about Bruce abruptly summoning them into No Man's Land, but doesn't share the same complaint with the Titans. And that's because the Titans aren't friendly toward Bruce in general, and so bitching to them would be disloyal, would be airing dirty laundry outside the family.

By contrast, Tim's a safe audience... until you end up in a situation like Bruce Wayne: Murderer, when suddenly it sounds like Tim may not be on Bruce's side anymore. What are you saying, Tim?

I do think that if Tim had been right, if Bruce had been a murderer, Dick would've ultimately helped take him down. He's very defensive of Bruce because that's how Dick understands the obligations of loyalty, but... he's part of confronting Bruce and demanding explanations in the Cave, and he and Tim (and Cass and Babs) all investigate Bruce together. I think if there had been very very very credible evidence, Dick would've helped fight to take evil!Bruce down. But I also think he would've never stopped mentally searching for an explanation: mind control? body double? I think he'd have an incredibly hard time accepting that Bruce had just murdered someone.

And I mean! In Dick's defense! I don't think Bruce would! At the end of the day, I think Bruce deserves all kinds of criticism in post-Crisis, but I also tend to think that Dick's read of him is a bit more accurate than Tim's, that even though Bruce can act monstrously in all kinds of ways he is at bottom a person who would never ever ever murder a civilian girlfriend no matter how unstable he got and no matter how threatened his secret was. Dick might have a bit more faith in him than he deserves, but at the same time, Tim's jumping to the worst-case scenario pretty fast here, much as he does during Batman: RIP, and I think you could definitely argue that Dick - who's known Bruce longer and better, who lived with Bruce for years instead of just worked with him - has a better and more instinctive sense of Bruce's strengths instead of just his faults.

(And in Tim's defense, as Babs is about to point out to Dick, Bruce has not been behaving especially well recently and Tim has a lot of reasons to be frustrated with him. And Tim's not the only one - Babs is pretty suspicious too!)

.... And of course, I mean, as a Dick and Tim fan, I love that this arc makes very clear that Tim feels his own loyalty is to the symbol, yes, but also that he associates the symbol with Dick first and with Dick's sense of morals, that he trusts Dick, that he sees the costume as something Dick gave him and that's the legacy that he's trying to live up to, to never walk away from the truth, that he thinks the two of them need to be willing to consider the worst of Bruce .... and also the delightful paradox that this isn't loyalty that Dick asked for or wants or welcomes!!

Dick has always taken for granted that Tim was loyal to Bruce, not to Dick; he's not at all happy to hear the opposite. This isn't a heartwarming moment for them but instead a really fraught one, because it's a declaration of Tim's loyalty but it's a declaration of Tim's loyalty that's specifically about not offering unconditional loyalty to Bruce, so Dick feels like he's being invited to be traitors together instead of feeling touched by Tim's trust. Tim's loyalty is something he has to learn to come to terms with rather than something he's happy to have.

And I think that's great!! I love love love these kinds of complicated emotional dynamics (TM), and Bruce Wayne: Murderer is full of them. It's such a fun read.

#THANK YOU FOR THE ASK <33 i rambled for so long sdfdsfs but i really really love this whole arc #it's such a great fight and it does so many interesting things with characterization #it's a story about everybody's very individual relationships with bruce #and all the focus is on the emotional dynamics of WHY they're making particular choices #dick & tim #dick grayson #tim drake #ask tag

[thankshermin]

About Beast!Dazai and His Strategies Backfiring

It backfired so bad he ended up offing himself so I have to talk about it a little. I might be a little biased because I've been crying to Beast for like two years now and I can't be consoled.

Look... Beast!Dazai makes me want to cry hysterically, just like most things about Beast, but one thing especially strikes. 

Literally, NO ONE liked him and that was not what he wanted, at all he was not cool with this but there was nothing he could do about it.

He did every little shitty thing purely out of his selfish wishes– he wanted to be loved, particularly by Oda. So he thought he could do whatever he wanted because he knew he had/has people who cared/cares about him in the other universes. He was paying special attention to Oda because they couldn’t be both alive and well and friends in any other universe. He thought that the other bonds he had with other people would just happen someday and that it was a package deal. 

But he did NOT put any effort into that. Therefore, no one likes him. In fact, I'd say lots of characters dislike Beast!Dazai strongly. 

(and I can't even blame them because Dazai was an asshole for the whole light novel,,, if you want people to care about you YOU have to show them that, Dazai, I'm sorry no one taught you that you are so tragically unaware of everything it makes me sad) 

Still... he didn’t want it to turn that way. The thing I'd like to see more people mentioning is the fact that Beast!Dazai is a very emotionally driven character. He might be the Boss of the Mafia but that doesn't automatically mean he can't be highly emotional. He acted the way he did because he tried to pursue something he wanted, not because it was necessary for the Port Mafia. 

...Says the Boss himself.

While the mafia is obviously powerful as hell in Beast, it is still sad because... well, still no one likes the boss so what is even the point of being the leader. (I’m aware Mori is also not loved among most of the characters but it’s not his turn yet so just ignore him.) 

And I’m always telling people this but what makes me like (canon) Dazai’s character is the fact that he is constantly trying. He is not the best person out there but hey he is improving, okay? And that’s what matters to me. I love it when characters show development, whether it’s towards the good or bad side. 

What draws the line between Canon and Beast Dazai’s is that Canon!Dazai has people who care about his well-being (I'm not arguing about this with anybody but just in case if you want examples; Atsushi, Kunikida, the whole ADA actually, Chuuya, Ango, even Mori and i can still go on) and that he is learning from his mistake whileBeast!Dazai had never tried to change and just did whatever he wanted and now, surprise surprise, no one likes him. 

TL;DR: I feel so bad for Beast!Dazai I wish he didn’t constantly harm those around him and instead made some friends. His small conversation at the bar with Oda speaks volumes.

He was so happy that his eyes were glowing because he finally found someone he thought would be the #1 best friend in the world (yeah how did that feel when you got a gun pointed at you, Dazai? Turns out you don't automatically become friends with the person who has a valid reason to hate you.) 

Anyway thx for reading my rambling I have to go back to study biology for now.

#bsd #bsd manga #bsd beast #bungou stray dogs #beast dazai #bsd analysis #bsd meta

[earthnashes]

Heyoooo everyone! I’m gonna gush a little bit about my gym rat hobby so please feel free to ignore me! I’m just super excited with the results I got this week. :)

For those of ya who are curious:

As of this coming April, I’d have been weight training consistently for a year. The past 5 weeks I entered a prep block to get myself prepared, and this week was the self-appointed Personal Record test I set for myself. The goal of the test is to... well. TEST how strong I’d become and the progress I made in comparison to when I first started out by finding my 1 Rep Max (and in the case of pullups, how many I can do before I can’t do anymore in one go).

The lifts I used for the testing were Barbell Bench Press, Deadlifts, and Pullups. I would’ve also tested for Squats but an old injury in my knee started acting up, so for my own safety I opted against it until I can retrain it and try later at the end of the year.

ANYWAY! The results of those tests are:

Bench Press: Last 1RM-150lbs | Current 1RM- 170lbs

Deadlift: Last 1RM- 210lbs | Current 1RM- 265lbs

Pullups: Last max: 0 pullups unassisted | Current max: 9 pullups unassisted

-----------

Numbers aren’t necessarily important in the grand scheme of things, BUT they’re very good for me to know in order to calculate how much I should be lifting in order to become stronger and for how many reps/sets, as well as giving me an additional visual representation of the progress I’m making outside of photos.

I am naturally competitive --specifically toward myself-- so what I see when looking at these numbers is defaulting to “Cool but now I need to get stronger”. But I’m trying to make myself take a step back and actually appraise the progress I’ve made thus far and to remember to be proud of it, even if it may not feel like I made a lot of progress at all.

And taking that step back: overall? I’m very happy with the results! And quite frankly very surprised. I went into the test with base goals and trying to be open that there’s a very high likelihood of failing to reach those goal PRs this time. But I managed to outperform my own expectations, and while small part of me will forever whisper “it wasn’t you. You did it wrong. You’re lying to yourself,” it’s a little harder to deny it when I had another person actively watching me and recording the tests so I can actually see myself do it.

“You are your biggest critique” is ever the true statement man. But I’m definitely trying to learn how to be more open to success in the gym. I mean c’mon; I started at barely being able to do one pullup with 100lbs of assistance. Now I can do nine with no help? It’s not a big number, but it’s still a much bigger number than where I was, and I can be proud of that.

I guess the roundabout of me talking about this is to remind ya to take a step back and be proud of the progress you’ve made up to this point, no matter what it is. Any progress is still progress, and you can’t brush that off.

The game face can be put on; aim for that higher number, strive for more, but don’t forget to take inventory of where you started vs where you are now. You may surprise yourself. :)

----

BUT YEAH! TL;DR I think I have gotten a little stronger. I’ll be taking a couple of days break away from the gym to rest up, then will be back on my bullshit with the new training block + my 1st attempt at a minicut. We’ll see how that goes ;w;

Anyhow, if you stuck around and read my rambling, treat yourself man. Thank you so much for listening, and I will talk to ya soon! :)

#earthsong talks #powerlifting

[friendfromdsmp]

Are there Marinette Salt takes that you disagree with?

So we’ve established in the last ask that I think Adrien gets a bit of a bad rap with salters at times, but that’s absolutely nothing compared to how I feel about Marinette salt takes. TL;DR at the bottom since this was much longer than I anticipated, as per usual with my constant ramblings

One angle I just really can’t wrap my head around are people who think Marinette is to blame for the LadyNoir conflict overarching season 4 because, in all honesty, I don’t know if Marinette was even made fully aware that there was an ongoing issue. I’m probably misremembering or forgetting some stuff, and I’m about to go on a long-ass ramble, so bear with me on this

The conflict begins with MariBug having constant breakdowns due to her responsibilities piling up, her alter egos bleeding into each other and having zero guidance or even vent options. Back in Truth Chat said that he doesn’t mind Ladybug being the new Guardian as long as it doesn’t impact their relationship/dynamic. But due to how overwhelmed and alone she is, Ladybug can’t always be there for all the patrols and silly little things the heroes do, which leaves Chat disappointed and feeling ignored

Is he entitled to these feelings? Absolutely. Can’t help how you feel. And for the most part he doesn’t bother Ladybug with these feelings, except for mentioning it once that he misses seeing her all the time and she explains herself and promises to try and prioritise patrols more. Healthy stuff, good communication, I’m vibing so far

But Chat continues not to voice his feelings while starting to let them dictate his behaviour, and this is where the problems arise - not just with Chat, but with Marinette salters, too. I was surprised to see how many people were mad at Ladybug for not prioritising Chat more or not being more considerate of his feelings

As far as I’ve seen, Chat hasn’t voiced his concerns to her, so you can’t expect Ladybug to fix a problem she doesn’t know exists, and even then you can see she doesn’t have the mental capacity or available free time right now, every other episode featured her having a mental breakdown. At this point Chat being disappointed that he’s not his coworker’s top priority isn’t… well, a priority

People were also getting mad that Marinette revealed her identity to Alya and not Chat was also a surprise to me. Alya is Marinette’s best friend and was chosen to be a hero for her loyalty and trustworthiness (arguable whether the show does a good job at displaying these qualities but I digress) and Chat Noir, the holder of the only other Miraculous Hawkmoth needs, is the most dangerous possible choice to share her identity with, especially considering what little Marinette remembers about Chat Blanc

Plus, Alya was there. Like, physically right there. And Marinette broke under all the pressure that was put on her. You think she’s gonna break and then sit around peacefully until Chat shows up before she actually acts on the breakage?

Anyway, speaking of Alya, her becoming more involved in the hero work makes Chat Noir feel replaced, resulting in him straight-up ignoring the plan after he was informed of his role in it multiple times by multiple people during Sentibubbler. I’ve seen takes that Marinette should have apologised for him not being better informed or for not including him more in the plan, and that absolutely baffles me

This wasn’t Marinette’s plan. Hell, Marinette herself didn’t even know half the plan, and she was the only other person aware of Alya’s trump card. Not to mention there was a whole thing about how Alya couldn’t contact Marinette, so how do they expect Marinette to have any way of knowing more than what was canonically stated to have been told to Marinette? There’s no way people aren’t just making up issues at this point

Rocketear then shows us something I think highlights one of the previous points very well; Ladybug notices that Chat looks upset after he’s learned that Ladybug broke the secret identify rule by handing Alya and Nino their Miraculous at the same time back during Heroes’ Day

She asks Chat what’s wrong and if he’s okay, and you know what he says? He fkn reassures her that he’s okay and it’s nothing

There you have it, ladies and gentlemen; Ladybug noticed there were signs of a problem and asked Chat about it, only to be told there was no problem. But as all the salters have told me, Ladybug just doesn’t care about Chat Noir or his problems. How do people expect her to fix a problem that she not only doesn’t know exists, but a problem that’s now actively being kept from her?

Now we come to Chat Noir no-showing to fights, which results in Ladybug needing to call in additional backup more often. At first Chat has valid reasons for not showing up; he had obligations as Adrien that he couldn’t escape. But the problem here isn’t that he didn’t show, it’s that he took the temp heroes showing up as a sign of Ladybug replacing him as her partner rather than filling a vacant but necessary role

And the problem only worsened when Chat stopped showing up to fights even when he had every opportunity to, opting out due to being depressed that Ladybug was relying more on the temp heroes… which in turn forced Ladybug to rely more on the temp heroes. He was creating his own problem

And it stumps me how so many Marinette salters decided that it was her fault for letting things get so bad between them that he was sitting out akuma fights due to depression. Dumber still, people agreeing with Adrien and saying that Ladybug is replacing Chat and she shouldn’t keep bringing out the temp heroes and instead rely more on Chat

Guys, I’m sure she’d love to rely more on Chat, but right now she can’t even rely on him to show up to his job. What do you realistically want her to do? Fight akumas all alone, without any backup? Not fight the akuma until Chat shows up first, thus enabling the akuma to run rampant and unchecked through Paris until then? Somehow figure out Chat Noir’s identify, show up at Adrien’s house and beg him to help her fight? What’s her realistic alternative to the temp heroes?

Kuro Neko is where this comes to a head. To start we have salters saying that Ladybug’s interview was insulting to Chat, but I don’t see it at all. Her exact words were “Of course [Chat and I aren’t at odds with each other], it's just that... umm, he's a partner like any other! The most important is to pick the best superheroes for each mission, with or without Cat Noir. No matter what, we've got a great team and we'll always be here to save Paris.”

She’s saying that Chat Noir wasn’t necessary for the fight, not that he wasn’t wanted or missed. Could she have phrased it slightly better? Yes. But she was put on the spot to answer a question she doesn’t know the answer to but probably secretly fears the worst for, all while knowing that she needs to reassure the public that they’re safe and that she and all the other heroes will transform back any minute now

She was trying to say “Chat Noir’s absence isn’t because of any fights between us, and I can assure you that with the help of the team, Paris won’t be any less safe than it is when we work as a duo”, not “Chat Noir is useless and I’m phasing him out in favour of all these other heroes”

Chat finally shows up and addresses his issues, albeit totally out of the blue for Ladybug since this is the first time she’s actually gotten some form of confirmation that something is, in fact, wrong. Chat shows up out of nowhere after missing a ton of akuma fights, wants to hang out and chat while Ladybug is already on the clock, then offers to help her out by going to all the meeting spots to collect the loaned Miraculous

The problem here is that Chat doesn’t know half of their identities, so in order to help Ladybug, he needs her to break the identity rule in a non-emergency situation and reveal secrets that aren’t hers to share

He tries to argue that he already knows some of the heroes, which is fair, but even then it’s made pretty clear that Ladybug doesn’t have time to work out which heroes Chat knows the identities of and then tell him where these specific individuals are currently located

They’ll all be turning back any moment now, Ladybug included, and if she turns back then it’s game over for them all. At very least King Monkey would have only lasted another three or four seconds if Ladybug had gotten his Miraculous back, and he was left dangling from a chimney

Seems to me that Ladybug is not currently in a position where she’s able to accept Chat Noir’s help, but she has made it clear that she’ll talk to him after everything is taken care of and she’s no longer racing against the clock

But because she’s turning down Chat Noir’s offer of help, regardless of circumstances, the salters blame her for it as if she and all the others wouldn’t have turned back before she even finished sharing all the heroes’ locations

There’s also an argument going around of ‘she should have told him all their identities before’, but this is ignoring that, while it’s Ladybug’s job to know this stuff as both their Guardian and not Ladybug’s place to share the secrets of others, we’ve also had several episodes detailing how dangerous it is to break the identity rule; Queen Wasp, Heroes’ Day, Miraculer, Miracle Queen, Optigami, Sentibubbler, Rocketear. Hell, three of those happened just the other week or something

And just to clarify, Ladybug still doesn’t know that this is part of an overarching issue; as far as she knows, he showed up out of nowhere after a fight, she told him multiple times that she has to rush around gathering these Miraculous and that she didn’t have time to explain where she needed to meet everyone, he was teasing and making puns while interrupting her and then she snapped that “If you want to save me time, stop wasting it in the first place!” since he was being pushy at an inappropriate time when she didn’t have the time to talk it out calmly or anything

It’s an understandable reaction when you’re trying to do something very important and someone swoops in out of nowhere and pesters you with puns and demands while you’re already on the clock, and frankly Chat did need her to snap a bit to show she was serious

And all I have to say is… that’s it? That’s all she had to do to be the bad guy in this situation, according to salters? Yes, she could’ve been more polite, sure, but Chat was the one keeping her from doing her job. Showing up with the intention of helping doesn’t absolve him of causing further disruptions. At that point he was the one disregarding social convention

And then immediately after that, Chat tells her that she should just take his Miraculous away from him as well, to which she just gives a barebones acknowledgement as she rushes away, then expresses that she doesn’t know what he meant by that. She still thinks this is just him wanting to be helpful and not taking her responsibilities seriously in favour of being playful

This is an extreme overreaction to what she perceives as just a minor bump in the road, if anything, which is probably why she didn’t catch on right away what he meant; he wouldn’t really quit being a superhero altogether just over her not having the time to talk to him right this second, right?

Plagg is the one to break it to her that there’s an overarching issue; Chat’s co-dependency issues making him struggle with the idea that he’s not necessary because job-wise he can be replaced with the temp heroes and his struggles to healthily communicate this due to his stunted social development resulting in his bottled up feelings spilling over… wait, what? He said it was because she broke Chat’s heart by not being in love with him? When the hell did that become relevant?

But some salters ate up the idea that Ladybug rejecting Chat is a moral failing on her part and all this would’ve been solved if she just dated him already. The love square isn’t even a contender in these issues, why is this the explanation? And why are people falling for it? It’s clearly just another excuse to make Marinette ‘learn a lesson’ and blame her for all this while absolving Adrien of any perceived imperfections

And to clarify once more; MariBug is now finally aware that there is some overarching conflict, but she believes it’s just Chat being butthurt that she’s still not in love with him. So nothing new. Same conflict as always

Oh, and a bit of a tangent but what the hell were the salters thinking when they blamed Marinette for going to London in Hack-San? We saw her make several attempts to get out of it, then when she couldn’t she called Alya - the second most experienced superheroine after herself and someone already familiar with Tikki and already aware of Mari’s identity - to take over for her to ensure Paris still had a Ladybug hero

Even after she was long gone, Mari was still texting Alya non-stop to provide tips for being the Ladybug hero, including special tips on how to make Chat feel valued and happy. Girl thought of everything, did all she could, and you’re still managing to complain that she should’ve just… what? Confessed to her parents that she’s Ladybug so they’d have to let her stay? Run away? Destroy all their passports?

Look, even Tom was vibing with not going, but Marinette tried every trick in the book and it all failed, so she ensured she appointed the most qualified replacement she could. That’s called being responsible

I bet those salters are the same people that got pissed off when Ladybug yelled at Chat for abandoning Paris in the New York special, despite the fact that he left completely unannounced yet pre-planned and willingly, while knowing Ladybug wouldn’t be there and without appointing anyone to fill in in his absence and as such knowingly leaving Paris undefended

Anyway, things come to a head again in the finale when Chat is yelling at Ladybug mid-battle for keeping secrets from him and being too reliant on the temp heroes rather than him and all that fun stuff. Now remember, this is once again coming out of nowhere for Ladybug, who has managed to reach the season finale without actually knowing that she’s in the middle of a season-long conflict as opposed to just same old, same old

Ladybug is trying to defend herself from both the sentimonsters and from Chat’s accusations and insults, with no idea where all this animosity has ‘suddenly’ come from

More salters argue that, once again, Ladybug should’ve caved to his whims by now, and all I can do is wonder why the middle of a huge fight is seemingly their definition of an appropriate time for that conversation, let alone any time at all being appropriate for spilling secrets that aren’t yours to share and are being kept for the purpose of child safeguarding

Salters really need to understand that while LadyNoir are equals in terms of a team unit going into battle, Ladybug is still effectively Chat’s boss due to her Guardianship role. They don’t have to be equals in absolutely every aspect, and Marinette doing her job is not a flaw in Marinette’s character or an argument towards her being a bad person who doesn’t care about Chat Noir

Then we get to the big risk of giving a Miraculous to ‘Adrien’, and salters love to claim that it’s all Ladybug’s fault because she chose Felix and not Adrien. Can you guess what I’m going to ask how, guys?

As opposed to what???

Ladybug was knowingly under the influence of an akuma that impairs judgement. She came to a very logical conclusion given the information she had that ‘Adrien’ didn’t have a mark, and thus was the only person in Paris not judgmentally impaired. She was, need I remind you, correct

The only problem is that she didn’t know - and had no way of knowing - that at that moment, Felix was pretending to be Adrien for completely unrelated reasons, just so happening to get caught up in the crossfires of whatever the hell MariBug was getting up to that day. Her logic was ‘I can’t trust myself to make a smart decision, so I’ll go to someone who I can trust to make a smart decision’. And just because Felix was already acting the part, a fact she couldn’t have possibly known, suddenly she’s to blame for the fuck-up?

Anyway, when we finally begin to conclude the LadyNoir drama, it occurs when Ladybug realised that she’s been tricked and Felix steals her yo-yo. Adrien gets in a snide comment about “If you’re gonna trust me once, please let it be this time!” which should make exactly zero sense to Ladybug

And then we get to the final scene, where Ladybug breaks down crying and apologises for lying to Chat, not listening to him, keeping him at a distance and refusing his help

And I just… what? Chat’s done all these things without context to make it understandable or called for in the moment, yet the Marinette salters are just nodding along and agreeing that she’s the one at fault. So many of them have said that Ladybug didn’t deserve his forgiveness or his loyalty or his pep talk, it baffles me

And that brings me to conclude my biggest gripe about the LadyNoir drama and the Marinette salters that go with it; MariBug was almost solely blamed by the narrative and the salters alike, but she didn’t actually know anything at all was going on until Kuro Neko (episode 23 of 26)

From there she figured it was just some of Chat’s habitual pouting on the job over his advances being rejected until the very last episode of the season but never got clarification on what exactly had been bugging him for this long, then it all magically resolved without apology or explanation

He didn’t bother with that because, by the end of the episode, Chat had gotten his way; no more temp heroes. Ladybug was now forced to rely on him and only him, so he instantly quit fighting her and carried on as though nothing had ever happened. Ladybug must’ve been reeling, no wonder she was just listing off all the bad stuff she could think of that she might’ve done; she was trying to see which one stuck. Girl lasted the entire season drama without knowing what the drama was

Marinette salters to that extent don’t take into account her perspective of many situations, and a lot of it is from Chat stans getting mad when MariBug doesn’t bend over backwards to his every whim, even when he’s actively keeping them a secret from her. She’s just supposed to telepathically know what the problem is and is expected to fix it simply because ‘they’re partners’, when even that isn’t an obligation to care for him beyond a professional capacity

Sorry I know this one is long as all hell but it really annoys me how certain Marinette salters will practically invent problems to blame her for - the show’s writers included. And to be clear, I’ve done my share of Marinette salting before, she’s far from perfect, but I do think that a lot of the salt she gets is pretty baseless

TL;DR is that my worst issue with Marinette salters is how they often blame Marinette entirely for the season 4 LadyNoir drama despite the fact that a lot of their problems with her behaviour don’t really have a reasonable alternative and she didn’t ever actually work out what the drama was truly about, having not even known there was drama until episode 23 of 26

#ask #miraculous ladybug #ml ladybug #mlb #miraculous #marinette dupain cheng #adrien agreste #chat noir #ladybug #ladynoir #mlb season 4 #ladynoir drama #writing #marinette salt #adrien salt #miraculous ladybug salt

[the-magic-school-bus]

hi one of your posts came across my dash where you said that the kotlc fandom bullied a 12 year old off tumblr for a headcanon?? and i don’t think that’s true. the “headcanon” in question was very insensitive and racist of her, and while it was an honest mistake, it was ignorant in a fandom with a high asian demographic and so many people who were willing to educate the fandom.

the knee jerk reactions were hostile, and it’s understandable that the 12 year old went on the defensive immediately. but she was being called out for racism, and told to check her biases, which is something that the fandom does to each other a lot. and in the end, the whole thing was resolved civilly. a lot of people explained to her what was wrong, and she apologized and swore to do better

tl;dr she wasn’t harassed for a headcanon, she was being called out for racism. she didn’t deserve the harassment, but many people informed her what she was doing wrong. it wasn’t bullying

it only took three months of sometimes rambling in the notes of posts to finally get an ask about this lol

like you said everyone’s knee jerk responses where hostile, instead of going “hey it’s obvious you don’t realize this because you are literally 12 years old and probably are pretty new to the internet and the world around you, but that’s considered racist so you really shouldn’t do that”

being hostile because someone makes an a honest mistake isn’t education, it doesn’t matter the intention, it doesn’t matter the reasoning and if she needed to check her biases, it makes it an attack, and attacking isn’t education, to me that’s bullying though and through.

yeah it got gentler later, and people acknowledged that she shouldn’t have been harassed, while still trying to educate her, but there was also asks telling her that she was wrong for being upset about being attacked and to listen to the people attacking her, and that still doesn’t change the fact that there was like almost a dozen people telling her what a horrible person she was (weather they meant to or not) for like you said a honest mistake.

on top of that i don’t think it should have been made public in the first place, Maya was a super sweet kid ok, instead of publicly calling her out she could have been dmed and told her, “hey kid, i realize you didn’t mean to but that was actually racist and here’s why” and she would have responded great to it, i know it.

and i wish, i wish, i had done that when i first saw that post, for some reason, for some idiotic reason i thought the fandom wouldn’t get hostile, when i knew better. because i had experienced it firsthand. twice. i’ve seen the fandoms way of educating one another, the way it end ups being hostile and guilt trippy, i’ve seen the way people go through others blogs in a public sever just to mock them. i knew better and yet i wanted to believe that the people i had considered my friends wouldn’t attack/gang up her and they did.

she literally left the site completely two days later because it was that bad, not because she thought she didn’t do anything wrong, but for how she was treated for making a mistake, like everyone does, especially at 12yo, and that’s why i’m upset about it

i really don’t think anyone under the age of like 14 should be on tumblr, i don’t think kids that age need to exposed to the things that are talked consistently on here. so i am relieved Maya is off the site, but like that was the worst way for her to leave. i loved that kid ok, she was so so sweet, she was sometimes the only reason i would write because she left the best comments in the world. she was sweet and kind and i desperately wanted to protect from how hostile i knew the fandom could get when they decided someone was in the wrong. i do hope she’s still on Ao3 and the experience on here didn’t scare her out of the fandom entirely.

like seriously!! guys?? i know just about every person who was involved by name, and i know y’all can do better than that. i know that you’re capable of being kinder, that doesn’t just need to be reserved for your friends. kindness is for everyone, even when some random internet child makes a mistake, you don’t need to guilt someone to tell them their wrong, you don’t need to make it public, nothing really needs to be a public call out, all it takes is a kind dm, if you really feel that it’s that important to address…for goodness sakes

#i’m aware this is just how fandoms are #but also #like #it’s always talked about how chill we are for a fandom #then bs like this is pulled #i’m like 90% sure I know who’s the hostile person was too #and it is one of the older members of the fandom #anyways #sorry for the rant #(no i’m not)

[logically-asexual]

i am personally of the opinion that thomas doesn’t need to make A Statement* about fitting in and other hp references because of reasons i’m too lazy to elaborate right now and i extend that opinion a bit towards becoming a cartoon. but i do think that a recent tweet thomas made was wrong and it is bothering me. so i’m going to ramble about it for a bit.

the original tweet has been deleted but apparently a fander (whose username i recognize because they comment on every single tweet by thomas with support and praise and often get acknowledgement from him, so they show up at the top replies always) posted about their feelings of discomfort with becoming a cartoon because of the association with hart man and someone else quote tweeted them with a comment like “meanwhile i love all episodes”

which first of all i think was rude in itself like. you’re not superior for loving everything thomas does and have no criticism towards him, everyone is allowed to dislike some of the things he makes, specially if it’s caused by the association of something with a bigot.

then thomas replied to that saying

like. i. i don’t like this.

i don’t know what the original comment was because it was deleted before i could see it (because of this reply by thomas) but whatever it was it couldn’t have been that bad? i know the author of it never has anything but praise to say for thomas in the replies to his tweets and they probably know that thomas sees much of their stuff so i don’t think they could have been so rude when expressing their discomfort with hart man’s presence in a video that thomas, 34, with years and years of experience with social media presence and queer activism, could find the comment “discouraging”.

the original tweet author then apologized and thomas said “no, yours was fine” and i don’t know what that’s supposed to mean. like. if this person’s tweet was indeed not that rude and wasn’t what discouraged thomas then why reply to this conversation in the first place? why not talk about it somewhere else? and even then. if it’s just the idea of some tweets complaining about an episode (for totally valid reasons!) that “discourages” thomas then .. he needs to? not get discouraged so easily? he’s 34? and this is Social Media. he knows how it is. i would imagine he does. he just has to make sure not to promote this man’s work in the future and move on and if some viewers won’t forgive him then he would have to understand that that’s out of his hands and. move on.

also if thomas gets discouraged by some comment on his videos he shouldn’t seek comfort from other fans who say “well iii do like everything thomas does without question!” he should seek comfort from his friends or other close people in his life and from his own understanding that he can’t please everyone and that he is allowed to make mistakes and move on from them and try to be better in the future.

publicly favoring the second comment saying they like everything (in contrast to the first one expressing dislike for one of his creations) means encouragement from thomas to be like the second fander and not like the first. through guilt-tripping. which i think is wrong.

people should be allowed to criticize content they don’t like in their own accounts, and if the creator sees the criticism (a creator with a decade of social media experience in this case) then they’re responsible for their own actions. thomas is responsible for his own actions and he should acknowledge the concern if he deems it valid or ignore it if he doesn’t agree and then idk sort out his feelings about it in private. later he can make A Statement if he feels that the situation requires it but without targeting any individual fanders in particular. but at the end he has Take Responsibility for his reaction and his feelings and Move On.

so in conclusion (Tl;DR) this is just one tweet and it seems everyone involved is fine about the situation but i really don’t like this trend of Thomas replying to tweets by fanders by saying he feels discouraged or under-appreciated whenever someone has a complaint. i think he should sort those feelings out by himself, instead of making these fans feel guilty for their opinions.

okay that’s all i had to say. tell me what you think.

#*like a big video or written note about his whole position on the thing #because otherwise i think he has talked about the topic on livestreams i haven’t watched #ts criticism

[hekateinhell]

Do you think Armand knows or understands that he was groomed by Marius? I think often about how Marius’ “education” for Armand only served to reinforce old traumas and provide new ones. The healthiest education Armand received in Venice in terms of socialization and emotional well-being was the little time he spent with the other boys.

Also, thanks for your great writing and posts! They always make me smile!

Girl, first of all, thank you so much for your sweet words! Makes my heart happy 💕 not sure how you'll feel about me by the end of this lol but that's Future!Hekate's problem.

Second, you made me reach for the wine at 5pm. How could you?

Tl; dr: Armand does not!

Rambling, long answer below the cut (because apparently my brain chose to ignore my fic-writing plans & do this instead).

Okay, SO… my Marius feelings and takes are complicated (much like Armand’s). But separating from that for a minute, there are a few things I want to break down that hopefully haven’t already been said elsewhere a dozen times (they might be idk I haven’t been active on here that long).

"Does Armand know/think he was groomed by Marius?"

That’s not the read we get from TVA. In fact, up to that point, Venice seems to be the highlight of his very long, tragic life! And it’s understandable.

Even when it upsets me (and it does, often!), when I want to play around in their heads (because tbh once it comes off the page it’s headcanon, so I do what I can to try and get a decent read that makes sense with respect to characterization), I have to make allowances for their individual time periods and experiences.

Armand would have very little reason to know (care about) anything relating to psychology, child development, or trauma, even. Those are human concepts that don’t apply to him. Most of the way he behaves is logic-driven (not that his logic isn’t faulty sometimes lol he’s weird, even by vampire standards). I doubt he would see any sense in exploring this 500 years after the fact, after much worse stuff happened.

"Marius’s 'education'"…

I want to preface what I'm about to say by stating that I have zero stake in this game! This isn’t a ship I write about or want to write about, and I’ve never had any big feelings about what other people ship (it just wasn’t a “thing” back in the day in VC so this is new to me now that I’m rejoining the fandom lol). I’ll enjoy it if it’s well-written in fanon though.

This is the repetitive part: Marius is coming at this from the perspective of being a 1500 vampire. I’ve said many times that I don’t think Armand truly realized how far he was pushing Daniel over the emotional/psychological limits of a human being. I think that applies to Marius and Amadeo as well, to an extent.

Marius thinks that he’s providing Amadeo with a good life, and in a lot of ways, he is—by the textbook definition. He’s getting a very well-rounded academic education, he’s socializing, etc. Marius essentially sees Amadeo as a blank canvas, given from what he can tell from his mind (and again, the concept of trauma wasn’t something that would’ve occurred to anyone a few centuries ago, it just didn’t exist). Adding to this, wasn’t uncommon for brothels at the time to be used to supplement a sexual education, in the most literal sense of the phase. As far as Marius is concerned, he’s going the extra mile to prepare Amadeo for the world (yeah, I know).

As for the traumas themselves, I think I know what you’re getting at (but correct me if I’m wrong!)…

So Amadeo is 15 when Marius rescues him; his mental state is in pieces, and he doesn’t know his ass from his elbow. Marius absolutely sees him as a kid, in the same sense that Armand and the other vampires later see Daniel as a “boy.” He’s not thinking child development here, he’s thinking about what would settle him down and feel good to a messed up human being (having not been one himself for over a thousand years).

Anne was clearly a sex-positive writer, and there’s something to be said for the idea of “replacing” a traumatic memory with a more pleasurable one. Unlikely that Marius was thinking about it in those terms (he was not, we know this), but more as so how to distinguish himself as a “man” that didn’t just want to use Amadeo for his body, but to provide him with pleasure (for the first time in his life). Marius gets literally nothing out of this. He could bite him and induce a swoon, and they’re both happy, no further effort required.

Now, what I think are the Marius traumas...

We know that Marius really Struggles With His Emotions. And he doesn't ever seem to make any real sense of progress there (Pandora and Armand can attest). I've said before (on your post actually lol), Marius is the parent that you don't realize how fucked up they are until you grow up and it's like, "Oh wow, that's why I am the way I am. Whoops!"

Amadeo has human needs and longings for validation, attention, and connection, and Marius just absolutely misses the mark here. The switch scene and the return from Kiev scene are perfect, heartbreaking examples of this (even if Amadeo is a new fledgling in the second instance, his mind hasn’t lived beyond 18 years yet). And Marius does seem to regret his outbursts afterward (it doesn't make it right, but I think it adds a sort of context to the idea he knows he's failing in at least some regard).

And for Armand, it's easy to see how this became his blueprint for what a "relationship" should be. Because he didn't know the behind-the-scenes stuff that was happening with The Parents, he didn't know Marius's own history with kidnapping and cults, etc. And because ultimately, he never had a better reference until much, much later.

In TVA, Armand says he can't claim to never have hated Marius for giving him the Dark Gift, LEAVING HIM IN PARIS, being besties with Lestat... but nothing about their time together factors into it.

By the canon read and my interpretation, Armand doesn't consider himself as having been groomed by Marius in any modern (or otherwise) definition of the word. (And just to throw something else in there, let's not forget what Armand himself did with Denis and the others - now, that's dark!).

~ hekate out

#since this is the week everyone else agreed Vampires are Problematic™️ #mildly meta #if y’all think i’m tagging this y’all are nuts

[streetslost]

BURNOUT UPDATE

talking to twinnie... i think i need to accept i’m in a pretty bad burnout mode when it comes to writing.  so here is the current plan: alina and xayah are going to be semi-hiatus to very quiet level of activity.  i will still check in on them and do things quietly ( drafts if i’m up for them or just throwing things in the queue or sending memes if i see them ).  they are going to be lowest in activity presently just because they are the only two blogs i’m caught up on.  once my multi is caught up, as well, it’ll join them. my multi owes only three things.  i will try very hard to get these done.  replies will be short just to try and get some writing done and hopefully still of decent quality.  like alina and xayah, i will probably be quieter on the dash and just trying to do things in the background, not lose drafts, and maybe send memes if i see them.  once i have the three drafts done, i will organize my queue to slowly release the starters i owed and the drafts.  but this blog will be low-activity so... no pressure to respond fast to anything i post there lol. if i come up with headcanons for any of the three blogs above, i will probably try and write them up and queue them unless i really want to post instantly. cat will be my main and most “active” blog because it’ll be what i’m logged into on mobile and will most likely do updates and the like.  she won’t be massively more active than the other blogs, but she’ll just be where i am vibing.  she owes eight things ( one of which is an ask i owe from weeks ago ), her replies will probably also be short if i get to them in the time being. i’m going to try not to force anything on any blog but will write when i am able. basically: please be patient with me for the time being and know that i’m not ignoring you, i’m just probably in my dead bubble.  i’ll hopefully pull out of this soon but.  honestly it’s been bad lately so expect a lot of continued just dwelling/lurking for the time being.  ( hoping when i’m on holiday break in two weeks, that’ll help ) ...i will probably be avoiding starting anything new on any blog starting from now until i feel my energy back.  if i’ve already liked for something or discussed something with you, no worries, we can get going!  but... just note i will still be adhering to the above rambles and most likely slow. tl;dr i’m in burnout.  i’ll be slow.  short replies when i do have the energy to write.  find me mainly on cat.  hopefully will find my muse again around my holiday break.  why do i have writing muse to talk about how i don’t have writing muse but not to write my muses ajkfld;saj.  the irony...

#i can ramble this but i can't write a two paragraph draft fuck me #&&. ooc ( an athlete with nerd credentials )

[magicdyke]

really appreciated ur mp100 meta post — i’ve never understood terumob as an actual ship and it’s always a little bizarre to me how frequently represented it is in fanworks - or, more specifically, mob crushing on teru/returning his feelings. i love teru and mob’s dynamic so much and think it’s such a genius way of indirectly showing how everyone is someone’s Most Important Person and someone else’s Just Some Guy. like, tsubomi really is just some girl! but thru mob vision, she’s ahything but. and mob is shown the entire show to be just some guy (ignoring the psychic powers) but teru looks at him like mob looks at tsubomi meaaaaning no one is inherently special so everyone means something special to different people !!!!! like terumob + tsubomi are such a great way of looking at the message of the show but ppl r too busy looking at it thru shipping goggles despite mob sadly showing no interest in teru as anything more than a friend. this is rambling and incoherent but u get my gist. tl;dr thank u agreed 1000% im glad i’m not alone in my reticence about terumob as an actual functioning ship

dude you worded this excellently and i agree entirely. it sucks too bc a lot of people are reading that post and being like "this is a great analysis!" and then tagging it as terumob?!?!?? like dude you did not read what this was about at ALL. but you're so absolutely right, it's all about how nobody is particularly special and the only things that separate us are our built up feelings and personal experiences--everyone is the main character because everyone has an entirely different view on the world

#thank u ! #ask #long post #i really do hate how popular it is in the fanbase which is why i don't really interact with it lol

[7gentlemanlysnails]

TW: parent stuff, transphobia, generally shitty childhood mentions, and the unavoidable discomfort that comes with that sort of thing

TL;DR: i need a new name because i hate the one i have due to family-related trauma. suggestions?

in september of this year (2022), i finally worked up the courage to tell my parents that i wanted to change my name. i did it by asking my mother if she preferred “echo” or “fable”, without telling her that her choice would be my new name until she said she liked “echo”. i guess a part of me thought that, maybe, if i gave her some sort of say in the whole business that she wouldn’t mind as much?

i was very, very wrong. both of my parents immediately blew up at me. they were very offended that i didn’t think my given name was “good enough” for me, despite the fact that, throughout the entirety of my childhood, i have expressed nothing but discomfort at my given name.

eventually, my family decided to pretend this never happened other than the occasional biting remark which i pretended to ignore.

at the end of september, my partner and their family came to visit and stayed at my parents’ house for a week. with my permission, my friends all called me by “echo” instead of my given name. this, of course, brought the whole issue up to the surface again.

during the visit, my family expressed their disapproval- and even disgust and hatred- at my chosen name. every opportunity to call me by my given name was taken.

this was when my friends, who had visited only twice before as they lived in another state- finally saw what i dealt with on a daily basis. all of the things i had told them about my parents (and not even the worst stuff, mind you) suddenly made sense. the evidence was right in front of them.

my friends offered me a way out, and i took it. eight days after they left my house, i snuck out of the house to the nearest train station with only a small backpack of belongings (it was all i could carry, mostly clothes).

about four hours in to the fourteen hour train ride, they noticed i was gone. the messages i got from my mother only solidified my resolve. i had made the right choice, something i had wanted to do since i was eleven.

i finally made it to new york just after midnight, where my partner, their mother, and two of the nine siblings were waiting for me. for the first time in my life, i felt like i could actually breathe. i was safe. i could heal.

the point of this ramble is that, due to a series of moderate to highly traumatic events, every time i hear the name “echo”, i feel like my chest is caving in. that name has been corrupted, and it’s no longer mine. i want to change it, but choosing a name is very very difficult. i have a list of names i like, and i was hoping to possibly get some suggestions.

here are some names i am considering: everest, fable, nox, nym, loki, atlas, damon, janus, neo, and rook.

i go by he/they and i want to have an “alternative” sort of masculine or gender neutral name. i’m especially fond of names that have mythological origins.

#name change #suggestions #tw trauma #trauma dump #family issues #mommy issues #daddy issues #that shit was traumatic #transgender #transmasc #nonbinary #genderfluid #echo #transphobes #random #neurodivergent #autism #adhd #adhd mood #neurospicy #adhd things #sorry for being depressing #mental illness #please help

[prettyinpwn-blog]

No lie, I’ve loved Lord Huron for ages so I’m a little biased, but damn does the Strange Trails album of theirs fit the Stan Twins so well at times, especially Ford but there’s a hint of Stan character themes in it, too (also Bill a bit). Mostly Portal!Ford focused on revenge, Stan working to get Ford back, Ford coming back and knowing Bill is still a threat, and some Sea Grunks vibes.

There’s even a western/acoustic guitar plus sci-fi electronic instruments vibe like the Gravity Falls soundtrack has, and the album cover has that general American outdoorsy feel (hard to describe but it’s like that same aesthetic you see on vintage state or national park signs in America).

There are romantic themes that don’t fit. But minus those it’s peak Stan twin feels.

tl;dr: for those who don’t read under the cut, at least listen to Frozen Pines by Lord Huron, I beg of you. Max Stan twin vibes. Pines because duh, the setting being a snowy night in a pine forest, two male voices singing at times, and the lyrics mY GoD.

If you like it, then listen to The World Ender, Meet Me in the Woods, and Way Out There too for some lesser but still Stan twin or Bill vibes.

Some deeper, rambling thoughts for the whole album under the cut ~

Okay, so this is what I mean with this album, song by song:

1. Love Like Ghosts - eh, one of the romantic songs I mentioned that don’t fit well. I love this song, ‘tis one of my favorites on the album, but not very Stan twin-ish. Maybe more Stan-ish because it mentions the protagonist being haunted by ghosts all the time, likely a feeling Stan had all those years after Ford had disappeared and he was trying desperately to get him back. There’s also a theme of seeing ghosts in oneself, which, since Stan looks like Ford...

2. Until the Night Turns - definitely more Ford, one because lyrics about staying up all night (Ford is allergic to sleep), and because these reasons:

“I had a vision tonight that the world was ending Yeah, the sky was falling and time was bending I watched the heavens collide right before my eyes What if the world dies with the sunrise?“

“I had a visitor come from the great beyond - cOUgH Bill CoUGh Telling me our time in the world is done And to watch for a sign in the midnight sky What if the world dies with the sunrise?”

“When the World Ender comes, baby, don’t close your eyes”

Definitely due to it being in major key, it’s a more happy feeling song, so this feels like a Ford during the meeting Bill and admiring him era of Ford’s life, plus some foreboding foreshadowing of how Bill is the World Ender. Though so is Ford, in a way.

There are some romantic themes but meh ignore those.

3. Dead Man’s Hand - this is a great song with both Stan and Ford lines, BUT I’d say it leans more Stan, both when he went to go see Ford before the portal accident, him taking over Ford’s life, etc.

“Yellow lines, in the dead of the night Oh, I was heading back out West Trying to keep my eyes open wide I’d gone days without any rest”

I’d see this as being both Stan going to Ford before the portal accident, driving out to see him, but this can also be Ford because sleep what’s that? Also EyEES. “You come back from a trip to the East But you don’t come back from the dead”

More of a Stan line. He staged his death to take Ford’s identity. Could also be Ford, though, since he was also sort of “dead” to the world after he disappeared. Also, they’re both from the East coast.

“Sure as hell he was dead as they come, He was already starting to smell eh ignore this line Just a kid, with his hair slicked back And a knife tucked into his belt Was he unforgiven? Or just tired of living a life that never felt like his?“ Stan to a T. He had his hair slicked when he was young, the knife in the belt from years of crime and/or expecting people after him, and the last two lines? Ooooooooof.

“I stared right into the endless Void And I ain’t going back if I got any choice“ AKA I stared into the void of some interdimensional portal that I lost my brother to and I’ve decided to stay here to fix it.

There’s also a stanza about the protagonist in the song burying this dead man, but the dead man doesn’t want to stay and wants to keep roaming. It’s like Stan juggling on that tightrope of “is Ford dead, is he not, do I keep trying?”. Could also be Stan as the dead man himself, still technically alive after he’d already buried himself. Or Stan feeling like he’s having to bury his own brother mentally. GAH the possibilities are endless.

4. Hurricane (Johnnie’s Theme)

Stan to a T, at least the first stanza. The lyrics explain themselves:

“I get a thrill outta playing with fire ‘Cause you hold your life when you hold that flame I get a kick outta thunder and lightning And tearing through the night hollering your name

I get a laugh outta starin’ at darkness And wondering why people live in the light I drive fast and I rumble the hardest I don’’t feel alive if I ain’’t in the fight” The fire part is self-explanatory. Also I think Stan canonically had a motorcycle at one point? So huehue, that imagery is cute. The lyrics just give off a vibe of Stan’s personality overall.

“I can’t sleep when there’s something to do - like staying up trying to get your brother back “You spend your whole life dreaming, and you wake up dead”

This death imagery, man. Stan, going along trying get rich quick and con schemes, dreaming up fame, only to have to fake his death to take Ford’s place?

The rest of the lyrics of this one aren’t too applicable to Gravity Falls/Stan, besides the part about being an illusion (’cause he ain’t Ford, but he stole Ford’s name and looks like him, so Stan is an illusion of Ford of sorts). Also the mentions of eyes everywhere...

5. La Belle Fleur Sauvage -

So this song is technically about a woman, so eh, not really applicable. Could be seen as a metaphor for Ford reaching for the paranormal not knowing how dangerous it is, in some parts at least. Or Ford having a thing for Jheselbraum/The Oracle, if you’re into that headcanon.

6. Fool for Love -

Another goopy love song, so not as applicable once again. But these lyrics...

“I stare into the endless sky And the sorry tale of my life goes by I drift into the great unknown And I really don’t know where I’m going...”

Ford to a T.

7. The World Ender -

Okay, HERE’S where the songs start hitting Stan twin stuff hard. There’s also Bill in this one, especially so if you also believe in the theory that Stan is a reincarnation of Bill in some way. So this song is majorly Stan + Bill-ish, but I can see it as a song that slaps for Ford, too (because A. he technically almost ended the world and is a World Ender, B. came back from the “dead” when he returned from the portal and sought revenge on Bill for decades).

“I had a name but they took it from me I was the man I wanted to be I had a place to lay my head But they burned it to the ground, and the sky turned red

I had a life and a place in the world I had a sweet-talking wife and a beautiful girl I know I’m never gonna see ‘em again Gonna tear up the world ‘til I have my revenge

They took my life but it isn’t the end Oh, they put me in the ground, but I’m back from the dead Oh, I’m a world ender baby and I’m comin’ for them.

You hear me howl by the light of the moon That’s how you know that I’m comin’ for you Gonna find you alone in the dark of night Oh when the world ender comes, baby, run for your life I never bleed and I won’t ever age I’ll never feel the embrace of the grave Oh the fair and the brave and the good must die I’ve seen the other side of livin’ I know heaven’s a lie I tear through the night and I raise some hell ‘Cause I’m a world ender baby and I’m back from the dead

“Lord knows I should be pushin’ daisies I was six feet down until somethin’ raised me up Sent back before I lift my curse I’m gonna get me a taste of some chaos, first

Untied, I’m gonna get a little wild Screamin’ through the night like a demon child Close your eyes now the light is fading And the noise in the night is gonna get a little louder, baby

They can run for their lives, but they cannot be saved I’m a world ender baby and I’m comin’ for them.”

So this feels Bill mostly to me. Firstly, Bill isn’t his actual name, as apparently his real one is too much for humans to comprehend without going insane. Based on his backstory, he was from a dimension that was burned completely (implied to have been his own fault) and all his loved ones died. The Axolotl prophecy implies that he misses them dearly, even though he pretends not to. So from that anger he seeks chaos and wants to destroy realities.

The second stanza is almost like when he came after Ford, coming in the dark of night while Ford is all paranoid and sleepless. And the third stanza makes perfect sense, because Bill doesn’t have a body, he doesn’t bleed or die. The last few lines, well... now he wants revenge. He’s a demon child and is going to end the world. It also feels Stan though, because of the name swap thing again, his fire “death” at the end of the series and recovering from it, and the world ending with Weirdmageddon. Also if you believe in the Bill = Stan theory, well... yeah, as Stan, Bill really is back from the dead.

BUT it’s also a great Ford song, because he “died” to the world when he disappeared. He roamed the multiverse for decades and spent that long making sure he did everything he could to get revenge on Bill. Ford being “dead” and coming back is almost like his return from the dead, and he doesn’t ever deny his role in helping Bill bring the end of the world. So he proudly is like, “I’m the world ender and I’m coming for revenge”. Kind of a badass Portal!Ford to his return in NWHS song. And at the end, he’s just about to take the shot at Bill with his quantum destabilizer, but then the portal opens up and he gets pulled away from his revenge... and now he’s back from the “dead”. Hence “Sent back before I lift my curse”...

Seriously this song SCREAMS Stan twins and Bill.

8. Meet Me in the Woods - Ford. Ford ALL THE WAY, specifically post portal return. I don’t even have to explain it.

9. The Yawning Grave -

This song is more subtle than Meet Me in the Woods, but this could be both a Bill and a Ford song. Either Bill coming after Ford post dream warning in TLM, or Ford going for Bill when Weirdmageddon hits (hence the “reckoning” mentioned).

10. Frozen Pines -

Well, besides the obvious ‘Pines’ thing, and frozen pines because Ford went missing on a snowy night deep in the cold winter, and the fact that two male voices echo each other on the track at times... and symbolically the Pines are frozen because both Stan and Ford had to pause their own lives the moment Ford was lost, like they and their relationship has been frozen in time since the night of their fight...

This gives me both Stan and Ford vibes. Like a song that fits both of them as they wonder where the other is, however, certain stanzas fit one twin more than the other. To me, this is THE ultimate song for their relationship on this album, as well as any other song I’ve ever heard besides maybe Always Gold by Radical Face. To the point that I’m surprised that I’ve never heard anyone else mention this song in the fandom (maybe they have, I’ve been gone a long while..)?

Anyways, lyrics that hit hard:

“Deep into the night With the moonlight as my guide I go wander through the pines and make my Way to nature’s shrine And I look up to the sky And I know you’re still alive But I wonder where you are, I call your name into the dark

I wake up in the morning, oh, and I don’t know where I’ve been All alone on a mountainside and I’m huddled in the wind And it feels like I’ve been away for an era but nothing has changed at all And it feels like I’ve been with you, oh, but what did we do and where have you gone.”

FORD x1000. Portal!Ford specifically, alone in the universe, wandering. I picture a snowy planet, and he sees pines (or some similar alien plant) and thinks of his family/brother. He looks up at the sky, wondering where Stan has been. Is he still alive back home? He decides to believe that he is, only if to keep himself going. He has a nightmare of Stan running away from him and meeting a bad end, and he calls his name in the dream.

He wakes up in the morning as the nightmare ends, cold, wind-blown, surprised he survived the night. He’s been gone in the portal for decades. And that last line, OUCH: what did he and Stan do? Was his childhood with Stan even real, because it feels so far away, now. Why did they even fight? It’s the biggest regret of Ford’s life.

Alright, now Stan’s turn:

“On the night you disappeared Oh, if I had seen it clear But a strange light in the sky was shining right into my eyes There was no one else in sight Just the endless frozen pines But I wonder all they know 'cause they don't die and they don't grow.”

Yeah, this is Stan the night Ford was lost. A cold, wintry night in a pine forest. The bright light of a portal. Ford disappearing. Etc.

The last line specifically is both Stan and Ford. They are ‘frozen Pines’, stuck in time and left regretting that night forever, not dead, but not growing beyond it, either. It also reminds me of Mabel’s line in the Lost Legends comic, about how they’re both big kids that need to take care of each other. Like Stan and Ford just stopped growing after they were separated and need the Stan-O-War II adventures to regain lost time they spent apart.

“I am ready to follow you even though I don't know where I will wait in the night until you decide to take me there.”

Stan’s loyalty to getting Ford back, of course, working diligently every night to do so.

'Cause I know I don't wanna stay here forever, it's time to be movin’ on Oh I don't want to be the only one living when all of my friends are gone.”

Both Stan and Ford. Stan and Ford both don’t want to be where they are forever, either lost in the portal, or back home with Ford lost forever. Also, the ‘moving on’ is the repairing of their relationship. And they don’t want to be the only twin still alive. :’0

“I will be waiting for you, on the other side of the frozen pines I'm gonna find a way through, there's another life beyond the line I will be waiting for you, on the other side of the frozen pines I'm gonna find a way through, there's another life beyond the line.”

A lot to unpack here. Overall, thematically, the ‘frozen Pines’ are both metaphorically them as Pines brothers whose relationship was frozen in time after their fight, the rift in their relationship, and the literal portal that keeps them apart. Ford and Stan are waiting for the other, wanting to cross the rift in their relationship to see each other again. There’s another life in their sibling relationship waiting on the other side, if they could just forgive each other. Also the symbolism of them both being “dead”, either by faking their death or disappearing, then regaining their life upon Ford’s return, both as who they were originally.

JUSt... NO ONE CAN TELL ME THAT THIS IS THE STAN TWIN SONG. FITE ME. Like I said before, though, special mention to Always Gold by Radical Face.

11. Cursed - meh, skip this one for Stan twin feels. Unless you take the relationship part out, and translate the “she” into Bill. Then maybe it works.

12. Way Out There - Ford 100%, yeah. Doesn’t even need explaining. Though I wanna highlight the lyric line, “if you don’t know my name you know it now”. Huehue.

Could also be a Stan song, since he’s a hero that saved the world, “there are many more flames when mine is gone" + “they will build me no shrines and sing me no songs” lines, since no one outside of his family even knows that Stan is a world saver. The irony that Ford is a world ender and Stan is a world saver but if he’s reincarnated Bill then...

Could also be a Bill song. Depends on how you read it.

Could also be a combined Stan and Ford song about the decision to go on the Stan-O-War II trip. Or a Sea Grunks song about them reflecting on their lives, complete with them on the ship on an eerie, foggy night for full dramatic vibes.

Also, can I mention the very Gravity Falls feel of this track with the mix of warpy/sci-fi-ish elements with acoustic guitars? Yes, inject it into my veins.

13. Louisa - sort of Stan vibes in the first stanza, but the rest of the song is a love song, so meh:

“Good for nothing is the name they'll remember me by Done nothin' with my life for no one, I'm just waitin' to die I turned my back on the world”

It could also be a Sea Grunks song if you take out the romantic mush, especially since Ford’s return is like them both coming back from death, and it talks about not wanting to die but wander the world with someone again, but meh once again.

14. The Night We Met -

Sea Grunks all the way. Minus the actual night they met, because, well, that was as babies. Maybe metaphorically as their older selves meeting each other again after the Weirdmageddon stuff calmed down? Also take out the few romantic lines, of course.

#gravity falls #stanford pines #stanley pines #bill cipher #sea grunks #at least a little bit here and there #gravity falls music #my stan twin hyperfixation is a never ending train going full steam ahead at this point

[quietwingsinthesky]

drop your favorite spn side character! :p (anyone whos not samdeancas) (and for you..specifically..... anyone whos not lucifer too...)

It goes without saying that any of the archangels could claim this spot, but especially Raphael. I’ll admit that I’ve constructed 90% of their character myself out of implication and ignoring the blatant character assassination moments in s6, BUT! Consider: I love them. They deserved better.

However, outside both tfw and the archangels… Oh, god, that’s hard. This show has so many fantastic characters. So, opinion subject to change, but right now, I think it’s Anna again. I just wrote up that whumptober fic for her, and now I’m thinking about my headcanons for what went on when she was in Heaven. (That being, her willing participation in angel lobotomy as the commander of her garrison, which to me exists as a parallel to Dean torturing in Hell. Because I love them.) And more than that, she’s just fascinating as the first and only angel we know of to rip out her own grace to fall — willingly! — and the difference between how she acts when she doesn’t have her memory versus how she does when she regains it is so striking when you’re watching the episode. She’s clearly the same person, but there’s confidence there that she didn’t have before, it’s like you can feel the age and experience on her in just how she moves compared to before. s4 really got angels, you know? And there’s so much more I could go into (her interactions with Ruby, Anna/Dean, her part in Castiel choosing to rebel, why she DESERVED TO LIVE DAMNIT-) but I’ll stop rambling here.

tl;dr: she’s perfect. no notes. i am the target audience for the version of supernatural where she replaces castiel.

#ask #spn #anna milton #raphael spn

[pjisskullourful]

okokok pj babe lemme say something! so as you might’ve gathered i am an ethan girlie. and i am also a use me stan as evidenced by me requesting ch 6 💪

ok, long chunk of words incoming: not to get personal on main but you wanna know something? i really really love use me because it feels so… familiar to me (obviously i am not dating a rockstar, that’s not what i mean 🫣) i got diagnosed w bipolar less than a year ago and while it explained a lot, it also kind of ruined my life (i mean it also helped bc meds, but yeah). that’s neither here or there though cause i’m talking about your fic.

so seeing the reader being wrote as bipolar really spoke to me. it’s relatable and written so naturally. like there are lines that jumped right off the page and i was like, “this is so me.” per esempio:

“He could see it, he could see your disorder. Now that he had the context for your bipolar he wouldn’t think you were sexy anymore […] Guys didn’t want to date this disorder.”

that was the moment when i was first reading this where i was like, “yeah this one is the magnum opus.” chapter 1 in particular is so healing to me. i just love the way the relationship between ethan and y/n is written, i love the way the plot has developed 😍. specifically this part is one of my favs:

“You said that you love me. You’ve never said that before.”

“Oh. Well, yeah, I do.” You said, shifting how you were sitting because it had just hit you how uncomfortable this tiled floor was. “Even though you’re a massive creep.”

He ignored your teasing (he was used to it by now), putting his hands to your cheeks. Now you were forced to look at him, seeing the very serious look in his eyes.

“I love you too.” He said, your tears leaving you as you marvelled at how good it felt to hear that for the very first time.

this fic, it’s really my favorite of yours, i reread it an embarrassing amount 🫣 like not only is it HOT but it just feels so… comforting? i’m def excited for more but obviously i can wait cos i understand you’re a busy busy girlboss xoxo

im sorry this was such a long read btw! tl;dr: keep up the good work and i love use me alot

thankyou so much❣️❣️ this is so sweet& i am so appreciative of you taking the time to share this with me, its really wonderful! (please never apologise for sending long things to me-- you've seen my fic word counts, you know im prone to a ramble🫠)

i've been diagnosed with bipolar as well so that probably helps me write it naturally. it really means a lot to know that my writing could be healing& im glad it has meaning to others

thanks a million billion bae ❣️❣️❣️

[teawiththegods]

can I just say, I'm so glad your blog is still here? My religious beliefs are. complicated. but hellenic polytheism was a very important part of my own religious journey and still have a lot of love and respect for it. I'm going into religious studies as a major, and seeing the way people talk about helpol just makes me So Mad. like a lot of people just don't have any idea about how hellenic polytheism worked in the past or works today outside of the myths, and they just say. stupid shit! like saying that it doesn't make sense for Zeus to be a father figure bc he's Bad Myth Man even though one of his epithets is literally fucking. Zeus Pater. it just really annoys me that instead of respecting helpol as a legitimate faith, people just mock it! and they'll mock people for practicing different in the modern day as if religions don't naturally evolve and change to fit the needs of their practitioners. like yeah a lot of pagan circles do have issues with historical inaccuracies and bias and etc etc, but so do all religious circles.

this is kind of random and rambly but tl;dr ive followed you for a long time and I'm glad you are still here and being yourself and doing your faith. it's cool. you are cool

I agree with everything you said here! It is truly frustrating on many levels because 1) that’s my divine father they’re speaking about and I’m ready to throw hands in his defense 2) They read a mythology book and LO/PJ so now they think they know more than actual worshipers who have literally dedicated their lives to these gods through study and active worship…like either sit down and be educated or keep fucking walking.

It’s why I’ve implemented the rule for myself to block anyone who comes at me with the Zeus hate. Im cool with pple who pop in with genuine questions and a desire to actually learn. But I’m not wasting my time, energy, or peace on people who can’t show me or my Dad an ounce of respect.

I’m also not going to debate or argue with someone whose knowledge level is clearly nowhere near mine. They can live in their ignorance and miss out on being loved and protected by Big Poppa.

Oh and i really liked this line “as if religions don’t naturally evolve and change to fit their practitioners”

I feel like all that is very relevant to me, my devotion, and my blog because I get a lot of hate for choosing to wander outside of tradition with my worship. But exactly what you said, religion is constantly evolving. It was the same even in antiquity. Depending on where you were worship looked differently. So if the ancients were allowed to bring fluidity to their devotion why can’t I? And isn’t part of the reason the gods have stayed relevant for so long is because we allow them to evolve along with us? I do of course believe there’s a balance and you need to know the “rules” before you break them. But I don’t think “breaking” the rules is inherently hubristic. I think modernizing the gods is a devotion in itself because it keeps them close to humanity which will always be where they belong.

Okay let me end this Ted Talk so I can thank you for all your lovely compliments! It’s always a wonderful feeling to know your presence within your community is valued and appreciated! So thank you so much for that! I’m glad I can be a bit of light and hope! ❤️

[wvbaandtheboys]

have I told you guys how much I love this motherfucker

have I really?

well buckle up I’m gonna ramble for like 2 minutes. deep inhale

k so like have we talked about how dorky his smile is?? like???? sir who gave u permission to be this cute. I wanna know. so bad. I wanna hold ur hand so bad u don’t even kNOW

his. his face. his outfit. his hair. his boots. his voice. his EVERYTHING. MMM. I LOVE HIM SO BAD :[[[[

AAAAAAAA

sir are your gloves heavy? too tight? TELL ME I will hold them for you. please I will do anything to make u happy just ask.

he does this cute little evil smile while he’s guarding his face in his idle and I. a. AAA.

AAAAAAAAA

title defense. TITLE. DEFENSE. ok let’s ignore the fact that Joe has headgear he needs it ok his poor skull needs help + doctor said so

but the CONFIDENCE. this man has. he lost 99 times and said “yknow what? let’s try again.” sir you are an icon. his opening line too.

“Je viens te checher!” (“I’m coming to get you!”)

The line conveys his confidence.. and I LOVE IT… not to mention that Joe actually uh. is pretty tricky in title defense tbh! he took the belt from me after all-

HIS WINNING ANIMATION!! THE BOY!! HE CLIMBS UP ONTO THE ROPES AND SAYS “J’AI GANGE!” (“I WIN!”) AND I DONT CARE AT ALL THAT I LOST TO GLASS JOE. WE LOVE YOU MAN WE’RE SO PROUD OF YOU!!

tl;dr: glass joe is amazing and deserves the world. this has been a psa.

#punch out wii #punch out!! #glass joe #rambles