#you can be better than your parents

[mishapen-dear]

tbh i think that even unwinnable fights should be winnable. some of the BEST fights i've ever run as a dm were ones i built kill the players (in a fun way. I had some cutscenes prepped so even the loss would be a different flavour of win)- but then they were clever bastards and managed to either win the fights or pull themselves out of trouble. I think it's perfectly fine to plan for a fight that players aren't supposed to win, but you need to let them. if they can't win, they can't lose, and the meaning of that encounter is diminished. do that too many times, and they stop trusting you to give them roleplay prompts and start expecting to sit there waiting while you drive the story for them.

but if they can win... if there is always the chance to win, no matter how impossible the odds, then they ALWAYS have hope. they always get invested. they feel the big emotions of success or the big emotions of failure, and you fucking Win as a dm/roleplay prompter/lead bastard.

#qsmp neg #qsmp crit #discourse #<- for blacklists #im not grumping or anything im just musing on like. the mechanics of why everyone is so upset about the latest fight #and how it can be avoided while still keeping these fights genuinely difficult and intense #its hard because there's so many players and they all have wildly different strengths and weaknesses #so someone who could take on the code easy needs that enemy scaled differently than someone who isn't a big fighter #but it's hard to do that in a world where they interact w the same enemy #and you only have so much man-power to cater to a big server like this one #and then you bring in the big powerful items that the players can and can't access but which the admins have ultimate power over #and the fact that some of the admins themselves have lag issues or aren't super great at pvp so they accommodate that with better gear #and it starts getting messy #but for the fights themselves yeah regardless of what armour or gear or killing-methods they use there should Always be a win condition #and idk maybe there was one and we just didn't get to see it #but if that win condition is 'parents sit in the safe room with their babies while the others are overrun' #then i think there are ways to build better win conditions #anyway i love game design and player/dm interactions qsmp hire me now i want to know your behind the scenes #jk im too busy to apply #but man. i wanna nerd out so bad that sometimes i think about it

[furiousgoldfish]

Abusive parents will go 'Oh yeah? Well I had it worse! My parents were bad!' and it's like, Oh? We can acknowledge that your parents were bad? You can say that? You can say they treated you very badly? You know this and are aware of this?

And yet, when raising your own child, you used their methods and decided that you are the victim here? That it's okay because they've done it 'worse'? You're comfortable telling your children that they're paying for however you've been treated, and that you specifically had your children to expose them to all of the bad things that happened to you? The world feels fair to you if your own children are suffering? That's where you take your power?

Your parents were bad and you know this, so you went ahead and became a bad parent on purpose, and you're thinking you're the victim in all this?

#abusive parents #feeble excuses #if you know your parents were bad then you know they treated you bad #so by logic you would not use the same measures to raise your own kids while whining how you had it worse #nobody believes you btw #you don't even know what your children are going trough and what environment they're exposed #they're growing in a different world than you were raised in #what you do to them will feel different from what's been done to you #but you don't care about all that do you #you only care about having those 5 simple words to excuse everything you've done #i've had it worse #anyone in the world can have a traumatic time living in this world #and none of it gives them the right to take it out on children #children are not sacrificial altairs to make people feel better about their past #children are the future and you are taking that future away from them #disgusting victim blaming mongrels

[manygreetingsfriend]

i’m sooooooo normal about the god of war series. so incredibly normal i liked it a normal amount and would be so chill talking about it. don’t worry about the sign

#god of war #i’m so so so so so normal about it it’s so whatever it’s so haha you know #something something when it comes to yourself you’ll let yourself drown before you change. you’ll die before you change who you’ve become #to survive this long #up to and until it affects the ones you’ve come to love in this life you’ve made for yourself and you suddenly have no choice but to change #it’s fine it’s ok it’s chill. everyone does this. #it’s becoming a parent and loving your child so much you HAVE to change. you HAVE to be better #we MUST be better. than they were. #who’s they. our parents. the gods that come before us. yes. #i’m screaming i’m crying i’m wasting away im disintegrating. there’s no coming back there no return #you are on your knees. you are gripping your son’s shoulders like they’re the only thing keeping you tethered to the earth. #you are struggling with who you are and who you want to become. you are promising to be better. #i’m so normal about parent(al figures) taking responsibility for their actions and choosing to do better #i’m not high enough to really express what’s going on here. can you feel it? can you fucking feel it? #this series has destroyed me. #dad of boy. dad(s) of boy. i will never be the same (affectionate) #can’t remember the last time i finished a series and went ‘oh well i’ve GOT to play it again Now That I Know’ #AND I HAVENT EVEN TALKED ABOUT THE BROTHER HULDRA!!!!!!!!! #sindri’s face. has not left my memory #i’m dying scoob #gow #gowr

[layla-carstairs]

Andrew Blackthorn is a very... perplexing character to me because we know next to nothing about him but all his kids seemed to like him as a dad... and yet some of the only things we do know about him are that he a) gave Helen & Mark childhood trauma via Keats instead of having a normal conversation and b) he used to restrain Ty in order to "train him" to the point it made him throw up. like idk if there's a particular intention behind his character being good or bad (in general) but I definitely hate him lmao

#imagine your 12 year old son being a better parent than you. embarrassing. #the keats thing is always so wild when I remember it. like wdym he did that?? #literally WHAT would possess you to do that #also why did he never question about where Arthur was in Faerie #like did he not know he stayed behind too or did he just not see his brother for 7 years & not care🧍🏻���♀️ #Andrew Blackthorn #the dark artifices #bella talks #tsc #the shadowhunter chronicles #tda #julian blackthorn #helen blackthorn #mark blackthorn #ty blackthorn #he needs a flower card so I can sort him into one of the low tiers on a tier list 🙄

[communistkenobi]

sometimes I think oh actually being completely estranged from both of my parents is getting less painful now and then I see a tiktok about a guy showing off a beautiful present his daughter made for him and i have to stop watching the video so I don’t cry

#shoutout to people who don’t speak to their families. one of the most difficult things you can do in basically every single way #it does suck that immense amounts of grief don’t really go away they just become part of your daily life #I’m doing so much better than I was this time last year so i need to keep that in mind. It was a good decision I don’t regret it #I grieve for my parents a lot but I just cannot be around them. they are filled to the brim with poison #just deeply unhappy people whose only real source of power is abusing and controlling their children

[scorpiusmalfoylovesoscarwilde]

headcanon that scorpius was a sick child and was in and out of hospital constantly, perhaps related to astoria's blood curse but not directly. his immune system isnt very strong, and everytime he gets sick they're terrified that it's the blood curse but also whatever else it could be, because it's always so sudden and so intense and they call healers over to the house who recommend this delirious feverish 4 year old is hospitalised immediately, and you'd think it'd get easier to some extent because they'd be used to it, but everytime they feel like this is it, this is the time he'll walk in to the hospital and not walk out again

#this headcanon has no purpose im just thinking of scorpius in bed like a sickly victorian child with scarlet fever or something #asking if he'll make it to sunrise lmfao #so then he hates hospitals with a passion #my friend from school was in them constantly he was even a make a wish kid and he can not fucking stand the places so #headcanon scorpius becomes a healer anyway lmao #im sick and this is how im coping by putting baby scorp in hospital lmfao #it just made draco that little bit more protective #lucius made an insensitive comment about it once and draco was ready to throw hands #this headcanon doesnt really go anywhere ive just decided scorpius was a sick child #he has sick child energy lmfao #he still knows some of his doctors/healers because he was there so frequently #just imaging lil scorp in a hospital bed and draco and astoria are sleeping in the room on like uncomfortable chairs and the fever finally #breaks and hes like uh daddy im hungry and its like 4am but draco couldnt care less cause scorp hasnt been able to eat anything for days #let alone ask for food directly and baby scorp is wondering why his parents are acting so damn weird just cause he asked for some toast #but once hes grown up whenever he gets sick its on such a lower level than what it used to be when he was a kid because his immune system #got better that he struggles to gauge when other people would usually stop trying to do daily activities and albus has to start wrestling #scorpius back to bed instead of going to class cause scorpius really youre practically dying and hes like pfff you wanna see dying? use tha #timeturner one more time and go back to see me at literally any point between 2 and 10 i am FINE #(he absolutely was not fine) #scorpius malfoy #albus potter #draco malfoy #hpcc #scorbus #this is so many tags im so sorry

[angelsdean]

Jack: Yeah, he-he wasn't all bad, my dad. Uh, that's what makes our parents loom so large in our heads, I think. They're… a million things to us all at once.

And even after they're long gone, we're stuck with them. Can't help it. They're inside of us. You know, my whole life, I promised myself I'd be nothing like him, but…I ended up just like him.

Kevin: No, Dad. You're way better than him.

Jack: Thank you, my son. And you're gonna be way better than me.

— 5x07, This Is Us

#this is us watch #gonna rb this in a sec to say exactly this but. scenes that could've been dean and jack. scenes that ARE dean and jack. 2 me. #the father son relationships on this show are soo good and rich and they GET the complexity of the dynamic between fathers and sons #and it's the exact same complexity dean has for john. that ability to hold both love and hate for a parent #and neither feeling cancels the other out. they both just. co-exist #and that's what jack (this is us) is getting at here. that your parents can be a million things to you all at once #that you can love them for the good times and hate them for the bad and you'll carry them with you forever #you imagine them to be one way all your life then you grow up and realize oh. they were just a flawed person like anyone else. #or you become a parent and you worry you're becoming like them. and at the same time u realize how hard it is to be a parent #how easy it is to mess up without even trying #and you'll talk to your son about it. and you'll fear you're doing everything wrong #and your son will look at you and say 'no dad. you're way better than him' #and you'll hope that your son turns out to be an even better person #because you just want the best for your kids. #and just. this is a scene dean and jack could've had. another time they go fishing and john comes up #and dean tells him how bad it was sometimes. but how it wasn't all bad. because it wasn't. #and he'll worry he isn't doing things right with jack. and jack will look at him like he's his hero #because he is. because jack loves dean so much. loves the quality time they spend together. it's their love language #and he'll tell him 'no you're way better than your dad' #and dean will do the ol' face pat. like he's done before. like bobby used to do with him. and draw him in for a hug #anyways. i feel fine abt it. #fathers and sons !!!!!!!!!!!!

[archduke-enver-gortash]

mmm essay about sally and kid gort in the tags (cw for child abuse, mentions of suicide, animal cruelty and a murder attempt. i always hope i don’t have to say this but just in case: i don’t excuse or condone any of her or gort’s behaviour at all.) this is literally not even touching upon everything i have to say because i hit the fucking tag limit lmao. NOBODY READ IT’S BAD BRAINSTORMING I JUST NEEDED TO GET IT OUT SOMEHOW

#thinkin too much about gortie side characters again. #sally this time and why she specifically talks about him the way she does #like dravo is obviously still shitty but to me he was. ‘just ‘neglectful #while sally actively hated and even felt terrorised by her own child #like. it’s not like i don’t understand her at all. #imagine you and your love don’t have much besides each other and your shop and you get pregnant and ready to raise a child #only for it to not be a child he didn’t and doesn’t cry ever and he learns everything so much sooner than most but then he never calls you #his parents and it’s not just a petty thing kids do sometimes you feel that he doesn’t see you as family and the worst part is that you #agree deep down #and as he gets older he doesn’t have any friends and actively rejects the notion of the entire concept #but then as time passes you hear about how he has entire groups of children following him and then several of them commit suicide #and that thing coming to sit with you and dravo at the dinner table says that he did what you did last week when the axe to chop wood broke #and you discarded it and got a new one #and he has these habits of ripping out flowers and making sure that they don’t regrow #and then you hear rumours about a friend’s daughter’s cat disappearing and think nothing of it #until you visit his tree house a month later and find a declawed cat and birds with clipped wings and crushed bugs that he keeps fondly #and then you see him with other children and they don’t know and his face is different and body language is entirely different #and were it not for the fact that you know better you would never see anything but a normal child #and you know that you are one who painstakingly brought this thing that should not be into the world and so you decide to end it all one da #and go to him as he’s asleep with the knife shaking in your hand #but he cries when you’re above him! screams at the top of his lungs! #so you beg for forgiveness even though you don’t deserve it through tears but as soon as the knife is put away you see the act drop and fee #his clever fingers having twisted your brain inside and out and you know that you can do nothing #and so the opportunity arises to at least remove him out of your life if not everyone’s lives and you take it immediately. #but you heard him talk. how he will close his fist around the world one day. and you know that it is not a matter of if but when. #like. imagine that. jesus dude. #like i hc her as someone that is messy and does not know a lot about life and she certainly wouldn’t have been a good mother but the love #or at least desire to love is there somewhere. and believing that having a child is really the only somewhat meaningful thing she can do #with her life. she’s not some hero or rich or anything of note. so there’s a lot obligation and not genuine desire for family here. #but she never really got the chance to be an actual mother in the first place so. who knows what that might have looked like

[labyrynth]

ok so your first problem was assuming mdzs is a story where Good People are Rewarded and Bad People are Punished.

your second problem was assuming that MXTX—who goes out of her way to showcase unresolved, tragic, undeserved endings in all of her works—would ever write a story with such a shallow notion of “deserving.”

the only reason wangxian makes it out unscathed is because they’re literally the protagonists. authorial intent and plot armor ensure their happy ending. that’s it.

#mdzs talk #moi #i mean it also helps that neither wwx nor lwj give a rats ass about the rest of the cultivation world #wwx had already fucked off and lwj was basically doing that too #that man has never given a single shit about politics and maintaining good relationships #like what does it say about you if even jiang cheng is a better politician than you. #mister ‘don’t talk to me before i’ve had my coffee. or after. just don’t fucking talk to me.’ #but yeah wangxian is like oh we helped to create a massive power vacuum and destabilized the entire cultivation world? #ahaha no way!🤪 hey actually can this wait? my husband and i wanna go fuck in the bushes 🥰 #like. lwj that’s YOUR brother that just lost his most significant emotional support of the last decade. #wwx that’s YOUR pseudo nephew whose parental figure you just got killed. #that’s YOUR pseudo nephew who now has to become sect leader at like 15. #but nah they wanna go bang on the side of the road #god forbid they try to clean up some of the gigantic mess they helped to make #and nobody try to argue ‘well but jgy!!’ buh buh buh nothing. jgy cleaned up after himself. #neither wwx nor lwj had ANY personal stake in seeing jgy dead. lwj SHOULD have had a personal stake in keeping him alive actually. #i still think it’s super shitty and hypocritical of lwj to defend wwx so strongly and yet try so hard to condemn jgy in PRIVATE #both wwx and lwj really showed their asses at guanyin ngl. obviously huaisang did too. #like yeah it’s noble and righteous or whatever but like. righteousness was not why lwj defended wwx before. #wangxian stans being self-righteous and hypocritical? with classist double standards? with black and white mentality? #wow! who would have ever guessed?

[vixensajntz]

i hate when grown adults speak on teen shit or kid shit!! like girl we dont care that you grew up a diff way then kids do now,and i hate when adults bash on kids or try to insert themselves into shit thats not for they age group.

#like its fuckin annoying asf. #like leave them kids alone and let they parents parent them. #stop tryna boss them around especially if you dont got kids of ya own. #its such weird shit #and i hate it #like get ya own life #stop tryna be in a youngins life #like girl nobody cares #stop tryna be a mom on the internet if its not asked for or needed #pop ya pussy and have ya own kid to parent AND take ya shit out on.💀💀 #also im specifically talking about the bitches that are in they mid 20’s on here and think they better than everyone else cause they older #they also think they can insert themselves into any drama that not in they age group #yall embrassing #then yall go on a rant cause you got hurt by a teen telling u true facts about yourself #sneak dissing without the @s like wrap that shit uppp #stop tryna parent kids that aint your own on the internet. #everyone grows up differently. #end of discussion.

[dairyfreenugget]

(Going insane boinkinh one AU in my head)

Hey hey hey

May I interest you in

(Slowly slides my FaaF AU towards you but void just Disappears without a trace one day before the accolade)

Teehee

#thylacines can talk #faaf au #i love this au very yummy. a very fun twist on how Flower's dynamic with their parents would progress afterwards #the vessels live but the void exits their bodies in quite a violent manner (extreme pain and literally throwing up an entire person worth of #void). Flower was on guard duty and theyre found barely conscious in a pool of rapidly evaporating void. passes out seconds later #PK also had the displeasure of experiencing extene pain and burning as void forced its way out through his skin <3 And his moulds all melted #and evaporated. after the initial shock wears off theyre hit with “Oh No #the vessel“ and rush to find them. Well somebody else was already looking for the royal pair about this #Flower wakes up dazed and in pain in their father's workshop. their stomach hurts their throat burns and they feel lightheaded. the entire #place is considerably brighter than they remember and in they can hear two faint voices in the background but theyre too preoccupied with #examining their now pure white hand in shock to focus on anything else. until they hear their mother say “My wyrm they're awake” and #suddenly their parents are by their side. Now the two have no idea what void leaving their body might have done to them. Are they still #hollow? are they still dead? do they understand anything are they sentient? or was what was done pernament even without the void? do they #have the mind of a child if their sentience was restored? or do they remember anything? So WL stays by their side and helps them sit up #while their father goes to grab his tools. She's trying to keep them calm and comfort them but theyre still too disoriented to pay her much #attention. Until their father checks their breathing and they yelp audibly from the cool metal contacting their skin and suddenly they seem #much more alert. theyve never experienced true coldness before. PK quickly apologises and tries to be gentler with them. Theyre breathing #properly and they have a heartbeat. And he just pauses for a long while just. listening to their heart beating. Many emotions to be had #after the exam's over he asks them point blank how theyre feeling. And Flower looks up at him still seeming a little disoriented. and then #they lower their hand to their stomach and mutter 'My tummy hurts...a-and my throat burns'. It's to be expected after the way the void #left their body. so he goes to grab them some water and meds and they also ask for food and a mirror. And after he returns they just stare #at themself in the mirror and pull on their bangs for a while then blurt out 'I have your eyes' when PK asks if everything's okay. And he #and he almost chokes up as he replies 'Yeah...Yeah you do'. Flower eventually spins a lie that they remember everything but its all distant #and blurry. Like they were not aware until now. They figured it'd be better to not break their hearts #And now the three have to figure out how to be a family while PK is also scrambling to find a new solution to the infection #oops i meant to only give a brief rundown in the tags which is why it was in the tags. but i got too invested KDHDKFB

[ehyde]

More I learn about the history of Thomas the Tank Engine the more I do, in fact, want to gatekeep All Engines Go. The original author would've hated it at any rate.

#I appreciate it doing things like #not having characters be inherently evil just because they aren't steam powered #like we do gotta care about the island of sodor's carbon footprint at some point #and I feel like the characters get along better and make up with each other instead of 'learning their lesson' or whatever #which tbh I appreciate as a parent lol #but like #I'm just not a fan of engines that can jump from track to track and move their wheels around like hands and all that #it's kinda uncanny valley tbh #like if they're Actual Trains that still need a driver and all that I can go #'oh if this wasn't a kids series its really no different than ancillary justice' #but if they're fully autonomous like the pixar cars then what is even the worldbuilding #'ellen you think too much about your toddler's fandoms' listen. listen. I wrote a curious george mdzs au.

[iloveyouitisruiningmylife]

spending my whole life trying and trying and trying and trying to be good enough for people who don't give a fuck about me

#im so tired living seems pointless why am i doing this what is the reason #the firm i work at is going thru a merger so it's releasing all the interns except 2 #i went into her office and said that id like to stay here bc my dad said so bc i got in cause he was friends with the head #and she said ill think about it based on performance ive not decided yet #and this other guy he went in to tell her that cool he'll leave and she told him that she was hoping that he'd stay #he literally does nothing but play games on his phone he doesn't work at all #i have no idea what he has that i don't #but just. im stuck like this forever right never ever good enough for people i like or care about #not for parents they have a diff fav child not for ex gf not for bestie who has a boyfriend much better at loving her than me #not for that one guy who rejected me in interview bc i don't read the newspaper and didn't know the date of the finance act #im so fucking sick of this i never even wanted to this fuckinh course and obviously even my best isn't enough and ofc im not good enough #for anyone in this field and ill just struggle and struggle and struggle all my life just to earn some fucking money so i can live away #from my sociopathic parents #and the worst part is that i can't stop feeling like maybe it IS me yk maybe i am the problem maybe im not trying hard enough #but how else am i supposed to handle this i prioritize my studies and lose all my friends i prioritise my friends and fail in d #exams #and the trauma keeps on coming every fucking day bc sociopathic parents but i jsut push it down and say not rn i will cry at night anx then #never cry #i wish someone would just tell me that idk you're wrong you're not made for this you really do have some mental illness and you're really #trying your best and do something that's easy and that you love doing #oh god this is now a ventpost #mes

[fellhellion]

I have a rich inner world abt both iterations of Miguel and the relationship to fatherhood <- literally just hc

#90s miguel would explode on the spot if he spontaneously became a father shdjdjfjfjf he’s barely grappling through the emotional arc of #trying to become a better man AND he has the most hang ups ever regarding parents in general. #BUT. but. his biggest issue w being a dad would honestly be his own tendency towards self sabotage AND the fact Miguel is like. desperately #scared he’s bound to his own blood. he’d honestly probably fuck up being a dad not because he lacks the capability to be a kind man (all of #2099 demonstrates he DOES have the ability and desire to change) but because #he’d be scared he’d intrinsically fuck it up and in that fear. actually fuck it up. and then see those mistakes as further proof he just #isn’t capable of this. #not to mention like. given just how complicated his relationship with his family is I don’t think fatherhood would EVER have been something #90s miguel would’ve even THOUGHT of. he’s too busy been terrified he’ll turn into his OWN father(s) #atsv miguel on the other hand. difficult to draw too many concrete strands of analysis from because we don’t know how his past will be #conceptualised. BUT I personally like to think he’s very similar to the 90s counterpart except he sees a version of himself as a father. #and he sees that version of himself be HAPPY as a father. be a *good* father. someone who raised a sweet daughter. who lives with definitive #proof that you aren’t bound to enact pain upon your children. that you CAN be a better parent than the ones you had. #I think THAT would shake Miguel. and I like to think atsv Miguel didn’t know he wanted to be a dad - didn’t even THINK of it - until he saw #a reflection of himself that said this was possible. that you can go on and have a family of your own and you can choose to make it a good #and loving thing. #ANYWAYS. ✌️ she came. she posted a huge Miguel rant. she left ✌️ #tunes talks spiderverse #tunes talks 2099

[weird-life-of-a-closet-fangirl]

you know, I forgot fig was a prep before her horns grew in, that's crazy??? I genuinely can't imagine fig being anything but the rebellious punk she is now

#fantasy high #fantasy high sophomore year #the ATTITUDE on 13 year old fig #fig faeth is a rockstar now you aint got nothing on her tiny fig #fig before her horns grew in was SO much more different and i think its bc she genuinely thought she had everything figured out #perfect little wood elf living in her perfect little wood elf family and everyone's okay and everything's fine #except woah there you're not a wood elf and also your parents' marriage has been falling apart for a while now without you realizing it #and everything is not fine and you have to cope #and you cope by pretending to be someone else someone who has a better life than you so you can go back to pretending everything is fine #bc you hate being yourself now that you're not perfect little figueroth anymore #also i know gilear's redeeming himself (its what makes me love him so much) but his words probably played a big role in fig's disguises #AND SHE'S HAPPIER NOW!!! HAPPIER AND HERSELF!!! surrounded by those who love you!!! god she's so cool i love fig sm

[florencewellch]

Sorry but youngest siblings are the ones who have it worse

#you're expected to be oldest sibling 2.0 but without their flaws #you get picked on by your oldest sibling #you're kinda overlooked by the rest of the family #unless one of your parents prefers you #but even then all they can talk about is how they wish them and your eldest sibling were closer #and if you ever went to the same school as your eldest sibling. congrats your whole identity is *insert their name*'s youngest sibling #also your oldest sibling will get away with anything including spending their credit card limit every month and always getting home after #midnight. but you will get a lecture for taking an uber once instead of taking the subway like you do everyday #and your friends and classmates will all talk about how cool and awesome and better your sibling is #and you'll dedicate a good part of your young life trying to be better than them so you can get some acknowledgement... but you're not #allowed even that