#also not gonna like i kinda have this weird thing against the entire state of missouri | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

fairyhaos · 4 months

Text

how seventeen react to their s/o backhugging them

requested ^_^ also junhui is in 2 diff bullet points bc i firmly believe he belongs in both categories teehee

masterlist

seungcheol, wonwoo, mingyu, dokyeom

see, here's the thing. he has a pretty broad and warm and sturdy back, and he's just so comfortable and always right there so of course you're gonna bury your face between his shoulder blades and never pay attention to the rest of the world ever again. you always collapse into his back after a particularly tiring day, while he's making dinner for the both of you and you want nothing more than to just bury yourself into his warmth and never leave. he's used to having you clinging to his back like a particularly stubborn limpet, and while he makes a small exclamation of surprise when you come out of nowhere to hug him, eventually he just smiles and lets you cling to him for however long u need

jeonghan, woozi, vernon, (junhui)

when you suddenly come up behind him and clamp an iron grip around his middle, he just pulls your arms more firmly around him, pats your hands and carries on with his day. you're holding him so tightly it's like you're afraid he's gonna disappear, and it's hard to move around bc you're plastered to his back and squeezing him kinda tight, but he does his best. that is, until he almost trips over your feet bc you're standing so close to him. he kinda feels like he's caught up in a trap, and tells you as such, every single time. “you're holding me hostage now, huh?” “i'm not holding you hostage.” “then are you gonna let me go?” “no.” but you're cute, so whatever. he'll happily be held hostage by you for however long it takes for you to decide he can finally be released.

joshua, minghao, chan

the moment he feels you burying your face into his back, hands around his middle, he's smiling and tilting his head back in response to your presence, murmuring a soft “hello, you” as you mumble unintelligible words into his shirt. he's so fond, practically melting in your hold, and he lets you stay plastered to his back for however long it takes you to wake up from your latest drowsy state that had you craving back hugs from him. because you backhugging him is saved for sleepy moments, for times when you're not quite awake and cling to him like a koala until you've fully woken up. it's adorable—you're adorable—so after a few minutes he's turning around and wrapping his arms around your shoulders and kissing ur cheek sweetly and asking if his lovely, lovely darling had a good sleep? <3

hoshi, seungkwan, (junhui)

yelps in surprise every time when you come up behind him and wrap around his back, before he realises that it's you and immediately relaxes. it's kinda comforting, feeling you and your warmth against him, but he gets kinda wriggly after a few minutes, wanting to see your face, so back hugs always end up turning into proper bear hugs where he wraps his arms around you and can look you in the eye properly before covering your entire face in kisses. he likes eye contact, likes seeing the love of his life right before him, and while backhugging is cute as hell do you know what’s even cuter? the little nose scrunch thingy he does when he gives you fluttery soft butterfly kisses over your eyelids.

request guidelines

reactions tags: @weird-bookworm @minhui896 @bunnyiix @slytherinshua @haowrld @belladaises @newgirlygirl @moonlitskiiies @mirxzii @wonranghaeee @yonabutnotyuna @crackedpumpkin @wqnwoos @kthstrawberryshortcake-main @kawennote09 @a-wandering-stay @icyminghao @valenhui @sweet-like-caramel @evasaysstuff @odxrilove @kyeomyun @chansburgah @pepperonijem @jeonride @kellesvt @hanniehaee @astrozuya @eightlightstar @onlyyjeonghan @aaniag @amxlia-stars @all-american-fangirl @f1uffyjun

2K notes · View notes

kabutoden · 3 months

Note

i also really liked gamzee back in the day!! i was always kinda upset more effort wasn't put into trying to help him get better- especially when it got to the point an endearing character was just written off to be eternally a villain. so many time shenanigans to help bring back others/help others mental health, and yet gamzee was always just written off as a crazed murderer after a certain point?? felt like he stopped being a character and just became a force of nature. i like your more in depth look into the specific trauma he faced, makes him more like an actual person!

im so glad you like my interpretation of gamzee!! i was always really upset by how he was completely denied redemption after being introduced as a such a sweet and neglected kid who was in touch with his feelings enough to entirely reject acceptance of violence in his society. the narrative treats him really weirdly, i'm so glad i can talk about gamzee redemption+positivity with others!!

another thing i think about a lot is how rage is introduced in the narration as a biological function in highblooded trolls, but gamzee is still seen as culpable for his actions while in the rage state. tbf, its terrifying, but rose was never blamed for being manipulated by doc scratch into becoming grimdark the way gamzee is into becoming rage induced. it's all very weird. but also, i think moirails existing to 'tame a highbloods rage' is completely fucked and victim-blamey in a way, like 'oh you failed to calm his rage that's why he's bad now' and being built this way sets up a negative relationship. karkat's conflicted love and fear of gamzee makes me very sad and i dont think he should have the responsibility of caring for gamzee alone. it bothers me in fics when karkat cares for gamzee alone, because i dont think karkat's feelings for gamzee are unique; karkat's got like, four best friends. more even. sollux, terezi, kanaya, gamzee and dave all end up close to karkat and i think acting as a community would be more important and effective than a lone moralliegence with any one of them. bugs work together moment.

i'm also very invested in stories about creatures coexisting and caring for another who are biologically distinct, which i think i loved about the trolls from when i was 13. i really liked that the trolls were struggling against their 'fates' and the heavy pressure of biological essentialism in their society. i remember reading inverted caste fics where the same traits were instead seen as weaknesses rather than romanticized as strengths and being totally fascinated. thats why in bugstuck rage isnt thrown out as a concept, but instead changed as something similar to a prey drive in animals. some of my original fiction is gonna be all about stuff like this, acting as criticism and discussion of media like zootopia and beastars. im embarrassed to talk so much but thanks for listening! gonna reblog this with some more info

#gamzee #homestuck #ask

27 notes · View notes

zvaigzdelasas · 1 year

Note

Sorry if you think this is a weird question but obviously the continent of Africa is an extremely historically rich and important area that a lot of westerners are completely uninformed about politically and that makes them completely clueless about foreign intervention in Africa and politics and ideologies within Africa from the last 100 years or so, and I was just wondering, could you recommend some texts, documentaries, or subjects to research that could function as good starting points for understanding African politics? I know the slightest bits and pieces and some general things but I want to be able to actually engage in or understand conversations about Africa fully and there’s just so much and it’s all so interconnected that I don’t really know where to start. Any advice? (Sorry ik this is written kinda unclearly)

imean, i assume you know this anon, but Africa is an entire continent - so "African Politics" is sorta hard to really summarize....specific areas have specific contexts & oftentimes specific african countries are even the primary actors in other african countries....There are also some like "gravitational centers" where specific countries tend to basically be continents unto themselves (Nigeria, Ethiopia, South Africa, DR Congo, ...) & tend to have the effect of "when they sneeze their neighbors catch a cold" effect on smaller countries in the neighborhood...& even wrt "Pan-African" politics, theres similar fissures that makes it difficult to talk about "African Politics".....In general I think its much more effective to try to understand country-by-country or region-by-region than it is to try think abt "African Politics" on the whole....

but to get to the core of ur question, I generally suggest just seeking out narratives per-country/region/time period, whether they're "Authentically Leftist Narratives" or not....bc often the Authentically Leftist Narratives are in response to these more liberal-friendly narratives, so if you aren't familiar with the narratives that are being debunked, you're not gonna get the full weight of the debunking. As long as you don't assume that "because ive seen *a* narrative on a topic, that means I know the *correct* narrative" then you should be fine, and doing so tends to give you at least good jumping-off points for further investigation per-leader or per-country-in-a-specific-time-period.

Here's a pretty good channel in terms of breadth, they're broadly liberal & there are definitely some incorrect portrayals of events here - and it's primarily through the lens of individual biographies which obviously can lead to an incommensurate emphasis (they're also Nigerian & are pretty openly against the viability of the Nigerian State, which I dont know enough abt the context of Nigeria to rly comment on but it's important to recognize biases of your sources, justified or not). But its a good channel to learn at least the basics on topics, from which you can better learn about the details of specific concrete contexts

#especially in terms of the last 100 years - african politics tends to be a lot harder to put into strictly ideological terms #oftentimes a lot of marxist revolutions were more national revolutions - but even that rule of thumb has exceptions!

61 notes · View notes

albatris · 2 years

Note

whats atdao about?

!! atdao!! it's been a while since I've talked about atdao at length! :D

atdao is...... all the doors are open! a story about cracks in the fabric of spacetime and loving your friends!

it’s YA! sci-fi-ish! fantasy-ish! it’s something I’d describe as “our reality but a little to the left”, though it gets progressively weirder as it goes on

it’s set in South Australia, n it’s set in a world where the fabric of reality is starting to unravel at the edges and cracks in the universe called “Ports” are cropping up more and more frequently..... n these cracks are letting in all sorts of whacked out energy, fuckin with physics, causing weird phenomena to occur all over the place.... one time the suburb of Hackham just moved places overnight for no explicable reason......... basically reality’s comin apart at the seams, but for the most part folks are just sorta like “ah geez” about it bc like. what can ya do. it’s not like all your normal people problems are gonna go away just ‘cuz the world is edging towards its inevitable weird doom

so people are just kinda going about their lives against this bizarre apocalyptic backdrop and hoping they don't, like, glitch through the sidewalk on their way to the supermarket

the story primarily follows Tris and Noa, best friends and co-narrators..... and also Shara and Kai, not viewpoint characters but equally important :3 and it’s mostly just about these guys trying to deal with the weird apocalyptic garbage happening to them alongside their everyday lives, and about how all their individual odd little mysteries connect with each other and form a bigger, odder mystery

they have some little character intro cards and doodles and facts over here! :D

the plot? this thing got a plot, I hear you ask?

yeah! I'm always debating whether or not to leave Tris and Noa's plotlines twined together in one book or write two companion novels. There Is A Lot Going On

anyway, lots of words, ahoy

so your first key player is Tris Greer, whose parents are dicks but whose siblings are chill. most notably of said siblings there is Jacob, older brother by thirteen years, whom Tris believes is just about the coolest person on the entire planet. the Tris plotline kicks off when Jacob gets caught in the midst of a freak car accident that somehow causes him to just kind of…………….. blip out of existence entirely and without a trace?

n Tris is understandably horrified and distressed by Very Much All Of This, but hey, at least there are responsible adults who can look into this obviously Port-related weird disappearance and figure this mess out, right?

well, the relevant interdimensional authorities are brought in to suss out the situation and these authorities are kind of like “hmmmm idk about this” but are all set to take Tris at least somewhat seriously until they learn the following:

that Jacob had already been reported missing to police in his home state three days earlier

that Jacob was in the midst of several ongoing personal crises and at least one nervous breakdown

that Jacob was allegedly tangled up in some real weird shit that would more than account for a disappearance under suspicious circumstances

that Tris is schizophrenic, prone to hallucinations, confusion, memory issues and quote unquote “letting his imagination and anxiety get the better of him”, and precisely zero people can actually corroborate his story that Jacob was even there are the time of the accident to begin with

and after some back-and-forth and Looking Into The Evidence pretty much everyone in any position of authority comes to the conclusion that this is just Ordinary Regular People Crimes and whatever happened to Jacob had nothing to do with weird apocalyptic energies, and that Tris is (at best) stressed out and delusional or (at worst) lying through his teeth because he knows more than he’s letting on

so our young hero Tris is forced to hop pretty quick from “I’m sure someone will handle this” to “no one believes me but I’m sure if I can find some concrete proof they’ll listen and someone will handle it” to Well Fuck I Guess That Someone Is Me

cue bizarre reality-hopping fantasy quest into a collapsing unreality pocket dimension best descibed as "lost down the back of the universe's sofa" - which is ten times easier said than done when most of the time Tris is terrified enough just, like, going to the supermarket

he enlists the help of his new classmate Shara, amateur paranormal investigator and professional weird-bullshit enthusiast, who agrees to help him puzzle out what the fuck happened to Jacob in exchange for his assistance in mapping out Adelaide’s interdimensional “fault lines” as part of her ongoing quest to track down the source of the apocalypse

she’s got big fuckin dreams, ok, go hard or go home

slso worth noting at this point that there HAS been an uptick in Ports and their related reality-bending strangeness in Adelaide recently which is why this is of particular interest to her currently. gotta find out What Makes The Weirdness Tick, gotta find out Why The Sudden Extra Weirdness

his quest also puts him in contact with the eccentric traveling trader Kai Lancaster, peddler of interdimensionally messed-up trinkets. honestly, Kai initially gets involved in the plot because Kai just likes drama and being all up in people’s personal business. Tris brings them on board for one single afternoon like “hey I will pay you some money to come to my house and fix my fucked up phone so I can listen to an interdimensional voicemail” but forgot the apparently key addendum “and then leave”

their first three chapters of them knowing each other is basically Tris being like “stop inviting yourself into my house we are not friends” and Kai being like “that’s a rude thing to say to your friend. also your sister gave me the netflix password and I used your kitchen to bake pastries feel free to help yourself”

Kai, of course, has their own baggage to deal with, and is currently grappling with the emotional and social repercussions of losing seven years of their life to a time...... whirlpool? basically, they went into a cool abandoned house for an hour and came out to find seven years had passed and their family thinks they died :)))

but yeah so Tris’s story mostly focuses on his quest to figure out where Jacob got yeeted to and how to get him safely home, whilst also dealing with rising family tensions, whatever shifty stuff Jacob was involved with prior to his disappearance, and his own creeping doubts about his perceptions of reality

n I’m also saying flat out it’s not a plot that’s going the “oh the whole thing was just a delusion all along” route because ew

his psychosis is a fairly involved part of his character but the explorations around it are more to do with, like……… the difficulties he has in trusting himself and whether he has the luxury of letting himself get swept into some Big Weird Implausible Adventure when this has extremely different implications for him than it would someone else. n eventually to how his success and survival is not ~in spite of~ but specifically because of the different way he understands and interprets the world and the skills he’s developed

your SECOND key player is Noa Yun, who has rather a lot on her plate right now. she’s broke as fuck and her mum is sick and her car is making Noises and she’s not getting enough hours at her job at Not-IKEA-for-legal-reasons and everyone is on her back about her failing studies as if that’s a thing she has the energy or time to care about. feeling rather backed into a corner by life’s bullshit and her financial situation, she blatantly lies her way into an entry-level field job at the Department of Interdimensional Instabilities, because A) surely it can’t be THAT bad, and B) what does she have to lose?

so more or less what she’s doing is the equivalent of emergency services for Port-related weirdness, it’s going out and dealing with highly unstable otherworldly energies head on, navigating Weird Phenomena and bendy patches in reality……… it is, among other things, a job that’s relatively easy to get into because no one wants to touch it with a ten foot pole unless they absolutely have to

things kick off for her when in true Noa fashion she hurls herself into a dangerous situation to help out a coworker and gets caught up in an “overlap” where the barriers between universes are a little fucky, but hey, she seems to come out of it with nary a scratch, so it’s reasonable to assume everything is fine, right?

INCORRECT

she basically gets some whacked-out otherworldly energies latched onto her that are now following her through her everyday life, and it turns out she’s starting to bend the reality around her the way certain types of Ports do, which is! obviously not ideal! she’s not exactly a Port herself, because she’s pretty sure that’s impossible, but it’s clear capital s Something happened to her in that overlap, and she doubts it’s good news. and to make matters even more disconcerting, she’s now being dogged at every step by strange visions of a child who speaks in an unfamiliar language and who seems Real Fuckin Pissed at her

and man, she Needs this job. but also, she's surrounded by people whose job it is to eliminate and neutralise dangerous interdimensional energy - like the stuff she's now full of, which is a recipe for panic and paranoia

so her thing is basically “I acquired fucked up reality-bending powers against my will and they might be lowkey killing me ‘cause Ports are notoriously unstable like that and also I’m haunted for some godforsaken reason” which all somehow ended up being, like, the least interesting part of her plotline for me lmao

her search to find out what’s happening to her re: Weird Children, being a Port-adjacent something-or-other, and whether there’s a way to stop her own unravelling leads her to an unlikely partnership with (DII trauma counsellor? rogue computer programmer? mad scientist? general shifty bastard?) Melissa Marrick Thiele, who claims to have suffered a similar affliction in the past and now does some real interesting research ~on the down low~ about the subject. n this lady. well. she’s got some fuckin stuff going on

she definitely knows more about the nature of Ports than she should. also is she actually researching what she says she’s researching? is she really like Noa? what the fuck happened to Avery, that other kid she was supposedly helping out?

but yeah at about the same time as Noa goes “actually fuck this you’re shady as hell I’m out” she stumbles into, like, The Actual Reality of what Marrick is up to re: manipulating Ports and interdimensional doorways for her own gain, and the various ways this spells bad news not only for her but potentially for the entire city and anyone else unfortunate enough to get caught in the crossfire, and she shifts gear to “actually you know what I’m gonna kick your ass”

there are various reasons for this, but first and foremosterly you have to understand that Noa’s got a fuckload of pent-up rage and she will bring it in full force the moment you say some stupid shit like “some people are expendable” or “it’s inevitable for the greater good”

but yeah the main story here mostly follows Noa’s attempts to undermine Marrick, bastard supreme, and find a way to fuck her up before she goes, like, Full Cartoon Supervillain, n also like……….. Noa's attempts to keep up her work at the DII despite her rising paranoia that the teammates she’s growing to care about will notice her increasingly unstable state and the fact that she’s all tangled up with the very forces they’re meant to be thwarting. n along the way discovering the reality of what happened to her in The Aforementioned Overlap Incident and about her visions and such..... and, oh, what's this? is it all connected? of fucking course lol <3

anyway that's. words

general, for Tris, his plotline, you wanna think, like, fantasy/adventure vibes which veer pretty sharply into horror, and for Noa you wanna think…… kinda, sci-fi mystery conspiracy vibes with a dash of some superhero bullshit maybe except not really

anyway! it's equal parts “absolute nonsense hijinks and ridiculousness that doesn’t take itself too seriously” and “oh fuck oh ouch oh no my heart”.... every main character ends up safe and happy and in a much better position than they started..... lots of cheesy themes like self love, the power of connection and kindness, universes that don't care and people that do,,,,, all the good high-quality cheese

also at one point Noa does a whole cool action sequence scene with a permanent marker moustache on her face because she didn't have time to take it off and Tris uses a ceiling fan blade full of otherworldly energy as a sword and it screams loudly every time he swings it

ok thank u for reading if u read this far, please have an excellent day <3

#atdao #yes this is just a mishmash of other atdao posts where i explain parts of the question ''what is atdao about'' lmao

64 notes · View notes

rappaccini · 3 months

Note

I get what you're saying. I adore him in spiderverse though I think he's better in the comics, but I get the feeling the writers think they have to bend and twist other characters to prop him up, which isn't needed at all. Its like how they changed Miguel to an asshole, Peter is made to look incompetent and careless and Gwen's entire character is sacrificed and water down to sell her as a love interest. I lowkey get the feeling they're gonna try to make it to where Peter's more inferior than him: like how they're framing it so far, Peter couldn't do this, or that, he couldn't save this person but Miles can cause he's better. He's special. And yes, he is a great character but you don't have to water down other characters for his sake. He's already great on his own. I mean as someone who loves both Peter and Miles I think they should be able to coexist without putting one another down, but it kinda feels they're setting up the story to be that way. And while yes, hit at the critics and racists who bash Miles all you wany, but putting it to where you think he's a superior than Peter because...whatever isn't exactly the way to do it and will only make things worse.

yeah, i feel that.

i wrote a whole novel about how i hate that gwen's been watered down to make miles look more special, so i won't repeat that here.

man i feel sorry for comic miguel fans. they've been fighting for their lives bc of atsv. i have conflicted feelings about this version of miguel, because on the one hand i think the role he plays in the movie works and he's a great villain, but i still wonder if they could've come up with a different plot for atsv that didn't revolve around responding to the backlash against miles, or at least made someone who isn't another poc the face of the backlash.

peter b though... hm. one of the biggest problems with him in the comics pre-itsv (which still pops up, but less lately) is that he keeps being built up as this oh-so-special chosen one that all the other spider-ppl have to kiss the ring of (especially miles), and it's so annoying. so taking him off the pedestal and saying 'no, he's kind of a loser' is very satisfying.

it also highlights how the presence of miles in his life can inspire him to finally grow the hell up for good instead of being stuck in this constant state of arrested development. and since itsv was most people's first impression of miles, it was SO important for miles to not be following peter around with puppy dog eyes, and for peter to instantly understand and appreciate how special miles is (because if peter does it, so does the audience).

atsv is where i think the problem comes in. peter b being so benched doesn't track with his characterization. like, you're telling me a girl miles went on one bus ride with who friendzoned him is risking her life to come see him, but the guy who mentored him for days and loved miles so much he decided he wanted to be a father because of him won't? no. absolutely not. if anyone was going to sneak away from the society to see miles it should have been peter. and no way in hell would he be grinning taking selfies with his baby while miles is being hunted by the society. they flushed the miles-peter dynamic down the toilet to replace it with miles-gwen and it sucks.

it also doesn't work with the metacommentary. because let's be real: the canon events all center around peter parker. he's the blueprint, and the movie doesn't mention it at all. like, isn't that weird? there are more peters at hq than any other type of spider-person, and nobody mentions it? wouldn't peter be uncomfortable with being put on a pedestal like that? wouldn't miguel have a huge inferiority complex about not being peter parker? wouldn't this be a great opportunity for the original spider-man to tell the racist fans who won't accept miles that they're full of shit? why is he just wandering around in a robe and slippers.

as for miles being superior... i think btsv is what'll make or break it. as of the end of atsv, miles thinks he's better than the spider-society and that's why he thinks he's going to be able to break canon. he's proud of himself for "beating" them, he keeps telling gwen he's gonna be the guy who'll be different for her (he won't), he wants to be the most special spider-man who gets to cherrypick his canon events and he hasn't considered that the idea that canon events are mandatory might be the real problem. if btsv revolves around miles realizing he's wrong and helping everyone else break their canon too, i love it. but if btsv ends with the theme of 'sure, canon exists, but some people, like miles, are special enough to be the exception' instead of 'everyone deserves better' that undermines the whole story. i'm just gonna wait on it.

#asks #spiderverse salt #they also took from hobie for miles' you-should-have-been-the-prowler narrative fwiw

4 notes · View notes

rad-lightning-boy · 8 months

Note

what exactly did frank iero do. other than problematic tweets that he made in like 2009 (over a decade ago). like people intentionally try to engage with him in a way where he gives them ‘sass’ or rubs them and that’s his brand

TW. harassment, suicide, self harm, cyber bullying, death threats

Before I get into it, I'm really glad that someone asked about this because I've been meaning to make a post about it. Thanks for asking about it.

I'd recommend checking out @ patheticjunkievampire on Instagram (and possibly twitter? I'm not completely sure if they've said much about it on there) they mostly talk about that incident when frank made a tweet saying smth along the lines of "is you see any accounts saying that they're me reply with "STRANGER DANGER"".

The account he was referring to (patheticvampirejunkie) was literally just posting MCR themed photography- they never claimed to be frank and yet he sent his entire fanbase to essentially harass this person (again, all they did was post photography.)

If you go back and check their first post, a lot of the comments are just "STRANGER DANGER". I know that might not seem like a lot rn but it gets worse.

They posted a lot on their story after they finished the set (I'm not sure what the word for that is. The MCR themed photos they did all counted down from 64 (the beginning) to 1 (the end)) they talked about how the MCR fandom and specifically frank Stans have made their mental health significantly worse than it was when they started posting.

They would post screenshots of interactions they've had with Frank Stans and it's sickening. They received death threats, and messages like "you should kill yourself" and ppl would tell them to cut themselves.

Patheticjunkievampire has also stated before that they've struggles with suicide and self harm in the past, so the fact that these hardcore stans used this against them is sick.

A few people reached out to patheticjunkievampire and told them about experiences they've personally had with Frank. This person gave a platform to people who have had bad experiences with him (ik you cant tell whether someone is a dick or not purely based of some people's experiences, but there were a lot and they were all relatively similar. So to me, these stories that people shared seemed extremely possible since the things he did just suddenly seemed like something he would do.)

The frank stans didn't like that this person was giving a chance for people who had bad experiences with him to express their feelings. They received so much hate for simply saying their opinion.

This all took place on Instagram and Twitter. Obviously depending on what platform you use and engage with MCR content, you're gonna be around different people. The ppl on Tumblr seem way more accepting and open to criticism of their fav band, the ppl on twitter and Instagram are way different.

In my opinion it's kinda weird that frank hasn't really said anything about it. He's literally always online, how tf has he not even heard of any of this??

Another thing I just wanna add (doesn't have anything to do with patheticjunkievampire but I still think it's worth adding) frank sold a bunch of his old stuff. Which isn't inherently bad or anything but...

He was advertising a bunch of old clothes and instruments he had during the MCR era, so he was clearly targeting his fans (his young fans). He was advertising extremely old shitty clothes (that you can find way cheaper literally anywhere else) and he sold them for like X4 (at least) of the original prices. He claimed (for the instruments at least) that he wanted to know that they were being played, because he obviously can't play all those instruments at once.

In that case, if the main reason that he was getting rid of all these instruments... Why didn't he just donate them?? Why did he have to heavily advertise his store to his fans and then sell all his old ratty shitty clothes for such a huge profit? Just doesn't seem ethical to me tbh...

TL:DR

My main problem with Frank is that he, not only, picks on people on twitter, but he makes that kind of behaviour acceptable. By not apologizing or taking accountability for these things, he makes this behaviour (harassment, death threats, cyber bullying, telling ppl to kill themselves or hurt themselves) an okay thing to do. His fans are so toxic and will defend him so much to the point where if you literally just say that you don't like him, they will harass and spam you with really triggering things.

I really hope this clears that up. He's definitely done other things but I couldn't remember them- if anyone has anything else to add please do.

#my post #ask #tw suicide #tw self harm #tw harassment #tw cyberbullying #tw death threats #frank iero

10 notes · View notes

strawberry-crocodile · 1 year

Text

Im gonna get real negative for a moment and just say... I fuckin hate Jeritza/Constance. Just on the surface I don't really think their personalities match in a fun way, just kinda in a weird way, and frankly Constance is fun but generally just a poor fit to the world of Fodlan and the game of Three Houses in general.

Also fair warning- I am going to be very critical of the character of Constance. I mean no dispersions on people who like her, I find her reasonable enjoyable outside the context of her relationship with Jeritza, but you have been warned.

But mostly... the entire support Constance is just so fucking awful to Jeritza, and I never get the feeling she feels bad about it, and she never backs down, and she gets nicer but she never gives Jeritza their own autonomy.

The start is absolutely the worst and I assume you're intended to understand it, but in short order she repeatedly calls Jeritza a name they insist she not call them, implies that he's going to commit violence against her for it when he's clearly just trying to escape the situation. In the second support we learn she's been gossiping about Jeritza. Jeritza pushes her to stop meddling in their business, and the strongest answer she can give is "I shall…consider it" in a very noncommittal tone.

And here's the thing- none of this gets a reconciliation or a recount. Constance just continues to deadname Jeritza (even if you're reading Jeritza as cis I don't know what else to call it, she's deadnaming them) and the gossiping is never brought up after Constance's non-answer. The rose story is sweet and Jeritza clearly has some fondness for Constance, but one of the last notes it ends on is Constance deciding Jeritza's future for them.

I've seen the argument made that these things are what's best for Jeritza- that they need to return to the Emile identity, to socialize, and to find life outside of their cycle. And I don't disagree with the last two points! But Constance does not have the right to force those things onto Jeritza in the way that she is doing. Three Hopes even gives us a proper comparison with the Manuela-Jeritza support; Manuela intends to help Jeritza socialize with the soldiers under their command, but rather than go behind their back to do so, she coaxes Jeritza into starting to practice some basic social skills, and most importantly gets Jeritza's permission to do so.

Now I'm going to be reading Jeritza specifically from the lens of someone who is transfem and suffering from AMAB socialization and expectation, which may not be a universal reading, but there are a few things that happen in Constance's first support that, under that light, are genuinely fuckin horrible.

For one, the repeated deadnaming is just, well, that. Jeritza states in no uncertain terms, with incredible emotion, that Constance is not allowed to call them Emile, and her responses are fucking horrible.

Initially, she straight up just ignores the request and keeps talking- already rude. When Jeritza tries to ignore her and leaves the situation, we get this line;

Lets just be clear what is happening; Constance is putting Jeritza in a very uncomfortable social situation. Jeritza is doing a healthy thing here, and rather than confronting her and making things worse, they are trying to disengage. What does Constance do? One, she continues pursuing Jeritza. Two, she implies that Jeritza is going to try and hurt her for this. Three, she then threatens them for this imagined thread. This is, to put it bluntly, fucking horrible, and as a trans woman this is genuinely a nightmare situation.

Jeritza is, in canon, queer and AMAB, someone who has few social connections and is distrusted by many of the people around them, and someone who very much does not want to hurt the people they care about. What is their recourse? Is it to raise their voice at Constance? Because, spoiler alert, they do, and that does not work. Is it, god forbid, violence? Because not only will it be very easy for Jeritza to come across as the bad guy in this situation, even though it was Constance constantly disrespecting their boundaries, but as Constance implies, it might hurt them in the process. The process of defending themself, to be clear. To me at least, this is horribly reminiscent of how cis women wield cis privilage against trans women, acting as aggressors with the knowledge that we have none of the protection of patriarchy and all of the predatory associations of being AMAB.

I'm going to link Jeritza's final "don't call me that" because of Seitz's excellent vocal performance here- Jeritza is clearly incredibly angry, trying their best to restrain themself, but Constance continues to press on.

And hell, I would be more forgiving if there was any sign of this kind of disrespect stopping or changing, if Constance apologized once in this support, but like I said, the B support is just as much Constance disregarding Jeritza's wishes, and the A support shows no sign of real change.

Finally, I've had it heard that the pairing is DID solidarity. And there is exactly one exchange in the A support, but despite that, Constance's refusal to see Jeritza as anyone but the identity she remembers and prefers kinda reads to me as the opposite of DID solidarity, although I myself do not have DID.

I won't lie, I do see the threads and the appeal of the pairing if you're reading on a surface level- opposites attract, the flower is sweet, and frankly by the time you played Jeritza and Constance you've probably got preferred pairs for all the core game Eagles. But there's still a clear pattern of disrespect- even abuse- that runs through the support, beginning to end, and I don't mean this as harassment or a call thereof, but it always makes me wince to see how popular it is as a ship.

#constance von neuvelle #jeritza von hrym #fe16 #not gonna tag the ship because IM NICE #dalucaray

45 notes · View notes

intergalacticaquarium · 2 years

Text

Part 7- Sweet Dreams

Eddie Munson x soon-to-be-step!Henderson! female original character

Summary: After a long day of waiting Sam and Eddie decide to get some sleep, and Eddie has a strange dream.

Contents: only one bed kinda, a weird and maybe too long dream sequence!, one of those dreams that's sexy but in a weird and confusing way, snuggling, y'know. the good shit but also with a very weird dream sequence in the middle I cannot stress this enough.

3k words

(Series masterpost/chapter links here!)

-------------------------

The rest of the day was spent sober and contemplative, going in and out between casual companionship, intense fear, watching some VHS tapes that have certainly racked up quite the late fee, horrible grief, fear, grief, a stray thought of what exactly did Eddie mean when he said she could call him baby any day, worry, fear, grief. It went like that in cycles, sometimes happy to pretend it was any other day, but more often than not an unknown force would interrupt their contentment and have their new reality actually wash over them.

They didn’t know when the sun had set.

She saw Eddie dozing off for a few minutes at a time and scolded himself every time. After the third time he shook his head wildly to keep himself awake, she put her foot down.

“C’mon- we need to get some rest.” She said, and he seemed hesitant.

“Uh, sure. I’ll take the couch, I guess?” He said, looking around anxiously, like he was afraid to sleep.

“Why? There’s a bed.”

He stared at her like he was putting something together. “Right. There’s…one bed.”

‘Why would that be a problem?” She asked like she couldn’t understand what his problem was.

He leaned back, now fully awake. “When you said ‘in your dreams’ I didn’t think that just meant I had to wait until night time.” he said, trying to be funny while being thrown for a loop, and seeing a funny little glint in his eye that let him know he was missing something.

“I meant that one of us should probably stay awake to keep watch.” She said, a little smugly. He was embarrassed for a moment but when he saw the little smirk on his face he knew she had done it on purpose and the delight he usually felt around her set in once again.

“I knew that. I just needed to know that you knew the offer was on the table.” He said, standing up and putting his hands on his hips. He was only a few inches taller than her but this close it felt like he was looming over her, looking down so that she was his entire field of vision.

“I’d say the offer was on the bed, actually.” She said flatly, and he smiled, backing up without breaking eye contact until he got to the bedroom, when he finally looked away, and walked in.

It only took a few minutes of being alone in that dark little room before he was involuntarily stepping backwards, hoping he was able to pass it off as his normal physicality. What he saw when he came back into the hallway was Samantha, closer to the door than she was before, frozen in place where he had seen her.

They both stammered an explanation for their presence, embarrassed only until they accepted that they were both going to say the same thing, and she wordlessly followed him into the room.

He pulled off his stupid moon shoes and flopped down on the bed, and she did the same with her boots, sitting up against the headboard. He rolled over and his head was level with her hip, his huge eyes glancing up at her.

“Not gonna lay down here with me? It’s pretty comfy. I can tell that you’re sleepy, Sam.” He said in what Sam deigned the sleepiest voice anybody had ever tried to sound flirty in.

“I meant what I said about keeping watch. I don’t want to be caught unawares.” She said, and realized that her hand had made it’s way to her hair, and in his sleepy state Eddie had started to rub his face on the fabric of her flannel shirt like a cat.

“I can keep watch first.” He murmured, and she could tell he was already half asleep.

“It’s okay, I don’t mind.” She murmured, unconsciously carding a hand through his hair.

“Get some rest, Eddie.” She whispered, and it was the last thing he heard before he drifted off.

In your dreams. Is what she had told him before, and for the most part that wasn’t an exaggeration. Since he started smoking weed his freshman year he hadn’t remembered many dreams, only emerging as the weirdest ones which were always labyrinthian in complexity and exhausting.

But in Eddie’ current dream state all he could hear so far was an old jazz standard as he walked down a misty hallway that he was pretty sure was the highschool, but with more stone pillars. He heard Sam’s familiar heavy footsteps, always dragging her lug boots a bit, and he pursued the sound. He didn’t know why he needed to find her so badly, to get to her before anything bad could happen.

He rounded the corner and flew through the doors to see himself in the middle of what seemed like a pit with stadium seating with three silhouetted figures sitting regally on the edge.

The light lowered and he saw Sam sitting in the middle, adorned in an elaborate gown fit for a queen with a crown to match and a grand and commanding cepter that made it unmistakable that she was in charge.

When Eddie looked to her right he stumbled backwards in fear. It was Chrissy, polished and perfect as ever, her timid smile glancing at him down in the pit and back to Sam, and on her left side was the other one. Hovering above the ground with bones dangling loosely like windchimes. He felt sick, and tried to look away, but Samantha’s commanding voice made him spin back around.

“Edward Heironymous Munson-” She boomed downward, and Eddie wasn’t sure if he should tell her that that wasn’t his middle name.

“You are being charged with the mulitation and murder of Chrissy Cunningham.” She said smugly, and his face blanched.

“I didn’t do it, Sam- I swear, you gotta believe you. You said you believed me!” the words bubbled out of him in panic.

“I mean, yeah, I said that- but that was before I saw her. Look at her Eddie! That’s the most fucked up thing I’ve ever seen.” She said in her usual dry tone that had never struck him as scary before.

“Eddie. Look at her.” Her voice said, now booming and menacing, and he forced himself to look at the eyeless face of Chrissy’s broken body, while her whole form looked on with a little pout.

“We hereby pronounce you…GUILTY.” Her voice shook the halls of the pit and he screamed his innocence as the guards dragged him off to jail.

They threw him into the jail cell and he could hear monsters in the dark all around him, screams of his friends audible in the background.

“Frère. Ça va?” He heard from behind him and he groaned at the increasing complexity of the situation he found himself in when he saw Sam was sitting at a little cafe table in a beret and a black turtleneck, smoking out of one of those long cigarette holders, inexplicably speaking another language and looking like she was about to go to a poetry reading.

“Assez trippant, hein?” She asked softly, and he shook his head, wishing the real Sam was here so he could feel grounded again. He felt a hand gently card through his hair and he spun around to see nobody there.

“Nous ne faisons que commencer, j'en ai peur.” She said, and he turned back to her to see her shrug.

“Look, I don’t understand you, okay?” He complained, getting more and more agitated, bouncing on his heels and wishing he could go back to…wherever he was before where he felt safe, with a warm hand in his hair and warm fabric against his face and a gentle hum of somebody he cared for.

“I said- are you okay, dude?” She said dryly, and he could’ve cried in relief.

“Of course not! I’m in jail because a monster killed a girl in front of me and then she sentenced me to life in the dungeons!” He said, panicking.

“Yeah. Plus, those two are, like, headed straight for second base.” She said, obviously annoyed and gesturing to the space behind Eddie that had been empty when he looked before, but this time when he turned he saw something so surprising he turned his eyes and turned around out of common decency.

“Yeah, we can’t hear us. I don’t think we even know that we’re here, so it doesn’t matter if you look or talk.” Sam said, and he turned around again to see the back who was unmistakably Samantha Campbell passionately making out with somebody he couldn’t see from this angle. He steadfastly ignored the jealousy that shot through him and tried to get her attention to no avail. He slowly began to walk to the other side of the room- if he was going to be forced to see it he may as well know who he was dreaming about.

As he got to the side he was shocked to see that it was him. Samantha Campbell and Eddie Munson were straight up dry humping and grinding on the desk now, and Eddie was a little bit transfixed. He couldn’t stop himself from staring at the way her hands clutched at the collar of his vest, and how his fingers indented into her skin as he slid her shirt up her sides. He wasn’t sure if he was jealous, exactly, well, he was, but only because he was this version of him and not that one. But at the same time he was kind of glad that he wasn’t that version, because he didn’t think he’d appreciate the audience.

“You can just turn around if it’s too weird, you know.” Poetry Slam Sam offered, but she made no motion to avert her eyes. “I’m just here to see what you think my tits look like.” she explained, and he nodded, as if in understanding. The Eddie that was quickly shedding his many layers began to undress his Sam as Poet Sam craned her neck to get a look. When she saw the speculatory tits she made a fair enough face and sat back.

“Were…they…good?” He asked, uncomfortable at having to discuss his imagination’s antics with another person, regardless of their own imaginary status. To distract himself he took the cup of coffee and the cigarette on the table waiting for him. Sam shrugged.

“No idea. I’m also a dream, that’s why I was curious” She said, finally looking away from the two of them.

“Ohhhh, this is a dream. That makes way more sense.” He said, very relieved. “So I’m not really in jail, right? I’m back with you in the lake house?” He asked, nervous all of a sudden that she was lying and this reality was his new one.

“Who’s in jail? We’re at the Starcourt Mall.”

He glanced back at the couple, now both fully without clothes and stretched out on the floor of the former food court, no longer feeling weird about looking if he made them up in the first place.

“You’re just gonna stare at them?” Poetry Slam Sam asked judgmentally, and Eddie looked back at her helplessly.

“You were just looking!” He said, and she raised her eyebrows and turned away, silently sipping her coffee. “Oh don’t look at me like that.”

“I’m not looking at you at all.”

“No, you’re looking at them- and they’re- oh, woah, okay.” He said, a little surprised at the sudden progression.

“Yeah, they’re really going at it, huh?” She said in dry mild interest.

“Should we go somewhere else? I feel like we should give them some privacy.” He said, glancing at Poetry Slam Sam, though most of him just wished that she would go away so this could become a more straightforward dreaming experience.

“Ooh, Scoops Ahoy. Let’s get some ice cream.” She quickly got up and walked away from the other set of them, which Eddie took one last glance at over his shoulder and wished that he had gotten that role in the dream instead of the weird ice cream voyeur hanging out with Andy Worhol.

“Eddie?” Sam asked in a whisper. “Eddie, are you awake?”

“No, you just told me this is a dream.” He said, taking the four scoop cones and tried it, finding the flavor of ennui to be very strange.

“Eddie, wake up.” She said, more urgently now.

“Wait, why?”

“Because you’re not gonna want to see this.” Sam said comfortingly, and he looked at her with a cock of his head.

“What do you…” he started, but it was clear when her feet began to rise ever so slightly off the ground.

“Sam- Sam- no nononono- get back down here.” He said, grabbing her hand as she got higher up by the moment. He screamed in terror and misery when her bones began to snap one by one.

“Eddie!” She said in fear as her eyes exploded and fell to the ground. He collapsed next to her body and sobbed, wishing he could stop hearing his own name in the background. He wanted her to be okay, but the way her body felt in his arms was wrong, the angles and sharp points disturbing and all he could do was hyperventilate and cry.

“Eddie- Eddie, wake up!” Sam whispered, and as he blearily opened his eyes to see her concerned face, he was instantly awake and holding her close to him. She tensed up in surprise but he still didn’t let go, even as the understanding that it was just a dream washed over him in relief. They were still in danger, but they still had a chance.

“Eddie- are you okay?” She whispered, patting him awkwardly on the arm. He pulled back and stared at her with his huge sad brown eyes that filled with relief when he met hers.

“Yeah. Sorry, just a bad dream.” He said, already beginning to forget the details and was left only with a sense of dread that was only countered by the feeling of her in his arms. She was okay.

“Yeah it sounded like it. You talk in your sleep a little, you know that?” She asked, and his face turned a little red.

“Anything interesting?” He asked, preparing for embarrassment.

“Not really. The only thing I could really make out was Guilty and ice cream.” She said, and he looked at her in confusion. “Then you started screaming.” she said matter-of-factly.

“I was screaming?”

“Just a little bit. Also I wanted to get some rest. Seemed like as good a time as any to wake you up.” She shrugged, and he nodded, still sort of out of it.

“Hey, Sam?” He asked in the dark room, and she answered with a hm? But he didn't know what he wanted to say in the first place. “I just…” he tried again, and he could see her tilt her head. There were so many things he wanted to say, I’m glad you’re not dead chief among them, but he wasn’t sure how to bring that up.

But before he had to they heard the unmistakable sound of a car door closing.

They both scrambled to the floor when they heard the door to the house open, only stopping for long enough to grab their shoes.

“He’s gotta be here somewhere.” She heard Jason say from the house, followed by loud sounds of rummaging. She swallowed hard and grabbed Eddie’s hand for bravery as they slipped out the bedroom window onto the forest floor, trying to silently get down to the boathouse.

Halfway down they saw a silhouette pass by the window and pause. Without thinking Sam grabbed Eddie and pulled him close to her behind a tree, and his arms instinctively wrapped around her protectively. She could feel his heartbeat where she had her hands on his chest, and it was getting faster.

They kept going until they got to the bottom of the steps and into the boathouse, exhaling in relief. Sam quickly took the tarp off the boat and untied it, hurrying Eddie in while they both started to row.

They saw the three basketball players coming down the steps in their crisps suits and spot them, and Eddie scrambled towards the engine.

“Sam, they can see us.” He said in a panicked whisper as he frantically groped at the engine to find the cord and when he did he pulled it over and over to try and start it. “It’s not turning on.” she could hear the pitch of his voice rising and she couldn’t blame him from being terrified of the two men swimming at them full speed.

“Give it up and start rowing!” She yelled, and he did so clumsily.

They weren’t going to get far, their nerves too high for enough coordination to row the damn thing. Eddie was hysterically murmuring something under his breath, getting louder as they got closer.

“If something happens and we get separated, meet me at Skull Rock. It’s close by.” She said quietly, and he looked at her, terrified.

“Skull Rock? I think I know where it is- but what do you mean get separated? Why would we get separated?” He tried to shriek in a whisper.

“Just, shit--shit, shit, shit, shit, shit.” Sam said, and tried to row faster, and Eddie turned around to see Jason a few feet away.

“Row faster!” Sam screamed.

But they didn’t get far before something happened, and the other boy rose into the air, followed by all of his bones snapping one by one. Sam stared up, horrified and Eddie screamed, trying to get away but only managing to tip the boat and throw them both into the water.

Sam was underwater at lovers lake, she could see the moon above the surface of the water, so what was the red light emerging at the bottom? She floated for a moment staring at it until her eyes began to burn and she tore them away to swim upward. But no sooner had she spotted the moon from underwater, did something wrap around her angle and pull, hard, dragging her into the red light.

tag list (let me know if you want me to add you)

@youngflower @nostandards94 @simonsbluee

@koroktsuya @kriffingstars

#eddie munson #stranger things #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson x oc #eddie munson fanfiction #stranger things x reader #stranger things fanfiction #stranger things fic #my writing

87 notes · View notes

dogsliampaynedoesntinstagram · 11 months

Note

Why is Louis relationship to alcohol and drugs so blacklisted in this fandom? I find his public promotion of it questionable. I don't wanna assume too much either because I know we don't know him personally. But just considering what we get to see about him and his life during tour for example I feel like this whole topic is weirdly untouched and kind of ignored in our fandom. Just to make it clear what im referring to here: we know for a fact that he drinks on stage, before and after the show, broke his arm twice and implied it had to do with a drunk state of mind, we see him at a pub all the time. He says in interviews that he lives very unhealthy. In almost every picture of him he either drinks or smokes. And this is not me making things up in my head. Louis himself talks about how much he drinks and that he does it to calm his nerves before a gig. He doesn’t hide it at all. At jimmy Fallon he had a vodka bottle backstage, too. He has vodka Red Bull during his concerts, a fan once managed to get his half empty cup after the show from stage and confirmed it. We see his behavior and we see his appearance and how he’s changed in the past 5 to 6 years. The guy from the snuts said in an interview how impressed he was by Louis and his drinking habits and that he just wouldn’t stop taking shots in on tour. If you know just a little bit about the consequences of long term alcohol consumption it’s hard to oversee it at this point. Of course we lack information because we don’t know him but I do think it's reasonable to talk about it more and to be skeptical especially since his fans are really young and impressionable. I just wanna say, I think we should be more open and more skeptical toward things like that and question things more even if it goes against of what we think of Louis and what we love him for. I think that should be possible since we have no problem to endlessly discuss his sexuality and romantic relationships, either. I already kinda expect that you either gonna ignore this or just gonna tell me that nothing of this is reasonable to do as a fan. But I just wanna give my thoughts. I do think it’s a serious problem. I don’t worry as in I’m scared for him, I just find it weird that it gets either downplayed or entirely denied by his fans for the most part.

Oh anon - I don't really know where to start with this. Anyone who thinks Louis' fans don't discuss his alcohol use haven't been paying attention to my anons, who bring this up quite often.

I struggle to respond seriously to an anon that contains the idea'we see him at a pub all the time' as a reason for concern. Both because we don't. And because it shows a lack of curiosity of drinking cultures and the roles pub play in culture. Even if we saw in a pub multiple times every week I'd find your comment really, really odd.

But I'm going to try and answer. Even if I'm also, ultimately going to say exactly the things you expect me to say. But the question that I'm going to answer is - what would it mean for fans to have serious and realistic discussions of alcohol and drugs.

The first thing I'm going to say is thatimagining Louis' fans as young and vulnerable and therefore somehow at risk by the fact that he drinks alcohol is an entirely unserious framing. It needs to be dismissed out of hand. The idea that popstars or other celebrities need to either live a constrained life or hide part of their life to avoid being a bad influence is an incredibly reactionary one.

I think the starting point of any discussion has to be touring. The reason that there's a high level of drink and drugs among touring musicians - isn't because of some kind of intrinsic decadence of the industry. It's that touring has very specific stressors and a structure that allows people to maintain a functional life while dealing with those stressors with a lot of drugs and alcohol.

There are risks with dealing with the stress of tour drugs and alcohol, and people who use drugs and alcohol in all kinds of way can realise that what they are doing is making things worse. I think we can say with some confidence that Louis is dealing with the stress of tour with alcohol (and probably drugs). But being able to say that doesn't actually tell us what impact the alcohol and drugs are having on his life.

If you're in an industry where drugs and alcohol is a common way to deal with stress, then those who are at risk of addiction are much more likely to become addicted. But it's important to underline that addiction is a much bigger and harder thing than using alcohol and drugs to deal with stress. And one of the biggest predictors of addiction is trauma.

The new documentary on the BBC about Matt Willis from Busted really underlines that. He is an addict and he is very committed to staying sober. But as a band they all drank a lot - one of his bandmates tells a story about throwing up in Matt Willis's suitcase. That guy was like 'I didn't realise how dark things are were for you' and still has alcohol on his rider today. To an observer Matt Willis and his bandmate would have looked the same - but they weren't fucking their life up in the same way. You can't tell an addict from how much you see them drinking - the whole point of addiction is a combination of compulsion and shame.

What does understanding all this mean for how we think about drugs and alcohol and 1D members? The first thing we need to do is acknowledge how high risk they all are. Any study of boybands will show that it's a profession with a very high risk of addiction.

To take that risk seriously is to acknowledge that it's always a possibility. There's always a possibility that they're in active addiction. There's often a possibility that they're recovery - when people disappear they might be in rehab (and if that was true that's really great - because obviously when people go to rehab it's better than the alternative).

To take the risk seriously means not to talk about it in a 'ewwww gross drinking won't anyone think of the children'. But instead: 'Addiction is really hard to deal with, and trauma is a huge contributor. I hope that any 1D member dealing with addiction has what they need'.

To take the risk seriously is to acknowledge that to say something is a risk means to deal with uncertainty. We know that they're at risk. We may learn more (and I think we have at times), but in the meantime all we can do is sit with the knowledge of the risks of the industry for people like them.

#The most interesting part of the Matt Willis documentary #(which I watched tonight)#was learning what they didn't talk about #and also seeing what wasn't talked about in the documentary #it's a very hard life

8 notes · View notes

sapphixxx · 7 months

Text

ah :/

After staying impressively more or less on the razor's edge of not getting too tastelessly gratuitous despite getting into some pretty harrowing territory, unfortunately the second to last episode plunges headfirst twenty feet deep straight into a pretty graphic sexual assault. And of a basically trans character no less. I've got mixed feelings because it doesn't come out of nowhere per se, and despite everything it honestly does kinda ring true to me of how idolizing someone (especially someone you knew as a child) can make you blind to their predatory actions. And just how like... being assaulted is ime less about the physical act of the thing analogous to being physically beaten in a nebulous sense, and more about the insane breach of trust you put in someone and them using your own body against you. Both of which are existentially horrific in a way I hope most of you have not ever felt. Which like, VERY much relevant to the trans experience unfortunately. And the way it goes down is very much inextricable from the victims gender.

So it all touches uncomfortably close to me. Writing all this out I'm surprised that I'm not walking away thinking it could have or should have been left out entirely. I guess that despite how cartoonishly evil the perpetrator is in that moment, everything about the situation in context of the whole story evokes something more real to me than any other gratuitous rape scenes I've encountered. If it's gonna be in the story having him be less over the top clown shoes malicious in that scene would undercut or muddy that breach of trust, I think.

And look I'm sorry but I straight up do not trust viewers to understand that something is non consensual violence if it isn't spelled out to them like kindergarteners. I mean look at some of the fucking dogshit interpretations of Utena are out there. So if it's gonna be explicit I'm glad at least that they focused on the parts that center the themes of trust, perception, weird body and gender and sexuality confusion stuff, rather than JUST whoag what's the biggest most awful way we can raise the stakes. Cause it's implied that when the victim was a boy he had a crush on this man, and now occupying his sister's body there's a whole CAVALCADE of things going on. Cause wow she finally get to be with him, but only after changing genders, which is a prompt for violence, the state of being desirable being a lever for being taken advantage of, and also implies that maybe that sister had previously been preyed upon which further breaks down that image of the person they thought they could trust. Like I know myself and at least like three other trans women who've been in that situation (minus sister body swapping)

And, well, honestly this shows been about weird sex and gender and power dynamics stuff from the very beginning. So it was bound to happen eventually. So I dunno. I think I just talked myself into it, but it's absolutely a warning I'd give to anyone interested in it.

4 notes · View notes

katatonicimpression · 2 years

Text

CASE FILES: The Nasty Boys (honorary mention)

VERTIGO

(Bio under the cut)

NAME: Vertigo

Yeah, she doesn't have another name. Although, one would assume she did have one at some point. I'm gonna go ahead and call her Vee for short.

POWERS: Disequilibrium

She makes people feel dizzy. Really dizzy, kinda queasy. Sometimes it's bad enough to knock people out entirely, sometimes it makes them hallucinate. It's a pretty substantial attack; she's able to take out some heavy hitters.

Like many a good henchman (shout out to Pyro), she's vulnerable to being snuck up on and knocked out. I don't get the impression that she's particularly good at hand-to-hand combat.

BACKGROUND: Antarctic Human Mutate

Vertigo is from the "Swamp Men" tribe from the Savage Land - a region of Antarctica that's hidden from the rest of the world. It has a temperate climate, a history of genetic modification on its populace and, of course, dinosaurs.

Technically, Vee is a mutate, not a mutant. While the Swamp Men are described as Neanderthals (homo neanderthalensis) at times, they're also said to be descended from humans (homo sapiens)... but those humans were from Atlantis. So... um... let's say that Vee originally was human, or something close to it.

A humanoid species with fewer ribs, maybe?

She was transformed into a superpowered being via genetic engineering.

Vertigo has spent a fair amount of time in the United States, and appears to have adjusted to this world pretty easily. I assume that while some things were easy enough to get the hang of (e.g. the language, the money, television), other things were really difficult to acclimatise to (e.g. cars, the lack of dinosaurs).

It also raises a question; why the hell does she talk like this?

The girl learnt English in just the goofiest way. I mean, I assume its not her first language, right?

Although maybe the question of why so many of the indigenous people of the Savage Land are portrayed as English-speaking and often inexplicably white is one for another time...

A rare example of a female goon/henchperson, Vertigo crops up all over the place in X-Men comics and even some Avengers stories. Early on, she joins Mister Sinister's Marauders.

Working for him, she's died multiple times. He keeps cloning her and the others. There have been a lot of Vertigos. Their clone bodies are engineered to obey him, which might explain the bizarre yet unpredictable loyalty towards the guy.

That said, we shouldn't give Vee a free pass here. She signed up voluntarily to join a group dedicated to hunting the Morlocks to death. Later on, she definitely is robbed of her autonomy but there's some shit-headery long before that point. We can go ahead and assume she's really not a good person.

One version of her briefly took over as ruler of the Savage land having defeated Sauron. Another version was a member of the Femizons.

They were a group of female villains (primarily an antagonist to Captain America) who wanted to take over the world and create a matriarchal utopia. It is very, very, very funny.

Status: Alive

She's mentioned as being on Krakoa in Sabretooth. This isn't that weird - there are a good handful of Krakoans who aren't technically mutants (e.g. Mr Sinister, Fenris, Juggernaut).

Notes:

Vertigo was another one of the Mr Sinister's henchpeople in the animated series.

She also appeared in the Wolverine and the X-Men show.

Like with the rest of the Nasty Boys for me, she was always more of a reimagining of the character loosely inspired by TAS than anything based on comic events. Like, the only reason I'm grouping her with those guys is because of the show. But X-Men 92' did it too so clearly the association is strong.

Generally speaking, I'm usually pretty compliant with 616 canon in my writing, but if Vee shows up in my stories, that probably won't be the case. The only atrocities my girl has committed are crimes against fashion.

...

...OK yeah and probably a bunch of other crimes too she's still a POS lol

#vertigo #nasty boys #the nasty boys #fanart #x men fanart

9 notes · View notes

wooahaes · 2 years

Note

feeling that way about sex (or smut) isn't stupid. so don't feel like its weird. and its not not normal. just as there's a ton of people who might have sex on the first week of dating, there's people out there who would wait much longer. with the amount of people on this earth, i promise you that a great handful of people would be willing to wait for you until you feel completely reassured. and maybe this is me thinking hopefully, but you're not abnormal for feeling this way, the way you feel is completely valid. it's hard but try thinking on the bright side of things! you're telling me that there is about 7.8 billion people in this world and not a single one would be willing to wait? keep ur head up <3 and i totally understand the concept of doing intimate things without it turning into sex, the bathing together hc was really cute. so continue to post soft domestic things like that because u are not the only one who feels this way :) i hope this also doesn't sound too bossy 😭 i'm rereading it thinking i might sound a bit harsh but imagine someone with a soft and comforting voice saying this to you because tone conveyed through text is pretty hard sometimes (but anyways... enough of me rambling) i hope u feel better

gonna put all of my response under a readmore bc i can already tell i have thoughts lol sdfkhsdf

i think the way society talks about sex a lot now is like... basically tipping it hard into the other direction of things. it feels like it used to be a taboo topic that no one ever spoke about because it's a private thing, and now it feels like people have gone entirely in the idea of sex being something that should be 100% open and if you try to have a private life, you're a prude. if you wait, you're prudish and boring. i fully know it's not everyone (i have friends who are sexually active and don't give me shit for not being bc they recognize that being sex positive is the decision to choose whether you want to or not and getting support either way).

i think it's just discouraging to be someone who like... knows i can't just do that sort of thing without knowing i'm not going to get fucked over again by someone who just wants to get off and feels some need to pull someone else into it bc they know someone's vulnerable. that i'm not going to trust the wrong person again and walk away used again. it just feels like no one's going to hear that and want to stay because it's baggage, and that anyone who stays is going to eventually walk away because i took too long.

you're fine, anon, don't worry. it kinda helps until my mind starts spiraling a little (which i deleted out from this ask) and im just... a mess, i guess. i like writing domestic things, though. it's nice to just have non-sexual intimacy in my fics.

i literally have nothing against writers who write smut (as long as they're not hardcore glorifying shitty behaviors--it's one thing to explore those kinds of things in writing, it's another to promote it like it's something good and condoning people who actively want it because fucking trust me, i've seen that shit before), some of my mutuals do and i love them even if i have to hardcore avoid tht sort of thing sometimes (it rly depends on my mental state on whether i can like... cope with it lol). i just want more non-sexual intimacy in fics, y'know? i don't always want to read about getting dick when the prompt involved giving someone a massage or something. that's good for the people who do want that sort of thing, but not everyone does and that's okay.

although if someone does take an innocent/fluffy/domestic prompt and turn it into smut with zero warnings anywhere, i will bite them to death. tag your content correctly. thank u.

anyway thank u for taking the time to write this anon. i appreciate it a lot <3

#wooahaes.ask #asks.anon #ask to tag

8 notes · View notes

dwaeki · 3 years

Text

beomgyu as ur bf ! (random headcanons)

pairing: beomgyu x gn!reader

genre: fluff, comedy

warnings: none other than poorly written fluff, intended lower case and maybe some spelling errors :D

a/n: YET AGAIN I WENT WITH THE FLOW SO SORRY IF IT'S KINDA BAD- keep in mind that english isnt my first language thank you <3

another one of my ults nfakjnglkejngr

you're dating a clown-

honestly, how do u even survive because he's actually so annoying

but he loves you though, i promise <3

an actual brat.

teases you a LOT !!! but never in a mean way.

if you trip over your own feet and fall, he's probably going to laugh at you, offering his hand to help you up but then quickly pulling it back to mess with you!

or if you accidentally drop your phone, spill some water on yourself, etc. he's going to tease you,

"y/n, what are you? a 3 year old?? you can't even walk without tripping, HAH, DUMMY!!!!"

loves to push your buttons to get different reactions out of you :D

he's quite empathetic though, so it's never his intention to hurt your feelings by poking fun at you.

if he notices that his teasing is making you uncomfortable or insecure he will not hesitate to stop,

making you feel loved and appreciated is his number one priority <3

he's determined to make you laugh, because when he hears you giggle... phew he's on cloud 9,

knowing the fact that he's the reason you're grinning from ear to ear is just such an ego boost :(

he will do anything to make you smile and i mean anything...

even if it results in him looking like a fool 😞

you two go grocery shopping together <3

honestly, he sometimes embarrasses you to the point where you regret bringing him with you in the first place 😐

like you've literally just entered the store and he's already whining, asking if you're done yet so you can finally go home and cuddle at once !! :/

it's usually just you doing all the shopping while he follows you around,

he's just there to assist you when you can't reach the high shelves‼️

the store you go to is pretty small and very close to your neighborhood, so you're basically familiar with everyone who visits it.

there's this one sweet lady with a kid around the age of 10, and beomgyu swears that "the child is a devil!!"

he has already made enemies... with a 10 year old-

you had to apologize to his mom multiple times because your 20 year old boyfriend couldn't stop bickering with her son.

he also helps you do your chores !!

he's very playful, hence anything can be fun if beomgyu's around :D even boring things like washing the dishes or cleaning your room (no offense to whoever likes it)

he turns everything into a game, a competition to be more precise...

"whoever finishes washing the dishes last has to buy the winner their favorite snack 😋😋"

even if he wins, he still ends up buying you the food of your choice, not letting you spend a single penny on him!!

he competes with you just to rile you up, making bets such as the one mentioned above to keep you determined, not because he actually wants you to do anything for him.

except giving him your undying love and affection of course :D

he's literally so clingy

you usually visit him at the dorms when he's not busy

the second he hears you knock on the door he's quite literally sprinting towards you

you can hear the members complain that he almost pushed them over

once your boyfriend opens the door, he engulfs you in a tight, bear hug™, picking you up and spinning you around, making sure he crushed every single bone in your body <3

the others just watch you get the air knocked out of your lungs in amusement.

speaking of the members, beomgyu always dreamed of you getting along with his best friends,

but once his dream came true he kinda wished it never did </3

you get along a little too well for his liking :/

how come you just laughed at one of yeonjun's jokes right in front of your toddler boyfriend?!?!??!

unacceptable!!

the entire night he either tries to crack as many jokes as possible to "redeem himself", glaring at an oblivious (and also mildly concerned) yeonjun from time to time

or he starts being poutier and clingier than usual, asking for a kiss every 5 minutes or straight up just dragging you to his bedroom and not letting you go until you cuddle for at least an hour

but in all honesty, he's so relieved that you and the boys are bonding !!

you having a good relationship with his friends is very important to him <3

he's not jealous at all because he knows that you love him and him only :)

he babies you to no end !! (even if you're older than him)

you do something as simple as drink water and he just coos at you

"AWW !!! you look so cute when you drink water like that :("

your number one fan!!!!!

hypes you up and brags about you to everyone <3

if you're wearing a new outfit he will notice right away and just stare at you in awe the second he sees you, won't forget to comment on how gorgeous/handsome you look ;)

also likes it when u compliment him back, it really means a lot <3

please keep feeding his ego he loves it when you notice small details, it makes his heart flutter

you two nap together a lot

if you're not the one for naps you just lay there, next to him, his arms wrapped around your frame tightly as he nuzzled his face in the crook of your neck, sleeping peacefully.

he looks so peaceful and cute when he's not annoying the hell out of you <333

you sometimes snap pictures of his sleeping state and then set it as your wallpaper/lockscreen :D

once gyu found out about your little antics he got extremely cocky

if you ever changed your lock screen to anything but him, he'd get all whiney, begging for you to change it back

also snaps a few pics of you sleeping/just existing peacefully and puts it as his so you two can have "matching wallpapers" <33

he also lends you his jacket if you're ever feeling cold

lives for how cute you look basically buried in his jacket, sighing in content as you're finally warming up a little

if you get tired from walking he's going to give you a piggyback ride <333

laughs and giggles as he lifts you up from the ground, your chest flushed against his back as he carries you to your destination :)

if you did something that upset him and he's scolding you he's just gonna:

"y/n, you're such a dummy!" *holds your hand* "that was very careless of you," *kisses your forehead* "i want you to know that i am very angry at you." *cuddles you aggressively*

while most of your dates are at home,

amusement park dates are very common as well :D

you go on various roller coasters, circular rides, take a few breaks in between and get ice cream or cotton candy

but your favorite ride by far are the bumper cars!

you just race, crash into each other at full speed or get into the same car and absolutely destroy your competition !! (the competition in question are just a bunch of 7 year old kids trying to have fun)

he seranades you :(

learns a bunch of love songs that remind him of you on guitar and sings them to you whenever you're able to hang out <3

he has a playlist full of love songs dedicated to you

offers to give you some free guitar lessons, if you ever want to learn how to play yourself :)

you both also have a collaborative playlist on spotify, along with playlists for each other you update regularly <33

when he's sleepy he's so soft with you :(

he's looking at you with hooded eyes full of love and adoration, you can tell that he's trying his best to stay awake for a little longer, but his eyelids are getting heavier by the second, his voice lower than before

"hey, y/n... you know i love you right? i love you so much that my heart aches whenever i look at you..."

pulls you in closer, if that's even possible, and holds you gently as if you were going to break if he wasn't careful enough,

probably leaves feather kisses all over your collarbone before whispering a one last "i love you" for the night and falls asleep.

yeah... thoughts are being thunk right now y'all-

he really loves you to the moon and back :(

overall your relationship is very chaotic and just.. weird in general.

good luck dealing w/his bs <3

1K notes · View notes

halcyon-writings · 3 years

Text

- holding out your palm under their chin (hcs)

note(s)/warning(s): the title sounds kinda wild but it’s fluff i promise, no spoilers, my thoughts are too much, reader is gn + not rosa/the mc (bc she’s here and that’s weird dating urself we aren’t 3h /j) surprisingly enough my first entry for this series is not angsty who would’ve thunk

nav.

feat. marius, luke, vyn, artem, and rosa

marius von hagen

the one who’s teasing you about it, maybe a slight laugh too. looking from your open palm to your eyes with a the corners of his crinkling in amusement. He even raises his eyebrows a few times to add to the humor of it all. But he’s going to indulge you all the same, after poking some more fun of course.

“I didn’t think you could be so cute!” He exclaims, and of course you want to either smack him or kiss him (or both). You pull your hand away which makes him fluster instead, He still wanted to do the thing where he rests his chin in your palm. After much convincing (which meant to stop his whining that got several looks from other people) he finally gets his way.

He bats his eyelashes and pouts when you laugh at him. But doesn’t quite move just yet. And seeing how you move to cup his face with both hands, suddenly the so confident pax group leader flushes. he protests loudly as you laugh while letting go. (He likes it more than he wants to admit). And you suddenly have a thing for him whining. Huh, who knew.

luke pearce

Luke, you beautiful soul you, would look at you a bit confused when you hold your hand out out of the blue. Confusion spreads across his features because he can’t remember you handing him anything. Perhaps followed by a small panic because what if you did and he forgot and then lost it. He’s patting his many pockets on the familiar jacket before you grab his attention again.

Your hand is held out again, and this time Luke tilts his head, akin to a confused puppy. And you probably have to reach up, palm placed underneath his chin. He processes it for a moment, before his entire face heats up, and he sputters out a question about your antics. But he doesn’t move his head away either so really, who’s winning here.

Once he recovers, and you’re certain he won’t spontaneously combust, he sends a wide grin your way. And like previously looking like an excited puppy, all he was missing was the ears and the wagging tail. This man loves physical affection, and literally would love this so much. Don’t @ me I’m right.

vyn richter

Ah Vyn. Now unlike the previous two, it would take a bit more to surprise him, or even fluster him. He sees you raise your hand up to his chin, just enough that he’d have to lean down slightly. Raising a delicate brow with a small amused quirk of his lips, “Oh?” And despite you literally having him in the palm of your hand, it feels like you’re the one that’s been trapped instead.

Not one to state his want outright, rather nudging slowly, Vyn relishes the contact just as much. I imagine that he’s also another that’s a bit touched starved (ig they all are huh). Looking up at you through his eyelashes. There’s soft adoration in his eyes, it’s no surprise if you suddenly combust at the way he looks at you. Vyn is just that charming and he knows it, using this skill for evil /j. “Is this what you wanted?” He asks.

But unlike the previous two, he ends up flustering you. Leaning just a bit more forward, tilting his head, when you feel him kiss your palm. Also peering up at you slightly just to get a glimpse of your reaction. It seems that he got the last laugh instead, well played doc, well played.

artem wing

This poor man. You’re gonna end up confusing the hell out of him and that is a fact. If the man had to consult a book on how to ask someone out, he probably wouldn’t even know what you want him to do unless you say so outright. But it’s okay, his confusion is cute so it’s whatever. Probably makes a note of this to google it or smth, just in case,,, can’t stand him /j. But just because he’s a little confused, does not mean that he won’t do it.

Literally all you would have to do is ask nicely and man will go to the ends of the Earth for you. His happiness is quiet, but still he’s enamored all the same. If he could bring both of your hands to cup his face, he would but the thought of that probably gets him all flustered. (He once turned so red when his hand brushed against yours once, even Celestine had decided to have some pity for the poor thing and didn’t tease him that time).

He’s literally boyfriend material, wtf. Probably the second that flusters you albeit unintentionally because once he gets it, it’s as though a lightbulb pops up above his head. Artem is just so earnest in his affection (I’m gonna go kiss him rn smh), like idk if it’s y bias towards him but please imagine him doing this it’s so cute

rosa

MISS ROSA!!!! My beloved,,, I know we can technically give her any name we want but I like this name for her. Another sweetheart who get’s flushed when you hold your hand out in front of her/beneath her chin. She’s aware of the cute trends, and in no doubt thanks to Kiki as well, but still, she thinks it may be cheesy to ask for such couple-y things to do. But she still loves them.

As her s/o, you can get away with teasing her (Marius is punching the air rn). Just please have mercy on her, you’ll make the poor woman combust or smth. But once she gets over the slight embarrassment, she loves it. Also probably does it to you from time to time so she can see you get all flustered. It’s a hollow victory bc Rosa is also red in the face but it is a victory all the same.

If you also work at Themis, just know that Kiki may or may not squeal at the two of you and now you have everybody’s attention, good luck! (It’s okay get her back with smth about idol merch and she gets sworn to secrecy, easy peasy).

#tears of themis imagines #tears of themis x reader #tot imagines #tot x reader #marius von hagen x reader #luke pearce x reader #vyn richter x reader #artem wing x reader #tot rosa x reader #tot marius x reader #tot luke x reader #tot vyn x reader #tot artem x reader #xia yan x reader #zuo ran x reader #lu jinghe x reader #mo yi x reader #jesus this is a lot of tags oops #mine

483 notes · View notes

comradekatara · 3 years

Note

what would your ideal lok season 2 plot have looked like? (or parts of it, I know this is a very big question)

oooh boy. where to begin. like. there is SO MUCH to talk about and Im not gonna be able to remotely cover it all but just know that this is very off the cuff stream of consciousness and also I’m on a lot of post-surgery pain meds rn so if this is kinda incoherent pls bear w me. also obvious disclaimer before I elaborate that this is hardly the only way to “fix” lok, and in fact I could think of many more alternatives if needed, but this is simply the inspiration that happened to strike me in this moment, so I decided to run w this idea. and again, sorry if incoherent, writing this on a lot of pain meds lmfao

okay so i just want to start this off by saying I love the red lotus (especially comrade ming hua, wettest of pussies), and i think that if developed correctly, the conflict between the red lotus and the white lotus could’ve been the core political conflict at the center of the show, not just for book 3, but for the entire series.

to elaborate: the fact that lok doesn’t have a narrative throughline plotwise to complement korra’s internal journey is one of the many factors that makes the show less memorable than its predecessor. while zuko, zhao, azula, and long feng all have different (and oftentimes opposing) goals, their characters all represent various facets of the same enemy that aang is necessarily (the avatar, an airbender) and uniquely (the last airbender) equipped to face. and of course, ozai represents the worst/most harmful aspects of every villiain/antagonist throughout the show, making his clash in ideology against aang the ultimate conflict aang must face to conclude his/the central thematic arc. even if each book centers around a different element, each episode, regardless of season, still contributes to a thematic whole, and feels like part of a larger coherent arc. conversely, every villain in korra does exist as korra’s thematic foil (to varying degrees of impact) and forces her to confront her own humanity & role in the world, but said antagonists have no cohesion as a whole, especially considering that they are all ideologically inconsistent and well.....weird.

okay so back to the red lotus. the thing is, their ideology is just... extremely sound. like, other than their, erm, problematic execution, they’re making points! and obviously, the fact that their ideology is more coherent than the main characters’ (who are liberals who uphold the status quo at best) while their methods are violent & scawwy is just plain ol propaganda. like idk what the writers thought anarchism is but it is not, in fact, an ideology that is literally synonymous with our figurative definition of “anarchy.” pandemonium was literally a republic, etc. in fact, the promotion of communal values and the abolition of unjust hierarchies is exactly the kind of ideology the gaang promotes, both in isolation (most prominently in their air temples and on kyoshi island) and directly opposing imperialism, colonialism, and police states. the red lotus demonstrates similar values to that of aang, katara, toph, suki, probably zuko assuming that demon in the comics is no son of mine, etc. so it’s just weird that they’re written as villains in a show that is ostensibly an extension of the previous show’s themes. imperialism and police states are bad until.... they aren’t? idgi. makes no sense. anyway.

we learn from zaheer that the red lotus was an offshoot of the white lotus formed by xai bau after the war, who disagreed with their decision to come into the open and plainly serve the avatar. and again, based on what we see of the white lotus in lok, xai bau made points! they are a pretty fucking inept organization that clearly made a lot of mistakes when handling korra’s education as a child. and even before korra is born, there are plenty of other critiques to be made of the white lotus. for one thing, I can’t imagine that iroh is an uncontroversial figure among their ranks. yes, he is a great man, but he also has a famous history of perpetrating incredible violence that I cannot blame anyone in their organization for being unwilling to overlook. for a secret society so large and ancient, it makes perfect sense that eventually the internal discord would lead to fissures that break off into their own organizations, with their own ideology & goals.

unalaq’s character is dumb and nonsensical, but the retcon that he was a member of the red lotus who actually just wanted power is kind of interesting, because it does reframe his motivations, and the idea that he knew zaheer connects at least 2 of the main villains from each book. of course, this also makes no sense, because zaheer would never be comrades with a monarch (which the chief of the nwt functionally is), and I doubt that anyone in the red lotus would be like “ofc u can join our anarchist collective!! don’t see anything wrong w that lol.” if anything, it makes a lot more sense for unalaq to have been white lotus, but also nothing about unalaq makes sense so nvm. let’s put in a pin in this tho.

basically, what im getting at here is that centering the show around a white vs red lotus conflict, as two ideologies stemming from the same philosophy that diverged after the war, with different approaches to the same goal of balance & harmony, could be the narrative throughline (plotwise) that lok needed to mirror korra’s arc. neither faction is entirely correct, but they both have ostensibly good intentions, with complicated players on both sides (fwiw, katara is part of neither faction, but her sympathies would lean red ideologically speaking), and now that korra is of age, she must take a stand for herself and find a solution that works for her, as the avatar. both sides have people who want to inhibit her power in different ways (white lotus is overprotective & oppressive, treats her like glass instead of like a person; whereas red lotus believes that there shouldn’t be one single bridge between humans & spirits, and that the avatar’s role is antiquated & unnecessary), and these ideologies also reflect the people’s approach to the avatar as a figure, who generally dehumanize her (either positively or negatively). therefore, korra must come into her own as a fully-realized person, outside of her bending ability, her spiritual connection, her political influence, or her reputation.

book 2 is the primary book in which the spirit world is explored, and there are just generally so many elements of this season that could’ve been so fascinating had the ball not been dropped so thoroughly. I loved how korra struggled with airbending and her own spirituality, and this is yet another element of the show that would’ve been strengthened by implicating the white lotus more thoroughly in this issue. because of course korra isn’t going to be able to unlock the element of freedom in a compound that exists to restrict her, or uncover her spiritual needs when being raised in an environment that is constantly forcing her into a dehumanizing role. aang grew up in the air temples, traveling the world with his friends and being guided gently and playfully by his mentor who loved him unconditionally; korra was constantly monitored and surveilled by an organization dedicated to making sure she never got to be a real kid. yes, she had her parents, and katara, and naga, but as wonderful as they are, she never had any human friends her age until she was in her late teens, and she barely got to leave her little training compound.

korra needed to be able to make her own decisions for herself, but it wasn’t tenzin or tonraq holding her back by trying to parent her, it was the white lotus and their obsession with policing her every action for her entire childhood. I think another missed opportunity was not showing us a more evident divide between the white lotus as korra’s inhibitors, and katara as korra’s mentor who promotes her forging her own path & defining her freedom. it’s clear that katara is torn between wanting to keep korra safe and wanting korra to be allowed to experience the world for herself (similarly to how kanna also struggled with katara’s desires to travel the world). like I said, katara would not subscribe to either faction, because she sees korra first and foremost as a human being, and therefore cannot agree fully with either ideology, but I do also think she sympathizes more with the red lotus, since she is constantly butting heads with the white lotus and what they think is best for korra, and also just generally holds anarchist values, even if she does strongly believe in the avatar as a spiritual & political figure.

another thing is that lok is kind of confused by its own exploration of spirituality. sometimes it seems to acknowledge the inherent politicization of the spiritual, and sometimes it acts as if politics & spirits are separate, which is obviously not the case as demonstrated in atla (and the kyoshi novels). again, unalaq does not make sense as a character, but he could’ve played an interesting role in book 2 had book 2 been remotely coherent! for one thing, his connection to the spirits leads him to solve a centuries-old problem, which is the peaceful eradication of malignant spirits, a problem that kuruk was unable to solve in his time, which led to his untimely demise. of course, book 2 does not remotely interrogate what makes spirits malignant (or, “dark” lol) other than “well they’re being corrupted by vaatu, who is evil personified” (dumb, starwars level morality, avatar u should be better than this). in the kyoshi novels (which are so much better than lok in every possible way, btw), the reason the spirits start attacking humans is because humans are developing over sacred land that yangchen promised the spirits wouldn’t be interfered with. while kuruk knows that the spirits are in the right, he has no choice but to kill them, which in turn physically corrupts and ultimately kills him. now this is an example of a tragic conflict with no definitive solution, lok take notes!

but anyway. unalaq has finally found a way to solve this problem. and maybe he’s not actually a monarch, maybe he was elected specifically because of his spiritual power (I think that after the (functional) “death” of his only child, arnook would need to find another solution as to who should succeed him as chief than simply lineage, and katara, revolutionary that she is, is like “hey what if.....monarchies bad, actually?” and so by the time of book 2, the nwt isn’t actually a monarchy) and he uses his influence as a spiritual/political leader to try and take back the southern water tribe by manipulating korra into supporting him. and of course, by “take back,” I do fully mean that the southern water tribe was previously independent from the north because katara (and others, including sokka, but mostly katara) made sure of this fact very early on after the war (again, fuck the comics). so unalaq resents that the water tribe avatar is from the south, because he wanted to mentor (ie, control) the water tribe avatar, but unfortunately katara ended up getting the new avatar, not him. so he’s like, well, if I opened the spirit portals and turned the south back into a colony of the north, then that could solve all of my problems at once! oh and also kill katara, obviously. she needs to go.

and then another added layer of unalaq’s resentment could be the fact that she’s tonraq’s kid, bc if tonraq hadn’t left the north, then she could’ve grown up there and he could’ve been her mentor. but again, I don’t think tonraq should have been in line for the throne, or become chief of the south, i just think that maybe he left because he had a falling out with unalaq that was so bad he was just like “fuck this im leaving.” maybe something to do with their father & tonraq being the favorite & unalaq resenting him for it. idk im just spitballing here but u can literally never go wrong with an edgar & edmund subplot. and he also resents his kids, who are basically the same age as korra, for not being the avatar. like how dare they. (also eska & desna are actually fleshed out and not terrible & unnecessary in this version ofc.) so unalaq uses the fact that tonraq left the north as a way to manipulate korra & win her over, and he gets her to direct her misplaced anger at the white lotus at her father, so she opens the southern spirit portal, and she’s so proud of herself because she’s never been able to control that much spiritual energy before, and unalaq’s like “oh yes there’s so much i can teach you” and she’s so excited!! and his plan is going perfectly until korra learns that unalaq is responsible for trying to poison katara.

if not for the fact that katara is able to heal herself for long enough that she survives, and then korra and kya take her into the spirit world through the newly opened portal and heal her with spirit water, it definitely would’ve looked like katara had simply died peacefully in her sleep. she is quite old, after all. and unalaq’s plan could’ve kept going off without a hitch. but katara knows that she was poisoned, and mako uses his sick detective skillz (tho he’s a not a cop here. bc i say so.) to trace it back to unalaq. at first korra is like “ugh mako you’re obviously LYING because you’re mad that im spending more time with my cool uncle than with YOU” (and then she’s like “ha! jealous much??” when mako’s like “that doesn’t make any sense and i am just trying to support u....”) but then asami steps in and very calmly explains to korra why mako is right, and korra’s like “omg yeah asami ur right that makes so much sense ur so smart” (to which mako is just like “bro.....wtf”). so yeah fuck unalaq he tried to kill katara!!!! and why would he even wanna do that....UNLESS.

and while that’s the main plot for book 2 (again, tying in the white lotus conflict thru unalaq, who is white, NOT red lotus, and korra has really had it up to HERE with these guys jfc), there are also a lot of other aspects from that season that I think could’ve been explored so much better. like, again, the tensions between the north & south, and katara’s involvement in decolonizing the south before korra was ever born, and now again that unalaq is attempting to colonize it again. or how when korra enters the spirit world for the first time, she runs into iroh who helps her become more comfortable in the spirit world. which, don’t get me wrong, I actually did like, but I personally also think that could’ve been more interesting had we seen sokka in the spirit world (we can see iroh there too btw! that’s not mutually exclusive! and maybe even yue also!!) because I think learning that sokka a) lives on in the spirit world and b) was also a white lotus grandmaster when he was alive would be interesting considering that katara would be playing a much larger role in this season and so we see that they were both on the same side, and this conflict isn’t so clear-cut. so korra stumbles onto sokka and iroh playing pai sho together, and learns some history of the spirit world and some history of the white lotus, which helps inform her decisions throughout the rest of the show.

and then of course all the characters who aren’t korra in this season have just nothing to do or are utterly misused (what even WAS bolin’s arc). so I would’ve liked to see asami grapple with the ramifications of her father’s attempted filicide & the fate of future industries, and just generally be given more narrative space to figure her shit out. and mako finding a career path (that isn’t a fucking cop!!!!!!!) that actually interests him & helps him feel like he’s making a difference, and also coming to terms with the fact that as much as he loves & admires korra, they are simply not compatible romantically. and bolin’s arc can still serve as commentary on the nature of nationalistic propaganda because I do think that thread has a lot of potential, but the whole thing with eska is weird & unnecessary. and then jinora’s role as a burgeoning spiritual leader is actually perfect I wouldn’t change a thing there (other than to adapt it better to a more coherently-written season as a whole, of course) bc I love what they did with jinora in books 2 & 3!!! definitely the second-best character of lok for me (after korra herself ofc).

ultimately, what this season needed was to connect the spiritual & political conflict in a meaningful way to korra’s own character growth, which is why her deciding to leave the spirit portals open is important, but the journey getting there is just so.............. confusing. I also think that book 1 doesn’t really make sense politically or thematically at all, and neither korra’s resentment of the white lotus or the republic city citizens’ resentment of the ruling class (which, to be clear, is not benders, lol) is fully explored to its natural ends, so in this book 2 rewrite books 1, 3 & 4 would also necessarily need to be rewritten of course. the only thing I wouldn’t change, quite frankly, is “korra alone,” which is an AMAZING episode no notes there!!! so yeah, in summation, we need a) a more coherent antagonist in unalaq both ideologically & thematically, b) a larger role for katara (and sokka!) considering that this book is about exploring the political tensions in the southern water tribe that started developing after the war, c) a vision of the spirit world that aligns better with the (excellent) precedent set by atla, d) an overarching conflict re: the white vs red lotus framed by not only unalaq and the white lotus’s failure to fully educate korra, but also sokka and iroh in the spirit world playing pai sho (which is obviously also a metaphor that frames the plot/themes bc u know i live for pai sho metaphors lol) and introductions to zaheer & ming hua (who was once katara’s pupil, lest we forget the deep lore) et al, and then finally e) korra’s friends getting thematically relevant character arcs that inform both the themes of the season and their characters throughout the show.

I can go more in depth about any of these elements at some other point, but this has already gotten super fucking long, and is probably incoherent af bc like I said, I wrote this on my phone in one sitting basically while recovering from surgery (im fine btw) so this is not the most organized outline in the world... I obviously have a lot to say on this matter tho so feel free to ask for any clarifications or elaborations! apparently I will never stop having thots on this

207 notes · View notes