The picture of edas friends as children, reminding us that all these adults, allies and villains alike, were once children. They were abused and indoctrinated by the same system that some of them are using to abuse and indoctrinate kids now. A few of them like alador and darius were able to see whats wrong and fight for a better world. But people like odalia sided with the emperor until it was too late because thats the only thing theyve ever known. And then it cuts to adult lilith and raine and shows how a lifetime of living under this system has sapped the joy out of them. How as kids they never would have thought to make their last stand against they system thats been there their whole lives. Its the lifetime of trauma and the perpetuation of the cycle of abuse for me

Would you rather have a president that enables a genocide? Or would you rather have a president that vilifies immigrants, promotes facism, dismantles the rights of women and minorities, emboldens white nationalists, worsens the wage gap, defunds vital services, AND enables a genocide?

It's an unfair and unreasonable question to ask. I know. Unfortunately those are our choices for president. It sucks, but it's a 2 party system. And until any change is made where a 3rd party vote is no longer equivalent to not voting at all, it's better to just vote blue for the presidential election. Not because Democrats are the "lesser evil", but because NOT having a Republican president will prevent further suffering of Americans and will lessen the risks of minorities' rights being threatened and revoked.

The president chooses the members of the supreme court who hold lifelong positions and whose legal decisions have decades-long ramifications. Trump picked 3 of the 11 current members who currently hold a Republican majority. It was that supreme court that overturned Roe V Wade and that decision is harming thousands of people today in multiple states.

Biden already nominated one SCOTUS, and in his next term he could appoint 1-2 more Democratic members who would work to protect rather than erode American rights.

The Trump administration was lethal for thousands of Americans for a multitude of reasons, including his failure to properly respond to and then proceeded to politicize the COVID-19 pandemic.

As awful as it sounds, as hard as it is to believe in the moment, ESPECIALLY with the atrocities Biden is perpetuating in Palestine right now, don't believe for a moment that this genocide would be even slightly less cruel under Trump. The difference is Trump's cruelties would extend to Americans as well— especially immigrants.

The point I'm making is the only ethical choice for this election is to vote for Biden, but at the same time that vote is not the same as condoning his actions. Don't let voting be the end all for political action, and I hope you understand why this choice is necessary in an unfair voting system. Please participate in your local elections, Call your representatives. Continue demanding a permanent ceasefire and an end of Israel's occupation over Palestine. And please keep helping Palestinians.

I think it's quite wild to say people domestically haven't been dying under Biden. Hundreds of thousands disabled people have died during the Biden presidency due to covid. I myself only got covid because people around my family stopped masking. Even some of my family members stopped masking because of the CDC thing. There have been countless other things that I'm too tired to list as well that directly contributed to the death of people.

I'm sorry I don't know why you sent this I'm not going to change my mind. I'm not voting for the man that killed people I know and lied to our faces about it.

one of my very least favorite "jokes" is people making fin of qin su for "not knowing her husband is gay" or the array of fics where he's zero eprcent interested in her from the jump. Like way to take out all the tragedy in service of biphobia

GODDDDDD, I saw that in the same set of post notes that set me off yesterday--"durr hurr, poor girl got tricked into marrying this gay guy." Like, HOW? The Jin clan are by far the wealthiest and most powerful sect, and the Qin clan is one of their bannermen, and QCY and JGS are buddies. If JGY were a mustache-twirling villain trying to boost his status with an advantageous marriage and/or a gay man desperate for a beard, he has better options than a clan of middling wealth and significance that is already under Lanling's sphere of influence.

And they both had to fight for this marriage to happen! "QS was tricked into marrying him" is wild to me, because IIRC it says RIGHT THERE that she took the initiative in this relationship! A relationship that neither her father nor his was super enthused about! JGY was out here bothering JGS for this! JGY, the guy who famously does atrocities if daddy says jump, worked with QS to make sure this marriage happened! After all, while QS has the most to lose if the pregnancy plan goes south, JGY's not totally off the hook either; JGS could've very well punished him to appease QCY. Why the hell would he go through ANY of that if he didn't love her?

Like... you could maybe make a case for him not being attracted to her in CQL, where it's implied that he didn't sleep with her until their wedding night and he hates every second of it a choice that haunts me every day because what the fuck what the FUCK. But even there, he states that he pushed for the marriage, and feared to call it off in part because he'd "spent so much effort, went through such lengths to ask Qin Cangye for permission to marry his daughter... I had finally satisfied both Qin Cangye and Jin Guangshan." So even here he'd worked for it! Potentially antagonizing two noblemen, one of whom is his father the Chief Cultivator, is not worth the potential material benefits here! Even here, the only explanation that makes sense is that he loves her!

Which, you know, he says himself that he does. He says that he loves her to Lan Xichen's face, even, so like... pretty weird lie for a gay guy to tell his boyfriend. And if JGY were lying about everything... wouldn't he think of something better? He could throw QS under the bus and say she forced him. He could say the marriage was his father's idea and JGS directly ordered him to marry her. Both of these options are more readily understandable (and paint him as truly without recourse) than "I felt trapped by the potential ramifications of defying social expectations."

Now, people can write what they want when it comes to fic; if you're writing a canon divergence fix-it, then yeah, an easy way to avoid the incest is to have him simply not into women at all. You can even make a compelling case for comphet that he doesn't recognize for what it is until it's too late if you try hard enough. But in terms of broader trends rather than individual fic, and given the fandom trends of erasing WWX's attraction to women across all canons, or ignoring WQ's whole situation with JC in CQL canon to make her a Mean Lesbian(TM)... are you sure there's not biphobia at play? Are you really sure?

(SPOILERS) Andrew, Ashley, and their weapons of choice

If I REALLY wanna blue curtain (the curtains are blue bECAUSE THE AUTHOR—) this game, I'd probably say something along the lines of how Ashley's signature weapon being a gun and Andrew's signature weapon being a cleaver are reminiscent of their respective personalities in the sense that Ashley's aggression hits hard and fast, piercing deep like a bullet. The long-distance nature of this attack falls in line with her tendency to easily extricate herself from the harm she's doing while ensuring that it still gets done. She's shoot fast, ask questions later (or, perhaps, never at all), and rather loud and jarring about it. A single pull of the trigger and she's done, the only blood on her hands purely metaphorical.

(The one time she uses a knife, she even uses it like this. A quick stab into each of her parents' hearts. A swift, deadly puncture that bears far-reaching consequences that do not befit the ease of her actions.)

Meanwhile, Andrew's cleaver means he has to get his hands dirty. He's up close and personal w/his attacks—every slash is a decisive action that requires throwing all of himself into the fight—both in line with his need for control, and his tragic inability to relieve himself of the burden of being up front and center to his and Ashley's atrocities. Unlike a gun, it's not one-and-done. It's much quieter, stealthier, but you gotta get real vicious with it—more violent and messy than Ashley can ever get with her gun—something that's so at odds with his reticent, cautious nature that it just throws the silently simmering darkness within him into even starker relief.

still thinking about limited life one piece au. this is at least in part because i am now imagining bigb and pearl in the navy uniforms from one piece. i think pearl should also get the hat. also because i'm trying to imagine what bigb's various frog forms would look like.

ALSO i've realized i accidentally made a perfect setup for bigb and cleo to still have their Weird Thing going on: if bigb's a career naval officer and cleo's been on the grand line for a while it's not hard to say that they have a bit of an enemies/rivals situation going on and both blame each other for being The Absolute Worst Ever, with bigb being like 'she is literally a pirate' and cleo being like 'he is a horrible backstabbing marine'. i think maybe also once there was an Incident that forced them to work together, but bigb still tried to sell out cleo to the marines afterwards, and while he felt he had no choice (or he'd have been imprisoned or executed himself) cleo felt horrifically betrayed and they Both Still Have Emotions About That One. they come across each other and frequently have pitched battles that are very, VERY colored by the fact that they both know each other way too well at this point.

i also think that the worst part of all of it to both of them is that they do, in fact, still respect each other; cleo thinks bigb is a horrible backstabber but is reluctantly very impressed at the fact he gets so much done by sheer charisma and planning instead of by brute force and you'd have to pull her teeth to get her to admit it, but while she thinks he has no HONOR, she thinks he still has better morals than the average marine and seems to like, actually try to help people. meanwhile bigb thinks cleo is a brute of a pirate but reluctantly admits that cleo also reigns in the worst impulses of the surrounding crews and, compared to other pirates he's had to take down (or hell, most of the warlords of the sea that are supposedly on the navy's side), she's reasonable and unlikely to try to commit any actual atrocities, just to cause problems for fun. if she weren't a pirate and didn't seem to determined to kill him, he'd probably even like her!

like, look at that, isn't that just a delightful dynamic,

A thing that makes me go absolutely feral over the show is how the prequels are very much about that the galactic public has become apathetic, that it starts in The Phantom Menace, where Anakin repeats Shmi’s words, “Mom, you said that the biggest problem in the universe is no one helps each other.” and how George Lucas talks about, “All democracies turn into dictatorships – but not by coup. The people give their democracy to a dictator,“ as a theme of the movies. It’s all over The Clone Wars, too, there’s a bunch of arcs that emphasize that you need the people on your side if you’re going to get anything done, that it’s not just on a handful of people, not even a million people, to do everything, but that everyone has to stand up, everyone has to try to help.  It has to be about the entire people of the galaxy. But the galaxy just demanded the Jedi and the clones fight their war for them, they drafted both into service, they made it an impossible choice between everyone dying (because the Separatists were committing atrocities that would have killed them all, even down to every last innocent person in the Republic) versus apathy and helping no one. It was years of grueling war, that the Jedi and clones were dying in the battle, meanwhile Senators and the general public were tired of waiting for the war to be over, they were tired of being broke because of the cost of it, they were willing to give up their freedoms because they wanted the easy answers the Empire promised them, no matter what they had to overlook to get them. Obi-Wan says it plainly, as they’re helping the Lurmen to protect themselves, “The rift in the galaxy is not our [the Jedi’s] fault.  If more worlds would stand up for themselves against the Separatists, this war would have been over long ago." Obi-Wan is used to a galactic general public that didn’t care.  There were pockets of good, but the majority of them weren’t willing to help others out if it cost them anything of themselves.  The Jedi gave and gave and gave in that war, they broke themselves on that war, because the galaxy asked it of them and because innocent lives were on the line and the galaxy still refused to meet them halfway.  So few people helped each other. And these first two episodes are all about showing the kindness that does still exist in the galaxy.  Bail reminds him that there’s no one he trusts more with the child he loves so much, he shows complete faith in Obi-Wan.  Haja seems like a crook, just another con artists willing to desecrate the name of a murdered culture for his own gain, but then he’s genuine, he risks himself to help Force-sensitive children get away, to help a Jedi when they need it. Which is why the scene with the 501st trooper hits so hard--another example of how cruel the galaxy was, that the clones gave everything to the Republic, and then they were just thrown away, like they were nothing. And it has to hurt, this was the 501st, the ones that marched on the Temple. This was one of Anakin’s battalion, this man worked with Anakin, this man knew Anakin, the loss of whom Obi-Wan still cannot get his heart around. And this man very possibly murdered Jedi children, even if it wasn’t his fault. But Obi-Wan still digs out some of the very few coins he has and tosses them over, even though it has to cost him to remain kind in a galaxy that seems so determined to be cruel, because he’s starting to see again that there is kindness in the galaxy. That he has to put kindness into the galaxy even if it costs him.  Even if it burns him sometimes, he has to put kindness into it, because there will be people who return that kindness, even when it costs them, too.

Alright, so I’ve obviously given Mage and Vampire some attention. It’s about time I talk about Werewolf: The Apocalypse, you know, round out the “big three.”

Truth be told, I have kind of a love/hate relationship with Werewolf, though that kinda implies it’s an even split of things I enjoy and things I don’t, but that’s not quite correct.

A more accurate breakdown of my feelings would be something like:

- 60% stuff I really love and appreciate

- 20% stuff I go back and forth on

- 15% stuff I dislike but can tolerate (pretty standard for WoD)

- 5% stuff I really, truly, passionately loathe

And it’s honestly that last 5% that I struggle with most. To be clear, a lot of the WoD games have things in them I don’t just dislike, but find sincerely objectionable or harmful. (A certain Vampire sourcebook, the title of which I can’t even comfortably write out, immediately comes to mind.) But I get past those things, because 1) no work of art is morally flawless, and your tastes as a hobbyist or audience member are not your ethics as a human being and 2) a lot of that stuff is from the older editions and has largely been divorced from the game.

So what’s different about Werewolf?

Well, some of it lies in point 2— there are things in Werewolf that are bad and (barring the controversy of 5th Edition’s lore changes, which is a whole other kettle of fish that I’d rather not dive into right now) are still part of the game. Improved somewhat? Absolutely. But the ugliness of some choices still haunts the game.

The ways Werewolf: The Apocalypse talks about native peoples, from Indigenous Australians to First Nations Americans, is a big example. I don’t feel it prudent for me to go into those details, if only because I think it’s not my lane and voices from those cultures should really lead those discussions, but the game has a very weird attitude toward indigenous groups— at one recognizing their history and the atrocities they’ve come through with respect, while still finding ways to exoticize that history, and appropriate much of it. To say nothing of the ways in which it feels comfortable speaking over indigenous groups, even in matters of their rights.

That’s just one example. There’s the way Werewolf conceptualizes ethnicity and ancestry in general, which is weirdly archaic in places despite seemingly trying to criticize that view. There’s its approach to disability and bodies that differ from an assumed norm, which as many have observed can sometimes come across as genuinely eugenicist on occasion.

And of course, the game is about monsters— you’re not meant to agree with the Garou on much of their beliefs, and you’re meant to engage with those very real issues and wrestle with the right way forward.

And honestly? That last part— the reality of the issues at hand— that’s what makes the bad parts of Werewolf so hard to look past. You know, the other games in the World of Darkness deal with real world issues, but they do so in a fairly abstract way. Like, sure I can and do identity the Technocracy of Mage with destructive and cruel systems of power in the real world, but like… there isn’t actually a league of hypereconomists using secret math to influence the fate of the world. That’s just an exaggerated and metaphorical way to engage with the problems at the heart of a late-capitalist world.

But Pentex? Pentex is basically real. The Apocalypse in Werewolf: The Apocalypse is climate change. It’s happening now. When the game tells you that you need to Rage against the dying of Gaia… that’s almost as literal as it gets. And that makes its fumbles, its mistakes, and yes, its deliberate offenses, harder to swallow. The stakes are high enough that when things are wrong, it really hurts.

But… let’s also acknowledge: The reality I’m talking about it? It’s what makes that 60% stuff I like so amazing. The lows of Werewolf are hard to stomach, but the highs are just… exhilarating.

Like, Werewolf is a game that says, “You see the state of the world? You see its monstrous past? Its insidious present that only hides the horror? Do you see the doomed future its on a crash course with? Let’s take it, and let’s rip it to fucking shreds. It these tyrants and thieves want to kill the world, then we’ll kill them first, if that’s what it takes. If the Apocalypse happens, it happens on our terms, on the terms of the people being victimized and shoved to the margins. You and I? We’re gonna build a better world or die trying. All our anger might ruin us, but we have to try. The consequences of our actions are dire, but we don’t go down without making the bastards work for it. Not without a fight.”

And fuck, when the game is saying that? It’s priceless.

In fact, this has all been too down on Werewolf as a whole. I want to get my problems with the game out front, just to acknowledge them and keep space for the critique and change that they demand, but at the end of the day, I am a Werewolf: The Apocalypse fan (if one with a lot of notes). I want to do something a little unusual and show you an outline for an Apocalypse chronicle I haven’t yet had the chance to run, to show you what I love about the game.

So, stay tuned for a glimpse into that later— a glimpse into “Blood Ripples Out.”

Reverse React fic idea

Okay hear me out.

You know how react fics are actually thinly veiled excuses to show off what an awesome person Cale is? What if we twist that around a little bit?

So everything's the same at first glance, right? Literally everyone and their mother is here (kidding, just the most important ppl), and this host comes up.

(Or the unseen organizer, depending on whether or not you like a host OC here)

But.......

This host/organizer hates Cale. Like, despises him. Probably a Sealed God's follower or smth the like. They can't just make something out of nothing and put untrue bullshits on the screen, but they sure as hell can cut things around to paint Cale in the worst light possible.

Like, him being a transmigrator, him being happy at his "stolen" identity, him going around and scamming people, him using his knowledge to manipulate ppl around him, him generally acting even remotely "villainous".

No heroics to be found, just a video reel of Cale acting trashy.

Cale, at first, would be scared. He would be terrified, really. But as the video went on and he caught onto the malice directed at him, he calms right down, because that's who Cale is.

He would then spend the rest of the time prying the host/organizer's identity out of them, and plan an appropriate payback for this invasion of privacy.

Hell, at some point, he even nods in agreement, because, yeah, he's a trash, and it's about time everyone wakes up and notices that!

The rest of the participants, though, while may be confused at first, take one look at the badly edited slander on the screen, and collectively goes "Bullshit!"

Cale stealing og!Cale's identity? Kim Rok Soo, the og!Cale, smiles at the screen nastily.

Cale planning on using Choi Han? Choi Han wants to say that he doesn't have to stab his heart to kill a bastard.

Cale scamming Whipper? Harol lays out the enormous help Cale had given them, and that at one point, Cale was fighting for Whipper more than Whipper was fighting for itself (a la Whipper King, the bastard)

Cale scamming the Jungle? Litana raises the issue of Cale waking up from fainting, goes straight to save the Jungle and then fainting again.

Cale scamming Alberu? Alberu dignifiedly says that it's a partnership, and that it's his money, his choice.

Cale being implied saying he's ignoring the atrocities in front of him? Everyone snorts because they all know that immediately after that, Cale has bled to put a stop to all of those acts.

Cale saying he's not getting involved with that? On rolls her eyes: "So he said. Like a liar."

Basically, I just want a bastard who tries so hard to discredit Cale in his ppl's eyes only for Cale to nod along like he agrees with it and for the rest to become even more sympathetic to Young Master Cale who has such a soft heart who keeps getting himself hurt to save them all-

Cale: See, I am a tr-

Everyone: A HERO!!! OUR HERO!!!! OUR LORD AND SAVIOR!!! OUR GUIDING LIGHT FROM ANOTHER WORLD, THE CHOSEN OF THE GODS-

tldr: Cale suffered from Emotional Damages, but not the kind the host/organizer wants :)))))))))))))))

Do you have any specific neurodivergent headcanons for bb characters by far?

Yep!! Sorry for the wait on this, I was adding to it little by little.

Without further ado—

Wait, I forgot, I need to clarify something. I don’t really believe neurodivergence refers strictly to autism and ADHD like many often try to say, so with that in mind, my answers might be more varied.

• Rom

Rom is my main headcanon for neurodivergence in Bloodborne because I suspect something is up with her basically being called the “mentally disabled spider” in Japanese, while also having been the only person in Bloodborne to have ascended. With that in mind, I see her as an autistic savant. Perceived as a fool due to stunted outward development, but a genius beyond what others could even understand.

• Laurence

This one is maybe odd, but I have Laurence as someone with bipolar disorder and autism. I don’t have some in-depth explanation for this one other than it fits with the character I wrote for him.

• Gehrman

Clinical depression, like from the time he was a really small kid. He was just different from the start and saw far more than he should have. He was never a very hopeful or upbeat person.

• Bloody Crow

I write Crow with severe psychosis that stems from schizophrenia. There are signs of him being autistic as well, but his schizophrenia is the main thing he struggles with. It is NOT what makes him a villain later on, but when his delusions get out of control and trigger his mania…well, you don’t want to pair it with hatred and anger. Sadly, Crow is overflowing with both.

• Micolash

Micolash was not brought up in an environment where he was able to develop empathy for others, so he was always a bit sociopathic. This wasn’t actually much of a problem for years though, because he tried and learned via others about socalization and interpersonal relations. Sociopaths are not inherently dangerous and neither was Micolash. He was a decent person for a long time.

However, tragedy always strikes, and darker emotional issues and beliefs were what allowed Micolash to eventually weaponize his own sociopathy, committing worse and worse atrocities without feeling the pain of his victims. I like to imagine he was fully aware of how he thought about the process. The problem wasn’t his lack of empathy, it was his choice to utilize it in an evil manner.

• Adeline

Adeline has both Borderline Personality Disorder and clinical depression. The traumatic experiences in her youth left her with a lot of unresolved emotional tension, poor kid.

• Maria

I have her as Crow’s biological sister, so as siblings, they both actually struggle a bit with the same mental challenges. Maria doesn’t really have schizophrenia like her brother, but she experiences severe bouts of depression that can lead to hallucinations and psychosis. She also deals with extreme memory loss at times and heavy PTSD.

• Ludwig

Ludwig has ADHD but people can’t really tell because he is hard on himself about keeping his focus intact. People like Maria absolutely notice his struggle and his periods of low self-esteem. He is too tough on himself :(

• Eileen

This one is actually my favourite headcanon, but Eileen has DID and has at least one other alter that she formed when faced with a horrifically traumatic event as a child. Her alter is a stiff, austere military officer-type, who is comfortable with emotionlessness and treating Eileen’s line of work as a task that must be completed.

Eileen’s alter is harmless and she is aware that she is different in this sense. It’s actually what draws her to Bloody Crow, who is already so terrified of his own mind that he finds comfort in knowing his mentor and mother-figure is not too different.

—

Some of these might change, but I am happy with most for now. I love psychology and studying it, so I think of it as a worthy challenge to try to write characters with unique mental states and accurately so. It can be a little scary because I know people really care about how several of these mental illnesses are depicted, but hopefully I am not screwing anything up too much. 😅

Oh yeah, enthusiastically embracing world socialism was also not good enough! Nothing was ever good enough! Nothing will ever be good enough! The options for Jews are to die, become monsters, or submit to living under the rule of people like you, waiting for the day that you decide you actually don't value their lives very much.

Throwing up a false dichotomy doesn’t make your argument any less bullshit. The choice before Israeli politicians and military leaders right now isn’t between the destruction of Israel or killing tens of thousands of Palestinians. Hamas committed a major atrocity on October 7, but that atrocity in no way threatened Israel’s existence as a state, any more than 9/11 threatened the United States. And like 9/11, militarist leaders framed it as an existential threat to justify policies they were interested in pursuing anyway. It rings very very hollow to say “we had to kill tens of thousands of civilians to preserve the existence of our people.” It is just a post hoc justification for a desire to cause suffering, because you believe you are entitled to make *someone* suffer in return. I totally reject that line of thinking.

Israel has many security options besides “be monsters.” Whining that this is a standard only Israel is held to is pathetic—it is a standard people apply to all political actors, and many countries besides Israel have been roundly criticized for similar behavior. But if you really want to play that game—if you really think your choice is between “be a monster or die,” then you should die. Every time. I would certainly rather die than kill innocents in the name of my country. That’s not a hard choice to make at all in fact. Most people I know would make the exact same one. This is a standard I consistently apply to Jews and non-Jews alike, with no qualms whatsoever. Only nationalists deeply addled by a need to justify violent oppression think there is any doubt as to which option most people would choose.

Some people angrily say to Chloe fans, “Stop liking her. She can choose, and she won’t stop being a villain.” While you can argue that, the lines separating what a person CAN’T do and what a person WON’T do are often blurry. People are still bound by nurture after all, which is why the lines are blurry. But people want easy answers.

Some people want the world to be in black and white. I wouldn't say bound by nature, because those same people will say 'She's evil, its in her nature' which is also a vile line of thought that is used to excuse atrocities against people.

The truth is, *nurture* is strong. What we are *taught* shapes us heavily, and changing our core beliefs is often extremely hard. Neuroplasticity is real, and it makes bug changes very hard without support.

The people who claim 'You have a choice' as if that is the beginning and the end want to ignore this. They're the same people that would tell someone starving 'You have a choice' about stealing food. They'd tell someone with depression 'You have a choice' about staying in bed. They want to erase all context leading up to the moment of 'choice' and pretend it is something sanitized and without weight.

Some of the people who do this are children, they speak from ignorance. If they've grown up in a happy sanitized little family household then they don't have the experiences to understand. Not only that they might lack even the knowledge about how to educate themselves. There is much in the world that we don't even know that we don't know. On top of that their developing minds are trying desperately to order the world, just to get a handle on it. Kids are bombarded by new things and new information at a frightening pac, and that doesn't even include all the chemical insanity of puberty. So they short hand, they organize and simplify. Kids say 'it's a choice' because it lets them shrink down a complex and uncomfortable issue into something small and easily managable.

Then there are adults. Adults who should know better, adults with the experiences at least to know they might he missing the big picture, adults who can and should educate themselves or admit their ignorance, and yet don't. You see, there is a form of power in dismissing someone else's life experiences. Taking an entire person's life and crushing it down into three little words 'It's a choice' is an intoxicating level of control. It's doubly so when you already don't like someone. Maybe you don't like the way they dress. Maybe you don't like their religion. Maybe you don't like who they kiss. Maybe you don't like the color of their skin. Or maybe they just remind you of a childhood bully you had.

Dehumanizing someone is a powerful tool for oppression, control, and revenge. That doesn't make it right.

This answer is a bit of a ramble already, it's before my morning coffee. It's all relevant though. I've also hit upon the role reversal in the show between Chloé and her father. The grown man is treated as the victim at the mercy of the child, while the child is treated as the adult -as if she had any control or real power in her life.

Hi! Anon that wrote the huge ask about the yandere Night Lord (and implied yandere Salamander) scenario (the one with the in between pink coloured words), Ive been having thoughts about it again. And you know, the whole Knight fighting a Dragon dynamic becomes really funny when you think about how narrative-wise, all space marines are dragons.

A space marines, just like dragons. Are big huge monstercreatures who (in most cases) randomly arrive into a settlement of innocent people and wreak havoc all over the place (destroying cities, killing innocents, probably stealing some stuff if its a xenos settlement, and so on and so forth). They’re powerful, clever, and very hard to kill. You must kill them nonetheless. But the only difference between them and dragons is that space marines are, theoretically, on your side. They’re humanised enough for you to overlook the atrocities they commit. They’re doing this because it will help out humanity in the long term, they’re doing this because their primarch said so, they’re doing this because they think its right. But in the end it all boils down to how they have no other option, or a better way of phrasing it: its all that they can do. They’re made to kill. They’ve been irreparably transformed into something horrible and theres no going back from that, and its not like they had any choice in the matter either. You could even say that this mirrors the trope of someone’s greed and ego being the cause of a dragon to appear in a story (that someone in question being The Emperor)

So i find it kind of funny that in this scenario the Salamander sees himself as a knight. Like babe! You’re no different from any other space marine!! The fact that his legion interacts with people more doesn’t change who he is. He has just convinced himself that what he is, is noble. Like he’s some sort of symbol of hope and strength instead of being a walking talking murder weapon. He’s a dragon thats been brought up to think his scales are chainmail and that his claws are swords, that he’s totally not like his traitorous cousins, that he’s humanity’s loyal house dog instead of a fire breathing beast chained to a leash.

Yes he is fighting to save you, yes he loves you more than words could ever express. But to an outsiders perspective this isn’t a brave hero battling a monster to save his beloved, its two serpents fighting over the most sparkling jewel in a treasure hoard

I vehemently adore all of this. Particularly the part about how they think of themselves; As from their view of the story, they're the hero, but another might view them as the villain. Forgive my unfiltered, unrevised ramblings.

It reminds me of a moment from (I believe it was Unremembered Empire? forgive me if I'm wrong) where the Night Lords are waging war on Macragge and the civilians are seeing other Astartes besides the Ultramarines in action for the first time and realizing that, holy shit, these guys are actually horrifying. And looking at their 'protectors' in a whole new light. The Ultramarines proclaim they're different because they choose to be, but we've seen before that even the friendliest of space marines can change their tune when they feel it appropriate.

But back on topic. Salamanders.

Something relevant would be that even their beloved might possibly view them as that brave hero, at first. But as time goes on, they might see cracks in that visage and realize that the man guarding them is more beast than man, holding back a near animalistic desire for carnage. We know that even the most loving of Salamander is more than capable of being an emotionless killer when he desires it. Hell, you could even say it's a core part of them; It's not like you can muzzle a dragon. You can at best point them in the direction you want them to go.

Your Salamander might spare you some of the goriest of details, or the darkest parts of him, but you can see the tail wrapped around you, and how you're kept so close not only because of your safety, but also because he sees you as his. You're the treasure he's found, you're the jewel that rests on top of a pile of gold, and you're not going anywhere. He always looks at you(his treasure) fondly, but there's a possessiveness in his eyes that only gets worse over time.

Other Salamanders are seen as threats and thieves if they get too close. He's the hero of this story, duty bound to protect you even if he has to get his hands bloody. It's all for a purpose, therefor he's leagues different than the Night Lords that act as his chapter's opposite.

If you ever have to do your job or duty, and interact with other Salamanders or other members of humanity he's always right there; Guarding his treasure. And while he might technically be on a leash, it's extremely taught.

This or That Ask Game

Tagged by @alittlefrenchtree for an obscure reason. Should've made you guess what I was going to answer and you'd get one sugar per cup of tea for each one you got right.

Iced or hot coffee ☕

Why would you make me drink coffee in the first place? Why was coffee even discovered and who decided it was an acceptable beverage? If I have to make a choice, then iced and with a shit ton of sugar/chocolate/white chocolat syrup. You know Starbucks' white chocolate frappuccino? Very little coffee, lots of everything else.

Iced or hot tea 🍵

Why would you ice TEA? This is why the human race is doomed I'm telling you. Tea is to be served hot but never burnt so get that kettle off before it boils.

Lemonade or sweet tea 🍋

Sweet tea is an abomination. Why would you give me BAKING SODA TO DRINK? Ugh. Lemonade is alright if homemade by someone who's not addicted to sugar though.

Fruity or minty gum

Not allowed to chew gum anymore but I was more of a mint person. Fruity flavors were too chemical for my taste.

Pasta or potatoes

Niak. This is a hard one. Potatoes are fun and you can fry them and they're creatures of God but pastaaaaaa... Parmesan goes on pasta and for that reason only it gets my vote.

Olives or pickles

There are two things you need to know about me if we're gonna share food together: I will never, ever willingly consume olives and will have pickles with absolutely everything. The small ones though, cornichons. Not the gigantic ones people in America like to grow.

Rice or bread

Bread. Bread. BREAD.

Cookies or brownies

Brownies take too long to bake and you have more fun with cookies. Also, that's my cat's name and if I don't say cookies he will know tonight when I get home and he will bite me to punish me.

Handwritten or phone reminders-

That notes app is somewhere on my phone because I can't uninstall it. But I hate my handwriting with a passion so I just remember everything since I have an excellent memory.

Zip-up or pullover hoodie

I hate zip-ups, I look like a whale in them. And hoodies are COZYYYY.

Jeans or sweatpants

I look even more like a whale in sweatpants so I'll have to say jeans. But when I'm home I'm just wearing pjs.

Flip flops/thongs or slides

Both are evil so they can crawl back to where they belong. I'll sleep with socks (even thin) all year long. I'll take them off when we reach 40°.

Paperback or ebook

I use my kindle before bed but paperback all the way when you want to spend hours reading.

Enemies to lovers or FWB to lovers

Enemies to lovers all the way. The hatred, the tension, the angst, the oh, oh maybe I was wrong? the messy feelings, GIVE IT TO ME I'M READY.

One bed or fake dating

That one bed trope has been alive way too long and needs to be put to rest, pun very much intended.

Hurt/comfort or whump

Hurt/comfort. I'm all for angst but the heavy hurt usually deals with atrocities and, nope.

Mutual pining or amnesia

Amnesia! That's the kind of angst I like.

Canon compliant or AU

It depends on the ship. I usually prefer canon but there are some excellent AUs out there.

Soulmate or Sports AU

My issue with sports AU is that it's almost always about the characters in the sports world rather than the chosen sport itself. I end up frustrated with how poorly depicted the sport is or how irrelevant it is to have them in this world in the first place all.the.time. Like okay they're figure skaters but why would you have them do 3 triple lutzes in one program when it's not a thing and yolo spins without telling me if it's a flying sit spin or a back camel?

Celebrity AU or Coffeeshop AU

I may have outgrown the coffeeshop AU, so, celebrity.

One shot or long fic

Quality over quantity. Which isn't an answer but :D

Anyone who wants to answer this, have at it!

Hi! Hope you're well. I thought your post on Childe was super interesting. Since you've opened up the alphabet asks, I would love to hear your opinion for the following letters: f, i, l, u, and x. Thank you kindly :3

Character(s): Childe

Warning(s): Yandere content, Childe is a masochist (?),  violence mentioned, death mentioned

Thanks for sending something in and glad you liked the last post.

Fight: How would they feel if their darling fought back?

Excited. Of course he wants you to like him, but he can’t help it. The part of him that loves to torment and be tormented by you, loves when you fight back against him. Even if you can’t win, just having you stand up to him makes his heart flutter. Sometimes he’ll go out of his way to do things that he knows will set you off. Getting too touchy just so you can smack him, buying you too many gifts so you can hurl insults at him, he just loves it. He might just be a masochist when it comes to you.

It’s probably better to fight back a little, because if you don’t he’ll either take full advantage of you or keep pushing you till you finally snap at him.

Ideals: What kind of future do they have in mind for/with their darling?

Ideally, he would like for you to be a part of his family and maybe start a family of your own. He would love it if you could come to Snezhnaya and build a life together, as domestic as it sounds. Honestly, you’d probably look at him as if he was crazy after all the shit he’s put you through.

The future he wants with you is surprisingly wholesome and normal, it's honestly disturbing considering the atrocities he’s committed. I will say, the starting your own family part might be able to be negotiated, but not meeting his family. That’s not a choice; you will meet his family and you will love them as much as they already love you. They already think you're his spouse.

Love letters: How would they go about courting or approaching their darling?

He’s way too bold for the first meeting. He makes his interest known immediately and is quick to spoil you, push affection on you, and cling to you. It’s overwhelming considering you’ve only known him for a short amount of time.

He’s especially heavy on gift giving and flirting. It’s strange how he knows exactly what it is you want. You never told him what you planned on buying or what groceries were missing but he buys them all anyways. He buys you things before you even notice they're gone.

He’s always showering you with compliments, and trying to appeal to you. It’s probably funny and endearing at first, but then his creepier traits come out and it’s just annoying. It’s a little hard to believe him when says he’s a good guy after seeing him stab someone in the hand for grabbing your wrist.

Don’t be surprised if he just straight up asks you to marry him, and don’t be surprised if he keeps asking even after you say no.

Unique: Would they do anything different from the classic yandere?

Actively encourages you to rebel against him. It’s not because he actually wants you to hate him, no he’d just die if that happened, but he loves a challenge. He loves ‘accidentally’ leaving the door open for you to escape just so he can chase you down. He wonders how hard you’ll fight this time. Are you going to bite him, maybe try and stab him or set a trap just to escape his pursuit? So many possibilities; it excites him.

The only thing is, don’t hurt yourself, while fighting against him. He gets really pissy about that.

Xoanon: How much would they revere or worship their darling? To what length would they go to win their darling over?

Besides being slightly delusional, he’s definitely a worshiper type. It doesn't matter what you think about yourself, he thinks you're a god among people, and will treat you like such. There’s no such thing as ‘too much’ when it comes to, in fact nothing is ever enough: not enough gifts, not enough money, not enough clothes, not enough compliments, it’s never enough. If anyone tries to question him, he’ll just kill them. He tries not to do it in front of you since that’s not something your pretty eyes should see. 

If someone didn’t know better they’d think you were an archon with how much Childe worships the ground you walk on.

neither an ei hater nor apologist. but the thing about the “perhaps i feel like it’s because i owe him something, but i do not wish to assert control over him” quote is that i feel like people have a hard time applying it to the timeline. she felt this way towards him After he had committed atrocities, not Before. she felt this way towards the self-named kunikuzushi… not the blank slate — the newborn — that she built from pieces of herself. ei was the one who ordered to have him sealed into shakkei pavilion. he awoke by mistake and he was “set free” by katsuragi.

it's kind of weird to me when people say scara’s abandonment was a “misunderstanding” — because it wasn’t. her intention was never to free him from the responsibility of being the raiden. his existence was a mistake — maybe he was born from a fleeting attempt to raise makoto from the dead, ei unknowingly molding a ruler like her sister… or maybe he was just a prototype, a throwaway, a practice doll to see what works and what doesn’t before she crafted the final draft.

i don’t think she saw him as a person to begin with. upon creation, he was neither a useful tool, nor something ei believed could even possess a soul. maybe she rebuked him because he reminded her too much of the sister she lost. maybe it’s all those things at once. but her choice to discard him was not a misunderstanding. she discarded him. no ifs, buts, etc. she put him to sleep and locked him away to collect dust. arguably, it's almost more cruel than miko's suggestion to disassemble him.

i need to remind you that scara admits he was conscious for the entirety of his slumber, and he was pondering the reason of his existence every minute, hour, day, and year of his time in shakkei pavilion. to destroy his consciousness or to have him in a purgatory-like state of existence... i genuinely believe miko was attempting to be merciful.

when she says “perhaps i feel like it’s because i owe him something, but i do not wish to assert control over him,” ei is almost apologizing. not outright, but she realizes and voices her mistake. she doesn’t ever want to intervene in his fate ever again. even if, at this point in the story, he's hurting others and even if she has the capability to stop him. she won’t ever lift a finger against him ever again. ei knows she obviously did not know what was best for him before, and she's not going to believe she does now.

its like really human to me. idk. i love ei and i love scara. i think it mirrors real mother-child relationships very well. neglectful mothers. mothers with high expectations. etc.

i find it interesting that he became her son after he had become the worst version of himself. it feels motherly to me, at least. and i hate that he won’t ever know. he was throwing a tantrum for her attention and he got it. but she didn’t get mad, she didn’t strike him down. instead, her response was to let him and to acknowledge that she was the root of this evil that had festered. she led him there, and it would be in bad taste for her to be the one to stop him. to punish him for her mistake.

she discarded him at his “best,” while he was new and pure… later, she acknowledged him at his WORST. she allowed him to exist with his sins despite trying to smother him when he had none. i think that’s a little beautiful. it shows the kind of person ei has grown into — a little bit of makoto blooming inside her.

ahhh and she won’t even remember any of this. wooow irminsul plotline is sooo great.

(Sending this as an ask bcs it got too long for the replies) but re: your post, I actually had a breakdown recently because of the massive toll it's taking on my mental health to Pay Attention to current events when I'm already dealing with so much in my own life that there really isn't a whole lot more I can do to help anyone, and it really does infuriate me that people have twisted the concept of privilege to suggest that anyone who isn't living in a war zone has the obligation to destroy their mental and physical health by paying non-stop attention to all the atrocities of the world.

Post-breakdown I decided that destroying myself wasn't helping anyone, and it's okay for me to focus on myself and my needs. It's still really hard, and I have a lot of trouble shaking the internalized message that me blocking tags and ignoring the news doesn't make me a horrible person, plus I'm unfortunately so hyper-empathetic that it's painful to even know that people are suffering in the world, but again we're all suffering right now. Almost no one is living in ideal conditions, and I have to believe that people who are living in worse conditions than I don't want me to end up bed ridden with depression and anxiety worrying over them, because I wouldn't want anyone to do that for me, either.

Anyway, this isn't super coherent, and I'm sorry if it comes across as trauma dumping or anything, but I just wanted to say that I agree, it's really messed up that the culture of activism has twisted to the point that being happy or even just not miserable when other people have it worse is so normalized. I hate seeing people lash out cruely at people in an attempt to get help or more eyes on an issue. It's like the old "there are children in Africa starving so finish your dinner even if you hate it" or "how dare you complain about how you're being treated, other people have it worse" mentality turned up to 100 billion and tbh it doesn't do anyone any good and it certainly doesn't make the world a better place.

Needing to take time away isn't selfish. You don't have to suffer to make up for the fact that you happen to not live in a worse place. You are not obligated to destroy yourself as penance. And destroying yourself is not activism nor is it a healthy expression of compassion or empathy. I know it's not a choice sometimes, our emotions are not logical, but I just wanted you to know that there are people out there who know there is nothing wrong with you taking a step back to focus on yourself. The fight isn't over because you looked away, there are tons of other people still carrying the torch, and I truly don't think people who are suffering want MORE people to suffer needlessly on their behalf.

I hope you're able to take a break soon, and that you find a way to balance things. And I hope the things you're dealing with in your own life ease up soon as well. Take care of yourself.

I'm not sure if you're the same anon who sent this message

You know what, fuck it. I'm giving you permission to take as many days off as you need bit caring about others. Do some things for yourself, have fun, sleep. The world will still be on fire when you get back, but you'll have a better flame proof suit to help deal with it.

but regardless thank you. I needed to hear this.