#can you believe i made this post purely out of spite
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jjk men and how they show their love for you
☆ characters: satoru gojo, suguru geto, toji fushiguro, kento nanami, + choso
☆ genre: fluff, romantic, domestic
☆ contents: mentions of abuse & death in toji's part, but nothing graphic
☆ notes: reader is a female and uses she/her pronouns. ages are not mentioned in this, but the reader is of legal age. curse spirits, sorcerers, etc. do not exist. everything is purely fictional.
— satoru gojo: cuddling
he likes it when you two are alone together in the privacy of your home, cuddling together underneath a warm blanket while watching a really bad (in his opinion) movie that you picked out. and even though he really wants to critique the writer's script of the characters, and the actors acting performance, satoru doesn't say not a word to you about it. he just holds you around your waist tighter and nuzzles his nose into your neck. he likes the smell of you after a shower because you smell fresh and it's comforting to him.
— suguru geto: quality time
to suguru, there's no better way to keep your attention on him than taking you out somewhere or just spending time together. when he takes you out on a date, he encourages you to silence your phone (or better yet turn it off) to avoid any distractions. same goes for when you two are being intimate. he's a man that wants eyes on him and for you to listen to him. he does the same thing for you. you want to tell suguru about the nosy bitch at work? he's listening and giving you advice. you want to go to the netherlands? he's buying a plane ticket in business class for you two. whatever it is, suguru loves to spend time with you as long as you are on the same page as him.
— toji fushiguro: acts of service
growing up in the zenin family and being abused by them sculpted toji into the cold, callous man he is today. followed by the sudden and tragic death of his previous wife he didn't think he could find love ever again. not until he met you. you warmed this man's heart at the first time he saw you. he likes to show you that he loves you by doing things that makes your life easier. he'll pay and put gas in your car. he will help you with cleaning the dishes after a meal that you've cooked for. if you're running short on money for you rent, he'll even cover it for you and doesn't expect for you to pay him back. just the thought of you being comfortable is a good enough reward.
— kento nanami: words of affirmation
with kento, you would wake up in the mornings to a good morning text followed by him reminding you of your beauty, your excellence, and telling you not to let menial things get you in a bad mood. in your lunches you would find a hand-written note from kento complimenting you. in spite of being a full-time salaryman, kento would call you during his lunch break to talk to you and listen as you complain about your coworkers. he loves hearing your voice. at night, just before your head hits the pillow he would kiss your forehead and wish you a good night's rest. kento can be quite the charming man when it comes to you.
— choso: gift giving
choso... precious choso. he likes to shower you with gifts as a way to show his undying love and appreciation for you. if you mention that you like something, but you couldn't get it, best believe it will be either on your doorstep or in your hand within the next day. when he sees you eyeing something in the store for even a second, choso will buy it for you. he won't take any "no's", "stops", or returning the item back. choso bought it FOR you. if you return any of his gifts it will hurt his feelings and he'll think you don't love him. so be careful when you are trying to let choso know not to get you gifts.
letter from demi: i have adopted a new style of how i do... idk what you call these blurbs? headcanons? idk. anyways im changing some things up with how my posts are... styled. i hope the work and the way it is made looks good! lmk what you think babes!
#gojo x reader#geto x reader#toji x reader#nanami x reader#choso x reader#jjk x reader#jjk headcanons#jjk imagines#jujutsu kaisen#jujutsu kaisen headcanons#gojo satoru#geto suguru#nanami kento#toji fushiguro#choso
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atla/tlok characters that i think did *it* (but i just can’t prove it)
this is the most unserious post i’ve ever made. (AND I WANT TO PREFACE BY SAYING BY *IT* I MEAN KISSING)
Sozin and Roku
and history will say that they were just great friends…
this is the only one where ill legitimately die on this hill
like i’m 90% sure roku just showed Aang their friendship in the flashbacks to prevent awkwardly explaining to a 12 year old monk that he was romantically and/or physically involved with the person who committed a g*nocide against his people
LIKE CMON WHY IN THE WORLD WAS SOZIN SO PRESSED IN THE BACKGROUND OF ROKU’S WEDDING ??? AND FOR NO REASON?? WHY WAS THEIR FRIENDSHIP SO INTENSE?
sozin i feel loved roku (to an obsessive level) and roku literally dgaf. king shit
Wan and Raava
genuinely what the fuck was going on between these two. like i don’t even have any words
canonically at the very least it was a domestic partnership
S2 korra doesn’t make sense at the best of times. imagine trying to explain the intensity of this pair’s devotion to each other, to someone who hasn’t seen the show- all the while knowing raava is a disembodied spirit practically older than time
she’s the embodiment of everything good and light in the universe and he’s just wan. (and he’s wanough <3)
‘do you think we’re soulmates in every life?’
‘bet’
‘wait that’s not what i-‘
Cabbage Merchant and his cabbages (or at least a cabbage)
yeah i’m not touching this one with a 10 foot pole
Every member of the red lotus squad
ah yes it’s my favourite evil polycule
amidst plans to kidnap children and topple monarchies what else is there to do except… kiss.
let’s be real there’s something so inherently romantic about being apart of an elite, vaguely murderous anarchist squad
they all share one exact bed. it’s canon
(p’li somehow big spoons all of them)
The S2 Nomads
these dudes are the textbook definition of anti-monogamy
like they’re obsessed with love so i fully believe that they think ‘it should be spread amongst others’ or some shit
oh to be a travelling communist nomad in a band, wandering the wilds with my wife, and our several partners
they’re somehow the opposite of the red lotus and yet the same. they all share a single bed/sleep area
The dangerous ladies (but all separately)
i don’t ship any of these particularly and yet can still admit that it’s canon
ty-lee and azula have kissed bc azula probably made up a dumb excuse like ‘oh i don’t want my first kiss with a guy to be… erm… bad’
mai and ty-lee have kissed because they both probably have genuine, vaguely deep rooted romantic feelings for each other
mai and azula have kissed to purely spite zuko (and yknow what ty-lee too)
HOWEVER A KEY ASPECT TO THIS DYNAMIC: azula is completely unaware about the ty-lee and mai thing. it’s uh… better off that way.
Hakoda and Bato
i ship this about 50% but like… it’s got to have happened once right? considering all that down time they spent together on a boat away from the repercussions of water tribe society…
also considering they were leaders i doubt the other warriors were in a position to ever call them out on it
like cmoooooooon what’s a little kiss between the homies every now and again?
hakoda is where sokka gets his rizz/flagrant bisexuality from and i can’t change that guys
#atla#avatar the last airbender#tlok#the legend of korra#fire lord sozin#avatar roku#avatar wan#raava#waava#my cabbages#red lotus#zaheer#secret tunnel#dangerous ladies#azula#ty lee#mai#maizula#mailee#hakoda#bato
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Ya’ll I used to jokingly consider this, but nah, there is enough evidence in the book to suggest:
Henry ruins Dorian out of spite and jealousy towards Basil for moving on from him.
Let’s get right into this.
I went back into the book because I wanted to review the post I made about Henry and misogyny earlier. Besides the usual annoyance at Henry’s dumb stupid rant, I noticed this line:
“I had buried my romance in a bed of asphodel.”
And then it hit me that Henry’s worst rants about women only come after the topic of marriage, but more specifically, commitment. Which then led to an even more interesting idea: I’m pretty sure Henry mostly uses ‘women’ as cover to complain about Basil and Basil’s ‘lack of commitment to him.’
I want to note that there’s a lot of interesting things in regards to Henry and his relationship with women that I’d love to go into, but this will focus solely on him and Basil.
Here’s what Henry says in his misogynistic ass rant after Sibyl dies. (This is from the 1891 ver):
“But [Sibyl] would have soon found out that you were absolutely indifferent to her. And when a woman finds that out about her husband, she either becomes dreadfully dowdy, or wears very smart bonnets that some other woman’s husband has to pay for.”
Basil is often considered ‘unfashionable’/‘dowdy’ by Henry’s standards. This is only further proven in what he says about Basil’s disappearance:
“Why should he have been murdered? He was not clever enough to have enemies. Of course, he had a wonderful genius for painting. But a man can paint like Velasquez and yet be as dull as possible. Basil was really rather dull. He only interested me once, and that was when he told me, years ago, that he had a wild adoration for you and that you were the dominant motive of his art.”
But that isn’t all. The last part of that quote matches one to one to Henry’s claim about women (or Sibyl, specifically). Basil was not only ‘dull’, but his only ‘fashionable’ attribute, his art, grew ‘dowdy’ once he discovered Dorian’s indifference to him.
Henry also says this about women:
“Good resolutions are useless attempts to interfere with scientific laws. Their origin is pure vanity. Their result is absolutely nil.”
And later:
“But women never know when the curtain has fallen. They always want a sixth act, and as soon as the interest of the play is entirely over, they propose to continue it. If they were allowed their own way, every comedy would have a tragic ending, and every tragedy would culminate in a farce. They are charmingly artificial, but they have no sense of art.”
Guess who makes resolutions regarding goodness? Basil, who refuses to believe that Dorian is nothing but a good, pure man.
“[Basil] could not bear the idea of reproaching [Dorian] any more. After all, his indifference was probably merely a mood that would pass away. There was so much in him that was good, so much in him that was noble.”
Basil’s arc traditionally should have ended once Dorian rejects him. Between that chapter and the chapter where Basil dies, there is no mention of Basil in any form. By all means, Basil’s role in the story is over—and then he demands the ‘sixth act’ to confront Dorian.
And finally:
“Besides, nothing makes one so vain as being told that one is a sinner. Conscience makes egotists of us all. Yes; there is really no end to the consolations that women find in modern life. Indeed, I have not mentioned the most important one.”
“What is that, Harry?” said the lad listlessly.
“Oh, the obvious consolation. Taking some one else’s admirer when one loses one’s own.”
Now before I point out the obvious irony of Henry literally 'taking someone else's admirer' (henry actually has a lot in common with his 'criticisms' of women), I want to bring your attention to a key part we don’t discuss enough about in the book.
““Life has always poppies in her hands. Of course, now and then things linger. I once wore nothing but violets all through one season, as a form of artistic mourning for a romance that would not die. Ultimately, however, it did die. I forget what killed it. I think it was her proposing to sacrifice the whole world for me. That is always a dreadful moment. It fills one with the terror of eternity. Well—would you believe it?—a week ago, at Lady Hampshire’s, I found myself seated at dinner next the lady in question, and she insisted on going over the whole thing again, and digging up the past, and raking up the future. I had buried my romance in a bed of asphodel.”
So I’m gonna make an educated guess and say Henry is lying his ass off here. He did not have a ‘romance’ with a woman. He certainly did not get an emotional, romantic attachment with a ‘woman’. I feel comfortable saying this because 1) his general distaste for women literally points to this being bullshit and 2) a significant change that was made from the 1890 version of the book to the 1891 version.
This is the quote in 1890:
“I once wore nothing but violets all through one season, as mourning for a romance that would not die.”
This is 1891:
“I once wore nothing but violets all through one season, as a form of artistic mourning for a romance that would not die.”
Well, well, well, who is the arti—It’s Basil. He’s literally talking about Basil here. AND GUESS WHAT VIOLETS MEAN IN VICTORIAN FLOWER LANGUAGE?
A couple of things actually, but the top three are:
‘Faithfulness, Modesty, and Love.’
Henry emotionally had been faithful to Basil. While I doubt he was monogamous in anyway, Basil held a special place that no else would ever have. Not even Dorian.
And this brings me back to the quote that originally sent me down this rabbit hole:
“I had buried my romance in a bed of asphodel.”
In the 1890 version, it says:
“I had buried my romance in a bed of poppies.”
Poppies are known to mean death and would have fit perfectly if Henry was saying he felt nothing for the relationship, but what does asphodel mean?
‘Love Beyond The Grave’, ‘Remembered Beyond The Tomb’ and sometimes, ‘My regrets follow you to the grave’.
(NOTE: please keep in mind floriography could mean certain things based on the color and the type of flowers. That being said, considering Wilde described the shit out of every setting he wrote, the lack of detail about the flowers suggest the most broad meaning is meant to be taken.)
Henry isn't over Basil. He couldn't kill the love, so he buried it and took Dorian as a consolation and revenge. He will never be able to get over Basil until Basil or himself dies.
BOY DO I HAVE GOOD NEWS FOR HENRY/s
#long post#this is an opinion and a theory.#the picture of dorian gray#basil hallward#dorian gray#henry wotton#book theory#been workshopping this for some time#this post is very long and i didn't even get to go into my favorite example ;-;#anyways shout out to TheMissingMask on Ao3 for writing the fanfic that first got me into this theory. Their fanfic Eros is really good!!#You should read it#honestly read all their tpodg fics#does this make me an english major? uh oh#if someone else has made this kind of post already my bad lol#use this as supplemental or even confirmation#i will be back with the more headcanon-y part that relates to the first chapter alone. but for now i've got a chapter to finish ;)
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What are your complete thoughts on the Blake and Ozma parallels? You've mentioned it a few times in other posts, but I don't think you've made a dedicated post about it.
slams hands down THE OZLEM FRACTAL
ok. ok ok
in the Before Times ozma (according to jinn who is telling the story as a fairytale from ozpin's perspective so this must be taken with a grain of salt) was a courageous and righteous hero with a pure heart who fought only for righteousness and "had been willing to give his life for justice countless times" which is to say he was passively suicidal until he met salem but i'm sure that's nothing to worry about. then he fell in love with salem who defied the gods and then hundreds of millions of years later the god of light brought him back to life and told him, in essence, "redeem the world or condemn it to annihilation, your choice. also if you return to the woman you love the world will be doomed forever because she's damned." he Believes This With All His Heart and that zealotry has led him down a long unending cycle of corruption to the point that he is unrecognizable from the person he once was.
in the funhouse mirror self-similar spiral of ozlem that is rwby's ongoing narrative arc, blake is an inverted reflection of ozma: the legendary hero -> the terrorist in disguise. where the fairytale version of him was motivated to fight for by pure, selfless altruism, blake belonged to a group of militants fighting for their own justice and equality because she herself is part of an oppressed class; moreover, where ozma has undergone a corruption arc as a consequence of his belief in the god of light, blake's journey is one of reclamation and healing from adam's abuse and adam's corruption of the white fang, which she severs herself from in the black trailer.
(stacked on top of this direct inversion are strong ideological parallels between blake and salem, in addition to ozpin's suspicion in V2 that blake is salem's spy; this is does important thematic setup for ozma's eventual apostasy and atonement arc and also dovetails with jaune's corruption through stagnation into an ozpin-like state of controlling paranoia and how that interacts with his thematic role as the anti-theme salem. both blake and jaune function in this context as narrative signposts for the ozlem reconciliation to come.)
when blake comes to beacon she feels lost and scared, desperate to somehow fix a world that seems irreparably broken and having no idea where to even begin. she's clinging to the idea that huntsmen are Noble Heroes like a raft in a storm-tossed sea. her whole world has been fallen apart. she doesn't know who to trust, and she has so many secrets to keep.
<- this is ozma upon waking up on remnant.
and then she meets yang, who is very like adam at a passing glance and yet not at all like him if you look beneath the surface, because what motivates yang is not spite but love. the same qualities that drew blake to adam are also what draw her to yang (passion, a strong sense of right and wrong, bravery, the will to stand for what she believes in) but in yang she finds that these qualities are genuine, not a mask hiding bitter cruelty. the first serious obstacle for the bees is that yang reminds blake so much of adam and she's scared of making the same mistake. she has to choose to believe that yang really is different from adam, that she is the person she claims to be.
and that is not an easy choice! blake does not open up to or trust any of her teammates until the end of their first semester, and even after that point she keeps things to herself—she doesn't seem to have confided in them about ozpin threatening her, for example—and then she sees yang break an innocent person's leg in apparently unprovoked anger, out of fucking nowhere. and it's yang's word that mercury attacked her against what blake saw with her own eyes. how can she possibly trust that yang is not blatantly lying to her face, when this feels so much like how it started to go bad with adam?
<- & this is the choice ozma had to make with salem. the god of light told him not to return to her, that he would only find pain, implied that salem was damned. how could he trust her? how could he possibly damn the world to take her hand?
except. blake does choose to put her trust in yang. she tells the truth about why she's hesitant and asks yang to look her in the eyes and swear—and yang does—and blake decides that's good enough.
like every repetition of the ozlem narrative, things happen differently each time and never in the same sequence; blake chooses to trust yang and leave adam behind before their long separation and reunion. but that first choice sets the pattern for everything that follows. there are stumbles along the way but the fairytale gets it right this time. she walks away from adam, rejects him and all he stands for, chooses yang again and again, and they defeat him together.
adam plays the god of light to blake's ozma and yang's salem. obviously. blake/yang is a roadmap to the ozlem reconciliation (and a very unsubtle one at that; yang's "i saw him attack me, so i attacked back" is salem's "why spend our lives trying to redeem these humans" and blake makes the right choice in trusting yang, and adam's spite toward yang reflects the god of light's disdain for salem fairly blatantly: "what does she even see in you?" and "salem lives, but the woman you hold dear in your memories is gone" with the latter being an obvious lie)
#also blake reading remnant's jekyll & hyde--#''a man with two souls fighting for control over his body''#--is a joke with layers
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Timeless, Hollywoodland, and The Philadelphia Story
I found this old meta I’ve had in my Google docs for years but I don’t believe I’ve ever posted anything about it, since I originally intended to use the idea in a fic. Since that isn’t happening, even though it’s been years and I doubt anyone is out here writing or reading Timeless meta anymore, here you go. Obviously spoilers for both.
Most Garcy fans will groan if I suggest we take a look at Hollywoodland, but considering a certain admittedly fantastic dress:
…and a certain cut scene involving a pool, it’s interesting to consider through the lens of The Philadelphia Story, of which the dress and pool scene are iconic elements. Here is a still from the movie:
Look familiar? This is also poolside.
The Philadelphia Story revolves around Tracy Lord (Katherine Hepburn), a wealthy socialite who is preparing to marry her fiance, George (who matters as little as Lucy’s quirk-of-the-timeline-fiancé Noah in Timeless but manages to be far less likable) in a matter of days. The head of Spy Magazine assigns Macaulay Connor (Jimmy Stewart, oddly nicknamed “Mike”) and his photographer, Liz, to go to the wedding and get the story posing as friends of her expatriate brother, with an actual friend of his as their in: C.K. Dexter Haven (Cary Grant). Dexter also happens to be Tracy’s first husband. They divorced years prior due to his alcoholism—including a nasty incident of him shoving her down—and her criticism of him. Dexter originally seems to be doing this out of spite, but we quickly learn it’s actually to keep the magazine from releasing a bigger scoop about Tracy’s father’s affair and estrangement from her mother, which have devastated Tracy. The rest of the film is about Tracy’s entanglement with all these men.
(Sidenote: there are some very old-fashioned diatribes and comments about the nature of women and marriage and the shoving I found very hard to overlook, but that’s not the point of this post. Just heads up if you do ever watch it.)
On the eve of Tracy’s wedding to George, she dons The Dress to attend a ball in their honor. She gets drunk for only the second time in her life, and she and a similarly drunk Mike spend time together. They mainly talk drunk nonsense, drive drunk, and Mike sings Over the Rainbow. They have a grand time, end up kissing, and jump in the pool for a midnight swim.
Similarly, in Hollywoodland, Lucy and Wyatt share a sweet poolside conversation while she wears The Dress to a Hedy Lamarr party, they kiss, and they would have jumped in the pool if not for wildfire filming issues. They spend the night together, scar Rufus the next morning, then head back to the present. Wyatt soon receives a text from his supposedly dead wife. He takes off, without telling anyone why, and Wyatt spends the rest of the season trying to win back Jessica permanently while still having feelings for Lucy. In the “movie” (reminder: Christmas isn’t canon), Jessica is a pure evil Rittenhouse operative who lied about being pregnant, is killed, and Lucy and Wyatt are hastily shoved back together without fixing the issues between them on-screen. TPTB have claimed that their pairing was always endgame and the reunion would have happened anyway–albeit less swiftly and unrealistically–but they were Made For Each Other, loved each other all along, blah blah blah.
Which brings us back to The Philadelphia Story. The scene at the pool between Tracy and Mike is iconic for a reason. Mike is very “eat the rich” and she calls him out for being an intellectual snob, he tells her she’s wonderful and that the other men didn’t know what they were talking about, and their kiss is incredibly cinematic. It’s truly romantic…
In the moment.
For that moment, that one night, the audience can root for this couple. Mike is saying what Tracy needs to hear, and she’s enjoying letting herself fail by getting drunk and doing the unexpected. It’s sweet.
But it isn’t the endgame. No one means it to be.
After the multiple confrontations that arise out of the pool situation, Tracy breaks off with George just before the wedding. Mike asks Tracy to marry him and she turns him down. Liz loves him, and while he and Tracy like each other as friends, they would both be unhappy long-term. They live very different lives and have different values. And they’re not actually in love.
I don’t honestly believe this was intentional as foreshadowing that Lyatt may not be endgame so much as Abigail Spencer really wanting to wear The Dress. But even as a subconscious accidental parallel, it’s decent. Mike is nice and he and Tracy get along fairly well, but he’s better suited to Liz, who has stood by and loved him for years while waiting for him to mature enough for forever with her. Tracy, having realized that she doesn’t want the picture-perfect (on the outside) life she envisioned—and having seen that Dexter, now sober and much changed, is not the man he was when he hurt her—she forgives Dexter for the pain of their past. He lets go of it all as well and they remarry, this time making it down the aisle rather than eloping as they did before.
And as a book I adore (Love Walked In by Marisa de los Santos) says: “Jimmy Stewart is always and indisputably the best man in the world, unless Cary Grant should happen to show up.”
#timeless#garcy#lucy preston#garcia flynn#wyatt logan#anti-lyatt#the philadelphia story#timeless meta#long post#boy is it#christmas isn’t canon
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10 BL Characters I Would Hit With My Car
big thank you to @buddhamethods for starting this. I thought it sounded like a fun idea and just had to participate because I have Opinions™ :)
I am hitting some of these characters with only the best intentions and some of them out of pure spite
1) Shin (Bake Me Please)
if you've seen me post about this show or if you've seen it yourself, you know exactly why this guy is on here and also why he's the main reason why I just had to join in on this trend
square up, Shin, I'm hitting you with my car for all that bs and also to help with your character development a little <3
(I didn't find a fitting gif so have a pic as a great summary for why he's on here instead)
2) Way (Pit Babe)
listen I love him. after all if evil why pretty? but he's also a b*tch and he deserves to get hit by a car a little. as a treat. he's my pathetic little meow meow and I love to see him suffer (affectionate) <3
I'm also doing this as a public service so that Babe and Charlie can stay in their weird mama & papa boyfriends era without Way pulling his mind fuckery tricks on Babe
3) Kim (Kinnporsche)
hitting him with my car very lovingly simply bc he made Chay sad and we can't have that. maybe a little car accident can get him to actually admit that he's head over heels in love.
(and also because this man is way too pretty and I need to confirm that he's actually human)
4) Top (Only Friends)
listen. I believe that all of the Only Friends characters deserve to get hit by a car a little. all of them. but this man dared to say that he was serious and then went ahead and slept with someone else so. there's that.
5) Xue Yang (The Untamed/MDZS)
the most evil fucker for absolutely no reason. completely irredeemable. has the world's worst reason for being evil. I love him so much.
this guy is so fucked up that he managed to spend 3 years being all domestic with his nemesis only to realize that he actually developed feelings for him after he had already caused his death
there is absolutely no way to fix him but I'm still hitting him with my car for the amount of emotional damage he caused me with those god damn pieces of candy
6) Akk (The Eclipse)
I love him to bits and that is exactly why I'm knocking him tf out. very lovingly and rather softly but enough to give him some time off. because he deserves a break from all of the absolutely godawful authority figures in his life and what they're putting him through
7) August (Last Twilight)
this fucking b*tch.
I don't think I need to explain why I'm coming at him full speed. this is an act of public service, your honor, I'm doing nothing wrong.
8) Phee (Dead Friend Forever)
okay I know we've only had him for one single episode but this man is already stressing me out with the way he just threw away his cigarette bud in the middle of a god damn forest. sir what are you doing.
I'm only preserving the environment by hitting him with my car and getting him out of that forest, really
(also I can't pinpoint why but this guy is sus af and I don't trust him)
(the scene of crime, your honor)
9) Sprite & Zee's mom (Twins)
after @buddhamethods already took care of Zee (thank you for your service), I am volunteering to take out their mom. this woman needs the world's biggest wake-up call and since her own damn son ending up in a hospital didn't seem to do the trick, maybe herself ending up there will help
10) GramBlack double feature (Not Me)
the absolute audacity of these men to not be in love? after all of that?? I'm hitting them with my car because maybe ending up in hospital beds next to each other will finally get someone to admit that that G did not stand for Eugene what the actual fuck
(listen there are barely any scenes with actual Black and Gram together I'm working with the smallest of crumbs here bear with me)
tagging all of my moots. all of you. if you consider me your mutual, consider yourself tagged.
#tag game#bake me please#pit babe the series#kinnporsche#only friends the series#the untamed#the eclipse#last twilight#dead friend forever#twins the series#not me the series#only friends spoilers#the untamed spoilers#not me spoilers#thai bl
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It really says something that the Helluva Boss fandom is willing to excuse every evil action Stella does and every evil thing she says, especially her abuse towards Stolas and begging for her to have sympathetic traits, yet not once have I ever seen an HB fan desperately wishing for Crimson or Mammon to be portrayed more sympathetically than they are in the show and call it bad writing when they don't show any redeeming qualities. The fandom just accepts the fact that those guys are pure evil without batting an eye. Nobody asks why they're the way they are. But Stella? Nope, there MUST be a sympathetic reason for her being an abusive bitch to Stolas because it's apparently "unrealistic" for a woman to abuse her husband out of spite never mind the fact that those kinds of women actually exist in real life.
These images pretty much speak for themselves.
Crimson, Striker, Mammon, Andrealphus and Valentino are no less two-dimensionally evil than Stella is. What reason did Crimson have to murder his own wife and make his son experience it? Just to traumatize him? The show never really says why he does it, he just does it so the audience can have a reason to hate him. What reason does Striker have to help Stella try to kill Stolas? None, as far as we know. What is there to Mammon's character other than abusing Fizzarolli and being a greedy asshole in general? Why does Andrealphus flirt with his own sister and participate in her scheme to have Stolas murdered by Striker? Because reasons. Why is Valentino a rapist who takes advantage of Angel Dust and sexually abuses him? Just because he can. What makes Stella any different from these guys other than being female?
Fans are just asking for her to be more sympathetic because she's a woman and they can't accept the fact that women are capable of abuse without trying to justify it. The whole "behind every bad bitch is a man who made her that way" bullshit. People who see a woman beating her husband in public and automatically assume he did something to deserve it even if they have no evidence or context for what actually happened. Even though Stella has been treating Stolas like shit before he cheated on her, and he likely wouldn't be sleeping with Blitzø if she wasn't so horrible to him in the first place. He never even puts his hands on her and allowed her to abuse him so that Octavia could live and grow up with normal parents. (As normal as Stella and Stolas could possibly get with each other, anyway.)
Stella made fun of Stolas for not participating in sex with her and laughed about it while he was standing 2 feet away from her, and knew he was there. Whether or not she raped him to produce Octavia is a discussion for another day. If anything, Stolas cheating on her was revenge for treating him like garbage for so many years. She humiliated and embarassed him in public before getting a taste of her own medicine when Stolas does the same to her in return. She wouldn't even let him divorce her because she enjoys being mean to him. I wouldn't mind if Stella was given more charaterization outside of "abusive wife" but honestly? I don't really care if she's given sympathy or not. I don't want to sympathize with her. If Valentino isn't gonna change his ways any time soon, I have no reason to believe that Stella can. FFS Stella apologists make me mad. Even if you type in the "anti stella" tag on tumblr there are more posts defending and excusing her actions than those actually opposing her and saying "uh, no, she's just a cruel bitch" meanwhile if you type "anti Stolas" that's exactly what you're gonna get, pretty much exclusively.
Goes to show how hyper-sensitive tumblrinas are over female characters rightfully being portrayed as in the wrong when they fucking are.
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howdy, im cannibal-nighmares, i am/was/am a professional artist, amateur music critic, and literary hobbyist. I draw professor franken stein from soul eater quite a lot. I do not have a consistent-enough temperament to describe myself in words, but my principles remain the same: Do no harm, take no shit.
sometimes i post about the lived schizophrenic experience. i post entirely for the purpose of psychoanalytical observation, to share the perspective of what it's like, and to resonate with like-minded people. unless i explicitly state otherwise, i do not want any semblance of your pity. if you seek further understanding, i am open to questions, but know that my experience does not speak for or reflect everyone else's.
I never judge books by their cover and hold a grain of salt to everything before giving out ultimatums; in other words, I leave judgement to my own experience and not the opinions of others. I am known to be cautious, aloof, and skeptical. I am notorious for going radio-silent without any given notice. Nothing personal. Bad wiring. I believe in pure talent and pure spite equally, though my opinion shouldn't change what you do with your passions, so long as you are truly devoted. my only real goals in life are to rewrite the stigma around schizophrenia and to write fiction novels. ...and maybe make a bunch of fan art on the in-between.
uuuuhhhh other stuff ive seen in ppl's pinned posts that I am even less formal about:
my tags are #my art, #cannibal-nightmares rambles, #cannibal's music, #actually schizophrenic, #actually schizospec, #actually psychotic, #my fanfic, #my gifs among a few others.
as for content warnings, i try my best to tag for flashing lights/images (a sensitivity of my own), unreality, depictions of hallucinations, indiscernible voices, scopophobia, and gore. i find comfort in creepy shit, what can i say?
i like a lot of things, but my primary obsessions are Soul Eater (anime and manga), Hannibal (the entire franchise), Maniac (2018), House MD, and "The Boys Next Door" (1996). other big favourites include Fargo (FX), Mr. Robot, Better Call Saul, "Re-Animator" (1985), Arcane, True Detective, "Donnie Darko" (2001), "Ghost World" (2001), "Trainspotting" (1996, 2016) and much more. and sooo much music. So much music.
my (anon) asks are always open. send me a song or a question or a headcanon, if you dare. my response time means genuinely absolutely nothing, by the way, I might be the worst and most inconsistent reply in the world.
i'll probably end up making a schizophrenic storytime-type masterlist somewhere, sometime.
wow you made it this far. have some songs:
[ loathe - tool - circuit circuit - tear dungeon ]
peace, love, and anarchy.
cannibal.
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i have several problems with what this anon just said.
1. unless my memory is actually glitching out, Courtney never had a fundraiser for a laptop. if i'm wrong then please, someone correct me. when searching on Courtney's blog, this is the only mention of a laptop that he does.
"but Courtney could have deleted it". sure, he could. i still need to see the screenshot of that ever happening.
what i do remember of Courtney and a laptop was her talking about how P insisted on giving her some money in order to get a new one, and how as soon Courtney told her off P hold that money over him while comparing him to one of his abusers. that i do remember very clearly. that was all between P and Courtney, nobody was involved.
(...is this P.... no, no, no, she couldn't be trying to now turn the tables on Courtney... using money... her favorite thing to hold against people who wronged her... but surely that can't be)
considering that P is a sex pest that violated the consent of Courtney and then made his testimony inaccesible for the public, essentially destroying any good momentum that the allegations had in a wider scale, purely out of spite and greed... i'm not about to feel bad about P not getting her money back. she made plenty using Courtney already anyway.
"Courtney said she didn't have any receipts." that's a bold faced lie. he never said anything of the sort. futhermore, if he doesn't have the receipt for when he bought the food for Batman, are you seriously going to compare that to LO scamming her audience out of money for MO's immigration fees? let's say that he does show one receipt of money bough for the cat. how are you going to be able to prove that the money from the kofi was used for that? you actually can't, unless you want Courtney to document the whole process from taking the money from kofi directly into physical money and then giving it to the cashier and you'll have to forgive me, all of that for cat food is just too much for me. i buy food every day to feed my loved one, i don't keep every single receipt either. if Courtney bought the food and forgot about it, i can't believe that someone in good faith would hold that against him as a sign that he is scamming people.
who are you even trying to defend here? the cat is okay. the cat is being fed and taken care of anyway. we have seen the pictures to prove that already. even if Courtney used that portion of that money to buy, i don't know, a gum, a soda, a sock, how did that hurt Batman, the target of those donation?
unless you want to tell me that Courtney is just pretending to care about that cat at all and he maliciously used him just to get some extra money... then you'll need some stronger evidence for that.
"she subsequently deleted all the evidence"... evidence of what? of one anon lying about donating to her anonymously and he saying he never received a cent through anonymous donations? that was the whole interaction, i have the screenshot and the reblogued post. everyone can see it just scrolling a little bit!
of that anon saying "i want that money to be donated to a charity organization", with no way of anyone confirming that it could be true? Courtney also pointed that with a system like that, literally anyone could be asking of her anything, even amounts of money she never had in the first place.
more so... Courtney is currently in the service to say goodbye to her surrogate mother. right now, as i'm typing this, she not only has to deal with her own pain of dealing with a very recent loss, she also has to deal with the pain of the rest of her surrogate family. he loss just a week ago someone that meant the world for him and you...
are mad because they didn't show you a receipt for cat food.
maybe, and i'm just throwing an idea here, Courtney has other things on his mind right now to be handling any of this. perhaps, i don't know, he prefered to delete that to not even deal with the stress of even "anons" (who the more i read, the more sounds to me like the same person) very obviously using this situation to try to distract people from LO scamming 2000+ USD out of her audience.
because that anon was lying. Courtney never received any anonymous donations, everything was always attached to a name. i wouldn't just be giving out money out in the word of someone i have no idea who they are, so i won't blame Courtney either for not doing that.
"either way it's a 100$ desk. i can afford that easily without a fundraiser". then why lie about that desk being the one you hosted that fundraiser on, LO, even though the fundraising happened two days before that desk was shipped to you? why did you made up something like that in the first place?
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i understand that certain people in this fandom have grown extremely brave, and that this whole event is the result of that, nevermind individual works in the event, which have made it impossible for me, at least, to go into the tag for long since the start of october - however, this, the work in the tag today, is just the absolute fucking depth of depravity.
for one: having been here for over 2 yrs now, i am familiar in some way with the way this fandom has operated, and i know that works like these are in some way almost engineered out of spite, like saying "look what i can do and you can't stop me." i am sorry to anybody that feels this is an appropriate response - it's not. it's... i hope you understand that this is not [just] angering, it's horrifying and frightening, the fact that people would bring in such a level of awfulness, this degree of it, for the sake of shocking people or spite.
to those of you who have been a part of this event and are trying to be "mild" or "normal" about it - this is the company you're in. this is what the people you are willingly associating yourself with, apparently, are doing. this is what they're creating! even if you haven't had reason to so far, please really, really think about who and what you're aligning yourself with. what it is you claim is alright or acceptable or even remotely appropriate. what you're saying about yourself by being friends with these people!
and it's not about optics or friendship or sides - if you think this is about "position" at this point, or even about the dramatic and god-awful history of this fandom, i would urge you to reconsider that not from the perspective of what's happened before, but purely from the content being created and what it reflects.
please consider what these people believe - not about fanfiction, not about artistic representation, but about characters like joe, and by extension, about real people. to anticipate the argument that these are fictional characters and that fiction isn't reality - even if that was true, your readers are real. the people looking for fic in the tags are real. the harm you cause to those people is very real
please have just a moment of thinking what it means that even one (1) person was brave enough to post something like this in the tags in this event, and what it says about how they think of this character - one of the only brown muslim mlm in all of media to be in a happy and loving long-term relationship
to those of you that have had even a moment's pause when seeing this in the tags or in some server or anywhere: please, please think about it seriously and honestly and consider why that is, and why other people haven't had that pause.
if this has been explained to you at any level, told that this is to draw out those who are trying to censor or police fanfiction and creativity, consider why that might be when clearly, any attempt that has been made has been in vain if such fic exists. and maybe have a think about why this degree of violence is considered appropriate as a way to spite naysayers - and if it should be, and if you agree with that. and what it says about those explaining it to you that they are willing to accept or offer those explanations.
#the old guard fandom#tog fandom#tog discourse#// throwing myself into the lions den huh. but i just cannot take it anymore#// i am at my limit i crossed it sometime in the first week of october
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In Chapter 12, Stella begins using more than one word at a time. The buttons are not all on a board yet, they are a few paces away from each other. So Stella is apparently hitting a button and then walking a few paces to hit another button.
I had never modeled two words together with Stella’s buttons. It never seriously crossed my mind that she might reach this significant language milestone.
I just want to take a moment here to acknowledge the absolute ego on this woman. Hunger truly seems to believe that she has made this incredible scientific breakthrough that nobody has considered before. She seems truly convinced that her dog has reached all the same language milestones as children and can now talk in multiple word combinations.
The more I thought about Stella’s new skills, the more it actually made sense.
The more I thought about wanting my dog to be able to communicate with speech, the more I convinced myself it was true.
First Stella pointed out that we were late for our normal walk, and now she is requesting it.
Storytelling.
She not only combined words and modified her message so appropriately, she also engaged in one of the first actual short conversations we had. Normally, Stella told us what she wanted or what she was thinking, and we would respond. This time, she heard and saw my response that I was not going to feed her right then and replied to it by saying "love you no."
This is literally the equivalent of dog owners who post to reddit saying, “My dog pissed on my bed out of spite”.
In Chapter 13, Hunger moves all the buttons to a board.
I was not giving Stella treats or any sort of reward besides the natural response to her communication when she explored her new board setup. Even though extrinsic rewards like treats may seem beneficial, research actually shows that providing external motivation can hinder long-term intrinsic motivation in humans. Recent analyses in the areas of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation has shown that, "128 experiments led to the conclusion that tangible rewards tend to have a substantially negative effect on intrinsic motivation. When institutions, families, schools, businesses, and athletic teams, for example, focus on the short-term and opt for controlling people’s behavior, they do considerable long-term damage."
This is so incredibly misguided. Hunger cannot recognise the actual reinforcement she is providing Stella. She will only accept that the reinforcement is an intrinsic desire to communicate with speech, completely disregarding any communication already happening that is actually relevant for the species at hand. She once again cites human-specific research and immediately supplants it onto dog behaviour as if it’s 1:1. If we were to talk about intrinsic motivation in dogs, I doubt very much that communication via speech – something dogs are not capable of – would come into it at all. There is already much discussion around motivation in dogs, but Hunger as usual has no interest in that.
Monkeys who explored the puzzle purely for curiosity and fun consistently outperformed the primates who were given raisins as a reward. I hypothesized that dogs would also have an overpowering intrinsic drive when given the chance to use it.
The ego on this woman. Hunger, you don’t need to hypothesise. There is existing research about dog behaviour and dog training and dog motivation and you refuse to look it up!
Stella could have given up. She could have continued pawing at her food dish and water bowl. She could have stood by the door whining whenever she wanted to go outside. She could have nudged the collar she wears when we take her to the beach to let us know she wanted the beach. But she did not do that. Her communication skills had already grown so much beyond simply requesting actions. She was motivated on her own to figure out the new locations of her words, so she could use them again. She needed her words back to share all the thoughts she had about what was happening, what she noticed, and what was missing from her routines.
Again, here Hunger is attributing Stella’s motivation to keep using the buttons as intrinsic desire to communicate. She does not acknowledge that the buttons now have a strong reinforcement history for Stella.
"Help," Stella said.
I started walking over to her board.
"Love you help." Stella wagged her tail as I approached.
"Love you, too, Stella. You need more help?" I started from the bottom and pushed each button while slowly saying each word.
We are in a magical thinking fantasy land now.
In addition to being back to her typical chatty self, Stella started using her board almost as a home base. She brought her toys to it, dropped them on the empty space, sat on it, and licked it frequently. Now she sometimes chose to nap lying down on the floor with her head on her board. Before moving her buttons, she never hung out in this area of the apartment. Stella was taking ownership of her device. She knew it was for her and wanted to spend time near it.
I hate this incredibly shallow analysis that just happens over and over again. Hunger is repeatedly incapable of viewing anything to do with Stella or the buttons as anything other than deliberate, intrinsically motivated communication with an AAC device. She refuses to try any other perspective or consider any other reasoning.
She navigated to each button so deliberately. And the phrase made sense for the current circumstances.
Of course it made sense – your brain is looking for any possible way to make Stella’s button usage make sense to you! You are so invested in this narrative that your brain won’t let you think about other possible explanations!
"Love you water," she said. Stella stood next to her beach collar.
Now Stella used “water” as another way to refer to the beach. Stella found a different way to ask for the beach when her desires still were not being met. This was an entirely new level of complexity.
ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!
In Chapter 14, Hunger introduces four new words: Stella, Jake, Christina, good. We delve even deeper into the nonsense. I am having to stop often now and rub my face in my hands because it is getting painful to read.
Stella was perfectly content with all the attention Sarah and Stephen were giving her. She did not need to say anything to receive what she wanted, but she left the couch anyway to walk across the room to let Sarah and Stephen know how much she cared for them. She literally went out of her way to tell them "love you."
She was also clear in her communication. She did not have a word for anyone besides Jake and me, but she used a word in combination with her eye contact and again joining them to specify she was addressing them. Stella did not limit herself to the words she had available. She combined words with gestures to convey even more specific meanings.
I'm sorry, but this is pure fantasy.
She even used her gesture of pawing at the door in the middle of her phrase to add to her message, which confirmed that the words she was saying were intentional.
Confirmed it was intentional how??? How is her stopping to paw at the door evidence that Stella's word choice and order is intentional?
Chapter 15 is when Hunger starts posting about Stella on the internet. She has a story about leaving Stella with a dog sitter and Stella using the buttons to show complete awareness of what was going on. It feels very embellished like most of these stories. It feels like a lot is being left out.
She also claims to have 15 words at this time, but I have lost count. Originally it was three, then six more and then it was supposed to be another six but two had to be replaced, which should total total 13. So I don’t understand. Hunger adds six more in this chapter: want, look, park, happy, mad, and bed.
Research shows that puppies as young as six weeks old respond to human social gestures such as pointing.
Hey look, a reference to some actual dog research! Will we see her rely more on this and stop comparing Stella to disabled children? The answer is no. She continues a couple pages later to compare Stella to disabled children.
Stella picked up on "want" incredibly quickly. From this very first attempt using it, she continued pairing "want" with her requests to go outside, play, eat, go to the beach. Since Stella had heard us say "want" so frequently, and since Stella already had such strong abilities to combine words, she could incorporate "want" into her vocabulary seamlessly.
Um, how? How are we sure that Stella comprehends the meaning of the word "want" and is using it deliberately? It was just added to the board, but apparently Stella has seamlessly included it into her vocabulary. This is such a hollow explanation. It's basically just like saying, she was pressing the button so she knew what it meant. End of story.
She would wake up in the morning, say "bed eat" or "bed outside." In other words, "I’m done sleeping, now I want to eat." She eventually added three words to the sequence to say phrases like "bed eat outside" or "bed outside eat." Or she would come in from me taking her out first thing in the morning then say, "bed outside eat," letting me know all the steps of her morning routine, spontaneously.
Kill me. Kill me. Kill me! Do I need to keep explaining this? It’s storytelling. It’s all storytelling.
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Can pure-blood vampires survive in outer space? We already know they can withstand being in freezing temperatures and underwater when Karlheinz dumped Shuu at the North Pole for failing school and Subaru into the sea for breaking his statue of himself. Learning about this information I have to admit, Karlheinz has top notch parenting anyone should follow. (Jk ofc)
ohhh intresting question.
SPACE VAMPIRES!!!
So being in space we gotta figure out what minimum standards we gotta say they hit to maybe be able to vibe in space. If you have any other thoughts or think I've missed something lemme know and I'll edit the post or make a part 2!
Low O2
They can survive asphyxiation...maybe. They "don't have heartbeats" so we know they don't have a human circulatory system maybe I think there's something there maybe just too low to be detected by humans. The Mukamis didn't grow new organs so they must do something. We know everything has a transport system even your cells and I've thought about what could work for a vampire with what I know. You can't have even a single celled organism (e.g bacteria, viruses, yeast) without something in them to move nutrients and waste about. When it gets to multicellular organisms like vampires or humans they can't just drink blood and vibe that blood has to be broken into parts to be used for different things and has to go to different areas....do full-blooded vampires have asses or do they just have urethras because liquid diet? Question for another day.
Diaboys bleed. Full stop, they do it's part of certain changing methods apparently and very obvious in Cordelia's death scene. They can bleed and bleeding is bad for them. We know they die from things other than silver to the heart wounds but revival is more likely to work in those cases. I think we've seen either Laito, Reiji, or both point out how absurd some of the rumours on how to kill vampires are as that would kill anyone. Either that or I'm thinking or Hotel Transylvania. They have to have something moving shit around and the fact the founders had a disease that killed them and the full-blooded vampires have blood, means they use it. And blood can't move off spite there is something moving it. So why could their heartbeat not be heard? It's smaller or slower or in a different position. In my opinion anyway.
If it's smaller that's entirely possible but has some issues. I have yet to look up the minimum size a heart could be to move blood through a 6ft tall dudebro, maybe they have a lot of valves? Not my favorite theory on it's own. Slower has a good backbone. The heart would be large enough to pump effectively but wouldn't need to due to their cells not demanding as much O2. Maybe they're yeast or something and can use CO2? Different position...no. I really don't see this being the case with how you can kill em but I wanted to list it, rule of three and stuffy. For the sake of my headcannons we're going to mix the smaller and slower theory. This doesn't necessarily mean they need O2 at all they could use CO2 already inside their bodies.
So the O2 deprevation may not kill them, unless they need some level of it. BUT pressure.
Pressure (pushin' down on me)
So, first biggy we can't explain off is pressure for two main reasons. Assuming you're human (sorry for assuming your taxonomy like that) when you first are released into space any and all gas in your body expands to match your inside pressure to your outside pressure. Then you go boom basically. If you survive that then the fluid in your body will literally evaporate due to the pressure, swelling you up like you're Violet Boregarde. I don't believe this is survivable for a vampire.
They have blood, they have tissue, they have cells. They aren't super dense metal they're made of tissue, more durable sure but tissue. So their bodies would burst. But what if they were in a pressurized suit, well then they ain't surviving outer space but I'll get to that at the end sit down.
RADIATION!
So vampires don't get cancer, they have advanced healing meaning they are way less likely to get cancer. All healing is, is cell growth. Cell growth that's too fast is where DNA copying mistakes are made hence cancer, basically. So vampires cells have something to prevent mutations better then us like the bacteria Deinococcus radiodurans. Radiodurans has a increased DNA stability to radiation so radiation can't kill the cells as easily as it takes much more of it to effect the DNA. And these dudes survive radiation worse then what's already on earth so it is probably not to survive radiation, more so to prevent DNA damage. In theory these bacteria will survive low orbit in space.
So vampires could have this in a stronger form and survive the radiation further out like that maybe? But it's also the burns that could maim or kill them but that's not concrete to me yet.
Temperature
The reason the cold is bad for you is that it slows the enzymes in your cells, an enzyme is what speeds up chemical reactions in your body to a speed that allows you to live so if they go you go.
Shu can survive the North Pole, so he can survive with reduced enzyme speeds which lines up with the slower heart beat thing. But space is colder than that. I don't think they could survive becoming a popsicle or if they do, it's not exactly thriving more so not dying yet.
But space is also HOT, get too close to the sun it's hot, or too close to a planet and gravity pulls you in and you start burning up in the atmosphere. We know heat kills these fuckers via Richter's presumed death and Cordelia's first death shows it.
So they dead on this front to.
So no space suit they're dying. But what about just long term space life in the ISS or something?
Astronaut Vampires?
One of the many reasons humans can't do space forever is largely due to your tissue losing density and getting too weak. With the diaboys faster healing they wouldn't be losing cells and replace them fast. But, the lack of gravity also plays a part in reduced density (I think, my boyfriend does physics so if I've sent this to him after posting I'm gonna be so embarrassed if I'm wrong).
The gravity part is what stumps me. They would lose some level of bone density but how fast? They must be denser to be able to smash in walls like Subaru. So maybe they can lose more before being too damaged?
Plus they still need blood. As much as they'd probably hate to admit they do actually need to somewhat rely on humans.
hmm... I went into this thinking they could live in a space station permanently. But I don't think even that's possible.
Point is space makes everyone their bitch except space bears basically.
#reiji sakamaki#diabolik lovers#shu sakamaki#ayato sakamaki#diabolik lovers headcanon#kanato sakamaki#laito sakamaki#subaru sakamaki#vampire lore#vampire#funfact these tags are edits because i forgot to add them when i posted like a dumbass
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going back to ur castle kids au post made me think a little more abt how jealous hunter would get of gus's friendship with willow and how he might make excuses to follow gus to join the flyer derby team at school esp after hearing willow's team captain.
so instead of huntlow finding comradery with one another, they are now so completely competative with one another.
"oh captain wants us to do 30 laps? that's baby scout training. i can do 100 and not break a sweat"
"ok caleb! you want to just warm up? that's fine! the rest of us will do our laps and then get started on our drills! Have fun! :)"
just getting absolutely in each other's faces sometimes but its never vindictive or mean. i think they might be tactless sometimes but it more like just feeding into the other's intensities like two dogs on opposite sides of a street to see who can bark the loudest and longest.
it really becomes less about gus over time and more about just one-upping each other and riling one another up. i just think its really funny to think about how they obviously respect each other abilities and think about each other all the time but neither of them will ever say anything about it because hunter's too proud to admit it, and willow knows if she ever brought it up, her prev crush of the gg will come up and that can never EVER be mentioned in front of him.
like hunter's huffing and puffing that willow's so good at talking to the team constuctively and he "complains" how clearly she's so thoughtful, and wise, and strong, and really intuitive as a leader but he's the golden guard so he's clearly got more tools under his belt as a leader and he could take the time to show her some pointers ha ha ha
or willow's grumbling about how hunters always so honest about giving compliments to the team and he never fails to execute the play perfectly and he's such a good flyer, its so nice to have someone so clearly passionate about flyer derby because his cute gaptooth shows every time he smiles at the team, but she's clearly got more background in flyer derby and he's "just a bit cocky for her taste" (note: never bothered her b4 when he was just the gg)
i just really love the idea of huntlow rivalry like recognition of the self through the other (mortifying so now i'm racing you to the cafeteria to grab the last appleblood juice for gus) and mutually becoming a little obsessed with each other.
I am FUELED by the idea of Castle Kids AU huntlow rivalry. Like there are a lot of lovely reasons for Willow to strive to become the toughest strongest version of herself (to protect her friends and whatnot.) But there's something very chaotic and funny about her being partly motivated by pure spite. Gotta knock this cocky bitch off his high horse. (Griffin? Staff?? Whatever, she's gonna knock his ass off something or die trying.)
I love to think of Willow being involved in an antagonistic dynamic that doesn't make her feel small, but rather it just encourages her to hype herself up in order to prove him wrong. Because she already found him a bit snobby to begin with so has wanted to show him up for quite some time. She is mortified by the fact that she originally had a little crush on him (before she was made aware of what a chilly jerk he was.) so now she makes a point to stubbornly disagree with everything he says, just to prove to herself that there's not even an ember of that flame left. Of course she's awesome. Because the Golden Guard doesn't believe so, and he's never had a halfway decent opinion on anything in his life. Fuck that guy. Plus he's not even that cute.
Whether the two of them like it or not, in any universe, they're kinda destined to have this spark of mutual understanding very early on. (Like how they were having full out conversations with their eyes in ASIAS after knowing eachother for a day.) But it's like. On a subconscious level. They don't realize that they're enjoying this little rivalry even though they'll insist they don't care for each other and yet it never even occurs to them to try to cut the other deep with a remark that would actually hurt. They both understand feeling worthless too intimately to inflict it on anyone else. However there is no harm in getting a little competitive when the person you can't stand has this annoyingly smug look on their annoyingly pretty face that you're just itching to wipe clean.
I think when this whole feud over Gus started off, Hunter didn't even see Willow that often, not that he was going out of his way to do so. Willow wasn't in the castle very much. The Emperor's Coven doesn't exactly supply extra rooms for friends and family. (An exception was made for Gus as Perry was a single dad so Gus had nowhere else to go.) Usually Willow stays at home with Harvey. But she'll show up at the castle a few days a week to visit Gilbert when he has a free moment from his duties and she'll hang around until the evening when Harvey picks her up. Occasionally she'll stay the night.
Gilbert's room happens to be directly across from Hunter's. So when Willow does stick around, she has the misfortune of being Hunter's neighbour. (💘😡)
Usually when Gilbert is busy, Willow will hang around with Gus. Hunter gets very annoyed that he's usually unavailable to butt in between them and establish his friendship because he's carrying out Golden Guard duties.
I think Willow's crush was still kinda there when she first showed up, because she never really got the chance to interact with him, and she was way too shy to approach him herself. However it was immediately stamped out when he found her wandering the castle hallways one day.
"Oh. It's you." He had said, his expression hidden beneath that mask. Willow swore she picked up a hint of distaste in his tone but she wasn't going to dwell on that.
"It's me! Hi!" She had answered hurriedly, a little flustered that he apparently knew who she was. "I've got a name too. It's-"
"Everyone has names." Interrupted the Golden Guard, confusingly snippy. "Are you lost? Should I return you to your father?"
Some of the charm Willow had always heard in his voice drained away.
She didn't like the insinuation that she had to be shepherded around like a child.
"I'm just exploring."
"This castle is not the place for that."
That was a lie. Willow had heard all about Gus venturing around every nook and cranny of this old place. And she knew for a fact that the Golden Guard sometimes tagged along.
"But I guess your school still hasn't taught the lesson about respecting the Emperor's home."
Oh. Bitch.
"Are you..." Willow began uncertainly, gobsmacked by the audacity. "Are you seriously making fun of me for being in school?"
The Golden Guard shrugged jauntily, before polishing his gloves knuckles against his uniform. "When I was your age, I was already serving the Emperor." He declared, the words dripping with pride.
"When you were my age?!" Willow spluttered, incredulous. "You mean last year?!"
"It's a significant amount of time!"
"It really isn't."
He had gotten huffy then and strode away, his ridiculous cloak dramatically flapping as he departed.
Alright. Willow had been made insecure before but she just simply couldn't summon that emotion this time. Not with this guy. Because, frankly put, he was fucking stupid. She was fourteen, where the fuck else should she be but at school?
It became more obvious to her over time that he didn't turn up his nose at her specifically, but the whole world. He was just so much better than everyone, wasn't he? He was so obnoxious, just his presence alone made Willow livid. He wasn't like Boscha or Amity (sometimes), as he wasn't really mean about it but....Titan, she could feel self importance radiating off him.
If nobody was gonna show him up, then she supposed she would just have to do it herself. His smugness was maddening.
I like to imagine that Willow does not see Hunter's face until they're really down bad in the throes of this flyer derby antagonism. He'll ditch the uniform and the cloak during practise but the mask is always there. It's a barrier Hunter establishes between the two, to convince himself that she's nothing but a civilian. He only goes maskless around higher ups of the Emperor's Coven, the occasional scout and those close to his heart (Gus) and Willow is none of these things. She's not important to him.
She is not important to him.
And maybe the mask makes him feel more confident. Which is really useful during his interactions with Willow. It's freeing to know she can't see his expression.
Plus she's really pretty (an objective observation! Hes not blind for Titan's sake.) while he's....not. So he'd prefer to leave his appearance anonymous for now.
They also don't do first names. Obviously Willow has known Hunter's name since before she met him cuz Gus talks about him nonstop, but she never refers to him as anything but "Golden Guard." Or sometimes just "Guard" if she's flirting antagonising him.
When they first met, Willow was referred to as nothing but "You" or "Her" or occasionally "Park's daughter" when she wasn't around. It bothered her. She liked to be called something.
So, after begrudgingly allowing him to join her derby team, (he was a good flyer and she hated it.) she made one thing perfectly clear.
Willow strode up to Hunter with a rolled up jersey and shoved against his chest so forcefully he nearly topped over.
"I know you might be used to taking the lead, Guard." She said. "But this is my team. You are my player and I am your captain."
"Captain." He had tested the word on his tongue. To Viney and Skara, it may have sounded pleasantly cheerful but Willow knew better. As this was a boy without a face, she had to pay special attention to the subtle lift and fall of his voice. She believed herself somewhat fluent in reading his signals by now.
He was humoring her and thinking himself so very decent for doing so. He was baiting her and she wasn't going to tolerate it. That one word expressed a challenge.
Why don't you show me what you got then?
Willow had every intention of doing so. The Golden Guard was going to do what she told him to do. And with the Titan as her witness, by the end of the week, she'd have him asking "how high?" if she ordered him to jump.
At first, Hunter only called her Captain sparsely. Like when she had gotten all up in his face, or when he was teasing her or being so Hunterishly annoying. "Captain" had become something he used to get under her skin. It made her bristle with irritation.
He was always sending her some kind of message when he used it. But as time went on and it became a far more frequent nickname, Willow started to lose her grip on what those messages meant.
Sometimes when he said it, his voice was strangely soft. Sometimes it was loud and enthusiastic. And sometimes it was so completely neutral that it made Willow feel funny. He was not using that term to antagonise her. But rather...it seemed like "Captain" was simply the nickname he had decided suited her.
She would never tell anyone just how much she liked it. But she often wondered when he had chosen to stop using the name as ammo. Or....the shift had been so gradual...had he even realized....?
But yeah. When Hunter came strutting up to join her team, Willow anticipated that he would be difficult. She had geared herself up for somebody who would challenge her authority at every corner. And she was prepared to fight fang and nail to keep him in his place.
So she was very surprised to find that....he didn't actually do that? Sure he made a point to show off and boast about how easy Willow's team warm up exercises were. ("It's my Coven Training. But I guess you wouldn't be familiar with those kind of brutal drills, huh Captain?") But when Willow gives him orders, he follows them. And then he proceeds to blow her away by doing what he's told expertly. And he has the audacity to do a cocky little gesture at her while doing so.
He's perfect. She can't stand him.
Willow does everything within her power to outdo him. Which results in her pushing herself during practise until her bones ache and she smells awful.
Something Willow doesn't take the time to realize is that Hunter is trying just as hard, if not harder to outdo her.
It straight up isn't about Gus anymore. The issue with Gus was like the training wheels on the bicycle of their rivalry. It wouldn't have been able to get moving without them but at some point the training wheels have been removed and they haven't noticed yet because the bike is still rolling.
Like. Seriously. Are you guys really arguing over who's gonna give Gus a piggyback home for Gus's sake or is it because you both wanna show off how strong you are to the other?
Gus is aware of this and quite frankly, he doesn't give a fuck about the reason. He just wants the piggy back.
It's so funny to think about how Hunter was originally miffed that Willow was taking away all of Gus's attention. But at this stage, Hunter and Gus will be having a sleepover and Hunter will spend all their quality time ranting about his feud with Willow.
"Dude you realize that you're like....obsessed with her?" Gus interrupts.
Hunter vehemently denies this.
Meanwhile Willow has been spending the night at the castle a lot more frequently lately. Who knows why this is.
Probably not because when the three of them return home from practise, Gus splits for his room at least 20 doors down, so there's a whole hallway walk where it's just her and Hunter.
They never really spend any time alone. Why would they? Not like either of them want to. But they have no option in this case. But she supposes it's....tolerable. They're both too tired to be antagonistic so they just....talk.
On one occasion, as Willow reaches her room and her hand rests upon the handle, she swallows and says something she's never said to him.
"Goodnight, Guard."
She can't see his reaction. But he freezes where he stands, his grip on his own door handle tightening. He doesn't dare look back at her.
"Night, Captain."
A jolt of nerves strikes down both of their systems as they turn in for the night without another word.
Something is beginning to change. But they cannot put their finger on what.
All they know is that person in the room across from theirs makes them behave like a fool.
#sorry if this is all over the place#this ask was so good that i was like ''oh god can i even answer this right?'' and just ended up word vomiting#idk if its even fun to read
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Rules: post the first lines of your last 10 fics posted to Ao3. (Sort by date posted.) If you have less than 10 fics posted, post what you have.
i love being tagged in these sm so thank you @thiamsxbitch <33
i only have 4 and 3 of them are wips, but i do have an added extra story on my wattpad, which is under the same username as my ao3 (i won't include it though, since this only says ao3).
jealousy and ied
Theo was missing liam more than ever and it was all his fault. 'Why did i have to say that?' he thought to himself as he laid awake in the backseat of his truck. They could've had it all and been normal, or as normal as you can be in beacon hills but theo didn't believe his was good enough for him and now he couldn't even smell his sweet-like scent. All over a stupid fight. One stupid fight.
*flashback*
"You know she was flirting with you theo?" Liam said as he sat in the passenger seat watching theo come to a red light. " I know, I just didn't care," theo spoke turning his head. Liam's expression changed almost suddenly and he seemed angry for some reason but theo never seemed to know why liam was angry. "But she was like really hot!" He growled.
- this was my first ever fic, so everything was up in the air 😅😅
the way i loved you
Theo had gotten out, he'd made something of himself when nobody had believed in him. Nobody but Liam believed he could do it, but he managed to do it and make something for himself.
A couple of months after the war, Beacon Hills began to fall into a sense of calm, which was strange for Beacon Hills, but people had began to understand and accept the supernatural as one of them. Liam didn't need a protector anymore, he was more than capable of handling himself. He didn't need Theo anymore, so Theo decided that it was his time to leave, he only stayed for Liam after all. It broke his heart, but he did was best for the two of them, he did what was best for everyone. Stiles and Malia hated his guts, Corey and Mason wanted nothing to do with him, Scott would never fully trust him, why would he? Even after all these years, Liam was the only one who cared, the only one who trusted him, but it was starting to tear the pack apart, he left to protect Liam and now it was all his fault.
- this is just pure agnst 🤭🤭
fight or flight
Liam and Theo had become roommates a couple weeks after the war had ended.
Liam had found out about Theo’s home situation during a stakeout and insisted he moved in.
The two boys had been observing in the preserve, trying to watch out for any sign of Monroe in case she was to return, per Scott's orders.
This was when they were spotted by one of the deputy's.
He had come up to the truck and banged on the window, flashing his torch in their faces.
"I've told you multiple times to move along. You can't park here," the deputy said.
Theo hadn't said anything, just nodded his head and left.
He could feel Liam's eyes on him.
He could feel him watching him.
He obviously had something he wanted to say.
Theo slowed down, the amber lights slowly turned red.
"Liam you clearly want to something, so say it," Theo sighed.
"Why didn't you tell anyone you're homeless?" Liam asked, his voice sounding hurt.
"It's not like anyone would care, Liam. Plus it's not like I don't deserve it," Theo snapped.
- this was purely out out spite, sorry jaque 💕💕
the heart wants what it wants
Theo had been one of Liam's very first friends, beside Mason.
The two had met when they were in the first grade.
Liam had been sat by himself one lunchtime when Theo had noticed and decided to join him, offering him half his sandwich.
"Hi, my name's Theo," he said, dumping his lunchbox on the cafeteria table.
"I'm Liam," the other boy replied, taking the sandwich out of Theo's grasp.
They'd been inseparable ever since that day, where one was, the other wouldn't be far off.
Growing up, sleepovers were a regular thing for the pair, but as they got older they found themselves wanting to be with eachother every moment of every day.
There was something different between the two, although neither of them could point out exactly what it was.
The more time they spent together, the more they found themselves craving one another's company and affection.
Theo had been the first to realise why this was.
- my writing got better... sorta ;)
no pressure tags: @raekensthinker @ksbbb @wolfboy88 @sterekshipper-writer @piease-iove-me @monsternsmut @songbvrd @chasing-chimeras @marcelsdavina
or anyone else who wants to join in :)
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2, 11, and/or 30 for the ask game!
2. Favorite part of writing.
Aside from putting characters in situations, it's a dead tie between 'finding increasingly specific ways to describe something' and 'finding ways to sneak in jokes'.
11. Describe your writing process from scratch to finish.
Ooooh-OOOH. OH. Ok ok jot that down- what was that? Oh, okaaaay. Huh. That's a good start- what do you mean there's more? That's, no. No, I said we have other things that we're working on- okay, no, you're right that is a really good idea and it would be emotionally satisfying, Alright, I'll jot this down, but then we're definitely writing it this time, ok? We are going to focus, we will not leave another project unfinished- where are you going?
It's like that. But here's a more coherent answer.
Step 1- I have an idea. Perhaps it's a scene. Something I would like to see happen, out of pure need or a spiteful malaise from not seeing it happen, whichever.
Ex: I saw Mom City and the Finale and decided I hated what they did with Jamie's dad. I thought up a scene where Jamie and Roy talk about that.
Step 2- I spin the giant wheel in my brain. Without consulting me, it finds an unrelated topic. I then hold the first bit - the THING I want to write - up next to the second bit. I cross my eyes until I figure out what pattern exists between the two that my brain wants me to use.
Ex: The scene with Roy and Jamie talking about Jamie's dad + Roy going to therapy = There are two angry men in Jamie's life. Both of them have taken a step towards becoming better, but I only believe that one of them means it. Why?
Step 3- I start figuring out the whys. I think about which scenarios will strain the narrative. I find the uncomfy bits of dialogue that other authors skip over, and I make the characters talk about it at length until I figure out what the problem is. Slowly, a form comes together in the shape of a narrative. I usually have my climactic moments drafted from the start. I usually have a beginning. If I do not know the end, I find it soon enough. The rest I build with sticks. If dramatic moment one happens, what caused it? What tracks need laid to get me there. I sketch those in. Eventually, I have an outline.
Ex: The dissatisfaction from the end of season three becomes where the post season fic starts. The climactic bits breed out of the Roy Jamie conversation I began with. An ending takes shape- this is the final goal, the place I'd like my character to be. From there I work my way in, tying the moments together, until I can say 'yeah, that looks like a full story'.
Step 4- By exploring all of these scenarios and building a narrative architecture, a theme starts to emerge. I use that theme, and reflect it back on the vague bits I don't have written yet.
Ex: At this point I have realized that the entire impetus of the post-season fic is to stack ammo in the discussion of 'should Jamie's father be allowed back in his life?' The answer is no. What began as a simple comparison in step 2 has now become a multi-armed demon, fleshing out the motivations and backstories of every character it touches. The theme is family--born, found, and made--and so now every other character (Roy, Colin, Isaac, Sam, Keeley, Dani) has their family history being dragged into the light to serve as an example.
Step 5 - Legos. I have my outline (the sketch). I have my themes (the paint). Now I have to write it. Fuck. This step lasts forever.
Step 6 - I just keep trying. Because the story exists already, you know? It's not told, but it exists. I just have to keep putting in the work to make it into the physical world.
Step 7 - I print the things out and I scribble on them until I feel better. Then I take the scribbles, and I put them back into step 5.
Step 8 - Repeat steps 5-7 until you are out of legos. Then you are done, for now.
Step 9 - Walk around in a daze, feeling like you're about to cry. Keep repeating to people, "I can't believe it's over." It is never over. That feeling never truly goes away. You are forever surprised that you created something.
Step 10 - Become annoying to everyone you know by blogging about it online.
Ex: In progress
30. Favorite line you’ve ever written.
Oh, I have lots. Shameless self-plug though, everything I wrote about Moe on his quest to do spoken word poetry in chapter 1 of the post-season fic was a goddamn delight. Up to and including the Machiavelli quotes.
One of my other other favorite parts goes to Isaac in the epilogue. It is the bookend to Moe's poetry. I'm literally so excited about it.
Actually I take that back. I just realized I do have a favorite line, and it's a stupid one.
Right now my favorite line is a running joke, wherein I the author put in the placeholder '[whatever Higgins said]' into Roy's internal monologue about being a better person. This in regards to the scene in the finale where the Diamond Dogs talked about learning how to be better, not perfect. Higgins made some good points. I meant to go back and pull the quote from the episode. It was going to be in italics, the way you do when you're bringing back quotes into an internal monologue.
The only thing is I, uh. Did not do that. The more I thought about it, the more it made sense that Roy, who got the gist of what Higgins was saying, maybe didn't necessarily jot down the exact phrasing in his head, the way he does with other lines (the ones that are detrimental to his emotional health and well being.) Also it made me laugh. So now it's just peppered in sometimes, when Roy is trying to be a better person.
'Whatever Higgins said.'
Like I said at the start- I love to sneak in a joke.
#ask game#delightful questions!#thank you!!!#ask box is always open#fic: oh god you're gonna get it (you have not been given love)#ted lasso#roy kent#jamie tartt#leslie higgins#fuck jamie’s dad
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Just gonna weigh in on the Hogwarts Legacy drama real quick
If you've dipped your toes in the tag, you've seen what a storm it is. Also, if you follow my posts, you likely already know my thoughts. Still.
I'm someone who's not giving Rowling one cent ever again, and I'm not buying the game for that reason. If at some point, I have the opportunity to play the game without supporting Rowling, then I probably will, out of curiosity if nothing else, but I'm definitely not going out of my way. Of course, I can always use an emulator, which is an easy enough solution, but we'll see.
I've not played, but I've seen footage, including details about the whole controversy with the Goblins. I have my doubts that they were ever intended to be a stereotype, but the stereotype still exists and this game...does not help. One of the primary antagonists is a Goblin and so far as I can tell, they don't make him sympathetic or offer the option to side with him. They should have done that, especially considering how many eyes are on the Goblins right now. This game could have been a chance to at least try and "redeem" them. Seems like it failed on that end. Which probably means it will wind up doing more harm in the long run. (I'm not Jewish, so I'm not really qualified to speculate, but it would follow the pattern.)
There's also the Rowling issue. That being, she's an active transphobe doing real harm and the money that goes into her pocket is then spent on contributing to this harm. Which is why I'm not buying the game and I don't believe you should either. I'm not a trans woman, which is who she primarily targets, but I am nonbinary, so I know where I stand and I choose to stand with pride.
That said. I'm not going to say you're a bad person if you do choose to play the game. (Especially if you pirate it.) I won't decry you or proclaim that you're not an ally, because to be frank...that's not really for me to decide. I can't speak to the actions you've taken in the past, or will take in the future. Only you know if your conscience is clear. Only you know what your beliefs are and what you're willing to sacrifice for them. Some of the more dedicated boy-cotters are drawing a line in the sand, arguing that anyone who plays Hogwarts Legacy has chosen their side, and stands with Antisemites and Transphobes. To me, that's senseless, and not altogether helpful.
To such folks, I have to say that I think your heart is definitely in the right place, and I appreciate the passionate defense. But you're attacking the wrong people. In some cases, I've seen people posting major spoilers online without tagging them, purely out of spite. That's...not helpful, and it's very immature. Punishing the average fan for wanting to play #ThatWizardGame isn't going to do anything but ruin their day. It won't stop Rowling's agenda. Really, I'm not sure what can at this point. Bigots will continue to inflict harm upon the world regardless of whether or not a single video game from an already timeless franchise does well. The Harry Potter brand makes a metric fuckton of money and so does Rowling. That would still be true even if the game bombed. I'm not saying we shouldn't do our parts to fight back, but I live in a dystopian capitalistic society and it's also not lost on me that this was always a rigged fight.
Because there's no ethical consumption under unregulated capitalism.
I realize that's a meme at this point, and I've seen a lot of arguments about this very point. I'm not knowledgeable enough to comment about most of it. For instance, I won't comment on the game developers and whether or not Hogwarts Legacy should be successful for their sake. That's a debate that I don't know enough to participate in. But I have seen allies who make a very good point, that there's a difference between having to buy clothes that were made in a sweat shop because public nudity is not an option...and having to go without a game you want. Those two things are worlds apart. I'm also aware that the idea of "separating art from the artist" doesn't really fly when said artist is still alive, still profiting from our support, and still has a platform with which she is doing genuine harm.
However, it strikes me as odd that this one game is what everything rides on. Because countless people follow mega-corporations that they do not have to, despite being self-proclaimed allies of the minorities that these corporations have always harmed. I'm willing to bet that some of the boy-cotters do as well. If playing Hogwarts Legacy makes you a transphobe, and an antisemite...then it stands to reason that having a Disney Plus subscription makes you a homophobe, and a racist. Nobody has to support them. Oh, but you just really want to watch Star Wars, right? I could say the same thing about anyone who has an Apple device. While Smartphones have become the only real phone on the market, there are other brands available. What about Marvel, and the fiasco with Chris Pratt? See, this is what I mean. This is why I feel like (most of us) have no right to judge other people for a choice that, to them, probably seems as meaningless as watching a Disney movie. Even if you're totally clean and have no metaphorical skeletons in your pocket, I still think judging the people who do is a bad idea, and a waste of your time.
Media is not the same as things that are essential to life, but it's an all-encompassing aspect of our culture and for a lot of people, it's almost like a kind of addiction. I think blaming the people who consume the problematic media is pointing your finger in the wrong direction. Make no mistake, there are bigots who will support this game, and do so proudly, specifically because they agree with Rowling's crap, but that's not going to be everyone. There will be people on our side who play the game, and I think alienating them is just a terrible move, pragmatically speaking. This gets into a bigger discussion about radical beliefs versus moderate beliefs but again, I am a pragmatist. The majority of my political views do fall on the "radical" side, but if we abandon the "moderates" because they're not "doing enough"...the other side will swoop in to win them over. I get that it might be frustrating, that you might not respect someone who claims to be an ally but chooses to play HPHL anyway. But if you can stomach it, you should, because we're much more likely to recruit them.
So that's my advice. Don't die on this hill. Because even if it shouldn't, it makes us look like the bad guys.
One more thing, if you think the game looks objectively bad, then fair enough, but...I have to assume at least some of you are kidding yourselves, or trying to bash HPHL just for the sake of it. Graphically, the game is very advanced, and I don't think it make me a bigot to say that it's aesthetically pleasing. This reminds me lot of the people who pretend the books are retroactively bad and "always were." It makes it very difficult to take you seriously. Cash cows don't emerge from crappy books. Rowling doesn't have to be a good person to be a skilled writer. Bad people can have talents, and there's a reason that Harry Potter took off. It's a great series. For a lot of us, it's more than that.
I'm someone who had a #HardChildhood and I'm (probably, but not diagnosed) neurodivergent in various ways that resulted in fiction being my escapism from the trauma of real life, the Harry Potter books being my first real taste of reading and writing. Stories and their universes have always been my passion, and Harry Potter was the first. It's a part of who I am, and I know I'm not alone in that. I know there are Potterheads out there who can't begin to imagine trying to cut HP out of themselves, and don't feel like they should have to. The books didn't hurt anyone, right? The game isn't responsible for Rowling's bigotry. Well, no, but supporting the game does translate to supporting her, as unfair as that might be. To such people who have dug in their heels, I get it. I really do. It's hard. People mock you for it and infantilize you, but it really is hard. For some of us, it's like grappling with a childhood friend or family member who turns their back on us.
I've struggled with this a lot, wrestled with myself and gone back and forth. What my responsibility is as an ally, what it says about me that I'm still a Harry Potter fan. What I should do about #ThatWizardGame. (Or as some of the critics have dubbed it "Blood Libel: The Game. Which is definitely provocative but I admit, it got a dark chuckle out of me.) For instance, how should we interact with the game? Do we refuse to acknowledge it's existence? Would that even help? Again, it's going to burn across the internet like fireworks, no matter what we do. Giving it the silent treatment won't change that. Anymore than refusing to buy the game will stop Rowling from being rich. (Which is not to say we shouldn't still try, just that it feels a little hopeless sometimes.)
But on the other hand, is talking about the game and engaging with it in the fandom, discussing the plot and characters and so on...is that acceptable? Or is it a slap in the face to the Jewish and Trans communities? For instance, my blog gets a lot of anon messages, and I can already tell I'm going to get several of them about Hogwarts Legacy. (I've already gotten a few.) Is it wrong for me to respond? Does it "count" if I haven't initiated the conversation? What if I feel inclined to craft an OC for this particular era of the Potterverse? Is that bad? It's not as though I'll be making posts saying "And now a word from our sponsor, Nord VPN Hogwarts Legacy!" It's a tricky field to navigate, though I'm sure most people boycotting the game would tell me not to interact at all and stop overthinking it. Still, as this blog has spent the last few years talking about Hogwarts Mystery...is that any better? I can see how giving #ThatWizardGame exposure is a problem. Then again...this is Tumblr. I feel as though Tumblr exposure should probably come with an asterisk. It's a "dead" website that is the antithesis of any other platform building site.
What about Let's Plays? Do I unsubscribe from any channel that plays this game? Because plenty of Let's Players do this for a living and their paycheck depends on playing all of the topical games. I hear that there are Hogwarts Legacy streams that are hosting donations to support the Trans community. Which is a downright hilarious middle finger to Rowling, but on the other hand, that could just as easily be done with a different game. One way or another, I have a friend who's making a Let's Play and she's told me outright that she doesn't want to get involved in the drama. Which I consider to be more than fair. Some people just don't want to get involved in politics. It's true that abstaining from these discussions is lot easier the more privilege you have, but that doesn't erase a person's right to make that choice. Politics can be murder on a person's mental health. Is it wrong for me to support my friend as she enjoys the game? I genuinely don't know.
I don't believe that simply asking questions or engaging in conversations is inherently bad. I'm rarely sure about what I should do and in my experience, people who are always certain can still make mistakes, but they're far less likely to believe they do. I don't believe it makes me a bad person or a false ally to weigh the various factors. Having these conversations, (with each other, not the bigots) and having them politely and in good faith, is how we grow as people. It's how we communicate. It's how we unite against threats like bigotry. Facing these threats can take courage, and integrity. Which isn't always easy, but no one ever said doing the right thing was easy. Doesn't mean we shouldn't do it. Each and every day, we make choices, and we have to determine which ones are good or bad. In this case, though, addressing my fellow potter-heads, those waiting in line to buy the game, those who have an emotional connection to this universe as I do...I can only encourage you to follow the word of a man we're all quite familiar with. A man who is... a lot of things, but he was also extremely wise.
We have to choose between what is right and what is easy.
At the end of the day, here's my point. It's just a video game. To the critics, remember that before you go bullying people for choosing to play it. (Or at least cancel your Disney + subscription first.) Rowling's empire does not live or die on a few nerds sharing head-canons in the back alley of a hellsite like this. But to the players, ask yourselves if engaging with HPHL is actually worth it. If it means that much to you. A simple video game isn't worth supporting antisemitic subtext from a transphobic creator and I think, deep down, a lot of you know that. There are plenty of other open world RPGs you can use to scratch that itch. Go play Witcher, go play Skyrim. If it's the Potterverse you're missing, just reread the books. (I assume you already have them.) But the game also isn't worth infighting among people who are basically on the same side. There's a difference between being a bigot and just being a nerd. Let's all try and remember who the real enemy is here, and do our part to resist them.
Because it really is just a video game. And these problems are much bigger than whether or not you boycott it.
(I welcome discussion in comments and reblogs, or if you want to go into my inbox, feel free. Let's just keep things friendly, or at least civil. So long as you stand with the Trans and Jewish communities, we are all on the same side.)
#Harry Potter: Hogwarts Legacy#Harry Potter#J.K. Rowling#Anti J.K. Rowling#Antisemitism#Transphobia#Allyship#Politics#Disney#Capitalism#Hogwarts Legacy#Long Post#Just one cat's opinion#Blair Speaks
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