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l3monlem0n · 19 days

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Some Murder Drones Episode 7 screenshots I thought were interesting and my thoughts on them :>

SPOILER WARNING!!!! is spoilering

Nori, despite being a middle aged woman with a child, appears to be an Otaku or otherwise likes "edgy" and "scene" stuff, as well as listening to nightcore, very much like her daughter. Good for her tbh you're never too old to have fun

She also has a photo of Khan and what I can only assume is baby Uzi, though it appears to have blue eyes, but maybe it's just the lighting. Still very cute she has a pic of her husband

As well as all the previously mentioned Otaku stuff, she also drew herself as an anime character. She has a skinsona. Phenomenal (pos)

Nothing much here, just Uzi coughing up blood. Girl got the goop (gore) inside of her already

Lab Space. Apparently the Church was just down there and not even the humans know why. The canonicity of this is questionable; it could just be a joke

OT, as per google, stands for "Occupational Therapy". Makes sense for the context, and makes the bottom text funnier

"Fun Time To Universe Big Crunch: 87". The Big Crunch is a hypothetical way the Universe could end, where the universe folds on itself and shrinks into a single point. 87 "what" I don't know. If it's months, that 7 years and 3 months

Honestly the Murder Drones lore is super confusing. I think what this is trying to say is that every other Zombie Drone is doing poorly, (Except for Yeva), they are trying to reactivate 002 (Nori) via the USB. I'm not sure what this means. Maybe they only got the results they wanted from the two of them, and are trying again with Nori since she was the only other one that worked (also why they got Yeva when she failed; this may all be referring to how the episode opened up) Also, the date says SER. As revealed in the episode Cabin Fever, Copper-9 has months that Earth does not. SER most likely stands for Seramorris, the month revealed in that episode

Looks like the "bad event" wasn't the first one. Certainly was the last one though lol

Just a good pic of ghost/hologram V with the scary stuff. Might use this as a wallpaper

You can literally see the hole in his neck where N bit him in...

...And it's to the point his HEAD FALLS OFF. (including because I didn't notice the first time around)

Yup, the idea that Uzi became the Admin for N and V is completely true. I wonder what would've happened if she didn't, since Cyn didn't react whatsoever

friggin bug (very pos)

You would not believe how difficult it was to get a good pic of this (I'm using snipping tool lmao). Always a pleasure to see Uzi's doodles. Things her gun can do (upper right):

NOT judge her

Forced prom date (?)

Allows her to say she had friends before she frickin murdered them with sci-fi machinery

The cut off text at the bottom: Plan B: Normal gun + Shoot really fast

This is while Tessa is looking for something in the lockers. Claws, chains, magnets, Wings, and scribbled "HELP". Looks like the lockers were all specifically to hold the infected worker drones. Oof

We are in the future now baby. We have rererererereCAPTCHA. Funnily enough, it still couldn't stop a robot

There is a message board where someone who doesn't like robots is talking. They also are scared. Also no one else is using this system, which is unsurprising. "Ur aight ;)" Wait is the winky face intentional foreshadowing? Or unintentional?

We get the names of a bunch of other Worker Drones. Unfortunately for all 029 fans, her name was not visible. (also can someone tell me what "JWEB" could be short for?) And Yeva is said to have a patch. That may be the crucible thing idk

Cyn (which I will be calling this version Skyn [Skin + Cyn]) apparently took of the space suit just to give Doll the Withered Foxy jumpscare. Honestly really terrifying. If this photo was teased before release I think the fandom would've exploded

Just N being a good boy :3

The MDs, Cyn's pets. Nori refers to them as "Nerfed" so the "Entity" can ensure control, and says they were made to destroy other hosts. I don't know why Cyn would want them dead, but I'm not the loremaster here. YouTube line is there because I couldn't be bothered after the Railgun image

Probably already confirmed, but doubly confirmed that a symptom of the Solver is giving Drones organic insides. A Worker Drone body with a rib cage and guts. I wonder what would happen if the infection continued uninterrupted (also R.I.P. Doll I loved you :frown:)

I'm sure everyone noticed, but when Uzi tried to manipulate Tessa, the ERROR noticed appeared. Already hinting Tessa is not all she says she is

Apparently the Solver can create Black Hole Saws. Interesting development (Blackhole Blitz)

I know most people (I think) see this as a joke and N just being a bit of goofball. But honestly, I think he did it intentionally to shock Cynuzi and give Nori a chance. In the Pilot, he licked V's sword to surprise her too, which means he isn't unfamiliar with doing something weird and surprising for the advantage

Skyn eating Doll's core. R.I.P. Doll again. Seriously, was that Doll in Core Form like Nori was? Or was Nori a fringe case because she was "Exorcised" and this is just a regular core? Questions, questions. Also yeah the Solver also gives you a Core. Fun

This tag makes me think that this body is Cyn's actual body. Not longer a hologram, but her actual body from the mansion. The reason Tessa gave N, J, and V their names was because that was the first letter of their Serial Designation (she's very uncreative). However, Cyn's tag was slightly faded, which meant her SD couldn't be seen, so Tessa gave her the name "Cyn" after her P/N, even though the other 3 already have the same P/N as Cyn (Tessa, again, is very uncreative)...

...and for some reason, Cyn or the Solver, which ever theory you subscribe to, decided to wear Tessa as a skin suit for some twisted reason. It did help her with the Captcha. Also scary because this doesn't have the right proportions for an adult (unless Cyn really forced that skin on), which leads me to believe that this is a Younger Tessa, and she faked having an older voice. Maybe I shouldn't call her my wife... I'm sure Eldritch J is still available :^)

(Seriously, the eyes are burnt out, leaving two eye holes over the visor, so she gives herself two X eyes so it looks better. Also yeah we found out what that thing on the "It Came From Copper-9" poster came from. It really was Cyn or Skyn)

Just a frame of the final...frame... for coolness. I'm probably also going to use this for a background. Also, this is definitely Copper-9. You can see the ring and ringless moon together on the right. Uzi somehow got sent to orbit after falling in the meat hole

Well that was all for now. This series has consumed me entirely, body and soul, and I wouldn't have it any other way. Goodbye and goodnight

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aleksanderscult · 2 months

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My unpopular opinion for today? The Darkling was terrible at manipulating people

And that mostly comes from the author's incompetence on the matter.

Back in 2016-2017 on Tumblr she was asked which SoC character finds difficult to write and she replied "Kaz. Because he's clever and cunning".

So for her, writing manipulative characters is difficult and actually explains the reason why the Darkling's "efforts" seemed comedic in S&B.

I still remember how posts from 2020-2021 expressed bafflement about where did the Darkling actually manipulated Alina in S&B.

His first, full conversation with her? He lied to her three times and tried to figure her out. What her views are, what does she know about him, has her judgement been clouded by other people's opinions of him, how she feels about her supposed destiny. Apparently she failed in each one of them and the Darkling decided to withhold information since he didn't find her trustworthy. It was too early and she was too immature.

I've written about this scene here but I MUST put this reblog here as well because it's ✨gold✨

So for anyone who believes he should tell her the truth from the very beginning uhh....have you ever been to a job with a hierarchy?

(You can also read a very good meta about their first conversation here from @theweeklydiscourse)

His additional conversations with her? They lasted only ten minutes (maximum) and he mostly tried to soothe her fears and assure her that since she'll have the Stag she won't have to worry about the strength of her power. So, me, the reader, am I supposed to think "That walk that he took with her and lasted for five minutes was so suspicious"?. Ahh...ok.

That first kiss? Boy wasn't it awkward.

It was like I watched two high school kids being kissed for the first time💀

I'm sorry but if that was manipulating then he didn't succeed at making the reader say "Now that seems shady" but wonder "What the fuck was that?". The same thing Alina wondered apparently.

If he wanted to manipulate Alina, why didn't he stay longer with her? Why didn't he spend more time with her? The guy was missing for days from the Little Palace doing his duties and even Alina said that she didn't see him much. So where was the manipulation?

To the first, awkward kiss where he lost control for the first time?

To their Winter fete make out where he almost lost his pants?

(Homeboy couldn't even control his own feelings apparently)

Leigh describes him as "manipulative" but we have no context.

So basically it's like "Source? Trust me bro".

We only have a couple of characters accuse him of manipulation but no scenes to base the argument.

His attempts, in comparison to other truly manipulating characters in fiction (like Varys, Tom Riddle, Petyr Baelish, Tyrion Lannister, the Joker), seem honestly pathetic.

When the author doesn't know how to write such things then her "manipulative" characters and their attempts seem cartoonish, cringe and childish. There's no real danger to make the reader feel like there's something wrong. His scenes with her in the Little Palace only included attempts from his part to calm down her worries and their kisses only made the reader say "Oh he fell for her!" (Which is kind of funny because this is exactly what happened).

The only instance where he was manipulative and good at it was at the orphanage scene where he lied about the Grisha children and his plans with them in order to draw Alina out.

Besides that? Nada.

And it's actually strange to me when people call him "so manipulating" and it makes me think "Have you truly not read other manipulative characters from other authors to compare?"

Because, personally, I have and the Darkling seems like an idiot in comparison.

And this is not me trying to water down the Darkling but say how Leigh Bardugo is so incompetent in writing manipulative characters and try to present him as a "master" of it.

Because he was not.

(P.S. the fact that Leigh once said "I don't want my bad guys to carry a label saying "I'm evil" because I think the real bad guys are much more tactful in their attempts" is actually laughable considering how she gave her bad guy a label when she called him "the Darkling", gave him black clothes and a fearful reputation from the very first chapter. That man really didn't stand a chance from the beginning lmao)

#the darkling #if you're an author and don't know how to write manipulative characters then don't create them in the first place #otherwise the result will seem ridiculous and that character will look like a clown #pro darkling #aleksander morozova #pro aleksander morozova #leigh bardugo #alina starkov #shadow and bone #grishaverse #grishaverse trilogy

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peninkwrites · 2 months

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(putting my very long, very personal ramble under a readmore so folks can avoid it) (this won't include any of my plans for going forward or for my writing but I'm not going anywhere so don't worry about that. love to you all.)

A little disclaimer: If you have zero context for what I'm talking about, apologies for not explaining in depth, but this post won't be relevant to you otherwise. All you really need to know is that it seems that Wilbur Soot is an abuser, and Shubble came forward and talked about it recently. He was not named, but from what she shared, I believe that was who she was talking about. I don't say this to speculate, and if you disagree, I'm not here to argue over it, but it's enough for me personally to not to want to support him indefinitely, save for Shubble explicitly saying she wasn't talking about him.

Additionally, these thoughts are some incredibly personal and self-centered rambling. It does not reflect where my priorities lie, with supporting Shelby for coming forward above all else, but other people have said that much better than I have, and this post is really just a place for me to vent some of my feelings.

I prided myself on not falling prey to “parasocial relationships.” I didn’t get invested in the personal lives of content creators, only in their creative works. I thought this protected me somehow. I knew next to nothing about Wilbur Soot’s personal life, but I admired him deeply as a writer and empathized with him as an artist. I projected so heavily onto his character and did so for over three years. When I waited for his final dsmp stream, I felt panicked. Like my survival hinged on how he ended this story, and then he ended it in a way I could live with, and I thought I could go on loving this story and these characters for what they had been, no matter how messy the rest of the endings to follow were. His character was mine in so many ways. He had some of my problems and I gave him some of my own. I used him to process quite a bit. And now that part of myself is irrevocably tainted.

When the stuff came out about Dream, I was upset, but not betrayed. I never followed the creator and he existed only as a character to me. All I grieved then was the community his actions destroyed and most importantly the people he hurt. I planned to continue writing for the DSMP, even as I refused to follow any content involving him. It felt like a pause, not a full stop, while I ensured what I was doing did not show him any support. I also gave that character no pity and therefore the man behind him no pity, I had no personal investment in his character.

Now my response is visceral and bitter and I don’t know how to go on writing, because this character meant the world to me. I don’t know how to write about a character I truly love and see myself in, knowing the person who also loved and saw himself in that character, who created that character, has done horrible things. I don’t know how to write any of these other characters I have loved and cared for for over 3 years because he has poisoned them. All of it turns my stomach now and I feel so betrayed. The thought of his character is tainted because it’s connected to his voice and his face. I cannot separate the art from the artist both because it was the inclusion of the authorship within the story which affected me so strongly, and because there are things within the text that I look back on now and can only see that this person was always this way. I couldn’t sleep last night. I kept thinking of c!Wilbur’s line when he found out about exile, “he didn’t actually hit you though“ and his horror when c!Tommy responded that he had, that for some reason that was the turning point. The implication that it was only crossing that line, that particular type of violence, which made something wrong. Fucking disgusting.

I’ve tried to find another story before now. For the last few years, honestly, I’ve looked for something to latch onto the way I have with this one, but nothing feels the way this did. I know I’ve been clinging to something gone or at least mostly gone, both the community and the story, but I haven’t known how to let go when nothing makes me feel the same way, even when the feeling has faded and changed so much with time. This was never supposed to go on this long. Honestly, the reason I started posting mcyt stuff to my sideblog instead of my main was because I assumed I would get over it in a few weeks, delete the posts, and move on. Three years. 40 works. Over a million words. Just. Fuck.

I loved these characters so much and I’ve wrapped up my writing in them for so long it’s hard to separate the two. At this point, it feels like these characters are what allow me to write, separate from the main story, but a place where I could work things out for myself as a person and try new things as a writer. And I’ve tried so hard to feel the same way about the QSMP, but maybe it’s because we’re out of lockdown so I don't have time to watch much, or I’ve just changed more than I’ve thought, but I haven't gotten attached the way I did even when I look at the stories being built there and can see the heart in them, the storytelling, the care, just as much as the DSMP if not more. There’s no good reason for it, it just hasn’t locked into place the way this story had, having been the perfect storm of circumstances. The DSMP came to me during one of the worst years of my life, and I have loved it so much I miss that time even with all the bad it carried too.

And now this thing I have been holding onto can only make me angry, hit me with grief and disgust. Fuck, the only plan I’ve had for an original novel in years is a loose adaptation of TDDD. My senior thesis was largely a novella about two siblings with a complicated relationship, the older fatalistic, the younger brave to the point of ignorance. So even that original project has poison in it now. All of it, all of my fucking work, all of my growth as a writer, all of my writing for over three fucking years has poison in it.

I’ve felt lost as a writer for a long time and the only thing keeping me anchored was these characters. And I don’t know how to cut them away from myself and I don’t know how to cut him away from what’s left when his writing, his character, undeniably gave me so much of a spark. When I’m happy, I write. When I’m sad, I write. There's so much bad in the world right now, but I could always fall back on writing. And now my main means of escape is the grief. Far more than ever before. I know this too shall pass and all that, and this hasn’t actually stolen my ability to write, but right now it all feels so ruined. I don’t know how long it will take for me to be able to look back on what I’ve made and not feel like this. I'd maybe moved on in some ways, but not all. There was so much left I wanted to do.

If you’ve somehow read this far, know that I love this community with my whole heart. I never quite made friends with any of you, even as I wanted to, and it's felt too late for a long time now. My beloved mutuals (and followers that are mutuals in all but name) I have found so much joy with you, in what all of you have created. I wish I could hold onto that above all else, even if I’m not quite sure how. I’m not going anywhere, to be clear. I won’t delete my blog and fall off the face of the earth or anything. I still love what all of you create and care about, even if things have changed and our interests don’t always align anymore. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to detach this story from the creator, to love any of it the way I did or even love what I myself created again. I don’t really know why I’m writing this or if I’ll even post it except for the fact that you all are the only people who could understand.

Again, this was a deeply personal rant, not a statement about the situation as a whole, nor do I think this situation's impact on me takes an ounce of precedent over the person actually involved. The most important takeaway from this is what Shelby has shared, the importance of believing victims, to do what we can to protect ourselves from abuse that doesn’t seem obvious, and to look out for each other. Take care of yourselves, everyone.

#spilled penink #fuck i don't know what to tag this.#wilbur situation #abuse tw #ask to tag #I don't know about my current fics or what I plan to do going forward so don't read this looking for answers on that.#honestly i just had nowhere else to put this. this is something I would have ideally shared just with close friends #but they'd have no idea what I was talking about so here we are. desperate times.#sorry for the doom and gloom. i know there's been a lot of it as of late. please feel free to keep scrolling.#idc if people reblog. this is just. not the important thing right now yknow.#supporting shubble is all that really matters.

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the-final-sif · 7 months

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the situation w karl now is so funny considering your rb on dreamupdates 😭😭 anon was right we're both delusional

I've seen a random account on twitter claim random discord screenshots are Karl, and tbh I cannot believe people are taking a random account posting screenshots that don't even have dates on them nor attached context as legitimate and 100% true, unaltered and presented fully in context. I could've made those in about 15 minutes if I wasn't trying very hard. Like they intentionally removed the timestamps and claimed it was for "privacy" and to conceal the person's timezone. You can just. Change the date on your computer or w/e.

"There's no reason to fabricate these" Drama, clout, boredom, smearing someone, etc. There's no reason to believe these are real and not someone taking the piss.

Like, take one screenshot where he says "That's the worst video ever taken". Let's suppose that's a real screenshot for a moment, within the screenshot there's absolutely nothing that indicates what he's actually talking about. It's literally JUST that. The burner account CLAIMS that Karl said it was about one of Dream's singing tiktoks, but there's nothing even remotely presented that indicates that. Literally JUST "That's the worst video ever taken". He could literally be talking about any video.

Again, there's no verification that any of these are real, and some of them don't even make sense???

Like, okay, what would Karl not wanting to Paris have to do with anything? Like, maybe he didn't want to travel to Paris, maybe he was exhausted from flights, maybe he didn't want to deal with the jetlag. Maybe he said that sarcastically as a joke. The message before that was someone joking about him going to france being bad. There's again, no timestamps or context. He's within his rights to not want to go to Paris. It has nothing to do with anything else.

Also claiming that Karl was planning to intentionally distract people, because he "knew this would come out" by streaming with Sapnap or spamming tweets about other stuff? I- What? If he knew a mod was going to leak stuff, why would he not remove that mod? Why would he keep saying stuff in the chat with that mod in that? How would he even gets a heads up that the mod in question intended to leak stuff? Without knowing who it was?

I have no idea if these messages are real, again, this is something that takes literally seconds to fabricate, there's no confirmation any of this is actually coming from one of Karl's mods, there's absolutely no context included in any of the messages for if he might be being sarcastic or even talking about totally different topics. No context for dates/times other than "Today" which is honestly pretty sus because either it implies that Karl went and said this all in one day, like randomly he decided to shittalk people in his mod chat, talked about it, knew someone would leak his messages and just thought that was all well and fine. And that's assuming any of these are even real in the first place. Which is a pretty huge assumption.

Anyways, I'm begging people to stop taking discord screenshots from random fucking people as gospel. Some of you are legitimately falling for what is stupider than Infowars shit, "oh my secret sources in the government totally told me this is real". Next y'all are gonna come up and tell me that you found out that Karl or Dream or whoever is funded by Soros and you found the contacts posted on 4chan I stg.

Don't spread things you can't verify. Don't take fucking discord screenshots from a burner account at face value. Do we need to talk about fucking hypixel ss again?

#sif speaks #karl jacobs #dreamwastaken #discourse #this is so goddamn stupid #like the random bit about paris should be a huge red flag this is a smear #what would that have to do with anything #even if we make the huge assumption these are real #some of them mean literally nothing #and others could easily be jokes or him playing along with a bit in private #god knows I've made sarcastic jokes about hating someone that you could easily ss and omit context to #sif answers

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mingisdoll · 1 day

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Ateez and Kirby

This list includes the members as Kirby characters. I totally wasn't inspired by old memories of playing the Kirby games lol anyways. This will include games I played on my old DS and my Switch lol

@newworldnet

Hongjoong - Dyna Blade

In Kirby Super Star Ultra, Dyna Blade is a huge colorful bird that will do anything to protect her children. You can fight her after fighting King Dedede in Spring Breeze. Hongjoong is similar to Dyna Blade since he'd do anything for his fellow bandmates kids. His hair has undergone so many color changes. I don't know how his scalp is holding up lol I'm surprised he hasn't pulled a Sehun yet. Only Yunho lol

Seonghwa - Dark Nebula

Originally, I had him for Dyna Blade since he was told he looked like an angry bird back in the days plus he's more motherly so it would make sense. However, I remember that his name roughly means to be a star and his name backwards means Mars. In relation to this galaxy themed thing we got going on here, I decided to choose Dark Nebula. Dark Nebula is the final boss in Kirby Squeak Squad. He's a huge black star with a single pink eye in the middle who gave Daroach ultimate power towards the end of the game. Seonghwa's long black hair is literally giving me life ever since I saw those Coachella pics and vids so I wouldn't be surprised if he put on pink eye contacts and cosplayed as his own version of Dark Nebula. Sometimes, even the brightest stars can suck you in.

Yunho - Void Termina

Void Termina is the final boss in Kirby Star Allies. I honestly had no context behind this other than the fact that Yunho is tall and big and scary only when he's mad though.

Yeosang - King Dedede

Yeosang literally looks like a fucking prince so it shouldn't be a suprise that he's King Dedede. I still remember that one video where he was able to hammer down a shit ton of nails in mere seconds. Homie is strong af so I'm sure he'll be able to swing around that huge hammer that Dedede has.

San - Marx/Marx Soul

Oof. I remember fighting Marx in Milky Way Wishes. He was this innocent little bean until he revealed his plans to control Pop Star and he turned demonic after that. This is literally San when you plant him on stage. Marx Soul is utterly fucking worse and I remember having major difficulty fighting him. I feel like demon mode San fits perfectly with Marx Soul. His stage presence is insane. Marx insane lol

Mingi - Galacta Knight

This motherfucker has had pink hair and now has white hair so I decided to put him as Galacta Knight. In addition, when I imagine Galacta Knight as a human, I envision a tall man with huge angel wings sticking out his back and the tips touching the floor, the white shield with the huge pink star in the middle roughly being the same size as Captain America's shield, the pink lance being larger than life, and the mask covering his entire face so you only see the sharp wolf eyes through that mask slit. Yeah I envision Mingi being the human version of Galacta Knight. Will he have his short pink hair or long white hair though? It's up to the imagination ig lol

Wooyoung - Kirby

You cannot fucking tell me that this man is the personification of Kirby. He's just a sweet boy with a huge damn mouth. He is softness and cuteness personified. The only difference is that he doesn't inhale everything in his path. He only screams. Maybe he can inhale San's di-

Jongho - Meta Knight

Ngl, I originally thought of Mingi being Meta Knight since he's my ult and Meta Knight is my favorite Kirby character of all time. However, I remember playing Meta Knightmare Ultra and this one scene popped up. Galacta Nova asked Meta Knight what his one wish was and of course, in true lone swordsman fashion, Meta Knight answered that he only wishes to grow stronger. In that Vanity Fair video, Jongho revealed that he was born with power and as he talked, he exuded that damn power. That's when I knew that he was more fit for Meta Knight rather than Mingi. Also, now I'm imagining Jongho as the human version of Meta Knight with his lilac hair and hands gripping Galaxia (the name of Meta Knight's gold sword) with that 49.1 kg strength, and piercing yellow eyes through the mask. In addition, I now want Jongho to dye his hair an indigo color since technically, Meta Knight's Kirby form is indigo colored in the DS version of the Kirby games.

#newworldnet #ateez #ateez imagines #ateez fanfic #kirby

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enchi-elm · 11 months

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Gosh. The hardest part of planning to write a tallster fic is realizing how much history was condensed for the sake of the show, and then the deeper you start reading (which is still relatively surface) the more you struggle whether to write historically accurate or lean into the fact that it's already not and instead write something that passes as 'appropriate' for the time-period. How the hell do you do it (awe)?

Hello, Delightful Human!

Casual blog readers, this Delightful Human left a truly wonderful comment on my huge Tallster multichapter and now seeing their username always makes me smile.

First of all, from this ask it sounds like you yourself are embarking on a historically accurate (ish) Tallster fic, to which I give you my most heartfelt encouragement and sincere condolences.

I really didn't know what I was getting into with Wind and Water. When I wrote Chapter 1, naive and with good intentions, the only historical understanding I had of the American Revolution was what was presented in the TV show. Not being American myself, it was never covered in school, nor had I ever been interested in it until I saw my two rogue boys swashbuckling across the screen playing at being spies.

So I know intimately the dilemma you present. Once I started delving, and oh boy, did I ever delve, I realized it was going to be impossible to present every aspect of the events I wanted to highlight in a way that captured properly and respectfully every point of view I wanted to include. To this day, I don't know about the major campaigns before and after Valley Forge, nor the greater political context of Washington's position and relation to Congress. (You know who does? @tallmadgeandtea)

To me, it was always more important to stay true to the emotional core of the story, and for that, I realized my ignorance wasn't as big a stumbling block as I thought. Nobody knows what's going on in a war, not really. Most of the events you're writing about were experienced through very very narrow perspectives. Ben is trying as hard as he can to figure it out, and even he gets it wildly wrong, endangering the people he loves most. On a personal level, on a soldier level, on a Caleb-and-Ben level, the things that were going to impact them were the things I prioritized learning about. And I leaned into the chaos. Centuries later, we still don't have clear answers and almost all the investigation comes from the Patriot side of the war. Getting it 'clean' and 'correct' was no longer the objective. Mess and confusion are central to any conflict.

So the setting became really important. The Frontier, the forests, the hills. The feel, the cold, the sensory bits. (I also played a stunning amount of Assassin's Creed III while I was writing, which may or may not have helped with some of the scenes.)

And honestly, I got a lot wrong. About two years into writing You've Caught Me Between Wind and Water, I submitted an early chapter of it to a writing critique group and was promptly informed just how much bigger and more industrial the Valley Forge encampment was than how I'd envisioned it. I pulled in elements of that knowledge into subsequent chapters, gently massaging the portrayal of the camp in my narrative. Wasn't until about Chapter 9 that I started reading Joseph Martin Plumb's account of the war, at which point it really sank in just how miserable and dire a soldier's experience was. So then that helped fuel Shepherd's characterization, and Reggie and Freddie and Stanley.

So, the short answer is:

Keep the emotions front and centre. The rest is just very clever window dressing, really.

Read as many historical sources as you can and learn when to draw the line and make executive decisions (maybe Washington didn't give Ben an earful about the horses this month, but it did happen and so it could have happened). People haven't really changed in millennia, so make them human before you make them historical figures. Remember that it's your story and you can include anyone you want (and indeed, restore them to their rightful status and importance, cough cough, "Han Yerry", cough.)

Try not to pull your hair out, but remember it grows back. Talk to people who know better than you and read other stories that are historically accurate but don't centre the history. Personal favourite examples from my circle of friends (who I have to promote whenever I can because I think they're all amazing) would be Lucyemers' Bewitching Precision, CrepuscularPetrichor's May 1792, LadyTP (@ladytp)'s ....Lady, where did Seven Autumns go??? I can't find it on AO3! Also ASheepsLife's Who could resist Deliverance and of course, the most historically accurate one I know about, Cchambers' The Summer Soldier and the Sunshine Patriot.

And thank you for asking your question! Hope this helps.

#writing things #the writing echo chamber #You've Caught Me Between Wind and Water #Apfelessig #ask #ask answered

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vampalpatine-archive · 1 year

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Your post about Shiv made me think for a long while bc it's true that Shiv's trauma and specifically her trauma around sex is largely misinterpreted/outright ignored by the fandom but now I'm confused bc 1. when did Tom pressure Shiv to have sex??? I mostly remember her pushing Tom to do stuff he didn't want, even while he was clearly uncomfortable, but every time he tries to initiate something and she doesn't want it he backs off right away and doesn't push. The period tracking WAS creepy and I will definitely not be defending that, but Shiv would actually make annoyed faces if Tom didn't want to do what she had planned, and insist or ask "no?" in a mocking tone when he wasn't particularly enthusiastic about it. If he ever did that to her everyone would be calling it "rapey" but bc Shiv does it it's... Girlboss I guess. Idk.

And 2. I also think there needs to be a conversation about this definitely bc yeah the ear flick was weird and the way Shiv's face FALLS and she even steps back a little??? Holy shit. Literally what I did, gasped in shock and recoiled. HOWEVER. Putting my "this is a tv show and not reality" goggles on, to me context is important I mean she's kicking dirt over his shoes to humilliate him in public (nothing new there) and getting all up in his space and the flick read like Tom just needing to do something to get her to back the fuck up and leave him alone. I've seen people dismissing Shiv's abuse of Tom completely, through the years but especially this season. And I get it, Shiv is in a vulnerable state both bc of her father passing and bc she's pregnant and conflicted about it, but none of it justifies the way she has treated Tom and keeps treating him. He did not hit her, or push her, or even start commenting on her body the way she does to him constantly. He flicked her on the damn ear lol and I GET IT, I was lowkey horrified by it at first but looking at it from Tom's pov, I have been in a situation where someone kept coming at me and getting in my face so I get that reaction. Anyway. Yeah it was a weird scene Idk where the writers are going with this!!! If they make either of them start hitting the other I'm gonna be furious tho like that'd be the last straw of bad tomshiv plot points. Like if this is them trying to Logan-ify Tom more I'm gonna be so fucking pissed lol

god there's so much of this i disagree with, and it's so long... honestly i wasn't gonna answer i was gonna say something like "i ain't reading all that" with a shiv fancam or some shit. plus you just said you randomly saw my post so you don't follow me you'll probably not read this

but the notes on that post have been bothering me all day to the point where i'm seriously thinking of shutting the fuck up about succession, and i don't want to cause it's my fav show so i'm gonna answer at least to a few things

first of all, to your question "when did tom pressure shiv to have sex?" i simply recommend rewatching retired janitors of idaho as it has one of what i consider the most disgusting scenes of the show and if you don't agree with me in that that's him pressuring her then i simply don't think we'll be able to reach any mutual understanding here, which is okay i guess.

secondly, i don't think there's any scenes in the show where shiv pressures tom to have sex or do stuff he's not comfortable with in any way that i would deem "rapey" if shiv were a man. maybe you're referring to stuff like opening the relationship? or the threesome from 2x10? both of which i would call asshole moves AT WORST.

about the "this is a tv show not reality" thing i can only say that it was a post for my mutuals that i honestly didn't expect to win traction, in fact, it was a response to another post from a mutual i had just reblogged, so it wasn't even supposed to be read on its own. obviously you don't know me, but if you did you'd probably see why it's funny you'd say that. i don't think it's a bad thing that they included this scene of tom flicking shiv's ear, i don't think its wrong to keep having tom as your favorite character, or tomshiv as your favorite relationship. i think it's a very interesting scene that adds a lot of depth to his character and their relationship and i think liking complex characters who do bad shit is so incredibly fun.

also the way you said "hey he hit her but just a little bit not like he hit her for real" is exactly what i was criticising people saying in my original post so maybe next time when you read a post you don't agree with in such a fundamental level just move on it's not that deep. block me, even, if you see it more than once and it bothers you

to wrap this up i'll just say that i HOPE they keep loganifying tom, as the parallels with him and logan have been there since the beginning, it makes him 10 times more interesting and if you took that away he wouldn't be much of a character. i HOPE tomshiv never get a divorce, as i'm rooting for the cycle of abuse to never end and keep repeating itself, i consider succession a show that runs in circles (complimentary) and would be really disappointed if there was a sudden catharsis moment where anyone at all makes it out. if i had to bet, out of the two of us, i don't think i'm gonna be the one who ends up disappointed here

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theausspideyguy · 2 months

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First artwork to show off! The very first ever art pieces I had ever gotten of Leo, and the official moment I considered myself a Furry. ::3

"Who says a Spider cannot be of presentable taste? Leo certainly aims to prove that theory wrong." ::B

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(Originally uploaded to FA on the 12/10/2018)

These were done by my friend SwirlwindSilverstar! You can check them out here over on their Twitter through this link here! ---> https://twitter.com/WindySilverstar

Though I don't think they really use it anymore, unfortunately… ..w..;;;

Admittedly they are someone I haven't spoken to in a very long time, so I hope that they've been doing okay and still doing art cause they do some great work. ^^

This'll be the first of many more art pieces to come in the next few days! ::3

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But anyway! To provide some context behind these pieces and how they came to be. Some of yous may have heard this story before, but to explain it for those who may not know…

Back in 2018, I was already starting to feel a slow attachment to furry stuff. I had a lot of sympathy for furs cause of the bs that they would deal with from arseholes and the like, and just how extreme it got (Most notably the hotel gas attack at Midwest Furfest in 2014.).

Soon enough I came across the subreddit r/Furry_IRL back when I use to browse reddit pretty regularly. There I saw what appeared to be this sort of self-awareness and embrace of cringe, which included heaps of irony in the process. It made things a lot more charming cause it felt as if Furries were getting a lot bolder despite the years of attacks, harassment, etc. They dealt with it, and at the same, there was a vibe that made me feel people were more accepting, no matter how weird you got. At the time I was pretty alone, got bullied a lot, and in typical fashion, this was the group I gravitated to more over time.

I should add I do know now the more negative connotation that subreddit gives, and honestly, I have a lot of critiques as well. But at the time, this was just an important thing for me where I felt like I had no other group to be with.

Around October, I was in a voice call on Discord with two friends which included Igloo9201 (Nickname them Iggzy. ::B) and Silverstar. I believe I was sharing some of the memes I came across, and we were all joking about becoming furries and all. I had no plans at that point, but we were all poking each other and being dorks about it.

I was eventually asked the inevitable question though that changed the course of my life by Silverstar…

"Hey TAGG. If you had to pick a sona, what would you choose?"

I had to think! Spider wasn't my first thought at the time, and I was actually thinking at first a Kangaroo, just cause it was a main Australian animal, but at the same time I was reading this Manga called "I am a Spider, So What?", with a main character with a very self-explanatory thing about them. ::B

As you can see from their design, I found them extremely cute and at that point, I hadn't really seen any designs of spiders like this that weren't just meant to be evil. So it felt like it could be nice to go for a species that you probably wouldn't expect, even if it was a contribution to the #1 phobia that people have. ::B

I think at this time I was also getting interested in Peacock Spiders, I was fascinated by their peculiar dance-y behaviour. Obviously was meant for mating, they still had such an interesting personality that it really grew on me. Learning how basically they were all harmless on top of that really made them jump in my mind especially.

As a result, my answer was obvious. Cut to some time into the call, I am surprised by the drawings Silverstar did, and on the same day, I ended up making a Furaffinity account with them.

At that point, the rest was history!

It was a fun end result of everything, I love seeing how much Leo evolved from here. There hasn't been too many obvious changes, outside of him eventually being more based on the Sparklemuffin Spider I soon discovered some time after getting Leo.

The biggest differences that do stand out at least is his body being more like a harder looking shell, compared to the fur covering him all over. His abdomen is a lot more flatter than more rounder in shape. There's also a lot less head hair as well, and most notably his the number of eyes were the biggest change as well, which you will see in a lot of these art pieces I like to call "The Prototype" versions of Leo. ::B

I do feel like I need to do more stuff with Leo in a suit, it was a fun thing I miss doing especially since it tied with the intended "He will get in whatever fit if it means he will get to dance" characteristic I thought up at the time. It was also kind of a thing that was a reference to one of my old as heck usernames, which was on a bit of the embarrassing side, but eh, got to repurpose through this. XXD

I still really appreciate Silverstar for the art, I still hold these pieces fondly in my heart, and grateful of both them and Iggzy for what they did on that day that got me into being a furry and getting my spidey self! Heck they probably are the reason I kind of found out a lot more about myself, being asexual/panromantic, finding new folks, etc. A true butterfly effect. ::P

Here's to many more years ahead! ^^w^^

Also, bonus rough sketch that Silverstar did before getting the final art pieces done. A lot more Miss Muffet from Undertale inspired here. ::B

#Leonardo Spinnington - The Sparklemuffin Spider #art I got (Commissions|Gifts|Trades|Etc.)#spidey ramble moments

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shihalyfie · 2 years

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There's something buggin' me so badly and is the fact there's people who believe you can't make post-02 material with new characters or else the epilogue is retconned. Like, i'm saying this mostly for Rui inclusion in the universe, but i've seen people claiming Meiko, Maki and Daigo should've died to keep the epilogue intact. (we know what happened in the end...)

Honestly, i don't agree with this logic. What's stopping them from making a brand new epilogue-era scene showing Rui or any other character like Meiko and Menoa (and Imura)?!

I don't get it either. There seems to be this fixation with the 02 epilogue as some kind of singular symbolic manifestation of their future, and I know it's tempting when we don't have much of the epilogue to look at and so "leaving off on that note" makes us want to think that "this one scene will represent everything about their lives 25 years later", but that 25-year date was specifically picked because that was when the entire global population would have partners, so you aren't really supposed to see that epilogue as anything more than "a day in what their lives are like in the future". This is a stance that not only Kakudou but also Seki have locked down on -- we have no way of guaranteeing what happened before or after that epilogue, so the fun is trying to imagine what happened.

Why are there only the twelve Tokyo Chosen Children, their partners, and their kids in the epilogue? Because those are the characters whom the audience was most likely to care about the most when the episode aired in March 2001. That's it. It's purely meta. We never learned what that gathering was for and what qualified you to be invited to it, other than the fact it was a planned gathering for some unspecified reason. Even the concept of the Tokyo Chosen Children as a particular group of twelve is a fairly audience-specific one, since there's a distinct in-universe difference in relationships within and between the older kids and the younger ones. There is absolutely not a single implication that there wasn't anyone who was invited to come join them but couldn't make it because they were busy or whatnot, including spouses, more kids from the younger generation, or, indeed, more friends.

So it doesn't make any sense to assume that if they made some other friend between 2002 and 2028, that would "contradict" the epilogue because they weren't portrayed as part of the "in group" there...instead of a more mundane explanation like "this new person became friends with the group but not that close" or "they were invited too but they were busy that day". It's just really bizarre logic, and it also feels really limiting if the production side had to have some strict rule on them that the kids aren't allowed to have any more friends just because a scene from a single day in 2028 doesn't show them with anyone else, instead of giving us concepts like Wallace, Meiko, Menoa, or Rui. And like you said, there's nothing stopping them from making another scene from around that 2028 period with a different context where they get in contact with other new friends they made around that time, instead of having this obsession that any new person they meet has to cut off their friendship with them or die before 2028, or else they somehow contradict the epilogue.

I think people really assign too much "symbolic" relevance to that epilogue. Like, for instance, "Yamato and Sora aren't standing next to each other so clearly they're not married or close" as if their physical standing positions somehow represent their entire relationship, and not the more mundane "they're married so they don't need to stand next to each other all the time, and in fact they're probably catching up with their friends they don't see as often". It's also weird to me that it's socially acceptable to imagine that some of your favorite ships are canon, just not directly stated by Takeru in the epilogue, but heaven forbid they make another friend within 25 years. I mean, isn't that kind of sad? The number of Chosen Children doubled every year, and they probably had all sorts of interesting escapades and adventures, but they can't befriend anyone involved?!

#digimon #digimon adventure 02 #tomorrows2top #shiha's ask box

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idril-la-wiccan · 11 months

Text

Mermay 2023 - 4th Week and last three days

Day 22 - Zodiac

Well, with a prompt like this one, it was a little too easy to go with the Aquarius for Mermay. But... the thing is I have a certain attachement for this astrological sign in particular.

Day 23 - Tradition

And here is "Mahu", the dumbo octopus merfolk from day 21, once more ! I had vaguely alluded to it, but "Mahu" won't be their name, even if this is what I had planned initially. I'll explain why.

You've probably noticed that all of the merfolks I made for Out of the Abyss are strongly inspired by polynesian cultures, the most obvious ones being Hawaiian and Maori. And "Mahu" is in itself a concept of the Hawaiian culture : a third gender of which the name translates litteraly to "in the middle". Mahu people had an important role in Hawaiian society. They taught spiritual and social traditions, which included, among other things, teaching the hula.

And so, for me to have the idea of naming them "Mahu" to begin with, you've probably figured out that it's because this is what they are, traditionally speaking. But as I thought about it, I realised naming them by what they are would be like naming a cat, well, "Cat". It's a bit dumb.

Basically, I want to give them a new name. I'll certainly keep a two syllables name to at least keep things simple.

Hmm... In fact, maybe I could find them a name that has something to do with traditions ?

Day 24 - Zaddy

I made this character on the spot as I wasn't really inspired by the prompt. But I think I managed well with it nonetheless.

Day 25 - Food

No matter his form, Humphrey will always be a big glutton. (Even if, thankfully, he doesn't have the same voracity as when he used to be an actual whale.)

Day 26 - Jewel

"Shiny... For me... ?"

Day 27 - Halle Bailey

Ok, I'm not gonna speak on the matter of the Disney remakes as I believe everybody knows and that everybody roughly agrees about it.

No, here, the subject is Miss Bailey. I think no one can deny it, her voice is magnificent. And no matter the state of the movie, if she took pleasure in playing Ariel's role, then I am gald for her. And I also wish her a good continuation in her career.

Day 28 - Sailor

Alright, I might be cheating a bit with this prompt here. But the idea had been floating in my head for a while now and I finally had an excuse to put it on paper.

I don't know if I was the only one to have this idea, but I saw no one imagine the Captain Caviar ending up with a merman form as a result from being cursed by Black Pearl.

And yet, I saw many people draw him as a merman, so I'm surprised I haven't already seen this idea roam around...

Day 29 - Barbie

I loved the Barbie movies when I was a kid, especially the Fairytopia series. Here, I drew Elina, main character of this movie series, who takes on a mermaid form for a good part of the movie "Mermaidia".

Day 30 - Blue

I had mentionned this on day 21, but I'll have to reiterate it for this prompt. Leviathan is a blue whale merman.

It's in fact for this same reason he's the tallest amongst his peers : blue whales are the biggest mammals known in the world. Even Humphrey, a little humpback whale merman in comparison, is no match.

Well, perhaps that under his original form, Humphrey could have surpassed Leviathan.

Day 31 - Good night

I never would have guessed that I needed to see Dino-sour be a father figure to a half dinosaur baby cookie in my life.

Yes, the previous sentence makes no sense out of context.

I no longer play Ovenbreak ever since... well, ever since even before what happened with Yogurca (the less we talk about it, the better), but I'm still trying to follow the stories on YouTube. And honestly, I think that Pond Dino is the best thing to have happened to the "Rise of the Blue Dragon" update. I get how their design bothers some (it's rather overloaded, let's admit it), but... Just...

Baby... <3

Baby that sleeps like an otter. <3

*****

*~ Third week ||

Like my art ? You can commission me !

Buy me a coffee ?

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becausegoodheroesdeservekidneys · 2 years

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I've been thinking about this for the last few minutes because I can't get it out of my head... Partially because I just discovered that one of my windows into British politics, Welsh Culture, and Walrus shenanigans is also apparently a prolific force for good in werewolf erotica, and that has sent me. But also because thinking about the idea of disability for magical shapeshifters made me think about my own disability which is less physical (so not the goal of your ask, sorry) but mental, with ADHD.

When I was younger, I was an avid reader of the ElfQuest comic series, and one of the things that always stuck with me as a particular ideal was the idea of the 'Now' of Wolf thought that was a component of 'The Way' that the Wolfriders lived by. AKA living in the moment and caring about only what your immediate needs are. You're hungry, so you eat. You're thirsty, so you drink. From the wiki, "...living entirely in the present, not dwelling on the sorrows of the past, or the worry of the future." That sounded perfect. I always loved the simplicity of it, and I'm honestly just now starting to connect the dots a bit that maybe I loved it because it was so freeing from all of the concerns and anxiety that my undiagnosed ADHD was giving me (wasn't until late 2020 that I got diagnosed). I didn't need to worry about the future, because now was all that mattered. It also fit in with another one of my symptoms that I've disliked about myself for a long time until realizing it was because of the way my brain was organizing things (though I do have some resentment on it) in that, I could easily compartmentalize my feelings for friends and store them away until I saw or talked to them again, in the next 'Now' moment. How I felt about you didn't change despite the absence. We votuld go a year without talking, and I'd cheerfully pick up where we left off. The problem was, this meant that I was also shit at maintaining a lot of friendships properly online, and even familial relationships after I moved out because essentially once people were out of sight, they were out of mind, until I saw or interacted with them again and then sort of 'unpaused.' And that worked for me, but it's a shit way for others who don't operate that way, and I'd been called too aloof (at best) or a shitty friend (at worst) as a result. And it's not like I didn't want to fix it; I did. But I just couldn't, because I wouldn't even realize I was doing it until it was done and I was happily speaking with them again. Coming to the realization that it has always been ADHD lurking over how I function has helped... But it's still frustrating to me that in the way I appreciated ElfQuest for how it idealized that ability to live in the moment, it's not a way that I can live because most people don't.

Sorry, I didn't realize some of the things above until I started typing this out, and then wanted to add more context to my next question... But does your lore cover anything in terms of mental disabilities (in particular ADHD, but obviously other ones like DID would/could play heavily into such a setting too)? Does it go beyond the 'lol, Moon Moon you're so random' people would stereotypically expect of a wolf with ADHD, or does it go into any of the impacting negative symptoms? Does living like the wolf feel easier and freer? Does hyperfixation, lack of stimulation, or lost time happen? Are they worse in one form vs the other? Do stimulants help or hurt?

... man, some of that hits close to home for me as well...

So I currently haven't consciously included anyone with ADHD, but as someone with The Devil's Affliction myself, I wonder if an outsider would read any of these characters and think I have. That's something to look into more closely, I think.

I do know @coto524 is writing something with a werewolf with ADHD because he and I have talked a bit about that. He even has a plan in place for medication.

#adhd #blood and silver #asks

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fairyqueenofthedragons · 2 years

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Question:

I'm rereading the fablehaven books and I was planning on reading the dragonwatch books afterwards, but now I'm thinking I shouldn't. Are they really that much mess? And if so, is this a get through it so you can get to the fanfiction situation or just reading online summary it's so bad situation?

Hmm, well I wouldn't necessarily say don't read them, but I was extremely disappointed in them, and I know I wasn't the only one. Even those happy about the end relationship were upset at the path to it and how it was handled. Book 4 is extremely packed, and book 5 a wreck.

It's possible to get through it, and I know a few people enjoyed it even if a few admittedly did solely because they refuse to not. But as for me...

Well if you don't put a lot of value in consistent lore/world building/characterization, nor care about the characters getting balanced roles, nor care about the fact that like- at least 12 different major details just get dropped or forgotten (including Kendra's fake death from bk 4 FH). Also don't mind the excessive slavery that's excused quite a few times...

So yeah, if you're willing to work through all of that then go for it. It's up to you.

If you don't want to go through ig I could write up a full summary, and maybe you could read a summary then decide if you want to read it? Idk, up to you!

I personally do think I would read them even knowing how they end, but that's mainly because I want to know what happens in things, and if I'm gonna critique a work I feel I should have full context. In addition, I do enjoy critiquing things... Usually there's more I like and my critiques are more small details or the occasional plot hole and not the entirety of the series/book (*coughs and looks at HOO and TOA*) but... I enjoyed bits of the books, but what I didn't enjoy or made me angry was just a lot more.

I should note, bk 1 is fairly slow in comparison to the others, bk 2 is... Alright? The ending is big. Bk 3 is where my bigger critiques start, but honestly is probably the best of the books despite that. Bk 4 is EXTREMELY packed staring about 1/3 of the way in (before that it's achingly slow), you might have to read it twice to understand everything if you read it. Bk 5 is just... A wreck, packed, overusing some space, under using other space, does not pass the Bechdel test, and takes OP characters to a whole nother level.

That's a fairly no spoilers summary of it all. So yeah, lmk if you want me to do a spoilers summary of it all and I'll maybe do it tonight or tomorrow, it's up to you if you wanna read it or not I'm not gonna say it cause we probably have different things we look for in a book, and while the flaws aren't enough to stop me from reading specifically because I will take delight in tearing them apart, for you it might.

#fablehaven #dragonwatch #queen answers #its up to you anon #whatever you want from the story #if you want to read it without thinking about even surface level flaws you can probably get through it #if you enjoy even slightly digging into it it will make you tear your hair out #if you want i can make a summary #regardless just chose what you think is best for you #fuck youre not an anon ignore me calling you anon #sagaduwyrm

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ifmywishescametrue · 1 year

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Wait, I know I’m late but outtakes for “Like Dominoes” ???

Outtakes for one of my favorite fics ever?? 👀 hello?

If you were ever planning on sharing them, you’d honestly make my week :)

omg yeah i didn't know i had outtakes for the longest time but i can definitely share them now. i'll try to provide context but it's been a long while since i wrote them, so the memories are more than a little hazy lol

all of that below the cut, because it's pretty long!

outtake one:

written to take place sometime after chapter 23, i guess? i think at one point, the fic was supposed to go for longer and actually include thanksgiving with bucky's family, or at least a few paragraphs that covered what happened there. but, that didn't happen, so this scene wasn't needed. i still like it, though, even if it's incomplete (and not proofread lol)

It’s still dark when Bucky wakes up, the kind of pitch black that lets him know even with his eyes closed that it’s before dawn. He rolls over to mash his face into the pillow, and it takes a moment to realize that on a normal night, he shouldn’t have been able to do that quite so easily.

Blindly, he reaches out to the other side of the bed, only to be met by cold, empty sheets. He lifts his head, squinting into the darkness, and the neon blue of the clock says it's 4:36. Far too early to wake up alone.

A muffled clang is just faintly audible through the walls, and Bucky tosses back the covers to find what he already knows will be the source.

He catches the scent of vanilla and sugar when opens the bedroom door, and he follows the light casting down the hall back to the kitchen.

Every surface is covered in something. All sizes of mixing bowls and baking trays, silicone stirring spoons, and a dusting of flour here and there. In the middle of all of it is Tony, with his entire focus on one misshapen gingerbread man and a steady hand outlining his body in white icing from a piping bag.

Bucky folds his arms over his chest and leans against the archway, waiting for him to finish before breaking into his concentration. “Baking cookies couldn’t have waited until tomorrow?”

Tony jolts a little, hand tightening on the bag to make a stream of icing shoot out onto the counter. It narrowly misses the next cookie in the row, and Tony wipes it away with his finger.

“It's technically tomorrow, isn't it?” He looks over his shoulder at the time on the microwave. “See? A few hours into it already.”

The corner of Bucky's mouth twitches. “And where did you get all these supplies? Last I checked, we didn’t have at least half of this.”

“There’s a 24-hour supermarket about thirty minutes away.”

“You went to the store in the middle of the night?” Bucky asks, brow furrowed. His eyes drift down Tony’s body, taking in his rumpled t-shirt and baggy flannel pants. “You’re in your pajamas.”

Tony shrugs, “There’s not a whole lot of room for judgment from other people also there at two in the morning.”

Bucky drops his arms and comes further into the kitchen, and Tony sets down the piping bag as he approaches. He looks tired, with shadows under his eyes and specks of powdered sugar in his unkempt hair. Bucky reaches for him and pulls him closer by the hip.

“What's the matter?” he asks softly.

“Why are you assuming something’s wrong?”

“Well, in my admittedly limited life experience, people don't usually go on baking frenzies before sunrise if they're doing perfectly fine,” Bucky says, brushing away the cinnamon from Tony's cheek. “I mean, you could be the first, but you're looking pretty dead on your feet, baby. What’s keeping you up?”

Tony shuffles closer, resting his forehead against Bucky’s sternum, and sighs at the first sweep of Bucky’s fingers through his hair, “I fell asleep for a little while, but then I had this weird dream that I was in the lab and there was an issue with the project but I couldn’t figure out the problem and everything was going wrong, so I woke up feeling stressed, and then my mind started drifting to everything else that I have to do, which reminded me that I wanted to do something to thank your mom for being so nice and welcoming over Thanksgiving break, but I couldn’t think about what exactly. Some article online suggested a handwritten note, but that felt kind of weird. You know, writing my feelings or whatever. That’s just awkward for everyone involved. So I landed on their second suggestion, which was basically this. I wasn’t really sure what she would like, though, and I didn’t want to wake you up to ask because you’ve got that early shift today, so I picked a couple of different recipes, and then I had to go to the store to get everything I needed, and now we’re here.”

Bucky hums, dipping his head down to press a kiss to the top of Tony’s. “Your mind is quite the place to be in, isn’t it? Must be like a maze in there.”

“More like if you took a bunch of different balls of yarn and threw them in the washing machine together, then tried to untangle it after,” Tony snorts. “But anyway, I figured since I’m already making stuff, I’d do peanut butter cookies for Rhodey, and those chocolate cookies that Steve and Nat like. Make it like an early Christmas thing for our friends and your family.”

“Sweetheart,” Bucky says, pinching the bridge of his nose, and Tony sighs again.

“I know, I know. It’s too much, and I’m overwhelmed now that I’m actually doing it, and I have about a million regrets, but I’ve started it, and now I have to finish it even if it’s the last thing I do.”

“Or you could finish in the morning,” Bucky suggests. “After you've gotten more than an hour of sleep.”

“Or I could finish now and sleep when I'm dead,” Tony counters, flashing him a grin.

Bucky looks around the kitchen again. Almost all of the gingerbread people are frosted, and the peanut butter cookies look to be cooling on a rack off to the side, while the chocolate chip ones are already packaged in tupperware. The timer on the oven is set to go off in a few minutes with a batch of something else, and there's another baking tray waiting on the stove to go in next.

“How much more do you have?” he asks.

“Not a lot. Just those last two batches, and then I can come back to bed.”

Bucky trails his hands along Tony's back, kneading his thumbs into Tony's shoulders for a moment. He does it again when Tony nearly moans at the touch.

outtakes two-four:

so when i first outlined this story, the ending was pretty much completely different. howard was still supposed to show up, but bucky was going to agree to his offer to divorce tony. it was meant to be a selfless thing (in bucky's mind, at least) to give up his relationship with tony so that tony could have his normal life back. but the more i wrote and the closer i got to the end, i just kept asking myself "would bucky do that, though?" and the answer was no. it didn't make sense anymore and going through with it as planned would've only served the purpose of creating angst for angst's sake. so i scrapped that ending, but some of it was already written. i guess it doesn't technically make these "outtakes," but it's a few pieces of the original/alternate ending.

for the first, here's a snippet from the aftermath, when tony's moving out of the apartment:

“You were supposed to go home for Thanksgiving,” Bucky says, and Tony pauses with a shirt held tight in his hand, his shoulders hunched and tense. “Your dad told me that he called you. Said he wanted to fix things and you turned him down.”

Tony shakes his head with a humorless laugh. “And did he tell you all his conditions? The weekly check-ins, monitoring my bank account, quitting my job in the lab because he wants to own every idea I’ll ever have. Oh, and let’s not forget that he still can’t wrap his head around the fact that I’m only into men, so I’d better find a girl that he can approve of to help clean up his image after everything else I’ve supposedly done to him. Gave me a list of candidates and everything.”

Bucky swallows hard, guilt turning his stomach. “Tony, I -”

“No,” Tony cuts him off, spinning around. His eyes are cold, and Bucky’s never seen him like this before. “I turned him down because I don’t need him. I don’t need someone controlling my life and making my decisions for me. I thought I was done with people who did that, but I guess not.”

Tony looks at him for a second longer, and Bucky feels frozen under his hurt, angry gaze. He should’ve known better, he thinks. Should’ve approached everything differently and taken even just a minute to think it through before it got this far.

He opens his mouth to say just that, but Tony sighs and turns back to roughly zip up his bag. “I’ll come back some other time for the rest.”

Tony’s shoulder brushes his own as he walks past him out of the bedroom, and the front door slams shut behind him before leaving him in the quiet.

and here's a scene of bucky talking to natasha about it:

“You didn’t just live together. You shared a bedroom and everything. Casual sex partners don't do that,” Nat says, but she doesn't stop there. “Neither one of you ever saw anyone else, and you would have both been pissed if you did. You kissed him without it leading to sex, you held his hand wherever you went, and you called him 'babe' more than his actual name. In fact, I'm pretty sure you never even called him his name to his face at all. I hate to break it to you, but that's just called being married. Actually, truly married.”

“Well, we were married, but that doesn't mean we were together. He didn’t want that, and frankly, I think it's a little sexist that you don't think two men can hold hands and just be friends.”

She gives him a flat look. “Is that really the argument you're choosing?”

Bucky nods, completely ready to double down. He's pretty sure it falls into the categories of at least two logical fallacies, but he doesn't care much for ethical debate right now. “Yeah, it is. It's a reflection of toxic masculinity, and honestly I thought you were better than that.”

“You were literally fucking each other.”

“As friends.”

“Married friends.”

“Friends who happened to be married,” Bucky corrects. “Just like I already told Steve.”

“And as I've said, neither of us believe you.”

Bucky shrugs, “That doesn't seem like my problem.”

Natasha looks at him with agony in her eyes. “Why are you so incredibly stupid?”

“It's not my fault you didn’t understand our dynamic.”

“Did you even understand your dynamic?”

Bucky hesitates and almost tells the truth. But if he doesn't say out loud that sometimes it was easy to forget that none of was real and sometimes he pushed boundaries on purpose just to see how far it could go, how many pieces of himself Tony would let him keep, then it's easier to pretend that everything is exactly the way he wants it to be and that he doesn't really want the one thing he can't have. If he tells the truth to Natasha, he can't keep lying to himself.

Bluntly, Natasha says, “You’re in love with him.”

He stops breathing for a second, and his heart skips over itself. It’s so much worse to hear it out loud. To hear her admit it when he can’t. Not in any way that matters, anyway.

“I do love him,” Bucky says slowly, “in the same way that I love you or Steve and sometimes Sam if he isn’t being annoying. That’s why I’m doing what’s best for him.”

a continuation of that i scene, i think? idk there was a gap between them in the document but i think it was supposed to be connected eventually lol:

“Please, Nat,” Bucky says, voice breaking on her name. “I’m really begging you to just let it go. And tell Steve to let it go, too. It’s not like that. It can’t be like that.”

and for the last "outtake," the laser tag line was always there in some way. i think this was supposed to be part of a getting-back-together scene:

“And why not?” she questions, unrelenting. “Because it would ruin things? You could lose him as a friend? Last I checked, you already did. I don’t why, because you won’t tell me, and despite the fact that I’ve called him a dozen times in the last two weeks, he won’t tell me either. All I know is that you fucked up, and he’s gone, which means you’ve got nothing left to lose.”

“You remember that bet we made?” Tony asks. “Laser tag. You said that I could have anything that I wanted.”

“Course I remember. You never used it, though.”

Tony twists his hand into the blanket, so tightly that his knuckles turn white. “I never used it because I already had everything I wanted.”

#answered asks #answered anon #i think this reveals more about me as a writer than i want it to lol #like my method for writing is doing random scenes and snippets however they pop into my head and hoping it'll all connect later #my writing

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crossdressingdeath · 2 years

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Your comment about how there were many people who would want/benefit from Justinia's death reminded me of my Warden (well, my 'main' Warden) who absolutely hates her. Not for any big political reasons, but personal ones. He can't forgive her for what she did to Leliana, essentially pulling her back into a life she'd desperately pulled herself out of. I guess it's supposed to be okay because Justinia was sorry about it and Leliana wasn't mad, but I always felt my Warden, who loved Leliana like family, would never be okay with it. The fact that he's a Dalish elf definitely adds to his resentment, of course.

I don't know, maybe I don't have enough context since I've only played the games, but I really feel like all of Leliana's character development post Leliana's Song is just erased.

What really annoys me is that her character arc is... basically the same fucking arc she had in Origins. You can either soften her or harden her, with her starting hardened for... reasons. Presumably related to what Justinia used her for. It's just really lazy writing. And yeah, Leliana finally got out of the spymaster/bard thing that was clearly bad for her and started spending more time with people who love her for her and not what she can be used for... and Justinia drags her right back rather than finding someone who's still part of the Game. "Oh, Justinia was sorry about it-" if she was sorry she wouldn't have fucking done it.

But honestly for all they go on and on about how wonderful Justinia was all I remember is her presence in DA2 and The Last Court. I mean, in DA2 she's planning a fucking Exalted March because the mages are getting upset about being tortured, raped and murdered on the daily! In The Last Court she decides to throw the weight of feeding and housing all the people she's bringing to the Conclave on a tiny marquisate so far west that it's barely in Orlais (and also is so far out of her way it's not even funny) and that has been largely cut off from wider society (so probably limited trade routes and resources) for the last three generations so that they can "prove" that they're not bad people... which they supposedly are because their great-grandfather was an apostate. Like, Justinia is mostly a negative force in the lives of the characters we actually interact with and play as! She dragged Leliana back into a life she desperately wants to escape, she's an active threat to the entire DA2 cast because she's starting to plan a war against the city because the mages (which would likely include the two/three mages in that cast) don't like being tortured, she forced the Marquis of Serault to support her entire retinue on land that's constantly one bad day away from collapsing around them, and oh yeah, she's the head of the religion that makes half the cast of each game's lives hell. Hell, the thing that causes her death is her trying to push the mages and Templars into some sort of compromise when no such compromise could be morally supported; I mean, what does compromise look like when one side wants nothing less than the total subjugation of the other for being born? Basically for all that DAI tries to tell us that Justinia was super nice and progressive and wanted to do the right thing what we're shown across the previous games is that she at best wasn't willing to actually take risks in defence of the people oppressed by the Chantry and at worst was just a really good liar who pretended to be progressive to win people over without having to do anything. DAI continues to fail at this entire conflict.

#dragon age #asks #anon

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lavenoon · 1 year

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30, 33, and 34 for the fanfic writer ask! ❤️

30. Tooth-rotting fluff or merciless angst?

In reading, I don't actually enjoy angst if it's merciless most of the time! I do enjoy some hope with my pain, please <3 So with content I seek out, it'd be the fluff! For writing? Well, uh, looking at my track record - did I. Did I ever write just pure fluff? With not a hint of conflict? The type to make you put your device down and just giggle for a while over it all? I. I honestly don't think so, whoops Merciless angst I also rarely write (and even when I do I can't really leave it alone and let it remain angsty), but I think I'd honestly be better at angst than I'd be at fluff gfhdjs It just, activates my brain? And I love seeing the reactions it causes - a very interesting ego boost where everyone including me is crying <3 (I still will not promise a Y/N dies scenario, because Y/N I definitely cannot fix and I'm not sure I can handle that) Besides, merciless angst doesn't have to involve death, and I do have other evil thoughts brewing <3 So, for writing, I guess it'd be angst!

33. Is there anything you wish your audience knew about your writing or writing process?

Maybe. Not in a "please ignore all mistakes" way, but in a "please be aware of how often I mix things up" way - please remember English is my second language. To top it off, I learned most of it online, with manga fan translations that were unavailable in German, and on social media, and that makes for rather unorthodox results. Especially with writing - grammar rules differ between English and German, and sometimes I just have to stop and squint and think about which rules I'm applying currently, and if it's the right ones. Or having the perfect word or phrase for something in German - but it's untranslatable. Often enough I write a sentence, in English, that in English makes no sense, but if I literally translated it to German it'd just be a normal sentence. I'm so lost between languages sometimes, I even forget which language I read something in, until I think of a specific phrase from the thing or a context clue that will help me sort it into the German or English basket. Being bilingual is fun, but sometimes I wish I could take my brain out and just make vague, confused, and offended gestures at it until it stops producing nonsense. And perhaps not necessary to know, but a fun fact: I don't write in German, and I'm not sure I'd be any good in it. I very much dislike reading in German these days, and since most things I'm interested in are in English/ have an English original or translation, I go with that! It's a weird situation, honestly, feeling so distanced from my native language, but it's also not big enough of an issue to unpack, and English does have a much wider audience!

34. Copy and paste an excerpt you’re particularly fond of.

I'm still very very happy with this little bit from Catbird out of the Bag:

I didn't have a plan, going in, that went beyond "Moon introduces himself and reality smacks him like a brick to the face, he has a quiet, shorter crisis before helping Y/N through theirs". So then I was at that point and Y/N was still so frantic, and I wasn't quite sure what would fix it - but Moon did. It really just hit me, that of course he'd defuse things, because that's his rival, he knows them, they know him, and if he acts a little goofy there's no way they can resist calling him out on it. It's also the first time he uses "dove" for them - the softer, post-reveal pet name he opts for when not on the clock, and I am just so soft for that <3 I still miss this reveal sometimes, I'm glad they all got the happy alternative, and I know that there's only more happiness in their future, too. Happiness that our canon trio will also get, just taking a bit more time! <3

#answer let luce #ribbons-halos #hi Naff <3 #maybe I should just. hm.#Naff asks #that way my weird-about-self-imposed-rules brain cannot struggle which tags to use <3 #all go to Naff asks now #me doing a finger count on what drabbles I have planned:#hurt no comfort. pure fluff! to balance out the hurt no comfort for the same character! hurt no comfort. hurt no comfort the sequel.#reveal: hurt no comfort then hurt comfort #my track record speaks for me I guess #catbird I had a really funny german title for which I couldn't use. sad about that still #but learning there's a bird called catbird made it worth it lmao #also. false friends are my enemies. the amount of false friends i dodge daily istg #but yes hehe #ty for the ask!!

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wikagirl · 9 months

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okay fellas, I'm sorry but I feel the need to get onto my little soapbox here for a bit.

Rant below the cut.

Warnings: discussion the genocide of american natives, WW2 discussions, mentiones of death (repeatedly), mentions of eugenics, gas chambers, hanging, starvation, jim crow laws and general rage at people who downplay horrible events that happened in history because they are "not as bad" as WW2

For context: I'm following a bunch of native american creators on insta because somebody unintentionally sent me down a rabbit hole and one of them made a post mourning the lives lost to the strategic erasure of their culture since the Europeans first stepped foot on the american continent. They described it as the native holocaust.

Some guy seemed genuinely confused about the use of the word holocaust so I thought I'd be nice and clear up some confusion about it and left it at that HOWEVER when I brought it up later with friends in discord because I thought it was kinda silly how mad the dude got over it in later comments I came to realize that a lot of people don't actually know what the word means and, especially white americans, seem to get really pissed off when the word is "misused" and now here we are.

So, just to be clear: It does NOT mean death by fire in german. I have no idea where everyone gets that from because it's not even a German word. Death by fire is Feuertod in german and, considering that a lot more people in ww2 died through gas chambers, hanging, starvation, sickness and gunfire using a word meaning "death by fire" would be completely and utterly wrong.

It's true that the greek word it stems from, holókauston, is put together out of holos (whole) and kaustós (burnt) but even then it still does not mean death by fire, it means a sacrifice that was wholly burnt which is why we use the term for events such as the ones of WW2 in a metaphorical sense. It was a great (as in big) intentionally made "sacrifice" that (almost) wholly "burnt" away a whole group of people and I'm putting sacrifice in "-" so nobody gets the wrong idea here. It wasn't a sacrifice, a sacrifice is something you make in honor of something like a god or a cause, it was government funded massmurder.

For reference, here is the wikipedia on the term.

What holocaust the modern word DOES mean is destruction or slaughter of human life on a mass scale through various means which include fire depending on what dictionary you look at.

For reference, here is what is says in the Duden in German and for the English folks the definition from the Cambridge dictionary just to make 100% sure everyone is on the same page here.

The reason for why we call the events of WW2 THE holocaust is because, thus far, it was the most extreme case in human history in meticulously planned execution and a (considering the death toll) extremely short time span. For that it is THE holocaust as in the biggest most extreme but that does not mean that there can't be other instances of one happening and that events that had been labeled as one previously before ww2 suddenly aren't one anymore and as much as we all like to believe that humanity has learned its lesson deep down we all know that is not the case and it's only a matter of time before something worse happens.

"Oh but Wiika, events change the meanings of words” Yes, but I honestly believe that this one word, the one word we have to describe man made horror beyond the comprehension of the average mind, should not be gatekept and exclusive to one event.

Claiming what is happening to native american folks is not a holocaust and "just a massacre that happened x amount of years ago" to me is denial of history and denial of the more than 13 million lives lost on the side of the natives alone as estimated by this paper on page 7 that I have seen cited as a source repeatedly while looking up the topic on the webpages of several reservations and articles on the topic so I'll trust that they check their sources more thoroughly than I do.

For reference, if we sum up the numbers given in the chart under "Number of deaths" from the United Stated Holocaust Memorial Museum (and yes I picked an english source just for you, also to be clear we are only looking at the victims that were civilians/not soldiers and people that were imprisoned/qualified to be send to a KZ which is literally everyone else on that list) and pick the higher number for the Roma we get a number that looks a little something like 18.933.900 and taking into account the two shadows numbers we can pump that up to 19 million and still probably miss a few thousand.

Again, side by side. WW2 19 million in total. The natives of america 13 million. That is a difference of 6 million and at this point I would like to remind you that the killing and erasure of natives is still ongoing meaning that the number keeps going up and we also have a huge shadow number that is probably also in the thousands of kids that had been taken to be "cultured" and never were heard of again and kidnappings and killings that are being skillfully ignored by law enforcement and also just murders that happened in the past that we probably never heard of and also probably never will.

I know that the number of 19 million came to be within six years and the 13 million over the span from 1492 until this paper was first published in 2018 and I know that the timespan and how quickly things happened in WW2 are part of what makes it so disturbing to many people but it should not overshadow the fact that these are human lives lost to a system designed to erase them in both cases.

We should not be standing here and saying one of these things is less bad than the other because it took longer to achieve such a high number of deaths or because the total of deaths is lower. Millions are still millions. Most people can't even imagine what a few thousand people would look like in one open space. Now try and fathom literally millions of people as an image in your head, all dead.

Also, as a little side tangent: I know americans have a bit of a hard on for WW2 media and such because it makes them feel like the hero because they came and swooped in and killed the evil nazis BUT what a lot of folk like to ignore in the favour of the illusion of being a hero is that a lot of hitlers ideas and systems were inspired by what was going on in northern america. The KZs were inspired by the US Indian reservation system. The whole "blood purity" law that forced people to proof that they are "only to a certain percent jewish" or else they be sent to work and extermination camps was inspired by Margaret Higgins Sanger and her eugenics theories and don't even get me started on the Jim Crow laws that directly inspired a lot of anti-jewish laws that were going on back then.

To sum up my whole point with this long ass rant:

Please for fucks sake stop telling people that a massacre, especially against their own people, does not count as a holocaust because there has been "a bigger one".

Don't take away the one word we have to accurately describe the man made horrors and crimes committed against human life because you think a different event in time is more deserving of it. To do so is to deny what happened in its true extent and that is nothing but disrespectful to the lives that have been lost.

You can't just say that one of the two is less horrible than the other, both have aspects that are terrifying to them, some more and some less, but the second you say "I think that x event is less bad than y event" that implies that one of the two is more....excusable?

The two events mentioned above are clearly not the same, they never will be and they never should be treated as such and they never ever EVER should be treated as if they are in competition about which one of them is worse or is deserving of a title.

I merely brought them both up to put into perspective what some people are willing to excuse and even completely disregard because they feel like something else is more deserving of the label of "destruction or slaughter of human life on a mass scale" and thus completely disregard literally 531 and still counting years worth of bloodshed and abuse as nothing more than a minor hiccup in the history of the glorious land of the free the way that they always do with anything that throws a shadow on that not USA exclusive american dream considering that Canada is literally just maple syrup flavoured USA when it comes to this topic specifically.

Thank you for coming to my TEDtalk.

#tw ww2 #tw death #tw violence #tw murder #tw eugenics #tw holocaust #mention of death #mention of eugenics #if we counted ALL the victims of ww2 including soldiers. rebels and people who died after the end of the war to things caused by the war #such as disability. infected wounds and the countless healthissues the freed KZ inmates had as a result of their time in the camps #we would have more than 70 million dead bodies summed up from all sides of the war #also please for fucks sake stop telling me as a german how I'm supposed to feel about ww2 or that I'm uneducated about it #ww2 is literally the only topic we do in history class from year 7 and onward #so sometimes up to 6 years of only ww2 and we are thorough with it too and considering how a lot of americans talk about the horrors #that happened in that time period I honestly think that they are the ones who don't know what they are talking about #a lot of folks outside of germany never even heard about the blood purity laws or the arian breeding programms #literally all of the shit I listed in here are things that were drilled into my brain in history class #I only looked things up to fact check so I don't misremember. This is basic history knowledge that is expected of german kids.#I've been told that i was a liar before because of what I mentioned earlier about where hitler got his inspo from #and to those people I say fuck you because since then I have actually bought and read his book and it's literally all in there #yes that book #and yes it's back on store shelves with editors notes and context markers and all that good stuff #and I honestly think it should be read in schools or at least snippets of it should be what all this insanity is built upon #actually our history teacher in 9th grade made us read bits of it even when it wasn't part of the curriculum #that woman trained us to sniff out nazi propaganda methods like blood hounds #and it's disturbing to see how much of these methods are currently being used in US government campaigns #shout out to mrs curtis for being the best history and english teacher I've ever had #can't wait to once again have the good old “white saviour syndrome” be tossed at me #but honestly I'm just so fed up with people downplaying events because ww2 was worse #they do it with the russia-ukranie situation rn and even bfore that they did it with gulags which are often used a joke

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