I haven’t been on tumblr for quite as long as a lot of people but over several years I’ve noticed this interesting gradual sorta,, shift in the general culture? that it went from this mostly depressed, nihilistic outlook where people would regularly joke about hating themselves and being hopeless and depressed, to a wave of vehemence of “STOP hating everything actually the world is Good and you deserve love!!!” type posts, to now, where those aggressive ‘PSAs’ have faded away and instead I regularly see people romanticizing simple things like stars and hot tea and rainy mornings, and waxing poetic about their friends, and just trying to put love out there. and I don’t know exactly what that means (someone who knows more than me could probably say something smart about generational expression and trauma or popular perception of mental health and whatnot), but I do know that it makes my heart very full to see people learn to love the world and themselves by extension, and a whole userbase adopting healthier coping mechanisms, and therefore teaching the younger users to do so as well. I might just be following different people, but I really do think we’ve grown. everyone has grown. five years ago it wasn’t unusual for the next post on my dash to be a scathing commentary on why nothing matters or an anon ripping into someone they barely knew or someone complaining about how pathetic their interests are. now I have mutuals who get excited and spam reblog art of cows and friends I see tagging each other in pictures of frogs and strangers writing paragraphs about how much I matter. it makes me happy. idk. just an observation I wanted to make. I think people are good and everyone’s just trying their best at the end of the day

The ghost inside my head, it never sleeps But I'm okay, yeah I feel fine

there’s a cat in the archives, and Basira and Daisy just found out about it

spring mint and pennyroyal!

“I suppose I am just tired of fighting.”

One of my favorite things about watching Ed and Stede fall in love, is how clearly we see the consequences of their lives effecting how they are able to perceive their own feelings.

Where Ed was shown bad examples of love, Stede was shown nothing at all. When Ed was shown freedom, Stede was still trapped. But when Ed found himself caged, Stede found his way out. And all those things shaped how they realized they were in love.

On one hand, we have Ed.

His first exposure to "love" is his mother's abuse at the hands of his father, that at a young age he felt he carried the responsibility to end. It paints it bad: Even if there was once love there, it withered and died until it became violent, or perhaps there was never love and it was just the thing adults did because that's the world we live in, you get married and hate each other because what else are you going to do to pass the time?

So he runs off, becomes a pirate at a young age, rebelling against society and its expectations, and its rules, and its nuclear families. Fuck them all, Edward Teach doesn't need any of it. And in his new life, he finds power and control over what happens to him for probably the first time. He's good at piracy, he has tense companionships, earns respect, and it's fun. It's new and different from the mainland life.

And then he get's used to it, and suddenly it's just another trap again. It's not the same game as the land fairing people of the world, a different charade, yet still one he has to play just because the world says so. Maybe he didn't get married, but he's got this nickname and reputation and now he had to fill its role. All these expectations he tried to avoid, but he just created new ones. And it's probably somewhere in here, that even if he had let himself believe he could love and be loved, that he lost it again. Such a thing surely wasn't real, people just lie and pretend they loved each other because that's just what you do.

But then he finds Stede. This crazy, weird, fantastic guy who just isn't doing it like anyone else. He is doing what he wants just because he wants and there's no one's stopping him. And it's beautiful and refreshing to see that freedom, after all his years had made him jaded. And at first it was just fun, really exciting and wild and thrilling and joyful, but it was just fun. Something to fill that void of boredom.

Then he really falls. When Stede tucks that silk into his pocket and tells him he wears fine things well. When he really sees everything that Stede is and it's amazing. He's so undoubtably his own person, unwilling to bend to the ways the world wants him to be. He is in open rebellion to society in every way, and in every move he makes he heals a little bit of Edward's broken heart. He gingerly holds it in his hands and assures him that he is worthy of sweetness and finery. And when Ed loves Stede, it's entirely its own feeling. So different from his parents, his crew, his companions. It's just something new to the world that it's never seen before, and it's all his. It's so powerful and beautiful, and he's willing to die or give up any other freedom he has for it. That love meant too much to lose. So when he kisses him, it's his unabashed, unafraid, leap of faith into love's embrace.

And on the other side, there is Stede.

His father's love to him did not exist. All their interactions were cold and dripping with hate. His father hated him. Hated his softness and his hope and all that made Stede himself. And he had no one else to turn to. In school, with the other boys his age, he was hated exactly the same. Tormented and abused in the name of asserting superiority over him. Ripping him to bits for daring to love flowers.

He never had family love, he never had friendly love, and when the topic of romance was finally brought up, he was told he got none of that either. His entire life was a series of business transactions the rich would move around as they organized themselves in their hierarchy. And so he did his job in it. He was "baby Bonnet" so other boys could be better that him, and he was "Mr. Bonnet" so he and Mary could combine their families wealth.

Then he ran away. When he could no longer stand all these different roles he served for everyone but himself, he ran away. And he was only on the waters for less than a year. That was not enough time for him to even begin to understand love. He tried his best, he did have such a large heart despite his life. He showered his crew with respect and gentle understanding, giving to them all the love he held, wanting not just his dreams of piracy, but companionship for the first time in his life. Of course it was strained, he had a lot to learn before they could really bond.

So when he meets Ed, he's almost entirely entranced by his first friend. Someone who is actively enjoying every single thing about him. Every ridiculous character quirk, all his strange priorities, the way he caries himself, his humor - all of it is beloved by Ed. For the first time in all his life, he has someone who actually likes his personality. He was falling in love, but he had no idea that wasn't just how friendship felt. The prospect of companionship was something so foreign to him. All of his love was genuine, just vastly underestimated by himself who couldn't place the name of all the feelings he now carried.

Even when Ed kisses him, he knows he likes Ed, he knows Ed is his favorite person in the whole world, he knows he liked the kiss. But he still wasn't sure how serious it was. Still couldn't be sure it wasn't just a best friendship. It was only when Mary walked him through it would he admit to himself that it was real. It was actually love.

What all those kids did to him, what his father told him before he met Mary, all the times he has felt like an outsider to his own heart: none of it mattered. Despite all of it telling him that he would never get love, he went out and found it. And now that he knows it, he's going to fight like hell to get back to Ed so he can enjoy it.

More OMFD

God I swear I already wrote this hc once upon a time but I can’t find it for the life of me so!

Billy Batson, young and homeless, is looking to make some extra cash to survive starts working at Whiz radio station. He gets bounced around doing various odd jobs but gets roped into taking over the nightly superhero hour when everyone else comes down sick. Bill doesn’t quite know what to do, he’s not great with words and hasn’t been to school in years. So he just starts talking from the heart. 

Billy talks about heroes, not just as paragons and icons but real live people being expected to shoulder the world. He brings up the various charities and causes heroes support and how ordinary citizens can be heroes in their own way. He never directly comments on current politics but instead speaks of morality and philosophy, not as a highly educated adult but a deeply empathetic child who has seen the worst the world has to over and continues to smile.

It’s an instant hit and Billy is brought on semi-permanently. He’s popular enough the radio forgives his odd hours and occasional absences and politely overlooks the fact that he ought to be in school/foster care. They give him a microphone that distorts his age and call him the Wizard. The show becomes so popular that it extends beyond Fawcett City and soon is being uploaded online and being broadcast around the country and behind. And some heroes listen in too. Barry listens to the program on his morning jog, it invigorates him to do better and makes him re-evaluate his role as a hero. Bruce will have it quietly in the background when he’s feeling low on a bad case to remind himself that all his efforts and suffering have meaning. Clark leans back in his chair at the Daily Planet and wonders how a civilian from the Midwest can understand the burden of heroism.

Billy is doing his program when the producer knocks on the glass window in a panic. Superman is here and wants to interview with Billy. Bill is freaking out, thinking he’s been caught but the first thing Supes does is gently cradle Billy’s small hands in his own and thank him for being a source of kindness and inspiration. Superman is thrown at first that the Wizard is a child, an obviously hardliving one at that, but presses on. The Man of Steel notoriously hard to interview but he chats easily with Billy, answering questions and debating morality and cause/effect of heroes and villains. The interview goes viral and soon even more heroes are stopping by.

Green Arrow comes and screams into the mic about the abuse of the government on underprivileged people. Wonder Woman and the Wizard have a fascinating, in depth discussion on gods and belief as both prove to be a wealth of obscure knowledge. One of the Robins comes and talks about kids in the hero biz and some unnnamed British man who keeps getting his swears bleeped out gives a kind of magic 101 which mostly translates to “don’t (bleep)ing mess with it”. Everyone wants to know who the Wizard is but his identity is locked down tight, first by Whiz radio, who knows they’ll be in trouble with child labor laws and the Justice League who has become obsessed with this kid. Many have wanted to adopt the precious bean to the detriment of Billy’s blood pressure.

Everyone always asks why Captain Marvel hasn’t come by for a visit. He’s so friendly and open and operates directly out of Fawcett City. Cap is sweating at the Watchtower when his friends are talking about the latest show and gently berating him for not interviewing. Billy is grimacing as his producer makes him ask, on air, if the Cap would show up for a chat. He just wanted to make a little bit of extra cash in his off hours and now he’s kind of an international sensation and unofficial hero whisperer. Maybe Constantine can help him with a sort of duplication spell?

andy, through the earpiece, obnoxiously slurping a baja blast: ask him about the machete nile: machete??! nicky: hm? oh yeah here you go :)

it’s about the little joys amidst the grind for survival

Happy 26th Birthday To Our Angel Aka Park Jimin!! ✨

“If your heart has grown bigger, that also means you have also let go and emptied out many things. This shows that you have let go of the bad things and are left with nothing but happiness and freedom.”

cr. namuspromised

I love thinking about Kaz dealing in the Crow Club, catching card counters and running the show.

Like a lot of other readers, I was surprised that Sanemi and Giyuu had canon-official descendants, as it was hard to imagine them being motivated to start families when they thought they were going to die early anyway, and it didn't feel necessary (from my own cultural and generational perspective, anyway--Confucianism was undergoing a revival in their time period). With Sanemi especially, he had hedged all those bets on Genya instead of ever dreaming of his own domestic bliss, and he probably wouldn't have been motivated to pass on his father's name or anything.

But unless the timing is too cruel it's canon that Sanemi does get to build a family again.

SANEMI GETS TO CUDDLE A BABY AGAIN, AND I SORELY NEEDED THIS, IT'S GONNA MAKE HIM SO HAPPY

But like, he also gets the reality of it again, nothing he can't handle though, Sanemi's the world's greatest papa, he's gotta be.

EDIT: After my tag rant, and because it's clearly related, it felt appropriate to add some of the concluding lines of my post-canon fic about Sanemi and Giyuu's awkwardly budding friendship as they also deal with, like, you know... all the events of canon.

‘Fine. Run away to the hot springs if you like. See you when you get back, smooth as a baby’s bottom.’

‘They might have one by then. I wonder if he’ll let me hold it?’

‘Don’t drop it, man.’

‘I knew it. It’s difficult, isn’t it? Maybe I shouldn’t--’

‘It’s not hard! You really have no idea, do you? There’s nothing like holding a baby, rabbits are nothing. It’s not just the weight and warmth, it’s the smell, and the way they cuddle—’

‘I—I want to see their hands. Their hands look so tiny, but I hear they’ll grasp tight if you give them your finger.’

‘That’s the best feeling! And if they’re yours, it makes you want to protect them so bad. And then when they start smiling, man, Giyuu, that’s the best! You—’ he had stopped himself, blushing for how excited he was.

Giyuu was just as flushed, but not the least bit embarrassed. ‘I want to see what that’s like too. I want to hear them giggle.’

‘There… there’s nothing like it. Maybe you should try it some time.’

‘…Giggling?’

‘No! Idiot! Forget what I said. No promises, got it! You go do your thing, I’ll do mine. When the winds and waves crash together again, we’ll hang out. See you around, Giyuu.’

‘See you around, Sanemi.’

THE PILLAR TRAINING OATH, Chapter 7

Te amo

Y yo a ti, Cas

Supernatural 15x18 (latam dub) Air date: November 25, 2020

~

redbubble

fellas,,,

You're laughing. The repressed queer firefighter broke up with his girlfriend over breakfast and you're laughing.