#a simplistic answer from len really

[astralleywright]

everyone pivoting to arguing about semantics as we've finally gotten a decision is pretty interesting now cause you've got "the gods aren't colonizers, because exandria isn't a colony! it's resources aren't being exploited to brought to somewhere else, checkmate liberal!" i mean sure but if you went to somewhere and killed everyone already living there and built your house on their graves then uhhhh

also there's this weird undercurrent of OMG! the gods are having their dignity and agency taken for things out of their control! but god forbid you say laudna was ever coerced or fcg was treated like property or ashton's family was nuked or that orym damning himself with nana morri is bad actually or dorian's brother dying wasn't his fault or imogen-

it's just a long way of saying "reparations are bad because you're blaming privileged people for having privilege" which is a very shallow opinion to have. i don't think everyone who dislikes the c3 story is a bigot but damn!

so ive been sitting on these asks forever in the hopes of gaining enough intelligence in the intervening weeks to give a really good answer to them.and i didn't because that's not how anything works. and then i started answering it but then end of c3 news broke and now i'm in the torment nexus forever. but i want this out of here before it ends so, i'm gonna give it the best i got

to start off, i would discourage casting any group in this fandom at large as white as untrue and unhelpful. there are people of color on every side of this issue! and as mentioned, semantics and language are at the center of this discourse, and so is identity reductionism. a lot of these people make the same generalization about our side of fandom, erasing plenty of fans of color while dismissing their analysis. as well as many of the people of color who have actually been a part of creating c3! so to do the same ultimately just substantiates its place in legitimate discourse, which it does not deserve.

but, yes, this is an incredibly lib way of approaching the topic. it seems like, finally realizing the disconnect between what they thought c3 was saying and what it actually is, a lot of people have fallen back on the only lens they really know how to critique from, one of representation and identity. and the tumblr understanding of representation is a very shallow, largely western perspective, one void of history and power dynamics. it's especially notable with the colonialism critiques, which often seem ignorant or disinterested in the actual processes and strategies of colonization in favor of a much more simplistic tumblr approach to race and representation. sometimes, that manifests in posts accusing the primordials and eidelons of being bad indigenous representation because they attacked the gods with no provocation, both ignoring that colonization itself is violent and leaning into the Noble Savage trope. sometimes that manifests in posts noting the underusage of Marquet, a continent inspired by Africa and Asia (and as such not white), in comparison to the Eastern European Wildemount (and as such white), and expecting that to stand in challenge to colonialism being a theme of C3. but not actually elaborating on the extensive history of both colonization and colonizing on each continent, or the way racialization explicitly occured as a process to justify colonialism, or that the history of Eastern Europeans being seen as white is very, very complicated and still evolving. that second one is particularly annoying, because the original critique about Marquet is actually a really good and relevant one when it's not being thrown around as a lame gotcha.

there's a deep focus on connecting broad labels and definitions in a way to make one Exandrian group or another look oppressed or victimized, when in reality the difference in power and agency that group has versus the real life counterparts is like. comical. see that one post comparing the armies of Vasselheim being perturbed by BH to pacifistic Buddhist monks being met with colonizers. The monks and the Vasselheim armies are both religious, the colonizers and BH both bring challenge; ignore that these Exandrian acolytes are armed exactly as heavily as the colonizers and backed with the same mandate of heaven.

that's also where you get the arguments about the god's agency being erased, about Bells Hells taking away their choice, etc etc, from the same people that will say it's Dorian and Opal's fault the Spider Queen murdered Cyrus and turned Opal into a puppet. because of course when you're blind to power dynamics, you end up siding with the powerful. if you see the world as something that makes sense, is broadly fair and merit-based, of course you would. if someone is unpleasant or makes bad choices or even just gives you the ick, that must be because they're bad, inherently. the primordials attacked the gods for no reason!! and so on.

[a-town-called-hometown]

hi!! i loved your post about deltarune's metafiction and its (not) escapist themes, and it got my brain jogging, like... i guess ive just been thinking "why"? like ive heard that take before and i think its valid, but also like. why ? its obvious enough to me that deltarune uses the lightner/darkner relationship as a reflection of the player/game relationship and both of these things are addressed critically, but i can't help but wonder if there's a driving force for it all, outside of deltarune. like i can accept diegetically the darkners are not, or shouldn't be, subject only to the whims of lightners, but with any good story if you break it down to its core is ultimately saying something about humanity or the world and such. i mean i seriously doubt the people who seem to think that Toby Fox intends to induce *actual* guilt into the people who fund his life's work and career by purchasing his videogames, like, it's obvious that "you are a bad person because you play this videogame" isn't the intended message, nor was it in undertale. but then, what is? what is the purpose of a story that invites us to think of toys and game characters as "real"? not to trash my beloveds but i mean, literally speaking, their lives DONT matter, they r not real. it just feels like ive seen a lot of discussion about 'what' toby is doing with the narrative but i feel like that's only half the ordeal, the other half would be the reason why. my first thought was that the implicit 3rd thing being compared to the light-dark, player-game thing is actual social hierarchy IRL in which people are oppressed by another group that doesnt see them as human, bc iirc toby talked a bit about feeling powerless and wanting to do more to change the real world on real issues in an interview in 2020ish and of course there's the snarky gag about the fedora plugboy who doesn't like politics, so he doesn't care that an evil ruler is taking over the world. im not sure if that sits right with me as what the intention is (esp because the latter is a darkner talking about another darkner) but i couldnt think of much else although i do feel like a fallacy people get themselves into a lot in the fandom is the assumption that toby fox is this Impeccable Writing Machine and not just like A Guy. people make weird or flawed art sometimes, it doesn't *have* to adhere to standards. maybe deltarune is meaningless (or the meaning IS that it's meaningless, as though to complete the metaphor of it being a "real" fictional world, because if it is 'real' then like our world there is no "answer" or "purpose", it simply *is*.) dunno! im not expecting it to boil down to a simplistic fairytale moral like "dont bully people!!" or something, mr. fox tends to write more convoluted than that, but i feel like if there's something to be gained from this particular part of the game's story then i'm not sure i see the vision. what do u think? do u think this question is even answerable with only two chapters?

respectfully, I do heavily disagree with the notion that good stories necessarily have to say anything about the world or about humanity. one of the reasons I like metafiction is that it usually says something about how stories are constructed, and that's enough for me. there's plenty of stories that have bigger themes that aren't really all that much about human nature, at least, not directly. a story can comment on one specific thing without necessarily making a broader statement about people, you know? not every story has an easily explained moral lesson.

that being said, yes, this plot element is in service of deltarune's larger themes! which are about agency, control, fate, and identity.

deltarune's fate theming and its metafiction elements are a bit of a chicken-and-egg situation given how interlocked they are, but I've found it helpful to describe deltarune as a "person vs. fate narrative that uses a metafictional lens to characterize fate." rather than the three fates of greek mythology or whatever dictating its characters' lives, it is instead the structure of the rpg their world was made to be. they are player characters. they are npcs. they play specific roles in the narrative. no one can choose who they are in this world.

control is emphasized in this story. there's the control we have over kris, of course, and in a much subtler way the control we have over the world through them. there's the darkner-lightner hierarchy, which parallels our dynamic with kris. i would argue that there are even social forces in hometown which also serve to place the lightner characters into specific roles. under this level of control, it's hard for characters to push back and determine their own identities.

all these forces combine to mean that deltarune's characters are fighting back against the narrative itself! which says stuff about people's agency, and the way rpgs are written, and how we interact with all that...

ultimately, you can apply this to real life. even if there aren't things like "fictional people who are actually real," hierarchies of control do exist in real life. narratives that erase the agency and internality of certain types of people exist in real life. it's admittedly a rather general statement, but like with any narrative about fate, seeing characters resist rules that are seemingly written into the fabric of their existence can make you feel inspired to also define your own identity! and to be transgender. don't forget to be transgender

[scrooblings]

look back (2024) thoughts

3.5/5

to sum it up, this film is simple, but well done it doesn't raise its voice at you, so to speak, demanding your attention like an viral tiktok's hook.

i was inspired to write this review because i noticed that kyumoto was drinking orange juice in the hallway of the art school, and in the flashbacks of them working on their first few comics together, they were drinking orange juice. what a cute detail, right? in the 3 body problem series, there was a part that was talking about how certain pieces of media are "data-rich" (this is from memory, might not be accurate). like how a photo of the sky holds more information entropy than a painting i think this film gives me the impression that the characters are very informationally entropic (oml i swear theres a more artsy way to say this, i just can't think of it.) i get the impression they distend beyond the screen, that there's more information about them that isn't pointed out, that what's shown to us is the tip of the ice berg.

which segues into me answering: what makes this film stand out? many would say it's the realism. the comics were realistic for what a grade 4 could do, mirrors realism, gives it credibility, draws you in. what makes realism is details. how the characters walk, how they act callously, their flaws, their relatability. realism gives the film credibility, it gives it weight to the characters and thus emotional attachment to the consequences of their actions.

though, some elements of the character felt outlandish - does jealousy really drive 2 years of grinding? some parts felt cliche (like a part i won't spoil), but the simplicity of this train of thought might be a faithful depiction naivety of a young girl and not simplistic writing.

it also touches on what art is. i think looking at the movie in a meta lens, art seems to blur the line between literal and delusional, as a means of coping. artists also view the world in a particular way - i think of the time before the event depicting kyumoto. it mirrored a story board. with captions of where she was and clear "shots" instead of a continuous sequence. this style also gives you meta hints that you're in fujino's story, her "delusion" which is a bit sad

god its hard to write an analysis without spoiling. i think we're in the clear tho

[mouseratz]

"oh you criticize the US government? well then how's your little childish violent revolution fantasy going? you know that's not Realistic right?" I don't dream of that. I know some people do, and I don't really care if they do, given the State of Things being this bad. incoming flaky, nebulous political ideological rant:

my point moreso is that I think, while voting is something you should do, it's just one thing, and being aware that it simply is Not going to fix a broken system is what is realistic. voting does minimize some kinds of harm. and is totally absolutely ineffective for others, because no matter who's in office that's the choice the government is going to make. voting isn't a bad thing, but we cannot vote our way out of this is the way I feel. past that it gets greyer, possibly due to the limits of my own imagination, of not knowing what is realistic versus not.

+ I do want to note that, regardless of how unclear the image of that progress may be, we aren't going to make any of it if everyone believes that change can only happen within the government itself, from politicians, not people & communities themselves, particularly broadly speaking. that is part of the con of thinking "voting is your most important right and eventually if we vote in all the right people and keep waiting and waiting the government will be Good someday". because we have passed that point.

despite all of the really genuinely horrific actions of our governments and overwhelming suffering....nihilism, also, won't help us. we have to believe we can change our lives and others lives for the better in the time we have here, politicians or not- if you can't imagine any kind of change, it definitely won't come to pass. I think focusing on that will do more good than arguing over who the less evil guy in office is between two genocidal disphsits. still vote, especially for the lower-level politicians who may be less egregiously inhumane..... but broaden your imagination, too. politics, as they affect our lives, don't have to be only seen within the scope of a broken government. what can we do to make it better here?

that answer is really going to change depending on where you live, what resources and time you have, etc....but it's a lot better than bracing for the world to implode and feeling utterly useless, which I think is a place where a lot of well-intentioned people reside.

I also think while there are always going to be More Pressing problems, the small ones count, too. everything counts in this perspective. taking "I want to make the world a better place" in the most literal, even simplistic, lens possible. because most of us do, right? we just don't feel like we can, or like it's worth trying, because of how awful everything is....but I think that's part of the con of our current broken system, too; demoralization of the people who do care. it's worth caring, and its worth doing, even if you can't fix much, or really anything at all. it's worth trying. you don't have to be a politician to try, the government doesn't own our capacity to try to do good.

[delkios]

A Secret Well Kept (DC TV)

I actually wrote this around six months ago but I guess I was originally envisioning it as part of something bigger. Re-reading it, however, I figure it's self-contained enough I can post as is. Title: A Secret Well Kept Fandom: DC TV Rating: PG-13 Word Count: 989 Characters: Len, Mick, some Lisa Summary: Another variation of Mick-stumbling-on-Len-in-a-skirt. The first time Mick had seen Len in a skirt was an accident. Restlessness and close scrutiny from Lewis caused Mick to branch out a bit, working without Len for the first time since they'd met up outside of juvie but the job fell through and he'd heard through the grapevine that Lewis had to bug out and lay low for a bit. So Mick decided to drop in on the Snarts for the first time in two weeks. The two had been watching some ridiculous thing on tv with Len putting braids in Lisa's hair and Len was wearing a skirt. Nothing flashy or frilly, just a dark gray skirt that wouldn't have been out of place on an office worker and Len looking mortified at being caught. Mick laughed it off- he knew Lisa always liked having things to her specifications and that Len would do whatever he could to please her when it was possible. Besides, she was 11 now. She was not only entirely aware of this fact but she was now old enough to take advantage of it for her own amusement. "Your secret is safe with me," he told Len with a huge grin, finding the entire thing hilarious. "No one else needs to know how much you're willing to suffer to keep Lisa happy."

Len laughed like something painful was caught in his throat and, off to the side, Lisa was glaring at Mick. "Yeah. Thanks, buddy." Mick offered to take them out to dinner and Len had excused himself to change. Lisa glared at Mick the entire time they waited and Mick thought it was because he'd interrupted their sibling time. He didn't really get it until Lisa barged into his apartment and demanded he watch a movie with her because Len was too busy to and she'd absolutely die if she was the last person in her class to see it. With a title like The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, Mick popped it in, expecting some kind of boring princess Disney type shit and ended up being very, incredibly wrong. Despite all of Lisa's non-pointed commentary- "Aren't their dresses amazing?" "Why don't you drive a car like that?" "I wonder how you'd look with a make-over." -Mick knew there was a specific reason for her making him watch the movie. It wasn't until Tick was standing in front of his son, visibly uncomfortable in typical men's attire, that the reason struck him like a blow between the eyes. He sat silent, lost in thought, for the rest of the movie and that must have satisfied Lisa because she announced she was taking over his bed for the night, threw a spare blanket at him, kissed his cheek and bounced off to Mick's room. It took the better part of a month before Mick figured out a way to broach the subject and had the courage to do so. He caught Len before the younger man was about to dive into a new heist- before a crew was hired, when he'd just started an outline and was beginning to make a list of things he needed to research. Once Len got into planning, it could take months before Mick would have the chance to say it and he wasn't about to distract Len in the middle of a job. Len was standing there, hand tapping against a stack of papers he was just about to sit and read through when Mick got his attention. Mick cleared his throat and, as he always did when in doubt, went for it. "Are you a woman?" The irritated crease vanished from Len's forehead, replaced by confusion. "What?" "You know. A trans..." Mick waved a hand vaguely, "whatever it is." "No. Why would you think that?" "You like to wear skirts, right?" Len's expression shuttered and Mick hurried on because if he gave Len the chance, Len would shut down the conversation entirely and Mick wasn't sure Len would ever come back. "'Cause if you do and if you think you're a woman," he saw a hard look flash over Len's expression and backtracked quickly, "sorry- if you are a woman, than me saying you were wearing a skirt because Lisa forced you into it is pretty shitty. And I don't wanna make you feel like you gotta pretend around me. I don't want you to think you gotta be scared of me. You're my partner," he said, a little uncertain as to how this was going to end, "that kinda stuff isn't gonna change that." "Mick..." Len sighed, rubbing a hand over his face. "I'm not a woman, I just like to wear skirts some times. And I'm not a cross dresser," he added quickly, "at least not in the sexual sense." "But... why would- I don't-" "I just... I like skirts like," Len paused as he thought, "like you like wearing suspenders instead of belts sometimes. They're comfortable, I like how they look and sometimes I feel like wearing them instead of pants." Then his expression went hard. "I'm not a woman and you better not treat me like one when you see me in a skirt." Mick's eyebrows jumped, unexpectedly happy with this. "Does that mean you're gonna wear them around me? Not hiding when you do, I mean." If he didn't know better, Mick could've sworn Len was blushing. "I could, I guess. I'm not planning on it but if it happens, it happens." "Sure. Whatever. Clothes is clothes." They both nodded a little awkwardly but fell back into their normal routine quickly afterward. When Mick got back to the apartment a few days later to find Len had fallen asleep on top of his blueprints with a skirt around his waist, Mick ignored the weird flutter of joy that came with it and just picked Len up to lay him out on the couch, just like always.

[funkymbtifiction]

Hello!

What does it mean when people say Fi is in tune with emotions? I understand that Fi is not just that, and how it relates to your own personal values and beliefs, your own judgements on things..but when I read how Fi is in tune with their emotions, it confuses me a little. Or more so, when someone is out of tune with them.

Perhaps my emotions are simple, but it’s easy to tell how/why I am feeling a certain way, the root cause and solution is pretty simple.

I’ve read about people who have to take time to be by themselves to sort out what they are feeling, either just contemplating things alone or via art/writing. The community I’m in has identified this as Fe/Ti in work; needing to be alone/“externalize” it.

Personally I rarely stop to consider how I am feeling or partake in the methods above; I don’t often focus inward on my feelings. I usually have a hard time knowing what I personally believe on an issue and sticking with it, but that is a different matter… I just don’t really care about it.

So to be out of tune with your “emotions”, what exactly does that entail?

Thank you! :)

Unless I am missing something fundamental, the community you are with is mistaken about the orientation of emotions. Externalizing means the ability to process something instantly—for a Te user, for example, they can process facts on the spot; there’s no need to think about them much, the facts are obvious and the Te user can spring into immediate action based on those facts. The Se user processes the external world and takes immediate action on it. The Ne user needs no down time to change their mind, to adjust to a new thought, or to see something isn’t working and do the reverse. The same is true for Fe and feelings. Fe users (FJs in particular) process emotions on the spot; they can externalize them (share them, talk about them, name them) without needing to be alone/quiet to do so, because they are a surface reaction to whatever is happening. It’s the internal functions that need solitude  to identify what’s going on within the “haze” of themselves.

If the purpose of the FJ going off to journal or whatever is to analyze their feelings for consistency, then it is indeed Fe/Ti, because they are using a subjective logical lens (Ti) to take apart their emotional response and determine what it means to them. But if they need that alone time to process their feelings, because they aren’t sure of what they are in laymen’s terms (“I am feeling a lot of things, I need to figure out which ones to care about the most, or put a name to them, or decide how to best phrase them without using a ton of metaphors”), that is Fi. It’s something of a trope, but think about all the hero/heroines in movies who have something happen to them, and they run away to process it alone—into the woods, into their room, away from the space ship. They are Fi users, separating themselves from everyone around them so that they can figure out what “this” is and how they feel about it.

Fi is complex because of its subjectivity; it’s both rapidly reacting and slow. By that, I mean an FP/TJ can have an instant response of “I hate this, make it stop,” or “I love this, I want more!”, but the deeper feelings – like their grandmother just died, or they found out the horrible truth about a loved one, or a new discovery of how much they love something and the want to spend more time alone with it – requires being alone. There’s an instant recoil with Fi types over “and how did that make you feel?” because a) the answer isn’t easily expressed / is hazy inside them, b) it’s none of your business!, and c) I don’t know how to phrase it simplistically yet. Writing is one way they can sort through the internal mess and land on the right words.

Being out of tune with your emotions can mean two things – one, you aren’t sure what your emotions are (either because you are trying to think your way through them instead of trusting them, or you are used to suppressing them; this happens more often in EFPs/TJ types an IFPs), or you are acting in a manner that isn’t in accordance with your feelings for some reason, and that is throwing you entirely off balance. Like an FP believing that something is wrong, but doing it anyway, and not fully realizing the negative impact this is going to have on their Fi, for being out of alignment with their values. (There will be a lot of self-anger, guilt, a sense of loss, etc.)

IFPs naturally orient themselves all the time to finding out what they feel and to standing by it, to being true to it, regardless of having a compliant Enneagram type or not. EFPs are not as in tune with their emotions in the sense of slowing down long enough to process their inner sensations; they have those automatic reactions, but especially if they are a Ne who latches onto every idea that comes down the plate at them, they may not be able to easily land on what they think, and what they feel is true. This can cause them to be out of tune with their emotions (but not usually their ethics – those things where they go NOPE, not for me, end of story, forget it). For example, an EFP may wind up doing something they hate for money, becoming more and more miserable—because they didn’t listen to their emotions about doing this job. That’s being out of synch with them. TJs can fall into this trap as well – doing something because it’s logical or makes money but their heart isn’t in it.

FJ/TP types can get out of synch with their emotions by people-pleasing or adapting their morals to the external circumstances to fit in and gain more acceptance; but the more they attempt to make others like them, and the further they get from their own feelings, the less they feel like a complete person, and the more they feel like a reflective surface—mirroring what others show them, without being authentic to their own experience. They can even not know where to start to find themselves, since they don’t know where others end and they begin. The process of self-analysis for them is what allows them to find what they truly believe or feel (analyzing what is me and what is them, where they end and I begin, where our opinions differ and what I want for my life, separate from what others expect of me), but it isn’t necessary to put words to their feelings so much as to gain an appropriate sense of self as separate from others.

[itsclydebitches]

I’ve been seeing an uptick in “anti-RWDE” posts lately  — which is a phenomenon I’d like to comment on at a later date  — but for now one of them (quite unintentionally) made me realize something about the finale that I haven’t seen others discuss yet. 

So RWBYJNOR saves everyone, right? Let’s just put aside the animation for a moment  — which didn’t show any army members making it out  — as well as the forgotten side characters  — Maria, Pietro, Qrow’s group isn’t forgotten, but still left behind  — and take things on good faith here. We’ll read the finale through the thematic intention: RWBYJNOR saved “everyone” in the Kingdom of Atlas in Volume 8, deliberately contrasting them with Ironwood who was willing to sacrifice a chunk of the Kingdom in Volume 7. Forget all the messiness and just accept that regardless of the consequences  — like a destroyed Kingdom and a “dead” team  — the heroes are heroic because they didn’t give into a “lesser evil” thinking and managed to save everyone. 

Now, how was that possible? 

Let’s go back to the beginning of the seventh episode of Volume 8, “War.” Salem’s grimm have just burrowed through Atlas’ defenses and taken them out. The shields are gone. She flies Monstra into the fields and releases an army of darkness that immediately heads for the city. What’s the very first thing Ironwood does? 

Soldier: Yes, sir?

Ironwood: I am evacuating all citizens to the subway. Prepare Manta Squad Omega, and dispatch to every part of Atlas.

Soldier: But sir-

Ironwood: Now!

He evacuates the people, with “the people” meaning all the Atlesians and however many Mantle folk got to the city prior to Salem’s arrival. When this episode aired I mentioned being confused as to why the soldier was so hesitant. Why wouldn’t you want the people to get to safety when a grimm army is heading their way? Fans against Ironwood took the soldier’s side, claiming that Mountain Glenn proved that any underground evacuation is a death sentence and thus he obviously doesn’t really care about the peoples’ safety. Fans in support of/neutral towards Ironwood pointed out that this is a pretty big leap, no one is coming up with a better idea for what he should do instead, and that within these circumstances it reads like the soldiers is illogically against this idea simply because everyone is against Ironwood now. The show wants characters criticizing his decisions and making him out to look like a crazed dictator... even during moments when it doesn’t make any sense to be upset with him. Shooting the councilman yes, trying to keep the people safe no. Basically, this small exchange was a mess, but the rest of the volume proved that this was a sound call. The subway never collapsed and no grimm ever made it to that enclosed space to pick the civilians off like fish in an underground barrel. 

So, why didn’t that happen? Well, one answer is because Oscar and Ozpin destroyed the whale. But how did they have time to do that? Without the people dying while they were being tortured, talking to Hazel, escaping with Emerald, fighting Salem, etc.? A lot happened between Salem starting her attack and Oscar ending it, so why wasn’t 2/3rds of the Kingdom’s population decimated during that time? 

Because Ironwood sent his army out to keep the grimm occupied. 

Outside of Ironwood’s cartoon villain actions  — random murders and bomb threats  — which get the most attention due to how deliberately, over-the-top horrific they are, these are the two actions that get the most negative attention from both the story and the fanbase. The soldier seems horrified by the order to evacuate. Marrow is devastated that young adults are fighting in this battle. The fandom is disgusted by both aspects of Ironwood’s character: giving orders that, as general, he expects to be obeyed and having an army that follows those orders. Putting side that cartoon villainy, this is what supposedly makes Ironwood the antagonist here. These are the qualities that have existed since Volume 2, resulting in a “he was always a bad guy” interpretation. These are the qualities that have resulted in anyone who likes his character being labeled as a “bootlicker.” We know these qualities make the fandom hate him because otherwise, more people would be confused as to why a presumably heroic character randomly shot Oscar. Orders, armies, and general military associations are at the heart of Ironwood’s presumed villainy. 

So let’s remove them. 

Ironwood has no evil army. Ironwood gives no evil orders. Power and control lies solely in the hands of our non-military heroes. Everything is better! 

...well, no. Because we saw in Volume 8 precisely the choices our heroes made when the attack started: half of them focused on saving a single individual (Oscar) and the other half kept to the sidelines. At no point did our RWB group act after sending the message and prior to securing the Staff. AKA, during the attack of Salem’s army. We got a very explicit moment in which Ruby looked out the window at the battle going on and turned away from it, continuing to discuss ethics instead of joining the fight. The people of Atlas (which, again, includes many Mantle citizens) had no one but Ironwood and his army because a third of the group was trying to rescue Oscar (they never even had a plan to blow up Monstra — that was also Ironwood), a third of the group was up in Amity, and a third was sitting in the mansion. They did nothing to help the people of Atlas being attacked by grimm. 

Thus, if you remove Ironwood’s actions, everything goes to hell. There is no longer an order to evacuate to the subway. Maybe some people go there anyway. Most probably don’t. They run in a panic wherever they can. Hide wherever they can. Go back home for some semblance of safety. 

There’s no longer an army. Either it doesn’t exist because we’ve determined it’s simplistically bad despite RWBY’s grimm-specific context, or Ironwood likewise never gives the order to protect Atlas’ border. Salem’s army moves unimpeded through the city, killing countless people as it goes. How do we know? Because they’re civilians who can’t defend themselves and there’s literally no one else to help. Remember: Ironwood is not giving orders, there is no army, RWB is in the mansion, YJOR is in the whale, Penny is out of commission, the Happy Huntresses are in Mantle. Those in Atlas are entirely alone. In time, Oscar destroys the whale, but by then it’s too late. There’s no concrete way to theorize how many have died, but it’s inevitably a lot. Everyone else is scatted across the city, trying to survive. 

So this scene 

no longer exists. 

When the group gets the Staff and creates portals for “everyone” to escape through, Mantle is ready to go. They’ve gotten everyone into the crater and can funnel them straight to Vacuo. Atlas, however, is in chaos. When Jaune enters the subway there’s only a few people there, many of which may be wounded or dying. He’s right back where he started, in Mantle at the beginning of Volume 8: needing to go door-to-door to find where people have hidden themselves, trying to convince them all to follow him (remember Oscar commenting to Ozpin about how difficult that was?). Except now, he and Nora are the only ones trying to get people to safey, the city is filled with far more grimm, a significant amount of time has passed for people to be killed or injured (making evacuating them even harder, both due to injuries and an unwillingness to leave hurt/dead/missing loved ones behind), he’s trying to convince these panicking people to go through magic portals, not just walk to a crater, and he’s aware that there’s a very short time limit for this task. 

Jaune returns in a panic of his own, explaining how difficult it will be to get that 2/3rds of the Kingdom to Vacuo. How many are already dead. Barricaded. Missing. Closeup on Ruby looking horrified, but then she rallies. They can do it. Atlas is falling, but residual dust gives them just enough time to find, calm, and evacuate those people. They’re heroes after all. Beating the odds is what they do. 

Then Cinder attacks. 

Suddenly, the group can’t evacuate people because they’re trying to keep themselves safe from her. Maybe Cinder gets the powers because Jaune was off looking for civilians, leaving Penny without a mercy kill. Maybe Nora dies because she’s still trying to help people on the city that plows into the one below. Regardless of how details might change, they’re not getting a spread out, decimated population through those portals before Cinder changes the wish and makes them disappear.  

In this version, the story starts with Ironwood wanting to sacrifice 1/3rd of the population to save 2/3rds and the future of the war. It ends with 2/3rds of the population dying instead. 

This is what I mean when I say the majority of the fandom wants to view a very complex situation through a ridiculously simple lens. The fandom wants to denounce every bit of RWBY’s fictionalized military, the context issues of that aside. The story wants to paint RWBYJNOR as the only heroes, in part because they succeeded in saving everyone (“everyone”) in the Kingdom when Ironwood gave up. 

But they only managed to save everyone because of Ironwood. Because he kept fighting for his people to the bitter end. This is why, though his horrific actions obviously exist in the story, they make no sense (he’ll threaten to kill his people so he can... save his people?) and mess up what little is working in the finale. The story wants us to celebrate the group for evacuating Mantle and Atlas, but the Atlas evacuation would not have happened if not for Ironwood’s actions  — the actions that are ignored in favor of having Winter blame him for everything and then killing him off. The rescue of “everyone” was very much a joint effort. RWBYJNOR’s win is not actually a contrast to Ironwood’s intended sacrifice, for the simple reason that their win depended entirely on Ironwood’s actions. 

If we’re going to celebrate the group getting everyone to safety, we should probably also celebrate the guy who got them all to an easy evacuation point and ensured they weren’t eaten before then. Does that mean Ironwood never did anything wrong? Of course not. As established, the story went out of its way to make him into a villain. Rather, it means that other parts of the story failed to maintain that black and white view, complicating the heroism of RWBYJNOR in the process. If we want Ironwood to be incapable of heroic action, always the bad guy, nothing good to say about him whatsoever... then we likewise need to accept that the group is rather unheroic in many regards too. That, on their own, they would have failed to save everyone, just as Ironwood’s plan failed to save everyone at the end of Volume 7. Because they chose their friend over a kingdom. Because they sat around in a mansion. Because by the time they took action again and tried to escape, without Ironwood’s help they would have lost a larger majority than they originally insisted be saved. 

[saphirered]

Heyy i hope this is ok, I really love your Verin x reader where he goes to see his brother is it ok to ask for a continuous of it like he visits the empire to see his brother but also the reader ???

I'm doing okay, thank you for asking! The dreaded double shifts have returned but I have a moment of freedom now. Anyway, I hope you enjoy! 😘

-

The sudden disappearance of Essek Thelyss had left quite the ravage in its wake. The Lens; the network of spies of the Dynasty was left in disarray and without a commander, valuable information had been lost and the underground threats of the Empire still posed a risk. The loss of their connection to the Empire and their own spies to keep tabs on the higher ups Essek had provided had disappeared with him leaving little to no information of the inner workings and plotting on the Dwendalian side of the border.

It was the perfect cover story. Verin is by no means as clever and cunning as his brother. He’s the first one to admit so. He’s got his own strength but that doesn’t leave him lacking a skillset similar to his brother’s. Verin knows how to get information. Verin knows how to stick to the shadows. Verin knows what he’s doing. That’s the words of those who spoke in his favour at the Lucid Bastion when he offered the prospects of temporarily providing that bridge until a suitable replacement was found.

Verin had proven to them his loyalty through providing them with answers to the questions they had been asking about the ongoings in Rexxentrum, limited but answers no less which was much better than what they had before. He offered them a remedy against the chaos and they could do nothing other than take it. So Verin got to frequent his resources of this information insisting he’d take care of this personally due to the fragility of them and risks associated; willing to make that sacrifice for his country and not needlessly put lives at risk, especially not after the disgrace his brother had brought them and his family.

Little did they know that his link to the Empire was you; one who sits on the Kings’ Council and you pointing him in the right direction, leaking through formation that was common knowledge between the higher ups of the empire; information that could have been provided by simply striking up a conversation with one of them. It was merely an excuse for Verin to visit his brother… and you as his social visits now included you many a time. He may have grown a bit attached to your company and you’d not risk sending another drow, let alone a Thelyss to stay at already suspected-of-lowkey-treason-every-Thursday Widogast/Thelyss household. No, you’d let Verin stay within the safety of your home escorting him wherever he needs to go to assure none of you get arrested for conspiracy and treason yourselves.

The cover used for the Dynasty was a little easier to maintain than the one for the Empire. Essek’s disguise had of course been in play long before Verin’s arrival. Essek claimed himself to be a former student of Yussa Errenis. That’s how he got to meet Caleb and when Caleb went to settle and teach at the Soltryce Academy he went with, settling down together going on their occasional adventures.

Verin’s had to be tied to that in some way or their frequent interactions would draw attention, be that people suspecting an affair between the two or something deeper. So the story in nature had to stay simplistic as Verin’s frequent traveling had to be explained and excused in a believable manner. He’d be the so-manieth son of a Nicodranian lord who was given little to no attention from his parents and siblings until he proved capable politically making friends and more importantly connections all over. The downside of these connections; they had to be maintained so he’d travel the world to do so but never too bothered to visit his childhood friend; the former apprentice living with professor Widogast.

Now of course you got some encouragement from the king’s council to nurture this relation with the Nicodranian lord’s son and opening up your own home instead of letting the man stay in one of the many lavish taverns was just that extra personal touch they needed to know you’d do so in name of the king of course. They just didn’t know this was all a lie and you’d keep it that way. The four of you and by extension the Nein and their allies aware would do anything to keep it that way even if that meant a certain little blue tiefling blackmailing a Nicodranian lord or two to keep up the facade with the things she had learned and overheard over her years at the Lavish Chateau.

You’d spent your day off with Caleb, Essek and Verin on a double date of sorts wandering the city, going sightseeing and just exploring ending with a dinner at your place. It had been a pleasant day and you and Caleb had taken a few moments away to allow the brothers to go out on their own for a while as you’d usually done. It still felt strange having the both of them in one place and acting civil no less. Essek had expected his next meeting with his brother to end with one of them dead but that dinner with the Nein had proved him different. Verin refuses to tell him what you’d told his brother to convince him to stay his hand exactly but never stalled to playfully remind Essek he had you to thank for his life.

Essek was happy to admit his relationship with his brother had almost gone back to normal. The normal before both of them were left to the responsibilities and expectations of the world and their country. There were still some hindrances and disagreements but they managed to work through them one by one as adults, though you and Caleb might have something different to say about the bickering children at times. They were siblings and even the semblance of normalcy and a healthy relationship between them brought smiles to your faces as both you and Caleb had been there when it came to your own makeshift family.

The night of your ‘double date’ had ended in a lovely dinner at your place after an eventful day. Caleb and Essek had headed home but a few minutes ago and you’d resigned yourself to washing the dirty dishes. Caleb and Essek had offered to stay and help but you’d shooed them and told them not to worry. There’s just something peaceful about the manual labor of such a mundane task letting your mind wander wherever it went.

“You know you could just cast a spell to clean them, or leave them for your help to clean in the morning.” Verin leans against the door frame watching you clean. You had this argument before. Yes you could speak a few words and snap your fingers and done nor would your housemaid complain about doing them in the morning should you leave them. You’d always felt uneasy with live-in housekeeping for some reason. Perhaps it’s the feeling of lack of privacy or maybe your need for independence but Verin blames your upbringing among the common folk where these were simply tasks you did every day.

“I could also cast a spell and make you do it.” You laugh setting another wet plate on the stack of clean ones ready to be dried and flick your wet hand at Verin who gives you a disapproving look seeing the droplets being absorbed by the fabric of his shirt. he knows better than to argue with you on this and instead picks up the dishcloth beginning to dry the stack of washed plates and putting them in the cabinet where you store them.

“You could just leave them for for the servants.” You mimicked his tone best you could with a laugh and now it’s Verin’s turn to dip his finger tips into the water and flick it at you. You gasp. He’d been getting bolder the more at ease he’d become and you got to see the drow more as the real person behind the layers of responsibility and complexity of his life and just let him be him. You’d seen this transcend with Essek before and knew well enough were it lead. If you could provide a similar haven of peace and allow him to be himself you’d do so. It wasn’t even a sacrifice made as you enjoyed Verin’s company. Though, you could do without him never putting your precious books back onto their shelves when not reading them. He blames losing the tome in your extensive collection if he did so.

“And if I’ve learned anything I know you’d dry them yourself. Last I checked you’re not a servant or am I mistaken?” Verin jokes as he stacks the dried bowls carefully.

“And you’d know all about that, wouldn’t you? Tended to by servants cleaning up after you wherever you went?” You grin finishing the last dish and putting it on the stack turning to lean your hips against the counter behind you. You cross your arms with a teasing grin on your face as you look at him. He knows that grin all too well, enough to know what’s coming.

“Need me to lay out your clothes for the morning, m’lord? Should I bring you a midnight snack, m’lord? Do you desire a bath, M’lord? I could wash your hair and style it just the way you like it m’lord. Would you like me to help you get dressed, m’lord?” You put on a light voice and curtsy holding back laughter as Verin picks up the last dishes and puts them in the cabinet. He’s laughing with you, the act you put on quite hilarious to him. He knows you’re over exaggerating and he knows you know. He’s proven himself independent but it doesn’t help he actually knows people who are tended to in such a way.

“Not far off. I’ll applaud your efforts but you’re mixing tasks. Clothes do not leave the wardrobe until the moment before they’re meant to be worn. You wouldn’t want to wake your lord in the middle of the night so if a midnight snack as you say, should be desired, it should be prepared or provided when asked for. If you’re tending to the lord themself you wouldn’t be the one drawing the bath. As for getting dressed, I doubt you’d be able to help me because I recall you saying my enormous ego gets in your way too much already.” Verin speaks with all seriousness until he’s standing in front of you, hands clasped behind his straightened back. You share a look before bursting out in laughter.

As a reward for this moment of joy you pull out a bottle of wine and two glasses pulling him over to the table by the window he’d once climbed through to hide from the guard patrol. You set down the glasses and begin pouring the wine like a properly schooled server. Verin shakes his head as you pull out the chair for him and let him sit with a bow as you take your own chair at the other side. He may have some comments on the proper posture and manners but holds them back for the sake of humour. He knows you know so instead you just enjoy your wine together.

“How was your day?” You ask taking a sip.

“I’d tell you you’d know since you were there.” Verin commented and you kicked at his leg giving him a look. When you kick again he grabs your leg between his squeezing his shins together to trap it between his and gives you a wink as he takes a sip and releases you smugly.

“I enjoyed it. The gardens were lovely and seeing Essek get in the middle of an intense bet, letting loose like he did… I have not seen that side of my brother in a long time. Not but months ago whenever I tried to take him for a fun night out he’d complain and be a stuck up.” Verin speaks and you can imagine this truth of Essek. He had changed a lot ever since getting entangled with the Mighty Nein. For the better; that’s something you and Verin can agree on.

You enjoy the rest of your wine conversing about the rest of your day, Verin’s travels, your daily business and more. It’s something you’d grown so accustomed to. You pour yourself and Verin another glass, splitting the last contents of the bottle between the two of you with a ‘thank you’ from Verin as you give him just a little bit more.

“How long will you be staying this time round?” You ask changing the subject.

“Trying to get rid of me already? I’ve only been here for one night.” Verin sends you one of his usual charming grins and you wink back at him.

“If I wanted to get rid of you I’d simply call for the guards. How many times do you have to keep sneaking through my window? You know I have a front door right?” You know of his nightly endeavours. You know he really does have information to collect from sources you may or may not have hinted at but he could simply use the front door. You don’t mind either way but getting the living daylights scared out of you when you go into the kitchen for a midnight snack or a glass of water still half asleep, you could do without.

“I’ve been granted three weeks.” Verin has to admit, the Bright Queen’s acceptance of his time came as a surprise. He suspects the Dusk Captain might have gotten her in better spirits that morning and he couldn’t be more thankful. The ‘why’ at the end of his question was implied so he awaits your reply.

“I have some business to attend to at noon but the Mighty Nein is meeting up in Nicodranas for a little side adventure.” Oh. Verin does his best to not let his disappointment show. It’s the downside of not being able to send word ahead or know your schedules beforehand. If he’d known he’d planned differently. He doesn’t want to stand in between you and his brother’s friends.

“I will see you off then.” The crestfallenness in his voice is clear for you to hear so when you reach out over the table to clasp your hand over his, his eyes are drawn to you. Your gentle smile confuses him.

“Actually, I was wondering if you’d like to join us. We’ve worked around the sunlight sensitivity before, especially in the Menagerie Coast so if it’s no bother to you, why don’t you join us?” Verin looks at you, thinking you’re kidding or lying but sees none of this. He thinks for a second.

“I wouldn’t want to intrude-“ He begins but you cut him off with another squeeze to his hand and a reassuring look.

“You won’t. You’re one of us now, Verin. You can’t get rid of us anymore.”

“Then I will come along. Thank you, you and your friends, for everything you’ve done for me.” Verin doesn’t really know how to handle this; getting closer to his brother’s friends, especially you that is. He’s never been in a similar position and the sheer genuineness of it is heart melting, even for him. Not even within his own family has he encountered this and he had been a lot closer with his family than his brother in their younger years.

“You’re very welcome.” You’d be off with Verin and the others. Another sea voyage? Perhaps, but like always you’d see where the winds would take you even if that’s by the literal winds, or a name on a map that sounds funny, or when you’ll unavoidably be on the run from some kind of creature chasing you. Let’s hope that dragon turtle stays far away, and if not, you’d have one hell of a time fighting it. With Verin at your sides this time. He’d be in for an adventure. He’d be in for a surprise. He’d be in for an undoubtable amount of chaos. And he’d welcome it all with open arms. Damn his sentimental side. He blames Essek for that one.

[mermaidsirennikita]

Like, the thing with Frida and the use of indigenous elements in mexican art during that period is that all of that was part of a process of creating a new history and identity for the new nation that intellectuals were trying to create after the Mexican Revolution and destitution of Porfirio Díaz, a dictator who embraced french culture as a sing of progress and tried to eliminate a lot of indigenous groups. It cannot be discussed solely with the American lens of appropriation. That's fucking colonialistic.

Right--I think the main thing here is that a current American perspective cannot be applied to Frida's work because she was neither "current" (she died decades ago) nor American. She was not responding to American culture or history; she was not responding to our concept of racism (which still very much affected her when she did live in America). She was responding to Mexican culture and history of that time, AS WELL AS the interaction between European colonialism in Mexico and indigenous history. I've seen a lot of discussion of Frida as if she had no concept of her own European ancestry and its confusing engagement with her indigenous heritage, when like... Literally perhaps her most famous work does that very explicitly. She may not have had a 2022 perspective (and certainly not an American perspective) on this issue, but she knew that there was a gray area going on.

I think it's fair to say that some (honestly, much) of the indigenous history and culture that Frida engaged with was not hers specifically, because she did in fact use clothes from other people (including employees) who came from different backgrounds. But I suspect that she is not the only mixed race person who did or does this in a country wherein the majority of people identify as mixed race. People of indigenous descent in Mexico don't always have the ability to connect directly with the culture from which they originally hail, because colonization has robbed them of that. There is a lot of gray space and nuance going on in this discussion, and calling Frida white because her father? Was white? (Her mother was most definitely not!). Seems incredibly simplistic in that sense.

As with many reclamation attempts, Frida's engagement with indigenismo is not perfect and can be critiqued, but... To act as if she was some white woman whose art consisted of her painting herself in attention-grabbing costumes in an attempt to profit off something that had nothing to do with her is ridiculous. It divorces Frida and her work from context and nuance.

And look—obviously, Frida was quite privileged. There’s no denying it. Much of the legacy of Frida Kahlo is based on misconceptions white Americans have of her. But I think we’re looking for a “yes she was this” or “no she was that” answer where one doesn’t really exist.

[ljf613]

Colonization & Imperialism in ATLA

One of the things I’ve noticed in fandom complaints about the ATLA comics-- namely, “The Promise”-- and subsequently, LOK’s worldbuilding, is the way the narrative handles colonization. 

I see a lot about how what the Earth Kingdom chose to do with the former colonies is “none of Zuko’s (or Aang’s) business.” (I also see people talking about how Katara would never support colonialism, in any shape or form, no matter the circumstances.) 

And I just.... don’t vibe with those ideas? At all? 

Like, I definitely have problems with the comics-- especially “The Promise,” where all the drama centers around Miscommunications of Epic Proportions and could have been resolved in Part One if all the characters just sat down and listened to each other (not to mention that Aang would never have agreed to make that promise, nor would Zuko have asked it of him (Sokka would be a more obvious choice, but that’s a different discussion))-- but I never had any issues with their worldbuilding. 

I love the idea of Yu Dao, and the fact that the narrative acknowledges that a new kind of world has new kinds of problems. It makes sense to me that we can’t always just “give back the land we took.” And I found the idea of the end solution being  “give the people who live there their own country” really cool and empowering. 

So I want to talk about why I feel this way. About what kind of real-world parallels can be made here. About some little-known bits of world-history that compare. 

(Please note that for this meta I am only going to be discussing the relationship between Fire Nation and the Earth Kingdom. As far as I am aware-- and I could be wrong-- there is no real-world genocide quite comparible to what Sozin did to the Air Nomads, and most of the people alive in ATLA were not actually around for or involved in that. And the relationship the Fire Nation has with the Water Tribes-- and that the North and South have with each other-- is worth a whole separate analysis, and doesn’t deserve to just be shoved into this one.)

(Disclaimer: While this is in response to some of the interpretations I’ve seen on this site, it is not meant to discount or invalidate those fans’ views-- I’m just trying to show my take on it. I am a firm believer in the power of active discourse, and the value of looking at the same scenes through different lenses, rather than just getting one opinion and accepting it as Absolute Truth.) 

The main thing I notice in general ATLA discourse-- and not just on this topic, but in any sort of meta about the Fire Nation, colonization, and global impact-- is that the fandom mostly compares the war and its after-affects to real-world Imperialism, the Age of Imperialism, New Imperialism, and Colonization. 

And I understand why that is. In the grand scheme of world history, that era is still fairly recent, and we are still dealing with the afteraffects from it. It has shaped the Western World’s worldview on every level. (Not to mention that the Euro-centric way we’re taught history means that this piece of world history is the one we’re most exposed to, and so have the most understanding of and room to analyze/criticize.) 

However, there are a few issues with sticking only to this perspective. 

First off, the Age of Imperialism was a direct response to the Age of Exploration. This was the period of time when white Europeans sailed around the world acting as though they were discovering new places and pretending that there weren’t already existing civilizations there. 

[ID: Two dots meme, edited so that Guy A says “i’ve discovered a NEW WORLD,” Guy B replies “you didn’t discover ****,” and Guy A insists “i’ve discovered it” / End ID.] 

Now, I’ve mentioned this in passing, but the world of ATLA doesn’t appear to have had an Age of Exploration. There’s no vast “undiscovered” land masses, the four nations have always known about each other, and they all have a shared language. 

The whole foundation for the Age of Imperialism was “oh, look, there are all these ‘unexplored’ lands with resources ripe for the picking (who cares about the indigenous people, they’re just simplistic savages who don’t know what’s best for them), let’s see which European country can grab the most land first.” 

This was a race. This was sudden. This was Europeans coming in and taking over while viewing the natives as bothersome pests. This was about multiple major world powers competing over resources. 

This was not 100 years of active warfare between a single conquering country and the very people they were trying to conquer. 

The parallels don’t hold up. 

Secondly, by focussing only on this one kind of historical narrative, we ignore any others. 

I will admit that I have used the word “imperialism” in reference to the Fire Nation a time or two. However, upon further reflection, I realize I didn’t really mean imperialism, which is actually a fairly modern concept. What I feel the Fire Nation is really an example of is centralism and expansionism-- two ideaologies that have been a way of life for conquering empires throughout history. 

(I am in no way qualified to explain the differences between these concepts-- I recommend doing your own research if you’re curious.) 

The Persian Empire. The Greek Empire. The Roman Empire. The Byzantine Empire. The Mongolian Empire. The Russian Empire. The First French Empire. 

You could take any of these (or numerous others) and make an interesting analysis between the similarities and differences between their behaviors and that of the Fire Nation. And maybe I’ll do that someday. 

However, I started this to talk about Yu Dao and all of the other so-called colonies (I really feel like territories would be a better word, but, again, that’s a whole ’nother discussion), and I’d like to focus on that. 

FYI, here’s a basic history refresher: If two countries are at war, and then they decide to end the war, neither country is required to return captured territories. They can make a treaty and agree to do so, but there is no obligation to. The Fire Nation didn’t just march in and say, “this is our land now”-- they fought for it. They captured that land. Just because the war is over doesn’t mean they need to just give it back. 

Like it or not, that is the way the world operated for thousands of years, and so that is the interpretation I’m working with here. 

In any case, “The Promise” actually presents this as a three-way conversation. There’s Zuko (and, by default, the Fire Nation), Kuei (and, by default, Ba Sing Se and the Earth Kingdom), and the people of Yu Dao themselves. 

(My understanding of the Earth Kingdom’s style of government is that it’s made up of a large collection of different ethno-cultural regions who all answer to Ba Sing Se.) 

I’ll let Sokka explain it: 

[ID: Comic panel from Part Three of “The Promise.” Sokka and Katara are talking, both in obvious states of agitation, while Suki and Toph are looking at something in the background. Sokka is saying, “Let me see if I got this. The protestors and the Earth Kingdom Army want the colonials to go, the Fire Nation Army wants the colonials to stay, and the Yu Dao Resistance just want their city to be left alone?” Katara responds, “Yes!” / End ID.] 

The people of Yu Dao don’t care about the war. They don’t even really care who’s in charge. They just want to be left alone. 

This speaks to me on a very personal level, so I’m going to make another real-world comparison here: 

My ancestors first came to America to escape from the poverty and opression they were experiencing in a place known as “White Russia”-- that is, Belarus. To be clear, I am not talking about the country “Belarus,” but the region, which includes the modern-day countries of Lithuania, Ukraine, Belarus, Latvia and Moldova, as well as parts of Poland and Russia. 

I looked up White Russia, trying to find out how much information someone who didn’t grow up hearing stories about what it was like (that is, most of the people reading this,) might have. I didn’t find much. Most of what I found talked about political ideologies and such-- things that your average poor peasant, struggling just eke out a living, didn’t have much energy to care about. So let me paint a(n oversimplified) picture for you. 

Imagine you’re a poor shoemaker in a small town on the Russian border. You spend your days hard at work, trying to earn a living to support your wife and nine children. You’ve never left the town you were born in. One day you get the news: Russia and Poland are fighting again. Your two oldest sons (ages 15 and 17) are forcibly drafted off to fight in the Russian army; you never see them again and have no way of knowing if they’re dead or alive (they’re probably dead). Poland wins-- this time. Congratulations, your town is now part of Poland. 

Does suddenly being Polish make a difference to your life? Not in the slightest. Two or three years down the line, you’ll go back to being part of Russia again. This is the third or fourth time you’ve seen your town switch hands, and you can’t say you prefer one government over the other. It doesn’t really matter who’s in charge-- you’re still faced with crippling taxes, forced drafts, and various other forms of oppression. (It doesn’t help that you happen to be part of a persecuted minority.) 

(This is why I have many ancestors who may never have left the town they were born in, and yet records show that they were born in one country, got married in another, and died in a third.) 

This is the kind of worldview through which I am looking at Yu Dao. (Obviously, it’s not an exact parallel, but neither is the standard “colonizers vs oppressed natives” lens.) 

My ancestors eventually got fed up with the treatment they were receiving from their respective governments, and left to build a new life, in a new place. But the citizens of Yu Dao don’t have anywhere to go. The only two real world powers in this story are the Fire Nation and the Earth Kingdom, neither of which has ever before expressed any true interest or concern in the actual people of Yu Dao. 

The Earth Kingdom didn’t really care about the city before the war-- they were just another poor, struggling town, whose citizens were barely able to make ends meet. And while the Fire Nation may have helped the place grow into a bustling town, they also established a hierarchy that did not serve in the citizens’ best interests. 

And so, in “The Promise,” these citizens’ frustrations come to a head. “Enough,” they say, “we don’t want to be used as a pawn in your games anymore.” 

And Zuko and Kuei (and Aang) actually listen. They say “we need to start thinking about these people as people, not as symbols of one side or the other. It’s time to give them a say in their future.” 

And a new country-- a new way of life-- is born. 

(Is it perfect? Absolutely not. But it is constantly evolving and changing, trying to do better, be better. And that’s more than you can say about most of the other countries in this world.)

[bigskydreaming]

@ your post about dick reaching out to jason to give him a chance. if dick actually did do that in post crisis then what would the result of that been? do you see them disagreeing and going separate ways since post crisis jason would have still wanted to kill people?

Working on a post to tackle this indepth anon, because the problem I have is I personally don't think this is the right question, y'know? Like don't get me wrong, I understand your reasons for asking it, since UTRH DC has consistently presented this as the only real question in terms of Jason's relationships with each and any member of his family.

The problem I have is it reduces the complex interpersonal dynamics of a family to a simple binary morality play that's largely played out just between Bruce and Jason's differing stances, and the other family members at most just backing one stance or the other as though there are no alternative factors or options to consider in all of this.

There's a LOT more to consider and that's at play here I think, but DC consistently plays shell games with the idea that anything else matters other than answering that one specific question with either a total yes or a total no, and part of why I focus so much on Dick and Jason's relationship is I think Dick is the wildcard in all of this that inherently gums up the works of trying to make this a simple Jason's ideals vs Bruce's ideals proposition as though its all just a matter of abstract moralizing.

But uh, this is a long post with a lot to consider, stuff like the League of Assassins' influence on Jason during a very formative period of his life when he was hugely influenced by his trauma and susceptible to being influenced due to his trauma, the very nature of how much of his information on the Batfamily in particular was filtered through the lens of other peoples' agendas, and thus things that had a LOT of depth to them, like Bruce's deathwish in the wake of Jason's death to how and why Tim became Robin, etc, all of that got stripped of all context and reduced to very simplistic statements of fact that basically encouraged Jason to view these things as just basic actions devoid of any actual emotion behind them. Then that in turn begs the question of what happens when Jason is forced to look at things through the lens of how they appear when NOT presented as simple headlines read to him by people actively trying to give him their own sales pitch on why his father's way can never work....

And then there's the OTHER side of things where its not just Jason and his choices to consider, but Dick's own views and choices and how Bruce's actions and various other things to happen to Dick in the time since Jason died could and should absolutely play into how he reacts to his brother's miraculous return. Or for instance, the fact that once it stops being taken for granted that Dick didn't care about Jason or consider him family (if like say, Last Laugh is allowed to be entered into evidence), then consider the fact that for Dick, who has lost sooooo many people in his life.....Jason was the very first person he lost since his parents who was FAMILY. His brother.

Jason literally was the thing Dick spent years thinking he would never actually ever have a chance to have again, after his parents died, especially when you factor in that for all Bruce's importance to him and how large a role he played in his life, Bruce never officially clarified and resolved their status as father and son until long after Jason's death. Whereas Dick and Jason BOTH clearly regarded each other as family before his death, by their own admissions.

Now the very first FAMILY that Dick loses after years of thinking he'd already lost all the family he'd ever actually have, added on top of all the other people he's lost in his life.....and now, one of those people, one of his FAMILY, actually comes BACK.....is Dick really a character people see as willing to turn his back on that miracle, on that chance for more time with the family member he got the LEAST time with, but still clearly cared enough about enough to even kill someone HIMSELF

(because again, really think it cant be stressed enough that people can't genuinely talk about how Dick feels about Jason's stance on killing or the fact that Jason has killed people if people aren't willing to acknowledge the fact that Dick himself HAS gotten his hands that bloody, and that blood was literally connected to Jason's loss because it was his murderer's)...

Like, lol, as you can see, I actually have a LOT of thoughts on all of this that go in a bunch of different directions, none of which are ones I typically see views on this matter express, so its taking me a bit to sort through them all. But I'll get there! Hopefully this serves as a placeholder for now, but in terms of the question you presented, my answer is no, I don't see Dick allowing it to be a dealbreaker preventing him from having his brother in his life in some way or another, though I don't think that means he'd LIKE the fact that Jason was killing, or be shy about expressing his opinion on that, I just think.....I don't see it playing out as simply as all that, and that's the part that's taking awhile to get down on paper. There's a very specific conversation I would love love LOVE to see happen between Dick and Jason that presents Dick as having a very different POV on Jason's killing than I've seen elsewhere, I just have to lay the groundwork for that so I make sure I stress the particular nuance I see as making all the difference.

[whitehotharlots]

Privilege Theory is popular because it is conservative

Privilege theory, as a formal academic thing, has been around at least since 1989, when Peggy McIntosh published the now-seminal essay “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack.” Even within academic cultural studies, however, privilege theory was pretty niche until about a decade ago--it’s not what you’d call intellectually sound (McIntosh’s essay contains zero citations), and its limitations as an analytical frame are pretty obvious. I went through a cultural studies-heavy PhD program in the early twenty teens and I only heard it mentioned a handful of times. If you didn’t get a humanities degree, odds are it didn’t enter your purview until 2015 or thereabouts.

This poses an obvious question: how could an obscure and not particularly groundbreaking academic concept become so ubiquitous so quickly? How did such a niche (and, frankly, weird and alienating) understanding of racial relations become so de rigeur that companies that still utilize slave labor and still produce skin whitening cream are now all but mandated to release statements denouncing it? 

Simply put, the rapid ascent of privilege theory is due to the fact that privilege theory is fundamentally conservative. Not in cultural sense, no. But if we understand conservatism as an approach to politics that seeks first and foremost to maintain existing power structures, then privilege theory is the cultural studies equivalent of phrenology or Austrian economics. 

This realization poses a second, much darker question: how did a concept as regressive and unhelpful as privilege become the foundational worldview among people who style themselves as progressives, people whose basic self-understanding is grounded in a belief that they are working to address injustice? Let’s dig into this:

First, let’s go down a well-worn path and establish the worthlessness of privilege as an analytical lens. We’ll start with two basic observations: 1) on the whole, white people have an easier time existing within these United States than non-white people, and 2) systemic racism exists, at least to the extent that non-white people face hurdles that make it harder for them to achieve safety and material success.

I think a large majority of Americans would agree with both of these statements--somewhere in the ballpark of 80%, including many people you and I would agree are straight-up racists. They are obvious and undeniable, the equivalent to saying “politicians are corrupt” or “good things are good and bad things are bad.” Nothing about them is difficult or groundbreaking.

As simplistic as these statements may be, privilege theory attempts to make them the primary foreground of all understandings of social systems and human interaction. Hence the focus on an acknowledgement of privilege as the ends and means of social justice. We must keep admitting to privilege, keep announcing our awareness, again and again and again, vigilance is everything, there is nothing beyond awareness.

Of course, acknowledging the existence of inequities does nothing to actually address those inequities. Awareness can serve as an important (though not necessarily indispensable) precondition for change, but does not lead to change in and of itself. 

I’ve been saying this for years but the point still stands: those who advocate for privilege theory almost never articulate how awareness by itself will bring about change. Even in the most generous hypothetical situation, where all human interaction is prefaced by a formal enunciation of the raced-based power dynamics presently at play, this acknowledgement doesn’t actually change anything. There is never a Step Two. 

Now, some people have suggested Step Twos. But suggestions are usually ignored, and on the rare occasions they are addressed they are dismissed without fail, often on grounds that are incredibly specious and dishonest. To hit upon another well-worn point, let’s look at the presidential campaign of Bernie Sanders. The majority of Sanders’ liberal critics admit that the senator’s record on racial justice is impeccable, and that his platform would have done substantially more to materially address racial inequities than that being proffered by any of his opponents. That’s all agreed upon, yet we are told that none of that actually matters. 

Sanders dropped out of the race nearly 3 months ago, yet just this past week The New York Times published yet another hit piece explaining that while his policies would have benefitted black people, the fact that he strayed from arbitrarily invoked rhetorical standards meant he was just too problematic to support.  

The piece was written by Sidney Ember, a Wall Street hack who cites anonymous finance and health insurance lobbyists to argue that financial regulation is racist. Ember, like most other neoliberals, has been struggling to reconcile her vague support for recent protests with the fact that she is paid to lie about people who have tried to fix things. Now that people are forcefully demanding change, the Times have re-deployed her to explain why change is actually bad even though it’s good.  

How does one pivot from celebrating the fact that black people will not be receiving universal healthcare to mourning racially disproportionate COVID death rates? They equivocate. They lean even harder on rhetorical purity, dismissing a focus on policy as a priori blind to race. Bernie never said “white privilege.” Well, okay, he did, but he didn’t say it in the right tone or often enough, and that’s what the problem was. Citing Ember:

Yet amid a national movement for racial justice that took hold after high-profile killings of black men and women, there is also an acknowledgment among some progressives that their discussion of racism, including from their standard-bearer, did not seem to meet or anticipate the forcefulness of these protests.

Kimberlé Crenshaw, the legal scholar who pioneered the concept of intersectionality to describe how various forms of discrimination can overlap, said that Mr. Sanders struggled with the reality that talking forcefully about racial injustice has traditionally alienated white voters — especially the working-class white voters he was aiming to win over. But that is where thinking of class as a “colorblind experience” limits white progressives. “Class cannot help you see the specific contours of race disparity,” she said.

Many other institutions, she noted, have now gone further faster than the party that is the political base of most African-American voters. “You basically have a moment where every corporation worth its salt is saying something about structural racism and anti-blackness, and that stuff is even outdistancing what candidates in the Democratic Party were actually saying,” she said.

Crenshaw’s point here is that the empty, utterly immaterial statements of support coming from multinational corporations are more substantial and important than policy proposals that would have actually addressed racial inequities. This is astounding. A full throated embrace of entropy as praxis. 

Crenshaw started out the primary as a Warren supporter but threw her endorsement to Bernie once the race had narrowed to two viable candidates. This fact is not mentioned, nor does Ember feel the need to touch upon any of Biden’s dozens of rhetorical missteps regarding race (you might remember that he kicked off his presidential run with a rambling story about the time he toughed it out with a black ne'er do well named Corn Pop, or his more recent assertion that if you don’t vote for him, “you ain’t black.”). The statement here--not the implication: the direct and undeniable statement--is that tone and posturing are more important than material proposals, and that concerns regarding tone and posturing should only be raised in order to delegitimize those who have dared to proffer proposals that might actually change things for the better. 

The ascendence of privilege theory marks the triumph of selective indignation, the ruling class and their media lackeys having been granted the power to dismiss any and all proposals for material change according to standards that are too nonsensical to be enforced in any fair or consistent manner. The concept has immense utility for those who wish to perpetuate the status quo. And that, more than anything, is why it’s gotten so successful so quickly. But still… why have people fallen for something so obviously craven and regressive? Why are so few decent people able to summon even the smallest critique against it? 

We can answer this by taking a clear look at what privilege actually entails. And this is where things get really, really grim:

What are the material effects of privilege, at least as they are imagined by those who believe the concept to be something that must be sussed out and eradicated? A privileged person gets to live their life with the expectation that they will face no undue hurdles to success and fulfillment because of their identity markers, that they will not be subject to constant surveillance and/or made to suffer grave consequences for minor or arbitrary offenses, and that police will not be able to murder them at will. The effects of “privilege” are what we might have once called “freedom” or “dignity.” Until very recently, progressives regarded these effects not as problematic, but as a humane baseline, a standard that all decent people should fight to provide to all of our fellow citizens. 

Here we find the utility in the use of the specific term “privilege.” Similar to how austerity-minded politicians refer to social security as an “entitlement,” conflating dignity and privilege gives it the sense of something undeserved and unearned--things that no one, let alone members of racially advantaged groups, could expect for themselves unless they were blinded by selfishness and coddled by an insufficiently cruel social structure. The problem isn’t therefore that humans are being selectively brutalized. Brutality is the baseline, the natural order, the unavoidable constant that has not been engineered into our society but simply is what society is and will always be. The problem, instead, is that some people are being exempted from some forms of brutalization. The problem is that pain does not stretch far enough.

We are a nation that worships cruelty and authority. All Americans, regardless of gender or race, are united in being litigious tattletales who take joy in hurting one another, who will never run out of ways to rationalize their own cruelty even as they decry the cruelty of others. We are taught from birth that human life has no value, that material success is morally self-validating, and that those who suffer deserve to suffer. This is our real cultural brokenness: a deep, foundational hatred of one another and of ourselves. It transcends all identity markers. It stains us all. And it’s why we’ve all run headlong into a regressive and idiotic understanding of race at a time when we desperately need to unite and help one another. 

[babiemingoo]

depth of field || xu minghao

[requested]: photographer!minghao opened up his studio and no one has book an appt yet but one day y/n does and changes his life

genre: fluff, photographer!au || wc: 1.4k

a/n: oops I got carried away... I hope you still like it anon!!

minghao always knew that he wanted something that was completely his own

when he was a kid and people used to ask what he wanted to be when he grew up, it was always something along the lines of “be a ceo” or “invent something” or “start my own business”

things that he can say he did that were completely his because he made it happen all by himself

so when he got older and it was time to put his money where his mouth was, he saved up all his extra cash from college and worked extra jobs until he could finally open up his own photography studio

it was small, and he’d have to work up to making it exactly what he wanted, but it was perfect because it was his

and then you were his first client

he was thankful when you contacted him just a week or so after he opened because you know, everyone wants their businesses to succeed

you were actually contacting him because your sibling was getting married and as a wedding gift you offered to pay for their wedding shoot

(he already had a good impression of you from that alone because?? what a good idea???)

you had explained that you followed his photography account for a while and loved how simplistic yet captivating he made things look, and your minimalistic sibling would just looooove for him to do their shoot

of course he said yes, and the day that the photo shoot rolled around probably should’ve been really special for your sibling and their fiance

but it ended up being special for you and minghao instead

you tagged along to the shoot because, well you were paying lol and you always admired the work that minghao posted online

but seeing him in his element was so much different, so much more special

when you first got there he had been with his assistant of sorts (his name was mingyu) and they were both extremely friendly and welcoming

but the second your sibling got into the appropriate clothes and the camera went into minghao’s hand, you saw the way he shifted

minghao became incredibly focused and artistic; he directed with such a passion that you could tell that he absolutely loved what he did and put his heart into his work

your sibling and their fiance opted for the classic “against a big window with long curtains” photo shoot which seemed simple enough, but the way that minghao had mingyu adjust the subjects and the curtains to control the light and shadows added depth that you didn’t realize there was to the naked eye

the shoot itself went on for probably an hour, but you were so immersed in watching minghao and his art that it seemed so much less

when he showed you previews of the shots he took on the viewfinder while the others got changed, your fascination couldn’t help but pour out

you asked him all about photography, things like how he can tell when something is too close or too far and how he determines which angle is the best to invoke a certain feeling

he answered you excitedly, half because he just loved to talk about photography and half because he thought you were cute since the moment you walked in and he had been searching for a reason to talk to you

soon the others returned and he finished wrapping up the shoot, letting them know that he’ll email them finalized versions of their pictures within the next 3 to 5 days

it was in the middle of paying the second half of the fee when you finally got the courage to ask, “so, do you do private lessons?”

he most certainly did do private lessons

at least now he did

that was how the two of you ended up exchanging numbers with promises of setting up a schedule for him to teach you all the ins and outs of his craft

to say you were excited was an understatement, nearly falling out of your bed the next night when you finally got the text from him asking when you were available

mingyu most definitely didn’t lay off the teasing every time he and minghao worked on a project together

“I knew you were going to find a way to keep talking to them, literally when they walked through the door I immediately knew they were your type”

“gyu i’m just teaching them how to shoot”

“sharing your passion with someone else? sounds like the beginning of a love story to me”

minghao didn’t like to share. everything he always wanted was his and his only

but whenever he saw your eyes light up after he taught you a new function on his camera, or whenever you praised him for revealing one of the small tips he had discovered, he couldn’t help but notice the way his heart fluttered

suddenly, all he wanted to do was share

it started with photography. every time you two met up and he watched you improve at your still life photos or saw you get excited over the way you captured a certain color he decided he loved doing this with you. he adored being able to look at different parts of the world through a lens with you

shortly after it became sharing his nights. you were originally going to pay him in money for his lessons, but one day minghao had said that he’d very much prefer if you paid him in dinner instead

(”requesting them to buy you food as a way to ask them on a date? really smooth minghao.” “shut up gyu”)

the nights slowly turned into afternoons, or mornings. whenever he was able to see you really, because after you spent 3 hours in a small diner debating over stupid topics and hearing your laugh on a loop, he began to think that maybe nights just weren’t enough

minghao started to realize that he loved to be around you, doing things like spending time at a cafe where he watched the sun set behind you. the soft yellows and oranges were casted around your figure in a way that made you look unworldly. you were oblivious, too caught up in the menu to notice the way that he swore under his breath once he realized his feelings

he took a picture of you that day. set it as his background so he could look at it whenever he wanted.

shortly after that he confessed to you, and you agreed to share a commitment with him. you two decided to become exclusive and put labels on your relationship and mingyu was wayyy too happy to yell “I TOLD YOU SO” at his best friend when the two of you told him

minghao wasn’t surprised when he ended up sharing his heart with you. he saw it coming a long time ago when he realized that he much rather be with you than without you

weeks turned into months and turned into years and minghao stopped wishing something was just his, or something that only he owned. a life that had previously been something that was just for him was suddenly threaded completely with you

in time you ended up moving in with him, working with him at the studio, and you both even adopted a cat together

it was a random day some years into your relationship when minghao really became aware of how much you had changed his life

he was always a person who imagined a future that was just his, filled with accomplishments that were just his own

but as he worked on editing a graduation shoot he had just a few days to finish, the thought that he would probably work better if he had you there popped into his head. whether you gave your opinion on his choice of contrast or if you were just there to be with him, he would much rather share that moment with you 

he pieced together that he no longer wanted everything to be his

yours, he decided. ours, he thought to himself.

for once, minghao wanted to share. he wanted every aspect of his life to be part of yours and he wanted the two of you to venture on together

a few weeks later he proposed, in the small studio where he’ll always have an attachment because that’s where it all started

“I want to share my life with you; all of it. everything. the two of us, if you’ll let me”

minghao knew that wanted to share his entire life from here on out, as long as it was with you

[tanis-drawings-2point0]

[ID: Many sketches of Peter Lukas and Mikaele Salesa. First and actually colored it’s those two from waist up, a smiling Mikaele with one arm around his shoulder and his other hand on his hip, wearing a stripped tank top not really hiding his numerous burn scars, while Peter has his arm crossed with annoyment, using some glasses with one lens completely dark, wearing a tourist style hat and a shirt with a smiling sun. Then there’s a close up of Peter’s eyes, his left eye missing and the right one nearly completely clouded, many fine scars extending from his eyes to the rest of his face. The third sketch is a simplistic Peter standing in the kitchen asking “my love Mikaele how do I pre-heat the oven?” to which Mikaele, who’s sitting on the couch, answers “Are you fucking kidding me?”. The last sketch is peter standing in front of a kid, the kid asks “what happened to your eye?” “a glorified librarian exploted it, before I died.” “cool!”. He’s wearing a funny shirt of a seal and her pup with the words “moderfoca” above them, it is Mikaele’s shirt. //End ID]

follow up to yesterday’s salesa sketch, from an au where he survives the explosion and fucks off somewhere sunny, this time w/ his shitty vampire of an ex?? bf who after fucking up so badly his God took his powers off and his family disowned him

i have no idea how he’s alive i haven’t thought that far, i just like the idea of salesa being alive and happy, and also peter being literally powerless for the first time in forever

[historicity-was-already-taken]

I’ve heard that there was an underground press in the Warsaw Ghetto. How much variety was there in terms of different publications and the topics that were written about? Did women get a chance to express their views or was it entirely male-dominated? How wide was the readership? Did the Nazis attempt to censor or eliminate the underground press? Did it survive past the deportations starting in 1942?

Nearly every political group had an underground publication. They were all inherently illegal, though the Nazis didn’t pay much attention to illegal publication and political activity in the Ghetto in the early stages of its existence. After the deportations of summer 1942 the majority of people left behind were young unattached people healthy and strong enough to work as forced labor. It was this remaining ten percentish which formed the Jewish Fighting Organization, the org which staged the uprising. After autumn 1942, there was still underground publishing, but the vast majority of it was for Jewish undergrounds in various Polish cities to communicate with each other. The other major use of the press was the production of false ID papers. Illegal newspapers and documents were typically carried and distributed by the women. Women were involved in every level of illegal activity in the Warsaw Ghetto. What I haven’t seen so far in the sources is evidence of a specifically female Jewish consciousness. Much more prevalent in the basic concept the all Jews were suffering together, regardless of gender, and the women working on the underground newspapers perceived themselves as writing and fighting for their people, as opposed to for women. As historians we can (and should and do) examine these publications and activities through a gendered lens of analysis, but it’s important to go into that with the knowledge that gender was not the primary concern of these women.

As for topics covered: literally everything, including why that other political group is wrong. As time went on they became mostly about the worsening situation of the Jews, and what news couriers smuggled back in. And a general word on gender relations among the Jewish underground in Warsaw: it consisted of men and women between the ages of about 15 and 30. The men didn’t seem to like, perceive the women as inferior to them, though they did consistently refer to their female peers as “girls,” and they didn’t even consider including women in the Jewish Fighting Organization command even though they all depended on and deeply valued Zivia Lubetkin. So, because we’re talking about a segment of society which had not encountered a women’s liberation movement, it’s too simplistic to say that the men were sexist or undermined the women. It’s more like they all existed in a society with set male and female roles/spheres, and these Jewish men and women acted uncritically within those spheres. While their action was thus inherently gendered, I think trying to look at it through a post-feminist lens is anachronistic. Where we need feminism here is in application of gendered analysis, not in searching for a feminist consciousness in a group of people who may not have had at/identified with it.

Like, looking back I can say that Zivia Lubetkin was a strong woman and she is important to me as a Jewish woman and a feminist, but if you were to ask Zivia if she was fighting for the liberation of women during the Holocaust, I think she would have looked at you like you were a fucking idiot and said “They’re killing us all and you’re asking me about women’s liberation? Get your head out of your ass.”

I’m talking about this so much and being so confusing because one of the big Things in in the subfield of women and the Holocaust is that female survivors who were adolescent+ at the time of the Holocaust did not see themselves as suffering a different fate from their male coreligionists. As far as they were concerned, it was all the same hell. As historians we can look at the sources and see that there most certainly were distinct male and female experiences of the Holocaust, but we have to balance that with respect for the agency and perspective of the survivors themselves. Anyway, this answer really got away from me. As you can probably see, this aspect of Holocaust history is very much on my mind and something I’m figuring out how to speak to as I work on my book (which is basically Hidden Figures but with the Warsaw Ghetto). I hope it was helpful, though.

[coffeecupsandquiet]

ISOLOPHILIA

“If you're lonely when you're alone, you're in bad company.” ― Jean-Paul Sartre

Basic Information

Full name: Jordan Rojas

Pronunciation: JOR-DAN RO-HAAS

Nickname(s): dont even think about it

Birthdate: January 12

Age: 23

Zodiac: Capricorn 

Gender: Cis-male

Pronouns: he/him

Romantic orientation: homoromantic

Sexual orientation: he is what the kids call, morosexual….. Jk homosexual

Nationality: American

Ethnicity: mixed (hesitate to comment beyond Italian due to my inability to track down definitive sources of Rob Raco’s ethnicity)

Current location: miami baBY

Living conditions: immaculate and modernly simplistic. A clean house is a calm house.

 Background

Birthplace: unknown

Hometown: Chicago

Social Class: upper middle? I think?

Educational achievements: nothing formal, but he does consume books at an unhealthy rate

Father: unknown

Mother: unknown

Sibling(s): unknown

Birth order: unknown

Pets: ABSOLUTELY YES OF COURSE! He has five sweet honeys, one queen named Melon, and four beautiful kittens, Cantaloupe, Sugar, Honeydew, and Galia. Fun fact, but all of the kittens names are names of melons. 

Previous relationships: non existent….. lol

Arrests: ….uhhhhhhh, absolutely not

Prison time: ^^^^^^^

 Occupation & Income

Current occupation: he do be a thief for a crime organization tho

Dream occupation: a librarian… or maybe an archivist for a famous museum…. yeah

Past job(s): being a full time SQUARE

Spending habits: hm, careful with his money, but will spend extra to make sure what he is wearing/doing/seeing is up to his standards

In debt?: this is MY fantasy and in it, i have NO DEBT so NO 

Most valuable possession: his babies… but followed up by his gold leafed edition of the Grimme Fairytales.

 Skills & Abilities

Physical strength: Above Average | Average | Below Average

Note: pre-determined that he lifts to carry the homies

Speed: Above Average | Average | Below Average

Note: do you really think you’d catch him running in gucci shoes? no

Intelligence: Above Average | Average | Below Average

Note: jordan says ‘fuck the school system!’ and then read books forever

Accuracy: Above Average | Average | Below Average

Note: jordan is very good with powers, but uh, i don’t know if he’s good with a gun. I imagine he’d flinch at the recoil

Agility: Above Average | Average | Below Average

Note: he’s a bit of a snake, but erm, not enough to be considered wily i think

Stamina: Above Average | Average | Below Average

Note: he goes to the gym, but not for endurance so-

Teamwork: hell no. total lone wolf, which is why it's a miracle he gets along with Len

Talents/hobbies: reading, obviously, but he also dabbles in piano and writing I think. Lets make fun of Jordan for writing bad poetry!!!!! Im going to throw that nerds books in the fountin

Shortcomings: stubborn as hell and also extremely stuck up. Partially because he is naturally untrusting but also partially because hes kind of a dick. 

Languages spoken: English and conversational Spanish

Drive?: hell no, hes gay

Jump-start a car?: hell no, hes gay

Change a flat tyre?: hell no, hes gay

Ride a bicycle?: yes, but the last time he did he was like 8 or something so

Swim?: yes! He actually likes it I think, but usually only if he’s alone. 

Play an instrument?: Piano! 

Play chess?: Obviously. Not seriously or anything, but he can play.

Braid hair?: Yes! He plays with his own hair when he’s bored. 

Tie a tie?: oh my god yes of COURSE he does. If he didn’t he would have to bully himself.

Pick a lock?: he’d be a pretty shit thief if he couldn’t

Cook?: yes! Nothing quite like knowing what to cook with his nice white wine

 Physical Appearance & Characteristics

Faceclaim: Rob Raco

Eye colour: blue

Hair colour: black

Hair type/style/length: shoulder length and wavy

Glasses/contacts?: contacts

Dominant hand: left

Height: 5’9”

Weight: i don’t want to answer this because i don’t know

Build: slender and lightly defined

Exercise habits: i feel so embarrassed admitting that jordan do be lifting three times a week

Skin tone: i….. Golden? idk

Tattoos: contrary to his many gifs, he doesn’t have any i don’t think

Piercings: his ears are definitely pierced though

Marks/scars: some scars from some “playful” rough housing. Nothing too extreme, just a nick on his left calf and a hidden one in his right eyebrow. 

Clothing style: clean cut. He prefers dress shirts and slacks for most occasions, and is rarely seen dressed down further than a short sleeve button up. Putting on his clothes is like putting up a front. Just a reminder to hold everyone at a distance. 

Jewellery: he does have a watch and earrings and perhaps a couple of necklaces

Allergies: none

Diet: vegetarian i have just decided right here right now

Physical ailments: none

 Psychology

I did a test with Jordan in mind for each of these fuckers.

MBTI type: INTJ-A: Bookish and reclusive are two words to describe this type, and that lines up pretty well with Jordan’s personality as well. They value themselves more so than the relationships they make, and pride themselves on getting things done. 

Enneagram type: Type 6: the Loyal Skeptic. Taken from the website “The committed, security-oriented type. Sixes are reliable, hard-working, responsible, and trustworthy. Excellent "troubleshooters," they foresee problems and foster cooperation, but can also become defensive, evasive, and anxious—running on stress while complaining about it”

Moral Alignment: Chaotic Neutral- Driven by their own purposes, willing to do anything to secure themselves. They aren’t inherently evil, but are only usually only good when it serves their purposes.

Temperament:  Take from the website: Phlegmatic - The phlegmatic temperament is fundamentally relaxed and quiet, ranging from warmly attentive to lazily sluggish. Phlegmatics tend to be content with themselves and are kind. They are accepting and affectionate. They may be receptive and shy and often prefer stability to uncertainty and change. They are consistent, relaxed, calm, rational, curious, and observant, qualities that make them good administrators. They can also be passive-aggressive.

Element: Earth

Emotional stability: At the moment in our time line, horrid. Non existent. He is just a giant ball of feelings and he HATES IT because usually he is very put together. 

Introvert or Extrovert? Incredibly introverted, if it wasn’t already obvious.

Obsession(s): Books! Clearly. But also his cats as well as fashion and cleanliness and coffee!!!!!

Compulsion(s): Making sure all of his mugs are facing the same direction in the cabinet.

Phobia(s): Claustrophobia 

Addiction(s): none

Drug use: Remember the Jordan is a pot head meme. Yeah. That

Alcohol use: usually just a glass or two of wine. Nothing to big. Usually. 

Prone to violence?: Heavens no! For all of his lifting, if someone threw a punch at him he’d probably run away.

Prone to crying?: Not in front of people, but he can be a weepy drunk depending on the time nad place

Believe in love at first sight?: Although he is a realist, he has a very very romantic and soft heart, so this one is a yes, although he would never admit it.

 Mannerisms

Accent: American

Speech quirks: talks like he’s a bored victorian scholar

Hobbies: reading, writing, playing piano, playing with cats, making coffee.

Habits: sleeping with a light on

Nervous ticks: he touches his hair when he’s nervous or thinking

Drives/motivations: his biggest motivation is staying alive and safe from the government. He knows his power could be used to hurt everyone, not just him, and that is important because there is safety in numbers. Also, he knows that there are mutants who will help him just because he is one of them. 

Fears: being taken and tested on or used against other mutants. There is litcherally no fear greater than that for him

Sense of humour?: dry and sardonic. Usually takes amusement in knowing more than you

Do they curse often?: Heavens no! If they are cursing, they are either drunk, scared, surprised, or PISSED OFF. or all of them together LMAO 

 Favorites

Animal: cat for obvious reasons

Beverage: a classic latte, for obvious reasons

Book: The Door into Summer by Robert A. Heinlein

Colour: Mahogany 

Food: Yogurt and berries

Flower: traditional roses, because he is a romantic

Gem: Mahogany Obsidian

Mode of transportation: Foot or bus

Scent: Lily and lets be real, good kush

Sport: he’s gay…...

Weather: sunny rainshower

Vacation destination: into his own bed and then no one bothers him

 Attitudes

Greatest dream: to not feel hunted no matter where he goes. He also wants to settle down with someone whom he loves and who loves him, because romance is something he has always fantasized about

Greatest fear: dying before he’s ready, but worse so, being captured and used against his will

Most at ease when: he’s snuggling up with his cats with a nice book

Least as ease when: he is in a high stress situation with no familiar faces.

Worst possible thing that could happen: being captured and used

Biggest achievement: Securing his place in the Kings and consequently out of the police as soon as he possibly could once he turned 18.

Biggest regret: Never resisting the orders of those in his foster home.