#above and not beneath

[fridgedeeznuts]

per aspera ad astra

[prophetmutual]

Black sails s2e2 is so fun and interesting bc Flint really seems baffled and doubtful about Silver's plan to ingratiate himself with the crew through narsty gossip. And that didn't make sense to me at first bc obviously we know he understands the power of stories and information, we've seen him manage his image and wield rhetoric, he was even there in episode 1 when gossip brought down Richard Guthrie. It did the same to him in London, really. But he doesn't think to use it the way Silver does. Which to me is all in the someone/no-one of it all.

To me Flint's instinct is toward the power of a king, and he's really good at the stories that scaffold it. He also just doesn't really give a shit abt the minutae of his men's lives in the face of his larger goals. Silver's instinct is to remove himself from view, to use stories that never reference him at all. He began as a sailor not a leader, and he had no desire to become one. He can get into the minutae in a way Flint can't and he thinks he can walk the tightrope of being the one they come to for information without becoming a player on the board. Unfortunately he's too good at appearing likeable (and not as good at slipping away as his evil twin Max) and inadvertently becomes A Man of the Walrus Crew, which is enough to get him stuck in the narrative :) And Flint, too good at creating kings and always kind of wishing he could be no one instead, helps write the king that kills* him. They tell their stories so well they end up on the other side of each other. This is a really fun show about which i am normal. :)

[prissyprince]

I think ventrue were always my fave because their evil is so banal and grounded. (Well, I’m also an Ancient Rome guy but that’s a bonus)

I love me monstrous looking vamps and dark wizard vamps, don’t get me wrong, but I love those prim and proper blood sucking royals and politicians and the soldiers that uphold the clan that views them as pawns.

It obviously mirrors the systems of governance from real life and I don’t need to elaborate on that, but so many of them choosing to uphold these rigid and oppressive traditions and rules of their clan, in hopes that one day they will be the one on top giving orders, is peak idiot human behaviour, and I love that.

[pastelsugar6w6]

crablor tshirt beta

Wanted to get an idea for sizing and how it fits

Halfway there guys!

[syn0vial]

touch-averse or touch-starved? an analysis of boba fett's attitudes towards physical touch in legacy of the force

a sufficient number of people expressed interest in this topic that i'm finally making this post! i find this facet of fett's characterization quite fascinating and naturally wanted to share, especially bc it's so unexpectedly nuanced in a lot of ways. so here it is, for the consideration and enjoyment of fic writers, expanded universe enjoyers, and general fett fans alike!

touch is (ostensibly) unbearable because it's a form of compassion. throughout the series, if there's one thing we learn can put fett into the fight-or-flight reflex, it's compassion. at multiple points, his gut reaction to someone showing him compassion is to either lash out at them to get them to stop (as he does with jaina), or if he's not willing to do that, get away from them as fast as he can (as he does with sintas and occasionally beviin early into their friendship). fett explicitly equates more intimate forms of touch (such as hugging, or taking his hand) with compassion and states outright that he has no idea how to respond to such gestures. yet, fett's attitude towards touch cannot be boiled down to simple aversion, because

fett's reactions to physical touch read more like someone who is touch-starved, not touch-averse. despite the attitude towards compassion explored above, when fett is actually faced with compassionate touch, his reaction is not what one would expect. in contrast to when people try to verbally show him compassion, which will get the aforementioned fight-or-flight response, compassionate touch provokes much more ambivalence. for example, when sintas reaches out to take his hand, he initially "dreads" it—yet, when she actually touches him, the text tells us, "He needed her to let go of his hand; but he didn't want her to." similarly, though fett seems to express relief that mirta isn't the type to hug him or take his hand, in the very previous book, we seem to have evidence contrary to all parts of this statement. namely, mirta places her hand in his to reassure him when he's undergoing a very painful treatment for his fucked-up-clone-DNA disease, and his reaction is to immediately take her hand and, when the doctor starts lining up the needle, to squeeze it with such force that mirta "thought he'd break every bone in her fingers." these do not read as the reactions of someone who is averse to touch, but rather, someone who is actually quite touch-starved.

(note that it is not at all uncommon for fett's actions/emotional responses to be at odds with the image he projects. he is not at all a reliable narrator of his own internal experience. for example, at one point he claims to not feel ashamed of anything he's ever done, despite the fact that we see him explicitly grappling with feelings of deep, paralyzing shame for how he treated sintas. beviin even teases him for this habit at one point, responding to fett's claims of professional detachment in the face of his obvious care for others with a cheeky, "'course, i believe you 😉")

furthermore, as we see with mirta, fett can get downright clingy when he's worried about someone. in revelation, fett and mirta both take part in a mission that eventually forces them to split up into separate strike teams. fett is, to put it mildly, rather anxious about this. he fears that something will happen to mirta when she's on her own, and that furthermore, it will be his fault for agreeing to take her along on the mission in the first place. significantly, the separation is book-ended by two instances of fett physically grabbing mirta. first, when mirta begins to climb up into the other part of the ship, fett grabs her by the ankle to try and slow her departure, a result, we're told of his "sudden fear for her." he doesn't let go until she shakes him off. later on, when they're reunited, with mirta covered in someone else's (though fett isn't yet aware of this) blood, jaina observes that he grabs her tightly by the shoulder "as if he was going to shake the daylights out of her." both of these reactions seem to be purely instinctive and visceral; it seems fett's first, kneejerk reaction to the fear of losing someone is to physically grab and hold onto them. again, his actions don't align with the detached, touch-averse image he sometimes portrays.

finally, the characters who know fett best seem to know to offer physical reassurance in the face of painful/distressing situations. specifically, we see beviin and mirta offer physical touch as reassurance; beviin places his hand on fett's back when he's watching sintas suffer from carbonite thawing sickness and is anxiously waiting to see whether her mind is still intact, and, as mentioned above, mirta places her hand in his when he's receiving treatment for his genetic disease. and that's not to even mention how sintas's first reaction to seeing him in emotional turmoil is to try and take his hand. for all that fett tries to put on a distant, untouchable facade, the characters he cares about most and vice-versa can see through it within the text itself.

in conclusion, i feel like if a character he cared about actually hugged him, fett's reaction would be something along the lines of this image:

thank you for coming to my tedtalk

[tiredassmage]

i've had them for five minutes and if anything happened to them, i'd-

[thelonelyshore-if]

all the girls need some PR boosts/propaganda! (I think it's a legit problem in if and fanfiction spaces)

I am always here for more love for the female ROs!! I'm deeply fond of them all and could talk about them for hours tbh. It is an issue in a lot of spaces, I've seen the same, unfortunately. Genuinely I adore Yasmin and Amara, as well as F!Jay and F!Perri; they mean so much to me <3

[thescaryhyperfem]

im soooooo close to blocking the SCP 963 tag

[jin-zixun]

My kingdom for an AU where Lan Wangji's reaction to finding out JGY killed NMJ, and about what happened between them, is being upset that the guy who saved his brother's life was so afraid and threatened that it would ever even come to that. That he himself never thought to step in, wasn't able to be there to pay back the guy he owes his brother's life to, not to mention the help rebuilding their sect, when he needed help. That LXC always made it seem like it was under control and it wasn't. That even now someone is trying to destroy him for something he should never have had to do. Because the Lans should have thought to at least pay back their debt if nothing else.

[crownedinsin]

[k-i-l-l-e-r-b-e-e-6-9]

Sepultura - Beneath The Remains

[magistralucis]

This is actually the worst room, what the hell is these guys' problem 🥴

[du-hjarta-skulblaka]

DELIGHTFUL our fucking kitchen ceiling has caved in

[wifeiy]

who up thinking about devoted knight akaashi

[iwillstealyourpotatoes]

have you guys ever had your cat give you a look like you've betrayed them and their bloodline because. i have

[dollfather]

Trans mascs in the workplace (My ID needs to specify that I’m a cuntboy and any transfem is allowed to ask for it at any time regardless of how I’m presenting.) Cgirls and boys don’t get that privilege. They’re lucky if they get any meaningful jobs at all beyond office fleshlights and living dildos. I’m like a glorified boy secretary who has the privilege of wearing clothes most of the time but my superiors can grope me whenever with little consequence. They can dangle a promotion in front of me if I get them off. Glass ceilings and all that. Dressing fem gets me more respect, wearing pants gets me giggled at by the women in charge. Being born as a cuntgirl and choosing to debase myself further by presenting as male is insane to these women and they think its hilarious. I watch carefully while a cis girl gets slutted out by her boss as I take notes in a nearby chair. I’m welcome to use her as well, but its not polite when a real woman is having her way with her first.