#none of these groups are good

[bones-and-whatnot]

Monster Prom Fantasy AU

Based on the costumes from the auditorium. most of them are written so you could imagine them to be humans or to still be a fantasy society of monsters— whatever floats your boat, I go back and forth myself.

THE PALACE

The Princess Miranda: The youngest of the king’s daughters. Adored by everyone in the kingdom (whether they like it or not). She is rarely ever seen, but people are always talking about her— what she’s wearing, what her favorite things are, who she will marry, what would be the best way to kidnap and/or kill her…

Count de Lioncourt: Another noble, who has only taken up residence in the palace very recently. He is supposedly related to the royal family, but it’s unclear how. He doesn’t want to be king— any fool can be king— but he definitely wouldn’t mind having a comfortable position by a monarch’s ear, safely away from the public eye. And the poor sheltered princess could certainly use someone to help her make… well-informed decisions.

Ser (Dame?) Schmidt: First name Victoria. The newest recruit to the knights of the kingdom; she is very, very eager to work her way up through the ranks. Above all else, she is loyal to the princess.

THE FOREST

The Sting in Yellow: A mysterious, quiet swordsman who travels the wood. They strike fear into the hearts of all who see them… although no one is really sure what exactly they do.

Bruyn the Green: Long ago, a terrible dragon dwelt in the forest. Every year, in mid-April, it would approach the kingdom and ask tribute of the people in form of their crops and livestock. At last, the dragon was slain, but the whereabouts of its body are unknown and legend says it merely slumbers beneath the earth, and will one day rise from the dead.

In the heart of the forest, there sits an enormous tree. It has no name, but according to myth, it dates back to a time before we walked the earth. There once was a curious wolf, who lived in a pack with his brothers. One day, despite their warning, he strayed too far from the rest of the group and became lost in the woods. The wolf spent many nights trying to find his way back to his home, not eating or sleeping until he eventually expired of exhaustion. Roots and wood grew over him that night, and he became a beautiful tree, home to birds and squirrels and insects of all types. At night, the spirit of the wolf leaves the tree to continue his search, but must return before daylight. It is said that the whistling of the wind through the leaves is his mournful howl, crying out for a family long since dead.

THE LANDS BEYOND

Amira, Mistress of the Flames: An evil sorceress in eternal conflict with both the Demon King and His Highness King Vanderbilt. From her tower in the outlands, she controls an army of flaming skeleton warriors and screaming fire spirits. It is rumored that she can scry through any flame anywhere in the world. So the next time you think about lighting up your fireplace, ask yourself: are you really that chilly?

The Demon King: Son of criminals exiled from the kingdom, the man now known as the Demon King grew up in a harsh, inhospitable region of the outlands. By the time he was six, he had killed the leaders of the three bandit groups who controlled the area and formed his own army of scoundrels and brutes. Today, the lands beyond the kingdom are in a constant power struggle between the Demon King’s hordes and the legions belonging to the Mistress of Flames. The leaders of the two factions hate each other with burning passion, but they hate the King Vanderbilt even more.

The Automated Man of Culeicester: The Automated Man is all that remains of Culeicester, an ancient city of wondrous scientific marvels located in what is now the distant badlands of the continent. The Automated Man still remains in the city’s ruins after untold years, continuing to fulfill the purpose for which he was constructed: To tend to the mythically beautiful Gardens of Culeicester. Of course, the land is now so arid that only the hardiest plants requiring the least water remain, but still the Automated Man works, untiring, as the lone bearer of all Culeicester’s lost knowledge. If you can find him (and convince him to step away from his plants), he is a powerful asset.

THE ROGUES

Vera Oberlin: The greatest assassin you’ve never heard of. Those who are unfortunate enough to know of her existence say that she was raised in the mountains by panthers who taught her the savage ways of their claws and teeth. They say she has a city of gold underneath the city streets made from the riches of those she has killed. They say no one has ever seen her face and lived to tell the tale. Whether these things are true, no one can say for sure, but the mysterious Vera seems to be on a meteoric rise through the kingdom’s underworld. The suspicion of most in the know is that she has her eye on the crown.

Doctor Geist: You can call her Polly. A physician and mixer of medicines who recently arrived to the kingdom. Her past is unknown, as she gives a different answer every time. She is quite cheerful, and despite the nature of her profession (or perhaps because of it), has a very carefree attitude towards death, usually only reacting to harm coming to her patients with mild surprise or disappointment. She tends to be rather… experimental with her procedures and concoctions, and self-tests liberally. There are rumors of a connection to the criminal underworld.

Zed, Scribe of the Zoites: An energetic young woman, the church Zed was raised in encouraged her to go on a pilgrimage and learn the ways of the world after she became a bit overzealous in her duties of cataloging information on the group’s members. Because of her close connection to her god, she possesses second sight and can see the alternate paths people’s lives may take, which she dutifully and eagerly inscribes (along with most things she sees) on the scrolls she carries with her. Being a prophet isn’t all fun and games, though— Zed is often tormented by visions of awful futures or dreadful pasts where her god enacts terrible punishment on the world. She is motivated by desire for knowledge and for new experiences of any kind; she wants to learn about and chronicle as much as she can and isn’t about to let silly things like “morality” or “boundaries” keep her from that goal.

[neapenning]

It'd be so embarrassing to join a group after trying to kill their members and losing

[lordsovorn]

dunmeshi inner voices but it's all actual strengths of the characters

Senshi: maintain a balanced diet, listen to your body and be mindful of where your food is coming from. Don't take more than you need from the ecosystem, but remember that to live means to take.

Chilchuck: get paid upfront, get a contract, always have ways to protect your interests in a job, unionize.

Marcille: maintain good hygiene, and take care of your hair and clothes - it's nice and it's worth it. Things in the handbook are there for a reason, but tools aren't moral.

Laios: know your weaknesses and your strengths, and those of your friends. Rely on them and make sure they can always rely on you.

Falin: it's always worth to try kindness first, and to keep a heavy blunt object on hand if that doesn't work out.

Izutsumi: search for your own goals. Be open to change.

Kabru: make your own judgments, and then update them, rather than fit everything you see to your expectations. Act on your beliefs and judgements.

Shuro: always keep the cops in mind, never trust the cops. Know how to balance pressure and politeness in diplomacy.

Namari: maintain a balance between your personal and group interests. Act on your strengths.

Hien: you're staggeringly pretty as is

P. S. Banger post. Here are verified collections of links where you can donate to: Ukraine Syria Palestine

Chilchuck says: Do what you can from where you are. Every action matters, every dollar counts.

[lizzybeeee]

Who wants to bet that Anders was planned to be in that post-credit's Executor cutscene montage but they changed it to Bartrand when they realized it would go over real badly with everyone?

[dalniente]

It's really bizarre watching people I've followed for years start to go down what looks like a weird...idk, cryptotransphobic rabbit hole? I think if a post appears to be cautioning against an overarchingly reasonable concern but includes shit to the effect of "ummmm don't take this in bad faith but also it's going to be mostly the transmascs who paint the rest of us as groomers, so like, just be careful about organizing with them," that's a little bit of an odd thing to say, let alone reblog. That is fake psyop levels of community-splitting weird, and somehow I've seen this post on my dash more than once now.

Saying "please don't take this out of context or in bad faith, disclaimer disclaimer (you're not allowed to be upset with my very good words uwu), anybody can be shitty about detransitioning and I'm not saying Be Paranoid Of The Tee Em Ees, but maybe just be careful, like the same way you'd be careful of letting someone you don't know drive you home after a first date :3" doesn't change the fact that you're singling out an oppressed group as Less Oppressed and therefore (?wtf) Categorically More Of A Threat and not to be trusted if they try to fight at your side. What the fuck are you doing?

Like, I am not saying this doesn't happen. But happening on the kind of scale that would warrant a warning about, again, AN ENTIRE CATEGORY OF TRANS PEOPLE as untrustworthy? Not worth organizing with or trusting? That is fucking weird. That is a fucking weird, transphobic thing to find yourself agreeing with. There is actually no good-faith way to take "don't trust this category of people if they are trying to organize with you."

[dragonsspire]

I think what makes me so uncomfortable with some loudly ex-mormon folks is that I already know all of this because I was there. It feels like, rather than what I do sometimes, coming to grips with my experiences and how it impacts/ed me in my life and what I want to do about it now; they are just...sharing about any random thing without allowing for neutrality. Every. Single. Thing. Has to be some spooky cult shit even when it's just normal community or church stuff.

Like, I just saw some girl's videos on why there are so many mormon musicians. She was like music is tied to status in the mormon church in the most judgemental way possible lol and yes it is. It totally is, but you know what else? Weekly communal singing is an expected part of many worship services around the world and across multiple religions. Mormons are good at music because we sing together for around 2 hours a week for the first 12 years of our lives and then about 1.5 hours a week for the rest of our lives. You will get good at anything if you do it for an hour once a week for 25+ years. That doesn't even include choir, which is always volunteer and is always somewhat terrible because music culture, like just about everything else in mormonism (hello volunteer organization), is not based on skill, it is based in commitment.

It's just "music is tied to status in the mormon church" is such a judgemental way to put "as a community mormons value music and every member devotes time to the practice of it every week as part of worship services. When someone is either particularly skilled or particularly brave and performs in front of the congregation everyone then comes up to them after words and says oh you did a wonderful job! I hope you sing again sometime :) and humans are wired to thrive on positive feedback so that person will likely perform music again which becomes a positive feedback loop."

That's how communities work mate. I said yes to praying at an interfaith event once and then I did and everyone liked my (totally normal for me) prayer so much they keep asking me to do it again. Now I'm the Prayer Guy who is always ready to drop a Good Prayer because that's my community niche all of a sudden.

Not everything is so sinister. There are things that Suck So Bad about mormonism, but people don't talk about those things as often because they're not really uniquely bad or uniquely mormon and they don't make good content.

[pumpkinrootbeer]

i do think it is legitimately very funny whenever someone tries to make the claim that lavabending is inherently a very slow subbending and therefore not good in a fight. specifically when using that argument against Bolin's skill as a bender.

Sure, I feel like in very specific instances with Ghazan that could be a fair argument to make. It takes him a moment to destabilize the Ba Sing Se wall and for him to kick up enough lava to destroy the airbending temple. (to the point I would argue that if Bolin had been versed in lavabending like he was in s4 he would have swept the ground with Ghazan), but in moments where he's actually in a fight his lava is incredibly quick.

Just the lava frisbee on its own is an incredibly quick move

But making that argument with Bolin in particular is absolutely batshit when outside of lavabending he is an incredibly quick fighter. I would say it is one of, if not the, most defining things about his fighting style. He moves very, very quickly and uncharacteristically agile for a earthbender. This is a known thing. Like

I am not the first person to say this but no other earthbender does backflips like he does. And THEN with lavabending he is just as quick if not more so

Bolin since season 1 has had an uncanny knack for bending incredibly fast, and his lavabending is no exception to that rule. It's honestly something that haunts my brain all the time because how quick he is with it low-key breaks the balancing? a little?? Like earthbending was always shown to be very strong but in turn it was slower than other types of bending, but with Bolin that doesn't really seem to be a hangup he has.

[lynxfrost13]

Hey do you guys ever think about HOPR’s gestalt and how she was probably a very lonely person for most of her life before volunteering to be a neural template donor

[iiryebreadii]

code-switching to talk to my church friends is crazyy, i haven’t been to church in months cause i’m having An Ongoing Crisis Of Faith and don’t believe a majority of the things i was taught growing up anymore, but i still gotta keep up appearances or else they’re gonna start Evangelizing Me and that’ll be annoying

[quatregats]

Sorry I'm going to be grumpy for a minute and like obvious NB I think that it's great that Kneecap have become mainstream for exactly the reasons I'm going to be grumpy about, but I think that a lot of their shock value is because they're drawing on genealogies of minoritized language music which people especially in the Anglosphere are just completely unaware of - I think that, for example, in the Spanish-speaking world, people are more aware of the Basque Radical Rock scene, but in the English-speaking world minoritized languages tend to be treated like a novelty or a folkloric relic - and ALSO on a genealogy of rap which isn't the one people associate with that very poor vision of European minoritized language scenes (which, if English speakers and particularly Americans think about at all, they tend to associate with tradition/conservatism and certainly not with a particularly sophisticated understanding of colonial/post-colonial dynamics that articulates really well with early Black American political rap). Like genuinely I think if people knew who Kortatu were they would be way less surprised by Kneecap's existence

[aprilblossomgirl]

# mood 1 + mood 2 (basically)

[saphizzle]

I walked around dokomi as zuko today with @ravensa , I can only do peace signs, my mind is broken after two days of con, I bought so much art, I'm so happy

[bigcats-birds-and-books]

Books of 2024: GRAVEYARD SHIFT by M. L. Rio.

I really liked IF WE WERE VILLAINS back when it came out, so I was excited for the same author to do Creepy Fucked Up Fungus and Questionable Scientific Ethics: The Insomnia Book.

This was fun! Very short (my copy is only 108 pages), and it takes place over the course of one (1) sleepless night (which, coincidentally, is how I read it), but I enjoyed it for what it was. I've seen some people in reviews wishing it were longer, but I thought we got to know all the characters pretty well for a story that happens in less than 10 hours, and I had a good time.

[catstarkapologist]

Say it with me people: when we say that every character in the secret history is a horrible person, we mean Francis and Camilla as well. I want to talk about Camilla specifically because I always see people making her out to be this sort of saint, when she is anything but! The image that we get to see of Camilla in the book seems so flawless because that's how Richard sees her (unreliable narrator). Richard views Camilla as perfect and pure and thinks of her like she can do no wrong. But let's not forget that Camilla committed incest, took part in the Bacchanal, went with Henry to check on Bunny's dead body and -even after his death- was in love with Henry who is admittedly a fucking horrible person. Charles is abusive and an asshole so I did have some sympathy for her in that regard but overall she is not the victim to this story and nor is she innocent.

[jannacalendar]

Two character dynamics (that cannot coexist) that I've been musing over the past few days:

Buffy and Jenny as reluctant character mirrors who are unable to make peace with each other, but Dawn thinks Jenny is cool much to Buffy's chagrin.

Buffy and Jenny airing their grievances as they recognise themselves in each other and reach a tentative peace for the sake of the group, but Dawn never forgives Jenny for upsetting her sister.

[theoakleafpancake]

I find it a little funny that Eurylochus answers to Odysseus when during EPIC, it should really be switched