#<- just in case i post more about ir

[sleep-nurse]

if anyone was wondering why it took us (me and my brother, absolute worst builders of minecraft ever) so long to make a house. this is why

these are the only pics i have but WE DID THIS HOUSE ALL ON SURVIVAL MODE and we were so lucky to have most of the resources near our village because. holy fuck (apart for the dark oag which we had to go on a whole ass adventure to get)

also here's a random ass picture of our wonderland village

[rollingsins]

Jealous Wednesday drabble? 🥺👉🏻👈🏻

Filled, thanks boo

“He’s like a gnat.” Wednesday seethes. “Buzzing around girls who don’t want his attention.” 

The gnat in question is Xavier Thorpe. 

His crime? Offering you his notes from the phytotoxicology class you’d missed on Tuesday due to a head cold. Wednesday had watched the interaction, and had been seething like a stormcloud all the way back to her dorm room. 

“He was just being friendly, baby.” You say, reaching out to rub her arm. 

Wednesday shoots you a look and withdraws from your touch as if you’d burned her. 

She doesn’t like pet names, or affection when it’s not pre or post-coital. But even worse, she hates when you defend the people she doesn’t like. 

“Do I look like an infant to you, YN?” She asks, all of her ire suddenly turned on you. You blink, a little startled. Her eyebrows are knit, her eyes awash with fury. 

All the fury of a two year old being refused her favorite toy. 

“Right now?” You ask, hesitant, “A little.” 

Wednesday blinks. If possible, her eyes darken even more. And you’re immediately aware you’ve said the wrong thing. 

You sigh. 

“Xavier isn’t interested in me,” You say in an attempt to placate her, “He had a crush on you, remember?” 

Wednesday stares. 

“That was last year,” She says, eyebrows knit, “And once he became imminently aware I would rather sit through a sing-along screening of the Sound of Music than become romantically involved with him, I believe his affections shifted.” 

She eyes you up, as if it’s you who's done something wrong. 

You shrug. 

“Ditto.” You say, well aware of the fruitless attempt to pacify her. There was only one thing that seemed to always convince her. It would come sooner, rather than later. And thankfully, nowadays, Wednesday’s room always seemed to be vacant. Enid too preoccupied with Ajax to ever be home. 

At the prospect of having Wednesday’s dorm room to yourselves, arousal flashes hot and fast through you. 

But Wednesday, as always, is two steps behind. Her jaw clenches. 

“You love The Sound of Music,” She says, voice slightly accusatory, “That means nothing.”

“I love you.” You say, meeting her gaze. It doesn’t waver, “Doesn’t that mean something?” 

Wednesday considers this. Her eyes narrow, like she’s sizing you up. Her eyes flicker, and you know it’s time. 

“Undress,” She says, leaning back slightly, “We are going to copulate.” 

“Sexy.” You say, voice wry, “You sure know how to talk a girl into bed, Wednesday.” 

Wednesday leans forward. 

“Undress.” She insists, “I’m not asking.” 

You cross your legs, gaze defiant. You know she likes this. A little resistance, fire meeting fire. It isn’t fun when it’s easy. 

“I bet Xavier wouldn’t demand me to sleep with him,” You say, “I bet he’d ask, super nice. Call me nice names, tell me he loves me.”

Wednesday’s eyes narrow. 

You half think she’s about to throw you onto the bed and rip your clothes off when she meets your gaze. The storm in her dark eyes doesn’t let up. 

“Undress, please, sweetheart,” She says, through gritted teeth, “I want to remind you you’re mine.” 

You tilt your head, waiting. 

She sighs. 

“And…” She says, as if the pause in her sentence will lessen your desire for her to say the words. She quirks an eyebrow. It doesn’t work. 

 “And I love you.” 

You smile. 

“I love you too,” You tell her, pull your shirt over your head, “And Xavier isn’t going to woo me with phytotoxicology notes. Don’t worry, baby.” 

This time, she allows the epithet. She softens, meeting your submission with a kiss. 

She climbs atop you, a careful maneuver that has her knee fall between your legs in just the right place.  

“Xavier won’t woo you no matter what he does,” She says, as she unbuttons your jeans, “But I’ll remind you why, just in case.”

[bloodyshadow1]

I see people who are bashing and condemning the bad kids, I gotta ask, what were they supposed to do? It's very easy to condemn people, especially when they're characters in a game whose morals don't and shouldn't line up with our society today, but I have yet to post anything suggesting what the Bad Kids could have done differently and still survive and win.

You could say they could have tried to reason with the Rat Grinders, and this is bullshit. they're in a battle for the world again, the Rat Grinders have tried to kill them a little more than an hour ago, why should the bad kids reach out. The world is more important than 6 mislead teens who are actively trying to kill you. The only reason the Bad Kids 'started' it was because they rolled better on initiative, the Rat Grinders were going for blood just as much, they were just slower.

I've seen people blame the rage crystals instead of the Rat Grinders themselves which means that they're not in control of themselves so they can't be blamed. Okay, that doesn't actually seem to be what the rage crystals do, but fine, lets explore that thread. That's the catch 22 of the situation, there was nothing the bad kids could have done differently.

If the Rat Grinder's aren't in their own minds, that they're acting this way because of the rage crystals, what were the Bad Kids supposed to do? If that's the case than it would have been pointless for them to try and reach out to the Rat Grinders because they weren't in their right mind. They had been consumed by rage for the past year and the Bad Kids are the targets of their ire. If the Bad Kids tried to reach out to them it would have failed because the Rat Grinder's aren't in their right minds.

However, if the Rat Grinders are in their right minds, if the rage stars just make them angrier while letting them keep their autonomy as people, than they chose this path. That means it was there choice, sure it was tainted, but it still is something they chose to do. They chose to do all the horrible things, even if pressured, and chose to be the villains of their own story. How would the Bad Kids, again target of their ire, be able to break through their rage in two turns while staying alive against people who hate them?

So let me ask again, what were the Bad Kids supposed to do? They are outnumbered, they spent a lot of resources fighting off the dragons the Rat Grinders set upon them, and their are at least 8 high level characters who want them dead. What exactly were they supposed to do other than fight. If the Bad Kids win, they can bring back the Rat Grinders, if they lose everyone is dead, and Porter is the new god of rage, I doubt he cares enough about the rat grinders to bring them back.

[the-s1lly-corner]

Hewo I know Halloween is over but may I have TADC cast x Jack Skellington!Reader? Plus their dog also got transported and turned into Zero.

Imagine an 11ft tall skeleton rising out the giant ballpit thing

If Jax or Caine pisses them off they do the scary face thing

TADC cast x jack skellington! Type reader!

I dont mention the dog much since I dont really. Have many ideas for them <\3

Also I have not seen nightmare before Christmas in YEARS so UHUH! This may be a bit off

Written on mobile

I'm down with the sickness but the sickness is not down with me (too sore to sleep)

CAINE:

You guys walk bubble and your dog together/j

Actually no that would be.. kind of funny.. I can definitely see caine doing that if hes trying to befriend you

Chaotic gentleman (is that a thing? Honestly I'm just basing the gentleman part on the fact caine says stuff like "my dear" and goes out of his way to welcome new circus members but uhuh) and calm gentleman duo

Things happen

Honestly I think you would balance him out, like either he tones down or you compliment his personality enough to make it more bearable to others

POMNI:

Similar to the skeleton reader post, pomni is a little offput by you being a skeleton. It's like how you instinctively get freaked out when you see an exposed brain, usually means somethings very wrong. Same case with your bones I think. At least for pomni while shes getting used to things. Though your gentle and kind demeanor really helps ease things along, and pomni finds herself comfortable around you!

AND you come with a dog? Tbh I can see pomni being a dog person

... If that's your dog, assuming it's not an NPC, does that mean your dog got a mini headset...?

RAGATHA:

Kind lady and kind person. You guys kind of just brighten up the room whenever you two are around, and even more so if you're together... though, that isn't saying much given the general attitude of the others..

You both tend to band together to look out for the others during IHAs, I think

Let's you rattle on about your interests; I'm sure most others would let you do the same, but I think Ragatha would actually be actively engaged in it! I think Kinger would be too...

Sets you three down in a corner and observes

JAX:

Writing this down first before I forget but Jax would do an exaggerated fake scream when you do the scary face thing. I don't think jax would be all the phased by it. If you're a skeleton you're cursed with him trying to undo your bones, very similar to the TADC cast x skeleton reader post from a few days ago

Personality wise? Jax is going to try to find your limits and break them. Oh you're a gentleperson who handles things with grace? Not for long.. unless you have the patience and forgiveness of a god

KINGER:

I think he would enjoy your prescence! Just dont do the face thing around him, hes probably gonna freak out even if it's not directed towards him. Kinger doesnt strike me as the type to like scary things..

Pets your dog, a lot

Emotional support animal/j but actually I can see him becoming attatched to your dog

Not much to be said here but I'm chalking that more up to me being tired <\3

ZOOBLE:

Is a little annoyed by your enthusiasm to learn as much as you can about whatever topic ha syour interest; bonus if you're current interest is the digital world and trying to figure out all the ins and outs of it

....they're more of a cat person, I think... ir maybe a snake person... or reptile person in general.. doesnt hate your dog, though

Can at least appreciate your mannerisms and politeness

I can see you two being decent friends , I think

GANGLE:

Another one where I think you guys could make decent friends. Honestly, I didnt write this to be romantic (though some of these can be interpreted as such!) But I wholeheartedly believe gangle would develop a crush on you. I mean, come on! You're a gentleman, you're a lil quirky, you're kind and curious, and so on! Bonus if you look the part, too. I have a hc lying around somewhere where I believe gangle used to play dating sims in the real world and tbh. She would definitely go after characters that reflected you... and oh look youre a real person, hell yeah

It was either characters like you or the dark mysterious ones

But maybe I'm hella projecting onto gangle

Gangle is our x reader enjoyer rep/hj

[runawaymarbles]

Hii!

I don’t understand what’s going on with AO3 and the election? I’ve been using it for about a year so this is all new to me! Is Tiffany getting elected actually bad?

I hate censorship, so seeing posts about them censoring stuff is concerning but idk how much truth to it there is 😳

I just want to be informed, and understand!

Hi! Welcome to AO3:)

since I'm not sure how much you know already, the background (background as interpreted by me: I am not speaking on behalf of the OTW) is: Ao3 is run by the Organization for Transformative Works (OTW), the nonprofit that also runs Fanlore and publishes Transformative Works & Cultures. Anyone who has donated $10 to the OTW in the last year, and chooses "yes I want to be a member" at checkout is an OTW member. (This is not the same as having an ao3 account.) Every year, there is an election to fill either 2 or 3 seats on the Board of Directors. OTW Members (i.e. people who donated between 7/1/21 and 6/30/22, in this case) get to vote on this.

Most of the time, this election is only really followed by people on fail_fandomanon. Sometimes, it isn't.

Things the Board of Directors does: writes posts to send out to the general public when Things Are Happening (the recent csam attacks, the requests for more antiracism measures.) Writes posts to send to volunteers when Things Are Happening (see prev.) Keeps track of what all the committees are doing and how it ties in with whatever the strategic plan says they should be doing. Deals with the IRS/US laws. Approves large funding requests. Deals with emails that someone else has deemed outside their own wheelhouse. Herds cats. Proposes priorities. Points at something shiny, pats the org on the flank, and says "walk that way, walk that way!! Come on buddy, you can do it!!". etc etc etc.

Things the Board of Directors doesn't do: unilaterally determine ao3 content policy. Let us use the word "porn" on ao3 drive merch. Make decisions that are going greatly affect other volunteers' work without input and some level of agreement from said volunteers.

Anyway. This year, one of the five candidates for the three open board seats is Tiffany G. (More information about all the candidates and their platforms is at https://elections.transformativeworks.org)

Tiffany is a tag wrangler from an unspecified country that is, from context, assumed to be China. The candidate Q&A can be read here. Her answers were a little bit confusing, but she said she wanted to update the ToS policies on 'pedophilic and illegal content' because, quote, "people think we host child porn content and such things... It might... be helpful to clarify that to the public." Further down she said:

a) I support 100% “maximum inclusiveness of content”, yet there is always a boundary to everything. Since OTW is already an influential org, we need to protect our image and hold a better image to the public. I want the public to think of us as an inclusive and socially responsible community. So in general, we have to do something to change. Things like making the rating system more specific and obvious to users will be what I want to do. b) Not really restricting the content being posted. I hope it is like more warnings and ratings for posting work so people know what to expect. And all of these are not surprising to people who do not wish to see this.

I took this to mean "she wants to clarify to outsiders that ao3 does not host csam, is not only for erotica, and update the ratings and warnings system." I don't think that those things are necessary or should be a focus of the org, which is part of why I didn't vote for her.

Other people took it to mean "Tiffany is against pornographic or underage works and wants them to be banned." Some people took this, combined with her nationality, to the conclusion of "Tiffany is a secret plant of the Chinese Communist Party who wants to join the board, get all the ao3 user data, and then have the users from mainland China arrested" (despite the fact that this is not information the board would have access to, if for no other reason than ao3 is blocked in China so anyone trying to view the site from mainland china has to use a VPN anyway.) Some people are upset that the OTW elections committee "allowed" her to run in the first place, because they think that not letting anyone with opinions the current board or elections committee didn't like is an absolutely great precedent to set.

There are a bunch of comments on tw.org, and some in fail_fandomanon, that give more context to her comments in terms of Chinese fandom (though most posters still disagree with her position.)

This got... longer than planned. But to the question "Is tiffany getting elected actually bad" - If my interpretation of her statements are correct, I think it would be annoying, because she does not have the experience I think that being on the Board requires, and focuses on priorities I disagree with. Which isn't to say she'd never have a valuable perspective or ideas about something, but there are four other candidates that I think are much better suited to it at this point in time. If the people who think she is an antishipper bent on censorship are correct, she could probably make life very annoying for the rest of the board-- but considering the rest of them are not pro-censorship, I can't see how she'd have much influence in that direction in the org as a whole.

If the people who think she's doing espionage on behalf of the CCP are correct, then... look, I can't even finish that sentence because I find the idea of the CCP deciding that a) they need to get ao3 user data and b) the way to do that is to run a clearly unqualified candidate in a public board election absurd.

the tl;dr of this tl;dr is that there's a lot of fearmongering going around, and a lot of accusations and hate (and racism. let’s be real a lot of this is racism) directed her way. I don't know her, so I don't know what her "real" opinions are, but regardless of who wins the board election, ao3 is not going to be censored any time soon.

if for no other reason than if the Abuse team was told on top of all their other work, they now had to assess and remove fics reported for being "problematic", they would say "we'd prefer not to" and then proceed to not do it.

It's awesome that people are realizing the board elections and OTW membership are a thing now, though. We kept talking about how to encourage membership, and "running a very dramatic and wanky election" did not occur to us. In retrospect, I don't know why.

[luminalunii97]

Some tankie bs detection

I saw this post on my dash. The user is blocked now. But just to educate people so that they won't fall for idiotic claims online, here are a couple of facts:

1. The Islamic Republic is not anti imperialist, they're anti USA. The regime is very much in love with Russian imperialism. At this point, Iran is an unofficial russian colony. And by the support of their imperialist father figure they have their small version of imperialism in middle east. Ask Iraq and Lebanon.

2. There's no "safety" when it comes to economy in Iran. The "national sovereignty" is called "those fvckin thieves in power" here. Iran's regime is one of the most corrupt regimes by international index. Rent, nepotism, embezzlement and money laundering are serious issues in Iran. Done only and only by the governors and people in power. Social class is not only a thing, there's a raging gap between rich people and those in poverty. And the gap is getting bigger and bigger by month. If you have connections in government or you are in the government, you'll get richer and richer. Other wise, soon enough you'll be in poverty too. Many families, including mine, who used to be considered middle class, have incomes lower than the poverty threshold now.

About 15% of Iran's economic failure including inflation is on the sanctions. The rest is on the corruption within the regime.

Iran's banking system is also a corrupted organ. The so called Islamic banking is anything but Islamic. The loan interest rate is one of the highest worldwide, 23%, so that often you have to pay back more than twice the money you've received. It's called Riba in Islam and it's Haram. According to the regime themselves, the banking system in European countries, even in the USA, is more Islamic than us. The fact that some of the biggest embezzlement in Iran has been done by bank managers should give you a picture of how they're drinking our blood.

None of this is on USA imperialism. It's all the Islamic Republic.

3. The Islamic Republic doesn't support Palestinians. The regime is extremely racist and anti Arab. I dare you talk about this with an actual Arab. IR don't give two shites about Palestinians lives. The regime is antisemitic. That's what they are. Palestine is just an excuse to attack Israel. In the past 20+ years of my life, living in Iran and dealing with these posers, not once we've been educated about Palestine and Palestinians lives. Everything I know, I've learned from online resources and documentaries make by Palestinians. The regime doesn't talk about Palestinians when they pose as supporters. I'm pretty sure they don't know or care to know anything noteworthy about Palestine, considering my knowledge of the human rights violations there is always more than basiji people of my country, and I don't even know that much. All the regime talks about is how Israel should be eliminated. IR supports a terrorist organization called Hamas, not Palestinians.

4. Let's forget about everything I said so far. I wonder if tankies like the op has any ounce of humanity in them! The regime has been oppressing women, violating every type of human rights and murdering lgbtq people and other-thinkers for the last 40 years. The spectacular environmental disaster in Iran is the direct result of regime's policies and neglect. This is a case of human rights violation since it's ruining people's lives, especially ethnic minorities, like Arab farmers in south.

No religious minority is safe in Iran, be it atheist, Baha'i, Jew, christian, or Sunni Muslim. They commit crime against children, through labor and through war. IRGC have little regards for human lives in general but it descent into no regards at all for ethnic minorities.

They have MASS EXECUTED 30,000 leftists (members of Marxist Communist parties and their supporters) within the first decade of their autocratic rule. It's unbelievably funny to me when foreign leftists support a regime that has executed many of their fellow thinkers and still arrest and torture any left activist in Iran.

To say the reason the 1979 revolution happened was to get rid of western influence and to establish a democratic free independent government is true. But the Islamic Republic is not that result. Don't be fooled.

[saintforan]

Well now that you made it MLB I have to chant this, LOVE SQUARE LOVE SQUARE LOVE SQUARE. You know, for the extra brain rot. The fun dynamic of getting to draw two idiots pining and blushing around their crush in different scenarios without ever knowing.

ur so real for that anon, i won't lie, the love square is the main thing that got me HOOKED into MLB LMAOO so yea have it for sure that theres a love square here, and it takes the same direction as the series, although their dynamics are a lil bit different from it: made this chart to explain it better LOL

Down here is a bit of story about how they crushed on each other ir you are interested:

(im sorry for the amount of rambling that ur about to read here)

dogday crushed on catnap the day they met, nap joined the same hs dogday was in as a new student and dogday recognized him as this famous and rich engineer's (prototype cof cof) son, said son was well known to be the face of said engineer's company, and also was an insanely gifted and smart teenager. Well, another one of his atributes, although shadowed by his brain, was his very handsome and elegant appearance, so lets just say he was VERY attractive to dogday, and that made him interested, but it wasnt a full crush, yet.

Later on the day they both stayed late at hs for different reasons (long story short, dogday was on a club, catnap was finishing his admission process) and came out of it at the same time, catnap was waiting for someone to pick him up and dogday took it as oportunity to talk to him, cause catnaps cold robot-like personality was characteristic of him, but he wondered what his actual personality was like, so it's worth the try!

He went over to him and engaged into conversation, during this talk they realized they were unintentionally matching necklaces and well, that made them become friends easily, after this they became really good friends as they, although didn't have a lot in common, understood each other very well, and well after actually talking to him dogday developed a very big fat crush on catnap as he got to know he was actually really sweet when talking to a friend. From there on they became really really close, eventually they became best friends and dogdays crush on catnap got bigger the more he got to know him.

As for catnap, dogday was his first friend ever, all his life he was homeschooled because of his father wanting a child as smart as him that could inherit his company, and therefore never got to make any friends as he got basically forced to became insanely smart, he got sent to highschool because his father realized that his child didn't have any good social skills (not that his father considered that important, but he wanted his successor to be able to be a leader and without social skills thats impossible lol) and therefore sent him to study people lol.

When dogday came to him and they became friends he became very attached to him emotionally (sadly not in a romantic way) and therefore became best friends.

Now going into them as heroes! (If you read all the way here, I'm sorry for this amount of lore)

im going to refer to them as BC Catnap and LB dogday as i still dont know what their hero names should be lol (BC for black cat and LB for ladybug)

BC Catnap's crush on LB dogday is very much the same as the og chat noir and ladybug dynamic, but in this case BC Catnap crushed WAY harder than chat noir, to not make this post any longer, basically BC Catnap liked LB dogday on their first mission, he became attracted to the way LB dogday's hability as hero was, he admired him very much and that admiration evolved into romance bc at one point on their first mission, BC catnap got into a pretty dangerous situation and LB dogday saved him risking his own life, and after the mission was done LB dogday was pretty concerned for his well-being and handled him very carefully, and well, in poor catnaps life no one had cared for him that much before, so he fell for LB dogday's soft caring personality + the admiration he had for him before, he basically became LB dogday's N1 fanboy lmao.

From there on he became very flirty with LB dogday (the plagg effect strikes again, making his holders become sassier and flirtier) and he was very obvious with his feelings, LB dogday found the constant flirting annoying and therefore only considers BC catnap his work buddy cause he finds him way too annoying to be his friend, although with time they do became closer, and they start telling each other a bit about their personal lives without revealing their identities (Ex: LB dogday telling BC catnap about how hes crushed with his best friend ever since they met but although he pursues him romantically he doesn't want to push anything so he doesnt ruin their friendship, no, BC catnap doesnt mind that LB dogday is crushed on someone else, for him LB dogday is the crush he will love with all his heart no matter what bc he alr knows his feelings arent reciprocated, and hes alr with that but he keeps the flirting cause thats how he likes to be with his crush lol)

theres a lot more to this but this post is already REALLY LONG so i'll just keep till here

[tinydefector]

Hi i don't know if you are taking requests for bayverse but if you do can i get bayverse Ironhide x female reader, fluff and smut. Good luck of you do❤️

Minx

Warning: Smut, Oral fem receiving.

Word count: 2k

(Bayverse) Ironhide x Fem Human reader

Before I start, I'm not very good with writing Bayverse bots, so I hope this came out alright.

Also, I hope I did the reader well, I dont really write fem reader.

Request and ask open, read pinned post

---------

She's using his revision mirror again to touch up her lipstick. It wouldn't bother Ironhide as much if it wasn't for the fact she was flaunting herself at him while they were driving. 

Ironhide let out an exasperated vent. On the surface he tried to remain stoic, but inside circuits were frayed from the incessant primping and preening whenever she had the chance to ride in his cab. 

"Must you always fuss so much?" he grumbled, unable to keep the irritation from his voice. "I am driving, in case you've forgotten. And I suspect your antics are meant more for distracting me than seeing to your own looks."

She had been batting her lashes and smiling his way ever since they departed their last stop, and his patience for such frivolities was running low. so for now he strove to ignore the human's attempts at getting a rise out of him, less he ran them off the road.

His engine rumbled in a weary sigh. "Focus on the task at hand, little one. We'll be back at base soon enough."

She shoots him a smile in his mirror again. "And here I thought you enjoyed my company, getting sick of me already Hide?" She teases him.

Ironhide's engine responded with a grumble that was half irritation, half amusement. As trying as his Minx could be at times, he had to admit her bold spirit was refreshing and she did keep him on his toes.

"In small doses only, little witch," he retorted, though without any real bite to his words. "Your antics might be tolerable in brief stretches, keep your optics on the road, less we get ambushed by Decepticons" 

Still, there was a certain grudging fondness in the way his voice. For all her mischief, the human's fearless nature was what had drawn him to her, she wasn't military but a chance encounter had him on the run with her from Decepticon fire.

 In her own tiny way, she helped ease some of the weariness that had built up over countless vorns of endless conflict. Her voice he could listen to for aeons. 

Part of Ironhide didn't truly mind the company...so long as she minded her manners while in his cab, and kept her hands to herself while they drove.

"Fine guess I'll have to show off for someone else back on base" she states. He knows she's trying to get under his plating, and she knows how to get him. 

His engine rumbled warningly at that comment. While he knew she was just prodding him to get a reaction, the suggestion of flirting with another stirred a possessiveness in his circuits. 

"Watch it, fleshie," he growled, though without any real heat to the words. 

"Keep carrying on so and I may be inclined to park your backside right here until we're done," he blustered. But his warming cab and rumbling engine betrayed that any real ire was short-lived where she was concerned. Still, it wouldn't do to let her think she'd won so easily. 

Soft laughter falls from her lips, " jealous bot" she shoots back at him as the two finally arrive back at base. 

She gets chatty with security At the entrance to N.E.S.T 

Ironhide's engine uttered another warning grumble as she chatted away with the other humans, seemingly having forgotten her promise to mind her manners. His patience was wearing thin after the long drive, and he'd had just about enough of her frivolous games.

Pulling up as close to the hangar doors as his alt mode would allow, he popped open the driver side door with a pointed snap. "Out. Now," he rumbled, unwilling to play chauffeur any longer while she was in her mood to cause chaos.  

When she turned back with that coquettish smirk, Ironhide growled deep in his intakes. "Don't test me, fleshie. You've had your fun, now get inside like I said. Unless you'd rather I carry you in?" 

He knew full well manhandling the human would be crossing a line. But she had a way of pushing all his buttons without fail. 

She slowly moves to get out of his front seat. Her hands linger on the dashboard for a moment before she steps out onto the concrete. She's quick to walk inside after giving his tailgate a slap, a small laugh leaves her as she runs. 

With a grumble and hiss of hydraulics, Ironhide transformed once she had cleared his cab, looming over the hangar entrance. Ironhide let out an annoyed huff of exhaust as the girl once more tested his patience, That sharp little slap to his tailgate was the final straw.

Revving his engine menacingly, Ironhide rumbled forward until his massive bulk filled the hangar entrance, blocking any hope of escape back out the entrance. "Minx," he accused, optics narrowing at the smiling human within. "Do you enjoy pushing me this far every time?"

Despite his gruff tone, there was no true anger. After all this time, she knew full well how to get under his plating without ever crossing a line. And loathe as he was to admit, some small part of Ironhide even admired her spirit. 

Still, there were consequences to be had for such teasing. Leaning in until he is eye level with her "Consider this your official timeout, fleshling. Until I deem you've learned your lesson, you'll remain right where I put you."

With that, he sealed the hangar shut with a steely grinding of gears.  "Iron!" She squeals out only to gasp more as Ironhide grabs her before continuing further into his hanger, his human in hand. Her legs dangle between his digits as she holds onto him. "Oh my God you're an ass! Give me a warning next time" She shoots back at him

Ironhide huffed a gruff chuckle at the human's outburst. "And miss that precious little squeal? Not a chance, fleshie." 

"You know full well your games grate on my circuits, princess," he rumbled lightly. "A little fear is good for the spark. Keeps you on your toes and out of trouble." Not that he would ever hurt her. 

Once she was steady on her pedes again standing on their shared berth, more so crudely made slab with piles of her blankets and pillows on it "Consider that payback for your mischief, little pest. Next time, mind your hands and that smart mouth, lest I find a use for them." His field pulsed warm with amusement. 

 Soft little noises leave her as Ironhide's digits wrap around her pressing gently into her side, back and against her chest. 

Ironhide vented softly as his powerful digits carefully cradled the human's tiny frame. For all their teasing and bickering, in quiet moments like this he was reminded of just how fragile organics were. 

His field pulsed warm and gentle, laced with protectiveness as he gradually increased the pressure, testing her limits but taking care not to crush even an ounce of strength. "Comfortable, little one?" he rumbled softly. 

When she offered no protest, Ironhide began slowly massaging her back struts, mimicking the way she sometimes soothed his aching finger joints. Though his plating was rough-hewn metal and her skin oh so delicate.

A rumble rose from his frame, vibrating through her in a sensation she called a "purr." His optics were lidded in contentment, focusing only on her within his grasp. 

She slowly leans back into his touch. And as his digits travel further down she arches into his touch a small whine falls from her lips. She slowly grinds against Ironhide teasing digit. trying to make him get the picture of what she wanted and why she had been teasing him all day. 

Ironhide's engine revved sharply in surprise at the reaction his gentle touch elicited. His optics shuttered briefly.  "Minx," he scolded gently. "All this torment was for my attention, then?"

Lowering his face close, he nuzzled her tiny form with care before capturing her lips in a chaste kiss, its slow and soft, flesh against metal. Another whine leaves her lips as she looks up at him. "You've been too busy recently, I missed you" she states as he lays her down against the piles of blankets. Slowly hiking her dress up only to be met with nothing underneath. Ironhide stilled, intake caught in surprise at her display. His optics roved hungrily over the tempting view before him, unable to deny the allure of her plan so cunningly executed.

A low rumble rose from his chassis. "Devious creature," he purred, engine revving at the wanton invitation in her gaze. How could he refuse when she had so clearly orchestrated this?

His name softly falls from her lips. Her eyes flicker to where he kneels in front of the berth. Leaning down, he nuzzled her frame with utmost care "All this just for me?" His field pulsed hot and heady as he traced the seam of her folds with a single digit. 

Rising temptation warred with duty and honour. But her needful whine as she canted her hips persuaded him. Slowly Ironhide runs his glossa across sweet skin. She whines loudly when he leans down and runs his glossa between her folds sucking softly on her clit before he delivers back into teasing. Her hands grip his helm quickly. "Ironhide please" she calls out.

His glossa is enveloped in tight velvet warmth. His intake caught on a groan at sensations. He could never get enough of how sweet she tasted, she is sweeter than pre war energon candies. Ironhide rumbled deeply at her pleas, the sound vibrating through her very core as he worshipped her flesh. Making her gasp and cry out brought him no small amount of satisfaction to reduce his teasing femme to putty in his grasp with nothing but tongue. 

"Easy, little one," he crooned against her wetness. With maddening slowness he circled her clit, cataloguing every hitch of her breath, every whimper and sigh. Ever so carefully Ironhide delved his glossa inside.

 Ironhide rumbled deep in approval as she rode his glossa without restraint, soft hips bucking against his mouth. making her pleasure his sole focus in that moment. Her cries and moans only spurred him on, lapping eagerly at her slick flesh.

One hand braced against her hip to hold her steady, But Ironhide was far from passive, pressing his glossa as deep as he was able between each thrust. The vibrations of his rumbling engine only enhanced every sensation. 

When her hips began to canter erratically, Ironhide redoubled his efforts. Cried out moans leave her lips as her orgasm hits, hips bucking in irregular patterns as she sobs out Ironhide's name. With one final curl of his glossa, he felt her walls flutter madly around him. Greedily Ironhide lapped up every drop of her release, savouring this sweet taste. 

Yet still he craved more of her intoxicating and addictive taste, seeking to prolong her bliss for as long as was within his power. 

Carefully he manoeuvred her limp frame until she straddled his glossa once more, keening softly as the hypersensitive flesh of her clit met his eager mouth. Slowly Ironhide tongued her folds, memorising every detail as her flavour grew sweeter still in her fluttering aftershocks. "Ironhide!" She moans out loudly. 

One of his hands trailed maddeningly along her back, tracings her spine, caressing and stroking anew. Ironhide growled around his mouthful, greedily drinking in every drop he could  as shudders wracked her frame.

Retreating only when she sagged fully sated against him, Ironhide cradled her close to his chassis, content merely to hold her. Her breathing calmed as he nuzzled her adoringly, spark swelling with quiet joy. 

She lays content against him, soft pants leaving her lips as Ironhide brings her pile of blankets up for her. She slowly snuggles into him through the blankets. Ironhide himself is content to put off mission reports for his little minx.

Ironhide's engine rumbled softly in wordless affection as the human curled contentedly against his chassis, safely wrapped in makeshift padding. Her soft respiration and fluttering pulse cycled down into sated recharge, safe in his guarded embrace.

Adjusting until he was lounging comfortably, Ironhide idly stroked her naked back, tracing glyphs into soft flesh

Until then, Ironhide was content simply to monitor her recharge and bask in the aftermath. The closeness of her tiny frame to his mighty systems never ceased to stir something deep within.

Her presence soothed the savage rages of battle, tempering even his trigger-happy impulses into something nobler. "Minx" he mumbles softly before settling in to recharge himself. 

[willofwinnie]

Calendar of Auldrant

Though I do not know if other games in the Tales series go by a similar date and day naming system, this will primarily be Tales of the Abyss. This is a long post!

Here is all the information the game gives regarding the calendar.

The Days:

This is a funny nod towards the origins behind the names of the days of the week. Rem is light and the “Sun” in Sunday is directly referencing the Sun. It's pretty neat that both reference a form of light. 

Similar situation with Lunaday and Monday (Luna- Moon, Mon- also Moon). 

Ifrit(also spelled Efreet) is Fire. Potentially in Korean the Tuesday equivalent translates to “fire day” according to Wiki about Tuesday. I don’t speak or read Korean so I also checked WordReference and found similar characters in some of the words like rage, wrath, ire, (further down that provided list) great fire. So it potentially could be a fun nod to that, can’t completely confirm. 

Undineday is water day. In Japanese and Korean Wednesday also translates to Water Day. Yes, in WordReference the Japanese character used in Wednesday is used for water so this seems fairly straightforward. In Korean I also found a bit more difficulty as the characters are widely used in many words, there are some water-related words in the sea of words the character appears in so I wouldn’t completely dismiss the possibility. 

Sylphday is wind. Thursday is a reference to Thor, the god of thunder. The wind would relate to stormy weather that thunder and lightning often appear with. 

Loreleiday- Lorelei. Friday- the greatest day of the week. In Auldrant Lorelei is considered pretty great! Just kidding, well partially. Friday comes from Freya, the goddess of marriage and love. Lorelei is a godly figure in the world of Abyss. Though Lorelei may be caring, it’s more related to sound and memory. Daath in general is fairly religious, following Lorelei, with the Order of Lorelei. In Christianity, Good Friday is a widely celebrated day. In Catholicism, all Fridays during Lent, you can’t eat meat (but it is supposed to be all Fridays to abstain from meat not just Lent). This being Friday's equivalent does make sense with the more religious aspect of the day (since Sunday was used for the more straightforward “light” connection).

The Gnomeday-Saturday connection is fairly nonexistent. Gnome is the element earth in Auldrant. Saturday is a reference to Saturn (God of Time), sabbath day (for romantic languages), and bath day (Old Norse). I will be honest, none of these fit. Sadly, it may be a case of “just put it in somewhere.”

The Months:

There are 13 months in Auldrant. As far as I can tell, there is no official count of how many days are in each month.

If we ignore Lorelei Decan for a moment, the rest of the months go forward and reverse except for Rem Decan and Luna Redecan (which is in place of the counterpart of a potential Rem Redecan). The order of Rem, Sylph Undine, Gnome, Ifrit, and Shadow are not in the order of fonon numbers. The number order of this month list is 6, 3, 4, 2, 5, 1, 1, 5, 2, 4, 3, 6, 7. I am assuming Luna and Rem are two sides of the same coin and are referencing the same fonon so they are both the 6th fonon. There was close to being a pattern of taking a number, halving it, adding one, and halving it again but they ran out of whole numbers to continue that.

The first half of the year has the postfix Decan and the latter half Redecan except for the Lorelei month. This could be because Lorelei signifies that a new year will arrive, so it has the postfix Decan. Lorelei is an important figure in Auldrant, especially Daath, so a month that stands out in the name of Lorelei would be fitting.

To think of a wild interpretation of the months, it could represent a person’s life or the year’s lifespan. The beginning starts with the sun, a new beginning. The person/year goes through the experiences of their life, experiencing all it has to bring (with fonons making up the world). The center point of the person/year’s life is the Shadow months. At this point, they are no longer young and will have to figure out what to do for the rest of their life (a very shadowy midlife crisis). They reminisce about their life and go back to relive the experiences of their youth until the sun sets and the moon rises. The end of the line. Then as all 7th Fonists do, they return to the Fonbelt, to Lorelei. Then the cycle of fonons can begin again. 

Or a more logical explanation of the months could represent the cycle the memory particles go through when traveling through the Fon Belt (The Planet Storm). Then to encompass all the Fonons Lorelei represents the final one of the 7th Fonon.

Anyway, all the months can comfortably fit 58 days in them but there is a remainder of 11 days to account for in the year. If we add a day for every other month starting with the first month, that would leave 4 days remaining. I do not know a logical placement for these days, so I will add them to Lorelei Decan. The month count would be Rem Decan- 59, Sylph Decan- 58, Undine Decan- 59, Gnome Decan- 58, Ifrit Decan- 59, Shadow Decan- 58, Shadow Redecan- 59, Ifrit Redecan- 58, Gnome Redecan- 59, Undine Redecan- 58, Sylph Redecan- 59, Luna Redecan- 58, Lorelei Decan- 63. (This will be helpful for some calculations later.)

The Year:

A year in Auldrant is 765 days. That is 2.1 times longer than our calendar year. If we compare that to our world, Jade would be 70, Guy 42, Natalia 36, Tear 32, and Anise 28. Dang does Jade look great at 70 haha! I do know the 765 days is a pun because that number sounds somewhat like Namco in Japanese. In this world, I assume people age at half the rate (My condolences to all the Auldrant parents with tantrum-throwing toddlers). Since the year is twice as long, Luke being locked in his Manor for seven years and the time skip in the story would be way longer than originally believed. Nothing like Auldrant continuing to be worse and worse, right?

Birthdays:

Can't have a ramble about a fictional calendar without talking about birthdays! From around the internet, the birthdays of the characters are listed as follows: Jade- Sylph-Redecan 22, Guy- Efreet-Decan 41, Natalia- Rem-decan 37, Luke- Lorelei-Decan 48, Tear- Lorelei-Decan 1, Anise- Shadow-Decan 46. Going along with my guess on how many days per month, the day each character is born in this: Jade- 607, Guy- 275, Natalia- 37, Luke- 750, Tear- 703, Anise- 339. (Basically, add up all the days of the months prior and add then the day of the month they were born). The birthdays I got from fan sites that supposedly got them from a QNA. I do not know the accuracy of these but for the purposes of the rest of this, these are the dates used.

I have noticed that there are assigned birthdays for the characters per our calendar year. Jade is Nov 22, and Luke is Dec 25th. I found these from fan sites and repeated them across the internet. Again with these, I do not know the accuracy, so I did my own take on the potential calculations.

There are a few ways to calculate the birthdays of these characters with our own: Divide the year by two (2.1 to be more accurate) and get an approximate answer, place our calendar year onto Abyss’, and count the days (for example there will be two Decembers).

The first option is easy. Divide the day they were born by 2.1 to get the day they would be born on Earth. It would land the characters birthdays like this: Jade- 289 (Oct 16), Guy- 130 (May 10), Natalia- 17 (Jan 17), Luke- 357 (Dec 23), Tear-  334 (Nov 30th), Anise- 161 (Jun 10). These are pretty close to the associated birthdays with Luke nearly being a Christmas Eve baby and Jade being born in fall.

The second option is also easy, for any character whose birthday is over 365, subtract 365 until it is a number below 365 and find the date associated (For example, if a character is born on the 366th day, they would be born on Jan 1st in our calendar). It would land the characters birthdays like this: Jade- 242 (Aug 30th), Guy- 275 (Oct 2nd), Natalia- 37 (Feb 6th), Luke- 20 (Jan 20), Tear- 338 (December 4th), and Anise- 339 (December 5th).

Despite the numbers not exactly lining up (there will be human error on my part with calculations and rounding), if people celebrate Jade's birthday on Nov 22 that's completely fine by me! It's a fictional birthday anyway! If it means more Tales of the Abyss art and content, Jade's birthday could be Feb 14 for all I care!

This was just something fun I've been thinking about when I learned about the calendar of Auldrant! And might as well try to put all my thoughts together for a big ramble. Hope you all enjoyed!

[obnoxiousselfdiagnosedneurosis]

Alright, Uchiha Clan oppression longpost

This is the unavoidable, and often central, topic people tend to surround their Naruto politics takes on, and is as a result a big, ugly discourse-generator. It's also a subject I'm definitely always thinking about when it comes to Naruto as a noted Sasuke stan, and my thoughts on it have changed gradually over the years. I'm making this post to share what my current interpretation on "how and why the Uchiha Clan were oppressed" is.

Before I do that though, notice on what this post is not:

I'm not writing a "discourse ender", a take meant to be spread around with the claim of being the only correct interpretation of events. This is a post I wrote to share the exact way I rotate an aspect of the manga in my mind, and to convince people that looking at it from this angle is interesting. Basically: it's not that serious, I think about this because it's fun.

This isn't a "character-bashing" post or whatever either, so like if you agree with what you read here, I suppose I can't stop you from using those infamous "anti-[X]" tags, it's just that making a post that warrants them has never been my intention.

Along with that, I do want to address the by now very well established fact that Naruto the series is Not Very Good, and has glaring inconsistencies in its writing. The Uchiha Clan drama is definitely not exempt from this, and in its case the failures in Kishimoto's writing usually show in inconsistent power-scaling, in which we're made to accept weird leaps in logic (how does a 13 year old get rid of what we're told is one of the most powerful and feared clans internationally?) That being said, those particular inconsistencies are kind of irrelevant to this particular post, and don't much change the fact that the Uchiha Clan Massacre did happen. I'll be taking it as a given that if you're reading this, you're accepting to suspend your disbelief of those events on a technical level, and are more interested in how I make sense of it all more on the diegetic social/political level.

With that settled, we can get to the important part now:

The most popular take (as far as I've personally seen) on the events that led to the Uchiha Clan's downfall is the one that takes Madara at his word: the Senju have been oppressing the Uchiha since Konoha's conception, and Tobirama becoming the 2nd Hokage gave him the opportunity to put the Uchiha in a more socially disadvantaged position (police force), gradually earning them the villagers' ire, which was the catalyst for their eventual genocide.

This interpretation works if the end goal of your analysis is to say "Tobirama really fucking sucks". I don't think this conclusion is an unreasonable one, since Tobirama's hostility towards the Uchiha is great enough that he can callously tell a 16 year old genocide survivor that if his clan "self-destructed for the sake of the village, so be it". However, to me, the circumstances surrounding the Uchiha Clan are much wider-encompassing and more fascinating than narrowing their fate to a single man in fan meta written to convince you to hate him, so it goes without saying that I don't think "this is all Tobirama's fault" is a very interesting lens to look at this from.

I also don't buy the argument that making the Uchiha cops was (originally) to their detriment. We'll get back to that in a bit. I suppose this depends on how you look at Tobirama's character, but I think that when he said he made the police force as a sign of trust and to give the clan something useful to do in Konoha, he was being genuine. Arguing the opposite requires you to either believe that a law enforcement order could ever be in an oppressed position by default, or that Tobirama created a fundamentally useless new institution because he just hated the Uchiha that much. I think the former is a weird thing to argue if you're trying to be Leftist about all this, and the latter is a very ungenerous interpretation of Tobirama's character in which his own "racism"/pettiness overshadows his more utilitarian instincts to ensure that the village his brother built was safe and functioning. Obviously you could interpret that, but that leads us back to the "everything is Tobirama's fault" take, that I already mentioned I find lame as hell.

So then, how do I think the Uchiha Clan was oppressed? Because I think they indisputably were, or I wouldn't be making this post. Well, I think it was less "The Senju/Tobirama have always wanted to lord over them and wanted them dead", and more: they became gradually more socially disadvantaged during the era of Hidden Villages, with the consecutive world wars creating a souring global opinion on kekkei genkai clans.

(I'm gonna base my arguments primarily on what we see happen in the manga, and I'll add in some information from the fanbooks/databooks that weren't contradicted by what we see happen in Kishimoto's canon)

Let's start with what we know, definitely, that canon tells us:

Kekkei genkai clans are discriminated against to a very high extent, leading to things such as their mass slaughter (eg, the Uchiha Clan obviously, but also kekkei genkai clans like Haku's clan in the Land of Mist), and a vulnerability which puts them in positions where they're likelier to be targeted and kidnapped (eg, Hinata, but also Orochimaru having a whole criminal entreprise built on kidnapping and experimenting on people possessing kekkei genkai).

The trend for their discrimination is in being scapegoated. When Haku talks about the genocides in the Land of Mist (I refuse to call it the Land of Water sorry it sounds so stupid), this is how he describes them:

(chapter 59)

basically, it's not shinobi as a whole who are badly seen even though all sorts of them were likely participating in those wars: it's kekkei genkai clans in particular. Compare this to the Uchiha Clan being blamed for the Nine Tails attack (I mean one of them certainly was responsible, but was entirely unaffiliated with the rest of the clan) and being roped off to the edge of the village as a result.

Kekkei genkai clans are also frequently described by characters as being a bit "wilder" and more violent than usual shinobi. Tobirama calling the Uchiha "cursed", Kushina describing the Uzumaki as being "a bit savage", and Kakashi introducing us to the concept of kekkei genkai initially with these fun visuals:

(chapter 25)

The thing that's interesting about all this is the context in which it exists: the shinobi villages aren't technically "nations", but I think it would be accurate to liken their possessiveness of their secrets and paranoia regarding outside intrusion + conception of themselves as unified cultural entities + incredibly harsh treatment of dissidents (becoming a rogue is essentially a death sentence) to nationalism. There's an intentse "in-group vs out-group" feeling here.

Not to mention that canonically that shinobi have always been tools of imperialism for greater powers. While Hashirama's initial dream was to put an end to that, it eventually became corrupted; there was already discontent regarding land and resource allocations during his tenure as Hokage, and while we have no idea why the 1st War started, we know that by the time we're on the 2nd one, Konoha had become a tool for the Land of Fire's imperialist expansion (and was apparently was expanding its influence as a military village, too).

(chapter 436)

Basically, the "in-group vs out-group" conception that had once solely been clan-centric widened, and became this new concept of shinobi villages.

This is important because nationalistic sentiment inevitably rises during war; as a result, there's be a sharper eye for who'd turn traitor, who wasn't supporting the military effort, who would endanger their nation/village, etc. With this, there would be greater suspicion directed towards kekkei genkai clans, because they're more "genetically predisposed" to being unpredictable, because they would appear more loyal to their own than to the whole of the village, because they were the likeliest to turn traitor, and so on.

This would be a gradual process going on since the 1st War, but I believe that the 2nd War was where this kickstarted into becoming so much worse, because that one saw the destruction of Uzushio. It was a village composed entirely of a single clan, didn't bend to any of the big 5, and the Uzumaki were "savage" and had abilities that were greatly feared. It would be interesting to consider the idea that their associations with Konoha would have done them more harm than good here, too, given that Konoha was the Big Bad in the 2nd War and an alliance with them would not have been viewed positively.

It's thinking about all this in context, where nationalism was at its peak, where there's an idea that genetic chakra abilities impair swathes of people from being regular functioning shinobi like everyone else, is how we can imagine the Uchiha were discriminated against. They had another disadvantage to them as well, given that one of the first deadly attacks committed on Konoha was done by one of them. If we want to go back to the police force argument, it would be interesting to consider the idea that while it had been a good position for them at first, the utility and influence of the institution gradually eroded over time, and by the time the era where the massacre happened came along it became nearly meaningless since most of its original functions had been assigned elsewhere; as the kekkei genkai clan discrimination rose, the Uchiha also fell victim to it and their influence within the village significantly reduced out of fear of them.

The surveillance and the sequestering of the Uchiha Clan came after two important events; the first being the 3rd Great Shinobi War, and the second being the Nine Tails' attack on Konoha which happened barely a year post-armistice. Konoha was barely recovering from global armed conflict when half of it was destroyed in that attack; tensions are high, the Hokage is dead, and so the village saw an incredibly convenient scapegoat in the Uchiha clan.

So... yeah, that's how I see it! I find this a more fun interpretation than just pointing fingers at individual characters, because it allows me to consider the wider worldbuilding of the Naruto world, and also doesn't assume the Uchiha's position was especially unique and the end-be-all of all the problems with Naruto's politics. It's certainly important, but it's part of a greater network of problems too!

[piracytheorist]

Episode 28 thoughts!

Did I say I was elated by the political commentary from one (1) line in the previous episode? This one had LOTS and I am so excited to get more into the world building!

Since this episode is mostly focused on Yuri, this post will focus on his part. The other parts are light-hearted and unrelated to the plot of Yuri's part, so I'll make a separate post for them. Maybe.

I admit, though Yuri is nowhere near blorbo territory, I am genuinely intrigued by his character and I can't help kinda investing in how his story will progress.

It's almost scary, how good at his job he is. The SSS have truly hit the jackpot with him, considering how capable he is, how dedicated he is to protect his sister, and how young and easy to manipulate.

Their wanted guy does something completely non-suspicious and tries to run out the window the moment he faces arrest, because that's exactly what an innocent person would do! Anyway, he gets ambushed by Yuri and oh my god.

Yuri please. That's not a normal face to have after throwing someone down - especially someone who actually drew a gun at you? Interestingly enough, the guy didn't draw a gun in the manga.

Then we see about the anti-East stance of Westalis, and... that's a very interesting image there.

"The Devil's Republic" instead of "The People's Republic". "The Age of Confusion" and "The truth as told by photographs". Imagery of mass graves and harsh military law. Also, Cyrillic letters on the journals to the left and right! I wonder if they're actually translatable, but in any case it's interesting that it's the West that uses Cyrillic letters along with Latin ones. I'd have loved to be a Japanese-speaking fly on the wall when they decided on those stylistic choices.

So Perkin already had issues with the law, and was using his journalism skills to rebel against the Ostanian government.

As I said, I absolutely loved that we got some political commentary on this episode, as I've been dying for some signs on how Westalis sees Ostania. And well. It's not good.

Perkin lies and constructs scenarios that fit his "Ostania is a nightmare" narrative, manipulating the audience loud and clear.

Like, look, buddy. I know Ostania sucks. I know surveillance and censorship are the death of freedom, but you don't need to go that far. It's yourself and your work you're sabotaging that way.

And he's not even... like, he then mocks the kid and tells him if he continues to "not share his toys" he will be arrested and killed? Bro, chill.

That's what happens when you join the trenches of a cold war but have no sympathy for your fellow human. Perkin mocked and terrified the boy and then he left laughing. He had no reason to do either of that.

Looks like Perkin's mother died, and her death was caused by their poverty; probably a sickness they couldn't afford proper treatment for. So he's in for it for personal reasons, though again, that doesn't justify being so mean to an innocent kid and manipulating the people of a foreign nation.

Wait, wait. Perkin says something interesting.

According to what he says, people keeping their wealth for themselves and not sharing - aka capitalism - is what the West stands for. But then he's mad at Ostania's government for forcing them to live in poverty and thus causing his mother's untimely death? What's going on, and what is his reason behind making the child fear the West? Because what he says there certainly isn't going to inspire the kid to go against the Ostanian government.

I'm leaning towards him not trusting Westalis either - and is just using them to rile them up to help bring the government down - and/or having a lot of unresolved issues that he's bursting out irrationally on a little kid, because the kid can't defend himself and is an easy target for Perkin's ire.

The fact that Yuri of all people, the personification of no control over one's feelings, got so mad at Perkin for terrifying the kid like that, says a lot.

Yuri made all of those appendices about what clothes Perkin wore and what people rode the underground train with him, so when Yuri mentioned Perkin went to the market, I expected a "See appendices for what he bought there" lmao

Interesting detail that Perkin had a cactus and a succulent, plants famous for needing very little care. The ashtray is also full. Visual commentary!

At least whatever is wrong with him is really really funny. The way his superior has caught onto that though XD

And he's conscious of it lmao

It's a good sign, if you ask me.

Lotsa books and another plant, I can't tell what it is but it's one that seems to require water and sunlight; and it's seated next to their full library!

Meanwhile, Perkin unknowingly, but unsuccessfully, reaches for Yuri's sensitive buttons. Yuri writes his sentence about Perkin probably being motivated by his care for his family... but Perkin is the enemy, you see. Maybe kinda related to what I said in my meta about Yuri's extremism, to him the "other side" are monsters with no empathy who only want to bring chaos. Suddenly he's faced with a man who threatens the safety of the country Yuri's beloved sister lives in, and with illegitimate means to boot, yet his motivation is something Yuri can relate to.

Considering Yuri got so mad at Perkin for scaring the child, I wonder what Yuri's reaction will be when/if he finds out Twilight's core reason to be a spy. That would gut him, I think.

Yuri's original notes on the paper say "Although it is still in the investigative phase, these actions may be caused by his personality and beliefs. Another possibility is hatred of a particular group or individual. However, that seems somewhat insufficient for the motive. Is Perkin [motivated] by concern for his family?"

It's easy to call a man such as Perkin a bigot and use such a narrative to explain his actions, and thus dub him the "enemy" and a "monster", along with anyone who would ever oppose the Ostanian government. So Perkin caring for his family and their future shocks Yuri to the point that he rips the paper off, deleting any signs of sympathetic view towards Perkin.

Perkin waits for his opportunity; after the mail is cleared from "suspicious" letters, he takes over from his coworker so that he can slip his very incriminating - and very misleading - "evidence" in.

Apparently people aren't too suspicious of people offering to help.

Perkin knew what he was doing, though. After his father warned him, he hesitates for a moment before the throws the letter in the cart and seals his fate.

It is pretty terrifying, though. Defamation is no joke but it's one of the things free press has to tolerate, if it wants to be called "free". Legal action can be taken after the press is out, in a public court, and investigate on how much of it is a lie and misinformation aiming at hurting someone or a group of people. Letting prejudiced and brainwashed police officers dictate what should be said and what not is at the height of censorship.

Perkin realizes he's fucked. He's terrified, but he knew what he was getting into - and he has experience with getting in such trouble, after all.

He's not a nice person, but I felt so sad when he said goodbye to his father and just... walked out to accept his fate.

Something interesting regarding the SSS is that they refer to themselves as "kokka hoan-kyoku" (State Security Service) and that's their official name for them, but the people may call them either that or "himitsu keisatsu" (Secret Police). I don't think I've heard anyone but citizens (and WISE agents) use the latter. Like earlier, when Perkin threw the toy gun in the trash, one of the boys used the phrase "himitsu keisatsu". I feel that's interesting because it may show how using the latter may be less... "respectful" for them.

When Perkin is being arrested, for example, he uses "himitsu keisatsu", and then calls Yuri "the government's dog". So that shows how much he respects them, lol.

SOMEONE SLAP HIM ISTG

Heeeey, Yuri... what if post-identity reveal Yor really really fucking loves Twilight and will be devastated if he's hurt? WHAT THEN?

But also hey, the fact that Yuri felt the need to reply to Perkin? It's a sign that this whole case had a much bigger impact on him than he expected. He put Perkin in the mould of "bad person who wants to destroy the country my beloved sister lives in, who makes his family sad" in order to avoid the possibility of relating to him.

He'll get there. He'll get there. It's a good sign he offered to request for financial aid for Perkin's father. Perkin thanking him for that speaks for what truly mattered to him.

I just love how layered everything is. Since the whole story is mainly focusing on Twilight's side, we as the audience are meant to sympathize and want peace to be secured, and for outside forces to help bring down the totalitarian government. But we're not meant to justify Perkin's behaviour, whether that's his fictional narratives or the way he mistreats innocent children, and at the same time we're meant to understand his motives were sympathetic. No-one's perfect, and the road to hell is paved with good intentions. At the same time, we're shown that Yuri, the "enemy" of Twilight's side, also has sympathetic motives and can also show empathy.

I mean, yeah, he swallows it down and replaces it with projection and coldness. But isn't that what Twilight does, too?

God, my heart fucking aches. He's twenty years old. He has his entire life ahead of him and this is where the regime lead him into. It's terrifying, and it's meant to be.

Yuri is so confident he'll catch Twilight and the director is like "Yeah whatever. If that helps motivate you." I see now why he referred to him as a cute puppy in episode 8. Yuri has very little experience and dreams very high but in a way, that keeps him motivated to work his ass off and never doubt what he's being told to do.

... Huh. Another similarity with Twilight? (sans the lack of experience)

Yeah oh my god that's even scarier. The director thinks that catching Twilight is too much for Yuri, but he allows him that "illusion" because it motivates Yuri. Fuck. Disgusting.

You'd think that a household with a spy and an assassin living in it would be using their peephole a little more often. Instead Yor looks surprised to see Yuri at the door. Like I get how it needed to be this way for the show, but it's a funny concept XD

Their outfits are so cozy! I love how they use different shades of red for Yor. And a detail!

I love how every single piece of clothing Yor owns has rose-shaped buttons. It's like she has an unlimited supply of them in every colour and just replaces the normal buttons with them. I know it's for stylistic choice on Endo's part but it's a cute little headcanon to have XD

Anya <3 she doesn't understand and she's still freaked out by Yuri's obsession with Yor but she cares <3

And that's the thing! Anya cannot understand the intricacies of what's just happened. She just reads Yuri's mind and what she gets is "He needs comfort." And she offers it T_T

ACAB but that doesn't mean one can't be a sentimental bastard. You know?

The little heart on the moon ended me. What an episode!

Overall, I loved it, especially after writing down this analysis! Not much plot-wise but I really appreciated this look into the political situation and how all of it affects Yuri - and how there's a lot in him that can help him grow.

Oh, and reminder that I'm anime only, so please no spoilers from the manga 😁

[randomwriteronline]

Bionicle and Plato's Cave: Mata Nui help us Random has been thinking again

HI. MY BRAIN HAS ONCE AGAIN BEEN SCRAMBLED. WHY DOES THIS KEEP HAPPENING.

A thing about stories is that there aren't really fully, one-hundred percent original ones. This is not a bad thing, it just happens.

Stories keep repeating one another whether we like it or not, maintaining their own identities through a variety of changes, and Bionicle repeats many, many stories within itself: you've got Polynesian mythos, fantasy epics, dystopian fiction, cosmic horrors, torahic and/or biblical episodes, a subversion of Pinocchio, an Odissey cut short... The works. I'm half certain one would manage to fit some parts of the Divine Comedy in there, probably.

But speaking of deeply allegorical works, the Organic Annal is that too - specifically bearing a resemblance to one of Greek philosopher Plato's most famous allegorical myths, that of the cave.

For those who do not know it, please have a simplistic bastardized version of its first half, which is the most relevant in this case:

A group of men have been, since birth, shackled within the deepest recesses of a cave. They are sat facing a wall upon which a fire casts the shadows of figurines (a tree, a donkey, a vase, etc) placed before it: this is all they've ever known, what they perceive to be reality. Imagine, then, that one of these prisoners manages to free themself from their restraints, and for the first time looks back. Thus they discover the figurines, the fire, and the lie they thought was truth; and though it would be easy to consider these new idols the "true" reality, the prisoner looks past them and sees that the cave stretches forward. As such they crawl through it until they reach the outside world: the sunlight forces their eyes down as they are not used to it yet, and their first taste of this new environment is a reflection in a puddle, or maybe a lake, wobbly and not quite clear. Only when they've accustomed to the Sun they can raise their head and properly discover the real world.

The myth of the cave is an allegory for the philosopher's quest in search of true knowledge, which resides not in the imperfect physical world, but in the perfect metaphysical realm of ideas.

This is not, necessarily, the allegory I believe the Innard Scoresheet represents.

The Biological Chronicle is, to me, a story about stories. About making stories, about being swept in the flow of a story, about recreating ourselves in stories over and over and over again.

I promise it will probably make more sense later.

But back to the point: the myth and the Flesh Record follow a similar structure and have a similar message. That is the thesis of this post until I inevitably get derailed again. Let's look at that.

In applying the steps (shadow, copy, reflection, reality) of the philosopher's journey towards enlightenment to the Meat Diaries, I'll do what Plato would bludgeon my head with a stick for and take them much more literally: the places described are physical ones, and the characters actively move between them. This is not because of any personal wish to specifically spite some dead Athenian fuck, but because that is literally what happens in the Entrail Annotations, whether through actual movement or changes of perspective.

The island of Mata Nui is of course the first step: shadows cast upon a cave wall.

There is a certain irony in this. Mata Nui shares the same allegorical location as the cave, yet physically is its complete opposite - an open space signaling the end of an enormous interconnected system of caves. The journey starts from the end. Great job everybody, we've found reality! This philosophy shit is easy.

But the island is still very much the cave. It looks prettier and livelier than the cave, but it's still a prison in which the Matoran have been confined with no chance of escaping; it's still cut off from the world at large, be it beneath it ir around it; it's still a place where beings who do not know any better blindly believe what is told to them. Only seven people know the truth (or what they believe to be the truth) and spin it in tales of shadow puppets: simplistic retellings full of gaps to fill with magic and terror and prophecies. The Turaga mean no harm - they had no way to know when or if they would have ever returned to Metru Nui, and it made no sense reminding the Matoran of a place they may end up agonizing to see without being able to - but it remains that Mata Nui is a cave, a prison of ignorance.

Things change after Mask of Light: shackles broken and door opened, the silver sea stretches before the Matoran and offers them a sight familiar yet different, more defined.

Metru Nui is the figurine, the copy held in front of the fire. It's the first introduction to the Matoran Universe proper, the first step towards the cave's exit. Here we see how the Matoran are supposed to work, how this sort of society is meant to function, and it... well, it sort of sucks the joy out of it, doesn't it? The soft edges of the figurine's shadow have been replaced by hard protodermis sides that leave no room to the imagination, letting us see the craftmanship clearly. And it's... it's kind of unpleasant. Kind of dull and mean and so... unmagical. I'd like the shadows again please. Those were nicer.

(Plato describes this exact happenstance in the philosopher's journey - upon seeing something closer to the truth one might feel repelled and want to return to simpler times. But we persevere. We must.)

Or perhaps this step is not Metru Nui itself, but the Turaga's recollection of it. The city they knew is now gone, abandoned to itself and rotting miserably alone for a thousand years, and yet they still cling to that pristine image their minds have sculpted for it, forgetting details, crafting imperfect copies of its reality: their own stories place it in a time before time, turn it as they say in a "city of legends", of great minds and a great hero and a strange tension pervading it that they might not consciously recognize. This is their basis for the stories they told, and they believe it to be the truth. It is not. The truth is deeper behind them.

The Matoran Universe as a whole is a reflection in the water. We've gotten out of that cave, but it's still too bright and our eyes can't adapt quickly enough: this will have to do for now.

But what is it a reflection of? A body? That's a given, since the whole thing is housed inside one. Yet this body does not behave like a body, its organs don't act like organs. They are landmarks and settlements, and there are species and parties involved in their own more or less treacherous businesses, and death is everywhere and seldom spares anybody, and evil isn't a singular incomprehensible thing but many perfectly identical pieces, and everything is happening all the time and I would like a break. Please. I can't handle all of this. It's too close to how everything already is. Let's go back to the figurines. They were worse than the shadows, but not to this extent. Please. I just don't want to see the bad guys win. I just don't want to see my friends die.

(Upon seeing something closer to the truth one might feel repelled and want to return to simpler times. But we persevere. We must.)

The Matoran Universe is a terrible place, but it's still far away. The edges are wobbly when the surface shifts: the stakes are universal in size, the rivalries are exaggerated, the situations are fantastical, the evil so terrible and terribly simple. It does what it does because it simply does it, and after all why else should it do it? In its increasing complexity it's still simple and sometimes a bit silly. It's still dolls that you can hold in your hand to make fly around.

As @sepublic mentions briefly here, Bara Magna is by contrast just so human. Before the big bombastic Rock-Em-Sock-Em Jumbo Edition ending and peeling away the sci-fi elements, these are stories of people trying to live. This is reality.

People are sleazy. People have priorities that not always include the well-being of other being put first. People are evil for reasons beyond just "power" or "money" or "why not". Strakk is a massive selfish bastard and also he is the one motherfucker who gets me because to be very honest I too would not want to wade through a desert crawling with quicksand and huge bat winged serpents and raptor riding marauders and spartans so bloodthirsty they don't even name their children until they make a new body count record without being paid well enough. Mata Nui's idealized honor makes him a complete anomaly because nobody is a prince in shining armor here. They're all covered in bones and doing their best not to start a war again.

Even his quest, despite what it entails and how solemnly he presents it and the information we as readers have (his identity as a usurped god exiled from his own body), is surprisingly real - in fact, his struggle is actually the same as Kiina's: both of them are strangers to the region suddenly separated from their people during a time of great strife and desperately wanting to reunite with them. The difference being that while Kiina had no chance to do such a thing, Mata Nui was built to fix both of their problems.

This is what the Matoran Universe is made in the image of. And while it very much deviated across time, the core of it remained the same: elemental tribes and variegated species caught in a dance of death, biting each other's tails endlessly.

This is the world the MU beings find once fully free. It's rough, but they've been through something like this before.

They'll handle it.

They always have.

That is the will of the Non-Mineral Journal.

Of Bionicle, the story-that-ended.

BUT.

Not necessarily of Bionicle, the story-that-does-not-end.

Now we are getting into "Random Experiences Getting The Brain Scrubbed By The Hard Back Of A Sponge And Makes It The Problem Of Everybody Listening To The Inane Yelling" territory. I'm talking walking into headcanon if not straight up just fanfiction territory. Possibly also sensible speculation but I don't know how to tell. Please do come smack me if you feel it is needed.

It's wild that Bionicle has managed to endure for what now (2024) are 23 years. The endless rebuildable possibilities intrinsic to being a LEGO product have certainly helped, but at the same time I really do feel like it wouldn't have held this strongly without its story.

I will admit I'm not a building kind of person. I had some ancient LEGO bricks when I was little and what I usually did with them was stacking them in a really tall line and try to keep it upright until they fell and scattered like lemmings booking it for a cliff. Getting into Bionicle would have never been possible for me had my dear beautiful friend @cantankerouscanuck not innocently dropped me links to Legends of Metru Nui, Web of Shadows, and the Crosswired Geeks website asking if I could have please considered skimming through it. This was back in september 2023. These pieces of plastic have been irreversibly fucking up my brain for nine months, and it was only possible because the plot and characters were written in a way that actively sunk its teeth into my skull and did an alligator death spin so potent that I'm still reeling from it, thinking about it.

I do think that's one of the main reasons why it's still going, why people still talk about it. It lives on through fans who still look at all the enormous potential left by the gaps and holes in the story and work on them, analyze them, make their own versions of them. So this second section is about that part of Bionicle, the story that just does not end, carried on by others.

So back to the point, what actually kickstarted this entire line of thought (the Squishy Note and the allegory of the cave are sort of the same lol) was a headcanon I have about the characters that have been actually missing from this analysis: the Great Beings.

You Know.

The Guys Who Kickstarted Every Single Thing, And Notably Continuously Did All Of It Wrong.

From my own prior knowledge I had understood that they are all Glatorian, and I just learned that they also were, apparently, given their incredible weird fucked up mental powers that made them into godly creatures by a space octopus.

I am going to take both pieces of information and discard them.

There is nothing necessarily wrong with them, except maybe coming from the leftest field available like a sack of granite to the face, but I feel like this kind of explanation for who and what they are isn't really satisfactory to me specifically. It does fit with the allegory of the cave still, technically - they are part of the real world, the ones who created every layer of detachment from it on purpose (somebody must have shackled those prisoners at the bottom of the cave, after all) and have managed to get to a higher level of reality still, following the platonic quest for knowledge into something that resembles the iperuranium, the perfect metaphysical world in which ideas reside.

But also... I'd like for there to be a limit to how higher we can go, you know? Into the cosmic horror? Because everything is cosmic horror in the Doctor's Report already. We live on a god's face. We live in a god's body. We are a god's cells. Our universe is a tiny manmade action figure in a larger universe. Our god is just a synthetic soul. The real older gods made it and sent it around to do their bidding. Also they're all gonna kill us when we figure out our universe is fake. Cosmic horror. Cosmic horror for miles. These are fucking LEGOs. Why is there so much existentialism in them.

So yeah, at the cost of sounding boring the psychic octopus from outer space might be a little bit too far for my personal tastes.

This does not mean I am immune to adding onto the cosmic horror.

Because my personal interpretation of who/what they are still adds onto the cosmic horror.

It just doesn't also include "giant aquatic fauna with psychic powers" in the already very large salad of sentient sapient species who have stakes in this universe, because I think we have enough of those.

So what is my platonic ideal form for them?

The Great Beings are human beings. Straight up just people. They're the readers, the players, the writers, the designers, the creators and tellers of the chronicle itself - they have this immense dominion over everything around them because they are the origin of everything around them in a sense, but their constant failings make sense because for all the influence and power they are still human, and that makes them very, very fallible. I mean, mr Greg "I will rewire your brain chemistry forever with some of the best stuff you'll read as a kid, and also for undiscernible reasons doors aren't canon" Farshtey would be one of them. Things make a lot of sense.

(this is impossible in Stone Cold Canon by the way and I am aware, because if we got to properly see the Great Beings they would have needed to be products to sell, but this is not a matter of probability it's a matter of Vision. like can you imagine how fucking cool would have been a Bonkle movie where the characters finally meet the Great Beings face to face and when it happens the style just completely shifts from 3D animation to a stop-motion and live-action combo with the Great Beings played by people and the characters portrayed by their actual sets with all of the lack of expression and stiff hands and all. do you see it. im about to blow up)

And so, we return to the allegory.

What are the shadows on the wall? Are they still the Turaga's tales? Then shouldn't they be their memories, as well? Everything that comes out of their mouth is hazy either with nostalgia or simplification, and none of it can be real. Yet they present it as such, because to them it is. Their ignorance is the same as the Matoran's, but they do not grasp it because they can't. Mata Nui to them is not the cave, it's the reflection in a lake: an imperfect mirror of reality. They cannot see the fire nor the figurines.

They are the figurines. Man-made creations confined under artificial light in a vast underground system, as large as a whole galaxy and yet so small, so isolated, so far back into the cave they are never meant to know anything other than. The shadows were their own but they can't realize that, and they can't realize they themselves are copies. The Matoran Universe is a puppet show that Teridax shuts down as he takes its reigns: he banishes its fire, Mata Nui (who is a gnostic Demiurge, a god made by gods demanding worship despite its falsehood - another copy not fully aware of being a copy) and shuts the entrance, plunging it all into darkness. No more knowledge. It is not something dolls need, after all.

Bara Magna is not the last step. It is not yet reality, not yet the truth. It's closer, much closer, but it's not: it's the lake, the puddle, the reflection that distorts when something is thrown into it. The stakes are more realistic, the characters and motivations, but not yet real. There is still a layer of separation: the elemental powers, the alien setting, the strange beasts, the supernatural history, the secrets pointing to things much bigger and more fantastical than anything reality could be, the way it is cut short by no fault of its own. What does it reflect? It's not the Matoran Universe, since that is a model based on Bara/Spherus Magna. It's not Mata Nui, because that is an attempt at recreating what the Matoran Universe was, at least in part. So... Is it the real world? Our, world?

It must be.

The Great Beings (us, the players and readers and writers and artists) shaped all of this. This universe is their creation, their work, and it is based on what they know, on their reality, because all stories are.

Maybe it was a story as close to real as possible that turned fantastic and wild until it became mythical, or maybe it was a simple story that grew so complex and grounded that it became life-like. It doesn't matter. It's a long story, a really, really long one, and maybe they're tired of it, or maybe they don't know what to do with it, or maybe they just think it has run its course, or maybe... Maybe they don't know how to tell it again. Tell it like this again.

So... I guess the thing to do is clean up.

Full tabula rasa.

And once we're done we can take these figurines we still have left, the last proof of all this immense work, this spiraling dive into who and what we are, how we function, how we create, how we imitate and recreate ourselves in fictional worlds that are our own and yet completely alien over and over, and make new ones. Distorted reflections that become imperfect copies to place before a fire so that their shadows can play out a new story upon a cave wall, for those same dolls to believe they are real.

God I got sidetracked severely

[educating-bimbos]

The Pinned Post 2

new pinned post because tumblr hid my old one from my view so I can't see, edit it, or reblog it to add an addendum. I only have a few things to add, so I am just going to copy and paste it.

Who is Educating Bimbos?

My name is Nicolette. I am a technical artist, musician, and an outdoorsy type of gal. I enjoy the finer things in life, and I fancy myself a traditional woman and a bimbo. I don't really enjoy mindlessly obsessing over labels, but if it helps people gauge where my brain is at, I am pro-patriarchy, in favor of traditional gender roles and dynamics, an ex-feminist, and before all else a believer in one's ability to exercise personal freedoms. My beliefs, mannerisms, and presentation attract the ire of feminists, born-again-religious types, and any number of anti-fun douchebags. At the end of the day, just remember that behind this silly blog is a silly person.

What is Educating Bimbos?

It is a blog and small community of bimbos looking to learn more about and express a traditional lifestyle. It is also about people who may not be familiar with or comfortable around things like BDSM get a nice and soft introduction to it without being exposed immediately to the idea of how people can enjoy things in a pseudo-sexual context. At the end of the day, it is a blog and community where I and other like-minded people can express silly ideas without the fear of being lambasted by people seeking to harm others.

Where is Educating Bimbos?

Educating Bimbos can be found in one of these two places.

Why is Educating Bimbos?

Well for a while I was annoyed by the lack of communities that focused on a kind of "hyper-feminine" aesthetic while also promoting more traditional ideas. There was also the issue of communities that have tried this before of devolving into bigoted and abusive communities that would do everything under the sun to create an insular and ToS breaking community. I spoke with a friend of mine who runs a similar community a while ago and she inspired me to give this a shot. Now - close to 3 years later - I have a steadily growing community that pulls from all corners of ideology, cultural, ethnic, and interest level and the discord has been almost completely drama-free in its whole existence.

When is Educating Bimbos?

I am alive and doing silly stuff all day, every day. Except when it is nap time in which case I will be in the realm of dreams.

What's an ex-lesbian and why do you call yourself that?

For a number of very personal reasons, I have decided to call myself an ex-lesbian. I did this of my own volition, and I was not pressured into doing so. For a long time, I had thought of myself as a lesbian, mostly because of socialization and how all the girls around me were so might as well follow suit. I experienced a number of harmful and traumatic events when I considered myself a lesbian and it effected how I view myself. After a while and talking to some friends who I trust dearly, I came to the realization that I am not a lesbian and that it really isn't a thing I identify with the same way others do. I am still trying to come to grips with that given I only relatively recently had that realization. I also feel that people use that term in bad faith to harm people and to push bad narratives and ideas so I thought "hey might as well try and take back what should be an innocuous phrase."

In short, I think an ex-lesbian is just a way of identifying one's sexuality similar to asexuality or demisexuality. It is not that I am one sexuality or another, it's that my sexuality is defined by my experience and coming of age.

I have had a number of people confront me about this, talk to me about it in sincere curiosity, and even attack me. I welcome anyone who is curious or has a genuine contention to come to me in DMs, I am not a mean person, and I will love to talk honestly and respectfully. I find that disagreement is not grounds to discredit or avoid befriending people, I hope you can do the same.

Further questions for Educating Bimbos?

If you find that these questions are unsatisfactory in any regard, or you wish to try your hand at doing what I do, follow these two links!

Ask me anything!

Ask me anything you want! I have some personal rules with regards to what I can and cannot upload, but this is generally the best way for me to answer any question you may have. I also have anonymous asks enabled just in case you are shy.

Submit a post!

If you think I should be made aware of something, post something, or if you just want to signal boost something try this. So far, I have no real rules or expectations so do whatever you want with this button.

[andreal831]

I will preface this by saying my ask if pretty long because I need to explain a bit so I’m sorry for the long ask…

so I was on the subreddit for the originals (my first mistake) and I saw someone post a question on there regarding klaus’ abuse backstory and whether that aspect of his backstory made him a more likable character and if it didn’t then at which point does klaus become an unlikable character if his backstory was different i.e Mikael wasn’t abusive towards him and was a better father just in general because they think that’s what “makes klaus a likable character/ explains and almost excuses some of his behavior towards his family” and just others in general and if they were to take some of that out of his backstory at which point would klaus be an unlikable character? and that just rubbed me the wrong way because I don’t think klaus abuse excuses his actions towards his siblings at all but people on Reddit and just fans in general have rose-tinted glasses when it comes to klaus so I feel like people would agree that klaus was a likable character because of his abuse and that it excuses and sometimes justifies his abuse towards his siblings so my question is do you think klaus abuse makes him a more likable character/ explain or justify his actions towards his siblings and others and I just want to know your opinion on this whole thing because you don’t seem to have such an obscured view of these characters and can hold them accountable for their actions and a lot of people can’t do that so yeah once again sorry for the long ask but I just wanted to explain a bit before just asking.

TW: Discussions of abuse

I've said it before and I'll say it again, no abuse someone suffers allows them to become an abuser themselves.

That being said, if you have a character who you need to redeem quickly, the best back story to give them is child abuse. That sounds terrible, but it is an incredible affective back story. Children are inherently innocent. Especially in Klaus' case. They go out of their way to show Klaus being a sweet child. The only time we ever see any of the Mikaelson children is when it was used to show just how sweet of a child he was. The show purposefully did this to blame the abuse for his behavior. It is explicitly said by numerous characters throughout the show. Klaus every other episode is finding something new to blame his behavior on. This way Klaus never had to take accountability for anything which would have required the writers actually developing the character. And because the writers are so uncreative, they do the same thing for each "unredeemable" villain -- Damon, Kai, even Katherine.

But again, no matter what abuse a person suffered, they do not get to use it as a way to justify abusing others. There's not a statistic that I'm willing to cite since I haven't been able to verify the numbers, but a majority of abusers were once abused themselves. Yet only about 30 to 40% of abused children become abusers. Many children who had abusive backgrounds get the help they need and stop the cycle of abuse. So to say that Klaus' abuse justifies his abuse towards his siblings is disturbing.

Even how Mikael speaks, it is clear to me that he raised his children no differently than he was raised. We have to remember they grew up in a very different society than we did. This does not excuse child abuse, but it can put it in context. This idea that Mikael had no reason for his abuse is also a misnomer. Yes, he says it in a scene, but this is after an entire season of them emphasizing that Mikael was attempting to strengthen Klaus and this is why the abuse was targeted on Klaus. We have that entire scene where Klaus is blaming Esther for giving her the necklace and weakening him, making him the focus of Mikael's ire. Parallel this to Mikael training Davina, talking about power and strength. Again, this does not in any way justify the abuse. But it does show the cycle of abuse that Mikael was subjected to and then put on his own children. Mikael is never given any sympathy because of his childhood because it is not explicitly said. But that is something I think most Klaus stans would say doesn't matter. It doesn't matter if Mikael was abused, it does not justify him abusing Klaus. By that logic, Klaus being abused does not justify him abusing everyone.

I also think this fandom loves to focus on certain character's abuse and forget other's. The worst villains who suffered child abuse are excused for everything (i.e. Klaus, Damon, Kai) but then the characters who aren't as bad or suffered abuse in a different manner, or even just later in life, are given no sympathy.

The fandom loves to pretend that children who grow up in abusive household are not affected by the abuse. Or if it is not explicitly shown, then they were never abused. I find it hard to believe that Mikael only ever abused Klaus. If that was his method to make them strong, I would imagine he abused all of his sons. Rebekah even talks about them all being afraid of Mikael. I don't put it past him to physically abuse both Rebekah and Esther as well. But even if this is just my take on it, we know they were all emotionally abused. And yes, this is a form of abuse that can be just as harmful as physical. As someone who works with domestic violence survivors in real life, I hate how this fandom treats abuse. You cannot compare abuse, one is not inherently worse than another. They are all extremely damaging.

Because Rebekah's abuse happened later in life and Klaus always came up with justifications for it, the fandom loves to say "it's not abuse" or "he was doing it to protect her." This is why they dropped the storyline that Mikael was doing it to strengthen Klaus, because if that was the justification, Klaus may have actually had to take responsibility for what he did to his siblings. He may have had to faced the realization that he became his father.

We also see this in TVD. Stefan was clearly terrified of their father as well, but only Damon is given sympathy because in one scene in their entire lives, we see Damon get punishment over Stefan. If we talk about later abuse, people love to talk about Damon's time with the Augustine torture but skip over the fact that Stefan drowned for an entire summer. The fandom picks and chooses what abuse justifies what behavior. Stefan also had his autonym stripped away, which is abuse, and was forced to become the thing he hates for an entire summer and this is used as a plot device to justify his girlfriend and brother developing feelings for each other. No sympathy is given to him, but Damon is given sympathy for every bad thing that ever happened to him.

Also the fact that Tyler clearly grew up with an abusive father but is given no slack ever because he isn't the perfect victim. His behavior in season one, screams abused child. But Tyler actually has character development, unlike other characters.

All of this to say, Klaus' childhood abuse does not excuse what he did to his siblings. Klaus abused them all for a thousand years. There is no question about this. I will not debate this. He emotionally and physically abused them. Just like there is no justification for what happened to him, there is no justification for what he did to his siblings. But I don't think childhood abuse necessarily made him redeemable. I really blame his pretty privilege, his accent, and his humor. The fandom looks for anything to excuse his behavior because they want to love him. Even as he is abusing people, he makes a joke and that somehow makes it okay. But the backstory allows the fandom to feel okay about liking him. Whereas with characters the fandom doesn't like, the abuse is just disregarded, or worse, minimized.

Thank you for asking! I do truly try to have a "non-biased" view of the show but, of course, I am only human. I have my own biases, however, as I said, I do work with domestic violence survivors and have personal connection to the topic, so I definitely focus on it when I see it in media. I hope this answered the question!

[alixlives]

hiiiii i saw your post about the new dr**m vid addressing the allegations and i understand why you hate him and i dont fault you for it AT ALL. but i simply want to understand your thought process with an open mind. I’m simply curious as to why you think his evidence presented in the video was “shit evidence” (im not defending him ir anything) and what do you believe is “proper” undeniable evidence? I’m just wondering thats all. Have you watched the whole video? (Again, im not forcing you too, im just curious) he has used his legal teams and has used proper timelines and everything to prove that he did not sext anyone at all to my knowledge. What else would you want him to do in order to prove his innocence after that?

As for your point about bringing up other creators, i believe he was simply trying to point out double standards, which.. well he didnt have to honestly (i understand what you mean). However, this also means that it would be wrong for the people mentioned in the video to bring up dream unwarranted, but clearly, no one cares if people like philza randomly bring dream up to throw a jibe at him during his streams which again proves the double standards.

As for quackity, yes dream was in the wrong, but he merely mentioned him to apologise (which i can understand if you dislike)

i simply am wondering why despite dream having enough evidence to sue amanda, you dont believe him. I understand you are a minor and you would understand court situations and stuff, but what else do you think dream can do to mitigate such false allegations?

have you ever paused to think why the general community had such a positive response to the video? Do you believe with your whole chest that you, as a 14 year old are so knowledgable, that whole adults who are capable of filing court cases are dumber than you and are simply blindly defending dream?

again, im not saying you are wrong, or anything, i just want to understand your though process. thank you ! Have a nice day :)

He knows the power he has with his fans, because he has most definitely seen the way they will support him no matter what— How he tweets a simple “I love you guys” after someone exposes him and they all rush to support him? I fully believe he used that knowledge when making his video + He is a power tripper.

I do believe he debunked the stuff with Amanda. But his “statement from Jamie,” there is literally no proof that Jamie actually said that. What he used with that statement is something that can be faked really easily & given in the start of the video he said that he lied about multiple other things, how am I supposed to believe that that’s seriously Jamie saying that?

And the reason people are so upset at him for bringing up Philza and his wife, Kristin, is because he used them as an example of CC’s interacting with fans, to defend himself. Phil & Kristin have around a one year age difference, and Phil had anywhere from like 3-10 viewers when Kristin found him. And the only reason that she did find him was because she worked with kids who liked minecraft & she wanted to know about it. Them becoming close friends, then dating & then getting married is not even close to what Dream was & is being accused of. Dream is being accused of sexting minors, and Phil & Kristin are not even CLOSE enough to be a good example to use as a defense.

Not to mention the things he didn’t go over in the video? His history of racism, antisemitism, sexism, etc. Why would he go over the speedrun cheating thing but not things that are far more important? So maybe even if the allegations are fake— He’s still a fucking horrible person.

I also think it’s disgusting how he put victim in quotation marks for the section of a video that his a “statement from Jamie.” Like actually disgusting to make it “A statement from the “victim.”” Like what the fuck.

It’s also weird how just less than half the video are dedicated to the allegations. He spent more time not talking about them in that whole autobiography length video. And, yes, I did watch the whole video.

And another thing, he knows what his fanbase is like. He knows that they will go on doxxing sprees on anybody who so much as utters something negative about their precious dreamy. But you know what Dream did in the video? He picked and chose what names to blur out, he blurred the names of people who defended him but anyone who wasn’t had their names put on blast to millions of people— Millions of his freak, dickriding fans.

So yes, I may be 14, and I may not know everything. But despite that I can still see when somebody is literally a disgusting human being!

[idyllic-affections]

idk i felt like posting an older draft. here's miscellaneous, mostly silly and lighthearted aeon of creation!reader thoughts:

dan heng once pointed out that they don't blink. he found that the next time he interacted with them, they periodically blinked. not often enough, but... well. who is he to judge this weird, blatantly nonhuman being? really? him, of all people? his unease eventually settles and he finds that he gets along with them quite well, especially late at night when everyone else is asleep. they're wise in a way he cannot place, cannot explain. but he knows. he knows they aren't human. and that's fine. he doesn't pry.

sometimes himeko likes to sit with them and watch the stars, generally in the early morning. she tends to be up first. she gets to hear all their stories and gossip about the other aeons. she is very very very entertained by them and the things they share with her (she's also quite surprised that the aeon of creation is so gossipy, but she wonders if they were just... lonely for a long time. perhaps they were. so, she's glad to let them talk, really, since it seems to make them so happy).

"You know, Lan is such a fickle thing. They used to never want to talk to me, but if I go find them now, they'll talk... a little, but then one time I tried to braid their hair and they told me they would kill me if I tried again. I really don't get it! Yaoshi would let me. Maybe I should tell them that the next time I see them... or would that get me wounded? Hmm. Oh well. I'll have to try and see what happens. A... 'social experiment,' as you mortals might call it."

Himeko chuckled at that. "Be careful, please. We are all quite fond of you, you know? I can't even imagine what I would tell March if you never returned."

"Oh, yes, of course. No, I— I wouldn't let down my guard around the Hunt, regardless of if I were doing something so objectively foolish like using the object of their ire to my advantage or not. It's so unfortunate, but they do not see me as an ally, due to Abundance and Creation being adjacent paths, so I would not risk my safety under this or any other circumstance. Even in the worst case scenario, it would be exceedingly difficult to kill me." They waved their hand dismissively, as if to reassure her.

"Even for another Aeon?"

"Yes. Even for another one of my kind. It typically takes two or more of our efforts combined to take down just one of us. Therefore, you should not concern over me. Anyways, where was I before that? Hmm— ah! Right. You know, Aha is perfectly fine to spend time with if I get too bored, but then they'll entirely and completely target me the second I turn my back or face another direction and I just..."

the human vessel which [name] has thoughtfully and carefully crafted specifically for this journey of theirs is... quite fragile. initially, this was quite the annoyance, but they've come to realize it's probably for the best—mortals are such fragile things, no? it makes their facade more believable when their vessel is so weak (in comparison to what they're used to, of course; their mortal vessel in comparison to other mortals and immortals is quite powerful, and [name] can bodyslam dan heng il or himeko or even mr welt yang of all people... not that they would! bodyslamming people is rude after all).

^ subsequently, they have to be careful with the amount of strength they exert. if they surpass a certain point, their poor little human body starts to crack and scar... literally. they have scars that make it look like they're being held together by kintsugi. it's quite pretty, really, and march thinks there is no one more beautiful <3 she's so fond of her silly friend and all of their odd traits.