#Fantasy Segregation

[atopvisenyashill]

Okay if you're in hater mode I get to ask the question I've been dying to ask for a while: top five dumbest criticisms of hotd.

And on the flip side, top five dumbest moments in got.

EXCELLENT.

“they’re excusing the targaryens practices bc of the prophecy.” no, they are not. just because someone has a magical reason for doing something does not make them inherently justified. cersei has magical reasons to suspect both sansa & tyrion of treachery does that mean the way she treats them is justified? of course not. aegon having a dream, and rhaenyra being motivated by that dream, is not “excusing” anyone and i need everyone to get a fucking grip.

“alicent has overstayed her welcome in the narrative” the story is called the princess and the queen. their sides are named after them, not after rhaenyra and aegon. aegon means nothing in this conflict. it’s alicent who helps kick it off, it’s alicent who is the titular queen, it’s alicent who gives them the name the greens, it’s alicent who rhaenyra has an issue with. not fucking aegon.

“they took away rhaenyra’s femininity” no they didn’t but even if they did you can eat my ass about it

“alyn is anachronistic bc he yells at his deadbeat noble father” idek what to say to this one it’s so goofy.

how do i choose only five. the baela stuff (“rhaenyra is usurping her!!!”) irked the shit out of me, but i think a lot of the “it’s transphobic to do butch rhaenyra/trans rhaenyra” stuff made me lose my mind but that’s kinda related to the other point, when people would be like “you can’t compare aegon to alicent, he’s a rapist and she’s a rape victim” you guys….maybe the “you’re porn brained if you call alicent & her relationships w her kids emotional incest” bc like, if you’re going to bitch at least be aware of what you’re bitching about!! emotional incest is a term commonly used to describe parent-child dysfunctional dynamics like!!!!!!

top 5 dumbest got moments

“bran can’t feel anymore” and we just don’t engage with that ever again in any sort of substantial way

jaime just fucking off to dorne? to get myrcella because ?????

arya getting mad over sansa’s hostage letter enough to try to kill her. they couldn’t even go for the fucking ship plot that everyone is always bitching about bc they cut that from the show, so arya just gets nonsensically mad bc sansa wrote a letter saying “please bend the knee” while her father was in the dungeons and she was alone and 13. okay.

the shae knife scene. maybe this isn’t the worst offender but it still hands out to me like i remember watching it and going “no….surely not???”

can’t even say “they forgot about the iron fleet” bc the entire way the iron fleet is written is dumb. i said this before but someone just announces they have the fleet and then at the end of the season they get shit kicked and someone else announces they have it. this happens like 5 times in a row. genuinely might as well have just cut all the greyjous but theon at that point like 😭

[greenerteacups]

hi GT! thanks again for the great chapter—loved it (as usual).

just wanted to come on here to sing you praises with just how well you write touch/physical affection especially in the most recent chapter’s first half: draco & hermione being v touchy while entering hogsmeade vs. draco’s jealousy with ron + hermione, and how you depicted draco’s reaction to both (i.e., his awareness on just how not-platonic his actions were vs failing to see that ron and hermione might not be also sharing the same thing) and the way his jealousy flares up. it’s starkly real and engaging and you just leave us wanting more.

just wondering: would there be more platon-ish (or more) moments in the realm of Lionheart, since the books were PG?

hope u have a good day!!

Thank you very much! I hope you have a good day, too.

I think of Lionheart right now as a story that rides the line between PG-13 and R (for gore, and I guess also technically for swearing, since there's been more than one "fuck.") Those things will only scale up as the story goes on, to an extent that will soon surpass the books. If the original series can be split up into "children's / young adult" around the lynchpin of Book 4, I think of the volumes of Lionheart as "children's / young adult / new adult." New adult is, naturally, more capacious as a genre than young adult is, and I'm cautiously feeling out my comfort level in the new territory it opens up.

To be completely honest, I'm still making up my mind on how far to push past canon there. I know that explicit scenes are common and welcomed in the D/H fanfic space, to an extent even expected, but the jury is out on how much it will be relevant/necessary/something that I'll enjoy writing. (I'm aware that this is a totally confusing and not helpful answer. Friend, I also wish it was not like this.) Basically, I'm just trying to figure out what the story needs.

I guess the most I can say currently is that I'd definitely be comfortable writing it — I've written it before — and for the rest, I'll play it by ear.

[jamesscarstairs]

obsessed with sydney being the angry but fearful human archetype and excited to see how her and adrian’s relationship progresses in the later books

[sapphire-theseainequator]

I am talking about nationalist attitude about holding up authenticity and saying any food that is not authentic are sacrilegious to the culture, while such food doesn't exist without colonialism behind it, ergo Nationalist attitude over it is bad (because nationalists are generally not good?)

The first post is also talking sbout death tolls and colonialization? How stuff only came because of deaths. While that is not 100% true either, because european exports stuff before spain and portugal decided to conquer the world.

Also, again, details are not always in the story. Because even IRL, commoners doesn't know about their things. About their stuff.

👀

[averagefungus]

I have a terrible habit of creating new tabs on my phone for posts that I think "I'll be more responsive later" so unfortunately I do not know what post I sourced this article in a sea of tabs from, but I found it a wonderful read nonetheless

[plaidos]

genuinely fucking hate posts like this.

the reason people define JK Rowling by her transphobia and not the racism/antisemitism in her books (which are, unfortunately, very typical 90s YA fantasy in those regards) is because she hasn't dedicated her entire life & wealth since Harry Potter to systematically destroying those communities. she didn't become the figurehead for nazis, or the KKK. she isn't spending millions of pounds stripping people of color and Jewish people of their rights. she isn't lobbying to segregate them from bathrooms and have them legally recognised as Not People.

when people pithily make posts about how there is too much focus on her transphobia comparative to other bigotries, what you are saying is that violence against transgender people is less important than writing bad offensive books. i cannot stress how obviously wrong & dangerous this type of "whataboutism" shit is to anybody who gives a fuck about trans people.

[inky-duchess]

Fantasy Guide to Early 20th Century Trains

Trains were a popular means of transportation during the early 20th century. The previous decades saw to the explosion of more trains, more services and more tracks linking country communities which were isolated from cities and larger towns. So what do we need to know about trains in the early 20th century?

Typical layout

A basic layout of a train is as follows: passenger compartments, dining cars, luggage and guard vans.

Compartments: Compartments are where the passengers sat. They were divided between three classes – first, second, third. First class compartments were the most expensive. The seats were upholstered, and the floors were often carpeted. They were much larger than the other class compartments. They would be fitted with gas light like the rest of the train, the windows would have curtains, and the walls would often be panelled with wood. Second class compartments were less luxurious but pretty much the same as the first class only smaller and less grand. Third class would feature wooden benches or seats fitted with cushions or fabric, they were smaller and often more crowded. Compartments could be offered as corridor compartments which offered more movement between compartments and cars. Compartments would offer seating areas and areas to store hand luggage. Some trains travelling overnight would offer sleeper cars which offered beds and an area to wash.

Dining Cars: Dining cars were offered on some trains. There would be tables for the passengers to eat and get something to drink. Dining cars were usually offered only to certain classes or segregated by class.

Luggage Cars: Where large luggage would be stored.

Guard Vans: Where railway security staff could get warm. It also held a stove and hand-operated brakes which the designated guard would use to slow the train if needed.

Separation

Trains in this era were divided by class and in some case race. Unlike the American states and South Africa where there were laws preventing certain races from mixing with others or from using any class other than third class, Europe was a little more forgiving in the case of race. However, this is not to say there was no segregation. This was Europe at the height of the age of Empire. People who hailed from the ‘colonies’ were discriminated through subtler means than simple prevention, they would be discouraged from attempting to use the upper class tickets and sometimes they were even treated not as well as other passengers. Class was the main division on the train. First class of course had more ability to move, more access to amenities. They often had separate dining cars where they could sit down to full meals. Larger trains might even offer some other common areas such as smoking compartments. Second class were sometimes permitted to dine in the dining cars but may not have been allowed access to full meals. Third class was not permitted access to the dining cars, often having to bring along meals or buy food at the station before departure. The classes were not allowed to mingle. In cases of a first-class person travelling with a servant, they had the choice to either purchase a first-class ticket for their servant or leave them in third class.

Train and Station Staff

Trains did not run by themselves. The passengers and the train had many needs and there had to be an army of staff available to keep things chugging along *hehe*. That being said, the train staff weren’t the only people who kept things going smoothly, the station staff at each stop would also help out the staff and the passengers.

On the Train:

Drivers: These were the people who drove the train.

Firemen: These were the people who shovelled coal and kept an eye on the steam pressure.

Guards: The guards were there to keep the passengers safe. They sometimes checked tickets and would patrol the luggage cars, mainly to keep an out for anybody sneaking onto the trains without a ticket.

Conductors: Conductors would go from car to car to check tickets, collected any outstanding fares and kept an eye on things in the compartments.

Engineers: Would travel on the train to help out with repairs on the train.

Dining car staff: Such as maids to serve tea and coffee, waiters to serve food and if the train is large enough, kitchen staff and bartenders.

The Station:

Station Masters: Was the person in charge of the station, overseeing the flow of trains and passengers through the station.

Porters: Handled the luggage.

Signalmen: Oversaw the signals to keep the trains on track *hehe*.

Parts of the train

The train is a beast of many parts. A train in this era is a steam train, which links of cars connected together behind a steam engine.

Buffers & Buffing Gear: These are the parts of the train built in to absorb impact.

Cars: The segments of the train.

Couplers: This is what connects the train cars together.

Cowcatcher/Pilot: This is the frame that sits at the very front of the train used to clear things off the track.

Carriages: These are the cars that the passenger compartments are.

Headlamp: This is the light at the front used to improve visibility.

Freight Cars: Used for transporting goods.

Locomotive: This is the train’s engine. It is the driving force of the train, where the driver and the firemen would work.

Truck: The framework that connects the axles to the wheels.

Smokebox: Where the exhaust system of the stream engine is housed.

[a-little-revolution]

idk if I’m phrasing this right but:

Do you have any tips for avoiding the “mystical creature little person” trope for characters with dwarfism who have completely unrelated magical/supernatural abilities?

(Context: I’m planning out a vampire: the masquerade story/campaign/chronicle* and I wanted to have an npc with achondroplasia who helps the player characters adjust to vampire society. I’ve done my best to avoid the worst stereotypes (this character is level-headed, mature, skilled at her work, and respected by her peers) …but then I realized that it might be playing into some harmful tropes to have a character with dwarfism who is also a vampire)

Hello!! Oooo a vampire LP character sounds rad as hell! I would love to see more bodies like mine in fantasy, and I myself am a big vampire fan :)

I imagine with them being a vampire and not an axe wielding miner, their aesthetic should be enough to separate the character from the "mythical" little person trope. But if you're concerned, here's my thoughts on ensuring they don't fall into it;

Keep up with the contrasting aesthetic - avoid miner, viking, or gnome-like styles.

Name their disability - whether you say it or show it, make it clear that they have dwarfism/are a little person. Mystical "dwarves" often have exaggerated features that make a mockery of the disability - do your research and be true to real dwarfism proportions.

As always, avoid othering or segregating your LP character without purpose - include them in community and give them relationships of all forms, beyond just with other little people.

Hope this helps! I'm so excited at the thought of a vampire LP!

Elliot (they/them)

[0alix0]

Overusage of Lore

a lot of people tend to say that bioware put little to no lore into Veilguard, and i might be on a minority on this to me it's way too much and way too shallow

The entire game feels like writers just scream at you "Look at all the magical thing we have!! So we have Titans! And Evanuris! And Illuminati Those Across the See! And-- are you listening? You better listen cuz there are more! We have Shadow Dragons! We have Griffons! We--"

OMG calm down it's not a fucking Warcraft

the best thing in DA was the way it beautifully showed real life issues through the lens of medieval fantasy world.

The dalish weren't so fascinating because they had an entire language made for them and pretty tattoos. They were fascinating because they were enslaved, fought for freedom, then got their land taken away YET STILL continued to fight for survival, for their cultural identity, their children and their children's children, for freedom. Literally combination of native american's and jewish history. Because despite having one goal they all had different approach and opinion about other of their kin: city elves (those disconnected from their culture) and half-elves ("can they be considered elves?" "should they be allowed to be a part of dalish?").

The city elf origin wasn't so memorable because every npc had a backstory with a length of bible. It was memorable because it was the most obvious analogy on racial oppression, segregation, colonialism and fetishism in the entire franchise. Because it had the guts to actually show in details the horrors of these things.

Broodmothers weren't so horrifying because it's a female mixture of jubba hutt and a fucking pudge from dota with a detailed explanation their anatomy. They were horrifying because they were paralleling a very real misogyny, mistreatment, the way how women in some countries are seen as nothing but a walking uteruses, where the only thing they're good for is to give birth

AND bioware doubled it while doing the same thing with Orzammar, cast system & Rica!

The Circles weren't so interesting because we've got dozens of pages in WoT explaining their hierarchy/fraternities. No, they were interesting because it was literally a bunch of medieval GULAGs with a function of a mental hospital, it showed what mistreatments happen there, the abuse, child abduction and enforcement of religion.... And from the side of templars it was a discussion about professional deformation, addictions and the way high ranking people abuse those to control their underlings.

..... And you know, if we were back in origins, griffons, for example, would've probably been used as a parallel on irl eco terrorism. it might've been about how Wardens despite their good nature unintentionally bonded the general association of the entire animal species to their order and abused this connection to the point when the species was beyond preservation!

and btw, then that decision in davrin's quest would actually had any meaning, instead of throwing wardens into mud (again) and turning isseya into a villain for no fkn reason.

lore is only good as long as it's used for purpose, when it has things to discuss, not just exist

i don't fucking care about titans/evanuris/and other shit because they're just a 30 pages long article in codex and WoT trying to explain magic and write DA timeline almost to a fucking mesozoic era. it's BORING. Get me emotionally invested, then i'll care

[argumate]

it's always popular to ask "why is dating so difficult right now?" and the obvious answer is to gesture at the people asking this forever and perhaps rhetorically wonder why you would expect finding someone to share your life with to be easy, end of question.

but some people will plunge on and say it must be because young men have been misled by the manosphere and now they want the wrong thing or behave the wrong way or whatever, and that's such a tempting straw to grasp because Social Media Makes People Worse is a compelling hypothesis when we see it every day (and of course you can ask what all those makeup tutorials and true crime podcasts are doing to young women besides raising their suicide rate).

personally I don't think young men behaved better in the 1970s or the '90s or the early 2010s or whenever the supposed golden age of heterosexual dating was supposed to be, and while the manosphere is obviously a problem (in the sense that it's awash with ideas that are untrue, unkind, and unhelpful) I don't think it is the problem, it seems like a typical exaggerated social media response to other problems (gender segregation on social media doesn't seem more extreme than the gender segregation that ruled most of human history, so that can't be the entire story).

women will say that men don't want to commit (despite all wanting tradwives!) and men will say uh stuff about women that doesn't bear repeating to be honest but let's politely say that both sides will accuse each other of having unrealistic expectations or overly picky standards -- and of course that's a very real possibility, that people can be fixated on fantasies and find real life doesn't measure up; one of the original critiques of social media was that it could give a misleading impression of how good everyone but you is having it (until it became in vogue to post about your mental illnesses).

but if we want to look for material changes that could potentially have impacted the heterosexual dating market, there's no getting around the fact that staying single is a much better deal for women now than it was for much of the 20th century, and indeed the centuries before that, when the desirability of marriage was enforced by incentives that strongly penalised not settling for a man, in the worst case including institutionalisation for single mothers and even the forced sterilisation of unmarried women deemed promiscuous.

as the legal barriers and overt discrimination against women were dismantled in the 20th century, the wage gap followed: in the US prior to 1980, women earned about 60% of what men earned, but by 2002 this had risen to 80% (the rise has slowed, it's 82% today); this reduction in the pay disparity has the side effect of reducing the value of what a man would bring to the household.

it's not a good look for men but there's no denying that some of the value they used to bring to a relationship included privileges like:

access to higher paying jobs

protection from harassment by other men

ability to live independently of controlling parents or guardians

ability to have children without having them taken away

now that many of these privileges are extended to everyone in a more egalitarian fashion, having a man around is simply less necessary than it was; you would expect this reduction of privileges to push some relationships that were already marginal prospects into being nonviable.

and perhaps that's a good thing, for the relationships that survive to be mutually beneficial arrangements and less like hostage situations.

[1800naveen]

SJM fans who go "It's just fiction." when you point out a flaw in her writing are a pain in the ass. When a author wants to write about fantasy, they'll take things from REAL LIFE to put into their stories. There are authors out there who will write their ideologies into their books and SJM is one of them.

Feyre dismantling the spring court out of petty revenge? Colonization.

The inner circle not allowing ANYONE from hewn city to enter Velaris and if they did, they would be treated horribly? Segregation.

SJM describing her POC as not striking, not beautiful compared to her main characters? Racism.

Hybern being based on Ireland and Prythian being based on Britian? The portrayal and demonization of Celtic culture? Do you know what the other name for anti-Irish sentiment is? Hibernophobia. That is a one letter difference.

"Hybern's geography closely resembles that of Ireland, while Pryhtian resembles Britain. Sarah J. Maas took inspiration from both countries to create the two locations." That's from the trivia section of the wiki page for Hybern.

The fae enslaving humans for hundreds of years? And Rhys has the audacity to say both sides are wrong.

I AM NOT AT FAULT FOR POINTING OUT THESE KIND OF THINGS. FANTASY CAN BE AND IS A REFLECTION OF REAL LIFE!

[dailyadventureprompts]

Do the ethnostates inherent in major fantasy ever feel real weird to you? You’ve got elftopia (full of elves, where everyone speaks elf and worships the elf gods), orc-hold (full of orcs and maybe their slaves, where everyone speaks orc and worships the orc gods), and dwarfton (made by the dwarves! for the dwarves!).

You might have some cosmopolitan areas, usually human-dominant, but those are usually rare enough in-setting that they need to be pointed out separately. Is this just based on a misunderstanding of the medieval era, and the assumption that countries were all racially homogenous?

This has been bouncing around my brain the last little while. Do you have any thoughts on that? Is it just in my head?

I think what you've noticed is a quirk of derivative fantasy writing, which like a lot of hangups with the genre originates in people trying to crib Tolkien's work without really understanding what he was going for:

Though it contains a lot of detail, Tolkien's world is not grounded. It functions according a narrative logic that changes depending on what work in particular you're focusing on at the time (The Hobbit is a fairytale full of tricks and riddles, Lord of the Rings is a heroic epic, The Silmirilion is a legendary history).

One of the reasons the races are separate is to instill the feeling of wonder in the hobbits as POV characters for the reader, other folk live in far off places and are supposed to feel more legendary than our comparatively mundane friends from the shire. The Movies captured this well where going east in middle earth was like going back in time to a more and more mythologized past.

In real life, people don't stay static for thousands of years, no matter how long their people live. They meet, mingle, war and trade. Empires rise and fall creating shrapnel as they go, cultures adapt to a changing environment. This means that any geographic cross section you make is going to be a collage of different influences where uniformity is a glaring aberration.

What the bad Tolkien knockoffs did was take his image of a mythical world and tried to make it run in a realistic setting. Tolkien can say the subterranean dwarven kingdom of Erebor lasted for a thousand years without having to worry about birthrates or demographic shifts or the logistics of farming in a cave because he's writing the sort of story where those things don't matter. D&D and other properties like it however INSIST that their worlds are grounded and realistic but have to bend over backwards to keep things static and hegemonic.

Likewise contributing to the "ethnostate" feeling is early d&d (backbone of the fantasy genre that it is) being created by a bunch of White Midwestern Americans who were not only coming from a background of fantasy wargaming but were working during the depths of the coldwar. Hard borders and incompatible ideologies, cultural hegemony and intellectual isolation, a conception of the world that focused around antagonism between US and THEM. These were people born in the era of segregation for whom the idea of cultural and racial osmosis was alien, to the point where mingling between different fantasy races produced the "mongrelman" monster, natural pickpockets who combined the worst aspects of all their component parts, unwelcome in good society who were most often found as slaves.

This inability to appreciate cultural exchange is likewise why the central d&d pantheon has a ton of human gods with specific carveouts for other races (eventually supplemented with a bunch of race specific minor gods who are various riffs on the same thing). Rather than being universal ideals, the gods were seen as entities just as tribalistic as their followers.

[leikeliscomet]

Ultimately the traditional fantasy direction & regressive politics are what made the Gatwa era a failure to me. Nice visuals, strong acting and a few good stories sure.

But telling us to get over segregated diners whilst finding magic babies was a WILD piece of television.

[grimsonandclover]

I love coming out of my break to be angry. It's been a great month. (/sarcastic for those that need it)

Obx fandom, my space on this internet is pretty much adjacent to yours, so I see a lot of content from it... tell me why the hell you guys are romanticising trad wives or trad!rafe or sexist!rafe and in the SAME BREATH calling yourselves feminists... that's fucking coo coo bananas bonkers!!! You're bonkers!!! You have deluded and diluted feminism to fit your harmful fantasies.

Now, look, I'm no saint. I like dark content as much as the next traumatized, depressed woman with multiple additional mental illnesses on the internet; it just tickles that spot in our brains. But there are lines to be drawn, especially when you want to hold labels that are five times too small for you. Babe, you just don't fit them, no matter how hard you try to make it stretch.

Romanticising and glorifying sexism is inherently harmful to those who consume it, whether that's directly or passively scrolling through. By fetishizing it, you are finding pleasure in the societal degradation and suffering of women, not just towards you but towards others. Sexism, racism, transphobia, homophobia, xenophobia, cinophobia, antisemitism, islamophobia, and I'd say several paraphilias all fall under this category: This shit isn't even a dead dove this bitch is NUCLEAR, especially in proximity to feminism. DO NOT APPROACH. Why? Because all it does is harm, hurt, and segregate others socially or mentally. Tell me, what is sexy about your husband speaking about you or other women to his bros in a degrading and non-human manner? What is sexy about perpetuating harmful stereotypes and limiting women to basic roles, whether or not that fulfils them? What's sexy about limiting and repressive traditional roles that women for centuries have been forced into? What's sexy about forcing women to have children they don't want, cooking and cleaning endlessly, while a husband drinks beer on the couch, ignoring her existence? What's sexy about nonconsensual harassment and assault that leaves the affected party traumatised for the rest of their lives? What's sexy about having your man be a redpilled abuser on an alpha male podcast? What's sexy about sexist!Rafe Cameron helping his wife with her eating disorder, saying you're the sweetest when you're delicate and thin and tiny while having a trillion of his babies like the perfect little trad wife he wants? Seriously? That turns you on?

If you answer yes to that last question, fine. Suit yourself. Consume all of the women hating porn and smut you want, that's your perogative (I hold the right to judge you for it, but, still). It just means that by definition, and not the one you try to stretch, you are not a feminist, and you do not want the empowerment, freedom, and equal or fair treatment of women and marginalized groups. Please do some introspective work.

I'll keep reading and writing fdom because I like the opposite and I'm a raging misandrist, but that's just me. (/joking for those that need it)

Like at THE VERY, VERY, VERY!!!! LEAST!!! If you're gonna advertise and write and support this, PLEASE!!! Can you just make it believable that the reader insert enjoys all of this? Key word believable.

Also, the death threats, slurs, etc, are super unnecessary, and you're wasting precious time that could be spent reading about sexist rafe on a podcast or something. Think smarter, not harder!

ps or pps: You can't have your trillions of trad wife babies while severely malnourished. Please, seriously and sincerely this time, take care of yourself. Disordered eating and abuse are not light topics to write quick, sexy blurbs about; they require at the very least care and special attention.

Realistically, those who need to hear this simply won't care. However, this was cathartic for me to write and it was either this or having it bubble up in me to spew out in my next crash out. Tell me which is healthier.

[bluepandastarfish]

CaitVi x Reader Angst 3

warnings: sadness still, depression maybe, spelling mistakes

shorter one, sorry, things will start looking up soon (or will they?)

part 1, part 2

The three of you weren't happy separate, that was for sure. Vi was losing herself in every way she wanted to after losing you and caitlyn and, although the two of you lived together, both you and caitlyn were also losing yourselves in different ways. You could no longer accurately tell when something was a daydream or not, the other night you'd had a dream of caitlyn grabbing you and demanding you act like yourself again only for her to have no similar reactions the following nights. 

Caitlyn was throwing herself into her ‘work’ which was more of a manhunt and segregation scheme than anything else, one she knew you’d object to if you were aware enough. Maybe that was another reason for her to do it all, not only was she passionately angry and intent on finding jinx and bringing her to justice, but doing something so dramatic to get a reaction out of you sounded quite pleasant at the time. It was something she laid next to you at night thinking about, why she was numb to the issues she was selfishly causing and why the only thing she could feel was rage. 

She couldn't tell who the rage was directed at anymore, jinx was certainly some of it but sometimes she found herself wanting to scream at you till you cried because at least then that was better then the horrid nothing you’d been giving her. And Vi as well, somehow she was angry at her for… well, for stopping her when she was so close to jinx but even then caitlyn was somehow self aware enough now to know that was a stupid excuse. Angry at multiple people for one person's misdeed, and then continuing to take it out on the people around her who had nothing to do with it. 

Maybe if she hadn’t involved herself with Vi and Zaun in the first place her mother would be alive. Maybe she would be happy with you in your very own home with you supporting her every step of the way through her career and homelife. But Vi wouldnt be there, and something would be missing, just like it was now. So in the end, perhaps caitlyn was most angry with herself. 

And now was another night of silence between you both. You let yourself drift off while Caitlyn remained aware. You let yourself imagine that Vi was happy somewhere else, that she wasn't letting herself get hurt and she’d found someone who looked after her the way you wished you could.and for a moment you smiled to yourself when you saw her grin in your mind, even if it was at the imaginary woman you'd made for he . 

And then Caitlyn spoke to you for the first time in weeks. 

“Are you awake?” she whispered, not having moved from her position facing the ceiling and yet somehow knowing you were awake so she could continue. “You don't have to speak to me, I just want to know you ok.” 

Her tone was soft, as if she were speaking to a child. You would be angry at her- either for interrupting your fantasy or for driving Vi away in the first place- but right now you felt like every emotion you'd been holding out on was trying to break through the wall. You didn't speak, don't breathe any differently. 

She sighed to herself. “Im- i just want us to be ok.” and now it was less about being soft for you, more about being as quiet as possible so that you wouldn't hear the sob waiting to erupt from her. “I was stupid, I ruined it, didn't i?” 

It didn't sound like a question she really wanted answered, probably because she already knew the answer herself. 

And you fully intended on fading back into your daydream before she spoke again. 

“I love you” 

before, even before Vi, you always said it back. It wasn’t something that either of you took lightly with each other, love was a commitment and a promise. 

Your jaw shook uncontrollably and the wall crumbled. 

It was nonsensical, the words that left you when caitlyn rushed to hug you from behind. You’d never felt so small, not even when Vi screamed at you to leave her and you stupidly listened, it wasn't something you had fantasized about, breaking down for caitlyn, all of those thoughts had been dedicated to the women you love and their happiness. Even Caitlyn screaming at you would’ve gained a reaction and, in turn, she would've been satisfied. 

And you think to yourself as you lay there, held firmly in Caitlyn's grip, that despite the self hate for leaving Vi in the ring, you’d let yourself drown in your emotions a thousand times over if it got them both to hug you one last time.

[self-loving-vampire]

Tradwives (and trads in general really) frequently do this thing where they post images from old advertisements showing happy white, extremely gender-conforming and heterosexual couples and do the whole "see how much better things were back in the Good Old Days" thing (without even acknowledging stuff like segregation or marital rape laws) and like...

Please be serious. You are basing your image of the past on marketing campaigns instead of reading any real history. You might as well be basing your political views on fantasy books. In fact, that might at least be more emotionally sincere than an ad.

Also, advertisements showing happy people enjoying various products still exist. They say as much about the state of society in general as they ever did.