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meloncubedradpops · 4 years

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Repo! The Corona Opera: Final Countdown

This is the third and final installment of Repo: The Corona Opera. In the first piece, I made the argument that the surreal events we are experiencing in 2020 remind me of the world in the movie Repo! the Genetic Opera. My second essay compared the characteristics of fascism with the same movie. Here we will tie together ideas in both works to highlight a dark path that America is on, based on what we know about Repo!, in the hopes that we can reject the evils of those who are sacrificing our health and safety for their own selfish reasons.

When I began thinking about this movie through the lenses of COVID-19, I saw uncanny patterns that just years ago seemed like an exaggerated storytelling. Millions of people dying from organ failure. Yeah, but how?

Then 2020 happened. Oh, that's how. Sure the disease doesn't affect everyone in the same way, but its wrath and potential to harm are tremendous. The death toll in the United States alone is, as of today, is 231,000. At least, that is the death toll we are know so far. It will take time when the dust settles and we can analyze the excess death data to truly know how many of our fellow Americans have died.

And while our world does not currently emulate those opening comic scenes in Repo, the impact from the sudden loss of life will be felt for a long time. There are a lot of really great themes in Repo: the concept of the family, drug addiction, the impact of corporate monopolies, and let's not forget it's a gothic coming-of-age story too. I am going to highlight three concepts that weave together our current reality with the world of Repo: the parallels of the Trump and Largo family, the Graverobber as the symbolic "other", and organ repossessions is genocide.

As mentioned in my previous entry, I highlighted the ways that Rotti Largo is a fascist. I went into detail supporting the argument that his company GeneCo holds tremendous and unyielding power in the city we see in the movie. And despite his efforts to save humanity from extinction, his assumed heirs and blood-related children are nothing short of entitled mediocrity. I will draw many parallels between President Donald Trump and Rotti Largo throughout the duration of this essay, but let's take a few minutes to talk about their children. Believe it or not, this meme was made by myself and my friend FOUR years ago, almost to the day!

But unlike 2016, I had no idea that I'd find multiple comparisons to draw upon. And frankly, if we all knew how bad this presidency would be, for both America and the rest of the world, we might have made less jokes from our complacency. I ask the the real question though, which Trump and Rotti offspring are most alike?

Now, I've wanted to do this thought exercise since the inception of my essays. The surface level combinations would look something like, Amber and Ivanka (since they're both women, obvs), Donald Trump JR as Luigi (oldest child), and Eric Trump as Pavi ("you're just his useless brother!").

However my boyfriend raised a great point that had me rethink this: Donald Trump Jr is ACTUALLY Amber Sweet. When I took out the gender aspect out of the equation, it made so much more sense. In my next point, I will go into drug addiction in a much more dignified manner. But let's just take a moment here to consider the following.

We know that Amber Sweet is addicted to two things in life: surgery and pain killing drugs to make surgery bearable. Amber Sweet's character provides an incredible insight to the daily life of the people in Repo. If you subtract the Zydrate Anatomy scene, you would hardly even know that zydrate is devastating lives of the people addicted to it. We hear about zydrate in the graveyard as a commercial and the media spends its first opportunity asking Rotti about zydrate's "use and abuses". After Sweet becomes a no-show in the presser, we quickly learn that she runs a support group for fellow addicts, or at least she is supposed to.

How does this relate to Trump Jr? Quite simply, many are speculating that Trump Jr abuses cocaine. The most compelling evidence is his speech during the Republican National Convention. Now, obviously we don't have solid evidence that he is indeed consuming and abusing cocaine, and quite frankly if he is, that would not be incredibly surprising or even a huge deal.

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But the conversation doesn't end here. President Donald Trump did not hesitate to bring up former vice president Joe Biden's son Hunter Biden and his battle with addiction during the first Presidential Debate. It was a low jab, especially considering that the United States is going through a crippling opioid crisis, which he even admits is exacerbated by covid-19 and related lockdowns. Both Donald Trump and Rotti Largo exploit their own children in this manner. I mean, Donald Trump helped fucked up the Trump Foundation where his children were held prominent positions, which was caught stealing from a charity intended to help children with cancer! Every time we see Donald Trump Jr on our doom-screens, we get another glimpse into Jr's downward spiral. And with every additional crime that all of president Trump's children become implicated in, the more and more we can see that this family is rotten to the core.

If Trump Jr is Amber Sweet, then Ivanka is Luigi. In Repo, Luigi can be described as nothing short of a homicidal maniac. I am not saying that Ivanka commits murder, at least not directly, but she does hold a lot of power in the White House. Spend any time learning about the machinations of the White House, particularly in the early days, and you will learn Ivanka competed with Melania for a voice in the administration, and still works for the White House today. Even if you exclude all of the shady business ties, such as the dozens of Chinese patents (including for voting machines!!!) Ivanka has filed, clearly the boundaries of nepotism do not exist for this family. Luigi somehow kills multiple people in the movie and faces no consequences for it. How can this be? Obviously corruption, but that is too simple. If there were multiple checks and balances at one point that would have forced Luigi to face justice for his crimes, they have obviously failed to come to roost in the movie. The obvious common denominator between today and the world of Repo is that those who want power will do anything to obtain and maintain it. Does the public know about every murder committed by Luigi? Does the public know about every crime committed by Ivanka (and also by proxy her husband Jared Kushner, who by the way, failed to pass mandatory security clearances but still has access to the intelligence of our government)? Jared intentionally made it difficult for many of the states hit hardest by covid-19 in the early weeks to acquire the necessary medical supplies because the electorate did not vote for Trump in 2016. That. IS. MURDER. Just as Luigi calls the common citizens in Repo "filthy mice", “Jrvanka” (and the Right at greater) frames the nation as two groups: us and THEM. Luigi is much less calculated, but the comparisons are there. If given the chance, the Trump and Largo family will kill because of their sociopathy, greed, and egos.

Admittedly I don't have as compelling of a comparison for Eric Trump and Pavi. However I will say that both Pavi and Eric do the bidding for their father's empire, and I would also argue that both feel like they have to compete to get a modicum of attention and love from a paternal figure devoid of basic empathy. And at the end of the day, they do not reject their father's tyranny. And honestly that is enough of a comparison for me.

Last but not least, I can't ignore the fact that the official Republican Party platform for the 2020 election is loyalty to Trump in the absence of any other political or philosophical idea. A majority of the speakers at the Republican National Convention were members of his family. Their pitch to Americans is “Just Trust Us”. However, a quarter million Americans aren't here to agree or disagree with that statement. With each passing day, more and more Americans are getting sick, to the tune of tens of thousands of cases a day on average currently. The Largo family and GeneCo are not much different. Remember that scene in 21st Century Cure where Shilo and Graverobber are in a mass grave where we can see truck loads of humans being added to the pile of corpses?

The only real thing separating the corpses from the rest of the city is a poorly constructed brick wall and the years of propaganda that normalizes what I imagine would be a terrible pungent smell of death.

The entire Trump family came into the first presidential debate without masks. The president was literally sick with a virus that statistically speaking, could kill his opponent; and he was on stage shedding this incredibly contagious virus screaming and shouting, spreading his droplets everywhere. The Trump family failed to show up early enough to be tested for covid before the debate.

This was not an accident. Jared Kushner bragged to journalist Bob Woodward back in April that Trump was going to take the country "back from scientists". As of this past weekend, we learned that Trump is floating around the idea of firing our nation's leading disease expert Anthony Fauci in a time where our cases, deaths, and hospitalizations from covid-19 are surging. It is almost grotesquely poetic how similar this is to GeneCo. GeneCo is a company in the healthcare industry, but they exploit the worst parts of society, which I will go into very soon. And in its effort to achieve maximum quarterly profits, the ends always justify the means, even if that results in fascism and excess death/suffering. Rotti's body guards kill the doctor who gives him his grim diagnosis. Trump didn't kill the doctors treating him during his recovery with covid, but information we got from the White House doctors were straight up WEIRD. We witnessed a Gentern being killed by Luigi in the Mark It Up Scene for no other reason besides existing in the proximity of him. Trump has spread misinformation about how there's more money to be made when a doctor declares a death as a covid death. I am finding it hard to see the difference. I think I've made my point regarding the parallels of the Trump and Largo family quite clearly, but you may see additional points I bring up as the rest of my essay unfolds.

Society is complex with more nuance than we give it credit to. The different ways that various groups of people interact with are endlessly interesting, and one of the reasons I love Repo so much is because there's an incredible amount of unpacking that you can do, even in the absence of written dialogue about it.

If you don't know, Repo started out as a story originally penned as "The Necromerchant's Debt", which gave the Graverobber character a more active role in the world crafted by Darren Smith and Terrace Zdunich. When watching the movie Repo! The Genetic Opera, the Graverobber is certainly a character seen in multiple scenes, but in a lot of ways, his importance is left out. An entire scene was cut from the film, see Needle Through a Bug below if you're interested.

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Regardless the parts that we do see are still greatly impactful. Graverobber is essentially the symbolized "other" living in a world that is greatly stratified by social class, and he's doing what he can to survive.

Now if you have been living on this planet we call Earth and have ever paid attention ever, you probably have noticed that there are a lot of power structures that influence the resources and opportunities that aid in our development and maintenance of our needs. The access to being able to elevate ourselves above basic survival are typically contingent upon a few things, one namely our ability to draw a paycheck. As I mentioned in my last essay, so many things went wrong to have what would equivalently be either a drug trafficking felony in today's terms or maybe theft, result in permissible extra-judicial murder. And I am not saying that Trump's bragging of the extra-judicial murder of an ANTIFA activist is at all related, but look at the way Trump compares his dissidents with the way GeneCo treats Graverobbers.

We are experiencing the early stages of economic collapse, millions of people are hungry, soon-to-be evicted, jobless. And yet, the Republicans in power just HAD to rush through a Supreme Court justice. When arguing against lockdowns that would have saved lives, the Right spent countless hours arguing about increase suicide, drug use, poverty, domestic abuse, blah blah blah, you know all the things that were there and as equally as important pre-pandemic? And they did NOTHING to help mitigate this disaster beyond the bill that was passed this spring. The house passed the HEROES Act back in May, and senate majority leader Mitch McConnel declined to take a vote on it.

Never mind the fact that landlords are still expected to pay the banks their mortgages on their investment properties. Never mind the fact that rent wasn't cancelled. Never mind that the Trump administration sought to prevent any oversight into the first bill passed previously to prosecute fraud. So you know, we can make sure the money went to small business owners, and not instead to the many, many crony ties to the administration who were approved for huge amounts of money. Honestly to think about this is kind of sickening, particularly when you relate it back to Repo and my essay I wrote on fascism.

I could probably talk all day about our failure with the "War on Drugs", but I feel like you can probably see based on the efficacy of its policies that drugs still exist and people are still abusing them. I bring this up because the Graverobber's occupation is essentially a drug dealer. However he sells a counterfeit of zydrate derived from the body of a bug who naturally borrow in a corpse's body, which is and also isn't stealing from the corpse / their estate, but is somehow still "bad" enough that you can legally be killed "on site" if a Gene Cop thinks you're harvesting the blue brain goo. I mean this entire concept makes my brain hurt.

The Graverobber, as a concept, is a perfect example of the enemy who is simultaneously the biggest and the least threat, and the only way to stop them is to kill them before they can appeal before the jury of their peers or go to prison to pay for their crimes. And I am sure the propaganda that justifies this is beautifully orchestrated. It literally mimics Russian propaganda, AKA the biggest foreign intelligence threat since, I don’t know, the Cold War? I can picture authoritarian stump speeches now:

"Here the Graverobber who comes in the night, tempting your children. They sell the promise of a good time, but did you know they are raping your daughters for this drug?? They can get your husband hooked on zydrate, and you won't know it's coming until he comes home unrecognizable. These thugs are stealing your grandmother's ring off her corpse, and you will find her half-rotted corpse thrown askew across her tombstone when you go to pay your respects."

And yet Graverobber defends himself:

"Industrialization has crippled the globe (Enjoy GeneCo's day and nighttime formula of Zydrate) Nature failed as technology spread (Ask a gentern if Zydrate is right for you) And from this wake a market erected (Buying Zydrate from an unlicensed source is illegal) An entire city built on top of the dead! And you can finance your bones And your kidneys For every market a submarket grows But best you be punctual With making your payments Lest it be you on the concrete below It's quick! It's clean! It's pure! It could change your life! Rest assured! It's the 21st century cure! And it's my job To steal and rob GRAVES!"

He then goes into detail about how this is just the cost of doing business with his modern world. How many of our current and future stories by those who will not make a single sentence in our history books will be casted as enemies of the state who were ultimately just trying to make end's meet? You can deport the illegal immigrant but neglect to prosecute the American company who hired them to work here? How is that much different? If the people in Repo need this drug to cope with the deaths of their loved ones and their livelihoods, then what does that say about the soul of their nation?

If you are still with me at this point, I want to thank you so much. I am going to conclude on a fairly heavy topic, but it is one worth having. Organ repossessions in Repo are genocide and in America, we are currently also committing genocide.

The whole premise of the film is the justification that those who fail to make payments on their surgeries deserve to have their organs repossessed, because what other reality is there with unrelenting end-stage capitalism? People are losing their whole lives as I type this, through no fault of their own. Most Americans cannot afford a $400 emergency expense pre-covid-19. Millions are unable to pay for basic life expenses, such as rent, healthcare or food. Our president specifically shoved a Supreme Court justice because he wants the American Healthcare Act to be deemed too unconstitutional for public policy. Never mind the 100+ million Americans with pre-existing conditions. Never mind the millions who acquire their healthcare through the ACA marketplace. Never mind the fact that we are in a once-in-a-century PANDEMIC. Never mind that we spend more per capital on healthcare than anywhere else in the world. Never mind that the Right does not have ANY sort of plan to replace something in its place. How could MILLIONS die in an organ failure crises in Repo anyways? We already know that the Trump administration already stopped caring about covid deaths when we learned it was hurting people of color disproportionality than the general population. 1 out of 1000 black Americans have died from covid. Reread that sentence. If you don't believe me, go out and seek those facts for yourself. When we think of genocide we think of Hitler killing thousands of people via gas chambers. But there are SO many other steps that lead to the normalization of that.

Undesirables, aka the "others", are easy to discard. Is it a surprise to anyone that ICE gynecologists are removing the uteruses of detainees? I almost made my whole essay about that one controversy alone. Genocide is insidious like that.

"Oh but if she didn't want that hysterectomy, she shouldn't have tried to come to America for a better life, even if that's what my ancestors did."

Of course not, she's the "other", and you're the law-abiding citizen. You were able to afford the extra $30 a month for the upgraded booby package that gave an otherwise unremarkable kidney transplant a fun twist by including breast implants. The orphan who works the streets because his parents died during the plague who needed a new pancreas because insulin became too expensive is threatening your suburbs. Bonus points if the orphan has a hint of melanin in his skin or if your daughter shows favor towards his antics, completely ignoring the fact that his mommy and daddy were killed by preventable disease. I have no idea if this was intentional or not, but look at the makeup of people who get their organs repossessed in Repo and try not to tell me there's a trend. Yes it could have been the coincidence of casting, but nevertheless it is worth mentioning. We don't see many people of color in this movie, but of the few we see, they get murdered by GeneCo/Wallace. And I don't care how stupid coincidences are because that is exactly what is happening with covid-19. The so-called essential, working class citizens (who are disproportionally POC) are putting their whole life on the line to serve everyone else who works at home.

The ends justifies the means, kill enough elderly and the federal government won't have to pay out on social security. Force everyone to get back to work and fuck you if you think you deserve money for the hours you weren't allowed to work (oh and by the way we want to make it so you can't sue for covid-19 related liabilities). Oh you lost your job, "try something new", as told by Ivanka Trump earlier this summer.

My main point is if you let fascism get control, they will normalize genocide and put you in jail for even making the connections of corruption. "Millions of people dead from organ failure, what's adding a few more to the pile in the name of law and order?" "The only good Democrat is a dead Democrat". Once again, I am failing to see the difference.

Okay I threw a lot at you just now, and the fact you made it to the end is a miracle. If you skip around because you have a squirrel brain like me, I thank you as well. The fact we get out of bed everyday and do anything right now is a miracle and I know attention can be finite.

I am writing this on the eve of the United States General election after having wanting to write this since June of this year. I am tired. We are ALL Shiloh right now. Our lives have been on pause. "I must be brave", "I'll capture it", "Run back inside". Yeah girl, same! I haven't talked about her much throughout any of my essays, but I have to give credit where credit is due.

Humans are a resilient creature. We have millions of years of experience on this Earth, and much of our survival has been based on pure dumb luck. But we have blown so many other species out of the water in one way alone, and that is our ability to communicate.

We don't have to let people who exploit our weaknesses control us. The sociopaths who try and run our society did not historically aid in our survival. They didn't care if we ate the mushroom that killed us or would have protected us when threatened by wildlife, it was our tribe. The Right has successfully hijacked that bond between the self and the tribe so that it can fit the needs of sociopathy and greed. It is not normal for a president to tell a nation that "it is what it is" when over 100k citizens die from a preventable disease. Do not let the sociopaths throw us in that tiny pine box in a mighty small drop in a mighty dark plot, hastening the trip to our epilogue. Because every inch you give, they will take a mile and charge you by the hour. Never forget that.

#repo! the genetic opera #repo #shilo wallace #nathan wallace #terrance zdunich #darren smith #gothic #coronavirus #COVID-19 #election #vote #Fascism #politics #donald trump #ivanka trump #eric trump #donald trump junior #republicans #genocide

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lastsonlost · 4 years

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So I was half-right.

Instead of misogyny it's Nazis because of course it is.

If you spend a lot of time in certain Extremely Online corners of the internet ecosystem, you’ve likely stumbled onto #NoNutNovember, or just #NNN for short. An annual challenge encouraging men to refrain from masturbating (or even, for many, having any sex) for the month, No Nut November was initially created as a parody of internet-borne phenomena such as the Ice Bucket Challenge or Movember, skewering the silliness of viral internet challenges along with the more extreme claims made by proponents of NoFap, an anti-porn subreddit with half a million members. (According to one of the moderators of the NoNutNovember subreddit, /u/yeeval, the subreddit has no connection to NoFap, though the two are often conflated.)

For most participants, the challenge is essentially an excuse to shitpost, as well as tweet memes skewering some of the more exaggerated purported benefits of abstaining from masturbation. But there are many who take it seriously, with at least 52,000 people as of this writing diligently documenting their day-by-day progress (and setbacks) on the subreddit r/NoNutNovember. Per /u/yeeval, “I’d say 90% of the posts are from people actively participating and also there’s the occasional fallen member who stays on the subreddit for the community and laughs.”

On its surface, No Nut November is a fairly innocuous challenge: while it may seem silly to abstain from masturbation for virtually no reason, some of the memes are pretty funny, and a month of abstinence (whether it be from sex or masturbation) certainly isn’t going to kill anyone. u/yeeval says the goal isn’t to demonize porn or masturbation per se, but to prompt men to examine their own masturbation habits and whether or not they’re healthy. “In my opinion, most originally participate in NNN for the meme aspect of the challenge but as the days go on people begin to see how big their porn or masturbation dependency is,” he says.

"Neither of those things are bad or immoral in themselves but just like any outlet can become excessive in times of depression and loneliness.” Yet it would be naive to ignore that there’s significant overlap between the general anti-porn ideology behind NoFap — and, to a degree, No Nut November — and that of the far right, which has increasingly coopted the movement. (NoFap’s website states that, with the exception of a small number of users who may abstain for religious or moral reasons, they do not have an anti-masturbation stance.)

Because the challenge is associated with abstaining from porn, some people associated with the movement have taken the extra step of harassing adult performers on social media, giving it an additional layer of troubling implications. “In the past [No Nut November] has always been like, ‘Oh, look at this ridiculous thing some people are participating in,'” says adult performer and director Casey Calvert. “This year, people [in the industry] are talking about, ‘Oh, actually this is connected to the far right and maybe we shouldn’t just be saying hahaha, No Nut November.'”

A new meme brings these implications into sharp relief. Coomer is a reference to a meme of an unkempt, skeezy-looking bearded man in a white tank top with vaguely Semitic features, accompanied by descriptive text like “doesn’t even know anything about politics,” “extremely aesthetic right arm (huge muscle),” and “has never heard of NoFap"

It’s been circulating on 4chan for the past year, but Alex Hawkins, the vice president of the porn tube site xHamster, says he started seeing it in the replies on his company’s Twitter feed back in September, when presidential candidate Andrew Yang tweeted about limiting access to pornography. At first, “we didn’t really know what it meant and thought it was funny,” he tells Rolling Stone. Then, in late October, the coomer resurfaced thanks to a Twitter campaign led by a user named TeapotLad, in which users vowed to change their avatars to the coomer should they fail No Nut November. PewDiePie shouted out the campaign in a recent YouTube video, as did far-right YouTuber Paul Joseph Watson, who is perhaps best known for being one of the many extremist figures, including Milo Yiannopolous and Alex Jones, to be banned from Facebook. “No Nut November and the Coomer meme represent a deeper meaning,” he said in a tweet. “Porn is evil. It literally re-wires your brain and causes erectile dysfunction. Take the pledge. Don’t be a Coomer.”

The term has also been used in the context of “OK coomer,” a play on the “OK boomer” meme, in response to tweets critical of No Nut November or masturbation abstinence in general. “It’s positioned as this epic battle between the weak beta masturbators and the strong, alpha NoFappers,” says Hawkins.

Like most memes, “coomer” carries with it more than a tinge of irony, and it’s not always easy to determine whether it’s being used flippantly or to actually deride men who masturbate. But the implication is clear: masturbating is an urge that should be resisted at all costs. David Ley, PhD, a clinical psychologist and sex therapist who studies pornography and mental health, saw the meme after he tweeted his criticism of No Nut November, referring to it as “a creepy little smorgasbord of insecurity-driven hate with anti-Semitism, misogyny, and homophobia all rolled up in one,” he tells Rolling Stone. (Ley has partnered with the cam website Stripchat to do AMAs about sexual health, and plans to appear in one debunking some of the myths associated with No Nut November.)

The idea that there are significant health benefits from abstaining from masturbation is partially based on the (primarily internet-propagated) theory that semen retention is linked to an increase in testosterone and male virility, an idea that has been widely debunked. For the most part, however, the idea that masturbation is somehow feminizing is “rooted in extremely antiquated ideas of masculinity,” many of which are also promoted by far-right groups, says Ley. The Proud Boys, for instance, a far-right extremist group known for its propensity toward violence, has long advocated for its members to abstain from masturbation on the grounds that it boosts testosterone and makes them more appealing to women; indeed, founder Gavin McInnes gave a shoutout to NoFap in a 2015 article for the far-right publication Taki’s Magazine. (The organizers of NoFap have strongly refuted any connection to the Proud Boys.)

An even more extremist version of this far-right anti-masturbation philosophy has been promoted by David Duke, the former head of the Ku Klux Klan, who has propagated the conspiracy theory that Jews dominate the porn industry and use pornography as a way to control white men. On far-right threads on the encrypted messaging app Telegram, this sentiment is fairly widespread. “Jews not only control most of the pornography industry, they also rely on the goyim to maintain a routine of ejaculation in order to stay docile and non-violent,” one comment reads. Another shared a viral Pornhub tweet poking fun at viewers who’d failed No Nut November, writing, “the Jew mocks you as they poison the minds of millions.” (Pornhub is owned by the Canadian company MindGeek, the CEO of which, Feras Antoon, does not appear to be Jewish, even though there are numerous 4chan /pol/ threads speculating as such.)

This anti -Semitism is also often accompanied by healthy doses of homophobia and racism as well: on these threads, you’ll frequently see users deriding men who masturbate to heterosexual porn, on the grounds that being aroused by another man’s penis makes you gay (even if said penis is depicted going into a vagina). And because mainstream porn often features white women paired with black men, there’s also a virulently racist element to much of this discourse, such as the suggestion that interracial porn is intended to steer white women away from procreating with white men and toward men of color.

The irony of this strain of the anti-masturbation movement is that, while it’s ostensibly intended to fight the larger porn industry’s attempts to brainwash and emasculate white men, anti-masturbation ideology has historically been used as a tool by fascist figures to gain social control. Cultural stigma associated with masturbation, combined with the fact that pretty much everyone masturbates, invariably leads to a lot of men “developing a lot of internal shame,” says Ley. “And that makes them open to manipulation and social control.” As an example, he cited the National Socialist Party in 1930s Germany, which strongly discouraged Hitler Youth members from engaging in masturbation. Because anti-porn and anti-masturbation movements tend to be comprised of young heterosexual males, they could potentially be viewed by some on the far right as ideal recruitment grounds. The fact that something like No Nut November appears to be a joke on its face “appears to serve as this interesting front door recruiting kind of strategy to bring folks into this deeper, much more insidious and shaming movement,” says Ley.

Of course, it goes without saying that not everyone who participates in No Nut November or NoFap is a white supremacist or religious fundamentalist, and that the founders of these groups explicitly reject any suggestions of overlap between the two communities. u/yeeval says he has seen no hint of any anti-Semitic or misogynistic commentary on the subreddit, chalking any suggestions of Jewish porn conspiracy theories to “someone trying to make a bad / overtly offensive joke.” “NoNutNovember isn’t a political movement. We are not anti-porn. We are not anti-woman. We are not anti-masturbation or anti-sex,” he says. “In its most simple form NoNutNovember just a fun internet challenge that has grown in popularity due to many memes that circulate the internet…However, I also think that the reason that it has become so widespread is that it has given many the opportunity to look within themselves and realize that they might be relying on masturbation and porn for comfort.”

The coomer meme is also, at least inherently, apolitical, says Alice Vaughn, host of Two Girls One Mic, a podcast about porn tropes. “The concept surrounding ‘Coomer’ is neither right nor left politically. The urge to shame those with higher sex drives is nothing new, and is a subject many are uncomfortable with, especially adolescents (which is predominately 4Chan’s user base),” she says. But the rise of “coomer,” with its distinctly conservative implications about male sexuality, would seem to refute that the anti-masturbation movement is totally innocent or entirely intended in jest. The fact that it’s often used in the context of “OK coomer,” a play on a meme intended to skewer boomers’ criticism of Gen Z, also indicates that this is primarily a youth-driven phenomenon. When you consider how younger generations have typically adopted a more healthy, progressive view of sexuality than previous ones, this doesn’t make a lot of intuitive sense — but it actually tracks with current data, which indicates that younger generations are having less sex, Ley says.

Usually, this phenomenon is attributed to male millennials and zoomers (members of Gen Z) spending more time watching porn, and to an extent this may be true; when it comes to determining the effects of pornography viewing on male sex lives, research is somewhat mixed. But it’s also just as likely that sociocultural factors like economic unrest and fear-mongering abstinence-only education have also played a role in these declining sexual activity rates. “We’ve spent decades telling these young kids be afraid of sex, and that only hereto monogamous sex is OK and moral,” says Ley. “Now all of a sudden they are really conflicted about sex and their own sexuality.”

That said, there’s also an awful lot of men who are not participating in No Nut November in earnest, and many more who aren’t participating at all. In an email to Rolling Stone, Pornhub vice president Corey Price said that traffic is virtually unaffected by No Nut November, and few of the adult performers Rolling Stone spoke with said that they hadn’t seen their engagement go down considerably during the month either. Considering that annual Pornhub traffic numbers are in the tens of billions, if there is indeed a wider porn conspiracy to sap men of their virility, that conspiracy appears to be working pretty well. But for those who are participating in the challenge, and may have stumbled along the way, Calvert has a comforting message: “I personally think No Nut November is very silly,” she says. “Not masturbating for a month does not make you a better man or a stronger man.”

............

Let me see if I got this straight.

Porn is evil

And not fapping makes you a racist homophobic Nazi

Did I... Did I fucking miss something?

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rannadylin · 4 years

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detailed oc asks: 20, 25, 26, 35 for Lottie, 6, 10, 39, 42 for Lenneth, and 14, 19, 33, 37, 51 for Dal, and 46 for all of them

Thank you, these were fun!

For Lottie:

20. Clothing/Aesthetic

Ixamitl Cute isher Aesthetic of course. :-D Skirts and embroidered vests and all that. Mostlyteals/purples. And braids!

25. City or Country?

She’s a citygirl, because cities are where the libraries are. And the academies. And theorchestras. And lots of interesting people to talk to!

26. Guilty Pleasure

Well at thispoint in the story, spending a lot of time with her crush for totallybusiness reasons after he gave her unlimited access to the city archives iskind of a guilty pleasure. XD Um but also…hoarding all the interesting littlecurios she has collected in her attic maybe? I don’t know that Lottie honestlyfeels guilty about any of that.

35. What are they like as a friend?

Lottie is agreat conversationalist, because she likes to talk but especially likes tonudge her friends into talking so she can learn from their stories. She is alsoa great storyteller! Depending on her friend’s personality, all that chatter canget annoying, though. But if she finds someone *coughAdicough* with sharedinterests, she will enthusiastically delve into those interests with them! Andfor those she knows best (Xipil especially, that twin bond) she has a knack foranticipating their thoughts/ideas, figuring out what they’re getting at even ifthey have a hard time expressing it. (Well, that’s mostly just Xipil, but Lottiewith an introverted friend is likely to develop the same knack. She’s observantand good at putting clues together, except not always savvy to the social cuesfor when she’s annoying someone with her exuberance.)

For Lenneth:

6. Headcanon VA

Ahhhh it wouldbe great if I knew more VAs than just the CritRole cast… XD Um the purple HawkeVA would probably work great for her since that was pretty much where I startedin developing Lenni’s personality when I started her playthrough?

10. Do they have any markings, piercings or scars?

None that I’vedrawn/written her with so far, but getting piercings and/or a tattoo would behighly likely for her!

39. Your character walks into a cafe. What do they order?

The sweetestthing possible! Probably caramel apple spice something or other, or somethinglike that? I avoid drinking my carbs as much as possible so I have very littleexperience in the kind of sugary drinks Lenni would crave!

42. What’s the dumbest thing your character’s done?

Oh Lenni. She has done a lot of dumb things in her time, afterall, but she does not let that stop her! Hm…probably getting scammed by a conartist herself back when she was first orphaned, which in turn led to her tryingto run scams of her own, which sometimes worked out and often did not, it was alot of trial and error and getting run out of towns that got wise to herschemes. She always just tries again in a new town though! Which is either veryresilient of her or…continuing to try to con people when it’s clearly notworking out might actually be the dumbest thing she’s done. XD

For Dal:

14. Can they cook? Can they bake?

Indeed she can!(Vi would be jealous, probably.) Most of the skills I picked for her werepretty domestic – she’ll be much happier settling down with her family inIxamitl than adventuring, that’s for sure – and cooking was rank 3 or 5 Ithink? Dal is happiest when occupied with tasks that make her feel helpful, andgravitated to kitchen tasks pretty early on (along with thegardening/herbalism, because she enjoyed seeing what she could do with theherbs she was growing) and has developed into a pretty intuitive cook.

19. Hobbies

Well, thecooking and the gardening of course. Reading, sometimes. She’s watched Siofraknit often enough but never got around to learning it from her, alas. She willattempt to learn embroidery in Ixamitl but that may not go any better than Vi’smuffins…

33. How have they changed over time?

As far as my ideaof her, she was originally supposed to be older, a bit more jaded, actuallycapable of intimidation via divine glow (I put intimidation on her skill listbut it ended up so way out of character I only tried once to use it, and thatwas after she was ex-godlike and also was an attempt against Yarrow so ofcourse it didn’t work XD), and nowhere near the skittish little sweetheart sheended up being. As far as her actual character development in game, she has hadto…confront a lot of things she took for granted and decide what really mattersmost to her? And navigate dilemmas where her innately extreme honesty may notalways be the best policy? Basically she’s scarred for life, really, buthopefully comes out of it all stronger in the end…

37. Do they have any phobias?

I mean she’s abit scared of everything out in the real world so far but I don’t know if that’sa phobia as much as excess caution from a tiny girl in a big world. It’s morejust that so many things are new and unfamiliar to her, rather than actualphobias. I have yet to identify actual phobias for her…She probably did have afear of public speaking but at some point she gained some ranks in Oratory (she’sa priest, come on, she’s gotta do sermons sometime) so she has worked her waypast that fear to some extent.

51. What were some inspirations for your character (people,movies, games)?

Uhhhh…wellmostly the reason for her being so quiet and hesitant about everything is thatthis was Ranna’s first time in a ttrpg and I was slow to figure out how to roleplay. :-D My next character will hopefully be a little more decisive? Otherthan that, the inspiration for Dal was mostly just looking at the rpg guide andseeing “Dawn Godlike” and going “YES I WANT THAT” and also I apparently can’tnot play an orlan if orlan is an option. (I’ll probably be a LK orlan in thenext campaign, of course XD)

And then for that last one…

46. If this character was in a musical, what would their motifbe (what kind of instruments do you hear, what’s the tempo, etc).

So uh this question may have prompted me to dig out my Noteworthy Composer CD and install it again since it turns out I hadn’t done that yet since the last computer upgrade. :-D I had some plans to try to show-not-tell the answer for this one by putting together a little midi motif for each of them, but then…I found some of my old compositions (like, this was 20 years ago in college, I am Old) and actually…

This one is a pretty good Dal theme! For her I wanted something sort of mellow, sweet, and slightly melancholy, not a whole lot of variation (she thrives in routine, day-to-day domestic life, not this harrowing adventuring business) and it turns out my Winter theme works for that.

And this dance tune works for Lottie! Cheerful, and also - it’s in 7/4 time. We can’t have something too simple for a chanter that clever! And it’s sort of a balladic melody too, also very chanter-suitable.

I’ll have to actually compose something for Lenni though, didn’t find any in the old files that work for her! Something a bit jazzy probably…we’ll see…

Extremely Detailed OC Ask Meme

#yolotli itzli #lenneth #watcher lenneth #idalia #csi: citlatl #poe god squad campaign #extremely detailed oc ask meme #music #thanks for asking!#queen-scribbles #long post

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lizzybeth1986 · 5 years

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Quick Thoughts on TRH Book 1 Chapter 5

• Now that we are five chapters into this story, now seems like a good time to get the masterlist of this series out! 😁 Which I will be doing shortly after this QT is up. If you've missed the other chapters, you'll be more easily able to find them all there! I'll also be reblogging my TRR series masterlist sometime this week, since my TRR Book 1 Chapter 5 chapter is close to getting finished as well.

• I'm hoping to get this one out early, it's an extremely light chapter for the most part. It's practically filler, filled with little vignettes between the characters here and there and mostly diamond scenes. The heavy stuff inevitably seems to be left for the actual Walker Ranch (sigh).

• Here are the tags to block if you don't want my QTs to clog up your dash: #long post, #trh quick thoughts, #trh qts, #trh qt reblogs. For now a friend of mine is helping get the read-mores on the main posts, until Tumblr actually does something to make them work on a phone again.

• TW: Brief mentions of the Dr Ramirez scene in Hana's playthrough, and infertility.

• Screenshot Credits:

Hana - @pixieferry

Maxwell - Abhirio's YouTube channel

Drake - @thefirstcourtesan

Liam - Well, me

• Besides being mostly filler stuff, this chapter had a lot of diamond scenes. Two outfit changes (one OOTD and one lingerie for the LI), a group scene and the book's first character scene (Liam).

• A few people I know have been asking me about the differences between "character scenes" and "LI scenes" (and indeed a lot of people were confused by my use of these terms in my Book 3 QTs). So once I get to my general thoughts section, I'll elaborate on those.

• Title: The Open Road

Alternative Title: Enjoy The Fillers, Dear Fans, Coz You Got A Walker-Storm Comin'!

• We're now on our way to the States, barely days after we got back to our own estate. The Council is looking after stuff in exactly the way they have since we left for our honeymoon, except that now it's lost all its core group members besides Olivia. Her, Hana and Kiara must probably share whatever few brain cells exist in that Council between each other.

• If you've unlocked the "casual clothing" scenes for the LIs in Book 2 (Liam's t-shirt, Hana's crop top, Drake's Henley and Maxwell's muscle shirt and Bubbles necklace), that's what they'll be wearing on their journey this chapter.

• Maxwell is now the self-appointed Royal Entertainment Committee.

• Bertrand WOULD be freaking out about spoons.

• Our OOTD today is an off-shoulder crop top with floral designs, and ripped shorts - paired with a blue and pink statement necklace and a few bracelets. Esther DuPont and literally every other MC is more confident about pulling this outfit off than I will ever be.

• Maxwell suggests the outfit in the Liam, Drake and Hana playthroughs, and Hana suggests it in Maxwell's.

• First Stop: Our old workplace in NY! Our manager is no longer around (probably got fired lol) but Daniel is! Or as I still like to call him, Not-Henney 😂

• Hana is so cutely excited about visiting the place where it all begin, a place she must have till now only heard about in the other LIs' stories. Sigh. Wish we'd brought her here earlier.

• Not-Henney has issues with how little attention Maxwell gave to the MC's origins. @callmetippytumbles points out that there's not much you can expect from an author who put his face on the cover of a book about you. Cmon, Not-Henney.

• Told you "Things are Great" would become a meme.

• He now asks what the experience of being an actual Queen/Duchess is like. You can go for the funny route (glam parties that'll make Beyonce jealous. Oh idk, does Beyonce like an overabundance of apples?), the realistic route (speaking about everyone's expectations weighing on you), and the romantic route, which brings out some cute responses in both Not-Henney and the LIs, ranging from delight to awkwardness.

• Oh snap. The paps are here.

• We make a run for it (in two options, with Daniel's help), and keep driving. Somewhere in the middle of the conversation, the MC mentions a motorcycle when speaking about Drake, which makes me wonder in we will end up having a motorcycle scene in Texas itself. I mean, the writers did mention being excited about a scene featuring one in their livestream.

• Maxwell picks the next stop, and it's that engagement barn we built for Liam, apparently. Or the house of Robert, Steve Tennyson's (PM) dad. Where he has found the "biggest ball of string". Only Joy and Hope, my corgis, seem even remotely happy about this.

•

...Okay Maxwell.

Hana needs to roast people more. Roast EVERYONE in that friend group and EVERYONE in that court!

• Fun Fact: This chapter was released on the 50th anniversary of the historic 1969 Apollo 11 moon landing 😁

• As proven from this scene, the few brain cells this group collectively has, all belong to Hana.

• It's now time to check out what the group brought as provisions:

MC: Nothing, she's only here to ask what everyone else brought

Drake: Jerky

Maxwell: Tequila (!!)

Liam: IDK Esther I thought a four-course meal would just fall upon our laps from the heavens

Hana: ME! Bring cookies that I've NOT warmed by the fires wrought from the bowels of the deepest hells??? BLASPHEMY.

As always Hana saves everyone's ass this fine day. I actually quite like this bit with Hana, because it veers a tiny bit more towards "perfectionist" than just simply "perfect". Hana would be the kind of person to worry excessively over being a good hostess, since that's something she's been learning since she was a little girl (remember the tea scene in the flashback).

• We now stop by at Washington DC - Hana's suggestion - because she wanted to look at the cherry blossoms. I was quite chuffed about this when I found out coz I always used to have her down as more of a "plum blossom" girl, and this is pretty close 😁

• That little bit in DC where speaks of the area as "a marvel of both nature and civic engineering" is a nice touch, since Liam has always been associated with monuments and national legends.

• THE PAPS?? AGAIN????

• ...If my spouse and I have to spend ALL our time answering questions about babymaking, where are we going to find the time to babymake, mediapeople? Ever thought of that? Huh? Huh??

• This option is hands down the best fucking option in this chapter lol:

YOU'RE ALL SUCH DORKS ISTG

• We're now in a small town where Liam wants to mingle and be one with the locals. He's not been very successful in doing this in Cordonia (where people can literally look at his face and figure out who he is), but because it's the US and not many people might recognize him here, his chances of not being caught are better.

• This is the first character scene in the new series. It's pretty alright, not a lot of insights or anything, just a simple scene where Liam gets to not worry about acting like a royal, occasionally acknowledge his privilege, be charmingly naive, order milkshakes, and listen to the MC's insights on how she will bring up her/their kid. He does mention it opens some new perspectives on understanding his people, but I'm not sure we'll get to see much of what learnings he will put into action because, yknow, Cordonian commoners are practically invisible.

• This scene is also proof that you can take Liam out of the court but you can't take the court out of Liam.

• It begins with what the MC calls "a sidewalk hello", where she can either guide or massively troll him. The first two options are awkward as hell (I did like the bowing one though lolol coz she tells him he's probably made someone's day with his "courtly manners"), and the third is for Liam to simply ignore the other person and stare at his phone.

• Next scene involves getting Liam to buy groceries...coz he's never brought groceries. Why would he Esther he has a staff.

• They have a choice between fruit, nachos with everything on them (and they weren't kidding about "everything") and chocolates. I chose fruit.

• You also get some cute tidbits about Liam's life growing up in the palace. Here are the important ones:

- Constantine and Eleanor agreed they wanted Liam to be self-sufficient but "disagreed on how far to take that principle" (given what Liam says about her in one of the other options, I'm guessing Eleanor wanted to take it a lot more further).

- Liam can make spaghetti carbonara!!!

- Laundry: So there was this one time Leo and Liam played tag close to a champagne tower at an event, and it fell down. Eleanor insisted they "clean up the mess [they] made. A reasonable lesson in decorum and consequences". I kinda like this little crumb of info considering there is so little we know about her.

- Eating leftovers: Liam used to have sleepovers at Jackson and Bianca's quarters, and he tells us he was "proud to help Drake's mother microwave the leftovers" coz to his little mind he thought that was cooking 😁 I know, I know, I believed my mom when she put a tiny bit of coffee powder in my milk and told me it was actual coffee haha.

- Doesn't know how to do dishes. He knows soap and water is involved lol.

• The final part of the scene involves Liam treating himself at a diner with (what else!) a milkshake, while casually chatting with the MC about how she feels about the simplicity of her past life, and the way she plans to bring up her (or their) own child.

• Liam not immediately understanding that utensils are self-serve reminds me of Hana's confusion at the idea of a McDermots not having wait-staff.

• The MC has options for how to respond to Liam's question about bringing up a child - 1. I'd like my child to be practical and aware of their role, they don't need to learn how to fold a bed sheet or do dishes. 2. I want my child to have a bit of both worlds so that they're more flexible in their approach. 3. My child should be acutely aware of what the common person in Cordonia goes through if they're going to have to rule fairly over them. These three options in some way allow you to imagine what the MC would be like as a mother, and what upbringing this 'heir' might have.

•

I've never actually seen YOU make much of an effort to find out in Cordonia.

• There's also a tiny bit about Regina that follows this optional dialogue if you're married to him, which I really like: Liam states to Esther that those are "wise words from the wisest queen I know", following which she points out that he's lucky Regina hasn't heard it. Liam's response to that is: "after all this time, I think she'd agree with me". Regina's kinda grown on me over the series, and I do hope we see her again!

• Overall the scene's alright. It's there, it's cute, it's filler like the rest of the chapter. Only time will tell if it will actually result in anything in the future, which kind of leads me to wonder what Character Scenes are going to look like going forward (now that the LI scenes mostly perform the function for both characterization and romance). But the biggest takeaway right now for me is what Liam has to say about his parents, and optionally about his mother. I think that may point towards something later on.

• LMAO @ the random stranger in the diner optionally thinking Liam's brother might be Thor. Leo would be pleased 😂 Also a nice touch to see her recognize us again at the lingerie store if we buy both scenes!

• We now have a scene featuring the couples in their hotel bedroom, where the LI and MC have either had a bit of a wild night, or where the MC has just finished her at-home fertilization procedure (if the LI is Hana). There's a little chit-chat here and there about the moments they have now and about privacy, but it's different in the case of Hana.

• You finally get the chance to ask about how she feels, and this is the response:

• That's it then, I guess 😒 I'm honestly not surprised, given how much in a hurry they were to have Hana concentrate on the MC in the doctor's office itself. I'll expand more on this later.

LIAM. YOU FOOL. I'M WEARING IT RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU.

• Honestly I don't see the point in having the MC suggest the lingerie in Liam's playthrough (the others basically make the suggestion instead, and they say "well, you're wearing that", instead, implying that they're talking about what she has on already) if they're not going to code it properly.

• The actual lingerie scenes are pretty cute! And fun! And comes with cool dialogues options, and this:

• NOW I know why Hana's lingerie was head and shoulders above the rest. SHE WAS THE ONE WHO CHOSE IT.

• So here's a rundown of all four LI scenes:

- Liam: The clerk from the store (who was also the girl who noticed Liam in the Incognito Scene if you bought that) recognizes Liam and the MC, freaks out and closes the store so they can shop in full privacy. The rest of it is cute playful banter, like expressing surprise at this being Liam's first time at a lingerie store. She then chooses black silk boxers with a golden baroque design. LMAO trust the MC to get him a Versace. 😂

- Drake - Tells the MC he likes it when she takes the lead. The MC then gets to ask him whether he would be down to wearing handcuffs or pink feathers. To the second option, Drake claims that he would "wear a tutu and crown if you told me you had a thing for the sugar fairy". LMAO they really are desperate to show us how much they learned from the "pink cake" fiasco. Pity how they couldn't teach themselves to treat their one female LI with respect. Anyway, the MC chooses red silk boxers with polka dots (!!)

- Maxwell - This scene is a fever dream from start to finish. Maxwell is happy and excited and SUPER SUPER enthusiastic, asking the MC to drop a beat so he can break into a dance at the store. The MC chooses blue silk boxers with squid designs on them. EVEN MAXWELL CANNOT CONTAIN HIS SHOCK. (PS: This scene marks the third appearance of "release the kraken!" 😄).

- Hana - Hana has apparently seen shops like these from the outside but has never been to one (same sis same). She speaks of how she never had anyone to do it for, which is why she is so happy about it now coz she can do it for the MC. A sweet, simple conversation. The difference here is that Hana knows what she wants, and chooses the lingerie herself: a beautiful lace and fishnet number with garter belt and stockings. She looks amazing and part of that is because unlike her friends, she realizes that her wife has deplorable fashion sense.

• It's now the next day, and Drake tries really hard to hoodwink everyone into making his "next stop" the Walker ranch, but the Royal Entertainment Committee threatens him with an "intimidating interpretive dance performed by me" (is he going to jump out the car and sing Kiki Do You Love Me too?). It's enough to scare Drake into picking a nicer stop.

• It's now time to listen to some tunes!! Everyone squabbles a little over what music to choose and the MC gets to pick either of them:

- Hana's Choice: A piano concerto that Liam loves, makes Drake cry and Maxwell go all happy-sleepy.

- Liam's Choice: Chartbusters. "Top 40s". Drake is surprised coz the last time they drove together, Liam made him listen to 52 versions of a single Bach sonata, to which Liam cheekily responds that doing so made him figure out which one was Drake's favourite.

- Maxwell's Choice: Some song that Maxwell did a deejay mix to, and apparently Liam (and presumably Drake) lent backing vocals to. Going by Liam's advance apology it must be pretty fucking terrible.

- Drake's Choice: Classic rock tunes that he can do air-guitar to. Liam concedes it has rhythm, Drake responds that it has rhythm and attitude. He tries to do air guitar in the car but Hana, panicking, reminds him that he's the one driving.

- What Would Have Been Bertrand's Choice/We Shall Drive In Silence!: Apparently when the MC says this, Maxwell says that she channeled Bertrand so hard "he flashed before my eyes". The MC reasons that if no one wants to listen to anyone else's music they might as well be quiet. Maxwell tries to bring up other alternatives such as playing his kazoo-tar, at which point EVERYONE agrees that silence is golden.

• This bit is one of my favourites in the chapter. Probably the second after "say cheese" haha.

• It's Hana's turn to drive and Maxwell is helping her by asking she carve that path from her heart. Which she does, even though she has mentally memorized the next twelve steps she needs to take.

• Liam drives, explaining when the MC asks that Drake was his first driving instructor (Drake had his licence already and they may have used a royal golf course or two for practice runs).

• Maxwell finds a new waypoint: Thrilltown. His reasoning is quite poignant (everything is changing, the MC and LI - in some cases him - will be having a child soon and everyone will be busy in their respective roles, when will everyone be together like this again?). The rest of the group comfort and reassure him, stating that they will probably see more of each other now. In any case...perhaps to Maxwell this is like a last hurrah to the carefree life he used to have.

• We start with choosing rides. Maxwell and Drake choose The Accelerator, which Maxwell describes as "fast. furious. and it uses gravity at speeds that Thrilltown can't legally release to the public!". Hana and Liam choose the "gentler" option - the carousel - which has you ride unicorns, griffins, dragons and other fantastical beings.

• I'm surprised the writers don't have him react even a little to the carousel, considering one of his scariest experiences took place on one (Book 1 Chapter 16). Just show him say "yeah...I'll pass" or show some emotion or other. It's like that armoury scene in his playthrough of Book 3 Chapter 11 where Madeleine could mock Liam about his feelings for the MC and Maxwell is pretty much sitting there not reacting. It's so lazy. I can't.

• Carousel with Liam and Hana: I loved this one, very cute. The carousel has fantasy elements and mythical animals, things that both Liam and Hana love. The MC gets to sit on a phoenix (like her optional Valtoria sigil!), Liam on a dragon (like the royal family's old crest! Dom would be proud) and Hana on a unicorn (which suits her particular style of whimsy). It's cute and fun and sounds exactly like the kind of thing Liam and Hana would enjoy.

The Accelerator with Maxwell and Drake: They call it EXTREME, and it lives up to its name. Maxwell is ecstatic obviously because he's a thrill-seeker and a ride like this is completely in his wheelhouse. Drake gets caught red-handed handed actually enjoying the ride.

• We try out something called The Vortex of Terror, where Liam challenges his friends to not scream up until the end of the ride. Ironically he's the first one to cave 🤣🤣

• "I accept your terms, Liam...as long as you're prepared to lose". Badass enough to challenge the king of the country xD (considering the way that ride goes, I think she was right haha).

• I need more Competitive, Sarcastic Hana outside of cute group scenes.

• One of two people can win this challenge: either the MC or Hana. If the MC wins, she gets to hoist herself on the LI's shoulders towards the next ride. If Hana wins, she perches herself on top of Drake's because he's pretty damn tall.

• Our last ride is called "Lover's Leap" and it's pretty much the romantic portion of the group scene, really.

At the end of it, the LI brings you a green candy drink, and then lets you know how this trip to Thrilltown is representative of their journey together and the change the MC has brought to their lives.

• Both Hana and I have no freaking clue what Liam means when he says "I call shotgun" before they head out.

• Lol @ Cordonia having its own version of "Ninety Nine Bottles of Beer on the Wall". And of course it's going to feature Cordonian Rubies 🤣

• We now reach the ranch, where those of us who didn't marry Drake meet his mother Bianca for the very first time (in every other playthrough she is called "The Rider" and in Drake's her sprite is addressed by name).

• There ends the chapter, on a 'suspicious' note, the kind that seems to sound like things are suspicious but they're probably not. Bertrand's head must be exploding from the lack of spoons.

General Thoughts:

• It's a good thing this filler chapter exists, even if it's mostly inconsequential fluff, because at least that's one chapter less to deal with BertVannah and Drake and his family.

• It's also pretty expensive because the writers knew their crowd by now and know that that crowd is willing to spend.

• The scenes were in keeping with the mood of the chapter - light and fluffy, lots of friendship and some amount of romance. I ended up liking the free short scenes more than any of the diamond ones this chapter honestly.

• So...on the outset, it seems good that the MC is able to check on Hana, post the visit to Dr Ramirez. Hearing Hana's answer, however, brought back every issue I've ever had with the way they've written Hana.

I mean, sure, not everyone reacts the same way to such painful news. I understand that. But here the writers are basically using Hana to minimize what she's going through. They use her to dismiss her own pain with "oh that's okay, I'm just happy that at least you can carry that baby". All that proves is that the female LIs' experiences and pain mean nothing in front the MC's needs.

I've spoken before about the numerous times Hana's pain had been brushed aside or her space eaten into, to favour particular characters, and this just happens to be a repeat of the same formula. This is especially bad because it proves that the only reason they put Hana through this kind of hell in the first place is so that only the MC can carry the child. Her condition isn't allowed to be anything else other than a plot convenience: not an opportunity to open a conversation on this, nor to help develop her as a character. It's merely a narrative device meant to make coding easier. It's dismissive, lazy and reeks of a deplorable lack of care. And again I have to ask, why put her through this if you're so desperate to ignore it afterwards??

• The other big problem is that considering the gravity of that situation, why is checking on her an option rather than actual default dialogue?? If you choose the option to continue talking about playlists instead, the topic just never emerges again. Again I have to ask, what the hell kind of wife is the MC? I mean even before they got the news, the MC was pretty much doing nothing. She wasn't planning for Hana, she wasn't thinking much in terms of what to do for her, everything seems to just revolve around her even in a scenario where either one could have been a mother.

• The lingerie scene seems to me to have elements of a type of diamond scene in the flagship series - the ones where we could buy new casual clothing for our LIs in NY. The LI requires a new look, the MC suggests for a change and often picks out something that she thinks would work (some of her choices - like Liam's pants or Drake's sunglasses are...questionable 😅), and from then on this would be their option for ultra-casual occasions. The one casualwear scene that is different from all these is Maxwell's: he gets his sleeveless shirt and Bubbles necklace at a shop in Coney Island, during the group scene (I think part of this was that they were attempting a step-by-step LI-upgrade because they were a new couple at that point...which was why his first 30 diamond scene was during the Gala, after they'd been together for a little while. Still doesn't excuse all the ways they ignored his background and history though).

The main difference between the casualwear scenes and the lingerie ones is that the first dealt put the MC and LI in different situations and dealt with different issues (therefore was a scene of its own) and the second really just revolved around the lingerie. Perhaps the lingerie scene would be what you'd call an 'extended outfit option'? As opposed to something that's a scene all on its own?

• I was actually quite surprised we got a character scene in this series. Given how much they'd drastically cut down on them in favour of beefing up their LI scenes more, I was fully expecting not to see them. I do prefer them to the LI scenes sometimes, because my LI is not the only one I want to be keeping tabs on, and I do want to know what's happening in their lives.

• What is the difference between the two? I hear some of you ask. Well, good question because I'm about to launch into one of my long-winded explanations again.

• Diamond Scenes in TRR/H: I've been holding off on writing about these, since I believed that the series probably had done away with character scenes and preferred to use LI scenes for both romance and development. With this chapter, I now understand that's not the case.

• So...simply put, the difference between an Character Scene and an LI scene, is that the first focuses on the same character in all playthroughs (eg. no matter who you are romancing, if you buy these scenes it's Hana who will play Snow Angels with you, or Drake who will go fishing with you), and the second focuses on who you are engaged/married to (eg. If I'm romancing Hana, I will not be going to the movies with Liam. If I'm romancing Maxwell, I will not be having a cake testing session with Drake).

During Books 1 and 2, when the MC wasn't altogether exclusive with any LI as such, each character would have their own specific scene which expanded further on their characterization and gave the MC a chance to learn more about them. Most of the romance in these scenes were by choice, with the exception of a few lines here and there. The writers tried to continue this way of formatting diamond scenes even beyond Liam's proposal, but the amount of backlash from the portions of the scenes that involved the MC cheating on her confirmed LI...kind of made them backtrack on this plan quite a bit.

Book 3 switched the format up a little. It was similarish in a lot of ways to RoE, except that unlike that book (where the other two would disappear once you got engaged to one), we were also friends with the other LIs. Besides outfits and plot development scenes (such as the one in the Nevrakis replica armory with Olivia and Gladys) and group scenes, the book also offered two types of scenes for the reader to connect with the characters they liked:

1. LI Scenes: These scenes are meant for the LI the MC is marrying, and are coded differently based on that. This kind of scene was first used in the series in the first chapter of Book 3, where the MC and LI could comfort each other in the safe house. The initial chapters had a similar approach to the scenes as RoE Book 3 (where Mr Sloan, Leo and Dean all ended up sounding like each other), in that the dialogues sounded pretty cut-and-paste, with little to no actual variations beyond a few things (an example of this was how - in the Book 3 Chapter 6 Spa Scene in Applewood - all the LIs spoke of being "dumb in love" with the MC - which suited certain LIs, but sounded extremely jarring on others.

During Book 3, a high number of complaints about the series revolved around this copy-paste routine for the LIs, mostly because the characters were so different from each other, and wouldn't speak the same or even have the same experiences. Around Book 3 Chapter 8, major shifts began to happen in the way these scenes were written, starting with the Movie-going Scene in Castelserraillian. Post that chapter, and the hiatus, there was a significant decrease in the number of individual character scenes, and an increase in both number and quality of the LI scenes. It is very possible that they found juggling both stressful and dialed back on one to personalize the other further.

2. Character Development Scenes: These were scenes with the LI that you got regardless of whether you were marrying them or not. This scene would be viewed over all playthroughs, with differences based on whether you were marrying them or not. If you were not marrying them, these scenes would appear neutral and the romantic options would simply not be there, or be replaced by more neutral ones. Examples of such scenes include Drake's Cordonian Waltz Scene in Fydelia (Book 3 Chapter 3), Liam's Gastrodiplomacy Scene in Castelserraillian (Book 3 Chapter 7), Hana's Polo Scene in Portavira (Book 3 Chapter 5) and Maxwell's Armoury Scene in Lythikos (Book 3 Chapter 11).

The most important thing to remember is that these scenes are expected to be coded differently (according to your relationship with said LI), not only by adding romantic options for the MC to choose, but also in the actions of the characters by default. For instance, the Fydelia Cordonian Waltz scene in Drake's playthrough incorporates - by default - all the sensuality you should be finding in this waltz, while his friendly playthrough is merely the MC teaching him the basics so they have an edge over Neville. By default, if you buy the Gastrodiplomacy scene as Liam's fiancée, the chocolate souffle you sampled with him would feature at your wedding reception.

I say the scenes were expected to be coded differently, because very often they were not. In a lot of cases the only proof you'd have in those scenes that the LI and MC were even together were from the MC's actions. For instance, even though Hana was going to be a duchess on marriage to the MC, the same as Drake - only Drake got to speak in detail about it. This opportunity came for Hana very briefly only by Chapter 14, well past the midpoint of Book 3.

• So when Book 3 began the formula was mostly "leave the character scenes for developing the LI's issues or getting them to teach something, and concentrate on nothing else but the romance for your LI scenes". However this wasn't exactly workable given how different each LI was and therefore how odd some of their dialogue sounded. The dial back is understandable (though, as someone who has looked through various playthroughs in this book, I can tell you the imbalances found across character scenes were on a whole different level).

• Why I've elaborated on this is to give context to a question I now have about the narrative: what are the Character Scenes going to look like from here on out? Post the hiatus, they would vary - they could be mostly plot-driven, or fun and light but not much depth or variation, or fun and light, and also opening up diverging conversations based on your relationship. Now that they seemed to have locked down some format in this book at least, what's it going to sound like?

The Liam Character Scene today was fun, light, had default differences based on whether you were marrying him or not, but ultimately had very little to give to the story other than a few facts about Liam's home life and (in a way that expands on what we already know about her and her dynamic with Constantine) his mother. What exactly does he learn? What new insights is he getting as a King who self-admittedly exists and operates in a "statesman's bubble"?

It also remains to be seen whether buying this scene will have any effect of future events - like Liam's Applewood Tour Scene, where his retelling of King Fabian's story had an impact on our conversation with Kiara's mother Joelle. I'm probably going to keep track on how these character scenes are being written in this series, considering that we already have a pretty good idea of how their LI scenes are done.

• Twice I've seen Eleanor associated with pasta. In Book 1 Liam mentions simple tomato pasta as a childhood dish that reminded of his mother, and here shortly after he speaks about his parents he mentions knowing to cook spaghetti carbonara. IDK what that's supposed to mean but I'm bringing it up anyway. I'm mean, what if it's a part of Auvernese cuisine 😂

• I guess that's it for this week! Time for me to scram and finish my Book 1 Chapter 5 QT too before the next chapter drops!

#long post #the royal heir #anti the royal heir #trh quick thoughts #trh qts #infertility tw

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abundantchewtoys · 4 years

Text

Homestuck Candy p9-12

Page 9

Well, it's good/bad to see Jade, Karkat and Dave are as much a disaster in this timeline as the previous one.

So Jade is definitely a buff girl, being able to lift them both like that.

And she coyishly set Dave up, inteding for him to fib himself into a corner, exposing his true feelings. But alas, all her logic cannot achieve here what it took Dirk an excessive amount of meddling to do. I am starting to wonder how these versions of Dave and Karkat are going to end up acknowledging their feelings.

It's also a bit weird to see Jade's flirting. In the sense that she doesn't appear to be clear on what relationship she is after with them. She's shipping Dave and Karkat as matesprits/red rom. But she's also maintaining all the black signals she shared with Karkat in the session. So it wouldn't be a red polyamorous relationship, something more clusterfucky.

Dave tried to message Dirk - I'm actually kind of curious what would've happened if he had succeeded. But - coincidence or not, narrative meddling or not - he was prevented from doing so.

It's hilarious to consider that this anticlimactic parting of ways is how they spend most of the "dates" Jade takes them out on. As she said she was going to eat spaghetti alone *again*.

Speaking of *again*: KARKAT: WE ARE NEVER HAVING A PLAYDATE WITH DIRK AND JAKE AGAIN

It's funny, come to think of it, to call this a noodle incident, as they were going out to eat spaghetti when Karkat said this.

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Page 10

Okay wow.

Wow okay.

So... John's unsure where he stands, or wants to stand, with Roxy. He's feeling like he might be breaking into something here, with her and Calliope.

That was exactly what he was worrying about in the Meat timeline too, with an added feeling of being too late. But, he's right. Whatever he says, he's not dumb, he still picks up on some things, and he knows there's more between them.

What surprised me is to see how Roxy turns out to not actually be that "girly" underneath after all in this path, so the point of diversion I talked about earlier might really have been John's choice.

It's just that, whatever bothers her about her identity, those worries seem to fall by the wayside when she's with John! N'aww. I still feel like she should talk things through with him (and Calliope), since whatever she went through in the Meat timeline didn't just come from thin air, she must have been going through these issues for years.

John does feel like he can't completely parse Roxy, which we know is normal. But it would be great if they could talk more, that we get more info from her. The setting of this "Hakuna Matata" atmosphere that permeates the Candy timeline to some extent, might mean that she doesn't swing all the way to nonbinary male-presenting. But she's definitely not okay, feeling pressured into presenting as a feminine woman. It puts into perspective Mom's behaviour as well - fleeing into booze for all the things that were bothering her about herself.

Also, more references to the fact that John was quite miserable alone in his house for these years, and didn't know what to do about it.

Dave's sudden appearance was unexpected! It implies this takes place the same night as the previous page. But Dave only travels through time, so did he, like - fly all the way over to the consort kingdom to see John?

It seems that Dave could've used John to confide in during the Meat timeline as well. I'm assuming he's about to ask for some advice, or soliloquy at John to get to an epiphany, about how to handle his relationship with Jade... and Karkat.

Meanwhile, John is steadily keeping his conversation with Terezi going - which I'm just silently squeeing over. No matter if this Terezi is the same as the one in the Meat timeline. After his feelings for Roxy, and potential feelings for Rose he doesn't even want to think about - he's still harboring that same attraction as Meat John.

And yes, their conversations here are also a treat to read. I know that when Roxy and John first interacted I was definitely on board with shipping them, but I've gotten the feeling during the epilogues that they've grown too far apart, each struggling with issues the other can more difficultly relate to. While Terezi and John's chemistry still rings true with me.

But now's John's going to continue texting Terezi while en route to the spot Dave's chosen for their bro talk, hahah, this'll end up being awkward too. Especially taking into account that Dave and Terezi were an item during the Game Over timeline too.

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Page 11

Wow.

Okay so the conversation with Terezi wasn't shown.

But we did get something much better - Dave and John actually discussing something deep and deeply personal.

Unfortunately, John doesn't have the romantic experience to be able to give Dave solid advice. But he did ask some of the right questions. Even if it were questions Dave was already struggling with, it must've have been at least a bit validating.

I think John doesn't give himself enough credit - even if he couldn't help Dave, he was *there* for him. Few people are able to do that, be there, at the right moment.

The reference to the coin flip was indeed unintentionally ill-put, yeah. It reeks of Felt Dave and the horrendous decision Dave faced in deciding to kill him or not.

Dave's torn up, thinking that he has a responsibility toward Jade and Karkat to go into this relationship. But he has to come in the clear first on what he's feeling and what he wants for himself.

I imagine that there's a bigger than zero chance he won't take up Jade on her flirting after all. He wasn't leading her on at this point, Jade has started being rather intrusive on them, if I'm honest.

Meanwhile, Roxy and John are still going to end up continuing there date. Leave it to Roxy to leave a wrong date venue carrying all the breadsticks she can. :D Reference to the meme secured!

I do wonder if Dave is going to be able to contact Dirk at all. What state could he be in.

Also, Dave momentarily showing to John as transparent reminds me of how Rose looked to Dirk during her ascension during Meat. That might indicate something about the events to come.

It would be wild if Dave had some big epiphany moment rocketing his Ultimate Self development skyward all of a sudden.

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Page 12

...

Well.

For a full minute there I was wondering if Jake would in fact be one of the people noticing something wrong going on with everyone.

But alas, it was not meant to be. He was again characteristically hoisted by his own desire not to hurt anyone's feelings.

Still, hmmm. So they all agreed to never use the Spiral Sucker unsupervised, huh. Dang, another strike against Meat Jane. :/

---

So far this week, we've read 4 pages each night, and again this seems like a good moment to stop. Tally ho!

#homestuck #homestuck candy #reaction #liveblogging homestuck #homestuck epilogues #dave strider #john egbert #terezi pyrope #roxy lalonde #karkat vantas #jade harley #jake english #jane crocker

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vaniri · 5 years

Text

Eye of the storm [Arthur Morgan x Reader] - CHAPTER 2/2

[chapter 1]

warnings: angst *insert “ah shit here we go again” meme here*, smut 😏, tuberculosis is still there

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You opened your eyes and blinked a few times, trying to focus your blurred gaze on what was before you. This definitely wasn't your camp and you needed a moment to gather your thoughts and recall where you were. Saint Denis, yes. You had stayed here with Arthur, technically to wait until your horse rests after her injury, but also to catch your breath and spend some time together.

You lifted your head and looked at your beloved man, still sleeping, as you noticed. You rarely woke up before Arthur, so you considered yourself extremely lucky that morning. Not spurred to work by anyone, you could just lie in bed snuggled up to your him, simply enjoying his warmth and peaceful snoring (which you personally found rather adorable than disturbing). Sometimes you were just watching his face, so blissful and beautifully relaxed in his sleep, and taking in his handsome features. It was always a challenge for you to keep your hands to yourself and abstain from caressing his cheek, or touching his scarred chin, or dragging a finger along his pretty and tempting lips. But you didn't want to interrupt his sleep. Not like that, at least.

An idea crossed your mind. You could surprise Arthur and make it up to him for yesterday. Make him wake up with your lips on his hardening member. You smiled to yourself at that thought when your hand, previously lying calmly on his steadily rising and falling chest, started its unhurried journey down his abdomen. Your fingers toyed with the last button of his union suit, but you decided not to undo it yet. Instead, you grabbed his still clothed dick and gave it a few strokes. Arthur purred in his sleep, then let out a soft sigh, but didn't wake up. His expression became even more serene though, his face looked so adorable now... Ah screw it, you thought, withdrawing your hand. You can get him off properly later, now just let him sleep.

Somehow you managed to slip out of his embrace and get out of bed without waking him. It was ten after nine, you saw on the clock, so you should still have some time to wash Arthur's clothes, and maybe even take a bath. You dressed up quickly, braided your hair, and having decided to go for washing the clothes first (so they could dry a little before their owner wakes up), you snatched them from the sofa, where you had left them yesterday.

Something caught your attention on your way to the door. Your own reflection in a mirror hung above the washstand. You hardly ever looked at yourself; not because you didn't like your appearance, but you rather found futile staring at your own visage absolutely pointless. You didn't have many occasions to do so anyway, as there weren't many mirrors in the camp. That was probably why you didn't even know you had changed so much. All that stress you've been living with, due to Arthur's condition and the situation the gang wound up in, made you visibly thinner. Not very much, but you could clearly notice it. And your face, you were barely able to recognize yourself; it seemed so sad and so tired, even though you just woke up well-rested. One look into your sorrowful eyes made it abundantly clear that all that madness, especially Arthur's illness, was taking a toll on you as well.

You didn't have much time to muse about it, as loud and heavy coughing broke out unexpectedly behind your back. You turned around immediately and rushed to the bed, flinging the clothes you were holding back at the sofa. You sat beside Arthur, who was strenuously trying to force out what was burning in his lungs.

"Hey, [Y/N]." He gasped out when his fit finally subsided.

"Hey, love."

"You awake already?"

"As you see."

"Well, at least I didn't wake you." He smiled mirthlessly, stifling yet another cough.

"You okay? Want me to go get you some water?" You cradled his cheek, checking if he was feverish. Luckily, he wasn't abnormally warm, nor showed any signs of excessive sweating.

"No, it's fine. I'm fine." Arthur put his hand atop yours, trying to provide reassurance. "What was you looking at there?"

"What?"

"In the mirror. You was standing in front of it for a while."

"Oh. I thought you was sleeping."

"Not since you left the bed."

"I just... saw my face there and it got me thinking. How these last few months changed everything. Me and you, mostly." You let out a weary sigh. "I just wish... that things were different. Like they used to be. I really miss our old days."

"You and me both. But sadly, you fell for a complete idiot who ruined everything because he hardly ever thinks about the consequences of his actions. Who can hardly think at all." A grim smile flickered across his face when he took your hand in his, entwining your fingers together. "And here we are. We knew it would end like that, sooner or later. With me dying and you mourning me-"

"You are not dead." You cut him off sternly.

"But I will be. Soon, probably."

"Please don't say that."

"You know it's true, [Y/N]."

Yes, you did. But you never let this thought take hold of you. You couldn't even imagine losing Arthur, not having him beside you when you fall asleep, not seeing his face first thing in the morning; being unable to talk with him about what bugged you or celebrate your small victories of the day together. The mere thought of not having him in your life terrified you so much that the only thing you could do now was cling to him and burrow your face into his arm, trying to hold back tears pricking your eyes.

How much time together you had left, you wondered, how many mornings like that, when you could just sit and talk, not giving a shit about the world around you? How many times you'll be able to cuddle up to him and feel his warmth, before death rips him out of your embrace? You didn't know, you couldn't know, and that scared you the most.

"You are not dead." You repeated, raising your head, your voice quiet and trembling with emotion. "You are not dead."

You didn't even know when your lips found his, clashing against them in a desperate and messy kiss. You were aware that you could possibly contract TB this way, but at that very moment you couldn't care less about that. You needed Arthur, you needed to feel him, feel that he was indeed alive and here with you. So you were kissing him passionately until you felt light in your head, clinging to him even more after he took you in his arms and pressed tightly against his chest.

You straddled him and deepened the kiss, pushing your tongue into his welcoming mouth. Arthur was kissing you back like a starved man and you could feel his arousal grow with every second of your makeout. He couldn't keep his hands to himself and touched you wherever they could reach. You purred contentedly when they grabbed and squeezed your ass, rewarding your man with a solid rut against his bulge. He let out a shaky moan and bucked his hips up to feel more so needed friction, grinding his hardening length desperately against your still clothed crotch.

"I want you, Arthur." You gasped out, trying to catch your breath between moans his moves elicited. "Oh fuck..."

"I'll take you from behind." He suggested, kneading your rear again.

"No, I want to see your face."

"And I don't want to accidentally cough in yours."

You snorted softly, resting your forehead against his.

"Okay cowboy, fair enough. We'll do it your way." You pecked his nose and dismounted him, taking in the effect you had on your man. Disheveled, panting, and sprawled in suggestively crumpled sheets, with that ravenous gaze he was devouring you with and a noticeable bulge between his seductively spread legs, he was a sight to behold.

A vile idea crossed your mind while fumbling with your buckle. You could give Arthur a little show and reveal your body piece by little piece, take your clothes off in a tantalizingly slow pace to whet his appetite even more. But one look at him made it obvious that it was completely unnecessary; it's been weeks since you two made love, his appetite was worked up enough at this point. And yours too, so you abandoned that idea and undressed as quickly as you could, throwing your clothes at the sofa. You could have just carelessly slung them on the floor, but you had to set a good example for your cowboy. You may be in heat and still have some manners.

"You too." You pointed at his underwear with your chin. "Off with that, I want to see you naked."

You were watching in anticipation as he undid the buttons, one after another, and shrugged his union suit off his arms. When he made sure your eyes were riveted on him, he slid it past his hips, revealing his half hard dick. You moaned excitedly when he gave it a few strokes, before removing his underwear completely and throwing it towards the sofa with a satisfied grin.

He didn't waste any more time; before you even opened your mouth to beg him to finally fill you, he crawled to you, caught you in his arms, and tossed on the bed. He managed to steal one more kiss before he rolled you over and positioned exactly how he wanted you - with your chest pressed against the mattress and your ass in the air. At that point, even without any proper stimulation, you were wet and wanting as hell. Arthur sure noticed that, but even though, he still took time to prepare you for his thrusting. He slid two fingers along your dripping slit, only to put them in you a moment later. He pumped them into your cunt in a steady pace, reveling in your soft breathy moans, and when he made sure he had you ready and aching for more, he withdrew his fingers and aligned himself with your entrance. Before he slipped in, he slid his now so deliciously hard dick up and down between your folds a couple of times, letting out a shaky moan when you moved in unison with him.

He couldn't take it anymore, so he finally entered you, with a firm thrust that left you breathless. Before you regained even a semblance of your composure, Arthur grabbed your hips and withdrew from you almost completely, then pushed into you again with full force. You felt so good around his length that he was nearly unable to control himself. He began rocking into you almost immediately, every thrust deep and forceful, followed by his guttural groans. And a muffled cough from time to time.

It felt amazing to be filled with his cock again, to feel it move inside your cunt. You tried to buck your hips towards his to get even more delicious friction, but his firm grip kept you in place. He intended to use you as he pleased and damn, that was hot. So hot that you had to bury your face in the sheets your hands were desperately clutching to stifle your wailing. Arthur didn't particularly like that, so he suddenly slowed his thrusting and reached for your arms. He forced you to lift your head when he pulled you up and pressed your back against his still pretty muscular chest.

"Let me hear you." He whispered softly in your ear and you nodded, purring contentedly when his lips sucked on your neck, leaving a mark on your skin.

His hips sped up their movements again, setting a steady rhythm, while his lips continued peppering your neck and arm with tender kisses. You definitely liked this position better - you could be closer with Arthur, feel his warmth and rapid heartbeat; he could freely explore your body, and he eagerly did. His calloused palms were tracing your sides up and down and kneading your breasts, while he fucked you in earnest, murmuring sweet words in your ear. The angle of his thrusts was perfect, his cock was hitting the right spot and sending sparks of unadulterated pleasure through your entire body with every move. You loved every second of it and let your man know about that by repeatedly crying out his name, not giving a single damn about the fact that the patrons sitting currently in the saloon downstairs probably heard it all.

"I'm close." Arthur groaned out, pulling you even tighter against his body and holding in place by wrapping his arm around your neck.

His thrusts became erratic, his desperate pounding made slapping sounds against your skin. You felt his hot ragged breath on the back of your neck, where he buried his face in a moment later to muffle his loud moan as he came hard, spilling his warm seed inside your cunt. That feeling set you aflame, you were so close, but still needed some additional stimulation to reach your orgasm. You begged in your thoughts that Arthur's hand would find a way between your legs, slink in there to rub your clit and make you come undone on his throbbing dick. Sadly, nothing like that happened. Your cowboy rode his climax out completely and then unexpectedly slipped out of your heat, leaving you empty and so cruelly unsatisfied.

"I'm sorry, love. I need a moment." He explained with an apologetic smile as he lay down on his back, trying to catch his breath. He also coughed a few times, covering his mouth with his wrist.

"It's fine. I think I can help myself here." You decided, ogling his post-orgasm body from head to toe, and straddled him. You felt his semen dribble out of you slowly when you sat on his lap, and it made you even more aroused than before, but you waited patiently until he rested a while and calmed his breathing.

When he seemed ready, you positioned yourself above his slowly softening, but still hard enough for your purpose dick, and grinded against it. You found the perfect angle pretty quickly and set a satisfying pace, making your clit slide up and down his gently pulsing member with the right amount of pressure. To your delight, Arthur wasn't only passively watching you work up your bliss; he propped himself up on one elbow and reached to your breasts, caressing them and rubbing your nipples with his thumb.

"Oh shit, fucking hell! Arthur!" You sobbed as you sped up the movements of your hips, rutting your bud vigorously against his shaft, while his hand played with your tits. It didn't take long before you threw your head back and wailed uncontrollably, as your orgasm hit you hard and spread through your body, shaking it and leaving you completely breathless.

When your ecstasy subsided and your wits came back to you, you felt remorseful for getting so carried away with your emotions that you let your desire take over you completely. You shouldn't have done this. Your moment of pleasure might have provoked another violent coughing fit, or even caused Arthur to lose his consciousness and worsened his condition. But one look at your beloved man, lying under you as relaxed as he hadn't been in weeks and beaming a contented smile at you, washed your guilt away. That moment of respite from all that shit going on around you lately, when all the problems went away and you could feel like all that mattered was you two, was probably worth the risk.

"You okay there?" You asked, dismounting your cowboy and plopping down beside him.

"Better than okay."

"Yeah, I can see that." You dragged a finger across his deliciously hairy chest. "So I don't have to apologize for jumping at you like that?"

"No. If someone should apologize for anything here, it's probably me. [Y/N], I'm sorry if I made you upset with what I said before. But I just want to be sincere with you instead of pulling the wool over your eyes and lying that I could get better, just to give you false hope. I won't get better, [Y/N]. And you know that."

"I do" You admitted somberly. "but a part of me, that idiot one I suppose, still believes in a miracle. Less with every passing day, but I still do."

You sat up and moved closer to him, feeling your heart flutter in your chest under his tender gaze, full of unadulterated love. Your hand cupped his face, his two days' worth of stubble tickled your thumb affectionately caressing his cheek.

"I don't know what future will bring to us." You whispered softly. "But I know for sure that whatever happens, I'll stay with you till the end."

"I know, [Y/N]. I trust you."

You pressed your lips against his, threading your fingers through his messy hair. Arthur kissed you back, gently and slowly at first, like he always did when you were alone and in post-coital bliss, but it turned into passionate and heated kissing very quickly. You didn't even realize when you landed under him, trapped in his arms and pinned to the mattress by his warm body.

You had no idea how much time with your beloved man you had left, but in that moment you made a decision to cherish every second of it, instead of wasting it by succumbing to your fears.

#red dead redemption 2 #rdr2 #arthur morgan #arthur morgan x reader #rdr2 fanfiction #fanfiction #duck pecks her keyboard

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tlbodine · 5 years

Text

Every Single Last Thought I Have About Game of Thrones

My rambling obsession with Game of Thrones has cost me at least a dozen followers so far, and I promise it’s nearing an end now that the show is finished and the fervor is dying down. But I do have some Final Thoughts(tm), and I thought I would assemble them all here as best I can. In the interests of saving you all from a million future Game of Thrones posts, I will endeavor to put Every Single Thought I Have into one monstrously long GoT masterpost. You’re welcome, I guess?

Rambles under a spoiler tag, as much for actual spoilers as for, uh, rambling. Buckle in. This post is a monster.

In a contentiously-named Vice article called “Game of Thrones Was Doomed From the Start,” Peter Slattery makes a point that maybe we all needed to hear: Whatever our problems with the Game of Thrones TV show, they’re not wholly endemic to the show itself. The article is worth a read, but the tl;dr is this: GRRM created an astonishingly complex world with his book series, and the story has spun out to ever greater complexity as it approaches its supposed end.

Anyone looking for a way to wrap it all up is going to have a tough time. Just ask GRRM himself, whose inability to finish the series in a timely fashion has basically become a meme at this point.

Now, of course, D&D did not need to try to end the story in 6 episodes. They could easily have kept the series going on forever and HBO would have allowed it, because GoT is pretty much single-handedly keeping the network’s lights on at this point. Why the showrunners chose to turn down that opportunity is a matter of speculation.

What I will say is this: There had always been an expectation that the show would be seven seasons. The internet has a short memory about these things, but back when this all started, the intent was clear enough: There would be 7 books in the series, and 7 episodes in the show, one for each book. At the time, four of GRRM’s books were out, with the fifth being released during this time period, and there had been an expectation (even then, a bit over-optimistic) that the books would finish before their respective seasons, or maybe just trail it by a year or so.

The anticipation, in other words, was that A Song of Ice and Fire would roughly follow the trajectory of the Harry Potter films in their relationship with the books.

That’s not what happened, obviously.

But I do remember there being some grumblings of unease when we audience-folk started to realize the show might not wrap up tidily in those 7 planned seasons. And I definitely remember some grumbling about how Season 8 would take more than a year to come out (surely you all remember that impatience!)

And facing that -- a restless audience, source material that stayed stubbornly unwritten, the increasingly complex logistics of an enormous cast including young actors who were picking up other roles -- I can understand the impulse to speed it along. If your options in finishing a story are to rush it a bit to force the plot points out, or else risk being caught plodding forward indefinitely...I can see the appeal of rushing. I won’t say it was the right creative choice, but it’s one I can understand and one I don’t think is indefensible. I’m not in love with what happened, but I can think of far worse ways for the show to have gone.

Here’s more analysis on that which you may find interesting: https://www.theverge.com/2019/5/21/18633029/game-of-thrones-got-ending-season-8-george-rr-martin-apology

Scope Creep & Themes that Get Away From You

So why is the ASOIAF universe so gosh-darn complex, and why are these books so hard to finish, and why is the show’s ending so hard to stick?

It’s not just because GRRM is pantsing his way through the story (excuse me, tending his garden) but because ASOIAF is not actually a story so much as it’s a history. Part of what makes this world so compelling is that it is indeed its own world. And not just in the Tolkien sense of multiple cultures and complex histories and languages fleshing out the world. What’s made GRRM’s work the most interesting and compelling from the beginning is that it promises even more than that: Here is a richly textured world of geopolitical intrigue, populated by real people; each and every character has their own fears and hopes and aspirations and petty squabbles.

ASOIAF tells a story about normal people and the way they get caught in the machinations of war, and it doesn’t take any shortcuts. And I think we need to take a moment here to appreciate how unique that actually is as a concept.

In Lord of the Rings, we receive a richly detailed world with its own history and culture and grand war, but the war is also limited by the parameters of the story: It can all be ended if Frodo destroys the ring.

GRRM did not give himself such a straightforward McGuffin for ending his story.

And that, indeed, is part of the appeal of the ASOIAF series. A big part of what makes it all so compelling is that it’s a deconstruction of the fantasy genre and, really, a deconstruction of epics in general.

Game of Thrones, the first book in the series, dares to ask: What happens when being the good guy is what gets you killed?

Maybe GoT has been part of our cultural fabric for so long that this doesn’t seem all that shocking, but let’s just take a moment to appreciate here how utterly wild it is that this story begins by spending hundreds of pages (or many hours of film) with a protagonist, only to lop his head off -- and that, really, the rest of the series isn’t even about avenging that death. Oh, sure, vengeance for Ned Stark colors the motivation of some characters, especially in the beginning...but the story soon spirals way beyond that, because the Starks are just one piece in the epic machines of war.

So by its very nature, ASOIAF is not just complex in terms of its sheer scope and number of characters and storylines, but also in terms of its themes. It’s a story that raises a number of difficult questions about the nature of good and evil, of the influence of power, the personal vs the political, and so forth.

These are difficult questions, the type of questions at the very core of the human experience, questions that we’ve been grappling with for thousands of years, and GoT’s deconstructive nature means that it can’t take shortcuts to answering them. The answers simply cannot be as satisfying as “good triumphs over evil” or “evil wins” because the very nature of ASOIAF is complexity and the rejection of such simple platitudes.

From that angle, I think the show did a brilliant job of wrapping things up. The plot had its share of inconsistencies (although not as many as people argue, more on that in a minute) but I think it stayed true to the spirit of what Game of Thrones had always been about. Season 8 raised some really important questions and touched on some extremely interesting themes, and I personally found it both thought-provoking and powerful.

But, well, I will confess that my aesthetics have always leaned more toward intricacy, and that I do not have what many would call “good taste” about a great many things. I always prefer for things to be interesting rather than beautiful, and from my perspective, the home stretch of Game of Thrones was exceedingly interesting.

How Did You Honestly Expect It Was Going To End?

For all of the belly-aching on social media about the ending of Game of Thrones, I have both a rebuttal and a genuine question: What did you think was going to happen?

A lot of people seemed to think that something like this would happen:

(art by https://www.instagram.com/raymondwaskita/?hl=en and no, this isn’t saying the artist believes or endorses any of this, just saying I saw this image on Facebook accompanied by a lot of wistful sighing)

I saw so many people who were all so very angry that Daenerys doesn’t walk away the winner of everything, that Cersei doesn’t get a more satisfying death, that Jon didn’t get to be the true king, that Jaime and Brienne don’t get a happily-ever-after, etc. etc. etc. And to all of those people I have just one question to ask you: What the fuck show have you been watching?

Daenerys deserved better?

Tell that to Ned Stark. Tell that to Robb and Catelyn and Shireen and Margaery and all the rest of the Tyrells. Just for starters. We could do this all day.

Just because we had a few bad guys get some deliciously just endings does not mean that the Game of Thrones universe is fair or that anyone gets what they deserve. That’s just silly.

But okay, fine then: Was it fucked up to tell a story where the breaker of chains and inspirational strong woman becomes the villain?

I mean, sure, maybe. But doing so allowed us to ask some other really interesting questions (and, as previously noted, I always prefer when things are interesting).

Is excessive force justified when it’s against evil men? Who gets to decide who is good and who is evil? How many losses are acceptable? Can you fight monsters without becoming a monster yourself? Should you be uncomfortable with how happy you are when “others” are slaughtered? Are you a little bit culpable too?

Was Dany’s heel-face turn perfectly executed? No. But it was believable, and it was powerful, and I think the questions it asks are good questions that deserve to be talked about.

Game of Thrones is all about subverting tropes, and Daenerys is the obvious Chosen One. She’s the one with the fantastic birth and the underdog story and the magical powers. She and Jon Snow are both the characters that every story tells us will be the heroes. So of course they don’t get what they “deserve.”

If the first episode of Game of Thrones asks, “What happens if being good doesn’t save the hero?” then the last episode asks, “What happens if being the hero doesn’t make you good?”

And that, to me, is interesting enough that it more than makes up for shortcomings in the road we traveled to get there.

A lot of the criticism of the show -- take, for just one of many examples, this: https://www.menshealth.com/entertainment/a27527950/game-of-thrones-finale-character-endings/ -- seems to fundamentally misunderstand what the show actually is or what it was attempting.

And like...I can understand being disappointed, but...like the scorpion & the frog...you knew what this show was when you picked it up.

Here’s a Twitter thread I really liked about this point: https://twitter.com/leighalexander/status/1130750999684161537

So Am I Just Some D&D Apologist Who Loves Everything About This Show?

I’m so glad you asked, hypothetical reader!

No. No, I am not in love with every creative decision made by the GoT showrunners. There are plenty of things I disliked about the show and its creative choices.

Re-framing Daenerys and Khal Drogo’s sex as rape, and then making the same mistake later when Jaime and Cersei have sex after Joffrey’s death.

Giving Sansa to Ramsay Bolton. Not only do we get more unnecessary rape plots (and, honestly, wasn’t there enough rape in the source material?) but it just is so much less interesting than what was happening with Book!Sansa, who is my favorite character (and was my favorite long before it became cool to love Sansa).

The entire three-eyed raven arc and “hold the door.” I mean, it was cool and tense, but I never got a really good idea of wtf the three-eyed raven’s powers actually do and what Bran inherited, and I kind of got the feeling that the showrunners didn’t understand it either and thus skirted around it. (Overall the show seemed uncomfortable with its more fantastic elements and knowing what to do with them).

I thought Rickon was a wasted opportunity of a character. I wanted to see him do something cool. I admit that this is based entirely on my pet theory that the direwolves represent the souls of the Stark children, and I hoped Shaggydog’s vicious nature meant that Rickon was going to become a badass somehow. Alas. (I am also deeply sad that Arya and Nymeria don’t reunite to go fuck some shit up together)

Euron Greyjoy was a disaster. He is so much more interesting in the books, and so much weirder, and he’s just so pointless and annoying in the show by comparison.

I didn’t like the “let’s go beyond the wall and oops there went my dragon” storyline very much, and honestly at no point did I ever really believe Jon and Dany’s relationship because it was rushed and the actors have zero chemistry.

So no, I don’t think the showrunners made a perfect TV show. But I do think it’s deeply unfair to say that they are incompetent writers or that they can’t work without the original source material.

My Criticism of the Criticisms

The internet is full of idiotic opinions, and I could be here all day if I addressed all of them (I’ve already been working on this for two hours) but I will address a few of the complaints I’ve seen that have most rankled me.

“Daenerys goes crazy because a boy rejected her”

I think calling Daenerys the “mad queen” and writing off Targaryen madness as A Real Thing That Definitely Exists And Is Not At All A Metaphor For Power And Entitlement is silly and reductivist. Yes, generations of inbreeding have probably unsettled the Targaryens a bit. But Dany didn’t just go crazy. As I’ve said before: She was already prepared to sacrifice the lives of the commoners on King’s Landing. She knew that Cersei would use them as a human shield and Dany wasn’t going to let that stop her. She had endured so much on her journey to get to this point, and nothing was going to stand between her and the Iron Throne. I talk about this in great length in another post so I won’t get into it here, but just...don’t be stupid.

“Cersei’s ending was stupid and pointless”

I’ve spent so much time dissecting Daenerys that I haven’t had a chance to talk about Cersei, which is a shame because I love her character a lot. I really loved her ending. All this time, the only thing she wanted was the security that power would bring her. Watching the look on her face when she realizes that Daenerys is going to destroy everything and that no political maneuvering can save her -- it was really powerful acting, and a major moment of change for her character. That she dies in Jaime’s arms, admitting at last that she is frightened, that she doesn’t want to die, that she doesn’t want her baby to die -- not only is it heartbreaking, but it’s honest. That is Cersei laid bare. She is who she has always been. That encapsulates her arc in a way that no other death really could have, and I personally found it a lot more satisfying than if Arya or whomever had just stabbed her in the back.

“All of Jaime’s character development just went out the window”

I’ll give you some of this. I don’t know that the show has ever fully understood Jaime. Just as Cersei is so much more sympathetic in the show, Jaime is much more sympathetic in the books. But I don’t think that all his character development is for nothing. I think we still have his journey, no matter what. And in the end, I can understand why he chose to leave Brienne. He didn’t think he deserved that happiness, for one; Brienne was too good for him, not just as a person but as a knight, and he knew that. And what was his long-term plan, anyway? Daenerys certainly wasn’t overly fond of him. There’s a non-zero chance she might have executed him for killing her father once he’s outlived his usefulness. Cersei and his unborn child were in the path of danger. He had a chance to maybe go rescue them and save the family, somehow, as he’d so horribly failed to save any of his other children. It was a stupid choice, but Jaime is the dumbest Lannister, and his self-loathing go deep. Did we think that Brienne’s redemptive vagina was going to save him from himself? Come on.

As for his last moments with Cersei...well. He was already mortally wounded by Euron. And I loved that the fight was so inglorious, so raw and dirty and stupid. They wrestle in the mud and it was perfect, as far as I’m concerned. So Jaime knows he won’t get out of this alive, and here’s Cersei, frightened and vulnerable. What else CAN he do but try to comfort them both? I thought it was a beautiful end for both of them and just because Jaime’s story ended up being tragic doesn’t invalidate his redemption arc. (I mean, for fuck sake, how many people go through rehab just to die of an overdose when they backslide?)

“The scorpions are deadly weapons except then they’re useless”

Okay like. This is annoying to me. By the time we see Rhaegal, he has suffered a lot of damage courtesy of the white walkers. His wing has a big freaking hole in it. He’s not 100%, and he’s not being ridden by anyone, and the attack comes as an ambush. Drogon evades being shot down because he’s being steered by a rider and he’s not injured and exhausted.

“D&D are incompetent writers who have no idea what they’re doing”

This one just makes me mad, and not just because of the fandom entitlement that I hate so much. (in this house, we stan for creators). Look. If they’re so incompetent, how did they manage to make a show that y’all loved for seven seasons previous to this? Also, like it or not, they know exactly what they’re doing. Like, they had such a clear idea of what they were doing that they managed to foresee the exact counter-arguments that fans would have and directly address them in the show.

Like. Hot damn. I will admit: I was very nervous about this season in the first few episodes. Dany was making me uneasy. She was acting selfish and entitled, and her attitude toward the war was making me uncomfortable -- because she was still in the role of hero, and I wasn’t sure if we-the-audience were meant to just swallow this as being OK. And then Varys and Tyrion have a conversation about exactly that, and I breathed a sigh of relief. Because that made it clear that the show knew what it was doing.

And then later? Jon and Tyrion have a so-accurate-its-painful discussion about Dany’s heel-face turn and her potential motives, and it so perfectly mirrored the discussions on Twitter the week prior that I almost wondered if they’d snuck off to film it last minute.

The point is: Like it or not, D&D knew exactly what they were doing. And, remember, GRRM gave them an outline, and while we don’t know for sure what’s their invention and what’s his, I think we can safely say that the broad strokes of the ending were GRRM’s invention, not theirs. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/game-thrones-showrunners-know-how-687589

So love it or hate it, the ending of GoT cannot be blamed on incompetence.

Okay Fine But the Pacing Was Still Really Bad

Yep. I’ll grant you that.

The ending blazes through plot points at breakneck speed. A lot of really important character development is left to performances; we’re forced to infer, as the audience, what a character is thinking or feeling at any given time. A lot of really important plot information is delivered by way of single dialogue lines. There’s a lot of “if you blink you’ll miss it” storytelling.

It’s not ideal by any means.

But it’s still pretty fucking good. The performances are good enough that, to me anyway, it’s pretty easy to intuit what’s going on internally. And the show still gave me things to think about, and made me feel things, and the impact may actually have been stronger by virtue of leaving so much to the imagination. By leaving a lot of questions unanswered, the show invites conversation and thought and speculation, and I think that’s valuable.

Would I Have Done It Differently?

Here’s a fun relic from history -- check out GRRM’s original story pitch, back when he thought this would be a trilogy: https://www.insider.com/game-of-thrones-original-story-2017-8

Talk about scope creep.

It’s fascinating, though. I know myself all too well that the book I set out to write and the book I end up with are never the same. There are some really interesting ideas in here, but I think the story we ended up with is a lot better.

But as for the ending of the Game of Thrones. Was it perfect? Would I have handled it differently?

Thematically, I think the resolution is mostly fine. Putting Bran on the throne is...well, it’s a choice. I have a little bit of a hard time with it just because it’s not really clear what Bran is, exactly. What are the scope of his powers? Is it a bit of a cop-out to put a supernatural king on the throne?

But what I do like about it is the idea that it doesn’t actually really matter who we put on the throne. The story makes a difference -- we need something that makes for a good song, because maybe at the end of the day one of the messages is that we need to believe in all these tropes we’ve deconstructed because reality is hard, it’s painful and boring and often nonsensical, and maybe we need stories in order to survive.

But at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter who we put in charge, because the people who are actually in charge are the council, and they will deal with everything the way they always had. After years of bloody rebellion, maybe the best thing really is the status quo. Maybe the solution to the game of thrones is to just stop fucking playing it. Put somebody on the damn throne and get back to running the country. I like that a lot.

I also like the idea that change is important, and it’s possible, but it’s slow. That strikes a good balance of realism and optimism. No, we’re not bringing democracy to Westeros, but we’re establishing the roots of a Republic. No, a queen doesn’t sit the Iron Throne, but a queen does get to rule in the north, and the north gets its sovereignty. No, Jon Snow doesn’t get to be the hero, but he does get to go beyond the wall with the Freefolk, which honestly will probably make him happier than anything else (and while he doesn’t get to claim his birthright, he does know now why Ned did what he did, and gets some closure on the daddy issues front).

All in all, it’s good. It’s not a happy ending, but we were never going to get a happy ending. And it’s not a particularly dramatic ending, because we weren’t going to get one of those either.

THAT SAID. I will say there are a few things that really bothered me about the way the finale plays out.

Drogon spontaneously melting down the throne for....some reason? Uh? I mean thematically it’s great but like....why though?

It would have made more sense if the dragon roasted Jon, except Jon doesn’t burn because fire can’t burn a dragon, but the throne behind Jon melts down. It also would have made sense of Jon hopped on the dragon and melted down the throne himself, and maybe went and either killed Dany’s force or made them surrender/yield to him.

I also have a hard time believing that the Unsullied who were just executing Lannisters would have locked Jon up instead of executing him immediately for treason.

And wtf have they all been doing after Dany died? OK, fine, maybe the Unsullied don’t have any ambitions of their own, but you’re telling me the Dothraki were like “oh, ok, queen’s dead, guess we’ll just hang out and not do anything then?”

None of that made any sense to me.

Also wtf how are there still so many Dothraki and Unsullied left? Didn’t, like, a whole lot of them die fighting zombies?

Ugh.

Anyway.

Perfect? No. Thought-provoking? Absolutely. Thematically on-point? Yeah, I’d say so. One of the best shows on television, still? Definitely. Are there valid criticisms? Yes. Are most of the criticisms valid? Not by a long shot.

One final thought:

We never do learn why the Night King doesn’t burn. Our pet theory in the house (courtesy of my husband) is that he is of Targaryen descent. He can ride the dragon, after all. What if that’s not just because he resurrects it with his powers, but because he is himself a dragon-rider?

So with that as a possibility...Well. I’m just saying.

We don’t know where Drogon took Daenerys after she dies. But wouldn’t it be interesting if she is somehow resurrected, and somehow gets to spend the next few centuries amassing an army of the undead to come back and take what’s rightfully hers, effectively re-starting the cycle and bringing winter back once again?

(this is what happens when you give a fantasy series to a horror writer)

#got spoilers #game of thrones #writing advice #rambles #thoughts #long post #analysis #this is going to get like five notes #and that will make me very sad #but here it is #here are all of my thoughts #everything that's been swirling in my brain for weeks #please enjoy

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zairehyun-blog · 7 years

Note

do ask memes :o

ALL OF THEM!? ON THE ENTIRE WEBSITE!? no but since i love you i will ~

Halloween asks : done

‘Let’s get personal’: done

Sweet asks:

vanilla - how has your week been?

An honest to god mess, but that’s okay. It’ll get better soon~

chocolate - what do you crave right now?

Attention.

red velvet - what type of music do you like?

All tbh

ice cream - if you were an animal, what kind would you be?

I WOULD BE RILAKKUMA (u may be like zaire that’s not an animal. shhh let me be rilakkuma)

cake - describe your ideal location

like.. im just gonna say what i consider home

new zealand or osaka 💫

mocha - what are three things that make you feel warm inside?

my bby

the stars

writing abt my day at night

frosting - describe your appearance

uhm Mmmm i don’t know how i would.

marshmallow - do you sleep with plushies? if so, which are your favorites?

I DO INDEED i sleep with my moomin

sorbet - describe an ideal summer day

Going on adventures ;; especially car rides n stuff like that ✨

butterscotch - describe an ideal autumn day

going outside and walking around and the cold wind n i m happy it’s autumn 🍂

caramel - describe an ideal winter day

DRINKING HOT CHOCOLATE AND WATCHING TV IN AN OVERSIZED SWEATER WHILE IT SNOWS AND THEN GOING OUTSIDE TO PLAY IN THE SNOW ❄️

pecan - describe an ideal spring day

sitting outside n just enjoying all the flowers c”:

mint - what’s new in your life?

my bby

pie - “home is where…”

he is

macaroon - list three things you feel inspired to do

draw again

to cosplay

2 mAKE HOT CHOCOLATE NOW

Send me a number:

1: where are you from?

I was born in London but I was raised in New Zealand

2: how old are you?

I’m 18

3: when is your birthday?

March 13th

4: what is your favorite music genre?

It all depends on my mood

5: religious?

Yes

6: do you believe in ghosts?

Yes

7: would you want to be immortal?

Yes and no, I would hate to lose everyone who isn’t but I would love to see how the world will evolve idk

8: favorite book?

Alice in Wonderland

9: favorite song?

MIC DROP ASJGHSD

10: favorite band/singer?

I have too many but between bts and exo :3

11: sexual preference?

Indifferent to gender

12: virgin? If not, how old were you when you had sex for the first time?

No & 16

13: do you drink, if yes, tell me what?

Nah.

14: do you smoke?

15: ever did drugs?

16: ever visit a festival?

Yes

17: do you have pets? tell me about them!

I have 2 cats ✨

Ayumu & Kiyoshi

18: how many countries have you been to?

A lot , my dads travel 2 much

19: do you speak another language besides english? If yes, write a sentence in that language!

Korean - 안녕 사랑해!

Japanese - やあ、君を愛している！

and Arabic - مرحبا انا احبك!

They all say Hi, I love you! C:

20: vegan, vegetarian or meat eater?

21: be creative! write a short story about something that comes into your mind!

ASGIJSDHKJf i hate

one day we all heard zayn left the band and it was the worst day ever like they had a song called the best day ever no bitch this is the worst day ever and we all went 2 bed and it was all a mutual dream we all had (WTF WAS THIS ASKJGHKSD)

22: put your iPod on shuffle and tell me the first 10 songs

i don’t have my phone near me either

23: grab the nearest book and give me the last sentence of page 124

I have no books near me....

24: tell me about your crush

i’m answering his ask

25: any weird habits?

If i get scared i start sucking on the back of my thumb

26: ever been rude to a teacher?

Yeah

27: ever talked to yourself?

I always do...

28: extrovert or introvert?

In the middle

29: the most embarrassing moment in your life?

WHEN MY DAD GOT DRUNK AND STARTED FLIRTING wITH MY OTHER DAD AND WAS LIKE “u single”

and my other dad said “no.” and MY daD cRIEd AJHKGDS

30: what keeps you going?

🍯 you c: 🍯

31: ever thought about suicide?

Always

32: do you suffer from a mental illness?

Yeah

33: I'm bored, tell me something funny that happened to you!

I once fell down a flight of stairs because I thought someone was walking up them and I wanted to beat them, but like as I was falling I realised I was walking downstairs and no one was there.

34: your 5 favorite blogs

1. @spook-hyun

2. @lucidyeol

3. @hosvoks

4. @ultchen

5. any suggestion blog tbqh

35: 10 facts about yourself

1. I can bend my pinky all the way back lmao

2. It took me one night to learn Korean :’)

3. I’m a self taught artist

4. the first cat I ever had, I randomly found and I nursed him back to health and he never left me C:

5. I used to want to be a vet/or just someone around animals at all times

6. I used to live by the ocean and yet i’m lowkey afraid of it askJGHKSD

7. I started this blog as a safe space ✨

8. I have a twin sister who’s older than me by a minute

9. I have a younger sister who still calls me her little brother....

10. i’m madly in love

36: 3 things you like about yourself

Nothing

37: 3 things you hate about yourself

Everything

38: biggest turn on?

AHEH IM NOT DISCLOSING THAT I have a stalker who’s gonna try shit so no

29: biggest turn off?

someone who’s controlling. ;e; like i get if you’re like warning me abt something but if you’re like thisthen yeah fuck off.

30: when did you join tumblr?

January 2014

Luxury Asks:

bubble bath: do you have any routines before bedtime? like skin care, etc. what are they?

AHA YALL READY FOR THIS

I wash my face n then i brush my teeth and then i put lotion on and i change and then i drink green tea and watch anime lmao and that’s it

champagne: what topic could you talk about for hours?

You

crushed velvet: have you ever used your charm to get something you want?

AHEH HOW DO U THINK I GOT HYUN

diamonds: how do you feel about excessively spending money?

I mean, if it’s for a shopping spree for good reason (like u got cheated on and are trying to make yourself happy) then yeah, but if you do it everyday then no

faux fur: describe your wardrobe.

lots of oversized sweaters and jeans and cosplay outfits

glitter: describe someone special to you.

His eyes look like honey when the sun shines on them and every time it happens I fall in love

gold: describe what you would call the most perfect meal.

mY DADS KIMCHI COME FOR ME

jazz: name a song that resonates with you and your emotions. explain the reason why.

Go go because

“I want to be cruisin’ on the bayI want to be cruisin’ like NemoNo money but I wanna go far awayI don’t have money but I wanna relaxNo money but I wanna eat Jiro Ono’s sushi

Worked hard to get my payGonna spend it all on my stomachPinching pennies to spend it all on wasting itLeave me be, even if I overspendEven if I break apart my savings tomorrowLike a crazy guy”

lace: what is something in your life completely different from last year?

My happiness

lingerie: do you consider yourself a promiscuous person?

If I remember the definition correctly

kinda? but I stopped being that way

lipstick: do you enjoy talking to strangers?

n...no not at all lmAO unless it’s like at a comic con or something like that then yeah

pearls: what's something about your personality that surprises others?

I open up to people when I feel comfortable with them, like, I seem really shy and reserved but I open up to everyone I meet as long as I’m comfortable.

penthouse: what would you consider your dream home? describe it.

AAAH my old house

perfume: if you could make your own signature fragrance, what would it smell like?

Ironically my cologne is really strong but it’s not so strong you’re like *dies inside*, it’s like, it’s strong so you remember it and if you smell it somewhere, you’re like “Zaire?”

robe: how do you prepare for an evening alone with a loved one/date?

I HYPE MYSELF UP AND THEN I GET READY LMAO

roses: If it had to be winter, autumn, spring or summer for the rest of your life, which would you choose?

AUTUMN AUTUMN AUTUMN LIKE

AUTUMN ABT TO TURN WINTER YES

satin: what is your most favorite article of clothing?

this oversized as FUcK black sweater that says “fuck off” in japanese on the sleeves asghsdjkfl

sheet mask: what's your favorite lazy activity?

drinking tea while watching anime

silk: do you have more inner or outer beauty?

Inner

silver: do you have any obscure hobbies? what are they?

I’ll draw on the wall and then i’ll paint over it??? unless i rlly rlly like it

sparkling water: what are your top three songs for the summer?

ew summer

wine: what kind of drunk are you (happy/affectionate, angry, sad, fun/wild)? if you don't drink, what kind do you think you WOULD be?

Well,

one dad acts all normal and like he’s not drunk and he makes perfect sense and he’s fully aware of everything and can walk perfectly and cook

my biological dad on the other hand is all emotional and affectionate n happy n soft lMAO so i guess i’d be like my biological dad

wow bby i hope you enjoyed this

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