#I need other people to weigh in on this

[internetwerewolf]

Im having an argument and need answers

Expand on your answer in the tags

[howellslides]

babes my experience is not universal and blah blah blah but when i bring up how much pain i’m in by using positivity and humour, that is not the time to respond with sympathy and sads. like if i’m joking about it i’m either not ready to be upset about it or i’ve already done being upset about it, you being upset about it for me is just pushing me into that space unnecessarily and kinda makes me feel like i’m not allowed to like? talk? about my day? unless i’m catering to your emotions in the first place.

also, like, just match my energy, the conversation is gonna be way funnier if we’re both joking about it cuz let’s be real bodies are already engineered terribly and there’s something hilarious about mine not even meeting that subpar standard

[hunxi-after-hours]

Hello! I love your ORV posting. I do have an embarrassing question; can I ask how heartbreaking the ending is? I've tried reading it a large number of times, but have had trouble getting past the chapters in the 300s; I'll reread it up til that point over and over again, but can't continue. Not because I don't enjoy it, but because I get so swept away by the emotions, and all the characters go through is agonizing. I know it's not real! But my heart aches all the same, in a way I've never experienced this with a novel before, and I feel like a child LOL (It's also extremely funny-frustrating because I realize how thematic this is to the story itself). I'm not worried about the characters Kim Dokja is fighting for, but given the patterns in the story and how it seems to be told, I'm too afraid to keep going. I know I could just look it up, but at the same time, I don't want to spoil all the mysteries; just if my heart can rest easy. TLDR, if it's not too spoilery, is there any light for kim dokja in the ending? or is it a tragedy through & through?

(If this is a dumb question, please feel free to ignore this)

oh boy anon, I've been sitting on this ask for a hot second because it's hard to answer! so I will attempt to talk around it in a way that will hopefully (?) avoid spoilers

as I see it, the nature of orv's ending (broadly writ) is additionally complicated by the fact that there are approximately four(ish) endings:

1) the ending at chapter 516

2 + 3) the ending(s) at chapter 551

4?) the side stories

the ending at chapter 516

this is probably what many people would characterize as BE, but I'd personally compare it to the ending of my love, my life, 《琅琊榜》 Nirvana in Fire, in that the ending may be "sad" (broad air quotes to vague-ify whatever "sad" entails) but it feels earned. it feels right. it feels like the logical conclusion of what the entire book was building up to. some may consider it a tragedy, but it's not a hollow, meaningless tragedy — it feels correct. this is the note that the novel officially ends on, but is then over(?)written by the existence of—

the ending(s) at chapter 551

Kim Dokja's Company looks at the ending of ch. 516 and says "aw hell no" and sets out to rewrite that ending. after 35 chapters of epilogue, we've unlocked an OE — an open ending, that concludes the moment before the HE/BE ambiguity will be resolved. schrodinger's ending, except you, the reader, get to choose what you believe — and I do think the epilogues are written beautifully to get you here (they implicate the reader in a wonderful and deeply empathetic way). and from what I've seen, the vast majority of the fandom chooses to take the offered HE option and run with it; everyone lives happily ever after together in a big house, a million domestic post-canon fics will attest. this is the closest, I'd say, that would come answering your question of whether Kim Dokja has light in his future with an emphatic, loving "yes"

(I also think it's worth mentioning that the epilogues add a lot to the story; they fill in narrative lacunae and tie up loose threads that aren't answered in the original 516 chapters, so I don't consider the epilogues as "separate" or "extra." the epilogues aren't a fix-it tacked onto the end of the narrative; they serve and enrich the narrative in a way that would actively reduce the luster of the story if lost)

the side story

a few years down the line, Sing-shong have returned to the text to tie up "a few more loose ends." the side story is currently being serialized, and more or less picks up from where chapter 551 left off. this necessarily chooses among your OE options as detailed above; whether the side story will end happily, or with "light for Kim Dokja," currently remains to be seen as it is still ongoing. I've fallen off the bandwagon and have been meaning to catch up, but from what I've read so far I think the side story is an interesting and worthwhile addition to the text. Sing-shong continue to innovate and develop upon the worldbuilding and narrative they have already created, and we have met a new cast of characters that have rapidly become as dear to us as the old (the old cast of characters are also here, don't worry). if I were a betting person, I would say that the side story is headed in a more-or-less HE direction; the side story is currently engaging with and complicating themes of (self-)identity and (self-)worth through the many lenses of Kim Dokja, and while it remains to be seen how it resolves, I am tentatively optimistic that it will, if nothing else, be satisfying

TL;DR the ending(s) of ORV can be variously construed as HE, BE, or OE, and the elements of tragedy woven into the narrative and characters are inherent to the text. however, no tragedy is meaningless in ORV, and all of the endings feel earned

[abhainnwhump]

Whumper lines Whumpee's clothes with tiny wood slivers (or glass shards if you really want to be sadistic) and watch them scream and squirm in pain as it cuts into their skin.

[gibbearish]

every time i see discourse about fundraisers go by on here im just fully struck with the realization that not a single one of you people have either taken a cybersecurity fraud prevention course or bothered to take one singular second to consider the website youre on. this is the broke bitches website. none of us can afford to fund our mutuals' grocery bills, much less entire evacuation funds, and CERTAINLY not FAKE evacuation funds taking advantage of genocide victims. all this shit abt how people are deliberately choosing not to fund every post that passes their dash because they hate palestinians literally just does the work of actual scammers for them by laying the high-pressure sales tactics groundwork, and the "do you guys have any idea how hard it is to keep coming up with new attention-grabbing fundraiser posts?" ones just ring EXTREMELY hollow because YEAH! YEAH I DO! and so does everyone i follow! and everyone they follow! because all of us are FUCKING BROKE and surviving on crumbs! i just saw one that said "i make sure to keep $40 in my wallet at all times so i can give $20 to any panhandlers i see, this is the same" and its like!! good for you, thats very nice, but like!!! you need need NEED to take a step back and realize that /being able to do that/ is a position of privilege, not the default setting to be a good person. i wont discount that some people do ignore fundraisers specifically because of racism because Of Course, but like. a) yelling at them isnt gonna make them stop, or more accurately yelling at /everyone else/ isnt gonna make those people stop, and b) trying to apply that as a blanket motivation for everyone just. realistically doesnt work. not donating is a nonaction, it is the literal default status, and while in specific situations you can use CONSISTENT absence of SPECIFIC actions to track a person's motivations SOMETIMES, broadly speaking that just. doesnt work.

there are 8 billion people on this planet. most of them will never know you exist. of the ones that do, most will not be able to help you. of the ones that can, most will not be on the broke bitches website passing the same communal $20 around. consider your audience and stop shitting on fellow poor people for having the gall to need to be careful with their money. and if you are genuinely only posting your fundraiser to tumblr, like. im sorry, but you need to anticipate not reaching your goal and prepare accordingly. theres a reason the last big scam scandal people talk about actually getting the money is like. all-or-nothing era, as a website none of us have the funds to make that kind of thing happen anymore or the security to risk it. a fundraiser not meeting its goal on here is not a personal sleight against whoever made it, its just how life goes sometimes. and it's unfair and it sucks and we should help however we can, but. sometimes you just arent able to help someone else, and continuing to feel responsible serves only to torture yourself. and blaming OTHERS serves only to move that guilt from yourself off onto another person. i imagine that has to be where a lot of the vitriol comes from, is people who cant afford to donate more getting pissed at people they see as having the funds but choosing not to share them, but again, sometimes you just are not able to achieve the goals you set out towards, through no fault of the specific parties involved.

people on tumblr choosing to buy groceries rather than potentially donate to a scam are not your enemy and are not the ones facilitating a genocide. we're all victims of the same horrific system, the question is just how that system manifests its influence on each of us. poverty kills just as thoroughly as a bomb. everyone is just doing their best to survive, and as much as we like to pretend that everyone should be a perfect selfless angel that puts others before themselves no matter what, humans are by default a selfish species, and it is a lot easier to say what youd do in theory than actually do it. and there's a reason you have to put on your own oxygen mask before helping the person beside you, youre of no help to anyone if youre too dead to do anything.

[cq-studios]

I hate this notion there is that asexual and aromatic (and all Aspec people, for that matter) are not discriminated against. Especially in queer circles that should be a safe space.

Like sure maybe our identities are easier make it easier to fake straightness (not really any more than bi/pan people, and is that even good for us, emotionally?), maybe our issues aren’t systemic (not really, considering the prevalence of Amatonormativity and how deeply it is rooted in the way said systems were made), maybe people are more willing to accept us (not really, we’re treated as wrong, broken, needed to be fixed just as often if not more, even in places we should feel safe).

Tell me how my grandfather, who I love very dearly, asking me to lie to him when he’s on his death bed, and tell him I am dating some nice boy to make him happy, isn’t hurtful, isn’t discrimination.

Tell me how my (queer) friends all infantilizing me after coming out, treating me like I was too pure to hear anything sexual, not saying things around me that didn’t bother me before I came out and would’ve continued not to after, isn’t discrimination.

Tell me how me explaining my identity to people and getting pitying looks, at best, and active denials of existence, at worst, isn’t discrimination.

Tell me how me headcannoning a character as Asexual or Aromantic, or ‘shipping’ two characters queer platonically and immediately getting shut down (mostly by other queer people saying they’re gay), isn’t discrimination.

TELL ME HOW ME NEVER SEEING ASEXUALITY OR AROMANTISM EVEN MENTIONED IN PRIDE DOCUMENTARIES ISN’T DISCRIMINATION

Maybe our issues are all social (not really) but that doesn’t make our struggle nothing. That doesn’t mean we don’t deserve support. That doesn’t mean our stories are less deserving of being told. That doesn’t mean we aren’t a part of your community.

I’m sick and tired of people pretending we don’t exist. Pretending we’re not deserving of the same attention, representation, and respect as other members of the community.

Neglect is still abuse. 1% is still a number. We’re here and we’re queer too.

Stand with us. Yell with us. Help us make ourselves known. Help us spread our message.

Because, god, I am so sick and tired of being ignored.

[grapejuicegay]

something about a touch that physically holds you to the duty placed on you

and how quickly it can turn ugly when you can’t live up to its expectations

[dyketubbo]

i hate that suicide jokes have become so common i think its genuinely having the same effect as the popularization of shit like delulu where people are getting so used to joking about suicide that they dont take it seriously anymore. tip for the people if you see someone online being suicidal and you dont know how to help the very least you can do is not reply with some sort of "well THAT just happened" type of comment or even worse a joke or passive encouragement ala "well i cant stop you i guess' (and if you post active encouragement go fuck yourself).

i know people are already addressing how suicide jokes are like self deprecation jokes where they just keep you stuck in a mentally unwell state but there should be more talk about how them becoming popular again is genuinely desensitizing people to suicidal ideation and even worse desensitizing people to actual suicide notes. take suicide seriously and if the person youre talking to tries to make it into a big joke either they really need help or theyre a really big asshole (and sometimes its both)

[selvepnea]

Thinking about. That one post about art. And how it's never good enough. Since you're the one that made it. And how. It might relate to how I view myself?

[complicit-rot]

i haven't been this social & talkative in Years someone drag me out back

[actual-corpse]

Okay... So I am Genderqueer.

Sometimes, I am female

Oftentimes, I'm male

Most times, I'm N/A

Occasionally, I'm both or all of the above

I was feeling kinda female today right?

Well, when I'm female, I usually feel disgusting, and it's songs like this one that really hammer it home. I'm not comfortable being female because I always feel pressured to perform a certain way. I always feel ogled, and it just makes me feel gross, and I hate it.

There's a post I saw about menstruation and the stains and stigma that come along with it.

I love dresses and skirts and the color pink, but I don't feel girl enough or pretty enough or skinny enough to perform as Girl... I don't like being so far removed from my AGAB, I don't hate being female.

I hate how it feels to be female.

[fantastic-mr-corvid]

In case anyone is wondering how my day is going, I spent most of it crying and am relying on ABBA to cheer me up & distract me, until I lose the will to try and fight against my schedule for the sake of my physical and mental health. Because sunk cost totally isn't a fallacy and I'm totaly not one day away from not being able to get up

Exept I'm already to in pain and exhausted to function and have been for the past week, with every day me being more and more aware of my pain as it either getting so bad I can't ignore it [and im reallyfucking good at that] or like every part of me, my ability to ignore the constant debilitating pain I am in is failing!

I'm tired and I just want to rest. I don't care of its a month and its over, at this rate im not going to be in any state to attend supervised research tomorrow let alone 8 hours of exams staring Monday over three days in a row! And fat chance for the exam on the 12th!!!

But don't worry! All I have to do is distract myself long enough for me to lose the energy to even speak out about how I'm in so much pain and can't take any more, and then my anxiety will make sure I show up like a good little student so ready to prove they aren't a crippled lazy bitch who's a failure!

And then somehow I'll last through it all, then once it's over I'm forced to recon with how everyone around me pushed me to continue and the permanent impact that the pain & exhaustion & anxiety of the past year will have on my mental and physical health! Yay!

[opens-up-4-nobody]

...

[rottingfacade]

bag tour

[milo-is-rambling]

I wish I had friends near meeeeeee to distract me from my brainnnnnnnnnn

[fox-mulder-gets-pegged]

Gripping the sink tightly and looking into the mirror and repeating to myself that martrydom is overrated and that mortification of the flesh isn't as sexy as the media makes it look.