#Is This An Appropriate Answer?

[why-animals-do-the-thing]

Sorry if you've already covered this, but I was scrolling socials and saw that the San Antonio zoo got a large donation to expand their savanna habitat. The only thing that jarred me as I read through their expansion plans was apparently they're going to be outfitting some 'safari' vehicles so guests can be taken into the habitat to feed and interact with the animals (from within the vehicle). I was always under the impression that this kind of interaction wasn't necessarily good for either the humans or the animals-- is there a way it can be done ethically?? Anyway, I just thought it was interesting!

Ooo, okay, your question aligned with a thing I've been chewing on for a while, so let's talk ~ethics~ and ~philosophy~ aka this is gonna be a bit long. I do promise I'll answer your question, though!

The first thing I want to note is that you're really asking about two different things, which are almost always conflated these days when it comes to talking about animals: welfare (is the animal happy / healthy / safe) and ethics (is what's happening good / moral / acceptable). It's really important that we distinguish between the two, because welfare is an objective measure of physical and mental wellbeing, and ethics are a human construct that involves subjective interpretation.

A useful but highly oversimplified example of this is the bothering of cats for online videos. Pestering a cat to get a funny reaction once in a while may not impact their overall welfare. Welfare is the cumulative impact of an animal's experiences, which means that single acute moments may not weight heavily on the entire balance. If the cat is healthy, fed well, enriched, and has a good and positive bond with their humans, those momentary irritations for videos might not matter much. That doesn't mean that you or I, as viewers, might not still find bothering an animal for internet clout ethical. We can believe that humans shouldn't ever unnecessarily put their pet through negative experiences, and we can think that doing so just because it brings the human money or fame is distasteful. But! We have to recognize that as used in this example, those ethical stances aren't inherently tied to the animal's welfare state. Many people I know who dislike cat-bothering don't care if the animal has good welfare outside of that situation - they don't like that the situation occurs at all, ever.

So, back to your question. You're wanting to know if it's okay for a zoo to have a drive-through aspect of an exhibit where people get to feed the animals. You're asking if it's safe for the humans and for the animals (which is a welfare question) and if that type of interaction is ethical. I could just tell you that of course it's fine, San Antonio is an AZA zoo and their accreditation only allows them to do "good things" but that's now how it works here (nor is it the reality of accreditation).

The safety aspect is one I'm not worried about. It's actually a pretty common thing for reputable facilities to do some sort of vehicle tour in savanna habitats, whether in the guest's vehicle (safari parks) or on a hay-ride type vehicle (zoos). Many of those allow guests to feed out specific parts of their animals' diets. Offhand, I know Tampa and Fossil Rim both have feeding tours like this in a staff-driven vehicle. It's not specified from the zoo's press release, but I can guarantee you that guests will not be driving those vehicles - which means the interactions will be proctored by staff and what people are feeding out will be carefully regulated. The habitat is going to have rhino, giraffe, zebra, ostrich, and antelope/gazelle, and I'd guess that the drive-through is going to stick to those latter two and maybe additional species. Those are animals where a car is an appropriate safety barrier.

As to if it's ethical to do? It's spiny question, because it depends very directly on the ethical perspectives of the person you're asking. I think it's fine - you may not. Let's break down the different things that come into consideration on the ethical side, and my responses:

"The zoo is commercially exploiting animals by letting people pay to get closer." If the issue is that people paying to get closer to animals is using them for money, well, that's the business model of a zoo (non-profit or not, they still need revenue to operate). So IMHO it's not like it's "less ethical" than anything else the zoo is doing, using that framing.

"Zoo animals should be allowed to be wild and undisturbed by guests driving in their habitats." Zoo animals aren't wild, and their entire lives revolve around humans and the human work schedule. As long as a vehicle entering the habitat doesn't have a negative welfare impact (e.g. they're not scared of it), it's not very different from the rest of the routine of managed care.

"Feeding zoo animals will encourage people to try to feed wild animals." Thanks to obnoxiously viral content creators, people are going to try to feed wild animals no matter what. Doing it in a proctored situation where a staff member can try to do some education at the same time is probably the best possible scenario.

"People just do those tours to get close to cool animals." People are always going to want to touch the animals. If being able to pay for a tour keeps them from jumping the fence to try to pet a rhino, great.

There's one more that I want to talk about separately, because I think it's where a lot of confusion gets generated. It's this idea that "Humans shouldn't be interacting with animals at all, any interaction is unethical and bad for the animals." This is a welfare crossover, but not one actually informed by welfare science in a captive situation. And I think it's because the internet lacks nuance. Yes, it is absolutely correct to say that with wild animals, you should never ever try to feed a deer out of your car (or similar). It is incredibly harmful to those animals on both an acute and chronic timeline. But thanks to the rage-bait algorithms on social media and people endlessly justifying doing stupid, dangerous, bad things (and getting pushback for it), there's been a lot of bleed between the public's understanding of what wild animal welfare is and what captive animal welfare is. Combine that with the reality that captive animal welfare cannot be assessed or diagnosed from a single context-less clip, and that people with strong beliefs and no practical experience with the field/species/individual will pass judgement loudly to their audiences...

The result is almost a reflexive believe in many sectors of the internet that any human-animal interaction that isn't couched as a "rescue" is inherently unethical, for reasons people often can't articulate. Which is why, I think, so often people want to support certain aspects of captive animal management but feel guilty for doing so. I see this a lot in the questions the blogs gets, and I'm glad people feel comfortable asking, because it's important to think through not just the individual instances but the patterns leading us to question them.

So yes, I'd say that a staff-led experience in a vehicle chosen for safety is an ethical way to proctor an interaction between guests and certain savanna species. It will vary by facility - I'm always more wary about guests driving, although many drive-through safaris are fine - and by setup. I think what San Antonio is doing will be fine, though, and will be interested to see / hear about the setup when they start up.

If you've got a question about ethical captive management, I'm always happy to talk about it - but I'd invite you to poke around in your head a little and send me not just your question in the ask, but your thinking about why or why not something might be concerning. It's great practice for understanding why you relate to animal ethics the way you do, and where those beliefs come from.

[hellotailor]

Apologies if you've already done a post on this and I've just missed it, but can I ask for your take on the pyjamas worn by the cast of interview with vampire? I mean technically they're not a 100% necessary item, but just from a quick look there seems to be a lot of variety and they do change over the series

ok, i’m delighted by the specificity of this question, and it turns out that i have a VERY extensive answer.

there’s a lot of sleepwear in IWTV due to the volume of bedroom/coffin scenes, and like any other outfit, these costumes are shaped by characterization and historical period. for instance claudia initially wears a long, modest, frilly nightgown - an old-fashioned style that plays into her girlish doll wardrobe purchased by louis and lestat. however her sleepwear matures over the years, including a trendy lace nightdress with bloomers in the 1920s (note the rectangular silhouette), and a pink padded jacket/pastel robe outfit in 1940s paris. she's following contemporary trends while charting a visible trajectory from child to adult.

when i wrote about the Théâtre des Vampires coven costumes, i noted that while their wardrobes share certain themes (ie. monochrome patterns and stripes), they each have specific personal tastes. that holds true for sleepwear. in the S2 finale we see the coven going to bed in their coffins, with Eglee in a gorgeous (maybe 1940s?) robe, Celeste in a striped pajama suit reflecting her 1920s-30s cabaret style, and Armand in a plain grey set of prison jammies because he's Suffering.

of course, the star pajama outfits all belong to Louis and Lestat, playing into their wealthy domestic aesthetic in S1. they receive multiple bedroom/coffin scenes, and Lestat's gold Leyendecker robe is obviously iconic.

touching on the historical side of things for a moment, pajamas (as in a matching buttondown top and loose pants) were popularized in the western world in the 19th century, as a repurposed south asian import - kind of like how banyans became trendy among the upper classes in 18th century england. this was when loungewear started to catch on as a concept, both in terms of dressing gowns and smoking jackets (which you could wear while socializing at home) and actual pajamas, which became unisex in the 1920s.

back in his human life in the 18th century, Lestat probably slept naked or wore a shapeless white nightgown (and possibly a nightcap, the sexiest of garments). but in New Orleans he adopts Louis' lifestyle, which involves a luxurious wardrobe of fashionable menswear. they're both into shopping and looking good, and i think they enjoy the ritual of getting dressed together each night.

(i also have a personal theory that Lestat may prefer to sleep fully clothed because his formative traumatic memory involves waking up naked in the dark. after all, he doesn't need pajamas to stay warm, and he doesn't have a recent habit of wearing them in his human life like Louis does. then again, maybe he just enjoys having a new outfit for every occasion!)

in Dubai, we only get one scene (iirc) with Louis and Armand in their pajamas, lying in bed wearing outfits that tie into the striped prison bar imagery of their bedroom. Armand is in warmer brown tones (like his Paris wardrobe) while Louis is in black and grey, like the rest of his Dubai outfits. i'd also note that this is the one place where they're genuine in private, meaning that they aren't putting on a show for Daniel. so this is potentially Armand's most relaxed costume in the present day.

the fact that they're wearing this kind of old-school sleepwear feels very appropriate for their whole deal, imo. in the 21st century, a lot of people just sleep in boxers and t-shirts or whatever. there's a slightly 20th century vibe to wearing a full set of buttondown pajamas, and Armand's outfit reads as more stylish (and possibly more wealthy) than your average millennial guy. which makes sense! they're old men.

i think we can assume that every single thing in their Dubai home is ferociously expensive, even when it doesn't need to be. considering the way Louis gives himself a modern makeover in the finale, i do wonder if he'll switch over to sleeping in t-shirts etc next season, or if he'll stick with variations of the same sleepwear he wore during his mortal life.

p.s. all of my iwtv design posts are available on this tag!

[marigoos]

Hello this a long shot call, am a citizen of Palestine. I am here to request for your support to help get my insulin (Humalog), just an injection for today to save my life please I beg.I was diagnosized with type 1 diabetes and due to current situation in Gaza I'm unable to get my insulin injection as a result I'm here begging for little financial support to help me purchase insulin for this week, am having a balance of$168. Am sorry if am sending you again this request, kindly donate any amount please. My donation link is in my pinned post🇵🇸. Thank you and be blessed ❤️

THIS IS A KNOWN SCAM (SEE LINK HERE)

Funny seeing you here just two days after I warned a mutual about you :) I thought you recurring scammers had me pre-blocked after the last time I tagged every single soul I saw reblogging one of y'all's pinned posts. And you know what? I'll do it again. I don't care that it's 300+ people. You deigned to show your ass in my inbox, it would be rude not to answer appropriately!

IF YOU'VE BEEN TAGGED IN THIS POST:

1) don't be ashamed, it happens. I just ask that you kindly delete your reblog or edit it, and warn your followers

2) this is a known scam, they keep trying with new usernames. In general, the red flags here are: generated username (3 english words in a row), very low end goal (they're usually several thousands USD), Paypal (less protections), Humalog/insulin, they say they're vetted but not who vetted them, very recent blog with lots of reblogs of popular posts but unrelated to the topic.

Singularly they're not that weird, but if you see any of those elements you should be more wary and do some research before reblogging!

3) try to follow a scam buster, I follow @/kyra45 (or at least take note. She has some resources that can be useful to check every once in a while)

4) don't feel obligated to come and thank me or apologize for falling for it, that's a lot of you and only one of my inbox °v° it's ok, really, I get it. I've fallen for scams before, it's not your fault I swear

5) if you were tagged but never had anything to do with this scammer: I typed everything manually because it was faster, I may have made a mistake. Do contact me so I can mention the right person ^^"

Next day edit: got blocked, they graciously left another ask in my inbox so I'm adding some more people to my mentions list :3 please notice how they went overnight from magnificentdraginengineer - paypal name lavender namisi, to vallarysblog - paypal name vallary wanjala. They'll keep doing this so get familiar with the text of the ask instead of the name, it's going to serve you in the future

'Nother edit: changed url to loudduckcrown but paypal is still vallary wanjala

@judaswail @nothingventurednothinggained123 @sintribos @igothurtdoingsafetydance @freetobezii

[ashwhowrites]

Yay! Your request is open!! 🥰 I hope this makes sense to you. I don’t see any rules that you don’t write for but I’m going to giving try. If you’re not comfortable with, ignore it.

Rockstar!Eddie x pregnant!reader: angst/fluff; eddie have gone pretty much all over the world for the band. He kept the promise that he’ll be home to his wife before a baby comes but the flight was delayed and worried he won’t be home. He really needs a miracle.

I hope this is what you wanted and you enjoy it. Thank you for requesting 🫶🏻

Dad's promise

Eddie was having the time of his life on tour with his band. They traveled all over the world and had their last show. He couldn't wait to be home with his wife. She was amazing and supported Eddie's dream. She only had one rule- he HAD to be home for the birth.

He promised he would not miss the birth of their first child and he did everything in his power to stand by that. He was rushing the band to the airport, refusing to let any of them stop for snacks or even use the bathroom. He wanted to be on the flight on time and go home to his wife.

He talked to her every day and he missed her like crazy. He got her and the baby a gift from every stop on the tour, he didn't care that he had to pay for another carry-on. His phone was blowing up from Y/N, alerting him that she was going into labor and he needed to get home as fast as he could.

He was sitting in his seat, practically shaking as he looked around. A flight attendant walked past and he was quick to call out to her.

"Excuse me, how long until we take off?"

"Should be any minute, sir." She said, a big smile on her face as she walked away. Eddie groaned but accepted the answer. He tried to calm himself down but it was clear he was panicking.

"We'll get you there as fast as we can, kid." Eddie's manager said as he placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"I have to make it back. If I don't she'll never forgive me and I won't forgive myself." Eddie said he closed his eyes as he tried to keep his breathing stable.

"Ladies and gentlemen, this is your pilot speaking. We are looking at an hour delay and will continue to give updates throughout the hour. Thank you."

"Are you fucking serious?" Eddie groaned, and a few people turned to look at him with a disapproving look. But he didn't care, he was about to have a panic attack.

"Just breathe, Eddie. There's a chance she still might be in labor by the time we arrive." His manager said but Eddie was unbuckling from his seat.

"Not a chance I'm willing to take. I made a promise and I'm not letting her do this alone." Eddie snapped, grabbing his bags and demanding for the doors to open.

~~~

"Where is he?" Y/N cried, sweat covering her body as she screamed out. The pain was becoming unbearable and she was getting scared Eddie wasn't going to make it.

"I'm sure he'll be here any minute. Keep breathing," the nurse said as she allowed Y/N to grip her hand.

"How close am I?" Y/N asked, her eyes traveled to the door.

"The baby is ready now," the doctor said, Y/N shook her head no as he sat down.

"No, no. We have to wait for my husband! He's coming!" She panicked

"I'm sorry but we can't wait," the doctor said. Y/N begged and begged but the doctor continued to prep for the baby.

Y/N cried but did what she had to do. She gripped the nurse's hand and began to push.

~

Eddie ran into the hospital, smacking into the front desk as he frantically asked for his wife's room.

"I'll take you there and prep you"

Eddie breathed a sigh of relief that he made it in time, following behind the lady as she took him through the doors.

He listened carefully as the lady told him what to do and how to wear the appropriate clothes. His hands were shaking, wishing the lady would stop talking and let him in the damn room.

Once she told him the number, he was running down the hallway. His eyes scanned the numbers as fast as he could.

~

Y/N screamed as she continued to push, her sweat and tears mixing as they fell down her neck.

"I see the head, keep pushing, Y/N. You got this!" The doctor encouraged. Y/N nodded and took a second to breathe.

The door burst open, and Eddie came running in. Once they made eye contact, they both sighed with relief.

"Oh, thank God," Y/N laughed. Eddie smiled and was quick to switch spots with the nurse. He grabbed her hand and gave it a small kiss.

"I'm here, I'm here. You can do it, love." He whispered to her, but she kept her eyes on him. She smiled through her tears and nodded.

"I tried to make them wait"

Eddie chucked at her words, "That's okay. I'm here so let's do this, yeah? Have us a baby?"

She nodded and turned back to the doctor, her hand holding Eddie's as she began to push again. She felt far less scared now that he was here.

With a few final pushes, the sound of a baby crying filled the room. Eddie kept his hand with her but moved to see the baby.

"Congratulations, you have a baby girl"

Eddie leaned over and kissed Y/N's sweaty forehead, pushing back her hair.

"You did it!" He smiled, kissing her again and again.

Once they cleared the baby up, the doctor passed her to Y/N.

"She's beautiful," Y/N gasped. She held the tiny baby in her arms, her heart full.

"Just like you," Eddie whispered, speaking as softly as he could. He reached over and softly touched the baby's head.

"I can't believe I'm a girl Dad"

Y/N looked up at him, watching as his eyes filled with tears. Eddie felt her staring and looked back at her. He never thought he'd have his own little family in a million years, but here he was.

"You two are going to be my whole world"

@bmunson86 @mxcheese @ladymunson @michaelfuckinglangdon @z0mbie-blah @biittersweet @mirrorsstuff @somethingvicked @micheledawn1975 @ago-godance @magnificantmermaid @tlclick73 @hargrovesswifee @cityofidek @silky-luxe @lokiofasgard616 @loving-and-dreaming @eddiemunsonsbitch69 @thegemaqua @ashlynnkennedy @strangerthingsstories5255 @harringt8ns @pleasinghellfire @whoscamila @stusdollface93 @gretavankleep37 @bellaisswagger @arlx @ineedmentalhelp123

[robinsfilm]

TOUNGE TIED

PAIRING: jason todd ✗ reader ;

SYNOPSIS: hidden away in a library, you bask in seeing that pink hue on jason's cheeks ;

ANON ASKED: " Reader teasing Jason over his blushing. You can decide whether they're in an established or pre-established relationship. " ;

WORD COUNT: 0.9k ;

NOTES: took a while to get this request done, not because the writing took some time, it was just because this is my first ever time getting actual requests, so i am all over the place with this. in this work reader and jason aren't in a relationship yet. thank you anon for the request <3 cross posted on my AO3.

♯ MASTERLIST ; NAVIGATION.

A SUBTLE TINGLING OF THE BELL SHIMMERED IN THE AIR. The old smell of book pages spreads through the small library. Its rusty brick outside, snuggled between two towering buildings, had caught Jason's eye during patrol a few days ago.

He contemplated asking you if you'd like to visit the little, small haven he had found. Every time the thought crossed his mind, a warm feeling spread through his body; his cheeks felt hot and his hands shaky.

Weird, but now that doesn't matter.

What matters is that somehow you both were in the doorway of the said library.

Your eyes darted around the room laid in front of you, curiosity obvious in your gaze. The library had truly had a homey, cozy feeling to it. Your hand grazed Jason's as you pointed out a decoration on the wall next to the two of you, though Jason's mind was preoccupied by the small touch of your hand on his.

Was it silly, he thought, that even a single graze had him tripping over his words?

The same warmth spreads through him now as it did then when he thought of ways to bring you here; what do I say to them? Should I label this as a date? Or is that too soon?

He remembers mentioning the small library when you piped up and suggested both of you visited the place.

“C’mon, Jaybeans! It’ll be fun. You and me.” You and me.

You took the words out of his mouth, literally. Answer, goddamn it!

“Yes!” he says, a bit too loud. You tilt your head, a smirk appearing on your face.

Oh, he wanted to wipe that smug grin off your face. With a kiss, preferably. You'd have a field day teasing him for that as well. He can’t really seem to mind; a kiss from you seems worth it.

He's forced to snap out of his daydream when he hears your melodic voice ring out in his ears.

“Earth to Jason,” you quip, not before raising a brow, “what's got you all quiet? You seem nervous.”

Goddamn you and how well you know him and his tells.

“Nothing,” he stammers as he answers, “now, let's go in.”

The warmth of the library makes both of you feel the unforgiving cold of the Gotham weather. The freezing hands hidden in pockets slowly peeking out, faces hiding under scarves poking out.

More accurately, his face pokes out from the scarf wrapped around him. Your scarf, he should add on that.

He almost stopped dead in his tracks when you turned to him and wrapped the fluffy, crocheted by hand scarf around him.

You scolded him about dressing appropriately for the weather. He should have been listening; god knows he hangs onto every word you say, but at that moment every sound was lost on him.

The saccharine-intoxicating smell of the fabric engulfed him wholly.

You eyed him a moment then, eyes squinting as if taking every detail of him, before you muttered just for him to hear.

“It looks good on you.”

Jason feels his cheeks grow hot—too hot, his palms grow sweaty. God, when did it get so hot?

The last thing he remembers seeing is your face breaking into a proud smile.

He hopes you won't ask for the scarf back, he thinks as he gathers both of your coats to set on the rack.

The book shelves fill the entire library so much that there's barely any space for the two of you. You don't seem to mind, he notes, as you drag him down the shelves, bodies close.

He runs his hand through his hair nervously, black and white steaks getting caught between his fingers. He has styled it. Did you notice, he thinks? Does he want you to notice?

Yes, he concludes, he does.

“Hm,” you hum, “I’ve been planning on reading Emma since you mentioned it.” You remembered that? He thinks as you look through the books to find your desired one.

‘If I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more.’

He remembers that single quote; it rings over in his mind repeatedly.

Get it together, Jason, he scolds himself.

“It has ‘the I-am-going-to-scoop-my-heart-out-with-a-spoon level romance of Pride & Prejudice’” he muses.

“It better not be like Mansfield Park,” you puff. “Jane, I'm not mad; I’m just disappointed.”

His laugh slipped out, low and warm. You take in the sight in front of you: his laugh; his smile, his eyes smiling alongside with it; the scrunching of his nose.

It’s truly a heavenly sight.

Oh, only if you could tell him.

“You should laugh more,” you simply say. It’ll do for now; it’ll do until he gives you the okay, the okay to tell him all of it.

You'll bask in his blushes and stutters as he tries to gather his thoughts.

“What?”

“You should laugh more,” you contemplate for a second, “and blush more.”

“You—” he huffs, “just get the book.” He tries to turn his head away from you, though the red on the tip of his ears is telling you all you need to know.

You'll wait; he'll wait as well.

Because all of this is worth the wait.

© ROBINSFILM ﹕ I do not give consent for my writing to be posted or used on any other platforms without my permission and proper credit.

[crazycatsiren]

I've been thinking about the "it's not that autistic people don't know how to communicate, it's that we communicate differently" statement. True. Very true. 100% agreed. Absolutely and totally valid. But, hear me out: communication is also highly culture dependent.

In the USA, my being direct, literal, honest, frank, answering what I'm asked, and speaking what I'm thinking, is often considered "rude" and "mean". In Germany, it's neutral, appropriate even. In China, I'm being nice because I'm not actually insulting anyone.

Example: "Does this dress make me look fat" when it actually does.

USA: "Of course not! You look great!"

Germany: "Yes."

China: "It makes your ass look as big as the Yellow River."

Another example: "How are you?"

USA: "I'm very well, thank you!"

Germany: "I have diarrhea."

China: "I need to go shit my brains out for the eighth time, you idiot, go away."

[mysi101]

The Southern Raiders: so, demon Zuko brought out the worst in poor, innocent Katara…

What did Zuko do to deserve this accusation coming from some people among the fanbase? I rewatched The Southern Raiders the other day and spend close attention to catch up on what they could possibly mean.

So, what does Zuko do to Katara after the Gaang flees from Azula?

He looks after her and is holding an appropriate distance while asking her, calmly, why she still can’t trust him.

After her response he realizes: Oh yeah, I wronged her the most. Followed by asking how he can make it up to her and understanding what she needs, even though she is giving sarcastic answers.

He offers Katara a chance to face the killer of her mother, so she will be finally able to receive closure and begin the process of healing. This is an exact parallel of Zuko facing Ozai on The day of the black sun. He could’ve just left and join the Gaang, but instead he chose to face his father first: because he needed this.

(Furthermore, he spared Ozai, the same way he spared Zhao even back in S1; that goes against the frequently used argument that he definitely expected Katara to kill Yon Rha coming from some people.)

As I mentioned before, I paid close attention during my rewatch

At no point is Zuko pushing Katara to do anything she doesn’t want, nor does he do anything else to release her dark side.

Am I the only one picturing an incubus-like Zuko whispering in Katara’s ear, every time someone claims that?

On the opposite: He is listening to her and is offering support while facing her biggest trauma. The same goes for the actual field trip: he is nothing but supportive, doesn’t push her to do anything and is standing aside, so that Katara can receive closure under her own conditions—which she did, and she forgave Zuko because of it. Not only that, she even gives him a tight hug out of deep gratitude. Would a person act like this towards somebody who brought out the worst in them? I highly doubt it.

But then why is Katara showing a dark side, some might even say, she is OOC?

I genuinely don’t get the OOC-part... She is very in-character, and her dark side has nothing to do with Zuko. It’s Katara being presented as an actual human being with feelings. Imagine that...

Why is Aang allowed to show a dark side? I never heard anyone complain about him in those specific situations. But Katara, despite raising her voice before and showing her rage in many situations during the show, is suddenly acting OOC when it comes to The Southern Raiders.

She is about to face her trauma and to meet her mother’s killer, of course she won’t be the happiest person in the world, more nervous and angry, lashing out if someone tries to stop her. Yeah, and even going as far as to use bloodbending when finally meeting the (wrong) man.

Doesn’t mean her feelings aren’t justified, and it wasn’t Zuko who brought them up, but the situation alone.

That’s all this is

A person facing her trauma, thus showing very natural darker feelings in this situation, after suppressing them for years. Of course, it was hard for Katara, but she agreed on this trip because she knew she needed it. It was the right thing for her to do—and Zuko is the one who gave her a chance on this, nothing more, nothing less.

[mal3vol3nt]

https://www.tumblr.com/longing-for-rain/755847912227028992/here-we-observe-the-aang-boymom-in-its-natural?source=share

Hi! I'm curious on your thoughts of this meta.

hi anon! so sorry for keeping you waiting with this response, i know it’s been months. unfortunately this probably isn’t gonna be the response you wanted to hear—me breaking down this zk brainrot rant and subverting their claims with canon content. please allow me to explain though (this is gonna be long sorry):

the reasons i’ve been slow to answer this ask and others that have sent me zk rants are:

since joining atla twitter (@arrsapphics if you’re cool) i’ve been exposed to a lot more zk coke-fueled rants and just do not have the energy to torture myself by willingly reading their shit

a lot of these zutara stans on tumblr are a lot more deranged and genuinely horrible people now that i’ve been exposed to the twitter zks. of course, zks are stupid and ship-obsessed on every platform and some of them (one in particular comes to mind—if you’re on twitter then you know) are genuinely just as bad, but i feel the ones on here have a special type of hatred considering they can tag their posts to ensure their hate stays within the echo chamber

CONTENT WARNING: RAP3

the second reason is the biggest part of why i will no longer entertain posts from longing-for-rain. i have recently found out via twitter that they write rape fanfiction of katara. being a chronically online shipper is one thing but to write fanfic of katara being raped so that zuko can save her is truly where i have to disengage. they have also posted rants of them analyzing katara’s body in the show, measuring the size of her breasts and hips to support the delusions in their head about this 14 year old girl. i truly cannot engage with this person’s rants as if they’re just regular shipping war bullshit. this person is a sick individual who not only projects onto a 14 year old brown indigenous character but also sexualizes and adultifies her

for these reasons, i refuse to read a rant posted by her and other big zk blogs on this app. people who take their obvious fetishes and racism and project them onto underaged asian and indigenous characters have gained too much attention from me on this blog. i can’t continue reading rants from these people and analyzing them because i know these people are not treating this show and its characters under an appropriate lens and arguing with their points will do absolutely nothing but enrage me, other people in the ka fandom, and fuel their delusions with our anger as “proof” their arguments hold any weight. on twitter, i’ll continue interacting with what comes up on my tl from my atla moots and if that includes shitting on a deranged zk then fine. but on tumblr i refuse to engage, especially since this app has a tagging system that i use religiously

and i would like to encourage anyone who reads this to also refuse to take this person’s rants seriously and look at them as nothing more than cope-hatred by a sick individual with sick fantasies and thoughts about these minor characters. of course, if you choose to still engage then i won’t stop you and will probably like and reblog your posts 😭

i will just no longer willingly click on links to their rants and subject myself to their bullshit. however, if you’d like for me to argue against zk claims then you are more than welcome to send me a summary of what they’ve said and i’ll do my best to organize a response! i absolutely do not want to discourage anyone from sending me asks because i truly do enjoy answering yalls questions and i love knowing that people like hearing what i have to say on these things lol. please, send me asks about anything and everything! just please understand that i won’t be clicking any links to their posts and blogs or be entertaining anything that comes from the three main delusional zk blogs 🙏

i hope this has made sense and again, i’m sorry anon for taking so long to answer this ask and for not giving the expected response 🫶

[corneliushickey]

i have been trying and failing to get an appropriate referral to a specialist for HRT since about november of last year, and clerical issues/errors have sent me to the wrong provider three times now, including this week when my referral to a provider fifty miles away from me (one way!!) has the wrong dx code

so i had to call my pcp (for probably the thousandth time) and ask them to fix that with my medical group, and the person who answered was the front desk admin who i know well, and she told me i sounded defeated and that she would get this taken care of before lunch and call me afterwards

but the reason i'm making this post is that after she said that she got super excited and asked if i had seen their office's new intake forms. and i said i had not and she said that she added pronoun options to them and they just got approved and added.

and when i first came to the office the gender options were "male, female, and trans", and i asked her about why that was the case and she said "oh, should it be... something else?" and we talked for about ten minutes about how to adjust the forms and that same day she changed them (of her own volition!) to be write-in instead of multiple choice.

and it's just very moving to me that through this absolute nonsense nine month clusterfuck of insurance, medical group, and admin staff shafting me for care at every possible opportunity, this one woman is now dedicated to updating her office's paperwork to be more trans inclusive, and she gets excited every time she sees me because she can tell me about a new positive change she has made.

[lights-at-night]

a chronological analysis of ranefall's relationship

alternately titled, 2373 words of me yapping about ranefall

long post. spoilers for all of tsv s3

on first impression, the relationship between faulkner and rane is that of a prophet and his disciple, a leader and his loyal advisor. rane's introduction is them driving faulkner back to the paraclete's gulch - an act of service, which sets a tone for the rest of their relationship. they say that "it was a true privilege to have seen it with [faulkner]". this establishes that rane and faulkner are not on equal footing, that rane's experience is elevated by faulkner's presence (or perhaps status). 

after this, faulkner persuades rane into telling him about their opinions of the katabasians' council by saying that they are on equal footing. of course, they aren't. but this illusion allows rane to feel like they are permitted to be open with him. faulkner doesn't return this courtesy, not answering rane's question of if legalisation is allowed and instead telling rane something appropriately shocking (a death threat towards him), to perhaps distract. 

 rane continues to act as faulkner's assistant in the next few episodes, bringing him news of the parish. however, chapter 33 marks a gradual change in rane and faulkner's relationship. faulkner's monologue in returning to the paraclete's gulch shows how far he has risen in status within the parish. he isn't just an ambitious fanatic in the eyes of the faith anymore, to them he is a prophet. and he is loved. 

as this is happening, rane takes over more and more of his responsibilities. thirteen sentences of this monologue are dedicated to repeating back what rane has told him. this shows his increase in reliance on rane to tell him about the parish and also likely means that rane is the one who has been finding out all this, giving them a more active role in the parish. at the end of this chapter, rane is the one arranging the ceremony to pray /derogatory for carpenter and they are the one preaching to the worshippers, which likely means that they were in charge of that ceremony and not faulkner. their relationship has become somewhat balanced, though not equal: rane obeys faulkner's orders since he is the high prophet, and faulkner obeys rane's stage directions for his performance. 

this episode is a turning point for rane and faulkner, with rane taking a more active role in leading the parish and faulkner confined to being a extremely prized decoration, an object of worship.

this is what their relationship seems to be at a surface level. but faulkner's monologue in chapter 33 also tells us that he views his status as a prophet as a "performance". he doesn't genuinely believe he is a mouthpiece of the trawlerman. the status that the parish has raised him to is somewhat undeserved. 

whether rane, too, believes that faulkner is in direct communion with the trawlerman is not revealed. they always act like it, but since the only lens we see them through is faulkner's, this is not necessarily an accurate representation of them. it would seem that  rane is loyal to faulkner, for example in their interactions with  roemont. the stage directions in this section state how rane is "placatory", and how in the first scene mentioned their tone is "polite". when asked what they see in faulkner by roemont, they say "i'm not sure i understand", which could be genuine confusion over how roemont doesn't see faulkner's glory, or a way to go forth in the conversation as neutral and not be accused by either side. from this, my guess is that rane has a genuine belief in faulkner, to an extent, but may be doing so only for the sake of politeness, or appearances. 

chapter 38 continues to have their dynamic be in limbo. greve's message to faulkner makes him all the more self aware about his deception. he is reminded unkindly that he is very much alone and no amount of love from his fanatics can change that. 

so faulkner tells rane about his childhood home, making the both of them feel like they are closer. without the pressure of leading the parish, they can pretend they could be friends. given faulkner repeating greve's monologue, i think he talks to rane as a way to remind himself he isn't as alone as she says he is. 

then faulkner tells rane to find him prayermarks to protect from gods. when asked if using the marks of another god is blasphemy to the trawlerman, faulkner replies with "it's not blasphemy if the high prophet does it,". he is still leveraging his title over rane despite his discontent with the role. to him, he says whatever will get him the prayermarks. to rane, it blends faulkner as a person with faulkner the high prophet even more.

at the end of the episode, rane saves faulkner from drowning himself. they ask him if he heard the music. this shows how their faith is at the forefront of rane's mind, not faulkner's wellbeing, and it always has and will be - an attitude they hold throughout the series and which faulkner acknowledges in the drowning scene. faulkner doesn't answer, which is a completely reasonable response in this situation. this is probably the most honest they have been with each other since their meeting, with rane saying what i assume they are thinking and faulkner not lying about his faith in the trawlerman. 

faulkner continues his descent, and rane can see this. they might be making an effort yo keep faulkner alive but the only actions we see them make are to repair faulkner's facade. for example, with sister cull, rane tells her to forget she heard any of that. even though the grand aquifer is run down and, as faulkner says, not grand at all, rane continues to pretend that this is what they've all been waiting for, that their sect of the faith is glorious and winning their civil war, which faulkner tells us. i think this is rane's way of showing care, of trying to lift the burden of performance from faulkner. in chapter 44, they say with honesty that they "saw [faulkner] falter" and that "it is [their] duty to pick him back up," which is what i believe their intentions to be when they carry on faulkner's performance. 

 previously, in e33, they found faulkner near to having a breakdown and faulkner told them it was because direct communion with the trawlerman was taxing. and since they found faulkner in the same place he first heard the trawlerman as a child,, it would be a reasonable assumption for rane to make that faulkner was doing that again. they might not genuinely believe this, but it could be a way for them to make sense of faulkner in a way that aligns with their view of him. so they accept this, try their best to make sure it cannot happen again, because what would be the point of all this if faulkner cannot be what everyone thinks he is? nothing is more important than the faith, and the high prophet is the basis of this entire faith. so they pick up the pieces of faulkner's cracked mask, and tell the devout that everything is fine and good. because of this, rane has completely taken over faulkner's responsibilities at this point. there's a quote from arcane that is applicable here: "when i ask [...] what [he's] up to, your name's the first out of their mouth." rane is practically leading the parish at this point, in all ways save titles. 

a demonstration of how little faulkner's word matters is in chapter 43, where rane pressures faulkner into giving away the withermark and tells their audience to disregard faulkner's words, which the faithful do. this shows faulkner's deterioration not only mentally but also in the eyes of his worshippers. he is not what they believe him to be, and so his words are disregarded easily. as he says himself, the word's won't save [him]. they never could. this scene also works as a reversal of their first meeting, where faulkner pressures rane into telling their true opinions with his status. in contrast here, rane pressures faulkner into telling the truth of the withermark with their status among the faith. this is representative of how their positions are completely swapped, with rane holding significantly more power than faulkner. 

faulkner is aware that they are both performing to a degree. the drowning scene is important because in that scene, faulkner takes advantage of their mutual performance to force rane to drown. faulkner frames his discontent in the role of the high prophet, and hides himself from rane for the final time. he pretends that his rage at their indirect murder of carpenter was because he did not have the opportunity to do so himself: that his anger is out of betrayal from their disobedience and not the remnants of love for his sister. this makes sense to rane, it fits into their view of him - it is stated in the transcripts that "rane understands now." faulkner continues to fit within his persona in this scene - is it not fitting that a prophet name his closest advisor his successor, to give someone so close to him a role of importance? - i believe this is what makes rane realize that something is wrong. faulkner has not put on this role in a while - since his suicide attempt, he puts low to no effort into maintaining how he is regarded by the parish. to pivot from that to this is a drastic change, one that likely has reason put into it. faulkner then pressures rane to join him in the water using the role they made for themself. he calls rane is his "most faithful servant", and tells them that "i wouldn’t want you coming to resent me, sibling rane. not when you’ve worked so hard to get me where i am." he puts rane back into a place beneath him, pretending that rane is not the one in control. the next step in this scene would be, of course, for rane to join faulkner in the water. the transcript states, "rane hesitates. they are most definitely afraid for their life and unwilling to join faulkner in the water...but they don't know how to say it without completely shattering the shared performance of loyalty and trust." this demonstrates that rane is aware that this is a performance and that they are expected to play a role just like faulkner was. since neither of them can let up the performance in front of the other, rane is coerced into going into the water.

faulkner disrobes, symbolic of how he is in a way giving up the act. his high prophet clothes have been representative of his persona since ch33, where he describes the clothes that he wears as the high prophet. rane, previously, had told him that his disciples had sewn him a cassock. he says it is too big for him, and rane says they'll pad out his shoulders. this is a physical representation of how rane reshapes him to serve a purpose for the parish. in this scene, he sheds the physical form of the persona of the high prophet and as he drowns rane, he is once again honest with them. 

this scene also demonstrates well how faulkner views rane as a mirror of himself. rane has parallels to faulkner in season 2, with faulkner comparing him and rane to mason and him. rane is as faulkner once was, an eager disciple who thought they were special, but who now knows better. faulkner also asks rane if they would like to be him multiple times, and when drowning rane says many things that could be applicable as him talking to himself, such as "you’re meant to be born anew, sibling! that’s what this is all about! you’re meant to be DIFFERENT! you’re meant to be BETTER! why aren’t you becoming SOMETHING BETTER?" if we interpret this to be faulkner projecting really hard, in this he expresses frustration towards how becoming high prophet has not somehow shifted him into being a better, greater person. though he calls rane charlie in the final paragraphs of the scene, he could also be talking to himself - "we’re so close, you and I, we’re almost there, we can almost hear the music, and once we hear the music, we’ll understand what it was all about, we’ll finally understand, and all the pain will be worth it, everything will be worth it-" he clings onto the idea that there is something better in his future, and tells rane that as he drowns them. 

this scene is faulkner subjecting rane to what he feels they've done to him. faulkner locking him and rane in the dreaming pools together represents how they are both trapped in their respective roles. faulkner twists his words to force rane into a role that isn't them in a mirror of rane persisting the high prophet facade. by drowning rane, faulkner feels as though he is drowning himself, which gives him some degree of satisfaction, given his suicidal ideation. but all he has achieved is to make himself more alone. 

though faulkner views rane as a perfect mirror, a "better version of [him], perhaps, who falters less and says the right words at the proper time," what rane really is to faulkner is a shadow. faulkner cannot see rane for who they are because he is too caught up in himself, as demonstrated in the drowning scene. we only see rane without faulkner on one occasion, with roemont, and even that is brief. a shadow is an imitation always seen with the one who casts it - as is rane. since rane never gets their own point of view written in the series, what faulkner is to rane is deliberately nebulous. due to faulkner's unreliable narration. rane is viewed through layers of paranoia, self-loathing and projection. we can never truly know what faulkner was to rane, but we can guess. my personal opinion is that rane did care about faulkner, but their idolization of him and prioritisation of the faith made it impossible to form a true bond. 

thanks for reading! i would like to request the title of official ranefall guy 

[n4rval]

I enjoy that you gave gaster chronic pain and a hatred of stairs. he is just like me fr fr 🙏

cane user

[bloggingboutburgers]

*puts tiny frog in your hand* *runs away*

Hehe thanks, frogs are cute^^

[omaano]

For the poly drawing meme, 2M or 1E! (Asleep pile and one-awake two-asleep slump respectively) if you wish!! ⭐️⭐️💫💫🤩 I would love anything Star Wars, platonic or ship (if you have any in mind!) 🥳 I am a big fan of your Mando, or any of the Vode, if that inspires you! 👀

Thanks so much for asking dear! ❤️ here we go dipping our toes back into @sidhebeingbrand and @toughbreaks changeling AU (I hope it's okay!) Also, I haven’t recommended it in quite a while, so this is your sign to go read it and heap some love on the spectacular writing and world building!! Because I'd give my life for this story and AU, and I didn’t forget how eagerly Gregor had tried to chat Din up in the first chapter XD so here you go, nap pile! Kinda

Boba is going to be down to 98 brothers if Gregor doesn’t wake up first though >:3

Help me get back into sketching through some of these polyam/platonic pose prompts :3

[ishipmutualrespect]

Did you see that Enews posted about it too?do you think this was all planned?because it sure looks like it but I just cant see the reason

I think it might have been planned based on a few things such:

Louis announcing 1 day before that he was going to be online and chat with us. He never did that before. I was already a bit suspicious when he posted that tbh

People were expecting him to be online the whole day and when he started chatting we were amused by his usual sassy self until he mentioned Freddie and then the whole Chicken Parmesan happened.

When I found out that that article was posted 1 day before it was already a little confirmation that this whole thing was planned for me

On top of everything, it’s interesting because the article quoted the “childish conspiracy theory” that he mentioned but at the time that they posted that he hadn’t even started answering questions.

But when I read the comments under that article on the writer’s end, that confirmed it even more for me. They’re saying that they prepare some articles beforehand

But honestly how do you accidentally quote something that’s not been posted yet? Do you foretell the future?

Anyways, he sat a date and made sure to mention Freddie and Larry (honestly this was the stretchiest of the strechtes on all the things he could have chose to speak about larry. He or the person who answered for him saw the word chicken and panicked and rushed to make a comment on that not realising that it wasn’t even the right dish shfkshdj) at the same time.

I don’t even know the reasons tbh, it could be anything but the thing is it happened and one of the funniest things is that I’m sure a new wave of new larries is going to join

[oifaaa]

common mistake: deku is a student acutualy hehe *heart* (wtf is going on with mha im????? its too much blease)

Wait stop Deku isn't actually a teacher at UA without a quirk he wasn't able to graduate from the hero course he's actually just stuck repeating his final year

[carlyraejepsans]

for real WHERE does the idea that [utdr humans] are nongendered so that "you can project on them" come from. their literal character arcs are about NOT being a blank slate to be filled in by the audience

i think i understand the assumption on some level for undertale, because there is a very intentional effort to make you identify with the "player character" in order to make your choices feel like your own (the beating heart of undertale's metanarrative lies in giving you an alternative path to violence against its enemies after all, and whether you're still willing to persue it for your own selfish reasons. YOUR agency is crucial).

of course, the cardinal plot twist of the main ending sweeps the rug from under your feet on that in every way, and frisk's individuality becomes, in turn, a tool to further UT's OTHER main theme: completionism as a form of diegetic violence within the story. replaying the game would steal frisk's life and happy ending from them for our own perverse sentimentality, emotionally forcing our hand away from the reset button.

i think their neutrality absolutely aids in that immersion. but also, there's this weird attitude by (mostly) cis fans where it being functional within the story makes it... somehow "editable" and "up to the player" as well? which is gross and shows their ass on how they approach gender neutrality in general lol.

but also like. there's plenty of neutral, non PCharacters in undertale and deltarune. even when undertale was just an earthbound fangame and the player immersion metanarrative was completely absent, toby still described frisk as a "young, androgynous person". sometimes characters are just neutral by design. it's not that hard to understand lol.

anyone who makes this argument for kris deltarune is braindead. nothing else to say about it.