#a respect for choice

[holyshit]

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[shadowbends]

Looking through your Ao3 bookmarks and seeing that little “This has been deleted, sorry!” is like finding a gravestone, but the writing’s too worn down to read what it was standing for anymore.

What were you, Bookmark #336... What stories did you tell? Which words were it that once left a mark on my soul?  *touches my laptop screen like it’s text from an ancient ruin*

Cowabummer. 

[dumpster-fire-sapphic-failgirl]

If Aabria has 1 million fans, I am one of them

If Aabria has 1 thousand fans, I am one of them

If Aabria has 1 hundred fans, I am one of them

If Aabria has 1 fan, it is Brennan Lee Mulligan and I have been killed, please avenge me

[from-the-coffee-shop-in-edoras]

Someone asked me to expand a little on a topic that was buried down in a big chain of reblogs, so I'm doing that here--it's about the use of the archaic "thee", "thou", "thy", etc. in LOTR and what it tells you about characters’ feelings for one another. (I am NOT an expert on this, so it's just what I've picked up over time!)

Like many (most?) modern English speakers, I grew up thinking of those old forms of 2nd person address as being extra formal. I think that's because my main exposure to them was in the Bible ("thou shall not...") and why wouldn't god, speaking as the ultimate authority, be using the most formal, official voice? But it turns out that for a huge chunk of the history of the English language, "thee," "thou," and "thy" were actually the informal/casual alternatives to the formal "you", “your”, “yours”. Like tú v. usted in Spanish!

With that in mind, Tolkien was very intentional about when he peppered in a "thee" or a "thou" in his dialogue. It only happens a handful of times. Most of those are when a jerk is trying to make clear that someone else is beneath them by treating them informally. Denethor "thou"s Gandalf when he’s pissed at him. The Witch King calls Éowyn "thee" to cut her down verbally before he cuts her down physically. And the Mouth of Sauron calls Aragorn and Gandalf "thou" as a way to show them that he has the upper hand. (Big oops by all 3 of these guys!)

The other times are the opposite--it's when someone starts to use the informal/casual form as a way to show their feeling of affection for someone else. Galadriel goes with the formal "you" all through the company's days in Lórien, but by the time they leave she has really taken them to heart. So when she sends them a message via Gandalf early in the Two Towers, she uses "thee" and "thou" in her words to Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli because now they're valued friends and allies. And--this is the big one, folks, that was already alluded to in my previous post--Éowyn starts aggressively "thou"ing Aragorn when she is begging him to take her along as he prepares to ride out of Dunharrow. She is very intentionally trying to communicate her feelings to him in her choice of pronoun--an "I wouldn't be calling you "thee" if I didn't love you" kind of thing. And he is just as intentionally using "you" in every single one of his responses in order to gently establish a boundary with her without having to state outright that he doesn't reciprocate her feelings. It's not until much later when her engagement to Faramir is announced that Aragorn finally busts out "I have wished thee joy ever since I first saw thee". Because now it is safe to acknowledge a relationship of closeness and familiarity with her without the risk that it will be misinterpreted. He absolutely wants to have that close, familiar relationship, but he saved it for when he knew she could accept it on his terms without getting hurt.

So, you know, like all things language-based...Tolkien made very purposeful decisions in his word choices down to a bonkers level of detail. I didn’t know about this pronoun thing until I was a whole ass adult, but that’s the joy of dealing with Tolkien. I still discover new things like this almost every time I re-read.

[biggest-gaudiest-patronuses]

if you're getting a nipple graft anyway, you should be allowed to choose what shape u want

[emberwritesinsight]

Every year Akio Ohtori loans his sister out to a bunch of teenagers, grooms said teenagers, makes all of them fight each other several times, does irreparable emotional damage, hopefully THOROUGHLY cleans the inside of his car because Christ alive.

And all of this, all these surreal, intricate rituals, are so he can lose a sword fight with a door.

This has happened multiple times. He doesn't even seem particularly upset about failing. Every year Akio Ohtori loses a sword fight with a door and somehow does not feel like an absolute clown. Could NOT be me, I would never try again. I would lie awake at night every night after the first attempt agonizing about how stupid I must have looked and how my sister absolutely would have laughed at me if all the organs she needed to do so weren't getting shish-kebabed six ways to Sunday.

[brainrot-radio]

Throws these at you

[daydreamerwonderkid]

Cackling at all the people complaining about Slade's new look.

Like, holy shit, my guys. This fucker's main nemeses are fucking toddlers right now. They're in fucking diapers and this idiot is out here chumming it up with Amanda fucking Waller.

This fucker's main goal in life is to avoid paying child support and to spend his free time gaslighting teenagers into becoming his sidekicks before getting super petty and pissed off when they inevitably tell him to go fuck himself.

For fuck's sake, he still has both of his eyes!!!!! We're literally watching a man about to get his eye shot out by his pissed off ex-wife (whom we all stan) and y'all are worrying about him looking like fucking Lotor or Shiro????????

Do you guys really not realize the full comedic potential of all of this?????

My Adventures With Superman is literally handing us the opportunity to watch Slade on the precipice of fully entering into his cringe fail era, and y'all wanna complain about his new character design when it actually fits everything we know about this loser??????

[mayasaura]

All sympathy for Palamedes tho bc having met Dulcie, a hunky mysterious death cultist swooping in to catch her like a romance novel protagonist is exactly the sort of excitement that would have distracted her for weeks. The thing with Gideon wasn't all that out of character if you couldn't hear their conversations

[mari-lair]

more body swap!

[possibly-not-a-ghost]

Fake Cryptids, Real Ghosts

Ok, so dp x dc/batfam because this AU has me by the throat but what if it's the fake cryptid batfamily AU who never joined the JL.

Just...imagine it. The Batfamily has been protecting Gotham quietly but fiercely by scaring the daylights out of criminals as creatures that go bump in the night. A bit of stage magic, frightening method acting, contortion, a whole language comprised of chirps, growls, and body language, and the best tech possible and you've got a recipe for striking fear into the hearts of everyone.

They've got shrines on the rooftops, vaguely on the JL radar (Cause really, who's gonna believe that Gotham, one of the worst cities has a demon problem? Constantine? Homeboy took one look at Gotham and went Nope.) and they're protected cause any self respecting Gothamite wouldn't go spilling the beans to Outsiders. The Bats keep them safe. Who would believe them anyways?

Enter half dead, half alive Danny Fenton.

Danny Fenton who has a best friend's named Tucker and Sam who find out about the Gotham Cryptids, and go absolutely ham on research because here lies something,a bunch of someone's who are Other. Maybe they're creepy but they're cool and they're Heroes and they help people.

Sure, at first it was an attempt from Sam and Tucker to help their best friend feel less alone in the face of other, more 'normal' heroes and people out there in the world. Maybe they try to further bury the Bats online cause if anyone understands keeping on the down low, it would be Amity Parker's. For awhile, Danny Fenton, sometimes Phantom is simply happy to know he's not alone.

Then he's outed and his sister who's long since been ecto-contaiminated is put at risk there's nowhere that seems safer. Gotham is a chaotic city, even without the Bats factoring in. After all Gotham has (Demons-Spirits-Creatures?) The Bats already. Who would care if a halfa and his sister hide out there? As long as they're respectful of their territory, it'll be fine right? Besides, they've got to warn the Bats anyways about the GIW and government. They're coming after ghosts, who knows if they'll be next? Spooky things have to look out for each other after all.

Cue shenanigans as Phantom who stops hiding all of his creepier traits as a ghost walks up to the Totally Human but Faking it Batman with really thoughtful gifts for all of their shrines (And one fruitcake), no heartbeat and an earnest plea for a safe haven in their Haunt because the Ancients taught him manners and the importance of respecting another entities territory.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

He definitely meant the sword, right?

[First] Prev <–-> Next

[fuckmeyer]

the choice between Edward & Jacob is not a question of which relationship is healthier or which partner is best suitable for Bella. neither is correct. neither is best. neither produces a happy ending for Bella. at the end of the day this is still a vampire novel. any choice Bella could make would yield, at best, a bittersweet happily ever after.

if she chooses Edward, she gets the terrifying Breaking Dawn ending: a girl who rejected her call to grow up has hung her love & her eternity on an emotionally stunted partner who hates himself marginally less than he loves her. she's a teen mom with a kid she never wanted who perpetuates the generational trauma passed down from her parents. by keeping this child, the Cullens have set the stage for an uprising/cold war against the Volturi who are likely to take revenge in order to maintain power. Bella is living in a tenuous "dream come true" wrapped in a nightmare & doesn't realize it.

choosing Jacob is the true coming-of-age ending that rips the stitches out of a wound that never fully healed. even if we ignore the fact that she ends up with a man who sexually assaulted her (we must bear in mind Jacob's character is influenced by smeyer's racism, but it did happen), they can't have a secure romantic relationship. based on the high imprinting rate of the pack, Jacob will likely find his imprint in his lifetime & will lose himself to the imprintee. he will no longer be her Jacob. he will inevitably abandon her (whether he wants to or not), & she must reconcile with the reality that she will always be inadequate to Jacob's imprint. & say he never manages to escape the vampires? he will presumably not age for a long time, meaning the relationship Bella always feared with Edward (her being an old grandmother while he stays forever young) remains a possibility. this is the story of a girl who slaps a Band Aid on an open wound & calls herself healed while flinching every time she sees the shadow of the knife that cut her.

if she chooses neither (team therapy), her healing requires her to lose or be at least partially disconnected from everyone she cares about. Bella must spend the rest of her life shut out from one world while never fully existing in her human world ever again. she must always keep secrets. she can never go back home. even in the unlikely event that she manages to escape the Volturi, the threat of being hunted by vampires will never leave her. in addition, she must face her worst fears (aging, losing Edward) while always keeping in mind the immortal life that could have been hers, if only.

even the "healthiest" option produces scars that will never quite heal.

Twilight is a horror. Twilight is a vampire novel. Twilight is gothic. Twilight is fiction. neither Edward nor Jacob is a "bad" choice because neither will give Bella her happily ever after. the choice between Edward & Jacob is simply a matter of which horror story you prefer to read.

[wizardnuke]

the mighty nein thesis. is. you are not what the world and your abusers want you to be and we are all going to fight so hard to make sure that you turn out okay. we are going to hit your abusers so fucking hard. we are going to chase your mind-controlled or came-back-wrong ass across the continent to get you back. we are going to hold you accountable and you're gonna do the same for us. it takes a fucking village to not go down the path that was set for you but thankfully there are seven to nine of us working together to keep you safe. from yourself and others. it's gonna be okay we are gonna make sure of it. on god you are going to be okay

[canisalbus]

Imagine if Machete was Muslim instead of Catholic. His name would be something like Saif سيف, and Vasco would probably be something like Dhahabi ذَهَبِيّ

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[the-valkyries-gwyn-nesta-emerie]

☆Friendly Reminder☆

Elain made her choice in the bonus chapter of Azriel’s when she returned his gift to her after he called their almost kiss a mistake. That can only be interpreted as a clear form of rejection, for both of them.

You don't say to someone almost kissing them is a mistake, unless it is one. You don't return gifts unless you are rejecting it and/or the person. That is Sarah way of closing the door on anything happening between E/riel for good.

On the flip side, Elain still has Lucien's gifts to her from BOTH Solstices. Lucien still looks at Elain with longing on Solstice....That is Sarah's way of leaving the door open for them.

Elain has made her choice and it is clear for all to see. Deal with it.