#and I won't erase this

[hedgehog-moss]

(TW POLICE VIOLENCE)

France has been feeling like a police state this week, there were 5000 cops deployed in Paris yesterday (watch this video and tell me this is a normal amount of cops and they're behaving normally) and they keep acting like they have total immunity*, to beat up protesters, to arrest protesters, or just random people walking in the vicinity of a protest. My 70+-year-old dad tried to go to a peaceful protest and had to abandon the idea because of all the tear gas being used by police.

*Which they do—as Le Monde pointed out, the cops who are violent risk nothing because they can't be identified because almost none of them wear their identification number even though it's supposed to be mandatory. They're not being penalised for not wearing them, so why should they?

If you can stomach it, please have a look at the photos and videos on this Twitter account documenting French police brutality against protesters—as I write this, the most recent tweet is about a journalist who was beaten up by a BRAV-M cop* using his steel baton; he had his head cracked open and his hand broken.

(* BRAV-M is a motorised repression corps—cops on bikes—a unit that was dissolved in 1986 after some of them beat a student to death, who wasn't even attending a protest but walking near one. Macron changed the unit's name, from Voltigeurs to BRAV-M, and reestablished it to suppress the Yellow Vests protests. This week, a BRAV-M cop deliberately drove over a 19-year-old's leg at a protest after chasing him on his bike. The victim said he heard a cop say to others "Smash him." Another BRAV-M punched a protester unconscious on March 20. And today Le Monde published an article about BRAV-M cops being recorded bragging about "breaking elbows and faces.")

In Paris last week the CRS arrested a 14-year-old kid because they took him for a dangerous black bloc protester I guess?? A child spent a night in police custody without knowing why. They've also arrested several 15 / 16 year-olds. Let's teach the youth what happens when you exercise your right to protest!

On March 16th in Paris, within one evening, they arrested 292 people, and 283 were released without charges, which means they're mass-arresting people for peaceful protests as a strategy of intimidation. The student I mentioned in my post the other day, who spent 48 hours in custody and was eventually charged for refusing to have his DNA samples taken and filed, asked the cops why they were arresting him + 4 other people who were walking down the same street and they said "Because you look like fucking leftists."

The government tells us "We fully support our brave police forces" when the cops are arresting people for "looking like leftists." How are we still a democracy? The guy also mentioned that during the time he spent at the police station, the police was mostly arresting Maghrebis, though they made an exception for him, a Black guy. There are videos from the past week of cops beating up women, tear gassing protesters in the face from 20cm away, kicking protesters in the face when they're already on the ground, crushing their heads under their boot, brutalising a homeless man and old ladies, tear gassing crowds with young children in them. I'm having trouble finding links to these specific incidents I remember because there are so many videos circulating.

Look at this video, they're violently striking the back of people's heads with steel batons even when the protesters are already going in the direction they're told to. The little old lady shoved around and trying to protect her head from the strikes is breaking my heart.

Surely at the point when enforcers of state authority are arresting middle schoolers, beating up citizens for exercising their rights and gassing and pepper spraying elderly people, children and babies in strollers, the government might want to make some sort of statement condemning this state of affairs, but instead they have been telling us they're proud of & grateful for their police forces, which of course angers people and makes protests more violent. The Minister of the Interior, who supervises the police, praises them wholeheartedly and excuses all instances of deliberate brutality as 'isolated incidents' due to 'tiredness'.

Here's a thread in English describing a protester's experience—"Yesterday (March 23) the level of arbitrary police violence clearly leveled up. I was tear gassed three times without being able to move in a very dense crowd; policemen took advantage that people were unable to move more than 20cm to pounce on us and bludgeon us in a totally arbitrary manner." (you can see an example of this behaviour in this video from a different protest)

Yesterday, after a day of nationwide protests that brought a fresh new wave of video evidence of cops beating up protesters and making reckless use of tear gas—at the end of a day when a special ed teacher at a protest got her thumb torn off by a tear gas grenade—this is what the French Prime Minister said:

They're not even trying to play it off like "both sides made mistakes" they're telling us they condone everything the police is doing, that this is what they're deploying them for:

(screencap from this video)

(this is from this video, in which you can hear a woman screaming "Stop it! You're strangling him! You have no right! I'm filming you!" The cops don't seem to care about being filmed. They're beating up citizens with the government's full blessing after all.)

Macron's government is trying to intimidate people into giving up their right to protest, by deploying cops in huge numbers and publicly voicing complete support for their behaviour, by allowing them to beat and arrest hundreds of people and to use tear gas indiscriminately. Tear gas has been completely normalised as a means of state violence, it's very practical that it doesn't leave traces of blood or broken bones I guess, but it's still violence, it burns, it's a chemical whose effects on people's health we don't know a lot about.

^ Paris (from this vid; caption: "one tear gas grenade after the other")

Macron condescendingly told us there's no "magic money" which is why the pension reform is needed, but he did find the money to stockpile these apparently unlimited amounts of tear gas grenades to suppress protests against his reform to make poor people work longer.

^ Nantes (screencap from a vid in which the cops throw three or four grenades at once and you can hear people say "oh come on, seriously? this is crazy. Why? go fuck yourselves" in a tired tone)

We've also found out yesterday that three Corsican MPs were pressured not to support the Assembly's no-confidence vote against the government—by being told if they didn't vote it, a teaching hospital would be built in Corsica.

The island of Corsica is the only region of France that doesn't have a teaching hospital; due to lack of medical resources Corsicans often have to travel to mainland France for healthcare. Just last month the Minister of Health said sorry, still no teaching hospital for Corsica, it's just not possible right now. Then last week some "magic money" was apparently found to build it but only if the Corsican MPs didn't support the no-confidence vote. I know this kind of thing isn't exactly unique in politics but Macron has been slashing hospital budgets to the point that 20% of French hospital beds are closed due to lack of staff, and he used the health of 340,000 French citizens as a bribe to save his ass. The three Corsican MPs ended up voting in favour of the no-confidence vote despite of that, as it was what their constituents wanted (honour to them). Macron's government survived the no-confidence vote by only 9 votes.

Whatever legitimacy Macron has as a President right now is being clung to by MP corruption and police repression. How do we move forwards knowing that, I don't know. How does he have legitimacy to govern on any issues after the way he handled this reform and the following protests? His police forces are drowning city centres in tear gas, a chemical whose effect on birds and other fauna is not known, and we're supposed to listen to him talk about the environment? They're wasting thousands of litres of water using water cannons to disperse protesters, and we're supposed to listen to him talk about low groundwater levels and how we need to save water? I was going to say, what about his legitimacy abroad but other Western governments don't seem too bothered so far by his handling of the protests—though I'm grateful that Amnesty International did condemn it, and that a Belgian deputy made a speech in Parliament this week asking his government to condemn Macron's use of violent police repression.

[Wait, I just saw that as I was writing this post, the Council of Europe condemned the "excessive use of force" in France. Saying that 'sporadic acts of violence' of some protesters can't 'justify the excessive use of force by agents of the State' or 'deprive peaceful protesters of their right to freedom of assembly'. This is the opposite framing as the one our government is standing by—sporadic acts of violence by cops that are either justified or excusable—it's refreshing.]

Between that and Charles III cancelling his visit (and lots of tourists cancelling trips to Paris which is bound to piss off the tourism industry) and our own media waking up and starting to talk about the government's brutality, I hope Macron starts being held accountable. He has been fanning the flames of this crisis at every turn, by telling us that the crowds protesting in the street have 'no legitimacy', by sending cops to break strikes even though striking is a Constitutional right (but the only part of the Constitution he cares about is the one that starts with 49.3), by condemning the protesters when asked to condemn police violence—saying "When [protesters] use violence, unregulated, absolute, we're no longer in a Republic." I agree, but he's describing himself.

When you resort to using article 49.3 to bypass the National Assembly for the 11th time this term to impose a reform that 70% of the country is against (and 93% of working people) that will force the poorer classes of the population to work longer, and your only response to people's distress at being told to work until they die is to force them to accept it by allowing your police forces to beat up protesters, to arrest them and to gas them, you have failed as a democratic leader.

The next organised protest and strike is next Tuesday (if you want to give something to the strike solidarity fund, here it is); in the meantime spontaneous protests are still erupting pretty much every day and cops are getting burnt out (good! There are fun videos from yesterday's protests of cops accidentally tear gassing one another, or a police car accidentally running into another as people laugh and clap.) And yes some protesters are getting more extreme and destructive, but Macron is the one choosing to stand by his reform at all costs and let this country burn. And when I look at what we're being expected to tolerate and to normalise, I'm kind of proud that French people's gut reaction was "burn it all."

Some popular Twitter hashtags for the protests:

#ToutCramer - Burn everything #CensurePopulaire - People's no-confidence vote #MacronDémission - Macron resign #OnLâcheRien - We won't cede an inch.

[blorbocedes]

people would really rather gaslight themselves that merc's domination era wasn't that dominating than admit NICO ROSBERG existed and was equally competent 😭😭😭 (7 consecutive wins btw 🤪)

[canonicallyanxious]

[neverafter episode 9 spoilers]

everything about ylfa's flashback scene made me feel fucking insane. the wolf is death and the ending of stories. the wolf ate ylfa's grandmother because it was time for her story to end. but for whatever reason it's not time for ylfa's end. for whatever reason the wolf wanted ylfa to live. the wolf ate the grandmother so that she could die, and ylfa ate the wolf so that she could live. the wolf wanted ylfa to live, and at the deepest core of herself she wants to live too. i'm scratching at the WALLS. LIKE "i met death and death wants me to live" EMILY SAID IT SO CASUALLY BUT LOWKEY THAT'S THE RAWEST SHIT I'VE EVER HEARD IN MY LIFE!

also though you need to eat to live and the consumption of stories to stay alive beyond the end of your own story... i am Thinking...

[disc0bandit]

[rawliverandgoronspice]

One small pet peeve of mine, but I see it popping up often, is the notion that the gerudos are a patriarchy because once in a blue moon a boy is born and is crowned king about it (at least in OoT lore). And that's... not how structural gendered power works, at least as far as I understand it? Otherwise countries all over the world would magically turn into a matriarchy if they elected a woman/the second they would crown a queen; and every little children would suddenly be taught completely different stories about their social roles and their bodies, and all religions would suddenly shift a little in the core tenents of their philosophies, and infrastructure and laws would magically be reshuffled, and, and... and it simply doesn't happen.

So yeah, Ganondorf grew up as king because the idea of kinghood was thought out, upheld and passed down by women, and specifically by his mothers. Ultimately, any real power rests in the cultural consciousness of a majority of women, which shapes all of them, including him. If they had culturally decided their only boy's fate was to be shunned, or a living coat hanger, and Ganondorf was raised on these ideas instead... I mean, he could have revolted, and he probably would have, but he would have still been a subject to a matriarchal ideology. Just because said matriarchal ideology works to his advantage doesn't mean he has control over it.

[tr4showl]

How it feels like being a Niki fan at this point

[aleksanderscult]

Zoya was being celebrated as the true queen and Aleksander was being called horrible untrue names under a post and I would like to be petty. Would you help me in this pettiness by pointing out all the times Zoya was overly horrible and an unfit ruler?

Another day where I wish I had read Nikolai's duology just so I could talk about those kind of moments.

But you know what? She was horrible in the trilogy too!

The way she greeted Alina by being contemptuous and trying to undermine her value:

The way she slammed her to a wall because Alina beat her and that was too much for her:

Alina had already taken the Darkling's attentions from her (although I doubt she had his attention that much) but to humiliate her like that in front of others? Not on her watch!

Apparently she was unnecessarily mean to Genya as well:

Zoya shows scorn and mockery towards Genya and her job as the Queen's servant. Her arrogance for considering herself as better than anyone else is showing in every page she appears.

The first time Zoya displayed interest in becoming Queen wasn't out of a true concern for the kingdom and its people but for the benefits this position would give her: wealth and prestige.

(and then Leigh made her queen🙂)

Another important and prevalent part of her personality is her hot-temper and recklessness. I've read only a couple of her POVs from "King of Scars" and whenever someone provokes them she snaps at them, yells or threatens. If you want to become a true leader then you need to be calm, logical and diplomatic. Many will try to hit you where you hurt through insults, indirect remarks etc. But you can't just rise from your sit and start yelling curses.

Zoya's character is simply not fit to become a leader, let alone a Queen. How will she successfully control a kingdom and its problems when she cannot control her own temper?

(for many more examples about her behaviour in Nikolai's duology, I'll ask the assistance of @stromuprisahat. She has read the duology and can give a deeper explanation about why Zoya sucks as Queen)

[muirmarie]

modern trek erasing mccoy is genuinely my villain origin story

[maxphilippa]

i think that the major misinterpretation that people have with taco is that she didn't get attached to mic because of her sad face in the end wanted to show regret because "she hurted her friend". like. no, she wasn't sad because she regretted what she did. she was sad because she's alone again, but she knows very well at the end that she had it coming. the reason as to why taco was so desperate of wanting mic to tell her that she did gain something is because. she SAW pickle in mic, but of course their situation is very different. "Oh but Taco couldn't have done what she did to Mic to Pickle, Mic was fully aware" but she did do that. Mic herself says it. That is pretty much what II is telling you. Taco isn't a good friend, and is not exactly a good person either. Mic was aware that Taco was/is a bad person, but Mic's nature makes her believe in whoever acknowledges her. Taco made Mic feel like she needed her, just the way she made Pickle feel back in s1.

she didn't really change thanks to mic. her faces of "regret" aren't her actually lamenting all of the stuff she did to microphone, but rather just her realizing that she proved what everyone said about her as a result. i will give it to that she might've tried to change, but not because of mic. she wanted to win the prize so she could prove others wrong on her being a loser and a coward, by being a loser and a coward. if anything, mic made her realize that she hasn't changed. she pretty much just ruined everything for everyone who saw her as a friend, and for herself.

taco's whole arc is constantly just downgraded to questionable takes and listen. i do agree that she is heavily flawed as a character. she is morally gray, but ii doesn't portray her as a good person with good intentions, nor she should be really be treated as if she was. neither she had those good intentions with mic at all, i mean, their "friendship" pretty much started because of taco wanting the prize money, taking a part of microphone's prize if she made mic won, you know, an offer. she would get the prize and mic would get recognition. but everyone seems to forget that probably, the main reason as to why she's doing all of this, is because she does regret how she acted on s1. she doesn't exactly regret doing all of that to microphone, and even if she does, it's for the wrong reasons. (that's because she did the exact same thing to you know, pickle, her once best friend, the only person she truly ever cared about)

people do tend to forget that taco keeps sending letters to pickle, and that's often just used for pickle angst and making it his only character trait, but. it's not that. it's the fact that taco keeps on writing those letters, despite fully knowing that she did hurt pickle because of her actions. taco's biggest flaw is that she can't accept that she has ruined everything and wants so desperately to be back on pickle's life because she ended up caring about him deeply as a person. as a friend. but she was never there at all, either.

taco can't seem to understand that she has hurted people badly. sure, she seemed like a "friend" to microphone, and you can argue whatever you want but a fact is that taco IS smart, and she knew that the only way to possibly keep mic by her side is pretending to want to be better, you know, the same way she pretended to be just a odd fella so pickle and her could remain together and have an advance at the game. she played with both of them. because both pickle and mic believed in her but were just used by her for the game.

however, taco does seem to regret the way everything went during-post s1. you can see how she yearns for another chance and is saddened about not getting it, but that's not only for comedic purposes, but that's because the writing is telling you that she won't get a second chance. at least not here.

what i want people to understand is that, yes, taco is a complex character, however trying to sugarcoat what she did is pretty much missing the point of her writing as a whole. she isn't a good person neither was she a good friend. she hasn't grown because she was never able to let go of something that she thinks that she can fix with some words and a prize. she thinks that she can still fix her friendship with pickle, she thinks that she can clear her name (even if she was the one who tainted it), but she only ended up proving knife right. she proved everyone right. she hasn't changed. a morally gray character is that. they're not exactly fully bad or fully good, but it's taco's actions that speak a lot. words are cheap, and taco's title is "The Liar", and that says a lot, because she kept on lying to microphone and to pickle on both of their games. she won't heal unless she lets go.

and i want to be clear here: i do think that taco can go through redemption. i do think that taco can become a better person, but not in the way people portray her to do so. because it just pretty much goes against what her arc has settled in for us, and the other arcs that were involved in hers as well.

taco's arc is meant to be somewhat a parallel with nickel's in a way. hell, even with knife's arc if anything. she treats knife as a simple bully, but when she saw that he became smarter and way more emotionally aware than what she had expected, she felt attacked by that, because he was stable. he became a better person and he was rubbing that on her, and it made her feelings of anger way worse regarding him, but it is true. knife is pretty much everything that taco wants to be, but here's the thing that made them so different:

knife stayed. taco didn't stay.

knife is accepted by everyone in the hotel because meanwhile he hasn't explicitly said that he had a change of heart, he has shown it through actions and a big difference too is that he was there for pickle, even if they weren't close in s1, and taco is on the woods because deep down she is aware that she can't go back. not if she doesn't have something to offer as an direct apology, but here's the problem. whether or not she got the prize, she still wouldn't get forgiven by anyone due to what she said that day.

again. her problem is not being able to let go and to accept when she has messed up badly. she has been lying to everyone but she has also been lying to herself as a whole. she can't keep on doing this because it's just hurting everyone and herself. keeping grudges and holding onto past friendships that were doomed to fall is just hurting her. she is not on the state to keep on trying, she wasn't at all ever.

taco's arc most likely will have closure on a way that fits her character, and i feel like that would be with her letting go of inanimate insanity as a whole and of what she can't fix anymore. her trying to find herself after years of lying to everyone and to herself. she's not a good person. but she can become one. only if she knows what she did was wrong and that her second chance isn't there, and never will be, and if she recognizes that meanwhile she did that damage, she can still become a better person. just not there.

pickle and mic don't owe her anything, especially pickle. taco does owe them an apology, but they won't accept that. the least she could do is to accept their wishes, understand that she needs to leave them and grow to be a better person. maybe, if she does that, she would actually heal.

she doesn't need anyone to fix her. she needs to fix herself.

[chimera-dolls]

Cos I saw someone 'defending' their misuse of the dollblr tag after receiving an ask about it because 'other people do it' - this is why it's a fucking problem in the first place. It is against TOS. It is unrelated to your post, it is spam, and don't be surprised if everything you post gets reported.

Just because other people spam the tag too, doesn't magically excempt it from TOS or user guidelines. Like at this point I am straight up breaking this down to bare bones website operation here, what's so hard to understand? It's shit like this that literally degrades website quality because as you spread your crap over multiple tags that are accumulating like a goddamn snowball, people stop actually using those tags for the topic they were meant for. People stop posting. People leave. Welcome to dead internet.

It doesn't matter if you see other people doing it, rules are rules. There is a reason WHY tag spam is against the rules and that's to keep a website useable. Actual Dollbr-bloggers? Keep reporting guys.

[decarbry]

Yabureme 1-1

[idk-bruh-20]

Irondad fic ideas #146

Karen is missing someone.

She's an AI, so she's not exactly supposed to have "feelings" the way a human would, but... what other way is there to explain it? Someone is supposed to be in her life, and they are not. She wants them back.

The problem is, she can't find any record of why she feels this way. There are no important people in her database who are currently missing, no gaps in her code that she can find. The only curiosity is the fact that she seems to no longer be helping Spider-Man.

That used to be her prime objective. Her entire reason for being. Maybe he's the one she's missing? She can't find any data to indicate that they were close, but perhaps that is a curiosity too. Surely, if Spider-Man wore a mask with her programming for all that time, she would know who he was, would have some record of their conversations.

With FRIDAY's (and Tony's! let my guy live!) help, Karen is untethered from the Spider-Man suit. She goes searching through every piece of tech she has access to for her missing friend.

When she finds him, she'll figure out what's wrong. And she'll help him fix it. It's what she was designed to do.

[buttercuparry]

I don't know about anyone else. But the only time I teared up was when I saw Joe getting ready for that fatal stunt. It was the music. It was the way it was shot. It was the knowledge of what's to come. It was knowing that this character's life was so thoroughly destroyed that he will now (unknowingly) walk to his death. Like how do you come back from that? Even when you are resurrected, each time you look into the mirror it wouldn't be your face. Your soul survived but what about that physical proof that YOU once existed? You are in a body that is not your own. You are in a home surrounded by photos not your own. You have a "mom" and you are pretending so hard to be her son. Nothing is the same, existential crisis is raw dogging you and still your luck is so shit that you are pulled back into the same circle you were forced to leave. Only now no one knows you and it seems like the world has moved on and you feel like people will forget. Soon everyone will forget. And isn't it the thing? The older Joe grows in this new body, people around will get used to it. Someone who hasn't seen his (JOE'S) photo in a long while, will slowly start to forget how he looked like. Joe would never see his body getting older. I mean he wanted to invest in crypto because he was afraid that after a point of time, he won't be able to work as a stuntman. All of his familiar aches, cuts, bruises that adorned his body, are gone. Our body carries with it our history. It carries with it so many stories. And for Joe, all of those stories, all the stories of building himself up as a stuntman- are gone. And for what? For whom? How do you come away from that? God I can feel why Joe was trembling in his "mother's" hold...I know why he slowly laid his head on her bosom. I too would want someone to hide me away from all of these bullshit.

[epitheterasedgen]

@nyarsenic and I have been doing some silly crossover RP between Molly and Lucas Mother 3 💖 (art by them!!!) Things these kids have in common:

striped shirts

depression

12 years old

lost their mom during a fire

their dad then neglected them for 2+ years

"complicated" relationship with sibling

raised themselves

hates capitalism

needs more friends their age

REALLY needs a hug

[everybodyknows-everybodydies]

On a day that isn’t one, Sheogorath tries to break into Aetherius.

It’s just a matter of going there, really. Going places is easy. So she does.

The great golden dragon is waiting just over the threshold. THIS PLACE IS NOT YOURS, it says—or rather, the words exist where they did not before, because the dragon wills them to. Its mouth never even opens. Show-off.

“No,” says Sheogorath with a smile. “But I’m everywhere else. Why not?”

ECLOSING ONE, HALF-DIGESTED THING. YOU DO NOT BELONG HERE.

“I belong where I am. I am everywhere but here. Now I am here, so now I belong.” She starts forward.

The great head lowers to block her path, eyes ticking brightly. WHO ARE YOU?

“Sheogorath,” she says, as her mouth tries to form another name. “The eyes want to see; I brought them to have a look. They’re here, aren’t they?”

THEY ARE ALL HERE, SAVE THOSE WHO ARE NOT. The dragon blinks, sidewise. She mimics, just to see if she can. YOU ARE NOT.

“But I am,” points out Sheogorath. “I’m right here. As you see.” And then, from her mouth but Before, “Please.”

DOES IT HURT?

“Oh, no; I’m done hurting now, thank you.” She tilts her head. “Did it hurt when you ate him? Was it—the same?”

YOU UNREMEMBER THE ASCENT. IT DID NOT HAPPEN THAT WAY, IN YOUR TIME.

“Didn’t it? Opened your great big jaws and then snip-snap! Just you, and no more of him. I was there, you know. I saw you.” Sheogorath taps her temple solemnly. “But that’s fine. It doesn’t have to be the priest. I don’t think the eyes want to see him anyway, the liar. Someone else, just to look. The last one told me ‘closure’—or it might turn out ‘closer’; I haven’t decided yet how it went—”

WHO ARE YOU?

“I told you already. Pay attention.”

SPEAK TRUE OR NOT AT ALL IN THIS PLACE. The wings unfurl—the dragon blots out the void above, rumbling dangerously. AND YOU CANNOT. YOU WILL LEAVE, UNWINDING ONE.

Sheogorath does not move. She listens, instead; it’s becoming increasingly difficult to pin down the Before thoughts, the ones bound to the name she doesn’t use anymore. It was the Before that wanted to be here, where the blurred faces came. The words of the dragon are, she identifies, making the Before thoughts sad.

“I see,” she says knowingly, and discards the sadness, as she has done. “We’re done with all that, you know.”

She gives a sweeping bow. The realization flits through on butterfly wings: Sheogorath doesn’t remember why she came here. Just to see if she could, more likely than not. She’s always doing things without a why. “Well. I have places to be that aren’t here, and better conversation partners to engage.”

The dragon only looks at her, silent.

This is the correct way—the only way—for it to end, of course, she acknowledges as she turns: no matter how else it went, the dragon was always silent, at the end.

But this is a Before thought, so Sheogorath puts it away.

[paldogangsaan]

the most frustrating part abt the scene with alicent and rhaenyra (other than it being ridiculous) is the attempt at portraying alicent as a passive victim with zero agency (TO BE CLEAR she's a victim of both otto and viserys, that's not a question, she had no choice there. she did, however, have a choice in other moments and those are what i'm talking abt in this post). the writers essentially made her go "oh i thought he was talking about MY aegon. well, it's too late. i am a tragic figure who never wanted war. oh no" like ?? some of us have eyes and can see that alicent has been actively trying to gain power, undermine rhaenyra, and divide the family even before the time skip. she shows up to rhaenyra's wedding late and wearing green, she sows discord between their kids, spreads rumors of rhaenyra's children being bastards despite knowing it could get them killed (+ in the book the only ppl yapping abt them being bastards were alicent and criston cole bc the point of spreading rumors was to undermine and hurt both them and rhaenyra, if it was true or not was irrelevant), and she literally hits aegon and insists that rhaenyra will kill him to cement her claim to the throne even when there's been no indication that she would. alicent did not have to do any of those things, she actively chose to

and rhaenyra was willing to leave all that in the past by marrying helaena and jace thus ending the (then metaphorical) war between their sides of the family, but alicent refused bc she wanted power and for rhaenyra to not have any, so she made active choices to ensure that, and didn't care for the consequences. now her son is the king, she never prepared him for it so he's shit at it, she can't control him, she has no power, and the only person surprised is her (and otto). but again, these are choices SHE made or helped make. making an enemy of rhaenyra, and everything that came bc of that, was a choice. she would've helped put aegon on the throne whether viserys quoted the prophecy to her or not, be it usurpation (which it was) or not. that was a choice alicent made. stop portraying her as a passive victim of the dance when that role belongs to helaena