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unpluggedfinancial · 4 months

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Listen, Understand, Grow: The Importance of Entertaining Other Perspectives

Introduction:

In a world increasingly polarized by differing viewpoints, the ability to entertain someone else's opinion is a skill that is both rare and invaluable. Open-mindedness not only fosters personal growth but also strengthens our communities and societies. In this blog post, we will explore the importance of considering other perspectives, the benefits it brings, and practical steps to become more open-minded. Let’s dive into how embracing diverse opinions can enrich our lives and create a more harmonious society.

The Importance of Entertaining Other Opinions:

Entertaining someone else’s opinion doesn’t mean you have to agree with them. Instead, it’s about understanding where they are coming from, considering their perspective, and recognizing the validity of their experiences. This approach leads to more informed and nuanced views and can help bridge the divide that often exists in contentious discussions.

Consider a scenario where a close friend holds a political belief different from yours. Instead of immediately dismissing their viewpoint, try to understand the experiences and reasons that shaped their belief. This doesn’t mean you need to adopt their perspective, but it helps in appreciating their journey and the diversity of thought that exists.

Benefits of Open-Mindedness:

Personal Growth:

Engaging with diverse opinions broadens your horizons, challenges your assumptions, and fosters critical thinking. For example, when you listen to someone with a different cultural background, you gain insights that can change how you view the world.

Improved Relationships:

Being open to others' perspectives can strengthen relationships by fostering mutual respect and understanding. Imagine the difference it can make in family gatherings if everyone felt heard and respected, despite differing opinions.

Better Decision Making:

Considering multiple viewpoints leads to more well-rounded and thoughtful decisions. In the workplace, this can translate into more effective problem-solving and innovative solutions.

Reduced Conflict:

Open-mindedness can reduce tensions and misunderstandings, making it easier to find common ground. Think about how community disputes could be resolved more amicably if people were willing to consider alternative viewpoints.

Practical Steps to Entertain Other Opinions:

Listen Actively:

Truly listen to what the other person is saying without planning your response while they are speaking. Show empathy and try to understand their point of view. For instance, during a heated debate, focus on understanding rather than winning the argument.

Ask Questions:

Encourage deeper conversation by asking questions that clarify their position and reasons behind their beliefs. This shows genuine interest and helps you gain a clearer understanding of their perspective.

Avoid Judgment:

Approach discussions without preconceived judgments. Focus on understanding rather than evaluating the rightness or wrongness of their opinion. This is especially important in sensitive topics like religion or politics.

Reflect on Your Biases:

Be aware of your own biases and how they might affect your perception of others' opinions. Reflect on why you hold certain views and be open to reevaluating them. Acknowledge that everyone, including yourself, has biases that can cloud judgment.

Seek Diverse Perspectives:

Actively seek out opinions and experiences different from your own, whether through conversations, books, articles, or social media. For example, follow thought leaders from various fields and backgrounds on social media to get a range of perspectives.

Challenges and How to Overcome Them:

Emotional Reactions:

It’s natural to feel defensive when confronted with opposing views. Practice mindfulness and emotional regulation to manage these reactions constructively. When you feel your emotions rising, take a deep breath and remind yourself of the value of understanding.

Echo Chambers:

In today’s digital age, it’s easy to get trapped in echo chambers. Make a conscious effort to expose yourself to diverse viewpoints. Join forums or groups that encourage healthy debate and diverse perspectives.

Fear of Change:

Sometimes, considering other opinions might challenge deeply held beliefs. Embrace this as an opportunity for growth rather than a threat. Remember, growth often comes from stepping out of your comfort zone.

Human Stories of Open-Mindedness:

Consider the story of Jane, who grew up in a small town with very homogenous beliefs. When she moved to a big city for college, she encountered classmates from diverse backgrounds and with different viewpoints. Initially, Jane found it challenging to relate to them. However, by engaging in open conversations, attending multicultural events, and joining discussion groups, she started to see the world through their eyes. This not only enriched her understanding but also helped her form deep, meaningful friendships.

Conclusion:

Entertaining someone else’s opinion is a powerful tool for personal and societal growth. It cultivates empathy, enhances understanding, and fosters a more cohesive and respectful community. By making a conscious effort to listen and consider different perspectives, we can all contribute to a more open-minded and harmonious world.

Call to Action:

What steps do you take to ensure you are open-minded in discussions? Share your strategies and experiences in the comments below. Let’s learn from each other and promote a culture of understanding and respect. Your journey towards open-mindedness can inspire others to do the same.

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warabola · 5 months

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Uhh, what about 2, 5 and 6 for The Director?

OC Asks!

2. Can they take care of a plant? What about a pet? What about a child?

Oh this is very aptly timed considering the Transports post earlier.

Yes, but no. With plants, they are more likely to commit crimes against the Horticultural Society than to properly tend to something. It was almost a relief that the Starved Men interrupted last year's festival.

Any pet that requires more delicate or consistent care is also a bad match for Avci, and will likely end up being cared for by one of the staff at their residences, or foisted upon an acquaintance. They are also not a good match for cats, birds, or normal weasels. But there have been the odd sightings of the Director with (debatably) creature companions– when they sleep at home, a slavering hound guards their rest; they've been spotted being uncharacteristically gentle with fluttering moths, particularly those frosted with ice; and they've tormented the Alleged Protege with a weirdly still weasel.

As for children...

Well, the Silvered Assistant is a good example that they can contribute to keeping a child alive. But that they probably shouldn't be involved in the slightest, ethically.

And a certain baby bat imprinted on them pretty quickly. Nothing bad's happened to it yet.

5. Speech! Speech! Speech! Speech! Will they give one, and what about?

Alas, they are regularly expected to do presentations and speak at length as the Director of the Railway. They weren't naturally inclined to public speaking, but have come a long way out of necessity. Now you could call them ~* A Master Bullshitter *~

It'd most likely be along the lines of a business proposal or convincing someone of something that would bring them inadvertent gain, but you could enlist them to try and debate any point and they could probably give a convincing argument. Would it be well sourced? No. Would it be ethical? Questionable. Would they say it confidently and compelling enough to make you think it was? Absolutely.

They also enjoy playing devil's advocate literally and less literally, should it promise to get a rise out of someone entertaining. There's a reason they largely work with August in the Council and on the Board.

If they had to choose their own topic, anything about toxicology is essentially a free pass for them.

6. Who will they take advice from, no matter what it is? Who won’t they take advice from, no matter what it is?

That... is a tough call.

They are the epitome of believing there's the right tool for every situation, and even their closest companions are on a carefully managed need-to-know basis. Part of their love language is also to freely call others out on bullshit and bad ideas without hesitation, and they anticipate it right back (regardless of whether they'll actually listen or not).

The closest to this might be the Alleged Protege. Though the Director knows well that their methodology and motives are in opposition of one another, the Protege is the closest to understanding all that's going on beneath the surface with Avci, and what's needed to pave the road to Hell. Everyone else, much as they might value their expertise, has burdens, biases, and emotional investment that will affect their advice at some point– or result in them giving advice the Director can not take.

Similarly, even a broken clock is right twice a day. If the worst person they know gives them an opinion they want to hear, they'll take it.

That said, monarchists and royals are largely out-of-touch and useless, and if a Sequencer is giving them advice, chances are they'll do the exact opposite.

#ask games #the director #ty for the asks! don't give them children or the chance to speak. it's for the best.

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claudemblems · 2 years

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congrats on 1k!! may i request both a platonic and romantic genshin matchup?

i go by any pronouns and i’d like to be matched with a male. i’d describe my personality as seeming very calm and unbothered. i have a dry sense of humor and i tend to joke around a lot as monotone and stoic i come off at first.

i’m usually very patient and tolerant of other people and don’t take offense easily, and i’m generally very accepting of others. i’m never judgmental about anything and try to be as understanding as i can. i also find it hard to hold grudges, i’m usually pretty forgiving and i believe that everyone deserves a second chance. even though i’m introverted, i get along with others easily with my pleasant and carefree nature. i’m sometimes too blunt and brutally honest to a fault, i prefer to tell things as they are instead of sparing someone’s feelings. i have a tendency to ignore my negative emotions and bury my anxieties of my past.

not sure about any hobbies of mine but i’m a bit of a nerd who wants to take up engineering/architecture. i like robotics, psychology, and other science related things. i also love stargazing at scenic views.

i don’t really have an ideal type, i fall for whoever i fall for. i like relationships at a slower pace, since i sometimes have trouble opening up however i show all sides of myself to someone i really trust. i don’t mind someone who’s similar to me like that either since i can empathize with them better. while i don’t get attached pretty easily, i stay attached once i do and am very loyal.

thanks so much!!

Your romantic matchup is Alhaitham!

It's a rarity for Alhaitham to come across someone similar to him and yet unaffected by his aloof behavior, which is why he was slightly taken aback the first time he met you. You matched his energy well, and you were pleasant enough (he noted that you were distinctly kind without coming off as disingenuous). Most people Alhaitham has crossed paths with have managed to irritate him in some way, but you never managed to annoy him. Rather, you intrigued him. His curiosity led him to seeking you out more, and over time, the two of you formed a friendship, which then eventually led to a budding romance.

Though he's not a particularly emotional person, he quite likes that you wear your heart on your sleeve. Your kindness is void of the expectation of wanting something in return, and you're able to remain both emotional and reasonable at the same time. They're attractive qualities to him. He does, however, get concerned at your tendency to bottle things up. He's never been good at dealing with his own feelings, but he knows that your behavior is only going to make things worse over time. So he offers to listen to your worries and concerns, offering advice wherever it's needed.

Somehow, you've made Kaveh's presence tolerable when you're in the room. You and Kaveh often discuss ideas for architectural designs, but Alhaitham only approves of your ideas. Kaveh scoffs and says only you get complimented because you're Alhaitham's girlfriend. The Scribe retorts that he's not biased in the slightest (okay...maybe just a little). Can you blame him for finding you much more interesting than any books he can possibly read? He'd much rather study you than words on a page. Besides, he just simply enjoys listening to you talk endlessly about your passions. It brings a smile to his face-- it never fails to leave Kaveh gaping at him in disbelief.

Alhaitham is also more than willing to take things slow. He's not in any hurry, and he wants to respect the boundaries you two put into place. Personality-wise, Alhaitham won't change simply because he's romantically-involved with you, but he does find himself striving to be a better partner. He just wants to see you live a peaceful, happy life. If it's within his power, he'll do whatever is necessary to make it a reality.

Your platonic matchup is Albedo!

Albedo is always eager to discuss any topic of interest with you. Your honesty helps him immensely with his research. Being unbiased when conducting experiments is a must, and you always provide helpful feedback. Sometimes, you even go so far as to assist him in his endeavors. He's grateful for the extra help and promises to repay you for your hard work when he next has the chance.

He's always extending offers for you to accompany him on his trips. Don't worry about supplies; he's already prepared everything you could possibly need. All you need to do is bring yourself a few changes of clothes. But he makes sure that you're not just conducting experiments on your trip. He acts as a tour guide and takes you to see beautiful sights, especially when it comes to the stars. Have you ever gazed at the stars from the tallest peak on Dragonspine? Well, now you're definitely going to!

One thing Albedo will never do is pressure you to share your past with him. He has plenty secrets of his own, and even if he were to share them with you, he believes they'd be too much to process. The two of you respect each other's boundaries, which helps foster an even deeper friendship between you two. Though, you both admit, you still find yourself curious about one another's pasts, no matter how much you try to suppress it. It's just human nature, after all.

If you're willing, Albedo would like the chance to be able to study you. You're unlike most of the people he's had the pleasure of meeting. The people of Mondstadt are lively and energetic, following wherever the wind takes them, and it's hard to decipher anything more about them from the surface. You, however, are full of complexity. You're sweet yet stoic, understanding yet blunt. There's a lot about you Albedo has yet to uncover, and he's determined to make this his most enriching experiment yet.

#❣️ - event

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fite-club · 6 months

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ok, so recreational and paid sex are different circumstances, fair enough. but you somehow can't seem to imagine a world where someone might have sex for the pleasure of someone else unless they're getting something material out of it (money, drugs, food, etc)? have you ever heard of stone butches/stone tops? and before you speak for them, have you ever had a conversation with any of them about stone sexuality?

can you not imagine a world where the reasons that people have sex are more complicated than "i do it for money", "i do it because i'm attracted to them" and "i do it because if i don't they threaten me"?

and on that topic, what are you even *defining* as sex? because even there, there are discussions of broadening what is considered 'sex'. is it something that only carries the risk of pregnancy or STDs (i.e. genital-genital, hand-genital, mouth-genital; same combination with toys)? or can it include the things that dungeons/dominatrixes/etc do which don't inherently involve genitals or orgasm, but *are* indisputably sexual in nature? is it rape culture to tie someone up if you're not sexually attracted to them?

i don't mean to bring up something i can't immediately source, but what comes to mind for me is something in a book or a zine of some kind where an asexual woman went to munches/sex parties and tied people up because she enjoyed it, but she did not get her genitals involved (it was implied she didn't get anyone else's involved either).

does sex only have to be about orgasm or genitals? or can it solely be about intimacy with another person above all else?

based on what you've said i'm getting that you had a couple of poor experiences with some asexuals who had some things to unpack that they have not yet unpacked, did not mention how old they are/how new to the community they were (yes, this matters much), and decided that you will speak over and for the asexual community on what their sexuality means because... something something 'talking about how some people experience asexuality is rape culture' and 'by some definitions *most everyone* is on the asexual spectrum' (lol this is a bad thing?? personally i look at asexuality less on its own spectrum and more as part of a huge spectrum of human sexual behavior, so to me, yeah, everyone is on that spectrum lmao).

not to dismiss your personal experiences here, but context matters, and if you've only ever had poor discussions on the subject with aces who didn't know what they were talking about, of course you're going to come away from the discussion having a poorer view of asexuals and asexuality. you're also not asexual, so your view of them is going to be filtered through that lens.

if this is such a huge problem within the asexual community, then it should be easy to find posts on the subject to discuss with and share, no? why must you as an allosexual lead the discussion here? unless you apparently think asexuals are somehow too stupid to notice intracommunity issues or something?

or... it may be that much of the larger/broader asexual communities have been completely destroyed from discourse like yours and people like you speaking over and for them and harassing them until they delete, instead of letting *them* talk and having productive discussion. just maybe.

i don't have the desire to lock down discussion of intracommunity discourse to *only* the identities involved, i really do think that's stupid. but at every turn you are coming at the discussion from what's clearly an ex-exclusionist viewpoint. you seem quite unwilling to question your own biases and straight up ignore the points you dislike instead of engaging critically with them and really questioning if your own stance is a constructive one or even a necessary one.

you have not produced evidence of asexuals claiming that sex workers are privileged like you claimed. your personal account as an allosexual with the asexual community seems to only include negative experiences you've had with asexuals with little context and no further discussion. you ignore points you don't like straight up. you are clearly an ex-exclusionist of some kind, predisposed to a negative bias. you talk as if your opinion on the subject is the correct one and everyone else is wrong because you said so, and if someone else disagrees, they're somehow supporting rape culture.

why should i or anyone else have this discussion of asexuality with you?

idk man, why ARE you having this conversation about asexuality with me? you’re clearly bitter i have the opinions i do lol

stone tops get satisfaction from satisfying and pleasuring others, it’s not like their pleasure isn’t part of the picture. and wanting to sexually satisfy someone else is sexual attraction. no, kink and bdsm aren’t inherently sexual. i also believe in a “spectrum of human sexuality”, but i believe “asexual” is the dead end of the spectrum, not some bigger portion of it. anything more than “barely anything at all” is significant enough imo to not be considered asexuality. 3 is a bigger number than 0, they aren’t equal. demisexuality is not asexuality.

it’s really not that hard to find aces with these shit opinions, you can find plenty on this very blog. if an entire community got “completely destroyed” because of basic gatekeeping (something all marginalized communities do that isn’t inherently bad), then maybe this community didn’t have that many shared experiences and common issues/goals in the first place. i mean, to this day there isn’t even a consensus on if asexuality is a modifier or its own orientation. really hope you aren’t accusing me of being someone who harassed people into deleting because that’s insane.

i NEVER claimed that asexuals think sex workers are privileged, you’re making that up. i claimed that asexuals don’t treat “experiences more than normal amount of sexual attraction” like a marginalized minority like they do “experiences less than normal amount of sexual attraction”, unless they also identify as ace. you and i both know that.

i haven’t had just one or two bad experiences with young dumb asexuals, i have had plenty of constructive, productive conversations with context and further discussion with all kinds of asexuals. you just ignored that. can you not ignore that please.

i don’t have a “poor view” of asexuals. i do not hate them, i think asexuality is valid and that you can be ace and have a libido/masturbatory habits/romantic partner/etc. i’m not trying to kick anyone out of anything. i don’t know where you’re getting this idea that i have something against asexuals. i literally just don’t believe in an asexual “spectrum”. and there are PLENTY!!! of asexuals who agree with me! you can find those on this blog, too, they exist!

i want you to ask yourself why you’re getting so defensive over this. there are many reasons why someone in our society would want to distance or downplay their own sexual desires, would misunderstand their own sexual desires, and would feel like everyone else in the world has different sexual desires. there is a stigma and fear and shame associated with the word “allosexual”. it does, on some level, make sense to me that plenty of people who aren’t asexual want to identify as asexual. but i don’t agree with it. i think people should be honest with themselves and their bodies and their feelings. you cannot deny that there is something unhealthy about an intense denial to admit sexual attraction is something you experience when you claim to want and enjoy sexual experiences! i think that’s something that needs to be reckoned with!

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amara-iceleb · 7 months

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Climate Justice, Food Sustainability and Black Lives Matter

Leah Thomas is an environmental activist and she is known for strongly and loudly advocating for environmental justice and intersectional environmentalism which advocates for the protection of people and the planet. At COP26, the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference held in Glasgow, Scotland, Thomas garnered a lot of attention when she tried to uplift and amplify the voices of marginalized communities in the climate conversation. While doing this, she emphasized the importance of putting equality and equity at the center of our focus, and reiterated how justice is a necessary topic when it comes to climate action. Leah Thomas also highlighted the disproportionate impacts of climate change on communities of color and indigenous peoples seeing as the global south is often left traumatized by disastrous natural events.

Intersectional Environmentalism is a framework that acknowledges the connections between social and environmental issues and it recognizes that environmental issues cannot be addressed without also addressing issues of social justice, including race, class, gender, and more. It emphasizes the intersection of various forms of oppression and how they come together to create disproportionate impacts on marginalized communities. This idea of intersectional spans across several different movements, most notably, feminism. Intersectionalism very often pushes the needle forward and helps people recognize their own biases and bad behaviors while uplifting the voices that were previously left unregarded in spite of the movement supposedly caring about them. The incorporation of intersectional helps bring the world together in a much more modern way and is the only way to eventually get the world powers to stop bullying the marginalized into submission

Black Lives Matter is a movement advocating for racial justice and equality and, in doing so, intersects with environmentalism through its focus on addressing systemic racism. An example of this intersection of race, class, and environment can be seen when communities of color most often live in communities being hit hardest by environmental disasters, pollution, etc. Many would rightly think that Black Lives Matter would be doing a disservice to everyone they’re trying to serve by ignoring intersectional and intersectional environmentalism which it’s why it’s so important that they keep this practice at the forefront of their movement.

Leah Penniman works in food justice and agricultural activism who got her start farming in 1996 and started teaching to spread the word about food justice and agricultural activism 22 years ago in 2002. As a farmer, educator, and co-founder of Soul Fire Farm, Penniman’s work focuses on dismantling systemic racism in the world of food systems and promoting equitable access to land and resources. Soul Fire Farm which is located in Grafton, New York, is not merely a place of food production and agricultural work, but also a hub for community empowerment and education both of which is very much needed not only in the United States, but all over the world. Through various programs, workshops, and outreach efforts, Penniman and her team continue to strive towards bringing up a new generation of agrarian leaders committed to social and environmental justice.

Soul Fire Farm's significance to the climate movement lies in its multifaceted approach to addressing the root causes of food insecurity and environmental degradation. By prioritizing the needs of marginalized communities, particularly the communities of Black people, Indigenous people, and People of Color (BIPOC) who have historically been excluded from land ownership and agricultural opportunities, the farm serves as a beacon of hope and resilience. This work is a prime example of intersectional environmentalism at work as Penniman strives to close the gap of good, healthy food reaching some communities and not others. The emphasis Soul Fire Farm places on sustainable farming practices and cultural preservation underscores the interconnectedness between land stewardship and climate resilience. In the current world as we all try to combat and deal with the impacts of climate change, Leah Penniman’s Soul Fire Farm offers a great model of regenerative agriculture that not only mitigates environmental harm but also brings about social growth, fosters communities around the country, and empowers people economically in a way they never thought possible.

“Black Forager" a.k.a. Alexis Nikole is a TikTok influencer who is known for the educational content she makes which focuses on foraging, sustainable living, and reconnecting with nature. The post that caught my eye the most when I was exploring her page was her tutorial on making dandelion honey. The recipe involves harvesting dandelion flowers, boiling them with water and apple juice, and infusing them to create a flavorful syrup which she has called dandelion honey. I think that Nikole's content resonates with audiences because of its accessibility, entertainment and educational value, and its emphasis on reconnecting with nature all of which are topics that are becoming more popular, especially on an app such as TikTok. By making these videos, she gets people to start thinking about important issues like food sovereignty, sustainable living, and the importance of traditional knowledge in a modern context.

In my own life, I define food sovereignty as the making of intentional choices about where my food comes from, making a concerted effort to support local and sustainable producers, and minimizing food waste and the use of non-biodegradable/recyclable products. While I currently don't grow all/most of my own food, me and my family try to prioritize purchasing locally and in a class last semester, I learned about community supported agriculture (CSA) programs which I hope to incorporate into my everyday life in order to better support local farmers and reduce my carbon footprint. The class also showed us some community gardens around Manhattan and while I haven’t started actively participating, it has inspired me and will stay with me until I can hopefully start going to community gardens and working first hand on CSA. Me and my family also compost organic waste which we use in our garden. The pandemic and learning about these topics in school has prompted me to reevaluate my food habits, not only focusing on what I buy but what I can grow and the complete lifecycle of the products at the supermarket.

Isaias Hernandez, also known as "Queer Brown Vegan," is a passionate environmental activist, educator, and content creator who has dedicated his platform to promoting sustainability, veganism, and social justice. Through his work on social media, Hernandez has continued to emphasize the intersectionality of environmentalism, highlighting how important it is to incorporate inclusivity and equity in the movement. With a focus on decolonizing environmentalism and reconnecting with nature, he inspires his audience to adopt more conscious lifestyles while we continue to live in an environmentally and socially fraught time, while advocating for the rights of marginalized communities. Hernandez's much-needed perspective as a queer person of color is endlessly helpful to the environmental discourse as he challenges the mainstream narratives and shows that the intersectional approach is key to addressing global challenges.

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greengrungeemo · 8 months

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TRIGGER WARNING: SENSITIVE TOPIC, PR*GERU BEING GARBO

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One rabbit hole I accidentally dug into after watching a YT vid of Fatt Walsh failing at playing GTA V, ranting about how video games are unenjoyable, how they rot the youth's brains, and then mindlessly blaming women A.I drivers for his own sh*t driving (it was beyond insufferable), was this. Pr****U polls.

I don't want to politically debate by any means, but what the actual f*ck.

1) Are you that pretentious and selfish to not provide a sliver of respect to others around you? If someone asks you, not demands or orders, asks politely to respect their pronouns, is your first reaction really to say no because you value your stance over them as an individual? They could already be slightly uncomfortable in getting out of their comfort zone to ask you, so can you imagine saying no when they do? I can't. Put yourself in someone else's shoes, please.

2) Men, and anyone for that matter, should be able to wear whatever they goddamn want. I started wearing crop tops because I grew more confident and happy with my body. Condemning anyone for wearing something that brings them joy, especially if it's perfectly appropriate, makes you a shit. Like an actual shit on the floor. Just because of that poll, I'm gonna buy myself a plaid skirt to wear. :3

3) The "I research my own data" is no surprise. Of course that's their answer. Ever hear about bias research? Affirming your own beliefs through biased search terms will inevitably get you search terms that are a great match to your own beliefs. I.e: "Vaccines and autism" vs. "Why vaccines cause autism". I BET you they search the 2nd example more often than not. Similarly, simply stating a proposition is true, and believing its true, and providing your own justification to it being true, does not mean it is entirely true. The conclusion? Trust scientists, the scientific method, and empirical evidence.

4) This one bothers me. A lot. They're implying not everyone deserves a LIVEABLE wage??? They really drive by homeless people and think to themselves, "A shame they put themselves in that situation" and go about their day without any empathy whatsoever? You don't know what got them there. You shouldn't ever assume anyone's unfortunate circumstance. A living wage guarantees that everyone can potentially live and function and take care of themselves and their needs. Your work and wages should be associated with your efforts, merit, and luck? Sure, but everyone should have a livable wage as a minimum. Otherwise, you accept human suffering in your own society for the benefit of the wealthier class when you should instead try to minimize suffering as best you can. We should all do our part to help one another.

5) This one still makes me contemplate it to this day. Kindness should have been the beyond obvious answer? Kindness will always be pure. A kind act will always remain as a kind act. If everyone was kind, then the world would be kind - to nature like plants and animals, and to each other. It's a very easy answer for me. Truth, however, can be skewed. It can be personally malleable from a multitude of factors. We will also never know the full, correct truth about anything and everything space and time has to offer us. The answers to this poll, I feel, seems to be what do you prioritize? Kindness or your OWN form of truth? Truth to people can be shaped based on their beliefs, morals/ethics, knowledge and understanding, culture, prejudices, and so many other things. How do you guarantee your form of truth is the correct one? What's the statistical probability that it's 100% right? I can easily admit that my own opinions, beliefs, and my own "truth" can be fallible. I used to believe that the planet Neptune was a deep shade of blue, as many others did and still do, and now recently, it has been discovered that Neptune is a pale blue similar to Uranus. Am I firm on my "truth" that Neptune will be, and will always be a deep blue? No. I trust the scientific process and change my opinion on what it currently is. A pale blue. Therefore, kindness as a value, I believe, is far better and important than truth, simply because it benefits all, it's pure and non-malleable in form, and in a world brimming with negativity, death, hatred, and evil, a little kindness can go a long way. A shame that 97,650 people think otherwise on what should be prioritized.

What bizzaro world views. Also, I promise never to interact with that anymore because I don't want to give them any more attention, just completely f*cked up how they treat/view others. Despicable.

#personal thoughts #vent

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frostfall-matches · 2 years

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[ matchmaking... ]

@ anon (🍁) : [ match report ready ]

your match is...

✦ Rook Hunt

Though he’s not everyone’s cup of tea, Rook fits with your preference of being around fun, kind, yet chaotic people. Rook will bring some adventure and excitement to your life, while also respecting your introverted and cerebral tendencies. He deeply appreciates your curious, open-minded personality, and rejoices in the fact that you like trying out new things. Rook definitely has a zest for life and likes to share that with others when the opportunity presents itself, even if he comes on a little strong sometimes! Let him introduce you to some of his hobbies, and he will more than willingly participate in some of yours. In his opinion, partaking in hobbies together is a good way to get to know someone and bond. Even if you don’t always have the same interests, it’s good to broaden your horizons and show your loved ones that you care about what they like.

Rook will, for better or worse, play into your too-competitive nature sometimes. He loves a good, fun competition! He will both initiate and accept any challenges from you. Though he’s good-natured about it and doesn’t act like he takes it too seriously, he will not hold back! There’s no point in a competition if you’re not putting effort in, in his eyes! His personal favorite challenge for you two is a good ol’ game of hunter and prey. If you’re not athletic, he’ll change up the rules or give himself a handicap so you’re on a more even playing field. Thankfully, Rook isn’t a sore loser! No matter the outcome, the most important thing is that he had fun challenging or being challenged by you.

On the other hand, Rook will also sometimes lean into your lazy days! It is a nice change of pace, and he would like the variety that a lazy day brings to his usual busy schedule. Chances are, this would be a day where you each do your own thing but roughly in the same vicinity as each other. If you’re reading up on some weird topic online, he’d love to hear your thoughts on it. If you’re drawing or painting, he’d love it if you let him get a little glimpse of your progress or even the finished product! Of course, he would also be down for cuddling into bed with you and simply just existing in each other’s arms for a while!

Date nights are pretty big for him. Even if it’s a simple, routine date that isn’t particularly exciting, he still goes all out! He’ll pick out the perfect outfit, give you a small gift when he picks you up or when you pick him up for the date, and play the role of a caring, attentive boyfriend. Dates are the perfect change of pace where he both gets to dedicate his time and attention to you, while also participating in a shared activity… with the added bonus of the date being coded as romantic or intimate to some degree! Rook would absolutely love any dates that take you two to a museum or historical location of some sort, and he’d love to get dinner or some sort of street food at some point during the date.

The INTJ personality type and Type 5 enneagram go hand-in-hand with their passion for knowledge and their tendency to live in their heads. Rook would very much value your mind and input! He’s incredibly observant and quick-witted himself, but it never hurts to hear what others are thinking. He trusts that your thought process is thorough and that you’d also likely be well-aware of any weaknesses or biases your perspective may have. In addition to that, the contradicting traits of the INTJ is something that really catches Rook’s eye. INTJs tend to be rebellious and independent, yet they avoid social interactions and emotionally-charged situations. They can easily be both cynical and idealist. To Rook, these contradictions are a delightful little puzzle and he’d enjoy getting to see these different sides of you!

Thankfully, Rook is a positive and uplifting person. He will take your insecurities, your low self-esteem, and your overthinking in stride; and, on top of that, he wants to try and make a difference! He might get a bit overbearing sometimes, because he doesn’t want you to drag yourself down too much (after all, there are so many positive and amazing things about you!), but he is good at backing off when you feel pressured or overwhelmed. If you ever need reassurance, Rook is there to give you genuine praise and thoughtful remarks. He encourages you to vent to him when you’re upset or under stress instead of bottling things up. He knows that it’s difficult, that he can’t expect that you will automatically come to him every time, but he wants to make sure that you know that he is always willing to make time for you and listen to you!

One thing that he finds incredibly admirable is your growth-oriented approach to life! You can also see this play out through his fondness of Vil, who is always striving to be at his best no matter what he’s doing. To Rook, there’s just something he adores in seeing people self-reflecting and choosing to really apply and better themselves. You really can’t go wrong with at least looking at yourself and your actions and recognizing what your weaknesses are and how you can improve them or compensate for them. However, it can be all too easy to fall into perfectionism with this type of mindset, and you’ve identified that as one of your weaknesses already. Rook is all for encouraging you to be your best self, but he is also the first to pull you away from trying to achieve impossible ideals. He’s happy to let you push your limits, but he doesn’t want you getting hurt.

Though it may not be his default love language, he seems the type to get gifts for his friends and partner if he happens to come across something they may like. In your case, he would absolutely contribute to getting new art supplies for you! If you allow him into your workspace at all, he takes careful note of what items you use the most and makes it a point to replenish your supply! Rook can and will easily remember different products or brands that you’ve used and which ones you’ve said you liked or disliked (or if there’s something that you haven’t tried yet but you’re curious about it), and he uses that information when he shops around for you.

#anon matchup #twst #request

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gurugirl · 2 years

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Tales From the Modern Incubus Part I*

Summary: Harry is an incubus hunting for a female to carry his next heir. He sniffs someone out as she's masturbating and she might just be the one.

A/N: Please read all warnings listed in the TFMI masterlist before continuing - this is dark!harry content and it's not for everyone. There could be triggering topics so please consider that before reading.

Warning: Smut, anal, making fun of religion, making fun of god, non-con sexual touching, dark humor, mentions of abortion, talk of incantations and charms, voyeurism

It’s in Harry’s nature to be a whore. He was created this way by The Almighty after all, in his own image, a perfect angel, his ancestors deceived and then tossed away to earth as if God himself didn't intend for his very essence to be that of a sexual being. Incubuses carry a long line of sexual "deviancy" and have been marked as evil by humanity. Harry finds the whole "demons are evil" mark to be funny generally because for as long as he's been around (and he's been around) humanity is far far worse.

But that's just a gripe he's had to live with for thousands of years (yeah, he's old). It's become nothing more than background noise for him. Over many a millennia he's adapted to humanity and their ways because he hasn't had a choice. As weak and stupid as people are, they are what create social standards and biases and Harry's had no option but to put up with their ever changing tastes and preferences. One day punishing and putting to death an adulterous woman is okay by societal standards, the next, it's illegal and called murder (where the murderer will then likely be punished and put to death - see how confusing that is?).

When he first started out, he'd sneak upon those asleep in the night and take what he needed from women and men (he has no preference truthfully). He'd cast an illusion incantation and make his chosen believe they were dreaming so his presence didn't seem unusual and he could avoid a struggle. Though, he used to not mind the struggles so much. Sometimes it made the encounters even more fun. But that was during a time when humanity was very primal, more animalistic and aggressive, less intelligent. Society dictates what’s good and what’s evil, and what’s thought of as evil today wasn’t always evil in the eyes of the world.

As he’s matured during his time on earth, he’s really just found it’s better to deceive the mortal rather than force them. But his personal favorite is when his pick of the night is choosing him. It gives his massive ego a little boost. He’ll be the first to admit, he’s arrogant and he’s totally full of himself. So he loves it, absolutely adores it when he’s wanted. Or when someone tells him he’s the best. Perhaps he has a tiny praise kink.

In 2022, though, finding a person to fuck every night is very easy. Humanity has become just as whorish as all the incubus (well, they've always been but it's just more acceptable to admit nowadays). Women don't mind one-night stands, men and women and everyone in between are out with their sexual preferences, and then there are all those who are experimenting and Harry doesn't mind showing them what it's like. He still uses an illusion spell on occasion when he really wants a taste of a human who doesn't seem interested (such a rare occurrence), but Harry prefers being desired.

All of that sexual acceptance and openness (for much of the world) among humans is great for Harry’s favorite hobby. It makes things really easy for him. But because he oozes sex and he’s so painfully attractive (if he does say so himself), he can go years without ever hearing a no from anyone. However, the year to find a woman to impregnate has come. Harry must seek out a fresh and fertile womb in a human female. Every 100 years (or so), this is part of his deal with the higher ups. To bring about a new heir.

He needs to spread his seed to continue the lineage of the damned and eternally tormented incubus (Harry can be a bit dramatic) but he is glad he only has this task once every century or so. It’s not that Harry is lazy. It has more to do with finding the perfect incubator for his heir. The human woman would need to be healthy, intelligent, beautiful, and willing to let the demon come into her bed and come into her… well, to get her pregnant.

His powers are indescribable. Not only is Harry as strong as any demon could possibly be (there aren’t many beings stronger than a demon in general, but an incubus demon like Harry possesses strength that is unmatched) he’s clever, sometimes tricking his victims into submission by cock, as he so lovingly calls it.

He enjoys human pussy (or ass) regularly, maybe even nightly if he has a free hour to kill. It was, after all, in his nature to fuck helpless humans as they lie vulnerable in their beds at night. He’d easily sniff out someone masturbating and go to them, seduce them further and then find himself balls deep in an already soft and soaked cunt or nice taut asshole (or even a mouth), all ready to be stretched by his demon sized prick (incubus are especially well endowed among demons and angels).

But, nowadays, all he had to do to get laid was go to a bar, or even the grocery store which he found was a great spot. Trader Joe’s always seemed to really give him the most hits. But for many a millennia he would sneak into a someone's room and assist them in masturbation and then have them convinced they were dreaming him up so his sudden presence wasn't questioned. It’s not so hard to get invited into a someone's bed in these modern times. Not when Harry looks the way he does, speaks the way he does, charms the way he does.

But for the past few days he’s been on the hunt for the perfect womb. The perfect woman. So he must work a little harder than just picking up a beautiful piece of ass for a one night stand. He’s not in a particular rush, but his time to create a new heir is upon him.

Harry was born of a human woman just like all his heirs. No, he wasn’t the original incubus but he’s old by any standard. Being born of a human just means a demon will look like anyone else to the average person. It means anyone you meet could be a demon (or even an angel) and you wouldn't know it. They feel like, look like, sound like, smell like, and even taste just like a human. Hell, sometimes even Harry gets tricked into thinking an angel is a human from time to time.

Tonight Harry is in another crowded bar scoping out the talent. There isn't much here in the way of the perfect female for him tonight. But he is noticing a particularly handsome lad across the room who keeps catching his eye. Harry himself, is fucking gorgeous and it almost doesn't matter what sexual preferences the person has, he can easily convince a straight man to take his cock down his throat or in his ass. Harry's quite convincing naturally, but he also relies on his evil gifts to get what he wants. He doesn’t like the idea that his gifts are labeled evil by humans, though. But that’s a discussion for another time.

Harry leans on the bar with his hips jutted out, showcasing his nice bulge under his well fitted pants as he keeps his eyes on the tall man across the room. He knows he doesn't even need to approach the man; the man will be coming to him. And soon enough Harry's prediction is coming into play and the guy can't help himself when he begins to walk toward Harry.

“I’m Randy. Saw you looking at me.” He puts a hand out toward Harry to shake and he takes it with a nod and smirks at Randy. Of course his name is Randy, Harry thinks to himself.

“I’m Harry. And yes, I was looking.”

The two men size one another up for a moment before Harry is speaking again, “So, what’s on the menu tonight, Randy? Anything I can help with?”

Harry wasn’t one for much small talk. Not when Randy looked like he’d enjoy a quick romp. Harry’s natural state making him feel quite randy himself. He'd rather just get down to it.

It wasn’t long before Harry and Randy were sharing a taxi back to Randy’s apartment.

Harry sat through twenty minutes of listening to Randy talk about his job and his new car. Harry tried to be polite and act interested so he bit back a yawn that wanted to give him away.

Harry just didn’t care at all. He just wanted to get a good fuck in and Randy was the hottest person at the bar tonight. And Harry could smell Randy's own need. Randy hadn't been laid in a while and with Harry's heightened supernatural senses, everything pointed to Randy being very horny and very willing.

Even once they’d gotten to Randy’s place he wouldn’t shut up. He took Harry through the parking garage so he could show Harry his new car.

There weren’t many things that could impress Harry and he knew Randy was showing off a little. It was a nice car. But Harry had enough wealth to last until the end of all time. So, a nice car and a good paying job just did nothing for Harry. He just wanted to be balls deep in Randy soon so he could feel that yummy tingle he was addicted to. To do what he was created to do.

Harry was on the verge of just taking what he wanted and speak a binding incantation over Randy so he'd shut the hell up and pull his pants down but Harry really did most enjoy it when humans gave in to him of their own will. Not that he hadn't employed the other tactics in his time roaming the earth but it was an ego boost to be desired without the need for coercion. Harry loved being wanted, being desired almost as much as he loved getting his dick wet.

And when the time had finally come for Harry to get what he wanted he was relieved by Randy's eagerness. Randy dropped to his knees and took Harry down his throat first and Randy admitted that Harry was the biggest he'd ever taken. Harry wanted to say I know but instead he just acted surprised as he always did when he'd hear that. But he loved hearing it nonetheless.

Then Harry bent Randy over his ugly arm chair and fucked him senseless. Randy was really into it too. Lots of squealing and arching of the back before Randy was coming way too fast for Harry's liking, but Harry didn't stop his hasty and deep thrusts into Randy because Harry still needed to come himself. Randy did try pushing Harry away but Harry was nearly there.

"Gonna fucking let me come or not?" Harry snarled at Randy as he continued pounding away into Randy's rear. Randy remained quiet after that and just let Harry take what he needed. Harry's large cock was a bit painful once Randy had already come as the lube was beginning to dry up a bit at the intense friction Harry created.

Harry didn't really need the lube himself. He liked the sting of the pull on his cock from a taught bum hole or even the way it felt in his own ass. Most humans did not like it, though, he came to find out. Even the most experienced of anal lovers insisted on lots of lube because going in dry hurt too much for humans to really appreciate it like he did. He'd found only a handful of humans who enjoyed that type of pain as much as he did over his lifetime.

Harry loved fucking a willing participant. He hated that most of them insisted on a condom, though. Which, Randy had. So, Harry, with his already incredible stamina and ability to last longer than a human male during sex would last even longer with a fucking condom. So, Randy would just have to put up with it since he insisted on the condom in the first place.

It's not like Harry would be getting Randy pregnant or passing on any diseases. His body didn't carry disease like humans. His body was that of an angel, in fact, and angels are as close to perfection as one can get, after God the creator of course (but Harry thinks that's debatable). Even if Harry was a fallen angel, he was still part of a lineage of angels that were the creation of The Almighty and an angel by all accounts. He was just an angel with a worldly point of view really. It was humans who dubbed him a devil. A handsome devil, Harry thinks.

So, he hated condoms but he put up with them when necessary. When Randy began to whine in agony and the tightness of his hole was squeezing the ever-living fuck out of the demon's cock, Harry finally found his own release. He rutted into Randy a few more handful of times as hard as possible, his long cock reaching deep into Randy as he dumped into his condom with a low growl.

Harry didn't stick around long after cleaning himself up to poor Randy's disappointment. He was already out the door and into the night to search for his earthly vessel, a warm spot to dump his load into and impregnate. The tricky part was getting the female to be okay with having unprotected sex, and then to be okay to keep the child once she found out she was pregnant. Now, these days, abortions were more common and he'd had yet to experience this difficult probability as the last time he had to bring an heir into existence was in the early 1900s. Abortions happened back then too, but it was quite rare.

Some of his other incubus counterparts had told tales of finding their perfect incubator only to have her later get an abortion, putting them back at square one.

Harry roamed in night smelling all of the potential. Many were asleep already this evening and he passed through like a ghost as he neared his own home to settle in the for night.

But then something stopped him. The scent of someone masturbating. A female. He knew the scent and he'd smelled it already a couple of times tonight passing through, but this one was different. This was the scent of a pure, virgin vessel. Sweet and innocent. Healthy. Fertile. Completely unadulterated but it was so potent. The female had to have been completely soaked. He could smell how desperate she was. He drew closer to the home in question and the perfume of her arousal made him feel like a wild animal. He honed all his senses in order to take in the naughty deed by the virgin female. She was desperate, but she was being very very quiet. Her heart rate was fast, he knew she was near her own orgasm. He didn’t want to miss seeing it with his own eyes so he made himself appear invisible like a ghost and entered the room of the young woman masturbating.

There she was, the sweet thing, he could tell she was rubbing at her clit but she was covered by her blankets for modesty, he assumed. He slowly plucked her blanket to pull it away so he could see her pussy up close and sniff it without the barrier of a blanket.

The girl had no idea the demon stood over her, watching as her blanket moved down her body. She was enjoying her current state far too much to notice. She’d been pent up and frustrated all day and as much as she hated to masturbate she just couldn’t hold back tonight. Her fingers ran over her clit and she dripped over herself, completely making a mess that she knew she’d have to clean up before her parents noticed, but for now, her pleasure was boiling over and her head was in the clouds with lust.

Harry fell to his knees, with a thud to the floor that the girl luckily didn’t hear, and he hovered over her, keeping his eyes on her body as she flushed from heat and stimulation. Her smell was unlike anything he’d ever taken in. He wanted a taste so bad his head was spinning. Even though he’d just gotten off with Randy, this young woman was far more exciting to him. Her face was pink, puffy lips parted, hair splayed under with her eyes closed. She was beautiful, he couldn’t deny it and her body was soft and healthy. She could give him an heir, she could be his mistress, his vessel.

A small moan fell from her lips and Harry wanted to see her breasts when she arched her back. She was wearing a t-shirt and he could see her erect nipples poking through the thin fabric but he wanted to see her. He gently pulled her shirt upward over her breasts, very slowly and when one of her breasts came into view he had to blink his eyes at the sight. He’d seen millions of breasts, but these… When he’d pulled her shirt up over both her breasts he whined lowly at the view and then looked over her tummy and down to where her fingers were working her delicious cunt.

He couldn’t help himself when he gently, softly, put a finger over her wetness that had dripped onto her inner thigh. Just a soft gentle touch so as not to make her aware. He immediately brought the nectar to his mouth and closed his eyes at the flavor and neglect he tasted. She had been neglected, pent up, frustrated. She rarely allowed herself to release but he couldn’t quite figure out why. He’d help her release as often as she liked, he imagined any other man or woman would as well.

Her breathing picked up and she softly moaned when she spread her legs further. Harry quickly unzipped his pants and brought his dick out into his hand to get himself off again. He was hard as rock and he needed to come again. He slipped two fingers over her wet cunt lightly to gather some of her lubricant and rubbed it over himself and nearly groaned at the feel. Her arousal on his cock was magical. He gently reached over her again with her fingers quickly moving over her clit and brought his fingers lower to near her entrance and stuffed just the tip of a finger into her and quickly removed his hand as she opened her eyes and moaned, looking down at herself. She liked that, he thought to himself.

With more of her arousal now on his fingers he smoothed it over his shaft and began to stroke himself. But he wanted to see if she’d enjoy more of a finger inside of her. As he stroked himself to the site and smell before him, her pussy making wet sounds at each pass of her fingers, he slowly put a finger at her entrance again. She started to shake as her orgasm came near and that made it easier for him to put a finger into her and thrust back and forth, curling upwards to drag across her g-spot.

It was so gratifying to see for Harry; this innocent girl rubbing over her clit as she’s about to come, while he slowly thrusts his finger into her without her being aware. She opened her eyes and looked down to where his hand was, but when she saw nothing she continued her sloppy ministrations and began to choke out a quiet moan.

“Oh fuuu…” she squeaked out as she began to orgasm into her hand and on his. Harry loved watching it. He hadn’t done something like this in a long time and he was unable to stop himself from touching her – there was a sense of need in him that he hasn’t felt in many, many long years. He felt quite savage at the sight of her as he began to come onto her floor and on the side of her bed. He closed his eyes and bit his lip to keep quiet. His head spun in longing and with the lingering taste of her on his tongue and the smell of her arousal permeating the air he breathed, he was ferociously stroking himself, emptying onto her bed clothes and floor.

Before she could finish coming, he had the sense to pull his finger out of her before she could be confused about the matter. He promptly stuck his fingers into his mouth as his come coated more of her rug below him, sucking her erotic syrup down his throat with his eyes closed.

He felt at ease with comfort once he’d calmed from his orgasm. He watched her as she heaved her breaths and stilled her fingers over her clit when she’d felt the similar comfort as him with her own orgasm gently fading away.

Harry wouldn’t bother cleaning up after himself. It would dry and no one would know what it was. They’d assume just a messy girl or something like that. He tucked himself back into his trousers and stayed longer to watch her as she took account of the aftermath of her mess. She blew out a breath in silent laughter and then pulled her shirt down over her breasts so they were sadly hidden from the demon’s view once again.

She sat up and he watched her hair fall over her shoulders and she leaned over to take some tissues from the box on her nightstand next to Harry. He sniffed her in when her arm got close to his face and now she didn’t smell of the neglect he’d tasted. She had her release and she was soothed by it now. He smiled at this notion. An orgasm was good for the soul. If anything, what Harry did for a living was giving back to humanity and helping people feel good.

He wished he could wipe her up with his tongue, clean her until all of her slick was down his throat and coating his insides so he could take the taste with him everywhere. Instead, he watched her wipe it off with tissues only to be tossed in the garbage. If Harry were any less civilized he'd dig into her garbage like a dog and eat her come coated tissues so her essence wouldn't go to waste in the garbage can.

He stayed close to the girl, astounded by her. She was delicate and soft, and very innocent. He wanted to hold her down and take her virginity quite badly but he also wanted her to be his vessel. His mistress. He’d take advantage of her naivety easily but he wanted her to be willing at least. To carry his child and not abort it. To want to be a mother and care for the heir until it was ready to take on its cognate nature.

She got up from her bed with her bottom bare to Harry, another superb vision, and she tossed her napkins into the trash before slipping her cotton panties up her legs, covering her bitable bum and her virgin pussy. He followed her around her room like a shadow as she went to her desk and removed a notebook and pen and then back to her bed where she sat, her lamp dim, and she reached into her nightstand and pulled out the fucking Bible.

Harry rolled his eyes and nodded. Of course. This beautiful, sexual creature was a virgin because she’d been brainwashed by the Bible which was mostly fake tales made up by delusional psychopaths and attention seekers. Even The Almighty himself disliked the content. Harry wasn’t fond of God because of what had happened to his forefathers at the beginning of time, but God wasn’t like the God of the Bible. The Almighty was God (who went by any other name of god you could imagine) for billions of years before men learned how to write and read and one day some decided it would be fun to make up some stories about the things they’d seen (delusions) and heard (made-up stories passed down from generations). It was all fake. The real story was much more interesting, darker, more magical than the Bible told of.

But here his sweet human was, cracking open the pages to a passage in the Bible and taking notes with her legs crossed under her after she’d just made herself orgasm (with the devil’s help of course). He appreciated the absurdity of the situation and wouldn’t let this little thing get in his way of manipulating and winning the girl over. He would be feeling her and fucking her and making her scream his name soon enough. He’d just need to rework some of her viewpoints a bit. He’d done it before with other devout religious humans, he could certainly do it to her too.

She sighed and then put her head into her hands and he heard her murmuring. She was praying! Harry loved to hear prayers especially when no one could actually hear them but him if he was in proximity. He loved the idea that a person was praying to God, yet the only one to hear them was a demon. His dark sense of humor played into this being a very funny scenario for him, but he was sure it would break the hearts of many if they knew the truth.

“I just feel so distanced from you, God. Why can’t I hear your voice like Amanda? Are you ignoring me? What should I do to make you hear me? To speak to me? I’m weak and I’m full of sin. Please forgive me, Lord…”

There was a part of Harry that was relieved that she wasn’t one of the ones who insisted they heard the voice of God. He was pleased that she struggled even in private to “hear” him and that she felt he didn’t hear her. Because that was the reality. The Almighty doesn’t listen in to prayers, nor does he answer them unless you are doing him some kind of favor or have something he wants. He’s quite selfish, and quite elitist if you ask Harry. So knowing she was still of sound mind gave him solace in that his heir wouldn’t be born to a fully brain-washed delusional being. Because she would be the mother to his child. He knew it now. He didn’t care the lengths he’d need to go to convince her and make her his (at least for a short time to achieve his goal).

When the girl had put her Bible away and her notebook, she climbed into her bed and covered herself up to find sleep for the night, Harry decided he’d stay in her home as she slept. He’d lie under her bed, like a monster. He would have just rested out in the open or on the couch in the living room (or perhaps a spare room with a soft bed would work too?) but he wanted to be as close to her as possible. Have her presence envelope him fully. He would have preferred to lie with her in his arms and keep his nose tucked into her neck but they weren’t at that point in their relationship just yet.

So, he slept under her bed, well, more like, lie under her bed and rested (sleep for demons wasn’t easy to come by so therefore it was not necessary but rest was quite important) while the girl slept soundly, unaware of the demon’s presence just below.

Part II

Into incubus!harry? Tip my ko-fi? 😘

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#harry styles smut #demon!harry #incubus!harry #virgin!reader #harry styles fanfic #harry styles fanfiction #dark!harry #harry styles writing

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taurealuna · 4 years

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astrology observations part 4🌼🌷✨

hello loves!! its been a long time since and i kinda miss being on the blog! once again please don’t feel pressured to take my observations as absolute facts and do cater your observations too if any 🧡

1. where virgo lies in your birth chart suggests the area that you may struggle to ‘perfect’ and feels the need to do things perfectly. due to the nature of virgo’s need for simplicity and ‘perfection’ in a way, they may feel that the area of the house is almost impossible to perfect, but they will still strive for it anyway. it is important to learn how to let go sometimes and allow things to flow on its own eg. virgo in the 4th may struggle with expressing their emotions, hyper-fixating on their relationship with their family members and their emotional side

2. on the virgo topic, a reason why virgos are perceived to be ‘perfectionists’ all the time despite that being an over-used stereotype is because virgos have a tendency to work in a linear manner, to balance out their sister sign pisces. however, the world does not always work in a linear fashion which throws virgos off, thus they feel the need to ‘perfect’ or straighten things out.

3. the house in which the 10th house’s ruler lies in is important for finding out your public identity and ideal working environment as well. a leo midheaven with the sun in the 2nd as opposed to another with a sun in the 9th would differ greatly in the aforementioned ways. sun in the 2nd focuses more on the self identity through stable income, where sun in the 9th focuses more on self expansion and higher learning

4. having a cancer ascendant can tone down the sun & moon of a person greatly, especially if they have a fire sun/moon. the fire placements would still be a core placement to the person, however the cancer ascendant would shift the focus away to seeking a safe and stable relationship with others.

5. capricorns are extremely emotionally intelligent, and more often than not they have a great intuition as well. they are known as the ‘sage’ after all~ on a side note, please stop undermining their emotional abilities and labeling them as ‘cold’. in fact, every sign has a cold and warm side, and it is important for everyone to express their emotional side. by stereotyping them as emotionally distant or cold is denying their human needs

6. gemini sun, especially females, have a tendency to control their friend groups and often want to have control over other’s thoughts and emotions. while this can be healthy when applied to the right group of people, it can turn obsessive and make them extremely insecure when they feel the slightest lack of control

7. in persona charts, the house of your sun in your ascendant chart can indicate how you present your ascendant naturally eg. libra ascendant with sun in the 3rd house in persona chart = you present your diplomatic and friendly side in an outgoing and verbal manner. you may enjoy chatting and learning more than others

8. you may struggle with being friends with the sign opposite of your 11th house. this is natural as you with opposite signs, you find that your friendship style and personality in a friendship group may differ from the personality of the other person eg. a scorpio in the 11th may struggle with being friends with a taurus sun. although this tension can be fixed, the friendships are often not long-lasting unless there are other placements in common

9. the house/ planet that sagittarius lies in also shows where we are (almost blindly) optimistic. although the house/planet may not always be lucky in that area, they often find little pockets of luck that makes these natives hopeful. more often than not, others may find it hard to understand why these natives often seem so optimistic. however, it is important for these natives to express their optimism and take that leap of faith to get what they want. eg. sagittarius mars = optimistic attitude towards their passion. they may not always win/ get their way but they will find themselves being the most passionate when they are optimistic about their dreams and follow their instincts

10. earth signs in the 4th house may struggle to relate to their parents or family members. there could be times where these natives do not receive the emotional support they need from their family and feel as though they have to work towards it, even though it may not always be the truth. as a result, they could be more introverted and find comfort through their friends, their tv shows, the internet depending on where their moon and the ruler of the 4th house lies.

11. for people with north node in leo, one of the life lessons that these natives have to learn is to be ‘selfish’ and draw their own boundaries. they could have a tendency to allow others to take advantage of them/ take the attention away from them which brings down their confidence. thus, they have to learn how to assert themselves confidently and learn to accept healthy attention.

11. sagittarius over the 3rd house may feel that they may offend others easily through their words/humor if aspected harshly or they have a cruder sense of humor. it is important to balance their thoughts with the emotions of others. despite this, such natives are known to be straightforward and enjoy discussions and conversations

12. scorpio placements often start out hopeful and innocent, however life has a tendency to show them the truth of betrayals and realities of life. because of this, they can develop a reclusive and guarded side that others often perceive as harsh and aggressive in some cases. they really want to find reliable people they can trust though

13. for those who believe in past lives, our chart placements and aspects can show how your past life was and how you can achieve your destiny in this lifetime. it is important to read the chart as a whole instead of one individual placement such as eg. sun in the 1st is often interpreted as a ‘positive’ placement that brings an individual confidence and charisma. however, if the individual has a aquarius north node in the 7th, they have to learn how to balance their ego needs with the emotions of others. they may have a tendency to demand excessive attention from their partners, which can be detrimental and prevent them from building healthy relationships. thus in this life, they would have to learn how to balance themself with others and respecting the boundaries of others.

14. last but not least, it is crucial not to force yourself to change how you express your chart placements. your chart placements are natural indicators to your personality, and if you struggle with them it could be due to aspects and placements that makes you struggle with it. only by accepting and expressing yourself fully can you unlock your full potential in yourself. however this does not excuse toxic and bad behaviour that can arise from traumatic experiences or biased opinions

#astrology observations #part 4 #feel free to add on!!#see you guys again soon

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mbtimes · 3 years

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Hello!

Could you do the diffrence between entp in si grip and a healthy one?

Also diffrence between entp and intp

I will try and bring this about in the best way that I understand, but first it's important to understand what a grip is, basically a grip is when your inferior function takes control and starts running your life rather than your dominant function. Now this can feel good and you can feel like you are either appeasing that function or are doing something with yourself but as time progresses you discover it actually becomes worse for your mental well being and you become a shadow of who you really are. So with that out of the way let's get into what an ENTP in a Si grip might look like.

They're gonna be hyper focused on details, tunnel visioned, believe that they and only they have "all the facts" and that everyone else around them is wrong because the people around them don't have the information they have. This information will be gathered in order to confirm their own biases, and should anyone question them they see it as their duty and maybe privilege to show them just how wrong they are by presenting facts. Facts which may be contradictory in nature but are highly detailed and narrowed down to the topic at hand. As this goes on they can develop into a state of melancholy, depression, with the enjoyment of life and ideas diminished and gone, and may perceive everything they experience to be something it's not and may in turn become paranoid as it goes on in many different ways, until they finally hit the point where they feel like nothing really matters anymore but still find the need to select details that don't make any sense but they continue to believe that they do.

That's the short and long of it, there are others who go far better into describing what Grips for certain types looks like and I'm just giving my understanding of it here. Now as for a healthy ENTP.

Healthy ENTPs are going to look a lot like Healthy ENFPs due to the fact that they bot share the same function that which is Ne. For an ENTP they will seek to open the minds of people, test things, toy with things, find the proper details as to how things work and how they can make things work and properly cross reference and look at everything with an open and objective mind. Instead of rushing through things and not stopping to look at the details properly, they will actually look at the facts and details and take them for what they are and see if there is any counter to said things as they enjoy having information for whatever project or thing they have on the go. They will also enjoy witty banter, have a brighter outlook on life or a more humorous one, and that's just a few of the things they've got going on.

As for the difference between ENTPs and INTPs, INTPs are going to be more focused on analyzing systems and patterns and consuming knowledge for the sake of knowledge itself, they will come up with ideas but they won't necessarily follow through with those ideas but they will entertain them. INTPs are always analyzing data and seeing where it fits as well as using their imagination and coming up with all sorts of unique problem solving solutions, they're also highly adaptable and can often be seen as the chameleons of society with their ability to understand systems, places and things and then BS their way through. ENTPs in turn are more like the Cheshire cat, they enjoy toying with people more than INTPs do, they enjoy debating a view point for the sake of discussion and to see whether or not they can open your mind or to see where you stand on a certain issue. Both are extraordinarily curious, but an ENTP will be more open about their curiosity where as an INTP will be more reserved and only show it to the people closest to them. If given a choice for the fun of it, an ENTP may try anything and everything or test anything and everything.

ENTPs are also seen as visionaries and their mind comes up with many ideas and concepts that they will either run to completion or abandon it and start something new. Most of the time they will start something and then after a while will start something else, and then something else. A perfect example of an ENTP who does this in my mind is Elon Musk who I am entirely convinced is an ENTP and no one is going to be able to change my mind on this, the guy opens up too many different projects and hasn't fully completed any one of them which shows to me Dom Ne at work but anyways. The way I see it is that an INTP internalizes what an ENTP externalizes much like how an ENFP externalizes what an INFP internalizes and why I often say that ENFPs often say what we INFPs think, it is much the same with ENTPs and INTPs.

Also one last thing, INTPs are a lot more reserved than ENTPs and they don't have as many open projects on the go due to their indecisive nature which happens to be a bottleneck for many INTPs, there are many ways in which they can go and until they have all the data and patterns they will have difficulty deciding what to start. So in that way an ENTP is also often far more Entrepreneurial than INTPs are, heck even INFPs will get more done than an INTP when it comes to their goals and dreams sometimes. An ENTP doesn't need all the facts in order to start, they start and figure it out as they go along, INTPs? Not so much.

Anyways hope this relatively shortish essay was enough brief information for you.

#mbti #myers briggs #entp #intp #16 personality types

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nostalgicatsea · 4 years

Text

Common questions about and excuses for racism in fandom

I noticed that the same excuses, justifications, and questions that have come up in response to racism in fandom over the years appear in the notes for my post, so here’s a FAQ of sorts to address them. Hopefully, this will help people understand why these arguments don’t stand up to scrutiny and have something to refer to in lieu of writing a new reply every time someone says these things.

Due to the length of this post, I made a Google doc for easier reading. Please note that several points are specific to the Marvel fandom and to the post linked above and are often M/M-focused (I explain why in that post), but generally speaking, the following can be applied to any fandom and various relationships.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I can ship whatever I want. Stop being the fandom police!

Shipping isn’t activism.

Fandom is supposed to be fun. Being told what to do or not to do isn’t fun.

I put a lot of different people in my works, and I do research about the groups they’re in. For example, I have a *marginalized group here* character (e.g., disabled), and I did research to represent them accurately. It’s not fair to say that I don’t care about diversity.

I don’t think people should write about POC if they’re white, just like I wouldn’t want anyone to talk about *insert topic you’re passionate about or interest group you’re in here* (e.g., the BDSM community) if they didn’t know anything about it.

I really don’t have any knowledge about what it’s like to be a POC, though, so maybe I’m not the best person for this. If POC want to see themselves represented, they should make their own works.

I’m not comfortable with writing POC as I’m unfamiliar with the struggles they experience. I don’t want my writing to come off as inauthentic, inaccurate, or offensive. Why are you saying it’s harmful to use this as a reason for abstaining from writing POC?

It doesn’t make sense to include every single POC in my work.

What you said and the data you have don’t necessarily point to racism. It might just be individual preference. I prefer certain ships over others, and it has nothing to do with race/I don’t see color.

A big part of what informs my shipping is physical attraction or interest in the characters.

I don’t ship _____ because I see them as brothers/sisters/siblings.

Some white characters and ships are popular in the MCU fandom because people bring in canon characterization or material from the comics to the character(s)/ship. Your MCU-only examination fails to account for ships with one character from the MCU and one from comics (e.g., MCU Bucky/616 Clint or Spideypool).

Some subfandoms just have fewer POC which means there will naturally be fewer ships featuring POC. To say that the Marvel fandom is racist as a whole is disingenuous; you can see how more diversity in the cast leads to more diverse ships in fanworks.

Some of the characters and ships are popular because white characters get the lion’s share of screen time and development or they appeared in canon earlier.

Is it racist to racebend a character?

Racist language in fics is more important than fandom representation.

My fanworks tend to focus on one ship and don’t really include other characters in general. When they do, the others mostly talk about that relationship. Am I falling into the trap you mentioned?

I feel guilty about not including or writing about *character of color’s name here*.

How do I ensure that I don’t offend anyone if I include POC in my work?

What should I do to examine myself for any implicit biases?

The rest of the post is under the cut.

I can ship whatever I want. Stop being the fandom police!

As explicitly stated several times in my post, I agree that you can ship whatever you want. I’m not targeting a specific ship. I’m not telling you to stop shipping what you ship. All I’m asking is for everyone, including myself and other POC, to regularly examine ourselves for any implicit biases. If you’re a multishipper, are all of your ships in the fandom white? If you only have one ship and it’s white, are most or all of your ships in your other/previous fandoms white? Is the only media you consume predominantly or all white?

Shipping isn’t activism.

No, it isn’t and in many cases, shouldn’t be seen or treated as the same thing. However, by responding this way to POC who want to see themselves represented in fanworks more and not be ignored or written stereotypically, you’re telling us that our mere existence is a “political issue.”

Fandom is supposed to be fun. Being told what to do or not to do isn’t fun.

It should be fun for us POC too, and it’s not when we’re consistently misrepresented or we don’t exist in this fandom. By using this as an excuse to exclude POC from your works, you’re saying that only some people are allowed to have fun or that having fun is conditional. Also, no one is forcing you as an individual to do or not do anything. See two paragraphs above.

Just like you do research for those groups, you can easily do research on POC. Also, please be aware that this statement is similar to the “I’m not racist because I have a ___ friend/have a ___ person in my works” argument that many people use to prove they’re not racist, homophobic, sexist, etc. We aren’t interchangeable with other groups.

Something like BDSM is a lifestyle and preference. It is a choice. Being a POC isn’t. We can’t take off our identity every time we leave the house, the way you might keep it secret at work that you’re in the BDSM scene.

We do. Also, all of us fanwork creators make works with characters who are different from us all the time. Fandom is largely composed of people who aren’t straight cis men, yet the bulk of works on AO3 features characters who are canonically or implied to be straight cis men even if we end up changing that in our works. Most of us aren’t billionaires, but we don’t have a problem writing Tony. We don’t know what it’s like to be a WWII-soldier-turned-brainwashed-assassin who was kept in cryo for decades except when deployed on missions, but we don’t have a problem writing Bucky. The list goes on.

Your concern isn’t harmful. Reducing us to our trauma is, and you’re doing that if the reason you’re not comfortable with writing POC is that you don’t know how to write our struggles. We’re not only our pain. We’re more than that.

Not every fic has to be about the trauma of being a POC. We deserve to have fun, silly fics in addition to serious, plotty drama. We’re not thinking about our suffering 24/7 even if we do think about or are affected by it a lot. It’s not like if you write a Sam/Bucky fic, Sam is going to randomly lecture Bucky about the history of Black people in the U.S. and modern enslavement through the prison industrial complex while Bucky is trailing kisses down his neck in bed. We don’t need everyone being racist to MJ in a Pride and Prejudice AU. If you do want to include their struggles because that informs the way the characters think or act in your story, you can do so in ways that feel organic.

Additionally, this is an excuse that we hear often; you may have heard it as people in Hollywood have used it to explain why they don’t have any, or at least any major, characters from marginalized groups in their works. If we allowed this excuse, an overwhelming majority of who we see in the media would be straight, cis white men considering who has power in the film and TV industry—and we would have to say that’s okay. We would have to say that the only people allowed to write about a certain group are members of that group, e.g., only women can write women. That’s not acceptable especially considering the gatekeeping, oppression, and high barriers to entry and success that make it difficult for marginalized people to even be in the room let alone make a name for themselves.

Fandom is no different. You’re saying that you can’t relate to POC because you’re white, but none of us POC have any problems making fanworks with white characters even though we don’t know what it’s like to be white. There are straight women who write fics about gay men and don’t feel uncomfortable doing so when they don’t know a single thing about being a gay man and the struggles of gay men (M/M can include bi or pan men, fics about gay men by straight women can sometimes include problematic portrayals, and straight men, queer women, and non-binary people write M/M too, but this is just an example).

You should be more careful when writing a POC if you're not a POC. The same goes for men writing women, cis people writing trans people, straight people writing queer people, able-bodied people writing disabled people, etc. However, there ARE ways to go about it, and while I understand the fear of messing up, the truth is everyone is racist, sexist, etc. Everyone including people in marginalized groups. Being a white lesbian doesn’t mean you can’t be racist. Being an Asian man doesn’t mean you can’t be sexist. You can see that within groups themselves. POC are not exempt from racism against other POC or from internalized racism against themselves or their own group. Women aren't free from internalized misogyny. The best we can do is to not make that prevent us from making inclusive works; if you make a mistake, which may happen, all we can ask is that you try your best to be open to feedback and grow.

It doesn’t make sense to include every single POC in my work.

No one is telling you to. Choose characters who make sense for the story. Don’t choose them just so you have a POC in your work. We don’t want them to be tokenized.

This argument is identical to the “not all _____” rebuttal (“not all men,” “not all white people,” etc.) which places the blame on a few lone individuals and shifts the conversation away from an existing widespread problem. When there’s a consistent pattern and there are many examples of it both within the fandom and in other fandoms, it no longer is about individual preference.

I urge you to consider the following:

If most people say they don’t write about or include a POC in their work because it’s too difficult or they’re afraid of making that character inauthentic, but they don’t seem to have an issue with writing other characters from groups they’re not in (e.g., if you’re a straight woman who writes a lot of M/M fics despite not knowing what it’s like to be a bi, pan, or gay man), doesn’t that say something?

If most people have the same reasons you do about not being interested in POC (e.g., “they’re not fleshed out enough” while being interested in or fleshing out minor white characters who get the same or even less development as those characters) or ships with POC (e.g., saying “they’re like brothers” while being interested in a white ship with similar dynamics and tropes or seeing why other people might ship it if you don’t), doesn’t that say something?

If most people give characters of color the same roles in their works even if that makes them OOC and/or the role reduces them to a (frequently stereotypical) trope, especially if they’re never fleshed out beyond that trope (e.g., the funny sidekick, wise friend who always helps or gives advice/free therapy, or responsible, mature, and sometimes stern friend who “parents” the protagonist), isn’t that saying something?

If race truly isn’t a factor for you when it comes to liking characters and ships, then this isn’t about you and you don’t have to distract people from the conversation by announcing that. That said, we should all look at characters and ships we like anyway instead of assuming that’s the case as that’s good practice. How much of your list is white? If it’s mostly or entirely white, why is that the case and why do you feel differently about ships of color?

A big part of what informs my shipping is physical attraction or interest in the characters.

What characters and actors do you find attractive or interesting? Are they all or mostly white? If they aren’t, are you drawn to any ships that include those POC? Refer to the section above.

I don’t ship _____ because I see them as brothers/sisters/siblings.

Part of this is preference as it comes down to perceived chemistry and relationship dynamics. However, POC are often not seen as romantic leads both in fanworks and the media and are just friends or “brothers/sisters” (this is why Crazy Rich Asians was a big deal). Sometimes, people even argue against POC being or having love interests in the name of diversity. You see this a lot with WOC in the media where the explanation against a love interest is “she’s a strong, independent woman who doesn’t need a man”; yes, they don’t and sometimes the story doesn’t need a romance, but WOC deserve love too and it’s strange that while white women can get the guy and be independent, WOC can’t and it somehow belittles or reduces them if they do.

The way you can gauge whether it’s just preference at play or biases you may not have been aware of is to see how many relationships featuring a character of color fall under the “just friends/siblings” category for you, what you need to ship something, and how you feel about white ships with the same type of relationship or same lack of chemistry. For instance, you may say that there needs to be enough interaction for you to ship something and that’s why you don’t care much for Rhodey/Sam. Do you feel the same way about Clint/Coulson then, which has much less interaction (actually much less than Rhodey/Sam in this case)? If it’s about chemistry, are Steve and Sam just “brothers,” but Bruce and Thor aren’t or, if you don’t ship Bruce/Thor, you still “see it” and get why other people might be into it?

What do you ship, or what ships do you understand even if they’re not for you, and how is that different from ships that follow the same beats? Why are Steve and Bucky not brothers, but Rhodey and Tony are (there are many parallels between the two relationships—and one can argue the latter is more nuanced—than appears at first glance, and Rhodey/Tony can be just as sweet or angsty)? If you like the rivals/enemies-to-lovers or meet-ugly aspect to Steve/Tony, Sam/Bucky, Scott/Jimmy Woo, and M’Baku/T’Challa have that dynamic. You like that superior/subordinate-to-lovers dynamic that Clint/Coulson has? Coulson/Fury. Flirty meet-cutes or love/trust-at-first-sight? Steve/Sam.

I explained why I focused on the MCU here and that most of the fics that feature an MCU character and comics ’verse character tend to be heavily or entirely MCU-influenced here.

Also, characters of color exist in the comics, cartoons, and games too. By this logic, Steve/Sam and Rhodey/Tony should be juggernauts in the MCU fandom considering the depth and history of the characters and relationships. Ask yourself why people are happy to ship MCU Spideypool, to draw on the comics for that relationship and even bring a non-MCU character into the MCU and write him based on his comics history and characterization. Ask yourself why people are unhappy with MCU Clint’s terrible writing and lack of characterization and decide to give him his 616 (usually Fraction-era) characterization. And then ask yourself why people don’t do that for characters of color and then use “___ is a minor character/doesn’t have much development” as an excuse for why they’re uninteresting or not shippable with others.

There are many strong and interesting relationships in the comics, but only a few make it to the MCU fandom and almost all, if not all, of them are white.

It’s more important to see how many fanworks there are for ships of color in a fandom than how many ships of color there are in that fandom. See how few works there are for POC ships other than MJ/Peter in the MCU Spider-Man fandom despite the diversity of the cast. See how the most popular ships are white and three of them involve white characters from the Iron Man fandom (explain to me how Harley/Peter has over 1,000 works, but Ned/Peter has 436).

And sure, you can say almost all of the Black Panther ships feature a character of color so there’s “more” diversity, but see how few works there are for them and how works with a white character fare compare to POC-only ships (almost all have 100-200 or fewer fics, with many having so few that I didn’t include them in the post, while BP ships with a white character have more works despite little to no interaction between the characters).

Both of these, by the way, are critical and box office hits with characters who are clearly supposed to be the faces of the MCU now that the OG6 are gone. Black Panther is an award-winning critical and box office hit, and it is, more than any other film in MCU history, a huge cultural phenomenon with tremendous impact. It broke so many records and milestones, and it’s STILL breaking and making them. It has the most nuanced and balanced ensemble cast with side characters just as three-dimensional as the lead, a rarity in MCU films. Yet, its tag only has 3,966 works, fewer in total for the whole fandom than some of the white M/M ships on this list. Even if you account for BP fanworks that may have been tagged as MCU instead of BP, the number is paltry as you can see in this post. People simply do not want to make fanworks for characters of color (in this case, specifically Black characters) and don’t. It’s not about how diverse or successful a film is.

Some of the characters and ships are popular because white characters get the lion’s share of screen time and development or they appeared in canon earlier.

Yes, that’s true, but fandom has no problem catapulting white ships with minor characters into extreme popularity. See Clint/Coulson. See fics prioritizing Happy and having him show up more than Rhodey in Steve/Tony fics.

It’s not about chronology. Many ships of color came before white ships as a whole and before white ships with the same white character they have. See Bucky/Clint vs. Bucky/Sam.

Lastly, please don’t tell me how certain white M/M ships came to be to explain how they’re exempt or how I’m failing to consider other factors for their popularity. I’ve been in the fandom since 2012, and I’ve seen almost all of the white ships in the fandom be born or boom into popularity. Don’t try to explain, for instance, that Clint/Coulson is big because Coulson has his own show and his fans followed him from the show (this logic falls flat when you look at something like Luke Cage); that ship became huge way before that happened and way before Agents of Shield became “big.” Also, see the section above regarding screen time, development, and fame.

Is it racist to racebend a character?

People’s opinions differ on racebending—and often that comes from personal background and on the situation—so I can’t speak on anyone’s behalf. However, I think everyone can agree on the following:

Racebending a white character is not the same thing as whitewashing a POC. For example, making Tony Stark Indian vs. turning T’Challa white or as canonical examples, making Fury black in Ultimates and the MCU vs. making the Ancient One or the Maximoffs white. The latter (whitewashing T’Challa, the Ancient One, and the Maximoff twins) is racist for various reasons. There’s a long history of POC being erased and white people taking roles from POC, a huge imbalance in representation between white people and POC, the unfortunate perception by the public and media that “white = neutral/standard” (Bruce’s whiteness doesn’t define his characterization and development), and the way race plays a role in influencing the way POC feel, act, and are treated.

Racebending a POC from one ethnicity or racial group to another is also problematic as we’re not interchangeable. Hollywood often does this and goes, “But they’re still a POC! We’re being diverse!”

In general, people who racebend white characters to POC want to see more POC in canon and in the media! These aren’t mutually exclusive.

Sometimes people racebend because they’re not represented at all in their works. (This happens with other marginalized groups too; for instance, some people make cis characters trans in their fanworks as there are few to no trans characters in the canonical source.) For example, there are, as of now, no Latinx superheroes in the MCU films. Even if people wanted to, they can’t make works with an MCU Latinx superhero unless they bring one from the comics or the one Latinx superhero from Agents of Shield (if they know the comics or AoS), make a minor Latinx film character like Luis a superhero, or racebend their favorite white character and put a fresh spin on the character, drawing from their personal experience and background.

There’s a massive difference between fans racebending a character and a creator taking credit by pretending they viewed a character as non-white or didn’t see race all along when it’s clear that the character is canonically white (this is different from a creator saying they support anyone, POC or white, playing that character onscreen or onstage).

Racist language in fics is more important than fandom representation.

We don’t have to pick our battles. Both are important! I focused on fandom representation as it’s much more quantifiable and easy to find and analyze data for than racist language on a fandom-wide scale on my own without any tools. You’re right that the latter is a problem as is racist representation in fanworks, though.

My fanworks tend to focus on one ship and don’t really include other characters in general. When they do, the others mostly talk about that relationship. Am I falling into the trap you mentioned?

If the story is about a relationship (examining that relationship and the feelings of the characters in it) and there isn’t much of a plot outside of that, then that makes sense. However, even in situations like this, consider how much time you dedicate to characters of color vs. white characters. If the story is about a ship featuring a POC, do you spend more time on the white character of that relationship? Their white friends and how they feel about that relationship? If it’s about a white ship, do white side characters appear more than side characters of color even if the latter have a closer relationship with the protagonists? For example, does Wanda show up more than Sam or play a bigger role than him in a Steve/Bucky fic? Do you have Pepper show up all the time (or even Happy), but Rhodey is chronically absent? Do only the white characters get to be more than the tropes you’re using, if you’re using any, while the POC don’t get to be nuanced? Are there any stereotypes that you’re reducing the POC to?

I feel guilty about not including or writing about *character of color’s name here*.

See “It doesn’t make sense to include every single POC in my work.” Include the character(s) who make sense for the story, perspective you’re writing/drawing from if applicable, and central group or ship if this is a ship-specific work. For example, if you’re drawing the Avengers and you include the newer Avengers, Rhodey and Sam should appear too, not just Wanda, Scott, Bucky, and/or Carol (this happens a lot). If you’re writing a Tony POV fic that includes other characters, depending on the story, it may make sense that Sam doesn’t appear much as he and Tony aren’t close whereas he would in a Steve POV fic.

How do I ensure that I don’t offend anyone if I include POC in my work?

You can’t ensure anything as POC aren’t a monolith, but you can try to be as informed as possible and avoid common pitfalls while writing. You can do research, just the way you might research anything you’re not familiar with. You can ask if anyone is willing to do a sensitivity read while you write or before you post. You can look for betas. There are a lot of resources out there, but these are good places to start if you’re looking for more information and help:

Writing with Color - resources

Writing with Color - Stereotypes and Tropes page

Reference for Writers - POC tag

What should I do to examine myself for any implicit biases?

We should all take stock of:

our feelings about different characters and relationships, both platonic and romantic, who we prioritize in our works, and how much they’re prioritized

our decision whether or not to seek or make content with characters of color. This includes content for white ships because sometimes every white character in the MCU shows up as a side character, but characters of color don’t or all of the white characters play bigger roles than the POC despite how close they are to the protagonist(s)

the way we interpret and write/draw those characters. For example, is Sam a yes-man? A figurative or literal therapist for white friends? The bro who only cracks jokes and/or gives sage advice but seems to not have any flaws, struggles, or life of his own outside of his white friends? The BFF who thinks his white best friend is being ridiculous about another white guy and wants them to get their act together already? Does the character of color talk in the way you perceive everyone of that race to talk rather than the way they personally do (e.g., does Luis randomly and awkwardly switch into Spanish when he talks just because he’s Latinx despite never speaking Spanish with Scott? Does Sam use AAVE with Steve, Bucky, and Natasha when he doesn’t do that with them?)?

Also, here’s a Google doc with more anti-racist resources.

Even well-meaning people can slip up or not be as proactive as they hoped they would be so it’s just good practice to check in with ourselves every once in a while and see if there’s anything we missed or didn’t notice.

#fandom #marvel fandom #mcu fandom #resource

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funky-furby · 4 years

Text

rough furby fandom timeline

reminiscencing abt old furblr made me wanna revisit some of the changes we’ve seen over time! to give new people an idea of it, and also to spark discussion with older members, i joined in 2017 and i havent been as active as of 2019 so i cant speak of prior or after, but heres my thoughts

2017

fandom is still small, but growing

focus is on them as toys

lots of posts are guides on names of colors, or how to push start

2005s are not very popular, i saw someone struggle to sell 2 working ones just because their beaks were damaged

besides the pink ones, people really liked those

i also lost a bid war on an orange 2005 that ended up going for 50 bucks, do you understand the regret i feel

lots of furbys are cheap, furbys in general are cheap, besides the occasional person thinking their nib snowball is worth 300

rise of furbology (later furbae)

popular for owning a lot of furbys, and owning a very very roughed up frog furby called swampy

theres discourse abt drawing furbys with 4 feet

small nature of fandom means that discourse usually involves people everyone knows directly (furbyconfessions accidentally contributes to drama but some spin off accounts purposefully try and start it, furby discourse blogs are a thing)

small nature also means that a lot of people remember each others furbys by name

each furby usually has a personality attached to it too, describing things that furby tends to do more than others, or what its physical differences mean (like being mute)

furby brotherhood is the only furby discord server and it gains notoriety due to the lack of moderation but in my experience it was a really fun wild ride

customization is fairly limited to maybe drawing on freckles, accessories, eyechips (people were poking them out with needles), to my knowledge tracer was the first popular furby to have further customizing

furby blogs humour is very silly, lots of piss and vore jokes

customized furbys from ebay sellers are pretty widely disliked, usually because theyre the clay ones, or because theres a lady trying to pass off her customs as rare releases that never happened

people go out of their way to help each other find listings for their dreamies

2018

purity culture? in furblr? since a lot of people use furbys to cope (many many posts of people bringing them out in public, describing what they and their furbys did), theres a pressure for furby blogs to be happy safe places, safefurby tag to avoid swearing and other stuff is started?, and also to avoid hatred in the main tag

theres like, a 70% chance of anyone u interact with in the fandom being a 15 year old trans guy on the autism spectrum, similarities make it really easy to make friends

considering special interests also usually mean wanting to know as much as possible, there is a WELL of information still

rise in popularity also means a lot more information is found abt furbys, like prototypes, a new factory and more obscure merchandise

since a lot of people empathize with furbys, damaged or not completely working furbys start to go for higher prices than previously as people empathize with them

that one furby that was found in the desert (bumbleweed) gets REALLY popular

rise in customizing coincides with more stylization in how people draw furbys

whenever someone comes up with a new idea u’d see a lot of it in the next week

like stuffing a furby to make them fat, that one took OFF

painting fur and also furby patterns to sew own skins creates a strange demand for just the furbys faceplate

furbys start to get strange names, like hot dog water

fall of furbae as shes revealed as a scammer among other reasons

crap ton of new furby discords are started, for specific topics, or just to avoid brotherhood despite them having a completely new mod team (im a little biased)

theres a still a large overlap in furblr with animatronic and other toy robot blogs

an age of really creative stuff tho, content was constantly evolving

oddbodies are a controversial addition to customizing, longfurby wasnt the first, but i do remember a lot of people taking the faces off of plushes and adding a furby face instead

before they were called oddbodies some people were really uncomfortable with them, but people also didnt like their furby friends being tagged bodyhorror, so oddbody was a good compromise

people were calling dibs on listings before, but its more widespread here, even though you cant call dibs on an open listing

furby prices go through the roof oh my god

kid cuisines especially, i saw more than one person pay 600

2005s go up in price too

oddbodies also caused rise in price on furby buddies

2019

mainstream success?

customization and oddbodies seems to the fandoms focus?

customization starts to overtake previous guides to the point where i see newbies struggle to find information

Plushification

First plush ones have clay eyes, later ones add in the eyes of the original furbys

Some controversy over taking apart furbys

popularity from within and outside of the community further effects prices

since 2012s are both really common, and not popular their prices seem pretty unaffected (besides rainbow crystals)

at this point i think people are taking their furbys out with them less, and i see less people make stories abt what they and their furbys did that day

customization trends were really really cool to watch happen, but since my reasons for being in furblr was the community nature of it, i have a lot less information for 2019 as i was less active in the fandom

and for 2020, i have nothing! so essentially this is me asking, what was 2019 and 2020 furblr for u like? did i remember any older stuff wrong? whats some stuff u wouldve included or have questions about?

#furby

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potatotrash0 · 4 years

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I’ll literally never ever stop thinking about Celeste and Kokichi...they’re just. So interesting and I’m a sucker for complex characters that make me think and allow me the space to speculate and theorize the crap outta them....my little analysis? will stay under the cut because this got way longer than I originally planned.

I just find it so fascinating how Kokichi doesn’t bother with niceties like a lot of the other characters do. He frequently points out things that the other characters either don’t notice or don’t acknowledge, like the fact that Monokuma wants them to work together in order to break them apart and create rifts in the group. Similarly in THH, Celeste brings up several uncomfortable topics, one of the most notable ones for me being the idea of adaptability and survivability being closely interlocked, that those who can’t adapt are bound to wind up dead.

Their statements are cold and unnerving to think about, but I also can’t help thinking about how they’re...not actually wrong? Both ideas are unpleasant for everyone else in the group, but at least how I see it, going about things normally and trusting people you don’t even know isn’t smart, regardless of how optimistic you want to be.

Something I also want to note is that a fundamental part of both their characters is that they’re liars, but how they lie and the reasons why they lie in the first place are just so vastly different from each other.

Kokichi is someone who’s tendency for lying seems to stem from 1.) a lack of trust and 2.) a fear of vulnerability. He exaggerates and fakes his reactions to things frequently and says afterwards that all of it was a lie, but also mentions odd things like “just hit the reset button on your feelings,” which suggests he doesn’t really give himself much time to process how he truly feels. There’s also the fact that he writes, “油断ならない?” under Saihara’s picture on the whiteboard in his room. I believe, and I say this tentatively since I don’t know Japanese and I’m working off translators and kanji websites, that phrase roughly translates to “yudan naranai.” “Yudan” seems to mean “carelessness, recklessness.” “Naranai” seems to mean “do not become.” I’m guessing that Kokichi is making a note to be cautious around Saihara, or to not get careless around him, though why exactly Kokichi feels the need to make that sort of note, I’m not sure. From the English translation of “trustworthy,” I assumed that he trusted Saihara, but I’m wondering now if it would be more accurate to say that he simply acknowledges the detective as a notable figure in the trials or something along those lines. I think he was already formulating his plan with Kaito at this point, so perhaps he was noting that Saihara might’ve been able to find out about it if he wasn’t careful with his words, though I haven’t actually finished V3 so I’m not sure if my assumption lines up with canon. (I’m noticing now that @/oumakokichi said that yudan naranai as a phrase means “tricky,” not “be careful.” I don’t know if it’s like. A Japanese turn of phrase that I just don’t know about or if I translated it wrong skjfkdjf)

Kokichi’s lies are also very...wild. Like his rather chaotic and loud personality, he tends to lie like second nature. I believe in Salmon Mode, if you agree with the idea of Kokichi stopping his lies, he says that it’s arrogant to expect someone to change such a vital part of themselves just for the sake of other people’s approval. The best descriptor I can come up with for his brand of lying is that...it’s like a minefield with both real and fake mines. It’s hard to differentiate what’s what, and while you can take a guess, there’s always a chance that your assumption will backfire and blow up in your face unless you pay extremely close attention.

Celeste, on the other hand, seems to lie more out of insecurity than a lack of trust. She hates the idea of being ordinary, calling her real name a loser’s name, and is shown to be willing to go to extremes to achieve the lavish life she desires. Even beyond the whole murder plan, gambling in Japan is illegal, so she’s breaking the law as well as resorting to risking her own life in gambling matches in order to get the money she needs for her castle. She’s also a lot more particular in how she lies. She seems to have an elaborate backstory all planned out, from her being descended from French and German ancestors to her likely fake gambling matches inspired by various gambling manga. She sticks to it well, firmly restating details like her name being Celestia Ludenberg, even when it’s clear that some people don’t buy it. Juxtaposed to Kokichi’s minefields, Celeste’s lies strike me as more like a carefully woven web of half-truths. Not quite lies, but definitely not the whole story either.

I also find it interesting how their motivations and actions in their respective killing games differ. Kokichi is shown to actively despise the work of Team Danganronpa, calling them sick for enjoying toying with people’s lives. In the Japanese version, I believe he says something along the lines of, “A game where people lose their lives...how could that ever be fun?” He also mentions to Saihara that a game can be won by simply not playing. He flat out says, “Regardless of your reasons, the moment you felt the urge to kill, you had already lost. You agreed to be part of this killing game when you allowed murder to fill your heart.” He’s not really subtle about his hatred of the killing game, and even the whole “I love this game!!!” spiel in Chapter 4 is a rather pathetic lie. At least, it seems obvious to me, seeing as up until that point, some of his most serious moments have included him explicitly talking about not playing by Monokuma’s rules. I think Saihara himself notes that Kokichi seemed to have upped the whole evil persona. Though, being an observer, I guess I could be biased.

Celeste, however, said herself that she wanted nothing more than to get out as soon as Monokuma showed up. Just outright states it, that her whole “adaptability is survivability” mentality was a facade she put up in order to hide the fact that she was always considering killing someone in exchange for freedom. It’s a direct contrast to Kokichi’s insistence that they shouldn’t give into Monokuma’s trap, as well as his strong disdain for murder.

And since I’ve gone over their differences all this time, I wanna go over a few notable similarities real quick?

I notice that they both have a theme of hiding and suppressing their emotions. Kokichi’s more subtle about it, his most explicit line being that “hit reset on your feelings” line. Celeste states it outright, saying that she takes pride in being able to fool her own emotions, that “the conscious deceives the unconcious.” However, neither of them have full control over what emotions they show, as Kokichi is shown a few times to lose control and try to play it off as a lie afterwards, and Celeste loses her temper with Hifumi and during the trial. When it came time for her to be executed, even Makoto was able to see through her smile despite her efforts to appear composed.

Another thing is that they both seem to be rather commanding characters. Celeste is one of the first to take initiative, immediately establishing the no-wandering-at-nighttime rule, as well as bringing up the adapt to survive idea. She repeatedly reminds everyone to adhere to the rule, appearing ticked off when people don’t and even saying that Chihiro had their death coming to them for meeting someone at night. One of Kokichi’s first moves is to befriend Gonta, and he doesn’t have any issue ordering the guy around, not unlike how Celeste orders around Hifumi. Gonta obviously doesn’t really seem to find Kokichi physically attractive, but the boss/goon dynamic is similar. This is likely more of a “you’re easy to pick on so I’m gonna keep doing it” sort of deal than him being commanding, but I will bring up that Kokichi does seem to find Miu’s more wimpish side amusing, enough that he doesn’t seem to get bored of insulting her through the game.

This is...probably all stuff that me and plenty of other people have gone over before but I just. Man I just think they’re so neat........I love them.....they make me happy to think about....

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snowflake-of-destruction · 4 years

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More GiG. I’m sure everyone is shocked.

"We’re not ‘fine,'" Aqua mimicked Terra's reluctant, sadness tinged, bitter confession from that morning, before snapping back to a half-frantic huff that was all her own. "Out of nowhere. Six in the morning. Sun's not even up. I'm getting dressed in the master bath because I don't want to turn on the bedroom light because I think he's sleeping. I want to crawl back into bed-with him-but I'm getting ready, to be the responsible adult in the family like I always am, and he lays that on me before I even have breakfast." She glared at a spot of empty air as she fell silent and shook her head, wrapping her arms around herself.

Xemnas held up a half filled wine glass in front of her until she took it. There was a fair chance it would be more comforting than him. He wasn't a bad listener, and maybe that was all his stepsister wanted, and he could parse the problem, if she'd let him, but he favored a more clinical, logical (and biased when it came to his sister's husband whom he'd never liked) standpoint, as Aqua did herself, but he lacked the nurturing nature that balanced his sister out and often was not able to muster anything beyond the starkest assessment. "So what did you say?"

"I panicked. I just told him he was wrong and left the room," Aqua shrugged her shoulders in a rather robotic up and down and frowned at the glass in her hands like she wasn't sure how it had gotten there.

Xemnas couldn't help it. He let out a full-bodied laugh. That was Aqua. He could just imagine the tone she'd said it in too, like she was correcting one of her students. "I would have loved to have seen his face."

"I'm glad I was able to amuse you," the dry response came, though the corner of Aqua's mouth twitched like the humor of the situation wasn't entirely lost on her.

"What happened then?" Xemnas urged. He watched his sister's hand, or, more accurately, the wine she hadn't bothered to take even a polite initial sip of, more closely than he watched her face.

"Nothing. He didn't follow me. I ducked my head back into the bedroom before I left for work and he had fallen back asleep. He was home when I came home and...nothing. He's probably waiting for me to bring it up." The question of whether she should bring it up and have the conversation out, or walk on eggshells for awhile hoping Terra didn't dive back into the topic at an awkward time was implied, though she didn't bother to actually voice it. The answer was more questions she was positive, and ones she didn't know the answer to. How do you feel about it? Do you think he's right? It might be just a phase (and that was the answer she wanted "It's just a phase. All marriages go through dark and light patches" like Daddy would say), but do you think it would pass more quickly if you talk it through or if you don't pick at it?

"God, don't do that," Xemnas surprised her, draining half his own glass of wine after. "Not until after Saturday," he amended. "Did you forget Annie's little dinner party? It's going to be bad enough without the possibility of you and Terra sniping at each other under your breaths all night." Or Terra refusing to show up and Aqua clinging to his side all night so he could fend off questions for her, but Xemnas wasn't unkind enough to voice that worry.

"Ansem hates it when you call him Annie." Aqua finally took a sip of her wine, and Xemnas couldn't help but be reassured.

"I have to have some fun left in my life."

"You have me. I'm fun."

Xemnas stayed pointedly silent until Aqua shoved his shoulder. He'd coaxed a smile out of her. That had to be mission accomplished of the day.

#grass is greener verse #snippets #drabble ask meme #aqua #xemnas #Anonymous

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gayregis · 4 years

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I've listened to the part where Geralt talks with a very ill Cahir about Ciri and vengeance... it was one of the most emotional parts of the book by itself but also thanks to your take about the lost innocence of Ciri ! I felt it thrice hard in the feelings! Also, do you have thoughts on the declared love of Cahir for Ciri? Personally I see it as disturbingly romantic, let's say. Thank you for your commitment to the books and sorry to bother you

omg thank you for the ask. first of all i have to say you’re not bothering me!! tbh i have been loving getting asks because it gives me an opportunity to like bring more discussion to the witcher community...

i feel like although reblogging pretty gifs of characters/landscapes from tw3 and any good fanart i can find is nice, my FAVORITE thing to do is write or read a really long textpost about the witcher books, i really like the discussion aspect of fandoms where people post their reactions and opinions to the content they like, because you get a bunch of shared reactions and differing opinions.

so no this is NOT a bother at all, and its nice especially to get asks about topics that i have strong feelings about but have not made posts about yet, like this one

ok, as for the actual topic: i hate forced heterosexuality, so you KNOW i hate that canon cahiri! it was out of line from sapkowski and imo, it came out of absolutely nowhere in tower of the swallow, it wasn’t something built up to or foreshadowed at all, so it felt not only weird in context but weird for sapkowski as an author.

my main problem with canon cahiri: i think it’s super creepy!

first of all, let’s discuss the age difference. cahir in baptism of fire is estimated to be “not over 25,” which i see as putting him around 20 to 25 years old, and i usually take the median of this which is around 23. while this “not over 25″ comment is said in the context of the hansa to remark upon how young cahir is (i believe it’s thought of by either geralt or dandelion, and geralt is around 60 years old and as a witcher he looks 45, and dandelion is 38 in tower of the swallow), and how cahir is described as a young man in time of contempt to illustrate that he has a sense of innocence to him as ciri cuts him down, his age gap with ciri is super innappropriate for anything to occur between them, since she is 10 or 11 during the massacre of cintra (as stated by geralt in something more), so she would be around 14 at thanedd, and 15-16 during baptism of fire to lady of the lake. so sapkowski deemed it fit to pair a 23 year old man with a 16 year old girl. this isn’t the first time he’s done something like this, what with essi being “not over 18″ and shani also bein around 18 / college age, and yennefer canonically looking around 20. listen, the man has some messed up values when it comes to women’s ages. we have to take it upon ourselves as people who like the not-weird parts of canon to understand how worldviews and personal biases affect one’s writing, and change it for ourselves to make it right so we can continue interacting with it, if we so choose (tldr: retcon some shit when it’s fucked up in canon).

now, before someone argues that “it’s fantasy medieval world, medieval relationships between men and women were just like that,” believe me, i am aware. i study ancient greece/rome and men who were in their 30s were most often paired with women in their teens as part of their arranged marriages. that is how their ancient societies functioned more than 2000 years ago. the issue is that this is a fantasy world, in which societal norms and laws do not have to conform to real-life earth history, and this is the work of a modern writer writing in the 1990s. it’s not “just how the times were,” it’s deliberately choosing to include an age gap like that to be something canonically acceptable by their society/ies.

also, one could argue that the age gap would be fine once they are older, like, when ciri becomes an adult she is already medievally-style betrothed to cahir so they start dating when she’s like 20 and he’s like 27. eh... that’s still an uncomfortable age gap, at least for when they’re in their 20s. people in their older 20s have more life experience than people in their younger 20s. but at least it wouldn’t land cahir in modern-day jail.

it’s still just an uncomfortably large age gap, and if you think about it, it’s even creepier considering that cahir met ciri when she was a helpless child around 10 - 11 and it just makes the bathing scene excruciatingly creepy too if you put it in the context that he eventually would fall in love with her. it even begins to not be about strictly age, but about life experience, development, and power imbalance within the relationship. i mean, he did literally kidnap her.

cahir in tos calls ciri a “woman” when she is like, 15 or 16 (with the rose tattoo) (to anyone reading, please don’t come at me with that “the age of consent is 15 in poland, just because it’s 18 in the US doesn’t mean your laws and culture apply to everyone” ... please do not try and justify this with laws, legality is not morality. only saying this because i’ve seen it in other posts). like.... hm! don’t like that! she is a teenager... he is in his 20s... this should not be occuring.

sorry for the loooong explanation, but every time someone brings up the subject of age gaps on tumblr it turns into crazy discourse with everyone trying to justify it.

but yeah, CANONICALLY cahir would have been 16-21 (median 18) when he met ciri at 10-11, and 20-25 (median 23) when he declares his love for her at 15-16. that’s ... not good ... to put it more into perspective, these are their ages on a traditional school system path: a 18 year old is a high school senior, an 11 year old is a 6th grader. a 23 year old has been out of college for 2 years, a 16 year old is a high school sophomore. ITS NOT GOOD

my other problem with canon cahiri: it’s boring and contradicts sapkowski at his own game.

all of the witcher is about taking fantasy tropes and inverting them, like you can’t have some random peasant kill a dragon, you’d need a professional, and also guess what, the dragon isn’t evil but a dad trying to protect his wife and child.

all of the characters in the hansa (as well as the four main characters of geralt, yennefer, ciri, and dandelion) are inversions of the tropes they represent. for some examples, milva’s trope is something like the hot action girl who only exists to be the only girl in the company and to be sexy eye candy. instead of falling into this, she is actually an action girl, not bothering with sexiness and appeal to the gaze of a male audience but a “get shit done” type, who also dresses and acts “like a man.” regis’ trope is all vampire tropes ever. he/vampires in the witcher doesn’t/don’t fall into any of the traditional european vampire myths like burning in sunlight, needing to drink blood to stay alive, being disdainful of humanity, having aversions to garlic, belonging to a super-secret orderful society that lurks in the shadows and controls everything like puppetmasters, etc... instead, he is the epitome of redemption arcs and overall “goody-goodiness,” understands humanity perfectly and does things out of his good nature. i already talk about regis too much, so i’ll quit it.

cahir is an inversion of every knight trope ever, particularly the evil knight. he scars ciri’s memory as a night terror, but actually is not ... a bad person. he’s just some guy, pressured by his family and his society to do what he saw as an assignment like a college kid might see their final essay assignment posted on canvas. except you know. the final exam was to kidnap a girl. and he got an F on that and failed the course (ie got thrown in prison). ANYWAYS, cahir is meant to be this inversion of the knight tropes, so WHY, WHY, WHY make him become the knight trope of being the one to romance and to save a hapless princess? if we’ve learned anything about ciri, it’s that she’s the inversion of the princess trope! she KILLS PEOPLE. she ALMOST KILLED CAHIR. she can defend herself and kill for herself, she doesn’t need the knight trope going to protect her!

heterosexual romance as the Big Reason and Motivation behind all of a character’s actions is tiring, annoying, boring, and not well-thought out. it’s so base and not unique, it doesn’t fit in with everything else about the witcher.

how i would fix it: not make them fall in love.

cahir already HAS a motivation to find ciri and to help her. he needs to APOLOGIZE. he needs to say, hey, i’m sorry i kidnapped you and ruined your life, i made peace with your dad, he doesn’t wanna kill me anymore, i can only hope that you can forgive me too after i SET THINGS RIGHT.

as opposed to regis’s arc (i swear i am not playing favorites with regis, i just tend to compare and contrast regis and cahir’s redemptions because they are quite different yet they join the hansa side by side so they’re bound to be compared), cahir actually can find the one (not many) people he wronged, and set things right on his own accord, not go forth with a larger mission to assist all humanity, or whatever.

i think cahir also had this WONDERFULLY UNDERUTILIZED anti-imperialist message as part of his character that pains me to see being swept under the rug for some cheap lame romance story. sapkowski already created some anti-war sentiments with the battle of the bridge in baptism of fire, and he tried to create anti-racism sentiments throughout the book/at the end of lady of the lake. anti-imperialism fits with the rest of the saga as a message.

the fact that cahir was instructed by his family to hate the northern kingdoms, despite the fact that they were related to northerners, is really profound as something to happen to a character, and holds a lot of meaning in today’s society. the fact that he broke, finally, after he lost ciri, just completely lost his mind and had to be restrained because he was wailing so hard, because of the pressure that this society put him under to succeed and achieve pride for his family, is such a great example of the tragedies of society. then he speaks out against his leader and is jailed... and yet, after this, he gets to learn from his mistakes and redeem himself as a good person, and his character has developed SO much. he is not doing what his country wants him to do, he is not doing what his family wants him to do. he is doing what he wants to do because it is the RIGHT thing to do. that already is such a powerful message, he doesn’t need anymore character motivation!

so yep that’s my thoughts on why cahir is a good character asides from all that forced romance biz

#ask #cahir #ciri #master-dellamorte

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