#but he is also starting sentences with 'I'm not sexist but-'

[merkerlerspeaks]

btw I ask for prayers for when I speak in my class that since I am in a class that is religiously diverse and have zero desire to with hold my beliefs, that 1.) I don't say something in a way that horribly offends someone (I prefer to be gentle when in religious discussion) 2.) That when I do speak about the topic that the 'baby christian' boy in my class is able to understand me & that if I ever try to help him learn that I don't come across as if I am dismissing him (I am worried that I made him feel stupid or ganged-up on yesterday and hope that I did not) and that 3.) I don't slip up and say something horribly offensive to my preacher/veteran teacher because while I am a Christian I am not conservative and have opinions about the army that he doesn't need to hear right now after being freshly retired after serving for over 2 decades.

[tellthemeerkatsitsfine]

New Taskmaster lineup announcement! That’s fun, isn’t isn't it? Let’s go over some of the new people.

I first learned the news the day after I booked tickets to see Emma Sidi in Edinburgh this summer, so that was good timing. I booked those because I like her in some other people’s Radio 4 things, she was good in Pls Like, she does amusing characters on YouTube, I read some good things about her stand-up show this year for which she’s currently doing WIPs, and she hangs out with Rose Matafeo so she has to be all right, hasn’t she? Oh, and I’ve spent too much time trying to get my hypocrisy-averse brain to reconcile my dislike of the dominance of socio-economically elite institutions over the arts, with how many of my favourite comedians were in Cambridge Footlights. I’ve done the work of reconciling that already, I may as well use it a few more times.

I'm much less pleased about Jack Dee, but it could be worse. I’m pretty strongly biased against Jack Dee because one of the first things I ever saw him do was be on the QI Girls Versus Boys episode, which was the first episode of QI to ever feature two entire women. They had Ronnie Ancona on with Sandi Toksvig, and they discussed gender-based topics, and it was terrible. A lot of Fry-era QI was pretty bad; panel shows got a lot funnier when they invented diversity in 2014. Also Stephen Fry is annoying and Sandi Toksvig should be Prime Minister, but I’m getting off topic here.

The point is that the first time QI had two women on at a time, it was so they could make those two women listen to a bunch of gender essentialist bullshit that they used as answers to the gender-related questions. At one point, Stephen Fry explained that the gender pay gap isn’t real because women play fewer sets than men in professional tennis. One of the questions was “Why are there more men than women on panel shows?”, and I thought the answer would involve one of the 300 levels of casual and institutionalized sexism that women tripped over on the path from making jokes on the playground to getting spots on television comedy shows. Nope. The answer Stephen Fry was looking for was “according to an American study”, audiences don’t find women as funny as they find men.

Through this, Ronnie Ancona in particular did a great job of walking the very thin line between trying to point out a bit of the bullshit, while not being the "argumentative feminist", and being funny at the same time so she’s not a killjoy feminist proving that women aren’t funny. She did this funny riff about female comedians locked in a paddock, and then she went back and forth with Sandi a bit about it, in literally the first moment in QI history of passing the Bechdel test, and Sandi started to say something about how rare and nice it is that she gets to sit next to a woman on a panel show, and Jack Dee interrupted Sandi mid-sentence to ask whether the reason they don’t have more women on panel shows is “once you get them started they don’t shut up”.

Now, obviously he was joking. The gruff, curmudgeonly persona is his thing, and this was meant to be part of that. But he got in a lot of "joke" sexist comments throughout that whole episode, a lot more than anyone else did even though this episode was essentially dedicated to comedic sexism. It doesn’t help that the YouTube comments are full of people unironically agreeing with Jack Dee’s comment that women don't shut up.

I saw this relatively early in my time watching all the long-running panel shows, so that was the lens through which I saw all Jack Dee's other appearances, and maybe because of that bias, I noticed that he interrupted women a lot on panel shows, and picked a lot of inappropriate moments for sexist jokes, often aimed at women in general on an all-male episode, or at the only woman in an episode, always a woman who was used to always being the one woman on panels and hearing jokes like that constantly. But at least when most of the men made those jokes they’d have laugh to suggest they didn’t mean it, Jack Dee would just glare at the women like it was their fault. And yeah, being grumpy is his persona, but he would sometimes break that and have a laugh with the men. Never women.

I don’t even mind a good ironically sexist joke. Honestly, I probably mind them less than I should. I enjoy a lot of comedy where a better feminist than me would reasonably say “irony is not a good enough excuse for how offensive this is”. I know irony is used to mask genuine bigotry and I hate that, but also, if I’m convinced enough that the person isn’t masking genuine bigotry, I can laugh at some pretty harsh stuff. You need to build up some cred before I’ll trust you with sexist jokes. If Nish Kumar went on a panel show and said all women should shut the fuck up, I’ll be pretty sure he’s kidding and it’s all right. But if Jack Dee has enough feminist cred to make those jokes okay, then I sure haven’t heard about it.

Also, Jack Dee showed up on Catsdown a lot and did the grumpy thing similar to Sean Lock, but was much much less funny about it, and yet everyone else on the show treated him like he was hilarious, and that annoyed me. Also, after Sean died, Jack Dee sat in for him as a guest team captain once, doing his significantly less funny version of Sean Lock's shtick (yeah it was probably Jack Dee's shtick first, I don't care), and I had a strong visceral reaction of

All right, that is way more words that I’d meant to write about Jack Dee. Honestly, after all that, he’s probably not that bad. He was mildly funny in Josh Widdicombe’s mildly funny sitcom. I heard some of his recent stand-up recently, and a bit of it made me laugh. I just don’t like him because I saw him on too many panel shows.

Babatunde Aleshe I know almost nothing about, except that he’s supposed to have been particularly good on Off Menu once (I wouldn’t know, don’t do food shows), and sometimes he does reality TV. I’ve seen him on Catsdown and WILTY and Rhod Gilbert’s Growing Pains, where he was never particularly memorable, but he was probably fine. I hope he’s entertaining.

And then there’s seat number five, and that’s sure an interesting one. Of course I'd thought about Rosie Jones as a potential Taskmaster contestant before, but I didn't expect it to happen. Not that I didn't expect them to have any physically disabled people. They've had Jonnie Peacock and Lenny Rush and one of these days they’re definitely going to cast Adam Hills and he’ll win and then Australia will annoyingly pull ahead of Canada in the competition for who has the most UK Taskmaster champions (it’s currently 2-2). But all those people are able to do most of Taskmaster without disability accommodations. I didn't expect them to cast someone who'd need significant accommodation.

Having said that, I was very happy to see they’d proved me wrong and are, in fact, going to do that. I think she’ll be great. There are lots of ways to make Taskmaster accessible – just because I thought they wouldn’t do it doesn’t mean I thought they couldn’t.

Rosie Jones’ style of humour will go great on Taskmaster. Some recent seasons have lacked a bit of spark of contestant interaction in the studio, and Rosie Jones is always going after people. She won’t leave anyone alone, which I think will work great on the show. She can be the chaotic wildcard ball of energy that Taskmaster needs to really get going. And she is very funny. That’ll be great. I'm excited to see her get into it with Greg and Alex as well as the other contestants. And to see her yell at people when anything happens during tasks.

So that’s the new lineup announcement. Have I covered everyone? I think that's all the important stuff. It’s good to have the lineup out there.

[stan-rabelais-et-diderot]

The 2012 French rap feud (Booba / Rohff)

In 2012, a legendary rap feud occured in France, between the rappers Booba, Rohff & La Fouine (Morsay tried to get involved). I thought it could be interesting for Americans to hear about it, if you want.

If we had to make comparaison, Booba would be French Drake, he had big mainstream success (melodic stuff too, went on the radio) pretty much apolitical music (he is also half white), Rohff would be Kendrick Lamar though the parallels doesn't work as well (Médine or Kery James would fit better, if you want to listen to any French rap, listen to them) Rohff's rap is more political & more culturally relevant, rooted in the neighborhood.

The similarities end here, because unlike J. Cole, Drake or Kendrick, La Fouine went to prison several times adding up to a couple of years (but mostly before his rapping carrier), he served time at the same prison at around the same time as

Booba, who was already a rapper when he went to prison for a year and a half. After that he went into detention for a few months two more times over the years.

Rohff did some prison after he became a rapper, but most notably, because of the rap feud I'm gonna talk about with Booba. There was a fight in 2014 that led to someone being in a coma & a five year prison sentence for Rohff (he served a few months).

For this reason & others (like the fact that all the French rappers I mentioned, all stand with Palestine), the Drake / Kendrick Lamar feud makes me laugh with indulgence.

You can listen to the tracks if you want to witness this glorious, very sexist & homophobic history (you can try to google translate the lyrics but most of it is slang they probably won't translate well), but I offer a summary of the feud, with some very short explanations of the events, lyrics & a few translated lines :

Responding to Rohff calling him a "zoulette" (an offhand on tv in August 2012, source) Booba dropped "Wesh Morray" (Yo couz'), in september 2012. There is not much there, in the song he said he is on top (money, cars, friends, rap game), talks about being a thug ("I come home from the street, I never came home from work"), it's really not his best imo.

The response came 5 days later, using the same music sample. Rohff attacks Booba on his race (Booba is half white) & on his credentials:

"you use our codes, our words, our methods" "neither arab nor black, the biggest liar of this age"

(paraphrasing) "Diams (woman rapper) had better sales than you, that's why you came after her"

"stop your "thug life" [bullshit], Tupac is turning in his grave", "Kery [James] didn't mention your name, what are you talking about", [that means he is not a real one]

"nothing glorious about showing off your little criminal record, real ones don't need to prove anything, you didn't grow up in the 'hood, you'll never be like us, don't make it a whole thing"

(Rohff destroyed him basically).

Two months later, La Fouine came into play, mentioning it in a song "I hear the clash about you on the radio, but like the call to the mosque you can't respond" (which is a bad burn, almost two months & Booba hadn't fought back, also Booba not attending mosque, is not a good Muslim, very easy jab to make). He also released a 20 min video talking shit about Booba, which he can because of the common past with the Fresnes prison which is apparently were La Fouine started disliking Booba.

After that, Booba avoided Rohff (he cancelled a birthday party to avoid him :) ) & he fired back two months later (early 2013, things didn't move as fast back then), his song barely mentioning Rohff, it heavily focused on La Fouine having a sexual assault on a minor on his criminal record (there is audio evidence in the track of someone he said is a cop saying it, on a phone call that was a setup)

Four days later, La Fouine fired back (choosing in very poor taste imo to use as the hook "besides Booba I didn't rape anyone"), mostly mocking him for his cowardness "you refuse to meet-up & you piss yourself" & bragging about his wealth: "Fouiny [himself] is a homeowner".

This is one line I still remember this song for, though "you have tatoos, we have scars" Ten years later I still love that line.

La Fouine pushed back further on the sexual assault on a minor allegation, saying Booba is irrelevant in the rap game so he has to ressort to making up lies, that the woman "cop" on the phone call said he had done sexual assault on a minor in 1997, when he himself was 15 (he really should have stopped there, but then he said "I don't know, in junior high, I probably put my hand on a girl's ass for a second... Oups, sorry! But I swear, Booba besides you I didn't rape anyone").

Booba fight back a week later, calling La Fouine "Emile" refering to the famous rapist & murderer of disabled minors (Emile Louis). He provided further audio evidence of La Fouine having committed sexual assault, at some point in the song he says (doing a voice as if he were La Fouine) "send to minors up [to my Miami appartement], I'm worse than R. Kelly" (this is from february 2013 btw). He also accused La Fouine of just doing business (so not making a lot of money from selling records) & not being relevant to the rap game.

A month after that, La Fouine & Booba had a fight in the Miami hotel they were both staying at.

The fight that led to an unrelated party ending up in a coma happened a year later.

From what I can tell, the hatchet hasn't been buried & the only reason things didn't get worse is that Booba actually is a coward, who actively avoid them (or he is wise not to engage in meaningless physical conflict, but why he has to talk so loud then?)

Anyway, no way the Kendrick Lamar / Drake feud goes as far as this, but still, pretty entertaining. Less criminal record, better music, you win some, you lose some.

[ivoryvee]

The XIV Twitter drama going on rn reminded me of the static I was in before I started joining hardcore statics. I was treated different by the raid lead and made me feel like an 'other' to the rest (and the others claim they didn't see it), but also he talked to me a lot being my friend in my DMs, then used me to get out of a relationship from our WHM at the time cause she was a dramamonger who yelled a lot. So I was thrown into the midst of it, forced to claim I liked him solely cause he paid attention to me unlike the rest to get her to leave. He then started dating the replacement (I think they're still together so bully for him? lol) - about that time I started looking for a new group cause he then started using my psychosis against me to make me uncomfortable (and I'm not quiet when I'm made uncomfortable so the rest of the group went ??? at me so further feeling like I didn't belong). I'm assuming he's better now but idk I don't check on people who treated me like that. Another guy (same static) soon after all that we chatted a lot and spent a lot of time doing stuff together - I NEVER got like a romantic context out of him I genuinely thought he wanted to be my friend. Also the hints we wouldn't be a match anyway (ie the time I legit scolded him for making the sexist 'are you on your period' comment when I got upset over something and had to ramble about it - or the time I had to tell him how belittling saying 'female' in sentences where you could've easily said 'woman' - or the time he told me during covid he didn't get vaccinated solely cause Biden said we should get vaccinated). Once I joined my first hardcore static group and started dating my bf he got incredibly mad and said "WHY WASN'T IT ME" like ???? bro???? His head was in the wrong place a lot of the time but, man. Anyway he stopped talking to me immediately, making me think yet again my friendship wasn't valuable enough. He's still on my steam friend list and I even caught his name watching my stream once, but he hasn't tried talking to me at all. I could go on about the UCoB group I joined but, who knows about them anymore I want to forget them tbh.

[gildedmuse]

So, I just know all of Tumblr was wondering, "hey, you remember that really weird ZoLaw fan with the annoyingly overly stylized post? I wonder if she's seen this and if she has any theories or thoughts, an observation or two?"

Well, allow me to set your wandering mind at ease, fictional Tumblr fan. The answer is: No. No, I really don't.

I have like three hundred.

[I also spent time just trying to track down as many translations as possible. Is Tera A Criminal's Daughter or The Daughter Of Thieving Bandits! These are CLEARLY separate things and can ENTIRELY change how her utter nonpresence in Zoro's life shaped him! Though I can take comfort in knowing that, regardless of what kind of crimes her father was committing they were more important than anything his daughter ever did in her entire life.]

And, hey, as might as well jump right into that whole mess.

1. Wait, Zoro's mom is dead? Thank goodness, I was worried Oda forgot one!

(AKA: Stop. Murdering. Moms.)

I'll go first, I don't mind saying when I was wrong. True, in the past I may have suggested that the vast majority of female characters in One Piece come off as ever so slightly, "leaning into sexist tropes with unadulterated joy; it's the misogynistic tropes equivalent of a child running naked through a grocery store. It's right there, everyone sees it, yet people shut up and continue shopping in part because, well, these days you just expect most people to cover that junk! What would you even say? And if you DO speak up and call out the inappropriate, be prepared for blank stares and tantrums; but THEY don't mind! THEY don't think it's wrong! You're just being mean!"

More or less a direct quote.

However, I see now that I rushed to judgement and the reality of the situation is far more nuanced. With that in mind, I was just wondering if someone could help answer some of the questions I have.

Like: Why does Oda believe that it's illegal for (maternal) female characters to survive other character's backstories?

More importantly, why hasn't someone just reached out to explain the misconception!? It can't be that difficult. If nothing else, just have a lawyer or judge or other expert in censorship on hand. Or is the one of those cases where back in highschool his friends made something up and then kept pretending it was real to see if he'd believe you and not only did he fall for it, it took over 20 years before he learned that, what, no that's not illegal. That would be crazy if it were an actual law. Cause you know, after the first 10 years I think yeah you have to just lean into it. Pretend it's a creative decision on your part and definitely not because you were terrified of being sentenced to a slow and humiliating public death.

Just to be clear that's definitely what's up, right? I mean, I'm struggling to think of another reason....able excuse why a story that I really enjoy keeps playing the same old sexist tropes cards again and again to the point of absurdity. It would just help if I had a valid excus- explanation. I almost mistyped the word explanation.

....

....

So I imagine it went like.

"That's the third mangaka they've had to Publically Execute this week!"

"They've started taking this law way more serious lately."

"This one really deserved it though! I heard his main character has a mother in her late forties!"

"That does seem old to have your first child."

"No, he's the middle of three and 22 years old. The story even has flashbacks of defining moments in his childhood and never once did she try to sacrifice herself for him, get murdered by his enemies, or die in meaningless unrelated accidents."

"Damn, that's cold to be there for all the protagonist core moments and not die and help him develop and grow a character? They must have a very antagonistic relationship. Is she actually the villain."

"Not that we know, and when they asked about this being a possible plot twist since - obviously if she's evil no laws are being broken."

"Well, of course, that's the whole reason Statue 2-dash-57 exists; if creators can show they have consistently been building up to a surprise twist then the female character in question can continue to live so long as she continues to be unrepentant and unlikable until the resolution of her arch by the protagonist."

"That's the thing! Under oath not only did man present no evidence to support her identity as a secret villain, he went on the record stating he wanted to depict their relationship as one of a normal modern 20 year old and his mother."

"That can't be true! What publishing company would even print that!?"

"It gets worse. I told you he was a middle child? Well, according to those who've read the actual manga, his younger sister was really sick as a child."

"Oh, well, at least-"

"It was just a fish allergy. She's perfectly fine."

"Sometimes I feel this law is unnecessarily harsh but.... Then you hear stories like that, and you realize that some people really are monsters."

[geograms]

Differentiating Between Chinese, Korean, and Japanese

Well, frankly it comes down to memorizing the alphabets. But not necessarily the whole alphabet, but more so the way each is written.

Disclaimer: I'm mostly going off of personal experiences, and also from skimming through sources, so this may be anywhere from somewhat inaccurate, to completely wrong and batsh*t insane. Take any facts from this post with a grain of salt and do your own research. Also, I won't be talking about how to read each language, only how the writing systems work and had developed.

Chinese is the original. It evolved overtime from simplified drawings with varying meanings It's commonly considered to have developed around 1-2 millennia ago. Being a logographic system, it looks like miniature symbols or drawings, and usually takes more strokes to write by hand. The name for this writing system is Hanzi, and the characters for this word (漢字) are used for all derivatives of it. So across languages that use Hanzi as a base, some words with the same meaning may sound similar because they use the same characters.

Both Korean and Japanese often use Chinese Characters. In Korean it's called Hanja. It doesn't use the characters directly but rather transcribes them into Hangeul and uses them like root words. You can use it to figure out the definition of a word. Japanese uses Kanji, which uses the characters directly. This helps to differentiate between words that sound similar / the same.

Hangeul is the Korean alphabet. It was pioneered by the Great King Sejong after he expressed concern over the amount of studying that complex Hanja requires, and had the Jiphyeonjeon (The Hall of Worthies, an organization of Scholars installed by Sejong to research and help him rule) develop a writing system that was easy for the lower class to learn and read. Each letter consists of a consonant (Looks like the part of the mouth it uses) and a vowel (usually a couple sticks on the side of or below the consonant) and sometimes a supporting consonant at the bottom.

Japanese has three alphabets: Hiragana, Katakana, and the aforementioned Kanji. Hiragana and Katakana (Together known as Kana) are syllabaries developed from Man'yōgana, Chinese Characters that had been simplified to represent Japanese phonetically. Each system has 46 characters, each representing a certain syllable.

Hiragana developed in the 9th Century. It originates from cursive style script of Man'yōgana, Sōssho. It was commonly used by court women, who gradually modified it to be simpler and emphasize phonetic values. This is why it was sometimes called Onnade (Women's Writing). It's used to write words with Japanese origin and Okurigana (suffixes for words with a Kanji root). You can identify it by it's cursive and simplistic shape.

Katakana also developed around the 9th century, by Buddhist monks in order to make writing Man'yōgana characters simpler and faster. They did this by taking only certain strokes from the corresponding Man'yōgana character. Katakana is used for writing foreign words and onomatopoeia.

HOLY SH*T I put way too much effort into this. This was gonna be a 5 minute post maybe a couple sentences long, and now it's been 2 and a half hours since I started.

Sources: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Chinese-writing, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_characters, https://love.seoul.go.kr/articles/4918, https://namu.wiki/w/%EC%A7%91%ED%98%84%EC%A0%84, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hall_of_Worthies, https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2047.html, https://www.omniglot.com/writing/japanese_hiragana.htm, https://medium.com/pomme-de-terre/the-sexist-history-behind-the-development-of-hiragana-e9f5676ab1f9, https://www.academia.edu/40998205/The_Origin_and_Development_of_Hiragana_and_Katakana, https://lexisjapan.com/hiragana-and-the-2000-year-journey-from-then-to-now/, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiragana#History, https://ai.glossika.com/blog/history-japanese-writing-systems, https://www.tsunagujapan.com/7-facts-you-probably-didnt-know-about-katakana-a-japanese-alphabet/, https://www.kcpinternational.com/2011/07/japanese-language-basics-katakana/, https://cotoacademy.com/hiragana-and-katakana-origins/, https://www.futurelearn.com/info/courses/japanese-rare-books-culture/0/steps/17238, https://www.quora.com/How-did-Hiragana-and-Katakana-evolve-into-the-forms-they-have-today, https://medium.com/exploring-history/the-origin-of-japanese-writing-%E6%BC%A2%E5%AD%97%E3%82%84%E4%BB%AE%E5%90%8D%E3%81%AE%E7%94%B1%E6%9D%A5-9d2545f38bad, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katakana#History

[thaleleah]

didn't james cameron plan avatar before titanic even came out? that's so cool! the fact that they invented an actual language for avatar will always be amazing to me 🩵

(Except when he's killing off my favorite character in Avatar 2. That wasn't cool 😭)

was it jakes oldest son? i forgot his name 😭 yea james cameron is good at killing off fan favorites *cough cough* jack dawson *cough cough*

the whole anti aging up community is so fucking annoying. i'm actually convinced it's a bunch kids who are sending in hate tbh. and if it's adults doing it... then that's fucking embarrassing and pathetic and sad. even with the dark content community, there are a lot of trolls who think just because you read or write non con - you "need to seek help"... like stfu, mind your own damn business and don't fucking interact. we don't condone any of that stuff irl... it's literal fiction ✨

there was this one girl on here who wanted to round up a group of tumblr users to block writers on here who use the dark/noncon tag... and in my head i was like... yeah... good luck with that honey 😂 now here's the twist... this girl also writes for avatar 😂

exactly tal. when using the right tags, you should be fine and not run into anything you don't want to read. and please... read the warnings people 🤦🏻‍♀️ 😂

omg tal your avatar blog looks beautiful 🩵✨ it's like another world omg i love it!! i can't wait to check out your spider fics and shall report back to you 🫡

now... let's get into the vent…

tal… this pissed me the fuck off. who the fuck does this pos excuse of a human think he is to be treating your mom like that? okay, so i’m like your mom too because i don't really like dogs either 😂 (ik ik i suck) i’m just a huge cat person 🩷 that’s so unfair to the kitties. personally, i never take my pets to someone else's house unless they ask me to bring them. and not the dogs using the bathroom inside the house… 🤦🏻‍♀️ are they not trained? that’s so not fair that your mom has to clean up someone else’s dog shit… like do they not even offer to clean it? it’s their fucking job not your moms... especially on her birthday... it’s her special day and this is how she's treated? stepshit and his brother belong in a ditch together. bunch of misogynistic assholes 🙄 after all that shit, he still expected your mom to clean the fucking house like some maid…? oh hell no. what a sexist pos 🤦🏻‍♀️

nooooo not the kitties stuff getting destroyed by the dogs 😭 that would have pissed me off so fucking bad. and the fact that his brother and wife didn’t do shit about it either… and the fact that stepshit gets mad at your mom for this is such disgusting and abusive behavior.

"you better shut your mouth unless you want to start a fight".

tal… give me this fuckers information so i can personally kill him for you 🫴🏻

your poor mom 🥺 i want to give her the biggest hug rn. the way he takes advantage and berates her has my blood boiling 😡 i want this man dead. the world would be a much better place without him and his abuse towards women. fucking bastard.

tal, i'm so sorry that happened. how are you and your mom doing now? 🩷

- 🍯🐝

He did! I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that he started thinking of ideas for Avatar as early as his high school days. Also, yes! The way I want to try to learn Na'vi so baaaaaad just to say that I did but I just don't have the energy to start lol. I do know a few words cause I use them in fics, but I'm not confident to string together full sentences yet. I have a friend who is pretty damn good at making sentences though! And I know another person who is trying to become as fluent as they can which is really cool.

Yesssssss, my favorite character was Neteyam 😭 James Cameron seems to like to kill off the older brothers in this franchise (he's done it three times including Neteyam) so now I'm fearful for the other older brother character that's left lol. Poor Jack though, he could have lived!!! 😭😭

(Actually, fun fact! James Cameron did an experiment to see if Jack could have survived if they both laid on the door and the answer was 'no' cause their combined weight would have make the door sink down further and made them both be submerged in the freezing water. He did few other experiments too to see if another scenario might have worked. It was actually really interesting to watch lol)

The whole "I don't like something so I'm gonna make a big deal about it" is sooooo stupid. I'm so tired of it. Everyone has a problem with everything and it's making fandom so un-fun. Everything is okay in fiction as long as it comes with the appropriate warnings. This is why it's so important to tag stuff right, especially 'taboo' topics like non-con. Aging-up is the same thing. If you don't like it, just click away?? Why would you put in extra effort and stress yourself out just to make someone else's life hell? If you don't like it, then that content isn't meant for you and you have the right to scroll away or block. You don't have the right to be a dick. Same with non-con. Some people read/write it cause its therapeutic for them and fuck anyone who says that they're fucked up for reading/writing it and it's not healthy. They don't have a right to say what's healthy for that person. And even if its not for a therapeutic use, it's okay to genuinely just like non-con stuff cause you like it. That's fine too. As long as it doesn't bleed into your real life, then it's fine. People need to get a life 🙄

(Does that person you mentioned who writes for Avatar write smut? Or is she a minor? I'm so curious)

THANK YOU! 🧡 I'm glad you like it! I was originally contemplating making it more Avatar themed once I decided that was going to be a strictly Avatar blog but now I'm too attached to my little green theme and can't bring myself to change it lol. Just feels right 😌 And yes! Let me know what you think of them! I hope I did him justice.

Soooo apparently, no one saw what the dogs did to that area before my stepdad's family left. It must have happened the day before cause my mom said she didn't go down there at all that day cause she was busy with the sister-in-law but it has to be a straight up lie that neither my stepdad nor his brother saw the mess. Someone had to let the dogs downstairs and those dogs are always following someone so that means one of them had to have been down there as it happened. So I call bullshit.

When my mom told me he said that, I swear I saw red. I don't hate anyone the way I hate my fucking stepdad and its like every single day he gives me more of a reason to hate his guts. You wanna be my passenger for when I actually hit him with my car? Cause that day might be soon cause this bitch is testing me.

I'm still pissed obviously and my mom is trying to shrug it off like usual. She's still cleaning the downstairs btw. It was that bad. Plus she had a mouse die in her car and didn't realize until she found the maggots - so she's been trying to clean that too. By herself, of course. Cause my stepdad is a piece of shit. She's going through it rn.

How are you, babes? 🧡

[the-modest-rebel]

How did I get here?

A little over a year ago I was going out of my mind at work. I'm not very good at sitting with my thoughts. I'm working on that now, but back then, I would jump at any distraction I could find.

I started listening to podcast for my 8-12 hour shifts. It started with The Fast Life Garage. That's where I heard about 4 for the Road and Two Lane Life. I'd found the testosterone mecca. Somehow down the line, my Spotify decided I might like Bunnies podcast Dumb Blonde. (Maybe because I was listening to predominantly male oriented shows.[ I'm not saying that they are sexist because they've had female guests and are really encouraging to the females in the motorcycle community!]) Now, I think I was just following the bread crumbs spirit was leaving me.

One of Bunnies guests happened to be Contrary Cherry. Otherwise known as Paige Buckman or Rampaige. Paige is a psychic and reiki master. I really liked her vibe and generally positive outlook. I looked her up and found that she has a podcast with her co-host Gemini, who also has psychic abilities. The podcast is called Lick It Like a Lollipop. You know how some people go down these YouTube rabbit holes where one day you're watching someone off grid farming and ten hours later they're watching some dude pretend to be the Crocodile Hunter in a hawaiian shirt, mullet and Pit Vipers yelling crikey every other sentence? And he almost always gets bit my the snake and has to go to the hospital? Well, that was me with podcasts.

After binge listening to the podcast, I moseyed my happy little ass on over to Coven of Rejects. Gemini's podcast, where she interviews people of different religions, beliefs, and practices. I think it's safe to say I was hooked. I started hearing from people who had similar, if unpopular, beliefs and experiences as me. After feeling isolated and outcast for the majority of my life, I found people I could relate to. I wasn't crazy!

So I pulled the trigger on a couple of readings with Rampaige, joined her and Gemini's patreons, and now I'm taking intuitive classes with Gemini. I'm a firm believer in everything happens for a reason. There are no coincidences.

-J

[switchbladedreamz]

Just a blurb

Found it in my drafts.

"Babe! Can you call my phone? I can't find it for the life of me." I was rushing around the apartment frantically trying to get ready for this interview. I collide with my boyfriend's strong chest and look up, his large hand encasing my phone. "Its your editor, she's also texted you nine times in the past five minutes". "Thank you baby" he gives me a thumbs up before walking back to the couch and playing his hockey game. "Hi Cheryl, yes I'm on my way. I'm literally walking out the door right now!" I lie as I grab a bag of fruit snacks and kiss my fiance on the forehead, whispering a quick 'love you, bye baby'.

I walk back through the door of my apartment 8 hours later. Mentally and emotionally exhausted. "There's my beautiful and talented insanely hot wife, I made us din-" Chris' sentence stopped as he looked up and saw my face over the steam coming from the pot. He turns all the burners off and follows me to where I collapse on the couch face down. Being an entire foot taller and much more stronger than I, he picks me up and cradles me in his lap. "What happened today (Y/n)?". I nuzzle into his chest as deep as I can. Wrapping his arms around me tighter, I grab his large hand and play with the many rings littering his fingers. "You called me your wife. I can't wait for October" I smile but it quickly turns to tears as I look up at his concerned face. He pulls his arms away, his right arm wrapping around my body and his left hand cradling my head to his chest as I cried. "You're safe here baby. You're home. I've got you." He whispers into my hair. The tears ruin my makeup but that only succeeds in making me look more goth. I'm glad Chris is about always wearing black shirts. The tears stop flowing gradually, I sniffle and look to my beautiful goth fiance. "What'd you do today baby?". Taking the hint he starts telling about his day, I grab a blanket and wrap it over us. "I recorded some more radio promos, talked to Jeremy about scheduling another photo shoot with all the artists we collabed with on Scoring. I went to the store and picked up ingredients for dinner, and I also got a call from Cheryl saying that you've had a rough day and that I need to be extra nice to you when you get home. I told her "no I think I'll just spit in her face when she walks through the door". That didn't make her laugh." I start laughing. "I don't know where she gets the idea that you're secretly mean. Maybe she doesn't like goth couples. My day was ass baby. The interviewer was completely misogynistic and sexist. Asked if I had a male ghost writer. Kept asking if I was single or how my relationship was going when I pointed to my ring. No questions about the book. I tried to get lunch and a couple people actually spit at me, the ground, but still. I made a kid cry when he looked at me, and normally I'd find that hilarious or try to comfort the kid but I just couldn't. Everyone was staring at me with this dread for turning on the air raid siren that was that child's scream. I had to change because as I walking past the historical homes for my inspiration tour my pants got caught on a broken rod of a wrought iron fence and ripped. And all I could think about was coming back home and screaming. And you called me your wife-" I started tearing up again. "And it was really beautiful and I wanna marry you so hard.". I chuckled through the wetness trailing my cheeks, Chris chuckled with me. "I want to marry you so hard to. Here. Go the guest bathroom, degoth, I'll finish dinner and then I'll draw us a bubble bath. Hows that sound babybat?" I smile wider and kiss him. "I love you and your amazing ideas."

Chris and I are laying in bed, Dexter playing in the background as he kisses all over my face. We end the night with his head on my stomach, cuddling me.

[abugwritesstuff]

Prince and Consort Dad/Family Headcanons Pt 1

i had so much fun thinking these up and honestly, several of them are just good material for fluffy little fics i think i'll write at some point. i'm gonna post these in a couple parts since there are a couple other bonus characters i'm writing up ideas for. :)

in this part: guy, lynt, roy, toa, fenn, and rio!

guy

i think they'd either A) wait a few years into being married to have kids, which i can picture being something that would perhaps buck tradition a bit, or B) get knocked up before they tie the knot and then just very rapidly do a big 'ol fancy wedding in avari

i can see him being maybe mildly shocked but then reacting like "yes of course" like it was inevitable that this would happen at some point.

guy on his "you're mine" bullshit as per usual amirite

anyways

he would be basically draconian while she's pregnant but in a way that is both nonsensically paranoid and masking that he's anxious about her wellbeing

like sentencing her to bedrest for literally no reason, making her eat specific foods, etc.

they'd fight about it and eventually he'd ease off somewhat

he would have jasper provide him dossiers of information about pregnancy and whatnot, but despite this...

he would 100% just assume all his kids would be boys and just be flabbergasted when they aren’t.

like he has, like, two daughters and then his son

he’d just go around like “when our son is born” and the mc is like “…uh?”

anyway he is STUNNED for awhile after the birth of their first girl, tho he does warm up to it all 

guy the girl dad is so funny to me

very defensive of anyone who doubts the abilities of his girls (because you KNOW avari is sexist as fuck) and he is just completely inordinately proud of his children even if what they’ve done is just average 

chronically incapable of hearing anything negative about his kids from anyone 

some noble getting glared at by guy because he said something less than entirely flattering about his baby girl 

no she’s perfect shut up 😤

guy probably *should* reflect on his own childhood and consider the expectations that were placed on him, but in all honesty i don’t think he’s that self aware so i don’t think he really parents his kids with any particular thoughtfulness or strategy

he’s also a bit harsher on his son that on his daughters

i feel that he’d be the type to wanna do that vonn-trapp whistle shit but the mc would be like “absolutely not you weirdo”

guy is not as bad at being a dad and his own dad because his dad is like, some kind of fucking weird pirate villain, but he’s still not amazing 

i don’t like guy that much lmao 

sorry 

lynt 

i feel that lynt would start trying to knock up the mc literally immediately after they get married 

just like “well this is what happens next, no?” and just go for it

i don’t think they’d actually have kids especially quickly, i think it’d take a few years of trying, which would be emotionally upsetting for the both of them. but they do eventually get pregnant

i think he'd try to be helpful during pregnancy and birth but i'm not confident he'd be super successful. think he'd be at a bit of a loss for what to do aside from maybe being a pillow

bony ass pillow though

i think growing up as an only child makes lynt want to have at least more than one, so he’s very very pleased when they have their first babies: twin boys

a lot of lynt napping with the babies in the courtyard, sneaking away from prince duties to spend time with them 

family cuddle puddle 

both those boys have rather more serious and less sleepy temperaments than lynt as they grow up, taking a bit more after their mother 

this makes lynt a bit sad but then, when they boys are about seven: they have their third child, a girl

lynt is wrapped around her finger, she’s the absolute apple of his eye

she takes after him in personality and is with him like a little sidekick most of the time 

lynt shows up to events and she’s in his arms or holding his hand the whole time 

at balls they’ll disappear and be found napping in the hallway on a settee

anyways yeah. so fucking cute 

i do feel like lynt would be a tad oblivious to more serious things happening with his kids and might struggle to know how to provide support beyond a hug 

he would absolutely have a protective side, though, if needed

would burn bridges and start all kinds of shit if his kids were threatened 

no more conflict-averse lynt if it’s about his babies lol

i also feel like he’d both unintentionally and intentionally cockblock his own kids when they’re older lmao 

just showing up at the completely wrong times, constantly 

i want a lynt and family sitcom 

roy

he’s one of the princes i can see having a pretty large family, i feel like that suits him

they have like five or six kids in total, i think more boys that girls

they'd have kids maybe like a year or two after marrying. i think they'd plan that shit out meticulously. they don't give me the vibe that they'd be surprised by it, at least not for a first one

that picture-perfect prince thing does get carried into this arena as well, i think in order to soothe any anxiety or worry roy would kinda immerse himself into trying to be the most perfect supportive partner ever and would maybe go a bit overboard initially

but all that said i think roy would be a pretty great dad since by all i’ve seen his dad was pretty great too so he had a good example 

but he does make sure to shelter them from expectations of being perfect, or of having to save/advance the nation, definitely encourages them to be kids 

i feel like they’d do family camping trips and things like that 

he’d teach them how to ride horses also 

they have enough children that when they attend events outside of the country, roy and the mc can be seen counting everyone to make sure no one has wandered off somewhere 

roy walking around with two children under his arms lmao

carrying on some kind of completely perfect diplomatic princely conversation while wrangling a squirming toddler 

lmao i love it 

i think he’d be great with advice and guidance but that his kids would be like “🙄 ugh dad” because he would get a bit preachy with it 

100% that dad that turns a joke into a (well-intentioned) lecture 

roy’s kids like “do not try to show dad a meme he’ll ask you to explain it and ask how you know those people” 

literally like this

altogether a very wholesome family 

toa 

toa may be my actual favorite so this is a longer one

he does not have an especially big family which is almost a shame because i can imagine that he has some BEAUTIFUL children 

girl and a boy, in that order

i do see them having their first very soon after getting married but unintentionally, they got caught up and forgot their birth control potion or spell or whatever it is people do 

i feel that it’s a pretty stressful time given that mc is perceived as avarian, i feel that idina would have it out for her and that the pregnancy would have to be semi-secret for awhile due to various dangers 

toa has an anxious personality so he would be very on edge and protective

get that boy some lexapro STAT

i feel like toa would be at kind of a loss on how to be a father since his own sucks so bad 

like he’d know what he didn’t want to do but wouldn’t know what to do so i think he’d worry a lot and try to make up for it by doting on the mc, very mother hen toa 

i also think that when his kids are born and as they’re growing up, he’d have a lot of moments where he’d be processing his own childhood trauma 

like holding his son as a toddler and being like “i could never let anyone do to him what they did to me” 

like the experience would make him actually start to despise his father rather than just being intimidated 

so much hurt/comfort fic possibility with daddy toa lmao 

anyways 

toa’s pretty gentle with his kids, very calm, has high expectations for them academically but doesn’t really punish the kids for things very often given what he was subjected to, which could cause some issues but mc probably handles discipline so it turns out okay

his daughter takes after him in personality and is extremely magically adept- my suspicion is that since the mc also has ancient magic, any kids she has with a prince will all have ancient magic of some kind, but i think this is a *bit* more of an issue in qelsum than it would be maybe in the other countries

like mc is so out of place as a supposed avarian and toa is so frightened of her ancient magic being manipulated by gilbert that it’s kept very under wraps 

so their daughter comes along and is so magically proficient that it’s kind of shocking 

their son is also extremely magically adept, but not as serious or academic in personality as his sister, but since he’s a boy and expected to have ancient magic he receives more training on it openly when in qelsum 

which is frustrating for their daughter

she has a bit of a complex about it and so toa tries to tutor her privately when he’s able to 

they understand each other well- he sees a lot of himself in her so he can read her fairly easily 

i could go on about these dynamics for awhile, i feel like qelsum and toa and whatever family he’d have would be very complicated not necessarily because of his parenting

i don’t think he’d be the snuggliest warmest kind of dad (i mean more than his own dad but that’s not saying much) but i do think he’d be the kind of dad that just brings them fruit 

was gonna be candy but mc was like “you’re giving them a sugar high all the time please don’t”

so he just send them plates of cut up fruit when they’re studying or whatever 

buys like a ton of whatever his kids say that they like 

i think he shows his love for his kids by doting on them and worrying about them

interrogates his kids on whether or not they’ve been sleeping or eating enough or if they feel sick or if they’ve gotten outside lately and do they need any help with their homework and-

very worrywart toa

i think he’d get his feelings hurt if kids like ever purposefully kept secrets or snuck around 

he wants them to feel like they can come to him with anything and i think sometimes struggles to express those feelings 

anyways 🥺

fenn

like roy he’d also have a larger family but by luxure standards i guess it’d be small lmao 

they’d wanna wait a good couple years before having their kids

no birth control mishaps with them, fenn is too experienced with that shit lmao

however i do think there’d be a possibility that their first kid would be motivated by trying to get kieran to back off 

like we know how he acted in some of fenn’s event routes, i think it’s entirely likely that he’d be trying to figure out how to get rid of MC before she can produce a next heir, yknow? he's a lil smarmy bitch and it feels in character to me

so i think that could be a cause for conflict but inevitably he would give up

my hypothesis: they have maybe like four, five kids?

i see fenn as being like, prone to showing off the mc while pregnant 

like “i did this 😏😌” lmao 

he’d be a fucking anxious wreck anytime the mc is in labor, i don’t think he handles her being in pain well 

just sitting outside the room with violet telling him to get his act together and stop freaking out

i think most of the princes get teary when their kids are born but i think fenn does in particular and it surprises him 

i also don’t think he’d be entirely certain how to be a parent other than just showing up and being around them a lot, which is what he didn’t have as a kid 

similarly to toa, fenn would have some childhood trauma/neglect to process while his kids grew up 

like watching his kids reach the age he was when the eva thing happened and being like 

“oh, i was taken advantage of and preyed on”

similar thing where his relationship with his father sours even more 

i think he’d be very protective of his kids, probably would steer them away from louis at every opportunity as a response

anyways 

i think they’d have a pretty tight knit family as a result of fenn trying his best to like, actually be present and know things about his kids 

i feel like he'd maybe write some stories for them since he's a writer

anyways yeah it’s cute 

mc is the one that puts the cut off at whatever number they end up having, genuinely think fenn would be like “wanna make another? 👀” lmao

also no matter who mc ends up with i have a headcanon that toa’s daughter and fenn’s daughter become bffs because that would be funny 

rio 

oh you know he was MADE for this shit

they have a bajillion kids because of course they do 

most out of all the princes 

they have like eight or nine, just an absolute army, a stampede of kids, voleri children just popping up out of nowhere all the time 

rio attends an meeting between the princes and pulls an expected stowaway child out of his coat

all the princes looking at him like 😐🙄🤔 and he’s like 😄

he’s a super fun engaging kind of dad, their home is full of pillow forts and games and a lot of giggling 

i think they probably start having kids within about a year and people start asking them about kids, like, six months before the wedding even happens 

just the kind of place voleri is 🤷🏻‍♀️ i remember aidan being like “ah, your future wife!!” in an event when rio brought mc to the palace so that’s just what they’re like lmao

rio is fucking SO excited during the mc’s pregnancies but especially the first 

just telling EVERYONE that they’re having a baby!!! 😄 isn’t that great!!! a baby!!!

he'd dote on mc so bad, you just know it

feeds the HELL outta her, rubs her back and her feet, makes her teas, tucks her into bed

a frantic mess at first when she's giving birth

have you ever played the sims? y'know the animation that the dads have when the moms go into labor where they're freaking out? that rio's energy at first. but he gets it in check and then is fairly helpful, just being sweet and encouraging

after it’s born rio is just like

sneaking out of royal duties all the time just to go look at his kid 🥰 

papa rio is just very cute so nobody can really get all that mad at him for his antics, though aidan probably does have to kind of steer his attention back to work

rio keeps a thick book of wallet size pictures of his kids in his pocket at all times and shows them to people, it doesn’t matter if you don’t care or have already seen them, he’s showing you

anyways the palace is big enough that all these kids could have their own rooms but they share a few rooms instead, lots of bunk beds and whatnot

rio and the mc making the rounds through the rooms to tuck everyone in 

very wholesome, 10/10

i think rio would probably still be his oblivious self so more complicated issues might be handled by mc, but rio would be great at comforting his kids 

rio hugging a daughter through her first heartbreak and then bringing her a giant dessert tray lmao 

rio is a dad that cries at weddings 

can you imagine the adorable ass family photos they'd have? i die

that's all i have for this post, but i've got lance, dia, and the valets all done so i'll post those soon as well :)

[kassadeen]

one of my classmates had eddie munson as her laptop wallpaper and i pointed it out bc cool! she also liked st! but when i told her my afv was billy she literally side eyed me and went, "omg why do you like him he's racist and sexist?" and HOW AM I SUPPOSE TO SUMMARY A 10 PAGE LONG ESSAY INTO 1 SENTENCE?? i did not have time to give her a 2 hour lecture on why he was in fact not sexist + the racism was HEAVILY up to reader's interpretation, nor was she gonna just listen to me!! i, with all the anxiety in me, want to avoid debates and arguments at all cost but i'm starting to regret not having this fight with her!!!

[aestheticsfandomsandmore]

PokéShipping analysis EP0003

If you’re interested in reading my previous PokéShipping analysis, there you go: EP001, EP002.

Disclaimer 1 (which applies to every other analysis I’ll make): I’ll be referring to Pokémon with the “they” pronoun, unless we know their gender (for example, we know that both Caterpie and Pikachu are male).

Disclaimer 2: I'm Italian, so I probably made some mistakes. Feel free to correct me anytime.

This episode is really important to me, because it beautifully displays character development for both Satoshi/Ash and Kasumi/Misty and it also marks the moment, in my opinion, in which Kasumi fell in love with him. This will be longer than the others, so please bear with me. 

EPISODE 0003 (ポケモン ゲットだぜ！ I’ll get you, Pokémon!)

In the very first minutes of the episode we have the proof that what I’ve been saying in my last analysis is true: Satoshi doesn’t mind being with Kasumi, he actually enjoys it. He has fun sharing his happiness and satisfaction with her, dancing around her, grabbing her harm to stupidly go round in circles like the kid he is. Her annoyed/shocked reactions are hilarious, honestly. He’s so enthusiastic of his very first catch, Caterpie, that he keeps telling that to Kasumi, who on the other hand hates Bug types and wants his Pokémon and his Monster Ball to stay away from her. Even though Satoshi has been making sarcastic remarks to her disgust, he isn’t mad or irritated (for now).

When Caterpie gets out of his Monster Ball and sees Kasumi, he immediately likes her and decides to cuddle her, which Satoshi seems to be glad about, but Kasumi sure isn’t. She starts shaking and begs him to get Caterpie away from her, who largely prefers Pikachu over the other Pokémon. When she grabs Pikachu to pet him, Satoshi takes for granted that he will shock her, but he doesn’t—which he finds irritating, since it only took an almost death experience to make Pikachu like him. Still, he seems to enjoy Kasumi’s company and Kasumi likes his kawaii appearence. This is not only the beginning of Satoshi and Kasumi’s relationship, this is also the start of Kasumi and Pikachu’s.

I know Kasumi may sound unfair and rude toward Caterpie, but

a) she’s a child: you’re expecting her to be as mature as an adult, even though adults have phobias and flaws as well; 

b) she grows in the span of 20 minutes, which is really something.

And now, ladies and gentlemen, after Kasumi asks Satoshi to return Caterpie again, we have his very first sexist assertion: “Girls can be really selfish”. Can they? Sure, just like everybody else. I love the fact that Kasumi immediately fires up after his sentence and tells him that every human being has tastes, she just happens to hate carrots, capsicums and bugs. 

I wanted to include this quote and her reaction, because it made me think. We don’t know anything about Kasumi’s parents. For all we’re told, she’s been poorly reaised by her older sisters. No parental figure was ever even mentioned. Which could be an explanation to why she doesn’t even answer to Satoshi’s question. I mean, she doesnt’t often do that: she likes to always have the final say. Why wouldn’t she respond to something as provocative as that? Maybe she never had a mother—or a father—to teach her not to be picky. 

This is their very first mutual disagreement and I’m surprised to say that I’m on Satoshi’s side on this one: I mean, he should have kept Caterpie away from her, because phobias are to be taken seriously, but she shouldn’t have insulted him, not that way, and Satoshi being his trainer and a caring one couldn’t let that pass. I get it, he’s not wrong.

So he wants to leave her behind, Pikachu follows him (he may like her, but he still loves Satoshi more than anyone else), but she doesn’t want that to happen, so she follows them as well. Now, there is more than one reason for that: 

a) she doesn’t want him to “bug her off”: she doesn’t want it to be his decision where or when she is allowed to be; 

b) it’s not like she’s been doing anything before meeting him anyway: she left home to prove herself to her sisters, but it becomes clear as hell during the course of the seasons that she doesn’t really know how to; he intrigues her, she knows that maybe being with him she’ll be able to experience many different adventures, which is precisely what she wants—and what will eventually happen;

c) he owes her a bike: I know it’s a poor excuse and the way she brings that up makes it clear that it’s a lie, but it’s still a fact.

She keeps lying and tells him that it’s the shorter path to go where she wants to, but then ends up sleeping precisely where he does, which isn’t a coincidence by any means.

Before actually going to sleep, Satoshi says good night to Pikachu and Caterpie and tells them that the next day they will all work hard; Kasumi reveals her presence by saying “You should be the one working hard”, which is hilarious because he replies with an annoyed “I know that”. This is literally just the start of a relationship where one brings the best out of the other through annoyance. 

Pikachu doesn’t like them fighting. He literally makes a pretty sad face and sighs “Chaaaa”, with the same tone I use before studying for an exam, while looking at her. I mean, he doesn’t like fights, as a whole, we know he’s a very friendly, pacifist, cheerful little guy who always tries to keep tempers in check, but I find it really cute that he doesn’t want his trainer to argue with an almost complete stranger just because he likes her.

Now listen to me, because things get complicated: Kasumi wakes up and finds Caterpie beside her, so she screams, awakening Satoshi and Pikachu as well. She exclaims that it was the worst morning of her 10 years of life and insults Caterpie pretty badly, to the point that he returns to his Monster Ball on his own. Satoshi gets really—and rightfully—mad and tells her that she has to apologize because Pokémon have feelings as humans do, then he speaks to Caterpie inside his Ball and says “Caterpie, we’ll show Kasumi someday”. When Satoshi yells at her she pretends she doesn’t care, but when she hears this her expression turns into a guilty, regretful one, proving once again to be a very nuanced character. It’s not like she’s heartless or cruel, she’s just ignorant and full of anger, which is shown in any situation that makes her scared or annoyed. She doesn’t really hate Caterpie: she’s just afraid and her natural reaction to fear is rage.

I like to highlight this because people misunderstand her a lot. She’s not just a whiney little girl who doesn’t like bugs: she’s a complex individual with flaws, who makes mistakes, but who doesn’t? This doesn’t make her a bad character, it actually makes her a very well-written character who knows how to redeem herself.

Remember what I told you about Kasumi being able to bring the best out of Satoshi? When he tries to catch Pigeon (Pidgeotto), he doesn’t even try to fight them, he just throws a Monster Ball at them, failing; so she scolds him and reminds him that he was able to catch Caterpie like that only because he was a bit slow. Satoshi gets irritated at her insult to his Pokémon and tells her: “I’ll show you! I’m going to get them so spectacularly, you’ll be in awe!”, which is fun and cute at the same time, because he’s trying to prove her she’s wrong about him. 

He manages to catch Pigeon but he still messes things up, which leads to her scolding him again and even slapping him in the face. I already explained how I feel about the two scenes in which she does that, so I won’t repeat myself; still, aside from the slap, I like how she gets fired up when Pokémon’s lives are in danger (ironically, Caterpie’s this time) and the way she questions his goal to become a Pokémon Master, highlighting that he can’t make it with just willpower. This is the first time in which a recurring theme in their relationship comes up: mind versus heart. Historically speaking, men have always been associated with mind and logic, while women with emotions and irrationality; Hélène Cixous (French feminist writer, poet, playwright, philosopher, literary critic and rhetorician) listed a series of binary oppositions upon which patriarchal systems of thoughts are based: activity/passivity, culture/nature, father/mother, head/emotions, logos/pathos and others; here, Kasumi’s the one telling Satoshi that he must use his brain, he can’t just act out of impulsivity, that technique, knowledge and type advantages are as important as—or even more important than—willpower. “It’s not just good enough to say that you love Pokémon!”, she tells him (is she really wrong?).

Rocket-dan interrupts their arguing in their attempt to steal Pikachu. Something that bothers me a lot is that Kasumi and Takeshi rarely send out their Pokémon, due to the focus of the first seasons being merely on Satoshi. This pisses me off a lot, because instead of backing him up she just stands there, telling him to send out two Pokémon against Kojiro (James) and Musashi (Jessie)’s Pokémon (which he didn’t want to do because “it’s against the Pokémon League rules to send out two Pokémon at the time”). This isn’t her fault, though: it’s not like her character is purposely ignoring him, it’s just how the writing of the first seasons worked. So I won’t mention this again in the future: although it pisses me off a lot, it’s just one of those plot holes I referred to last time.

Aside from that, a very cute little moment is Satoshi entrusting Pikachu to Kasumi: he knows Pikachu is the one Rocket-dan’s looking for, so he wants him safe and he figures that she’ll keep him safe. It’s a nice scene because you can see the uncertainty on Kasumi’s face, who didn’t see such a responsability coming, but who still took Pikachu between her arms, accepting to protect him.

I really like this scene because Satoshi’s “I’m counting on you” makes it look more intimate and personal than a simple “Take care of him while I’m taking care of them”. Although they haven’t been in the best terms up until now, he still knows that she’s a genuinely good person and that he can trust her.

Fun fact: when Pigeon loses their match, Satoshi tries to punch Kojiro, running out of ideas. Kasumi screams his name twice, worried about him, which is cute. Something else that is very cute is the way Kasumi fondles Pikachu while he wriggles out in the attempt to fight and tells him he can’t battle in his conditions.

When Satoshi sends out Caterpie, Rocket-dan immediately makes fun of him, even Satoshi is afraid due to his health, but Kasumi encourages him (Gambatte!). It’s the first nice thing she tells him and she does that in a moment where she has all the reasons to be skeptical and critical. 

After winning his very first battle thanks to Caterpie, Satoshi praises him and... Kasumi does too! She looks at him, smiles and says “You’re surprisingly strong, Caterpie!”. 

To this, Satoshi smiles too and says: “Now you see his power, Kasumi!” and proceeds to tell her to pet him and be friend with him; he adds that it’s only right to praise a Pokémon after they worked hard and she answers that she knows that, with a trembling voice; then, she raises her hand and comes near Caterpie’s head, swallows but doesn’t move away, on the contrary she goes closer and closer to him. Before she can actually pet him, Caterpie evolves into Metapod, scaring the hell out of her. Still, it doesn’t change the fact that she was about to put aside her fear, brave enough to face it and to do what is right. That is not simple at all: she could have just complimented him and told Satoshi to screw himself, but she didn’t. She was really trying, even though Bugs are one of her biggest fears. 

I also want to highlight that this was clearly important for Satoshi: he could have just ignored her, but instead he really wanted her to befriend his Pokémon.

We’re almost over, my dear friends, and what better way to end this than to talk about the moment in which Kasumi fell in love with Satoshi?

While he’s having fun with his neo-evolved Pokémon, she looks at him, fingers intertwined, closes her eyes, smiles and says: “This kid really loves Pokémon. This is the first time I’ve seen him like this”; and, Arceus, the soft, tender voice tone she uses! Mayumi Iizuka really did an amazing job displaying her feelings in this scene. This moment is so important, because not too long ago she stated that loving Pokémon isn’t enough to be a good trainer and did nothing but criticizing him, pointing out his weaknesses and his mistakes; here, right now, she sees someone else: this is not the brat who stole her bike and who sent a Caterpie against a Pigeon, this is the caring, cheerful young boy who almost enabled her pet a Bug Pokémon, something she thought she would never do. They have so much in common, but they’re also very different, she being logical, rational and a bit caprious, he being impulsive, mindless and proud, but in this very moment she understands him, she accepts him, she likes him.

The actual ending always makes me laugh: Satoshi brings Metapod near her, which scares her, and he sarcastically says that she evolves slower than Pokémon do; he also asks her if she forgot that they were about to become friends and she answers that she hasn’t, but then a Spia (Beedrill) comes out of nowhere, making her lose it. She wants to get out of that “gross forest”, but Satoshi wants to catch more Pokémon; he hands her her knapsack and tells her to hurry and to not get left behind; so, once again, now that she’s not insulting his Pokémon anymore, Satoshi doesn’t mind being around him and actually enjoys her presence.

[wowsoboring]

Deconstructing Baseless Harry Potter Arguments#2 (i) : Harmione Edition

Obviously I once again do not mean to target all Harmione shippers. I know quite a few who're very good human beings and tolerant and accepting above all. However these aren't. In this case, you might sense quite a bit of levelheadedness in the beginning, however you must not be fooled as it goes south and takes a nasty turn very quickly. Don't get your hopes up, this is some of the worst shit I've ever seen, especially the way in which it progresses through its course. Naturally, for this post I have picked my own style of writing which will match that of those redditors. Reddit is the perfect breeding ground for all these weird cults, honestly. I shall be resorting to a formal language and style of conversation, very much like a debater would to sound as pretentious as these do. These posts are found on the instagram handle toxicharmonyshippers who gather such toxic musings and sayings for Harmione shippers while respecting the ones that are nice.

1)

Oh yes, let's use words like 'vehemently' to sound smart, why not? Of course, this little tidbit of the highly stupendous post seems more or less civil at the start. They also have the common decency to say "some Romione shippers" rather than generalizing all of us. Very nice of you, how very saint like. Let's wait till they drop the act and show us their true colors. Harkening back to the argument, I have but one question for you, "where do you find these people?". Where's the proof? Who are these radical Romione shippers who worship Ron and dislike Hermione? I haven't seen any such shippers and I am surrounded by Romione shippers on tumblr, instagram and fan fiction sites as well and haven't met the people you speak of. Some point out her flaws, yes, but no one hates her or dislikes her that much. I have seen two or three Romione shippers across hundreds and thousands who're skeptical of Hermione's perfection. Skeptical. Not hating, disliking, or anything. Of course, unlike this person, I have evidence: find these pi charts for your referral (clickable): https://imgur.com/a/QfPnQbB

you can, through these, see the amount of Hermione bashing across Harry Potter fanfiction and you can see that even in Romione fanfiction there's more Ron bashing. Hermione-bashing is a non-issue. That's what it is. Regarding the "nagging" statement, where's the lie in that? "Annoying" is somewhat subjective, I personally don't find her annoying at all. Who are these people and how often do you find them? "Mary Sue" is only reserved for Movie!Hermione. I have only seen book fans call her that. No one has ever called Book!Hermione Mary Sue. The movie does paint her as a flawless, all-rounder who's also drop-dead gorgeous. Only things she's bad at are flying and divination, all of which she denounces as useless, even though flying is like biking for wizards, divination, sure, not that important. with a teacher like Trelawney, even I would denounce it as hokum.

2)

Remember what I said about waiting for them to show us their true colors, well here they are. Bask in the glory of their senseless arguments. Why, I am from reddit, heck I have 25 thousand karma points on there, I just left because it was too stupid for me but I can argue like them very well. And in this case I would like to say that these people are under the impression that Ron is just there in the story for the sake of existence. And he doesn't work hard. That argument is of course, wrong. Because Ron (in no particular order):

1) fights a troll when he's 11

2) is willing to sacrifice himself when he's 11

3) stands up for his friends

4) makes sure Harry feels like he belongs in the family

5) worries about Harry and rescues him from literal jail

6) stands up against Draco rather than by-standing and enabling his behavior

7) tries his level best to make sure Norbert the dragon is in safe hands and carries it out, albeit not in perfection

8) is with Harry every step of the way in his confronting the basilisk

9) sends Harry and Hermione long letters and calls them often to check up on them

10) stands up on a bitten leg to defend his best friend

11) always apologizes for any of his mistakes and is forgiving when others wrong him

12) works his way to join the Quidditch team unlike Draco who most certainly bought his way in

13) destroys at least 2 horcruxes

14) finds out how to defeat a horcrux

15) has an excellent enough memory and observation to notice Harry speaking parseltongue and also using it to his benefit which proves he's resourceful

now since I have 8 more such pictures to rebut and I do have a life, I will stop. These aren't even a twelfth of the remarkable things Ron has done though, so rest assured.

oh wait what did you say about him just existing and not working for anything? If I recall correctly, he did just as well as Harry did in school and didn't score well only in subjects he didn't care about. Which is true for most people except for Hermione who has an eidetic memory which not everyone has, understandably. Rote memorization is not the best way to get by in life, by the way.

what are the "so many reasons" behind why Harry is the best fit for Hermione? Kindly share so I can rebut those too, I'm rather free nowadays, my finals have been cancelled. You say there are so many reasons but don't even give one, yet you want me to take you seriously. I'm afraid that's impossible.

Romione shipper here, i don't dislike Hermione. I haven't met or seen many people in the book!romione fandom who dislike Hermione (except for Movie!Hermione). The question of someone you like ending up with someone you dislike doesn't particularly make sense. In Friends, Chandler ends up with Monica: now I'm not the biggest Monica fan (I don't hate her but I don't like her very much either) but they are my favorite couple because they make sense. It's about compatibility and character traits, not liking or disliking because that's just a set-up for a ghastly invitation for people to pair up hideousness. "Oh yeah, I like Harry and I also like Hagrid, they should be together. I mean it would be very very disgusting but that's my logic, now, you can't fight it. "- that's how you sound. Please read what you write. Your logic is just...abysmal. That's all I can say without breaking my resolve and berating you with colorful profanities.

3)

This is without the doubt, the easiest one to rebut. It's a delight to see such terrible arguments at my disposal. Come on, dear Harmione shippers, write something that makes me question my choices, not things that make me scoff in disbelief.

In this case, you're essentially providing us with theories. Unproved theories and speculation of what you believe because you'd say anything you like. Where's the proof of your theory, though? Where is that crazy radical Romione shipper who does this? Kindly show me these people. Oh yes, you wanna say we objectify Hermione and disrespect her and view her as a prize. This aches me, that you believe this. No one has ever insinuated this, ever, in the history of anything. What is this winner-loser theory? How do you round off Harry Potter to "an alpha-male ends up with lead-lady" trope and still say you're a fan of the series? Harry Potter doesn't fit in with that format. Ron, Hermione and Harry are co-heroes. Similar to how there's no main character in Friends or the Heroes of Olympus series or the Avengers. We're not living in the 80s anymore. Hermione will be a hero, invariably whether she ends up with Harry, Ron or no one. She ends up with Ron and that's it. Talking about her like this doesn't make you sound any better either. Now you're calling me a misogynist because I don't support the ship of two people who describe themselves as siblings. That's very mature of you. Well here's the thing- I'm not a misogynist. It's as simple as that. I believe that women are capable of anything and everything. I believe Hermione is an amazing person and she is a hero and a different person. I believe the series would be impossible without her. I believe she is no one's prize. There's no requirement of a prize. I just think, similar to canon and the truth and her romantic interest, she will have a great relationship with Ron. There's nothing complex or deep about it, really. No personal weird-thing, no psychological complex, no internalized misogyny. There's nothing deeper than what I said. I am not sexist. I am a feminist. I am all for women empowerment. I love women with the fabric of my being. I love Hermione. I think she's amazing. You only become sexist when you ship people with unstable power dynamics, a bully-victim relation or something of the sort. Neither Romione, nor Harmione are sexist. Heck if you paired Neville with Hermione you wouldn't be sexist. And I hate talking about this so much, I can't even tell you. This talk does make it sound like I treat Hermione like an object and I assure you I respect her and I normally won't talk like this unless someone just outright calls me sexist for something that's not sexist. And this is that situation.

4)

in the case of Romione, no one is too good for anyone. Both are amazing people who're heroes and have done amazing work. That's all I have to say. There's no league, they are romantically interested in each other. I have no intention on sounding lame, but, in love there is no league. As long as you're not putting in any effort and are extremely lazy and leech off of your partner, there is no such concept and no, Hermione is not "too good" for him. Unless of course you're talking about movie Hermione, who is too good for anyone.

5) (halftime!)

oh yes they try to pull this off and wonder why we hate them. Classic. This person likes to sound british, so let's switch up our language, yeah? At least then I won't be out of my element. Let me correct ya, Ron at his best is an amazing, loyal, friendly, brave, strategic hero. There you have it. Ron and 'git' can't be used in the same sentence. Now if you talk about Ron's achievements, I re-iterate you to point two. If it's too much work, here:

1) fights a troll when he's 11

2) is willing to sacrifice himself when he's 11

3) stands up for his friends

4) makes sure Harry feels like he belongs in the family

5) worries about Harry and rescues him from literal jail

6) stands up against Draco rather than by-standing and enabling his behavior

7) tries his level best to make sure Norbert the dragon is in safe hands and carries it out, albeit not in perfection

8) is with Harry every step of the way in his confronting the basilisk

9) sends Harry and Hermione long letters and calls them often to check up on them

10) stands up on a bitten leg to defend his best friend

11) always apologizes for any of his mistakes and is forgiving when others wrong him

12) works his way to join the Quidditch team unlike Draco who most certainly bought his way in

13) destroys at least 2 horcruxes

14) finds out how to defeat a horcrux

15) has an excellent enough memory and observation to notice Harry speaking parseltongue and also using it to his benefit which proves he's resourceful

hey, see, I like Ron and I took the time to copy-paste this instead of asking you to scroll up. And I'm a lot of bad things but I am not lazy. I stick to my deadlines like Hermione. I start my homework in library class and continue it during phys ed the day its given. And I am not exaggerating. Bloody hell, I wish I was. I'm the ceo of deadlines, mate, don't tempt me! So you can see that Ron is much more than just a "nice bloke". And being a "nice bloke" isn't a bad thing either. He's all the things I said: intuitive, strategic, helpful, loyal and on top of that he's also a nice person. Yes, I do see a bit of myself in Ron. I do. I see the insecure side. I waste my time hating myself and criticizing myself and undermining myself, telling me I'm no good. But Ron overcomes that. He inspires me to appreciate myself. Is that a bad thing? Are you going to shame me for having a low self-esteem? Do you want to worsen my low self-esteem and make me feel more like shit?

Now the person who replied to your comment saying, "he isn't a nice bloke most of time.", he is. He is not being nice twice in a span of 7 years. How often do you act rudely or with jealousy? Wasn't Harry yelling at everyone in caps lock in OOTP. Now I don't condemn him for that because he's a fucking hormonal teenager like me and that would make me a hypocrite, but by your logic why don't you condemn him? Or why not condemn Hermione for saying "I only date good Quidditch players" and shoving canaries at Ron's face because someone else kissed him, while she kept using Krum and Cormac to make him jealous. She wasn't being a nice girl, then, was she? Now, once again, i don't dislike her or hold that against her because guess what, mate, I'm a hormonal teenage girl who gets jealous most of the time and would probably react in a similar fashion in the spur of the moment (Not defending her actions here, just putting myself in her shoes.) In short, Ron is a nice bloke MOST OF THE TIME.

6)

It would be misogynistic to think that. The thing is, NO ONE DOES my dear friend! My dear daft friend. I have never heard anyone say that! why are you so hell-bent on portraying us as misogynists when no one ever says that? Stop assuming. Just stop. You are crossing a limit here, aren't you? Yes you are. You cannot say these sort of things. We never said that or believed that, no one ever said this to be a reason to ship Romione. God what is wrong with you? Literally, stop fucking ASSUMING god damn it! Do you want me to assume things about Harmione shippers? Do you want me to go there? Because I will go there! I will go there the moment you tell me to. Just challenge me.

Ron is not a perfect best boi , the reason why so many of us like him is that he's imperfect and tries to become better through the course of time. You are once again assuming and I am once again asking you to stop.

Ron might be an ordinary wizard. He might be poor, sure, but he's a pure-blood and won't face much if he chose not to fight. But he did. He fought. Now I identify with Ron's attitude a fair bit, but I am also likely to spend my day in a library without noticing. People aren't one dimensional. Stop trying to act like you're a psychologist, i know you're not. I don't even think Hermione's overbearing at all! You just insulted someone you're a big fan of. Jesus.

Both Hermione and Ron are strategic, jealous, passionate, feisty, argumentative, intellectual...

that's like 6 similarities. They aren't polar opposites in the slightest. Their differences are just: workaholic, not workaholic. Nerd, not a nerd. Like that's fucking it, man!

8)

being relaxed doesn't make you less independent or driven. A relaxed and levelheaded Hermione will think through things, not be impulsive, not panic etc. She doesn't need Ron. I don't understand your obsession with acting like we ever insinuated that. Then she doesn't need Harry either lol. Stop shipping her with Harry, then or like shut the fuck up. Being a bit relaxed won't stop her or anyone from hitting great strides. Just don't get relaxed to the point you're lazy and casual about everything, that's it.

9)

What do you mean? Ron is balanced. He does finish his work on time. And even if he does procrastinate, she could also help him not and be more driven. Of course, this is an open invitation for you to call me a sexist bitch because I said that she could help him and now you'll think her goal is to help him become better yada yada yada. Fuck off. Defeating the horcrux taught him enough. He respected her. He remembered about the elves when she didn't. He begged to be tortured instead of her. He wouldn't need it because school work and jobs are different and the same person might perceive those differently. Calmness and relaxation doesn't hinder your potential. Not caring and laziness does. You can't function if you work and are stressed 24/7 with zero breaks. Period.

10)

No i do not want (nor does anyone want) Hermione to become Ron. Being slightly calmer doesn't change up your personality. I'm sure many people dislike those sort of fanfics without a doubt. I hate OOC and I don't want Hermione to lose her intellect with Ron because that makes no sense. Ron himself is intellectual and loves arguing with her. They'd boost each other, more like it.

-------

okay thats it i am exhausted as fuck. thanks for reading, i appreciate it. notes and reblogs are appreciated, this takes work.

[dudathebard]

Discursive analysis - Will Smith slapping Chris Rock on the Oscar

> what happened: Chris Rock, a famous artist and comedian, made a joke about Will Smith's wife - Jada Smith -, and pissed Will off, leading to him getting on the stage where Chris was, and slapping Chris on the face

> in this post, based on what we studied on my Identity Practices class, I'm going to analyze what that slap meant in a discursive way - all the meanings behind the act

> it's important to highlight the fact that Will wasn't the first one to get pissed at a joke, and will not be the last one, but his case got famous because he did it on an international event recorded by midia and spread over almost all of the countries in the world

> also, the meaning of this discussion isn't about the act of the slap - I'll not discuss if he was right or wrong, only about the external context that was brought for us on the media

> first of all, it brings up a discussion about humour’s limitations - what is humour? does it have some limit? when the humour becomes bullying?

by all that, we can infer that humour works based on embarrassment, and over stereotypes - many people laugh at jokes in a relieved way, thanking that they're not the center of the joke

so, Chris Rock chose Jada Smith to be the target of his joke, which made Will mad at the point he slapped Chris' face in front of thousands of people - maybe, in front of the whole world, taking in consideration the speed of the social media

but was Chris wrong? does he really meant to be mean to Jada, or he just wanted to make people laugh? is the society getting too sensible, to get offended by jokes?

I don’t think so. in my opinion, humour must be careful not to hurt anyone, but to create an agradable and funny ambient, where people can enjoy themselves, and not base the jokes over someone getting sad and/or annoyed

> one of the consequences of this slap is the opportunity that white supremacists will see on what happened - sentences like "oh, it had to be a black guy, 'cause white people wouldn't be that violent" can be seen on the internet.

therefore, cases of racism can become popular, even though white people did worse and still got an Oscar - there's no reason to the Academy to take Will's prize back if these people still have theirs

> it also opens up for a discussion about sexism - wasn't Jada capable to defend herself, instead of having Will to fight for her? my personal answer is that she was too emotional damaged to react clearly

of course I get her, it's not nice to be the target of a bad joke, principally having it recorded

but that's not what mostly of sexist men will think - that can reinforce their conviction that women are not capable to live by themselves, and depend on a man to take care of them all of the time

> last of all, we can discuss about the idealisation of the aggressive love: does Will love Jada more because he slapped Chris for her? or is it a social construction of the aggressive love, which can be seen in movies like The Kiss Booth, and, in extreme cases, After and 50 Shades of Gray

why do we, as a society, normalize violence as a love demonstration? why there's so much people saying that want a partner who will do for them what Will did for Jada? this is a path to the normalisation of violence in all ways and contexts

the Netflix series You can also be brought to this discussion - Joe is obsessed with all of his love interests, and stalk them all the time. that's also a violence demonstration, principally when he starts to kill people who hurts them. so what is the connection between love and obsession? or between passion and psychopathy?

> so, in conclusion, this event can be seen by many different ways, it only depends on what parameter you will take to analyze it

[jewishcharliebradbury]

This is not necessarily a question. I just wanted a kind person to rant to. Today was a huge day for me because i I had to deliver a sermon in my church. I very recently realised that i was bisexual and that is in a huge part because of the desticule and Misha. Very naturally i started having doubts about my religion and being asked to deliver a sermon was super challenging because i don’t support so many christian rituals, but at the same time has great faith in a loving god. I wanted all of this to come across and also ask everyone not to hold prejudices against anyone, queer or disabled or anyone that Christians normally exclude(my country is extremely conservative and saying just one sentence about asking parents not to atleast kick queer children out of their homes was incredibly nerve-wracking). All in all, today was already stressful and then to see the horrible erasure of Cas’ identity and his gaaay love first thing in the morning was ughhbbbb... I’m so angry at jensen. I genuinely don’t care abt him, just think dean is adorable and nuanced, and that is because of him. But I’m not angry abt whatever he said abt Cas, I believe he thinks it’s incredibly romantic, just doesn’t want to say it like that. But whoo boy, the sexist comment was so shiity. There was absolutely no need for it but he had to ruin nonbinary jack, didn’t he. I know everyone is saying that what he said was spur of the moment and therefore can’t hold him accountable, but that just means the unedited version of jensen is just misogynistic at heart. It was just horrible, i know I’ll get over it, but I thought he thought of jack as his son. That’s not true apparently. Also fuckkk j*red. Who gave him the right? Why do we have to fight so much for basic fan rights? I hate this hopeless feeling i get when people are horrible like this. This is who they are at their very core, and i can do nothing to change it, they have to make the effort, which they won’t. Also I think you’re verryyy cool and hot.

congrats on both your sermon and figuring yourself out a little bit better (same thing happened to me recently!), this might be weird to say to an anon based off one message but i'm really proud of you. i'm jewish so can't really speak on christian stuff with much authority, but i strongly believe that it's possible to be queer and religious at the same time, and to be able to find comfort in both.

i'm sorry your day was ruined by the con, and i completely agree with you about the jack thing it was gross and regardless of his actual intention or meaning he SHOULD be held accountable until he addresses it. also as as always fuuuuuck jared this was a new low even for him. but regardless of what any actors or other people involved in making the show might say (negative or positive) at this point we've become a self sustaining ecosystem and imo despite the many many lows of the past 11 months the positives outweigh, or at least start to makeup for, them. this stuff hurts, it always hurts, but we truly don't need outside validation of our views on the show OR on ourselves.

idk if this is helpful or coherent at all but i hope you see this! congrats again (oh and re that last bit…thanks lmao)

[advlxriia]

━━ 𝗢𝗡𝗘

"It's not getting away from me this time," Sokka smirked and looked at Vanora, who had an eyebrow raised. Sokka raised his spear, "Watch and learn. This is how you catch a fish."

Vanora rolled her eyes and looked at Katara, who was looking at the water. Katara glances at Sokka, before removing her left glove. Katara starts moving her hand up and down, causing the water in front of her to ripple. A bubble of water rises above the ocean with a fish inside of it.

"Sokka, look!" Katara happily says, still surprised.

Sokka shushed Katara, whispering, "Katara, you're going to scare it away." Sokka licks his lips and wiggles his fingers, "I can already smell it cooking."

Katara was struggling with keeping the fish contained inside the bubble of water, "But, Sokka! I caught one!"

Vanora watched the bubble drift over to float above Sokka. The tip of Sokka's spear burst the bubble, causing the water to soak him. "Hey!"

Sokka huffed, "Why is it every time you play with magic water, I get soaked?"

Katara sighs, before answering annoyed, "It's not " magic", it's waterbending! And it's-"

"Yeah, yeah, "an ancient art unique to our culture", blah, blah, blah," Sokka finished for Katara. "Look, I'm just saying that if I had weird powers, I'd keep my weirdness to myself."

Katara raises an eyebrow skeptically with her arms crossed, "You're calling me weird? I'm not the one who makes muscles at myself every time I see my reflection in the water!"

"She's got you there," Vanora laughs. "And you just think it's weird because you can't do it, Sokka."

"Hey! I-" Before Sokka could finish his sentence, the canoe shudders. The canoe is caught in a rapid current, pulling it towards a jumble of large icebergs. Sokka steers the canoe, attempting to stay clear of any icebergs. He manages to get enough speed to avoid getting crushed by two icebergs that end up slamming against each other behind them.

Katara panics and yells commands to Sokka, "Watch out! Go left! Go left!"

The ice floes moved closer, narrowing the canoe's path. The canoe manages to steer clear of some of the ice floes before it's caught in the current. While the canoe gets pinned and crushed by large chunks of ice, Sokka, Katara, and Vanora jump onto one of the floes. Katara nearly slides off the other side and into the water, but Vanora grabs a handful of her fur coat. "You okay?"

"Yeah, thanks V."

Vanora smiled, before looking in front of her and seeing a large, towering iceberg. She got to her feet and faced Sokka, "You call that left?"

"You don't like my steering? Well, maybe you should've," Sokka waves his hand, mockingly imitating waterbending, "waterbended us out of the ice."

"Seriously? I'm a mediocre waterbender! Maybe you should've steered better!"

"Are you serious? Me? I knew I should've left you two home!" At that, Vanora and Katara are staring at Sokka with anger, while he rants. "Leave it to girls to screw things up!"

That set Katara off. "You are the most sexist," Katara's waving her arms, creating small waves in the water, "immature, nut-brained..." Katara swings her arms down, creating a slightly larger wave. She raises her arms back to her head during a brief loss of words. "I'm embarrassed to be related to you!"

Katara swings her hands back forcefully again and a wave gets hurled directly into the huge iceberg behind her. With a loud, splitting crack, a hooklike fissure arcs up its surface and out its side. That caught Vanora's attention and looked at Sokka, who also seemed to notice since he had a look of terror. "Kat..."

Katara ignored her and continued to yell at Sokka, "Ever since mom died, I've been doing all the work around camp while you've been off playing soldier!" Katara ends with a strong swing of her hand, deepening the crack in the iceberg.

"Uh... Katara..." Sokka's voice is subdued by fright, but Katara ignores once again, continuing her outburst.

"I even wash all the clothes! Have you ever smelled your dirty socks? Let me tell you, not pleasant!" Katara's yelling caused two new splits in the chunk of ice, making Sokka more scared.

"Katara, settle down!"

"No, that's it! I'm done helping you! From now on, you're on your own!" Katara creates a large wave that sends multiple fissures up the iceberg; one of them reaches the top of the iceberg, splitting it in half. The two halves collapse into the water, creating a huge wave. The wave moves outward towards them and it pushes their floe backward.

"Okay, you've gone from weird to freakish, Katara."

"You mean I did that?" Katara said, astonished.

Sokka glances at Katara and smirks, "Yep."

Vanora laughs and nudges Katara with her elbow, "Good job. I think that'll make Sokka think twice about messing with you," Sokka looks at Vanora with a deadpan facial expression and sarcastically laughs.

Moments later, the water in front of them starts glowing. They scramble back, scared. A large and roughly round iceberg breaks through the surface of the water, revealing itself to be the source of the glow. The waves the huge iceberg makes as it rocks itself onto one side makes their floe move backward again.

"What the hell is that?" Vanora mumbled as Katara, mesmerized by the iceberg, steps forward. Vanora steps forward too, feeling a pull. She ends up on the edge of the floe, seeing a figure inside the iceberg with glowing arrows and something much bigger behind them. The figure opens their eyes, showing that they're also glowing. Katara and Sokka gasped as Vanora stared, becoming light-headed.

"He's alive! We have to help," Katara took Sokka's club out of its sheath on his back and ran towards the iceberg.

"Katara, get back here!" Sokka took his spear out of the ice, heading after Katara, "We don't know what that thing is!"

Katara hops on five tiny chunks of ice, making the short distance from her floe to the iceberg first with Sokka close behind her. By the time Vanora got to the iceberg, Katara was already hitting the iceberg with Sokka's club. On her fifth hit, she broke through the surface and a strong gust of wind escapes the iceberg. Fissures curl their way up the iceberg, successfully making it destroy itself. A beam of light bursts from the core of the iceberg and into the sky.

The once spherical iceberg was now a hollowed-out crater. Sokka had a protective arm around Katara and Vanora, before letting go. They all stood, Sokka holding out his spear. The glowing figure starts to emerge from the iceberg, making Sokka raise his spear once again, "Stop!"

The figure stares down at them before the light above them disappears and the figure stops glowing. The figure is revealed to be a young boy, who suddenly faints. Katara gasps and races forward to catch him before he hits the ground. Sokka begins to poke at the boy's head with the blunt end of his spear.

"Stop it!" Vanora snatches the spear away from Sokka, glancing down at it and looking back at Sokka with a raised eyebrow, "Seriously?"

Sokka glances at the boy, "What? We don't know who he is! He came out of an iceberg, glowing one second and unconscious the next."

"That doesn't give you an excuse to poke his head with your spear!"

"Oh yeah? Then give me a better one!"

Before Vanora can respond, she hears a gasp from the boy, making her attention go to him as she crouches down.

In a weak voice, the boy starts to speak, "I need to ask you something..."

"What?"

The boy speaks in a weak voice once again, "Please... come closer."

"What is it?" Katara curiously asks.

"Will you go penguin sledding with me?" The boy asks suddenly in a clear, happy, hopeful voice.

"Uh, sure, I-I guess," Katara awkwardly answers.

The boy rises to his feet in a swift motion, making Katara look at him in awe and Sokka step back in shock and aim his spear again. Vanora looks the young boy up and down in confusion.

Katara scrambles to her feet and the boy looks around and rubs his head, "What's going on here?"

"You tell us," Sokka aggressively says, pointing at the top of the crater, "How did you get in the ice? And why aren't you frozen?"

Sokka pokes the boy in the side with his spear, who lazily pushes it away, "I'm... not sure."

A low, gruff noise fills the air, coming from within the crater of the iceberg. The boy scrambles up and jumps on the head of a furry creature, who has an arrow-shaped marking on his forehead like the boy.

"Appa!" The boy happily exclaims, "Are you alright?" The boy hangs down on the side of the animal to look at its eyes, which are still closed. "Wake up, buddy."

The boy opens an eyelid that closes again once it's released. He jumps to the front of the creature and tries to lift its huge head. Sokka, Katara, and Vanora appear around the corner as Appa finally reacts to the boy's actions. Appa opens his mouth and licks the boy with his huge tongue, while the boy laughs cheerfully, "You're okay!" The boy hugs the animal's nose before it stands up on its six legs and stretches.

"What is that thing?"

"This is Appa, my flying bison."

"Didn't Flying Bisons live in the Air Temples?" Vanora quietly asked herself.

"Right, and this is Katara, my flying sister," Sokka says sarcastically making Katara send him an odd look.

Appa starts to inhale deeply, making the boy duck. Appa sneezes, sending snot towards Sokka, covering him in it.

"Don't worry, it'll wash out," The boy happily says.

Vanora laughed while getting some water from the surrounding ocean and making it drop on Sokka, "That's what you get for making fun of Appa."

"Vanora!" Sokka whined, "Why did you have to get me wet?"

Vanora rolls her eyes and waterbended the water off of Sokka, "There, I just unwetted you. Happy?"

Sokka deadpanned, "Yes, thank you."

"So, do you guys live around here?"

"Don't answer that! Did you see that crazy bolt of light? He was probably trying to signal the Fire Navy."

"Oh, yeah. I'm sure he's a spy for the Fire Navy. You can tell by that evil look in his eye," The boy looks at Sokka and grins.

"Yeah, him being trapped in an iceberg is apart of this huge diabolical plan to take over the ocean and capture the fish," Vanora looked at Sokka with a smirk, who glared back.

Katara continues, "The paranoid one is my brother, Sokka, and the rational one is Vanora. You never told us your name."

"I'm A... a-achoo!" The boy sneezes, flying high into the air. He lands on the ground unharmed and sniffles a bit, "I'm Aang."

"You just sneezed..." Sokka says in total disbelief and points to the sky, "And flew ten feet in the air!"

"Really? It felt higher than that."

"You're an airbender," Vanora says, with a small smile.

"Sure am!"

"Giant light beams, flying bison, airbenders," Sokka starts walking away, "I think I got midnight sun madness. I'm going home to where stuff makes sense."

Vanora laughs, "Yeah? And how are you gonna get there? Gonna swim back?"

Sokka looks at Vanora and glares, before Aang speaks up, "Well, if you guys are stuck, Appa and I can give you a lift."

"We'd love a ride! Thanks!" Katara runs to the side of the bison.

"Oh no! I'm not getting on that fluffy snot monster!"

Vanora looks at Sokka and rolls her eyes, before moving her hand in a shoo motion and walking towards Appa, "Have fun swimming home."

"Are you hoping some other kind of monster will come along and give you a ride home? You know, before you freeze to death?"

Sokka opens his mouth ready to retaliate, but can't think of anything. He sighs and hangs his head in defeat before walking towards Appa.

"Okay, first-time flyers, hold on tight! Appa, yip yip!" Aang whips the reins, making Appa growl in response. Appa's tail moves up and down and he takes a huge jump into the air. He flies through the air for a few seconds, before belly-flopping into the water with a splash. The bison trudges through the water slowly, making Aang whips the reins again. "Come on, Appa. Yip-yip!"

"Wow, that was truly amazing," Sokka sarcastically says, Katara glares at him.

"Appa's just a little tired. A little rest and he'll be soaring through the sky. You'll see," Katara smiles at Aang, who returns the gesture.

Vanora looks at Sokka, "How much you wanna bet they'll end up together?"

"Nothing," Sokka says with an annoyed expression, making Vanora scoff.

Vanora awoke to Katara crawling back beside her, "Hey, what'd you do?"

"I asked Aang if he knew what happened to the Avatar. With him being an airbender and all, I thought he would know," Katara's smile turned into a frown, "Turns out he didn't."

Vanora sadly smiled at Katara, "The Avatar will be found again. I have a feeling."

Katara laid down next to Vanora, "Goodnight."

"Night," Vanora mumbled back. Once she was sure Katara was asleep, Vanora crawled up to where Aang was sat. "Hey. Can I sit beside you?"

"Uh... sure?"

Vanora climbed down beside Aang, before continuing to speak, "Have you heard of the Amaranthine?"

Aang smiled, "Yeah! Master of two elements, right?"

Vanora smiled, "Yeah. It's also the Amaranthine's fate to find the Avatar. It's said that the Amaranthine feels a pull when they're near the Avatar."

"How do you know that?"

Vanora looked at the ocean in front of her and sighed, "I'm the Amaranthine, and earlier today I felt a pull. A pull towards you and the iceberg. So, I have a question. Are you the Avatar?"

Aang looked behind him towards Katara and Sokka's sleeping figures. Aang sighed before looking at Vanora, "Yes, I am."

"I won't tell anyone until you're ready. The world is depending on you to save it, I know that's overwhelming. But the world is depending on me too, so I know how you feel. I'll be by your side, helping you. Sokka doesn't believe in this kind of stuff, but Katara does. Katara believes in you, and so do I."

Aang smiled, "Do they know that you're the Amaranthine?"

Vanora's face leaned back with a guilt-filled expression, "No."

"I won't tell anyone."

Vanora smiled, "Thanks, Aang. I'm going to go rest, you should too." Vanora climbed up to where Katara was sleeping, curling up beside her.

Across the village from Aang, Vanora goes inside Lorelei's tent to wake her up. "Hey, Lorelei. Wake up."

"5 more minutes," Lorelei groggily says.

Vanora laughs, "You remind me of Kano. Every time mom would tell me to wake him up, he'd say the same thing."

Lorelei opens her eyes and looks sadly at Vanora, before sitting up.

Vanora smiles, "Get dressed, there's someone I want you to meet."

"Hey," Lorelei speaks up, gaining Vanora's attention, "Here."

Vanora looked down at what Lorelei was holding. "Thanks," Vanora says, taking her necklace and putting it on, it glowing for a split second when it hits her chest.

"Why didn't you take it with you?"

"I was going into the ocean, I didn't want to lose it."

"That's fair," Lorelei says, before pushing Vanora out of the tent, "Now, let me get dressed."

"Okay!" Vanora laughs, raising her hands in surrender. "I'll be waiting, so hurry," Vanora yells from outside the tent. 10 minutes later, Lorelei and Vanora were on their way to Aang.

When they finally get there, Sokka is being crushed by snow. "Great. You're an airbender, Katara and Vanora's a waterbender. Together you can just waste time all day long," Sokka says from under the snow, annoyed.

"Hey," Vanora waves her hands, "Don't drag me into this! I don't even know how you got under the snow!"

Aang scratches his head and looks at Vanora, "I might've crashed into his watchtower, but you guys are waterbenders!"

"Well, sort of. Not yet."

"All right. No more playing," Kanna announces, making Katara and Vanora start to walk over, "Come on, you two. You have chores."

"I told you, he's the real thing, Gran-Gran! I finally found a bender to teach me!" Katara excitedly says.

"Katara, try not to put all your hopes in this boy," Kanna calmly says back.

"But he's special! I can tell! I sense he's filled with much wisdom," Katara glances back toward Aang, who's surrounded by a bunch of kids.

Aang smiles while his tongue is stuck to his stack, "See? Now my tongue is stuff to my staff!"

Vanora places a hand on Katara's shoulder, gaining her attention again, "I bet he is, but don't put to much faith into him. You never know what can happen."

Vanora and Katara run up to Sokka, who's trying to teach six boys how to be "soldiers". "Have you seen Aang? Gran-Gran said he disappeared over an hour ago."

Aang crawls out of an outhouse igloo, pulling his pants up, "Wow, everything freezes in there!" Aang points at the bathroom with a smile on his face, making the six boys laugh with him.

Sokka angrily points at Aang, "Katara, get him out of here! This lesson is for warriors only!"

Vanora laughs, "Yeah? And how's that going for you?"

"It's going great, actually! We're making big progress!" Sokka yells back with his arms crossed.

"You sure about that?" Vanora nods her head, making Sokka look over to see the village children sliding down Appa's tail.

"Stop! Stop it right now!" The children's laughter stops and Sokka's anger is directed to Aang, "What's wrong with you? We don't have time for fun and games with the War going on!"

Aang slides down from Appa's head, "What war? What are you talking about?"

Sokka raises an eyebrow in disbelief, "You're kidding, right?"

Aang looks questioningly at Sokka, but it soon changes to enthusiasm when he catches sight of an otter-penguin, "Penguin!" The animal is startled and waddles away. Aang races past Vanora, Katara, and Sokka, using his airbending to enhance his speed.

"He's kidding, right?" Sokka asks again, glancing between Vanora and Katara. Vanora shrugs, before starting to follow the trail Aang left behind him.

Katara follows Vanora too. When the two finally arrive at the otter-penguin habitat, Katara is the first to call out Aang's name.

"Hey, come on little guy. Wanna go sledding?" Aang jumps at a penguin, missing and belly-flopping into the snow. He turns on his back and makes himself stand with airbending as Katara comes up beside him, "I have a way with animals." Aang stretches his arms and imitates the sounds and movements of the penguins around them, making Katara and Vanora laugh.

"Aang, I'll help you catch a penguin if you teach me waterbending," Katara bargains.

"You got a deal!" Aang happily says, "Just one little problem... I'm an airbender, not a waterbender. Isn't there someone in your tribe you can teach you?"

"I could," Vanora speaks up, "But that could only go so far. I'm a mediocre waterbender. I'm also pretty bad at teaching."

"Yeah, she is," Katara laughs, "When we were younger, she would try to teach me some moves. She would get frustrated and give up."

"Look, it's not my fault! I was very impatient for an 8-year-old!" Vanora laughs, "On the bright side, I'm not as impatient as I was when I was 8, but still pretty impatient."

Aang looked at Vanora with confusion, "Then, how do you know what you know?"

"My mom was the only master waterbender in the tribe, but she, uh, died when I was 9. She taught me as much as she could before she died."

Aang gave Vanora a sad look, to which Vanora responded with a small smile. Aang gave another suggestion, "What about the North Pole? There's another Water Tribe up there, right? Maybe they have waterbenders who could teach you."

"Maybe, but we haven't had contact with our sister tribe in a long time. It's not exactly "turn right at the second glacier". It's on the other side of the world."

"But you forget, I have a flying bison. Appa and I can personally fly you to the North Pole. Katara," Aang looks at Vanora, "Vanora, we're going to find you two a master!"

Katara was unsure, "That's... I mean, I don't know. I've never left home before."

"Well, you think about it, but in the meantime, can you teach me to catch one of these penguins?"

"Okay, listen closely my young pupil," Katara says, mockingly imitating a teacher, "Catching penguins is an ancient and sacred art." Katara conjures a fish out of her sleeve, "Observe!" She tosses the fish at Aang, the penguins immediately start crowding him. Aang laughs as the penguins pull him down to their level.

Aang, Katara, and Vanora use a protruding iceberg as a slide, making them soar through the sky before landing on a slope and continuing down.

Vanora laughs, "I haven't done this in years!"

They all laugh as they ride through a tunnel of ice. Vanora steers her penguin so she goes upside down and eventually a full circle. They soon exit the tunnel and onto an open plain of ice where they get off their rides. In front of them is a large metal ship, elevated and held in place by a large protrusion of ice with the bow pointing at the sky.

"Woah! What is that?" Aang asks as he stares at the ship in awe.

"A Fire Navy ship," Katara answers in a slightly dark tone, "And a very bad memory for my people."

Aang starts walking towards the ship, making Katara speak up again, "Aang, stop! We're not allowed to go near it! It could be booby-trapped!"

"If you want to be a bender, you have to let go of fear."

Katara thinks over the remark and starts walking toward Aang before turning to Vanora, "V? You coming?"

Vanora looks up at the ship and nods. They all walk closer toward the ship. Aang helps Katara and Vanora climb some of the blocks of ice that lay beside the ship and they crawl through a hole in the hull of the ship. They walk through the silent rooms of the shipwreck. They all walk into a room stocked with weapons in various places, making Katara speak again. "This ship has haunted my tribe since Gran-Gran was a little girl. It was part of the Fire Nation's first attacks."

"Okay, back up. I have friends all over the world, even in the Fire Nation," Aang picks up a Guan Dao to inspect it, "I've never seen any war."

"Aang, how long were you in that iceberg?" Katara asks.

"I don't know. A few days, maybe?" Aang says, uncertain.

"I think you were in there for a lot longer than a few days," Vanora bitterly laughs, grazing her finger across one of the weapons, "More like a hundred years."

"What? That's impossible! Do I look like a 112-year-old man to you?" Aang asks in disbelief.

"Think about it. The War is a century old. You don't know about it because you were in that iceberg the whole time," Vanora quickly explains, before looking at Aang, "It's the only explanation."

Aang backs away and slumps to the floor in shock, "A hundred years! I can't believe it."

Katara squats beside Aang, "I'm sorry, Aang. Maybe somehow there's a bright side to all this..."

"I did get to meet you, guys."

Vanora smiles, "Come on, let's get back. We don't want to worry everyone."

Aang goes to another room with Katara and Vanora on his trail. Aang trips over a thin rope, then metal bars slide downward over the entrance, barring it and trapping them inside. "What's that you said about booby traps?"

The gears and engines of the shipwreck suddenly power up. In shock, Katara and Aang follow the movements of the machines until suddenly, a flare is fired into the sky.

"Oh no..." Vanora says in a panic and looks to Katara and Aang, "I'm about to do something, but you can't tell anyone about it, okay?" Katara and Aang nod, "Alright. Aang, use your airbending and go through that hole with Katara," Vanora points at the hole in the ceiling.

"What about you?"

"Just go through the hole and don't worry about me. Right now, I'm worried about you guys."

"But-"

"I'll be behind you."

"Hold on tight!" Aang says, picking up Katara and jumping through the hole using his airbending. Vanora walks to stand underneath the hole and takes a deep breath. She crouches before fire starts to ignite from her hands, sending her through the hole and up several feet. She uses her firebending to fly towards the snowy ground and beside Katara and Aang.

Katara looks at Vanora in confusion and fear. "What? You can firebend?"

"Before you freakout-"

"How? How can you firebend and waterbend?"

"I'm the Amaranthine! I can bend two elements. That's the reason my necklace glows every time I put it on. I'm sorry I didn't tell you," Vanora looks down at her feet, "Please, don't tell anyone. Please, Katara, I'm begging you."

Katara was silent for a few seconds before speaking again in a small voice, "Is that why you left?"

"How about I tell you on our way back?" Vanora suggests. Katara nods and starts to walk back toward the village. "Keahi said a friend of my dad was at Kyoshi Island. A few days after we arrived, he disappeared. I don't know where he went. A women took me in and it turns out she had a daughter who could firebend. I started learning when I was 10. I'm a master firebender, but a mediocre waterbender. So, when you go to the North Pole, I'll be going with you."