#conversations from my house

[marlynnofmany]

"The vikings were a mix of the mafia and pirates."

"Oh, so like 'I'll give you a walk-a the plank that you can't refuse.'"

"It's a nice farm here. Be a shame if something happened to it."

"Now I like you fine, but Olaf here, he hates -- where are we? England. He hates England."

[talaricula]

Things I've seen tumblr memeing about James Somerton doing à la "How did no one see how bigoted he was!" as if those things haven't been a significant part of tumblr culture for over a decade :

Presenting untrue and bordering on conspiratorial versions of (queer or otherwise marginalised) history without any sources

Completely disregarding and disrespecting any expertise on socio-cultural topics/humanities and distrusting academics and historians (incl. acting as if no academics or historians could be queer or marginalised)

Downplaying the role misogyny played in the historical oppression of queer women and concluding that queer men must have been more oppressed than queer women

Bi women are, at best, not as queer as "real" queer ppl, and at worst, simply equivalent to straight women

Despite nominal trans inclusivity, transmasculine ppl are functionally women when convenient (combined with the above, bi transmascs are functionally straight women)

Despite nominal trans inclusivity (bis), shamelessly attacking, threatening and actively endangering any trans woman who questions them or smth they find important (often by unfairly presenting her as violent or as a threat)

Having absolutely fucking wild and reductive takes about ace ppl, the oppression they face and their place in the queer community

Stating that marriage equality is an assimilationist fight while completely ignoring its direct roots in the horrifying consequences of the AIDS crisis for partners of ppl who died of AIDS

Praising western media creators from the past for queer coding even under censure and in the same breath condemning current non western media creators for being homophobic bc their representation isn't explicit enough

Blaming China for all existing homophobic censoring in western media

Assuming all queer media would be better told by western creators and by western standards

Only out queer ppl get to tell queer stories

Heavily criticising almost all queer media created by women or ppl they see as such (see above points about trans ppl) or involving/starring a significant amount of women for any perceived or real amount of "problematicness", but fawning over and praising and negating criticism of queer media created by and starring mostly or even functionally exclusively men (even when it could be argued that, you know, not involving/seriously sidelining women is a pretty clear example of misogyny which should probably be considered "problematic")

And I'm probably forgetting stuff or there's stuff I have internalised myself and don't recognise as an issue

Like idk but I feel like the takeaway from Hbomberguy and Toddintheshadow's videos should maybe be "be aware of such patterns in your communities bc they definitely exist" and not "this guy is uniquely awful" and I feel like a lot of the discussion I've seen surrounding this has been severely failing at that. Most ppl who've spent any significant amount of time on tumblr prob either have internalised at least one of those thought patterns, have had to de-internalise them, or have had to be extremely vigilant to not internalise them (which is done by, you know, seeking out other sources, which also seemed like an important takeaway from the videos)

[codacheetah]

Which one will you vote for?

[that-bitch-kat3]

Marauders era characters as shit my sister has said to me prt 1

sirius: regulus, you’ve always been like a brother to me

regulus: i don’t mean to alarm you but i am your brother

[sukibenders]

"Rhaenyra isn't the stepmother, she's the mother who stepped up!"

The HOTD writers themselves are hardly doing anything to support that narrative, so I take this rhetoric with a grain of salt. While I think, in some way, Rhaenyra does care for Baela and Rhaena....if I had to point out a motherly figure for them that could pose as someone stepping in Laena's place, Rhaenyra would not be it.

[frogs-with-tea]

I think a lot about Zoro being scared out of his mind about childbirth, and how after is all said and done he considers it one of the worst things he's experienced. Since Zoro is a character who's all about control over the body, strength, and stoicism, childbirth would be hard for him to cope with.

And I think about how he has to open himself up to the love and support around him so he can get to the other side of it

[hopefulqueer]

Hank Green on Dimension 20: Pelicans--

Entire rest of the cast: immediately erupting into nervous giggles

Hank Green:

[naivety]

okay i need feedback from the autism mentall illness website um. this is going to read like an AITA post. brother vs half-sister (who are currently my dependents do to their own individual disabilities + ptsd/depression) spat i will skim the details on but i'm worried my sister will discount my take since i'm not autistic myself so. am i crazy to call it ableist to look at an autistic person (23) who is clearly going through it dealing w long term depression, a world that doesn't give a shit abt him, unemployment, very self-isolated and burnt out barely leaving his room because the world is an ableist dumpster fire with zero opportunities for him, and then bring up childhood abuse he's suffered and his diagnosis as reasonable factors on top of this to worry he'll [checks notes] abuse my cat just to hurt me or even worse have a breakdown and kill me and his other sibling in a violent episode, a train of thought i probably wouldn't even be having were he not [checks notes] mad at me for the first time in my life?

like i don't have any other read on this kind of fear-based characterization other than ableism. like those are very real things in his life but she never points out any current violent behavior, of which there are none, only the one (1) instance of him lashing out when he was like 14 and Officially Diagnosed Low Empathy she thinks is a concern and Hateful Looks toward her since he stopped getting along with her, that's it. i tried explaining to her why i, someone who's lived w him his entire life, can vouch for how unlikely he is to do anything like that, especially when it's again not based on anything he's actually currently doing except for isolating in a way that is much more indicative of him potentially being a danger to himself than anyone else, and being cold towards her specifically, and i thought she had let it go, but when i brought it up off-hand in a conversation tangentially related, she continued to defend and justify her Concern about the potential directions his behavior could lead to because [checks notes] other people in similar situations have lashed out and killed their entire families according to. true crime books or videos she's watched on youtube as far as i'm aware. ignoring the fact that her and i have had the same or Worse childhood abuse and have acted similarly isolated in the past, or for her literally just as currently as him, and she's not expressed any worry past or present about either of us doing anything like that, in my opinion obviously because i haven't cut her off due to our differences like he decided to. like am i big sibling biased because this is pissing me off so bad.

[novelconcepts]

You know that feeling, when you’re listening to someone tell a story, and you can just feel in your gut that what actually happened is SO much darker than how they’re relaying it? And they’ve put a ton of effort in, right, to sand the edges down. They’ve gone over it a hundred times, beating all the wrinkles out, practicing like you’d practice a presentation or a stand-up routine. By the time they tell you the story, it’s perfect. You can’t help but be charmed by it. Can’t help but laugh at all the little silly bits. Can’t help but see it the way they want you to, so you don’t ask questions, you don’t dig in to the open wound just behind the plaster, you don’t let the certainty that it was Bad, Actually sweep you away. It’s just a fun anecdote now. Smile with them. Laugh with them. They’re here now, so it’s fine, right? Right?

I get the feeling that’s just Simone’s entire marriage to Taissa, and I feel so fucking bad for them both.

[cashweasel]

I love when he entertains her bullshit lmao

[marlynnofmany]

Stone: *goes into the garage to work on SCA armor*

Stone: *immediately comes back in*

Stone: "It never fails. Every time I go out there, I have to go to the bathroom."

[half an hour later, he notices this on the garage cabinets:]

Stone: "THIS WAS WHY! I FORGOT IT WAS THERE!"

[that-bitch-kat3]

sirius: hey reg do you have like… a bag i could borrow?

regulus, without looking up: the only bags i have are under my eyes and they are specifically designed to carry the weight of my sins.

sirius:

sirius: literally all you had to say was no

[theodoradove]

I went to the 2024 Cat Video Fest on a whim (since the first showing was right before A Matter of Life and Death) and it was such a delight to watch silly cat videos in a theater full of laughing people. It's playing at the Roxie several times over the next few weeks as well as in other places across the US (and the proceeds go to cat rescue organizations!).

[thewildnopeboat]

(Dumb idea that struck me in the shower while recovering from the flu. It may be the medicine talking but her goes nothing)

Context: single player, female Tav at camp

Tav, looking up at the stars: You want to know something?

Astarion, who for the last hour has been trying to meditate: If it would get you to shut up, fine.

Tav, lays down: A lot of people think Paladins are goodie two shoes. I've seen my master slaughter an innocent woman and her children just because they went against the church.

Astarion, sits up, sighing: You've got my attention.

Tav: My master was a by the book sort of person, never questioning why he had to do something, just did.

Astarion: And yet here you are, being a goodie two shoes.

Tav, sits back up and faces him: That's the thing. I'm human, young, and rather silly in my beliefs. My Devotion isn't towards a god persay... its... it's silly really.

Astarion, rolls eyes: If you're going to leave it off like that, I'm going back to meditate.

Tav: Fuck you, let me continue. Devotion to one's God is good, but I've seen Devotion devoid of humanity. It's horrible. In fact, the only time I saw him wince was when I said I never wanted to be like him. That's what lead me back to Bauldar's Gate.

Tav, reminiscing: I remember, the first time I got back there. I visited my old orphanage. I was moved from there when I was around five or so, but I knew most of the places that still are open. I knew my mom was a local whore down the street. She dumped me at the orphanage so she could get back to being a show girl. Nothing to it though, she wondered out of my life, married someone, and is probably dead by now.

Astarion: a bit dark.

Tav: I know. My favorite memory was around midwinter, I happened to be out late one night because the water froze. I waddled out into the cold and almost fell in to the small well we had. Would have died if I hadn't seen something floating down in it. A small white thing, down at the bottom. Care to guess what it was.

Astarion, losing interest: What?

Tav: A small white fluffball of a bat.

Astarion, visibly shaken, but doesn't turn to show off his face: oh?

Tav: Cute thing too. I used all my strength to pull it and the bucket of ice out of the well. After pulling it out of the well, I could tell it was in rough shape, so I shoved it between my clothes and my skin and waddled back inside. I think it got warm enough to get scared because it bit me a bit. *moves shirt down to show scars of small claw marks disappearing below the collarbone*

Astarion, turns: Yikes. That must have hurt.

Tav, shrugs: Yeah, but I caught it again and gave it a stern talking to. I nursed that bat for a few days and let it go. It only would feed on blood, so I caught some mice in the back alleys and let it eat. It was really skittish, wouldn't come out in the sun, didn't like harsh smells, though that wasn't easy to deal with when there's about 10 kids per room, and it didn't like the younger kids. I let it go at night after a few days, but it was so cold I couldn't stay out for long.

Astarion: what has that have to do with you being a Devotion Paladin?

Tav, finally laying down: where else does Devotion come from, but love and compassion for others?

Astarion, confused: That makes no fucking sense!

Tav, sleepy: I miss him, and I channel that feeling into my conversations. Love, compassion, and the knowledge that one day, it will all go away. I'll have the memories, or- *yawn*- someone else will, and that's what matters.

[pinkytoothlesso11]

Okay, so I was thinking about troll speculative biology curtesy of @theoldandnewfirm and this isn't exactly a biology thing, but I think most species of troll hate water/rain.

Hear me out.

Trolls are made of living stone, so I'm assuming they don't quite have the durability of actual stone, if going for the idea their skin is the only thing being made of a stone-like substance and its more like a flexible, thin exoskeleton. And of course rain contains carbonic acid, a result of carbon dioxide mixing with water in the air.

So I'm thinking maybe long exposure to rainfall, of different acidity, would maybe weaken their stone skin or cause a rash? And of course large bodies of open water are generally avoided, since trolls would sink like, well, a rock. This is a naturally inbuilt aversion to a significant majority of troll species but there are always outliers. It also depends on the type of Stone a troll is made of. If its a hard stone like granite or a soft stone like marble.

The side novels introduce us to deep sea trolls and we can't forget the Quagawumps as being Marsh trolls and the swamp/river trolls we see when Jim becomes a half-troll. Their skin is slightly more lubricant and they're generally more squat. There isn't deep water to avoid though.

I think with changelings it comes down to preferences, since their stone isn't as hard as a full trolls and they're probably spliced with different troll tribes, including more water based ones. We know NotEnrique isn't a fan of water, and I doubt Nomura would be either, but that more so based on the fact she wouldn't want her hair wet.

Strickler I'd think is a anomaly. I know his remark about being a keen swimmer was probably, most likely, a innuendo. But what if it had some basis of truth? His stone skin is quite smooth and 'soft' looking compared to other trolls, and the adaptations to his body that allow for flight would help in the water. Aka light bones, thin limbs and large lung size.

[werebutch]

sorry im gonna be an asshole but if my dad knew he couldnt take care of us with the progression of his diseases then why did he fight so hard for custody. im 20 yrs old i shouldnt still be thinking abt this but still like. a billion years of neglect the fact that he is sick is irrelevant when he knew very well that he wouldnt meet our basic needs. sorry. and now its on me to take care of 2 mostly-adult teenagers who hate my guts and still think they're 12 years old and cant go to the store. or clean. or whayever. AGHHHHHHH