#dammit-soapbox

[dammit-theclown]

i find it really cool the way shifting terminology from the very beginnings of the therian community persists to this day. Theoretically it’s drawing from were(wolf) mythology, but it’s also an EXTREMELY common experience that persists regardless of species or origin. Makes me wonder what it would’ve been like coining this all and realizing how universal it can be

[sirenofthetimes]

people are so annoying about diasporic cultures in the us honestly

the country gets a lot of immigration!there were large enclaves that aren't as prominent now but were in relatively recent history! before irish,italian,polish etc americans were integrated into whiteness,they were segregated out of mainstream american society. they had their own everythings: neighborhoods,businesses,gangs,you name it. they were isolated for a long time. only married their own for a long time. built communities based around their ancestry because for the longest time they couldn't BE "just american" and that sticks with people today even though they're just regular degular white people,because as recently as their grandma's day they were barred from certain neighborhoods and jobs. and that's why they're all in your face about being italian or irish or whatever

and look,i have no horse in this fight,i'm black. and if you're from poland or italy or whatever you don't have to accept these people as your own,because yeah,they're not,they're from somewhere else. but i'm a slut for accuracy and understanding the history of things,and i selfishly believe that a greater understanding that diaspora cultures are legitimate cultures with their own histories and traditons might make my life as a black american easier

[sunshine-in-a-bottle]

Other people get the math autism, the reading autism, the sonic autism. And here I am with the sex autism.

[box-architecture]

which is the last pair You've been thinking about? (Asking for curiousity)

Torn between lying to you and finding some pair I never get to talk about to yell about on a soapbox. Or just being honest and saying awesamdrunz because its so constantly there I think its a permanent fixture now. I wake up? Awesamdrunz. I'm doing college courses? Awesamdrunz. I'm eating dinner? Awesamdrunz. Incredibly comforting, oversaturated and homey domestic.

I do think about other pairs though, in less consistency.

Niki and Punz: Listen, I can never remember how much I've talked about them but I think they are inherently interesting in their potential. If I wasn't so sleepy I could probably give you thirty paragraphs about why these two would be So Fun to character study and why they should be friends and why I need more interaction between them.

Michael McChill/Wilbur: Objectively the healthiest pairing for Wilbur. I'm not saying that MM could fix him, but he's the only person who could survive without becoming worse. Plus its funny as fuck. Wilbur is playing guitar on his couch and McChill has no one to blame but himself for setting up a radio station that allowed people to find him.

Tina/Hannah: Tina calling her "my" fairy is insane. The fact that Hannah is Egged and therefore has tentacle vines to fuck Tina with is also insane. Please imagine Tina in pretty battle armor going to save her Hannah from the Egg while Hannah tries to fuck her. Listen to me. There's very little yuri I can pull from this fandom without genderbending and I don't ship Niki/Puffy. Tina and Hannah have POTENTIAL dammit.

Dream/Philza: I can never get enough of this, for all that there's minimal content for it. I don't even have a good explanation as to why, it just delights me. I see it and instantly go Brrr. They need to be so abnormal for forever and I need to be in the front row witnessing it. Please let me.

Dream/Foolish: [REDACTED]

Tommy/Tubbo/Ranboo: I'm definitely too tired to go into depth about these guys and why they spin around in my head but like- tldr, in the CKAU, Ranboo and Tubbo got super divorced after it was revealed that Ranboo was working with Dream. Then Tubbo entered a relationship with Tommy, and then Ranboo also, separately, entered a relationship with Tommy. Except Tubbo and Tommy are also very much not okay due to both having So Many Issues. Tommy and Ranboo are fine though.

Fundy/Dream: god I wish I could have 500000 fics of these two to read right now. I love them. Send post.

[dammit-theclown]

Direct feeding is fulfilling, plus it’s usually an act of trust, respect, and vulnerability on the part of the donor, something I always try to reciprocate. The intimacy of the feeding method largely determines who it’s with. Intentionally drawing blood from someone is usually very hands-on and intimate, so it’s most appropriate for my hands-on and intimate relationships. More clued-in friends might offer a “taste” after incidental bleeding, more casual but still a show of trust and understanding. I still see it as casual in the same way eating is; just a natural thing you always need to do that’s always better with friends, partners, or just people you enjoy/find intriguing. Things only really get clinical when I’m getting all concerned about alcohol wipes and bandaids and “i KNOW you want me to cut/bite right there but that probably isn’t medically safe” lolll

Hey sanguinarians/otherkin/anyone who Is A VampireTM, I have a question for you! How do you see the experience of feeding on someone (psychic, tantric, blood, etc.). Would you only do it with a partner? Is it clinical? Etc. Like what is your relationship to a donor? Thanks in advance!

[cryptvokeeper]

I will never get off my soapbox of Hamilton never stopped being good you guys were just ashamed of having un-irony poisoned fun in a post-2016 world and needed to distance yourself from what you perceived as cringe

and I don’t even just mean as a musical either remember how leading up to the 2016 election the cast of Hamilton did a campaign being like “hey fucking VOTE”? Remember how after the election when Mike fucking pence went to see Hamilton the entire cast came out on stage and said (with total poise btw) “hey as a cast made up of the children and family of immigrants, people of color and LGBT people that your administration is hostile toward we want you to remember who’s show your watching”?

Like I’m not saying Lin Manuel Miranda is Karl Marx but god dammit that show and its cast did things it was not just Broadway 1%-er rich people crap

[dammit-theclown]

I know it’s far from a one-size-fits-all issue and I’ve been beating this dead horse for years, but I’ll never not hate when people argue against calls for DIY and tutorial/tip sharing with “all this is actually ableist because disabled people can’t DIY.” Not “I personally am disabled and have difficulty with a lot of DIY or Die type stuff, which is why I’m pointing out these difficulties and calling for information;” very specifically “DIY or Die is ableist because there are hypothetical disabled people out there (not me) who I’d assume hate it as much as I do.” Trust me when I say you are helping absolutely no one by poisoning the convo just to deflect your own insecurity, inactivity, or lack of experience. We don’t need you to regurgitate unprompted excuses as to why we couldn’t possibly participate in DIY culture so we may as well not even try, we need you to spread and share information that makes the pursuit more safe and accessible. It’s not one-size-fits-all and there are billions of ways your disabilities can and will impact your experience, how difficult it is, and what is and isn’t possible, which is why we need to be having these conversations instead of shutting them down before they can even start. DIY is not as intimidating as most people set it up to be, and can be a phenomenal tool for disabled people who are more likely to have tighter finances, limited resources, and a need to extend the life of the things they wear/use.

My perspective on this is probably most impacted by limited hand mobility and extreme pain using them. I injure myself a lot! But same applies to like… chopping vegetables. Holding a pencil or a spoon. Using an oven, washing dishes, changing the sheets… mundane life with disabilities is already difficult and often unrewarding. Learning to create, solve problems, apply the skills you’ve gathered in unlikely places, and show off your work is extremely gratifying in comparison. Do whatever suits you best, but don’t let yourself miss out on something you’d genuinely like to be a part of due to preconceived notions about how it’ll go. I’m not denying that it is much harder to DIY while disabled, but that’s what makes every breakthrough such a unique source of pride and fulfillment.

[robotnik-apologist]

How would the robotniks care for an S/O on their period?

mmmmnnnn interesting question! also ty for your patience bc i have no idea how long i've had this ask, but i've only just now gotten around to answering it.

i had a really long authors note to go along with this but i don't wanna put it here for people that don't care about my yapping sooo... if you still wanna see it, it'll be at the bottom.

IDK What to Title This HC's:

I don't care if it was a mistranslation, we're running with the fact that Robotnik was described as a feminist in a game guide.

I think pretty much every Robotnik is similar in this regard, though. None of them will pry, should you not wish to openly discuss it, but if your period tends to be rather rough on your body, I think it would be somewhat unavoidable.

You're basically going to be treated like you're sick... so I guess these are technically double-function headcanons.

It would be really frustrating for him to know that this, however, isn't quite like sickness - there's no genuine cure, only ways to relieve the symptoms.

Regardless, he'll do the best he can. I think I've said before that I imagine all of the Robotniks to be somewhat, though not totally, inexperienced in romantic regards. TLDR: he doesn't know what he's doing but dammit that isn't gonna stop him.

Constantly just checking in on you to make sure you haven't, like... keeled over and died, I guess?? He doesn't know why he does it, either. His schedule does still get in the way, though, so it's not like he's the type to wait on you hand and foot.

that's what all of the robots are for lmao you'll still be 100% taken care of at all times

That being said, I think it would be rather disconcerting to him if you're usually rather steadfast and unaffected by pain only to be felled by a natural function of your body. He won't admit it, but he definitely panics a bit the first few times.

Give the poor guy a break. His S/O is laid up in bed like a Victorian child dying of Scarlet fever.

Even if you aren't particularly emotional affected by your periods, he's still going to be extremely careful to not upset you. Not that he'll bite his tongue, but he's definitely not as... intense as he usually is.

listen he just doesn't wanna get jumped for mouthing off

Long story short, every Robotnik is going to be rather pliable in caring for an S/O who's on their period.

It's a rather convenient boon, to be associated so closely with a man that seems to have no shortage of wealth no matter how ridiculously expensive his schemes may be. You're pretty much guaranteed to get what you want, especially if you have a more intense cycle.

ok here's the really long A/N i was talking about... ending might be a little political but it's my platform and i'm gonna post what i want /lh

** for the sake of these HC's we will be ignoring that early archie robotnik had an entire comic based on 'girl power!!' which started by him insinuating sally and bunnie were stupid simply because they're women. (yeah that entire comic pisses me off because any person who's reasonably THAT smart wouldn't have such glaring biases in their logical reasonings and guidelines. one of the rare times i'll be political (although such social issues shouldn't be political) and say that being any form of sexism/racism/xenophobia/homophobia/transphobia/other general douchebag-ery makes you an idiot - and furthermore an idiot that isn't welcome here !!!)

okay soapbox over i just have a lot of feelings about that issue

[kindlythevoid]

I finished AC: Odyssey and the amount of RAGE I felt when watching the after-credits was UNREAL.

(Please be warned, there is a very long, angry, slightly incomprehensible rant underneath. Proceed with caution.)

Like, not even touching the fact that Kassandra put Herodotus’s manuscripts in the LIBRARY OF ALEXANDRIA (which made me super mad about the burning of the Library which means that she put it there for NOTHING and his writing is GONE and it makes me EMOTIONAL)

Okay, so I touched on it a little.

But other than that, seeing the little bit at the end? The little “Kassandra’s journey continues in AC: Valhalla”??? Unreal. Absolutely not. I get that she’s immortal (a lie; I really, really don’t and did not appreciate that story line because of the fucking plot holes that gives the rest of the series but it’s fine I’m fine I’m ironing them out as all angry fanfic writers do) but dear lord why is she in another game??

Okay, I have taken a second and reviewed my words. Allow me to rephrase.

I actually really like Kassandra. I think she’s great. I can deal with her outliving everyone (which she DOESN’T DESERVE) and fucking about like the world’s greatest cryptid (srsly do they explain why she never got in contact with the assassins when she so CLEARLY adopted their weapon-of-choice and are aligned in the same damn cause?). Part of me is rubbing my hands together and cackling at all the sand this gives me to play with in the sandbox of canon. Another part of me is screaming and bashing pots and pans together in front of Ubisoft.

Kassandra showing up in another game? Incredible. Fantastic. Start filling in those plot holes immediately. But also? Valhalla is a separate game. (I have my own rant prepared on what I’ve heard about the game, but that is for another day and when I have actually completed the game and have a legitimate soapbox to stand on.)

Please, please inform me if Ezio or… someone? Some other game has an end credit scene with “their journey continues” after everything?

Maybe I’m not the target audience. Maybe I’m too happy with plot to be in the AC fandom. But, dammit, this is where you go to when you want to scream about your opinion and by golly who ever made it this far is going to hear it.

Like, okay, I felt so tired when I saw those words. I was taken right back to the MCU (which I love and adore) and just felt tired. The MCU, at the moment, is churning out, approximately, a fuckton of content at lightning speed. Usually, I can wrap my head around it and move on. But they are leaving no time to digest, very little time (imo) for me to settle into a character and form a connection before the next show/movie/short comes out! And they’re rushing (imo) after COVID with movies that can and should be, I don’t know, pushed back or reviewed or something.

However, I’m deviating a little bit. Sadly, not enough. Because I see those words in Assassin’s Creed, my little comfort murder video game who brought me into the bubble of video games that I didn’t leave and got me attached to these characters, and I am filled with… not even dread; I’m just tired of it.

Like, okay, you start a game with an assassin and Some Guy who happens to be his descendant. Okay, cool. Next game, you introduce another guy, sprinkle references to the first guy, and give the descendant some quirky friends. You then build on this group of people for the next two games (totaling four at this point) before introducing yet another family through the same guy. Then you kill the guy. It is a big, emotional scene, presumably with some implications and effects (affects?) and what-not. But the family stays. The next game, the family stays. But you waffle between protagonists for no less than four games. But at least everything is entwined!! At least you’re going after Juno, the quirky friends from earlier show up and help, everyone gets a sad fun reference through the games.

So then you start over.

You are over ten games into this franchise and you start over. To be fair, it’s with a new protagonist and it feels right. It’s a good decision! It pulls things more mythologically, but it works. Presumably, you’re setting things up. And then you bring up Atlantis. And you introduce an Isu. And there is very little progress in the modern world, even though (again, as far as I am fucking aware) there is a humanity-hating Isu in the internet probably fucking things up for people.

And after all of these games, which focus on death, dying, and the permanence of said death, you make one of the characters immortal. Like. Good sir, are you well? And then you tell me that this immortal character, which throws quite literally everything that was built up over ten-ish games into question, is showing up in the next game. No, no, not showing up, continuing her journey.

There are a few instances that will probably be brought up if anyone has really strong feelings against me disliking this.

Ezio had three games, why does it matter if Kassandra shows up again? Because!! This isn’t!!! Her game!!!! If this was Odyssey 2: Electric Boogaloo, so be it, go for it, very excited for you, honey, you’re doing great. But this is Eivor’s game. As in, about Eivor and their journey.

Well, what about Altair in Revelations? It’s basically the same thing and you liked that game? Yes, I did like that game. I liked it very much. But Altair had something going for him that Kassandra does not. Altair was dead. So very dead. Extremely, extremely dead in a way that does not effect Ezio in any way, shape, or form except as someone to be studied and put to rest. Kassandra? Alive. Very alive. Able to make active changes to her environment (and then they fucking killed her as soon as we figured it out, I swear, Ubisoft, I swear—).

Alright, well, Conner Kenway showed up in Liberation and he was living and breathing? Yeah, as a celebrity guest star. He lead Aveline around, helped her kill some people, stood around awkwardly in the snow, and called it a day. Like, if that is all it is, then my problems are zilch. You can ignore this whole rant and sit smugly with the knowledge that you have a good told-you-so ready as soon as I finish Valhalla. But dammit you don’t phrase things like Marvel if they only make a guest appearance (and if that is a thing, then shame on you. Keep the surprise).

I would like, as a fun change of pace, for game plots (if applicable) to be thought out. Just a little. Maybe even, and this is where I get ‘em, connected. I would like to see wtf Juno is up to at the moment. I would like to see Shaun and Rebecca again. I would like a tangible plot that connects all of the games and characters together in a way better than aesthetic.

But, again, that is more my personal grievances with the modern missions that needs it’s own angry rant.

Kassandra, sweet murder darling Kassandra, is really trying my patience here. Ideally, I play Valhalla, find out that the Abstergo and the Juno storylines were picked up, Kassandra shows up for a hot minute before fucking off to who-knows-where, and this whole rant is for nothing. Heck, I’d take one of the three at this point. Because, and I think I’ve tagged it now, I’m interested in their independent journeys.

Now, admittedly this gets a bit sketchy when talking about the Assassins. They’re like Batman. Everyone thinks they work alone until you look behind them and there is an army of adopted/blood family backing them up and doing their own thing.

AC1 is about Altair’s redemption. It’s also about Malik’s long hard road to forgiveness. If you really want to dip deep, it’s also Maria’s break-out role and Al Mualim’s descent into madness. Ezio’s trilogy is the rise of the Italian brotherhood and Ezio’s quest for vengeance, justice, and knowledge respectively. You can also find his mother and her dealings with grief, Claudia and her own coming-of-age story, as well as Leonardo’s grappling with the outcomes of his inventions. AC3 was about Connor’s work-life balance as he pursued vengeance and protecting the colonies through helping the revolution and his own little homestead. It was also intertwined with Achilles coming to terms with all of the death that preceded his life with Connor.

I could continue, but I think you get the point. My point is, these stories were all about the individuals, their own personal journeys through grief and heartache and morality, as well as their affects (effects?) on the ones surrounding them, the ones closest to them. By introducing Kassandra into Eivor’s tale, it takes away some of that individuality.

Kassandra already told her tale. (Hell, you fucking picked her tale out for her. But that is a can of worms I’ll explain later.) This is where the torch gets metaphorically passed and Eivor learns their own lessons. While these games are very much stab/slash/kill games, they are also about the meaning of choice and responsibility (especially when dealing with death). They push that these moral lessons are something that should be experienced and carefully examined by each individual.

And quite honestly, as long as Kassandra doesn’t get in the way of Eivor’s lessons? If Eivor gets their own tale, their own emotional journey, without clashing with Kassandra’s? Then, yeah. Yeah, I’ll be happy seeing my favorite misthios running around a different time.

[maguneedsalife]

T'zekhwalker - Final Zenos Fight

i spent so much time here it needed its own post. i'd be lying if i said this one scene wasn't a main reason i pushed t'zekh through the main story (the other was i wanted him to get to 90/get the rdm artifact gear so he could wear his canon glam but you know)

so, some background for folks who are new here: t'zekh was the main wol for stormblood. he was the one zenos became obsessed with, and he has spent most of endwalker trying to get zenos to leave him alone. he knows zenos desperately wants t'zekh to kill him--to come at him with fire and rage and bloodlust--but t'zekh refuses to kill anyone no matter how much they deserve it.

i had been waiting so long for t'zekh to be able to do this dialog choice and the answer i had envisioned for him actually changed from the time i did this with aoife. originally i'd thought he'd go with option 2, but by the time i got here, 3 was more his style.

which ended up being a good thing, because zenos's response to that answer was fucking perfect for t'zekh

small aside--it drove me bonkers back when spoiler embargo first lifted and ppl (mostly on twitter) were INSISTING that answer 1 was the only possible canon answer and if you picked any of the others you were clearly playing the game wrong. even despite yoshi p confirming that there was no "correct" answer and the team had tried to write it so that players could respond to zenos the way they felt best reflected their own character's experience. people were STILL out there like "sorry but if you didnt pick option 1 you're just wrong"

so to see the text validate my choice and my hcs so perfectly has me feeling vindicated in this chilis. it is okay for people to have a different experience of the game than you!!! (i'll get off my soapbox now)

option 3 was perfect for t'zekh because he is finally fed up enough with zenos that he's finally willing to cast aside his moral opposition to killing in order to make sure zenos can't hurt anyone else in his name.

and zenos caught on to that and responded in kind.

anyway then i took a fucktillion pictures in the instance (most of which i'll put on my wol blog)

it was so hard to get them in the same frame lmao

and then i did the solo fight! not too bad on red mage, surprisingly enough - was very thankful to have vercure though lmao

this punch is still just as satisfying the second time

On my way to the last credits sequence i learned that you will actually fuck up the music timing if you skip or speed up the credits. it was playing revenge twofold when it was supposed to be playing flow together. that was very jarring. i don't know why they haven't set it to just start playing flow together for that sequence. dont skip the credits folks

and that's a wrap! i uhhh might have abandoned him before finishing out the quest so i could go farm memoria misera with aoife but im very happy to have (technically) beaten Endwalker with him before the year ended, which was one of my goals.

I think I started main story with him in January, so it's taken me about a year to get through... mostly what set me back was i had to make time/build emotional strength to make progress through parts I knew would be difficult emotionally. But I committed to not to skipping any cutscenes and just pressing on through a second read, and I'm glad to have embarked on this journey.

as soon as i finished endwalker the first time i knew it was going to be equally aoife and t'zekh's story. they both ended up having stakes in the plot in different ways, and getting to play through and see things from t'zekh's perspective was so much fun.

i still keep thinking abt the version of the ending in my head, wherein t'zekh is lying at the edge of the universe and all he can think is "i want to live, dammit!!"

and he hears a voice calling out to him.

"there you are!" aoife shouts, "I was looking all over for you!"

T'zekh has spent so much of the story kind of in aoife's shadow, grappling with what it means to be a "hero" in his own way. he spent a lot of stormblood resenting her absence.

but by the end of endwalker… i think they end up really close friends

---

Next, it'll be Banri's turn.... skipping as many cutscenes as possible so i can get him through before Dawntrail!

[insomniamamma]

Loved Spinner - so good! And she truly belongs in the post-apocalyptic world, with her skills! I'm sorry you may have dealt with such ugliness as horrid parents or shitty (ex)husbands - no neurodivergent person deserves that crap! We deserve only the BEST of what the world has to offer, because We Are The Rainbow Warrior Unicorns, dammit! (Sorry, don't get me started on human rights issues, I'll be on my soapbox all nite, lol!)

But know that I am. With. You. All the way. We gotta stick together.

Can't wait to read more of your work!

Thank you!!!!!

This one was a hard one for me, it got real personal without me intending it to. I was concerned about tagging Spinner as neurodivergent, because I struggle with claiming that label myself. I was diagnosed with adhd as a child, but the more i look back and the more i learn, I suspect I fall somewhere on the spectrum. I was born in the late 70s and at that time, autism was a diagnosis reserved for boys. I have not tried to pursue a more formal diagnosis (because jesus christ healthcare is expensive) but I know for sure that I don't operate in the world the way most people do.

Spinner feels like she doesn't belong to the world, but she has her work and her friends and now she has Joel looking out for her. He might not understand her, but he'll protect her all the same.

[sunshine-in-a-bottle]

typing the cDream tag and then just blocking any time I see an Inniter while reblogging as many friendly cDream posts as I can until I can feel my mental health start declining.

[nadacwriter]

While I'm on my soapbox I think too many people get hanahaki disease wrong

I get the impulse to use really pretty flowers because if the contrast but I need more. I need long thorns that grow out of tendril stalks. I need bines (yes, BINES) to lock around the throat. I need the petals to be covered in bile and blood. Black and red, putrid things pouring from the maw of a begging victim.

I WANT PAIN DAMMIT

[dammit-theclown]

“Any other nonhumans hate every smell So Much with a burning passion?”

Any other nonhumans love expressing their scent-related instincts through perfumes, herbs, hygeine products, and any other Stuff That Smells? My favorite perfume right now uses milk oolong as a note and smells like murky forest grass :}

[laurencem]

Y'all I am temporarily repurposing my Detour soapbox to SHOUT THIS FIC FROM THE ROOFTOPS. I am so glad that it's arrived in the world. THESE WORDS NEEDED TO BE SAID DAMMIT

fic: future imperfect (1/3)

This fic has been a WIP for eight months now under the working title of "angry Scully fic," and I was never quite happy with it. But I wanted to write this. I want Scully to have a voice in season 8, to get to tell her side of the story, to get a chance to tell Mulder how she feels. And now it's time to release this fic into the wild. It's done, it's finished. I got everything I wanted from it, and I'm finally setting it free. This is for @laurencem and @fringephile — I wanted to scrap this so many times, and they fished the crumpled up thing out of the trash, smoothed out the creases, and put the pen back in my hand. (In an internet way, you know. They didn't break into my house.) Anyway, thank you two so much for not letting me scrap this. Okay, here we go. It's weird to say goodbye to this fic, but it's time. Thanks to @loubetcha for the beautiful fic cover! This is a finished work. Part 2 will go up tomorrow, and then a short epilogue after that.

Summary:

Mulder is back from the dead. Scully hoped this would be the end of her grief, that everything would be okay. But nothing is ever quite that simple, and navigating their way into the future is still no easy task.

Read on AO3

tagging @today-in-fic

[pettankoprincess]

If you can’t handle being with your pet in their final moments, you don’t deserve to have a pet, period.

You take them into your life, you feed and give them water every day, you clean up after all their messes. That’s the duty to owe them, and in return, they give you love.

Do not neglect the last duty you owe them. The very last thing that is your RESPONSIBILITY is to make sure they don’t leave this world alone. That’s why so many of us don’t want to leave their side when they get sick or you know they won’t last much longer. We know we owe it to them.

So I don’t...I can’t even FATHOM someone choosing not to be the last thing their pet sees before they close their eyes for good. I fucking read this post at work in the bathroom and started crying. I don’t care about you, or your feelings, you fucking PICK YOURSELF UP OFF THE FLOOR and do what you need to do. Or. You. Don’t. Deserve. A. Pet.

You do it for THEM.