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kitkatopinions · 3 years

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I’m probably over thinking/over complicating things but Ironwood and Penny have been really bothering me. It because prior to the moment that destroyed Penny’s arc the show and Ruby were really pushing that Penny not matter her body was human and that’s a very positive I like that especially when it comes to characters of Penny’s nature.

So my problem kicks in when I think of Ironwood. Namely this part in his song:

“What if it's true as they say

That I don't have a heart

That I'm more a machine than a man?”

Like wtf. I mean I “get it” especially with that dumbass line of Winter. But when it’s talked about Ironwood it was always in reference to the fact that his body is half robotic and there for we are meant to see the correlation between his body and his character.?

Put next to Penny’s message that really bothers me. Even more so since Penny gets a “reward” of becoming human, but the writers push that Ironwood sacrificing his arm to stop Watts and replacing it (a medical decision that could be debated given that he wanted to be up and able immediately to handle things not to mention that fact that nerves and muscle are severely fucked up) with a new (uncharacteristically uncovered) prosthetic means that he’s moving away from humanity. This thought has been driving nuts for a week.

I don’t think you’re overthinking at all. The writers have been pretty blatant about what they think of disabled people.

On the topic of James, 1. They wrote their triple amputee character to be coded as losing his humanity. This is suspect from the get go, but writers imo need to be especially careful and sensitive when they display things like villains with prosthetics. CRWBY is not careful and sensitive. 2. They specifically connected the loss of his limb to the loss of his humanity outside of the show, and as you said, his new prosthetic is uncharacteristically uncovered as well, and there were some pointed shots showcasing his arm and emphasizing it before showing Ironwood doing something wrong as well as a shot that particularly bothered me of them having James fall to Winter when his aura broke and then them immediately flashing to a fallen, broken robotic soldier. Tying the loss of someone’s humanity to them losing a limb / gaining a prosthetic in any way is wrong imo. There are better ways to display someone’s loss of humanity than villainizing the loss of his arm, and I don’t care what justifications people have for ‘they just meant to say that he was too impatient to-’ Idc. Tying the loss of humanity to the gaining of a prosthetic is wrong. 3. They never once treated Ironwood’s clear PTSD, history of mental health problems, and trauma with any sympathy, instead spending their time ragging on him for not wanting to feel his pain anymore and condemning him for... Trying to control his emotions. 4. CRWBY also gave him a semblance and explained how it worked by saying he hyper focused, talking about how James’ passive semblance that he can’t control forces him to focus on one single goal and fixate. I’m not disabled, but I do hyper fixate. It’s not something I can control, and to see it used as a justification for evil (in one of my favorite characters in the series who reminded me of my father lol) and being treated as something bad... It doesn’t feel good. I can’t imagine how other people must feel who are much more affected by this than I am. 5. As you say, the writers go out of their way to reference his metal body as being more ‘machine than man’ and make lines about him being heartless. And yeah, I get that he’s an allegory for the ‘Tin Man’ from Wizard of Oz but ffs the Tin Man had always had a heart and I honestly thought that was what they were going for in V3 with Qrow commenting that sometimes he thought James didn’t have a heart and the audience seeing Ironwood’s actions as questionable, only for the entire show to tell us repeatedly that he actually is a caring and good person who’s willing to destroy all the forces he was proud to show off if it means saving lives and was actually pretty freaking blameless in the Fall of Beacon and was super kind to the kids and when the chips were down, Qrow and Glynda both absolutely knew without even questioning that James would never ever willingly hurt the world or fully betray them and had absolutely no hand in the Beacon attack. Like, I’m sorry, but between Penny and Ironwood, season eight is the season of taking well done character allusions and throwing them out the window for the exact opposite moral done incredibly poorly. And anyway, getting off of that rant, making a ‘more machine than man’ sentiment tied around a triple amputee character is incredibly harmful and hurtful to people with disabilities and only propagates the real world stereotypes against people like James.

So, yes, their treatment of Ironwood, his mental health, and specifically his disabilities was so badly done, harmful, incredibly insensitive, and frankly, appalling that it came from grown adult writers in 2019-2021! But, as you point out, it’s not just Ironwood. And here’s where things really get bad for CRWBY. Because Ironwood alone is enough for me to say they were ableist - unintentionally or otherwise - and ought to apologize for the hurt they’ve caused their fans. But when you get into the rest of their treatment of characters with metal prosthetics or non-flesh elements to their body, it becomes a pattern.

Penny’s entire body is removed from her on threat of death, with the justification that it’s hurting her and that her body is just a machine and not part of who she is, contradicting Penny’s earlier themes of self-acceptance and validating her humanity in the body she already had. She then dies by assisted suicide in a way that feels unneeded, after having asked to be killed earlier in the narrative. So many people have talked about how destructive her story became in V8 and how it personally hurt them, especially non-binary people, trans people, autistic people, or disabled people who saw themselves in Penny or saw in her arc something that they could relate to, only to have Penny’s differences stripped away from her, having her conform to normal body standards and have her previous body type invalidated by her friends, and then they had her killed via assisted suicide in an unbelievable way, insisting as well that she never made a choice before she was a flesh-person and couldn’t feel things right. It’s all horribly done, but it’s important to remember that while Ironwood is accused of losing his humanity as he loses a third limb and gets a third prosthetic, Penny’s earlier validation is taken away and is instead only granted and she is only justified as a person when she loses all her ‘nuts and bolts’ and becomes a flesh person. And then she’s killed anyway.

Yang’s prosthetic is the least ill handled, but it is still dismissed as ‘just extra’ despite her former fairly strong arc of coming to terms with her disability and making it a part of her. She casually justifies what’s happening with Penny despite Penny not being in a position of adequate consent. Yang’s trauma and PTSD also vanished when Adam died at the end of season six and in my opinion, that situation was handled very badly.

Maria and Pietro, two other disabled characters, disappeared, left when Amity fell and were not even mentioned iirc since. Not even when Penny is awake, not even when they’re evacuating, not even when Penny is choosing to die. She never brings up her father. And Ruby’s supposed ‘mentor’ who never had an actual narrative role that couldn’t have been filled by Qrow and has had nothing to do since season six even past that is also forgotten out in the tundra and not mentioned again.

The writers go out of their way to have Winter say that because she was just following orders (a statement that contradicts her previous character imo) and pushing down her emotions, she was the real machine, whereas Penny had been human underneath her apparently easily tossed aside and destructive previous metal body. And I don’t know if this means anything, but in that scene where she and Penny meet when Penny is dying and transferring the maiden powers to Winter, Winter is in her V7 character design, instead of wearing her assistive brace. Like I said, I don’t know if I’m reading into that, but with everything else, it feels like an iffy choice.

So yeah. In the past season CRWBY specifically cultivated a pattern of disrespect, dismissal, and villainization of any non-flesh attributes in my opinion. It seems pretty intentional and clear to me, but I’m willing to accept that maybe this was just a wildly bad uneducated mistake. Here’s the thing about that, though, after the Faunus/Racism allegory, the CRWBY writers should’ve learned their lesson and not touched on any real world topics that they weren’t willing to do the research on and treat with the sensitivity and care and respect the topics needed. Their Faunus/Racism allegory was harmful and hurtful and frankly could’ve sunk them in the water, they should’ve learned to put much more care and effort into their work or stayed the hell away from anything that could further spread the negative stereotypes surrounding real world people. But they didn’t learn their lesson and they’ve continued to push harmful narratives with no awareness or sensitivity. I don’t think you’re over-reacting at all, I think this is something that - intentionally written or otherwise - the writers should be called out on, or they’re just going to continue writing harmful narratives.

Also, I am not disabled, many of my opinions on the treatment of these characters comes from posts I’ve seen from many disabled or neurodivergent RWBY fans (or former RWBY fans,) or other people more affected by these narratives - minus the thing I said about Winter appearing without her brace when she talks to Penny, as it was something I just noticed while typing out this post. Since I’m not disabled, I’m not the best person to talk about these things, so if I got anything wrong in this, anyone more affected, please know you can let me know and I can edit and fix.

#rwde #rwby bashing #anti rwby #anti crwby #anti MKEK #rwby hate #if anyone comes in the comments invalidating or justifying I'll block #pro james ironwood #pro Ironwood #ironwood defense

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hb-writes · 4 years

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Little Lady Blinder - Chapter 1

A Piece of Work, 1919

Also available here on ff net or here on AO3.

General Content Warning: This is a Peaky Blinders story, and as such here are your general warnings for canon-typical mentions/ instances of violence, drug use, alcohol use, smoking, sexual content, swearing, mental health issues, PTSD, character death, prostitution, pregnancy, war, and time-period typical discrimination (racism, sexism, ableism). These themes are likely to exist throughout the fabric of the story just as they do in the show. There may also be mentions and references of potentially sensitive topics such as bullying, sibling teasing, nightmares, sickness, injury, medical intervention, police violence, suicide, physical punishment/ discipline methods typical of the time period, underage alcohol consumption/ smoking/ drug use as the story unfolds. Please take into consideration whether any of the above-mentioned themes/ topics will upset you prior to reading.

There was a commotion coming from out on the lane and Clara knew it would be her older brothers making their way towards the shop. Being that it was still early in the morning, the business wasn't yet open and the house had been nearly silent for an hour or more. The only noise came from a few Blinders already in the shop and the quiet conversation taking place between the Shelby twins who were sitting at a table just beyond the shop doors, enjoying their last few days of winter recess.

"Fuckin' Tommy!"

Their eldest brother's voice boomed, reverberating off the walls and furniture as it traveled. The sound carried through the wood of the front door and the whole of no. 6 Watery Lane's front parlor before it reached Clara's ears. She flinched at the words themselves, but more so at Arthur's tone. She could nearly see the spittle flying as Arthur shouted, but Clara knew that was only her imagination.

Arthur was nearly always shouting lately, and it was usually about something Tommy had done. While she was used to it, the shouting at and about Tommy, the familiarity didn't make it any easier to digest.

And while Clara loved that their boys were home, safe and whole, there had been a whole lot less shouting when it was just her Finn, Ada, and Aunt Polly.

Despite their hearing Arthur making a fuss outside, both kids smiled when John and Arthur came through to the dining room. Cross as Arthur could be with Tommy, he didn't ever take it out on the kids, and the twins knew that, being as they'd rarely been the subject of Arthur's shouting, rarely been the subject of anything other than Arthur's cuddles and smiles and undying support. Arthur ruffled Finn's hair before moving to place a kiss on Clara's hairline, his mustache tickling her as she pushed him away, giggling.

Arthur and Clara watched the other two brothers engrossed in a hushed conversation, mischievous smiles on their faces.

Ever since getting back, John and Finn had taken to sharing secrets, getting up to what most generally labeled as no good, as if John had forgotten that the twins were barely older than his own children. He was well on his way to corrupting his younger brother and not a single member of the family had much to say or do about discouraging it, aside from the occasional telling off by Polly.

Shaking his head at the younger Shelby boys, Arthur turned his attention back to his sister. "Where's Aunt Pol, princess?"

"She went down to the church. Said we didn't have to go since it's our day off, but we have to come on Sunday."

Arthur smiled. "I'll come with you Sunday."

Clara returned the gesture, offering a nod of acceptance.

"And our Ada? Where's she?"

Clara shrugged, returning her attention to John and Finn. She knew very well that her older sister was with Freddie Thorne. She knew that her sister had stayed the night with him like she did up to four nights each week but Clara possessed enough sense to not tell her brother that.

Before the boys came home, Ada had explained to Clara the importance of the Shelby girls sticking together, against the boys, against their overly perceptive aunt, essentially against the world. It had been the first time in her life that Clara felt her sister thought of her as something more than a child, a baby to be cared for and played with. Even if she didn't particularly like giving half-truths to Arthur, or full stop omissions, Clara had every intention of upholding her sisterly responsibility.

"And Tommy?"

Arthur already knew exactly where his younger brother had whiled away the early morning hours. He heard all about it on his way over to the shop, an impressive feat considering Arthur lived just a few doors down from no. 6.

Again, Clara shrugged her shoulders, another sisterly responsibility upheld. "We had breakfast and he left. I think he had an appointment."

"Okay," Arthur conceded. "Okay, Clara girl."

Arthur didn't believe his sister knew any more beyond that. Still brandishing the sweet, rounded cheeks of childhood and brilliant, shining eyes, Clara was the baby. To Arthur Shelby, sweet and innocent was just about all he'd considered the girl could ever be.

"New book?" Arthur nodded towards the red hardcover in her hands.

Clara smiled up at him, keeping the book flat in her lap.

Arthur's face brightened as he clasped a hand on Clara's shoulder. "That's our brilliant girl, always reading, best marks in the fucking class."

"Well, someone had to give us Shelbys a good name at that school," John commented. "We all know Finn isn't cuttin' it."

None of the Shelbys before her had been very accomplished in making a good name for the family, not in the academic sense.

Arthur had made an effort, but he wasn't scholastically inclined. He was rubbish with numbers and spelling.

Tommy had possessed the mind, but he had done only the work he wanted.

John had been willfully resistant to the idea of learning, losing interest in a subject halfway through a lesson and preferring to set his sights on charming the class.

Ada had been exclusively uninterested in books and math, seemingly more concerned with boys and gossip and her social circle.

Finn simply struggled to keep up in school. He often quit before giving things much of a chance. It didn't help that Finn had a sister more than willing to help with his assignments so the two of them could get on to other pursuits a bit sooner.

That left academic success to Clara as she possessed both the mind and the willingness to try, as well as an interest in anything new to her. She could occupy herself for hours with nothing more than a book or something she could tinker with.

The boys made their way into the shop and Arthur continued with his complaining to John and anyone else who would listen. He grumbled about Tommy doing the Chinese trick with the horse, grumbled about Tommy not considering the family opinion, grumbled about how he was the one supposed to be running the business. He pushed the men in the shop for more information, but none of them had much to say in return as they hadn't known a thing about it.

It was only Clara Shelby who knew a thing or two about what Tommy had been up to, but she kept her mouth shut and continued with her reading from the spot beside the fire.

Tommy had told his sister about his plans that morning over breakfast. She hadn't known that her brother was testing her when he said he had a secret she wasn't to share with the others. Tommy was already relatively confident that he could trust Clara. Even at ten years old, the girl possessed far more innate cleverness than the rest of his siblings seemed to have put together and with a fair level of consistency, Clara had proven herself to be dependable, almost to a fault. Even though she couldn't always be trusted to do exactly as instructed, Tommy knew he could trust his Clara with a secret meant for the two of them.

As Arthur continued complaining about Tommy's actions that morning, and then about Tommy in a more general sense, Clara resolved to stay out of it, favoring the company of her book. Finn seemed oblivious to the complaining though as he edged his way through the doors left open by Arthur and John. He was always gravitating towards his brothers, shadowing them whenever he could manage it, settling easily into the shop's routines.

Clara didn't follow Finn as he ventured through the doors. She had her book to occupy her, and she wasn't one for heading into the shop these days anyhow, not since Tommy had declared that an illegal betting shop was no place for a pair of ten-year-olds. She had never truly liked the shop or being around all the loud, pushy men making bets anyway, not really. Clara had liked dealing with the numbers and being a help, contributing to the family, but Tommy had taken away the work and the numbers and encouraged her interest in books and school instead, so the shop wasn't so enticing to her anymore.

While Clara wanted little to do with the potential trouble that came along with disobeying a rule set by her older brother, one that had the general support of Aunt Polly by this point, Finn still routinely pushed the boundary when he could get away with it. But as no one other than Tommy made much of a fuss if the kids made their way into the shop, no one said a word as the boy made his way about the shop.

—1918—

The young Shelby twins had technically always been banned from stepping foot inside the shop, a rule which had been forgotten during the war and reinstated almost immediately upon the boys' return from France.

The day after coming home, Tommy had descended the stairs after a night of fruitless sleep to find Clara standing on a stool in the shop. He watched, eyebrow raised, for a moment as the girl wrote out the names and odds for the upcoming race on the chalkboard in near-perfect penmanship while her twin brother held the list up so she could see. They were chatting amongst themselves, Clara explaining something about the odds to her brother, the pair of them paying little attention to the sound of approaching footsteps.

"What're you doing in the shop, eh?" Tommy asked, still standing in the doorway.

"Working," Clara answered casually, never once stopping with her writing, her eyes shifting only between the paper in Finn's hands and the chalkboard.

"Not anymore. You've got school."

"Yeah, but we gotta get the shop ready and—"

"You've got school. Let's go."

Tommy held out the hand that he hadn't settled in a pocket and waved them over.

Finn dropped the paper on the nearest desk, but he stayed there watching the exchange between his brother and his sister. Clara made the hint of a whine, something that wasn't committing to an open rebellion, but when combined with the look Tommy saw passing over her face, showed she was actively considering it.

"But the list—"

"John will do it when he gets in."

"But Finn and I do the lists. It's our responsibility."

"Not anymore. Your responsibility is school and doing what you're told. Now, come down off the stool," he said, watching as she contemplated his order.

"But it's still early and John doesn't know how Aunt Polly likes 'em done. There's a new way."

Tommy smiled to himself for a moment. The twins weren't used to him anymore, he knew that. He and Arthur and John weren't the authority. They were nearly strangers. They were the long-lost brothers the kids wrote letters to, the brothers they remembered through photographs and stories and fuzzy, unreliable memories. He had work to do in reestablishing the way of things. Tommy fixed her with a look, effective even though he was across the room from her.

"I don't think either of us will like it very much if I have to say it again."

"C'mon, Clara," Finn mumbled, pulling his sister's hand.

Tommy watched as something shifted in the girl and she climbed down off the stool. He waited, remaining patient, curious even, while the twins walked across the room at a pace slower than he had seen them move since they were merely toddling around the parlor.

When the twins stopped in front of him, Tommy bent down to meet their eyes. "The two of you forget who's in charge around here, eh?"

"Aunt Polly's in charge," Clara answered. "She said just 'cause you boys come home doesn't mean we don't have to listen to her anymore."

"Well, she's right about that. You always listen to your Aunt Polly," Tommy answered, looking between both twins before he settled his eyes on Clara. "And now you've got a whole house of family to tell you what to do on top of it. We'll talk about the new way of things on the way to school, eh?"

"But we don't need an adult. We walk to school on our own, Tommy," Finn said.

Tommy hummed. "What do you think, Clara?"

"Aunt Polly lets us go to school on our own. We're big now, Tommy."

"Bigger than when I left, I suppose. I'll walk you today so you can show me how big you've gotten, figure out what other trouble Aunt Polly's been letting you two get up to."

"If we say yes, can we stop by to see the horses?" she asked.

Tommy shook his head. "The yard's not on the way, Clara. You know that."

"It's kind of on the way," she offered. "It's only a little out of the way. And we're too early. And we haven't seen Uncle Charlie in ages."

Tommy looked at them both. "You two still like seeing the horses?"

Clara and Finn nodded.

"We got a new horse," Finn said. "Clara named her Lavender."

"And I've been helping Curly train her. Uncle Charlie gave me a book on horses."

Tommy nodded. The kids had been busy during the war, working at the shop and helping out at the yard, traipsing through the streets of Birmingham without an escort, reading his old, worn horse books, becoming little people with opinions and plans of their own.

"Do you help too?" he asked, looking at Finn.

Finn shrugged. "I do the racing. I'm probably even faster than you now."

"You're not faster than Tommy. You're not even faster than me."

"I am so!" Finn answered.

"And it's not just about racing a horse," Clara said. "You have to know your horse, take care of her, respect her, right Tommy?" She didn't bother to wait for an answer. "Finn doesn't take care of the horses, just races them."

Even being unsure of Tommy and unsure of the prospect of changing rules, Clara had already fit her hand inside of his. "I can introduce you to Lavender."

Tommy nodded. "Alright, horses and rules and school, then."

—1919—

Finn didn't come back to his sister's company until nearly half an hour later, not until one of the men forced him out of the shop just before opening. He had somehow managed to get a cigarette while in the shop and got to work lighting it as soon as he sat down.

"You're not supposed to be smoking," Clara said, barely pulling her eyes from the page.

"Well, Tommy said you're not to be reading his books," Finn answered. "You're too little."

Clara wondered how Finn even knew that the book belonged to Tommy. She had snuck in and out of the room right after her older brother left that morning while Finn had still been fast asleep in his bed. Plus, Finn could barely read, so she knew he hadn't recognized the title.

"I'm not too little. I'm already in chapter two and I just started it today," she answered, letting the silence settle between them until Finn got the cigarette lit.

Clara placed the book on the table, picking at the skin around her fingernails. "Arthur's awful mad at Tommy still?" she finally asked.

"Tommy's fixed a race," Finn answered in such a tone that it sounded as though he knew precisely what he was talking about and he didn't approve. "Gonna start a fight, probably, a war even."

Finn took a deep puff of the cigarette before holding it out for his sister to try. She sucked on the rolled-up paper, feeling the smoldering warmth fill her lungs before her brother suddenly yanked it from her lips. Clara scowled at him before a cough forced itself from her chest.

"You breathed in too much, silly," Finn said, shaking his head.

"You scared me," she answered. "Let me try again."

"No, smoking's not for little girls anyway."

"I'm not a—"

Clara heard Tommy's voice. He was just outside the front door, speaking to someone out on the lane before he had it opened all the way, paused on the threshold while he finished his conversation.

"Finn!" she whispered.

In the short moment the twins had before Tommy came inside, Finn tossed his cigarette towards the fire and Clara slid the book she was reading out of view, just beneath the table.

"Arthur's mad as hell," Finn offered, a weak attempt at distraction that did little to divert their brother. Tommy's gaze had already done a sweep over the room, over his youngest siblings. He had already taken it all in, cataloging their various indiscretions despite not revealing any immediate indication of having done so.

"He is, Tommy. Really mad. He was shouting for all Watery Lane to hear," Clara chimed in.

Tommy nodded his head. "What do a couple of ten-year-olds know about hell?" he asked, picking up the cigarette butt and tossing it into the flames after presenting it to both kids.

"I'm eleven Sunday. Maybe Clara doesn't know a thing, but I do." Finn delivered a smirk in Clara's direction and Tommy's eyes followed.

"And I'm eleven Monday. You're barely any bigger than me, Finn."

"You're still the baby."

Clara stuck her tongue out at Finn and he swiftly returned the favor.

"Tell him I'm not, Tommy."

Finn fought hard to maintain his place in the pecking order. Although they were twins, Finn was older by somewhere in the vicinity of a couple of hours. Their births had spanned two days, with Finn being born late at night on the tenth of February and Clara being born in the early hours of the eleventh. They had never shared an actual birthday and Finn hadn't let her forget her station since the days following birthday number four.

"Enough of that," Tommy chided as he tapped Finn over the head with his cap. "What have you got there, Clara?"

Tommy raised an eyebrow as he looked at her, waiting for the answer.

"Nothing," she answered, settling the book on her chair before sitting on top of it.

A sly smile briefly touched Tommy's lips. He took two steps across the room and pulled the girl up in his arms. Tommy settled his sister on his hip, a spot she was nearly too big to be occupying, and he picked up the book in the process, briefly glancing at the title. He waited for Clara to meet his eyes. "What have I told you about reading my books?"

Instead of answering, Clara placed her arms around Tommy's neck, clammy fingers interlocking where his shirt collar met his skin. She took the opportunity to nuzzle against her brother's chest, hiding her face as the dark blonde waves fell over her arms.

"Tommy," she whined into the fabric of his suit.

"Clara," he echoed.

Tommy set his sister down with her feet on the chair before him. They stood almost eye to eye but Clara settled her gaze on the curling edge of the carpet. Tommy waited with an eerie calmness Clara had come to associate with trouble. Under his intense scrutiny and the prolonged silence, she felt a near-immediate compulsion to fill the quiet, to give Tommy whatever he wanted.

Her first inclination was to run and if she wasn't afraid the repercussions would be steadily worse if she went off to be alone instead of facing his questions, she would've.

"But I finished every book in the house and we haven't gotten another."

Clara stomped her foot as she said it, sending the stool into a wobble which would have ended with her on the floor if it weren't for Tommy steadying her. He tapped her with the book, a small warning designed to get her attention. Finn snickered but a glance from both Tommy and Clara quieted him.

"It isn't fair, Thomas," she said.

"I'm Thomas, now, am I?" he said, setting the book down on the table.

She watched the book leave his hand before continuing.

"Yes, Thomas. It's not fair. Finn was smoking a cigarette and saying bad words and teasing and going into the shop and he didn't get in trouble and I got punished just for reading. You let him get away with everything. And you don't let me get away with anything...Thomas."

Tommy suspected that his younger sister had picked up the use of "Thomas" from their aunt. When Polly was displeased, a similarly aggrieved tone and his full name came from the woman's lips as well. Out of respect for the girl, Tommy didn't laugh though it amused him to see the display of force from the baby of the family.

"You were smoking, too," Finn shrugged, his indignant voice breaking through the quiet that settled in while Clara and Tommy stared at one another.

Clara's face shifted and she narrowed her eyes at her twin.

Tommy cleared his throat to regain her attention. "The two of you aren't meant to be telling on one another. You're meant to stick together. That's what we do in this family."

Finn nodded once before looking back to the fire and Tommy turned to Clara. "And I hold you to a higher standard than the rest of them. You're smart and you're a proper lady, not a Peaky Blinder. And no one here's getting punished."

"It still isn't fair, Tommy," she answered, pouting. Clara considered his inquisition and his accusatory tone to be akin to punishment.

He ran a hand through her hair, stopping to place his palm on her cheek.

"The world often isn't, Clara." Tommy picked the book up, holding it out to her. "Put this back and we'll get you another later today."

"Can I pick it out myself?"

"Can you behave for the rest of the day?"

"Of course," she said.

"No more smoking, no sneaking into the shop, no fighting," Tommy said, glancing at Finn as well.

Clara nodded eagerly, holding out her hand to him.

"Then it looks like we have a deal, Miss Shelby," he said, shaking the little hand.

Clara leaned forward, pecked him on the cheek, and hopped off the stool with the book in her arms.

Tommy glanced at Finn as Clara ran up the stairs, taking a deep breath. "Sisters, eh Finn?

The boy shook his head, rolling his eyes. "She's a piece of work, she is," Finn answered, having frequently heard his twin sister described as such.

"That she is," Tommy agreed before making his way into the shop.

—

Chapter 2

Little Lady Blinder Masterlist

Please take a moment to tell me what y'all think! Reviews and comments are always appreciated. 😌❤️

#peaky blinders #shelby!sister #shelby sister #tommy shelby #peaky blinder fanfic #sisfic #clara shelby #john shelby #arthur shelby #finn shelby #little lady blinder

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ichayalovesyou · 3 years

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Broken Bow parts 1 & 2 (Live Reaction):

Ah, so we’re kicking off with smarting up Archer’s prejudice against Vulcans that I know from all my Vulcantology research he grows out of. Neat.

Oh shit Klingon on earth?? Look at those glorious locks! Who are these weird squishy bendy dudes?? Oh that shiz EXPLODED. I’ve got my yeehaw phaser rifle and I kills a Klingon- fuck is THAT how the war started?! Whether or not that’s stupid remains to be seen.

Wowwwww this theme song... is... a lot. Star Trek, bruh, since when??? No. Just... no. Oh hey it’s Archer & Trip a lil’ light fantastic! Ngl Trip’s actually cute. Oh wow they really don’t know Klingons. Oh hey Phlox is here! I get where Archer is coming from about the plug pulling thing, even if Klingon culture is very “HONOR!!” and stuff. Even then, wouldn’t it be detrimental even to a warrior race for them to die when they can be healed?

Vulcans just love acting like everyone else is stupid don’t they? Wow everyone is racist at like, everybody (aliens wise) this definetly has established itself as pre-Federation. Ope! More new characters! Baby ensign dude (Travis!) and British ship’s engineer(?) oh hey it’s Hoshi Sato!! Oh look they’re acknowledging that aliens speak more than one language on their workds finally!! Behold T’Pol! She doesn’t sound like I thought she would? (Idk what that means lol but yeh)

Ohhhh man Trip, Vulcans don’t do haaands my dude, didn’t you get debriefed? But also would it have killed her to explain? Communicate damnit! Give us a speech elderly white boy! Yeehaw warp engines!! Cool speech call back or really it’s Kirk (& Picard and prob Pike soon) Doing the callback to Cochrane!

Oooh shady time travel aliens are back!! Phlox is here! I always got good/fun vibes from him, like, a lil’ creepy but in an entertaining way! Travis is adorable and I love him already, space station boyyyyy. THREE, THREE WHAT?? Travis’s generation are called Boomers?? LOL it makes sense that we’d have a baby boom after planetary colonization became possible but that’s practically a derogatory term now 😂

Time for a dinner chock full of microaggressions! Yup I was right, wowwwwwww everyone is being secret awful (T’Pol not so secret awful) but yeah I can see where all that VHS racism stuff comes from. Lol, oooooo Hoshi & T’Pol having a lil’ cat fight, Archer is such a dad lol. Poor Sato is so fucking stressed it’s okay gf! The ship is just not working and you’re learning Klingon and there’s an invisible alien aboard its FINE!! OH SHIT THAT KLINGON GOT KIDNAPPED!!!!!

Oh so the engineer’s name is Reed okay, oh this is the one with the Suliban. Wow T’Pol is kind of a bitch! She is just belittlement after belittlement, she’s like Spock but WORSE. Like, I’m definitely starting to understand Archer’s resentment toward them is coming from, not that it’s right, but it is understandable. Especially Vulcans have been having this sort of attitude toward humans (and other species) this whole time. Both races clearly have a LOT to learn.

Oh so this Suliban dude is a GMO, I actually freaking love Phlox. Good job Trip tryna bridge the gap between T’Pol and Archer but ooof still too salty. Oh wow! We’re going to Rigel for the first time okay?! Neat! Oof our Klingon boy out here getting interrogated oh shit! It wouldn’t be an earth 2000s scifi without a skanky bar and funky alien strippers. Uh oh Trip is about to make a mistake, oh thank god T’Pol stopped him *big exhale* everything is so new to us! It’s so interesting!

Ew creepy lady why u kiss him??? Oh it’s the “alien woman has to do (explicit/romantic action) to do (thing)” trope 🙄. Oh so there’s time travel shit going on??? Okay!!! What?! Okay! Man the GMO Suliban can do some seriously freaky shit! Okay I love Travis & Reed they’re cool, Reed is suave and Trav is adorable! OOp ARCHER GOT SHOT THE LEG! Close call close call!! Oh ffs T’Pol don’t take command, everything you’ve shown us so far is that you think humans are shit, hey maybe she’ll surprise me.

Ugh this is about to be- aaaaand it’s unnecessarily sexualizong T’Pol 🙄🙄🙄🤮🤮🤮. Trip can you please not call T’Pol out and be racist in the same sentence, I’d rather you just do the former please. OH YAY! T’Pol did surprise me! Good job T’Pol (and Trip... kinda... I guess). “One good turn deserves another” good line, but “doesn’t sound very Vulcan” is proof Archer really doesn’t understand Vulcans! Or at least not what they aspire to. Ohhhh Kay NOW we’re working together! Good! Good!!

I wonder who creepy time lord dude is. Sato THANK YOU why, WHY don’t starships have seat belts?!?! Makes no goddamn sense. Oh I was wrong earlier! Reed’s a pilot and Tucker’s the engineer, okay! I wonder what happened between this episode and Discovery (being the next closest in the timeline) that makes us enemies with the Klingons? Travis out here teaching Tucker how to drive I’m sure this will end well. I’m low key starting to get Bones-Spock energy from T’Pol & Archer. FURST PISTOLS WITH A STUN SETTINH HELL YEAH!

Alright alright, T’Pol is growing on me, awww Archer is soft! “U okay?” I can vibe with that! Hell yeah! I kinda wish I knew Klingon so I knew what this dude wa saying (but I’ve already got my hands full with Vulkansu). Archer why in the fuck are you wandering around?! Do you want to get caught/not found!??! Stay put dummy! Aaaand there’s the BBEG, oh, and he’s Suliban! Oh good thing that laser pistol is set to stun (oh and he dodged). Oooh scary transporter lmao.

Uh oh, was it al for nothing are these dudes gonna kill him anyway? Oh, no! Good so they just cussed Archer out lmfao. Thus the saga begins! Abandon yo grudges and pride Archer my dude, vouch for T’Pol hell yeah! Alright! I hope these two become friends hell yeah hell yeah! Time to boldly go say hi and introduce yourself to all these new aliens! Heck yeah!!

God I’m sure there were plenty of annoying ass Trekkies who were like “iT’s nOt rEaL sTaR tReK” like, how?? Because the costumes look different and they’re exploring a new time period and themes?? 🙄🙄🙄 gimme a BREAK with that shit, honestly. So far it’s been pretty interesting! Every Star Trek is Star Trek!

#star trek enterprise #ichaya watches ent #liveblogging #ent liveblog #Star Trek #ent #enterprise

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vylette-takeda · 4 years

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Follow-up/(Soft) Inquiry on FCs

So I asked if there was a repository of FC info somewhere but hadn’t gotten much back. This is long but i wanted to lay it all out! Thank you for reading and/or sharing! I have been sort of keeping my eyes open for a while for a place to call home, but it is EXTREMELY important to me that the fit is the right one. I always feel terrible if a guild or FC is not right for me and I hate quitting anything.

I didn’t want to come out so publicly on this because in similar fashion I feel terrible saying no to people. There are many fantastic people and wonderful free companies out there, but they may just not be what I am hoping for. Maybe what I want doesn’t exist, I’m not sure, but fit is absolutely essential. Currently I am in a FC I own for various reasons but would leave it and put an alt in there in the event I found a place I belonged.

So what am I looking for?

I want a fc that does REGULAR rp.

I am hoping for scheduled events as well as some pick up here and there.

I want something preferably medium sized.

A FC that has adventure style plots running or will soon start.

The ability to get involved in other people’s plots as well as have people hopefully get involved with some of my own I would like to launch.

Being more familiar with DMed events, I would love a place that can help me learn a bit more about how non dmed events run here in FF land. I have yet to really break into this fully. I’m sure with some exposure I can be up and running and doing these for others!

A friendly welcoming environment (Yes all of them say this..I want it for real)

An officer core that is PRESENT and INVOLVED.

A fc that supports each other and helps achieve goals.

What am I NOT looking for

Sporadic RP

Time demands. I am fine with some RP event attendance requirement but only if it is not excessive.

Small fc that has few people or few are on regularly

All “slice of life” (I am fine with it and it’s fun but has limits. I want more than just this.)

CLIQUEY (This kills groups more often than not)

Absentee or uninvolved officers.

Bar, Tavern, Restaurant themed. (As a caveat all of these things are fine, I just have no desire to be a waitress, bartender etc in my RP. These are things I have had to do in real life as a job and I do not want to on my leisure time. I am fine if the FC has that or is involved in that so long as it is not the sole thing going on!)

Anything that is a front for a Yakuza clan, Mafia family, rogues guild or criminal empire. I do not want to partake in evil rp with Vylette.

A “morally grey mercenary company.” There seem to be a lot of these and again, that’s fine, but with Vylette she values doing what is right over what is profitable. It will be a constant source of clashes.

An ERP focused, lewd or constantly sexually charged atmosphere. I don’t mind erp, lewds or some adult talk but when it becomes a focal point for the fc it gets troublesome.

FC with “nudist” members. I hesitated mentioning this because I do not want to call anyone out. I get that we are all adults. That said at times I need to log in from my mom or brother’s place and I don’t want to be roleplaying, get up to snag a drink and get questions as to why naked people are hanging out in the bar or walking around. If you want to be naked or erp, please do it behind closed doors.

ALL dark themes. I like dark themes but not exclusively.

Last but by far not least, any FC that permits or supports racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, pedophilia or rape. I am sure there are other things I could put here but you get me.

What do I bring to the table?

I am better than a pointy stick to the face!

I am a pretty nice and friendly person.

I enjoy helping people and getting involved.

I am an omnicrafter who is generally willing to make whatever you want for free, just snag me the mats.

I am an experienced DM willing in time to hopefully run adventures for folks or help with others plots.

Did I mention I am better than a pointy stick to the face?

I am an entertainer/performer willing to do this for FC events where possible.

I have a very particular set of skills, skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that will not make me money or generally be useful in the real world, but i am told I am funny and entertaining.

Please drop me a message if you think you know of a place I could potentially call home for Vy. I’d love to hear from you and see if the fit is a good one.

if you read this or shared it, thanks!

#ooc #fc search

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hestiaandhercat · 4 years

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Second installment in the Kat watches all of Doctor Who in the most fucked up order anyone could come up with series. Order courtesy of @spaceymcspaceship 6) Vampires of Venice This is the one where it happens! (I was talking about the cake, but a lot of other things happen as well.) Eleven truly is a party crasher supreme and I wouldn’t have it any other way On a less fun note, why do so many PoC die in this and why is there no real moment of grief for either of them? Also that zoom at the end is absolutely murdering me in cold blood, so add that to your kill count @ moffat. The silence sequence is very cleverly edited though, I enjoyed that.

In general, this era is just so fun! This was when we were all still like “Ohhhhhh what could this possibly be building up to? I bet it’s really cool and not at all overly dramatic”. Good times. 7) The Shakespeare Code A well-needed break from Moffat, but also right back in there with the fucking racism. The old intro? Very good. The racism? Not a fan, lads. We as a society don’t talk about David Tennant’s eyebrows enough. We should do more of that. “And there was only one bed” (gasp) I hate what they do to Martha so much. The only one who got a worse treatment is Donna. And Bill, maybe, but that’s questionable. I just love seeing Tennant in any kind of theatre environment. He just feels so naturally at home there, I don’t know. It gets me. I like the concept of the carrion knights a whole lot. Not sure if it really works in the world of DW, and definitely not sure the execution in this episode worked, but I’d like to see more of them. They could work in a less pretentious version of Sabrina, maybe. The HP references are off the charts, what even. I had completely blocked out that that was a thing. The Elizabeth things at the end would have been more fun if we’d watched the Zygon/Crossover ep before this, but I guess that one is really tricky to force into this chronological order because they jump around so much. As much as I talk shit about this episode, seeing David Tennant has brought me back to full health, I’d just like to also see less racism idk is that too much to ask. 8) The Witchfinders Aka Chibs your bondage kink is beginning to really show keep it contained. Finally some fucken Jodie. Granted, I rewatched all of her episodes last month in the span of not even two weeks and it was great but whatever, I can go for this again. That Elizabeth name-drop is much more fun this way. 13: Don’t interfere 13, five minutes later: Today, I shall commit interference crimes I love Jodie Whittaker a lot, I don’t know if I’ve mentioned Horses are actual creatures of Satan, Becca ain’t wrong (I still love horses, but yea. They are. No shame in admitting that if you ask me.) Here he is! The bastard enters the scene and commits crimes of gayness and murder. Witchcraaaaaaaaaft Doctor Who villains every time they shed their human form: So, I’ve grown emotionally attached to the hair and will keep it for therapeutic reasons I then rewatched 1963 for #dwlockdown and I cried a lot because. You know. Everyone is so brilliant in it and it makes me feel a lot. Also, people that forget stuff are just a theme that resonated with me deeply. I literally had to pause Finding Dory after the first five minutes because I was crying so much I couldn’t see the screen anymore. This is a children’s movie, how dare they put something like that in there. Recently my sister asked me if I wanted to watch Dory with her and I literally had to make up a whole ass conference call to get out of that because I wasn’t ready to get emotionally attacked by Ellen DeGeneres again. It’s not even a good movie ffs. Anyway. I digress.

#doctor who #dw #dw spoilers #vampires of venice #the shakespeare code #the witchfinders #the woman who lived #curse of the black spot

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mihrsuri · 5 years

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Okay tumblr won’t let me format the ask properly so I’m reposting it. So a prompt from @allegoriesinmediasres : Ot3verse multimedia: bad “hot takes” about this timeline’s Tudor era, the OT3/Queen Mihrimah/Other nobles/etc. and people taking them apart.

CN: Biphobia, Homophobia, Anti-Semitism, Racism. Also the awesome responses are inspired by my friends @star-anise and @findingfeather

If I see one more person say that my TEXTUALLY BISEXUAL aren’t bisexual I am actually going to explode into a gay super villain who drops themed glitter on my enemies.

#they are BISEXUAL even if they didn’t have the word bisexual #ffs #like h8 being like ‘i love my wife and i love my husbands’ and the duke being like ‘i love the king and the queen’ and the queen being like ‘i love my husbands and also here is some evidence of romantic feelings for ladies as well’ #they are all like I LOVE BOTH OF THEM

(tudortrio)

Just because you want to make everything about you doesn’t mean it is. They were gay, like shut up karen just because you want to make everything comp het and bullshit it doesn’t mean it was. They were each others beards like, get over yourself and stop thinking you are entitled to representation from real people.

#i fucking hate the way people want to be special

(onlyoneandonly)

Okay firstly I’ve tagged this because there are so many biphobic slurs in this comment that I do not want people to have to deal with and secondly I’m a lesbian. Get In The Sea. Thirdly can I just say that the fact that the poster above is a pretty serious anti-semite on top of everything else is Super Fucking Great. I haven’t got the spoons right now to deal with this so I’m passing this on - @ani-sadia and @snowyswansofcastallen if you are up to it?

#disk course #one day since our last bullshit #tw: biphobic #tudortriadthings

(tudortrio)

I want to ask the people who are So Invested In Making These Three Into Something They Explicitly Did Not Want To Be Cast As how you’d feel if future historians did that to you - if they insisted that the people you explicitly said you love, you cherish, you desire and you have built a life with didn’t exist, that you Were Clearly Something Else despite the evidence. Because that’s what you are doing here.

None of these three were straight (read Queen Anne’s poetry and letters to Princess Renee and you can’t not see a baby wlw with A Giant Crush) but they were bisexual and yes, that is true even if they did not have the word bisexual.

The love letters. The extremely explicit about all three of them and their love love letters (like Henry talking about ‘how I have missed the three of us in our bed in my absence for I long to kiss your pretty dukkeys and to see our Duke pleasuring you as I am inside him’ is Pretty Damn Clear.

The Rings. The clear description of the marriage ceremony they undertook and Henry & Anne’s ‘We would crown you before the world, my love’ to Cromwell.

The ‘Shared A Bed Every Night’

The fact that Henry said ‘I have loved both men and women but truly, my heart and soul belongs only to you both my dark haired loves’

I would just like to hear why it’s so so terrible that these three were actually bisexual. They are not straight still.

(ani-sadia)

I hate the fact that we have to listen to this “duchess” talk about her supposedly special heritage like can’t you let us traditionalists have something when the royal family is diminished enough and then this bitch comes along and now we’ve got another one.

#i hate her #anti-catherine #yeah whatever we get it ur a jew and u are brown #fuck off #why can’t we just have something for once #i wish arthur tudor hadn’t died and then england could have been an empire #why can’t i be proud of being white anymore

(ladyofangland)

Oh. Oh. Royal fandom it’s been zero days since our last Fucked Up Nonsense. Usually I don’t respond to things like this because I Am Tired but I have so many anons in my inbox talking in this tone and I just…I AM DONE. It was the best thing that Thomas I and Mihrimah happened because it has made our world which is kind and fucks like the one above are genuinely a minority. They are still there and it’s still painful (as a non white person I just…it’s painful. I hate how they talk about how England Should Have Been An Empire And Also Why Did We Have To Not Do Imperialism It’s The Jews Fault is still a discourse) but yes, Catherine is allowed to talk about being biracial, about being jewish about being not straight.

I’m so glad she’s thriving and you are here, being A Fucking Sad Nonsense. Also Arthur Tudor is going to haunt your ass for the way you are speaking about his relatives just fyi.

(fixeachotherscrowns)

I don’t see what she said that was wrong - Catherine is really pushy about everything, like okay be whatever but you don’t have to go on about it all the time and make people feel bad about who they are. I’ve noticed Meghan does that too - they are both just really annoying and loud.

(delicatedarling)

Fuck Off. And Then Fuck Off Some More.

(duchessesofawesome)

#lil and her ridiculous aus #ot3: political power trio #fic #i should say in this universe the duchess of cambridge is a biracial bisexual jewish woman #also that yep england never did the imperialism/colonising thing because of it's biracial muslim queen and her husband who was raised #by his bisexual ot3 parents #self indulgent wish fullfillment by lil #jewish biracial fairy princess me

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mentalcurls · 5 years

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10. Perché mi hai fatto una cosa del genere?

My thoughts on this episode were all over the place, I can’t even find main themes to put in this little intro, so, fuck it! Get ready for me getting angry at least a couple of times because of men, as I’m wont to do, and have a look at the results of the Bechdel test for the episode at the end!

in the previous episode, I forgot to call attention to Eva taking charge of the situation when Alice goes after Laura: that’s the boss!Eva from Silvia’s party in S2, the same person we haven’t seen in a month, since the day Edoardo showed up at her house early for his date with Silvia; and here we see a version of her again, she’s a girl with a purpose and since Marti doesn’t answer her she’s gonna hunt him down

but why is Marti online?

ok so the day Marti’s dad leaves him and his mom is May 24th or 25th; the first night of proper, restful sleep we’re sure Marti gets is November 1st; five months and change of insomnia, caring for his depressed mom and bottling things up in general 💔

Gio is in red! again!

the stilted conversation between Eva and Gio, the pauses, it hurts to watch

especially because on top of the general awkwardness of being not-quite-exes and not on the best of terms (it’s quite possible this is the first time they’ve talked since ep. 8); the fact that we know Eva knows makes things even more painful to watch

and God, but Gio is honestly so caring: even here, while they’re in this weird limbo between being people with a friend in common, mostly-exes and fighting, he still asks Eva how she’s feeling, how things are with her and empathizes with her

and after Eva asks Gio to say hi to Marti for her, there’s a minute where she’s mulling, she’s about to say something and I’m dead with wanting to know what: is it something about them? Is it a “I’m working on what you told me, you were right”? Is it about Marti interfering with them and Alice? Or, even more painful, does she want to say something, but can’t find anything to say to Gio???

the most painful goodbye, aborted tries for a hug, then an embarrassed kiss on the cheek and Gio turning his back on Eva to go to Marti

oh, God. Gio turns his back on Eva to go to Marti.

did the school only let them use one bathroom for shooting?? or was it LudoBesse’s favorite, the only one that had the Light™? This is not only the same bathroom where Eva dragged Laura last episode, but the one in which Marti and Nico will have their secret rendezvous in 5.4 Pausa and where Marti will tell i Contrabbandieri about Milan in 9.3 Namacissi

oh, good, Silvia is on speaking terms with Eva again!

and Eva cried because of Silvia’s words, for fuck’s sake, but here she tells her they were not a big deal and I’m half thankful because look at how bad poor Silvia feels, you see it in her face; but I’m also half mad cause that wasn’t okay

and here we go! Silvia dropping the mask and admitting that for as much as she tries to live her fantasy of being well liked and dating Edo like Valentina in RPDR All Stars, she can’t delude herself enough to actually believe it: her insecurity runs so deep it makes my chest hurt

“It always ends with everyone hating me. I’m used to it.” WHO TOLD HER THEY HATED HER AND SHE WAS GOING TO BE HATED Francesca Mirabella, I’m looking at you, it might not have been you but you probably had something to do with it, she’s your sister ffs, why don’t you try to help her and lift her up??

Eva tries, she tries hard, but there’s only so much she can do, in part because she doesn’t know how, in part because it’s pretty late, in part because Silvia is spiraling and she won’t listen to her anyways

and Eva and Gio are alone again, good job universe: keep shoving them together and they’ll have to start talking again, now that things have died down and they’re calmer

Gio is in Middle earth: reddish-brown t-shirt, blue shirt on top, not quite of red zone but slowly going back to a more normal blue

Eva really really doesn’t want to fail: I wish we’d seen a glimpse of her family again, if she’s apologized to her mom and has explained and not failing any subjects is a way to prove her good will; if it is a way to apologize, to make up for the near-suspension and try and break down the barrier between them so she can talk and explain and maybe even ask for advice

safe subjects, common ground between Gio and Eva: the exam, Marti, their next class (still interspersed with those awkward silences)

things can’t keep going like that, they’ve been walking on eggshells around one another, they’re bound to break one at some point

except they don’t get to because Canegallo does it for them

and again, allow me to repeat how much of an asshole I think he is: he was walking by them, sure, but he simply had to keep his mouth shut and ignore them for things not to go south, instead he purposefully stirs shit; had it been Gio by himself would he have said anything? I don’t think so, he’s just trying to show Eva he’s over her, but catch her attention at the same time and pay her back for the story getting out by putting her in a difficult position with Gio; and he literally does it just for shits and giggles, since he surely never gave enough fucks about Alice to be upset now that she’s broken up with him, so even “revenge” is just a facade for the desire to cause drama

Gio is channeling his inner Elia and Eva is immediately on high alert, even before he shoves Federico

and everything was going decently, if not well, then motherfucking Canegallo had to open his whore mouth and also throw Gio on the floor and look, look at the look Giovanni gives Eva when she tries to calm him down, just before walking away from her: that look is saying it again “How could you kiss him? How can you like him and people like him and go out with them and kiss any of them?” (hard same tbh, Eva, how?)

so things went to shit again

oh look, it’s Alice, again… it’s like Eva’s a flame and they’re all like moths, jeez

at least Alice has finally broken things off with Canegallo for real and I’d like to thank not only God but also Jesus

and she’s proudly announcing she’s the one who dumped his sorry ass and that’s the best part for me, such a far call from last episode’s “I can’t dump him”

I have so many problems with the “alcoholic feminist night” for single girls who are angry with men Alice’s planning and with Eva’s interpretation of it as a lesbian thing and with them agreeing that homosexuality might prove to be a solution like OH. MY. GOD

so few words, so many wrong messages. These girls, honestly. Eleonora, magically appear and slap some sense into them please

aaaaaand the actual “girls only” night begins with a shot where there are five guys or so…so much for coherence

at least the girls seem to be having fun

Eleonora’s “Okay” is soooo unconvincing, I mean, yeah, you’re outvoted,ok, but at least take the defeat with some attempt at grace; especially given that when they’re recording the video she abandons all pretenses of still holding a grudge and smiles, jokes and happily invites Silvia with all the others

so, not only there are those boys from the first shot at the party, but also Marti Elia and Peccio are there. Again: wasn’t this GIRLS ONLY PARTY?

unless they’re following the girls to find out where they’re meeting, watching from afar like lurkers and waiting for their chance to slip in when the girls get drunker. Wouldn’t put it past them

some casual, subtle racism from Marti and Elia

ok so Peccio’s actual surname is Pecci, we’re one step closer to figuring out his name, and then he’ll officially have one before Mrs Rametta who’s 1543 times more important in the economy of the series LUDOBESSE GIVE MARTI’S MOM A NAME YOU COWARD

Marti’s boob comment. I just. Honey, why? Why make it somewhat sexual, why make Eva’s happiness about her appearance, specifically to an element of her appearance that is heavily objectified and sexualized by men and at the same time imply that it is frivolous to care about one’s appearance? (I have strong feelings about breasts and men’s/society’s attention to them)

so Marti’s reaction is: incredulous half-smile, uncomfortable wiggle, face going sad/disappointed purportedly because Gio didn’t tell him, fake ass happy comments

“I was happy to do it, I care about you two” yeah, Marti, how about we go once more and you at least try to put some feeling and conviction in it?

and in the most powerful power move Eva just laid down all her cards at once, then grabbed the table and fucking flipped it YAAASSS QUEEN

“Cause, you know, my relationship starts going to shit from that moment” EHM. Eva. Are you only lying to Martino to make him feel guiltier or are you lying to yourself as well?

MARTINOH GUARDAMI MARTINOH (I’ve been waiting ten episodes for this blessed moment of poetic cinema)

“C’mon Eva, you know fully well that I like you” and let me turn my question to you, Marti babe: are you only lying to get a believable alibi or are you lying to yourself as well?

and really, I want to know what’s in Marti’s head right now! He obviously had this excuse prepared so he either really thinks he really likes Eva and is completely unaware of his crush on Gio still, or he spent a long time trying to come up with a believable lie after he impulsively told Alice everything (I refuse to think he actually honestly premeditated it); or is he trying to convince himself he did it for Eva because he’s somewhat aware of his feeling for Gio but vehemently doesn’t want to accept them? As I type, I realize the third option is the most likely. Well, that throws me a bit, I’d always thought by this point Marti knew, I mean, the cabin

so that reframes the whole summer. It was the summer of acceptance for Marti. He makes peace with being gay, since he’s not fighting it still when he meets Nico, he accepts he likes Gio but nothing will ever come out of it, since in 1.2 Svegli he’s aware of his feelings, he accepts his dad won’t be coming back and he’s gonna have to care for his mom. What a summer.

and of course he did hurt when Eva came to him about Gio, of course he did, poor baby

Marti himself brings up the cabin, but really, even trying, in that conversation I can’t hear a lick of interest for Eva, and she probably didn’t either; how deeply in denial are you Marti?

Eva’s incredulity is heartbreaking, all her rage just goes right out of her

oooh, I hope I’m right about Marti not knowing his own feelings yet. Cause if Marti knows he’s into Gio and thinks of telling Eva he’s into here only as an excuse, it makes me so fucking angry? I just realized how fucking manipulative a move it is, not only because he tries to play into her feeling, but also just because it’s just such a sheerly ballsy move, one that yanks off the earth right under Eva’s feet and it is designed specifically so she’s gonna be shocked into letting go of her rightful anger and that’s such a fucking asshole move, I can’t even. Fuck.

so yeah, better convince myself Marti really believe he was into Eva at that point, even if it tilts my whole worldview for this show sideways

but Eva is so powerful walking away like that, despite the shock, despite asking for help to get down from the van, she radiates badassery and anger. And I thank God for that. If she’d been meek because she’s confused, if she hadn’t demanded to be helped like that it would have been so dismissive of her I would have probably cried actual tears

that poor girl, the friend-of-Alice’s whose party this was supposed to be. She doesn’t know these girls at all and now one of their friends got there blackout drunk and collapsed and her birthday celebration risks being shut down because they need to get medical help and that’s gonna bring a lot of questions about underage drinking, plus she’s worried, just out of basic decency and empathy, I mean, she might have alcohol poisoning or go into ethylic coma or die

and so we get to the parallel to catwalk in ep. 4 when the girls were going to Edoardo’s/Chicco Rodi’s (never quite figured that one out, I guess we’ll see next season)

but really, is that the best way to carry Silvia they could think of? Sana only holding her hand, while Eva (second shortest) carries the heaviest part of Silvia’s body her middle, by herself?

thank God for the Eleonora Savas and the Sana Allaguis of the world, ready to take charge of bad situations they’re in, to call for help even if others won’t admit to needing it and to get their hands dirty; honestly, boos to the Federicas of the world cause who cares about being grounded when there’s someone who’s fucking unconscious?

poor Sana, being looked at like she’s an alien just because she actually has hair like any normal human being (jk, it actually is a super sweet moment of girls bonding and supporting and lifting each other up)

yes to cuddly puppy piles in beds

aaaaand there goes the cliffhanger

I’d be super curious to know if for people who’d never seen any Skam before, Silvia being pregnant was actually believable? There was the unprotected sex, the mood swings, the puking... I felt it was pretty believable in Skam og when I watched it, but of course I having seen the og I’ve been spoiled how this ends, so I can’t gauge how convincing Skam Italia was (I feel like it wasn’t as convincing tbh but it might just be me knowing the truth, so) 🤷‍♀️

Bechdel test: this episode passes the test, because of the conversation around Silvia at Alice’s party. I think this might actually be the only conversation that happens fully on screen and is entirely devoid of any mention of any male character. In the conversation that have made other episodes pass the Bechdel test, there’s usually either some subtext, or a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it mention, or it’s a conversation that happens while we fade into a scene so we only hear the very last part of it, or the conversation veers into boy territory after a few lines. This is a welcome change.

This post is part of my complete series of meta about Skam Italia season 1. If you’d like to read more of my thoughts about the other episodes, you can find the mastepost linked in the top bar on my blog under SKAMIT: EVA. Cheers!

#skam italia #eva brighi #skamit s1 #1x10 perchè mi hai fatto una cosa del genere #martino rametta #giovanni garau #eleonora sava #silvia mirabella #sana allagui #federica cacciotti #federico canegallo #alice (skam italia)#skamit #a. writes

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ninjagoat · 5 years

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Note on Supergirl 4x02

This week, on the Metaphor For Xenophobia And Racism For White People:

- We return to the themes of episode 3x05, specifically how unfair it is when very, very powerful people have to face consequences for their actions.

- Seriously, it is so TOTALLY unfair how Olivia Marsdin has to resign just because she *checks notes* committed a massive criminal conspiracy to illegally win a presidential election.

- ON TOP OF THIS, it's also a mindshatteringly bad take on the Obama birther conspiracy. The birther story was not racist because it was "unfair" that people from Kenya couldn't be President. The birther story was racist because it assumed that President Obama's election HAD to be the result of a massive criminal conspiracy and not a genuine win MERELY BECAUSE HE WAS BLACK.

- Kara thinks Olivia can say something to get out of this; becasue Kara, being a seasoned journalist that now mentors other journalists, has no idea how laws work. Olivia schools her, which is noble; but it's still skating around the fact that she INTENTIONALLY BROKE THE LAW.

- All of that being said, I've always liked Ms. Carter's performance as Olivia. She's folksy, but tough. If she'd been an alien that had been born on Earth, I'd be fighting for her to stay as well.

- "Ugly is as ugly does; that makes you the ugly one!" This protest scene was written by fucking MILHOUSE.

- And then a fight break out. Because as we all know, security and crowd control are pretty lax on *checks notes* PENNYSYLVANIA AVENUE.

- The DEO interview process is clearly lacking something, because Agent White Dude has some serious prejudices that aren't suitable for the job; and the dude he's arguing with has Kara's level of understanding of the Constitution. Where's Pam when you need her?

- James - having spent the last two years publishing his onw love-letters to a local superhero, who is also himself - suddenly has a big stick up his arse about objectivity in news reporting.

- I maintain that the guy playing Otis is doing Ned Beatty but *serious*, and for that, he has my gratitude.

- I'm sorry? The DEO poisoned the atmosphere with lead? THE DEO? Not Lena Luthor, executing a plan from Lillian Luthor, using an original design by Lex Luthor; in the full knowledge it would likely murder her very recently betrothed and probably really upset her best friend? THAT'S WHAT WE'RE GOING WITH? (I realise this is just exposition, but it's pretty bad) At least Otis recognises the inherent viciousness of the plan, becuase no-one else has ever mentioned it.

- I would like to note that this is probably the most credit Winn has ever gotten from someone from his own time.

- Apparently, you can just... *buy* black-market Kryptonite? Arguably, the most powerful substances on Earth? The one that's so rare the show tied itself in knots justifying Lena's personally developed synthesis cache of it? ...kay.

- Lena's been working through meal-times. This is usually your five epsiode warning to evacuate the city.

- "Sales for the image inducers have been skyrocketing since the revelation that the President is an alien." This does not actually explain anything, because: a) it's not like Lena builds them herself; that'll be outsourced to China, at a location with safety netting around the roof to stop the workers killing themselves; and b) IT WAS YESTERDAY. WE KNOW WHAT YOU WERE DOING YESTERDAY. IT WAS THE PREVIOUS EPISODE.

- I get the sense that I'm going to spend time this season complaining about time-scales.

- At least they're keeping Lena's libetarianism consistent. Let's credit them with that. And of course, she's not immediately concerned with the potential collapse of democracy because MONEY.

- I will never cease to be confounded about the complete lack of coffee in the Catco building. I work for a relatively small company, and we have a Starbucks in our canteen.

- Weirder still is how increasingly hard it is to find. We've gone from Noonan's, to a little cart, and now to a *pizza place*. How hard is to find an *actual* coffee place?

- And now it's another Lena Sob Story; because this episode isn't just about the ideological battle between hope and fear, it's also a Lena vs. The World story - not so much an actual story, as a plot mechanism that will result in Lena stating where her character's at right now. It's completely incongruent with the rest of the episode, but never mind.

- Anyway, Mercy was like a big sister to her, but then Mercy and Lex broke up, and Lena never called her. Lena blames Lex for the break-up, but Mercy for the abandonment. So far, typical Lena. Oh, and they agree on some really fucked-up shit.

- "Why can't humans be as powerful as aliens?" Lena is, I'm guessing from this, planning to make metahumans on purpose. I'm certain Lena has read Mary Shelly; but, like many nerds, has completely missed the point.

- Why is Brainy on the L-Corp image inducer network? He built it himself, and did it two episodes before Lena even met him. Did he give her the design? Why is it networked anyway? Why is the hack affecting Brainy first? What is this plan?

- It doesn't fucking matter; this whole thing is so Brainy can be victim to a hate crime as part of the Metaphor For Xenophobia And Racism For White People, and then Nia can step in to help Solve Racism.

- I'm not going to claim to be an expert on women, but I'm pretty sure encouraging total strangers to investigate their personal information is... rare.

- "I'm putting a lockdown on the cloud so no-one can access the system through a computer." This is not how cloud computing works.

- It's at this point we stop the narrative so Nia can explain to one of the most powerful and influential black men that's ever lived that he does, in fact, have a lot of power and influence to make social change. She's Solving Racism!

- "You have another chance to fight for justice now," she says. Back when I was posting on the AV Club forums during season 2, the fact that James DIDN'T KNOW HE COULD DO THIS IN HIS JOB was one of the reasons we were so fucking tired of him already. He's not improved since then.

- We are back on the 'mirror' analogy that first appeared in 3x15, and it's actually quite good. I am, however, reminded of the image of Lena looking at herself in fractured glass at the start of 3x17. Lena's image of who she is has been broken, and cannot simply be repaired.

- I digress. James is worried if he does an editorial, he will seem biased. *sigh* Okay, this is gonna get ranty. Deep breaths, everyone...

- YOU ARE JIMMY OLSEN, SUPERMAN'S PAL. AN ALIEN SAVED YOUR LIFE. AN ALIEN MADE YOUR ENTIRE CAREER. AN ALIEN GAVE YOU A SIGNAL WATCH SO HE COULD SAVE YOUR LIFE SEVERAL MORE TIMES. YOU BECAME SUCH GOOD FRIENDS WITH AN ALIEN YOUR GIRLFRIEND JOKED HE WAS YOUR BOYFRIEND. YOU DEVOTED SO MUCH TIME TO ALIENS YOUR GIRLFRIEND BROKE UP WITH YOU. *TWICE*. MANY OF YOUR CURRENT FRIENDS ARE ALIENS. YOUR BEST HUMAN FRIEND - who is 'currently' busy cleaning up the mess made by one of your alien friends, helping another one of your alien friends - BRIEFLY FELL IN LOVE WITH AN ALIEN, WHO YOU HUNG OUT WITH. YOU GO TO AN ALIEN BAR SO MUCH YOU'VE FUCKING GENTRIFIED IT. THE SHIP HAS SAILED ON YOU BEING PRO-ALIEN, JIMMY. STOP BEING A MASSIVE WANKER.

- Apparently, the only way to access the Image Inducer network is through the L-Corp mainframe, which is: a) definitely not how cloud-computing works; and b) contradicted by the fact the image inducers are STILL WORKING.

- Mercy designed all of L-Corp's security. Even though they only moved to National City two years ago. Right.

- "This is more innovative and imaginative than even I expected." IT'S AN OFFICE BUILDING WITH BUILT-IN SKYPE. Real imagination would have been REPLACING THE FUCKING SECURITY SYSTEM.

- Why does EVERYTHING have to turn into the Glorification of Lena Luthor?

- Miss Teschmacher getting the doors to close through quick thinking has easily made her the most likeable character on the whole damn show.

- "Reporter's Honour." Okay, Kara; firstly, it's called 'off the record', and the fact that Lena doesn't really feel worried about getting that status from you is pretty much why being such close friends with her is *completely unprofessional*.

- Lena built the Lexosuit. Huh.

- ...

- What?

- She built a suit... described as an "exquisite intrument of death"... with the potential for fighting Superman... as a hobby project? Is that what happened? Or are we just going to gloss over it, like- oh, okay, we are doing that.

- "It's about doing good for the world and clearing the Luthor name." You can't clear the Luthor name, sweetie. They actually did those things. And as far as doing good for the world: that's not a plan; that a GOAL. You really need to give details. Maybe a real journalist can ask you sometime.

- "He told me they were cute and I should make them in pink." One line of dialogue, and the potentially interesting Lena/Lex dynamic has been reduced to the most boring thing imaginable. FFS.

- "I know I'm the best." Oligarch, *please*. I guess it helps that Winn's in another century.

- "You've chosen a side. I'd never do that." WHAT THE FUCK DOES THAT EVEN MEAN? Please, someone explain.

- No one tell Mercy about that time Lena purposefully overdosed her oldest friend with Kryptonite.

- "The Luthor name doesn't deserve Lena." Why the fuck not, Supergirl? Kryptonite, Lexosuit, thinks you're full of shit; what exactly is the big thing here that separates her from them?

- Also, have you just... *forgotten* about the Kryptonite thing, or...?

- The sheer petty-minded simplicity of the wood-chips in the cup is lending weight to my 'written by Milhouse' theory.

- Huzzah! James has decided to stop being a massive wanker for a bit!

- "It is our duty as journalists to expose the truth." For long-time readers of these posts, THIS SHOW IS TROLLING ME.

- Brainy and Alex get a nice scene as part of the Metaphor For Xenophobia And Racism For White People, but I'm just left wishing we could have had more scenes like this between her and Winn. Where was *nice* Big Sister Alex when he was here?

- Supergirl's speech is lovingly earnest, and *totally unengaged* with any actual issue beyond being nice to each other, and certainly not the one where Olivia INTENTIONALLY BROKE THE LAW. This was a total failure of our institutions, not least of which, THE PRESS, for not vetting her thoroughly enough. The potential for whataboutery is high.

- Okay, for some reason, I thought they'd cast Brent Spiner in this role, not Bruce Boxleitner. Anyway, this casting is a nice bit of nerd symmetry; and makes it almost certain that President Baker is going to be revealed as a wrong'un.

- I've not talked about J'onn much, mainly because he's spent most of the episode walking around aimlessly before he can show up at the Sons of Liberty meeting.

- Agent Liberty has been described in press releases as being almost supernaturally persuasive. The actual execution of this idea is... he's actually engaged with the issue. That's it. The government *was* taken over by aliens. National City *was* attacked by aliens. The press - and I know I did a big rant in favour of this above - *is* pro-alien; and these people know it, regardless of how unbiased James was hoping to appear. It's messy, and Supergirl talking about hope is not going to cut it. It's not going to get these people jobs. It's not going to stop their nightmares. I've seen people compare how he speaks with Trump. This - this scene, at least - is not Trump. Trump isn't engaged with the issues. Trump is the end result of forty years of this shit, long after the tribal boundaries have been set in place. It's never even really mattered what Trump says. They like Trump, because Trump is *their* guy. The definitions of 'Us' and 'Them' have been around since at least the 90s, if not earlier; and Trump just made himself more 'Us' than anyone else did. And Agent Liberty is not doing that. There's an attempt, but the mask keeps him separate from his audience. Mostly, he's just recirculating the fears that they already have - that they have a *right* to have - and then pushing them towards his terrible conclusions. This isn't magic. This is basic oratory. This is the big challenge our heroes face.

- Our heroes are *so screwed*.

#notes #superglue

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aerithsaves · 7 years

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New ship Tag: Aeris and Cloud Take to the Skies

Why a new tag? As suggested, a new tag for positive posts about the two characters might help with the current resurgence of LTD discussions, people telling other people to get over the LTD/that they don’t care about the LTD/can’t we all just get along, and other assorted strife the pairing frequently gets saddled with. So, here is my suggestion (and I will try and post some stuff to get it started).

Why this tag name? A lot of posts, tags, blog titles and so on fixate on the relationship or the character’s roles within FFVII and associated media which feels quite limiting. Instead of that, I would like the focus to be more on alternate universe ideas (because canon) and new adventures/outcomes/opportunities. Specifically I’m also trying to invoke Aeris’s interest in the Highwind and Cloud’s willingness to help her fly in it – something they never did, but could have if things had turned out differently.

So. New tag. I can’t really dictate rules or anything but please:

Yes

Aeris/Cloud as a couple (focus on the pairing)

Reasonably obvious, but please try and feature them both equally or focus on them together for the most part. Please try to avoid Tifa’s death being part of the setup (yes I am guilty of this, but not doing that kind of thing anymore)

Aeris/Cloud casual hook-up

It can just be sex, not love. Sex-friends, one-night stands, past lovers who meet up again, etc are all fine.

Aeris & Cloud as friends (if this does involve another ship, then focus should be on their interactions more so than the ship)

Platonic shipping is important. I can’t remember who said it, but why not ship two characters in every sense – not just romantically. This includes work colleagues if that makes a difference to you

Aeris/Cloud as part of a polyamorous configuration (though focus should be on the two of them or equal across participants)

With Tifa, with Zack, with Zack, Tifa & Sephiroth, with whoever!

Aeris/Cloud as a couple after past relationships (the two of them moving on together)

The past relationships is likely to be Zerith all things considered (please do not bash that ship), but in AU anything is possible. Please do not use this as an excuse to attack Cloti.

Aeris /Cloud as a couple prior to other relationships (the focus has to be on the two of them again though)

The pairing breaking up/Cloud moving on with Tifa or someone else is fine, but please don’t use this as an excuse for spite and attack the Aeris/Cloud pairing or whatever the subsequent one is. Also please demonstrate why the relationship was good before it fell apart. No doomed relationships from the start please.

FFVII (1997)

Naturally. The best resource for Aeris’s character and her interactions with Cloud. Plenty to draw on; meeting after the first mission, falling into the church (more so If you ignore Crisis Core), the bodyguard deal, staying the night, Aeris walking Cloud home, Wall Market as a whole, rescuing Aeris from Shinra, party make-up as they start travelling (if you select her), talking about the Highwind, talking at Costa del Sol, Gongaga (if she’s in your party), Aeris learning about the Cetra at Cosmo Canyon, stealing the Tiny Bronco (if she’s in your party), Gold Saucer date (if the outcome), party make-up for the Temple of the Ancients, Cloud’s dream, Aeris’s final smile.

FF Tactics

The flower girl might have no name, but the reference is clear. Life in Ivalice: go!

Kingdom Hearts

I haven’t been keeping track that well, but I get the impression Cloud wasn’t actually looking for Aeris this whole time (as clarified by Final Mix). Feel free to disregard this (AUs!). Subject to future change obviously, but KH and KH2 offer a few, small interactions for now.

Advent Children

Fine if Aeris is alive via some mechanism (AU, resurrection, whatever).

Future Releases

Eg. FFVII Remake. The only requirement for shipping is both characters are alive and well in the same time period and actually meet (crack-shipping does mean you can skip both these requirements, but in general they are helpful). So even if the Remake or some other spin-off canonises or appears to canonise a pairing, this is no reason to ship or not ship something or to no longer enjoy the pairing. Take the positives. You can ship a character with more than one other character even if the relationships are mutually exclusive!

Proof of canon/Proof of ship superiority

It does not matter. You like what you ship. They like what they ship. You are incredibly unlikely to change their minds no matter what the argument/evidence and vice versa. Original authorial intentions, accidental canon, retcons, change of writers; doesn’t matter! Stick to the ship and your interest in it. Canon is completely optional.

Digs at other ships involving one or both characters

As above. Please don’t trash a linked ship for any reason, and don’t accuse them of abuse or anything similar

No self-sacrifice, no suicide, no love beyond death – keep them both alive for the relationship

Given Aeris’s plotline (near certain to remain the same in the Remake) it’s preferable to not have Cloud perpetually mourning/unable to cope (or if Aeris is doing this if an inversion setup is your thing). Positive remember? Cloud can be deeply into Aeris and then move on after as above, and again AUs allow you to ignore the tragedy.

Ultimania/interview quotes/latest translation controversy (whatever it happens to be when you read this)

Even if the authorship of the books were certain (that detail is very iffy), post-canon releases/explanations tend to shut down avenues of speculation rather than leaving them open/giving more scope for exploration. Plus there’s at least one language barrier and scope to slant a translation any way you want. Also half the time the ‘canon’ of these books is less statement of fact and more leading speculation/unused ideas from development. So none of that please.

Also the notion of pre-planning everything is very much in vogue and people like to think writers always do this, so naturally there is a tendency to imply or assume pre-planning from writers. What they say afterwards does not have to affect anything. Also language barrier again. Translators also have biases – both admitted and unconscious – and good translations are more art than science. A translation into any other language does not have more weight than the original or any other translation.

No Tifa bashing of any kind

Tifa is not an obstacle to be overcome or removed. She is a character in her own right, and if Aeris and Cloud are paired together this should provide opportunities for development for her that does not involve Cloud as much (or it can totally. Cloud and Tifa can be amazing friends.

Please don’t just pair Tifa up with someone else to neaten things up (and if you decide to put her with Barret you should also feel obligated to develop that ship) or just leave her on her own because you don’t like her). Aeris was/is Tifa’s friend. If Cloud hates Tifa/Tifa hates Cloud or Aeris then you are doing this wrong.

Parallels to other FFs/media

Running themes in FFs tend to extend to Cid, Chocobos, Moogles, spell/summon names and crystals. There are occasionally other character/similar place names used more than once. But. Childhood friends to lovers is not a huge focus of the series (the majority of main couples do not express this trope). Neither is love after death.

But even if these were recurring and important motifs the piggy-backing of one pairing on a different game’s pairing is somewhat frustrating and should be avoided (plus: Rinoa/Squall is more of a mix of Aeris/Cloud and Tifa/Cloud than either of them in isolation. I have reasons). In addition, something from a different fandom who seem to share parallels with the ship has little bearing on the ship itself (but could be inspiration for an AU)

Racism, sexism, bigotry of any kind

Just no.

Cheating

To clarify on the Aeris/Cloud after another relationship or before another relationship or the casual hook-ups – please do not have one or other cheat on their partner with another character (whoever this would turn out to be). Nor should this ever be the reason for the relationship breaking down, and no undiscovered adultery either please.

So if you want to be positive about the pairing – and are able to do so in a manner that does not involve taking pot-shots at more popular pairings (as much as this may be painful to admit if you’re into this pairing, we are in a minority and this might not change) – please use this tag.

#aeris and cloud take to the skies #aerith gainsborough #cloud strife #final fantasy vii #ffvii

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zaggitz · 4 years

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My Games of the Year 2019

2019! Pretty dang good year personally, pretty dang garbage globally. Semi decent in terms of games? I feel like there were some hot bangers but they were all pretty spread out and far between. It probably doesn’t help that I worked a LOT this year, which means I ended up playing I think the least amount of new games in this year since I started making these lists. 2020 looks to have an even slower start but I know there’s new consoles on the way, E3 is gonna be a wild ride y’all.

As previously stated, I did not play a lot of games this year, but the ones I did I think were pretty good.

First off, I figured I’d list my games of the year for the past decade(links to the respective lists provided onnce I started doing them.): 2010: Super Mario Galaxy 2 2011: Dark Souls 2012: La-Mulana 2013: Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds 2014: Bayonetta 2 2015: Trails in the Sky SC 2016: Trails of Cold Steel 2 2017: Trails in the Sky The 3rd 2018: Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age And now 2019:

10. Pokemon Sword It's that classic Pokemon formula only streamlined to take merely half the time(and half the Pokemon oops!!) In all honesty I really enjoyed my time with this game and the fact that it tried to be as tight as possible and didn’t waste your time felt really refreshing. I just wish it had a meatier postgame. I don’t mind the reduced dex but the lack of legendaries to hunt really sucked any wanting to play more out of me after seeing the credits.

9. Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening It's that classic weird Zelda game, only prettier and with even better music. The touched and fixes to the gameplay alongside the amazing atmosphere provided by the new graphics and revamped sound track make this the definitive version of a true classic.

8. Resident Evil 2

Mr X is literally the scariest thing I've had to deal with in a game in years and I twitch uncontrollably whenever i hear loud footsteps heading my way in real life now. I still need to sneak back in and do a second playthrough before RE3make hits next year(????fuck yes????)

7. Devil May Cry 5

It only took like 15 years but we finally got a new genuine Devil May Cry game and its the best one yet??? It capped off a lot of the plot threads from 4 and felt like a complete game with tons of love put into it and I'm so glad Capcom is having this renaissance the past couple of years if this kind of stuff is what we have to look forward to.

6. Judgement Fantastic spinoff to the Yakuza games, same great setting, amazing new cast of characters. Probably would have been higher on the list if it didn't give me cat noise ptsd from having to find all the hidden cats during investigations.

5. Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night Score another win for people getting to revive genres/series they used to be huge players in. Playing this game feels like being pulled right back into the mid 00s and I mean that in the best way possible.

It oozes so much mechanical personality out of every poor, the soundtrack rules and it scratches that 100% completionist itch the way only a true IGAvania can.

4. Fire Emblem: Three Houses I only played Blue Lions but this is already my favorite fire emblem I've ever played. There's basically not a single character I didn't like and I found the Blue Lions plot to be extremely emotionally gripping and satisfying overall.

The exploration of its themes of ptsd, growing up in war times, racism, classism and all the social struggles that come with these things is second to none when it comes to this series, and I can’t wait to dive back in for another playthrough soon.

3. Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice This game fucking rules as hard as it is hard. I love From Soft's version of feudal Japan and I really hope they get some dlc or a sequel to flesh some of their ideas out because they are super fascinating.

I try to be very thoughtful about why I like the games I like but man this game is just plain old rad and fun and hard and some guy cuts a portal to hell out of his neck and you fight his super powered grandpa after he climbs out of the portal. It’s a good video game.

2. Trails of Cold Steel 3 Basically any other year this would have been my go to number one contender. I love this game and this series to bits but i think it spends a little too much time backpedaling on its payoffs in order to keep all the reveals for the final act which, while incredible, is pretty exhausting by the time you get there.

New Class VII are some of my fave characters in the series, Ash and Altina especially. I really loved them pulling back plot threads like Hamel that have been simmering in the background for almost two decades now. The music as always is fucking incredible. By the end of the game it truly feels like the beginning of a culmination for so many years of built up plotlines and then oops it cuts to black.

Well, I guess I’m really looking forward to CS4 then!!

1. Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers I always enjoyed this game in the past mostly as a side game to kill time but the beauty of having a game run this long means that it has just as much time to get you invested in its world and its characters. The fact that this expansion starts by taking all of that away and throwing you and your band of misfit allies into completely uncharted territory, devoid of all resources and external allies, is just the faintest tease at how spectacularly bold this expansion is.

Despite the fact that this game takes place in a whole new world mostly divorced from the main political arcs established so far, it goes maybe the furthest in terms of huge metaplot shattering and affecting reveals. By the end of this game I sympathized and understood the villains of this game in a way I never imagine I would be able to.

The character writing is superb, the menagerie of side characters you’ve come to know over the past three games finally get a chance to shine as they are stranded in the strange alternate universe mirror of the main game. Before this game I liked one or two of the Scions quite a bit but found the rest of the team to be pretty forgettable. By the end of Shadowbringers each and everyone one of them stand as some of my favorites in any jrpg I’ve ever played.

The villain of this expansion is just straight up the best most well written, sympathetic and relate-able foe from any FF game so far. Hell, even outside of Final Fantasy I have trouble thinking of another villain who I shed legit tears for when they finally passed on.

The game’s music is incredible and otherwordly, the changes they made to the classes (that I play) were all rad and Ardbert is my Husband of the Year all Years.

I’ve always played this game pretty casually without massive investment but I'm here for the long haul after this expansion.

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closedspeciesdrama · 7 years

Note

Re: The Wendigo argument, there's this instability trait which is prevalent on the internet these days. There are a lot of very unstable young men and women who try to give themselves meaning and worth by deeming themselves "gatekeepers" of either political correctness or cultural appropriation. Down to a man the ones I've seen in CS and in other communities are typically insecure to the point of near-mania and with any number of mental issues. Gatorbite and VCR are like poster boys. 1 of 2

- The best way to deal with this sort of nonsense isn’t to argue with them which is ultimately narcissistic supply and a means for them to try and show how morally “superior” they are to their victim, it’s simply best to flat out block them if needed or ignore them. Might seem harsh but I have personal issue with the way they use issues of gender and culture to bully every community they touch and to intimidate younger people with threats of dubbing them “bad people” or public defamation. 2 of 2

(1)Citing “Windigo Psychosis: the anatomy of an emic-etic confusion” an academic journal by a group of anthropologists: “When the windigo phenomenon is considered from the point of view of group sociodynamics rather than from that of individual psychodynamics, the crucial question is not what causes a person to become a cannibalistic maniac, but under what circumstances a Northern Algonkian is likely to be accused of having become a cannibalistic maniac(2)and thus run the risk of being executed as such. It is argued that those so executed were victims of triage homicide or witch hunts, events common in societies under stress.” Hell just that alone should be enough. Algonkians and other natives were straight up murdered over a mythological creature that was used against them. No one besides Algonkians are in any placeto make a CS/adopt design based on something with such a dark historical context.(3)Looking beyond Wikipedia could have easily told you this. Also, no anon, you fucking idiot, the wendigo was a thing before the term “wendigo psychosis” even existed as a culture-bound syndrome. AND IF YOU PUT TWO AND TWO TOGETHER… usually “culture-bound” syndromes are inherently racist and untrue.

Didn’t vcr-wolfe get called out for something too tho like if you’re gonna be the 1# sjw for everything wouldn’t it be ironic to get a call out for a shitty thing you’ve done

OH MY GOD. that post is LITERALLY a whole fucking year ago. once again vendetta anons pull shit from their ass. that character isnt even a freaking adopt, and vcr doesnt even have a species and has hardly sold maybe 3 adopts in the last 6 months? maybe if yall weren’t reaching so far into the past for some petty bs we could stay on topic for once lmao

Wait is there any proof of them being white?? I’ve I beleive I saw vcr wolfe say they’re native or smth before. But the thunderbird thing is so stupid lmao in the Wild West tm a lot of towns only had like white people because natives were driven out. I mean depending on the characters setting. Plus there’s majority of white people. Thunderbirds aren’t like a wendigo, you can say it’s name and talk about it and it wouldn’t attack just you so I don’t see a problem lmao

I think the issue here is you’re going to have people from a culture saying something is offensive, but someone else from the same culture saying that it’s not offensive and they’re glad you’re taking interest in their culture in the first place. See: Every East Asian mythology based CS out there, basically. Literally there is no right or wrong across the board, nobody “wins”, and that’s just how life is. Grey morality exists, just let people make content they enjoy ffs.

People act like VCR-WOLFE’s word is law or something. I can see being passionate about causes and all but they take the cake for extremism. People should be allowed to make a character any race to fit their preferences or just their likes, of course within being respectful. I think VCR gets some kind of high and mighty buzz by going after people, especially us evil whites.

multiple poc: hey this is offensive. yall: uhm idk that sounds fake :/. one poc: yeah it’s fake. yall, digging your claws in: YOU SEE? WE WERE RIGHT ALL ALONG! THIS ONE POC HAS VALIDATED OUR RACISM FOREVER! *pterodactyl screech*

Is vcr wolfe a serious account or is it just some random asshole that enjoys stirring up people by being the dictionary image for the social justice warrior stereotype that literally everyone hates. I have seen them be a little weiner before (cue them accusing me of misgendering them), I would take nothing they say seriously because honestly they are a joke.

Why does this Wendigo shit still come up? This is the same as the sombrero Mario crap that blew up on twitter. Quit speaking for other cultures that you don’t belong to. Native American people have expressed both support and distain for the issue. A wendigo is a monster, why is making a monster be a monster suddenly such a taboo? You can white knight the subject to death, you aren’t in the wrong but you’re certainly not in the right either. If you don’t support it then don’t.

context: the wendigo was used as a slur and label for natives/Algonquins who were mentally ill (aka called them canibals; hence “wendigo psychosis”) and was used to justify their genocide so making an adopt out of such a theme isn’t taken lightly as this has a historic context you can’t erase (source: I live in the algonquin northeast) (½)mythical creatures such as vampires and werewolves come from a ton of different cultures and generally they’ve been reinterpreted so often that it doesn’t retain its origin context. here’s another point- the Algonquin people still exist. despite the mythical creature being used against them they are more than in the right to use it how they see fit. it’s sorta like how the lgbt community took back the word “queer” while a straight person should definitely not call a gay person “a queer” (2/2)

Btw the wendigo isn’t a legend ! It’s a tale told up north and is taken very seriously. The reason people don’t want you to use it is because saying the name is suppose to make you a victim ( aa I forgot I’m sorry ) BUT I still beleive if you do your research u should be okay like just don’t make it a xD murderer monster cannibal

The thing with a wendigo character is not everyone is going to see/research the full story of them, because they’ve been big in media for awhile now. Until Dawn, Supernatural, even My Little Pony. And tbh, it’s something that while drifting away from the original intent, does bring traditional stories to the homes of others, who otherwise would never know the term, or know of the monsters. Mass media is keeping our culture alive, even as we kill it ourselves by not letting others near it.

this just in: vcr-wolfe solely dictates what can and cannot be used from cultures in character designs

VCR is mixed actually lol

VCR-wolfe is actually half mexican. So maybe don’t be fucking racist?

Can we stop the “ insulting = I’m right” thing it’s so stupid. If someone’s discussing something or DOESNT KNOW you don’t have to insult them. You look like a jerk js ( this is towards the anon in the wendigo post about wendigo-psychosis). The person was just basically saying ‘fun fact’ no need to call them a fucking idiot jeez

Mixed with what? I’ve seen this argument on another drama site. If they are mixed, they are white enough to pass as entirely white. Even then your word isn’t some divine rule on what is right & wrong. VCR constantly leans on the “I’m mentally ill” schtick, maybe they should focus on themselves for a bit & quit badgering people that want to enjoy another culture. Geez would bringing back segregation make you fuckers happy, let start DNA testing before you can draw or create a non white character.

The anon about wendigo pychosis got their panties in a twist lmao. If we can’t use anything with “” dark historical context" or “ only ____ are allowed to use this” then we all might as well sick to our own religions and make nothing but what we’re born into/practice. So if you’re native and you make a nun rabbit prepare for a ass chewing ! :( keep whining about everything you just sound like a broken record lmao you “” fucking idiot “”

Wait so if vcr-Wolfe isn’t native what say do they got in it then??? If they’re Mexican/white ??? Why don’t they step down and let real native/mixed natives speak for themselves and not have someone gatekeeping their beliefs Jesus lord I LOVE when none natives try to speak for my culture

Multi poc people: this is bad y'all: SEE ITS EVIL Multi poc: its alright do your research tho Y'all: WTF THATS BAD WHAT ABOUT OUR TOKEN FRRIENDS SAYING ITS OKAY AAAA Get your head out your ass dude there’s two sides to the shit just because people back your opinion doesn’t mean you can use your poc friends as a way to wave it around. You’re being just as bad to diss other peoples opinions FROM THE SAME GROUP lmao

i’m ndn, and personally my opinion on the entire thing is, don’t make wendigo characters for profit in general, especially if you’re not ndn. i don’t even like seeing my brothers, sisters, and two-spirited brethren do it. it’s one thing to make one for personal use, and as long as you’re not making them uwu edgy wendigo doggo that eats people uwu then.. honestly? who cares. but stop making wendigos when you know nothing about the culture, or that many tribes have different lore on it.

also the entire thing of wendigo psychosis being a thing: false. that was a term made up waaaaay after the fact. the thing is, there are multiple tribes that believe in wendigo, many have different names for it, and there’s even variations born differently like wechuge. but the fact of the matter is that most people don’t even read in or pay attention beyond the edgy cannibal shit to know that a wendigo is pretty much a skeleton made out of ice in most tribal cultures LMAO not a fucking dog

the entire purpose of people saying ‘hey if you don’t understand it, don’t make it’ is so that you don’t make a mockery of our legends, lore, culture, and history. not so you can’t have fun. it’s like me making a black character and making them stereotypical and completely shitting on it, and then doubling back with the ‘oh i made a black character so i understand black struggles’ shit like. it’s not cute when you do it to any race or culture so stop.

Why is it a crime to make Wendigo characters but when some family lines (before me, I don’t care) wouldn’t approve of the use of nordic mythos no one bats an eye at adopts that play off them, or for that matter, movies and shows that paint them in completely inaccurate ways. You can’t close the mythos of one culture & make it untouchable while saying some are fine to take from, that isn’t how it works.

VCR is mixed Mexican Navajo and saying a mixed person is basically white is just fucking ugly and racist as shit, holy shit

Nordic myth is white myth and white people are not in any danger of having their culture stamped out and then reinterpreted by their oppressors while they are punished for trying to access it, unlike, you know, Native American myth. Reverse racism isn’t real

‘nordic myth is white myth and–’ it’s still someone’s religion, so yeah actually it still stands, either all religions are sacred inherently and are off limits or none are and you can’t bitch and whine and moan and throw a social justice tantrum into that being untrue, people making shitty wendigo ocs isn’t stamping anyone’s religion out any more than marvel making a shitty version of loki is, they’re equally stupid but harmless

Except there is a huge fucking difference between open and closed religions? Nordic pagan worship is an open religion. Native folk religions are closed religions. Christianity is an open religion. The Amish are, by and large, a closed sect. Sincerely, an nordic heathen who knows full well what people can take from my belief system

“Werehyenas can’t be made into species and characters because they appropriate African culture uwu~” The hyena and werehyena have a very similar negative connotation in African folklore by you don’t see them getting so butt hurt over them being used. I get so sick and tired of people saying you can’t base a CS or Character off of a fictional monster. I guess I should toss out my Church Grim OC because that’s an insult to English and Scandinavian Folklore as it guards a place considered sacred

literally no one is saying dont ever do it theyre saying be respectful, follow the originating culture’s traditions, and dont slap a native myth on a white character because its disrespectful to the culture you supposedly like so much youre pulling from them. entitled much?

"my friend finds this thing offensive! your friend doesn't find this offensive? stop tokenising your friends, also YOUR friends are WRONG!" so native voices only count when they agree with you? maybe accept that an individual can't speak for an entire group, and that people from within the same culture can have very different ideas about what cultural appropriation even is.

Everyone yelling about wendigos when they're ignoring the fact Sincommonstitches literally made a design based off the imperial rising sun (you know- rape of Nanking?? Children and women slaughtered?) and day of the dead (mexican holiday already shit on for $$$) guardians, sold them for profit, and then bitched in a journal when they got called out how they shouldn't have to deal with this and they need their fiance to handle their pr now lmfao

Keeping all this in one post, anything new sent in will be added to this post. While it is on topic, it is far from species related.

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westudentflower · 6 years

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Is business really good for the environment? For society?

January 10, 2018

We’ve all heard that business can have a positive impact on society—socially, economically, and environmentally—or at least it has such potential. But is it really benefiting our living conditions, our people, our communities? Or is it just a way to make business leaders and investors feel good about themselves and justify their large paychecks?

What is sustainability?

One approach to measuring sustainability is the utility comparison approach, which says that the well-being of future generations must be equal to the well-being of the current generation.

Well-being can be determined using the physically describable aspects of the natural world (clean water, biological diversity, ozone shield, etc.), which must not disappear if future generations are going to be equally well-off. However, even that can be unclear. How many species need to go extinct before we can conclude that future generations are worse off? A better way to put it might be that the opportunities of future generations to achieve well-being cannot diminish. We can compare opportunities to consume (capital or income), or we can compare certain features of the world that must be protected. The loss of these features would be non-compensable harms to the future, and future generations would be worse off regardless of their economic wealth. In order for the opportunities of future generations to be the same as today’s opportunities, certain options which are prerequisites for true opportunities must be held open. By options I don’t just mean the right to these goods, but the time also has to be right to use them.

Sustainable development and resource management is associated with the economic incentive to develop sustainable communities. The objective of development is to improve and sustain the well-being of those living in developing countries. This can be measured by improved living standards. Resource management is crucial to achieving this goal, as resource depletion and environmental degradation threaten sustainable development.

Why are many countries not managing their resources well? It seems counter-intuitive that resource-rich countries have high economic inequality and perform poorly. We can attribute this to political and economic forces. High interest rates encourage rapid resource depletion. The failure to achieve sustainability can be attributed to government underinvestment in public goods and its low priority in spending public resources on enforcing property rights of natural resources for the poor. An inadequate supply of public goods for sustainability worsens poverty and social inequity. Many don’t realize that there is a strong economic incentive to achieve sustainability; in fact, failing to do so may become an obstacle to sustained economic growth. Countries with higher growth rates tend to have deteriorating environmental quality.

Environmental sustainability is not achieved just by environmental policy. There is a growing need for more discussion and empirical work on environment and development issues and on policies in developing countries. International economic institutions need to broaden their policy advice and act toward a more balanced political economy by giving more attention to the needs and interests of poor and developing countries. The Rhine River is considered the most important source of water in Europe, and it came close to dangerous levels of pollution. Countries acted only when it was about to become a catastrophe and were able to prevent it only because they had the economic resources. What if this had happened in Africa, which doesn’t have the economic capacity to address these emergencies?

Is globalization itself unsustainable? After all, it requires transport, which made up 27% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions in 2015. Yet globalization is arguably a result of capitalism. Adam Smith argued that a bigger market allows a greater division of labor and productivity, which creates a higher profit for the innovating capitalist. This is where technology comes in.

Environmentalism is Political

A campaign depends on the power to convince others of a problem. Recontextualizing (a disjunction between arguments where neither addresses the other) is a defining characteristic of contemporary environmental debates and its comprehension is critical to resolving conflicts. The economically poor and politically powerless tend to be the victims of natural hazards—how the disaster is presented to the world matters (“natural phenomenon” = no blame). Unlike what is claimed, forest peoples are impoverished by degradation of their forests by external commercial interests. It is ironic that the poorest countries are hardest hit by climate change yet hold the most renewable energy sources, because they lack the capital to develop them. Clean technology requires investment, and oftentimes funding is politically influenced.

The Environmental Justice Issue: The costs of environmental degradation are disproportionately paid by the poor

Most low and middle-income countries have resource-dependent economies, which are associated with poorer economic performance, as there is an increase in land conversion and water level stress with a significant share of the population concentrated on fragile lands. Despite the importance of natural capital for sustainable development, why does increasing economic dependence on natural resource exploitation hinder growth in low and middle-income economies? This can be attributed to the increased proportion of poor on fragile lands as this does not generate substantial rents and leads to policy failures. Wealthy households dominate the market for better land, while poor minorities live in toxic and unsanitary areas not due to racism but due to the capitalistic system. Giving a voice to the poor will lead to cleaner neighborhoods and solve problems of pollution and industrial waste. We see a conflict here between green agendas (environment issues: save the wilderness, save national parks!) and brown agendas (social and public health issues of providing access to clean water and clean living standards). Green agendas, endorsed by wealthier people, overpower the brown agendas, but we need both.

Socially Responsible Investing—The Future of Investing?

Before I did a program run by Girls Who Invest, a nonprofit with the goal of having 30% of the world’s investable capital managed by women by 2030, I was convinced that investing has huge power in changing the culture and changing society, but there still seems to be a huge conflict of interest because people who work in the finance industry are paid so much. It just seems so easy to justify your salary by saying you’re making a difference.

Things to consider after Girls Who Invest… • Seema, founder of GWI, told me that most people are good people who want to do good in the world. The bad guys make up only a small portion of the industry. One way to make an influence is to work for organizations that are philanthropic. Ex: A wealthy family wanted to hire her to manage their money, but when she wanted to know how philanthropic they were, they dismissed her and told her not to waste their time with this. So she decided not to work for them. • Richard Flannery, CEO of TIFF (The Investment Fund for Foundations), a non-profit that manages assets on behalf of endowed non-profits, demonstrated that you can invest with a purpose, on behalf of a mission you care deeply about (whether it be environment, social justice, etc.). The ESG movement is growing: when many investors and large corporations start investing for certain types of companies, others have to pay attention • Bridges, a private fund manager that focuses on investing in solutions for social and environmental challenges, gave a presentation on the spectrum of capital: fiduciary, responsible, sustainable, FF (Financial First) impact, IF (Impact First) impact, philanthropic. There are certainly many challenges in the relatively new industry of impact investing, one being that the minimum impact you need to be considered an impact investor/boundaries between each category are not yet clearly defined:

A Bridges partner, on the impact of impact investing: “The impact of impact investing can be as significant as philanthropic, if the investments scale and truly have a valuable product or service (think d.light solar lanterns displacing kerosene lanterns). The challenge is that if you only care about one issue (education for underserved kids) it is hard to invest with return in a very narrow issue area.”

Who chooses what cause(s) to invest in? “Ultimately, most impact investors invest in “blind pool funds”, where the investment team (the fund manager) chooses the investments. Some investors in funds have the right to opt out of certain investments, but the choice of investment theme is the fund manager’s during the fund’s life. This is the essence of some work we are doing on impact management: how to articulate the investors impact expectations so everyone from asset owner to advisor to fund manager to company to employee to customer are all in synch.”

However, if the focus is on how to allocate capital to solve ESG problems, I am confident that we will form better answers to these challenges as the industry develops and progresses towards this common goal.

• Divesting in renewable energy—you can gradually divest from coal companies, but the problem is that oil and gas make up such a large sector of the S&P 500 and the economy. Take that away and you’re disproportionately hurting the economy, plus limiting investment opportunities

• University endowment has fiduciary obligation to donors; it can’t focus on social responsibility investing, but keeps ESG issues in mind

• Make a positive impact! People retiring or investing in mutual funds rely on pension funds or returns of investments; you’re investing their money! Water treatment facilities, university endowments, retirement pensions need to be managed well

• We have a responsibility (and goal) to change the culture of Wall Street

There is certainly a feel-good aspect involved in business, and I’m sure many corporations use the “do good” claim to convince themselves and others that their mission goes beyond profit. But this is a good thing. It can act as the driver of your work, the thing that motivates you and what you find most rewarding at the end of the day. And it’s hard to make an impact and do good if you don’t have the capital. In this day and age and likely for decades to come, capitalism and businesses will run our country, and the importance and impact of investing will only increase. I strongly believe that we are the generation that will take impact investing to the next level.

#girlswhoinvest impactinvesting

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