#intense themes

[slowly-unspooling]

Unveiling a New Episode!

Join us for the latest installment in our audio series, where the storyline takes a thrilling twist!

The newest episode of "Slowly Unspooling," titled "The Messages" follows closely as we delve into Kai's captivating journey within the enigmatic confines of their workplace. Through the aid of a reliable recorder, Kai candidly opens up about their innermost thoughts and feelings. Brace yourself for even more unexpected revelations to come!

Prepare yourself for a thought-provoking encounter as our main character receives enigmatic messages and undergoes an eerie sensation of being watched.

Please be aware that this episode addresses intense themes, including emotional turmoil, work-related pressure, existential unease, sleeplessness, mental health challenges, self-doubt, isolation, work-related demands, perplexity, ear strain, and audio distortions. We kindly advise you to approach this content with sensitivity.

Featuring the exceptional talents of Aspen Rayne as the voice of Kai, this episode guarantees an unforgettable auditory escapade.

For those intrigued by the complete script, fret not! You can access the transcript for your perusal through the following link: Transcript Link

We would like to express our gratitude to zapsplat.com for providing captivating sound effects, and to pixabay.com, whose enchanting music sets the tone throughout the episode.

Don't let this electrifying episode slip through your fingers! Tune in on your preferred platform by following this amazing link: Listen Here. Your auditory journey awaits!

[sexy-sapphic-sorcerer]

BBC Merlin being about 'magic' for 7 minutes gay

[blueskittlesart]

*sigh* thoughts on Nintendo's botw/totk timeline shenanigans and tomfoolery?

tbh. my maybe-unpopular opinion is that the timeline is only important when a game's place on the timeline seriously informs the way their narrative progresses. the problem is that before botw we almost NEVER got games where it didn't matter. it matters for skyward sword because it's the beginning, and it matters for tp/ww/alttp (and their respective sequels) because the choices the hero of time makes explicitly inform the narrative of those games in one way or another. it matters which timeline we're in for those games because these cycles we're seeing are close enough to oot's cycle that they're still feeling the effects of his choices. botw, however, takes place at minimum 10 thousand years after oot, so its place on the timeline actually functionally means nothing. botw is completely divorced from the hero of time & his story, so what he does is a nonissue in the context of botw link and zelda's story. thus, which timeline botw happens in is a nonissue. honestly I kind of liked the idea that it happened in all of them. i think there's a cool idea of inevitability that can be played with there. but the point is that the timeline exists to enhance and fill in the lore of games that need it, and botw/totk don't really need it because the devs finally realized they could make a game without the hero of time in it.

[miffysrambles]

Protective! Macaque with S/O OneShot

(Warning (?) : This one gets kind of intense with the themes of being harassed, I didn't know if that needed a warning but just to be safe!)

You were backed into a corner of an empty alleyway as you were pleading with the creepy stranger to leave you alone already.

“I-I said please leave me alone, I’m not interested!” You frowned up at him as he pressed one of his palms against the brick wall from your response of trying to walk away from him.

You were beyond uncomfortable at this point, he had followed you to isolate you for gods sake!

You were only on your way to the small theater to see your boyfriend after work, apparently the stranger saw you walking on the sidewalk and decided he wanted to pursue you.

“Aww come on sweetheart, I could treat you better than anyone ever could.” He winked down at you, making your stomach and heart feel like it’s been punched. 

You realized this guy wasn’t going to take no or stop for an answer, deciding your best option was to make a run for it so you weren’t isolated and around other people for help.

The creep saw you shift to the side, knowing what you were going to do next as he grabbed you by the wrist as you ducked underneath his arm.

You cried out as his grip tightened around your waist, “Where you going sweetheart, I’m not done with you yet.”

You squirmed in his grasp as you struggled to get him to let you go, your fingers trying to make his grip loosen.

This only made his fingers grip tighter, making you seethe in the squeezing pain.

“Heh, you’re cute when you struggle like…”

His words trailed off as his eyes locked above you instead of into yours, a low growl emitting from above your head.

“Get you hand off of them before I rip it off your arm…”

Oh dear Gods.

The creep quickly released your wrist, making you rub the red finger marks around your limb as it already started to bruise.

Your boyfriend Macaque had appeared in your shadow, poking his head out from a portal above you as he used another to rise from the ground to appear in front of you to defend you.

He looked behind him to see he had left bruises on your wrist as you seethed in pain.

Macaque saw red as he felt raw anger pulse through his form.

He hurt you.

HE HURT YOU.

In a flash, Macaque grabbed the creep by the shirt collar and pinned him to the wall on the opposite side of you.

“On second thought, I should rip you apart limb from limb for even laying one of your disgusting fingers on them.”

The creep’s smug composure was long gone, now replaced with shivering fear as he pleaded with Macaque to leave him alone.

The simian gritted his fangs as he raised his fist to land a blow to his face, wanting to make sure he wiped that horrid smug expression off of him for the rest of his days.

He was stopped as your soft voice called out to him, snapping him out of his enraged state as he looked back at you.

“I… I just want to go home.”

Macque looked back at the creep as he growled once more, “You got lucky pal, if I ever see you even dare to look at my partner I’ll rip your eyes out myself.”

Your boyfriend let go of the creep’s collar as he scurried off, you wouldn’t need to worry about him coming back because if you were in his shoes you wouldn’t.

Macaque never went back on his words when it came to you.

He ran over to you as he gently took your bruised wrist into his palm, pressing a loving kiss against the mark.

“That son of a bitch was lucky you stopped me, I’ll tell you that much.” He muttered against your skin.

You smiled as he scooped you up into his arms as he summoned another portal to take you home, landing on your couch as he pressed his lips against your own.

“I’m gonna stay with you tonight, is that ok starshine?” His low voice asked, making you smile once more as you nodded. 

“Of course hon, I’d actually really like that.”

He sighed in relief as he laid back on the arm of the couch, pulling you close to his chest as he kissed your forehead and held you like someone was trying to take you away from him.

Macaque wanted nothing more than to keep you close to him as much as possible tonight, seeing someone make you so scared and uncomfortable ignited the protective urge in him.

No one was every gonna mess with his sugarplum ever again, he was gonna make sure of that. 

[direquail]

One of the many things I find funny and irritating is the slant of a lot of interpretations of Alecto's name (that it's about feminine rage)--on this here wlw internet in the year of our lord 2024, it's easily made to figure as rage against God, or rage against patriarchy, or religious oppression, and therefore an allusion to the idea that she's going to get her vengeance on John for betraying and oppressing her somehow, but like

John is the one who named her Alecto. He's the one who named her that. So, naming her "Alecto" is alluding to the embodiment of John's rage--their rage, since they are joined inseparably (John even explicitly says that when he first perceives her: "You wouldn't stop screaming. You were so scared. You were so goddamn mad").

He says of Alecto to Harrow, "In a very real way, you are [Alecto's] children". At a very surface level, Alecto is (depending on the text or tradition), one of the Furies--famously, in several surviving Greek tragedies, who punish Orestes for the crime of killing his mother. In fact, in Aeschylus' Oresteia, they declare that they are specifically bound to avenge matricide.

So the name "Alecto" alludes to the nature of John's mission and how he sees it.

It also implies that his divine rage, the rage that gives him power, the power that makes him divine, that he either represents or wants to represent, is feminine rage. He was chosen by Earth (which, Furies are sometimes the daughters of Gaia); he is her champion, however he's managed to fuck that up. Once the truth of that comes out, it becomes clear that all of his power comes from her.

And that's why you get statements from Tamsyn Muir like:

“[T]he God of the Locked Tomb IS a man; he IS the Father and the Teacher; it’s an inherently masc role played by someone who has an uneasy relationship himself to playing a Biblical patriarch. John falls back on hierarchies and roles because they’re familiar even when he’s struggling not to. Even he identifies himself as the God who became man and the man who became God. But the divine in the Locked Tomb is essentially feminine on multiple axes – I think Nona will illuminate that a little bit more."

So yes, he plays the role of Emperor and God and Teacher, with all of the things that implies. And I don't think it should be discounted. But he also is (and partly sees himself as) the chosen champion of a goddess, or what is for all intents & purposes for a human like him a goddess. He is her avenger, and while she sleeps, her avatar.

And I don't think we're meant to read him purely as a parasite who's taking advantage of her to gain power for himself, either. Or an oppressive, Kronos-like figure. Especially if you consider Palamedes' theory of the Grand Lysis, even if he was purely motivated by desire for power before (which I really doubt), there are parts of each in the other, now. What was clear and separate before is uncertain and interpenetrated. Is his rage his own, or hers? Is his mission of revenge his, or hers? If he wants power, is that his own selfishness, or her desire to survive?

And does it matter?

[lord-squiggletits]

One of my favorite parts of phase 2 (and indeed one of the few moments I resonated with IDW Prowl) was when the neutrals were coming back to Cybertron and Prowl said that he refused to let Autobots be pushed aside and overruled after they were the ones who fought for freedom for 4 million years (the exact wording escapes me atm).

And I mean, that resentment still holds true even once the colonists come on bc like. As much as it's true that Cybertron's culture is fucked up, and as funny as it can be to paint Cybertronians as a bunch of weirdos who consider trying to kill someone as a common greeting not important enough to hold a grudge over.... The colonists POV kind of pissed me off a lot of times, as did the narrative tone/implications that Cybertronians are forever warlike and doomed to die by their own hands bc it just strikes me as an extremely judgemental and unsympathetic way to deal with a huge group of people with massive war PTSD and political/social tensions that were rampant even before the war?

Like, imagine living in a society rife with bigotry and discrimination where you get locked into certain occupations and social strata based on how you were born. The political tension is so bad there's a string of assassinations of politicians and leaders. The whole planet erupts into an outright war that leads (even unintentionally) to famine and chemical/biological warfare that destroys your planet. Both sides of the war are so entrenched in their pre-war sides and resentment for each other that this war lasts 4 million years and you don't even have a home planet any more. Then your home planet gets restored and a bunch of sheltered fucks come home and go "ewww why are you so violent?? You're a bunch of freaks just go live in the wilderness so that our home can belong to The Pure People Who Weren't Stupid And Evil Enough To Be Trapped In War" and then a bunch of colonists from places that know nothing about your history go "lol you people are so weird?? 🤣🤣 I don't get why y'all are fighting can't you just like, stop??? Oh okay you people are just fucked up and evil and stupid then" ((their planets are based on colonialism where their Primes wiped out the native populations btw whereas the Autobots and OP in particular fought to save organics. But that never gets brought up as a point in their favor)) as if the damage of a lifetime of war and a society that was broken even before the war can just magically go away now that the war is over.

Prowl fucking sucks but he was basically the only person that pointed out the injustice of that.

And then from then on out most of the characters from other colonies like Caminus and wherever else are going "i fucking hate you and your conflicts" w/ people like literal-nobody Slide and various Camiens getting to just sit there lecturing Optimus about how Cybertronians are too violent for their own good and how their conflicts are stupid, with only brief sympathetic moments where the Cybertronians get to be recognized as their own ppl who deserve sympathy before going right back to being lambasted.

Like I literally struggled to enjoy the story at multiple points because there was only so much I could take of the characters I knew and loved being raked over coals constantly while barely getting to defend themselves or be defended by the narrative so like. It was just fucking depressing and a little infuriating to read exRID/OP

[riggedtrap]

If there’s one thing Leigh Whannell is gonna do he’s gonna write a horror movie about a family going thru it

[sasanka-27]

Stache bros 🥸 (inspired by my artist friends tweet)

[crazymecjc]

a modern prometheus.

[peachcitt]

from: thirteen by @anna-scribbles

art by me :)

start from the beginning // read the november chapter // read the most recent chapter (january)

hey listen. look me in my eyes. have you read thirteen by anna scribbles. i think you need to read thirteen by anna scribbles. i think if you want your life to be forever changed you need to read thirteen by anna scribbles. i think if you are a person who is breathing and alive you need to read thirteen by anna scribbles. thank you

[katyspersonal]

me: I do not really understand the hardcore insistence of some Mohg fans/simps that he could not or must not have done any sexual-incestous crime! Not only it is a reasonable version, but also extremely interesting and intriguing to explore how not all victims of oppressive system are good people! Soulsborne is super fitting for fucked up themes and characters, any Mohg is valid and fun including the darkest you can get, right? Extremely messed-up interpretations of Mohg don't THREATEN other fans in any way shape or form!

fandom clowns: *passively-aggressively shun Mohg fans from the circles, attack Fromsoft for """homophobia""" (wtf), confuse acknowledging the event with enjoying the event, will label Mohg fans as insensitive or danger to real SO/incest victims, fear Mohg as an awful scary taboo to bring up in memes compilations or fanart that could obliterate all fun despite him being part of the canon, demand blacklisting anything about him in their clown Discord servers thus making lore chats weird, shame or block people with flattering interpretations for MeDiA iLiTeRaCy uwu, treat hating Mohg as a moral act rather than personal stance and generally cause a lot of hostility in the fandom, ALL because whereas seeing Mohg's SO as canon they then got mad at this canon instead of either swallowing it or move onto another videogame free of this theme*

me:

me: Nevermind, this fandom is chronically incapable of handling the dark themes and think the fandom owes them sanitised experience.

[synchodai]

Idk where all these takes thinking that Helaena was indifferent to Jaehaerys's death come from. She literally said she was sad about it. Her rationalizing that she shouldn't be is very realistic grief processing for a neurodivergent person. I've worked with children on the spectrum who will tell me that they're angry or sad and are trying not to be because they know it'll make others even more upset or because a scraped knee heals eventually and all these other rationalizations.

But they are upset. And like what Alicent did with Helaena, you have to tell them having emotions by itself isn't a bad thing. Most of the time, it's simply something you can't control or reason away. Alicent was doing well to tell her daughter that she had a right to her grief — that she shouldn't use "other people have it worse" as a way to push it down.

Alicent has her own wonky processing by believing it was her fault that Jaehaerys died ('the gods are punishing me for my sins. an unrelated accident happened because i, personally, have done awful things' aka classic catholic guilt). So she was seeking absolution from her father who refused to give it to her.

But Helaena does. Helaena forgives her. In a way, I interpreted this scene as both of them comforting each other in the ways they needed. When Alicent shrugs off her own grief and begins talking about how she's more worried about Helaena, her daughter tells her what she wanted to hear by giving her that absolution.

Could the scene have made it clearer that this mother and daughter are helping each other with their radically different ways of processing grief? Could I have misinterpreted the scene? Of course. But as it was, it was pretty clear that Helaena was sad about Jaehaerys.

[adriles]

waking up in the middle of the night, gripped by unending sorrow, yelling, sobbing, punching my pillows, because i have forgotten to bury patroclus

[mysecretwindowuniverse]

1x7 | Penguin's Umbrella ☂️

*Insert insightful commentary about masculinity, the performance of masculinity and the way it dictates social hierarchy in a heteronormative society, power dynamics, power dynamics in the context of sexual penetration, phallic symbols, queerness, social othering, antagonistic intimacy, desire and repulsion, the scene’s meta commentary on love, etc., etc.*

[batmasc]

A desperate "girl" discovers trans people online. And something in " her"stomach burns. "She" can't look away, spends hours trying to figure out where the pull is coming from, worried sick when she realizes. The "girl" decides to go to a preacher for help. Very desperate and hopeful to be changed to a normal woman, it pours out the story in tears.

"Father, make me clean."

The preacher looks at it very sympathetically, and puts a hand on its head. Praying silently. It waits for the guilt to go away, to feel right. And then everything fades to black.

It awakens in a dark and damp room, looking like an old fashioned dungeon. It must be in the depths of the cathedral. The Father has dressed it in humble robes, and presses a goblet of wine to its lips.

"Good morning, Son. Be not afraid. I have cleansed you of that childish delusion. You were never a girl. Right now you're nothing. But soon I will make you a man. "

The robed thing has its hair cut next to the scalp, is reprimanded when it closes its legs and curls into itself.

"Being obedient does not mean you must be small. You have been blessed with this opportunity to recreate yourself."

It hasn't been able to speak since the wine past its lips.

"You will not utter a word until it comes from your chest."

It doesn't know how long it's been there, doesn't remember its old name. Now he is Solomon, created in God's image.

[laikahh]

kinich and mualani r an amusement park couple . they arrive at the park at 8am sharp (opening time) show their yearly passes to the lady at the gate & immediately run towards the fastest scariest roller coasters theyve got & then refuse to leave until like 7pm. on their way back home mualani throws up in the car