#most of the time it's not any kind of bigotry or malice

[xwonderlandresidentx]

Being a black geek, or just a geek of color in general, is so hard. Sometimes I'll be scrolling through art and fics for the various fandoms I'm interested in and see a bunch of great stuff made about all the white characters and I'll think "Man, all this stuff is so great, why don't I interact with these fandoms more often?" And then I'll check the artists' and writers' blogs and see so many of them whitewash poc characters, and describe black characters as "tan", and strip away indications of their culture, and completely change their personalities, and then I'll remember "oh yeah, that's why."

[justplainlovely]

Defending my new favorite ship again because why tf not

I’ll start by stating the obvious (cuz apparently it isn’t a given to some of the folks on here, which is weird, but okay). We DO NOT condone abuse in any form. With that said, an explanation is not an excuse and many folks, almost all I’d venture to guess, have been abusive at some point in their lives (I know I wouldn’t have been on the receiving end of so much abuse if that were untrue - hurt people hurt people). We also DO NOT condone racism. I get the feeling people assume malice on the Ghoulcy shipper side because of disgusting comments that were made long ago about Rey and Finn (which was a similar dynamic that, I’d argue, made more sense than a Lucy/Max relationship but that’s also my 🌈 heart shipping him with Dane). These disclaimers also extend to the villains, which Barb is one of. We DO NOT condone misogynoir here either cuz while I haven’t seen much racism on Lucy/Max, I have seen a surprising amount about Barb. Being a fictional villain does not allow for any kind of bigotry, NOTHING does, but I digress.

So on Ghoulcy, I’ll say this. The foreshadowing is layered heavily throughout the story. Whether they are intended to be friends or partners is up for debate, but the writing makes it quite clear that these characters are destined to team up, bringing us to the end of Season 1 when Lucy walks off with Cooper. I’m brought back to what Wilzig said at the beginning of the season, when Lucy was by herself camping and he warned her several times to go home before finally saying:

“The question is, will you still want the same things when you’ve become a different animal altogether?”

Lucy is very distraught at the end of the season after learning everything she does about her dad and Vault-tec and, for her to return to the vaults and live out her days there, with or without Max, seems like a stretch when things are all said and done. This can be poignantly compared to Persephone going to the underworld (in Lucy’s case, the surface world) - she has eaten the proverbial pomegranate.

This isn’t the only dynamic which Ghoulcy has been compared to, either. I have also seen them compared to Beauty and the Beast, which brings Max back into the dynamic often as a Gaston. Personally, I don’t see that, but if he turned out to be a villain it would be an interesting storyline and Aaron Moten could play it off very well. But bringing Max back in, something about his character to me feels very incomplete and I’m not sure if a love interest is the way forward for him. We only know one of his wants:

“I want to hurt the people who hurt me.”

And at the end of the season it’s like he seems less convinced by that, even though it’s hard to guess exactly what he’s thinking when he is knighted (something he should want, but judging by his expression he seems disenchanted by it) and finds Lucy has left. Part of the reason I ship him and Dane is because Dane has been a rock to him, one who he can probably trust with doubts about the Brotherhood. But returning to Ghoulcy, Cooper has been exactly where Lucy is before. He was betrayed by the one person he trusted most and what did he love most about Barb before they divorced (remember there was talk about alimony in the first episode - not sure how people forgot that):

“I know you always try to do the right thing. That’s what I love about you.”

Who embodies that better than Lucy, I ask you. (Cooper very well could still care about his ex-wife so take that with a grain of salt) But when it comes down to it, and we don’t know who initiated the divorce so it’s up for interpretation like any good story, part of Cooper died when he listened in on Barb’s Vault-Tec meeting just like part of Lucy is dying after she learns what her father did to her mother and Shady Sands.

“If my dad found out that I destroyed an entire community to save him... that'd break his heart.”

That is likely what’s on repeat for her when she learns about the city. And when Cooper offers her his company to New Vegas, his tone notably softens. I think when they first met, the vile things Cooper did to Lucy made her realize very quickly what she would have to do to make it on the surface. Cooper is intrigued, maybe even put off by, her genuine goodness. And it’s not just that, but he sees part of his past self and seeks to kill it any chance he can get. I’d argue that’s a large part of why he’s so cruel to her (him shooting the Vault Boy poster was more than just a fuck you to Vault-Tec). And likewise, Lucy shows him that embracing his humanity again is not so bad - whatever morsel he has left. It begins with trust, though, whatever they have. When she follows him, he has his back turned to her and is walking ahead with the dog. Normally, he wouldn’t put himself in such a vulnerable position, but he is showing her that he believes in her golden rule. Or more accurately that he believes that she believes in it.

Anyway, I dare not risk turning this into an actual essay. It’s already long enough. I’m interested in exploring other aspects that I might have missed if y’all have any thoughts.

[nekropsii]

Also that June post sucked I wrote it on sleep meds at like 6 in the morning I articulated myself like shit. Not an excuse, but it is an explanation.

Further rambling under the cut.

I was trying to make the point that it’s deeply frustrating to me how much of a big deal was made out of it (in a negative sense) and how much harassment ensued especially right in the moment when nothing had even really happened yet and still hasn’t really happened but I said that Badly.

The JKR comparison was not a statement of there being any bigotry present, it’s just literally the only example most people - me included - can think of when talking about an author confirming some kind diversity before it even happens, if we see it at all. I’ll admit part of why I’m so cynical is that I grew up in an era where queerphobic jokes and queerbait were just about the only thing you could get in mainstream media, and everyone would still tout that as if it’s real representation, so I’m always prepared for people to just be lying to me.

So, I see that June gets confirmed in 2019 because someone won a treasure hunt, and we still haven’t really seen her, and I’m just instinctively deeply skeptical it’s even gonna happen. Especially considering we got that fuckin’ Roxy Detransition arc first.

Another sticky point is the canonicity of Postcanon, period. I do not see any works outside of Homestuck proper to be canon, especially not in the way that Homestuck itself is canon. I’ve said this several times on my blog and didn’t feel it worth reiterating but it’s kind of important, especially given the JKR comparison. I think June is awesome, it’s a really cool progression of her character, especially considering Homestuck was once pop culture and she’s the literal main character. But part of why I kept saying it was “literally nothing” was because I was operating under the mindset of “it’s not even canon anyway, why are you harassing people for being excited about it?”. It’s stupid to act like a character or person coming out as trans ruins everything for you in general, but it was especially stupid to me for this to be such a federal fucking issue when basically all we had to go off of at the time was a Tweet, especially in a fandom that proclaims itself to be so progressive, and especially when so many people who were denouncing June as being “not real” due to being in Postcanon got so excited when Roxy was turned into a trans dude. It’s just stupid and unfair and transparent, and I hate it.

The Junecourse situation was super fucking messy and really hard to navigate, and it frustrated me a lot because a lot of people were being kind of silly or even just outright bigoted. It was strange that people got so mad about it, it was strange that some people acted like June was a real person, it was strange that people got badly harassed no matter what they did or said. It was stressful and weird, and it was dumb to me that all that warring and all those lies were circling around a tweet, for the most part, and plenty are still operating under the simple tweet confirmation.

I should acknowledge that there’s apparently more than just the lone tweet now. I’m sure I’ve seen all that before, but I’ve got pretty bad memory issues and, again, I was writing it at 6 am on sleep meds, so it genuinely spaced my brain. That is completely on me and I apologize for contributing to false narratives. The post’s been deleted. I’m not asking for forgiveness or anything, I’m just explaining myself. It was a bad post, but I wasn’t making it out of malice, though I do recognize that in situations like this, intent doesn’t matter nearly as much as actions and impact does. That was a failure on my part. I’ve since deleted it.

I’m apologizing here not because there’s a fire being lit under me or anything - I’m not being pressured - but because this is a genuinely important issue to me. Sadly, I am merely an ally and still in the active process of reading theory, so I lack the general polish one acquires from lived experience and actual real learnedness. Transmisogyny is not a reality I have to live with every waking moment of my life, and as a TME man it is a systemic force that works directly in my favor, so I’m liable to accidentally perpetuate it, even if it’s something I do not believe in personally and am making strides to, for lack of a better, less cringe-inducing term, “be a better ally” about.

TLDR; I fucked up and made a sloppy post that contributed to false narratives surrounding a confirmed Transfem character and the discussion of her online. It sat around 77 notes as of deleting, though most were thankfully just likes rather than there being a whole lot of spread. Still sucks, though, and I’m sorry.

Thank you for reading.

[trickstarbrave]

ACTUALLY WHILE I AM HERE...

this is a wip i never finished of baldur, my nb/trans masc dragonborn in an au where he joined the companions. because werewolves are hot. okay.

i do need to finish this but yknow. nerevar brainrot. you know how it is.

but here is what i got so far :v might even post the one with him and alduin in his main story LMAOOO

warning because i think i mention SA in this story. baldur has a lot of trauma. but i dont think this one was as heavy as the main au which goes into more detail. mostly horny werewolf shenanigans.

Baldur had been in the Companions for some time now. He was the newest member, and for a while, that made him the easy to bully underling until he climbed up the ranks and proved his ability. Until he joined the inner circle that is, and quickly fell back down to being treated like a pup after he got his lycanthrope. 

The worst part was his new wolf instincts kind of liked it. 

Before, Baldur despised being looked down upon, being condescended to, and being pushed around. It almost always came with bigotry and harassment after all, people ridiculing him and nitpicking everything he did. 

But here, he knew they didn’t have any malice. Shortly after he first joined, several newer members were dismissed because they were trying to harass him. And if they truly didn’t like him, the inner circle would have just killed him after he uncovered their secret. It would have been easy, after all, for Farkas to just rip him to pieces and say the Silver Hand killed him on that mission so long ago.

Which meant that, while annoying, they were genuine attempts to teach him or just keeping him in the pack order. Vilkas regularly corrected his form, reminding him he was a warrior now, not a scrappy boy who had to learn to defend himself. Aela often took him hunting and then criticized him for making too much noise, but showed him carefully how to fix it. And outside of that, they often shoulder checked him around Jorvaskr just because they could, if they weren’t messing up his hair or pulling him in headlocks.

The behavior should annoy him more than anything. It did still annoy him a little, but instead of that being the main feeling, it was his wolf instincts eager to come out with excitement and delight at the recognition.

Baldur thought, after he became harbinger and everything, it would come to a stop. Sure his wolf half was disappointed at the prospect, but his human half still didn’t like how comfortable he was getting with people being touchy-feely around him. He wanted to hate their touches and comments, and be mostly alone like he always was.

Of course, like most things, he wouldn’t get what he wished. If anything the remaining werewolves paid more attention to him, even lifting him up in big bear hugs when he’d come back from missions. Sure he was a little shorter than Aela even, but why was she still calling him pup and picking him up too?!

It was starting to make him feel… Weird. That’s all he could describe it as. Just plain weird. Maybe his wolf half was happy at the recognition, but there was a mix of other things in the emotion stew bubbling inside him he didn’t have names for. Instead he always found himself squirming around in their hold trying to get away like a pissed off cat before the emotions bubbled over, something that then made him embarrassed later.

Not to mention, he was starting to feel feverish. He shouldn’t be sick—lycanthropes we’re immune to all other diseases. Yet here he was, feeling sluggish and warm, not to mention sweaty and gross.

Whatever. He’d take a few days off and laze around Jorrvaskr hoping it went away. It was probably overwork and exhaustion—divine’s know he can’t get a good night’s sleep with the beast blood.

—

He was on day three of issuing out missions and mostly resting when Vilkas approached him.

“Harbinger.” 

“Hm?” Baldur looked up from the meat he was currently scarfing down. Why was he so fucking hungry lately? “What is it?” Most of the other companions were either out of the hall or not paying any attention.

“The others of the circle want to have a meeting.” He said with a smile. “Nothing too serious.”

“Ah,” Right, it had been a while. Maybe it was to discuss a new member joining, or something else. But if it was casual, it was probably just going to be some light discussion in privacy. “I’ll be there tonight then.”

Vilkas’ eyes softened slightly, before he gave a pat to his shoulder. “I’ll see you there then.” Just as Baldur was going to take another bite, Vilkas slid his hand up his shoulder, past Baldur’s hair to stroke his neck lightly. Instantly Baldur tensed and shivered, a complex mess of emotions soon following in waves before he felt hot again. His hand trembled slightly as he felt his face heating up. As soon as Vilkas walked away, Baldur was up and stomping downstairs, face beet red and eyebrows furrowed, one hand covering his mouth.

What was wrong with him?!

Down in the harbinger’s bedroom his breathing was heavy, and all of his clothes felt too warm. He locked the door and stripped, the flush now moving to his ears and chest as the sensation of Vilkas stroking his shoulder and neck replayed over and over in his head. As soon as he got to his underwear, discarding them as well, he gasped.

He was fucking wet. 

By Dibella he was fucking soaked.

Baldur covered his mouth in shock, fingers confirming that yes, he was super fucking wet. Not to mention he felt so fucking sensitive, jolting every time his fingers brushed against his clit.

What the fuck?! Not only did Baldur usually not get aroused by other people—too much trauma from years of abuse—if he did get aroused it wasn’t very strong. When he decided to blow off steam by masturbating, it took him quite a while to actual work himself up and orgasm. Not to mention, Vilkas hadn’t fucking done anything. He touched his shoulder and the back of his neck a little, the small patch of skin above his collar and usually hidden under his hair in just a light, almost teasing brush—

“Ah~” He slid two fingers inside himself quickly just imagining it. How would those large hands feel on other parts of his body, running down his torso or up his thighs? The familiar scent of his packmate seemed to cling in the air and on his skin, and his legs trembled at the thought. The urge to run out of the room and bury his face in the larger werewolf’s bed was strong, and inhaling his scent completely would probably be enough to make him cum instantly.

Fuck—what was wrong with him?! Why was he touching himself like this to the thought of Vilkas?! Sure his packmate had been nice to him—that was part of the deal, a requirement to be a cohesive unit both as companions and a werewolf pack. They were all nice and decent people who showed him not everyone would look at him with malice and disgust for his body and gender.

But a lack of disgust did not imply attraction. He was terrified of getting ahead of himself, of mistaking comradery and simple courtesy for friendship or even attraction. He was a loner at heart, since he was young, even if his wolf blood liked the safety of a pack. That’s all he was—a leader with some respect, a guildmate, and a packmate. He didn’t want to expect there to be anymore, not when he knew what might happen if he did.

Except that wasn’t stopping the other part of him from going wild, now slumped over the bed, whining as quietly as possible as his fingers rubbed back and forth against his clit.

“Fuck fuck fuck,” He mumbled into the fabric. He was only getting wetter somehow, slick dripping down his thighs. Drool began to soak into the wool blanket as he bit into it, moaning softly. 

Baldur felt so empty all of a sudden, and not in the typical empty feeling in his chest. No, instead he became painfully aware there wasn’t a cock inside him right now, filling him up completely. His body ached for something in him— a cock, another wolf’s fingers, anything to make him feel nice and full. 

“Ahnngh…” He bit his lip, changing the angle of his arm and hand to instead move behind him, pumping his fingers in and out of himself. It wasn’t enough though, he wanted more. More more more~! Something big filling him up. Someone behind him, holding him down, pushing their body weight on him as he took it. Usually those sort of things scared him, but right now he was turned on so badly he thought he might die if he didn’t cum right now!

—

Suffice to say, it was two hours by the time Baldur was finished after multiple orgasms, and it took another hour for him to calm down enough to get dressed and get a tub of water to bathe. 

He really didn’t want to go to the meeting now in the underforge. How was Baldur supposed to look Vilkas in the eye? The shorter man had been jacking off to the thought of him for an obscene amount of time. But it would be equally as humiliating to make up an excuse why he couldn’t come. Not like he could feign illness when his packmates all knew that was impossible.

It was late at night when he went out into the underforge, sighing. The others were there already, and all eyes met him the second he entered through the secret door.

It felt like they were looking at prey. He swallowed roughly as a buzzing feeling ran through him. 

“There you are, Harbinger.” Vilkas smiled the same way he did in the hall. “Come.” Vilkas walked to lead him over to the stone table the other two were around, sliding his hand down Baldur’s back.

Baldur shuddered as his body felt hot again, covering his mouth. Focus—not right fucking now body! He couldn’t act weird here, Divines know he didn’t want the other companions thinking he was an uncontrollable pervert.

“What are we here to discuss?” Instead he tried to sound stoic, if not a little formal. He didn’t want them to know anything was up with him, and if they questioned his blush, he’d just say his wolf blood was acting up and making him feel ill—that he probably just needed a few good hunts and he’d be all better. 

Looking at the table though, there was nothing on it. No papers, no maps. Weird. Why focus on the table if nothing was on it?

“Well,” Vilkas began, before Aela gave him a light shove as he turned his back to it, stumbling back until he was practically sitting on the stone.

“You.” Aela finished, a playful grin on her face.

“What?” Baldur’s eyebrows furrowed, but since he was cornered he couldn’t easily get off the table. “What about me?”

“How clueless do you think we are?” Vilkas stepped closer first. He was always better with words, which made the whole thing seem… Planned. His hand slid to Baldur’s knee, running slow circles on the inner portion, slowly creeping its way up his thigh. Baldur wasn’t sure if he wanted to open his legs more or slam them shut from the pure heat coursing through him. “We’ve been able to smell you the past couple of days.”

“Smell?” He gave him a strange look, before Aela climbed up on the table on her knees, running her hand along his lower stomach. Baldur nearly keened from the feeling, his legs trembling.

“Oh, you don’t know?” Aela asked as she slowly slid his shirt up. “It’s clear you’re in heat.”

Baldur’s eyes which had been twisted shut quickly snapped open.

“What the hell are you talking about?” He wanted to sound more offended, but with all the hands touching him he was feeling so hot he was almost dizzy.

“Heat. You know.” Aela laughed. “Don’t play dumb on that, you know how animals do it.”

“Why the fuck would I be in heat?” He hissed, clarifying his question. When his wool tunic was pulled all the way up to his neck and the archer’s calloused fingers rolled around his nipples though, he couldn’t help but moan and twitch his leg. “Mm~!”

“It’s your wolf blood.” By now she had moved almost completely behind him, speaking low in his ear. Her breasts pressed against his bare back, her leather armor not leaving much to the imagination. “It usually only affects those of high rank in their pacts—they’ll go into heat or a rut, trying to mate with other members.” Baldur covered his mouth as what she was saying checked out. “We can smell it all over you, how aroused you are.” She gave a pinch to one of his nipples and he cried out, head falling back onto her shoulder. 

“Practically begging for someone to come fuck you.” Vilkas’ hand was at his crotch now, rubbing slowly through the fabric that Baldur was already soaking. “Look at you… If we waited too long you’d probably go mad.”

“Fuck…” Baldur mumbled as his hips began to squirm. This was getting too much for him—tears were welling up in the corners of his eyes as he felt like he was going to catch on fire from pure desire. 

Farkas stepped closer, resting a large hand on his other thigh. “Don’t worry,” He said, voice gruff and eyes glowing in the dark like the others’. “We’ll take good care of you.”

Somehow that statement made Baldur feel even hotter. 

Vilkas began wrestling his pants off next before his shirt was completely removed by Aela, Baldur only able to protest with small, weak gasps. This was moving too fast for his logical, nord side and way too fucking slow for his wolf side. Both were at odds as Baldur wanted to cover himself up and run off in confusion and panic, but his wolf half just wanted to spread his legs and beg to get fucked. Instead he did neither, mostly just allowing himself to be manhandled as he was stunned, unable to come to a decision. 

He was laid out on the large table, legs dangling off. Surrounded like this, he felt kind of like a human sacrifice. But still, the scent of his packmates and the ever present drumming of their hearts only excited him. In fact he could make out faint scents mixed in with their normal ones—very musky, heavy scents that made his breathing accelerate.

“Look at how wet you are.” Vilkas admired from between his thighs, holding them open. “You’re dripping all over the table.” Baldur covered his eyes with an arm, groaning.

“Don’t say things like that!”

“Oh? Even if it’s true?” He slid two fingers up and down his folds, listening to the breathy gasps and whines Baldur gave in return. “It’s obvious how much you want to be bred.”

Baldur’s whole body jolted at the statement, his wolf blood singing in delight. But Baldur however was mortified by the statement.

“I-I do not!” He wasn’t a woman, so how the fuck was he getting bred?! Was it like this just because he didn’t have a dick?! Still, Vilkas only continued to smirk down at him, spreading him open to continue admiring him. 

“That’s not what your body is saying…” Vilkas slid a finger inside him to start, nice and slow. Baldur moaned deeply at the action—he didn’t think someone else would go this gently or that it could feel so good. Was it the wolf blood in him, or just the fact Vilkas wasn’t being an asshole and trying to rush it? “Do you think it’s easy for us? Watching you walk around like that?” Baldur had no response, only an incoherent moan. “All of Jorrvaskr smells like you now. If we waited too long I’m sure stray wolves would sneak into the city to come fuck you.”

“That’s—“ Baldur writhed on the table as another finger went in. The mental image of other werewolves sneaking into the city, clamoring around him, commenting on his scent was… Weirdly arousing, even though his wolf blood knew he’d only accept actual touching like this from his packmates.

“I’m sure every werewolf for miles can smell you, like a bitch in heat.” Baldur moaned deeply at that tightening around the fingers.

“I-I’m not a—“ He whined, “I’m not a bitch in heat~!” Still, the comment only made him feel hotter, even if he tried to deny it.

Vilkas actually growled low in his throat, a sound that somehow turned Baldur on more. 

“How are you going to say that when you’re like this?” Vilkas asked, fingers moving faster. “Getting so hot and bothered over a little touching earlier—“ Baldur shivered as he realized what Vilkas was referencing, “Running off to touch yourself, driving all of us crazy with your scent that screams ‘come fuck me’!”

Baldur had no defense to that. He really did get that aroused from a few brushes of Vilkas’ hand. If it was any more than that he wouldn’t have been surprised if he started leaking in the fucking hall, or dragged Vilkas away to fuck him immediately.

“Relax Vilkas, he’s clearly all new to this.” Aela chided him, swatting his hand away. As soon as Aela’s hand replaced the other werewolf’s, she rubbed slow circles around his clit until his leg was trembling. “It’s his first heat, he probably has no idea how strong he smells or how desperate he looks.” Baldur bit his lip as she slowly increased speed, now rubbing back and forth as she found a pattern he liked. “He just wants to be a good little pup for us, doesn’t he?”

Hearing that made his breath quicken even more, pupils dilating and eyes glowing brightly. Seeing his reaction, she smiled down at him, maneuvering so he was once again slumped against her, giving her easier access to his ear. “Isn’t that right, Baldur?” She moved faster, before giving his ear a lick, resulting in him crying out in pleasure. “You just wanna be a good little pup for your pact, right?” 

“Yessss~!” He hissed, thighs opened wide.

“You wanna get bred, don’t you?” She asked, once again resulting in his wolf blood singing with delight, drumming through him as fast as it did when he was hunting.

“Yes, yes~!” Baldur moaned deeply as he could feel an orgasm approaching. “I do, I—“ His tongue was loose now with pleasure, letting his wolf blood gain control of it as he panted, moaned, and howled with delight. “Please, breed me, breed me, fuck—!!” Saying that made him cum. Hard. So hard he saw stars in his vision as his back arched with a loud cry of pure lust, before he slumped back down onto Aela’s chest, panting heavily.

When he opened his eyes back up, he saw Vilkas and Farkas staring at him with glowing eyes, already mostly undressed.

“My turn.” Farkas said gruffly as he finished first. Baldur shuddered, wondering what was coming next. Was it going to be Farkas fucking him? Somehow he didn’t feel ready for that, not yet—despite how wet he was Farkas was the bigger and stronger twin and because of that risked hurting him the most.

But instead, the larger werewolf kneeled down between his thighs, looked at him for a few moments, and then went down to his cunt.

Licking him.

Baldur yelped in surprise, nearly clamping his legs shut if not for the larger werewolf holding them open. No one had ever fucking gone down on him!! He was aware you could do that to a dick, given he had been forced to a few times, but he didn’t think you could on him!

Next he moaned loudly as Farkas’ tongue began swiping firmly against his clit, back and forth, the hot, wet heat adding to the feeling.

“Oh fuck~!”

“Is this your first time being eaten out?” Aela asked, now trailing her hands both on his stomach and chest. Baldur nodded, a bit embarrassed. “Don’t worry, Farkas is very good at it.” She pinched a nipple, making him whine again. “He’ll take good care of you, little pup.”

“Mmm~!”

“You like that nickname a lot, don’t you?” Aela whispered low in his ear, nibbling on it. “Even as Harbinger of the Companions you like being our little pup, don’t you?”

“S-stop it~” He whined, embarrassed.

“You do like it, don’t you?” She continued teasing. “You just want to be a good little pup and get held down and bred, right?” Her other hand was trailing along his lower stomach as she said that, making his desire burn all the more hot.

“Ah~!” The pleasure was making him delirious. The mental image of being held down and bred was making it hard to think about anything else. Would they take turns with him? Fuck him until he couldn’t move? Fill him up with their seed? His body trembled at every thought, the pleasure climbing. 

His second orgasm came crashing over him again, his thighs trembling. How many times was he going to cum today? He normally barely got one or two, but he already had several masturbating and he knew the other wolves were just warming up.

“So,” Aela looked at the twins. “Did you decide which one of you will be fucking him first? Or did you not come to a decision?”

Farkas had pulled up, frowning, while Vilkas had long since finished undressing.

“I’m going first.” Vilkas said. “Farkas might get a bit too excited, and like you said, it is his first heat.” Vilkas took his place between Baldur’s thighs, stroking a leg.

Part of Baldur was nervous. He’d never been penetrated before without it hurting—hell, most of the time he was left bleeding or raw from the lack of care and warming up. Sure he was slick as hell, dripping all over the table as Vilkas said, but what if it still fucking hurt? 

His wolf half though? Well…

To start, Vilkas pushed his thighs up slowly, whistling as he saw just how flexible the Harbinger was. Then, after finding a comfortable position, he laid his cock out against him, almost burning hot against his cunt and stomach.

It was then, seeing it pressed against him and imagining it inside him, all the hunger from earlier of wanting something buried in him came washing over him in tsunami-like waves, and his worries promptly turned off completely. The musky scent from Vilkas was only turning him on even more, his wolf brain completely in control.

“Such a good pup.” Vilkas praised with a smirk, moving to line up. “Is this the cock you were fantasizing about earlier?”

“A-ah…” Baldur whined softly, feeling the head pressed against him. Just a little more, he wanted it in him already. “Please~”

[yuri-meloi]

TW for transphobia, bigotry of all kinds, suicide, and generally unpleasant shit. It keeps getting worse ✨✨✨reposting it here for anyone interested how twitter is doing.

we can all agree this site is cooked like a soggy dumpling by now, but if you ever wanted to have the biggest proof of it, just look at all the post about trans day of visibility this year. years before all the bullshit of twitter changing hands it belongs to, it wasn't all that bad. it was a relatively nice split of majority of the people saying "have a happy trans day of visibility" but now you have to scroll for a long while before you see anyone doing so.

Most of it i imagine comes from how the x algorithm works now - people with paid twitter land at the top, and "coincidentally" all of those people are right wing nuts, grifters. People filled with malice or those who have their own narrative as to why they act like dicks.

Also company policies and all the firings inside of twitter. We all heard of or seen the famous screenshots where negative posts about cis people are suspended in visibility, while negative posts about trans people are send out far and wide to everyone.

or the quiet removal of the deadnaming and misgendering policy.

it might have something to do with more people leaving twitter because of those exact things, too. there is no more any semblance of actual human beings in this god accursed place - just people with a lot of excuses for things that are unexcusable - bigotry, transphobia, and more

This year's excuse comes from easter sunday - which easter does not have a fixed date while trans day of visibility does - happen on almost the same day this year. sounds fine, that kinda stuff is bound to happen every so often, right? both happen on the 31st.

after looking it up, it's not the first time this happened and not the last. in 2029 easter will be sharing date with april's fools. but alas. claims of "this is a war on christianity", denial of trans people, and ofc classics the magnitute of the one joke.

and the worst parts, such as posts about suicide numbers, accusations of shootings. I guess a coincidence on which two days share a SIMILAR date is enough to invoke rage in all of the good natured christians. because they definitely know this is what Jesus wanted.

there is so many mentions of those things, of how this is a "war" and trans people are the "enemy". slurs, insults and denial are commonplace in these posts. Let me remind you, a bunch of these posts are from big names - these screenshots are taken from the top of the tag.

Sorry for the long ass rant

make sure to stay safe, all of you. and don't let these fucks get into your heads. after all, reality tends to be better than the cesspool of shit that this toilet of a website is.

[rigatoniiiiiiii]

1, 3, 6, 12, 17, 20, 22, 38

(i’m sorry if it’s a lot. you can answer whichever you want)

IMMA DO THEM ALL <3 be warned though im gonna get deep and mushy

1. what are 3 things you’d say shaped you into who you are?

Hmm firstly being queer. Its kind of something that’s just very much a core part of me. Even if I was born in a male body I would still be trans, even if I was born in a world where there was no bigotry, i would still be queer. It’s just such a big part of me, and I’ve never been very good at hiding it. Another part would be growing up in a catholic community for most of my life. This ones more sad, but it taught me to be careful with my words, how to debate when people were being bigoted out of ignorance or malice, and how to be isolated. It was a pretty isolating experience but I think it’s a big part of who I am. And the last one is the people around me! I read something once that said people are stained glass windows, made with panes of glass from different people. Everyone I’ve ever met has changed me a little.

3. 3 films you could watch for the rest of your life and not get bored of?

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, The Thing, Anastaysia, they’re all my favorites!!

6. what’s the best and worst part of being online/a creator?

Nowadays, i think it’s the constant surveillance. Everyone watching constantly wary of a slip up, either out of ignorance or simply mispeaking. People have become obsessed with being seen as ontologically good, even though thats just not how people work. So they sniff out any percieved trouble, which is percieved with someone’s own bias. It’s kind of just like a self-imposed panopticon. I hateee it i wish the internet was just more chill.

12. what’s some good advice you want to share?

Focus on the little things to get you through everything. Notice how the grass moves in the wind. How the air smells when it rains. How a kid somewhwre is sharing their food with another kid. How good your favorite food tastes. Someones laugh. Anything really. We spend so much time paying attention to the big things that the little things lose meaning, but i think it’s those moments where the little stuff matters the most.

17. name 3 things that make you happy

1, my boyfriend, and all of my friends. I love them so so much :( 2. Baking 3. When im doing research and all the details are adding up to support my argument thats the best feeling in the world actually.

20. favourite things about the night?

Ough i dont know, theres a lot. I love the stars, and the way the wind smells, but i think my favorite is how quiet it feels. It’s really calm. I think I like that most because I live in a city, so I don’t get a lot of quiet. When im on a trip in a more rural area, and im up at night, i always feel calm because of how quiet and it is.

22. say 3 things about someone you love

He has the most beautiful grey eyes. And he always knows just what to say when I’m spiraling in my head. And I’m going to kiss him absolutely silly the next time I see him.

38. fave song at the moment?

AUGHHH I CANT DO THIS ONE MAN I CAN NEVER CHOOSE A FAVORITE SONGGG

[kob131]

https://www.reddit.com/r/RWBY/comments/z877af/the_problems_with_gatekeeping_in_parts_of_the/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

Now here’s the full deep dive.

While i am "cooking" my next batch of threads, mostly covering RWBY: Arowfell for now, i have decided to cover some issues that i am seeing rising up once again. Its not uncommon for critics of the show to be maligned in any and every way imaginable.

Gee, I wonder why critics in general within the RWBY fandom are so maligned. It couldn’t be that on top of the vast majority of them being incapable of doing bare minimum quality control, you also lie about the show and creators constantly, attack both constantly and act in heinous ways like trying to use a man’s death to emotionally manipulate his co-workers/friends/family into complying with you. Not to mention said vitrol is directed AT the creators at a much greater frequency by self proclaimed critics who themselves cannot take even the mildest form of criticism themselves.

However, from time to time a trend and an "opinion" is spread or attempted to be spread in the community, and it is my belief that such things need to receive push-back before they become common-place, otherwise it can lead to.... Poor decisions as back in the past.

What am i talking about? Well, first of all, the increasing sentiment of gatekeeping and some parts of the fandom seemingly deciding to choose who is a "fan" of the show or not. The strange purity testing that seems to be taking place on reddit of all places.

Can you really call it strange when the act of not doing it was basically seen as acceptance to act as horribly as possible to creators?

Dex, I do not care how much you preach about how innocent your fellows are. They are still the same group that has asked Miles when he’ll die so he can be replaced.

At the same time, there is the related issue of people seemingly thinking that criticizing a work means inherent dislikeability of it, which is a very wrong conclusion to draw in my opinion. And the last but not least is the somewhat strange sentiment that critics are out there to stop fans from enjoying the show.

What kind of conclusion would YOU draw at people doing nothing but bitching endlessly about the show, about things they misconstrue and about things that DIDN’T HAPPEN? All while declaring how much they hate the creators who make the damn show and demand that it be completely different huh?

Critics do not care if you watch the show

I think this claim should be addressed first despite its position in the intro. There has seemingly been an increase in a very peculiar sentiment, the sentiment that critics do what they do out of some kind of malice, or with an intent to get people to not watch the show.

I have seen RWBY ‘critics’ take sadistic glee in bullying the writers. I’ve seen outright BIGOTRY from them. You cannot argue a lack of malice.

Now, do not worry, i can tell you very simply and openyl. We critics simply do not care of what you do in your free time. Why should we? Many people here spend very little time on RWBY or being involved with the RWBY community, at least in comparison to the rest of our lives. For example, i log in multiple times a day, but rarely write unless a thread interests me, and i only have 2 days of making posts weekly. I have other things to do in my life like Cross-stitching as a hobby and of course, work.

Cool.

Now look me in the eye say that about the creators.

... That’s what I thought.

Let us be real here, what would any of us gain by getting other people to not watch or enjoy the show? Especially since it is something that we most likely would never even find out about? It just makes no sense.

Validation. Those people want validation for their feelings, to make it look like their feelings have a factual basis.

This has been especially prevalent during my critiques of RWBY: Arowfell, people were questioning if they should buy the game, or if i am doing the critique threads to stop people from playing the game. To which i could only say "I do not care" nor other critics. Of course, as long as it does not involve supporting a corporation like RT. Then we do care, but watching/enjoying RWBY content is mostly unrelated to that.

Gotta love that he brings up his Arrowfell posts, which DIRECTLY GO AFTER THE CREATORS MIND YOU, as he completely ignores an entire side to this conflict.

Look, there is no need for this self-victimization and thinking that critics are "out to get you", we aren't. Especially since many of us (With a few exceptions) still enjoy the show ourselves.

A. No, you fuckers usually target THE CREATORS. Your own fucking subreddit proves this. Type ‘miles’ into the search bar and watch as the first result is everyone bashing Miles Luna for liking tweets criticizing RT, trying to blame him even though it is VERY public knowledge that he alongside the other writers overwork themselves.

And B. I call bullshit. You bitch about so many things that have a more logical, positive interpretation so often I can only assume you WANT to see the negative. That and the times that, again, you bitch about shit that NEVER HAPPENED.

And just honestly want it to get better. Which actually leads to the next point.

I have seen your rewrites. All but one ALWAYS deviate majorly from the original to the point of barely being AU. Your definiton of ‘better’ is ‘panders to me’, which just underlines how self centered the lot of you are.

Yes, critics do enjoy the show, they express it differently, but they still do, at least most of them. Criticizing or only criticizing something does not show that a person is not enjoying the thing they are playing at hand. For example, go to any Paradox game forums and see what most often liked memes are, they are memes of either funny occurrences or some part of the game that is bad. And those are the games where people will spend 200+ hours playing, and thats the lowest estimate.

Cool. Now show me the ones where Paradox games try to get the developers fired so that they can place people more like themselves in charge.

At the end of the day there are too many ways to express enjoyment of a show or to interact with the fandom. Be it making fan-art, making AMV's, making fanfictions, rewrites. There are so many ways to engage with the fandom and a person can choose any of them. It is their choice to make and it does not indicate their enjoyment of the show.

Also gotta love that be brings up fanfics and rewrites as separate things,even though the latter would just be a more specific form of the former. Almost like he knows that rewrites aren’t made out of affection but rather entitlement and smugness.

An artist might even HATE a show that they make art for. Its possible, because artists do also get paid for their work. One cannot judge people just by their content, at least not entirely, especially with things like these.

Does the artist constantly say they are better the creators and that the creators are inferior people to them?

Not to mention. Where does this purity testing end? So if i mostly criticize a show im not a fan now? Ok. Who is next? The people who half criticize and half praise the show? The people who criticize the show at all? And before anyone accuses me of "Overstating" things, one of the main deciding factors of the critic sub forming was the belief that the main sub was hostile to critique post V6, which it kind of was and i experienced it myself first hand.

Gee, not like there was a sudden surge of people acting like amoral dipshits who constantly tried to browbeat the creators into making their OC versions of Adam canon or anything...

And again, ignoring the creator side of things really fucks you in the ass here because it sounds more like ‘So if I threaten the creators, lie about them and their work constantly and outright show that I know this is wrong when people do it to me- Am I not a fan????’

Hell, fan-artists have been harassed over the art they make. Cosplayers were harassed over characters they chose to dress as. These things can easily escalate. Purity testing is an never ending spiral of doom.

You’re right Dextixer.

... Too bad the critics started it in the first place, demanding that the creators weren’t pure enough themselves. How’s it feel getting fucked by your predecessors’ actions?

Also, i have to say that accusations of people not being "fans" of the show because they criticize it to be rude at best. Especially since i do not think any of us unlocked mind reading powers just yet.

But we do have this nifty little thing called ‘basic pattern recongition’. Like ‘people do nothing but lie and be jackasses constantly towards thing and creators -> they no like thing.’

Also, if getting slagged off is rude- what do you call suicide baiting and racism? Attempted murder?

This kind of claim is usually tied in with the claim that a critic "must not enjoy the show" and that they should "leave the fandom for something they are fan of" and the like.

These critics constantly interpret the show and people behind it as negatively as possible, beyond any form of logic or reason. All while acting miserable and pissy.

They should.

To which i can only say...

Something does not need to be good to be enjoyable.

Cool. Not why so many hate critics.

Talk about how you treat the people responsible FOR said thing.

I do not think there is more for me to say about these points. Just to clarify, i am doing this almost as an "outreach" program from the critic side, basically trying to tell you that we arent these "scary" and faceless mass of people who want to stop people from liking RWBY. What i want to show is that we are fans like any other, just making different choices in our expressions. That is it.

You know, unless you criticize them or call them out for doing far worse shit than 

Or if you commit the cardinal sin of ‘Being Miles Luna’.

Then you’ll be harassed and attacked and lied about and slandered until they think they’ve broke you.

Also, do be aware that this is not calling out the entire fandom and the like, this is me pushing back against some of the narratives i have been seeing recently, nothing more, nothing less.

Did you ever stop to think that maybe the narratives exist for a REASON? That maybe your community has crossed so many lines that no one cares about your pleas of innocence?

For fucks sake, the person you are indirecty referencing (Lilith Fairen) outright said she watched RWBY SPECIFICALLY because you fuckers got so loud and obnoxious that she had to check it out. She wouldn’t have come into the fandom if you hadn’t been such massive assholes.

Your bullshit caused your own boogeyman. Twice, considering that I originally came to the RWDE tag believing I would find some decent criticisms to discuss instead of a swamp of bile and toxic puke.

[conduitandconjurer]

I posted 3,402 times in 2022

561 posts created (16%)

2,841 posts reblogged (84%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@merrilark

@i-seeaspaceshipinthe-sky

@stcndupeight

@positiveautistic

@resplendent-ragamuffin

I tagged 2,259 of my posts in 2022

Only 34% of my posts had no tags

#ooc - 562 posts

#s3 spoilers - 247 posts

#ic - 156 posts

#sexy trash (self) - 149 posts

#show me my silver lining (self) - 129 posts

#klaus hargreeves - 87 posts

#meta - 81 posts

#face (robert sheehan) - 80 posts

#dumb puppy (nathan) - 75 posts

#sobriety is(nt) overrated (recovery tag) - 64 posts

Longest Tag: 139 characters

#he's so desperate to get everyone on board with the character that he still doesn't like but whom he (mistakenly) believes has faith in him

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Okay but I’m going to cry at Klaus’s inherent selflessness.  For years the character has been accused of being the most selfish of the siblings, and I have never grasped where that comes from, aside a societal bigotry against addicts, an ableist victim-blaming mentality, but how can you watch the scene where he is dying, again, in excruciating pain, but using his ability to conjure to help Luther say goodbye to a woman they both just met like a week ago--and STILL call him fundamentally selfish?   He uses these bewildering abilities that have traumatized him all his life, to give comfort to his loved ones. 

I know Klaus is disastrously flawed (aren’t we all) but.  Please do not tell me Klaus is anything but ride-or-die for his family, and one of the most astoundingly accepting, compassionate people in the world. I think what’s so beautiful and compelling about it is that it can also be deemed a flaw--to be so forgiving and trusting that you would even let your primary abuser back into your life, thinking he could be “better now.” Being inevitably betrayed by Reginald again, in the most painfully resonant way, and STILL! STILL! Virtually MOMENTS later, having the capacity to show kindness to your brother so he doesn’t have to feel the pain you felt, of never having closure to say goodbye to the person you adore, and only having dog tags to remember him by. 

I love you. There is no courage quite like compassion.  You are braver than anyone knows. 

211 notes - Posted July 9, 2022

#4

I’m trying to figure out how to articulate how gutted and desolate I feel about the wedding reception scene, where Klaus goes to every single sibling shy of Allison and tries to convince them to figure out a way to save the world with Reginald.

I’m trying to understand why it makes me nauseous and weepy that he asks Five, and Five is for once the one who has given up and is seeking solace in substance abuse, and Klaus lets him with the first expression of annoyed disappointment I’ve ever seen on his face toward a sibling. 

I’m trying to process how I feel that Lila treated him like an agent of malice and threatened to torture him if he spoke to Diego.

I’m trying to not actually outright sob that he called Luther “baby” and “Lulu” and begged him as desperately as during the days when he was stealing money and valuables for another fix, to consider his new addiction--a fictitious, delusional idea of a real bond with their father, in order to “find his purpose”--and Luther is so desperate to not spend the end of their lives in any form of discomfort (understandable and actually, an interesting mirror) that he bellows at Klaus so loudly, that Klaus ends up curled into a ball, ears covered, audibly whimpering.  It was an exact replica of the times in S1 (in the rave) and S2 (being shot at by Commission agents) when he was covering his ears and freezing from a PTSD flashback.  The way when Luther apologizes and hugs him, he just hangs there in his arms and immediately placates with “sure, that sounds nice,” the way he is just USED to being dismissed out of hand by loved ones, even when they have not even a day of existence in all the universe left....

I’m trying to explain to myself and anyone reading this why this makes me sadder and sicker than the actual “bus-ball” scene in which he repeatedly killed himself to find that sense of purpose, of human value. 

How desperate do you have to still be, to be valued by somebody else, anybody else, that you’ll be complicit with your cardinal abuser, and help him to recruit your siblings in perpetuating that abuse? 

I’m the first person to say Klaus has grown in leaps and bounds this season. And yes, I know that his suicide in the White Buffalo Room marks that he has broken free of Reginald and really is beginning to grasp that he has value irrespective of all Reginald pretended to offer. But it’s still AGONIZING. 

And it makes me sad. It makes me sad that he still has this IMMUTABLE capacity to LOVE.  That he goes to Sparrow Ben and softens him and comforts him, gets him to “open up his kimono.”  That he, ONLY he, pays any attention to Allison, and escorts her onto the dance floor, WITHOUT snubbing Viktor:

That he treats Sloane with unreserved happiness, with compassion, and officiates the wedding.  Like look at his face in the bg when she comes off the elevator: 

See the full post

256 notes - Posted August 5, 2022

#3

If he didn’t believe this about every single person whom he loves, he’d be so much better off...but then he wouldn’t be Klaus <3 

283 notes - Posted August 7, 2022

#2

I know a thousand other people have articulated it better than I have, and I miss the days when people listened to my character meta (on other blogs) but it will never get old to me how Klaus cheerleads and emotionally supports others--sometimes deservedly, and sometimes not-- with the blind adoration of the biggest idiot,  yet you can tell it’s 100% pure and with 120% conviction: 

See the full post

299 notes - Posted June 27, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Klaus Hargreeves’s REAL superpower isn’t straddling both sides of the Veil or resuscitating and regenerating bodily damage or astral projection or levitation or even conjuring and exorcising ghosts....

It’s being able to get along with ANYONE and EVERYONE, lol.  It’s making people who hate everyone find him tolerable. It’s his irrepressible affability. Ingratiating is too strong and negatively-connoted a word, but it’s in that ballpark.  Got a new dangerous foe? Just send in Klaus, the funky queer Human Hug, to charm them into feeling relaxed, heard, and valued. 

“Why am I smiling and when did I start smiling?” they think, baffled. Because Klaus, that’s why. The “King of Death” is better than anyone else at making others feel ALIVE. 

961 notes - Posted August 12, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[thattimdrakeguy]

It's actually amazing how twinkified Bernard is. I mean, even Jericho, in the 80s, while sensitive and not at all interested in going into the family business, is significantly taller than Nightwing, and it's not like he doesn't work out (including once with Roy). I think it's "what aesthetic the hets will accept". In the 60s, muscle. In the 80s, bears and clones. Today, twinks.

Like Bernard was always really notably taller than Tim. I mean a lot of characters are, obviously, but Bernard is still one of them.

In a panel or two they make it seem like Tim is taller in the Urban Legend stories--and it feels very wrong. And I knew from that moment on I was going to see some uncomfortable stuff, because that's enough to trigger a very specific reaction.

And I know this because you know how some ships Tim is in always make Tim take on the stereotypical "woman" traits for lack of a better word since he's known to be super short and very cute especially compared to his nearly always tall, muscular, handsome men date-mate in fandom ships? Even how people end up drawing Tim sometimes to look more feminine than he actually does because of that?

They're starting to do that with Bernard now when he was actually a pretty masculine guy despite his skinny, lanky frame. Not super masculine. Bernard was still a typical pretty boy looks wise. He wasn't as macho as Kon, but he still had a bit of a macho thing to him in a snobby kind of way with his presentation.

Giving him a boyband haircut, wear pink, big grinny smile, and a cuter disposition...that isn't Bernard Dowd.

I do not accept it as Bernard to same way I don't accept any art of Timmy looking ultra manly as Tim. Not saying Tim is feminine, he's not, he's just super super boyish and short.

This guy is not the same person as this guy.

The Tim is ultra good. But Bernard doesn't look like Bernard at all from his original appearances besides the fact he's blonde. If they switched the colors of how he dressed that'd at least match.

I think they got the hair and face from this artist's depiction, but his hair is just grown out and shaggy from not getting a haircut, it's not neatly trimmed and combed like boy band hair. It's actually pretty long in other panels, and his face even looks closer to what it originally did. And the person that drew that didn't create the character anyways. And even then he isn't depicted as super grinny, or cutesy. The mannerisms are totally different.

Saying all of that just sounds like nit-picking, because in most situations that'd be super small stuff, and there's even times where Bernard does look taller than Tim, and looks less cutesy in the newer stories. But that's obviously not what people are taking out of it which is why it's bothering me now rather than my initial 'Huh, he looks off' response when the issues started coming out.

I'm not down for this fandom transformation of Bernard into something more acceptably stereotypically twinky, when he was already an established character, no matter how obscure, with a well defined personality.

In fact he has such an established personality, and obvious sexuality given he says stuff like that, that seeing people clearly just do guess work based on his appearance in some panels in these latest stories, that end up coming purely from stereotypes on twinks, is in bad taste.

Most people won't know anything about Bernard. I do not expect them to read old stories for themselves, because most people probably don't know their are sites out there in which you can read for free.

But changing almost everything about Bernard besides his well known conspiracy theories all because of the impression that he's this cutesy, stereotypical gay, twink is in bad taste. I can't think of any other way to feel about it for me. It's not done out of malice or bigotry or anything. But it's still in bad taste, and it certainly takes the substance out of everything.

[bahkonearth]

THE SEVEN RINGS OF HELL (6/7)

MALICE

New skin, same hate

TOTAL POPULATION: 12,000

The desolate and dreary environment of malice is home to various settlements home to a closed off society painfully stained with bigotry still in their coding, nazis, racists, the kinds of people you'd expect to go to hell have their own section for their self absorbed hatreds, malice contains them artificially. They live by themselves, and keep to themselves, praying on any other spawn that reaches into their area, they are the embodiments of savages and easily is able to reach their most sinful urges. Most Malspawns are made up of a high count of souls, meaning that a twelve-soul demon is entirely possible and normal. Due to this though, they end up looking very inhuman with more animal like skeletons and weirdly arched legs.

SINFUL URGE

When a demon is pushed to the absolute limit, or influenced by an outside source with chemical reactions. They enter a state that's called a sinful urge, the inner-most deepest desire of the demon will spike out and the demon in question will erupt wildly with a lack of control, sinful urges can be sustained after taking chemicals to subdue one, or it will dissipate over time.

MALSPAWN EXODUS

Malice spawns used to roam Hell as free spirits, targeting mostly Lustspawns, Gluttspawns, and Limbospawns. Often times as part of this prejudice they'd be mistreated, belongings commandeered for themselves, and forced into enslavement. The forces of these three rings decided to unite in order to push Malspawns back into their own ring, creating a deep border control around it with the help of the enforcement of Treachery..

[twoforts]

notes for a longform mother daughter blu spy and blu scout angst fic that i wanted to write below the cut

its probably never going to get written lol

also sorry if theres anything cringe in there i havent looked at this in a long while

enemies to friends/found family snowed in BLU Scout + BLU Spy fanned fiction

OCT252020 at 245AM

BLU scout

inspiration:

- Allison Bechdel (in her novel Fun home)

- Carolina (from rvb)

ambitious, loud, secretive*, competitive

*scout knows how to distract from questions by answering questions that werent asked. she also is able to avoid seeming secretive by being open about too many other things. the queen of TMI, she talks too much, so it makes others eager to shut her up, and not pry.

BLU spy

inspiration:

- Allison Bechdel's Father (Fun Home novel)

- [ a teacher from my hs ]

- the Director (from RvB)

- Vespa (The Penumbra Podcast)

depressed, followed by dread, tragedy and death; know-it-all, unlucky (spy is the black cat), spy has issues with remembering faces due to brain damage, she has also convinced everyone that she is swedish

> followed by death, spy eventually realizes she doesnt want to kill anymore, even though death isnt permanent here, its stench follows her. she no longer wants any part in the violence.. she wants to heal, and for a while, she does. but she could only keep it up for so long.. recovery affected her performance for the worst, and the killings of her teammates and their pitiful stares snapped her into relapse. as her mental state continued to deteriorate, she only became more lethal, furthering her decline. the blood on her hands. the cold snow.

Chapter Title / Major event outline

Chapter 1

the meeting / the reunion

scout arrives to meet her mercenary team for the first time.

maybe looking over the dossiers again on the train just before arrival

put emphasis on meeting the spy?

maybe after each character is introduced, scout thinks something non-specific but referring, maybe at the end of the day when she finally gets to her room

Chapter 2-4?

working title

scout getting to know the team members. she tries to act natural, and succeeds. the mercenary shes most interested in is the spy, but no one knows. as scout gets to know the spy, the scout, who admires ambition, begins to hate what she sees. the spy, who is a depressed and broken shell of a woman (to the scout). Knowing what the scout knows, she hates this about the spy, and almost says things she shouldnt(things about spy being her mom), and actually says other things(harsh things about spy and her personality, as well as things she cant really control) and when scout returns to her room that night, she cries, both for herself and the spy.

Chapter 5-(X-1)

- events that happen between here:

the team doing very well with scout's arrival

- scout getting to know team members

spy making progress toward recovering from deep deep depression, but seeing less results from her work

- side stories involving other team members

- scout growing to hate the spy

- spy learning to hate scout as well

- spy growing more depressed and doing better at her job as a spy compared to when she was recovering, and the turmoil this brings

- the team doing very poorly due to multiple internal conflicts

- the team continuing to do poorly

- various chapters regarding the scout's past, each with holes to be filled both by the future scout, and finally the future spy

- ^ including scouts search for spy, and what scout knows about her

Chapter X-(X+2)THREE PARTS

THIS IS THE MIDPOINT OF THE FIC

the turning point / reconciliation

the chapters where scout and spy stop being so awful to each other for the sake of helping their team win a match for once.

PART ONE (X)

a major event or wake-up call happens and they decide they need to bury the hatchet

PART TWO (X+1)

they have trouble getting along still. they have bad synergy and while both are trying to make amends, they dont see eye to eye, which builds frustration in both of them.

PART THREE (X+2)

an epiphany, something clicks, and theyre both trying and succeeding at being decent to each other. baby steps... there are still incidents, but they begin working through it constructively

Y=X+3

Chapter Y-(End-1)

from here, scout and spy have their ups and downs. this is the friends part of the fic. where any remaining malice is squashed. where trust is built, broken down, and built again, until scout and spy become the two people who fundamentally understand and respect each other the most in this world. genuine care is built. by now we know that both spy and scout are lesbians, which they bond over. they go on a one-on-one mission together, that for once, works out really well. and spy. The Spy. First name "The" Last name "Spy", The "i am unknowable" spy, decides to confide in scout, which brings us to the last chapter(s).

Chapter (End) (potentially multiple chapters)

The end / the spy with nine lives

as an ultimate mark of trust, spy tells the loudmouthed scout about what happened to her, something she isnt proud of, but isnt sure she regrets. a large step in healing for the spy, and pretty utterly unheard of. (flashback chapter in the life of the once young spy)

**** ABUSE, FAMILY DEATH, PERIOD BIGOTRY ETC. CW FOR THE FOLLOWING PARAGRAPH

the spy was abused at a young age, her elder brother was murdered when she was young as well. spy lived in russia as a lesbian. she knew at a young age, she would kiss women, offer propositions and the like. she got caught one day. to avoid being institutionalized, she married the first man she met, who then abused her, and tried to trap her in the marriage by getting her pregnant. Spy kills her husband shortly after recovering from childbirth, fakes her death, and leaves the child, and her old life behind. she flees to sweden, where she meets, and loses the love of her life. she leaves sweden. spy does a lot of misguided living... at first she does her best to check up on her daughter, but only 3 years in, spy loses track and feels like a failure. the first of many failures in her career in espionage. at one point she tried to get lobotomized herself, she gave herself brain damage and amnesia. she is the kind of person who, despite any kind of perseverance or optimism, dread and death and despair follows her... no matter how hard she tries. spy eventually finds herself where she is now, and no matter how many times she wants to forget all the lives before her, she never stops wondering what became of her offspring.

******** END CW

epilogue

upon hearing this, scout receives the definitive answers she was looking for. and for old competitions sake, relishes in knowing something the spy doesnt. then they cry on each other again or something (scout knows spy is her mother, but spy does not know scout is her daughter and thats the end of the fic or something)

[rpmemesbyarat]

I’ve noticed some commonalities in how bigots tend to be portrayed in fiction, and while these portrayals are not wrong per se, they are also not the ONLY way in which bigotry exists. I would like to put forth some other ways. Another common notion I see is that if a person is bigoted in one way, they will be bigots in every other way possible. But this isn’t always true either. A racist might not be sexist, and a sexist might not be classist, and a classist might not be a homophobe, and a homophobe might not be ableist. Of course, sexism and homophobia and transphobia do all feed into each other, and there’s an undeniable link between racism and classism, but even still, someone might still only have one type of bigotry and not any others, or at least not have ALL of them. This goes double if the group they’re bigoted against is FICTIONAL such as mutants, robots, and supernatural creatures, since the reasons a person would have for hating or fearing these groups is often something that doesn’t apply to any real-world groups. Which is also why you might want to think twice before drawing parallels in your fiction between real-world oppressed groups and a fictional group; the metaphor can often fail or even be insulting. Also, which groups someone is bigoted against often has a lot to do with the context of their time and culture. For instance, because my grandfather was around during WWII, he’s biased against Japanese people but not Chinese people. Bigots also are not limited by class or education; while there is a correlation between being more educated and more exposed to the world and being more tolerant and understanding, it’s not a hard rule. Oftentimes, very well-educated urban cosmopolitan people just have a different way of showing their bigotry than their rural counterparts. Speaking of that, if your portrayal of bigots is purely made up of blatantly over-the-top redneck stereotypes with bad grammar and comical ignorance about the world in general, that is in itself a bigoted classist stereotype. The tactic of using “this group is bigoted and thus acceptable targets” as a shield for bigotry is very common, such as “Muslims all oppress women so attacking their countries is okay and justified”. Ignorant racist homophobic hillbillies who couldn’t access higher education certainly exist, I have some in my family, but if you think that bigotry only ever comes from one group, think again, especially if you portray that group---Muslims, poor rural populations, whatever---using insulting stereotypes. Irony much? Another big one, perhaps the biggest point I see fiction miss a lot, is that bigots are not all or nothing. The world is not divided into KKK members and people who are 110% enlightened anti-racists. It is not divided into incel MRAs and perfect feminists. It is not divided into people who want to murder all LGBT folks and. . . .you get the idea. These extremes absolutely do exist, no doubt, but most of society exists on a scale between the two points. The majority of people will smaller, more subtle, more moderate versions of bigotry, commonly known as “microaggressions”. This can exist even among allies and amidst the affected group themselves. For instance, maybe Sally loves her gay friends and thinks they should have all the same rights she does, but also thinks gay men are all catty and fabulous like her pals are, and that you can tell if someone is a “top” or “bottom” by personality traits. Sally’s certainly more accepting than most of society, but she’s still got some wrong ideas. And we’ve ALL met a girl who thought other girls were all mean shallow stuck-up prissy plastic princesses except herself; the “Not Like Other Girls” girl is basically a cliche in itself at this point. As is the White Savior trope, who most certainly doesn’t hate the poor noble helpless POC, he’s trying to help them, and so on. And most of society will agree that women are more gentle, nurturing, but somehow also more mean (especially to each other), and more emotional, but also think that women should still be able to read, drive, vote, own property, and hold jobs, and will be appalled at someone who doesn’t think women should have these rights. Because that’s what the societal norm is, and most people tend not to question that. Likewise, I don’t think that the majority of people who express more “casual” or “innocently” racist or LGBT-phobic sentiments are violent extremists who secretly desire this entire group to be wiped out or enslaved. Some most certainly DO, we know this, and many more would likely go along with it if it did happen, we also know this, but for a lot of people, it’s either ignorance without malice, or malice that does have a line it stops at. Again, it’s a spectrum, not a binary. The real scary part, to me, is that bigots can be totally nice, reasonable, and even intelligent people. And this is the aspect that fiction most often leaves out. Bigots are almost always portrayed as incredibly unpleasant people all-around; the hellfire-and-brimstone preacher, the shrieking Karen, the ignorant redneck who abuses his family on top of being every kind of prejudiced under the sun. And again, all these people absolutely exist in reality. But lots of people who hold bigoted beliefs are often not otherwise unpleasant, unkind, or stupid people. Bigotry would not be such a threat if only “bad” people alone were susceptible to it. But because it seeps into our culture to such a degree, because we are raised in it, everyone is going to absorb it, and while it is comforting to think that people who are kindly and smart will be able to know it’s wrong and be immune (because, of course, WE are kind and smart, right?) that’s simply not reality. Many bigots, in fact, can even interact with people in the group they’re bigoted against, believe it or not, in a way that is NOT bigoted; they may even sincerely love individuals of this group. It’s actually VERY common for people to hold negative or incorrect beliefs about a group in general, while bearing no malice towards the individuals they personally like and know. Humans are very, VERY good at cognitive dissonance. And most bigots, being humans, will have a plethora of good traits; they rescue may animals, they probably love their family, they might help the poor, you name it. People are complicated. This is not to say that you need to show that your bigots have saintly qualities to “make up” for their bigotry (it does NOT) or to engender sympathy for bigots, but I think it’s valuable to have portrayals of more subtle, moderate, and even otherwise-likeable bigots because it helps us recognize them in real life. If our only image of a racist is someone who is an all-around jerk that openly hates all other races to the extreme, what are we to make of, say, our co-worker Doris, who brings us cookies, watches our kids when we have an emergency, has a Black son-in-law she loves, yet keeps saying very shitty things about BLM whenever the subject comes up? Or what about examining OURSELVES? Again, most people see bigots as being completely terrible people, and that gives most of us a mental block against recognizing bigoted thoughts and ideas in ourselves, since we don’t see ourselves as terrible people and don’t want to. If the only dog you ever see on TV or in books is a German Shepherd, that’s what you’ll think all dogs look like, and won’t recognize that any other breed is the same animal, is what I’m saying, basically, and that’s why a diversity of nuanced portrayals is valuable. And, again, more realistic. And, again, in many ways, far more frightening.

[robotslenderman]

I have Thoughts on engaging bigots, inspired by this Reddit thread. Not the article itself, but a quote from it:

Before any attempt at “unity” [with Trump voters] can be made, there needs to be a reckoning, an acknowledgment that so many of Trump’s actions have been unconscionable and do not align with societal ideals that claim to value all life. Building bridges with people who share Trump’s views sends a clear message that you are willing to keep the peace at the expense of the dignity and well-being of those with less power and privilege.

This is key.

When an allo person tells me to be kind to aphobes, they are telling me that I should put myself through pain, humiliation, trauma and emotional abuse.

When a white person tells a PoC to be kind to racists, they're asking the PoC to put themselves through pain, humiliation, trauma and emotional abuse.

This goes for every majority that tells a minority it's their job to be kind to bigots.

This is not the minority's job.

It is the ally's job to do the emotional labour of working with the bigot with patience and understanding, with a caveat:

They must walk the line of doing it in a way that clearly condemns the bigotry and upholds the dignity of the minority they are defending.

What do you know? You can do BOTH! You can reach out and educate kindly AND do it in a way that supports minorities instead of enabling bigotry!

Make it clear what they're doing is not okay, but try to do it in a way that shows a little compassion, if only to avoid reinforcing their persecution complex so that they're more likely to change their minds over the long term. If only to avoid them seeking that same compassion from other bigots.

I am female.

I don't want allies to tell misogynists to go fuck themselves. I don't begrudge it from other women or myself, because we have to protect ourselves, but allies don't have that excuse.

The goal of a true ally is to root out bigotry, and nobody ever stopped being a bigot because they got shouted to death. By shouting down misogyny instead of disarming it, the ally is taking the easy way out and doing it in a way that reinforces it in the long term by reinforcing the misogynist's belief that they are being victimised. The ally is trying to make themselves look good at the expense of women.

We have the right to defend ourselves in whatever means we have to. Do not make the mistake of thinking that an ally attacking someone is at all the same.

This is a sin I have committed many times. But the truth is, unravelling bigotry and banishing it is long term work. The short term satisfaction of an ally telling a bigot to go fuck themselves is overshadowed by the fact that the bigot will seek out validation in places that are far more malicious to women than the ally.

"Hey, I understand you're worried a woman will falsely accuse you of rape, but in reality only a very small percentage of actual rapists are ever convicted, and a lot of rape survivors report being isolated and not believed."

This is a statement that does two things - it acknowledges the misogynist's genuine fear of the harm they perceive women to be capable of, which goes a long way, while defusing it with truth.

Will the bigot instantly stop being one? Of fucking course not. This is long term, this is hard work. It is exhausting, not rewarding. This is about planting a seed and reducing the necessity the bigot feels of seeking out other bigots for acknowledgement of their false fear. This shows the bigot that their opinion is not okay, but in a way that they are more likely to be responsive to.

That is a discussion that would traumatise women to have, or more likely reinforce existing trauma.

This is where allies come in. I am a minority in some ways, an ally in others. One thing we can do as allies is show the patience and understanding that would exhaust or traumatise minorities to have to display for themselves. That way, we can plant seeds that are more likely to come to fruition over the long term instead of feeding the feeling of persecution within the bigot.

But again - it must not come at the expense of the minority. If you show too much compassion or understanding you risk reinforcing their bigoted views. The intention is to show that yes, we acknowledge that you have are afraid, we are not ignoring your fear, but what you're doing is still not okay despite that fear.

I believe that most bigotry comes from fear and ignorance, not genuine malice. I don't think that most men who promote more men than women actually hate women or think we're incompetent, I think he does it because it's what he's been conditioned to do without thinking twice. I think he's been conditioned to be more critical of women than men, if you'll excuse my binary example. That's not hatred. That's just a problem he needs to fix.

But if another man shames him for hating women, does it help women more that that man now feels defensive? Or does it just make the "ally" feel better, feel morally superior, without actually putting in the work the ally could have done of showing the first man that he's promoting less capable people because he views women through a different lens he's been conditioned to have? The man who promoted the men over more capable women isn't reflecting on his actions, he's occupied by the fact someone thinks he's something he's not. That man "knows" he doesn't hate women, he just didn't think about what he's doing, and now he's being demonised for a motivation he truly doesn't have without being equipped with tools to dismantle his own biases.

I truly believe a lot of bigots have genuinely good intentions, but in the wrong direction. Many misogynists are genuinely afraid of us women and think they are truly doing the right thing by standing up for men, but their fault is in not sympathising with our fear. So when a man calmly explains rape statistics and how rare conviction for rape is to a misogynist afraid of women "crying rape", I appreciate it because he's defusing that fear in a way that shows that he wants to tackle the problem from his fear-based perspective without giving it enough understanding that the misogynist feels vindicated.

Let's say I'm in a group of people, and there's a misogynist and a male ally. The misogynist says something shitty.

If the male ally just tells the misogynist to go fuck himself and leave, it makes me afraid that the ally is just performing his allyship, that he just wants to look good to women. It makes me feel safer in the short term, yes - but am I really safer if that misogynist then goes to other misogynists and claims he's being victimised?

If the male ally says something like "hey, I understand that you (were just making a joke and wanted to make people laugh/are afraid that good fathers will lose their children to abusive mothers who will hurt the children/are worried your life will be ruined and you'll be helpless to stop it if a woman accuses you falsely of rape), but (your joke is really hurtful to women/this is caused by women being shoehorned into a role as mothers/many rape survivors say that they lost friends because people didn't believe them). I understand you had good intentions but what you said isn't okay and if you keep saying that then I don't want you to join us."

Then that accomplishes several things:

It validates the bigot's belief that they are someone with genuinely good intentions

It gives them a graceful "way out" of their bigotry, increasing the likelihood feel supported to bow out of it - "yeah, I did just want people to laugh but I guess it landed badly!" (Not great, but better than a double down.)

It shows support to women and upholds their dignity by acknowledging the remark's impact on them, and that the male ally isn't okay with it.

It makes the misogynist more likely to confide his misogyny in the future in someone who won't reinforce it, but will instead take it apart piece by piece without reinforcing any persecution complexes.

If the misogynist genuinely made a fuckup, they're not going to think that they're thought of as scum of the earth for a genuine mistake.

Will they always react graciously? No.

Is this guaranteed to show a positive short-term result? No.

Is there always a chance they'll go back to a bigoted echo chamber anyway to complain about how horrible the male ally was? Yes.

But damn, I'd be impressed with the ally for actually doing the emotional labour of reaching out to a bigot with kindness so that a woman doesn't have to.

I don't want bigots to be friends with only bigots, that just makes things worse for me later. I want bigots to be friends with my allies, not other bigots, because it means that one day that bigot can be an ally instead.

Is this a one size fits all solution? Fuck no. There is no one solution to discrimination and this certainly isn't it. This isn't about asspatting rapists, murderers, or people calling for violence. Punch the Nazi, kick the rapist, boycott that company. If someone doubles down even after you've shown good faith, that doesn't mean you should continue to give them an opportunity to gracefully back down when they're clearly not interested. Use your head, give them an opportunity, but acknowledge they might not take it.

But even people who might not show signs of listening today might be mulling over what you said later on. Slam the door if you have to, but let them know that they can knock again later. Better that you listen to this shit than the minority it will traumatise.

If you absolutely have to choose between being kind to a bigot and supporting minorities, always show support instead of kindness. But a lot of the time people think you have to choose one or the other when you don't actually have to, and this is reinforced by people who want to do what's easier. Emotional labour is HARD.

This is about allies actually doing the work of an ally over the long term by condemning bigoted actions in a way that shows that you, the person who did something harmful, are welcome among us as a person if you stop committing harmful actions. We don't have a problem with you, we have a problem with the thing you said or did. You're going to think we want nothing to do with you if we say you're a shitty person who hates women, but if we say you're a good intentioned person who fucked up, well, clearly we're okay with you just not the mistake you made.

Think of it as a carrot and stick approach. Us women venting or lashing out to defend ourselves is the stick. Allies are the carrot. Let us do the short term work of surviving and demanding. Let allies do the long term work of smoothing ruffled feathers and letting others know that they have nothing to fear from us.

Do the work so we don't have to hurt ourselves because you don't want to help us in a way that isn't as easy as telling someone to go to hell.

[redbeardace]

The Equality Act

What is the Equality Act? 

If you’ve paid attention to politics (in the US) over the past few weeks, the Equality Act has been name-checked quite frequently.  It was listed as a Day One priority of virtually every major Democratic presidential candidate at a recent town hall.  It was brought up in response to a recent pair of Supreme Court employment discrimination cases, one involving a gay man, the other involving a trans woman, both of whom were fired after coming out.  But what is it?

The Equality Act is an update to a number of federal anti-discrimination laws, primarily the Civil Rights Act of 1964.  This act explicitly provides anti-discrimination protection on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.  You can read the full text of it here, but if you don’t feel like it, the basic summary is that it’s mostly a Find-And-Replace job, substituting “sex (including sexual orientation and gender identity)” for the word “sex” in existing anti-discrimination laws.

Why is the Equality Act important?

Right now, across the entire US, it is illegal for someone to be fired due to their sexual orientation or gender identity.  In many states, there is a specific state law prohibiting this form of discrimination.  However, in the rest of the states, where there isn’t an explicitly state law, it’s prohibited because of an interpretation of the word “sex” in existing anti-discrimination laws.

These existing laws prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex.  For a plain, simple example, that means that you can’t reject a qualified candidate for a job, simply because she’s a woman.  Sex cannot be the deciding factor.

And that’s where the interpretation comes in.  Over the years, guidance of federal agencies and findings in court cases have held that this protection on the basis of sex extends to sexual orientation and gender identity.  Let me tell a quick pair of stories to illustrate:

1:  You have a hardworking, recently promoted employee named Alex.  One Monday morning, Alex comes into the office, sporting a shiny new ring.  Intrigued, you ask about it.  “I got married to Elizabeth on Saturday!”, comes the excited reply.  You congratulate Alex and wish him a happy life.

2. You have a hardworking, recently promoted employee named Alex.  One Monday morning, Alex comes into the office, sporting a shiny new ring.  Intrigued, you ask about it.  “I got married to Elizabeth on Saturday!”, comes the excited reply.  You fire Alex and throw the contents of her desk on the street.

In this scenario, the only difference between Alex and Alex is their sex.  Their sexual orientation is effectively irrelevant.  You fired Alexandra for doing something you would have been fine with Alexander doing, therefore you have illegally discriminated against Alexandra on the basis of sex.

Or so says the interpretation.

The thing about an interpretation of this kind is that it’s fragile.  It’s great when you have LGBTQ-friendly people at the wheel.  But all it takes is one fascist dictator wannabe to tell the federal agencies to change their mind.  All it takes is five people in black robes with a lean to the right to say “Nah, I think it means this”. 

And that’s where we are today.

The court cases heard last month will be decided next June, and there is a very real possibility that the Supreme Court will reject the interpretation that sexual orientation and gender identity are protected on the basis of sex.  If that happens, it will immediately become legal to fire people or refuse housing or kick someone off a bus for being gay or being trans in more than half of the states in this country.

So that’s bad.

The Equality Act, by explicitly including protection for sexual orientation and gender identity, will make it clear that kind of discrimination is illegal.  It won’t be open to interpretation, and will be far more resistant to the direction of the wind in DC.

What else should I know about the Equality Act?

It explicitly provides protection for intersex people.  When I did a survey of state-level anti-discrimination laws earlier this year, I found that intersex people were largely ignored.  That leaves them in legal limbo land where maybe they’re protected and maybe not.  The Equality Act includes “sex characteristics, including intersex traits” under the definition of “sex”, and would thereby unambiguously include that in all of the protections provided.  However, while the Equality Act is a step in the right direction, but it does not address specific intersex issues.

It covers the “perception or belief, even if inaccurate” case, which plugs some potential loopholes in protection.

It is worded vaguely enough to protect agender and non-binary people, but it does not explicitly mention them.

Unfortunately, sexual orientation is defined as a specific, enumerated list:  “homosexuality, heterosexuality, or bisexuality”.  Asexual and pansexual, etc., are not included.  This is a common failure of many anti-discrimination laws.  I doubt it’s born of malice.  Instead, it’s a combination of ignorance and inertia.  So many existing laws define it this way, it’s easy to copy and paste without thinking.  I prefer the language in New York City’s ordinance:  “A continuum of sexual orientation exists and includes, but is not limited to, heterosexuality, homosexuality, bisexuality, asexuality and pansexuality.”

There is no mention of romantic or affectional orientation in the Equality Act.  This strikes me as a huge hole.  Not only does this mean it completely leave out protection for aromantic people, it opens a loophole for discrimination based on romantic orientation of all types.

Nothing in the Equality Act tries to fix unnecessarily gendered language that exists in the law.  That would be a far more involved undertaking.

So where does the Equality Act stand?

The Equality Act has been passed in the House of Representatives, where it was a priority of the Democratic majority there.  After passage, it was sent to the Senate, where it will die, because the Republican majority there wants nothing to do with it.  And the President wouldn’t have signed it anyway.  There is no chance in hell that it will be passed before 2021, and even that would require Democrats holding the House, taking the Senate, and getting the White House.

So, you see, that’s a bit of a problem.  The Supreme Court’s ruling on these cases will come out in June 2020...

What you can do about it!

Register to vote NOW if you’re eligible and haven’t already.  Go.  NOW.  I’ll wait.

VOTE.

And vote for the Democrat where applicable.  Republicans are actively opposed to this issue.  You have seen what happens when Republicans have control over the government and it is up to you to make sure that doesn’t happen again.  Yeah, sure, Democrats aren’t perfect, but they’re a hell of a lot better than this fascist clown show and homophobic sidekick we have now, so vote Democrat and then keep the pressure on to force them to get better.  (And while you’re at it, push them for Ranked Choice Voting so we can maybe get rid of the two party stranglehold...)

Find out about your local anti-discrimination laws.  Local anti-discrimination laws won’t be overturned by the court decision in these cases.  So, if your state or city does not already have LGBTQ protections in its anti-discrimination laws (or doesn’t even have any anti-discrimination laws at all) band together and make noise.  Get them to pass one.

Tell everyone you can about this.  Be loud.  Silence will let them get away with it.

Fight back.  If it all goes to hell in your state next June, boycott any business that fires someone for being trans, picket any apartment complex who evicts a gay couple.  Broadcast their bigotry, shame them publicly.  Make noise.

Reach out to your lawmakers and tell them that you support the Equality Act and think it needs to be improved and passed.  And “improved” is key.  Since it hasn’t passed yet, there’s still time to make it better.  So tell them they need to make it better.  (At the same time, don’t let perfect be the enemy of the good.  As it stands today, it’s a vast improvement over existing law, so work to get the Equality Act passed, even if they don’t fix it.)

But Wait...  There’s More!

Another interesting (and unexpected) side story related to this which came up after I’d written most of this post is that ratification of the ERA is now within reach, thanks to Virginia going fully blue.  While it’s very likely that VA will vote to ratify in one of their first actions in January, there’s some haziness about whether or not it will count.  That means it will be a fascinating backdrop for the presidential election, with one side fully supporting ratification, maybe even with a woman carrying the flag for the second time in a row, and the other side being forced to explain why they don’t think women are equal, while they run a disgusting misogynist and/or someone who refuses to even eat with women.  Popcorn time!

But...  What’s the ERA, you ask?  That’s a fair question, because it hasn’t been talked about much since it was killed by a pack of anti-feminists back in the 70s.  It’s the Equal Rights Amendment, a constitutional amendment that reads “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.”

The haziness surrounding ratification is twofold:  First, the original congressional language had a deadline, which has long since passed.  Second, some states which ratified it early on have since rescinded their ratification.  Proponents of ratification will note that the original deadline was extended once, and can be extended again, if needed, and beyond that, a deadline may not even be valid.  As for rescinding the ratification, it’s not clear whether or not a state can even do that.  At any rate, it’s bound to head to court and make a lot of noise along the way.

As you may have noticed, the language is very similar to the vague meaning of “sex” that the Equality Act is trying to fix.  Will the ERA protect gender identity and sexual orientation?  That’s unclear.  It’s open to the same interpretation and court opinions that come up in the Civil Rights Act.  In fact, the Supreme Court decision in those cases I mentioned above, whichever way it goes, will probably be the precedent at work, should the ERA actually get ratified and take effect.

So you know what that means, right?  

Once the ERA is ratified, we're going to need the ERA 2 to explicitly include what the original ERA leaves out.

We have a lot of work to do.  Time to get busy.

[bemused-writer]

VNC Chapter 41 Analysis

What a chapter! After reading this one, I was left reeling a bit, I won't lie. Certain things didn't surprise me all that much, but then there were revelations that I definitely didn't see coming whatsoever. So, without further ado, let's take a look at what took place. The first thing we see is Olivier and Roland fighting side-by-side without much success. We already knew they were comfortable with one another, but to me this sort of cemented it. They've fought together many times in the past and they're used to one another's ticks.

Contrary to what I've been thinking, Olivier is definitely the more high-strung between these two, even in battle. XD Not that I ever thought Roland was high-strung, but Olivier is the kind of character who could have easily been written as calm and collected above all else in everything. Instead, he very much is not: he seems to be barely keeping a lid on it, at least around Roland. I'm loving this about him, because it actually fits in very well with his portrayal in The Song of Roland. He tolerated Roland's antics there, but he was completely done more often than not. For VNC it makes for an interesting foil to Roland. Olivier is more serious about his job, but Roland generally has a calmer personality, even as he branches off to do whatever he thinks is right. Olivier still maintains his more sensible, responsible streak from The Song of Roland, though. He reminds Roland that they're short on time. Soon, they will have to kill Chloé. I find this interesting because neither of them is happy about it. They're just doing their jobs. It's not super obvious what Olivier thinks about vampires just yet--he's been a lot more concerned with Roland just being a good paladin and not rocking the boat, but he's never said Roland is wrong to question either.

[Volume 4]

[Volume 5]

He strikes me as someone who will do whatever it takes to make sure Roland stays out of trouble. He even says that he recommended Roland for Jasper because he thought some responsibility would help him settle down. Now, in The Song of Roland, Roland was engaged to Olivier's sister, Aude. I wonder if some of Olivier's concern with Roland is because he views him as part of the family, a brother of sorts.

He also knows that Roland cares very much for his own family; he has several siblings and it sounds like he joined the chasseurs as a way of providing money for them. Personally, I think this is nearly the only reason why Roland obeys the chasseurs whatsoever. Olivier was right when he said Roland "believes in himself as a follower of God." He will do what he thinks is right first and foremost, consequences be damned. But the consequences of disobeying here are retribution against his family.

I'm very curious to see just how long Roland will manage to keep this up. Things worked out well enough this time around, but his loyalties are essentially split between the chasseurs and Noé. That can't last forever. Meanwhile, Vanitas has realized saving Chloé will be a little more difficult than he'd anticipated. This is at least the third time that a specific malnomen has been brought up. The second was in the catacombs:

[Volume 4] Vanitas of the Blue Moon: It's a vampire's shadow made physical. The shadow of one under this curse begins to writhe as if it has a will of its own. Swelling and growing larger and larger, it swallows the vampire to whom it belonged in the end. Prédateur is a glutton. It kills and eats anything it can reach. Until the moment it consumes the last of the life force of the vampire who created it, its only goal will be to devour life. When I first read this section, I assumed Prédateur was simply a manifestation, a part of the curse. However, the description of Chloé's malnomen gave me pause:

Vanitas of the Blue Moon: The trouble with this malnomen is that it can't be cured simply by deriving the formula for an inverse operation. Unless the curse-bearer rejects the theater of their own accord, the link can't be severed, and you'll end up erasing them along with the closed space. It's finally struck me that we're dealing with names. Specifically, Prédateur, Millie, and Loup-Garou way back at the beginning. Malnomen aren't simply part of being a curse-bearer, they have a life of their own. Perhaps they are literally members of Charlatan acting through another living vessel or perhaps they're lost vampire souls trying to find absolution. Maybe there isn't a difference between the two. There's a lot to consider there. Also, Vanitas of the Blue Moon definitely has a teacher's aura about her. Everything Vanitas knows about the book comes from her; he didn't simply figure this out on his own. And the way Vanitas of the Blue Moon is teaching him... It's like she knew he would need to do something about curse-bearers at some point. Sure, it could have just been academic, but why mark him and give him access to the book's abilities if she didn't think he'd use it at some point? The mystery surrounding her only continues to grow as well as what Vanitas's relationship with her even was. Either way, Vanitas has to convince Chloé that she should be cured. I want us all to think about this for a second. The fellow who literally said "I'll do as I please, use methods I choose, and no matter what you people want, I will save you without fail!" is now having to reason with a vampire and convince her he should be allowed to save her. Truly incredible. Makes me wonder, what if his issue with VotBM is that she wouldn't let him save her? There's a thought... But getting back on track, Vanitas still isn't great at reaching people through tender methods. No, he berates Chloé and points out things will be awful either way, so she better make up her mind real quick. I'm... not sure he was convincing exactly, but I appreciate his urgency. It works though. The fact that it's her choice, that she has to choose, finally wakes her up and she sees the destruction around her. More specifically, she sees Jean-Jacques. Chloé has never wanted to hurt Jean-Jacques. She hasn't understood him all that well as he pointed out in the last chapter, but she genuinely wants to do right by him. Not an easy position to be in. We finally get to see how Noé's doing at this point in his battle against Astolfo. These two are interesting for two reasons: 1) This is someone Noé can't just "fix." Astolfo's issues with vampires run deep, far more so than Roland's ever did. Noé isn't used to being confronted with a problem without a solution. He's been able to solve everything else so far, so Astolfo is the first real evidence he's had that the enmity between humans and vampires is beyond him; he can't use diplomacy with him. He might not ever be able to. 2) Noé is a good person, but for Astolfo everything he says and everything he does reminds him of the night his family was defiled and killed. We're used to seeing Noé as the good guy, but for Astolfo it's impossible for Noé to ever be anything other than evil. Even though we know Noé would never do any of those things, through Astolfo's eyes we see Noé's image slanted as it becomes corrupt, all because of what he was born as. It's exactly how bigotry in real life works. We can understand why Astolfo hates vampires, but at the end of the day it doesn't make him right or his cause just. Roland goes out of his way to explain Astolfo's history to Noé regardless of it being impossible for Noé to change Astolfo's mind. Why? My guess is that he thinks we should all understand our enemy. Roland didn't understand his enemy, vampires, until he met Noé and realized they could be good. Likewise, Noé can't understand those he fights until he learns some of them are irredeemable. I like that Vanitas is initially outraged at Roland doing this:

Vanitas has been worried this whole arc that Noé won't be able to handle Astolfo as we can see from his reaction to Noé saying he can handle him:

Honestly, this entire arc has been Vanitas worrying over Noé, incessantly so considering who we're talking about. He let Noé fight him in chapter 35, but he also didn't have a choice. No doubt, he thought Roland revealing how tragic Astolfo's past would stir Noé's chivalric side and he'd have difficulty once more. Vanitas knows Noé is affected by these kinds of revelations. When he told Noé his own parents were killed by vampires, Noé took it pretty hard and things went downhill from there. Turns out, Vanitas was both right and wrong to worry about this. When Astolfo goes into the details of how he's suffered, Noé looks affected, but what really takes him off guard is when Astolfo starts bleeding from taking too much of the tonic. Personally, I think this is how Astolfo was able to trap Noé and Noé was forced to lose his arm in order to avoid being literally blown to smithereens. I'll admit, this was the biggest shock of the chapter for me, as I'm sure it was for pretty much everyone reading it. XD I'll get into more detail on that in a second, but I do want to point out that the fact Noé didn't die, didn't hesitate so much that he lost his life, is a big shift for him, and it's thanks to Vanitas, who must have known he had to do something to counteract what Roland had revealed. Vanitas: Don't hesitate, Noé. Don't think about whether Astolfo's hatred is justified or not. Both humans and vampires act on their own concepts of justice. One's just can be someone else's evil. "Being right" is "power." It can easily turn into violence, a weapon that's much harder to deal with than malice. Don't brandish it. Keep it inside. Justice should merely be the light that illuminates the path ahead of you. Vanitas hasn't been prone to giving good advice in the past (or at least not advice Noé would take), so Noé's reaction is understandable:

He's shocked into silence. Vanitas is giving genuine, heartfelt advice, designed to help Noé with a difficult situation. It's possibly the most open we've ever seen Vanitas. Sure, he's told Noé things about himself in the past, but it was always veiled in anger or resentment. This was simply to help without any strings attached. Between how he's been treating Noé this arc and even Jeanne, we're seeing a much softer side of Vanitas than we had previously. And the advice doesn't stop there.

Vanitas looks so fond here and just a touch regretful. I wonder if he knows this way of doing things would never work for himself; he's already devoted to himself to revenge; it's Noé who gets hung up on what's right and wrong and how he can help others. Maybe he wishes he had that kind of solid moral compass for himself. We also see Roland smiling as they talk; he honestly likes, and is inspired by, their friendship. 

Another thing about these two panels is that Vanitas is being openly affectionate this arc, in front of Roland of all people, and I genuinely wasn't expecting it. This arc has been a whole lot of Vanitas fussing over Noé and everyone (except the person in question) noticing it. Behold my montage Let's take a look at how things have developed so far:

This isn't even including every single example, but you get the idea. Vanitas's way of caring is a mix of berating (because he doesn't know what to do with the fact that he cares), lying to anyone picking up on it, and opening up/being gentler when he's reminded that Noé really is on his side or by things he's learned about Noé more generally. Most of these events are prompted by Noé doing something first: Noé apologizes for wanting to drink his blood, Vanitas is nice to him on the train. Noé has a tendency to wander about, Vanitas tries to get the whole group to look after him. Noé has a hard time fighting against a particular type of person, Vanitas switches their targets/keeps Noé away from the problem, and reminds them of their goals. Noé is missing/kidnapped, Vanitas spends the entire arc worrying about where he is. Noé can't tell what is real, Vanitas assures him. Noé assures Vanitas that he doesn't look down on revenge as a motive, Vanitas wipes the blood off his face/promises to help Chloé. Noé learns the truth about Astolfo, Vanitas gives him the best advice he's given anyone in this entire series. If the catacombs arc was about Noé learning about Vanitas and helping him, then this arc is definitely about Vanitas caring for and helping Noé. 

Also, the advice Vanitas gives Noé about how justice should be the light that illuminates the path ahead of you? Who was it Noé compared to light only a few chapters ago? And was symbolically represented as the only light Noé can see?

None other than Vanitas himself.

We’re definitely seeing how these two are inextricably intertwined for the rest of the series.

 Anyway, getting back to the fight with Astolfo, Noé loses his hand and part of his arm in order to dodge the blast. The one thing he can't concede is Chloé and Jean-Jacques. More broadly, if Noé has the capacity to help someone, he can't back down, no matter what.

Dante's reaction to Noé's victory is one I wholeheartedly endorse. I, too, was pretty impressed. Even so, Noé's coming out of this arc a complete wreck. 8D

He still has a head injury, his shoulder seems to be pretty well sliced, and he's missing his forearm. I just... wow. But this raises several questions: How will Noé cope with only one good arm for fighting? Can he regrow it? Will it be missing the rest of the series? Can he withstand that much blood loss? Did Vanitas bring his medical kit? Because some first aid would be a good idea right about now.... Possibly the most interesting question to ponder out of these is "Can he regrow it?" The reason for this is that we already know Noé suffered some kind of extreme injury as a child:

For his entire left eye to be wrapped seems to heavily imply one of two things: it was either gouged out or otherwise severely injured. But we can see that as an adult he has both eyes and they both seem fine. If he was actually missing an eye, then he regrew it and the likelihood of him being able to regrow his arm increases. If it was simply injured, maybe not. But the one time Vanitas offered to give him medical aid, he was pretty nonchalant about it:

Even Vanitas thought that was a weird reaction. Perhaps Noé has unusually good healing abilities. Or he's stubborn. Guess we'll be finding out soon. 8D Also, I’m just going to hazard a guess that, seeing as it’s the same shoulder that’s been injured in both of these examples, the main difference will be that, while Noé turned away Vanitas’s help before, maybe he’ll accept it this time. It's also finally revealed that this whole time Chloé wanted to be human. I thought that must be the case; why go to all this trouble otherwise? It's terribly sad that she never felt like she was really herself once she became a vampire. She's never been able to accept who she is once her entire life. She's spent all these centuries trying to make her family, who has long since passed on, happy.

But Chloé's finally made a choice, and that choice is to remain with those people who are in the present, her new family: Jeanne and Jean-Jacques.

It's an almost suspiciously happy ending and I am fully expecting Mochizuki to take this down a darker path, but I kind of hope she doesn't. It would be nice to see these three get the happiness they deserve, and with how much attention has been given to Jean-Jacques and Chloé this arc, I think it would make a lot more sense for them to serve a role at the end of the series. The chasseurs (or maybe just Astolfo) might be the main problem, or possibly Charlatan itself. But right now, it genuinely looks like things have been taken care of, which would be great because I don't think Noé is going to last much longer if things keep up. Of course, this analysis wouldn't be complete without addressing "Luna."

I have two thoughts on what this could be. One, this is the name of the mark and marks might work like malnomen: they have a life outside of the purpose they serve. Two, Luna could be VotBM's real name and this mark is very literally summoning her power. When Vanitas uses his power, Noé remarks on the formula he sees:

This got me thinking, is he seeing the world formula itself right now or a physical representation of Chloé's name or soul so to speak? I'm leaning toward the latter if only because with Amelia we also saw a unique background when she was cured and it was completely different:

Flowers, which fits perfectly with her name. As for the next chapter, I'll admit I don't have a lot of guesses. I would think it would just be everyone recuperating and healing up. Probably some serious conversations will have to occur. I think it’s important to note that even if things go badly, Vanitas did keep his promise to Jeanne, which is huge. There was no guarantee, but he made the promise anyway and, lo and behold, he kept it.

 As for whether the peace will last, I have no idea, but I definitely think this arc is coming to a close and we'll be moving on to the next fairly soon. I'm looking forward to what happens. ^^

[ncfan-1]

Oh, Moon. Moon, Moon, Moon. I made the point earlier that this is a character who would really have benefited from having access to Aesop’s Fables as a child, because the story of ‘The Farmer and the Viper’ would potentially have been of great interest to her. She could also have benefited from watching Gargoyles as a child, if only to hear David Xanatos say “Revenge is a sucker’s game.”

Like, Moon. Moon. You’re mad because Eclipsa wouldn’t let you kill her child right in front of her, and that when she intervened to keep you from killing her child right in front of her, you were badly injured and wound up in the Realm of Magic for a while, without your memories, and was temporarily separated from your family? Moon. Moon. That wouldn’t have happened if you hadn’t jumped the gun when Eclipsa was succeeding in talking Meteora down and decided that murder was your only option. And it’s just a bit hypocritical of you to be mad at Eclipsa for defending her daughter against you, when you’ve proven you’re more than willing to kill on your own child’s behalf. (Also, you’re mad because you were separated from your family for a few weeks? By your own standards, Eclipsa has every right to just go on the rampage, because she was separated from her family for three hundred years.)

So, Moon. You get mad that Eclipsa wouldn’t let you kill her kid and that you were hurt and temporarily separated from your family, so you decide to orchestrate a coup and depose her so you can win back your old throne and kick her out of the dimension. But in so doing, you decide to join forces with a genocidal racist with superpowers, and empower other violent racists with the same superpowers Mina has, all of whom are people who have made it clear time and again that they’d like to do harm to Eclipsa and to the monsters of Mewni, which, though very little can be said for you at this point, it can at least be said that that was not part of your plan. You knew what Mina was. You knew what the other people you turned into Solarian warriors were. And you just thought you’d be able to rein them all in and keep them from turning this coup into a genocide, because of course they’d all respect your authority and ignore both their own hatred and the power you gave them to do something with that hatred.

Oh, and you completely betrayed your daughter’s trust, singlehandedly erased all of the work your daughter poured her blood, sweat, and tears into, set up a situation where most of her friends will die if you, Star, and Eclipsa don’t come up with a solution, created an army of super-powered, nigh-invulnerable genocidal warriors who are off to gleefully commit genocide, have been driven out of your home dimension on pains of death, and your daughter is absolutely furious with you and will likely never trust you again.

So yeah, you fucked up. With age does not necessarily come wisdom, and no matter how much we ought to know better, we’re all still capable of making monumentally stupid decisions.

But I don’t think you’re beyond redemption. Not by a long shot.

Okay, we’re below the cut, so I’m exiting Direct Address mode and going into Essay POV mode.

First of all, though I was, like many people, surprised by the revelation that Moon… Did That, I don’t think it came out of nowhere. She’s spent most of this season surrounded by people who hate Eclipsa and hate monsters. She’s spent months living in an echo chamber of hate that, coincidentally, happens to validate all of her old beliefs. It was almost inevitable that something bad was going to come of that. (And don’t think I didn’t notice that at least some of the Neo-Solarians were members of Moon’s yurt village.)

Also, Moon has been visually linked with Solaria since Season Two. Ever since ‘Into the Wand’, where we first saw her tapestry, in fact. Theirs are the only two royal tapestries that depict violence, and both depict violence against monsters. Also, Moon’s battle garb? Is pretty clearly designed after Solaria’s battle garb. Her dress is almost literally a palette swap of Solaria’s, and as an adult, she wears her hair braided into battle, just like Solaria. It was probably intentional on her part, meant to hearken back to this “heroic” queen of old as she, too, carried out a campaign of extermination against monsters as a grieving teenager.

And I’ve always found it kind of iffy that Moon’s battle garb is literally her cosplaying the genocidal warmonger in the family tree (I wonder what Eclipsa thought when she first saw Moon wearing that dress as a teenager). Something’s finally come of that, I guess.

Second, Moon’s main fault here was not a fault of malice. It was, first, of arrogance, and considering that Moon has spent the better part of her life ruling as an absolute monarch who is extremely unaccustomed to anyone challenging her authority, arrogance is entirely too plausible as a character flaw for her. It was, secondly, one of short-sightedness, and, well, I guess Star comes by it honestly. As arrogant and short-sighted as she would have to have been to seriously believe that she could control Mina and the other Solarian warriors, as serious a lapse of judgment as it was to think that she could just open this Pandora’s box of bigotry and hatred and then close it again with no problems, it was at least clear that Moon wanted her coup to be as bloodless as possible. She didn’t want to hurt Eclipsa; she just wanted Eclipsa gone.

I think part of Moon’s saving grace here is that her coup, once she revealed her role in it, immediately and violently blew up in her face.

Oh, don’t get me wrong. Even if everything had gone to plan, it still would have blown up in her face. Because a throne you win by violently deposing your predecessor is a throne you spend the rest of your life fighting just to hold onto. Because resurrecting the Solarian warriors is just the thing to ignite the powder keg of Mewman-Monster relations, and just might be the thing to reignite the Mewman-Monster war. Because if Moon thought the other kingdoms gave her flack for her handling of Toffee, oh, can you just imagine the fresh hell she’d be in for on the diplomacy front after Rich Pigeon, Ponyhead, and (less directly) Penelope Spiderbite got caught in the crossfire of her coup? Because if Moon’s coup had gone completely to plan, I honestly think it would have been the end, the very end, of her relationship with Star. It would have destroyed any bond of love and trust the two of them shared, and Star probably would never have wanted anything to do with Moon again.

And don’t get me wrong, things are bad right now. Because on top of everything else, River? River doesn’t know what she did. He can’t possibly know what she did; there’s no way he would have been able to keep it a secret. And if the Solarian warriors find out he helped (or tried to help, if Globgor doesn’t make it to the Magic Sanctuary in time) Globgor? They’ll kill him. Or try to, at least. After all, Mina told her warriors to round up all “monster smoochers” (I see they’re being as clear in their references to real life attitudes towards miscegenation as possible) along with the monsters; one wonders how long it’s going to be before it’s made clear that Penelope Spiderbite’s on that cliff, too. But they could be worse. Moon should honestly be grateful that her coup didn’t go to plan, because she would have paid dearly for it, and I don’t think the love of her daughter is a price Moon would have been able to bear paying. Even to get back at Eclipsa.

She’s still going to pay dearly, though. Moon wrote a check she couldn’t cash, and if the promos for ‘Cleaved’ are any indication, we’re about to watch the price get taken out of her hide. Her one route to redemption is the fact that, since her coup blew up in her face, she can actually do something to make up for what she did, and start down the road to regaining Star’s trust. But it’s not going to be easy, it’s not going to be pleasant, and ‘Cleaved’ is almost certainly not going to be a fun outing for her.

The other part of Moon’s saving grace is that upon being removed from Mewni, she seems to have asked herself almost immediately, “Was it all worth it?”

And answered her question with a resounding, “No, it really, really wasn’t.”

Because she can’t find a single thing to say to Star when Star calls her out. Because she is just so obviously guilt-stricken and confused by Eclipsa treating her much more charitably than she really deserves. And I really don’t think her actions were truly rooted in malice, because whenever Moon is actually around Eclipsa, away from the echo chamber of hate that she was living in these past several months, she seems at a loss to remember what exactly it was about Eclipsa that she hated so much in the first place, what it was about her that made her feel as if she was justified in ruining the life of a woman whose life has been ruined so many times that she can just compartmentalize it and make nice with the person responsible as if Moon did nothing more serious than swipe the last Snookers bar from the vending machine, instead of nearly getting Eclipsa and Eclipsa’s beloved baby daughter killed, and putting the life of Eclipsa’s beloved husband in serious jeopardy and being more than willing to use that as leverage against Eclipsa to make her surrender. Oh, and resurrecting the Solarian program probably unearthed just a heap of unpleasant memories for Eclipsa, considering who her mother was, but oh, look, Eclipsa’s happy to play pool with, strategize with, and give advice on reconciling with her daughter to Moon. The closest she comes to actually calling Moon out for anything is getting a tiny bit passive-aggressive with Moon over her working with Rhombulus to frame Eclipsa for Globgor’s release. Which must make Moon feel even worse, because if their situations were reversed, Moon would not be nearly as civil. For starter’s.

Yeah, Moon fucked up. She fucked up monumentally. But she at least understands that she fucked up, and that is a start.