#that's an accurate assessment

[rackartyg]

hmm i don't think the nuances of astarion's reaction to araj is to do with him finding romanticisation of his vampirism specifically to be distasteful so much as, like, she's objectifying him and that's what he doesn't like (but instead of sex, it's based on his vampirism). something something there's a difference between strangers and someone you trust something

[prokopetz]

Concept: RPG party member whose sexual orientation and aesthetic preferences dynamically respond to the player's character creation choices specifically to make them not attracted to you. Like, not just gender-wise: did you make your character buff? They like 'em skinny. Made yourself skinny? Now they like 'em buff. Just maximally contrary along every conceivable axis of attraction. This even affects how they relate to other NPCs in your party, to the extent that if you're trying to play matchmaker, the optimal strategy is to make your character as dissimilar as possible to whomever want to pair them up with.

[chanaleah]

my impressions of israeli cities as someone who's never been to israel

[valtsv]

was thinking about this earlier but the dynamic of cannibalism being associated with high society and the culinary elite (hannibal comes to mind specifically) while also simultaneously being associated with the socially isolated and economically impoverished (as in texas chainsaw massacre) is so interesting to me i want to read 10 million books on why it happens so much in media....

i can only speak from a place of personal opinion and general knowledge, because i haven't read that many papers or in-depth studies on cannibalism, but i think it often comes down to an interesection between the themes of the story you're telling and class structures and divisions. cannibalism is a compelling form of narrative symbolism because it's undeniably impactful and hard to ignore. when portrayed as a practice associated with the culinary and social upper class, it might be used as a critique of the rich and powerful and their lack of ethics and willingness to consume and destroy others for their own self-interest by showing them literally preying on and consuming their victims, or a horror story/cautionary tale about how having everything can lead you to never be satisfied and turn to increasingly extreme measures to feel like life is worth living, or a dark fantasy of indulgence and excess. when associated with the poor, marginalized and isolated, it's often based in bigotry and harmful stereotypes of the "primitive" "inhuman" "savage" "other", however it might also function as a revenge fantasy where the most oppressed and exploited members of society turn on their oppressors and take "eating the rich" to its most literal extreme, exposing the fragility of class divisions and pointing out that those in positions of social and economic power are hardly the mythic titans their propaganda tries to make them out to be, but ultimately just as mortal and made of flesh and blood as any other human being, and not immune to being dragged down from their position at the top of the food chain and torn to pieces by the crowd (as well as reminding the audience of their own fragile mortality and precarious position in the social order, and the humanity we all share in common - however cannibalism often divides the perpetrators from both their victims and the audience, so this is rarer than the other interpretations mentioned).

cannibalism and power often go hand in hand. cannibalism has historically been used as both a means of displaying your power over defeated opponents and delivering a final, humiliating blow to their image by consuming their flesh, and a means of othering and dehumanizing your opponent by portraying them as the cannibalistic monster.

both the very rich and very poor also tend to be perceived as more distant from the people who make and consume these stories, making them easier to project fiction onto and transform into symbols and narrative devices (or, in the worst cases, dehumanize) than those who occupy the same social spheres as the creator. they can be held at an arm's length without discomfort and, depending on the target audience, may be a source of fascination due to the differences in their lived experiences. it adds to the fantasy, and makes any inaccuracies, exaggerations and fabrications feel more plausible because the majority of the audience probably don't have any personal experiences of being in those positions to draw on.

[treespen]

Mina: "Lucy told me that Arthur loves it when she makes a face and finds it adorable, as I do too"

Van Helsing: "Do not make a face Miss Lucy at the garlic, Arthur would not like you making a face"

Arthur: (holds Jack's hand tight in gratitude for trying to give Lucy his blood)

Van Helsing: "Don't tell Arthur you gave her your blood it will enjealous him"

[theminecraftbee]

also etho, iskall, and stress is a trio I didn’t know I needed but now that I’ve had delights and fascinates me. it’s like. stress is seems nice is actually sarcastic. iskall is seems sarcastic is actually sarcastic. etho is seems sarcastic is actually nice. alternately, they’re on a sliding scale of giggly, with stress at maximum giggly, then iskall below that, then etho at ‘not very giggly but appreciates the vibes’. do you understand what I’m trying to get at,

[tanadrin]

"the lunatic fringe on my opponents' side fundamentally taints their entire movement, which is therefore obviously morally bankrupt and should be ignored. the lunatic fringe on my side is an unrepresentative minority and anybody paying attention to them is a fool/bigot/liar." <- depressingly common pattern. you can't have it both ways!

[moeblob]

This really doesn't have to go on main but I'm putting it here for now:

So uh. Job hunting online for retail positions is definitely an experience. I saw a part time position listing for an office supply store and I think to myself, good! Not a restaurant! I can do office supplies! So I submit the resume/application and then get to the "great, thank you for that! Here are some multiple choice answer questions ranging from word association to number sequences to math problems!"

And I think to myself "great! I'm good with numbers and math and I should be okay associating basic words for this lovely RETAIL POSITION" and then I get the quick and easy practice questions. Wonderfully easy. I've got this. It's neverending and you just have a 10minute time limit to answer as many as possible! No problem!

Then I click "begin" and get slammed with the most ungodly whiplash with the first question being word association about "which of these four words is DIFFERENT" and the options were STRANGLE, PUSH, THROTTLE, and SUFFOCATE.

Hey, uh. Hey retail job. You uh. You okay there? I have some concerns and it was the first question.

[alphaketoglutaricacid]

when toshiro got on laios ass for being inconsiderate and never thinking about how his actions affect others like he was mean abt it but hes not wrong. Thats a pretty major character flaw and a pattern of behavior for laios — w not choosing jobs that made money for namari who is in a pretty dire financial situation where she cant even get off the island and has to go adventuring in the dungeon to get out of debt, who even explicitly brought this up, eating marcilles familiar immediately even tho she was attached to it, kidnapping shuro into his party and putting him in life threatening situations without like really checking he wanted to be there…?, wanting to see if izutsumi has more than one set of nipples when dehumanization is a HUGE huge issue for her the list goes on and on and on. Like when a friend does this to you its just kinda annoying but when ur the leader u really should be checking if everyones needs r met without them telling u. Like the autism plays a factor for sure, his cultural upbringing plays a factor for sure, but as ppl regardless I think u gotta step up to meet the needs of ppl in the moment or realize u shouldnt be calling the shots. just bc its influenced by factors out of ur control does not make it not a serious character flaw. And its written as such in the story.

[rontra]

they literally are so real though. God of light is like “hey your wife killed a whole load of people and if you go hang out with her you will Not have a good time” and the first thing she says to him is “what if we took over the world by violent force and installed ourselves as the gods of the world” and he goes “ok :)”. and hes right.

[INCORRECT BUZZER]

->HE SAYS<- "hi i'm back. anyway apropos nothing i want to unite the world under one banner. for. um. undisclosed reasons". and SHE says "ok :)" <- their actual conflict has very little to do with this*

the thing he has a problem with (and which ultimately tears the rift between them) is her religious stance, because she is an unyielding apostate and he is on a mission from the joker of gods. and he spends his life guiltily withholding that information from her, because if she knew this was a mission from the joker of gods, she wouldn't be helping him do it

anyway ozma's sudden wish inherently carries violence with it and salem is smart enough to understand that and articulate it back to him. religiosity aside, they are on the same page about that; there is no world where "making the entire world bow to the same worldview/ruler/ideology/(sotto voce: and religion)" does not imply violent conquest of existing nations and cultures. she makes clear to him what needs to happen for him to get what he wants, and that she is willing to do it with him, and he's like "epic, i love my cool wife. let's not discuss religion at the dinner table 😬"

violent conquest was not even remotely on salem's itinerary but it is what he's suddenly talking about post-reincarnation, and she's willing to do it with him. SHE said "ok :)". We're All In This Together ❤️

but yea they're so real. i wish them a very merry "soulmates being twisted and used against each other so severely that they can no longer recognize each other's hearts". and a happy new year

[tweetsofyj]

[uncanny-tranny]

I find that using more neutral language such as "people who menstrate" isn't just inclusive of trans people who fit the prerequisite condition, but also cis people. Saying something like "only women menstrate" ignores that many people start menstruating well before they are socially and legally recognized as adults. And obviously, this goes beyond menstruation; it includes pregnancy, certain cancers, and these things aren't barred by gender or (necessarily) sex assigned at birth. Neutral language for all bodies benefits trans people, intersex people, and cis people (younger and older) alike.

[valyrfia]

every single lestappen anti on the internet is actually just pierre gasly on his burner accounts

[doveywovy]

07. "only for emergencies"

unconventional weapon/magic with a cost/"its us or them"

actually going to use all three prompt options for this one!

---

plot outline: while their families are still at war, Izuna & Tobirama end up in an extremely dire situation- the point they've been forced to a truce. (Something like....they've been captured and kept for several months by an enemy clan, izuna for his bloodline and tobirama for his jutsu. so they're at the tailend of a lot of torture and starvation before they get slotted together in the same cell.)

It's an extremely temporary truce and they fully intend to try and kill each other as soon as they're out of it, but ultimately the only solution they come up with is a jutsu of tobirama's invention and the use of izuna's chakra. specifically tobirama turns one of his own body parts into his infinite-exploding-seal trick,and another body part for the hiarishin to get them out of the way of the explosion he's set off.

Shinobi don't really believe in owing somebody, but the Uchiha are a noble clan and Izuna's pretty prideful...the idea that Tobirama is going to die essentially for his sake (Regardless of how much the stubborn asshole claims he won't) is unforgivable. So he drags Tobirama back with him.

he's not nice enough to take him back to hashirama of course, he's not letting the senju get their hands back on a guy who can create a nuclear explosion. but the uchiha will keep him alive and in better care than he has been for the past five months so he's not allowed to complain

[yardsards]

clint mcelroy creating a dnd character: oh yeah, this bad boy can fit so much simple zest for life in him

[geekgirles]

I'm probably not the first one who's ever said this, but in a way it's sort of genius that Yugo and Amalia would fall for each other. Yugo has draconic blood and Amalia is a Sadida; Sadida's Dolls were created to make Dragons fall in love with them. In a way, it was inevitable.