#the only and correct answer is both

[starkzdaughter]

Miss Natasha Romanoff, the definition of, "Do I want to be like her?" or "Do I want to be with her?"

[orions-shiny-belt]

If you have to pick only one between hua cheng and xie lian to be a trans guy the obvious answer is hua cheng. there’s no cis man alive with the level of swag and aura he has. cis men cannot juggle the different aesthetics he has and make it work

[rustedleopard]

Chujin's opinion of Starlo is that he is an immature loudmouth who only grew physically beyond middle/high school. He's a reckless moron that has no regard for the fact that he is poisoning the minds of monsterkind with his admiration for human culture. He thinks that Starlo's desire to bring a slice of the Underground is a waste of time and that if Starlo REALLY wanted to help monsterkind's situation, he'd try to figure out methods to escape the Underground instead of finding escapism in a pale imitation of the Surface. He is unable to conceive why Starlo even likes humans except out of some twisted, Stockholm Syndrome-esque fawning over monsterkinds' captors.

(Deep deep deep deep deep down, Chujin knows that Starlo is a kind person who doesn't have bad intentions. And, he can begrudgingly admit that if the Wild East prevents some monsters from falling into despair, (which is a death sentence for a monster,) then it does some good. But you'd basically have to dislocate his shoulder from twisting his arm so hard if you want Chujin to admit this.)

Starlo's opinion of Chujin is that he is some above-it-all asshole. He insists that he remained civil and respectful of Chujin ever since Chujin and Ceroba started dating and he started to get tangentially involved in Starlo's life, yet all Chujin's done is scoff at him for following his dreams. Chujin must think he's soooooooo great being some smarty-pants scientist instead of a nobody farmer/sheriff like he is and that's why he looks down on Starlo, what a snob! And as for Chujin's belief that all humans are evil? Greatly exaggerated! If humans were such wicked things, why would the westerns they make show such relatable concepts like justice and freedom and how cool revolvers are? Starlo's just trying to inject some fun into the Underground and distract everyone from how dire things are getting and Chujin has a massive stick up his ass about it.

(Deep deep deep deep deep down, Starlo knows that Chujin is a kind person who only wants the best for everyone. Chujin is beloved by Ceroba and the Sunnyside family and other residents of the Underground for a reason. The fact that he's such an admirable person drives him a bit nuts, because Starlo knows that he would never be able to measure up to him. It's no wonder that Ceroba fell for him so quickly. How could he ever compare? And as for Chujin's opinion on humans? While he strongly disagrees with Chujin's outright hatred, he does recognize that some humans can be dangerous.)

I would say that Chujin and Starlo would bitch at each other like two Southern belles backhand complimenting each other, except I feel like Starlo lacks the subtlety to be able to dish out those sorts of insults, let alone pick up on them. Instead, they'd try to be silent in each other's presence out of respect for Ceroba. It's a........... very tense silence, to say the least....

[whatlieswithintheorchard]

say a jewish time traveler, travels from a certain thursday to a certain monday. does she then need to observe shabbat on the 7th day according to her own personal timeline, or does she celebrate it on the saturday of the local timeline?

[flamingphoenix916]

I just finished listening to the last episode of Juno Steel and I am SOBBING... why is this show so good at knowing what the narrative needs instead of just doing what the audience wants?

[navree]

ik you said you wouldn't do it can i have that comparison between alicent and daenerys pretty please i'm personally fasinated

Alicent and Daenerys:

Both got married off far too young to men much older than them (Viserys and Drogo)

Both experienced marital rape within those marriages (which leads to either thoughts of self-harm, as seen when Dany literally contemplates killing herself as a result of Drogo raping her every night, or actual self-harm, as seen with Alicent doing her nail picking thing, which is canonically a self-harm/anxiety response, while being raped by Viserys)

Both are identified primarily through maternal symbolism (Dany as the Mother of Dragons, Alicent as both mother to her children and also the Seven, which she is very publicly devout to, having an aspect known as The Mother)

Both have loyal personal knights who are obsessed with them (Jorah and Criston Cole)

Both have controlling older male relatives who use (and abuse) them in service of their own ambitions (Viserys III and Otto, though Viserys is significantly more abusive to Dany than Otto is to Alicent)

Both are pushing regnal claims that are seen by large swaths of people as illegitimate (Viserys has a proclaimed heir who is not Aegon, and the Targaryen overthrow is widely viewed as legitimate and just throughout Westeros therefore Dany has no legitimate right to rule)

Both are deeply attached to their children and their wellbeing (Alicent's actual children for her, and both Dany's dragons and originally Rhaego before he was killed in utero)

Both abhor violence done in their name (as seen most specifically with Alicent's reaction to Criston murdering that old guy and with Dany attempting to mitigate the violence happening to the Lhazareen, especially Lhazareen women, after Drogo sacks their villages to get her the Iron Throne)

Both have kinda gay shit happening??? (obviously Alicent has Rhaenyra, and Dany does have a sexual tryst with Irri in the books, although the consent issues surrounding that are A Lot and also it doesn't serve any kind of narrative purpose like Rhaenicent does, I think GRRM just thought it was hot)

Both have (absolutely kickass) personal themes as composed by Ramin Djawadi that have since grown to encompass their entire House/faction (Dany's theme became the dragon theme which became literally just the House Targaryen theme, and Alicent's theme in The Green Dress has burgeoned out to include all of Team Green)

Both have female rivals for supremacy who are, among a myriad of other similarities, attempting to pass off three bastards as trueborn products of their marriages (Rhaenyra and Cersei and quite honestly there are a HUGE amount of comparisons to be made between Rhaenyra and Cersei, I'd make the gifset but it would take me ten thousand years to catalogue it all)

Both have experience ruling nations (Dany through ruling Meereen, Alicent through ruling Westeros during Viserys's infirmity)

Both have a tendency to lash out in moments of temper (Alicent has some moments where she freaks out at Aegon after the first time jump, and Dany literally has to tell Whitebeard/Barristan that sometimes she just has a "dragon's temper")

Both have experience being the only woman in a decision-making room full of men, but still the ones with the most authority (Dany's council in Meereen is almost entirely made up of men but she's the legit queen, the Small Council is all men but Alicent is operating as a stand-in for the king and therefore has his overarching authority)

Both are well-loved by the commons of their areas ("Queen Alicent, beloved of the smallfolk", and Dany is of course mhysa and hailed as basically the Second Coming of Christ by the lowborn slave population of Slaver's Bay and broader Essos)

Both have a keen sense of justice (it's literally part of Dany's whole arc so far in Slaver's Bay, and I know people like to ignore it but 1) Alicent avoided pressing Aegon's claim out of fairness to Rhaenyra for a while, and even appears to have thought about backing off before she misinterpreted Viserys's final words 2) Alicent only turned against Rhaenyra after she felt she had been wronged and wanted to seek recompense)

Both have sexual relationships out of wedlock once widowed (Dany has her fling with Daario Naharis, and if the leaks are true, Alicent's gonna have a fling with Criston, which I'm fine with because after having been repeatedly raped starting from the age of fifteen I think Alicent deserves some consensual orgasms from whoever she decides to choose for fucking once)

Both have a propensity for forgiveness when it comes to their loved ones (Alicent was clearly willing to try and rebuild with Rhaenyra in episodes 4 and 8, and Dany says in her internal monologue that if Jorah had been contrite rather than defiant after she found out about his spying in ASOS, she likely would have taken him back, and she did take him back and flat out forgive him in the show where he was less of a giant douchecanoe)

Both have/will outlive their children (Rhaego is killed in utero and in the show Viserion and Rhaegal died before Dany did, and Alicent does outlive all of her kids by a good few years)

Both are played by supremely hot actresses

Both have super long princess hair that would be practically impossible to grow on a real person's head but it's a tv show and wigs exist therefore it's allowed

Both follow a trajectory from minor nobility dependent on the men in their lives for power (Dany as Viserys's heir in exile, Alicent as the daughter of the Hand) before becoming powerful and mighty in their own right (Dany is a ruling queen, Alicent basically is king while Viserys is bedrotting and is a pretty heavy advisor to her son once he's king)

Both govern through a lens of deep care and prioritization on what is best for the people (Alicent has multiple lines about always prioritizing the people and Dany frequently talks about how she wants to rule in a way that's just and fair for everyone, unlike her piece of shit dad)

Both remove old regime symbols from their areas of control and their own bodies once they gain power and autonomy (Dany despises wearing the tokar and uses it as little as possible as well as removing harpy heraldry and replacing it with Targaryen imagery, Alicent stops wearing Targaryen reds and asserting herself more through her own fashion choices and replaces some Targaryen symbols and those stupid sex tapestries with heraldry of the Faith, which is still centered in Oldtown where her family comes from)

Both have used false charm when dealing with opposing forces (Dany in her dealings with the various people defending Yunkai from her oncoming sack, Alicent in being petty bitchy to Daemon and Rhaenyra which, queen slay)

Both have engineered death and chaos through actions taken to protect loved ones (Alicent's determination to press Aegon's succession due to legitimate fears over what Rhaenyra and Daemon would do to her children creates the circumstances that leads to the Dance, and Dany's determination to save Drogo to the point of having Mirri Maz Duur use blood magic kills her unborn child and also leads to the violent fracturing of Drogo's khalasar)

Both have experienced what can amount to pyrrhic victories (Alicent's side does technically win the Dance but everything is still much worse off than before and there was a lot of violence, which show!Alicent is clearly trying to avoid, and Dany did technically get Drogo's life saved, just at the expense of everything else in her life, and in the show she did technically get the Iron Throne before being murdered like thirteen minutes later)

Both have affection and compassion for those who have abused them (Alicent is a fucking angel for being as kind and caring towards Viserys's ancient ass as she was even though he sucked ass as a husband and person, and Dany both was able to find a love for Drogo and also repeatedly talks about how she misses who Viserys used to be, along with her moment in ADWD where she hallucinates both him and Jorah and thinks on them kinda fondly)

Both experience a reclamation of power after seeing them at their lowest thus far in the story, complete with a visual transformation component (Alicent, after watching her be dismissed, raped, talked over, manipulated, and otherwise literally treated as an object by the men in her life, especially once she's married, asserts her agency as a woman in her own right with her own power, complete with the green dress, and Dany, after losing her child and her husband and a good chunk of the power she had thus far in the loss of the khalasar, along with having been abused and raped herself by Viserys and Drogo, hatches her dragon eggs and asserts her power in her own right, and in the books literally transforms visually by losing her hair as well)

Both have dead mothers who get no fucking backstory (we know fuck-all about Alerie Florent other than that she's dead, and Rhaella gets no interiority beyond being a victim of her psycho husband and then dying in childbirth)

Both bear strong resemblances to older relations (Otto says that Alicent looks a lot like her mother, and Dany is said to bear a strong resemblance to her ancestor Queen Naerys)

Both have four children, including one that everyone forgets about (Dany has her dragons and Rhaego, and everyone forgets about Rhaego, and Alicent has Aegon, Helaena, Aemond, and Daeron, and literally everyone is forgetting about Daeron I think the actual show forgot about Daeron at this point)

Both are subjected to misogynistic slander by men in story (Dany has a lot of rumors spread about her once she conquers Slaver's Bay that are based in absurd lies about her sexual life and "deviancy", Daemon literally calls Alicent a whore, I guess for being loyally married for twenty years, just because he doesn't like her and then accuses her of murdering Viserys, who had half his face falling off the last time Daemon saw him, because Daemon is a fucking moron)

Both have detractors who cannot be fucking normal and not only hurl insane abuse at the characters and fans of the characters, but literally at the actresses themselves (those people who went up to Olivia at, like, a fucking bar just to tell her how much they hated Alicent are never seeing Heaven and that's a fucking fact)

Both, as queens and as people in general, want to do the right thing not just for themselves but those around them (Alicent with her aforementioned considerations when it comes to ruling and also trying to be just a good person to those around her, like comforting Viserys and Rhaenyra after he murders Aemma and trying to do right by her kids, and Dany again by wanting to be a better ruler than her father and freeing slaves even though there's no material benefit to her)

Both hav forgiven objective wrongs done by others (Dany forgives a lot of people who are cruel to her in the books, as well as Barristan Selmy after he reveals himself to be Barristan, and Jorah in the show, and Alicent is clement and kind to Criston Cole after he reveals that he broke his Kingsguard vows in sleeping with Rhaenyra)

Both are goodhearted people who befriend the more disenfranchised (Alicent is, again, fundamentally a good person as seen by how she treats those who have been shit to her, and we see her reaching out to people like Larys, who is mistreated due to his deformity, and saves Criston Cole, and Dany's whole thing is helping and befriending the disenfranchised, as seen by the way she tries to create equal treatment with her handmaids and the way she befriends Missandei, and her goodnaturedness towards the people who support her, especially the former slaves)

Both are interesting characters who would be so greatly served in the ASOIAF/GOT/HOTD fandom could, in any way shape or form, understand that fiction is not real life nor is it morality and just enjoy a story and its characters for the story and the characters

There's probably some more similarities but honestly this went far longer than I thought it would when making an offhand tag, so here we are, similarities between Alicent Hightower (primarily show!verse) and Daenerys Targaryen (primarily books but with some show sprinkled in there as well)!

[dementedspeedster]

//I think the insistence to not read any of Thad's appearances past the Impu/se comics or that his appearances post Impu/se are out of character for him has poisoned the well regarding fandom's understanding of his character. Popular fandom interpretations also don't help.

I think with regard to Thad there is an inundation in fandom of the character people want Thad to be and not the character that Thad actually is. And I'm personally frustrated with it.

[lovelesslittleloser]

Ah, the year-old question: to listen to Devil’s Train by The Lab Rats, or to listen to What The Hell by Avril Lavigne

[toastling]

Sleepless in New York at 6am, the neighborhood breakfast attempts to express a coherent thought about an incoherent nag of his past ten years

[thetimetraveler24]

LMAO NOT EPIC HOLDING ALL TOP TEN SPOTS 😂

[ar-guile]

Writer tag game!

Tagged by @ramatetsu

When did you start writing?

It depends on what you mean by 'writing'. My roleplaying career began when I got my mom to sign a permission slip to mail to the Neopets HQ (a literal piece of paper, sent through the post office) to let me access the forums. Under-13s weren't allowed, you see.

Fun fact: I failed creative writing in high school and almost couldn't graduate! tbh I only started writing on my own when I was like 27

Are there different themes or genres you enjoy reading than what you write?

I enjoy scifi and speculative fantasy, especially when the worldbuilding is allowed to affect the story and characters. Those finicky pedantic little details are where I live, but I tend to write on a smaller scale where that doesn't come into play so often.

Can you tell me a bit about your writing space?

I sit sideways in an armchair and write on my phone. Everyone wishes it didn't squeak when I rock. That's too bad. Squeaksqueaksqueaksqueak

Sometimes I think I'd enjoy a chaise lounge or a fainting couch (in a fantasy life where we have a real living room), but I know I'd miss the rocking too much.

What’s your most effective way to muster up a muse?

It used to be music. Now that I'm old, I think of how their quirks intersect with regular life until something snags my brain to drag me outta my own head and into someone else's.

Are there any recurring themes in your writing? Do they surprise you?

Declaration of autonomy in situations where the characters have limited control over their circumstances. Building a life in spite of the futility. Some know what they're facing from the beginning, some start out thinking they have it all under control and find out just how wrong they were. Tone varies from fluffy to grim, but I always gotta have some humor in there or I'll die

(I had to get help with this question... and then I got called out)

What is your reason for writing?

Part of me wants to say it's a propaganda campaign for whatever my brain is orbiting around, but for that to be true I'd need to actually share the stuff I write instead of letting it sit on my hard drive. I mostly just enjoy the process of getting a story out of my head and onto a page. Words are fun!

How do you want to be thought about by your readers?

I hope they look between two stories narrated by different characters and have trouble believing they're written by the same person. Voice is my strongest trait by miles and miles. My characterization isn't always what matches the common fandom interpretation, so while it might hit some people the wrong way, there's a chance it'll Open Their Eyes To Another Way.

(If not, hate is still a strong emotional reaction so I'll take it lmao)

How do you feel about your own writing?

I have a sliiiight superiority complex, but I really agonize over my writing so I figure that's for the best? Gotta feel good about the stuff I torture myself over

When you write, are you influenced by what others might enjoy reading, or do you write purely for yourself, or a mix of both?

I would get bored if I were writing for other people more than myself. That gives it a unique flavor, too. If I do what makes my brain buzz instead of trying to be palatable, it's waaaay more likely to hit those notes for someone else.

I sound so full of myself with these questions and that's kind of hilarious. I'm actually way too shy to tag anyone so if you wanna fill it out you're absolutely welcome! Yes that includes you even if we've never exchanged a single word

[cherryaire]

im really happy nicole was comfortable with submitting a photo for the Shayne Guesses video. i know a lot of trans people would not be comfortable doing so and i'm always happy to see someone who feels okay with doing so, especially in such a public manner.

[dawning-day]

what if i said kevin day was one thousand million percent a piano kid growing up. what then

[forzafinally]

Time to settle this once and for all

[thepandalion]

unironically suffering in class rn

[milliebobbyflay]

Imagine a world where creationism was unanimously central both to the ruling class's conception of self and to the logic that justifies their power. Darwin's work still exists, attempts to suppress it outright would only drive interest; curious and rigorous scholars who've sought out his work can testify to its quality and relevance, and often teach natural selection in their courses. Still, there remains an understanding that Darwin is not what the people with money and power want to hear, and so when proposing research grants or attempting to climb the academic ladder, Darwin is typically ignored in favor of alternative theoretical frameworks which, while less useful, are far more likely to receive funding.

This creates a cycle where, because Darwinism has been ignored in all of the most influential and groundbreaking research, it becomes inessential. Scholars can receive their PhDs without ever having read a single work on natural selection. Despite its utility as a theory, intuition and an implicit trust in the social reality created by and within these institions creates the sense that Darwinism is, to put it bluntly "crank shit," the sort of thing you study to amuse your own curiosity and stroke your ego rather than actually trying to change the world.

Of course, none of this changes the fact that Darwin was correct, that evolution by natural selection is the primary mechanism by which species develop and change over time. However, since using Darwinist theory (or any alternative routes taken to similar models and conclusions) as anything but a garnish will get you labeled as a crank, the entire discipline of biology becomes warped around its absence. Entire fields form to cobble together makeshift solutions to the gaps Darwinism fills, further cementing it's irrelevance. Thousands of scholars devote their lives to fleshing out the forest of asterisks and duct tape holding on a vastly overstretched lamarckian and at times implictly creationist framework.

From the outside, the discipline begins looking absurd. Clearly driven by internal politics, sprawling in a million directions without any consistent underlying theory, shy on results. Despite billions pouring in year after year trying to answer some of the most fundamental questions about humanity, history, health, all lines of inquiry seem to eventually terminate in a shrug of "life is complex, how could we hope to understand everything about it?"

Okay now switch Darwin with Marx. This is the state of contemporary western social science.