#without actually understanding what they're doing

[mikayuumouse]

The past few chapters are giving me "too good to be true" vibes BUT THEN THEY'RE ACTUALLY REAL. THEY'RE CANON. THIS IS GENUINELY HAPPENING YOU GUYS

Earlier today I was walking to my room and then I remembered chapter 121.5 and how Atsushi died for Akutagawa and then repeated Akutagawa's dying words back to him and I actually almost walked into a wall

am I okay you ask

no I am not

The sskk development of 121.5—123 is making me scream (in a good way, as a sskk shipper I am currently having the time of my life and popping champagne bottles), like, Atsushi died for Akutagawa? Akutagawa's canonly possessive of Atsushi? Atsushi is Akutagawa's reason to live? Atsushi is Akutagawa's heart? Atsushi saw Akutagawa's past and understands him on a deeper level now? Atsushi dying gave Akutagawa his memories back and the first thing he remembered was himself dying for Atsushi? Akutagawa thought about Atsushi's and his sacrifice when he was contemplating what real strength was which means the strongest he's ever felt was when he died to protect and save Atsushi? Atsushi is Akutagawa's ordeal? Atsushi is Akutagawa's drive to act? Akutagawa sees Atsushi's face in his mind instead of Dazai's now? Akutagawa knows he's on the brink of death so he thinks about Atsushi because he wants the weretiger to be his last thought? Akutagawa demanded a literal god to bring Atsushi back? They both know they can't live without the other now? When Atsushi's with Akutagawa he truly doesn't feel alone anymore? Atsushi said in the beginning of the series that no one would ever care if he died and now Akutagawa is doing everything he can to get him back because Akutagawa cares?

My heart is melting

[xjulixred45x]

About yuu!parent and Crowley, I can't stop my mind about some sounds from tiktok (from epic the musical)

And... It fit so much lol, let me just

Crowley: Did you know you talk in your sleep? Tell me, though who's (Husband/wife name)?

Yuu!parent (without thinking answering) : she's/he's my wife/husband

Then silence before crowley becomes crowley again and pretend didn't hear it. Meanwhile the first year and all yuus laughing on back, especially the yuu knowing their parents would never choose anyone else expect their partner even in different dimension

HAHAHAHAHA IT'S LITERALLY THEM

That's exactly what I was thinking when I wrote about how Yuu!Parent has Odysseus-level loyalty to their partner. No matter how hard the bird-head tries, they'll always prefer their beloved husband/wife.

The Yuus are quite protective of their mother/father for this very reason as well. They trust Yuu, but they don't particularly trust anyone at this school, especially Crowley, who seems to have taken a special interest in them since Yuu!Parent arrived. Occasionally, they see him trying to talk casually with Yuu in the hallways, or he uses one of the Yuus as an excuse when he actually ends up talking about something completely different, etc. And the Yuus DO NOT LIKE HIM AT ALL.

But they let their father/mother deal with Crowley (Yuu probably had to tell them not to do anything to avoid trouble). After all, they know Yuu!Parent, hell will freeze over before they cheat.

That audio sounds especially good after Book 2, when Yuu!Parent ends up in the infirmary with a blow to the head, and while their friends try to talk to them first, WILD CROWLEY APPEARS and tries to act confident and everything. But he just points out the sleep-talking, and everyone prepares for the funniest thing of the school year.

-"they're my partner, I'm married."

Total silence from Crowley, nonstop laughter from the first-years.

The first-years know this, the whole school knows it, except Crowley. And they act as a sort of squad to protect Yuu!Parent, both from people who want to take advantage of Yuu's non-Magical status or try to "interfere in their marriage," as the boys call it. Let's just say that since the boys see Yuu!Parent as a father/mother figure, they have a lot of respect for their partner, along with a similar esteem ("Dad should only be with Mom," sort of thing).

Jack is the most respectful in this regard and wants to know more about Yuu!Parent and their partner's relationship, as he sincerely finds it very worthy that Yuu!Parent is faithful to their partner despite not knowing if they'll return to their world, that they speaks of them with such affection and so directly rejects any advances (wolves are monogamous, so Jack fully understands why couples are so important).

Epel is the kind of guy who will go straight to the person bothering Yuu!Parent (Crowley), take Yuu's hand, and shove the other person's wedding ring in their face, without saying a single word about it. Epel LOVES Yuu!Parent because they lets him do everything Vil can't, hides him when Vil looks for him, and generally lets him be himself. Therefore, Epel doesn't tolerate anyone messing with Yuu!Parent or their partner (even if he dosen't know them either, they sound nice, SO HAVE MORE RESPECT, BIRDMAN!).

Ace is honestly the only one who doesn't understand at first why Yuu!Parent is so determined to be faithful to their partner, let's be honest. Especially when Crowley seems to put off their return home on purpose. But the more time he spends with Yuu!Parent and the more he sees the signs, the longing, the nostalgia, the good memories Yuu has with their partner, the more he understands. He definitely gets very creeped out whenever someone tries to flirt with Yuu, and he resorts to pretending Yuu is his dad/mom to scare the other person away. If that doesn't work, he'll just tell them straight up that they're talking to a VERY cute and VERY married person.

Deuce takes this VERY seriously, too seriously. Yuu!parent is like the father he never had, and the idea that Yuu's partner is waiting for them in their world (and they're also waiting to see them again) and that someone might try to take advantage of that angers him greatly, but he tries not to resort to violence. At least not physical violence. Deuce simply stands between the person and Yuu!parent, aggressively waving his arms while shouting that Yuu is happily married, not interested in being a cheating pig, among other things. He has spirit.

Sebek is like Deuce, but slightly worse and better. Sebek has definitely learned to be more tolerant of Yuu!Parent and absolutely LOVES it when they gives him typical parental compliments. You could say he respects them, and that respect extends to their partner and marriage in general. When someone tries to talk to Yuu!Parent romantically, Sebek will be all, "THEY'RE TOO OLD FOR YOU! AND THEY'RE MARRIED! GET AWAY FROM THE PARENT! THEY'RE MARRIED! THEY'RE TAKEN!" without taking a breath.

When Ortho joins, he expected different treatment for everything he did when Idia suffered His overblown, but he's so happy when Yuu!Parent treats him with the same parental affection! For this reason, Ortho isn't above threatening the birdman with violence if he continues to inconvenience the prefect with his attempts at courtship (if it were anyone else, Ortho would simply make annoying electronic noises or set off a fake alarm to make them go away).

Protecting the prefect is a team effort after all.

_______

(ESPAÑOL)

JAJAJAJAJA ES LITERALMENTE ELLOS

Justo era lo que pensaba cuando escribi el hecho de que Yuu!Parent tiene una fidelidad nivel Odiseo por su pareja, no importa cuanto lo intente el cabeza de pájaro, ellos siempre preferirán a su amado esposo/esposa.

Los Yuus son bastante protectores de su madre/padre por esto mismo tambien, ellos confían en Yuu, pero no confían particularmente en nadie en esta escuela, especialmente Crowley, que parece haber tomado un interés especial en ellos desde que Yuu!Parent llego a la escuela. De vez en cuando lo ven tratando de hablar casualmente con Yuu en los pasillos, o usa de excusa alguno de los Yuus cuando en realidad solo termina hablando de algo completamente diferente, etc. Y los Yuus NO LES GUSTA PARA NADA.

Pero dejan que su padre/madre lidie con Crowley (probablemente Yuu les tuvo que decir que no hicieran nada para evitar problemas). Después de todo, conocen a Yuu!Parent, el infierno se congelara antes de que ellos sean infieles.

Ese audio suena especialmente bien después del libro 2, cuando Yuu!Parent termina en la enfermería por un golpe en la cabeza, y si bien sus amigos/hijos tratan de hablarle primero, CROWLEY SALVAJE APARECE y trata de aparentar confianza y todo. Pero justamente señala lo de hablar dormido, y todos se preparan para lo mas gracioso del año escolar.

-“es mi pareja, estoy casado”-

Silencio total por parte de Crowley, risas sin parar por parte de los de primer año.

Los de primer año saben esto, toda la escuela lo sabe, excepto Crowley. Y actúan como una especie de escuadrón para proteger a Yuu!Parent, tanto de la gente que quiere aprovecharse de su estado no Mágico o tratar de “meterse en su matrimonio” como los chicos le dicen. Digamos que como los chicos ven a Yuu!Parent como una figura paterna/materna, entonces le tienen mucho respeto a su pareja junto a un estima similar(“papá solo debe estar con mamá” tipo de cosa).

Jack es el más respetuoso al respecto y quiere saber más sobre la relación de Yuu!parent y su pareja, ya que sinceramente encuentra muy digno que Yuu!Parent le sea fiel a su pareja pese a que no sabe si volverá a su mundo, que hable de ellos con tanto cariño y rechace tan directamente cualquier avance (los lobos son monógamos, por lo que Jack entiende perfectamente el porqué las parejas son tan importantes).

Epel es el tipo de chico que directamente ira a la persona que esta molestando a Yuu!Parent (Crowley), toma la mano de Yuu y le restriega en la cara el anillo de bodas a la otra persona, sin decir una sola palabra en todo esto. Epel ADORA a Yuu!Parent porque le permite hacer todo lo que Vil no, lo esconde cuando Vil lo busca, y en general le permite ser el mismo. Por lo que, Epel no tolera que se metan con Yuu!Parent o su pareja (aun si no los conoce, suenan agradables, ASI QUE TEN MAS RESPETO PAJARACO!).

Ace sinceramente es el único que al principio no entiende porque Yuu!Parent esta tan decidido en serle fiel a su pareja, seamos honestos. Mas cuando Crowley parece dejar de lado su regreso a casa apropósito. Pero mientras mas tiempo pasa con Yuu!Parent y mas ve las señales, el anehlo, la nostalgia, los buenos recuerdos que tiene Yuu con su pareja, mas lo entiende. Definitivamente tiene mucho cringe cada que alguien trata de coquetear con Yuu, y aplica la de fingir que Yuu es su papa/mama para espantar a la otra persona. Si eso no funciona, les dira directamente que están hablando con una persona MUY linda y MUY casada.

Deuce se lo toma MUY en serio, demasiado. Yuu!parent es como el padre que nunca tuvo, y la idea de que la pareja de Yuu lo esta esperando en su mundo (y el tambien espera volver a verles) y que alguien trate de aprovecharse de eso le enoja mucho, pero el trata de no recurrir a la violencia. Al menos no física. Deuce simplemente se pone entre la persona y Yuu!Parent, agitando agresivamente los brazos mientras grita que Yuu es alguien felizmente casado, que no esta interesado en ser un cerdo infiel, entre otras cosas. Tiene espíritu.

Sebek es como Deuce, pero ligeramente peor y mejor. Definitivamente Sebek aprendió a ser más tolerante con Yuu!Parent y absolutamente GOZA cuando le da cumplidos típicos de los padres, podrías decir que le respeta, y dicho respeto también se dirige a su pareja y matrimonio en general. Cuando alguien intenta hablarle a Yuu!Parent en plan romántico, Sebek se pondrá tipo “ES MUY MAYOR PARA TI! Y ESTA CASADO! ALEJATE DEL PADRE! ESTA CASADO! ESTA TOMADO!” todo sin respirar.

Cuando Ortho se une, el esperaba un trato diferente por todo lo que hizo cuando Idia sufrio su overblot, pero es tan feliz cuando Yuu!Parent lo trata con el mismo afecto parental! Por lo mismo, Ortho no está por encima de amenazar al hombre pájaro con violencia si este sigue incomodando al prefecto con sus intentos de cortejo (si fuera cualquier otra persona, Ortho simplemente hace ruidos electrónicos molestos o hace sonar una alarma falsa para que se vayan).

Proteger al prefecto es un trabajo en equipo después de todo.

Shares, reblogs and comments are very welcome!

[santae-salt]

CJ, salties, genuine and troll commenters - we need to have a discussion about emotional boundaries and emotional manipulation.

What CJ did last night was highly unprofessional and unacceptable for someone fostering minors in his community. I think it's sobering to remember that individuals as young as 13 years old can freely join and play. They could be in the discord. They could have witnessed whatever that was last night and it could impact them negatively. It is highly inappropriate to trauma dump in his discord as an owner; I understand that he feel victimized and it's valid to feel feelings, I'm not telling him that he can't, but CJ as the responsible adult need to understand that he shouldn't use his pet site audience as his dumping ground. I understand that this may frustrate and piss him off, but he needs to understand the gravity of being the owner of Santae.

I also understand it may frustrate him that I'm not placing any share of the blame on the parties that he views as attackers. This isn't what I'm talking about right now, so I'm not touching on that. That's all.

CJ, to address you directly - you are not a regular player just like "all of you". You are a developer. You hold a certain power by that title alone that, when you act like you did last night, can be classified as emotional manipulation. By bringing your significant other into the conversation, how horrible you feel, how bullied you are - it gives the idea that you are actively searching for 1) immediate sympathy and 2) people to defend you. You overstepped a massive, and concerning, boundary last night. I'll keep repeating it because of how strongly I feel about it.

You may not mean for this, and I'm not making fun of you or attacking you for saying this. I want to make that clear. You need someone unbiased who doesn't know you personally to talk to, like an actual therapist or another outside completely unrelated source. Talking to anyone close to Santae (or you) results in an echo chamber that spirals and revolves and wraps you up in stress. There's no separation and that's hard for anyone's mental health. Users aren't there to buffer your feelings. They're there to be users.

And for what it's worth, this unprofessionalism has been a concern since Santae has first kicked off. If you search the Santae tag on Tumblr and read some of the comments on the older posts regarding issues (the ID request, artist issues, etc) you'll see people expressing their concern about the development team not being able to maintain boundaries.

One example: you sent an email when you blocked someone that was wholly inappropriate and should be addressed, quite frankly. You didn't maintain the boundary of just banning the user and blocking them like an adult who owns a pet site, you had to stoop down into your wounded feelings and wield that power one more time to try and harm them the way that you felt harmed. You're mixing your personal feelings with professional actions and this will not assure the longevity of Santae. At all.

"To take words and share them publicly, stripped of context and trust like everyone else chooses to do. For what, we may never understand what happiness or joy you and a select group choose to speak in a bad way on any topic without telling the entire story. is not only deeply disappointing, but also a violation of the standards we expect every member to uphold."

This is absolutely emotional manipulation, an egregious crossing of boundaries re: owner vs user, and just unacceptable. Santae is close to you, but an attack on Santae shouldn't be an attack on you. CJ and Santae are two different entities. It's troubling that you and Santae seemed so tightly intertwined that you can no longer tell the difference.

This has gone on long enough, so I'll wrap it up here. Fwiw, I hope your s/o feels better, genuinely. I really do hope you take this as a genuine conversation of concern.

I hope you figure it out man. Yeah, it sucks. But that's part of being at the top. It's gonna suck, but you have to hold onto the positive and try to figure out the change it's going to take to get yourself in a better headspace.

☁️

[gourmetpunk]

This is all very well and good if you either:

a) exist within some sort of community in which people will engage with anything creative others post in it or

b) have a pre-established following on the internet.

However, it doesn't really capture why someone like me would want to take the traditional publishing route (and to be fair to nostalgebraist, I know that wasn't necessarily their aim here, this is a perfectly good explanation of why it doesn't make sense to them - I just want to provide an argument for my side here).

Unlike people of the above categories, I don't exist within any such community online and I am basically an internet nobody. I'm mostly fine with both of these things - being in such communities generally means putting in the effort to engage in a lot of amateurish work yourself, which I simply don't feel is worth my time (sorry if that sounds snobby - if it's any consolation, this mostly only applies to writing, I don't have the same kind of standards for music). And I've seen the headaches that "internet famous" people have to put up with to know better than to want that.

However, unfortunately, these two things are the main factors for getting your writing exposure on the internet in any meaningful way. Take my example: I have about 50 followers here, most of whom are probably long inactive. Of the remaining ones, most probably do not follow me with the intent to engage in any creative product I throw at them. If I started posting my fiction here, quite likely the only people who would actually read it are the 3-4 mutuals who are people I also know in real life - and even then, they probably won't read it because sitting down to read an entire novel (or even several-thousand word short story) is a big time commitment! (And for the record, I'm not blaming them - I would also be unlikely to just sit down and read through whatever fiction they threw at me here too!)

So for people like me, traditional publishing is pretty much the only way we'll get any kind of exposure whatsoever. Plus it might even help open doors on the online exposure side - I'm not saying it's likely, but I do know that if I posted a story of mine here, it would probably go almost completely unread, whereas if I posted that story linked from a site for a Real Magazine where it had been traditionally published accompanied by a note that my store was recently published in Real Magazine, someone's curiosity might actually be piqued enough for them to click through to it and read some of it.

Another factor that I feel especially applies to my writing: it is weird. It's niche. It's not the kind of thing most casual internet readers will pick up to read on a whim. And this even applies to my friends online - again, this is not an accusation because I completely understand where they're coming from, but I have sent one of my stories to friends who are curious about it only to have them come back saying they found it interesting but couldn't get through the first section or so because it was not a style they were interested in. That's fine! But I think there might be a real audience for this kind of stuff out there that is not "my immediate friends" and it's possible that a publisher could actually help me find that audience.

Finally, a factor that applies to me pretty personally but I'm sure at least a few others share: I'm not 100% confident in my craft. I am like 90% sure that the way I'm doing what I'm doing is in line with the creative vision I have for it, but that doesn't mean there isn't potential room for improvement. I would gladly accept feedback from editors, even if I'm not going to agree with all or even most of it - it could help me re-shape what I've started with into something better simply by having outside eyes on it. And the easiest way to get someone to do this without accosting my friends again or paying someone else is...well, I don't really need to say it, do I?

Imagine that you can still draw, or paint, if you feel like it, and have the tools. That hasn't changed.

And (no, this post isn't about AI, there we go, where was I) all the other newer tools still exist too: Wacom tablets exist, and Adobe Photoshop, and every sort of camera, and so forth. If you have these tools ready at hand, you can just pick them up, and make pictures with them.

And tumblr still exists, and all the rest of the internet with it. And so – if you like – you can use these venues to share the pictures you make with others, easily and immediately, for free.

However, there is also another venue, for sharing pictures.

That is the only thing that is different.

The other venue is... let's say it's a magazine that only prints visual art, and which has an extremely large number of subscribers.

Everyone knows about The Magazine. Most people you know are subscribers.

Before the internet, The Magazine was the main way that visual art got into people's homes (if it wasn't created there in the first place). Your parents speak of The Magazine as though it's just where art lives, as though the notion that there might be art somewhere else has never really crossed their minds.

Much of what appears in The Magazine is, in fact, pretty good. Conversely, much of the truly great art of the recent past made an appearance in The Magazine, at some point, before or after appearing in galleries and/or being reproduced in other ways.

But a lot of it is just... fine. Trendy, competent, workmanlike.

You flip through the pages and mostly you think, yeah, this sure is the sort of thing that gets printed in The Magazine, in the current year. Occasionally you're impressed by something you see there, and even more rarely something moves you, transfixes you.

Much the same could be said of your tumblr dash, of course.

It must be noted, however, that The Magazine has a higher quality floor than your tumblr dash. Everything that appears there looks polished, professional, carefully worked-over. This counts for less than one might think; that professional gloss can do nothing to elevate ill-conceived or simply dull work (and The Magazine does print such things fairly often).

In a gallery, you might encounter mere sketches, or blatantly unfinished paintings (Leonardo left behind plenty of both, after all). But you will never find such things in The Magazine.

The Magazine's cultural and psychological prestige is immense. It holds the popular conception of "art" in its tight, totalizing grip. If you ever pick up a pencil and draw, it will be assumed – by default – that you aspire to eventual publication in The Magazine. If you are not very good, people will tell you to keep at it; maybe someday you will make the grade. If you are good, people will tell you so, and ask you whether you've prepared anything for submission, whether you've sent it, whether you heard back.

It is tremendously inconvenient to appear in The Magazine.

After all, anyone can pick up paper and pencil, but The Magazine only has so many pages per month. So, The Magazine has standards. It is persnickety. It couldn't afford to behave differently.

But even if it could afford to behave differently, it would not want to. For it so happens that The Magazine prides itself on its active role in the production of "art" (meaning, "that which has appeared in The Magazine").

Even if you are one of the "lucky" few who does not receive a simple rejection letter from The Magazine, you will not simply be allowed to put your drawing or painting or what-have-you into The Magazine as it is.

Unmediated transmission of art, straight from artist to viewer, is for lower-class venues ("tumblr.com," "physical reality and its tendency to project images of nearby objects onto the retina," etc). The Magazine has standards, and they have a full staff of not-quite-artist, not-quite-art-critic people who are employed to impose them. If you do not get a rejection letter, what happens instead is that you begin a long and laborious transaction with one or more of these strange middlemen. They will tell you that your work is a good start, but that you really should have put this part over there, or made the symbolism more obvious or less obvious, or "applied your evident talent" to a more socially relevant choice of subject matter, or something of this nature.

Eventually, after a protracted interaction like this, you might succeed! A new, different, quite possibly worse picture – produced by laboriously adjusting your original one (which, being original/unmediated, is of course unprintable by definition) until The Magazine's staff feel satisfied in the relative scope of their role versus yours in the collaborative act that is "art" production – will end up on a page somewhere in the next issue of The Magazine.

And, finally: real art has been produced! You've made it!

You're in The Magazine. And your work ("your"? you don't feel so sure anymore) does look nice, sitting there on one of those oh-so-glossy pages.

It is nice enough that you spend nearly a minute lingering over it, before you go back to tumblr.com, where all the rest of the pictures are.

(And then, on the weekend, you go to a museum, and look at pictures which were being lauded as masterworks centuries before The Magazine was even founded. You could never produce anything like them, you know – and you feel envious of their creators, not so much because of their greater talents, but because no one ever praised them by saying, hey, this stuff is good enough to be in The Magazine!)

But at least your mom and dad will look at your drawings, now, and think: my child is an artist. You were an artist before, too, but it was just amateur stuff. Now it's for real. Professional. In The Magazine.

Professional? Well, The Magazine did pay you a little in the end, as a prize. And there are some people who make their livings this way. They have good, longstanding, hard-won relationships with The Magazine's staff of intermediaries. They are unusual; by sheer force of numbers, only a select few can make a decent and reliable living in this manner.

(Indeed, The Magazine's insistence on imposing its standards is essentially inimical to steady, reproducible money-making for individual artists. You shouldn't feel secure already that they'll print your next picture without delay, before you've even sent it in for assessment – that would mean they are not keeping standards at all, wouldn't it? And so, cultural forces within The Magazine conspire to degrade its value as a potential source of one's livelihood.)

Those who appear regularly in The Magazine have unparalleled reach. As a child, perhaps, they shaped your notion of what an "artist" was; as a child, maybe you wanted to be just like them, when you grew up.

But then you did grow up – and so, you realized that they were employing the tools at hand (pencil, paper) to a very unusual end. Anyone can pick up the tools and draw. But few can make it into The Magazine, and perhaps even fewer than that should want to appear there.

After all, there is something almost shameful about the exercise, isn't it?

The Magazine says: I am the means by art is produced and disseminated. And many people, passively following the ambient culture, unconsciously nod along.

But in fact, The Magazine has no potency in it whatsoever. It is you, and the viewer, who create the work of art and create the experience of experiencing art. You can just draw things. You can just show your drawings to people.

And The Magazine cannot turn an uninspired artist into a genius, or an unskilled artist into a master; it can only trim perceived fat, arrange perceived rough edges into a more agreeable shape, apply gloss and trendiness and "professionalism." But those were never what anyone liked about art to begin with. You don't need them – unless you do, for your own artistic reasons (and your viewers'), and in that case home-made versions will probably do the job well enough.

There is, in fact, not much reason at all to want to appear in The Magazine.

And that, in itself, is a strong argument against the idea.

You ought not to play along in the charade, pretending that the whole laborious exercise has a point after all, if you know that it is in fact pointless. This is a matter of integrity, if nothing else.

Anyway, that's how I feel whenever anyone's like, "so are you gonna try to get this stuff published or what"

[trials-of-a-spirit-worker]

Some Things That Tarot Readers Don't Tell You

But I will!

You don't have to memorize everything

There are 78 cards with a meaning for upright and reversed. Maybe after years of experience you won't have a problem remembering all of them, but honestly...don't feel bad about not remember what the fuck one card out of 78 does. That's 156 meanings to think about.

Not to mention, sometimes, certain tarot have specific meanings for their deck in general. It is more than okay to just focus on the overall themes and meanings of each car as best as you can and go from there.

You'll be fine.

You can make your own spread

You do not have to wait for someone's spread or even restrict yourself to what your tart pamphlet has. Be creative. Your magic, your divination is how you work it. Allow yourself to spread your wings.

You don't have to use astrology to give an accurate reading

It's cool if you can. But I never thought about the houses, which planet is where, etc and I do readings for people and myself just fine. I'm sure the houses and such add to some readings or even can help people, but it is not a prerequisite. You will read just fine without it. Just practice.

And for those who think they're a better reader or a "real" divination witch or whatever, because you can do this, just know...you're actually an asshole.

People are going to freak out regardless. Just explain the damn cards

I can't tell you how many times I've seen faces pale at the devil card. Or the hanged man (I think people don't like the word hanged...which...understandable and same) Some will flinch at the meaning of the tower or death and such. Ignore it is not a good thing to really say, but just don't focus on reassuring them each and every time. Instead, calm them if its too much and explain what's happening and what you think the cards mean for them. Every Tower is not catastrophic. Death is not a scary card. It's a card of change. The Devil does not mean you're going to hell. And sometimes those cards we think of as happy go lucky and such or the "good" cards can spell a lot of doom and gloom for your ass too. Try and keep your energy as neutral as possible so you can calm who you're reading for. Also, don't worry if it's for you. They're here to guide you and help communicate first and foremost. Don't forget that.

All cards do not use their hard meaning

As I said above, the hard meaning isn't always the case. For example, the fool can be new beginnings, the start of a journey etc. When in question about a career, it could mean you might have a new position or maybe even going to change jobs. Or!

It could mean you're being a fucking noob. And I'm not saying that to be funny. I mean like if he's supposed to be in the beginning or such. And there's some cards that are saying like you need more practice/skill. That would mean you're fucking up. Hell, maybe it means you need to start back at the basics. Those things are not the hard definition or the meanings. Use the hard meanings as a guide, but loosely. Cards will affect each other. Hell, I've seen the Devil and some other cards be used to say someone was a freak in bed. (bondage meaning in the card)

Trusting your intuition takes time

This is something I have to remind myself of a lot. Especially because of how strong my spiritual prowess and intuition was when I was younger. Allow yourself to grow and build. Ask any guides or deities of yours to help if you need it. But more importantly don't be too hard on yourself. Progress is not linear.

You can and will be wrong

There's no way to avoid that. Sometimes you will not get what's happening. Sometimes you'll misinterpret the cards. It just happens sometimes. You're not a fake, you're not a bad witch. You're just here...living life and sometimes living life means you fucked up a reading or two. You will live. And you will rock many more readings.

You learn more from failure than you do success. So find out where you went wrong if you can and then work on it. Tarot is a skill too. So is intuition.

Good luck out there, witches!

[presidentdisastraofgallifrey]

Gallifrey Relisten Lists: Series 1

Romana, Destroyer of Worlds

Her backup plan if negotiating fails is to blow up the entire planet of Gryben and everyone (the Time Lords trapped) on it. Initially she wanted to lower the barrier and give some people a chance to run, but she doesn't argue when Brax vetoes this (Weapon of Choice)

Insists that they stop the theft of the timeonic fusion device from its testing despite knowing what will happen, allowing Minyos to be destroyed without even trying to find a way to save it (The Inquiry)

Romana is Suicidal

Plan A involves waltzing into a charged situation and offering herself to the terrorists in exchange for diffusing the timeonic fusion device. And, yes, this is a trick, but it's a very risky one and still counts because the first idea that came into her head involved her own potential death (Weapon of Choice)

Plan B involves having Brax blow up the entire planet to prevent the device going off, with her on it to prevent a war starting about it (Weapon of Choice)

Plan C involves sitting there and waiting for said device to detonate a few feet away without trying to diffuse it, betting that it's actually a bluff and will never go off (Weapon of Choice)

Says "all of us are willing to die to defend our beliefs" as if it's a pure truth of the universe (Weapon of Choice)

Casually refers to both herself and Napenthe as martyrs (Weapon of Choice)

Is faced with a "robot" attempting to kill her and just completely forgets to run away in favor of asking it questions about its anomalous behavior (Square One)

Runs off completely alone to confront Brax about his alleged dangerous criminal behavior, refusing to allow someone to come along and protect her (The Inquiry)

Later that same day, demands to accompany Brax to fight servitors (though they didn't then know who they'd have to fight then) and stop the theft, again risking her life (The Inquiry)

Parks her tardis in front of a speeding train to frighten Andred-Torvald into telling her the truth, and I truly don't think she knew if she would go through with it if this plan failed (A Blind Eye)

Leela is Smarter than the Time Lords

She's the only one paying enough attention to notice the Monan spy in the Free Time movement (Weapon of Choice)

Memorizes door codes after being told by K9 once (Square One)

Workes out the logical person to be in the robot costume very quickly (Square One)

Annoys and needles Narvin into very nearly giving away information he doesn't want to (The Inquiry)

Honorable mention: despite drowning in grief and betrayal, is the only one to walk away from that train in a dignified and adult manner in a story where Romana nearly kills a bunch of people and meets with a known criminal, Torvald tries to break the timeline on purpose, Andred commits identity fraud, and every just generally behaves badly (A Blind Eye)

Everyone is Autistic

Romana relies on her emotional support Braxiatel to help her regulate her emotions and initial reactions. I don't think she realizes they're doing this, but he clearly does and has clearly done it often enough before to be unconcerned about whether she'll listen (Weapon of Choice)

I'm not going to record every instance of this because it's (far too) constant, but Leela processes complex concepts through familiar metaphor, which is why Romana automatically explains things to her like that (Weapon of Choice)

Despite knowing the plan and understanding subterfuge, it takes Leela a moment to process that K-9 has shifted from his usual self to the evil persona he's playing (Weapon of Choice)

Leela assumes a new situation will work the same as it has in the past and she doesn't need to think through the logistics, thus assuming that Torvald will pay for the meat she grabs (Weapon of Choice)

None of them can lie worth a damn when put on the spot (Weapon of Choice, but also just...all of it)

Leela takes a long time to understand space sex work euphemisms despite understanding the concept of space sex work (Square One)

Leela struggles (again) to get in character despite understanding why she should lie (Square One)

Narvin...uh...*gestures vaguely to Narvin's entire deal and all attempts at diplomacy* (Square One, but also always)

Leela doesn't understand why she should follow inquiry protocols when they're redundant, such as introducing herself (The Inquiry)

Narvin decides never to trust Brax because "he disagreed with me once"

Even when openly contemptuous of a person, Narvin is awkward and uncomfortable when dealing with emotions, his or theirs (The Inquiry)

Romana, Leela, and Narvin all stick very strictly to their own moral codes and get very upset when something or someone doesn't match up (The Inquiry, but also always)

Romana telling the conductor that she's President of Gallifrey is such an autistic mannerism. My guess is it's a holdover from when she didn't understand that aliens wouldn't get it that became an inside joke with herself (A Blind Eye)

Narvin is so incredibly proud that Andred found no conspiracy, that he runs a squeaky clean...black ops spy agency. Do you think he understands that he is literally the only CIA agent this determined to follow the rules? (A Blind Eye)

Leela's "we must protect even those who disgust us" is along the same lines (A Blind Eye)

[alexanderlightweight]

Hello! Happy Wednesday! I wanted to say I love your little life updates. There’s just something so nice about reading what you’re up to irl. I’m like what is my little friend Lumine up to today. It’s very comforting lolol

For a prompt I was wondering if we could get some nsfw content from spoils of war verse! I really loved hesitant Alec in that one and I’d love to see him unabashedly enjoy being completely and utterly wrecked by Magnus now that he has more of an understanding of where he stands and that he is 100% magnus’ no matter what.

ah thank you!! that's very sweet, I always wonder if I ramble too much so I'm happy because that's the goal! just excerpts from your friend <3

also nightshade terrified a bunny bun today which is pretty funny because he never even noticed it. at all. like this little bunny is hiding and Nightshade is like 'oh hey there are birds like 100 yards over there'. and this bunny that's like 8 feet away is like 'omg don't even breath. we are one with the rocks and wall'.

and Nightshade is like... nothing but rocks and walls over here but birbs over there. way over there.

so this is after the consort ceremony and Alec just realized that he's no longer a bargaining chip, last part here and he's decided he's going to take Magnus at his word and ask for what he wants

i hope you enjoy <3

lumine

NSFW 3DNE, SMUT

spoils of war

As soon as they're both naked and in bed Alexander kisses Magnus with fervor, lunging forward and cupping Magnus’ face as if he’s finally secure that his touch won’t be rejected.

It never made sense to Magnus, how his boy thinks he needs permission when Magnus wants nothing more than to adore him and be worshipped in turn

“What is it darling?” Because Alexander’s pulled back despite clearly being far from done.  He wants something and for once, it seems like he’s willing to share it.

“What you did before the ceremony.” Alexander’s brow furrows not in distress but contemplation as he pauses, considering his words.

“You want me to ride you again?” Magnus offers, since he certainly isn’t opposed but Alexander shakes his head, something firm in his gaze. This is something he’s wanted for a while then, without knowing how to ask for it.

“I want to ride you.”

Magnus is surprised by the simple and easily granted request but he smirks, pleased because Alexander is finally asking for what he wants. Rather than just accepting what he thinks he’s allowed.

“You want to fuck yourself on my cock, sweetheart?” Alexander nods, hungry and searching, raw and open from the binding and finally feeling secure enough to actually want. “Do you want some control, darling?” 

Alexander hesitates and then shrugs, fingers reaching out to pet down Magnus’ naked torso and over the crease of his groin.  

“You touched me everywhere when you rode me. You watched me like I was a painting being created solely for you, your fingers on me wherever you could reach.” Alexander’s fingers wrap around Magnus’ cock and he groans. Alexander never touches him first, not without being instructed to.  To know that this is what he wants, when he finally feels confident enough to ask, makes Magnus burn.

“I want to touch you, watch you while you fuck me.” Alexander doesn’t seem to notice how deeply he’s affecting Magnus, he’s watching Magnus’ cock rather than his face. Playing with his slit and precome pooling there, petting at it with his fingers. “I want to feel you come in me and get hard again, without ever having to leave you.”

Magnus wants all of that but he needs a kiss and he gets a hand in Alexander’s hair but then Alexander is slipping down. Away from Magnus’ mouth to press his lips to Magnus’ dick instead.  Alexander kisses Magnus’ cock like he’s worshipping at an altar. Prayers from his lips and tongue petting over Magnus until he pulls Alexander up by his hair and into a proper kiss.

Because Magnus needs to taste Alec, it feels like he’s been waiting all night and the brief taste while he undressed Alexander was nowhere near enough.

“Are you still loose enough sweetheart? Or do you need my fingers?” 

Alexander squirms but shakes his head, “just your magic.”

Magnus slicks him up with a wink and Alexander flushes, the first sign of fluster on his face despite his unusual boldness.

Magnus pulls Alexander’s hand away from his cock, no matter that it feels tortuous to do so.  He brings it to his mouth, licking over the smears of precome and kissing Alexander's knuckles before swallowing two of his fingers.  Alexander whines, fingers involuntarily flexing and fucking Magnus’ mouth.

Magnus moans, proud and encouraging until Alexander does it again and when he finally pulls away, Magnus drags his teeth down Alexander’s fingers until he releases them with a slick pop.

Alexander swallows hard before he straddles Magnus, holding his cock and carefully lowering himself down. Whining at the tight drag when Magnus finally slides past his rim despite saying he’d be fine.

Magnus chuckles, staying as still as he can and Alexander glares at him, clearly taking his amusement as a challenge because he bites his lip. Closing his eyes as he exhales and lowers himself fully down on Magnus cock in a move that makes them both groan.

Alexander pants harshly, hands and nails scrabbling on Magnus’ belly as he recenters himself around where Magnus’ cock fills him. It’s too tight, for both of them but that doesn’t stop Magnus from bucking his hips up in little thrusts that punch whines out of Alexander with every movement.

Alexander clenches around him, a keen filling the air as he manages to move down so that Magnus’ cock presses against his prostate. It’s clearly too much too soon but Magnus’ consort is stubborn. Clearly too proud to ask for help and Magnus admits that he likes the gleam of tears in Alexander’s eyes and the stubborn turn of his mouth too much to offer any sincere help.

“Do you need a break, darling?” Magnus’ voice is light and soothing as he carefully shifts his legs.  Getting enough traction and bracing his feet against his bed so that despite Alexander being perched on his cock, Magnus now controls the movement.  “Do you want me to fuck you while you rest?” 

Magnus rocks up, using the momentum of his hips and heels to fuck up and into Alexander until he’s squirming, nearly bouncing on Magnus’ cock. Grinding down tightly with every buck, as if that will make it easier.

“I need you to fuck me, until you come.” Alexander mutters, an adorable flustered scowl on his face as groans, nails scratching and leaving ragged lines down Magnus’ chest.  Then Alexander groans, body shaking as he creates a circle for his cock with his fingers, to keep himself from coming.

“You can come whenever you want darling, there’s no reason to torture yourself.”  Magnus’ willing hand is smacked away, Alexander holding his own cock tightly with one hand. 

“If I come before you, it’s going to be even more intense.”

“That sounds like a challenge sweetheart,” and Magnus is very tempted by challenges.

“You said what I wanted.” Alexander reminds him, sharp and biting and Magnus sighs, reaching out to stroke over Alexander’s collar and tug on it instead.

“As you wish, lovely. I’ll let you neglect your poor cock despite the offers of my love.” 

Alexander snorts but there’s a growing smile on his face.  

It’s a far cry from the small, stifled smirks and smiles that Alexander usually shares with him.  This is a real grin, taking up half his face with pleasure and joy and Magnus wishes he’d  done this sooner.

Even though it was already rushed, the ceremony still took far too many days.  Days that Magnus could have already been holding the fragile trust of Alexander in his palm and coaxed it into his heart.  Not days where Alexander’s discomfort and unease grew as he expected to be abandoned all over again.  

Days where Magnus words didn’t hold any weight for his boy. Not because he didn’t trust Magnus alone, but because he didn’t trust anyone.

Magnus has to kiss him and Alexander groans, both hands coming up as they twist together. It takes but a thought of magic and Magnus keeps Alexander from coming, no matter how much he wishes to let it happen.

“Thank you.” Alexander murmurs against his lips, near breathless but so sweet and sincere and Magnus kisses him again.  Has to, because Alexander is thanking him for something so simple, when Magnus has finally won his smile.

“If it’s something you want, then I’ll provide it darling.  Sometimes even when it goes against what I want.”

That shocks Alexander.  Not just the words, but the truth of it, beating between them as they share a breath.

Alexander tightens around him, eyes a careful watch on Magnus face, cataloging just how to pleasure him.

Is this what Alexander wanted then? To learn pleasure for himself rather than what he’s been given.  Taking and giving and relearning everything Magnus has taught him. If that’s what he wants then Magnus will happily let him rediscover every bit of sex and intimacy that Alexander wants to. Especially when it makes his eyes light up like this, a relaxed awe as he strokes over Magnus’ skin and a raw delight when he leaves marks of his own.

It’s the tight, bruising grip on his hips and the knowledge that Alexander’s left imprints of his hands on Magnus’ skin that push him over the edge.

He comes with Alexander clenching around him, working him through his orgasm until his grip on Alexander tightens in warning.  There’s a moment of pure mischief where Alexander shifts, walls hot and tight and wet and Magnus groans as his cock tries to harden.  Even for a prince of hell and a son of lust, it’s too soon and he pushes himself up enough to kiss Alexander as his boy finally settles on top of him.

“Stay here, just like this.” Magnus praises, watching Alexander fondle himself slowly, like he’s not yet ready to come. “Fuck, Alexander. You’ll get me hard again before you’ve even come at this rate.”

That catches his boy’s attention, Alexander’s eyes bright and wanting as he looks at Magnus with encouraging curiosity.

“Do you want that, darling? To get me hard again while you come?” Alexander nods, hands pausing on his own cock and Magnus groans. “Just a moment lovely, give me a moment and kiss me first, hmm?”

Alexander does so, trusting Magnus and his magic to keep him from coming, his fingers firm against Magnus' back as Alexander holds him just as close. Alexander’s kisses are slow and syruppy, long moments of exploring each other’s mouths before taking a moment to just breathe before they reunite.

[korrasera]

So, you didn't actually read anything that I said, since it appears you've intentionally misinterpreted everything I wrote.

That's the only way I can describe me talking about how divorced artists and makers are from social mobility and thus are no longer petit bourgousie only to interpret that as 'because proles exist' and that I'm suggesting petit bourgousie doesn't exist at all.

Like, seriously, how hard was it to read what I wrote? It's only a few hundred words, it doesn't take that long.

I appreciate that you're upset that someone disagreed with you, but if you don't want to be treated like a child then you should be able to handle disagreement without losing your shit like this.

You just want to be insulting and anti-intellectual, since pointing out that you didn't understand something has gotten me called a zionist (not a zionist) and anti-analytical (you're the anti-analytical one in this conversation) while basically refusing to even read what I wrote.

Are you the kind of person I was talking about above that likes to insult people that they feel are beneath them? I'm thinking that might be where all this came from.

Seriously, where do people like you find the energy to be so goddamn insufferable all the time? Do you also call people kulak as an insult?

Eh. Looks like communism is in good hands!

-

For anyone who sees this in the future, the point I made above is that artisans and makers aren't a part of the petit bourgeoisie anymore because there's no longer the form of social mobility and economic security in those fields that used to exist.

Because of that, there's no longer the same kind of pressure for people outside of hard labor fields to ideologically align themselves with the haute bourgeoisie. Essentially, with the slow eradication of the middle class, artisans, peasants, and tradesmen are in the same boat as the rest of the proletariat.

This is important for two reasons:

1 - Propaganda is a lot more important in today's world. If you want to create solidarity, find a way to help people unlearn the lessons of propaganda.

2 - There are a lot of absolutely clueless fake leftist communists online who watched some BreadTube and now think they're in a position to run around treating people like shit and getting congratulated for it.

Let me say that last part louder:

There are a lot of absolutely clueless fake leftist communists online who watched some BreadTube and now think they're in a position to run around treating people like shit and getting congratulated for it.

I really like this quote, because its a rhetorical question to which the correct answer is yes,

[incorrect-green-lantern-quotes]

Spoilers for Absolute Green Lantern issue #2

mmm the eldritch cosmic horrors of it all

Also hot damn, girl's got abs

The black hand doesn't operate on willpower eh? So even if this version of Hal Jordan has the same strength of will as the prime continuity's, that's not gonna do any good.

Despite what Hal says, I don't think John and Guy are dead. Which might seem an odd thing to say considering it looks like the latter got blasted to kingdom come by Abin (sidenote- it's interesting how he refers to himself as "the Abin Sur" like it's a title and not his name) but hear me out.

Pretty much the entire time Guy is shown, he's trying to defuse a very tense situation. He only draws his gun when Abin's hand starts glowing menacingly. He's very clearly stressed out and afraid (understandably so, given the circumstances) but makes a conscious choice to listen to Jo and holster his gun to try and talk things out.

Granted, Abin's response is to flashbang Guy but we don't actually see a dead body and that seems to be intentional on Ewing and Lindsay's parts. Because when the sheriff goes down and the other cops open fire, Abin puts up a shield to protect himself. But he doesn't strike back until one of the bullets ricochets and kills a civilian, at which point he decapitates the policewoman responsible. The other cop keeps shooting, so Abin disarms him in a very literal sense.

(the way the Abin Sur keeps saying "be without fear" like a biblical angel and immediately enacts vengeance when Rita's bullet kills an innocent bystander... Spectre is that you?)

And then he stops. He doesn't even move when Hal picks up Rita's gun and points it at him. He merely watches as John talks Hal down. Then he flies off, and we get an aerial view of the scene, showing Roy still bleeding and the dead bodies of Rita and the unfortunate civilian.

But no crispy Guy, which could mean that Ewing and Lindsay are deliberately not showing us what happened to him right now because they're saving that for a later reveal, or that he was completely vaporized and is actually dead. Both options are equally plausible. Absolute Flash has shown that offing established characters is not off the table. But based on how Hal and Jo have been physically altered by whatever Abin Sur did, I suspect the same also applies for Guy and John.

Speaking of John, we'll have to wait and see what his fate is, since this is what the issue ends off on:

(It's so funny that the place where these guys hang out is Alan Scott's Atom Bomb Cafe and Diner. Missed opportunity to have it be the Warriors Bar and have Guy be the owner but I suppose they wanted to reference the old man somehow since he's probably not gonna be an actual character in this)

This seems to confirm my speculation from last month about the Yellow Weakness. My prediction is that John's gonna melt down the ring into a golden bullet and Hal uses the gun he picked up to fire it at the Abin Sur, potentially wounding or even killing him and in doing so unleashing whatever the black hand is. As Jo notes, Hal held onto the gun, and it seems to have become part of the black hand.

(Spooky eye change! Also, I think this is the closest we've gotten to actual constructs in this comic, since Abin only made green blobs to shield himself)

Right about what exactly? That Abin and the Spectrum of Light are to be feared? And what exactly does it meant to "exist" on it, at the green level or otherwise?

It is only issue #2, so we'll just have to wait for these questions to be answered. The narrative keeps hopping back and forth between past and present, but it's not too difficult to keep up with so far. So far, I'm enjoying the story, it seems like it's gonna be working up to some good old cosmic horrors and that'll be fun to see.

[system-of-a-feather]

Kind of bouncing off a discussion with @thecircularsystem on a post they made, but honestly I think one of the reasons that syscourse as a tag is so rancid and unproductive is because I feel most people in those spaces are not actually in those spaces to engage with discussion, debate, conversation, or understanding about complex topics and experiences, but they're in those spaces to fulfill an emotional / psychological / mental need that they are not getting elsewhere in their life.

I feel that while the words and the content might be about advocacy, philosophy, diagnostic credibility, being nice or mean to people, etc, the actual reason engagement is occurring is not really ABOUT that. Maybe it is a secondary or tertiary intent, but first and foremost it always seems to be about "being heard" or "defending oneself" or "protecting a community" or "convincing people that this is right or wrong" or "correcting people" or "protecting / standing up for friends and peers" - all of which boil down a lot to 1) getting validation 2) getting attention 3) making oneself feel secure / safe 4) making oneself feel smart / important / ego boost 5) making one feel as if they are making a difference / able to make a change or 6) gaining a sense of belonging / pack mentality

Which none are bad! Or wrong reasons really, but the issue tends to come when the need that it's filling is not actually in line with much of the reality of what it is actually doing.

Syscourse, particularly referring to the more aggressive and non-productive yelling at one another often found in the tag, might make someone feel safer, secure, or like they are participating in cause that will make spaces safer, but as someone who has been on here since 2018, very little actually gets done to improve spaces. Every year or so, someone involved in syscourse has a severe mental health breakdown / ends up in inpatient / gets chased off the internet and harassed solely because of their engagement in syscourse. I've never really seen anything 'safe' come out of syscourse other than the formation of the sysconversation tag as a means of escaping the hurt cycle syscourse tends to be.

Syscourse, in the realm of information spreading / miss information correcting, is often done poorly and without much scientific literacy. More often than not, its individuals sharing and posting scientific articles that prove their point without much understanding of the nuance and layers that goes into research. Often these articles are not truly discussed as much used as points of credibility and for people that are actually involved in research and practical experience, it's a large eye roll. It's largely posturing for smart points rather than actually improving any actual information or education about complex and nuanced topics. Most things in life are not black and white, cut and dry, or clear One Right and One Wrong like it often is in syscourse.

Syscourse, in regards to making a difference / change, is unfortunately the same argument / flawed nature as the commentary I made about feeling "safe". Nothing has really ever changed in 7+ years of me being on tumblr dot com and being around the syscourse tag. It might feel like things are being done, like differences are being made, but very very little is done through the standard yelling and aggressively barking about who is right and who is wrong.

Syscourse, as a community / group, can feel great to be a part of. If you've never really been a part of something and desire to feel included / important / have a social circle and friends, syscourse does provide a space for that. The only issue is, that the groups and social spaces centered around syscourse tend to be centered around hurt, fear, hate, negativity, and just a lot of negative feelings and emotions that worsen one another. On one hand, you get people to interact with and people who you agree with and you get this sort of support and bonding, but on the other hand, the social contract almost requires you to stay in at least a slightly dysregulated state to continue participating. Syscourse is inherently stressful and the aggressive manners that is normalized in it furthers that stressful situation. It's incredibly hard to leave or get out of those stressful, dysregulated, fight/flight mental spaces in your life outside of the internet when your common hobby / social media free time repetitively puts you back into those spaces. It fills one need (belonging and community) at the expense of the ability to actually relax and get out of a dysregulated mental space (which can feel normal and comfortable to trauma survivors but also holds back recovery)

I really don't think many people in syscourse would argue with me when I say "Syscourse is rarely productive" and so I think its really important to reflect on exactly, truly, and honestly what your reason for engaging in syscourse is and question if syscourse is really the best way to fulfill that purpose. This is especially so because while syscourse might fill a need somewhat, I can almost promise you in almost every situation, it only does a superficial job filling that need and it only does enough to make it so you don't feel that motivated to actually address the issue in your life that is making that need in the first place.

For example, Syscourse can provide community and a sense of belonging, but only at a trade off. There are other ways to foster a sense of community and belonging in your life that don't require you to chronically be stressed or in a state of fight / flight when engaging in it. It's not easy, and its not nearly as convenient as goign on tumblr dot com and making a post or logging into discord and talking with like minded individuals about how horrible or bad this post or that post is and catastrophizing the impacts of a Post on Tumblr Dot Com.

I dunno man, just some food for thought and considerations.

[polyamorouscultureis]

Hi,

I hope this isn't too heavy to throw at you but I could really use the advice or opinion of the polyam community. I've been polyamorous ever since I started dating (6 years ago, I'm an adult); I never recognised myself in monogamy, and I believe in polyamory both due to personal preferences and to the political and ethical dimensions of polyamory, which are very important to me.

My partner and I live very far away from each other. We've been together for 3 years and have always had a polyamorous and open relationship (he was with someone who was married when I met him). Due to circumstances and personal preferences, we ended up in a hierarchical polyam situation where we are primary partners. We trust each other a lot, we have a very open and honest communication. All this to say it's a very loving and healthy polyam frame where everyone is on the same page.

The thing is, every time he tells me he's going to see someone (or have them over - meaning we can't talk at night like we tend to almost every day -, or go on a weekend with his friends and that person), it makes me sick. As in, I can't stop thinking about it, I feel sad and angry, I wait for texts I know won't come because he's busy with someone else. But I reach levels of envy and jealousy I can hardly deal with.

We do talk about it, because communication is important, but I refuse to talk to him about it every time because it would amount to emotionally pressuring him. He would either stop himself from seeing people (which is not something I want because I do want him to be free to create and have meaningful relations as he sees fit), or do everything without telling me, which would eventually weaken the foundation of the trust we share. I try to think about my own relations and sex partners, which I have and with whom I share meaningful and nice moments, in order to bring everything down to manageable proportions, but it barely works.

I hate feeling like this. This suffering is just not something I want in my life or as a reaction to my partner's exercise of his freedom. I don't understand why I'm not able to feel compersion and move on with my evening, instead of spending the entire excruciatingly long time with my phone at hand or without being able to put the thought away. I feel that I'm not actually able to be polyam and open as I have always seen myself. I know one of the baselines is to not be too hard on yourself, but I can't help but feel ashamed of my reactions in addition to feeling like absolute shit with the combination of jealousy and envy taking over my brain. This is not who I want to be not how I want to live my relationship and my life, because, then again, I choose to be polyamorous and I like it, and I feel it's a precious part of my identity and how I relate to the world.

Sorry for the length. I just don't have many polyam people around me and none are dealing with the long distance factor in addition, and I could use anyone's point of view on this.

Thank you 💜

Hi! I'm so sorry you're dealing with this and that you have been for so long. As I'm sure you've heard a hundred times, jealousy is so, so very normal. It's awesome you have such exquisite self-awareness, and I think you're doing all the right things in not putting your partner in a position where he feels like he needs to change what he's doing for your sake.

Here are a few things that sometimes help me turn my own jealousy into compersion (or at least make it less intense of a feeling):

I think about my partner's laugh, their smile, and how valuable their happiness is to me. Although I know they're with someone else and it's sometimes hard to think about their attraction to the other person, I try to focus on how I would encourage them to do anything that makes them happy, and if they're happy with this person, I would never want them to pull away from that source of joy. (Similar to the "if you love them let them go" kind of logic, only I don't have to let them go!)

Letting my body react however it's going to react. If I'm home by myself, I can let myself feel the feelings and whatever comes with it -- if I need to cry, or stress eat, or take a nap, or scream, or whatever, I allow myself to do whatever it takes to express the feeling and get it out of my system. It feels awful at first, but once it passes, I can then indulge in my own hobbies to pass the time until my partner comes home. And usually, the feeling goes away just a little bit faster every time.

Getting a poly-affirming therapist! Either an individual therapist or, if your partner is willing, a couple's therapist. It may take a bit to find the right practice or the right type, but it can be so helpful to have a professional to talk to, especially if this affects your daily life.

Additionally, see if you can figure out the root cause of your jealousy, or if you can find any patterns in what makes you more jealous than other things. (Journaling is suuuuper helpful for this, imo). Is it the idea of him being attracted to someone else to begin with? Is it the thought of him having sex or physical intimacy with someone else? Is it the inability to contact him while he is on a date, or the uncertainty about what they're doing together? There are soooo many factors that could make a person feel insecure or jealous, and once you find the root cause, it'll be easier to tackle. It may be as simple as asking him to check in with a text every couple of hours so that you know he's thinking about you, or asking to meet his date before they go out. See if you and your partner can find little ways to make you feel more secure without him having to completely pull away from anyone he wants to connect with.

I have answered a few other asks on jealousy in case you would like to read those as well!

I hope that this helps at least a little bit, and I'm sorry I didn't get to answering this sooner (and thank you for following up to make sure I saw it)! Hopefully others will give their own insights in the reblogs and comments as well.

Sending you all the love, anon! <3

[miqojak]

Here I've been calling Jak + Ketsuchi 'rivals to lovers' but uh. Physical violence HAS happened that once. And she is VERY proud of her scars from that encounter, these days, even if at the time she was LIVID and SCARED. But she figured out he was testing her, and pushed herself through the 'test'... and these days wears her scars as a badge that she proved herself to him. (So I guess... they're technically enemies to lovers, according to OP's bit about violence! XD) There was lots of name calling. Yelling. Breaking things. Sexual tension CONSTANTLY boiling over into 'god I think I hate you' intimacy that returns right to 'fuck you' except he still shows up at your door humming that same damn song, and you still let him the fuck in. And yet, even in the midst of their roiling rivalry... he was the first one she trusted to be physically intimate with. Even while they fought... she knew, intrinsically deep down... he was like her. She trusted something in him because it was so familiar. So yeah. With two years of writing between us before they admitted to what had been long simmering? That is the best slowburn I've ever written, and one of the deepest, most complex relationship dynamics I've ever written. These two fucked up people helped knit up each other's inner wounds (and sometimes literal ones) with lots of time and patience - because who understands your fucked up emotional walls like someone else who builds the same fucked up walls and lashes out in the same fucked up way? In real life, hurt people hurt people. In fiction? Sometimes the hurt people get to heal the other hurt people. They were both chasing a death-wish after losing people they loved... and both gave up chasing death for the other - all without ever once saying "I love you." Because actions speak louder than words, in their mad world. And yeah, to that bit about mocking names becoming pet names... he once mockingly called her Little Robin, so she added it to her tattoos, all those years later - and just like he brought color to her dull world, her robin tattoo is the only one on her body with color. And a gesture from her that was once defiant - pressing her hand to his chest, to show she wasn't afraid of him? Now, is a tender, loving way for her to connect with him. To feel his heartbeat, and be soothed that it DOES still beat. And she'll keep fighting to make sure it keeps beating. And OP is right - "It's about truly knowing every single piece of your partner's heart and soul, from their anger to their joy and loving them not just despite it, but especially for it."

Because there were times Ketsuchi would be just... caught up in his anger, and would call her names and rage at her... and she refused to even be upset by it. (Now and then a zinger really dug in, though.) But she knew what he was doing... because she did the same thing with others. Lash out. Bite, scratch, gnaw, be as nasty as you can... and they'll leave. They'll give up. But she doesn't give up. And she saw something too akin to her own hurt in him... and in refusing to abandon one another, and insisting they keep butting heads and 'competing' to one-up each other... they kinda just ended up falling for that ferocity in each other, and wanting something better for the other person. And now? They *have* seen the worst of one another - and I think they've actually progressed to trying to bring out the best.

One thing that has always pissed me off is when people call the Enemies to Lovers troupe toxic romance and say it's abusive. Like I don't know what was advertised to you as enemies to lovers but babe that is so not what this trope it's about.

Now listen I'm a fantasy reader, so my normal level of enemies to lovers is "they have tried to kill each other at least once" or "they have definitely physically fist fought" at like the minimum. Anything below that is rivals to lovers to me. Just wanted to make it clear I'm not sugar coating anything here when it comes to my ships.

Enemies to lovers was never about the abuse or the fighting and the attempted murder, that's not what makes the trope.

Enemies to lovers was always about seeing the worst in each other first, being unafraid to show someone the ugliest part of yourselves and them still managing to fall in love with you. It's about realizing that the only person who has ever truly known you is the one person you cannot stand, it's about them being an outlet to each other the one person they are not afraid to be negative towards because that's your dynamic all the time.

This is also why people enjoy the fighting and the bickering between the enemies, because it's the one time when these characters are not holding anything back, they are unafraid of showing each other cruelty because why fear being disliked by someone who you already hate, that also hates you back?

It's about this chemistry these characters have, how they are somehow always pulled towards each other, how they can recognize each other in a crowded room immediately because they are annoyed by each other's presence obviously. It's about them always somehow ending up in a situation together even though the last thing they want is to be near each other.

They start noticing more about each other, they realize their habits, they know little stuff about them that almost no one else has ever noticed and maybe along the way they realize that maybe they're kind of different from what they thought at first and maybe they're not so different from each other.

It's about name calling turning into pet names, verbal sparing turning into old married couple type of bickering, going from dreading each others presence to searching for each other in a room, sneers turning into smirks, it's about keeping the same dynamic you had but making it more lighthearted, warmer.

And this is my personal opinion, but I truly believe there is no way to make a good enemies to lovers story without it also being a slowburn. It makes absolutely no sense why these characters that hated each other until now are suddenly falling in love so quickly. Enemies to lovers was never just Enemies -> Lovers, There needs to be some forced proximity thrown in there, a begrudgingly friendship, actual friendship, unexplained feelings, realization of feelings, secret pining because we barely became friends there is no way they would ever feel the same way, confession and by the end lovers. It just makes sense since they have a very complicated relationship and they need to grow as people and need to get used to familiar feelings first before actually getting together.

And this is what enemies to lovers is all about, these characters knowing every part of themselves, from the worst to the best, hiding nothing and being free around each other. It's about truly knowing every single piece of your partner's heart and soul, from their anger to their joy and loving them not just despite it, but especially for it.

[crazysodomite]

oh my godddd im so tired of people making up these rituals to "find out" whos good or bad or who "really cares"

if you really cared and were actually a good person you would do [xyz]. it's obvious you should do this and anyone who doesn't immediately understand is being purposefully malicious. me and the people i surround myself with understand the ritual and we will vilify anyone who doesn't understand our social rituals. i will purposefully isolate myself from people who don't understand our social rituals because they're being purposefully malicious and it's actually not my job to explain to anyone what they did wrong because it's obvious how you should behave in any given situation.

it's especially funny when there's like several groups who have completely mutually exclusive social norms

"it's obvious you should do [xyz]. anyone who does [abc] is being purposefully malicious"

"anyone who does [xyz] is purposefully trying to be malicious. everyone knows you should be doing [abc]"

"i had to cut off this person for doing [abc]. no i didn't explain they did something wrong. if they actually cared they would know that you can't do [abc]"

"ditch anyone who doesn't do [xyz] for you! no you shouldn't ask for it. you deserve someone who knows everything you want at all times without asking or communicating! and also they're evil for not knowing they were supposed to be doing [xyz]!"

[lastofthewardens]

Friendly reminder (or not; passive aggressive reminder, actually) that this is how Matt felt about working with Bullseye for his own benefit of surviving/escaping after he killed people he cared about, one of which was Karen, in the comics.

It even blew up a tentative deal he had with Fisk because Fisk was the one who brought Bullseye into it. But yeah sure Matt would totally work with Bullseye, on the streets of New York against Fisk, after he killed Foggy Nelson. That's 100% an in character thing for them to make him do, yup.

It's impossible to tell from what we know if this is going to happen or not, and fandom is being weird as hell about Matt and Bullseye, so I'm trying not to jump to conclusions because who knows right now. But if they DO go through with this 'enemy of my enemy' idea, they're just admitting that they never cared about Foggy or his relationship with Matt, despite 60 years of comic history between those two, and that they don't understand any of these characters.

(I already know they don't care about Foggy and don't understand these characters, but you know... I keep hoping to be wrong lol).

I'm obviously not against a more nuanced take on Bullseye, I loved how they did him in season 3, but that would not be the way to do it. The Fisks, specifically Vanessa, manipulating Bullseye doesn't change the fact he pulled the trigger. Charlie even talked in an interview about how that prison scene with Bullseye was Matt going in with the ONE goal of just getting through the conversation without killing Bullseye while he was there.

Better creators would have Matt's rejection of and inability to work with Bullseye be a plot point. Not some half baked, completely out of character team up because "it'd be cool", and because they clearly have a thing about Bullseye, since they talked about the concept of a potential show with him.

I'm hoping the set pictures are just them fighting a ton, which I have other issues with, but this is way more significant to me because this would be such a massive betrayal of the original show, its characters, the comic books.. just wild that this is even a possibility I'm discussing.

[randomthefox]

Neither Metal Sonic nor Shadow are better than Sonic in every way, and the story does not present them as such. This is the kind of description you would only make if you've never played the games.

Typical of someone with an Archie screenshot for an avatar

In Sonic CD Metal Sonic only shows up twice, the first time to kidnap Amy and then for his boss fight. Neither time is he presented as being "faster and better than" Sonic in any capacity. Hell, the boss fight is a race in which Sonic wins, in case you forgot.

In SA2 Shadow is introduced as being (indirectly) responsible for Sonic being jammed up with the cops, and Sonic tries to jump him on sight because of that. Shadow uses chaos control to freeze time teleport out of Sonic's grasp, which is not presented as Shadow being "faster and better than Sonic in every way" it's just a unique power that Sonic was not anticipating which allowed Shadow to elude him.

The next time they meet they fight to a draw which only ends as such because they're interrupted by Eggman calling on the phone and reminding Shadow about the bombs.

The next time they meet SONIC STRAIGHT UP INDISPUTABLY WINS. Sonic is CONSISTENTLY portrayed as BETTER than Shadow even in SA2, up to and including Shadow complimenting Sonic as being the "real ultimate life form" in the ending. Let alone in basically every single game afterwards.

There is no point in SA2s story where Shadow is EVER presented as Sonic's superior. That's like saying Blaze the Cat is introduced as being "faster and better than Sonic in every way" because she snatches the Sol Emerald out from him and then runs off before he have a chance to find out what her deal is. Or Infinite, for that matter. Since he also has a "whoa, he's fast! Wait, it's not his speed..." moment.

Figures that the example he's using for Metal Sonic is a screenshot from the OVA and not the actual video games. Means without a doubt that dude is basing his analysis of Shadow being "faster and better than Sonic in every way" entirely off of Sonic X and not Sonic Adventure 2.

You can always spot a Sonic hater. Archie avatar. Bases their franchise analysis off of the adaptations. No actual knowledge of the video games. They're all the same, they make these people in a fucking factory.

Eggman does not want to "destroy the world." He SPECIFICALLY *DOESN'T* want to destroy the world, he wants to conquer it. And has acted in the planets defense multiple times for that reason

once again, F on Understanding The Sonic Franchise And Its Characters from the archie fan

Neither Metal Sonic nor Shadow frames Sonic. Metal Sonic doesn't do anything even fucking remotely that could be misconstrued as being that even in the fucking OVA let alone the video games which you obviously know nothing about. And Shadow didn't even know Sonic existed. Shadow's crimes being pinned on Sonic was unintentional circumstance and potentially caused by GUNs internal corruption, Shadow didn't have anything to do with it. And he certainly doesn't view himself as being "more deserving" of being the "one true hedgehog" what the fuck are you even talking about?

Once again, I have to assume this is based on the Sonic X version of that story.

Metal Sonic does not sacrifice himself for the greater good in either Sonic CD nor the OVA, you're just making shit up at this point. And Shadow doesn't sacrifice himself either, depending on who you ask he either simply succumbed to exhaustion due to being inexperienced in using the Super Form or, if you're literate, he deliberately allowed himself to die in repentance for his crimes against Maria's wishes when he could have easily chosen to live and return to the ARK with Sonic. Either way, neither of them "sacrificed" themselves.

The actual comparison here would be that Sonic attempted to save Metal Sonic in the OVA and Shadow in SA2 from their fate, and they both rejected him and chose death instead. The one time you're accidentally right, and it's for the wrong reason lol.

These stories do not even remotely resemble each other even in the uncharitably generalized reductive description you have applied to them. You also very clearly aren't basing your description of SA2's story off of the actual video game, you are basing it off of Sonic X season 2.

also play Sonic CD ffs

[antianakin]

"I don't entirely understand how we got there in the first place." I think it had to do with the writer strike happening in the middle of them making the second season and them going from 4 seasons to 2 seasons meaning they tried to condense 3 seasons worth of storylines down to one and the quality falls as u said falls as a result

I'm not entirely certain which post this is referencing, but regardless I think I was likely talking more about not understanding how we got somewhere in universe. As in, how do the characters change in order to make certain decisions believable.

It's also actually 4 seasons in 1. From the interviews I've seen, this was originally a FIVE seasons story concept, they got about halfway through season 1 and realized this was a very expensive show to make and doing it the way they wanted to do it would take a lot of time and effort, it would basically be a 10-12 year commitment from almost everybody involved, and they decided they just didn't super want to do that, so they finished out season 1 as planned and then condensed the next four seasons into four three-episode arcs within one season.

So yes, we're jumping a LOT, we're skipping SO MUCH development for the characters that we'd have gotten if they'd just done the five season story the way it was originally built. You can tell that they kind-of did try to adjust the story to still work without all of those other details, but there's so many places where it feels like we're just getting payoff without any set-up and places where we're being TOLD development happened off-screen instead of being SHOWN that development (Mon's decision to abandon her family, Cassian becoming "a leader" in the rebellion, Bix and Vel's friendship, the rebellion's presence on Yavin). There's details missing that feel like they're vital to understanding what we ARE being shown, and things that got left in that seem a little superfluous because they're remnants of a story we didn't end up actually getting.

It's possible the writers' strike did impact this, as well, that wouldn't shock me, Andor is very expensive to make and doesn't have quite the same viewership numbers as the other shows Disney's put out for the franchise (although it had massive amounts more critical acclaim and awards recognition than any other Star Wars show). But I think it's still worth looking at what we DID get and critiquing how it was done and the places it falls apart and recognizing that a large reason it's lacking sometimes is because it's not giving itself the time to tell the story correctly.