Death Note AU Where Hbomberguy Makes A Five Hour Long Video About Youtuber Light Yagami That's Initially

I love me a pseudo-historical arranged marriage au but it always nudges my suspension of disbelief when the author has to dance around the implicit expectation that an arranged marriage should lead to children, which a cis gay couple can't provide.

I know for a lot of people that's irrelevant to what they want from an Arranged Marriage plot, but personally I like playing in the weird and uncomfortable implications.

So, I've been thinking about how you would justify an obviously barren marriage in That Kind of fantasy world, and I thought it'd be interesting if gay marriage in Ye Old Fantasy Land was a form of soft disinheritance/abdication.

Like, "Oh, God, I don't want to be in this position of power please just find me a boy to marry", or, "I know you should inherit after you father passes but as your stepmother/legal guardian I think it'd make more sense if my kids got everything, so maybe consider lesbianism?", or "Look, we both know neither of our families has enough money to support that many grandkids, so let's just pair some spares and save both our treasuries the trouble".

Obviously this brings in some very different dynamics that I know not everyone would be pinged by, but I just think it'd be neat.

Someone: transmascs can’t say tranny because [insert some random shit about how transmascs are immune from transphobia etc etc] so basically transphobia and slurs are never directed at them blah blah

some transphobe upon hearing someone on t speak: nice tranny voice faggot

Homeland Security Admits It Tried to Manufacture Fake Terrorists for Trump

in case it hasn’t been clear, this blog is firmly and unwaveringly pro-choice.

i could use a little help again.

my last paycheck was embarrassingly small and bills cleaned me out immediately. i drive up to hundreds of miles a week for work and gas is stupid right now, plus i need some help with food and other stuff as well. 

paypal venmo cashapp

i’m going to try to delay my car payment, and my next paycheck will actually be good for once, but it’s gonna be another week and a half until i get paid again. i fucking hate having to keep doing this.

general ouyang

I really do adore the kind of character who would rather make everything worse than even try to fix the problem. Yeah man, fuck communicating with your friends, blow the place to hell!!!

Weak-Tober 2023: 01 Bloodstain

There was blood staining the button down shirt of his uniform.

Baekjin found himself looking at the spot for a bit longer than he most likely should.

It had dried already, turning from red to brownish, stiffening the fabric and turning it scratchy, but if he soaked it now, it should wash out fully… It was a pity that there simply wasn't the time for it now.

imesMaybe he could make time, but the question was, if it would be worth it. On one hand, a dried blood stain could either indicate messiness, unkemptness or give him an intimidation factor. Or a combination of these three things, depending on who he was dealing with.

The problem was that this was his school uniform and he had no intention of appearing unkempt inside the school where keeping up his image and reputation had its own importance, especially when the further success of his plans depended on having a professional enough appearance to be taken serious.

If it had been one of his other clothes, he wouldn't care as much. It wasn't a big stain and not in a visible spot either, so he could get away with keeping small blood splatters on himself as a small cue to remind his followers to not underestimate him. For some reason they tended to think he was going soft if he turned up repeatedly without any stain on himself.

How quickly they could forget the beating he handed out was confusing though. Sure, most of them had only ever witnessed him giving these beatings and not felt them themselves-only few people ever forgot if he gave them the painful hits personally-but it should still leave some impression.

The blonde looked at the bloodstain again, rubbing his thumb over the fabric and feeling the rough and hardened texture the soft fibers had turned into.

Aspirin should work well to break down the blood and help keeping it from staining. Saliva would do the same, but he had better things to do than soaking part of his clothing in spit, even if they handed up in the washer right after. He was past the point where that was necessary. He had other options now.

Stains were an annoyance anyway. If everything would go as he wanted and if he didn't need to steer people one way or the other, if he wasn't dependant on these people acting as he made them, he wouldn't even bother to think about reasons not to remove stains.

He preferred clean clothing with no hint of inability to keep it clean.

Sighing, the teen looked up from the stain and around the hallway to locate the nearest bathroom.

It would suck to wear a wet shirt, but it would only be the sleeve and he wouldn't even need to get the whole sleeve wet.

And in the end, he couldn't afford stains on the uniform. He didn't want them there either.

Dyslexic adventures!

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ristay

The horribly awkward, unique and embarrassing stories of ristay.

It’s Not a Plot Hole, It’s Foreshadowing

vs.

It’s Not a Plot Hole, It’s Just Something That They Opted Not to Spoon-feed You Because It Would Be Obvious If You Thought About It For 20 Seconds

vs.

It May Be a Plot Hole, But It Still Works In Terms of the Story’s Themes and Character Logic

vs.

Okay, It Is a Plot Hole, What Are You Going to Do, Cry about It?

At times, Reading He Who Drowned the World felt like I was the one being flayed and steamed alive, being cut into a thousand little pieces by a knife. The mental and physical agony the characters go through is so painful it feels even excessive at times. But even when the most horrible things were happening and I was almost losing hope towards the end, I couldn’t even be mad because I could feel what the author was trying to tell me with all this pain and suffering, and I can buy that message 100 %.

Through these deeply painful scenes, the story shows how strict gender roles, toxic masculinity, misogyny and homophobia hurt and restrict us, and how lethal they can be.

Major spoilers after this

I was especially gutted by Ouyang’s death, but I feel like his storyline drove the themes of the story home in a very pronounced way. In the end, Ouyang was killed by the harmful ideas about masculinity and manhood that had been ingrained in him all his life.

His tragedy was never about having to avenge his family, but rather being so entrenched in the toxic culture of pride and revenge and masculinity that he would rather kill the one he loved and retain his ”honor” than put the idea of honor aside and love and be loved in return.

These toxic ideas are also the reason that stops him from forming real solidarity with Zhu. Even though they are both very similar, living as men while their bodies are not viewed as a man’s by the society, Ouyang cannot accept Zhu as an equal because he’s learned to project his self-hatred into hating everything even remotely feminine and female. It’s very upsetting to see how he loses his chance at healing and changing as a person by Zhu’s side, but I think that’s the whole point. This is a book series about broken people and how people who have been hurt sometimes only learn to hurt others, and how patriarchy and other harmful structures pit women, queer and trans ppl and basically anyone against each other. This theme is visible in almost all the pov characters of the story.

Madam Zhang is incapable of letting go of the ideas about what men and women can or cannot do, which leads to her not being able to accept Zhu as an ally and subsequently her own death.

Baoxiang has been equally hurt by narrow views of masculinity and manhood, and been scorned and rejected for his femininity all his life. His pain becomes so all-consuming that he is almost suffocated by his need to revenge the society that has wronged him. In the end, he is only able to survive because he can cast things like pride or shame aside in order to start anew.

In contrast, Zhu is able to not only survive but even thrive in some way bc she doesn’t really care about those roles. Even if she is not a woman, she never rejects or undervalues femininity and is able to use it to her own advantage when needed. She also knows that pride and honor cannot comfort you when you’re dead and she would rather live, and I think this extends to a more metaphoric level too. What’s the point of becoming ”successful” or hanging on to the idea of what a ”real man” should be like, if it only leads to you being dead inside?

Obviously, letting go of these harmful and hurtful ideas and structures can not be a individual effort, but something that needs to be addressed on a more systemic level. That’s why Zhu has to get on that throne herself in order to change the world. And it feels very meaningful that at the end, when she ascends on the throne, she’s wearing a maid’s skirts, owing her win to both the feminine and masculine sides of her.

For me, at least, the very final chapter of the book managed to justify all the awful things that happened. With mercy and grace, Zhu (and Ma!) demonstrate that to make it all worth the pain and suffering, you have to stop hurting and killing others and break free from that cycle of toxicity that their world has been built upon until now.

(Also as a disclaimer, I generally prefer to read about healing and letting go of pain and generally don’t think pain and suffering make things more deep or worthy… but I also think that this book managed to use these elements in a very meaningful way.)