Friendly reminder that you’re under no obligation to love other people, whether they’re your parents, siblings, other family members or anyone you know. Someone’s love is something you earn through experiences and time, not because someone is “titled” under a label that they’ve put themselves. You’renot forced to love anyone who you think doesn’t deserve that love.
does anyone ever see something you own and be like “I thought you hated this” but you’re closeted as a system so you can’t explain that the thing isn’t yours and you don’t hate it and you can’t remember who owns and hates the thing anyway -felix
Hey, I’m sorry for my long absence - uni has been taxing these last couple of weeks and now I’m going through a rough time because of personal stuff. I’ll be back to post my secret santa content, but I need some time to heal. Love you lots :*
Cannot express how disinterested I am in seeing traumatized characters “reconcile” with their canonically shitty parental figures.
I probably don’t have to even say this but this has turned out to be the most “omg Blorbo from my shows” post I could have made. I have no idea who tf 90% of the people in the tags are but you’re very passionate about them.
A Dragon Age 2 Fic by Morta Mahariel, A Wyrd Sister of Thedas
Thank you to all the wonderful people who made Dragon 4ge Day so fantastic this year! Your work was truly inspiring! I hope folks enjoy this oneshot.
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A warm breeze carrying the scent of salt and waves, driftwood and seagrass tickled at the edges of Mercy’s awareness. Her skin felt all a tingle, like the last traces of a healing spell were ebbing from her body. The thought brought with it a smile and a sense of peace. She didn’t have to move. There was nowhere to be. There was no one to save. The frantic life they had left behind seemed a distant memory in the moment that was now.
She opened her eyes to see a tousled blonde head of hair within reach of her outstretched hand. The longest strands, normally tightly restrained, had staged a rebellion to cascade over the face of the man sleeping next to her on the blanket. Her smile widened into a giggle as she stretched to murmur a breath away from his ear, “Your skin has turned a rather worrisome shade of red too, Anders.”
Without moving a muscle, other than the quirk at the edge of his mouth, the mage cast a healing spell, its blue waves of magic flowing like water over his skin leaving a tawny shade in its wake. Mercy rose onto one elbow, her gaze teasing over his almost bare form. Mmm, half-naked Anders, she mused dreamily. Rivaini swim clothes are…nice.
“Better?” Anders asked, his lips stretched into a cheeky smirk as his half-lidded amber eyes followed her admiration.
Heat that had nothing to do with the sun flamed Mercy’s cheeks. For the Maker’s sake! You would think I would stop blushing at his flirting eventually!! “At least you won’t look like a lobster when we get back to town,” she managed with a wink before settling back onto the blanket. “You could take it easier on me next time. I would like to see if a bit more sun could drown out the freckles.”
“But I like your freckles, Freckles!” the mage protested, bracing his head with his hand to stare down at her. “In fact, I think the sun has kissed you at least a hundred more times while you were sleeping. Look! I’m certain that this is a new freckle! And this one. And here, here, and here!”
Mercy rolled her eyes and laughed as his finger danced across her face, eventually booping the end of her nose. She pushed herself off of her stomach again to circumvent his teasing. Sleep had settled into her frame and she stretched languidly to push the last of it from her limbs. One arm came to rest just above her eyes, shading her from the rays of sunlight that were glinting like diamonds on the nameless stretch of white sand nestled against Rialto Bay. The sea was clear as glass and a shade of jeweled azure that made every other day she had spent back on the Wounded Coast diminish to a dull grey in her memory.
“And here.” A shiver danced over her skin as Anders’ fingers flited feather light across her back. He paused at a part of skin etched with a design in white where a Rivaini artist has turned scars into works of beauty. As silly as it might seem, the tattoos made her feel like she owned her skin again, turning dark memories of the time when she and Anders had been separated into talismans to strengthen her resolve on the path they had chosen.
A world where we are free…
Mercy felt Anders lips press against the brand, his hands tightening around her waist with emotion. “It’s so…good to be here with you. I’m happy here. On this beach. With you, Love.”
She turned to look at the man she loved, cupping his face with her hands. “Me too,” she breathed in the heartbeat before his lips found hers.
Mercy leaned back into his waiting arms, settling like a cat in his lap, his body warming her more than a lifetime in the sun. The sun would set, its light disappearing, but there was no darkness that they couldn’t face. Together.
When I was 14 I had a best friend, he was my light through the darkest night. We grew up together and some years later, we kissed. It was my 16th birthday. We loved each other so much we couldn’t handle it, it was burning a fire too big inside our chests. We broke up a year later. My heart was broken, I was 17.
Going back at being friends wasn’t easy, we cut eachother off our lives for a year. Then, I started dating another guy, it lasted till I was 20. During those times I was secretly seeing my “vintage best friend” twice a year.
When I got out of that relationship, I was 21. I needed to feel young and free. I went looking for him but it turned out he was in a relationship. Too bad, never a good timing for us.
Two years passed by.
Suddenly, one summer night we found eachother again. Nothing else did really matter that night, it was us, it was really us.
Us, after a decade of being two ships just passing by. We lived that night as if it was a dream came true.
It’s been a night only, and another year later, at 24 years old, we still didn’t stop dreaming about that.
Time goes by, we start being more open to eachother, we have a call once a month. He tells me he can’t resist me. I tell him what I dream about. But nothing will happen as I’m in a happy relationship.
I laugh thinking about how many people told at the heartbroken-teen-girl I was that I would forget him soon. Well, I guess that won’t happen.
I definitely don’t want give the impression that I’m trying to debunk the broader point that the Empire of Japan committed war crimes, and that some strains of modern Japanese culture have a problem acknowledging it.
But I am forced to disagree with @uncrediblehallq that that article is a good introduction to the problem.
One of the major thrusts of the article is that the Post-WWII Japanese war crimes trials were deficient compared to the comparable German trials, and that lead to much of the tension between Japan and Korea (and China) today. That might even be true. But Vox is, I think, playing rather loose with the facts in order to push their thesis.
But, in Japan, the war crimes tribunal was dominated by Western powers, and focused overwhelmingly on Japanese crimes against Western people and interests…Germany’s victims in Europe had been allowed to participate in the war crimes investigation…Koreans (and, for that matter, Chinese) never had this experience, and it has fed a sense of injustice ever since.
Again, it’s possible that there’s a colorable argument that Koreans in particular and maybe even the Chinese were denied some measure of justice by the major Allied powers. But to say that the Chinese never had the experience of participating in the war crimes investigation is not even an exaggeration, it’s just wrong.
The International Military Tribunal for the Far East (basically the equivalent of the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg) included a Chinese judge and a Chinese prosecutor. One of the Class A war criminals executed (and later infamously interred in Yasukuni Shrine) was Iwane Matsui, who had retired from the army in 1938, which you might note is well before Japan attacked the Western Allies; he was convicted solely for his role in the Nanking Massacre, with Chinese victims. Something like 10% of the Japanese war criminals tried in national tribunals were tried in Chinese tribunals.
Like I said, I don’t know that Vox’s conclusion is wrong. Like Topher said, the situation is complicated. But if this is the attitude Vox is going to take towards a fairly uncomplicated, easily verifiable fact, why should we be paying attention to their parsing of the more complex and disputed facts surrounding the issue?
But here’s how her work stacks up on Every Single Word.
Nope, don’t worry, your internet is working fine. That’s not a video, it’s a screenshot because no POC speak in that entire movie. Let’s move on:
Note: Keanu Reeves, who is part Hawaiian and 1/8 Chinese, is in Something’s Gotta Give. However, Reeves self-identifies as a “white boy.” (Source: Vibe)
Total POC Characters to Speak in all Movies Directed by Nancy Meyers:
30
POC Characters With a First & Last Name:
1 - Oprah Winfrey (as herself; she appears on a TV screen in It’s Complicated)
POC Characters With One Name:
9 - Stella, Flo the Doorwoman, Norm, Jess (Dan’s Secretary), Dr. Martinez, Maggie, Marta, Reynaldo, Eddie
POC Characters With No Name:
20 - Marshall Field’s Shopper, Kitchen Secretary, Nightclub Singer, Nike Executive (2), Woman in Chinatown, Hamptons Nurse, NYC Nurse, Man at Party, Airport Security, Gardener, Postal Worker, Young Man at WGA, Restaurant Host, Fertility Nurse, Customer Service Rep, ATF Receptionist, Mailroom Intern, ATF Tech Team, Hotel Manager
POC Characters Who Work In the Service Industry / Support Position:
19 - Stella, Flo the Doorwoman, Jess (Dan’s Secretary), Kitchen Secretary, Hamptons Nurse, NYC Nurse, Gardener, Marta, Postal Worker, Young Man at WGA, Reynaldo, Restaurant Host, Eddie, Fertility Nurse, Customer Service Rep, ATF Receptionist, Mailroom Intern, ATF Tech Team, Hotel Manager
POC Characters Who Speak In More Than One Scene:
5 - Stella, Flo the Doorwoman, Dr. Martinez, Maggie, Reynaldo
POC Characters Who Deliver News That Affects The Storyline:
2 - Dr. Martinez, Maggie
POC Characters Whose Actions Affect The Storyline:
1 - Maggie
POC Characters With a Love Interest:
3 - Flo the Doorwoman, Kitchen Secretary, Maggie
POC Characters With a Requited Love Interest:
1 - Maggie
This is Maggie.
She is played by Shannyn Sossamon who is a quarter Hawaiian-Filipino. In all six movies directed by Nancy Meyers - a filmmaker who specializes in “telling women’s stories” - this is the only POC character, woman or man, who has a requited love interest. She speaks four lines in three scenes.
