Tangential Soliloquy

It’s been *checks watch* three years and I’ve finally calmed down enough to try and untangle my feelings about the end of 2B in a coherent way.

1) Alec’s decision not to tell Magnus about the Soul Sword. I’ve worked through my thoughts regarding that in this fic already where I go into Alec’s reasoning for it. The tldr of which is that a) Alec consciously made the decision not to tell Magnus instead of running out of time to decide, b) he actually had good reasons for that and made that decision with Magnus’s and the Downworld’s best interests at heart and c) ultimately his love for Magnus was the very reason he didn’t tell him because if he had cared about sparing Magnus’s feelings a little less he would have told Magnus about the Soul Sword on condition that Magnus can’t tell his people, damn the guilt Magnus will feel when warlocks die because they weren’t forewarned.

2) Magnus’s reaction to finding out. Magnus flips his shit, basically, lashes out, is deliberately hurtful and doesn’t really listen to Alec’s reasons for his decision. This is both an understandable and an ic reaction because Magnus is a very emotion-driven character and what he just learned is drastic. Could there have been a more graceful way to handle this revelation? Certainly. But it’s nothing I would just expect from any given character. You’d have to be exceptionally level-headed to keep your cool in such a situation and I don’t fault Magnus for not being that. His reaction was very human.

Alec gets points deduction for his line “Let’s not make this personal” because dude, do you know your boyfriend at all? Have you realized that emotional compartmentalization isn’t his strong forte? This line just angers Magnus more. (Alec also gets points deduction, with extreme prejudice, for trying to shush Magnus because what is wrong with you, man. I mean, this might just be a personal hang-up of mine but isn’t that gesture patronizing as hell? Anyway.) On the other hand Alec gets some points for not going after Magnus. When I first watched that I thought it was very strange and kinda weird but in hindsight it is obviously the right choice. Magnus needed time and space to deal and Alec realized that trying to go after him and talk it out then was pointless and would have only angered Magnus more.

3) Magnus’s reaction to Alec seeking him out because of Max. Admirable. Magnus puts all his (very understandable) anger aside to rush to the Lighwood family’s aid. It doesn’t matter that he can’t help in the end, he is there as emotional support despite the frosty atmosphere between him and Alec. It is the decent thing to do but not everybody would have shown such kindness in his shoes. 10/10.

And that’s SO MUCH of the rhetoric around the EC. People talk about how they don’t want “Urban” or “City” people making choices, and 99% of the time, that’s just code for “black” and “brown” and “Jewish” and “Gay” because you bigots think that 1. Only minorities live in cities and minorities ONLY live in cities and 2. You don’t want anyone who isn’t a WASP-y Farmer voting apparently. 

Like, you’re argument is literally “cities have more poor brown people, and I don’t think their votes should count.” So FUCK YOU.

Also, cities WOULDN’T dominate in the popular vote.

Really? What about the BIG CITIES?

#1 New York City. 8,601,186

#2LosAngelesCalifornia 4,057,841

#3Chicago,Illinois 2,679,044

#4Houston,Texas 2,359,480

#5Phoenix,Arizona 1,711,356

#6 Philadelphia,Pennsylvania 1,576,596

Those 6 cities, combined, have less than 22 million people. The US has 327 million.

And this is my point- the US is not made of a small handful of huge cities. The vast majority of the country lives in SMALL cities and towns, under a million people each, and their suburbs.

So, no, with the Popular Vote, you could not pander just to the biggest cities and be done with it. If you add up EVERY SINGLE CITY with more than 100,000 people in it (Which is 311 cities), that’s still only 94 million. 28% of the US population.

Even if ALL the ~poor brown people~ that you want to stop from voting lived EXCLUSIVELY in cities (which they don’t, you fucking racist), the popular vote DOESN’T actually empower cities. 

The EC ALSO doesn’t actually help rural (”white land owning”) populations (you fucking racist, you don’t even know the racial or economic breakdown of the rural areas you claim to care about). In fact, the EC makes things worse for rural areas. 46 states have an urban majority, and  “winner-take-all” laws that have been enacted by state legislatures in 48 states. So if there is a stark divide between rural and urban populations, in 46 states, the urban votes will win and 100% of the electoral points will go to the urban side (Where YOU think all the poor brown people live, again, you fucking racist).

However, in a popular vote system, no one’s vote would get thrown away like that, and everyone’s vote would be counted equally in the final tally.The popular vote would actually give MORE voice to rural populations that are all but completely erased in our current system.

And it is important to remember that in reality cities do not vote in perfect blocks. Neither do states. Even the most liberal city has conservative voters and even the deepest rural hellholes in Texas has progressives (I was one of them until I moved for college!) Those people matter. Those people should count.

Why not have a system where CITIZENS elect the president? Why does it matter which state someone lives in, if all votes should count equally? (I mean, I know YOU think that POOR BROWN PEOPLE shouldn’t be voting, you fucking racist, but ya know, for the rest of us who actually value the idea of a democracy) 

Do you wish you had the ability on AO3 to block works by tag, author, title, or words in the summary? You need AO3 Savior. 

Step One: Install the Tampermonkey extension on your browser (link is for the Chrome extension, so if you use a different browser, just search for it). This will allow you to install the AO3 Savior userscript. 

Step Two: Install AO3 Savior. Click on the link and hit the Install this Script button (image below)

This will open the userscript in Tampermonkey. Click the install button there too (screenshot below)

Step Three: Install AO3 Savior config the same way. It’s a separate file because if you update the code, it resets all of your blocks so you need to input them again. By having the config separate from the rest of the code, the other code can update while leaving your block settings in tact. 

Step Four: restart your browser 

Step Five: Click on the puzzle piece at the top right corner of your browser.  Click on Tampermonkey and then into your Dashboard. From there, find ao3 savior config in your list of installed scripts and click on the edit button (screenshot below)

Step Six: edit the code to block the things you want to block. This might sound intimidating, but it’s okay! 

In this config file, scroll down and read through the text. The first settings are turning options on or off. Use “true” to have that feature or “false” to turn that feature off. For example:

// Set to false if you don’t want to see why works were hidden.    showReasons: true,

When the code starts with // that means that it’s a comment or instructions to you. Read that line and then make the change on the line below it. In this case, change the word “true” to “false” if you don’t want to see the reason why the work was hidden from you.

To block on author, edit this part:

// Exclude works with an author that exactly matches at least one term.    authorBlacklist: [‘Hated Author 1’, 'smeyer’],

Find the author’s name on AO3 and copy it so that you get the spelling right. Then paste it in here. To make sure your syntax is right, make sure that the author name is inside the square brackets [ ] and also inside apostrophes ‘. Separate each author name with a comma , like you see in the example provided. 

You can do the same thing with tags by copy/pasting the full tag and putting it inside apostrophes in the tag blacklist section. Same thing for specific fic titles or for words that appear in summaries.

Step Seven: After you have made all of your changes, go up to File and remember to Save. 

Step Eight: You can now close that tab and head on over to AO3 where the only sign of those fics/authors/tags etc you blocked will be a little box telling you a fic has been hidden, and why. If you don’t want to see those boxes, change those settings to false in step 6. 

In future, if you ever want to block a tag, author, or work from your AO3 experience, just go back into your config file and edit them in there. 

“You were like BAM and I came in with the magic dust all—”

“—yes I was there too, Stiles—”

“—and I’m a freaking wizard, dude!”

“You performed admirably under pressure, Stiles, and you know I’d rather give your ego my full attention, but he’s still alive, so—”

“Peter. Peter. I put on my robe and wizard hat.”

“...Let’s table that for later.”

Adam Williams (supernatural s15 vfx coordinator) logs onto twitter at 1:36 pm est

confirms that the leaked scripts are real and were stolen and leaked by a fan

tells a j2 fan he sees destiel as canon and real BUT that dean isn’t bi

follows up by saying dean is.... biromantic and heterosexual? welcome back split attraction model i guess

wont stop saying “dangler” instead of dick

says “I’m 100% straight but I’ve had two boyfriends” and that’s how he sees dean

“so how can destiel be canon” he says “I don't think Dean wants to penetrate Castiel's anus with his penis. A kiss wouldn't hurt though. 🤔”

mentions he’s read nsfw fanfic

doesn’t understand what a content warning is

approves of a fan calling dean “Cassexual”

calls himself an alpha and says dean would top

THIS FUCKING TWEET HELLO? CRYING

says he’s more of an “alpha” than misha collins ?????

compares bi dean fans to QAnon supporters

says he’s never seen riverdale

it’s been under an hour since the first tweet

Even if the list of tags gets long, even if it seems silly because nobody will read so many tags. Even if you're afraid you will lose hits or kudos the moment people see the tags; be kind and be responsible with the trust your audience places in you as a creator.

If it spoils a plot point then warn that you are choosing not to warn about some things to preserve surprise. If you're not sure what to tag for, then tag that there may be more warnings needed and ask readers to suggest tags in the comments.

Tag your stuff, and then you've done your due dilligence.

And then, after all that, as a member of the audience: READ THE TAGS. ALL THE TAGS. FIND OUT THE MEANING OF THE TAGS YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND, ASK THE AUTHOR.

KEEP YOURSELF SAFE.

Nematon Throne

“You don’t have a choice, Stiles. You’re coming with me.”

Teen Wolf

2.12 “Master Plan”

5.10 “Lies of Omission”

Then you fucking have room to stand there and be Judgey McJudgeypants about your BFF having to kill some guy, heat of the moment, who was threatening not just his life but also the life of his father? Like. Dude, Stiles had been actively attacked by the guy. The guy wasn’t just threatening to kill him/his dad if Stiles didn’t do what he said, he was just flat-out promising death.

You claim to be justified in your actions because Gerard threatened your mom, yet you don’t think Stiles is justified in his actions? Why? Why is that? What makes you so special that you get to kill whoever you want, in the most convoluted schemes possible, but then condemn anyone else who does so while defending themselves?

And don’t anyone fucking try to feed me no bullshit about how “Gerard lived, so Scott didn’t really try to kill him.” Because Scott did what he did with the intent to kill.

and it’s not “oh I didn’t know better but I learned” - like Derek in 3a

in 6b, when Scott has arguably reached the end of the journey we see him on he wanted to sacrifice two kids to a lynch mob to save himself

he’s not opposed to people being killed - just that he be the one to kill them

and that’s so hypocritical and it sticks in the craw of so many fans

had Scott changed - that’s a good thing, and at first it seemed like a good thing

until we see just how shallow it is - he helps the Calaveras hunt Kate = they’re not going to give her tea and biscuits. He helps Garrett look for Violet which would have involved attacking a police transport his dad was in - did he expect it to be non-violent? Did he just not think it through

and those instances are AFTER he made the decision not to kill

Malia told him to find people who would kill for him - and Scott does not because people in their universe need to be stopped = a thing we can all agree about with Gerard and Kate, for example, death was the only thing that would stop them = but because he wants to keep his hands clean

he lacks the courage of his own convictions

he is a conniving brat with hypocrisies galore - he only likes werewolves bitten against their will, those that choose it can go die somewhere for all he cares, and those that are born, - sucks breath through teeth

but Liam, and allegedly Theo (that is what Theo told him) those can join the inner circle of werewolves who don’t wanna be werewolves - despite both Liam and Theo showing more acceptance of their change than he ever does

Scott is absolutely a hypocrite = and that’s the worst thing

a killer - in their world it is an option, the last option in a table of shit options, but it has to be on the table…

He lands it, of course, and while waiting for filming to start learns that the commercial is not for any local market, but somewhere down south. Which he thinks is good because this is kind of embarrassing with the whole open shirt thing and the actress looking enough like Cora Hale that he’d get some pointed teasing from friends back home.

So the commercial is filmed, he gets his paycheck, and goes back to his regular life a little bit richer - he can afford to eat OFF the dollar menu for a week or two! - until he’s sitting in class one day a few months later and sees the cryptid known as Derek Fucking Hale running shirtless across the classroom monitors in the forests of North Carolina, apparently accused of mass murder?

After making a mess of himself and the poor soul sitting in front of him, Stiles goes back to his apartment and is struggling to stay on topic with his latest paper when there comes a loud, aggressive pounding on his door.

Slipping a handgun into a clip holster and securing it at the small of his back, Stiles goes and peers through the peephole before swearing violently and fumbling at his two locks, finally getting the door open wide enough to jerk Derek inside with him and out of range of a half-dozen FBI hopefuls’ eyesight, jesus fuck.

“What are you–” is as far as he gets with an off-the-cuff lecture before Derek is spinning him and pushing him back against the door, damn near devouring his mouth. And, you know, okay. That’s… okay. He’ll put a pin in that thought until Derek wakes up and realizes who he’s making out with.

Only Derek pulls away far too soon - alas - and his hands are all over Stiles, like he’s checking him over for injuries and he’s got this kind of horrible, broken expression on his face. Like someone died. And it’s Derek Hale, so that’s not beyond the realm of possibility.

“Derek? Dude, come on. Stay with me. What happened?”

By this point, Derek has one big hand spread over the center of Stiles’ chest and the other is kinda smoothing down his back and bumping into the hand grip of the gun tucked into his waistband there - oops - and Derek’s making these mournful little noises in the back of his throat while his gaze flickers all over Stiles.

“Seriously, man, you’re scaring me. Did you stop to sniff any pretty purple or yellow flowers while frolicking through North Carolina and holy shit…did you run here from North Carolina?!”

Derek finally looks at him then, and his eyes are really fucking luminous this close, but also totally human, so it’s a bit unexpected when he growls. “She licked you.”

“Huh?”

“She…” His thumb slides gently over the center of Stiles’ chest. “She licked you. Here.”

It doesn’t take any time for Stiles to figure out what Derek’s referring to, and also why that might be traumatic for Derek personally, so Stiles just puts his hand over Derek’s and squeezes. “It’s okay. I’m okay.”

And then he moves closer, tugging Derek in for a hug that also just happens to be a perfect opportunity for Derek to plant his nose in Stiles’ neck and breathe him in.