Stay Salty.

now, laudna gets a second chance at a happy ending, and it’s all because a little blue tiefling said ‘i want a hug’ to a war criminal and turned him into her friend.

i will never get over jester's impact as a character. she loves essek into redemption. she loves artagan into being a god. she loves the mighty nein into becoming a family.

it's the Being Saved by the Love of Your Friends show, and she's the star.

no no guys guys listen to me they’re all the antithesis of what they’re meant to be and that’s why they’re such amazing and heartfelt characters

like, Caleb is a wizard who’s afraid of his own fire magic. his own power causes him to falter in battle. his strongest spells are his most dangerous to himself. wizards are supposed to be prideful of their magic, but Caleb’s is the reason he hates himself

Beau is a monk who never wanted to be. her job is one that people normally associate with being calm and collected and Beau was a wild rebellious kid who got dragged into this line of work against her will. she never wanted to be this!! but now she is and she’s gotta deal with it!!

Fjord is a warlock who never wanted power from his pact, which is why you’d think a warlock would make their pact at all. but no. Fjord made his pact because he wanted to live, not because he wanted power. he was a scared orphan who hated his tusks, not a buff, muscled, angry half-orc like people assumed

Nott is NOT, that’s the whole crux of her narrative! she wasn’t pretty, like a halfling girl was supposed to be. she wasn’t a goblin, she was just transformed into one. and not only that, but despite being a three-foot-tall alcoholic kleptomaniac, she’s the mom of the group!

Jester is a Cleric whose god isn’t actually a god and who would much rather bash bad guys over the head with her lollipop than have to stop and heal her friends!! she’s a bubbly, optimistic ray-of-sunshine, but you know when she says she’s gonna change the world with friendship she means it as a threat

Mollymauk is an amnesiac, but he doesn’t want to remember who he was. if you ask him, that wasn’t him! he might be a flirtatious hedonistic carnie, but he’s also single-mindedly devoted to making the world a better and more loved place than it was when he found it. he’s a liar, but he means well. he’s an arrogant fool, yes, but he’s right! he did it! he left it better!

Caduceus seems like he’d be creepy and grim from growing up in a graveyard, but he’s actually the most chill out of the entire Nein by far. he’s calm, he’s sweet, and he’s comforting, more than anything else. you’d think he’d be amazed by seeing the outside world for the first time, but he spends the whole time knowing that one day he’ll return home, that he wasn’t supposed to be the one to leave

Yasha is a barbarian with skeletal wings and a dramatic, monochromatic look, but she’s a complete sweetheart. she’s Molly’s best friend, she was a carnival bouncer, she’s a lesbian disaster who collects pressed flowers in a book out of love for the wife she lost. those black wings were actually hiding soft white feathers

Essek was born straight into the den of politics, he was a spymaster, he literally started a war for his own gain, and yet. he’s sounds irredeemable on paper, but. he’s not!! sure, the Nein kind of have to drag his alignment kicking and screaming into neutral, but they manage it. Essek learns and grows and he overcomes his nature. he becomes good, against all odds

because i know we’ve said this before but the emerging culture of fanfic writers as content creators and readers as consumers is fucking disgusting. it breeds attitudes exactly like this and turns something that is fundamentally anti-capitalist into another cycle of produce compete exploit where your worth is based on how quickly you can meet consumers needs

it’s called archive of our own for a reason. its about repurposing these stories for ourselves, for our own enjoyment and interest whether thats i want to right the wrongs of this author or i want to see what happens if this one tiny plot point changed or i want to make these characters tie each other up and fuck until they cry. its about sharing as a community, leaving these stories in a communal toy box so people who come along in a few months or few years can enjoy them too

Plus, I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, WIPs and forever-incomplete fics are just as worthy of being read as complete ones. Why do readers think a fic isn’t worth their time just because it’s unfinished? I will never understand that attitude. Some of my favorite fics are ones that happen to be unfinished, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t some of the most enjoyable pieces of writing I’ve ever read. And as someone who has some forever-incomplete fics on AO3, it always warms my heart when I get a comment on them. 

the funny thing is that i don't think younger people - and i mean those under the age of 40 - really have a grasp on how many of today's issues can be tied back to a disastrous reagan policy:

war on drugs: reagan's aggressive escalation of the war on drugs was a catastrophic policy, primarily targeting minority communities and fueling mass incarceration. the crusade against drugs was more about controlling the Black, Latino and Native communities than addressing the actual problems of drug abuse, leading to a legacy of broken families and systemic racism within the criminal justice system.

deregulation and economic policies: reaganomics was an absolute disaster for the working class. reagan's policies of aggressive tax cuts for the rich, deregulation, and slashing social programs were nothing less than class warfare, deepening income inequality and entrenching corporate greed. these types of policies were a clear message that reagan's america was only for the wealthy elite and a loud "fuck you" to working americans.

environmental policies: despite his reputation being whitewashed thanks to the recovery of the ozone layer, reagan's environmental record was an unmitigated disaster. his administration gutted critical environmental protections and institutions like the EPA, turning a blind eye to pollution and corporate exploitation of natural resources. this blatant disregard for the planet was a clear sign of prioritizing short-term corporate profits over the future of the environment.

AIDS crisis: reagan's gross neglect of the aids crisis was nothing short of criminal and this doesn't even begin to touch on his wife's involvement. his administration's indifference to the plight of the lgbtq+ community during this devastating epidemic revealed a deep-seated bigotry and a complete failure of moral leadership.

mental health: reagan's dismantling of mental health institutions under the guise of 'reform' led directly to a surge in homelessness and a lack of support for those with mental health issues. his policies were cruel and inhumane and showed a personality-defining callous disregard for the most vulnerable in society.

labor and unions: reagan's attack on labor unions, exemplified by his handling of the patco strike, was a blatant assault on workers' rights. his actions emboldened corporations to suppress union activities, leading to a significant erosion of workers' power and rights in the workplace. he was colloquially known as "Ronnie the Union Buster Reagan"

foreign policy and military interventions: reagan's foreign policy, particularly in latin america, was imperialist and ruthless. his administration's support for dictatorships and right-wing death squads under the guise of fighting "communism" showed a complete disregard for human rights and self-determination of other nations.

public health: yes, reagan's agricultural policies actually facilitated the rise of high fructose corn syrup, once again prioritizing corporate profits over public health. this shift in the food industry has had lasting negative impacts on health, contributing to the obesity epidemic and other health issues.

privatization: reagan's push for privatization was a systematic dismantling of public services, transferring wealth and power to private corporations and further eroding the public's access to essential services.

education policies: his approach to education was more of an attack on public education than anything else, gutting funding and promoting policies that undermined equal access to quality education. this was, again, part of a broader agenda to maintain a status quo where the privileged remain in power.

“Miscegenation” (interracial relationships) were not allowed.

Sex hygiene and venereal diseases were not appropriate subjects.

Homosexuality was not to be depicted.

Ridicule of the clergy was not allowed.

Religion could never be depicted in a mocking manner.

Words like “God,” “Lord,” “Jesus,” “Christ,” “hell,” and “damn” could not be used unless it was in connection with religious ceremonies.

If you’ve ever wondered why media has so much sh*tty stereotypes about homosexuality and villainy, or the bury your gays trope exists, well look no further than the Hayes Code and its wide reaching impact on generations of media makers! Our current rating system? Was actually an improvement on the Hayes Code.

You. Look. It. Up. You look it up. YOU LOOK IT UP. You do what you should be doing every single time you see something you don’t understand. You fuckin look it up. You have libraries of information in your pocket. Look it up. You do not have an excuse for not opening another tab, typing in the thing, and hitting enter. Look it up.

And if you’re LGBTQIA, Bipoc, non-xtian, or a woman in the US, and you spend any time looking up your history, you will see the Hays Code. It’s not just a silly old rule that we can laugh at now. It’s the framework we’re trying to dismantle. You need to know this. You should’ve been taught by your parents and teachers, but if you weren’t, you have to pick up the slack and do the research yourself. That sucks and I’m sorry, but it’s an unavoidable part of life.

See, this is that critical thinking stuff that purity culture is so obsessed with. You cannot interpret a thing (like “sex scenes are only for horny lol” being juxtaposed with the Hays Code) if you don’t know

the meaning of the language (the definitions of “sex,” “story,” “passion,” etc), the topics referenced (the Hays Code, what sex scenes are),

the speakers (Lily Orchard is notoriously aggressive, bigoted, and authoritarian… the Hays Code was written by a priest, a trade paper editor, and some studio heads),

or the context (the first statement is part of a ridiculous list of “writing tips” that also includes such gems as [paraphrased] wlw only kissing at the end is abuse, high-stakes conflict is bad, and the good guy must kill the villain, and was written in 2020… while the Hays Code was written in 1930 as a way to self-censor bc they thought the govt might step in if anyone saw their media as “lowering the moral standards” of ppl with “succeptible minds,” aka women, children, the disabled, and poor ppl who needed to be spoon-fed images of the “correct standards of life”).

You really do need that info. You do. You need to go get it. Then you look at it. And you combine it with all of the other applicable info you have. (For example, if you have had sex, or consumed any media containing sex.) Then you think through the thing, while taking everything you know into account. You identify what it was supposed to mean, and decide what it means to you. Congratulations! You have done the critical thinking.

At least if you still agree that sex’s only purpose in literature is to give you a boner, and that it’s a good idea to put down sweeping policies to prevent that from happening, you’ll have some kind of thought process behind it. And you can start trying to reconcile that view with its historical and present effects on minorities and society as a whole.