okay okay okay so the top comment on this reel is living rent free in my brain
they point out that astarion doesn't proposition you unless your approval is a certain level. hes like "oh im so manipulative, im seducing them for protection" but he literally will not sleep with you if he doesn't like you. he likes you but he is just really not getting it. he cannot differentiate liking someone and using someone. he thinks liking someone IS using them, because anyone he ever liked was also a target.
I'm freaking out over this just wanted to share ✌️
Yes, absolutely! I fully believe he's mad with freedom through Act 1; if he doesn't like the PC, I think there's an almost crazed novelty to him turning them down because for the first time in his memory, he doesn't have to do anything else.
And it's not even prompted by the player, he just brings it up on his own! (It's not you, it's me. I have standards.) He doesn't like you, he doesn't want to sleep with you, he doesn't have to sleep with you, and he really, really, really wants you to know it.
I wonder if he's more giddy or more afraid when he says that.
And then on the flip side, if he likes you, he does want to sleep with you. Want, of course, being as loaded a word as possible--but regardless, he likes you, he wants to have sex with you, and his romance literally stalls out and ends if you don't agree.
I don't think it's possible in his mind to separate the one from the other. To be safe requires obedience; his obedience is sex. Landing a target is the only way to stay alive; landing the target is getting the target into his bed.
He likes Tav. He thinks Tav can keep him safe. He must snare Tav in the only way he knows.
(This is also why I personally don't vibe with Tavs that refuse to sleep with him in Act One; I find his arc of growth so much more meaningful when it runs the full course of reverse intimacy. To force him to a more "normal" courtship where the emotions come before the sex seems the fastest way to make him feel completely off-balance and unsafe, especially in those early weeks. Even in Karlach's version of the scene, where the only reason they don't sleep together is that she will literally fry him, is fraught with his sarcasm and disdain.
So Tav, rejecting him not because he'll die but just because they don't want to? I just can't see him taking it well, no matter how excellent or personal their reasons might be. He's too afraid, he's too wounded from two hundred years' compelled torture, and he's far too tied to the idea of sex equaling safety to believe anything else is worth his time.
To undermine that is to contort his character, in my opinion, and while I'm super glad other people enjoy writing it and I hope they continue to have a great time, it's not the version of the character for me.)
Hi! wikipedia is not being super helpful - I am curious about whether support for Valencian independence is similar to the support for Catalonian independence; I am just assuming that "Catalonian separatism" refers ONLY to Catalonia, not necessarily the other Catalan-speaking regions? is there any solidarity for independence movements between Valencia and Catalonia because of shared language? I have heard a lot about Catalonian separatism but I haven't ever really heard of Valencian separatism even though I am sure it exists.
thank you!
Hello!
Catalan independentism doesn't necessarily mean only Catalonia. Historically, it has meant all the Catalan Countries, often with a focus on the ones under Spanish rule of it's being done from those territories (Catalonia, the Valencian Country and the Balearic Islands being the focus) and pretty much all pro-independence organisations work in all the areas, not only Catalonia.
This is going to be a long answer, so I'll leave it under the "read more".
When you see Valencian pro-independence posters, pins, etc that have the map silhouette, you'll see this shape:
which is the shape of all the Catalan Countries, usually excluding L'Alguer (L'Alguer —the Catalan-speaking city in Sardinia, Italy— will be included when we're talking about language rights and cultural rights, but not about independence or political unity). That is, the shape you'll see includes the Valencian Country, Catalonia, la Franja, and the Balearic Islands (from Spain), Northern Catalonia (from France), and Andorra.
(Source of the examples: posters calling for pro-independence protests in València. 1. From Cartells PUA, year 1999. 2. From MDT, 2012. From endavant, 2019.)
You can search on Google images for "cartells independència València" and you'll find more. I also found this one where the silhouette is only the Valencian Country but in huge letters it says "Valencian Country. Catalan Countries" so, yeah, same thing.
The Catalan independence movement having a significant part dedicated to "Catalonia only" independence is quite recent and mostly due to strategic reasons. If you look at early to mid 20th-century independentist texts, you can find the word "Catalunya" ("Catalonia") is often being used for all the Catalan-speaking countries, because it was the terminology used at the time including in València (and even as late as Joan Fuster's early texts, that's the word being used). However, it doesn't necessarily mean only what we now understand as Catalonia proper. After the popularization of the term "Catalan Countries" by Valencian writers (especially Joan Fuster), that's what will be used and the word "Catalunya" will surely mean only Catalonia (whether it's all of Catalonia including Northern Catalonia or only the area that the Spanish administrative region system calls Catalonia —aka the Catalonia at the south of the Spanish-French border— will depend on the context, but for texts written in Southern Catalonia it will often mean the 2nd).
"Catalonia only" (or, at least, "Catalonia only, for now") only became majoritary in Catalonia's independence movement around 2010, when many new people in Catalonia joined the independence movement. New people were arriving who previously saw independence as a dream impossible to achieve or as a radical communist thing, but now were realising that it was the only possible solution to the repeated attacks from Spain. Then, Catalonia's independence movement quickly grew and gained so many followers that we were more than half the population at the very least in favour of a referendum. (Previously, right after the end of Franco's dictatorship, it was the Valencian Country where the Catalan independence movement was the strongest, which is why the right-wing created and pushed "blaverism", a Catalanophobic ideology aimed at dividing Valencians from the rest of the country and weakening the social movements and language use). At this point, Catalonia had such a strong independentist movement that its independence was finally a possible short-term goal. And, because of the way that European politics work, most people believed we could achieve it through democratic means; because every administrative region in Spain has a regional parliament and regional government, in Catalonia we voted for pro-independence politicians in our "regional" government, who would follow the necessary steps to organise a referendum and, if won, declare independence. However, at the same time the independence didn't have nearly as much support in the Valencian Country; in fact, in the previous decades, the right-wing had been very focused on encouraging Catalanophobia in the Valencian Country with "blaverism", and their chosen politicians clearly showed it. So it only made sense to focus on declaring independence for the place where the majority of its population wants it. The underlying idea was that, once we have an independent Catalonia established, the rest of Catalan Countries can hold their own referendums to decide if they want to join us, often with a union of federated states being brought up.
But this was very controversial at the time. I remember many people (the more left-wing anti-capitalist type, pretty much everyone in the CUP and related) were saying that we cannot leave Valencians and Balearics behind, we cannot save ourselves and leave them in suffering. There was also the fear that Catalonia declaring independence would cause retaliation from Spain against the other Catalan areas, the Basque Country and Galicia to strip them from more language rights and regional governance to make sure they couldn't follow our path. There was the chant "sense València no hi ha independència" (without València there is no independence), but slowly over time most of these groups came to agree that the best thing we can do for our brothers there is to declare Catalonia's independence to lead the way, show that it can be done and that a better country with more egalitarian and respectful ways of working is possible; and with the hardest part of the process already behind us, it will be easier for them to join us.
To sum up, Catalan independence nowadays can mean either Catalonia only (understood to be a real possibility in the short-term) or all the Catalan Countries (generally thought of as a longer-term project).
This is not to say that nobody wants a Valencia-only independent country. I'm sure there are people out there who want all kinds of things. But this is extremely minoritary. Valencian people are generally either one of the three: 1) in favour of the independence of the Catalan Countries (Valencia included), 2) follow the blaverist idea of Valencian regionalism as a Spanish identity, or 3) directly full Spanish nationalism.
However, blaverism sometimes backfired in a strange way and made a few people really hate Catalans but still love their land, and you'll find a few people who defend Valencian rights in a very isolationist way while still believing the blaverist conspiracy theories or pseudohistory to justify its separation from the rest of the Catalan Countries. So I'm sure you can find some people who argue for a Valencia-only independent state, but it's going to be a handful of people and it's not an organized political movement comparable to Catalan Countries independence movement.
Thank you for your interest. I hope this answers your question; if not, please feel free to ask again!
Hi! I am coming to study abroad in Helsinki for about two weeks. Do you have any suggestions on things I shouldnt miss?? Kiitos!!
Moi! Tervetuloa Suomeen!
I think Suomenlinna is one of the most popular, if not the most popular things to see and do in Helsinki. It's an old sea fortress on an island.
Definitely check out both Helsinki Cathedral and Uspenski Cathedral. Museum-wise, I've personally enjoyed both Ateneum (the home of many of the most famous paintings in Finland) and Sinebrychoff Art Museum (art collection from all over the world). The Seurasaari Open-Air Museum is interesting, too. Other museums of note: Kiasma (contemporary art), Natural History Museum, and Design Museum. The National Museum is unfortunately closed for renovations until 2027. :(
If you like animals, consider visiting the Korkeasaari Zoo. You will see Finnish animals like wolverines and bears. They also have many big cats, including tumblr's favourite Pallas cat. :)
Check out one of the old market halls, too. Not necessarily the one on the market square, although that is the most famous one. But there are others, too.
For nice views of the city, have a drink or a snack in Torni.
Take good shoes and head out into the woods. :) Nuuksio National Park is popular among tourists.
This website will be helpful: www.myhelsinki.fi
If you can do day trips, I would first and foremost recommend visiting Tallinn in Estonia. You can take a ferry in the morning and come back in the evening. For day trips in Finland (by train or bus), check out Turku, Tampere, or Porvoo.
I'm not from Helsinki myself nor have I spent much time in Helsinki all things considered, so people from Helsinki, please recommend your number one spots and some hidden gems. :)
howdy, thanks for some of your posts on aave -- I know looking in the rb tags that I am not alone in being repeatedly surprised at slag words/phrases that are taken from aave. do you happen to have any advice on how someone outside of the black community can recognize appropriated aave? the most obvious answer is that I and other non-black people just pay more attention but I wanted to ask your thoughts. thank you!
Okay, I think that meant slang not slag. Took me a moment.
Yeah, no, that's actually the way. If you ain't got Black friends, there's Black content creators out in the internet that do different topics and stuff. I can't think of none offhand. But, I'm sure there's also Black linguists and stuff that can be googled. I really wouldn't know where to direct you. I just speak it.
totally random but I'm into a new ship and the fics I'm finding are just NOT hitting and it popped into my head, "god I wish quark was into star trek, she would fucking kill it with janeway/chakotay" and YOU WOULD. sad you can't write infinite fic for infinite ships 🥲❤️
I've watched so much Star Trek in my life & I've never watched Janeway! I should clearly remedy this.
Also I give a lecture in the fall that's about technology in a certain part of optometry & I put a little communicator badge behind "The Next Generation" and ask if anyone's seen it, and for the last three years I've gotten ZERO bites. This year I got two! The kids are all right, is what I say.
Do you have a planned schedule for posting your new fic? I'm not sure about your process! Needless to say I am clawing for new chapters 👀
New chapters will go up each Friday! I try to get them up in the mornings before I leave for work, but it should be early evenings on Fridays at the latest.
