I Am Sad And Disheartened Even Though It's About A Fictional Character, I Needed Someone To Share It

Dude, how can it be that every single fucking thing about US politics trends on here immediately, yet when 27 countries in the EU vote and there's a historic, alarming lurch to the right (far right parties have won the elections in Italy, Austria and France), it's not even trending? In Germany, the AFD, a right-wing populist, anti-democratic, racist party with a wing that is officially extremist (read: Nazis) and is in parts monitored by the office for the protection of the constitution, is the second strongest party (also among 17-24 year olds!). Guess I'll die.

Skulduggery headcanons that I love and need to share 

- Dexter giving Valkyrie piggie back rides, when Sulduggery doesn’t oblige to do it - “DExter, you undermine my auThorITY!”  - “What authority?” - Tanith and Dexter are punch line people who sit in the back and high five each other whenever they say one - Ghastly once got super drunk because of the whole Tanith situation and Skulduggery accompanied him, listened to his sorrow and afterwards drove him home and tugged him in. He’s a friend like that.  - Dexter Vex is ticklish af  - Valkyrie first sees him get tickled by Saracen and she finds it adorable especially bc Dexter is like the most flawless looking guy on the team - Skulduggery actually adores hugging and cuddling Valkyrie, but he is self conscious bc of his bones - China and Saracen are the only ones who have absolutely no doubts about Dexter’s sexuality  - Everyone else keeps wondering  - “He never tells us anything!” “Well, maybe, he doesn’t want to!” “Ghastly, that’s not the point! We’re his friends.” “What if he has a thing for… monsters.. and aliens?”  - Saracen laughing nervously in the back after he’d just spent night #120053 with Dexter  - China remembering that moment she’d realized Dexter was like the only person in existence who doesn’t crush on her in the slightest bit and sighing  - on Dexter’s and Saracen’s wedding Dexter slowdances with Tanith and she cries bc for some reason it reminds her of Ghastly and of all she was robbed of  - Skulduggery and Valkyrie watching crappy TV and Skulduggery tugging her in afterwards when she fell asleep  - Ghastly gives the best hugs and Valkyrie keeps stealing them, especially when a mission took an extra toll on her  - “Val, I’m a very respectful member of the Elders…” “I respect and cuddle you!”  - He can’t help loving it even tho he keeps making a show of how big of an exception this is it’s not  - Dexter gets tired when drunk, Ghastly gets mad, Saracen gets funny and Valkyrie causes riots - we don’t talk about tanith, she rarely drinks for good reasons  - Saracen is basically Valkyrie’s mom when Melissa isn’t around  - “have you had any breakfast yet?” “are you alright?” “should we call a doctor?” “write me a message when you got home safely.” skulduggery: “I’m literally driving her to the front door!!!” Saracen: “I’m painfully aware!!”  - tanith and saracen have this amazing vibe that only people who used to have a thing going on but mutually decided it doesn’t work out have: they wear sunglasses and judge others and it only takes one meaningful look for them to communicate  - it drives Dexter crazy  - “What are you guys telling each other???” 

had to google it too after reading that post and you are totally right: this car is the most british thing to ever exist but it also just screams Skulduggery

i jsut googled what a bentley 1954 r-type looks like and they look so british wtf

Why are they actually Melissa and Desmond

for those who are struggling with having and finding purpose: maybe, for now, your purpose is waking up in the morning and taking on the day ahead. maybe your purpose is continuing to live despite it all.

Y'all remember that scene in phase 1 where Val aknowledges that the thing that most sets her apart from other people her age isn't magic but knowing what she wants to do with her life?

That shit hits way too close home.

I'm about to graduate amd I have like no idea what I wanna do... it's kinda scary. Like how am I supposed to chose sth to do for the rest of my life when I can't even remember the last thing that actually made me happy

SP CHARACTER STUDY 2/? - CHINA SORROWS

She claims that she stands for order. It is a lie - she stands for a world that she remains in control of

Imagine a Skulduggery Pleasant AU where everyone is Australian:

Everyone swears 120% more than in canon.

The perpetually changing Grand Mages fits with what's been happening in mortal Australia.

Anton has a shack in the bush instead of the hotel, he grows a beard and fits in perfectly.

Saracen is a hipster.

Skulduggery was a bush ranger back in the day.

Valkyrie's school is so much more feral and out of control. There's a reason she's so quick to become Skulduggery's partner - she just wants to escape.

They all have different Australian accents.

Children of the Spider makes more sense considering ...

Valkyrie has to say "that's dog" at least once. Lots of Australian slang should be included.

Larrikin tried to ride a kangaroo and succeeded (nobody can ride a kangaroo).

Much more wildlife and dangerous animals that nobody really cares about.

When I was in ninth grade I wanted to challenge what I saw as a very stupid dress code policy (not being allowed to wear spikes regardless of the size or sharpness of the spikes). My dad said to me, “What is your objective?”

He said it over and over. I contemplated that. I wanted to change an unfair dress code. What did I stand to gain? What did I stand to lose? If what I really wanted was to change the dress code, what would be my most effective potential approach? (He also gave me Discourses on the Fall of Rome by Titus Livius, Machiavelli’s magnum opus. Of course he’d already given me The Prince, Five Rings, and The Art of War.)

I ultimately printed out that phrase, coated it in Mod Podge, and clipped it to my bathroom mirror so I would look at it and think about it every day.

What is your objective?

Forget about how you feel. Ask yourself, what do you want to see happen? And then ask, how can you make it happen? Who needs to agree with you? Who has the power to implement this change? What are the points where you have leverage over them? If you use that leverage now, will you impair your ability to use it in the future? Getting what you want is about effectiveness. It is not about being an alpha or a sigma or whatever other bullshit the men’s right whiners are on about now. You won’t find any MRA talking points in Musashi, because they are not relevant.

I had no clear leverage on the dress code issue. My parents were not on the PTA; neither were any of my friend’s parents who liked me. The teachers did not care about this. Ultimately I just wore what I wanted, my patent leather collar from Hot Topic with large but flattened spikes, and I had guessed correctly—the teachers also did not care enough to discipline me.

I often see people on tumblr, mostly the very young, flail around in discourse. They don’t have an objective. They don’t know what they want to achieve, and they have never thought about strategizing and interpersonal effectiveness. No one can get everything they want by being an asshole. You must be able to work with other people, and that includes smiling when you hate them.

Read Machiavelli. Start with The Prince, but then move on to Discourses. Read Musashi’s Five Rings. Read The Art of War. They’re classics for a reason. They can’t cover all situations, but they can do more for how you think about strategizing than anything you’re getting in middle school and high school curricula.

Don’t vote third party unless you can tell me not only what your objective is but also why this action stands a meaningful chance of accomplishing it. Otherwise, back up and approach your strategy from a new angle. I don’t care how angry you are with Biden right now. He knows about it, and he is both trying to do something and not doing enough. I care about what will happen to millions of people if we have another Trump presidency. Look up Ross Perot, and learn from our past. Find your objective. If it is to stop the genocide in Palestine now, call your elected representatives now. They don’t care about emails; they care about phone calls, because they live in the past. I know this because I shadowed a lobbyist, because knowing how power works is critical to using it.

How do you think I have gotten two clinics to start including gender care in their planning?

Start small. Chip away. Keep working. Find your leverage; figure out how and when to effectively use it. Choose your battles, so that you can concentrate on the battle at hand instead of wasting your resources in many directions. Learn from the accumulated wisdom of people who spent their lives learning by doing, by making mistakes, by watching the mistakes of their enemies.

Don’t be a dickhead. Be smarter than I was at 14. Ask yourself: what is your objective?