Derkuningas - Yes Its Me

Parniya deserves better

We've been seeing almost zero of her independent to Shez lately. Give parniya her chances too.

She's nothing more than Shez's girlfriend lately. Give a girl some character damn!!!

It's with a heavy but hopeful heart that I watch Palestinian families fundraiser on here, slowly accumulating the precious little money to go around that they need to survive. However, not everyone is so lucky. A lot of Palestinians that have not had that kind of luck, that did not get early verification, that did not get massive platforms behind them from large bloggers, have approached me in my inbox, asking me kindly to do what I can for them. It kills me that I have so little to give myself, but I've seen this platform collectively raise enough to change someone's life. I've made a list of Palestinian fundraisers that are extremely low on funds, in the hope that drawing attention to people who have not been lucky at all can help turn that luck around. I know most of us can't possibly give enough to get all of these families safe in one go. But please, reblog this list. Pick one or two fundraisers, give what you can, and then keep track of it. Slowly, collectively, we can make a difference in these people's lives. Share and donate as much as you can. https://docs.google.com/document/d/178EGDFKkHlh3y4TMVX82kqgITHsqtoMdNccI2f_94Os/edit?usp=sharing

Meriam is not a well-written mother, sorry.

It's not a surprise, either. Meriam isn't the saint of a mother constantly portrayed in Leasebound, and I argue that the narrative does her injustice several times by not letting her be a person.

Shez's backstory is far from a shounen hero arc. It's sad, and it's a prime example of Rusty not capitalising on potentially great story arcs for her characters.

To begin, Meriam's story starts when her first husband abandons her in Austalia. She gets a job as a cleaner (and takes off her hijab), as well as takes care of Shez until Chris comes along and acts super creepy until he convinces her to marry him. And then chapter 12 happens.

Chris-era Meriam I will not call a bad mother. She was a young woman stuck in a horrible situation, and had to do what she could to help her daughters and her to survive the conflict.

My biggest gripe with chapter twelve is that Rusty calls it a "shounen" arc. Her portrayal of Meriam and her situation accurately does not look like a shounen arc; it's a serious abusive relationship that they need to escape. Meriam, I'd argue, was treated as 'motivation' for Shez and her backstory at best and a figurehead for why women shouldn't partner with men at worst. Rather than treating Meriam as a character, she's often portrayed as a sobbing mess at the mercy of her husband and then later a poor victim who finally got the life she deserved after escaping.

Since the story is a recollection from Shez, you could argue that's why Meriam is portrayed this way. Shez sees her mother as someone in constant need of saving- it's why she thinks that Meriam never had a life outside her kids and her abuse.

But I doubt rusty would write that. The narrative shows Shez as a great hero who inspired her mother to take action because her mother can't defend herself without her daughter - HER FOURTEEN YEAR OLD DAUGHTER- having to step in for her.

(This moment is particularly apalling; how could anyone see this as a power fantasy?!)

There are almost no healthy mother-daughter relationships in Lease Bound, which is really weird for a so-called feminist comic. Josephine and Jaden. Alexis and HER mother. And yes, Shez and Meriam.

Meriam is a deeply flawed mother. Meriam was married at a young age, had to take care of Shez alone in a foreign country, and then got abused. She will make mistakes, and she's made many, because she had no support from the outside and ultimately all she had were her daughters. That could make a strong, protective, fierce Mama bear....

...but she isn't. She's a **victim**. She's hurt, and she needs Shez to save her. She begs her ten year old daughter to help her after her daughter fights a battle for her. She needs her daughter to train to fight Chris for her. That's not something admiring, that's not a power fantasy. That is fucked up.

And that doesn't mean she needs to be rewritten! This can be good! This can be amazing, even! Meriam could be an actually interesting character, going in-depth on how her abuse didn't MAKE HER A STRONG PERSON! HER ABUSE WAS ABUSE! ABUSE DOESNT MAKE YOU STRONGER! IT TRAUMATIZES YOU! IT MAKES YOU NEED SUPPORT, AND THERAPY, AND YOU ARE HUMAN AND- GOOD GOD!

Why is she portrayed as the mother who can do no wrong because she got abused?! Why isn't she treated with a sliver of more nuance than "the victim"?! Why isn't Meriam seriously challenged, deconstructed, analysed, as anything other than "Shez's mom who got abused and made her hate men?"

That is bad writing! Framing abuse as a continuation of your political agenda instead of seriously exploring abuse and a person's psyche and how it affects someone!

And...well...that's how Meriam is written. That's how Rusty wants us to see her. And it's frustrating because sometimes- sometimes- Rusty gets it right.

This moment is poignant. It's my favourite Meriam moment because she's self- aware, and challenged by Shez. Rusty can do it- she just abandons it in favour of five hundred more pages of "trans bad men bad".

So...we explored all that. We tackled the surface of my feelings towards Meriam. What now?

I can't say more, because I feel like a broken record. In fact, go read up several other posts by incredibly talented Leasebound content creators who have made several dissertations on the story, and they will tell you that Lease Bound is, in fact, badly written, and that Rusty Hearts needs to do more with her story.

Thanks for reading! More about Meriam and Shez is coming soon, and I'll update this post when I finish writing it!

what if theres no Pregnant in the Afterlife bc it's all the tubes tied

what if theres no Gaming in the Afterlife bc its all in le tubes

requiem blorbos rkgk or whatever they call it. go read requiem adam!!! and follow @derkuningas

Mary lake number one shit poster

Tina and Jacob should have a scene like this

I think about she daily

Bonus:

By the way, if you're starting to stress out about this, that's okay. I'll tell you who I am the minute you do that..

.. But, it might be more fun to try and guess.

this u

My small family, consisting of two children, was living a simple life, full of safety and peace. My beautiful daughter Tulin, 8 years old, my son Zaki, 7 years old, and my husband Adnan. We used to wake up early to prepare breakfast and get our children ready for school, so they could continue their education like other children. We lived a normal life, and although it was simple, it was filled with love and warmth. But everything changed in a single moment, on October 7th, when fires erupted everywhere, and the sound of shelling and explosions filled the air. The children were terrified and refused to go to school from that day on, and our lives became consumed by fear and terror.

One dark night, while we were still hoping that the situation would calm down, there was a violent knock on the door. A voice warned us: "Leave immediately, you have to flee, the area will be bombed." We had no choice but to run. We left the house with only the clothes on our backs, taking nothing with us. We ran through the dark night, filled with fear and anxiety about what awaited us.

After a long day of exhaustion and suffering, we arrived in Khan Younis, searching for a place to protect us. It wasn’t easy to find one, but after a long search, we found a school in Bani Suheila. We stayed there for 50 days, living in constant fear. Bombings were happening everywhere, and the situation kept worsening. We had no clothes or blankets to shield our children from the biting cold of the night. We tried to hide them under blankets donated by kind-hearted people, trying to find some warmth for them.

But even this shelter wasn’t safe. Shortly after, we received a threat from the occupation that the school and the entire area would be bombed. We had to flee again, so we decided to move towards Rafah, to Tel al-Sultan. We didn’t know where to go or where we could find safety. The cold was unbearable, and we had no money or resources to build a tent. We tried any way we could to find shelter. We built a tent from pieces of wood and fabric, but the cold was so severe, and my children were freezing, getting sick again and again.

We stayed there for several months, trying to endure, until the decision came to invade Rafah. That’s when everything collapsed. We had no more hope, and we didn’t know where to go or where we could find refuge. We decided to flee once again, this time to Muwassi Khan Younis and Deir al-Balah. But danger surrounded us from every direction, and there was no safe place. We built a new tent, but it was nothing more than pieces of wood and fabric. It didn’t protect us from the cold, nor did it stop my children’s tears that fell every night from the freezing cold and fear.

My husband suffers from high blood pressure, and I suffer from severe migraines that make it impossible for me to endure the harsh cold. We are now living on the seashore, in a tent that doesn’t provide us with adequate protection. My children cry from pain and cold, and I can do nothing but watch them, helpless, unable to offer them anything.

Please, to anyone reading this story, we are an exhausted family. We have been displaced four times and have not found a safe place. Our children are suffering, and our lives are in constant danger. We plead to anyone who can help us to save us. Any donation or help could be a lifeline for us in these harsh conditions. Save my family from this war, and give us a new chance at life.

@commissions4aid-international

@wellwaterhysteria

@junglejim4233

@kibumkim

@neechees

@riding-with-the-wild-hunt

@omegversereloaded

@evillesbinvianllainarchive

@ot3

@heritageposbot

@sayruq

@sweetoothgirl

@mazzikah

@briarhips