#I feel like English is failing me because that's the dictionary definition; but the 'becoming to one' sounds horrible to me wow

[einaudis]

sportsmanship ·​ noun sports·​man·​ship | \ ˈspȯrts-mən-ˌship \ conduct (such as fairness, respect for one's opponent, and graciousness in winning or losing) becoming to one participating in a sport

#tqgedit #thequeensgambitedit #tvedit #tvgifs #The Queen's Gambit #perioddramaedit #useroptional #bbelcher #cinematv #Luchenko #Beth Harmon #mine* #mygifs #tqgmine #tv* #I feel like English is failing me because that's the dictionary definition; but the 'becoming to one' sounds horrible to me wow #I'll read about it in the morning; now I'm going to sleep but yeah; I needed to make this one #Luchenko was such a grandpa I loved him #and i loved this moment so much

[short-wooloo]

A Maw Installation Series | The Jedi Were Right — Episode III: Corruption, Hubris and Hypocrisy

by u/Xepeyon

https://www.reddit.com/r/MawInstallation/comments/p5qvzf/a_maw_installation_series_the_jedi_were_right/

“ The boy has exceptional skills.”

“ But he still has much to learn, Master. His abilities have made him... well arrogant.”

“ Yes. Yes. A flaw more and more common among Jedi. Too sure of themselves they are. Even the older, more experienced ones.”

― Mace Windu, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda; Attack of the Clones 22 BBY

Hypocrisy. In all of the great virtual sea that is the internet, there is seldom a term more heavily, more arbitrarily, and more misapplied to such a wide extent as the term "hypocrisy". In many ways, the term has, alongside "hubris" and "corruption", become something of a rallying cry to condemn the Jedi, their Order, their practices and their philosophy. But much like the word "inconceivable", the decriers who consistently cling to the term just as frequently make it clear that the word does not mean what they seem to think it means.

In a collision between a world of moral relativism and absolutism, intrinsically bound to the foundation of cynicism, there is probably no criticism more common to the Jedi Order as a whole than the claim that the Jedi were hypocrites, blinded by hubris, and corrupt (if not to the core, then at the top). Indeed, at face value, such claims can appear to have some validity. But do they, really? What really is hypocrisy? What does it mean to be corrupt? And what about hubris? Were the Jedi really any of these things? If so, in what way? If not, then why are these term so frequently attached to them?

Thank you for joining me in the third episode of my taking-way-too-long-to-get-these-out essays, because today we're going to climb the great mountain of accusation and see whether or not the claims against the Jedi's integrity truly is a valid denouncement, or a thinly-veiled façade. But of course, before we can address anything one way or the other, it's vital to get a clear understanding of the definitions of these accusations.

“ You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”

Unfortunately (for the English language as a whole) the word "hypocrite" has gotten, what I'll call at least, some grammatical abuse. What do I mean? I mean that, much like many other words in recent decades, the word has been misapplied and misused, seemingly utilized as a bludgeon to condemn something or someone that a person happens to dislike or fails to properly understand.

But what is hypocrisy?

If you were to check the Google definition, it is listed as “the practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one's own behavior does not conform”.

The Online Etymology Dictionary defines it as “the sin of pretending to virtue or goodness”, specifically as a pretense.

Merriam-Webster's cites the word as being “a feigning to be what one is not or to believe what one does not : behavior that contradicts what one claims to believe or feel”.

In summary, someone that claims one thing in pretense (ie; pretending) while doing the opposite (or at the very least, not holding true to it). In other words, you could often substitute the word "hypocrite" with "faker", someone that's just acting the part.

Hubris is an easy one, it essentially means excessive pride, although it is probably more closely related to the definition of presumptuousness (brazenly arrogant).

Corruption, on the other hand, is another often poorly applied word in our modern vernacular (similar to hypocrisy), but can be much more broad in its meaning. Nevertheless, while its definition isn't as sharp as hypocrisy, it does have well-defined parameters.

Google cites it as “dishonest or fraudulent conduct by those in power, typically involving bribery”.

The Online Etymology Dictionary summarizes it as “[moral/ethical] depravity”.

Merriam-Webster gives what is probably the closest to what most decriers are going for, as it gives one definition being “a departure from the original or from what is pure or correct”.

In short, corruption's definition can vary, and thusly so can its application, but broadly it refers to an illegal or unethical deviation in conduct, specifically by someone(s) in a position of power.

You may be wondering to yourself right now "Blah blah blah, was all that really necessary?" To which I say "Yes. It was very necessary". The fundamental problem in examining the case of hypocrisy, hubris and corruption as a claim against the Jedi Order is that, as I have unfortunately come to conclude, too many people do not grasp what these terms actually mean. Now, is this going to stop people from misusing these terms, specifically to fit the narrative of their own agendas? No, because of course it won't, but is it still important to create a stable bedrock for the argument on my end. And so with that out of the way, let's get into the meat of the issue, starting with that first one.

“ I am a Hypocrite, like my Father before me.”

So let's get this off on the right foot; were the Jedi Knights hypocrites?

No, of course they weren't.

"Hypocrite" is a very precise term, and because of the required intent to meet that definition, it's also a very damning one. However, none of the behaviors displayed by the Jedi Knights, on the whole (looking at you, Anakin), actually meets the criteria. To fully grasp this, let's look at what I believe are the top five of the most common actions that denouncers give the most credibility to the claim that the Jedi were hypocritical;

CLAIM: The Jedi Order joined in glassing Mandalore, unprovoked.[1]

ANALYSIS: The Mandalorian Excision is one of those ugly incidents that you can imagine most in the Republic would rather sweep under the rug of "history-to-forget". At face value, it can appear utterly indefensible; the Republic launched a preemptive attack on another power and absolutely devastated them. However, like most things involving the Jedi, the Republic and the Mandalorians, there is more to the story that, while not necessarily justifying the attack, does led greatly to understanding why it had occurred, and potentially even seeing it as a reasonable response.

So what's the backdrop to this? About 1000 years before The Phantom Menace, the Republic had just come out of a century-long dark age, which itself came off the heels of the 1000-year-long New Sith Wars; the Republic was so terribly ravaged by the conflict that, functionally speaking, during the last century of the war, it had crumbled to the point that it had effectively ceased to exist[7]. During the 280 years after that, the Republic had basically experienced a kind of Pax Republica[S1], an era of disarmament, demilitarization and overall a level of galaxy-wide peace not seen since, at that point, almost 1,300 years.

All seems fine so far, so where did the problem emerge? Notice earlier, I mentioned a finite span of 280 years; but the Pax Republica lasted until the Clone Wars (which again, as stated earlier, lasted about 1000 years). However, 720 years before that, the Mandalorians had by that time been able to greatly consolidate their power. Initially, this was seen as a good thing by the Republic, since it contributed to stability across the sectors[8]. Unfortunately, the overwhelming majority of the Mandalorians were expanding in the same ways eerily similar to what was done under Mandalore the Ultimate, with Mandalorian society reshaping as more rigid and militant than before, and indeed reached their historical zenith of military power.[8][9]

You may wonder then, why was this necessarily a bad thing. Well, there a lot of reasons for this.

The Mandalorians were more interested in establishing themselves as an independent rival to the Republic, not a cooperative ally[8][9]. It should be obvious why this would be a concern; no government would feel comfortable at the prospect of a potential cold war.

The Mandalorians almost exclusively prioritized technological advancement towards militarization, were reshaping their society to become more militant and rigid[8].

The Mandalorians coerced and bullied neighboring systems into binding "treaties" with them for their own "protection"[8].

The Mandalorians taxed any ships that happened to be travelling along the Hydian Way despite the fact that it did not, on its own, cross into Mandalorian space (so they were taxing people in Republic space, using a "Republic road")[8].

The Mandalorians refused the post-Ruusan disarmament restrictions that everyone else in the galaxy (most significantly, the Republic) was following[8].

The Mandalorians, when warned by a very small minority of their own kinsmen that they were repeating Mandalore the Ultimate's mistakes, were basically smacked down; the overwhelming majority of the Mandalorian people agreed; they were warriors, or they weren't even Mandalorians.[8]

And finally, because the Republic, in one of its rarer moments, wasn't stupid; similar to the Clone Wars, they preempted what was an inevitable conflict.

Because yes; eventually, the Mandalorian Clans would have attacked the Republic.

They'd even proven so in the past, like when they nuked Serroco[10], committed genocide against the Cathars, murderizing 90% of their species' population[9], planned on glassing all the continents of Kashyyyk[11], or when at war, would intentionally attack civilian targets.[11][12] In fact, virtually every time the Mandalorians had become centralized and militarily powerful, they had chosen to attack the Republic, their Jedi allies, and anyone else they'd happen upon along the way[S2].

This wasn't anything like an anomaly, either. Although it is true that early Mandalorians did seek out war as part of their religion[8], even secular Mandalorians followed a fundamentally violent, warmongering ideology. To Mandalorians, battle and warfare were not seen as inevitabilities or some natural course of life, but were actively sought out, along with conquest, being seen as something required for development and growth, both on the personal and the greater sociocultural level[13].

So yes, given time, the Mandalorians would certainly have attacked the Republic, the Jedi, and almost certainly anyone else in their way, once they had become strong enough to think they could win. It is literally their way of life to seek out strong opponents[11][14], which would make the Republic a perpetual future target, especially any time they'd experience a period of prosperity.[S3] Keep in mind, I'm not necessarily saying that what the Republic did was right, but that it was very-much understandable. Should the Jedi have agreed to the Republic's intervention? I can't say, that's a hard question. But to say that the Mandalorian Excision was unprovoked is undeniably false.

CLAIM: The Jedi Order became soldiers, in spite of Mace Windu declaring them peacekeepers.[2]

ANALYSIS: It's worth keeping in mind Palpatine and Mace's exact lines before that, because it gives some pretty crucial context to that line, which could otherwise be twisted into presenting a different narrative:

Palpatine: *“ I will not let this Republic, which has stood for a thousand years, be split in two. My negotiations will not fail.”*Mace Windu: “ If they do, you must realize there aren't enough Jedi to protect the Republic.”

In other words, Mace was basically telling the Chancellor "the Jedi aren't an army". There were literally just too few of them; if war broke out, they could not realistically be counted upon to protect the Republic from the billions-strong CIS war machine. It just wasn't feasible, and logically so; once the Clones entered the equation, things changed. However, had the Jedi had the numbers and equipment necessary, they would have certainly been able to have been an army, even regardless of whether or not they felt a military response was required or needed in the first place.

How do we know this? Because the Jedi are neither pacifists nor opposed to participation in war. In fact, virtually every generation of Jedi, even reaching all the way back to their first incarnation as the Je'daii (back in 25,793 – 25,783 BBY), have participated in interplanetary, and even system-wide conflict.[S4] There have even been times where the Jedi themselves have been divided into actual armies.[8][15][16] So no, the Jedi becoming generals was not hypocritical, it was part of their duties as defenders of the Galactic Republic.

CLAIM: The Jedi Order forbade attachment, yet permitted Ki-Adi-Mundi to have a polygamous marriage.[3][4]

ANALYSIS: There are a few reasons why Ki-Adi-Mundi had a wife. The first, most obvious and sensible reason can be found by Jan Strnad, the writer of Star Wars: Republic: Prelude to Rebellion (released 1998), and the Star Wars creative teams and publishers at Dark Horse and LucasFilm who went on record saying that they had no idea that George Lucas was going to write the Jedi as not having families (which only became known in 2002), and thus had to make retcons to justify it. But that's not as interesting! So what's the in-universe context for this?

The Jedi Order, as I went into depth explaining in my pervious essay, forbade attachment to one person or group of peoples over any other (ie a lover or a family), not attachment outright. However, throughout their history, the Jedi Order had made exceptions and allowed marriages for certain individuals, depending on their respective extenuating circumstances.

For instance, the Jedi Order did permit Jedi that had proven they had a good understanding and practice of Jedi commitment and control over their attachments to marry[5], and we even see examples of married Jedi producing offspring throughout the Old Republic era, such as Duras Fain[5] and Lein-Tsai Qel-Droma.[17][18][S5] Even in such cases where the Jedi Council didn't approve, there were times they chose to cautiously tolerate it, such as with Ranik Solusar[19][20] and Bastila Shan[21]. Ki-Adi-Mundi is one such example from the former case where approval was granted, albeit for a different reason altogether. What reason, you may ask? Well, I know you didn't ask that, because I have yet to meet anyone in debate online who did know about Ki-Adi-Mundi's marriage but didn't know why. Even so, for the benefit of the record; the Jedi Order permitted Ki-Adi-Mundi to marry specifically because of the incredible male-to-female birth discrepancy among the Cerean species; a whopping 20:1 ratio.[22]

How the Cereans didn't go extinct against such odds is borderline miraculous, but despite the stakes involved, the Jedi still made it clear to Ki-Adi-Mundi that if he wanted to still be a Jedi with his family, the rules would still apply to him, and he knew it.[4] So was this hypocritical of the Jedi? No. If anything, it and past allowances showed the Jedi were more than capable of flexibility, but they never lowered their standards. The expectations of commitment and dedication from a Jedi without a family was the same as the Jedi that did have one; the only difference was that it would be objectively harder, but not impossible, for the latter than the former.

CLAIM: The Jedi Order committed genocide against the Sith.[5][23]

ANALYSIS: This one is the crown jewel of all claims. In fact, there was a time that even I believed it; not as it was framed by the people looking to stick it to the Jedi, but as something that the Republic was responsible for. However, like so many other claims that may seem as solid as adamantium, once you start scratching, you'll quickly find the claim to be as sturdy as aluminum foil.

So let's begin with what will be the great, controversial counterclaim; there was no Sith genocide.

I can practically hear the angry typing to come at reading that, but after reviewing the evidence from multiple sources, I will say it again: There was never a Sith genocide.

Let that sink in... let it sink... breathe... inhale... exhale...

Mind you, I'm not saying from the Jedi, I mean the Republic didn't do it, either. At worst, you could certainly make the claim of a cultural genocide, but we all know that isn't what people meant. So in breaking this down, I'm going to settle what the event actually was, what the Republic's actions were, what the Jedi's actions were... and what the native Sith's actions were. Because yes, the Sith themselves play a significant role in this event... and as I will get into later, almost certainly are the reason why the Sith, and only the Sith, though this was a genocide. And, in the end, I think this was a brilliant move.

Okay, so if it was not a genocide, then what the hell happened? We'll start at the beginning. In 5000 BBY, Supreme Chancellor Pultimo ordered, not a genocide, but an invasion (or technically, a counterinvasion) of Sith space at large, particularly at their centers of power, at the tail-end of the Great Hyperspace War.[24] This included a number of worlds, but was largely concentrated on the Stygian Caldera region.[24]

But wait!, you may ask, just because the order wasn't to massacre the Sith doesn't mean that it didn't happen on the ground! How do we know what the Republic and the Jedi did while they were there?

I'm so glad you asked! Because we do know what they did. And I'll tell you a spoiler; the expressed purpose was to not wipe the Sith out, but to unshackle them from the history. Supreme Chancellor Pultimo made it clear that he was not advocating violence against the Sith people, ie soldiers attacking and massacring citizens, but against their heritage.[5] But what did this mean? Republic troops deliberately destroyed the Sith's centers of power, military strength, government and influence, but explicitly captured, not killed, the people who resisted them.[24] Their purpose was to purge the Sith as a culture and to leave the Sith people without a clear leader or leaders[5] so that they could "reboot" themselves as a society.[5] This led directly into a Republic-occupation of Sith space and worlds, which lasted until Vitiate's empire had reemerged from Dromund Kaas[26]. In fact, as that cinematic depicted, the Jedi Order in particular played a vital role in this.

It should be painfully obvious that no Jedi would have ever actively participated in conventional genocide. It would break every rule the Force and Star Wars had on its use, peoples actions and the consequences of them which follow. However, we even have in-universe evidence that this was never the case. The Jedi on Korriban went to great lengths to never kill combatant Sith they'd captured or who had surrendered to them, but instead followed a kind of "Uliq protocol", and severed their connection to the Force so that they would no longer be able to use their powers to harm others.[25]

More significantly, however, the Jedi were vital to the Republic because they took the lead in an iconoclastic-campaign of destroying and dismantling Sith artifacts, scrolls, holocrons, and other objects of Dark Side power or that were caches or repositories of Sith knowledge, even extending to the purging of Dark Side nexuses on the planet.[24] This wasn't an occupation to destroy the Sith species, it was an occupation to separate them from their previous identity.[S6]

But wait!, you may ask again, then what about all the accounts of violence and death that the Sith clearly remember? After all, the Jedi and Republic did think the Sith had gone extinct! And to that, I'd say yes, you are correct! They did think that... because the Sith did it to themselves.

There are two parts to this. For one, after Naga Sadow's death, the Sith Worlds were already in chaos. Why? Because infighting; they're Sith.[5] Because of the power vacuum after Korriban, the Sith were effectively without a clear leader, and everything went to shit after that. Sith fractured into warring factions, which led to rampant famine and disease among the populace.[5][24] Additionally, some Sith holdouts began periodic attacks on Republic strongholds after the invasion, with deliberate suicide attacks become a noted tactic among them,[5] which only served to further diminish their numbers.

But wait! There's more! You see, after Naga Sadow and Ludo Kressh died in quick succession, the Sith populate was so shamed that the lower castes (ie, the overwhelming majority of the populace) committed to a ritualized form of mass suicide.[9] Yes, you read that right; the Sith people were literally killing themselves, en masse**.**

But, they did have help! Just the worst kind that served as one of the most terrible nails in their coffin. You see, it was during this time that a certain Sith Lord named Vitiate used the chaos of what was happening and twisted it into propaganda, claiming that the Jedi were exterminating the Sith species, and they had to take a stand (and also that he knew the way out of Sith space). All those remaining Sith had to do was simply meet up with him on a certain, insignificant planet called Nathema, where Vitiate certainly wouldn't do something awful, like say double cross over 8,000 Sith Lords in an arcane ritual for immortality, while taking the rest of the surviving Sith people that had escaped the Republic with him to Dromund Kaas[5][21]... right?

Hold up! Are you saying that the entire premise of the Sith genocide was just... a lie?

YES. That is exactly what I'm saying because that is exactly what the evidence plainly shows; the concept of a systematic Sith genocide was a lie[5][21], a fabrication of Vitiate to lure thousands of Sith to Nathema so that he could murk them in his power play to become immortal, then take the rest to be citizens of his new empire.[5][21]

So did the Jedi commit genocide against the Sith. No, of course they didn't. At worst, you could certainly argue (imo successfully) that the Jedi were guilty of cultural genocide–which ordinarily is an objectively terrible thing–but given the culture they were trying to kill was galactically-famous for their psychopathic barbarism, moral and ethical decadence, almost cartoonish-levels of brutality, and that they literally ran on the worst negative impulses known to sapient life, I don't think anyone could reasonably say they didn't have a justification for it. The Sith species did go extinct, at least in Republic space, but it was from their own doing, not the Republic's, and certainly not the Jedi's.

CLAIM: Mace Windu was prepared to assassinate Palpatine despite the Jedi Code forbidding the act of executing prisoners.[6]

ANALYSIS: This one actually exhausts me, so I'll make this short. To say that Mace Windu attempted to “assassinate” Palpatine becomes an inaccurate and disingenuous term, given the man resisted arrest (twice) and murdered the guys sent to arrest him.

The Jedi were overstepping in their authority!

No they weren't. The Jedi hadn't done anything extrajudicially, and they were explicitly being careful not to overstep[2]; they had the power to make arrests and enforce them, as they were empowered by the Senate to do so,[27] not by the Chancellor, who has no "hard power" over them.[2] Why would you expect the Chancellor to somehow be above the law regarding this? Mind you, Palpatine never once made the claim that the Jedi had no authority to arrest him; if that was a valid claim, he almost certainly would have brought it up. Even in the supplementary novelization, Palpatine's rebuttal is at the charges, not the Jedi's authority to make such an arrest, even against him.

But Mace was going to kill him, not arrest him!

Mace tried arresting Palpatine. Twice. Arresting and killing people are two different things, and the Jedi have the authority to do both. Killing an enemy isn't against the Jedi Code, and so far as we know, there isn't anything in the Republic's law that insulated the chief of state from the consequences of resisting arrest and committing triple homicide, much less the more monumental charges of treason.

An enemy? Palpatine was defeated and helpless!

No he fucking wasn't. Palpatine was neither defeated, nor helpless, nor even unarmed. He literally proved that when Mace tried to arrest him the second time; after Mace disarmed Palpatine; "You are under arrest, 'my lord'." And you know what happened after? Palpatine tried to kill Mace Windu again; Palpatine was definitely in a disadvantaged position, no doubt about that, but he was by no means defeated, nor was he 'unarmed'. Need I remind you, Palpatine literally killed Mace Windu a few minutes later with, effectively, his mind. Stop pretending that a Jedi or Sith without a lightsaber is anything remotely like any normal person without a weapon in their hands. The Force is literally the greatest source of power in the Star Wars universe, moreso than any lightsaber.

Palpatine was not going to allow himself to be arrested, and he never stopped trying to actively kill Mace Windu. Mace Windu only resolves to kill Palpatine after Palpatine's second attempt to kill him, which itself was after Palpatine had murdered three other law enforcement officers (because yes, the Jedi had been given jurisdictional authority over the Republic's institute of law enforcement[28][29]). And I think it's worth keeping in mind that, with a little help, Palpatine succeeded on his third attempt.

So was Mace Windu illegally assassinating a helpless politician? No, of course he wasn't; he was striking down a dangerous combatant that refused to surrender or be taken alive.

Then in conclusion, was the Jedi Order (as a whole or at the top) hypocritical? No, they were not. They never held up a pretense of being something other than what they made clear to all what they were trying to be. They didn't secretly indulge in the Dark Side, they didn't secretly form attachments while pretending they were models of decorum, and they didn't massacre citizens or commit ethnic cleansing... well, except for the glaring case of that one guy who broke damn near every rule, but we don't count him, do we? Uh huh...

C-O-R-R-U-P-T! Find out what it means to me!

So we come now to the second common claim; that the Jedi Order was, or at least had become, corrupt. I'm pretty sure I don't need to get into proving that the Jedi didn't take bribes, commit fraud or act depraved (and I've yet to see anyone even attempt to make such claims) so we'll go to the part of the definition that every naysayer flocks to; “a departure from the original or from what is pure or correct”. In other words, that they Jedi Order "lost their way". It's one of those annoyingly prevalent phrases that has no definition, which is just the way the people that use it like it.

At seeing anything that the Jedi do that someone may happen to not like, a claim goes out that it is evidence that the Jedi had "lost their way", and it is applied so arbitrarily that it effectively means nothing. For example, if the Jedi prove that they can be flexible in their rulings and decision-making, a naysayer can say the Jedi were compromising their ideals, and thus it is evidence that the Jedi had "lost their way". However, if the Jedi stand their ground on something, a naysayer can also say that the Jedi were rigid and dogmatic, and thus it is evidence that the Jedi had "lost their way". Basically, no matter what the Jedi do, whether in showing leniency or strictness, if you don't like it, you just say it's a sign that the Jedi had "lost their way".

In fact, I actively tried to find claims to rebuff, but they always were, or quickly devolved into, what was basically an "well, maybe not corrupt per say, but they were hypocritical!" argument, and we've already gone over that. This is an objectively stupid and baseless claim that will no doubt continue to healthily persist across the fandom for many, many years to come. These three paragraphs is as far as I am willing to go to dignify this absurdity.

Hubris is a virtu-- wait, wat?

It's really an irony that the one claim that does have some level substance to it is probably the least popular of them all. We've already defined hubris; it means you have a lot of pride and arrogance.

Let's start this off the right way; did the Jedi Order have problems with pride?

Yes, it objectively did.*

Wait! How can you say that! This is supposed to be a defense of the Jedi!

It is, and like everything else mentioned thus far, there is more to it than what is commonly perceived. I'd placed an asterisk at the end of that claim to hopefully signal that there wasn't a single, simple answer. To begin, how do we know that the Jedi had a problem with hubris? There's a few instances that can be argued as examples, but what was the most convincing and unarguable piece of evidence was Yoda's own admission in Attack of the Clones, quotes at the top of this essay. By 19 BBY, the Jedi Council had become aware that there was a growing problem; Jedi were getting overly sure of themselves. This is cited specifically as a flaw, and that by that point, even some older Jedi were starting to become like that.

Of course, by the frame of the context, it's obvious that Yoda is not attributing hubris to the Jedi at large, as a whole, but he does acknowledge that it was an issue the Order was facing. The problem on the opposite side of this, however, is seeing clear cases of it. After all, the only Jedi we see that clearly suffers from hubris is Anakin Skywalker, who was the subject of the conversation and was outed as being arrogant.

This is where things get messy, because many people, particular those who want to see problems, will attribute one quality with another, and then equate them as the same thing. What quality is this? Frustratingly, it's a quality that Jedi are actually required to cultivate; self-confidence.[30] Jedi were required to strike a balance, and resisting arrogant or overconfident behavior was certainly one facet to this. On the other end of this, however, Jedi were also to overcome defeatism, feelings of inadequacy and self-doubt, negatively thinking that they will fail or that they aren't good enough.[30] In other words, Jedi were supposed to develop a healthy level of confidence in their abilities. Basically a "you can do this, trust in the Force, and in yourself" mentality, but within reason, namely the scope of their abilities.

You can probably see where anyone looking to claim "hubris" can go with this.

In effect, any time a Jedi displays confidence in their abilities, anyone can point to it and claim it as an example of Jedi hubris, and unfortunately, it seems to stick whether or not the Jedi succeeds. If the Jedi fails, it's not seen as the Jedi making a mistake to reflect on, but claim it to be "Jedi arrogance at it again". And if they succeed, it's seen not as an example of a Jedi's lifetime of efforts and discipline, but as is claimed as "Jedi pride at it again". Essentially, any Jedi that does follow their own teachings and has confidence in themselves are trapped in a "damned if they do / damned if they don't" cycle of accusations.

And this is unfortunate, because this makes it much harder to identify actual and objective examples of hubris, and even worse, perpetuates the warped idea that any form of self-confidence is distorted into a depiction of overconfidence. Because in the end, when the question is asked if the Jedi have problems hubris, the answer should be yes, they did, but nowhere near to the extent that denouncers claimed. There is no evidence or depiction, credible or incredulous, that the Jedi Order had organization-wide or otherwise institutional hubris. At all.

We've touched on this a little bit before, but another one of the common claims that is attributed alongside much of what has been discussed in this and previous essays is that the Jedi Order had become stagnant, a bloated bureaucratic mess, too preoccupied with rules and regulations and too blinded by past glories to accept change and reform. But... was this really the case? Where is the line drawn between resolute and dogmatic, dutiful and doctrinaire? Because in the end, if there is a difference between these, what is it, and where did the Jedi, as an Order, stand?

Please join me for when I get into the fourth essay (released when its ready; because history has proven I suck at dates) in my The Jedi Were Right series.

The Jedi Were Right — Episode IV: Discipline vs Stagnation

(see link to original post for sources and suppositions)

#pro jedi #in defense of the jedi #wooloo favorites #wooloo favorites star wars #jedi #sw #star wars #long post #not mine #the jedi were right #wooloo favorites jedi defense #sith critical #mando critical #mandalorian critical #anti sith #anti mandalorians #anti mandos

[raydaug]

The Moon is Very Beautiful Tonight - The Love Language of the Tower of Doors

Natsume Soseki (1867 - 1916) was a Meiji era novelist and is widely regarded as one of, if not the most important and influential novelist in modern Japanese history. So prominent is Natsume’s place in Japanese history and culture that Natsume’s portrait was featured on the 1000 yen note for twenty years, from 1984 to 2004. 

Prior to becoming a writer, Natsume was a teacher, first at Matsuyama MIddle School, which would serve as inspiration for one of his most famous novels, 坊っちゃん (Botchan), and then Fifth High School in Kumamoto. 

In 1900, he was sent by the Japanese Government to study English literature in Great Britain. By all accounts, he did not enjoy his time studying abroad. Of his time spent at University Collect London, Natsume wrote; “The two years I spent in London were the most unpleasant years in my life. Among English gentlemen I lived in misery, like a poor dog that had strayed among a pack of wolves.”

However much he may have disdained it, his time in Britain was hugely influential to Natsume and his works. It engendered in him a great deal of skepticism towards the rapid Westernization of Japan. The tensions between modern Western culture and traditional Japanese sensibilities would become a recurring theme in his writings.

                                    Natsume Soseki (1867 - 1916)

After returning to Japan in 1903 but before resigning to become a full time writer in 1907, Natsume was a professor of English literature at Tokyo Imperial University. While teaching one day, Natsume overheard some of his students struggling to translate the phrase “I love you” from English into Japanese. The students settled on 我君を愛す (I love you), but Natsume took issue with the use of 愛す (aisu - love), as he felt that stating one’s feelings that openly and directly was too Western and wasn’t in keeping with Japanese culture, or what he thought Japanese culture should be. 

Instead, he suggested that “I love you” should be translated as 月が綺麗ですね (the moon is beautiful, isn’t it?). He felt that this phrase preserved the indirect, stoic nature of Japanese, as the the word for “moon” (月 - tsuki) and “like” (好き - suki) both sound the same when spoken out loud. This creates a double meaning for the phrase, stating one’s affection by hiding it in plain sight. 

Or so the story goes. Records corroborating this tale are sparse, with some of them popping up one hundred years or more after Natsume’s death. The exact phrasing of the translation also changes depending on the telling, with some versions saying that Natsume translated “I love you” to 今夜は月がとても青い (The moon is very blue tonight). 

Regardless of the veracity, the story of Natsume’s translation became part of the cultural consciousness of Japan. In 1955, enka singer Tsuzuko Sugawara released the song 月がとっても青いから (“Since the Moon is so Blue”) and 2017 saw the release of the romance anime 月がきれい (As the Moon, So Beautiful). 

“If French is the language of love, then Japanese is the language of awkward, and roundabout expressions like this one are common throughout.” Translator and editor Rei Miyasaka told me in a brief correspondence we had on the subject. Among other things, Miyasaka worked as a translator on the aforementioned As the Moon, So Beautiful anime series. “The story of Natsume’s translation, whether factual or not, is passed down essentially as a useful parable. It demonstrates a difference between Western and Japanese mannerisms.”

The Tower of Doors gamble is the apotheosis of Sayaka’s character arc and the arc of her and Kirari’s relationship. It comes when both are at their most uncertain about the other and the relationship they have, and the moon plays a pivotal role in the outcome of the gamble. 

Despite moving though the tower in a way that she thought was perfect, Sayaka still loses the gamble. When Yumeko begins to explain to a shellshocked Sayaka how she managed to beat her, she says this:

今夜は月がとっても綺麗ですね。 The moon is very beautiful tonight, isn't it?

“The phrase is definitely well-known in Japan. “ Miyasaka says. “...when this particular phrase is referenced in literature or pop culture, it’s usually with either a tacit or explicit nod to the Natsume Soseki story, usually in a discussion of Japanese people’s awkwardness and/or aesthetic sensibilities.” 

Yumeko doesn’t quite say the famous line exactly here. She adds とっても (very) and 今夜 (tonight) to it. I believe this was an intentional deviation, for two reasons. One, this is not Yumeko’s confession, she is instead calling attention to the Tower of Doors and Kirari’s intentions. And two, changing the line draws attention to what remains the same. The kanji used to describe the moon, 綺麗 (beautiful), shares the same first character as is used in Kirari’s name (綺羅莉), drawing a connection to Kirari and the moon. 

Later in her explanation, Yumeko drops any pretense of subtlety, saying:

このギャンブルのためだけに「扉の塔」は回転する！ The "Tower of Doors" rotates just for this gamble!) なんて馬鹿らしくて。 How silly/absurd/ridiculous! なんて愛らしくて。 How charming/adorable/lovely! なんてロマンテックなんでしょう！ How romantic!

The precise word Yumeko uses to describe the romanticism of the Tower of Doors is ロマンテック, which is the katakana for the english word “romantic.” Katakana is a sort of phonetic way of writing in Japanese that’s used in several different ways, including foreign loan words and emphasis, similar to italics in English. Yumeko is stressing heavily and unambiguously the romantic nature of the Tower of Doors.

When a furious and dumbstruck Sayaka retorts that Yumeko’s logic makes no sense and that the Kirari may have made the Tower rotate for no reason, both Yumeko and Kirari rebuff her:

Yumeko: まさか No way! そんなこと考えもしませんでしたよ。ここまで大掛かりな仕掛けを作っておいてギャンブルに使わないなんて。 I didn't even think about that. You can't make such a large-scale device/mechanism/gadget and not use it for gambling.

Kirari: 買い被りよ、清華。私もそこまで酔狂ではないわ。 You give me too much credit. I'm not that capricious/eccentric.

Here, Yumeko asserts, and Kirari confirms, the intentionality of the design behind the Tower of Doors. Kirari designed the Tower with the intent that the moon would reveal its secret. 

Yumeko won the Tower of Doors because she figured out the Tower’s secret. But that secret wasn’t that it rotated and that you could move from the bottom to top floor in one move. The key to the Tower was understanding Kirari’s intent when she designed it. That the Tower of Doors is a love letter to Sayaka, designed to capitalize on all of her strength in logic and reasoning, but with it’s own illogical twist layered on to. 

Sayaka failed to understand this for the same reason everyone loses to Yumeko; they become so absorbed in beating Yumeko and losing themselves in the gamble that they lose sight of the bigger picture. Sayaka was so focused on Yumeko that she failed to see the key to understanding the Tower and the symbol of Kirari’s affection for her; the moon. But it doesn’t matter in the end. Even though Sayaka lost the gamble, Kirari and Sayaka accept one another, and are brought closer, because, as Yumeko puts it, “You can’t prohibit someone from having feelings for someone else.” 

“...Japanese people love to euphemize and beat around the bush.” Miyasaka says. “...people tend not to like saying ‘I love you’ because people find it to be too forward...So quotes like this one [the moon is beautiful, isn’t it?]  might come up naturally when two people are sharing a moment...one should go no further than to express that, despite the stoicism expected of them by the other people around them, they feel safe exposing their sentimentality to this person, and that hence they love them.” 

Translation is more of an art than a science. There’s no equation that you can plug words and phrases into and have them converted cleanly into any other language because words are more than dictionary definitions. 

To translate something from one language to another while still preserving meaning requires a firm grasp not only of the mechanics of both languages, but also the cultural vocabularies of the languages as well. But even then, meaning can still be lost because the cultural contexts and codes that inform language exist outside of the words. 

The language of love that permeates the Tower of Doors is something that sadly gets, not just lost, but abandoned in translation from Japanese to English, and ends up going unnoticed, like Sayaka and the moon.

CLICK HERE FOR A TANGENT ABOUT KAKEGURUI’S OFFICIAL ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS

Massive, massive shoutout to @castleoflions​ for doing just as much, if not more work than I did on this in providing me with the manga pages as well as helping me with the Japanese. Also, thank you so much to Rei Miyasaka for offering me some of his time and helping me with the cultural aspects of this piece.

#kakegurui #kakegurui xx #momobami kirari #kirari momobami #Igarashi Sayaka #sayaka igarashi #kirasaya #translation #natsume soseki

[dreamersleeps]

Helloo! I really liked your last post on Endeavor being Ra and all of your posts about myths. It reminded me of something someone told me once. They said that myths are intriguing since they teach us lessons. The gods act no different than us. They make mistakes and these things are told through stories. One of the things they told me was how underworld myths usually mean to accept the past. Your post makes think that it represents Endeavor accepting the past and then being born again.

Hello hello, I am really happy to know that you really liked the Endeavor and Ra post, including my other ones! Thank you for sending in your comments, they’re very interesting. Before anything else, I’d like to apologize for responding so late. I took some extra time to think about how I wanted to reply to your comments. This post ended up becoming super long as well (mostly because of the images). 

As you state, I love reading through myths and stories because the majority of them contain lessons for us. You are right when you state that the gods act no different than us, and because of that they make mistakes. Although the numbers who worship and take part in some of these polytheistic religions have greatly diminished over the course of history, in the present time we like to explore these stories and continue to be influenced by them. It is because of their human mistakes that sometimes we even relate to these gods and goddesses. These stories capture our imagination and I’m sure plenty of us have once had daydreams of being a demigod or another mythical figure/creature. 

I do think that the High End vs Endeavor fight was a pivotal moment where Endeavor confronts himself, begins to face the past, and is thus “born again.” The depiction of Hawks and Endeavor’s quirks combined together, of flaming wings had a phoenix like imagery to it. 

Although Endeavor is “born again” it of course does not mean that he is free from all the horrible things he did to his family. It does not mean a new, fresh start. I think that him being “born again” here represents symbolically that he has made an internal change of mind, accepting a different perspective (although to what extent is up for debate). Phoenixes do not d/ie and resurrect once. Similar to how the sun rises and sets everyday, the phoenix lives a cyclical life of d/eath and rebirth. 

I did not know that underworld myths can be tied with accepting the past. If that is true than it definitely does relate back to some of the things I was talking about in my Ra post. So yes, the High End vs Endeavor fight was a very important moment for Endeavor. In a sense, he is “born again” but not with the fresh start it suggests. If he has begun to accept the past what does this mean and how might the next step look like? 

As readers, we all bring very different past experiences and beliefs to the table, and that’s the thing about life. We all think differently. The majority of people have valid reasons as to why they think they do, however I am very much against all the attacking, insulting and discourse that have emerged over Endeavor’s character. 

Personally, on the topic of redemption: I believe that Endeavor will most likely not be redeemed. This is something that he too also believes. However at the same time while we may have opinions, the question of redemption is not for us to really answer. We are mere observers. 

I’ve wanted to do a close read of a certain group of chapters during the Internship Arc for a while. Of course if you don’t agree with what I have to say here or are not interested, than that’s fine. This “analysis” is not written in defense of Endeavor but to take a closer look at how Horikoshi’s been developing and writing him. If anything, please take any excitement you may detect in my writing as my love for “analyzing” and sharing my thoughts.

Chapters 249 through 252 are important chapters after the High End vs Endeavor fight that delve further in to his thoughts and his family’s thoughts as well. You can do a close reading of many of the pages in these chapters but I will only focus on some of Endeavor’s own inner thoughts. 

Unfortunately, since I can not read the raw Japanese text, I’m building everything on top of the “official” English translations so please keep that in mind. If the nuances in the translations are off or lost in translation, then my interpretations may be “wrong.” (Btw, I’m only like 95% sure that the panels I’m using below are all from the official English translation). 

Let’s begin. The two panels below are from Chapter 249 titled “The Hellish Todoroki Family.”

“I’m trying to make amends... going forward.” The “going forward’ definitely suggests that there was some sort of turning point either during the High End fight or shortly after. The definition of amends in the dictionary is:

reparation for compensation for a loss, damage, or injury of any kind

“It might be too late... but I fall asleep every night thinking about... what I can do for my family.” Endeavor expresses that he falls asleep every night thinking about what he can do for his family. We can only take him for his word but keep in mind that these are his inner thoughts. He isn’t talking to anyone but to himself. I acknowledges that it may be too late for him to do anything, all the damage he’s caused. Despite realizing that there’s a good chance that there’s nothing he can do to amend anything, he still thinks about it.

“Lately, it’s been the same dream. The wife and kids, looking happy... at the dinner table. But I’m... never there with them.” Here he states that he’s been dreaming the same dream. This means that it’s been heavy on his mind. In his dream, his family is happy and he is not there with them. Perhaps he believes that their happiness can only become a reality if he is taken out of the picture. 

Now let’s jump to Chapter 252, titled “The Unforgiven.” These panels occur after Natsuo is kidnapped by Ending, and he is rescued by the teamwork of Bakugo, Midoriya and Shouto after Endeavor hesitates and fails to do so. 

Endeavor had his flames on while they’re after Ending but he gets rid of them right before or when he catches Natsuo and Bakugo. So Endeavor usually has his flames on and that’s how we saw him depicted until around the High End fight and onwards, where we see him more without his flames. 

(This has nothing to do with the analysis but this has to be one of my favorite interactions between Endeavor and Bakugo. He does not hesitate to make comments and remarks... hahaha, gets me every time.) 

“Natsuo. Believe it or not... I was never trying to neglect any of you.” Well first of all, Endeavor saying that he was never trying to neglect any of his children is a big slap in the face and to be honest I’m appalled that he states that. Ultimately, it may be absolutely one hundred percent true that he means what he states, however whatever his thoughts may have been, Endeavor neglected them. Period.

Let’s look at Endeavor’s body language. His eyes are cast towards the ground as he can not meet Natsuo’s eyes when he gives his “confession” and it looks like his upper body is bowing towards Natsuo. 

Just in general based on what I’ve read and from my own experiences, bowing is practiced for the purposes of respect, courtesy or apology. Typically it is the younger person who bows to the older person or someone from a “lower” position bowing to someone from a “higher” position. Part of Natsuo’s expression of surprise in the left most panel probably has to do with both the words that are coming out of his father’s mouth and the fact that Endeavor is bowing his head down towards him. 

“But... all I could do was blame others and dodge responsibility. WIth Toya too... I might as well have killed him myself!” Here he admits that for a while he’d place the blame on others and dodge responsibility, including with what happaned to Touya. He admits that he may as well have killed Touya himself. Personally when I first was reading this, it was actually very interesting to see Endeavor confess these things. Isn’t it kind of surprising to see that he’s admitting to all this instead of continuing to be a character who ignores and refuses to recognize faults and consequences of his actions? Or is it just me. 

Natsuo responds with “Didn’t neglect us...? So what...? Toya has always told me everything. It’ll be a cold day in hell... before I forgive you. Cuz I’m not as caring as Shouto.” Natsuo states that “it’ll be a cold day in hell” before he forgives Endeavor. A “cold day in hell” is an idiom meaning: the time of occurrence of an event that will never happen. It looks like he’s kind of smiling probably at how absurd his father’s confession sounds and his eyes are tearing up, a reaction to his sudden confession. He brings up Touya and the estranged state that their family had been living since for possibly as long as he could remember. 

“Even so... Even so... you keep showing up for Fuyumi right? And for your mom’s sake?” Here Endeavor’s addressing Natsuo’s statement claiming that he’s “not as caring as Shouto.” Forgiveness is one of those things we are told that we need to do at some point and if we don’t, that it says something about our character. The one who forgives is the one who has had wrong done to and it takes a lot for someone to give forgiveness after all that has been done. So here, Natsuo says that he can not forgive Endeavor because he is not as caring as Shouto but I feel like there’s also a part of Natsuo that feels like he could be a bad person if he can not forgive. 

Endeavor’s response is to tell him that despite what Natsuo thinks of himself, the fact that Natsuo continues to show up and try to do things that he doesn’t want to do because he cares about Fuyumi and his mother speaks otherwise. Notice the faded background in this panel as well. Btw, here we can see that Endeavor is indeed kneeling in front of Natsuo. They both are sitting on the ground, together, close to eye level but not quite. 

“Your sister loves the idea of being a big happy family... because... that’s exactly what I ruined. She wants that back... she’s so eager to fix everything. And that’s why YOU’RE trying at all. Because you care about how she feels right...?” Each of the Todorokis have different feelings and perspectives about Endeavor. For example, Fuyumi wants to be a “big happy family” which Endeavor acknowledges and claims responsibility for ruining. Even though Natsuo may not want what Fuyumi hopes for, he still comes to visit home despite if Endeavor is there because he cares about his sister. 

“Because you ARE caring. So...” Endeavor states that Natsuo is a caring person. He’s been watching what Natsuo will do for Fuyumi and his mother because of how much he cares about them. Another thing that stands out to me in the English translation is that Endeavor says, “Because you are caring” not just “You are caring.”

Shout out to the guy in the car (o_o)

“You’re getting yourself to be able to forgive him. Because you’re so caring.” In response to Endeavor’s counter that, no Natsuo IS caring, Natsuo responds to this by thinking back to Midoriya’s earlier conversation with Shouto when they were cleaning up the dishes after dinner. Midoriya is someone who does not know about the Todoroki family situation as much as we may but he knows Shouto: his classmate and friend. However, we see that Natsuo overheard those words and I think it made him feel like he wasn’t a good person because he feels like he does not want to or can forgive.

We get a closer angle and view of Natsuo and Endeavor sitting on the ground. Again, the fact that Endeavor is kneeling may be why the guy in the car has the expression they have. So I kind of went looking around to see what the way Endeavor is sitting is called and I think the closest would be the seiza pose. 

Seiza, is the formal way of sitting down based on ancient Japanese standards. In Japanese, Seiza is very aptly translates to “sitting with a correct posture.” In a historical context, the correct posture is defined to have neatly-folded legs and an erect spine. One’s feet must be neatly tucked in place, underneath the body. 

The Japanese consider Seiza with only the highest of regards, as it represents two important values in Japanese culture: courtesy and apology. They believe that Seiza is an essential tool to channel those specific values. 

Another important representation that Seiza upholds in Japanese culture is that it serves as a symbol of apology. Someone who wishes to ask for an apology may place his or her hands in front, with the head lowered down. This form of apology is referred to as “dogeza.” This serves as a position of submission, having one accept his or her mistakes (yabai). 

The picture below is depicting someone in the seiza pose, apologizing. 

This ties in to how Endeavor and the Todorokis live more “traditionally” compared to other characters. We’ve seen the traditional Todoroki house and Shouto’s dorm room at UA as well. Earlier, we saw Endeavor with his head bowed towards Natsuo and here he is no longer bowing but he is still in the seiza pose: a symbol of courtesy and apology. It’s a physical sign of sincerity and humility. 

This is how Endeavor is apologizing, even if it is not as direct as some of us would like it to be. And Endeavor tells Natsuo: 

“You don’t have to forgive me.” Endeavor tells Natsuo that he has no obligation to forgive him, even when he is his father. What a way to say it though. “Because you ARE caring. So, you don’t have to forgive me.” It was kind of confusing for me when I first read this chapter. Currently, the only way I can read this is that (1) Endeavor realizes to a certain extent of the hurt and pain that he caused his family and (2) it is because of what Natsuo experienced as a Todoroki and what happened to his brothers, sister and mother that he can not bring himself to forgive his father. He hurts for his family because he cares about them. “You don’t have to forgive me.” 

We get three panels with Shouto, Bakugo and Midoriya listening in on to this conversation. Notice the white, empty backgrounds in all four panels. Usually this is done to highlight a moment that has gravity and weight. This is them processing what has just been said. The bustling city highway and life fades away and we are left with this moment where time feels like its paused. 

Then Endeavor speaks again: “I’m not looking for forgiveness. Just atonement.” We see Endeavor’s left eye, the side of the face that has been scarred after the High End fight. His right eye, the part of his face that has remained unchanged is hidden behind the speech bubble with the words, “Just atonement.” 

Seeing as how Horikoshi likes to intentionally place speech bubbles to hint at something from time to time, I’m wondering what this particular placement might mean. I will touch on this later again, but Endeavor has a habit of hiding and standing off to the side when it comes to his family and past. Additionally, this is the first time we’re looking at Endeavor’s face from the front and not from the side during this conversation with Natsuo (excluding the panel from the first page from this chapter when he’s holding Natuso and Bakugo before the conversation begins). 

What is atonement? According to the first definition that comes up on Google: 

reparation for a wrong or injury

In general religious contexts, it is: 

reparation or expiation for sin 

In Christian theology, it is: 

the reconciliation of God and humankind through Jesus Christ

So in religious contexts: to receive forgiveness there must be a sacrifice which “atones” for the sin (tastethehoney).

Basically, what I’m trying to point out with the latter two definitions is that this word is often used in religious contexts. I’m assuming that Endeavor is the one referred to as the “The Unforgiven” in the title of this chapter and I think that it’s very interesting that Endeavor’s fire quirk is called “hellflame,” which I’m pretty sure that I can safely say is in reference to the Judeo-Christian/Western concept of hell. 

(Forgive my choice of using a simplified statement here but for the purposes of getting a point across...) They say that those who are not forgiven burn in hell.

“Wow. You got a real way with words... all of a sudden! I know how happy it makes sis, having us all together! But... when I see your face... Those memories come rushing back.” Natsuo’s reply comes from Endeavor’s sudden display of apologizing. And as Natsuo correctly points out, they’re still just words. Words do not mean anything unless actions come with them. He mentions how hard it is for him because the “memories come rushing back.” Even though the life they live now is different from the past, the past keeps coming back. 

“Why do I gotta be the one to come around? Atonement? How’re YOU gonna make that happen?” Again, when someone apologizes or is looking for forgiveness, the person who was wronged or hurt has to come to a certain place to forgive. As we’ve already established, Endeavor is not looking to be forgiven. So this could be Natsuo’s reply to Endeavor’s claims that he wants to change and be better, because it still kind of requires the other party to “come around” as well. Here Natsuo also asks about atonement. Endeavor can not turn back time and do things differently, what’s done has been done. So, how can Endeavor atone, and what will it look like? 

Let’s skip a couple pages to when Endeavor and Natsuo arrive home. 

“I’ve let you shoulder all of that. . . and I stood by while you worked hard. But it’s okay now.” This is referring to how Fuyumi has been planning on welcoming her mother back home. Endeavor states that he’s been standing off to the side, perhaps there is a note of apology as he talks about how Fuyumi’s been working hard by herself. Then he states, that “it’s all okay now.” 

“It’s always the same dream. My whole family’s there, but not me.” So, Endeavor’s thinking back to his dreams of his family’s happiness. He believes that they can only be happy if he’s not there. 

“Because I’m building a new house for you all. One that makes sense for your commutes. And one where you can give your mother a warm welcome back.” He states that he’s building them a new house. One where they can welcome their mother back. This is Endeavor’s idea of what “atonement” might begin to look like 

“If I really care how they feel...” He wants to respect their feelings, and not do something because HE wants to. 

“I’ll remain here.” It seems that Endeavor believes that one way he can “atone” for his family is to remove himself physically from their lives. 

Through this post, am I claiming that Endeavor will be redeemed? No. However, let’s look at what redemption means. According to the first two definitions that comes up on Google, it is: 

the action of saving or being saved from sin, error or evil

or

the action of regaining or gaining possession of something in exchange for payment or clearing a debt. 

There really is not a way Endeavor can “pay the debt” for all the hurt and pain he’s caused. 

So that was a lot but I’m going to point out some things here. Yes, Endeavor is in a position where he is acknowledging the past, and he seems to have begun taking more responsibility for it. He states that he is not looking for forgiveness and is only looking for atonement. However, similar to how he neglected his family because he was running away from the blame and did not want to accept the responsibility due to his actions, he is still in a way running away from it. His idea of “atoning” includes removing himself physically from his family’s lives, partially because he wants to be considerate of his family’s feelings and partially because he believes that they can only be happy if he’s not there. He could be right, but I disagree. 

As many others have stated before, it seems that part of the answer to atonement lies with Todoroki Touya. As I suggest in the Ra post, there were two outcomes of the High End vs Endeavor fight: 1) Endeavor, the public hero establishing himself as the Number One Hero and 2) Todoroki Enji as a father beginning to accept the past and its responsibilities (again, although to what extent is debatable). 

The fight concludes with Endeavor’s first official meeting with his son, Touya as Dabi. To accept and address the past and its responsibilities, Endeavor’s been taking a passive approach to “atone” partly because he’s kind of treating the past as only the past. 

In Chapter 290, titled “Dabi’s Dance,” where we get the Touya reveal, Dabi finally is able to call Endeavor out: "You were finally number one! It’s all you ever wanted! But it must’ve weighted on you, right?! Or was all the praise and admiration like chicken soup for your soul?! When at long last, you could stare your kids in the eye... didja finally start to feel the warm and fuzzy bonds of family?! You must’ve thought, ‘As long as I face the future, I can be better!’ I can tell you’re at a loss for words, so here’s the answer!” 

Being Touya, Dabi’s existence brings the past right back to the present. Endeavor can not keep responding in a passive way, dodging the past even if it weighs heavy on his mind and heart. 

I suppose this is where the real test of atonement begins. 

#endeavor #todoroki enji #todoroki touya #dabi #todoroki natsuo #bnha analysis #mha analysis #bnha meta #mha meta #luna answers #my post

[0ffgun]

Alright so!! I got some requests from people for me to make a post with tips on how I self-study my languages, so here we are! It’s not perfect and everyone studies differently, but I hope some of these tips can help you out.

Personally I study Korean & Thai so this list is aimed at those but a lot of the study tips are pretty general and can be applied to whatever language you’re learning. 

I’m an energetic puppy in human form - I simply CANNOT sit still and study for longer than 20 minutes before getting insanely restless and distracted, so I tend to only actually sit down and actively study once a week. If you’re expecting something clever and insightful this is absolutely the opposite of that... I basically trick myself into learning! So here is my silly little guide, let’s go!

General Tips:

★ Get ridiculous with sticky notes. Seriously, do it. If you’re just starting out and don’t know the words for all of those household objects then go ahead and scribble them down on those post its and stick them EVERYWHERE. It might drive your family members/roommates crazy but hey... you’re doing it for a good cause, right?

★ Don’t rely on romanization too much - if your language has its own writing system, focus on that using as much as you can. Romanization seems helpful but in the long run you’ll rely on it too much. It’s better to get familiar with the native writing system asap!

★ Pick out a word/phrase of the day and write it somewhere you’ll see it often. I have a whiteboard in my room that I’ll scribble a few phrases onto and then every time I walk past it, I’ll say them. Or if I’m not gonna be home all day then I write something on my wrist and glance at it throughout the day! This one is the most fun because when people see it they’re like “ooh that looks pretty!” or “ooh does it mean something deep and profound?” when in reality you have the phrase I like cheese written on your arm and it never stops being entertaining. Bonus points if someone native to that language reads it and looks at you like you’re crazy.

★ Say the words in silly voices. It sounds weird but if you’re sitting there repeating words (like the word banana, for example) from an app in a monotone voice you’re definitely less likely to remember it than if you’re yelling out “BANANA!!” in an opera voice or squeaking out “b an a n a” dramatically as you let go of Jack’s hand and let him sink into the ocean. 

★ Don’t isolate vocabulary. Learning new words is great, but it’s useless and you’re more likely to forget it if you don’t learn to use it in a sentence. 

★ Keep a diary! One of the absolute best ways to practice your writing and improve your skills is to just jot down a few things every now and then. It’ll be rusty and you won’t have much to say at first and will definitely keep needing that dictionary every 2 seconds, but after a few weeks you’ll really notice the difference. Buy pretty pens and stickers to motivate yourself to write in it! It’s also fun to do this around people who can’t speak it as they’ll look at it in awe and you can show off when in actual fact your writing is usually a clumsy scribbled “today I snacks eat and go sleep” but hey what they don’t know can’t hurt and it’s always fun to look like a genius.

★ Talk to your pets in that language. They’re not going to judge you, they actually don’t even care what you say as long as you say it in that entertaining pet voice. I don’t have any friends that speak Korean or Thai so the majority of my speaking practice is hurled at my dog. If you don’t have a pet, then plants or stuffed animals work perfectly too!

★ Listen to language podcasts while you do household chores, heck if you’ve gotta do something boring, might as well yell foreign words while you do it!

★ Change your phone settings to your target language. That way you’re literally forcing yourself to use it, and it becomes second nature and you pick up key words so quickly. Only do it if you know how to get back into your settings and change it back if you have to... or else you’re stuck and lost. 

★ Listen to music and sing a lot. Just scream those lyrics! A little off-key screeching never hurt anybody!

★ Get comfortable with numbers. They’re something that is dominant in ALL languages and you’re going to use them on a daily basis. Start with learning how to count to ten and get comfortable with it, and then go higher. Once you’re used to numbers individually, make it harder. I used to get my mum to write out 10 random numbers between 1 to 10,000 in the morning and I would translate them, and then I would do the same for myself in the evening. After a while you get quicker at them and before you know it you don’t have to awkwardly translate them in your head anymore, the numbers are just there ready in your brain.

★ Don’t only watch dramas! Watch more natural stuff too - variety shows, vlogs, instagram lives... anything where people are just chatting like they normally would do. That way you’re subconsciously learning more casual speech patterns and casual language too!

★ Don’t just study at home! Always make sure you have a dictionary handy (like on your phone, for example!) and keep your brain busy while you’re out and about. Buying some groceries? Try to name everything in the fruit and vegetable aisles and if you don’t know the name of something, look it up! You’re more likely to remember vocab this way as your brain has a situation to associate it to.

★ Be mean and make yourself work for things you normally do - check your horoscope on a regular basis? Read it in your new language instead! Want to check out the weather forecast? Do it the hard way.

★ Don’t feel like studying? Not in the mood? Then don’t do it! Instead put on your favourite show in your study language of choice. Not every study session has to be a hard one. Just relax and watch a foreign movie! You have no idea how much your brain picks up without you even noticing, chilling out and watching a drama absolutely counts as studying. Don’t force yourself to study if you’re not feeling it, you’re more likely to learn if you’re having a good time.

Advanced Tips:

★ Get keyboard stickers - if your new language has a different alphabet and you use your laptop to study it a lot then you’re definitely gonna need these! You can buy them SUPER cheap on ebay!

★ Change the language on your Netflix account and get ready to binge watch your faves! If you change your profile language to the one that you’re studying, you’ll notice that a lot of the shows available will now show subtitles in that language too. If you’re pretty advanced then now is probably the time to drop your native subs and start watching with the original subtitles in the original language.. good luck! 

★ Play Pokemon. When the latest Pokemon games started coming out with Korean language options I JUMPED at the chance - what better way to study than to just laze around playing video games? This is great for any other kinds of games you can snatch up in your target language too.

★ Read a favourite book in your new language. A common one is Harry Potter! It’s pretty much available in every language at this point and it’s a story you probably already know, which means you never get too lost because you know the plot already.

Resources:

Here are a bunch of apps and things that I use for studying that I find super helpful (and all of these are free!)

Drops (for Thai and Korean - available in both the apple store and the google play store)  - I use this app every single day without fail. It’s brilliant for expanding your vocabulary (there are TONS of languages available on there too!) HOWEVER: It only lets you study for 5 minutes and then you have to wait around 9-ish hours before you gain another 5 minutes to work with unless you want to pay for more. But honestly? That’s a good thing. You only need 5 minutes of vocab study before your brain wants to dissolve into mush anyway. I get up, do my morning stuff (usually just involves rolling around and blinking in confusion before grabbing a coffee) and then sit and do 5 minutes of drops, and then by the evening my 5 minutes have replenished and I do it again. Rinse and repeat, and you’ll be learning more words in a week than you even realise!

Duolingo (I use this for Korean, there is currently no Thai option) - This app is fantastic. I don’t recommend it for beginners as it should be used as more of an aid alongside your natural studies, rather than as a study resource itself. This app expects you to already know the basics so I’d dig into this one once you’re starting to get a little comfortable with your language!

Naver Dictionary (for Korean) - I use this every single day! Not only does it help me when I need to find a certain word, it also gives me lists of example sentences which is PERFECT and super helpful when I’m trying to memorize words!  And for Thai I use Thai-English Dictionary (I can only find it in the Apple store sadly) and that’s incredibly handy too, I wouldn’t be able to cope without it! I also use this website as a Thai dictionary when I’m not on my iPad!

Talk To Me In Korean (for Korean) - This has been a core element to my Korean studies. They have tons of lessons available on their website, they do regular YouTube videos (usually only 5-10 mins long, perfect for just a mini casual study session!) and they also sell textbooks and do podcasts too. If you learn best from textbooks then these are by far my favourite ones I’ve found, give them a try! They’re not too pricey.

Lingodeer (for Korean) - It’s cute, it’s friendly and it’s helpful!! I learned a bunch of new phrases using this one and it’s perfect for casual study!

Memrise (for Korean) - Fantastic if you’re a beginner! There are tons of languages available on here too. Although, there are only 3 levels in Korean so I got through this one pretty fast. 

Eggbun (for Korean) - An app that encourages you to learn using a texting format! I haven’t really used it much but I have friends that have said it’s really useful!

Ling (for Thai and Korean) - This one was pretty good, once again though I wouldn’t use it if you’re a beginner, it’s probably a lot more helpful if you know the basics before you attempt this one! I’ve only used it for Thai but there’s a Korean option you could try checking it out!

Mondly (for Thai and Korean) - This app is cheeky and it wants your money. You get a bunch of free lessons to start with which are GREAT but that’s it. Then it reduces you to one free lesson a day but honestly? Still useful so go ahead and use it. They also have speaking practice available too!

Thai2English (for Thai) - This website is an absolute LIFESAVER!! If I’m ever browsing and come across a sentence that just throws me, I simply copy and paste and this legend of a website just breaks it down for me word for word.

Extra Korean links:

Children’s books in Korean

Learning Korean through fairytales - a textbook used in Korea for children who are learning to read, it’s helpful as a Korean language learner too! You get a little story and then it’ll ask you questions about what you just read. 

TOPIK previous exams - these are so good for practice and if you want to get a general idea of what academic level your Korean skills are at. 

Learning to type in Hangul - this one was fun and I now type Korean pretty comfortably on my laptop so if you know you’re gonna be typing a lot, I recommend this program!

#the way I learn languages is so weird I am so SORRY #I kinda just implement my language into my daily life and it works perfectly for me... I hope this is helpful to at least ONE person djgsjk #thai resources are sadly not that common but I'll add more if I find them! #language studies

[imagineseclipse]

Theo Raeken x Reader- Back And Forth 2

Part 1 Part 3

Day one of your not so well thought through plan to stay alive until the full moon hadn’t even started yet, your eyes fluttered open whincing as you lifted your head from the uncomfortable wall you had been resting on. Grimacing as the familiar smell of the drain pipes above you plagued your nostrils.

So it definitely had not been a nightmare.

It had taken you a good two minutes to wake up properly, still tired from the lack of sleep you had gotten the night before. It took all of your energy to turn your head to face Theo Raeken who was sat a couple of centermeters away from you, his head resting in his hands.

His head snapped up at the sound of your shuffling around, you didn’t miss the sigh of relief he let out when he realised you were still alive. He’d honestly thought you had died from concussion in your sleep.

You noticed that he had bags underneath his eyes, his skin paler than the night before and his hair was now slightly greasy from all the times he’d run his hands through it. It was unfortunate that he looked good even during times like these, he didn’t deserve to look nice.

“Didn’t get much sleep, huh?”You asked quietly, your voice cracking from how dry it was.

“How could you tell?”he mumbled back in your direction.

“You look like shit-you huffed, stretching your legs out in front of you.

-well, that and the fact that even my subconscious could feel you staring at me all night”you added quickly. You weren’t exactly lying, you may have exaggerated abit to get on his nerves but Theo really had stayed up all night watching over you just in case you stopped breathing, or just in case the dread doctors came for you in the middle of the night.

“I could say the same thing about you”Theo smirked to himself, rolling his eyes.

“Don’t flatter yourself Raeken I wasn’t staring at you”

“No I mean you look like shit aswell”he explained, looking over at you for a brief second.

“I make up for it with my charm”you tried to convince him, and yourself.

Theo let out a loud scoff.

“Charm, if that’s what you wanna call it”he snorted out with a laugh.

“You wouldn’t know the meaning of the word, even if a dictionary fell from the sky, hit you in the face and opened up on the word ‘Charm”you mentally applauded yourself for that comeback.

Theo pushed his face up, confusion flashing across it before he opened his mouth again.

“That was oddly specific and illiterate”he replied, standing up from his position to stretch his own legs.

“You can’t call me illiterate when you’re failing English class”you folded your arms, lifting Theo’s hoodie over your shoulders as a cold breeze blew past you.

“Y/n, you’re failing every class”Theo reminded you, how did he even know?! Stupid supernatural hearing, stupid Theo couldn’t mind his own business.

“Whatever”You grunted out, turning your attention to your legs that were now limp due to the pins and needles you were experiencing.

A few moments of silence went by as you attempted to revive your legs, swearing underneath your breath after growing more frustrated.

“Do you need to stand up? It would be good for you to have a walk around”Theo leant against the bars in front of you, watching as you struggled to fix your numb legs.

“And walk to where exactly-the local park?”

“Just around the cell, do you really want your legs to be all cramped up in six days when we need to literally sprint out of this place?”he had a good point, but you weren’t going to tell him that.

You rolled your eyes, sticking out your hands, avoiding eye contact with Theo at all costs as he set his hands in yours, you decided to ignore that one single butterfly in your stomach as he gently lifted you onto your feet.

It took you a minute to try and balance yourself, finally looking up from the ground to see Theo staring at you. A small smile placed on his face as he nodded slowly, telling you that you were doing great without actually saying a word. You felt a smile flicker onto your own lips for a second. Not that you needed him to tell you that you were doing great.

The first few steps around the musty cell were a challenge but as you repeated the laps you could feel your legs become sturdier. Your hands remained in Theo’s as the two of you walked in circles. Stretching out your muscles. You were just about ready to walk without Theo’s help when the door leading to rest of the world slammed open making you jump out of your skin.

Your fingers unintentionally intertwined with Theo’s holding them tight as the dread doctors filed into the room one by one. The two of you slowly backed yourselves into the corner so that your bodies were pressed up against the wall.

The doctors approached the cell, flinging the bars open. You could hear a growl growing louder from in front of you as Theo stood tall. Almost shielding you from the Doctors vision.

“The girl”one of them stated. So, you couldn’t understand them fully yet but you were beginning to understand faint words underneath all the static.

Your body started to violently shake as you registered those words. They were six days too early.

“They want me don’t they?”you whispered as you lifted your head to peer at Theo who was staring intensely straight ahead at the three powerful doctors.

“Not today”Theo growled, attempting to warn them away. You were so worried about your captors that you hadn’t even protested about the fact that Theo’s hand was starting to sweat.

If he was nervous, then this definitely was bad.

“What do you mean not today? You’re acting like they won’t just come in here and take me”you scoffed, choosing such a convenient time to pick a fight with Theo.

“They can’t”Theo lowered his voice as he flicked his claws out, making sure that the doctors could see them clearly.

You watched as one of the Doctors boots settled nicely onto the ground inside the cell that you had been trapped in. Your mouth had fallen open as you rolled your eyes for what seemed like the thousandth time.

“They clearly can”you deadpanned shuddering, your eyes never left the boots remembering when they had crushed Scott’s inhaler with one single step as they advanced towards you and the angry Chimera.

“Just stay behind me”Theo called back to you, earning a glare from your direction.

“No y’know I was really just going to walk out and surrender”you shot back, lifting your hands up as you sent him a ‘you’re so stupid I can’t believe I’m trapped with you of all people’ look.

“Even in your darkest hours your sarcasm never seems to faul-

Your eyes widened as you watched one of the doctors lunge at Theo with a syringe filled with green liquid. You let out a small yelp before pushing Theo out of the way last minute.

He watched in horror from the cold hard ground as the needle pierced your skin, the green liquid coursing through your veins.

“Well this can’t be good”you muttered as you slumped down against the wall, your eyes briefly met Theo’s. His eyes were glowing, you couldn’t tell which colour due to the fact that whatever they had injected into your blood had made you insanely tired.

Your head fell to your shoulder, your eyes never leaving the twinkling ones across the room. Theo tried to crawl his way over to you as he let out a roar at the sight of you on the brink of passing out. Your muscles started to relax and all you could focus on were his eyes.

“Pretty stars”he heard your voice mumble out before you lost consciousness.

He pushed your comment about his eyes to the back of his mind for the time being, knowing that he would revisit it when you were actually awake. Because he definitely wasn’t going to let you die after you’d said that.

As if life wasn’t hard for you already.

His head snapped up towards the Doctors who were stood observing their work. Theo pushed himself up off the ground taking long strides towards the supernatural doctors as he swiped at them using his claws.

Before he could get a good punch in his body fell to the ground convulsing violently as the Doctors electrocuted him. As the electric currents run through his veins Theo’s eyes flickered over to you unconscious in the corner.

And he kept his eyes trained on you, even as he was being dragged out of the room towards the unknown.

Taglist- @chloe-skywalker @eleganttrashloverprune @ghostly-bouquet-eagle

#reblog #follow #request #teen wolf #request video imagines #request gif imagines #imagine request #requests #teen wolf imagine #requested #theo raeken x reader #theo raeken x y/n #theo raeken imagine #theo x reader #theo x y/n #theo raeken #teen wolf theo #theo raeken fanfic #theo raeken fanfiction #imagine theo raeken #cody christian x reader #cody christian imagine #cody christian #theo raeken gif #theo raken imagine #theo reaken imagine #theo raeken x you #cody christian x y/n

[fizzyhosh]

tagged by @kabeswaters !!!! love u big time

1. on a scale of 1-10, how excited are you about life right now? .... 3

2. describe yourself in a hashtag? #onedirectionstan

3. if you could do a love scene with anyone, who would it be? gross Harry Styles

4. if your life was a musical, what would the marquee say? get ready for disappointment but the good thing is one direction would be to my musical as abba is to mamma mia

5. what’s one thing people don’t know about you? i have strong ambitions but they are outweighed by executive dysfunction so lots of adults like teachers just think I'm lazy 🤪🥴

6. what’s your wake up ritual? currently it's get up at 2pm, look at discord, snapchat, and instagram, then eat some gosh darn food

7. what’s your go to bed ritual? this is so unhealthy I know grab a snack and a soda and scroll mindlessly on social media until I get tired, get up and brush my teeth, go back to my bed and put on my sleep playlist (called sleeby) and set a time so it stops playing after I fall asleep

8. what’s your favorite time of day? despite the fact that I get up in the afternoon, it's actually like 10am that's a goooood time

9. your go to for having a good laugh? I look up Niall Horan laugh complications it genuinely works every time

10. dream country to visit? Germany or Italy

11. what’s the biggest surprise you’ve ever had? my 19th birthday my roommates had a surprise party for me and I was so shocked and almost cried bc it was so sweet and bc made me anxious

12. heels or flats/sneakers? I thought that said heelys :(( but sneakers

13. vintage or new? vintaaaage

14. who do you want to write your obituary? uh idk hopefully none of my current family bc I don't want to die before them cause that'll mean I die young??? this question is making me overthink so I'm just gonna say Ewan Gregor and move on

15. style icon? this chick named mathilda on Instagram you might have seen her on insta or Pinterest she's a redhead but her style is brilliant

16. what are three things you cannot live without? music, dr. pepper, eggos

17. what’s one ingredient you put in everything? I sound so white but SALT I salt the heck outta everything

18. what 3 people living or dead would you want to make dinner for? Steve Irwin, Harry Styles, Freddie Mercury

19. what’s your biggest fear in life? dying while I'm taking a shower and having my family find my naked, wet, dead body falling out of love. which makes me not want to fall IN love bc then the chance of falling OUT of love becomes a possibility

20. window or aisle seat? window window window window window

21. what’s your current tv obsession? not really obsessed with anything rn but I rewatch new girl every chance I get

22. favorite app? instagram

23. secret talent? I can wiggle my ears

24. most adventurous thing you’ve ever done in your life? i flew to New Orleans during a break with two of my friends bc they found $60 round trip tickets. We bought the tickets the day before. We literally got to NOLA at 7am and left 8pm the next day. only spontaneous/adventurous thing i have ever done

25. how would you define yourself in three words? funny, understanding, quiet

26. favorite piece of clothing you own? my overalls :'))

27. a must have clothing item that everyone should have? a jean jacket !! looks good on anyone and with anything and they're so cute

28. a superpower you would want? to make people see themselves as their loved ones see them

29. what’s inspiring you in life right now? music I'm fixated on one direction and harry styles and louis tomlinson rn of you cant tell by a lot of my answers

30. best piece of advice you’ve received? don't apologize because you like something. don't be embarrassed that you have preferences

31. best advice you’d give your teenage self? be unapologetically you. life is too short to feel guilty for having opinions.

32. a book everyone should read? me and earl and the dying girl

33. what would you like to be remembered for? being kind to all

34. how do you define beauty? kindness, humor, a sweet soul makes a beautiful person

35. what do you love most about your body? I think I'm proportional? like... my size and shape... I hate how that sounds but my overall body ,,,,,,,

36. best way to take a rest/decompress? crack open and nice cold soda and put on headphones and lay on the ground (it makes me back feel better)

37. favorite place to view art? art galleries the environment and ambiance is immaculate

38. if your life was a song, what would the title be? Everything is Outta Reach cause I fail a lot but also I'm sHORT

39. if you could master one instrument, what would it be? pianoooo

40. if you had a tattoo, where would it be? I want my forearms to be filled with random little doodle tattoos I get over time (picture louis tomlinsons right arm, like the "oops!" and skateboard, and dumb things like that)

41 dolphins or koalas? KOALAS

42. what’s an animal that represents you? .....koala. also chameleon...

43. best gift you’ve ever received? so I need to be hugging a pillow or stuffed animals to sleep and I lost some stuffed animals that I loved and were huge and my go to for hugging at night and that Christmas my brother got me a huge elephant and a body pillow to replace them and I actually cried

44. best gift you’ve given? im really bad at giving gifts but my brother searches everywhere for this book in specific print and language and after years I found one and got it for him for Christmas. he's not good at showing appreciation and excitement but I could tell that he was stoked

45. what’s your favorite board game? BETRAYL AT THE HOUSE ON THE HILL it's so complicated and so good and I love it so much

46. what’s your favorite color? yellow and red

47. least favorite color? o r a n g e I just realized it's between red and yellow make it make sense

48. diamond or pearls? diamonds

49. drugstore makeup or designer? drugstore! I don't wear makeup often enough to spend money on designer but occasionally I get some good stuff from ulta then immediately regret it and go back to my Walgreens makeup HAHA

50. pilates or yoga? yoga

51. coffee or tea? I don't drink either but I like the aesthetic of tea more

52. what’s the weirdest word in the english language? pneumonoultrascopicsiliconvolcanoconoiosos because it's the longest word in the English dictionary and it's has a very specific definition and it's so extra when I was 7 i had a friend who could spell it forwards and backwards

53. dark chocolate or milk chocolate? milk!! I only like dark chocolate if it's reisens

54. stairs or elevators? stairs I'm afraid of elevators

55. summer or winter? summer

56. you are stuck on an island, you can pick one food to eat forever without getting tired of it, what would you eat? mac and cheese

57. a dessert you don’t like? uhhhh... umm... uh... anything with tree nuts cause I'm allergic??? I love dessert

58. a skill you’re working on mastering? I'm learning guitar !!

59. best thing to happen to you today? I woke up before 2pm

60. worst thing to happen to you today? my family all decided to a be in a bad mood today so that's super exciting to deal with :))))))

61. best compliment you’ve ever received? that I'm a really good listener

62. favorite smell? candles right after they're blown out and the air outside when it's cold. it has a smell. it DOES.

63. hugs or kisses? hugs

64. if you made a documentary, would it be about? the one direction boys' solo careers and eventual reunion when it happens

65. last piece of content you consumed that made you cry? if that includes music, louis tomlinsons album walls. but if not, ehm the martian that movie makes me cry don't come for me

66. lipstick or lipgloss? lipstick

67. sweet or savory? savory

68. girl crush? lily james

69. how do you know you’re in love? I've been trying to figure that out... I think it's when everything reminds you of them and you can completely be yourself around them and feel a sense of home and belonging.

70. a song you can listen to on repeat? greyhound by calpurnia or baby driver by simon and garfunkel

71. if you could switch lives with someone for a day, who would it be? h a r r y s t y l e s I have questions I need answered and I wanna hear unreleased HS and 1D music

72. what are you most excited for/about this time in your life? going back to school so I can be with my best friend slash future boyfriend

tagging: @lupinlongbottom @outerlacy @fortisfiliae @theseuscmander @wizardwritings

#not hp #about ash #ask ash

[uglyducklingpresse]

“WE ARE ALL SOMEWHAT COLONIZED IN OUR EXISTENCE”: JAMIE CHIANG IN CONVERSATION WITH ZAHRA PATTERSON

UDP apprentice Jamie Chiang interviewed writer and educator Zahra Patterson in February 2019 after the release of her UDP title Chronology, recent winner of the Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Memoir/Biography. They discussed Zahra's journaling in Cape Town; her friendship with Liepollo Ranekoa, who passed away in 2012; the impact of language choice in postcolonial literature; tattoos; and more.

Taking as its starting point an ultimately failed attempt to translate a Sesotho short story into English, Chronology explores the spaces language occupies in relationships, colonial history, and the postcolonial present. It is a collage of images and documents, folding on words-that-follow-no-chronology, unveiling layers of meaning of queering love, friendship, death, and power.

Can you talk about the background of your decision to go to Cape Town to find who you are or the meaning of life? Did you find it? (In Chronology, Zahra refers to her journey to Cape Town as a search for herself.) 

Yeah, I mean sometimes I get a little dramatic perhaps when I'm writing in my journal. 

How old were you? How many years ago was that? 

It was the end of 2009 into 2010, so I would have been in my late twenties. I feel a journal is a place to express one's ideas, but it's also a creative space. I wouldn't take myself totally seriously in everything that comes out in a journal. I think there's definitely some self-awareness of one's own—my self importance, but also the quest to find oneself is not just to be made fun of. I think it's an important concept.

How long did you stay in Cape Town? 

I was there for around five weeks. As far as the decision to go, it was more spur of the moment. I was in South Africa for a wedding. My cousin got married and instead of going off traveling that far for a week, I thought I would just spend a couple of months if I had to go to that part of the world; there's no point in going for a week, so I was going to stay. I hadn't actually decided where I was going after the wedding until I got there, and Cape Town seemed to make the most sense to me. 

It perhaps felt the least imperialistic to go and spend time in such a cosmopolitan, international city as opposed to going somewhere more remote. You're either a tourist or a local, whereas Cape Town is an easy city to integrate into. 

I see. On page 33, you mention that you have a tattoo, and in the caption there is this word ke nonyana. What does ke nonyana mean? 

It means I'm a bird. 

That's the first word you spoke in Sesotho? 

Yes. I found the words in Liepollo’s English-Sesotho dictionary one day, and when she came home I spoke them. It meant a lot to her that I’d engaged with her language.

If you don’t mind, could you elaborate the story behind Liepollo’s colleague’s Facebook profile picture. What happened? 

It was the day she died, and his Facebook profile changed to her picture. It was an image of her. That was jarring because why somebody would put an image of a friend up, and there are very few circumstances that someone would do something like that and usually it's because they're dead. So when I saw that his Facebook picture changed to her face, it occurred to me that something terrible had happened. And I was at work at the time, so it was just very disorienting.

Sorry to hear that. Did you get your tattoo because of this? 

Yeah, so I didn't have anybody to mourn with because I had met Liepollo in Cape Town and we didn't have friends in common. Actually, we had a friend in common—an American who interned at Chimurenga while I was staying with Liepollo who I met once at the house in Observatory and once for coffee in Brooklyn—but she had moved to D.C. by that time, so I didn't reach out to her. It was a very isolated mourning experience. That's kind of why I got the tattoo, just to have her with me and to have that symbol and to think of her every day. Because when you have a long distance friendship, you're not going to think of the person every day. We were in touch every few months. I don’t want to forget her due to not having a lot of people to remember who she was with, so I needed to make her memory permanent on me. I think everybody thinks about getting tattoos in this day and age. My rule for tattoos is if I want it for a full year, then I'll get it, and I've never wanted anything for a year. So it’s my only tattoo.

And ke nonyana sounds beautiful. 

Thank you. I think it's beautiful also. 

And on page 37 and 38, there’s an interesting conversation you had with a Muslim guy named Saed. I found some of his talk kind of sexist. What was your reaction when you were talking to him? It sounds like he's almost preaching to you, trying to change your idea about what a woman's purpose is in this world. 

Exactly! But he also wasn't that; he was as if playing the role that he thought he was supposed to play and open to other ways of thinking. We're socialized beings, all of us. He wasn't terribly dogmatic. I don't think he'd been challenged too much in his way of thinking, but at the same time maybe he had because he was open to being challenged. So yeah, it was very interesting.

On page 47 to 48, you write about the panel What is the value of age and wisdom? at the Bronx Museum of Art. The five panelists are: Vinie Burrows, Boubacar Boris Diop, Yusef Komunyakaa, Achille Mbembe and Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o. There’s a quotation from Mbembe: “If the language we use is in itself a prison...We have to put a bomb under the language. Explode language!” Could you tell us more about the context? 

Achille Mbembe is a leading postcolonial theorist. I think his words are also quite poetic, so he's speaking metaphorically. The context of that part of the conversation is imperialism and language. That intellectuals from formerly colonized nations use the colonial language to express decolonial ideas is problematic, but it's still very accepted. And even these intellectuals who are on the panel, they write in English and they write in French, but they also find it problematic that they do that; however, it's also part of their survival. Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o wrote Decolonizing The Mind in the early eighties, where he swore off ever writing in English again, but then he is put into prison and he's exiled, so he can't actually exist in his mother tongue and his mother land; the government there has ostracized him because he speaks out against what they're doing to the people. Therefore, he has to make his life in English in America, he teaches in California.

Circumstances don't necessarily allow a person to decolonize their lives because in order to survive in this society, we are all somewhat colonized in our existence. I think that saying to put a bomb under language is saying that we need to just get our ideas out there. There’s also the visual aspect of it, I see words and letters, like, splattered. Like fucking. . .we need to fuck with language; we need to push the boundaries of language.

As Diop said “Teaching Wolof enhances self-esteem.” Does Wolof have a writing system? 

I’m not positive about the history of Wolof’s writing system but I know some, especially in more northern Sub-African countries had created writing systems using Arabic script and maybe some of them now use the Latin alphabet, so I would have to look that up for Wolof specifically. 

You use your mother tongue to express yourself because ideas in a specific language can't be translated. When you lose the language, you lose the culture and the history of people. Also if you're writing in any of the indigenous languages to Africa, you're not writing for the colonizer; you're writing for the people who speak that language, which is also important. 

A lot of this theory, especially academic theory that is taught in universities, is very limited in its reach. I think even though these are serious intellectuals who write academic works for academia, they're aware and they're problematizing the limits of writing scholarly work for institutions that isn't necessarily reaching the people.

What other languages do you speak? 

I speak French. I lived in France for awhile. I would say I used to be bilingual; I'm kind of monolingual at this point in my life. 

What about in Sesotho? 

I was working on the project (an attempt to translate Lits'oanelo Yvonne Nei's short story “Bophelo bo naka li maripa” from Sesotho to English) originally, but the access to the language was limited. I wasn't able to access decent grammar books, I wasn't able to access the orthography that I wanted to access so I gave up pretty quickly...but it wasn't as simple as giving up. I stepped back because I didn't really feel it was totally appropriate for me to do what I was doing. I think that’s a hugely important part of my text, the part where I put myself into conversation with Spivak and she tells me, via an essay she wrote about translation, that what I’m doing is wrong. I want to learn a language in which I'm going to be able to speak to people. I’m still not totally sure if I should have published what was supposed to be such a personal exercise, so that section with Spivak is essential to me.

On page 72, you wrote Liepollo an email about a friend who taught you how to say Your sister is a whore in Tagalog?

A friend of mine, her first love was Filipina so she knew how to insult people in Tagalog. When she said it, it sounded Spanish to me so I was wondering if that kind of insult comes with colonialism...also a misogynistic perspective can come. Not to say that misogyny doesn't exist in all cultures, although I think there are probably some cultures where it doesn't exist. Just problematizing the way language can infiltrate into a culture and then become part of the existing language but isn't part of that cultural history—the etymology isn’t actually Filipino; the etymology is Spanish.

Are there any books and authors that inspire you a lot?

For this work, Dictee by Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, that was a huge inspiration. Mouth: Eats Color by Sawako Nakayasu in terms of thinking about different ways, different things that can be done with form and then different things that can be done with translation. It was very liberating to read those two authors. I don't identify as a translator nor as a poet, so most of the things I've read are novels. My background is primarily in postmodern and postcolonial pieces of literature. I also thought about the nature of collage while I was working on Chronology. I looked at Wangechi Mutu’s work specifically for inspiration, but I’ve loved Romare Bearden’s work for years.

Thanks for sharing. The last question, what are you working on now?

I've started writing and hopefully I'm able to continue it. It's a piece that will potentially be called Policy. I'm an educator and I'm pretty passionate about how distorted and messed up the reality of public school systems is in this country. Although one could say I've been researching since I've been an adult, I started specific research for Policy last summer and I didn't start writing it until a couple of weeks ago. It's experimental in form. I'd say it's fiction meets theory, whereas Chronology is memoir meets theory. I'm not sure exactly where it's going but I'm thinking critically about charter schools and desegregation efforts in New York City and also the history of that. So going back to Brown versus the Board of Ed. . .I'll probably address school shootings, the school-to-prison pipeline, school lunches, teachers’ strikes; it’s about as intersectional an issue as there is—how we educate ourselves as a nation, and on the stolen land of our nation. 

I think right now, especially with the current administration, though public schools have been in danger for a very long time, our current secretary of education is a billionaire who wants to privatize education, so her agenda is to destroy our public school infrastructure. It's worrisome. Processing this information in a way makes me very angry because it's systemic. It's how you keep people oppressed. If you don't give people access to education, you're not giving them access to themselves. Never mind the tools they need to achieve and succeed in a capitalist society. 

I don't feel the United States has a liberatory agenda for education and I want to explore that a little bit in the history of curriculums and pedagogy because there have been, at the turn of the century, there were some really interesting education theorists like John Dewey and Ella Flagg Young, and their ideas for public education were very progressive, such as student driven classrooms, and not having really punitive systems. You find that education in private schools but rarely in public schools, so why are we not educating our youth in ways that let them think critically about the world that they're living in? Educating children to just follow rules and memorize doesn't work for most children. How many do you know in public schools who are excited to go to school every day? I think humans naturally are curious and want to learn and know things. So why is education taking that away from children? 

I don't know exactly how the project is going to manifest. It will be weird.

Zahra Patterson’s first book, Chronology (Ugly Duckling Presse 2018), won the 2019 Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Memoir/Biography and received a Face Out Fellowship from CLMP. Her short works have appeared in Kalyani Magazine The Felt, and unbag (forthcoming). A reading of her play, Sappho's Last Supper, was staged at WOW Café Theatre. She is the creator of Raw Fiction and currently teaches high school English at a Quaker boarding school. Her writing has been supported by Mount Tremper Arts and Wendy’s Subway, and her community work has been supported by Brooklyn Arts Council, The Pratt Center, and many individuals. She holds an MFA in Writing from Pratt Institute.

#author interviews #read #zahra patterson #chronology

[dr-nero-is-god]

Battle of the AIs: Overlord

Previously I had joked that if G.L.O.V.E. wanted an obedient robot, they shouldn’t have named it “Overlord” (x), but I wanted to stop and unpack that a little bit more. 

We have two AIs: one is named Overlord, and one is named H.I.V.E.mind. One of those AIs completely sucks, and one does not. Furthermore, one succeeds at a function of service where the other fails. 

For me, this is a supreme irony, because Overlord represents power that is often celebrated where H.I.V.E.mind represents power that has been famously (if not frequently) villainized. An overlord, after all, is an individualistic hero—who doesn’t love a king? But there’s more to it than that (below the cut). 

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, “Overlord” means a few things: “a supreme lord,” “a feudal superior,” “a dominant animal within a social group,” and “a person whose authority overreaches the authority of others.” These are not exactly surprising—we all get that an overlord is The Boss, typically of the evil, controlling variety.

Nonetheless, there are two particular words I want to pull out there, because they’re a little bit different.

First, “a feudal superior” is interesting, because if you are like me, you haven’t thought about Europe’s feudal system since eleventh grade. So what does that mean? Back in the day, feudal law was “an estate in land (in England always a heritable estate), held on condition of homage and service to a superior lord, by whom it is granted and in whom the ownership remains.” In other words, a feudal superior is someone who distributes the use of property in exchange for loyalty (like in war) and free labor. 

I also glanced at the etymology of the word “feudal,” and there is quite a bit of debate in the community about where this word comes from. Potential origins of the word carry meanings like “cattle, property, or money,” “to eat, feed upon,” and “to take for one’s enjoyment.” (While some of these are popular, some are considered more valid than others, but we are not going to worry about that.) All that to say, someone who belongs to a feudal system—or more pertinently, someone who belongs to an overlord—is the overlord’s property, makes up the overlord’s substance, and belongs to that overlord’s whims. People under an overlord’s control do not own themselves, and all that they are is beholden to that lord.

Sound familiar?

The second odd definition above is that of the “dominant animal,” when the character Overlord is anything but. Clearly, Overlord is not “a living organism” in the sense that we all know, but this discussion becomes particularly relevant in the aftermath of Escape Velocity and after. Overlord is not an animal, but he does appear to dominate animals, quite literally co-opting and even designing human bodies and brains for his own use. Overlord, I would argue, isn’t scary simply because he is an advanced computer. He is scary because he is the first computer that can actively “master” human bodies. 

Dictionary definitions are great because they offer insight into the history of a word and the things we can inadvertently mean—the impact of a word can be so much greater than its intention!

That said, the connotations—common assumptions and implications—that belong to a word play an even greater role in constructing what we think of when we encounter a word. Here are some things that the word “Overlord” reminds me of:

Hierarchy—I don’t think there’s a single context where you can use the word “overlord” and not imply that one entity is superior to another. An overlord is not just more powerful than everyone else, but is more moral, more respected, and more valuable than everyone below. 

Individualism—with hierarchy comes a dispersal of authority, which means that lots of people have a little power. That said, an overlord is The Person with The Power. There is no person with higher authority, and so an overlord tends to connote an image of single-handed excellence. An overlord can feel like the epitome of a “self-made man,” even though such things don’t exist. 

Irony—surely I am not the only person who has heard someone make reference to “our benevolent overlords” in conversation. An overlord is someone who certainly has power on paper, but especially in common usage, there is something farcical about being an overlord. Being an overlord requires a performance of power that requires obedience, but not necessarily respect. Overlords aren’t particularly wanted, liked, or even needed, but they are put up with, whether for fear or apathy.

So, that said, when I think of the name “Overlord,” is meant to live up to a particular ideal about independence and power, but is also kind of a sinister joke. 

With all that in mind, we have to wonder—what’s in a name? Why does this matter? Why write so much about something that most people probably don’t think about when it comes to a book character? 

I, for one, am interested because in naming Overlord (the characters and Mark Walden both), they gave this character a purpose. I am here to ask, what exactly is the point of this thing?

And Overlord’s name can tell us that. On the surface, we can tell that Overlord is meant to be a supreme mechanism of control that is the most powerful computer, if not entity on the planet. But if we dig deeper, it’s also clear that Overlord’s name recalls a history of exploitation, treating people and their labor as commodities and ultimately devouring human substance to remain at the top of the hierarchy. Overlord gains the power to control people, and traditionally, this would make him a hero of individualism and the enemy of bureaucracy. 

Again, if they wanted an obedient robot, what were they thinking?

As a final note to this analysis, though, I would note that the irony is important—both in the name and the character. It is kind of funny that an artificial intelligence built to serve would live up to his name and try to take over the world. It is also kind of funny that someone named Overlord would try to take over the world. When you think of the bad people who have risen to power in the past, they aren’t all named “Evil McEvilson” and “Lady Genocide.” It’s the people with pretty standard names who ultimately do evil things.

For Overlord to succeed at being an Overlord, and actually be an exploitative, objectifying force in the world, he will have to reject his own nature and become human, or impersonate it, to gain any traction over the world. The fact of the matter is that someone who is named “Overlord” will have the hardest time actually becoming one. And thank goodness, tbh.

#overlord #character analysis #long post

[bloomingednae]

Chapter 3 is now up!

Chapter 3: Memories

“Oh memories, where’d you go? You were all I’ve ever known, How I miss yesterday, And how I’d let it fade away.” ~ Memories, Panic! At the Disco

October 5, 2018 (afternoon/early evening)

It was early. Much too early.

In their defense, she surmised, it wasn’t planned; getting groceries for said rooftop barbecue session should have been under the assumption that they, the lab members, would end up being the ones getting the items.

Because he was always very much prepared for their company. Kurisu rolled her eyes in remembering his much-too-casual personality.

And to be fair, it wasn’t that early; it was just too early in terms of meeting with everyone. The actual meet-up didn’t begin until 18:00, but she was abruptly wakened by Mayuri that morning to be ready by 15:30 to go grocery shopping (why they needed two and half hours to go shopping for groceries was beyond her, but she didn’t question the younger girl).

As much as she sounded upset at the situation, she didn’t mean to intentionally. She absolutely loved being with the other members, but…

She inhaled with a shaky breath, trying to calm herself. The nerves she felt about the meet up that night clearly made its way into the social time she had with the others during grocery shopping, making her seem both on-edge and spaced-out. Kurisu jolted when a sudden hand gently touched her shoulder and she sighed in relief as she made eye contact with Mayuri.

“It’s going to be okay, Kurisu-chan.”

The simple words made alleviated some of her fears and she nodded, smiling back.

------

Okabe impatiently tapped his foot against the wooden floor, sitting on the computer chair within the lab room. He sighed as he aimlessly turned the page of an English research article, no longer highlighting key points or looking in the translation dictionary as he skimmed through the words. The tapping of his foot became rhythmic and constant, as he began to forget that he was performing such an action.

He immediately stopped as a soft item bounced off the back of his head; looking down, he noticed a child’s plush toy was the culprit to his distraction and he eyed Daru across the room, who sat on the couch, holding Suzuha in one arm and the other already with a toy in his hand almost ready to throw another at the back of his head.

Daru shook his head. “You’re gonna drive me insane if you keep that up.”

Okabe, realizing what Daru was referring to, frowned in response. He turned back to aimlessly reread the article he barely bothered to understand.

“I’ve got a lot planning going on in my mind for tonight’s lab member occasion, so I need some time to-”

“You mean you’re nervous about seeing her again, right?” Daru curtly interrupted, causing Okabe to sigh.

“As I said before,” Okabe said, rubbing his temples, “no. I’m done with that chapter of my life. And it would do you some good to stop prodding into my personal life.”

Daru shifted Suzuha in his arms as she reached for a toy he held out, laughter coming from her before he responded.

“So you’re admitting that at one point, there could have been more, right?”

Okabe said nothing as he glanced back at the article, picking up the dictionary in an attempt to appear busy. Daru gave one more glance at Okabe before returning his attention to Suzuha.

Why he even bothered to continue studying in English was beyond him; at one point, he thought it a goal to research in the US, but after some time, he realized he could accomplish just as much in Japan instead of moving to someplace unfamiliar. He had taken up English in the past few years, on and off teaching between formal classes and self-taught lessons (which weren’t the best for him, he realized, but he did what he could do). He could have easily given up and not pursue the language anymore than he intended; but he found himself still learning the second language. In the end, he realized it proved beneficial to him as most articles in English had interesting content he could learn from.

And for a moment, he began to remember a quick passing memory from the years when they were creating their paper; she had spoken to him in English for two full conversation sessions at one point, in order for him to become accustomed to the language. He remembered having a major headache afterwards (between having to process complex topics and translating in his head, to her poking fun of his pronunciations), but he did remember them being very beneficial. She would sometimes message him in English to keep up his fluency, and it helped him excel a bit more in the language.

Okabe shook his head of the memory; he tried not to remember how those times were; it was as if a thread dangled in front of him, and close, oh so close, was he to being with her again-

The sound of footsteps going up the stairs to the lab shook him of his thoughts, shaking out the remnants of bittersweet pain. His eyes shot up towards the door as Daru began to smile, anticipating his wife’s return.

“My Yuki is back…!” Daru exclaimed with a sappy tone, turning towards Suzuha as he did so. “Mama is back and she’ll be so excited to see you.”

Suzuha squealed response as he stood up towards the door. As if on cue, the door opened, first revealing Yuki, who smiled warmly at Okabe.

“Okabe-san,” she acknowledged with a smile. “I hope hanging out with my family wasn’t too much of a distraction for your work.”

Okabe shook his head, waving his hand aside. “Not at all, any time.”

Yuki smiled once more before crossing the room to her family. Okabe ignored their reunion as his eyes became focused towards the incoming visitors. He felt himself sweating as he began to anticipate the worst.

Breathe, he told himself. If yourself fails, at least Kyouma is here to help you recover.

And he almost found it absurd, really, that he should be feeling this way. He did tell himself he closed this chapter of life some moments ago to Daru, right?

And as if time dare mock him once more, a flash of auburn caught his eye.

She turned the corner. She was in his living room.

And she was making steady eye contact with him at that very moment.

Okabe felt a breath catch in his throat as he locked eyes with the very person he had barely seen or talked with in the past two years. Steadily, her amethyst eyes were almost blunted with emotion at first before they focused on him with a clearer intent, slightly widening at first before relaxing once more. There were a stream of emotions glinting in her eyes, he noticed, but none that he could read.

He scoffed to himself. Typical; Kurisu was the one person who covered up her emotions quickly, and time has rusted his skills in reading her more properly.

The one thing he did notice, however, was how much she had grown in the past time he hadn’t seen her; if it were possible, she had become more beautiful than the last time.

He bit his tongue. Stop it.

When she entered the room and just so conveniently locked eyes with him first, she couldn’t believe it had happened so quickly; Kurisu felt herself trying to erase any anticipatory emotions as much as she could, but, just as she feared, she couldn’t shake it off. Within the first second locking eyes with him, she felt herself waver with mixed emotions of absence, happiness, and relief at the sight of him.

Relax, she told herself as she calmed down her gaze towards him, it’s not like you haven’t messaged him in a year. At least you talked to him sometimes.

And that was the extent of their first meeting in nearly two years; other than the quick visit she had when Suzuha was born last year, she barely had time to spend with the other lab members, mostly him, since she only came momentarily before leaving back to the US. She felt herself somewhat frozen to the entrance of the living room as he sat, gazing at her wordlessly.

The silence between them was loud and noticeable enough that the rest of the lab members began to slowly quiet down, noticing the somewhat heavy tension. Mayuri automatically picked up on the connection and almost began to speak up before Okabe suddenly stood up dramatically, a mocking grin on his face.

“What’s this? Has the long lost child finally dared to enter my lab after years of nonexistence? This must be blasphemy!” Okabe stated, pointing dramatically at Kurisu.

That’s it, Okabe told himself as he kept up the act. This is all I need to keep moving forward.

Kurisu, on the other hand, placed her hands on her hips in response and stepped forward towards him. With furrowed brows, she looked at him with slight confusion.

“Hah? Who are you calling a lost child? I’ve actually been busy with work, you know!”

Okabe gave a low chuckle still in a Kyouma tone before eyeing her once more.

“As expected from the selfish lost child, because I, too, have been busy concocting research for the masses to extend my beautifully crafted mad scientist brain-”

Kurisu waved her hand aside. “Yes, yes, and by that, you haven’t really done a whole lot yet, am I right?”

Okabe flinched before recovering quickly. “Like I said, selfish Christina, I’ve done plenty, more than you would ever know!”

Kurisu glanced up for a moment at him and crossed her arms. “Stop calling me that!”

She spat back in spite, but mostly because she knew. She most definitely knew he was right and had done a lot in the years she was gone.

But this is the only way to talk to him right now, she thought to herself, slowly protecting herself from the obvious truth. Just for now, let me get through this.

The momentary pause in Kurisu’s behavior gave Okabe a chance to relax before giving out a small laugh. She looked up at him as he had a small smile on his face, his gaze still on her.

“I see you haven’t changed much, Christina.”

She rolled her eyes. “Keeping up with the name calling, huh?” She smiled back. “You haven’t either, idiot.”

As her smile reached him, an inner feeling began to churn in him again and he lowered his arm, placing his hand in his pocket. He clenched his hand hidden from her sight, gritting his teeth.

I really haven’t, Kurisu. And it’s really unfortunate.

As soon as their typical banter completed, Mayuri clapped her hands nervously to get their attention, laughing as she did so.

“W-well, it’s so nice to have Kurisu-chan back, right?”

Faris nodded enthusiastically. “That’s why we’re having this barbecue, nyan! We need to celebrate her return and commemorate this day!”

Kurisu nodded nervously in return, suddenly jolted from her extreme focus on Okabe to the rest of the lab members. She flushed in response, almost forgetting that the rest of them just witnessed her encounter with him and she grimaced to herself, realizing how embarrassing it really was.

As Kurisu crossed the room to greet both Daru and Suzuha, Okabe kept a steady gaze on her. Sighing, he internally kicked himself, disappointed in his thoughts and actions, regression creeping itself up into his mind. A sudden but gentle squeeze on his arm distracted him from his thoughts and his gaze on her as he looked down at the source. Mayuri looked up at him as she moved her hand to gently take out his clenched fist from his pocket, slowly relaxing his hand and placing hers within his. With a soft smile, she looked at him reassuringly.

“Let’s have the barbecue now, okay, Okarin?”

For a moment, he felt himself stunned to speak; how Mayuri read him so easily was both understandable and complex, considering her easy-going personality, but he appreciated it as he lightly grasped her hand in return.

He looked away and smiled a bit in appreciation.

“Thanks, Mayuri.”

--

The barbecue turned out to be an amazing turn out, in Kurisu’s opinion. Okabe did indeed have a weird friendship with Mr. Braun, but the landlord was a lot nicer than she originally thought (she realized it was just Okabe being obnoxious). Him allowing the lab members to have a rooftop barbecue was gracious of him, even though he did invite himself to the event which she found amusing to an extent.

She finally met up with Luka, who, in Mayuri and Faris’ defenses, did indeed look very charming. Years did a great number on him, and she realized that the boy had grown into himself with more comfort and confidence. He still had the same gentle personality she remembered him to have, but he presented himself with more firmness and compassion. It was no wonder Mayuri considered to him be one of her best friends.

Daru was still, indeed, Daru. This time though, she noticed he was much more calm, often talking about Suzuha versus his eroge novels (which she didn’t want to hear about, anyway). There was a certain, mature aspect of him that he had developed into and she was grateful that he had both Suzuha and Yuki in his life.

After hearing what probably seemed like the tenth story about Suzuha and Yuki, Daru chuckled as he noticed Kurisu’s eyes began to slightly glaze over, nudging her in return. She eyed him in response and he nodded towards her.

“What about you? I’ve talked your ear off about my life, and I’m sure the US is doing great things for you.”

Kurisu shrugged. “Same things. I’m working on my fourth paper right now and I have a conference again here in Japan in December, so I’ll be coming back again.”

Daru hummed in response. “If you have a conference in December, why come back now? There’s none that I know of that you’re in, or that you would be interested in participating in.”

Kurisu grimaced, cursing herself for letting that slip out again. “I...a vacation. Senpai suggested I need it before buckling down in preparing for the conference.”

At the mention of Maho, Daru’s eyes lit up. “Maho-tan! It’s been ages since I’ve seen her-”

“Should you even be talking like that when you have a family already?” Kurisu interrupted, crossing her arms disapprovingly. Daru shook his head.

“Yuki agrees with me that she’s adorable too, you know! We have high respect for her!”

Kurisu shook her head. She had forgotten that the couple had similar interests to begin with.

“Anyway,” Kurisu breathed, “it’s just been the same old otherwise. I enjoy my work and that’s all.”

As soon as the words left her mouth, Kurisu could’ve sworn that she saw Daru’s expression change for a moment; she felt as if his glasses glinted at her with slight scrutiny, making her feel uncomfortable before she finally glanced at him.

“W-what?” she asked nervously. “If you have something you want to ask, just ask it; you’re creeping me out.”

Daru scratched his chin for a moment in mock questioning before speaking.

Kurisu prepared herself, almost knowing what the next question was.

“Well,” he started, “from when we last heard from you, weren’t you...you know…”

Kurisu groaned, hating the fact that she knew she was right about expecting his question. She debated on whether or not to tell him, but knew in the end that he would find out either way from Yuki somehow.

As soon as she opened her mouth to respond, Yuki appeared in front of Daru, grabbing his hand and steering him back to the barbecue area. She winked at Kurisu before turning to her husband who was still not budging from his spot.

“There you are!” she exclaimed. “Mayuri-chan and I are talking about the most recent cosplay magazine and thought it be interesting if you join us!”

“E-eh?” Daru was caught off guard as Yuki came up to him. “There’s a new magazine?!”

He was about to go, before he turned back to Kurisu who looked at both of them with slight amusement. She looked at him in question as he walked back to her and from behind him, she could see Yuki almost in panic mode trying to steer him back to her; she waved at Yuki with a small smile, in a reassuring gesture that everything was alright. Yuki frowned a bit, but nodded back at her, patiently waiting for Daru to say one last thing to Kurisu.

Without looking at her, Daru spoke in a low voice to Kurisu, only within her earshot.

“I know you don’t want to answer me about the other stuff, but at least answer me this: can you talk to Okarin before you leave back to the US?”

Kurisu looked at him in slight confusion before Daru clarified.

“I don’t know what’s been going on between you two, but just...really talk to him, alright? He’s a pretty open and nice guy...but there’s a lot he doesn’t say, either.”

Kurisu nodded slowly in response. Watching as Daru walked off with Yuki, she tried to unravel the meaning of Daru’s words, but couldn’t quite pinpoint what it was that made her feel unsettled.

Yuki glanced back at Kurisu once more with concern, but Kurisu shook her head. She acknowledged the other woman’s concern, but wanted to be alone for a bit as she watched the rest of the members from far away. Yuki nodded, before returning her attention to the others before they noticed her actions.

Kurisu leaned back on the rails of the rooftop, sighing as she did so. Daru is a good man, she surmised, but a little too-knowing. Then again, she concluded in her mind, Daru is his closest friend.

She shook her head. Talk to him? She had already planned on that. That was her main intention of coming to Japan, to get to the bottom of everything confusing in her mind.

But, she realized, coming to Japan had surfaced more questions than answers. It was a frustrating array in her mind, something she wasn’t used to. While she loved chaos, there was no defining reason to the current chaos she was, in comparison to the chaotic research she was used to. It exasperated her, not knowing what she was supposed to be looking for.

And all of a sudden, as she glanced up to look a the rest of the lab members, she saw him again within the circle, an atmosphere that seemed so natural for him to be in.

Her stomach churned as she saw him interact with Suzuha; as Yuki and Daru talked ecstatically with Mayuri, Okabe had been the one to take Suzuha from them for slight relief, as he held her up, dramatically laughing in order to amuse Suzuha. And he didn’t fail, not one bit. Suzuha reciprocated with gleeful giggles, clapping every once in awhile as he spoke to her with nonsensical talk.

To Kurisu, it was a scene filled with individuals who had grown up with each other throughout the years; they’ve watched each other grow, been there for the worst and the best, and understood each other far more than she knew about them.

Most especially him, who seemed to be the center of it all.

She turned away from the scene slowly, choosing to overlook the scenery of Akihabara instead. Thinking about the scene she just saw brought her the same feeling as she felt before; questionable but familiar feelings rose in her, as if at some point, she was meant to be closer with the lab members than she was at that moment.

Something inside tickled with her emotions; she wanted to know more about them, but the closer she came, the more distant she felt herself to be when she thought about the present. But when she felt herself apart from them, she only wanted to be with them all the more.

And suddenly, it clicked in her mind; it was the same feeling she had around him, if not, more.

Why did she keep coming back to this place? Most of all, why did her mind keep reverting back to him? She hated how familiar she felt around him, which caused the distance between them to grow all the more. The closer she felt, the farther away she pushed; it was a concept she couldn’t understand.

Time couldn’t play catch up to the memories she had lost making with the others. She felt that her absence in Japan caused an absence in her heart, craving for what other familiar memories she could have dug up while being around the others.

...including what other memories she could have made if she were around him.

She rubbed her temples in frustration. The sight of him taking care of Suzuha hit her more than it should have; it shed light to a different side of him, she realized. It was a side of him that was more endearing and caring-

And yet another thing she missed throughout these years’ absence. Getting to know more about him, instead of just the surface; she felt she had started to know who he was during their collaborative paper, but even then, it felt like she was barely starting to scratch the surface. Was she close at the time? If she stayed, would she had found out?

She always tried to ignore the undeniable and bittersweet look he would sometimes give her when she would banter with him. Truth be told, it bothered her a lot; he was hiding something that he didn’t want to tell her, and she intended to find out.

But the more she tried to speak with him, the more her words escaped her. He felt almost unreachable, even though he was right next to her.

And as if on cue, Kurisu snapped out of her thoughts when a pair of footsteps sounded its way next to her, stopping at the same railing as she and looking over the same citylights.

“No longer hungry? Daru is going to eat the rest if you don’t go there right now.”

Kurisu stiffened. How time knew when to bring him to her was beyond anything she could fathom, but she accepted it. Straightening up, she sighed and shook her head.

“I’m fine. I ate enough.”

For a moment, he glanced at her, hesitating eyes observant as he kept his gaze steady before finally looking away into the Akihabara lights below. There was a silence that enveloped the two of them, a small breeze filling the space between them as they stood next to each other. They stood in an awkward position, as if there were an invisible barrier between them representing what could and would have been.

The silence became unbearable as Okabe decided it was time to speak, opening his mouth to ask a question before Faris’s voice sounded over them.

“Kyouma-nyan, we ran out of drinks! Be a sweetheart for Faris-nyan and buy more, please?”

Her sweet-filled, sing-song voice reached Okabe who sighed in exasperation, shaking his head.

“Lab member 007, you’ve failed as your one and only mission-”

Surprisingly, Faris didn’t play along with his antics and only waved it aside. “Just this once, please Kyouma-nyan? We’re going to die of thirst!”

As dramatic as the plea was, Okabe shook his head nonchalantly. He glanced back at Kurisu, nodding towards the rooftop door to exit as he did so.

“Care to join me, Christina?”

#blooming drabbles s;g #s;g trade mistakes

[atheistforhumanity]

I was raised Greek Orthodox Christian, and a priest was once telling me how the phrase “I am your servant” that’s all through English translations in the Bible is actually “I am your slave” in Greek and many other earlier languages of the Bible. It was changed for English speakers, a lot of times particularly Americans, because of the bad historical connotation of slavery here. I think that if more people knew about the original words, there might be a few more people questioning Christianity...

Hello Anon,

You are correct about the word servant. It was a translator’s choice to use servant instead of slave to make the relationship seem less malicious, but this was actually done far before America became ashamed of it’s own slavery. It actually happened literally at the same time American slavery began, officially. This was in the publication of the King James Version of the Bible in 1611. (I am not sure of the history of other versions before this).

I’m not claiming to be an expert on this subject, but here are a few things I can say. “Servants” had always been a part of Greek and Roman culture, and this of course carried over into the rise of England and Europe’s monarchies.

Defenders of the Bible will often point out the commonality of slavery in ancient Hebrew society, as well as Greek and Roman. I should note that Hebrew teachings did not introduce slavery, but it wrote rules to govern the practice that already existed. Being a servant, or slave, was literally like being at the bottom of a caste system. They often try to portray slavery as a job, hence the word servant, saying they would “serve” in exchange for food, shelter, and amenities. In the Dark Ages, one could voluntarily serve as a virtual slave for such an exchange, or you could be forced into the dynamic depending on the circumstances. The later was much more common than the former.

My point is that the word servant attempts to imply an employer/employee relationship, when in actuality choice and personal agency did not exist for those people. If you have no personal agency or choice in who you barter your services too, or what you will barter, (and so forth) then you are not an employee of any kind. You are a human being in bondage, that has been stricken of your human rights.

There is another component to the lexicon of Christianity that is relevant. In both the old and new testament, people are indoctrinated with the idea that they are servants of God. The New Testament details how Jesus gained followers, who in a sense served him by following his teachings, spreading his word, and following his orders. Christians see themselves as servants of God. This is actually a part of a mythical chain of command that was considered common sense at the time. That is the Natural Moral Order philosophy.

The Natural Moral Order philosophy simply states that in the Universe there is a chain of command of moral authority: God–> Humans, Man–>Woman, Parent –>child, and Master–>slave (White people–>colored people). Now the moral order already existed, but the aspect of white supremacy was added through a propaganda campaign to justify the capture and enslavement of Africans and the murder of native peoples in the Americas. With or without the white supremacy portion, the master over slave mentality has always been present and became justified by the old and new testament. Christians believed themselves servants to a higher force and therefore felt justified to inflict slavery on anyone they could exert power over.

However, using the word servant put their slave’s submission to them in the same light as their service to God. It was a noble and humble place to serve your betters and the promise of Heaven was that they would be rewarded for serving dutifully with eternal bliss. This is why in America slave masters used to scream Bible quotes at slaves.

There have been arguments made by scholars and philosophers that this is exactly why belief in an afterlife is dangerous and problematic in a society. Even today we see people who have given in to a sense of hopelessness in this life and instead focus on earning the eternal reward in the afterlife.

The use of the word servant over slave has been the standard because of the King James version, but there are newer versions that have reintroduced the world slave to be more honest about the relationship. As a realist view and critical judgement become more common among people, correlating with the rise of non-belief and liberalism, our conversations and perspectives have changed greatly.

Would more people question the bible if they knew about this clarification?

Unfortunately, not as many as you would think. As I mentioned, Christians are still trapped, often subconsciously, by the Natural Moral Order. Many quickly write off these passages and history with the excuse that it was somehow justified then, but not now (there is no good reason given). Many believers, Christian and Muslim, actually believe that their religion is responsible for fighting slavery.

For example, the website Bible Study Tools adds this comment to their dictionary definition of “slave” : “The gospel in its spirit and genius is hostile to slavery in every form, which under its influence is gradually disappearing from among men.”  In the same paragraph they provide a list of scriptures that give rules on how to own slaves, but still believe their gospel is “hostile” to slavery. Denial is a stunning defense mechanism that will never fail to impress you with its power. 

Belief in scripture is not simply a matter of lacking facts, it is often the result of multiple deep psychological forces that make objectivity nearly impossible. The only way to combat these process is with consistent pressure to recognize facts and inconsistencies, but in a non-threatening manner so that the person does not shut down and double down. Often times we may see people do just that even at the slightest suggestion of being incorrect. There is no perfect tactic that will work with such people, but sometimes an emotional appeal to how it feels to live in a secular framework can be more appealing and reasonable to that person then all the facts and science in the world. Either way, the best thing any non-believer can do is stay committed to the search for truth and never defer, apologize, or minimize their own beliefs.

#atheism #religion #slavery #scripture #belief #faith #gospel #reason #logic #history #racism

[tecronet]

200+ Best Whatsapp Status in English

Most of the below cool status are new Whatsapp status, cool Whatsapp status and many others. WhatsApp Status allows you to share text, photos, videos and animated GIFs that disappear after 24 hours. Fortunately, Whatsapp is a Facebook-owned platform, where you can chat with one other, have fun and also share your thought as Whatsapp status on the official Whatsapp app, which can be downloaded via your phone app store. Anyways, be very much aware that Whatsapp Gold isn’t advisable to use. Before you begin using the app, you have to complete Whatsapp registration with your number and you are good to go. Here is the best Whatsapp status, you can use to express your feelings. Whatsapp status is the best way to let out your feeling, tell people which mood you are and reveal your views. Your status Whatsapp helps you to make Whatsapp friends, that are according to your type, that is why, it is advisable to get the best status and the latest Whatsapp status, that will explain your current well-being, how you feel and what’s on your mind. Whatsapp status is categorized into different types, there is the Whatsapp status love, Whatsapp Quotes, Whatsapp status quotes, status quo, cool WhatsApp status quotes, along with Whatsapp status, funny WhatsApp status quotes, life attitude WhatsApp status quotes and romantic WhatsApp status quotes. And when it comes to languages format, there are two most preferred Whatsapp status, the Whatsapp status in Hindi and Whatsapp status in English. Alright, let's check out the list of the best Whatsapp status.

Best Whatsapp Status Quotes in English

Below are the top best Whatsapp status quotes and they are all written in English. The Whatsapp status in English one line is meant for anyone with short words. And there is the English status about life, there includes, funny Whatsapp status in English, short status for Whatsapp, Status for Whatsapp in English for love, alone status for Whatsapp, best Whatsapp status ever. Others are Love Whatsapp Status in English, Sad Whatsapp Status in English, Romantic Whatsapp Status in English, Alone Whatsapp Status in English and Friendship Whatsapp Status in English.

Funny Whatsapp Status Quotes

Here is some hilarious and funny Whatsapp Status to complete your day and that of your friends. 1. My biggest concern in life is actually how my online friends can be informed of my death..!! 2. I Wonder What Happens When Doctor’s Wife Eats An Apple A Day… 3. Life is Short – Chat Fast! 4. Doing nothing is a very hard thing to do…you never know when to finish. 5. People that Change Love status after 30 Sec… GF is the Reason… 6 A book-store is only pieces of evidence we have that people are still thinking. 7. Mosquitos are like family. Annoying but they carry your blood. 8. If College has taught us anything, it’s texting without looking 🙂 9. The only time success comes before work is in the dictionary. 10. Light travels faster than sound…that’s why people appear bright until they speak 11. I wonder how police on bikes arrest people. “Alright, get in the basket.” 12. Guys are like stars, there are millions of them, but the only one makes your dreams come true. 13. Love starts with a hug, grows with a kiss, and ends with a tear. 14. Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift. That’s why it’s called the present. 15. Life isn’t about how many breaths you take but about the moments that take your breathe away. 16. I’m not lazy. I’m on energy-saving mode. Now hush, or you’ll drain my battery. 17. I have 1% battery left. Whoever calls me or sends me a message will become my enemy. 18. I only pretend to work. They pretend to pay me for it. We don’t like to talk about it. 19. Silence may be golden, but duct tape is shiny and silver. 20. You’re just jealous because of the voices like talking to me more. 21. Girls Phone Numbers For Friendship

Latest Cool Whatsapp Status Quotes

Want to be cool and still be funny with few humour words on Whatsapp? Here is the best list for you. 1. I didn’t change, I just grew up. You should try it once. 2. I love buying new things but I hate spending money. 3. I’m not arguing, I’m simply tried to explaining why I’m Right. 4. I’m jealous of my parents, I’ll never have a kid as cool as theirs. 5.. I don’t have an attitude problem, I just have a personality that you can’t handle. 6. Courage is grace under pressure. 7. I’m thankful for every moment. 8. One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain. 9. Where words fail, music speaks. 10. Music in the soul can be heard by the universe. 11. All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others. 12. We came equals into this world and equals shall we go out of it.

Love Whatsapp Status Quotes

Each day/week, it is amazing to share at least one love Whatsapp status quotes, to make that person feel special. 1. In love Never say “Sorry”!..2. When I think about U…I don’t feel so alone….3. If you were thinking about someone, while Studying you’re definitely in LUV…4. Luv is that ,which can never explained.5. Love is That Which can not see the Religious, Caste, Rich, Poor in life..6. I want to be in your arms, where you hold me tight and never let me go.7. I don’t like waiting, I’m so impatient. But I’ll wait forever, as long as I end up with u.8. The person who makes u happiest is the person who can hurt you the most.9. No matter how “busy” a person is…if they really love, they will always find the time for you !10. Every night I go to sleep hoping and wishing that dreams come true. Every night, in my dreams, I am with you.11. A beautiful girl with gorgeous EYES, a hidden world of HURT & LIES.12. It isn’t the bad memories that make you sad, but the best ones that you can’t bring it back.13. Pretending to be happy when you’re in pain is just an example of how strong you are as a person.14. You’re better off being alone than being with someone who makes you feel like you’re alone.15. I love to cry in the rain because that’s the only time no one can hear the pain.16. I don’t understand why life keeps trying to teach me lessons I don’t want to learn.17. What is love? In math, it’s an equation. In chemistry, it’s a reaction. In history, it’s a war. In art, it’s a heart. In me, it’s you.18. To meet you was fate. To become your friend was a choice. Falling in love with you was out of my control.19. I fell in love the moment I saw you, and you smiled at me because you knew. Read: Good Morning Text Messages For Her

Sad Whatsapp Status Quotes

At times, Life happens to be unfair to us, we just have to let it go and free ourselves from the agony of Mother Earth! 1. The greatest pain that comes from love is loving someone you can never have. 2. Sometimes, you have to smile to hide your fears and laugh to hide your tears. 3. A beautiful girl with gorgeous EYES, a hidden world of HURT & LIES. 4. It isn’t the bad memories that make you sad, but the best ones that you can’t bring it back. 5. Pretending to be happy when you’re in pain is just an example of how strong you are as a person. 6. You’re better off being alone than being with someone who makes you feel like you’re alone. 7. I love to cry in the rain because that’s the only time no one can hear the pain. 8. I don’t understand why life keeps trying to teach me lessons I don’t want to learn. 9. Given that you know a lot about me, doesn’t mean, am still that person. 10. Everyone is going to hurt you. You just have to find the ones who are worth suffering for. 11. All of the problems that you face become smaller if you confront them instead of dodging them. 12. Be kind to everyone you meet. You don’t know what struggles they’re facing. Read Also:  Romantic Messages

Best Romantic Whatsapp Status Quotes

Wanting to make that “special person” feel wanted, loves and cared for. This is the best Romantic whatsapp status for you. 1. Someday, when my daughter smiles at me and asks me who my very first love was, I don’t want to have to pull out a photo album to show her. I want to point across the room and tell her “he’s sitting right there”. 2. I’m not afraid of dying. Death doesn’t scare me either. It’s losing you that frightens me the most. 3. I pray every night that you will be here someday. Tonight, I will count all of the stars in the sky and hope that when I close my eyes, you will once again be right by my side. 4. I can make one promise to you: I will always love you more than any other person who enters your life. 5. I love how you make me so happy; love the ways you show that you care. I love the way you whisper “I love you,” and the way that you’re always there. 6. Nothing is perfect, but when I’m with you everything is perfect. 7. Thinking of you is easy, I do it every day. Missing you is the heartache that never goes away. 8. I love my life because it gave me you; I love you because you are my life. 9. There are only two times that I want to be with you… Now and Forever. 10. If I could choose between loving you and breathing I would choose my last breath to say I love you. 11. Life can give us lots’ of beautiful persons, but only one person is enough for a beautiful life…

Life Attitude WhatsApp Status Quotes

This shows people who you are, what you’ve become and who are you are definitely going to be! 1. A bad attitude is like a flat tire, you can’t go anywhere until you change it. 2. Excellence is not a skill, it is an attitude. 3. The quickest way to double your money is to FOLD it in half and put it back in your pocket. 4. Before you judge me make sure that you’re perfect. 5. It’s better to live alone. There is no friendship with a fool. 6. Style is a way to say who u are without speaking. 7. Always remember you are unique, just like everyone else. 8. People say I have a dirty mind, but I’m saying it's just creative! 9. Hey! I found something under my shoe. Oh, wait. That’s just your attitude. 10. My attitude is not a problem. You just can’t handle my personality. 11. I don’t have an attitude. I really am that good. 12. Don’t confuse my personality and my attitude. My personality is who I am, but my attitude completely depends on who you are. 13. Patience is not about developing the ability to wait. It’s about learning how to keep a good attitude while you’re waiting. 14. Luck is success without a positive attitude. Achievement is a success with a positive attitude. 15. Your attitude is just as important as your skills when it comes to success.

Alone Whatsapp Status Quotes

1. Don’T Afraid Of Being Outnumbered. Eagles Fly Alone. Pigeons Flock Together. 3. Never Depends On Others Too Much Because Someday You Will Have To Walk Alone. 3. I Forgive But Don’T Forget, Because I Never Want To Be Hurt The Same Way Twice. 4. When You Feel Like You're Fighting Alone In Life That's When You Should Be Fighting The Hardest! 5. All Relationships Have One Law. Never Make The One You Love Feel Alone, Especially When You're There. 6. Sometimes I Feel Like I Just Want To Be Alone! But What I Actually Want, Is Someone To Just Hold Me And Tell Me Everything Will Be Ok! 7. It’s better to be alone than surrounded by people who make you feel alone. 8. I only have 2 to 3 real friends. I just tolerate everyone else. 9. Sometimes I wonder what happened to the past glory of friends flocking around me. 10. Will they ever be lovely people in this world of ours? Read: Long Paragraphs For him

Friendship Whatsapp Status Quotes

1. A Friend Is Someone Who Knows All About You And Still Loves You. 2. Only A True Best Friend Can Protect You From Your Immortal Enemies. 3. A Good Friend Is Hard To Find, Hard To Lose, And Impossible To Forget 4. Best Friend Is Someone Who Loves You When You Forget To Love Yourself. 5. I Would Rather Walk With A Friend In The Dark, Than Alone In The Light. 6. A True Friend Is That One Which Takes Your Hand But Touches Your Heart. 7. Good Friends Are Hard To Find, Difficult To Leave, Impossible To Forget. 8. Friends Are Like Stars, They Come And Go, But The Ones That Stay Are The Ones That Glow 9. Good Friends Will Share The Umbrella. Best Friends Will Steal It And Yell: Run Loser Run! 10. The Best Way To Stay Close To Someone Is By Being Just Friend. Nothing More And Nothing Less 11. Friendship is a lot like money. It’s easier made than kept. 12. We can never be friends because I’m still in love with you. 13. You know you’re the ugly one when your friends ask you to take the group picture. 14. Good morning, beautiful friends. May you smile often and enjoy each moment of your day. 15. A friend never leaves his buddy for a slice of pizza.

Whatsapp Status for Girls

Just like guys code, there are also girls code. Below are the top latest and best girls Whatsapp status. 1. My love for you is a journey_ that starts at forever and ends at never in Life….. 2. I lost my Heart Can Any body See…?? 3. Love is like an Air ..We can’t see it but! we can feel it.. 4. Love is that which, cannot see the poorness… 5. Love in Life, Make the life beautiful.. 6. Love looks not with the eyes, but with the Heart. 7. In life, I need only U! 8. My “Heart” is always Ur! 9. Love is like the sun which coming out from the clouds and warming Ur soul. 10. True Love = No doubts + No jealousy + No worries then life is good.

Motivational Whatsapp Status Quotes

Try to motivate and enlightens someone mood today! 1. Always remember that life is short. Believe slowly, forgive others quickly, let go of your silly ego, laugh louder, love truly, and don’t ever avoid anything that makes you happy. 2. Be the kindest to unkind people. Those are the ones who need it most. 3. To be a true champion, you have to keep believing in yourself even when others stop. 4. Start wherever you are. Use whatever you have. Do whatever you can. 5. Success means never giving or taking any excuses. 6. Don’t worry about failing. Worry about those chances you never take. 7. Be brave. Don’t be afraid to take risks. Nothing in this world can substitute experience. 8. It’s never too late to dream another dream or set another goal. 9. You won’t find a rainbow if you’re looking down, so look up to the sky. 10. When you’re determined and you take action, it’s never an impossible feat to reach your goal.

Best Whatsapp Status Images

There are a lot of Whatsapp Status in Hindi, which showcases Whatsapp status in hindi love, funny, attitude, sad and hindi status for life. Note that, Whatsapp status can also be sent as Whatsapp SMS, or in a Whatsapp group chat. Indeed, the above good short status for Whatsapp are the best whatsapp status ever and they are generally accepted in all languages, remember that before someone could see your status on Whatsapp, you need their Whatsapp phone numbers. Whatsapp now accepts videos as status, you can try that option out, Whatsapp status download. Read the full article

#BestWhatsappStatus #WhatsappStatus

[kanjikiwi]

hey! so, i am finding it so hard to do lower intermediate translation for japanese. i practice so much, and while i see improvement, , when i come across very long sentences with a lot of verbs and need for nomanlisers and modifying noun related things, i always freak out and do so badly. just yesterday i did so poorly on my translation exam because i just become so lost and confused under pressure and with a time limit. do you have advice on how to practice translation? any material out there?

Hi Anon!

Firstly, wowza… I commend you on battling through exams and time constraints because that’s always super tough! 

Secondly, as someone who studies casually and without time constraints, I have the luxury of taking this business at my own pace as well as the freedom to laugh in the face of my own blatant inadequacy. I imagine that with your studies, there might be a more pressing need to see results. My lax study habits may not mesh with the criteria you have. I apologise if any of this fails to meet your needs and can put you on to smarter folk if you like (Just flick me a message any time)

H’okay! Wall of text ahead… (・・;)ゞ 

Material for practising translation? Literally anything written in Japanese.

That’s right. Read, read, read. Reading explodes your grasp of vocabulary and grammar. Having a parallel text in english is especially helpful for those of us who can get the gist easy enough, but sometimes stumble with precision. Finding reading material is one google search away, but here are a few for good measure:

NHK Newsweb Easy (website)

Hiragana Times (website)

Human Japanese’s Satori Reader (free or paid subscription)

Breaking into Japanese Literature (physical book)

Short Stories in Japanese (physical book)

I’ve linked you to Tofugu’s reviews on both books as I feel they are quite accurate. I own both books and am getting through them slowly with much enjoyment. The Short Stories volume is particularly good, in that it often shows furigana for a kanji the first time you encounter it, then promptly drops it thereafter, requiring you to fire up those recall engines. Not recognising a particular kanji at all means scouring the parallel english text like a regular Sherlock Holmes for its english meaning. Definitely be prepared to use your dictionary and jot new info down on paper. It’s slow going, but fun (especially for sleuths and those who get a kick out of linguistic dread)

How to practise sentence translation?

You mentioned practising a lot, but find that the sentence length, frequency or odd placement of verbs and the occurrence of “nominalisers” like こと and の get you sweatin’ (saaaaame)

My advice probably outlines things you already know, and is perhaps better thought of as “sentence understanding” rather than translating, but it may have some merit:

Make long sentences into several smaller ones. 

When confronted with a Japanese sentence, I ask myself two things - Do I know these words yet? (vocabulary) and - Do I understand how the words are interacting with each other? (grammar) Generally the answer to these questions depend on my exposure to both aspects - e.g. over the past several months, how often have I needed to recall this kanji? How often have I seen or heard this sort of grammar pattern?

If my answer is “Oh yeah! Some of these words seem familiar! Also, I have a reasonable understanding of how particles link things together” then I should also be able to break any sentence into manageable chunks and come away with the gist, if not more - especially if I use the aid of a dictionary.

I define a “chunk” as being a word+particle combo, or anywhere a pause seems it could naturally follow - e.g それは… 公園に… 彼が… 東の方へ… To me, this always feels like a little break in which to get my bearings and question what information might come next. 公園に.. Yes, I’m listening… “at the park” what?

See mid-sentence informal verbs as a little flag which marks a relative or descriptive clause.

A relative or “adjectival” clause is just a mini sentence or one bigger chunk which describes the chunk that follows it. Sentence-ception (⌐■_■)

ぎんさんは　[ お菓子を　食べるのが ]　大好きな人　ですね

As for Gin-san, he is a person who loves [ eating sweets ] isn’t he?

See that の there? That leads into my next point.

Treat nominalisers as a switch for the verb it’s attached to.

A verb+こと/の combo is a chunk that requires some thought before you can add it to what comes next. Because こと is a word meaning “abstract thing” - tagging it to a verb switches the verb from being an action to being the experience or concept of performing an action. In fact, as in the example sentence, it can switch an entire relative clause ending in a verb into one!

Consider the verb “walk”  歩く …On it’s own, it means X walks. It is an action that someone performs. However, if we want to talk about the “thing” we call walking, we need to use こと. の does the same thing to a verb, but carries a sort of personal or intimate nuance. Often used for verbs that are directly sensed or experienced. 

So, Gin-san is a person who loves what? Eating sweets.

That’s about as simple as it goes for me, I’m afraid. If anyone reading would like to add their advice - especially those who are studying formally and dealing with the same pressures, by all means do!

がんばって！

#kanjikiwi asks #learning japanese #日本語 #japanese sentences #japanese grammar #japanese reading resources #japanese reading #japanese studyblr #japanese langblr #kanjikiwi #correction welcome #japanese relative clause #こと

[shionbulism-blog]

Quit Progressing, Start Failing!

So what does it mean to fail? In the Oxford Dictionary of English, it means the lack of success. And though there are many ways to define failure, the concept of failure always seemed very vague to me. Is it determined by ourselves or an institution and system we participate in? Perhaps even both? Maybe to understand failure, I need to also understand its opposite, ‘success’ which is just as paradoxical. Nonetheless, this dichotomy between failure and success has definitely affected the way we perceive progression in our lives.

It is quite common for us to view success as forward moving while failure stagnates us.

A very befitting model for our somewhat linear and fast-moving society. Failure seems to have no place and has become a stigma whereby we should be shamed as incompetent or quitters. And even though the idea of success and failure was something I was always skeptical of, what made me ponder upon this topic more so than before was when one of my best friends made the decision to drop out from her fine arts diploma.

When she told me about it, I can’t help but feel that it was a very brave decision, one that she had put a lot of thought for. However, she was greeted with all sorts of backlash from the various people around her.

They started accusing her of being a ‘quitter’, ‘fickle minded’ and just not capable enough to ‘suck up’ to it. These needle-like words are not only disrespectful to her choice but it also totally discounts the emotional battle and thought she put through to finally make this decision. Do you actually think she wanted to quit? Did you think she didn’t try to ‘suck it up’? And to call her decision fickle is coming from a position of an assumption that you knew her entire thought process before she chose this path. But why is she quitting art school perceived in such a bad light? Why do we judge before even trying to understand why she did it or what she went through?

Having listened to more of my friend’s experiences I discovered that in the eyes of judgment, she seemed to have failed. Even her lecturer told her- ‘You seem to give up easily, I think your next path will be no different’. This was after she confessed how the environment in the school made her more depressed. Not to mention, she was also bullied by another lecturer that confined her art style. This particular lecturer didn’t even allow her to explore social issues, claiming that she’s too sensitive. And when she went to the head of the department (the guy who called her a quitter), he did nothing and asked her to confine her creative exploration for the sake of getting through their art school. But what is the point of education if it doesn’t support you to push beyond your boundaries and to always question and explore the subject of interest? It came to a point where there was just no point anymore.

And though this is a general connection, a very simple formula brewed in my mind. A formula whereby quitting equates to failure and failure is non-progressive. This generally explains why the act of my friend quitting has so many negative connotations attached to it. It is quite surprising how assumptions are conjured so quickly, it almost seemed instinctual for people to make her feel like a failure.

But as I have elaborated above, she had good reasons to quit. In fact, she now has more time to focus on her art and to take internships and jobs that could potentially lead to a brighter future. As a whole, the point of me sharing her story is to say that the idea of progression is very vague and in many ways we are all progressing. Sometimes, what we think is progressive and revolutionary isn’t really the case as well. Our life comprises of various paths that are difficult to label in absolution.

So what does this make failure then?

I can’t define what failure is for you but we should always ask ourselves- why do we perceive failure as failing? Does it relate to our concept of progression? And if so, what is progression? Perhaps it is just a myth. A topic I would love to cover in the future. But as for now, we should open our minds up and deterritorialize from this linear narrative of progression and success to rethinking what we want to achieve in life. Pairing that thought with questions on how do we consider achievement for ourselves. Even if this means ‘failing’ to the eyes of many who are existing in the binary dimension of success and failure.

Personally, I am trying to stop progressing towards something blindly. Instead, I want to start rethinking, questioning and failing. Because to me, failing in this world could lead to something very spectacular.

#https://shionbulism.com/personal-journal/2017/9/7/quit-progressing-startfailing

[kwa-mii]

Family / Friends

We all know that despite Adrien’s cute little face, he’s probably the angstiest teen alive, and he definitely has a lot of family drama (IMAGINE how much worse that would be when he discovers his dad is probably Hawkmoth).

aka. that’s too much angst for me and I’d rather just focus on his standard family sitch, so have a tiny little angst fic about la famille d’Agreste

(akaka. I’ve been revising some texts for my English exams and I decided to use them as a prompt instead because I like things to be contrived)

Family / Friends an Adrien-centric ML angst fic (1018 words)

Adrien had many interests, and his father encouraged all of them - whether that was fencing, music, Chinese. He always received the very best instruction in whatever he set his mind to.

However, he decided not to tell his father about his new interest: acting. He knew that it would probably become a new revenue machine, and that was one sure way to drain the enjoyment from anything. Right now, he really enjoyed acting, and wanted to protect that little secret pleasure.

It was an interest that had been ignited when Nino had asked him to play Agent Jones in his short film, and he had enjoyed assuming the role of someone else for a short time - perhaps that was why he so enjoyed being Chat Noir. Later still, seeing The Mime perform at the Eiffel Tower, he decided this was something he really wanted to look into.

So Adrien began reading. Molière, Sartre, Racine, Beaumarchis, Giraudoux... and then onto the other great dramatists, from Euripedes to Shakespeare to Ibsen. He came to have favourites; Moliere's Le Misanthrope, Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Wilde's Salome. The last struck him most of all; how could an Englishman write such a fantastic work in a language that was not his own? More importantly, how much more delicious was his wit in his native tongue?

It was a difficult and arduous process, but Adrien decided to try reading The Importance of Being Earnest in its original English. He had learnt the language when he was younger - it was now taking a backseat to his Chinese - but his ability had somewhat slipped from disuse, and he struggled to understand the opening scene fully. He would read each piece of dialogue once and see how much he understood without a dictionary, before then translating it properly. Then he would review each page, to make sure he grasped it fully. The jokes that he understood were funny, and Wilde had a very similar style to Molière; the comedy of manners, both straight-laced and wanton. The language, though cumbersome, was entertainingly so, and he found himself enjoying each dazzling riposte.

But one line by Lady Bracknell stopped him dead. Comedy wasn't really supposed to make you think, and jokes weren't really supposed to hit a nerve, but this one somehow strangely struck him.

To lose one parent may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness.

Why did this resonate so deeply with him? He shouldn't feel so upset, and yet...

When his mother had disappeared, it was a tragedy, and it had shaken everyone. It had been so recent, and the wounds were still a little raw. Small things would set him off; one person fewer at the dinner table, mother's day displays in shop windows, expecting her warm hands waking him up in the morning. Sometimes, he swore he could catch her smell in the long hallways of the house. That great Klimt imitation in his father's office, or even his own reflection - her eyes, her smile - could catch him off guard when he wasn't concentrating. There she was! She was back! But it was never the reality in which he found himself, and the brief glimmer of hope made the heartbreak all the stronger.

He had loved his mother, his kind, gentle, beautiful mother. Her eyes had always held laughter, and even his father, the most serious person he knew, mellowed around her and became hazy. She was sensitive and compassionate, and could not see her family, or some small part of nature, in distress without a tear springing immediately into her eye. With her sensitivity came anger, but it was always just and never personal. Adrien had received from her his looks, and his passion. He longed to be able to enthuse about things with her again, and to have debates, and simply to hear her voice. How she used to sing, waltzing around the house as she worked... why, his home was silent, lifeless, now.

That was the misfortune. But in losing her, he had lost his father, and perhaps that was the carelessness.

Mrs Agreste was not only the light in her son's life, but in her husband's. Gabriel Agreste had revered her as his Muse, and as his rose, and without her neither art nor ardour could stir his blood. He became cold and closed, unfeeling, both to the world and to his son. He hardly came out of his office. He rarely smiled. He never, ever said a good word.

In this way, he had lost both his father and his mother. Worst of all, it may have been his fault. He had been so consumed with his own concerns and tears that he had failed to notice how his father was being engulfed by his own. Indeed, had he not blamed his father, once?

“If you'd cared more about her and less about yourself, she wouldn't be gone!”

They'd been uttered in a moment of anger, when the sight of his father still working in spite of it all had upset him in ways he couldn't put to words. He ought to be respecting his wife, looking for her, and not focusing on his own fame. Or something like that - it was so incoherent... and now he heard those words screaming sharply through his ears whenever he saw his father's stern look.

Yes, Gabriel Agreste had always been somewhat reserved, but what he saw now was genuine absence. His father was gone, utterly detached, and it was his own carelessness that had pushed him to that edge.

Adrien just wanted a family again. He wanted to be like any other teenage boy; to have a father and a mother who loved him, who could see his flaws and smooth them over, gently set the worlds to right. He wanted Parent's Consultation evenings, family meals, someone to ask him how his day was. His absent family made him feel worthless somehow. No one at school appreciated him for himself - he was just a minor celebrity with nice hair - and his father seemed to think of him as little more than an investment. But if he had a family again, a real one, that understood him and loved him regardless...

But Adrien wasn't really meant for love, was he? Having ruined it at home, and having parts of him that he couldn't reveal to anyone... it meant Adrien was truly alone.

#ml angst week #miraculous ladybug #adrien agreste #gabriel agreste #fanfic #kwa-mine

[scummy-writes]

RFA+V+Saeran Reacts to MC’s Strange Music Tastes

AKA Mc has complete and utter shit taste in music and they must suffer along with her (*゜▽゜ノノ゛☆ (This is so silly I’m so sorry)

Zen

- While you were cleaning, you had decided to put on your favorite musical (sans Zen) and wash the dishes.

- I mean, there wasn’t a lot, but it gave you an excuse for being so slow with them

- Of course, as cheesy as the musical was, you found yourself singing along the best you could, despite the language barriers

- And of course, while you were attempting to belt out both lines to the duet, Zen decided to come home

- At first he was extremely confused. Was that English? Did you know English? Why didn’t you ever mention that! That was so impressive!

- But once he notices you have no idea he’s there, and you’re singing your heart out, he slowly steps up behind you, peering at the….weird musical on your laptop.

- “Babe, if you wanted to sing a duet, you could have told me.”

- You jumped, having water and suds splash back at you, as Zen chuckled and apologizes.

- “Ah, sorry babe, I didn’t mean to scare you. What are you watching though?”

- With a very red (and soapy face) you explain your love of this musical’s soundtrack, even though it’s… Not on the great side.

- But the moment you admit its a favorite of yours, he’s talking about a movie night and that the two of you could probably watch it tonight.

- (God, Zen, Please no)

- Honestly, when the two of you did manage to watch it, he didn’t tease you too much for loving the songs due to how embarrassed you were

- I mean…He’s definitely sung worse.

Jumin

- After a long and annoying workday, he often found it comforting to see you and Elizabeth 3rd bonding.

- But coming home to a speaker system blaring god awful noise, and Elizabeth 3rd in your arms as you rocked your hips in time with the music, was not exactly what he found comforting.

- After taking a moment to find the stereo remote and quickly turning it down, he took a deep breath before speaking.

- “Mc. What are you doing to Elizabeth 3rd.” His voice was so monotone you couldn’t tell what he was thinking.

- “I, uh, was just dancing with her to some music. She’s okay, see?”

- You turned to face him, showing how lazily Elizabeth 3rd was curled in your arms.

- It didn’t stop him from slowly taking her out of your grasp and holding her close.

- “That was music?”

- “Uhm….Yes…Electro kinda swing music.” Embarrassed already, you turned to go cut the stereo off completely, trying to avoid his gaze.

- Of course that didn’t stop his questions

- He went on and on. What was Electric Swing? Why did it sound like his phone was dropping a call with someone in an old records store? What was the weird slang?

- After spending around an hour showing him examples, why you were listening to it, explaining to him how he could use urban dictionary for most slang questions, he finally let the subject drop for a bit.

- “Do a lot of people listen to this type of music?”

- “Not really, I just have shit taste in music, honestly.”

- Catching on that you feel a bit embarrassed, he decided to clear his throat.

- “Well, I rather….Like it.” (He did not) “It’s….unique.”

- “Jumin, you don’t have to lie-”

- “No, no, teach me how to dance in tune with this. You were dancing with Elizabeth 3rd, and I will admit I was a bit jealous.”

- This dork. But… At least he was willing to at least pretend he liked it, and not tease you.

Seven

- So, Seven was busy working. Usually when he was in so deep into his work, you could literally say or do anything and he wouldn’t notice. And hey, you had listened to music before when he was like this. Why not listen to the one song that had been stuck in your head all day?

- You loaded up your playlist, took another look at him as you started up your music. When he didn’t react whatsoever, you popped up your internet browser and started to goof around offline, enjoying your music.

- You zoned out pretty quickly, not paying attention as it switched to a very perverse song, and Seven finally perking up from his own computer screen.”

- “….Mc, what are you listening to?”

- “Hm?” You refocused on the lyrics, recognizing one of your japanese songs playing. You cringed a bit, not realising the language change to hide from Seven, but, oh well. “It’s just a silly song.”

- “….A silly song about prostitutes?”

- You felt the color drain from your face. “You know what it was saying?”

- “You really think out of all the languages I’ve learned, japanese wouldn’t be on that list?” He smirked as you groaned and covered your face. “So, uh, were you in the mood? Were you wanting to try those things she was saying? Like makin-”

- “Don’tyoufuckingdare.”

- He busted out laughing, getting out of his computer chair to walk over and ruffle your hair. 

- “But I mean, seriously, are you in the mood because…”

- “…Okay, fine.”

Yoosung

- Okay, so Yoosung probably has the same amount of shit taste of music as you do. At least, that’s what you tell yourself as you finally bring over some of your games to play at his house.

- You told him you loved shooters, scary games, or just basically anything with a good story plot.

- But…You hadn’t told him about your love for a certain music game yet.

- Once you two were all settled in his room with gaming drinks and snacks, you let out a deep breath.

- “Yoosung….Please don’t judge me for this.”

- ???

- You turned on the game, a certain popular computer idol filling the screen in such a cute pose. You expected him to laugh at you, to wiggle around uncomfortably trying to figure out if you were a ‘real’ gamer or not.

- But he just let out a little chuckle.

- “Mc, why would I judge you for that? A lot of my friends play some of her games. They like her music, too! I guess that goes without saying…”

- You looked at him in shock. “What!?”

- “Yeah, I kinda wanted to play it too. Will you show me?”

- Oh my god, you loved this man.

Jaehee

- When you two closed the cafe down at night, you would start a playlist the two for you set up filled with your favorite chore songs and start cleaning. It helped speed things up, and helped the two of you have a few cute moments.

- She would hum along with some of Zen’s songs, or other songs from musicals. If you starting signing along, she would slowly join you, both of you giggling afterwards.

- It wasn’t often a song of yours popped up, mainly due to the fact you wanted to try and hear her sing as much as possible, but tonight one of your favorites popped on and you didn’t have the heart to skip it.

- So soon, as the slow music started playing, you steadily stopped sweeping, swaying side to side with the broom in your hand.

- Jaehee tried to hide her laugh as she watched, failing a bit. “Mc, what are you doing?”

- “I love this song soo much, it’s so relaxing.”

- She listened to the lyrics, some strange japanese tinted broken english, and was lucky she was able to understand it. Lingering affects of working with such a huge business, even though she hadn’t had to use english in a while.

- But you put your broom aside and held your arms out to her.

- “I know it’s silly, but dance with me, please? I’ve always wanted to dance with someone to this song.”

- Aaaaa, you were making her face so red.

- She walked over, letting you wrap your arms around her and sway to the music. Slowly she did the same, resting her head on yours and letting her shoulders drop a bit.

- Even though it was a strange song…. It was nice being able to do this with you, especially if it made you happy.

V

- Usually when he came home, he was used to you being somewhere in the living room, since it was connected to the front door. 

- I mean it’s not like he absolutely needed your help, but it was always sweet walking up and hearing you hop off the couch to hug him and subtly try to guide him where he needed to go

- Instead, he was greeted by some solemn sounding music coming from the bedroom. After a bit of of navigating, he made it in, the music nearly blasting.

- As the crescendo lowered, he spoke up a bit.

- “Mc?”

- “I’m laying on the bed.”

- He nodded, finding a spot where the bed didn’t dip too much and sat down, happy he managed to sit beside you but a safe distance.

- He listened to the music pick up again, a male voice sounding low and grief stricken. Due to being overseas and picking up some english, he recognized some words, but not all.

- “Mc, what is this?”

- “It’s like…A novel, but an album? Each song tells a continuous story, but it’s so… I don’t know. Sad, but good?”

- “Are you feeling okay?”

- “…A bit. I don’t know.”

-  He took off his glasses, placing them in his shirt pocket and carefully laying down. Once his hand found yours, he managed to pull you to him, encouraging you to snuggle up.

- “Do you want me to listen to this with you?”

- “…Yeah.���

- He didn’t understand the lyrics fully, or why you were wanting to listen to something sad, but he just kissed your forehead and let you zone out to the music.

- Later on, when he found out that album helped you become more creative, he was wanting you to explain and translate a bit of it for him on the off chance it would inspire him as well.

Saeran

- You were a bit ashamed of your music tastes around him, especially since he wasn’t afraid to tell you if something you liked was ridiculous or not (to him, at least), but he managed to find out anyway.

- You were just picking up a bit since the two of you still lived with Seven and the house was horrible, and you were humming along with your music blasting from your headphones. Since it was loud, and you were more focused on cleaning in time with the music, you didn’t notice Saeran had been trying to talk to you.

- Until he yanked out your earbud.

- You yelped, even though it didn’t hurt too much, and turned to scold at him, but he spoke before you could.

- “How many times do I have to tell you to let him clean up his own mess? He won’t learn otherwise,” He paused for a moment, hearing the music coming from the earbud in his hand. “What kind of emo shit is this?”

- You frowned, yanking the earbud back away from him. “Don’t try to act like you don’t listen to this kind of music!”

- “I did when I was younger, and now I’m an adult, Mc. Something you’re apparently not.”

- Ooooho! That jerk. You cut off your mp3, bringing out your phone instead.

- “Don’t try to hide it!”

- “I’m not hiding anything, Mc.”

- Your fingers typed away on your phone, searching for a song you knew he couldn’t argue against.

- “…What are you doing?”

- You smiled as you found good audio of the song, pressing play and turning the volume up. He looked confused, until a certain G note rang out, and he instantly looked furious.

- “Don’t you play that shit, cut it off. “

- “Nope~!”

- “Mc, I swear to fucking god-”

- The vocals started, and you sang along with them, causing him to start stomping out of the room. But, you followed him anyway, making him yell at you more.

- “I will ruin your phone if you keep this up!”

- “Apologize, then I’ll cut it off!”

- The only thing stopping your argument was Seven coming home, and him even laughing at your music choices.

- You just couldn’t win with either of them.

#mystic messenger #mysme #mystic messenger v #mystic messenger saeran #mystic messenger zen #mystic messenger seven #mystic messenger saeyoung #mystic messenger jumin han #mystic messenger jaehee kang #mystic messenger yoosung kim #yoosung kim #saeran choi #jumin han #jaehee kang #seven #saeyoung choi #saeran