#One potential thing I envisioned at one point was the Other Universe (or specifically that Dipper)

[tswwwit]

Hey! You mentioned a while back that if the other dimension Dipper/Mabel/Ford might call the penthouse for advice in dealing with their Bill, and Familiar!Dipper might pick up the "call". I've been rereading the Bill v Bill series and can't get the scene out of my head. Any chance you'd be interested in writing it?

I'm certainly interested in writing it! I think there's a lot of opportunity for Shenanigans, and that's totally my jam.

The problem is: Actually Getting Around to writing it. But perhaps one day!

#answers #I do have some very amusing ideas for it #But sadly they can't all fit in the same fic #I have to carefully select which ones work best and mesh with each other to create a Structure™ #Which is a whole thing #But perhaps I shall get around to it #In the meantime I'm almost done with this short 'Dipper forced to tell the truth' thing so we'll see how that goes #One potential thing I envisioned at one point was the Other Universe (or specifically that Dipper) #Trying to Spy on Bill to figure out if he could find a weakness. A crack in his defenses. A way to get that Dipper out of his clutches!! #Sadly he doesn't find any of that #He does see Bill with who he assumes is his husband though! Not sure who it is; can't see his face #Dipper doubts Bill would be taking a nap with his head on a non-hubby chest. Hugging them around the torso lying between their legs #IS that.... cuddling. No it can't be. It feels super weird to observe and now Other Dipper's uncomfortable #The person Bill's lying on is some guy who's fully clothed but it feels weirdly creepy to be watching anyway #Even though said guy is just dicking around on his phone. At one point he swats Bill for presumably no reason and that's amusing at least #Other Dipper decides he's gonna quit while he's ahead. Spying's not a great idea when who the hell knows could be going on the other end #(Our Dipper was playing a crossword and woke Bill up to provide an answer) #Clue: 'Suave' five letters. Third letter is 'u' Answer: Acute

[wordsinhaled]

TOM LITERALLY SAYS in an interview with Nei nodding at his side that Dream isn't emotionless it's the opposite he feels SO MUCH and ALL THE TIME and suppressing emotions (tom says pushing it down into his stomach, specifically) is the only way he knows how to not be overwhelmed by them

our emo blorbo is EMOtional

and I think that's part of why he's so fascinated by Hob and why Death's wisdom hits him so hard and it probably affects his relationship with Despair and Desire out of jealousy because these are all people who are allowed to feel things and he isn't allowed to feel things because things in the universe could go Very Very Wrong if he does

listen. listen. THANK YOU ANON

dream of the endless is literally swimming in all the emotions all the time. his emotions. other people’s. his own dreams. other people’s. EVERYONE’S. everyone’s dreams, wishes, fantasies, daydreams. everyone’s unfulfilled potential. everyone’s creativity. everyone’s nostalgia. and yes, everyone’s desire too because what are dreams if not desires not yet substantiated?

then expand that also to EVERY LIVING THING THAT CAN DREAM. not just every single human. every animal. alien life forms??? plants??? maybe even little acorns envisioning becoming towering oak trees one day. he carries the dreams of atoms that will one day be stars and suns and universes not yet created

then also, the repressed, suppressed desires in himself; his own longings and visions and dreams that he tries to leave dispossessed but it’s IMPOSSIBLE to vacate himself. and he cares for every single dreamer, every one of his creations, knows their innermost workings and is so fiercely dedicated to the purpose of stewarding them through the dreaming that he twists all his own needs and wants and dreams down really small and tries to pretend he doesn’t have them at all

being in burgess’ cage, that isolation, being torn from the dreaming like that. ripped away from all the dreamers. ripped away from his realm. RIPPED AWAY FROM HIMSELF because he IS the dreaming. the trauma of that. the metaphor for trauma in that - to be cut off fundamentally from the core parts of yourself, from your essence by a traumatic experience, is exactly on point for how PTSD and trauma ravage the psyche

and even after all this. dream is brimming with emotions, overflowing with them. he pushes them back and back and he’s always on the verge of tears, always so overfull with compassion that it probably even hurts. always on the verge of being overcome if he only lets himself. passionate, feeling his emotions with all of himself, because he IS in some way everyone’s emotions including his own. he is all the needs, all the unrealized, deeply emotional messages dreamers process in dreams that form their schemas

to call dream of the endless cold!!!!!

this man is the entire suit of cups trying to strongarm itself into the suit of swords and it RUINS MY LIFE

#the sandman #dream of the endless #TAKE HIM TO THERAPY SO HE’LL LET HOB LOVE HIM THE WAY HE WANTS AND NEEDS

[jjgacutno]

First of Many Attempts

And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. Galatians 6:9 (ESV) [1]

“Should we join?” Eight years ago, this was the most important question I and my team had to answer. At that time, it was difficult for us to say yes not because we can’t but because we do not want to proceed and not make it as one of our key priorities. I am talking about our participation in the Microsoft Imagine Cup, the premier student technology competition in the world. We had the idea. We had the technology. We had the skills. Eventually, we had the consensus to give it a try. A draft of the project proposal was written overnight. We convinced one of our professors to be our mentor. In the end, we made it to the first round. My team birthed Project Mercury.

At the time when we were shaping the idea for the project, it was also the time when the 2016 national (presidential) election was imminent. One of the candidates who eventually became our president (former President Duterte) was adamant with his platform of combatting criminality specifically the pervasiveness of illegal drugs in our nation. My team and I saw this as an opportunity to come up with something that we thought could help the intent while still upholding basic human rights. This was when Project Mercury came into the picture. We envisioned an app that is available on different platforms such as mobile and web and targets the same objective of crime prevention. The app that we built is capable of real-time crime reporting, crime mapping, analytics, and information escrow; This allows for fellow Filipinos to be participants in this endeavor.

After a few weeks of iterations, the initial prototype was ready to be presented. Representing the De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde, we competed under the world citizenship category alongside equally talented students from other universities and colleges in the country. It was Goal 16 of the UN Sustainable Development Goals [2] that served as the focal point for Project Mercury. Advocating for peaceful societies, we found it reasonable to push for the development of the app, first to participate in the competition, but more so, to materialize a product that can empower our people and strengthen our institutions in our fight against crime. As team captain, it made me proud to lead a team that shared the same values and vision for Project Mercury. Our collective effort paved the way for us. We were the national champions under our category and represented the Philippines in the next round.

We were defeated in the Asia Pacific final round yet this did not stop us to continue with the project. A year after, we were scouted to submit our project as one of the entries in the Lee Kwan Yew Global Business Plan Competition held at the Singapore Management University. I was excited to regroup with the team because it was another attempt for us to potentially showcase the value proposition of our idea. A business plan was made, and we rebranded the product as Safeatlas, a portmanteau of the words “safe” and “atlas” to signify that the app is a way to make people feel and be safe from potential and actual crimes. Weeks after, the result came out and it was very unfortunate that we did not make the cut for the finalists. While disheartening, I was grateful to the team and to the person who invited us to join because we were given another platform to demo not only the Filipino ingenuity but also a good-for-society project that can make things possible for crime prevention.

These experiences taught me many valuable lessons, both improving my business acumen and deepening my sense of responsibility to contribute to attaining our global sustainable development goals. While the attempts were unsuccessful, I believe they changed me and my team as individuals who are more conscious with what is happening around and seeks solutions for the benefit of all. Learning about the sustainability mindset principles [3], I realized that even before, I was already practicing some of the mindsets such as long-term thinking, creative innovation, interconnectedness, and purpose, among others. Project Mercury (or Safeatlas) was one of my many attempts— ‘many’ as the practice of sustainability principles for me does not stop there. I consider them meaningful feats.

[1] English Standard Version Bible. (2001). Bible Gateway. https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Galatians+6%3A9&version=ESV

[2] Goal 16: Promote just, peaceful, and inclusive societies. (n.d.). United Nations. https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/peace-justice/

[3] Rimanoczy, I. (2019). The 12 Sustainability Mindset Principles. https://isabelrimanoczy.net/wp-content/uploads/The-12-Sustainability-Mindset-Principles-presentation-nuevo.pdf

[itsmonika]

Bear Totem in Celtic Culture

Earthy colored Bears are normally conscientious. You will cross your T's and spot the I's all's in existence with flawlessness, however you never brag about it to other people - modesty is your center name! Bear individuals commonly want profound understanding, which makes them hopefully press themselves more than most other zodiac signs might at any point envision.

Earthy colored Bear individuals are intelligent,Bear Spirit Animal attentive, and insightful. They don't acknowledge the world as it is given yet require investment to contemplate why they carry on with a specific way or notice things in their lives that others probably won't take note. Then there's continuously a genuinely new thing for them to gain from each insight!

The enormous earthy colored Bear should know about the dangers and potential open doors that are surrounding him. This is best finished by opening themselves to enter from their Higher Self, divine powers, and nature. Through this cycle, there comes a period for hibernation where you lay down with mindfulness so particularly that as you sleep, your actual body rests yet at the same time feels the two dangers and compensations in the rest of the world while taking on new errands when he wakes back; up once more!

Bear Character Attributes and Qualities The Earthy colored Bear is a cleverness and logical creature, however they are likewise otherworldly creatures. They have an innate funny bone that should be visible in their eyes when they mess around with different creatures in the backwoods. This multitude of attributes make them love to investigate new spots also!

The Local American Zodiac Sign for those brought into the world under the indication of Earthy colored Bears has a few alluring characteristics about it: It's said by numerous local clans that only one individual out of twelve bears will at any point meet this zodiac sign importance there isn't a lot of data on what makes somebody who was brought into the world under this intriguing event not the same as one more bear beside being more probable empathetic and innovative than others which implies you might need to get finding out about your old stories so you.

Earthy colored Bears are individuals of nature and may find that they have a partiality for the world. They sense their association with Star-Creatures as well as feel at ease in the Precursors' domain as well as Devic universes. Earth is Earthy colored Bear's Component since it furnishes them with dependability while establishing them to think obviously and act judiciously when required most; in any case, regardless of this component being imperative inside themselves, your genuine capacities lie further inside you - embrace these gifts!

Bear is a strong awe-inspiring phenomenon. At the point when Bear applies to vision, creative mind, and reasonableness, they are relentless while critical thinking. One illustration of this should be visible in how Bears fanatically attempt to fix things in the event that foul play sneaks close by; Earthy colored bears are shown furious fortitude under these conditions, which at last leads them to take care of issues more proficiently than any other person!

Bear Emblem Love Similarity Albeit Earthy colored Bear experiences issues with self-assurance in issues of the heart, this creature symbol birth sign is anxious to please and prod once they track down a wonderful buddy. Be prepared for elevated standards from your accomplice — Earthy colored Bears anticipate similarly as much from themselves! The people who mate effectively with these shaggy animals incorporate Woodpecker, Snake, Beaver (seriously!), Snow Goose, Wolf, the modest Mouse.

Bear Soul Creature The Bear is an image of boldness and strength. For this creature, the way to progress lies in never stopping or abandoning yourself regardless of the situation. The bear soul will help you through any difficult circumstance with your head held high, rest and recover after difficult situations are finished, and ensure that despite the fact that life can be trying now and again, nothing at any point holds you down for long on the grounds that as no hunter could outstand them so too individuals represented by their power realize they have nothing to fear from any other person! These bears are conceived pioneers; order others around them without a second thought or timid away when reverence comes their direction yet consistently stay humble regardless - driving themselves in certainty and self esteem as well as those following.

[reasonring44]

What Are the Three Most Important Things in a Relationship? - An Overview

Can easily you find a really good connection? In an best world, a good partnership would take us through some of the toughest parts of our lives, but it doesn't really occur in our lives. Rather, there are all kinds of individuals along with that exact same problem — relationships that you can fix, in an flash. Well, I would point out that there are actually a whole lot of folks out there certainly who have this kind of problem. It's simply that occasionally, you need not go with that kind of work. Of course nobody knows what truly goes on between any sort of married couple, but many years of scientific research study in to affection, sex and partnerships have showed us that a amount of behaviors can anticipate when a pair is on solid ground or moved for troubled waters. Whether we such as to confess this or not, a marriage is in some means much better than you'd ever before envision. Several pairs and pairs out there will definitely take for provided what can easily happen if a connection goes effectively: two folks getting wed. Great connections don’t take place overnight. I've regularly understood regarding the possibility of charming feelings, but when one becomes major regarding the partnership, it's generally not regarding the kind of charming connection that you'd have with a close friend. This is typically because it is extremely emotional. That is not what happens during the course of the majority of pregnancy, when we're speaking concerning that emotional method. They take devotion, concession, forgiveness and many of all — effort. Those factors are as vital as their potential to obtain with to you. If the problem in your lifestyle isn't your commitment and tough job, then you require to recognize it, and in the title of that, assist others. Just because a student goes abroad for institution doesn't indicate that they're a bad individual.

Maintain reading for the newest in connection science, fun questions and handy suggestions to help you build a stronger bond with your companion. 2. Regularly concentrate It frequently seems to be like every married couple is trying to figure out how to develop a perfect bond. Thus what does this suggest? Does it imply that every single partner in a relationship is trying to obtain to know each other a lot better — or is it merely the technique things are? Dropping in love is the effortless part. Your companion or relationship will definitely require to make a decision if you want them to view you once more or the most appealing individual in your lifestyle. They require to find you once again because the man they don't like will definitely need to be the one who has actually even more than one passion enthusiasm. These partnerships demand a healthy relationship; a strong passion interest implies we have to function all together to be able to comply with our goals and that we need to have to make the companion happy. The problem for couples is how to rekindle the fires of romance from time to opportunity and grow the fully grown, counting on affection that is the trademark of a long-term connection. With partners of all bias, you ought to understand the factors you really want to achieve without spending as well a lot opportunity on a single task in chance of producing a life-changing contribution to the relationship. Advertisement Favourably, you may try out a handful of of my new-and-improving features. When you point out “I adore you,” what do you mean? What do you mean ㅎㅎ?". There is no uncertainty and no confusion. The man communicates in English and does not attempt to offer any sort of illustrations as to what is going on as if he is speaking to you with no preconceived thoughts to the contrary, his English language does not try to offer any descriptions as to what is being mentioned as if he is saying. Terry Hatkoff, a California State University sociologist, has made a affection scale that identifies six specific styles of passion located in our closest partnerships. They feature: Love-fueled behaviors. These behaviors are generally activated through being actually or vocally abused. Often they are the only means in which folks with different take ins are connected. They're taken into consideration not to be separate because they involve a partnership, but their part is to create the kind of focus that we commonly obtain from their actions. Researchers have found that the passion we really feel in our very most committed relationships is usually a blend of two or three different kinds of love. Those in love are brought in to new people and people in necessity, while ones in requirement are enticed to the brand-new proprietor or the complete stranger in the relationship . What they're comparing is whether the person you are going out with is reliable and credible that they are in fact your romantic partner and what your intents are. But typically, two people in the very same relationship can possess extremely different versions of how they define affection. In a partnership, there are actually two people in the same mattress and there is actually a really very clear splitting up. And that's because as the connection gets even more apart, your emotions start to discolor and you ended up being more susceptible to misunderstandings. When you're in a relationship with two friends with a different face, you might need to create holiday accommodations to have one separate from the other. of a man and lady having dinner. The attendees, as I may say, were all under the impact of a glass of wine. To those of us who were not enabled to pamper in a little additional than an hour's discussion, that opportunity invested in silence and, though we frequently drank out, would quickly be exhausted through the take in – especially as it currently appeared clear that we had no need whatsoever to speak regarding anything other than wine.

#relationship #divorce #dating #date

[kuroopaisen]

per auda ad astra. (tendou satori)

➵ latin. “through hardships to the stars.” you and tendou have been through everything together. so of course you’ll lend him a hand when he needs a date.

wc: 2.5k

warnings: references to bullying

“I have a favour to ask,” Tendou smiled, tilting his head at you.

You raised an eyebrow at him. Tendou had popped over for a ‘quick visit.’ But, while you were preparing yourself a tea for what would inevitably be a long conversation, he’d decided to spring the real reason for his visit on you. “Mhm?”

“Would you please come to dinner with my parents?” Tendou pursed his lips together. “Pretty please?”

“Why do you say that like you’re asking me to run a marathon in nothing but my underwear?” You bit back a smirk. “It’s just dinner with your parents.”

“Well,” Tendou took a deep breath, his eyes fluttering closed. “I need you to pretend to be my partner. Just this once.”

Your entire body froze. “Excuse me?”

“I know!” Tendou waved his hands at you, his face a strange mix of alarm and confidence. “It’s just for this one dinner!”

“Why though?”

“My parents are a trifle miffed that I haven’t found someone to settle down with.” A whisper of a blush graced his cheeks. “They’ll start taking matters into their own hands if I’m not careful.”

“Yikes,” you murmured, turning back to tend to your tea.

“And I was thinking,” Tendou hummed, propping his chin on his hand, “you already know them, right? We just need to get our little lie straight, and it’ll be easy sailing.”

“Worried someone else’ll think this is unethical?” You raised an eyebrow at him, biting the inside of your cheek.

“Maybe,” he drawled, tilting his head at you. “But c’mon, it’ll just be dinner with my parents. All you’d have to do is hold my hand and tell them you’ve had a thing for me this entire time.”

You laughed, ignoring the strange tightening in your chest. “You’re really scared of them setting you up with someone, huh?”

“They will!” He groaned, laying his arms across your kitchen counter. “They’ve already sent me a list. Do you know how awkward that is?”

“Anyone I know on it?”

“There’s no way in hell you’ll ever find out,” he grumbled, crossing his arms and propping his chin on them.

“Really?” You grinned. “Will you tell me if I pretend to be your partner?”

Tendou glared at you through narrowed eyes. “I thought I could trust you to have my back.”

You laughed, shaking your head. “It’s really this much of a big deal?”

“Look, every time I’ve gone home alone, at least half of dinner is spent talking about my marriage,” Tendou groaned, rolling his eyes. “I’d like to avoid that for once, you know? And hopefully stave off and awkward dates arranged by my parents.”

“Fine, fine,” you laughed, waving a hand at him. “But you owe me one, okay?”

--------  

You’d known Tendou for pretty much your whole life. He’d been your next-door neighbour growing up, and you genuinely couldn’t remember a time before he’d made a lasting impression of you.

You were young; you didn’t know what the world expected from you. You didn’t know how people could be cruel. All you knew was that you liked the little red-headed boy from next door, and you enjoyed spending time with him.

You didn’t have many specific memories of your past together, but you remembered what it felt like; free, comfortable, full of possibility. The feeling that you could do absolutely anything, so long as you believed hard enough.

Afternoons drowned in the fading sunlight, chasing one another down the street as you embroiled yourself in some fantastical game. June days spent in the mud, making cakes or starting fights.

You remembered the stars best of all.

On an evening when your parents were feeling particularly lenient, you’d be allowed to pop over to Tendou’s for a sleepover. And an absolutely vital part of that was clambering up to his roof and looking out at the stars.

And, with the sense of surety only afforded to children, you’d named them yourselves. There was a dragon, of course, and a witch. According to Tendou, the dragon had the potential to swallow the entire earth – and if it weren’t for the efforts of the witch, we would all be doomed. He also insisted that the witch was quite a looker. You’d been too young to really care.

The witch also had a kitsune as a sidekick, whose nine tails seemed to spread out into infinity. Tendou insisted that a new tail grew every one hundred years, and that soon enough the sky would be drowned by those stars.

You’d snorted at that. But the thought stuck with you, resurfacing a couple of years later when you learnt of how stars were born.

Primary school had been as awful as you’d dreaded it would be. You managed to escape it more or less unscathed; you’d managed to slip into relative anonymity. But Tendou?

It was the first time you’d noticed that he was different. Unique. And everyone else noticed, too.

But they didn’t see things the same way you did.

You remembered some days with uncomfortable clarity; sitting behind the school, his scuffed knees brought up to his chest, face buried in his legs to hide it from you. You, knowing nothing other than holding his hand.

You’d wanted to do something. But you’d felt nothing but fear. And for many years after that, you’d carried the shame with you.

Tendou knew. And, bless his soul, he insisted you had nothing to feel bad about. But words weren’t enough.

Middle school had been easier. Tendou’s modus operandi changed; no more tears. No more submission. He didn’t fight back so much as guard himself. It seemed as if he’d gained some confidence.

You knew it was a lie; a cloak he’d put on to guard himself from the cold. But it worked, to some degree.

And better yet, he’d gotten quite good at volleyball. That, more than anything, was his armour.

You’d always be grateful for the volleyball team. For how they’d accepted him. They, more than anyone else up til that point, seemed to see him as you did. As someone full of virtue. Warmth may not have been the defining quality of those relationships, but they’d given him support in a way others never had. And they’d valued what he could give them, too.

He still spoke to some of them, even after all this time.

It was all you could’ve asked for. And even though they didn’t make it to nationals in your third year, you knew that he had no regrets. That even if he wouldn’t continue on with the sport, he’d done himself proud.

And even in the midst of all that, you two still found time to climb onto that roof and look at your stars. And every year, the witch’s chest seemed to grow more and more ample.

You’d ended up at the same university by some stroke of luck. It certainly wasn’t planned, and you’d both been preparing yourselves for what would inevitably be a painful goodbye.

But, it had continued like always. You and him, arms linked and heads thrown back in laughter. And he’d flourished at university in ways he hadn’t before. He’d really found his feet, and grown into someone he could be proud of. And you’re proud of him, too.

And through all your own hardships and successes, he’d been there. Cheering you on, lending you a hand… whatever you needed, you knew you could rely on Tendou for it.

You simply couldn’t imagine your life without him.

And all that’s running through your mind as you sit there at the dinner table, doing your absolute best to appear the adoring partner.

“Well, I thought you and Satori would’ve been married years ago,” his mother laughed.

You blushed at that. “I…”

She, in particular, had been the most delighted when you’d shown up at the door. Tendou hadn’t told his family who is ‘partner’ was; surely a tactic meant to simplify the web of lies.

“Love is blind, mother,” Tendou sighed, giving your hand a little squeeze. “And deaf. And mute. And it has a tendency not to realise itself til it’s too late.”

Confound and distract. Good tactic?

“I don’t think you used that idiom quite right,” you mumbled to it.

He shrugged.

“So, when are you getting engaged?” There was a twinkle to his grandfather’s eye that you didn’t like.

You cringed.

“All in good time,” Tendou said. You almost envied his total lack of anxiety. “You can’t rush this sort of thing, you know.” He tilted his head at him, lips curling into a smile. “Besides, you’re just trying to embarrass me.”

His grandfather chuckled, but said no more.

“Now, tell me darling, what have you been up to recently?” His mother had turned her kindly smile to you once more. And even though you felt awful for lying to her, it was comforting.

So, you told her. And as you were talking, you began to realise just how comfortable Tendou’s hand felt in yours.

You’d started your trip holding hands, in an attempt to ‘get in character.’ You weren’t going to pull this off if you couldn’t show casual affection to one another. But something about holding his hand felt… right. His fingers may be long and lanky, and still calloused from his stint with volleyball, but they fit so nicely with yours. You were doing your best not to think about it.

There was plenty of talk about the old times. Not that you were surprised by that in particular. What did surprise you was how many damn stories his family had about times they’d suspected the two of you were dating.

If Tendou had brought someone else home, would his family tell them stories of you?

But all that aside, it all flowed very naturally. His parents believed you; no need for them to get involved in his private life. You didn’t have to think up some lie to keep track of; you just told the truth, with a little embellishment. It felt so easy.

You finished dinner without a slip-up. His family had been completely fooled; and some part of you felt bad about the fallout to come. You could envision the look on his mother’s face quite clearly.

While this had been easy for the two of you, you had a feeling that made it much harder for everyone else.

You tried not to think about it as you lay on the roof, looking up at the stars you knew so well.

It’s fairly easy to see the stars in Miyagi. Easier than it is in the bigger cities. It’s probably the thing you miss most about your hometown – people aside.

You still can’t identify any of the major clusters. The only constellations were the ones you’d made together. Truth be told, the outlines you two had drawn were tenuous at best. But they were yours, and you cherished them for that.

And on that roof, you felt you might talk the night away. Something about being under the stars made you feel vulnerable. It made you feel ready to bare your soul. Some of your deepest conversations had taken place up here; the trading of fears and hopes, of those feelings you dare not show anyone else.

And to think, you were back here because Tendou needed to get his parent’s off his back.

“Thank you,” Tendou mumbled. “For doing this.”

You smiled at him. “Not a problem.”

You were laid out on his roof, maybe a hand’s width apart. It was a bit more difficult to fit, as adults. But that hadn’t stopped you when you were teenagers.

“Tell me, Satori,” you smiled, your eyes wandering the skies, “what does the witch look like again?”

“I’m not letting you bait me like that,” he grinned.

“Oh? Is that… shame that I hear?” You turned to look at him. He was already looking at you through the dark. The moonlight looked quite flattering on him.

Even after all this time, things with Tendou are so… easy. So relaxed. You never have to worry about being anyone other than yourself. And nobody celebrated you the way he had.

You wanted him to stick around. It was a gentle realisation; one the came as a relief.

“You know, this almost went too well,” he chuckled, looking up at the sky again. “We’d’ve almost fooled me, if I wasn’t so careful.”

You felt his hand brush yours. Was that intentional?

Maybe it would be better if you’d been fooled. Maybe that’s how things should be.

“Hey… Satori?”

“Mhm?”

You fought the urge to take his hand. “When we get back, would you…” You took a deep breath. You had to say it. You wanted to. “Would you like to go on a date?”

His eyes were wide and bright as he stared at you.

“I mean…” God, this was a bit awkward, wasn’t it? You hadn’t even given him time to reply and you were already trying to fill the silence. “If you’re not interested, please pretend that I didn’t say anything.”

Tendou laughed. “Oh, don’t think I’ll be forgetting this any time soon. I’ve gotta take the few boosts to my ego I get.”

You bit the inside of your cheek, torn halfway between smiling and decking him in the face. “I was being serious!”

“I know, I know,” Tendou grinned, taking your hand in his as he looked back at the sky. It’d been so smooth and natural that you hadn’t really noticed it. “How does tomorrow sound?”

“Tomorrow?”

“Yeah,” he shrugged. “Keep the momentum going.” He flashes you a look, grinning. “Gotta make you fall for me before you decide this is a terrible idea.”

“See, when you say it like that—”

“Please don’t take it back,” he blurted.

“I wasn’t going to,” you laughed. “You’re…” You wanted to say that he was the most important person in your life. But you didn’t quite have the words for that, yet. “You mean a lot to me, okay?”

Even in the dark, you could see his face turning as red as his hair. “Geez… you can’t just say that to a guy, you know?”

“What? I can’t be honest?”

“Well you can be honest, you’ve just… gotta prepare me for such a hit.”

“Pft,” you shook your head, looking for the dragon in the stars. Maybe it was all a bit sudden. And maybe you were being a little too honest. But it felt right. And you felt that if you didn’t say something now, you’d just come to regret it later.

“You mean a lot to me, too.” His voice is quiet, and there’s a slight tremble to it. But it’s honest.

You squeezed his hand in response. For now, there didn’t need to be any more words. Just the two of you, hand in hand, looking up at the stars. The way it had always been.

“Hey.” He tapped your hand with his thumb.

“Hm?”

“What are we gonna do about the bed?”

#haikyuu x reader #tendou x reader #tendou satori x reader #tendou satori #haikyuu headcanons #haikyuu scenarios #friends-to-lovers week #haikyuuwritersnet #i love him this one's eh but he's a good kid #THIS IS THE LAST ONE I CAN'T BELIEVE

[our-reb00t-boi]

ok I understand the opinion that DmC devil may cry is not the "Devil May Cry" game or it shouldn't have happened however

as someone who enjoys the reb00t title, to me it also spawns a potential that I feel has never been touched on or thought of by the fans, at least so far as I can see

To me the reason why i think not a lot of people want the reboot is because to them from what I observed is that there's a specific "way" a Devil May Cry game should be, and of course it's main protagonist's character.

Honestly, however, from the five installments that came out, I feel like they couldn't be further from the other apart from the main themes of humanity and being a cool action superhero, and bombastic cutscenes and some fanservice

It could be because of the time/years apart DMC5 is compared to when even the reb00t was, while the first 4 games were during the 2000s and had crossed two platform generations without a hitch in that era.

But anyway I feel like I'm almost off the tangent because my main point is that:

YES! We can make multiple different Devil May Crys.... Or Cries..... Or Cry volumes......

My point is this

Multiverse.

To me I think Devil May Cry, if the potential is unlocked, this franchise could be treated like Final Fantasy.

Think about it: each of the main installments are vastly different, apart from the main theme of the apocalyptic narrative, rpg elements that are made fresh or updated and recurring characters that run alongside new ones.

I just disagree that something could just be made “one” way. I don’t remember who said it but the whole quote “There’s no such thing as a bad idea, only badly executed ones.” ~~by ???

The reb00t unfortunately got the bad end because, I think these days, it’s quite obvious that NT and the devs of Capcom weren’t able to actually do the version they had envisioned because of the backlash.

But that isn’t the reason to not see anymore potential a cheesy, comfort zone power fantasy action game franchise can still reach.

Imagine this scenario:

Kyrie is a demon huntress in her universe, juggling her humanitarian job along with exorcising demons or having to actually fight them (and seriously for a game about humanity, there's not a lot of human representation *ahem LADY *AHEM!!!)!!

In another, the twins are together and co-own the DMC office and drive each other up the wall, but the narrative also depicts their everyday life and struggles of leading double lives.

In another, maybe it's 1940 WWII and we see the Order of the Sword as some neutral paragon of the era who only hunts demons and saves people. But underneath is a shady subset of people who are actually doing unethical experimentations and is led by none other than their "pope" dude!!

And Lucia! Like even just supplementary titles, she doesn't have to have her own title via a different universe, make Lucia a lead playable for chrissake!

And yes, the "reboot" title, which I think from my proposal here isn't a reboot anymore but more like its own universe, much like the rest of the ones I've suggested, deserves its existence and to explore even more bombastic, out-there ideas! And taking a half-assed leaf of page from my fanfic, I want to explore Dante's thoughts on his responsibility and actually buckling from the weight of it! I want Kat's journey to shine as well and show her stuff, expand on the lore of how magic done by humans are made! I want "reboot" versions of characters from the other installments and have a fresh new spin on them and go ape shit! And especially Lady!! Boy, DMC3 Lady is the best and it's non-repeatable, but I want to explore in-depth her relationship with her parents, how she got into her weaponry and how ordinary her life must be before her father murdered her mother! And I wanna see Vergil the oily bastard unleash his most cruel potential! Have him slice a demon's head off because he's racist against Nephilim and Vergil makes an example out of his corpse (and if you know that's from Kill Bill more power to you)

Like dude, how epic would it be for Devil May Cry to expand?? They have ALL the tropes, the characters, the mythology that they can play up even more!! Why are we so scared of just having a fun, edgy and fresh take on a franchise that for some reason had no hope in the eyes of Capcom's executives?? It took Itsuno-san to take over at last minute to make something out of the mess from DMC2 and propelled DMC3 to the classic it is today! It took almost him having to quit because the higher-ups, in my opinion, just don't know the audience, or worse their own creative developers!

#sorry ranty #rant #dmc devil may cry #devil may cry #capcom

[victoriareyloficlists]

30 September 2021 Additions to Reylo Fluff

These fics have been added to the Fluff lists located in the following lists:

Fluff Part 1 Titles A-G

Fluff Part 2 Titles H-M

Fluff Part 3 Titles N-S

Fluff Part 4 Titlez T-Z

The Prince Diaries by sunshineflying (AO3 2019  Rated T Complete, 10 Chapters, Princess Diaries AU, Quick Synopsis: Just weeks before his eighteenth birthday, Ben's father drops a bomb on him: his grandmother -- whom he hasn't heard from for most of his life -- wants to speak to him. What she has to say has the potential to turn his life upside down.) Inspired by Wasting Time on the Interwebs Chapter 8 by Theyna_Shipper (AO3 2020  Rated G Complete, One-Shot, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: Rey and Ben are paired up for an economics assignment, but they have a major difference of opinion on some key points.) the star to every wandering bark by addictedtoacertainlifestyle (AO3 2018  Rated M Complete, One-Shot, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: When Ben Solo travels to Takodana in the name of his second novel, meeting an impossibly intriguing woman named Rey wasn't exactly what he envisioned. But the universe has a funny way of working things out.) The Elusive Mating Dance of the Porgus Adorabilis by andabatae (AO3 2019  Rated E Complete, 8 Chapters, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: Rey Niima is a PhD student studying the extremely endangered porg. Her dissertation is almost complete, but there's one phenomenon she has yet to document: the porg mating dance. She's about to witness it for the first time when a plane crash-lands on the island, disrupting both the porgs and Rey's research. Kylo Ren recently inherited Ahch-To, but what does a rich Manhattan playboy want with a deserted rock in the middle of the ocean? His plans to sell it as soon as possible are stymied when he crash-lands on the island and realizes it isn't deserted, after all...) Love is a misunderstanding between two fools by GreyForceUser (ReyandKyloforever) (AO3 2018  Rated E Complete, 4 Chapters, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: Ben Solo has been too afraid to ask out the girl he's been in love with for years, Rey. He tries to impress her by going as Kylo Ren to the Halloween costume party. Rey shows up in the sexiest costume he's ever seen. Could she possibly have worn it for him? The only thing he is sure about is that she must be trying to kill him.) slide into my DMs by hi_raeth (AO3 2019  Rated T Complete, 3 Chapters, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: In which Ben shoots his shot - in the sweetest, most respectful, no-pressure way possible, because this is Ben Solo we’re talking about.) all's well that ends well to end up with you by hi_raeth (AO3 2020  Rated T Complete, One-Shot, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: Best friends (who are also secretly in love with each other) Rey and Ben wake up in bed together after a drunken night out. They can't remember if they've had sex or not and spend the morning trying to remember if they have (they haven't). In the process, they discover that they've been in love with each other forever.”) In Vino Verita by Nora_Wolfe (AO3 2021  Rated T Complete, One-Shot, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: "Drunk Ben telling his coworkers about his future children: they'll have the most beautiful hazel eyes, freckles and tanned skin, just like their mommy. Poe: that's weirdly specific. Finn: dude, why are you describing Rey from accounting?") Even when you sniff, it’s you I want to kiss... by Hellyjellybean (AO3 2021  Rated T Complete, One-Shot, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: "Ben, is my nose all red?” “Mmm,” Ben confirmed without looking up. Rey pouted. “My face is ruined!” "Your face is still beautiful.” They both stilled. Rey’s eyes bore into Ben’s back. “What did you say?” she asked.) Desperate Measures by ebongawk (makeshiftcandy) (AO3 2021  Rated E Complete, 21 Chapters, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: Rey jokingly asks her friends if one of them knows a sugar daddy when she falls on hard times. Poe doesn't really take it as a joke.) Why the Chicken Crossed the Road by SpaceWaffleHouse (AO3 2019  Rated T Complete, One-Shot, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: Competitive enemies Ben and Rey get into a game of chicken. All is well and fun until Poe challenges them to kiss.) It's only natural, but why did it have to be me? by Psyclodelik (AO3 2021  Rated T Complete, One-Shot, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: Dating app AU where Rose and Poe are desperate to find love for their lonely roommates because they are sick of hearing them masturbating in the shower. They match and arrange a date for them under false pretenses, shenanigans ensue.) Matched! by ekayla (AO3 2021  Rated M Complete, 15 Chapters, Modern AU, Quick Synopsis: What happens if you finally meet someone interesting on dating app during an international pandemic and can’t meet face to face?)

#reylo #kylo ren #reylo fanfic #ben solo #rey

[cambionverse]

WE FUCKING MADE IT Y’ALL

this essay, “Of Spinoffs and Spinning Off” by Louisa Stein, is a published academic work that mentions cambionverse by name as part of a 700-page book about fandom studies!? HOLY SHIT??!? this was published in 2018 but it took the sheer chaotic SPN-returns energy of 2020 for us to stumble across it. astounding. love this for us

(quick aside to caveat that of course we were not the inventors of the Team Free Will 2.0 concept, it was already well-established before our first fic posted in 2011, and “Cambionverse” as a name is pretty specific to our fic series and not something people use for all fandom content that happens to feature Ben/Jesse/Claire. BUT STILL, shoutout to literally anyone who has made fanwork of our verse over the past ten years because YOU’RE FAMOUS NOW TOO)

(second aside to say “it is also entirely possible that the creators of the eventual canon version of Claire drew inspiration from the prior fan authored versions of teenage Claire.” U DON’T SAY)

Text from the screencaps below:

“To my mind, there is no better example to demonstrate the politics of the “official” spinoff in conversation with energies and labors of fan spinning off than the longrunning fanbeloved TV series Supernatural, and so for the rest of this chapter I will use Supernatural as my case study. I do not mean to suggest that the spinning off that occurs by the hands of Supernatural fans is necessarily different in quality or significance than that of other series, fans, and fandoms, past and present. Rather I turn to Supernatural because its now 12year run offers a wealth of snapshots of different modes of industrial and fan spinning off, and the relationships and tensions between the two.

[...]

Spinning Off to a Better Text: The Cambionverse

Also in Textual Poachers, Henry Jenkins talked about how fan authorship (often) emerged from dissatisfaction as much as from enthusiasm on the part of fans. Elsewhere I have argued that fan works can be seen as critique as well as supplement in that they point to holes, to misrepresentations, to gaps, to things left wanting (Stein forthcoming). Some fan spinoff verses—like the Endverse—seem to cumulatively build on the source text, giving us more of what the text offered, and thus do not seem to be oppositional to the source text. But even such works that follow clear markers in the source text can be read as critique. Fan authorship of “Down to Agincourt” and other Endverse works function as critique as they voice fan desires for different narratives and themes, along the lines of: “We want more Endverse; We want darker tales that blur morality further; we want a darker version of Dean, a continued depiction of Sam and Lucifer, a more extended stay with drug and sex fixated Castiel.”

At the same time, spinoff verses can find their origin in critique driven by fan desire to fix some of the consistent perceived failings of the source text. For Supernatural, this means that fans envision and author spinoffs that feature female characters, people of color, and queer characters (and characters who merge these identity markers) who don’t get killed. For example, in between season eight and nine, fans envisioned a version of Supernatural that centered on powerful female “big bad” Abaddon, rather than relegating her to marginal, doomed, and finally unimportant figure. At around the same time, fans authored the first stories in what they termed Cambionverse, also referred to as “Team Free Will 2.0.” The Cambionverse envisioned the next generation of hunters, comprised of characters who had (then) only been featured in single episodes. One of these characters at the center of this fan envisioned spinoff was Claire Novak, daughter of Jimmy Novak, whose body the angel Castiel possessed. Like the Endverse, Claire Novak had offered story and character potential that the Supernatural series seemed to overlook but that resonated with fans. Thus, as fans continued to write stories featuring Claire together with other oneoff characters Jesse Turner and Ben Braeden, these stories to a certain degree served as critique of Supernatural’s poor story choices and flawed ideologies of representation.

Fans spin critique into new work with all the transmedia tools and then some that they deploy for the televisual source. Cambionverse creators create fic, GIF sets, vids, art, meta, and fanmixes (musical playlists created and shared on interfaces like 8Tracks and Tumblr, http://8tracks.com/explore/cambionverse/popular/1). This active transmedia spread positions Cambionverse as an expansive multimedia universe in its own right with the fic at the center, but as was the case with “Down to Agincourt,” there is arguably more collaborative feedback with less purposefully clear policing of the lines drawn between “official” and “unofficial” authorship. The Cambionverse spreads across multiple platforms deployed by fans, including An Archive of Our Own, Tumblr, and 8Tracks, spun by multiple authors in multiple forms. Thus, the Cambionverse demonstrates how transmedia authorship and the multiplicitous transmedia landscape further destabilize traditional notions of authorial control.

[...]

Fan literacies extend beyond close textual analysis of the series to knowledge about the politics and potential of Supernatural’s future production, to a larger production literacy regarding the creation of spinoffs, as we have seen in fan coordination and campaigns for the Supernatural spinoff Wayward Daughters. Arguably, the concept for Wayward Daughters emerged from the same fan impulse that birthed the Cambionverse: the desire to tell the stories of characters with strong potential who were underused or introduced in an episode, and who were left underdeveloped yet with strong narrative potential. In response to these rich narrative gaps, fans told Claire Novak’s story through to her teenage years. They wrote various versions of Claire’s narrative in the years between her character’s first (one episode long) introduction in Supernatural’s fourth season and her eventual return six years later in the series’ tenth season. By the time the official Supernatural writers cast Claire as a teenager and brought her to the screen, fandom had already fleshed out her character and narrative. Supernatural actor Kathryn Newton came to fill a character already fleshed out in the fan imagination, in GIF sets, vids, featuring actors from other media fancast to serve the character of Claire, and drawn and painted by fan imagination in lines inspired by these fan castings and by individual interpretation. Both fans and the Supernatural producers were working with the same source and question: what would Claire Novak as we saw her in season four be like as a teenager, given her physical qualities and personal trajectory? Thus, perhaps it is not surprising that the teenage Claire Novak of eventual Supernatural “canon” looked quite a bit like the fan imagined Claire, blonde but sullen, a rebellious teenager with an angelic chip on her shoulder (and in the world of Supernatural, the descriptor angelic is not a compliment ...). Of course, given the visibility of fan work and the knowledge of fandom displayed by Supernatural producers, it is also entirely possible that the creators of the eventual “canon” version of Claire drew inspiration from the prior fan authored versions of teenage Claire.”

Louisa Stein is Associate Professor of Film & Media Culture at Middlebury College, Vermont, USA. Her work on gender and generation in media culture and transmedia authorship has appeared in numerous journals and anthologies. She is a book review editor for Cinema Journal and the Journal of Transformative Works and Cultures. She is coeditor of the collections Teen Television (McFarland, 2008) and Sherlock and Transmedia Fandom (McFarland, 2012). Her book Millennial Fandom: Television Audiences in the Transmedia Age was published by the University of Iowa Press in Fall 2015.

In conclusion:

^ This artwork is now famous.

#cambionverse #claire novak #jesse turner #ben braeden #fandom studies #fanworks #does that tag count for this???? #this textbook is worth 162 american dollars #and we are in it our fanfiction is real #I'm shooketh #what do you MEAN the real world can see us in here #frankly if we're going to do this they should all be paying us

[raguna-blade]

So i’ve had this floating in my head for a while and well...There’s going to be some obvious straightforward “That’s absolutely not what they intended, I can’t envision it as a thing cause I mean it’s that.”

But I wanna talk about the way the gacha mechanics reflect on the story of Arknights.

So here’s the thing. It’s all about trust. Literally it’s all about trust. One of the things that Arknights makes really clear in it’s story is that there is a very very real problem with people just taking things on faith and listening to each other. The big central conflict, as of now, with the issues between the infected and the non? All of it is based on a massive breach of trust because the infected to a man know that the uninfected are going to make their lives a living hell, even if they’re a model citizen. Hell even if they’re part of the big wig nobility upper class it’s basically a crapshoot if catching the in game plague is going to torpedo you to the depths of the pecking order and ruin your life or “merely” have you waste away from a degenerative disease that causes rocks to grow out of your skin, is horrifically painful, and can cause wild and terrifying super powers that can have you control temperatures wildly, suddenly start reading peoples minds, or create a horde of zombies (although admittedly these require training to use, let alone use in combat but it does seem true that the powers kinda work without it albeit probably much worse)

So trust is a big thing here obviously, and that leads me to the next point.

The Doctor is the sketchiest motherfucker I have ever seen in my life. They’re this mysterious person wrapped up in a coat that exposes exactly none of their body, they down sanity potions like water, they’re a super tactical genius the likes the world hasn’t seen, and also save for your scary Medicine Boss Lady and Their Adopted Kid (who runs your hospital knight order) nobody knows anything about them at all.

And the few people who DO know the doctor from the past seem keen to stay the hell away from him (excluding Boss Bunny, which actually considering what the Doctor was like right before their amnesia should PROBABLY be more concerning?)

And the last point before I start tying this all together, from all indications story wise? Any and all Operators that you choose to use are already there. They’re already working with or are a part of Rhodes Island proper. They’re in the background sure and they may not know the doctor personally but they are already there is the important thing.

Barring certain event characters tied to certain events they’re already part of Rhodes Island in some way.

Which leads me to my little gacha connection.

The Gacha here indicates a willingness to trust the Doctor (and perhaps if we’re gonna dive into this further, a broader connection and willingness to support RI’s cause, and an active display of trust because you know this dude is going to be sending you into a combat zone. In a story where people sometimes just hot die because sorry bro it’s a war story at least in part)

Now i’ll admit the specifics of the gacha don’t work for this perfectly because you’re calling back the same people sometimes which has weird implications (although I think you could chalk it up to doctor getting to better know people and how to pull the very best out of them if we wanna keep the story mechanic connection strong.) There’s only so much you can do with what is mechanically just rolling the dice a bunch...

Except...The Pity Mechanics have neat little implications too! There’s the Guaranteed 5/6 Star mechanic, as well as the guaranteed 6 star after I think it was 100 Rolls, as well as the Guaranteed Limited Character when you roll 300(???) times on their banner.

And Recruitment via the papers works here too.

One sec lemme order the thoughts a bit better

The Headhunting and Recruitment Rolls are, in universe terms, a character actively signing on to work with the Doctor Specifically, as well as signing on fully with Rhodes Islands objectives and ideals. It's not enough to have a business deal with them for treatment of you or your people. It's not enough to have a roof over your head. It's not enough to simply have another place to fight, or access to the person you want to fight.

You are trusting this mysterious no face no history manipulator to put you into combat situations with utter monsters and you're trusting them to either see you through it alive (which is a thing they're eeriely good at) or at least to have your death really tangibly mean something (also something in short supply on Terra). You're trusting this organization that simultaneously wants to heal the world of a horrifying disease, protect those who are infected, and also seemingly really make the world a better place (fat chance)

Not to mention the counseling the Doctor also seems to provide which you know...

That's absurd. It's insane.

And it's reflected in both Rarity Level, as well as the manner of recruitment.

Tag Recruitment pulls mostly from a pool of people already associated with Rhodes Island, with the vast majority being low level recruits. Basically all of 3* and below come from RI, and of 4* up only about half do.

That is to say, using the method that costs you the least amount of money and effort (Originium is, in universe, actually pretty valuable and useful if also you know the source of the plague) most of the people that you can actually recruit already sign on to RI's whole thing for one reason or another and everyone else is there for a variety of other reasons.

The people recruited are also generally unskilled, owing to largely being newbies or generally just not being super tough, but then this also plays into it.

RI is in general, or at least ideally anyway, a Hospital First and Military anything a distant second. Ideally, but it doesn't necessarily play out that way (or at least we as players don't get to see it, and there does seem to be a general work if you want treatment but the portrayal so far scales the work to what you can do. Kids gotta work too but for them it's like...Make some Origami, play and go to school and that's your work which could be sinister sure but seems mostly not)

But even accepting that conditions for infected are awful basically everywhere, leaving your home is a big ask, and fighting for people who may in fact end up fighting against your home is also a big ask. It's not something you're gonna see low level folks do by and by.

But the people recruitment DOES pick up who are those higher level folks? They're generally sent specifically to Rhodes Island if they didn't come specifically because they're some of the foremost scholars on the subject of Originium Infection and so on. A lot of them don't have a choice.

Understandably, no matter how skilled or powerful or conneted they are they're not gonna wanna work with you or put themselves in danger for no real reason

And then you have the cases of people who are or were leaders in their field, arguable or actual royalty, people who hold massive amounts of power who are just...Not going to trust like that. They're wise to the world, and they know what's up.

That they're also massively personally powerful is perhaps a side effect of being so high up in the ranks because when you have people who can and do hop out of planes for a snazzy entrance with no harm and at least 8 kinds of completely uninfected Juggernaut Nightmares not being absolutely shredded when you're the big leader of a place is a liability.

Which ok that tracks, but Headhunting? Headhunting is where you start finding people like Skadi who are just...Absolute freaks of nature being honest. You start seeing people who have even less reason to want to have anything to do with Rhode Islands, more guarded, more independent, less reason to be actively into RI despite being there (like Popukar who's a kid)

And then you have the limited pool characters like W and Nian who have ample reason to not want to deal with the Doctor or are just kinda bumming around and Could Help but don't want to (with secret implications to being basically a Kaiju)

And getting them is difficult and painful and nearly impossible because they don't WANT to interact with the Doctor or perhaps really want to put the effort in to do anything at all.

All of this I think is pretty sound so far. Generally speaking, higher ranked characters have less need or want to deal with the Doctor and the Larger Rhodes Island, in addition to be just being from other locations entirely.

What I think makes this more interesting though, and continues on the gacha story link is the pity mechanics.

So, going with the idea that recruitment is more or less deciding to interact with the weird person who tries to eat originium slugs(!?) it makes the decision of various high ranked operators deciding yeah you know what I'm going to go talk to this weirdo. A LOT of people seem to trust him and that's perhaps concerning, but also well...It's a lot of people. People I know (in all probability. Especially in the case of banner rolls where there's usually one or two people who know the high rank units), and even then there's some wild folks in there deciding to put their faith in them...And Heck I'm already here so why not.

And of course that feeds into the trust mechanics too mind you. The more a unit is used, the more the doctor is demonstrating their small extension of trust is proven a good decision. The Increasing potentials is understandable as the doctor coming to a greater understanding of the individual (indeed they're all tokens of trust in some way shape or form aren't they? Things that Mean something to the Operator, even if they're implied to be things that they hate to think about or be connected but still unfortunately mean something that they can't let go of). And or, for that matter, the Operator becoming more open around the Doctor. Becoming more willing to show their full strength, and honestly, playing on the trust angle, isn't it interesting that so many of the operators talents don't come into play until they've been upgraded once or even twice? But hey if we look at it through the lens of Do I trust this person, some of these talents suggest really impressive things which maybe you don't want this guy who you barely know but you're at least willing to work with to know just in case it doesn't work out. TO say nothing else of the fact that upgrades COST. It's a massive investment of money time and supplies to get an operator up there.

Which, to come back to gacha and the pity mechanics, for the two limited characters to call for (at maximum mind you. Luck as always is a factor but you know) truly EXCESSIVE amounts of rolls, and rolls that call for you burning a massive amount of supplies? It can read as, honestly, an attempt to reach out to this isolated person. Mind it's just an extension on the pity bit from before, but given the limited nature it could also be read as a “I am trying to get to know you please respond?”

And For Nian and W that may well mean something. It's a degree of effort that could read as interesting and or alarming given their respective personalities and histories.

But well..that's about as far as I can pull this I think. As always there's going to be an aspect of well “it's monetization don't think too hard about this it's for that cold hard cash” which is absolutely and unfortunately true. Still, I think it's interesting that it DOES line up as well as it does here. If it's intentional that's really cool actually but still.

#Gacha Mechanics #Story and Gameplay Integration #Arknights #W Arknights

[elskamo]

How about a Genderswap AU where Duncan & Alejandro are both women?

I love the idea of having different AUs exploring how the contestants’ experiences have changed regarding their gender. While this sort of thing was an introduction for me to explore my own identity and project onto characters I know that there are other users on here that find this topic triggering so I’m gonna answer properly under the cut so they can skip this post if they wish to. I know the ask specified an AU where they’re both female but I felt like talking about other scenarios with different genders too. This answer only has female and FTM, I did attempt to write more but my answers were getting less character specific and more generic and you deserve a better response than that. For clarity in case you aren't already aware I'm answering this as someone who's AFAB and a transguy.

I’ve talked a lot about issues with toxic masculinity and struggles with identity expression for Duncan, I really should start talking about Alejandro and his identity more now that I’ve spent some time trying to figure out his character too. In alt universes where they aren’t cisgender males I feel like both of them would still face various problems regarding their identities and how they’re perceived:

For a start the way I envision Alejandro’s experience as a teen girl would be wildly different to the way he’s portrayed on the show as a teen boy, frankly if I could I would rewrite a lot of his character as a guy! It’s no secret that Alejandro was a Latin lover stereotype that used his looks and sexuality to his advantage during World Tour but I can barely see that happening in the regular canon, let alone as a woman. Alejandra (Google says this is the female version of the name, please correct me if I’m wrong or if you headcanon a different name) would struggle a lot with being sexualised for her looks and for being “exotic” and this would have a massive impact on her mental health and self-esteem. 

I feel like she’d be very uncomfortable around boys in general and wondering if they’re only trying to use her, I find it unlikely that she’d have many, if any, male friends. Her friendships with other girls would be few and far between, unfortunately there’s always going to be girls who judge you based on other’s reactions and the way guys act around her is fuel for bullies to use as slut shaming, regardless of how Alejandra truly is. That being said she’d form some very close, loving friendships with some of the girls who are able to recognise those toxic behaviours and help her feel more comfortable in her own skin even when everyone else is trying to either tear her down or fetishize her.

Duncan has always been very sore and sensitive about his reputation and I think that’s a trait that would still be present regardless of gender even if it manifests in different ways. In canon Duncan has brothers that he seems very close to and he appears to have a much better relationship with his mother than with his dad due to his delinquent status, I can see those relationships being more or less the same however the main conflict for Donna and her father would be due to him finding her too masculine. Rather than her inner struggle being between wanting to be perceived as a bad boy but having a hidden soft side, Donna would feel conflicted around how feminine she is.

She’d grow up with brothers and feel completely comfortable roughhousing and being seen as one of the guys but as she gets older and peer pressure becomes more prominent amongst girls her age she’d start worrying about how she’s viewed by her classmates. She’s torn between being upset that her male friends don’t see her as a girl but feeling unease about making herself appear more stereotypically feminine. As she gets older she’d gain more confidence in regard to being herself rather than trying to force others to view her as either a total tomboy or an over-the-top girly girl.

I can see Alejandra and Donna having major conflict with each other to begin with due to their vastly different experiences as women before gradually growing to accept their differences and helping each other to feel more confident and comfortable in themselves and around their peers.

If Alejandro were FTM I feel that he’d spend even more time working on his body in an attempt to appear more traditionally masculine, sometimes exercising to the point of exhaustion to try and achieve his ideal figure. He’d likely also be very conscious about his clothing, attempting to keep his surgery scars covered up at all times even if he was overheating. I can see him being more wary of relationships than in canon, wanting to take things more slowly and get a feel for how his potential partners may react to him and his body before letting things get physical.

FTM Duncan would almost certainly go to extremes given his behaviour in the canon show. He’d likely be very insecure about how much smaller he his than some of the other boys he’s friends with, especially in regard to his lack of muscle. I can see him trying to go stealth and doing unsafe practices like binding too long and too tightly despite how dangerous it is and likely to hurt him. It’s also pretty likely that he equates manliness with toughness and as a result he really tries to big up how much of a man he is by constantly picking fights and bullying any of the guys he thinks he can take on.

Alejandro and Duncan wouldn’t get on at first, with Duncan in particular always trying to goad Alejandro into fighting. When the two realise that the other is transgender they find themselves constantly checking up on each other, especially when they find out about some of their more unsafe behaviours. Upon getting closer and more comfortable they won’t hesitate to call each other out on Alejandro exhausting himself and Duncan’s bad binding practices.

I was going to write about gender nonconforming/genderfluid/nonbinary stuff but it was just getting far too generic to the point that you could sub in any character and it would make no difference. I’ve spent far too long answering this ask already so I’m gonna end it here and try and give myself some time to think about some of my other interpretations before I share them, you guys deserve a properly thought out response than a few token sentences.

#total drama #transgender #genderswap #td alejandro #alejandro burromuerto #td duncan #duncan total drama #total drama duncan #duncan td #ask

[missroserose]

oh right!  It’s Wednesday.

Time for a reading meme!

What I’ve just finished reading

Paper Girls, volumes 1-6 (the complete series), by Brian K Vaughan and Cliff Chiang.  I’d subscribed to this ages ago and then dropped off reading, so three of the volumes were completely new to me, but it’d been long enough that I just went ahead and read straight through from start to finish.  A thoroughly entertaining romp; it occasionally gets compared to Stranger Things (80s-era pre-teen girls on bikes encounter supernatural phenomena) but while there’s some shared DNA, it goes entirely different places; in this case, the band of main characters encounter a temporal war of sorts, with one side wanting to work to change the future and the other invested in preserving the status quo.

Sadly for ethics nerds like me, it becomes pretty apparent towards the sixth volume that the series is less invested in exploring the (potentially fascinating) arguments on either side than it is in designing more and more fantastic cityscapes and creatures for the girls to encounter.  That said, there’s still a lot of interest here, including the budding friendship between the girls and the always enjoyable stories-out-of-order gymnastics inherent to any good time-travel tale.  I was particularly entertained by the recurrence of the apple/Apple symbolism and some of the ethical gymnastics of Team Status Quo (”It’s okay if we raise dinosaurs to ride!  We nabbed them from just before the asteroid hit Earth, so the timeline remains intact!”).  One of the writers also worked on Saga, a series whose strength has long been the contrast between fantastical large-scale scenarios and smaller, more intimate, thoroughly human drama; there’s a lot of that here, and it works better for being constrained to a smaller arc.

What I’m currently reading

The Brotherhood of the Wheel, by R.S. Belcher.  This was recommended to me by @laveracevia specifically when we were talking about audiobooks with amazing voice work, and I’ll be damned if she wasn’t 100% on point—the narrator goes from Louisiana bayou drawl to Appalachian twang to “North Carolina by way of Glasgow” without breaking an (audible) sweat.  I consider myself pretty good at reading aloud (in English, anyway)—I’ve been reading Gideon the Ninth to Brian at night, and have been able to reasonably approximate Moira Quirk’s voices, at least for the first few chapters—but I wouldn’t have the first idea where to start with this.

As to the story—so far it’s a solidly entertaining American road culture noir.  There was one sequence towards the start that had me concerned it was going to go all-in on the Grittier And Darker Than Thou aesthetic, which, okay, valid choice, it’s just not my cup of tea—but so far (a couple of hours in) it’s actually been pretty interesting, with some killer action sequences and promising characters.  I’m looking forward to seeing where it goes.

What I plan to read next

I’ve been eyeing Astrid Lindgren’s Ronja Rövardotter on my shelf, but despite having thoroughly finished Duolingo Swedish, it still seems a bit out of my vocabulary range—I managed to get maybe 30% of the first couple of paragraphs without pulling up Google Translate.  So I may have to save it for when I'm willing to invest that kind of time and effort.

Fanfiction Spotlight

I recently found myself going down a bit of a rabbit hole with, of all things, Harry Kim/Tom Paris slash.  This seems a little odd, given how my usual tastes (Wincest, David/Michael from The Lost Boys, Harringrove) all center heavily around shifting power dynamics and obsessive angst, and Star Trek: Voyager was hardly an angsty or particularly changeable show (they tried, in places, but were overall roundly defeated by the arguably overbearing can-do optimism of 90s-era Star Trek).  I think it’s been about nostalgia as much as anything; Voyager was the first show I ever wrote fanfic for (in long-form, on a paper tablet from OfficeMax with a colorful border I can still envision), waaaaaay back in high school before I even knew fanfiction was a thing.  So there’s something weirdly comforting, here in these profoundly uncertain times, in reading these stories where the stakes are relatively low and nothing feels particularly life- or universe-threatening.

I particularly enjoyed Epiphany, by @rembrandtswife.  The premise is so thoroughly 90s fandom:  a sexually enlightened alien culture contrives to lead our main characters—in this case, Paris, Kim, and B’Elanna Torres—through the realization of their feelings for each other.  That’s it, that’s basically the story.  But its genuine earnestness is honestly endearing, and the author’s clearly put a lot of thought into the aesthetic; and there’s something I can’t quite pin down about the sex scenes that really sticks with me—a certain quiet vulnerability, maybe, that I think is undervalued in a lot of contemporary fic (cue that post about how orgasms always hit like a truck or a freight train...).  In any case, I enjoyed visiting that world, and it’s given me a bit to think about in my own writing.  (Also, if I might indulge my inner 13 year old for a moment, I’m rather entertained at having offered up the 69th kudos. XD )

#wednesday reading #paper girls #brian k vaughan #cliff chiang #the brotherhood of the wheel #r.s. belcher #epiphany #rembrandtswife #star trek: voyager

[tonspy8]

Our Home Decorating Diaries

"Do not run the risk of losing one buyer to gain another by picking personal shades for the future purchaser," Campbell stated. "The buyer intends to pre-visualize their own colors or home furnishings as well as a "blank canvas" is ideal for this. If the existing decoration is light as well as enjoyable, it is not necessary to repaint." While you go to it, take an excellent, straightforward take a look at the exterior paint of your residence, Orth suggested.

Don't Over-Decorate You do not want your decorating design to take control of your residence remodeling to the point where the buyers can not envision your house enhanced in their own design. "Lots of people have a hard time seeing past the style and also decoration," Wildowsky claimed. "Some homes are so 'done' that it is difficult to disguise the look, as well as if the style doesn't match the purchaser's preferences, it is commonly very difficult to picture it various." Orth has actually likewise seen lots of "over decorated" homes, as well as worries that the style should enhance the design of the house.

"Shop some art, paint and also patch the wall surfaces, eliminate any type of personal effects that does not boost the design of the house." By including this enhancing pointer you are drawing in purchasers as well as can potentially offer your house for even more cash. If you recognize you're mosting likely to be marketing your home in a year or much less, you may do much better to employ a designer to re-do the home with an eye to marketing than to make it specifically the way you 'd like it, Campbell claimed, also though "attractive layout is a sign of quality and also value.

When doubtful: Accessorize Orth worries the relevance of the home's outside and also entranceway, as well as recommends adding a pot of flowers to the front steps healthy and balanced, well-tended, growing flowers, that is replacing the doorknob, washing down the front door, and also having the home windows skillfully cleaned. This is just another of the many home-decorating concepts for marketing your home for even more money.

Recently, she had a young bachelor selling his area, which was furnished in "early university" design, and also was devoid of any of the ornamental touches that make an area really feel like home. To make matters worse, she claims, "Cleansing was plainly not his highest possible concern." "We asked for that the vendor hire a business cleaner to scrub inside out, which he did, and I asked for a gratuity of $200, which I used to acquire cost-effective toss pillows, a lap covering, candle lights, a brand-new blanket and also cushion shams," she said.

Ten people came through that day. We obtained two deals immediately and accepted an offer extremely near asking cost two days later." The seller wound up keeping the toss pillows and other products, as well as took them with him to his brand-new apartment or condo. "Could we have sold the home without having done all of that? Ultimately, yes.

Whether you are thinking about selling your own home or are assisting customers by providing residence embellishing suggestions so they can revamp their residence prior to it goes on the marketplace, keep in mind that these adjustments both large as well as tiny will give possible buyers a good first impact of the home and also perhaps even make the sale.

It's called "comfort decorating," and also it can offer a sense of normality also when every little thing around us really feels, well, not extremely typical. For extra on what comfort designing is and how to do it, look into this guide with great deals of suggestions from Apartment or condo Treatment. Small touches can make a big distinction.

Bring in some nostalgia with old challenge remind on your own regarding what's important in your life, and also swap them out routinely if they make your space feel cluttered. A sense of control over your space, states Augustin, "boosts your state of mind, and also that aids you quadrate others as well as helps you address problems efficiently." For a lot more on convenience decorating and also ideas for your residence, from Augustin as well as indoor developer Dabito, press use the sound over or pay attention below.

There isn't one universal definition of taste. This is your preference, and also where you will certainly live. Here are a couple of suggestions for equipping your brand-new residence. 1. Settle Your Things Part of establishing your furnishing budget is recognizing what you would such as to maintain and what you will certainly require to purchase.

Prep Before the Schlep As a rule of thumb for interior design, occupying carpeting or painting the walls are a lot less complicated to do prior to any kind of furniture is brought into your home. Before move-in day, it might be clever to produce a listing of any modifications you want to make to the existing inside.

#Home

[jochmus]

A Discussion of One Approach to a Universal Characteristic

I have felt inspired yesterday to make this attempt as a text post on Tumblr. By the subject’s weighty history and definition, it should by no means be an easy endeavor. However, there are two individuals from my readings that have inspired me, named John Locke and George Polya. Although I own both of the texts that interest me by these men, I have not read those specific texts unfortunately. Another influence was the eloquence of Euclid’s axioms, indeed I have not read the Elements either except for like the first page. I tend to become distracted very easily, and this is not something that I am very proud of. 

Now I must reveal my passion for the works of Ramon Llull. He was the guy behind the most complete version of Characteristica Universalis, but that is only because he managed to inspire Leibniz to come up with his Characteristica, which was never really worked on or implemented, and the system that Llull created is called Ars Magna, in four distinct stages. The term Ars Magna itself with regards to Llull refers to the Ternary Art, which refers to the wheels or volvelles that he used have elements or principles being divisible by 3. Furthermore this also by coincidence is the third phase of the art, but the phase and divisibility of the wheels are distinct things. 

Enough of Llull. Leibniz is really the only person to be regarded here, as it can be assumed that he wished to update Ars Magna to the science of the time and his own distinguished opinion. That being said, he never managed to create such a thing, but merely wrote to his collaborators and associates about what a proper implementation of this Universal Characteristic would look like. His letters are somewhere in the order of magnitude of 10^5, which is a complicated way of saying 10,000. Indeed I do not remember the estimated number from the Wiki, but I do believe it was something like 30,000. 

By the way, the Wiki does list 21 different attempts at Characterica Universalis, which is the number if I recall correctly, that this scholarly text on Llull mentioned that the man had written this many different version of his system. Quite interesting, but I cannot lower myself into base numerology. That has been superseded. To return to Ramon Llull for a moment, the man allegedly got his system from the Sufis. This precursor system is called Zairja, and there are a couple of texts available on that subject, one written by modern scholars and another written by a Tunisian historian who wrote the Muqaddimah. A hint for those of you curious about the latter text: The chapter about Zairja is in the third volume of that text, and is available on the Internet Archive. 

Back to Leibniz; for some reason essay writing is quite tiring. From what we can discern about what he stated that this system would look like, well I have some bad news. Leibniz simply took the diagram that Empedocles created in antiquity and said “There.” What I mean by this is that Leibniz just took the four elements and their supposed connections, in doing so adding another four nodes to the diagram, and being content with drawing lines between said nodes in order to ratiocinate (think) on paper. Anyone can tell that this is follysome since we now know for a fact that the Classical Elements theory is rubbish. In fact, I have a hot take that it was not only responsible for the idea of “race,” but also the idea of depression. I have created an acronym for the various iterations of Classical Element theory, that is “EHTR” (pronounced ‘ether’) or Element-Humor-Temperament-”Race.” Indeed this may come as quite a shock everyone, but Kant the philosopher was really racist and decided to rank the “races.” I am not going to get into this, but I will say that it may have become esoteric or something through the likes of Manly P. Hall, who mentioned the same scheme Kant used, albeit reordering some things, after the latter mapped it to an analogy about the caste system mentioned in the Bhagavad Gita. I can feel the cancelation brewing already. 

There are probably many different ways to attain this Universal Characteristic. I find that I have provided enough introductory information on this subject, so let us move on to the main part of this essay. Unfortunately, this whole thing was spurred on by a feeling of grandiosity, so I really don’t know how valid my intuition is. Furthermore I forgot what it was that I could use to implement Charicterica Universalis. That being said, I think it was along the lines of a study of analogy, using mathematics, so that we could potentially describe the various processes that underlie reality. The other part was a return to metaphysics proper, or the three general distinguishing features of it according to some textbook, those features being categorization (which is what I consider to be important in particular with regards to this endeavor), thinking and a sense of supremacy regarding the method. Personally I really don’t think that the last one means much, and is in fact a detriment to updating philosophy as should be periodically done in my opinion. Science will always push the boundaries. 

I am going to split the remainder of this essay into three parts: The first part will be about analogy; the second, categorization; and thirdly an obscure paradox that I came up with last night, as a bonus for making it to the end of the essay. You could just skip to the paradox, if you would like, in fact I will bold the title for you, in case I have wasted too much of your time and am boring you. 

On Analogy

I envision analogy as not something fundamental, as the man who wrote Zen and the the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance stated that analogy is irreducible to sub-elements; and I argue against that position taken by the author of that text. I am honestly getting tired of writing and I have written the later parts of this essay before I wrote this part, so here goes nothing. 

In the next part I briefly mention knot and graph theory. I envision analogies as graphs, as I was inspired by Schrödinger’s book What is Life that the genetic material was a crystal. Not true, but why could this crystal represent mimesis, as opposed to “genesis?” (Genesis as in genes, an improper way to say that mind you.) Yes, I really think that this is the case, but it does sound kind of crazy now that I have it on paper after having it in my mind for a few years. I don’t know. I dislike the designation that Dawkins created for such things, the “meme” which he literally took from some German scientist with the same first name, and removed the ‘n’ in mneme to create this Internet garbage we see today. 

Then there are the developments with the idea of metaphor. I don’t really feel like getting into these because I am too tired and I keep making typing mistakes. Just know that it is possible to limit portions of the structure of the analogy to make it more congruent with other analogies or structures. Lastly, it really feels like the literary criticism movement is starting to claim all of the universe as its “text.” That is a portion of Structuralism, at least, according to PhilosophyTube. She stated that Structuralism started as literary criticism, and what do we as human beings do? Why we map the text to the whole of the universe. Some could argue that is a kind of metaphysics were it to be loosely understood. ...

On Categorization

The general gist of what I am thinking of here is that Ars Magna’s major issue is that it is not chaotic enough, if that makes any sense. What I am attempting to get at here is the thing about the questions generated in that system solely referring to the statements created. There is no architecture or complexity there to be studied and afterwards engineered, as it is just base multiplication to generate the questions. What I would like, is for the creation of the questions to be irreversible and chaotic, indeed those are separate things, much like the weather. Knot theory, or graph theory would come into play here, I am not sure which but that is what my intuition is telling me. Also, many statements could be superimposed to generate a set of questions, or a single question. Hopefully my mathematical studies will enable me to investigate this further in the future. 

It must be stated now that the whole category term does apply in my opinion to Ars Manga. This is because the system abstracts the categories into a table of about 54 “elements” which are then combined a second time to produce very short strings of text, for instance “BCD.” Of course, the strings could very well be longer, and could incorporate more intricacy in this manner, but it is really the interaction between all of these strings which constitutes the architecture of the system, although this is done in a manner contrary to the mainstream Lullists, which is an anachronism, really. 

Case in point the categories must translate into natural phenomena and vice versa. At the same time, if the categories were generative, then they must be irreversible in order to be as intricate as possible. The sky is the limit with this, “New Lullism.” I don’t feel like explaining any more, but if someone wants me to tell them about why the standard categories must be reversible, and the generative categories the reverse, then I will explain this another day. Indeed, it may be a false distinction; there may very well be four types of category system, that is:

Standard reversible;

Generative reversible (Ars Magna);

Standard irreversible;

Generative irreversible.

That is all for this part.

The Paradox

There is a possibility for a Universal Library, but the one available on the Internet is not feasible for conducting research on, because it is an art website and is not powerful enough to locate texts and be practical. I am talking about an implementation for the Universal Library called the Library of Babel. You can visit the website at libraryofbabel.info. I do not have the energy to disclose the theory behind this whole thing right now, but on request I will write about it another day. 

The mathematical constant “pi” supposedly does not repeat. Yet there is a trichotomy to be established here, when the constant is juxtaposed with the Universal Library, either; 

1). The Universal Library is effected by Gödel’s Incompleteness Theorem (was stated by two separate mathematics professors to likely be the case);

2). Pi does indeed repeat minute portions of itself after a significantly large computation of it is conducted, with an upper bound order of magnitude of around 10^5000. Note that this is a back-of-hand calculation;

3). Pi cannot be mapped to the Universal Library.

This trichotomy may indeed be defective as I am not trained in logic, and also I had to make up the last one as I forgot what it was. Oh well.

Thank you very much for reading all of this. Have a swell day. 

#characteristica universalis #ramon llull #leibniz #essay #ars magna

[imaginingnyaya]

The Importance of Imagination

Image from the graphic essay The Lyricism and Audacity of the Adivasi Imagination by Durgabai Vyam

An image in the mind. A conglomerate of ideas. The fusion of subjective aesthetics. Its theoretical roots are embedded in western philosophy, however, imagination preservers at all times. An enquiry into imagination stipulates a categorical search of the referential image. How has the attempt of creating an image in the mind's eye transferred into our reality? Especially, in terms of the social world. Politically, we can trace the power and influence of an idea world-wide. The Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy, defines the act to imagine as that which represents "without aiming at things as they actually, presently, and subjectively are. One can use imagination to represent possibilities other than the actual, to represent times other than the present, and to represent perspectives other than one’s own."

Radical imagination opens a plethora of possibilities of how the world could possibly look without oppressive systems such as capitalism leading the deterioration of human health and vitality. In Tamara Myers doctoral dissertation at the University of Washington, titled Teaching Toward Utopia: Promise, Provocation, and Pain in Pedagogies of Radical Imagination, Myers points out the pervasiveness of a 'damage-centred' approach towards social justice teachings rather than a 'desire-centred' approach which would acknowledge the humanness of our collective experiences, dreams and desires. A damage centred approach looks to salvage an escape in the structural oppression and legal frameworks to document and gain personal or material output. Ignoring, the desire for transformation. In this sense, of endless bureaucracy, any inkling to imagine a desired community or world is squashed. Myers notes the reactions her students have when asked about dreams of change, she states that some students believe exploitation and ‘permutations of domination that humans enact are inevitable and that the greed, competition, and violence they perceive around them are biologically-based urges, unavoidable parts of human nature. Others come up blank, explaining that they have never been asked to consider what kind of community or world they would prefer to inhabit. This is true even among students who say they are very dedicated to transformative change. It is true even as the pain many of them feel in light of these pessimistic worldviews is evident and their deep desire for alternative ways of understanding the world and creating material changes is palpable...’ Beyond the initial scepticism of hope itself, we see our collective desires colliding. There is enormous potential in the commonality of our dreams. However, it is crucial to first peel away the layers of oppression imprinted within us.

Patrick Reinsborough in his essay De-colonizing the revolutionary imagination, powerfully states 'The system we are fighting is not merely structural it’s also inside us, through the internalization of oppressive cultural norms which define our worldview. Our minds have been colonized to normalize deeply pathological assumptions. Thus often times our own sense of self- defeatism becomes complicit with the anesthetic qualities of a cynical mass media to make fundamental social change unimaginable.' Un-imagine-ability is the tool of the oppressor. The more fine-tuned our ability to hope and envision change are, the more powerful our movements can be. Quincy, one of the participants in Myer's study, talks about the hypocrisy in traditional left movements who are trying to move towards justice, "I think another reason imagination is especially important now or kind of democratizing of people's involvement in imagining alternatives is important is that I think all of the traditional leftist approaches to organizing have proven themselves to be pretty futile or bankrupt. Like traditional business unions and political parties and NGOs and bureaucratic nonprofits and I think one of the biggest problems with all those institutions is that they allow the kind of division of labor within them between the leaders who get to design the visions for the movement and those who follow the visions. So I think breaking out of that division of labor and enabling everybody who's involved in the movement to be part of constructing the visions for what the world should look like is pretty crucial." Being critical of the world is necessary, however, we shouldn't stop there. It is important to create politically imaginary spaces too. The growth of ecological illiteracy, capitalist domination, and increasing control over certain bodies that are female, femme, Dalit, Adivasi and queer is a by-product of exclusionary pathological world-views rooted in colonialism, domination and patriarchal power politics. A shift in fundamental praxis towards radical imagination immersed in creativity, vision and collaboration integrates to conceptualise what can only be called, an ideal world.

In Affinities, a web-based journal that focuses on groups, movements, and communities that set out to construct sustainable alternatives to the racist, hetero-sexist, system of liberal-capitalist nation-states, published an issue on radical imagination, they quote Buck Morss, an American philosopher, Morss characterises, 'the political imaginary as a “topographical concept,” a concrete visualised political field in which actors are positioned amidst both horizons of possibility and the actually existing power structures within which people live, desire, and dream.' Re-framing the way we look at the shape of societies, through the lens of imagination, we can grasp the contours of specific ideas. Morss also highlights, 'the fact that political regimes are grounded not merely in their broad promises of equality, justice, prosperity and freedom but also in the everyday lived reality of people’s sense of collectivity and possibility and the way these senses are expressed through material culture and especially private and public space. For instance...the way “dreamworlds” operated through things like public monuments, commodity advertising, domestic technologies, and public architecture, insisting that the political imagination is far from immaterial.' Paradoxically, we are living in a world constructed by a certain group or groups of people who are continuing to envision a utopian society that is not only small but exclusive. Is a shift in our collective symbolic ideas of who this dominant utopia is serving out of reach?

In Affinities, the authors also discuss the relationship of imagination with modern subjectivity. They cite anthropologist Arjun Appadurai's work, an Indian-American theorist, who 'has called the imagination...a “constitutive feature of modern subjectivity.” He also goes further, ‘suggesting that as the imagination has broken out of the rarefied spaces within which it was once celebrated – in myth, art, and ritual – and become a part of the work done by many on a daily basis, it has become a “collective, social fact.” ...imagination’s common expression “can become the fuel for action.” Appadurai traces this possibility to mass media and mass migrations, both of which he sees as characteristic features of globalization and capable of cultivating “diasporic public spheres,” the first manifestations of a truly “postnational political order.” The relevance of this assertion for us here is not so much Appadurai’s analysis of globalizing forces as his conviction that the imagination, when expressed collectively, is a potentially world-changing force. For Appadurai, as globalization continues to destabilize older modes of social collectivity (from nations to religions, from tribes to castes) the possibilities and perils of new imaginaries are almost unlimited leading both to new struggles for justice and new reactionary movements.' We are already inhabiting imaginations. Some formed through consensus, others, in passivity. Before we expect policies, the law or institutions to change, I believe it is vital we re-construct our own imaginations or capabilities to imagine, especially, if we live with privilege, because it is the fastest, effective yet extremely onerous work in which we can transform ourselves and try to eradicate the systematic issues of justice we know exists in the world today. Of course, we need larger institutions and entities to participate, it is mandatory for any sense of scaled change. Our ability to imagine has never been a more fierce act of revolution. Our imaginations should be free. To write, theorise, collectivise and act.

I would like to leave you with a quote from Cornell West, an American political activist, he describes what he calls audacious hope, “the ability to take action when there is little evidence that doing so will produce a positive outcome” maybe, we need more audacious hope in the days to come.

References:-

Teaching Toward Utopia: Promise, Provocation, and Pain in Pedagogies of Radical Imagination - https://digital.lib.washington.edu/researchworks/handle/1773/27456

Affinities - https://ojs.library.queensu.ca/index.php/affinities/issue/view/573

DE-COLONIZING THE REVOLUTIONARY IMAGINATION - https://www.patrickreinsborough.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/De-ColonizingRevolutionaryImagination.pdf

#india #imagination #social justice #law #justice #love #indigenous art #tribal india #revolution #activism #art

[redspiderling]

MCU Breakdown: That b-roll called Endgame, part 2

This mess has been swirling around my mind all day and I can safely say that once I managed to block individual offences and look at the greater picture, I was able to reach a conclusion that might bring some peace to my mind and, hopefully, yours too.

We’re not here to once again simply exhibit how this movie failed to express itself in a visual way, we’ll go a step further because I’m an asshole like that.

We’re here to explain why the failure of visual expression cheapens the story-telling process and leads to an unfulfilling cinematic experience.

I’m adding a “read more” this time because I actually remembered to do it.

Let’s ease ourselves into this.

Exhibit 1: Not using any visual storytelling elements.

This is the moment Pepper realises Tony has figured out time travel. That they can -potentially- travel back in time and save trillions of lives. And it’s shot, like this

Like a picture from a furniture catalogue. I’m saying furniture catalogue not only because the shot is 80% furniture and 20% character. Not just because it is quite dark, and the pieces that are drawing the attention of our eyes are the various lamps and candles, bright and shiny in an otherwise brownish, muddy frame. 

This moment hasn’t earned its existence in our minds as an emotionally charged one. 

It’s not just that Tony was never the character who envisioned himself as someone capable of “settling down”. It’s that our brains have been trained for centuries to look for visual clues. The wringing of hands, the beads of sweat on a forehead, nervous gestures, restlessness. The symbolism of a storm in the horizon that trouble is coming. They’re all simple things but they’re layers upon layers of meaning.

The trouble isn’t just that the Tony we know is not the Tony we’re looking at. It’s that the way the story unfolds, visually, doesn’t fill us with dread. Instead we are left looking at an image of a somewhat peaceful existence void of any emotional charge. 

How this scene represents the “enormous scientific revelation will restore balance to the universe but will potentially ruin our family” sentiment, is an enquiry for me to make and for the Endgame show runners to never explain.

Exhibit 2: Using visual storytelling elements wrongly

To move forward from that significant for all its insignificance moment, it’s old news in the fandom that Endgame took the concept of found family and kicked it to an alternate dimension. 

What we are looking at here, is the New “But Actually Really Damn Old” Dream of the MCU: Typical affluent white heteronormative Heaven. 

And yet that’s not the problem. It is a problem, in the general “this is the 21st century and it takes a bit more to impress us” sense, but it’s not a problem from the perspective of a story. You can tell good stories for us all to enjoy that begin and end with this narrative, as long as you do it well. 

It is quite obvious that the basic concepts of visual storytelling are known to these people. And they do attempt to use them on occasion. We’re talking about visual clues that will help nudge the viewer in the right direction, so that when the moment comes, the viewer will have seen it coming and won’t get annoyed. 

Thus one could easily assume any form of foreshadowing is better than no foreshadowing, right?

Perhaps. But from my experience, certainly not in this instance. This is one of the big problems with this film, it is not certain where to draw the line on just how much does the viewer know? Is this their first MCU film? Second? Did they see Cap 1 and skip the rest?

Our story tellers don’t use all the information they have provided us with, and that creates traps for them. Even when they do attempt to warn us for what is coming they create more trouble for themselves. Because foreshadowing needs to be consistent. And dead ex girlfriends who got married more than 50 years ago, are not a likely candidate for a love story in the mind of the viewers.

Visual story telling is crucial and it needs to be consistent. You can show me hints that I will pick up on. 

Here's Steve in the Avengers. He's certainly a man out of time, with his old man clothes.   

Thankfully, by the time the Winter Soldier appeared, he was fitting in quite well in the world. A modern man now, with a modern attire.

So I'm left to watch in bewilderment and wonder, why is Steve back in his old man clothes in Endgame? 

When did this regression occur? Viewers are not idiots. Like I said, we are trained to pick up on visual clues, it's crucial to our survival in the world. If I see a monkey eat seeds from a tree and then die, I'll remember not to eat from that tree.

I see the attempt here. The lack of colour and hope in the frame where Steve gazes longingly at the old compass, the soft, dream-like orange of his perfect life with his little wife. I can take a hint. Do I want it though? Have you prepared me for it? Does it make sense in terms of the other visual clues you've provided me with over the years?

Exhibit 3: Shifting the responsibility

Did I mention how much Marvel lucked out with the casting?

There’s 0 visual language employed. There’s no symbolism, no light, colour or perspective of happiness, or hope, or hopelessness. The only thing between those two pictures that says Tony and Natasha are not having some really strange conversation with each other right now, is the expression on their faces.

The fulfilment Tony found in parenthood and Natasha’s heartbreak over Clint’s crimes is visible only through the talent of the performers, not through any visual clues the show runners left behind for us. 

Natasha stressing

Professor Hulk and Dr Strange paying their respects

Clint’s guilt

Wanda remembering her dead loved ones

Complex emotional moments laid entirely on the shoulders of the actors. Which isn’t entirely a condemnable thing, talented actors can pull strong emotions from their audiences, but they can only do so much. 

Lets reference a pop culture legend most of you will understand

We don’t remember Luke finding out the truth about his father just because  Mark Hamill is a really good actor. We remember it because in that moment, Luke had been brought to his lowest point. He was worn from battle, his life was hanging from a thread. Darth Vader was looming over him, the personification of everything he hated and in that moment he found out that a part of him came from that evil. 

That build up was the result of a well written script, of a masterful piece of music, a visual tone that brought us to the brink of a revelation. The performance was part of the tale that will be retold for generations. 

In conclusion 

While there have been literally dozens upon dozens of articles about fans and viewers and critics having “issues” with this or that in Endgame, the truth is that our real problem, is this mixed bag of hardly ever used, or wrongly used storytelling elements. One that has been building up to a disastrous result for years.

And while all that is the least of Endgame’s crimes in the eyes of a Natasha fan (I have a personal vendetta against the film at this point) I still can’t help but bemoan the loss of a singular opportunity for creating a milestone in cinematic history. 

Because if we can’t revisit Endgame for its story due to a complete lack in originality, and we can’t revisit it for its visuals, we won’t revisit it at all. And with it most of the MCU will go down as a piece of popular media that took the world by storm, but won’t have much to recommend it 10, 20 years from now. And isn’t that a shame. Edit: If you’re wondering why they messed up this badly, there’s a long list of reasons:

This wasn’t actually planned ahead. They didn’t write all the films from the beginning, they were making things up as they went along, so they created pitfalls for themselves.

They ignored the visual language.

They went along with weak scripts.

For Endgame specifically, they did ridiculously extensive re-shoots, which resulted in messy set ups (misplaced items on set, badly lit scenes, bad special effects) and bad editing.

They bit off more than they could chew with the amount of characters presented on screen, and never managed to create complete and fulfilling storylines for them.

Finally, they allowed bigotry and sexism to affect their judgement, thus placing the viewer against their narrative.

#I think this is the kindest post I've made for this tag #endless endgame bashing #MCU Breakdown #I did not spend money on Disney products i.e. paying to watch this film when writing this post #the theatre ticket is shameful enough