#and I get that everyone has opinions but it’s definitely a consensus along the lines of ‘this is sad and edgy so ofc it’s better’ and like

[sirgogington]

This might be a little unorganized and is definitely an unpopular opinion in this community, but I'm going to say it anyway. Feel free to unfollow. I wasn't going to post about it, but honestly I am so upset for George in this situation. I want to preface that I am a 28 year old female so maybe my thinking is a little different due to that.

The more I read about people's reactions to the George situation the more angry I feel. George was being accused of sexual assault, and the consensus is "he fucked up and should have asked for consent."

My bold take is that I have little sympathy for Caiti. She is a woman who regrets flirting with George, which she has the right to. But her story really made it seem like George randomly started touching her inappropriately, forced her to drink more when she was already drunk, purposely preyed on her because she was 18, and followed her out of the room to the elevator.

None of these things happened. She was drunk beforehand and her friends that she went to Dreams room with wanted to play drinking games. George didn't randomly start touching her. They were sitting together on the couch playing a game with the rest of the group and mutually decided to start cuddling. Caiti got up multiple times and would always come back and cuddle with George. Over the hour of cuddling they were flirting with each other, playfighting etc. When cuddling George started with his hands on her hips above her clothes, and then after he assumed she was comfortable with what he was doing, given the previous signals of her laughing, smiling, and coming back to cuddle with him then he placed his hands on her waist under her clothes. He said he would slowly move them up after awhile. She didn't show any signs of being uncomfortable. She could have pushed his hand away or told him she was uncomfortable with that, but she didn't. She could of left if she felt uncomfortable or sat somewhere else, but she didn't. She also didn't have to walk with George to the elevator, but she did. She didn't have to keep in contact with him afterwards but again she did. It's no wonder why George was understandably confused, and assumed everyone had had a fun night that night, and was blindsided by these accusations. George said that he made a joke about the elevator being broken, but saw when she wasn't open to getting in the elevator with her then he backed off.

Her friends also knowingly put her this situation. They left her unattended while she was drunk in the hotel room with Dream and George and whoever else was left. Going to a drinking social at 18 is a risky situation in the first place, this is why in college I avoided frat parties because I knew what could potentially happen if I went.

George literally did not do anything wrong, and people are painting him as a monster. Now that Caiti did this stream he has lost a lot of his fanbase and friends for no reason, because God forbid you support George. If you support George you must hate woman, because he's evil. Like people have said this could have all been handled privately. Just simple communication like "hey I actually regret what happened at Vidcon, and I didn't actually like that you were cuddling me looking back" or something along those lines. If George is a decent person which it seems like he is he would say okay and apologize most likely, and they could have not had this nasty drama for no reason.

I believe there is non-verbal consent, and most people in that type of situation would rely on that more than verbal consent. They test things like George was doing and slowly progress things. He could have asked if she was okay with it, but she was showing all the signs over the 3 hours that she was. He's not making you stay if you get uncomfortable. Where non-verbal consent doesn't work is if George would have groped her after a half our of flirting. That would absolutely be wrong, and need to be apologized for.

George was defensive in his video because he needed to be. After being accused of all these things you didn't do, and Caiti leaving out details you would be defensive to. She made him out to look really bad. She blew the situation way out of proportion and George has to suffer due to this. I really think that George didn't need to post the extra apology tweet, that the livestream would of been enough to show that he had no malicious intentions and was sorry that Caiti felt strongly about what had happened.

The whole support victims things in this situation makes me upset as well. There were no victims because there was no sexual assault. Yet if you don't say I 100% support the victim then suddenly your evil and hate woman. Without there being a victim it seems dumb to put that but if you don't then you're follower count also takes a hit as a content creator. George didn't fuck up, he acted in a way most men would, and probably even in a more gentleman like way to be honest.

It also upset me as someone who has experienced very real sexual assault. The guy was 25 and I was 18. I didn't want anything sexual/romantic with him because I could see the age gap, and told him that. He invited me to his apartment which I thought would be innocent because I presented my boundaries, but then he started taking off my clothes and telling me I was okay with it over and over until I believed him and let it happen, while feeling really uncomfortable. My body language did not show any interest, just confusion. I remember answering "I don't know" when he asked for consent to touch me, but he would just keep asking until I said okay. He purposely preyed on the younger women because he knew they were easier to coerce and more vulnerable. Looking back I didn't really knew where I stood on hook up culture. He convinced me he could teach me a few things that I could use with my sexual partners in the future. Luckily it never progressed to him taking my virginity. He bragged about how many girls he had slept with, and how many he had took their virginity. I would have been just a number to him. I am so much more than just a number. (he did a lot of other sexual things with me after coercing me into saying okay. Stuff I can detail if you care to know. I remember saying out loud that I was glad that I still had my virginity and I'm glad he didn't take it afterall. Not purposely leaving out, but it was way more than Caiti had experienced with George. For my situation there was a high likelihood it would happen again to another girl like me, and I remember wanting to warn them. It's different because my attacker did have malicious intents even though he disguised it as me consenting.) Being in the mindset I am now I would have never let any of it happen, but I am much more in tune with my thoughts and opinions on things. I would have noticed all the red flags and I would have never put myself in a 1 on 1 situation with an older guy like that or any guy unless I were dating them.

Outside the fandom I've noticed that a lot of people agree with me in this. It's just within the fandom that people are of this support the victim mindset, even when said victim turns out to not have been a victim of anything. I don't know if it's different with younger people that you have to ask for verbal consent for everything, but it just seems dumb. Everyone was also drunk and not thinking straight so sober minded Georgenotfound would have probably asked for consent before he moved his hands up. It's hard to know. I think other content creators probably do agree with me, but they aren't able to have their own opinions, which to me seems gross and fake. We can't genuinely know how content creators feel on certain issues because if were to tell what they truly thought and it wasn't the majority consensus then they risk their viewership which is also twisted.

#georgenotfound #gnf #rambling #SA #my thoughts #I feel like I'm insane for thinking this due to this fandoms standards #my experience

[turbulentscrawl]

Survivors, Hunters, and Promiscuity

Basically, who’s willing to get freaky outside of a relationship. I was actually a little torn while thinking about this. Like, I think it was a bit less common to hookup at the time most of these people came from…but also everyone is kinda stuck in a pocket dimension for eternity, so, ya know.... As a reminder, I don’t write cheating tropes, so this is all above-board, consensual, non-exclusive, etc. etc.

Let’s Get Freaky

Luca. I think he would definitely prefer to sleep with a partner, but I also think he probably got around a bit before the accident. He was popular and passionate, so people were drawn to him, but he was also too busy for a serious relationship. As long as he likes someone’s company he sees no reason to not enjoy their body too, if they invite him. However, he’s also more likely than some of the others to catch feelings for whomever he sleeps with.

Luchino. He’s got a pretty high libido and has no problem separating feelings from sex. As long as he doesn’t hate you, and there’s mutual attraction, he’s down to clown.

Norton. He’d take a bit to build some trust first, but after that he’s down for a quicky. He understands that hormones run high sometimes, and it doesn’t have to mean anything beyond needing to get off. Outside of a relationship, though, he doesn’t like undressing a ton, so it really will be a quicky. He doesn’t necessarily need to like you, either. I don’t recommend a hate-fuck, but hey if that’s what you’re into.

Naib. He’s of the opinion that this unconventional situation calls for taking your comforts where you can get them. He’s also pretty good at keeping sex and feelings separate, but requires a base-line trust level like Norton. He can’t be watching his back when his dick is out. He understands craving intimacy, so he’s willing to be sensual even for one-off hookups.

Fiona. As long as you’re not the crude type, she’s alright with some fun between the sheets. She can keep feelings and sex separate as long as she can isolate from you for a few days after the fact. Gotta cancel out that post-sex dopamine.

Mike. He’s fun, friendly, and lived life constantly on the move! He’s fine with flings, but would prefer something like FWB, if not an actual relationship. He trusts friends to communicate with him more, which takes more stress off his shoulders and keeps things lighthearted.

Patricia. As long as she’s attracted to you and you get along, she’s down. Frankly, she’s always been a bit impatient and has trouble waiting for the things she wants. (Your body included.) Who needs those drawn-out courting rituals when she’s got a perfectly good bed upstairs?

Orpheus. If he finds you interesting, he’s probably willing. He doesn't even really need to like you--he's another willing to hate-fuck. His libido is lower than others, though, and he’s busy, so hookups won’t happen as often as with others. Also a little more likely to develop feelings for his bedroom partner…though they may be based more in possessiveness than romantic interest.

Antonio. He would strongly prefer a relationship, but certainly doesn’t begrudge anyone for attraction or urges. He gives in himself, from time-to-time, but he does require trust and physical attraction, as a baseline.

Phillipe. He craves comfort and release. He’s not as likely to seek out others for sex, but if you come to him there’s a decent chance he’ll agree. He prefers to have feelings for his bedroom partner, but it’s honestly not a requirement. Also willing to hate-fuck. He’d be weird about a FWB. Like, you’re platonically involved, why do you want to see his dick??

Fool’s Gold. Don’t know if I recommend this…but you know what, you do you. Definitely hate-fucks. (He hates pretty much everyone, so there you have it.)

In Certain Conditions/ It’s Complicated

Joker. He’d rather be in a relationship…but he’d say yes when his feelings are deep enough. He’s afraid you only want him for sex…but he can’t always resist the “take what you can get” mindset.

Vera. The circumstances are a bit dubious, but she finds sex to be a good distraction. Another one of those bad coping habits she leans on when she’s a bit desperate. Deep down, she’d rather sleep with someone she’s exclusive with.

Emily. She could do a FWB, but wouldn’t just do random hookups. She needs there to be a certain level of trust.

Eli. He would strongly prefer to be in a relationship first, but if you have some reasonable apprehension about commitment, he’s understanding…and can be seduced.

Demi. She’s very friendly and understanding…but she has other things on her mind. She takes no offense to propositions, but need time to decide she can have frivolities like sex while still worrying about her brother.

Ganji. He would maybe do a FWB or a situation-ship of some kind, but he’s only interested in sleeping with someone he knows returns his feelings. If for some reason you can’t do a proper relationship yet, that’s fine, but he can’t do one-sided physical affection.

Frederick. Is willing to sleep with anyone he has romantic interest in. You don’t have to be dating already, but he does require a certain level of intimacy built outside of the bedroom. In other words, wine and dine him.

Joseph. If he sleeps with you, he’s been pining for a while. You don’t have to be exclusive yet for him to break, though.

Alva. You don’t have to be exclusive yet, but if Alva is taking you to bed then you should know he is, in fact, courting you with the intention of being exclusive later.

Only With a Romantic Partner

Ithaqua. Literally if you’re not dating he doesn’t even like you. (Though, there’s a chance you might have a “hook up” before you know you’re in a relationship with him lol.)

Aesop. Could honestly take him years to get comfortable enough to explore that.

Victor. He’s too shy, too untrusting to sleep with someone he’s not exclusive with.

Emma. She only feels attraction for romantic partners.

Andrew. He doesn’t trust anyone but a partner to touch or see him like that.

Melly. It’s just not a priority for her.

Anne. Like Andrew, she doesn’t trust anyone enough for that. Even a romantic partner will be waiting a while for her.

Emil & Ada. Alone or separate, they need commitment and courting.

Alice. She’s busy with other things, and frankly doesn’t even notice her own physical desires unless she has a partner she can spend extensive periods of alone time with.

Michiko. She’s a lady of standards. She’ll accept nothing less than utter commitment.

Wu Chang. They’ve already got one another, they don’t need you unless love is also at play.

Mary. The same as Michiko tbh.

#identity v #idv x reader #multiple idv characters #turbulentscrawl #spicy content

[heartsoftruth]

I think there is definitely harassment there no one should deny that and just because there wasn't any dick picture doesn't allow people to dismiss that and say it's a banter and not worth it because hell no this is actually a typical harassment that a woman go through at work with her boss and as a woman i know that she has to somehow act unaware of it or even play along like people are saying because she's actually scared to lose her job (like all women tbh) within the team she obviously loved and well it's because he's him and we all know that he got privilege and hell we saw that ever since day one but i know for sure she just reached to a point where she couldn't handle the shit anymore and preach for her and i really hope she gets her justice and may god protect her and stand by her because it must be awful for her now. It's just disgusting how people actually tried to play out that she was okay with it and she wanted something out of him while she literally sometimes showed how bothered she was with him and his actions some people really be like it's not harassment until there's some official nudes or serious touching or even rape because they really be thinking that words can't make you feel scared or uncomfortable and disgusted i hate ignorant people i swear, and i really really feel her because i myself went through such shit at my workplace once where my obviously much older boss (i was like 22 and he was 45) took advantage of the position that we were alone in his office and started to ask me about sex and what's my opinion on it and how i feel about it and how i actually had to play so stupid and that i understood nothing just to get out of the situation fast enough and i was scared to say anything just so that i don't lose my job or that he does something to me or my family because he was a wealthy and well known man in my country (celeb too lol) but thank god i left a while later and got into something much better and safer place so yeah i feel exactly what she's going through and i know exactly why sometimes she had to go on with him within the chat and play dumb i hate men i hate ignorant people i hate everyone who will try and still defend his ass or say everything was light and it was a stupid fun banter between the two of them

Sorry for the long ass rant but it's just it got on my nerves badly and reminded me of a disgusting scary period in my life too and just wanted to let it out somewhere and it pained me how much people can really have zero empathy on others like how could you live with yourself ffs!

Hi anon, First of all thank you for your ask and most of all your story. It's very brave to share and I'm glad to read you no longer suffer from that disgusting man in your work environment. ♥️

I do feel maybe it started with something consensual at the beginning (how far that went I have no idea). But that's just how I feel a little with the screenshots from the beginning and some lines. Then she lets him know - in the nicest way possible - no and to stop. Probably indeed like you said, because she's scared for her job. Knowing how powerful he is and his position in the team vs hers...

At the end however you can see she becomes more firm in her no and then he becomes more nasty/desperate I feel? Trying to control her? Apparently being jealous and what I think is very upsetting for her is changing her role which she clearly says she loves. Indeed for her sake I hope she is the leak and not some asshole from within RB who had access to these files. Because imagine we are all reading this from the outside, but it's her life. Or was because if one thing is 100% sure it's that she's currently not working in her position and with him staying she will never again.

I indeed don't feel she wants something out of him. No money no nothing (otherwise she would have taken the 650k). She just wants justice and to - probably - do the job she loves... Which is sad to think she never will again within RB..

#anonymous

[alyosiuscreightonward]

Dear Diary. Random thoughts.

🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️ Ugh. If you could just please give me a moment to explain.

I’ve been trying to shed the fact that I’ve had some exposure to politics. It started at a young age when LBJ (see MTG’s recent remarks about LBJ), now I may not have fully aware nor fully understood what was happening, however years later, I’ve a different perspective.

The Vox Populi all have chimed in.

Yet the consensus is that there are several camps: Love, Hate, Like, A Definite Maybe and I’ve Never Ever Voted, but from my recliner I’ll complain about everything.

This is not uncommon. Since history is now becoming a trigger word for many people, it exists regardless. I know that in my experience and what happened in my life is now a moot point; yet I grew up in a space that was very reminiscent of the United Nations. I had folks such as Barbara Jordan, William F. Buckley, Jr. and Benjamin Netanyahu come into my home and break bread and have some fellowship. I was ignorant. I thought that it was normal to have these people orbit my world.

Meanwhile as I was going to school, I didn’t give it a second thought that I would be able to meet kids and their families from Japan, Korea, England, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Israel, Ghana and Russia. I thought it was perfectly normal to have Black and White living together.

Then in March of 1974, I saw first hand the ugly face of Racism, Bigotry and Hatred when I moved to NYC from Boston. At that moment in time, desegregation was happening and children were being bused from one school to another school. I knew some of the characters involved such as Louise Day Hicks. I had met her once and I was flabbergasted.

At William Cowper Junior High School in Maspeth, Queens, NYC, I had been physically assaulted several times by four boys who were of the view that I was the sole reason for the rioting in the streets due to busing and integration. They all believed that I had moved to NYC to escape the violence and school integration.

Uh…William Cowper was racially diverse. Yet I was positively discriminated against because I was from Boston and I must have had a finger in the desegregation movement. Dude.

As I mentioned earlier, everyone has opinions about what did happen and what is happening. Folks have complained about LBJ through JRB.

Folks rant and rave about each and every President yet not one person has ever said that they had a personal visit from The President who had deliberately singled them out and then destroyed their lives. The Mayors nor The Governors have come out to your house and knocked on the door and said, “I don’t know you but I’m going to ruin your life because I can.”

Your Grandparents don’t need Medicare/Medicaid. You like me have been employed since 1977 and you don’t need Social Security. You can’t have Clean Water from the municipality but you can have water from the culverts that run along the highways. You can’t have Clean Air because of the Chemical Plant we want to build next to your house. Here in the United States, we can say that the government sucks however in some countries you can’t. In those countries where you can’t say anything about anything, you can and will absolutely disappear never to be seen again should you ever utter a word about the government or the people in power.

I’m pretty sure that none of you had read George Orwell’s book 1984, but you want to actually live life like those depicted in Margaret Atwood’s Handmaid’s Tale. Apparently you have a dream that like the movie Soylent Green is a goal. The subplot was that if you were considered undesirable etc you’d vanish and then lo and behold Soylent Green.

In some of those totalitarian countries, yes, there’s universal healthcare but it’s not what you think. One person has been riddled with bullets, they just might be first in line and then maybe not. One person may have infection and may need antibiotics, but they just might not get those antibiotics. Malaria can be controlled like Polio but like Leptospirosis, we don’t need or want a vaccine because there are nano bots and microchips in them.

We need more incidents like Columbine, Parkland and Uvalde. We need more heartbeat bills in place in order to deny women prenatal care and after they give birth, we need to abandon them altogether. We need to stop telling men that masturbation is a heinous crime and that all women need to get pregnant just because. Women absolutely should be seen and not heard and women like Margaret Thatcher, Corazon Aquino, Benazir Bhutto and Angela Merkel are all ruining it for women. There shouldn’t be women like Wilma Rudolph, Babe Didrikson Zaharias or Billie Jean King.

Biden wants to make an attempt to bring folks together in order to have things like clean water, clean air and a healthy debate about a plethora of issues that could actually help us.

Yet the Orange Palpatine wants me dead because I said, hey now, Florida is disappearing and I don’t like that. I said, hey now, they’re strip mining the Grand Canyon and the Colorado River is polluting the drinking water of Texans. He says that’s okay. The water is only becoming more polluted by erecting more fracking sites in people’s backyards. Then on TV and in Movies, diversity, equality and inclusion are crimes against humanity. Ed Sullivan should never had introduced us to Diana Ross and The Supremes. Why is there a Bruce Lee or Yakov Smirnoff? Why on God’s green earth would anyone ever want to go see the remake of The Color Purple or even just acknowledge Crazy Rich Asians. Harvey Korman as Mother Marcus on Carol Burnett show is acceptable as Milton Berle in a dress but RuPaul or Tyler Perry, two black men who practically pass as women. Kill them immediately. We absolutely need more shows like Make Room for Daddy, Father Knows Best, The Honeymooners and Leave It To Beaver. We never ever should have heard about Norman Lear, Flip Wilson and we must absolutely get rid of America’s Got Talent Show because they promote diversity, equality and inclusion.

Erasure of James Brown, Rick James and Bad Bunny is a great example to show us that Andy Williams, Perry Como and Pat Boone is the only way to go. I mean erasure of Judy Garland, Adele and Taylor Swift together would make an awesome impact for saying women need to be barefoot and pregnant and they should be able to do everything for their men including breathing.

In conclusion, if Joe Biden is doing such a horrible job then why do have the ability to change the channel and look for a different perspective? Yet the twice impeached, twice indicted and liable for sexual harassment retiree in Florida wants to give you only one channel to watch and no chance at all for a counterpoint? Yeah that Governor in Pennsylvania should never had fixed that portion of the highway. Every single dog, cat and animal should have the ability and right to have rabies and there’s no need for veterinarians. Thank goodness Rodney King is dead because once he uttered, why can’t we all just get along was his downfall.

[bigskydreaming]

This definitely isn’t a vagueblog at Tee or anything, but sometimes I’m just like, self, you should be more into Secret Six. And myself just nods thoughtfully, because I’m right, and like....in pretty much any other case, the combination of my shallowness + frequent and focused depictions of canon bi boy Catman’s nude hiney should = a winning combination....but then I remember that one story arc where they inexplicably found it necessary to write that weird-ass ‘did anybody ask for this’ pseudo-redemption-ish story for Tarantula, and I’m just like.

Big sigh.

#I have lots and lots of aggro about that #because it would be one thing if after the Blockbuster arc and her getting locked up #she was never used again #like that is one thing when you combine it with the fact that what was done to Dick has never been mentioned since #BUT when you do take her out of Limbo #YEARS AND YEARS later #and also #YEARS AND YEARS after there was an enormous UPROAR from fans along the lines of wtf about that storyline #with it being in no way unclear what a lot of our issue was with it given how much people raised shit about the writer's #'i said it was non consensual not that it was rape' #piece of crap line #like.....everyone at DC at that time period #about five years after the original story #knew DAMN well how people felt about it and its utter lack of resolution #and to bring her back for a weird kind of redemptionish arc as the finale to her character #while doing nothing with her TRUE crimes like not even a mention #and I mean as bad as some of the Six are #they definitely have their opinions about rapists and would have been not nearly as open to her possible redemption #if they knew she was one #and to just not make any mention of any of that at all was just really frustrating #ESPECIALLY BECAUSE #SIMONE EVEN USED NIGHTWING IN THAT VERY SAME STORY ARC

[artistic-mathematics]

sentience in animatronics, particularly in sister location?

Major FNAF lore spoilers ahead. Also, this is a very long theory post. Consider yourself warned.

This is a list of the main animatronics that are possessed, or have sentience in some way or another. (This list might be a little shady, so bear with me):

Freddy, Bonnie, Chica, Foxy, Golden Freddy (First Missing Children’s incident, FNAF 1)

Toy Freddy, Toy Bonnie, Toy Chica (Second Missing Children’s incident, FNAF 2)

Mangle (from the fruit maze minigame)

Puppet/Marionette/Lefty (for... obvious reasons)

Springtrap (also for obvious reasons)

Looking to each of their behaviors, it’s shown that the person who possess said animatronic (aside from Puppet) were stuffed into their respectful suit, which is how said animatronic gains sentience. For the Puppet, Charlie’s spirit kind of merged with the Puppet’s because the puppet wanted to protect Charlie, even after death (or something like that. That’s basically how MatPat explained it in one of his videos.) For this, we’ll kind of just... ignore the Puppet, because that’s clearly an exception and isn’t really useful here.

Now, if we look into everyone else’s behavior, we see the following. The main animatronics and the toy animatronics are weary of adults (including Mangle, btw!), especially night guard, because they look the most similar to William Afton (or their murderer). Springtrap is, well, William Afton, and he always comes back because he has the plot armor of every Disney princess ever. They all have a proper motive -- the children and the dog looking to avenge their own deaths, while William Afton murders more people and does more of his twisted experiments with souls and wreaks more havoc overall.

Sister Location is different. We know for a fact that Elizabeth Afton possesses Circus Baby, but even then, it’s an extremely fuzzy grey line. What was her motive in killing her own brother? Michael mentions that the Funtimes thought he was William, so actually, what was her motive in killing her own father?

For my fic (which is why I... started overanalyzing this to begin with...), I’ve written this off as the fact that maybe Elizabeth’s soul wasn’t fully merged with Baby’s yet. There seems to be a bit of a consensus on there needing to be time before a spirit fully merges with the animatronic, so maybe that is the case. Maybe Baby just had sentience and decided to do whatever it took to leave, despite knowing that he was Elizabeth’s father and her own creator.

We know that in FNAF 6, Elizabeth has some control or some say over Scrap Baby. I get that an animatronic literally made by William could call him “daddy”, but realistically, Elizabeth would be more likely to do so.

For the sake of this post, let’s just assume that Elizabeth had no say over Baby in Sister Location, but in part gave Baby sentience (because she obviously is sentient by then). The true motive that Elizabeth has, while actually possessing Baby, is to make her father proud, considering that the very last thing she did while alive was disrespect orders and disappoint him. She wants to make amends and make him happy.

We have all of these possessed animatronics with a clear end motive, one that relates directly to their death in some way. So what on earth is going on with the other Funtimes?

Let’s start with Ballora. The most commonly accepted theory is the theory MatPat proposed, that Ballora is actually Mrs. Afton (whose name has not been confirmed yet). The biggest issue I see with this theory, though, is the fact that not once does she actually display true sentience throughout all of Sister Location. Sure, she has a few lines that were definitely not coded in, but that doesn’t really determine anything. There is one major difference between Baby (who we’ve already determined to be sentient) and Ballora,

Ballora doesn’t learn. I don’t think Baby only meant that Ballora couldn’t learn to pretend in order to avoid getting scooped. When Baby first mentions Ballora, she simply tells you how to get past her. Ballora is predictable, and Baby knows that. She knows exactly what Ballora will do, because she doesn’t learn from her failures. You’d think, after being in an underground facility for so long, that any human (even a child!) would be willing to change their tactics. And yet now we’re talking about a fully-grown adult who’s possessing this animatronic? It just doesn’t seem likely.

I do believe that she is at least partially sentient, though, due to her voice lines and the ability to at least listen to Baby. She also has a less than fun reaction to the controlled shocks and is very, very hostile to you after that, showing that she has at least some capacity to understand that Michael hurt them. Also, if Ennard’s inner dialogue is to be believed in night 5, then I can see Ballora bringing up the fact that he had hurt them. (I do believe that Baby planned this whole thing out and told the other Funtimes to act hostile towards Michael, but uh, Ballora may have just held a grudge regardless.)

Another thing that’s worth mentioning is that it’s been generally confirmed that Circus Baby’s Pizza World opened after the first missing children’s incident. If this is to be believed, then William Afton would have already done experiments with remnant and whatnot. In this case, I think it’s actually quite likely that Ballora may have had Mrs. Afton’s remnant, but not her spirit. This would explain why she’s not as sentient as Baby, but is at least somewhat sentient. I think this was extremely deliberate -- I do agree with the part of the theory in which Ballora was modeled after Mrs. Afton in some way. He must’ve done this to honor her memory or something along those lines.

Now onto Funtime Freddy and Funtime Foxy. We know that the both of them are also sentient in their own way, considering the fact that they were also able to listen to Baby (while Funtime Foxy does have the same motives as Ballora when it comes to attacking Michael, Funtime Freddy does not. so I do believe that Baby must’ve talked to him beforehand to some extent in acting hostile.) My theory is that both Funtime Freddy and Funtime Foxy must’ve had remnants of other people, since they both also seem to have at least partial sentience like Ballora. But who, and why? It makes sense for Ballora to have Mrs. Afton’s if she’s modeled after her. But what’s the point of making these other two sentient?

The best solution I can come up with is to enhance the AI in them, so they do a better job of kidnapping and killing children... or whatever. I have absolutely no proof to back this up, though.

Then, well, Ennard happens. And the three of them vote to kick Baby out. While the three of them kinda just... let things happen in Sister Location, I think the reason for their rebellious behavior was actually due to Elizabeth being merged with them. I think that maybe she passed on some of that sentience to the other three, giving them just enough willpower to boot Baby. Do I have evidence for this? No. Is this entirely based off of headcanons? Yup. Honestly, I’m just spitballing at this point. I am so, so very tired of trying to figure out how sentience even works in FNAF at this point.

(Don’t even get me started on Bon Bon, the Bidybabs, and Minireenas. I have no goddamn clue how any of them even fit. The Bidybabs saying “She’s watching us!” or something along those lines just... my one braincell is crying.)

Anyway, please let me know what you think. This was long and convoluted and I want some opinions from other people, because I really am just overthinking all of this now.

PS. I have no idea how this remnant stuff even works. Couldn’t you tell? I probably should’ve researched it but I’m too braindead for that now. Literally putting this out there before anyone flames me.

#fnaf sister location #fnaf pizzeria simulator #circus baby #elizabeth afton #scrap baby #funtime freddy #funtime foxy #ballora #fnaf theory #my theory #william afton #ennard #mrs afton #fnaf lore

[nexyra]

What is your take on rwby chara's mbti types? I think

Weiss - xSTJ, thought that she was ESTJ at first but ISTJ makes a lot of sense too.

Winter - ESTJ

Pyrrha - ESFJ

Emerald - ISFJ (I've seen some ppl type her as INFJ but I don't see how she is a Ni dom?)

Whitley - ENTJ? I'm honestly not sure abt that..

Adam - fucked up xNFJ, probably INFJ (seen him typed as xNTJ but his delusional thinking process imo screams unhealthy Ti and I think his manipulation of Blake and the WF is more Fe than Te

Qrow - was thinking ISTP but with the more recent volumes I'm really not sure..

Penny - ENFP

Ozpin - Uuuuuh INTP maybe?? But I've seen some people type him as INFJ. INFJ 5w6 would make sense as to why he might appear as an INTP but idk..

Bartholomew- ENTP

Jaune - no fucking idea honestly

Ironwood - ENTJ

Sun - Seen ppl type him as ENFP but I don't see any Ne at all..,,ESFP?

Yang - ESxP, maybe ESTP

Cinder - INTJ

Mercury - ISTP

Oscar - ISFJ

Ren - ISTx?

Hello anon ! I see my love for typology hasn't gone unnoticed 😂 Thank you so much for the ask !

I prefer enneagram over MBTI because I find it easier to type; so fair warning that I'm not an authority on MBTI-typing. But I do have have an ongoing RWBY typing that includes MBTI sooo... here goes !

(I'm putting my ennea typings along with it, but not explaining them on this post)

➸ RWBYJNPR

Ruby • xNFP 6w7 9w1 2w3?

I just can't decide between the two fors Ruby because... it kind of goes both way ??? Like Ruby definitely feels as INFP for the first half of the series; she's got a clear Fi > Ne preference... But then when she develops her Tert in V6 it's just... Te ? And she really doesn't show much Si actually she fits more the Si inf vibe in the form of forgetting about bad memories and her mom until people dig it up and she's like "nooo !" ?? So it looks like Te > Si but also Fi > Ne; conclusion idfk

Weiss • ISTJ 1w2 6w5 3w4 sp/so

Clear Fi tert rearing its head along with the 1 so I'm going with ISTJ; I also never really saw any Ne. Her type isn't too disagreed upon so tell me if you want a lenghtier explanation.

Blake • ISFP 6w5 9w8 4w3 (in some order)

Wooh this might get the anger of some (i have experience with the INFJ typers) but Blake goddamn REEKS of Fi. Less so recently but for the first seasons oh my god. She straights up catch you by the shirt and tells you "I'm doing the right thing"; and said right thing is so heavily dependant on her own subjectives values, which is why Blake can't reconcile with the current White Fang; because she doesn't have a strong Je vision of "what objectively works in the end", she only sees actions in terms of immediate right and wrong, and this b&w dichotomy stems from herself. What the WF is doing is wrong and the circumstances don't matter for judging the morality of their actions (of course I'm not talking about murder here bc that's pretty wrong ALL THE TIME but for example the stealing occuring in V1 bc of the WF is a better example)

Yang • ESXP 7w8 8w7 2w3

I'm sorry about that but I can't help you on that aspect anon, I still can't make up my mind about whether Yang has Fi or Ti. I have seen arguments for both, and i'm not the best at picking up on Ti so it's hard for me to tell.

Jaune • ESFJ 6w7 3w2 9w1

No strong opinions on his MBTI, it's kinda just based on vibes

Nora • ENFP 6w7 9w8 3w2

Textbook ENFP, not much to say here x))

Pyrrha • XXFJ 2w1 1w2 6?

In my list Pyrrha is currently written down as ISFJ but that's mostly based on the general consensus and me wanting to get rid of the XX. I don't actually have any convincing arguments to decide on Ni or Si, so I could go either way if someone else makes their case well. I feel like she's Fe aux more than dom, but even about that I could change my mind. Pyrrha didn't have that much screentime in the end :((

Ren • ISTJ? 9w1 5w4 4w5

Ironically I'm not sure about his type, kind of like you. I've mentionned I'm not very good at picking up on Ti right ? And Ren was a background character before V4 really. I had him written down as ISTP for a while but I've seen some convincing arguments for ISTJ so I might lean toward that actually but who knows. The thing I'm very confident about is his 5 fix = )

➸ Faunus bonus

Sun • ESFP 7w6 2w3 9w1 so/sx

I don't see any Ne at all either so I don't understand the ENFP typings...?? Maybe the 7 stereotypes ? Imo Sun is just a very good boy; certified ESFP 7 himbo; triple positive sunshine !

Ilia • Ti-Fe axis ?

Again, not enough screentime for me to make an educated guess. My only certainty is : not high Fi. It's the source of their conflicts. Blake confidence in absolute right & wrong, tracing lines in the sand between acceptable & unacceptable. Whereas Ilia can only shake her head and say "Because it works", or cry out "I don't know what else to do !"

Adam • 3w4 8w7 6w5

I honestly don't really have much of an opinion about Adam's MBTI, i'm sorry anon ;; I don't know enough about how he thinks

➸ Oz-related things and his circle

Ozpin • INFJ 5w4 2w1 1w9

I would personally call him an INFJ. I... never really got INTP vibes from him ? I don't see the Fe inf work out with his interactions : he's always rather at ease, he knows how to navigate around people... His focus inherently lies on doing what's best for the "group", the people, humanity. Fx functions are both concerned with ethics, in different ways, and I think Oz reflects that well. He IS concerned with the moral weight of his actions, but it's a more adaptable and unpersonnal concern than Fi people. He regards Ironwood's soul machines as something wrong, but can still agree to use it if the situations demand it for example. So... if the INFJ + 5 makes sense to you, well that's what I'm typing him personally. I also feel like Ni fits him more than Ne. Ozpin has a very linear way of planning, he does use his fair share of symbolism in every day conversation... Even when taking decisions, he... kind of cares about the meaning of things a lot ? It's hard to explain but like; the way he highlights the difference between an army and a guardian, and the emotionnal response it brings. I don't know it feels like there's some Ni vibes in there x)

Oscar • ISFJ 9w8 6w7 3w2

Oscar's type honestly isn't the one I would have the easiest time explaining in lenght but yea. It's mostly vibes; also just like Ozpin he doesn't seem to have a particularly Fi reasonning. And he feels more grounded, I don't really remember any Ni so... yay ?

Ironwood • ENFJ 6w5 1w2 3w4 (pre-Vol8); ENTJ (post-Vol8)

Might be weird if you think he was a dictator from the start, but I kind of entertained the idea of Ironwood being Fe dom ? From his very first interaction it was very clear that he was a Je dom to me; he's all about objective results; he doesn't give off the "internal framework" or "personnal values" vibe AT ALL; so it was more a matter of picking Te or Fe. He LOOKS super Te don't get me wrong; but he also has an enneagram tritype that is very common amongst XXTJs (and TJs stereotypes thus derive from it). And just like Oz, his focus at all time seemed to be the greater good and doing what's best for the people still. So I was like... Eh, a "harsh" ENFJ I think that's interesting ? Plus Fe ethics actually derive from their environment, kinda like "everyone agrees that Y is wrong", and if you consider that James is from Atlas... Well his way of thinking and ethics align pretty well with the military.

His character took a turn for the worse in V8 (whether too quick or not depends on who you ask) and past that point he's a clear ENTJ; but I feel like it was more debatable before that. Idk though I might be overthinking this in the hope of making more interesting combinations xD

Qrow • ISTP 4w3 6w7? 1w9? sp/sx

I don't really see anything else than ISTP for Qrow... But he's not a character I would want to find Ti arguments for either.

Raven • ENTJ Cp6w5 8w9 3w4

Most villains get called ENTJ at the first occasions tbh zlqfznhqzkf but I think it fits Raven for the most part actually...

➸ Atlas

Winter • ESTJ 1w9 3w4 6w5

The whole Schnee family has the same enneagram tritype in different order/different wings, it's ridiculous I think she has a higher Te than Weiss, and Fi inf fits her more. She struggles more to reconcile with her emotions and the idea of a personal right/wrong than her little sis.

Penny • ENFP 4w3 6w7 9w1 sx/so

Perfect example of a healthy 4, she's a great friend a cutie pie. ... Sorry we were talking about MBTI x) Well again, textbook ENFP. Not much to debate here.

Whitley • 3w4 1w9 6w5?

Not enough material for me to guess a MBTI type correctly either, sorry... I could see some kind of xNTJ yea but it's really just vibes and not enough concrete.

➸ Antagonists and Extras

Cinder • 8w7 3w4 6w5

Never cared to guess her MBTI type. I hereby type her as insufferable qkfqskfq. More seriously, I don't really know sorry Anon :/

Emerald • 2w3 ?w? ?w?

I never got Fe vibes from her tbh, I just think she's a 2. And Fe as a function is very infused with 2 stereotypes. So yea. Like, she isn't even that worried about the morality of her actions or anything more than the other villains. She just cares more about her personal relationships and being loved, so she automatically looks much nicer, especially with 2 mechanisms of trying to make herself useful and needed. Also because she's surrounded by 8-ish people xD

Mercury • 8w9 7w8 ?w?

ISTP doesn't sound too farfeteched, but I never MBTI-typed him either, sorry.

+

Bartholomew Oobleck • xSxJ 5w4

The only vibe he gave me is Si somewhere because of all his talks about learning from the past and everything repeats itself and it's a mine of informations at Mountain Glen... That's really the only time I tried to put down anything for him, and it was Si + 5. He could be some kind of xNTP nerd too for sure, but that's more vibe and I couldn't make an actual argument for it.

#rwby #rwby thoughts #mbti #cognitive functions #enneagram #tritype #ruby rose #weiss schnee #blake belladonna #yang xiao long #jaune arc #nora valkyrie #pyrrha nikos #lie ren #sun wukong #ilia amitola #adam taurus #ozpin #oscar pine #james ironwood #qrow branwen #raven branwen #winter schnee #penny polendina #whitley schnee #cinder fall #emerald sustrai #mercury black #bartholomew oobleck

[unincised]

Okay, let’s break this down:

We need to sit down and have a discussion about the current lore in the Dream SMP, guys. Especially after today’s stream (w/ Quackity). This doesn’t make any sense ‘cause I’m tired but OH WELL WHO CARES?!

[SPOILER WARNING]

Also, remember this is all roleplaying, and when I discuss this it is in terms of lore. Be respectful during bits and know that no one truly wants to brutally murder the other (hopefully). :D

My predictions for the Factions that will happen (along with those that already are):

I’m definitely missing a lot of people, but these are the main players in the game.

L’manberg

Tubbo

Fundy

Karl

Connor (?)

Ranboo

Mexican L’manberg

Quackity

George

Sapnap

Karl (yes, I put him twice. He’s a bit of a wild card when it comes to picking sides)

Badlands

BBH

Skeppy

Antfrost

Awesamdude

Dream SMP

Dream

Eret

Punz (technically a merc)

Puffy (which might also mean Niki, since... marriage?)

Purpled

Exiled

Tommy (I’m almost guaranteeing this, you can @ me if I’m wrong tomorrow)

Technoblade

Why Tommy and Techno should not team up with Mexican L’manberg or the Badlands:

Techno is anti-government. L’manberg is government, Mexican L’manberg is government, the Badlands are an oligarchy (their land is neutral, but it’s still overseen by Bad and friends). Therefore, Techno has no reason to team with any of them. He is a wanted, exiled man -- not exactly an assassin-for-hire.

Tommy has a personal agenda that doesn’t line up with any of the factions’ endgoals (at the current moment). Taking over the Dream SMP w/ Mexican L’manberg and The Badlands might help him with retrieving his disc -- especially since Skeppy would be on his side during it -- but we aren’t too certain that’s all Tommy has going for him. He loves his discs, yes, but he also cares a lot about Tubbo. Going against Dream could get Tubbo targeted for use of leverage (and that’s a whole can of worms I’d like to open :D).

Why George was a “bad” king:

Dream’s one rule for Kingship was for George to stay neutral. He claims this was the case for Eret’s crowning, but Eret technically bought his title in exchange for the betrayal of L’manberg during the First Revolutionary War.

Of course, Eret was dethroned after his siding with Pogtopia during the “Final” War, and the crown was given to George on account of his neutral stance during it all.

But George, immediately after given that little bit of power, went and abused it.

Chopped down the L’mantree

Griefed L’manberg (built a mushroom house in front of Tommy’s) even though he was specifically instructed not to enter the walls on account of safety and diplomacy)

Taunting Tommy during his trial

Became VP of Mexican L’manberg w/ Quackity

Used his role as a protection, subsequently making Sapnap and Dream shields in order to stay alive after getting in trouble.

Why Sapnap is betraying Dream:

Sapnap is hurt. He’s been overlooked many times by both Dream and George. He’s often viewed as more of a grunt than a friend. Their trio dynamic has been off for the past few arcs -- being paired together by mere formality than loyalty -- and it’s finally past the breaking point.

Dream’s speech during the Tommy fiasco seemed to have pushed Sapnap over the edge, thus sparking his whole rebellion arc and general hatred of Dream. Dream does still care for them both, in my personal opinion, but Sapnap is taking Dream’s “I only care about one thing on this Server” to a personal level. It’s completely understandable, and I was actually waiting if it’d ever be addressed, but in practise it is becoming a lot more than just a friendly dispute.

Why the Badlands are asking for so much land:

Simple: They don’t really want to establish borders, per se, but more of a general consensus that the Badlands would be overseen by Bad and Friends as a neutral territory. A wilderness in an otherwise governed Server. As for the amount -- their reasoning is that no one is currently using the land, nor will it ever be used on account of distance. If flying was enabled on the server, there would most definitely be structures further from the mainland, but everyone’s main transportation is walking... so...

What alliances does Dream even have anymore?

To be honest, not much. We can’t rely too much on Techno, since Dream’s loyalties lie on the server’s best interest and Techno’s is to just create chaos.

Dream has Punz (hired), Eret, Purpled, possibly Ponk, and if Techno teamed up with them I wouldn’t be too surprised -- but it would be off character. Along with that is Dream’s access to creative mode (which I’d doubt he’d do just to win a fight, but it’s still an opportunity he has) along with his pride that will give him more of an edge than anything.

Why Tommy is getting the blame:

Tommy has been against Dream for most of the SMP. The only time they paired together was because they had a common enemy: Schlatt. From the beginning, however, it’s been constant squabble. The discs, Spirit, Revolution, Wilbur’s corruption, Manberg’s Last Stand, etc. So, in Dream’s eyes, Tommy is the main man to blame for all of this chaos happening now.

But Tommy is a kid (we’re still talking Lore, don’t forget!) who has lived through nothing but war and betrayal, now with a mindset of “nothing stays, cherish it while you can”. So he’s always trying to be the one coming out on top, to help stem any more of his treasures getting stolen, killed, or hurt. This ends up leading into wars, and going against the peak of the hierarchy -- Dream.

(Dream should know better than to blame children, tut tut.)

------

Also, please send help I’ve been writing this while the Dream SMP is building a wall of cursed George pics. I keep losing my train of thought. This was supposed to be a meta post but I’m literally just crying over G R O G.

So, apologies if this doesn’t end up making sense. It’s 12 AM and I’m tired, haha.

#dream smp #dream smp lore #dream smp spoilers #quackity #georgenotfound #sapnap #the eret #badboyhalo #punz #tommyinnit #tubbolive #technoblade

[wisteria-lodge]

lion primary + bookkeeper badger secondary (unhealthy badger secondary performance) (in-process lion secondary model)

ok so hi. i'm definitely a lion primary, that much i'm sure of. i've been stuck between badger secondary and lion secondary recently (for what it's worth, intuitively i'm leaning more toward badger secondary, but i wanted to get a second opinion because there's one thing that's not making sense to me)

basically, i'm very focused on my truth and communicating it

So the FIRST thing you said was about the importance of communicating your truth. Which doesn't sell me on Lion secondary by itself. But still. Interesting that's what you lead with.

But I'm very naturally badger secondary i think. i tend to fall into mirroring people and making them feel comfortable quite often. hard work to me is its own reward. the catch is, i don't think i feel *good* doing it? i do in a sense. it's easy for me to do and i like helping people sort their problems out by kinda becoming what they need

This is definitely a description of a Badger secondary, but I'm going to point out the negativity of the word "fall," which suggests loss, loss of control.

So this could be a Badger model, or a somewhat tired and Burnt Badger secondary, or maybe even a Badger secondary in a bad situation. It can be brutal when you find yourself mirroring people you don't want to mirror, or mirroring people you don't like.

i have a *constant* fear that i'll lose myself to it. i feel disgusted with myself for not being true to myself in that moment.

That does sounds pretty Lion. And whatever is going on with your Badger, it's not happy.

that being said, i can't help but wonder if this is just the lion primary coming through.

i solve problems in a badger way, but i think maybe my lion primary values solving them in a different way.

It's possible to get a kind of disconnect between your primary and secondary. I know Badger Snakes will struggle with this, reconciling the bad reputation Snake secondaries are given with the community that they value so highly. But I don't think that's what's going on here.

being myself and speaking my truth is ultimately what i want for myself.

I would break that down into 'Being myself'= Lion primary. 'Speaking my truth' = Lion secondary.

i want to be able to connect with people, help them with their issues, etc. but i'd feel better about doing it if i were more secure in myself during the process. i feel very insecure thinking about the idea of being badger secondary, because it matters to me to have presence, take up space, be known for myself as i am, but if it's the truth i want to work with it.

You have a very, very negative idea of what a Badger secondary is. Like good lord, wallflowers who are doomed to have inauthentic relationships forever because they constantly turn into whoever they're talking to? That's out of a horror movie.

You're thinking of immature Invisible Badgers. Adult Badger secondaries can have so much weight and power and presence. Even if you want to keep it to just Lion Badgers - that's still Moana, Steve Rodgers, Neville Longbottom, Sansa Stark, Castiel, Will Graham - that's off the top of my head.

I think some soul searching is in order. Why is the idea of being a Badger secondary so scary? Is there a doormat Badger secondary in your life that's coloring the whole thing badly? Are you struggling to find a sense of self in general, and think that with a Lion secondary it would be easier?

Because as it is, I can't tell if you're a Lion secondary modeling an unhealthy Badger secondary, or a burnt-out Badger secondary who thinks Lion secondaries are cool.

some additional details in case they help: really unsure between improvisational vs planned. i think i lean a lot more toward improvisational? for example, i'm kinda infamous among my friends for... never planning. ever. they want to make plans a few days ahead, and to me that just narrows my options down. if i'm going to do something, i want to do it naturally and spontaneously, or it just feels stifling.

That's definitely improvisational.

that's not to say that i don't plan ever though. in situations where i genuinely don't feel equipped to manage something, and i've kinda "checked out" of trying to be myself, i'll often plan just to get through whatever it is.

That's definitely a model. And a really negative model, just look at that language - "don't feel equipped" "checked out" "get through whatever."

for example, i do this at work a lot. i've kinda given up on trying to put myself out there there

BURNT SECONDARY

along with that, i have a history of building communities that i feel safe to be myself in, which to me suggests a badger model and lion secondary.

I mean, everyone wants communities where they are safe to be themselves, people just define "being themselves" and "communities" differently.

But your read is definitely possible. Slightly burnt Lion secondary, Badger secondary that makes the Lion secondary feel safe to use... but feels sticky and wrong when you use it too much.

at the end of the day, my gut is telling me i'm probably badger secondary. lion secondary feels more aspirational to me, just cause the tools that badger secondary has feel so natural to me and i tend to revert to them so often (plus it comes with its own rewards).

Well, that is what we are after here. What is the easiest, what is the most... obvious...

ultimately, i do want to be true to myself, but badger techniques do feel good: work to me is zen. i like being able to just work on the things i enjoy.

This sounds really, really Bookkeeper badger. I think that could easily be what's going on here - you're a Bookkeeper Badger who doesn't like having to bring out the Courtier Badger skillset. That's a thing.

i do make people feel safe, and i enjoy it. i have a talent for becoming a tool of sorts, and being what people need me to be in the moment, although i feel really bad about myself if it goes on for too long or i feel like i'm losing myself to it.

Sounds like a Courtier Badger being used in an unhealthy way/non-consensually/for unhealthy reasons.

in short, i'm a very direct person, and i aspire to be even more that way, but i also strongly value badger methods and enjoy them.

You can be an incredibly direct Badger! These two things are not mutually exclusive! Just yesterday I wrote about the super direct Lion Badger from Catch Me if You Can.

i don't honestly know which i'd sacrifice for the other. in theory, being true to myself is a lot more important to me

Lion primary

but in practice i tend to walk the line between pushing boundaries and blending in.

Badger secondary

***

there is one thing i wanted to add to my ask, sorry for sending in two!

i have a complicated relationship with "being myself." i have a super idealized version of what "myself" looks like, and it's pretty standard lion secondary.

So you really like Lion secondaries, and especially with all the improvisational stuff and a desire to "put yourself out there" it sounds like you're building a Lion model. I mean, you're literally constructing a Lion secondary space to exist in.

i tend to get pulled between being myself and giving out my true opinions and shoving myself into this kinda reductionist "helpful and harmless" model that i feel like i get stuck in.

Oh ouch. That barely even sounds like a Badger model, that's a Badger performance.

ultimately i want to be myself for two reasons: one is that it feels more comfortable, and two is that i want people to *see* me that way. i want to be seen as someone bold and direct.

Okay. Here's how I'm reading you. You're a quite loud Lion primary who values "being themselves," and because of that you like and idealize Lion secondaries who seem able to "speak their truth" whenever and however they want.

However, when it comes to solving problems you are extremely Badger. You have a Bookkeeper Badger aspect that you love, and is extremely near and dear to your heart, but you also have a Courtier Badger that you're much more conflicted about. Partly this is because you have a very negative interpretation of what it means to be a Courtier Badger, and partly this is because you've got a constricting Badger performance that you squish yourself into.

So basically... yeah. It's fine to be a Badger secondary who exists in single-player mode most of the time. And it's okay to be a Badger secondary who is really, really direct. Heck, Doctor House is a Badger secondary.

~ thanks @luftschl0ss for the submission ~

#house is a snake badger #for anyone who is interested #sortinghatchats #sortme #wisteria sorts #lion primary #badger secondary #lion secondary #bookkeeper badger #courtier badger #badgersec #lionpri #lion badger

[nona-gay-simus-main]

Top 10 Worst Tropes in Romance - Part 2

Disclaimer: This is MY opinion, you do you.

Part 1: Here

1. The Child Partner

I’m not talking about literal children, because duh. What I mean is the a person who needs their partner to emotionally parent them.

Maybe it’s just me, but I feel like the whole point of a romantic relationship is to be with an equal. You’re supposed to be teammates, best friends, and lovers.

Of course, I'm not including cases where one partner is disabled or chronically/mentally ill and needs the other to take care of them - that’s an entirely separate thing. 

I'm referring to people (usually cishet men), who constantly need their partner to manage their moods and emotions. They always have some ~trauma~ to manipulate the partner into staying in the relationship in order to keep reassuring them, confirming their self-esteem, and even doing their cooking and cleaning, as if they aren't abled adults with two functioning hands.

That shit sucks!

Imagine doing that for someone all the time and then also trying to have a kid (or multiple kids) with that person. Not only will you be taking care of your actual child; but also - your partner-child. Stop normalizing lazy, emotionally stunted men. That shit ain't cut no matter how hard his abs are or how big his dick is.

2. “I’ve been in love with you since the first moment we met.”

I don’t know what it is about this trope, but it shows up in many romances and it always makes me uncomfortable. How the hell are you supposed to react to that? 

Oh, you’ve been in love with me since the first time we met? Yikes, my dude.

You can’t even fall in love with someone that fast anyway. You're not in love with the person, you’re in love with your idea of them!

The only acceptable version of this is the one where it’s more along the lines “I thought I might fall in love with you if I spent any more time with you.” But other than that, I really don't understand why this is a thing?

3. Lust = Love

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a prude. I’m perfectly fine with couples who have loads and loads of sex. I’m also perfectly fine with casual sex and friends-with-benefits and any other consensual arrangement between adults.

I just get tripped up when pretty much all a couple does is have sex. They have little in common outside of sex, spend little time together when not having sex, and don’t share any hobbies, interests or even conversation topics. Or worse, when they aren’t having sex, they’re fighting. 

If you want your characters to get laid, that’s cool. But if you want me to believe they are also falling in love - you’re gonna have to try a little harder.

4. BDSM = Abuse

Yes, abuse happens under the pretense of BDSM, but BDSM is NOT inherently abusive. It only happens within pre-established boundaries and safe words and with explicit consent. The only people who claim it's abuse, are people who have a vested interest in controlling what women and queer people do with our bodies.

So I really, really hate it when people use “It’s just BDSM, don’t be so uptight” to justify their rapey, abusive love interest’s actions. If the submissive has not already consented, or their consent was obtained through manipulation or intoxication - it’s not meaningful consent.

BDSM is a lot more complex than some of the simplistic catchphrases we use to explain it to the vanillas, and we can discuss those complexities for hours, but at the one thing is definitely true - the Dominant only has as much power as the submissive is willing to give. If they (knowingly) cross a boundary or take power without the consent of the submissive, it’s not power exchange, it’s abuse, pure and simple.

5. "All women want him. All men want to be him"

Really? ALL women? Are you sure?

I hate to tell you this, but some women are exclusively attracted to other women. And some women aren’t attracted to anyone. Some women have low libidos, and some women just don’t prioritize sex and relationships for whatever reason. And some women are in happy, fulfilling monogamous relationships already.

And all men want to BE him? Did you know that some men are attracted to other men? They might want a piece of that too. Or perhaps, they just don’t value being some alpha douchebag and are happy to be their much better-adjusted self. That's a thing.

Can we let this cliché die already? Please?

6. Giving up your dreams for ~love~.

Oh man, this is the worst! And why is it nearly always the woman, who has to make a choice between her career and ~~~LoVe~~?

So many books/movies etc. start with this powerful career woman and then by the end reduce her to nothing but a trophy to her man. That’s not feminist, it just keeps perpetuating the same tired gender roles.

And I can’t help but think about the future of this relationship. What if it doesn’t work out? Then the partner who the dreams were given up for looks like a jerk, even if they never asked for this.

And even if it works out, the partner who gave up their dream job, or opportunity, or whatever, will always have this “what if” at the back of their mind. Over time, they may even end up resenting their SO, especially if things don’t work out for them career-wise.

Just such a bad trope all around. It’s not romantic, it’s toxic, and co-dependant and I want it to stop.

7. He treats everyone like crap ***but you***.

You know the limitus test to see if someone’s a good person? Look at how they treat people who are “beneath” them. Their servers, the cleaning lady, etc.

If this guy treats servers like crap, treats his friends and family like crap, treats everyone like crap, except for the person whose pants he wants to get in (or wants to keep getting in for the foreseeable future), why are we romanticizing him? He’s a selfish jackass.

You can have a grumpy (but ultimately caring and good-natured) character, that's fine. But if he only treats people like humans when it benefits him - that's not sexy, that's sociopathic.

8. Love Cures All

Ahhh, the worst of them all. Truly, having a character who suffers from mental illness or has a major trauma, but oh look, they got some cuddles from the love interest and now they are all good!

Just stop, please. It’s so damaging to the people who are going through this, to tell them that all they need to feel better is ~~~LoVe~~~. And if they aren’t getting better? Well, they just haven’t gotten enough ~~~LoVe~~~!

It’s also damaging to the partner - no one should have this much responsibility on their shoulders.

Obviously, the love of a partner, friends, and family can HELP with the healing process, but it’s not enough by itself. Get them some goddamn therapy, please.

9. Accidental Pregnancy

I don’t know about you, but for most people I know, myself included, accidental pregnancy would be an absolute nightmare, not something romantic.

Do you know how bad my entire generation is doing financially? And people use this as a plot device to strengthen the relationship?

Also, relationships get weaker after having a child, not stronger. Babies are cute when they are sleeping, the rest of the time they are crying, screaming messes. Yeah, why wouldn’t sleep deprivation and constantly hurting everywhere strengthen your relationship? 🙄🙄🙄

10. Violent Men

IRL, violent men are scary, not sexy. Even if the violence is never directed at the love interest, chances are that over time it will be. But even if it’s not, why would you ever want to date someone who has the emotional maturity of a pre-schooler?

Because after pre-school, kids tend to learn to solve their problems with their words. But I guess your love interest hasn’t matured past the age of 6, which coincidentally also leads back to the first trope on this list. Charming.

#write #writer #writing #writing tips #tropes #bad romance #bad romance tropes #top 10 #top 10 list #writeblr #writblr #mine

[robynmarkius]

Language Differences

So I have a bit of a long ramble, which involves Spoilers for the end of 5.3; obviously. Some of it’s already out there as I replied on mobile while half asleep, but it led to talking to the lovely @shiro-from-cafeberry​ about the German text. (Once again, thank you so much! I enjoy talking to you! :D <3 I have discovered I have even more questions for you to help with. lol) I then bothered my friend and co-writer @xehniscreations​ about French and she said it’d be a good practice to shake off the rust. (She ended up translating the whole ending scene for practice! <33 lol )

This all started because I am married to a man who has a degree in Linguistics and a simple questioning of one line/part led to hours of jokes and discussions. Which then turned into me putting my game client into two languages that I don’t speak a word of just to see what a character said... XD And! And! Learning a few other things along the way. I’ve been having so much fun with this and I hope you all can too. Plopping a cut here so as not to completely destroy anyone still trying to avoid Spoilers... or those who want to prepare some tissues. lol

I have cried a lot in the process of this entire Translation, and keep crying. lol As long as this post/translator ramble got, I made sure to post the ‘screenshot comic’, “Remnant” [as its own post] for the sake of focus. That was the scene that started this trip down the rabbit hole, after all. xD

After three days of editing this post, I decided to split it, so that this was just the ending scene. There’s flashbacks I also covered, but this was getting extremely long and I realize that I had not asked Shiro about the first flashback at all! So I still have things to finish and more to talk about before I have more.

For now, though, let’s talk!

Part One: Elidibus’ Explanation

The lines in question came from when Elidibus picked up the crystals, then told us he heard the voices of despair/cries and lamentations of his friends. After which there’s a slightly awkward explanation about how there were lots of opinions and thoughts about the world/star, which led to Elidibus pulling himself free of Zodiark in order to help his friends. It bothered Hubs because it felt kinda “clunky”; he explained:

“I think it’s because of a general norm of Japanese society we hear so much about. That it’s important to have a consensus and not to stir up trouble or stick out too much; which is how that part kind of reads. Your direct Translation is fine. I just feel like the localization team just kinda gave up when they wrote the English version. They could have give a little more context on it when they wrote it. Instead, what happens is, it feels out of place and awkward where it is. It also doesn’t give the context of when Elidibus freed himself from Zodiark. Is there any context that says that wasn’t when Hydaelyn shattered the star into the reflections or Shards?”

Putting aside his question about when Elidibus actually separated from Zodiark for now; as that’s a whole ‘nother discussion that’s rather interesting; I finally understood what he meant by my Translation felt clunky. It was accurate to a “direct translation” versus a “localization”. I re-translated the whole part just to make sure I hadn’t missed anything, and made sure that the final lines I wrote in English still made sense. lol

First, I wanted to note the differences in terms; in case I slip when putting this together. ^^; The literal translation of 「十四人委員会」 would be "Fourteen-person Committee"; but in the context of FF14, (at least in English,) we call it the "Convocation of Fourteen", so I try to stick with that for final translations. What makes anything with the Ancients more difficult, is that they're not speaking a language that we can immediately understand, but rather making sounds that our Echo/超える力/l'Écho/Kraft des Transzendierens interprets into words we/the WoL/WoD can understand. The downside is lack of clarification for actual translation if you don't fluently read or speak another language. lol

For example, when Elidibus speaks, we hear the words spoken, so if there's a kanji that's said more than one way, I can hear which definition is correct by listening to the sentence. But the Ancients' "woop woop wop wah wahp woo" is harder to interpret... but, at least it's the same in every language, right? XD For German, they have “The Convent”, and French has “The Council of Fourteen”.

Second, in English, we called him “The Emissary”, which is another term for “Mediator; Arbitrator; Go-Between” which is the definition of the term 調停者 [shouteisha] , his Japanese title. When translating from German, Shiro used the term “The Advocate”. His French title is “le Médiateur” His role seems to be the same, at least, he settled disputes, found the facts, kept things in check, and generally maintained balance. That was the seat of Elidibus; which is necessary to understand why he said what he said about being needed. (Those titles come from the first flashback as well as the second one; which I’ll get to in the next post. <3 )

The English lines that started this conversation are: “Divided -- over the fate of the star. A rare occurrence, always fleeting. But not this time. Not this time... Reconciliation. Elidibus. I was needed. I withdrew myself from Zodiark. For them...”

Japanese: 世界の行く末について、たくさんの意見が出た…… そんなことは珍しいから、委員会のみんなが悩んでいた。

だったら、エリディブスが手助けしに行かないと…… そう思って、ゾディアークから零れ落ちたんだ。

Final Translation: (after edits and all this discussion) "A great many opinions were expressed regarding the fate of the world, Everyone in the Convocation was troubled, since such a thing was unusual.

That being the case, I could not go help them in my role as Emissary. I believed that they needed Elidibus, so I pulled myself from Zodiark.”

In French, from Xehnis: "Le Concile avait perdu sa cohésion...Face à l’anéantissement, les avis divergeaient sur la marche à suivre pour sauver notre planéte…

Ça ne leur ressemblait pas...Plus que jamais, ils avaient besoin d’Elidibus...Ils avaient besoin de moi...Alors, je me suis détaché de Zordiarche pour voler à leur secours…”

Her final translation: “The Council had lost its cohesion...In the face of annihilation, opinions differed on the way to save our planet…

It does not resemble them...more than ever, they needed Elidibus...they needed me....so, I detached from Zordiark to fly to their aid…”

The German lines, from Cafe Berry’s Shiro, along with the explanations: "Die Zukunft der Welt hing in der Schwebe und Chaos machte sich breit. Die Ascians waren zutiefst gespalten. Der Konvent uneins..."

Here, they are talking about how the Ascians, and most importantly, the convent is divided. How the future of the world was not clear and with that chaos spread.

"Elidibus, der Fürsprecher, musste etwas tun. Ich musste etwas tun. Und so spaltete ich mich wieder von Zodiark ab ..."

Here, Elidibus says that Elidibus, as the Emissary, had to do something. HE had to do something. So he split off from Zodiark.

Their translation they gave me then, was: "The future of the world hung in the balance and chaos spread. The Ascians were deeply divided. The convent divided ...

Elidibus, the advocate, had to do something. I had to do something. And so I split off from Zodiark again ... "

This was the part that my husband had called into question; with my original translation to:

"Many opinions and thoughts came forth, regarding the fate of our world.... The Convocation was worried, as such a thing was unusual."

世界の行く末について、たくさんの意見が出た…… そんなことは珍しいから、委員会のみんなが悩んでいた。

The literal translation of it all, would be: "The world's future/fate concerning/regarding, a great many/a lot (of) comments were brought up/expressed......

such thing(s) are/is curious/rare/unusual because/since, committee of everyone("Everyone on the Committee") (was/were actively being) troubled/worried.”

There was also the lines that followed, which were also rough to word in English, so the whole section had felt awkward.

だったら、エリディブスが手助けしに行かないと…… そう思って、ゾディアークから零れ落ちたんだ。

“if that's the case, Elidibus (from) assistance (as/in the role of) to go/to do (could not),

so/appearing that/seeming that considered/believed/reckoned/judged/decided/desired, Zodiark (from) spilled over/scattered from (n'da - 'no desu' / 'no da' used to add emphasis)"

I had tried: "I decided that they needed Elidibus, but as I was I couldn't help them, so I pulled myself away from Zodiark.

Which was another way to put the idea of: "That being the case, Elidibus could not go rescue/help, I believed, then spilled and fell over/scattered from Zodiark."

It ended up: "A great many thoughts and opinions were expressed regarding the fate of the world, Everyone on the Committee was troubled, since such a thing was unusual.If that was the case, I could not give them assistance in the role of Arbitrator. I believed that they needed Elidibus, so I fell/scattered from Zodiark."

In the end, for this part, it really helped to learn what was said in French and German, because it helped solidify more what was trying to be said, and that there probably is at least a little societal influence in the Japanese text. If it hadn’t been for Xehnis and Shiro’s assistance, I probably wouldn’t have landed on something that felt comfortable enough in English. <3

They all feel different, but have the same general idea: that even after Zodiark was summoned; and Elidibus became his Heart; things hadn’t been fixed. Things continued to grow worse, and they began to fight, and have conflict. As Arbitrator/Emissary/Advocate/Mediator, Elidibus’ job was to maintain balance, and settle disputes, but he could no longer do the job of his seat as the Heart of Zodiark, and it seemed to be destroying the Convocation; making things worse; so he yanked himself out of a Primal to go tell everyone to SIMMER DOWN, NOW.

Sidenote/Side Question here... I wonder what happened with Venat and Hydaelyn...? Perhaps we’ll get clarification in the future, as the only person who’s become/been anything like Elidibus has been Minfilia as the ‘Words of the Mother’, then sent off as an “Emissary” of sorts to the First. lol

This all led to wondering about the last line; as it was clearly different in the Japanese Audio than the English Text. I do want to state that I think what they did in English worked just as well for the emotional gut punch intended from Elidibus’ last words; but it’s very different. It did lead to looking at the flashback in Anemnesis Anyder where we heard the line about the rain, which will be in the next post.

English: “The rains have ceased, and we have been graced with another beautiful day. But you are not here to see it.”

Japanese: 私が最後に残ったって……仕方ないじゃないか……。 Translation: “There’s nothing for it then, is there? I’m the last one left...”

French: Je devais partir en dernier... Comment aurais-je pu abandonner mes amis, esseulés en ce bas monde? Translation: “I had to leave last...how could I abandon (forsake) my friends, lonely in this lowly world?”

German: Es ist vorbei ... Alles verloren ... Ich bin der Letzte ... Translation: "It is over. Everything lost... I am the last..."

Japanese can also be read as “I’m the last one left... I guess it can’t be helped, huh?” but even in context, it didn’t flow quite as well as I’d like.. but that doesn’t take away from the crying, does it... ; A; I got the term “Remnant” from Japanese, where “watashi ga saigo ni nokotta tte” would literally translate to “I’m the final remnant”/”I’m the last leftover”, which I did word as “I’m the last one remaining/left.” (It is also 'Sumo term, cried by the referee to indicate that a rikishi is still in the ring’, but that didn’t quite feel right here, however, you can take the sumo joke if you’d like. <3)

I’m going to repeat that I think referring back to the line he was told back when he’d gotten the title of Elidibus wasn’t bad, and it did still work very well to convey that lost, lonely, longing he was left with as a remnant; what little was left of him, lamented the loss of his beloved people; people that he’d just wanted to save. This is evidenced in French and German; where he states that he’s all that’s left, everything is lost, it is over... that he had to go last, so he wouldn’t abandon his friends.

I appreciate that we gave Elidibus all the constellation stones, which, in a way, let him finally be with all of his friends once more. All the stones, except for ours; we kept that, because Hades made it for us. He made it for us to remember, so that the story of the Ancients wouldn’t be forgotten; the ‘truth’ he made sure he told us when we asked about the past.

At least, that’s what I choose to believe for now.

[Next Post >>]

#ffxiv #language #comparison #differences #translation #translator ramble #more like discussion #discussion #thanks #english #japanese #french #german #deutsche #français #日本語 #shiro-from-cafeberry #xehniscreations #robynmarkius #large images #image heavy #spoilers #obviously #5.3 spoilers #ffxiv 5.3 spoilers #patch 5.3 spoilers #angel lockhart #azem #elidibus

[margridarnauds]

Did you watch some Shiki Stage Musicals ? I also love how their productions look through th PV and the documentaries but it seems to me that people not talk so much about the Company contrary to Toho Stage. Is that because they have another politics concerning their musicals ? Also what you can tell about the Shiki Actresses ? What are the differences with the Toho Actresses ?

Your timing is actually IMPECCABLE here, because I was only just looking at Shiki’s channel as you sent that on and thinking about how I’ve somewhat neglected it. In Toho’s defense: It’s only really as well known as it is because me and a few others worked our tails off to get it SOME recognition, and we’re still actively working on trying to keep things that way. An awareness of what Toho is has been slowly spreading through the last few years, since we’ve been making gifsets and posting material, but it’s still very much in the shadow of Zuka, in many ways. There just...is not that much attention paid to non-Zuka Japanese Musicals, sadly, and even Zuka tends to fall into the “niche interest” category, and for the past few years, my attention’s been kind of spread thin trying to go from new Toho musical to new Toho musical while also checking on whatever’s happening in Korea at the moment. 

As a warning, I do not know NEARLY as much about Shiki as I do about Toho and Zuka; it can be on the elusive side as far as tracking down material, especially as a non-Japanese speaker, so I’m very willing to be wrong here. 

So, what I would say, off the bat, is that there isn’t really the same rivalry between Shiki and Toho that there is between, say, Zuka and Toho. Or at least. None that I’ve personally witnessed. I think that people are generally willing to attend both, though Toho does have the prestige of having The Imperial Seal™ (at Imperial Prices™ to match.) On a personal level, the reason for why I *personally* don’t work with it as much is nothing really personal against Shiki, but more that, specifically because a ton of their musicals are taken from Broadway, that means that the rights to distribution are...well. Complicated. Which means that you don’t really GET proshots of Shiki musicals as such. Not saying it will never happen. But I’m saying that, as of the present, Shiki doesn’t really do it. Which means that I have considerably less material to properly work with, as opposed to Toho where, okay, proshots are limited, but they do happen, and so I can watch the entire musical and draw material from there. With Shiki, I only ever have a few minutes to work off of. Shiki is, in that sense, still very much kind of confined to Japan, since the only way to REALLY support them is to go to Japan and attend a musical yourself, which...well. I can’t really do. That and, at the risk of being perfectly blunt, I’m a sucker for really, really expensive costumes, and Toho happens to know how to appeal to that. 

Looking online at fanboards, whenever someone asks the question “Toho or Shiki?” the general consensus really seems to be “It’s impossible to really compare them because they’re essentially different styles of musical entirely.” Shiki is....I don’t know how to say this in a way that doesn’t devalue one or the other, but it tends to be a little more light-hearted, it has a little more of that family-friendly “People can bring their families for a night out at the musicals” charm, while Toho....well. Okay, if I theoretically had spawn, I would be willing to take them to, say, Roman Holiday or Fiddler on the Roof at Toho, but....1789? MARIE ANTOINETTE (with its lovely depictions of mob violence, swearing, and references to incest and sexual abuse)? NO. NO. SAVE YOURSELF, SMALL CHILD. And, of course, the light, happy Black Butler musicals. Toho.....not ALL the time, of course, but it tends, in my opinion, to have a darker edge. The musicals are glorious, the production values are high, and the costuming is fantastic, but still. A darker edge. Even among their more family friendly musicals, like Fiddler, they’re still....mature, you know? You get the feeling with Toho that the people watching it are all very much adults. Takarazuka....I’d have LESS trouble bringing my hypothetical spawn to, but also, traditionally, Takarazuka is generally, in a Japanese context, associated with middle-aged women. Also keeping in mind that children have low attention spans and I’m not sure they would REALLY want to watch a 20 minute revue at the end, though the revue is undoubtedly cool. 

But Shiki? It’s bright, it’s colorful, it does musicals like The Little Mermaid, Frozen, The Lion King, and Mamma Mia (which is DEFINITELY not for kids, really, but still has that kind of....happy, sparky vibe to it). Also musicals that have come to really represent BROADWAY tend to get staged there, like Phantom of the Opera, Evita, and Cats. Yeah, it doesn’t quite have the budget of Toho or Zuka, but it’s FUN.  Everyone there IS trained, and it can actually be a decent way of checking who might be up and coming in the Japanese musical world, since, of course, just because someone STARTS OFF with Shiki doesn’t mean they can’t move to Toho (I believe that Mitsuo Yoshihara, for one example, started with Shiki, as did Rie Yoshizawa, who is better known by me for playing Mary I in “Lady Bess” but also played in Mamma Mia and A Chorus Line at Shik, and Megumi Hamada, who is arguably one of the most respected female Japanese musical performers of our time, with her roles in Wicked (Shiki), Mamma Mia (Shiki), Beauty and the Beast (Shiki), Death Note (Toho), Sunset Boulevard (Toho), Love Never Dies (Toho), and Jekyll and Hyde (Toho) giving her a reputation of a truly world-class diva, in the best possible sense of the term.)

As with Toho, you have to go through an audition to get in -- Personally, I think that Shiki has more fresh blood passing through it than Toho, which can sometimes cycle the same cast around repeatedly, with the exception of musicals like Les Miserables and Miss Saigon that tend to be star creators. (ALWAYS take note of who’s playing Enjolras in Les Mis in particular; a lot of Toho stars have made their careers that way, ditto for Eponine and Kim in Miss Saigon. Not that I recommend anyone watch Miss Saigon. Because it’s a racist, orientalist mess. But at least check the cast list for it.) So, as with Toho, you do generally have people who went to school for acting and singing, though you don’t REALLY get, say, former Takarazuka actresses. I don’t think that Shiki is generally (underline generally, because no sooner do I give out a rule than I find that someone broke the rule) considered to be prestigious enough for the REALLY high profile stars. It’s a good place, again, it isn’t like there’s a STIGMA against it, but it’s just a matter of degree. So, my dream of seeing Sayaka Kanda playing Princess Anna of Arendelle on stage is tragically doomed. 

Compared to Toho, I have relatively few actresses I’m really ATTACHED to, mainly because I think that Shiki doesn’t really emphasize the performer as much as the musical, if that makes any sense? Shiki, unlike Toho, subscribes to what is called the “auteur theory” which, put to its core, states that it is a strict meritocracy, with no famous celebrities being cast, and that actors exist to make a musical shine, not the other way around. (Takarazuka is the polar opposite, emphasizing the Top Star system, while Toho is halfway in-between the two of them, as discussed here.) Which is good, to some extent, since I firmly believe that a musical should never be about one person and, quite frankly, I have seen my fair share of cases where a single actor’s vanity tanked my impression of a musical, but it also makes it a little harder to get attached to individual actresses/actors when I don’t really get to see that much of them. Two that I’ve noted: 

- Azusa Hirata - A particularly interesting case because, unlike the usual cases I see where you have a Shiki actress “graduating” to Toho in a sense, she actually went from doing quite a few Toho musicals in her youth to doing Shiki. She actually won the 1st International Szilvester Levay International Singing Competition, where she performed “Blind vom Licht” from Marie Antoinette (of course I have to like her). Her rendition isn’t my FAVORITE in terms of the context of the musical, a little too polished for my personal tastes, but still brilliant, and she definitely earned her spot. 

- Masae Ebata - The youngest Donna Sheridan in the world, at the age of just 30, and renowned for playing both Donna and Sophie in the same performance period. Also the VERY first Korean performer to play the role of Elphaba in Wicked, before the official Korean premiere in 2012. It’s been noted that, along with her voice being very good, she pronounces her Japanese VERY well, which is something that many Korean performers coming to Japan have trouble with (another performer who’s been noted for it is Park Hye-Na in Death Note.) 

- Marie Wakana - Her performance of “Part of Your World” in the PV is SO good. 

(I actually suspect that this might be partially why Shiki doesn’t have as much of an international following, because foreign fans will generally get really attached to a singular STAR, whereas the Shiki musicals don’t have that same bait. They don’t really have a Furukawa Yuta of their own, someone who, just by name alone, they’re like ‘Ah, yes, they’ll be playing in this musical, so it’s going to be a good show.’ And, for most international fans, I feel like, without the allure of a castmember they’re attached to, they might look at Shiki musicals and essentially go “What are they doing that I can’t get closer to home?” That’s my SUSPICION, at any rate.) 

#shiki theatre #shiki stage #HIGHLY underrated in all honesty #scarletfantasia

[jade-marie]

GG 2x04 Rewatch

Not gonna lie, this is probably going to be the only episode I rewatch. The rest has been kinda tainted by 2x13 and s3.

Generally, my opinions tend not to line up with the majority of the fandom - sorry, not sorry. 

1. What was your favourite scene of the episode? Tell us why!

It’s a tie between the bathroom break and the vette smash. Bathroom break - for obvious reasons - I’m a hoe and I live for that shit. The vette smash - I just vibe with Rio’s petty energy and the way you could see how much he was enjoying himself, Dean being metaphorically castrated by the guy who just fucked his wife... chef’s kiss. 

2. Was there any scene that missed the mark for you? And if so, how?

I WISH beth would’ve bit back when Dean brought up the shooting. It irks me so much that she contnually rolls over for him. She spitefully gets payback, but rarely puts him in his place (if it were up to me, his place would be by boomer-jeff’s side in the dumpster)

3. This episode starts with each of the girls trying to make amends in their own way – Beth through her family, Ruby through charity and Annie through Marion. What do you think this tells us about each of them?

I feel like Beth and Ruby’s attempts at making amends always feel incredibly shallow and I can never tell if it’s down to shitty writing or if its because they genuinely don’t feel guilty. If’it’s the former - I’m not surprised. If it’s the latter - I hope the girls own their lack of remorse, in future. 

Annie strikes me as the one who feels genuine guilt over a lot of this, and it’s been pretty consistent - even when Lucy died in S3. I think it makes sense for her to be the most cut up about it because she always struck me as someone who’s ruled by her emotions - she doesn’t exactly think before she acts, and is typically pretty impulsive.

4. Rio offers Beth the keys to the kingdom! This scene is always hotly debated in the fandom! What do you think he meant in the moment of it? Do you think he ever actually saw or even wanted Beth as a partner?

Straying from the general consensus, as usual - I don’t think he was playing her and I don’t think he planned to take a cut of whatever Beth came up with. 

Personally, I don’t think it makes much sense. He’s already learnt that he gets further with Beth through praise and reward, as opposed to intimidation - more flies with honey, yada yada yada. 

If the whole thing was just a manipulation it would have made more sense for him to convince her that he had faith in her and offer her a 25% cut of any cash washing operation she could come up with. She would’ve bit his hand off at the opportunity.  

I think he was telling the truth when he said that he was done, I think he was genuinely flipping his game from cash to pills. At this point, Turner was looking closely and so it would make sense for Rio to want to distance himself from the counterfeit operation. He literally explained back in season one that it’s how he avoids being caught, he flips his game before the feds get too close. 

I get the feeling that he probably didn’t intend to have much contact with Beth going forward and was going to leave her to do whatever she wanted with the rest of the money. It’s not that I think he wouldn’t manipulate her, he absolutely would. I just don’t really think it makes sense in this context. 

5. Do you think Marion had any idea that Boomer was taking advantage of her?

I think it was probably similar to the situation with Beth, regarding Dean’s cheating: the thought was there, but she never really confronted the idea and lived in a comfy little denial bubble.

6. Dean’s attachment to the corvette is played in many different ways in s2! How do you interpret this?

I think it’s the perfect display of his narcissism and toxic masculinity. The car is as grandiose as his ego and he thinks it’s going to save the dealership, much like he thinks he’s going to be the one to save his family from ruin.

7. Why do you think Beth kept the money from Ruby and Annie?

I think she’s hugely manipulative and likes to be the be the one holding the cards. She only wanted to rob the store when she had her own problems to worry about and then convinced the girls to go along with it, she went to Rio to ask for more work back in season 1, she asked him to up their drops, the list goes on.

She tends to call the shots and drag them along for the ride, so it seems consistent with her personality that she’d keep the money to herself until she needed it, and then inform the girls. 

8. The birth of the cars for cash business! Is this Beth’s best idea? Her worst? How do you rank it, both in general and among the girls’ other schemes? And do you think it could’ve worked longterm if Turner wasn’t so fixated on Beth?

Probably the best idea she came up with tbh. The others were pretty poorly thought through, as far as long term strategising goes. It could’ve worked really well if they had an accountant keeping the books looking kosher. 

9. The Beth and Dean arc this episode is perhaps one of their most frustrating (in spite of the extremely cathartic resolution, haha). Do you think Dean’s belittling of Beth and his feelings of Beth emasculating him are new to their relationship or have been around for a long time? How do you think they really see each other?

I think they lived in a state of blissful ignorance and their initial interaction (love you, tunafish) was really indicative of that. Him belittling her was probably prevalent in the beginning of the relationship, but I think she probably just placated him and got on with her life. Now she’s clearly growing tired of his shit, just not. fast. enough.

I don’t think they’re in love though. I think Dean’s feelings for her are fuelled by narcissim. She’s obviously good looking and from the outside, he has it all. The house in the burbs, kids, hot wife, family business etc. That’s what he cares about - the image. I don’t think Beth is too dissimilar. I think she probably looked up to Judith as a teenager and idiolised that life, which Dean could provide. I don’t think she ever had deep, romantic, feelings for him. But she probaly does care for him, to an extent.

10. The Annie and Beth arc is also pretty telling of the characters’ history. It’s also one of the few times we’ve deliberately seen Beth seek out Annie for comfort (often it’s incidental that Annie’s there). What do you think this tells us about their relationship, both historically, and where they are at this point in the series?

I think it’s one of the few moments that their sibling bond is believable. It’s pretty accurate that, as Annie is maturing, she becomes less of a fuckup baby sister who needs everyone to clean up after her and grows into someone that beth can turn to for comfort/advice. Makes sense that this happens later in life, considering the significant age gap.

11. Ruby’s scene at the Quick Cash with JT is really significant – both in terms of it being a generally delightful scene, but also as a touchstone demonstration of Ruby’s increasing unwillingness to swallow her pride. Do you think Ruby prior to the series commencing would’ve reacted to JT’s goading in this way? And how do you think this scene compliments the scene earlier in the episode with Stan admitting he’s taken another loan too?

I thinks she would’ve wanted to, but literally couldn’t afford to. She had the means and opportunity to give him a dose of karma. But it’s always been in her nature to talk shit - diner dickweed in season 1. She refused to swallow her pride and apologise.

That, along with Stan taking another loan, seems to fit in well with the Hill’s entire arc of trying to be good people and being consistently shit on for it.

12. THE. BATHROOM. BREAK. That’s it. That’s the question. Please elaborate on your thoughts and feelings.

Am i supposed to be able to form thoughts or sentences that adequately express my feelings?

Petty king is also king of consent, he let beth take the lead - love it.

Judging from the papertowel dispenser, stroke game was strong.

Penis levitation is now a part of my vocab, thank you for your service, Rio.

10/10 - would definitely recommend being railed in a bathroom by this man.

13. Greg and Annie have what’s their last break-up in this episode (at least up until now). Why do you think this particular one stuck? And do you see any sort of future for them?  

I feel like the key difference was Annie putting her foot down and saying “no”. Idk if I can see them getting back together, becasue I don’t think she’d have another affair when there’s a child in the mix and he’s too much of a pussy to divorce Nancy unless he has a guaranteed backup plan aka Annie. Still kinda ship it though.

14. Annnnd lastly, what do you make of the final scene at Boland Motors? What do you think Rio thought following both the bathroom break and this moment?

I think that Rio was genuinely flipping his game and moving away from cash and, in turn, Beth. But the bathroom break changed his mind, so he got curious and wanted to know what she came up with for the money, only to find out that she gave it to Dean. Given how possessive Rio is of his money, in combination with the feelings for Beth which had just been stirred up, I think his jealous side came out and he took back the money. 

Up until this point, the entire Brio dynamic was him holding the power and exerting it whenever he saw fit. The second he followed her into that bathroom, he gave up whatever semblance of control or power he had left. The man is a very obvious control freak and so I don’t think he does well or feels secure in those situations. Him smashing up the car was basically an attempt to re-establish dominance and convince himself (and Beth) that he was still in control; with the added bonus of emasculating dean and making money.

And daaaayyyyyyyuuuuuuummmmm if I don’t enjoy watching that scene. The emasculation of Dean, Rio being petty, Beth malfunctioning at the possibility of Dean finding out she got dicked down in the bathroom, while he sat outside trying (and failing) to get the waiter’s attention. I DIE

#4am thoughts #rio's stroke game is obvs fire #would def care to experience it #dean is trash #hate him #die bitch #stan deserves the earth #petty ruby is iconic #annie is way smarter than anyone (including the writers) gives her credit for #gg rewatch 2x04 #gg rewatch

[okaybutlikeimagine]

The shovel talk prompt is so cute. I was wondering if you could do one where the kids or Joyce gives billy a shovel talk since Steve’s dad defiantly wouldn’t do it.

(heyo dears, the post we’re talking about is right here!)

I fuckin love this and you KNOW they both would but in very very different ways.

Bc with Joyce, it’s still very motherly and a lot more gentle than Hop, but also Extremely Serious.

Bc i like to think Joyce has known Steve since he was a very little kid. Like… her kids have always gone to school together and she went to school w/ Steve’s parents. and she doesn’t really like steve’s parents like… at ALL. and she kind of thought Steve was mean (bc he was, guys. Love our babe, he’s a gem, but 1st season he was a jerkwad w/ little to no self awareness and that’s why i love his growth bc he was a teenage boy who grew from his mistakes and i love that for him♥) but he’s softened up in the past year and he babysits all of the kids and it just means a lot to her. She knows she can trust Will in the hands of Steve and that will forever and always mean the world.

And of COURSE she knows she can trust Billy too, but she’s known Steve longer and she’s watched him grow up and she’s seen the way he’s grown and she’s just… so proud of him. She’s so incredibly proud of him. He’s such a good kid and he has a good heart and Billy is also a very good kid with a very good heart (and she will defend that stance till the day she dies) but he can be a bit… rough. She knows it. He’d probably admit to it too. He’s just a little rough and tough and Steve is a very soft boy and Joyce worries.

So she definitely sits Billy down and talks to him about it. She puts a motherly hand on his knee like she always does when she has serious talks with him. She’s very gentle about bringing Steve up.

And then she squeezes his knee a little tighter than normal and says: “Now don’t do anything to harm Steve, alright? Because you’ll have a lot of upset people on your hands, and one of them will be me.”

She’s stern. Billy just kind of… laughs nervously.

But the KIDS… ohgod guys, the kids.

The kids would devote their lives to protecting Steve if they needed to. I’m thinking that Knight guard at the end of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade who loyally guards the grail w/ his life. I’m thinking of them forming a transformer like thing, all of them becoming a different part of the body so they can ward off evils and wrongdoers. I’m thinking something along the lines of London Tipton’s father’s body guards who form a literal blockade around him so you never see his face. Like, imagine these lil children banding together to form a little square around Steve, blocking him from the rest of the world so that no one can touch him or even look at him w/o going through them first. (There’s a scene where London dances w/ her dad except the body guard dudes don’t really move so she’s just holding his hands and all of the body guard dudes are moving side to side as they dance and it’s Hilarious and i just want to put that image into your heads but w/ the kids around Steve and Billy pouting bc whythefuck isn’t he allowed to see him goddamn boyfriend???)(anyway, i digress)(and might be making some references you don’t understand goodness i’m so sorry)

okaY so the kids are all at Mike’s house playing DnD or being dorks or whatever it is 14 yr olds do in a group alone. Or at least, that’s what Billy thinks. He’s really not sure what’s going on, he doesn’t pretend to understand their little shenanigans, he listened to Will rant about DnD character types for about 2 hours last week and his brain still feels a little fried by it so he just…….. He lets it be. All he needs to know is when to drop them off, when to pick them up, and when to tune them out just enough to where he doesn’t feel like a total jackass. Really, only w/ Will though bc Will is his favorite and he’d never wanna upset Will.

Anyway, he’s at Mike’s house, knocking on the door, here to pick Will and El up, when Mike opens the door and ushers him inside immediately.

“Hi Billy come in! We uhhh… we need you to help us… decide something.” Mike says lamely. Billy’s so unconvinced it’s insane.

“Decide something? Seriously? Since when have you nerds ever wanted my opinion on anything?”

“Well uh… this is a weird situation and we need your help.” Dustin says in what he probably thinks is sweet but to Billy is actually just very irritating, but he turns his attention to Dustin anyway.

Billy rolls his eyes and crosses his arms. “Whatever, what do you need?”

“Uhhhhhhh…. Now Mike!”

And suddenly, Billy’s world is black and very fabric-y. He’s been blindfolded. It’s very dumb and Mike probably would have struggled if he wasn’t Billy’s exact height so Billy starts wriggling and struggling and reaching for the blindfold when he feels someone grab his hand.

“It’s alright, Billy. We’re just going downstairs.” Will’s calm, soft voice says as he pulls him in some direction. Billy follows with a lot less struggle. He doesn’t wanna hurt Will.

And in a few minutes, Billy’s being pushed into a chair. He’s pretty sure he hears voices quietly bicker over tying him up but the consensus seems to be a “no” on that one bc soon he’s gaining sight again.

His vision clears from it’s blinded blur to see a kid w/ a mop of curly hair in front of his face.

“Hello Billy.” He says like he’s intimidating or something.

“Hi Billy!” El says extremely cheerfully. Dustin turns his head to shush her.

“El! Sh! We’re supposed to be intimidating!”

“Ohhhhh…. Intimidating?”

Max chimes in. “Like, scary.”

“Oh!” El says in understanding, making her best angry face and thinking way too hard and, very suddenly, exploding a lightbulb. She shrieks.

“Sorry…”

“It’s alright El.” Will says kindly, walking towards a closet. “Mike’s mom keeps extra lightbulbs in the closet.”

“Will!” Mike hisses “We’re busy right now!”

Will hits Mike with a silencing look. “I think you guys can handle this.”

Mike pouts. “Why are none of you helping us?” He looks to the corner where Max and Lucas are sitting, Lucas on the arm of a lounge chair and Max on the seat.

“We’re… supervising.” Lucas says over a sip of his soda.

“Yeah, we’re just making sure this dumbass doesn’t get murdered for being stupid.” Max says, gesturing to Dustin who makes a very loud noise of indignation. Max shrugs.

And Billy?? Is tired as all hell. Kinda just wants to leave. Really, he could leave and these little twerps probably wouldn’t even notice. They didn’t tie him down or anything, he’s just sitting in a chair watching these children fumble like idiots trying to be intimidating.

But…. he indulges them. He thinks it’s kind of entertaining. Sure, he could be doing a lot more w/ his day, but seeing these kids be dumb is still vaguely enjoyable. Plus, he likes El and Will and Max and he thinks sitting here for their sake might be worth it maybe.

So he sits and he watches and he listens to Mike and Dustin bicker about how to “interrogate a witness”

“We’re not interrogating him, we’re intimidating him!”

“Well you gotta use the same tactics, right?”

To the point where Max heaves a bit sigh and shoves them aside so she’s standing in front of Billy, sitting in her hip w/ her arms crossed.

“Alright Billy, look. We know you’re dating Steve. And we’re fine with you dating Steve.” She gives a hard look to Mike and Dustin, who look about to chime in w/ opinions of their own, but wither under Max’s gaze. “All we’re saying is we need to set some ground rules here.” Max says as she turns back to Billy. “Number one-”

“Don’t hurt Steve!” Dustin all but screams, causing Max to sigh with a roll of her eyes.

“Alright, yes. Rule number one: Don’t hurt Steve.  He’s like… family at this point. He’s super cool and nice to all of us and we care about him so don’t hurt him.”

“Or else I’ll hurt you!” Dustin pipes up again LOUDLY.

“Or Dustin will talk your ear off and probably accidentally spit on you while he does it.” Max says to a chorus of snickers and one very loud “Hey!” from the subject of her teasing.

“Rule number two: don’t be too…. Gross around us.” Max makes a face. “Like, if we have to witness you two kissing more than once a week, that’s excessive.”

At that is where Billy scoffs. “Are you serious?”

“Yes. at least for those of us who don’t live with you. And Number three: I don’t wanna hear ANYTHING about you guys… sleeping together.”

Everyone audibly gags at the thought. Billy is full on laughing now.

“Wow, such a kid you can’t even say the word fu-”

“NONE OF IT. Not even in passing or anything bc you guys accidentally talk too loud. I don’t want to be subjected to any of that.” Max is adamant about it, sealing it with a punch to his shoulder. Billy just puts his hands up in defeat.

“Yeah, fine, whatever. Like I wanna talk about my sex life with a bunch of twerps.”

Billy is thoroughly entertained by the faces of the kids, all looking absolutely mortified, Will’s face blushing like crazy, El’s head tilted bc she doesn’t understand.

Billy gives Max a look.

“Can I go now?”

Max shrugs, eyebrows furrowed bc she’s mad she had to hear the word sex come out of her brother’s mouth. He’s so grossly brazen all the time.

“Yeah, whatever. Just be nice to Steve.”

Billy pats his own knees and gets up, gesturing to El and Will to follow him.

“Let’s go, punks.” He says, the two of them following, Will’s face still red and El’s eyes a little less confused bc she doesn’t really care anymore. They say goodbye to their friends before following Billy out the door.

The three of them leave behind 2 very loud and complaining boys (Mike and Dustin), but it sounds like Max puts them in their place. Billy chuckles as he slips into his car.

#billy hargrove #steve harrington #even though he's not in this woops i'm sorry i just realized i didn't even write Steve into this #harringrove #joyce byers #will byers #el hopper #eleven #mike wheeler #dustin henderson #lucas sinclair #max mayfield #stranger things #ask #anonymous #humor #at least i hope so #i legit just realized that Steve isn't even in this #i'm so sorry woops #i feel like he wouldn't let the kids do this to Billy though #like they would 100% be sneaky and plan this #thinking they're sly #(newsflash: they're not. they're dumb) #(but i love them)

[phrynewrites]

18? For writers qs

Hi nony!!

18. What is a line/scene you’re really proud of? Give us the DVD commentary for that scene.

Oh god it’s so hard to choose between when Brooke’s office is set on fire and the Go Fish scene in chapter 8. Uhhh...I think i’ll go with Brooke’s office being set on fire. Commentary will be in italics 

***

“I swear to god if any of y’all touch me one more time.” (A’keria, already has no time for anyone here. So I tried to establish that element of her character early.)

Scarlet felt around Director Hytes’ dark office, patting the walls down until she found the light switch. Landing on it, she flicked it on with a satisfying exhale, illuminating the pictures she taped all over Director Hytes’ walls, threw all over her desk and floor, and hung from the ceiling with strings of paperclips. She took in the Margaritaville machine, the festive cups with pre-placed and opened paper umbrellas, and the banner behind them all. (We later find out that Scarlet is the one who plans all the parties, so I definitely wanted her to have the greatest hand in setting up this whole thing. Also, I needed an impetus for a little animosity that stems from differing personalities, so having her really be proud of all of this and Brooke be sooo upset was how I came to get their differences to the forefront.)

It was perfect. The only way it could be more perfect is if everyone could shut up until Director Hytes and Yvie returned from the Northside police station. I also needed Yvie to be out of the scene so she couldn’t convince Scarlet that it was in her best interest to not throw this whole party. (Yvie at this point knows the most about Director Hytes (besides Vanjie, who knows that she loves her and would also like to be fucked over her desk) and she’s also the only one whose opinion Scarlet would listen to, so she had to be removed from the scene until the moment Director Hytes walked in.)

“Please stop touching A’keria, and please shut up until she gets back.” Scarlet tried to sound demanding, but the giddy lilt of her voice betrayed her. “It’s supposed to be a surprise, so I’m gonna turn the lights off again.” With a flick, the room became dark again.

“Get your hand off my boob.” (idk i just think it’s very Big Silk to yell out about someone touching her boob)

“Ain’t no one touchin’ your boob, Silk,” A’keria replied, rolling her eyes.

“You tell that to my boob, A’keria.”

“Shut up and stand in your places, and stop touching each other without consent.”

“Consent is important,” Vanjie agreed, pulsing the Margaritaville machine to test the ice-crushing function. (Fun fact: I like to include a reminder of consent in all my fics before anything happens between the characters, like Daybreak over Manhattan Yvie asking if she can kiss Scarlet or When the Sun Sets on Us Scarlet asking “please” when Yvie seems to want to kiss her. Just a lil something to affirm the comfort of everyone in the scene. This is all to say this is a precursor to some consensual boob-touching later in the fic)

The faint click of heels came in closer as the girls scrambled to their stations. (Director Hytes fully wears staggering stilettos and gives off some Miranda Priestly vibes until she takes a chill pill, i.e. Vanjie tells her she’s a little intimidating. So the heels clicking felt super necessary and something people could immediately tell meant Brooke was approaching)

“Yeah, honestly, thank you so much.” Yvie shed her jacket. “I really didn’t think they’d cave to having to conduct all administration and grading of exams in-house.”

“Well.” Director Hytes followed suit, tossing her coat over her arm and reaching for her office door. “They have to. We’re the bosses around here. They can just deal with it.” She entered her office and hit the light switch. (Another promotion of the theme of women in power, specifically governmental power, where decisions are made)

“Surprise!” The girls exclaimed as Silky turned on the speaker, A’keria fed tequila and margarita mix into the Margaritaville machine while Vanjie pulsed the blender, and Scarlet stood in the corner, gesturing at the “Welcome Director Brooke Lynn Hytes” banner with a stupid grin on her face. (Scarlet fully had them practice this reveal multiple times in order for it to look so smooth when the lights were turned on. Most times, Silky couldn’t get the speaker to connect to her phone and Scarlet was just running around the office, trying to help with anything before she was told to stop)

Yahoo! This is your celebration! Yahoo! This is your celebration! (just a little musical break to really make the silence later extra awkward)

“What… I...” Director Hytes stood slack, speechless as her coat slipped from her arms and onto the floor, covering a picture of herself in a pale pink leotard, tutu, and pointe shoes. (Was she a dancer in a past life? Will she ever talk about it? Time will tell but I will not)

Celebrate good times, come on! Let’s celebrate!

“It’s a party for you!” Scarlet reached for Director Hytes, pulling her deeper into the room as A’keria forced a frozen margarita into her clenched fist. (I thought immediately of that episode of Spongebob where he tries to teach squidward to jelly fish and Patrick just keeps yelling “firmly grasp it!” and shoves the net through squidward’s cast. So, like, that’s the vibe here.) “We wanted to throw a welcome party for you, you know, to make you feel welcome,” Scarlet emphasized.

“Where did—what is?” Director Hytes gestured around the room with her un-margaritaed hand, eyes wide as she took in all the pictures hanging from her walls, taped to her monitor, descending from the ceiling.

“Oh okay, so this is my favorite part!” Scarlet spun around the room, eyes wide, prompting everyone to take in her handiwork before continuing, “So I found all these pictures of you, dancing, on the beach, at hockey games—you have such a good feed by the way, it was super cute to scroll through. (Scarlet works in PR basically, and later on in he series, it really shows) Anyway,” she paused for a breath. “So we wanted to know more about you and really get to know you and that’s where we found all this. And then Ra’jah over in media printed it up for us and I hung them up.”

There’s a party goin’ on right here, a celebration to last throughout the years…

“And we learned so much! I couldn’t even tell that you were Canadian, but I guess I really don’t know what a Canadian accent would sound like in Virginia, so now I know,” she laughed at herself, gesturing at a photo of Director Hytes throwing back a beer while wearing a Maple Leafs jersey. “And I even thought you looked like a dancer, but seeing these pictures of you while dancing and seeing you right here, right now, well, I can really see it. And you have such a nice family with your cute little cats and your wife. (Scarlet spoke too soon. We will learn more about why in chapter 10) I was trying to find a wedding photo after we found the engagement photos but I just couldn’t pull one up…” (Hint: there is no wedding photo) 

Celebrate good times, come on!

Director Hytes gripped the chair behind her desk, staring with glassy eyes at Scarlet, while Vanjie continued to pulse the blender of the Margaritaville machine.

“Anyway it was so cute, so we had to print those too. But I was so happy to find out that I wasn’t the only old married broad here,” Scarlet joked.

A’keria flashed a quick look at Yvie, who was staring contemplatively at the frozen margarita Vanjie placed in her hand moments ago. (A’keria, the all knowing, all seeing deity, already know’s how Yvie feels every time Scarlet mentions that she’s married.)

“And here’s something that’s not a picture but really would be a good picture,” Scarlet lifted up a hulking lasagna housed in a glass Pyrex dish decorated in small, painted flowers, showing Director Hytes the bubbling crust. “I had Brigid make her lasagna for the party. You have to try my wife’s lasagna. I call it the best lasagna in the tri-state because it probably is. I mean...” She placed the lasagna back on Director Hytes’ desk. “I’m no slouch, but she’s like, super good.”

Director Hytes swayed a little bit before tightening her grip on the chair and placing her sweating frozen margarita down on top of a picture of her and the red-head, watching the condensation drip on the woman’s face. She looked like she was seconds away from breaking, and Vanjie unplugged the Margaritaville machine, looking her up and down as she watched Director Hytes stiffen again, trying to return to the same cold woman they met that morning.

Because I’m happy, clap along if you feel…”

“Shut that off.” Director Hytes glared at Silky, who scrambled to unplug the aux cord.

Scarlet bit her cheek, watching Yvie’s eyes wildly circle the room. It looked like a hold up, and Scarlet and Brooke are in the center of it. (Scarlet typically looks toward Yvie for reassurance, but this time was only reassured that she fucked up big time.)

“Are you—” (She’s going to ask Brooke if she’s okay. Brooke is in no way okay)

“How much time, money, and government resources did you waste by putting up all these pictures of my old life? You absolute, complete—” Director Hytes stopped herself, loosening her grip on the chair and standing upright again. “I cannot believe that you feel absolutely no remorse using your work day to scroll through Facebook, dredge up my past, and plaster it all over my office—which none of you should ever be in without my permission or explicit invitation—and you do it all on the taxpayer’s dime.” (Brooke’s really not having it with her old life. Also she truly doesn’t know what Scarlet’s job is but she does not like it one bit.)

Scarlet inhaled, blinking up at the fluorescents, rubbing her arm. “I feel like you’re really mad at me.”

“I am. I’m mad at all of you. Now go. Get out of my office. Everyone. Go.” Director Hytes replied bluntly in rapid-fire succession as her voice threatened to break. But the four were nearly paralized in their spots, clutching their drinks, watching as Director Hytes turned her attention toward Yvie. “And you, you’re trying to tell me that we have so many incomplete projects because everyone is working so hard at smaller tasks? Would you tell me that Scarlet was working hard today? And oh, Vanessa’s working really hard over at that blender...”

Director Hytes expected an answer. She always did. Yvie took a sip of her drink, waiting for Director Hytes to finish her ranting before she replied. “Well, Scarlet means well. She always does. She…” Yvie trailed off. “They all do, really. And it’s just a bunch of paper. Like you said,” Yvie smirked, stirring the paper umbrella around her frozen margarita, prepared to toss Director Hytes’ words right back at her. “We have bigger problems here.” (It had to be Yvie here with about as much structural power in this department as Brooke. Mostly because of their different, yet strong conflict styles.)

She breathed out and in, taking her drink back off her desk. “Okay, okay. I almost lost it there. I don’t want to lose it. I can’t lose it,” she spoke quietly, breathlessly, before forcing the straw into her mouth, face still fuming, but mind lowering in temperature.

“Hello, hello, hello!” (Christine) the two exceptionally cheerful voices of Shuga and Nina cut through the slowly falling tension as they entered the office, carrying a massive sheet cake decorated with scattered candles and a cursive piped “Welcome Director Hytes.”

“Hello, hon, I’m Shuga,” she began, raising her line of sight from the cake to Director Hytes, who looked no less pinched and angry than before. In fact, she might have looked angrier once she saw that her employees not only accomplished nothing between themselves today, they roped others into their nonsense.

When Director Hytes released a near freezing glare and shot it at Nina and Shuga, all Shuga could do was stumble over a stilted, “Jesus, child, ooh she’s mad ,” while letting the cake slip from her hands. And all Nina could do was reach haphazardly in front of her, trying to grip Shuga’s end of the cake while sputtering out “oh no, oh no, god no, oh no ,” as the cake hit the ground. And all the cake could do was slam against the floor, which was still littered in printed pictures of Director Hytes, the red-headed woman, and her two cats, the flames of the candles immediately licking at the heaps of printed pages, scorching the carpet and setting off the sprinkler system. (I thought, how can I take a just barely resolved situation and set it on fire. So I set it on fire)

“We weren’t ready for you!” Silky stomped, covering her hair with her hands.

“Girl, the word was Go . We heard go and we came in,” Shuga shrugged, kicking the wet photos off her shoes. “I don’t know what else you wanted us to do, honey.”

“Well, we have to call someone about this.” Scarlet pulled off her blazer, using it to cover Director Hytes’ laptop as best she could. 

“We’re the people we have to call!” Director Hytes threw her hands in the air, frozen margarita sloshing over the edge of her glass. “And who put candles on the cake? It’s not even my birthday.” (Honestly, she’s having the worst first day at the job ever now she’s gotta call herself about her burning office)

“We know, you’re a Pisces, just like me.” (I think this is somehow still my most iconic line from this fic? idk but Scarlet being fully off topic has gotten many amused comments and I feel fully established her character here)

“Oh my god, Scarlet.” Director Hytes held the cold glass to her forehead, feeling her head begin to spin, desperately needing to cool down. The water pouring down from the sprinklers just wasn’t enough.

“I did,” Vanessa added timidly, looking over at A’keria, who continued to sip her frozen margarita, unbothered. (A’keria is either mad as hell or unbothered that’s the way it is) “I thought it’d be, you know, all festive and shit.” (Totally necessary for the call back in Vanjie’s birthday chapter. Gives their relationship a point from which to build.)

Director Hytes began opening her mouth to respond, but instead shook her head and squeezed her eyes shut tighter, leaning against her sopping wet walls, releasing a shuttering, “Get out of my office.”

#for anon #asks answered #ask phryne #fanfic writer asks #dops #the department of public safety

[sparxwrites]

(1/2)i read one of ur posts about dark sexual fic & this confused me: “but something deeply and fundamentally focused on the trauma and violation of that kind of thing is not, for me, sexual (and if what you’re getting off on is the actual nonconsent, rather than the playing at/silly version of nonconsent, i have some questions/concerns. this seems like a weird and not-really-there line, but it’s surprisingly obvious and disconcerting when someone/a fic crosses it tbh).”

(2/2) that does seem like a weird line to me. would you be willing elaborate on what you mean by that?

Okay, so there’s a few points I’m making with that run-on sentence. Admittedly, neither of them are terribly coherent in that form - though I’ve talked about this a little before - so let’s break it down:

1) There are multiple “types” of depictions of rape/non-consent within fiction. Within fandom, these have often been divided along the “rape” vs. “non-con/dub-con” line. Rape is ‘realistic’ depictions of sex without consent, i.e. as a traumatic, deeply awful violation of one person by the other. Non-con, on the other hand, is often designed to titillate - it’s specifically supposed to be hot/sexual, and it’s often about as realistic a depiction of rape as reality tv shows are a realistic depiction off real life. I.e. not at all. It’s playing at non-consent, it’s a fantasy, it’s unrealistic, both parties are enjoying it, there’s no hint of lasting trauma, there’s arousal, it’s hot, it’s about sex as much as it is about power/violence, there’s no lasting consequences, there’s a back button you can click if it gets too much. 

It’s selling you a fantasy of rape, essentially. This is not unproblematic - there’s a lot of concern here about how this stuff feeds into rape myths, or affects people’s perception of rape, or trivialises the experiences of actual rape victims - but it does mean that people who get off to this kind of fic are... not really getting off to depictions of rape (usually, though see point three), in the same way that people who get off to daddy kink aren’t (again, usually) really getting off to the idea of fucking their father, etc. These things can definitely be criticised, and increasingly as I’ve read more writing from a feminist perspective on them, I think they should be criticised even by people who enjoy them, but saying “someone who has a rape fantasy actually wants to rape people/get raped” is (again, usually) laughably and patently untrue.

2) I don’t find rape fic, using the definition of rape provided above, hot. I am interested in writing it, for various reasons related to my interest in writing horror and trauma and extremes of personal circumstance, but if I am reading a fic which is focused on the assault that’s going to cause lasting trauma aspect of things rather than the fantasy aspect, that’s not sexual. That’s a horror/whump/catharsis thing, and that’s where my enjoyment of reading or writing it comes from. (There’s a complicated sort of overlap here, with whump and rape and whether we define whump as sexual, and how we often don’t have language for strong and non-sexual emotions, and how the kind of tension-release that horror and whump and rape fics play with tends to provoke physical responses even if the internal experience of them is not one of arousal... but that’s another post.)

Every person I’ve talked to in fandom space who has non-consent as a kink seems to feel the same way, although they put the cut-off at different points. I’ve never talked to anyone in a fandom space who was like, “What really gets me going is imagining this assault I’m reading about in a fic happening to a real person who doesn’t want it.” There’s always elements of fantasy that are essential to their enjoyment of it - ranging from “both people have to be enjoying it in the fic” to “I imagine myself in the role of the victim and, even though they’re not enjoying it, I am and therefore I’m in control still and it’s only a fantasy of non-consent”. There’s always that disconnect from reality, that bit of power/consent still left with the victim, that persistent element of fantasy play-pretend.

What this means is, non-consent that is not clearly fantasy is an instant turn-off for (most) people with a non-consent kink. For something that is abhorrent irl to be appealing in fiction, for me, it has to be clear that it is fictional. It’s not real, that it’s a ‘play-pretend’ version of the real thing. These are characters. No one is actually getting hurt. With non-con fic, there’s often not really even the pretense that anyone’s getting hurt - it plays out more like a bdsm scene, where both characters are enjoying it (something something rape as a fantasy about not having to ask for the things you want), or where it’s a very... mild, palatable-ized version of what irl is an awful experience.

3) The feelings I talk about in point two, about people enjoying the play-pretend version of non-consent only, are not everyone’s feelings. Some people, when they say they find non-consent hot, do not mean fantasy non-consent or non-consent played out consensually between real people - they mean they find the actual idea of rape hot. They are genuinely aroused by the concept of assaulting someone, watching someone be assaulted, or (more rarely) being assaulted themselves). This is, in my opinion, where the “don’t kinkshame” mantra breaks down. Genuinely being aroused by the thought of an actual living, breathing human being getting raped is evil, and interacting with people who have this kink (who often slip under the radar in spaces that are interested in fantasy non-consent) is a deeply unsettling experience.

It’s the difference between finding something hot specifically because the other person participating it finds it hot, and being genuinely turned off by your partner’s enjoyment. You find this a lot in male fetish spaces - whereas female/afab people tend to, even when playing with non-consent, be deeply repulsed by the idea of doing anything more than ‘play-forcing’ someone into something they actually want, a lot of male ppl in fetish spaces seem genuinely aroused by making someone do something they really, truly don’t want to. That is what’s disconcerting - talking to someone about a play-pretend fantasy, and realising they think it would still be hot if it were real. Realising that, unlike people who enjoy non-consent in fiction, they would be aroused by news reports of an irl sexual assault that had happened.

Or, if you want a metaphor: it’s the same thing as if I (who loves whump but also nearly passed out in sympathetic stress once bc a stranger I didn’t know had dislocated their shoulder and was crying in agony in a hospital waiting room) bumped into someone who was like, “my ultimate dream is to forcibly and non-consensually amputate someone’s leg for realsies because irl pain gets me going, we’re basically into the same thing! :D”. They’re really not the same thing at all, and it’s incredibly unfortunate that both get referred to as “rape kink”, because the motivations there are very, very different, and it shows when you interact with people.

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