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femmefatalevibe · 10 months

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Femme Fatale Guide: Tips To Become More Emotionally Intelligent

Embrace self-awareness & self-reflection: Observe how you feel, behave, and how people generally respond to your words/actions in different situations

Practice self-regulation: Learn to differentiate between your feelings and the actions that would be appropriate in a specific setting or interaction. Internalize that feelings are fleeting and non-factual. You're in control of how you respond/(don't) act on these emotions

Engage in active listening: Pay attention to what others are saying with the intent of understanding, not responding

Focus on emotional differentiation: Understand where your thoughts, feelings, intentions, and opinions end and another person's identity/perception begins

Display radical empathy and acceptance: Understand that almost all people's words and actions result from their own beliefs, past experiences, and current life circumstances/priorities. Put yourself in their shoes when attempting to understand their choices, behaviors, and times they come to you to discuss a problem, success, or major life decision. Accept that you can only control what you do. Very little of other people's actions/the world's workings are personal. Things are happening around you, not to you

Let go of your ego: View yourself as objectively as possible with the potential for improvement. Abolish any superior complex or overwhelming desire to prove your self-importance in others' lives and decisions

Remain open-minded: Question your own beliefs and opinions. Stay curious as to why you believe them to be true/authentic to you. Allow your opinions to change or have the capacity to modify your beliefs upon hearing new information. Understand your worldview and values are valid, but they're not definitively correct beliefs, just because they resonate/feel comfortable for you

Be receptive to feedback: Embrace constructive criticism as a self-improvement tool. Approach it with curiosity and optimism, not as a personal attack

Differentiate between your feelings and capabilities: Your thoughts are not facts. Remember you can do things you don't feel like doing most of the time (work, waking up in the morning, working out, etc.). Learn the difference between being a slave to your emotions and genuinely running out of energy

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whetstonefires · 1 year

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Very fun thing actually about Jin Guangyao is he spent so much time and energy passing himself off as normal. The Normalest Guy, Look How Normal I Am. The Very Best And Most Skilled At Normal Things, Like Being Normal And Having Normal Opinions.

Which is great because on the one hand it reflects how he was kind of aware he absolutely was not. (And that by default this isolated him and this was Very Unsafe.) But on the other you see, with all the times he falls into the typical mind fallacy under stress and projects weird shit onto people, he also on some level believed everyone was doing this.

That being a Normal Person who had Normal Reactions to things, like being appalled by brutal violence, was an elaborate social lie everyone had to maintain to keep up the facade of civil society, and actually everyone was basically the same as him deep down. He was just better at it, and also the smartest.

Which is a very long way to say his character arc is heavily tied up with his evolving relationship with and skills at masking. I'm not gonna armchair diagnose him because that's beside the point, the point is that he is trying so fucking hard to be normal, but without a particularly well-developed definition of what's abnormal about him to begin with, resulting in some misfires.

And then you contrast him to some other characters and it gets more fun. One of his direct foils is Nie Mingjue, who literally does not know how to mask at all, not the slightest bit, but is fortunate enough to have been born the exact kind of weirdo his position in life demands, with special interests in 'saber training' and 'destroying evil.'

(He explicitly, per narration from wwx being inside his head, has no other interests and doesn't really understand the idea of having more than one activity you care about, do not tell me Nie Mingjue is walking around with a normal brain.)

So he is (jgy has a point about this, although he actually makes it about the luxury of having moral compunctions) free to totally embrace the conviction that everyone should basically be their authentic selves at all times, and just not do evil things about it.

On the other hand, and this really illuminates their relationship for me, Lan Xichen is absolutely trying to be normal. Like, he does try to excel, he wants to be best and he knows he's good, but as a person he is also trying to be as normal as circumstances allow.

He understands 'being normal about things' as a goal not in jgy's terms as an elaborate social fiction but as aspirational shaping of the self; if everyone is normal about everything then there won't be needless conflict. Living as normally as possible will optimize your mental health and your respect for others, and it's just a good baseline from which to be good.

Which is fine as far as it goes, but means harmless eccentricity (including gay) is to be tolerated and swept under the rug rather than really supported, and prejudices him to instinctively side with Jin Guangyao and anyone else who is pushing for Let's Be Normal About This, even when the people being weird are in the right.

(This is also to a non-zero degree a trauma response behavior; what Lan Xichen experienced as the largest existential threat to him growing up was something along the lines of being perceived as a selfish disruptor of norms, like his father.)

And then contrast that to Jiang Cheng and Lan Wangji, who are both very concerned at least initially with how things and people and they themselves are supposed to be, and feel some responsibility for ensuring this supposed-to is reflected in reality.

But neither of them makes any particular attempt to be normal about it.

And then ofc Wei Wuxian, another jgy narrative foil, never attempts to pass himself off as normal. He will sell 'I'm better than everyone ever' and 'I'm scum of the earth' in the same breath before he will try for normal.

Except that he genuinely seems to think his most virtuous traits, his throw-himself-between-victim-and-weapon impulses, are basically normal. If not everyone (who isn't a total shithead) does it, it's because not everyone has his insane confidence they can pull it off.

Which in a good mood he would say is fair, because he is in fact awesome and really good at winning. (In a worse state of mind he would definitely hate on all the selfish cowards.)

Nie Huaisang is probably the most genuinely normal human being in the main cast, probably even more normal than Jiang Yanli, and he's very happy to play that up and present himself as actually even more normal and average than he is, in order to keep expectations down.

Up until his whole life gets fucked and this little pretense turns into the most elaborate and successful mask in the entire book.

#hoc est meum #characterization #meta #masking #mdzs #everyone makes my posts about jgy anyway so i'm just starting with him out the gate #he's such a fun characterization study ngl #jin zixuan is more normal than nhs but i can't honestly call him a main character

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unbidden-yidden · 8 months

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Hello friend!

Ahoy! You are now anonymous (because you asked so nicely and it's a valid question.)

G-d I wish I had a real answer for this. I think it depends on the person, but is this someone you feel like will be receptive to you approaching her with some vulnerability about how unsafe that makes you feel? Do you think she will listen to reason if you give her fact-based explanations for why that rhetoric is more antisemitic than it is helpful to the Palestinian cause? + your perspective and feelings on it? If so, it's worth a try if you are intent on maintaining a trust-based friendship.

If you don't think you'll be safe/you aren't really in a place to take the risk of vulnerability, I'd say you have a few choices:

Avoid her or at least talking about that with her for now, and talk to her later when some of the heat has died down on this issue. Admittedly, this is not optimal because it's way easier to apologize and backtrack when the stakes are low(er), but if you really work on it with her maybe you could rebuild some of that trust.

Stay friends but don't trust her with your safety (emotional or physical). Up to you about how you answer her if she notices and asks about this.

Cut ties at whatever speed you are comfortable with and don't tell her why. You can drift or just start avoiding her. That happens sometimes for non-political reasons.

Cut ties with her and tell her why you aren't interested in maintaining the relationship. That's obviously the most direct, confrontational version; if you go this route but don't want to have a fight about it, you could just say "hey - this really showed me that you do not value the lives and human rights of my people and therefore me, and so I no longer feel safe around you. I wish that was different, but it can't be fixed at this point because I can't trust you anymore." That's a tough lesson, but it's one some people need to learn.

Obviously none of that is ideal, but we're not working with ideal circumstances here unfortunately. Idk if other people have suggestions, but those are mine. I'm sorry you're in this position and hope that you have other supportive community no matter what you decide and how she responds.

#to be clear: yes it's very possible to support Palestinian self-determination without being antisemitic #lots of Jews in fact do this!#it's super possible and you should try it today!#all you have to do is care about Jews like you would any other marginalized group #this is apparently a startlingly tall order for some people #but it's completely doable if you aren't an antisemite 🙂#hope this helps

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all-of-her-light · 5 months

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Ruby and the Unplayed Role

(Warning: Long analysis post.)

In Chapter 115 of Oshi no Ko, as Ruby is preparing to take her turn in the interpersonal acting audition, she reflects on her relationship to acting itself – and describes it as running very deep.

And by "the whole time", she seems to mean the whole time. As Sarina, she "played the role" of a girl who faced her circumstances bravely and bore no grudge against her parents for their neglect, because rebelling against those miserable circumstances would have been futile. Upon her reincarnation, "Ai's daughter" too was a role she played, and after Ai's death, she acted as the bright, innocent, non-grieving idol that she believed Ai wanted her to grow up to be. At this point in the story, we've already seen black-starred Ruby hide her vengeful anger behind a smiling facade, but this monologue suggests broad artificiality in Sarina/Ruby's self-presentation even before her vengeance arc.

Notably, Ruby also wonders here whether Ai's bright persona was an act in the same way that hers was:

This helps set the stage for later story beats like the end of Chapter 134, where Ruby again deepens her insight into Ai by personally relating to her.

And then, as if to drive home the point about her own acting, Ruby's turn in the audition consists of her expressing raw, acute grief over Ai and Gorou's deaths...

...before putting on a bubbly mask and acting like the grief isn't real.

Later on, the scene in Chapter 123 where Ruby spills her guts to Aqua seems to elaborate on the nature of the act that she's been putting on:

Ruby has been burying all of her sadness and anger and frustration, seeking to "smile all the time" in order to be loved. She's been performing a sanitized, idealized version of herself out of fear that no one would love the real her. Just like Ai did. Which, again, gives Ruby a powerful avenue for understanding Ai.

But there's an issue with this analysis. If you look back at Ruby's behavior in the manga's early chapters – before she discovers Gorou's corpse, meets the Crow Girl, becomes vengeful and all that – you'll notice that she doesn't actually express unfailing cheer, optimism, kindness, confidence, or generally Ai-like behavior. She doesn't even seem to be trying, really. She's bright and cheerful sometimes, sure – but other times she's unapologetically not, for understandable human reasons.

For instance, there's that time in Chapter 19 when she begs Miyako to hurry in starting an idol group for her to join, openly expressing insecurity about fitting in with her celebrity peers:

Or that time in Chapter 37 when she approaches Kana to confide in her about her stage fright:

(It's hard to imagine Ai seeking out support from a groupmate like this, at least without them opening up to her first in the same conversation.)

Ruby is also not above being rude or hostile to people, even when it's against her own interests, as can be seen in her bickering with Kana in Volume 2:

And then there's Chapter 23, when Ruby gets on Aqua's case about neglecting family time in favor of LoveNow-related activities:

(This is also one of those things Sarina/Ruby does that takes on a new meaning once you learn about her relationship with her original parents.)

There are more examples of pre-vengeance Ruby expressing various negative emotions to others, but I won't belabor the point. In general, I think perceptions of pre-vengeance Ruby as acting consistently cheerful or positive come largely from exaggerating/simplifying the contrast between her and her gloomy brother, or between her and her "darker" future self. They don't reflect her actual behavior.

Now, speaking of Sarina/Ruby's relationship with her original parents, I think it makes sense that a badly neglected child like Sarina would develop a tendency to avoid behaving in any potentially unpleasant ways around her parents, implicitly hoping that they'll want to spend more time with her that way. I also think it makes sense that she would extend this strategy to other relationships, given the formative role of one's relationship with one's parents – especially in Sarina's case, due to her isolation.

Importantly, though, we don't see Sarina trying to perfectly sanitize herself in her interactions with Gorou. Indeed, they both seem quite comfortable teasing each other (in flashbacks both from earlier chapters and from more recent ones):

The fact that Sarina doesn't walk on eggshells with Gorou suggests that she's relatively secure in her relationship with him, rather than fearing that failure to get along with him flawlessly will drive him away. I think this means Ruby's characterization in the early chapters is compatible with Sarina's later-revealed backstory if we understand Sarina's relationship with Gorou as also having been formative, teaching her that she doesn't need to act perfect to be loved. I also think this interpretation helps elucidate why Gorou means so much to Sarina/Ruby: his robust, reliable love and care for her gave her a level of confidence and security in herself that she didn't have before.

Now, what about Ruby's grief over Ai's death? Don't Chapters 115 and 123 imply that to be the single most prominent feeling that pre-vengeance Ruby was burying beneath her acting? How do the early chapters portray the effect of Ai's death on Ruby? Is that portrayal compatible with 115 and 123 (interpreted the way I did earlier)?

I am again going to argue: not really, no. 115 and 123 have Ruby recall "[acting as if] overcoming my mother's death, becoming a bright and innocent idol" (115) while secretly thinking "it'd be easier if I could just forget about her" (123). They seem to portray Ruby's past coping strategy for Ai's death as avoidant in nature; she tried to avoid letting the tragedy affect her or ideally even thinking about it at all. However, the early chapters portray Ruby's coping strategy for Ai's death as distinctly un-avoidant. Allow me to explain.

Starting off, Chapter 10 shows us Ruby's behavior in the days following Ai's death. We first see her reading social media reactions to Ai's murder and expressing anger and distress at people saying she was asking for it if she had a secret relationship, while Aqua listens silently:

A while later, though, after Ai's funeral – in fact, starting in the very next panel – Ruby and Aqua have the following conversation:

This conversation is echoed in Chapter 12, after the post-prologue timeskip, when Ruby, Miyako, and Aqua talk about Ruby joining the underground idol group:

In both conversations, Ruby doesn't deny her family members' claims about the hardships of idolhood, but she expresses a desire to become an idol anyway, not wanting to let the hardships stop her. After all, Ai sparkled, and Ruby wants to be like her.

(To reiterate, by the way, pre-vengeance Ruby's desire to "be like Ai" does not seem to involve never showing any negativity in her personal life. And it's not even as if Ruby never saw any negativity from Ai to begin with; see e.g. Chapter 4.)

But what does this drive of Ruby's have to do with her grief over Ai's death? After all, Ruby has wanted to be an idol – and to be like Ai – since before she was Ruby. She didn't need Ai to die to want those things. And how would her idol ambitions even psychologically relate to processing her grief?

Well, I think we get a pretty good look at a relation between them later on, starting in Chapter 41. This chapter opens with Ruby talking in her thoughts to "Mama in heaven", telling her about developments in the twins' lives from the past few months (which also serves to fill in and recap for the reader). After the recap, Ruby reassures Ai that she's doing well, and then we get these panels:

Ruby believes that performing at a dome – the elite opportunity that Miyako in Chapter 8 told us was "everyone's fantasy" – was also Ai's fantasy. But Ai's dreams of soaring to maximum fame as an idol were dashed by her murder. And now Ruby has taken it upon herself to fulfill them in Ai's stead, giving her another major reason to pursue idolhood.

We see Ruby visiting Ai's grave again and giving her more updates a couple in-universe months later in Chapter 72. Ruby tells her about the upcoming trip to Miyazaki, Aqua having become more cheerful lately, and then:

All of this implies that Ruby has been visiting Ai's grave and connecting with her memory in this way every few months for who-knows-how-long, and she has no intention of stopping.

This is not the behavior of someone who is trying to avoid giving mental space to the death of a loved one. On the contrary, pre-vengeance Ruby repeatedly confronts herself with the concrete fact of Ai's death and responds to it with mental fight rather than flight. The dark side of the idol world may have killed Ai's body, but it hasn't killed her spirit. Ruby copes with the tragedy of Ai's death by turning it into motivation – to preserve Ai's memory, to take up her mantle, to defy the darkness to ensure that her spirit lives on.

So what should we make of these discrepancies in Ruby's characterization between the earlier and later chapters? Honestly, I'm not completely sure. Maybe there's some way in which all of this makes sense after all. Maybe something got lost in the translation from Japanese to English? Maybe some of Ruby's recollections in Chapters 115 and 123 that we've assessed are meant to apply specifically to her vengeful self, or to the times when she was making public appearances? Maybe Akasaka deliberately wrote some of those recollections to be wrong to show that Ruby's awful present mental state is distorting her memories and sense of self? It seemingly wouldn't be the only case of that happening; Ruby appears to claim in Chapter 122 that the reason she became an idol in the first place was to avenge Ai and Gorou, which we know isn't true (and which Aqua also refuses to believe).

However, I think we should also consider the possibility that Akasaka just changed his mind about how he wanted to write Ruby partway through the manga, and the discrepancies in her characterization are artifacts of that without a good in-story explanation. For instance, maybe Akasaka only nailed down the details of Ruby's role in the Movie arc relatively recently, and the things he wanted to do with her required her to be able to personally relate to Ai in ways that didn't line up with her established characterization. So Akasaka tried to reframe what he'd written before to make Ruby more similar to Ai in certain ways, without complete success.

If this hypothesis is true, then Ruby isn't one fully consistent character throughout the whole manga; we have to distinguish "Old Ruby" and "New Ruby" at a minimum. And that idea disappoints me; Ruby is one of my favorite OnK characters, and inconsistencies of this size in her character progression interfere with my ability to appreciate it as it continues into the future. I also just kinda like Old Ruby better than New Ruby; I think Old Ruby better distinguishes herself from Ai and contrasts her in an interesting way. Old Ruby (pre-vengeance) is a person who knows the feeling of loving and being loved, values living authentically, and largely succeeds at it from day to day, but is nevertheless building her life on a couple of big lies and misunderstandings. (Ai didn't dream of the dome; Ai didn't want her children to remain a secret forever; the Ai who Ruby has dedicated herself to honoring is not the real Ai.) I think a character like that is a valuable addition to a story like OnK, and I'm disappointed at the idea of Old Ruby's arc never getting a proper, non-retconning second half and conclusion.

#oshi no ko #aohl talks onk #ruby hoshino #sarina tendouji #onk spoilers #long post #abuse cw

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moonshynecybin · 4 months

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one thing that i think we should talk more about is marc & vale's different manipulation techniques. idk if manipulation is the right term, at least for marc it's mostly about how he approaches the media

I think when marc was really young in the beginning of his career he was very honest with the journalist as he was excited to be a rookie for example and didn't have any bad feelings to hide. but i think he learned a lot from 2015, he progressively started to alternate moments of real and brutal honesty and even vulnerability to moments of (fake)politeness so that he can act as angel to the media while still being a menace on track and still be seen as someone who's brutally honest. (I'm not criticizing him, this is a smart move and nobody is honest all the time) obviously this happens a lot more with non-spanish media where he tries to appear less threatening

and then there's vale...vale who established himself when he was REALLY young has a funny guy, a lovable leader who's not afraid of saying what he thinks because he's aware of his charisma. he always knew how to work the media for some reason and in 2015 but also with every other rivarly he had he knew he could be as mean or cunty or corny as he wanted cause he had all the italian journalists wrapped around his finger. true marvel supervillain shit, iconic

yeah i see what you mean it IS manipulation but they also live and work in such a ruthlessly public arena that i can’t ever blame them for it like it’s not necessarily a bad thing that they know how to play the game and protect themselves a lil…

it’s also interesting in relation to each other i think. like marc IS very careful never to say bad things that can be used as sound bites about valentino and vale (WITH NOTABLE EXCEPTIONS IN THE PAST LOL) makes an effort to do the same… they’re both always reframing and changing the subject and dodging the question… vale gets asked about marc on the ducati and says yeah he’s fast lets talk about BEZZ. marc gets asked to name valentino’s strengths and weaknesses and says well he’s charismatic and has no weaknesses. marc gets asked about vale’s retirement gives a loooong spiel about vale being a huge part of motogp then essentially says yeah he hates me but i don’t have any problems and wish him the best :) like he orients himself in such a way as to make the feud seemed one sided which hmmm i don’t know about that anymore lol… truly marc only furthers their beef under specific and controlled circumstances ie his documentary (almost NEVER to the press writ large that’s why that misano press scrum had me like 👀) and vale is the same (podcasts are the optimal time for a deranged monologue). BUT he also sometimes furthers it when he’s just the angriest little motorcycle racer the world has ever seen and his temper gets the best of him. they’re too media trained for anything else

anyways all this to say is that they would both make such excellent hunger games victors…

#i am curious what you mean about him making himself ‘less threatening’ in english than spanish though that’s compelling #i do not uh. speak spanish very well. i’m on that duolingo grind.#callie speaks #motogp #rosquez #asks

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maochira · 10 months

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idk if you’ve done this already but bllk dads staying up with their kid because reader has insomnia :)

Writing this rn because I know I’m gonna pull an all-nighter tonight 🏃‍♀️ (going on an 8 hour car ride to Italy at 3am(around the time when this posts))

Characters: Ego, Noa, Lavinho

Requests open! - masterlist

Tags: gn!reader, reader is a teenager, reader has insomnia

Ego

-does this guy ever sleep in the first place? No (I know he does. He has the type of sleep schedule where he sleeps for 4 hours, gets up, sleeps for 2 hours again, gets up again and sleeps for 2 hours another time

-but anyways the point is, even without your insomnia he’d be awake most of the night

-Ego lets you stay in his office and rewatches recordings of Blue Lock matches with you. They’re either exciting and entertain you when you can’t fall asleep, or they’re so boring you fall asleep in your chair after one or two hours. No in-between

-surprisingly, your father has enough strength in his body to carry you to your room so you can safely sleep in your bed instead of on the uncomfortable desk chair

-if you still can’t fall asleep, you and Ego also spend a lot of time talking about anything that’s on your mind. Sometimes it’s thousands of thoughts running through your head that won’t let you fall asleep, so Ego let’s you talk about what’s on your mind

-it’s also very good bonding time for the both of you. It may not be under the most optimal circumstances but hey, at least you get to spend time with your father

Noa

-he may be tired and just wants to get to bed on most nights, but he always stays awake as long as he can with you. He knows you feel lonely late at night and that can cause bad thoughts to come up in your head when you can’t fall asleep. And to prevent that, your father stays awake with you

-most nights like this are spent sitting in the living room with a random movie on the TV while you and Noa just talk and talk until you get tired

-he always makes your favourite tea, hot choccy, warm milk, or whatever other (non-caffeinated) warm beverage you’re craving

-occasionally, Noa falls asleep on the couch and you always wonder if you should wake him up or let him continue sleeping. Usually you don’t wake him up because you know how tired your father is most of the time

-but sometimes, he wakes up by himself after like 10 minutes and he keeps apologizing. He feels guilty because he doesn’t like leaving you alone when he knows negative thoughts could flood your brain at any moment

-that’s why he also made you promise to immediately wake him up whenever that happens

Lavinho

-he doesn’t mind staying up longer at all. This guy could get 5 minutes of sleep and would be as energized as he always is

-when you can’t sleep, you and your dad play video games together!! Usually competitive ones like Mario Kart but sometimes ones for which you have work together like Stardew Valley

-it’s also the perfect chance to catch up and talk about stuff when you have busy weeks during which you barely see each other during daytime

-but because of your insomnia Lavinho does forbid you to drink anything that has caffeine in it. Cola, energy drinks and coffee are completely banned from the house. Yes, he doesn’t drink it anymore either because if you can’t, he won’t either

Taglist (sign-up link): @kaineedstherapy12 @luvcalico @truegoist @st4rcheese @acacIa @kermitslefteyeball11 @futuristicxie @bluelock4life @blueberrryui @https-archangel @userwithlotsoftime @chaosinanutshell @mang05 @arxliana @zyuuuu @vanitasbrainrot @toruden @mafuyudonutt @weichspuelertrinker @depressed-bitchy-demon @kaiserkisser @yellowelectroslime @0rah-s @yerinsshi @slowlyholypeanut @isagikisser

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thechekhov · 1 year

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Dungeon Meshi Quick Reacts (CHA 20: Stew)

You know, somehow I didn’t quite realize how small the gnomes were in the last chapter. I distinctly remember thinking ‘oh, they’re human sized?’... but I guess they’re small after all, and it was just a matter of perspective.

It’s just.........floating there.

Ominously.

He really said ‘the secret to getting rid of the hateful ones is to just wait until they all die’ 😂Yeah, that’s how politics works too..........

Is that woman really your wife? Man, you kinda sound like an ass when you talk to her.

WHAT? You can’t just get rid of Marcille!! She got better!!!

‘I hear that’s like anemia’ ......IS IT????

So.......does the mana....NOT come back on a rest? Or is it just the fact that they took a short rest and not a long one?

Oh man... she’s really asking you to rescue Falin for her. Tall order.

But what the hell is Marcille gonna do? Just go back up and wait???

How many adventuring groups are there? How much of an economy is there to people going down to the dungeon and straight up fucking dying over and over again for cash?

................yeah he’s kinda right. Best way to get yourself killed in even more brutal circumstances.

A long rest?

...............................................

So mana is just..........natural energy that moves through the ecosystem.

Then just eat something else that eats something else that eats mana! You guys eat monsters all the time!

...........since when is water weak to fire. What’s happening here.

Oh noooo Laios! Your little friend....

It’s an HEIRLOOM pot!

...........she is just the Weapons version of Laios.

Pure, non-stick Adamantine.

okay guys, you didn’t have to put it quite that way but.

I’m sure this will have no negative reprecussions.

Also, as a side note.... does heat not kill the spirits?

She’s good hearted underneath all that, huh.

Laios really is weak, huh. Even though he’s supposed to be their fighter, I think he is optimized for DEX......... She sent him flying.

TEAMWORK

..............is she also a dwarf? I can’t quite tell.

ahahahah poor Laios. He can’t catch a break.

THEN MAYBE USE SOMETHING ELSE TO SOAK IT UP INSTEAD OF SPILLING HOT WATER SPIRITS EVERYWHERE

He is objectively correct.

Awww, she’s the one cooking this time!! I love how much they’ve changed already.

I will say.....splitting it between everyone means that Marcille gets LESS mana, right? Since she’s not going to be the only one who’s consuming it. Though in the end, she might absorb more simply by being able to eat slowly and having a better chance for her system to process it. In theory. I don’t know how this works.

Everyone disrespects the dungeon cooking until they try the dungeon cooking.

Senshi: Reject Dwarf. Become cook.

I wonder what his previous companionship was.

Kinda surprised that Namari actually cares for this other group. It felt like they were just together for the Research.

Oh? Chilchuck will finally tell us why he stayed? It’s-- oh, it’s because of money.

I mean, if you guys all die trying to fight the dragon, I anticipate you won’t get paid anyway, Chilly.

.............THIS BITCH PROPOSED TO FALIN AND THEN DIDN’T EVEN BOTHER TO GO WITH THE PARTY TO TRY TO RESCUE HER??? WHAT??? IS HE JUST OUT THERE LOOKING FOR HER HIMSELF???

I won’t stand for this. This is unacceptable.

#chekhov reads dungeon meshi #dungeon meshi #delicious in dungeon

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king-of-fae · 2 years

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Summoners Return

You were supposed to die there, feeling the blood slip through your fingers, mind getting hazier, body feeling colder. But things didn’t go according to plan. Your killer wanted you dead but Fate, or something else, has other plans for you.

Synopsis

On the continent of Ludia stands a great empire bearing the same name. Since its founding over one thousand years ago, it has become an empire rich with wealth and culture. Its most prominent feature, The Institute of Magic, has served to teach Gifted to control their powers. However, not everyone sees the Institute as the beacon of hope they portray it as. You were brought to The Institute 15 years ago, but nobody would tell you why. After all, you can’t use magic.

Despite that, you remain trapped withing the confines of the main branch of the Institute. You aren’t the only one stuck here, though. Your fellow student, Callum, has been with you even while the others move on and leave you two behind. But after 15 years of imprisonment, you and Callum uncover secrets both old and new that threatens your lives.

Find a way to expose the dark secrets that led to your attempted murder. Ally yourself with a powerful demon, a cynical nomad, an enigmatic witch, a reluctant bard, a dragon scion, and a half-dragon healer.

| DEMO | PINTEREST |

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Features

Customize your Summoner!

Male, female, non-binary (Custom pronouns available!)

Hair color/length, eye color, height, etc.

Personality

Woo powerful people!

Uncover dark secrets!

Running from the authorities!

Content

This game is recommended for players 18+ for themes of violence, murder, traumatic experiences and other serious topics. This list will be updated as needed.

ROs

Evie (she/her)

Personality: Outgoing and optimistic

You weren’t expecting a demon to have such a bubbly personality. Upbeat, and filled with unbridled optimism, Evie is here to help you survive and bring back the Summoners so that her people can reconnect with the mortal realm. But never forget, Evie is far more powerful than she may seem.

Ignis (he/him)

Personality: Sardonic and stubborn

A skilled fighter with both magic and sword, Ignis is not one to be taken lightly. His nomadic lifestyle has led him to you, and he seems keen to help you out. He claims to know about Summoners and what may have happened to them. There does seem to be something off about his story though...

Vex (they/them)

Personality: Composed and mysterious

As a favorite among spirits Vex receives visions from them, telling the witch things of necessity. It seems that these spirits are eager to see the Summoners return to Ludia. Vex has made it clear that they don’t fully trust you, but if you prove yourself to them, maybe they’ll open up to you more.

Azzy (he/him)

Personality: Cautious and creative

Azzy hasn’t told you much about himself. All you know is that Azzy isn’t his real name, and he has connections in the Capital you need. Despite his reluctance, circumstances have led him to help you on your journey. There are times when you get the sense that returning to the Capital is harder for him than he lets on.

Maldovah (she/her)

Personality: Confident and loyal

Dragons have remained in solitude amongst the mountains since Ludia was founded. However, it seems that the dragons have decided that now is the time to bridge the distance, and Mal is eager to do just that. Is it fate or just luck that she and her half-brother Viik joined your team?

Viiknah (he/him)

Personality: Friendly and inquisitive

Nobody really knew that dragons and humans could have children, but there’s no denying Viik’s heritage. After spending most of his life living in seclusion, he’s eager to leave and learn more about the world that remained out of his reach. He joined his half-sister Mal on her quest into Ludia to see what he's been missing out on.

Lore (more coming soon)

Elves (Part 1, Part 2)

Dragons

Witches (Part 1, Part 2)

The Gifted

Essence

More soon...

#interactive fiction #summoners return #wip #twine wip #fantasy #updated

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itsclydebitches · 1 year

Note

When Trent asks about writing the book and everyone is frantically getting Ted to say no literally behind Trent's back, do you think Trent knew what they were doing?

I do! On both a textual and a "realistic" level.

Meaning, if this were an irl scenario their reactions would be pretty hard to miss. Not only are Rebecca, Higgins, and Keeley saying 'No' with gestures grand enough to draw any eye, but Ted keeps shooting them very obvious "I'm uncomfortable with what they're doing over there" looks. As much as the Tedependent lizard part of my brain likes to read Trent's stare in this moment as heart eyes and heart eyes alone—why would he want to look at anything other than Ted??—I think, under the circumstances, it reads more like him deliberately staring to give Ted as much agency as he can in the moment. If Trent catches the others in their lies + insulting "Get him out of here" display, that puts him in the position of the victim, for lack of a better word. Ted then feels super guilty and he says "Yes" to Trent as a way to try and smooth things over. Trent doesn't want that. He wants to be here because Ted wants him here and though he can't control the others potentially influencing him, he can control his own reaction to the events: keep calm, open expression, non-judgmental, don't beg for it... just let Ted decide on his own.

However, to get back to the point about realistic scenarios, this is a comedy-drama where the characters often don't engage in realistic reactions. Emotions and responses are often deliberately exaggerated for the sake of comedic effect, so they definitely could have made Trent an Oblivious™ character who somehow misses the three people losing their minds right beside him and isn't that funny to watch? But I personally don't think Trent is that character. The show has never shied away from acknowledging what an ass he's been (see: his entire relationship with Roy) and Trent is more than aware of that reputation. He's cultivated it. There's really no version of these circumstances in which a very intelligent, emotionally aware Trent Crimm goes, "Hmm. I'm going to try and write a book about Richmond, the team made up of footballers who have avoided and cursed me out for years, a gaffer I threw to the proverbial wolves, and an owner who once hired me BECAUSE she knew I tear people to shreds in print. Besides, everyone loves having the press dog their steps for a season and then judge them in a permanent medium! Everyone's gonna be thrilled about this offer." Uh huh. Trent knows. He's not stupid. He's actually lucky that Rebecca went the polite route and passed the responsibility onto Ted Forgiveness Lasso. Ted's superhuman optimism was the very opening Trent needed.

Plus, I think Trent's knowledge of how he's really being received is shown throughout his first few weeks there. It's telling that Trent engages in a reversal of what's just been done to him, wherein he calls Rebecca out on why she really wants Zava: he can tell when she's lying and he knows when others in the room—this time Keeley, Higgins, and Ted—are trying to sway someone. Trent is already nervous when he walks into the changing room (you can see his fingers fluttering in his pocket) and he's a little shocked, but not surprised when Roy puts a ban on anyone speaking to him. We have that running joke of people going, "Don't put that in the book," the first instance of which is in Rebecca's office right after he's hired, yet again, there's no surprise along the lines of, "You're concerned about what I'm including? This is making you nervous, Rebecca? Why? I thought you wanted me here and the only thing keeping you from saying yes on the spot was respect for Ted and a belief that he should have the final call? 🤔" This girl was under NO delusions about how everyone was really receiving him. This is the face of a man who is very deliberately NOT looking behind him.

#Ted Lasso #Trent Crimm #mymetas

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femmefatalevibe · 5 months

Note

Hey, I love your account!❤️ I started my journey of being the highest version of myself. I wanted to ask some tips on how to be more intelligent and do you have some suggestions on podcasts, people you can follow that active on politics/history? English isn’t my native language.

Thanks! ❤️

Hi love! Thank you so much <333 I can't think of any specific podcasts/blogs at the moment, but sharing some other advice below. Bisous xx

Here are some of my tips:

Read books, articles, blogs, studies, and journals from credible & fact-checked sources

Watch & listen to evidence-based documentaries and podcasts

Take expert-backed courses and classes (from universities, industry leaders/certified organizations)

Attend forums/lectures from industry leaders museums, libraries, etc. (Virtually or in-person)

Talk to people in different fields and from different walks of life

Travel (globally, domestically, or locally), explore museums, parks, and stores in your area

Ask for feedback on your creative or skill-based projects and work; or insights from trusted people in your life on different situations in your life, from your past, or their greatest life lessons

Remain curious and diligent regarding your pursuit of knowledge. Live as a lifelong student

For emotional intelligence:

Embrace self-awareness & self-reflection: Observe how you feel, behave, and how people generally respond to your words/actions in different situations

Engage in active listening: Pay attention to what others are saying with the intent of understanding, not responding

Focus on emotional differentiation: Understand where your thoughts, feelings, intentions, and opinions end and another person's identity/perception begins

Be receptive to feedback: Embrace constructive criticism as a self-improvement tool. Approach it with curiosity and optimism, not as a personal attack

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romana-after-dark · 1 year

Text

The Wrong Way: "It Wasn't Always Like This"

Joel Miller x Fem!reader

Masterlist

Spotify playlist

Bonus chapter: Waking up before Tommy, Little One thinks over the last year with Joel.

Summery: You are sold to Joel to clear up some of your fathers' debts, and he takes you back to his house where him, Tommy, and high ranking members of his raiding trope stay. Joel is mean, cruel, and hash, but had small moments of softness that confuse you in your venerable state. Over time, you get to know him and Tommy, and see different sides of each, and both are hiding secrets. Was it possible to fall in love under these circumstances? Or was that just another way Joel was fucking with you?

Aka: my mom sold me to One Direction

WARNINGS FOR FULL FIC, NOT CHAPTER BY CHAPTER UNLESS SOMETHING NEW IS ADDED AFTER MASTER WARNING LIST: DEAD DOVE DO NOT EAT!!!! Fic contains graphic depictions of sexual assault, rape, molestation, dubcon/non con. Blow Jobs, PIV sex, lose of virginity, sex trafficking, past incest, death/people dying everywhere, Stockholm syndrome, falling for your rapist, victim blaming, torcher, branding, physical abuse, rape (not Joel), somno, dub con on tommy? idk he's not really into it but feels like he has to, self-harm/depression/suicidal thoughts (not a lot) but fair warning, major age gaps, love triangle, pregnancy/birth, threats of abortion, major character death, mentions of potential csa/child abuse but does not even come close to happening, forced pregnancy, forced housewife shit, breeding, breeding kink?!?!

Italicized is laying with Tommy. Regular is the memory.

*******************

"Well, maybe it's me And my blind optimism to blame Or maybe it's you and your sick need To give love then take it away" - Dear John, Taylor Swift

It wasn’t always like this. He wasn’t always like this. Joel had changed a lot since you first met him. After he tortured Nick to death for you, things got better… he brought you things and you two talked after sex, and after the realization that Tommy was keeping secrets from you too… you sought comfort and company in Joel’s arms.

And as you laid in Tommy’s, on the run from the man you loved, the father of your child, your husband for all intents and purposes… you couldn’t help but miss him, even with the strangulation marks across your neck, your face marred and aching, and the large purple and green bruise on your chest.

You loved laying like this after a bath, his legs spread out with you sat between them, all bundled up in warm clothes. Maybe his arms were wrapped around you, maybe he let you play with his hands, maybe he rubbed your back, but it was always comforting and safe as you both wound down for bed. It was meant to relax you and him, but sometimes it just wound the two of you up more.

Today, his fingers were interlaced with yours, and although you couldn’t see his face, you knew he was smiling from the way he giggled. Joel Miller, feared raider, mass murderer, rapist, a man of violence and pain… he giggled for you.

“The chicken must’ve known Lorenzo was there to kill him, because he kept trying to peck. It scared Lorenzo half to death, he screamed a bit when the chicken would try to get him.”

“Lorenzo? That man can kill a clicker with his bare hands and you’re telling me he’s afraid of a fucking chicken?” Joel laughed with you, and your body moved as his chest shook with laughter.

“Yeah, but I didn't tell you the best part! The chicken jumped and flew up in his face, pecking him right on the forehead!”

Joel’s face dropped to your shoulder and a fit of laughter. “He told me he ran into the cabinet!”

"He kept yelling 'Jodido pollo estúpido' what does that mean?"

"Stupid fucking chicken"

The two of your continued laughing, the memory of Lorenzo’s fight with a chicken continuing to make your smile. Lorenzo was brutal when he wanted to be, even drunk he’d taken out an infected he spotted while you were planting a garden. He gave you some seeds and wouldn’t explain what they were for, but begged you to try and grow some. Later, you found out he used them to make those gross smelling cigarettes, but Lorenzo was your friend so you obliged him, growing a few rows of the stuff in the large plot of land that Joel allocated for your garden. It was a mini farm by the time you were done. You always wondered how well Renzo could protect you or stop you from running if he was this drunk, all your doubt faded when one minute Lorenzo was laughing with you about something Zach written in a letter, the next he had turned and fired so quickly you didn’t realize there was a dead infected on the ground until Lorenzo had picked you up and began to carry you inside the house, muttering something about you taking too long.

Lorenzo was a man of many skills.

And apparently, a fear of chickens.

The laughter settled, and Joel restedhis hand on your small stomach. “You’re beginning to show…”

You smile, resting your head back on him. “It’s kinda amazing, isn’t it? Amidst everything outside…”

“Life finds a way.” Joel finishes for you.

“I like that. That from you or a movie?” You wondered if Joel said him, if you could believe him. He lied about Landslide, but you never told him…

“A movie, Jurassic Park.”

“What kind of park?”

“Do you know what dinosaurs were?”

“Joel.” You laugh. “I do read books.” Not that you had a whole lot of time anymore between chores and Joel… but you did find time to read when he brought you back books.

He laughs along with you. “Right, right. Well, in the story, a crazy scientist guy brought dinosaurs back to life and made a theme park from it.”

You pause, feeling silly. “... Joel?”

“Yes, little one?”

“What’s a theme park?” You spoke quietly, not wanting him to make fun of you for not knowing that, when you had just tried to insist you know things, that we weren’t as dumb as the older men here thought you were.

But Joel didn’t make fun of you. He explained it in vivid detail, from the food to the attractions to the rides… you loved hearing about the rides, asking more and more questions and exhausting his knowledge.

“You ever go to any?” It was dangerous territory to ask Joel about his past, especially anything that might bring up thoughts of his daughter, but you knew when to back off, so you tested the waters.

“A few, very sparse. Mostly when my ma was still alive, she’d pay for trips to fun places. After dad died she had a bunch of life insurance and savings bonds- well, that doesn’t probably mean anything to you, but there was money. I didn’t have that, so ma would take me, her and Tommy to 6 Flags for a day.” Her was Sarah. Joel never named her, but after Tommy taunting Joel, saying that Sarah would be older than you are, you put the pieces together.

“What was your favorite ride?”

Joel chuckled a bit abashedly. “Well darl’n, I’m a bit embarrassed to say, but I didn’t really go on rides. Her and Tommy did most of that. Ma and I enjoyed the food, drinks and shade.”

You took a careful approach at the next question. “Tommy and her went on rides together?” You weren’t sure if you were even supposed to bring her up, and Tommy was a the elephant in the room.

A deep breath, and a sigh. “Yeah, they um… they were close. He was a good uncle…”

You knew this was the time to drop it, but you were happy having gotten just a little bit more of Joel’s life, understanding him a bit better.

“Rollercoasters…” You say wistfully. “They sound amazing.”

“Yeah,I guess they kind were. We took that sort of thing for granted, you know?”

“You know, I’ve never even been in a car.”

It never failed to amaze you how human, how normal, how domestic he seemed in these moments, moments like him turning around to you and looking surprised. Joel fucking Miller would never look confused around his men. Only for you.

“Really? Have you been on a motorcycle?” He waited until you shook your head. “ATV? Fourwheeler?” No and no. “Hm. One of my guys has a four wheeler. They don’t go very far, but they’re fun.”

You snuggle up to his warmth, the broad and soft and strong and firm of Joel Miller. The contrasting parts of him that fit the inside turmoil. “Could we ride one, sometime?”

“Yeah, yeah we can do that. Sounds like a good time, actually. We can borrow it sometime after you give birth. I can’t remember the last time I did somth’n just because it was fun.”

Lorenzo would laugh at you if you told him that made you feel sad. Tommy would look at you with pity, like you lost your mind… You take his hand and squeeze it before placing it on your belly. “Well, soon you’ll have lots of excuses to do fun stuff, you and me and our baby. A family.”

The two of you laid there for a while in silence, simply enjoying each other's company, when you both felt it. You from the inside, Joel from the outside… it was tiny, it was faint, but you felt it. Joel looked around and found your face, eyes wide and innocent, amazement clear on his face. “Was…. was that…”

Tears welled up in your eyes, you had never felt so much love for one person before. You thought you couldn’t love anyone more than you loved Zach, you had doubts if you were ready for this, if this was going to work out, if Joel could be good… but the way you felt right now for this child, the way you felt for Joel, and the clear and evident love on his face as he looked before you and the life you had created together. You were certain you could do it. Everything would be okay. Joel would be good to you, Joel would be good to your baby, he would never hurt you again… You were in love. You were a family.

“I love you, Joel” You said softly, snuggling down softly, signaling you were ready to sleep.

“Bedtime” Joel mutters softly under his breath, scooping you up and laying you down on the bed. Careful and tender, Joel tucks you in, and taking a deep breath, you sigh constantly, melting into his comfort. A kiss on the lips, a kiss on the nose, and a kiss into your hair, Joel settled down behind you. “I love you too, little one” a hand on your stomach. “And you too, baby girl.”

It wasn’t always like this. It wasn’t always violence and horror and danger… he could be good, he could be so, so good to you… you missed the way he laughed, the way he giggled, the way he was soft, but only for you, only for his princess…

You thought you could do it, you thought Joel changed, that he loved you… maybe he did, in his own sick way… but Joel didn’t change… he was never different, it’s just somewhere along robbing people of clothes and sifting through expired food and searching for little trinkets to bring you… he found a mask. A good one, nice quality… and he wore it nearly all the time, from the day Tommy left, he was good to you, so, so good to you… but the mask wasn’t perfect, and every now and then you saw glimpses of his face.

The way he came to expect diner every day, breakfast in the morning, lunch if he was home, hot and ready, no matter how much you’d been outside working on tending the small livestock and the gardens… The way he expected sex when you had just violently thrown up from morning sickness, causing you to throw up again… or expecting sex when you just had false labor; it mirrored the way he expected sex 15 minutes after leaving you hanging from a tree. It was evident in the way your greatest value came from sex and from giving him this child. His praising the way you felt around him, the way he was so proud of you for making him a dad; it was about what you did for him, not who you were. He loved you for what you provided for him… and that’s not love.

“Hey honey.” Tommy’s voice was groggy and sweet in the late morning. “You up already?”

*******************

I don't want this story to end so I wrote another bonus chapter.

Thank you to everyone who reached out and left such kind messges about the bomb situation yesterday. I did not sleep at all last night. There was a thunderstorm and i just knoooooowwww that added to the kids fears.

Anyway, just a little drabble about LO thinking over the good times, but also realizing that joel didnt really love her for her, but what she provided.

I love you all!!!!

@my-secret-shame-but-fanfiction @howaboutcastiel @tidlewav3

@bunnnyy-dummy @slutfortimotheechalamet @foggymoonbanana @dinsbaby @miraclesabound @jenna-ortega @primosworld @marclovers @threeheadedlamb @secretwriterpp @the-fox-den

@bitchyglitterfox @0bsessedwithfictionalcharacters @alloftheboysivelovedbefore @not-a-unique-snowflake-blog @lunar-ghoulie4art @pedritosdarling @dreamonseems @alwaysdjarin @amoramorquetepintas @milla-frenchy

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samueldays · 11 days

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The widespread human barrenness of otherwise-prosperous countries is one of the weirdest things about this age to me.

Via Gapminder - the color coding is Europe yellow, Asia+Oceania pink, Africa blue, Americas green. Caveats about data sources, blah blah, I note that the correlation holds even if you take out the African data points.

Between 32k and 64k there's two pink dots which superficially look like cause for optimism, and I want to note what outlier countries they both are:

The sheer amount of non-policy circumstances surrounding both these countries makes it unlikely that one can draw policy lessons from either one.

Part of what makes this whole phenomenon so weird to me is the degree to which it resists explanation by common approaches.

Hypothetical Leftist: "GDP per capita is a shit measure, the rich are hoarding all the money and everyone else is too poor to afford raising children, we should redistribute more and have more parental leave!"

But this is wrong, because the poorest half of Americans are having more babies than the richest half, while Norway has four times the parental leave of America but a lower TFR.

Hypothetical Rightist: "The West is undergoing moral decay, women are slutting it up on OnlyFans and men are watching porn instead of getting married, muh based [insert reactionary country here]!"

But that is also wrong, because based reactionary country such as Russia has a TFR of only 1.51, and that wealthy pink dot with the lowest fertility in the whole chart is not exactly West, it's South Korea at TFR 0.87 -- and falling. With caveats about different ways of estimating TFR, other reports have SK dropping another 0.06 from 2022 to 2023 AD.

It isn't physiological, the rich countries have great medical treatments for that. It isn't personal, there have always been lots of individuals who didn't reproduce. It isn't economic, child subsidies and tax breaks and various monetary incentives have been tried with minimal effect.

This feels to me like a poorly-explained and under-appreciated mystery. It's apparently something social and/or structural. Nobody seems to have a good idea of how to stop it or why it happens.

The fact that it happens is undisputed, The Demographic Transition is well known, but that's just a label and the attempts at explaining its causes seem oddly lacking. I can look up a specialist paper studying the Causes and Consequences of the demographic transition and it's one line of causes ("decreasing mortality") and four pages of consequences, I look up a common public explanation and Wikipedia suggests everything but the kitchen sink:

birth rates fall due to various fertility factors such as access to contraception, increases in wages, urbanization, a reduction in subsistence agriculture, an increase in the status and education of women, a reduction in the value of children's work, an increase in parental investment in the education of children and other social changes.

This does not sound like an explanation of causes to me, it sounds like speculatively listing stuff that happened at the time.

And as with the hypothetical partisans above, there's a mostly-counterexample: Japan.

I'd ignore the pre-1860 data because it looks to be two estimates and a connective line. Still, Japan had "various fertility factors such as access to contraception, increases in wages, urbanization", etc. in 1900, and fertility stayed high, until after losing WW2 when TFR collapsed in short order.

Short, not immediate, because 1947 has higher TFR than 1946. One might suspect that the new American-written Constitution of Japan coming into effect in 1947 had something to do with it.

Perhaps I should spell out the assumption that the fertility crisis is a problem.

It is a threat of cultures and nations ceasing to exist if they can't reproduce, it is a threat of economies collapsing for lack of specialist labor and specialist products, it is a threat of pensions being unfunded and old people starving and freezing to death because their retirement plan was based on certain assumptions about the population pyramid. "I can move to another country" isn't reliable in the long term if the other country either has the same problem and will cease to exist as such or if the other country isn't accepting of you and your mindset, "We'll import immigrants" is both politically contentious and of dubious effectiveness because if the migrants do assimilate then they'll also have low fertility and if they don't assimilate then you lose your culture anyway, the place you live is now a colony.

For South Korea in particular, the bleeding edge of the fertility crisis, at this rate the Korean peninsula will be reunited by means of "North Korea walks over unmanned border" - if South Korea manages to level off TFR at 0.87 and not fall any further (already falling, see above), its population will drop by 80% by the end of the century.

If you're reading this on Tumblr, imagine 80% of the media you like not existing, because the people who would have made it were never born. You get two of your top 10 shows (not the best two), and then delete 80% of the good fanfiction about those as well. The rest is slush pile and reruns.

With tongue firmly in cheek: Maybe our future is bimbos - people who really love sex (specifically PIV sex) and are too dumb to use contraception and have too little self-control to keep their legs closed, because that's what evolution will select for.

The problem will, in a sense, eventually resolve itself. The future belongs to those who show up, bimbos or someone else, whoever manages to keep a high birthrate and a high food supply. But it's hard to say who that will be, or what complications there will be on the way towards a blind evolutionary resolution.

Technophiles like to imagine exowombs or cloning will soon be good enough for mass production and replace "birthrate" with humans-production-rate, but I don't see that happening any time soon because progress is slow (Dolly was 30 years ago and still hasn't gotten widespread adoption even for sheep), and I don't see that happening any time later either because the technophiles are most subject to South Koreafication and there will be none of them left to run the cloning tanks.

Across from them we have various Africanists who like to point to countries like Nigeria with its TFR of 5, but that's going to run into food supply problems because Nigeria already imports a hundred million dollars' worth of food from the US every year, and another hundred million dollars' worth of food from Germany, and over a billion dollars in all. In addition to growing the food there's the difficulty of running international logistics from Germany (TFR 1.58) which in the long run might not have the people to operate all that. High-tech mechanized agriculture concentrates the stress on the smartest and best-educated section of the population to make and fix the machines, and that's the section with the lowest fertility!

Things are weird and they're going to get weirder.

#all #damn lies and statistics #fertility #tfr #essaying

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honesttoblogjuno · 4 months

Note

Hope your doing well Juno!! As someone who loves your writing process, what is your process for writing Enid? And how has that changed since concentrate and ask again to TSN (Greek tragedy being in the middle) ❤️

Hello anon!! 🫶 thank you for your question!! I’ll answer under the cut!

And p.s. for anyone reading, I unfortunately am going through some tough personal circumstances at the moment and so the upcoming chapter is delayed for a little while until I’m emotionally competent enough to write intimate moments without having a tiny mental breakdown! I appreciate all of your patience! I have fallen victim to the ao3 author curse of everything going wrong in my life at once 😌

I think that, for me, the best writing is the type that can draw from real life to bring some of those everyday spices to the flavour of the description! So, when I write, I try to write what I know, even in circumstances that are purely fictional.

In that way, I find I think more like Wednesday and my natural speech is more like Enid’s! So, I have a lot of fun writing her dialogue, because it feels more true to my actual use of language. When I’m writing her, I try to imagine what the lines sound like spoken out loud, and if they sound natural to what a teenage girl/bubbly adult woman would say, including filler and natural pauses. For her thought process and memories, I try to remember key moments that show her emotional range from the canon material so she doesn’t get flattened into a golden retriever character.

She’s had a tough life being what the Wednesday universe would call a medically complicated child, being the only daughter and youngest child, and having parents with high expectations for her. And, being a werewolf adds a social challenge to her childhood in a world full of non-outcasts as well. I try to keep those things in mind and ask myself WWED, and I usually come to the conclusion that she would try to spin the best out of what she has but know where to draw the line! She’s a much more complex character than I think fanon syndrome has eroded her into, so I like to add even more dimension where I can.

Overall, to keep the characterisations consistent, I try to find evidence in the canon material for every move I make. If there isn’t a direct parallel, I try to find evidence that can reasonably support an extrapolation. For example, we’ve seen Enid emotionally react with a pretty broad range of things. We’ve seen face-in-the-pillow exaggerated crying, humiliation-turned-anger violent outbursts, quiet disappointment, sting covered by deliberate optimism, justified last-straw frustration, and even vulnerable understated crying. I try to remember what age I’m writing her at for any given story and use those types of supporting evidence to age her up or down based on what I know about the process of emotional maturing!

Another key piece is pop culture and social media references. The fanfiction paradox is that every story for a contemporary setting has to take place in the present day because, even in TSN where they are like 12 years in the future from the canon, I can only make her modern by referencing what is current now. Even with that plot hole aside, it’s fun finding little ways to slip colloquialisms and references into her thoughts and dialogue!

When I wrote CAAG, I didn’t pay much attention to being super true to their characters. I wrote the story on a total whim over a couple of days mostly just for fun, so I wasn’t dedicated to making sure it was a truthful portrayal of them. I just used my gut instinct to write what I thought they might do and say.

But, for TSN, I dedicated a lot more time to really thinking through how they’d act in different circumstances outside the canon, and then how they’d act if they were adult women with years of emotional development under their belts. Where Wednesday might have made a sharp but terrifically mean comment or sabotaged something when the cover was leaked in the canon, maybe she would have gained the ability to just walk away. And, just maybe, she would have learned to attend to Enid’s feelings during that whole process too. That sort of thing!

For Greek Tragedy, I’m doing that same sort of thought process, but scaling them back down again. I’m most intimately familiar with a version of them that I invented for their aged-up story, so I’m trying to find a realistic middle ground! Having a beta reader has also been really helpful because if I’m not sure I’ve nailed it, I have a second opinion to weigh in!

I hope this answered your question, and thanks so much for sending it!!

#asks #ask

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itsnothingofinterest · 1 year

Text

So I’ve been making a bit of a stink for a while now about how the inciting issues in the HeroAce-verse that actually made the Villains of the League have been going worryingly unaddressed; and have since heard claims this is because those societal inciting issues simply aren’t important compared to the villains personal issues. That society stuff can be dealt with later; those personal things, and saving the villains from them, are what this series is actually about.

But…I want to raise a question with that idea. When? When is this “later” supposed to be. This is the final arc, isn’t it? If so, it’s kind of “now or never” in that respect.

And if the idea is that they’ll solve this stuff off-screen after the war, then boy is that optimistic about the hero kids taking problems that a) other characters put their lives on the line to solve because society was that resistant to change, b) are incredibly easy to half-ass a non-solution to for the same reason, and c) they have largely never cared about; and 1) suddenly start to care so they 2) solve them easily off-screen 3) in a way we can trust works despite all reason not to. I’m honestly jealous of that level of optimism.

Like, someone explain this idea to me. For an example; Shoto Todoroki has not once ever thought to hold heroes like his dad accountable for abusing their powers to commit any kinds of crimes, nor ever thought that any heroes besides his dad would do so. So this close to the end he is a solid 0% on his way to preventing future Touyas from turning to villainy as future Dabis. For those who think this society stuff isn’t going to be addressed in this war by the kids because its not as important as individual issues; how do we get from where Shoto is now to where we know he’ll both care enough to fix that, and put in the effort to do so when not doing that would be easy, such that we know it’ll actually work?

Especially when, and I’ve mentioned this before, but the course of the narrative itself is when change, growth, and progression actually happen. That’s why the way a character or setting is by the time a fiction ends is about what you’re supposed to assume they’ll be like for the rest of their lives/existence. Baring a continuation; we’re meant to expect the worlds of, let’s say Naruto or FMA, to stay how we left them for the foreseeable future.

What that means is that if we’re left with the impression that hero society will keep the circumstances to produce another Dabi; that will never change and it will produce a steady stream of them for the rest of its existence*. Repeat for every other type of villain that naturally results from one of hero society’s flaws, your Toga, your Spinners, your Twices, ect.; all of whom form a chain of Leagues of Villains that incur heavy damage and casualties hoping to spur change (that, for the above reasons, never occurs), and I hope you see the problem.

And yeah, that’s about why I want this stuff addressed now before series end. So all that doesn’t happen.

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(Not to mention that these are, again, some core inciting-incident-causing problems here. To solve them off-screen as described is as if to have AFO beat Deku and escape through a warp gate in the penultimate chapter, only for a caption box to inform us that 3 days later he was beat up in an ally by a hero we’ve never met and thrown back in prison for good. I mean why not? This story’s not about him either, right? It’s just about Deku saving Tomura, the next generation of heroes saving these specific villains. Satisfying conclusions? Believable outcomes? Who cares about that?

I do, but I’m just some guy on the internet.)

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* Said life-span of existence for Hero society being less than 70 years before the apocalypse at this rate, but that’s a separate issue the heroes aren’t addressing. Just wanted to point that out in case anyone thought gradual change was on the table.

#bnha #hero society #dabi #toga himiko #spinner #twice #jin bubaigawara #shigaraki tomura #league of villains #lov #paranormal liberation front #PLF #shoto todoroki #midoriya izuku #anti endeavor

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