#but it's clear that they're not very positive about themselves in the present either

[nanomooselet]

Elendira the Crimsonnail (I)

I'll start with my thoughts on the Maximum version; maybe it will soften some people's feelings to know I'm fond of her. To be clear, if I am wrong about this and Orange are just backdooring in loli fan service I will extremely displeased, but I don't think that's what they're doing.

When I read Trigun Maximum I couldn't figure out what El's deal was, thematically. Like all of Knives's followers, she had something going on with bodily autonomy (I've also heard it that they're all marginalised in some way, but I don't see it? However, they do all have unusual relationships with bodies and agency over them); she's a transgender woman who impales people with nails. But we learn nothing about her past, save that she's been at Knives's side for even longer than Legato has. We learn more about the inner life of Midvalley the Hornfreak.

The Guns are in many ways an argument in favour of Knives's beliefs about humans, but compared to… well really the majority of the cast, Elendira is self-confident and refreshingly free of angst. She sees no reason to deprive herself of the finer things in life or to refrain from doing what amuses or excites her, especially if it's violent. She's committed to assisting Knives in his genocide, knowing he will not spare her, but she claims to hate the suicidal (such as Legato) and is dismissive of immature men (such as Legato). Knives is respectful of her (in a way he isn't of, say, Legato - to whom Knives is attached, but deeply in denial about). They're very nearly equals. If he falls, Elendira will be the one to bring an end to the world. (Presumably because if Knives hasn't survived, there's no way Legato has.)

(Okay, I'll stop dunking on Legato but the way he and Elendira interact is absolutely hilarious. They hate each other so dearly you can feel the hostility crackling off the page whenever they're both on it, but they also rely on each other without question. I would read a workplace sitcom about these people in a heartbeat.)

There are theories - she has some sort of tragedy in her past ("I don't like nice men. They die too soon," gets brought up in this context) or that her transition was not met with acceptance. I can't disprove either one, but neither do I see solid evidence to support them in particular, I suppose? Beyond planetary society's general horribleness, we're given no clear reason she's in the position she's in. El has decided it's none of our business and that's that. It's her prerogative, though I do feel uneasy if "she's a transwoman" is supposed to serve as the entirety of the explanation for her being a willing accomplice to genocide.

So I have my own theory, and it's that Elendira defines and masters herself. She is resolutely singular. In a story where so much of who we are is shaped by others - via names, purpose, scars, grief, longing, imitation, jealousy, rivalry - Elendira neither needs nor is needed by anyone. Legato was rescued and named by Knives, the first ever to treat him as though he's any other human, and even his powers need other people to fully express themselves; Elendira named herself and presumably sought out Knives for her own reasons. Whatever the tragic backstory reasons for that, we don't learn them, because it doesn't matter to her. I wonder if Knives sees something to aspire to in her total self-sufficiency, or even in her nihilism. Of all the characters, Elendira does most consistently have her shit together, while Knives is… well, he was a sensitive boy.

Regardless, if ending the world presents an amusing enough challenge, Elendira sees no compelling reason she shouldn't take the shot. There's nothing else on, none of these people mean anything to her, and she'll look damn good doing it.

To her credit, she does look incredible. Being well-dressed in the face of the apocalypse is a very specific niche, but El owns it as few others could.

She's pitted against Razlo and Livio (I'd say particularly Razlo) because their purpose has always been to be needed by someone else; Razlo joined the Eye of Michael because it was a place where we will be needed. Not to mention their selfhood is by definition a little unstable, whereas Elendira knows of self-doubt and uncertain identity by reputation, but has never met either one of them face-to-face.

And yet in the end she's defeated. Because, having perfect mastery, she's not learned to recover from the kind of ego-shattering loss she regularly doles out. Razlo and Livio, for obvious reasons, have that shit down to a science - Razlo exists to step in when Livio's at the end of his strength, and Livio learns to step in when Razlo's at his limit. Whereas perfection has no room for improvement. There's certainly prestige in being peerless in your field and unbeatable one-on-one, but who do you rely on for back-up?

Elendira neither needs nor is needed by anyone. So in the end, with Legato fully occupied, when she's pushed right to the limit of her strength -

- there's no one to step in.

@ultraviolet-cello

Part II

#trigun maximum #trigun meta #let's appreciate the juxtaposition in sweetheart vash who loves all humanity like family #and shoulders the burden of protecting us alone #versus knives and his multiple devoted followers whom he'd never admit to giving a shit about #as he plots to murder every human alive #elendira the crimsonnail

[rageprufrock]

can you please share with us more about your experiences relating to your response to the post “if you wouldn’t go to someone for advice, don’t take their criticism either” ?

(asking for a friend who’s struggling at work re: wanting validation and receiving criticism instead)

Unfortunately, very different situation for me. I had a work colleague-semi-mentor who I'd known for a long time, so it took a long time before I could really reconcile that their behavior was completely unacceptable and manipulative. It was a necessary period at the end of an increasingly toxic sentence.

As for your friend re: wanting validation and getting criticism, I do have some generalized insight on that.

One of the most difficult things about a professional career is not having clarity on your performance. Most managers aren't trained on how to manage people, which feels counterintuitive and insane, until you think about how organizations are structured: we usually progress into management after exceling as subject matter experts, which makes sense in some dimensions of work, but is cosmically cursed in so, so many other dimensions of work.

With the caveat that I can only speak to a certain species of Western aligned office for a certain phylum of profit generating organization: something I talk about with a lot of my earlier career employees and colleagues is the deep frustration of feedback, because it's multifaceted.

For a lot of folks it's the frustration and hurt of your manager never providing positive feedback for good work, because the de facto behavior in a lot of workplace environments is that silence is the positive review. It can leave you toiling away without knowing if you did well, or, knowing that you did well and not getting any acknowledgement for it.

This isn't great! A better trained and better prepared manager is as forthcoming with praise and encouragement as they are with constructive feedback. But that's an idealized workplace that doesn't exist in reality, and I think the most important thing to take away from this is that you're not in school anymore, and you can't get your validation from work. Unless you're one of the lucky ones and you work for an organization that's really invested in leadership training, you're likely to have to learn how to cope with this on your own.

You cannot and should not rely on your job for prestige or emotional validation, you shouldn't be looking to build great friendships there, to fall in love there. To be clear: all of these things are possible to gain through work, but none of them are guaranteed or even likely, and no one should expect them. Your job is the thing you do for money, so that you can do other things in life that will validate you emotionally and bring you joy--the job cannot be the thing itself. We all know people whose jobs are their entire personality, and not only is it terminally miserable sitting next to them at dinner parties, it is also not great for the person inflicting it upon you! No job will ever love you back, and you cannot, under any circumstances, let it become the whole of you, or to rely upon it for your sense of worth.

That's a long and intense way of saying: depending on the type of manager and the type of work your friend has, they may never get any validation, and they have to find a way to be okay with that.

But they also need to be honest with themselves, because is it that they're not getting positive feedback when they're delivering great work, or is it the "I turned around this 50 page presentation deck to you in two days and all you did was say that there were typos on four slides" experience?

Given the way you described it in the ask, my guess, and this is a rough one, because there isn't a lot of context here, is that they're doing work they think is good and only getting feedback that focuses on the smaller things that are wrong with it.

Firstly: hell yeah dude that fucking sucks.

Secondly: that said, you did have typos on four slides.

One of the other most significant transitions you make that nobody talks about when you move into the professional sphere is that you're no longer evaluated for effort. That can be a great or terrible thing.

That you spent 100 hours killing yourself to put this project together doesn't really matter if there's something embarrassing and dumb on page 16 that makes your boss look like an idiot in a meeting in front of the clients. As far as they're concerned, you weren't being paid for the 100 hours of effort, you were being paid for delivering something that would make them look smart in that presentation.

By that same token, if you can do that same backbreaking work in 15 minutes with a bunch of Excel macros and fuck around the rest of the day? Who cares--it's getting done, and if it's getting done well, great. Jobs are not forcing you to show your work.

But that doesn't change the sting of how much it sucks when you've worked so hard on something, and at the end of the day, the feedback you get is over something that you perceive to be petty.

Now there are a lot of different influences here: you could have a shitty manager who is just an asshole, you could be working with a fucking weirdo who needed to be shoved into more lockers as a teenager, you could be working for a sociopath--these are all possible.

But what's more likely, from what I have experienced professionally, is that you're likely working for someone who is busy, who hired you to take on something and own it, end to end, and who wants--desperately--to be able to give you work, and never have to think twice about its quality and to trust it absolutely, because it would simplify their life in some way. I'm saying this from personal experience. This is what I want--desperately--from my team, even though I know it is not realistic, and it's almost never possible in a seamless way.

So this is where it's really important that your friend be honest with themselves and evaluate whether those criticisms are--however frustrating--legitimate. Were there issues with the deliverable? Should they have done something different? Should they have communicated better? And if there's smoke there, try to work on gritting your teeth through the knee jerk emotional response and put out the fire, however small, because that's the grit that's going to help propel you through your very long professional career.

It's so, so, so frequently the little things, the rough edges, that feel so unfair to have called out. The typo on page 76. The weird formatting. That one image that uses the wrong hex code for red so it's cool instead of warm tone and that's bugging your leadership team.

But also these small things stand out in the face of an otherwise well-done deliverable. They mar the final work. I'm not saying the weight that they're given is entirely fair--it's not. But don't undercut your own hard work by letting yourself get sloppy as you're dragging across the finish line. You've worked way too fucking hard not to get the credit you deserve for all the work you did to get here. Of course it sucks that this is what anyone is going to notice instead of the broader value, but you can't control that--what you can control is building in time for a last review. Using your network of colleagues to help you give things a proof. Ensuring that you're communicating clearly with your team and manager. Fully take ownership of the stuff you can control, because that's how you're going to get your work taken seriously.

If you can do that, and you can be self-reflective and also detached enough not to let your work performance be an analog for your value, that's going to be an incredible asset as you continue to grow in your career. People say unhinged things to me all the time, and I'm not going to lie and tell you that it doesn't bother me at all anymore, but I'm really good at giving myself the beat, taking five, and then coming back with less immediately murderous reactivity to evaluate things on their actual merits. It means people aren't afraid to be honest with me when there are issues, and it means that I learn about them early enough that I can remediate them and stay a trusted partner and advisor in the workplace.

(And then I go to training and pretend the fucking 20 pound ball filled with sand is my manager and I throw him into walls yelling, "FUCK YOU DUDE," because that anger still has to go somewhere.)

I know it's probably not the answer you or your friend would want to hear, but it's the truth. I try my best to gas up my people by shouting from the rooftops when they do good work, but God knows I also make them crazy when they've spent a long time working on something only for me to tear it to shreds in editing or say, "thanks but this needs another proofing pass," and I'm sure they're plotting my death in bars about it.

#professional advice #advice

[evelina18-6-blog]

(this is so long, i am so sorry)

i understand why the artist was offended because your post made some pretty strong if not aggressive arguments, and i'm sure some assholes took the opportunity to send that person anon hate which probably made it feel more like a personal attack than it actually was, but i am honestly so sick and tired of people using their real life trauma as an excuse for every single thing. i may not have some deep, life altering trauma but i have my own issues and experiences and i too use fiction and art to cope but here we're not just talking about fiction and art, hell we're not talking about fiction at all. the ethics of shipping real life people are already questionable enough and i don't think there's a clear cut and dry answer but taking someone so repulsive, so downright dangerous, as Vargs and not only making cute artworks of him a if he's your casual anime boy, but also shipping him with a person who hated him, is inexcusable. just saying that you don't like or support Vargs is not enough when you have practically dedicated an entire account to making fanart of him. the Mayhem community is already messy enough and by doing that, they downplay what a piece of shit Vargs is and the pain he caused. (no matter how unintentional). also can we talk about Pelle for a moment? claiming to like him and pair him with such a horrible person? using him as a prop and completely ignoring his real life relationships and beliefs? how is that fair? people are already infantalizing him enough because of his mental illness and possible autism. how about realizing that Pelle is not a prop? that he was a person who deserves respect and that drawing him in the embrace of his friends murderer, is not being respectful to say the least? what about Oystein? no one seems to want to address were Olystein fits in this situation at all, why? was he not the person affected the most by Vargs? was he not his victim? putting his friend with his murderer feels like a huge fuck you to him. overall, painting someone in a positive light and later going 'lol im just kidding' is not good enough. Vargs (amongst others..) has spend the majority of his time insulting, belittling, even sexualizing Oystein, in an attempt to ruin his legacy and he has mostly succeeded because he's surrounded by cowards like himself who don't have the balls to stand up and speak the truth. the first thing people come across when researching Mayhem is the same bullshit about what a ''terrible'' person Oystein was and how he ''needed to be stopped''. this is the narrative Vargs has created and if you don't care enough to look deeper, you'll end up believing his lies and blaming a dead person. therefore such artwork, that completely rewrites the history and relationships of these people, can be very dangerous because it can actualy help Vargs into better selling his stupid narrative. i'm not saying that this particular artist is a bad person or that they're lying about their trauma or any bullshit like that, but art affects real life and the moment you post sth online you've opened yourself to criticism. do these Vargs/Pelle fics have more depth than initially presented? maybe. maybe they truly are a great psychological analysis of Vargs (although i don't understand why the hell you'd want to touch that with a ten-foot pole) but you can't blame people for not seeing that. whenever i see fanart of a ship, i don't sit wondering what the artist wants to say with their piece, i either like it bc i like the ship or i don't. if this is your copying mechanism, fine. can't criticize someone's copying mechanisms without sounding like an asshole i guess. but my advice is that maybe people need to take a better look at themselves and see how their interests affect others as well. you can do whatever in your own time but when you post it online it contributes to sth bigger whether you like it or not.

Don't worry about the length of your messages. I like that you elaborate. I agree with everything and thank you for your message. I honestly don't understand when this person says that she is NOT a fan of Varg, or that she doesn't like him and makes fun of him. I haven't seen anything mocking. I've only seen a great idealization of the young Varg, who was a horrible person, more violent than the current Varg. And a certain idealization of the "wonderful" intellect of the current Varg. I'm sorry to say that "the mockery" is poorly done. Like when you have to explain a joke, if no one understand it, it's because it's done poorly. About Pelle, I liked this: "claiming to like him and pair him with such a horrible person? using him as a prop and completely ignoring his real life relationships and beliefs?" Yes, that's why I said Pelle is not a ball that goes from here to there. I also agree that no one seems to think what's going on with Euro in this situation. In my case, it is almost the first thing that shocks me, it is a double offense towards him. That's why I wonder if there is something, deep down, against the Euro. Because romanticizing Varg SO MUCH, yes or yes, for me, brings with it some kind of sympathy for his ideologies, therefore, some kind of resentment towards Euro. When people attack Euro, they generally resort to two things: lies about the mistreatment of Pelle, and his political inclinations, painting him as an authoritarian extremist fanatic. And therefore, Varg as a person who was encouraged to go further and do "something that many would want to do." Varg is a failure who does not know how to value the only good thing in him, his musical talent. He did not know how to value the influence of Euro and the environment in which he found himself. Now he is a clown who needs to resort to ridiculing himself on the internet to stay current, so that his morbid followers consume him "as ironic consumption." It's an internet phenomenon. And he is free only because the Norwegian prison regime is very soft. I think he should be under psychiatric treatment because he can't stop being a bad influence, even on his children, or they should send him to hard labor, so that he can channel his anger through physical labor instead of the internet. Perhaps the girls who draw Varg romantically and the people who are big fans of him beyond his music do not specifically have his same ideologies, but they admire him in some way, and it is clear that his systematically offensive attitudes are not enough to stop them and scare them away I sincerely feel that they see him as a master. I see Varg as the typical cult leader, and I feel cringe at the adoration they profess of him. "i'm not saying that this particular artist is a bad person or that they're lying about their trauma or any bullshit like that, but art affects real life and the moment you post sth online you've opened yourself to criticism." What you said sums it up. I don't doubt that this girl could be harmless in real life, and that she has traumas and that her art and fanfics help her in her introspection. I fully believe her when she says it, but the debate does not end with whether something is therapeutic or not. It is up to her to choose what things to express her art on. She don't lack talent, why do you choose Varg? That's what's shocking, I mean, it's shocking that she brings Pelle into this and twists history to support her capricious ship and celebrate that more and more people join her ship. There you can see that she doesn't do it for herself, she wants more people to romanticize Varg and have the vision of Pelle that she has, which, in my opinion, is a bit humiliating and objectifying.

[hrokkall]

I was more meaning the regions outside them but within their walls, so gluttony and greed's placement work, gluttony could be a very weird form of the rot, a sort of turbo cancer. Would gabriel be an iterator here?

Got it! In that case, I'd imagine the layers/regions would be as follows:

PRELUDE/THE MOUTH OF HELL: Inside the iterators themselves. VI's inside is most reminiscent of the Prelude (with a LOT of environmental hazards with comparatively few enemies… not a lot of creatures WANT to venture through VI even if it's the shortest path forward). Late-game area, unlike Ultrakill’s prelude

LIMBO: A "safe zone" similar to the Outskirts. Has a few paintings related to the Ancients, though only Minos can sort of read them. Most common creatures are snails, noodleflies, and lanternflies, though there’s also a small pack of scavengers who wield explosive spears (they're not outwardly hostile though… they just set shit on fire). The most dangerous creature there is a large black lizard, though it stays underground most of the time.

LUST: A moderately dangerous region where nearly every creature within exhibits some form of bioluminescence. Some of the terrain is made up of fully-intact buildings, presumably the city that used to rest atop VI (prior to the ancients' evacuation). Requires a lot of climbing to get through; certain areas are high enough to see over the wall. Formerly much safer, but has since been overrun by centipedes (similar to the canon parasites + they have the electricity present in Lust). Home of Minos.

GLUTTONY: Large swaths of worm grass that consume near-anything they touch, with the only escape being clambering over the large skeletons they leave behind. Rotten and festering, certainly but not the Rot as neither VI nor VII have experimented with it. Rain Deer used to roam here, but they’ve all seemingly disappeared, leaving only bridges of their antlers behind. Coincidentally also contains a lot of fruit if you can platform over to it properly.

GREED: A barren wasteland left untouched by the harsh storms of Rain World, though equally dangerous electrical storms are hot enough to turn the sands to glass. The only solace against the blazing sun is in the caverns below, where treasures and hordes of yellow lizards alike can be found. Venturing above ground is an option, though—if not properly camouflaged—swooping vultures will find slugcats to be an easy target. Though not particularly useful in their home region, many grappling worms can be found and brought to other regions for easy traversal around their terrain. Home of Sisyphus.

WRATH: The most similar region to its canon counterpart, a watery expanse that can either be tediously platformed over or swam through (provided the slugcat is either amphibious or has enough bubble weed). Swimming presents plenty of hazards: leeches, salamanders, and a particularly fearsome albino leviathan. Climbing over is equally harrowing, as plenty of the platforms have become overrun with blue worm grass and bits of monster kelp looking for an easy meal. There is, however, one more option of traversal: if the slugcat’s reputation with scavengers is positive enough, the Ferryman will bring them across the region for only a small fee (or for free at a large reputation cost), effectively making Wrath skippable.

HERESY: Just put everything in here. You've got miros birds. You've got red lizards. You've got equal parts poles and pole plants. Just a goddamn nightmare to traverse through. If it's red and it's menacing, it's here. Located fairly close to VI, though taking shelter within its can is ill-advised.

VIOLENCE: This layer has barely been teased so I can't say a whole ton about it, but based on the mannequins alone I'd assume it would be majority ambush-hazards. White lizards, dropwigs, the likes. Probably littered with weapons but it's clear their wielders haven't passed through in a long time.

FRAUD and TREACHERY are in the same boat. We have no information on them and I'm not about to make something up. Use your imagination :]

As for Gabriel… that's a whole other post.

#Re: Inbox #Re: Anon #RW UTKL #HOPE THIS WORKS I really like the layers being different biomes it's fun #I don't think the enemies are 1:1 though. Like in limbo the streetcleaners there are scavengers but in another layer with streetcleaners- #they might be a different hazard. No idea. #Only one that is 1:1 is the leviathan. Obviously. And then Limbo's hideous mass being a black lizard whereas Heresy's are red lizards #Long post

[radioactiveradley]

i had an x-ray today! three questions that you can answer any or none of:

why did they keep making me hold my sprained (and potentially broken) ankle in weird positions for long lengths of time without asking me if it was hurting? i get why it needed to be in those positions for the pictures, but why didn't they confirm that they weren't doing damage regardless (or did they, and I'm autistic and missed it)?

it was a student doing it (with a supervisor)! what determines why/if students have to work the A&E graveyard shifts? he clearly did NOT know what he was doing, and i have enough weird chronic pain stuff so as that i'm sure i'm either a really great or really terrible beginner excersise?

do radiography supervisors really just slurp up coffee like thirsty mosquitos or can they breathe air too?

First off, I'm sorry about your ankle! I hope it heals smoothly! Best of luck with all that recovery physio that will no doubt be coming your way...

Now, to your questions! Under a cut because this got loooong

So, a solid 50% of a regular plain film radiographer's job is taking chest x-rays. The rest is (mostly) making trauma patients hold extremely painful positions. A good radiographer will be able to get you into the Accurate Diagnostic Position, take the picture, and move onto the next picture in seconds, hitting the jackpot damn near every time. But this is a serious skill, and it takes years to develop - we're basically looking at the outside of your body and using our knowledge of How Bones Work to assess precisely how those bones line up on the inside. For an ankle injury, I presume you would have been asked to do an 'AP' (anterio-posterior)/mortice joint and 'Lateral' view, which will look kinda like this (if we're being pernickety, this radiographer is slightly off on their centring points and collimation, especially in the first pic - but I could waffle about that in depth for ages!)

[https://radiopaedia.org/articles/ankle-ap-view-1?lang=gb]

This gives us a clear view all the way around the joint to check for bony damage. It will also hurt like a motherfucker if you have even just mildly sprained your ankle. But if you qualified for an x-ray, it means you fit certain criteria that suggest it might not just be a sprain! We have to check to make sure you haven't broken anything.

Holding these positions for a long time shouldn't really happen unless radiographers are working with ghastly old school cassette equipment rather than digital - which will mean they need to go check the film and make sure it's diagnostic (aka: if it fits a faaaairly tight criteria of bone alignments, superimpositions, and area covered, unique to every part of the body). If it isn't diagnostic, we need to tweak the patient's position to make it diagnostic - and it's very hard to do that if the patient has moved!

However.

All radiographers that I have worked with have told the patient 'I know this position may be uncomfortable, but it will create an important diagnostic image for figuring out how we should treat you, so I need you to work with me, please' (or some variant thereof). And if they're working with old equipment, they let patients at least relax while checking the cassette, even if they have to stay in the approximate same position! I'm sorry you didn't get that!

We also work with severely injured patients to ensure that they're not injuring themselves more. If someone presented with, say, a dislocated ankle that was yanked all the way to the side, or a foot that was half hanging off... we would be adapting our technique a lot to accommodate that injury! But if the joint appears stable (i.e., your foot ain't gonna fall off) and we can't see any obvious fractures on the first image..... we're very unlikely to cause further damage beyond a little bit more stress on soft-tissue injuries & bruising. It's a matter of weighing up the pros (creating diagnostic images at multiple angles to ensure that you haven't got a fracture that will need further interventional care, as a single image isn't adequate for visualising the whole joint) and the cons (you might be sore for a while, but soft tissue injury heals relatively fast). The 'pros' take precedence!

....But seriously, I'm sorry you went through that. It's not a pleasant experience.

2. Where I'm studying, students start working graveyards in their second year and whole-nights in their third year - but this varies from course to course! Either way, the student should've been able to take.... a basic-ass ankle image.

With that being said... Unfortunately, if you go to the hospital in the middle of the night, you will encounter people - especially students - who are forced to be there because of their rotas but really struggle with night shift work, even if they're amazing at the rest of the job. It sucks and is only going to get worse with 24hr/7 day week rotaing, which completely removes any financial incentive to work undesirable shifts for people whose circadian rhythms can handle them. The NHS shift system is hot garbage and seems designed to run their workers into an early grave BUT ANYWAY - Students are encouraged to take on 'complex' patients as much as possible, once they have a little experience under their belt - so your personal situation probably wouldn't have put them off! But you should've been told that they were the student, and asked if you were okay with them performing the examination! That's the opportunity for people to say 'no' and ask that the supervisor step in! I'm sorry that didn't happen!

The supervisor should also have been ready to step in if the student was struggling. It sounds like that wasn't the case - which is a little negligent on the supervisor's part.

All in all: hoo boy, you had a rough time that wasn't up to the standard & quality of care that we try and deliver. I'm genuinely sorry about that. Hopefully this helps elucidate (a little) of what might have been going on behind the scenes!

3. yeah, we actually have IV stands set up in the control rooms so we can mainline coffee where you can't see us

#radiography #radiology #trauma #x ray #medblr

[cursedvibes]

I had a bit of realization that in Stiches Across the Eye, Jin's only interactions with sorcerers are Kenjaku and Uraume and that as far as he knows all sorcerers are queer or exist and present outside the gender binary. Since Yuuji was born in like early 2000's with the world becoming more accepting to gay rights, adoption, marriage and the internet was more accessible I can't help to think of Jin wanting Yuuji who he already knows is different to feel happy and not ashamed of either his parents or their relationship or himself so he researches a lot of things on queer parenting, letting kids express themselves on clothing and hobbies regardless of gender, probably ask Kenjaku on advice and some textbooks but milage goes on helpful * that* would go depending although I feel Jin would probably learn a few things about himself along the way.

You really could get the impression that being gnc gives you superpowers lol so far he doesn't even know what sorcerers or curses are, he just knows that Kenjaku has some supernatural abilities and Uraume is also older than they look but their version of "immortality" is different from Kenjaku's. Also, he sometimes has scary dreams. And eating meat of suspicious origins is good for your health. He's gonna find out more soon though...

Japan's improvement on LGBT rights goes at a snail pace (there's no clear anti-discrimination law for queer people and same-sex marriage is also a grey zone), but they did have some reforms in the 2000s like recognising same-sex marriages from other countries and trans people are allowed to legally change their gender since 2003 (Yuuji's birth year yay), provided they're over 22, unmarried, in the process of or post-SRS, sterile and without children under 20. At least they lowered the age to 18 recently, but you still have to be sterile (tbf where I live trans people technically have to be sterile too to change their gender and have undergone some form of medical transition, marriage status and children are unimportant tho). In everyday action things look better and there's room for exceptions, but the legal and medical situation still has room for improvement. Recently, there have been a lot of positive changes. First case of same-sex adoption happened in 2017 and they introduced a partnership family system a few months ago which could potentially work in a similar way. Among other things it will allow you to pick up your kid from school even if you aren't the biological parent and make medical decisions for the child. Japan also allows mlm to donate blood, which makes them a lot better than my home country.

I definitely think that Jin would raise Yuuji with as open a mind to these things as possible. Both because of Kenjaku, but also because it's just not in his nature to think restrictive like that due to not being straight and adhering to strict gender-roles either. He's not that well-versed and up-to-date on the lingo or has a very close connection to the local queer community (Kenjaku and Uraume don't count), but for example Kenjaku made him realise that he doesn't actually care about his partner's gender. He learned about people changing their pronouns and names too and implemented it without much trouble. Same with Kenjaku's developing dysphoria. So, I think that he knows a lot of things instinctually, but just hasn't been confronted with them before and doesn't always put it into words. Like in the recent chapter for example, where he also kinda expressed that he doesn't see an issue with two men raising a child.

If Yuuji wanted to play with dolls or wear a dress, he wouldn't think about prohibiting that because Yuuji's wishes and wellbeing come first. He might not think of challenging Yuuji to try it out, like deliberately going to the girls section in a store, but if Yuuji ran over there on his own, he wouldn't think that's weird. Since he sees his relationship with Kenjaku as relatively normal, he'd explain it that way to him too. The whole "your mother used to be a woman, currently doesn't strongly identify with any gender but that might change in the future" is really the easiest part about their family relations...

He'd definitely get more educated through Kenjaku though and be very open to learning. It would also be a good opportunity for him to find out more about them by having them tell him about their experiences with the gay community in Chengdu or hearing about the new innovative surgeries they do in Thailand for example. There's gonna be a bit more exploration of Jin's attraction & sexuality in the final chapter, particularly in regards to how he feels about Kenjaku's current vessel, which isn't a woman (spoiler but not really). Lots of new experiences waiting for him.

Not sure how helpful Kenjaku's input on the matter would be for Yuuji... just being his mother regardless of gender identity already tells him enough as is and I don't think Yuuji needs much explanation from them anyway (I think most children are pretty quick on understanding these things unless they had a very conservative upbringing). I'm sure Kenjaku would still gladly give him a rundown of Japan's entire LGBT+ history. Now that will confuse him 😅

Btw, I think Wasuke has a similar attitude towards queer people & topics as Jin, he's just a little more steeped in tradition. So for example, his default thinking is that Jin will obviously seek out a relationship with a woman because the existence of gay people isn't really at the forefront of his mind, Jin already had a longterm relationship with a woman and even though Jin had some tentative gay feelings as a teenager, he never explored them due to already being in love with Kaori and definitely never told his father about it (as you can tell emotional talks aren't really their strong-suit). But if Jin had gotten into a relationship with some nice guy after Kaori's death, Wasuke wouldn't have had much of a problem with it. He'd be worried because of the risk of HIV and all the horror stories you'd hear about it on the news around that time, but he'd have no problem with the relationship itself. Maybe he'd be a bit surprised, but that's all. The problem he has with Kenjaku is more their abuse of his family members, not their gender. If Kenjaku had turned out to be a sweet, innocent little brain, he'd still be freaked out by the whole possession thing, but have less of a problem with their relationship with Jin.

#asks #itadori jin #btw this is specific to Stitches I can think of many scenarios where Jin would already be more informed about queer topics #like with my trans!Kaori hc he'd have a much closer connection to the local queer community and be informed about current regulations #he'd help and support Kaori in her transition #and have a clearer understanding of his sexuality too since he'd be challenged to question it much earlier in life

[moe-broey]

Ok, sorry if this feels a bit unprompted negativity but given our previous convo about how they write Alcryst (or rather, how they write about him), this short convo feels like everything wrong with it. Which is a shame because I still really like him but this stuff drags him down so much for me :(

Man is displaying deeply concerning behavior and eageress to get himself killed for no reason other than despising himself and yet everyone around him is like "Ah, Classic Alcryst, always so humble and modest." and like- I think Hortensia is the only one to use the correct term: self-loathing.

And while I admit it is kinda funny during battles where he's one of your best units and he's like "sorry i am so worthless...", in the Somniel and during support it feels EXTREMELY concerning and yet no one is treating it seriously and even worse the game plays the funny music because man, self-loathing is peak comedy. DUDE WHAT ARE YOU ALL DOING DRAG HIM TO A THERAPIST ASAP HE COULDN'T MAKE IT ANY MORE CLEAR HE'S GOING TO GET HIMSELF HURT

OH MY GOSH WAIT. I THINK. You made something click for me actually I figured out Why his treatment by the writing feels So Bad

Like. This exchange didn't sit right with me either, but I kind of just shrugged it off like, eh, what can you do. Dumb writing will happen. But. Here's what I'm thinking.

I THINK. IF THIS DIALOGUE WAS ABOUT LAPIS. IT WOULD WORK SO MUCH BETTER. Because the thing about Lapis, is she IS very modest and humble, and if that's your first impression of her, it doesn't feel too bad. Because, that's exactly how she carries herself. And as you get to know her, it's very clear she does have self-esteem issues that directly ties into her being "humble" and "modest" -- she has low confidence. And, if you dig deeper, you find the route cause -- she's deeply self-conscious about how she was poor growing up, and I'd even go as far as to say the experience of growing up like that was traumatic for her. It still has lingering effects, where she's constantly scavenging and squirreling things away. (ESP significant when you consider her position is vastly different now -- she's working for royalty. She HAS to have security in a way she didn't have before. And yet, she's still acting as if she doesn't, still operating as if she's in survival mode.)

I think, Lapis' self image issues are handled so much better than Alcryst's. Like, it actually feels like I'm not explaining or expressing it well, but... the way Lapis is, how she carries herself and how her past is such a painful ever-present part of her, it's handled with nuance and care. You can See just how much it still hurts her, you can actually see that she has a Lot of unresolved issues about it, in the way she tries to hide her background and the way she snaps and breaks down if pushed too far about it. And even the way she talks down about herself, it's sad for sure, but it feels grounded. Also, there Are instances where she wishes for more for herself -- wishes, didn't feel this way about herself (esp thinking about her supports w Rosado). It's handled very well.

MEANWHILE, the way Alcryst's issues are handled.... in-universe and by the writing in general. There's. Actually so much to unpack here. But what you made click for me, WAS pointing out how he's clearly engaging in dangerous behavior. Which made me think, OH, he has. Another issue altogether actually. Like... with this level of self-loathing, and this level of Eagerness to put himself in danger. It does read like he could have suicidal ideation. Which. I mean, I know Engage is largely lighthearted, but if they took that angle more in his character, like... I think it would make a lot of sense. He has some prominent warning signs.

Like, I like that you said "eagerness", because it really IS the difference between him and Lapis (and Citrinne as well!). Lapis and Citrinne have resolve, a willingness and deep devotion to Alcryst. They're Willing to endanger themselves for his sake, because they fully understand it's part of their duty as retainers, it's something they wholeheartedly believe in and Want to dedicate themselves to. Meanwhile, Alcryst... he's just not well. Like. It's abundantly clear he's not well.

AND. Finally sort of getting to unpacking like. How this is treated in-universe. I think all these things considered, THAT'S why it feels so bad. Alcryst is showing clear signs of being extremely mentally unwell, maybe even cries for help, and over and over it's dismissed by the writing as comedic AND dismissed by the characters around him as Alcryst being kind, in his own "funny" way. Classic Alcryst! So humble. So modest.

Now, here's something I've been thinking about in all of this... I think, for some characters, it would actually make a lot of sense for them to regard him this way. I'm ESPECIALLY thinking of Lapis. It would make complete sense for her to idealize him, misconstruing these things about him in the process. It's clear she has feelings for him, for one, but also, I think she sees a lot of herself in him -- which may cause her to project onto him, too. Which blinds her, in a few different ways -- the main one being, I think, is how each is handling their issues. Yes, Lapis very much carries her past and the unresolved issues that came with it wherever she goes, seeping into every interaction she has. It consumes her. But, from like. An, "Is She In Any Danger Because of It" standpoint, she seems to be in the clear. I think, maybe, it would make sense, if in all of her romanticization of him and projection onto him, but not quite being in that dark place herself -- it may be very easy for her to look over it or call it something else (his Kindness, Humility, Modesty, ect -- maybe even bravery too, when it's actually just recklessness and little to no regard for what happens to himself).

But for other characters. My god, I wish they could just See it and call it what it is, exactly like Hortensia does. I wish the game ITSELF did that, actually. Because, I think THAT was the thing about Alcryst that I just couldn't place or put words to, how, I do love him, I do think he's funny, and I do like the parallels between him and Takumi -- how, each struggle interpersonally and from various Horrors, but. They're perceptive. And they're kind. But, there was just something I couldn't place, that felt Bad. And I think it is, the writing itself being dismissive and cavalier about the very heavy issues Alcryst is portraying. AND, almost trying to portray the issues as something else? As if it isn't That Bad. It's funny!! Or misguided bravery!! Heroic, even!! Like.... oof. That. Does not sit well.

And like. That's not even to say you Can't make his traits and tendencies funny. Cause exactly what you said, it IS SO FUNNY when Alcryst is one of your MVPs and you talk to him and he's just the saddest wettest poor little guy in the whole wide world like "I'm sorry :( I know I'm a burden :(" like BUDDY..... you are a crit and dodging machine of death and murder and you single handedly carried us to victory LMFAOOO -- ALSO. One of my FAVE moments in my playthrough was when he made like, a PERFECT meal, and he was like. "Oh.... I'm so sorry....... if it's not very good ..........." LIKE BUDDY!!!!!!! COME ON!!!!!!!!!!! IT'S OKAY YOU'RE DOING GREAT I PROMISE!!!!! Little moments like that, and I think in some supports as well if the context feels right for it, I think he can def have funny moments!!!

I'm SO sorry LMFAOOO I FEEL LIKE. I'VE BEEN TALKING IN CIRCLES AND GOING ON SO MANY TANGENTS. BUT. MAYBE. WHAT I WAS TRYING TO ILLUSTRATE HERE. Is it's extremely fucked up actually, for them to write a character who's showing some scary warning signs, only to dismiss those warning signs and say they're something else, even down to silly goofy music like. Espppp in how I just, largely ignored it, dismissing myself as "bad writing lmfao" or "a bit much" but like. While those things could be true, it's so fucked up that like.... the game itself makes you inclined to dismiss it. Maybe only leaving you with a few qualms and a nagging feeling, that something. Isn't quite right here.

#ask answered! #fire emblem #AAAAUGHGHGHGHGHHHHHHH #sorry about the essay. apparently i. have a lot of thoughts about characters. it will happen again. #suicide mention #<- can add more trigger tags if needed #alcryst #fe lapis #i didn't even realize i had so many thoughts about lapis LMFAOOO sleeper agent. lapis..... 💔💔💔 #anyways i. really hope this tracked. or made sense. or is vindicating in some way. HOPING 👍🫡

[smartzelda]

For the otp thing: SoRiku for 32, 26 & 39 Mikalight for 40, 23 & 30 And finally NearlyMelloDramattic (?) for 16, 5, & 11

This is revenge isn't it? Well lucky for all of you I love to talk

ㅤ

Soriku

26: Hugs. I think once they're finally together and all those feelings are out and they're comfortable, hugs and words of affirmation would be huge. And I don’t think either of them will be able to hold back that well once the barriers of "I don't know my feelings" and "I don't know if this is allowed" are up.

32: I think early on in the relationship they would probably just find a reason to remove themselves and then later apologize assuming they themselves were the one in the wrong, but as time goes on I think they'd both try to "win" the argument. Hopefully one of them will eventually decide to be the bigger person and get the argument on track to "Hey you know what, I love you and this topic doesn't matter anyways" or "Let's take a breather on this and calm down so we can work this out with level heads". That being said I think it's likely enough they'd end up starting a competition to resolve the argument and they get so into it they forgot why they were arguing in the first place.

39: Like in this list or in my other kh otps? In this list (by process of elimination) I'll have to say NearlyMellodraMattic just because at least they'd have less problems with them. I said less though, not zero. Of my other kh otps though I'd say uhhhhhh KaiNamiXi? Idk I think they'd have a time.

ㅤ

MikaLight

23: Mikami overthinks the most but only marginally. And that slight bit is because he overthinks about everything Light does INCLUDING whether he's properly pleasing Kira-sama and doing his will.

30: For Mikami? Anywhere. Maybe lips or forehead edges out the rest just a little but every time he's glad to be granted this chance at all. For Light I think the forehead would be his favorite. It doubles as a soft place for kissing and puts him in a position where he can have Mikami below him (most likely kneeling) and tilt up his chin. What can I say, he likes having someone look up at him.

40: Light. They're both in deep, okay, but Mikami is the most likely to try and fail to hide back a smile, or the moment Light makes it clear that smiling is okay he would just do it all the time. He loves everything about Light and I think it would be easy for Light to make him smile just by...smiling himself or really even just being him. Unfortunately Light needs to have control over every facet of himself, so I think aside from certain moments where he fails, he either fights to hold it back or purposely slips on a smile.

ㅤ

NearlyMellodraMattic

5: Oh boy. So Near I think would be quality time. Specifically in a parallel play type way most times. He likes existing in the same space while he and one of the others is doing something separate (for example, if he is building a model while Matt is playing a game, or if he sits and watches while Mello and Matt play a game together). Occasionally (you gotta have them spoons man) he'll try to get one of them to join him so he can do those things with them. I'm going to nail Matt with physical touch (or at the very least, existing as much in your space as he can where it's still comfortable). So I think that might mean throwing his arms around their shoulders and making excuses to touch them, or (moreso for Near) sitting where body parts such as arms or hands or feet or shoulders (for example) are just barely touching. For Mello I think it would be a mixture of being present in the same, sticking around, and gift giving. So the parallel play type, sticking in the same room or space, but also getting his partners stuff. It may not always seem like it's a friendly gift or followed up with nice language, but everywhere he goes he would see things his partners might like or need and will share some of those things with them (like making mention that he heard that Matt's favorite manga is getting an anime adaptation or buying Near a model kit he doesn't have that's really intricate)

11: Matt. Mello is like a cat, you always wanna decide whether it's a good idea to touch him, and he has different levels of tolerance or capacity for handling it for different people. Near I think has a complicated relationship to it and would prefer initiating the touching or giving an okay for it. I think the previous answer for them answers why I'd say Matt.

16: They all stay up too late, let's be real, but I think in order of who would take this role more often it would be 1. Mello 2. Matt and 3. Near. Near cares about them but he understands that trying to be the authority on this would make him hypocritical. He believes that it's up to his partners to keep up with a sleep schedule or to choose not to. Matt is often the one staying up too late, but I can see him checking the time or coming into a room while it's late and being like "come on it's late". I can also see him doing this if he wants to sleep in the same bed as either one of them. As for Mello, he's definitely a hypocrite. I'd think it's like a 50/50 shot. Either he'd say wouldn't care and (when asked) would say Near and Matt are adults and can handle themselves, or he'd tell everyone to go to bed often (when he realizes how late it is) and only concede in a situation in which he needs them to stay up with him also. So like a 50/50 shot of doing what Near does but louder about it, or very much caring about his partner's sleep schedule and making sure they eventually sleep (getting more frustrated as they don't).

#ask game #ask meme #feel free to ask others! #death note #Kingdom hearts #kh #mikalight #soriku #NearlyMellodraMattic

[homestuckexamination]

how do you think earth c (post act 7) troll society will work? will they have lusii, or if there are none, how will they raise children, themselves (like porrim/dolorosa raised kankri/signless) or some other way? will alternia's dystopian and cruel society be gone and changed for a better one? will trolls have a new empress or will they have different government?

continuation of earth c troll question. in my opinion its likely that trolls of earth c will have a much different society with alternia's cruelty gone far away, and all bloods coexisting in peace. what im curious about is limebloods, they wont be killed on earth c unlike alternia i guess, and probably will be born, so i guess earth c will have limebloods? another detail im curious about is fashion, Mierfa and Nektan (iirc theyre from a future earth c timeline) are wearing zodiac signs and stuff

(continuing) and outfits of these trolls are more similar to alternia than beforus, so i guess possibly trolls either still have big restrictions on fashion as it was on alternia, or it's just a trend to wear zodiac signs and stuff, or something else?

Alternia's Dystopia is a social nightmare engineered by Lord English and enforced by his agents, and The Condesce. Trolls are not inherently cruel, violent, or prone to a dystopia, nor do they have to be bound to any way of 'society' working. They're one species in the big melting pot that is Earth-C, and Earth-C was left to the Carapacians to handle for several thousand years. Specifically, the Mayor. While there's obviously going to be preserved remnants of Troll Culture from Alternia/Beforus still present, built by Carapaces from a Human Session, there's most definitely a primary 'vibe' like that prevalent on Earth-C.

Family Structures, too- There's a lot of Ectobiology going on, there's a lot of adoption going on (Again, Carapaces raising the first generation at the very least), and there's a mix of cultures going on. It's not going to be a clear-cut thing where Lusii are just a thing or Every Family is just a Basic Nuclear Family. It's going to be up to each individual group, not the entire species!

And oh yeah Mutants will just, Be There without getting culled. As for fashion, consider Nektan and Mierfa are Alternian? Not in-canon. I mean out-of-canon. They're OCs, meant to be Alternian Trolls, adapted to be shown in a Troll colony on the Universe-C. Or at least a Troll commune within a planet of Earth-C. The Zodiac Signs are also like a family crest- Ancestors were important on Alternia, and while they're likely less prevalent on Earth-C, it's not hard to imagine that being part of the cultural heritage adapted to Earth-C in a positive way.

Overall it's just. A lot? And also mostly just headcanon. At this point it's just rebuilding Troll Culture from Scratch so quite literally anything goes?

#HSE #Homestuck #Earth-C #Fanon #Theories #Trolls

[lulubellabelle]

Tarot Reading for the collective 🌟 💫 🌟

What message does Spirit have for us today? Take it as it resonates with you♡🔮:

3 of cups: Someone is making plans or maybe you need to start making plans. You may be forming partnerships or maybe spirit is telling you that you need to open up to form partnerships with others.You can't do everything by yourself. Maybe you need a mentor, maybe you're struggling right now. But opportunities will present themselves and you will begin to see your vision come to fruition. Your hard work has not gone unnoticed. Some of you may be meeting potential love interests but keep in mind that a new lover could have other options outside of you. Please be open to new ways of connecting. And have compassion.

Ace of Swords: Either you have a clear thought process about how to achieve your goals or you need to get one. This card is all about clarity decisions communication and have confidence. If some of you have a choice to make right now. This Ace it's a definite yes that's what I'm feeling. Some of you may be looking for a deeper commitment in love. You need to cut through the bullshit and communicate what isn't helping you grow if you are already involved with someone.

7 of Swords: I'm feeling like some of you need to keep important information to yourself while you evaluate the motives of those around you and maybe even your own. For some of you, I feel like there may be an issue in a romantic relationship or maybe you were betrayed or you betrayed your partner. Maybe they're manipulative maybe? They play a lot of games? Maybe they don't want to tell you the truth. For others, if you're meeting someone new you may not have the full picture yet. Definitely take your time getting to know this person. As far as business, some of you need to formulate a better plan do not rush in to anything and keep your eyes open for untrustworthy people.

Ace of cups: This card represents love, joy abundance and opportunities. For some of you I feel like you're in the love or possibly already have the love available to you either from others or maybe you're loving yourself more deeply. When you embrace the energy of this card, you vibrate much higher than your fears and for some, this is a good time to open up your heart just be mindful. If you're not ready to open up then, it's time to let go of what's been dragging you down. Somebody is definitely meeting someone new. For some of you if you're in a relationship already, your relationship may be deepening. Some of you may be ready to date again after having your heart broken. Some may be ready to end a situation that has been hurting you and if that's the case, I'm feeling like you are being supported in that. This card is definitely a "Go ahead and do what's best for you." For some of you I'm feeling like you may have a new position, a new job that you're very interested in and you are moving towards it. Definitely go for it, there are opportunities for advancement if you are truly committed & dedicated.

Princess of Discs: This card represents hard work focus and practical matters. Some of you may be lost and distracted or maybe the complete opposite. But if you are distracted this ansign to get your mind right! Some of you are just very focused on your goals and manifesting your dreams. Even if you have to be more frugal to achieve them. You may be focused on developing your skills set or your talents. You may be receiving a message or information about a new job or opportunity to progress you in your endeavors. Or maybe you're gonna be accepted into a program that will get you closer to your goals. For some of you, when it comes to romantic relationships you are seeking someone who's dependable, who's trustworthy, who's loyal and who's committed to you. Someone that brings you peace. Some of you may have that already or if you don't, then stand firm in what you want in a partner. For some of you, you are a very hard worker, you put in long hours on the job or in your business. Its possible that you may need mentorship from someone who's an expert in your field. This could really benefit you right now. Explore every avenue that could get you further to your goals but also be realistic about your finances. You are at the beginning of building a stable foundation!

Tips/Donations are appreciated! CA: $lulueliza9

#astrology #tarot cards #tarot #lgbtq #queer community #reading #oracle #daily messages

[ballet-symphonie]

Thoughts on IBC Moscow: Round 1

Livestreams found here:

Not going to be talking about everyone of course, just people who caught my eye.

Senoirs

Georgy Bolsunovsky, Very stable, classical, and mature, I would like to see him in a more partnering-heavy piece

Amanda Gomes Moraes, jumps to the moon, much more impressive than her partner, with excellent charisma and stage presence. She's a prize winner from 2017.

Varara Tereshina: charming, but had an absolutely hideous tutu for her Paquita variation

Anujin Otgontugs and her partner Davaadorj Oyun were wonderful, brave to dance Swan Lake in the first round. Very coordinated duet. She has excellent clarity, presentation and light legs. And she was rock-solid for all her balances. He is not as strong of a soloist as she is. I didn't think her variation could top the duet but wow, she's really stunning and a daredevil too! Shame about the fouettes, looks like she just ran out of steam at the end.

Tomoha Terada, what a massive jump!! Monsterous double cabrioles, and wonderful to see double saut be basques that rise into the second revolution!! Ambitious pirouettes handled well and just looks so happy to be on stage! You could literally hear the audience's gasps.

Sofía Belén Varela Rojas, a pretty girl but danced a bit too small for BT's huge stage, she only covered maybe 1/4th of the stage in both variations, and lacks stability and strength, randomly changing choreography isn't going to get you anywhere at this competition

Anastasia and Artem Pugachev, beautiful couple from Novosibirsk, romantic and caring Giselle, yet almost aloof, dancing for themselves, not for the audience

....people white swan is freaking hard....haven't seen one decent one

Bogdan Verbovoy, well danced, lofty bluebird, costume worked well for his body

Anfisa Oshenepkova, strong arabesque line, powerful Diana but felt a little nervy to me

Yujin Kim, confident Medora, sometimes a little untidy in the feet

Dmitry Uksusnikov, another big jumper, uses his upper body and focus well, I need somebody to tell him to stop biting his lips

Alisa Alekseeva, lovely lines and precise footwork, in sleeping beauty pas de deux, could use more softening in the port de bras

Amina Khaliova, Gulnare was the better variation by far, more poised and more complete movements

Dmitri Smilevsky, wow I guess Kokoreva really isn't here lmao, he's great but his Solar costume looks like pajamas and he almost fell on his face at one point, Sleeping Beauty variation was fantastic, such compact double tours, excellent musicality as well

Wakabayashi Liriy / Shamakeev Kubanych Le Corsaire was wonderfully done, she has such clean turning positions, every single passe is well above her knee, and clear turnout, I found him a little hyper but he's got a strong spirit

Ksenia Abdulkarimova/ Georgy Stelmakh are both leggy, big jumpers, would have liked to see more expression from him and smarter choreographic choices...his saut de baseque is wonky, why put so many of them?????, she did 32 fouettes without her arms, spellbinding until the las 4 counts

but yikessss a lot of girls are having A TIME with fouette today,

....will be updated when the rest of the seniors perform

Senoirs continued

Iliushkina/Korneyev, were fine?? But not nearly as good as I expected? GPC is honestly not a piece that really suits either of them, it looks best of dancers with exceptional precision, sharpness, and clarity. You need a certain air of sophistication to really pull it off and I felt they were often behind the music at times. The two of them have been more successful in romantic, lyrical repertoire and I get that they're probably saving their big 'money makers' for later....but this was disappointedly meh, especially from him. But they still got TWO calls at a competition here.

Alessandro Caggegi, powerful jumps but a bit greedy with the pirouettes, excellent charisma, wonder if he should be here as a soloist.....also slipped and nearly wiped out on a 540 giving me a heart attack, hope he's ok!

Natalia Pivkina, excellent Sleeping beauty duet, she's so tiny and precise and looks like a dream to partner. Fabulous until the end of her variation, double piques were off. She's already got a Diploma from Arabesque, this deut is a perfect choice for her

....please don't compete in a ballet competition with an untucked button-down polo....not a cute look

Camilla Ismagilova/ Dangyt Subedei Lovely, lyrical dancing, made Le Corsaire actually look romantic. She needs to be more attentive to her turnout at times but their connection together is silky smooth, and they both have excellent musicality. He;'s got fabulous pirouettes, and showed an extended combination with several grand pirouettes. Big deserved applause, maybe my favorite duet tonight.

Miu Shibagaki/  Jotaro Kanazashi, delicate Sleeping Beauty, she has a killer line for arabesque and attitude.

If you cant do double carbioles...don't pick a variation that requires them (Solar)

Munhjin lziijargal, easy natural jump but can't control it well. Sigfried was better for him, perhaps because the jump landings demand more precise finishes so he holds back a bit more, much more refined here.

Maxim Izmestyev, Strong, another huge jumper!! Rotates so quickly in the air, finishes rotating both his saut de basques and tours at the peak of the jump, instant stamp of approval from me. Needs a little more sense of calm for the pirouettes and his Don Quixote choreography is awkward and does him a disservice.

....not Yuri Fayteev literally holding his head in his hand after one of the boys

Fukuda Shiori, powerhouse, stunning 1-1-3 fouette combo looks like it takes absolutely no effort from her. I want to see more from her

Anastasia Smirnova, give her the gold already, that's all I have to say. Fabulous from start to finish, obviously we know the girl can jump, but she backed it up with clean turns to both sides in Diana and she's just got this naturally dynamite presence on stage that makes me instantly root for her, curtain call for DAYS. Love how she runs all the way to the far corner before she starts her final circle of jumps for Gamzatti, the girl can travel!

Kirill Makurin, quite literally fell on his face during his Don Quixote, massive props for getting up immediately after and NAILING 4 pirouettes just seconds later and killing the rest of variation, complete with 4 pirouettes+double tour from a single leg to finish. Classy, challenging, redeemed himself with his SIgfried variation, fabulous cleanliness and much more stable pirouettes, judges don't you DARE cut him.

Juniors

Alicia Pak, must have been so nervous to perform first! strong assemble six and well-rotated pirouettes. Laurencia even better than her Corsaire!

Sofia Valiullina, honestly looks like she's been a professional for a couple years already, especially compared to a lot of the girls who danced the same Odilesque variation, her dancing is so warm and inviting, looks so regal and refined already. The fact that she's still got another year is crazy. Lilac Fairy even better, stunning transitions

Yaroslavna Kuprina, maybe my favorite Kitri I watched? And her variation from Awakening of Flora is even better, knows exactly where to look and has seamless port de bras, nice physique

Luka Dobos, Tsiskaridze needs to get this kid to put his heels down when he takes off and when he lands, not sure Nutcracker was the best choice for him, Corsaire was much better but still had some shaky pirouettes

Camilla Sultangareeva stood out dancing a variation from Ruslan and Lyudmila, but looked a little shaky and her rotations weren't always stable

Jung Yeonjoo is really adorable and genuine, makes triple pirouettes look like doubles, and picked excellent variations, both Talisman and La Fille suit her natural persona but show off different technical elements and shes only 14!!!!!

Angelina Karamysheva, strong legs, beautiful, correctly placed Italian Fouettes, one to watch for sure

...junior boys have a lot of bent legs and no one can do a tour from 5th to 5th ... literally, all of them caused some amount of stress

Spain/Russian Duet is probably the strongest in juniors but Anna Fedora/Yuri Kudryatsev is also very good, beautiful Sleeping Beauty

Only 3 junior duets? Interesting...but those three boys are probably the most stable in this category

Ksenia Ring, clear attitude line, excellent character for Kitri

Ksenia Andreenko- a joy to watch, makes ballet look comfortable, travels so easily

Donghee Kim better tours, and jumps but I think it's poor staging to only show normal pirouettes 3 times in the same variation.

Austin Anthony also looking much better in Paquita than in Sylphide, needs someone to help with his stage makeup

Tran Gia Huy at least can do tours from 3rd to 3rd, nice strong plie

Valeria Kuznetsova, clear Bluebird variation, a bit stiff in the arms, Aurora a better choice, classic Perm schooling

Taiga Kodama-Pomfret, good energy, very ambitious choices

Daria Chuganova, strong performance, used the full stage well, excellent turnout

Maria Koshkareva, fabulous Swanilda, each element was clear, gave me baby Vishneva flashbacks tho, deserved, and received, huge applause, Flora was strong as well, bold penches and beautiful jumps,

Makar Mikhalkin, strongest junior guy by far, came to save the category, very refined performance, paquita> giselle, no surprises that he's from MGAH

#moscow ibc #ballet #ballerina #moscow ballet

[sincerely-krp]

if you're an au krper, please read through and give me your thoughts! i'm going crazy by myself. i kind of wish that literate and/or au krps would stop including an option for members to post sns. personally i think it kills the mood for writing threads, overall. tell me if i’m wrong though. //

(admins please only post positive things to this because i'm not trying to have any hidden agenda with this and i genuinely liked my time at insidious. maybe i left before any drama or something. i'm not willing to let my post be what brings down a krp's name)

this actually worked really well for au krps, back in the day, iirc insidious (au krp from a couple of years ago) focused much more on threads instead of sns and they had steady activity with good plot consistency and diversity for like a year. darkstt (another au krp that closed after about a year and a half) said no sns at all and it did phenomenal in terms of culture till the admins had to close it down in 2023. i still remember how tight knit that group was, they were there to WRITE you know. rupes (still around?) like darkstt didn't allow sns and the group had writing chemistry like crazy with everyone. they required paras every two months so the tl wasn't dead, which was the one thing with darkstt that made it feel super dead. i remember insidious would sometimes have like cute things everyone would do too lol, like post event fits, and both insidious and rupes having stuff on the timeline made darkstt feel a little dead, but nothing serious because you had other krps to vibe on when it was.

where insidious was much more modern and defined what i consider a genuinely literate au krp to be with its use of modern media and classic krp event ideas, darkstt felt like an old-time au krp (akin to gaia or tumblr aus), and rupes felt more like a place to find people invested in the art of writing and character development which are core aspects of krp everyone seeked to find writers enthused about, and they did so particularly with magical realism/fantasy/horror genres. which makes sense, since insidious was about classic supernatural media and exploration into that world, darkstt was about crime and city underbellies, and rupes is about purity, horror, and wonderland-like whimsy.

their admin teams reflected that too. the darkstt admin team was pretty hands-off, and only made activity posts and event posts. no one knew the admin but because they weren't super present it didn't matter, and no one had any issues with them ever, like either with the admins or the krp. their tone was always kind of kid-like but not unprofessional, just not taking themselves too seriously which broke immersion just enough (rupes too) that i felt like the place was super kind. i feel like the admins definitely set krp tones, and most old krps were like darkstt admins where being an admin was safe to make known because everyone generally supported the kid doing it. (i say kid because now i'm like 28, so everyone 18+ to 25 is a kid to me lol). i really liked this approach from this admin team because it was a low-maintenance krp as it stood, and the one time there was major drama not only did the admin handle it well, but they also made way to open a dialogue with their community and assert their decisions without being pretentious.

rupes admins don't write in their krp, but i can't think of a more accommodating and responsive, beginner-friendly admin team. they never assert themselves as more important or 'the law' and you could do whatever you wanted with their premise, even if you misinterpreted it they would find value in encouraging you to explore that. they never expected perfection from any member, and no member expected a level of writing skill, just ooc interest. i can't remember anyone in or out of the krp having anything bad to say about them which is, as all of us know now, rare (in a different way than darkstt). they have a sharp sense of humor too, and a very clear brand that they're dedicated to (in fact part of the humor was when the brand would meet their chaotic/modern humor). because of that it added to the feeling the place gave of being about the art of writing, but without expectations or judgement.

i actually looked up rupes and darkstt on this blog and nothing bad was said about either (in fact they're rare here in general) which only proves my point that krps like this feel so much different than the modern stuff because their communities are barely even here. even the stuff i found attached to insidious was minor/feels like it was way after the time of the krp itself, but a little bit of tea here or there is also part of a krp! it adds to the legends of the places you know!! a good au krp always has ooc lore to it and the members that were there, but no one ever takes it too seriously!

in insidious it was common knowledge the admin team was part of the central community, but it wasn't a bad thing! it added to that classic krp feel the place had, and they were pretty detailed and into their premise probably because they were actively writing in it too. i don't remember this team too much, just that they were super specific about people following their rules which is a totally valid admin style, especially in a literate krp. the expectations are always higher when it comes to member conduct with literate krpers, and these admins were so detailed in their announcements that it makes sense they would expect their community to follow what they basically spell out for them. this community was also like the admins, very detailed about how they liked to write, and very self-assured about their writing worth. they were very amicable and easy-going ooc, always excited to plot and offer ideas while communicating with the base admin team to make sure they were within the specifics and particulars of the influences the krp was based on. this krp had a lot of etiquette to learn because of the expectations of the members to know what they had written in their bios, but once you did it was smooth sailing and they would generally do the same for you. this meant that you carried yourself with more care, and because of that, it was a seriously literate group in a different way from darkstt (their mature and calm community never causing drama or propagating it because the focus was always writing), and rupes (their more academic pursuit of discovery in personal styles and love for exploring psychological nuance through their plots). all equally valid, although today i'm sure all three would be trashed for their communities or clear styles because they don't cater to everyone in krp and thus must be cliquey, or elitist, or dead!

even the events in these places reflected their krps: darkstt with their simple but versatile settings and references to classic crime pop culture, rupes with their beautiful, innovative and modern to gothic plots (balanced impeccably with what their community was in the mood for, which might be something easy and creative and not very in depth plot-wise), and insidious with their blend of classic and modern takes on time-tested events. bit of a tangent i know, but i picked these three because they are popular krps for their time that represent different takes on literate au mewe krps that didn't allow sns or had a community that didn't encourage/rely on it, and really did awesome with that.

so it can be done, but i feel like those same groups wouldn't do as well anymore because au krpers nowadays just seem to be into formatting blrs or accounts and chatting ooc. or worse, they just hear things from these blogs and spread them around without even bothering to realize how tone deaf that approach is.

modern au krpers get a lot of self importance from having such harsh, critical opinions of krps in my opinion.

these groups were definitely for the people who were looking for a place to stay through all the seasons of their life, both busy and still, and i think they all allowed triggers to be written that it feels like krp would take issue with, despite them being handled correctly.

also, nowadays i think people like the aesthetic of writing literate, but forget that literate doesn't mean darker/detailed/smarter plots. it means more writing. semilit used to have characters and plots just as complicated and cool, but without as much writing. you're expected to write in literate krps, and plot over ooc connections. jesus. or, i see literate krpers making responses that should be 200 - 300 words like 600 words! everything is filler! it's all backwards.

i think there's also very aggressive and obvious jealousy or competition between krps today sometimes. people from one group will shit on another for no reason, just because they're viewing everything as politics. gone are the days where everyone joined all the krps and shared their spaces, you know!

for context, when i used to au krp, everyone would join two or three krps, because when one would be dead they'd have the other two to keep writing in, and then when they'd be quieter, the other one would be popping again. nowadays no one's really into that i feel like.

i also think nowadays it's seen as cliquey to be in a group with people that have stayed in a group for a long time. but back in the day that was kind the point? like every krp had a community, and you could invest into one ooc to join their community or just vibe in their orbit and write with their muses. and if you tried hella to join a community and it wasn't working, they're just not your vibe & you can choose to leave. krps are so unique, their communities are too. none of us get along well with everyone we're paired with for irl group projects right. but it wasn't a requirement you know.

at all three of the krps i mentioned i was a writer in orbit, but i saw people bring others into their little communities all the time because you'd see new names consistently in the ooc chats you know. it was my favorite to see writers i knew in one of the krps join another one, you could tell because their style was so influenced by their community elsewhere but would grow from their immersion in the new one they added to their krp roster. unlikely writing-style muns meeting and becoming friends too.

i never went without plots at any krp, i had eight to twelve plots in all the groups overall even if i wasn't quite friends with anyone ooc, and if i wanted more ooc connection i'd bring a friend into a group and that would jumpstart things back into gear. if i miswrote someone's muse they'd just tell me to fix it, i was never scared they'd think i was an asshole or an elitist empty-shelled krp writer or anything you know.

one thing i liked about darkstt and rupes was that people would always give feedback on your writing, either support or suggestions for your next piece or character development, so i never cared about emojis and whatever else. in insidious this was supplemented by the constant emojis and occasional conversation about the piece in dms with people you plotted with (which occurred at the other two also, don't get me wrong!), but in classic krp style, paras were meant for the people you plot with to really care about, which was nice release of pressure in a lot of ways too.

see how things can be good depending on your perspective? all of this is just perspective i feel like. i'm gonna take a moment here to address that i know insidious ended problematically, and while i wasn't there, i was able to see a bit of it in my look-through on this blog. they were wrong for what they did, and very very very wrong for everything at paradigm. i'm not excusing or avoiding this, i'm just mentioning my experience there to show what a genuine experience was like in the krp, without knowing any tea or whatnot. because communities that are toxic under the surface are barely noticeable when in the place itself. they're no better or worse than the other places. i also know that group took issue with many au krps, and that they tried to defame so many other groups behind the scenes or on vent blogs, and that some people reading this will be influenced by that and not believe what i'm saying. i don't care to talk to sheep though, and they know they're sheep if they haven't been in a krp and have such a strong opinion they refuse to join. they're literally the whole problem, we all know this.

but also, in other krps, those same base communities didn't need an ooc chat to stay in the group. those were the quiet ones, which were always a welcome addition to the collection you join you know. one busy au, one chaotic gen, one quiet au or gen that you know will be around forever, and will have people in it forever that might be quiet but will always have awesome brains to plot with. in fact it was always nice whenever everyone seemed to be back and kicking, usually when that quiet au got a bunch of new members. and if the old quiet group was still... old and quiet, it also didn't matter because the new groups would become the new base. just like that though, the opposite (with darkstt) was great too, it was all about the writing, not about krp or art and just about plotting and making chaos. the focus was nice.

like idk, things are so different now. coming back to krp is just... it's no longer anything it used to be. every krp from back in the day would be called cliquey and elitist. those words have simply lost all meaning. no one is ever meant to write with everyone in the krp. you find a couple people, and you settle, and that's chill!!

so my point is in modern au krp, it's much more like fast food, kind of like how all our social media is becoming hyper-addictive (short form content everywhere, youtube shorts, insta reels, you can't even filter those functions anymore, sometimes the app just opens you to it. or they will show you those short form contents in your searches even to draw you in). until there's a return to reading being the source of dopamine (delayed gratification/resistance to immediate dopamine) we go to for escapism, i feel like these groups will never be joined.

the majority of krp today in the literate communities are all people with writing skill not realizing how inconsistent muse and flow state are. they just mistake it for being dead, or loss of muse, or take every move too seriously and decide things are being implied ooc when they aren't. like that ridiculous exchange i read about while looking through the proof here, of a college student berating someone for wasting their time who (i assume works) said less than a week is not enough time for receiving krp feedback! it would be unheard of in my day to try to do anything in less than a week.

the glory days of krp in the literate world died with the era these came from, right around/during quarantine. they began in 2016 or 2017. i probably sound like an old hag, please forgive me if i've misstepped, i'm not all the way caught up on modern krp etiquette.

we'll only post positive/constructive (with discretion) responses to this!

[jjungkooksthighs]

Hi.. dear anon, the one that mentioned how the asks seem like battery and abuse. I'm Lily, the other writer part of the asks. I appreciate your concern regarding the matter, really! But, dear, trust me, it's written every two to three asks about how much the character is willing and into the entire play. It's all consensual, and there is an established safe word already. It's been a year since Athanasia and I started these asks, and over 8-9 thousand asks that have been exchanged. The story of this OC and the alpha has been written for over twelve months now. If you go back to the first ask and read the asks as a continuous story from there on, you will understand that the dynamics are all consensual and well-established. A safe word, proper forms of communication, and guaranteed self-care present always, after every session, for BOTH of them. They're both CONSENTING adults. It's already established that the OC likes and has given him all her consent to be rough. She enjoys it. They have a healthy relationship with respectful boundaries. The alpha would never harm her, nor would he ever force her into anything she isn't fine with. He's ALWAYS put her needs and wants first. They have limits that might be slightly more flexible than everyone else's. But, they would NEVER cross those limits if it means harming the other or themselves. He isn't mean or cruel, and certainly, he is NOT abusive. There's a difference between being rough, and abusive. Abuse is when someone violates your boundaries. This is NOT it. Neither I nor Athanasia would ever write either of them in a light where they'd abuse each other. They truly love each other too much. They truly respect each other. And no, he does not put his position over her. I'm slightly hurt by your implications of it, honestly, since it kind of seems like you're jumping to conclusions without really looking into the background story. We've both put in a lot of time and love into these asks, and we've always made sure to communicate with each other as well, making sure that it doesn't ever cross boundaries of the characters.

I'm truly sorry if this isn't to your taste or liking. And if it's disturbing you, please make sure not to read it. You must take care of yourself and stay away from things that are triggering to you, and it seems like these asks are. We know that these asks might not suit everyone's tastes. But, there's absolutely NOTHING that the alpha would EVER do to harm the oc. Neither would she let him. She'd tell him if he ever goes too far. Trust us. ~ Lily.

Nothing in our asks has ever been non-consensual. Even in instances where he has used Alpha’s Bidding on her, he has been checking on her physical and mental wherewithal throughout.

If he ever detected that she was not in want of what was happening, he has stopped immediately. Some instances he’s even walked away from her. Doing so actually made her unhappy.

His absence, really, is what the omega fears the most in the character that Lily has taken it upon herself to write.

We both are at a loss as to how exactly you are throwing around the terms “abuse and battery” when those terms contradict everything both she and I have explained.

I mentioned in my previous ask that you seemed to be unaware of what BDSM is, so I will include its definition below for you.

“BDSM sex is a term for a variety of sexual practices that include bondage, discipline, dominance, submission, sadism and masochism.”

Now, in a story where the two main characters are literally werewolves that can shift between human and lupine form at will, I urge you to consider that in the wild, copulation can be a very rough practice. As Lily mentioned, you seem to misconstrue what being ROUGH is and what being “abusive” is. There is a very clear distinction and it is important that you know what that is.

Additionally, you appear to be returning to my blog and consuming my content even though, based on your asks, you don’t like it. If BDSM is not your thing, you should probably just stop reading the asks. Coming to the blog to chastise the writers is not okay and both Lily as well as myself would appreciate it if you would stop.

We both enjoy doing these asks that began over a year ago and the fact that you have offended Lily and made her question herself is inappropriate and inadmissible.

Again I will stress that if the themes and kinks in my writing are not your cup of tea, do not consume them. Block my blog if you need to. Everyone has kinks they enjoy exploring and kinks they don’t. I advise that if you see kinks you don’t like, just don’t read them. To attack the authors is not the right way to go about it.

Especially when both writers have routinely tried to make it explicitly known that the omega wants everything that is happening and that both the alpha and the omega love each other very deeply.

While there is a lot of lust, there can be be no lust without passion and trust to make it grow. At the bottom of all of this, the omega trusts the alpha implicitly. This is why she has not used her safe word.

She knows that everything he is doing is ultimately because of his love for her. Sometimes that makes him feral. Unhinged, even. However, he would never do anything he thought she would not like. He knows her limits.

She does, too.

He also knows she likes it rough sometimes. This is one of those times.

#COC asks

[maeve-is-annoying-about-books]

Lucah: Born of a Dream is fucking rad and I'm gonna rant about it okay thank you

So. I received a Gift from a friend. And like... Damn I don't know what I was expecting but it sure wasn't that fucking meme about nihilism. Is it about nihilism? Was that the authorial intent? I don't know, I'm not fully for-real finished with it yet but the thoughts won't let me work normally. We're gonna exorcise them here at the halfway point. For reference, these mad ravings come after finishing the "neutral route" and having started new game + up to the first checkpoint. And, hey, Lucah deals with some really harsh topics, and while they're more artistically alluded to in the game, I will be dragging what I find out into the light in plain text. So, content warnings abound. Suicide, depression, and abuse chief among them.

Where... can I begin? Lucah is a game about fighting an evil cult. You wake up on a beach and go about wordlessly raising havoc on the way to an incomprehensible goal, fighting off nightmares in a dying world as you walk towards a beckoning tower. All the while and for every death a meter ticks up, threatening to get to 100% corruption as Darkness enters you. All this to fight the thing the church leader has become atop his throne so that you can... What? Jump off and hope there's water below. Not to soften the landing but to cleanse the soul upon impact.

This... leaves many questions. Namely, "What the fuck is going on? Did he just-? Did I just-? That person called me what? Does everyone have two names? Why? I thought I was-? And who are Anna and Naomi anyway?"

That's the trick. You can get led along with words but the real understanding of Lucah is in grasping the meaning of its mechanics. Playing through it, I find more relevance in its tones of guilt and nihilism. Not the edgy kind of "nothing in life matters", either. Something bigger still. All through the first part of the game, the beach, the way seals behind you, pushing you forward whether you want to or not. You almost can't get lost because the Darkness is so aggressively chasing you. The message is clear, move or die.

But like... why move? The game doesn't really dangle anything but exploration and vague answers. Having played to the end we can see Lucah's partial thoughts but it's all so very devoid of inherent meaning. Michael/Christian is the one with the holy mission from Father. He has an end goal, he wants forgiveness and love. Lucah? They're just here, pressing forward because there's nothing else to do. But... That hollow reasoning is also your salvation from the fates the others fall to. Each one is giving their life for a greater goal and getting nothing in return for it. Because the powers they pray to have nothing to give. Because there is nothing left in Lucah's world.

I don't think it's any coincidence that the move that fills your corruption meter empowers you. Entreating nothingness is your tool to fight off those who create intricate systems of guilt to serve themselves as much as it helps against the Nightmares present in everyday exploration. It's also REALLY EASY to overdose on and put yourself in a position where you max out your corruption. To fade away into that nothingness. You have to balance your transformation, or not entreat it at all, or you'll never finish the game. But what else is there?

Well, there's the cult/church. There's even someone in it who offers to reduce your corruption but... I don't know. Do I really trust people who ran a bloodsport arena, put children they abused in it, and ascend into unthinking monsters? I certainly couldn't make Lucah take absolution. From them? After that? This church is the epitome of religious abuse, and the start of new game plus only confirms it. They renamed the children, tried to mold them into whatever they wanted, instilled fear about the big scary world beyond. Even though they are an active force making it that way. "Be afraid of the Nightmares!" They say, and then make another one with their own two hands. Anything to reach their own ascension. The world was put there for them, the heavens are their right by virtue of birth. So no. I do not need your help clearing my corruption, thank you very much. I will go my own way.

What is Lucah's way? I don't know. They're so quiet. One single time, dialogue options appeared around them, but I couldn't pick anything but silence. Like I was reading Lucah's racing thoughts as they were asked why they fight if not for salvation. Not picking what I felt. No, there was no concrete reasoning there. I think it is in the other things, though. You find a little buddy that shoots things and travel with it. Michael has one too, they don't talk. They're never talked about, so what am I supposed to do but supply my own meaning? The same for the virtues, and the mantras. The same for my style of combat, even. I found it best to simply wait for parry chances. Take it easy when a nightmare shows up, then methodically break it down my using the Mantra of Thanatos. And the game... just let me. It said "cool, you having fun?" And y'know what? Yeah, I kind of am. On my play I didn't need to embrace nothingness and I didn't need salvation, I just carried on and hoped I could at least save Michael. Now on NG+ I wish I could save the others too.

There's something very similar to the feeling of Nier in Lucah's story. That even though those worlds are effectively doomed you're still there. There's still awhile longer to ascribe your own meaning to things. Or just climb a tower because it's there. Explore a house, play a game, find little motes of meaning I can add onto the tapestry that is Lucah and make them truly their own person.

Yeah. That's what I think Lucah is about. This neutral, first playthrough anyway. The opening of NG+ has already set something new up, so let's see where it takes us.

#Lucah: Born of a dream #long little essays #play this game #Lucah born of a dream #seriously the metatext is very finely done #you don't need the story you just gotta get lost in the sauce a little

[antor89]

Positive Affirmations: Definitions, Examples, and Exercises

Do you have at least one specific goal that you might want to arrive at in your life? Need to figure out how to dominate them as per a few specialists in the field? Provided that this is true, it very well may be the ideal opportunity for you to think about learning a little regarding the utilization of positive certifications or positive explanations. Positive confirmations can assist with shifting your direction towards things that can work on your life in the blink of an eye — that is as long as you continue to chip away at them at a steady speed!

What Are Positive Affirmations?

Positive assertions are supposed to be mantras of sorts that we rehash again and again to us. These mantras or expressions are for the most part utilized while attempting to show objectives, dreams, or situational results we want. For instance: "I'm amazingly shrewd." Or, "I can turn out to be staggeringly rich one day." The idea is otherworldly in certain circles however considered informal by others. Undoubtedly, actually some place in the center. Researchers have not yet seen if positive insistences make "vibrations" that assist us with arriving at our ultimate objective however we really do realize the characteristics held inside them depend on numerous mental cycles that have been demonstrated through logical review like a self-influenced consequence for instance.

How Do I Begin To Use Positive Affirmations?

While making positive attestations, try to not simply rehash any old expression you track down on the web. Ensure rather that you figure out how to develop a certification accurately so it's bound to emphatically affect your life contrasted with assuming you were trying to say whatever jumps into your psyche. A few vital hints for while making certifications include: being explicit about what you need, being steady in saying them and making an effort not to over think them as this normally makes individuals either re-think what they're talking about or accept it's pointless since they're questioning themselves so much (which really doesn't help).

1. Talk and Repeat Positive Affirmations Several Times

As we've seen before, certifications are intended to support our ideal mental examples to reshape the neuropathways inside our cerebrums. Attestations additionally empower us to learn and improve the probability of us subliminally hearing what should be said (the positive information). Subsequently, it is fundamental that you partner the positive insistence with your current circumstance -, for example, lighting a candle each time you rehash your certifications or consuming incense nearby. Integrating faculties other than contact can assist even with encouraging -, for example, thinking about a friend or family member which has died and is presently not here, or express standing by listening to a tune you love which makes you cheerful, etc. There are various instances of how you could utilize and encircle yourself with tangible triggers over the course of your day!

2. While saying positive insistences, utilize the current state.

Positive attestations like "I will get better soon" or "I'm getting better later" will more often than not need clearness, which can make it less powerful or even forsake it altogether. Keeping your positive confirmations brief and written in the current state is an effective method for taking care of this issue! Rather than utilizing phrases with obscure time references, for example, "I will be blissful soon," I frequently find that expressions, for example, "I'm sound and cheerful now!" They have a more grounded plausibility of becoming reality since they plainly convey their present status (solid and glad).

3. In certain assertions, stay away from antagonism.

At the point when you are rehearsing positive self-talk, try not to find the worst parts of things. To explain the model in the past area, assuming that your attestation states, "I'm not wiped out any longer," your attitude is zeroing in on aversion (not feeling debilitated) as opposed to approach (being solid). Essentially, an assertion like "I'm finished with poisonous connections" could blow up since it underlines the negative as opposed to the positive. All things considered, focus your confirmation on the most ideal situation.

4. Make critical positive insistences for yourself.

A few empowering certifications start with "I am...", and end with a positive descriptor: "certain", "cheerful". However, these may feel inauthentic for certain individuals. There is power in the words you use to yourself - have a go at utilizing certifications that vibe bona fide to you, these can reflect how you see yourself not really the way in which you believe others should see you. Instances of this include: "I'm fit for showing my fantasies" or "I'm somebody who can acknowledge love into my life." They're special and utilized by quite a few people however what's most significant is they impact you in light of the fact that in any case they are simply words.

5. Make exact, direct sure confirmations.

Your cognizant brain comprehends what it needs, yet it requires your oblivious psyche's consent. Therefore, be basically as express as could really be expected.. For instance, you could say "I make $100,000 a year maintaining my own motivation driven business in which I'm ready to oblige an around-the - precision timetable I actually get a lot of opportunity to enjoy with loved ones." Once you have a definite good confirmation that you feel significantly better about, give it a shot and perceive how it affects you. In the event that it doesn't cheer you up, revise your assertion until it does in light of the fact that the particular subtleties are significant!

#affirmations for success #affirmations for beauty #affirmations for good grades

[ceescedasticity]

diversions

Elwing’s Fourteen The Company of Elwing, or;

Desperate-Cornered-Queens-Falling-In-the-Sea Solidarity, or;

A True Tale of the Last Days of Númenor, as Never Recorded In Official Chronicles, Because While Some of the Valar Were Definitely Looking the Other Way or Even Aiding And Abetting, No One Thinks It Was All of Them, So the Truth Might Get Some People in Potentially a Lot of Trouble

The Regrets of Elwing Dioriel; ~TWO THOUSAND YEARS LATER~; The Team; A Folkloric Interlude; Expectation Management is Very Important;

CONTINUED

Diversions, or

If Anyone Says The Word 'Honeypot' Caranthir Is Going To Punch A Hole In The Hull

This is going to require going on land and talking to people, probably extensively, and concealment spells notwithstanding it would be a lot safer if they could somehow distract Sauron.

They've been talking about this off and on since well before they set out, but still haven't come up with anything that isn't someone making a scene somewhere else in Númenor, and they really want to avoid that.

But Celebrimbor has an idea now!

Get him out into local waters on a wild goose chase.

Or, more precisely, a wild Celebrimbor chase.

This idea is not immediately well-received by any of the six people present who knew him as a child.

"No, this makes sense. You all know about Glorfindel, right?" They all know about Glorfindel. "It's not impossible that I would be reembodied and sent back to clean up my mess."

"Oh yes it is," Caranthir growls.

Finrod is more temperate: "If they put it like that Aunt Nerdanel would hide you in her basement and Father would back her up."

"That I would choose to go back and clean up my mess, and they'd let me. It's possible."

The idea is to try to give the impression that Celebrimbor has sailed to the vicinity from Middle-earth and is lurking around, maybe planning to try something with one of the Three. Sauron will come looking, and whenever he gets close, they throw the concealment back up, or they do it from a penguin-ship and dive, or both.

To help with the desired impression Celebrimbor has a magic ring with the power to appear to be powerful. That's all it does and it is a rush job that could probably be destroyed by stomping on it, but it looks impressive. Apparently he threw it together while they were waiting for Voronwë.

"He'll still suspect something more is going on — he's not stupid, once we take action he'll notice. But if I'm the lure, he'll come anyway."

The six people present who knew him as a child continue not to be happy, but no one tries to actually forbid it.

"If you do this I'm staying with you," Caranthir says. "Every time."

("Isn't that still just making a scene somewhere else in Númenor, with a slightly broader definition of Númenor?")

There is an argument over who will go on the first diversion trip.

Necessarily Celebrimbor; Curumeldis is the best penguin-ship pilot; Caranthir has made his position clear.

Someone who can do the concealment songs should go, in case diving isn't enough or isn't fast enough.

Caranthir wants it to be Finrod, because if everything goes badly he's best suited to fight a delaying action.

Amarië wants it not to be Finrod, she says because if Sauron recognizes him, and he might, it will blow the cover story, and anyway if the Sea doesn't protect them any delaying action is unlikely to be enough to make a real difference.

Finrod says they're both right and declines to offer an opinion on who he thinks is more right. However, he does point out the non-diversion party is going to be dealing with galley slaves who are mostly not Númenorean and are likely to be very suspicious, and may not have any languages in common — he thinks it would be a good idea to have either him or Caranthir there.

(Somewhere deep down in his heart, Caranthir is flattered.)

The twins say that's fine, they can come on the diversion trip instead; Celebrimbor is their nephew, too.

The Sons of Fëanor excuse themselves to the deck to have an argument.

Celebrimbor looks embarrassed.

Elwing hopes they remember that some of Amandil's men speak Quenya.

Eventually the Sons of Fëanor return with the conclusion that the twins will be joining the diversion mission.

So will Amarië, as the second-best at the songs of concealment. (Finrod, straight-faced, asks her to promise not to do anything too dramatic and pointless. She yanks on his hair.)

So they, in the normal-sized penguin-ship, head around to the northeast side of the island. There, Celebrimbor will try to spy of Sauron with a glass marble; if that doesn't get his attention, they're prepared to escalate.

Everyone else is going to the west end of the island, because a normal penguin-ship, a very small penguin-ship, and Amandil's 'smallest ship which could plausibly have been bound for Middle-earth' will not be enough ships.

(AO3)

#elwings 14 #tolkien #other fic