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divinerapturesys · 8 months

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Welcome to my Ted Talk about AsPD, or Antisocial Personality Disorder, which the internet likes to coin as sociopath 👌🏻 if you don’t like long infodumps about stigmatized mental disorders from someone who is diagnosed, move on.

Quick toxic rundown: People with AsPD are generally characterized as emotionless, violent, manipulative abusers who kill animals and like to make other people their bitches. The biggest pet peeve we have is the emotionless, sadistic and abusive generalization.

Personally, we are highly neurotic, with highs and lows of: depression, frantic drive, self abuse tactics, chronic fear, lapses of rejection, overwhelming over-analyzation, grey area thinking, false goods and false bads, ultimatums, obsessive compulsive behavior, harsh self demands, and irritability.

AsPD is a disorder that is caused primarily (according to current research) by trauma and abuse in childhood; most notably being emotional neglect and absent caregivers that cause a child to have emotional shutdowns and repression episodes in an attempt to self soothe. Primary caregivers who do not bond with their children are also a factor. Children learn how to behave from those around them. If a primary caregiver is emotionally distant and unavailable, children will learn that is normal behavior and that’s how people are. If a primary caregiver does not provide empathy and sympathy during moments of distress and fear, children will learn that aloofness and disregard of others feelings is normal behavior. If a primary caregiver does not keep a child safe, children will learn that they should not prioritize their own safety or the safety of others. You can find my follow up post regarding this here.

Neglected and abused children often act out trying to get attention and help, often acting out in bad ways because they lack the ability to articulate what they’re feeling and what is happening to them. The pipeline for AsPD typically is: Oppositional Defiance Disorder as a child, Conduct Disorder as a teen, AsPD as an adult. There are a lot of warning signs cueing that AsPD is becoming a risk for development, but often kids do not have a support system to help negate it as it’s their support system that is usually a factor in its creation.

Being AsPD is like being an emotional La Croix 70% of the time. If you’re depressed, then it’s like someone in the other room has depression and is telling you about it. The other 30% of the time, if you’re depressed, your brain doesn’t understand how to handle it so it’s an ultimatum between doing something drastic to remove the Trigger or ignoring and dissociating for days on end.

People with AsPD are very good at ignoring things. Honestly it’s problematic as fuck but it’s not hard to ignore major issues when you just, don’t care. It’s not in the terms of being cruel or making ourselves not care, but the fact that finding the emotional willpower is so far out of our feasible reach we don’t do it. This causes us to piss people off because we don’t have the capacity to care as much as they want us to, even if we can and do to an extent.

Think of it this way: empathy/sympathy is a deep tub of water that everyone has. They can easily fill their measuring cup for the needed amount of empathy without any issues and it’s easy for them. People with AsPD don’t have a tub of water. We have shallow skillet. When we try to dip our cup to fill it, we can’t, it always comes up short and it is difficult to get any water in it as there is no room for the cup to dive. Our ability to care is limited because we do not have the same emotional resources everyone else does.

❌ False Positives & False Negatives ❌

I operate on what I’ve learned are called false positives and false negatives. These are things that are trained into the brain from an early age based off of childhood trauma and other factors. False positives are a distorted version of why we do something to help ourself and for our own good, meanwhile a false negative is something we do because it’s a threat, or based out of fear.

❌ Some of my false positives:

- It is good to be afraid of nothing

- It is good to adapt to someone’s personality if they are stronger than you

- It is good to isolate yourself

- It is good to be a silver tongue because you can get into any place you want

- It is good to become a social chameleon and shape yourself to whatever those around you need/want most, because then you have no chance of being abandoned

❌ Some of my false negatives, which can explain the false positives as well as core beliefs:

- it is bad to be afraid, if I am afraid then I am vulnerable and it can be used against me

- It is bad to be emotional or show concern for others emotions because they do not care for mine

- It is bad to be able to be exploited, because I believe it is everywhere

- It is bad to allow myself to be bored, because boredom begets bad thoughts and no one can or wants to help me when I spiral

- It is bad to not shape yourself to the social circle, because people quickly grow tired of those who do not match them perfectly and being discarded means I failed

My core beliefs can be viewed as the root for the false positives and negatives, because they are based on the core of trauma, abuse and neglect. They come from patterns and instances that make someone with AsPD become the opposite of what they experienced:

- eat or be eaten

- If I don’t show that my bite is worse than my bark, I will be taken advantage of and I must remain on top because the ones on top are safe

- I must look out for myself because nobody will do it for me

- It doesn’t matter what happens to me, therefore it doesn’t matter what people think of me

- If I cannot do something well, then I should not do it at all

- If you are dependent on others for emotional and mental well being, you are weak, therefore I must isolate myself to avoid becoming codependent and a burden and useless

- If I can handle the stress of a situation better than everyone else, therefore I will keep the problem (financial, emotional, mental, etc) to myself to reduce chances of being abandoned due to failure of perfection

People with AsPD are hard to get along with. We often:

- are always anticipating a fight

- lack respect for authority

- ignore social structures to an extent

- tendency to lie if it’ll lessen punishment or if we feel the lie is more acceptable than our actions

- limit social support because it’s wrong to be dependent on others

- have an inflated view of our own importance — which turns into a self ridicule for believing someome like me could be found important to others —

- can be rude and inconsiderate of others feelings somewhat unintentionally

- are unable to read the correct social cues in relation to empathy towards people and animals

- am constantly confused by others dependence upon empathy and inability to make desicions from logic based standpoints

We can’t speak for everyone who has AsPD, nor are we saying that no one with AsPD is capable of being a murderer/abuser etc. but we are saying that y’all need to stop automatically classifying someone as a certain “type” as soon as you know about their disorder.

One last thing I do want to point out is that it is not uncommon for people with AsPD to derive some sort of enjoyment in causing harm, doing something illegal, hurting someone or animals, etc. This entirely stems from lack of environmental control as a child. Being able to control what happens to others or being able to control the things you say or do that hurts someone else is a hefty high to get addicted to; it soothes the underlying itch of not being able to control your own trauma and abuse, so in turn you push these behaviors onto others and enjoy it because it gives you a sense of power and control. Some people with AsPD do genuinely love hurting others, and some enjoy hurting others when they believe it’s deserved or their ire has been stoked. Some enjoy causing pain to those they think deserve it, and others don’t care who they hurt as long as they feel like they’re in control of the situation.

Hope this have some insight into AsPD 🤙🏻 if y’all have any questions, shoot.

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red-elric · 8 months

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theyre foils theyre foils theyre playing the same type of role theyre holding similar positions among their friends and the narrative their backgrounds and outlooks have fundamental parallels but their dispositions are fully antithetical to one another. this is about vriska and karkat btw.

its about doing their best to play a role in alternian society. its vriska desperately looking up to and imitating mindfang and killing other kids to avoid being eaten by her own lusus, its karkat training to become a threshecutioner and glueing his lips to )(IC's boots despite knowing he'll be killed without a thought when his mutation is discovered. its how both of them felt that pressure to kill and grandstand and become a LEADER but while vriska had the strength to actually follow through with it karkat had the strength to choose not to. its how if either one of them hadnt been there no one on their team would have made it through sgrub. its how every single person hurt by vriska turns to karkat instead afterwards (karkat telling aradiabot hed dedicate a whole team to bringing her back to life if he could in openbound. tavros texting karkat for help when he was paralyzed. sollux being one of karkats best friends at the beginning of hivebent, and seeming to have cut a lot of ties with the rest of the flarp crew. kanaya putting her energy into taking care of karkat after vriska broke her heart. terezi falling into some sort of romance with karkat after cutting ties with vriska. eridan asking karkat for advice over and over again after being dumped by vriska, and actually getting it too.)

its the way they so badly want to BE each other. karkat wants to be feared and respected, vriska wants to be loved unconditionally. vriska, who can see everyone shes ever cared about giving up on her and gravitating towards karkat, but still treats him with as much respect (or more!) as anyone else. she never tries to kill him, she never truly undermines his position among the team, she just faces him head on and treats him like an actual person, even when she takes over leadership post retcon. karkat, who has heard time and time again how much vriska sucks, who fully understands how much she has hurt so many of his friends, who isnt afraid to say to her face his opinion of her, but still gives her the benefit of the doubt to anyone asking. when she's kicked off the blue team and asks him if she can join the red team, he still lets her, and he's always willing to give her a second chance, especially if terezi's backing that choice. its how they want to be seen the way the other is seen, and they offer that respect/clemency to the other, and neither of them really knows how to hold it

its about terezi. isnt everything? its about loving her to the point of obsession, and how terezi feels like she has to choose between them, she cant or wont choose them both. its the flip of a coin, vriska, then karkat, then vriska again, and theyre the same coin really but they cant both be face up at the same time. its about how they both desperately need her attention, her salvation, her protection, her judgement, and they cant both get it, and they know it. its a little about john, too, about being his two guides through sburb, and honestly about how they both had a crush on him.

its about how when vriska died the team fell apart, crushed by inaction. its about how when karkat started to feel irrelevant (because he lost that moment of soothing gamzee and ending the cycle of violence on the meteor. vriska neutralized him instead, and karkat lost his importance) the team stopped feeling like a collection of real people, with strong connections to one another. its the delicate balance between the thief of light, the one who takes all of the narrative relevance she can get and will tear everything apart to make sure its all about her; and the knight of blood, the one who unites the shared feelings and connections of everyone together and heals and protects what has been hurt by her. they complement each other, and they need to stay balanced so that she doesnt burn out too quickly and leave him with nothing to protect, so that he isnt overwhelmed by her light leaving her unfettered.

#it me #homestuck #vriska serket #karkat vantas #meta #idk theyre making me crazy!!!!!

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foxylady13 · 3 months

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I just read your post about Nesta and parentification and would like to add a point:

Nesta mentioned Feyre teaching (or atleast tried to teach) her how to use a bow and arrow. At some point of time both these sisters walked out into the woods and Nesta agreed to try her hand at hunting.

They were both young. Nesta did household chores (chopping wood etc etc like you mentioned) and Feyre hunted and provided for the family but Nesta wasn't just sitting on her ass the entire time. Feyre probably felt bitter towards her eldest sister for not stepping up but that doesn't mean her sister did nothing. Their way of making sure the family survived was different.

"Oh but Feyre said that the sisters spent money recklessly." Of course she did. They were poor. Living in a HUT that barely had a functioning roof. Every single coin spent for anything at all mattered. Their priority was to save money for everything. Buying coats or shoes or whatever is money being spent and that was bad. They were desperate and bitter. (Yes Feyre too. You can clearly catch that from the first few chapters of book one)

Personally speaking, I see the mighty High Lord and his pet General Cassian complaining about Nesta and her contribution – or lack of as they claim – wayy more than Feyre herself.

Nesta even went back to the forest when Feyre was under the mountain, she thought about crossing the wall because her sister had just returned from the fae lands and had barely stayed for a while before she went back.

IF NESTA HADN'T TOLD FEYRE ABOUT THE PREGNANCY I MYSELF WOULD HAVE JUMPED INSIDE THE BOOK AND TOLD HER. Nesta was pissed off and obviously she said it to point out just how shitty Feyre's mate is. But bruh Feyre deserved to know from the very moment Rhys himself found out. If I was in Nesta's position, my sister's husband would get punched in the face High Lord or not.

I totally forgot about Feyre trying to teach Nesta how to use a bow and arrow! Good point!!

Feyre was definitely bitter about being the one who hunted and brought in the income and therefore she deems her oldest sisters household efforts as useless or not enough in her thoughts. This is the same mentality though that a lot of men, and people in general, have towards SAHM. They claim SAHM just sit at home all day doing nothing but fail to take in that running a household is a full time job in itself because there is cooking, cleaning, mending/washing of clothes, keeping the house warm during winter, etc and if you were to outsource those jobs you'd be paying a LOT of money to do so.

As for the money point, Feyre says Nesta didn't need new boots as hers was "new" but in ACOSF its revealed that Nesta shoes weren't as new as Feyre portrayed them as. They actually had holes and were worn down. That shows us Feyre viewpoint isn't all that reliable during that time. She views her sisters spending the money recklessly but was that really the case? Now, I'm not saying they haven't spent money recklessly in the past, but Feyre is definitely blinded at times because of the bitterness she has towards her sisters.

I know Nesta herself said she could have done more and has regrets about that time and how she treated Feyre, but honestly, she did what she could during that time. They were all in a poor situation just trying to keep afloat and survive.

And Rhys and Cassian really have no room to talk. They weren't there. They only got Feyre viewpoint and judged the sisters without even really getting to know them. Feyre herself forgave her sisters and was trying to make mends in their relationship and all those two did was cause more heartache and strife and made it more difficult on them all.

I also think a lot of people forget Nesta went to the wall after Feyre, and even was the one to encourage Feyre to go back to Tamlin.

And yesss to your last little bit about the pregnancy situation. I will defend Nesta to my dying breathe over her finally telling Feyre the truth. I'm sure Feyre herself would do the same given she wasn't even mad at Nesta, or really upset at how Nesta told her. She was actually grateful that Nesta told her and pissed at everyone else for keeping it a secret. I love Feyre for that.

#nesta #anonymous #nesta stan #acotar #acosf #nesta archeron #feyre archeron

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destinygoldenstar · 2 years

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In defense of Noah.

So I got noted quite a bit in my Owen post (which blew up A LOT more than I initiated. Wow.) that I did not mention that Noah was... not the nicest person in the world to Owen in RR, and yet I claimed they were friends.

I wanted to say my thoughts on that.

Will this be bias because I love Noah? Yeah. Probably.

I’m not gonna act like Noah was traditionally nice to Owen. Not ever, actually. He did laugh at Owen’s milk snot in World Tour, and a couple times I’m too lazy to recall right now, but not much else that can be deemed as ‘friendly.’

Really, has Noah EVER been traditionally a friendly person? To ANYONE?

He deals with his interactions with a smirk and a rude demeanor. With the exception of Emma, who I will get to later, he talks in the sarcastic tone we love about him.

I understand where that criticism comes from. Despite becoming good friends with Owen and staying with him on multiple reality shows, he doesn’t really show that much kindness towards him. Heck, he doesn’t really show that to anyone and constantly forces people to do the hard work for him. Dodgebrawl? The Tyler stretching incident? That’s not OOC.

But... I honestly liked it. And here’s why.

It was just really wholesome to see this stone faced lazy guy get slapped in the face with sincerity and make a much healthier life for himself. Better than working for Chris anyway.

Noah’s someone very introverted and, lets face it, spoiled. The game might actually be the first time he was rejected ever. After Island, he became Chris’s little assistant, and that says all, and in World Tour, he actually does try to dodge hard challenges first (remember the pinball challenge?) And who forces him into a position to always be on guard? Owen. Mostly because Owen is probably gonna (accidentally) kill Noah. And Alejandro, who is sus.

I See London is the first episode where Noah legit takes charge in something. He’s not nice about it, I don’t expect him to be, but they had to win the challenge. It’s not the rules were gonna change on them at the last minute- oh wait.

(I mean, it’s Total Drama. Hosted by Chris McLean. So... I’m not as mad about that as you think I would be.)

But let me ask this: If Noah had no care for Owen whatsoever, WHY would he even stay with Owen for so many reality shows?

I’ll wait.

Of course Noah isn’t gonna outright say he cares about him, or even be good at encouraging his partner. “You’re about as picky as a raccoon”, is essentially his poor way of encouraging that he can do it. Unlike Emma, who only saw Kitty as an asset to winning the money at first, Noah knows who Owen is, and tries to help them both. Could he be nicer about it? Yes. But that’s not the point. The point is ‘how would this be an in character way for them to deal the situation?’

“Hold on, but he developed all these feelings for Emma and constantly tried to impress her” -The reblog section

Here’s the big case.

That whole thing is only proof that Owen’s good nature DOES rub off on Noah. Better yet, being forced into situations where he has to actually TRY to make it and survive.

And a crush? Yeah, that’ll let that all out at once. It’s basically, Noah recognizes that he legit WANTS something that’s hard to get. Of course he’s bad at dealing with emotion and struggling with something that seems so... sappy. This is a whole new experience for him.

And as much as you may want to deny it, Noah is NOT just an emotionless sarcastic machine. If that were the case, he wouldn’t laugh at Owen’s milk shake at all, which that too, could’ve easily come across as unconventional for him.

(I don’t want to talk about the ‘But there were hints that Noah was gay, and yet he becomes straight’ stuff. I don’t hate it, and that’s coming from someone graysexual. Total Drama is bad at representation. The fandom just wants to ignore the facts because they love the show and the characters anyway. If I wrote Total Drama, would I have made Noah gay? Coin toss. But what’s canon is canon, write a fanfic instead of whining to the writers. Over.)

For me at least, I just found it really wholesome to see this brainiac become way more understanding and better at relationships as the show went on.

With Emma, it’s understanding her boundaries in order to properly be with her.

With Owen, he does actually get better at showing his care for Owen as RR goes on. It’s Owen who helps him in the air guitar challenge, and from there, the bossiness towards the big guy becomes way less frequent.

Total Drama doesn’t have it’s characters blatantly say, “I’m sorry I treated you badly” or “I’ll try to be better” or “I care about you and I want you around”. Some shows do that, in my writing I do that, but that’s never been this show’s style. So of course Noah isn’t gonna blatantly apologize or say “I need you.”

Would I have liked for Noah to have said this sort of stuff out loud? Yeah.

Would I have liked for Noah to have more screen time to flesh out what I’m talking about? YES.

But for what we have, I still love Noah as a character. He’s not the best written character in the show, but sometimes you don’t care.

Who knows? Maybe I’ll make a Noah centric fic that takes place in an alternate timeline of the show. where he DOES get the screen time to flesh out what I’m trying to say. No promises though.

#Total Drama #Td Noah #Td Owen #Td Emma #Nemma #total drama ridonculous race #in defense #defending a character #i'm biased

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beachesgetpeaches · 1 year

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The problem with stans in general, is everything is taken to the extreme.

This isn't about you, but this showed me how hypocritical some fans are, for or against the relationship.

Like, if you don't think her relationship is our business, why are you trashing Joe and her other exes like you know the full story?

And on the other side, if you care so much about what Matty has done, and how Taylor's reputation as an activist is getting damaged, why don't you listen to people that call her out for her silence on big issues like drag bans, or why she mainly speaks up only when something directly impacts her?

And people want to call others problematic, but then they're sending death threats?? Make it make sense.

I agree wholeheartedly! And just to put it out there as a bit of a disclaimer but any post I make about Taylor/Joe is not anti-Joe (like I am mainly focused on Taylor and how she can be quite petty in these situations, and it's similar to what I've done in a very very similar situation).

Honestly, I think the entire situation can be studied to determine just how strong the currency of wokeness is online. People talk about performative activism (specifically with regard to Taylor) but all of this... IS performative. This public "lynch" on Matty (in this case) shows as you've written the hypocrisy of people in the fandom. And if we consider them a somewhat representative sample of a larger dataset, we could say it showcases the hypocrisy of people online.

Also the unwillingness or maybe even fear (?) to be free to have an opinion which differs from the loudest opinion shouted. Or to have a point of view which is uniquely their own and not a copy-paste from the mob.

Either way - based on all things I've seen lately: instant passionate reaction and putting a lot of expectations on Taylor based on who she dates (kind of reeks of some odd form of sexism or smth), death threats being sent to Matty (and/or his mother even?), "demonisation" of addiction (and also hoping another person would OD), and then this swift (ha-ha pun intended) switch up on Joe in a matter of hours...

... like I know a good portion of fandom is trying to find a villain in this parasocial narrative which has been created but idk maybe it's us. Maybe stans and stanning is the problem.

(note: I am not trying or aiming to imply that people who feel hurt by Taylors choices are "a problem", to me the reactions and how I've seen a lot of people behave is the issue.)

Lbr, even the origin of the word stan is indicative of its negative form (idk if a positive one even exists)

While some say the term is a combination of "fan" and "stalker," "stan" was first coined in 2000 when Eminem dropped a twisted allegory in a song called "Stan," about a man who was pushed to the edge when his idol wouldn't answer his fan mail. The word used to be synonymous with overzealous or obsessed.

#sorry but the one thing about me is that i will take the time to tlak #matty healy #taylor swift

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chromecries · 1 year

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my mcc season 2 highlights!

these are my favourite povs from season 2! im quite focused on the whole mcc viewing experience, so there will be whole vods in here, as well as enjoyable and/or high scoring individual and team performances, alongside some funny moments. keep in mind i am a jordan and enjoyer, and i expect a lot of this to be jordan and jojo focused!! (tumblr has a ten link limit per post, so the last three povs do not have a link, but they're all easy to find as they are recent as of now! just up on yt)

yellow15 is honestly one of my personal favourite teams ever. it took one game, ace race, for them to move up to 2nd from 6th, and is one of the best scoring ace races of all time. really nice teamwork from then on, and even if they got swept in db, they had great comms and lots of funny moments together.

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purple16 OHHH MY GOD this team was crazy especially in the last moments of sg- i would highly recommend the whole pov to see their bm dominance and everything else too! This events sg was one of my faves so i recommend sylvees pov of that as well, its so chaotic but funny to watch in terms of context for the rest of the game!!

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yellow16’s sot was one of my favs this season, with it being a unique team that surprisingly did well together! hbomb was a runner whilst he helped ponk who was sandkeeper on his first ever mcc, leading yellow into first place with 5k coins!! An insane run, with funny moments from george, reacted to by hbomb in his vod reviews.

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Mcc17 - this mcc is so special to me, as it is to so many other people, like the mcsr and hermitcraft community on here!! I highly recommend you watch both orange and pinks whole povs. In terms of team composition, experience and strengths, they were so different, so they had completely different feeling mccs. orange17 were Chilling and smoothly working their way to db, communicating with ease and trusting in their experience and each other.(petes ace race was so SMOOTH here too)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5W_S4dJoFaM&t=5182s

pink17 really went up against every obstacle to make it to db, even co-sandkeeping from zeuz and vixella to manage sot, and to top it all off a crazy sg performance from them!

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Aqua17 sg- now this one. Is not great but their pov when facing pink in skybattle is very funny

Aqua17 sot - vault clutch from jordan that got them to 2nd place! well co-ordinated :)

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rising was really nice, and i wasnt expecting to love it so much tbh! The energy around the event felt so different, with 40 contestants that were barely known to the community at the time. So many people spent hours practicing and gained whole followings from the event, notably the orange ocelots(eloise and owen now work for noxcrew, and bekyamons just been introduced to the main roster of mcc players, alongside all 3 of them being more well known ccs) yoshinom and makoinari. Owen has a great video about his time during rising that is really well put together and is so worth watching!

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pink was an absolute treasure of a team, so wonderful to watch them all pop off respectively, especially jojo and nestorio! Jojo had a great hero moment in the events most chaotic sot, and this was my first time watching nestorio, who was so sweet and positive during the event. Pink had a really lovely db too:)

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pink22 obviously. OBVIOUSLY this is here it was so crazy from their pov too. 4 corners of the community unexpectedly worked so well together, had GREAT comms, especially in pkt and meltdown! A really nice sot, as well as a clutch first place in tgttos from the one and only oli the orion sound!!

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THE GOLDEN GALS OH them them them them them them them them them them i am so insane about them really. such a highlight to not only get an womens team BUT little did we know that this was the beginning of this being regular in mcc!! sylvees space race reaction was so good as well as her and jojo celebrating at the end of their run! It was so cute and i think my fave moment all season!! Jojos ace in bb, overall crazy teamwork and good vibes from the whole team. soo so good

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5N1U3Wciqo0

cyan24 had such a nice run up to the event. this season kinda sees the end of practice streams but jojo caught on to how much they help, because its about the Bonding not the Minecraft Practice! they prepared so much and it really payed off, especially with their sot!!

green25 just. So good i am so happy they won obviously they are really really strong, but they deserved it i think. There is no other pov for 25, its green till the end. Jojo continues to lead her team in such a nice relaxed way i love her

teal28 i cant believe jordan won AGAIN and its with some of The people Ever for him. Punz from yellow15(remember them) and sneeg from cyan18 and blue23(both close third places) and jimmy alllll the way back from blue3, which was the first ever 9/9 bb, and second time jordan lost a db. It felt like full circle moment for jordan to win with these three, and for teal to SWEEP DB omg. 1) jordan himself had been swept so much, and he had been swept in mcc15 with punz and in mcc3 with jimmy. 2) jimmys 1V3 i have never screamed such a scream it was so impressive

red28 crazy little sot from them to finish off the season. Jojo does it again my little shining star i love her sm i could talk about her forever and ever and ever but thats for another post

#chrome cries #oh man its a long one #mcc #no one will read it anyway but just for me . and bef

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s4rfoo · 3 months

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W1 - Intro to Technopreneurship and Test Results

Getting to know Technopreneurship

While I'm typing this blog post, I've noticed that Grammarly which is an extension for fixing grammatical errors while I type, detects "technopreneurship" as an unknown word. When I look it up in the dictionary, I find that the word "technopreneurship" is not included. Even the Google dictionary doesn't provide a meaning for the word. Based on my Google search, technopreneurship is a combination of "technology" and "entrepreneurship," a term coined by business-minded individuals who rely on technology to start, develop, and make a business venture profitable.

Honestly, I didn't grasp the concept of technopreneurship completely at first. However, as our instructor began the lecture, I gained a much clearer understanding of the subject. The enthusiasm and openness of our instructor in class made the learning experience exciting for me. While the instructor is a bit strict, I find it to be a positive aspect, and overall, I appreciate the course. Technopreneurship, for me, is an essential subject that prepares students who aspire to become entrepreneurs in the future, particularly those inclined to leverage technology in their ventures.

My Test Results

- MBTI Personality Test -

Actually, I am shocked by my latest personality test. Not too long ago, probably when I was in senior high, I took a personality test on the same website. I distinctly remember that my result was INFJ-T back then. However, upon retaking the test now, I am identified as an ISFJ-T. According to my latest results, I have become more observant compared to what I remembered. In the past, I recall being more on the intuitive side, but the other traits remain the same.

- Bank Code Personality Report -

BNKA stands for Blueprint - Nurturing - Knowledge - Action. Each letter has its list of corresponding values. In taking the test, I prioritized the Blueprint card first, followed by the Nurturing card, then the Knowledge card, and lastly, the Action card, resulting in the acronym BNKA. The outcome suggests a trustworthy and responsible individual that many people can depend on.

Based on that report, I believe it's not sufficient to categorize me solely as a trustworthy and responsible person that others can depend on. The results seem somewhat limited but are also considerate, recognizing that tests are theoretical and can provide insights that may align with our true selves. Ultimately, we are the ones who truly know who we are.

- Innovation Mindest Evaluation -

In this test, my results were mediocre. My Personal Innovation Mindset Level is currently 58.62% out of 100%. In my innovation mindset analysis, my trust is at 44%, resilience at 72.5%, Diversity at 62.5%, and Belief at 60%. The lowest percentage I received is for trust, and reflecting on it, it seems somewhat accurate for me since I tend to lack trust in other people. The result suggests that I must trust others more to enhance the speed of communication and feedback for new ideas.

On the other hand, the highest percentage I achieved is for resilience, which resonates with me as an individual. I view my failures as learning opportunities, a chance to grow and become a better version of myself.

Final Thoughts

The tests I have taken, including the MBTI and Innovation Mindset Evaluation, are inherently theoretical. While some results resonate with me as an individual, they don't definitively define who I am because they are subjective rather than objective. I believe that personality and traits can evolve over time; in essence, people change. However, certain aspects of our personality and traits may endure, becoming integral parts of our character. Despite this, it's crucial to recognize that these tests offer a subjective perspective on our personalities from someone else's viewpoint.

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a34trgv2 · 6 months

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It's Complicated: My Spiritual Beliefs vs The World

I'm a Christian. Or, at least, I'm a flawed Christian. I thought I had grown spiritually since being baptized in Jesus' name and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost back in 2014. The reality is my beliefs have become more complicated as I try to balance my spiritually beliefs with my own personal beliefs. This is gonna be a long post so I'd strap in if I were you.

Let's start with what I believe wholeheartedly. I believe there is one God and His name is Jesus. I also believe the 10 Commandments are valid and reasonable decrees, that the Devil is a bully and a liar, and that Heaven and Hell are real places. While these beliefs shouldn't be controversial, things get a little more complicated when it comes to the other things Christians believe.

Christianity generally believes you must always forgive people even when it's hard. While it's true Jesus forgives everyone, the mentality that you MUST forgive people doesn't sit right with me. As far back as I can remember, forgiveness has always been a choice, not a requirement. By saying you have to forgive someone, you not giving people the right to choose, which God did in the very beginning. I don't think you should force or be critical of someone who chooses not to forgive. That's their choice; you don't have to agree with it, but you should empathize with them.

Another hot topic when it comes to Christianity in regards to homosexuality. It's well documented that Christianity considers homosexual practices a sin and is the catalyst for the destruction of nations such as Sodom and Gomorrah and the Roman Empire. I once thought similarly that it was undoubtedly sinful when I was uneducated and naive. Now that I'm older and have done actual research, I don't think it's as black and white as I once thought. The term "homosexual" was only coined recently in the 1800s and wasn't in the original Hebrew text of the Bible. Christians point to Leviticus 18:22 as proof positive that homosexuality is a sin, though what's often left out is the context. Leviticus comprises of what God was telling His people what to do and what not to do through Moses when constructing their own nation. It's also worth noting that God never elaborated on what He meant by "Thou shall not lie with mankind as with womankind." Who is "thou?" Thou Moses? Thou the people of Israel? Were all the people of Isreal male? No, there were women too, so was the verse just applied to the men? If so, why not specify that? And why not specify that the problem isn't being so much a man being affectionate with another man, but being lustful as he would a woman is an abomination? Literally everybody agrees that perverts are the real bane of humanity's existence, so why not say that instead of being vague? This is why I can't in good conscience be anti-LGBTQ; there's no objective answer to whether being gay is actually good or not.

One aspect about my beliefs that I have a hard time grappling with is prayer. Try as I might, I just can't kneel down and talk to an invisible God that doesn't talk back in a voice that's above a whisper. I've seen other Christians get really into prayer, to the point where they're crying and speaking in tongues. Me, though, I just can't get myself that emotional when I'm praying. I don't know if it's because I'm not as emotional of a person or prayer just isn't the best method for me to communicate with God. Either way, I just can't pray honestly without making it look awkward, like I'm talking to nothing... no one.

I'm not really a fan of the idea of forcing Christianity down people's throats. Like, it seems a really counter productive to force people to renounce their way of living in favor of living for Christ. Again, everyone has to have the right to choose. God specifically created man with the right to choose. I do agree that Christians should continue to preach the gospel and offer people an opportunity to join the church. That said, I personally draw the line at telling people they have to join the church or else they'll go to Hell. To someone who's not a Christian, being told they'd go Hell if they don't follow God's commandments to a tee and be just like Jesus makes it sound more like a cult than a religion. I don't want to give off the wrong impression so I think it's best to treat others with dignity and respect and offer them a business card to my church than to go on a long winded sermon about how this world is entering a dark age.

I don't know when Jesus Christ is coming back, but I don't think it's gonna be in my lifetime. I've listened to many sermons that say look out for the signs and that the day is coming. There's been a lot of wars, earthquakes, famine, all that stuff. You'd think Jesus would've come back by now with the amount of catastrophes that happened these past 20 years alone. But even after going to war with Iraq and Afghanistan, a massive earthquake decimating Haiti, famine ravaging Eastern Africa, and even someone as diabolical and cruel as Osama Bin Laden breathing the same air as the people he's killed for 54 years, Jesus hasn't come back yet. This leads me to think that should he return to this world, it'll be long after I'm already dead. That's okay, though, because I'll still make it to Heaven.

I don't know what to do. If I fully commit myself to God and live like my fellow Christian breathern, I make myself ignorant or apathetic to real world issues that aren't as black and white as I once thought. But if I'm not 100% committed to my faith, I'm seen as less of a Christian by my peers. I wish God could respond to this post and tell me honestly what He thinks about all this. Anyway, thanks for listening to me ramble. Have a blessed day

#reblog #share #like #follow #christianity #religion #jesus christ

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1hannahhannah1 · 1 year

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Part four

Content warning : racism, homophobia, transphobia

So. I said : “Alala, honestly, I hope that one day you’ll understand”

Person number one said : “Can someone ask [A guy’s nickname] to kick them out if they continue”

Why? Because I annoy you? Good. Because your words could be fucking hurtful if you said them to people, to their faces. I’m trying to make you understand that, but you don’t want to fucking listen.

Person number one responded to me saying that I wish one day they’d understand, saying : “Otherwise you can try to understand the other side of the coin, you’re not automatically the “kind one” 💀”

I will never fucking understand your ‘side of the coin’. Because you believe that what you’re saying is perfectly fine, when it’s not.

Then, person number two responded to that same text I did, saying : “Seriously, when what you’re saying is almost discriminatory too?”

Where. Where dude? Show me fucking evidence that I’m being discriminatory. Do it. Oh wait, you fucking can’t. Why? Because the definition of discrimination is : “the unjust or prejudicial treatment of different categories of people, especially on the grounds of ethnicity, age, sex, or disability”

The only thing I brought up that could “fit” these categories was that you were privileged because you’re a man and white. And that’s not discriminatory, it’s fucking facts

At this point, I was fucking tired of arguing with those people who put their fingers in their ears and shouted “LALALALALALA”. So I tried to calm down, and said : “I honestly wish you to become the best person that you can. Be the best version of yourselves, even if that means that you don’t understand what I’m trying to say”

So. This guy responded to the text my friend had said, in wich she said that they felt menaced and that we were right. She had responded to the same guy that asked [A guy’s nickname] to kick us out. So, he responded : “No it’s just because you don’t want to stop so if we eliminate the source of the problem, it’ll stop the debate”

Eliminate. Source of the problem. Wow. You want to kick us out so you can be homophobic, transphobic and racist without being called out.

So, a bit of positivity in this shit show. This guy responded to my text saying that I wished them to become the best person that they can, saying : “This is very kind of you, thanks. I wish you the same”

So, even if I think that they’re fucking wrong and they think I’m a woman full of hormones that doesn’t know how to fucking argue my points, some of them can still be decent people. Sometimes.

So my friend responded to the guy who had said that they should ‘eliminate the source of the problem’. She responded : “Why are we the source of the problem? You are the ones who started the debate and it’s us that need to leave?”

Then, this person said : “Jesus love you”

Ok? What does this have to do with anything, weirdo?

At this point I was so fucking fed up, I texted my friend privately. Here’s our conversation :

Me : “[My friend’s nickname] let’s just leave this debate on a good note, because seriously, they’re annoying the shit out of me

Her : “Yeah, we stop the debate?”

Me : “Yup”

I said : “Well then, goodbye 👋”

And then, person number one replied to the text of my friend in which she asked why we were the problem, saying : “Because you are the ones who don’t want to leave us alone and it’s simpler to just kick out two persons than the rest of the group. Plus [A guy’s nickname] is on our side so he won’t kick us out because we have the same opinion.”

Why are you still talking about this? We’ve let it go. Do it too.

Then, my friend responded to my text in wich I said goodbye, saying : “Goodbye [my name]”

And then I fucking left. Because I just couldn’t do this anymore.

This series of post will have a last part.

#AITA #texts #homophobia #racism #transphobia #please share #raise awareness

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coylerose89 · 2 years

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Constance 23cm Archives

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neontrender · 2 years

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I am stepping down from my position as moderator on the MOGAI Wiki and its associated socials. I will also likely be abandoning this account, and leaving it up as an archive. I have not made this decision lightly. In this post I’d like to address two things:

The situation with the MOGAI Wiki involving term removal policies, clarifying some points, and apologizing for the parts I played in the situation going so terribly wrong.

My personal feelings, and my reasonings for stepping away from all of this.

(Please note that bolded text is simply to make skimming easier and help with accessibility, not necessarily for emphasis.)

The idea to do away with term removals was a mistake, and so was how we went about broaching the subject with our community. As I have stepped down as moderator, I cannot speak for the rest of the mod team, and am speaking from only my own perspective. I really had no idea how even the idea of this policy would affect people. When we were discussing it as a mod team, I was only thinking about it from a Wiki perspective. Many Wikis do not require term removal, and we needed to find a way to reduce the strain on our mod team. We may have had 7 moderators before all of this, but many of us were very limited in our abilities to contribute, and the strain on the Wiki was becoming more obvious by the day.

Things weren’t working the way we had been doing them. We had requests for terms to be removed that never got followed up on, posts from accounts asking that their terms not be uploaded to our wiki that we were never made aware of, and not enough manpower to go looking for them or manage to keep up with removals with the way we were managing that system. We were overwhelmed with that, and everything else that came with the sudden spike in attention and criticism we had after FANDOM brought the Wiki’s existence into the spotlight. We knew something needed to change. Nobody could come up with a good solution that we could see working long-term, and we just kept coming back to getting rid of term removals entirely.

In all of our discussion of the potential policy change in the mod chat, I did not consider the perspective that coinings and flags are a person’s art, and that completely getting rid of the option for term removal would be removing people’s control over their own art. Especially when it comes to LGBT+/MOGAI identity, lots of the art created around that is often deeply personal. The idea of losing control over those things must have felt so awful and scary, and I’m very sorry for the part I played in that.

In the interest of full disclosure: I was the one who suggested that we encourage/require people to give alternative ideas if they voted to keep the policy of allowing for term removal. My intent was not to limit discussion, but I know intent only means so much in situations like this. My decision to suggest that was based on a fear that we would have a majority vote to keep the policy, but not receive any workable suggestions on alternatives. That would have put us back at square one, the community would have voted to keep a policy that we did not have the ability to enforce, and we would be continuing to fail our users and other members of the MOGAI community. I completely understand now how that part of the poll came across as limiting discussion/input on the policy, especially now that I have a deeper understanding of just how many users were likely too afraid to bring their concerns up with mods in the first place. I’m sorry for that, too.

When I started to see the tumblr posts about the situation, I realized what a mistake it was to suggest the policy change, and especially the way we went about doing it. Some of the mods tried to pivot conversation in the server to workshopping a workable alternative. I tried to assure people that no decisions were being made right away, and suggested that people step away from the situation, because things were getting heated.

I honestly don’t know everything that went down. I was present for only very little of the actual conversation after the announcement was made. When I woke up, the announcement/poll had already been made and the reaction from the community both in the server and on tumblr had already started.

Many people were under the (incorrect, but in hindsight completely understandable) impression that we had concretely decided on getting rid of the option for term removal. My post on the Wiki tumblr account was from the perspective of somebody who had very little context for what conversation was going on, and was trying to clarify what I knew about the mod discussions that happened before the announcement and poll were posted. I was trying to, once again, reassure people that we had not made a decision, and were open to all the suggested alternative solutions.

Almost immediately that post was met with hostility and vitriol. I recognize now that so much of that was pent up frustration with the way this Wiki has been run over a very long period of time. In the moment, though, I didn’t have that context, I wasn’t aware of the problems people have had with the Wiki or its moderators in the past. Because I had made the post, it felt extremely personal. Because I had done so much behind-the-scenes work, seeing people saying the mod team wasn’t doing enough hurt. I realized that I was starting to have a trauma response to the situation, so I told the rest of the team I was stepping away for a few hours, and encouraged them to do the same.

I’m not going to get into the nitty-gritty of it all, in part because I only know bits and pieces of what happened after I stepped away. But I’ve seen the DMs, and I saw several of the reblogs and posts from Kris. Part of why I am stepping down as mod is that I do not want to be associated with that. It was inappropriate, and a complete mishandling of the situation. I cannot work with someone who reblogs aggressive responses to negative replies on our posts, someone who repeatedly says he is going to step away and then gets right back into the situation and escalates it, someone who DMs a mod who left in a panic in response to a difficult situation with passive-aggression and guilt tripping. I care so much about the people I worked alongside these last several weeks, including Kris, but I cannot condone that behavior. I hope everyone affected by that is able to get the space that they need and a chance to recover and heal.

Another reason for leaving is that I can’t subject myself to being a part of something with so much reach and so much baggage that it causes this kind of response when a mistake is made. Some of the replies to my post on the wiki tumblr were vicious. They were hard to read, and impacted me quite a bit, in part because of past trauma, but also because it’s hard to read a bunch of people telling you to go fuck yourself. I put a lot into that Wiki in my short time as a mod, and before as a contributor, and putting that much of yourself into something and then being told you’re not doing enough and that you deserve terrible things doesn’t feel good. I understand where so much of that anger was coming from. I understand how people react when they feel cornered. At the same time, some of the things that were said in response to that post were not okay, and I will not continue doing something that carries the possibility of subjecting myself to that again.

Honestly, though, my biggest reason for leaving is that this situation bled over into my personal life. I will not get into details of what happened, but I knew immediately that my relationships with my loved ones are far more important to me than the Wiki, or this blog. As much as the MOGAI Wiki has meant to me over these past few months, as much effort as I’ve put into contributing and moderating it, it wasn’t even a question. I’ve lost any interest I might’ve had in staying.

I don’t know what will happen to the Wiki. A hiatus is being considered, I think. I know the mod team has pretty much unanimously agreed to not get rid of term removal policies. I don’t know how much weight my even saying that carries at this point, but I hope it helps at least a little with the fears this whole situation has brought up for people.

I am sorry for the parts I played in this situation going so poorly. Please take care of yourselves. I’ll be making a second post shortly, detailing some more logistics-related things to my departure.

#neonn #mogai wiki

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buckleysims · 2 years

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Here are the facts: We can all sit and turn this coin for the next few weeks and try to analyze it, but fact is, we have gone by what little info Colleen chose to share with us, which is obviously her own interpretation, and add to that, none of us are professionals. Colleen has even said herself that she has next to no experience, and this is all she got from this man, which I really can't disregard, since she wasn't harmed. Kissing a frog can still be a good kiss, specially if you gain positive life experience. And you did, Colleen! Might not have landed you Prince charming THIS time, but you learned to step out of your comfort zone, dared to walk an unexplored path, stood up for yourself, took a chance and dared to stand by your no. This is huge! This is positive! This is progress! And barking profanity, using the word narcissist and saying stuff like you were 'shaking your head and wanting to scream run', is not only counterproductive, but also overshadows all the positive that DID actually come out of this experience! By doing so, you might even stifle Colleens progress and her hope/courage to try again in the future. So how about we pack all the judgment away, and instead, once more, give Colleen a hand for how absolute BOSS she tackled the situation, cause it was truly brave, strong and admirable 💚

Hello, anon. :) I apologize for the delayed reply, but I needed some time to think about your message before responding.

First and most importantly, I want to thank you from the bottom of my shriveled, cynical heart for your encouragement and support. I dearly appreciate it, and I can't even begin to tell you how honored and touched I am to have received such a kind note. The fact that anyone even bothers to read about my ridiculous, insignificant little problems amazes me, but the fact that I have supporters out there who care enough to reach out and offer advice? It is an act of friendship and compassion that I will never forget.

But back to the matter at hand. You are correct in all your facts, and your conclusion was incredibly heartening to read. It's true that I was not physically harmed by this man, and his attention has helped me come out of my shell and gain some life experience. I enjoyed myself (especially the kissing, lol), and most significantly I realized that my inevitable and eternal spinsterhood does not necessarily have to be inevitable or eternal after all. I tend to be a glass-half-empty sort of person, and you've given me a much needed dose of optimism.

However, I cannot fault anyone for their judgement of me or their characterization of the situation that I got myself into. I was a fool to like this guy, and I should have seen who he was from the start. I have always been a bit naïve, a bit gullible, a bit ditzy, a bit too trusting, and I need blunt language and straight talk to prevent me from making the worst mistakes. See "Personal Post Ahead" for a prime example of what happens otherwise. I understand and appreciate your concerns, truly I do, and I feel like you've made some excellent points here. It's just that, honestly, I probably need to judged. Heck, I probably deserve a lot more of it than I have received so far.

Anyway, thank you again for your ask, and I hope you don't misunderstand what I'm trying to say or how I'm trying to say it. Have a nice week, nonny, and happy simming!

#Non Sims #Inbox #Anonymous

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septembercfawkes · 3 years

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Principles of the Steadfast, Flat-arc Protagonist

Last week I debunked six myths about the steadfast (also known as the flat-arc) character. Now, I would like to share 6 principles of writing a positive steadfast protagonist.

Steadfast/flat-arc characters are characters who don't drastically change their worldviews over the course of the story. In contrast, a change character will do largely a 180 flip in worldview from the beginning of the story to the end of the story.

For example, in Wonder Woman, Diana begins the story with the perspective that we should fight for the world we believe in. At the end of the story, she proves that true by using it to defeat the antagonist (this helps make up the story's theme). But in Frozen, Elsa begins the story with the worldview that one must be closed off to be safe and authentic. Because of the story, she learns that, actually, we must be open to be loved authentically (that might mean we get hurt, but some love is worth the hurt). This enables her to set things right, which proves that perspective true (and helps make up the story's theme).

Both flat-arc characters and change characters have negative versions: a character who remains steadfast to an inaccurate worldview and suffers punishment for it, and a character who changes from a true worldview to an inaccurate one and suffers punishment for it. Negative versions of each type are harder to find, but not nonexistent.

Almost all protagonists are positive change-arc protagonists. This means that almost all writing resources help writers write positive change-arc protagonists. This also means there are very few resources to help writers write steadfast protagonists.

You often can't apply change-arc advice to steadfast characters. It doesn't work.

Luckily, whichever protagonist type you're writing, each story actually has pretty much the same structural pieces--they're just arranged differently. Some are reversed while others receive more emphasis.

Today I'm going to explain how these pieces are different for a positive steadfast protagonist story, in comparison to the common positive change protagonist story.

This is a little like being left-handed in a right-handed world. That's it--the steadfast protagonists are the lefties of the storytelling world.

First, I would like to acknowledge those in the industry who have helped me understand the flat-arc protagonist and therefore influenced this post. If you want to learn more about this protagonist, check out these resources:

K. M. Weiland's Character Arc Series (Katie is amazing and this is honestly the best resource I've found so far on flat-arc characters.)

Character Arcs by Jordan McCollum (This book has a brief section on the flat arc.)

"Character Arcs 102: Flat Arcs" at The Novel Smithy (Lewis succinctly breaks down the flat-arc protagonist's three-act structure.)

Dramatica Theory (I already mentioned last week how Dramatica uses the term "steadfast" instead of "flat arc")

Writing Characters Without Character Arcs by Just Write (Youtube video)

I'll also be doing more posts on this protagonist type in the future.

1. Reversing Orientation: Change <--> Steadfast

Despite being the "lefties," almost every story will feature a key flat-arc character, like I mentioned last week:

In stories that have a change protagonist, the steadfast character will be the Influence Character. The Influence Character is typically someone the protagonist has an important relationship with, especially through the middle of the story. This is usually a love interest, mentor, or sidekick, but it can be almost anything. Of course, there are variations to the Influence Character, and you can learn more about them in my article on them. The Influence Character also serves as a thematic opponent, to some degree.

Why is the change protagonist most commonly paired with a steadfast character?

Dramatica Theory argues that it's because in order for a story to feel "complete" or "whole"--to properly mimic the human experience--we need to witness each perspective. Otherwise, it feels like something is missing.

It's not impossible to have a change protagonist be paired up with another change character, it's just that when this happens, usually an outsider who is steadfast gets involved and becomes the real Influence Character for both of them. It's also not impossible for the "Influence Character" to be more than one person. A story may have multiple Influence Characters, or even have a group that functions as the Influence Character.

In a story that features a flat-arc protagonist, the types are reversed. The Influence Character becomes a change character:

Moana is steadfast while Maui is change.

In Arrival, Louise Banks is steadfast while Ian is change.

In Cinderella, Ella is steadfast while the prince is change.

In Princess Mononoke, Ashitaka is steadfast while San is change.

In Wonder Woman, Diana is steadfast while Steve is change. (Steve's change isn't as drastic, but if you watch, he moves from disbeleiving the world Diana talks about, to believing in it.)

Usually, this pairing is positive steadfast protagonist and positive change Influence Character. This means that the Influence Character will usually start on the inaccurate worldview--the opposing side of the thematic argument. They will at least voice or tap into it in some way. By the end, they will have an accurate worldview, adopting the steadfast protagonist's perspective.

Generally speaking, anyway, as there are of course exceptions and variations.

So in a sense, when working with a steadfast protagonist, you are reorienting the structure to focus on the steadfast character, instead of the change one.

2. Inaccurate Worldview: Within <--> Without

The positive change protagonist has an inaccurate worldview in the beginning--this is sometimes referred to as the "lie" (as K. M. Weiland says it), "misbelief" (as Lisa Cron says it), or "flaw." He will overcome this on his journey and embrace the accurate worldview--the "truth." The truth is also the thematic statement.

The positive steadfast protagonist has the "truth," the accurate worldview, the thematic statement, from the beginning. This means that the inaccurate worldview needs to come from outside them. They need to encounter it in the environment.

You need to have the inaccurate worldview present. Otherwise, there is no opposing argument, no moral conflict.

A theme is essentially an argument about how we live our lives. You can't win an argument if no one is disagreeing. Someone needs to oppose the truth--I like to think of this opposition as the anti-theme. It is essentially the "lie," "misbelief," or "flaw." It is the worldview that is proven wrong by the end of the story.

It's just that with the flat-arc protagonist, that will hit them more from the outside. They will either:

- Enter a society run by the inaccurate worldview

- Have the inaccurate worldview enter their society

- Already live in a society riddled with the inaccurate worldview

Remember, a "society" is simply a collective--it can be as small as a school club or as big as a global government.

I don't know for sure that it always has to be a collective, but even if it's primarily an individual, the inaccurate worldview will still be within the surrounding characters--so in a sense, still part of the environment and society.

In Arrival, Louise is quickly surrounded by people who don't value or understand communication, or how it can avoid confrontation. She does. But she has to put up with that opposition and convince others to share her perspective.

In Princess Mononoke, a demonic boar full of hate and rage enters Ashitaka's peaceful society. After killing it, Ashitaka must journey far away to a land ruled by hate--where he is the only person who stands for peace.

In Wonder Woman, Diana must leave her society behind and enter a world war where humankind doesn't simply fight for a better world, but actively kills the innocent.

Rather than the protagonist transforming within, the positive steadfast protagonist will transform those around them, making the environment a better place as they hold steadfast to the true, accurate, worldview.

3. Internal Journey: Changed vs. Challenged

There is sometimes this idea, this . . . inaccurate worldview 😉 in the writing community that steadfast protagonists can't have rich internal journeys. As someone who loves the internal journey the best out of the plotlines, and who loves many steadfast protagonists the best, I don't find this to be true. Some of the most emotional internal journeys I've experienced, have come from positive steadfast protagonists. And one doesn't have to look far to find examples: The story of Jesus in the New Testament has moved whole nations.

It's fair to say that some steadfast protagonists don't have much of an internal plotline, like classic Superman or 007, but that has more to do with structuring plotlines than it does with character arcs.

For the change protagonist, the internal journey will largely be about transformation--a change. It's a journey to become a better person, and that can be a rich journey indeed.

For the steadfast protagonist, the internal journey will be a test of their beliefs--a challenge. It's a journey about ultimately choosing to hold strong in what you believe in, even if it seems the whole world is against you, (and for a steadfast protagonist journey, that's probably a good idea).

In a strange way, though, these two internal journeys are two sides of the same coin. After all, the change protagonist believes his worldview is the accurate worldview--that's why he has it! He doesn't believe, or at least doesn't clearly see, that he needs to change. The obstacles of the plot will reveal to him he could be wrong, that he needs to fix something about himself. Similarly, the steadfast protagonist believes she's right, and the obstacles of the plot will challenge that by suggesting she could be wrong and needs to bend to the opposing force.

One might argue that the main difference, then, is that the positive change protagonist succeeds at the end by changing, and that the positive steadfast protagonist succeeds at the end by not changing. But I think most of us would agree it'd be more helpful if we differentiated them a little more.

Because the transformation aspect is missing from the steadfast character, it becomes arguably more important to nail the other features of the internal journey. It's not that those features don't exist in the change journey, it's just that without the change itself, they carry more weight and become more centre stage (generally speaking).

One of the aspects that becomes critical, is that the steadfast protagonist needs to pay a high cost. If having an accurate worldview and using it to change the world around them is about as difficult as a stroll in the park, it can become annoying fast. Real life just isn't like that. Even when we are doing good, we still experience hardship, suffering, and opposition. If the steadfast protagonist doesn't have to pay a cost, then they're not really having their beliefs tested.

While a change protagonist's pain may come more from being wrong and having to change--in a sense being "punished" for being wrong--a steadfast protagonist's pain will come from being right and suffering for it, and having to remain true despite that. Essentially they embody the adage, "No good deed goes unpunished."

For example, in Princess Mononoke, in Ashitaka's quest to bring peace to a world at war, Ashitaka must endure a bullet, stabbing, and face death. He's no one's enemy, but he sometimes gets treated as one. He would likely suffer less if he just joined the war efforts and embraced the inaccurate worldview, or if he simply left. Likewise, Jesus holding true to his beliefs in the New Testament, led to him being crucified.

As the obstacles of the plot mount, the steadfast protagonist will be asked to doubt their worldview. Some steadfast protagonists entertain doubt more than others. This may lead to the protagonist wavering in his or her beliefs. Ashitaka entertains doubt only a little, while in Wonder Woman, Diana is brought to her knees by doubt, nearly turning her back on her beliefs. Doubt will usually be strongest at the end of the middle--what some call "The Ordeal," which will lead into the “All is Lost” and "Dark Night of the Soul" moments.

Often, in order for this to work well, the opposing argument needs to appear valid. It needs to look as if the inaccurate worldview could actually be the accurate worldview. It needs to look like the anti-theme could actually be the theme. Like the "lie" could actually be the "truth." This means it becomes perhaps even more important, for you as the writer, to show the legitimate strength of the opposing perspective. If it's obvious the theme is the "truth," then there is no need for the protagonist to experience doubt. There isn't even a need to have a thematic argument. The protagonist may also (or sometimes, instead) doubt his ability or worthiness to live and spread the truth. For more on the power of doubt with flat-arc characters, check out K. M. Weiland's article "Why Doubt is the Key to Flat Character Arcs."

Like costs, stakes become more critical. Stakes are potential consequences. They put pressure on the protagonist and give their choices meaning. If sticking to their worldview means they must suffer steep consequences, their actions carry more weight. It's easy to do what is right when you have nothing to lose. If I found a lost dog, it would be easy for me to look at its tags and return it to its owner. If I found a mean dog trying to bite my hand the evening before my piano recital, wrangled it, saw it belonged to my worst enemy, and still chose to return it--that reveals just how committed I am to saving those lost.

The steadfast protagonist needs to be challenged and tested--one of the best ways to do that is to raise the stakes. Raise them high enough to get them to hesitate, to doubt, to pay a steep cost. In a rich internal journey, we want to push the steadfast protagonist to her limits. What is it going to take to get your protagonist to consider the opposing side? To tempt her to give up her beliefs? In a sense, through the middle, we are really throwing temptations at the protagonist, trying to get her to give in to the opposing argument. Sometimes the most powerful way to do this, is to give the protagonist conflicting wants.

In reality, the audience can't fully see just how steadfast the protagonist is, if she doesn't have to suffer costs, legitimate doubts, and high stakes. It's only in the face of adversity, can we measure true character.

That is the meat of the steadfast protagonist's inner journey.

* I would like to add just one warning, however. In your quest to make your steadfast protagonist struggle, it's important he or she still has some victories along the way. Just as it becomes annoying if the steadfast protagonist never has to struggle, it can also become annoying if the steadfast protagonist never has any success.

4. Ghost/Wound: Inaccurate Belief <--> Accurate Belief

(This is a repeat section from last week. I just thought it would be helpful to have all these elements on the same post.)

A "ghost" is a past, significant, often traumatic event that motivates the character to adopt an inaccurate worldview (the "anti-theme" or the "lie" or the "misbelief"--depending on your preferred terminology). In the industry, this is also sometimes called a "wound." You can learn all about ghosts/wounds in my article, "Giving Your Protagonist a Ghost."

But in a positive steadfast protagonist, this is often flipped. The ghost is often a past, significant, sometimes traumatic event that motivates the character to adopt the accurate worldview (the "theme" or the "truth" if you prefer).

For example, Cinderella's mother, while on her deathbed, tells Cinderella to always be kind. This motivates Cinderella to do just that.

Of course, not every character will have a ghost addressed in the story.

For the positive steadfast protagonist, the ghost may be largely resolved.

But not always. They may not have complete closure and peace. And it's possible they are still traumatized by the event.

Sometimes adhering to what is true can be nearly as haunting as having regrets. It's just that the haunting will come from either the cost of the truth, or, a lack of power--a lack of control--during the ghost. Generally speaking anyway.

In The X-Files, Fox Mulder, in the overall story and theme, is a positive steadfast character. The ongoing theme is an argument of belief vs. disbelief. (The motifs, "I want to believe" and "The truth is out there" speak to that.) However, Mulder has an unresolved, traumatizing ghost: his little sister was abducted by aliens.

This event cements him to the thematic truth of belief and motivates him to investigate anything unnatural. But this happened at the cost of his sister.

Sometimes the trauma comes from not being able to do anything, just as Mulder was powerless to stop the abduction.

Other times it may come from not being able to stop a loved one from choosing the inaccurate worldview--the "lie," "anti-theme," or "misbelief." The steadfast character may be haunted by the outcome of someone else choosing the lie.

5. Want vs. Need <--> I Want the Need

For all other character arcs, what the character wants and what the character needs will be two different things. You can learn about want vs. need in depth here.

In a positive change arc, the protagonist will want something that will manifest in concrete goals, which helps make up the plot of the story. Elsa wants to live in isolation to be herself, so she runs away and creates an ice castle (accidentally freezing the kingdom in the process). The need will be a realization that is thematic--it will be the thematic statement. Elsa needs to learn to be open to love to be authentic--that's what will actually solve her problems.

For the positive steadfast protagonist, the want and the need will be more closely aligned. The protagonist wants what is needed. In a sense, he starts the story with the need. However, the need still has to be applied to the concrete world, which isn't necessarily easy. In a sense, we are taking the need that is within, and trying to apply it to the "real world," which is without. For example, if I know I need to exercise to be healthy, then I probably also want to do that. But that means I still need to put in the work. It also doesn’t mean I know everything about the process--because I may not have full experience with it. I might need to learn a new skill, like how to swim properly.

In Moana, Moana already knows who she is on the inside (thematic statement)--she knows she and her people are meant to sail--but she still has to learn how to sail.

Ashitaka knows the world needs peace, but he doesn't know how to make peace happen within a war. He knows how to have an inner peace, but he doesn't know how to make the external world--the societies around him--peaceful. He's trying to figure it out along the way. He's trying to figure out how to apply a personal experience to the public environment.

The protagonist may still need a greater, more complete understanding of the need, the theme, and how to properly apply it to the real world. We all want to solve world hunger--but how do we actually do that?

On top of that, as the protagonist struggles to meet the need, you may want to tempt him with a conflicting want. In Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 2, Peter Parker both wants what is needed (to be a self-sacrificing hero) and wants a personal want (to live an ordinary life with Mary Jane Watson). This creates inner turmoil. (And also gives more meat to the internal journey.)

As tests and doubts get heavy, the other want may appear more "right" and enticing. It will almost certainly appear easier.

As tests and doubts get heavy, the flat-arc protagonist may lose sight of the need. In Wonder Woman's "All is Lost" moment, Diana doesn't want to fight for the world she believes in anymore. The world doesn't deserve it. She loses sight of the need, the theme.

In short, the struggle comes from trying to apply the need, being tempting with another want, and/or losing sight of the need.

6. Protagonist Changes <--> Cast Changes

I touched on this earlier, but it's worth giving its own section.

In many positive change protagonist stories, the protagonist will change to the worldview some of the cast members around him have. In Spider-verse, Miles Morales must learn to persevere like the other spider people around him.

In many flat-arc protagonist stories, the cast around the protagonist will change their worldviews to match hers. Moana's journey changes not only Maui's understanding of himself, but Te Fiti's, and everyone's on the island as well.

In some flat-arc stories, this can be critical at the "All is Lost" moment, because if the protagonist is suffering serious doubt, the supporting cast can bolster her by now acting on the accurate worldview, which is essentially what happens in Wonder Woman. As Diana crumbles under doubt, all of her team members enter the fray, prepared to die to make the world a better place. Their selfless sacrifices wake her up, and she recommits to the theme, finding the strength to take on Ares.

Some stories may emphasize these changes more than others, but pretty much always, the Influence Character will at least experience a noticeable change--usually demonstrated near the same place in structure that the change protagonist will change.

But applying the steadfast protagonist to story structure will be for another day (hopefully in the coming weeks). Stay tuned!

#writing tips #writing tips and tricks #writeblr #fanfic #nanowrimo #writing reference #writing advice #protagonist #steadfast protagonist #flat-arc protagonist #moana #arrival #princess mononoke #wonder woman #character #character arcs #writing help

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thetriggeredhappy · 3 years

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recently rediscovered your blog and read the fic from your dad spy au where scout starts out as the "guard" and then becomes scout from there and lemme tell you that shit put me on some s-tier brainrot. like a cranial decay type beat.

i had a concept in my head that instead of being hired as a guard, he could have been hired as a right hand man to the administrator like pauling, because i think hed be awesome in that position. like imagine having a personal merc who can get in fast and out even faster. but maybe he would stay in the base like the rest of them, sort of like a secret on call intel gatherer, who also maybe sometimes has to dig a couple graves. and also like, nobody on the team expects anything from him at first because its this 20 year old newbie kid. hes dressed in his formal clothes and he talks like somebody from relatively around boston but not quite. i can just imagine one day he comes back during a team dinner with his shirt half untucked and stained with blood, hair disheveled as he asks soldier if he can borrow his shovel, or him debriefing them for a mission when miss pauling is busy. same vibe as the fic i mentioned before but scout gets to have a job as cool as miss paulings. honestly id write it myself if i didnt have the attention span of a fly

anyways your scout content gives me life thank you

scout teamfortress but 20% more competent standing next to miss pauling teamfortress while she's doing her job and doing like silly quips and otherwise contributing nothing like it's a buddy cop film is literally my fucking ideal

(warnings for some canon-typical violence)

“Oh, Pauling, it’s good to see you again,” greeted the chairman, smiling in an imitation of a grandfather and clasping her hands perhaps too-kindly considering she barely knew him. “Young as ever, and still so stylish, I see. And who’s the new fellow?”

“He’s just here to help with transport, Mr. Montgomery, nothing unusual,” Miss Pauling replied, returning his smile and adjusting her glasses. “Heavy cases, you know how it is.”

“Of course, I remember you almost toppling clean over last time we made a trade!” Montgomery agreed, frowning at the memory. “You’ll pull a muscle that way, better to be careful. It’s a pleasure to meet you, young man. And your name?”

“Mr. Normandy, sir,” the new kid replied easily enough despite his slight East Coast accent, giving the man a firm handshake, expression neutral and stony, the picture of professionalism. Internally, Pauling breathed a sigh of relief.

“Firm grip there, young man,” Montgomery praised, nodding approvingly. “Tennis player, perhaps? Or golf?”

“Baseball, sir,” he replied, still evenly. “First baseman.”

“Ah! Of course! Were you any good?” Montgomery joked.

“At everything but playing in front of the crowds, otherwise I’d be in the major leagues,” he replied, tilting his head just slightly to imply that he was joking, his sunglasses glinting at the movement, and Montgomery barked a laugh.

“I like this one, Miss Pauling!” Montgomery said, and Pauling just barely caught herself from physically relaxing at it.

“We do too, Mr. Montgomery,” she agreed. “I was under the impression that you’re very busy today, so we won’t keep you for too long, we just wanted to sort out the final details surrounding the manufacturing rights for the—“

“—Pacific Northwest branch, up into British Columbia and Alberta, of course,” Montgomery agreed, nodding faintly. “Of course, of course.” He turned to regard his own man in a dark suit, the one standing to the right, who appeared to be unsuccessfully trying to stare down Normandy, who was completely ignoring him. “My briefcase, please.”

The man handed over the briefcase, and Montgomery put it on his desk, opening it and pulling out a sheaf of papers. “All our requests are submitted and approved, at this point we just had a few dustbins to take care of regarding initial percentages and making sure everything is wired to the correct accounts, which names are undisclosed, things like that,” Pauling explained as he glanced through the papers.

“Right, right, everything looks good here,” the man murmured, nodding to himself, sending his long-white hair just ever-so-slightly out of place. “I’m assuming these more sensitive documents should be sent some way besides through the mail?”

“If you finish them today I can take them with me, otherwise either me or Mr. Normandy can return to pick them up at your convenience,” she replied, to which Normandy gave a singular nod.

“Oh, it would only take me a short while,” Montgomery said, waving a hand. “We have a lovely lounge just down the hall from here if you’d prefer to wait there, it should only take me ten, fifteen minutes at most. In the meantime, I do believe there’s also the manner of payment for services rendered.”

Miss Pauling tilted her head just slightly to one side, confused.

“I arranged with Helen already,” Montgomery explained, not looking up from where he was initialing a few things. “The payment, rather than being wired, she asked to be made in material investment. A venture of mine from years ago that she’s willing to sit on. Rather than gold or bonds, she agreed to take some old currency of mine that my family collected, from early 18th century New Zealand and Australia. Monetarily it’s worth around the same, and I’m quite a bit attached to it to be entirely frank, but it was at her request to buy the whole collection from me, and after years of the work we’ve been doing together, well, I’d never trust it with anyone else.”

He gestured to the other man, the one on his left, who stepped forward to hand him a manila envelope, which he passed to Pauling.

“Inside is both keys, the door alarm codes, and all other security information for the building where the collection is being stored. They’ll ask for a few codes and confirmation of identity, only because several other art collections and artifacts are being stored there by other affluent individuals such as myself.”

“Thank you, Mr. Montgomery,” Pauling said, taking the envelope gratefully.

“Think nothing of it, my dear. Helen talked me into it all her own,” he said easily enough. “Now, gentlemen, if you would let Miss Pauling and Mr. Normandy into our lounge? I should have these wrapped up before any of us can even think about lunch, eh?”

One of the suits showed the two of them through the doors and down the hallway, through two doors bracketed by similar suits who simply nodded politely at Pauling and ticked their chins at Normandy as they passed them.

Normandy posted up beside the door for all of three seconds before they shut and Pauling pulled her glasses up, rubbing at the bridge of her nose and making a vaguely distressed noise. He then promptly relaxed, instead leaning his hip against an armchair probably worth the same amount as a small car. “So, uh, we’re glad that he’s giving us a bunch of commemorative coins from when dinosaurs still walked the earth?” he asked just below normal speaking volume, eyebrows raised.

“Yes. Very glad. Because unlike about six people total on the planet, he hasn’t figured out yet how valuable those are.”

“What, is a picture of a kangaroo on some copper really gonna make up for a couple hundred thousand American dollars?” Normandy asked, sounding doubtful.

“Not copper. Something else,” she replied. “I can’t tell you much more about it other than that, but these coins are made of something priceless to us. And to the Administrator.”

“…Love? Memories? The magic of family?” he joked, cracking a smile, and she rolled her eyes, moving to open the envelope and start reading the papers inside. “Hey, uh, not to question whether my job should exist, but what the hell am I doing here, exactly? Besides carrying a briefcase. Like, chivalry isn’t dead but I really don’t think you need me carrying your bags and holding the door for you.”

“You’re helping with security, basically,” she replied, adjusting her glasses to squint at tiny handwriting about the collection. “Mr. Montgomery is trustworthy, but he mostly hires out to… well, people like us. His security detail is mostly people we’d rather have screened, freelancers, stuff like that. A lot of people we contract out to are like that. Most of them have heard about me and know better than to try and pull something, since I can hold my own pretty well, but if they haven’t, seeing a second person might persuade them to think it over again.”

“Oh, so I’m like, uh, when it says ‘tow zone’ next to the no parking signs even though nobody checks, or when they’ve got a camera in the corner of the store that isn’t even plugged into anything,” he said, and the looked up at him, confused. “Like, uh, what’s the word… I’m a casual deterrent.”

“Sure,” she said, because it sounded like he knew what he was talking about, shuffling the papers back away and closing the envelope again, making a note to ask the Administrator if she should change their current containment procedures to be closer to Mr. Montgomery’s. “Just… if there’s a fight, you deal with it, otherwise you just stand there and look like you’re paying attention.”

“That’s what the sunglasses are for,” he agreed. “I was blinking morse code at the guy across from me literally the whole time.”

“You know morse code?” Pauling asked, surprised.

“Just the alphabet, ‘S.O.S.’, and ‘ass’.”

She rolled her eyes again, and that’s when the door opened.

She expected Mr. Montgomery, not one of the men in suits. “Excuse me, both of you, if you don’t mind,”the man said, accent having the slightest English tilt to it, a Londoner if Pauling had to guess. “You’re Miss Pauling, the Mann Co. affiliate, yes?”

“That’s me,” she agreed, hesitant, and glanced at Normandy.

“I’m afraid there’s been a mistake. Mr. Montgomery have you the wrong envelope on accident,” the man said apologetically, extending a hand forward. “We apologize for this unfortunate mix-up, it’s really quite embarrassing, but those documents are sensitive and we’ll be needing to see them back now.”

Pauling looked at him, and within a moment, shifted her expression. “Oh, I’m so sorry!” she agreed, nodding. “No, right, of course. These aren’t the papers for the currency collection?”

“I’m afraid not,” the Brit agreed, head tilting just slightly, hand still extended, moving a fraction further forward.

“Well, thank goodness we figured out now and not with us halfway back,” she joked, and moved to hold the folder closer to her body. “I’ll take this right back to Mr. Montgomery, then.”

“He’s sent me to correct the error,” the man explained simply.

“Right,” she said, and saw in her periphery that Normandy had already started sneaking a hand in towards his primary, clearly having pieced together something she was only suspecting. “We can bring this to his office, then, right down the hall.”

“You misunderstand,” the man said, taking a step forward again. “I’ll be taking it to his office myself.”

“That’s funny,” Pauling said. “I didn’t realize you had clearance to be in there. Or to be carrying a semi-automatic instead of a standard handgun.”

The Brit reached for the semi-automatic, and before he could even get it out properly, Normandy hit one clean shot to the side of his head and another to his thigh, sending him crumpling to the ground.

Pauling had only as far as pulling her own handgun free, thumb on the safety, and breathed a sigh of relief, glancing over at Normandy, shifting to more comfortably hold her gun. “Quick reflexes,” she noted.

“Just noticed a lot sooner, maybe,” he shrugged, stepping forward to glance over the body, tucking his gun back away.

“What was your hint?”

“He’s here to give us the right folder, yeah? Well, why were his hands empty, then?”

She was just starting to nod and realize that as well when a second man shouldered through the door, holding a gun at the ready. Normandy scrambled to draw his own, but Pauling fired a shot into his knee, shoulder, and neck to send him dropping before he was even close. “There’s quick on the draw, and then there’s prepared,” she said pointedly. “Gotta think of if there’s more than one, new guy.”

He nodded, and drew his gun again, bending to hit the guy on the ground at the temple hard enough to knock him out if he wasn’t unconscious already. He then glanced up at the sound of a shout from the other side of the door, two men shouldering through, guns drawn but lowered. It was only the firm eye contact they made with both her and Normandy that made her pause the millisecond it took to realize these ones weren’t trying to kill them.

“Pauling, what on earth is going on here?!” Montgomery demanded, entering the room and staring with wide eyes at the bodies on the ground. “What could’ve possessed you to—“

“He was trying to run off with these documents,” she explained quickly, gesturing with the envelope. “He knew whatever was in here was valuable.”

“He drew his gun, sir,” Normandy added, tipping his head down towards the body, and Pauling glanced down as well and found herself a little surprised. He’d rearranged the man just slightly, apparently, adjusting the arm to be holding the gun a bit further outward. “Other one was aiming to kill.”

“My, my,” Montgomery tsk’d, shaking his head as he surveyed the scene. “What a mess. My apologies, Miss Pauling, Mr. Normandy.”

“It’s alright, but you need to start doing more thorough checks on your staff, Mr. Montgomery,” Pauling stressed.

“He’s only been here two weeks, sir, he was one of the men we hired in a hurry after the incident last month,” one of the bodyguards said, and Montgomery shook his head.

“Thank goodness nobody was hurt,” he sighed. “Mutiny, and besides that, they’re bleeding on my carpet. Here are those papers, Miss Pauling—what a day, eh?”

“It’s really alright, we handled it,” Pauling assured him, giving her bravest smile, a little exasperated now.

“Right, right, you and the first baseman,” he agreed, and Normandy fought back an actual smile.

“If you’d like, we can take care of those for you,” Pauling said, gesturing at the bodies. “To pay you back for the carpet and the scare.”

“Sounds fair to me,” Montgomery agreed, clearly relieved.

“My dad’s gonna be pissed, by the way,” Normandy was so helpful as to say on the way back up the path to the base. “And you’re fielding that.”

“About the suit, or the fight?” she asked, glancing at his clothes where he was somewhat covered in a fine dusting of mud and grime from the gravedigging, shovel still in his free hand.

“Both. Mostly the fight. Your fault for saying it’d be an easy one to start with,” he said.

“If it was going to be that much of a problem, you wouldn’t have gotten this job. I’d just have made you go do dishes all day or something,” Pauling replied.

“Point taken,” he said, walking ahead to get the door, holding it open for her. “Wait, we’re allowed to mention what we do, right? Just not names?”

“Or locations, even with travel distance. Round up to the hour if it comes up,” she replied.

“Sure, sure,” he agreed, trailing a step behind her as she led the way through the base.

In the common area, there was a bit of a ruckus happening. Soldier, Heavy, and Demo appeared to be having some kind of arm wrestling competition on a rapidly-toppling table, the Engineer was on a stepstool trying to fix the ceiling fan, and Sniper appeared to be half-watching the beginnings of an argument between Pyro and the Spy regarding use of the oven as Medic patched up a burn on his arm.

“Hullo,” Sniper greeted the two of them, sounding a little bored, Medic giving them a brief, polite nod. Normandy’s eyebrows were raised pretty far as he surveyed the room.

“Hi, Sniper,” she greeted in return, then cleared her throat, raised her voice. “Team meeting in five minutes! New mission for next week!”

Groans from the room at large, the eight mercenaries starting to finish up what they were doing and filing out. Spy moved over, glancing over Normandy and starting to talk to him in rapid-fire French, picking smaller bits of gravel off of his suit as they walked.

“Alright,” she addressed the room, Normandy peeling off from getting mother hen’d by Spy to stand next to the blackboard with her. “Monday, you’re all going on a transport mission. Getting the truck from point A to point B with everything in the boxes intact. Already we’ve had to put up with some people trying to get ahold of these things, so bring your guns.”

“Oh, our guns, you said? Lads, this is a serious one, keep your heads on a feckin' swivel, she’s sayin’ we might even need guns, can you believe it?” Demo faux-gasped, and chuckled when Spy bopped him on the arm, rolling his eyes at the Scot's theatrics.

“Yeah, yeah,” she waved off, flipping through the papers a bit. “So Engie, I’ll need the keys to the truck, me and Normandy are going to be loading those tomorrow, all of you need to be at this drop point bright and early.”

“How early?” Heavy rumbled.

“Six. Hour and a half of drive from here.”

Some complaints from the room that she sighed at.

“Hey, hey, calm the hell down,” Normandy cut in, and she glanced over at him where he had his arms crossed and a stern look on his face. “You chuckleheads get to have all eight of you to unload the damn thing, me and Miss P gotta do all the rest of this on our own and probably kill twenty guys on the way there and back. She had to be up at 6 AM, workin’ since 7 AM, lunch break at noon and nothin’ else, and we just got back now at, what, fuckin’, 10, 11 PM? Any of you work her shift and then see if you even got the energy to complain about wakin’ up early, how about that?”

The room went utterly devoid of complaint or backsass. “Thank you, Normandy,” she said politely, and he just nodded once, glancing off to the side. “Anyways, anything new on this end? Spy, how are you adjusting?”

“Very well,” he said simply. “I have nothing pressing to say. Once I’ve been updated from the stock weaponry provided here to my requested preferred weaponry, I believe I should do just fine.”

“I see you already have Herr Normandy digging graves,” Medic chimed in. “Straight into the hard labor, ja?”

“Eh, hey, y’know, it’s why they keep us young people around,” he shrugged, grinning, and there was a brief uproar to drown out Medic’s entirely offended scoffing and Spy’s snort-laughing.

“Get ‘im, lad!” Demo cheered, and Normandy indeed looked fairly proud of himself.

“Monday, transport mission,” Pauling noted over the noise, writing it up on the chalkboard to hide her own smile from the room. “Normandy, you and me are doing the boxes tomorrow. Everyone on the same page? Good. Dismissed. Oh, and Pyro—stop taking the fire alarms down when they beep. They’re beeping because you light things on fire in the base. Do that outside.”

“Oh, hey, uh, helmet guy, All-American Beef,” Normandy called, and Soldier straightened up. “Here’s your shovel back. Gettin’ my own tomorrow.”

 Soldier walked directly over to him, clasping a hand on his shoulder. “That’s a high honor, Cadet,” he said, tone grave. “Do not take this responsibility lightly.”

“I, uh, I won’t?” he said hesitantly, and blinked a few times as the shovel was carefully taken from him before it was promptly marched from the room in double-time. Only then did Normandy look over at her. “So he’s always like that?”

“You’ll get used to it,” she assured, dusting chalk from her hands. “You should get to sleep soon, we have to be up early.”

“Sure thing, Miss P.”

#tf2 #team fortress 2 #my fanfiction #dad!spy #father-son bonding au #shut up me #que?#in this au he picks a fake name like she does. later i think demo starts calling him norman and some of the others do as well as goofs #also apologies for montgomery i couldnt quite get away with not naming random rich guy. just barely scraped by with guards one through four #everybody talks

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the-redeemed-anon · 3 years

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Another day another post including c!Wilbur in big bad manipulators list with c!Dream and c!Quackity and i go "huh, is he tho?"

Like genuienly i would want to know, bc to me at least all like c!Wilburs "attempts at manipulation" were like.. blandly obvious and not that well executed?

Not enough to secure him the position of a Big Bad Manipulator Who had an Overarching Big Plan Before This Specific Interaction and Knows What He's Doing.

Bc most ppl who call Wilbur a manipulator point to this quote here

“Tommy, literally have you not noticed? Everyone who’s claiming to be on our side, they’re lying to us! Tubbo?! He’s lying to you man! He would drop us at the second he realises we’re not in the lead anymore!”

But like... this is like clearly c!Wilbur having a paranoid breakdown and unloading all the stress fear and worries that got progressively worse during pogtopia to c!Tommy. c!Tommy def didn't have tools to handle that and like shoudnt be expexted to but its not manipulative?? Of c!Wilbur?? At all??

Like the only two instances that i remember that like can be called manipulative is maybe this??

“It’s nothing, it’s nothing important. I just wanted to say that- I think you can come back from what you’ve said, you know. I’m just saying now, there is a chance that you could be President, you know, you could be- you could definitely get an executive power in the remains of L’Manberg. You could definitely be a leader of that, I have no issue with that. But, you need to understand that you’re gonna have to get on my good side, and I, you know.”

And the recent stone collection thing with c!tommy?

Im asking bc i can be blantly missing something but? I dont think i am?

- Music Anon!

Music Anon, you're back with another interesting topic!

Okay so I may have another perspective than most on the "Then let's be the bad guys" scene because, as I've said before, I have paranoid thoughts, so, for me, it's much much easier to put myself in Wilbur's shoes in that moment.

So, as far as I remember in Pogtopia, I would coin Wilbur's behaviour as persuasive. He was trying to persuade Tommy to his side, something that Tommy was free to ignore and not accept. Manipulation and persuasion are very tricky to tell apart, because it's two things that are very similar, and you can't tell them apart that easily. You know how all squares are rectangles, but not all rectangles are squares? Same thing here. All manipulation is persuasive, but not all persuasion is manipulative. There is a fine line between the two.

I googled it before I wanted to respond to this ask, but from what I gathered, you can tell persuasion from manipulation by these factors: coercion, withholding of truth and intention.

I want to compare Wilbur's case with our most blatant example of manipulation, Dream. Especially since it's centered on the same character, Tommy:

Coercion. The Dictionary defines the term "coercion" as "the use of force to persuade someone to do something that they are unwilling to do". I do not remember any moment in Pogtopia where Tommy was forced to act against what he wanted to do. The way he spoke to Tommy was always open to Tommy rejecting his ideas, which happened quite a lot. It's another thing if later, Tommy, of his own volition, agreed to what Wilbur wanted, like blowing up Manberg at the Festival.

Dream, on the other hand, we see it a lot in Exile. The threats to Tommy's life. The hitting. He was forcing Tommy to stay in Logsted and give up his gear. That's one box ticked for Dream, zero for Wilbur so far.

Withholding of truth. Here I am as stumped as you are. I want someone, who thinks that the "Then let's be the bad guys" scene is manipulative, to tell me where Wilbur is withholding the truth. The President line? this one? [“Tommyinnit, you’re scared that people are gonna think differently of you. Tommy, when I said you’re never gonna be president, you gotta understand, that wasn’t a challenge, that’s true. You’re never gonna be president, Tommy. And I can hear it in your voice, you’re trying sound like you know what you’re doing, so that you can prove me wrong. Tommy, none of us know what we’re doing. We’re fucked, we were fucked the minute we were thrown out.” - (Wilbur’s video Am I the Villain?: 19:39)] or these? [“That guy Tubbo? You know? We love Tubbo… but he’s not on our side, is he? Let’s be honest. We act like he is, like, everyone’s always how like, oh it’s crazy how everyone’s against Schlatt.” - (Wilbur’s who are you go away: 1:12:57, 8th Oct)], [“Everyone’s always saying how like, oh it’s crazy how everyone’s against Schlatt. No one’s against Schlatt. Everyone’s pulling the biggest ruse on us. Literally, they’ve got us all by the fucking scruff of our necks.” - (Wilbur’s video Am I the Villain?: 17:59)], [“Tubbo’s like, ‘I’ll be your spy!’. And then we’ve got like Fundy who’s like saying to everyone’s twitch chats that he’s gonna revolt against us. And you’ve got Eret giving us fucking potatoes, that say fucking ‘I’m gonna be friends with you’. It’s bullshit! It’s all bullshit!” - (Wilbur’s video Am I the Villain?: 18:09)] Honestly someone tell me where Wilbur is withholding the truth here. I do not see it. He's just stating his opinion. I am someone who was around in Season 1, I watched Wilbur's POV only and I swear I thought too that Tubbo was a double agent for Manberg. I was sure of it. This is just Wilbur laying out his reasons to be paranoid and things he considers as true and his own opinions on matters. Opinions are not lies or truths. Telling Tommy that he will never be President, in his opinion, isn't a lie or the truth. It's just an opinion.

Meanwhile over in Dream's camp... Dream did withhold the truth. He lied about Tubbo's Compass, he lied about the Invitations, all of this he did to get Tommy to his lowest, to make him think that he is his only friend. This is the second box ticked for Dream, still none for Wilbur.

Intention. Here I need to talk about what paranoia is. Paranoia, to me, is a way of thinking fueled by fear. Wilbur's paranoia started because of the Final Control Room. Eret's betrayal deeply affected him, we can see it in quotes like this: [“Anyone caught in the crossfire is caught in the crossfire. That’s how it goes, you know? Eret especially, he is the most clear, the most clear cut traitor of them all. He was a traitor from the very get go. I have no, I have no remorse offing Eret.” - (Wilbur’s who are you go away: 1:41:22, 8th Oct)] Wilbur's paranoia started from a betrayal, therefore, Wilbur's paranoia is centered on people backstabbing him. Of course he would start spiraling into a rant about how everyone is out to get him. Especially after believing his own son betrayed him. So, why tell that to Tommy? Simple, really. I personally do it, too: he was reaching out for support. When I have doubt about my train of thought, I go to someone I trust, and they help me by walking me through it, to figure out if my thinking was rational or if it was paranoia. I think this is what he was trying to do with Tommy, because he trusted Tommy, but also it was an attempt of keeping him safe. I have talked before in my Eight analysis that Wilbur is a naturally protective person. I think Wilbur was attempting in part to shield Tommy from another shock from betrayal, attempt which didn't get across to Tommy. Tommy was and is a teenager and even back then he had his own worries. He just didn't have the resources to help Wilbur, or even understand what he was going through, and he can't be blamed, and while the scene may have been scary for him, I do not think Wilbur had malicious intent with it.

Meanwhile, Dream had malicious intent. He did what he did in an attempt to isolate Tommy, to make him feel alone, so he could swoop in and mold him into thinking he was his friend. This ticks off the last box, Dream was manipulating Tommy, while Wilbur was trying to be persuasive.

While I agree that Wilbur is dipping into manipulative territory with the stone bit, I would say that doesn't make him stand in the line-up of manipulators alongside Dream or Quackity. I do agree however that he is a big persuader and his power lies in how he uses words to convince others to agree with him and join him on a cause (as discussed above, this is not necessarily manipulation). I hope this analysis helped out!

As always, the quotes are from @kateis-cakeis' masterlist of Ghostbur/Wilbur quotes. It’s a goldmine of a resource for analyzing Wilbur and I highly encourage you to check it out.

#dream smp #dsmp #wilbur soot #dsmp wilbur #anon q&a #music anon #dream smp analysis #dsmp analysis #dream smp character analysis #dsmp character analysis

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