#i doubt the rules there bend for more important people

[dangerously-human]

Lucy looking at herself in the mirror on the way up to confront Marissa is everything to me. Taking in her appearance, the effects of spending an entire day in the land of the dead, and instead of drifting off too far into criticisms and self-doubt, letting it give her confidence:

I didn't care too much about any of this. A fire burned in my eyes.

It was nice to look at myself, after everything. Nice to be reminded who I was. Lucy Carlyle.

My girl!! I know many people have waxed eloquent on this subject, tying this together with Lockwood's state when he shows up, and Lucy's comment that this is how you counter a villain whose desperate goal for youth and immortality has led her to bend the rules of life and death, no matter the cost. I just love that there's a point and a meaningful arc to Lucy's confidence issues, both professionally and in terms of appearance. For a while, I thought the latter was mostly for the relatability factor, and that would have been fine, I guess, if a little boring; but no, it's that familiar, mundane struggle that plays into so many of Lucy's decisions, that finds resolution at the pinnacle of her character arc. And ooh, the delicious anti-Gnostic flavor of setting up Lucy as a foil to the woman who has hopped bodies for the sake of prolonging her youth: to say no, this body is more than an accessory to who I am, this too is me, and I am proud of who I am and what this body can do for the people and causes I love. The physicality of this series is one of its most important elements and I just think that's neat! And Lucy - Lucy is so nearly at her shining best here, she's finally reached a resolution point for what she's struggled with from the beginning; but her arc can't find its satisfying closure, she can't really be her best, until she's no longer alone, until she has Lockwood at her side - Lockwood, whose arc is also reaching its zenith, who has to finally understand the point of true selfless sacrifice.

And then it's really all about the skull and his arc discovering the power of friendship (plus the power of Violence and Mayhem and other Type Three Things), but that's another post.

#personal #rachel liveblogs #lockwood & co

[zlobonessa]

translated; kind-of-sorta-maybe part of an unwritten sequel to this modern au where regulus and reinhard are dating and julius is coping and seething

Julius remembers: he caught the two of them at the entrance to the university one day. Even unintentionally that time: it was just morning, just before the start of the classes.

They were standing close: the toes of their shoes were almost touching. (Black sneakers, ordinary but of good quality, worn for years, and white loafers, probably bought only because of the unreasonably high price and ready to crack after the first rain, for that matter.) No one would mistake them for friends: there was no barrier of personal space between them, the space belonged to them both — and this screamed about the nature of their connection more than anything else.

Regulus said something — Julius couldn't make out the words in the din of the crowd, but no doubt something boorish, shamelessly rude, and full of smugness — and Reinhard laughed. Not at the top of his lungs, not bending over backwards from laughter — but the way people laugh from funny, but not very polite joke, sincerely, showing their teeth and squinting, turning their face away from slight embarrassment for their sense of humor.

It was unbearable to watch: maybe if Julius had opened the door to the supposedly empty lecture hall and found them there, half naked and busy, he wouldn't have felt so voyeuristic, staring at what he had no right to look at.

Perhaps that was the day — at that time, of course, he would not admit it to himself, not for anything — when the realization settled in him: there was the Reinhard that Julius could never have hoped to have.

///

So what's the secret, Julius wants to ask, glaring at the high-stretched collar of his turtleneck, and the words burn his tongue. He wants Reinhard to come back faster. He wants Reinhard to be stuck in line for exactly as long as it takes Julius to shove Regulus in the trunk of his car and drive him to the border of Vollachia.

"It's pretty indecent to stare at people like that, in my opinion. It's not that I want to subordinate everyone to the rules of upbringing with which I was raised, every family, of course, is different in this, and it would be completely inappropriate for me to interfere in this, but I assumed that such basic things are what all parents teach their children, isn't it? " Regulus squints at Julius, a smile oozing superiority on his face.

Julius wipes his lips with a napkin and puts it on the left side of the plate.

"My guardians have taught me the proper amount of etiquette lessons, don't worry," he says with restraint, suppressing the urge to add and the importance of compliance with the law. And the norms of morality. And how to be a decent person, and can you please tell me in full detail exactly how you manage not to exhaust the pathetic remnants of conscience by lecturing me about my upbringing instead of whiling away time in prison, which, I would like to remind you, would have been inevitable if Reinhard had not... If you hadn't... How did you... how?

What's the secret?

Regulus raises his eyebrows emphatically:

"The inability to see the shortcomings of one's own personality is the scourge of the majority, no matter how regrettable it may be. A person who wants to achieve something in life, other than being on in the herd, must learn to look at himself soberly, don't you think?"

Julius forces a smile:

"Of course. I will definitely take that into consideration."

There is something in Regulus's face that Julius would consider a moral struggle if he were a fool. His lips are pressed tightly, and his eyes dart: Julius waits patiently, knowing that he will not last long — and indeed, soon something ugly appears on the surface of that loathsome face, something deserving to remain at the bottom of that far more loathsome mind.

"Reinhard appreciates the ability to be honest about oneself in people, so you know," Regulus says, grinning openly, and this is indeed a malicious glee — a bit childish even, full of sincere pride. The desire to poke his success under Julius' nose: mine, mine, mine.

He knows, Julius thinks distantly. For how long? Probably for a long time. It wasn't that hard to notice, of course.

"I assure you, it never occurred to me in my life that Reinhard doesn't appreciate honesty," he says with exaggerated ease. "He knows how to pay tribute to the positive qualities in a person, that's why he is popular with people, you see. "

"People, " Regulus curls his lips uncomfortably. "Ah, people! These people where, let me remind you, everyone craves only one thing — to cover their rotten soul with their positive qualities? People who do good things in order not to be thought badly of, because all they are obsessed with in this life is the opinion of others, without whom it is unbearable for them to be alone with themselves, and with whom it becomes crystal clear to them how miserable they are? And after all, it does not occur to them that everyone around is exactly the same, no, they believe that only they are the centre of the universe, the most important, the most precious, the most, oh, the irony, disgusting! Are they? Are they? Do you think they're better? Oh, huh? You think these worthless, petty, self-obsessed freaks are better, better than me, you think, you-u-u... "

His breath catches, as if someone has squeezed his throat, and he looks at Julius with bulging and darkened eyes. And this change is so unexpected and quick — black, suffocating jealousy — that Julius feels uncomfortable in his own skin, which suddenly feels like someone else's. It suddenly seems to him that someone has planted a mirror in front of him, where his underside is reflected — rotten and sinister, disgusting in its sincerity.

"Hmm, " Julius says. He turns his gaze away, looking for Reinhard in the crowd.

#re zero #my writing #there are a couple of lines that i really liked in the original version but translation kinda butchered them. sad! anyway here you go.

[aquaburst3]

So I was trying to scroll through Reddit to see if there was a thread about a female fan school, and, spoiler alert, there wasn't at all. (Which I find annoying, since I was looking for inspo for a future fic I'm writing.)

But in my failed efforts to do that, I found another thread discussing why some people don't like female Yuus. Basically, it boiled down to two reasons. One is just plain ol' misogyny. Honestly, that explanation is about as surprising as if Crowley did turn out to be the final boss, since it pops up in not just all fandoms, but everyday life. I do think that's a huge part of it. But the second one was that some people think a female Yuu "breaks their suspension of disbelief." Sorry, I have to call bullshit on that. In reality, a straight up female presenting Yuu is more possible than what one might think. Because...

Crowley is willing to bend the rules whenever it suits his agenda. With Crowley most likely being the final boss and the one that brought Yuu to Twisted Wonderland in the first place, him breaking the rules to have female or genderqueer Yuu stay to fulfill his plans seems super in character for him. Plus, even if that weren't the case, Crowley already allows a fae war general that is centuries old, a grown ass lion man, the son of a man who bribed him to into accepting him (which is highly illegal on both ends) and a literal fucking goddamn robot to attend there. If Crowley is willing to all that slide, I think he would do the same for a female or genderqueer Yuu. Yuu has nowhere else to go, so that gives him even more of an incentive to bend the rules in that instance.

News Flash— all male Yuus are "breaking the rules", too. Yuu is magicless in the canon and no one without magic is able to attend NRC at all. If Yuu was genderqueer or a girl, that's just an added reason and nothing more.

Female staff and faculty working at all-boys school is completely normal. Hell, my cousin's girlfriend even used to work at an all-boy's school as a cook, and she never had to hide her gender to work there. It's not that big of a stretch for a female Yuu to work as a janitor at the start and have others know about her presence and gender for Crowley to just give her a spot as a student like in the canon. The same could be said with genderqueer Yuu.

Outside of changing a couple lines, the game would be virtually the same. Yuu is already a blank slate and a self insert, so they could be any gender, race, sexuality, etc you want without it affecting the overall plot a ton.

I doubt any of the named guys in the story would care that much about Yuu's gender. Sure, the Sunset Savannah guys would be much less rough on her and be more helpful. And sure, I can see small to medium style changes to how the cast would interact with Yuu if she was a girl or female presenting. (Like for example, I can see Ace and Deuce being more protective of a female Yuu while Riddle would treat her the exact same as the canon.) But I doubt they would fuss over it and treat her like a princess like the RSA boys. Hell, if anything, I think the fact that she's a literal alien from another world where Disney is a thing would be far more lucrative to them, especially Azul, who is known for wanting huge secrets to use for his advantage. Not something as minor as her gender.

As for outsiders, it's revealed during Book 6 that Crowley lies constantly to the press and others about the overblots. I can't see him doing anything different in this situation.

Honestly, if we follow that logic to its conclusion, then the school wouldn't allow anyone of any other gender besides cis guys period, including non-binary and other genderqueer people, which is...yikes. While I highly doubt most people saying this are intentionally being transphobic nor would I ever accuse anyone of being that by saying that statement in of itself, but that's how it comes across to me.

Most important of all, there's a female Yuu in the Savanaclaw manga, who, at least far as I've seen, is not confirmed to be hiding her gender.

So, yeah. If you aren't a fan of female Yuu fics or RP, that's fine, and to each their own. You are certainly entitled to your opinion and preferences. Yuus of other genders are cool, too. I've read some great fics with male and gender nonbinary Yuus. I just think the argument that the universe and fan content would have to bend over backwards for a female Yuu to exist holds no water. In reality, it's more possible than what some want to think.

#aqua rambles #twisted wonderland #twst yume #as a side note I enjoy content where Yuu is any gender #I care much more about how the character is written than anything else #though I admit that I'm biased since I have a preference for female leads in general #but I read stories regardless of the gender of the lead #I mean Percy Jackson has a male lead and it's one of my favourite series and same for mixed gender casts like Six of Crows #and I have a female Yuu of my own #in case the pinned comment on my profile didn't give it away xD #twst yuu

[kaurwreck]

I don't think the Book in Bungou Stray Dogs is real, at least not insofar as there is a skill-created item that bends reality when alternative realities are written into its pages. Fyodor has convinced both the meta audience and the characters that the Book exists, just like he manipulated Ace into killing himself and for similar reasons. That being said, by claiming that such a thing exists, ensuring that there are "rules" to such a thing that obfuscate the most glaring limitations and contradictions likely to cultivate doubt, and leveraging the resources available to them, Fyodor and the Decay of Angels are able to influence others' actions and amplify their psychological and material impact, thus effectuating the reality they wanted.

(It's why visualization is an effective tool for accomplishing goals, by the way. Envisioning the reality you want for yourself vividly and emotionally stimulates your brain chemistry into experiencing and recording that reality as if were a memory or sensory perception, influencing your subconscious understanding of its attainability— which then lends you the motivation, confidence, and self-efficacy to make it so.)

It's not only Fyodor who rewrites reality by convincing others that it's possible. Natsume Sōseki rips out the pages of the third volume in the series that Odasaku is reading, informing him that there was an ending, but it was atrocious, so Odasaku should write his own. Odasaku was in a state of inertia, suffering his reality on belief it was immutable. His encounter with Natsume made him realize that the future he saw remained the same only if everything preceding it did too. Just because there was a certain outcome to his choices didn't mean he had to accept it— he could make different choices. While he did not get the outcome he wanted for himself, he nevertheless shaped his outcome with his choices. He couldn't change the choices of others, but he chose how he responded to them.

That's what he imparts on Dazai too. Perhaps much of his suffering isn't within his ability to change. But where he could choose wonder and goodness, he should.

It's a recurring theme for most of the characters since the uncertainty of existence and the subjective nature of reality framed much of their namesakes' works, but to name a few:

Yosano thought she couldn't live because her skill was too cruel. So Ranpo offered her a reality where her skill's exploitation wasn't inevitable, but a choice that was hers to make.

Ranpo thought he was alone and surrounded by monsters, rendering his world terrifying and colorless. Fukuzawa rewrote Ranpo's reality by reframing the predatory malice Ranpo perceived in others as clueless ignorance. He gave Ranpo means to channel and celebrate his perceived differences, but impressed on him that he and others had inherent value worth protecting. Because Ranpo believes him, he's surrounded by people instead of monsters. Further, the glasses Fukuzawa gave Ranpo were a cheap trinket, but because Ranpo confers on them his acquiescence to Fukuzawa's narrative, they facilitate Ranpo's remarkable powers of deduction.

N revealed to Chuuya that self-contradicting singularities can become stable in lifeforms if sealed by human will, which can be imparted on inorganic lifeforms as coded patterns since will is manifested so long as the lifeform believes itself capable of will. He needed Chuuya dead before Verlaine came for him but didn't want Arahabaki to die with him if it were possible instead to separate it from Chuuya and weaponize it by other means. Chuuya wasn't willing to donate his singularity to N's military research, so N attempted to bypass Chuuya's will by (i) convincing Chuuya that he wasn't human and (ii) torturing him into speaking a code phrase that N claimed would separate Chuuya from his singularity. It was important that Chuuya believed himself to be nonhuman because if he thought he was preprogrammed to accept the code phrase, he was more likely to cede his will to the code phrase on belief he wasn't capable of resisting. N also needed Chuuya to say the code phrase because if Chuuya chose to say it on the belief that saying it would end the torture by releasing Arahabaki, then he'd manifest the will to break the seal (even if subsconsciously). Chuuya wouldn't relinquish Arahabaki on his own, so N had to craft a reality where Chuuya didn't have a choice by convincing him of the same. Chuuya decided he did have a choice, so that was the reality that became realized.

If there is no objective, preordained reality, then reality becomes malleable and subject to revision. Not because of any preternatural superpower, but because people operate within the limits they perceive to exist. The Book doesn't need to exist to influence the characters; they think it exists, so they behave as though it does, functionally altering their realities around its existence.

But, for each situation I can recall that is attributed to the Decay of Angel's possession of the Page, there is another explanation that is more plausible and very much feasible based on the Decay of Angels' evidenced resources and modus operandi. They don't need the Page to orchestrate what they did, but convincing the Agency that they have the Page inflated their ability to inflict terror and amplified their influence over the variables molding the Agency's perception and behavior.

Anyway. If you give me any instance of the Book bending reality, I'll tell you why I disagree and what I think actually happened.*

*Don't cite to Beast. I haven't read Beast yet, so I won't speak to it.

#bungou stray dogs #bsd #it's both a game and an opportunity to refine my theory by exploring why others think the Book is real

[swordsovereign]

META + other seofon :)

oh lmao yeah that's also important to address.

so, yes, the rundown for anyone who hasn't experienced ... and you the main plot points are

danchou is sick and everyone is incredibly worried

danchou was raised by orlogia the wedge of time (dragon god of time) and while danchou is sick orlogia decides hey what if i just see what would happen to reality if people chose different paths

logia makes a bunch of simulations and we get to see how things would be supremely fucked up if basically anything other than the current chain of events happened

nectar turns out to be a god too but i guess he left his post and became ambiguous shape and then became the dude we know and love bc he met a girl (to be loved is to be changed)

there is a seofon out there who decided that instead of being a hero of justice he was going to be evil and he destroyed his world by eating the power of the six dragons of that world

and evil seofon (sword saint of the sea of stars) clearly didn't die even tho his timeline went yeet, and now he's inhabiting normal seofon's body like dark bakura

seofon hates this so much. we see time and time again that while seofon may be willing to bend the rules and can be very secretive and it gets him in trouble with his team (see: seeds of redemption, his entire 5* 4th skill episode) he means well. he wants to be a hero of justice and he knows the world sucks so he wants to protect it and make it a world that has hope and joy in it, and he has the power to do that!

god seofon decided that the world was broken so it had to go. so he made it go- it's gone. for those of you who have played fate grand order, god seofon (other seofon) comes from a lostbelt, a timeline that was pruned because basically it failed, but since he is a part of the boundary (a place where all time converges, and also it can be assumed all versions of seofon are part of the boundary, hence his incredible power) he didn't get pruned with his timeline, he just existed in the boundary and logia accidentally released him,

seofon doesn't hold anything against logia for that, it's not like they did it intentionally, they were looking for something that would benefit danchou and let's not forget, seofon loves danchou more than anything (other than the other eternals, but what he feels for the captain is ... how u say ... "i want to go to estalucia with you and we will watch the sea of stars" that sort of vibe rather than the familial bond he shares with the other eternals) so he gets it, but other seofon likes to interfere with how he thinks, and the prime example of that is what i like to call the "id situation."

for those of you who haven't played relink, this is your warning to turn back now because im going to spoil the entire ass plot.

so there's this guy named id, he's a swordsman too, and the tldr is he is also bahamut's vessel. yeah, THE bahamut, the god that just sorta went MIA and leaves his own divine speakers on read. id doesn't fully know how to control the powers he has, and seofon knows that's not GOOD, but he wants to think id is a person who ultimately means well despite having made mistakes, because damn take a look at seox, and also danchou trusts id! but god seofon says "damn if id harnesses the power of bahamut AND the boundary, everything is going to go to hell" and goes on to show seofon a vision of that very scenario- which seofon then says "lmao ok" and tries to brush it off but no, now he has the doubt in his mind, because "almost none isn't none as long as id is alive" so he ... lures id somewhere alone so he can fucking slaughter him Just In Case (for the safety of the skydoms! because god seofon showed him something that basically has a nonzero chance of happening, but nonzero isn't zero and seofon is paranoid now!) ... he doesn't slaughter id, tweyen steps in with the rest of the crew and danchou actually slaps seofon

essentially, other seofon makes it easier for seofon to lose faith in the world. he's also the person seofon would be if he didn't have the other eternals or the captain or any of the bonds he's made, and he KNOWS this and that's the most terrifying thing. because he also knows that sometimes he does things his team doesn't like but he's just being a hero of justice... but if they leave him ... who will stop him from becoming THAT?

other seofon is his reminder that he isn't actually strong enough to stop HIMSELF from being the villain he wants to defend the world against and it is the worst feeling ever. but he can't tell anyone that ... it might make them leave faster and he'd like to try to cling onto what he has ...

#⎛ ⚔️ sword sovereign in the sea of stars ╱ meta ⎠ #seofon thinks hes a fuckin awful person now that he has this wake up call to the fact that he COULD be it was his reality check and he hate #every single thing about it lmao

[rainbowsky]

Hello! This is kinda a “panic” ask as you would put it, but I just wanted to ask. I know about the whole scandal lately and I recently talked to my mom (who knows more about Chinese culture and media than I do since I grew up in the US and she grew up in China). She told me that gg has been accused of a lot recently and because he hasn’t been appearing in many shows/performances lately, people are suspecting him even more (while dd’s projects are going great and he’s appearing a lot in public). I thought dd was the one who was going thru a bigger scandal, but it seems gg is experiencing a lot too. Obviously, I trust both of them utterly but I’m really concerned about gg especially because it seems that less people are believing him and I’m scared the scandal might get out of hand. I really don’t want something like 227 to happen again. I was wondering what you know about this situation and your thoughts? So sorry about this long ask.

Hi Anon!

Why did you have to bring your mother into this? I don't want to have to rip into someone's mother! Sometimes my job can be so hard... 😅

Fake, fan fiction, CPN.

I think it's important to remember that our impressions about things can be radically altered based on the company we keep, the news programs we watch and the online circles we run in. Someone who watches BBC News and reads the New York Times is going to have an entirely different perspective on what's happening than someone who listens to Joe Rogan and watches Fox News.

If your mother is spending a lot of time on YouTube gossip channels or rubbing elbows with anti circles or hanging out in certain Facebook groups, she's going to get a very distorted idea about what's happening with GG.

Yes, it's true that there are some people out there who genuninely believe some of the rumors about GG (and about DD), but that just goes with the territory. When you have antis out there trying to infect people with bad ideas, sometimes they'll get a hit. This is a huge part of why I'm always telling people to stay away from anti rumors.

These 'doubts and suspicions' aren't as widespread as your message makes it sound. GG and DD always have antis, and they will always be out there trying to smear them both. It's just part of being a star at their level. It's true that the latest attacks seem to have been pushed harder than we're used to seeing, but they aren't getting so much traction that fans need to start panicking.

There will always be credulous people who believe crazy things, but as I said recently, I think the fan wars and their resulting backlash are a far bigger threat than these anti messages are.

I know you said that you believe in GG and DD and I don't doubt it, Anon, but I still feel the need to point out the obvious: The idea that GG has a sugar daddy is completely ridiculous to anyone who gives the issue a moment's coherent thought.

'Sugar daddies' in the industry are big money backers with a lot of political and financial influence who can buy opportunities and bend rules to ensure that someone becomes a success. They can open doors for a wannabe star and put them places where they have no business being based on their level of ability and degree of popularity. They pave the way for someone's success.

Which begs the question, if GG had a sugar daddy looking out for his career, why has his career path been so damn rocky and so much of an ongoing struggle?

GG has had constant setbacks and barriers, and has caught no real breaks. The biggest break he had was CQL, which no one thought was going to be a huge project. It was the quality of the storytelling and the strength of GG and DD's chemistry that made that project a success. And shortly afterward he fell into a scandal that nearly destroyed his career - one that still haunts him to this day.

If anything, it's his lack of solid backing in his earlier career that led to a lot of struggle and probably still makes it harder for him to get his foot in the door at times. He's had to prove himself far beyond what a lot of other actors - even traffic stars - have had to. He wasn't some well-connected baby face fresh out of acting school. He was an inexperienced, untrained outsider coming into it as a second career, later in life than most.

Coming from where he came from, he's done really well for himself. But he had to work hard to get where he is. And he's had to endure a hell of a lot of BS.

And GG is massively, massively popular. He doesn't need to buy his way into anything. He has a lot of dedicated, active fans. He doesn't need someone to wrangle him endorsements or roles. The roles will come to him because people like to make money. The endorsements will come to him because any product he endorses sells out within seconds. He has a massive influence on brand sales. Other artists can't even come close.

Endorsements (above) Brand star with goods ranking (below)

GG is in many ways a victim of his own popularity. His fans are constantly causing problems for him and drawing attention to him at times when he least needs to be in the public eye. In fact, THAT is why I suspect GG has been laying low lately. Not because he's 'cowering amidst some sort of scandal', but rather because now is not a time to be taking up a lot of oxygen in Chinese media.

The National Congress is just a month away, and it's a time when certain officials want to be #1 in the hearts and minds of the citizens, and to look good in front of peers. It's not a good time to be stealing the spotlight or reminding people that you are widely viewed as the biggest traffic star with notoriously disruptive fans - something that the government has heavily targeted in recent policy as they try to rein in fan behavior and fan culture.

GG is a smart man. He's not going to do anything to put his career in jeopardy. Laying low is his best move right now.

And GG went through 2/27, surely the most 'cleansing' experience any star could go through. Let me tell you - if there was any dirt on GG, it would have come out then, when everyone was out to get him and he was on the brink of being cancelled. If there was any dirt on him, he would not have been able to recover from the scandal the way he has. Slowly, painfully.

And if he had big backing there's no way he would have been dragged in the media and online as hard as he was, or for as long as he was, during that scandal. He wouldn't have been made a scapegoat quite the way he was during that scandal.

Anyone who genuinely believes those hateful anti rumors needs an urgent brain transplant (no disrespect to your mother).

Everyone needs to take their own path as a fan. Everyone needs to decide for themselves what they believe, what they want and need from fandom, etc. etc. I can't do those things for other people. I wouldn't even want to try.

When we become fans we make our own choices about where we stand with our idols. We either believe in them, or we don't.

Doubt is understandable, wariness is understandable. It doesn't take a lot of years or life experience to have found oneself the fan of someone whose worthiness turned out to be questionable. I think we all need to realize that there is a lot more to our idols than we will ever be aware of (than we ever should be aware of).

But anti messages... they're just bullshit. Most of it transparently so. Like I said in my recent post about this topic, the same so-called 'evidence' is being photoshopped to implicate GG, to implicate DD, to implicate other stars as well. It's all blatantly fake.

Some antis have been spreading around pictures of GG with an older man who is pampering and preening GG, claiming it's 'the official who was his sugar daddy' when in reality the man in the photos is the makeup artist GG has been working with for years.

They don't even try to make the 'evidence' realistic, because they don't need to. They know that a lot of people will eat idiotic claims up without doing even the barest minimum of analysis. And turtles are the credulous victims of this kind of thing all the time.

People need to cultivate some critical thinking skills and develop intellectual self-defense. There is 'having healthy skepticism about artists and being realistic about fandom', and then there is 'being incredibly gullible and susceptible to anti messaging'. Too many people flatter themselves that they're doing the former when they're actually doing the latter.

As for GG and his well-being, Anon, GG is tough as nails. He's been through a lot, he's learned a lot, and he is surrounded by people who are highly qualified to give him expert advice.

I trust him to know what is best for his career. I trust him to take care of himself and do what is best for him. He has a highly capable team working for his best interests, and friends and loved ones who support him. I leave it all in their capable hands.

The best that any of us can do is just trust him to handle his shit. If he hasn't already proved his ability to do so, then no one can!

#ggdd controversies #antis go home #fandom reflections #gg scandal #really fake rumors #ask

[lenievi]

snw #10 (rewatch)

- why does Spock refer to himself as Number One? Wouldn’t that hurt both him and Pike?

- “that’s La’an’s ship” is such an interesting way to put it when Kirk is the captain LOL (yes, I know they didn’t want to reveal the captain)

- no, I still hate how Sam talks about Jim because what’s said is what people will remember and the way he described Jim is just not true and very pop-culture-y. “He bends rules all the time” no he doesn’t, and it’s especially wild when it’s used in a reimagining of Balance of Terror. So my initial “I guess Sam doesn’t know his brother” still tracks, because he also only knows what Kirk wants him to see. He doesn’t know about his struggles, his doubts, how seriously he takes all of his decisions... “Bones, what if I’m wrong?”*

- I really dislike they made Ortegas take Stiles’ role. Unless they show something in s2 that would explain her behaviour, it’s just so ??? (maybe they tried to hint at it with her “blue meanie” thing with Hemmer during the funeral?) Or like if they just showed some animosity between Ortegas and Spock in previous episodes...

- they should have used Sarek’s actor for the commander. They should have gone all out.

* I know they used Sam’s words to put some doubts in Pike’s mind about Kirk, but it’s like - this brash, young captain. Is he the reason a war starts? - when Kirk is so far from being brash in his dealing with Pike. In some way, he’s way more collected than Pike, coming up with better options. (I really did not appreciate this episode the right way the first, and even the second time, because of Sam’s words. 

- attack pattern Tiberius four is sooo stupid. 

- “All this because of a second’s delay?” Well, of course. Kirk’s reminded of his failure, of his hesitation, on the Farragut every single day. And now, because someone else hesitated he lost the ship, and probably a lot of his crew as well. Love the acknowledgement. 

- “I’m an engineer, not a miracle worker.” .............. not a fan. I also really dislike that the episode after Hemmer’s death has Scotty’s voice. You don’t have to try so hard to milk the nostalgia, especially since it’s McCoy’s line... I guess there’s not much hope for s2 to be less about nostalgia when Kirk’s around, is there? I mean, I like when the lines from the show are used, but I also need them to be used by the characters or is some kind of a reverse - it would be fine if Scotty said this line to McCoy, for example. It would be fine if McCoy existed and it was an inside joke between Scott and Spock because they both know McCoy. Like this, it’s just cheap as is Scotty’s presence. It was AU, he didn’t need to be there. 

- I kinda love that Pike and Kirk just met and they just immediately started to call each other “Jim” and “Chris” lol

- it’s funny how easily Spock is like “you’re important to me too”. He’s always so soft and open with Pike.

- I really do like this Kirk. I know I’m gonna see different Kirks in s2, but I like this one. (I don’t like how Sam introduced him though lol)

- but I really wonder what will Pike do differently to save Una and why didn’t it work out in the other future. If it literally happened a few moments after he sent the letters... will his journey to the future change something in his actions? I also wonder what will make the Farragut and the Enterprise cross paths before 2266. It’s not like they didn’t (because of La’an... but also did La’an never return to the Enterprise? Or did she go to Farragut after she was promoted to a Commander), but Kirk didn’t meet Spock in that timeline... 

like I just hope that some bits from the future will be reflected......... because it’s so weird putting La’an on Kirk’s ship and then not doing anything with it ever again

ranking (based on my personal enjoyment; I changed it from the previous posts a bit): 5 - 10 - 3 - 1 - 2 - 4 - 7 - 9 - 8 - 6

#snw nonsense #i decided to delete my original post i wrote a year ago because i don't need that around lol

[gabbiness]

Gabbi vs Comics #3 - Why is soft worldbuilding so hard??

One of my sources of inspiration for my upcoming comic, is Studio Ghibli movies, for a lot of different reasons. They have such lovable characters full of personality, and their worlds are fun and interesting, and sort of become a main character in itself. You always wanna know more.

But one of the big things I was inspired by, is the whimsical mood that many Ghibli movies have. That feeling that anything could happen, anything can exist and you don't really question it too much. The rules are rarely typed out or explained, and it gives room for such excitement and wonder! At least in my opinion. 

I stumbled upon the term "soft worldbuilding" and "hard worldbuilding" two years ago when I watched a video by 'Hello Future Me' on youtube. 

He uses Lord of the Rings as an example of hard worldbuilding, where the world has a lot of written lore and history. Important people and places, made up languages and rules for powers and magic. 

Hard worldbuilding is created to be a believable framework that can immerse the reader/watcher by making the world feel logical and grounded.

Soft worldbuilding on the other hand is what Ghibli movies usually use. Logic doesn't always have to be a big thing. People, creatures, and items can be added for the story's sake, to further the plot and strengthen the themes of your story, but doesn't always need to be explained. 

[X] Because as far as I can tell, soft worldbuilding is great when you wanna make a character driven story. A story that works a lot with feelings and themes. It can give you more creative freedom, but it can also make your story come out as flimsy or poorly planned out if you're not careful.

Both ways of worldbuilding are great! And obviously, they can both create amazing stories! And some stories are on the spectrum between hard and soft.

I went into my comic story with the intent of using a soft worldbuilding system. I wanted the imagination and wonder of Ghibli movies... but the more I work on my story, the more I realize that soft worldbuilding is just really hard for me. XD

The moment I add a new element to the story, like a strange otherworldly creature or a new quirky power, my brain instantly wants to figure out how the thing works, where it comes from, what the limits are, and so forth.

I think my brain is just hardwired into hard worldbuilding. XD My previous projects have shown that I like to get nerdy about magic systems and history, and I doubt that this story will be any different, despite my initial intentions, haha! I like making rules and limits to my world, just so I can bend and break them. 

While working on this story, I've realized that the structure of hard worldbuilding helps me create a better plot. But maybe this story can still be somewhere between hard and soft. Even if I know how something in my world works, doesn't always mean that the reader has to know everything right? Do you always have to explain something that isn't relevant to the main story? I think a world with a clear set och rules and limits can still have moments of otherworldliness, imagination, and wonder.

#Gabbi vs Comics #musings #webcomic #webtoon #comics #comic creation #worldbuilding

[bookwyrminspiration]

Do you think Alden is abusive? Personally, I’ve always assumed that a lot of the things that could be seen as abusive with him only exist for plot convenience and weren’t really thought through, but it could still be interpreted as abusive, I think. I think there’s also stuff like Alden putting a lot of pressure on his kids throughout their childhoods, but I don’t actually remember if that’s in the text or not? And if it is, wouldn’t that include Della too?

Yeah, that's essentially how I also interpret Alden's character and actions. I don't think he's abusive, I think a lot of his actions are taken to be these hints of him being this awful person that doesn't care about his family and only cares about reputation and being perfect and that. Just doesn't match canon. Those representations of him are valid and people are allowed to create what they want, of course, but I think the "Alden is a horrible person and father and we should all hate him" kind of attitude--which I'm exaggerating--is taken to the extreme.

(putting a cut for space)

Alden is a very very convenient character for the plot. He's got influence and relations to a lot of things and isn't important enough overall to have very indepth examinations of his wishes and desires or to have a huge arc that's front and center. So Shannon can use him to get a lot of stuff done, and so some of his actions it's helpful to look at and see what exactly it's accomplishing and who it's for.

For example, Alden sending Fitz starting at age six to to the lost cities. I don't think this is Alden not caring about Fitz, I think it's making sure the timeline of things works and stays consistent throughout the series. Alvar couldn't search for her because he was starting the elite levels, and Alden tells Sophie he had his sons look because a mysterious adult looking for a kid would be bad. It helps things match up. Another reason Fitz went was because Shannon needed to introduce the two of them, and having them meet through him finding her gives them a very different connection than him being the son of the guy who found her. Fitz was looking for Sophie because Shannon wanted him to, not because Alden is abusive and wants to put Fitz in harms way. Of course then she needs to come up with reasons, but a boy finding a girl in the human world and knowing she was an elf was a part of the story long before Alden was. He's more like a byproduct of Fitz needing to find Sophie to explain how it happened, if anything.

I can't remember off the top of my head any instances where Alden is putting pressure on his kids in their childhoods. He's always been really proud of them and loved them and their accomplishments, and I think he'd love them just as much if they failed all their classes. He might be worried and want to help them, but not put a whole bunch of pressure to be the best on them. I don't think Alden in canon would be homophobic or verbally abusive or tell his kids they have to be perfect. I also don't think Alden is secretly an evil mastermind or anything of the sorts. I know a lot of people like the idea but I simply can't see that being anything more than speculation.

Alden has no problem breaking and bending the rules himself when he feels he's doing it for the right reasons, so I'd assume he also applies that mindset to his kids. And I have absolutely no doubt that Della would not tolerate an abusive household for her kids.

Alden Vacker being a villain and a horrible person seems to be one of the ideas in the fandom that has stuck and gotten blown out of proportion in terms of how it relates to canon. The points made about it seem to be mostly the same thing and approaching his actions with the worst possible faith and the assumption you're going to find something bad.

People are welcome to write and create things with this idea of Alden! They can make him as abusive and horrible of a person as they'd like and that's entirely valid and okay. But I don't think that version of Alden is reflective of how he acts in canon or representative of his beliefs and values in the slightest, and I think those lines have gotten a little blurred in some places.

Those are my thoughts, at the very least. Based on how I understand the characters and read their interactions, I don't think Alden is abusive or even close to it.

#kotlc #keeper of the lost cities #quil's queries #alden vacker #kotlc character analysis #nonsie #tw abuse mention #heathen also sent me a link to a post about alden maybe being a traitor #so I will also mention him more there because I have more thoughts #I just really don't find the arguments against him to hold enough weight to be convincing #but that is my opinion

[hoggleswart]

petriichvrs  asked:      🧱    &    💍    &    👗      for  arthur.

how  would  you  describe  your  muses’  morality?  what  are  their  core  values?

i’d  argue  arthur  is  as  lawfully  good  as  they  come.  he  believes  in  right    &    wrong,  he  believes  in  good    &    bad.  i’ve  always  thought  it  would  be  wonderfully  fun  to  say  when  arthur  was  younger,  he  had  a  leather  -  jacket  wearing,  smoking  in  hallways  rebellion,  but  he  just  isn’t  built  that  way.  arthur  was  born  a  fuddy  duddy,  and  he’s  learnt  to  be  comfortable  with  that.  it  works  for  him.  that’s  not  to  say  doesn’t  completely  disagree  with  rebellion.  i  think  for  arthur  that  morality  is  less  about  strictly  following  rules,  and  more  about  only  ever  bending  them  for  a  selfless  purpose.  at  his  core,  he  believes  in  being  fair  and  in  being  true,  and  above  all  else,  protecting  those  values.  unfortunately,  this  isn’t  always  necessarily  a  positive  trait.  while  it  is  on  paper,  there  are  times  when  it  can  make  him  unintentionally  judgemental.  arthur  finds  it  difficult  to  see  the  grey  areas  that  other  people  have  had  to  face    /    that  it  hasn’t  always  been  as  simple  as  right  or  wrong  for  some  the  way  he  has  been  for  him.  he  tries,  but  it  doesn’t  come  natural.  

does  your  muse  have  a  “type”  of  people  that  they  prefer  to  enter  relationships  with?  is  their  type  generally  compatible  with  them,  or  does  the  dynamic  tend  to  be  toxic?

this  is  a  relatively  easy  question  to  answer  when  it  comes  to  romantic  relationships;      his  type  is  molly  weasley.  there’s  never  really  been  any  other  person  for  arthur.  perhaps  a  couple  of  childhood  crushes  on  faces  whose  names  he  no  longer  remembers,  but  ultimately?  it’s  always  been  molly.  they  met  when  they  were  young    &    he  just  knew.  he  still  knows,  never  doubting  it  for  a  single  second.  if  we  were  stemming  towards  people  arthur  has  more  platonic  relationships  with,  such  as  friendship  or  colleagues,  i  think  the  most  important  thing  he  looks  for  is  honesty.  they  don’t  have  to  hold  the  exact  same  values,  but  a  truthful  approach  is  very  important  to  him.  i’d  say  due  to  this,  he  does  generally  lean  towards  compatibility.  people  he  gets  a  good  vibe  from.  the  man  really  has  little  patience  or  time  for  toxicity.  

what  is  your  muse’s  fashion  sense  like?  are  they  able  to  dress  the  way  they  want  to?  what  would  they  wear  in  an  ideal  world?

i  don’t  think  there’s  a  whole  lot  of  sense  in  it  in  general.  for  the  most  part,  arthur’s  wardrobe  is  old  reliables  he’s  owned  for  years.  he  rarely  invests  in  anything  new,  though  may  occasionally  browse  a  thrift  shop  for  the  occasional  fun  find.  fashion  isn’t  overly  important  to  arthur  and  in  general,  his  idea  of  fashion  isn’t  stylish  as  much  as  things  that  make  him  smile;      a  ducky  tie,  bright  colours  that  don’t  always  co  -  ordinate  and  of  course,  as  we  all  know,  much  beloved  knits  provided  by  molly’s  talented  hands.  

#𝐯𝐢. 𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝. ⸻ arthur septimus weasley.

[ticketybooangel]

Rules of the Road

I'm Moss, and I've been roleplaying online for nearly twenty years, now. I know myself well enough to let potential RP partners know the following:

I reply slow in conversation. Please give me the grace of patience.

I reply quickly to posts. Please don't think this means you must do the same; you'll reply when you get to it and I'll survive until then.

I am not comfortable writing with anyone under eighteen. This is not negotiable. I am 30+ years old.

I prefer multi-paragraph writing for myself, but our styles don't have to match. As long as I've got something to respond to in your post it could be a single sentence and I'd be happy.

Now for the actual rules. Don't consider all of these fully stone-set except for the first three, but do consider all of the rest of them things that would require discussion and planning to bend.

No-one under 18. This is not negotiable. It is also listed multiple times in multiple locations to hammer home the point.

No out-of-character shitheadery. This is intentionally left as a vague term because I'd hope most people can guess what constitutes being a shit head. I don't reblog call-out posts but I do block liberally.

No terfs. I'm a proud transsexual and my favorite tool is the block button.

No God-modding. I'll move my character, you move yours.

Not so much a rule as a request, but please don't use micro fonts with me. My eyesight is bad. Bad-bad.

I ship chemistry--and that goes the same for Aziraphales as it does for everyone else. Everyone who writes Aziraphale writes him differently and I love that, but my interpretation of Crowley may not be compatible with every interpretation of Aziraphale.

This said I love shipping. I'm multi-ship and duplicate friendly. Every thread is its own distinct universe and never the any will cross unless it'd be fun as hell to do so.

I write a generally ambiguously-timelined Crowley; has X important thing happened or not? Dunno--check with me ooc and we'll decide if it'd be more fun for something or other to have happened already or not.

I prefer to keep NSFW under read-more cuts; whether or not you do is up to you.

No NSFW gifs in threads, please. It's an easy way to get your blog deleted. However, if it's something you're really sold on then talk to me and we may be able to migrate a thread to e-mail. As a note, this is also somewhere I'd be happy to write.

There is nothing your character is not allowed to do to mine so long as it is feasible that it could be done. When in doubt, ask first; I promise it won't ruin the surprise because while I may now know what's coming, I won't necessarily know how it's coming.

No tw's apply to me, but if there are any you need tagged and you don't feel like having them out in the open on your blog (a fair thing; you don't owe me or anyone insight into what upsets you) just let me know on anon and I'll do my best to tag things that fall under it. This stands as a within reason segment to be held at my own discretion.

There are very few fandom-based characters I won't interact with. We don't have to be in the same universe, and I'm always happy to have someone wind up where they shouldn't be. That being said the two fandoms that I personally will not write with characters from are: Axis Powers Hetalia and anything whose source material is produced by JK Rowling.

Not a rule per-se so much as a point I'd like to reiterate: original characters--particularly Good Omens OCs--get priority when I'm doing replies. I love original characters so much, and that absolutely includes child-of-blank characters.

These rules are likely to be updated as needed, but I think this gets the general gist. If you're ready to plot, feel free to do so, or if you want to send an ask in-character or reply to an open please have right at it!

#rules #not rp #Official Documents

[whereareroo]

TELL THE TRUTH

WF THOUGHTS (12/9/22).

Does anybody care about truth anymore? I've been pondering that question all year.

It's an awful question. It's a question that shouldn't exist. Truth matters. That's common sense. In 2022, however, it's impossible to avoid the question. Does truth still matter? Do Americans still believe in truth?

From our very beginning, truth was a cornerstone of American life. We all know the myth about George Washington and the cherry tree. Instead of punishing his son for cutting down the tree, George's father hugged him for having the guts to tell the truth. For more than 200 years, we told our children this myth to reinforce the importance of truth. Americans are supposed to revere the truth and tell the truth under all circumstances.

Remember Superman? He was the most influential American superhero, first in comic books and then on television, from 1938 until the late 1970s. An announcer with a deep voice opened each show with the following: "Faster than a speeding bullet! More powerful than a locomotive. Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. Look! Up in the sky. It's a bird. It's a plane. It's Superman. Superman--who can change the course of mighty rivers, bend steel in his bare hands, and who, disguised as Clark Kent, mild-mannered reporter for a great metropolitan newspaper, fights a never ending battle for truth, justice, and the American way." Please note that Superman was fighting for truth. Like Superman, all Americans were expected to fight for truth.

In recent times, in the absence of Superman, bad actors have learned that they can advance their nefarious objectives by overpowering truth with misinformation campaigns. They are masters at exploiting friendly media outlets and social media. Their primary tool is repetition. They concoct a lie that suits their purpose and, utilizing receptive communication tools, they constantly repeat that lie for months and months. Over time, a significant number of Americans accepted the lie as truth--and they join the effort to spread that alleged "truth." Ultimately, the actual truth is clouded by the thick smoke of the misinformation campaign. People start to question, or doubt, the actual truth.

You all know what I'm taking about. There was no fraud in the 2020 presidential election, and Trump lost. Global climate change is real. How can 70% of Republicans believe Trump's carefully orchestrated "Big Lie"? How can almost 50%of Americans believe that "global climate change" is a hoax? In 2022, the power of misinformation is undeniable. Truth is under attack.

No American should believe that the Holocaust didn't happen. No American should believe that JFK is alive and secretly running an organization that will bring "order" back to America. No American should believe that the tragic shooting at Sandy Hook elementary school was staged by actors. Because of effective misinformation campaigns, millions of Americans actually believe all three of these lies.

I won't waste your time with more examples of truths that have been trampled by the spread of misinformation. You get the point.

This is a big deal. Misinformation could topple America. Let me repeat that. Misinformation could topple America.

As I pondered this stuff during 2022, I came across some excerpts from a famous 1951 book called The Origins of Totalitarianism. I read it in college. It was written by a thoughtful political philosopher named Hannah Arendt. She discussed how misinformation can be used by authoritarians to create a totalitarian state. Arendt wrote: "The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the convinced Communist." She explained that totalitarians build their power by taking advantage of "people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction and the distinction between true and false no longer exist." In the current world of virulent misinformation, isn't that an extremely chilling thought? Misinformation is not simply annoying. It can be used to topple governments in favor of totalitarianism. Does that ring a bell when you think back over the Trump years. Just last week, Trump posted a message saying that the Constitution should be suspended and he should be immediately installed as president. Many of Trump's followers "liked" that message. Because of misinformation, we're in a dangerous place.

All hope is not lost. There may be a way out of this mess. Because they are relatively unconcerned about the expansion of freedom and justice, and because their limited technological skills prevent them from exploring the full range of information that is available today, misinformation campaigns in America work best against uneducated White people and old White people. At a very slow rate, that pool of folks is shrinking in America. Educated younger people, who have the technological skills to reach solid conclusions about fact versus fiction, and who are inclined to be suspicious of attacks on freedom and justice, are less likely to be duped by misinformation campaigns. Can we fight off misinformation for the next 25 years, until our population is less likely to blindly accept the lies that are spread by bad actors? That's the crucial question.

I believe that we can defeat misinformation if we all do our part. Stand up for truth. That means that you can't back away from, or ignore, people who have fallen victim to misinformation. Be compassionate, and remember that those who believe misinformation have been victimized. In a polite way, try to bring them to the light of truth. The process may take time. Keep at it. At a minimum, you should be able to convince people to doubt the misinformation. That is valuable movement in the right direction.

It's the time of year when you should be thinking about your resolutions for 2023. Resolve--for the rest of your life--to stand up for truth. For as long as it takes, let's all resolve to return truth to her rightful place is American life. America is counting on all of us. Be a warrior for truth. If you need inspiration, watch some old episodes of Superman.

[julystorms]

Hello! How do you think the Survey Corps handle unplanned pregnancies within their ranks? Especially, let’s say, if they are people with positions— like squad leaders. I really wanna know your thoughts on this :D

Sorry, I promise I wasn’t ignoring your first ask! I just wantedto find the time to respond properly. For the longest time I had a drafted metapost about this topic (“Pregnancy & Disability in the Survey Corps”) that Ioccasionally added to when I had a thought. I think I deleted it when I purgedmy drafts, though. Oops!

I definitely have a lot of thoughts on the topic. This is a really long post; there are a lot of things to consider with a question like this!

Let me start by saying this: I feel that strong worldbuilding isprimarily a result of consistency. I know SnK’s worldbuilding is, overall,rather weak, but there’s no reason we as creators can’t force consistency intoour own narrative explorations of that world! A consistent set of rules for thecharacters to operate under make for a better experience overall, not just inthe canon, but also for readers/viewers of fanworks. You can always switch thingsup for fun, but I personally like to have one particular set of rules that I useby default. It makes it easier for me as a writer to sink down into the storyand portray it without having to think too hard about every little detail as Igo.

One of the most interestingthings about SnK is that it portrays a sexist world but still allows women intothe ranks of its military branches—all three of them. However, we generallydon’t see women in positions of power: there are no female government members,no powerful merchants, no notable members of the aristocracy, and no confirmedtop female officers*.

*Rico is the closest we get,but she doesn’t seem any higher-ranked than Ian or Mitabi were, and is clearly outrankedby Kitz, so she doesn’t count. Hange is the only POSSIBLE high-ranked femaleofficer in the entire series, but “possible” =/= “actual” so again, no-go.

Boris accuses Hitch of(essentially) using her femininity in an underhanded way to get into the MP; asI’ve said before, we don’t know if he’s right or if he’s just trying to be anasshole because he doesn’t like Hitch, but I think it’s fair to say that thiskind of misogyny is something that women in SnK’s military face on the regular,especially if they perform on par with male classmates. Hell, this is somethingwomen who work in male dominated fields face daily in our world. It doesn’t surprise me. Isayama’s not portraying autopia with this series, after all. But it’s clear he didn’t put a lot ofthought into the little things: like sexism/misogyny in the military and how itwould clearly impact the lives of the girls and young women who enlist.

I don’t think it makessense to say: SnK’s world is 100% reliable and the narration we receive is 100%credible. We don’t see what happens to our female characters behind-the-scenes.We don’t see if they’re treated differently by their instructors, teachers,trainers—in front of peers or alone. We don’t see if any of them werepropositioned for sex or other favors. We don’t know that team leaders in theSurvey Corps, Military Police, and Garrison don’t abuse their positions of relativepower over new recruits. We have to assume that in an imperfect and clearly sexistworld, these kinds of things do happen, and some people aren’t left with a lotof choice as to how to deal with it. What would Hitch be able to do if hercommanding officer (Eibringer IIRC) propositioned her or touched her or [insertother possibilities here]? Who is she going to tell? Will they believe her? Andwhat are the chances that saying something would tank her career in the MP? Shedid all that work to get into the MP; would she risk doing something now that might get it taken away again? Yeah, saying nothing means putting up with abuse, but if she doesn’t disturb thewater, so to speak, she’ll have a long career that pays well ahead of her—somethingmost people on Paradis don’t get to have. These are the little details thatweren’t considered but do mean agreat deal when you’re writing about the daily ins and outs of the world thesecharacters live in.

Which brings me topregnancy, sex, and all related topics. I’ve seen writers use various kinds oftea as “birth control.” I’ve seen authors use oral sex or the pull-out methodto try and avoid the possibility of pregnancy. Some characters track theircycle (assuming for them it’s reliable enough to be tracked) as a form of birthcontrol. And look, all of these are perfectly valid and all are very likelyused in the world of SnK. Not all of them work. There may not be many herbalremedies that are effective; there may not be many that are readily or cheaplyavailable. These are the things to think about. Just because someone claims itworks doesn’t mean it does. The characters have to contend with that!

And because no methodexcept abstinence is 100% effective, some characters are going to get pregnant—andnot just in the Survey Corps.

This world is sexist. Youhave to consider whether or not the Garrison or MP would allow for pregnantsoldiers to stay enlisted and you have to think about what would happen after ababy was born. Think carefully. Yes, it seems feasible to work and raise achild, especially on the Military Police’s paygrade. But would it be allowed? Again, we don’t see hardly any femalecharacters in a position of power, and the ones we do see aren’t shown to bemarried or have children.

Think, too, about thepopulation, and about the world’s belief that humanity is going extinct insidethe walls. All of these things affect the mindset of the general population:how they feel about women, what they feel a woman’s job/place in the world is,and so on. Notice that in background shots, you see women carrying babies,groceries, with their children, and always wearing skirts. Chances are, womenare wives, daughters, housekeepers, and babymakers first and foremost, andworking women (women who don’t have a choice and/or are yet unmarried) do “lowerwork” and probably not for much money (laundry for better-off folks, shellingnuts, simple factory tasks, sewing/darning, waitressing, prostitution).

All right, so…with these considerationsin mind, let’s talk about pregnancy.

There’s a lot to thinkabout when it comes to someone in the military of SnK’s world getting pregnant.Is it considered shameful to get pregnant out of wedlock? Seems kind of thatway, re: Historia’s awful mother and cheating father. Nobody blinks an eye atmen having affairs but women are another story. What are their optionsregarding birth? Are midwives easy to find? Doctors who can make a differentsure seem rare (re: Grisha showing up and magically being able to help people;Ragako Village letting some quack come in and inject them all without oncequestioning it)! Midwives who are trained and experienced? Expensive andprobably not easy to come by. You’re probably going to be stuck with anotherwoman who has given birth before helping you out, and if something out of the ordinaryhappens, you or your baby could die. Because of this, abortion may be anoption, but what kinds of choices do these people have? The old coat-hangerroutine (that can easily end with death when the bleeding doesn’t stop and isextremely painful)? Herbal remedies that might have side-effects that you can’thide/that may spell the end for your career?

If we assume that pregnancyand childbirth are a free pass out of the military, it will be abused. Therehave to be measures in place that would make a person want to avoid pregnancy.Is it a dishonorable discharge? Do you have to pay a fee? Do you have to givethe baby up for adoption? These sorts of things would discourage a lot ofpeople who might otherwise benefit from having a baby. The Survey Corps alsohas a built-in discouragement: your lover dying and leaving you alone with ababy to raise. But then, what’s to stop them from crippling themselves to getout? It wouldn’t be that hard to drive a sword through your own foot and makeit look like an accident. (No doubt doing this on purpose is treasonous andpunishable by death, just like running away/disobeying orders if doing soyields bad results.) The only way to keep that in check is to assume that itwould be hard for them to find work if they were too disabled. Maybe for somepeople it would be worth it, but others…not so much.

Being realistic, losingyour post in the Military Police would be discouragement enough; characterslike Hitch who are young and wanted very much to get in and stay in are likelyto avoid pregnancy like hell; any man who got her pregnant could deny it andwhat recourse would she have if he refused to acknowledge her and help her? Theydon’t have paternal testing in this world. And she’s not a high-rankedrespected member of the military: she’d be out of a job with two mouths to feedand no experience in anything but military training! That’s terrifying. In manyways, that serves as its own form of birth control. (But we can’t pretend thatmen don’t abuse their positions of power in the military and push themselves onwomen anyway. We can’t pretend that characters like Hitch can always say no and have that norespected. She’s going to be thought of as disposable to many people.)

The Garrison is a littlebit more interesting. They’re not hurting for soldiers, so if a few women hereand there decide to get pregnant and leave the military, there will be plentyof replacements to take their places. It’s possible that the Garrison forcesyou to quit but it’s not looked on so poorly. It’s also possible that if you’rerespected or liked enough, or you know the right people, you might be allowedto keep working doing administrative work. Hey, being a paper-pusher might notpay as well as scouting on top of the walls or cleaning artillery, but at leastit’s work if you need it. And if you’re single: you will. Plus, since yourstation is permanent, you could have your parents move in with you to help withthe kid and maintain a full-time job without too many issues. Hell, because it’snot so terrible a crime, or even a crime at all, you can probably speedily getmarried and avoid too much gossip. (That’s not to say that people aren’t kickedright out of the Garrison for getting pregnant, but there’s probably more roomfor the well-liked and hard-working individuals to stay on after giving birth.The MP are elites and may view pregnancy out of wedlock (possibly also workingwives) as imperfect and therefore not okay. Garrison soldiers are not elitesand don’t have those kinds of delusions or grand appearances to keep up.

That brings me to theSurvey Corps. How many people join only to regret it a few months later? A babyseems a small price to pay compared to being eaten by a titan, trampled, orworse, mangled so badly you’re permanently disabled & discharged from themilitary—left with no way to care for yourself (except to maybe rely onrelatives if you have any to take care of you). Like I said earlier, if havinga baby was a free ticket out of the Survey Corps, people would be trying for iton purpose. There must be rules in place: dishonorable discharge,fraternization rules with stiff penalties, a steep fee you have to pay toleave, you’re forced to stay in the military and give up the baby for adoption.One or several of these would work well.

That said, giving up a babyfor adoption seems fine, but this is a world where the population is both “toosmall” and “way too big” (ugh…). It makes sense in its own way, but there areprobably tons of homeless children out there like Eren, Mikasa, and Armin, who didn’t join the military. There areprobably lots of young women in poverty with babies they can’t take care of,dropping them off at churches and on the porches of slightly better off people—maybeeven at military HQ buildings. That makes that option feel…a lot less likelyIMO.

I want to look at anexample. Let’s say Nanaba and Mike are in a relationship and she finds out thatshe’s pregnant. Now, Mike’s a decent person, right? He won’t deny his role inNanaba’s pregnancy. In that way, she’s luckier than some women would be, butshe still has to tell him, still has to deal with his reaction. It’s her bodybut her options kind of all suck, so it might be nice for her to discuss itwith him and get his opinion, too. How far along does she think she is, howsafe are abortion methods, would she be comfortable aborting, what are theside-effects of trying something like that—arethe risks worth it? If they are, she has to try one of them, and theoutcome could be: hey, she can return to work in a few days (everyone probablyknows why she wasn’t around, tbh). It could also just as easily be: she triesto return to work and can’t due to side-effects of an herbal remedy or becauseher body is too weak, or she hemorrhages and dies within 24 hours, or she doesreturn to work but the side-effects linger and cause her death on an expedition—orworse, they cause someone else’s death.

So maybe she decides tokeep the baby. Mike cares about her, he won’t abandon her to raise a baby alonewith no help, but where is she going to live? With her parent(s)? His? Alone?What if neither of them have living parents? Or, as portrayed in the anime,what if her parent(s) are abusive? Is she going to take her baby back to aplace like that? Does she have much of a choice?

Maybe she does. Maybe Mike’sparents will be happy to have her live with them. Mike can send them money. Heonly gets furlough at most 4x a year so they get to see each other a few timesa year for a few days/a week. This could depend on how far away they live, somaybe Mike uses some savings to move them closer so that visiting can happen onweekends or afternoons off. Cool. Great.

If Mike is 40, his parentsare likely to be 60+ years old and maybe not in the greatest health. This worlddoesn’t exactly allow for easy aging, you know. Are they working? Is Mikepaying all the bills himself? Well, what’ll happen when Mike eventually dies oris hurt so badly he can’t fight anymore and is sent home to die or lay arounduselessly?

Nanaba has to sit at homeand think about that kind of stuff. What if Mike dies? She can’t help him, can’tbe there for him; she’s just at home waiting for the news. It’s possible he’lldie before their kid is very old and won’t remember him at all. How are thebills going to be paid? Are his parents capable of watching the kid if Nanabahas to try and go to work herself?

It’s scary no matter howyou slice it.

And that’s not includingthe potential dishonorable discharge, payment of a high fee for leaving, andpossibly even a paycut for the remaining spouse if they fess up to their rolein it (all of which make raising a baby even more difficult).

You would think thispotential future (or worse, depending on circumstance) would promote abstinence(or at least methods of sex that have no chance for pregnancy)—and it probablydoes…but not in everyone. A lot of people enjoy sex, and mistakes happen; somepeople may just get carried away but others may have too much to drink or lackthe foresight to consider what may happen to them if they do get pregnant.

The problem here is that it’swomen who primarily suffer the consequences of a pregnancy. It’s women who losetheir position in the military. It’s women who can be pushed around or abusedby male peers or superior officers and women who won’t be trusted or believedif they complain. And it sucks, but in the world we’re presented with in the canon…itfits. And it leaves us to wonder how many women this happens to. How many arepassed over for promotion because they’re women (and considered likely toleave/want to leave/or less-than their male counterparts)?

It really makes you think!

I know I didn’t give you adefinitive answer to your question, anon, but I hope that there was enoughspeculation here to help you come up with your own headcanons (while alsogiving you a good idea of what mine might be). ;)

The usual disclaimer: IMO, YMMV, et cetera and so on.

To add, I didn’t really talk a whole lot about pregnancies as a product of rape or of a loving relationship where the man denies his part in it, but a lot of the same things apply. 

Lastly, I don’t want readers to think that men can get away with anything in the SnK world; I don’t actually think that’s the case. But like in our own world, a patriarchal society makes it hard for women to feel safe speaking up, with the result being that very few women do. The problem with SnK is that there aren’t many ways to prove that what you’re saying is true; if you say you’re pregnant, you can’t prove who the father is unless by some miracle that baby comes out looking like them (and that would truly be a mixed blessing anyway). If you’re not a respected officer who will believe you? If you’re accusing a respected officer, or worse, accusing someone who is married with children already, do you think anybody will be on your side? I do think some men are caught in the act, or there is proof of some kind (love letters clearly written  by them); sometimes they’re even brought to court and prosecuted for crimes and fired or sent to jail or fined (and forced to pay some compensation to the mother-to-be in the case of a child). But how often do these things end in favor of the women involved? Probably not often. With rape it’s: “Boys will be boys.” “What were you wearing?” “Well you can’t blame him... you’re a healthy, attractive young woman.” How many women say something and are faced with these kinds of things? In court, even? Women still hear some of these things today. In a modern society. And with men who would choose to run from their responsibilities instead of facing them like an adult, the women involved still have to deal with the emotional betrayal and all of the other fallout. 

It’d be kind of silly to imagine that a fantasy world that clearly functions as a patriarchal society wouldn’t be almost exactly the same in this regard.

#snk #snk hour with july #snk meta #tw: abuse #tw: rape #tw: pregnancy #for the record i think the results in the SC are the same #no matter what your position is #i doubt the rules there bend for more important people #cute anons

[andejoe]

Rhi was grateful she ran into Clara before the Lieutenant. Rhi wasn’t normally one to out speak her human companion, but this was a special circumstance. “Can I request a No Questions Asked favor?”

Clara was surprised at her friend’s request. “Of course.”

Clara had herself made several of these types of favors so she did owe Rhi. But she never dreamed her friend would actually use one. Most non human species wouldn’t even consider asking a favor without fully explaining the benefits and outcomes.

Rhi was relieved to hear her friends response. “Good, whatever the next question you get, I need you to say the other person was right.”

Clara was confused but knew better than to break the rules of a No Questions Asked favor. She nodded agreement and Rhi turned to face the corridor she came from.

Lieutenant Laqu stepped into the small space and looked down at his hatch mate and her near feral associate. He had no doubt this would be the last time he ever had to see this disgusting creature, as insubordination required immediate dismissal.

“You sonofabitch.” Rhi could barely hear Clara muttering curses, and was certain Laqu couldn’t hear them. They weren’t meant for him anyway.

“Human, who was at fault for the debacle during yesterdays mission?” Laqu asked.

Clara frowned, debating which was more important, the foundation of her friendship or her pride. “You.” Laqu smiled, and Clara sensed how important it was to follow through with the promise. She continued quickly. “Were right to question my actions. I disobeyed several direct orders, under the guise of saving lives. I know I’m still under review, and I can only hope the crew I saved will speak on my behalf.”

Rhi wanted to slap her friend. She technically obeyed the request, but still found a way to piss off Laqu. Stupid humans and their stupid pride and ability to bend rules.

Laqu frowned. “Yes, we will see what comes out in trial.”

It was only as Laqu walked away that Clara noticed his promotion. Had she spoken against him directly, he could have called her insubordinate and removed her from the ship before her trial. Rhi just saved her job.

“You hoorhimn idiot!” Rhi nearly exploded once they were alone again. “I know you hate him but he can ruin you!”

“Thank you.”

Clara’s words deflated Rhi.

“But just because I have to call him Lieutenant, doesn’t make him capable. He’s a politician in a leaders position and I won’t allow his pride to kill people.”

Rhi groaned. Her stupid human friend was going to get them both kicked off the ship.

#humans are deathworlders #humans are space australians #humans are space orcs #humans are weird #clara #rhi

[argelladurrandaun]

When arya said 'i dont want to be a lady' what she meant was she doesn't want to be the kind of lady septa mordane is teaching her to be. She wants to be her own kind of lady. Something she doesn't know exists. Because the only ladys she knows are her mother and sansa. She thinks thats the only way to be a lady anything else is not a lady at all. She doesn't know a lady who is like herself. If her aunt lyanna was alive, she wont feel so alien and alone😢.

Antis calim her 'i am not a lady' means she doesn't want power at all and just wants to be free. But she does want power. She asked her father if she could perhaps be a kings counsellor.

And the only thing she wants to be free of is the petriachial performative aspect of being a lady. Namely, sewing, needlework, teaparties and gossiping. She is led to believe that that is all being a lady means. Arya has no interest in these things. Thats why she said she doesn't want to be this kind of a lady. Arya wants much more from life. She wants womens worth recognised. She wants to change things instead of meekly following the petriachy.

I saw an anti saying that arya doesn't want responsibility of her position, of being a lady. And nothing could be further from the truth.

If Arya didn't want responsibility of being a lady of house stark she won't still be fulfilling it in braavos. Where she is even supposed to forget that she is Arya stark yet she can't let go of her stark-ness even if her life depends on it. She takes it upon herself to bring dearon, a deserter of the nights watch to Justice. Because she feels thats her duty and responsibility as a stark. Thats how much being a stark and responsibility and dunty is ingrained within her.

Arya also feel responsible for the northern soldiers and lords held prisoner in harrenhal. She successfully planned and executed their coup all on her own. With her idea of 'weasel soup'. Thats another time she felt responsible to do her duty as a stark. Even if her own life was in danger she felt as a stark, its her duty to free them. No one told her to. Its something she wanted to do on her own. Arya is responsible and she takes her responsibility as a stark very seriously.

Arya is a stark through and through. thats why the antis claiming that arya cant be the leader of house stark because apparently 'she doesn't want it' is a very laughable argument because at one point or another robb, jon, bran and ned stark all have said a variation of dont want it, they all doubt themselves just like arya does. and think they are not good enough but we know that they are still good rulers. Nobody deems that they cant be lords/kings because of that. Because that line is meant to be subverted. Aryas arc, her skills and achievements subverts the 'i am not a lady' line. Antis aka sansa stans only use aryas moment of insecurity against her for obvious reasons. And egnore her actual accomplishments.

What arya doesn't want sitting and gossiping and sewing. Which she is led to believe is what ladies do, since has more outdoor interests she thinks that she is not a lady at all. Obviously now that she has seen more of the world she would know that thats not all there is to being a lady.

Being a leader(lady of winterfell/qitn) is a completely different thing. Something which comes naturally to arya. Arya always preferred to spend time with her father watching him rule. She can manage a household, she is good with figures, she can speak multiple languages, she can detect lies. She can be diplomatic, pretend and manipulate when needs be. And arya has always been good at reading people.

One more important aspect of being a good leader is inspiring loyalty and getting people to like you. Arya has done both. Arya would make friends with anyone. She inspires lotalty and makes an impact wherever she goes. The brotherhood is looking for her, people of winterfell like harwin fondly remember her and would bend the knee to her, the Northern lords are willing to fight for neds little girl.

And since the antis only cherrypick words and omit all context, maybe they didnt read the whole sentence.

"I'm not a lady, I'm a wolf. "

#arya stark #asoiaf #valyrianscrolls #Arya stark #robb stark #eddard stark #jon snow #lyanna stark #bran stark #catelyn tully stark #arya being a leader #being a wolf #a song of ice and fire #anti sansa/jonsa stans #anti sansa stark

[leham-n-daavocado]

We Race as One Lewis Races Alone and What It Means to Be Robbed

I kinda have two modes. Memes and analysis lol. This one is analysis. Brought to you on Lewis’ birthday as I let the purple dye settle and develop in my hair lol. Unfortunately, I can’t tag this as I’d like.

I think last year’s championship win should and always will feel awkward until we are ready to come to terms with what it really means that Lewis races alone and that he was robbed. I think too little time has been spent understanding why Lewis races alone and the structural problems there and I also feel that people don’t really understand why Lewis getting robbed was so egregious.

In 2020, Lewis, as F1′s biggest star, was able to bend F1 to take a stance on racism, an problem that has plagued his career. Sure, it was window dressing, but imagine the power you had to have accumulated as a black man to pressure a rich, white and European dominated sport into taking on your cause in a very visible way. Do you think F1 would have done that at the request of Alex Albon or Nicholas Latifi, the other non-white drivers at the time? The answer is no. Obviously. And still, Lewis had to basically be a prodigy, be the biggest influence in the sport and win six championships to move the organization to make even that small, insignificant PR gesture.

It’s problematic that you have to gain that amount of power just for someone to care about an issue that affects every day of your life.

But in 2020, Lewis won. He not only won. He dominated. He equalled Michael Schumacher’s record. He did all that and spent the entire year advocating for people of colour. So in 2021, what happens? Mercedes’ car gets targeted and nerfed. Race Control becomes anathema to its own name and refuses more and more to control the racing when it is out of line or when rules get broken. “Fans” are allowed to boo him when he speaks. (How easy would it have been to just have a host say, “We understand you’re passionate, but please be respectful to all racers. If you are going to continue booing, we will not interview any of the drivers.”) You can’t help but think all of this was done to punish Lewis for daring to force F1 to take a stance against racism and prevent him, as a black man, from surpassing Michael Schumacher and stepping into a category all his own.

Nothing exemplifies this more than the scandal at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix’s safety car shenanigans influencing the subsequent winner of the championship. Why else would a safety car procedure be handled so poorly when Lewis was one lap from winning the race? I think we have to ask why it’s Lewis who has to be the first driver to lose a championship one lap from the finish line because the FIA didn’t want said driver to win. 

I don’t quite buy that F1 merely wanted a more exciting finale. There has been an attitude with underpinnings of heavy racism at the upper echelon of F1 throughout the year. We got confirmation about it when an official called Max the “great white hope” against Lewis. We could see it in the racialized dog whistling Red Bull used as a PR strategy against Lewis after Silverstone. Furthermore, they KNEW the age of Lewis’ tires. They KNEW Max was on fresh tires. They KNEW Lewis was a sitting duck. That’s not entertainment.

However, more importantly, the FIA knew they could get away with it.

They knew they could isolate, control and manipulate the results and no one could do anything about it.

I have no doubt it’s important for FIA to be a highly centralized organization when they’re running a series of races literally around the world in more than twenty different countries with different laws and regulations. However, the entire scandal has made the FIA look less like a neutral organization that merely runs the races and more like an authoritarian dictatorship. This has no doubt been building over the years, but perhaps the biggest indicator was the briefing we got after last year and Romain Grojean’s fiery crash that the drivers and personnel could no longer criticize the FIA publicly. None of the drivers could really, truly criticize the FIA and race control for what they did in Abu Dhabi to sacrifice everyone’s racing and safety for Max’s “victory”. There is a huge problem with your organization if you are no longer taking free, open criticism outside of closed doors.

However, not being able to openly criticize the organization is not the only marker of the FIA being an authoritarian dictatorship. Let’s talk about its control of the media. Only journalists approved by F1 get to be in the paddock and they can have their credentials stripped if they say something that F1 doesn’t like, impacting their livelihoods. The same thing that makes F1 such a niche, but easy to follow sport, is also part of its problems. We only have to follow twenty drivers in ten teams in about twenty races each year, but what it creates is the ability to be highly insular and selective. Other sports, like basketball, you have over thirty teams with about fifteen to twenty players who each play at least eighty games per season. Are they going to care if one journalist says something criticizing their organization? No. It’s just Tuesday. There’s like thousands of other journalists. The FIA has an ability to control its media and PR that other sports do not enjoy.

But most concerning of all, is the FIA’s ability to control who wins the championship with no recourse. Sounds a lot like how an authoritarian dictatorship decides its citizen's fates. Lewis and Mercedes could not criticize the FIA. They could not have a fair trial unless they were willing to cannibalize their entire FIA racing involvement and sacrifice their staffs’ livelihoods. They were in a bind and F1 was able to sell its narrative that Max had won the championship, albeit controversially, but deservingly.

I don’t think you can call Max a deserving champion when Lewis was able to negate all of Max’s podium consistency into the last race and lead every lap in Abu Dhabi until the FIA decided they wanted Max to win. And more importantly, the FIA’s control of all the rules and regulations, despite the ones it broke, to let him win. Oh, and let’s not forget, its use of the media to control the narrative and make it seem like all this was okay and valid.

So Lewis is racing alone because the FIA decided to shun its own rules and regulations and use all of its authoritarian power to justify its own shortcomings and brush aside its own racism.

Finally, I don’t think we really understand what it means for Lewis to have been robbed of this championship. So let me use a metaphor/analogy. Imagine that the championship is the Benin Bronzes, a significant piece of the cultural/art history of Africa/Nigeria. Imagine then, that Max/Red Bull are the colonial forces that looted the Benin Bronzes at the behest of British Empire (the FIA). Is it dramatic? Yes. But this really does seem like another case of white people feeling justified in stealing from a black man’s achievements.

And you thought we were living in a post-colonial world? Ha!

How’s that egg on your face?

Just like the looting of the Benin Bronzes, Red Bull feels justified in Max taking the championship because the FIA dictated that it was okay to do so. Do you think any of the soldiers who stole the Benin Bronzes felt like they were doing something wrong? No. Of course not. Their empire said it was what they needed to do. They allowed it. So it was okay. But was it the right thing to do? No. It wasn’t.

And it doesn’t matter how many pieces of stolen art you stuff in your trophy case at the British Museum. It was wrong. Public opinion has turned on how the art was acquired and now the British Museum and others like it that have within its collection stolen art from the colonized world faces much public outcry in its persistent, illegal ownership of said art and multiple projects to see the return and restitution of the art to its proper owners.

Do I think Red Bull should return the trophy to Lewis? Yes. It was obtained in questionable and illegal means.

Do I think Red Bull will do it? No. I’m not crazy. They’re not an organization that gives a fuck about how something is won as long as they win it. They don’t care about the good of the sport and its fairness as long as they can use something to their advantage and win.

However, I do think the way in which this championship was won will always make it complicated and uncomfortable and it will always feel that way until there is justice for Lewis. It took nearly a century for public opinion to sway to the side of those who had been colonized and had their cultural works looted and stolen. It’s already there for Lewis.

There will never be peace from this for Red Bull. They will always have to look over their shoulders and defend it to their last breath. Just like the British Museum has to find more and more ludicrous and nonsensical reasoning to hold onto stolen artifacts.

And that, perhaps, is a victory unto itself.

#f1 #lewis hamilton #sir lewis hamilton #mercedes #abu dhabi gp 2021 #formula one