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yostresswritinggirl · 2 years

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That Loud House

pairings -> Alhaitham x Reader x Kaveh; poly

words -> 2,574 words

An architect, a scribe, and a prodigal drop out walked out of a house. Somehow they all fell in love, even tho they don't look like it when they're outside. (next)

As a local citizen in Sumeru City, you must have heard about that loud house in the higher levels.

Infamous for reasons already in the name, it had become a running gag, transcending the foundation of the structure to its well-known owners.

The loudness of that house wasn't anything new, but the occupants and its most recent addition made the legendary house ever so entertaining than annoying. Their names known far and wide, even touching the desert with gossip.

Out comes Alhaitham, the grand Scribe of the Akademiya holding himself to such high regard as both the lunatic and the savior of all of Sumeru.

Next leaves Kaveh with a bit more pep in his steps, so uncharacteristic of the Master Architect when he's frequently whining about his living conditions and roommate.

And last but never ever least exits you, gently closing and locking the door behind you unlike the first two to leave, rubbing at your eyes as you stumbled through the streets of the city with nothing but muscle memory guiding you.

No one knows how the relationship of that loud house came to be, only that one day, suddenly three people lived there. And those three people loved each other, expressed in some way that none of the Vahumana scholars can ever explain.

How you three came to be is a very... peculiar arrangement that people could only know if they asked. But out of your trio, only Kaveh is the approachable one, and even he didn't know the full story.

The true story of your relationship is privy to only you and Alhaitham, but the man would never entertain gossipers (for the sole reason of wanting them to overthink and hypothesize). And the two had made it very clear that they don't want you to be bothered by such trivial matters.

Foundation

No one would ever believe that Alhaitham started this complicated relationship, but he did. And no one but him and his clever brain would know how long he had planned for this.

"I see you're spacing out again," you pause in your walk as you silently watch the silver-haired Scribe make his way over. "Good morning."

"Good morning, Alhaitham." The scholar easily falls into step with you as you continued your leisurely walk, consciously adjusting your hair when you realized how well-kept next to your sleep-deprived self. "I'm fine, how about you?"

You've known the man even before he became a Scribe, even before he graduated and became your senior. How your closeness came to be is already a blur in your mind, but if there's one thing you're certain of, he at least enjoys your company.

You've bonded over collaborations for research before and after he graduated. Perhaps that's what draws him to you, he always liked and supported your ideas as much as he can even when no one does. Sadly, his work and your problems kept your interactions scarce.

"Wrong, it is actually already afternoon. Clearly, you are not fine and you can't deny it now." Oh my - you gently, slowly put your palm to your face, already so done with his antics for today.

It looks like you have a lot to catch up on since the last you talked. And Alhaitham, ever so smart, caught on with the impending long talk who proceeded to guide you to the tables outside Djafar Tavern.

When Eymen came over to take your orders, Alhaitham instead ordered for the two of you when you were about to refuse the service. Right, he's a rich guy now.

"How's your research been?" And at the sight of your sour face, he connected the dots almost immediately. "Same old?"

"Same old Akademiya. They won't fund anything that's not useful or groundbreaking, and I really liked this topic, too." And at his urging nods, you went on a tangent of the curiosities you've been hooked on for a while now, another idea he approves. "I don't understand why they are so heavily guarded with research regarding the history of the desert. I just want to learn more."

"Then leave the Akademiya." Stabbing into the Tandoori Roast Chicken a little too harshly, you looked at him with wide, incredulous eyes. "What? If the Akademiya is restricting you then you can continue your research without their laws applying to you."

Lunatic. That's just like him. Looking at you innocently with a raised brow as if he didn't just say something so out of pocket.

"You know I can't do that."

"Why not?" Bingo! That hesitant side glance confirmed his hypothesis easily, there's more than just the Akademiya that's putting circles under your eyes. Even as you occupied yourself with chewing the chicken, he kept his eyes on you like a hawk.

You sighed. "Research is my only income, unlike you, Scribe." He must be paid really well for his position, after all. "Rent in the City is also rising, I have to pay that next week, too. I'm so tired."

What is up with the people his close to and financial problems? He shakes his head. "Then drop out of the Akademiya and live with me." Unfortunately, this time he didn't care that you had chicken in your mouth. He continued while you're busy coughing your lungs out. "With my income, I'm more than glad to support your research. With this arrangement, you can focus on what you want and your health as we-"

HUH?! "Shu - fu - shut, shut up for a second." Eymen quickly came to your aid with a glass of water after seeing the commotion, but as he was about to pat your back, a stern look from your friend(?) made him think twice. "Do you even know what you're saying?"

"Yes. It's quite simple really," Alhaitham sat up straighter on his seat and uncrossed his arms. "I'll be your research support, I can even help you on them if need be, and living under my roof will remove you of financial burden.

"Deal." Eymen let out a loud 'huh?!' as he looks at you like you have a fungus head. "And I assume that you want something out of this, too?"

Nodding approvingly of your perceptive thinking, his next words both had you and Eymen reeling. "In exchange, date me and Kaveh."

... On second thought, it's not just you and Alhaitham that knows the true story.

But no one ever believes Eymen the bartender.

Surveying

Apparently, they were not in a relationship. Apparently, Kaveh doesn't even know about the terms and conditions of what transpired that day.

"Oh! Fancy meeting you here!" With the context, you awkwardly reciprocated the hug the architect greeted you with.

"You two know each other?" Alhaitham emerged from the guest room were your bags and items will be making home until this arrangement is over.

Kaveh, your Kshahrewar senior raised to the power of 2 was someone you had also collaborated with beforehand. Learning about the different periods Sumeru went through, as well as the civilizations of the other regions, the architect thought it was common sense to ask you for building inspirations.

The architecture was a part of your studies, right? Perhaps by seeing the different buildings all over Teyvat, he could infer his own design for his plates. You remember working on it for two days straight because you didn't want to disappoint him with a half-baked result, not when such a household name depended on you, a no name researcher.

"Well, that makes things easier then. They are staying with us from now on."

"They are?" The blond turns to you. "You are?!" You nod. "Oh, an angel descends from the skies to preserve my sanity in this house!"

You shake the hand offered to you, his smile brightening up more. "Let's get along, shall we?"

And get along you did. To be fair, it wasn't really that hard knowing Kaveh is Kaveh, and Alhaitham as his point of reference makes everyone look like saints.

However, being in the middle of these two also guarantees you to always be in the middle of their notorious arguing, even after you all settled into a genuine relationship.

"It's called a passion project, what is so hard to understand about that? Then again, knowing you, it wouldn't be too far fetched." Closing your eyes, the taste of the freshly cooked baklava became more apparent to your taste buds.

"It's not about whether this project is so important to you, it's the fact that it is missing a crucial factor: feasibility." Pulling the mug in your left hand, you washed down the sweetness of the pastry with slightly bitter coffee.

"What do you know about architecture to tell if it's feasible or not? You took one look at my plates and think you know better." Gulping your food, you let out a silent yawn as you tried to blink the sleepiness away.

"One look at it and I can see that you've put zero thought to the prices of the materials." What time is it? Maybe you can get some last minute nap before heading out.

"Why you -" Before you can register their morning argument subsiding, the feeling of hands on yours and your cheek jolted you awake.

"Why are you dozing off? Did you not sleep enough tonight?" As Alhaitham takes away the mug in your hand, Kaveh proceeds to wipe the pastry crumbs around your lips. Shaking your head, your blond lover moves to stand behind your chair.

"You told us you have an important errand today, you're gonna be late!" Then he starts to brush your hair back to style it as usual. Prying an eye open, you see a glimpse of Alhaitham cleaning up the table, as well as a hint of a subtle smile when his gaze caught sight of you and Kaveh.

Of course, if there's one thing that Kaveh and Alhaitham can agree on, it's their love for you. And that's honestly enough for them.

Structuring

Alhaitham viewed you as his responsibility in this symbiotic relationship, and when the time came that Kaveh settled into the arrangement, taking care of you became easier.

While it's not apparent, the Scribe hated seeing you stressed or down especially when you're susceptible to it than normal.

Things such as bills, needs, funding, rejected thesis can greatly affect your mental health greatly. And that in turn messes with the functionality of your brain, the same brain that he greatly adores. So with lesser jargon Alhaitham entrusted this information to Kaveh so that they both can look out for you when the other isn't there.

Unlike Alhaitham however, Kaveh's less used to your antics.

A shrill scream that can definitely be heard past the walls of the house made him jump and trip out of his bed, stumbling out of his room as he made a mad dash towards the room where the scream came from.

"(Y/N)?! What's wrong?!" Oh gosh, did you get hurt? Did someone break in?! Alhaitham is going to kill him for real this time!

Turning around from your spot in the middle of the living room, you pulled your hands out of your messy hair at the sight of your blond architect. "Kaveh? Oh shoot, I'm sorry did I wake you?" You thought you were alone in the house.

Shaking his head, his hands land on your shoulders to look for any signs of injuries. But no, based on the messiness of your hair, it seems more like an internal turmoil. "I heard your scream, tell me what's wrong, dear."

"Sorry, sorry, I was just really frustrated -" He needs to get you to clear your mind then, like what Alhaitham instructed- "Because of this stupid DIY miniature set."

"What?" Looking past you to the coffee table, there was the evidence of your frustrations. Cloth and wooden panels strewn about, and a mess of papers either discarded or needed littered the carpeted floor. "Why are you working on a DIY miniature house? Is that a house?"

"To destress." You raise your hands up in defense when Kaveh sent you a deadpan. "I think it's a Mondstadt style house."

"Why didn't you ask me to help then?" Forgetting his initial plan, he went on to seat on the floor and caught sight of the instructions page. Occupied with the interesting structure, you curiously sat next to him as he looked at the pieces. "I'm an architect, this is my forte!"

But... you're the one that's... trying to destress?

When Alhaitham came home, the house was suspiciously quiet despite having the lights open. Did one of you leave the main floor lights on by accident? Hanging his cape by the door, walking further into his shared home finally gave him the answer.

Cut up paper and trimmed fake plants scattered the area together with various small tools that he carefully picked up before anyone could step on it. There is a small model of what seems to be Mondstadt structure in the middle of the mess that could easily fit in his palm.

"This is what you two did the whole time?" But he expected the lack of response.

After all, as he turns towards the couch, there Kaveh laid stretched over the entire length of the long seat with his arm shielding his closed eyes. And there you lay on top, basically faceplanting the architect's chest.

Alhaitham could see the dried up clear glue on the tips of your fingertips.

His attention averts back to the miniature house. And that's when he sees it. Leaning down, the Scribe plucks up a copper wire with tiny bulbs jutting out here and there, with a switch at one end.

Oh. You two must have forgotten to add the wiring before assembling the piece and slept the frustration away.

Chuckling to himself, the man crossed his legs as he sat, picking up the discarded tweezer and glue. What would you two do without him really?

You were startled out of your shopping trip at the sound of someone screaming your name, followed by a person you've never met writing over to you. A mahamata personnel?

"We're sorry to bother you but Mr. Alhaitham and Kaveh -" Of course, it's about them.

It was a fallacy that everyone keeps committing at this point, believed in assumptions without evidence, but you followed the man to the destination to Treasures Street.

And when you stood in between the two quarreling scoundrels you call your lovers, the man who was hoping you'd stop the disturbance on peace looked confused. Of course he was.

After all, the arguments are part of the charm. Just because you came into the picture doesn't mean they'll stop in your presence, no, that's not your function in this relationship. However -

"I made progress."

"You did?! Thank goodness, I was worried you'll have to wait another day for dusk!" Kaveh flipped like a switch at the good news, eagerly suggesting to eat out for the occassion.

"Did you write it down? I wish to compare notes with my own hypothesis back home once we're done. When's the last time you hydrated?"

The public watched in confusion as the trio of lovers left the scene towards Lambad's Tavern, the argument turning into a conversation of jargons and lexicon that they can't follow.

It's always so eventful seeing the occupants of that loud house when they're together.

They just wish things were a little quieter.

Finally, the lesser organized poly series counterpart of CtM is here. Should have stuck to the headcanons format honestly but at least I know this isn't gonna be a one off thing lol

@ireallylikehamsters

#genshin x reader #genshin impact x reader #kaveh x reader #alhaitham x reader #al haitham x reader #genshin impact fluff #gender neutral #exile.flower #poly kavetham #sumeru arc

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foundfamilyhq · 10 months

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Welcome + Rules

Welcome to the Tumblr Found Family HQ! Here, we present your blorbos to the masses to have them vote upon whether they should be added to the collective tumblr found family or not. Submit your blorbos here:

See which blorbos have already joined the found family HERE! To avoid seeing the results posts, mute "ff results" The rules are: 1. Play nice; be respectful to others 2. Blorbos can be of any age, since a found family can be just that. So feel free to submit a one-day old infant or a ten thousand year old tree, if those are your blorbos 3. No Harry Potter (or other titles associated to this series or the author) 4. No real people (might make an exception if it's funny) 5. "No real people" includes no individual tumblr users, youtubers or streamers (this might seem obvious, but there were still a lot of them submitted) 6. No OCs. All your OCs are great and I'd feel sad if they got rejected from the found family F.A.Q. under readmore:

(No one has actually asked any questions, but these are the ones I'm anticipating) Some of these questions have been asked now lol Q. How does this work? A. A post featuring a blorbo shall be made, stating who they are and their source material. A poll will be attached set to one week, asking if the blorbo shoulf join the tumblr found family. At the end of the week, based on the result, I will announce if they blorbo has joined or not Q. What is a found family? A. A found family is a family you find for yourself. It is a term often used in fandom to describe a group of characters who aren't related by blood (although a few members might be) but have come to think of each other as a family through circumstance. Alternatively, they might not be officially recognised as a found family in canon, but wider fanon regards them as such Q. Is this a tournament bracket? A. Nope, blorbos aren't competing against each other, they're only here to be judged by you. We are here enternally submitting blorbos (at least until I run out of steam or pass away lol) Q. I'm not sure if my blorbo counts because of ___ reason? A. If it's not any of the reasons mentioned in the rules, then feel free to send an ask. Or just submit them anyway and I'll decide Q. I submitted a blorbo and they haven't been posted. Did you get them? A. Again, feel free to send an ask. I don't have a regular schedule for posting these. Somedays there'll be batches of polls, others there'll be one or none Q. My blorbos are a duo/trio/etc., who cannot be separated. Can I submit them as a group? A. While I would prefer to stick to individual characters, if you have some who absolutely cannot be separated, I might make exceptions. Most likely, I'll make a poll asking if they should be judged as a group or individually, since there's a lot of media I won't be familiar with Q. My blorbo got ditched on the roadside! Fuck you! A. Friend, as a fan of Theseus from Hades Game, I understand what it's like to have your fave hated by fandom. Anything decided on this blog can never affect your personal headcanons, so go in peace with your middle finger held high Q. What are your icon and header? A. The icon is of the Pokemon Bouffalant and Natu, based on a series of trading card art where Bouffalant finds two Natu and rescues them - the true spirit of found family. The header is a group of characters called the Black Ravens from the Professor Layton series - a group of ragtag working-class kids who make a black market together Q. I wrote some propaganda on the submission form, can you post it or send it back to me? A. Submissions are deleted as the polls are posted, so I can keep track of how many I have left to post, which means I can't do this. Please save your propaganda for the post and not the submissions form Q. Did you know you used fan art on ___ poll? A. Unless I'd mentioned getting permission from the artist, then please assume that I did not know and let me know. I hate art theft and wouldn't want to partake in that, but I'm just not familiar with a good 80% of the series submitted, so sometimes it might slip through the cracks Q. Can I submit a character who isn't my blorbo? A. Also fine! I enjoy it when people submit controversial characters to see how they'll do Q. What happens if there's a tie? A. The blorbo in question becomes an occassional family member who appears with our found family for some important cutscenes, but isn't officially considered part of the found family

Q. No, but seriously, my blorbo got ditched. Do they get another chance? A. At the beginning of each year we host a Redemption Event, where any past blorbos who were submitted get another chance. Because of the high volume of ditched characters, to be included in the event, your character will need to be submitted with propaganda via a form that will be released about a month before the event Q. I think the image used is a big reason why my blorbo got ditched. Why did you use that image? A. If an image hasn't been submitted, I will just grab one from an image search result in most cases. You know your blorbos best, so if you have a specific (non-fan art) image that you think shows them in their best light, please do submit it when you submit them Q. Did you mean the book version or movie version of that character? A. Whichever version of the blorbo that gets submitted, that'll be the one I use. If no specific version is mentioned, I'll just post that blorbo in general and use whatever image is most common when I look them up, unless an image has been submitted or a book cover has been requested to be used Q. My blorbo is a character played by a youtuber and/or streamer, not the youtuber or streamer themselves, is that okay? A. If it's a character, then it's fine. But please mention this on the submission. Because if I look them up and the result looks to be just some real person, that won't be included. I am largely unfamiliar with these kind of fandoms and will always err on the side of caution about their inclusion Q. What counts as a "sweep"? A. Any character who gets 90% or higher in either joining or not joining is counted as a sweep. This doesn't give them anything extra, it's just for bragging rights Q. What counts as a "close call"? A. Any character who's poll results are within the 49%-51% range for join/don't join is counted as a close call Q. How many characters can I submit at a time? A. There's no hard rule, since the form doesn't track emails, but please be considerate to others and try not to submit more than 10 characters per submission period. See next question for more details Q. How many characters from the same series can I submit at a time? A. Four (4) characters per series per submission period. I'll be lenient for if they've been submitted by multiple people, but from my experience running this blog, it's only the current Hot New Thing that'll be submitted by multiple people and anything else is usually one person submitting one character after another. I used to allow more, but people took this for granted and submitted 50+ from the same series, so now 4 is the cap Q. You missed a tag from that poll! Can it be added? A. Sure! Tags are either provided by the submitter or where left blank, I'll use my best guess. At minimum, you'll get the name of the character and series as they've been submitted. If you know more, let me know and I'll add them to the post during the voting period. Please note: The polls themselves cannot be edited after being posted, only the tags Q. I don't understand what this blog is A. Don't worry about it, friend. Just keep driving and whatever you do, don't wind down the window. We'll be safe soon :) Q. Didn't think blog used to be called the Found Family Adoption Agency? A. It was, but I were made aware that the language used on the blog could be seen as potentially harmful to real life adoptees, so I changed the name of the blog and made some edits to try to avoid using such language. Posts made prior to 5th May 2024 will still contain references to adopt/ditching, so tread with caution on older posts

#tumblr found family #found family #found family hq #pinned post #welcome #rules #FAQ #signal boosts appreciated

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rollforfelicity · 10 days

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release your takesssss

(spoilers for tonight's episode)

personally kinda upset alongside emily that everything she did regarding ruben had no real impact despite all the threads around his regret, and how that seems to communicate that there's no point in talking things out with maryann. holding out hope that after defeating porter and jace they can revivify the ratgrinders in the finale and find some kind of peace. also if lucy and yolanda aren't rezzed i riot

what were your thoughts?

My answer will also have spoilers for FHJY so avert your eyes, all ye who have not watched the penultimate episode yet!

I'm hesitant to answer because I truly think people will not like my take on this, but I think this is my first ever anon ask and I've had time to think more on my opinion and solidify it. This is all with the caveat that of course the final episode isn't out yet, so anything I say about what I think of the narrative of the show is incomplete information.

The first thing is that some people are really upset about the Rat Grinders getting killed in combat when there's a lot we don't know about them, and to some degree they may be acting under duress from Porter and Ankarna. Some people are really mad that the Bad Kids are just rushing into battle to kill them off without taking the time to try to understand them. I have a couple of reasons why (although I understand the frustration) I don't agree with this criticism. The first is an in-world reason, and the second is a TTRPG reason.

The in-world reason I don't think a "redemption" arc would be satisfying for the Rat Grinders is because these are the last two episodes. None of the Rat Grinders have done anything to show that they desire or are working toward redemption. Yes, they're teens. We don't know how completely they're acting under their own volition. BUT they are actively trying to kill not only the Bad Kids, but everyone who was at Fabian's party (essentially the entire school) and everyone in Elmville. If the Rat Grinders are doing this because of Ankarna/Porter, The Bad Kids don't know of a way other than killing everyone to stop this from happening. Maybe if the Bad Kids had spent more time trying to get to know the Rat Grinders I would feel differently.

There have also been criticisms that The Bad Kids are bullies and taking pleasure in killing off the Rat Grinders, and that it feels fucked up. I think The Bad Kids are bullies! I think they've been little assholes since the beginning of the show. They frequently bully each other. They're literally called The Bad Kids. I think something fun about playing a game in a high school setting is that high schoolers aren't mature and have less impulse control than adults do, so they make bad decisions. Sometimes they do really fucked up things. Fig sending Reuben to hell is pretty fucked up, but it's also pretty funny, and it's also what a teenage devil of rebellion would do to somebody they're mad at. (I could also get into a whole thing about how Dimension 20 is a comedy show and that hyperbole is funny, but then I have to give my hot take about other moments of Dimension 20 that people generally don't like and I can only do so much here.)

So that's the in-narrative reason why I don't think a redemption arc would be satisfying. But there's also TTRPG/medium reasons I think it wouldn't be satisfying! Dimension 20 is, for better or worse, primarily a D&D show. (They've also played Kids on Bikes which they have generally ran in the same way they run D&D but I have a whole other blog post about my irritations with that. Also obligatory Shriek Week mention.) D&D is primarily a combat game. You can do other things in it, but the majority of people's spells and abilities come down to fighting. That's why the finales are always combat episodes. In D&D, you solve problems with violence. That's the game. Having played 50+ other game systems at this point, I have a lot of critiques of D&D! I would LOVE if Dimension 20 played other things. That being said...

If they ARE playing D&D, I find myself much less frustrated when they play D&D as D&D, and not trying to get it to be something it isn't. So if one of the Bad Kids in the finale decides "I want to spend my turn trying to reason with Kipperlily," and it comes down to a roll because the situation is tense and combat is happening, that would make more sense to me than a two part finale where every member of the party tries to reason with the Rat Grinders and if they fail the roll they just have another person say the same sentiment worded differently so they can spam Persuasion checks.

There are other games where a dialogue works as a final confrontation. Good Society (my beloved) has all kinds of rules to navigate social intrigue, use people's reputations against them, or appeal to their good qualities. Justicar is a courtroom drama game where people have moves that let them introduce evidence or find a flaw in someone's testimony. Vampire The Masquerade has rules for "social combat." D&D doesn't really have that. The best approximation it has is the DM deciding on a number that needs to be rolled on a die to convince someone of something. That's it. It's not even an opposed check, because what do you roll against Persuasion? Mayyyyybe Insight in some circumstances. Maybe a Saving throw of some kind? But there isn't much support in the rules for that kind of finale.

The last thing I'll say is that MOST seasons of Dimension 20, people say the ending was anti-climactic or not narratively interesting. That's a fair critique, and I honestly agree! That being said, Dimension 20 is essentially long form improv. That's not the medium I personally go to for a satisfying narrative conclusion. If I want a story with a solid, satisfying ending, I read a book or watch a movie: finite works that are planned out, edited many times, and that have a carefully crafted narrative structure. Sorry, anon, for such a long and probably uninteresting answer! Also for the record, I think if the Rat Grinders are rezzed after the fight and released from their rage stars that would be a good end, and I too want Lucy and Yolanda brought back. So I agree with you on that! The take has been released!

#fhjy spoilers #dimension 20

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randomthefox · 2 days

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I’ve spent a long time thinking about the dynamic between the intelligence of Dr. Eggman and Tails in how they’ve both been characterized throughout the years.

I think how it works is while Tails is smarter than Eggman in terms of problem solving and technology, Eggman is smarter than Tails in his ability to understand and manipulate people.

Tails’ creations have lasted far longer than anything the Doctor has ever built (unless you count Metal-Sonic who’s been destroyed and rebuilt multiple times and might not even be the same Metal-Sonic throughout all the games), and he’s been able to hack into Eggman’s tech on multiple occasions. Eggman has tricked Knuckles multiple times into thinking he’s the good guy, tricked Tails into revealing that Sonic was going to hand him a fake chaos emerald in one of his most iconic scenes, acquires money for his evil schemes through various shell companies, and a few more that I’m probably forgetting to mention.

Tails is able to destroy basically every Eggman makes, but Eggman tends to get the upper hand through tricking everyone. Including Tails. It also helps that Eggman just has far more life experience considering he’s 50+ years old while Tails is only around 8. But, Eggman still loses in the end because while he’s great at understanding other people, he’s terrible at understanding himself (undergoing self improvement). This means that his arrogance leaves him with huge blind spots that Tails - for example - can exploit using his expert problem solving to win the day.

Any thoughts on this take? I know it’s a long read.

It's funny because the longer the series goes on the more Eggman becomes a foil to basically every other character in the cast in some manner or regard lol. Like you could draw parallels between him and Knuckles because they're both red and stubborn, between him and Amy because they're both obsessive over Sonic, between him and Rouge because they're both greedy and selfish, between him and Shadow because they both had a pupil relationship with Gerald ect. Eggman being a foil to Sonic is the only one that's really been there since the beginning as an intention thing, and the way he contrasts the others has just kinda developed that way over time.

Like Tails and Eggman weren't meant to be foils at the inception, but by the time of Sonic Adventure 2 that definitely became a front and center textual basis for comparison between the two. They're pitted against each other as the "rival" duo of that game for that very reason.

I honestly think the defining contrast between Tails and Eggman is their self esteem. Tails has too little of it, and Eggman has too much. Tails NEEDS the support and validation from others to feel a sense of worth that he isn't capable of mustering for himself. And even then it can go to an extreme and start giving him a fat head like in Lost World where he was bragging about how effective and capable he was, and it wasn't just blowing hot air either because he was absolutely correct about everything he said in that game - he was at his most Eggman like. But all that was built on a fragile foundation, because once Forces happened and Sonic died in front of his eyes while pleading desperately for Tails to save him with his smarts, it caused him to have a total breakdown. For as high on his own supply as he was, he was dragged down into equally cavernous depths. It's sort of like Prodigy Syndrome, where kids who are propped up as being super special gifted geniuses and given special treatment all throughout their youth because of it inevitably end up failing at something at some point and their entire identity crumbles as a result.

Eggman by contrast is SO self assured and self dependent that it goes completely overboard into delusional mania. He is an EXTREME level narcissist who thinks himself infallible. He doesn't seem capable of having functional relationships with other sapient life forms, and even if he was he wouldn't be interested in maintaining them to any degree beyond how they would personally serve him. This actually makes him WAY more effective of preparing for and dealing with failure than Tails. If something goes wrong, it doesn't impact Eggmans feelings about himself whatsoever because he can just rewrite the story in his head to have it have been someone elses fault. He's able to anticipate things going awry and make contingency plans just in case, and pivots into those contingency's without so much as a complaint about plan A not working out. His megalomania provides him with a shocking degree of emotional flexibility that Tails is completely incapable of without external support. Eggman can roll with the punches that Tails would need someone else to lift him back up from.

I think that shows the root of the biggest difference between Tails and Eggmans intelligence levels and what they use that intelligence for. Tails uses his smarts to service others, Eggman uses his smarts to service himself. Tails will create weapons to defend, Eggman creates weapons to attack. Tails (is capable of) creating robots that function as companions, Eggman creates robots that function as slaves. And the way they interact with others also demonstrates this. Tails will try and explain things to others in a way that helps them understand, Eggman will talk down to others because he assumes they're too stupid to understand. And Tails MIGHT be capable of manipulating someone but if he were to do so it'd only be for the sake of getting them to do something "for their own good" but practically he usually wouldn't be compelled to even want to do so, whereas of course Eggman is only too happy to manipulate anyone and everyone via whatever means would be most effective so he can get exactly what he wants out of them before they're discarded as soon as they're no longer useful.

I think the contrasting idea that Tails is capable of destroying anything Eggman creates is interesting, because usually the idea of a good/evil inventor foil would be that the "good" inventor creates new things and the "bad" inventor only destroys old things. But it's a lot more nuanced with Tails and Eggman. Tails does almost work like an antibody agent to the virus that is Eggman. He can indeed destroy anything that Eggman creates with his intelligence with an equal but opposite amount of intelligence.

But what's funny is in terms of on screen depictions, the things Eggman creates actually benefit the world more than anything Tails creates (barring him creating things to help end Eggmans schemes of world conquest), since we see robots Eggman created being purchased and used by civilians to act as automated security in Sonic Battle. Sure you COULD surmise that those robots might have some kind of latent Manchurian kill switch that will convert them back into being tools of the Eggman Empire, and you COULD headcanon the thought that Tails invents things for greater societal benefit, but in terms of textual evidence Eggman creates things that benefit the world and Tails doesn't. It benefits as an unintended byproduct of Eggman throwing away excess and refuse that is no longer deemed useful to him, but we sure as hell never see or hear anything about Tails making security systems for anybody (to my knowledge).

Even MeteorTech as a company presumably employs people(?) whereas Tails entrepreneurial venture of "Prowers Projects" is just a one fox operation to create planes for his own uses. But of course ultimately Eggman builds to conquer the world and Tails builds to help himself and his friends stop that from coming about which is far more beneficial to everyone else in the long run. Anything Eggman creates that makes life better for another person is unintentional and fleeting, whereas Tails creates things for his own use but whose purpose is making life better for others. But it's still an interesting to look at it from another direction.

It's a tangled tree that branches off in many different directions lol. But insofar as it is possibly to summarize and simplify, I think the root of it comes down to Tails being insecure and Eggman being overly secure. Tails NEEDS others to prop him up and inspire him, Eggman doesn't want or care about anyone besides himself. And that core difference frames and filters everything about how they interact with the world around them and use their smarts to contribute to it. In my view of it.

#sonic #sonic the hedgehog #eggman #dr. eggman #tails #miles tails prower #miles prower #eggtails

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ask-serendipity-sky · 9 months

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Honestly jikook are so f*cking confusing.

Like the start is clear for me....

Jimin showed so much affection to jk, jk was shy, cold, etc and pushed him away, jimin stopped giving him affection, jk realized he liked jm, he began following jm around, jm ignored him a little around 2015 but then jikook became inseparable.

Everything that happened after that made it pretty clear that jikook are dating.

But it's getting harder and harder to keep that belief as chapter 2 started.

Like in front of the camera, it feels like they rarely interact, they rarely meet, they're not close anymore, but then they had a trip to NY, jk's bed live which had some high level of flirting.

It showed jikook's dynamic like it was before chapter 2.

I mean they don't completely let us belief that they are still together because they barely interact online and somtimes say things which slightly indicate that they have nothing going on.

But then at the same time, they don't let us completely believe that they broke up because there's no way two exes act like how they act with each other even after chapter 2.

I mean look at NY trip.

Look at jk's bed live.

Jk's other lives.

Jimin's comments on jk's live.

There's no way two exes behave like that.

And I'm pretty sure jimin won't be talking so fondly about jungkook if they broke up. He probably would ignore jk if that was the case.

So like it's so confusing. I mean I understand they're very private but it's such a on and off behavior that it gets so confusing if they're actually together or if we're Imagining things.

I don't understand what's the point of shipping. Like what exactly are we supporting if we're not seeing anything. What are we here for?

The only thing we can do is enjoy their music. Shipping seems pointless now. Because even if they are together then what's our purpose? We're literally getting to see nothing. I'm not saying that jikook owe us anything. They don't.

But I'm just slightly confused how people still have so much interest in shipping if we're getting zero content. It's not like we're jikook'srelatives. We're fans. We require content. Don't we?

I don't know. To me it's getting boring to ship. Because there's literally nothing to see anymore. Jikook are not sharing anything with us. Which honestly is fine. But I don't understand what are shippers even doing? What are we getting out of this? Because the only thing we used to get was happiness after seeing jikook together. But since we're not getting that anymore why are we still here?

I'm sorry. Obviously people can ship whoever. But idk guess I just wanted to share my thoughts about the whole shipping thing.

Hi anon,

I'm glad you are sharing...because I think there are other people who feel the same way.

Chapter 2 has been a time where it's hard to believe jikook is together. No matter what jikooker label you have. It's fair to question what the whole point of this is and to question where this is going.

I have the same thoughts about shipping or supporting or whatever people want to call it. With us or without us, jikook will either be a thing or not.

Perhaps a better term is just observers? Because that's what we end up doing.

Third wheelers?

Things have changed on screen. They have. Because life happened to jikook. Like real life stuff. And yes, they technically don't owe us anything but as observers we want something to see.

But off screen...

Jimin went to New York and that shows that there is much more that hasn't been visible and from there things have escalated and will continue escalating. In real life, jikook has always been. They have been behind the scenes for a bit now but they are still there.

Something changed (in regards to the stuff that jikook went through) and that's why we are able to see their interactions again. Decisions and pacts were made.

If jikook was broken up, we would see it. It's been visible in the past and it would be visible again if it was currently happening. Both Jk and Jimin behave a certain way when jikook is in a bad place. Like you said, Jimin would ignore Jk and only be civil with him. That's a huge sign.

What are people are getting out of this? For me, it's knowing that good things are coming for them. I look forward to whatever they want to share, whether it's their professional or personal lives. I'm still here because I know I haven't read things wrong.

If they share nothing, I will continue with my life normally and enjoy the music.

But let me tell you something...stuff is coming. And maybe that's one of the reasons I stay too.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. Hope I was able to answer you somewhat.

#dont even start with supporter vs shipper argument #just an fyi!

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rydersmediareviews · 3 months

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“ ...When I wear my favorite clothes, I feel at ease. It's the only time I don't see a version of myself I hate. ”

Boys Run the Riot is a manga series written by Keito Gaku. It intrigued me because I learned of its protagonist, who is a young transgender man. The representation seemed good and I knew it wouldn't take too long to read, so I decided to give it a shot.

The protagonist of Boys Run the Riot is Ryo Watari, a 16-year-old high schooler who is a transgender man. He becomes friends with Jin Sato, who is a transfer student and an outcast.

Jin is the first person who Ryo comes out to. After this, Jin tells Ryo about his wish to create a brand that sells unique clothing. While Ryo is initially hesitant about this idea, the two decide to go for it. This is with the help of a classmate, who is the sole member of the school's photography club. After some pondering, Ryo comes up with the name for their clothing brand: Boys Run the Riot.

The main characters in Boys Run the Riot are somewhat relatable, and they're very lovable. As a transgender person, I especially found myself relating to Ryo.

There are a lot of relationships throughout this series, both good ones and bad ones, with peers and with superiors. I found myself loving the advice that the main characters got from their superiors throughout this series. Not because it was always wise and thoughtful, but because it was messy and they often contradicted themselves. The adults are struggling with how to live correctly, just as the teenagers are. It's hard to be queer, and it isn't much easier to try running a business as a high schooler. Even as the boys received advice from their elders, they formed their own opinions and did things their own way.

The youth in Boys Run the Riot are fairly realistic. I've never been to Japan, but the way Ryo and Jin are treated is reminiscent of what I'd seen in an American school. In addition to this, the main characters are generally realistic when dealing with conflict. They all react differently, and they almost always act in a way that is immature.

As a transgender person, I long for a relationship like that which is between Ryo and Jin. While the focus of this story is on Ryo, the two are equally supportive of each other. Jin isn't just there as a character to support Ryo.

Ryo struggles with coming out to people—a relatable struggle for all transgender people. In regards to this, he acts in a way that I would consider realistic. There were times when Ryo's dysphoria and anxiety struck very close to home for me. I don't consider myself a very empathetic person, but I found myself feeling emotional for Ryo.

I loved Boys Run the Riot very much. However, this doesn't mean that it's free from my criticism.

As an American, I don't know much about Japanese tropes and stereotypes. However, I have consumed a lot of Japanese media regarding transgender people. With this being said, I have noticed that most of the transgender people in Japanese media are sexually assaulted. Why this is, I do not know.

While the series is altogether easy to understand and follow, I got completely lost at the bonus story. I still don't know whether that was Ryo or a new character.

Overall, I enjoyed reading Boys Run the Riot very much. It kept my attention and it kept me engaged. It was mostly easy to understand and follow. The characters were likable and mostly realistic.

I rate Boys Run the Riot a perfect 5 stars.

“ ...My neck's so slender. My face looks so young. I'm so short. My arms and legs are so small. ”

#anime and manga #manga #transgender #book review #books #booklr #anime

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jerzwriter · 1 month

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The Exes: Trystan & Carolina Edition

Fandom old-timers may remember this template from the summer of 2022 (or was it 2021?); it was created by @jamespotterthefirst as a tool to help us delve into our characters' histories a bit more. Since I plan on expanding my HC for Trystan and Carolina in the near future, so I pulled it out, and once again, it really helped! (Thanks, Bree!). Relationships should never define us, but our actions in and surrounding them say a lot about who we are, and if we let it, they teach us about ourselves. Further, the way people treat us absolutely impacts us, sometimes temporarily, sometimes for good. So, I think exploring helps us get to "know" our characters better.

I highlighted 6 exes for both Trystan and Carolina. I imagine they had many more dalliances, flings, and one-night stands between them, but these are relationships that shaped them in some way - for better or worse - and played a part in bringing them to where they are today as individuals.

I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed creating it.

Dahlia Aceves: Dahila grew up in the same Bronx neighborhood Carolina did, but they only met at 16 because they attended different schools. They became fast friends when Dahlia transferred to Carolina's high school. Dahlia was a bit closed off from others, and while she was generally liked, she didn't have a "clique" or fully fit in. Carolina was similar in those regards, and that drew them to one another. Shortly thereafter, their relationship also became sexual but neither had any desire to be in a relationship, so their friends-with-benefits arrangement began and remained on and off for nearly a decade. Everyone knew there was "something" between them, but no one dared to pry. At times, Dahlia was a fixture at Carolina's place, and she still pops by to see Tommy to this day. While neither woman even envisioned a "serious" relationship together in the future, they both thought (to different degrees) that their arrangement might just go on the way it had indefinitely. (Of course, it didn't). Carolina still sees Dahlia around the neighborhood, and they're friendly but not exactly friends. Dahlia never warmed up to Trystan and she tends to ignore him or give him an attitude when she bumps into him. (FC: Lee Rodriguez)

Marcos Candella: Carolina cannot remember a time when she didn't know Marcos. They played on the streets together as kids, went to school together from K-12, and always had each other's backs. When her father was murdered, Marcos checked in on Carolina daily, dropping off some of her favorite treats prepared especially for her by his mom. Their connection was always platonic, but that changed briefly after HS. Carolina was confused about her sexuality. She always believed she was bisexual, but at that point in time, she had only been with other women and felt like she couldn't fully make that determination unless she gave men a shot, too. Also, she also couldn't understand why she enjoyed sex and comradery with partners but couldn't form a romantic attachment to anyone, so she decided to try dating Marcos. The physical attraction was real, as was their long-established bond of friendship, so it was much more than a meaningless fling. When they reached the 6-month mark, Marcos asked her if she felt they had a future, and she said only as friends. She was happy to see he was relieved about her answer. They are still friends to this day and always have each other's backs. They usually forget this brief part of their life together ever happened. (FC: Ismael Cruz Cordova)

Josh Bowlan: After graduating from Hostos Community College, Carolina began working on her bachelor's degree in criminal justice at John Jay College in Manhattan. It was the first time she was outside of her Bronx bubble on a daily basis, and that changed her life drastically. Her on-again-off-again thing with Dahlia was in an off spot after the two women had a big spat, and Carolina was 100% single when she started at John Jay. Josh was the guy everyone wanted to date, and when he pursued Carolina, focusing all his attention on her, it was a bit intoxicating. Despite a little arrogance, he was a good guy and treated Carolina very well, even though they were far from a perfect match. She was still confused about why she couldn't "feel" the same feelings her friends did when it came to relationships, so she mostly played along because she didn't want to feel different. She liked Josh; she enjoyed his friendship, the intimacy, the sex, but that butterfly, I need you and never want to be without you feeling... it just never came for her. Josh sensed it but tried to ignore it. He assumed it would happen in time. Just shy of their one-year "anniversary," Josh stopped by Carolina's place unexpectedly and found her with another woman. He was furious that she was "cheating" on him; she reminded him that they never once said they were exclusive, so she hadn't done anything wrong, but Josh felt it was just "understood." Hurt, he broke things off, and they only saw each other when their paths crossed at school, where things were contemptuous between them. Most people "sided" with Josh, though Carolina's real friends had her back. (FC: Logan Schroyer)

Kayla (Kai) Sato: After Josh, Carolina was pretty certain she wanted nothing to do with relationships. She and Dahlia started up again; she had many short flings and ONS, but for years, relationships were a no-no, and she ran anytime a lover suggested they take things further. That changed a little when she met Kai at a fundraiser during Pride. The two women had many friends in common and were passionate about similar causes. Carolina was drawn to Kai's creative nature, and Kai found Carolina's practicality settling. They started a passionate affair, and Carolina began to think the infatuation she was feeling could be something more, but for Kai, there was no confusion. She was head-over-heels for Carolina from the start. When she told her that she loved her, Carolina chose to be honest. She explained she cared for her and enjoyed being with her, but love wasn't in the equation, and she wasn't even sure it ever could be. Kai said that was fine. She insisted it would come in time, and until then, she "had enough love for both of us." Carolina told her she couldn't make any promises, but Kai chose to live in denial. A few months later, Kai asked Carolina about becoming exclusive, and when Carolina declined, Kai was furious. Shortly after that, Carolina ended things, knowing they wanted very different things. (FC: Karen Fukuhara)

Raul Montes: Enter Raul. Raul was one of Carolina's father's best friend's sons, and they had known each other forever. He also lived in the Bronx as a child but moved away for college and never came back. Six years her senior, Carolina was only 12 when he moved away, and neither gave each other any thought. When Raul moved back to NYC for a career opportunity, he settled on the Upper West Side of Manhattan but would visit his family in the Bronx several times a month. It was on one of those trips when he spotted Carolina, who was in the middle of a spat with a street vendor who was trying to rip her elderly neighbor off. Raul's interest was piqued, and they began talking. When he asked her on a date, she felt something and accepted. It was only in retrospect that she realized that feeling was solely because Raul had a connection to her father, and that was something she desperately craved. Raul was 30 and wanted to find a wife and settle down... and the thought of that alone terrified Carolina, but then again... he knew her Dad. He loved her Dad. Blinded by this, she wanted to see if she could make it work. By this point, Carolina knew she was demiromantic, and when Raul wouldn't slow down the relationship escalator, she explained this to him. If he wanted things to work, he'd have to be patient. She wasn't going to jump into anything just to satisfy him. Raul didn't even know what demiromantic meant, so he did some "research", but ended up mostly on information that suited his needs. On their next date, he told Carolina that he had looked into it, and she was honestly impressed, thinking he cared enough to try to learn more and understand her better, but those hopes were quickly dashed. He told her his "research" found there was really no such thing as being demiromantic. Obviously, she just had commitment issues stemming from her father's murder. He encouraged her to get more "help" so they could move forward. Not wanting to make a scene in public, Carolina smiled curtly and attempted to change the subject, knowing this was their last date. But when Raul didn't take the hint and kept pushing the issue, Carolina told him he was an ass. He smugly replied, "No, I'm not Carolina. You're just confused." She proceeded to pour a pitcher of sangria over his head as a string of Spanish curses fell from her lips, and she walked out, never to see him again. (FC: Anthony Ramos)

Daphne Miller: After Raul, Carolina went into a serious "fuck relationships, fuck people, I want none of this" period. Sex and her friendships more than satisfied her need for intimacy, and she had no desire for anything more. One of her lovers was Daphne, a fellow detective in the NYPD. They worked well together... on cases and in bed and in life. Their shared passion for their jobs, the NY Yankees, and just living the best life they could brought them closer. Daphne loved Carolina very much and would have pursued more with her, but Carolina was upfront about her wishes, and Daphne respected her boundaries. While they were together, Daphne, who was polyamorous, moved in with another one of her partners, but her affair with Carolina continued as it had before. But when Carolina was forced out of the NYPD, it caused tensions in their relationship, eventually leading to its end. At the time, Carolina felt Daphne was being disloyal to her; in hindsight, she can tell that Daphne was just in a terrible position and trying to make the best of it. They had no contact for a long time after their split, but in time, they became casual friends again, sometimes even going on double dates where Daphne often challenged Trystan to drinking match-ups, which she almost always won. (FC: Kim Delaney)

Irena Baciu: As the heir apparent, Trystan was expected to court women from the finest families in Europe and find a suitable wife as soon as his formal studies ended at seventeen. His lack of interest in doing so was of little consequence to his family. After having a bevy of lovers, both public and in secret, he and Irena came up with a pact. A wealthy heiress from a traditional family herself, she was in a similar situation, so they pretended to court while secretly seeing others as well. It got their family off their backs, and the tabloids got a "darling" couple to focus on. It was a win-win. But, they found that they enjoyed each other's company, so their ruse turned into a no-strings relationship. They both knew it wasn't going to last, but they enjoyed it while it did. They remained friends, and Irena was among those who always believed in Trystan and stood by him after Juliana's death. They're still friends to this day and she totally shipped Trystan and Carolina. (FC: Anastasia Kuchinskaya)

Juliana Georgescu: When Trystan refused to find a suitable bride on his own, his family took matters into their own hands and arranged a political marriage with Juliana. It was good for their families and good for Drakovia. Trystan didn't have the will to fight it; if he was going to be stuck in a loveless marriage, he could do worse than his childhood friend, Juliana. They had known each other their whole lives, and he believed they were still friends. He didn't know that Juli had been having a secret affair with his half-brother, Vasili, and she believed Trystan to be a hedonistic, self-entitled lout. Still, she accepted her fate as his future wife because she felt it would be best for Drakovia and would allow her to enact positive changes in the nation. As time progressed, she got to know Trystan better and discovered he wasn't the man she thought he was. Under Juli's influence, Trystan matured and began to take his responsibilities more seriously, and in time, the two fell madly in love with one another. The engagement was no longer solely a political match, and the two looked forward to marriage, starting a family, and ruling Drakovia as husband and wife until that fateful night. Heartbroken, guilt-ridden, and devastated over his true love's death, Trystan was forced into exile and began a new life in New York. (FC: Isla Fisher)

Daniel Berger: When Trystan's abject depression over Juliana's death morphed into plain old depression, Trystan chose to soothe his pain with a hedonistic lifestyle. He didn't believe he was worthy of love, so living the life of excess expected of a rich playboy suited him well. Daniel attended one of Trystan's lavish parties, and the attraction between the two was instant. Their passionate love affair began that very night, and before long, Daniel had a key to the prince's apartment - with strict rules about what days he could use them. It was all about sex and fun at first, but Daniel was a sensitive soul and could sense the pain Trystan was in. He was there for him, and his tenderness, warmth, and understanding soothed Trystan's mind, body, and soul. Before long, they were exclusive. But Trystan was not out yet, so their love had to remain a secret to most. Just shy of a year after dating, Daniel was offered a lucrative position in Paris. Knowing Trystan couldn't leave the States, Daniel told him he'd turn it down in an instant if they had a future, but Trystan wasn't prepared to be open about his sexuality. Further, Trystan still didn't feel like he deserved real love, and he knew he might not be able to give Daniel what he so richly deserved, so they parted tearfully but amicably and remain close friends to this day. (FC: Chris Salvatore)

Augustine "Gus" Riccio: Trystan let Daniel go, but his loss impacted him more than he had anticipated; he found himself sad and lonely. Most of his nights were spent with a bottle of whisky and memories of Juliana and Daniel; he was beginning to spiral. That's when Gus stepped in. One of Manhattan's best-known party planners, he made himself indispensable to the wealthy prince. Planning one huge bash after another. Their business arrangement quickly turned into a personal one, and Trystan allowed himself to believe it might be real. Eight months after they began dating, Trystan received an envelope containing compromising photos of him and Gus. The sender threatened to out Trystan unless he transferred a large sum of money to an offshore account. Using his connections, Trystan found out that Gus, who was pretending to be outraged by the blackmail, was actually the one behind it. With proof in hand, Trystan tossed him to the curb and threatened to make his life unbearable if he went to the press. (FC: John Mayer)

Alicia Porter: Trystan was done—more than done at this point. Worried about him, his sister Marguerite began dragging him everywhere she went, including plenty of fashion shows. At one such show, he was introduced to Alicia, one of the newer models, and sparks flew. Trystan made it clear, he wasn't looking for love, just a lover and sometime companion, and Alicia was fine with that. They partied, traveled, and slept together; the fun and levity were just what Trystan needed. Six months after they met, Alicia told Trystan she was pregnant and planned to have the child. He wasn't thrilled but wasn't about to back away from his responsibility. He suggested Alicia move in with him, and that they should try to see if their relationship could be more for the sake of the child. But, at minimum, they could raise their child together. Unfortunately for Alicia, her acting skills weren't as good as she believed, and before long, Trystan realized she wasn't pregnant at all. She had been hoping for a lump sum payment to "take care" of the non-existent "situation" and go away. Of course, they were over at that point. (FC: Millie Lewis)

Lucas Bernard: After Gus and Alicia, our poor prince was 150% completely done. He trusted precious few people, but among those few were his good friend Lucas. He met Lucas years before when he first moved to NYC. Lucas was kind enough to show him around and let him know he had a friend in his new hometown. Their friendship had deepened over the years, and Lucas was there for him after Daniel and Gus, and he was there for him again after Alicia. Their long talks led to the two men developing deeper feelings for each other and they embarked on a very close friends-with-benefits relationship. Lucas wasn't interested in settling down with anyone, and Trystan wasn't interested in anything more at that time. While neither expected the relationship to last forever, that doesn't mean they didn't take it seriously. It was filled with trust, kindness, compassion, and love. It was during this period that Trystan found the strength to be open about being bisexual. The two men briefly discussed more of a future together, but neither took the conversation too seriously. After about a year, they decided to remain just friends, but Lucas had helped Trystan heal and realize everyone wasn't to be mistrusted; there were still genuine people in the world. Lucas has since moved to LA, so they don't see each other as often as they might like, but they still consider each other dear friends and will always be a part of each other's lives. He and Carolina get along famously. She teases that she only adores Trystan a little more than Lucas. (FC: Keiynan Lonsdale)

Carolina would gladly save any of her exes - even Raul, who she doesn't care for one bit; she's just not that kind of person. But she took the assignment seriously and limited it to one. She chose Marcos because he's been a friend since they were children and has been there for her even in her darkest days.

Trystan may no longer be with Daniel or Lucas, but he considers them to be two of the most important people in his life, so it was an easy answer (though he wouldn't leave Irena out to die either!)

They both dislike Raul the most of Carolina's exes, while Trystan dislikes Gus and Alicia equally; Carolina gives an edge to Gus.

Carolina is still friendly-ish with Dahlia too, but since she can't stand Trystan, it causes some friction.

Who the family liked the most was a no-brainer for Trystan. After all, they didn't even know about most of his lovers. It was slightly more difficult for Carolina to answer, as she hadn't been terribly serious with any of her exes, and her family didn't get to know them well, but Marcos was beloved by them on his own, so she picked him.

"Happiest with" was also a no-brainer for Trystan. After all, if Juliana hadn't died, he had hoped to spend his life with her. It was a much harder question for Carolina, but she selected Daphne because Daphne loved and respected Carolina for who she was and never pressured her to become or give more.

But Daphne was also Carolina's most difficult break-up. Partially because it was tied into her departure from the NYPD, but mostly because Carolina really liked and cared for Daphne and missed her when it was over.

Trystan selected Gus as his worst break-up because he felt so betrayed. He thought Gus cared for him, and the realization that he was being used all along hit him like a ton of bricks. It made Trystan doubt himself in ways he hadn't before.

Carolina realized none of her exes was particularly funny, but that's OK. Trystan makes up for it in spades. Daphne was sharp as they came, so she was the smartest. Marcos was the kindest to her.

Juliana was easily the funniest and brightest of Trystan's exes. He would say kindest, too, but Daniel had an edge because his love and kindness to Trystan were so selfless. He gave without expectation or agenda from the start, and he was always honest & trusted Trystan. While Juli was very kind, and their love grew, their relationship didn't have all of those elements from the start.

Why Dahlia and Daniel for kiss? They'd both say because they were fucking great kissers. Marry was easy for Trystan, but Carolina was surprised to find her visceral answer was Daphne. Carolina chose Raul for kill, making it clear that she really wouldn't kill him, but maiming didn't sound so bad. Trystan chose Gus and said killing seemed perfectly suitable.

They both meet their exes, who remain friends in their lives. Marcos and Daphne both liked Trystan, and Dahlia tolerates him on occasion when needed. Irena, Daniel, and Lucas all get along well with Carolina, but she and Lucas are the closest of the three.

Thank you for checking this out and if you have any questions about this, feel free to shoot me an ask!

#crimes of passion #trystan thorne #carolina rose #m!trystan thorne x f!mc #trystan x carolina #trystan and carolina hc #their exes

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ghouljams · 2 months

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Acespec anon! I totally get what you’re saying, I think I’m coming at it from like if alphas and omegas have ruts and heats to incite population growth and in modern society that would have mostly gone out of fashion, maybe betas also experience similar moments of stronger sexual need but they’re not to the same degree as alphas or omegas so they fall into a grey space in the middle and get categorized as betas. Not to say that betas are the only ace option or that they must be ace just that the way that they’re often written feels very relatable to me, choosing to opt in when they want (that’s probably not the best wording but it’s hard to describe when I’ve never felt the other side of the coin??)

In my perfect omegaverse everyone is having heats/ruts at every level of the spectrum. It's just a hormone cycle. The whole idea of heat/rut cycles is borrowed from animals anyway, so I just apply it broadly to the entire endotype spectrum. It's not a need to breed, it's just the natural cycle of human bodies and hormones set to a longer scale.

Like I get where you're coming from in regard to traditional omegaverse but it also directly feeds into my argument about biases in omegaverse fic. The idea that hormone cycles turns people into mindless sex crazed monster but only for the people on the high and low end of the spectrum, but there's one special group that isn't effected by that and can live their lives normally fundamentally splits humanity into two different species. I understand where you're coming from but I feel like traditional depictions of betas does more harm to ace people by singling you out as either another species entirely, or as missing the parts the "normal" people have. Do you get what I'm saying?

There's no winning designation in traditional omegaverse, they're all incredibly harmful to the individual if you spend like two seconds thinking about it. Also what's going out of fashion? Having a menstrual cycle?

In my mind alpha and omega designations have actually gotten more popular as hormone testing has become a thing. Beta would have been the biggest category for much of human history with only the highest and lowest ends of the spectrum being stereotypical and recognizable. But also like these days you got two people standing next to each other who act and look and dress totally different and they both say they're alphas, cool, they're both alphas.

All sex is opt in. Have it or don't. Your hormones don't dictate how much sex you have in real life why should they in my au?

#ghoul speaks #tear down the idea that heat/rut means sex time #if you wanna talk about it in traditional omegaverse fine #but here in my au its a menstrual cycle #a/b/o #omegaverse #anyway idwntify however you want i dont care

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destinyc1020 · 1 year

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Just read that anon about the video, and I have to say it actually sounds legit. I don't see them asking for privacy unless they felt invaded and they were promised privacy at this resort in that way so it should've been respected. As far as I know, they've never really asked for stuff especially regarding privacy not even when that tik tok girl recorded them at the Crazy Horse place in Paris, and that was actually invasive. For all we know she recorded conversation and just didn't release it. That was invading for sure. I think the lack of respect we as fans have sometimes is so telling and it's sad. Two of the nicest celebrities and we can't let them alone for a little bit. And YESSS girl, I stand with you on social media. It's not everything. Someone said, Tom has changed. I don't think he has at all actually. Definitely more mature, but, still playful and loving from what I see on the outside. He's too diplomatic I think honestly, he let's people say things but doesn't really respond and when he does people attack him because they aren't use to him responding. He ain't passive, he just seems to always take the high road. Very admirable. This is about to be a married man, he is doing exactly what I would want my man to do celebrity or not. Protect me boo, and I will thank you later for it. Adore them as a couple and I hope the constant scrutiny they each endure, especially him, doesn't ruin anything. This world could really use the kindness, we see so little of it. Especially on Twitter. That's another story . Anywho, love your blog ma'am. Keep up the great work. Stay neutral and kind as always.

Awww... thanks Anon for the kind words about my blog. ❤

In answer to your ask....I agree with everything you've said.

I promised myself I wouldn't discuss this anymore, but I keep breaking my promises..... 🤦🏾‍♀️

Anyway, I agree w/you...

I feel like the main issue in this case was the fact that they were on vacation with each other and they had more than likely chosen the place/location specifically for its privacy. So to see that someone deliberately broke resort policy and not only filmed them w/out their consent, but also went out of their way to POST it PUBLICLY for the world to see? 👀

Yeaaaa.....I can see how that didn't go over too well with either of them. 🥴

I don't blame them for feeling a little violated. It wasn't even the paps who caught them (who celebrities realize they just can't control, no matter how much they wish they could), but it was a fan/hotel guest!! 😳 Someone who doesn't even make their living trying to get celebrity photos caught them. I can see how TZ were worried that it would start to cause an influx of fans and maybe even paps to catch on to their location and snap even more pictures and post them online. 🤦🏾‍♀️

So yea, I totally get it why Tom and Z weren't feeling that too much. 🥴 I don't see anything wrong with them speaking up about it, especially if the location they were vacationing at was supposed to be private and had a strict policy against photographing guests against their consent...especially celebrities.

Re: Social media, lack of respect, etc

Yep! I agree with this also. I think social media has caused fans to overstep their boundaries a bit when it comes to celebrities. 👀 Just being honest. While I can totally understand the excitement and whatever, I think some fans need to just put themselves in the shoes of their celebrity faves for a hot second. Think about how YOU would feel if strangers did certain things to you! It might not feel all that nice.

That's not even going into the haters who post hurtful, mean and unkind things to celebrities on their posts, or tag them in tweets bashing them for no good reason, etc. 😔 Yea, some ppl can say, "well just ignore it" (and I'm sure many celebs try to), but at the end of the day, they're still human, and sometimes words hurt! Especially when you know that these ppl don't know a thing about you personally, or lies have been spread about you all over the internet and ppl are reacting to the lie instead of the truth that you know. It's just crazy. 🥴

Re: Tom...

Yea, I don't think Tom has really changed who he is as a person either! I mean, I'm sure he's seen the downsides to massive fame, and has kind of learned a bit how to be more wise with his fans and fame level. But overall, he's obviously still the nice, kind, good guy that we've always known, and fan encounters and the things that ppl say about him reflect that! 😃

And yea girl.... I want my man to PROTECT me too!! Shoot lol.... 😂 If anything, ppl could argue that he was really protecting Zendaya with that plea to take down the video, because in all honesty, Tom's back was to the camera, so he could have been any old dude walking along the beach. But it was Zendaya who's face could be clearly seen in the video, on her bikini, splashing in the water.....

Anyway....

I adore them as a couple too Anon 🥰, and I really wish that this world would be more kind to others.

I believe it was the Dalai Lama who said:

Be kind whenever possible. It is ALWAYS possible. - Dalai Lama

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damnfandomproblems · 1 year

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Below the cut is all of the responses that were in the inbox related to Fandom Problem 3954 and the subsequent asks. These will be all of the ones that were sent as anonymous.

The following ask came in on April 19:

I just want to say I appreciate the DID asks on this blog. It was a nice sanity check for me. One of my friend's kids who is in high school got sucked into it, he started "switching" at 17, and she's getting him to go to therapy to find the source of the problem, but he's apparently really argumentative with the psychologist and keeps insisting he only has DID, for very wrong reasons. Symptoms that don't match any kind of DID I've seen. His mum was really careful to find someone who was familiar with DID, I know she wouldn't send him to someone who doesn't know what they're doing because shes amazingly good with google-fu, so it can't be because the psychologist doesn't know what DID is or how to spot it. For a while the whole thing made me feel a bit crazy because his obviously fake symptoms and onset (?) didn't match how adamant he was that he had DID, I was starting to believe him too. I want to thank the asks for resetting my perspective. He certainly needs help it just isn't going to be help for DID.

Here are the ones from April 17 and they are out of order because of how I added them from the inbox:

I'm in college and know multiple people who are barely even minors anymore who just started faking tourette's out of the blue. One day they just showed up and started doing tics. Obviously fake tics for that reason, also because it's obvious they have a brief "wind up" period before them when they look like they're contemplating just how to pull off tics. They're all neck tics and arm tics too, nothing is ugly or painful. So I can confirm a lot more people are faking these things than people think. Dhar Mann even made a good skit about it because it's such a popular thing for kids (even college age adults who have trouble making connections and getting attention) to do

Oh god this is syscourse

It shows up on my dash once in a blue moon and I never have any idea that the fuck people are taking about. All I know is it has two sides who both despise each other and years of grudges

just wanna say that i'm glad most people here seem to have sensible takes regarding the "DID" boom online

As someone who knows someone who uses a system and has DID, the anon that said they were not responsible for making someone feel safe in the discord server is awful.

That anon makes my blood boil because it literally happened to my friend who has a system. My friend's fictive is part of who they are, and it is them. They have the right to feel uncomfortable when people do strange things with the character the fictive is.

In my friend's case, they had been in that server before the rper had joined. But the server mods decided to take my friend's "character rights" away since they said "technically you aren't rping as the character, so someone else can have them." Would you all agree with the mods in this case?

Y'all saying people with systems who are uncomfortable with how people portray characters that are their fictives should just accept it do not get it.

Would you be okay with someone portraying a real life person in a different way?

Would you be okay with people rping as real people?

If the answer is no to both of these, then y'all should understand why people with fictives feel uncomfortable with people portraying their ficitives in such ways.

Replying to a comment on 714814266546470912: "that doctor literally took videos from their tiktoks without permission" Bruh, first off, someone does not need permission to share something that was posted publicly on a public website. Once you post something to the internet, it's fair game. This is why adults tell you to never put something online unless you want it to be there forever, because once it's up, it's up for good, and people can save it, share it, edit it, however they want. If someone has posted selfies on the internet, someone has probably saved them, for whatever reason, because they thought the pictures were cute, because they're collecting dirt on them, etc, and even if that's not the case, the data will always be there. Maybe it's not pristine ethics to share videos of minors, young adults, etc with mental disorders (not DID, obviously they have something else like factitious disorder), but it's not illegal at all. And if you actually watched the video (which I doubt), you would know the doctor, faculty, etc had covered all legal bases by repeatedly saying they cannot diagnose anyone over the internet or thought videos. Repeatedly. And they were strictly looking at the behaviors which they see regularly in people who fake, behaviors which are a strong indication (but, again for legal reasons, not a guarantee) someone is faking. They said this. You really need to brush up on your knowledge of laws, most of all in medicine, research, studies, etc and actually using nuanced thinking.

Sorry to add to the fire but in my fandom I see LOTS of "traumagenic systems" (DID) who also claim to "support endos". That raises so many red flags too because if someone really did have DID and was well educated on it as a result, they would know how DID really works and they wouldn't in a hundred years support people who are pretending to have something with totally wrong, obvious fake symptoms and consider them "part of the community". I guess it makes it easy to know who to block though?

I want to thank the person who sent 714815628520898560 for sharing that video, I watched it this morning during my shift and it was really insightful!! I learned a lot :)

I’m thinking about Roman genius and Juno spirits, and also of the post made by EarlGrayTay about how the English language struggles with nuance, when it comes to degrees of intensity.

We don’t have a word for something between having some tulpas and having DID, and so people are saying they have the latter even when they don’t clinically qualify. I do think that in most cases people who self diagnose with DID are more likely to be closer to the tulpa end than the disordered end.

Also, as memory stuff is part of it, it’s entirely possible that the apparent excess of people with DID in fandom is because the nature of the internet allows for pseudo-sockpuppeting, with multiple personalities creating different accounts, potentially unaware of what the others, as memory is a big part of the diagnosis

714820580417863680 2% of the world's population as of 2020 is 156 million people.

Say that again, slowly.

156 million people do not have DID.

10:

These asks are wild lol. My thoughts are, fine, maybe "endogenic systems" exist in the context of not being actual DID, but if someone really thinks they can have multiple identities or parts without having trauma to predicate that, well, I hate to say but that's basically a religious belief at that point, and not even remotely related to a medical disorder. The human brain usually has one continuous, cohesive identity. Unless, like someone already mentioned, you experience harrowing trauma in your early childhood. You can call yourself a tulpa, you can call yourself endogenic, you can believe you have fifty fictional introjects, five different Resident Evil characters living in your head, but that doesn't make it science. If you want endogenic systems to exist, call it what it is: a religion. And stop trying to bully and force your way into getting medicine to accept these ridiculous things, because it will never happen

11:

Got diagnosed with did in my 20s. Here’s a thing most of the issues I’ve had with the online system community in general. Also this phone im typing on doesn’t show text cause tumblr so ye spelling mistakes a plenty.

1: the whole community regardless of endo or traumagenic is kinds crap. Came to it for resources on how to manage things like persecutors and understand wtf was up. Covid was a wild time. Therapist officially diagnosed me in 21. Why is this important, cause the whole ass community hted endos or trauma or whatever and all unanimously hated tiktok

2: the whole fictive debate became even more dumb when there were 50 different i ndividaula claiming to be a fictive from genshin. Really weird. Cause the peeps in multiple communities threw a fit making those name close cultures. Personally i think it was due to so many fictives or some blue haired guy?

3: the fact people treated it like fictionkin something i thought i had because yknow issues with dissociation well the fictives got treated more like kinning

4: the biggest thing is the community allowed delusional attachments to become such a common place thing. I get it identity be fucky but its an issue when delusional attachment’s cone into play. Mainly cause most if not all system communities used carrds and tiktok as resources.

5 or 6? Cause phone be fucky: despite claiming to hate endos the community was nothyper critical to self dxing without reseach and minors self dxing. There’s a lotta reasons why it normally os pouring gasoline on a fire.

Finally most system communities are primarily white and it shows cause of how much they prioritize racial relations and closed cultures along with treating introjects like shit.

So the submission about bein a fictive whos tired of people treating em like they’re gonna be identical as the character iscorrect. Rampant problem

12:

Re: all this DID stuff and certain people digging in in the comments to defend what they're doing, I think it's interesting to contemplate not just why people do this for DID delusions, but also for fandom things in general because I think it applies to both (and to keep things a little more on topic, ha). I read a comment recently where someone was talking about personal truths, which are subjective feelings and beliefs, and social truths, which are laws and social constructs. When someone loves themselves and has confidence, they're able to maintain personal truths that may differ from other people without feeling threatened, and they can maintain those personal truths or values. This is what happens when someone has strong feelings about characters, or identifies with a character, but is able to witness people sharing opinions without going to war over them.

On the other hand, people who have insecurities and a lack of self confidence (or worth) will fight to make personal truths into social truths, to make up for that self loathing. They feel they can force society to accept their personal truths to make them feel comfortable, because they can't derive any actual comfort from simply existing with their personal truths that differ so much from social truths. This is what happens when you have, like a lot of confessions lately have mentioned, people bullying others over headcanons, calling them bigots for not sharing a gay ship or something. Or when people have low self-esteem and might be struggling with mental health problems, and are trying desperately to find answers and find self-worth, but have accidentally opted for something that is not a social truth, but a personal truth (believing they have DID when it is very obviously not), and so they fight tooth and nail to make that warped version of DID into something officially recognized. That is the only way they can get validation beyond their bubble. I think it's a growing problem not only because it seems like the world is kinda imploding right now and people need some kind of stability, when personal truths may not suffice for that because of the above issues with self-confidence or insecurities, but also because we've reached the point where kids are growing up without ever NOT having known social media, and they have near-constant access to that social media, which makes for an increasingly bad precedent. Not just for kids, adults with underdeveloped coping strategies are susceptible too.

13:

I'm pleasantly surpirsed by the convo around DID here, because I read the post and was half expecting a horde of endogenic or willowgenic or (word)genic systems to come stampeding in here calling everyone ableists lol, I'm kinda relieved there hasn't been a bunch of that

14:

Honestly laughing at how a word like sysmed exists. Are people "sadmeds" or "anhemeds" for telling someone they're faking depression? Are people "schizomeds" for saying people are faking schizophrenia? This is absurd and it's ao fricking offensive to compare the above to being a transmedicalist.

#fandom problem 3954 #response to previous ask #response to previous problem

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uboat53 · 7 months

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I haven't commented much or directly on the current conflict between Israel and Hamas. There are reasons for that, but they're fairly complicated, so I think it's best to do so in the form of one of my LONG RANTS (TM).

WHY I HATE TALKING ABOUT THIS

Honestly, it's depressing. This has happened before, it'll happen again. Israel and Hamas will fight each other, most of the dead will be civilians, a disturbing amount of them will be children, and then things will get quiet again for a time until the next blow up during which only single-digits' worth of civilians will be killed each day instead of triple. No one thinks any of this will change and, in the meantime, it will dominate news coverage that could instead be going toward something where public information might actually make a difference.

I should note that I'm not trying to minimize the consequences of this conflict, but isn't everyone else also tired of watching death and destruction that accomplishes nothing? It's like watching an abusive couple that never seems to split up. Everyone is just waiting for the current violence to end, but no one seems to have any interest in making sure it's the last outbreak of violence.

So, as much as I hate talking about it, let's talk about it.

THE CURRENT OUTBREAK OF VIOLENCE

The current outbreak of violence began when Hamas staged a particularly devastating attack across the border from Gaza into Israel proper. Numbers are still coming in, but it appears that well over a thousand Israelis were killed and a few hundred captured and taken back to Gaza. The amount of death is bad, but it also represents a particular failure of Israeli intelligence and their military which failed to see the attack coming or do anything significant to stop it.

Since that time, Israel has been shelling Gaza. Numbers are still coming in with regards to that action as well, but it appears that over 5,000 Gazans have died so far continuing the usual pattern of far more Palestinian deaths than Israeli in any given conflict. There are rumors of a possible Israeli ground incursion into Gaza, but it remains to be seen if Israel can pull that out without massive civilian casualties, massive casualties of their own soldiers, or both.

Whatever happens, the most likely outcome is that both sides declare some form of victory, the shooting stops for the moment, and we go back to a situation which will inevitably result in the next outbreak of violence. Exactly what's happened in every previous outbreak of violence.

THE CAUSE OF VIOLENCE

No one who studies the situation is at all confused about what is causing the violence. Every nation has an original sin, Israel's original sin is the mass expulsion of Palestinians in the conflict that followed the creation of Israel and Palestine in 1948. Yes, it's far more complicated than just "Jews kicked non-Jews out" and, yes, that simplification actually is good enough to get a basic understanding of the issue.

(Lest people think I'm picking on Israel here, I live in a country that's "lucky" enough to have two original sins. We Americans managed to both enslave millions of Africans in a horrifying form of chattel slavery AND commit physical and cultural genocide against our indigenous population. Go USA?)

Since that time, Israel has also captured three territories from neighboring nations (the reason you don't hear much about the Golan Heights is that it barely has a population and is mainly just a strategic high ground between Israel and Syria), annexed them, and begun to settle them with hundreds of thousands of Jews, displacing the existing population in violation of international law.

At this moment, there are about 7 million Jews and 7 million non-Jews living in territories controlled by Israel. Most of the non-Jews have very few, if any, rights under Israeli control and this creates a breeding ground for violent opposition.

PEACE

Actual peace would require that Israelis and Palestinians both live under a situation that provides them with basic rights and liberties. Given this, it's pretty much always been clear that there are only two ways that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict can end peacefully. Either Israel and Palestine will become two separate states or all people currently living in Israeli controlled territory will become Israelis under a truly representative government.

The reason that neither of these has happened yet is fairly simple, the Israeli right-wing and particularly the settler movement, will not tolerate either one. They demand that all the territory attributed to the 12 tribes of Israel must be under Jewish control. (Note that this desire will eventually require war with Jordan as the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh controlled the territory on the East Bank of the Jordan River, but that's for another time.) Separating Israel and Palestine would require giving up at least some of that territory and combining all peoples would result in a state that was basically no longer majority Jewish.

The problem is that the only other options are war crimes or crimes against humanity. The status-quo is increasingly (and accurately, in my opinion) being called Apartheid under the United Nations definition and, as far as I can tell, the only options other than separation or unification are mass expulsion or mass extermination.

PALESTINIANS

You'll note I haven't talked a lot about Palestinians in general or Hamas in particular here. That's because, from a high-level view of the conflict, they don't really matter.

Even Hamas' latest attack, brutal though it was, hasn't changed the situation in the slightest. Even if Israel had completely refrained from any sort of counterstrike, it would still control virtually every aspect of the lives of Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Likewise, even if every single Palestinian laid down every weapon today and committed to never pursuing violence again, it would not fundamentally change the main facts at issue.

At this point, Israel is overwhelmingly powerful compared to Palestine. It controls every legal, political, and military aspect of the interaction between the two sides and any changes in the current situation will rely almost entirely on what Israel chooses to do.

THE JEWISH ANGLE

I also haven't spoken much about religion in all of this. As many of you may know, I am Jewish (hello to those who don't) myself. More and more, I think the notion of Israel as a state representative of Judaism is no longer accurate. Instead, I think it largely seems to represent two other groups these days.

To explain the first group, I need to get a little "inside Judaism". I'm sure it will shock no one to know that Jews talk quite a bit about the Holocaust. In the last decade or so, I've noticed more and more, though, that there are really two different groups when we talk about it. The first group of Jews are the ones you've probably seen before, the "Never Again" crowd (I count myself in this one). This group of Jews believes that the Holocaust was wrong because genocide is wrong and we work to ensure that genocide becomes a thing of the past that will never happen to any group of people again.

The other group, though, believes that the Holocaust was wrong because it happened to the Jews. If you think for a moment about the difference between those two statements, you'll see that these are two very different groups with two very different sets of ideas in terms of their applications to the world. This is a bit anecdotal, but matches with conversations I've had with and comments I've seen from numerous other Jews in that time. It seems very much that Israel under Netanyahu, who has been Prime Minister for 13 of the last 14 years, has been representing the latter group under increasingly extreme governments.

The second group is not Jewish at all, it's American Evangelical Christians. This group believes that the Jewish people need to control the entirety of historical Israel in order to bring about the end times and have put extraordinary amounts of time, energy, and, most importantly, money behind that project. This has bought them enormous influence in Israel, perhaps even more than many Jewish groups, and they're a huge part of Prime Minister Netanyahu's political operation. Needless to say, they don't necessarily have the good of the Jewish people in mind when doing this, if you're familiar with the prophecies of Revelations you'll know that it does not end well for us.

So, is Israel really the Jewish state? To me it seems less and less true as time goes on. To me it looks more and more like it only represents a specific faction of Jews who are backed up by an increasingly domineering non-Jewish behemoth.

CONCLUSION

So yeah, this seems more and more depressing to me the more I look at it. Civilians are being killed in huge numbers by both sides in a war that no one seems to have any desire to actually end and a country that claims to represent a moral system that I identify with has come under the sway of one of its most extreme factions and their non-Jewish backers.

If you've got anything that could brighten my mood on the issue, I'd appreciate it. In the meantime, here's a clear statement of my position: Both sides are committing abhorrent violence and I do not support either of them. I support the civilians who are being attacked recklessly by both sides and encourage you to support organizations that focus on protecting and healing them throughout what is likely to continue to be a bloody conflict.

#politics #international politics #israel #israel palestine conflict #long rant (tm)

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lingshanhermit · 11 months

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Ling Shan Hermit: The True Meaning of Almsgiving

Buddha once taught about almsgiving, and Buddhists are generally happy to follow Buddha's teachings and engage in almsgiving—compared to observing precepts, forbearance, and meditation, giving alms seems easier to accomplish. It seems like all you have to do is take the money from your pocket and put it in the hands of someone who needs it, and the act of almsgiving is complete. It must be admitted, this is much easier than maintaining a calm demeanor while someone you dislike is speaking words that you dislike.

However, many Buddhists do not understand the deeper meaning of almsgiving. Almsgiving is not just as simple as taking a few coins from your pocket and putting them in someone else's bowl. Almsgiving is not solely about helping others, often, almsgiving is a form of helping yourself by helping others. This act helps you sever illusions of greed and ignorance. Only when you have severed all illusions and ignorance can you truly benefit all sentient beings.

For many generations, countless Buddhists and non-Buddhists have provided alms, benefiting innumerable beings. Regardless, this is a good habit that is worth continuing, regardless of the giver's motivation, he or she should be commended. Objectively, almsgiving has benefited many people and lives in need. For Buddhists, the greatest benefit of almsgiving is to help us realize that there is nothing that truly belongs to us. Each of us has knowingly or unknowingly benefited from almsgiving. Today, you can easily access the entire Tripitaka online, and we must express deep gratitude to those who made this possible. Without their almsgiving, none of this would have been possible.

What I mean by almsgiving is to let go of what you once tightly held onto. And I'm not just referring to your bank deposits. What you're holding onto isn't just these external things. Of course, you're also holding onto many external things, you have many things that belong to you, "my" desk, "my" car, "my" money, "my" spouse, when these things we consider ours become someone else's or get damaged, we become distressed. Because you believe it's "mine". Sometimes, you even get upset when someone mistakenly wears your slippers in the bathhouse. Even though you've only worn those slippers for less than ten minutes, it's enough for you to mistakenly think they're your slippers, marked with your imprint.

Of course, there are many internal things you need to let go of as well. For instance, how would you react if someone opposes your views? Would you remain indifferent? Probably not. You'd argue with them. This is also something you need to loosen your grip on.

Try to imagine, if you had no attachment to anything around you (those things you once thought belonged to you), whether they arrive or disappear, bloom or wither, you would be completely unaffected. This is the perfect form of almsgiving. The ultimate purpose of you giving money now to help those people and animals in need is for you to eventually reach such a state.

Right now, if you lost two hundred dollars from your bank account, you might be furious. But for those who have truly given everything, no matter who takes anything from them, they will not get angry. They might not even notice it. This is because they have never regarded these things as their own—and in fact, they never were. You believed some things belonged to you. You tried to keep them by your side, tried to maintain them in their original state, in the way you like, but eventually, they will leave you. Almsgiving is just giving freedom in advance to those things that will eventually leave you, and in giving them freedom, you too gain freedom by letting go.

Of course, this is a very high state of being, something I myself cannot achieve. If you took something from me, I would still care a great deal. The Buddha didn't require us to become like this overnight. He allows us ample time and preparation.

We can tentatively start by giving up unimportant things, then tentatively give up some important things. You don't need to worry that the Buddha will ask you to cut off your thigh meat to feed the eagles, but the Buddha might ask you to give the leftover bread to the birds that can't find food, to give the extra money to those who need it to buy bread. After all, this is much easier to accept than cutting off your thigh meat. Isn't it?

If you are willing and actually do this, then one day, you may be willing to give more. We have so much that we need to let go of, but we're very reluctant to do so. However, we have to let them go in any case. We will learn to let go bit by bit, and this way of letting go is painless. You get used to letting go without even noticing it. So when the time comes for you to give up everything, you will be very detached, as you've already become accustomed to letting go. If you get used to this state, you won't regard those things temporarily around you as yours. Thus, when they disappear, you won't suffer.

You see, there are so many unpredictable factors in this world, any one of which could cause the things you think belong to you to no longer be yours. Almsgiving is about getting used to impermanence, that some things may seem like yours now (in fact, even now, they are not yours, nothing is yours, not even you are yours), but eventually, they will become someone else's.

The idea of owning something is quite fascinating. Think about it, when you're shopping in a mall, you see a piece of clothing and you like it. At this moment, you don't think it belongs to you, you think it belongs to the seller. But when you've paid for it, you think it's "my" clothing because you've paid for it. But when you get home and find out the clothes don't suit you, you give them to someone else. At this point, you think it's "someone else's" clothing. But in fact, the clothing itself has not changed at all from the hands of the seller to you, and then to someone else. The terms "mine," "his," are all illusions projected by your mind. And it is these illusions that cause you pain. (If we delve deeper, even the concept of clothing is created by you. The so-called clothing is just a combination of pieces of cloth and buttons. When these pieces of cloth are not stitched together, there is no such thing as clothing. Even when they are combined, no entity called clothing appears.)

If you think something that belongs to you is being violated, you will suffer. When you were little, you couldn't bear other children messing with your beloved doll. Even a gentle touch was not acceptable. Sometimes you couldn't even bear someone sitting on your bed, because you thought it was your bed. But the bed, before and after becoming "your" bed, has not changed at all. You're just causing yourself needless trouble. You're tormented by the illusions you've created.

If you don't consider those things as yours, you will feel much better. Just as you don't panic when someone else's wallet is stolen. Usually, we think this is mine, that is mine, and when those "my things" disappear or are damaged, we are inevitably affected. But when you don't think anything belongs to you, the appearance or disappearance of anything won't have any impact on you. This is real almsgiving, which is to cut off all your attachments.

But sometimes, our almsgiving is used to satisfy our own greed. When you take out a hundred dollars, you actually want to exchange it for a thousand. Such almsgiving is not real almsgiving. Almsgiving is just to help you cut off your attachment to your possessions, to liberate you from your illusions, not to create more masters for you. If you give with this mindset, it is not real almsgiving. This is just superficial almsgiving.

But even such almsgiving is admirable, because Buddhism allows you a buffer time. We have been selfish for so long, and it indeed takes some time to learn not to be selfish. But we still need to understand real almsgiving.

Perhaps you know that in Tibet, there is something called sky burial, where the bodies of the dead are cut up and fed to birds. Many people think this is very cruel, but Tibetan Buddhists believe this is also a form of almsgiving. The body that is useless to you can provide a feast for other animals, and there is no reason for Buddhists not to do it. The only reason we are unwilling to do so is that we are too attached to our own bodies, even when we don't need them anymore, we still don't want to give them to others. So you can also say this is a method of cutting off ego attachment. In fact, that body is of no use to you (Are you planning to keep it for making bacon?) and even if you want to give it to someone else, they might not want it. The only one willing to swallow it is the vulture.

Sky burial also symbolizes emptiness, a part of you can become a part of the vulture, a part of the bird, and when conditions are ripe, it may become part of other things. Nothing can forever be the thing you think it is.

Written by Lingshan Jushi on January 25, 2009.

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灵山居士：布施的真义

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goodfellowe · 1 year

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I hope you don't mind me asking, but what originally got you into Hatstache? (If you ever answered this before, I am so sorry)

anon firstly i'm so sorry according to tumblr this ask has been sitting here since october 6th. i keep looking at it trying to word my thoughts and then telling myself ill answer it later and then... not doing that. lol

i got into ahit waaayyy back in 2019, when the fandom was mostly saturated with snatcher content at the time (people who have been following me since then probably remember that i hated him for like a solid two years just because he was everywhere lol). i remember very distinctly feeling very dissatisfied with how the game treated and wrote off mu after seeing her storybook, and i couldn't really find any postgame content that gave her a happy ending that i felt personally satisfied with. i ended up finding the hatstache tag on ao3 completely by chance trying to find that postgame content i wanted only to find that there were exactly two fics (neither of which i will not mention out of respect/not wanting that tied to my blog) that did not appeal to me for reasons lol.

the concept of it really stuck with me, though, even if i didn't find anything to fuel it with at the time. i like relationships where people who are hurting/have hurt each other work through it. and i am someone who looks way too into every little detail of everything, ever, and its always felt like mu both holds hk in a very high regard+was very hurt by her actions throughout the same. (see: dialogue+cut dialogue, graffiti around the game, the finale+mu's dialogue before it, the paintings, hk's 'betrayal', etc). paired with what little official content we did get of them being friends (postgame? maybe?) and it was a natural progression ehe

but even then i didn't actually feel super strong about it for a while. it was mostly just thoughts like 'damn, wish we got more content of them interacting' and 'it would be cute if mu had a little crush on hk without realizing'. i didn't actually get super passionate about it until i started writing the original version of twtt that summer/autumn (known as a crack in time at that point), and i only really wrote the ship in because 1.) i thought it would add some flavor and 2.) it made me really sad that there weren't too many options for people who wanted to read a hatstache fic at the time. and even then...

(screenshot from august 3rd, 2019. transcript in alt)

... it wasn't actually endgame. woah woah if you follow me for twtt please for the love of god put the pitchforks down they're endgame now and that's what matters. the story to twtt was significantly more different than it was now, but by the time i had actually wrote hatstache in, the ending i had planned for it was pretty bittersweet. it was just something i wanted to explore in my own self-indulgent way (as i always do ehe), and i was working through some stuff with my own sexuality and relationships at the time, so... yeah. threw it in for spice :D

then i started actually writing it and i just instantly fell in love with their dynamic and just how well their characterization worked with each other. i tend to write them as characters who come off as opposites at first interaction but are very similar at the core and that just makes them bounce off of each other really well. i got attached really fast, and as the story went down a totally different path than i originally expected, i was incapable of letting it go. it really just kind of worked its way into my heart. and the more i analyzed things and learned about the game and all of the little stuff hidden within/cut out, the more it seared itself into my brain until i was like... damn. i understand why they call it an otp now because i would go down with it. even when i trashed acit and took my year-and-a-half break from the fandom, hatstache was just a dynamic that lived in my head rent free.

it has a really special place in my heart because it is, in a way, what pushed me to start writing again and really exploring what i was capable of with my writing, too. and again its just a dynamic that i think can be explored in so many different wonderful ways. despite it all i want them to be happy and by god they will be... eventually :)

i guess basically to answer your question i just kind of wrote myself into it... but i hope you enjoyed my little trip down memory lane+some history behind the creation of twtt (there's a lot of it)

thank you for asking <3

#and also: im always happy to answer questions like these! it takes me some time to get into it but i love rambling so please dont hesitate #to ask me these sort of things. or things like hcs or ideas or what influenced certain decisions behind certain fics. etc etc #ive mentioned it somewhere but what originally got me to write twtt was some doodle of mu in a suit i did at a pizza place lol #the sketchbook its in got trashed but i know the drawing is still floating around there somewhere. i just have to find where ehe #long post #ask #hatstache #not art #twtt posting #just a little :)#twtt meta

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katiebug586 · 6 months

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Sit Down, Shut Up X Digimon AU

I'M BACK WITH ANOTHER DIGIMON AU!

Honestly, the 'I am going to create an crossover that is so doesn't make sense' image sums this up nicely regarding niche special interests and hyperfixations.

Either way, for those of you who aren't aware, Sit Down, Shut Up is a 2009 animated sitcom created by Mitchell Hurwitz, the creator of Arrested Development. While it is generally thought of being either a 'you love it or you hate it' show, it has a special place in my heart and despite its raunchy/lewd humor, I find it strangely comforting to watch.

And because I've been getting back into both Digimon and Sit Down, Shut Up as of late, it is only natural that my brain has the 'genius' idea of combining the two. It started with the innocuous question of 'What would the cast be if they were Digimon?' which is something I've asked for multiple other fandoms as well, such as Pepper Ann, Braceface, and Fillmore! to name a few.

I don't have much of a plot super specific to the show in a Digimon setting, but I do have an overall plot which I tend to use in most of my Digimon x (show) AUs involving the 'Digital World' being a near copy of the human/real world, with monsters having jobs, children, school, that sort of thing. All without knowing they're living in a simulation. The characters eventually find out they DO live in a simulation by another race foreign to them (humans), and find themselves having to go to the 'real world', where they find themselves facing a brand new threat, the Seven Great Demon Lords; seven powerful creatures, each representing some type of vice, who were created by the humans to purge the simulation and start over.

But some of them have their own interests in mind…

That's the usual scenario I use when 'brainstorming' (haha daydreaming) but with Sit Down, Shut Up I could go for less of the adult 'raunchy humor' everywhere, and instead incorporate more of an intense/edgy feel more geared towards adults with some added adult humor, rather than the moreso 'for kids' I would do for say, a Fillmore! or Pepper Ann Digimon AU.

Because it's eight champion-level (unless stated) adult Digimon who work in a digi-school and can barely tolerate one another, with some tolerated less than others. Then, everything they've known to be true is revealed to be a lie and they're forced to team up with those same people and kinda try to maybe understand them?

Now, I could see petty drama and 'canon-typical behavior/adult humor' at first being the norm, (kind of like how the sitcom only got thirteen episodes, which is usually when a Digimon season is still lighthearted. Unless you're Ghost Games that is. RIP Bokomon) but then getting Knight Of Cerberus'd and becoming significantly darker. Kind of like what Bojack pulled off, with the perfect mix of adult humor and a meaningful message.

You're probably wondering by now, what did my brain answer when asked that fateful question? Well, here's the Digimon I decided would fit and their lines! Rookie/Child forms are just here for reference, all are at Champion/Adult level unless otherwise stated.

Larry: Lopmon - Turuiemon - Antylamon (Deva) - Cherubmon (Virtue) (Can also become Vice if shit hits the fan)

Miracle: Terriermon - Gargomon - Rapidmon - MegaGargomon (May change Rapidmon and MegaGargomon if I find suitable mons)

Ennis: Elecmon (Violet) - Leomon - GrapLeomon - BanchoLeomon (Ennis is normally a GrapLeomon because I thought it would be fitting to have him at such a high level due to how 'great' he thinks he is and how he'd be himbo material if he wasn't so… Ennis)

Stuart: Guilmon - Growlmon - WarGrowlmon - Gallantmon/Megidramon (I thought Guilmon's/Growlmon's naivety was a nice fit for Stuart, along with the fact that they can and will fuck you up, e.g. Megidramon as an alternate digivolution)

Helen: Tsukaimon - Saberdramon - LadyDevimon - Star Beelmon

Andrew: Kotemon - Dinohyumon - Kyukimon - SlashAngemon

Willard: Piximon. Nobody knows much of his past, and frankly, they don't really care.

Sue: Haven't actually decided yet LMFAO.

#Digimon #Sit Down Shut Up #AU #Crossover #Digimon AU #alternate universe

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childofaura · 11 months

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So just wondering…

What are the differences between Shez and Byleth of both genders that made the former endearing than the latter? (Not to worry I’m not big on Byleth either)

I do have to acknowledge that for Byleth, they were put at a serious disadvantage in that they had no actual personal lines or voice-acting, it was all one-sided single-line dialogue choice. But even then, I feel in FEH and 3Hopes they're still bland... But better as characters.

But as to why I find Shez to be more endearing as a character, I'll break it down quite a bit.

Shez, I think, was placed in a better position as a character than Byleth was. Shez is a self-taught mercenary who has a lot of raw talent, but that doesn't always come through for them. So they have a lot of learning and growth to go through, which makes them more relatable. Their first battle has their entire mercenary team wiped out and even with the awakening of their innate power, they STILL lose to Byleth, which makes their drive to defeat them that much more believable. It's not just Arval/Epimenedes's hatred for Sothis that fuels them, it's also somewhat of a personal grudge.

Personality-wise, they're set up better, too. Shez is incredibly good-natured, open, and easy-going, willing to get to know other people and making friends with just about anyone. Even in their support with Bernie, when Bernie's scared of the big mercenary, Shez tells them "Yeah, he looks scary but that guy's just a big teddy bear". The problem with Byleth is that "Oh, Byleth is the Ashen Demon because they don't care about anyone" and then... suddenly cares for everyone at Garreg Mach. It's kind of contradictory, and sure one argues it's because they're put in a teacher's position, but the way they're set up isn't much different than being in a mercenary group where you're looking out for each other and protecting each other. Everyone's only fascinated with Byleth because it's "Oooo, look at our mysterious new teacher with the unknown Crest power", it's being in the teacher position combined with the Crest that puts Byleth on a pedestal, whereas Shez joins as a student and has the advantage of developing more of a personal and natural camaraderie.

And finally, Shez is just more expressive; there's just way more emotion to the character that opens up for better supports with the others. From Annette's support starting off silly (where Shez was singing the unfinished version of her song that accidentally ended up spreading to the rest of the camp) that suddenly turns melancholy when they talk about how a dying soldier sang it with a smile on his lips, to Shez and Dedue finding common ground in gaining the trust of others around them, to, again, Bernie's support where they help her try to gain confidence and meet new people. It pays off better than characters having a monologue against a plank of wood.

And a small extra note, I feel like Shez's dynamic with Arval functions way better than Byleth's functioning with Sothis. Arval actually guides Shez and helps them to learn, while also affirming their growth. Plus the teasing feels more natural and gives the two more of a familial dynamic.

Also finally, this one's more regarding F!Shez and F!Byleth, but F!Shez has the superior character design over F!Byleth. F!Shez has a practical mercenary outfit without sacrificing any femininity, while F!Byleth's outfit is ridiculous. The problem with F!Byleth's outfit is that she's SUPPOSED to be a mercenary, right? So why is she wearing stockings made of lace, a fabric that in older times is supposed to be INCREDIBLY high value because it was painstakingly hand-made and could tear easily? And what's the appeal of having her stomach exposed? Boobs and legs, yes I can understand that, but her stomach? Meanwhile M!Byleth is clothed out the wazoo. Sure, F!Shez still looks a little goofy but at least her outfit design still functions better than F!Byleth's. I don't have any issue with differentiating the character designs between male and female characters, but my goodness, make it make sense at least.

But yeah, those are my slightly unorganized thoughts on Shez. I just think overall, they were pulled off better as a character.

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