#and it takes more nuance to explain to them why it's a bad one

[spectros]

So more info in this:

There's a thing in survey analytics called a Net Promoter Score.

The score is divided into three categories:

People so enthusiastic that they are actively spreading the word of how happy they are with the company ("Promoters")

People who are neutral

People who are annoyed and will probably shit-talk the company ("Detractors")

And basically the point is to use the score to gauge how a company's reputation is going. So Promoters - Detractors, because if there are more people shit-talking than promoting, then the company sounds worse.

The thing is: if something is bad enough for you to mark at or below the middle score, you're probably going to complain about it to someone. But if something is like a 4/5 you're probably not going to your friends like "oh hey look at this thing I bought / let me tell you how neat this interaction was".

As a result, the Promoter score is the veeery tip top, and the Detractor range is pretty wide.

So in theory, if a company were to do a genuinely great outstanding job, they would get a great reputation. But with constant cost-cutting all companies really aim to do is to charge more for less, so they aim for industry-standard at best.

And instead of accepting that industry standard is always going to be a 3/5 by definition and result in a bell curve, they just kinda toss that responsibility on minimum wage workers and fire people to make it look like they're doing something.

I really wish there was an option on those Customer Service Surveys that says specifically, “The representative I spoke to was lovely and helpful and deserves all of the raises but I think that you, as a corporation, should die in a fire.”

[clumsypuppy]

i feel like im not making any sense but does anyone else feel like there are stories that let u run with them and ones that spell everything out for you

[sskk-manifesto]

Ep 5!!!

[were--ralph]

why exactly do you dislike generative art so much? i know its been misused by some folks, but like, why blame a tool because it gets used by shitty people? Why not just... blame the people who are shitty? I mean this in genuinely good faith, you seem like a pretty nice guy normally, but i guess it just makes me confused how... severe? your reactions are sometimes to it. There's a lot of nuance to conversation about it, and by folks a lot smarter than I (I suggest checking out the Are We Art Yet or "AWAY" group! They've got a lot on their page about the ethical use of Image generation software by individuals, and it really helped explain some things I was confused about). I know on my end, it made me think about why I personally was so reactive about Who was allowed to make art and How/Why. Again, all this in good faith, and I'm not asking you to like, Explain yourself or anything- If you just read this and decide to delete it instead of answering, all good! I just hope maybe you'll look into *why* some people advocate for generative software as strongly as they do, and listen to what they have to say about things -🦜

if Ai genuinely generated its own content I wouldn't have as much of a problem with it, however what Ai currently does is scrape other people's art, collect it, and then build something based off of others stolen works without crediting them. It's like. stealing other peoples art, mashing it together, then saying "this is mine i can not only profit of it but i can use it to cut costs in other industries.

this is more evident by people not "making" art but instead using prompts. Its like going to McDonalds and saying "Burger. Big, Juicy, etc, etc" then instead of a worker making the burger it uses an algorithm to build a burger based off of several restaurant's recepies.

example

the left is AI art, the right is one of the artists (Lindong) who it pulled the art style from. it's literally mass producing someone's artstyle by taking their art then using an algorithm to rebuild it in any context. this is even more apparent when you see ai art also tries to recreate artists watermarks and generally blends them together making it unintelligible.

Aside from that theres a lot of other ethical problems with it including generating pretty awful content, including but not limited to cp. It also uses a lot of processing power and apparently water? I haven't caught up on the newer developements i've been depressed about it tbh

Then aside from those, studios are leaning towards Ai generation to replace having to pay people. I've seen professional voice actors complain on twitter that they haven't gotten as much work since ai voice generation started, artists are being cut down and replaced by ai art then having the remaining artists fix any errors in the ai art.

Even beyond those things are the potential for misinformation. Here's an experiment: Which of these two are ai generated?

ready?

These two are both entirely ai generated. I have no idea if they're real people, but in a few months you could ai generate a Biden sex scandal, you could generate politics in whatever situation you want, you can generate popular streamers nude, whatever. and worse yet is ai generated video is already being developed and it doesn't look bad.

I posted on this already but as of right now it only needs one clear frame of a body and it can generate motion. yeah there are issues but it's been like two years since ai development started being taken seriously and we've gotten to this point already. within another two years it'll be close to perfected. There was even tests done with tiktokers and it works. it just fucking works.

There is genuinely not one upside to ai art. at all. it's theft, it's harming peoples lives, its harming the environment, its cutting jobs back and hurting the economy, it's invading peoples privacy, its making pedophilia accessible, and more. it's a plague and there's no vaccine for it. And all because people don't want to take a year to learn anatomy.

[cologona]

The fact that Jason’s wearing his murderer’s old title is a fun detail for angst but good god, “taking ownership of his trauma” is not his primary reason, or even secondary reason for doing so.

Practicality is core to Jason’s character. He did not learn to use bombs because he died from an explosion, he used them because they’re destructive and remote controlled and that’s useful for his goals. Even his theatrics are for a purpose of communication. Remember that he spent all of Lost Days in the same ratty track suit, and never took credit for anyone he killed or anybody he saved. If he isn’t saying something to someone he doesn’t bother.

So what is the practical utility of taking on the Red Hood persona?

It’s crap as a symbol of fear. Unlike the silhouette of giant bat, which stokes the imagination, the sight of some guy in a helmet hardly inspires anything more than perhaps thoughts of motorcycles. The name itself is merely a reference to the costume and the costume is just a thing to hide your face. It’s the most spartan, pared down persona one could have. That it used to be Joker’s hardly helps because it was only his back when Joker was just an ordinary man— and a rather pathetic no-name fall guy at that. Anyone clued in enough to know about it is more liable to think of Jason as another nutjob than to be intimidated.

But that’s the point. Jason doesn’t need a symbol of fear because he gives people perfectly tangible reasons to fear him. The Red Hood persona is nearly devoid of expression, but because of that it’s very effective at the one thing it does express- “I am a criminal. Refer to me by color because there is nothing more to know.” Its association with Joker taints anyone else who uses it with the implication of insanity, but insanity is useful when any crook or businessman worth his salt in Gotham knows not to bother questioning the non-negotiables of its local lunatics.

Jason is an especially acrobatic single-operator pushing a seemingly altruistic agenda. It would’ve been very easy for him to get labeled as another vigilante. One that is more comfortable getting blood on his hands maybe, but a vigilante nonetheless. That he’s able to function the way he does, while still being taken seriously a rogue and crime lord is due in large part to his very deliberate presentation.

Why, if Jason thinks what he does is good and necessary, does he present himself this way? Maybe because from the start, his beliefs were more nuanced than one would be lead to believe. That Jason thinks his actions are necessary does not mean he must also think they should be attributed to righteousness or justice. He explains in Outsiders: PAYG— what it means for a ‘bad guy’ to do something is different from if a ‘good guy’ does the same thing. Jason essentially makes the same point Tim once made to Huntress about public trust in heroes but from the opposite angle.

The assertions modern comics make about why Jason has the Red Hood mantle (and why he uses a crowbar) ring very hollow to me. It feels like an almost deliberate push to erase the complexity he had as a villain in favor of a squeaky clean redemption arc. The way I see it though, so long as Jason remains Red Hood any sort of “redemption” he has is a false one. He’s still holding onto the symbol of his convictions, just because he’s willing to betray himself and others for love doesn’t mean that he’s changed his mind about how it all works.

[antianakin]

I'm kind-of genuinely devastated that they decided to cut out the reveal of Perrin having known all along about Mon Mothma's rebel activities and was getting interrogated WEEKLY by the Empire and never cracked even once.

This would've helped answer SO MANY QUESTIONS about Mon and Perrin, and it could've easily helped answer the question of why Mon felt like she could just walk away from her family after making herself public enemy number one.

She goes to finally explain it all to Perrin right before she makes the speech because dammit she might not have trust him or even like him all that much but she doesn't want him DEAD and he deserves the chance to find this out from her and get himself to safety before she turns his life upside down, and he tells her he's known all along and covered for her this whole time and never once cracked or been discovered, even when she framed him for gambling and sold off their daughter to a gangster's son. He lets her know that he doesn't need to go to safety, he's not just going to run now because that'll just make him look like he was involved in it. He can continue to cover for himself when the Empire comes to interrogate him again, and he can do it well enough to ensure Leida doesn't get implicated, either. Mon's priority is the rebellion, her priority is her work and it always has been, even to the detriment of her relationship with her family, and Perrin understood that but it meant that HIS priority had to be protecting and taking care of Leida in the absence of her mother. So Mon has to go, but Perrin has to stay because their daughter needs him now more than ever.

And it just makes the choice that Mon has made so clear, the sacrifice she chose to make for the sake of the rebellion, and she can't back out now, she can't make a different choice because she tells herself she's doing this FOR Leida, to try to make a better world for her daughter to live in, but in order to give Leida that world, she has to leave Leida behind.

But she realizes now that she CAN trust Perrin, she could've trusted him all along, so she chooses to trust him now. She trusts him with their daughter, she trusts that he can take care of himself and Leida in her absence once more.

This helps Mon's arc SO MUCH, and I honestly love it, and as Bissell says it's technically a non-canon thing now because it clearly never even made it into the script really let alone got filmed, but it's pretty easy to slot it into what we DID get to see, so as far as I'm concerned, this is my canon. This fixes so many of the problems I had with the end of this arc for Mon and makes it so much more emotional and almost tragic. Mon made her choices and you can argue that some of them were mistakes if you want, you can argue that it made her a bad mother if you wanted to, but it's so much more complicated and nuanced than that, and I love that this finally makes that so clear. Mon made her choice and her family paid the price a long time ago, long before Mon was willing to acknowledge that she'd made that choice.

[ofbreathandflame-archive]

Sometimes, I think about the absurdity of the UTM situation — but then, sometimes I think of it and it makes Rhys a much more sinister, albeit, more interesting character.

Like - the situation is this, initially:

Feyre is in her cell. She frazzled,dirty, but hasn’t quite had to experience any of the horrors of UTM, save for her bargained first trial. After her initial riff raff with Rhys, the guards are hypnotized to never touch Feyre, and she receives hot meals to her cell everyday. Rhys was also able to clean Feyre up multiple times as well. So far - excluding his other actions up to this point - we can characterize Rhys as opportunistic, cruel, but well-intentioned in these moments. I am not asking for him to be a purity princess, only that I can vaguely understand the motives to his actions, whether good or bad.

But then…

He then *willingly* chooses to take her out said cell, allowing Amarantha to remember Feyre. His only tangible reason for doing this was to…anger Tamlin. He already had explains that Amarantha has a shield that wards against physical attacks, so that explaination makes no sense. The only one that actually sticks is that Rhys is…jealous. There is no tactical explanation as to why Rhys would establish this safe-space for Feyre, only to immediately co-opt it. Think about it, at this point, Amarantha has forgotten Feyre even exists. If she was tangibly written, she could have played against Feyre’s time, allowing each trial to take place once every thirty or a fifty years. But I digress.

Anywho, Rhysand removed Feyre’s clothes, painted her, and gave her a linen scarf as a dress. The hot food be gives becomes inconsequential because the wine makes Feyre wretch up any all of the food she receives. She then has to sleep on the dirty ragged floor naked because those were all of the clothes she was given. And as Rhysand is breaking Feyre down, he also has the antidote. Now, Feyre isn’t surrounded by the quiet of her cell, or looking forward to the anticipation of a hot meal. She is anticipating (and more than not dreading) her eventual drugging SA.

The sinister part of this is that — Rhys becomes the author of all of Feyre’s sorrows, but then he also swoops in and provides solutions to the issues…he caused.

And it’s why the music scene is one of the most unromantic moments in this series if you stop and consider EVERYTHING. Feyre is sitting there, alone and naked. Exhausted after being paraded around by the Wraiths and having to bear info she has no power to stop. Rhys reads her mind, and then sends the music into her cell. But HE IS THE ONE who caused it in the first place. All of it. It’s so scary when you consider that Feyre was a human, with no mental shields. She was a legit open book and the book acknowledges that he read it alll. Like - even in Twilight - Edward could read everyone’s mind BUT Bella. She was a closed book for and that made her interesting to him. It built a sort-of boundary between them, which considering everything, was a good literary choice.

Rhys has all of this access, and knowledge of Feyre that she doesn’t even get the pleasure of telling him (or just letting him experience it). Like that moment where Feyre tells Rhys she was scared, and he retorts back “no you weren’t” is like…quite scary. Idk. It’s just so weirddd. And I’m not asking for these tidbits not to exist. I’m saying that the story never considers any nuance in these issues. Feyre is expressing that she felt these amalgamation of emotions upon seeing Rhys, but he just smiles and tells her how beautiful she thought her was. At one point, Rhys mad feyre so scared she pissed herself (or almost did - I can’t remember) and threw up. She was terrified, violated, and afraid. And Rhys knows this - and he never apologizes. I am not against the idea of Feysand, as many may assume, not inherently. My problem is, the sinister parts do not add nuance. There’s no discussion into Rhysand’s control issue, which is wrapped in a self-sacrificing package. His need to do everything is the exact same as Tamlin’s control issue - they are both very controlling. Rhysand cannot trust his inner-circle. He does nefarious things because he doesn’t trust them to do so even though they’re so supposed to be Prythan’s version of the Avengers. He makes Mor the queen of the CoN…but doesn’t actually trust her to do the job. What I’m saying is - instead of it leveraging Rhysand’s faults into a well rounded character, the book would rather just assume they don’t exist.

[jmdbjk]

Jungkook telling it like it is...

He did tell Spotify that he'd use the blanket they gave him. Just not the way they probably thought he would: Jungkook's glossy black marble floor shows his bare feet prints on it and he used his Spotify blanket to clean the floor. He says he'll have to always wear socks or slippers. I can see him leaving a pile of toe socks at the door just for him to put on when he's in that room...

He says he briefly and unseriously considered quitting the business to be a full time cook. (JK, you can't do that, you have to make enough money to pay for the utilities and property taxes on your new fortress...) But that's his introvert kicking in, the routine, the comfort zone, the way his job holds his interest enough to make him want to keep doing it. But he is aware and he knows this about himself and knows he has to return to his "spot" as he called it.

He seems to accept the fact his place of residence is going to be known by the fans just like many other aspects of his life such as details of his military service. He seems to take it in stride but he also sets boundaries by asking fans to not come to his house and do not send packages, not only to his house but to his army base. He explains why, that he cannot accept them and that packages containing food are restricted. He clearly instructs to send letters to the company.

How do people know where he lives? Here's the answer, or at least part of it:

We all know if you spend time on Youtube the algorithm will feed you videos and channels similar to what you've watched. If you are restrained enough to limit your viewing to only BangtanTV I applaud you. But if you watch anything else, youtube will serve you similar. We all know that through the anecdotes of Armys talking about being flooded with edited, slo-mo shipping videos.

Personally, I like watching youtube channels that show walking tours of Seoul. The city captured my attention and I've learned so much about it. But because of this interest I have in Seoul and Korea, more "walking tour" and Korean travel type channels are suggested to me. Some are better than others. Some are actually run by K-Army. I am very interested in K-Armys' perspective about life in Seoul so I watch. We get to see the birthday cafe events and such that I'm probably never going to experience.

Inevitably one of these channels is going to walk by the members' homes... because they are Army and can. Streets are public. And this is how other people find out where the members live. The videos show that none of the homes are accessible. They are all behind walls and gates. None of the videos show hoards of fans congregated in front of the homes. The only place you ever see that is in front of the Hybe building.

Yes, it is controversial knowing these things but it is also one of those things that is almost unavoidable. What do I do with the information I gain by watching? Nothing. I satisfy my curiosity and move on.

Jungkook knows we are curious. He knows with his position in life there are things he cannot control and he's aware of it. It's pointless for him to pretend he isn't aware of this. That's why he sets boundaries. And he's very kind about it when he does set boundaries.

Are there bad actors out there who will take advantage of the knowledge? Of course. But that's on them. Are there people who will post every detail they learn? Of course. That's how the information spreads to other social media platforms.

Anyway... the Weverse translations are sort of skimming over what he says. There's a little bit of nuance being left out sometimes.

The Weverse English subs say "We'd sing it every day while taking showers." But Jungkook more accurately said: "We always sing together while taking a shower." (begins at 1:00:00)

The Weverse English subs say "Recently, with Jimin, now during our clean up time I finished up in the kitchen and came back up we talked a lot about music and we'd always be humming (he hums) and I'd go far away and sing songs (he gestures away from him). I'll try to practice more when I have time." But more accurately he said: "So these days I'm with Jimin and now when its personal maintenance time I go upstairs after finishing kitchen work. We talk a lot about singing and we're humming along to each other all the time (he hums) like that and we go far away and sing and stuff (he gestures away from him). I'll practice more in my spare time." (begins at 36:48)

The Weverse English subs say "I've been doing well with Jimin in my military life. I've been well." More accurately he said: "I'm/we are working hard and doing well in military life together with Jiminie-hyung. I'm doing well." (at 8:18)

He showed us his entertainment room, he clearly states he can't show us the upstairs but he does not give a reason why but as he talks he explains he has not "organized" his house. Maybe he won't show it because he doesn't want to or maybe he won't show it because in his opinion, its a mess right now. Regardless, its his choice what he wants to show us and we are privileged when he does so. I'd bet that at some point, we'll see his kitchen because he's Jungkook.

He talked about his job as a cook in the Army. He said he prepares many Korean dishes and they are either boiled or braised. He mentions that they cannot grill food. He says its not easy making large amounts of food. He says he does his best to make them tasty. I've noticed on the timeline the accounts that post military menus that on most days, meals include stews and soups so he is definitely learning how to cook a wide variety of dishes.

He sang about 30 songs including several off Golden. He sounded really good singing Standing Next to You, in fact, his off the cuff live singing of all the songs from his album was pretty exquisite even if he didn't sing most of the songs to the end.

He spoke with a slight reverence regarding only singing BTS songs with the rest of the members. It gave me the impression he knows it will be a special moment for them as well as us.

He picked at his lip, bit his cuticles, touched his lips, scratched his head under his beanie and yawned many times before finally telling us good night. Until we see you again soon, Kookie! Be safe and keep practicing with Jimin!

[schizoidvision]

Splitting and the Schizoid Experience: A Personal Take

For those of us with schizoid dynamics, splitting doesn’t always show up the way it’s described in most clinical writing. We don’t tend to flip between loving and hating people, or shift from idealization to devaluation in a dramatic way. Instead, our internal compass often revolves around one primary distinction, whether something (or someone) feels safe or unsafe.

This binary creates an internal threshold. Once someone crosses it, it can feel like there’s no going back. Even if the shift looks subtle from the outside, something has been internally reclassified. And that reclassification tends to lead us straight into withdrawal...

1. Safety vs. Danger as a Relational Filter

I think most of us aren’t operating on a spectrum of how much we like someone. Instead, we’re trying to calculate whether it’s safe to keep them psychologically near. If someone feels safe, we might let them orbit us maybe even with a surprising level of internal fondness. But if they feel unsafe, that fondness often shuts down immediately.

It’s not always a conscious decision. There’s usually a felt shift (something in the body, or a sudden distancing in the mind) that signals it’s time to pull back. It can feel like that person no longer exists in the same way. Not because we hate them, but because our inner structure has flagged them as dangerous.

2. Emotional Distance Isn’t Indifference

I’ve noticed that emotional distancing after a breach of safety doesn’t mean we stop caring. It just becomes too dangerous to keep caring actively. It can be difficult to keep someone in view internally without reverting to extremes, either too close or completely severed. So we cut contact, emotionally or physically, not to punish, but to stabilize.

Many of us have trouble with "whole object constancy" holding someone as both good and bad at the same time. If someone lets us down in a way that hits the wrong nerve, it may feel safer to view them only through that new filter, even if part of us knows the full picture is more complex. That awareness doesn’t always override the internal demand for safety.

3. The Role of Dissociation and Detachment

In situations where we don’t or can’t physically withdraw, some of us dissociate instead. It’s like we retreat to another layer inside ourselves. We might still talk, still nod, still function... but we’re not really present. I think of it as shifting operations to a more internal control panel, where emotions are muted, and thoughts are screened.

This is especially likely to happen if a situation feels emotionally loaded, but we don’t have the tools or bandwidth to process it in real time. It’s less about being cold, and more about needing a buffer from what’s coming in.

4. Why We Might Not Return

One of the hard things about splitting in the schizoid experience is that once someone feels unsafe, there often isn’t a reset button. Even if they apologize or circumstances change, the shift in our perception tends to hold. I think this is because reestablishing trust would require lowering our defenses again, and for many of us, that feels more dangerous than staying detached.

This can create long-term isolation, even when we miss the connection. The protection instinct overrides the relational impulse.

5. What It Means to Understand the Pattern

Understanding that splitting can be based on perceived safety instead of moral judgments has helped me a lot. It reframes those internal cutoffs as self-preserving responses rather than cold dismissals. It also helps explain why others may not understand our sudden emotional retreat, because from the outside, nothing has visibly changed.

If we can start to track what makes someone feel safe or unsafe to us, it might be possible to hold more nuance over time... or at least to understand our responses with less internal confusion.

We may not always be able to change the pattern, but recognizing the structure behind it can give us some grounding. That grounding can help us make clearer decisions, and maybe even open a few internal doors that would otherwise stay shut.

Schizoid Education Videos

[synchodai]

"Mystra groomed Gale" takes rustle my jimmies like no other. I get how some people who don't know much about her beyond BG3 may have this interpretation, but if you're like me, a woman who's been playing since the days of AD&D, you'd understand why accusing Mystra of being the bad person in this scenario may hit a nerve.

TL;DR: Did Mystra take advantage of Gale's devotion to her as his goddess? Definitely, she's a Faerûnian deity — they subsist on worship and adulation. Does that make her his abuser? Eh... man, maybe it's high time that a lot of us learn different terminology for unhealthy relationship dynamics other than abuser-victim. I've seen a couple of posts that are really gung-ho about forcing every companion character to be some sort of abuse victim, because that's what they've decided the game is about. I mean, they're free to interpret the game that way, but damn, we're really out here flattening god, the very concept of magic itself, into the role of an abusive ex, huh? A fantastical, nuanced relationship between mortal and immortal set against the backdrop of a rich palimpsest multiverse digested like a YouTube drama video.

Let me try to explain my perspective by going through the history of Mystra, how she's utilized in Forgotten Realms lore, and treated within D&D games in general.

MYSTRA THE MAN-EATER

Since her creation, she has always been depicted as the sexy goddess whose main purpose was to be a wizard player's muse as well as their patron. Back then, D&D (and TTRPGs in general) was a heavily male-dominated hobby, so Mystra (and Mystryl, her avatars, and all her other incarnations) was catered and shaped by that demographic.

Because it's the player characters and Wizards of the Coast who have narrative agency and many of them want to fuck a goddess, they make stories where Mystra comes on to them because their character is just so good at magic. They designed Mystra to be a mysterious, beautiful love interest because they wanted to use her as the crown jewel of their power fantasy of being a super cool and powerful magic man. You can pretty much see this in the Elminster books and the Avatar series with Midnight (one of Mystra's avatars). Gale himself seems to be an exploration of this typical kind of wizard character.

As far as power fantasies go, making the goddess of magic have an intimate relationship with a mortal character is fine. It's the ultimate validation for a burger-flipper when the god and all source of burger-flipping is head over heels in love with them. It also doesn't have to have a sexual component to have "magic" and the magic system itself enamored with a character — depending on the game and DM, Mystra's favor can be entirely symbolic and metaphorical. A fine power fantasy in the power fantasy generation game.

So because everyone literally wants a piece of her, you end up with Mystra having more Chosen running around than any other god. Understandable given what she has to do to maintain her massive portfolio. It fits her as the personification of magic — someone who entices ambitious young spellcasters but burns them out through obsession and overreaching. Consume any Forgotten Realms-related media, and you've probably come across at least one campaign, novelization, or character backstory that use Mystra for the role of sexy sorceress goddess that's the alluring (yet often demanding) patron of some magic man. Whomst amongst our wizards haven't been visited by Mystra in the night ordering him to do plot point, he rolls to seduce her, and she has no choice but to admit that she's actually attracted to him because the dice said so? It was a community inside joke passed around tables: Mystra the Man-eater.

But then some BG3 fans started taking the joke seriously...

MYSTRA THE GROOMER AND WHORE

This piece of dialogue has done so much irrevocable damage.

Some (Galemancers specifically) have interpreted this to mean that Mystra is known to go after young men. She does not. She has more documented Chosen than other gods due to her massive portfolio and power level, but there are just as many female Chosen as there are male Chosen. Minsc, like most of us in this fandom, is speculating and doing so in a way that uplifts Gale at the cost of taking a bit of a jab at Mystra.

"Mystra's a whore. She boned Kelemvor and Elminster and so many of her Chosen, taking advantage of them as a goddess," they say as if she didn't have her romantic relationships all as different people and in different bodies. Her avatar Dasumia was the one who had an intimate relationship with Elminster, and it was the human Midnight (who later ascended to become Mystra) who was Kelemvor's lover (who himself was a mortal adventurer at the time).

This is why Mystra is, how other people put it, "a whore." Because WotC canonized a handful of those stories where different sexy female mage love interests whom otherwise have nothing in common are slapped with the Mystra label for one reason or another. Sometimes they're mere avatars or magical projections, sometimes they're actual people possessed by Mystra, and sometimes they're destined to be the new Mystra but don't know it yet. But those sort of nuances are lost to people who learn their lore secondhand from deliberately provocative tweets and reddit posts, flattening extremely fantastical relationships to clumsily fit a more relatable framing that'll net them more online engagement.

I don't want to argue what is and isn't grooming. But I have encountered arguments taking Gale's mentions that he was "a young man" to mean Mystra groomed him as a child. But I doubt he would have said "young man" if he meant child...

Mystra took off the gossamer veils from her body to fully reveal herself to him — or whatever romanticized way Gale tells you that they were intimate. The man speaks in half-abstraction and metaphors because it's revealed later on in the romance that all their love-making happened outside the Material Plane. They were very intimate, but never physically had sex (or had any physical contact at all because gods are only allowed to interact with mortals through their avatars or projections). If Mystra "groomed" Gale, so did every other god who revealed themselves and made themselves vulnerable to their followers. Shar grooms her justiciars when she brings them into her dark embrace. Umberlee grooms her clerics when she swallows them up and gives them her wet kiss.

MYSTRA IS A FAIR GOD ACTUALLY

Look, gods in D&D-verses are, more often than not, dicks. They have to be or else there would be no need for adventurers to fix wrong-doings if the gods weren't so detached to the suffering of mortals and regularly making earth-shattering calamities.

Mystra, as a patron, is actually one of the more fair and hands-on dieties. She's one of the few gods who rewards benevolent ambition and punishes destructive hubris, knowing the line between the two. In the Elminster series, she (or one of her avatars) assists Elminster in taking down one of her rebel Chosen who has abused her blessing to become a tyrant. Azuth, one of her Chosen, has achieved godhood through her. In fact, she is divinely obliged — forced against her will, some might say — to help mortals she would personally rather smite. There have been so many instances where Mystra has to be the bigger person. As far as gods abusing their followers go, Mystra is low on that list.

There are barely any stories of magic abusing spellcasters, but there are cautionary tales aplenty of spellcasters abusing magic.

ON GALE SPECIFICALLY: HOW IS MYSTRA THE BAD GUY HERE?

Gale is the first to tell you that he "violated her boundaries." Mystra told him not to mess with the Tome of Netheril and he did it anyway, so he's fully aware that the orb in his chest and his fall from grace is his own fault. Mystra didn't cast him aside just because she felt like he was getting too big for his britches. His actions actively endangered her and the Weave.

(Mystra is wrong about certain details on the Karsite Weave if we're going by Forgotten Realms lore, but she's not wrong about its existence being a danger. BG3 takes a lot of liberties with the world Faerûn, so I can't definitively say whether Mystra being wrong was her lying, Larian rewriting canon, or this incarnation of Mystra not knowing the true nature of the Fall of Netheril. I could go on about what effects the Karsite Weave actually would have on magic, but this post is already long enough. )

Gale only starts to resent Mystra when she asks him to detonate himself. Elminster makes it sound like an order, but from the way she doesn't punish him in the epilogue if he chooses to keep the orb, it feels more like a suggestion. If Mystra wanted Gale well and truly dead, she has so many options.

Throughout Faerûn's history, Mystra herself has constantly been betrayed and taken advantage of �� her power coveted by ambitious men who claim to worship and love her. Honestly, as far as goddesses with traumatic histories of being killed by ambitious men go, she's pretty chill about Gale. The fact that she allows him to become the god of ambition in the end if you choose that path? Well... let's just say she's not the one who looks like the evil ex who was only with their partner to take advantage of them in this scenario.

CONCLUSION

Mystra isn't the only goddess to have romantic relationships with her followers. I've already yapped on about how Forgotten Realms writers and D&D players love to make goddesses fuck their heroes, and all that pearl-clutching over "power imbalance" and "consent" is moot when the mortal party is actively rolling to seduce the divine entity.

But notice how the male gods rarely have intimate relations with their mortal charges? It's almost as if Mystra was objectified for years by horny nerds to be the sexy sorceress who validates the more important male hero. Fast forward years later, she's now being slut-shamed for all the lore of her sleeping with the more important male hero by a new crop of fans who would love to think they're more progressive than the horny nerds of the 80s, but fall into the same trap. Mystra has so much potential for complexity, but they choose to flatten her because they ultimately don't care about making stories involving complex female characters.

Instead, one of the most powerful beings in Faerûn has no bigger role in this universe than to be your girlfriend or your current boyfriend's evil ex. Wow, the realms of your creativity and respect for women truly know no bounds.

[themothwhisperer]

Here’s the thing that’s bugging me a bit about the finale: How Lottie and Shauna were handled.

The entire group has two things in common. First; they lost all societal structure. The set of norms, rules and values they’ve been raised with is progressively disintegrating. Inevitably and perhaps inadvertently, this process is happening inside every single one of them. The wilderness is the new real world. They are forcefully disconnected from what their past life once was. And second thing; they are teenagers. Which means they are at higher risk of being influenced by any outside factor. Literally any factor can alter them in some way (and obviously landing in the middle of a gigantic forest is a monumental shock). Their mental stability and psyche are inevitably fragile. This is the essence of what it means to be a teen. They all had their issues and weaknesses and messes before the crash. It only makes sense for all this to persist. We could even say that the logical conclusion is for it all to get worse. Much worse.

And we sort of have those glimpses that make us believe that. But yet, here we are with this not-so crazy hunt considering the only people actively approving were Lottie and Shauna.

To me, the message it passes is the following: the one and only villain in this story is Shauna Shipman. She is your ultimate cruel, cold and rotten-to-the-core bad person.

Because here’s the thing, the one and only other person standing beside her, soaked in this insanity, blood and madness, is Lottie. But Lottie isn’t even intrinsically bad! Lottie is sick and has been off her medication for an incredibly long period. Mental illness is backing and explaining her behaviour. Her coping mechanism is the wilderness and everything it entails.

That takes us to our last one standing: Shauna. Our true evil outcast. She’s completely alone, everyone against her. Nobody understands her anymore. Only Jackie ever did. So what does that mean? Only Shauna was deeply affected by the events and was wholly absorbed in them? She completely lost her way? Became an animal? Yeah, sure. But why is she the only one? How does that make sense. They are on survival mode 24/7. Witnessing terrible things. This doesn’t mean I was hoping/expecting every character to be unhinged. Simply more characters. Feeling ambivalent at least. And not just out of fear for their leader. But by pure and effective influence and severe shared trauma. Teenagers are mimics, echoes of each other. They copy and learn from each other. On the other hand, I like the idea that some of them are holding on strongly to their convictions regardless, such as Van and Nat. But the fact that it’s one person versus the rest of the group feels a tiny bit odd.

Why is Shauna so isolated?

Why is she the only one salivating from the thrill and excitement of a hunt?

In a way, they were all mocking her. Pretending to chase while covering tracks. There’s some massive dissonance. They’re all different people on an individual level, yes, but Shauna is not the only one who committed horrible acts beforehand. They all (or almost) had their moment in which they reveled into something brutal. And what else can we expect really? They lost all guides in this world, they have nothing to hold on to. But ultimately, they find the light at the end of the tunnel and reach the surface of sanity once more. There is also something very beautiful about this concept also however. But the endgame remains. It’s everyone except Shauna, of course. She simply cannot see the light anymore.

Perhaps this is a subject that would be delved into more during a potential fourth season (which I sincerely hope will happen). But as for now, I feel like Shauna is becoming a weapon. Like she was responsible for all their misery, to the smallest of detail. She’s extremely villainized. As if all the darkness was contained in her body, tightly sealed, not leaking a drop on any other Yellowjacket. There would be room for so much more nuances when it comes to the characters if only this rage was shared.

[whataperfectwasteoftime]

Where was this “censorship is bad” attitude when it came to the confederate flag. Or does this only apply to pedophilia.

Anon, I know you aren't actually interested in the answer to this question, because if you were you wouldn't throw it into my inbox like an accusation while hiding behind the mask of anonymity, but I'm going to treat this question like it was sent in good faith, because I think the issue with this argument is that people aren't willing to apply nuance to situations and to paint everything with the same brush.

I'll be honest, this question DID trip me up. I feel that these situations are different... but WHY? I'm going to make an attempt to answer, but do keep in mind that I'm a white woman and that readers of color would be better able to articulate the arguments here, but I don't want to burden them with responding to this as they have already spoken up and have had to defend their presence in this fandom more than they have had to already.

1. Tagging/Consent:

The fic featuring Joel and his daughter was tagged with all appropriate warnings. Readers could read the warnings and determine whether they wanted to read the fic or not. The themes (that most, including me, would find disturbing) were communicated at the top, and if someone ignored the warnings and continued to read and be upset by the content, that's on them.

The use of a confederate flag (as a tired and harmful stereotype of "southern" aesthetic) was NOT tagged. Readers did not know about the existence of disturbing/upsetting content because they were not warned. Readers were unaware and could not consent, and as a result some of those readers very politely (AND PRIVATELY, AHEM) asked that the author remove the reference, explaining their reasons. Things escalated when the author refused.

Alternatively, the author could have kept the reference in and tagged it as "the main love interest is a piece of shit racist" and then people could have decided if they wanted to interact with it.

2. Audience response

These two situations were met with a very different response. It might not FEEL different to those blogs that feel they are fighting for taking disturbing and/or harmful content off of the internet right now, but it is, I promise.

In the case of the confederate flag: first, the author was messaged privately and asked to remove the content. They refused. Then, several posts were made explaining the harmful history of the confederate flag and why it's inappropriate in a fic that isn't tagged appropriately warning the reader of racism. At no point did anyone "call out" people who interacted positively with the fic. No one made lists of people who liked it and called them racists. People only attempted to point out WHY it is harmful, AND educate others on the history of the flag, because as many people pointed out, non-Americans don't necessarily have the same context.

Now, in the current situation, that's not what happened. To my knowledge, no one reached out privately to the author about it. (BUT once again I must refer you to point 1, where this was tagged appropriately with warnings and any reader should have been aware of what they were consuming). The reaction was to publicly call out not just the author, but everyone who had interacted with the post, and then started picking fights with others who were adding commentary. The "I'm just raising awareness" argument falls on deaf ears because that's NOT what is happening. If that were the case, no one would have posted screenshots of my blog and insinuated that I, as a mom, abused my own child. I let that one go in the interest of keeping things civil, but that is a personal, inflammatory attack on me and does not fall under the guise of "raising awareness." This WAS meant to incite a negative response towards specific people in the fandom and we all know it.

3. Miscellaneous thoughts

I read the post detailing Tumblr's terms of service and it wasn't entirely clear to me whether fictional content involving minors is included on the list of violations to the ToS, and frankly, it doesn't really matter to me. The fic was taken down, and from screenshots of the original fic, it looks to me like the author was internationally trying to be inflammatory, which is their perogative, and I'm not particularly bothered that the fic was taken down. I'm not crying "boohoo, censorship!" because I want to read it or because I think incest is good, actually.

So it was removed. But is writing it a crime? No, it's not. Just because something may violate a website's ToS doesn't make it a crime, and people are throwing around that accusation regarding this fic, and it simply isn't true. That's where I got involved, because I'm a precise and literal person and I like it when things mean what they are supposed to mean. That fic wasn't illegal. Gross? Sure. In bad taste? That's up to opinion, and mine is yes, but my opinion on whether it's yucky or harmful does not make it a crime, nor does the fact that it violates the terms of service of Tumblr dot com. I chimed in because words like "illegal" have specific definitions, and this does not meet it.

Thanks for the question, I do hope you read and think about my response, and if anyone else has anything to add regarding the difference between these two scenarios, I'd welcome the discussion because I'm sure there are nuances I've missed.

[ao3cassandraic]

Murderbot s1e7 quick reactions

Under a cut for spoilers, obviously...

Okay, so "we can talk about this" turns out to have some nuance, we learn in the open. Judging from Bharadwaj and Pin-Lee, it seems to mean something like "something's been wrong/awkward/bad between us, but enough water has passed under the bridge that we can talk about it now, it's fine." So the circle of PresAuxers was trying their best to forgive Murderbot and reopen communication with it, but Murderbot's not from PresAlliance so it missed the meaning. Ouch. (And Gurathin has absolutely not forgiven anything at all.)

Gurathin's backstory is every iota as awful as we all suspected it would be. Blackmail by addiction? That's just fucking evil.

Aaaaaaaaaand I'm not surprised he's a bit more than half in love with Mensah. He basically got himself reborn and imprinted on her. Explains a lot about the pillow thing.

Though Gurathin also has a soft spot for Bharadwaj. They're very sweet together. (No, I do not ship them. Maybe queerplatonically, but really, no.)

I really envy Mensah's sang-froid when criticized. I don't have that. I spiral at the least criticism -- I hate instructor evaluations so damn much -- and have had to train myself to clamp down hard on instinctive, unproductively nasty defensive responses. Mensah, you continue to be the best.

Murderbot, you were doing so well at a softer approach until your melodramatic streak surfaced! You'll get there, friend.

... But the logic of "if I wanted to kill you you'd be dead," unassailable though it is, isn't what they need to hear just now.

Nor is Ratthi's instinctive downplaying of everything ever. Be honest with the SecUnit and your comrades, Ratthi.

The continuum of beliefs about Murderbot is back in full force. Gurathin and Pin-Lee against Ratthi and Arada, with Mensah and Bharadwaj uneasily in the middle.

I suspect at least one of the writers is a Becky Chambers Monk and Robot fan. That was a visually lovely sequence.

Gura, your jealousy is unbecoming. And Mensah's right, wtaf are you thinking, man?!

"Any bullshit... Fine." Yeah, Murderbot-Gurathin parallels again. Neither of them is fine. Both of them keep claiming they are.

Bharadwaj does not think they can talk about this... which given the meaning of that to PresAlliancers, and given her reciprocal soft spot for Gurathin, I can see why not. Points to her for being the first one to take Murderbot seriously when it tells them to hit the hopper, though.

It would be just PresAux's luck if they just happened to land their hopper in the millipedes' preferred spawning ground. Oopsie.

I love Murderbot's uncompromising asexuality. Fistbump, Murderbot! (I mean, if you want. I know you don't like to be touched. An air fistbump is cool with me. Also, points to Ratthi for not actually hugging Murderbot. Disrespecting its boundaries would not have gone well at all.)

... anybody else humming Queen toward the end? Another one sure did bite the dust. Vindication for Arada's pro-animal stance.

Murderbot's head-tilt... I think it is having an idea. An idea involving disguise. Which calls back to Gurathin's story in the open, in a way. Spy, Murderbot, spy!

[reblogandlikes]

I'm convinced I'm not the target audience for the acotar series because I just saw someone say that they're rereading it and somehow love Rhysand more...? The first time I can understand the lack of introspection and caught up in the hype, but the second time? Seriously? Do people honestly think as Feyre and the IC does about him and are unable to see past the false persona of "amazingness" when he's a terrible leader and throws his power around to those who rightfully challenge him as a form of intimidation?

Maybe because they know where they story ends, they're now reading everything from a 20/20 romantic lense because they "understand him", but even with this understanding, to me, makes his entire personality even more underwhelming, forced and unnecessary. Oh so powerful, yet barely does anything substantial with it. Then what's the fucking point of you other than to fill a "morally ambitious", super powerful, dark haired quota trying to convey feminism, but not actually?

And then, when I'm critical, I have to check myself and ask if I'm being bloody pompous, but no. No, I'm not. The love for Rhysand is baffling for the genre he is in, and i think that's one of my main gripes. Dark romance, sure. But not in a series that has the audacity to hammers down "abusive" behaviour on one character but not the other in the books and by fans in online spaces. It's so weird. If you have fae's, let them be viciously so, because they are not human. Their behaviours and customs should be the differences highlighted. That should be the appeal, or am I wrong? Not for the faeness to used to be OK in one moment, but not in the next because it doesn't suit the convience of the plot or may paint your beloved in a bad light. You've then just convoluted your own world, sjm, and takes away character depth.

I'm tempted to say that I've aged out of sjm's storytelling style, but i've witnessed fully grown adults eat this shit up. But age has nothing to do with this, and I'm just honestly at a loss. I feel like an outlier. Like, I'm just not getting the appeal to these favourable characters and get frustrated when things are clearly unjust or misrepresented, yet others swear ones actions and behaviours are perfectly fine yet hate to see it in others. You can't just pick and choose when shit is ok or not, especially when the characters have very similar reasoning behind their actions. Maybe I like shit to be nuanced too much, which would explain why it irks me of being told what to believe in contrary to evidence.

It's ok to like whatever book you want, but just dont lie about the content within or delude tourselfninto believing characterisations that are false because even authors fall victim to their own character bias. *Sigh* So I'mma chill and go tackle the books on my tbr.

[kiame-sama]

Hi! Not really an ask and more like an analytical essay (not bad all praise) I wanted to say I love your work and AU! I’ve been following it for a while and check for updates daily. I’m not a huge social media person so I tend to lurk a lot more than I interact but I really wanted to say that I absolutely adore your work. I would say that my favourite character is Malleus. Originally I really liked Leona because Leona was one of the only people taking into consideration the humans thoughts and feelings but through the rest of story I ended up really liking Malleus. You don’t have to respond to this as it’s sort of an essay rant of my thoughts but I wanted to share.

I think I probably have a little bit of a higher tolerance for Malleus’s shenanigans than most because most of the people in my life tend to be neurodivergent people that struggle a lot with social interactions and social skills, and I read a lot of that in Malleus both canonically and in your HAEAU. A lot of my childhood friends and uni friends exhibit a lot of the same behaviours—the kind where you sometimes have to explain in fairly excruciating detail why something is socially acceptable or unacceptable because that’s not going to be an immediate thought to them. To me, Malleus’s character is really nuanced because he very specifically lacks any form of social integration and that plays an extreme part in how he interacts with the world and the Human. He may be hundreds of years old but canonically he really is about late teens/early twenties if we’re equating his growth to that of humans. He’s still in the awkward adolescent learning phase where you’re an adult but clearly not a reliable adult. And his social isolation expounds upon that. While that doesn’t give him a free pass at all it makes his character and decision making more understandable and gives that nuance I mentioned. Is it okay for him to be overly possessive of the Human and doings something as big as extending their life and binding their soul to his without their consent? No absolutely not. But I also think that while that is clear from our understanding it’s not as clear from his. From Malleus’s perspective his human has become the most important thing in his life—he wants to protect them and desperately wants them to choose him and like him. From his perspective his actions aren’t unusual or something to be viewed as morally questionable because literally everyone around him is like that: it’s the norm, it’s the standard, and it’s fed into by those around him. He has absolutely no reason to question it until the Human pushes back. Giving the human his mother’s Magestone just makes sense—especially with Lilia (who practically stands in as a parental figure) supporting and giving him the idea. Because Malleus lack social skills he very heavily relies on those around him that have them to give him his social cues with Lilia being the person he takes cues from and follows the follows the most. If Lilia thinks it’s the right thing to do, it has to be the right thing to do because it’s Lilia that’s saying it. And with no pushback from those around him who do understand what he’s doing (like his grandmother just be being like “well if you’re sure then get to it.”) it makes sense why he wouldn’t see it as wrong.

Adding to this, we do get to see some of Malleus’s growth when the human does pushback against the things that he does. The difference from the first and second week where he wouldn’t leave the human’s side and threw a several day long thunderstorm tantrum about them living in Savanaclaw to the argument when the human was about to ovulate where the human was able to talk down Malleus—getting him to understand that they did not want to mate—and his decision to not only respect that choice but protect it by getting all of Diasomnia to guard Ramshackle when everyone else was trying to break in shows great character growth and learning from Malleus. It’s clear he does genuinely care about the human even if the way he shows that care is misguided and a little warped due what he believes is right being at odds with what we perceive as right. These actions to me read very similarly to the way that a lot of neurodivergent behaviour manifests—it’s not that the person in question doesn’t care about the feelings of others but that their lack of understanding of others views and social norms reads as cold and sometimes selfish to those that don’t understand their way of thinking or seeing the world. Malleus demonstrates several times that while he doesn’t initially understand why the human might be upset by something it does matter to him and when explained to him he takes steps in the right direction.

The most recent chapters are another example of that. We see plenty of times that characters get upset that the human is unhappy or upset with them but it’s usually from a perspective that highlights a selfish aspect to the narrative: Riddle being upset about his overblot because *he* should have been protecting the human and hurt them instead; Vil feels entitled to the human’s attention after all that *he* has done for them; etc. And while those characters show remorse because their actions “hurt the precious human” that they so adore Malleus’s remorse comes from a different place: his grief isn’t just over the fact that he put the human in danger but from the realisation that the things he’s done to “protect” them have majorly overstepped the human’s boundaries. Day one Malleus wouldn’t have had that realisation—he’s doing it because he believes he’s right, Lilia supports him, and the human will learn to understand it—current Malleus realises what he’s done is wrong not because of the physical hurt but because he recognises that he has hurt the human’s feelings in his obsessive efforts to keep the one being that he felt like had the ability to care for him without the strings of being the fae prince attached. Their conversation in the most recent chapter majorly highlights that as Malleus realises that his and everyone else’s behaviours have put the human through the same feelings and isolation that he has felt for decades—that realisation hurts Malleus so much that it brings him to tears. All of this shows major character growth and again while it doesn’t make the things he has done okay it shows how he can be better in the future using the things he’s learning now.

Malleus has become my favourite mostly because I tend to enjoy characters that the audience or reader gets to watch grow and develop but also because so far he’s felt like the character that has most consistently tried to grow and take the human’s words into account. Obviously the story isn’t over and we’re going to see more of the characters develop (especially ones like Kalim and Jamil that we just haven’t seen much of yet) but I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it so far and I hope our angsty dragon keeps moving forward in the right direction.

I am loving these essay style analysis pieces y'all are sending in, and I love reading over them several times. I also appreciate the heck out of the fact that you are picking up on Malleus' dilemma. His behavior is not acceptable, but he truly doesn't know any better until he is told that his actions are not okay. He has had zero friends who aren't painfully aware of how dangerous he is and his status, not to mention the fact that very few interact with him willingly even among those in Briar Valley.

In the HAE AU, he is over 300 years and has lived most of those years in relative isolation, excepting the most recent 24 years since Lilia took in Silver. Lilia, Silver, and Sebek are his few and far between social links to others, Lilia being an unreliable source of social cues given the old Fae is over 800.

His Grandmother and Great Grandmother are practically of the mind that Malleus is going to do what Dragons do, all of them accustomed to making decisions that others just obey blindly because of how strong and frightening Dragons actually are. Malleus is already slated to be stronger than both Malefica and Maleficent, so they just assume Malleus is going to be a wild-card until he settles down with the Human and relaxes. Dragons often make their Hoard's 'Crown Jewels' their mate, and the Human is the prized Jewel of Malleus' Hoard, so the elder Dragons just assume he is pent up and will calm down once mated.

Lilia has lived with these Dragons for almost all of his life and is the one who gave Malleus the idea in the first place, also used to Dragons getting what they want whenever they want it. Malleus severely lacks nuanced social grace and tries to mirror what those around him are doing, eager to uphold the Dragon reputation, yet not realizing he is pushing the Human away with his behavior. As smart and quick witted as Malleus can be, when it comes to social interactions he truly doesn't understand what is best or acceptable.

Dragons are Yandere by nature, and Malleus is struggling to deal with his impulses on top of his instinctual desire to claim. He wants to make the Human happy and he is desperate to keep them safe, but he is going about it the way his ancestors would, not the way that will make the Human happy with him. Not only does he not completely understand his overstepping being a problem, but he is- like all the others- a slave to his instincts. His instincts say The Human needs to be protected at all costs, but his heart says he needs to listen to that Human when they say he has overstepped.

[leolithe]

I haven't visited Warframe Wiki in MONTHS let's catch up a bit and reminisce about Lotus Eaters :D

Seeing "Natah/Lotus/Margulis" together on the wiki in a new quest 🥹.....

the Operator, Drifter, Lotus system family........ I love when they're shown to care for each other. I really hope there's more opportunities for them to just respond and react to each other. After the Hex quest I'm more than certain DE can meet the demand for affection from our OG Tenno family.

We should all be collectively freaking out about the sentence, "The Indifference is affecting the Lotus now".

It is so cruel, for a character who was constantly dehumanized, accused of being unfeeling, uncaring, evil... who all this time, struggled to prove that she cared, that she was as human as everyone... to get consumed by an embodiment of the very thing everyone tried to vilify her for. I am scared for her.

So the Lotus system can hear: their headmates' voices, the Indifference's call, the cries of Void Angels, the sounds of "Devils" that we don't know if they're alluded to as physical entities yet, and the cacophony i can only imagine that is the calls of life. How she hasn't suffered a sensory overload is incredible and heartbreaking.

I'm so, so, so happy DE is explicitly writing plurality into our Space Moms. It cemented the Lotus system as my favourite characters of all time... There's never been a character I met that was this thematically cohesive, this conceptually interesting. She's just so, so, so good.

I think it's so cute that the Lotus system refers to their body as their "shell"....... with how crustacean-like Natah is, I also described her body with words like shell and carapace in my fics before so this just makes me smile big big ^_^

I like this line. I read it as DE not at all regretting the direction they went with in regards to the Lotus' story. She was abused, she was hindered, mocked, and constantly punished for doing the one thing she wanted to do: Love her family, the Tenno. And the system saying this out loud is an unflinching point of confidence, that they know they were deeply wronged.

However, I do admit I would've liked to see a bit of Natah/Lotus/Margulis' reflecting on their past actions and what they were forced to do. This quest admittedly doesn't seem like the best place for an "I feel guilty about the things I did when I thought I was right, or when I was under the control of another" emotional beat, and this kind of subject (a victim's conflicting feelings after traumatic events) needs to be handled carefully and with enough time for nuance. So I'm content with sitting with it for now.

I still sometimes see people struggling with the point that Margulis is straight up just living inside Natah's/the Lotus' body. Like, yes, the Original Margulis was executed before the Old War, and the situation she's in right now (being a Human Mind in a Sentient Body) really is the Ship of Theseus dilemma... but idk i feel like accepting that the Lotus system feels and remembers the pain of the Jade Light is easier than making the "how Natah/Lotus will never be Margulis" speech again.

Besides, I think the "Natah and Margulis are formed from Lotus' perspective of them" theory/headcanon is enough to explain why Margulis is with them... but somehow I don't think plural concepts are well-known to the average person lol

The idea of all 3 of them mourning Margulis' death but not wanting to change it is just. OOOOOOOOUUUGH... my heart....... Margulis chose to die but she was never allowed her death. Margulis chose to die but she can never regret it. The system was shaped by everything they faced, all the good, all the bad, and they know taking anything apart means losing themselves. They don't want to lose who they are... they don't want to lose each other........ WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

I read a comment somewhere that pointed out something I missed: The Tenno are all about taking one's pain away. What would they do about someone who wants to keep her pain? Someone who is in the early stages of Rell's situation, face to face with the Indifference? ....... Lotus nightmare sequence please? :3

No, Lotus..... I don't............. :<

I'm very scared to find out what her deal with the Indifference exactly was. I hope it shatters my heart.

I do wonder if DE is gonna mention Rell again now that the Lotus system took up his role. I still hold onto that Copium that Margulis was framed for casting him out, or that there was something from other perspectives that we were missing regarding how these two treated each other... Regardless, I think it would be nice for us to see the Lotus system reflect on Rell and what happened to him.

My Working Theory for the future of the Lotus System is that she'll continue guarding the Origin System from the Indifference, but not without consequence. When Lotus ascends to Godhood and takes up that gatekeeper role, she's gonna be in close proximity to the Void. I think there might be an arc where she accepts the Void and all its flaws into her body, a la Dark Matter in Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon :P

Leave it to a Sentient AI plural system to be The Great Sentient Queens of Multitasking :P

I want to know more about what other people observe about her SO BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD. I WANNA BE THE ONE OBSERVING HER BEHAVIOURS, I wanna see more of her facial expressions, her little twitches, her posture, her quirks, her attitude changes when she switches. I want to hear more of her singing, I want to be there to comfort her, I want my Tenno to talk to her and I want her to respond in kind.

I just want MORE LOTUS and I now have dangerously high expectations for her writing and the way she's going to be portrayed in future quests. DE is setting up something huge and I can only hope the time it takes for them to finally release it manages to temper my expectations.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. I need to end post now. Oh Space Moms. We love you so so so much.