#they're interconnected but barely related

[shallow-wordsalad]

Words mean things.

That must be true, because otherwise language doesn't function. If words were entirely meaningless, there would be no difference between talking and nonverbal grunting—everything conveyed through context and inflection. That's obviously not the case; words do have meaning, and we've largely agreed on those meanings within languages. However, when I say "watermelon" and you say "watermelon", we're imagining different things. If I said "wow that box was as heavy as a watermelon", you might be confused if I look tired when saying it.

Watermelons aren't that heavy, you think. You're thinking of the personal watermelons you had every summer, that you bought to split with your family over a barbecue. You could carry them as a kid, they're small.

I'm thinking of the larger watermelons that my dad bought to cut into cubes and put in the fridge for a week's worth of lunch snacks. They were huge and took a while to break down. They shook the table when he set them down.

We said the same word, but we meant different things. The words had concrete definitions, but the exact meaning is something we assigned ourselves, which defines only our own perception of the word and all associated with it.

Now what do you picture when I say "rock?" What shape is it? Can you pick it up?

Which is bigger: "Huge", or "Giant"?

Which is worse: An "injury" or a "wound"?

Which is faster: A moment, or an instant?

Define the color teal. Now define grey.

Define "male" and "female".

Define "lesbian", "gay", "bisexual", "transgender," and "queer".

Define "pornography". Define "sex".

I'm sure you can. I'm sure someone can give me exact data that empirically proves their definition. You could point to a scientific or medical or geological database that gives a certain, absolute definition. And yet I can point to something which exists somewhere on the fringe of your definition. Do you expand your definition to include that fringe case, or rigidly insist that "words mean things" and insist we call that thing something else?

In one field, words lose meaning—anything can mean anything, and we're back to pointing and growling in context. In the other, we subdivide everything into increasingly smaller boxes, rigidly assigned words in a fractal of definitions.

Words mean things. Whatever "things" are.

[twilightkitkat]

Everyone knows that the MCU is interconnected to set up crossovers and grand finales to arcs, right?

Imagine this: after the events of No Way Home, Peter is living alone. He has nobody who remembers him outside of his Spiderman persona, and the world has forgotten his existence. He's working a shitty job and living in a shitty apartment and is completely isolated from the world.

At the same time, Wade and Logan have started living together after saving the world. They both understand each other in ways that nobody else does. They relate to each other's pain. They begin taking jobs and missions together and learning to truly live instead of just survive.

At this moment, their character arcs moved in opposite directions. Peter went from having it all—friends, family, fame, respect—to having nothing. Meanwhile, Wade and Logan went from having nothing—Wade had lost his sense of purpose in life and girlfriend while Logan had lost the X-men and was outcasted by society—to finally having each other. They are creating their home just as Peter lost his.

But despite this, not everything is going well. Maybe Logan and Wade are struggling due to miscommunication and their insecurities. Maybe a new villain comes along and puts external stress on them. Maybe the timeline is still unstable and they need to keep doing maintenance work to restore it. The point is, there is a stressor.

It is then that their stories intersect.

Wade, who is the only current character known to break the fourth wall. Who would look at Spiderman and know that he's Peter Parker despite him being erased.

Peter, who is completely isolated in a world that has forgotten him. Who sees everything he wanted dangled in front of him each time he passes a billboard with Stark Industries or a group of friends laughing or a parent and their child. Who is desperate for any sense of belonging and feels the loneliness eating away at him.

Wade would run into him while Spiderman was on patrol. He'd be sitting on a building, staring off into the distance forlornly. He'd recognize the loneliness in him and strike up a conversation.

And Peter would nearly cry when Wade offered to buy him a sandwich. For the first time in God knows how long, he felt like someone actually cared about him behind the mask.

And so they started talking. Peter ran into Wade and they'd wave at each other and talk. Wade would get to know Peter as the person and not the hero.

And Wade would know a little too much. Would remember details a little too well. Took to him like an old buddy who he had known for years. (And really, it was the case. Deadpool and Spiderman were old friends... just not in this universe.)

And Peter would latch onto the first person who showed him kindness, even if they're loud and morally questionable and a mercenary. He finally had a friend again. Someone he could just talk to.

And then the conflict in Wade's own life spirals and reaches a head. And for one reason or another, he winds up trapped at Peter's apartment, bloodied and injured.

He'd fought with Logan earlier that day and he was too far. So he showed up at Peter's expecting to get patched up a little and let his healing factor do the work.

...Except he doesn't heal. Something was gravely wrong. He felt hot and dizzy and the wound was beginning to get infected. And Wade busted his phone in the skirmish he got into, so he couldn't communicate with anyone.

(And so he doesn't see the messages from Logan. Demanding where he was, if he was okay, apologizing for earlier and asking him to come back.)

He ends up drifting in and out of consciousness for days, barely on the edge of life. Peter is worried as hell and is trying his best to take care of him despite his tight budget. Neither could go to a hospital because of their mutant status and illegal activities.

Wade is barely conscious enough to talk, let alone tell him his emergency contacts.

And so the days pass until a week has gone by and Logan hasn't heard a word from Wade. And he's freaking the fuck out. Because even if Wade was pissed, he still came back a few hours later so they could talk it out. They never dealt well with separation, especially Logan.

He's been cornering every vaguely shady person on the streets to see if they knew where Wade was. He'd torn up villain bases near their area. Had even fucking considered putting up missing posters because of how desperate he was.

Until he finally gets a lead.

And so, when Peter hears knocking at his door, he goes to answer.

Only to get pinned against the wall by Logan, claws threatening to puncture his neck. A snarl on his lips and a feral look in his eyes, bloodthirsty and on the verge of snapping.

And Peter tries to stutter out words but it's hard when his windpipe is being crushed. This was completely unexpected.

He didn't do anything to piss someone off that badly, right? And how did someone trace his Spiderman identity back to Peter Parker when he'd been so careful?

More importantly—

A shuffling sound came from the couch in the living room.

Wade. Wade was still here.

Peter renewed his struggle, a fierce glare in his eyes. Even if nobody would miss him, he'd make sure nobody could harm his only friend.

"What time is it?" Wade mumbled roughly, sitting up and stretching his sore muscles. He still felt feverish and had a sore throat, but at least he wasn't on Death's Door anymore.

Logan's head snapped in Wade's direction like a bloodhound following a trail. He'd clearly heard him.

Without warning, he threw Peter to the side, who clutched at his throat as he was slammed against the wall.

He was going for Wade. Shit.

He knew Wade had enemies, considering he was a mercenary, but he didn't realize the type of ballpark he was playing in. And Peter knew Wade's healing factor was infinitely stronger than his own... except it wasn't working.

Was he the one responsible for Wade's vulnerable state? Did this man weaken him on purpose so he could take him out?

Peter stumbled to his feet, muscles tensing as he darted out to stop Logan, who seemed hellbent on approaching Wade. But Logan turned the corner just before he could reach him.

He saw Logan register Wade's presence, eyes locking onto him with a single-minded, piercing focus that was blinding in its intensity.

"Hey!" he tried calling out, but Logan wasn't paying attention. Didn't seem to be aware of his surroundings, only looking at Wade with an indescribable mixture of emotions. There were the obvious emotions like anger, but if Peter didn't know any better he'd say the man was looking at Wade with something akin to pure relief, awe, and fear.

Wade glanced over at the man and his eyes widened. "Logan...? Honey badger, you came for me?" His voice was sleep-heavy and the words came out choked.

Wade had been calling the name 'Logan' in his sleep almost every night. When Peter would try to quiet him by brushing his sweat-stuck hair away from his forehead, Wade would latch onto his wrist and wouldn't let go until he cracked open his eyes and saw it wasn't who he wanted.

Peter wanted to ask who Logan was. Who was so important to him that he kept whispering his name when he tossed and turned at night, that he mistook Peter for him and looked disappointed when he realized it was just him (and ouch, sometimes that stung).

But he'd assumed it was someone from Wade's past. Like MJ was to him. Someone important but long gone.

And so when Wade called this man Logan, Peter thought it was him mistaking someone for Logan in a sickness-induced delirium. It wouldn't be the first time.

But Logan stared at him, fists still clenched where his claws protruded through his knuckles. He looked at Wade, searchingly, like his face had the answers to his questions.

And once Wade uttered that name, he launched himself at Wade.

Peter cried out as he tried to catch Logan to stop him from hurting or killing Wade, but he was so much faster than him. He'd crossed the room in the blink of an eye.

Peter looked up, terrified, to see a completely unexpected sight.

The man was clinging to Wade, clutching at him like his life depended on it, shivers wracking his body. And Wade clung to him tighter, threading his fingers through his hair, murmuring softly.

...Huh?

[sysmedsaresexist]

The "alters aren't separate people" discourse is getting way too nasty. It is really none of anyone's business (except for you and your therapist) how you view the people/parts in your system.

All people need to know is that alters exist in the same body and mind. They do not have separate bodies, thus they are a system and need to learn how to cope and share responsibility as a system.

My therapist literally does not care if I refer to my system members as "parts of me" or "the other people." I do both all the time. I would not care if I had a CDD patient myself and they did the same. Your therapists want you to be able to express yourself authentically. They will help you explore your own beliefs and whether any are exacerbating your symptoms and how to untangle that if necessary.

It's important, as a psychologist, not to treat a CDD patient as separate people with no relation to each other. They are a system. The system is not their own abuser because they have an abuser introject, the system does not need to be enrolled in kindergarten because they have littles, the system is not committing crimes if one of their human alters is in a relationship with their own animal alter or whatever, etc.

Please can we all just be normal about this and let people recover and self-determine at their own pace?

Some additional thoughts on all of this --

Parts vs people language discourse is so interesting to me because I actually see a lot of systems who use people language treating their system as parts of a whole. These things aren't mutually exclusive. I wish people would actually listen to the experiences that others are communicating instead of barely scratching the surface because they got mad at the words the other person was using.

Anyways, years ago I remember another psychologist with DID bringing up how often pwCDDs early on in their recovery are triggered by the idea of being parts of a whole. Think about what that confronts them with. Think about how that puts them face-to-face with all the compartmentalized things that got so thoroughly dissociated away.

Before I was diagnosed, earlier on in my own recovery, I thought that my alters were supernatural in nature. Different parts had their own explanations for it. It ranged from tamer psychic/spiritual belief stuff like telepathy and mediumship, to actual genuine delusions. Some of us thought that we were all real people who existed in different parts of the world, connected mentally. Some of them thought the same thing but that we were all from different universes, somehow interfacing within a single body.

We struggled heavily with the delusions and dissociation. We were just trying to make sense of our fragmented experience.

Even after our diagnosis, even after we realized that alters were not like that, we still struggled. Because dissociation does that. Dissociation carves a divide between all parts of the system. We struggled to see ourselves as parts of a whole until we got far enough into recovery to lessen that dissociation and finally see how we were all interconnected within.

Thank God we discovered our DID before nowadays. We would've been flayed alive by the online community. We would've been attacked for just being Not Recovered enough, for using all the Wrong Words, and for having odd beliefs and genuine delusions about our own mental health.

There's nothing wrong with simply stating that alters are all parts of a whole. We are. Because that's what being a system is. We all share a single body and mind. But taking it further to invalidate the individuality of alters, police the words they use, dismiss their personal/spiritual beliefs, or attack them just because they're triggered or can't see it yet...?

What are we even doing???

[pumpumdemsugah]

As black women who has always felt lost in black women's spaces due to their negligence of misogyny, your blog is really a bliss!

One of your recent responses about the curious tradition of the antifeminism from het black women was very on point and made me reflected once again the interconnection between race and sexuality but this topic is barely touched and when it's, it's usually approached in a way that places race above other systems of oppression or any other concerns towards misogyny, homophobia and capitalism is dismissed as “engaging in white supremacist theories” in some black activism circles.

However, as sad as it is, there are plenty of reactionary rhetoric among black women (and it doesn't really matter if they identify as feminists or if they're are openly antifeminists) and these untouchable topics don't get discussed. And the worst part is, we, Black women who do see these tendencies, sometimes even doubt what we're actually seeing. In some cases we even think we're in reality buying a white perspective for simply being able to see that a lot of black women can also reproduce the dominant culture like everyone does because we were all socialized into it.

But, imo, what makes sexuality really relevant when the topic about why so many black women dismiss misogyny, is because het feminists from all branches of feminism tend to equate womanhood to heterosexuality. In het black women's case it happens added to the notion that they are black women IN RELATION TO WHITE WOMEN! The race changes the flavor of the misogyny but it doesn't erase black womanhood neither downplay the importance of the misogyny for us. In reality, it makes our situation even more oppressive. All the talks about intersectionality but a lot of them fail to grasp that the concepts about white feminity/black masculinity don't exist in a vacuum neither separated, specially in western countries.

Race was used as a tool to divide women in deep hierarchies of power that even classes divisions alone couldn't do it. But this fact is just ignored. Instead, these het black women try to prove that misogyny isn't that bad because since they were left out of the specific ways the upper-class white women were oppressed, the oppression just don't exist. This vision ironically reinforce the idea that they claim to oppose, that only white women are “real women”, to the point of their oppressor race status canceling out misogyny not only for them but also for us. It's weird how somehow misogyny against white women become positive and something to aspire to have because if it happens to them, it's, in reality, white supremacy and in an equal society, the oppressed groups should have the same rights that used to be restricted to the oppressors. This is why a lot Black women will sell the myth of the romantic het love to their audience as a core part of black women's empowerment(ignoring lesbians and bi women experiences), but their whole talking about race/white supremacy usually just reinforce misogynoir.

!!!

It's so hard to get through to straight Black women and they love being wrong and strong. There are so many anti-feminist Black women that call themselves feminist and claim they empower Black women. They're just interested in benevolent sexism and want the rest of us to follow along even if our sexuality means it complicates this delusion

[femmefatalevibe]

Hey! I love your page and your work.

I needed your advice on this. I am in a relationship with a gem of a guy. He's a walking green flag. And he goes above and beyond the bare minimum at every step. He's emotionally mature and wise, considerate, patient, deeply loving, etc. He makes me feel safe. In all- he meets all my standards and then some. We do long distance.

I have been feeling increasingly overwhelmed about this lately. He loves me crazy, to him it's passionate, groundbreaking, lightning-struck love. And i remember feeling all the butterflies and excitement in the beginning, but now I don't see myself loving him with the same intensity as he loves me. And that makes me fear if I love him at all. I come from a past of parental trauma and abuse and i know that my attachment patterns have been affected by the immense trauma I have endured. I remember how intense my first love was, just like in the books and poems and films. It breaks my heart to keep thinking that he loves me the way i first loved someone else. But i don't love him with the same intensity. Lately, I've been feeling a lot more detached due to these thoughts and I wonder if I'm losing interest. But he treats me so well and i don't know if this is just a trauma response or something that's actually happening. I don't "feel" A LOT. My attraction to him varies majorly. It comes and goes. I'm feeling very conflicted. Please help?

Hi love! Thank you so much <3

Let me just say that questioning your interest over time with a long-distance partner is incredibly normal, and feeling safe in a relationship easily sets off alarm bells for many people who have experienced trauma/have insecure attachment styles. So, dealing with both at once sounds like a lot. I commend you for remaining highly self-aware regarding your triggers and emotions.

Firstly, I would do a gut check to see if this man seems like he's a compatible match for you at this stage of your life – not just a super kind and attentive guy (while both are important qualities, but just because someone is a good partner, it doesn't mean necessarily that they're the right partner for you and vice versa).

Second, I would evaluate if you're losing interest in your relationship or if the spark fading due to the physical distance (no to little IRL intimacy or shared experiences). Do you find yourself excited to talk, text, and see him, or do you hesitate/avoid communication with him? Are you in similar life stages? Are your goals, values, lifestyles, and future paths compatible? How long are you planning to remain long-distance if you believe you're still right for one another?

Third, considering your history of ongoing relational trauma, I would consider what your definition of love and a healthy relationship look like. Do you believe passion involves intense or fleeting emotions? Do you thrive in emotionally stable or chaotic relationships? Do you see passion, attraction, and companionship as interconnected or separate aspects of a relationship?

It is perfectly normal to settle from the "honeymoon" phase of a relationship and take those hormonally-charged blinders off to see the "normalcy" that plagues all stable relationships. This stability can be super uncomfortable if you've never experienced it and can make you want to run back to the chaos you're accustomed to. However, in a long-distance relationship, losing this spark is too easy when you see each other much less often in person and especially if you don't communicate frequently or in engaging ways.

My recommendations would be:

Figure out why you're pulling back in the relationship and prepare to have an honest conversation about these feelings with your partner. Maybe also see a therapist or mental health professional about this issue if you have the resources to do so

Once you determine your unmet needs or wounds being triggered in the relationship, start ideating some low-stakes solutions and implement them into your daily/weekly interactions with your partner. If you're missing the frequent physical intimacy or shared experiences that typically exist in romantic relationships, consider ways to foster this closeness again (for intimacy: phone sex, sexting, FaceTime date nights, etc.; for shared experiences: FaceTime date nights, have a couple of long phone call recaps/story-sharing sessions per week, agree to watch some of the same movies/TV shows or read the same books/listen to the same podcast episode and chat about them; create a special photo-bonding activity – whether it's sharing your homemade dinners with each other most nights, a lunch-break selfie, a specific object/location that reminds you of them every time you pass it, certain memes you exchange every day, etc.)

Consider how much effort you're willing to put into making this relationship work. Being honest with yourself about this determination can make all of the difference in your perception on how to move forward (or not) with this relationship

Hope this helps xx

[ambyandony]

Miscellaneous JJBA OC: Tirami Soo Profilette

Introducing Tirami Soo (aka Tiramisu).

Even more miscellaneous than Maruko; whilst Maruko is attached to Part 4, Tiramisu isn't attached specifically to any one part, he's only related to Part 5 very loosely.

(I fleshed his character out initially while I was rping (as him) with a character ai bot we're not gonna get into it too much but when I say 'he mentioned x in conversation' or something like that I'm alluding to that character ai convo)

Tiramisu is a young man, in his early-to-mid-20s, living alone... somewhere, though where exactly isn't clear. In conversation, he claimed to have lived in Italy at some point in the past, mentioning offhandedly the names of a few Part 5 characters, hence the 'tangential relation'. It can be assumed he was raised and possibly born there; when questioned about his name being Tiramisu, he claims "Let's just say the naming convention isn't unheard of this side of Italia". As for the time period of his depiction here, maybe in the early-to-late 2000s.

An introverted and solitary Stand User who has always known far too much. He was unable to control his Stand as a child and was often burdened by the information and knowing secrets and the such. He dislikes other Stand Users in general, especially those who like to go around picking fights. His Stand's name is 「Family Jewels」.

「Family Jewels」 is a more-or-less phenomenon Stand as it is a passive ability, but when he actively uses it, you might get something like this.

It's a Stand with the surprisingly incredible ability of inference. With its ability, Tiramisu can dig deeper into any and all information told to him, baring any omissions or missing context, and even obtaining further information if its relevant, within reason.

The further it digs from the directly-given information, the more it will likely have a propensity to be inaccurate in details, but thus far, Tirami has almost always been right; he rarely tries for information that is out of reach.

Because of this ability, he can see right through any lies, even—and especially—lies of omission. He knows the full context of all things he's told; sometimes he can even dig up things that are known only 'subconsciously', or, on the very rarest of occasions, not even known to the person who told him the information.

The limitation is that he needs to first be told something or given some information and the resulting information will be related in some way. Tiramisu will automatically gain knowledge of the dug-up information but needs to seek it to actually consciously know it. He usually has to follow a certain train of thought, or, perhaps, a stream of thought to lead to a pool of interconnected information.

It's an incredibly impressive ability, but... not really useful for combat.

Tiramisu has few to no friends; he tends to sit and watch from a safe distance. He has a hard time forming meaningful relationships with other people; he seems to "know everything" because of his Stand, and he is often labelled as 'boring' or 'pretentious' as a result, if not "creepy", when he sometimes brings up things he forgot he wasn't actually told. Nobody much cares to associate, it seems.

He prefers to live vicariously through hearing about the lives of others. Though he keeps to himself, he can often be found perched somewhere in public: in the corner of the cafe, right by the window; up atop a half-wall at a city square; on a bench in a public park... people-watching is his hobby, and though he hates Stand Users as much as he claims, even he can't help but find them the most interesting people to observe... when they're not fucking destroying everything and killing people left-and-right, anyways.

It's been a while since he's really had a particularly pleasant conversation with another Stand User. Most times his interactions with Stand Users have this-or-that to do with 'saving the world' or "Joestars" or The Speedwagon Foundation, or something of that calibre... Those tend to be the most interesting conversations, though. The most he really involves himself with it is when "it seemed dire", or "the situation sounded desperate" and "there was something I could do about it, I guess".

He's pretty helpful when he does get involved; there are probably tons of stories that would otherwise be known to Just Protagonists simply because he overheard something.

He has a love-hate relationship with his Stand as he's pretty convinced that it took years off his (assumedly already quite short by virtue of being a Stand User alone) lifespan with all the fucking stress it caused him in his childhood.

The problem in his childhood was that, not only was the power uncontrolled and unable to be 'turned off', but it was also severely lacking in depth.

The circumstances of Tirami Soo's birth are uncertain, but he was adopted as an infant by a couple, an Italian woman and a Korean man, and ended up with the name Tirami Soo. After being adopted, he was raised in Italy. His mother was a caring woman who was unable to conceive but wished to be able to give a child a good life, his father was a quiet foreign man who worked as a gravedigger and funerary assistant. Tirami's upbringing was normal to the point of him gaining complex thought, by which point his Stand began to have an effect. It was weaker at first, and only gave some snips of information, but the snips of information were random and overall unhelpful: a simple question to his mother suddenly gave him the knowledge he'd been adopted, but the only way he was able to interpret it was that someone hadn't wanted him. A simple phrase from his father as his father got home late one night ("sorry, work had some issues") led to Tirami knowing that his father buried bodies and nothing else. These tough concepts that he didn't yet have the complex thought to elaborate on resulted in undue resentment towards his mother and undue fear towards his father through his earlier childhood until he gained a better understanding of the world.

Even after that point, misery struck him in his adolescence, once more due to 「Family Jewels」. In school, a simple conversation with a benign passing comment by his best friend led him to know his partner had been cheating on him with them. After that, he struggled with isolation, trust issues that led him to hyperanalyse everything people said to him, and a failure to develop meaningful attachments to people.

As he got older, he mellowed out, and though lonely, turned out a demeanour of resignation as opposed to his bitter desperation. He'd always somewhat excelled in school but struggled to find something he was truly passionate about enough to pursue, so he started working instead of pursuing higher education. He's still looking for something that will be a fulfilling area of focus.

Tirami Soo, about his Stand and other Stand Users:

"My ability is okay as a party trick, but as an ability I've had since childhood, this shit fucking sucks! Imagine always knowing way too much! And don't get me started on why other Stand Users suck—they're always fighting, looking for a fight, doing crazy shit and disturbing the peace and putting my life—and the lives of everyone I care about —in danger!

I'm not going to lie and pretend that I don't find some Stands I've encountered or heard of interesting. I've seen Stands that are really fascinating. Even Stands that have abilities that can be and are used for Good and I can appreciate that. It's just that, Stands are so interlinked with the idea of a fighting spirit that every time I see a damn Stand User in this stupid city they always think they need to punch shit.

The problem is the conflation of the concept of 'having a fighting spirit' and the perceived 'necessity for combat'.

People assume "fighting spirit" means fighting other people. It simply becomes a misleading term. It's just willpower. The will to survive. The will to fight your circumstances to persist despite everything. That's what a Stand is supposed to be. It's supposed to be your ability to stand against the odds. It just so happens that for some people, standing against the odds means standing up for oneself physically. Sometimes fighting has to happen because not everyone is rational. But sometimes I feel like people are too quick to jump at the opportunity to fight. It must be something about pride... I don't know.

No judgment towards you, of course. I'm sure you're fine people despite getting in fights so much. In a sense it's inevitable: if you can't just avoid trouble, you're forced to fight it."

Apparently, "parental divorce" is an embarrassingly common thing for 「Family Jewels」 to dig up.

[triviareads]

Hello! I’m the anon who asked for recommendations based on Austen couples! I started with Olivia and the Masked Duke because Emma is my fave and I loved it! I loved it so much that I followed up the rest of the series and I have mixed feelings. Olivia and Fiona’s books were spectacular. I disliked Pippa’s and Glory’s I thought it fit somewhere in between. Are all Grace’s series so uneven? I’m really disappointed I didn’t like Glory’s book more because trope-wise, it is my fave. I’m now going to go back to the list, but if you can share more Emma inspired reads 👀👀

Hi! I'm glad to hear you enjoyed Olivia and Fiona's books; they're some of my favorites. I actually think Grace's Lady Charlotte series is her strongest series just based on the initial premise that gets all the heroines together and how they build their sisterhood and ultimately show up for their fearless mentor Charlie once she gets her own book. So I wouldn't say they're uneven.

That being said, I think the series that had multiple books I found mediocre was her Game of Dukes series (my friends and I joke all the time about how Grace keeps trying to make Harry Kent happen by writing some variation of "he's a nerd AND a jock!!" multiple times in multiple books and tbh it does not work; she was far more successful setting up big brother Ambrose and keeping him as a stern but loving presence in the following books— I'm convinced that man is her favorite hero she's written). Grace has a lot of characters that are interconnected or related to prior mcs who end up getting books, and a lot of the characters in the Game of Duke series are ones I just didn't care for (see: Harry Kent, Carlisle's brother Wickham, a random tinker's daughter who only shows up one book prior, etc.), and plot-wise I feel like they were forgettable.

All that being said, I feel like there's a base level of excellence she has as far as her writing goes; you can see in her very first book that while some language was almost too OTT for me, she was already willing to go where a lot of HR authors won't in terms of a) I wouldn't say *darker* plots because there's still a certain levity she brings but it goes beyond your typical ballroom setting and she loves a good murder/mystery b) heroines being unafraid to express themselves sexually in a genre where at the time, a lot of authors were still writing clueless virgins (and most of her heroines are virgins but they're VERY eager to learn, very down and ready) and c) just a general variety in sex stuff, like, her very first hero Nicholas was into butt stuff which is something I still barely see in HR. She has a clear point of view and I appreciate that she has not compromised since she began writing HR, and has only built on what her early books promised.

ANYWAY, some more Emma-inspired recs:

The Earl I Ruined by Scarlett Peckham: I love this one- Constance is a popular lady of the ton who accidentally outs her brother's best friend Lord Althorp as kinky to the papers, and now to make amends she suggests that they pretend to be engaged. Julian has always been in love with Constance so that's kinda rough for him but in a GREAT way. Spoiler: he is kinky, and there is some light D/s stuff in the book.

I didn't recommend these two in the previous ask because they weren't my favorite but if you want romances directly inspired by Emma:

Never Met a Duke Like You by Amalie Howard: Inspired by Clueless; the heroine Lady Vesper is pretty, popular informal matchmaker. The hero Aspen is her childhood friend (so they're the same age) and they basically had a falling-out when they were younger and she's held it against him since. He asks her to help him find his ward (the Harriet of the story basically) a husband, and they end up falling for each other.

Match Me If You Can by Swati Hegde: Basically modern desi Emma; Jia is a rich Mumbaikar who works for a women's magazine and also loves to matchmake; the Harriet of the story is a new village-transplant coworker who she's trying to match with the office lothario, and the Knightley is her childhood friend (so again, same age) Jaiman. The most interesting part of this story is that he did confess his feelings a year prior but when he kissed her she started CRYING and ran lolol. So she's aware of his feelings but still trying to reconcile her own.

[viridiave]

For the salty ask game my friend, the generator asks 3, 4, 13, 14 :)

Thanks for the ask Sly!! These got a little long tho oof I promise my other opinions won't get this intense

3) Have you ever unfollowed someone over a fandom opinion? - …I want to say no but I actually have done that a couple of times - whenever it happens it's always with a really popular content creator so I can't say it's a great loss on either of our sides.

4) Do you have a NoTP in your fandom? Are they a popular OTP? - Is Osvald/Throne big enough to count as a popular OTP? I've been seeing it a lot on my feed at least aksjaks like I know they're both adults but something about the age gap that's over a decade large makes me uncomfy. It's totally fine but I guess it's just not my thing? That's also generally my attitude towards Olberose even though I know IMPLICITLY that Olberic and Osvald would never do anything bad to them.

13) Unpopular opinion about XXX character? this could be better reserved for a different ask but like. Therion is one of the only ones that I have strong negative feelings on so let me unpromptedly tell ya'll why I think his story is the worst in both games, at least design-wise

Like. I UNDERSTAND what the game was trying to go for here. I also understand how people have come to like and relate to him so much, for reasons pertaining to his backstory and personality. I promise I get it. It's not like Theri himself is a horrible character but it's so not enough to salvage his story in my eyes

But there's a laundry list of reasons why I dislike Therion's arc and all of them have to do with the limitations of OT1's format. His story was just not suited for it, SPECIFICALLY because his story is all about regaining his trust in people. Like - every game critic on the planet can pop off about the lack of interaction between the Travelers, SURE, but in Therion's case I think the criticism is correct, because all of his growth can be achieved without ever having triggered the banters. It just feels so??? Unearned??? Because the people we're supposed to believe made this happen were Cordelia fucking Ravus and Heathcote - I don't hate either of those characters, just to clarify, but I think they're horrible catalysts for Therion's growth because for fuck's sake dude he's basically ENSLAVED by them. That sounds like a bit much, but Therion had no agency in this. Chapter 2 taught him BARELY ANYTHING, and in Chapter 3 he just HAPPENED to run into Darius again. How the FUCK am I supposed to believe that Cordelia's venting session did anything good for him in between that and meeting Darius again in Chapter 4??? Unless we're here to argue HEATHCOTE and that comes with its own set of problems.

I say this every time I complain about Theri's story - he is this game's biggest victim story-wise. If they just waited a little more to pull the lone wolf angsty thief storyline until they figured out a way to make a more interconnected plot, then I think it would have worked better! Out of every Traveler, Therion is the one who would have benefited the most from a Crossed Paths, hands-down - in fact switch Therion and Throne around and you'd have less loss because even Throne makes an effort to get closer to her companions on her own! My god! Give Therion better candidates to reconnect with! Like you know - the seven other guys you get to use???

14) Unpopular opinion about your fandom? - Sometimes I do think we go too hard on shipping, but that's an opinion I have about every piece of media ever so - but yeah uhm. Please make more genfics. Some days I just don't want to look at ships. This is why I write stupid shit about the god fights - I want to fill in that semi-shipless void with unhinged found family shenanigans

[aquadestinyswriting]

OK, so I'm going to tell you a bit about two, just because they're so heavily interconnected with each other and they're both the main stories of my blog.

First up is The Wizard's Tale:

This one follows the story of Selene Frigidwake, Grand Magus of the city-state of Toreguarde. Selene is an ex-adventurer that has now landed herself in a position of power and authority in the city that she helped to build. Unfortunately the Divine Seal over the Hellmouth beneath her tower is beginning to falter, and she needs to find a solution before a second Demon War is kicked off when it fails entirely. Not only that, but the darker forces that exist in the world are rising up once more in an attempt to seize control of the Hellmouth for themselves. And to top it all off, her adopted niece and her friends have been Called to defend the world they all call home, despite the Edict against Adventuring within Toreguarde. Basically, think of this as the background story of a D&D adventure focusing on one of the major NPCs of the campaign, because that's basically what this is. Given that Selene is a major political figure in Toreguarde, there is a lot to do with the internal politics of Toreguarde as a city-state and all the drama that can unfold in such an environment. I also explore Selene's more personal issues, such as the completely untreated PTSD from her adventuring days and the severe trust issues that have come from being forced to work with the slimiest politician in Allansia. Not to mention having to dodge a bunch of assassination attempts and trying her best to keep her public and privates lives as separate as possible.

Next up is Destiny's New Servants: Fangthane's Folly Edition

You might as well have the WIP synopsis for this one:

Fangthane has stood as the shining beacon of dwarven-kind upon Titan for millennia, but the aftermath of the Demon War ten years ago has left the city-state with wounds that have only barely begun to heal. Unfortunately, there are those both within and without that would see the mountain crumble. Relations with the city-state of Toreguarde have been fraught since the Drakemari Empire became involved in its construction, but things have been more or less amicable until recently. With the rise of the dread Necromancer, Darkhide, problems both old and new are threatening to ignite a war that Fangthane can barely cope with. In the midst of all of this, a young cleric of Moradin must attempt to navigate the lies and treachery of her own people to uncover the truth at the centre of all this madness. Whether anyone wishes to listen to said truth… well that’s another matter entirely.

This story follows Meredith Gruksdottir, cleric of Moradin, through the trials that she faces as part of the Destiny's New Servants D&D 3rd edition campaign. Expect your standard fantasy adventure shenanigans, including a bunch of angst and drama, character deaths and some comedy here and there.

Since Meredith is a cleric first and foremost, expect to see a lot of references to her religion and an exploration of her connection to her gods. There's also quite a lot of politics in this story as well since the relationship between the kingdom of Fangthane and the city-state of Toreguarde plays a major role in the plot.

Let’s get to know your main story! Tell us a little bit about it!

[keinfilter]

“This is another paradox, that many of the most important impressions and thoughts in a person's life are ones that flash through your head so fast that fast isn't even the right word, they seem totally different from or outside of the regular sequential clock time we all live by, and they have so little relation to the sort of linear, one-word-after-another word English we all communicate with each other with that it could easily take a whole lifetime just to spell out the contents of one split-second's flash of thoughts and connections, etc. -- and yet we all seem to go around trying to use English (or whatever language our native country happens to use, it goes without saying) to try to convey to other people what we're thinking and to find out what they're thinking, when in fact deep down everybody knows it's a charade and they're just going through the motions. What goes on inside is just too fast and huge and all interconnected for words to do more than barely sketch the outlines of at most one tiny part of it at any given instant.” - David Foster Wallace

[aceofthegreenajah]

fic ask #7!

The things that sneak out of my queue! had to go and scroll my own page to find what that is 🤣 But thanks for the question I love talking about my writing!

7: What is your favorite scene you’ve written so far?

The thing I've been writing today is three next chapters of the universe took its time on you. Simultanously cos they're very interconnected.

If talking about the entire fic, my favourite bit might be the Liujiu bickering sequence mid-chapter 1, which was the entire reason I started the whole thing.

But I'm choosing to answer for the stuff I've not posted yet. The last of the three unfinished chapters is an interlude/flashback from Qi Qingqi's perspective and I LIKE IT. The entire back half the chapter would fit as an aswer.

Most of it sadly requires a lot of context. But here is a little snippet that doesn't:

"Yue Qingyuan is back on the mountain", Han Qingyi said.

She frowned. "Has something gone wrong? The conference isn't over for a week."

"Word is he brought a new disciple. Someone important enough they needed to dispatch a succeeding disciple to fetch him. My bet is on an imperial relation."

Her mood soured instantly. It was probably another strutting nobleman who would look at her like a stain on his shoes. If they were lucky it was a princess who had lost her virginity and they were sending her off to avoid scandal, but that was unlikely. The usual course of action in that case was to just marry them off before the scandal got out.

"Do you want to go look?" Han Qingyi asked innocently. She was from a family of similar status to hers, but had been lucky enough to be sent to the sect young and thus had never seen the cesspit that was the nobility's marriage market.

"Let's", Qi Qingqi sighed anyway. It would be polite to tell Yue Qingyuan of the meeting before they had it, now that he was in the sect.

"He's gone on Qing Jing."

They redirected to that direction and could indeed see Yue Qingyuan and another young man in new Qing Jing robes. He'd probably just had his tea ceremony. Why was Yue Qingyuan still showing him around? Were all Qing Jing students out somehow? Or were none of them important enough?

He was older than Cang Qiong usually admitted, and was ignoring Yue Qingyuan's speech with entitled frostiness. Both of those spoke of the rumours being true.

She waited until Yue Qingyuan saw them and stopped whatever speech he'd been giving. Then she bowed to him politely. "Shixiong." Han Qingyi mirrored her. "We were about to have a meeting of the present succeeding disciples. Would shixiong like to attend, now that he is in the sect?"

She heard Yue Qingyuan start to decline as she'd expected, but the new disciple spoke up over it.

"I see Yue-shixiong has duties waiting", he said coldly. "This shidi will find his way just fine from here."

Yue Qingyuan deflated visibly. "Oh. All right." Then he rallied a bit. "Let me introduce you. These are Xian Shu succeeding disciple Qi Qingqi and Zui Xian succeeding disciple Han Qingyi. Shimeis, this is Shen-shidi. He has joined Qing Jing."

Shen Jiu didn't look them in the eye. Like they were barely worth his time. "This Shen Jiu greets Qi-shimei, Han-shimei."

Shen Jiu, huh. Probably a pseudonym. Something about him rubbed her the wrong way. She could tell he was bad news.

They greeted him back before Shen Jiu immediately excused himself, marching off with barely a farewell. Yue Qingyuan stared after him before putting on an obviously fake smile and leading his way to the meeting.

Yue Qingyuan's obsequence bothered her. This Shen Jiu really had to be something, for their future sect leader to suck up to him like that. Perhaps a lesser imperial prince wasn't too out there. And the way he seemed to be looking down on Yue Qingyuan, even if he'd managed a passably polite greeting to them both -

Bad news indeed.

END

If I have a few more writing days as good as today this week I might post all three chapters on the weekend. But I had today off and I'm going back to work for the rest of the week so can't promise anything :('m still missing like five-six scenes minimum.

[yeetlegay]

so i have some silly questions. ive seen you and a lot of other kp accounts talk about skam. where do i start? which is the og skam? do i start with that? are all the skams the same but in different languages? should i watch all of them or some or only one? is it ongoing or done or unfinished? where do i watch it? also what is the show about and what are its major tws?

Definitely not silly questions, but holy shit they're big ones 😂 I'll try to be as succinct as I can, with the caveat that I haven't watched all of them in their entirety and the remakes are very much NOT interchangeable despite being adaptations of the same show.

So to break it down—

What is SKAM about?: SKAM was a Norwegian show that aired from 2015-17 for four seasons. The show was set in a high school and centered primarily around two friend groups (fans usually call them the girl squad and boy squad). Each season focuses on a new main character from these friend groups and is told from their point of view, with plot arcs that range from SA to mental illness to coming-of-age struggles, but they're all very grounded and relatable teen issues told with (for the most part) a lot of empathy and hope. The seasons are pretty narratively distinct rather than having major plots stretching across multiple seasons, so while you might miss some context, you don't necessarily have to watch all the seasons or watch them in order.

Now what's really cool about SKAM, and what you unfortunately miss out on somewhat by not watching it live, is the multimedia component. The show's format is something that was never really seen before and hasn't really been seen since, at least not to the same extent. While it was airing, each scene in that week's episode went live in real time throughout the week. So for example, if a scene is meant to take place on Monday at 3:20pm in the story, that scene would be posted online on Monday at 3:20pm. Scenes could drop at literally any time, day or night, and on top of that the characters had real Instagrams that they'd post on and text conversations that would be posted too, again all in real time, so not only was there something new pretty much every day for the fandom to talk about, but all those media components (clips, Instagram posts/stories, texts, etc.) were interconnected so they all fed into the plot in important ways. At the end of the week, all the scenes would be compiled into the full episode, but you wouldn't see the other media components which really add a lot to the story even if they're not 100% essential. I think a lot of the remakes have a fan-made Tumblr where all the different types of content have been collected and put in order so you can get the full experience, so I'd definitely check them out first.

As for the remakes, all of the above applies to them too. There are a total of seven remakes, each from a different country: SKAM France (France), Druck (Germany), SKAM Italia (Italy), SKAM Austin (U.S.), SKAM España (Spain), SKAM NL (Netherlands), and wtFOCK (Belgium).

Where to start: I recommend the original Norwegian SKAM. Some seasons are better than others, and if you're just in it for the gays (I pretty much was lol) then season three is what you're looking for. It's been a while since I watched the og or any of the remakes so I'm not sure where they're available now, but that info should hopefully be pretty easy to find.

Are all the SKAMs the same but in different languages?: Sort of, but also not. Most of them follow the main plots of the og seasons but they vary widely in terms of how closely they adhere to the characters, tone, themes, etc. SKAM España, for example, is SUPER different to the point that it barely resembles the original most of the time (and it's GREAT). Also some of the remakes didn't get to cover all four seasons (SKAM Austin and SKAM NL only got two seasons and I'm still in mourning), while some remakes covered all four AND seasons beyond that (SKAM France just finished its tenth season).

Should I watch all of them or some or only one?: Everyone has remakes they like more or less than others, it's just individual preference, but they're all worth checking out imo. After watching the original, I'd probably recommend SKAM France, Druck, or wtFOCK first as a taste-tester, but genuinely all of them have their strengths and their flaws. My personal favorites are SKAM France (for the cinema and acting), wtFOCK (for the music and general vibes), and SKAM NL (for the cinematography, acting, directing, basically everything).

Ongoing or finished?: Most of the remakes are finished, with the exception of SKAM Italia (which just started season 5 like two days ago actually) and mayyyybe SKAM France and Druck, which both had seasons finish airing recently.

Major TWs: This is hard because the remakes are, like I said, distinct from each other, so some TWs won't apply to all of them, and especially with the remakes that have gotten additional seasons, they have more than the original. I also haven't watched all of them from start to finish so I don't know all the things to look out for.

For the original, you'll definitely encounter drug/alcohol use and abuse, SA and SH, Islamophobia, homophobia, bullying, as well as depictions of mental illness that could be triggering. The show has its heavy moments, but it's not gratuitous about it imo and at the end of the day still manages to be uplifting despite talking about some really serious topics, which is a feat tbh. If you have questions about TWs for specific seasons or remakes I can try to go in a bit more depth. Each remake (and the original) also has a fandom wiki with episode/season summaries that give you a good idea of what to expect, so that could be useful as well if you want to watch out for anything in particular.

——

I think I got everything! If you have more questions about SKAM, totally happy to help as I know it can be confusing at first to get up to speed with it all lol. And definitely hmu if you want deets about the gay seasons, which are the only ones I've consistently watched because...well, I'm gay obviously lol.

[airasilver]

You give me inspiration @cosmic-j0ke. I thought I was done but then you keep adding great tags and it gives me ideas.

I love the idea of Ma, Alfred, and Shmi teaming up. Pa's just shaking his head at the idiots who brought their anger down onto them. Most people should know better...most do but it still happens.

I don't know why I gave Steph to Bacara but I love the idea. Especially with the battalions just not letting the Batfam do anything without them.

Cal just makes me smile when I think about him just following Tim around. (Especially if you consider him being a descendant of the Joker...like the Joker gets a kick out if it for some reason.)

The shinies...the shinies would be jumping so much at first but then they're the best at not spooked by anything because of the sneaking up from the Bats. There is literally competitions on who can hold out the longest from being spooked and etc by the Bats.

I think the sidekicks would shrink. Especially the underage sidekicks. The Mandalorians and Vode might have different opinions on who's old enough but that doesn't mean the barely adults are on their own. The underage sidekicks? Are followed everywhere. The villains learn to give up if they see even a hint of the battalion color on a hero. Especially the younger ones. No one wants to die and that's a great way to do so. Yes, some of the battalions change their colors to match their hero and some of the heroes just add the battalion's color to their scheme of they don't have it already. I don't think the Alphas have a color so they add black. If they do, Bruce adds it to the batarangs and his other weapons. (More like the kids do under Alfred's eye.)

Bruce and the other adults hate the deaths but it does bring down the evil. Not all of it but enough that Earth can concentrate on the universe and protecting that also, not just Earth itself. Jason, if you can tell gets along great with the Mandalorians. He's not allowed in Space without the Wolfpack because everyone tries to adopt him....until Shmi and Ma put their feet down.

The rule of no one is allowed to adopt more then one viligante/hero comes into effect because of the batfamily. As Pa points out, the Bats are to many and most all are related so of you're adopting one, your adopting all. Which means that the battalions are even more interconnected.

Fox hates that rule. Mostly because it means the Guard are closely watched over even more. Especially since they adopted Jim which means they got Gree and etc coming in everyday, when they are close by, since Jim is worried about his daughter. No, I don't care that Jim is not a superhero in the correct sense. He's still one in the fact that he deals with Gotham and the Bats.

Hmm...I just thought of something. If Cal is the Joker's descendant, did he get fixed enough to have a kid? Well besides the one he had with Harley (is that even canon anymore?) Like, did the Jedi Healers and the Mandalorians Doctors and etc help with Arkham? Well after the 212th and 501st got it cleaned up enough to allow them in?

Oh! Is Obi-Wan a descendant of the Joker?!? Since I'm thinking him and Cal are related...so I say yes.

If we bring Bernard into it, Cal decides he's marrying both Tim and Bernard. Anakin encourages him even if Padme isn't there. Let's go with weddings are allowed as long as they put others first and other stuff. Since Tim and Cal basically follow this rule already it's a done deal for them. Bernard works as a chef, I've seen one comic panel where he is holding a pan and now I love that idea (I don't know what he does in the comics), that follows them around and he knows the risks and agrees so done deal for him also.

The rest of the heroes? Their families get bodyguards/they move because it's hard to explain why reporters and a CSI and etc have bodyguards. Well that or their identities are found out and they move.

Now I'm thinking of Gotham being the home of most the heroes, Atlantis and the Amazon Island are still left alone, since it's the home base of the Mandalorians and Vode.

The Island by the way is also watched over but no one goes on it from the Vode. Not unless the ladies want to relax and enjoy life with no one asking for anything else. I don't know what to say here really. Atlantis is harder to check on but they work it out.

I want to give Kate a battalion but I can't remember which one I wanted to give her. Kit's, or another councilor I think. Maybe Agen Kolar and Tan?

Oh! Everyone who died in the clone wars, especially the Jedi, are alive. Including the one that killed Waxer and etc, minds blank on his name. The fallen ones get help and since they don't have to worry about the Sith, who were taken out earlier remember, they can get the help they needed.

I wonder if Dooku, Maul, Ventress, Savage, and Feral are with the Sith and we're destroyed or with the Vode and Jedi? I want to say Feral is with the Vode but then I want to add Savage and Maul to them also....it might work though.

I wish I could write this but I don't think I give it as much justice as it deserves.

Finally putting this up. Had it in my head since 6/19.

Str Wars/Gotham:

If Fox was placed into the DC universe, specifically Gotham do you think he have it cleaned up within a month?

If all the Vode/Clones were placed in Gotham, along with the Jedi, do you think Gotham would be the cleanest and safest city in the world? Heck, would Bludhaven also be safe?

I got the start of a story in my head where the Vode and Jedi were dumped into Gotham. Fox is givens command of the GPD, Rex, who takes Cody with him, in charge of Arkham, Wolffe in charge of Blackgate.

The Jedi help out on the streets, the hospitals and etc. Ahsoka is the only Padawan under 18 allowed in the prisons and that’s because the Vode know that she sneak into them without permission. At least this way it’s with Anakin and Obi-Wan along or Plo, she is not allowed with her lineage or another adult Jedi. The Vode don’t count in this instance.

The younglings, cadets, and younger Padawans are only allowed out on the streets during the day before the Guard and GAR clean them up. Afterwords they are allowed out at night but have a curfew.

Jim Gordon is still the commissioner but he works closely with Fox. The Waynes by the way are away for a month, ‘on a holiday’. They’re actually helping stop an invasion. The invasion is the Sith who are actually beat by the heroes easily, Palpatine didn’t think that he be beaten. Especially by ones that don’t have the force.

[ramblings-of-a-mad-cat]

Y'know, I just gotta say, when this all started I was expecting more Nancy Drew and less... Whatever this has become out of Hogwarts Mystery. Tbh, it feels like the actual mystery aspect fell by the wayside in favor of this far less compelling darker storyline of the knock off death eaters, sorry, the "cabal". Sure, they're mysterious, but, idk, it doesn't feel like as much of a "mystery" to me. It just feels like an excuse to be edgy and dark and hurt kids.

Like, pls, I just want some lighthearted sleuthing with friends along for the ride, none of this life-or-death, our friends are dying or betraying us nonsense. We can still be searching for Jacob, and he can even still be an elusive butthead, just, please, gimme something with lower stakes and lighter hearts, it's a kids' mobile game for pete's sake. Hogwarts is the perfect setting for some "search by lantern light after curfew" goodness too... Not every thing has to get dark to be compelling. Sometimes a campy story of a plucky kid detective is compelling enough. There's a reason why Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys still fly off shelves and get reprised in new ways to this day.

I’m genuinely unsure about whether or not I agree with this. I want to say that no, I don’t, because I feel like this game isn’t lacking in the aspects that are mysterious, it’s simply the execution of these elements that hasn’t really stuck the landing. With how little Jacob seems to matter (Sorry Jacob fans) I truly don’t understand why he was rescued at the end of Year 5 and then that was the end of it. He really hasn’t done anything of consequence since then, even though finding him was the entire premise of the game. There are so many details that characters appear to have simply forgotten. It’s seeming less and less likely that these elements will return in some fashion, but even if they do, the characters should have brought them up earlier. (Jacob’s Notebook, you already know I’m thinking of Jacob’s Notebook, but there are countless others.) 

On the other hand...I’ve got to admit, I don’t think The Cabal has come up short at all in terms of their villainy. It’s been easy for them so far since, being so elusive and unclear as part of their foreboding threat, we haven’t learned what they are just yet, or what they want. But we need to learn that this year, and then the responsibility will fall on the game’s shoulders to ensure that R stands out. That they don’t simply come across as a discount edition of the Death Eaters. But that being said, I...actually find the mystery of R more engaging than the mystery of the Cursed Vaults? Could just be a personal opinion, and for all we know the two mysteries could be interconnected anyway. But given how R has cemented itself as the villainous faction of this story, I feel like Jam City could get away with leaving the Vaults vague and undefined. (They shouldn’t, but they could get away with it.) R? Not the case. We need to know before this story ends just who they are, and what they’ve been doing this whole time. And for Merlin’s sake, what does it stand for? I need to know if Rotfang is confirmed or not!

You’re quite right about how dark material is not the same thing as good material, and something light-hearted and simple can be just as effective if not more so than something needlessly morbid. It reminds me of the earliest days of Hogwarts Mystery. There were people who unironically found the game’s story to be a chore, and were content to simply attend classes and learn new spells. Which isn’t a bad take at all, I mean the game does advertise it as being “Your” Hogwarts adventure, even though it very much isn’t. Imagine being an only child and reaching the first mention of Jacob, the obvious teasing at his storyline. Well, that’s that, you already struggle to relate. But the degree to which the protagonist can project onto MC is a different issue. At the end of the day, this game didn’t need to be that dark...but I kind of always knew it was going to be. It definitely took a turn in the later years, but there was just something about the image of Ben, left for dead and encased in a block of ice, barely alive...that made me think, “Whoever this R person is, they’re not messing around.” 

[iamoncewas]

Expanding a little on my previous post about the X-blade being the soul of the world. And some barely related MoM stuff at the end lol.

According to Xehanort, χ (Chi) is "a most ancient letter" that represents death and endings. As a symbol however, it can be seen many ways.

In Plato's Timaeus, it is said that the two bands that form the "world's soul" cross each other in the shape of an X.

As a result of its use in algebra, X is often used to represent unknowns.

Chi or X is often used to abbreviate the name of Christ, as in the holiday Christmas (Xmas)

In traditional Chinese culture, qi [ki], or chi, is believed to be a vital force forming part of any living entity. Qi translates as "air" and figuratively as "material energy", "life force", or "energy flow".

And this:

Gebo is the name for the g-rune ᚷ in the Anglo-Saxon rune poem, meaning ‘gift’ or ‘generosity’. It is the rune of love, partnership, and sacrifice.

And get this: Gebo is rune number 7, and is the origin of the modern "lucky number 7" superstition. It's also commonly used as the symbol of a kiss-- a sign of affection. (xoxo)

Giving is an art form. "To bring it into consciousness is to gain greatly." When Sora's hope was crushed, Riku gave him a priceless gift through his sacrifice, restoring that hope. "It is estate and substance for those who have nothing else."

Xehanort claims its a symbol of death, but Chi is a symbol of love, and life, and what makes the light eternal. The X-blade is a symbol of partnership, which is why, even though Riku was made first to hold the X-blade, he saw Sora's heart, and Sora then became real.

We each have a part of ourselves that must be discovered before we can take control of our destiny. "To shirk this gift is to neglect the debt we have to Life for the life it has given us. It is a real debt, one whose weight we always feel within us."

They are the heart and soul of everything. Together they are the light that connects all the worlds.

Xehanort tells Sora the legend of the end of the world. He says "the light, the symbol of the world's hope, was devoured by shadow." The legend of the world falling to darkness, is really the story of MoM Sora's fall to darkness after Riku's death, when Riku's light was extinguished, permanently killing the light in MoM Sora and the 7 Pure Lights, so also Kairi. Even if the story is not literally referring to this, I believe it's meant to be foreshadowing at the very least from the way Xehanort words it.

Luxord's one clue about what's in the Black Box is that it contains "hope."

And what did Sora say again?

Sora's heart is the "symbol of the world's hope" that was devoured by shadow. [When Xehanort tells this part of the story, funnily enough the camera focuses on Sora] And Riku's death is what left nothing but ruin, and was an utter failure on Sora's part. I believe they're basically Kingdom Hearts and the X-blade personified, that which connects everything, and that which protects life.

Just like Kingdom Hearts and the X-blade, they are counterpart to each other, like the heart and soul, interconnected, and together, ONLY together, they literally create the harmony of the KH universe.

The World is Riku and Sora's kingdom.