#Fact based or Factoid question

[woodchipp]

Souls and their “types” in TCOAAL have been the subject of fan discussion for quite a while now. While there is no definitive explanation as to what exactly makes one any given type of soul so far, I’ve tried to piece together something resembling an explanation based on the vague hints the game gives you and my own inferences. 

In Episode 3’s Cliffhanger route, the Entity states that “the only soul your morals affect is your own.” As Andrew subsequently points out, this means the type of one’s soul is determined by the individual’s subjective perception of themself.

Thus, it is also entirely possible for the type of the soul to be affected by external judgement that has been internalized by the individual in question.

With that in mind, let’s get into the nitty-gritty of it.

1) A pure soul is the soul of a person who believes themself to be morally upstanding, even if they aren’t. Examples of this include the warden Ashley sacrificed in Episode 1 (which is the soul the game uses to drop the above factoid) and the siblings’ father, Douglas Graves, who insists that he and his wife did “fine” raising the two while their kids are holding them hostage.

2) A grime soul is the soul of a person who believes themself to be reprehensible, but doesn’t fully accept it for whatever reason. The shining example would be Andrew himself, who often treats Ashley as a scapegoat to avoid taking accountability for his own behavior and tries to suppress his attraction to her as much as he can. The fact his soul was already grime at the time of his first contact with Lord Unknown implies he felt he was reprehensible since before the age of 10 - most likely due to his mother’s abuse - and dealt with those feelings by suppressing them as well.

Interestingly enough, when Renee’s tar soul-to-be is separated from Douglas’ pure soul at the playground of the souls, the latter becomes a grime soul shortly afterwards. This suggests that Douglas also let his wife be responsible for his more morally dubious decisions; while Andrew does it to maintain his delusion of being normal, however, what little we see of Douglas indicates he did so out of genuine trust in Renee.

The mindset of a grime soul is unwittingly summed up by Andrew in his notes - "I'm a piece of shit, but I could certainly be worse."

3) A tar soul-to-be is the soul of a person who fully believes themself to be reprehensible and simply doesn’t care. The most prominent example is the siblings’ mother, Renee Graves, who understands how vile selling her kids off to an organ harvesting scheme is enough to apologize, but doesn’t care as long as they’re not in the way of her life with her husband anymore. Another example would be the scheme’s mastermind, the Surgeon, who is marked by the Entity as “possibly a Tar Soul” and has no moral compunctions about doing what he does because it turns him on.

Notably, Andrew becomes a tar soul-to-be after attempting to kill Ashley on the Shots and Such route and/or successfully doing so in the “Prophecy Fulfiller” ending. It’s implied this was caused by him no longer caring about her wellbeing after she disobeyed him and cooked one of the campers, lending further credence to this definition.

4) Finally, there are tar souls, the darkest known type. The better you see yourself as, the purer your soul is. Conversely, the worse you see yourself as, the darker your soul is. Therefore, a tar soul is the soul of a person who fully believes themself to be reprehensible and hates themself for it.

And who, exactly, is the game’s singular tar soul so far?

[gallifreyinstituteforlearning]

Converting Gallifreyan Age to Human Years

GIL's noticed some confusion about how old Gallifreyans are in human years. Have no fear; GIL's here to help.

✨ Quick Answer

If you're not interested in the breakdown, here's the formula:

For Gallifreyan ages under 100: (see below).

For Gallifreyan ages over 100: Human age = 18 + ((Gallifreyan age - 100) * 0.0133)

Here's a straight conversion table:

Continue reading for the maths...

🌌 Gallifreyan Ageing: Some Key Facts

Gallifreyans physically mature at 100 years old (roughly like humans at 18).

They're considered socially mature at 200 years old.

They typically live between 4000 and 7000 years, with 13 different bodies over their lifetime, each lasting around 450-500 years (though both can be more).

The 10th and later incarnations tend to have shorter lifespans, around 350-400 years per body.

For comparison, the average human lifespan is around 73 years.

🔢 How Does Gallifreyan Age Compare to Human Age?

To make the conversion work, we use a two-step approach that adjusts for the different life stages of Gallifreyans:

1. For the First 100 Gallifreyan Years:

Gallifreyans mature rapidly during their first 100 years, and we map these years to 18 human years. This period includes:

0-8 Gallifreyan years = Infancy

8-16 Gallifreyan years = Childhood

16-100 Gallifreyan years = Teenage years (ages 11-18)

2. After 100 Gallifreyan Years:

Once Gallifreyans reach physical maturity at 100, their ageing slows significantly. We scale their entire lifespan to fit within a typical human lifespan of 73 years, using the formula 1 Gallifreyan year = 0.0133 human years for ages beyond 100.

📐 Why These Numbers?

The reasoning behind these numbers is based on two main factors:

Different ageing rates at different life stages: Gallifreyans physically mature by 100 years, just like humans reach maturity around 18 years old. But after that, their ageing slows down significantly. We needed two different formulas to account for these different ageing phases.

Mapping a long lifespan to a human one: Gallifreyans live for 4000-7000 years, far longer than humans. To make sense of this, we compress their later years to fit into a human context, ensuring that even the oldest Gallifreyan reaches a human-equivalent age of about 70-80 years.

So there you have it! So next time you meet a 900-year-old Time Lord, don't call them old. They're only 28.

Any orange text is educated guesswork or theoretical. More content ... →📫Got a question? | 📚Complete list of Q+A and factoids →📢Announcements |🩻Biology |🗨️Language |🕰️Throwbacks |🤓Facts → Features: ⭐Guest Posts | 🍜Chomp Chomp with Myishu →🫀Gallifreyan Anatomy and Physiology Guide (pending) →⚕️Gallifreyan Emergency Medicine Guides →📝Source list (WIP) →📜Masterpost If you're finding your happy place in this part of the internet, feel free to buy a coffee to help keep our exhausted human conscious. She works full-time in medicine and is so very tired 😴

[glorixuspurpose]

Newbie

Spencer Reid x Black!Fem!Reader Synopsis: Reader is new to the BAU and discovers that she has similar qualities to another coworker…

A/N: This is based off that one Spencer Reid fic that was basically the same concept but I can’t remember the exact name 😔 + I kinda had early seasons Reid in mind for this but it really goes for any season

 “Did you hear about the new kid?” Penelope asked, making her way over to JJ’s desk. 

“New kid?” She questioned. 

“Well, y’know. She’s around Reid’s age, and I heard that she’s practically just like him. Besides some physical differences.” She explained. 

“Oh yeah, I saw. It’s pretty weird.” Elle told them. 

“Wait, shh! Here she comes now!” Penelope whisper shouted as you made your way over to them. 

 “Um, do you guys know where Hotchner’s office is?” You asked them awkwardly, making them glance at each other, obviously entertained. 

“Yeah, but he’s in a meeting right now.” Penelope lied. 

“Oh…” You said, before quickly glancing at Penelope’s shirt, which was littered with cartoon cats. “Do you like cats?” You asked her, still looking at her shirt, causing her to raise an eyebrow. 

“Yeah…why?” 

“Did you know that most cats are actually lactose intolerant? Some can love milk, but most are. Plus, cats can’t taste anything sweet.” You informed, holding up your index finger.

 The three women looked at each other in amusement. “Really?” You nodded.

“Also, did you know that the first black female FBI agent was Sylvia Elizabeth Mathis? I know that fact technically only applies to me, but…interesting factoid I guess..” You rambled. 

“It’s worse than we thought…” Penelope whispered. “What is?” You asked, worried.

“You know, I think there’s someone that you’d get along pretty well with…” JJ suggested. 

“Really? Who?” 

“Reid!” The three of them called, making a tall and slender young man come rushing to JJ’s desk. 

 “New initiative.” Penelope said.

“You two have…a lot in common.” JJ finished.  

You hold your hand out for him to shake, and he does as such. 

“Nice to meet you…”

“Y/N.” You finished. “Did you know that the earliest depiction of a handshake was from an ancient Assyrian relief from-”

“9th Century BC? I know.” Spencer finished.

“Well…shucks. I’m not exactly used to not being the smartest.” 

 “You can be the smartest female! I’m willing to give up my title..” Penelope half-joked, making you chuckle. 

“That’d be nice.” 

“Well, Reid? Why don’t you show the young lady around?” 

“Sure.” He replied, motioning for you to follow him. 

You two had barely left the spot when Hotchner emerged from his office. 

“Reid,” He called, making both of you stop in your tracks. “I see you’ve beaten me to welcoming our new kid.” He said smiling. 

“Sorry sir,” Reid sheepishly apologized. “If you want, I can-”

“No no, I think you’ve got it.” He told him with a wink. 

[tanoraqui]

Dungeon Meshi Liveblog: "What did [orcs] taste like?" {*distant sounds of tanoraqui going feral*}

I'm enjoying Chilchuck more in the manga because I notice him more, because he's less front-and-center talkative but in the background he's visibly thinking about things. I certainly noticed and enjoyed this moment in the anime, too, but it's a good example: Chilchuck is by far the best in this party at people, in terms of reading a room, understanding long-term group dynamics, and considering larger social questions like morality. His pattern recognition skills are obviously superb, and he applies them to dungeon navigation, trap- and monster-disarming, and social dynamics. He understands and gives practical advice on the relationships within a successful vs unsuccessful dungeon parties, and the skills of leaders thereof. He can often be seen eyeing the terrible new food consideringly before eating it. He's the one most often calling Laios out about No Eating Humanoids, including picking up on the fishmen eggs. When Laios complains that that's just based on a "feeling", Chilchuck does think about it - but still, when Marcille says of the dryads that maybe it doesn't matter if the plant is humanoid, Chilchuck says with concern, "Marcille..." He's the first to wonder how to make money from the dragon, but it's a practical concern, not greed. He's the only who realizes and convinces everyone that they have to turn back.

It all adds up to a guy who's never read a textbook of moral philosophy or the makings of a stable society in his life, but who could probably expound on them in layman's terms while drunk off his ass in a bar. He's responsible, including wanting to look out for his people, and very practical, and genuinely whip-smart. I'm not at ALL surprised to learn that he observed the systemic abuse of halffeet in the dungeon-delving trade and organized a union against it.

.

Shuro: Just say the highlights, alright?

Laios: We killed the red dragon, got Falin out of its stomach and resurrected her, but then we ran into the Mad Mage ad were separated.

Shuro and Kabru:

...actually, it's interesting how surprised I am, and was when I watched this, to see how...Normal Human Interaction Laios is in this moment? Upon request, he handily gave an efficient summary of exactly the highlights that needed to be shared - both what the others needed/would want to know, and not what they didn't need to know, lest Marcille be arrested for dark magic. Is he more relaxed around his usual crew, and thus acts "weirder"? Is this just a very specific circumstance, ie, it's reasonable to think the whole party has been considering exactly how to describe their adventures to others?

Maybe more notably, he left out monster-eating, which is also a cultural taboo but one that he's shown no sign of respecting so far. One must ask, for a moment: wait, does he respect that it's taboo in polite company? It's true that Marcille and Chilchuck, who'd both dungeoned with him for [mumblemumbletime], didn't know until the start of the story - he's clearly only just started unleashing all this culinary glee, even if he probably did already share infinite useful monster(-killing) factoids. Or is he aware and respectful of the fact that Shuro's definitely of "highlights" definitely only includes What Happened To Falin? This, too, is a level of character insight rarely if ever seen in Laios before.

.

Laios is like a deer in front of a lion... Yeah maybe I do want to watch Kabru flirt with him and Laios get completely flustered... Only if Laios turns it around by (later, after fleeing the initial scene) bluntly asking if Kabru wants to go on a date and/or have sex, and Kabru.exe stops functioning.

.

One must ask, for a moment: wait, does [Laios] respect that [eating monsters is] taboo in polite company? -my considerations 10 seconds ago in in-canon time

nvm, he's back on his bullshit! :) <3

Which! Indicates that his summary WAS intentionally geared toward Shuro's known preference, with maybe a dash of responsible dungeoneer team leader-to-team leader "fyi the Mage IS around"!

.

Ok now for the bit I'm particularly obsessed with...

Shown: man forcibly slamming down an impenetrable mental barrier called "Doing What I Must" in between Traumatic Memories & Moral Qualms and Words, Tone, Facial Expressions, Body Language & Anything Else Someone Else Could Sense:

Shown: Man with aforementioned barrier firmly in place [but still possibly seeing horrors on the backs of his eyelids]:

(Also shown: Man increasingly wishing that this is all some sort of elaborate hallucination brought on by sleep deprivation and stress:

.

Then this!

Until proven otherwise, I'm pretty certain that this last panel is the exact moment Kabru's brain started bouncing like a yo-yo wrt Laios. Because!

Kabru invited himself into this conversation as part of his overall quest: to look for a decent King for the dungeon. [ABBA playing faintly in the background] He's officially given up "finding" rather than "becoming", but he hasn't 100% ruled it out as an option - the goal is to get one.

Imagine that Kabru's brain includes a little hexagon like the food matrix, but for necessary aspects of the new King of the Golden Kingdom. In order, Laios goes...

- up several notches in "Likely Ability to Kill Mad Mage" by having defeated the red dragon and met the Mage

- down probably 1 notch in Trustworthiness/Honesty(/Readability to Kabru Specifically, who is prepared to Manage a mediocre candidate if that's what it takes)

- plunges down in the meta-category of Will Prevent Another Utaya by plummeting like a Boeing in the technically-not-on-the-chart category of Triggers Kabru's Trauma by admitting - bragging! delightedly! - that he eats monsters. Kabru's trauma is centered around monsters eating people. What sort of horror is a person who eats monsters? (Yet, perhaps already starting to yo-yo: if monsters eating people is the ultimate evil, what is this reversal...?)

Then Kabru asks a few innocuous, friendly questions about this Absolute Horror, because that's what Kabru does: he lies through his teeth about his own opinions and discomfort in order to put others at ease and (thus) achieve his goals. Laios gives innocuous, friendly answers.

THEN: ORCS. This whole comic, we've had the debate about whether it's okay to eat humanoid monsters, with Laios begrudgingly agreeing to his party's refusal. And orcs aren't even humanoid monsters, they're full-on demihumans! Second cousins of tallmen!

Kabru actually has to take a moment to process this new depth of depravity which he swiftly assumes Laios has sunk to. I imagine WWII air raid sirens are going off in his brain. Laios is But then he leaps this horrific chasm, too, itchy though his knife hand may be - interestingly, his face isn't shown in the comic, but in the show, Kabru retains the exact same friendly, eagerly interested tone of voice when he asks, "What did they taste like?"

- (Sidenote: truly, in all of this, I'm most obsessed with Kabru's ability, willingness and determination to seemingly-blithely hopskotch and/or outright running-jump over any moral qualm for long enough to get the other guy to dig their own grave and/or let down their guard. Who even are you under your infinitely shifting mask, sir. Do you even know? Because I think some of what we've seen that's more "real" is part of the mask you wear to be the Hero Who Will Be King.)

And Laios realizes what he'd implied and says, alarmed at the misunderstanding (though it's not clear if that's for moral reasons or social awkwardness) but still smiling with excited pride, "No no!! We didn't eat them! Due to circumstances, we're currently working with them!"

With them! Laios is yoinked out of, if not the depths, then at least the utmost depths - while also snapping unexpectedly upward in Alliance-Building (pref. Interspecies, Local-Centric). Laios had already rated a 2, maybe 3/5 for his party makeup, but given his known lack of people skills, I can't imagine Kabru expected him to go any higher than that - and with orcs! Orcs who are maligned by everyone else; for whom the Island Lord regular offers a bounty!

Now, this IS predicated on the assumption that Kabru considers orcs a people who should be treated with like a legitimate, well, people, rather than killed like vermin. But I think I'm on solid ground, considering a) Kuro the kobold being a (mostly) respected member of his party and their secret late-night study-friendship; b) Kabru's harshly learned skepticism of the stories Elves tell about themselves and other races, which is where we've seen the heart of anti-orc sentiment; and c) Kabru thinks the Island Lord is a moron.

Mind you, I think the yo-yo-ing is relatively subconscious at this point, and won't start reaching an audible fever pitch until Kabru learns about the black magic in, oh, another 5 minutes or so.

...but I really need to go to bed, so I'll see what overanalysis I make of that tomorrow!

[rollerska8er]

the importance of basic fact-checking

it's kind of crazy how doing research to learn if something is bullshit or not is not, like, a thing most people do as a matter of course?

for example, let's say someone says "did you know that in the medieval era, people used to sleep for a few hours, get up and do things for an hour, then go back to sleep?"

now, you might say "wow, that's really interesting!" and you might tell your friends about this cool fact.

but this factoid, if it is untrue, might give someone a distorted view of history, and of sleep. it might make them think that perhaps people in the medieval era were healthier because of this sleeping pattern.

so, you google it. or you duckduckgo it. whatever.

and your searching may take you to the Wikipedia article for polyphasic sleep. and this Wikipedia article contains a section dedicated specifically to this topic.

you may learn that this idea that people in medieval times slept in two phases is in fact a theory put forth by the historian A. Roger Ekirch, which suggests, based on 500 historical references, that this biphasic sleeping pattern truly existed, though it is as yet unconfirmed - until the nineteenth century and the advent of electric lighting, he suggests, these two distinct sleeps a night were common.

what you may also learn, is that Ekirch also believes that the way we currently sleep is actually way healthier for us, and believes that it contributes to our longevity.

and of course, we must not forget that Ekirch is a historian, not a scientist, much less a somnologist, and while his theory is interesting, it is not actually a medical prescription one way or another.

this is just one example - it is common to see people claim certain absolute facts about history or science, and extrapolate from that information some kernel of truth about how we ought to live our lives, how we ought to live in accordance with "our nature" (which is, in fact, mutable).

scepticism is something you have to practice at. you have to get a nose for sniffing out bullshit. you need to learn how to engage with novel information in a way that is not credulous, but questioning it. i am not saying question everything - that way lieth conspiracy theories - but i am saying that before you uncritically believe a claim about the world, you have a personal responsibility to read further into it.

and if you don't have time to do that, then you shouldn't believe everything you read, and you certainly shouldn't spread misinformation.

in our modern world it is easy to instantly share information without running background checks on it first. this is a major drawback of "reblogging" and "retweeting". so, the next time you see something like this, look into it.

remember that there is no Santa Claus. and the world is no less beautiful for his absence.

[tj-dragonblade]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. spread the self-love ❤

Thank you! This is such a hard question! I love most everything I've written, picking favorites is hard, I swear it would be easier to name the ones I'm least thrilled with lol. And just because most of these are Sandman doesn't mean I don't care about my older fandoms either, just that almost always what I'm happiest with writing is going to be the most recent years. Maybe one day I'll go through fandom by fandom to pick a top three from each, or something. But for now! In no particular order, and after much thought, here we go.

When the Chips Are Down from the tail end of my Saiyuki days, published 14 years ago this month. It's comical crack-treated-seriously based on an obscure canon-adjacent factoid and that sort of thing has never been my forte, but I succeeded admirably here if I may say so. It was a joy to write, Jiipu is my favorite and forever under-utilized in fic so centering this around him, around a ridiculous tidbit of info about his counterpart in the original Journey to the West and telling it in his pov was absolutely delightful. I had so much fun writing this one and I'm still so proud of the character voice work I managed in here.

The Thessaly breakup fic from fluffbruary 2023, which I like for having a semblance of plot and because I see lots of talk about what Hob would think of Thessaly but I don't know if I've run into any other actual fics dealing with it. Not that this is the Hob-gives-Thessaly-a-piece-of-his-mind fic that I think we all need, but I'm still very pleased with it. And I just really like the scene of Dream crying on Hob.

Of Cutoff Shorts and Classic Cars. I'm just. So happy with how quickly this one happened, how much it kept growing in the writing and how it turned out in the end. I also laugh at myself for nitpicking over the right British terms for back yard and driveway and such but then I completely spaced using bonnet instead of hood. 😂 Also fun fact this was my first time ever writing oral with a vulva and I'm very pleased with how well it's been received.

The Keeper and the Traveler currently sits pretty high because I've always loved and wanted to write that fairy-tale narrative style and this got pretty close. I don't know if it will still be in my top five by the end of the year but for now, it is.

And lastly will cheat a smidge and say Cruise Ship Boys, because I love both pieces of the 'series' and can't decide which I like better. The porn piece again happened quickly and wrote easily and I'm delighted with how it turned out. The sequel was meant to be one cute-ish little scene to revisit them but snowballed into a whole depressing backstory for Dream and an illuminating look into his everyday life and again, it wrote easily which seems to be a theme with these faves, lol. But yeah. I would love to come back to this AU one day.

[pkzzazz]

Hey there! Got any lore on your versions of Robot and Real Julie?

Where do I even start.. my Julie's lore is pretty basic because I don't focus on her as much compared to my other ocs, but Robo-Julie has the most lore to her by far since she's my favorite oc

Julie: she's an artist, french, and she's a cutie patootie.. that's pretty much it lol i'm sorry Julie!!! i'll make you more interesting eventually!!!

Robo-Julie: my favorite oc, i've drawn her more times than I can count! The basis of her is based off Yours Truly, 2095, obviously lol. She's got a jumpsuit, has an IQ of 1,001, and is a telephone, all that stuff.

She has a very different personality than Julie due to the scientists working on her not knowing what Julie was like, Leon likes the fact she's different personality-wise because it sort of detaches her from the real Julie. Julie's more sweet and shy while Robo-Julie's more sassy and charismatic. I also draw her looking different from Julie, there's no real reason lore-wise but I thought drawing her exactly like Julie would be boring.

Not really lore but some factoids, I suppose. Other than Time, some of Robo-Julie's other inspirations is Robo-ky from Guilty Gear and Bender from Futurama. Both in looks and personality. She also has a microwave in her chest, It's pretty much like the microwave in Spy Kids 2.

There's probably more stuff about the two that I can't recall at the moment, feel free to ask more specific questions if you want!

And of course I've gotta share some drawings of them:

[derekscorner]

Bleached Ramblings: Mini Ramble

Klub Kubo's latest Q&A

The other day I posted about the latest Q&A and what it revealed about the quincy arrows and overall powers. <(a link) But the factoid that most people are discussing is related to Yhwach's Shrifts.

Aka the powers he grants to his chosen Sternritter, the elites of his quincy army. Such as Uryu's "A the antithesis" or Haschwalth's "B the Balance".

Going by story alone it's portrayed as quincy exclusive but Kubo revealed that it actually isn't. It's only exclusive in the sense that he's exclusively giving it to his chosen soldiers.

Truth be told I do not see the issue here for a few reasons given in-story.

1) Yhwach is the founding father of the quincy race. He sees them as his "precious sons" or "children" because they are. Every quincy carries his blood in their veins.

I know some question the quincy timeline lately and even if it's revealed that Yhwach isn't the "first quincy" it doesn't change the fact that he's the source of the "current quincy".

He can give them power or take it. It also makes sense as to why he'd exclusively give them shrifts.

2) Yhwach's whole origin story and base power is the ability to divvy up his soul and give it to others.

I highly doubt the village he was born into was a quincy village. They were just people but people that he granted powers and healing to. And once they died he took his soul back along with the power and knowledge that person developed.

It's perfectly in-line with his abilities that he could, should he choose, give a shrift to other beings. He simply won't because they aren't his quincy.

And even if he did he'd likely use said individual and take the power back in short order.

=======================

Here’s the source if you wish to learn more yourself: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNaXekZM2zs&list=LL

This vid does offer a few other neat Kubo facts but this is the one that grabbed my attention.

[illusionremember]

tbh i always take statistics offered up like this with a heaping tablespoon of salt. Whomst is being polled to find these statistics? Personally, I have never been a part of a study like this. How are they collecting their data? Is this based on test scores? Graduation stats? If you follow the link to this website, they don't give any background data for this study — no poll numbers or parameters listed, no reference to where they sourced the data or how they analyzed it or who did the work to analyze it. I also notice that this website links to AI resources for professional development — if they push AI, are they using it to create content?

To be clear, I'm not saying that illiteracy isn't a problem or that it isn't worsening. But these numbers seem alarmingly high to the point where I don't quite believe them.

Some of the "factoids" that they list don't track logically, especially when they start talking economic impacts - for example, "School dropouts cost our nation $240 billion in social service expenditures and lost tax revenues" Correlation is not causation. Is it that people who can't read cost money, or is it that people who grow up in generational poverty and rely on social services to survive (which is what social services are THERE FOR) also have higher rates of illiteracy because they go to lower income schools, have less disposable income to support reading and education, and are going to school hungry, tired, ill, or stressed due to poverty? Are illiterate people costing us money, or is economic stress leading to lower literacy rates? It seems suspicious to me that they frame this as having an impact on taxpayers rather than address that taxpayer money is MEANT to help take care of citizens in need. That's what it's for.

So why frame this as "here's how illiteracy is a drain on society" instead of "people most disenfranchised by our society are deeply affected by illiteracy"? In fact, that entire factoid sheet is framed that way - look at the titles of each section: "Literacy data and its impact on the nation, the economy, society, and the classroom" Now this could be a framing device to try and appeal to people who don't care about literacy but do care about where their tax money goes, but it's still implying the onus is on illiterate people rather than the systems that lead to poverty and illiteracy.

Furthermore, since this link goes to the 2022-2023 timespan, I took a step further on the webpage to see the ones for 2024-2025 (which we are not yet through, btw)

Most of the stats listed have not changed from two years ago, except this one that caught my eye:

2022 - Illiteracy costs American taxpayers an estimated $20 billion each year.

2024 - Low levels of literacy costs the US up to 2.2 trillion per year

Do you see that enormous fuckin jump? In just two years? and there's no details given — what's the breakdown of that alleged cost? Where are those trillions of dollars going, exactly? Is it really literacy levels, or is it poverty levels, poorer employment, or stagnating wages that lead to people relying on social services?

Another factoid I question: "54% of adults have a literacy below a 6th-grade level (20% are below 5th-grade level)." How did they calculate that? How did they collect the information necessary to determine this? They don't tell us that.

Even if the statistics are true, I don't think that slapping this little stats listicle up everywhere is actually helpful unless you are trying to shock people or make them scornful and disdainful of impoverished and/or illiterate people. It's giving parent scolding their kid about their report card without asking what's going on in the kids life or trying to fix it. So what are the actions we can take here that are actually productive? So I took a look at the website that posted this to seek out what they are trying to encourage us to do with that knowledge. What is their call-to-action?

This National Literacy Institute, when you look into their website beyond this stats sheet, is a business that offers professional workshopping for schools. They hosts teachers' conferences and programs to share current educational practices.

That's not necessarily a bad thing, and I'm not trying to say they are bad or even untrustworthy — but people need to keep in mind that this stats sheet is a marketing technique for them. They give these statistics and then say, "We can help with that! Hire us to train your teachers." Maybe they can. Maybe they're more reputable than I'm giving them credit for here.

But I'm writing this, not about their reputation, but about the gut response to reblog and repost stats like this and go "oh my god we're screwed". That's not productive.

When you see info presented as facts and it comes with numbers, you need to dig deeper. Numbers are easy to make up, especially when people don't fact check what they're looking at. Furthermore, the productive question to ask here is not "how did we get here?" but "what can we do about it?"

So, readers, how can we work to encourage reading comprehension, boost education, and thus improve literacy?

https://x.com/StrangerJosh11/status/1856410822983201030

It’s dire out here

[doubleca5t]

One of the most common asks I get is people asking me if they're trans based of some thought process they've had or thing they're into or whatever and the reality of these questions is that I cannot answer them. Gender identity is not prescriptive, I can't take in a bunch of factoids about your life and decide if you should be diagnosed with gender. The fact is, two people could have experiences and feelings that look nearly identical on paper, but come to very different conclusions about their gender. And that's ok!! Gender is something deeply personal and only you can decide what's going to make you most comfortable.

I will say that if you're starting to question your gender, the best way to approach finding the answer to that question is to just play around with different aspects of identity. Try out different names, different pronouns, different clothes, different styles. Dip your toe into different presentations and feel out which ones you want to go in deeper on. There are no wrong answers, just things that work for you and things that don't, so don't worry too much about fitting into a pre-established narrative.

Trust me when I say that this approach is a way more reliable process than asking internet strangers for advice lol

[no-reply95]

I was scrolling through the Beatles topic on Twitter the other day and came across a tweet from Mark Lewisohn referring to a talk he’d given to the Fab4cast podcast on the Get Back sessions and Spring period of 1969. I assumed that it was a recent talk so I gave it a listen but the talk is actually from 2019.

I tend to find Lewisohn’s podcast interviews to be very interesting. He’s obviously got decades worth of Beatle knowledge stored up so you’re almost guaranteed to learn something new or hear an anecdote that you’ve never heard before but more than the factoids he’s accumulated over the years I find his interpretations of the band extremely telling.

The part of the conversation that really caught my attention was when the podcast hosts brought up the fact that John and Paul’s weddings were really close together and wondered if the two events were connected in any way, I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that this probably got the biggest reaction out of Lewisohn, the main points of the exchange are outlined below (time stamp 47:12)

Host: “Well also in this period there are two events, the marriages of John and Paul, within 8 days of each other… I read that John wanted to marry on the 14th, two days after Paul’s wedding but couldn’t do it because of legal issues, how much was his [marriage] a response to Paul’s marriage do you think?”

Lewisohn: “I’ve read that people say that it was but never heard John say that it was so there’s no validity to those claims they’re just people assuming that John didn’t want to be outdone by Paul… that’s the kind of writing that annoys me because it becomes part of the fact and it’s some writer thinking that’s what it probably was… Unless someone out there can find a Lennon quote in which he actually says it in which case I stand corrected and I’ll be very happy to do so”

There’s a lot going on in these quotes so I’m gonna break down my thoughts on this further:

The illusion of John’s honesty

What Lewisohn displays here is something I believe is pretty common within the Beatles’ authorship. I believe in Revolution In The Head Ian McDonald referred to John as “truth” and Paul as “beauty” and I think a lot of writers do tend to assign those attributes consistently to John and Paul. Reading (or listening) to the Lennon Remembers interview now, it’s hard to believe at one stage people took what John was saying as fact and never even questioned whether there were emotions or agenda behind what he was saying, despite the contradictions (“Me and Paul stopped writing together in 1962” vs “Me and Paul worked really closely together on Sgt. Pepper”) and because John was so charismatic and would speak openly in interviews and to people he knew about both the good and bad in his life I think people, and in this case Lewisohn, assume that John told us everything of note that happened in his life, which I don’t think is a realistic expectation of anyone, let alone someone as famous as John. I think it’s problematic to take John’s or anyone else’s words, especially when they’re said in public, as the gospel truth because everyone has an agenda and John was no different. I also think it’s unrealistic to believe that John would ever announce that the reason he and Yoko got married when they did was in any way connected to Paul, that would have sullied the sanctity of “John and Yoko TM”, I mean, how can you be the greatest love story ever if the reason you decided to get married was because your musical partner who you may have unresolved romantic feelings for got married? I don’t think John would publicly embarrass Yoko like that or risk undermining the strength of the brand he was trying to create with his new relationship by admitting that Paul’s marriage spurred them on. That Lewisohn is apparently holding out for a lost interview of John stating that Paul was involved in the timing of his marriage to Yoko just sounds pretty far fetched to me.

The timing of John’s wedding in relation to his and Yoko’s divorces

As discussed in this podcast, Paul and Linda got married (pretty unexpectedly I believe) on 12 March 1969 and John and Yoko got married 8 days later (and apparently they wanted it to be sooner) on 20 March 1969. Aside from the extremely close proximity of John and Paul’s weddings it should be noted that John’s divorce from Cynthia was finalised in November 1968 and Yoko’s from Tony Cox was finalised in January 1969.

So why am I bringing up John and Yoko’s divorces? Because it meant that they were free to marry each other from January 1969, there was no longer a legal issue preventing them and if John’s bursting out in song about it, you would assume that they would have started planning their wedding ASAP… but curiously they didn’t. How do we know John and Yoko weren’t planning a wedding before Paul married Linda? Because once Paul was married John and Yoko started scrambling to get married ASAP, suddenly there was a rush and need to be married that hadn’t existed before, John suddenly wanted to marry Yoko on a ferry but they couldn’t be married there, then John wanted to marry Yoko in Paris but they needed to be resident in Paris for a period of time before they could get married there so eventually they settled on Gibraltar as they could get married there at short notice. Clearly there was a sudden need for John and Yoko to get married that didn’t materialise until around March 1969, am I and countless other people (including Paul himself) crazy for assuming that Paul’s wedding impacted John’s sudden desperate need to be married? If it wasn’t Paul’s wedding, what was it?

Authorial interpretation and assumptions

I’m really fascinated by the visceral reaction Lewisohn had to just the suggestion that the timing of John and Yoko’s wedding was connected to Paul and Linda’s. For Lewisohn to state it annoys him was pretty shocking to me because, given what is publicly known about this period and the lack of any other logical reason for John and Yoko’s wedding to be so close to Paul’s and Linda’s, I don’t think it’s bad writing to point out the proximity and suggest that the timing was more than a coincidence.

Based on his reaction, you would assume that Lewisohn would be set against any form of interpretation where the principal in question hadn’t confirmed that the interpretation was in fact correct but that would be an incorrect assumption to make. Some of you may be aware of the Hornsey Road shows Mark Lewisohn was giving in 2019 around the 50th anniversary of Abbey Road. During these shows Lewisohn played a clip from the, now infamous, 4-4-4-2 meeting tape and gave a presentation on the Abbey Road period in the Beatles’ history. One of the points Lewisohn raised during the show was that during the sessions, after the car accident in Scotland, a bed was brought into the studio for Yoko so she (and sometimes John) could rest while work on the album progressed. According to Lewisohn, one morning they turned up to the studio and someone had removed one of the legs from the bed, leaving it with 3 legs *dramatic pause* which was him heavily hinting that he thought Paul broke Yoko’s bed on purpose and then bragged about it on the Ram album by including a song called 3 legs, I’m not going to go into the validity (or lack thereof) of this claim but I find it very interesting that Lewisohn was annoyed about authors suggesting that the timing of John and Yoko’s wedding was connected to Paul and Linda’s but he seems happy to publicly speculate that Paul was sabotaging Yoko’s bed in the studio based on the title of a song that he would release on Ram two years later and nothing else.

Is there any evidence that connects John’s wedding to Paul’s?

I’ve already outlined the suspiciousness of John and Yoko choosing to get married right after Paul, when they had been free to marry for weeks prior but is there any other evidence that either proves that the weddings were connected or is Lewisohn right to deem that suggestion as lacking in validity?

Interestingly there actually is unverified eyewitness testimony that does connect John and Paul’s weddings (something not mentioned by Lewisohn in this podcast). I believe there’s an anecdote from Les Anthony (John’s chauffeur at the time) about him driving John and Yoko around when news of Paul’s wedding suddenly came across the radio, to which John apparently said to Yoko that “we have to get married now”… I couldn’t track down the exact source for that story (if anyone knows the source please let me know) so I’m not sure how credible that anecdote is but, assuming it is accurate, then that would suggest a correlation between John and Paul’s weddings that Lewisohn is adamant doesn’t exist.

Why does this matter?

I do think that this podcast interview could be indicative of a few future concerns I personally have around the way the Beatles discourse will progress in the future. Firstly, this was only a podcast interview so it’s unlikely that when Lewisohn releases the final book in his trilogy that he’ll discuss the weddings in this manner (I.e. although he’s adamant the timing of John’s wedding had nothing to with Paul he failed to offer any sort of explanation regarding why John and Yoko were rushing to get married when they’d had weeks to prepare a wedding).

It’s a slight worry that Lewisohn seems to believe that John announced every single thing that happened in his life of note, especially concerning Paul and Yoko. If John had told us everything of interest about him, surely his Dakota diaries would be the basis of a Netflix series by now and not locked away in a vault (assuming they haven’t already been destroyed). To me, like several authors before him, Lewisohn seems to be mistaking John’s emotional honesty with factual honesty. It didn’t escape my attention that several clips of the Lennon Remembers interview were inserted into this podcast and Lewisohn quotes extensively from it in Tune In as well. There’s nothing wrong with using Lennon Remembers as a source but if you do use it you should be analysing the veracity of what was said as we know that John was in a torched earth mentality at that time and even he himself has said what he said in that interview wasn’t meant as a timeless manifesto. It’s a shame that given his ability of analyse sources Lewisohn has never (to my knowledge) critically analysed Lennon Remembers, given that other sources have been analysed this makes LR a strange omission.

Finally, Lewisohn does tend to make some good insights and does have the ability to read between the lines (I.e. him noting Paul’s tendency to say “we” when in most cases he means himself) but with John I do think he has a bit of a blindspot. Why Lewisohn is happy to speculate without evidence in some cases (3 legs) but he draws the line at the suggestion that John and Paul’s weddings being connected is anyone’s guess. If Lewisohn can turn his attention to reading between the lines with John and the other Beatles too and connecting the dots then we should get a Beatles biography that finally addresses a lot of the issues we cover on this site. However, if we take the approach of only using John and Yoko’s PR to understand the events that transpired before and after the band broke up then the story hasn’t moved much further than 1970 and given all that we know now I think that would be a huge shame.

[gallifreyinstituteforlearning]

Are the Backrooms a broken TARDIS?

Are the Backrooms a broken TARDIS?

🪞 What Are the Backrooms?

For those unfamiliar with the mythos, the Backrooms are a human urban myth/legend that describes an endless, liminal labyrinth of fluorescent-lit, yellow-carpeted rooms that one "noclips" into by accident—that is, by falling through reality itself. Once inside, escape is rare, sanity is optional, and time seems to move… wrong.

Key features include:

Shifting architecture: rooms repeat, distort, and change dimensions.

Non-Euclidean layouts: corridors loop or stretch in an impossible manner.

Chronological instability: time appears to pass inconsistently, if at all.

Paratextual paranoia: Vaguely-described 'entities' may stalk the corridors.

🌀 So, Are They a Broken TARDIS?

Let's examine the possibilities.

📦 TARDISes and Interior Collapse

When a TARDIS is damaged, especially from temporal stress, its dimensional interior can collapse into paradox loops or misfire into recursive spatial traps. We've seen:

Corridors twisting endlessly, and rooms vanishing from memory.

A corrupted TARDIS creating an infinite prison of alternate timelines.

So yes—TARDISes are capable of housing rooms that shouldn't exist and sometimes do so maliciously.

🔧 Diagnostic Parallels

Backroom-like phenomena could be explained by:

A rogue or feral TARDIS losing control of its architectural configuration.

An Interior Perception Filter gone haywire, trapping occupants in looping cognitive constructs.

A crashed prototype (pre-Type 40) abandoned in the vortex and left to rot until reanchored to N-Space.

🚫 Counterpoints

But let's not jump to conclusions:

The Backrooms have no known control room or Eye of Harmony.

The "noclip" mechanic is anomalous even by Gallifreyan standards. TARDISes don't usually kidnap people without a psychic link or a darn good reason (though you may counterpoint this one with sheer madness).

No known signs of a symbiotic interface.

🏫So ...

Could the Backrooms be the decaying husk of a broken TARDIS? Possibly. But they could just as easily be:

A collapsed pocket dimension.

A trapped reality fragment from the Dark Times.

A thought-based prison from the 10th Dimension.

Or (most likely) a low-level spatial trauma node clinging to a forgotten corner of the Web of Time.

Either way, we don't recommend it.

Related:

💬|🛸🌌Can a TARDIS be altered for travel in the multiverse?: How you might go about getting to the multiverse in your TARDIS.

💬|📱🕸️What does the Web of Time look like?: Overview on the Web of Time and its relevance.

💬|📱👁️What’s Eye of Harmony?: What this is and how it works, and how crucial it is to Time Lords.

Hope that helped! 😃

Any orange text is educated guesswork or theoretical. More content ... →📫Got a question? | 📚Complete list of Q+A and factoids →📢Announcements |🩻Biology |🗨️Language |🕰️Throwbacks |🤓Facts → Features: ⭐Guest Posts | 🍜Chomp Chomp with Myishu →🫀Gallifreyan Anatomy and Physiology Guide (pending) →⚕️Gallifreyan Emergency Medicine Guides →📝Source list (WIP) →📜Masterpost If you're finding your happy place in this part of the internet, feel free to buy a coffee to help keep our exhausted human conscious. She works full-time in medicine and is so very tired 😴

[authortobenamedlater]

Irrelevant factoid to start off: I learned what a CAG is from Battlestar Galactica.

Partially relevant fact at the request of @generallemarc: For an MWAS fic scene. At-the-time Lieutenant Lasky pulls a dumb@$$ maneuver on a training op because his head’s not on straight after he found out his wife is ready to divorce him. Question I had that led me down this rabbit hole, would chewing Lasky out for his dumb@$$ maneuver be the CAG’s job?

I’m gonna try to make this as short and digestible as possible in an effort to avoid just quoting Wikipedia and other assorted sources:

Even though air groups are now called air wings, CAGs are still CAGs. It’s better than CAW which would probably end up with CAGs being referred to as “crows.” Because there is no iffy acronym the military can’t make worse.

The CAG is not directly under the carrier CO’s chain of command. The air group is sort of its own operation. Useful for this fic and possibly others.

I guess we keep “air groups” even when there’s no air involved.

CAG and DCAG (deputy CAG) are captain’s billets. This might be useful?

Stop me before I buy this book.

This site might be dated but it’s an excellent resource for anyone needing a simple outline of carrier organization in general. Cause that’s a really common thing to need, right? I’m saving it for future MWAS and other Halo/Infinity fics.

I am pretty sure I’ve now done more research into protocol and structure than the people who actually wrote Halo. But that’s not hard.

Grammatical note, plural of CAG is Commanders, Air Group. The commanders are the plural. Not the groups. Found this one somewhere and grrrrrr. I don’t think I’ll need this, probably no one will ever need this, but there it is.

Bringing us back to the question of “Would the CAG be the one to chew Lasky out for his dumb@$$ maneuver?” Nothing I found answered this 😂 but based on what I did find, yes. This could be the CAG’s job. So it probably will be his job, because after doing this amount of Googling I don’t want to make it anyone else’s 🤣

[dragonsareourfuture]

I Don’t Belong Here — L Lawliet/GN! Reader

Summary: What kind of a story begins with the main character dying? Well, this one. L Lawliet has lived out his days on earth and finds himself in the afterlife. The Good Place, he is told by a neighborhood architect named (Name). One who shows him around his own neighborhood and introduces him to new people. But something doesn’t add up, L notices. Does he really belong in the Good Place?

(I'd advise having knowledge on the TV show "The Good Place" if you wish to understand the majority of this clusterfuck. Although, if you wish to proceed regardless, go right ahead!)

Chapter One: L Lawliet, You Are Dead.

<>

Weclome! Everything Is Fine.

Everything is fine? Is that so?

The last thing L remembers is the ceiling. Just…the ceiling. The fans twirling on the ceiling of the headquarter building and the cross hatching of the tiles. It was peaceful. Was he sleeping? If he had been sleeping, then how did he end up here?

Now, instead of the ceiling, he stares at a wall. Big, green letters stare back at him. “Welcome! Everything Is Fine,” they say. Something inside L is prickling, like something he is forgetting struggling to find its way to his brain. He wants to ponder it, but something about the words splayed out on the wall in front of him is telling him that he doesn’t have to. Everything is fine, after all.

He only manages to tear his eyes away from the bold, sans serif font when the sound of a doorknob turning catches his attention. Huh. Has there always been a door there? If so he hadn’t noticed it, which L thinks is completely absurd as he usually takes mental notes of everything in a room before getting himself seated. But there it is, a door he missed while transfixed on the somehow calming message on the wall, now opening to reveal...a person.

You stand in the doorway, simply smiling.

Now that L’s attention has been drawn away from the mystifying message he can properly analyze his surroundings, and his new visitor. He’s in a rather simple room, nothing but a few plants dotting the perimeter and a couch in the middle, which he is currently sitting on. And he’s sitting normally. Hm. That feels…itchy. L inches a foot onto the couch in his discomfort of sitting with his bottom planted firmly on the cushions with both feet on the ground. Though he hesitates to bring both feet up and hug his knees to his chin as he normally would, because he senses that your sudden presence means he is about to be standing and following you into that mysterious room behind you. Like a doctor calling a patient into an appointment. Except in this case L has no idea what you are, and judging by your suit and comical, colorful bowtie, you are certainly not a doctor.

“L?” you ask, showing your teeth in a kind smile. “Come on in.”

And against his better judgement, he does. L was never the person to simply keep quiet and obey orders in a situation he does not understand. And there certainly is not a whole lot of understanding happening in his brain right now. He should be asking questions. He should be refusing you. He doesn’t know you, you could be leading him to his doom. All this is possible but something about the way you smile at him…like those big, green words, all he reads from you is “Everything Is Fine.”

The room that you lead him into doesn’t look all that much like a death trap, but you can never be sure. It’s a simple office, plants similar to the ones in the waiting room sit in pots in the corners and on the windowsill. The sun shines outside, seeping through the glass and illuminating the desk on the left as you walk in. On it are a few little trinkets, paperweights, and, right in the middle, a manila file folder.

You circle around the desk and settle yourself into the rollaway chair, gesturing to the sleek armchair across from you. “Why don’t you have a seat, hm?”

What is wrong with him right now? You ask him to do something and he just…does? What happened to his spine, other than it bending exponentially thanks to the way he sits?

No matter, there are more important things to think about right now. Like the fact that he might finally be getting some answers.

You open the file in front of you and skim whatever’s written, opening your mouth to say something when your eyes meet his. And then they drift down to his legs. You stare at him curiously with your mouth still agape for a few moments at how his knees are pulled up to his chin, eventually shaking your head and getting back on track.

“My name is (Name), and of course I already know yours.” you say, folding your hands in front of you. “So, how are you, L?”

How should L even answer that?

“I’m…confused, mostly. How are you?”

Your eyes light up, as if you haven’t been asked that in a while. “Oh, well I’m fine. Y’know, busy, but fine! And, yes, I’d assume you’d be confused, everyone in your situation usually is.”

“My situation? What exactly do you mean by that?” Now that L has finally asked one question he can’t seem to stop the ball from rolling “Speaking of you, who are you exactly? Actually, never mind who, but where—“

You hold up a hand. “All of your questions will be answered, I promise. There’s just one thing that you need to know before we tackle any of that.”

“And what is that?”

Your eyebrows lift slightly, elbows digging into the surface of your desk as you lean forward. You look like you’re about to tell him that he’s fired. That his dog died. That some kid took the last of the strawberry shortcake and he’s going to have to settle for carrot cake. What comes out of your mouth is much worse.

“L Lawliet, you are dead.”

…

He’s…?

Yes. Yes, he is. That’s why he doesn’t remember how he got here.

He’s dead. Huh.

L is perfectly content in not saying anything about this new little factoid, but you’re looking at him expectantly, and a little cautiously. Like you either expect him to punch you or burst into tears. L wonders if that fear is based on experience. How many other people have to told this to?

“…Am I, now? That’s a shame.”

You breathe out a sigh, which could be from relief. “Yes, it is. But, not to worry! Because you’ve ended up in the Good Place, L. You’re going to be okay.”

“So it’s called the Good Place?” L brings his thumb to his lips. “A rather simple thing to call it.”

You nod. “Pretty self-explanatory, right? We didn’t want anyone to get confused. There are just so many names for it on earth. Heaven, Valhalla, Nirvana…But it all translates to one place. Here. And you get to be a part of it.”

“That sounds…” Before he can articulate his thoughts, a dilemma from earlier brings itself to the forefront of L’s mind. “Wrong.”

“I’m sorry?”

“My memories are all wrong. Before this, all I can remember is the ceiling and nothing else. If I were to have died, surely I would remember it, yes?”

You take a gulp of air and pull the manila file closer to you. “We take it upon ourselves to erase the memories of death if they are particularly traumatizing or embarrassing. Helps the residents adapt into a peaceful afterlife better, I’m sure you understand.”

“Yes, that is perfectly sensible. Although I may ask, what is an example of a death that is not at all traumatizing?”

“Pfft, there hardly is one. You’d be surprised how many memories we have to erase.”

“On the contrary, I am hardly surprised. I’m sure there are plenty of people who cannot accept the nature of their death, let alone the fact that they have died in the first place.”

You sigh, “You’re tellin’ me. Most people come around once I tell them that they’re basically in paradise, but some won’t even listen to me once I break the news. One person tried to convince me I was the dead one! It’s just—oh, um, but that’s hardly the point.”

“Do you ever tell someone how they died if they ask?”

Your expression hardens. “I do, but I like to know that they’re certain before I tell them.”

“I am.”

Exhaling through your nose, you prop the manila folder up like a book, scanning the files inside. “Alright then. Let’s see here…ah, okay. So, unfortunately this one’s pretty traumatizing, it’s not really one of those embarrassing deaths that some people get a kick out of, so brace yourself.” You look over the top of the folder as if checking to see if he’s braced himself. His expression and stance is unwavering, large eyes merely staring back at you patiently. “You were betrayed by your colleague Yagami Light – also known as your adversary Kira – and killed by the Shinigami Rem at his request.”

Oh yeah. That.

The ceiling was not clear in view, no, there was something obstructing L’s view of it. A face, staring down at him as his heart gave out right on the floor. Brown eyes filled with such cocky maliciousness, the upward tilt of lips L only knew to spout lies. It all equated to a side of Yagami Light that L knew existed but had never seen up until his final moments. It all added up to one final conclusion -- Yagami Light was Kira all along. L had been right. But the price of knowing that for certain is that, now, there’s nothing he can do about it.

“I’m..I’m sorry. I never know what to do when I have to tell people…” you try, reaching across the table and planting a hand down in front of him. Not asking to hold his hand, not even expecting a reaction. Just showing that you’re there, and that you’re trying.

“It’s up to them now. I’ve done all that I could. I trust my successors.”

“In catching the murderer Kira, right?” you ask, to which L confirms with a polite utterance of ‘yes’. Obviously you know the answer. “I understand that is one of the many, many cases you’ve worked on during your lifetime.” you scan your eyes quickly down what appears to be a long list in your folder. Do you have every detail of his life in those files? Every case he ever took? Hell, every day in his life? You set the file down flat in front of you and look at him with something L determines is admiration. “You’ve done so much good in your lifetime, L. You’ve worked so hard over the entirety of your life to make sure you left the world a little better than you found it. Now…well, now you can rest.”

You can relax, you tell him. And it seems to simple coming out of your mouth yet somehow it still feels out of reach.

“I can…” Is all L manages to say, his preoccupation coming across as dreamy and wistful. His mind is busy running a mile a minute and his mouth just can’t keep up. L decides to test the words out on his own tongue to see if they still sound foreign, “I can rest now.”

Yeah, no, it still sounds like bullshit.

“Yes! Well, after the tour, of course.”

“Tour?”

You start to stand, straightening your colorful bowtie and circling around your desk to the door which you pull open. You don’t exit right away, though. You stand next to the exit, waiting for L to follow you. While he works on untangling himself from his current position you clarify, “A tour of the neighborhood! Where you’ll spend your afterlife.”

[betawooper]

Your thoughts on the canonical kny pairings? (The main trio, uzui's polycule, Obanai + Mitsuri and Hakuji + Koyuki)

warning ahead of time that there will be ship hate, just like look away if you dont like that stuff lol

(by main trio, im assuming you mean tanjirou with kanao, zenitsu with nezuko, and inosuke with aoi so we're gonna go with that assumption)

before i actually get started, i will say i generally dont like how gotouge writes romance if they arent established beforehand (like parents), and even then there couldve been more complexity and nuance behind such decisions, the romance is just so weak compared to their ability to write sibling dynamics

with that in mind

tanjirou and kanao - ugh, i dont like it at all, the fact that this was pretty much kanao's whole deal until the douma fight was abhorrent and every time i see kanao getting all flustered around tanjirou i lose 10 years of my life. it feels out of character and i hate that every time i see kanao interacting with him i see nothing but it being used as ship fuel and not a genuine exploration of their dynamic

they also have nothing in common and nothing to bond over, and their dynamic is not fun at all, i really dont see how both fans and gotouge genuinely think theyd make a good couple, its literally "shes a girl, hes a boy, can i make it more obvious"

-

zenitsu and nezuko - ughhhhhhhh

i mentioned at some point that this ship brought the worst out of canon zenitsu, and i still hold up to that, it literally ruined whatever emotional maturity he acquired in infinity fortress. then theres the fact that canon nezuko has essentially regressed to a toddler so theres the weirdness from that + she is really in no position to return his affections when she also has no agency over her actions

its the same thing with tanjirou and kanao where they also have nothing in common and nothing to bond over and their dynamic is not fun at all and its just "shes a girl, hes a boy, whoop-dee-stinking-do"

-

inosuke and aoi - gotouge put them together bc theyre both blue-coded huh? (/s) like thats it, that is all theyve got going, they have nothing

-

uzui's polycule - now this is where it gets a little better (kinda), i like how every one of the characters have distinct personalities and they play off each other in a fun way

i do have two complaints: one is that this relationship is a big reason why i think gotouge is not good at writing romance, bc even if they know how to write the four in an entertaining way, i dont sense any romantic love in their interactions. well, theres uzui and hinatsuru, but even thats reaching

second, makio apparently being a distant cousin of uzui is just wtf, idk why gotouge felt the need to add that at all, way to ruin a perfectly good relationship with a completely unnecessary and gross factoid when they could have just not done that

-

obanai and mitsuri - i actually really like this ship, just not the way gotouge handled it. theres so much potential for them to understand each other's struggles with their self image but all they actually got were moments about obanai being a creepy overprotective bastard over her, and mitsuri going "awww hes my knight and im a princess!" like girl,,,,,,

canon obamitsu, cringe

rewrite obamitsu, based

-

hakuji and koyuki - literally like the only relationship gotouge didnt screw over or fuck up, you can tell the two love each other a lot and thats what makes the tragedy later on so heartwrenching. koyuki and keizo representing hakuji's capacity to love and find hope and meaning in a cruel world and having them dying is just like, damn, cant believe this is in the same manga where zenitsu got jealous over sanemi patting nezuko on the head

-

tldr; main trio pairings are ass, canon obamitsu is wack, uzui polycule is okay just has a few issues, and hakuji and koyuki is the best ship in this story, no question

[themoomoorn]

Random Thot #46,853

I had a health exam for my upcoming new job and put my two weeks in for my current one, so I’m rewarding my neurodivergent ass-brain with this.  Sit tight and enjoy.

46,853: I’m half-convinced that Edelgard is like the Soul Series’ Alexandra sisters and daughter when it comes to her combat ability - or rather, lack thereof.  Unlike Claude, Dimitri, and Byleth, who all explicitly received combat training as children, Edelgard likely did not.  The tools given to her are what likely allow for her to fight at all - heck, they may even do a bit of the fighting for her.  How else can a noodle-armed womanlet like her wear all that armor and heft that axe?  

(Also, how the eff does this dress make clanking armor sounds when she walks in the game despite this dress having like no armor whatsoever)

To begin with, we have in-game factoids of her stat caps being the second highest in the game (390 when combined, with Cyril only beating her by 5 points due to his Aptitude skill), and she even has a magic cap that’s not only on-par with other magically-inclined units (72), but it’s actually better than some of them (Dorothea and Linhardt, who are both dedicated mage types, have caps of 61 and 66, respectively, while Manuela, who tends to get placed in Faith Magic-aligned classes despite being a hybrid unit, has a piddling cap 48).  She even has a quirky but feasible spell list for both magic types (Fire/Bolganone/Luna Lambda/Hades Omega for Reason, and Heal/Nosferatu/Recover/Seraphim for Faith, which is one of her banes, mind you).  I imagine this is the work of the experiments that gave her her version of the Crest of Flames - after all, the 2020 DREAM interview noted that the Hresvelg children were given a more “refined” version of the experiments the Ordelias had.  The refinement isn’t just reflected in-game with caps and magic too; Edelgard is also more robust in terms of health, whereas Lysithea is prone to bouts of weakness and illness.  In-game, she has poor Luck and Strength, and the single lowest HP cap of all the playable units at 48.  And while this one is admittedly conjecture, Edelgard doesn’t hint that her lifespan was drastically cut, as she gets to live a long life in all of her endings.  Even in her Crest-heavy ending with Hanneman or her healthcare-related ending with Manuela don’t mention that she had one or both of her Crests taken out.  Lysithea, on the other hand, is extensively motivated by the fact that she doesn’t have many years left, and it’s only in two endings (Lorenz, Balthus) where she’s able to live fairly long without removing her Crests; The rest either have her dying young or being able to live long only after her Crests are taken out.

Now what of her combat abilities?  Let’s turn to the source of where this silly thot came from.

For the uninitiated, Sophitia Alexandra, a fighter who’s been in the Soul Franchise since its very first game, did not grow up as a dedicated combatant like the other fighters - she was an ordinary baker living in Athens during the late 16th Century when Greece was part of the Ottoman Empire.  When she was bathing in a lake one day, she received a message from Hephaestus himself in that she has a divine destiny to destroy the cursed blade Soul Edge, and he gifts her with a divinely crafted short sword and shield in order to fulfill her mission.  While she does gain training in Athenian combat styles, a lot of her power and capabilities are tied to her weapon set, which are named the Omega Sword and Elk Shield.  Her younger sister Cassandra would follow suit in SoulCalibur II, actually going out of her way to steal the same holy armaments Sophitia used in Soul Edge and SoulCalibur I before getting her own specially empowered set.

(Sophitia Alexandra)

And Pyrrha, Sophitia’s daughter in SoulCalibur V, takes it to new heights.  Per a data book, the timid, mistreated Pyrrha has absolutely no combat experience, not even in self-defense.  While Sophitia and Cassandra were able to train themselves into formidable soldiers outside of their divine weapons’ influences, this is not true for Pyrrha.  If it were not for the sword and shield Pyrrha wielded (which is the same exact set Sophitia wielded before her passing), her clumsy attacks and timid guard stances would amount to ineffectual, useless flailing.  

(Info about Pyrrha’s fighting style from the SCV data book)

Back to the Egg.  Now it’s made abundantly clear that while Dimitri’s Jean Valjean-levels of raw strength heavily stem from his Crest, he’s also from the land where, in lieu of milk and honey, there’s extreme sports jock training in heavy armor in the dead of night with boulders for weights and weapon mastery.  Dimitri loves to train, and it’s a big aspect of his character.  The tritagonist of his route is also one of his combat trainers, and he’s done that job for three generations’ worth of Faerghus royalty, with his ending hinting that he keeps doing it for one more.  I imagine that even without the Crest of Blaiddyd, Dimitri would still be extremely strong and formidable, he’d just have to actually exert himself a little when saving some poor soul from a runaway cart.

(Just in case the savior imagery wasn’t clear enough with Dimitri, he even did lift a cart the way eventual saint Jean Valjean did in the book/musical)

Claude is far more in favor of covert combat, and his own Crest is more defensive than offensive, but he’s no slouch either, having had a renowned war general serve as his combat instructor since childhood.  He’s from a kingdom that, much like Faerghus, values the way of the warrior and prides itself on the strength of its people.  His hidden talent, tying to wyvern mastery, is in friggin axes, and he’s also shown to be adept enough with a sword at various points.  Plus there’s the fact that he was abused and mistreated by his Almyran family, complete with his father plopping him on a horse and making the horse ride off with him backwards with no safety net as a form of punishment - Claude tells Hilda that there was a “trick” in how he survived that.  As any horse jockey can attest to, you need raw muscle in every part of your body in order to really ride one, and I imagine that’s doubly true for your local albino wyvern that’s decked out in Ottoman visual puns.  Plus learning how to be crafty and protecting oneself more covertly undoubtedly contributed to his combat abilities too.

(I mean you’d have to be shredded if you can pull off the Parthian shot on a fucking flying dragon.  61 Strength cap my ass.)

Byleth, as we know, grew up as a mercenary to the point of detriment.  There’s no need to go into extensive detail as to how Jeralt sacrificed almost everything else in exchange for contributing to Byleth’s combat abilities without being abusive and cruel, but even if you took away Byleth’s self-insert aspects, they’d likely bear a passing resemblance to Rei Ayanami in terms of behavior and attitude - An intended vessel/Avatar for a divine being from one end; Conditioned for little more than combat from another end.  Kind of a gloomy picture before she starts to express herself better and actually bond with other people meaningfully.  

(At least she’s cute as a button.  Kinda like Rei.)

But where does that leave Edelgard?  It’s a big question mark.  There’s no mention of her growing up with any kind of combat training, unlike the other three.  Heck, if tea time, Crimson Flower, and Heroes quotes are anything to go by, Edelgard grew up living a carefree lifestyle prior to the Insurrection.  She got to stuff her face with sweets and play with teddy bears and both dote and be doted on by her siblings.  Being child number 9 in her current generation, combat training and political studies likely weren’t major priorities for her, and since it’s speculated that Ionius favored her mother, she was likely lavished and spoiled by him.  After all, he expresses grief for her specifically when she inherits the throne from him, not the rest of her siblings.    

(Even the official merchandise notes how childish Edelgard is)

(This is all after she literally kickstarts her war, by the way).

While there’s varying degrees of elaborate flair that the Lords all wield their weapons with, Edelgard’s regular strikes with an axe feel far less rigid and more informal, and she’ll spin around her axe like it’s some kind of prop.  Her default battle stance isn’t even remotely protective and quite impractical; Dimitri’s stance with a lance is both of these things, while Claude’s arrow-twirling is a real-life exercise that’s done to keep the wrist flexible.  While she does refine her axe skills come Part II, she’ll still do things like throw her massive shield ten feet in the air for a critical hit.

(Seriously what even is this why is your hand out like that)

There’s even some proof of this: In her study request for axes and heavy armor, Edelgard will even acknowledge that the only reason she can likely keep up and wear heavy armor at all is because of her Crests.  And unlike Dimitri and Claude, who can get lesson plans for their respective Hidden Talents once they’re mastered (Horse riding for Dimitri, axes for Claude), Edelgard doesn’t get a lesson plan for Reason Magic, which is her Hidden Talent, so she likely didn’t get any kind of formal education surrounding magic either.  

(She has a similar quote in Heroes that’s even more explicit about this.)

The closest hint we get in Edelgard maybe having a hint of training as a child is in her Supports with Ferdinand, and even then, there’s no clear cut hint noting that his failures in beating her were combat-based.  She’s able to one-hit KO him in their B Support, but it’s locked to Part II and at this point she’s been both riding on the power highs of her Crests along with actually taking combat seriously.  She even says that their difference in skill level isn’t that great.

(Should’ve used Swift Strikes, Ferdie)

What’s more, in addition to all of those enhancements, she not only spends a lot of Part I in a custom set of armor that only archaic technology from the Agarthans can make, but they also made her a custom Relic that’s tailor-made to her specifications.  The other Relics as well as the Sacred Weapons, being over a thousand years old, still require their wielders to train in order to wield them properly, and in the case of the Relics, their potential cannot be fully tapped into unless the wielder’s Crest matches the Relic they’re wielding.  There’s also that particular safety issue, per what happens with Sylvain’s brother Miklan.  But this is not the case with Aymr, which is brand new, has a mismatched Crest that doesn’t negatively affect Edelgard, and requires the Agarthan tech-compatible Agarthium to fix, not the Umbral Steel that’s used to fix both the Heroes’ Relics and other Crest Stone weapons like the Vajra-Mushti.  The Aymr’s specific Combat Art even emulates the oft-broken Galeforce skill from Awakening and Fates.  It feels like that Aymr in particular is the Edelgard what Hephaestus’ swords and shields are to the Alexandra family.  

Now I don’t really think that an Edelgard who’d be stripped of her Crest of Flames, the Amyr, or her special Flame Emperor armor, would be as hapless as Pyrrha would be without her mother’s sword and shield.  I imagine she likely started to do some kind of formal combat training once the experiments were done with, not just to kickstart her dreams of imperial conquest, but also to protect herself anyway after everything that happened; She’s also the only Hresvelg heiress of her generation left.  There’s also her natural Minor Crest of Seiros to consider.  But if you stripped all that away from her, then her ability to fight probably would come off as useless flailing to the other three more experienced combatants.  

All those cakes and that lack of muscle would at least catch up to her, anyway.