#and I just think people should maybe use critical thinking skills and wonder why that is

[alarrylarrie]

.

[riacte]

my favourite recurrent gag from the mcc reddit is people complaining about participants shitting on the reddit and wanting to prove it wrong. Like hum, i wonder why. I wonder why so many participant want to do good after seeing people slander their skills. Seeing the reddit dislike jojo bc she rightfully often complains about them feels so surreal? And there are so many participants whose teams are ALWAYS predicted in the second half of the board no matter how they do or their actual level while others are so praised by literally existing (and there s totally a mysoginy/popularirty correlation there ehem opps who said that). Whatever, we should have a Jojo, Kara, False, Bek team next mcc and see them fucking win, it would be funny. Pretty please. Or another non-english team win, mcc 31 was glorious after seeing people slander the spanish community and jojo s leadership skills.

RIGHTTTTT. So correct with the misogyny / popularity thing although tbh they do shit on everyone. Even their golden boys. Which is baffling like not even the highly skilled white men are exempt?? Lmfao.

So Impulse tweeted about a Reddit comment that was like "I think teams should close their eyes when it comes to Pink in BB" and he was like "I love the MCC Reddit". And someone was like "finally someone who likes us instead of going 'oooh we have to prove evil Reddit wrong'."

Well maybe it's because... the comment re: Pink was funny? Playful? Not critical or derogatory of anyone? I will admit Reddit is unfairly seen as a bit of a strawman at times, but in a stressful environment, you just kind of react that way? Maybe look into the mirror sometimes. Also, proving someone wrong just feels good.

MCC Reddit is fascinating because it shits on everyone. It shits on players I like, it shits on players I dislike to the point I feel bad for the players? It's dismissive of important issues that me and my circle take note of. It focuses on issues that me and my circle do not really care. I don't want to study them like a petri dish. They're doing something in their own ecosystem but it's long been affecting the players. Like [RD voice] the spores!

Smiles wide. And if I say Noxcrew is trying to make things less competitive as a direct response to the atmosphere mostly brewed up by Reddit.

[yourdyingwish]

Hi! I saw your post about the blue curtain thing and I was wondering what was wrong with their interpretation. I haven't taken an english/lit class in years so a lot of it has slipped my mind, and the way they explained it seemed to make sense to me (especially because I tend to intentionally do something similar for imagery in my own writing).

I just posted a pretty long explainer a second ago about this because obviously I was being flippant when I posted the original screenshot, but basically: there's nothing inherently wrong with using an author's biographical details to inform an interpretation of a piece of literature. Death of the Author is something else entirely. Some people who have never read Barthes' original essay and have maybe only heard the phrase or concept seem to think that Death of the Author is a methodology in which you ignore the author's life in favor of your "own interpretation," which is somehow always right. This could not be more wrong. But to step back, let's talk about why that original post was limiting to the practice and art of criticism (I'm going to use this instead of 'wrong') because that was your question. At the core of that original post is, in fact, basically the same limited line of thinking present in the post I was talking about. (Btw no shade to OP–I care more about the 40k people who seem to agree with them, they might have changed their mind or not articulated themselves well, I've been there). Let's look at the original curtains are blue post and this post side by side.

Putting the rest of this under a cut because it gets long

The left is a version of the original idea in the "curtains are blue" post, and the right is the post I had an issue with which seems to basically be saying that real academic literary analysis doesn't actually try to match color symbolism to meaning, and instead focuses on autobiographical details of the author's life.

If this is true to OP's experience or the experience of those reblogging the post, I hope they high-tail it out of whatever program they're studying in. The issue with both of these posts, besides their general anti-intellectual undertone, is actually their emphasis on "correct" or "real" interpretation of a text, or one that is understood as "right" by some kind of invisible cabal of criticism-theory referees who all want to tell you "what the author really said." This is, among other things, a very juvenile approach to criticism. I think the reason that this type of sentiment is so popular on tumblr is that, frankly, a lot of people on this website are in high school or early college, and have an adversarial relationship to their English teacher/professor, who grades them on how well they can analyze a text based on sometimes arbitrary criteria. It makes sense that they would see themselves being graded on their criticism as "right" or "wrong" and interpret that there is such a thing as a single interpretation of a text that is "right" or "wrong."

However, that's not really what is or should be happening in upper-level/higher education. A high school English teacher trying to teach their students about color symbolism in the Great Gatsby is simply trying to impart one possible methodology of criticism to their students and enable them to repeat the same basic critical moves that one critic, at one time, has made, because grasping the basic ability to adopt a methodology and employ it is a foundational skill for analysis. However, public schools in America can't and don't take the time to explain that this is a methodology, so many students who are tumblr-aged walk away with this idea that their English teachers or even their professors have an extremely narrow view of what is "true" in a text. Often, exposure to one methodology will leave them with the idea that this is the correct methodology, when what they should have been taught first is that obsessing over what is "correct," especially related to truth from the author, is the one thing you shouldn't do. This is why the second post is just as bad: it says that actually, it's not symbolic interpretations from the author that matter (as in 'the author meant for the curtains to just be blue'), but an author's biography which, buried under psychoanalytic layers, can be revealed as a generator of meaning (as in 'the author's mother died in a room with blue curtains'). Both of these things are irrelevant because they, probably through the above process of intellectual alienation caused by grades I mentioned above, are focused on what the author intended as being a source of truth within a text.

This is what Death of the Author makes an attempt to deconstruct, and why I mentioned it in my original post. Barthes wrote his essay at a time when theory and criticism in general was undergoing seismic shifts following two major world wars & a huge variety of other cultural undercurrents in middle of the 20th century. Many things that had been taken for granted up to that point were suddenly being reconsidered, in particular the idea that texts, art, or even language itself has a central "truth" or meaning. Massively simplified, this is one of the core tenets of post-structuralism, and you can definitely say that Barthes was a post-structuralist thinker. When Barthes wrote that the death of the author is the birth of the reader, he was simply pointing out that the assumption many centuries of Western criticism is built on–that the author is the primary meaning-maker within a text, simply because they wrote it–is wrong. I believe this is true. Some people say death of the author is a "methodology" of criticism, but to me it's actually more like a door you have to walk through in order to do really good criticism. If you free yourself from the idea of a "correct" interpretation of a text driven by authorial intent, what you're left with is the really thrilling, life-giving work of criticism: drawing connections from within and without the text, and treating it as a living document whose meaning changes over time. What I think people don't realize is that poststructuralism, either formally or in practice, is the basis for most of the literary theory we embrace and consider valid. That is NOT to say that some French dude in the 1950s invented feminism or post-colonial theory, or even paved the way for it. Instead, you could easily say that marginalized people were already approaching critical analysis in a variety of ways based on their lived experiences, and it was the academy which had to catch up. There are a lot of more complicated theoretical thoughts people have had on this, which aren't relevant here really. But I think it's worth pointing out that Death of the Author is, by my measure at least, very good to do, and is VITAL to do if you've spent most of your adult life having weird, watered-down versions of symbolic, biographical, or psychoanalytic theories of interpretation pounded into your head by overworked English teachers. I feel like I should make it clear, BTW, that what I'm saying about why I think Death of the Author is a useful text or concept and what Barthes is saying about authorship in the essay itself are two slightly different things. Barthes' investment in overturning authorship at least within the confines of this brief essay is a lot more related to him proving out his theories of poststructuralism in general than it is to opening doors to totally new forms of interpretation. In the essay he is essentially saying that the nature of texts is the nature of language itself, which is that they are completely constructed, culturally determined, and therefore open to endless interpretation. This is a beautiful idea and one I embrace fully. A lot of Marxists, queer theorists, and others rail against this at least in part, because if you stop there, you're still functioning within a very limited paradigm. You've probably heard it before, the move is basically: "everything is a construct, so nothing matters" as opposed to the feminist, critical race theory, queer theory approach, which is to say "the things we consider to be true are constructs; what narratives or modes of being exist to disrupt those constructs?" or a more Marxist/materialist approach which is to say "this is a construct, and someone constructed it because it benefitted them to do so."

But I think the original essay really is beautiful. I'm going to quote from it here:

Once the Author is distanced, the claim to "decipher" a text becomes entirely futile. To assign an Author to a text is to impose a brake on it, to furnish it with a final signified, to close writing. This conception is quite suited to criticism, which then undertakes the important task of discovering the Author (or his hypostases: society, history, the psyche, freedom) beneath the work: once the Author is found, the text is "explained," the critic has won; hence, it is hardly surprising that historically the Author's empire has been the Critic's as well, and also that (even new) criticism is today unsettled at the same time as the Author. In multiple writing, in effect, everything is to be disentangled, but nothing deciphered, structure can be followed, "threaded" (as we say of a run in a stocking) in all its reprises, all its stages, but there is no end to it, no bottom; the space of writing is to be traversed, not pierced; writing constantly posits meaning, but always in order to evaporate it: writing seeks a systematic exemption of meaning. In summary: the reason I think we should engage with texts at all is not to find a single meaning. It's not to prove out what the author said or what they didn't say. Instead, when we engage with literary criticism, our goal should be to simply say something as clearly as we can, based on the methodologies available to us. To ask "What is this? What is it doing? How is it doing it, and why do we care?" is a fundamental, beautiful question and the source of pleasure to me as a reader. Art isn't autonomous, and exists in our lives criss-crossed with social and political forces which change over time. When we can untangle the knots around a work of art, we discover ways to articulate ideas that might be impossible in other contexts. To only untangle the knot of authorial intent does ourselves, and the text, a disservice.

[olderthannetfic]

The level of Blood and Soil nationalism that people are trying to claim is somehow “progressive” in the replies of that Greek mythology appropriation post is bizarre! Outright claiming an Italian-American can’t possibly know what it means to be “invested in one’s heritage” simply because they mention their home state in their blog description?!?

It is tbh really disturbing how many people don’t recognize that investment in genetic ancestry + living in a place continuously for thousands of years (the combo of the two) as a marker of identity = an inherently right wing ideology. It doesn’t matter who is saying it — though hopefully it coming from Greece, a European country with a past and present history of violent fascist movements, makes it more obvious. Their ideology is literally used to deny that Asian and African immigrants have a right to be in Greece. Ancient Greek mythology is regularly imposed on other cultures as propaganda attesting to the greatness of “Western culture.” All the blogs of the people posting about that are obsessed with the idea that their ethic Greek identity living continuously in Greece somehow gives them some mystical connection to a religion their ancestors haven’t practiced in nearly two millennia. But a descendant of immigrants in the US can’t have a connection to the culture of relatives in living memory, apparently. I definitely don’t feel some kind of way about this as a black person who had their ancestors’ culture forcibly stripped from them. Being able to know that shit and have that unbroken line backward is a privilege, frankly. No wonder a lot of us over the years have had to find solace in other mythologies.

I just hope that people are using their critical thinking skills and not falling for how people are abusing the language of cultural appropriation and diversity and sensitivity to sell an inherently right wing ideology (and let’s not even go into how a lot of investment in pre-Christian European paganism, especially coming from these kinds of nationalists, is based in the antisemitism of Christianity “coming from a Jew.” Specifically when it’s coming from ethnonationalists, I’m not saying other kinds of pagans are like this). This is why I think it’s important to name specific problems when talking about cultural appropriation. When you just make it about “taking from a culture that’s not your own” without tying it into larger power structures then it just opens the door for ethnonationalist weirdos like this, claiming that people with objectively less power than them are somehow doing them harm. Or even when they claim “you can do it just do it right!” they manage to claim that people with graduate degrees in Ancient Greece are somehow “doing it wrong” purely because they have the wrong ethnicity, like Madeline Miller. How does that not reduce it to blood and soil yet again? It’s saying that only people with that blood and soil (maybe I should use the original German, Blut und Boden — I just think that makes it more obvious for people what this ideology is, you know?) can “really know,” that there’s no amount of expertise those of us of different ethnicity and geography can acquire. It’s ethnonationalism, pure and simple.

And I don’t care if I make those right wingers sad. At some point just like with stuff like “white women’s tears” you have to recognize that people’s claims of hurt feelings aren’t the most important thing when they’re furthering oppressive ideas. Maybe it’s easier for me to do this as a black woman, but I hope other people (including white people) can learn to recognize these rhetorical games so they don’t fall for it either. Someone can be sad and also wrong, even offensively wrong! Blut und Boden ideology in every country (including Greece) has a high body count.

--

[leewritestoomuch]

I saw your hyoga request and it’s truly a shame not many people write fanfics of him since I love him so much.

I was wondering if you could write smth along the lines of hyoga and a chemist reader having this sort of enemies to lovers kinda romance and in the beginning it’s all rocky but maybe during their trek in South America everything changes :) sfw ofc

This is my first time requesting so I don’t know if I’m doing this completely right so I understand if it is ignored. Thanks :))

Enemies to Lovers with Hyoga

This isn’t head canons but it flows like head canons and I don’t know if I like it 😭 I’m sorry, I hope I’m just being critical of my own work and it’s actually good.

Why should he be expected to save your life if you’re in danger? It’s pathetic. Truly. He’s frustrated, beyond it actually, that you don’t know how to handle an animal threatening you in the forest. But, as much as he hates it, you’re his ally. And admittedly, you can use chemistry to your advantage in just about any situation needed.

He finds that respectable, so he won’t kill you, but he questions himself for helping you out of a dangerous situation. Especially since he hasn’t liked you very much since his and Homura’s attack on Ishigami village some time ago.

You were the first person he saw, and you ran scared. He found it pathetic, because doing that with an animal, in most cases, would get you chased down and killed. So he followed you like an animal would. He stabbed you, and in order to get away with your life, you threw some sort of chemical in his face. That dirty trick, arguably much better than being stabbed, however, gave you enough time to get away.

He opted to move on to dealing with Kinro, but you stayed back, wounded and hiding. It’s smart, but you’re truly pathetic, he decided.

He should have taught you a lesson about running from a predatory animal, but he didn’t feel that he owes you anything. So why did he help you now?

He goes on thinking that over for months, between the voyage from Japan to New America. And it’s during that time you decide to ask him and the other guys to help you train. Your expression of interest in learning to use a spear, and maybe even his technique, had caught his attention.

So during that time he teaches you to use the spear even a little bit, he begins to notice there is just something about you. He doesn’t know what it is, so he pushes it down. He’s not one to go easy on you, so every day you have new bruises from getting hit with the blunt end of a practice spear. He often gets you and Mozu to spar, but of course, Mozu beats you.

You have no hope of ever beating either of them, lest it be pure luck or a battle of wits.

He takes a certain amount of interest in the way you are a master in your own field, but he catches you asking to learn other people’s skills even a little bit. He knows you have no real plan to be a spearman, but the skill is a nice thing to have. And he can respect that.

So during rest times, you finds himself near you, then eventually, throughout the days, talking briefly with you. Eventually, you two are having actually conversations. And he finds himself more interested in you than he ever has another person.

You often talk his ear off about chemistry. He hasn’t taken chemistry since high school, and he isn’t interested in the least, but he doesn’t mind it too much. You explain why there are always chemicals in your bag, and why they’re sealed so well. And eventually he asks what you threw in his face.

You explain it was harmless, but would burn a bit. He smiles.

“Ah, so just a bluff?” He smiles beneath his mask

“More of a distraction, but sort of.” You answer, looking out at the sea past the walls of the ship deck.

Eventually, you two become an unlikely couple. And the only way anyone would find out, is when he expresses his confidence in your abilities by addressing you as his partner. Unless, you were rather talkative and told everybody.

More often than you’re sparring with anyone, you’re discussing matters with Dr. Xeno and Senku, sometimes Chrome too. You help them find answers when you can, but often you and Chrome don’t fully understand some of the science they get into.

On foot, in South America, is where you two would find yourselves aware of your feelings. You spend most of your time side by side, or on the same motorcycle. And he realizes your arms around his waist aren’t something he minds at all. Your head rests on his back.

For a while, it’s just understood during this time that the two of you aren’t just friends or allies, but there is no word from either of you. No word until he calls you his later, and it’s just understood. He assumed as much and you don’t mind.

[a-slut-for-smut]

Nanamin deserves better than Mei Mei

Don’t forget how creepy she is towards Ui Ui

Ya know, I really wish people were more willing to think critically about the stories they consume vs taking every at face value. Sure, when you see something questionable in a story, question it, but immediately writing off the story/story element as “problematic” just because you don't like it or triggers you is such a disservice not only to the storyteller but also yourself by stunting your own media literacy skills.

As ive addressed why NanaMei pair well in previous asks, i'll focus more on the controversy revolving around Mei Mei because its something i really want to get off my chest. The more i think about the arguments made against her the more i get these puritanical and anti feminist/non-conformist vibes from them and its really concerning to say the least.

She's Greedy/Selfish

Yes, shes money hungry. She shamelessly honest with what she likes and what she wants; she has a personal code/credo and stanchly follows it and its hard not to respect that energy. She's motivated and grounded in a way that seems out of place in the 'sorcerers must protect humans' fantasy world, but in the real world? Of course we'd look out for our own self-interest/preservation- shes as real and relatable as they come. She's logically driven (vs emotionally) and honestly if she was a man i bet the fandom wouldn't blink an eye (and prob would slobber all over him) but as always God forbid women have a strong sense of self and refuse to conform to the patriarchal ideals of what a woman should be.

THAT panel

A lot of the fandom screaming in*cest & p*edophile for this panel and i'll admit not surprised it raised eyebrows but not really reading this as sexual. Yes theres nudity, but body language makes it pretty obvious if nudity is sexual or not and well, its not- and how the first thing fandom thinks is "omg they f*cked" because shes topless or whatever is very telling. It's not a stretch to think she would be comfortable with nudity and a sense of propriety seems out of character with someone as shameless as her. She probably splurges on 1000 thread-count Egyptian cotton sheets with all the money she makes, who wouldnt regularly sleep nude on those?

As for UiUi its inferred he used his CT to escape/save their lives directly before, all the more reason he would be tired. Mei Mei even apologies for waking him, implying his CT exerts him and he should rest for the day. Ui UI’s “oh my how shameless!” is said in surprise, indicating he probably blacked out after his CT and woke up fully clothed in bed with her, NOT that he’s tired from having a wild night banging his sister 🙄

I wonder about the japanese dialogue and if there is any nuance/context lost from the english translation, but I interpreted her "Do you not like me that way" was in reference to the shamelessness of her personality, essentially asking him "do you not like me the way I am?" and not her nude body because the translation used "that way" vs "this way", the latter being suggestive. And the fact that they shared a bed to sleep didnt seem OOC given their close familial dynamic.

Sibling Relationship

Its established in-universe that they are "calculating", so naturally they work very much in tandem as far as motivations go and re-enforced from what we seen in their battle tactics. Clearly Mei Mei is offense and 99% of the time can handle any issue on her own, but for that 1% she cant? Thats where Ui Ui steps in.

Ui Ui would never be in danger if Mei Mei is around, and fandom seems to ignore this fact when they say Mei Mei manipulates him to self-sacrifice himself (and her crows) for her benefit. If Mei Mei is fighting and her life's at risk, yall think Ui Ui (or the crows for that matter) stand a chance?? Maybe if he could teleport away himself which is what his CT suggests, but who really knows, and more importantly would he even consider abandoning his sister from what we seen?

I see it as a failsafe CT, only to be used in emergencies since it drains him considerably as Malaysia scene suggests- which is why he wholeheartedly waits (and binding vow) for permission from her to use it, not as a form of control or abuse or simply to please her, but to know if/when as accordance to the battle strategy mapped out by her. Shes shown as a tactician/extremely logical when it comes to battle and will use whatever is at her disposal to win if it means self-preservation (even if it means abandoning the battlefield altogether). Her loyalty is to herself above all.

And her asking “are you willing to die for me” is literally asking consent- she is asking, 'this could be the end- will you do what’s necessary for me to win this?' To which he resoundingly concurs, seemingly out of devotion but realistically if she dies where would that leave him? It’s as natural a response as one could be- in nature mothers will fight tooth & nail to protect their offspring, but at the cost of her life? What would be the point??? Offspring wouldn’t be able to survive without her, they’d be good as dead.

As far as their dynamic, there is clear affection from both sides- Mei Mei is more playful while Ui Ui is reverent. Ui Ui adores her, not atypical of a much younger sibling, but especially so given how accomplished Mei Mei is. It's stated that she inherited their weak family cursed technique, but rather than be solely defined by it, she trained herself to the maximum physical limit, THEN mastered her so called "weak" technique into one of the strongest out there (probably why she acknowledges Maki as a promising sorcerer, she sees herself in her).

If that isn't admirable than i dont know what is, and if GOJO of all people respects her, then thats saying something. But while he respects her and acknowledges her strength, does he trust her? Probably not, not like he does with Utahime who is supposedly "weak" in comparison. And i personally like that dynamic- despite not trusting her to "do the right thing" and expecting her to be self-serving, Gojo knows/respects her as a person and fellow sorcerer. Gege gives us layered interpersonal relationships between multi-faceted characters and yet so many are quick to reduce them to a single trope and its a little sad honestly.

In conclusion, yall need to relax on the pearl-clutching and have a little more perspective by all means hate on her if you dont like her but at least hate her accurately lol

[sarcastic-sketches]

WHAT BEING HALF-FORCE DOES TO A MAN

The Intervention AU again, that I brought up here, because I just love digging into his weird contradictory bullshit of a mental space. Not helped, I suspect, by his sheer absurd connection to the Force and all that might entail. Going with the, he’s somewhere ‘slightly left of being 100% human’ take as its a favourite of mine.

Thinking about Anakin trying to explain how it feels to have all this energy building up in his bones that he can never seem to get rid of and Obi-Wan insists that is what meditation is for. But Anakin can’t stay still with that either because everything just buzzes. (Also, really, sitting still? He can’t disassociate on command, Obi-Wan, that’s not how it works) Hence, why he can only get his mind to be quiet when he’s doing something physical, like training patterns, sabre forms, mechanics, etc. What Obi-Wan doesn’t quite understand is that even if Anakin did manage to get meditation to work for him, he’d be at it a while to work through of all the feelings because of their intensity. The conversation usually just ends with both of them frustrated and Anakin more wound up than he was before because neither are understanding each other. Miscommunication my beloathed.

Which leads me into this concept; Anakin is a human battery pack.

It’s not as obvious at first but when QuiGon said Anakin was a divergence in the Force, boy was he not wrong. Otherwise known as a Nexus, Anakin is so connected to the Force he’s basically a Wi-Fi hotspot… but for a semi-sentient Cosmic energy. People don’t realise it because up till now he’s preferred to ignore tells of his weird existence, but following his increased interactions with other Jedi he starts to open up on that and conversations get interesting. Just imagining him going ‘hypothetically, could someone piggyback off of my connection to the Force and use it with their particular skill to do a thing better/stronger?’

The Jedi have no fucking idea but they are also intrigued, because with Skywalker low odds mean jack shit.

- In the middle of a fight and Obi-Wan is tiring only for Anakin to slap him on the back in passing and suddenly he gains a second wind? Sure? Not gonna question it.

- The delicate balance of trying to use the Force precisely and not having the necessary power to do what needs to be done? If Anakin is cool with you, he’s just gonna let you free load for a hot second.

- In the Halls of Healing and he hasn’t got the aptitude for healing techniques, but he does have the sheer power that a Healer in question otherwise lacks at that moment for what they need. Neither are sure it’ll work as healing cannot be forced, only encouraged, but it’s either try that or the patient dies and it is a death that could be prevented so why not at least try.

The healing probably takes a deeper connection given how sensitive the task is so the Healer doesn’t just get a glancing look and instead experiences the same madness Anakin does. The Healer is mind-blown by the sheer scope of Anakin's connection to the Force and it takes a bit for them to actually remember what they were doing and he remembers a bit too late to shield off the emotional connection. The encouragement for cells to divide and replace damaged tissue is a lot faster than before and the patient is declared to be no longer critical. Once that's all sorted out, the Healer to Anakin is immediately like ‘Hold up! We need to discuss this because what is going on in there?!’.

The issue is handed over to the Mind Healers to take a look, because this is more their thing. Could it be a hormone imbalance making the chaos in his head stronger and the Force is just amplifying that? Or is it something else. He swears blind he doesn’t take anything like recreational drugs (though privately, some Jedi are wondering if maybe he should be taking something for his anxiety) and he’s never really enjoyed drinking unless it's for social reasons. Eventually, they have to conclude that being a Force Hotspot is not the only thing his connection to the Force is doing. They all very quickly realise that the Force is enhancing his emotions, whilst also exacerbating his inability for emotional regulation. Not for lack of trying, but something more fundamentally mental that's making it harder. 

Having to fight against his own emotional turmoil and the Darkside that’s increasingly nipping at his heels to be let in as the War drags on - empowered all the more by his extreme connection to the Force in its entirety (so both Light and Dark) - is draining him. He’s getting too tired to fight against both.

The topic of medication is definitely brought up as an option.

So now that’s evident it becomes a case of making sure Anakin keeps himself aware of the emotions he’s feeling and what to do to handle them, even if that is just screaming himself hoarse into a pillow. Giving him ways that are less destructive to himself and his surroundings when the emotions get too much to simply pass into the Force. Working on little ways for Anakin to manage this excess of emotion (because it’s more than should be normal for any human being) and contemplating either behavioural/habitual changes or actually trying medication to help make it easier to deal with. 

I think of that vine of someone screaming into a jar only to hastily put the lid back on and declare everything is fine. But, I could actually see that working? (legit, I tend to try and gather all my negative emotions I don’t wanna deal with anymore and imagine it gathering in my lungs? Only to then breathe it out and away from me? Expelling it out. It works about 90% of the time too) Just the physical and mental act of Anakin piling all his emotions together and just screaming them out - because he’s an active person, passively doing it doesn’t work for him - into a jar that he can then just cap the lid on and push away from him. The Emotions are Contained. They are no longer within him. It’s technically releasing them into the Force, but in a way that works for him.

Just… the image of a fucking shelf full of jars. Maybe he labels them as to what bullshit went down on that particular day that he needed to force his feelings out and have them Anywhere But In Him. They’re dated too.

[anti-katsuki-lounge]

I find it odd that how it is normalized to hate Endeavor but not Bakugo.

Don't get me wrong, Endeavor deserves to be hated by readers because he isn't doing all that much to be forgiven by his family and when people learn about his abuse, they don't react accordingly. But at least the majority of the audience points the blatant downplay of abuse and has criticisms for Endeavor's redemption arc. Which is wonderful and should be the expected reaction.

But when it's about Bakugo, why is it so unreasonable to hate his redemption arc? Why do people ask us if we even actually read the manga as if they possessed reading skills superior to ours? Is it because he's a minor and therefore gets a slap on the wrist? I never found Bakugo's character charming or interesting to say the least. I really do want to understand, but the more I see his Stan's brush off the bullying, I go back to disliking him as a character. (I know that there are people who do like Bakugo but still hold him accountable for his bullying, which I'm happy to see). I would go as far to say that the real reason why I begun to dislike Bakugo is the blatant favoritism almost everyone seems to have for him. Before I really began to immerse myself into the fandom, I sort just thought everyone didn't like him. I couldn't be more wrong.

Because from my perspective, abuse and bullying are both horrible things to do. While, bullying is less serious in comparison to abuse, I don't understand how it's easily brushed aside. Maybe other people just don't find bullying that serious of a problem, but I do and I will never not bring it up if someone were to ask me why I don't like Bakugo. I'm not going to forget it just because it happened in the past (chapter 1 as some like to say). Which is incorrect because Bakugo had continued bullying Izuku even after they entered U.A. Before someone tries to bring up how in the first few chapters, Izuku mentions Bakugo stopped bullying him, I think it's necessary to mention that Izuku is an unreliable narrator. Furthermore, bullying does not only include physical bullying, it also includes verbal bullying, which Bakugo still does by yelling at Izuku for the most pettiest reasons. The severity of Bakugo's actions are masked by the fact that these interactions are depicted as gag scenes, which does not make me laugh in the slightest. Imagine the gag scenes were depicted in a serious tone. Would it be funny then? I think not.

Also, I do believe that one of MHA's theme is that past actions have consequences. Which is what Endeavor and Bakugo are supposed to represent. But do you really expect me to be satisfied with this. While Endeavor's abuse is revealed by Dabi, he only faces disgust from their society for little bit of time. It wouldn't have been more effective if Endeavor had been the one to reveal his past, rather than his son forcing him to confront it. But at least the society he lives in knows of his horrible abuse. Bakugou on the other hand apologizes in front of his classmates, whom know nothing of his past and have this misconception that his relationship with Izuku is sour is due to the fact both of cannot make up due to their differences. And the cherry on top is that Izuku doesn't say anything against him. I just can't look at his scene and still take Bakugo Stan's seriously. How could they look at this scene and think that Bakugo's redemption arc is great. Clearly both Bakugo and Endeavor's redemption arcs are horribly written, yet calling out Endeavor's is the only acceptable thing. Wish I could understand why Bakugo is so beloved in this fandom, but it seems that I can't do that.

But, hey, at least found a community in which I can share these thoughts.

I really do think it’s cause he’s a minor and the narrative sympathizes with him. I personally agree with what you’ve said about Endeavor and I feel his story should’ve been done better, but the narrative at least tells you he was wrong to treat his family the way he did. Yeah, there’s some backpedaling, and yeah, the reactions from others are relatively tame compared to what they should be like, but the narrative does tell us that Endeavor was a bad person and now he’s making up for his sins. With Katsuki, after the USJ, they narrative is constantly sucking him off and trying to hammer that he has good traits and that he is “redeeming” himself but his actions show otherwise. When watching something for fun, it’s easy to let the narrative influence your thoughts on the series, but once you take a step back and analyze things, you might notice some inconsistencies. That’s pretty much the case with Katsuki.

[fruit-salad-ship]

I…the goblin part of my brain needs to know what would happen if peach ends up figuring fighting out she beat her old man in a fight like the angst potential would kill me but my brain must know!

Ooof, goblin brain is right tho.

I think it'd be all the more dramatic for her to learn of it just before he challenges her to that fight. Peach overhears some more aged staff talking out in the stables while shooeing horses, about how she may be the baby from all those years ago. They dont know shes listening, but it plays on her mind, she dwells on it, starts to look at the Lord with a more critical eye, not just another job. There were maybe some similiarities, and her questions yield some hints that maybe he is, and he might know. That night Plum sees her overthinking, not her usual behaviour, and checks in, heard Peach express worry that maybe this asshole man was family, the odds were stupidly low, but people seemed to be whispering, and she's starting to wonder herself. Through gritted teeth Plum admits to finding some old records, and actually, he is a blood relative. Peach wants to know everything, she never had any idea who her family were, and learns of what he did to her mother. A knock on the door pulls both their attention, a guard calling for Peach, the Lord himself wants to discuss strategy with her, no one else. Theres no way that old man doesnt know by this point, he's not the sort to talk tactics with women. This is definetly a ploy. Why not call for Grey instead? Even Plum was a better strategist than her. Still. angry, she comlpies, no gear with her, her swords left in her room, nothing but a dagger on her belt. She's met with the Lord in a hall, clearly used by military of sorts to practice, plan and store things. He challenges her to a friendly bout, after seeing her best his men today with little effort, he's eager to test her skills, throwing her a sword. The rage she's experiencing is far more than she's use to handling. The fight starts very traditional, very refined, Peach plays by the rules, but with every parry, and every clash of metal, she feels her blood boiling. He's a good fighter, sure, experienced, fast for his age, clearly clever, he tries a number of very advanced moves and if it wasnt for the witchers quiet seething anger and boarder line obsessive training, maybe he'd have landed a hit.

Plum stealths her way down to keep an eye on her, Grabs grey from his patrol and makes sure someone with enough strength is there just in case she flies off the handle. Plum alone cant keep her subdued.

They oversee the fight from the shadows, each move getting meaner, Peach isnt going for kill shots, but really pulled her A-game for this, she never fights so controlled like this, not unless it was a serious bout. This meant a lot to her, and seeing the lord ragged, tired, while she held her breath calmly, shifted her stance, kept her eyes on her opponent, no taunting, no smiling, nothing. "You witchers are serious buisness, perhaps I should have sent one of my sons to join your ranks-" The comment that snapped her temper clean in half. Peach took three steps, with each one she slipped past his defences without any trouble, too fast, too fierce, by the third, the mans sword fell, her form knocking him down, weapon thretening to pierce right through his chest. It'd take no effort for her to do so, and with the burning rage, the temptation was there. "You already sent a daughter. Was one tortured child not enough for you?" And in that moment, with the comment that dripped with a ferocity, a bitterness, he knew who she was, the pieces fell into place, Grey was ready to jump to stop her killing him, but untensed watching her throw her own blade down with fury, turning and walking away.

The lord sat on the floor for a moment, he was a little sore but unharmed relativly so, she'd done minimal damage all things considered. In all honesty Plum and Grey were more concerend with where their partner had slunk off to, chasing after her in the shadows to find the woman sat up high out on the top of a tower. Peach wasnt stupid, she'd seen them in the dark corners, knew theyd watched the whole interaction, and again, as they crept into her range, she called for them to stop hiding.

The three sat, support for her if she wanted it, but more than anything? Peach was just...happy. a dumb smile that despite her worried knitted brow, was hard to miss. Both pum and grey quetioned it. "Why the smile?" "He is a scumbag...but if it wasnt for him, i'd never have met you two. Youre my family, who needs this decedant lifestyle anyway, you really think i'd suit fancy dresses and regal banquets? C'mon." Her smile turend to a grin, neither plum nor grey saying a word about the tears in her eyes, focusing on the horizon line, his big arm around her, plums head on a shoulder. "You'd make a terrible lady." All three laughed.

[sunskate]

Hi! If you don’t mind I have a few questions after the RD.

1. I read somewhere that Caroline and Michael had the highest base value of any team but obviously sit in 5th. So is it all GOE from there that they’re not getting?

2. Why do you think Marjo and Zak have trouble with their levels? They seem to skate confidently and consistently, but then miss out on base value and levels.

3. Madi Chock I think gets a lot of flak from the inter web about her skating skills and I was wondering what you thought of her level 4 today? Do you think her skills have improved since moving to IAM? What could she be doing better? I know it’s about delivering good programs for judges, not the internet, but sometimes it seems like nothing she does will ever satisfy anybody.

4. Not a question but hope you enjoyed today! So glad figure skating is back! Maybe a quick fun question - what was your favorite dance of the day?

aww thank you! hope you did too - i was happy watching LaLa yesterday- the commitment, intensity and how much they changed in just 3 weeks, i just enjoy them as a team so much

C/B and Gr/Pa both had base value of 31.7 and L/B had 31.69. so it was essentially a 3-way tie for highest BV. C/B are getting GOE on another level from literally everyone else here, so Gr/Pa weren't going to catch them. but where they were lower than the other top teams across the board in GOE was in the Choreo RS and their twizzles

Marjo and Zak missed levels on their Midline and PSt in the RD. i would chalk that up in part to them being less trained because of his injuries this summer. plus maybe that performing to the rafters with speed can make you less precise. and mistakes happen- i'm sure they'll be focusing on levels on steps

ever since the judges looked the other way at Madi falling at Worlds, you're right, the criticisms online can make it seem like she can do no right. i'm against telling anyone they should retire, but that had gotten louder since Beijing. and there's the common observation that her skating skills aren't the best - Romain!! even said so in the IAM web series 😬

in person, CB's blades sound high and wispy on the ice - where skaters like HB or Olivia have this deeper consistent rasp/hum as they carve into the ice. you can see the difference in knee action in CB vs HB or HD. but yes she has improved - Evan used to move her around the ice more. she's a stronger skater and athlete than she was. they do skate well in unison, she's a beautiful performer who understands how to use her body and face to project and create pictures. their packaging and programs have improved since the move to IAM - they're also a more mature team in every way. but her biggest strengths aren't in her skating itself

when judging seems to reward a team across the board rather than giving them high marks for what they do well and lower ones for what they don't, it's disappointing. CB and FG get sky high PCS in skating skills, or FG get high marks in Composition when they seem to be getting the message bts that the program needs fixing. anyway, when a team seems favored to the point that their mistakes and weaknesses aren't counted against them as they are for everyone else, people can direct their frustration at the skaters

[gothprentiss]

yknow rewinding a couple of hours. something worth saying re: this

is that like, on one hand, rupi kaur does have the unfortunate position of being the go-to contemp bad poet example. and the people who are out here like “this is an outsized response to mediocrity which is determined in no small part by her being a young brown woman who came up on instagram” are onto something for sure. but you should never let that awareness stop u from recognizing her as a remarkably bad poet. there are poets who have done wonderful things with simple expression, with personal history and catharsis (i beat my drum in perpetuity for gwendolyn brooks. you might also look into for example “father’s bedroom” by robert lowell). there are poets who have done wonderful things in terms of making us question what counts as poetry, and why we should care about its boundaries and capacities. and there are many poets who have just been shallow and boring and relatively unskilled. like the above is the kind of thought that you could very genuinely make interesting if you had half a commitment to form and expression. for example, if you’ve read anything by zizek, arguably one of the foremost philosophers of our time, you’ve read his very famous thing on toilet hermeneutics, which you might express as a surface-level rupi kaur style poem in the following way: do toilets / whisk away our shit quickly / because we fear / to face our own refuse? and his answer is yes, and then he gets a whole lot of interesting if contestable cultural analysis out of it. like a haiku bot has more of a meaningful commitment to form than this, is my point. what’s made accessible or “democratized” here is just like, the barest possible bone of what a poem might be. it’s tiresome to insist that poetry is too rarefied to be accessible to the common man; poetry’s terms of access are rarely as simple as Wealth Leisure and Education. many foremost scholars of the novel, for example, are also not very good readers of poetry— and they have Wealth Leisure and Education in spades. (more valid, maybe, the way that attention is unevenly permitted.) at some point you simply must admit to yourself that you have confused abstract and challenging with inaccessible. there is not this much criticism and theory and philosophy out here because this material is, if you simply gather enough privilege in the form of social capital, really quite easy. the real answer is that many people simply do not care if what they are reading is good or effective poetry, and that they find forms of expression like rupi kaur’s to be meaningful in their own right, and that’s, you know, literally fine!

[caveat i guess is that i’m pretty biased against the poetry as self expression thing because i think it makes for some technically poor poetry; every time i’ve heard a poet i admire speak about their craft, they’re not talking about how they’ve found themselves getting realer or more vulnerable or more cathartic, they’re talking about how they grew in terms of technical skill and capacity. so i had to decide to get over the rupi kaur thing, because really she’s no poorer poet than anyone else who’s out here doing the social media house style thing where you just add line breaks to a series of purple prose struggle tweets— all of it’s fed by a desire to Do Poetry without any real interest in what poetry entails beyond a mirror of the self. and that’s like, fine, i probably find that more offensive than is normal. i’m cranky about mary oliver, who was a perfectly serviceable poet. but you can just SAY you don’t care about poetic merit but that this thing works for you in x y and z ways and just go on your merry way. i promise u.]

[jack-kellys]

ok OK ok .

he asked if i'm a paychopath (i said how the hell should i know that?)

AND/OR

there's gotta be a way to fix who i am

ok these were tough idk why but i cracked em

send me a title and i’ll give you a plan!

first up:

albert isn’t one to criticize someone and actually mean it. but he seriously cannot be the only one who thinks jack kelly’s younger brother is a little strange.

race is wonderful, though, even so. he’s funny, he’s really quick, smart about lots of stuff, and he’s thoughtful. earnest. the guy means really well.

albert’s a bit captivated by him, fine, but mostly he’s curious. because the boy can be too smart sometimes- knowing some tidbit of information that is exactly useful in whatever scenario they’re in, or understanding perfectly how albert’s car needs to be fixed when albert’s been studying cars for years and can barely catch on to what race is saying. or sometimes saying what albert says… before he says it.

they’re not even out of high school yet- they’re 17, going into their senior year. jack and charlie—race’s brothers—don’t think anything of it, and al seems to be race’s closest friend at the moment…no one’s commented on anything. and that makes sense, technically, since it’s simply out of the ordinary.

and sometimes, so are jack and charlie, but al sees them less so maybe it isn’t fair of him to judge them.

but after school, al’s walking to meet race at jack’s truck in the parking lot, and al watches from forty feet away as race lifts his hand- and the hood of the car lifts with it.

“racer, what are you doing,” is sighed behind him, al whirls around to see jack, who honestly just looks fucking annoyed as he hears race’s ‘oh, shit! sorry!’ from beyond them, and then al is hiked over jack’s shoulder like he’s a bunch of fucking grapes and not six feet tall and their high school’s star hockey player.

he’s tossed in the car, and they drive, and it’s explained why race could figure out how to do such a thing.

it’s just. the explanation is that they’re aliens, and are currently stranded on earth.

yeah my thought process was literally “haha the title could be funny bc what if they literally didn’t know what a psychopath was because of them literally being from another world. lmao”

anyway onto the second one! this one i am. i’m looking at rn.

yk what we’re going fantasy idc.

in a world where power is defined by love,

nah jk kind of so i’m putting this au in a fantastical city where everyone has some sort of magic. lineage is everything to everyone, ancestors from centuries in the past can still define a person’s future, and especially future talents or gifts.

jack is, luckily, born into a higher position. he comes from a line of elementalists on his father’s side and healers on his mother’s. david is born lucky as well, from a long line of dedicated spellcasters, an extremely difficult magic to master.

they grow up together, taking classes and honing their skills along with their friends. this is starting to sound like the owl house but i promise they just have lots of magic types and that’s all

and jack makes a mistake. mistakes. he makes one final mistake that cannot be forgiven, because it’s not just a mistake, it’s damage. to his community, to his home, and worst of all, his family.

his parents cast him away. they don’t allow him home. they don’t forgive, not this time.

and jack finds that ever since, his magic has… dulled, when he tries to use it. and when he doesn’t try, doesn’t think, it’s- it’s out of control. the two people who had loved him the most, supported him all his life, had turned their backs, his lineage had sawed his branch off the tree, and he was paying for it.

it’s a road of hurt, acceptance, reformation, and especially learning to let others love him- because when he does, that’s when his powers start to bloom properly once again.

[bluebeezle]

AI Art

undefined

As a technical artist who's spent much of his career automating away as much of the hassle in the animation pipeline as I can for the artists I work with, I have mixed feelings about AI. I thought I should weigh in, since I feel a lot of the criticisms launched at Corridor have been unfair. They're excited about a new technology and sharing a proof of concept. I'm excited with them. Sure, they’re overselling and maybe naïve about its application. But AI is a powerful and exciting tool. It's an amazing human achievement in its own right.

That being said, using AI art for profit, in its current state, and in the context of our current economic system, isn't morally defensible. Artists' work is being used without their consent to actively hurt them. The argument that AI just does what humans do, mixing and combining influences, just much faster and more expansively, is a fair one. But in an economic system where property dictates survival, a line has to be drawn between one property and the next, and making sure there's a human in there seems like a better line than most. If we don't, there's nothing stopping people from stealing anything they want from everyone else just by laundering it through AI. If we lived in a culture of open source, as Corridor ostensibly endorses, this wouldn't even be a debate. It’d be an exciting new option and tool. Imagine, if we all had a common cause and people's survival didn't depend on employment. Imagine being able to create a tool we could all contribute to that was so powerful that it was the sum of all our talents and skills rolled into one. Like a fuckin infinitely deployable artistic/[place-skill-here] DBZ spirit bomb. So clearly, there's nothing intrinsically wrong with the technology. It's only an issue because of the economic system it finds itself in.

The other problem I side against AI art on is the danger of the homogenization of art. I think that alone ensures the importance of manual artists in a future living with AI.

Just as an aside, though, I'd like to point out that I don't see why artists are special in this regard. Programmers, journalists - EVERYONE's work is being scraped. And while I'm not as plugged into social media as others, so I may just not be aware, I'm not hearing battle cries on their behalf. AI is clearly incompatible with our current economic system, but its potential is too much of a boon to humanity to pass up. I say we make the changes we need to accommodate both the people our systems serve and the technologies that would greatly improve our lives. UBI, please. We’ve needed to address systemic problems for some time. Maybe the fallout from AI affecting so many industries will finally force some action. Until then, this version of AI art is not acceptable.

Part of me wants this tech. It needs to allow more control and allow for variable levels of automation, depending on how much the user wants to control it, but it could be a powerful tool. I wonder how many stories were never told because a writer didn't have the time, resources, or skillset to execute on a personal project. Some people are more interested in telling an anime story than they are learning how to draw. I’ve definitely had ideas that work better in one medium or another. Fortunately, I have enough skill in the mediums those ideas work in that I can just do it. Some people don’t, and don’t share the passion to learn that process. The over-the-top nature of the Corridor short is clearly directly inspired by anime. They’ve done live action anime videos in the past. But anime is the medium the story and the style they’re telling it in works best in. I don't see what's so wrong with wanting to create a technology that allows people to execute on ideas instantly. If there's technology to help them do that, whether or not they develop the skill themselves is their decision to make. It's not for us to tell people what part of the process they should be interested in. I'm still going to keep drawing even though there are tools that will create better and faster results, because I enjoy it and it's mine. But I'm not entitled to being paid for my art, just like I'm not entitled to being paid for my code, when AI can do that better and faster, too. I don't hold it against people who are more interested in the results than the journey. Their priorities are their own business.

And as the auteur rises and costs to produce full animations decreases, we won’t be relegated to seeing a select few animations that play it safe because of all the money involved. We’ll get all kinds of weird and wacky stuff. Everyone can contribute a verse.

I don't buy the lazy, work-averse critique. First, it's irrelevant. Second, you can tell hobbyists with a feature length personal passion project there’s no reason they can’t animate it by hand themselves, but even after they develop the skill, they have decades of work ahead of them unless they can afford an animation team. Third, that's what technology is about. Making difficult things easier. Is Arc System Works cheating by creating 3D animations that look 2D, while not having to draw every frame from every possible angle they want the camera to be able to be placed? Am I cheating by using masks on layers while I'm crosshatching? Am I lazy for using a car to get to get groceries instead of walking? I'm making a game. I can program and animate. Am I lazy if I use AI to generate sound effects, if I'm not interested in learning how to do that well? I can only assume the aversion to this shortcut stems from fear rationalized with a puritanical fetishization of hard work for its own sake. If we could educate the next generation Matrix style, teaching them kung fu in seconds, would that be immoral? In a capitalist society, John Henry can complain all he wants about how much harder he had to work, and how lazy people are for using machines. But it seems to me plenty of us have been happy to reap the benefits of automation and the steel driving machines that best him. I agree we lose something by not driving the steel ourselves. But it's an aesthetic argument, not a moral one.

I don't think any of us are entitled to a career that will never become obsolete. I joined the 2D animation industry knowing 3D was kicking its ass because I love it. I don’t just love the product; I love the process. Otherwise I’d get into cel shading in 3D. I knew the risks when I made the decision to pursue 2D, and I'll keep doing it well after it's viable as a career. If I can still afford a Cintiq.

AI is not removing humanity from art. I like art being personal. Even if what I put out is absolute garbage, it's mine. I did it, and it's my contribution. AI can never touch that. AI taking my job wouldn't stop me from pouring my heart out on a page (or a screen, as it were). It wouldn't stop Powerhouse employees from being able to animate Castlevania at home. This whole argument is about money and prestige, and being able to do what we love in exchange for it, and I don't see it as any loftier than that. AI doesn't stop anyone from creating art in their own time. Tie your identity to your own, unfettered, personal work. It'll make it less fragile. Less pretense. More real.

If people were really concerned with personal voices in art, they wouldn't be flocking to fanart, franchises, and memberberries.

AI art is morally problematic because of the scraping, but none of the other critiques aimed at Corridor are morality arguments. The “tech bro” shit is really exhausting. Apparently being a fan of science and technology is a bad thing now, and you can just add the word “bro” to things to paint people as fratboy assholes and win arguments rather than engaging in the discussion.

Calling the rotoscoping ugly is a level of petty I’d expect from social media, I suppose. If you’re mad about the scraping, complain about that. But denying that, as basically a glorified filter, this is a vast improvement above any other filters by comparing it to hand drawn animation just screams butthurt. Of course it’s worse than hand drawn animation. When a five year old shows you their drawing that is better than the one they did yesterday, you don’t spit on it because it’s not as good as Glen Keane’s work. You can be angry at AI’s methods and recognize its progress at the same time. If you can't, your argument has a shelf life. AI art is the worst it will ever be right now. None of the aesthetic/technical criticisms will hold water as the technology gets better.

Anyone arguing that Corridor isn't "democratizing" animation because you can animate at home for free isn't being honest about scale. Yes, I can animate at home for free. But unless I'm willing to devote decades of workhours to it, we're not talking about anything feature length. If each state only had one voting booth, yes, technically, I could still be represented. But making voting booths more accessible would be an act of democratization.

Obviously, I can't say Corridor made no money off the video (who knows how much ad revenue from YouTube, subscription traffic they attracted, or shirts they sold), or that the art they scraped (VHD for their local model, and countless others for the model in general) didn't have anything to do with the success of the video (albiet as an indirect draw), but I can't imagine it's too much more than the effort they put into pioneering the technology merits. And honestly, if selling fanart is stealing ideas and creating art, I don’t see how creating ideas and stealing art on this small scale, and for this little compensation, is so much more egregious.

It's also a shame Corridor missed out on an opportunity. They mentioned that people should use original content to feed into the AI.... and then proceeded not to do that. To make their point, they could and should have used someone in-house or contracted an artist to create the training images. Even better, they could even have the artist copy the style of Vampire Hunter D, just as a cheeky nod to the nuances of the debate.

I've seen Niko defend this, saying that they didn't know how much art they'd need, what kind of art they'd need, etc. I still don't see how that prevented them from seeing that it worked with their Vampire Hunter D test privately and then moving forward training on original art for their public release. I think this is more about them being too excited about a technology to give any moral qualms much credence. Or they saw the purpose they were using it for as innocuous. A proof of concept. Or maybe they just see it as an inevitability. Which, in all honesty, it probably is. Or maybe they don't see it as a moral problem at all. And that's fine. It's a discussion. Demonizing them seems incredibly unnecessary. In the end, they don't have a say over what way the Getty Images case goes, anyways.

As always, I’m open to civil and intelligent opposing views. I have no stake in holding this view; very clearly, I have a stake in holding the opposite view, as both of my professions are in AI’s crosshairs. If there’s something I’m missing, I’d be glad to hear it.

[missmentelle]

What abusers believe.

If you've ever had to deal with an abusive person in your life - like an abusive parent or partner - you've probably wondered what made them treat you that way. If you understand why abuse is happening, the thinking goes, you might be able to figure out how to make it stop. 

So why do abusers do what they do? Do they have anger issues? Drinking problems? Past trauma? Personality disorders? Do they just need to get in touch with their feelings and learn how to communicate better?

Nope. 

Abusive behaviours come from abusive beliefs. Abusers - whether consciously or unconsciously - hold specific beliefs about relationships that drive their behaviour and allow them to justify the horrible things they do. Even if your abuser has never put their beliefs into words, you'll probably recognize a lot of these abusive beliefs:

You are responsible for my emotions. It is never my responsibility to reflect on my emotional reactions or learn better coping skills - it's your responsibility to stop doing things that make me angry or upset.

I must act on my emotions. If I am angry, I am going to lash out. You have no right to criticize me for that, and it's not my responsibility to learn to manage my  emotions - you have to stop making me lash out at you. Asking me not to act on my emotions is controlling and wrong.

You will always be responsible for my emotions. Even if the relationship ends, you will continue to be responsible for my emotions, and I will expect you to continue to prioritize my feelings.

If I have feelings about something, it's my business. If something you do or think causes an emotional reaction in me, then I have a right to get involved or tell you what to do. My feelings must be the priority. You don’t have the right to tell me that it’s none of my business. 

You must judge me on my intentions, not my actions. If I didn't mean to hurt you or scare you, then you don't have the right to be hurt or scared. No one has the right to try to hold me accountable unless I meant to hurt someone.

I get to decide what your intentions were. If you hurt me, you meant to hurt me. If you make me jealous, you meant to make me jealous. Nothing you do is ever accidental or unintended - everything you do is intentional and malicious, even if it was a response to something I did.

My feelings are genuine; your feelings are manipulation. If I'm upset, my feelings are real and important. If you are upset, you have an ulterior motive - you're just trying to be manipulative and get attention or sympathy for yourself.

You have freedoms because I allow you to. Every freedom you have in your life - like wearing what you want - it's because I generously allow it. I expect you to be grateful to me for that. I have the right to take those freedoms away whenever I want, and I expect you to obey.

If you set boundaries with me, you are mistreating me. If you really loved me, you wouldn't set boundaries with me. You are doing this to intentionally hurt me, which means I don't have to respect those boundaries.

You holding me accountable for hurting you is worse than me hurting you. My pain at being called out is worse than your pain at being mistreated. If I feel bad about something I did, I have already been punished enough. You trying to discuss the issue or hold me accountable is just your way of abusing me.

If I apologized for something, you have to forgive me. If the relationship has ended, you have to reconcile with me. You don't get to ask for more time apart or more discussion of the issue - once I've apologized, the matter is closed for good.

The relationship is not over until I say it is over. So long as I want a relationship with you, you must have a relationship with me. Your feelings are irrelevant. Even if we have broken up, you must remain available to me so we can get back together in the future. Not wanting a relationship with me means you are mistreating me or being immature. 

I am the authority in this relationship. I am smarter and more perceptive than you. I know what is best for both of us. My version of events is always the correct one. I have superior judgement, taste and opinions. If you question me or disagree with me after I've given you the correct answer, you are disrespecting and mistreating me, or you are simply immature and incapable of knowing what’s good for you.

I have the right to control you. It is my absolute right to decide what you do and who you associate with. You have no right to disobey me. I am owed obedience and control; if you don’t give me those things, you are wronging me and cheating me out of the relationship I deserve. 

If you resist my control, I am allowed to do whatever I think is necessary to get it back. Once you’ve resisted me, I am justified in whatever I do to regain control of you. I am not responsible for my actions when you resist my control; you forced me to do it, and it’s your own fault. 

I should be your main focus. Everything else in your life comes secondary to me. When you make decisions, my feelings should be your first consideration. You are expected to make sacrifices for me and put me at the center of your life; I am not obligated to do the same for you. 

If I spend money on you or do something for you, you are in debt to me. You spending money on me or doing things for me does not erase your debt to me, and I am never in debt to you. You are indebted to me for as long as I decide. I may decide that your belongings and earnings also belong to me, since I allow you to have them. I may also decide at any time that you owe me for gifts I gave you, even if they were meant to be gifts.

I am not abusive, and you are not allowed to tell me otherwise. I know what abuse is, and real abusers are significantly worse than me. If our relationship has ever had any good times or positive moments, it can’t possibly be abusive. If you accuse me of being abusive, you are the one abusing me, or you have been led astray by bad influences. 

Relationships should be effortless (for me). I am owed a relationship that is peaceful and requires no real effort from me. It is your job to make sure we have that kind of relationship. If there is any tension or conflict in the relationship, it is your fault, and you are depriving me of the relationship I deserve to have. 

Abusers and victims alike often buy into the narrative that abuse is rooted in anger issues - after all, abusers are frequently angry, and anger is an issue that can be treated. But this narrative just isn’t true. Abusers aren’t abusive because they are angry. Abusers are angry because they are abusive. 

A non-abusive partner is not someone who has learned how to control their rage whenever you spend time with your friends or get home 15 minutes late from work. A non-abusive partner just doesn’t feel any rage in those situations. An abuser’s rage is firmly rooted in their beliefs about relationships - they feel entitled to a relationship that meets their impossible expectations, and when they inevitably don’t get it, they bubble over with fury. Whether they know it or not, they have firmly entrenched beliefs about how relationships should be, and those beliefs are at the heart of their abuse. 

Can abusers stop believing these things? Maybe. If they can acknowledge that they have these beliefs, accept that these beliefs are dangerous and unreasonable and let go of these beliefs, maybe it’s possible for them to no longer be abusive in the future. Maybe. But it’s not your job to hang around and find out. If you’re in an abusive relationship of any kind, you deserve better. There are many people in this world who don’t hold abusive views of relationships, and you deserve to find happiness with them. 

[ghooostbaby]

deeeep dive into why and how wei wuxian and lan wangji love each other, complete each other, are the inverse reflection of each other’s deeply hidden internal selves mirrored through the other’s external self, lan wangji’s inner wildness that he has to conceal and protect recognizing and loving wei wuxian’s outer wildness, wei wuxian’s deep, fuddy-duddy morality and values that he conceals with an elaborate subterfuge of jokes, mischief, and bravado, seeing and loving in lan wangji the ability to say no that it was never safe for him to express directly, “between you and me there is no need for thank you and sorry”

oh and a slight diversion midway through into a manifesto on WEI WUXIAN IS NOT INSECURE the whole story is about a society where being liked is ESSENTIAL for survival and it is actually completely perilous not to be liked, and his “people pleasing” is a skill and tool for his survival especially as an orphan and proven to be a necessary one when he stops doing it and STOPS SURVIVING

after the cut discussing the very interesting dynamics of consent in general in the novel, but not going into the consensual non-consent kink stuff till the last paragraph if you need to avoid for any reason.

I've been thinking about how Lan WangJi sees in Wei WuXian the exterior, unfettered expression of the wildness Lan WangJi holds in him and protects with rigid codes of conduct, propriety and outward dignity.

I have had this sense that these two are mirrors, either one reflecting the hidden, interior (and unallowed) self of the other. but it seemed more clear from Lan WangJi's side, especially knowing about his history with his mother and the spicy side that emerges when he drinks and in the extras.

I also - just... the way this whole story shows how romantic love is truly this longing for your self, to become yourself, to become the thing you're not allowed to be, seeing in that person the expression of whatever it is you can't become and longing for it, protecting it, joining with it as closely as you can without ever being able to let it live inside your own body.

On the surface it seems a lot more difficult for Wei WuXian to find a piece of his soul in Lan Wangji. I think its a bit too simplistic to see whatever draws Wei WuXian to Lan Wangji as a reverse-psychology sort of craving of acceptance from the only one who won't give it, pushing and pushing against this impenetrable boundary that he needs to break to feel assurance that no matter what he can make anyone accept him.

And he is SO drawn - in a mind boggling way, in the teenage flashbacks Lan WangJi rudely and aggressively throws him off over and over and Wei WuXian cannot keep away! Even when he talks about how boring Lan WangJi is, he never stops trying to be around him and talk to him.

I've seen discussions of the way Wei WuXian has always relied on the goodwill of others to survive, and that his placating of others to survive is a character flaw. Although that seems only halfway true. 

As a young child he didn't have anyone's goodwill for a while and he survived, and it seems like he can always find a way to survive from whatever means and sometimes very limited resources he has at his disposal. Doing what he has to do to become powerful enough to survive losing his core and being thrown into the burial mounds slowly costs him the goodwill of everyone around him - and what happens to him as a result shows how much placation was a truly necessary for someone without the protection of biological/hereditary family bonds.

(Don’t get me started on how his loss of his golden core and his development of demonic cultivation to give himself power by ‘unnatural methods’ through the use of a musical instrument is a metaphor for disability and the way ableist society sees the use of accessibility devices and tools. Actually please DO get my started haha.)

Wei WuXian is so charismatic and seems very used to getting what he wants and needs on the strength of that. He pushes a lot of boundaries and seems pretty confident and flexibly prepared to handle the consequences, whether beatings or harsh words. But he does work so hard to make others feel good, good with him, good with themselves.

When he is in the cave with Lan WangJi, Wei WuXian is described as "like one who forgets all past pain as soon as the wound heals". He can't resist coming up beside Lan WangJi and talking to him again and again after every time Lan WangJi pushes him off, only finally staying away when Lan WangJi bites him (and he still keeps trying to talk to him after a little bit!) and then calls him an awful person (!!! Bad Wangji! :(((( ). In the end, when Lan WangJi (very minimally) discloses what happened to his sect and his father, and even cries, because of all the defences/assaults Lan WangJi has put up Wei WuXian can't do anything or say anything to help and feels miserable.

Lan WangJi just absolutely refuses to allow Wei WuXian to take care of him - and I began to wonder maybe that’s what Wei WuXian actually really likes about him? Why he is unable to resist coming up to Lan WangJi again and again? Maybe because Lan WangJi refuses to let Wei WuXian appease him. He’s not trying to crack Lan WangJi to get to this impenetrable place of approval and acceptance. In a way he can’t quite understand, Lan WangJi is a respite for Wei WuXian from the constant work to be the one who pleases.

And  how different this is to how Wei WuXian is (or has to be) with Jiang Cheng when he wakes up in Lotus Pier after the cave. Jiang Cheng gets so down and really really needs Wei WuXian to do what he does so well (and wasn’t allowed to do with Lan WangJi) - chasing Jiang Cheng down while being injured and reassuring him about all his insecurities about his father's acceptance and becoming a sect leader and Wei WuXian's own abilities excelling his - and at first Jiang Cheng is pushing him away, but he really does need Wei WuXian to do all this to feel better.

Wei WuXian is described as not wanting to be lonely, and not wanting to see other people unhappy, and he keeps trying to push and pull with whatever he has to not be lonely and lift the mood for those around him. I don't think it's a kind of codependency or insecurity. It’s not that Wei WuXian is afraid to say no, in fact I would say he doesn't do anything he doesn't want to do, but he must always do it creatively, with humour. Similarly to Nie Huaisang, he uses a persona of foolishness to give himself a covert agency.

I also think I'm writing this because I don't like seeing this discussed as a sad bean character flaw for him to always need to be liked - its a strategy, its a tool, its how he survives and excels. Doesn’t the whole story prove how essential being liked is to a human’s survival? And he is so so good at being liked, in making others happy, even when he is refusing to do what others want from him that he doesn't want to do, he does it in a way that deflects criticism, with a smiling bravado that never says what it truly means and has people writing him off as shameless or foolish or just endearing himself toward them despite themselves.

He is always at work really, with jokes and flattery or mischief and teasing, to get the resources he wants and needs. Case and point, when he makes a big coquettish show for mianmian, definitely not being "people pleasing" for her, but the group of girls around them all find it funny and cute and in the end she gives him a perfume sachet which ends up being a valuable resource for later. Or the time he outright tells Jiang Cheng that if you give the girls some lotus seeds they'll remember you and return the favour in the future. (Also notice how his interactions with girls seen as flirtatious are actually strategic resource-gathering acts.) These are the skills he has developed to meet his own needs. (THIS IS NOT A CHARACTER FLAW. I REPEAT.) He takes what he needs and steals from the Lotus Pier markets knowing it'll be paid for, he lives like he never know when his next windfall will come from so he'll take what he can when he can find it. Like Jiang Fengmian said, if there is no guarantee of a meal in the future then today's meal should still be enjoyed. It’s how Wei WuXian said to Nie Huaisang at Cloud Recesses, you have to find ways to make your own fun out of whatever you have. So he gets kicked out of class, goes fishing, gets alcohol, he pursues his own pleasure. He actually is quite insistent of his own agency and right to choose, he just can never directly say no.

And that little detail that Wei WuXian always tucks coins into his clothes just in case, that makes him able to buy food when he and Jiang Cheng are on the run... breaks my heart and reveals so much about the way Wei WuXian is constantly at work on ensuring his own survival and never takes for granted whether he is safe (he knows he never is). 

I've seen some people talking about Wei WuXian sacrificing so much for his brother and sister out of a need to be accepted out of a chronic sense of insecurity. But isn’t this just true? Doesn't he live in a world where being accepted is absolutely essential for survival? Doesn’t this whole story show the cruelty of a social system based on networks of hereditary/biological family that closes out and scapegoats any outsiders, and that without biological family connections that can enclose around you, you can never truly be safe if not constantly working to earn acceptance? (And then beautifully ends with the way a gay romantic relationship that queers marriage/family/etc disrupts all this and creates safety and inclusion for Wei WuXian without needing a normative family.) (AKA romantic love does not resolve some internal personal problem in Wei WuXian but disrupts and refuses and rebels against the problem of SOCIETY.) (*breathes heavily*)

And that’s why Lan WangJi is magnetizing to Wei WuXian. Lan WangJi is always saying no. Although what Lan WangJi sees in Wei WuXian is an exterior wildness, Wei WuXian is not really out of control so much as he is playing and caring and supplicating and showing off and pleasing people to get the resources and the acceptance he needs to live his life. He has firm values and desires that he can never outwardly state, only creatively spinning plates to distract and deflect while he refuses what goes against his values, protects who he cares for, or takes what he needs to in order to survive/thrive. Lan WangJi embodies an exterior of resoluteness and direct agency that Wei WuXian doesn't have the luxury of. And he's so drawn to him for his ability to repeatedly say no, to refuse to get along, or make others laugh, make other people happy, but just simply follow what he thinks is right.

Wei WuXian’s outward wild movement protects an inward stillness. He is an exterior of people-pleasing around an interior of refusal. He is an exterior of youthful rebellion around an interior of unflinching morality. He sees in Lan WangJi the outward expression of his stillness, his morality, his resistance that he can't express, that he's had to protect.

FYI after the cut gets more into the dynamics of consent in the story, and the last paragraph directly talks about consensual non-consent kink play in wangxian’s relationship.

When Wei WuXian is with Lan WangJi, there is no work to be done. Lan WangJi cannot be swayed by him, and so there's no point vying for resources or favors. Lan WangJi will either give him everything or refuse him everything based on who he is, it does not matter what Wei WuXian does and he can't do anything that will change Lan WangJi’s mind. Someone he literally can't win over. After the resurrection, they are often in an adorable tug of war, where Wei WuXian tries to take care of Lan WangJi, while Lan WangJi won't allow him to but demands to care of Wei WuXian right back. Actually, Lan WangJi insists that Wei WuXian take everything he wants or needs from him and is even angry when he doesn't take or when Wei WuXian tries to offer a gesture in return, even something as simple as a thank you Lan WangJi won't accept. It’s kind of adorable how frustrated Wei WuXian is in doing this thing he's learned that he needs to do, and just... so confused by Lan WangJi, and has to find a way to please this person who aggressively refuses to be pleased and is ONLY pleased by Wei WuXian being pleased.

(Not to mention the way Wei WuXian delights in finding that Lan WangJi can’t say what he wants, and they have sort of these chaotic cohesive both-being-so-pleased-by-working-hard-to-please each-other moments where Wei WuXian is letting Lan WangJi please him by finding out what pleases Lan WangJi and giving it to him.)

The wildness Lan WangJi had always hidden within himself is something he sees as just as dangerous as Wei WuXian thinks of his desire to refuse. He saw his mother be socially alienated, shunned, and eventually die because of her wildness. His ability to survive in the world, aka to be accepted by his family, is contingent on him being able to control this inner wildness. From a young age (re: Phoenix Mountain kiss) he could only understand his sexual desires for Wei WuXian as something repulsive or dangerous that had to be repressed and controlled, and that the only way he could imagine his desires as possible was as non-consensual. His secret gay desires were never available to him as anything but something monstrous.

Importantly, it’s not like everyone else other than Lan WangJi are all vampires cruelly demanding Wei WuXian’s constant sacrifice. Wei WuXian is always vibrantly, charismatically offering so much, before anyone has asked. It’s Wei WuXian who creates this kind of relationship for himself again and again. It’s Lan WangJi who simply refuses - he refuses to charmed, to be cared for. And so in the end Lan WangJi becomes the one person who Wei WuXian feels doesn't need anything from him. When he says he's eating the corpse's fruit to save Lan WangJi money and Lan WangJi says that will never be necessary. Or when Wei WuXian asks what toy he should win for Lan WangJi at the market game, and Lan WangJi says anything Wei WuXian gets will be the one he wants. (XD stahhhhp it’s too sweet !!!) He really just wants Wei WuXian to be, to exist, to spend his life discovering his own desires and allow Lan WangJi to help satisfy them, he doesn't want anything from Wei WuXian other than him living - happy and safe.

It takes someone like Lan WangJi to refuse Wei WuXian’s aggressive generosity, it’s definitely not an easy thing to say no to Wei WuXian, dazzling or annoying people so chaotically before they even realize there’s something to say no to. The sacrifice he gives to Jiang Cheng, he never even offers a choice - and perhaps it would have been too much for Jiang Cheng to accept if he had the chance.

Lan WangJi’s statement "Between us there is no need for thank you and sorry" seems like one of the most important sentences in the novel, and you can’t help but noticed the way “sorry” and “thank you” is littered meaningfully through the book. What is owed, what the characters owe to each other, the give and take, touches every part of the story (down to wangxian's erotic explorations!).

When Jiang Cheng talks to Wei WuXian at the Guanyin temple he makes a lot of contradictory statements about what Wei WuXian owes, what he was given, what he took, what he (Wei WuXian still) is owed in return. Wei WuXian, according to Jiang Cheng, took everything from the Jiang clan, and paid them back with their deaths. The Jiang clan give him his life when they took him in, and he owed Jiang Cheng service for the rest of his life as the right hand to the sect leader, that’s what Wei WuXian had promised anyway. At the same time, Wei WuXian sacrificed everything (his golden core) to Jiang Cheng, by giving everything he was taking one more thing - Jiang Cheng’s right to even be angry at him. Jiang Cheng had taken everything from Wei WuXian. Everything that happened around Wei WuXian after could be said to be because of the loss of his golden core, which Jiang Cheng might be said to be responsible for. But he never asked for it, maybe he never would have wanted it. He wishes Wei WuXian told him, but Jiang Cheng never told Wei WuXian his golden core was melted while he was sacrificing himself to save Wei WuXian. He wants Wei wuxian to say sorry, but that makes him feel pathetic. And Jiang Cheng says sorry too. It’s a mess of paradoxes, and in the end somehow it seems like the scales are balanced in the most hollow, dismal way.

What is owed, what is given, what is taken ... Wei WuXian has never been part of a family. He has always had to say thank you and sorry for everything he's taken. Wei WuXian himself admits that he used "thank you" as a way to enforce distance between himself and Lan WangJi. Lan WangJi's point i think is that they belong to each other, Wei WuXian is his, and he is Wei WuXian's, unconditionally. The way that Jiang Cheng speaks of him in the Guanyin temple (admittedly I read a fan translation and this is very nuanced, related to slight variations of grammar), even when Jiang Cheng clearly is so broken by the loss of Wei WuXian from his life, he talks about Wei WuXian as an outsider. It is what MY family gave to YOU, never what you took from our family. But at one point Wei WuXian was part of their family - but he takes too much, and becomes an ex-disciple, not a brother. Wei WuXian’s inclusion as a Jiang was always conditional. 

Even when Wen Qing and Wen Ning leave him to go take the blame for qiongqing path they tell him "thank you and sorry", drawing a line between them and him, so he doesn’t even belong to these people who he sacrificed everything for. The way Wei WuXian acted when he was younger, he was always keenly aware of this - he always knew that he didn’t belong to anyone, no one is going to protect him unconditionally. And after first escaping the Burial Mounds, he is done pretending. When Lan WangJi warns him about what a demonic cultivation path will do to his heart, Wei WuXian replies: “After all, on the topic of how my heart is, what could other people know about it? Why should other people care about it?” He is done pleasing. Nothing has changed really, he still belongs to no one and is alone, but now he is angry about it, and instead of saying thank you and sorry he is going to become too powerful to be at anyone's mercy. And then we see in the story afterward what happens to people who don't say thank you and sorry.

The whole point I think is the impossibility of choice, the impossibility of consent in this society. If he didn't forgo the behaviour his social acceptance was conditional on, he wouldn't have survived the burial mounds. But once he becomes powerful enough to survive and get revenge on the Wens, he is socially outcast. Except he was already outcast from the beginning.

And so how do Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi find a way through all that to a life together where all their desires are possible, where Wei WuXian can say no while also being pleasing (safe) to others, and Lan WangJi can indulge in his wild desires while still being good? The answer is kinky sex!

It is kind of miraculous and beautiful how Wei WuXian finds a way to say no, while simultaneously pleasing Lan WangJi, giving pleasure, while taking it, saying no, and knowing his refusal is not just tolerated, but gives Lan WangJi pleasure, knowing Lan wangji and knowing the painful belief Lan WangJi holds within that his desires are unacceptable and unspeakable, and that Wei WuXian can take care of Lan Wangji in a secret little way and please him and give everything to him by craving this wildness in Lan WangJi while at the same time he gets to say no again and again , and it won't push Lan WangJi away, he can refuse everything while at the same time be totally pleasing and thus safe, and also for Lan WangJi, Wei WuXian's pleasure at saying "no" while still being held onto, that he genuinely wants to be fucked even while begging Lan WangJi to stop (and the many ways he does give his consent for this throughout, especially their first time), allows Lan WangJi the ecstatic feeling that this idea that his sexual desires are only possible through force are not just something his lover forgives him for but something his lover is SO turned on by, and that he has consent for his fantasies of non-consent, Wei WuXian has the same fantasies from the other side, he is doing what he is supposed to while doing what he shouldn't, and actually these monstrous feelings in him allow him to take care of Wei WuXian in a way that he needs - that they both need - and all these impulses that are so wrong with Wei WuXian become very right and a way to do good. And they are just both so perfect and perfect for each other and I love them and I am so happy for them to have a long kinky life together.

[zackcrazyvalentine]

I hope i'm not late for the screenshots thingy!

Here's who i got!

(i got lucky cause Epel and Idia are my faves LMAO)

And for the theme, maybe them reacting to MC cooking them meals from their world? Or maybe them visiting MC's world with them? You choose!

(romantic btw!)

LET'S GET THIS BREAD!!! I'm sorry it took some time to get out

I'll do a half and half~

Let's go!

~ Other Worldly ~

With: Epel Felmier, Idia Shroud, Vil Schoenheit, Jack Howl, and MC

Them reacting to MC cooking food from their world, and visiting MC's world

--

First off, let me start by saying that a good 3/4 of these characters are super picky(? with their food, Vil and Idia being the most critical (according to what Master Chef events tell us)

Hope you have some super cooking skills and/or premium ingredients at hand! ^^''

Some headcanons didn't come out too romantic orz

🍎 Epel Felmier 🧹

Foreign dishes

Epel noticed the peculiar cooking going on in Ramshackle after visiting one time

While he may be critical of ingredients and overall resulting taste, Felmier is curious to try new things (specially if it's in big portions, unlike Pomefiore's dinners)

He approaches MC shily, asking if he could have a taste of what they were eating at the time

"Sure, no problem! In fact, let me cook some for you fresh!"

Before he could even protest to get them to stop, the Prefect already got to work

He tries to help, but MC shoots him down and tells him to patiently wait

Epel's appetite and curiosity are increasing with every second

Once the food's ready to be savored, he digs right in! And will provide some feedback about what he liked about it, what it reminds him of, and if needed be points out what he thinks it lacked

Eager to try out more of the food MC was accustomed to eating back in their world!

Visiting a far away land

EPEL IS PUMPED!!! FIELD TRIP TO A LAND HE'S NEVER SEEN OR HEAD ABOUT, UNLESS IT'S FROM MC'S MOUTH!!

He's eager to visit all the places his love adores! Make some memories and have a blast discovering the place such a wonderful person comes from

He wants to know how their two worlds differ, how a world without magic unfolds before his eyes

Let's be honest: this boy right here is excited to wreck havoc in supermarket and fast food places' parking lots. Y'all probably woke up at 3am once and decided to go scream and mess around at your nearest McDonald's parking lot

Please show him vine compilations, I'm positive Epel will love to get to know the humor of this world (although he once used a vine reference when talking with a cashier once, thinking it was common knowledge for everyone in MC's world)

Out of the four guys here, Epel is the one most open to improvised plans

Eager to try out any strange fruits and vegetables, interesting snacks and bizarre cookie flavors that catch his eye

"How can your world have such specific flavors? Rosemary garlic jalapeño bread chips? How???"

💀 Idia Shroud 💙

Foreign dishes

MC probably brought some of their homemade food over to Idia's dorm after getting concerned that this boy's diet heavily relies in junk food and sweets, and when he does eat it's a very small portion

So in MC comes and asks Idia if he would like to try some food they prepared, one of their favorite dishes

At first, Idia is very reluctant, saying how he doesn't feel hungry

But the Prefect has a trick under their sleeve: a crestfallen expression with an adorable pout

Seeing them having a meal on their own while occasionally sighing sadly has the flaming haired boy debating what he should do

Then a memory of Ortho's voice resounds in his skull: "Meals are typically shared between people to develop or strengthen a bond. If you want to win [Name]'s heart, you should take them out for dinner."

That and he can't deny the contents of that container in their hands look appetizing

Shroud finally accepts and brings you over to Ignihyde's kitchen to grab a couple of plates

He's hesitant, but takes a nice first bite of food. Chews it carefully as he analyses the taste, texture, consistency

"I've never tasted something like this before. What is it?"

"One of my favorite dishes, [food name]!"

Silence followed, "Huh? I-I'm afraid I have... never heard of it..." He said

"Yeah, Ace and Sebek said the same when I introduced them to it. Makes me believe this is something only seen back in my world."

A nice chat develops and, before they know it, the food's gone and Idia himself ate a nice amount of it

It's in the walk back to his dorm, when they're enveloped in a nice comfortable silence, pinkies entwined, that MC confesses they purposefully did all that out of concern for how much he eats

It ensues some light pushing-and-pulling around and tickling, him saying how that was a tactic well taught out, but also saying how he eats just fine and they shouldn't worry about that. You know, light banter between a loving couple

That dish ends up in Idia's list of favorites. He has asked Mc to bring it with them a couple of times when they hang out together and play games

Visiting a far away land

Frankly, he's curious and very nervous about this trip

MC of course is aware of Idia's dislike of crowds and being out in public, so they prepared a nice and calm trip for him

Visiting the less frequented parts of town, quiet cafés (cat cafés!! because those normally have controlled influx of costumers for the kitties' safety), couple of history museums, supermarkets late at night for snack runs, lots of staying at home to play a plethora of videogames and watch many anime series and movies

He's amazed at the variety of games MC's world has, and is also surprised by how some titles are similar to those he likes to play. Same goes for some anime series

While he appreciates how the Prefect tries to show him what their world and society there is like, he much more prefers their stay at home time

He gets to cuddle with them in their room! Their actual legit room with many memories of their life!

He may not look like it, but Idia likes to snoop around and ask what this or that photo, a toy or poster is about and what memories they hold

Honestly, Shroud came over to his lover's world to know about their life, not so much to learn about the world as a whole

Baby pictures, photo albums, the occasional video of their childhood, diaries and old Valentine's cards, he looks through and reads them all!

He will treasure every bit of information he learns about his partner and their life in this world. Probably takes one of their baby pictures with him back to Twisted Wonderland

👑 Vil Schoenheit 🍎

Foreign dishes

Vil is the hardest to convince to try your food out of this group, no doubt

He does know MC cooks, and knows that some of their dishes are uncommon, but the model has yet to asked them for a taste

It takes one brave "Do you want some?" for the model to finally have a taste of the food

He's very hesitant, you can see it clear in his expression, but it all fades away after the first bite

He will openly state if he likes it or not and why

"Perhaps you have other dishes that suit my fancy better? Come on, I want you to show me more."

He genuinely does want to taste more of those unique dishes

Visiting a far away land

Eager to take a little vacation to a world full of opportunities

I see Vil as someone who would like to visit the most prestigious places (though MC will have to tone it down and remind him they don't have an unlimited amount of money to spend)

Art museums and a couple theatre plays are his go-to, along with nice restaurants, popular cafés, and lovely parks to have a picnic on (he jumps into the idea of attending one of those outdoor cinema projections, those are probably his favorite because he gets to cuddle with his lover under the night sky while a movie plays)

He will want to learn about the history of MC's world and the way society, politics work there

He gets word of the horrible things that happened and the threat of climate change, human rights violations and he will want to take action to protest against it

Okay, but Vil will get along so well with the Prefect's younger siblings and mother/aunts/fem guardian if they have one

Get ready to have him judge favorite makeup products. Prefect better lead him away from the beauty and skincare sections of farmacias and supermarkets

All in all, having Vil over to their world allowed MC to visit many nice fancy-ish places and allowed them to enjoy some simple things they forgot

A wonderful person to have by your side in any world and universe~

🐺 Jack Howl 💛

Foreign dishes

With his fine sense of smell, Jack detected the food MC was preparing for their little date was something unfamiliar

"What's that? Something new?"

Yet MC tries to keep the surprise until the plates are presented and served

Seeing the smile on their face, Jack can't help but think that this dish will taste wonderful due to the love shining on their face

"This is [dish name], one of my favorites back in my world. Haven't seen it offered in the cafeteria, so I decided to try my hand and prepare it for you, Jackie!"

First bite, fluffy tail wagged. He compliments their cooking with a smile before diving in for a couple morsels

Jack isn't too picky, he enjoys food truthfully

I think he will be curious about the story behind the dish and why his love categorizes it as a favorite. Ingredients, techniques, tell him all about it!

I'm sure this boy will be happy to try more of the unique dishes found in a world ways away from his!

Visiting a far away land

A visit to his partner's world, huh? Well, Jack is certainly excited to see what sort of outdoor activities and exploring can be done in this new place!

Dates with Howl in the Prefect's world will consist of visiting natural parks, gardens, forest trails, perhaps do some fishing or bird watching

Jack grew up with snow as a constant. He would like to explore the winter sports scene in this foreign world (if MC lives somewhere with snow/with designated paces on which to practice said sports)

Aside from these outdoor sporty visits, the wolf would like to attend concerts or maybe a local team's game

However, he soon finds out these events aren't suited for his acute hearing (poor baby 😭)

So he's content with spending time inside MC's house, get to know their family a little, look through their family pictures, and have pleasant late afternoon walks in the nearby park

Something as simple as going out for icecream is tremendously pleasant with Jack by your side

(but poor MC if they aren't athletic or into nature because this big puppy will drag them to loooots of nature watching dates asdfg)

-- --

Ngl, this prompt was a little hard to fulfill. I'm well aware this isn't the most romantic, but hope it was enjoyable

Thank you for your request!

and sorry again for taking long