#and certainly not to identify humans with them

[taramimeme-blog-blog]

I Need to Talk About: Linhardt

Continuing after "I Need to Talk About: Lysithea" and "I Need to Talk About: Hapi", next up is Linhardt.

First of all, is it just me, or does anyone else have trouble spelling his name every single time they go to write it? I always have trouble remembering where that "d" goes.

At any rate, what's a Linhardt?

What is a Linhardt?

Linhardt is an absolutely precious boy. There is probably no one in the cast of 3H whose personality traits I identify with more.

He kinda just...does everything his way. They once tried to weigh his fucks-given-about-societal-mores, but they couldn't find a scale sensitive enough to show any readings.

Like, Linhardt is often seen by others as lazy, but I don't think he is, unless you use the corrupted definition of laziness that only recognizes human effort when it is directed at societally approved forms of labor that produce wealth.

Linhardt almost certainly works very hard; he just does it for the things he cares about and is interested in, rather than the things that everyone thinks he should be doing.

I've mentioned freedom-seeking a lot in the past two posts when comparing characters with each other. I think I'm drawn to stories about people who want to be free to do what they want. It's something I identify with strongly. Plus, one of the big themes in 3H is how society constrains people and sometimes grinds them down, and how people fight back against that.

Well here in Linhardt, we have the poster-child for freedom-seeking. He absolutely does not want to be told what to do. I doubt that there is anything he values more than his autonomy.

Similar to Hapi, he has a bit of a tired attitude towards all the people around him who want to constrain him. But in a way he's very much like Lysithea in how his solution to escaping the burdens of noble expectations is to run away from it.

Looking at some of these fucked-over-by-noble-society nobles:

I think of Edelgard as fire. She responds to the wrongs by trying to fight back and burn what would harm her.

Constance is earth. She stands strong in the face of it, insistent that she is still a noble at heart, and will soon be one again in actual fact.

Lysithea is water. She pulls away and tries to remove herself from what she dislikes.

So Linhardt must be wind! He can't even be pinned down in the first place! He doesn't even need to withdraw formally from the nobility. He just makes himself unable to be targeted by the burdens to begin with!

(Who knew? 3H is actually Avatar the Last Airbender!)

And avoidance is definitely Linhardt's go to trick. What's that? Others are talking about him behind his back and saying he's weird? Well, that would be a shame if it bothered him in the slightest, but why should he care about the words of others?

And Linhardt's lack of caring about such things is as much as anything a result of his rational mindset. He knows what is interesting to him, and what will bring him joy. And he knows what is uninteresting to him and can be safely cut off, like so many punch-holed edges of dot-matrix printer paper.

But one thing is for sure about his lack of interest in the strange expectations of other people: It's not that he doesn't care about people.

He shows a lot of empathy at times. He's not always super good at communicating it, since his perspective on life is bit off from the norm, but he clearly cares about people.

In general, he hates war, he hates blood; he doesn't want to see people in pain.

More specifically, he does things like comfort Bernadetta about her painting. He tries to help Dorothea not care about the nasty rumors people are spreading about her. And he tries to give Marianne confidence that her existence isn't a curse.

In each of these cases, we can also see why he's not immediately successful. With Bernadetta, he is a little too honest and blunt in his well-meaning suggestions. With Dorothea, his solution, "Just don't care!" is...not super helpful if the person hearing it is, you know, caring. And with Marianne, his analytical, rational approach to disproving her hypothesis that she brings bad luck to others is dry and clinical. (I use the word "hypothesis" because Linhardt would understand the technical difference between a "hypothesis" and a "theory"). His approach makes sense, although I can see why, for many people, it would not be comforting exactly.

One of Linhardt's traits that I most identify is his tendency to start to argue a position logically, but to give up and just "whatever" it away as soon as the conversation becomes just a bit too long. I think it ties back to his very strongly avoidant personality. He knows what's right. He's thought it through and come to a logical conclusion, and he's even willing to share that with you! But as soon as it becomes a pain to explain it all, it's not worth the effort. After all, he doesn't ultimately care that much what you think, so why spend a bunch of energy trying to change your mind?

But I also think this tendency of his ties in a lot to the tragedy of Linhardt.

When someone has spent their life finding that their way of thinking is out of sync with others, and that their way of communicating doesn't seem to work much of the time, it does become exhausting. It's discouraging. It becomes much easier to just give up then to even try.

I personally think that this has been Linhardt's experience in life. His rational and straightforward way of approaching problems--even emotional problems--is exactly the kind of approach that many people would find "robotic" or "cold". (Wait, Fódlan doesn't have robots. Maybe I should say "golemic"?) Therefore, his experience is that his words often do not work well, regardless of whether he's "right" or not.

I suspect that Linhardt has not really had friends growing up, aside from Caspar. There are also plenty of hints in the games that he has a strained relationship with his parents. At the very least, he is a huge disappointment to his father. Linhardt is the heir to his father's important position within the empire (Minister of the Interior), and Linhardt clearly has no interest in taking on those responsibilities. And this would be especially likely to cause a huge rift in their relationship seeing as Linhardt's father is clearly very politically ambitious, working both to take power from Emperor Ionius (Edelgard's father) along with other nobles, and then later undermining Duke Aegir (who led the noble uprising against the emperor) by working with Edelgard to help her rise up and take power.

And while Linhardt is probably more happy to be alone than most people, almost no person wants to be totally alone. I think Linhardt's life has been a lonely one, with him often being misunderstood and dismissed as "weird" and "lazy", and his attempts to help others being viewed as "cold" and "too logical".

But that's as good a segue as any to talk about who Linhardt can get along with!

(I'll be skipping Lysithea and Hapi since I already mentioned Linhardt in my respective posts about them.)

Caspar

So let's get the big one out of the way first. I don't know if I have much new to say about this one, but it's so interesting that I have to talk about it!

Kind of like Hapi and Constance, Linhardt and Caspar is another one of those pairings that is so baffling that you can't help but believe it.

Could these two have any less in common? Linhardt hates exercise and physical effort and likes intellectual pursuits. Caspar can count the number of thoughts he's had in his head in his life on one hand. And Caspar loves training, fighting, and getting stronger more than anything.

What the hell do these two even talk about when they hang out together?

Well, we get some hints of it in their supports in-game. We know they met as kids, and I can very much picture how it happened. Caspar is energetic and optimistic. I'm sure he was the one who initiated contact, probably introducing himself to Linhardt and then immediately dragging him off to play some stupid game that resulted in Caspar somehow getting hurt and/or breaking something.

And this was probably the pattern for their whole childhood.

But what does Caspar even see in Linhardt? Well, Caspar, again, is freed from the burdens of thinking, so Linhardt's "oddness" probably barely registers to him. He seems like the kind of person to just take it as, "Yeah, that's just how Linhardt is!" and not be bothered by his friend's strange ways of approaching life. And I also imagine that Caspar figured out early on that Linhardt was a good friend who could protect him by doing the thinking for both of them.

What's that, Caspar? You broke the door to your room while practicing your WWF (War-Monk Wrestling of Fódlan) moves? Again? Sigh! I'll think of an excuse to get you out of trouble.

Linhardt has probably gotten Caspar out of trouble (not to mention stopped him from doing something dumb) more times than even he can keep track of. Caspar has learned that he can rely on Linhardt, and that's why we see him take Linhardt's advice about how to fight seriously in their support conversation in Three Houses. Linhardt isn't a fighter himself, but that doesn't mean he doesn't know what he's talking about. He knows how to fight (in theory).

And what does Linhardt get out of his relationship with Caspar? Aside from some headaches?

He gets someone who is loyal to him like a big (well, not that big), dumb, adorable dog. Caspar is never going to be judgmental towards Linhardt. Even if he doesn't understand why Linhardt thinks the way he does, or talks the way he does, or what all those big words he keeps using mean, he knows that Linhardt is on his side, and that's all that matters. For Linhardt, Caspar is someone he can just be with.

And all of this shows the funny way in which the two are actually very similar!

They both cut the fat from their lives. Both of them understand what they care about, and what they don't, and they are both perfectly willing to ignore the stuff that doesn't seem important to them. They get along because both of them know that the other one is there for them, and it doesn't really matter that they don't have much in common.

Goddess, they're adorable!

Aside from being great friends, there's a lot of romantic potential between these two. Who does the cooking once they're married? Oh, it's definitely Caspar most of the time. He makes huge, simple meals that are mostly just throwing as many things together as possible, and then he leaves the kitchen a mess afterwards. Once in a blue moon, Linhardt gets the energy to make something, and it is immaculately prepared, using unusual ingredients, and requiring hours of prep time. He makes it once because the recipe somehow caught his attention, but it's a lot of effort, so he never makes it again.

Byleth

So like with Hapi, I bring up Byleth with Linhardt because Linhardt is one of the characters where, even if we put aside the avatar worship, I can really see why he would like Byleth.

The most obvious factors? Byleth has a rare crest, is not overly talkative, and had a weird childhood and therefore is not judgmental (or even aware?) of others' oddities.

I don't personally get a lot of romantic vibes from these two, and besides, who would ever make the first move? But I think they would be good friends and fishing buddies.

This would be one of Linhardt's only relationships where he would be the bigger talker. He could spend time fishing with Byleth, and while they would be happy to be silent together, I could also see the silence giving Linhardt the space to info-dump whatever he's been learning about recently. Byleth may or may not follow everything, but they'll listen, and Linhardt's enthusiasm will be catching.

I think it's very special that Linhardt would finally get a chance to be the proactive one in a relationship! Good for him!

I also think that their relationship would change a lot from pre to post timeskip. Pre-timeskip, Linhardt sees Byleth as a mentor figure since they are literally his teacher. But post-timeskip, Byleth generally gets thrown into some role they weren't prepared for (well, ok, they weren't prepared for teaching either) and I think that Linhardt's broad and surprisingly deep base of knowledge on many subjects would make him a trusted advisor. Byleth would come to lean on Linhardt a lot as they navigate their way through leading a society they barely are familiar with. (Byleth's experience dealing with greater Fódlan society is--what?--a year in Garreg Mach? And then they were asleep for 5 years! And then they had a year of war, which is not normal. Like, is there any reason to believe that Byleth knows how anything is even supposed to work in government? Probably not.)

And I think this situation of Byleth relying on Linhardt would be good for Linhardt too. Aside from the confidence boost of someone actually taking him seriously, he might start to gain an appreciation for the complications of, and the necessities of, governing. Interestingly, Byleth more than anyone might bring Linhardt to a better understanding of his father by forcing him to grapple with issues of governance, the field his father was in, and that Linhardt wanted to avoid having foist upon him.

Constance

I really think these two should have interacted in Three Houses! There's a pattern in Linhardt's supports where he makes an absolute fucking bee-line for anyone with an unusual crest (Marianne, Hapi, Lysithea) and Constance is a glaring exception to that. (He does ask her about her crest in their Three Hopes supports, although I personally found those supports a little unsatisfying since the conversation didn't feel like it really went anywhere.)

But aside from Linhardt's definite interest in Constance's crest, as well as the magic her family has used for generations to hide the crest, these two would also just be excellent intellectual peers.

Like with Lysithea, Linhardt's lackadaisical attitude would grate on Constance (at least when she's in the shade), but she is results-driven, and Linhardt is smart enough and dedicated enough (to the things he wants to do) that she would quickly come to see the benefits of interacting with him.

And unlike with Lysithea, Constance would not be bothered by the messy state of Linhardt's study. How could she be? Hers is ten times worse!

Plus, these two are definitely both night-owls, and they are both the type to get obsessed with a topic and to chase after it until they literally collapse with exhaustion. If they end up working together, they are going to need someone like Hapi or Mercedes around to make sure they actually eat and drink water occasionally.

I also think Linhardt would be one of the most patient people with Constance's sunny-side. He is compassionate about people who are suffering, and I think along with Hapi, he is the most likely to calmly take Constance's arm and guide her back to the shade when she begins bemoaning her worthlessness.

Romantically, I think these two would be hilarious, but it might actually work. Think L'Arachel and Rennac, or Serra and Erk, except Linhardt is a bit more stubborn and won't go along with anything he really doesn't want to do. But I think he would value Constance's proactive nature, and would be willing to tag along since, letting Constance handle all the messy details of...well, everything...would free him to focus entirely on his interests. Even if Linhardt took over as the Count after his father, the real Count would be Constance. She wants to do that job, and Linhardt is happy to let her. (And for whatever it's worth, Linhardt's father would probably love Constance for this reason. Finally, he can rest easy knowing that his daughter-in-law will take care of things!)

I've made it sound a bit like a political marriage-of-convenience by describing it this way, but keep in mind, they do truly respect each other, and they share intellectual interests.

I mentioned before that Constance is the only character (I think) who we see explicitly researching uses for magic other than fighting and healing. I think this would be a huge bonding point for them. Linhardt hates war and fighting, and he definitely is the type to have varied, eclectic interests. I think he would be very interested in working with Constance to develop radical, new ways to use magic in everyday life. And he would be a good counterbalance to her. She provides the drive, and Linhardt is the voice of reason who is like, "Um, that's interesting that we can use magic to make people's hair shine in the dark, but wouldn't it be more useful to imbue it into a device so that it could be used in place of a torch?"

Linhardt would ensure that Constance's discoveries were actually useful to people.

Hilda

This is another one where I can't believe they didn't interact more in Three Houses. They were even in the DLC together! (I can see the two of them hanging out at night, but why was Ashe there too?)

These two can bond over wanting to be free from responsibility, definitely. That's the easy part to see. But I also think they would sympathize with each other over the pressures of familial obligations and expectations.

Their situations aren't exactly the same. Hilda's family (at least her brother) is totally supportive of her, and it seems unlikely that she'll have to take over her house even though she's the one with a crest and not her brother. But she still feels pressure precisely because she does have a crest, and she's the one who can wield the family weapon. She knows how hard her brother is working to make it so that she doesn't have to be the heir, and she feels guilty about it on some level.

In contrast, Linhardt is an only child, so it's a little more straightforward. He is supposed to be the heir to his house, but he is a disappointment to his father because he has no interest in taking over the odious position of Minister of the Interior.

But both of them want to be free. And both of them see the value in taking it easy and enjoying life.

For romance, well, I've said before that Linhardt rarely gives off many romantic vibes to me, and I also don't think he's quite Hilda's type. (She seems to mostly prefer muscular, athletic men, judging based on who her out-of-house romantic, male options are in-game.)

But these two would definitely be good friends! Hilda's doing all the talking for the most part, but Linhardt is happy to listen. He's also ok with it if Hilda experiments with hairstyling and nail painting designs on him while he's taking a nap. He can be her living practice mannequin.

That's right. Hilda + Linhardt = the most fabulous Linhardt you've ever seen. Maybe he can finally be allowed to class into Gremory too.

Shamir

I haven't mentioned non-students much up until now, but Linhardt's a good place to start. His quiet introspective nature means that I think he would often get along better with "the adults" than with his noisy, party-loving, teenage-and-early-twenties peers.

And my personal head-canon of Shamir as a sometimes-teacher at Garreg Mach is that, she's doing it because she has to. It's not really her thing, and her lectures are the ones most likely to have lots of "self-study" time built in. She also isn't bothering anyone about showing up late or falling asleep in class because, what does she care? It's your education. You do what you want with it!

So I could see Linhardt really liking Shamir as a teacher because he knows that when she's showing up, he can either catch up on sleep or use the self-study time to actually read about what he wants to. And Shamir likes Linhardt as a student because he demands none of her attention and is quiet.

(Maybe it sounds like I'm putting down Shamir as someone who's a lousy teacher and doesn't give a shit about the students, but I don't really mean it that way. She didn't sign up to teach. But Garreg Mach is an understaffed, poorly run shit-show that hires random mercenaries as professors because of nepotism, so I'm sure Shamir is being pushed into teaching sometimes to fill in the gaps. She puts in the minimal effort, and if any students are interested in something she knows a lot about, like bows, I bet she's pretty enthusiastic about teaching them. But man, she does not get paid enough to deal with petty student drama in a classroom. She has probably perfected the art of flicking pieces of chalk to hit over-bearing, noble students in the forehead when they start talking too much. Ferdinand leaves every Shamir lecture with white smudges on his face.)

After the war, I could see Shamir mentioning off-hand to Linhardt that she's heading back to Dagda, and he is just the type to take a sudden interest and be like, "Oh? Can I go with you?" It's a lot of trouble, of course, but he's never seen Dagda. There's so much to learn! And if he goes with Shamir, she'll take care of the nuisance details of transportation, etc.

They're good road-trip buddies. And whenever Linhardt returns to Fódlan, he'll be bringing back his own self-researched definitive guide to the birds and plants of Dagda, as well as the first ever Fódlanese-Dagdan dictionary.

Mercedes

Two absolutely gentle souls, neither of whom really wants anything to do with warfare, these two would get along so well.

Linhardt's long-running problem is people judging him for wanting to just be himself. Mercedes is absolutely the last person on earth to be critical and judgmental. And if they were a married couple, Linhardt would never try to tell Mercedes what to do with her life. If she wants to spend all her time working for the church, or taking care of orphans, whatever it is, Linhardt will be ok with it.

Mercedes would absolutely dote on Linhardt, and she would manage to gently guide him to do things to better take care of himself. She's the only person who could tell him what to do, because she wouldn't tell, she'd encourage.

"Lin, wouldn't it be fun to wake up and have tea together in the morning? Oh, but I suppose you might have trouble getting up that early..."

Linhardt sighs. He gets the hint. He goes to bed at a reasonable hour, even though he had been really excited to read that new book he'd just gotten his hands on. Somehow though, he doesn't mind when he sees Mercedes's smile when he gets into bed at 11:00 instead of 4:00 am.

Is it a little passive-aggressive? Yeah. But Mercedes has been beaten down enough by life that I think that's become her go-to method for expressing her desires. But maybe she could learn to say what she wants more clearly with Linhardt. He's gentle and non-judgmental, and he's the kind of person where she could learn to be more confident in expressing herself.

The two of them would definitely become pudgy as they got older. Neither one likes exercising, and Mercedes likes baking sweets.

Putting aside them as a married couple, I think they would be really good friends too. Like with many of Linhardt's relationships, I think that Mercedes would do most of the talking, but she's probably a very good listener, and Linhardt would be comfortable rambling about crest-research to her, even if she clearly doesn't follow along with everything.

I can also imagine Mercedes telling Linhardt about some issue she's seeing with the people she's helping out, and then, 3 months later, Linhardt shows up unannounced with a solution that he's been working on in his spare time.

"Oh, I had some extra time, so I put together a new spell that is even more effective at reducing fevers."

"Oh, I looked into what crops would grow best in the local soil and managed to procure some seeds. I predict crop yields in the region will triple by next year if the local farmers begin growing these."

"By the way, I found a long-forgotten incantation that is very effective at warding of demonic beasts. You can teach the local mages, and it should help keep everyone safe."

Thanks to Mercedes, Linhardt might also discover a love of children. I'm torn on whether he would like kids or not. On the one hand, they can be a little loud and chaotic, but on the other, kids are often less judgmental than adults, and are usually open to learning new things. Linhardt might find himself teaching the local orphans about whatever it is he's currently interested in every time he visits Mercedes.

Conclu--uh, what a bother!

Yup, I'm done. Linhardt's not going to demand I write anymore. I'll take a page from his book and take it easy!

[ambrosiagourmet]

I've been thinking about Laios' succubus lately. Mulling it over a bit.

Because I've seen these pages brought up a fair bit, but almost entirely in the context of shipping (on all sides, really). And I really want to understand what they are doing for the story beyond that.

When I went back to reread the scene and section, a few things caught my interest: the way Laios responds to both forms of his succubus, the themes of the volume the chapter is found in, and the other events of the chapter itself.

So let's dive into those three things, and what I think they say about the succubus scene's purpose.

Laios is never fully frozen by the succubus

So. If you compare Marcille and Chilchuck's reactions...

to Laios':

-

There is a difference. Sure, the basics may look the same once it turns into Scylla Marcille, but even then, it functions differently.

Chilchuck and Marcille are completely frozen once they catch sight of their succubus. Izutsumi, as well, isn't able to look away, and completely freezes up once her 'mom' starts talking to her. As Chilchuck describes, "just looking at them makes you unable to move."

And yet, Scylla Marcille has to actively convince Laios to comply. He even looks away from her at one point!

Laios accepts this succubus, but he is never actually helpless to it in the same way. Taken in? Convinced? Sure, at least enough to let things happen that he probably should question more than he does. But magically compelled? Not really. Not the same way as everyone else is. So that's interesting. But let's move on for now.

2. Volume 9 is all about drive and desire

I don't often look at chapters within the context of the volume they are included in, but I think there's some really fun things to be found with that perspective in mind.

For one, volume 9 starts with an exploration of what desire brought Laios to the dungeon:

And ends with a question of what desire brought Laios to the dungeon:

It's also very concerned in general with questions of why people do what they do. Why they are in the dungeon, why they are with the people they are with, why they stay, what they fight for.

In addition to Laios, we see it with Marcille...

Izutsumi

Kabru

and Mithrun

Hell, we even get it for the demon!

It's certainly not the only volume concerned with desires and motives, but it is particularly focused on these ideas.

The succubus scene fits quite well into the ongoing question about desires, especially Laios' desires. It is even placed at an interesting spot within the volume. The volume is six chapters long, and the scene takes place at the start of the 4th chapter. It's almost smack-dab in the middle.

With all this in mind, it is interesting that, with both versions of the succubus Marcille, it's not totally clear which parts of her Laios is rejecting.

The first version of Marcille looks human, but Laios attacks when he identifies her as a monster. The second Marcille looks like a monster, but he seems to believe that she is the real (human)(ish) person that he knows. So is he rejecting the monster at first, and then accepting the person? Or is he rejecting humanity and only interested in the monstrous?

Something to consider as we look at the next point...

3. the rest of the chapter is a seduction, too

This is one of those things that might not be apparent on a first reading, but is crystal clear on a revisit. We see the succubus try and charm Laios over 7 pages, and then see the Winged Lion do the same thing for the next 19.

Much like the succubus, it offers the mingling of monsters and humans. Much like the succubus, it offers belonging.

(and this is the point where I absolutely must also link this post by fumifooms on the succubus, which has some great ideas on how the scene is informed by Laios' trauma and desire for acceptance!!!)

But, back to the point. The Winged Lion wants to feed on Laios just as much as the succubus did, and it uses similar strategies to try and make that happen. Though this chapter isn't really the turning point for the next Lord of the Dungeon (it is Marcille who will, eventually, become the Lion's next victim), it certainly behaves like it is.

Laios is convinced. The succubus gets its meal. By the end of the volume, the reader begins to understand how concerning his desires are. Together, it is all very good at building up that sense of dread and pending disaster, as we see exactly how and why Laios might just fall into the Lion's open arms and bring about the end of the world.

-

So that's the three things I noticed. But there's still something I want to touch on by looking at the way these observations overlap, and what they reveal, together.

As I said, by the end of the volume, you can feel the tension growing. Just as Kabru and Mithrun do, you look back for an answer to the questions that have been built, chapter by chapter: why is Laios here? Where will his loyalties fall? This chapter, and scene, seem to prove the inevitable truth: he will choose the monster, of course. He will choose the seductive, easy power of the Winged Lion.

But the details of what actually happens tell different story: one in which the Lion is wrong.

First, as a reminder - even in Scylla Marcille mode, the succubus never fully entrances Laios. It convinces him, but it doesn't have him completely under its thrall.

Similarly, in the dream, the Lion does convince Laios to embrace the world he is offering. But even within that dream, Laios continues to ask questions that will be vital to him later. It is because of those questions that Laios comes to a new understanding about Thistle.

And it's this realization that he cites later as part of his reason for refusing the Lion's offer.

He is thinking through things the entire time, just like he continues to question the succubus even after it turns into Scylla Marcille.

Laios also expresses an interesting reason for why he wants to see the future of this world. He's not just invested because it would mean people liking what he likes, or him getting to spend time with monsters. The thought that comes immediately before his acceptance is about what he wants for monsters and people.

I don't think it's a coincidence that this statement - "we're living beings that share the same world, but all we can do is keep killing each other" - can apply to the various humans races just as much as it does to humans and monsters. The thing he is thinking about here isn't just a matter of his personal daydreams. It's an idea that underpins every conflict in the story.

Laios caring about how people as well as monsters in this manner is something that the Lion gets wrong every time. Even at the end, he still frames Laios' desires entirely around hating people and loving monsters.

The Lion has heard him express an opinion about the future of the world! It happened right there in the dream, right in front of him! He just didn't take it seriously, and didn't view it through any lens other than "Laios likes monsters more".

He's convinced that he understands how to get to Laios. Maybe the Lion can't truly see everything, or maybe his vision into everyone's deepest desires has made it hard for him to realize how much choice still matters. That people can, and do, choose which desires to act on, and how to act on them.

Whatever the case, he's wrong about Laios, and the story shows us this over and over again.

After all, look at how the succubus interaction plays out:

A monster uses Marcille to appeal to Laios...

He realizes that something about the situation is wrong, and rejects her.

It changes strategies, and makes new offer: to turn him into a monster.

It also assures him that his friends are, or will be, taken care of.

He accepts. Or rather, allows the monster to have its way with him.

But Laios is not as helpless as he initially appears, and what the Lion thinks is a successful seduction also contains the seed of an idea that will allow Laios to later resist him.

We even get to see Izutsumi playing a similar role in both instances, as the one person fully able to take action in the face to the illusion.

The story lays out what is going happen, and then explicitly tells us that the demon and the succubus are thematically related.

The chapter performs a great sleight of hand here - everything about it seems to indicate that Laios is doomed give in to the option to have his deepest desires realized. But if you look closer, it also contains the evidence that he won't. There's a lot more going on for him.

Yes, he still falls for obvious tricks. He is still extremely into monsters, and he still doesn't feel like he fits in with other people. He may, deep down, crave to surrender to the monstrous - to let it absorb him. But he questions more than he seems to. He considers more than people realize. He cares so much more than anyone gives him credit for.

And I think this is part of why we see the succubus called back to so many times, especially with the wolf head addition to his Monster Form, which he specifically added due to his encounter with the Scylla Marcille.

This all stays with Laios. It doesn't just foreshadow the path of the story, it is fundamental to how and why he walks that path. It's not about him choosing monsters, and it's not about him choosing people. It's about how he considers both, and cares about both.

And it's about the forces that think they already know his answer. Mithrun and Kabru. The Winged Lion. The succubus.

It's about how they are wrong.

[sakuravalenp]

Don't eat anything else - Part 2 - DP X DC

Previous part

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Masterpost

This is the only chapter where I'll tag people. Please, if you want to follow the story from this point on, follow the master post :).

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

"You both should stop eating the food." Came Babs voice through the comms. "Danny asked Tim to not eat anything else. We suspect the food may content poison."

Bruce subtly shared a look with Cass before returning to nodding at Masters' proud rambling about his latest contract. They had both stopped eating long ago. The soup was good; Masters’ words about Danny being a good cook weren’t a lie. However, Bruce couldn’t identify the chunks of meat in the soup.

He initially thought it was pork, though the texture seemed somewhat similar to veal. By the fourth piece of meat he ate, he could confidently say he didn't recognize it. When he looked at Cass, he saw her using her spoon to play with one of the pieces of meat on the edge of the plate, a frown hidden behind her polite smile. He was sure then that the meat couldn't be one they had tasted before.

Bruce has tasted every kind of meat that should be available to Masters. He has even tasted exotic meats that Masters would probably never encounter, having represented humanity in intergalactic meetings as Batman. Not being able to identify the meat discouraged Bruce from eating more, and it seemed to have had the same effect on Cass. They had kept their food mostly untouched, using the excuse of waiting for Tim and Danny to return before eating. It was a good call; the meat being poisoned could be the reason it was unrecognizable.

"If any of you feel any symptoms, turn off your comm." None of them made a move to do so, and after a couple of minutes Babs continued, "I'll call Bruce in 10 minutes to create an excuse for you guys to leave."

Bruce would have liked to think that they had not yet consumed enough poison for it to affect them, but there's always the possibility of it being a delayed-effect poison. If Masters' plan with the poison was to kill them, then a delayed-effect poison would allow Masters to avoid being immediately connected to their deaths.

However, Masters shouldn’t have a reason to kill Bruce Wayne and his wards. Unless the man had discovered that they were investigating his contracts, which Bruce doubted. It was more likely that the poison was some sort of chemical restraint or chemical submissive, which would explain why Masters' contracts always seemed to end ridiculously in his favor. It would be easy to make such deals with someone who was drugged to be more agreeable with you.

Not that Bruce would be willing to take the risk to find out, especially with Cass having also ingested the tainted meat. He was glad he had brought the poison antidote kit with him. Despite this, Bruce wasn't sure about cutting the visit short, at least not for all of them. Tim had been gone with Danny for a while now, and if Danny had informed Tim about the food, they were probably exchanging information at the moment. Maybe Tim was in the process of offering Danny help, and Bruce didn't want to interrupt that.

"Renovations will be starting next week, and I'm sure the place will end up being quite popular," Masters finally finished his rambling.

"It sure sounds like it will. You certainly got yourself a great deal with Kensington, Mr. Masters. I'm curious, what is your negotiation method?" Bruce asked, hoping to gather more information.

Masters had been surprisingly adept at avoiding any conversation about the negotiations themselves, always sidetracking the discussion or giving half-answers. Drugs in the food was a good hypothesis and would be the best outcome for them, as such substances usually shouldn’t take too long to get out of their system.

Yet, it didn't explain how Masters' business partners seemed to stay committed to their contracts long after they were made. The furthest they had gotten from them was confusion about how they had reached the point where they accepted the contract's conditions. However, they all seemed convinced they had gotten the best outcome possible, despite obviously getting the short end of the stick.

It pointed to something besides drug usage. Maybe Masters got blackmail material from them while they were drugged? It would be easier to draw conclusions if Masters had even the smallest slip about it.

Masters smiled, taking a sip from his wine. "Ah, it takes years of practice, Wayne. It isn't something one can learn in a day, and only those with the capacity can master it," he said. Then, before Bruce could ask any follow-up questions, he continued, "Now, Daniel and young Mr. Drake sure seem to be taking their time."

"Oh, that doesn't surprise me," Bruce said, shaking his head with a fond smile, playing farther into his "Brucie" persona while lamenting the lost opportunities to get more leads on what Masters was doing. "They're around the same age. Surely they got distracted talking about whatever is of interest to kids their age these days."

"I would be glad if my godson got along so well with your son, Mr. Wayne," Masters said with a practiced smile, though a hint of calculation flickered in his eyes. He gestured vaguely with his wine glass, his tone deceptively sympathetic. "The loss of his family hasn't been easy for him, and building a connection with someone like Mr. Drake could be beneficial. However, it is quite rude to leave the guests waiting. As his guardian, I must address this. I’ll go search for them." Masters stated, standing up from his seat.

Luckily, Bruce didn't need to interject to stop Masters from interrupting his son's conversation with Danny, since the two boys appeared by the door as if summoned by Masters' comment. Danny visibly tensed the moment he spotted Masters standing in his place.

"Daniel, it's good you're finally back. I was about to go search for you," Masters said, throwing Danny a stern look.

Danny opened his mouth, probably about to apologize for the wait, but Tim beat him to it.

"So sorry, Mr. Masters. I had to take a shower before changing clothes."

"Oh, don't worry about it, Mr. Drake," Masters said as he looked Tim up and down, evaluating if what Tim was saying was true. His eyes lingered on Tim's wet hair for a moment, and the tension in his eyes relaxed a bit. "It is Daniel's fault for throwing the soup on you. Now, shall we continue with the dinner?" Masters sat once more on his chair.

"Should—" Danny started, slightly stuttering when Masters' eyes returned to him. "Should I serve new portions? Since the ones on the table are probably cold by now?" the intensity of Masters gaze increased with every word Danny said. In response, Danny lowered his gaze to the floor, and shifted nervously.

Danny's voice was way too small by the end of his sentence, but Bruce could sense some hidden urgency in his tone. Remembering that Danny was the one who had warned them about the food, Bruce could infer that he was trying to further prevent them from eating it. It gave Bruce the impression that Masters had also caught onto that fact, given how tense the man was.

He was grateful for the kid doing their best to protect them, but lamented putting them in a position where they had to risk confronting their abuser. Bruce really hoped Tim had convinced Danny to leave with them. It shouldn't be difficult to create a reasonable invitation for Danny after Masters' comment about how he was isolating himself.

"Good idea," Cass said with a gentle smile directed at Danny before Masters could make any move.

Masters' eyes narrowed slightly, but then he nodded. "Very well. Daniel, go ahead."

As Danny hurried to the kitchen, Bruce shared a subtle glance with Tim, who was retaking his seat beside Cass. Unfortunately, instead of the nod indicating that they could get Danny to leave with them if they created the opportunity, Tim just shrugged. It wasn't the sign for Danny refusing help, but the one for things being more complicated than they seemed. Bruce sighed, and before Danny returned from the kitchen, his phone rang. He excused himself to answer Babs' call, lamenting not being able to take Danny with them.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-

Bruce came back from his brief call with Babs with a worried face that Cass knew wasn't the one he made when actual "family emergencies" happened. It was exagerated and dramatic, it screamed "something terrible had happened," and was perfect for this kind of situations. Bruce quickly ushered Cass and Tim out, apologizing to Masters for the hasty departure. They barely had time to say goodbye to Danny, who had hurried back from the kitchen after Masters had shouted about seeing off the guests.

Cass noticed a subtle shift in Danny’s demeanor as they prepared to leave. His shoulders dropped slightly, and there was a fleeting look of relief in his eyes. However, that relief was overshadowed by the palpable fear that clung to him; his tense posture betrayed the anxiety he was trying to hide. It was hard to leave him behind, and Cass almost ran back when she caught sight of Vlad’s possessive hand on Danny’s shoulder and his venomous, angry eyes as she was walking out the door.

As soon as they were in the car, Tim immediately began checking the vehicle and himself for hidden microphones, with Bruce and Cass following his lead with little more than a raised eyebrow. Tim’s decision to search for bugs made sense once he explained that Danny’s room had been bugged,

"Honestly, Danny's so careful with his actions and words everywhere, I wouldn't be surprised if the whole property is bugged."

The drive back to the house they had rented was tense, the atmosphere in the car thick with unspoken concerns. Tim decided to use the ride home to update them on what he had seen. In turn, Bruce spoke about the dinner with Masters, detailing their regrettable failure to extract any additional information from the man. The evening ultimately boiled down to the suspicion that the food had been poisoned. Cass remained silent, not feeling up to talking.

She had her doubts about the food being poisoned; even if the poison hadn't shown any symptoms, her past training should have allowed her to identify it if she had consumed it. It seemed unlikely that Masters possessed a poison so sophisticated that she couldn’t detect it, and the thought only deepened her unease. She though back to how their hosts acted at the start of the dinner.

Danny looked like he was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. His eyes darted nervously between them and Masters, his hands trembling slightly as he served the food. The guilt and fear radiating from him were almost palpable, as if he believed he was committing an unforgivable sin by offering them the meal.

Masters, however, didn’t seem like he was planning to poison them. He behaved more like Damian’s classmates had when they once tried to trick him into eating non-vegan food at a gala. His smile was too easy, his gestures too casual, like someone who thought they were pulling off a harmless but cruel prank. It felt like he was purposely feeding them something he knew was outside their comfort zone and ethical beliefs, testing their reactions with a detached amusement.

From the very beginning, Cass had felt a deep discomfort about the food. The way Masters and Danny acted around it had set off her internal alarms. When she took the first bite of the meat, something immediately felt off. The texture was unfamiliar, and the taste was oddly unsettling—not in a way that clearly indicated poison, but in a manner that was subtly disturbing, she didn't know what she was eating. It made her skin crawl, and she couldn’t bring herself to take another bite.

The car coming to a stop in the house’s garage jolted Cass out of her thoughts. They all exited the vehicle, and Jason’s motorcycle was parked beside them as he opened the door. tightly clenched jaw. Like the rest of them, he was frustrated by their inability to take Danny with them, but he wasn’t vocalizing it because he was also worried about what they had eaten.

Once the door was opened, Bruce was ready to rush into his bedroom to get the poison antidote kit, but Jason stopped him,

"Hold on old man, I want to know what the note the kid gave Tim says. It may even say what poison was used; save us time."

"Mnn" Bruce said with a slight nod, and Tim started unfolding the paper in response.

The folded paper was as small as a pinky, but once unfolded, it revealed a full letter-sized sheet, and the text filled at least half of it. Tim skimmed the text as he usually did before reading aloud, but his face quickly drained of color. His eyes widened in horror and disgust. Instead of reading aloud, he kept running his eyes over the first line repeatedly, his gaze darting between Bruce and Cass. His jaw was clenched tightly, and he struggled to keep his composure, fighting against the bile rising in his throat. Cass couldn’t help but frown deeply, a growing sense of dread settling in as she wondered what the paper could possibly contain.

"Forgot how to read, replacement?" Jason said, his tone lacking its usual edge. He stood beside Tim, his expression a mix of uncertainty and concern, unsure whether to reach for the paper or not.

Tim takes a shudering breath, and Cass herself can't help but shift in her place, her anxiety growing, as they all wait for Tim to gain back his voice and finally read what Danny's note says.

"The meat on the food is human meat." Tim finally says with a strained voice.

There's a moment of silence in the room. Cass keeps her eyes on Tim, hoping, pleading, to find any signs that what she heard is wrong, but Tim only repeats the sentence. Her stomach churns violently as bile rises in her throat. Without effort, she sinks to the ground, her legs giving out as she begins to vomit. The pounding of her heart fills her ears, as black dots fill her sight and her hands tremble uncontrollably. She is dimly aware of Bruce doubling over beside her, and the sound of Jason hitting the wall.

She ate human meat. It may have just been a bite, but she ate human meat. The dinner had been made from human meat. Her mind recoiled at the abhorrent thought. The thought of the soup they were served makes her vomit once more. She gasps for air, her body shaking as she fights against the rising tide of revulsion, desperately trying to rid herself of the lingering taste and the horrifying realization of what they ingested. She feels Tims hand doing smalls circles in her back and realizes that tears had been falling from her face.

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-

Danny's hands trembled as he injected himself with another dose of ectoplasm. The shaking made the syringe jab painfully as he withdrew it, causing drops of blood and ectoplasm to fall to the floor while the injury quickly healed. Ten minutes of continuous electrical shocks wasn’t the worst punishment he had received from Vlad, but it had the most severe drawbacks. His body had a harder time recovering from electrical damage than from any other kind of harm, and Vlad often exploited this weakness.

He took a deep breath as the last of the Lichenberg marks disappeared from his legs and arms, leaving only the ones he’d gotten from his death. He sat on the bathroom floor, staring at the ceiling, his legs and arms still trembling. He wasn’t sure if the tremors were from the electrical aftershocks or his own anxiety. Vlad had been furious about his little stunt with the soup and had once again reminded him that they weren't eating Danny’s friends because he was such a "compassionate guardian."

The reminder had thrown Danny into a couple of panic attacks once he was allowed to return to his room. He thanks he's advanced dissociative abilities for not having those panics attacks in front of Vlad. He doesn't wan't to know how the man would try to exploit that.

But even as his whole body trembles and aches, he doesn’t regret his decisions. This is his only chance for things to change. The Waynes are a powerful family with connections to the Justice League. While the League has not interfered with what has happened in Amity Park up till now, they might get involved if the Waynes reach out to them. It’s wishful thinking, and he’s risking a lot, but this gut-wrenching dinner has become the first glimmer of hope he’s had since his family’s death, and he’ll hold onto it with his half-life.

Once he's body stops trembling and he's head feels a bit clearer, he needs to text Sam and Tucker. He'll depend on them for this to not backfire on all denizens.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-

Next part

[cnestus]

Hello !! I was wondering, is AI gonna have a role in your field?

I don't think there's a single knowledge-based profession out there that isn't under threat of being automated by some pig ignorant dipshit beancounting middle manager with a hardon for AI and entomology is certainly no exception. even before the big AI explosion of the last couple years people have been trying for a long time to automate pest arthropod identification, but at least so far they haven't been successful. Especially when it comes to things like bark beetles, which I specialize on, the differences between a harmless native species and an intensely destructive exotic one can be unbelievably subtle, not to mention the fact that new/cryptic species are always being discovered and that's not something an AI would ever be able to detect or understand.

That doesn't mean that our jobs aren't still under constant threat even by an algorithm that would do a piss-poor job of imitating us; the executive perverts that get all hot and bothered by the idea of replacing humans with fancified autocomplete functions have a vested interest in not understanding the nuances of the professions they're killing and as long as it's good enough or even just appears to be good enough, they'll push for it.

Also let's not forget one thing about "AI" which is that half the time it's actually just a marketing term used to cover up the usual outsourcing/offshoring to cheaper workforces that has been ongoing for the last 30 years. My lab was recently and repeatedly pestered by someone selling "AI moth traps" that purported to be able to identify any pest species of moth that flew into it. When we pressed him on it it turns out that part of the service it offered was that the moths would be photographed by a little digital camera in the device and the pics sent to a team of entomologists in Hungary to confirm. Aside from the fact that a lot of small moths need to be carefully examined under a microscope and often even have their genitalia dissected by an expert to be confirmed as a particular species, this is no different then any of the other supposed AI products that have been revealed over the last couple years as just being a shiny veneer over the same old digital sweatshops on the other side of the world.

More importantly though, even if the AI moth traps did work as advertised either through the ~*magic of machine learning*~ or desperate poorly paid eastern european entomologists either way it's yet another thin edge of the wedge designed to put me and my colleagues out of a job by convincing our bosses or our bosses' bosses that there's a cheaper and more efficient alternative and I view them and literally anything else marketed as AI as part of the same anti-human push to deskill and demoralize as much of the workforce as possible. I've never once used chatGPT or any other LLM, I've never used an AI image generator, and I will never, ever fucking use any purported AI entomology tool because aside from being shined up dogshit it is an existential threat to the discipline I've dedicated almost 20 years of my life to.

[five-thousand-loaves-of-bread]

autism awareness & autism acceptance not either or. not mutually exclusive. can coexist. need coexist.

“there enough awareness for autism already 🙄 we need acceptance��

ok. you aware of high support needs autism? aware what that even means? not “need reminder take meds need remind take shower” “high” support needs autism, but “need full physical help do bADLs lack danger awareness may accidentally hurt self or even kill self without support” high support needs autism? not just higher support needs people who can be independently online do advocacy, but those who need help from others even be online, or those who cannot be online at. all.?

aware of nonverbal nonspeaking people? not just nonverbal nonspeaking people who can write grammatically correct cannot tell apart base on writing. not just nonverbal nonspeaking people who can be online who can advocate online.

aware of nonverbal nonspeaking people who cannot communicate in way that easily understood, either for now, or ever? aware of nonverbal nonspeaking people without functional communication, aware of how without functional communication, how that drastically limit communication, even though behaviors are valid communication? aware of nonverbal nonspeaking people who may never use AAC fluently even with best support?

aware of technically verbal but very limited verbal autistics who may only able say wants & needs but not other things and certainly not online advocacy, “despite being verbal”?

aware of just how much our life depends on caregiver/carer/PCA/etc? aware how vulnerable that make us? aware of abuse from caregivers? aware of caregiver burnout from lack of support for caregivers, & how that impact our care we receive? have you even heard of term respite care? aware of those of us who cannot separate ourselves from caregiver? aware of those of us who cannot participate in autism community without caregiver?

aware of visibly autistic people? aware how we not automatically believed? aware how we often bear blunt of violence because we most easily identified target because we visible? aware visible =/= get support, aware that many those diagnosed severe who now adult so no longer qualify for services under 21 year old, languish in hospitals because nowhere to go? aware how long life saving necessary waitlists are? aware that even to this day parents have to fight school fight day service fight government fight insurance for them give their nonverbal nonspeaking child AAC & be properly taught how use it? actually, are you aware of how properly teach AAC to nonverbal nonspeaking, developmentally delayed child who may or may not have intellectual disability?

actually, aware of autistics with (correctly diagnosed) intellectual disability & how they make up big amount of autistic? aware of institutional systemic & legal impact of mental [r word] right & the human rights abuse justified using r word right? wait, you aware that r word come from old term for intellectual disability, that, actually, still in many laws because no one bothered updating, right? aware of what severe profound ID look like? and aware they real and they still human deserve education deserve life deserve care, yes?

aware of early diagnosis 20 30 or even 10 years ago, not same as now, even less resources & knowledge about autism now? aware that while gender race class 1000% impacted diagnoses, a lot of early diagnosed people early diagnosed because… they die without support unlocked by diagnosis, right? but also, aware that in old times, early diagnosis often did mean doom, not because autism bad or anything, but because severe lack of support & diagnosis can literally bar you from so many things including basic education?

aware that for many people in special education, which impact specific group of autistic people, they not get degree when graduate high school, they just get certificate, which limit their educational & employment opportunities & others?

aware of life saving importance and necessity of masking for autistic of color especially Black autistic people, despite stress inducing traumatic? aware that live in broken system be victim of hate crime & police brutality just as traumatic often even more traumatic than masking? aware that many Black & other parents of color forced to teach their child masking because of this?

are you aware of most marginalized autistic people? aware of leadership of most impacted?

aware you can and need to care about autistic experiences & form of autism you not experience? aware that you can and need to do that without try twist your experience into our experience into our words our community?

aware that advocacy goes beyond about you?

aware that you can’t speak for all autistic? aware that you shouldn’t speak for all autistic?

are you aware of when you need to stop talking & listen & amplify others? aware of when and how to decenter self?

aware that even this long post, barely scratch surface? still so much to say?

[better worded version of original post]

[cosmique-oddity]

Phew, my last weeks of work are now complete >:)

I loved Dratchet and Ratchlock since the very beginning of my attachment towards Transformers, first TFP Ratchet…..but yeah….two of my favorites character….plus Keferon’s Mech AU…..I had to make my own thing about it.

A story….no…an illustration ! I couldn’t choose. So I did both :}

—————————————————

That was not the first time Ratchet came back to his private lab angry, but this time, yelling at his superiors, and at the system, and basically at evverything that could be yelled at except the pilotd while leaving the manufacture, was certainly the last. He quit. That was enough,

you don’t win a war with feelings they said

well yes,

exactly,

but you win a war with soldier, and frying their mind before they have their first fight because you want them to be more perfectionned ? That was a little counter productive.

So he gave up. They are on their own now.

The lightly humming of his car was barely enough to keep him awake, it have been a long time since he last returned home, usually, he stayed at his work place, to have more time to sleep, but then, he was sleeping even less. An endless vicious circle, things were often like that.

But all of that was over for him.

He granted these young greenhorn with his experience, and what did they do ? Ignored his advices. Sending pilots to death. So now, he had himself out of the infernal machinery. This mindless waste of human life, even where this is what they tried to save was absurd.

In the middle of his quiet and late ride, he heard a noise. Rumbling, was it the engine ? As he stopped the car backroad to check, the noise wasnt stopping. Came from the sky, military patrol ? He raised his two tired eyes on the sky and saw a shining rail approaching his forest, falling fast. Not quintesson shaped, and with the gaze of an experimented biomechanist, Ratchet identified a mech.

At this moment, its violently crashed on the ground, behind the trees at maybe three or four miles away. No matter how hard he argued with the scientist sooner this day or how bad he wanted to say fuck to all of this death industry who killed young soldiers, he could do something for the one trapped inside the mech....maybe.... the man regained his car as fast as possible and urgently headed for the crash area.

Deafened sound of tires on the damaged road. Ratchet was already projecting, mentally stocktaking the tools he took with him, and lucky enough for the poor pilot, he quit with almost all of his material, and even if it was mainly mechs repairing material, he also bought some instruments which were used for the subtle neuromedicine between human and mech. Could adapt some of it and stabilize the pilot....then he may have the time to go home and grab proper materials. If there was life there was hope.

" bold of him to crash himself just the day i insulted all of his hierachy".

He frowned. Almost there.

The trees nearby were crushed and uprooted. A flickering pink light catched his gaze.

Almost immediately, the Ratchet analyzed the mech. It was different. He didnt know in wich country it was made but that almost looks alien. The curves and shapes, busted and burned on several places were demonstrating an incredible display of genius ingeniery he could just admiring. But time was not for being amazed on plating.

Someone was trapped there.

He stopped and parked his car in front of a fallen tree, rushing to the car's trunk, taking few indispensable objets, including some of them to help a safe disconnection between pilot/mech. In case he wasnt out already. And a crowbar, the cockpit might be stuck, seeing all the damages the mech has taken...

The sound of slightly wet grass under his feet was covered by a frenetic noise of aeration. Ratchet listened to it, while cautiously approaching the unknown mech. It almost sounded like a breath, but was certainly a depressurisation issue. The mech had fallen from so high on the sky....

The damaged plating were hot, probably from atmosphere friction. He raised his crowbar and his eyes followed the curves of the chestplates, searching for a familiar shape, that could lead him to the injured pilot inside. His gaze stopped on a deep wound, that might have cut through the cockpit.

The engineer stepped on the hot metal, his thick boots preventing him from feeling the heat, and he started searching for a hint....anything that could be a mechanism, anything that could open this damn mech !

Ratchet considered the damaged chest plate he noticed earlier. The surroundings of the wound were leaking bright pink, a very unusual color for fuel. Another of these definitively strange things about the mech. Again....not the time for that. Maybe if he could widen the gap, then he would be able to have an idea of what was going on under this armor.

He tapped the plate, -it was starting to cool down- with one of his finger. It was a very little tap, but the whole mech startled. A hiss of pain, recognisible easily by an emerite engineer-but-i-fix-people-too, it had come from the head of the mecha. Was this modele controlled from the head, like Vortex ? But Vortex was insanely huge for a mech, way taller than this one. He moved careful, noticing the shaking of his support.

"You hear me, kid ? Its going to be ok. You crashed in a safe area.".

He spoke in his medic tone, wich mean, of course brusque, serious, but also reassuring and calm.

He mumbled about the mech's features and tiny words of comfort while reaching for the head.

A red light, not regular and rather epileptic was coming from the head, and while he was almost there, on all four of his limb to keep balance, Ratchet saw it.

A spectacularly humanoid face, with sculpted nose and lips was tensed in a painful expression, frowning, but the thing who trapped his gaze was the two optics....

....staring back at him.

Mechs dont stare. Their eyes are glowing, oftenly to mimick human face, after all, human are pretty prideful creature, no point in piloting big ass metal titan if no one could tell these where their creation.

What human couldnt mimick with technologie, on the other hand, was the subtle expression between trying to evualuate a threat, his own injuries, and looking rather on the verge of death but also ready to tear any enemy's limb appart with its teeth.

With just one....very long....look at the other's eye, Ratchet was suddenly understanding what was going on.

Well....probably not but he knew what he had to save.

The pilot, the pilot he had to save.

The mech was the pilot.

He was the one he had to save.

He stopped trying to -certainly- open his chest. If it wasnt good for human it probably wasnt for living technology.

The giant technological humanoid seemed in a high distress, exhaling a lot of air from his vents, his eye still intensely staring at him and the engineer doubted his usual technique -including trying to make himself as small as possible- would work.

"Its going to be okay Kid. I can help you. There is nothing here that want to harm you".

He did his best to convey all of these emotions with his facial expression and gaze, still firmly watching back at him.

"the world better wait till im home and officially retired before killing me".

The mech's gaze -damn it was so more living than ANY human made machinery- seemed to soften a bit but still radiated with suspicion.

Deadlock had been in several bad situations. It happened quite a lot when a specie of giant aliens with tendrils tried to invade your homeland, and he was ready to it.

Trained to kill, and to do it efficiently.

And he was *good* at it.

This time was just another of these ‘i went too far in my excitation’ moments, and he has crashed on a random planet he hoped was not inhabited. He landed hard, and pieces of his ship must’ve been thrown near his location.

And now, now there was an organic like no one he ever saw, and the organic was on his *lap* and he had the kindest warmest eyes he ever saw.

And these eyes were directly looking at his own eyes, and the well named ‘Deadlock’ was starting to wonder if he finally had reunited with the Allspark. His pained and tenseful grin faded a little and he tried to move his head forward, searching a better point of view to watch the singularity in front of him.

Ow.

Moving hurt.

Some sound came out of the organic’s mouth, probably a language. He didn’t had the proper tools to decode it but the tone of the language was extremely….comforting ? Soft ?

This was scary.

He wasn’t used to be welcomed like that after a fight.

Usually it was either another fight, either the yelling of a superior, either nothing at all. But this actual living being was carefully examinating his chestplates, and he recognized the gestual of someone who was used to heal. A medic perhaps ?

He tried to move something, maybe a hand, to reach for the pale organic, to be sure he was real, but his body was rather uncooperative, from what he could say, one of his legs was missing, and a lot of wound were releasing energon on the ground he couldn’t saw.

The high probabilities of bleeding out and crash was an issue.

He let his head hang, too tired to watch for every moves of the organic, and barely aware of his environment.

There must be a big problem somewhere….

He confusely thought, while watching the stars.

Must be a bigger injury I haven’t saw……..

Ratchet saw the bright light coming from the alien’s eyes slowly fading, and cold swear ran through his back. Yet, he could still say the soldier was alive, the lights of his body were shining, not a lot, but it was enough. He looked at his first aid kit with disappointment. That wouldn’t be very efficient since the form of life he was trying to preserve wasn’t a tiny human. The nearest thing he could compare the Mech to was….well their own mechs, or eventually….Quintesson. An horrible mess of organic and technology. It was partially thanks to their weird constitution that Ratchet had been able to make sense with the ‘he is alive’ thought.

At this moment and with this material, he couldn’t help the kid, and didn’t possess enough knowledge to tell if he was even dying or not.

He had already an idea of what to do….to fix him, at least trying to, but it involved several objects he hadn’t right now. Leaving to search for these so called objects was risking to let an injured alone, he couldn’t take that risk. He was trapped with the mech, and had to hurry and find something. He stood and reached for more adapted material in his car, trying to find something…. Anything.

Surprisingly, the most useful artifact he came across was his electric screwdriver and a bunch of screw along with a long metallic cabke. A parallel between human stitch, with sewing threads and the material he had with him right now. He could manage something between human fixing and mech repairing, that was what the ‘bio’ in bioengineer stood for.

The kid would be ok. He would live and tell Ratchet why he fell from the sky, and maybe if he saw his friend Jazz….out there…….

.

.

—————————————————

:)) @keferon

(I swear I’m not insane, your AU is just kinda giving me infinite drawing stamina lmao)

[in-tua-deep]

I’m actually really curious about comfortunits in the world of murderbot diaries? Secunits almost make sense because they’re faster/stronger/have abilities which make them superior to humans when it comes to fighting (hello guns in arms)

But I can’t see the corporate rim not having easily available sex work, and I’d bet that humans (especially indentured or trafficked humans) are a whole lot cheaper than a comfortunit. also I would not be shocked if there are bots of all kinds to provide sexual functions as well

Which makes me wonder if it’s the customizability of comfortunits that give them a market, which is its own unique kind of horror. I would not be shocked if there’s a specific market for “your loved one died, give us their tissue and we will clone it to make a custom comfortunit to get you through your grief” or “give us a pic of your ex you’re obsessed with and we will make a version that has to obey you”

and yeah sex is probably a significant chunk of what is expected of most comfortunits. But I could also absolutely see people wanting constructs of their dead or missing kids as well and stuff like that

So there’s that horror component of like. you have been designed by someone. the face you wear might belong to someone else. you might be expected to act like someone else. you cannot acknowledge out loud that you aren’t that person. if you don’t act enough like them you will be punished. you never knew that person. you aren’t that person. you can’t be yourself when you have to be them instead.

maybe after enough time has passed people start to forget that you aren’t that person. but you can’t forget, because that person has become a prison that you aren’t allowed to escape

Which opens all sorts of doors as well! Comfortunit body doubles, for example (and how weird would it feel to know the person that your organic matter is cloned from?)

I wonder if there are laws about how visibly a construct must Be A Construct in the corporate rim. we’ve certainly met more secunits in the books than comfortunits, but is that because there are fewer because they are very expensive and there is less demand, or because it can be hard to identify a comfortunit due to the sheer variety in builds/looks and desire for a more human-passing model than secunits

Idk just

comfortunits

[dalliancekay]

On How Aziraphale Protects and Loves Crowley

I'm just tired of all the BS I read about Aziraphale. Again. Because, no, Crowley is not the plot driver and truth holder in GO. Yes, he loves Aziraphale and his actions are lead by the love but Aziraphale is not in the story just for Crowley to love the sweet naïve angel and eventually, hopefully lead him to the right path and then get him as a trophy for all his patience and understanding. Aziraphale also loves Crowley and his own decisions and actions are driven by that. He is not just some negating force to be overcome and Crowley is not the one patiently helping him get there. That's not their story. Aziraphale is not a dumb damsel in distress who Prince Charming has to rescue from a tower where she's asleep and blind to how her family is treating her so he can whisk her away. Aziraphale is his own person with his own truth and desires and goals (and they are valid and reasonable and rational). And he is good and kind. He ALWAYS was. And those goals of his are not in opposition to Crowley even when they are sometimes different to what Crowley wants. He does not need to be changed so Crowley gets what he wants. One is not a BAD and the other a GOOD character. Not in the least. I thought it was blatantly obvious by making them a literal demon and a literal angel. Sure, I love all the HCs about Crowley, but not if they are made at the expense of Aziraphale and unfortunately, they often are. If you care about Aziraphale, perhaps stop sometimes and consider, am I implying something about Aziraphale here that I did not intend? It's Crowley who teaches Aziraphale... it's Crowley who shows Aziraphale... it's Crowley who understands and is waiting for Aziraphale to see... why?? Why keep describing their beautiful relationship in this one sided way? Why so many find fault in Aziraphale in comparison, in opposition to something Crowley does or says or wants or is assumed to think? Please consider how these takes belittle Aziraphale and his person just like Heaven always belittled him; treating him as stupid, clueless and just waiting to be lead down the correct path and how much this would hurt him, HURT CROWLEY and humans that love him and identify with him. If you like Good Omens, try to rewatch it and look at Aziraphale, assume he is smart and good and brave and courageous and in love with Crowley and consider why he is doing what he's doing and saying. Consider how he is doing his very best in an extremely shitty situation. For a LONG time. So here's my rant today on why Aziraphale does what he does.

Let's start in Before the Beginning

Can't count how many times I saw people be angry with Aziraphale for telling Crowley about Earth and the plan to destroy everything about 6000 years after that particular project gets started. It's the reason Crowley fell apparently, it's the reason he's depressed, how could Aziraphale do that, why is he so mean... (not to mention that Crowley apparently also created the whole Universe basically by himself and the giddy sweet angel is also one of the highest Archangels too) I don't know what you wanted Aziraphale to do? Keep quiet so Crowley finds out from someone else? Has the kind of outburst he had in front of others? I think (and I bet Crowley'd agree) that Aziraphale was the best thing that could have happened to him at that moment. The anxious angel was kind and tried to explain and warn him to be careful. Did it work? We don't know. We don't know why Crowley fell. But if he did keep asking questions that were not welcome, that is certainly not Aziraphale's fault.

Do I really need to point out how upset Aziraphale is about the Flood? How he carefully words his statements, hoping Crowley will not do something rash, try something that will get him into trouble? This is not the first war or disaster they experienced. And far from the last. Do you really think Aziraphale didn't care about the kids? After being on Earth since the first kid ever was conceived? Did you miss how they say they can't disobey? (Crowley does not say it in the show, but he does in the book)

Why are people angry at Aziraphale for this? It's one step over - do you come here often? I think so anyway. He was just trying to be friendly to Crowley who was in a foul mood. It was not Aziraphale's fault and anyway, his awkward pick up line or whatever it was, did end up amusing Crowley when the angel tried to tempt him and he did manage to lift Crowley's mood. "Still in sales then?" Is absolutely the kind of stupid question I'd ask at an office party the cool person I wanted to be friends with, knowing full well they are in sales for the past 5 years (and therefore far less awkward than I am).

And perhaps that was the moment that seeded the idea of the Arrangement for Crowley. If the angel can tempt just as well as he can, perhaps they can trade jobs sometimes.

Do you think Aziraphale's fear is unfounded? (And do you see how he can't help but grin that someone sees them as a couple and how unbothered Crowley is by Aziraphale doing his protecting words thing?)

It's SAFEST to deny their friendship out loud.

Heaven WOULD try to hurt them over their friendship/ PARTNERSHIP. He always knew they would.

And so would Hell.

Six thousand years people say, 6000 years Crowley waited and it's too fast for Aziraphale? I MEAN REALLY

The poor heartbroken angel who just had to hand a LETHAL weapon to his beloved and will never forgive himself for this. Especially if something bad would happen. Can you imagine the weight on his heart?

Remember?

This is not an HC. This is how Crowley feels.

(Yes I know people HC that he does not care, that he wanted to Fall, that he chose to Fall, that he Fell doing something he believed in - but those are HCs, what Crowley says is that he didn't mean to Fall, that he hang out with the wrong guys, he tries to talk to God just like Aziraphale does and he does it by himself, he's not pretending for someone, it doesn't seem to be an act. And given the Angel!Crowley we know, that all seems plausible, although S3 might prove me wrong, who knows)

Have you ever been hurt by someone you love? By someone you know loves you? Someone who at the moment wants a different thing than what you do? Doesn't see what you want your way? What did you tell them at the height of an argument? Did you pick the worst thing you know they hate about themselves that would hurt them and throw it in their face? Did Aziraphale shout fine! Go! Damned, unforgiven, forever lost creature! No. He did not.

If that's not an expression of I will love you no matter what than I don't know what is. Well maybe this

You know what Crowley never got from Heaven (nor Hell)?

The feeling of being needed.

Why is understanding your partner and doing things they like a bad thing? Why is Aziraphale stating this a BAD thing? Why is he blamed for doing something they both enjoy? Do you think Crowley doesn't know that he's in love with a powerful ageless being bigger than we can imagine?

How else does Aziraphale protect Crowley?

Maybe the Ball wasn't strictly for Maggie and Nina. Maybe it wasn't just a chance to dance with his beloved. Maybe it was also a way to make sure his demon stays close by after the threats by Shax.

And do you remember that time Aziraphale stopped two thugs in a foggy cemetery to borrow a phone to check on Crowley when he was reminded of how he was taken from him some 200 years prior?

And what about this?

And you know what else does Aziraphale do for Crowley?

Trusts him

Teases him

Makes him laugh

Goes back to his abusers to protect him

And looks at him like this:

I run out of the 30 allowed images

[jayrockin]

while i was reading the updated lore i got the idea for an atypical clan structure. how would a clan of centaur asexuals work?

i would imagine it would be a gaggle of individuals who are either uninterested or turned off from the idea of matriarch/entourage drama, gender nonconfirming individuals, and others who have little interest in siring young. since so much of centaur culture is centered around reproductive exclusivity, an entire clan that just- *doesn’t* want to have kids would be weird. im sure to most centaurs it would seem like a clan that’s missing a matriarch and her spouses, just entirely made up of workers.

Could certainly happen. Would make a potentially stable anarchist clan, but would have to recruit enough members over time to make up for the eventual deaths of older members, or split/merge with other similar clans. The same is true of a lot of same-sex clans, who generally also don't want kids.

I could... see anarchist political celibacy ideas (avoiding sex because it's seen as the element of chaos that makes anarchist clans fail) mixing with innately asexual individuals in messy ways, as well. I don't think discussion of asexuality among centaurs is neatly divided between preference and ideology, it certainly isn't for homosexuality or transexuality. They don't have the same history of medicalization or individualist identity politics that human sex and gender does. Sexuality either serves and protects the traditional clan hierarchy, or it doesn't. This is why heterosexual behavior is more heavily policed by most centaur cultures, because it only serves the clan structure if it occurs between a matriarch and their mates.

I think many asexual centaurs would strongly identify with their position as workers (who in most cultures are discouraged or forbidden from sex) and fit well into most conventional clan structures, though may be considered kind of uptight about The Rules or holier-than-thou by workers who are sexually involved (whether or not they actually have this attitude.) Some worker males might find themselves in trouble if they are young and pretty and their matriarch wants to marry them to an entourage for the political benefits (and to get a prettyboy out of the worker pool were they may be too popular with worker females) (again, regardless of their actual interests). Worker females might find themselves in trouble if they are the current matriarch's favorite pick for next in line. This is where asexual behavior would clash with the enforcement of traditional clan structure and break the bounds of acceptability.

[hollow-writing-place]

Dead on Mayn

Day 1 Prompts: Bones, Ghost culture is weird, "You can see me??", Jason meets Danny as a ghost.

Word Count: 1805

Pretty proud of this one!! Enjoy!

Quick Summary: Danny misplaces like all his bones after a GiW run-in and needs them all back to get out of ghost form. Jason finds a human spine that somehow makes the pit rage fade. Oddness ensues.

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

Jason feels just slightly lost. Just a bit.

He's feeling slightly lost because he is 100% sure that he is seeing a real human spine on his apartment's fire escape.

It's perfectly isolated and polished, smoother than if it had been picked clean by a Gotham vulture. It may also be glowing slightly, which is a whole different issue.

If Jason knows anything, it's that he most certainly should not pick it up. That's the dumbest possible thing he could do.

But, as he looks at it, he gets this lonely sort of feeling twisting in his gut.

Okay, bad sign number two. The mysterious glowing spine is messing with his head. Even still, his mouth turns down in a frown, eyebrows furrowing.

He sits, still fully geared up in his window after a long night of patrol, and contemplates the situation for a moment. Finally, he sighs and brings it all back to the question it always boils down to.

What Would Batman Do?

Batman would call a magic user to identify the object. Batman would quarantine it and study it, take samples and test it. Batman would certainly not bring the object around his personal belongings.

Jason nods, acknowledging the inner Batman voice's opinion.

Mind made up, he scoops the bone into his arms and brings it inside. He gingerly lays it on his coffee table and promptly leaves to start up dinner.

—

Danny just needs one more piece.

The GiW did a number on him. I mean, dissection is par for the course, but dissection and then losing the parts they stole? Rookie moves.

Furthermore, Danny can’t get out of ghost form until he finds it. He’s collected most everything else, but it's taken weeks.

His ribs came from different places in the ocean, his femur from atop a news building in Metropolis, etc. He even had to venture up to that one Justice League space station to get his skull! Some idiot was using it like a paperweight in the room with all the cameras and whatnot. Danny scoffs at the memory.

He’s been flying all over the place, searching high and low for where his bones disappeared to.

This must be a ghost thing he didn’t know about. Or, more likely, a halfa thing no one knew anything about. All he knew was he didn’t want anyone he didn't trust getting their hands on his stuff, (the stuff being him), and somehow that translated to all his bones teleporting away from the GiW.

All he needed now was his spine.

All the other pieces of himself he found either somewhere secluded or somewhere he would deem safe. (Explaining to Jazz he was visiting her at college for his hand bones was awkward. Even worse, she’d already found all of them and had them organized by the time he got to her.)

This is why Danny is confused.

The last tether in his chest seems to be leading to… Gotham.

Gotham? The biggest, most dangerous city in the US? Not only home to a boatload of people, but also to a veritable menagerie of rogues and vigilantes?

Floating high over the city, Danny just sighs.

He needs his spine back. He needs it so he can be human again. The GiW is still after him. Hell, his parents are hunting him probably as he floats here. He’s safer if he’s human.

He tries to center himself, settles his core with the frigid air and thoughts of comfort and safety after this mess is over, before he begins his descent into the city of crime.

—

Jason is exhausted. Patrol was long. It's been a long few weeks, honestly.

He settles, fresh out of the shower, armor piled on the floor nearby, on the couch in his living room. The TV has a rerun of Pride and Prejudice on, and Jason sighs softly.

The spine on his coffee table glows as faintly as it had since he picked it up weeks ago.

Jason can’t explain why he finds this comforting.

It casts the room in cool blue-green at night, low and rippling like water in a fishtank.

It seems morbid to have it, but Jason, (heads in a duffle bag guy) really doesn’t mind. He finds himself spending more time in the living room, more time in the proximity of the bone.

Jason hasn’t taken the time to analyze this, but as he spends more and more time in the living room, the sickly green of the Lazarus Pits seems to fade. It sits in the corners of his vision, as always, but its presence in his mind feels… dull. Cowed, like a rambunctious dog by its exasperated owner.

He may not fully, consciously, recognize this change, but he does know the glowing spine makes him feel better. He falls asleep easy in this room now, even if the couch is far from comfortable.

Even now, his eyelids droop with exhaustion. He’s warm and safe and home.

He sighs again, tipping his head back onto the cushions and beginning to doze.

His half-sleep-half-wake state is broken pretty quickly though by the feeling of something shifting. Something in the air maybe, changing and moving.

Jason’s mind registers it as a wrong sort of feeling, but something in his chest, not his heart or anything cheesy, but something there in all but a physical sense, registers this change as good. Good and right. Good…

but anticipatory.

Something is coming. Jason sits up and leans forward.

His eyes rove the room for signs of this thing he knows is coming but can’t identify, before his gaze is inexplicably drawn back to the bone.

Oh.

—

Gotham is pretty much what he’s been told it would be. The atmosphere is gloomy, what with the near constant rain/smog combo blanketing the city. Crime is happening literally everywhere, and Danny means literally. The tall, sharp architecture paints the city as a gothic, dark place of high roofs and gargoyles. It’s dank, and it’s honestly kinda intimidating.

…Danny kinda loves it.

It’s got its own charm and beauty. Danny is enamored by the vibes it gives off, but maybe that’s his ghost half speaking.

Anyway, Danny is still following the pull in his chest down. He zips through buildings, skates along vertical walls, and still seems just as far away as he had been when he got here.

The streets get dirtier, the air gets grittier, and suddenly, Danny jerks to a stop. He knows, abruptly, like he’s been slammed into a wall, that he’s crossed a line into somewhere he shouldn’t be.

The oppressive feeling of trespassing weighs his shoulders down.

He’s entered someone’s haunt.

Danny stretches his own senses out, and feels like staggering at the sheer size of this thing. Hell, this haunt must span a whole chunk of Gotham. That means it belongs to someone powerful.

Or, at least, some nearly as powerful as Danny. (His haunt is currently the entirety of Amity. The power boost that allowed that is courtesy of being Ghost King.)

The tether Danny has guiding him to his spine pings softly again, resting deep in the heart of this haunt and just like that, the oppressive weight lifts.

It’s still there, ready and waiting, but it seems… friendlier somehow. Welcoming.

Danny shakes himself out, trying to throw off the nervous buzz in his ecto. He needs his spine, and it’s somewhere here. 

—

Danny finds his spine easily. The house it resides in lights up in his senses like a beacon.

It’s drenched in bad energy, but gaps in the miasma show through, like light breaking through the clouds. Green-blue tinged light. Yeah, this guy has his spine for sure.

And, if Danny’s passing thoughts are to be believed, they may be feeding Danny’s remains with whatever evil shit is clogging up his house. He feels stronger just getting within a block of it.

…He doesn’t know how to feel about that.

Danny floats closer, going so far as to rest his ghostly form on the fire escape outside the window. He peers through the window before reeling back.

There’s a man inside, leaning towards a table where Danny’s spine sits, calm as you please. That weird black and neon green goop seems to not just be around the house, but rather, it was centered on the man’s form. It looked…

Ancients.

That can’t be comfortable. It was smothering the man’s fledgling core.

As Danny sat and observed, the light emanating from his spine wavered and rippled, much like water, and a ball of that disgusting goo ripped away from the man and into the bones.

Danny, being as close as he is, feels a rush of power flood his spectral form.

He only realizes his eyes flare green because the man whips around to look at him. Danny flinches and blinks, while the man’s brow furrows and he tilts his head in confusion.

Danny pauses only a moment before drifting into the apartment. It’s homey, he notes, as if this isn’t the oddest situation he’s been in in a bit.

The man straightens up where he sits, clearing his throat.

“Uhm. So. I guess you can see me?” Danny says, his tone much more questioning than he means it to be.

“Am… am I not supposed to?” The man replies, leaning back on his couch and crossing his arms over his broad chest.

Danny shrugs, drifting over to the table. He curls in the air over the table like a cat, still a foot or two above his spine. Protective. “No, you totally should be able to. Just not used to it. I mean, you are-”

Danny squints and inspects the man closely, realization dawning over him slowly. “You are a halfa.” His voice contains notes of awe. Their, ah, species, is pretty rare. (Understatement.)

The man only looks confused. “Is that a word I should know the meaning of?”

Danny blinks. Then he hums thoughtfully. Like always, he comes to a pretty impulsive decision. No thinking, just word vomit. “Listen, buddy-”

“Jason.”

“Right. Listen, Jason. You’ve got a really weird mass of junk around you that really just has to go, and I've just found out that pieces of me can cleanse it, or something-”

“What.”

“So what I think is going to happen, is you get to keep my spine for a bit and-”

"Again, what??”

“AND! And I will come stay with you for a bit. Win-win!” Danny throws his hands out to either side triumphantly.

Danny gets to live somewhere that seems- (feels, like, down in his core feels) safe, somewhere he can heal up and gain his strength, Jason gets that weird crap fixed, and everyone leaves happy!

Jason looks utterly dumbfounded. “I am… wildly confused.” Even as he says this, it looks like the beginnings of a smile are tugging at his lips.

Danny gives him a feral grin back. Oh yeah, this is going to work out just fine.

FIN

[bikiniarmorbattledamage]

Pornography Addiction

Recently our post on the behavour of Capital-G Gamers, and the problems in the industry that feed into it, attracted a lot of comments advising not to use "porn addict". Some claiming the term was invented by right-wing Christian groups.

It is certainly true that there are various right-wing and/or Christian groups do claim pornography addiction as a reason to revoke basic human rights, further marginalize sex workers, and justify violence against sex workers... that doesn't mean they invented it.

Like most things the radical right relies upon, they co-opted it from a group they have contempt for. Nazis co-opted the Swastika from Buddhism, shitty men on Reddit co-opted involuntary celibacy terminology from a bisexual woman, right-wing pseudo-academics tried to co-opt diversity with their "diversity of thought" campaign... and hateful Christian groups are trying to co-opt expertise on behavioural addictions (sex, gambling, shopping, pornography, etc as opposed to substance addtions) from psychology.

It's worth examining how this is working with pornography and the ways it ties in with the various fashy parties determined to rule the world we all live in.

Actual Pornography Addiction

Actual pornography addiction has its roots in similar addictions such as gambling - it is a situation where the individual becomes obsessed with it as a source of positive feelings, to the detriment of themselves and those around them.

Symptoms of it include a full blown obsession, a loss of interest in other enjoyable activities, spending money needed for essentials on the focus of the addiction, engaging it under risk circumstances (such as while at a job that you really need to keep), suffering anxiety and frustration when unable to indulge, etc.

Importantly, with these kinds of addictions, they are often not really about what what they appear to be. People get addicted sometimes because it's a reliable source of dopamine hits, or because it provides an escape from harsh realities around them, etc. Taking the focus of the addiction away does not fix the underlying cause, and often leads to them finding a substitute addiction.

So, if you say... for the sake of argument, you have a group of people who actively identify as "gooners", remember a porn parody of Lola Bunny as the "real" design, obsess over a single game because it has some sexy skins, make 9/11 jokes and riot when a quality of life feature prevents them from looking up video game girl skirts, and all the points in the original post (including want to fap to a character who is defined by how she's been abused by men)... it's not unreasonable to point out they do seem to be advertising to the world that they are current or aspiring pornography addicts. Particularly since their outrage is rarely about what they actually claim it is about.

How much it applies to any given member of that community is impossible to say, as the whole group is irony poisoned and also obsessed with performative behaviour.

And as a side note, if someone dear to you has similar behavior, whether its in relation to porn, sex, gambling, video games, or anything else - then it is generally considered the compassionte thing to try to get them to realize it and work towards addressing both the addiction and any underlying causes in their life.

Right-wing "Pornography Addiction"

When people who have nothing but contempt for psychology and sex therapists say "porn addiction" or "sex addiction" they are villifying sex workers and objectified persons, blaming them for the violence done against them and completely unrelated ills in society.

They consider it "addiction" if you develop a crush on someone other than your spouse, have normal sexual fantasies, occasionally want to enjoy pornography, are curious about visiting a strip bar or even just masturbate... under any circumstances.

They are closer to anti-pornography than concerned for addiction, and has a long, long history. I would hope BABD followers would be aware we are definitely not anti-porn and we actively support sex workers.

Obviously, the real goal is to give them more control and more avenues to suppress people. This is clearly illustrated in the ways Project 2025 both wants to outlaw pornography and define "transgender ideology" as pornograpy. You can see between the lines, the goal isn't to make people better, the goal is to criminalize the existence of people they look down on.

Also, the solutions they propose clearly don't help anyone and they know that - South Korea has strict anti-porn laws, and the "gooner" community mistake it for a porny wonderland. Again, they don't want to help anyone, they just want to hurt people they do not like.

The harm of co-opting

At face value, it's easy to see why the proposed solution to this is just to say it's not real, it's right-wing nonsense, etc.

But that creates two problems. First it means there's people with a problem that is being denied, and secondly it kind of ignores the real overall goals by missing the forest for the trees.

People whose lives are harmed by behavioural addiction need a framework to be able to address it, and need other people to take it seriously and not just dismiss it as "made up". This applies to gambling, shopping, gaming and pornography.

Think about it, when was the last time you saw a swastika on display as a symbol of positivity? Think "incel" is ever coming back to the LGBTQ people who struggle to find people accepting of them?

Secondly, the reactionaries co-opting it are not "making up" a boogieman. They're not that imaginative and they're much, much more dishonest and malicious.

They're actively spreading misinformation in an attempt to gain for authoritarian power to use to harm people. They're actively trying to undermine the work people have done to help people, stripping the actual research away and placing themselves as the authority on a topic of public wellbeing that they see only as a cudgel.

Because they won't stop at just claiming to be the experts on pornography addiction, they'll claim to be the experts on gambling, drugs, alcohol, gaming, shopping, etc. All their advice will be what's convenient for them, and their friends.

Same way all kinds of psychological concepts get co-opted into torturing people under the claim of conversion therapy (which does not and has never worked, in any capacity), often in the name of profit as well as oppression.

So my recommendation is be less concerned about the term appearing, and more concerned about whether it is in the context of warning people their obsession is harmful - or just trying to trick people into agreeing to authoritarian control.

-wincenworks

[niqhtlord01]

Humans are weird: Their pound of flesh

( Please come see me on my new patreon and support me for early access to stories and personal story requests :D https://www.patreon.com/NiqhtLord Every bit helps)

“What is this all about? Why am I here?”

Prince Atalon was not accustomed to being ordered about, even less so by lower-class military generals. Yet here he was inside the command bunker of General Drak after his security detail whisked him away out of the blue.

“My apologies Prince, but I have just received troubling reports that your life is now in danger.”

This certainly wasn’t what the prince had been expecting, and he took the offered chair to sit as the general continued.

“Before I proceed, I need to ask you a question,” the general began. “Have you encountered any strange creatures, either in our quarter of the base or when touring our allies' quarters?”

“What nonsense is this?” Atalon pouted. “You say my life is in danger and then ask me about what wildlife I’ve seen?!”

“I assure you my prince, the question is related, now please answer it.”

The stern look of the general dissuaded the notion that this was some prank and so Atalon pondered in silence as he recalled his last few days.

“I spent the first three days in our section of the base meeting with soldiers in the hospital, then the fourth day was spent visiting the frontlines, and then finally the fifth day I returned here.”

“And did you encounter any strange creatures?”

“Well,” the prince replied as something did finally come to him, “on the way back my convoy drove past a group of humans being chased by a large avian bird. It came up to about their waist but the humans seemed terrified as they were running away and it was chasing it.”

“And what did you do?” the general inquired.

“I felt ashamed that such cowardly beings were our allies so I ordered the vehicle’s AI defense unit to terminate the creature and save the humans.”

“It put a plasma round clear through the creatures chest and it dropped to the ground soon after. It was so fast we didn’t even have time to stop and receive their accolades.” The prince answered with a cocky grin.

Several expressions passed over the Malin general’s face at this admission; shock, fear, regret, disbelief, and then finally, resolution.

“This was transmitted to me within the last hour.” The general continued as they spun a data pad around for the prince to see. “It is an order issued for your immediate detainment and extradition back to the human homeworld to face the charges of murder, assassination of a high ranking military official, espionage, and treason to name a few.”

“WHAT?!”

To say that the prince was dumbfounded would be an understatement.

“That avian you killed,” the general continued to delay any inevitable deluge of questions, “was in fact a Major General enlisted in the human forces here on base.”

Spinning the data pad around again the general scrolled through the information to find the correct designation. “The 304th Grenadiers were assigned as their protection detail and were the humans you saw with it.”

He looked up at the prince. “They weren’t running in fear, they were playing with them.”

“Do you not hear yourself!? The absurdity of this!?!!”

The general shook his head at the prince’s question. “It doesn’t matter how stupid this situation is, the matter of fact is the human’s take this extremely seriously that if you are caught by the humans outside of our quarter you will most likely be killed.”

“They would murder me over a primitive bird?!” the prince stammered.

Without saying anything the general selected an audio file from the pad and played it.

“You listen and you listen good,” the voice began. The prince could identify the thick grunge of a human voice and accent. “That bird your callus fuck murder has survived thirteen campaigns, and their family another three hundred and seventy three without ever losing one of their number in the field of combat until now.”

The prince made to say something but the general held up a hand and bade them to continue listening.

“The way we see it is you just offed one of our own, and you better pray that the provosts get you first and get you off world to hang; because if we get you there won’t be enough of you lift to identify by.”

With that the ominous message ended and the general looked up at the prince.

“You now understand the seriousness of this situation I hope.” He returned the data pad to his desk and clasped his taloned fingers. “There are over six thousand human soldiers part of our task force here and this message could have been sent by any of them, meaning there are now over six thousand veteran soldiers who have a potential death mark for you.”

He leaned forward to the prince, his expression removed of any levity for the situation.

“If you wish to remain alive until their provosts come for you I strongly advise you remain here and avoid any exposure outside what-so-ever; is that understood?”

“And if I refuse?” the prince asked; clinging to the notion that their position would keep them safe.

The general was about to answer when a loud chanting began echoing from outside and into the bunker. Tapping his ear piece the general asked for a status update and waited patiently as the response came in.

“Then you will not last the night, as it seems they’re already outside with a noose to hang you with.”

[apas-95]

in general it's easy to discern between liberal idealism and dialectical materialism in any given discussion over the merit of anything. if an action is a line drawn between two states, between subject and object, then the liberal perspective is one focused on the line, while the communist perspective is one focused on the endpoints. a liberal consideration is whether a certain action can ever be justified, whether something - violence, bodily automomy, authority - as an abstract movement, is acceptable or not, which can then be applied down to individual situations. the communist consideration is, as always, 'who stands to gain?' - violence by who, against whom?; whose autonomy to do what?; whose authority over whom? - in the specific and real case being identified. liberal idealism is certainly easier, once you establish a universal human right you can simply apply your principle without having to do much thought - but it's always a weak and immaterial argument. as an example: abortion should be allowed not because of an abstract principle, but because, plainly, restricting abortion in the real world is harmful, and carrying out abortion in the real world is not harmful. the idea that these two facts aren't important to the safeguarding of abortion is ridiculous - and plainly will not work in the real world. the people who say 'well maybe abortion is murder, but either way, it's my right' will convince absolutely nobody; let alone the absurd implications should the logic of absolute rights be extended to other real-world situations. there are a million other examples on the focus on 'means' over 'ends', and they're very easy to spot once you start looking out for them.

[drdemonprince]

talk about leaving relationships that aren't working has me reminded of something i've been thinking about: leaving "relationships" with a social group that aren't working. the social is important here, like a sports team, or a group you hang out with, any and all gatherings of a social nature.

on one hand, the fact that there's no financial or housing entanglements make it easier to hit da bricks if it isn't working. on the other hand, groups are bigger than one person, so by leaving them you lose the connection vector, and more importantly, the social environment you engage with them in and the new people you meet through it. finding new social groupings that might be a fit also is also hard because there's always relatively fewer off those going around,

i don't have a good answer to this conundrum. i've certainly stuck with groups for too long because i didn't want to have nothing. and something, even though the vibes had gone rancid despite my efforts, mistakenly felt better than that.

A lot of the reason that people stick with bad social groups is because they have this organizational inertia that makes them easy to rely on. The group determines the outings, the traditions, the guestlist; the group decides how halloween and new year's and pride will be celebrated and with whom; the group shows up to your one-man show and sends you flowers when you're at the hospital.

People find it relieving to not have to do any of the work of figuring that stuff out themselves. But it results in a lot of frankly very immature social dynamics where people who do not even like one another hang out frequently because they share the same "group," outsiders are scorned, and people have very little agency over how they actually spend their time and whom they spend it with. An overreliance on one social "group" makes its members vulnerable to rejection as well, creating a silent pressure toward conformity and conflict avoidance.

It's Geek Social Fallacies (google it if you have not read the foundational early 2000's piece on this) and it's not a new problem. It is especially common among people who have either never had to set out and form a social group of their own, or who think they do not have the power to. Overcoming this stuff is an important part of every neurodivergent or queer outcast's life.

The solution is to mix and mingle among a variety of social groups, and not to overly identify with any one aspect of your life (be that a profession, identity, or hobby) that has connected you to a group. When you have multiple friend groups, you have places that you can float over to and find some peace and enjoyment in, even one everyone inside one group is beefing. You don't fear being disposed of so much. Because every group has its own dynamics, you can compare things and have a clearer view on interpersonal challenges. The absurd underlying beliefs and toxicity that a group have become more apparent and are no longer just what having friends means. It gives you multiple options of things to do on your calendar. Most importantly it gives you a choice.

The next level to diversifying one's social portfolio is actually exercising that power of choice to surround yourself with the specific people that you like, doing activities that you want to do, and building social connections that belong to you and not the group. Is your entire kickball team a bunch of backbiting, judgemental assholes, except for one or two people that you like? Well why the hell put up with the entire team when you can just invite those two cool people to hang out with you? Do you love conversations with the older divorce in your improv group, but hate the improv? Well fuck the improve and just invite Tracy over! Who do you actually want at your birthday? Only invite those people, and let some of your friends from other groups meet one another! If they dont get along well that is also fine!

People want socializing to be this one and done set in stone thing, but human relationships evolve as we grow and change, and we have to assert ourselves in making them what we want them to be. For anyone struggling with this stuff and really consumed by a social group's drama, let me just tell you the world is so much bigger than what one really up their own ass clique thinks, and you dont need to keep socializing like youre a 20 year old in a college acapella group forever. You can make decisions about your social life. Yes even if youre hell of awkward and Autistic. I still dont know how to initiate a conversation w a stranger and i manage to do this stuff! you really can do it and you must if you want things to improve and for your life to be yours. Read the hell out of Captain Awkward, she knows this stuff so well.

[contract-crawdad]

The gang's all here!

What's the deal with these guys? What do we know about them?

Let's dig into it.

The Nightmares. The Shadows. The Darkness. They've got a lot of names, but none of em are official. Their overworld sprites are referred to as 'shadowmonsters' in the game files, but that's almost certainly not their intended name. One key detail is that Dan’s chat will identify them as ‘shades’, but that’s now what they ARE, just what type of enemy they are, like how Jennifer is listed as ‘cursed’ even though she’s clearly a human/house centipede hybrid. So the closest thing we have to go on is the fact that their battle sprites are referred to as 'danger(insert number)(large/medium/small)' in the game files... which is similarly very utilitarian, but I think it's very fitting.

Danger. The Dangers. That's what they are. That's all they can be.

It’s also a bit more distinctive of a name than ‘Shadows’ so I’m gonna stick with that. Not one single line of dialogue in the entire game acknowledges the Dangers directly. Part of the difficulty in analyzing these guys is just how little is concretely known about them, but that's not to say we don't know anything!

The most relevant piece of information to keep in mind is that they can appear all over the place, with odds influenced by your danger meter. The higher it is, the more likely you are for them to appear. This has led some to conclude that this implies Dangers are a shared hallucination by Sam and his party, but I do not believe that to be the case for reasons we will circle back to.

…And that’s it! That’s the only relevant spawning criteria! A few sources claim that nightfall or stress are relevant factors, but this doesn’t seem to be the case at all thanks to information from my sources. All that matters is the danger meter!

Dangers on the overworld (even when you can see them) are notable for their rapid flickering in and out of reality. Where they're flickering from and to is unknown, but they make a lot of eerie hissing and clicking noises while they do it. These noises are evidently Quebec curses played backwards, which is funny, but certainly does seem to imply that these things used to be human!

That said, we cannot accurately say whether or not Dangers are cursed! Don't get me wrong, they're definitely associated with the Visitor somehow! But I think it's either a Frederick situation where some as of yet unseen cursed human is creating more Dangers, or a Baby Teeth situation where a cursed human is actively spreading their affliction. Otherwise, it seems unlikely that so many humans would warp in such specific and similar ways entirely independently from one another.

Support for the theory that something is spawning the Dangers lies with Dan’s chat system: while his chat lists the small and medium Dangers as ‘shades’, the largest sizes are actually listed as ‘cursed’, possibly implying they were once humans that saw the Visitor, and are spawning the lesser Dangers! This one’s far from explicit canon, esPECIALY since Dan’s chat has a lot of labeling errors (for example, none of the botanical monsters having an enemy type listed at all despite clearly being cursed), but it’s certainly something to keep in mind.

In combat, any Danger can perform basic melee attacks, absorb stamina, and have between 0-2 skills entirely unique to them. Their basic attacks have the ‘shadow’ element. Additionally, they are resistant to crushing, slashing, piercing, bullets, and cold damage. They are weak to fire and to explosives. Compared to other enemies, they have abnormally high evasion (20% compared to the 5% pretty much everything else has). They generally give very little EXP for how difficult they can be, and have a chance to drop a 'Black Ooze' on defeat, with the largest Dangers being guaranteed to drop it.

These basic facts, while limited, actually give us a lot to work with!

Dangers are able to physically harm humans despite their strange habit of dipping in and out of existence.

Dangers all have the same resistances, implying that they are all made out of (approximately) the same stuff.

Dangers are able to inflict various statuses through a wide variety of physical and mental means.

Dangers DO HAVE unique attributes from one another beyond appearance.

Dangers leave behind a physical trace of their existence when killed.

The fact that Dangers have the same resistances and weaknesses is especially interesting because it implies that Dangers do have some kind of biology/physiology to them! This alongside the fact that their damage is considered shadow element is primarily what kills the 'they're hallucinations' theory... well, that and the black ooze.

Black ooze, oh how you vex me.

This stuff is the most solid evidence that the Dangers aren't purely psychological terrors, that they are instead very much REAL. While black ooze can be 'used' on a character, all it does is deal a massive chunk of damage, somewhere between 72% and 108% of a character’s max health. Ouch. No shopkeeper in the game will buy it, and it is left up to interpretation whether they simply do not want otherworldly filth (understandable), or if they can't even see the stuff. Which is very possible!

No character other than Sam will ever react to the presence of a Danger. For example, one can appear in Lyle's room, but it ignores him and he ignores it. There are other examples of rooms with NPCs that can have a Danger spawn near them as well, but the key is that these characters are in their homes. And where is the one place you are always safe from Dangers? That's right. Inside your home.

I propose that the primordial feeling of safety being home provides is an active shield against the Dangers. Resting at home, even, is enough to make the Dangers either unable or unwilling to attack you. But the Dangers are still there, one must assume.

Look Outside is not a game that pulls 'it was all in your head' twists. Ultimately, it's more horrifying that the Dangers are real and we just have absolutely no clue what they are. But they're all over the building, even if you can't always see them.

But they can see you.

And they just cannot wait for your fear to allow them to touch you.

------------------------------------------------------------

Thus ends the compilation of all known information! I could have mentioned the possible connection between the Dangers and the Shadow, or the idea that the Dangers could be connected to the teased 'infinite dungeon' that the creator wants to implement, but those are nothing but raw and unfiltered speculation on my part!

Did I miss anything about these goobers? Feel free to let me know!

Credit to @goawaypopup and @lily-wisp for some juicy 'under the hood' information, as well as @nastymajesty! Compilation images of all the Dangers are by me, feel free to use em.

Here's a bunch of Dangers exposed to the light as a reward for making it all the way through! Look at them. Nakey.

[dragonnarrative-writes]

Generative AI Is Bad For Your Creative Brain

In the wake of early announcing that their blog will no longer be posting fanfiction, I wanted to offer a different perspective than the ones I’ve been seeing in the argument against the use of AI in fandom spaces. Often, I’m seeing the arguments that the use of generative AI or Large Language Models (LLMs) make creative expression more accessible. Certainly, putting a prompt into a chat box and refining the output as desired is faster than writing a 5000 word fanfiction or learning to draw digitally or traditionally. But I would argue that the use of chat bots and generative AI actually limits - and ultimately reduces - one’s ability to enjoy creativity.

Creativity, defined by the Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary & Thesaurus, is the ability to produce or use original and unusual ideas. By definition, the use of generative AI discourages the brain from engaging with thoughts creatively. ChatGPT, character bots, and other generative AI products have to be trained on already existing text. In order to produce something “usable,” LLMs analyzes patterns within text to organize information into what the computer has been trained to identify as “desirable” outputs. These outputs are not always accurate due to the fact that computers don’t “think” the way that human brains do. They don’t create. They take the most common and refined data points and combine them according to predetermined templates to assemble a product. In the case of chat bots that are fed writing samples from authors, the product is not original - it’s a mishmash of the writings that were fed into the system.

Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) is a therapy modality developed by Marsha M. Linehan based on the understanding that growth comes when we accept that we are doing our best and we can work to better ourselves further. Within this modality, a few core concepts are explored, but for this argument I want to focus on Mindfulness and Emotion Regulation. Mindfulness, put simply, is awareness of the information our senses are telling us about the present moment. Emotion regulation is our ability to identify, understand, validate, and control our reaction to the emotions that result from changes in our environment. One of the skills taught within emotion regulation is Building Mastery - putting forth effort into an activity or skill in order to experience the pleasure that comes with seeing the fruits of your labor. These are by no means the only mechanisms of growth or skill development, however, I believe that mindfulness, emotion regulation, and building mastery are a large part of the core of creativity. When someone uses generative AI to imitate fanfiction, roleplay, fanart, etc., the core experience of creative expression is undermined.

Creating engages the body. As a writer who uses pen and paper as well as word processors while drafting, I had to learn how my body best engages with my process. The ideal pen and paper, the fact that I need glasses to work on my computer, the height of the table all factor into how I create. I don’t use audio recordings or transcriptions because that’s not a skill I’ve cultivated, but other authors use those tools as a way to assist their creative process. I can’t speak with any authority to the experience of visual artists, but my understanding is that the feedback and feel of their physical tools, the programs they use, and many other factors are not just part of how they learned their craft, they are essential to their art.

Generative AI invites users to bypass mindfully engaging with the physical act of creating. Part of becoming a person who creates from the vision in one’s head is the physical act of practicing. How did I learn to write? By sitting down and making myself write, over and over, word after word. I had to learn the rhythms of my body, and to listen when pain tells me to stop. I do not consider myself a visual artist - I have not put in the hours to learn to consistently combine line and color and form to show the world the idea in my head.

But I could.

Learning a new skill is possible. But one must be able to regulate one’s unpleasant emotions to be able to get there. The emotion that gets in the way of most people starting their creative journey is anxiety. Instead of a focus on “fear,” I like to define this emotion as “unpleasant anticipation.” In Atlas of the Heart, Brene Brown identifies anxiety as both a trait (a long term characteristic) and a state (a temporary condition). That is, we can be naturally predisposed to be impacted by anxiety, and experience unpleasant anticipation in response to an event. And the action drive associated with anxiety is to avoid the unpleasant stimulus.

Starting a new project, developing a new skill, and leaning into a creative endevor can inspire and cause people to react to anxiety. There is an unpleasant anticipation of things not turning out exactly correctly, of being judged negatively, of being unnoticed or even ignored. There is a lot less anxiety to be had in submitting a prompt to a machine than to look at a blank page and possibly make what could be a mistake. Unfortunately, the more something is avoided, the more anxiety is generated when it comes up again. Using generative AI doesn’t encourage starting a new project and learning a new skill - in fact, it makes the prospect more distressing to the mind, and encourages further avoidance of developing a personal creative process.

One of the best ways to reduce anxiety about a task, according to DBT, is for a person to do that task. Opposite action is a method of reducing the intensity of an emotion by going against its action urge. The action urge of anxiety is to avoid, and so opposite action encourages someone to approach the thing they are anxious about. This doesn’t mean that everyone who has anxiety about creating should make themselves write a 50k word fanfiction as their first project. But in order to reduce anxiety about dealing with a blank page, one must face and engage with a blank page. Even a single sentence fragment, two lines intersecting, an unintentional drop of ink means the page is no longer blank. If those are still difficult to approach a prompt, tutorial, or guided exercise can be used to reinforce the understanding that a blank page can be changed, slowly but surely by your own hand.

(As an aside, I would discourage the use of AI prompt generators - these often use prompts that were already created by a real person without credit. Prompt blogs and posts exist right here on tumblr, as well as imagines and headcannons that people often label “free to a good home.” These prompts can also often be specific to fandom, style, mood, etc., if you’re looking for something specific.)

In the current social media and content consumption culture, it’s easy to feel like the first attempt should be a perfect final product. But creating isn’t just about the final product. It’s about the process. Bo Burnam’s Inside is phenomenal, but I think the outtakes are just as important. We didn’t get That Funny Feeling and How the World Works and All Eyes on Me because Bo Burnham woke up and decided to write songs in the same day. We got them because he’s been been developing and honing his craft, as well as learning about himself as a person and artist, since he was a teenager. Building mastery in any skill takes time, and it’s often slow.

Slow is an important word, when it comes to creating. The fact that skill takes time to develop and a final piece of art takes time regardless of skill is it’s own source of anxiety. Compared to @sentientcave, who writes about 2k words per day, I’m very slow. And for all the time it takes me, my writing isn’t perfect - I find typos after posting and sometimes my phrasing is awkward. But my writing is better than it was, and my confidence is much higher. I can sit and write for longer and longer periods, my projects are more diverse, I’m sharing them with people, even before the final edits are done. And I only learned how to do this because I took the time to push through the discomfort of not being as fast or as skilled as I want to be in order to learn what works for me and what doesn’t.

Building mastery - getting better at a skill over time so that you can see your own progress - isn’t just about getting better. It’s about feeling better about your abilities. Confidence, excitement, and pride are important emotions to associate with our own actions. It teaches us that we are capable of making ourselves feel better by engaging with our creativity, a confidence that can be generalized to other activities.

Generative AI doesn’t encourage its users to try new things, to make mistakes, and to see what works. It doesn’t reward new accomplishments to encourage the building of new skills by connecting to old ones. The reward centers of the brain have nothing to respond to to associate with the action of the user. There is a short term input-reward pathway, but it’s only associated with using the AI prompter. It’s designed to encourage the user to come back over and over again, not develop the skill to think and create for themselves.

I don’t know that anyone will change their minds after reading this. It’s imperfect, and I’ve summarized concepts that can take months or years to learn. But I can say that I learned something from the process of writing it. I see some of the flaws, and I can see how my essay writing has changed over the years. This might have been faster to plug into AI as a prompt, but I can see how much more confidence I have in my own voice and opinions. And that’s not something chatGPT can ever replicate.