#binary options introduction

[pukefactory]

•☽────✧˖°˖ DISC CHANNEL ˖°˖✧────☾•

★ Summary: A Compilation of Dating Headcannons Featuring Salesperson ENA X Reader

★ Character(s): Salesperson ENA (ENA: Dream BBQ)

★ Genre: Headcannons, SFW

★ Warning(s): None - Completely Safe!

★ Image Credits: @astirluciver

☆ Ena doesn’t just meet people—she collides into them like a half-glitched hurricane. Your introduction? An over-the-top sales pitch delivered at lightning speed, her “salesperson” side grinning as she aggressively tries to trade a questionable item for your socks. No, really. She wants your socks.

☆ Ena’s love language is wildly inconsistent. One moment, she’s wrapping you in a tight hug, twirling you around while laughing like a maniac. The next, her pale side is staring you down, deadpan, hands on your shoulders: “You must never leave.” Cue a dramatic thunderclap that wasn’t even there before.

☆ Planning dates with Ena is like spinning a wheel where every option is pure chaos. Picnic in a gravity-defying landscape? Movie night, but the screen keeps showing your own dreams? A candlelit dinner where the food changes flavor every time you blink? She insists she has no control over it, but that mischievous glint in her eye says otherwise.

☆ Ena loves giving you presents, but they’re… concerning. “A completely normal rock,” she says, as the rock hums ominously. “A perfectly ordinary mirror,” she claims, but your reflection is waving at you. You still keep them all—because, weirdly enough, they always come in handy.

☆ When her pale side takes over, she suddenly becomes intensely protective. If anyone so much as looks at you the wrong way, she’s materializing a megaphone out of nowhere to call them out. Loudly. Publicly. The sky itself seems to tremble at her wrath.

☆ Ena has a habit of grabbing your hands and spinning you through different worlds mid-dance. One moment, you’re in a quiet park, the next, you’re on a floating stage with applause from an audience you can’t see. She swears it’s just good lighting.

☆ Trying to sleep with Ena in the same bed is an experience. Some nights, she clings to you like a cat, mumbling in binary. Other nights, she vanishes mid-slumber, only to reappear above you, whispering cryptic nonsense. “This slumber will never end, dearest.” Sweet dreams!

☆ When she gets too flustered around you, her form starts glitching. Her expressions flicker between extremes: manic grin, deadpan stare, existential crisis. Sometimes, she turns entirely monochrome for a solid minute before rebooting with a nervous chuckle.

☆ No one says your name quite like Ena. Her “salesperson” side sings it like an over-the-top jingle, while her “meanie” side mutters it like a divine prophecy. And then there’s the other voices, the ones you don’t recognize, whispering it from places unseen.

☆ At some point, between the absurdity and the impossible, Ena leans into you, her voice quieter than you’ve ever heard it. “You are my favorite constant.” A rare, genuine moment before reality bends again.

[dpocparadeevent]

DP OC Marching Parade 2025

When: March 10th-March 16th 2025

If there’s one thing the Phandom seems to lack, it’s OCs, we’re a creative bunch, so let’s get creative! Show off an OC or make one for the event!

Is your OC a ghost? Are they human? Do they work for the GiW or are they a Casper High student? Who are they? What are they about?

What OCs are accepted: Crossovers, Next Gen, Self-insert, original concept, Ghost fusions, Ghost clones, etc. As long as it's related to Danny Phantom, it's allowed!

Prompt explanations:

Introductions: Give a brief introduction to your OC!

Reverse AU: If your OC is a ghost draw them as a human, if your OC is a human draw them as a ghost! (If they’re a halfa, it’s artist’s pick)

Worst fear: What does your character fear most?

Café or Bar?: If given the choice, which would they prefer to go to? Or is there a secret 3rd option they’d go for?

Fun Fact: Show and tell us a fun fact about your character!

Gender swap: You know the deal, if your character is Non-binary but presents more as masculine/feminine then draw the opposite. If they don’t present as any gender, draw them in their favourite outfit!

Draw someone else’s OC: Find someone who has joined in the event by using the #DP OC Parade tag and give them a little drawing to appreciate their blorbo 💚

Have fun!

[firewirecompatible]

Codec tunes to frequency 140.85 

NS: "Major Zero, i've encountered the agent willing to sneak me into the factory, but there's one problem.." 

MZ: "What is it, Snake?" 

NS: "They've asked me to identity them as "xey/xem", is this part of their codename?" 

MZ: "No, Snake, xey're using neo-pronouns..." 

NS: "Neo-pronouns, huh?" Codec switches to frequency 145.73 

PM: "Neo-pronouns are a facet of lexical innovation to support those who don't reflect with binary options, they date back as far as the 1200s with the usage of 'they/them' in the french poem Guillaume de Palerme." 

NS: "Huh..." 

PM: "With people feeling conflicted about their assigned gender for all of history, it was only inevitable that more unique ones would come about, either being completely new or deriving from already existing pronouns, such as ou/ous by scottish agricultural writer, William Humphrey Marshall in 1789, Thon/Thons by composer Charles Crosby Converse in 1858 and Ze/Zem being found in literature in 1864... The list goes on Snake, it was only afew decades ago when they were noticed by the introduction of them in the Merriam-Webster dictionary in 1934, it was then the U.S court finally picked up on it in the public ire, and when it was subsequently redacted only afew years ago in 1961 to stop people from trying to break conformity in roman-catholic gender roles..." 

NS: "Right... But how do they taste?"

[aeantizlkamenwati]

Final Veilguard Thoughts

I just completed Veilguard 100% platinum (though honestly it is one of the easiest platinums so not much accomplishment there). I have to say again it is not a bad GAME just bad Dragon Age. It reeks of multiplayer and loses everything that made DA unique because of it. And the epilogue is a slap in the face with their “we honor past stories and stories are about change” fourth wall bs and lack of closure. But below the cut is a massive amount of spoilers.

The TL;DR is it’s just a massive missed opportunity and a reboot.

The game up until Weisshaupt is sub par. Boring. It is like they knew the middle and end and then realized they’d have to do a beginning. And then just catered to the newbies and halfassed everything or didn’t do more than one draft. Again the repeating, the handholding the lore while also spoiling everything unnecessarily.

Ghil’s introduction is clownish. Treviso and Minrathous was just fucking blah especially compared to the later missions. It’s just a single fight. And the dialogue Ghil gets? It just makes her a joke. It’s not until Weisshaupt that you see oh she’s crazy and a goddess. It actually felt big while the stupid binary choice was just “eh pick who to fuck I guess”. Maybe if there were other choices like that, it wouldn’t feel so…thrown in there for the sake of supposed stakes.

But the first forty hours (if you are like me and refuse to do main story stuff until everything else is done) is just bad build up. I did not want to push forward until after Weisshaupt. It should NOT take half the game to actually get good. Blood of Arlathan was amazing. It actually felt like I was against a god. It was DIFFERENT than all the other running around quests the game had been up to that point.

I think it would’ve benefitted from more diversity overall. Like gameplay diversity. I think the combat especially needed more. It fucking sucks. It’s just a button masher with no thought. And every boss and big enemy is the same: shield, find the things to pop to break shield, rinse and repeat two-four more times. On storyteller difficulty it’s a joke. And every mission is just fight forward. No puzzle or interesting quests except Blood of Arlathan. Maybe Weisshaupt from the “everything is fucked” thing (it really felt like there should’ve been another REAL everything is fucked, dodging shit that fucked up Treviso/Minrathous to really introduce Ghil) The ending is a bit of a slog too but I enjoyed the cutscenes and war council stuff (again because it was different and interesting and felt like Rook actually had a reason to do it). The end boss battle was cool though not a big fan of the kaiju battles. I called the plot twists at the beginning of the game. Not sure if that's a mark for or against the writing. And the more interesting bits about regret weren’t given enough time to really sink in.

So I think it’s a pacing issue as well as a dialogue issue. I feel like they missed an opportunity to really do something with Rook’s regrets. They are just optimistic and driven all the fucking time that by the time we get trapped in the prison, that’s the first time we see Rook has self doubts and whatnot. There’s this one dialogue line that hit with the masc 1 voice, talking with Solas afterwards that’s “I liked working with you” and it just hits. Where was that emotion before? That level of feeling in the dialogue? If the game is about regrets why didn’t they lean into it??? Instead they leave it blank and deprive Rook of anything interesting, of the thing that made them UNIQUE among the DA protags.

I mean the Inquisitor could be "idk what's going on and why I'm here", but they didn't really have the option to doubt themselves. Hawke was our "everything falls apart around me and I'm just pure chaos" protag. And the Warden was the "Guess I'm in charge now, everyone deal with it" protag. Rook could've been really interesting, to show the different kinds of doubts and regrets. Maybe they are just a scared kid trying to hold it together because they've fucked up everything else in their life. Or maybe they are just pissed that they are the one stepping up. (I also think they could've added depth to the whole elf god thing. Could've also been a nice reason to "fix" the DA racism instead of pastel paint it over). They could’ve utilized the companions to show they cared about Rook that they see what they are going through.

But nope! Bland nothing you have to headcanon your way out of. And Rook is still blander than Origins because everyone knows who they are but the player. They should’ve done something about the backgrounds to set the scene for each Rook. Like resolve them in the game too, not just introductory scenes. Like Aldwir could've had a special mission where them and Strife hash it out (with probably more yelling) cause I kinda felt Strife was Rook's father figure and it would hurt to be constantly told they fucked up by him. Mercar could've had scenes with their family, talking about what it is to lead. SOMETHING to tie Rook to the story and flesh them out beyond headcanons (any developer who relies on headcanons to make their stories interesting, unless the protag is meant to be a Dovahkiin blank space, is fucking lazy, rushed or bad at their job. I don't want to be told "this is the correct Rook", I want enough personality and story to sink my teeth into and Rook is a paper thin vanilla wafer) And they are fucking contradictory? You choose the elf option for tattoos in the beginning and Rook states they were not raised Dalish. They tell Taash they were raised in a city. Then you can say you are Dalish??? And have all the knowledge of a Dalish about the culture. When canonically that’s doubtful. But nope rainbows and sunshine no problems here.

Then the companions are the biggest missed opportunity. I can forgive shitty gameplay (Andromeda) if the companions are good. And this is where the multiplayer starts really showing up. The fact that 90% of their bonding is completely missable and requires you to go into their rooms, stand there, and then just leave without a word from Rook is bullshit (and weird as fuck). Even Andromeda let you have conversations outside cutscenes.

And there’s a lack of balance between the characters. Fucking Taash has like 20 cutscene things and everyone else gets a quarter of that. Why isn’t Lucanis’ healing as important as Taash’s gender journey??? Or Bellara’s grief?? I like Taash don’t get me wrong (at least when they aren’t acting like a moody edgy teenager. That’s just bad writing) but they feel like the favorite child and everyone else is just there. Even NB Rook gets shafted for Taash’s story. I feel I know Taash and have missed everything with the other characters.

This lack of development hits mostly in the romance. Lucanis’ is nonexistent it seems with the majority of flirts doing nothing. One almost kiss and then the companion quest doesn’t change and boom can be in a relationship with nothing new added. It feels like they got the okay to do single player and went “oh shit now we have to do romance…uh just throw the same formula and they’ll be fine”. Like the companions have better chemistry with each other. Rook is just...nothing (no one can convince me they are supposed to be like Shephard because there's having a predefined character and having a blank doll that talks like it has personality) This is a step down from even fucking Origins and DA2. At least those were unique with their own plot lines and themes. At this point I’d take the cringey sex montage of Origins over this nothing burger. Those had more depth than a classic Disney film.

And who’s bright idea was it to put the kiss/make out scene right after you just found out your mentor is dead and you’ve been played with by a god (and why wasn’t that given more room to breathe??? I would feel fucking violated as fuck! But given that one of the writers once wanted you to have sex with a demon masquerading as Leliana I'm also not fucking surprised the idea of consent got thrown out the window) and watched your friend die???? How is that okay???? And didn’t one of the directors say “this is the most romantic da game to date” or something??? Seriously? You call this more romantic than having a literal Princess Bride moment with Josie? Or Dorian learning to want more that he can have more? Be for fucking real.

The lack of all of this gives me serious doubt about Mass Effect 5. I expect a full reboot like this where they just nuke everything off screen so they don’t have to deal with it and call it something like “necessary to avoid pointless one liners” again. I can think of several decisions I made that could’ve aided the South. You know like the schism between the Grey Wardens. But nope. Apparently the only things that matter are: did you want to fuck Solas (as Dorian gets one line and everyone else gets nothing), did you want fucking kill Solas, and how would you like to fucking do that. They made it where there’s only one answer that’s given the care to feel correct/complete. And even then Solas’ sudden "k I’ll bind myself" feels rushed or just cobbled together cause that ending needed more. I don’t care if it’s supposed to be vague that’s an excuse for shitty writing. I should feel like I got closure and I don’t. I just feel insulted given how little care they gave for the previous stories and how little they cared about this one apparently. I shouldn’t have to rely on fanfics to fix your damn story BioWare. Fanfics should build upon what’s there not do your job for you. They could’ve done something interesting but instead we get an indistinguishable multiplayer clone trying to masquerade as a Dragon Age with piss poor pacing, dialogue and direction.

I’m out. It felt like them killing Varric was a metaphor for them killing the older games. A nice fuck you to the player base

[pengychan]

Until now, trans people in Italy could only have access to gender-affirming surgery after going through courts to get an authorization - even if they'd already started on hormone therapy as prescribed by a doctor.

Now, the Italian Constitutional Court has ruled that the requirement to go through courts to access surgery is "unreasonable" and that anyone who began medical transition should be able to entirely skip courts, so that they can access surgery right away.

(The Constitutional Court was unable to rule in favor of the introduction of a third option other than male and female in legal documents and IDs as it goes beyond its scope, and has called on Parliament to intervene and make the necessary legal changes to potentially make it possible. It is Not Happening with our shit government, but we'll take what good news we can get.)

[ardentblossomings]

Honestly, I think my biggest issue with Veilguard is that I feel lied to. Over the years, I repeatedly stated that if the next game were to be bad, I would be okay with it -- "at least I'll get more Dragon Age and see a new area". Then, they went ahead and hired Hans Zimmer (a big name), had pre-release ratings that were amazing, and had a more than solid character creator as well as gameplay.

But at the same time, the character creator is very lacking in colour options and limiting in certain areas (chest), while specializations don't feel... special anymore. Both things I can live with.

What I can't ignore, however, is how the characters were supposedly the most "romantic thus far"... and while I agree that Emmrich certainly fits among one of the best written characters in DA (honestly didn't expect him to be my favourite), I didn't even realise in my first playthrough that I was actually dating Bellara. Or rather, I wasn't sure if I was locked in, because until the very end of the game, we only flirted. Again, this is a valid type of relationship and all that, except, it didn't feel like it. Worse, the podcast made me believe that relationships would go much, much further this time around, with its ending seemingly implying adoptions being possible.

I'm not sure if that was supposed to happen, or whatever else was going on, but it's also strange to me to have two characters that basically take on the role of Rook and meet every single companion, only for the actual companions to never ever bring up that hey, what a coincidence, we all happened to meet the same guys previously. I know Dragon Age sometimes had connections between characters that seemed unlikely, but come on. Don't make these characters likeable and then throw them to the side.

"We've changed the name to The Veilguard since we want to focus on the characters". Okay, then do it. Flesh them out. I know opinions differ on who is written best and who is written worst, but every single character, including Emmrich and Solas, could do with more of... everything. Make Varric matter. I cried, yes. But I also got fed up by the way he was handled before I got to that point.

Veilguard has so many good aspects... and yet, for every good aspect, there's also something bad. We get factions back - and yet, Lords of Fortune ends up being nothing more than a fighting arena, with Isabela being an afterthought. We finally get to kiss Harding - yet she doesn't acknowledge flirting with the Inquisitor. It makes sense for her not to know about everything that went on - but the way it's written just needs... polishing.

Make Andraste matter. Make people react more to literal elven gods being the threat. Hell, don't pretend like they were "known to be evil" because if that were the case, Dalish wouldn't have their marks on their faces. And don't lie to me.

"I'm not calling you a liar Just don't lie to me" (x)

Also don't @ me about pronouns or anything. Those aren't the issue whatsoever. Yes, I personally feel like Veilguard sometimes feels like "baby's first introduction to non binary people" (I say, being x-gender myself). But if that were the only issue, Veilguard could easily be the best DA game still. Hell, Origins had Shale using it pronouns and no one thought to bash it for it (On that note, why couldn't we make our Inquisitors nonbinary in DAV?). Sure, perhaps it wasn't the best idea to let the game be led by someone who mainly worked on the Sims beforehand, but having some representation is a GOOD thing. Lying to me is not. "No DLC". Because you knew it'll underperform.

I know you had to sell the game somehow. And I maintain that it has a great story. But it's a very, very rough diamond. Surrounded by a lot of dirt that no one bothered to clean up. I yearn for Dreadwolf, in spite of thinking that not all of it would've made me happy in the next Dragon Age entry. Still, I am glad that Veilguard happened at all.

[acertainmoshke]

Cracks in the Stone this time!

You said that they have a different gender system, and your character bios indicate that the different genders are associated with different deities of the setting and have some traits associated with. I'm also guessing, knowing you, that these genders are very much not going to be just stand-ins for Earth genders.

So I'm curious as to how that works with regards to worldbuilding - like cultural implications, how romance works, how gender is assigned and/or chosen, if gendered spaces are common or not, if professions tend to be gender-segregated. Stuff like that.

(hoping this makes sense)

Thank you thank you thank you this is like my favorite topic!!! So, yes, in the main fantasy kingdom there are 5 genders and they have nothing to do with physicality. When we meet characters from other kingdoms, they are more binary. So.

In Halara, a gender comes with:

A certain clothing style (though this series covers 1,000 of Halaran history—CitS is about 400 years in—and the later you are the less strictly differentiated these styles are)

A certain headscarf style (these remain more regimented, outside of a few weird pockets of history, but they aren't ranked in any way—just a sort of social signal)

Association with a certain deity (since gender is a conscious choice, this has less to do with personality traits and more what a person has to offer the world or how they want to present themself)

A suffix on the end of their name (really only used for formal introductions and official documents)

A gender does not come with:

An expected role in society (behaviors, friendships, etc)

Certain jobs (well, not the expectation of such, but due to the nature of being associated with different deities some are more likely. Tsap, the sun deity, is associated with farmers; Kitso, the deity of art and craftsmanship, is more likely to be associated with people who make things)

Certain romances (traditionally, marriages are arranged, but—for commoners, anyway—it would be considered vulgar to take the children's physicality into account when doing so. The point is to have a partnership in one's work and home, and children come from enough of them. Nobility do take into account compatibility for producing heirs, but the betrothed may still be any mix of genders)

Pronouns (the Halaran language only has one third person singular pronoun—yes this language exists, I generated it with vulgarlang and then tweaked it to my desires and then painstakingly made it into a searchable dictionary—and originally I tried to give each gender "translated" neopronouns, but it made it unreadable. One or two characters with unexpected pronouns works but every character makes it distracting. So now every Halaran human uses they)

That sounds great! How do I get one of these genders?

Glad you asked! Halaran cultural life happens in three stages:

Childhood: ages 0-13. Children have no gender, and they all dress in tunics and leggings (styles vary across time and location). Once public schools are introduced, they typically go to school (or tutors if they're wealthy) from 8-13.

Youth: ages 14-19. Traditionally the age of apprenticeship, but that doesn't apply to everyone (namely nobles and servants), and in later years further schooling is another option. Around 12-13 adults around an older child will help them think about who they want to grow into and they will choose their gender, revealed on their 14th birthday (generally a big party) when they begin to wear adult clothes and tie their hair back.

Adulthood: 20+. 20 is usually another big birthday celebration, and when a person starts wearing a full headscarf (side note: these are because hair is considered a sort of representation of the soul and a personal matter; they don't cut it either), after which they take it off only around family, partners, or very close friends. This is also when one would graduate their apprenticeship and begin a career in their own right, and the age at which they are eligible to marry, though depending on circumstance they don't always right away.

Example: Aryel

(slight tw for blood)

I'm using a character from book 2 because I've commissioned art of them. Book 2 is actually set earlier than book 1 by almost 100 years anyway. Aryel is the ruler of Halara and also leads the army in a great war, splitting their time between the two. At court they dress like this:

Aryel is on the right. You can't really see it here, but they're wearing a skirt. They are clearly recognizable from that and their tichel-like scarf as a ku, the gender associated with Tsap (who, in addition to farming, includes things like protectiveness, loyalty, and often war). Next to them is Wyllawher, the Queen of the neighboring kingdom, where they wear more typical fantasy gowns.

This is Aryel and their second-in-command, Etlin. The little capes represent their rank, but from the uniforms (and practical hats) you can't tell what either of their genders are, which makes for a fun temporary breakdown of that system actually.

Both art pieces drawn by @/clickerflight

I have a whole separate lecture on non-human genders and sexes in Halara, so let me know if you want that one too!

[kutyozh]

Gender-neutral German

OK so one could do a doctorate on this I guess but I simply want to make a little introduction because German learners may not be familiar with this concept and may get confused when seeing seemingly random little characters in the middle of a word. So here we go.

In German, there are a few ways to use gender-neutral language. I'm going to list some of them with pro and cons.

Participles

This is probably the most 'stealthy' way to use gender-neutral language in German. Example:

❌ Die Studenten essen in der Mensa. ✅ Die Studierenden essen in der Mensa. ❌ Die Mitarbeiter sind in einer Besprechung. ✅ Die Mitarbeitenden sind in einer Besprechung.

Pro: Stealth Level 100 Con: Not always applicable; works better with plural forms because articles are not split by gender there

2. Asterisk

❌ Die Schüler haben heute frei. ✅ Die Schüler*innen haben heute frei. ❌ Köche haben einen anstrengenden Job. ✅ Köch*innen haben einen anstrengenden Job.

What happens here is that you use the feminine form, and insert an asterisk in front of the feminine suffix (between root and suffix). In some cases this makes for a 'perfect' separation of the masculine and the feminine form (Schüler/Schülerinnen -> Schüler*innen); sometimes, as is the case with Köch*innen (Köche/Köchinnen), the masculine plural ending is cut off. Another example is Ärzte/Ärztinnen -> Ärzt*innen. With singular forms, the use of articles will look like this: der*die Ärzt*in ein*e Köch*in

The asterisk is sometimes pronounced as a glottal stop, sometimes it's 'ignored' in spoken language.

Pro: Inclusive; the asterisk marks all other genders outside of the (grammatical) binary. Con: Can be tricky to use; no general consensus over handling e.g. Dative: einem*einer Ärzt*in vs einem*r Ärzt*in

3. Underscore

❌ Chefs sollten generell mehr Lohn zahlen. ✅ Chef_innen sollten generell mehr Lohn zahlen.

Same procedure as above, but with an underscore instead of an asterisk. The underscore is sometimes pronounced as a glottal stop, sometimes it's 'ignored' in spoken language.

Pro: Relatively inclusive; some people feel like the underscore represents a 'gap' instead of non-binary genders and therefore reject the underscore. (Personally I don't prefer it either.) Con: Not accepted by all people outside the binary; can be tricky to use; no general consensus over handling certain concepts

4. Colon

❌ Die Rechte von Bauarbeitern sind wichtig. ✅ Die Rechte von Bauarbeiter:innen sind wichtig.

Same procedure as above, but with a colon instead of an asterisk or underscore. The colon is sometimes pronounced as a glottal stop, sometimes it's 'ignored' in spoken language.

Pro: Inclusive Con: Can be tricky to use; no general consensus over handling certain concepts Personally I prefer the colon over the asterisk and the underscore. It's mostly gut feeling but also the colon is like. at the same 'level' visually speaking as your regular minuscules so it makes me feel more included. As I said, gut feeling.

5. Replacing 'Mann'

So I guess this depends a bit but basically you replace the 'mann' in compounds with 'mensch', 'person', or, in plural, 'leute' or 'personen'. If that sounds weird, the word might get changed altogether:

❌ man ✅ mensch ❌ jemand ✅ jemensch ❌ Partner (not gender neutral in German!) ✅ Partnerperson, Beziehungsperson; Partner:in (Partner*in, Partner_in) ❌ Kaufmann ✅ Person im kaufmännischen Bereich ❌Müllmann ✅ Müllentsorger:in (Müllentsorger*in, Müllentsorger_in)

Again, this is easier in plural:

❌ Kaufmänner ✅ Kaufleute ❌ Müllmänner ✅ Müllabfuhr

Pro: Inclusive Con: if you are a German learner, this might be the option that is hardest to use (if you plan on using gender-neutral German), because it is not immediately evident how these generically masculine words get replaced or transformed.

6. "Binnen-I" ⚠

The so-called "Binnen-I" refers to the capitalised letter "I" in the middle of gendered nouns, and it works like the colon version (but without the colon):

SchülerIn, SchülerInnen LehrerIn, LehrerInnen

often accompanied by articles with a slash: der/die SchülerIn

Pro: relatively easy to use Con: does not include non-binary genders! This is not truly gender-neutral! It only includes the feminine and the masculine form!

7. Brackets ⚠

Probably my least favourite thing. Boo. It puts the feminine ending in a little cage:

Schüler(innen) Mitarbeiter(innen)

Pro: visually very obvious that we are talking about women and men (not only women) Con: does not include non-binary genders! This is not truly gender-neutral! It only includes the feminine and the masculine form! It has also been criticised for suggesting that the feminine ending is 'optional'/'omittable' by putting it in brackets. Honestly, just don't.

This was a little introduction to gender neutral German and I hope this can explain to you why written German does not always look like the one you see in most textbooks!

[dearestkong]

reflections // starting the summer term 🌷💌

(feel free to skip … just a lot of rambling about changes of mindset, i’ll sum it up later in my new pinned.)

it’s been more than a month since I’ve started this blog, and I’m really really glad that I did. not because my productivity has spiked or my anxiety has diminished or whatever (though there have been positive effects), but because just attempting to start something like this meant that I was no longer willing to suffer and rot in private. i talked about the “hole of dysfunction and self-hatred” in my old introduction: for so long, that hole was my best-kept secret and my greatest shame. being competent and ambitious was an aspect of my personality, and I couldn’t handle the idea that it wasn’t true.

but then…. dearestkong emerged!! and I started being completely transparent. telling strangers about every day of self-destructiveness. it was a good form of accountability, sure, but it was also a means of telling the truth. this blog has been a way for me to say: i’ve been struggling, and it’s not a fluke or a “flop era” or something entirely disconnected from the high achiever i used to be. the girl fighting off inertia and the girl seemingly doing everything with ease are the same person.

🌷☆彡

my posts have been getting more optimistic recently, and that isn’t a fluke, either. lots of things have happened: i’ve realised how many people support and believe in me, i started taking medication for a problem i’ve had for a while (it’s crazy how the world seems so much brighter now?!!?!), i started writing in my diary again. i’m now 27 days clean from a self-destructive behaviour (this blog isn’t about my relationship with that, but in the early days i used to make a note of relapses and just the fact of acknowledging it felt so freeing to me. it wasn’t something to hide anymore, but a fight i was making progress with.)

this seems like a rapid evolution for such a new blog, right?! but in the next six months, i’m going to be applying to university. i’m about to undergo some of the most rapid evolutions of my life.

🌷☆彡

for so long, i’ve had this vague and unspecified dream: “doing the best” “working my hardest” “impressing my teachers”. now my dream has a name and a face and admissions results attached to it and it’s making me so scared that i want to throw up. when i was in the depths of the hole i couldn’t stop seeing my life as a binary. either i get in, or i don’t. and if i don’t, what the hell is the point of living?

38 days later and i feel a little differently. i am someone who has climbed out the hole of inertia and lived. i have done many things and they’ve all turned out fine— great, actually. i have reason to believe that things will go well.

i still have a pretty nasty relationship with myself, lol. it makes me really happy when people on this blog interact and talk, but they’re all so nice and it makes me feel a little fake. in reality i’m standoffish, awkward, and often mean. i coast by on intellectual abilities while slacking off. i’m a judgemental egoist who is sometimes self-destructive. all of that is true—>

but at the same time, i still have this crazy belief that i deserve the best. it’s literally an overflow of egoism ;;;; there’s nobody i’m more in love with than myself. i think of the girl i’ll be in the future with such affection, and i don’t want her to feel ashamed or resentful of me. she deserves to have her hopes fulfilled!! she deserves the brightest, the best that i can give her.

in conclusion: even if i don’t like the person i am at the present, i have to do it anyway. 1 because there’s no other option and 2 because i love the person i’ll be in the future too much to stop.

🌷☆彡

so from now on, the purpose of this blog is changing slightly. it’s no longer “get out of the hole and survive” like it used to be. we’re past that, we’re already surviving.

now, the aim is to “do my best so my future self can live with no regrets”. that’s not very concise but I’ll work on it.

let’s do this! 加油！

[meowkavian]

So I’m around 5 ish hours into DAV, and I’m honestly not impressed. I started playing DA back when Origins first came out and still consider its story to be incredible. I hope this gets better because I really want to enjoy the game I’ve been waiting for for TEN DAMN YEARS.

Some thoughts so far:

- The dialogue is so incredibly exposition heavy and repetitive that it started turning me off from the first minute. It is the extreme “tell not show” and I feel like I’m watching some sort of information dump in the most hand-holdy way. I don’t need Harding to tell me there’s probably another blight pod—I need to be allowed to look for it myself.

- In that sense we don’t get time to explore the world state and understand it in our own time—just getting slammed with information through overly direct dialogue and not actual, you know, world building. If I wanted to hear everything explained three times in each dialogue I would go watch a lore explainer video. Plus, the voice acting feels sub par for several of the NPCS but it may just be their dialogue. Like Bellara stating how she’s a rambler when it’s OBVIOUS because she just was rambling?? Generally people stating obv things about their personality or traits that would be 1000% more effective if we learned it for ourselves through play instead of having it spelled out for us up front.

- A lot of the facial animation feels stiff for a game as stylized as it is and as new as it is.

- Where is the nuance or consistency in world building? Why are the Crows suddenly more freedom fighters than assassins?

- Lucanis being possessed by a spirit and mage rook barely bats an eye even with the aggressive options? Anders has a whole thing where there was an entire scale of how Justice affected him and we’re just supposed to take this in stride?

-Eluvians being ancient tech powerful enough that Merrill is basically shunned for attempting to create one in DA2, but Bellara basically just can tinker with them and other artifacts with no one giving a second look, and the veilguard just uses them as portals without any sense of fear or danger?

- Why am I supposed to care or feel attached to ANY of these characters so far? I’ve had no opportunity to start getting to know them aside from some flashy introductions which feel more like opportunities for quips than actual dialogue that gives me insight into their characters. And it’s not like you can really talk to them so far outside of their predetermined intros so far. We’re all just buddy buddy immediately? And no real insight into how Rook and Varric got to be close? How Harding is an integral part of this? How our backstories connect to everyone else in a way that makes sense?

- the overly explanatory dialogue “memories” and how they seem shoehorned into later conversations as if an AI is saying “I remember you said X….”

- I preface this one also by saying I’m trans and nonbinary— what is with the hamfisted dialogue about rook being trans with the mirror? There has to be a better way to discuss how you feel about your body. It already starts out like a monologue to nobody—no one SPEAKS LIKE THAT. I want representation that feels right and realistic, PLEASE. (Plus, the concept of being trans is approached in a different way in DAI with Krem it just doesn’t feel lore friendly??) Not all of what they do with Krem is Good at all but like, it was at least established as a concept. Also the phrase nonbinary implies that binary exists in Thedas which has implications?

- inconsistent vallaslin designs???

- no way to have a completely flat chest + top surgery scars with a “feminine body type” that I could see

- the level design so far feels very railroady even without the quest markers. I know there’s limits but even in Origins and in DAI it felt like there were places worth trying to explore.

- the world state import being so incredibly limited that it feels like nothing I did in DAI matters one bit? When that’s the entire draw of the game??

- there’s more but this is making me frustrated. I want to like this game. I want to. But I’m having trouble.

[caelantorena]

OC introduction and lore: Caelan Torena

THIS POST IS AN INTRODUCTION TO MY POKEMON OC CAELAN. NOTE THAT THIS POST MAY CONTAIN SEVERAL TRIGGERING ELEMENTS SUCH AS MENTIONS OF PARENTAL ISSUES, SEVERE PHYSICAL INJURIES AND SCARRING, MENTAL ISSUES AND POKEMON RELATED VIOLENCE. PLEASE HAVE THIS IN MIND WHILE PROCEEDING!!

the timeline for this is completly headcanoned and ages of characters might differ from canon to fit the narrative.

i spent a lot of time working on this so i hope you all will like it!!

────•••────

General informations:

Full name: Caelan Daiya Torena.

Nickname: Cae, Golden Girl.

Titles: Champion ranked trainer (Paldea), 1st Champion (Alola), Golden Champion (Galar).

╰┈➤ "Golden Champion", a title one might obtain by winning the "Pokemon Battle World Cup" set up in Galar every four years.

•

Ethnicity: Paldean (mother's side), Kantonese (father's side).

╰┈➤ speaks english, spanish and japanese.

Birthday: March 29th, 2005.

Gender: Genderfluid (AFAB), she/they.

╰┈➤ uses mostly feminine or gender neutral adjectives.

Sexuality: Bisexual.

Astrology sign: Aries.

MBTI: ISTP.

Physical Appearance:

Height: 170cm (5'5).

Weight: 57kg (125lbs).

Skin tone: Pale.

Hair: Wavy, Shoulder length, Black + grey dyed strands.

Eyes: Heterochromia (right blue and left brown).

Other distinctive traits: Freckles, eye scar, tongue and ear piercings.

Relationships:

Parents: Caliya Torena (mother), Dashin Muramoto (father).

Siblings: Shawn Muramoto (step brother on father's side).

Friends: Gladion, Hau, Kieran, Arven, Carmine, Penny, Nemona.

Romantic interest: Nemona (current), Kieran (past).

╰┈➤ she fell in love with Nemona since they met, but she was too young to realize it at the time, and it took several years for them to understand theur feelings. they used to have a childhood crush on Kieran too, and were each other's first kiss, but their romantic feelings for each other's eventually died down as they grew up.

•

Age differences (how old they are compared to Caelan):

- Gladion: same age (two months younger).

- Hau: same age (six months younger).

- Kieran: same age (seven months younger).

- Arven: five years older.

- Carmine: six years older.

- Penny: one year older.

- Nemona: two years older.

•

Sexuality and gender headcanons:

- Gladion: transmasc, gay, he/him.

- Hau: demi-boy, aroace, he/they.

- Kieran: transmasc, bisexual, he/him.

- Arven: unlabeled, aromantic, they/he.

- Carmine: cisgender, lesbian, she/her.

- Penny: non-binary, panromantic and asexual, she/they.

- Nemona: demi-girl, lesbian, she/they.

╰┈➤ they consider their friends like family, and has a very specific relationship with each of them that ressembles different family dynamics: Arven and Carmine are like her older siblings, even parental figures sometimes, Penny is like a favorite cousin, she sees Gladion and Kieran as brothers and treats Hau like a little brother or even a son. and of course, Nemona is her girlfriend.

Pokemon teams:

Main team (strongest members from all her other teams):

- Jolteon (Volt)

- Lucario (Luck)

- Ceruledge (Shanight)

- Lycanroc (Alpha)

- Breloom (Champ)

- Flygon (Hexon)

1st team (first ever pokemon team she had, at age 10).

- Skeledirge (Blaise)

- Jolteon (Volt)

- Tinkaton (Rose)

- Flygon (Hexon)

- Garganacl (Rocky)

- Ogerpon

2nd team (team built in Alola, from age 11 to 16).

- Inceneroar (Fuego)

- Toucannon (Heol)

- Lucario (Luck)

- Lycanroc (Alpha)

- Tsareena (Reina)

- Alolan Raichu (Ampter)

3rd team (built once back in Paldea, at age 17).

- Ceruledge (Shanight)

- Azumarill (Azur)

- Espeon (Syka)

- Luxray (Gold)

- Breloom (Champ)

- Krookodile (Craken)

Other pokemons (that she doesn't usually use for battles but still keep close to her):

- Miraidon

- Shiny Silvally

- Shiny Nihilego

╰┈➤ they usually use their main team most of the time now, but sometimes they'll switch some of her pokemons, especially in offical battles and tournaments, to have more open options for strategies.

╰┈➤ she's very affectionate and caring with her pokemons, especially those of her main team. she's often seen walking with one of them at her side, whether it'd be her Jolteon on her shoulder or her Lucario walking alongside her.

Life history and lore:

Childhood (before age 10).

Caelan Torena, born as Caelan Muramoto is the second child of Caliya Muramoto, née Torena and Dashin Muramoto. She was born in Kanto, in Celadon City.

Caelan's father, Dashin, is a renowed scientific, whose main course of work is studying the potential existence of alternative dimension and creatures existing in said dimensions. He worked in close collaboration with professor Turo in Paldea, hence why him and his family moved to the town of Medali, in order for him to work alongside Turo on the time machine and studying the future dimension. Caelan was two years old at the time.

During the next three years, Dashin dropped from the studies with professor Turo to recenter his work around other alternative dimension discovered: the Ultra Dimensions. He worked closely with Lusamine and Mohn, going back and forth between Alola and Paldea. He had apparently contributed to a lot of discoveries regarding Ultra Beast and their biology, but also to the functioning of Ultra portals and dimensions. Though after one of his travels to Alola, something happened and Dashin never went back, him and his family moving from Medali to Cabo Poco. Caelan was five years old.

While he was a devoted scientist, Dashin barely had any impact in his children's education, which leaded to several fights between him and his wife Caliya. For years he continued his work from Paldea, though still highly interested in Ultra Dimension. He got so ingrossed in his work that he completly neglected his family life, sometimes getting in huge fights with his wife. When Caelan was ten years old, the fights got so intense that they settled on a divorce. Caliya, not wanting her young daughter to get in the crossfire, sent her to Uva Academy, knowing she could live in dorms.

2015, first year at Uva.

Caelan never had many friends before going to Uva, as she was homeschooled. Nemona was the very first friend she met, followed by Arven and Penny.

The events follows the game plotline, starting in September. Caelan became Champion ranked in late October, while the Area Zero events took place at the start of November.

2016, end of first year at Uva, first year in Alola.

The Kitakami events took place in February. Caelan had turned 11 when they went to Blueberry Academy, in April.

Caelan's parents eventually divorced, and to make sure to never cross path with Dashin ever again, Caliya decided to move to Alola with her daughter.

In June, Caliya and Caelan move to Mele-Mele Island, in Alola.

Caelan took their mother's last name, Torena.

They start the Island Trial, meeting two other friends, Hau and Gladion.

In late July, Caelan became Alola's first Champion.

2018, third year in Alola.

Caelan is thirteen years old, and is still Alola's Champion.

Around October, a high activity of the Ultra Dimension is detected, with portals opening at several places through Alola, unleashing ferocious Ultra Beasts.

As the Champion, Caelan was tasked to deal with the Ultra Beast and capture them.

However, an accident happened with one of the operations. While battling a group of Nihilego on Poni Island with Hau and Gladion, they got outnumbered and overwhelmed by the creatures.

An attacked striked by one of the creatures hit Caelan, not only breaking some of her bones from the shock, but also landing sharp bits of rock into her right eye.

Caelan was put into an artificial coma for a year and a half.

2020, fifth year in Alola.

In April, Caelan woke up from their coma, at fifteen.

Their body's wounds were mostly superficial and healed through the coma. However, the attack through her eye impaled it definitly, leaving a large scar and making her completly blind from this eye.

The attack pierced her skull, giving her heavy brain damage. They struggled to generate and regulate emotions correctly, often shifting between states of emotional numbness and violent bursts of emotions. Her mental condition from the age of fifteen was similar to a bipolar disorder.

She also has strong ptsd regarding U.B's, mention or sight of it can trigger a huge violent response from her.

They sometimes has episodes, when feeling too much emotions that their brain cannot regulate at once, they can faint and black out from it.

She stayed six months at the hospital after waking up, getting out in early October. They still had a heavy medical routine and a bunch of operations coming up afterwards.

2021, last year in Alola.

After several months of medical treatment, Caelan started get to emotionally better. Though she didn't have regular emotional outbursts anymore, she was still in a general state of numbness, though they could regulate themselves better and feel normally more often.

Alola still had to deal with UB apparitions, and Caelan being the only one strong enough to beat most of them, had to confront them again

To help them fight and prevent another incident, two pokemons were confide to them by Æther Foundation: a shiny Nihilego and a shiny Silvally, that were both conditionned to annihilate Ultra Beasts.

Caelan took more time to get used to the Nihilego, mostly because at first the sight of it would trigger an episode, but she eventually managed to train it.

They spent several months doing missions to fight U.Bs, and gained a rutheless character to their reputation because of the savage behaviours of her Silvally and Nihilego in these fights. They were said to leave the Ultra Beasts in such poor states it was impossible to capture them after fights.

Around May, the U.B apparitions stopped, and Caelan never used her Silvally or Nihilego again, though still keeping them close to her, just in case.

It's around July that Caelan decided she needed a break from everything. She took a pause from her Champion duties to take a month of vacation in the place she hadn't realized she missed the most: Paldea.

After six years, they returned to Paldea. They reunited with Arven, Penny, Miraidon which stayed under Arven's watch, and Nemona. It was after seeing them again that Caelan understood that she wanted, and needed, to come back.

2022, first year back in Paldea.

Caelan officially gave away her Alolan Champion title and moved back to her childhood house in Cabo Poco with her mother in February. She celebrated her seventeenth birthday with her friends.

They decided to enroll back in Uva Academy, in order to get a diploma in Expert Pokemon Battles and Advanced Pokemon Biology.

Her mental state gradually improved after moving back, she started to feel emotions in a more stable way, progressively finding a cheerfulness and determination she hadn't had since she was a kid.

Building a new pokemon team during the year's Treasure Hunt, she claimed her Champion rank once again, and was even offered to be Top Champion of Paldea's League, which she refused.

2023, second year back in Paldea.

At eighteen, Caelan graduated alongside Penny. While her friend officially became an engineer for Paldea's League, Caelan wanted to pursue her forgotten childhood dream of becoming the strongest trainer alive.

In April, she went for a month as an exchange student at Blueberry Academy again, where she reconnected with Kieran and Carmine. Kieran had become Unova's Champion, and they regularly battled together.

In July, there was the official announcement for the 1st edition if the Pokemon Battle World Cup, which would take place in Galar the next year. All Champions and Elite Four trainers were invited to participate in the tournament in order to design the strongest trainer in the world. Of course, Caelan wanted to participate.

2024, Galar's tournament.

A few days after her nineteenth birthday, Caelan went to Galar with Nemona in order to spend several months training for the championship. It was the greatest battling event of the decade, and she wanted to be ready.

It's during these months that they established their main team.

The tournament took place in June, in Wydon's Stadium. The battles were casted on tv worldwide everyday for three weeks.

Caelan really started to make a name for herself while facing the other Champions. She faced Champion Cynthia in quarter-final, Champion Red in semi-final and Champion Leon in final.

To them, those three battles were the most exhilirating fights of their whole life, and they loved every seconds of it.

And, finally, Caelan defeated Leon in final, making her the 'Golden Champion' of this year.

Art & picrews:

{art is mine}

────•••────

hope y'all liked it, thanks for reading :))

[eclipseoftheapocalypse]

Introduction

This is a roleplay blog for Eclipse in @sir-qwillian-ferne 's apocalypse AU.

Rules

This blog welcomes self insert, OC, crossover, multi fandom, and other au interactions.

If you don't support LGBTQIA+, leave. Just go. Xeno and neopronouns are here. Apocalypse Eclipse is pan and non-binary. If you can't respect that, leave.

Romantic interactions are allowed, but please SPECIFY romantic intent! Unless previously stated I assume all interactions are purely platonic.

Sexual content is prohibited. Jokes are okay but nothing more than that.

This blog contains heavy themes so please read at your own risk (content warnings will be provided).

Send as many interactions as you'd like in however short of a time frame you want, just please don't repeat the SAME one more then thrice

That's all! Have fun!

Eclipse Character Info

Eclipse is an adult robot of unspecified age. They live inside the ruins of what was once a human settlement with xir pet snake. Ze cannot leave the boundaries of the ruins, and is quite frankly incredibly lonely. Com is typically bundled up with a large cloak, covering most of their body up to halfway up deir face. It has split hair - the left half is yellow and curly, the right dark blue and straight, both fairly long.

Pronouns

Eclipse is comfortable with many different pronouns. Do not feel like you need to use them all - it's a lot - but please try to stick with these options

Likely more familiar pronouns: they/them/their/theirs/theirself, it/it/its/its/itself

Neopronouns: Xe/xem/xir/xir/xirself, ze/hir/hir/hirs/hirself, dey/dem/deir/deirs/deirself

Xenopronouns: Com/comet/comets/comets/cometself, co/con/cons/const/constellself, fla/flare/flares/flares/flareself, star/stars/starself

World info

The world this is set in takes place after nuclear war, with human settlements few and far between. Worse, there are monstrous robots infected with a virus that causes them to hunt down and kill anything that moves.

Older robot models appear to not be favored by the virus.

Content warnings

This blog may contain discussions of the following:

Sharp objects

Guns

Gore

Robot body horror

Death

Murder

Child death/murder

Self-hatred

Self-harm

Suicidal ideation

Please stay safe.

[busyfish]

okay so like

the thing lately that's sort of slowly getting me out of depression is i've been working kind of tirelessly on this character RP for my mage, Koryne. In trp3 you get like a lot of cool like character building options and stuff. There's a currectly: and OOC section that shows up right on people's tooltips when they look at you

but it also displays things like pronouns/voice ref and stuff. But there's also a feature with 5 slots of "at a glance" which is basically like "oh you can read these and know about my character just by looking at them i.e. not godmoding"

but then there's a slot for like personality traits and little things that you find important like origin, residence, sexuality, handedness, i mean you can even do a sliding scale of like "paragon - renegade" however

what i was working on tonight was my whole about section where you can just write your whole backstory if you want. and my character is actually part of a family of characters i've been working on for a long while.

and you can do COOL stuff like this to really make it stand out. i have like 15 pages dedicated to Koryne's story that i'm trying to narrow down to just like: General introduction

Brief history of their family

Rivalry with their twin

Being expelled from Silvermoon

Current Adventures

and a little like history with their complicated history with being a total disaster lesbian.

i also made them a character playlist on spotify LOL

a lot of the lyrics and stuff from the songs just give off their vibe and stuff.

but yeah, i've been doing a lot of walk up RP lately, which is so much fun.

however i am so excited by another player i met in game that i'm dying to do more long term stuff with because they're archeologist and they're roleplaying as a visage for a dragon

they're so friendly and non binary and just ugh i was so happy i finally got to interact with them and i really want to like do more with them and maybe try to write together.

this will fix me. i just know it

[firewirecompatible]

Codec tunes to frequency 140.85 

NS: "Major Zero, i've encountered the agent willing to sneak me into the factory, but there's one problem.." 

MZ: "What is it, Snake?" 

NS: "They've asked me to identity them as "xey/xem", is this part of their codename?" 

MZ: "No, Snake, xey're using neo-pronouns..." 

NS: "Neo-pronouns, huh?" Codec switches to frequency 145.73 

PM: "Neo-pronouns are a facet of lexical innovation to support those who don't reflect with binary options, they date back as far as the 1200s with the usage of 'they/them' in the french poem Guillaume de Palerme." 

NS: "Huh..." 

PM: "With people feeling conflicted about their assigned gender for all of history, it was only inevitable that more unique ones would come about, either being completely new or deriving from already existing pronouns, such as ou/ous by scottish agricultural writer, William Humphrey Marshall in 1789, Thon/Thons by composer Charles Crosby Converse in 1858 and Ze/Zem being found in literature in 1864... The list goes on Snake, it was only afew decades ago when they were noticed by the introduction of them in the Merriam-Webster dictionary in 1934, it was then the U.S court finally picked up on it in the public ire, and when it was subsequently redacted only afew years ago in 1961 to stop people from trying to break conformity in roman-catholic gender roles..." 

NS: "Right... But how do they taste?"

[theinternetisaweboflies]

Jägermeister

Chapter Nine: Monsters of Our Own

Since their shared drift, Newt had been averting his mental gaze from Hermann for fear he would return it. 

The mortifying ordeal of the drift. 

Now he lasered his full focus on the Hermann in his head. 

By honing in on Hermann, Newt could almost ignore the cacophonous whispers of hive mind. Almost. It was like humming loudly whenever Hermann got too pedantic. Newt could still hear him, but it was more about the principle of ignoring him than the de facto state of ignorance. 

Newt followed the ghost of Hermann through his own neural pathways, like chasing a very tall rabbit. Harvey, maybe, or Frank. 

Every living creature on Earth dies alone. Kelly, Richard. Donnie Darko. Newmarket Films, 2001

Newt liked Donnie Darko. He wondered if Hermann would too. 

Probably not. 

Hermann liked Frankenstein. 

And now, once again, I bid my hideous progeny go forth and prosper. Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft. Frankenstein, Introduction, 1831.

Like the Jaegers. The monsters of our own making. Death to the imposter-syndrome.

Whoever had christened the Jaegers was probably the same chucklefuck that thought it was a good idea to name their base of operations anything with the word ‘shatter’ in it. 

At least Hermann's favorite film adaptation was Young Frankenstein, but that was, like, objectively the best one. 

“Hearts and kidneys are tinker toys! I am talking about the central nervous system!" Brooks, Mel, et al. Young Frankenstein, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, 1998. 

Hermann liked…

Hermann liked Downton Abbey.

…Yeah, Newt had nothing. 

Hermann liked Hegel, and there was something in dialectical philosophy that was blowing dust on the laser grid of Newt’s mental landscape.

We call dialectic the higher movement of reason in which utterly separate terms pass over into each other spontaneously. Hegel, G. W. F., The Science of Logic, 1812.

Dialectical Behavior Therapy was developed in the late 80s specifically to treat Borderline Personality Disorder.  

BPD wasn't even added to the DSM-III until 1980, and for almost a decade after that, it was considered untreatable. It was a life sentence. Except when it was a death sentence. 

Then Marsha Linehan developed Dialectical Behavior Therapy, and suddenly it wasn’t so untreatable anymore. 

Newt didn't have time for full-fidelity DBT, so his therapy had been a little more autodidactic in nature, but it was ultimately about finding a middle ground in the black and white thinking that resulted from such extreme emotional experiences. Newt was still salty that he couldn't say the phrase ‘shades of gray’ without invoking that unfortunate representation of BDSM culture. When it came to consent, Christian Grey was almost as bad as the cultists. 

Anyway, Hermann's Hegelian née Kantian dialectic was also a rejection of dichotomies, not unlike earlier Derridean deconstruction of Saussure’s significant binaries. Non-binary. They/them. 

Maybe Newt should change his pronouns to, “Yes/And?”

Almost nothing was all or nothing. Labels could make you aware of more options, but eventually you would see there were more options than there were labels. Dichotomies were reductive, especially when applied to human beings, ultimately reducing them to the falsest binary of all: us/them.

Abstract, negative, concrete. 

Thesis, synthesis, antithesis.

Scientist, hive mind… hive mind.

Newt had never felt so skinless. He had to sew himself a new one, like the women at Playtex, who went from making girdles and bras to spacesuits. They beat out three major defense contractors to produce the suits for Apollo 11. 

Hermann loved those ladies, so now Newt did too. He'd never even heard of them before, but Hermann had memorized names, even though so many of them went unidentified, their work considered trivial in history’s biased gaze. 

Eleanor Foraker, Iona Allen, Francine Burris, Henrietta Crawford, Velma Breeding, Hazel Fellows. The astronauts had stars and multimillion dollar inertial navigation systems, but those women had only pins to guide them.

On a less endearing note, Hermann liked Nietzsche, although Newt was starting to suspect that he was just homesick. 

It was still a surprise, coming from Hermann Handwriting-of-God Gottleib, but Newt knew that relationships with god were never so simple. His relationship with someone's gods was now incredibly complex indeed. 

Anyway, Hermann liked Nietzsche because of something, something, Übermensch, because of course Hermann thought his own humanity was something to be overcome.

Maybe Newt just wasn't getting it. He had never been as good at the purely theoretical stuff as Hermann, and he wasn't exactly working at full capacity. 

He was definitely over capacity.

Whatever. Irrelevant. If the Übermensch was some sort of Platonic ideal of humanity, then it could only ever be a false idol. Perfection was a myth. Perfection was a way to ruin something good enough, which was all Newt could ever hope to be.

Playing by the rules was ridiculous, when everyone who wrote them was already dead, and there were plenty of people present, now, in need of rehumanization. Nothing othered, nothing maimed.

Fuck Superman though— Newt’s bone to pick with Nietszche was from Beyond Good and Evil.

Wer mit Ungeheuern kämpft, mag zusehn, dass er nicht dabei zum Ungeheuer wird. Und wenn du lange in einen Abgrund blickst, blickt der Abgrund auch in dich hinein. Nietzsche, Friedrich. Jenseits von Gut und Böse, ch. 4, no. 146, 1886. 

He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And if you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you.

...

@lastdaysofwar

[olderthannetfic]

I recently read a fic where the author occasionally uses pronoun options for characters the first time they're introduced, but then doesn't carry through with it for the rest of the story.

As in, "Character rolled out of her/their bed" was the first we saw of the protagonist. Clumsy and awkward, but I figure the author wants to make it clear that this character is nonbinary and will use both of those pronouns throughout the story, right? WRONG.

For the entire rest of the 25k fic, the character exclusively uses she/her pronouns, her gender never comes up, and soutside of pronouns she is referred to exclusively by feminine gendered terms such as "girl" and "woman", and even, on one memorably poorly written occasion, "female spellcaster".

The same things happens for a few more characters, both men and women; the first sentence that uses a pronoun for them uses "he/they" or "she/they" as the pronoun, which leands me to assume they're nonbinary and use both pronouns, but then the rest of the fic presents them as a binary men and women who only ever uses masculine or feminine language.

And we have several other characters who are nonbinary and who use exclusively they/them, who aren't given pronoun options in the narrative introduction, so I don't think the author is after brownie points for including nonbinary characters without having to actually include nonbinary characters.

It's just weird to see a very clumsy sentence that tells me something important about the character, something so important the author chose to mangle their sentence to get it across. And then it's never touched on ever again.

At first it was just the protagonist and I thought it was a typo, maybe in an early draft the author hadn't decided what gender their protagonist was and forgot to fix that sentence for the final version. But then we got the same for other characters, and always in the first sentence where a pronoun is used a given character.

And then I glanced at the author's other work and it looks like they do this for about half of their characters who he/him or she/her pronouns. Very weird.

--